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Monday, November 14, 2005; 12:00 PM
Do you think sexual harassment in the workplace is just about some off-color jokes, an unwelcome pass, or a little fanny-patting? You might be forgiven for the misimpression, thanks to movies like "North Country," the Charlize Theron vehicle based on a true story of sexual harassment at a Minnesota mine in the 1970s and '80s, says journalist E.J. Graff . Though it had the opportunity to expose the brutal reality of workplace harassment, the film blinked, and ends up doing a disservice to the thousands of women who live in workplace war zones of sexual harassment to this day. Because despite 30 years of lawsuits and settlements, sexual harassment training courses and court orders, men's fear of female incursion into their territory, and their determination to drive women out of better-paying "blue" paycheck jobs, lives on.
E.J. Graff , a senior researcher at the Brandeis Institute for Investigative Journalism and a senior correspondent for the American Prospect, was online Monday, Nov. 14, at noon ET to discuss her Sunday Outlook article, Too Pretty A Picture, ( Washington Post, Nov. 13, 2005 ).
The transcript follows.
E.J. Graff: Since yesterday, I have heard from a number of people who have themselves experienced sexual harassment or sex discrimination. I want to urge everyone to look at the book I wrote for lead author Evelyn Murphy, called Getting Even. The book tries to lay out a global look at the problem; Evelyn Murphy proposes a solution. I truly believe she has a chance to change workplace attitudes around the country.
I also hope that everyone will look at www.wageproject.com, which is keeping a repository of stories about sex discrimination (submit yours!); lists many cases of sex discrimination and sexual harassment; includes ideas about what to do; offers a "calculator", whereby women can see what they've lost compared to men, because of the wage gap; and much more.
washingtonpost.com: Getting Even : Why Women Don't Get Paid Like Men--And What to Do About It ( By E.J. Graff )
Rockville, Md.: While I agree that the movie's ending is overly rosy, I disagree with your assertion that the film did not show egregious acts of sexual harassment. In fact, many of the acts you claim did not occur in the movie, were shown quite graphically (ex. semen on clothes, repeated requests for oral sex, explicit graffiti, penis sculptures found in the women's lockers, groping, attempted rape). I also felt that the film showed how threatened these women felt and the enormous toll it took on the women's physical and mental health.
I was outraged and surprised to learn that the kind of behavior exhibited in the film actually occurred in the workplace. The harassment was systemic and was used as a method to keep women out of the workplace. The movie did a good job of showing that these women were scared every day they went to work.
Did the acts shown in the movie really not bother you? I thought they were quite horrific. Perhaps they were not AS BAD as some incidents that may have happened in real life, but they were disturbing enough to give a grim view of what life was like for these women. Any more and I think it would have been too disturbing to watch.
E.J. Graff: Thanks for the feedback. I did wonder whether other people would find it more horrific than I did--particularly if they hadn't been exposed to sexual harassment in depth before. To me, the single incidence of each thing did not create the tension and anxiety that facing repeated, day after day, extreme sexualized hostility did; it did not destroy the women's lives in the same way that actual "hostile environment" does. I did not see an attempted rape, or the daily requests for oral sex (made publicly), or women's heads being forced toward men's crotches while other men laughed and cheered. I didn't see the group violence, the clear intent for public humiliation. The graffiti was in private, in the locker room, rather than everywhere on the line. The dildo in the lunchbox wasn't much; I never saw a faux-vagina sculpture with a rod rammed through it or Hustler-type "pictures" labeled with the women's names appearing in their work areas. The semen in the locker happened once, not repeatedly; it didn't become a proud tale told amongst the men, terrifying the other women; I saw none of the stalking; the lawsuit was anything but a nightmare.
Let me post here an email I received from a woman who had herself been through Wall Street sexual harassment, and agreed with my review:
"Your words crystallized what I had hoped to see in "North Country", but did not. I kept thinking that the ripping apart of a woman's entire life that sexual harassment causes, not to mention the fact that our brains are completely exploded and are never quite the same again, was nowhere evident in that film. There were a few examples in "North Country" of the actual harassment, but nothing like I experienced, the daily expanding harassment and the intimidation on top of it.."
Harrisburg, Pa.: Isn't it a shame that we seem to have two senses of how to handle sexual harassment: the overreaction and the total neglect of it. While there are bosses who physically grab and demand sex from women and the company looks the other way, there are other companies that make it a rule that there are to be no jokes of any kind whatsoever and, essentially, no socializing at all so the place is a drab place to work. What will it take for managers to realize the seriousness of the problem without reducing it to ridiculous levels?
E.J. Graff: That's a very astute comment. A number of people have written in saying that, at their workplaces, someone can get their hands slapped simply for telling a bad joke. In other places, there's no limit to what gets done to women. I don't know what to do about the overly managed workplaces, but I can say this: only when there's "zero tolerance" for real harassment (as in, day after day of: hey, honey, while you're down there, why not give me a blow job?) can it be stopped from metastasizing into a truly hostile experience that exhausts women and puts lives at risk. Good luck lightening up the overly careful workplaces, but I worry more about the women with no protection at all.
Va.: What about sexual harassment by women towards men? I was laughed off by the mostly female HR staff.
E.J. Graff: Talk to an EEOC officer or a lawyer to see whether what happened to you rises to the level of genuine sexual harassment. Yes, there is such a thing as female-male harassment. There's also male-male or female-female sexual harassment. All forms are actionable. However, female-male harassment charges make up a relatively minuscule percentage of overall sexual harassment charges.
Richmond, Calif.: From your research, do you have a sense of how much sexual harassment is "hostile environment" as opposed to "quid pro quo"? I don't mean what appears in the courts, but what people are experiencing at their jobs.
E.J. Graff: That's an excellent question! I did not do that assessment. Please do go check out my book, Getting Even (shameless plug!). We've got charts of sexual harassment of various kinds, which go on for pages and pages; perhaps you can do the counting and comparison for yourself. I can't just now -- too many questions lined up!
Washington, D.C.: Hi,
Thanks for an eye-opening article. I'll keep a lookout for your book, too.
I worked in the video game business as the first and only female programmer at the company, and I did have to put up with quite a few chauvinist jokes in spite of the generally friendly and creative work environment. Eventually, one of my colleagues started harassing me, and the official response from the HR department tried to sweep it under the carpet. Worse, the small studio in which I worked all found out about it and drew their own conclusions. They offered to move me somewhere else in the company, but, upset as I was, I gathered my strength, took them to task over the whole thing and walked away with a reasonable settlement. Now I make twice as much money working in a "real" software company.
It burns me up to think that a person like me who loved games, worked hard and produced results, had a great sense of humor, and was comfortable and confident around guys still ended up as a target for inappropriate behavior and unable to continue doing what I loved; worse still, I had to turn my company loyalty aside in order to fight for my rights. I believe perception is a key issue. One of my closest friends is a guy, so I'm used to being friends with a man on "equal terms" (without always drawing attention to gender), and I have this expectation for other people I work with, too. But other people at work were often constantly comparing men with women, making gender-biased jokes, making arrogant generalizations about men or women, then assuming (erroneously) that the individual in the office also shared these qualities. Sometimes when I heard these things (the classics: "women can't drive", "women can't do math", etc.), I was confused, but it's difficult to argue sensibly against someone's opinion. One of the reasons I was so unprepared for what happened is that I just didn't think another guy, someone I considered just another work buddy, could marginalize me so much.
Luckily for me, the situation wasn't life-threatening. It shouldn't be such a struggle to spread awareness in a software company. While the company did state that it was an equal opportunity employer and discrimination was illegal, there was no clear policy on sexual harassment in its company manual or employee contract. If companies spread awareness surrounding the definition of sexual (and other) harassment, and ensure that the policies are well-documented in the employee code of conduct and public company manuals, these incidents will hopefully decrease because the victims will have more tools with which to fight back.
E.J. Graff: So sorry that all this happened to you. This is exactly why good employers have zero-tolerance policies: nip it in the bud, and it won't get out of hand.
I do hope you will go document your story and submit it at the WAGE (Women Are Getting Even) Project, at www.wageproject.com. Look at some of the ideas there for what you can do to keep all this from happening to the *next* generation of women.
Washington, D.C.: Your recently published book talks about ways to solve the male-female pay gap. As long as women are more likely to take time out of their careers to care for children, shouldn't some gap be expected?
E.J. Graff: Actually, no. The wage gap is figured using only apples to apples: full-time working men to full-time working women. If anyone (male or female) is on leave, drops out to go to grad school, leaves the workforce to care for a sick spouse or raise a child, he or she is not counted. Same thing if he or she is unemployed, or working part time or as a consultant. Check out that chapter in our book, "Working While Mother," for a fuller explanation.
So what about women who lose a few years of their working lives: do they bring all women's average wages down? No more than men who get laid off for a few years.
Here's what does increase the gap: discrimination against working mothers. For more information, please go look at my article on TomPaine.com called "The Working Mommy Trap," at The Working Mommy Trap, TomPaine.com, October 5, 2005
Washington, D.C.: Even in supposed "enlightened" workplaces, such as academics, sexual discrimination is alive and well. As one of few women in my business school PhD program, I felt that I was being held to a higher standard. I passed my comprehensive exam; my (male) cohort did not. He took a week off to "think about what he wanted to do" and the (male) senior faculty offered him the chance to design a course he would teach if he stayed on. When I needed consideration, I didn't get it. He finished his PhD; I did not. (But I do have the student loans to pay back.)
E.J. Graff: You're absolutely right. There have been lots of winning sex discrimination cases against universities. The sexual harassment policies seem to be strong enough that s.h. doesn't metastasize there into a "hostile environment," at least from what I've heard. (If I'm wrong please let me know.) But there is an enormous wage gap in academia, due to rampant discrimination. go look at our book (shameless promotion!) to see some stories and charts of lawsuits about discrimination in academia and the professions.
Anonymous: Slightly off topic, but this seems to be the appropriate forum to point this out.
Just because the new cute girl is pleasant and friendly, doesn't mean flirting with her at work is a good idea. Work couples do happen, but when the male's behavior set off alarms for other members of the office? Then it's not a good idea.
E.J. Graff: hear, hear!
Germantown, Md.: I am currently going through the process of a sexual harassment complaint. I worked for a church in MD and was harassed by both the church council president and the pastor who would physically touch me against my protests, called my home at all hours, send me love notes and poems, go in to my office and read my emails, and monitor my phone calls and voice mail without my knowing.
If I thought the harassment was bad, it was nothing to the retaliation I faced once I rebuffed the pastor and then complained. I went through the proper channels of the church and did not make it public. The bishop told me I should take these behaviors as a compliment and that this couldn't be the first time this had happened to me. He also told me that I would ruin these men's careers and marriages if I continued to press the issue.
Well I did and I lost my job. The retaliation was fierce. But that was nothing compared to the horrible legal process I am currently enduring. It is brutal. There has already been one trial (which I won) and I was on the witness stand for 4 days. The pastor was on for a couple of hours.
The kicker is that the pastor has never denied his behavior, rather he claims that there is nothing I can do about it because of the separation of church and state. This has been the church's defense all along because there is no evidence of wrong-doing on my part and the evidence against the church is overwhelming. The church did not even attempt to hide the evidence because they were so convinced they could get away with it.
In any Christian organization the majority of clergy are men and majority of staff are women. This is a frightening situation if the church eventually prevails in the courts. This means that any predator need only become a pastor (which is pretty easy in many denominations - I worked for a Lutheran church) or a prominent volunteer (as in the church council president)and the female staff will be helpless to do anything about the sexually toxic environment.
Needless to say I will never work for a church again in this country.
E.J. Graff: It happens everywhere. I do hope you will submit your story to the WAGE Project, if you can.
Alexandria, Va.: As a survivor of sexual harassment that I experienced principally from three of my bosses (and just about every other male) on a Wall Street trading floor about 10 years ago -- once I read your article, it was hard for me to accept the fact that things haven't changed at all for working women anywhere in America. I would like to set up a nonprofit organization, "Sexual Harassment Survivors" -- which would also include a SWAT team that would be on call to head to wherever anyone was being sexually harassed in this nation. We need to also do a much better job of sharing and outing the companies where sexual harassment is acceptable behavior -- so that women and the men who love them, boycott these firms. They will only change when they lose money. Separation and confidentiality agreements only benefit the harassers, and lawyers. What do you think about a nonprofit, and a SWAT team? All I am saying is that we need to protect each other, but we need to do it so that it is seen by all Americans, "in your face" activism. Then we can expand this worldwide.
E.J. Graff: Oh gosh, I'm going to sound repetitive: please contact them at the WAGE Project! I'm hoping they'll help you find others who might want to work with you on a productive solution, something other than a lawsuit, that can really make a difference.
Morgantown, W. Va.: You just said: "However, female-male harassment charges make up a relatively minuscule percentage of overall sexual harassment charges."
But isn't that because female-male sexual harassment isn't taken seriously, men are laughed at when they issue reports, and men are less likely to report such incidents for fear of being laughed at?
I know from studying rape statistics that there are many rapes of men, either female-male or male-male that are not reported because they were not forcible (coercion via drugs, alcohol, locking the door, or emotional blackmail) and because male victims fear that no one will take their claims seriously.
