text:
Below are all three parts of this series of articles.
The Shadow Party: Part I
By: David Horowitz and Richard Poe
FrontPageMagazine.com | Wednesday, October 06, 2004
"My family is more important to me than my party," declared Senator Zell Miller, a Georgia Democrat, as he spoke from the podium of the Republican National Convention on September 1. "There is but one man to whom I am willing to entrust their future and that man's name is George Bush." [1]
Many Democrats howled in outrage at Miller's "betrayal" - former President Jimmy Carter in particular. In an angry personal letter to the Georgia senator, Carter accused Miller of "unprecedented disloyalty" and declared, "You have betrayed our trust. [I]t's quite possible that your rabid speech damaged our party..." [2]
But nothing Miller said could possibly have damaged the Democratic Party more than its own leaders had done in making the war in Iraq a partisan issue and embracing the anti-war cause. In his anger, Carter had mistaken the symptom for the disease. Long before Zell Miller's démarche, Ronald Reagan -- a Roosevelt Democrat who re-registered as a Republican in 1962 -- followed a similar course, explaining, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party left me."[3]
The leftward drift of the Democratic Party accelerated through the Vietnam years, spurred by the anti-war candidacies of Bobby Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern. When the congressional Democrats pulled the plug on aid to our allies in southeast Asia in the 1970s, a contingent of anti-Communist "Scoop" Jackson Democrats crossed the aisle in protest and became Republicans - an act for which they were labeled "neo-conservatives." Rank-and-file Democrats staged a silent but even more devastating walk-out after four years of Jimmy Carter's "blame America" Administration, casting their ballots by the millions for the Gipper.
The Democrats' current presidential aspirant John Kerry has ambitiously modeled his political career after John F. Kennedy's. Yet their politics bear little resemblance. If Kennedy were alive today, Democrats would condemn his sweeping capital gains tax cuts as a sop to the rich. His militant anti-Communism would evoke charges of right-wing "paranoia." And the vow he made in his inaugural address to confront tyranny anywhere in the world would win him the label of "neo-conservative" imperialist among today's Democrats. Instead of calling on Americans to "support any friend" and "oppose any foe" -- as Kennedy did in his famous address - many Democrats are busy sabotaging our war effort in Iraq, with speeches as strident as any that emanated from the New Left during the Vietnam era.
The devolution of the Democrats from the Cold War party of Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy to the progressive party of Edward Kennedy and John F. Kerry has long been in progress, and is not quite complete. But the Democrats' final transformation into a party of the left in the European mode may not be far off. Barely noticed by political observers, an activist juggernaut has seized control of the party's national electoral apparatus, organized, financed and directed by the left.
This party within the party has no official name, but some journalists and commentators have begun referring to it as the Shadow Party, a term that we will use as well. It denotes a network of non-profit groups presently raising hundreds of millions of dollars for deployment on the campaign battlefield. This money pays for advertising, get-out-the-vote-drives, opposition research, dirty tricks and virtually every aspect of a modern electoral campaign. But it does so through independent groups with no formal connection to the Democratic Party.
Follow the Money
The Shadow Party emerged from the dense thicket of campaign finance reforms engineered by Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold. Thanks to the soft-money ban enacted by the McCain-Feingold Act of March 27, 2002, the Democratic Party entered the current election cycle hard pressed to raise enough money legally to undertake a winning campaign. This created an imperative that found its inevitable loophole (as critics of McCain-Feingold always warned it would). Consequently, the driving force in the political war against George Bush is now a group of billionaires and millionaires operating through the veiled structures of the Shadow Party.
Under McCain-Feingold, political parties and candidates can only accept "hard money" contributions – that is, contributions given to a specific political party for a specific political campaign. Such contributions must be reported to the Federal Election Commission, and are limited to a $2,000 maximum per donor for each candidate, or $5,000 per donor if they are paid to a federally registered political action committee (PAC). Historically, Republicans have enjoyed a 2-1 advantage over Democrats in raising hard-money contributions from individual donors. Democrats have relied much more heavily on soft-money contributions from large institutions such as unions.
Soft money refers to political contributions, which for one reason or another have been exempted from the limits imposed by the FEC. Before McCain-Feingold outlawed such contributions, soft money donors could give as much money to political parties as they wished. Their contributions often numbered in the millions of dollars. McCain-Feingold deprived the Democrats of their soft money, but the Shadow Party has provided an alternate channel for collecting unlimited contributions. For example, government unions used to lavish multi-million-dollar contributions on the Democratic Party – money which the unions drew from their members, through mandatory dues. The unions still collect their membership dues, but, under McCain-Feingold, they may no longer pass that money along to the Democratic Party, at least not directly. The solution? They give it to the Shadow Party instead.
The Shadow Party uses various expedients to evade McCain-Feingold's limits. First, it works through independent non-profit groups that ostensibly have no connection to the Democratic Party, either structurally or through informal coordination. The Shadow Party contains many types of non-profit groups, but most of its big fundraisers are "527 committees" – named after Section 527 of the IRS code – sometimes called "stealth PACS" because, unlike ordinary PACS (political action committees), they are not required to register with the Federal Election Commission nor to divulge their finances to the FEC (except in special circumstances).
Another expedient used by the Shadow Party is to claim that it is not engaged in electioneering at all. Most Shadow Party groups say they are soliciting funds not to defeat a particular candidate, but to promote "issues" and non-partisan get-out-the-vote drives. Of course their issue promotions have, in most cases, turned out to be savage attacks on the opposing candidates and their get-out-the-vote drives have used sophisticated demographic marketing techniques to target exclusively Democratic constituencies. All of this casts doubt on the Shadow Party's claim to be aloof from the electoral struggle and therefore exempt from FEC regulation. However, a pliant Federal Elections Commission has conveniently declined to rule on the Shadow Party's legality until after the election, when it will no longer matter.
Needless to say, McCain-Feingold also bars the Republican Party from raising soft money. However, Republicans never had a problem raising individual contributions for their candidates and never made a habit of raiding union treasuries for "soft money." Thus Republicans have felt less urgency than Democrats to seek alternative fundraising methods, and they have proved slower in pursuing the 527 escape route from McCain-Feingold. Republicans have built no network of independent, non-profit groups comparable in numbers or scale to the Democrat Shadow Party.
No one knows who first coined the term "shadow party." The term has become popular among journalists, but likely originated among the freelance fundraisers themselves. In the November 5, 2002 Washington Post, writer Thomas B. Edsall wrote of "shadow organizations" springing up on both sides of the political fence to circumvent McCain-Feingold's soft money ban.[4] Lorraine Woellert of Business Week appears to have been the first journalist to apply the term "shadow party" specifically to the Democrat network of 527 groups, in a September 15, 2003 article titled, "The Evolution of Campaign Finance?"[5] Other journalists followed her example.
The Soros Factor
According to conventional wisdom the Shadow Party began taking form shortly after March 27, 2002 – the date President Bush signed the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, popularly known as McCain-Feingold. However, the Shadow Party's earliest origins predate the Reform Act by many years. The principal mover behind the Shadow Party is Wall Street billionaire and leftwinger George Soros. A New York hedge fund manager, global investment banker and currency trader, Soros has a personal net worth in the $7 billion range. Under his aegis, the Shadow Party has created a new power base for the left, independent of the mainstream party apparatus – a leverage point from which to tilt the party in an ever-more-radical direction.
Only Soros knows when he first conceived the idea of forming this network. However, clear hints of his intentions began to appear as early as the 2000 election. By that time, Soros had already baffled friend and foe alike with his increasingly strident attacks on capitalism – the very system which had elevated him from a penniless Hungarian refugee to one of the world's wealthiest men. In his 1998 book The Crisis of Global Capitalism, Soros predicted an imminent collapse of the global financial system. Financiers like himself were largely to blame, he wrote, for they had allowed greed to overwhelm their humanity. "The (global capitalist) system is deeply flawed," wrote Soros. "As long as capitalism remains triumphant, the pursuit of money overrides all other social considerations." [6]
Soros offered no coherent solution to the problem. He simply continued his long-established pattern of pouring money into a hodge-podge of fashionable leftwing causes, such as promoting mass immigration into the United States; financing anti-gun lawsuits and lobbyists; demanding voting rights for felons; seeking the abolition of capital punishment; exacerbating Palestinian unrest; promoting abortion; feminism; population control; gay liberation; euthanasia; radical theories of education; marijuana legalization and global government.
In 2000, Soros stepped up his attack on the status quo – dramatically raising his profile in U.S. electoral politics in the process – by sponsoring the so-called "Shadow Conventions." Organized by author, columnist, social climber and political gadfly Arianna Huffington, the Shadow Conventions were counter-cultural events that gave a spotlight to critics of the electoral mainstream, most from the far left. In an effort to lure news crews away from the national party conventions, Huffington held her "Shadow Conventions" at the same time and in the same cities as the Republican and Democratic conventions in Philadelphia and Los Angeles respectively.
The largest single donor to the Shadow Conventions was George Soros, who put up about one third of the cost, according to Time magazine.[7] Media commentators at the time played the Shadow Conventions for laughs. Yet these events conveyed a serious message; a comprehensive radical agenda which Soros evidently endorsed.
Third Force
The Shadow Conventions promoted the view that neither Democrats nor Republicans served the interests of the American people. Like the New Left of the 1960s and today's Green Party, both of which dismiss the major parties as instruments of the "corporate ruling class," Huffington declared that US politics needed a third force to break the deadlock. Among the issues highlighted at the Shadow Conventions were racism, special interest lobbies, marijuana legalization and the allegedly growing concentration of wealth – a radical hobgoblin since Karl Marx first raised its specter 150 years ago. Most speakers and delegates at the Shadow Convention hewed to a hard-left line, their views resonating with the "Free Mumia" chants that erupted periodically from the crowd and with Jesse Jackson's incendiary charges that Republicans were racists. Huffington herself was a sometime conservative whose cult-like worship of Newt Gingrich had formerly evoked titters of amusement from media gossips. At the Shadow Conventions, she told reporters: "I have become radicalized."
Not all the speakers were hucksters in the Jackson mold, however. Senator John McCain whose campaign finance crusade had put him at odds with both parties was one of the few mainstream politicians to accept Huffington's invitation to speak. He made an impassioned plea for campaign finance reform, a crusade which – perhaps not coincidentally – George Soros had been a major force in pushing since 1995.
The Shadow Conventions were symbolic affairs. They represented no party and nominated no candidates for office. However, many of Soros' activities during the 2000 campaign went beyond symbolism. It was during the 2000 election cycle that Soros first began experimenting with raising money through 527 committees. He assembled a team of wealthy Democrat donors to help him push two of his favorite issues – gun control and marijuana legalization. Soros collected contributions greatly exceeding the $5,000 limit allowed to federal PACs, but he evaded those limits by using 527 committees.
One of Soros' committees was an anti-gun group called The Campaign for a Progressive Future, which sought to neutralize the influence of the National Rifle Association (NRA) by targeting political candidates whom the NRA endorsed. Mainstream Democrats had backed off the gun control issue when candidate Al Gore learned that 40 percent of union households owned guns. However, Soros was no mainstream Democrat. He personally seeded The Campaign for a Progressive Future with $500,000.[8]
During the 2000 election, Soros' Campaign for a Progressive Future funded political ads and direct mail campaigns in support of state initiatives favoring background checks at gun shows. Soros and his associates also funneled money into pro-marijuana initiatives, which appeared on the ballot in various states that year.[9] Donors to Soros' stealth PACs during the 2000 election cycle included insurance mogul Peter B. Lewis and InfoSeek founder Steven Kirsch, both of whom would turn up later as major contributors to Soros' Shadow Party during the 2004 campaign.
The Southampton Meeting
To the extent that the Shadow Party can be said to have an official launch date, July 17, 2003 probably fits the bill.[10] On that day, a team of political strategists, wealthy donors, leftwing labor leaders and other Democrat activists gathered at Soros' Southampton beach house on Long Island. Aside from Soros, the most noteworthy attendee was Morton H. Halperin. Soros had hired Halperin in February 2002, to head the Washington office of his tax-exempt Open Society Institute – part of Soros' global network of Open Society institutes and foundations located in more than 50 countries around the world. Given Halperin's history, the appointment revealed much about Soros' political goals.
Halperin has a long and controversial track record in the world of Washington intrigue, dating back to the Johnson Administration. Journalists sympathetic to Halperin's leftwing sentiments give him high marks for blowing the whistle on the Vietnam War, but his activism helped undermine America's war effort and contributed to the Communist victory.
The Johnson Defense Department placed Halperin in charge of compiling a secret history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, based on classified documents. This secret history later emerged into public view as the so-called "Pentagon Papers." Halperin and his deputy Leslie Gelb assigned much of the writing to leftwing opponents of the war, such as Daniel Ellsberg who, despite his background as a former Marine and a military analyst for the Rand Corporation, was already evolving into a New Left radical. In his memoir, Secrets, Ellsberg admits to concluding, as early as 1967, that, "we were not fighting on the wrong side; we were the wrong side" in the Vietnam War. [11] Evidently Ellsberg had come to view Ho Chi Minh's Communist regime as the wave of the future.
