text:
The federal government announced Monday it plans to institute eight new measures to strengthen Canada's oil spill defences, but critics argue the move is just a ploy to persuade the public to buy into expanded pipeline projects.
The measures, tabled as part of the Safeguarding Canada's Seas and Skies Act, are slated to cost $120-million over five years and include increased inspections of foreign vessels, expanded aerial surveillance of tankers and an incident command system similar to what's used to monitor B.C. forest fires.
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said Monday in Vancouver the measures were devised after hearing concerns from British Columbians about an increased risk of oil spills. Those concerns arose after Enbridge proposed the Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat, which would add 250 tankers off the coast, and Kinder Morgan revealed a plan to expand its Trans Mountain pipeline, which would bring in 400 tankers per year to it's Burrard Inlet oil export terminal.
Oliver said the new plan is expected to bring Canada closer to a "world-class safety system" for tanker traffic carrying both oil and liquid natural gas. The government also announced the creation of a Tanker Safety Expert Panel to come up with further recommendations this fall, based on studies of other jurisdictions around the world.
"What we have to make sure is no pipeline proceeds unless it's safe for the environment and safe for Canadians," Oliver said. "I'm sure British Columbians will absolutely respond to the science and the facts going forward."
B.C. Environment Minister Terry Lake said Monday the announcement shows Ottawa has been listening to B.C. concerns, and is "clearly a response to the premier's call for world-class environmental standards on the marine environment, which Canada has responsibility for."
But, he added, it is too soon to know if the announcement will meet the B.C. Liberal government's call for a world-class marine spill response. The Liberals have set out that demand among the five conditions it says it needs any project to meet before giving a pipeline its blessing.
"It's hard to know, we haven't seen the details yet," Lake said. "From what I've seen from the news release it does address a number of concerns that we've expressed in the past."
Lake said the province is conducting a review to determine what gaps exist in overall marine spill response. Once that is done, it would have a better sense of whether the federal proposal meets the bar.
Last fall, B.C. municipalities narrowly approved a resolution that rejects expanded pipeline projects across the province, fearing more oil tanker traffic would raise the risk of a catastrophic spill on the west coast, similar to the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off the Alaskan coast.
Oliver insists Canada hasn't had a major tanker spill off the coast, and the current system has "served us well for many years," but more research will provide an even stronger defence. The federal government has $160 million set aside for potential spills in Canada, with a response capacity of 10,000 tonnes.
Ben West of ForestEthics Advocacy maintains Monday's announcement is a way for the federal government to save face after it shut down the Kitsilano Coast Guard and Vancouver Marine Communication Terminal.
"This is just a signal the government is going to push the pipeline through," he said. "They're just about willing to do absolutely anything to convince the public these projects should go ahead no matter what the opposition."
New Democratic Party environment critic Rob Fleming also dismissed the announcement as an attempt to dull public opposition to the Enbridge proposal. He noted the last two federal budgets have drastically cut staff in all federal departments and agencies that deal with environmental remediation and oil spill responses.
"I think this is a play by the federal government to try to smooth the pathway for the Enbridge Northern Gateway to be approved, but you have to look at the sum total of their actions," Fleming said.
Skeena-Bulkley Valley NDP MP Nathan Cullen agreed, calling the announcement "an exercise in greenwashing" and an attempt to distract from the serious threat the Northern Gateway pipeline poses to B.C.
Cullen noted a recent study from the University of B.C. pegged the potential costs of a major oil spill on B.C.'s north coast at $9.6 billion. He pointed to calculations by a 25-year veteran in the oil spill response industry, who used Enbridge's research to show an 8.7-per-cent to 14.1-per-cent chance of a major oil spill in the first 50 years.
"The risks are enormous, and the consequences of a spill would be devastating," Cullen noted. "But the prime minister and his cabinet appear to have already made up their minds about the project, so rather than actually listen and respond to the concerns of British Columbians, they'll resort to half-measures and playing the public relations game."
The Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, whose community is across Burrard Inlet from Kinder Morgan's Westridge oil export terminal, also criticized the federal announcement.
"Ultimately the best way to safeguard Canada's seas and skies is to say 'No' to new pipelines," Tsleil-Waututh councillor Carleen Thomas said in a news release. "It's time for the Harper government to stop talking about pipelines to the West Coast like they are inevitable and start listening to what the people of B.C. are saying. British Columbians do not want new pipelines and increased tanker traffic on our coast."
Eoin Madden, climate change campaigner with the Wilderness Committee, said the new federal strategy is an insult to British Columbians.
With files from Peter O'Neil


text:
Past Issues
- Print Edition
- Online Edition
- Issues
Our Law School is a leader in the world of legal education. Its mission is to provide an extraordinary educational program emphasizing critical thought, the power of the written word, continual reflection on ethical duty, and the meaning of law and justice in a swiftly changing world. By assembling a collegial, academically exceptional, and diverse student body in small classes with closely involved faculty, the Law School aims to produce leaders whose unique combination of intellectual ability, academic and practical training, and professionalism is recognizably "Washington and Lee." Equally important, the Law School seeks to sustain a first‐rank faculty from a spectrum of background and experience, whose scholarship enriches the public discourse of American and global society.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Resolving Inner Conflict
|eBook Version
|eBook Version
If you have already purchased the book and you need support with the practices click here.
Do you feel like you have battles going on inside?
Learn how to help your parts to cooperate with each other.
Do you have difficulty make decisions.
Learn how to resolve opposing viewpoints and become decisive.
Do you indulge yourself and then judge yourself for it.
Understand why this happens and what to do about it.
Do you avoid taking action that you know you is necessary.
Learn how to resolve this inner confusion.
Do you often have contradictory feelings about loaded situations?
Learn how to integrate these different parts of yourself.
This book is a detailed treatment of how to work with inner conflict in Internal Family Systems Therapy, including transcripts of actual sessions to show exactly how the technique works. Though written for psychotherapists, it is also accessible to people who want to deepen their IFS work on themselves.
I am very grateful to Jay Earley for putting my ideas about polarization into writing, which, up until now, have only been conveyed in trainings or workshops. He has added useful case examples and practical steps and, as usual, his writing is very clear. This is a substantial contribution to the literature on Internal Family Systems Therapy. — Richard Schwartz, PhD, creator of the IFS model, author of Internal Family Systems Therapy, You are the One You've Been Waiting For
Unresolved internal polarizations can challenge the most experienced therapists. Recognizing and working effectively with internal conflict is crucial to the success of the IFS Model with all clients. This helpful, readable follow-up to Earley's Self-Therapy offers a step-by-step approach and lively examples for navigating this fascinating territory of the human psyche. — Susan McConnell, Senior Lead Trainer for the Center for Self Leadership
Polarities abound in our inner systems, and this book fills a gap in the IFS literature. Jay Earley continues to blaze the trail of making Internal Family Systems Therapy accessible to the masses, while still offering useful insights and guidance to practitioners already grounded in the model. — Bruce Hersey, LCSW, Altoona, PA
Inner conflict seems to be one of our painful, debilitating human burdens. This remarkable book clearly and systematically shows how to approach those intractable inner arguments in such a way that the conflict is actually transformed into unexpected, creative and harmonious ways of expressing our true inner self. — Persephone Maywald M.A., Psychologist, Adelaide, Australia
Clear, smart and immediately usable. Every IFS practitioner needs to read this book to deepen their understanding and strengthen their skill. — Lisa Spiegel, MA, co-director of Soho Parenting


text:
Pinterest Tests the Ad Waters With New Promoted Pins
Sep 21, 2013 5:00 AM PT
Pinterest on Thursday announced that it would begin experimenting with promoting certain pins from a select group of businesses.
The announcement came via a blog post from CEO Ben Silbermann, who hastened to assure the site's users that this move would not be a descent into ad madness.
"I know some of you may be thinking, 'Oh great ... here come the banner ads,'" he wrote, "but we're determined to not let that happen."
To that end, Silbermann promised that the ads will be "tasteful," with "no flashy banners or pop-up ads."
The ads will also be transparent, and viewers will always be informed when they are viewing paid promotions, he promised.
The ads will be relevant as well -- that is, they will be marketing products the viewer actually is interested in -- and will be improved upon feedback, too.
Pinterest is now rolling out just a few promotions in search results and category feeds, he said -- but no company is paying for any placement yet.
"We want to see how things go and, more than anything, hear what you think," Silbermann concluded.
A Pinterest spokesperson was not immediately available to provide further details.
Good News for Retailers
Even with its slow approach and restrictions for advertisers, the announcement is good news for retailers.
"There is definite potential for promoted pins to be successful, especially for businesses looking to showcase their wares," Chelsey Binkley, social engagement coordinator at Engauge, told the E-Commerce Times.
"For retail and fashion brands that already use the platform to drive discovery to their products and e-commerce sites, this will make for a great extension of their Pinterest efforts," Binkley added.
Certainly demand will be strong on the part of retailers, who have been paying attention to Pinterest users' propensity to shop, Christopher Penn, vice president of marketing technology at SHIFT Communications, told the E-Commerce Times.
"According to research firm Edison Research, 27 percent of Pinterest users have made a purchase based on a pin they've seen," Penn said. "If Pinterest can work sponsored pins into relevant pinboards in an appropriate way that doesn't alienate users, they're going to be quite successful at their advertising program."
'The Risk of Significant Backlash'
Not everyone foresees smooth sailing for Pinterest's monetization plans, however.
The site has no advertising to speak of at the moment, "so it's going to be a bit of a shock to users when they first start seeing promoted pins," noted Keith Trivitt, director of marketing and communications at MediaWhiz, for example.
Another challenge "is the risk that advertising poses to Pinterest's carefully cultivated network and image as a user-friendly platform," Trivitt pointed out.
"While advertising has many benefits to both brands and consumers, any time you place ads on a site or social network that has largely built up its user base around the fact that it is ad-free, you run the risk of significant backlash," he explained.
All that said, however, Pinterest's slow approach should go far to address these concerns, he continued.
"By starting with promoted pins in search results, rather than dropping ads or advertiser messaging directly into a user's feed, Pinterest in working to ensure that its community comes to trust its advertising efforts as a means of building and monetizing Pinterest," Trivitt said.
'Aspirational Purchases'
It also helps that Twitter and Facebook plowed the road ahead for Pinterest, said Chia-Lin Simmons, vice president of marketing and content at Harman International.
"Twitter and Facebook opened the way to native advertising and promoted content in their service, and Pinterest is following suit, so I think there will be little backlash from consumers," Simmons told the E-Commerce Times.
In fact, in many ways, there is more risk to Twitter and Facebook with native advertising, she suggested.
"Consumers use Pinterest to capture interest, and often from an e-commerce perspective, they are using Pinterest boards to bookmark 'aspirational' purchases," she explained.
Consider a consumer who is using Pinterest to post what she would like one day in her would-be living room, Simmons suggested. Having promotional pins from Crate and Barrel or Design Within Reach would not necessarily be an affront.


