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How Conservative School Voucher Plans Will End up Funding Islamic Schools in the US
It's not surprising McDonald would take that line. Across the country, Catholic schools are being shuttered as more and more parents realize that the public schools are doing a good job and that the money they're spending on Catholic school tuition might be better socked away in a college fund.
Church officials are essentially seeking a taxpayer-funded bailout for their flagging school system – a system that even many church members have decided they don't want to patronize. One wonders if McDonald has ever heard of the law of supply and demand?
The issue of accountability is also interesting. My guess is that, given the religious make-up of Tennessee, many of the schools taking part in a voucher plan will be aligned with fundamentalist Christianity. What type of science will these schools teach? What type of history? How will the students who attend them perform on standardized tests? Will they be able to get into colleges?
But the elephant in the room is Islamic schools. Will the state fund those as well with its vouchers?
Beth Harwell, speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, was asked about this recently by the Marshall Tribune. One gets the impression that Harwell was a bit uncomfortable answering the question.
'I think it would be a constitutional issue,' Harwell said. She added, 'It is one that we would have to weigh very carefully as a legislature.'
Still fumbling, Harwell then said, 'I think that, in itself, causes real alarm in the halls of the legislature. Having said that, I think we will seriously look at vouchers…. All those concerns are valid ones, legitimate ones. There is no easy answer.'
Alarm bells? Do you think? This is the state, after all, where residents actually went to court to try to stop a mosque from opening in Murfreesboro.
And don't think this is a theoretical matter. Two Islamic schools in Washington, D.C., have received taxpayer funding under House Speaker John Boehner's federally funded voucher program for the District of Columbia. Courts have been clear on this matter: Benefits that are extended to one religion must be made available to all.
Harwell says they is no 'easy answer' to problems like this. Sure there is: Don't pass a voucher plan. Focus funding on public schools. If some of the public schools are experiencing problems, give them the support and resources they need to improve.


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OLD Tauntonians and Romsey's first team got off to a winning start in the Southern Electric Premier League against St Cross Symondians II at the Romsey Sports Centre on Saturday.
St Cross won the toss and, after a delayed start due to damp conditions, struggled against tight bowling from openers Steve Smith and Dan Mogg who both claimed an early wicket.
Alan Whitman and Chris Marlow recovered the Winchester side's innings for a while, albeit slowly.
Whitman fell one short of a half-century as he was caught and bowled by Jon Dowling. Marlow and Tom Foyle were the only batsmen to make their mark.
Mogg produced superb figures, a Southern League best for him, of 4 for 14 in 8.1 overs. Foyle was well stumped by young Rob Newman off the bowling of Stuart Shapland.
But the final score of 143 all out was good under the conditions.
The home batsmen also struggled on the damp pitch. They lost Nick Destefano at 12, and Danny Mills at 41.
Gus Flack, after a quick 24, fell at 53 and quick dismissals of skipper Jody Brown and Paul Longland left them on 76 for 5.
Charlie King and Shapland however steadied the innings. King hit a circumspect 10 not out but Shapland a match winning 46 not out.
"It was great to start with a win," said skipper Brown, "we had injuries in particular Max Smith, and a couple of players unavailable, but we entertain Tichborne Park this week with some confidence."
After weeks of preparations play got underway for all four OTs and Romsey sides despite heavy rain the previous day which meant matches up and down the country were called off early.
The second XI had an amazing win at Hartley Wintney's picturesque ground against the Berkshire side's second XI in Hampshire League County Division 3.
Stuart Tulk may have been regretting asking the home side to bat as theylost their first wicket at 147.
Dave Arnold (98) and Colin Jolley (78) set up the start, then Jon Rowe smashed three fours and six sixes as Hartley amassed 296 for 4 in their 45 overs.
The OTs bowlers could not stem the tide, only Nick Wood bowling a steady line as the ball was hit to all parts.
Facing a tough target OT's lost George Eldridge and Jon Whytehead for 21, then Pete Biddlecombe fell at 47.
Steve Kay and Mike Trodd then shared a 74-run partnership before Kay was trapped lbw for an innings of 59 that included nine fours and a six.
At 184-6 it was still a big ask, but Trodd struck nine fours and seven sixes in his 98 to leave OTs at 257 for 8 with 40 runs were still required.
Skipper Stuart Tulk and spin bowler Phil Wyatt carried on the good work and 17 was needed with two overs to go when Wyatt hit a big six into the bushes and followed next ball with an ever bigger shot.
It made the task of scoring four in the last over much easier and the incredible game was won with two balls remaining.
This Saturday the 2nds are on their travels again, this time to Pylewell Park.
The third team playing Amport Second XI at Hunts Farm faced a challenging total of 234 for 5.
OT's started slowly and lost two early wickets but Dave Service and Dave Brown compiled a third wicket partnership of 102. Brown played on for 42 while Service continued his good form from the previous week, top scoring with 85 from 103 balls, including eight fours and six sixes. Ash Kumar nearly pulled off a win for OT's with a brisk 35 from 27 balls but they finished three runs short.
With many players unavailable the Academy side struggled to field a full side and were well beaten by eight wickets at Sway Second XI.
Stuart Wood batted for over 100 balls for 26 and young Peter Newman top scored with 28 in a total of 116 all out. Newman and Jack Salter each took a wicket.
The Sunday XI, despite 56 from George Eldridge and 48 by captain Rob Newman, could not stop Cadnam winning by seven wickets. The New Forest side scored 152 for 3 in reply to 151 for 7.

subset: commoncrawl


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Man charged with murder after hit and run
A 21-year-old man has been charged with murder after a hit and run that killed a 17-year-old boy in Brisbane's south-eastern suburbs on Saturday night.
The 21-year-old was arrested by police yesterday, and will appear in Beenleigh Magistrates Court on murder charges today.
A brawl at a party in Station Rd, Woodridge, spilled onto the street about 10.30pm on Saturday, Queensland Police reported.
Police said investigations revealed two groups were fighting and damaging property before a car was allegedly driven into a group of people standing on the footpath.
The 17-year-old, who was hit by the car, suffered serious injuries and later died in hospital.
Police said the car left the scene but was recovered on Sunday morning.
A witness spoke to Sky News at the scene, saying the car was doing "drive-bys" when it was driven into the young man.


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Workplace culture is vital to a company's long-term success because it improves employee performance, productivity, etc.Download PDF
Companies are utilizing the benefits of talent management to make them as efficient as possible and stay competitive. Don't be left behind.Learn More
Want to work for a cool company, with a great culture, awesome employees, and change the world? Look no further than TEDS.Search Opportunities


