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The bombs that made Boston look like a combat zone have also brought battlefield medicine to their civilian victims. A decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has sharpened skills and scalpels, leading to dramatic advances that are now being used to treat the 13 amputees and nearly a dozen other patients still fighting to keep damaged limbs.
"The only field or occupation that benefits from war is medicine," said Dr. David Cifu, rehabilitation medicine chief at the Veterans Health Administration.
Nearly 2,000 American troops have lost a leg, arm, foot or hand in Iraq or Afghanistan, and their sacrifices have led to advances in the immediate and long-term care of survivors, as well in the quality of prosthetics that are now so good that surgeons often chose them over trying to save a badly mangled leg.
Tourniquets, shunned during the Vietnam War, made a comeback in Iraq as medical personnel learned to use them properly and studies proved that they saved lives. In Boston, as on the battlefield, they did just that by preventing people from bleeding to death.
Military doctors learned and passed on to their civilian counterparts a surgical strategy of a minimal initial operation to stabilize the patient, followed by more definitive ones days later, an approach that experience showed offered the best chance to preserve tissue from large and complex leg wounds.
At the same time, wartime demand for prosthetics has led to new innovations such as sophisticated computerized knees that work better than a badly damaged leg ever would again.
"This is a clear case where all of the expertise that was gained by prosthetic manufacturers was gained from the wars. It's astonishing how well they function and the things people can do with these prostheses," said Dr. Michael Yaffe, a trauma surgeon at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
The hospital has performed amputations on three blast victims so far. A few other patients there may yet need them. Yaffe is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, and many other doctors treating Boston blast victims also have had military training.
Besides the three at Beth Israel, five patients who have lost a total of eight limbs are at Boston Medical Center; four who each lost a leg are at Massachusetts General and one who lost one limb is at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
The military partnered with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons to train doctors throughout the United States on advances learned from the wars, said Dr. Kevin Kirk, an Army lieutenant colonel who is chief orthopedic surgeon at San Antonio Military Medical Center.
Help, too, has come from Israel, which for decades has dealt with the aftermath of Palestinian bombs, like the ones in Boston, often laden with nails, ball bearings and other metals.
"Unfortunately, we have great expertise," said Dr. Pinchas Halpern, director of emergency medicine at Tel Aviv's Sourasky Medical Center.
Halpern, who gave lectures in 2005 at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General about responding to attacks, has been in email contact with doctors in Boston this week.
Among the topics he covered in his lectures were how to coordinate ambulances to distribute the wounded to area hospitals according to their type of injury, performing more CT scans than usual to locate deep shrapnel wounds, and ways to identify and classify wounds. Dr. Paul Biddinger of Mass General's emergency department said the hospital took much of Halpern's advice.
"We improved our plans for triage, site security, reassessment and inter-specialty coordination" following Halpern's visit, Biddinger said.
Blast victims can be challenging to treat because they typically have multiple complex physical injuries that may include loss of limbs, fractures, brain damage, and vision and hearing impairment, said Dr. Paul Pasquina, chairman of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Uniformed Services University and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
"It's very important that during their acute medical and surgical care that rehabilitation is applied early on, to get them up as soon as possible" to reduce risks from being immobile, including blood clots, deconditioned muscles and other problems that will make recovery more difficult," he said.
A multidisciplinary approach that involves everyone from plastic and orthopedic surgeons to therapists is important, said Dr. James Ficke, chairman of the department of orthopedics and rehabilitation at San Antonio Military Medical Center. He also advises the U.S. Army Surgeon General on orthopedics.
"The lessons we've learned are early surgery, multiple surgeries and getting them back to skilled facilities in a fairly fast fashion," he said.
"As a doctor, one of the lessons I learned most dramatically is I don't have any preconceptions of what they can or can't do as a patient. There was a patient who lost his leg completely and had no hip joint and recently did a marathon in Austin in 4:33."
For some, that may mean a prosthetic leg. John Fergason, chief prosthetist at Center for the Intrepid, the outpatient rehab center at the San Antonio medical center.
Brooke Army Medical Center, said there have been many advances, including computerized knees that allow amputees with above-the-knee amputations to walk down steep ramps, to walk up steps and go from a walk to a run.
After every war, "you see a tremendous spike in prosthetic innovation," largely because of increased research money, said Hugh Herr, a prosthetic expert at MIT and a double-amputee himself. Federal funds let his MIT lab do basic research on a bionic foot-ankle-calf system, and he founded a company that has commercialized that device.
If Boston victims are generally healthy and motivated, and their legs are amputated below the knees, or perhaps even above the knees, "it's possible they could run the marathon a year from now," he said. "It would take a lot of effort, but it's indeed possible with today's technology."
One amputee's story is encouraging.
Dan Berschinski, 28, used to run marathons but now works with the Amputee Coalition, an advocacy and support organization based in suburban Washington, D.C. He was an infantry officer in Afghanistan when he stepped on an IED in August 2009. The blast blew off his entire right leg and most of his left leg. After treatment in the field and in Germany, he was sent to Walter Reed.
His biggest initial challenge was intense pain, treated with narcotic painkillers, and phantom leg and foot pain. Doctors used to consider phantom pain a psychological problem but now consider it real, physical pain. Treatment includes nerve blockers.
"If they hit you really hard with a combination of narcotics and nerve drugs, people have a lower incidence of phantom pain the rest of their life," Berschinski said.
Recovery and rehab took about three years, including 10 months of daily physical therapy to strengthen his arms and core - muscle power he'd need to learn to walk on prosthetics.
The bionic legs he uses cost $60,000 a piece, are hydraulically operated and equipped with microchips and a gyroscope that sense when to relax and stiffen to help him walk. Walter Reed was involved in developing the legs, said Zach Harvey, former prosthetics chief at Walter Reed.
Berschinski used to run marathons but now can go only about half a mile. He competes in triathlons - swimming, biking with his arms, and racing in a wheelchair, and sometimes plays wheelchair basketball.
"I'm very happy with my progress," he said.
Associated Press writers Malcolm Ritter in New York, Lindsey Tanner and Sharon Cohen in Chicago, and Daniel Estrin in Jerusalem contributed to this report.


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How about a stroll by the beach with mom followed by some swinging sounds that will take you back to the 1950s? What could be a better way of enjoying that special day?
"It's Mother's Day and we've got four women," chanteuse Kathy Kosins says of her upcoming Sunday May 12 gig, referring not to her combo but to the four 'Ladies of Cool' whose songs and styles her set will evoke. "It's like, all women, all the time."
With a soothing voice of her own, Kosins will perform songs from the repertoires of mid-century jazz divas Julie Christy, Anita O'Day, Julie London, and Chris Connor at 4:30 p.m. on Mother's Day at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, a legendary jazz venue by the ocean in Half Moon Bay. Her accompanying trio, it must be said, is all guys.
The concert will celebrate 'Cool Jazz,' born in California during the 1950s, music Kosins says should appeal to fans of mid-century design. Kosins, whose albums include To the Ladies of Cool, has been building a successful career as a jazz singer since the 1990s.
"It's mid-century modern to the ear, if you will," says Kosins, whose home in Michigan may be Tudor, but it is filled with modern designs from Heywood-Wakefield and Russel Wright.
While on the West Coast, Kosins is also performing at an Oakland loft concert Saturday May 11, and May 9 and 10 at Santa Rosa Junior College with the Santa Rosa Civic Jazz Orchestra.
For tickets and more for Kosins' May 12 Mother's Day show at the Bach, click here. For performance video clips of Kosins and her combo and more, click here.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Valley Oak Ballroom has a ceiling-mounted projector screen, built-in projector, and a sound system.
Show All Answers
The Valley Oak Ballroom is available for viewing by appointment only. Please contact our facility staff at 916-405-5600 to schedule your appointment.
The Valley Oak Ballroom can accommodate 200 guests in a dining capacity and 250 guests in a theater style depending on your event.
The parking is in a U shape around the community center and park. At times parking can be limited depending on other events and programs scheduled at the facility for the day.
The Valley Oak Ballroom has a catering kitchen that includes:counter space for prep work, ice machine, oven with a stove top, separate refrigerator and freezer units, warming trays, and coffee maker.
Yes. We do not require you to use an exclusive caterer.
We offer a 20% discount for nonprofit, ongoing and business-day rentals within the CSD boundaries.
Yes. The Valley Oak Ballroom features round dining tables and upholstered banquet chairs. Our friendly staff will work with you prior to the event to create an event layout and is responsible for setting up and taking down all of our equipment.


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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – JetBlue Airways Corp. and the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, Etihad Airways, have formed a partnership to allow passengers to fly on routes operated by both carriers on a single ticket.
A statement by the two airlines Wednesday says that initially, Etihad will codeshare on 40 JetBlue routes within the United States. The airliners say more codeshare services are planned on JetBlue flights once Etihad commences daily flights to Los Angeles this June.
The agreement is subject to government approval.
Etihad currently has non-stop daily flights from Abu Dhabi to New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago.
In late 2012, JetBlue formed a codeshare deal with the Mideast's biggest airline, Emirates, which flies daily from its hub in Dubai to Jet Blue's home base at New York's JFK.


