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MSNBC Undercover: Sex Slaves in America premiered Monday, December 3 at 11 PM ET/PT.
It's a story that begins in the ruins of the shattered Soviet empire.
Sophia: I saw 10 girls. They just pushed me into this room and closed the door. They made all of us take our clothes off and took us out naked.
A tragic but all too familiar tale. Young women in eastern Europe chasing dreams of a better life. But lured instead into sexual slavery.
Sophia: These half-drunk men are examining me, and I realize my life depends on them.
Enticed by fake ads and phony employment agencies, with slick brokers promising good jobs with decent salaries.
Man on hidden camera: Salary starts from $200 a month.
A single mother we'll call Sophia left her son in Ukraine for a housekeeping job in the Czech Republic. Her enslavement was immediate.
Sophia: I never left this building after I got there. I was locked in one room the whole time, then I'd go to the bar. Then one client would pick me up, and I'd have to service him. And then I'd go back to the bar and then to the room.
Sophia says she was forced to have sex with up to 11 men a day. Her friend Natasha was sent to a neighboring brothel, owned by the village police chief.
Natasha: The brothel is on the highway, there were nine of us. We had to dance half naked in the window all the time. If we sat down, we would get fined. It's impossible to run away. There is nothing except highways and brothels. There are 25 brothels in this tiny village. There are no taxis, only one bus, and they don't let anybody out.
These roadside brothels on an isolated country road near the Czech and German border are just a small part of a world wide marketplace. Young and attractive women from eastern Europe and Asia forced to work in the capitols of Europe, and the Middle East. It's a vast global crime and if you thought that the United States was not involved, think again.
Marcy Foreman: San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, St. Paul, Minnesota, McAllen, Texas, it's, it's happened in, in almost every major community you, you can think of.
It happened in Detroit, and it happened to a woman we'll call Katya.
Katya: I was watching a lot of TV shows about human trafficking, and I could never believe that can happen to me. And when I get in this situation, I believe, and this can happen anytime.
2 years ago a 20-year-old university student signed up with a friend to study English abroad in a program that involved waitressing in Virginia Beach, but the girls would never reach Virginia. And they wouldn't be waitresses.
Bridgette Carr: They were met at the airport by Michail Aronov and Alex Maksimenko, the traffickers. And they were told that, you know what? Plans have changed. You're going to be going to Detroit. You need to get on this bus. So, they were nervous, but they thought, this is the plan, maybe my job is now in Detroit. They didn't even know where Detroit was. They didn't speak much of the language. When they got to Detroit, as Katya says, everything changed.
After a grueling 15 hour bus ride to Detroit, the men brought them to a hotel and asked them for their passports and money. Then they gave the girls the true and terrible terms of their employment.
Katya: They said, "You guys, because we brought you here, you should give us $12,000 each for everything, and then for paperwork, you're gonna give us $25,000," which for me was iYou guys got to work for us and give, give us money for three months."
Katya: They brought us clothes. It was strip clothes and shoes. And they say, you guys gonna work at the club named Cheetah. And you guys gonna work Monday to Saturday, double-shift, 2:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.
For Katya, a year of terror and abuse was about to begin.
Katya: Every morning, we wake up at 12:00. We have one hour to put our makeup, to eat breakfast and be ready for them because they was waiting for us in the car outside of our apartment every single day. We would go to work, work 12 hours a day there. And, and the end of the shift, 2:00 in the morning, they was waiting for us outside of the club in the car. We will sit in the car and give the money back. They drove us back to our apartment. Sometimes they rape us there. Emotionally, physically, they could do anything with us. That was every single day in my life for one year.
The two students were kept under lock and key and constant surveillance. The traffickers maintained control with intimidation and a campaign of terror.
Katya: I was threatened every single day. When we go, go into work, in the car, he was telling us, you're gonna have to make 1,000 a day. If you're not making this money, we'll find a way when you can make this money. That was really scary too. He was telling us that he can sell us to any country, to any person any time.
Bridgette Carr: I know of women who have been bought for $300, $400, $500. Once I started looking into the issue and realizing that I wanted to be an advocate for victims of human trafficking, it seemed like I couldn't turn around without trafficking hitting me in the face
Katya: Almost every girl who I knew was sexually abused, raped. It wasn't in front of me, but it was another room where I could hear. I could actually see after the girl was talking about that.
Bridgette Carr: Alex and Michail had keys to the apartment. And they treated both the apartment and the individuals inside it as their own property. Alex would walk in and tell some of the women, let's go. It's time to get in the shower, which meant, he was going to rape them. And you couldn't say no. And even if you did say no, he would still force you to do it. He would force you whenever he wanted, for some women, multiple times per week, every week, every month, sometimes spanning over years of time.
Michael Rataj: Do I believe that some of them had sex against their will? I don't believe any of the girls had sex against their will.
Michael Rataj Is Alex Maksimenko's lawyer and he admits…
Michael Rataj: They were laundering money. They did take a lion's share of the money that the girls made in the bars. They did hide it from the government. They did bring the girls here without the proper immigration papers. And of course the girls were forced to work in these bars. But in terms of them being bought and sold for like a cow or pig, you know, or a chattel, ok, or the allegation that they were routinely sexually abused, just did not happen.
Katya: The girl who was living with me, she was, I saw her body was, (stammers) um, violence. You could see the, um, how do you call, scratch and bites. It was scary to look at it. I was thinking, I'm gonna be next if I will say something. I'm just gonna stay as quiet as I can, go through it, for a next day, for a better future.
Later Federal Agents would question Alex Maksimenko's about the women he controlled. When asked about the rape accusations, Maksimenko's said it was his right. After all, he claimed to be their boss.
For almost a year, 20-year-old Katya, a university student from Ukraine was forced to work strip clubs in Detroit by two men she thought were taking her to a waitressing job in America.
Alex Maksimenko's and Michail Aronov imprisoned her and 15 other women in separate apartments around Detroit.
Katya: We couldn't kept any money in our apartment because the guys has keys.
They have, I believe, there was listen us in the apartment. And we could not hide nothing. They're say, if they find at least a dollar, it will be something bad happen to us.
The 12 hour shifts yielded up to $1000 a night but the women saw none of it.
Katya: They have a beautiful house. They have a Mercedes, brand new. They have Cadillacs. They have the best clothes, Versace. They have everything. They spend all our money for their well-being.
Michael Rataj: There was no armed guard outside their door. Maksimenko didn't sit inside the bar the entire 12 hours with a gun in his pocket.
Michael Rataj, Maksimenko's attorney argues the girls could have fled anytime.
You know if you make any false moves, I'm gonna kill ya. There was none of that. They could have called the police any time.
Bridgette Carr, Katya's attorney scoffs at that notion. She says the girls knew that Maksimenko had recently firebombed the car of a girl's sister who had tried to help her escape.
Bridgette: Alex and Michail told her, if you try to leave, we'll kill your family back in Ukraine. These are women who are already taken from everything they knew, Thought they were going to something completely different. Thought they were gonna be waitresses in, in Virginia Beach for the summer and then go back to university in Ukraine. So, if, if these men could do that to them, why couldn't they kill.
Katya says the constant fear and humiliation led to depression and worse.
Katya: You know, 12 hours a day, at the same place, over and over again, the same people, it was terrible. It was the, the nastiest place I ever been. I felt miserable every single day. When I was going to shower, I was hating myself, I was even thinking about suicide many times because I didn't have a choice to get out. And one day, it was just enough for me. I was thinking I'm gonna do this. I will see how it's gonna go.
For Katya, the only alternative to suicide was a risky escape that would be months in the planning. It turns out that her girlfriend--had found an American man, a customer who had promised to help them.
Katya: In February we decided it's enough and were going to have to get out. We have a guy who we can trust, who we build a trust to him and he said he will brought us to immigration and they will help us there.,
That friend called the local FBI Agent, Immigration Agent Angus Lowe took the call.
Angus Lowe: I got a call from a concerned citizen. He'd met some girls working at a strip club called Cheetahs. He said you should check this club, these girls are treated like slaves in there.
On February 14, 2005, in the dark hours of early dawn, the girls made a run for it. The Michigan native was waiting for them in his car.
Katya: In the morning, 6:00, after work, we put all our clothes in the garages. And we're gonna get out outside like we was with the garbage. So, we're thinking, if they will come up, that we go with the garbage. And we put everything in the car, close our door and we run away.
Lowe: This is the apartment where the first two women escaped and had initially come to ICE were held. They were held in this apt by Maksimenko and Aronov. As the girls decided that they were going to try to escape they began trying to collect some money and what they would do is hide the money in a cookie tin which they buried under a bush. Agents recovered the cookie tin shortly after the arrests and there was about $700 in the cookie tin which is about all they were able to save up in preparation for their escape.
They were free, but not of the terror that had haunted them for so long.
Katya: When I run away, the same day, I couldn't sleep. I was so scare. I call my mom. I say, I don't know what's gonna be. Sorry. I'm still very scared. Sorry.
Grace Kahng: What did your mother say when you called her?
Katya: When I run away she said the she very grateful that I did it. And when I saw her first time for two years she was so excited to see me alive.
Lowe: When we went into house on a search warrant. Very quickly when we got in we found a shoe box full of cash in the living room just sitting next to a coach in the basement in the rafters we found a small bag with $52,000 in it and there was keys to a bunch of safe deposit boxes. We found 62,000 in one safe deposit box, about 121,000 and then the one I got to open by chance happened to be the one with the most money in it; is was $255,000 in it.
When all was said and done over $500,000 in cash had been confiscated along with guns and special recording devices.
Angus: It's helpful for the trafficker to know what's going on maybe use the recordings to put one girl against another. It puts more fear in the girls because somehow these men know things they weren't privy to.
The federal case against Maksimenko was a slam dunk and his lawyer knew it. Rather than take his chances in front of a jury, Maksimenko plead guilty to, and was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.
Michael Rataj: These girls were forced to work in strip clubs in Detroit, 6 days a week, 12 hour shifts, which is really a long time to be in high heels and all that, and they took all their money, hid their papers, isolated them from other people and basically tried to control as much of their lives as they could.
Attorney Rataj says despite his client's treatment of the girls, in many ways he's a victim.
Michael Rataj: In a perverse way, he's a victim of his upbringing, his father, how things are in Ukraine. Certainly he's a victim. He didn't have a father who taught him how to throw a baseball. His father is a criminal, taught him how to be a criminal. So again, yeah, in a perverse way, Alex is a victim.
While Alex Maksimenko received 14 years and trafficker Michael Aronov received seven years for cooperating with federal agents. Katya says neither sentence is long enough.
Katya: I feel that when, (stammers) that she told, judge, that they will sit for that amount of time, I feel it wasn't enough for them. What they did to us, it was terrible.
Even today with both men behind bars, Katya lives in fear. Her mother still lives in Ukraine and the old rules still apply.
Katya: Alex's father, he knows my mom. He knows where she lives. And he visited a couple of times after I ran away. He threatened her. He used very aggressive words. He said, if I will not stop talking, that will blood come out from me.
Katya is one of the few women with the courage to come forward. She testified in congress last month.
Katya: And every day I'm living, I'm scared that something can happen.
Bridgette Carr: People will often talk about, there's been a bust and a number of prostitutes have been found. Well, I wish our language could change because pro- saying that someone is a prostitute denotes a choice. These women, many women are actually prostituted.
Marcy Forman oversees 305 special agents tasked with cracking criminals who traffick women.
Often times people think that crime only happens in the big city. It doesn't, it happens throughout small communities, medium sized communities and large communities. We're seeing such, such horrific crimes involving sex trafficking it's all about the money. These organized criminals don't think of these people as human beings. They think of them as dollars and cents.
You'll see she's absolutely right. MSNBC goes undercover in search of sex slaves in America
Look closely along the streets and highways of major American cities, and the trained eye can spot the tell-tale signs of sex for sale. While eager patrons may welcome a growth in secret brothels that advertise new girls every week, law enforcement sees a growing menace, where foreign nationals are forced into modern-day sexual slavery.
Maritza Conde-Vasquez, FBI Agent: You see a pretty girl, heavy makeup, sexy dress, and you automatically think she's enjoying what she's doing.
FBI agent Maritza Conde-Vasquez says the men who frequent these secret brothels should understand the girls they buy work under duress.
Conde-Vasquez: The truth is when you are told you're going to be here working as a prostitute, and if you don't do that they're going to kill your family, your children, your siblings, or they going to beat you up.They're going to kill you. That's enough to keeping you there. You don't have to be in chains, because the chains in this case are psychological, not physical.
In just 2 years, the Houston field office of the FBI has interviewed over 100 women who say they were virtual prisoners. Prisoners forced to sell their bodies for cash, 14 hours a day, 6 days a week.
Conde-Vasquez: They were usually young, as young as 14 years old.
Agent Conde-Vasquez, who heads the trafficking task force, says hundreds of young women are held here in these seemingly harmless looking bars and restaurants.
Conde-Vasquez: Cantinas do look very normal from the outside. And if you drive by one of them, you would not think more than, oh, what a busy business.
Carla Sanchez: He raped me. I didn't know him.
20 year old Carla Sanchez says instead of the restaurant job she was promised the man who brought her here from El Salvador beat and raped her within hours of her arrival in Houston.
Carla: He said, I'm gonna introduce you to some guys and you're going to drink with them because every drink you have goes toward paying off your trip here.
Sanchez says that Victor's Cantina, like dozens of other cantinas work like this. If a client bought a beer, it cost him 3 dollars. If the client wanted a girl, he had to pay 13 dollars for her beer. In the time it took that girl to drink that beer, he was allowed to touch her anywhere on her body.
Lucia Hernandez: He took me over to one of the clients who was a good friend of his. He said, look, fresh meat from El Salvador.
Just a few weeks after, single mother Lucia Hernandez said goodbye to her toddlers, Hernandez found herself in a cantina, surrounded by strange men.
Lucia: He grabbed my hand and swung me around. He put me between the man's legs. And he said, here, you can do whatever you want with her. The man grabbed me and put his hands on me. And I said, let go of me! He said, Jimina can force the women if they don't want it. But not me, I said.
Hernandez had left her successful bakery business in El Salvador, for what she thought was a well paying factory job. Instead like Carla and 20 other women, she found herself trapped in a squalid cantina. The devoted mother, who never drank alcohol and lived a respectful life, pleaded with her captor.
Lucia: I said, Walter, I don't like this work. I'm leaving; I'll pay you some other way. But I will pay you. He said, don't forget, you have 2 months to pay me back. $6500. If you don't pay me back in 2 or 3 months it'll be $9000. He said, you can't leave here. I said, why, if I'm still going to pay you with what I owe. He said, just see what happens if you try to leave. I'll go after your family.
Agent Conde-Vasquez says, traffickers view women as human ATMs. If the $13 beers aren't enough, they offer patrons access to private rooms in the back of the cantina.
Conde-Vasquez: That's how the scheme worked. $65 for 50 minutes of sex, several times a night per girl. Some of them even have quotas to comply with. One of the girls was told you need to make a thousand dollars a night. Or if you don't, we're going to beat you up. You're going to be in trouble. And if you do the math, $65 per 20, 30 clients a night, that's a lot of money.
Lucia: Every time I started work I had to drink 5 or 6 beers. So that I wouldn't feel like I existed. So that I could escape.
Every month the girls were given birth control injections. If the girls became pregnant, they were forced to have an abortion. Just how brutal were the traffickers? The FBI says a 16 year old girl who arrived from El Salvador, 5 months pregnant, was forced to have an abortion. She took this picture to remember her child.
Jose Benitez: This girl could be my sister.
Jose Benitez provides services for victims of human trafficking and forced labor in Houston. He says ruthless traffickers have no qualms exploiting children recruited outside their high schools.
Jose: One day I saw one girl. She's 15 years old. And I asked her how many men she has had in her life. She told me, more than 200, and believe me, she reminded me of my daughter. And this is- (crying), I don't want to remember this story because it makes me cry. Because I saw her body, you know? I was in the hospital when I saw her like this; very bad.
For the 100 women and young girls held in the Mondragon cantinas freedom came in the form of a late night raid, when the Harris County task force stormed the cantina.
Lucia: Immigration and the FBI raided us. They surrounded the whole cantina. I wanted to escape through the back door. When I ran there was a helicopter shining a light down on us. I turned around and they told me if I ran they would shoot me so I stopped. They brought us back inside. One of the agents hit me and pushed me and I fell on the carpet. He treated us like animals.
Fear and suspicion of law enforcement kept both women from initially disclosing their stories. So they were kept in jail for 6 months until agents convinced them to cooperate and testify against their trafficker.
Today, nearly a year after their traffickers were convicted, the women's visas are about to expire. And they fear the long arm of Central American organized crime, where it costs less than $100 to kill someone.
Lucia: They could kill me for my statement and for telling the truth. I'm afraid for my children, my mother and for me.
Meanwhile, traffickers like Geraldo Salazar have alluded the authorities. The FBI believes he is traveling between Mexico and Houston and they have issued a $5000 for information leading to his arrest.
Agent Conde-Vasquez says the economic windfall that each women represents in a country hungry for cheap sex will only increase the likelihood of new victims every day.
Vasquez: How profitable is the business of human trafficking? When you have a kilo of cocaine and you're going to sell it, once that kilo of cocaine is gone, you don't have anything. When you have a human being, you have a reusable resource. These human beings can be used over and over and over again, on a daily basis, maybe for years.
MSNBC wanted to get a firsthand look at the Houston cantinas that law enforcement described as modern day prisons for hundreds of young women.
FBI agents warned that while the cantinas look like regular restaurants or night clubs, traffickers guard their profit-making houses carefully and not just anyone is allowed access.
As day turned into night, we found a bustling empire with parking attendants who directed traffic and helped organize the arrangement of vehicles.