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'Grimm': Silas Weir Mitchell on being a good big bad wolf
On NBC's "Grimm," Silas Weir Mitchell plays what is essentially the big bad wolf — albeit one who would much rather restore grandfather clocks than eat grandmothers.
Mitchell, who may be known to viewers from popular stints on "Prison Break," "My Name is Earl" and "Burn Notice," admits that being on the "ground floor" of a series has made him, and the other cast and crew members, more connected to "Grimm" than other work he's done.
"It's not just some fantasy show. It's a show that looks at the real world that we live in through a different lens," says Mitchell. "We're all very invested in the imaginary world that we're in. Everybody knows that we have this weird little world that we want to enrich."
Recently renewed for a third season, the show has seen a May ratings bump due to a move to Tuesdays behind "The Voice."
PHOTOS: Werewolves of film — a brief history of the Hairy One
A kind of supernatural procedural, it follows Det. Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli), a cop who discovers that he is an integral part of a hidden world populated by creatures called Wesen who hide beneath human faces. As a Grimm, he can see them as they are, and tries to make the world safer by going after the bad ones.
It is in this capacity that Nick meets Monroe, whom Mitchell calls a "recluse." He's a werewolf-like blutbad, which literally means blood bath, who eats quinoa and tries to stay low-key — until a Grimm shows up on his doorstep.
"The Wesen are the boogie men to the normal people, but to the Wesen, the Grimms are the boogie men. They're the ones that we were told about," says Mitchell. "Slowly I realize that he's actually a different type of Grimm. He's doing good in the world, and he is a cop first. What matters more are the actions in the world that these Wesen take, not just the pure fact that they're Wesen."
The character, like the show, is a definite melding of twisted fairy tales and the real world that, to Mitchell, helps place the show in a more grounded setting. Monroe is slowly integrating with mainstream society, even now having a romantic involvement, after leading a much-sheltered existence as he battled with his internal "rapacious proclivities." He's become a renaissance Wesen, and as with any good show, the writers and showrunners have learned to tailor some of the quirks and mannerisms to the actors.
"There are definite similarities between myself and Monroe. I like old things — antiques and books .... Oh, my thing is boats, though, and teak. I restored a teak swing when I got home."
Staining the wood, treating it with a mix of apple cider vinegar and lye ... it's a very specific and unusual hardwood hobby, but one that would also seem to fit Monroe just as well. The show is on just as solid of a tropical hardwood-based foundation as Mitchell's projects, but its popularity is not something that Mitchell expected. Engaging with fans at events like Comic-Con, Mitchell is happy that others can be so involved in the Portland, Ore.-based magical tale they weave -- even when those tales turn to a darker premise.
"There was a thing in the newspaper that was apropos of our show. The dude who had held those women in Cleveland for 10 years ... a neighbor said something like 'That's a pretty great human mask to cover a monster.' That's what the show is about. That's what I love about it," says Mitchell. "It doesn't shy away from the ugly."
Though he closely follows the show's ratings — says they're "crushing it" in the targeted demographics — and appreciates the fandom surrounding it all, the actor never strays too far from the craft and his own almost supernatural reasons for getting into this business in the first place.
"I think it's literally the fact that I am susceptible to the power of suggestion ... to the point where [suggestion] became my career. That's what actors do. They avail themselves to an imaginary event to the point where that imaginary event becomes real, which is really just the power of suggestion."
It's that kind of soul-gazing that has helped the writers connect the introspective actor to his introspective character. As "Grimm" enters Tuesday night's Season 2 finale, though, the actor is happy to let go, not knowing what his character's next steps will be, but teasing that viewers will be wanting more.
"The corner that they've written us into ... I don't know how we're going to get out of it. That's one of the fun things about serialized TV: you have to kind of wait and see where you're going," says Mitchell.
"As long as something is mysterious and fun, that's hard to turn away from."
COVERAGE: Werewolves on Hero Complex
2013 Upfronts: NBC releases primetime schedule
'Grimm' star David Giuntoli: Expect more gore, scarier monsters
From the Emmys to the Oscars.
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A Mathematica implementation of SolvOpt
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg88567] A Mathematica implementation of SolvOpt
- From: tommcd <TCMcDermott at gmail.com>
- Date: Fri, 9 May 2008 03:20:46 -0400 (EDT)
Hi, I recently uploaded a Mathematica implementation of SolvOpt (an implementation of Shor's r algorithm for the minimization of nonlinear, possibly non-smooth objective functions) to http://www.mathematica-users.org/webMathematica/wiki/wiki.jsp?pageName=Shor_Optimization The main package is SolvOpt.m, with shorTest.m and the notebook SolvOptTest.nb being for demonstration purposes. The original (Fortran, C, and other) implementations and documentation are available at http://www.uni-graz.at/imawww/kuntsevich/solvopt/ As this is my 1st mathematica package (I've only ever used notebooks interactively before) I'd appreciate any suggestions or constructive criticism, especially with regard to efficiency and style. For example I'd like a more efficient and elegant way to express Do[ deltax[[j]] = If[ g0[[j]] >= 0.0, h1*ddx, -h1*ddx] , {j,n} ]; which in Fortran 95 can be written very clearly as Where(g0 >= 0.0) g0 = h1*ddx ElseWhere g0 = -h1*ddx End Where where g0 can be any array of up to 7 dimensions, & any number of array assignments can appear in each section (not just the one shown here), moreover the 'Where' can itself be nested inside another where etc.. For now a construct which works for the 1D list above and avoids the do loop would be fine, though if there is a general method for masked array assignments in Mathematica I love to hear about it. Regards, Tom
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: A Mathematica implementation of SolvOpt
- From: Carl Woll <firstname.lastname@example.com>
- Re: A Mathematica implementation of SolvOpt


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Jonah's wish continues to impact his life.
Jonah Turns His Wish Into a Career
It's difficult for many people to figure out just what they want in this world. But some of us just seem to know what they're born to do. Jonah just so happens to be one of those people. His love for cooking came to him at a young age. Jonah would cook large family meals and loved playing around with different flavors and tastes – a true artist of his craft.
"I wanted to cook," he says, "become a chef and use my passion for food to make a living."
So when Jonah was diagnosed with cancer and Make-A-Wish asked him what his one true wish was, he knew exactly what he wanted to wish for: a chance to go to culinary school.
Today in Jonah's Kitchen
Pots and pans clank about, burners hiss, quick hands and sharp knives chop at veggies and meat. The kitchen staff scrambles to make everything perfect for their hungry customers. A professional kitchen is no place for the faint of heart. Complex dishes and demanding restaurant-goers make for a never-ending stream of work on a Friday night. But for Jonah, this is all he has ever dreamed of doing with his life. And after defeating cancer, Jonah knew that life in the kitchen would be no problem.
Jonah's wish gave him the confidence and inspiration to chase his culinary dreams. Jonah was still in high school when his wish was granted, but his day at culinary school with Make-A-Wish left a lasting impression on his life. He went on to graduate from culinary school and was able to take the next big step towards making his ambition a reality.
And he continues to live his dream every day.
This story makes me feel
Read Jonah's Tale... in his words
I wish to have a greenhouse
non-Hodgkins lymphoma
I wish to have a Morgan horse
Wilms tumor
I wish to play against the Portland Timbers with my team
Stay in Touch!
Sign up to receive email from Make-A-Wish.


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C Street Brass was founded in 2007 and appointed Ensemble-in-Residence at Carnegie Mellon University in fall 2012. With their unified sound and dynamic stage presence, the group has quickly established itself as a leading brass ensemble. C Street Brass' vast repertoire is drawn from the standards of brass quintet literature, contemporary classical and electronica music, arrangements and transcriptions. In an effort to expand and advance brass quintet repertoire, C Street Brass has commissioned several pieces. Most recently the group commissioned the work, "Wobbity" from composer and producer Jake Bernsten. This piece represents a marriage between modern electronica and the brass quintet. In 2010, C Street Brass commissioned the work, "Two Pieces for Brass Quintet and Organ" by the composer David Conte and gave its premiere with organ icon and scholar, Donald Sutherland.
In March 2013, C Street Brass traveled to perform and tour as ambassadors for Carnegie Mellon University in Doha, Qatar. In summer 2012, C Street Brass was the resident chamber ensemble for the Traveling Notes Music Festival and concertized extensively in Tbilisi, Georgia. This past fall 2012, C Street Brass was featured as the guest solo ensemble with the Peabody Wind Ensemble. The ensemble regularly makes appearances on a variety chamber music concert series including: Music at Penn Alps, Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church and Church of the Little Flower. Additionally, they have established their own concert series at Carnegie Mellon University. Shows on this series, "Music, C Street Brass," mix a survey of standard brass quintet literature with innovations in the genre. C Street Brass has also made appearances on Pittsburgh's classical radio station, WQED Classical Radio and news station, KDKA-TV. The first commercial recording of C Street Brass is underway and will release this spring.


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Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths among women in Latin America and the Caribbean. For example, of the 80,000 new cases and 36,000 cervical cancer deaths reported in the Americas in 2008 alone, Latin American and Caribbean countries accounted for the vast majority.
In January 2007, Sabin joined forces with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Harvard School of Public Health and the Institut Catala d'Oncologia (Barcelona, Spain) to conduct a comprehensive study of HPV epidemiological data in Latin America, in an attempt to address this alarming global health concern. This study, the first major assessment of HPV impact in the region, showed that the virus is far more common than anyone expected. It also effectively demonstrated that routine screening, along with vaccination, is the most promising way to tackle this disease.
Differences in resources and available screening programs exist, making it difficult for each country to decide whether vaccination is affordable, even if it may be cost-effective. If these challenges could be addressed, researchers concluded that half a million cervical cancer deaths could be prevented over 10 years with the introduction of an HPV vaccine in the region.


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Martingale Collars
Sylvan's Martingale Collars
The two loop design of a Martingale collar provides secure control over your dog and a more humane system than a choke or slip collar. The martingale design is particularly helpful for dogs with a small head relative to the neck size, which allows such dogs to "back out" of a standard collar. When the leash is slack, the Martingale provides a comfortable fit for your dog. When the leash is tight the neck loop tightens to provide a snug fit. When adjusted properly, the collar hits the stops with just the right pressure around the neck. The dog cannot pull out of the collar, yet there's no choking pressure. This is a much better system than regular collars, which can concentrate force at the windpipe.
Don't forget your matching leash! Every Sylvan's color and pattern combination is available with matching collars, martingales, buckle martingales, leashes and harnesses! Note: Sylvan's collar bows are not recommended for martingale collars. All of the products in our Sylvan's line are durable, machine washable and 100% guaranteed against chew damage.Here's more: FREE SHIPPING for all orders of $25.00 or more. FAST DELIVERY, too: orders usually ship within 48 hours of receipt.
Puppy Love Martingale Collar
Tahitian Hearts Martingale


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Youth Arts Night at the Dance Exchange.
Teen Exchange hosted Youth artists at Dance Exchange to perform dance, song and poetry.
I have been working closely with Teen Exchange as a mentor / facilitator this year.
Teens from Teen Exchange performed their own original choreography, and they also organized the event and invited the group's who performed.
Please follow this link to find the recent video documentation to a light / shadow workshop facilitated this month with Teen Exchange.
As well as this link to the Teen Exchange Tumblr and here for more information about this youth-lead modern dance group.
MACA student Jess Wyatt photographs at far right.
Extravagana, Dance Exchange open house December 13th.