text:
GUANGZHOU, China — (BUSINESS WIRE) — March 27, 2014 — ZWCAD Design, an innovative supplier of CAD solutions for the MCAD and AEC industries, is pleased to share with you some encouraging stories from the winners of the recent ZWCAD Touch Photo Competition. Having worked hard to take imaginative and thought provoking photos, and to garner enough votes to get into the top 5, the entrants went on to share their experiences using the free mobile CAD app, ZWCAD TOUCH.
On-site Design Library
Many entrants were introduced to the idea of mobile CAD software for the first time through the competition, and were delighted to discover the possibilities it brings. 2nd place winner, Simon Steel, was hugely impressed with the ability to have his designs onsite. "If I am on site or even in the workshop, it is often quicker to check drawing details on my iPad than on my PC." Eduardo Fernando Da Silva concurs by saying he often uses it to "show the project during the construction to the workers, answering any questions that they may have."
Improved Client Communication
Another use of ZWCAD Touch that impressed the new users was the ability to easily share designs with clients. Whether through direct sharing in meetings, or by sending designs to clients' mobile devices, the users found that it significantly improved the speed and efficiency of communication. Minwoo Lee uses ZWCAD Touch to "meet with clients for presentation and planning," while Ju Won also finds it hugely useful whilst in meetings with clients and contributors.
Speed and Simplicity
Some entrants already had experience with mobile CAD software before switching to ZWCAD Touch, with many proclaiming that the improved speed compared to other apps, such as AutoCAD360, was a major highlight. Paul Mihai Tripon was a user of "AutoCAD 360 and SimLab CAD Viewer on iPad" and stated that "ZWCAD Touch is faster, and allows me to check dimensions far easier." The speed and simplified ease of use were both features that impressed many of the competition entrants.
Whether entrants have recently been introduced to mobile CAD software, recently switched from other software, or were long term users of ZWCAD Touch, they have all found its features and potential uses hugely useful in simplifying the design, communication and manufacturing of their products.
ZWCAD Touch is now free to download on the App Store and Google Play. For more information about ZWCAD Touch, please click here or visit ZWSOFT Facebook.
About ZWCAD Design
ZWCAD Design Co., Ltd., the wholly-owned subsidiary of ZWSOFT, is an international CAD software provider through its network of over 300 partners in 80+ countries and regions. Its product ZWCAD+ is used by CAD designers across the AEC and MCAD industries.
ZWCAD Design
Jonathan Buckley, +86-20-38289780
Email Contact


text:
The ladies of Twitter never fail to brighten our days with their brilliant ― but succinct ― wisdom. Each week, HuffPost Women rounds up hilarious 140-character musings. For this week's great tweets from women, scroll through the list below. Then visit our Funniest Tweets From Women page for our past collections.
Polling, News, Analysis
All the latest from the 2020 presidential election from HuffPost reporters in the US and around the world


text:
SANDY, Utah – When Real Salt Lake take the field against New England Revolution on Friday, there's hope that the familiar faces of Robbie Findley and Kyle Beckerman will finally be back in the mix at Rio Tinto Stadium.
For Findley, overcoming jet lag could be his biggest hindrance. The RSL speedster, of course, just returned from South Africa, where he relished in his part of helping the US team advance past the group stage at the World Cup.
After four different planes and 24 straight hours of travel, he finally arrived in Salt Lake on Tuesday where he was greeted to a hero's welcome at the airport.
"Getting there (South Africa) took a few days to get into it, so maybe the same thing here," Findley said. "I'm just a little tired, jet-lagged. Hopefully I can recover and get ready."
Beckerman knows somewhat about what Findley is going through, after having a similar experience with the team at the Gold Cup a year ago.
"You're really excited to come back. You miss the guys. It's just comfortable here," Beckerman said. "Our team's a little bit different than others, but we feel like we're a family here – and that's from the owner on down."
For his part, Beckerman said this week that he's unsure if the left-foot injury that has sidelined him since May 22 is a thing of the past.
"I don't know. Just one day at a time," Beckerman said. "[The doctor] seems pretty confident."
However, Beckerman admits: "I'm getting some sharp pains here and there."
The midfielder, however, did admit he feels very confident about his recovery the offensive side of the ball.
"A lot of the offensive stuff has come back and it's fine. Now it's just getting the closing down, and the quick reactions and strengthening them, and the cutting," he said.


text:
Mike "Joker" Guymon (12-4-1 MMA, 1-2 UFC) apparently has avoided his walking papers for now.
Fellow welterweight DaMarques Johnson (14-8 MMA, 2-2 UFC) recently posted news of an upcoming fight with the veteran at a currently unannounced Jan. 22 UFC event.
As MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) previously reported, the event is expected to take place in conjunction with Fort Hood in Texas, likely as a "UFC Fight for the Troops" event as UFC Fight Night 23.
Johnson announced the fight via his official website, www.damarquesjohnson.com.
Sources recently told MMAjunkie.com that additional event details still have not been finalized for the show.
Guymon, a former King of the Cage champion who made his UFC debut earlier this year, is 1-2 since then. After opening his career with a submission loss to fast-rising prospect Rory MacDonald, he then rebounded for a unanimous-decision win over Yoshiyuki Yoshida to salvage his UFC career. But most recently, the California-based fighter suffered a submission loss to Daniel Roberts earlier this month at UFC 121.
Like Guymon, Johnson likely finds himself in a must-win situation. The well-rounded runner-up from "The Ultimate Fighter 9" recently suffered a second-round TKO loss to Matt Riddle at UFC on Versus 2. Prior to the setback, though, he rebounded from a loss to James Wilks at The TUF 9 Finale with stoppage wins over Edgar Garcia and Brad Blackburn. The wins came with Submission of the Night and KO of the Night bonuses, respectively. The Utah-based fighter now returns to the cage after healing from facial injuries.
For the latest on the Jan. 22/UFC Fight Night 23 event, check out the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.
(Pictured: DaMarques Johnson)


text:
Skip to comments.John Edwards replaces legal team in campaign violations case
Posted on 08/19/2011 5:36:09 PM PDT by PROCON
(Reuters) - Former presidential candidate John Edwards has replaced the legal team defending him against criminal charges of campaign fund violations.
Edwards has hired Chadbourne & Parke partner Abbe Lowell, according to a document filed with the court on Friday. Lowell is a white-collar defense attorney.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Ah, silky pony doesn't like his LOIYERS....
Great stalling tactic.
Usually closer to trial when they pull that trick.
More likely disagreements between client and defense team. Happens quite often when the defendant is a lawyer himself, even if he's never tried a criminal case. We had one lawyer here in town (now gone to his reward) who was constantly in trouble but could not keep a lawyer. He wound up representing himself and losing badly.
A word to the wise, John: shut up and let your lawyers do their job. A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.
"Edward's new lawyer, Abbe Lowell, was the chief investigative counsel for Republicans in the House of Representatives for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton."
I thought he was a billionaire?
Birds of a Feather
This a@@hole is going to ruin my new favorite TV show "Suits" for me ...
They may be right, of course, but it would be purely a coincidence.
I'm shocked to read that Edwards might not have been able to afford the Skadden partners.
I like that show too.
He's running out of money and they realize they have sqeezed him for all they will ever get.
Attorney Greg Craig was Jon Edward's former attorney.
"Craig has served as White House counsel under President Barack Obama.
He led the team that President Clinton assembled to defend him during impeachment hearings in 1998 and was a member of Clinton's trial team in the U.S. Senate."
He ought to contact the law firm of "Dewey, Cheatum and Howe!"
Naw, I recommend Metter, Fuchter & Lefter.
I wonder what a Skadden Arps partner costs. $2K/hr?
Wall Street's Most Powerful Law Firm
Wow 50-50 chance and they got it wrong. Lowell was the investigative counsel for the Democrats.
Amen....it IS a stalling tactic.
Abbe Lowell was the attorney for the REPUBLICABS???? OMG!! No WONDER we lost that fight!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


text:
YellowSn0w is out and it's ready to rock. Here's how to become SIM-independent.
NB: Install the latest 2.2 firmware before beginning this process.
1. First, download quickpwn and jailbreak your phone.
Pick your device. We want the iP3G, obviously.
2. Use the latest firmware to pwn your phone (download it from Apple here). This will allow you to install Cydia or Installer. If you just updated your phone or updated your phone on the computer you are running quickpwn on, you probably won't have to download the firmware.
Sending the firmware
2. Then, add the repositories (DO NOT ENTER THESE URLs INTO YOUR BROWSER per Dev Team's instructions).
For Cydia enter: http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com/
For Installer enter: http://i.yellowsn0w.com/
3. Install yellowsn0w. Run it.
4. Turn off the iPhone and install your third party SIM.
NB: f you are in the U.S. and are trying this with T-Mobile, you must turn off the 3G switch in Settings.
5. Turn on the phone. Wait until your carrier pops up. If it doesn't, take the SIM out and reinstall it.
Note: This is all in beta and there is no guarantee of success. You will have to jailbreak your phone for this to work, as well. All of the sources above are lagging like crazy right now so wait a few hours before you begin. I'm following these steps as we speak and will post screenshots shortly.
UPDATE – I haven't been able to get it to work on two iPhone 3Gs, both with fresh 2.2 firmware and baseband. I've heard plenty of people HAVE had luck, however, so it seems to be an either/or thing. I suspect some cells aren't accepting the iPhones as valid equipment.