There were even taco stands outside, serving midnight snacks to cantina customers.
We caught occasional glimpses of prostituted women outside the clubs.
Along with elaborate security cameras, most of the cantinas are well guarded with gun toting security men manning the entrances and exits of the bars.
We decided to try go in with our hidden cameras to document what the girls and the FBI described as a modern day slave market.
During the day, this building is a bustling flea market, but at night, men can buy the company of women and young girls.
In the dark interior, our cameras captured this image of a cantina worker dancing with a client.
And for $10 a beer, our guides were able to buy the company of this young girl.
Ben: It's very, very scary.
On the third night of our surveillance we got to experience firsthand the threat and severity with which traffickers guard their profits. Men spotted our cameras and we were followed for several blocks before losing the car.
Ben: Our guide was kind of nervous and he knew the area and knew that we had cause for concern.
Guide: You're gonna see only security now.
Ben: We had one incident where someone approached the car with a gun. And I think they had just seen us around and they had driven past us a few times, and they had had some communication, either via cell phones or radios or whatever, with some of the other cantinas at this one major intersection in downtown Houston.
The organized threat we felt driving in the neighborhood gave us a deeper understanding why the women trapped in cantinas couldn't run away.
Cantina Girl: He told me that if I go out the front door there are the cantina cameras. If I go out the side door, the other women who work there will tell me everything about you. That's what he told me so I wouldn't do anything.
It became clear to us that the cantina owners will do anything to protect their operation.
Ben: We were driving past this cantina and the look-out ran up to the car with a gun and we pulled out.
Guide: Let's go.
Ben: Whoa!
Ben: Enough time for him to pull out and sort of do one of those at the car (points his had in sideways gun shape at the camera).
Cholanda: You have to do it because you need money.
30 year old Cholanda says that trafficked girls in Houston are everywhere not just in cantinas.
And she should know because she was trafficked from Thailand to Philadelphia before ending up at this massage parlor in Houston. Cholanda says everyone knows that massage parlors are houses of prostitution.
Cholanda: When they come, they pay money. And then take a shower, sauna, go to massage and go to have sex and let him go; 45 minute.
This petite Thai woman says instead of the American dream she was promised she ended up working for 12 years, forced to have sex with hundreds of strange men to pay off an impossible debt.
Cholanda: You come to work restaurant, small money. You owe me $55,000.
How can you finish paying in 6 months, 7 months $55,000 U.S., What can you do? They ask you. "I don't know. What do you take the other girls to do?" They take you to work spa massage. It's really good money. A day, you can get $1000, $2000 a day. $500, $1000, $1500 a day.
Cholanda: No, you no choice. You have to do. You have to do it. You cannot have choice. "Oh, I need that. I need this." No. You have to do what the boss tells you.
Massage parlors like these don't even bother hiding the fact that sex is for sale. Websites offer detailed reviews of women and the sex acts they offer so men can know what to expect.
Like a Zagat's guide to restaurants or a consumer report guide to cars, men can go online and review the size of a particular girl's breasts, how she is shaved, and whether or not she will give a patron the full "girl friend experience" which means sex without condoms.
MSNBC decided to take hidden cameras into the massage parlor where Cholanda says she used to work. We wanted to find out how exactly they operated.
Masseuse: Hi. Have you been here before?
Petr: No, I haven't.
Masseuse: Ok. It's $60.
Petr: How much?
Masseuse: $60, and then you can tip.
Petr: Yeah, absolutely.
Masseuse: Ok. Are you ready to come in?
Just as Cholanda described, clients must immediately give the house $60 in cash which our cameraman did.
But when the cameraman asked about details, the woman became very tight lipped. Law enforcement warned us that the women are forbidden from verbalizing their services and often use hand gestures or non verbal cues to communicate sex acts.
Petr: What does $60 include?
Masseuse: Have you been to this kind of place?
Petr: Yes, so that's why I wanna find out how much is everything.
Masseuse: Shower and then body massage.
Petr: Uh huh. And then anything after that? Do you have a full service? Nothing? So $60 is just the massage?
Masseuse: Just massage.
Petr: Are there any other services I can get?
Law enforcement warned us that the women are forbidden from verbalizing their services, and often use hand gestures or non-verbal cues to communicate sex acts..
Petr: Oh, you can't talk about it.
Masseuse: No. I can't.
Petr: Oh, I'm sorry. So, is it after the shower then we'll discuss?
Masseuse: Yeah.
Petr: Okay, cool.
NBC News policy prohibited us from going any further so our cameraman left the parlor without getting serviced.
Experts say the explosion of massage parlors illustrates the public's acceptance of institutionalized prostitution.
Judith Momoh: We've become so complacent, we just sit there and say, well it's not in my back yard. Just like, you know, it doesn't affect me. But if you think it doesn't, think again.
Expert Judith Momoh says every American should be alarmed about the public health consequences that comes with the explosion of cheap sex to go offered at these massage parlors and secret brothels.
Momoh: They have sexually transmitted infections like gonorrhea, syphilis, one person takes it and then passes it on to the other person and by the time you look at it, you have 15, 20 or even 100 people infected from this one little lady who was trafficked. And they are right in your neighborhood.
Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco: These are slaves. In this day and age, slavery exists in cities like San Francisco. But it's the most egregious kind of slavery, its sex slaves.
Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco takes the issue of slavery in his city very personally.
Newsom: If it weren't so real, cause I've seen it, I mean I've seen it first hand, I would not believe it. And most people drive by, they don't believe this stuff. They say, ah, maybe it happens a little bit, you're exaggerating. Give me a break, exaggerate. Every single on of these massage establishments, almost every single one, this is happening in all of them.
From the upscale strip clubs in urban Detroit to the dingy back rooms of cantinas in Houston to the glittering streets long considered the crowned jewel of American cities, young foreign women and girls say they have been forced into an unbearable life of slavery.
The U.S. Attorney's Office announced the results of a nine month investigation into an illegal sex trafficking ring operating in the Bay Area.
Kevin Ryan U.S. Attorney: Approximately 100 women were recovered.
They say they confiscated millions of dollars in cash from inside the businesses, as well as 3 ATM machines.
Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco: That was a big wake up call. Most came in thinking that they were gonna have a new life, a new beginning, only to find themselves with quote, unquote debt, and travel expenses. They're forced to have sex with 12, 15 people every single day
In 2005, after local businessmen were arrested for enslaving over 100 Korean women in downtown San Francisco, Mayor Newsom ordered city raids on massage parlors, raids Newsom attended.
Newsom: I walked in one day, kid you not, large guy, 5:30, downtown financial district in San Francisco, in an office building. You would never know what was going on there.
Walked in, right there, a young girl is throwing off this guy as we raided the place, and this guy has a wedding ring on. This is real. It's a disgrace. The idea it's happening in San Francisco, is equally disgraceful. And I'm just humiliated as a guy who lives here, not just its mayor.
But federal prosecution of trafficking takes years so the Mayor and his staff chose not to wait.
Julian Potter: Once we knew that those sites, those particular establishments with known addresses, were trafficking and not just prostitution or some sort of sex industry. The mayor said "Let's look at everything we have available and we can close them down under the city's laws.
Dr. Johnson Ojo: Today's inspections will involve going to four establishments.
This unlikely odd couple, Dr. Johnson Ojo, a Nigerian doctor and San Francisco Health Inspector Ed Walsh, form the backbone of the mayor's effort against sex trafficking.
For the last three years, they have led a team of city officials on a full frontal assault on massage parlors by enforcing new health dept laws designed to root out women who are forced to live on the premises and provide sex to pay off trafficking debt.
The message is loud and clear, San Francisco will not tolerate slavery.
Ed Walsh: We're gonna have the fire department, fire inspector, the building inspector and the city planner. We're gonna have a combination of the two police officers from the San Francisco vice squad which will provide us security to get in the facility.
The inspectors enter the massage parlor.
Dr. Ojo: Is the manager here? Who is in charge today?
Manager: It's me.
Walsh: Did Johnson see this?
Within minutes Inspector Walsh makes discoveries; a false wall and a hidden room with four foot ceilings.
Walsh: This light must come on somehow. It's a living quarters. You ok Johnson?
Grace Kahng: So Johnson, what is this?
Dr. Ojo: This is an illegal living quarters, unapproved room.
Kahng: How many people do you think live back here?
Dr. Ojo: I would say about maybe four or five. That's another bed
Kahng: Where?
Dr. Ojo: Sofa down over there.
Dr. Ojo: You also observe personal belongings like excessive shoes and suitcases and excessive makeup. Those are indicative that the individuals are living there.
Dr. Ojo: The Health Department license. Do you have a permit?
Manager: Permit?
Dr. Ojo: From the Health Department.
Dr. Ojo discovers some of the women don't have the permit that the city now requires to provide massage. And they want answers about that hidden room.
Off camera male voice: Do you live here?
Girl: I live in Sunset.
Kahng: Who is sleeping in the back?
Male voice: By the washing machines.
Young woman: Who is sleeping in the back; back of the bed?
Male voice: Yeah, back behind the washing machines there are some beds there.
Young woman: We never go to the back We never go to the backside because we only work here and work the upstairs, that's all. We never work in the backside.
Male voice: Where the machines are, the laundry machines.
Young woman: Yeah, the laundry machines, we only go to the laundry machines. We never know the backside of the beds.
Male voice: So who goes in there?
Young woman: just the boss, the boss goes in there.
Male voice: Does the boss live here?
Young woman: I don't think so but I don't know, because the boss has a house in Richmond
Kahng: So you don't sleep back there?
Young woman: (laughing) No, I don't sleep there.
Kahng: But there are beds with people's stuff there.
Young woman: Maybe it's just for the rest or for take a nap.
Walsh: If there're beds anywhere on the premises where the women may be forced to stay there overnight
Health inspector Walsh says hidden rooms with beds have been discovered in numerous massage parlors along with other telltale signs that indicate they harbor trafficked women.
Walsh: If there's a lot of food in the refrigerator, you know, they're for food, for like, 10, 15 people over say, a month's period of time. There are a lot of signs, a lot of lingerie, uh, thongs, uh g-strings.
After 25 years on the job, massage parlor owners suspected of using trafficked girls have a tough job sweet talking inspector Ed Walsh.
Walsh: Hi, health department; massage?
Owner: No!
Walsh: Massage?
Owner: No. No!
Walsh: Let's take a look. How come you have the sign still?
Time and time again, Walsh encounters the pain and suffering of trafficked women firsthand and has little patience for those who prey on the vulnerable.
Walsh: This is a massage establishment operating without a health permit. Two months ago we closed it down and now they've reopened.
Kahng: But she says they're not.
Ed Walsh: Well she has all the signs. They have two massage tables, they have, the rooms are set up with oil and Kleenex, and cleaning towels to dry their hands.
Dr. Ojo: If next time he comes back and we discover that you still have the tables and your sign, we're going to refer the case to the city attorney's office.
Walsh: It's obvious that they're doing massage. They're also on the Internet too as having clients go here within the last two weeks one of the johns went on there and they said that they had a good time at this location.
Kahng: So where are the girls?
Walsh: That's a good question. Not here today.
The women freed in the federal raid testified that they never left the massage parlors. Double locked gates and elaborate security camera monitoring their every move and conversation. Walsh says there's no reason a legitimate massage establishment needs that kind of security.
Walsh: You're gonna see these facilities that are built like Fort Knox. You have double iron gates. You have to be buzzed in. And before they buzz you, they've already seen you from the outside because there's cameras located outside the entrance. And the camera, usually, can cover the whole block. There are cameras throughout the facility. There's usually a camera at the point of sale, where the John goes and pays his $60. There will be cameras up and down the hallway. There will be cameras at the back door.
The last stop for the task force is a parlor on the brink of being shut down for repeatedly violating city laws, and where the FBI recently searched for a woman who called claiming she was being held captive.
Ed: Hello. Come on out, Health Department. Have a seat.
Officer: Go outside and have a seat. Your masseuse will be right back.
Dr. Ojo: Who is the manager?
A new city law requires massage therapists to keep their body covered from the neck up.
When the women see police they immediately run to don lab coats to avoid being cited.
Walsh: When I first went in there, there were plenty of girls with Johns. There's at least three. And we got them all out of the rooms and they were scantily clothed. They had very little on, and they weren't professional masseuses. It was obvious.
Dr. Ojo: All seven women were dressed in inappropriate attire. The attire was very provocative. High heeled shoes, they were showing a lot of their assets, so to speak.
On this visit inspectors find that the owners have removed the 10 beds they found in a secret crawl space on their last inspection.
Walsh: This is where they were sleeping previously.
Dr. Ojo: It's a lot of storage, for goodness sake.
The task force says, it's not much but at least it's one small signal that while they can't completely eradicate businesses from trafficking women, they are having some kind of impact.
Just blocks away from some of the most exclusive retail stores in downtown San Francisco, inspectors wait for the team to assemble before returning for a third surprise inspection of CEO Health Club, which brazenly advertises its sexual services online.
Inspector Ed Walsh: The Internet is saying that one of the John's went on there and they said that they had a good time at this location.
Inspectors must be careful not to tip off the business, so officers hang back around the corner while their decoy gains access by posing as a john.
Police: The whole idea is once Joe gets up there, he's going to come out the back stairs.
Remember, like most of the previous businesses, an elaborate network of hidden cameras survey the streets.
Walsh: The owner has put a camera right above the point of sale.
Officers say, it's a way for owners to monitor the women who work for them and warn them about police.
Walsh: They're trying to get in, let's go, let's go.
When the decoy gets buzzed in, he holds the door and investigators move in.
Dr. Ojo: Where are we at?
Walsh: 130 Bush, CEO Health Club.
Dr. Ojo and Inspector Walsh say that CEO health club, with its gold mirrored elevator and high priced real estate, is one of the city's most profitable parlors.
Walsh: It's for CEOs. Hi, can you come out please? Thank you.
Inside the club, it's pandemonium as girls hustle into the halls and shocked clients hide in their rooms.
Walsh: You have a masseuse in here?
Police bang on the doors notifying the johns that they have been caught in a city Health Inspection.
Walsh: How many girls you got here tonight?
Owner: Seven
Walsh: Seven?
The manager tries to stall Ed from entering one of the rooms. Remember, just months ago, CEO was fined for having six women wearing lingerie and clear plastic heels and for employing an unlicensed masseuse.
Walsh: She was crying because she was, she didn't want to be there; her father was sick. She was from Korea and the only reason she's here is because her father's sick, and she's trying to make money, and that she doesn't want to do this. My lot in life was to be a, be a piano teacher.
That woman-who cried when investigators interviewed her, has since disappeared.
Officers catch five girls and three johns. There are six rooms with tables that don't have the normal accoutrements of a legitimate massage.
Walsh: You call this a massage establishment?
The girls quickly throw on their white lab coats to hide skimpy attire. They wait nervously while officers inspect the premises. Confuse clients make quick exits or hide in the hallways.
Walsh says it's a game of cat and mouse, where everyone understands that sex is for sale. He grills a girl he found half naked, who the owner claims was just there for an interview
Walsh: Do you have a massage diploma?
Girl: No. First day, go to Chinese.
Walsh: Okay, if you want to work here, you have to go to massage school. Here's a citation to a hearing. You cannot do massage without a permit. Okay?
Walsh: She was putting her close on when I walked in. You know that employee lounge with all the girls? I stuck my head in there and she was putting on her shirt. The lady that was in there claimed that she was there for an interview. And I asked the owner is that normally how you interview people, without their clothes on? And she said no.
The owners barely hide the notion of sex for sale. This sign, displayed right above the reception area, warns customers about mixing drugs and alcohol with sex.
Officer: How many cameras do you have?
Owner: Here four, and here four.
Officer: So eight cameras?
Phone rings.
Business is booming as clients anxiously wait to get in but the owner hesitates to let them in.
Owner: Can you come back later? I have inspection here.
This client is undeterred and insists on coming up. It's only when he sees the police officers that he makes a hasty exit.
As he goes down, another client comes up.
John: I have a 7:30 appointment.
He pushes past officers until he finally realizes the gravity of the situation.
John: Yeah. Okay.
Officers admit that these surprise inspections won't stop women from being forced into prostitution, but at least it keeps owners on their toes.
Walsh: I cannot change this.
Owner: So this time, $5000.
Walsh: That's right.
Walsh: You can talk to the hearing officer. Give him your side of the story, but I walked in and I saw her. She was putting her shirt on.
Owner tries to explain (grabs her jacket to show girl was just putting her coat on).
Walsh: I told you, don't have anybody here without permits. I told you that.
Owner: I always listen.
Walsh: I keep telling you that for 2 years. I've been telling you that for 2 years. And then I come here and you've got girls without permits. I can't show any sympathy for that. Okay, sign here please.
Owner: I don't like that.
Walsh: Well, bring the tape to the hearing and let the judge look at the tape. That's all I can say.
Owner: $5000.
Mayor Gavin Newsom: This is happening because men are engaging in this illegal activity and they need to be held accountable.
Norma Hotaling: We need to start thinking in a very different way about who we see and who we blame.
Norma Hotaling, the founder of an international organization to help women forced into prostitution, says the only way to make a real dent in stopping what she sees as a global epidemic is to attack the demand. The men who spend thousands on sex to go.
Hotaling: They could really stop. They could understand that the people that they are buying are there not of their own free will. And that behind the smile that they pay for is an incredible amount of pain and fear and terror.
Hotaling: Ok, good afternoon.
Every month for the past 12 years you'll find Norma Hotaling lecturing 1st time offenders. Johns arrested by police in sting operations for soliciting prostitutes.
Hotaling: Traffickers will do whatever they need to do in order to ensnare a girl.
Hotaling pulls no punches and educates the johns on the cold cruel reality of the women and young girls they buy online, on the streets, or in massage parlors. 7000 men have gone through her unique program.
Hotaling: They don't think about the fact that they can't tell if a woman is trafficked. They can't even tell if the person that they're having sex with is a kid.
Hotaling says research shows her program has seriously reduced recidivism, keeping men from reoffending. This john was so moved by the program and the stories of trafficked women he agreed to be interviewed.
John: I've heard of it, but I never really paid attention to it, because it didn't apply to me, I was being selfish I wasn't thinking of them. It really tears me up inside that could be my daughter, my kids.