How many men file charges is not proof of how many men are harassed, wouldn't you say?
E.J. Graff: But that would be true of women filing charges, too. All the plaintiff bias lawyers I spoke with agreed that women (as a class) are less likely to file charges than other classes: African-Americans, say, or older people (presumably men). For whatever reason--nature, nurture, or culture--women try extremely hard to work things out, to avoid that open rupture or conflict. Most know by now that sexual harassment charges are almost a direct line to losing your career, being ostracized, creating enormous stress in your own life and your family's life. They file charges only at the very very end of their ropes, when they have nothing left to lose.
Is that kind of end-of-the-rope harassment happening to men? Is it holding down the income of a significant proportion of men? I don't know. If you (or others) think so, do the investigation and expose it for us, please.
San Antonio, Tex.: I saw "North Country" and was uncomfortable, not because of what it depicted, but because it was so eerily similar, in some respects, to what happened when I was working for one of the nation's top supercomputer firms. The time frame was the same. I remember listening to Anita Hill testify on the radio during work hours, the only time I brought my radio to work.
There were three women and more than 20 young men. The atmosphere, when work was not being done, was one of a constant frat party. There were naked women and women's parts as screen savers. There were a number of girlie posters on the walls, women in various states of undress or exposed--and when the mandate came down to remove them, an assistant manager simply moved his behind his opened office door. I was handed a thermos telling me that it contained an unusual flavored coffee, only to have a plastic phallus pop out. The corporate gift for a year's employment was a tie tac. The message: You are really not welcome here.
This was no deep pit mine in Minnesota; this was a satellite office in California's Silicon Valley for one of the country's top computing firms. So what is the "message" for stopping this kind of behavior?
E.J. Graff: Yet again: please submit your story to the WAGE Project. In fact, please start a WAGE Club, working together with a few others to figure out what barriers you can help dismantle, either individually or within your company or as a larger group. The only way we can stop this sort of thing is if women get together (with the help of sympathetic men) and say: Enough. We have a right to earn a fair day's pay.
Rockville, Md.: Too little or too much.
I have to state that this should never happen in a an office or work place, but in my experience "zero-tolerance policies" means that nobody sorts out what is important from what is trivial. And that there is no thought when deciding what to do about it. Is there a way to do both?
E.J. Graff: Good question! I don't know the answer. I hope some management consultant will take this up!
Lexington, Ky.: You just said: "Is that kind of end-of-the-rope harassment happening to men? Is it holding down the income of a significant proportion of men? I don't know. If you (or others) think so, do the investigation and expose it for us, please."
Given that you're the expert, why don't you do the investigation? Don't you care about the welfare of men? Aren't you interested in equality? Don't you think ALL sexual harassment is bad? Or do you care ONLY about women?
E.J. Graff: I'm not so arrogant as to think I can investigate or fix everything in the world. There are an enormous number of problems in the world, and many people to work on them. So I encourage everyone to pick their spot and work hard on it.
Just now, I'm concentrating on discrimination against women. Women still earn 77 cents to a male dollar. That gap has been stuck in place for more than a decade; it's not getting better. And as few of us realize, that wage gap adds up enormously over a lifetime. How much? Consider this:
--a female high school graduate will make $700,000 less than the male graduating right beside her.
--a female college graduate will lose $1.2 million compared to her male peers
--a female professional school grad (JD, MD, MBA) will lose $2 million.
That means women don't get paid fairly. Why? Because of illegal sex discrimination.
Ft. Belvoir, Va.: I must say that many of the words you've used in your chat today, such as "vagina", "dildo", and "blow job", would get me a written reprimand were I to utter them here on an Army base working as a civilian contractor, a place that you might expect to be a fountainhead of sexual harassment, but is not. Also, as a professional man who treats the professional women with whom I work with dignity and respect, including my female supervisor, I resent the tone of much of your rhetoric, which seems to suggest that all men are just like the uneducated rednecks who work in a mine, just waiting for a chance to harass the nearest "gal". You turn people, especially men, against your cause when you treat us with such open hostility and always assume the worst about us.
E.J. Graff: Actually, I think very few men are like this; the men that I love most dearly are shocked to hear the stories that turn up from my research. They find it as hard to believe as I do.
But the men who *do* it get away with it. Why? Sometimes the boss doesn't believe it's really happening. Sometimes the other guys are made sick by it, but complaining would get them fired, or ostracized. But we need you, and men like you, to stand up for women and say: Enough. That is utterly unacceptable behavior. Please do!
Washington, D.C.: Thank you - I agree with you that the film did indeed clean up the harassment too much.
I'd also like to add that it doesn't need to be as bad as it was for these women to qualify as sexual harassment. I had a boss once who decided that I should get pregnant and become a stay at home mom. Every day he would make comments about it. He would joke that for Christmas I should be given only baby things. He would tell me how having a child was the only way I would ever be a "real woman." He would tell me that I would never amount to anything, so I should have a boy child and hope that my child would become someone. He made my life horrible. Yet when I told him I was going to report him for sexual harassment if he did not stop, he laughed it off. And yes, the men in the HR office laughed it off too - only speaking to him because it was required by law, and making it plain to me that they thought I was over-reacting to "a little friendliness." Nowhere near as horrific as it can be, but still bad.
I find it amazing that people cannot see - simple civility would solve our problems. Yet harassers don't think they are wrong.
E.J. Graff: That was pregnancy discrimination as well.
Albany, N.Y.: Comment for the video game programmer: I'm sorry this happened to you, and there's no excuse for it. Unfortunately, it's hard being the first one to do something different. They throw rocks at you while you're alive and build statues of you when you're dead. It's always best to go in with support, if that's possible. Unfortunately, often it isn't. If you can't, and you can't find anyone to stick up for you once you started, life gets very tough.
E.J. Graff: But we can't fix it as individual women in the workplace. We have to fix it in groups, with the help of our colleagues, bosses, and especially the top boss or CEO.
Baltimore, Md.: Could your complaints about the lack of repeated harassment be the result of the nature of a movie and the language of film? In order to fit a story into a limited time period and keep the plot moving, a movie will often give one example or stand-in for something, and the viewer is expected to fill in the blanks and fill out the plot. I thought the incidents shown were enough for the viewer to get the message that the sexual harassment was extreme, pervasive, and frightening.
E.J. Graff: Several people have made this comment. I think it's entirely possible that I was already inured to single incidents, because I had been so steeped in documents, interviews, etc., and that the film had a different effect on anyone to whom this behavior was new.
But here's the important point: we have to realize that this kind of behavior is still happening, and that it's absolutely unacceptable for women in our country to be attacked simply for wanting to earn a living.
Washington, D.C.: In my job I see court opinions in sexual harassment cases, detailing harassment that includes stalking and sexual assault up to and including rape, where the victims get little help from their employers. Do you have any idea if many victims file police reports in such instances--it doesn't seem that many are. But why not?
E.J. Graff: You know, I don't know the answer to that. Maybe someone else online does.
Washington, D.C.: Why is there a threshold for sexual harassment acts, i.e., touches, comments, etc. Where does creating an environment full of terror, intimidation, and sabotage play into a case for sexual harassment?
E.J. Graff: I am a journalist, not a lawyer, so I'm afraid I cannot tell you the exact moment when behavior crosses the line from legal into illegal. Terror, intimidation, and sabotage are indeed part of a "hostile environment." There's also a category called "sex harassment," which involves those three things without the grabbing, groping, sexualized comments, and so on. One of the cases that I found extremely upsetting was Dupont v. Pollard, in which a woman was terrorized over a few years, her life put in danger, her production sabotaged, because she was a woman. It wasn't sexual; it was about her sex. Her side has won repeatedly in court--including all the way up to the Supreme Court--but last I checked Dupont was appealing yet again. Try Googling for the opinion, and read the trial court judge's description of the facts: you'll be horrified.
Denver, Colo.: Isn't it true that women are less likely than men to try to negotiate a higher salary? That's the reason for part of the wage gap. It's certainly not all of it, but it is a chunk of it.
E.J. Graff: Yes, women are less likely to negotiate harder. There are social reasons for it: women are more likely to be treated negatively if we bargain as hard as some men do. (When was the last time you heard a successful male negotiator called a " castrating b***h"?) But women *do* have to learn how to negotiate. We discuss this in the book, and urge women to form WAGE Clubs--which will include taking some time to learn how to negotiate, to practice a style that's comfortable. We do not think this accounts for a significant portion of the wage gap, but since this is something women can work on, we have to do our part!
Washington, D.C.: "That was pregnancy discrimination as well."
Hm. Ok, I was not pregnant at the time, and had never indicated to him that I intended to become pregnant. (and as a matter of fact, I am childless by choice.)
E.J. Graff: Sorry, I misread that.
Albany, N.Y.: Regarding same-sex harassment, females harassing males, etc: a woman can be held liable for helping a man harass another woman.
E.J. Graff: Interesting. I didn't know that.
Springfield, Va.: Regarding the wage gap--I've always found it hard to believe that men and women whose qualifications are exactly the same would be offered different starting salaries and given different raises for equal performance. Maybe this is because I work for a woman-owned company, where all management positions from the President on down are female. From what I can glean talking to my co-workers, men and women, regardless of race or "mommy" status, are paid the same for equal qualifications and equal performance. Even though I'm a middle-aged white male, I happen to think this is exactly as it should be. So do all the other men in the office, as far as I can tell. So women shouldn't give up hope of wage equality. There are many women-owned and minority-owned contractors in the D.C. area, where the work environment is likely to be much more friendly for women and minorities.
E.J. Graff: In fact, we have stories about exactly this in the book. I've been astonished at how many women find the paychecks of their male peers and discover that they're being paid much less. I've heard it from engineers, lawyers, skilled woodworkers, health investigators, university professors--you'd be shocked. Same credentials, same productivity.
It's very odd how the human mind works. We're not rational creatures. Bias and stereotyping get acted out--sometimes without conscious intention--unless people work hard to overcome them. But perhaps that line of thinking is for another chat.
Munich, Germany: I've heard that the States has much more stringent laws regarding sexual harassment than Europe. Is there any truth to this?
Also, have there been any legal cases where people were harassed by their employer after indicting that they wanted to sue a colleague for sexual harassment?
E.J. Graff: I don't know the comparative law; sorry. But absolutely, the retaliation against women who file sexual harassment charges can be more brutal than the original harassment was.
Alexandria, Va.: For Ft. Belvoir, Va., my neighbor:
And need I say Tailhook, the Air Force Academy, or countless other sexual discrimination and sexual harassment cases that have come to light recently in the military?
>Group Cites Sex Crimes Against U.S. Troops
Associated Press
Friday, February 18, 2005; Page A11
A support group for victims said U.S. service members have reported 307 sexual assaults that allegedly took place while they were stationed in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan or Bahrain.
A statement from the Connecticut-based Miles Foundation, which first raised concerns about assaults on women serving in Iraq and Kuwait last year, said the alleged assailants included other members of the military, allies and foreigners. Most of the victims were women.
About one-third of the cases reported to the Miles Foundation also have been reported to military officials, the statement said.
Thirty-nine women have reported being assaulted while preparing to go overseas, the foundation said.
In January, Pentagon officials said the military will begin providing confidentiality to alleged sexual assault victims in the immediate period after an attack, in a policy change designed to persuade more people to come forward.
In a report last May, the Pentagon acknowledged problems in preventing, treating and investigating sexual assaults on military personnel. The task force that wrote the report recommended a series of primarily administrative changes aimed at increasing awareness throughout the ranks of how to respond, both medically and judicially, when a woman in uniform reports being assaulted. 2005 The Washington Post Company
E.J. Graff: No comment.
Gaithersburg, Md.: It seems like federal government agencies are the last to get rid of sexual harassment. The "good-old-boys" are slowly retiring and things are getting better, but we still encounter unwanted comments from older male employees.
E.J. Graff: I wouldn't say the "last." It's still in every career, profession, and industry. Men still outearn women in almost every job: nursing, teaching, running nonprofits, and so on.
E.J. Graff: Thank you everyone!
Arlington, Va.: I have a background in mathematics and statistics. I'm very unsure about your use of statistics here when saying women only get .77 for each dollar a man gets in income. How many factors influence that comparison? Can you be sure you're comparing apples to apples? Someone mentioned women having babies and staying out of the income generation for a period. Also, is there a testosterone effect here, where men take risks more and get ahead because their willing to take risks? Proportionally, how many men are in clerical or retail positions compared to women?
E.J. Graff: Please do take a look at the book--we go into these things in detail.
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A suburban New York newspaper that sparked an uproar among gun enthusiasts by publishing names and addresses of residents holding pistol permits is now planning to publish even more identities of permit-toting locals.
Further names and addresses will be added as they become available to a map originally published on December 24 in the White Plains, New York-based Journal News, the newspaper said…
The newspaper's editor and vice president of news, CynDee Royle, earlier in the week defended the decision to list the permit holders.
"We knew publication of the database would be controversial, but we felt sharing as much information as we could about gun ownership in our area was important in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings," she said.