text:
COVID-19 UPDATES: Find news and resources for audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and the public.
Latest Updates |
Telepractice Resources |
Email Us
[en Español]
By the 2030s, say demographers, English language learners (ELLs) will account for approximately 40% of the entire school-aged population in the United States. In some areas, that projection is already exceeded-in California, for instance, 60%-70% of schoolchildren speak a language other than English as their primary language.
For the period 1995-2005, the Asian population is projected to be the fastest growing group in all U.S. regions, with the greatest gains expected in the West. The Hispanic population will be the second-fastest growing group.
These facts bear importantly on how children learn-and how speech-language pathologists (SLPs) perform their jobs.
In one common scenario, a child is referred for speech-language testing because she is struggling academically. In her teacher's view, she is not learning English with the expected speed and her academic skills are lagging behind those of her monolingual English-speaking classmates. Does the student have a language-learning disability or is she merely manifesting the normal process of acquiring a second language?
It is imperative that SLPs understand the normal processes and phenomena of second-language acquisition to avoid making "false positive" identifications.
Many research studies cite the cognitive-linguistic benefits of being a fluent bilingual speaker. Experts have found that children who are fluent bilinguals actually outperform monolingual speakers on tests of metalinguistic skill.
In addition, as our world shrinks and business becomes increasingly international, children who are fluent bilingual speakers are potentially a tremendously valuable resource for the U.S. economy. Most Americans are currently monolingual speakers of English, and are finding more and more that it would be highly advantageous to their professional lives if they spoke a second language.
Many children who are ELLs are put into English-speaking classrooms where they understand nothing of what they are hearing. In this "sink or swim" situation, many flounder. Imagine traveling to Beijing and taking a social studies course taught only in Mandarin. Learning would be most difficult; yet we expect our ELLs to automatically decode English and succeed academically in an analogous situation.
This idea of "the more English the better" is fallacious and can actually slow down children's learning considerably. Thomas and Collier (1998) state that the average native English speaker gains about ten months of academic growth in one ten-month academic year. ELL students must outgain the native speaker by making 1.5 year's progress in English for six successive school years. Thus, in order to have skills that are commensurate with those of native English speakers, ELLs must make nine years progress in six years. It is no wonder that many ELLs flounder-not because they have language-learning disabilities, but because they are put into such difficult learning situations in our schools.
Under ideal conditions, ELLs would be taught in their first language 90% of the time and in English 10% of the time in kindergarten and first grade. Gradually, as they learned more English, they would be taught in the primary language 50% of the time and in English 50% of the time by sixth grade. Studies have shown that children who are taught in this manner outperform ELLs who are taught mostly in English from very early in their schooling. Children in this ideal bilingual learning situation do so well because they understand what they are hearing and are thus able to build their underlying conceptual-linguistic foundation.
There are different timelines for learning social and academic language. Under ideal conditions, it takes the average second-language learner two years to acquire Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) . BICS involves the context-embedded, everyday language that occurs between conversational partners. On the other hand, Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) , or the context-reduced language of academics, takes five to seven years under ideal conditions to develop to a level commensurate with that of native speakers.
Many ELL students are thus in a catch-22 situation. They may develop conversational English that appears fluent and adequate for everyday communication. However, they still struggle with CALP and have difficulty in areas such as reading, writing, spelling, science, social studies, and other subject areas where there is little context to support the language being heard or read. This " BICS-CALP gap " leads professionals to falsely assume that the children have language-learning disabilities.
School language proficiency tests are often used to assess children' s level of proficiency in English. After children have been tested, they are given a label such as "Limited English Speaker" or "Fully Proficient English Speaker." The problem of which many SLPs are unaware is that these tests only assess English BICS; CALP is not assessed. The child may be labeled as fully English proficient on the basis of his or her ability to answer a question such as "what are your favorite foods?" or respond to a request to "tell me about your family."
SLPs and others who work with these children in the schools see the label of "fully English proficient" and assume that it is acceptable to give English standardized tests to these children—after all, they are fully proficient in English! In reality, however, the children are still striving to develop CALP and thus the use of standardized tests in English is biased against them. When these standardized tests are administered, the ELLs often score very low and are labeled as having language-learning disabilities. They are then inappropriately placed into special education.
SLPs will make fewer errors in labeling ELLs if we are aware of the normal phenomena and processes that accompany learning a second language. Ideally, we will support children's first languages and cultures, and encourage them to become fully proficient bilingual speakers. Not only will they perform better in school, but they will have a much greater chance of growing up to become successful citizens who are invaluable assets to our society and our economy.
Campbell, L.R. (1996). Issues in service delivery to African American children. In Kamhi, A.G., Pollock, K.E., & Harris, J.L. (Eds.), Communication development an disorders in African American children (pp.73-94). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company.
Thomas, W.P., & Collier, V.P. (1998). Two languages are better than one. Educational Leadership, 12/97-1/98, 23-26.
Celeste Roseberry-McKibbin is an associate professor in the department of speech pathology and audiology at California State University, Sacramento. She also works as an itinerant SLP in the public schools. Contact her by e-mail at
Alejandro Brice is an assistant professor in the department of communication disorders at the University of Central Florida. Brice is the editor of Communication Disorders Quarterly. Contact him by e-mail at
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 211,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology support personnel; and students.
The ASHA Action Center welcomes questions and requests for information from members and non-members.
Available 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. ET Monday–Friday
Site Help | A–Z Topic Index | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use
© 1997-2020 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association


text:
Welcome one and all to the rescued 2012 Adjacent Attacks tournament, I can not offer the premium prizes or pretty result tables but you will get all the game action and still have a shot at glory and the medal!!
There are a few minor edits to the original set up, mainly the use of trench setting so there will be no opportunity to breach the AA rules!! Also to help increase the speed of the tournament I will apply a 20 round limit to all 1v1, 30 to a 4 player and 50 to 8 player games. From my searching there was only 2 stage 4 games completed, these are being disregaurded and stage 4 will start fresh with the table updated to take account of any drop outs.
So here it is:
What means "Adjacent Attacks"?
This tournament is for anyone wanting to play games using the Adjacent Attack Rule (viewtopic.php?f=4&t=51364) If you have never heard of the Adjacent Attacks proposed gameplay, it is very simple:
Newly conquered countries cannot attack (including tapping/slimming a territory) for the duration of the turn they are conquered on.
This means no kill-runs, but a lot of strategy about what your best moves should be and planning for the future.
Resetting neutral territories (missile launch in Arms Race!, Parade Deck in The Citadel, etc) are exempt from this rule, they can be attacked out of when captured.
Since this is not yet coded into the website, this is an HONOR-BASED RULE and means that you should pay attention to your moves carefully to not break the rules.
This tournament is inspired by the 2010 Adjacent Attacks Tournament (viewtopic.php?f=91&t=103112&start=0) run by jakewilliams
Tournament Structure
This tournament structure is inspired by the Swiss Style used in chess tournaments. It is a sort of "fast league" designed for big groups. Instead of each player playing all the other players in round robin style, the matches are decided depending on how each player has performed during the tournament. However, all players form part of the same big league instead of being divided in groups.
Deciding who plays against who
At any given time, players are ranked acording to their score at the tournament and, in case of a tie, CC score. Then, games are created following that rule:
- For 2 players games: 1st ranked player plays against 2nd ranked player. 3rd against 4th, 5th against 6th, etc.
- For 4 player games: 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th play a game. 5th to 8th player another game, 9th to 12th another game, and so on.
- For 8 player games: 1st to 8th play a game. 9th to 16th play another game. 17th to 24th another game, etc.
Players who tend to win will float over the top of the table. Players who lose will go down. The rest will be something in the middle. At any given time, each player meets other players that have shown similar skill during the tournament.
The bottom player in a game is the one deciding which map and settings will be played (decided at the moment of joining the tournament). This will help keeping the tournament more even.
Points are awarded following that table:
- Code: Select all
1st 5 points
2nd 0 points
- Code: Select all
1st 10 points
2nd 5 points
3rd 2 points
4th 0 points
- Code: Select all
1st 15 points
2nd 10 points
3rd 7 points
4th 5 points
5th 3 points
6th 2 points
7th 1 point
8th 0 points
In the case of objective games, when a player captures the objective the rest of players score according to the number of remaining players. As an example, if there are 3 players left and one wins, the other 2 players both get the 3rd place.
Games Schedule
Each round with 8 or more players left will be formed by 11 games:
- Game 1: 2 players - 0 to 5 points
- Game 2: 4 players - 0 to 10 points
- Game 3: 2 players - 0 to 5 points
- Game 4: 8 players - 0 to 15 points
- Game 5: 2 players - 0 to 5 points
- Game 6: 4 players - 0 to 10 points
- Game 7: 2 players - 0 to 5 points
- Game 8: 8 players - 0 to 15 points
- Game 9: 2 players - 0 to 5 points
- Game 10: 4 players - 0 to 10 points
- Game 11: 2 players - 0 to 5 points
- Game 1: 2 players - 0 to 5 points
- Game 2: 4 players - 0 to 10 points
- Game 3: 2 players - 0 to 5 points
- Game 4: 2 players - 0 to 5 points
- Game 5: 4 players - 0 to 10 points
- Game 6: 2 players - 0 to 5 points
- Game 7: 2 players - 0 to 5 points
- Game 8: 4 players - 0 to 10 points
- Game 9: 2 players - 0 to 5 points
Advancing to the next round
When a round is finished, the top half of the table advances to the next round. The bottom half gets eliminated. Scores are not reset.
Becoming eliminated before the end of a round
If at any time during the round, a player can not mathematically advance to the next round, he gets instant-eliminated. This helps to keep interest in the tournament. No filler game is played. Notice that if the bottom half of the table gets eliminated early, this could lead to a round shorter than anticipated.
Winning before the end of the tournament
If at any time during the tournament the second player can no mathematically get more points than the first player, the first player is declared winner and the tournament is over.
Game Invitations and games with less players than intended
A maximum of two invitations will be sent for each game. After failing to answer the second invitation, the player will be declared loser of that particular game.
If a game has less players than intended (because a player has failed to join or is already eliminated) points will be awarded like if he had played.
Solving ties
In case of a tie of two or more players having the same score, CC score will be used. If both players have the same CC score, the one with most games won will also be declared the winner of the tie. If both have the same number of wins, then the number of 2nd places will decide, then by number of 3rd places, etc. If the tie still exists, a tie breaker 1v1 game will be played.
Freemium policy
Freemiums are welcome, but they have to commit one slot permanently to the tournament once the tournament has been declared oficcially opened. There is no need to reserve the slot in advance.
How to join:
Post in this thread saying:
- Your name
- Your chosen map for 2 players games
- Your spoils choice for 2 players games
- Your reinforcements choice for 2 players games
- Your chosen map for 4 players games
- Your spoils choice for 4 players games
- Your reinforcements choice for 4 players games
- Your chosen map for 8 players games
- Your spoils choice for 8 players games
- Your reinforcements choice for 8 players games
All games will be sunny, casual, automatic deploy, sequential and now trench[/quote]