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Add a vibrant burst of color in your wardrobe with this grey and teal art silk and net half n half saree. The amazing dress creates a dramatic canvas with diamond, mirror , patch border work and resham comes with matching blouse. (Slight variation in color, fabric & work is possible. Model images are only representative.)

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The 20th Annual Field Day at the Eastern South Dakota Soil and Water Research Farm in Brookings, S.D., will be held June 17.
The field day program will include presentations on using winter crops, cover crops and no-till to create habitat on farms in South Dakota while improving soil health and using flowering oilseed crops to provide habitat for beneficial insects and for diversifying farm income.
Research conducted by the USDA-ARS North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory (NCARL) at the Eastern South Dakota Soil and Water Research Farm in Brookings has shown novel ways to conserve our soil and water resources and provide wildlife habitat while maintaining productive farms, field day organizers noted.
Over the past two decades, NCARL research has shown that better soil management can begin to regenerate the soil. At the June field day, discussion will include how winter cereal crops (winter wheat, rye, and triticale) and perennial forages can provide a logical entry point for farmers seeking to integrate cover crops into row crop farming systems. These also help upland birds flourish by providing additional nesting habitat and by attracting insects important for rearing the next generation of birds. South Dakota upland bird populations, particularly pheasants, have been declining in recent years. Inclusion of cover crops may help reverse this trend.
In 2013, South Dakota ranked third in honey production. In addition, most of the honeybee colonies used to pollinate tree and vegetable crops spend parts of their lives in the Dakotas. Pollinator declines are continuing. Research points to additive/interacting effects of pathogens, poor nutrition, pesticides, and other stressors in decreasing bee health.
At the June field day, we will discuss the attractiveness of flowering oilseed crops to pollinators and other beneficial insects, and how these crops fit into a crop rotation. The oils from these crops are used in biofuel, cosmetics, health food, and manufacturing. With further development, they may provide an additional source of income for farmers. Recognizing that farm programs are a critical aspect of management decisions, crop insurance agents will discuss the implications of adopting practices such as cover crops or specialty crops.
The Agricultural Research Service is the chief intramural scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The NCARL in Brookings, the only ARS facility in South Dakota, is one of the nation's premier agricultural research laboratories. They develop integrated crop and pest management practices that enhance soil fertility and conservation, improve water availability and quality, increase biodiversity, and reduce insect and weed populations.
Presentation Details:
Cereals and Eggs: More than Just Breakfast Foods, presented by Brian Pauly, South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks Department;
Winter Cereals: Sustainability in Action, presented by Steve Dvorak, Ducks Unlimited, Bismarck, N.D.;
Cover Crops to Increase Diversity, presented by Shannon Osborne, USDA-ARS, Brookings;
Using Plants to Conserve Friendly Insects in Cropland, presented by Jonathan Lundgren, USDA-ARS, Brookings;
Integrating New Oilseed Crops to Diversify Cropping Systems, presented byRuss Gesch, USDA-ARS, Morris, Minn.; and
Crop Insurance and Cropping Practices, presented by Rebecca Wellenstein and Ben Zimmer, Farm Credit Services of America, Sioux Falls.
CCA Continuing Education Credits are available.
Tours begin at 3:30 p.m. followed by a complimentary dinner at 6 p.m. For more information about the Eastern South Dakota Soil and Water Research Farm, contact Joan Kreitlow at 605-692-8003 ext. 3. For more information about the USDA-ARS North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory, contact Sharon Papiernik, Research Leader, at firstname.lastname@example.com or 605-693-5201.