subset: commoncrawl


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Ask Health Experts and Get Answers to Your Health Question ASAP
Hello Doc. Many thanks for the answer. I feel better. I have one more question though. Its about hepatitis C testing (not related to the above incident). I've read that Hepc RNA qualitative test can detect viral RNA 2-3 weeks post exposure. Say this is negative. Would the serology still be negative at 3-6 months. In other words, is the HepC RNA test conclusive?
thanks Dr Chip. Sorry for repeatedly asking you questions here. With regards ***** ***** for Hep C infection, is it recommended if someone has received fellatio from a female of unknown status?


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Posted 5 years ago
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This clock is a gem. Still in working condition, keeps time and lights up, with just enough of a patina to the painted face under convex domed glass face to pay homage to its era. 14" in diameter, it probably dates anywhere from 1947-1960.


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CM KCR grants 5 Lakh for treatment of Blood Cancer Patient - NTv
Fri, Feb 27, 2015, 05:05 PM
Telangana CM KCR has granted 5 Lakhs for treatment of a boy, named Gagandeep who is suffering from Blood Cancer in Secunderabad contituency. Speaking about this Telangana Minister Padma Rao said that when a request has been made, CM KCR has whole heartedly agreed to bear the treatment charges after he was bought to Basavatarakam Cancer Hospital. He said that this government will stand by the poor.


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China wins WTO backing in chicken fight with US
China won a rare victory at the World Trade Organization against the United States on Wednesday after an arbitration panel ruled that US restrictions on Chinese poultry imports are illegal.
Arbitration panels typically call on offending parties to lift the illegal measure, however, in this case, the panel said that it would not make any recommendation as the US restrictions have since expired.
Beijing, usually the target of disputes rather than a complainant, accused Washington of breaching international trade rules through several measures, including an appropriations bill which results in an effective ban on Chinese poultry imports.
It had called these measures "naked discriminative protectionism."
China and the United States halted imports of each other's poultry in 2004 over fears about the spread of bird flu.
Imports of some US poultry products to China have since been resumed but Chinese officials have complained that the United States continues to hold up reciprocal imports of Chinese poultry.
The United States argued that it had taken "an objective, science-based response" permitted under WTO rules while US authorities examine whether China's food safety system meets their level of health protection.
In the ruling published on Wednesday, the WTO panel said Washington's measures were illegal as they were "maintained without sufficient scientific evidence" and were "not based on a risk assessment."
It also found that while the United States allowed poultry imports from other WTO members, it had through the appropriations bill "imposed a prohibition on the importation of poultry products from China."
At the same time, since the disputed measure Section 727 has expired and given that the current appropriations bill "already includes language different from that of Section 727," the panel said it would refrain from making any recommendations.
The WTO's ruling came just days after China said it would levy anti-dumping duties of up to 105 percent on US chicken imports.
China said Sunday it will slap anti-dumping levies of over 50 percent on up to 35 US chicken broiler exporters including Tyson Foods Inc, Keystone Foods LLC, Pilgrim's Pride Corporation and Sanderson Farms Inc.
Levies of over 105 percent would be placed on imported chicken broilers, a type of chicken raised specifically for meat production, from all other US producers, it said.