With Halperin's tacit encouragement – and perhaps active collusion – Ellsberg stole the secret history and released it to The New York Times, which published the documents as "The Pentagon Papers" in June 1971.[12] This was a violation of the Espionage Act, which forbids the removal of classified documents from government buildings. Not surprisingly, "The Pentagon Papers" echoed Halperin's long-standing position that the Vietnam War was unwinnable, and ridiculed Presidents Kennedy and Johnson for stubbornly refusing to heed those of their advisors who shared this opinion. It marked a turning point in America's failed effort to keep Indo-China from falling to the Communists. The government dropped its case against Ellsberg as Nixon's power collapsed during the Watergate intrigues.
Halperin went on to become the director of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1984 to 1992 and head of its "National Security Archives." From this position, he waged open war against U.S. intelligence services, through the courts and the press, seeking to strip the government of virtually any power to investigate, monitor or obstruct subversive elements and their activities.[13] It did not take long for Halperin to go the next logical step and argue for abolishing America's intelligence services altogether. "Using secret intelligence agencies to defend a constitutional republic is akin to the ancient medical practice of employing leeches to take blood from feverish patients. The intent is therapeutic, but in the long run the cure is more deadly than the disease," Halperin wrote in his 1976 book, The Lawless State: The Crimes of the U.S. Intelligence Agencies.[14]
In a March 21, 1987 article in The Nation, Halperin expanded on this theme and, like Ellsberg, took the position that America was the real villain in the Cold War. He wrote, "Secrecy does not serve national security. Covert operations are incompatible with constitutional government and should be abolished."[15] This was a call for unilateral disarming of our intelligence services to match the universal disarmament of our military which has long been a staple of the radical agenda.
Evidently, Soros wishes Halperin to continue his war on America's intelligence services. According to an Open Society Institute press release, one of Halperin's principal assignments on the Soros team is to battle "post-September 11 policies that threaten the civil liberties of Americans." [16]
The Plan
No one has published a full list of the attendees at Soros' July 17 meeting in Southampton, at which Soros laid out his plan to defeat President Bush.[17] However, a partial list is available in accounts that appeared in the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. These include an impressive array of former Clinton administration officials, among them Halperin. Prior to working for Soros, Halperin had served eight years under Clinton, first as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and finally as Director of Policy Planning for the Clinton State Department.
The guests at Soros' beach house also included Clinton's former chief of staff John Podesta; Jeremy Rosner, former special advisor to Clinton's Secretary of State Madeline Albright; Robert Boorstin, a former advisor to Clinton's Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin; and Steven Rosenthal, a leftwing union leader who served the Clinton White House as an advisor on union affairs to Labor Secretary Robert Reich. Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, and Ellen Malcolm, founder and president of the pro-abortion lobby Emily's List, also attended the meeting, as did such prominent Democrat donors as auto insurance mogul Peter B. Lewis; founder and CEO of RealNetworks Rob Glaser; Taco Bell heir Rob McKay; and Benson & Hedges tobacco heirs Lewis and Dorothy Cullman.
Months earlier, Soros had hired two political analysts to probe Bush's defenses. They were Tom Novick, a lobbyist for the Western States Center – a group of radical environmentalists in Oregon – and Democrat media strategist Mark Steitz, president of TSD Communications in Washington DC, whose clients have included the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton presidential campaigns of 1992 and 1996. Jeanne Cummings of The Wall Street Journal reports that both Novick and Steitz were present at the Southampton meeting, to brief the team in person.
Working independently, the two analysts had reached similar conclusions. Both agreed that Bush could be beaten. Voter turnout was the key. The analysts proposed massive get-out-the-vote drives among likely Democrat voters in seventeen "swing" or "battleground" states: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington.
"By morning," reports Cummings, "the outlines of a new organization began to emerge, and Mr. Soros pledged $10 million to get it started." The name of that organization was America Coming Together (ACT) – a grassroots activist group designed to coordinate the Shadow Party's get-out-the-vote drive. ACT would dispatch thousands of activists – some paid, some volunteers – to knock on doors and work phone banks, combining the manpower of leftwing unions, environmentalists, abortion-rights activists and minority race warriors from civil rights organizations.
ACT was not exactly new. A group of Democrat activists had been trying for months to get it off the ground. But, until George Soros stepped in, ACT had languished for lack of donors. Laura Blumenfeld of The Washington Post describes the scene at the July 17 meeting at Soros' beach house: "Standing on the back deck, the evening sun angling into their eyes, Soros took aside Steve Rosenthal, CEO of the liberal activist group America Coming Together (ACT), and Ellen Malcolm, its president. … Soros told them he would give ACT $10 million. …Before coffee the next morning, his friend Peter Lewis, chairman of the Progressive Corp., had pledged $10 million to ACT. Rob Glaser, founder and CEO of RealNetworks, promised $2 million. Rob McKay, president of the McKay Family Foundation, gave $1 million and benefactors Lewis and Dorothy Cullman committed $500,000. Soros also promised up to $3 million to Podesta's new think tank, the Center for American Progress," which would function as the policy brains of the new network.[18]
The Shadow Party had been born. Three weeks later, on August 8, The New York Times announced the official roll-out of America Coming Together (ACT), describing it as a political action committee led by Ellen Malcolm and Steven Rosenthal.
Soros next summoned California software developer Wes Boyd to meet him in New York on September 17. Boyd was best known among computer users for his "Flying Toasters" screen saver. The political world knew him as founder of the radical Web site MoveOn.org, the Internet force behind Howard Dean's anti-war presidential campaign. Boyd had launched the Web site during the Clinton impeachment trial in 1998, offering a petition to censure the President and "move on" to more important matters. Hundreds of thousands of readers responded, and Boyd quickly began milking his growing membership for political contributions. His Web site raised millions for Democrat candidates in three national elections – two mid-terms and one presidential race. When they met in New York, Soros offered Boyd a deal. He and his associate Peter Lewis would donate $1 to MoveOn.org for every $2 Boyd could raise from his members, up to $5 million total from Soros and Lewis combined. Boyd accepted.[19]
By November 2003, the Shadow Party was ready to go public. As Cummings notes in the Wall Street Journal, Soros calculated that the best way to launch his network would be to issue a public statement, calling attention to the record-breaking contributions he had pledged to the Shadow Party. Such an announcement would "stimulate other giving" from Democrat donors still sitting on the fence, Soros thought.[20]
He chose The Washington Post to carry his message. Soros sat down with reporter Laura Blumenfeld and issued his now-famous call for regime change in the USA. "America under Bush is a danger to the world," Soros declared in that November 11, 2003 interview. Toppling Bush, he said, "is the central focus of my life… a matter of life and death. And I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is." Would Soros spend his entire $7-billion fortune to defeat Bush, Blumenfeld asked? "If someone guaranteed it," Soros replied.
[1] "Text of Zell Miller's Speech at RNC," The Associated Press, 1 September 2004
[2] "Carter to Miller: `You Have Betrayed Our Trust,'" Cox News Service, 7 September 2004
[3] "The Life of Ronald Wilson Reagan: 1911-2004," The Washington Times, 7 June 2004, A12
[4] Thomas B. Edsall, "Campaign Money Finds New Conduits As Law Takes Effect: Shadow Organizations to Raise `Soft Money,'" The Washington Post, 5 November 2002, A02
[5] Lorraine Woellert, "The Evolution of Campaign Finance?" Business Week, 15 September 2003, 62
[6] George Soros, The Crisis of Global Capitalism (New York: PublicAffairs, 1998), 102
[7] Andrew Ferguson, "The Arianna Sideshow," Time Magazine, 31 July 2000, 22
[8] Barry Massey, "Ads in New Mexico Paid For By `Stealth PACS,'" Associated Press, 4 November 2000
[9] Aimee Welch, "When Voters Are the Legislators," Insight on the News, 11 December 2000, 22
[10] Jeanne Cummings, "Soros Has a Hunch Bush Can Be Beat," The Wall Street Journal, 5 February 2004
[11] Daniel Ellsberg, Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers (New York: Viking, 2002)
[12] Ellsberg, Secrets, 2002; Seymour M. Hersh, "Kissinger and Nixon in the White House," The Atlantic, May 1982
[13] Morton H. Halperin and Jeanne M. Woods, "Ending the Cold War at Home," Foreign Policy, Winter 1990–1991, 136.
[14] Morton H. Halperin, Jerry Berman, Robert Borosage and Christine Marwick, The Lawless State: The Crimes of the U.S. Intelligence Agencies (Washington, DC: Center for National Security Studies, 1976), 5
[15] Morton Halperin, "The Case Against Covert Action," The Nation, 21 March 1987, 345
[16] Andrea Pringle, "George Soros Opens Washington Office: Wants Open Society Institute to Have Added Impact on Policy" (press release), Open Society Institute, Washington DC, 10 June 2002
[17] Jeanne Cummings, "Soros Has a Hunch Bush Can Be Beat," The Wall Street Journal, 5 February 2004
[18] Laura Blumenfeld, "Soros's Deep Pockets vs. Bush," Washington Post, 11 November 2003, A03
[19] Blumenfeld, "Soros's Deep Pockets vs. Bush"; Michelle Goldberg, "MoveOn Moves Up," Salon.com, December 1, 2003
[20] Cummings, The Wall Street Journal, 5 February 2004
The Shadow Party: Part II Continued
By: David Horowitz and Richard Poe
FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, October 07, 2004
Center for American Progress (CAP)
Launched July 7, 2003
The Center for American Progress (CAP) is widely understood to be what one inside source called, "the official Hillary Clinton think tank" – a platform designed to highlight Hillary's policies and to enhance her prestige as a potential presidential candidate.[1]
Robert Dreyfuss reports in the March 1, 2004 edition of The Nation: "The idea for the Center began with discussions in 2002 between [Morton] Halperin and George Soros, the billionaire investor. … Halperin, who heads the office of Soros' Open Society Institute, brought [former Clinton chief of staff John] Podesta into the discussion, and beginning in late 2002 Halperin and Podesta circulated a series of papers to funders." [2]
Soros and Halperin then recruited Harold Ickes – chief fundraiser and former deputy chief of staff for the Clinton White House – to help organize the Center. It was launched on July 7, 2003 as the American Majority Institute, but has operated under the name Center for American Progress (CAP) since September 1, 2003.
The official purpose of the Center was to provide the left with something it supposedly lacked – a think tank of its own. Where was the left's Heritage Foundation, asked Soros and Halperin? Of course, the left had plenty of think tanks, including the Brookings Institution, the Urban Institute, the Economic Policy Institute, the Center on Budget and Policy, the Institute for Policy Studies, and the Progressive Policy Institute – not to mention the Kennedy School for Government at Harvard and numerous similar academic institutions firmly under leftist control. But Shadow Party leaders seemed to be looking for something different – something that no existing institution on the left offered.
Regarding the alleged need for CAP, Hillary Clinton told Matt Bai of The New York Times Magazine on October 12, 2003, "We need some new intellectual capital. There has to be some thought given as to how we build the 21st-century policies that reflect the Democratic Party's values."[3] Expanding on this theme, Hillary subsequently told The Nation's Dreyfuss, "We've had the challenge of filling a void on our side of the ledger for a long time, while the other side created an infrastructure that has come to dominate political discourse. The center is a welcome effort to fill that void."[4]
Soros and Hillary seemed to understand the need for the new Center, even if they did not always succeed in explaining it to others. They found fault with every existing leftwing think tank. Even Bill Clinton's personal favorite, the Progressive Policy Institute, was too moderate, too middle-of-the-road for their purpose. But what was their purpose?
Hillary Clinton tries to minimize the depth of her involvement with CAP – as indeed she does habitually in all matters concerning the Shadow Party. Beltway insiders are not fooled, however. Persistent press leaks confirm that Hillary calls the shots at CAP – not John Podesta. "It's the official Hillary Clinton think tank," an inside source confided to Christian Bourge of United Press International.[5]
Many ideological purists on the Left dismiss the Center as a platform for Hillary's presidential ambitions. No doubt, they are right. Dreyfuss notes the abundance of Clintonites on the Center's staff, among them Clinton's national security speechwriter Robert Boorstin; Democratic Leadership Council staffer and former head of Clinton's National Economic Council Gene Sperling; former senior advisor to Clinton's Office of Management and Budget Matt Miller; and so on. Dreyfuss writes: "[T]he center's kickoff conference on national security in October [2003], co-organized with The American Prospect and the Century Foundation, looked like a Clinton reunion, featuring Robert Rubin, Clinton's Treasury Secretary; William Perry, his Defense Secretary; Sandy Berger, his National Security Adviser; Richard Holbrooke and Susan Rice, both Clinton-era Assistant Secretaries of State; Rodney Slater, his Transportation Secretary; and Carol Browner, his EPA administrator, who serves on the center's board of directors." Hillary Clinton also attended the event, notes Dreyfuss.
"In looking at Podesta's center," Dreyfuss muses, "there's no escaping the imprint of the Clintons. It's not completely wrong to see it as a shadow government, a kind of Clinton White-House-in-exile – or a White House staff in readiness for President Hillary Clinton."[6]
"Rapid Response"
Another of CAP's missions is to carry out "rapid response" to what it calls conservative "attacks" in the media. CAP's Web site promises that it will soon be capable of "responding effectively and rapidly to conservative proposals and rhetoric with a thoughtful critique and clear alternatives." To this end, CAP offers a stable of talking heads – coiffed, credentialed and fully briefed – ready to appear at a moment's notice on national talk shows to interrupt, side track, browbeat and otherwise prevent conservative commentators from getting their message out. Notable among CAP's line-up of talking heads are The Nation's Eric Alterman – who claims expertise on the subjects of media and democracy – and Morton H. Halperin, who offers to speak on national security.
CAP helped launch Media Matters for America, a 501(c)(03) public charity better known for its Web site MediaMatters.org, which opened for business on May 3, 2004. Inasmuch as Media Matters aspires to serve as a media watchdog, monitoring "rightwing" journalists for errors and ethical violations, it is odd, to say the least, that David Brock has been appointed its President and CEO. Brock is a former conservative journalist who defected to the Left amidst an outpouring of dramatic public apologies and confessions that he had built his career on lies, writing political hit pieces filled with flimsy evidence and outright fabrications. Even so, whatever Brock lacks in credibility, he more than makes up for in the quality of his schmoozing. Brock told The New York Times that he conferred with Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Tom Daschle and former Vice President Al Gore before launching his Web site.[7]