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PRZOOM - /newswire/ -
Bromley, Kent, United Kingdom, 2013/10/01 - Business improvement specialists Oliver Wight have launched a new series of education workshops, to help organisations optimise their business processes, both internally and across the extended supply chain - OliverWight-EAME.com.
The new workshops add to Oliver Wights popular public education programme. Divided into two suites, Integrated Business Planning workshops focus on internal processes for improved visibility and performance to plan, whilst Supply Chain Design and Optimization workshops take account of consumers, customers and suppliers.
Recent events have shown having control of your supply chain is critical, says Oliver Wight CEO, Les Brookes. Its no longer enough to simply optimise within your own four walls. The health of an organisation depends on its ability to successfully meet the needs of customers. And as demand for superior service, greater value and competitive pricing increases, businesses have to optimise performance across the entire supply chain. These workshops will help organisations focus on what they can do to improve.
Packed with the latest thought-leading methodology and practice, Oliver Wight education workshops are designed to give executive and general management teams invaluable insight into best practice management of core processes:
Integrated Business Planning
Demand Management
Supply Chain Design and Optimization
Integrated Business Optimization
Product & Portfolio Optimization
Supply Chain Management
Supply Planning.
The workshops have been designed recognising people are the key enabler in any change management programme, as Brookes explains: In the rush for improvement, companies often launch in to tackling processes and the corresponding tools with enthusiasm and vigour, but overlook the importance of people and behaviours.
To coincide with the launch of these new workshops, Oliver Wight have also introduced a 33% discount for companies making multiple bookings. To get the most from their Oliver Wight education programme people typically book on to several workshops, so were offering something back to those who do, concludes Brookes.
Agency / Source: RONIN Marketing UK Ltd
Availability: All Regions (Including Int'l)
Traffic Booster: [/] Quick PRZOOM - Press & Newswire Visibility Checker
Distribution / Indexing: [+]