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Share with students pertinent points from the Mass Moments essays on John Eliot and the founding of Natick and on the Indian College at Harvard. Discuss Eliot's goals and how they fit with the goals of the colonial leaders. Distribute copies of an excerpt from John Winthrop's journal and have students take turns reading from it. Then discuss the following questions:
1) How would you describe John Eliot? What made him an unusual Englishman?
2) What do missionaries do today?
3) Why did the Puritans think they should convert Native Americans to Christianity?
4) How did John Eliot go about this? What do you think about his approach?


text:
Drone Herd
From Goonwiki
Small Drone complex.
Ungated plex. There is no message when warping in. You arrive at an Infested Ruin and start fighting.
1st wave
- 2 cruisers (Disintegrator Alvum)
- 2 frigates (Shredder Alvior)
2nd wave
- 5 BC (Striker Alvitis)
3rd wave
- 2 BS (Spearhead Alvus)
- 1 frigate
4th wave
- 2 BS (Spearhead Alvus)
- 3 cruiser (Defeater Alvatis)
Standard drone salvage and compounds


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Maybe Accepting Guests
- Last login 11 months ago
Join Couchsurfing to see Antonio's full profile. It's free!
About Me
Contribute to happiness in our multicultural world
Again, I work during the week, and have lots of spare time on the weekends to show the city around.
And now, coming to the real description of myself...that is a philosophical issue...
My favorite animal is the stag, from what I've read about it, I feel myself entirely like a stag!!!...
I guess, my favorite colours are both green and blue.
I guess, just like in that song from Velvet Underground, I prefer the night much better than I do the day...Who knows what Fromm would say about it?!
Unfortunately, I am sometimes undecisive, impulsive, lazy, fearful and anxious, but react positively with perseverance, good will, kindness, but perfectionism, yet with a tenacious and gregarious attitude.
I believe, in my experience, Wednesday is the best day of my week...
I guess is rather complicated to jump out of one's own sphere and analyse, which person one really is...let me see...let's recall an encounter I had with a cute lady from the Summit in Climate Change here in MXC, not to far away from today...She apologised to me, after telling me that she just couldn't understand my initial writting approach with her, since I started talking right away about topics concerning profundity and all sort of intellectual aspects like philosophy and classical music, but then she told me that she was entirely overwhelmed by the amount of obsessive comments I started with...I guess, I am definitely a person willing to change, positively change, and then I am making a lot of efforts in this regard, but I just can't help getting annoyed by the lack of manners of them philistines...of those people without any interest in culture...in life and the reflection of our own existence...I would say...I describe myself better in this society by means of a song of one of my favorite singers...here we go...
...if manners maketh man as someone said,
he's the hero of the day,
it takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile,
be yourself no matter what they say...
...modesty, propriety, can lead to notoriety
you could end up as the only one
gentleness, sobriety, are rare in this society
at night a candle's brigther than the sun...
here yet another excelent song describing the whirlwind of my life...of course...with its lovely facets...
...I will not touch you, I am just a man
- ... man was born to love
Though often he has sought
Like icarus, to fly too high
And far too lonely than he ought
To kiss the sun of east and west
And hold the world at his behest
To hold the terrible power
To whom only gods are blessed
But me, I am just a man -
And I quote, from one very cool movie..."Call me crazy...but it is my philosophy that in order to be successful, you must project an image of success, at all times..."...at this moment, I would immediately say...Sad, but true!!...Such is life!!....and there is nothing but to strive towards happiness, no matter what burdens the society would ever impose to you...Always keep the dream alive!!...and let never anything nor anyone let you down!!...The waters always reach their righteous level in life...
Why I'm on Couchsurfing
I like to interact with people from all over the world and transmitting my history knowledge can prove helpful to foreign visitors to Mexico...
It was very nice once to meet a group of Spaniards (including a very cute young Spanish lady, back in the year 1998) in Vienna, Austria at a park (famous Heldenplatz), while I was living there and then, they invited me to hang around with them, and we then went to the house of the Austrian person that was lending it to these young Spanish people to stay the night, where we happily talked about classic music interpreters, nice experiences about travelling in Mexico and Spain, and all sort of things...it was a nice experience and I stayed the night with them at the couch, while we shared many intercultural aspects...
Music (such a broad topic...), Sports (Baseball is my passion...but like talking about many other sports), Science, History, Philosophy, Sociology, Literature, Arts, Alternative Healing Methods, Psychology/Psychiatry, not too much about Religion & Politics, eventually about Sexuality (What da heck!!...), also Intercultural communication, Weather, Pets, Pets, Pets, and also Trips, Day-Trippers or long time basis sojourns anywhere...so many different things...I welcome all meditated thoughts of us lovingful human beings...
- animals
- pets
- arts
- culture
- literature
- singing
- theater
- performing arts
- dancing
- walking
- flying
- politics
- chess
- traveling
- music
- classical music
- drums
- cycling
- sports
- baseball
- swimming
- history
- psychology
- religion
- science
- sociology
Music, Movies, and Books
The great dictator by Charlie Chaplin and other films of him; Mr 3000 with Bernie Mac; Carlito's way with Pennelope Ann Miller; Yojimbo by Akira Kurosawa; Unfortunately also all Star Wars and James Bond Movies; Furia de Titanes by somebody; The Natural with Robert Redford; The Minority Report with Tom Cruise actually not too much; China Connection with Bruce Lee; Major League with Charlie Sheen; The Elephant man by David Lynch; Good Bye Lenin by somebody; Before the rain by somebody from the Balkans; Iwo Jima Letters by Clint Eastwood; Batman -The Dark Knight- and many Superheroe films; Smoking/No smoking by Alain Resnais; A Comedia de Deus by Joao Cesar Monteiro; Dogville by Lars von Trier; Nirgendwo in Afrika by Caroline Link; Nazarin by Luis Bugnuel; Metropolis by Fritz Lang; Simon del Desierto by Luis Bugnuel; Broken Flowers by Jim Jarmush; Frau auf dem Mond by Fritz Lang; Sweeney Tod by Tim Burton; Gladiator by Ridley Scott; Coffee and Cigarrettes by Jim Jarmush: Scoop by Woody Allen and almost every single one of his films; The Pillow's Book by Peter Greenaway; Macario with Ignacio Lopez Tarso; Traffic with Benicio del Toro; A Clockwork Orange By Stanley Kubrik; Blade Runner by Ridley Scott; 2001 by Kubrik and 2010 by somebody; The fierce vampire killers by Roman Polanski; Inland Empire by David Lynch but not so much; Kill Bill II with Uma Thurman; American Beauty with Kevin Spacey; Shawshank's Redemption with Tim Robbins; the list is endless...
Las ensegnanzas de Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda; Leben des Galilei by Bertolt Brecht; El Idiota de Fyodor Dostoyewski; Arabian Nights; El Anticristo by Friedrich Nietzsche; La Divina Comedia by Dante Alligheri; The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien; Como escuchar la musica by Aaron Copland: Der kleine Prinz by Antoine du Saint Exupery; Asi hablo Zaratustra by Friedrich Nietzsche; Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond; Siddharta by Hermann Hesse; Demian by Hermann Hesse: El arte de amargarse la vida by Paul Watzlawik; El arte de amar by Erich Fromm; Der gerechte Richter by Anna Seghers; Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll; El cuento hispanoamericano by Seymour Menton; Biografía del poder by Enrique Krause; the list is endless too...
Music artists:
Frank Zappa; Otis Redding; Robert Schumann; Nine Inch Nails; Death; Ministry; Edvard Grieg; Charlie Parker; Dead can dance; Tori Amos; Carlos Chavez; John Coltrane; Juan Gabriel; Peter Gabriel; The Doobie Brothers; Young MC; Silvio Rodriguez; Luis Miguel; Schubert; Eric Clapton; Roger Waters; Yes; David Byrne; Maria Gryver; Agustin Lara; Rage Against the Machine; Peter Tosh; Vinnie Colaiuta; Steve Gadd; Michel Camilo; Keith Jarrett; Sting; Anton Bruckner; Los Panchos; Bob Marley; The Fifth Dimension; The Police; King Crimson; Antonio Vivaldi; Guastavino; John DeJohnnette; Miles Davis; Ludwig van Beethoven; Primus; Porno for Pyros; Red Hot Chilli Peppers; Slayer; Rush; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Carl Maria von Weber; J.S. Bach; Michel Petrucciani; Tarkan; Chick Corea; Sepultura; Jane's Addiction; Megadeth; U2; Sinead OConnor; Kate Bush; Laurie Anderson; Lisa Gerard; Faith No More; Metallica; Sly and the family stone; Tower of power; James Brown; Man!!! I can listen to soooo many varied kinds of music...it represents actually my main activity in life...to listen to music...again, this is indeed an everlasting list...
One Amazing Thing I've Done
To be able to contemplate the Ellora and Ajanta Caves near Pune in India...that was indeed some impressive moment of my life, although there are many other wonderful places I have seen in my life too...
Teach, Learn, Share
cards in a gangster type of mood...
dancing salsa...predominantly...though all dancing too!
choir singing...all sorts of singing (I love it...)
all sort of table games with or without dice
theater play rehersals
mountain walking
Oh!!! By the way....I play the drums...love to make music with anyone...
all sort of sports...I am a big time swimmer...I just love swimming!!!...well, at least I try to get some good performance...
Countries I've Visited
Belgium, Canada, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Palestine, Poland, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States
Countries I've Lived In
Austria, Germany, Mexico, United Kingdom