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It's not against you having a live. Everyone here hasIwamoto Yuri wrote:Sorry for having a life :T
You're totally holding it against me I voted for you right nemo . Guess I'll just vote for myself then.
But if you argument with "I'm not the spy because I was busy" the only counterargument can be "no, you don't have a live! " if you know what I mean?
And for this kind of game, it's a bit meh. Not that you can't use it, but it being the only given reason is just "disappointing" XD


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The Twitter Mailbag is back with plenty of questions about women's MMA, armbars, marijuana use in the UFC, and the possible unintended consequences of playing musical chairs with champions and weight classes.
If only one of you had found a way to incorporate all those topics into one question. But alas.
If you've got a query of your own, send it over the Twitter waves to @BenFowlkesMMA. Below, you'll find a pretty good example of the kind of answers you can expect in return, for better or worse.
* * * *
given than nobody has an inescapable armbar, how do you get armbarred by a girl who has won every fight with an armbar? #tmb @benfowlkesmma
— Rachel Fleming (@RachelMFleming) February 26, 2013
My guess is, probably while cursing yourself for getting caught in the one submission you spent the most time preparing for. As Miesha Tate put it after Ronda Rousey's armbar victory over Liz Carmouche at UFC 157, "Ronda went out there and miraculously did again what everyone knew she was going to do." And Tate is a woman who knows a little something about that armbar.
I used to do jiu-jitsu with a guy who was really good at triangle chokes. He'd get you in them from all sorts of different positions, and once he latched it on you were pretty much done for. Sometimes you'd see it coming well in advance, and you'd think, not this time, not again. But then he'd keep after it and, little by little, he'd get it. It was just his thing, kind of like how armbars are Rousey's thing. You can prepare for it in your gym with your training partners, but that doesn't tell you what it's going to feel like once Rousey slaps one on. After all, there's a reason she's famous for it and your training partners aren't.
@benfowlkesmma Matt Riddle: Four-fight streak, two +tests, fired. Dave Herman: Three-fight skid, two +tests, keeps job & offered help. What?
— GB (@ResidencyMMA) February 27, 2013
Matthew Riddle's release for a second positive test for marijuana metabolites was, according to the UFC, in keeping with the organization's "strict, consistent policy against the use of any illegal and/or performance-enhancing drugs, stimulants or masking agents." But, as you point out, "consistent" is an interesting word here. Then again, so is "policy." Most of us see a word like that and imagine some clearly defined set of actions and consequences. Commit X offense, receive Y punishment. But in an email response to your question, UFC VP of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner confirmed that the UFC's policy "is a broader anti-drug stance with consequences varying from one situation to the next."
Of course, if the policy is "we're against drug use and will decide what to do about it after you get in trouble," that brings us back to the question of consistency. It also makes you wonder how fighters are supposed to know what punishment to expect in advance.
As I've written in this space before, I'm not a fan of testing pro fighters for harmless recreational drugs like marijuana (and for those who argue that it's a PED because it makes your jiu-jitsu so much sicker, bro, I'll just say that personal experience suggests otherwise). It seems especially pointless with a guy like Riddle, who has a prescription for it in Nevada. Yes, he knew the rules and probably should have known that two positive tests within one year's time would lead to trouble, but that doesn't mean the rules aren't ridiculous and shouldn't be changed. When Vitor Belfort wants to use testosterone for a fight in Brazil, suddenly a doctor's note in Nevada carries a lot of weight. But when Riddle wants to smoke a little weed (OK, probably more than a little) a few weeks before his fight in England, his doctor's note in Nevada is somehow meaningless? If that's a strict, consistent policy, I'd hate to see a capricious, arbitrary one.
@benfowlkesmma do you think women division isdeep enough to make money off a woman that isn't named Rhonda Rousey? #TMB
— Kristofir Napier (@KrisNapier) February 24, 2013
That depends – does Ronda Rousey count? But OK, jokes about your spelling aside, I see no reason why women's MMA shouldn't become a vibrant part of the UFC picture. The upcoming Miesha Tate vs. Cat Zingano bout seems like a great way to remind fans that there's more to the division than Rousey alone. I'm also excited to see how Sara McMann will do once she gets a few more fights under her belt. It makes sense that, at least for a little while, Rousey will be the one driving interest in the women's class. But I think plenty of fight fans will tune in to see who else is out there, especially if the UFC puts some real effort into promoting those bouts. After all, Rousey's got to fight somebody, right?
@benfowlkesmma #TMB What do you make of @iamgirlrilla making 12k for the main event of a PPV? Even "Big" made 29K. AYFKM
— Derek Smelser (@dsmelser13) February 27, 2013
We have to hope that Carmouche got a little extra cash behind closed doors for her role in the UFC's historic first women's fight. For that matter, we should hope that Rousey did too. For being the main event, both seem underpaid according to the official salary figures. I guarantee you all those people at Honda Center, not to mention those watching on pay-per-view, didn't come just to see Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida stare at each other. That makes this another one of those situations in which we all assume there were locker room bonuses involved, but we don't know for sure. That seems to be the way the UFC likes it – because how can anybody complain about fighter pay if final figures stay a secret?
@benfowlkesmma #TMB What are the pros and cons of having a two-division champion? Apparently DW won't let Pettis nor Aldo have 2 belts
— João Vitor Xavier (@joaovxavier) February 27, 2013
The pro of a two-division champ is that he becomes an instant superstar. Who could deny the greatness of a fighter who simultaneously holds belts in two different divisions? At the same time, who could deny that this would slow the pace of title fights in each division down to a crawl? That's the big con. It's a scheduling nightmare, and the UFC has a hard enough time keeping champions healthy and active when they only have one belt to worry about defending.
Another con is that, at a certain point, all this weight class jumping just gets way too confusing. If featherweight champ Jose Aldo beats lightweight contender Anthony Pettis, he might get a crack at lightweight champ Benson Henderson, who will not get a shot at welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. But if Pettis beats Aldo, then Pettis has to stay at featherweight while Aldo, I don't know, drops down to bantamweight so his teammate Renan Barao can move up to featherweight. Somewhere in there Frankie Edgar will find a way to fight for another title. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to drink some laudanum and lay down on my fainting couch for a spell.
@benfowlkesmma in MMAs version of Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs with Ronda Rousey as King who's Riggs? #TMB
— Tobias McGuigan (@tobiasmcg) February 27, 2013
Joe Warren? Actually, now that I think about it, I'd totally pay to see that fight.
@benfowlkesmma -Your thoughts on that awful article saying Rousey/Carmouche fight was a disgrace? #tmb
— randi 33 (@randee33) February 27, 2013
The awful OnMilwaukee.com column was awful, but not surprising. The guy who wrote it started from the assumption that, "MMA is a gruesome display of unbridled violence egged on by a crowd of rabid bloodlusters." Are we really shocked that he didn't enjoy the Rousey-Carmouche fight?
If you've been following MMA for more than the last few years, you probably remember a time when columns like this from mainstream sports media types were the rule rather than the exception. When crusty old sports editors weren't pretending that the UFC didn't exist, they were criticizing it for being the barbaric, unskilled bloodsport that they imagined it was. Columns like this are like Mad Libs. Just plug in your own hysterical, hyperbolic descriptions, and the rest proceeds according to a tired, familiar template. The fact that, after the UFC's first female fight, we're all talking about only one of these columns and not a dozen tells us how far the sport has come in terms of mainstream acceptance.
This particular column, by Dave Begel, not only argues that MMA itself is terrible, but also that it is exploitative when women do it because they are women. Take a second and let that sink in. Begel is all for women playing sports like tennis and golf and gymnastics and "even softball," he writes. "But there are sports that women play where the game is drastically different than the men's game. And the difference is because of the difference between the sexes. Basketball and hockey come to mind, as well as boxing, wrestling and baseball."
Quick, somebody go tell Sara McMann that when she won an Olympic silver medal in wrestling, that competition did not, in the words of Begel, "retain the essence of the sport," solely because she is not a man. Then tell her where she can find this charming sexist, Mr. Begel. Hint: You might want to start the search in 1950.
@benfowlkesmmain your opinion are Overeem's below normal test lvls a sign of chronic PED use? Is this his segue into TRT? @drjcbenjamin ?
— Jason Rule (@JasonRule) February 27, 2013
We don't know what caused Alistair Overeem's low testosterone levels (though we can and, I'm sure, will speculate), which is one of the big problems with testosterone-replacement therapy to begin with. Here's a guy who just got busted for elevated testosterone levels, and then he shows up suddenly below normal. Does that qualify him for a therapeutic-use exemption, even with his prior drug test failure? Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer has said that a prior positive test doesn't necessarily disqualify a TUE applicant, and if we're going to make the argument that it's unfair and unhealthy for a man to get in the cage with abnormally low testosterone, you could also make the argument that it doesn't matter how his levels ended up low to begin with. That's what's so ludicrous about it. Once we tell fighters that they are entitled to a certain testosterone level, we open the door to all sorts of abuses, not to mention a cycle of elevation and depletion as fighters get off one PED and go looking for another. It seems better for everyone if we don't go down that road to begin with.
@benfowlkesmma Jose Aldo declines a fight with Pettis but the day after he accepts. How much did Dana White threaten this guy?! #TMB
— ryan211 (@ryan211) February 27, 2013
Threats aren't the only way to get a fighter to accept a bout. There are also more subtle forms of coercion. For instance, you could go out in public and talk about how this guy is avoiding a certain opponent. As Marlo Stanfield might say, you put his name in the streets. He's not going to like that. Not when fans and media are implying that he's scared of some particular fighter. Then he almost has to take the fight, just to shut everybody up. If that doesn't work, you might try offering him more money. If that still doesn't work, then out come the threats.
@benfowlkesmma Do you think the recent cuts will make fighters fight too safe and as some would say "boring" to ensure they get the win?
— ManUnitedTalk (@ManUnitedTalk) February 27, 2013
I would argue that it already has, at least in some cases. Look at Brendan Schaub's decision win over Lavar Johnson at UFC 157. Schaub said himself that he felt like he had to win that one, so much so that he apparently decided it was worth getting booed out of the building. Then again, the pressure to perform affects different fighters in different ways. UFC welterweight Nah-Shon Burrell knew he was on thin ice after missing weight for his UFC 157 prelim bout, and it seemed to only make him fight harder in order to make a good impression.
The problem with fighting like you have to win is that, as Brian Stann pointed out in our recent conversation, you end up fighting not to lose. "If you walk out there thinking to yourself, I have to win, you almost fight with that mental emergency brake on," Stann said. Even if you win that way, chances are it won't be much fun to watch. Then, when you eventually do lose again, the UFC is less inclined to keep you around just so you can return to the same safe, conservative style that you respond with whenever you think your job is in danger.
@benfowlkesmma women's 145lb division or men's 115lb division, which is closer to fruition in the UFC?
— Adrian Garcia (@AdriantheWizard) February 27, 2013
Am I the only one who hopes it's neither, at least for right now? UFC President Dana White says the roster is 100 fighters over capacity right now. That doesn't sound like the ideal time to add new divisions. Also, if the UFC is going to add more women's weight classes, it should look lower rather than higher. There just aren't that many good 145-pounders in women's MMA. The deeper talent pool is at 125 or 115 pounds.
@benfowlkesmma How do you see the GSP/Diaz fight playing out? I'm a huge Diaz fan, and see it as GSPs hardest fight. Do you? #TMB
— Morgan Waltz (@MorganWaltzUFC) February 27, 2013
Not really, no. You know what happened when Nate Diaz fought Benson Henderson back in December? I think this fight will look a lot like that, only with slightly more middle fingers. Look, I love watching Nick Diaz fight. He's exciting and enigmatic and inexhaustible, and he does not give one single [fudge] once the punches start flying. But style-wise, I wouldn't like his odds against Georges St-Pierre even if he weren't coming off a 13-month layoff, which he is. I think it's going to be a fun five-round fight, and I think Diaz will find a way to push some different buttons on the GSP mainframe, but I don't think he wins or even really comes close.
I could be wrong, and honestly a part of me would love to see Diaz gogoplata St-Pierre like he's a French-Canadian Takanori Gomi. Although, then you've got Nick Diaz as your UFC welterweight champ, which is a brand new problem. You thought it was hard to get him to show up for stuff when he was the challenger? He'll need a full-time handler if he gets his hands on that belt. And, yeah, that would be kind of awesome.
@benfowlkesmma Do you really think Machida earned a title shot with that win? You even think he won? #TMB
— Austin Grimes (@AgrimeyD) February 27, 2013
Lyoto Machida won that fight. He kept Dan Henderson from doing much of anything for at least two of the three rounds, and on those rare occasions in which he did dance within striking range, he was the one who did the most damage. I hope I never have to watch that fight again for any reason, but that doesn't mean I can justify scoring it for Hendo just out of spite. As for the title shot question, I think a lot depends on what happens in the next two months.
What's interesting is that, while Dana White was being peppered with questions about Machida's contender status after UFC 157, no one even pretended like they thought Jon Jones might possibly lose to Chael Sonnen. Usually people ask whether a fighter will get a shot at the winner of the next title fight. In this case it was, "Will he get a rematch with Jones?" I can't blame anyone for operating under that assumption, because, come on, what has Sonnen done to make us think he's capable of beating Jones? At the same time, since this is shaping up to be Jones' second lopsided defense in a row, what he really needs next is a challenger with at least the hint of a realistic threat. Machida? He's tough, but we've seen that movie already. He landed a couple decent shots, and then got choked out and dropped on his face. Sorry, but his performance against Henderson gave us no reason to think that the second meeting would be any more competitive.
If Jones beats Sonnen (very likely, though not guaranteed) and if Alexander Gustafsson beats Gegard Mousasi (ditto), I wouldn't be at all surprised to see "The Mauler" get the next light heavyweight title shot. If Machida wants to get back in the picture for real, he needs to make a case for himself rather than settling for ruling someone else out.
@benfowlkesmma #TMB seems like Faber dominates everybody who's NOT a champ now a days. How will we remember him when he retires?
— Nate (@BurgersMMA) February 27, 2013
Urijah Faber's legacy was built in the WEC days. He was the featherweight people cared about when no one cared about featherweights. He carried that organization on his back for years, and you could argue that he did more than anyone in proving to the UFC that the little guys were worth the investment. He laid the foundation that fighters such as Jose Aldo and Demetrious Johnson and Dominick Cruz are now building their careers on. That's his legacy, and it's one he can be proud of even if he never wins a UFC title.
Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie.com and USA TODAY's MMA columnist. Follow him on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA. Twitter Mailbag appears every Thursday on MMAjunkie.com.