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Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 5, 2013
BOSTON — After a woeful performance from the free-throw line in the first half, No. 23 North Carolina State found its touch in the second half and needed almost every one to avoid being upset by Boston College.
The Wolfpack went 21 for 24 from the line after the break, making their final 15 and holding off the Eagles 78-73 on Saturday, extending N.C. State's winning streak to nine straight in its Atlantic Coast Conference opener.
Scott Wood hit a pair of 3-pointers and was perfect on all six of his free throws, all in final four minutes as the Wolfpack (12-2, 1-0) beat Boston College (8-6, 0-1) for the fifth straight time.
"We didn't play our best basketball but at the same time we were fortunate enough to get the win," Wood said.
Very fortunate, indeed.
N.C. State led 74-71 after Wood made two free throws with 27 seconds left, but the Wolfpack gave the Eagles a wonderful opportunity to tie it eight seconds later when Rodney Purvis fouled Patrick Heckmann on a 3-point attempt.
Heckmann, a 93-percent foul shooter coming in, hit 2 of 3 and the Eagles were forced to foul Wood two more times in the final 17 seconds. Wood calmly hit four more to seal the victory.
"I honestly think I have more confidence in him than he does," said Purvis, a freshman who led the Wolfpack with a career-best 19 points. "Any shot Scott shots is a good shot no matter what — no matter who guards him or anything."
Richard Howell finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, Lorenzo Brown had 14 points and eight assists and C.J. Leslie scored 10 as all of N.C. State's starters scored in double figures.
The Wolfpack are on their longest winning streak since they were the defending national champions, but only after giving the Eagles several opportunities to pull off an upset.
"I thought we did a lot of things really well in terms of things we needed to do to win the game," BC coach Steve Donahue said. "I thought we were tough and physical and we competed and took care of the basketball and fought through adversity with foul trouble."
Boston College (8-6, 0-1) missed a chance to tie when Purvis fouled Patrick Heckmann on a 3-point attempt with 18.9 seconds left. Heckmann, a 93 percent shooter from the line coming in, made 2 of 3 and the Eagles were forced to foul Wood two more times.
Wood made four more free throws to seal it.
"We were our own worst enemy today and I'm not taking anything away from them," N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried said. "We fouled a 3-point shooter, we missed the front ends of 1-and-1s, we had defensive lapses. It's a laundry list of things where we felt like we just hurt ourselves."
Ryan Anderson had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Boston College, which had won five straight.
The Eagles led by as many as six points midway through the second half, but the Wolfpack came through with a late rally and overcame their own mistakes to win their fifth straight over the Eagles.
And there were plenty of mistakes.
The teams combined for 44 fouls and took 36 free throws in the second half alone. In the end, the Eagles faltered more from the line than the Wolfpack did.
The back-and-forth fouling continued throughout the second half as did the streaky foul shooting.
Anderson hit a free throw to it for Boston College at 59-all, but missed on his second attempt. Lonnie Jackson was there for the rebound and his tip allowed the Eagles to maintain possession. Jackson made his save count with a 3-pointer, but Purvis answered from beyond the arc to tie it again at 62.
N.C. State finally regained the lead for good when Wood, who had been 0 for 2 in the first half, hit from beyond the arc and put N.C. State up 67-64.
Wood had missed more than nine minutes after getting called for his fourth foul early in the second half, then scored all but two of N.C. State's last 14 points. He had been on the bench for more than nine minutes after he was called for his fourth foul with 14:33 left in the game.
"He was clutch," Gottfried said. "He came off the bench and he hadn't played a lot of minutes for a long stretch and stepped up and made some big shots and obviously made foul shots."
Joe Rahon, who had 18 points, had a chance to retake the lead late for BC, but missed everything on a turnaround jumper in the lane and the Wolfpack got the rebound, calling time out with 1:01 left and still up 69-68. Wood hit another 3-pointer to put N.C. State up 72-68, but the Eagles weren't quite done.
Anderson drew a foul while dunking a rebound and his three-point play drew BC to 72-71 with 27 seconds left. But the Eagles had to foul and picked Wood, who made all six of his attempts from the line.
N.C. State was 12 for 21 from the field in the first half, but the Wolfpack made just 4 of 11 foul shots and pulled down only one offensive rebound in the period. N.C. State still led 29-28 at halftime, thanks in part to the Eagles' own struggles from the foul line.
BC made 9 of 15 free throws in the first half.


text: Denotes in the New Testament a spiritual truth that was once hidden but now is revealed and that without special revelation would have remained unknown. It is generally used along with words denoting revelation or publication (Rom. 16:25–26; Eph. 1:9; 3:3–10; Col. 1:26; 4:3; 1 Tim. 3:16). The modern meaning of something incomprehensible forms no part of the significance of the word as it occurs in the New Testament. See also Alma 12:9–11; 40:3; D&C 19:10; 42:61–65; 76:5–10. On the other hand, there is no spiritual gain in idle speculation about things the Lord has not revealed. See Deut. 29:29; Alma 37:11.


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Intervertebral discs
Published on Locomotor system.
Intervertebral discs problems are detailed in vertebrae
Vertebrae - discs
Published on Locomotor system.
Discs constitute the mobile part of the spine. They have a corrective role in the spine. Discal spinal hernia may be intermittent or permanent. Check in which vertebral disc the hernia is, in order to understand which tension in this person's life the problem is related to. In any case, it can be said that the person's structural basis has been severely shaken by an event in his life and that he lost mobility in the affected part of the column.
To understand the tension connected to a discal hernia see