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Four motorcycles roar into a parking lot with a flash of chrome and pink decorative LED lights. Long black pigtails streaked with pink and gray fly past. A biker wearing a helmet with skull insignias and ponytails breezes by. • As the posse dismounts, one of the riders swings down the kickstand with her black stiletto boot. Helmets come off, and long hair tumbles out. The sleek cyclists straighten themselves and address each other by their riding names: Dukkes, Bebe, Rock Steady and Boo-Boo.
A group of men standing outside a local coffeehouse stare. The cyclists know this reaction well. The women also catch the attention of children, who often wave and smile as they pass.
In the bay area, watching women motorcyclists ride solo is like seeing a snowstorm in South Florida.
Heidi Laracuente and her friends Gail Guthrie, Sarah Murray and Ini Soto are part of a growing sisterhood in the motorcycle culture. The Motorcycle Industry Council reported a 28 percent rise in female motorcycle operators in 2008, the last year the council surveyed riders.
At Barney's of Brandon, sales manager Thomas Griner said sales to women cyclists have increased over the past 10 years.
Still, female motorcyclists are an unusual breed.
"We know we're far and few between," said Murray, 30, a federal Department of Defense contractor and former Marine.
Long hair and tight jeans aside, these ladies can handle their bikes. Guthrie, for example, said she knows how to change her R1 Yamaha's oil and battery and oil its chain. Before being certified to ride, each had to complete a safety course required by the state. Each rider says she has a healthy respect for the bike and the highway.
The women share a love of the open road that began with their husbands and fathers, who had motorcycles. Laracuente, 29, a mother of two and an insurance adjuster, remembers how she once feared motorcycles. But they kept calling her.
"I sat on it in the garage one day and said, 'One day I'm going to ride this thing,' " said Laracuente, who lives in Valrico. Eventually she got her own bike and now rides a black and gray 1300 Suzuki Hayabusa with pink LED accent lights.
In this group, there are novices and old hands. Soto, a 30-year-old who lives in Tampa, has been riding solo for nearly a year. Laracuente has ridden solo for two years. Guthrie and Murray are the veterans, with four years of experience apiece.
They remember the harrowing experience that was their first solo ride. And some of them have injuries to prove that they've been battle tested. Guthrie, who lives in Brandon, has bruised her knee and her chest.
Laracuente racked up a hipbone injury and "road rash," or lacerations. She gave herself the riding name Boo-Boo, which is what she told her family she had gotten when she arrived home from the accident.
Neither woman lets accidents deter her desire to ride.
"You trust yourself and you trust the bike," said Guthrie, 30, a purchasing assistant. "If you don't get back on, you'll never get back on."
• • •
The women, who have now gathered inside the coffee shop, talk about their fears, in particular, careless motorists. Sometimes drivers don't see the bikes. And the women said they can't stop as quickly as cars.
"You've got to keep going," said Murray, recalling a near-accident she had earlier in the day when a white Cadillac quickly merged in front of her on the road. "I paid too much money to stop."
Murray, who lives in Tampa, prefers to ride in open spaces, away from traffic. Sitting atop her Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic and cruising over local bridges is among her more peaceful riding experiences, she said.
"On the bike you can think," Murray said.
Guthrie agrees.
"This bike has helped me find myself," she said.
For Laracuente, riding is her sanity and therapy. Her motorcycle passion inspired her to lead the Click Chics, a branch of the co-ed motorcycle club known as the Click.
The group unites women who enjoy riding together for fun and to support fundraising efforts for causes like breast cancer research.
Laracuente said riding with women is different from riding with a mixed group. Women cater to one another in a way that men don't, she said. Men go for several miles until they get hungry. Women stop for more bathroom breaks. They ride slower, and they don't mind stopping to freshen up their lipstick.
Belinda Kramer can be reached at email@example.com.


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Long-awaited and much-needed demolition work at the site of a stalled supermarket development will start next month – to the delight and relief of residents.
Tesco has announced that it will clear the eyesore plot of its delayed Amble eco-store, which is earmarked for land north of Queen Street and adjacent to The Braid, from mid-August.
On Tuesday, a Tesco spokesman told the Gazette: "We're conscious of our responsibilities as a good neighbour in Amble and over previous months have been careful to secure and maintain our site on a regular basis.
"Having spoken to the community about the site earlier this year, it was clear that residents were keen for us to demolish the remaining buildings.
"We've been preparing the site for this process in the meantime, shutting off utility connections and carrying out routine surveys, and we're now in a position where we can start demolition in mid-August.
"I hope that this shows how determined we are to be a positive part of the Amble community."
The site is plagued by derelict buildings and has been a source of complaint from residents. Those living nearby have said that the situation is so bad, they have been unable to sell their properties.
The demolition news has come as a welcome relief.
A spokeswoman of the North Street and North View Residents' Association said: "It is about time. We have waited so long for this. We are absolutely delighted. It has been detrimental to the area."
The spokeswoman thanked Coun Peter Robinson and Eileen Williams for their support.
Amble Town Council has also been working to resolve the demolition issue.
While demolition work is set to start in August, Tesco still does not have a date for its revised supermarket plans to go out for public consultation.
The long-drawn-out saga has rumbled on for more than a year and the retail giant continues to drag its feet on producing an amended bid.
Tesco was due to commence work on the store in spring 2013 – after a previous start date was pushed back – but made an eleventh-hour decision to amend the development, halting progress. It originally said that consultation would commence in the autumn of 2013.
In February, there was renewed hope that consultation was imminent, with Tesco saying it was looking at a date in April.
But still nothing has happened.
And on Tuesday, a spokesman for the supermarket giant said: "We are considering our timescales for consulting on revised plans for our new store and will provide an update as soon as possible."


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A 28-year-old man died in Van Nuys on Monday night when he was shot several times by an unknown assailant, and police are asking for the public's help to find the killer.
Sevada Aghazarian was sitting in his car in a parking lot behind a row of businesses in the 13640 block of Burbank Boulevard just after 6 p.m. when the unknown assailant confronted him. Aghazarian was shot several times in the torso with a semi-automatic handgun, and the suspect fled the scene.
He was transported to a local hospital, where he was declared dead a short time later.
Detectives are now asking for the public's help to provide any information that will lead them to the shooter, described only as an Armenian man around 35 years of age.
The circumstances of the confrontation were not immediately clear, nor was it known if the two men knew each other.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective James Nuttall or Detective Marc Martinez of the Los Angeles Police Department's Van Nuys Division at 818-374-0040. Anonymous tips can be made by calling Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.


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Fasiha Kanwal
Detail Information
- An explicit quality indicator set for measurement of quality of care in patients with cirrhosisFasiha Kanwal
Saint Louis Veterans Administration VA, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri 63141, USA
Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 8:709-17. 2010..With an increasing emphasis on quality in health care and recognition of inconsistencies in the management of patients with cirrhosis, we established a set of explicit quality indicators (QIs) for their treatment...
- The quality of care provided to patients with varices in the department of veterans affairsPaula M Buchanan
Center for Outcomes Research, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
Am J Gastroenterol 109:934-40. 2014..However, the extent to which the patients receive recommended care is largely unknown. We evaluated the quality of varices related care and factors associated with receipt of such care...
- Measuring quality of care in patients with nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage: development of an explicit quality indicator setFasiha Kanwal
Saint Louis Veterans Administration VA and Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
Am J Gastroenterol 105:1710-8. 2010....


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Ask a Mechanic Online and Get Answers to Your Car Questions
Hi, You first need to remove the transaxle,then you can replace the clutch,here are the instructions from the service manual for doing the repair.First are instructioms for the transaxle R andR, then the clutch.The tool for lining up the clutch disc should should be included with the clutch replacement kit,or you can purchase an inexpensive one at the auto supply store,it is needed.
To Install:
To Remove:
CAUTION Avoid bending the cover flange by loosening the bolts 1 to 2 turns at a time in succession. Do not clean the clutch disc or release bearing with solvent.
NOTE: Make sure that the manufacturer's stamp is towards the pressure plate side.


text:
Press Releases :: Commission indicates no fundamental change to Universal Service
(23/11/2011) The European Commission today announced there is currently no need to change the basic concept, principles or scope of EU rules on Universal Service to include mobile telecommunications services and broadband connections at EU level. The Commission has come to this conclusion on the basis of a public consultation and its third periodic review of the scope of this service.
Commission Press Room: IP/11/1400


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Parent & Family Involvement
Ways to be Involved at School
Site Councils
At the beginning of each school year, each building principal forms a site council to identify and discuss school site performance goals and objectives. Volunteers may be school staff, parents or community members. The councils meet monthly in the evenings at 7 p.m. To inquire about serving your school's site council, contact your building principal.
School Volunteers
The schools utilize volunteer help at the building and classroom level on a daily basis. Before a person volunteers at one of the elementary buildings, the school district asks for him/her to complete a background check. Each elementary school's Web page has a link to the Volunteer Background Check Application. Contact your child's classroom teacher or building principal to learn more about the volunteer opportunities that are available.
Building Level Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO)
Early childhood, elementary and middle schools have building level PTOs. Parents have the opportunity to work directly with their child's school and teachers. Each school's PTO focuses closely on fundraising, room parents, and staff appreciation. A parent representative as well as a teacher representative is needed at each building. If you are interested in being a representative for your school or simply getting involved, contact your child's school or email firstname.lastname@example.com.
Booster Clubs
At the high school level, the Athletic Booster Club exists to provide support and funding for athletic needs not included in the athletic department's budget. The club sells season passes to sporting events, apparel and runs the concession stands at sporting events. For additional information, please go to http://www.usd266.com/booster clubs
Band Booster Clubs
At the high school level, the Band Booster Clubs exist to provide support and funding for the marching and concert bands. During marching season, the Band Boosters provide some meals, chaperones to competitions, fitting of the uniforms, organize fundraisers, and any other needs that may arise. During concert band additional support is provided as needed. For additional information, please go to http://www.usd266.com/booster clubs.
Be Involved with District Opportunities
Maize Education Foundation
This organization is a non-profit 501(c)3 and is overseen by a volunteer Board of Directors. The Foundation's goals are to support academic excellence in the Maize School District by raising funds unavailable through local, state or federal sources, to involve the community in support of quality education and to build an endowment to perpetuate funds for excellence in education. For more information, visit www.usd266.com/foundation.
Journey to Excellence Long Range Plan
The district has a long range plan, called the Journey to Excellence. Each year, there are opportunities to serve on various district level committees that work on specific action plans. In addition, there are typically several other district level initiatives that are being explored. To find out more about district level volunteer opportunities, contact the Educational Support Center's Communications Director at 316-350-2021.