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Consumer Alert
Are Your Holiday Electronics Certified?
The holiday season is full of hustle and bustle as shoppers get ready for holiday festivities. Whether you are decorating your house, cooking holiday meals, or buying gifts, it is likely that you will use or purchase a consumer electrical product. When decorating your house, buying the latest video gaming machine, or getting a new pre-lit Christmas tree, the Consumer Protection Unit of the Department of Law reminds you to make sure the electrical products you purchase are properly certified. Proper certification ensures that the electrical products you buy have met specific safety standards which can reduce the risk of an electrical fire.
Alaska law requires that all consumer electrical products be certified by an approved third-party certification program. A consumer electrical product means a product that is marketed for and commonly purchased by the general public and operates, or has a component part that operates, on 110 volts AC or higher. Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. or "UL" is the most common certification used on most consumer electrical products in the United States. There are other certification programs that also meet the requirements under Alaska law. The certification must be clearly marked on the package.
If you have any questions or concerns about whether the electrical product you purchase is properly certified, check with your retailer and don't be afraid to ask questions about proper certification. You can also file a complaint with this office by following the links on our home page to "file a complaint."
For other holiday shopping tips, visit:
Holiday Shopping: Is a Sale Price Your Best Deal?
Buying, Giving, and Using Gift Cards
Have a happy and safe holiday!
Consumer Protection Unit
December 2006