text:
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Beating you no longer suffices for the Broncos. Now they want to break your spirit and dance on your soul.
"We've got a lot of crazy guys," Denver linebacker Von Miller said Sunday, after the Broncos not only ran Carolina out of its own house in a 36-14 victory, they piled on the style points and disrespect.
The Broncos busted it open with a 76-yard punt return for a touchdown by Trindon Holliday, an interception Tony Carter took 40 yards to the house and relentless mocking of beleaguered Panthers quarterback Cam Newton by Miller and his mates.
"Those," Denver cornerback Chris Harris said, "were back-breakers."
And that was being polite.
The big play is back in Denver. The Broncos already have produced seven touchdowns from at least 40 yards this season, matching their total of long-distance scores from 2011. "Touchdowns can come from anywhere," Miller said.
But let's up the ante on how dangerous this team has become on offense, defense or special teams. In 1997, at the height of their Super Bowl power, no NFL team was more feared than the Broncos. John Elway, Terrell Davis and company scored 10 touchdowns from at least 40 yards that season. That was an offensive juggernaut. But this Peyton Manning edition might have more quick-strike capability and scoring versatility.
"A lot of NFL games turn on big plays," Denver cornerback Champ Bailey said. "If you get big plays, you're probably going to win. And if you get big plays in all three phases, that's how you score 30-plus points on a regular basis."
With the Broncos leading 17-7 early in the third quarter, Carolina stripped the football from Manning to force a turnover. On the very next snap, however, Carter stepped in front of a pass intended for Panthers receiver Brandon LaFell and knocked momentum on its ear with an interception for a TD. "That will suck the life out of a team. I know, because I've been on the other side of it," Bailey said.
For the dark decade of Broncos football that marked the decline of Mike Shanahan and the mistakes of Josh McDaniels, the problem was obvious: Denver lacked playmakers to match Tom Brady or James Harrison.
Football is a team game often outshined by the brightest stars. From Demaryius Thomas to Manning on offense to Wesley Woodyard and Miller on defense to Holliday and Britton Colquitt on special teams, the Broncos have more than a half dozen legitimate candidates for the Pro Bowl.
Championship runs are built on a series of tipping points. So it's no surprise Denver never has sent more clutch performers to the league's all-star game than in 1998 when 10 Broncos were rewarded with an all-expense-paid trip to Hawaii.
Miller was fired up to get a shot at Newton, who went a pick ahead of the Denver linebacker atop the 2011 draft. When his alma mater, Texas A&M, upset No. 1 Alabama fewer than 24 hours before kickoff against the Panthers, Miller's amp went nuclear. "Oh, everybody on the team knew what the Aggies did," Broncos linebacker Wesley Woodyard said. "Von was at the hotel on Saturday night, yelling, 'Gig 'em!' "
After sacking Newton for an 8-yard loss on Carolina's opening possession, Miller struck the Superman pose that Newton has adopted as his trademark celebration. "I really wanted to do it. I'm sure Cam didn't want to see it," Miller said. "But I definitely think it set the tempo for my buddies on defense."
Between the seven sacks and two interceptions suffered by Newton, he had to watch so many Denver players do the Superman diss that it was worse than being struck in an endless loop of "Gangnam Style" with PSY riding roughshod in the quarterback's worst nightmare. "We're playing football. It's not ballet," said Newton, shaking off the pain of being made to look extremely mortal.
On a four-game winning streak, the Broncos are beginning to believe they are all Superman. They can do anything. This team's swagger is on steroids.


text:
Queensland's buzzing riverside capital city is wedged between the ocean and rugged national parks. Brisbane is a cosmopolitan hub for arts, culture and dining but still retains a close connection with nature and a classic laid-back Queensland attitude. It's also the gateway to the wonders of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.
Whether you want to catch an art exhibition, cool off in a rainforest waterhole or just sample some great Queensland food and wine, you can do it all in and around Brisbane.
Walk across the Victoria Bridge to discover Brisbane's cultural heart, home to world-class museums, theatres and event spaces. Take me to South Bank.
It's worth the one- to two-hour drive south-west of Brisbane to step foot in the vast, World Heritage-listed Gondwana Rainforests. Popular hiking and camping spots include Main Range or Mount Barney national parks.
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, a 20-minute drive south-west of the city, is the world's first and largest koala sanctuary, home to more than 130 of Australia's cuddliest creatures.
Eat and drink your way around the city at cool cafes, waterfront restaurants and rooftop bars.
From the vibrant heart of the city to the white-sand beaches of Moreton Island and the sleepy hinterland villages of the Scenic Rim, you'll find incredible diversity in and around Brisbane.
This is where the action is. Eat, drink, shop and discover everything Brisbane has to offer.
A quiet island retreat of vast sand dunes, shipwrecks to snorkel, wild dolphins and beautiful beaches. Take the ferry from Holt Street Wharf in Brisbane for the 75-minute journey. Take me to Moreton Island.
Spot whales, go four-wheel driving on the beach, and camp right by the water on the world's second-largest sand island. Take me to North Stradbroke Island.
Hike through the World Heritage-listed Gondwana Rainforests and climb Tamborine Mountain, then indulge at a local winery or glamp under the stars. Take me to the Scenic Rim.
Get out of the city and discover some of Queensland's most enticing destinations. Head 70km north for a relaxing day on beautiful Bribie Island (the only Queensland island with a bridge), or – just 30 minutes from the city – D'Aguilar National Park is the place for an active adventure.
Moreton Island is the perfect place to take your boat a short distance across the bay and enjoy a picnic on the golden beaches. Karen Nye
Moreton Island
There's always something happening in Brisbane. From sporting events and concerts to festivals, exhibitions and markets, find out what's on this weekend or schedule a visit around your favourite event.
Check in to a grand luxury hotel, a trendy boutique property, a family-friendly self-contained apartment or a great value hostel. In Brisbane, you'll find accommodation options for every style and budget spread right across the region.
Brisbane Airport is where the world comes to Queensland. It's less than 15km from the CBD and there are two terminals, Domestic and International, with 30 airlines flying to and from about 80 destinations.
The Airtrain rail service links both the Domestic and International terminals with the Brisbane CBD and the Gold Coast, with trains running every 15 to 30 minutes.
Drive time between the airport and the city is about half an hour and you can take a taxi or a ride-share service (such as Uber).
Or hop on one of the many shuttle buses that will take you to the city or right to your accommodation.
Taxis and ride-share services are plentiful in Brisbane.
If you prefer to drive yourself, hire cars are available at the airport and the roads are well signposted (remember – in Australia, we drive on the left!). A hire car is also a great option if you plan to visit other areas in southern Queensland.
Brisbane's extensive public transport network makes it easy to get around.
The red City Loop buses will take you around the CBD for free or you can take the blue CityGlider buses which go further afield to suburbs such as Fortitude Valley or the West End.
Trains service the city centre and suburbs, and travel up and down the coast.
For a scenic trip, it's hard to beat the CityCat and CityHopper ferries that cruise the Brisbane River.