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Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Date: Oct. 30, 2013
Extensive Study on Concussions in Youth Sports Finds 'Culture of Resistance' for Self-Reporting Injury; Not Enough Evidence to Support Claim That Helmets Reduce Concussion Risk
WASHINGTON -- Young athletes in the U.S. face a "culture of resistance" to reporting when they might have a concussion and to complying with treatment plans, which could endanger their well-being, says a new report (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18377) from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. The report provides a broad examination of concussions in a variety of youth sports with athletes aged 5 to 21. Overall, reported concussions rates are more frequent among high school athletes than college athletes in some sports -- including football, men's lacrosse and soccer, and baseball; higher for competition than practice (except for cheerleading); and highest in football, ice hockey, lacrosse, wrestling, soccer, and women's basketball. Concussion rates also appear higher for youths with a history of prior concussions and among female athletes.
Although the committee that wrote the report examined useful scientific information to inform its study, it discovered that research about youth concussions is limited. To address these gaps in knowledge, the committee identified several areas for further research, including establishing a national surveillance system to accurately determine the number of sports-related concussions, identifying changes in the brain following concussions in youth, conducting studies to assess the consequences and effects of concussions over a life span, and evaluating the effectiveness of sports rules and playing practices in reducing concussions.
"The findings of our report justify the concerns about sports concussions in young people," said Robert Graham, chair of the committee and director of the national program office for Aligning Forces for Quality at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. "However, there are numerous areas in which we need more and better data. Until we have that information, we urge parents, schools, athletic departments, and the public to examine carefully what we do know, as with any decision regarding risk, so they can make more informed decisions about young athletes playing sports."
The committee found little evidence that current sports helmet designs reduce the risk of concussions. It stressed that properly fitted helmets, face masks, and mouth guards should still be used, because they reduce the risk of other injuries -- such as skull fractures; bleeding inside the skull; and injuries to the eyes, face, and mouth. The marketing for some protective devices designed for youth athletes, such as mouth guards and headbands for soccer, has advertised that these devices reduce concussion risk, but there is a lack of scientific evidence to support such claims, the committee said.
The committee examined scientific literature on concussion recognition, diagnosis, and management and found that the signs and symptoms of concussion are usually placed into four categories -- physical, cognitive, emotional, and sleep -- with patients experiencing one or more symptoms from one or more categories. Typically, youth athletes recover from a concussion within two weeks of the injury, but in 10 percent to 20 percent of cases concussion symptoms persist for a number of weeks, months, or even years. A potentially concussive injury requires removing the athlete from play, caring for the injury appropriately in both the acute stage and during the recovery process, and returning to play only when he or she has recovered demonstrably and is no longer having any symptoms, the committee said. An individualized treatment plan that includes physical and mental rest may be beneficial for recovery from a concussion, but current research does not indicate a standard or universal level and duration of rest needed. Athletes who return to play before their brain has fully healed may place themselves at increased risk for prolonged recovery or more serious consequences if they sustain a second brain injury.
The committee examined data on the effects of single and multiple concussions and found some observed impairments in the areas of memory and processing speed. It also determined that a history of previous concussions is a predictor of increased risk for future concussions, although the extent to which the risk is increased is unknown. In several studies, the number and severity of concussion symptoms is greater in athletes with a history of two or more concussions. Additionally, athletes with a history of prior concussions may have more severe subsequent concussions and may take longer to recover. The time interval between concussions may also be an important factor in the risk for and the severity of subsequent concussions. Whether repetitive head impacts and multiple concussions sustained in youth lead to long-term neurodegenerative disease, such as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), remains unclear.
The committee reviewed surveys of retired professional athletes, which provided some evidence that a history of multiple concussions increases risk for depression. In a survey of more than 2,500 retired professional football players, approximately 11 percent reported having a prior or current diagnosis of clinical depression. Very little research has evaluated the relationship between concussions and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. There currently are no data to evaluate this relationship because existing post-concussion symptom evaluations do not assess suicidal thoughts.
Some studies have shown that enforcement of sports rules by coaches and officials and adherence to these rules by players may help reduce the incidence and severity of sport-related concussions in youths. Several organizations have called for a "hit count" in youth sports to limit the amount of head contact a particular player should experience over a given amount of time. While the concept of limiting the number of head impacts is fundamentally sound, the committee found that implementing a specific threshold for the number of impacts or the magnitude of impacts per week or per season is without scientific basis.
The committee included additional noteworthy findings in the report:
* The reported number of individuals aged 19 and under treated in U.S. emergency departments for concussions and other non-fatal, sports- and recreation-related TBIs increased from 150,000 in 2001 to 250,000 in 2009.
* Football, ice hockey, lacrosse, wrestling, and soccer are associated with the highest rates of reported concussions for U.S. male athletes at the high school and college levels.
* Soccer, lacrosse, and basketball are associated with the highest rates of reported concussions for U.S. female athletes at the high school and college levels. Women's ice hockey at the collegiate level has the highest rate of reported concussions.
* Youths with a history of prior concussion have higher rates of reported sports-related concussions.
* Among military personnel, mild traumatic brain injuries, of which concussions are one category, represent about 85 percent of all TBIs.
* Among military personnel, about 80 percent of mild TBIs do not occur in the deployed setting and are commonly caused by automobile crashes involving privately owned and military vehicles, falls, sports and recreation activities, and military training.
The report was sponsored by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Education, Health Resources and Services Administration, National Athletic Trainers' Association Research and Education Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the CDC Foundation with support from the National Football League. The Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council are part of the National Academy of Sciences, a private, nonprofit institution that provides independent, evidence-based advice under an 1863 congressional charter. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies.
Pre-publication copies of Sports-Related Concussions in Youth: Improving the Science, Changing the Culture are available from the National Academies Press or by calling tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed below).
Jennifer Walsh, Senior Media Relations Officer Chelsea Dickson, Media Relations Associate Office of News and Public Information, 202-334-2138;
Twitter: @NAS_news
RSS feed: http://www.nationalacademies.org/rss/index.html
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalacademyofsciences/sets
Additional Resources
Full Report
Report Page
Report Brief
# # #
INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE and NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Committee on Sports-Related Concussions in Youth
Robert Graham, M.D. (chair)
Director, National Program Office
Aligning Forces for Quality, Department of Health Policy
School of Public Health and Health Services George Washington University Washington, D.C.
Frederick P. Rivara, M.D., M.P.H. (vice chair) Seattle Children's Guild Endowed Chair in Pediatrics Professor of Pediatrics School of Medicine University of Washington Seattle
Kristy Arbogast, Ph.D.
Engineering Core Director
Center for Injury Research and Prevention Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Philadelphia
David A. Brent, M.D., M.S.
Academic Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, and Professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Epidemiology School of Medicine University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh
B.J. Casey, Ph.D.
Director, Sackler Institute and Sackler Professor of Developmental Psychobiology Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Neuroscience Weill Medical College Cornell University New York
Tracey M. Covassin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, and Director, Undergraduate Athletic Training Program, Department of Kinesiology
Michigan State University
East Lansing
Joe Doyle
Regional Manager, American Development Model
USA Hockey, Rocky Mountain and Pacific Districts
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Eric J. Huang, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Pathology and Neuropathology Department of Pathology University of California San Francisco
Arthur C. Maerlender, Ph.D.
Pediatric Neuropsychological Services, and Assistant Professor Department of Psychiatry Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Geisel School of Medicine Lebanon, N.H.
Susan S. Margulies, Ph.D.
George H. Stephenson Term Chair, and Professor of Bioengineering
University of Pennsylvania
Dennis L. Molfese, Ph.D.
Mildred Francis Thompson Professor, and Director
Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior, Department of Psychology
University of Nebraska
Mayumi L. Prins, Ph.D.
Associate Professor in Residence, and Director, Education Program
Brain Injury Research Center, David Geffen School of Medicine,
University of California, Los Angeles
Neha P. Raukar, M.D., M.S., FACEP
Sports Medicine Fellowship Program and Center for Sports Medicine Warren Alpert Medical School Brown University Riverside, R.I.
Nancy R. Temkin, Ph.D.
Departments of Biostatistics and Neurological Surgery University of Washington Seattle
Kasisomayajula Viswanath, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard School of Public Health Boston
Kevin D. Walter, M.D., FAAP
Associate Professor
Departments of Orthopedic Surgery and Pediatrics Medical College of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Joseph L. Wright, M.D., M.P.H.
Senior Vice President for Community Affairs and Head Child Health Advocacy Institute Children's National Medical Center Washington, D.C.
Morgan Ford
Study Director
File Attachments:


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Brown Pushing Welfare Recipients To Work
LOS ANGELES (A.P.)– Gov. Jerry Brown wants to shift the safety net protecting California's most vulnerable residents
Brown was Tuesday's KVML "Newsmaker of the Day".
Pressured by a $16 billion budget deficit, the governor is proposing a major overhaul of the state's welfare-to-work program with the strategy of slashing people's benefits to motivate them to get jobs faster.
The move, if approved by the state Legislature as part of the 2012-13 budget package, would save $880 million, but beyond the savings, analysts say it represents a shift in the philosophy of how the Golden State helps its neediest residents.
"It's a reversal of the state's historic commitment to these families and children," said Scott Graves, senior policy analyst with the California Budget Project. "It's a very significant change."
California is the national leader in welfare recipients. About 3.8 percent of state residents were on welfare in 2010, the highest percentage in the country. In fact, California houses about a third of the nation's welfare recipients, while only housing one-eighth of the national population.
Most of the recipients, however, are children – more than three-quarters of the 1.5 million in the welfare-to-work program CalWORKs, which stands for California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids. The rest are mostly single mothers who must work or participate in job training and related activities to receive cash assistance.
The state has traditionally held a relatively generous attitude toward welfare. For instance, CalWORKs gives cash grants to children even when their parents are ineligible for benefits for various reasons, such as being illegal immigrants, receiving disability, or failing to abide by the program's rules. Only three other states – Indiana, Oregon and Arizona – have such an expansive policy.
California also allows parents to receive job services and cash grants for up to four years. Before last year, the limit was 60 months.
The policies have made the program an expensive budget line – the state spends $2.9 billion on CalWORKs and related programs – and an easy target for lawmakers looking for costs to trim with little political fallout. In years past, lawmakers have proposed doing away with benefits to children with ineligible parents and even slashing the whole CalWORKs program.
The state's budget woes have given renewed impetus to whittle away at CalWORKs. Last year, the maximum five-year benefit period shrunk to four years and monthly grants were diminished 8 percent. A family of three currently receives $638 a month, less than the rate in 1988.
For the next fiscal year, the governor is proposing more sweeping cutbacks, including a 27 percent cut in cash assistance to children with ineligible parents and further slashing the time limit for full benefits from four years to two years.
Other rule changes would restrict benefits to mothers of younger children and families earning poverty-level wages and increase sanctions on those who violate program terms.
"We felt the program was losing its focus of welfare-to-work," said Todd Bland, deputy director the state Department of Social Services' welfare-to-work division. "The reason we wanted to refocus is because of the very difficult budget environment."
The changes also come at a time when California is appealing federal penalties of $160 million because it failed to move enough welfare recipients to private sector jobs of at least 30 hours a week in 2008 and 2009, a requirement to receive federal money that helps pay for CalWORKs. Many California recipients are given part-time, publicly subsidized jobs so they get work experience.
CalWORKs recipients say getting a regular job that pays enough to support a family is not easy as lawmakers think.
Sarah Smith, a 31-year-old divorced mother of four in Los Angeles County, had been a stay-at-home mother since the age of 18, only working sporadically between having children. She was forced to turn to CalWORKs a year ago after her husband stopped paying child support. She received $850 a month in cash aid and $700 in food stamps.
She's also been able to make herself more marketable through the job services the program offers. She's beefed up her clerical skills, self-confidence and resume with a minimum-wage, temporary job as a customer service assistant with the county Department of Social Services, but the job ends this month.
She's hoping she now will be able to find a permanent job. If not, she will try for a subsidized job program where the county pays half her salary and the private employer pays the rest.
Policymakers don't realize that people need a chance to rebuild their lives, Smith said, adding that CalWORKs aid is far from enough to live on.
"It's still a juggling act," she said. "People are trying to get jobs. No one really wants to be on welfare. Most people are trying to get off it."
Nearly half of CalWORKs families move off the program within two years, but about 18 percent are long-term. Those families are often have very young children and headed by parents who lack a high school diploma or job skills, or have a family member with a disability, according to a report by the Public Policy Institute of California.
Brown's reforms aim to get parents off welfare before they become entrenched. The plan calls for parents to be hired or employable within two years of entering the program by providing job training and counseling, mental health, substance abuse and domestic violence support services, and child care. They must either work or participate in those activities to get the cash aid.
After two years, the services and some money would be cut off if they do not find a private sector job – a move that would affect about 130,000 parents, according to the state Legislative Analyst's Office.
Those parents could still receive a much-reduced cash benefit for child maintenance. A parent with two children would receive $375 a month, a drop of $263.
If parents do find employment, they could still be eligible to receive services such as child care for another two years and some cash aid if their income remains below a certain level.
Social service providers say it's overly optimistic to expect the private sector to absorb tens of thousands of people, many with minimal job skills, with California's unemployment rate the second highest in the nation at 10.9 percent in April. Only 11 percent of CalWORKs parents had private sector jobs of at least 30 hours week in 2009, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
"CalWORKs recipients are living on a shoestring as it is," said Frank Mecca, executive director of the County Welfare Directors Association of California. "This is going to plunge many children into poverty and likely increase homelessness. You're shredding the safety net at a time when it's needed most."
Republicans say it's about time California pushed harder to get people to self-sufficiency, and say more is needed. Halving the time limit is a good move, but continuing to give parents cash for children with no strings attached defeats the purpose of welfare-to-work.
"It removes the responsibility from the parent. You're taking away the accountability from the oversight of the program," said Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, vice chairman of the Assembly Human Services Committee.
Instead of focusing on half measures of welfare reform, the governor should concentrate on job-stimulation strategies so people have a place to go, he said. "If there's no regulatory reform, he's wasting his time," Jones said.
The debate over CalWORKs' mission is likely to continue, especially if state revenues continue to fall short, said Caroline Danielson, policy fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.
"The interest is in reorienting the program toward work," she said.
The "Newsmaker of the Day" is heard each weekday morning on AM 1450 KVML at 6:47, 7:47 and 8:47am.