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Corporate Profit and Nuclear Safety:
Northeast Utilities Company adopted an ambitious new competitive strategy in the mid-1980s, seeking to become the low-cost supplier in New England electric power markets bracing for deregulation. Given its high-cost nuclear facilities, doing so required a corporate turnaround. For a decade Northeast faced increasing public and employee resistance to cost cutting at its nuclear plants. Though management achieved many of its goals, curtailing outlays on nuclear operations meant high risk that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would close the plants because of frequent, prolonged outages. This is just what happened in 1996. Did management's deliberate cost-containment strategy take nuclear operations to an inevitable regulatory shutdown, and if so, why? Was it the pursuit of executive compensation tied to cost containment that caused undue risk of regulatory shutdown?
Paul MacAvoy and Jean Rosenthal describe ten years of corporate performance preceding the shutdown, detailing aggressive executive decisions, mounting regulatory actions in response to increasingly severe operational failures, and--at the same time--overall improvement in corporate earnings, stock prices, and executive pay packages. They relate the complexities of managing declining nuclear plant operations under ever more pressing budgetary targets. Their discussion of the increasing risk of outages raises the issue of the tradeoff of profit and conservative management of hazard operations.
All the more timely in light of the massive 2003 East Coast blackout, Corporate Profit and Nuclear Safety represents a powerful and cautionary commentary on industrial practices that goes to the heart of effective corporate governance.
"This is an interesting, well-argued addition to the current discussion of corporate governance."--Choice
"Fifteen years before the Enron, WorldCom, and Parmalat debacles, another company embarked on a strategy that appeared to be driven more by the allure of short-term profits and compensation for management than by the long-term interests of shareholders. In this case, though, the risks those managers took extended beyond the purely financial to the safety of several large nuclear power plants. A sobering tale, told fairly and skillfully."--Paul Portney, President, Resources for the Future
"MacAvoy and Rosenthal paint a vivid picture of a board of directors ignoring not just red flags, but explicit warnings of the impending calamity, while being calmed by a complacent management. Their book serves as a warning to be absorbed by all boards that diligence, surely post-Enron, requires more than probing the bottom line; it includes all risks to the enterprise, probing beyond management assurances, and appropriate information flow to, and leadership of, the board."--Ira M. Millstein, Senior Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Chairman of the Private Sector Advisory Group of the World Bank/OECD Global Corporate Governance Forum
Subject Areas:
Prices subject to change without notice
File created: 7/11/2017
Questions and comments to: firstname.lastname@example.com
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text:
Jay-Z Sued By Workers' Compensation Board of New York
Jay-Z is getting sued, again. TMZ reports that Hova has been hit with a lawsuit by the Workers' Compensation Board of New York for allegedly failing to pay worker's compensation for a few months back in 2009. The employees weren't of his famed 40/40 Club, but domestic workers (cooks, maids, etc).
Jigga corrected the miscue after obtaining proper insurance but was nevertheless fined $18,000. It's this outstanding amount that he is being sued for. Safe bet that the part-owner of the NBA's New Jersey Nets can afford to cut the check. However, the matter may all be due to a billing error. In that case, Jay-Z should say, to quote "The Ruler's Back" off The Blueprint, "I'm not guilty now gimme back my bread!"


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ASTRO Foundation is the place to go for healthy, veterinarian checked cats and kittens. The adoption fee is $55 for both male and female cats. All cats & kittens have been tested for FELV/FIV and are current on vaccinations as age appropriate at the time of adoption. All cats and kittens have also been treated for fleas, ear mites and roundworms with Revolution. For more information call (209) 604-2649, or email email@example.com. You can see additional adoptable animals on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AstroFoundationinc.
Our long-term goal is to build a no-kill shelter that will house homeless pets until they can be placed in suitable homes. This shelter will ideally be run by a combination of staff, students, and volunteers. A modern facility will provide a pleasing place for potential adopters and community members to visit. It will include a conference room for hosting community education events and involving local students in humane education programs. This conference room will be available to rent for birthday parties and other events in order to provide a source of income for shelter operations while further engaging the community and its children in animal welfare.
Thank You!
Your message has been sent to ASTRO Foundation.
You'll receive a copy, too, at to help you keep track of which pets you've inquired about, and which shelters and rescues you've emailed.
NOTE: Some shelters have physical locations you can visit; some of these shelters may only have pets for a limited time, so please do not wait for a reply—just go visit the shelter! Other organizations are rescue groups run by busy volunteers who may take a while to reply. You can find information about the shelter or rescue group caring for this pet, and their adoption procedures, on the pet's details page on Adopt-a-Pet.com.


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Winnipeg Sun
Winnipeg runner Megan Paracholski set an unofficial Western Canada Summer Games record on Monday with a win in the 800-metre race.
Paracholski ran the race in 2:08.41 to push Manitoba 's gold medal count in Kamloops, B.C., to seven.
Manitoba won five golds on Shumway Lake on Monday, with Tom Sherwin leading the way in the canoeing competition. He won four golds, including two with Mohammed Crossman-Serb in the men's 1,000- and 500-metre C2 races.
Sherwin also won the same races in the men's C1 division.
Kara Hummelt won Manitoba's other gold, finishing first in the women's 1,000-metre C1 competition.
Finally, Winnipeg runner Sam Vincent won gold in the men's 1,500-metre race.
Manitoba also captured three silver and five bronze on Monday.
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text: Gary, that sausage looks pretty good. The only breakfast sausage I've made so far is Pop's. With a few red pepper flakes and a bit more sage we like it pretty well. Now I'm going to have to try that AC Legg seasoning. Where is the best place to buy it?