The New York Times, which generously provided a 1,041-word feature article to announce Brock's grand opening, reports that, "Mr. Brock's project was developed with help from the newly formed Center for American Progress…. [CAP president John] Podesta has loaned office space in the past to Mr. Brock and introduced him to potential donors." Brock received $2 million for the start-up. His donors include friend-of-Hillary Susie Tompkins Buell, co-founder of the fashion company Esprit; former cable TV mogul Leo Hindery Jr.; and San Francisco philanthropist James C. Hormel, an enthusiastic promoter of the "gay lifestyle" whom Clinton appointed ambassador to Luxembourg in the 1990s.[8]
In its short life, Media Matters has already acquired a reputation for zombie-like partisanship and reckless disregard for the truth. Brock and his team seem to sleepwalk through their work, rubberstamping, with mind-numbing monotony, virtually every conservative utterance that finds its way into major media as a "lie," a "smear," a "slander," or a factual "error."
War on Rush Limbaugh
Among Brock's high-priority projects is a campaign to pressure Congress and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to ban Rush Limbaugh from American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) – thus depriving our troops in Iraq of one of the few radio programs they are allowed to hear that wholeheartedly supports them and the cause for which they fight. Only one hour of Limbaugh's three-hour show is broadcast on one of AFRTS's thirteen radio channels, five days per week – constituting less than one percent of the network's total weekly programming. [9] Nevertheless, that is one percent too many for the Shadow Party and its operatives.
Shortly after Media Matters began its campaign, Democrat Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa obligingly proposed an amendment to the 2005 Defense Authorization Act mandating "political balance" on AFRTS. The Senate approved Harkin's amendment unanimously on June 16. It stops short of banning Limbaugh outright, but the amendment effectively requires AFRTS to balance Limbaugh with more leftwing commentary. Given the fact that one of the network's two news channels currently airs National Public Radio 24 hours per day, seven days per week, it is hard to imagine how AFRTS can broadcast more leftwing commentary than it already does.[10] Even so, Senator Harkin complained in a June 17 Senate speech, "[T]here is no commentary on the service that would even begin to balance the extreme right-wing views that Rush Limbaugh routinely expresses on his program." [11]
In the interests of full disclosure, it should be mentioned that both co-authors of this article have been targets of stunningly mendacious hatchet jobs on Mr. Brock's Web site.
[1] Christian Bourge, "Liberal Think Tank Debuts," United Press International, July 7, 2003
[2] Robert Dreyfuss, "An Idea Factory for the Democrats," The Nation, March 1, 2004, 18
[3] Matt Bai, "Notion Building," The New York Times Magazine, October 12, 2003, 82
[4] Dreyfuss, "An Idea Factory for the Democrats"
[5] Bourge, "Liberal Think Tank Debuts"
[6] Dreyfuss, "An Idea Factory for the Democrats"
[7] Jim Rutenberg, "New Internet Site Turns Critical Eyes and Ears to the Right," The New York Times, 3 May 2004, 21
[8] Rutenberg, "New Internet Site Turns Critical Eyes and Ears to the Right"
[9] Hans Nichols, "Limbaugh Stirs Democrats' Angst Over Forces Radio," The Hill, 14 September 2004, 6; Suzanne Gamboa, "Liberals Want More Antidote for Limbaugh on American Forces Radio," The Associated Press, 28 June 2004; Jake Thompson, "Limbaugh Protests Harkin Move," Omaha World-Herald, 19 June 2004, 04A;
[10] Nichols, "Limbaugh Stirs Democrats' Angst Over Forces Radio" The Hill; "Harkin Leads Senate in Unanimous Vote Demanding Political Balance on American Forces Radio and Television Service," US Newswire, 16 June 2004
[11] "Statement of Senator Tom Harkin on American Forces Radio," harkin.senate.gov, 17 June 2004
The Shadow Party: Part III
By: David Horowitz and Richard Poe
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, October 11, 2004
At the Shadow Party's "Take Back America" conference in Washington on June 3, 2004, following a glowing introduction from Hillary Clinton, George Soros stepped to the podium to explain to the audience that when it came to electoral politics in the USA, he was a newcomer. Only his outrage over Bush's invasion of Iraq had stirred him to get involved in the partisan struggle. "[I]t is the first time that I feel that I need to stand up and do something, and become really engaged in the electoral process in this country," Soros said.[1]
This was far from the truth, however. Whatever reasons Soros had for entering party politics, they clearly pre-dated the war in Iraq or George W. Bush. Soros has been neck-deep in Democrat intrigue since at least 1994. Three weeks after Republicans swept Congress in the mid-term elections that year, Soros dtated in a November 30, 1994 speech that he wished to "do something about… the distortion of our electoral process by the excessive use of TV advertising." [2] Evidently, Soros realized that the most efficient way to control political advertising would be to control the flow of "soft money" earmarked for the political parties. Within eight months of Soros' speech, Democrat Senator Russ Feingold obligingly rose on the Senate floor to denounce soft money abuses, thus setting in motion the political steamroller that would ultimately flatten all opposition and give us the McCain-Feingold Act of March 27, 2002.
Few Americans realize that it was George Soros who bankrolled the seven-year lobbying effort without which McCain-Feingold never would have seen the light of day. As a Wall Street Journal editorial noted, "Combine… the $1.7 million that Mr. Soros gave the Center for Public Integrity, the $1.3 million he gave Public Campaign, the $300,000 to Democracy 21, the $625,000 to Common Cause, and the $275,000 to Public Citizen – and you can be forgiven for believing Mr.
Soros got campaign finance passed all by himself." [3]
But to what end did he do it? Why did Soros spend seven years and millions of dollars pushing a soft-money ban through Congress, only to turn around in 2004 and mount an equally ambitious effort – through the Shadow Party – to circumvent that ban and bankroll the John Kerry campaign? Many critics have accused Soros of "hypocrisy" for playing both sides of the McCain-Feingold fence. However, his actions may not be as contradictory as they appear.
By pushing McCain-Feingold through Congress, Soros cut off the Democrats' soft-money supply. By forming the Shadow Party, Soros offered the Democrats an alternate money spigot – one which he personally controlled. As a result the Democrats are heavily – perhaps even irretrievably – dependent on Soros. It seems reasonable to consider the possibility that McCain-Feingold, from its very inception, was a Soros power play to gain control of the Democratic Party.
With Ted Kennedy well into his 72nd year, and the Kennedy clan in overall decline, no dynasty of comparable wealth or ambition has stepped forward to lead the Democrats. George Soros may well aspire to fill the vacuum that the Kennedys have left. At age 74, his thoughts have turned more and more to dynasty building. Soros has five children; three by his first wife Annaliese and two by his second wife Susan. Since September, Soros has effectively placed his two eldest sons in charge of his financial empire. Robert Daniel Soros, 41, and Jonathan T. Soros, 34, now handle the day-to-day investment decisions of Soros Fund Management, as chief investment officer and deputy chairman respectively.[4]
Robert and Jonathan have also followed their father into politics. As mentioned in Part 2, Jonathan Soros is a MoveOn.org activist, a financial sponsor of MoveOn, and a contributor to other Shadow Party groups as well. His brother Robert is focusing, for the time being, on state-level politics. Robert and his wife Melissa gave $100,000 to the New York State Democratic Campaign Committee in 2004. "I live in New York and understand the importance of state government," Robert explained to the New York Post.[5]
If indeed the Soros family means to rule the Democrats – perhaps even more comprehensively than the Kennedys once did – they have found a power base for their ambitions among the party's left wing. A cover story for The New York Times Magazine of July 25, 2004 – on the very eve of the Democratic Convention's opening ceremonies in Boston – provided a glimpse of the tidal force now sweeping the destinies of Democrats and their Party in its wake. Written by Matt Bai, the story bore the title, "Wiring the Vast Leftwing Conspiracy," but it might just as well have been called, "The Democratic Party is Dead – Long Live the Shadow Party!" For that was the clear message its contents conveyed.[6] "As Democrats converge on Boston this week to hold their party convention and formally anoint Kerry as their nominee, all the talk will be of resurgence, unity and a new sense of purpose. Don't be fooled," Bai warned. According to Bai, the unspoken question haunting the convention would be, "in the era after big government," what "is the party's reason for being?"
With the Democratic Convention's opening ceremonies only 24 hours away, Bai urged readers to, "be sure to take a long, last look. The Democratic Party of the machine age, so long dominant in American politics, could be holding its own Irish wake near Boston's North End. The power is already shifting -- not just within the party, but away from it altogether."
The independence of Soros' Shadow Party has proved a double-edged sword for Democrats. On the one hand, it allows Democrats to circumvent the law, by delegating what amounts to a new form of "soft-money" fundraising to an outside agency. On the other hand, Democrats today have become so dependent on that outside agency that some Shadow Party operatives have begun to question whether they even need the Democrats any longer. Why not break off and form their own party, they ask? In his article, Bai regaled his readers with a dismal recitation of figures documenting the collapse of Democrat power. He wrote:
"Since the 1950's, when nearly half of all voters called themselves Democrats, nearly one in six Democrats has left the party, according to a University of Michigan study, while Republican membership has held close to steady.… [T]he Democratic Party has seen an exodus of the white working-class men who were once their most reliable voters. In the suburbs… the percentage of white men supporting the party has plummeted 16 points just since Bill Clinton left office. …[Democrats] have spent most of the last decade in the minority, and during that time they have never enjoyed a majority of more than a single vote."
Bai summed up the damage thus: "… Thirty years ago, Democrats could claim outright control of 37 state legislatures, compared with only 4 for Republicans; Democrats now control just 17." Democratic strategist Pat Caddell, a participant in the Soros-Huffington Shadow Convention, agreed: "The deterioration is steady, and it's spreading like a cancer. So much for thinking that if we could just go back to the glorious 90's, the party would be fine. The 90's were our worst decade since the 1920's."
What To Do?
According to Bai, the last best hope for "progressive" politics in America lies in what he calls the "vast leftwing conspiracy," by which he means the network of independent, non-profit issue groups controlled by Soros, Ickes and their allies: the Shadow Party. "This is like post-Yugoslavia. We used to have a strongman called the party. After McCain-Feingold, we dissolved the power of Tito," exulted Soros supporter Andrew Stern, a former SDS and anti-Vietnam war activist, now president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) which has spent $65 million to beat Bush. Shadow Party co-founder Harold Ickes extolled the hip, youthful spirit that MoveOn.org's online activists have brought to political organizing on the left. He told Bai:
"'When you go out and talk to them, people are much more interested in something like MoveOn.org than in the Democratic Party. It has cachet. There is no cachet in the Democratic Party. MoveOn raised a million dollars for a bunch of Texas state senators, man. Plus their bake sale. If they continue with their cachet and really interest people and focus their people on candidates -- boy, that's a lot of leverage. No party can do that. And what the political ramifications of that are –'Ickes's voice trailed off. He shrugged. 'Who knows?'"
Bai's article shined a spotlight on what he called "next-generation liberals" – rising Young Turks of the Shadow Party like Silicon Valley entrepreneur Andrew Rappaport and Jonathan Soros. According to Bai, these young leftists "have come to view progressive politics as a market in need of entrepreneurship, served poorly by a giant monopoly – the Democratic Party." The solution? "People like Andy Rappaport and Jonathan Soros might succeed in revitalizing progressive politics -- while at the same time destroying what we now call the Democratic Party."
SEIU leader Andrew Stern agrees with Bai. Despite the $64 million he has poured into the Kerry campaign, Stern seems oddly apathetic toward the party Kerry represents. "There is an incredible opportunity to have the infrastructure for a third party," he told Bai. "Anyone who could mobilize these groups would have the Democratic Party infrastructure, and they wouldn't need the Democratic Party." It would be a radical dream come true.
What exactly would a third party – guided by George Soros and his radicals – envision and seek to accomplish that today's Democrats cannot or will not do? The possibilities are endless. In the past, Bai explains, contributions to the Democratic Party simply vanished down a black hole, to be spent as Party leaders saw fit. The 527s allow "ideological donors" such as George and Jonathan Soros to apply their money to specific projects which enable them to shape Party goals and strategy – or even to by-pass the Party altogether.
New Democrat Network president Simon Rosenberg told Bai that independent 527s would be free to attack ideological foes with a forcefulness mainstream Democrats would never dare display. Insurgents such as Rosenberg are looking for a "more defiant kind of politics," which confronts head-on the "sharp ideological divide between them and the Rush Limbaugh right," notes Bai.
In the final analysis, the movers and shakers of the Shadow Party may or may not decide to break off and go it alone, forming a Progressive Party to the left of the Democrats as Henry Wallace and the Communist Party did in 1948 (Wallace lost and the Progressive Party disintegrated after a pitiful showing in the 1952 elections). The defiant statements to Matt Bai, on the other hand, might be merely shots across the bow – warnings to Democrat moderates to take the Shadow Party and its leftwing agenda seriously, or risk a devastating party split. Either way, the Shadow Party emerges a winner and is here to stay. Barring a change in the campaign funding laws, its power will continue to grow, whether as part of a coalition that includes the Democratic Party or not. Already, Shadow Party control of Democrat fundraising has given Soros and his minions influence over the party's platform , strategy and candidate. Should John Kerry take the White House in this election, the Shadow Party will have a throne in the West Wing.
[1] Comments by George Soros, Take Back America Conference, Federal News Service, Washington DC, 3 June 2004
[2] Speech by George Soros, Alexander Ming Fisher Lecture Series, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, 30 November 1994
[3] "The Soros Agenda: Free Speech for Billionaires Only," Wall Street Journal, 30 December 2003; In a letter to the Wall Street Journal, Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook indicated that the $275,000 Soros gave to Public Citizen was earmarked for projects other than campaign finance reform (Joan Claybrook, "Clarifying Soros Funding," Wall Street Journal, 6 January 2004)
[4] Riva D. Atlas, "2 Soros Sons Get More Control of the Business," The New York Times, 6 October 2004, C1
[5] Fredric U. Dicker, "Soros Jr.'s Splurge – Tycoon's Son Spends Liberally on N.Y. Dems," New York Post, 10 August 2004, 6
[6] Matt Bai, "Wiring the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy," The New York Times Magazine, 25 July 2004, 30
Copyright 2003-2006 : DiscoverTheNetwork.org