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* Subject to change without notice.


text: Design is about bringing intention to our world: asking ourselves, "What are the qualities we want in our daily lives?" We in turn seek out brands that express who we are and who we aspire to be. In the world of product, great design exists at the intersection of form and function. Here beauty becomes intrinsic and essential. Whether I am designing for an established brand, emerging brand or an independent client, I seek to understand and translate the end-user's unique lifestyle into a piece or collection with a distinct point of view.


text: I have been thinking about starting my own Etsy shop for quite some time now. And I'm happy to say it's finally in the works. I'll be selling both vintage items and handmade dolls. All dolls are constructed from both new and recycled elements, and feature dresses made from vintage fabrics. I'll post an update as soon as the shop is up and running! Continue reading


text:
What seems worthy of modern satire is often a hair's breadth from pillorying itself, and the gray zone between unamusingly tedious and roaringly redundant seems to be shrinking with every new reality show, post-postmodern marketing-media experiment, and governmental depravity. What's to mock anymore? For such a narrative to lock gears, a certain self-knowledge, an ironic sense of first-person evildoing, is unavoidable, but it presents this dilemma: How do scumbags look into the mirror and explain themselves to their children? As it is, Buckley tried and failed to plumb the rational depths of a tobacco lobbyist's moral vacuum, and so does the movie -- it remains an appalling mystery. "Paying the mortgage" is the basest rationalization given, but, as we all know, there are more livable ways to do that.
Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the go-getter in question, an ex-jock-style salesman who puts a public face on the cigarette industry: smug, effective, and unscrupulous, straight-facedly hitting talk shows filled with booing audiences and pressing Hollywood flesh in an effort to make smoking in movies cool again. Narrating in amused confessional mode, Naylor is a happy, pure-blooded, dog-eating dog in a mercenary media-drome, until his son (played by creepy-kid-of-the-moment Cameron Bright, also currently in Ultraviolet) wakes him up and presents him with a ready-made conflict: Try to rationalize your real-world actions (annual tobacco fatality rates are quoted repeatedly) and still be a good dad.
In Hollywood (first-time director Jason Reitman is Ivan's son), the dilemma has only one schmaltzy answer, and Thank You for Smoking tries not to cop out on its way to a fizzle. But the movie is all funaholic appetizer anyway, buttressing Eckhart's boy-faced sell-monster with competitive lobbyist pals (boozer Maria Bello, gun-apologist David Koechner), a splenetic boss (J.K. Simmons), and adversary who's a humorless Christian senator (William H. Macy). The attempts toward blackened corporate humor are strenuous, from an argument between the lobbying lunch buddies over whose product is more deadly (and therefore more of an achievement to spin), to a daytime-TV appearance by a "cancer kid," who, Naylor insists, Big Tobacco wants to keep alive and smoking.
But Thank You for Smoking is no densely conceived cut of steak; Buckley is best at sharp-tongued one-liners, which constitute a lion's portion of the script, and for that it's difficult to be ungrateful. "We sell cigarettes," Simmons' hard-charging exec bellows in frustration. "They're cool, available, and addictive. The job is almost done for us!" Several subplots (most notably those involving Katie Holmes' dewy-eyed reporter and Robert Duvall's aged billionaire) fall limp, but sitcom vet Adam Brody -- as the sycophantic assistant to Rob Lowe's mega-agent -- crams more industry mockery into two minutes of screen time than State and Main managed at all.
But instead of hitting the gas and allowing the scenario to rock and roll with g-forces (outside of a kidnapping by an anti-tobacco terrorist and an assault with nicotine patches), Reitman keeps his movie small, unvaried, slack, and -- deliberately and oddly -- completely smoke-free. Not a single butt is lit, even though Eckhart's semi-hero is forced to quit halfway through, with no discernible impact on his disposition or the story. Was Reitman nervously pandering to the smokeless choir, or did he decide that actual smoking, in a movie wholly taken up with how to whitewash death, disease, and culpability, was beside the point? Did Buckley's hero help write the screenplay, and did Winston-Salem money change hands? The end product is a little disorienting -- think Dr. Strangelove without bombs, or Super Size Me without burgers. How deep can a satiric bite be when the object of outrage has been wrung out of the mix, just as a lobbyist would've wished?


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From James Bond's code number in the series of books by Ian Fleming.
Proper noun[edit]
- The fictional MI6 agent James Bond.
- 1995 November 20, Jet, Johnson Publishing Co., ISSN 0021-5996, Volume 89, Number 2, page 62:
- […] the new Bond also features a new lead actor. Pierce Brosnan has now taken on the role of the legendary 007.
- 2001 February, Hank Schlesinger, "Spy Secrets of the CIA", in Popular Science, Times Mirror Magazines, ISSN 0161-7370, Volume 258, Number 2, page 65:
- The fictional gadgets of 007 are entertaining and perhaps even offer inspiration to the secret-gadget makers, but the real thing has to be field-tested, as an agent's life may depend on it.
- 2005, Steve Klett et al., "Compact Camera Kerfluffle", in Maximum PC, Future Network USA (publisher), ISSN 1522-4279, Holiday 2005 issue, page 84:
- If slipping the ultra-compact, ultra-light, ultra-thin Exilim S500 Card Camera into your shirt pocket doesn't make you feel at least a little bit like 007 on vacation it's likely no camera ever will.
- 1995 November 20, Jet, Johnson Publishing Co., ISSN 0021-5996, Volume 89, Number 2, page 62:
007 (plural 007s)
- A special agent resembling the fictional James Bond in capability, charisma, etc.
- James Bond on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- The Living Daylights from Internet Movie Database