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The U.S. bishops issued their 1983 pastoral letter The Challenge of Peace without a total condemnation of nuclear arms but planned to revisit the issue after the Cold War. More than 25 years later, the question is still on the table.
Sounding Boards are one person's take on a many-sided subject and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of U.S. Catholic, its editors, or the Claretians.
A native Texan, I was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Amarillo in 1946. For all but three of the following years my assignments as a priest were within 17 miles of the Pantex facility, located northeast of Amarillo.
Pantex, I learned in time, was the final assembly and disassembly plant for all nuclear warheads produced in the United States. The plant lies within the territory of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, where I was pastor from 1971 until 1980.
Generally supportive of President Dwight Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" concept, I was unconcerned about what was going on at Pantex. When parishioners approached me with qualms about the morality of working there, I tried to reassure them and referred them to the bishop of Amarillo.
On May 30, 1980, I became the bishop.
That summer Sister Regina Foppe, a Victory Noll Missionary Sister, challenged me to condemn the assembly of nuclear weapons in our own backyard as a theft from the poor. A resolution by the diocesan presbyteral council seconded her challenge.
Still, I hesitated. That Christmas I preached a bland sermon on peace and good will and urged an end to the Cold War between our country and the Soviet Union.
Then the year 1981 arrived with more wake-up calls, the first a subtle one as I was praying Psalm 33 in the liturgy of the hours: "A vain hope for safety is the horse; despite its power it cannot save." Something, someone-the Spirit of God?-tricked me. I found myself praying, "A vain hope for safety is the nuclear bomb; despite its power it cannot save."
I shook that off, but then a barrage of other voices followed. On February 15 Pope John Paul II visited the Peace Park in Hiroshima, Japan, the first city to experience the utter devastation of an atomic bomb.
"I bow my head," the pope said, "as I recall the memory of the thousands of men, women, and children who lost their lives in that one terrible moment, or who for long years carried in their bodies and minds those terrible seeds of death which inexorably pursued their process of destruction. . . . To remember Hiroshima is to abhor nuclear war. To remember Hiroshima is to commit oneself to peace."
That same February a story on the front page of Amarillo's newspaper reported how Oblate Father Larry Rosebaugh and five others had scaled the outer security fence around Pantex, been arrested, and were being held in the Potter County Detention Center to await trial. Stunned, I went to see him and found a saintly man.
After that, a permanent deacon and his wife came to see me, asking if it was morally acceptable for him to be working at Pantex.
In June Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen of Seattle denounced the Trident submarine base near Seattle as "the Auschwitz of Puget Sound." The nuclear warheads atop the submarines' intercontinental ballistic missiles were assembled at Pantex and delivered by train in heavily guarded, white, heat-reflecting railroad cars. If Hunthausen judged the possession of nuclear weapons immoral, what was my judgment to be about their assembly at Pantex?
Finally, in August the White House approved the assembly at Pantex of the enhanced radiation warhead, the so-called neutron bomb. The bomb was specifically designed for "enhanced" destruction of all biological life-including men, women, children, and infants in the womb-while leaving material infrastructure intact.
It was just one more step in the implementation of the immoral policy of "Mutual Assured Destruction," which the two superpowers had adopted to deter each other from launching a nuclear attack. The Cold War arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted in each country possessing 25,000 nuclear warheads, more than enough to destroy the earth many times over. The policy, dubbed MAD, remains in force today.
Convinced at last that we had lost our moral moorings, I issued a statement urging workers engaged in the production, assembly, and deployment of nuclear weapons to consider the implications of what they were doing, to resign from such activities, and to seek employment in peaceful pursuits.
The call ignited controversy, condemnation, and praise, and it brought state, national, and international media to the Texas Panhandle. At their next meeting, the bishops of Texas unanimously expressed their support and issued a statement of their own condemning nuclear weapons.
This action of the Texas bishops was later credited by some with moving the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in its November 1981 general assembly to appoint a committee of five bishops, headed by the late Cardinal Joseph A. Bernardin, to undertake a nationwide consultation on the issue.
A year and a half later, in May 1983, the U.S. Catholic bishops met in Chicago to finalize the pastoral letter The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response.
The debate was heated. Because nuclear bombs are so indiscriminately destructive and leave a legacy of radiation so sickening, the majority was convinced that we had no choice but to condemn them lock, stock, and barrel.
On the second day the majority voted in a provisional ballot for a total moral condemnation of nuclear weapons. In the final vote on the third day, however, to get in line with the more nuanced position of the Vatican, we voted–many of us reluctantly–for a strictly conditioned moral acceptance of nuclear weapons as a temporary deterrent to aggression.
We emphasized that such a policy could not be "a long-time basis for peace" and stipulated that the acceptance was to change to condemnation once the Cold War ended. We agreed to review the situation every five years.
But even though the Cold War ended in 1989, the issue has never been put back on the agenda of the bishops' general assembly.
Why have we not kept the promise we made? Why have we not issued an unconditional moral condemnation of the production, assembly, and deployment of nuclear weapons? Why have we not formally declared ourselves to be a church of peace, a full-fledged pro-life church?
"What can be said . . . about those governments which count on nuclear arms as a means of ensuring the security of their countries?" Pope Benedict XVI asked in his 2006 World Day of Peace message. His answer: "This point of view is not only baneful but also completely fallacious. In a nuclear war there would be no victors, only victims."
More than a quarter century after the peace pastoral, it is time for us bishops-and all U.S. Catholics-to act on this conviction, to speak out more forcefully, and take on a moral leadership role in the current efforts to completely eliminate nuclear weapons.
Despite disagreements on other issues, the pope has gone out of his way to praise President Barack Obama for actively pursuing nuclear disarmament, a significant departure from previous U.S. policy. Last September Obama convened and chaired a meeting of the United Nations Security Council that unanimously approved a resolution on nuclear disarmament that commits the international community "to work for a world without nuclear weapons."
Sixty-five years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the specter of giant mushroom clouds rising in the skies above our crowded cities that leaves children, women, and men evaporated, cremated, and lifeless, haunts us as nuclear weapons continue to proliferate.
The hour of decision is here for the Catholic Church in the United States, led by our bishops, to join the growing secular and religious chorus of voices demanding the abolition of nuclear weapons.
If not now, when?
And the survey say…
1. It is fundamentally immoral for a country to possess nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.
60% – Agree
33% – Disagree
7% – Other
2. Today the U.S. Catholic bishops should lead the church by embracing and actively working toward the complete abolition of nuclear weapons.
66% – Agree
28% – Disagree
6% – Other
3. I think the use of nuclear arms again in my lifetime is:
17% – Likely.
65% – Possible.
18% – Not Likely.
4. I think that total nuclear disarmament in my lifetime is:
3% – Likely.
56% – Possible.
41% – Not likely.
5. Symbolic protest actions of Catholic peace activists against nuclear weapons that involve trespassing or damage of military property are:
40% – Prophetic and courageous.
35% – Wrong and embarrassing.
15% – Silly and pointless.
10% – Other.
6. I support complete nuclear disarmament by the United States:
41% – As the end result of careful negotiations with other nuclear powers.
23% – Now.
17% – Never, because the nuclear weapons genie is out of the bottle.
15% – Not in the near future, because of terrorists and rogue nations.
4% – Other.
7. With the end of the Cold War, possession of nuclear weapons by the United States is:
31% – A morally indefensible gamble with millions of lives and the survival of the planet.
26% – A difficult moral dilemma that I am unsure how to judge.
20% – A necessary evil.
20% – Morally justified and necessary because of terrorists and nations such as Iran and North Korea.
3% – Other.
The best way the Catholic Church in the United States can address issues of war and peace is by . . .
Living nonviolently and speaking out, but with R.O.T.C. all over Catholic universities, the dollar speaks louder than truth.
Working for more social equality. Rogue nations and terrorists are born out of fundamentally unsound governments and ones where people feel they have no options or ways to improve their circumstances.
Remaining consistent in our proclamation that war is never the correct answer. There is always another way. Peace may be harder to achieve and take longer without the use of force, but I firmly believe we can achieve it.
Helping us see where war exists in our personal relationships and how to live in peace with one another.
Strongly condemning the adoration of military culture that seems so prevalent in our country today.
Getting back to the basics of prayer and fasting, and benediction and other means in which large groups can invoke our Lord.
Having a peace, justice, and nuclear disarmament committee in every parish.
Keeping peaceful attitudes in the forefront of liturgies and other activities.
Walk the talk and implement what was stated in The Challenge of Peace with conviction and immediacy.
Treating this as a pro-life issue that's just as important as abortion.
Bishops taking a firm, prophetic stand, pastors giving challenging homilies, and students being taught peacemaking skills and conflict resolution.
Standing up and going against the grain.
The United States should prevent nuclear proliferation among terrorists and rogue nations by . . .
Exploring diplomatic options in cooperation with developed nations.
Constant vigilance and investigations. Trust doesn't work.
Setting a good example by disarming, not getting involved in other countries' domestic strifes, and limiting their access to nuclear weapons.
Taking problem-solving steps without being afraid of political fallout. You win from strength and action, not complacency and acceptance.
Maintaining a constantly updated superior nuclear force that will prevent attacks out of fear for their own destruction.
Limit arms sales to conventional weapons, develop military technology-such as precision bombing-to control the development of nuclear capabilities by rogue nations.
Urging worldwide support among peaceful nations and sanctions against those threatening nations.
Promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy to meet the needs of poorer nations.
Catholics whose work involves the production, assembly, or deployment of nuclear weapons should . . .
Consult with their pastors.
Keep up the good work.
Consider changing careers once the economy picks up.
Continue to work but pray that such weapons will not be used.
Keep their jobs if they want them. It's their choice.
Be challenged by their choice of involvement. Catholics should be more reflective about our life choices-including their career.
Not be concerned. This country has generally followed Christian morality and until it stops, God will bless it.
Find other, morally acceptable employment that uses their talents and education for the benefit of society rather than its destruction.
Carefully and prayerfully consider the consequences of their work.
General Comments
As a weekly protester for peace in my town, I feel a total lack of support from my parish.
Although I love and support my son, who is in the military, I do not think military action is the answer. It will take negotiations to stop and prevent more nuclear proliferation.
Do we sacrifice the lives of a whole country for unrealistic idealism? We need wisdom much greater than Solomon's.
I'm troubled by the repeated use of the phrase "terrorist and rogue nations." Pejorative, judgmental labels are destructive to thoughtful discourse.
Conventional weapons are a bigger threat to peace than are nuclear weapons. The U.S. should begin by getting out of the arms trade and impose tariffs on other arms merchants.
I am old enough to remember the event and the results. We should do everything to avoid such sin again. It is too horrible to contemplate.
This article appeared in the April 2010 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 75, No. 4, pages 27-31).
Results are based on survey responses from 197 U.S. Catholic readers and website visitors.
Image: Scott Thigpen