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Europe's Leading Commercial Foreign Exchange Specialist
Based in the heart of the City of London, Monex Europe provides confidential, same day spot and forward foreign exchange contracts to a global client base of FTSE-listed companies, large corporations, SMEs and financial institutions.
25 September Morning Report
Daily market reports from our renowned team of analysts
Monex Europe has a client base of publicly and privately owned companies, financial institutions, investors and high net worth individuals.
A publicly listed investment grade global provider of financial products and services, with a presence in Europe, Asia, Africa and the US.
As part of the Monex Group, Monex Europe is able to offer deep liquidity and flexibility through its long standing relationships with global counterparties across different time zones.
News & Analysis
Hike on the horizon as "hawkish hold" order of the day at Fed Press Conference
Fed Press Conference – 21/9/16 The Fed's September meeting has turned out to be a "hawkish hold". While there was no hike today the FOMC has signalled that markets should expect an increase this year. Despite this clear indication, today's press conference was another triumph for the doves, particularly Williams and Brainard, who both got […]
Eurozone inflation likely to be a torturous, drawn out slog back to target
ECB Meeting – 8/9/16 Today's ECB presser was more about the hints than what was explicitly said. Draghi and company are dealing with stubborn low inflation dynamics, but with monetary policy already close to its limit, they seem content with waiting rather than spending what little political capital they have left in expanding stimulus further. […]


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Win tickets to see Josh Thompson!
The guy behind 'Way out Here' and 'Beer on the Table' is coming to The Blue Note Friday, July 26th. Win tickets all week to see Josh Thompson with Today's Best Country, Clear 99!
Where: The Blue Note on 9th Street
When: Friday, July 26th – doors 8p/show 9p
Tickets: $15


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Odds are heavy that Titans fans have seen the last of Jared Cook.
Look for Cook to take a lucrative offer from another NFL team and place his name on a rather long list of gifted Titans draft picks that looked every bit the part, but fell short of expectations and never reached their potential.
Potential? Cook is loaded with it. So was Ben Troupe, who could leap over tall buildings and would-be tacklers. So was Tyrone Calico, who could run like the wind, but was maddeningly inconsistent.
The Titans took Cook in the third round of the 2009 NFL draft. Troupe was the Titans first draft pick in 2004, taken in the second round after the Titans traded their first round pick to Houston.
Calico was drafted as a wide receiver in the second round in 2003. Like the others, Calico had NFL size, speed and athletic potential.
There's that word again. Potential. Two of those high draft picks had it. None of them took it to fruition here and washed out of the league leaving behind critics to answer how and why they fell short of expectations. Will Cook follow?
There has been debate whether Cook is a tight end, or a wide receiver. I've always thought he was a wide receiver trapped in a tight end's body.
The rap on him when he played for Steve Spurrier at South Carolina was that he could make highlight reel catches, but would often drop what were deemed routine catches. Cook came there as a wide receiver, but as a redshirt sophomore had physically grown into a tight end. He also was not very adept or interested in blocking like tight ends are asked to do.
Those traits followed Cook to Tennessee and will likely leave with him when he signs with another NFL team. Other teams will be captivated by Cook's size, speed and, yep, potential.
The best explanation of potential is you haven't done anything yet, because if you had lived up to your potential, you would no longer have potential.
Cook still has potential.
Last season, when Cook openly complained that he was not highlighted in the Titans offense, he caught 44 passes for 523 yards and only four touchdowns. A player with his size should be a prime target in the red zone.
During his four years here, Cook had eight touchdowns.
He ranked No. 24 last season in receptions by tight ends. He is no Rob Gronkowski, Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten, Greg Olsen, Heath Miller, Vernon Davis, Jimmy Graham or Brandon Myers.
The Titans planned to put a franchise tag on Cook. That would give him a one-year contract, the salary based on the average of NFL tight ends. That would put him in the $6 million category.
Ah, but Cook claimed he was not the tight end the Titans drafted. He was more of a wide receiver, at times lining up in the slot and hopefully running wide receiver routes.
If declared a wide receiver, the franchise tag would escalate to the $10 million range. That would have been a significant raise for the same player.
Rather than risk putting out $10 million for a tight end that has only eight touchdown receptions in four years, the Titans allowed him to leave as an unrestricted free agent and test the waters.
The Browns, with new offensive schemer Norv Turner, have already publicly announced interest in Cook. Other teams will be swayed by a player who looks like Tarzan, but sometimes plays like Jane.
As a tight end, Cook averaged 11.9 yards a catch. Nothing special, but then offensive coordinator Chris Palmer was let go during the season and former quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains moved to offensive coordinator where he will start next season.
Too bad Cook won't be here to play in a system that Loggains will install. If he ever reaches his potential, it will be somewhere else.
Contact wkrn.com Sports Columnist Joe Biddle at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text: "Bush is such a rare talent the Texans are lucky to have an opportunity to get him. Some years there's a tough debate about all the top picks. There are no questions about Bush. He's going to be a star. He makes the Texans better on a variety of levels. He makes them more interesting, too. It's one thing to pass on Young to take Bush. Young would mean parting company with Carr before finding out how good he is. Such a divorce wouldn't be pleasant. Bush is a simple fit. He arrives, joins Carr in the backfield, and things roll. Meanwhile, Young will need time. And the Texans have invested four years and millions of dollars in Carr. With a new coaching staff and an array of new talent, this will be his opportunity. It never should have taken this long. Domanick Davis is a serviceable NFL back, but he's not a game- breaker. With Johnson, Moulds and Bush, the Texans will have three players capable of quick scores. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/justice/3788381.html ******************************************************* Formerly a big "Draft VY" guy, Justice has seen the light and is firmly in the corner of the "Draft Reggie" crowd.


text:
A two page map of the campsite. Appears between pages 13 and 14 of the main story.
1st page of the photo album is uncredited. The other 2 pages are fan art. The fan art includes a picture of Little Archie by "Barry A. of Central City" and a picture of Little Veronica by "Diana P. of Themiscyra." More than likely, these are tributes to the Flash [Barry Allen] and Wonder Woman [Diana Prince] of DC Comics.


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UPDATE: Broomfield man accused of prostituting teenager
DENVER — A Broomfield man was charged today with prostituting a teenage runaway for nearly two years, offering her through Craigslist in exchange for cash and methamphetamine.
Robert Felix Gonzales, 39, is accused of multiple violent and sex crimes, including trafficking in children, sexual assault on a child and soliciting for child prostitution.
Investigators say he met the girl in 2011 when she was 14 and living with a foster family. He's accused of having sex with her, beating her, giving her drugs and alcohol and pimping her.
It wasn't clear if Gonzales had a lawyer. None was listed as representing him in court records.
Gonzales had already pleaded guilty to harboring a minor in May for keeping the girl in his home and was sentenced to three years of probation and a suspended jail sentence on July 24. He was arrested on the latest allegations on Oct. 31 after the girl cooperated with authorities.