text:
Relist (and hold) watch
on May 23, 2012 at 7:00 pm
John Elwood reviews Monday's relisted and held cases.
Sure, your dreams of a Facebook-funded early retirement went up in a cloud of blue-chip smoke, and you've been reduced to alternating status updates between "IHML" and "BIH, Zuckerberg," but fret not: the good folks at One First Street N.E. are more than meeting market projections for relists and holds. And like the low-yield CDs of the legal world that they are, they delivered their usual tiny dividends right on time.
If you somehow managed to make it through last week's post, then you already know most of the next bit. Due to the Court's proclivities (and, well, the barbed-wire fences and 200 miles of open sea surrounding their quarters), our Guantanamo friends didn't go anywhere; all five of last week's detainee cases will be relisted once again, as Lyle has already noted. Joining Al-Bihani v. Obama, 10-1383; Uthman v. Obama, 11-413; Almerfedi v. Obama, 11-683; Al-Madhwani v. Obama, 11-7020; and Al Alwi v. Obama, 11-7700, are first-time relists Latif v. Obama, 11-1027, and Al Kandari v. Obama, 11-1054, both mentioned last week. El Falesteny v. Obama, 11-9344, also mentioned last week, has yet to be scheduled for conference. Don't be looking for the El Falesteny brief in opposition in this column; Uncle Sam filed it under seal, giving credence to rumors that it contains the formula for the Krabby Patty. (Those who have been "read in" to the program know it's just extra love.)
In non-detainee news, the Court will relist for a second time (since calling for a response) in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 11-864. As you might recall, that case is a follow-on to Wal-Mart v. Dukes, raising the issue alluded to in that case of just how much consideration the trial court can give to merits arguments at the class-certification stage. Meanwhile, back for a third trip to the all-you-can-eat relist smorgasbord are Coleman, Superintendent v. Johnson, 11-1053, a state-on-top habeas case out of the Third Circuit; Parker, Warden v. Matthews, 11-845, a state-on-top habeas case out of the Sixth Circuit; and Fairey v. Tucker, Secretary, 11-7185, a state-not-on-top habeas case out of the Fourth Circuit. Surely we will be getting some sort of an opinion in those cases in the next four weeks or so.
Cue the bagpipes, though, because we did lose one from last week. The makers of the popular Almendarez-Torres action figure can breathe a sigh of relief; they won't have to close up shop just yet. The Court released its kung fu grip on the once-relisted Staunton v. California, 11-8851, a case that teed up an opportunity to rethink (or carve out an exception from) the prior-conviction exception to the rule, recognized in Apprendi v. New Jersey, that a judge may increase a sentence only if the enhancement is based upon facts found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Two sets of Almendarez-Torres relists have gone down the tubes after Justice Thomas observed (back in the Stevens/Souter days) that five members of the Court think it was wrongly decided. Maybe Justices Sotomayor and Kagan are not as eager to revisit that case as their predecessors were. Or maybe the vehicles just stunk like a New York cab on a Sunday morning. [/Raymond Chandler]
Our first new non-detainee relist isn't really new at all. It's actually a rehearing petition that is now being relisted for the second time. After dutifully collecting all the paperwork on May 14, I neglected to write the thing up for last week's post. (To quote the sage Robbie from Lakehills, Texas, "Even the greatest pitchers have an ERA.") But happily, my friends at the Court relisted it again this week to give me a chance to remedy my error. Anyhoo, Cook v. Schriro, 08-7229, is an AEDPA case out of Arizona concerning Cook's allegedly ineffective trial counsel. After what appears to be a very rough life, Cook was sentenced to death for two murders he committed while high on crystal meth. We've all been there. Following the usual rounds of direct and collateral review, Cook's claim for ineffective assistance of counsel made its way up to the Court, which denied cert. on his federal habeas petition back in January 2009. A subsequent state habeas petition from Cook, 10-9742, was then put on hold for Martinez v. Ryan, 10-1001, which asked whether ineffective assistance of state post-conviction counsel constitutes "cause" for procedural default of a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Martinez was decided in March, but because it decided only the AEDPA "cause and prejudice" issue without reaching the underlying constitutional claim at issue in Cook, the Court ultimately denied cert. Cook now seeks rehearing of the denial of his earlier federal habeas petition – more than three years ago – and wants the Court either to review the issue left open in Martinez or to GVR the case in light of Martinez. Rehearing petitions are granted once in a blue moon, particularly ones as belated as this one is, but something's going on here.
Monday brought us three brand-spankin'- new non-detainee relists. First up is the much anticipated City of New Haven v. Briscoe, 11-1024, the follow-up to Ricci v. DeStefano. Not only is New Haven the self-declared home of the hamburger, the preferred clothier of style-impaired WASPs, and one of America's most celebrated universities, but also, it seems, a bounty of litigious firefighters. Briscoe presents the Title VII disparate impact claim the city of New Haven said it feared when it invalidated the firefighter test in Ricci. The petition challenges the decision of the Second Circuit to let the suit go forward. Briscoe has been relisted to the June 7 Conference, skipping two conferences in between. My guess is the Court wants to consider it alongside North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue v. NAACP, 11-1247, a Third Circuit case set for the June 7 Conference that involved a Ricci defense to a residency requirement challenged under Title VII.
Next up is yet another state-on-top habeas case, Howes v. Walker, 11-1011. Walker was convicted of murder in a Michigan trial court. After initially sending the case back down for a deficiency determination, the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected Walker's Strickland ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim. On collateral review, the federal district court denied Walker's habeas petition but issued a certificate of appealability on the issue whether the Michigan courts unreasonably applied clearly established Supreme Court precedent. A panel of the Sixth Circuit, over a lengthy dissent from Judge Cook, reversed, based in part on its conclusion that the Michigan courts' factual determinations were unreasonable. In its petition, Michigan concedes that Walker's trial counsel was ineffective, but maintains that that ineffectiveness was not prejudicial under Strickland. One of the more interesting issues it presents for review was left open by the Court in Wood v. Allen (2010), namely, whether Section 2254(e)(1)'s command that an underlying state-court fact determination is presumed correct applies in a case presenting a challenge to the reasonableness of the state court's factual determinations under Section 2254(d)(2).
Now for Jennings v. Owens, 11-789. Jennings was convicted in Texas state courts of debit card abuse for teasing a Discover Card about being a loser. Upon release, the Texas Board of Parole imposed various "sex offender" conditions on Jennings based in part on an unrelated sex offense he committed over three decades earlier. Jennings filed a Section 1983 suit challenging the imposition of sex offender conditions and the federal district court granted him summary judgment. Texas appealed, and the Fifth Circuit reversed. Although that court tossed out some of the restrictions, it determined that the district court granted too broad relief to Jennings for purported procedural due process violations that had yet to occur. The district court subsequently granted summary judgment to the defendant Texas officials. In a short opinion, the Fifth Circuit affirmed. Because Jennings was a convicted sex offender who had the ability to challenge that status at the time it was imposed, the court reasoned, Jennings is not stigmatized by the imposition of sex offender parole conditions. Jennings' petition challenges the imposition of the sex offender conditions without contemporaneous notice or opportunity to be heard.
Finally, we appear to have one new hold, though exactly what it's on hold for is anyone's guess. Dotson v. United States, 11-9873, raises the question whether the mandatory minimum for brandishing a firearm, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(ii), must be indicted and proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. It is a direct challenge to Harris v. United States, which upheld mandatory minimums against an Apprendi challenge. Petitioner contends that Harris conflicts with a number of cases, Apprendi among them. (The Harris plurality purported to distinguish Apprendi.) To many observers, Almendarez-Torres and Harris are the sick men of American sentencing law, but suggesting that they are due to be overruled increasingly has the feel of predicting Keith Richards' death circa 1977. I'll just shut up, buy kohl futures, and wait for Some Girls to come out.
That was a long one! FB slid another 2.38in the time it took to write this post. Good thing my money is in the frozen orange juice market. And we all know that we can count on the certainty of the next relist (and hold) watch, and that it still won't be funny. See you back here next week!
Thanks to Eric White for compiling and drafting this update.
City of New Haven v. Briscoe (relisted after the 5/17 Conference)
Docket: 11-1024
Issue(s): Whether a lower court may disregard this Court's express guidance and create Title VII disparate-impact liability for actions this Court ordered an employer to undertake as a remedy for a Title VII disparate-treatment violation.
Certiorari stage documents
- Opinion below (2d Cir.)
- Petition for certiorari
- Brief in opposition
- Amicus brief of Cato Institute
- Amicus brief of National League of Cities et al.
- Amicus brief of Pacific Legal Foundation et al.
- Amicus brief of Frank Ricci et al.
- Reply of petitioner
Jennings v. Owens (relisted after the 5/17 Conference)
Docket: 11-789
Issue(s): Whether petitioner holds a constitutionally protected liberty interest to remain free from the certain "sex offender" conditions of parole imposed after his release from confinement for "debit card abuse," that is subject to deprivation only after provision of notice and an opportunity to be heard, notwithstanding his prior unrelated conviction for a "sex offense" while a minor more than thirty (30) years earlier.
Certiorari stage documents
Howes v. Walker (relisted after the 5/17 Conference)
Docket: 11-1101
Issue(s): (1) Whether 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2)'s invitation to decide the reasonableness of a state-court factual determination fits with 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1)'s command that an underlying state-court fact determination must be presumed correct; (2) whether the Sixth Circuit violated Section 2254(d)(1) by granting habeas relief on a purportedly unreasonable application of state law; and (3) whether the Sixth Circuit violated § 2254(d)(1) by asserting its own prejudice standard – that a defendant "must only show that he had a substantial defense" – rather than the standard in Strickland v. Washington that prejudice requires a showing that, but for counsel's error, there is a reasonable probability of a different outcome.
Certiorari stage documents
Cook v. Schriro (relisted after the 5/10 and 5/17 Conferences)
Docket: 08-7229
Issue(s): (1) Whether ineffectiveness of "initial review" post-conviction counsel, for a claim of
ineffective trial counsel, constituted "cause" excusing failure to exhaust the claim of ineffective trial counsel in state court; (2) alternatively, whether the Court should rehear the petition, grant cert., vacate the decision of the Ninth Circuit, and remand for further proceedings consistent with Martinez.
Certiorari stage documents
- Opinion below (9th Cir.)
- Petition for rehearing
- Petition for certiorari
- [Brief in opposition]
- Reply brief
Comcast v. Behrend (relisted after the 5/10 and 5/17 Conferences)
Docket: 11-864
Issue(s): Whether a district court may certify a class action without resolving "merits arguments" that bear on Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23's prerequisites for certification, including whether purportedly common issues predominate over individual ones under Rule 23(b)(3).
Certiorari stage documents
Coleman, Superintendent v. Johnson (relisted after the 4/27, 5/10, and 5/17 Conferences)
Docket: 11-1053
Issue(s): (1) Whether the court of appeals' grant of habeas relief based on a finding that the Pennsylvania courts misapplied Pennsylvania law should be reversed; (2) whether the court of appeals' refusal to credit factual inferences favorable to the prosecution should be reversed; (3) whether the court of appeals' determinations regarding witness credibility should be reversed; (4) whether the court of appeals' holding, which relies upon a definition of accomplice liability that conflicts with Pennsylvania law, should be reversed; and (5) whether the court of appeals failed to acknowledge or address the presumption of correctness that must be afforded the factual inferences drawn by the state courts pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(l).
Certiorari stage documents
Parker, Warden v. Matthews (relisted after the 4/27, 5/10, and 5/17 Conferences)
Docket: 11-845
Issue(s): Whether the Sixth Circuit erred in finding that the Kentucky courts unreasonably applied clearly established federal law and granting respondent habeas relief.
Certiorari stage documents
- Opinion below (6th Cir.)
- Petition for certiorari
- Brief in opposition
Fairey v. Tucker, Secretary (relisted after the 4/27, 5/10, and 5/17 Conferences)
Docket: 11-7185
Issue(s): Did the court of appeals err in dismissing the petitioner's appeal and denying the certificate of appealability where the record showed that the district court's assessment of the constitutional claims was wrong?
Certiorari stage documents