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Kelly juggling education on field, in classroom
Catching prospect moving up in St. Louis system while still finishing college degree
JUPITER, Fla. -- The decision faced a then 17-year-old Carson Kelly immediately upon hearing his name announced as the 86th player taken in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft.
The honor roll student already had a scholarship to the University of Oregon in hand. He'd get an offer from the Cardinals to go along with it. Kelly prepared to choose a direction -- student or baseball player -- and eventually started his pro career by signing for above-slot bonus money.
As it turns out, however, he didn't give up the educational path at all.
Kelly spends these spring days as a full-time student. There are tutoring sessions from Yadier Molina and staff members in the morning as Kelly, now 19, continues the transition from infielder to catcher. Notetaking comes after the on-field work is done. Then there is calculus homework to complete, a step toward getting the college degree that he promised his parents he would pursue.
Kelly is a cerebral type, eager to immerse himself in learning and thoughtful in his actions. Those intangibles are among the reasons why the Cardinals felt comfortable putting this latest test in front of him.
"He is a real student of the game," said Cardinals director of player development Gary LaRocque. "Carson is the kind of young man who views every day as, 'How am I going to get better?' And now this [catching] opportunity is in front of him and we really feel good about the project."
Perhaps the greatest compliment Kelly could receive this spring came earlier this week when a member of the Cardinals' front office noted that Kelly had not stood out so far. For a teenager who began catching just five months ago, fitting in is the objective.
He is less than two years removed from playing in high school, where the Cardinals zeroed in on him as a potential high-round pick. As they did, they saw a player with tools that could serve him well at several different positions. Kelly was pitching and playing shortstop at the time. Once drafted, the Cardinals had him get comfortable at third.
The challenge to make this next switch came last September, on the first day of instructional league. The Cardinals believed Kelly had the work ethic to pull it off and the aptitude to excel. The opportunity to add value to a budding player was something the organization did not want to pass up.
Kelly recalled his reaction to the news as "a little surprised, but excited."
LaRocque told Kelly that the move would begin as a three-week test run. After that, it would be Kelly's decision whether to continue with the conversion. That was more time than Kelly would need.
About 10 days into the work, Kelly approached LaRocque to ask him what he should tell a reporter who wanted to know if the move was permanent. LaRocque flipped the question to Kelly, who responded: "Oh, I want to catch."
That's when the Cardinals knew Kelly owned the conversion.
"It was absolutely perfect," LaRocque said. "Since that time, he has taken to it, and we're very pleased about how he has approached it."
The early lessons came in instructional league, when Kelly fitted himself for a catcher's mitt for the first time since his pre-high school playing days. The work continued into the offseason and included a trip to St. Louis, where Kelly received one-on-one instruction from manager and former Gold Glove catcher Mike Matheny.
Matheny invited Kelly out to his home; the two also met at Busch Stadium to talk technique.
"It won't take you very long as you talk to him to realize that he just has a demeanor, he has some leadership qualities [and] a lot of attributes that you look for in a young player behind the plate," Matheny said. "He's a learner. He loves to take it all in. He's constantly taking notes and figuring out what he can do to help himself out here. He's made a real good first impression."
It was during that early January visit that Matheny also informed Kelly of the big league Spring Training invitation that awaited him.
"It kind of took me back," Kelly recalled, who added that now that he's here, "it's almost like I don't want to leave the clubhouse every day. I just want to stay in there. The camaraderie among the guys, it's truly a blessing. And it gives you the drive to want to get in there even more. "
This is certainly an ideal environment for Kelly to learn the nuances of the new position. He has a manager ready to invest in him and the game's best catcher available as a resource. It was Molina, Kelly said, who gave him the most lasting piece of advice so far: "We train to be the best. We don't just train to train. We are a family. We help each other out."
Molina has played the latter part out.
"He's a great teacher," Kelly said of Molina, who he has shadowed during certain drills. "He communicates with me and tells me what I need to work on. A lot of the things he has told me have really helped me so far. I'm taking in the information, trying to process it so that I can then go out there and perform. But I understand that it is going to take some time and that it's a long process. Really, it's just taking it all in and then being as quick as I can to put it all into play."
Just a week into workouts, the pupil has already impressed the teacher.
"I'm just happy with the way he works because he wants to learn and is always listening," Molina said. "He's observant. He likes to watch. He asks me a lot of things. And the way he works, you can see that he wants it. He wants to get better. He really wants to be good."
Receiving and blocking have been two particular points of emphasis for Kelly, who has to wait for Spring Training games to work on pitch calling. He's paying close attention to each of the pitchers he catches, too. He writes his own scouting reports in a notebook that also includes pages of notes he's taken since being drafted.
He has written about adjustments, successes and failures, and he has jotted down impactful observations and advice. It was his process-oriented dad, Kelly said, who encouraged him to document the journey.
"The big thing he's doing is he is taking it all in," LaRocque said. "He's working and he's watching and he's listening and he's around our veterans. He's a very, very sharp young man. He's going to put all the work in, but he's also going to learn the way and be respectful of the process. We have absolutely no second thoughts that his development is going to be right on track now."
The Cardinals are not yet ready to publically project where Kelly will begin the season. He could open the year, as he did the last one, in extended spring training, which would allow for additional instruction time. Once he left there, Kelly split the 2013 season with Class A Peoria and Class A Short-Season State College. Facing mostly senior competition in both leagues, Kelly combined to hit .257/.322/.357 with 22 doubles and 53 runs scored in 113 games.
Wherever Kelly plays, the Cardinals do not plan to have him make spot starts at third base. The conversion is a single-sighted mission.
It is not, however, the only item on Kelly's personal to-do list. He fits school into his schedule, too, and this semester that means there are courses in calculus and health to complete. Kelly will earn sophomore status by the summer, and his hope is that in six years, he'll be graduating with a degree in Economics.
"I'm just going to keep plugging away," Kelly said. "It's definitely tough, because you're here at six in the morning, you get your work done and you want to go back and just relax. I have an hour and a half of calculus work to do. But education is very important to me."
And Kelly knows, there are plenty more courses to come.
"The Cardinals have been truly awesome to me and have given me this opportunity," Kelly said. "They invested in me, and I'm very excited for what the future holds. I'm going to keep working hard, and hopefully I'll be in that locker room for good in a few years."


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As far as Dana White is concerned, when it comes to Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, the train has already left the station.
The week before this past week's historic UFC 157 card in Anaheim, Calif., which featured the first women's fight in UFC history, Santos made news with the announcement she had been released from her Zuffa/UFC deal and signed with Invicta FC.
But on Saturday at Honda Center, after Santos and manager Tito Ortiz were in the building to watch UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey stop Liz Carmouche with yet another first-round armbar, White wouldn't rule out the possibility that the UFC still could end up making a Rousey-Santos fight one day. But the fight so many were clamoring for appears to be well off the tracks at this point.
"S–t's rolling here, and Cyborg's not a part of it," White said after the post-event news conference for UFC 157. "They can have as many press conferences as they want to have, or show up here in the back or whatever they want to do. She had the opportunity to sign with the UFC. She chose not to. This thing's rolling. We're already moving."
Santos was the Strikeforce champion at 145 pounds before being stripped of her title following a positive steroids test. While she was suspended, Rousey dropped from 145 to 135, beat Miesha Tate for the bantamweight belt in March 2012, defended it against Sarah Kaufman in August and signed with the UFC to become its first female fighter and first female champion in December.
The area of contention between Rousey and Santos is the latter's apparent inability to cut to 135 pounds for a title fight against her. At a news conference announcing Santos' Invicta signing, Ortiz had Santos get on a scale, where she showed a walking weight of 160 pounds. She will fight Ediane Gomes at Invicta FC 5 on April 5 in a featherweight bout.
Ortiz and Santos hoped to sign with the UFC, but with the promotion currently only featuring a bantamweight division in the women's ranks, there would be no home for her at 145. Additionally, with the claim she can't make 135, Santos and Ortiz continue to say they want an eventual fight with Rousey – but at a catch weight of 140 pounds, without a title on the line.
That, White said, might be possible – if Rousey believes the fight has merit and wants to do it.
"She's the champ," White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "If Ronda comes one day and says, 'I've cleaned out this division, I feel like I've fought everybody, I'll move up to 140 and fight her,' if Cyborg's still fighting at that time, we'll see what happens."
But until then, Rousey has contenders at 135 in the UFC. White said an April fight between former champ Tate and Cat Zingano at the TUF 17 Finale is almost certain to produce Rousey's next challenger. As successful as UFC 157 appears to have been from a media standpoint, attendance standpoint and live gate standpoint, a rematch between Rousey and Tate might be an even bigger draw based on their rivalry carrying over from the first meeting.
The UFC also has fighters like Sara McMann and Alexis Davis already signed, with more 135-pound names to come, White said.
So as far as Santos' future in the UFC is concerned, Ortiz's strategy as her manager may have set things a bit astray. White said earlier this month in London that he was prepared to sign Santos to a UFC deal and had worked out a fighter share agreement with Invicta President Shannon Knapp to get the fighter bouts in that promotion at featherweight. The UFC, he said, would have footed the bill.
Instead, Ortiz asked for Santos' release from Zuffa, was granted it – and signed Santos to Invicta, anyway.
And a week later, Rousey vs. Carmouche made everyone forget about any possible Rousey-Santos fight, at least for most of one night.
"This was the most successful fight ever, in the history of women's fighting," White said. "Cyborg missed the boat. You over-negotiate sometimes. The world isn't going to stop. Nobody even knows who the f— Cyborg is. She's got 30,000 followers on Twitter. Nobody knows her."
For the latest on UFC 157 and Invicta FC 5, stay tuned to the MMA Events section of the site.
(Pictured: Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos)