text:
Journeys Home Survey
Research aims
Journeys Home aimed to address a number of questions related to homelessness and housing insecurity in Australia. These questions included:
- What characteristics are associated with people identified as facing living and housing challenges?
- What is the length of time that people in the sample experience being unable to secure adequate housing?
- What social, economic and health factors are associated with stability/instability in housing tenancy or occupancy, including over time?
- What characteristics distinguish families that are able to maintain stable housing from those that cannot not?
- What are the protective services, including familial and psychosocial factors, which help maintain stable living and housing?
- What role do geographical factors have on living and housing stability?
- What are the key intervention points that help individuals facing living and housing challenges maintain stable housing and prevent chronic housing instability?
- What are the social, economic and health outcomes of people experiencing housing instability?
- What are the personal factors, family characteristics and other situational factors that either exacerbate or ameliorate these longitudinal outcomes?
Technical expertise
Expert advice on the construction of survey instruments, sampling strategies and datasets was provided by a Technical Reference Group (TRG), which consisted of leading researchers from disciplines including housing, social inclusion, mental health, statistics and service provision.
The overall progress of Journeys Home was guided by representatives from the Department of Social Services, the Melbourne Institute and members of the TRG.
Accessing Journeys Home Survey data
Journeys Home is a unique source of longitudinal data that documents the diverse economic, social and personal factors related to housing stability and homelessness.
This data, covering all six waves of fieldwork, is available to researchers based at Australian or international institutions.
Data releases
Data from the Journeys Home Survey is available for purchase under individual licensing arrangements with the Australian Government's Department of Social Services.
Four different data releases are available, depending on your research requirements and location. These releases are General, Overseas, Limited and Limited+RED.
For more information about the data releases, application process or costs involved, please refer to Ordering Journeys Home Survey data.
Survey Documents
Annotated questionnaires, brochures and other fieldwork materials are available from the Survey Documents section.
Known Data Issues
Please refer to Section 2 of the Journeys Home User Manual for information on all known data issues and revisions made to the release files prior to November 2014.
Correction to HHMLSRP derived variable
The Journeys Home research team at the Melbourne Institute has found a programming error for the derived variable HHMLSRP ('Experienced homelessness in the reference period') in the Journeys Home data sets. The specification for HHMLSRP includes short-term accommodations with friends, family, or other relatives as a form of homelessness. In constructing the variable, the lengths of stay in some accommodations were miscalculated, leading to some short stays with friends, family, or other relatives being treated as long stays and some long stays being treated as short stays. There was also an error in the way that incomplete responses were treated. Altogether, 8 percent of the values for HHMLSRP were incorrectly assigned.
The Melbourne Institute has written programs in SAS (jh_hhmlsrp2.sas) and Stata (jh_hhmlsrp2.do) to produce a corrected variable and add it to the JH data sets. Licensed data users can run the programs on the original data (version 201412.1). More information about the problem, correction, and programs is available in HHMLSRP_Revision.pdf.
Program Library
The Melbourne Institute has developed programs to create data files (based on housing calendar data) that can be used in alternative types of event history analysis. The licensed data users can run the program (either in SAS or STATA) on the original data (version 201412.1) provided by Journeys Home team to create the following three data files:
- ACCSPELL, a file with spell-level observations that can be used in descriptive event-history analyses or in multivariate event-history analyses with fixed (non-time-varying) covariates;
- ACCWSPELL, a file with wave-within-spell-level observations that can be used in continuous-time event-history analyses with covariates that are fixed within waves but might vary across waves; and
- ACC3SPELL, a file with third-of-a-month-within-spell-level observations that can be used in discrete-time event-history analyses with covariates that might vary by third-of-a month (10-11-day) intervals.
For further details, please see the event history file documentation.
User Manual
Researchers working with Journeys Home Survey data should consult the User Manual for information on topics, including:
- data conventions
- derived variables
- sampling methods
- weights, and
- data and documentation issues.
Version 6.0.2, for Data Release 201412.1