text:
Are you looking to get noticed by college coaches? Then you need to attend a Perfect Game Showcase!
PG Showcases garner national exposure, social media visibility, and the opportunity to improve your player rankings.
It was the wildest weekend of the year in college baseball, as several ranked teams suffered series losses. Florida State, though, bounced back from a midweek loss to rival Florida, hitting the road and sweeping a three-game series from Boston College to stay atop the latest Perfect Game College Top 25.
Other programs weren't so lucky. Though the teams in the top seven of the rankings remain the same, with South Carolina leapfrogging Louisiana-Lafayette as the only change, there was a lot of movement elsewhere. Of the 18 remaining teams outside of the top seven, four failed to win a single game last week, while 12 of the 18 had unsuccessful weekends.
Louisville, Mississippi State and Houston are the newest top-10 clubs in the latest rankings. The Cardinals went from No. 12 to No. 8 after another good weekend, Mississippi State went from No. 13 to No. 9 after winning its third Southeastern Conference series, and Houston moved from No. 15 to No. 10 after a good weekend against Memphis.
Texas vaulting from No. 22 to No. 12 and UNLV and Clemson vaulting six spots each was the biggest upward movement in the rankings, while Cal State Fullerton, for instance, dropped from No. 11 to No. 22 after losing yet another series, this time on the road against Wichita State.
North Carolina State, North Carolina and Auburn dropped from the rankings. The Wolfpack was swept at home by Miami, UNC was swept on the road by Duke and Auburn dropped a tough and surprising home series to Missouri.
The newest entrants to the rankings include No. 18 Washington, No. 20 Alabama and No. 24 Florida. The Huskies improved to 20-5 with a road series sweep over USC and are winners of 10-straight, the Crimson Tide did a clean home sweep of Ole Miss, and Florida had a terrific week that included a midweek triumph over Florida State and weekend series sweep over LSU.
The Perfect Game College Top 25 is released every Monday during the season.
COLLEGE CHAT: Check out the transcript


text:
I was reminded today what a 'New York Minute' actually is so I thought I would share this information with you.
The term 'New York Minute' refers to a very short space of time. The definition was eternally enhanced by Johnny Carson some years ago.
He explained that a 'New York Minute' was the space of time which elapsed between an NY traffic light going green and the car behind you beeping its horn.
So now you know.
And because (in fairness) that tidbit is, at best, only moderately interesting, here as a bonus, is another song title explained.
The term 'Blue Moon' turns up in many a good old song including that perennial favorite 'Blue Moon'. Yes, it's in there somewhere, take my word for it. But what exactly is a 'Blue Moon'? Not everyone knows. Even if you, apparently, do.
Sometimes you get two full moons in one calendar month, particularly if the first full moon occurs on the first or second of the month. When that happens, another should come along about 28 days later.
The term 'Blue Moon' refers to the second full moon in a single month and, because it is a bit rare, the term 'once in a blue moon' refers to something that doesn't happen very often.
And there you all thought that you were finished with learning-and-such.
Can you perhaps explain any other song titles to me?
I quest for lyrical knowledge.
Plus I might get another quickie post out of what you tell me.


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Percy Jackson and the Olympians 12-year-old modern demigod Percy Jackson has just come to terms with his newfound supernatural power
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Constitutionality is the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution;[1] the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or guidelines set forth in the applicable constitution. When one of these (laws, procedures, or acts) directly violates the constitution, it is unconstitutional. All the rest are considered constitutional until challenged and declared otherwise.
An act (or statute) enacted as law either by a national legislature or by the legislature of a subordinate level of government (such as a state or province) may be declared unconstitutional.
However, governments do not just create laws. Governments also enforce the laws set forth in the document defining the government—in the Constitution. In the United States, the failure to seat duly elected representatives of the people following a proper election, or the failure to provide for such elections would be unconstitutional even in the absence of any legislated laws whatsoever.
When the proper court determines that a legislative act (a law) conflicts with the constitution, it finds that law unconstitutional and declares it void in whole or in part. This is called judicial review. The portion of the law declared void is considered struck down, or the entire statute is considered struck from the statute books.
Depending on the type of legal system, a statute may be declared unconstitutional by any court, or only by special Constitutional courts with authority to rule on the validity of a statute. In some countries, the legislature may create any law for any purpose, and there is no provision for courts to declare a law unconstitutional. This can occur either because the country has no codified constitution that laws must conform to (e.g., the United Kingdom and New Zealand) or because the constitution is codified but no court has the authority to strike down laws on the basis of it (e.g., the Netherlands and Switzerland).
In many jurisdictions the supreme court or constitutional court is the final legal arbiter that renders an opinion on whether a law or an action of a government official is constitutional. Most constitutions define the powers of government. Thus, national constitutions typically apply only to government actions. This means that only governments can violate the nation's constitution, but there are exceptions.
A constitutional violation is thus somewhat different from the breaking of a normal law, both in terms of seriousness and punishment. Declaring a law unconstitutional does not result in the punishment of those who passed it down.
The legal encyclopedia American Jurisprudence says the following in regard to constitutionality:
The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and the name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void and ineffective for any purpose since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it; an unconstitutional law, in legal contemplation, is as inoperative as if it had never been passed ... An unconstitutional law is void. (16 Am. Jur. 2d, Sec. 178)
A law in violation of an existing statute can be described as unstatutable.[2]
Examples of unconstitutional actions
Some examples of unconstitutional actions can be:
- Actions by politician outside the powers of his constitutionally-established office;
- Actions on behalf of the government that prevent an individual from exercising constitutionally protected individual rights (such as the right to vote or to practice religion). See McDonald v. City of Chicago
Unconstitutional laws in the United States
Much debate often surrounds controversial laws enacted by state legislatures and the United States Congress regarding the laws' constitutionality. Some of the controversialists against particular acts in the 19th century proposed protecting the people by applying the Principles of '98.
There are different forms of constitutions. The United States Constitution is a "Rigid Constitution". Rigid constitutions cannot be modified in their express terms, except through such processes the constitution itself ordain.
- ↑ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constitutionality "Webster On Line"
- ↑ "Unstatutable | Definition, meaning & more | Collins Dictionary". www.collinsdictionary.com. Retrieved 2016-08-23.