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Jim Calhoun likes to define things his own way. For as long as games have been played, there have been "defending" champions, but not to the UConn coach.
"I told the players, 'we're not defending national champions,' " Calhoun said as the new season neared. "We're not defending anything. We won last year, no one can take that away from us."
Indeed, the Huskies won the championship last March in a run that will never be forgotten in Connecticut, or other places where college basketball is chronicled. They did it their way, and not the easy way. They started with an eye-opener, beating Michigan State and Hawaii in the tournament in Maui. Then they struggled during the Big East regular season, finishing 9-9, and when they lost the regular season finale against Notre Dame, no one gave them much chance for a postseason run.
Then came five wins in five days in Madison Square Garden and a Big East championship. After the signature game, Kemba Walker's shot to beat Pittsburgh, Calhoun told his coaches UConn "was going to win this thing."
What, the Big East?
No, Calhoun told them. The whole thing.
And UConn did, running through the NCAA Tournament, beating Kentucky again in the semifinals and Butler in the final, a game considered ugly by some, but a grind-it-out, possession-by-possession thing of beauty for the Huskies.
It all began with routine wins over Stony Brook and Vermont, then came the splash in Hawaii. When Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall spoke of his team's versatility, Calhoun said, "Gregg just said he has a bevy of everything, I have a bevy of nothing."
But UConn had Kemba Walker, and for a time that seemed to be all they needed. He scored 30 in the win over Michigan State, 29 in the win over Kentucky, and when he walked onto the team bus with the tournament MVP Trophy, his teammates stood and applauded. That, Calhoun has since said, was the first clue that this would be a special team.
They kept on winning and were 10-0 when the Big East season began with a thud, a 78-63 loss at Pittsburgh on Dec. 27 that signaled a rough go in the nation's roughest conference, but also provided a measuring stick that would matter in March.
It was fits and starts as the new year began, but whenever one was tempted to write off the Huskies, they'd do something wonderful, like beat Texas 82-81 in OT on yet another dramatic shot by Walker on Jan. 8. Nine days later he did it again to beat Villanova at Gampel.
Still, the Huskies were waiting for their young supporting cast to develop. Slowly, it was. But there were tough losses to take -- two to Louisville, one to Marquette, a 17-point loss to St. John's at Madison Square Garden.
As the regular season wound down, the question was begged: could the Huskies get it back? The last game, against Notre Dame, meant a lot, but UConn lost at home 70-67 on March 5. That made two losses to the Irish.
With their 12-0 nonconference record, the Huskies were borderline to make the NCAA Tournament, but as they returned to The Garden, they would need a long run to secure it and get a decent seeding. When they beat DePaul and Georgetown on the first two days, it looked good.
Day Three changed everything. Pitt again. Kemba again, the fall-away jumper. Semfinals? A win over Syracuse, and two losses to Lousville were rendered ancient history. UConn won the title, and got a No. 3 seed.
Bucknell was no problem in the first game, nor was a good Cincinnati team in the second. Everyone was starting to notice Jeremy Lamb, and he scored 24 against San Diego State in the Round of 16. In the Region Final, the Huskies had to sweat out the last possession, but kept Arizona off the board the last 1:02 and held on to win, 65-63.
Now it was on to Houston and the Final Four, and UConn was hardly the only underdog. Virginia Commonwealth and Butler were there, too.
Kentucky could have won when DeAndre Liggins put up a three-pointer with two seconds left, but he missed. It was still UConn's year.
Butler had gone all the way to the final in 2010 and lost to Duke, and here were the Bulldogs again. They were not ready for prime time, not ready for UConn's defense. Butler shot 18.8 percent.
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The Huskies' 53 points were enough. Kemba Walker's 16 were enough and Lamb's 12, all coming in the second half, represented the margin of the 53-41 win.
Jim Calhoun, 68, the oldest coach to cut down the nets, looked younger, smiled as he hadn't in a long time. His 855th career victory, and UConn's 32nd of the season, was sweet.
There was a parade and a glow that lasted all through the spring and summer. Perhaps no team will ever match UConn's 11-game winning streak to end the season, and if someone does, it would not take the luster from March and April of 2011.
"All that's left from last year is the memories," Lamb said, as the Huskies received their championship rings on Oct. 6.
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Examples of the Treatment of the Sihr(Black Magic) of Separation
Shir in Arabic means Black Magic
Jinn in Arabic means Demons or Spirits which can be good or Bad Just in the case of Humans race which is a mix of both good and bad Humans
The Jinn in this case was called as Shagwan and the Shaykh Muslim Exorcist is Wahid Ibn Abdussalam – it should be noted this is a real case of Jinn Possesion NOT fiction
The First Case: A Jinn(Spirit )(Demon) called Shagwan
A woman used to hate her husband so much, to the point that symptoms of sihr(Black Magic) done to her were obvious. – She used to uncomfortable not only at home, especially in the company of husband, whom she would see in a negative way, as if he we savage beast.
Her husband took her to a healer, and the Jinn spoke through person and said that his presence in the woman was as a res sihr. His mission was to separate this man from his wife. The h hit him very hard, yet he did not respond. The woman's hus told me that he had been taking his wife to the healer for a rr until the Jinn told him to divorce his wife. Unfortunately, the fulfilled the Jinis request, and divorced his wife, an initial din Afterwards, he brought her back, and she recovered for a week; the Jinn returned to her, and this is the reason the man brought to me. I recited some verses of the Qur'an over her, the became epileptic. This is the summary of the conversation i took place between me and Jinn.
Me: "What is your name?" Jinrr. "Shagwan."
Me: "What is your religion?"
Jinn. "Christianity."Me: "Why did you enter into this woman?"
Jinni "In order to separate her from her husband."
Me: "I have a proposal for you. If you accept it, then praise is due to Allah. But if you do not, you will have a choice."
Jinn' "Do not tire yourself. I will not go. Her husband already tried by taking her to such and such healer…
Me: "I did not ask you to get out from her." ,
Jinn "What do you want, then?"
Me: "I would like to invite you to embrace Islam. If you accept, then 'wise is due to Allah. Otherwise, there is no compulsion in religion."
kept on inviting him to Islam, and after a prolonged debate, he evenlentually embraced Islam. So, I asked him:
Me: "Have you truly become a Muslim, or are you just tricking me?"
Jinn. "You cannot force me to become Muslim, but I have done it ~m my heart, but .."
"But what?"
: "Now, I see before me a group of Christian Jinn who are know me, and I am afraid they will kill me."
ME "This is an easy matter. If it is proven to us that you have really ime a Muslim, then we will give you a strong weapon which will ent any of them from coming near you."
JINN "Give it to me then."
ME "No, not until we finish our discussion." "What else do you want?"
To prove that you have become a true Muslim you should get d this woman."
JINN "Yes, I have become a Muslim, but how can I escape from the
Me: "This is easy, if you agree with us."
Jinn. "Yes."
Me: "Where is the object used for sihrthen?"
Jinn: "Buried in the backyard of the house where the woman Ii But I cannot exactly determine the place because, there is an Jinn employed as a guard over it, and every time the place become known, he transfers it to another place."
Me: "For how long have you been working with this sahif?"
Jinn. For about ten or twenty years -/ have forgotten whether it ten or twenty- and I have inhabited three women before this lady.
The Jinn recounted the story of the three women. • When it clear to me that he was telling the truth, I told him:
Me: "Take the weapon I have promised you."
Jinn. "What is it?"
Me: "ayatul kursiy(verse of Quran). Every time a Jinn comes near you, recite he will run away from you. Did you memorize it?"
Jinn. "Yes, I memorised it from the women, because she u recite it often. But, how can I escape from the sahii`?'
Me: "Get out now and go and live in Makka among the be Jinn."
Jinn:. "But, will Allah accept my repentance after all these 9 have tortured this woman and other women before her, so mu#
Me: "Yes, for Allah says: (Say: '0 my people who have prodigal against yourselves, do not despair of Allah's Mercy; He is the All-forgiving, the All-compassionate.)" (39:53)
The Jinn cried, saying: "When I get out, ask this woman to forgive me for torturing her." He then promised to leave and he did. Afterwards, I recited some of verses of the Qur'an over some water and I asked the woman's husband to sprinkle it on their backyard. After quite a long while, the man informed me that his wife was well. The woman's recovery was not due to me, but everything was from Allah .
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Long-delayed plans to equip American stealth bombers with super-heavy penetrator bombs – similar to those employed by British bombers against hardened Nazi targets in WWII – have finally been completed, offering the US a possibly timely option to destroy deeply buried nuclear weapons factories.
Bombs away makes bombs go away
Bloomberg reports on the news that integration of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) onto the B-2 "Spirit" stealth bomber has finally been achieved. In fact the US airforce had revealed this at the end of September during a lengthy speech by a general, but nobody (except, perhaps, Iranian military intelligence) particularly noticed until now.
The MOP is a 14-tonne (15 short ton) pencil of heavy steel, containing a heavy explosive charge of 2.5 tonnes. Dropped from a B-2 cruising above 40,000 feet, it hurtles down to strike its target at supersonic speed, punching through many metres of hardened concrete or other overhead protection before exploding. It was specifically developed for the purpose of destroying WMD facilities at the behest of the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), tasked with keeping America safe from such things as foreign nukes.
Similar weapons were used by specially modified Lancaster heavy bombers during World War Two: the "Tallboy" and "Grand Slam" penetrator superbombs. These were dropped by the elite crews of 617 Squadron RAF – the special unit formed to carry out the Dambuster raids and other priority missions – on such targets as the heavily protected U-boat pens of the French Atlantic coast, or used to create "Earthquake" effects and so bring down bridges and viaducts impossible to knock out by normal bombing. An even heavier weapon, the colossal 20-tonne American T12, arrived too late for war service.
The main enhancements of the MOP compared to the 1940s weapons are that it is dropped from significantly higher up so that it hits with even greater force and can penetrate deeper, and it boasts precision guidance. This latter means that many fewer planes and MOPs should be required to knock out a target – which is just as well, as the entire US fleet of B-2s is scarcely the size of 617 Squadron.
There can't be a lot of doubt about the targets that the MOP is intended to hit, at any rate in the near term. Last week the UN reported that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon capable of striking Israel. It's generally accepted that cyberwarfare by unnamed actors has delayed the Iranian nuclear programme seriously in recent years – the effects of the Stuxnet worm in particular, it has been suggested, have been such as to lead to a certain relaxation regarding Iran in Western circles for a time – but concern in Israel is once again on the rise, despite recent reports of Duqu malware also wreaking havoc in Iran.
Any strike by Israel alone against Iran's nuclear facilities would have marginal chances of success and would require an air campaign of at least several days' duration. It's questionable whether the weapons available to Israel could have much effect against such targets as the deeply buried and concrete-capped uranium enrichment centrifuge chambers of Natanz, until lately the centrepiece of Iranian efforts.
However B-2s could nowadays – should President Obama give the order – lift off from their base in Missouri (the batwinged bombers have global range) and destroy Natanz with MOPs, almost certainly regardless of Iran's feeble air defences. Funnily enough it has been reported recently that Iran is moving some of its enrichment effort from Natanz to a newer subsurface site at Qom, tunnelled into the side of a mountain and protected by 90 metres of solid rock. Even MOPs might not be able to do much there, and one does note that the DTRA has lately expressed interest in building a robot mole-cruiser weapon of some sort, provisionally dubbed the Robotic Underground Munition.
However the MOP is surely a new piece on the game board, and with all sides playing for high stakes its appearance will surely have been noted in some Tel Aviv, Tehran and Washington circles with great interest.
The Bloomberg report is here. ®