subset: commoncrawl


text:
kate.a.stone needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 65 designs submitted by 22 freelance designers.
Funny Business
Funny Business is an entertainment business for corporate businesses and general parties of people who want original entertainment which can be targeted especially for them. Funny Business is a small group of actors who provide comedic relief and skits for corporate events or parties. Comedy is at the heart of this business.
The entertainment can include:
- Short adult pantomimes
- Hilarious characters such as tea ladies
- Singers
The best thing about Funny Business is that we can write specifically for the customer, if they tell us about the company/person we can include this into the performance.
The ideal logo design will be fun and clever will still being sophisticated so it appeals to corporate organisations.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
People who took a opportunity and invested in coastal house in California, Hawaii and some components of Florida with a $30,000 investment in any one particular of the 3 states described above 30 years ago could have returned more than $1,000,000. Buyers of real estate are most interested in acquiring foreclosed properties for sale but they must hold some points in thoughts before initiating the obtain method as it requires massive cash. That indicates you can either borrow against that equity to help get your next house, or you can sell the home in the normal way for market worth, and pocket the distinction. You need to see cheap investment home as an investment and you constantly have to think logically whether or not you are producing the appropriate decision when you are signing on board. Bahcesehir is an up and coming good region that offers excellent priced home for sale in Istanbul.
Search: Pick through 's vast database of Foreclosed HUD Houses, VA Foreclosures, Fannie Mae Foreclosures, Freddie Mac Foreclosures, and other Government Houses for Sale. What you want to do is, purchase house in a booming nation close to expanding well-known resorts or alterations in the infrastructure exactly where you KNOW that prices are likely to boost quickly. We cover all areas of the UK and deal with house in London, Home in England, Property in Wales and House in Scotland.
If you are searching for a property in Spain for complete time living, retirement, holidays, investment, enterprise or B&B and are searching for a modify you have come to the appropriate spot. When cheap property for sale starts to increase its like a vacuum cleaner, far more individuals want to get on board and push rates up further. Funds from the sale of such properties are utilized for the advantage of our clientele or distributed to beneficiaries where required. For one particular issue, when the owner of the house does not pay his month-to-month dues, his properties gets seized by the government and are place onto government seized property auctions.
Some of the properties are so low cost because it could be run down currently and will need to have a lot of perform to make it appear good as new. If economists are to be believed (and they have been appropriate so far), house rates are about to rocket so, in a year or twos' time you could be sitting on a goldmine if you invest wisely now. The most popular properties for sale are detached villas on their own plots and the most well-liked regions are Apokoronas (covering Almyrida, Kalyves, Kokkino Horio and numerous other tiny villages), Elounda / Agios Nikolaos, Rethymnon and Agia Galini.
While on the non-binding home auction, even if you win in the auction, you can choose not to full the transaction. Or use our house finder service and we will do our upmost to find the home that matches your specifications. Click to watch this video and see how Uncover UK House assists overseas residents and expats acquire and handle low expense investment properties.