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This past month, I decided to participate in Operation Baking Gals for the first time. Baking is one of my favorite hobbies, and now that I'm on a diet, I'm trying to find opportunities to bake that don't require me to have a pan of brownies housed on my counter for a few days. Too tempting!
I knew I was going to bake three items: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies, Halloween M&M Biscotti and The Chewy, which will all be featured on the blog.
I first went to the Dollar Tree and bought three packs of disposable containers, along with packing supplies. I also got the flat rate APO/FPO shipping box for free at the post office to do this. If you were doing this to send to someone NOT in the military, go ahead and just get a flat rate box. You'll be glad you did…my box of goodies ended up being 7 lbs.!! Flat rate rocks!
First, I followed the directions on the OBG website, which said to line the containers with paper towels and place a few pieces of apple peel in the fold nearest where the baked goods will be placed. Then, I loaded up the containers with baked goodies, put another paper towel with apple peel and taped the container shut, just in case!
Then, I put in one layer of baked goods in the box and squished in grocery plastic bags around them to make the boxes as immobile as possible. The trick here is to make everything in the box stay absolutely still, so if they are shaken, they won't get super crumbly before reaching their destination. I've shipped two boxes of decorated cookies using this method with GREAT success!
Then, I added a second layer of baked goods. I ran out of containers, so I lined two ziplocs with a paper towel and apple peel and filled them up. I wrapped them tightly in bubble wrap as well. I'm not quite sure how these will fare, but hopefully, since they ended up being packed in pretty tightly, I'm hoping they will be ok!
I also added a note to tell them how much I appreciate what they do for our country. 🙂 Then, I added a bunch of plastic grocery bags to surround the second layer of boxes/bags, as well as on the very top, put two layers of bubble wrap, so they don't accidentally cut through the goodies when opening the box!
All in all, this was a fun way to show appreciation to our troops! I paid maybe $20 (including $11.95 shipping) to do this, and I know I'll definitely be doing this again!
I'm thinking, if I have enough Internet buddies interested, of hosting a team for December's shipping dates. It is the holiday season after all, and who doesn't like baking with fun holiday sprinkles?! 🙂


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I have a front window that has about a 1/32 inch gap in the summer, but about a 1/4 inch gap in the winter. The original caulk completely came loose and allowed condensation from the window to get into the wall. Worried about this, I removed the caulk and re-caulked it this fall when there was only the small gap. The other day I noticed that the caulk had come free on one side already. I had scraped all the old caulk off and cleaned with alcohol before applying the new caulk. I used silicone caulk.
What is the trick for this? I have noticed that wherever a surface that needs to be caulked touched an outside wall that this is common. Any tips?
EDIT: the surfaces involved are the plastic window frame and a plastic window sill. The area needing caulked is similar to what is shown here (the lower right arrow) except the sill-surface is plastic. Or similar to this pic where the water is puddling (this is not my window)


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Nazis vs. the Socialists
Thursday, February 28th, 2013I received considerable flak in reaction to my recent treatment of the word socialism, specifically my claim that the Nazis were enemies of the socialists. Several people pointed out that the word Nazi was short for National Socialists and that the Nazis were socialists. (I have since added a corrective note.)
In the 1930s socialism was very popular. Everyone in the industrialized world was joining socialist parties, socialist unions especially. Several nonsocialist parties added "socialist" to the name of their party in order to build membership. We should focus on the next word in the Nazi Party's name: Nationalist, for the Nazi party grew out of the "far-right racist völkisch German nationalist movement and the violent anti-communist Freikorps paramilitary culture", according to Wikipedia.
The fact of the matter is that the socialists and communists were even more popular after World War II, because the Nazis were just as focused on eliminating socialists and communists as they were on eliminating the Jewish population. But the socialists and communists fought back. They entered the underground and were known as "the resistance" and the "underground" in censored US war films.
But the Europeans knew who constituted the "resistance" and "underground", so following the war, even more people joined the Social Democrats (Marx's party), the Christian Socialists, and even the Communist Party, soon to be known as the Eurocommunists. Just before I retired in 2000, 60 French cities had communist mayors.
So, we shouldn't judge a party by its name any more than we should judge a book by its cover.


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Unfortunately, MCACC does not have veterinary staff available to provide medical help once a pet is adopted. If your pet is showing signs of illness, take him or her to a veterinarian for treatment. Remember, most illnesses can be easily treated if they are diagnosed early. If you wait to provide treatment for your pet, you risk your pets health and a larger vet bill. If your pet is having complications related to the spay/neuter surgery, please call us at 602-506-PETS (7387). Return to Animal Care & Control


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[Pete] has a cool new tutorial creating a re-imagining of the Atari classic "River Raid" for the PIX-6T4 micro controller based game system. The PIX is a netduino on a larger board featuring 2 analog controllers, a speaker, an sd card and an 8×8 monochrome LED display. With a resolution that low, it may make the good ole VCS look like a 360, but there is still a lot to learn about making a game at this low of a level.
The tutorial [Pete] has put together covers concept, gameplay, progression goals, screen handling and a boat load of code to show how it all goes together. Though this is for a C# based system many of the basics apply to just about any system you can imagine. So if you're looking to learn how to handle graphics in C, sprite animation, collision, or randomly putting levels together out of tile blocks then you should take a look.
Join us after the break for a quick video.