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Want to meet Train, Hey Monday or A Rocket to the Moon?
We've written about 93.3-FLZ's Best Buy Musical Instruments Theatre in Tampa before, and for good reason: It's a nice place to get up close and cozy with big-name artists like Colbie Caillat, Boys Like Girls and Lifehouse.
It's worth mentioning again, because several big-name artists are coming to the venue to perform acoustic sets and do meet-and-greets with fans.
On July 23, before they play the Warped Tour in St. Petersburg, pop punks Hey Monday and A Rocket To The Moon will play a set at 11 a.m. Click here to enter to win seats.
Then on Aug. 14, before they perform a free postgame concert at Tropicana Field, Train will bring their Jupiter-dropping, Virginia-meeting, soul-sisterly vibe to the studio. Click here to enter to win seats.
Finally: She may not be as big of a name as the other bands, but her dad sure is. Alexa Ray Joel, the singer-songwriter daughter of Billy, is coming to the theater next week for a performance on July 21. Click here to win seats.
***UPDATE*** Bad news, all you Alexa Ray Joel fans out there: We're told she has just canceled all of her promotional tour. So scratch that contest.
-- Jay Cridlin, tbt*. Photo: Lucia Holm.


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Hi everyone and thanks in advance for your help.
My fiance and I are getting married this upcoming January and have just started discussing our honeymoon and we would greatly appreciate any help y'all could give us
1. We can go anytime after March (we are not going right after our wedding)
2. We are hoping for somewhere rustic, in the mountains or by a wonderful lake. Top Choices include: Montana, Colorado, Utah, etc. (We are pretty open about this, but we live in Texas so we would like a change of pace)
3. Budget is a concern. We would like to stay under 3,000 dollars for a week or so trip. All inclusives would be ideal.
4. We are big hikers and also would like it to be somewhat quiet and not too touristy.
Thanks y'all!
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Rustic Mountain Honeymoon Help!
Hi everyone and thanks in advance for your help.
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Not sure what you're looking for, but...
There are very nice resorts and B&Bs or around Columbia Falls and Whitefish near Glacier Nat. Park, MT.
Same gooes for the Estes Park area near Rocky Mtn. Nat. Park in CO.
Near Durango and Mesa Verde Nat. Park is the Blue Lake Ranch B&B.
Lttle different is the red rocks area of Sedona, AZ, near the mountians and Oak Creek Canyon.
Also, the Moab, UT area or Grand Teton/Yellowstone area. Or Mount Rushmore in the beautiful Black Hills of SD.
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The winter all-inclusives that I'm familiar with in Colorado will go beyond your $3000.00 budget for a week.
It also depends upon what you want to do. If you want to ski or do a lot of activities, you need to be close to a resort area.
If you want to get away and not do too many things, I would recommend the Wiesbaden Hot Springs Hotel in Ouray, CO. They have a separate cottage that is reasonably priced, and of course, you can't beat hot springs in winter.
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Sorry about that confusion. Because of the vast array of options, I am hoping to find some good recommendations on resorts and/or lodges.
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We aren't planning on skiing, and hoping to go during warmer months ( April-October). Thank you for your suggestions everyone.
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Brookings is often the warmest town in Oregon. It is nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Coastal Range. You would have the opportunity to see Coast Redwoods in Redwood National Park and maybe get to see Crater Lake. http://www.tripadvisor.com/AllLocations-g51780-c1-Hotels-Brookings_Oregon.html
Several of the B&B's sound very nice.
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Whitefish, Montana was the first thing that came to mind. We stayed at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake which would be worth exploring - play around with the dates to find a budget you can work with. There are also some condo that you could rent as well (always check with VRBO). Whitefish Lake is gorgeous, and Glacier National Park is hands down one of the most beautiful places I've visited. Tons of outdoor activities/hikes for you to enjoy.
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Not all inclusive. They stock your fridge with breakfast, but for sheer gorgeous surroundings and rustic luxury, it is fantastic.
Best wishes on your wedding.
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You might also consider the very cute little - Victorian themed/old mining town of Manitou Springs - http://www.manitousprings.org/ outside of Colorado Springs, Colo, with lots of hot springs/spas to soak ye.
You could use that as a base to explore the red rocks at Garden of the Gods, go up Pikes Peak (either by train or car), and drive around to other places in the state, such as Telluride and the uber scenic San Juan mountain range. http://www.telluride-co.gov/
I think in April there should be pretty good availability.
And of course, being from Oregon - I am partial to that state also (even though I went to college in Colorado) and one of our favorites is the Timberline Lodge http://www.timberlinelodge.com/ - an hour or so from Portland airport - on the south side of Mt. Hood.
Plenty to see along the Gorge/Columbia River (waterfalls and all - with world class windsurfing at Hood River, Oregon http://www.el.com/to/hoodriver/ ), go to some wineries in the Hood River Valley, etc.
You could also take a couple days to drive over and see the Oregon Coast - with Depoe Bay - south of Lincoln City - one of my/our favorite places and you might still be able to see some whales migrating north from the Surfrider Inn. http://surfriderresort.com/
BTW - lot of Texans go skiing at Taos, New Mexico - and that's a nice scenic area - as is the artist colony known as Sante Fe.
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You are going to need to check weather in lots of these places. For example, April in SW Colorado is still risking snow, and MUD is a given. Telluride is lovely, but May or June is safer. Durango, too.
New Mexico also has wonderful hiking, cultural sites, great food but again, June would be best time.
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Have you considered the Canadian Rockies? We honeymooned there and loved it, and it ticks a lot of the boxes of what you say you are looking for. Banff and Lake Louise are wonderful areas, and hiking around there is really good! Not a lot of crowds either if you wait til September. We have been back several times, we loved it so much. One of the places we stayed was Baker Creek Chalets, just outside of Lake Louise on the Bow Valley Parkway. Wonderful place with a lodge as well as individual cabins, right on the river. Great restaurant on site as well.
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Look at Devil's Thumb Ranch, Colorado. It is 'rustic' with elegance. Not cheap, though. Gorgeous surroundings, great food, awesome service. It could be snowy even up to July, but if you don't mind the weather, Devil's Thumb is an amazing place to watch the snow fall.
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I know you didn't include Arizona in your original list, but if you were able to get in I think Garland's Lodge in Oak Creek Canyon near Sedona meets a lot of your requirements.
See this website: http://garlandslodge.com/
The rates include breakfast and a wonderful dinner. There are no T.V.'s or telephones so you get that peace and quiet you want. You have great hiking trails all over the Sedona area and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous in Sedona. While the town of Sedona can get touristy - Garland's is away up the canyon, over a stream, and very serene. We spend 3 nights there every year in one of the larger cabins. The post an availability calendar on their website. If you were interested, I would simply call them and discuss.
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The weather will be an important consideration.
We just returned from Oregon and I thought our stay at Five Pine Lodge in Sisters was special enough for a honeymoon. The cabins are as pictured on the website. The lodge is just out of town in a forest and very close to some spectacular trails and waterfalls. I'm not familiar with the weather there in March or April, though.
The suggestion of Garland's at Oak Creek in Sedona, Arizona is a good one. It's a beautiful but rustic property, perfect for a hiking honeymoon. The weather is likely to be good, there are many great hikes near by and meals are provided.
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consider Jenny Lake Lodge in Wyoming. We spent 4 incredible days there with hiking, horseback riding, gourmet food and a trip into Yellowstone. Lovely cabins in a rustic setting.
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As we can see from the massive sales spike in Japan two weeks in a row. The first had the PSV outsell the Wii U for the first time, the second seen it become the best seller period in Japan not to mention significant PS 3 sales and some PSP sales still in Japan. There was a price deduction yes, but it was more for currency valuation's then a real price drop at least that's what Sony say's. Whatever the reason the result's are what speaks, the Vita is gaining traction. I am a huge fan of Sony and yes they have definitely become stagnant there for awhile however once the company really hit bottom with some massive losses they have completed the trimming of the fat so to speak. Cutting it's work force getting out of losing area's and refocusing on money makers Sony has already turned things around, However they went a step further and sold two key properties to really give them a cash reserve and prepare for what lay just ahead the next console war.
It's a pretty promising sign, if the sales would have lowered as almost everyone expected then you could chalk it up to a price drop and nothing more, but a second week of improved sales show's the Vita has come into it's own and I am glad. I personally have really enjoyed mine since launch. I am still amazed at what this thing is capable of. I have spent countless hours watching that brilliant screen OLED I look forward to when its affordable enough for my living room tv. I hope Sony see's the opportunity here and really capitalizes on it and does a universal price drop and not let the momentum slip away but instead ramp it up like the 3DS, get Killzone out there and don't it dare be anything like Nihlistic's games then you will really see some serious growth and no hesitation from developers. Hopefully Bio Shock may just yet make its way to the Vita!!!!