text:
Our old friend Mr. Webster defines a Type A personality as more competitive, highly organized, ambitious, impatient, highly aware of time management and/or aggressive.
My mother will tell you I was born this way, and I don't doubt it one bit, but the first memory in which I can look back on and say "Aha!" comes at age 4. I was in preschool and was, very politely and in a perfectly orderly fashion, playing on the slide (think Fisher Price, not playground) when a fat little boy came up behind me and pushed me down to climb up the three whole stairs ahead of me. Never one to stay down long, I jumped up, not even bothering to dust myself off. I grabbed that little prick by the back of his t-shirt and pulled with all my might. Insert mental image of him falling great lengths to certain death. He sat back on his well cushioned ass and started screaming bloody murder. I mean, this is the stuff parent's worst grocery shopping nightmares are made of. "She hit me! She pushed me!" I WHAT??? I plead my case with all my heart. "He pushed Me! It was my turn!" Knowing now what it's like to try to focus in the presence of a screaming child, I imagine dear old Mrs. Huber couldn't hear a thing I said. It probably wouldn't have mattered if she did. The scene told her everything she'd needed to know. Guess who's mom got a call?
I probably should have gotten the message loud and clear in that moment. The good guy doesn't win. But to this day I continue to live right as rain, not because I'm convinced it pays but simply because the Type A in me makes it necessity.
… to be continued


text:
Coco Chanel was right: "Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman." This is the high-polished solid sterling silver bangle that solves this sartorial problem forever.
Dinosaur Designs
Chunky and eclectic, Dinosaur Designs is the most coveted design brand in Australia, and after 30 years of explosive growth they're still true to their original, handmade aesthetic. They've never compromised on quality. They've never moved off-shore. They've designed tutus for the Australian Ballet and chess pieces for Louis Vuitton, but they still make the colourful resin pieces that made them famous when they were mates at art school. Meet them in our journal.
Gift wrapped
Sterling silver
6cm diameter
Ask a question


text:
On Premise or Online
- LDAP and SSO
- Individual appearance
- Unlimited number of users
- Unlimited number of attributes
- Support
- Oracle / MySQL / MSSQL database
- Roles and rights
- Import and Export
- Usage time according to contract duration
Private and Public Demo
- –
- –
- Unlimited number of users
- Unlimited number of attributes
- –
- –
- Roles and rights
- Import and Export
- Usable 30 days
Included in each edition:
Any questions?
- Flexible, configurable and expandable attribute system
- Dashboards based on user-defined templates
- Operational via the browser, no client installation required
- Visualisations such as Portfolio, Information Flow, Landscape plan, Master Plan and Nested cluster
- Download as PDF, SVG, JPG, PNG and Visio
- Easy installation and operation thanks to standard technologies like Java and Tomcat
More than just the tool
Take advantage of our EAM consulting expertise and our best practice EAM method: The colleagues from our partner company kobaltblau Management Consultants are always pleased to help you. In addition to our best practice EAM method, we offer a wide range of services around iteraplan and for the introduction, optimization, verification or the expansion of EAM and ITM in your company.


text:
Your privacy is important to us. When you provide information to us via our Web site, we protect it according to this policy. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to let us know.
Advanced Clinical operates primarily as a provider of business-to-consumer services. Unlike many companies and Web sites, we do not focus on consumer users or the collection of consumer data. To the extent we collect information online, our purpose is to better serve our business clients and their employees.
Unless otherwise stated in another, more specific policy on the Web pages you are viewing, we collect the following types of information when you browse www.advancedclinical.com/ or any other Advanced Clinical Web site:
Advanced Clinical does not rent or sell customer lists to other companies. Instead, we use information collected via the Web site in the following ways:
For information you provide directly, such as ordering information or e-mail messages, we use the information to respond to your orders and requests.
For information about Web pages visited, page hits per week, and the like, we use this information internally to improve the design of our Web pages.
For some registration and use data, we may direct you to particular Web pages, customize the Web pages you see, or otherwise increase the relevance of the information you access through the Web site.
Advanced Clinical may use third-party storage or service-provider companies to perform some functions including the processing of data.
Advanced Clinical may disclose information to protect our rights or property, to enforce our terms of use and legal notices, as required or permitted by law, or at the request of government regulators or other law enforcement officials and the courts (including the issuance of a valid subpoena). We shall have no duty to notify you of such compliance with the law.
Advanced Clinical maintains e-mail lists to keep interested parties informed about our company, events, products, support, and more. We do not sell the addresses on our list, but we may make information available to specific business partners, sponsors, or service providers.
Users may voluntarily request to join our mailing lists by signing up or opting in through a form on our website.
You may unsubscribe from our marketing communications by clicking on the "unsubscribe" link located on the bottom of our e-mails, updating your communication preferences, or by sending us an email at email@example.com. Unsubscribing from marketing communications will not prevent you from receiving transactional emails related to your account.
When you choose to submit information through the Web site, Advanced Clinical and its affiliates may transfer, process and store the information in countries in which Advanced Clinical and its affiliates maintain offices, including the United States. The United States does not regulate data protection in the same manner as other countries, including the Member States of the European Union. Accordingly, the data that you submit to Advanced Clinical may be transferred to, processed, or stored in countries where the data protection laws are different than those of your country of residence.
You can update your contact information by contacting us at any time. We may keep all information in an off-line form, for archival purposes or as otherwise required by law.
We constantly update the features of our Web site to better serve you and all our customers, so this policy may also be revised from time to time. Advanced Clinical may modify this policy without advance notice and any modifications are effective when they are posted here. By using our Web site, you indicate your understanding and acceptance of the terms of the policy posted at the time of your use. If you have any questions, please contact us at your convenience.


text:
Hello all,
There is a thread over on Oppo which builds on a thread that first appeared yesterday and was updated today with some additional details.
The link to the post is below:
This is the victim's boyfriend, and I'm not sure what support system his girlfriend has in place, but if any of you could provide them with any resources or thoughts on the situation he would appreciate it (as would I, as much as I can offer support, I do know that there are people within this community - GT - that are much better equipped to provide resources).
Thank you very much in advance.


text:
Charles Schumer: 3-D printer's plastic guns can fire real bullets, pass metal detectors
New York Sen. Charles Schumer said the ability to make an untraceable and undetectable gun with a 3-D printer is "stomach-churning."
The Democrat on Sunday displayed a photo of a plastic gun made by a Texas company using the 3-D printer technology.
He said the guns are capable of firing real bullets and pass unnoticed through metal detectors.
Schumer said the technology means anyone "can open a gun factory in their garage."
He said the company, Defense Distributed, last week announced it had successfully made the plastic gun using a 3-D printer. The senator said the company plans to post blueprints for the weapon online this week.
A spokesman for the company couldn't be reached for comment.
Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) recently introduced an Undetectable Firearms Act that would make it illegal to "manufacture, own, transport, buy, or sell any firearm, receiver or magazine that is homemade and not detectable by metal detector and/or does not present an accurate image when put through an X-ray machine."
The reauthorization would extend the the bill for 10 years. The existing ban on plastic guns expires this year, Israel said.
We're revamping our Comments section. Learn more and share your input.


text:
We've all been there. At one time or another we find ourselves driving down the highway only to notice a minivan or truck up ahead with a mattress or other piece of furniture haphazardly attached to the vehicle. It wobbles, it sways, and we do our best to get as far away from that vehicle as possible.
Just how dangerous are these poorly secured loads? According to a recent study conducted by AAA, the answer is that these dangers pose a large risk to everyone on the roads.
What did the study find?
According to researchers with the study, between the years of 2011 and 2014 there were over 200,000 accidents in the United States connected to a poorly secured load falling off another vehicle. Some examples of accidents that can result from these situations include:
- Hitting debris. The most obvious form of accident that can result in these situations is when the debris actually strikes another vehicle.
- Hitting other vehicles. Drivers may attempt to swerve to avoid oncoming debris. This could result in a collision with nearby traffic or an accident that forces you off the road. According to the study, this type of accident is responsible for 37 percent of fatalities in debris-related accidents.
It is also important to note that these accidents involve more than just unsecured loads. Debris can also include pieces of the vehicle. If a vehicle is not properly maintained, portions can fall off. A stray bumper or flying side mirror can also contribute to debris-related accidents.
What should I do if I am injured in a debris-related car crash?
Drivers are expected to operate their vehicles safely. If this expectation is not met, the driver can be held responsible for a resulting accident through a personal injury suit. This suit can lead to monetary awards, providing compensation to victims to cover the costs associated with the accident.


text:
Baby's first birthday party is more of a big deal for you than for her: it's all about spending some time with your loved ones and allowing them to get to know your child, and watch her smoosh some cake. Gifts aren't that big a deal to her either: she'll enjoy her toys, but she'll also be psyched just to play ... Read More »
Tag Archives: kickboard scooters
Scoot safely: Fitting your child's sports helmet
Kickboard Scooters are flying out of our stores (check out these great sale prices!), and where there are scooters, there should be helmets. Whether your child is scooting or skating, skiing or biking, it's so easy to provide excellent protection and peace of mind with a good helmet, and we've got a great selection of adorable designs from Nutcase. One ... Read More »