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Tomatoes and mozzarella, sprinkled with basil. I could do that for breakfast right now.
Here are Jessica Simpson and her freeloading fiancé in Capri yesterday with family and friends, including her mother reportedly on a scouting mission for their upcoming wedding. They're now speculating that it'll happen next July at the Giardini D'Augusto.
If you got married in Capri, would you serve a Caprese salad?
Rumour has it, the event will cost half a million dollars – chump change for her. Will she make it back in photo sales? Her baby pictures didn't bring in nearly as much as she'd originally hoped. But a wedding might be an easier sell. I mean, even I'm kind of curious to see the Porny bride's heaving bosom coming out of a lot of white tulle. Don't you want to see the corny way she somehow involves her kids in the ceremony? And how she'll get through their vows, which they'll undoubtedly write themselves? It's comedy. Come on.


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Agency Information Collection: Activity Under OMB Review; Report of Traffic and Capacity Statistics-The T-100 System, 7278-7279 [2014-02492]Download as PDF
[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 25 (Thursday, February 6, 2014)] [Notices] [Pages 7278-7279] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2014-02492] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Bureau of Transportation Statistics [Docket ID Number RITA 2008-0002] Agency Information Collection: Activity Under OMB Review; Report of Traffic and Capacity Statistics--The T-100 System AGENCY: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), DOT. ACTION: Notice. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics invites the general public, industry and other governmental parties to comment on the continuing need for and usefulness of DOT requiring U.S. and foreign air carriers to file traffic and capacity data pursuant to 14 CFR 241.19 and Part 217, respectively. These reports are used to measure air transportation activity to, from, and within the United States. DATES: Written comments should be submitted by April 7, 2014. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Rodes, Office of Airline Information, RTS-42, Room E34-420, RITA, BTS, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001, Telephone Number (202) 366-8513, Fax Number (202) 366-3383 or EMAIL firstname.lastname@example.com. Comments: Comments should identify the associated OMB approval
2138-0040 and Docket ID Number RITA 2008-0002. Persons wishing the Department to acknowledge receipt of their comments must submit with those comments a self-addressed stamped postcard on which the following statement is made: Comments on OMB 2138-0040, Docket--RITA 2008-0002. The postcard will be date/time stamped and returned. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OMB Approval No. 2138-0040. Title: Report of Traffic and Capacity Statistics--The T-100 System. Form No.: Schedules T-100 and T-100(f). Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection. Respondents: Certificated, commuter and foreign air carriers that operate to, from or within the United States. T100 Form Number of Respondents: 130. Number of Annual Responses: 1,560. Total Burden per Response: 6 hours. Total Annual Burden: 9,360 hours. T100F Form Number of Respondents: 175. Number of Annual Responses 2,100. Total Burden per Response: 2 hours. Total Annual Burden: 4,200 hours. Needs and Uses: Airport Improvement The Federal Aviation Administration uses enplanement data for U.S. airports to distribute the annual Airport Improvement Program (AIP) entitlement funds to eligible primary airports, i.e., airports which account for more than 0.01 percent of the total passengers enplaned at U.S. airports. Enplanement data contained in Schedule T-100/T-100(f) are the sole data base used by the FAA in determining airport funding. U.S. airports receiving significant service from foreign air carriers operating small aircraft could be receiving less than their fair share of AIP entitlement funds. Collecting Schedule T-100(f) data for small aircraft operations will enable the FAA to more fairly distribute these funds. Air Carrier Safety The FAA uses traffic, operational and capacity data as important safety indicators and to prepare the air carrier traffic and operation forecasts that are used in developing its budget and staffing plans, facility and equipment funding levels, and environmental impact and policy studies. The FAA monitors changes in the number of air carrier operations as a way to allocate inspection resources and in making decisions as to increased safety surveillance. Similarly, airport activity statistics are used by the FAA to develop airport profiles and establish priorities for airport inspections. Acquisitions and Mergers While the Justice Department has the primary responsibility over air carrier acquisitions and mergers, the Department reviews the transfer of international routes involved to determine if they would substantially reduce competition, or determine if the transaction would be inconsistent with the public interest. In making these determinations, the proposed transaction's effect on competition in the markets served by the affected air carriers is analyzed. This analysis includes, among other things, a consideration of the volume of traffic and available capacity, the flight segments and origins-destinations involved, and the existence of entry barriers, such as limited airport slots or gate capacity. Also included is a review of the volume of traffic handled by each air carrier at specific airports and in specific markets which would be affected by the proposed acquisition or [[Page 7279]] merger. The Justice Department uses T-100 data in carrying out its responsibilities relating to airline competition and consolidation. Traffic Forecasting The FAA uses traffic, operational and capacity data as important safety indicators and to prepare the air carrier traffic and operation forecasts. These forecast as used by the FAA, airport managers, the airlines and others in the air travel industry as planning and budgeting tools. Airport Capacity Analysis The mix of aircraft type are used in determining the practical annual capacity (PANCAP) at airports as prescribed in the FAA Advisory Circular Airport Capacity Criteria Used in Preparing the National Airport Plan. The PANCAP is a safety-related measure of the annual airport capacity or level of operations. It is a predictive measure which indicates potential capacity problems, delays, and possible airport expansions or runway construction needs. If the level of operations at an airport exceeds PANCAP significantly, the frequency and length of delays will increase, with a potential concurrent risk of accidents. Under this program, the FAA develops ways of increasing airport capacity at congested airports. Airline Industry Status Evaluations The Department apprizes Congress, the Administration and others of the effect major changes or innovations are having on the air transportation industry. For this purpose, summary traffic and capacity data as well as the detailed segment and market data are essential. These data must be timely and inclusive to be relevant for analyzing emerging issues and must be based upon uniform and reliable data submissions that are consistent with the Department's regulatory requirements. Mail Rates The Department is responsible for establishing international and intra-Alaska mail rates. International mail rates are set based on scheduled operations in four geographic areas: Trans-border, Latin America, operations over the Atlantic Ocean and operations over the Pacific Ocean. Separate rates are set for mainline and bush Alaskan operations. The rates are updated every six months to reflect changes in unit costs in each rate-making entity. Traffic and capacity data are used in conjunction with cost data to develop the required unit cost data. Essential Air Service The Department reassesses service levels at small domestic communities to assure that capacity levels are adequate to accommodate current demand. System Planning at Airports The FAA is charged with administering a series of grants that are designed to accomplish the necessary airport planning for future development and growth. These grants are made to state metropolitan and regional aviation authorities to fund needed airport systems planning work. Individual airport activity statistics, nonstop market data, and service segment data are used to prepare airport activity level forecasts. Review of IATA Agreements The Department reviews all of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) agreements that relate to fares, rates, and rules for international air transportation to ensure that the agreements meet the public interest criteria. Current and historic summary traffic and capacity data, such as revenue ton-miles and available ton-miles, by aircraft type, type of service, and length of haul are needed to conduct these analyses: To (1) develop the volume elements for passenger/cargo cost allocations, (2) evaluate fluctuations in volume of scheduled and charter services, (3) assess the competitive impact of different operations such as charter versus scheduled, (4) calculate load factors by aircraft type, and (5) monitor traffic in specific markets. Foreign Air Carriers Applications Foreign air carriers are required to submit applications for authority to operate to the United States. In reviewing these applications the Department must find that the requested authority is encompassed in a bilateral agreement, other intergovernmental understanding, or that granting the application is in the public interest. In the latter cases, T-100 data are used in assessing the level of benefits that carriers of the applicant's homeland presently are receiving from their U.S. operations. These benefits are compared and balanced against the benefits U.S. carriers receive from their operations to the applicant's homeland. Air Carrier Fitness The Department determines whether U.S. air carriers are and continue to be fit, willing and able to conduct air service operations without undue risk to passengers and shippers. The Department monitors a carrier's load factor, operational, and enplanement data to compare with other carriers with similar operating characteristics. Carriers that expand operations at a high rate are monitored more closely for safety reasons. International Civil Aviation Organization Pursuant to an international agreement, the United States is obligated to report certain air carrier data to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The traffic data supplied to ICAO are extracted from the U.S. air carriers' Schedule T-100 submissions. The Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note), requires a statistical agency to clearly identify information it collects for non-statistical purposes. BTS hereby notifies the respondents and the public that BTS uses the information it collects under this OMB approval for non-statistical purposes including, but not limited to, publication of both Respondent's identity and its data, submission of the information to agencies outside BTS for review, analysis and possible use in regulatory and other administrative matters. Issued on January 31, 2014. Rolf Schmitt, Deputy Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics. [FR Doc. 2014-02492 Filed 2-5-14; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910-HY-P