text:
- Font:
- +
- -
Guests: Buck Lee, Katrina Vanden Heuvel, Jonathan Martin, Chris Cillizza, Dr. Thomas Heaton
CHUCK TODD, GUEST HOST: All's well?
Let's play HARDBALL.
Good evening. I'm Chuck Todd, in for Chris Matthews here in Washington. Leading off tonight: No oil in sight. For the first time in 88 days, Gulf Coast residents woke up to what's got to be an amazing sight, a picture of no oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. The cap is holding, and everyone has their fingers crossed. We're going to go down to the gulf, where they're cautiously optimistic they've finally turned the corner.
And even if the oil permanently stopped flowing, one of the biggest victims of this spill politically has been President Obama. Tonight, the toll it's taken on his presidency and this question. How can he undo that damage?
Plus: One of the great ironies of Mr. Obama's presidency is the more victories he achieves—stimulus, health care, education reform, Wall Street reform—the more his poll numbers seem to go down. And besides Republicans, some of his loudest critics are on the left. Why aren't progressives giving him more credit?
Also, we'll tell you which Democratic senator left for dead has suddenly surged ahead of his tea party foe.
And finally, all shook up. People in Washington—we're used to political earthquakes, but they woke up to a real one this morning. It was a small one, and those of us who are heavier sleepers missed it. But it's a good reminder that there are a lot more fault lines in this country than you might think. We're going to let you know where they are, who's at risk. Bottom line, earthquakes aren't just for Californians anymore.
But let's start tonight with the latest on BP's efforts to seal off this oil leak for good. Anne Thompson is, of course, NBC News's chief environmental affairs correspondent and maybe no longer a permanent resident of Venice, Louisiana—
TODD: -- at this point. But they will be giving you voting rights probably by November, and you might get a tax bill.
ANNE THOMPSON, NBC CORRESPONDENT: Oh, you know they're going to make me pay taxes!
TODD: Absolutely. OK, Anne, where are we? We know they are in this testing phase to see if sealing this off is a permanent solution—and I say permanent, the solution until the relief well goes down. Where do things stand?
THOMPSON: Well, right now, national incident commander, retired admiral Thad Allen, just gave a briefing, Chuck. And he essentially said what scientists and engineers are trying to figure out is what the pressure reading that they're getting inside that well means. The good news is the cap is holding. There's no oil going out into the gulf. The pressure reading is at 6,700 pounds per square inch, which is sort of right in the middle of where they thought it would be after 24 hours.
Ideally, they would like it to be closer to 7,500 pounds per square inch. So why is it sticking at this 6,700 mark? There are two theories. One is that because so much oil has already depleted in—has already been spilled into the gulf that there's actually less oil in the well than they thought, and that's one reason behind the lower pressure reading.
The other theory is—and this is a scary theory—that there is a leak below the sea floor. Now, the—they have done seismic surveys. They—they have done—they have ROVs, those remotely operated vehicles, using cameras and using sonars to see if there are any kinds of cracks in the sea floor. They're trying to detect where there might be a leak. They aren't finding any evidence of that.
So what they have decided to do is they're going to go forward with the well integrity test for another six hours, and six hours from now reassess. But they're—they just don't know quite what they have yet. And as I said, the good news is, at least no oil is going into the gulf.
TODD: And Anne, what they're testing, though, is whether they can keep this sealed off for good, correct? Because even worst case scenario at this point, they now have a controlled way to keep some oil flowing up to a containment system, correct? So overall, there's still a lot of success here, right?
THOMPSON: Right. There is. I mean, originally, this cap was designed to help move the oil up to the surface. It wasn't designed to shut in the well. They decided to try to shut in the well and do this well integrity test because they want to know what's going on—you know, the well is more than two miles down underneath the sea floor—what's going on there. They don't know. And there was concern after that top kill procedure that maybe that damaged the well. It's still inconclusive.
So—but no matter what happens—if they can't shut in the well, they are going to go back to containing the oil, and they say they can do that fairly quickly. The Q4000 and the Helix Producer, two of the vessels, are already at the site. They've got Discover Enterprise there, and it's got a cap that could go on top of this new sealing cap that exists. So they've got a lot of ways to go. And when they do get the containment system fully up and running, it can capture up to 80,000 barrels a day, which is 20,000 barrels more than what the government thinks is flowing out, at the high end.
TODD: Hey, Anne, have we made a technological leap here? So for instance, you know, we're having this debate in the gulf about the moratorium on deepwater oil drilling. Have they, by succeeding in some form of this, found a way to reassure the government at the end of the day that, You know what? Now we know how to deal with this if there is another catastrophe as big as this one. Yes or no?
THOMPSON: You know, I think that's a real leap.
TODD: That's a leap. OK.
THOMPSON: This is—yes, huge leap. This has only worked for 24 hours, and we don't know how much longer it's going to work. Beyond that, the biggest thing is, Chuck, is they don't know how to clean up the oil once it spills.
TODD: Right.
THOMPSON: I mean, we have—this area has dealt with this for 88 days, and it is threatening to destroy a way of life, wetlands, marine life. I mean, the damage is extraordinary.
And even if they than—even if this cap works to some degree, I can't imagine that people are going to walk away from this and say, OK, problem solved. Clearly, it's not. When you've got people—the only way to clean up the oil is with a shovel and carefully scraping it off the sand and you really don't get all of it, or using these tiny little drum skimmers—
TODD: Right.
THOMPSON: -- in marshes or flushing out marshes—I mean, there still is just no good way to clean up the oil once it flows—once it spills.
TODD: All right. Anne Thompson, I know you got to do some reporting for another news program we're both familiar with, so we will let you go. Thanks so much for the update.
THOMPSON: Yes!
TODD: Turn it around before they yell at you! All right, thanks very much.
All right, let's turn to Buck Lee now. He's executive director of the Santa Rosa Island authority, overseeing Pensacola Beach. And Anne set this up pretty well, Buck. Doesn't—OK, so let's say they've turned off the spigot, essentially, and no more oil is coming. There's a lot of damage that has been done. We've got actual ecological damage. What you're dealing with is tourism damage, correct?
BUCK LEE, SANTA ROSA ISLAND AUTHORITY: That's right. First of all, welcome to beautiful Pensacola Beach. You see behind me, Chuck, white sands. The Gulf of Mexico is clear.
We need more tourism, and that's the message that's going across the United States. They think the whole state is covered in oil. Look at our beach. We're not covered in oil. Over three weeks ago, we were. We had some. We cleaned it up.
And our message is, is to BP—they say, We're going to make everything right, and they're going to pay all the hotel people the lost revenue between this year and last year. Instead, why don't they say, OK, we'll pay half the hotel rooms, so instead of somebody paying $200 a night, they pay $99.95. Our locals and our tourists get to come here. The people get to keep their jobs that work at the hotels. Then they go out and have dinner. Those people get to make money and they keep their jobs. And if not, they all go on unemployment and we got to pay more taxes.
TODD: So you would like—
LEE: -- instead of saying—go ahead.
TODD: You'd like to develop a partnership here, almost like a—say, OK, BP, this is how you can pay us back. Underwrite—help discount visitors—help discount hotels for visitors down here. And you'd like them to advertise. Is this the—have you taken this plan to BP? Is somebody taking this plan, Governor Crist, somebody on your behalf?
LEE: We're working as a group, working on this. There's a letter that's already been sent to BP, and of course, the unified command. But anyway, it makes sense. They've got to have somebody that's fairly intelligent working their accounting department that can look at this and say, You know what? That makes sense. We can save money, give everybody a good deal locally and the tourists, and they can go get a room at half price. Then we don't have people on the unemployment lines. Instead, they get to work. And they enjoy working out here. We have a great workforce on Pensacola Beach and they enjoy the locals and the tourists coming here.
TODD: You talked about that you haven't had any oil come on the beach in a couple of weeks. Are there any concerns—have you gotten any warnings that there are any plumes that are headed—I remember there was that big one everybody was worried about a couple weeks ago. What is the latest that you've been told by the unified command?
LEE: OK, the last time we got hit was three-and-a-half weeks ago. And in two days, it was semi-covered up by Mother Nature. Tides came in and it covered up a little of it.
TODD: Right
LEE: We don't see that big red spot on the map that shows where all the oil is. It's moved. I don't know where it went. Maybe the microbes ate it up. But we don't see that anymore on the maps. We do see that yellow cone of uncertainty that comes near here.
But right now, we don't have any oil. There may be some sheen out there somewhere right now. I understand we had a meeting this morning with BP and the Coast Guard, and they've got a lot of vessels out there near the oil spill, cleaning it up there where it comes out. But right now, the Gulf Coast is beautiful in our area right here.
TODD: What do you want—yesterday—I think it was Monday, the first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, basically did a tourism ad for Panama City. Would you like to see the government doing that? Would you like to see the president doing those things? I asked him yesterday in an interview if he was going to vacation on the Gulf Coast. They hadn't decided that. But is that the type of things you'd like to see the government do?
LEE: No, no. They can—God bless our president and everybody associated with him, but when they come, they close down traffic for three hours.
TODD: Yes, they do, don't they.
LEE: So I know they're having a wonderful—yes, let them have a wonderful time in Maine. Have everybody else come on down here and not tie up traffic, OK?
LEE: That's what we'd like to see.
TODD: I hear you. But I'm just saying, do you—what you'd like to see is some sort of advertising effort, either BP or the government or both making an effort, saying, Hey, everybody's open for business.
LEE: Well, the state of Florida got about $20 million, but that's got to be used between Pensacola Beach and all the way down almost to Clearwater, Tampa. That's not enough money. Alabama got $20 million, too, and they were able to use some of that with the Jimmy Buffet concert they did, which was great.
TODD: Right.
LEE: But they've only got a small section of beach. They got Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. They're wonderful beaches also. We're all in this together in south Alabama and northwest Florida trying to get the people to realize, Hey, we're open for business.
TODD: Well, some of us are a little more biased to northwest Florida, so we'll—we'll be telling people to go to northwest Florida. No offense to our friends over in Gulf Shores. Buck Lee, you're doing a great job selling it.
LEE: Thank you.
TODD: You're selling it as well as anybody. Maybe BP ought to underwrite you doing some TV ads for them, rather than talking about themselves these days. Thanks very much.
LEE: I do not want to be associated with them, but thank you anyhow.
TODD: OK, fair enough! You're not alone these days.
TODD: Coming up, the oil spill in the gulf has dominated the news this summer. How has it affected President Obama's agenda? I can tell you his team believes it has. And how has it undermined the confidence of voters? That's ahead.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
TODD: West Virginia governor Joe Manchin has named a successor to the late senator Robert Byrd, at least temporarily. Former Manchin aide Carte Goodwin will fill the seat until a special election can be held in November. The 36-year-old Goodwin served as Manchin's general counsel from 2005 to 2009, and he'll be sworn in on Tuesday. It's widely expected that Manchin himself will run for the Senate seat in November's special election. The Democrats need that vote, though, to extend unemployment benefits, which they also think they'll get Tuesday.
We'll be right back.
TODD: All right, welcome back to HARDBALL. President Obama today talked about the temporary cap on the gulf oil spill. He sounded, as they say in Washington, cautiously optimistic. Let's take a listen.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Here's the good news that I think everybody needs to understand. Even if it turns out that we can't maintain this cap and completely shut off the flow of oil, what the new cap allows us to do is to essentially attach many more containment mechanisms so that we're able to take more oil up to the surface, put it on ships, and it won't be spilling into the gulf.
TODD: All right, day 88. How much has this crisis hurt the president's agenda and his own credibility? NBC's David Gregory, of course, the moderator of "MEET THE PRESS." And David, I want to start with something else the president said because it's—he brought up an issue that a lot of his aides have brought up. Let's take a listen to what he said.
OBAMA: Well, I think it's important that we don't get ahead of ourselves here. You know, one of the problems with having this camera down there is, is that when the oil stops gushing, everybody feels like we're done. And we're not.
TODD: One of the problems with having this camera down there—one of the problems. That camera—
DAVID GREGORY, MODERATOR, "MEET THE PRESS": Yes.
TODD: -- has probably done more damage to President Obama, whether he liked it or not, politically than anything else that they've had over the last six months.
GREGORY: You know, because, ultimately, if a president in Washington overall are judged by whether you're solving the problem, if you have to look at this thing every day and it's a live picture of the problem unfolding—it's not even like a hurricane. It's not—
TODD: -- it was meant to embarrass BP.
GREGORY: That's exactly right. And Ed Markey was the one who pushed for that, Democrat of Massachusetts, and thought it was important to really hold BP accountable. The problem is it created all these issues about to what extent the administration was able to really control BP.
I mean, all this point about how this plays now—you still have a huge problem. I mean, the president spoke with such great specific detail. The public is not focused on that. When does the oil stop flowing? And then we can concentrate on the environmental damage. And then you can factor in how much money it's going to cost to rebuild that region that still hasn't been rebuilt after Katrina. So the problems don't get any better, unfortunately.
TODD: You know, a lot of aides will tell you that before—April 20th is when this—the Deepwater Horizon exploded. I think it was March 11th or 12th, he signed health care. They had that pretty good jobs report coming in. I think it was on—the jobs—the end-of-the-month jobs report coming in from February to March. And they really thought they were turning a corner. This oil thing—and it stopped everything dead, didn't it.