text:
Byetta is a brand-name prescription pharmaceutical indicated for the treatment of diabetes. It is an injectable therapy to improve blood sugar control in patients with Type II diabetes, which is most often prescribed for patients who have not been able to achieve adequate control on metformin and/or a sulfonylurea, two often prescribed diabetes medications that are taken orally. Byetta has been prescribed alone or in conjunction with other diabetes medicines. (For Byetta pancreatic cancer cases, visit here.)
In 2005, Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly began to market Byetta in the United States. The idea behind Byetta was a good one: to improve a diabetes patient's blood sugar by lowering both post-meal and fasting glucose levels. If effective, Byetta leads to better long-term control of the condition (as measured by hemoglobin A1C).Does Byetta Help Diabetes Patients?
The scientific community seems split on this question. There is no doubt that some patients on Byetta have reported good results. Byetta appears less likely to cause hypoglycemia or dangerously low blood sugar compared to the other available drugs. Moreover, for those who are at risk for weight gain, patients on Byetta are less likely to gain weight than on other diabetes medications, at least initially after taking Byetta. Obviously, this is a good thing given the cardio risks that travel with diabetes.
But still setting aside the risks associated with Byetta, some doctors remain unconvinced. Dr. Sonal Singh, a noted diabetes researcher and professor at Wake-Forest's medical school, says Byetta does not provide much clinical benefit. Dr. Singh does not prescribe Byetta and advises other doctors not to prescribe Byetta to diabetes patients.
A Georgetown study presented at the American Diabetes Association meeting confirms this concern. The study found that nearly 50% of people taking Byetta for Type II diabetes for more than a year stopped using Byetta because it was not working for them. The sales number bear this out. When Byetta was introduced to the market in 2005, Byetta prescriptions for it grew very quickly. But Byetta prescriptions have not increased in spite of the fact that it is still a new drug and has 250,000 prescriptions a month.What Are These Concerns with Byetta?
Byetta has side effects that can be harmful. Most drugs do. The question is whether the frequency of the side effects and whether the risks outweigh the benefit in light of all of the circumstances, including the availability of less risk drugs that are just as efficacious.
Last October, the FDA first warned that Byetta may cause acute pancreatitis and reviewed 30 reports of pancreatitis. On Monday, August 18, 2008, the FDA announced that the Agency has received six new reports of patients developing severe hemorrhagic or necrotizing pancreatitis. All cases required hospitalization, with two patients dead and four still in recovery. As Dr. Singh also points out, there is a great risk of underreporting these side effects from Byetta.
Underreporting is always a problem with pharmaceutical drugs but particularly with Byetta because clinical diagnosis of pancreatitis is difficult to make. Accordingly, we do not know if these side effects from Byetta are relatively isolated or, as our lawyers suspect, the tip of an iceberg. Dr. Singh puts it very bluntly: "In my opinion, [Byetta's manufacturer] needs to go back to the lab and study this drug before launching it to millions of people. They have to try to find out the effects in real life practice."
But now a more important problem has taken front an center: pancreatic cancer from Byetta (and Januvia). You can read more about that here.What to Do If You Have a Pancreatic Injury from the Use of Byetta?
Our attorneys have been monitoring potential Byetta cases since 2009, when t first reports came out about the association between Byetta and various side effects. Our lawyers believe now is the appropriate time to begin a potential review of Byetta lawsuits because we have further evidence that the link between Byetta and severe pancreatic problems - including cancer - may be more than just a mere association.
Accordingly, Our Byetta recall lawyers are reviewing these Byetta pancreatic cases throughout the country expecting a class action lawsuit may be appropriate. If you want to discuss your case with one of our attorneys, call us at 800-553-8082 for a free consultation or click here for a free Internet consultation on your potential Byetta lawsuit.


text:
The first blizzard of the year. If the forecast holds, sounds like that's what's coming. A no-travel-advised, buy-extra-groceries-and-an-extra bottle-of-whiskey two-day blow. And just in time. It's been another too-warm deer season. We've been wearing flannel instead of wool and hearing loons on the lake instead of ice-making rumbles, and if there's deer around they're staying nocturnal. A sharp turn in the weather is just the thing to shake things up and at the very least some snow will make the woods more interesting. Hunting without snow is like fishing a muddy, blown-out river. No visibility and low confidence. Tonight, finally, the snow is coming.
The first raindrops hit the windshield about the time I hit Cloquet. By Duluth it's sleet and twenty miles further north it's sticking to the road. CB and Bear are at the shack already when I four-wheel into the yard and their tracks are already obscured by snow. The kitchen gas lights cast a warm glow out the window and illuminate galaxies of big, round snowflakes.
Next morning is not an early one into the woods. Instead: an extra cup of coffee, feed the woodstove, read a book at the kitchen table, watch the snow falling out the window. A foot or so of fell overnight and it's blowing into drifts now. The cabin's 110-year-old tamarack logs creak a bit with the heavy gusts.
But the kitchen is warm. Once more cup of coffee, weak stuff boiled too long, but seasoned just right by the smell of the birch smoke from the stove and the total absence of any kind of wireless signal. I step onto the porch and toss the dregs into the snow. Deep breath.[singlepic id=616 w= h= float=center]
That wind is really picking up. Probably should have got out earlier. I step back inside and stomp the snow from my slippers and head to the back bedroom where my gear is. I dress in light layers, planning to walk, and slide the rifle with iron sights out of its sleeve. A scope in this weather is no good. Irons you can just brush the snow out of. And this rifle's seen some snow. It's Swedish, a Mauser '96, made in 1911 and lent to the Finns in 1939 when the Russians invaded. The cartridges pop into the magazine with a musical clink, a pleasing aesthetic one doesn't get with a more modern rifle made with stamped steel and polymers.[singlepic id=615 w= h= float=center]
First part of the trail cuts through a popple stand maybe thirty years old. The snow is blowing sideways and the treetops rattle skeletal. There is something about still-hunting in the snow and wind. You can't hear anything but neither can the deer. Nor smell. In the swaying trees their motion-based eyesight is dazzled. My human predator's eyes with their depth perception and color resolution give me a rare sensory advantage. I work through the aspens, step, step, pause, wait, look hard, step. I feel sinister. Lethal.
This trail dead-ends at a stand in an ancient black spruce that overlooks the edge of the cedar swamp. I climb up to sit for a few minutes but the swaying of the old tree in the gale is unsettling and the snow is falling quicker now. It's about 3 but it's already getting dark.[singlepic id=618 w= h= float=center]
Halfway back some character of the wind shifts and trees begin cracking. Loudly. I've already been thinking about the warm cabin and supper. Now I'm thinking about widowmakers. I imagine that the odds of a tree actually falling on me are pretty small. Then again every tree eventually falls, and every square inch of forest eventually has a tree fall on it.
I hunt a little faster. When I see the deer standing off to the right of the trail I feel that familiar jolt of adrenaline and the odd dissonance between shock that deer do actually exist and the ordinary image–a deer in the woods–that's presented.
She's not far away, maybe thirty yards, but the alders and popples are thick here and I can't make out more than the color and general shape of a medium-sized doe. I can see the line of her back, a frosting of snow collected there, insulated by her thick winter coat, that hollow hair that spins and flares so perfectly for streamer heads and bass bugs. She's eating the buds off the alder branches. I have no shot. Need to get closer.
I step into the woods, off the trail, moving when her head is down and when the wind is gusting. Time is short so I am taking chances, pushing it, but the wind hides me. My heart races and my senses sharpen. This is hunting. One more step and a small hole opens in the branches. I raise the rifle and lean my left wrist against a popple trunk for a rest. But the deer has turned and she is facing away from me, head down. Sights steady but no real target. Wait. Light is fading.
And then from the hilltop behind me a thunderous crrrrack-whumph and I jump, focus jarred, turning to look automatically. A big popple must have come down.
I turn back and there's another deer. Closer. Standing up from her bed. Snow slips from her back where it had piled as she slept. She looks right at me. I only have to shift the rifle a few inches for a clean shot. The sights have gathered some snow as I stand here but they're clear enough and I focus on the front sight blade.
A wave of reluctance washes over me. Always does at this moment. Cold predatory instinct falters. My mind flashes excuses to not shoot. It's almost dark. What if you have to track her in the snow? Do you really want to spend the next hour gutting and dragging? What if I miss? Will CB and Bear hear the shot and come to help drag? Is she big enough? Shouldn't you save your tag just in case?
But I am expecting this onslaught–it has cost me in the past–and I have steeled myself against it with the thought of venison in the freezer, the memory of none last year and of buying beef and all the baggage it entails. And the obvious this is why I'm here. I catch my breath and squeeze.
The sound of the shot is swallowed by the woods and the wind and the snow. My ears do not ring.[singlepic id=619 w= h= float=center]
recipe: venison heart
or, "the reason to take a neck shot."
- Chill heart in the snow. Rinse well and butterfly, trimming all fat and vessels. Anything white.
- Slice into 3/4″ thick strips and season with cracked sea salt and pepper.
- Rest for 20-30 minutes outside or in the fridge, but don't allow to freeze.
- Heat 1/16" of olive oil to spitting-hot in your 12″ cast iron.
- Fry meat in two batches, turning frequently. Cook time for each batch 2-3 minutes. Do not overcook.
- Add a bit of butter (and garlic if desired) to pan in the last 30 seconds of each batch and swirl the pan to baste the meat.
- Rest meat for 5 minutes before serving.
at home: serve with Minnesota wild rice and roasted carrots or rutabaga. Pair with a Bent Paddle black ale or a modest European red wine.
at camp: eat from a paper plate with your fingers while still too hot and wash down with whatever domestic light beer CB brought up.


text:
Consulting has many definitions, but according to Merriam Webster Dictionary
providing professional or expert advice
We provide professional and expert advice to business owners and their staff. After more than 30 years working with business owners, but large and small and in all market segments (Federal (Civilian and DoD, State and Local Government, Health Care, and Retail to name a few,) with expertise in networking, infrastructure, programming, security, databases, mobility and collaboration.
Our approach to consulting is based on a consulting model where we look at the full lifecycle starting with Analysis and moving through Maintain. Using an abbreviated approach and involving our clients throughout the process increases their level of knowledge and provides confidence in the outcome.
This strategic focus moves the decision making back into the hands of the business owners equipping them with a deeper understanding of what they have, the needs of their business and the interaction between People and Process as they impacted by technology.
As in real life our model is iterative starting with analysis and moving through distinct phases refining the solution as we progress.
We offer consulting services in the following areas:
- Office Technology
- Social Media
- Social Marketing
- Web Presence (Website, Social Integration, SEO and Local )


text:
The pro-Ukrainian activists in Warsaw protest against policy of the president of Russia Vladimir Putin, condemn him actions and call the Russian president the terrorist.
About it reports 5 channel.
As it is told in the message, on Sunday, July 27, in the capital of Poland to Warsaw passed anti-Putin march in which Poles and representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora participated. By police estimates, more than 250 people joined it.
Some hundred people came to Zamkovaya Square to express the support to Ukraine which struggles with the pro-Russian terrorists in the east. They passed on the central streets of the Polish capital to Embassies of Russia.
Participants of the action sang the known song of football fans with not absolutely acceptable characteristic of the president of Russia. At the head of march bore the man in a cage and a mask Vladimir Putin.
At first activists stopped at Embassy of the United States where demanded to stop traffic in arms with Russia. Then - moved under Embassy of the Russian Federation. There lit 298 candles in memory of victims from "Boeing" of Malaysian airlines in Donetsk region.