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Editor's Note: This story is based on a 46-page internal al Qaeda document, details of which were obtained by CNN. A senior U.S. counterterrorism official told CNN that U.S. authorities believe it was authored by British al Qaeda operative Rashid Rauf. It was discovered by German cryptologists, along with more than 100 other documents, embedded inside a pornographic movie on a memory disk belonging to a suspected al Qaeda operative arrested in Berlin last year. The German newspaper Die Zeit was the first to report on the documents.
Story highlights
A document reveals new details in the 2006 plot to use liquid explosives
The liquid bombs were to be used on airliners departing from Heathrow airport
The document is part of a trove of al Qaeda documents found by German authorities
An internal al Qaeda document reveals new details in the 2006 plot to bring down planes using liquid explosives, including the level of al Qaeda's technical expertise.
U.S. authorities believe the document was written by Rashid Rauf, a British al Qaeda operative at the heart of the group's campaign to strike the UK. It sheds significant new light on the plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners departing from Heathrow airport in 2006.
Rauf's notes were part of a treasure trove of al Qaeda documents discovered by German authorities that CNN recently obtained access to.
The conspiracy was broken up on August 9, 2006, two weeks before the plot was set to be launched.
In the wake of the arrests, the UK held several trials and eventually convicted 10 men, including ringleader Abdulla Ahmed Ali and bomb chemist Assad Sarwar, for their roles in the plot. But because of UK regulations on the use of intelligence in court, their links to al Qaeda were not explicitly mentioned in any of the trials.
By the time of the arrests, U.S. and British intelligence agencies, with assistance from Pakistan, had established that Rauf was the point man in the plot, had met some of the plotters in Pakistan, and had been communicating extensively with the cell members in the UK as they prepared for the attack.
But many big questions remained unanswered: When and how had al Qaeda recruited and trained the UK cell in Pakistan? What led them to the plan to attack trans-Atlantic airliners?
Rauf's analysis fills in several important gaps.
Ali had arrived in Pakistan toward the end of 2004. It was his second trip in two years – and on both he volunteered at a relief agency helping refugees from the fighting in Afghanistan. At trial, he testified that he had become radicalized by the U.S. invasion of Iraq the previous year, and was further angered by the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. When he met Rauf, Ali told him he never wanted to return home, Rauf revealed in the document. Instead, he wanted training to fight jihad in Afghanistan.
Ali was one of several British militants making the same request.
In the winter of 2004, Rauf arranged for terrorist training for the ringleaders of the July 7 and July 21 plots in the tribal areas of Pakistan under the supervision of "Haji," who U.S. intelligence believe was Abu Ubaidah al Masri, a senior member of al Qaeda's external relations unit.
At around this time, Rauf also connected Ali with Haji, who arranged for him to receive basic weapons training. From then on "a big change came over his temperament when he first came and when he left," Rauf wrote.
"He was a very clever, patient brother and a natural leader," Rauf wrote.
Ali returned to the UK in January 2005 but went back to Pakistan in June. Later that year he was joined in Pakistan by Assad Sarwar, the future bomb chemist. Rauf wrote that several other members of the circle also traveled to Pakistan during this period and some expressed their wish to become martyrs.
"We would now send back brothers quickly and not keep them for a long time," Rauf wrote. "This was largely due to the fact that (after July 7) we knew there would be intelligence monitoring of people travelling from the UK to Pakistan."
Toward the end of 2005, Rauf wrote, Ali was sent back to the UK with the task of putting together a plot to hit a wide range of targets.
The rosewater solution
Al Qaeda had yet to come up with the plan to target trans-Atlantic airliners. Rauf wrote that al Qaeda believed the London bombings would make it difficult for Ali to acquire hydrogen peroxide, so he had been taught how to make explosive devices with gas. Eventually, Rauf and others decided the best plan was to smuggle hydrogen peroxide, a liquid, from Pakistan to the UK in rosewater bottles which would be packed to look unopened.
"We then analyzed the various machines that were used for checking baggage and persons at airports. We found it was very difficult to detect liquids explosives," Rauf wrote.
"After analysis that it would be possible to take concentrated hydrogen peroxide on board, the thought came to our mind: would it be possible to detonate the hydrogen aboard an airplane?" wrote Rauf.
That was the moment when the liquid bomb plot was conceived. And ever since it was uncovered, the world's airline passengers have been restricted in the liquids they can carry on board.
"The way they progressed from London bomb plots to airline was very unexpected and brilliant," a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told CNN.
Over the next months, Haji brainstormed about how such devices could be constructed and smuggled onto a plane undetected. "The discovery that hydrogen peroxide could be colored without losing its explosive properties was a major breakthrough," Rauf wrote.
They also decided that they would convert AA batteries into detonators, Rauf wrote. "We also practiced how to open a drinks bottles, empty it, and replace it with Hydrogen Peroxide, to make it seem unopened."
Rauf wrote that al Qaeda believed half a kilo of liquid explosive would without a doubt destroy an airplane, having noted a similar amount of plastic explosive Semtex had destroyed Pan Am Flight103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.
Travel records show in May 2006 Ali returned to Pakistan for a third time. Rauf wrote he had been recalled so al Qaeda could train him on how to make the new device.
Sarwar also travelled back to Pakistan shortly afterward. His role would be to support Ali in putting together a plot, and continue al Qaeda's work in the UK after the operation, according to Rauf.
On this trip, Rauf wrote, Ali was questioned at Heathrow on departure and tracked by Pakistan's military intelligence – the ISI – when he arrived. The ISI requested local police in the Islamabad area to stop Ali and search his baggage, but they were friends of his family and tipped him off about the ISI's interest.
"We trained (him) quickly, and wanted him to leave ASAP. He was also told to do anti-surveillance measures when he got back and only start work when he was comfortable that everything was clear," wrote Rauf.
Rauf wrote that al Qaeda conducted a successful test run with the bomb components minus the explosives on a flight.
"The purpose of the exercise was to test that none of the components would be checked manually," Rauf wrote.
Rauf wrote that Ali was told to target flights heading for the United States. A few days before his arrest, Ali was monitored looking up flights from Heathrow to North America which would all be in the air at the same time.
Rauf wrote that Ali recruited nine suicide bombers in total for the plot, including several who never travelled to Pakistan, suggesting that number of flights would be hit. He wrote the plan was to bomb the flights at the same time, when they were all in the air.
According to Rauf, Ali was told to record martyrdom tapes for the suicide bombers set to take part in the operation. It emerged at trial that by the time of the arrests, six of the plotters had recorded videos, which they taped in an east London apartment Ali was using as the bomb factory.
Two of those ready to carry out martyrdom operations were not arrested by police, because Rauf's contacts had not yet reached out to them at the time of the arrest, according to Rauf's report.
As the plotters prepared their attack, Rauf was in extensive contact with three of them through e-mails, text messages and phone calls. Rauf wrote that he also used Yahoo Messenger. Rauf set up a system of cell phone communications in which the UK group would regularly change the SIM cards in their phones and provide details of new numbers through coded messages.
Rauf said he had four phones with him at all times in Pakistan – three to communicate with the plotters in the UK and one to communicate with his colleagues in Pakistan. His report showed he was paranoid that Western intelligence agencies might be able to track his voice and he requested that Sarwar purchase him a "voice changer."
The mastermind detained
As Ali made preparations for the attack he became increasingly concerned he was being followed by British security agencies, Rauf revealed. "I told him not to panic," Rauf wrote.
But soon Rauf himself was the target of an international security operation. He was arrested by Pakistani security services on a bus on August 9, 2006. Rauf recalled that his bus was pulled over by elite Pakistani police wielding Kalashnikovs. He realized he'd mistakenly left his phone turned on, which he believed was how the United States had been able to track him. As he struggled to turn it off, he was taken into police custody, a hood was placed over his head, and he was transferred to an army camp. His arrest prompted UK authorities to quickly round up Ali's UK cell.
Rauf wrote that Pakistani authorities were initially "very happy at pleasing their U.S. masters," but when they found out that Rauf had trained in Kashmir, they feared the U.S. would blame them and blocked the British and Americans from accessing him for questioning.
In December 2007, Rauf escaped from Pakistani custody after a judicial hearing and reconnected with al Qaeda in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Shortly after he escaped, he was able to follow news reports of the prosecution case against the cell members in the UK. "They understood the basic idea of the plot but were unaware of some of the minor details," he wrote.
In the fall of 2008, Rauf set three new al Qaeda plots in motion to attack the West – an April 2009 plot against Manchester, England, a July 2010 plot against Scandinavia, and a September 2009 plot to hit New York. In a face-to-face meeting in North Waziristan in September 2008 with New York plotters Najibullah Zazi, Zarein Ahmedzay and their alleged conspirator Adis Medunjanin, currently on trial in New York, Rauf requested they return to the United States to launch an attack, according to Zazi's testimony.
But Rauf was killed in a drone strike in the tribal territories of Pakistan in November 2008 during the early stages of planning for the trio of plots against the West.
According to a senior U.S. counterterrorism official, his death was a deep blow to al Qaeda's ability to plot terrorist attacks against the West, as the terror network had no other operative able to coordinate plots overseas with his level of operational tradecraft.
Al Qaeda's initiation of plots against the West fell away during the period of his incarceration, and then again after his death, the official said.


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This Mom Looks 9 Months Pregnant At Just 20 Weeks
By Dave Basner
May 5, 2020
Jaime Scott's pregnant belly looks pretty big for someone about to give birth, the problem is she is only five-months into her term. However, there's a good reason for her larger tummy - it's because she is carrying five babies in it!
Skyler and her husband Skylerstruggled with fertility issues when they tried to conceive their third child. It took them five years before, at age 33, Jaime got pregnant thanks to successful artificial insemination.
Doctors saw elevated hormone levels in her and thought she might have twins but they were wrong - she actually has quintuplets. The chances of that happening are one in 55 million.
The five-foot-four Jaime looks ready to pop but she has some time to go before her family more than doubles in size. She's spending much of that time in a wheelchair because of how large her belly has gotten.
Follow the Scotts' journey to becoming a family of eight here.


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Blake James Wheeler (born August 31, 1986) is an American professional ice hockey right winger currently playing for the Atlanta Thrashers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round, fifth overall, in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.
Wheeler attended Breck School his freshman year through his junior year. There, during his junior year, Wheeler had his breakout season, putting up a state-high 45 goals and 55 assists in 2003–04. He led his team to a Class A State Hockey Championship that season, and scored a hat trick in the final game.
Wheeler opted to forego his senior year to play in the United States Hockey League (USHL) with the Green Bay Gamblers. After playing one season with the Gamblers, Wheeler attended the University of Minnesota. In 2005–06, his freshman year with the Minnesota Golden Gophers, he recorded 23 points in 39 games, playing alongside future Boston Bruins teammate Phil Kessel. Wheeler is praised for his deceptive speed with his large body frame, and his ability to stick handle at such high speeds.


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There are many things we're not supposed to do while driving: texting, talking on a cellphone and eating top most lists. Headsets and multimedia systems with voice recognition help alleviate the dangers of texting and cellphones, and now fast-food containers that fit in a cupholder are here to help.
KFC has a new item called the Go Cup, a container that houses chicken and fries and fits in your car's cupholder. Or at least it "will fit into 83 percent of cupholders out there," according to our story here last week. Challenge accepted. I put on my lab coatand went to work.
you are watching: Does KFC's new snack cup work in cars' cupholders?
see more : American Airlines to fly to biggest city in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula
KFC says the Go Cup portions are snack sized, so don't expect to get a bucket of drumsticks and a vat of mashed potatoes and gravy. I ordered the Original Recipe Boneless Tenders (two large tenders) and the Chicken Little (a small sandwich with two nuggets, pickles and mayo). All chicken items come with potato wedges. These were good-sized portions — I ate one for lunch — KFC doesn't skimp on the amount of food for something labeled a snack. But what's required of the cup to accommodate all this food creates a headache.
The lower third of the Go Cup is smaller in order to fit in your car's cupholder. The cup is wider toward the top to fit the chicken strips and potato wedges, which are segregated into their own cardboard container within the Go Cup. This makes the Go Cup top-heavy and likely to spill.
I needed to find a sweet spot to keep the Go Cup from toppling over. If you have side-by-side cupholders and get a beverage with your snack, the rims rub together. It's the same problem if you get two Go Cups and your cupholders are in close proximity to each other as mine were in the 2014 Audi Q5.
see more : WVU women's basketball signs 6 recruits
A hiccup also occurs if you have two sets of drinks and Go Cups. Unless you have lots cupholders in your car, something will probably have to go in your lap to be truly hands free. This reviewer also recommends avoiding dipping sauces or ketchup. It's just too much to work with, people!
KFC is certainly proud of its groundbreaking packaging. Cupholders are such wily creatures, and accommodating 83 percent of them is no small feat. However, the Go Cup feels a bit overengineered.
Sonic also has a cupholder-sized container. It's a simple cylindrical cardboard container for its finger food. In-N-Out will put your order in a box instead of a bag if you're eating in the car, though it's best to do this when parked.
Source: https://a5nrugby.com
Category: News


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We have a super exciting announcement today! We are debuting FIVE Fat Quarter Shop exclusive videos tomorrow morning! While we won't be revealing the topics of the videos just yet, we will say that they are informative, helpful and cover a wide range of topics. These are videos that you won't want to miss!
Here are some photos to satisfy your curiosity, but be sure to keep an eye out tomorrow for some Fat Quarter Shop exclusive YouTube videos!