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A popular lunch hangout just down the street from the Capitol. Renz Jennings' chicken taco languishes on his plate, untouched, as its owner explains the ins and outs of utility deregulation.
Florid, balding and flamboyant, Jennings, an attorney by training, sees beauty in the nuts and bolts of a job that is full of technical detail: chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission.
"To me, what we do is fascinating because it draws on so many things," he says. "You just can't do this unless you sit down and look at something in all of its intricacy. And sometimes the amount of detail is staggering, but that's the nature of utilities."
He also relishes his role as Democratic agent provocateur. Last month, when Governor J. Fife Symington III and Republican state Representative Jeff Groscost fired off nearly identical letters urging him to slow the pace of electric deregulation, Jennings would have none of it.
In their letters, Symington and Groscost argued that, in the wake of the massive blackouts that hit the West this summer, Jennings and the commission should move with caution toward deregulation.
"As the power outage demonstrates, safe and reliable power for Arizona citizens depends as much on its neighboring states as it does on Arizona's electric utilities," Symington's September 18 letter stated. "We simply must have regional standards that are mandatory for electric utilities operating in the Western area before we move into a competitive forum."
Calling Symington a politically "sick animal," Jennings accused the governor and the Republican-dominated Legislature of caving in to pressure from utilities who fear losing out in a deregulated marketplace.
"Sections of the two letters have exactly the same wording, and the tone of both letters reflects the position of those with a vested interest in obstructing the introduction of competition," Jennings wrote the next week.
Jennings pauses midbite as a tall, gaunt man in a bola tie ambles past.
"Hey, it's Rusty Bowers, the environmentalist!" Jennings chides loudly enough to turn a few heads. Bowers, the conservative Republican chairman of the House Environment Committee, nods and smiles wanly as he makes his way toward the door.
"He gets all worked up if you call him that," Jennings explains in a conspiratorial voice. "As if that was some kind of insult or something."
But Jennings has other matters on his mind this afternoon, specifically the upcoming race to decide who will fill the seat being vacated by his fellow Democratic commissioner, Marcia Weeks, who has decided to step down. He uses the occasion to stump for Barbara Sherman, the former Tempe councilwoman who will face off against Republican Jim Irvin.
"She's terrific, perfect for the job," Jennings gushes. "She's got a good record as an advocate, and she knows the issues."
And Irvin?
"He's not what this state needs," he says, shaking his head.
"Do Arizonans really want a commission that is controlled by a couple of millionaires?" he asks, referring to the fact that both Irvin and Republican Commissioner Karl Kunasek have hefty personal fortunes to their names. "I don't think so."
Jennings, no pauper himself, produces a manila folder containing a sheaf of charts showing how Arizona's utility customers have historically fared badly under Republican-dominated commissions.
"This is what people can look forward to," Jennings says, brandishing a graph.
But if he is concerned about policy, Jennings also has political interests. He stands to become a wallflower on the three-member commission--whose agenda he and Weeks have largely shaped since 1985--if Sherman, his 11th-hour, hand-picked candidate, does not mount something that resembles a challenge to Irvin's well-funded, smoothly running campaign.
Think of Arizona's three-member Corporation Commission as the Rodney Dangerfield of state politics.
Its members don't have the satisfaction of seeing their names in the paper all that often, and their jobs don't make them instant hits at parties.
Not that what the commission does--regulating the state's utilities and deciding how much they can charge customers--isn't important; it's just that much of it is so arcane that people find it about as enjoyable as a root canal.
There have been times, however, when the commission has become the center of controversy. The last was in 1985, when voters swept Weeks and Jennings into office amid allegations that the two Republican commissioners they replaced were in bed with the utilities.
The uprising stemmed from a series of massive rate hikes the two Republicans had approved, much of which was used to fund construction of the Palo Verde nuclear plant.
This year's race, however, has stirred little interest.
Asked why he hasn't done a survey on the race, veteran political pollster Earl de Berge says: "Frankly, people don't really care about it."
All of which seems to suit Jennings just fine.
"Really, this is a commentary on the commission's success as much as anything," he explains. "The reason people don't think about us much right now is because we have held the line for consumers."
Though unnoticed, it would be a mistake to dismiss this race as unimportant. The election comes at a time when the commission is preparing to launch into one of the more daunting tasks in its history: nudging Arizona's electric power market, long monopolized by Arizona Public Service Company, toward competition, or "electric wheeling," through which consumers can pick and choose power providers much the same way they do a long-distance carrier. Earlier this year, the Democrats also adopted rules aimed at opening up local phone service to competition.
The two candidates--Barbara Sherman and Jim Irvin--are a study in extremes.
Former Tempe councilwoman and neighborhood activist Sherman sees a Corporation Commission seat as her chance to continue a long career of advocacy.
Irvin says he wants to change the way the commission does business.
As of late August, according to records on file with the secretary of state, Irvin had $100,000 in his war chest--a startling sum considering that a commissioner earns only half that amount annually.
Spending that kind of money for, of all things, a seat on the Corporation Commission is not without precedent in Arizona. In 1994, Kunasek dumped more than $165,000 into his campaign. Irvin has given every indication that he will continue his spending right up until the election.
As of August 31, Sherman, a latecomer to the race, had managed to scrounge together a mere $10,000.
Barbara Sherman, all five feet four inches of her, marches into the bustling Democratic headquarters on North Central Avenue and heads toward the corner appropriated by her small campaign staff.
In the background, phones ring and volunteers swirl around a lectern, making last-minute adjustments as TV crews set up to record the latest salvo that Democratic congressional hopeful Steve Owens will fire at Republican incumbent Representative J.D. Hayworth.
But Sherman's corner is quiet. A lone staffer tends the phone behind a desk as Sherman inspects a newly minted "Sherman for Corporation Commission" campaign sign leaning against the wall. Though the election is little more than a month away, the sign is from the first batch to come off the presses.
Nothing in Sherman's appearance or demeanor suggests she is more than just another harried campaign volunteer. Even during political functions, she is not one to show up in a power suit, preferring instead horn-rimmed glasses, sensible shoes and a somewhat frumpy wardrobe that would seem appropriate for a librarian.
Her tendency toward modesty goes deeper than her appearance, though. When asked to tell about herself, she must be prodded to mention her accomplishments, dwelling instead on those of her father, a Rhodes scholar and former law school dean who, now in his 70s, still takes cases. "A brilliant man," she says.
But Sherman, 54, is no political neophyte. During the past 30 years, she has built a political resume--both behind the scenes and on the front lines--that belies her retiring exterior.
A self-described "soccer mom" who early on "decided to stay home," Sherman stumbled into political activism shortly after moving to the Valley in the mid-'60s with her husband, Tom. She was freshly graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor's degree in philosophy.
The young couple purchased a Tempe ranch house in the shadow of the Phoenix Zoo. Back then, the area to the east of the zoo was mostly farmland and scrub desert, but it was not going to stay that way for long. A farm nearby was soon snapped up for development and, in a pattern that would be repeated all over the Valley, was zoned for high-density residential construction.
Afraid of seeing the desert overrun with apartments and condos, Sherman mobilized to lead the fight to convince Tempe zoning officials to lower the density.
"We were really ahead of the curve on that one," Sherman recalls.
But there were other threats lurking. When Sherman learned in the mid-'70s that Sky Harbor International Airport was planning a new runway that threatened to turn the skies over her home into the airborne equivalent of the Autobahn, she once again mobilized, this time to impose limits on the jetliners' flight paths that steered them over the nearby Salt River bed and away from homes.
"I was out there every day . . . making sure the airplanes stayed where they were supposed to," she says.
Sherman became such an expert on the subject, in fact, that she was hired on as a consultant by one of the engineering firms involved in the project.
After completing a four-year term on the Tempe City Council, Sherman stepped down in 1992 despite popular support among her district's constituents because "life on the council was not conducive to family life."
Today, she runs a small import business specializing in South American arts and crafts. She and her husband also raise emus--big, flightless birds related to ostriches that are prized for their feathers and meat.
With the November 5 election looming, Sherman has precious little time to get her record or her message across to voters. Because of a family conflict, she did not even file to run for the job until June, well after Irvin had declared his candidacy. For months, the Irvin machine has been chugging away while Arizona's anemic Democratic apparatus struggled to find a candidate to defend its Corporation Commission majority, the only one it holds in the state.
By now, Irvin's name has sprung up on almost every street corner, his ads have appeared in the papers and his populist-sounding radio spots, in which he rails against everything from power outages to dirty water to sluggish telephone service courtesy of U S West, have blanketed the airwaves.
They are attack ads, but it's not Sherman they're attacking. Rather, by maligning the commission, its way of doing business and its agenda for the past ten years, they are a not-so-subtle slap at the man who has shaped that agenda: Renz Jennings.
Jim Irvin. Age: 46. Occupation: Former elementary school teacher, now president and CEO of Continental Security Guards, a company founded by his father which now employs almost 900 people.
Married to Carol. Three children. Education: Bachelor's degree in primary education from the University of Southern California, master's in business administration from Loyola Marymount University.
Political background: Arizona Republican party, former finance director, precinct committeeman and chairman of Trunk 'N Tusk, a GOP booster organization. Longtime member of Rotary International. Serves as volunteer deputy sheriff.
In 1994, Irvin squandered almost $350,000 of his own money on a losing primary race for secretary of state against well-liked fellow Republican Jane Hull. Much of that money was channeled into high-profile attack ads that blasted Hull as a career politician who wanted the $54,000-a-year post solely to increase her retirement benefits.
Never mind that Hull's husband is a doctor.
Though unsuccessful in his bid, Irvin posted respectable numbers, netting 48 percent of the vote to Hull's 52. At the time, Irvin was dubbed "the mystery man" and a "blank slate" by local pundits, many of whom wondered why anyone would spend so much money to become secretary of state. (That was then. Now, it appears more likely every day that Hull could succeed Fife Symington as governor.)
Irvin also was regarded as a bit of a paradox, and still is. Though Jennings would like to paint him as an appendage of the Governor's Office, Irvin shows no apparent intention of marching lock step with the governor anytime soon; he labeled Symington's proposal to eliminate the state's personal income tax "unworkable." He is also pro-choice on abortion.
Two years later, Irvin remains an enigma, and he seems to prefer it that way. He would speak only briefly with New Times while attending a candidate's forum in Kearney, a small mining town southeast of the Valley.
The event is sponsored by People for the West!, a conservative organization that lobbies on behalf of extractive industries. About 150 people, many of them employed at the nearby copper mine, file into the high school auditorium to hear a slate of candidates, including J.D. Hayworth.
Sherman speaks first. In the auditorium, her voice fails to carry well, making her sound almost girlish. Her speech is brief and halting, as if she hasn't had time to polish her delivery.
After she jokes about the disadvantages of being short, the moderator lowers the microphone for her and Sherman gets to the point.
"There are significant differences between my opponent and me," she says, pointing to her track record as an advocate and councilwoman. In contrast, she says, Irvin is trying to buy his way into office.
"And," she adds, "he has earned several million dollars from the Arizona Public Service Company, which represents an historic conflict of interest between him and one of the utilities he is supposed to regulate."
The jab is a reference to a deal Irvin once had with APS under which his company provided security at the newly built Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. Jennings has hammered on the point as well.
Sherman goes on to charge that Irvin has an additional conflict with APS because the utility recently won approval to start a home-security subsidiary in a joint venture with Honeywell, Inc.
"I don't know where a lot of this stuff comes from," the stocky, blunt-featured Irvin says once he takes the podium.
Though no accomplished orator, Irvin manages to stay on message better than Sherman. His delivery is smoother, more relaxed. The gist of the speech is not appreciably different from the text of his radio ads: that the commission has failed in its mandate under the Arizona Constitution to protect the interests of consumers.
"A tree falls in Oregon, and we lose power?" he says in wonderment, referring to the summertime blackouts.
Irvin goes on to lambaste the commission for things that have traditionally fallen beyond its scope, such as failing to regulate water quality among the state's thousands of small, rural water companies, and allowing many of those same companies to skate by with delinquent property taxes.
Nevertheless, the message seems to strike a chord. Afterward, Irvin steps outside for a drink of water.
"I really don't know where they get all of this stuff," he says of Sherman's dig about his conflict of interest. "I had a contract with APS. So what? That was six, seven years ago. What does that have to do with anything now?"
A reporter asks about the security deal between APS and Honeywell, which places the two in direct competition with Irvin's own company.
"Simple," he says, a little irked. "I declare a conflict of interest and I abstain from voting."
Irvin calls Jennings' allegation that his campaign is being run out of Symington's office "ridiculous," saying that, of all the state's offices, the commission should be nonpartisan.
"And who are they to criticize me?" he asks, referring to the help Weeks, who co-chairs Sherman's campaign, and Jennings have provided to his opponent.
Jennings makes no qualms about helping Sherman.
"Let me be just straight-out," Jennings says. "I'm helping her because I think he [Irvin] is inappropriate. I don't think he has any credentials whatsoever. He's a seller of services, just like utilities are sellers of product or service. And he hasn't paid any kinds of dues. He hasn't shown any interest in these issues."
But then again, neither has Sherman--until recently.
As for the charge that he is a country-club Republican, Irvin notes that Sherman's 1994 filing for a failed Tempe mayoral bid listed a hefty portfolio of 59 separate investments. Her filings for this race list 53 separate investments; the filings do not require disclosure of their value.
"She's quite comfortable, believe me," he says.
Inside the auditorium, the boom of Hayworth's voice can be heard.
"I'm sorry, I don't want to miss this," he says, shrugging as he turns to walk away.
Irvin and Sherman are scheduled to meet for additional debates in Tucson and Phoenix. In the meantime, Irvin's ads continue to play out on the radio and his signs continue to go up as he funnels more money into a race for one of the state's most obscure offices.
But will his investment pay off? Without polls to judge the race by, it's tough to say who's ahead.
One Republican operative who has watched the race closely, though, points out that Irvin's money is no guarantee of victory.
Ever since the 1985 debacle that swept Jennings and Weeks into office, the GOP source says, voters--especially Sun City Republicans who are more than willing to embrace antitax Republican governors and legislators--have balked at allowing Republicans to run the commission that regulates utility rates.
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"Their feeling is they got burned the last time," he says. "Irvin will have his work cut out for him trying to convice them he'll be any different."
The presidential race is another factor working against Irvin, the source says. If Bob Dole generates tepid support among Republicans, the GOP turnout will naturally be lower.
"There are a lot more things working against Irvin than for him," the source says. "This is definitely an uphill battle.