GREGORY: Well, it did. I mean, it focused on the limits of what government can do. There were probably some deficiencies there in how the president communicated about it, some things that were done—but overall, this was a just a really hard thing. And you had Republicans like Haley Barbour not criticizing the president, saying he'd done a pretty good job. And there's political posturing going on on all sides. The reality is, when the economy is in the shape it's in—
TODD: Right.
GREGORY: -- that's the bottom line. And so everything else is sort of seen through that prism. And so you deal with an intractable problem like this that only points up the limits of what government can do, it also refocuses, you know, people's frustrations on other areas.
TODD: But it just did another thing, which was simply—it was a—it was—you hate to call it a distraction, but—
GREGORY: Right.
TODD: -- they were trying to make—trying to turn—make the turn on the economy. They've been trying to make the turn on some other things. And they couldn't even—they would talk about it, but we were covering the oil spill.
GREGORY: Well—right. And you know, the president wants to have a singular focus on jobs. You can't do that when he's surging up forces in Afghanistan, when he's dealing with health care reform, financial regulation. I mean, there's too many other things going on. So having a singular focus is not something that he's been able to do.
And then you get something like this that he can't just swoop in and affect in a way that makes him necessarily look good. There's no looking good here. There just isn't—
TODD: Right.
GREGORY: -- because the problem is too big and too unwieldy, and it's going to take too much time. And it's going to be a major problem even when the—when the press and public is not really keenly focused on it.
TODD: Is there something about this incident, though, that you think they learned from in a positive, and they're sort of taking it forward? It does seem like they learned something on the McChrystal incident. But have you sensed anything that they sort of at least get how they need to handle one of these (INAUDIBLE)
GREGORY: I—you know, I think, you know, in a lot of these incidents, it becomes some communications lessons, but frankly, that's kind of small in the scheme of things.
TODD: Yes.
GREGORY: This is a much bigger issue about where we get our energy from, the idea of offshore drilling, our other sources of energy.
And, look, the ability to seize a moment like this and do something big with it, if they're going to do an energy bill that is now just a compromise bill in the wake of all this, you wonder, I mean, where is the political capital? Where is the political momentum? Is it to be found anywhere if you can't take a crisis like this and turn it into something really important for the country?
That's the difficulty I think the administration finds itself in, with the backdrop on the economy, doing something big in other areas, whether it's health care, even financial regulation.
TODD: Right.
GREGORY: If there's no jobs out there, it becomes difficult to then—to lift all the boats.
TODD: I want to turn to politics.
Robert Gibbs on "Meet the Press" on Sunday seemed to start a firestorm. It was almost as if he woke up a bunch of House Democrats that didn't know they were in trouble—
GREGORY: Right.
TODD: -- how the reaction went on. But it did seem to sort of clarify things. And it gave Republicans momentum at a time that was very important to them financially. They're coming on this week.
GREGORY: Well, it's an important moment. Look, when the president's spokesman says, we have weakness, we're taking water on board, which is what he is saying—now, he can say that it's common knowledge. And that may have been the case here in Washington.
The reality is, the House is up for grabs. As you have pointed out on "First Read" this week, it's up for grabs. Again, there's lots of reasons for that. This debate continues on Sunday with all the campaign committee chairmen to look at, just what are the conditions? How are they different from other wave elections? And how is the president framing this debate in such a way that can maybe mitigate some of the damage that's coming Democrats' way?
TODD: You know, in an interview I had with him yesterday, he seemed to hesitate on this issue of calling it a referendum on himself. On one hand, he gets that his policies are on the ballot. On the other hand, he doesn't call it a referendum.
But do Democrats actually want it at some point to be a referendum if they—just simply to enthuse their base?
GREGORY: I think they have got to.
You go back to 1994 and what hurt Democrats was the chaos theory that Democrats couldn't get anything done. Well, the president has gotten some things, some big things done. And even if Democrats want to swim away from the president, they can't get away fast enough. They are all hitched together here. They need to go out and try to campaign on some measure of accomplishment, on the economy and on some other areas.
The difficulty is, are people going to buy what they're selling, given how—what people are experiencing, if they're out of work, whether they think the stimulus has had much impact? And some of the tension, as you know, is Democrats who feel like, look, the president is concerned about 2012.
TODD: Right.
GREGORY: He's positioning himself for 2012, and he doesn't really care about us.
TODD: They took tough votes—tough votes for him. They didn't take tough votes for—
GREGORY: Right. And the irony is, of course—and Republicans know this—be careful what you wish for. Should they get the House majority back now, it probably hurts them in 2012.
GREGORY: Yes, they will acknowledge they don't really have a message to turn the economy around or a plan to turn the economy around right now.
TODD: All right, Cornyn, Menendez, Van Hollen, and Pete Sessions.
GREGORY: That's right.
TODD: We have not seen Pete Sessions. This is his national TV debut.
GREGORY: Yes. It should be interesting to get them all together and really keep this debate going.
TODD: I'm fired up. Sounds good.
TODD: Thank you, David Gregory.
As you saw, this Sunday, catch it. It's a political junky's dream.
All right, up next: Democratic Senate candidate, one that is not getting a lot of help from the president or any members of the party. Alvin Greene of South Carolina, though, is getting his wish. He got his own action figure, sort of. We will explain next on the "Sideshow."
TODD: All right, back to HARDBALL, and it's time for the "Sideshow."
First, dreams can come true, at least if you're Alvin Greene. You remember him. He's South Carolina's come-out-of-nowhere Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. Well, he said earlier this month one way the state's economy could be boosted, of course, would be selling Alvin Greene action figures, natch.
Well, a minor league baseball team has taken the idea to heart. The Charleston RiverDogs took their Mr. Liberty figure and pasted over it a head shot of the would-be senator. Greene this afternoon tweeted a special thanks to the team because they plan out—to hand out these figurines at a game this Saturday.
In a related note, Greene just announced his fund-raising total for winning the primary. Since winning the primary, his haul, about $1,000. For a little bit of perspective, Republican Senator Jim DeMint has $3.5 million on hand. Not sure how well that's going to go, but you know never with minor league baseball.
Moving over to Georgia, there's a seven-way race for the Republican governor's nomination. The current front-runner, at least to get into the runoff, State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine. And who is he? Well, apparently, at least as a—a comedy writer, he's coming across as a birther. Check it out.
JOHN OXENDINE ®, GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: You know, there's a similarity between God and Barack Obama. Neither one of them actually have a birth certificate.
OXENDINE: But the difference is, God does not think he's Barack Obama.
TODD: It's one thing to tell the joke. And we actually have heard some folks like Joe Biden and others make some funny birth certificate jokes. It's another, though, when you're running for governor these days. Not sure if you want to be caught doing that. We will see. Stay tuned for Georgia primary results this Tuesday. Definitely going to be a run-off.
And now time for the HARDBALL "Big Number."
Mayor Mike Bloomberg's campaign just filed its final spending report from 2009. Well, it turns out the New York billionaire spent $109 million on that actually very narrow election win year last year. But that's not tonight's "Big Number."
How much total over three mayoral elections has Mike Bloomberg now spent? Ready for this? -- $268 million. Even in Washington, even in Congress, they would say that three-quarters-of-a-billion dollars—or one-quarter-of-a-billion dollars was a lot of money. We shall see. It's a spare-no-expense "Big Number" tonight—Michael Bloomberg. And just imagine if he runs for president.
All right, coming up: From the stimulus, to health care, to Wall Street reform, President Obama has a string of huge policy achievements. But he's having trouble turning his legislative victories into political capital. Why does Obama seem to go backwards with some of these major accomplishments? We're going to get into that next.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
HAMPTON PEARSON, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: I'm Hampton Pearson with your CNBC "Market Wrap."
Stocks plunging today on some disappointing earnings and economic reports. The Dow Jones industrial tumbling 261 points. The S&P 500 falling 31 points. And the Nasdaq taking the worst of it, diving 70 points, a decline of more than 3 percent.
Earnings from GE, Bank of America and Citigroup all coming in better than expected, but revenues were weak across the board, evidence of a still-struggling economy. GE shares sinking 4.5 percent today. Bank of America plunging a whopping 9 percent, and Citigroup shares down 6.25 percent.
Meanwhile, Dell shares tumbling more than 4 percent as it nears a settlement with the SEC over misleading accounting practices.
And in economic news, a dramatic reversal in consumer sentiment, now at its lowest level in 11 months, this even as everyday prices fell a tenth-of-a-point. So, inflation remains in check. The possibility of deflation, however, is a growing concern.
That's it from CNBC, first in business worldwide—now back to HARDBALL.
TODD: Well, welcome back to HARDBALL.
Well, with health care and the stimulus in the books already, financial reform awaiting his signature, big moves on education reform, President Obama has four big legislative wins, at least as far as they're counting, in his first 18 months on the job.
But is it helping him at all, or is it making things worse for him politically?
"Newsweek" Jonathan Alter is an MSNBC political analyst. And Katrina Vanden Heuvel is the editor and publisher of "The Nation."
And, before I get started—and, Katrina, I want to go to you first. But I want to play something. I asked President Obama this yesterday in the interview, if he feels frustrated by this issue that these legislative victories aren't translating to political capital. Take a listen.
TODD: That must be frustrating. You've had an enormous amount of legislative victories. It is comparable to any president in history. It has not translated into political capital with the public.
Is it—honestly, are you frustrated by that?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, I'm not frustrated, because we were in such a deep hole that, even if we got three-quarters of the way up out of the hole, even if I know we're going in the right direction, people are still feeling, things are tough.
TODD: You think it's all economy? You think it's almost all—
OBAMA: I do.
TODD: Katrina, there's a couple of theories to this. One is what the president and the White House begin, that bad economy and nobody is going to think anybody is going well and that any of these ideas are good. Another theory with some progressives on the left—and you and I have talked about this—is—
KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL, EDITOR, "THE NATION": Right.
TODD: -- that, you know what, these achievements were B-minus as far as progressives were concerned, and that there are not—that's why, say, the base isn't as excited about him. Fair?
VANDEN HEUVEL: I think the economy, the grim economy for millions of Americans, colors the picture.
Let's not forget that the Republicans are ready to build up our deficit to give tax cuts to the richest, but won't extend unemployment benefits for millions of Americans.
But I also think, Chuck, that what we're seeing is, we're seeing comprehensive, but compromised legislation, significant major achievements, also disappointments, compromised by entrenched corporate interests in Washington.
And a lot of Americans don't see that picture. And I think, for progressives, we understand that it takes more than one election, that we need to fix on systemic change to a system that is corroded by corporate money. Got compromised Democrats, too, but it's a long haul.
And I think the president is right to say—let's not forget that Reagan was a few points below where President Obama was now before his midterms.
TODD: Right.
VANDEN HEUVEL: President Clinton around the same place. So, I think it's way too early for this funk about how it's going to be a big sweep-out for the Democrats. There is an anti-incumbent mood in this country.
But the Republicans are so off-the-grid, clueless, craven, and cowardly when it comes to understanding where millions of Americans are on financial reform, on health care, on the need for jobs.
TODD: Jonathan, you know, you have probably heard from the same folks I have heard from on the White House about this issue of these victories haven't translated into anything, the president himself saying it's the economy.
But there is a frustration in the White House that they don't have more support from the progressive base of the party for some of these victories. They feel like, hey, we have stuck our neck out. And why aren't you rallying more to the defense? What else are you reporting on that front?
JONATHAN ALTER, NBC NEWS CONTRIBUTING CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think that's true. There's this sense that the Democratic base doesn't understand a lot of the realities of politics.
Any legislation is a compromise. There's no such thing as the pure piece of legislation. And Social Security in 1935, liberals hated it at the time because it hardly covered any seniors in the first piece of legislation.
So, this is always going to be a problem with the base, but it's not all the base's fault. The administration has not done a good enough job of framing its message in memorable terms.
Even just yesterday, when he went out after he won on financial regulation, what's the takeaway? What's the sound bite, if you will, that comes out of that, that people can sink their teeth into? He's only said one memorable thing politically this whole year, which is, you know, they drove—they, the Republicans, drove us into a ditch. Don't give them back the keys.
ALTER: That's a good line. If he can keep saying that kind of thing and focus it as a choice, Chuck, as a choice, he can make some progress.
VANDEN HEUVEL: You have got to dramatize the choice.
And Jonathan and I were talking the other day. It's Barton, Boehner and Blunt.
ALTER: Right.
VANDEN HEUVEL: I mean, these are people who go to Wall Street to sell the party to Wall Street, who stand on the side of insurance companies, who don't want legislation so women get equal pay, who don't want to regulate the financial companies.
There are two other words I would add I think President Obama could speak to millions of Americans: Elizabeth Warren. Elizabeth Warren should hedge this consumer protection financial agency that is at the heart at the—