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"Ed Wilson: Architecture of Death"
Ed Wilson knows how to create beautiful sculpture, but his "Architecture of Death" exhibit won't let you forget the terrible inspiration for his work. The Houston-based artist's pieces are steel representations of scenes he photographed at decades-old concentration camps (now memorials) around Germany. For the Station Museum show, they'll be placed next to the vivid black-and-white photos themselves. "You look at these things, and they"re beautiful objects, which is a juxtaposition with the idea of the horror of these things," Wilson says. "I've always been kind of fascinated with that - being able to push and pull like that." In Grunewald Bahnhof, he takes a tree-lined train track to a vanishing point. Out of context, it's an idyllic country image, but presenting it with a photo of the actual tracks that lead to the camp imbues it with a sense of dread. Like the rest of the exhibit, the piece doesn't sentimentalize or trivialize - it's simply a raw reminder of what's there. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Through May 30. 1502 Alabama. For information, call 713-529-6900 or visit www.stationmuseum.com. Free.
Wednesdays-Sundays. Starts: March 13. Continues through May 30, 2010
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File Assoseations, Program Not In Other Programs List
Well I Want All The .lua Files On My Ubuntu Machine To Be Assoceatied With The "lua" Prgogram But Lua Is Not In The "Other PRograms" Menus Under File Proprties.
I Remember A PLace In The System Settings In Kubuntu To Change Every Know Extention But Now I Use Generic Ubuntu And Cant Find It.
I doubt that you really want to connect .lua files with the Lua interpreter. There is no way to determine for the system if your scripts will be console only (in that case you rather should connect it to a terminal that launches Lua with your your script) or if your script may be uses a GUI and therefore doesn't need a console (or may be have no visible output at all).
I don't think lua has a GUI lib available, for one thing the language is microscopic. Second, I don't mind the terminal running in the background (it makes me fell smarter :) ).
|All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:07 AM.


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Jack White has signed on to write, produce and perform the score for Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films' massively anticipated adaptation of 'The Lone Ranger.'
White, whose new solo album Blunderbuss arrived on Tuesday to spectacular reviews, will make his feature film scoring debut with the action adventure film, set to be released on May 31, 2013. He previously appeared in the film Cold Mountain alongside Nicole Kidman, and performed two songs for the soundtrack.
'The Lone Ranger' was directed by Gore Verbinski and stars Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as John Reid, the title character. Tonto, a Native American spirit warrior, tells the stories that transformed lawman John Ried into a legend of justice. The two must learn to work together to fight against greed and corruption.


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She stopped right there and stood stock-still as her dirty reflection reappeared in the mirror. It was dirtier than before. Eyes locked on her image, Iruj leaned towards the mirror unconsciously. Her thoughts conflicted with what she had in front of her eyes.
She struggled to negate that feeling she was having deep inside. She didn't want to believe it was her own self. While she was going through a mental war, suddenly the image of a girl appeared in the mirror. She stumbled with a jerk as she was taken aback by the reflection of the girl she had ridiculed the other day.
Iruj turned around to see the girl but a look of surprise and incredulity spread across her face when she found nothing except the deafening silence of her empty room. She returned to face the mirror and stared at the girl's reflection in perplexity. As she was trying to figure out if the girl was in real or only her mind's projection, another reflection joined the others, adding to Iruj's confusion or rather misery.
The whole cycle of turning around and not finding anything took place numerous times as gradually all those people who were hurt by Iruj over a lifetime crowded in the mirror. It was already becoming unbearable for her to face the reflections of her past when suddenly the words of humiliation uttered by her to all those people filled the whole room. The echo in the room reminded her of the times when her insolence had hurt people! She couldn't bear meeting her true self.
Desperate, she tried to cover her eyes and ears, to block out the unbearable, to run away from the reflection of her past but to no avail. A person has to be accountable for their deeds.


text: Here's the America's Best Online list of the best Shopping in Hyannis, MA. Islands got the current top shopping place ranking for Hyannis. Closely following #1 are Margaret Parker Florals, Inc., Guertin Brothers Jewelers, Bella of Cape Cod and Mr. Tux. After reading the top ten shopping places in Hyannis (and the honorable mentions including Cove Acoustic) be sure to check out the Massachusetts Shopping nearby in cities such as West Yarmouth, Barnstable and Centerville.


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Entering his senior year at William H. Turner Technical Arts High School, Miami Gardens teenager Julio Gonzalez was looking forward to his third-period AP Spanish class this past August 20. Since 2005, the course has been taught by a popular dreadlocked, gold-toothed educator named Patrick Williams, who is fluent in seven languages. In the past two years, 68 of 70 Turner students who took Williams's class passed their advanced placement exams, a feat the Jamaican-born teacher accomplished without any textbooks for his pupils.
"He is an awesome guy," says the deep-voiced 17-year-old. "He may not portray the typical suit-and-tie professor, but his charisma, persona, and excellence go beyond that of many teachers."
Gonzalez and his classmates won't be seeing Williams again anytime soon, though. The 41-year-old Kingston native was abruptly removed from his classroom October 19, when Turner Principal Valmarie Rhoden accused him of harassing her. The charge is being investigated by the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Civilian Investigative Unit, an agency that looks into administrative complaints against school district employees. Exactly what Williams did to badger Rhoden remains a mystery, as does the duration of his exile from Turner. MDCPS officials, including Rhoden, will not comment, says school district spokesman John Schuster.
William H. Turner Technical Arts High School
Williams denies Rhoden's accusation. He claims the principal — whom one former colleague calls "a horrible" administrator — is retaliating because he questioned how she was spending Turner's share of a five-year, $5 million grant awarded to 10 high schools. Williams is reporting to a desk job at the school district's Region III office in Miami Springs. "I just sit in the break room doing nothing except talk to other people or watch DVDs on my laptop," he says.
Meanwhile Gonzalez and his classmates have been subjected to a revolving door of substitute teachers and given no explanation about what happened to their favorite instructor — until it was reported by New Times ("Good Teacher, Bad Principal," November 8). The class has come to a standstill. "We just sit there and talk," says AP Spanish student Natalie Piñeda.
Gonzalez and Piñeda are among 55 former and current students and Turner employees who on New Times' website voiced support for Williams while objecting to Rhoden's actions. "I want to organize a rally for his return," Gonzalez said recently. "I'm losing more than whatever Ms. Rhoden is gaining, and I am not going to tolerate it."
Leotha Fleming III, who was a sophomore when he took Williams's regular Spanish class in 2006, is joining Gonzalez's effort to bring Williams back. The soft-spoken 12th-grader says he used to chat with Williams at least three times a week. "He taught me that it is better for one person to change the world than it is for the world to change one person," Fleming relates. "I wish I could contact him so we could still hang out."
Piñeda, an 11th-grader, says the substitute teachers simply hand out worksheets, and that the class has been without a lesson plan since Williams was ousted. "Some people don't even do the worksheets," she says. "They just don't care because we don't have someone who's going to give us a grade."
Her sister Ana Maria, a recent Turner graduate who scored a 5 — the highest grade possible — on the AP Spanish exam, sent an e-mail November 13 to the nine members on the Miami-Dade School Board, pleading for Williams's return to the classroom. Ana Maria says Williams helped her not only with Spanish but also with other AP courses. "He would print out practice lessons for my AP math classes from the Internet," she says. "He would do this for me and other students. You could go up to him and he would always help you."
Wilbert Santa Leon, another 2007 alumnus, says he and his friends filmed a documentary last year about the fight waged by the teachers union to increase salaries. "Mr. Williams was one of the people we interviewed," Santa Leon says. "He is a very intelligent man." The 18-year-old Miami Dade College film student says the problem is Rhoden. "She is a very thin-skinned woman," Santa Leon grumbles. "She is a horrible principal."
Santa Leon's comments are echoed by Gerrard Nembhard, an auto mechanics instructor at Hialeah Senior High who taught at Turner for more than 10 years, until 2003. Nembhard headed the school's defunct diesel mechanics vocational program. He says Turner established partnerships with private companies and public agencies to provide students with internships. The school was sending students to places like Miami-Dade Transit, Kelly Tractor, and Detroit Diesel to get on-the-job training. "She closed it down over foolishness," Nembhard says of Rhoden. "She always looked down on the vocational program because she has the notion that everyone will go to college." According to Turner's 2008 school improvement plan, 28 percent of last year's seniors did not continue with postsecondary education.
During a staff meeting in the first semester of 2003, Nembhard challenged Rhoden's assertion that his program was underenrolled, he says. That was the end of him. "She closed the program and switched me to night school," he claims. "She could have waited until June, but she was so vindictive she had to close it right then and there." Although Nembhard filed a grievance against Rhoden, the school district did not investigate the complaint. Again, the district spokesman declined comment.
Alliestan Reece, a 56-year-old school activities assistant, says Rhoden has destroyed Turner's camaraderie. "She's made it horrible for teachers and staff," Reece says. After Reece went on a district-approved four-month medical leave in April 2003 for treatment of "a 10-pound hernia," she says, Rhoden reprimanded her. "Your absence is creating a void," Rhoden wrote in a June 18, 2003 memo.
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While Rhoden runs Turner with unchecked power, it seems a high-ranking school district official is trying to provoke Williams into doing something wrong. This past November 9, Williams says, he and four other district employees — who were also on temporary administrative duty — were standing outside the door to the Region III office. "The room where we have been assigned is extremely cold, so we stepped out to get some sun," Williams explains.
A few minutes later the Region III administrative director, Robert Kalinsky, confronted the employees and ordered them back inside the office, according to one of the people present, a fellow Turner teacher who did not want her identity revealed. "When Patrick tried to explain why we were standing outside, Kalinsky just ignored him," she says. "Then Kalinsky called a schools police officer to escort Patrick back into the office."
Seven days later, Kalinsky wrote Williams up for insubordination. "He did it to cover himself because he knew he was wrong," Williams says. "I had been going outside every day until the first article came out. It is pure retaliation."