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Beware the Ides of March...
Julius Caesar upset plenty of high-up figures along the way to eventually taking charge of the Roman Empire. It's a story recorded in the annals of history, but in modern-day Argentina it's being re-enacted on the football pitch (and in the boardroom). The names of the personalities involved, granted, are a dream for the football writer who's also a fan of stretched analogies, but the plot has enough real intrigue to inspire Shakespeare, were he still around.
Julio Cesar Falcioni was appointed Boca Juniors manager in December after an impressive few years' work with Banfield. The man with the Roman name is known in Argentina as El Emperador ('The Emperor'), which ought to be a gift to headline writers across the country, because he's caused a hell of a fuss after dropping the one man who can claim near God-like status at Boca: a certain Juan Roman Riquelme, often known here by just his second given name.
Falcioni worked long and hard after arriving at Boca to secure the signature of the man who'd been his playmaker-in-chief at Banfield, Walter Erviti. There were questions asked about whether Erviti and Riquelme would be able to play together, and what kind of system Falcioni might be planning to adopt to fit both creators into his side. The idea that Erviti might actually be coming in because Riquelme seems physically incapable of playing two matches in a row at present got short shrift. After all, Boca managers don't drop Riquelme.
During the summer friendlies, Boca had by far the most impressive showing, without either of the two players (Riquelme was still injured, and Erviti didn't arrive until the very end of the transfer window). The side that claims the honours in the meaningless 'Summer Tournaments', though, often don't end up looking quite so impressive when the competitive action starts. Boca's cause wasn't helped by the inevitability of an only semi-fit Riquelme's return.
In the opening match of the Torneo Clausura, Boca hosted Mendoza's Godoy Cruz - featuring this year in the Copa Libertadores for the first time - and got thumped 4-1. Boca's only goal was scored by Erviti on his debut, but his celebrations were muted, given that it only made the score 1-3. Riquelme actually played pretty well, creating a good few chances and even hitting the post, but the next day Olé ran a poll on their website asking, "Was it Riquelme's fault Boca got beaten so badly?" As if an attacking midfielder could be to blame for his side conceding four goals.
During training the next week, Riquelme picked up a minor knock which ruled him out for the second round clash with Racing. Falcioni opted for a more defensive 4-4-2 formation without a dedicated playmaker, and Boca's midfield looked far more combative, even if Diego Rivero played awfully (eventually seeing a red card) and the team were ultimately lucky to win 1-0 away to a side also adjusting to the loss of an influential playmaker - in Racing's case Colombian star Giovanni Moreno, arguably the best player of the 2010 Torneo Apertura.
That win was ten days ago, and last week Riquelme was back in training. He announced to the press that he was fine, and would be starting against All Boys in La Bombonera on Saturday just gone. Riquelme had picked himself. He decided his role too. When asked whether he'd consider playing as less of a number 10 and more of a 5 - a deeper-lying, more defensive midfielder, still key to an Argentine side's passing pattern - Riquelme replied that; "I think the fans of Boca want to see Riquelme in the role he's always played."
And then Julio Cesar Falcioni did something that, for a Boca manager in the last few years, has been unthinkable. With Riquelme available for selection, Falcioni dropped him from the squad. On the day of the match Riquelme wasn't even in the stadium. With Falcioni still cautious after that opening day thrashing, even Erviti only played the last half hour of the game, as Boca limply edged towards a 0-0 draw (although they did have a legitimate goal disallowed for a phantom 'kick' on All Boys' goalkeeper Nicolas Cambiasso, brother of Esteban, just before half time).
Riquelme has talked about being unsure whether he was coming or going under Falcioni, and on Monday things got serious when Boca director Horacio Palmieri announced on radio that on Wednesday he'll resign his position and stand later this year for the Boca presidency against incumbent Jorge Amor Ameal. He claimed he's been displeased with "the direction the club is going" for a while, but also spoke out on Riquelme's situation. "Only a lunatic would drop Riquelme... I don't understand why he didn't feature against All Boys. They should at least have shown him some respect by giving him 45 minutes."
The fact that Riquelme has spent practically all of the last nine months injured is by the by for the majority at Boca. When he looked to have recovered initially, he was rushed back one match before November's superclasico with River Plate. The result? An injury after six minutes against River, a half-time substitution, and another long stretch on the sidelines.
Whether the decision was tactical on Falcioni's part, or whether he's trying to stamp his authority on a team and club in thrall to their own Roman ruler, it seemed sensible. Riquelme has been rushed back too many times, and has broken down each time. Boca simply haven't allowed him to reach full match fitness at his own pace. When available, fully fit or not, he has to play, and that's caused him even more problems.
The majority don't seem to agree with me, though. The Boca power struggle may continue for some time yet, if Falcioni survives until the Ides of March (or another two matches, to take him to the 15th). It's going to be fascinating seeing how it all plays out.
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There is increasing interest in applying a precision medicine approach to understanding exercise as a potential treatment for cancer. We aimed to inform this new approach by appraising epidemiologic literature relating postdiagnosis physical activity to cancer outcomes overall and by molecular/genetic subgroups. Across 26 studies of breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer patients, a 37% reduction was seen in risk of cancer-specific mortality, comparing the most versus the least active patients (pooled relative risk = 0.63; 95% confidence interval: 0.54–0.73). Risks of recurrence or recurrence/cancer-specific death (combined outcome) were also reduced based on fewer studies. We identified ten studies of associations between physical activity and cancer outcomes by molecular or genetic markers. Two studies showed statistically significant risk reductions in breast cancer mortality/recurrence for the most (versus least) physically active estrogen receptor–positive/progesterone receptor–positive (ER+/PR+) patients, while others showed risk reductions among ER−PR− and triple-negative patients. In colorectal cancer, four studies showed statistically significant risk reductions in cancer-specific mortality for patients with high (versus low) physical activity and P21 expression, P27 expression, nuclear CTNNB1−, PTGS2 (COX-2)+, or IRS1 low/negative status. One prostate cancer study showed effect modification by Gleason score. As a means to enhance this evidence, future observational studies are needed that will measure physical activity objectively before and after diagnosis, use standardized definitions for outcomes, control for competing risks, assess nonlinear dose–response relations, and consider reverse causality. Ultimately, randomized controlled trials with clinical cancer outcomes and a correlative component will provide the best evidence of causality, relating exercise to cancer outcomes, overall and for molecular and genetic subgroups. Clin Cancer Res; 22(19); 4766–75. ©2016 AACR.
Note: Supplementary data for this article are available at Clinical Cancer Research Online (http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/).
- Received January 8, 2016.
- Revision received May 9, 2016.
- Accepted May 10, 2016.
- ©2016 American Association for Cancer Research.
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