ALTER: Yes, I agree.
VANDEN HEUVEL: -- best of a comprehensive, but flawed financial regulation.
ALTER: It's not clear she's going to be.
VANDEN HEUVEL: And this is going to be a base fight, because if Geithner, who is secretary of the treasury, overtakes the—says, Elizabeth Warren, no, you're not, there's going to be a fight inside this administration.
VANDEN HEUVEL: And Elizabeth Warren is someone who stands on the side of families, not bankers.
ALTER: Unless they put in Sheila Bair.
ALTER: But there's talk of people even like William Donaldson, who is a former head of the SEC.
TODD: Right.
ALTER: If it's somebody who is not Bair or Warren, I agree there's going to be a fight on Capitol Hill from progressives. And if they do nominate Warren, there will also be a fight from conservatives, but that's a fight the White House should welcome.
VANDEN HEUVEL: Right. Exactly.
TODD: I want to ask you both this sort of bigger-picture question about President Obama.
Katrina, let me start with you. Do you believe the president is a progressive, or more of a pragmatist, centrist, out of the Bill Clinton mold? What do you see?
VANDEN HEUVEL: I—you know, I have always believed that, as progressives, we should be as pragmatic, tough, cold-eyed as President Obama is about us progressives.
I think he's a centrist progressive governing at a time when there is an opportunity to be a real progressive, to assert the role of government for the common good, and not as protector of corporate interest.
But I think he's a pragmatist. And by the way, Roosevelt, who so many progressive progressives herald, as we should, as a beacon of progressivism, was all about persistent pragmatic experimentation, which Jon knows well. And I think that's who Obama is at heart.
ALTER: I agree.
TODD: Here's—Jonathan, I want—I want you to comment on something. Here's more of President Obama with me yesterday on this topic.
TODD: You talk about a choice election this fall.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Right.
TODD: Are you prepared for the fact that now that means your policy is a referendum on you and your policy, and that the voters may say, "You know what, we're putting the Republicans in charge"? What does that tell you? What message does that tell you?
OBAMA: Well, first of all we have a long ways before the election, number one.
TODD: You disagree with Robert Gibbs' assessment?
OBAMA: Number two—
TODD: Enough seats in place?
OBAMA: Number two, we got—number two, this is going to be a choice between the policies that got us into this mess and my policies that are getting us out of this mess. And I think, if you look at the vast majority of Americans, even those who are dissatisfied with the pace of progress, they'll say that the policies that got us into this mess, we can't go back to.
TODD: Now, Jonathan, I play that because you just brought up something about his messaging. And there was something I believe it was in that political piece which got debated about the White House.
But there was somebody that made a point in there that it's interesting to compare President Clinton and President Obama. President Clinton made centrist decisions but talked like a populist. President Obama, a little more populist in his legislative agenda, but does his best to speak like a centrist. And that maybe that is why he's struggled to fire up the Democratic base.
ALTER: You know, I don't think that Clinton really did talk that much as a populist. He just sounded folksy because, you know, he's Clinton and he's from Arkansas. And, you know, Obama has talked about fat cats on Wall Street, and he really cuffed around the insurance companies.
But I think it goes back again to this question of his disdain for sound bites. He thinks it's somehow beneath him in some way to use catch phrases and slogans that linger in the mind. There's a cognitive dissonance, to use a fancy phrase. In other words, a gap between what the American people believe and the action that they might take in bringing the Republicans back.
There was a poll that came out, 60 percent are against repealing health care. When John Boehner said yesterday he wants to repeal this regulatory reform, nobody agrees with him in the country, except a tiny, tiny group of Republicans. So, the Democrats have the country behind him on the issues.
TODD: Right.
ALTER: They need to crystallize those. That's political blocking and tackling that they're not doing.
TODD: Katrina, my apologies. We'll have to continue our conversation on Twitter.
VANDEN HEUVEL: Thank you. That's OK.
TODD: We'll do that.
VANDEN HEUVEL: We'll do that.
TODD: You should follow Katrina on Twitter. She's pretty prolific.
Jonathan, you need to get better at it. You're just not as good at Twitter.
All right. Jonathan Alter and Katrina Vanden Heuvel—
ALTER: OK, I will. I'll work on it.
VANDEN HEUVEL: Thank you.
TODD: -- thank you both for this conversation.
All right. Up next: Mitt Romney is getting lots of money. Sarah Palin is getting lots of attention. With two years and four months until Election Day, 2012, but more importantly, about 15 months until the Iowa caucuses, which Republican presidential contenders are showing the most real strength?
This is HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
TODD: Well, get this: Harry Reid apparently has opened up a seventh-point lead over Republican challenger Sharron Angle in Nevada. A new "Las Vegas Review Journal"/Mason-Dixon poll has Reid at 44 percent and Angle at 37 percent. It's the best Reid has done in the Mason-Dixon poll this year. In fact, just last month, Angle held a slight edge over the majority leader.
Now, Reid is under 50 percent, that's never a good thing for an incumbent. However, he doesn't need 50 percent. Why? Because Nevada has something called none of these candidates. And let me tell you, in a year like this—none of these candidates, people ought to change their name to "none of these candidates."
Anyway, we'll be right back.
TODD: Welcome back to HARDBALL.
It's never too early to talk about the 2012 presidential election. And the big action will be on the Republican side next year.
We're going to size up some of the potential candidates with Chris Cillizza. He's managing editor of Postpolitics.com and "The Washington Post." And Jonathan Martin, he's senior reporter for "Politico."
Gentlemen, both of you wrote heavily this week about these financial reports that we heard from all these Republican presidential candidates. We seemed to learn something.
Jonathan, you wrote a piece on ups and downs, pluses and minuses. Let's start with Mitt Romney. He showed himself to be the front runner, didn't he?
JONATHAN MARTIN, POLITICO: Yes. And I think why, in the traditional standards, he is—as far as money, as far as organization, and as far as having done it before.
Keep in mind, the Republican Party has for years nominated the guy whose turn it is. And that is, I think Romney heading into 2012. He's got unmatched context along the sort of national finance committee.
TODD: And he got new context came in that sort of gravitating to him.
MARTIN: Right.
TODD: I notice. Yes.
MARTIN: He's signing up folks both in Washington and New York, Chuck, who were for other candidates in the race. He's been very aggressive about meeting with folks that supported, you know, John McCain last time, Rudy last time. Also, he's done it before.
That means a lot in politics. He knows sort of the mistakes that he made the last time. That said, he's got some real challenges, namely authenticity.
TODD: Right.
MARTIN: And his policy, but also in his personal approach—can he overcome that sort of flip-flop narrative? Also, health care—he passed a health care bill in his home state.
TODD: Right.
MARTIN: It looks a lot like President Obama's health care bill.
TODD: How does he get around that?
TODD: All right. If he's the tortoise in the race, Mitt Romney—the hare is clearly in this badly done analogy, Sarah Palin?
CHRIS CILLIZZA, WASHINGTON POST: I like this analogy.
TODD: No, but Sarah Palin is the hare.
TODD: Is she really running—did you get the sense that she was more likely to be running now than she did a month ago?
CILLIZZA: I feel like, Chuck, honestly, and Jonathan and I have talked about this, I feel like one day, I think no. The next day, I think yes. I mean, I really go back and forth. And I also think that unlike Romney and some of the other people we're going to talk about where you can grade her on kind of the traditional way that people go about—
TODD: She'll never do this traditionally.
CILLIZZA: She's not going to do that.
TODD: Yes.
CILLIZZA: Now, here's what I would say. I think the best—
TODD: Didn't Rudy Giuliani try to be non-traditional?
CILLIZZA: Yes, look what that got him.
CILLIZZA: I think—I think what, one thing to latch onto, the mama grizzly thing. She's done very well it. Mock it or not mock it, Karen Handel looks she's going to be very strong in the race next week.
TODD: Get in that runoff.
CILLIZZA: Nikki Haley, Carly Fiorina. She's building a group of people and more importantly, a theme or message that if she decides to run, she could. Clearly, there's a lot of energy. Clearly, there's a lot of money for her. But, as always, the problem with her: can she harness it in a meaningful way?
TODD: Is she disciplined enough? Right.
CILLIZZA: And, does she have the team around her to discipline? We know that's not the case yet.
TODD: I believe it was on Monday. Newt Gingrich in Iowa said, "I've never been more serious about running than I have been now." What are some of the pluses and minuses?
MARTIN: In an "A.P." interview, by the way. So, it was very explicit.
TODD: He did it on purpose.
MARTIN: He knew what he was doing. He's trying to (INAUDIBLE) the message out there.
TODD: He's not selling books anymore.
MARTIN: (INAUDIBLE) to the National Press Corps.
Exactly. This is not about books. This is not about facts hits. This is not about speaking fees. I'm really in it this time.
His date hasn't changed, Chuck. It's February or March of next year he's going to decide this thing. So, I think that's what to look for.
When it comes to Newt, (INAUDIBLE) if he starts releasing county a county lists of supporters, you know, who's signing up, who's for him. If he's doing that kind of thing, we'll know it's the real deal.
CILLIZZA: Right.
TODD: All right. The fourth guy, the guy I think you nicknamed "Teapot" at the end of the day.
CILLIZZA: Can I get credit for that? I'm taking credit for that.
MARTIN: Game changer.
TODD: Tim Pawlenty, governor of Minnesota—this is a guy that is plotting, right? He is just going about doing what everybody—what you're supposed to do in the manual that says—
CILLIZZA: He's the anti-Palin. In that, I mentioned Palin doesn't follow traditional rules. What Pawlenty is doing is following every traditional rule; he's the Mitt Romney circa 2008. In 2007, 2006, Mitt Romney went everywhere, every Lincoln Day dinner, every Iowa event.
TODD: And that's Pawlenty this time.
CILLIZZA: That's Tim Pawlenty. The question—the question: is there some bear there? And we don't know the answer to that yet. Nice guy. Great story.
CILLIZZA: First person in his family to go to college. You know, middle class roots. The Wal-Mart Republican, the Sam's Club Republican. Good story—but does he get people excite?
TODD: All right. I'm going to quickly—wildcards in here it: Haley Barbour, do you sense that he's actually trying to at least leave himself the option of running?
MARTIN: Absolutely.
MARTIN: Definitely thinking about it. If he ever would do it, this is now the opportunity. He is anti-Obama in every possible way. His upside is considerable. Huge contact as far as grassroots and finance. His downside just as big.
MARTIN: He looks and sounds like a Deep South.
TODD: He really hurts both Romney and Newt ironically.
CILLIZZA: He's the insider's choice in a lot of ways. This is a guy that all the consultants, all the people—everybody knows Haley.
MARTIN: There's a huge space right now to be a mainstream conservative/Romney alternative. Who fills that space? Is it T-Paw? Is it Barbour? Is it Mitch?
TODD: I was just going to say, Mitch Daniels, the other wildcard here.
CILLIZZA: Again, another anti-Obama, doesn't look, sound like Obama, short guy, bureaucrat, place that up. Could do it? Sure. But the problem with him—I don't know if he wants to get out there and retail campaign for two years. That's not been he's—that's not been what he enjoys doing.
TODD: It's fascinating. The field is going to start gelling faster than we realize.
Chris Cillizza, Jonathan Martin, I'll see you both at the 8:01 for pork chop.
MARTIN: In Des Moines.
TODD: All right. When we return, a rare thing happened this morning here in Washington, D.C. No, it wasn't Republicans and Democrats doing—did all of a sudden getting together and putting all their differences aside. There was an earthquake here in the nation's capital, an actual one, geological earthquake. Well, we're going to more on this D.C. quake next and find out if your city is next.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
TODD: Well, the Washington, D.C. area was hit by an earthquake, believe it or not this morning, and not the political kind we're used to. I know that cliche is getting old for folks. But it was a fairly mild one. Earthquakes are still pretty unusual in this part of the country, so where are these fault lines around the country and is there one near you?
So, we called in Dr. Thomas Heaton. He is with the earthquake engineering research lab at the California Institute of Technology and he joins us now.
All right. Dr. Heaton, I know most of your work is usually on the west coast. We know that everybody from Seattle to San Diego is always mindful of the fear of earthquakes. A new phenomenon here east of the Mississippi—how risky is this on the, quote, "eastern half of the country"?
DR. THOMAS HEATON, GEOPHYSICS & CIVIL ENGINEERING PROFESSOR: Well, roughly 10 percent the rate of earthquakes in the eastern U.S. as opposed to the western U.S. So, you don't get a lot of the earthquakes in the eastern U.S., especially in the 20th and 21st centuries.
If you go back awhile, you'll find there were some really important earthquakes in the eastern United States in the 19th century especially. Even New York got into the act with a magnitude 5.5 earthquake in the 1800s. But there have been some very large earthquakes in the eastern U.S., but nothing in any living person's memory.
TODD: And is there anything to—there's still nothing about an earthquake that can tell you, let you to predict that—oh, boy, a bigger one is coming. There's no—we yet don't have a pattern here, correctly, when you see a tremor, this means something?
HEATON: Well, of course, there's always a bigger one coming, but in terms of being able to tell when it's going to happen, we have no idea. And we do try to look for patterns, but I think the more we look, the more we realize it's very hard to see any repeatable pattern.
TODD: So, outside of—we know the corridor on the west coast big, you know, from Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Another big area I've always heard of that people don't talk about much is St. Louis. So, very quickly, tell us about that fault.
HEATON: Well, I don't think we know much about the fault except for the fact that there were three very large earthquakes, two in 1811, and a third one in 1812. And then there was another magnitude 6 ½ earthquake in the 1890s. Those earthquakes still have aftershocks today.
So, we can use the aftershocks from those earthquakes even almost 200 years ago to map where the faults were. The big debate is whether we'll have another large one on those faults. And to be honest, I don't think any of us know.
TODD: All right. Well, Dr. Thomas Heaton—a lot of us here in Washington, D.C. getting a education on earthquakes and faults. So, I appreciate you participating in that today. Thanks very much.
All right. Well, that's HARDBALL for now. Thanks for being with us.
Right now, it's time for "THE ED SHOW" with Ed Schultz.