text:
Mayor Bill de Blasio will swear in a group of 26 judges Monday to serve various courts throughout the city.
The group of 11 new judges and 15 re-apointees all live in the five boroughs and have strong experience in the legal system. De Blasio is touting the diversity of the new group of courtroom leaders; more than half of the new judges are minorities — three are black, one is Latino, one is Asian and another is Indo-Caribbean.
"With these strong additions to our judicial system, I am confident that the people of this city will find fair and effective judicial oversight of our courts," he said in a statement.
Two of the judges who will be part of the swearing-in ceremony Monday morning at City Hall spoke with amNewYork about their accomplishments.
Karen Gopee, Brooklyn Criminal Court
Judge Gopee said she had an interest in law from an early age.
She and her family immigrated from Trinidad, where women weren't traditionally encouraged to pursue professional roles. She said she searched for a career where she could share her opinions and make a difference.
"I've always wanted to do public service and I've always wanted to debate," said Gopee, who declined to give her age.
She caught the law bug in a special program at Franklin K. Lane High School, a closed institution formerly in Cypress Hills, where she was involved with mock trial and legal internships. She graduated from Bighamton University and St. John's Law School before working with the Brooklyn DA's office on the prosecution team for seven and a half years.
Subsequently, she worked for a judge in the Queens DA's office and then at the Red Hook Community Justice Center. Gopee said she admired the balance that men and women behind the bench must strike when delivering justice.
"I've been able to observe their temperament and I've been inspired by their ability to help people," she said.
Gopee has been assigned to serve as a criminal court judge. She said she's proud to be a minority on the bench and that she will aim to make use of her background to help newcomers to the city through her work.
"It makes me think about my parents. How do they know about their rights? How do they know the system? How would you want them treated?" she said.
Marguerite Dougherty, Brooklyn Criminal Court
Judge Dougherty's journey to becoming a Brooklyn Criminal Court judge began next to the bench.
The 52-year-old Levittown, L.I. native worked as a court officer 30 years ago, beginning a lifetime of professional experience that led her to Monday's re-appointment.
"It gives you a different perspective being on the bench and seeing those things," she said of her previous court experience.
Dougherty worked as a court officer during the day and attended St. Francis College and Brooklyn Law School at night, earning her JD in 2001. After working as an attorney in the private sector for 14 years, including three years as the executive director and assistant general counsel for JP Morgan Chase, Dougherty applied for a city judge position and was appointed as an interim civil court judge last February.
She said she was drawn to the challenges and rewards of being on the bench and wanted to bring her years of courtroom insight toward the creation of a fair legal environment.
"Beating your chest and saying 'I'm the judge. I'm the judge,' doesn't work. You need to make everyone feel they're on the team," she said.
Dougherty credited her husband, who works as a deputy chief clerk in Brooklyn Criminal Court, and her father-in-law as the people who influenced her path. She encouraged New Yorkers to pursue their passions, even if it feels intimidating.
"It took me 15 years to get my bachelor's degree. If I can do it you can do it," she said.


text:
ErthCOVERINGS Natural Stone Veneer
Bring the Beauty of Real Stone to Any Room
If you want real stone for your fireplace or accent wall, we recommend the ErthCOVERINGS line of natural stone veneers. Ingeniously designed, easy to install and absolutely gorgeous, these high-quality stone veneers bring all the beauty of natural stone indoors.
About ErthCOVERINGS
ErthCOVERINGS was started in 2002 by an Australian building renovator who had moved to Canada. On a return visit to Australia, he chanced upon a lightweight, natural stone veneer product he had never seen before. He was so impressed by the product, he began importing it to Canada, rebranding it there as ErthCOVERINGS. Today, the product is available throughout the United States, as well as Canada.
ErthCOVERINGS are pre-mounted in panels to make installation easier. These panels are light enough to be installed even in places you may not have thought possible. While Badgerland Fireplace is known for custom fireplace designs, we also install custom stone walls--for interior and exteriors.
ErthCOVERINGS Natural Stone Veneers Available At Badgerland Fireplace
|3D Series—Affordably priced, the 3D Series enhances the beauty of natural stone with variations in depth and texture.
|HandiPak—A combination of small, medium and large pieces used to create features with minimal texture but bold looks.
|Ledgestone—A rougher cut style with more pronounced features than the 3D Series. Suitable for both interior and exterior applications, including water features.
|Pebbles—Smooth pebbles rounded by centuries of flowing water, these natural stones can be used for fireplaces, backsplashes, walls and more.
|Splitface Series—Rough texture and different sizes convey antiquity, adding a sense of grandeur to any installation.
|Cascade—A textured, natural stone with a unique, worn appearance suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.
|Planks—Like the name suggests, these are similar to wood floor planks. Can be used on floors or walls and, of course, fireplace surrounds!
|Stone Tile—Beautiful natural stone tiles for fireplaces, flooring, backsplashes and more. These tiles have a smooth finish.
|Strips and Large Strips –The sharp lines and shadow effects created by the Strips series offer a uniquely modern and eye-catching look. (Large strips not shown.)
|Interlocking Pave Mat—Brings the rough hewn texture of paving stones to fireplace surrounds, walls, showers and, yes, patios and walkways.
Request a Free Estimate Today
If you're considering a stone veneer fireplace, or an interior or exterior accent wall, Badgerland Fireplace will be happy to provide a free, no obligation estimate.
To get an idea of what's possible, visit our Waukesha showroom or check out our Idea Gallery to see fireplaces we've installed throughout Wisconsin. We have over 20 working fireplaces on display, showcasing stone veneer products fromErthCOVERINGS as well as other leading manufacturers.
You can reach us with the link below, or by calling 262-796-9999.
Badgerland Fireplace Inc. provides the best fireplace installation, repair and maintenance services for homes and businesses in Southeastern Wisconsin including: Brookfield, Delafield, Waukesha, Milwaukee, New Berlin, Wauwatosa, Muskego, Mukwonago, Madison, Franklin, Menomonee Falls, Oconomowoc, Elm Grove, Brown Deer, West Allis, Pewaukee, Glendale, Greendale, Fox Point, Whitefish Bay, Shorewood, Greenfield, Oak Creek, Cudahy, River Hills, Saint Francis, Hales Corners, Sussex, Hartland, Big Bend, Eagle, and Butler.


text:
Collaborator Maternity Hospital IASO Accepts by appointment every month (located on the island one or two weekends / month)
Full Screen
Born in Athens, Andrew Komis grew up in a family, purveyor of medical and tender man. Thus, studies in Medicine Athens was the natural continuation of a process initiated by the island of Milos and reached the largest hospitals in Great Britain to specialize in Fetal Medicine, the Obstetrics and Gynecology Ultrasound. Located in Milos, the first ten days of each month


text:
TGR has been making ski films since I was 1 year old, and is celebrating this all-important 21st birthday with the release of "Tight Loose." The film brings together the classic TGR cast including the Collinsons, Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, TIm Durtschi, Nick McNutt, and tons of other friends we know and love. The trailer brings us on a trip through time, flashing back through the old films, then begins to tease us with the big lines, big falls, and a shot ski for good measure. Come join the fun this fall.
"Keep it tight, let it get a little loose, but always keep it tight-loose."
From TGR:
Come join us to celebrate TGR's 21st Birthday. The tighter your show the looser you can be. With over 21 years of traveling the globe and pushing the boundaries of what is possible we have experienced the full spectrum of adventure. It has been a constant evolution of refining a lifestyle - keeping things as buttoned-up on the front end in order to seize the moment when things reach the edge of control. Our latest film "Tight Loose" is TGR's highest achievement to date. From India to Alaska, come join us as we discover unridden spine walls, massive airs, and full throttle riding in some of the wildest and most spectacular places on earth. Witness the 21-year athlete roster as they come together for a reunion-style massive group shred of the Palisades at Squaw Valley. Tight Loose is living to the fullest!


text:
Price (1 year): $3.95/mo ($47.4)
Renewal: $143.4/year ($11.95/mo)
Type: Shared Hosting
Location: Asia, EU, UK, USA
Features: cPanel, Daily Backups, HTTP/2, Nginx Web Server, SSD Storage, SSH, SSL Certificate, Unmetered Traffic, Website Builder
Space: 10 GB
Max Websites: 1
Optional extras: Domain Whois Privacy, SG Site Scanner.
Guarantees: 30 Day Money Back, 99.9% Uptime
Inital period discounted
The first billing cycle are on sale at 50% off and that is the price that we have listed here. Prepay for up to 3 years to lock in that price for a long time. If you want to be billed monthly there is a setup fee for this hosting plan, and you will only get the discount for the first month. Prices are excluding tax.
Fast web servers but expensive domains
All the shared web hosting plans by SiteGround comes with fast SSD storage, free SSL from Free Let's Encrypt and HTTP/2 enabled servers. As well as free Daily Backups and Unmetered Bandwidth. Registering a .com domain will currently cost you $15.95/year, and Whois Privacy is $12/year. Check out our Domain Guide for cheaper domains and whois privacy. SG Site Scanner is a monitoring service that checks your website daily and notifies you if your website has been hacked or injected with malicious code so you can fix it ASAP, it costs $19.80/year.
Data center location
Select between 5 different data centers all with the same plan features and the same prices. The locations you can choose from are Chicago, Amsterdam, Singapore, London, Milano.
SiteGround informs that this plan is suitable for one website with up to ~10.000 monthly visits (~333 daily).
EU support team
The SiteGround support team is located in Bulgaria in the EU.
Siteground has some of the best speed tech for delivering lighting fast website hosting on shared servers. However, their plans renew at pretty expensive prices after your initial period (about twice the price), and this lowers the score for these plans. Also, expensive domain names and whois privacy is a slight downside that is easily avoidable though by using another domain registrar.