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Veronica Harness
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Brand: Good Vibrations Toys
For innovative harness play that puts the "fun" in "functionality", the Veronica Harness sets the standard. Read More
For innovative harness play that puts the "fun" in "functionality", the Veronica Harness sets the standard. This flirty fabric harness features a unique Velcro™ docking system that holds your favorite dildo firmly in place without o-rings – just flip the flaps to adjust! Contoured to fit the body, D-rings at the anchor points allow for precise tailoring and a comfortable fit under clothing. The Veronica harness is handmade from 100% machine washable cotton fabric for easy cleaning after use. This sexy black and white delightfully dotted harness is a stylish addition to your strap-on adventures.
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This is quite possibly the cutest strap-on I've ever seen. Cute isn't the only thing going for this sexy harness. This is a 100% cotton harness that has adjustable leg and waist straps and is machine washable (always a perk in my book). Not only is this a highly adjustable harness it also comes in three different sizes. Now you might wonder why you'd bother having different sizes when it is adjustable. I'd guess that smaller women appreciate not having large wings hanging from their hips when adjusting a harness for their needs. So, no creative tucking or knot tying for the excess.
--from our reviewer, bzzingbee
The instructions provided says the toy that works best with the harness is between 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter.
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These organizations are for the students who want a chance to pursue their diverse passions beyond the classroom. Some groups build off of academic pursuits while others focus on shared interests and hobbies.
À la Mode
À la Mode is Wellesley's fashion club, dedicated to sharing and celebrating the art of fashion through events such as lecture, fittings, vendor trunk shows and fashion history. À la Mode also sponsors creativity right on Wellesley's campus through events, such as eXposé, that highlight student designers and artists. In addition, we aim to extend the outreach of fashion on campus through our blog and Facebook page with weekly posts of fashion business articles and CollegeFashionista Wellesley page articles.
A.S.T.R.O. Club
A.S.T.R.O. Club is a group of "Astronomy Students Toward Recreational Observing." All astronomy enthusiasts are welcome! We help out with public nights at Whitin Observatory, go on trips to dark sky sites, use the college's antique telescopes to observe, and talk about space.Link
Biological Chemistry and Biology Club- (BC)^2
Our goal is to foster a stronger community within the biochemistry and biology departments. Each year, we host formal and informal events that promote conversations between students and professors, such as our lunch series and dessert series lectures. Additionally, we work to promote awareness of the diverse careers available to STEM majors through events and blogposts. We also host scavenger hunts, study breaks, and end-of-semester celebrations so that students could get to know each other better!Link
Classics Club
Classics Club strives to promote an interest in the Classics and serve as a resource for students interested in the major. Some of our main activities have included museum visits, movie nights, and talks by professors from the Classics Department.
Clio History Club
Clio History Club is an open and fun space for both history aficionados and novices alike to gather in the appreciation of the cumulative human experience. With that in mind, history is not merely a sequential list of events to us, but rather the complex, vibrant, and particular narratives we all write. We celebrate our passion through adventurous historical outings, lectures, discussions, workshops, games, pub trivia nights, and lunches with the faculty. Come join us!
Club Rocks
Club Rocks is Wellesley's premiere student geosciences organization. Its purpose is to foster a love of the Earth and all its processes, while maintaining community among geosciences students and enthusiasts. We're the schist.
Economic Student Association
The Economic Student Association at Wellesley College organizes events relating to the field of economics and increase awareness of economic current events.
Guild of Carillonneurs
The Wellesley College Guild of Carillonneurs carries on the tradition of bell-ringing in Galen Stone, which has continued since the 1930s when the carillon was first installed. The Guild of Carillonneurs is a musical performance group that teaches students to play and perform on the carillon in Galen Stone Tower. Our group aims to share the music of the carillon with the Wellesley community, and to do so we provide students the chance to perform concerts.Link
International Relations Council
The goal of the International Relation Council (IRC) is to represent the needs and views of International Relations majors, and to raise awareness about international affairs, especially to deepen discussion among students of world, social, and political issues.Link
Mock Trial
The Wellesley College Mock Trial team was founded in 2000 to provide students with the opportunity to learn about the work of trial attorneys, better understand the judicial system, develop critical thinking skills, and enhance communication and public speaking ability through participation in mock trials sponsored by the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA).Link
Model United Nations
The aim of Wellesley College Model United Nations (MUN) is to encourage student's learning and understanding of international relations, diplomacy, and global politics. Besides hosting regular workshops that familiarize students with the procedural and international background knowledge required for MUN conferences, we also assemble workshops that help students with their public speaking and position paper writing.
Neuroscience Club
The Neuroscience Club is dedicated to creating a community within the neuroscience major and making neuroscience accessible to the student body as a whole. Through lectures, social events, fundraisers, a monthly newsletter, and the annual Patterson Symposium on Neuroscience and Society, we hope to provide a forum for students to extend their interest in neuroscience beyond the classroom.
Outing Club
The Outing club aims to provide a venue for Wellesley community members to participate in outdoor activities. These include hiking, biking, climbing, trail running, camping, skiing, and other activities based on the interests of current club members. Our goal is to have fun while fostering a community with a love and respect for the great outdoors.
Phocus Photography Club
Phocus Photography Club, open to both amateur and advanced student photographers, is dedicated to learning, practicing, teaching and exhibiting photographic art. Phocus aims to create opportunities for the Wellesley community to engage with and appreciate photography on and off campus.
Pre-Law Society
Our mission is to sponsor law-related events and to serve as a resource for students interested in a law career. Founded in 2002, the Pre-Law Society has had over a decade to host legal panels, work with fellow legal organizations like Kaplan Test Prep, Blue Print Test Prep, and Phi Delta Phi-the International Legal Honors Society. We welcome new members and encourage all to like our Facebook page for updates!
Regeneration provides the community with affordable, local produce from our farm plots in the Weston Road community garden and behind the greenhouse, where we use sustainable practices such as composting, cover cropping, and no-till sheet mulching to promote the health of the soil ecosystem. Through community outreach and hunger relief efforts, we aim to create a greater awareness of food justice and socio-agricultural issues and to improve community access to sustainable produce.
Society of Physics Students
The Society of Physics Students is a club for those interested in physics and in meeting other like-minded students. Members have the opportunity to participate in various physics-related activities, including both on and off campus gatherings as well as the annual end of the year physics vs. math softball game. Join us every other Monday night at 8:00pm in the Physics Lounge (SCI 269) to talk physics, tell jokes and have a good time.Link
The Wellesley Debate Society
The Wellesley Debate Society is part of the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA), an association of American Colleges and Universities whose members compete in weekend parliamentary debate tournaments across the Northeast. We aim to encourage students' abilities in public speaking and argumentation in a fun yet competitive manner.Link
Wellesley Anime
Wellesley Anime's goal is to provide opportunities to learn about Japanese culture through its animation and we try to accomplish that in as many fun, unique, and entertaining ways as possible! Our signature events include karaoke nights, ghost story telling during Halloween, trivia events and the Cherry Blossom Ball. But above all we are best known for being a great community where anyone who shares our interests can come and have a great time.
Wellesley College Chemistry Society
Wellesley College Chemistry Society seeks to promote unity among the chemistry community and inspire students to pursue chemistry by organizing events and allowing students to get to know professors outside of an academic setting.
Wellesley College Emergency Medical Services
Wellesley College Emergency Medical Services (WCEMS) seeks to make campus safer by promoting matters of emergency medicine on campus. WCEMS hosts training opportunities for students to become Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technicians and to become certified as other types of first responders. To be as prepared as possible, we organize training drills for mass-casualty events and ensure that all of our members are able to respond with skill, confidence, and compassion.
Wellesley Energy and Environmental Defense
Wellesley Energy and Environmental Defense is the largest environmental organization at Wellesley whose mission is to educate the campus community on environmental issues, provide forums for dialogue, improve campus sustainability and engage in local and regional campaigns relating to climate change, renewable energy, and sustainable development.
Wellesley Pre-Dental Society
The Wellesley College Pre-Dental Society is the best resource on campus for Pre-Dental students looking to learn about what courses to take, dental education community service, the application process, and why dentistry is a great career choice! Link
Wellesley Women in Business (WWIB)
The purpose of the Wellesley Women in Business is to cultivate members' interest in business, expand their understanding in specific sectors and industries, prepare them for the transition from a liberal arts education into their future business careers, and - most importantly - equip young women with the tools necessary to seize their talent and succeed in the world of business. We hold panels, lectures, workshops, and field trips to connect students with alumnae and leaders in business professions of their interests and expose them to business graduate programs early on. WWWIB aims to help women find career direction, network with alumni and peers, and achieve ambitious career goals.Link


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Figure 1:
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
LpqH lipoprotein induces caspase-dependent macrophage apoptosis. (a) Peripheral blood monocyte-derived human macrophages were incubated for 1 h with LpqH. As a control, cells were incubated with 100
g protein present in 19-kDa nitrocellulose strips of native
M. smegmatis
M. smeg-N
), which as seen by immunoblot do not contain LpqH (not shown). Apoptosis was measured with a nucleosome ELISA kit. Apoptosis is expressed as the mean ± SE arbitrary units (a.u.)of four independent experiments. Statistically significant differences are indicated;
. (b) To determine the role of caspases, whole-cell protein extracts of MO made apoptotic by incubation with 5
g LpqH were separated by SDS-PAGE and immunoblot analysis was performed with antibodies to caspases 8, 3, and 9. Procaspases and cleaved caspases are shown.