text:
Part 2 Consents
Case Summary
TRW settled antitrust allegations stemming from its acquisition of BDM, a firm that provides, among other things, systems engineering and technical services (SETA) to the Department of Defense. TRW was part of one of two teams bidding for DOD'S Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's lead system integrator program. The acquisition would have placed TRW into BDM's role of SETA contractor whereby TRW could gain sensitive competitive information, including cost and bidding information, about its only other competitor for the program. According to the complaint issued with the consent order, this situation could have resulted in less aggressive bidding and higher prices for the leading system integrator program, or put TRW in a position to favor its own team by setting unfair procurement specifications or submitting unfair proposal or performance evaluations. The consent order requires TRW to divest the SETA contract to a Commission-approved acquirer.


text:
Client: American Electric Power/Markwest Energy Partners
Location: Ohio
AEP, one of the largest utilities in the nation, had to meet sudden increased system demands due to the development of the Utica and Marcellus shale gas deposits found in its Ohio service territory. Multiple gas companies, including MarkWest, had urgent power supply needs, requiring fast-track substation additions to AEP's system. To meet the demanding schedule, POWER Engineers managed both the AEP and MarkWest facilities as a single project with a subsequent division of the Power Delivery facilities.
POWER Engineers was the Program Manager for this series of customer-driven capital improvement projects to meet the gas companies' urgent deadlines. POWER's role as Program Manager was a variation of the traditional Owner's Engineer model that AEP had used. The model, similar to EPCM, maximized AEP's role in procurement and POWER's role in engineering, project controls, and construction management.
- Fast-Track Projects—These substation installations were completed three to four months faster than a typical AEP system upgrade, which was critical for AEP's customer in this highly competitive environment.
- Cost-Effective Procurement Method—AEP realized savings in equipment costs and did not have to expend its strained engineering and management staff for these customer-driven projects.
- Effective Stakeholder Communication—POWER's program platform for communication, POWER360®, facilitated the multiple stakeholders, including the serving gas company, for an improved flow of information throughout this time-critical program.
- Steamtown 138/12 kV Substation, serving a gas fractionation plant. The new station features five breaker, 138 kV ring bus, four 138-12 kV, 25 MVA transformers, and three lineups of outdoor 12 kV switchgear.
- Blackhawk 138/12 kV Substation, serving a gas refrigeration and compression plant. It features five 138 kV breakers, two 138-12 kV, 25 MVA transformers, and two lineups of outdoor 12 kV switchgear.
- Crimm Road 69/12 kV Substation, serving a gas processing plant. It features three 69 kV breakers and a looped, 69 kV transmission line.
- Project and program management
- Project controls
- Project scheduling
- Environmental permitting
- Substation design, using MicroStation XM 3D modeling
- Transmission line design
- Construction management