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Richard and Pat Nixon, two essentially shy people who would now both be a hundred years old, first met onstage. Each had a role in the Whittier Community Players' 1938 production of "The Dark Tower," by George S. Kaufman and Alexander Woollcott. Pat Ryan, a pretty twenty-five-year-old teacher at Whittier High, came to "The Dark Tower" with a smidgen of theatrical experience. Born in a Nevada mining-town shack and toughened by a hardworking childhood on a farm in Artesia, she had helped put herself through the University of Southern California with occasional jobs as a movie extra. But it wasn't any real enthusiasm for the stage that brought her to the Community Players. As her daughter Julie explains in a biography of her mother, she went only because the assistant superintendent at Whittier High asked her to, and she "found it difficult to say no to a school administrator." Nixon took to the whole business and several months later was back for more. At the urging of the Players' director, he went on to appear in "Night of January 16th," a melodrama by Ayn Rand in which the text itself chewed the scenery.
Pat Nixon, in later years, gave three memorably painful on-camera performances opposite Richard Nixon. In each of them, she was without lines of her own, but her mute, stricken countenance became an important part of the historical impression being created and preserved. On the last of these occasions, standing in the East Room of the White House on August 9, 1974, as her husband said farewell to his staff, she managed to avoid the tears that had flooded her eyes during a previous broadcast agony, her husband's tentative concession to John F. Kennedy on Election Night, 1960.
But Pat Nixon's presence and expression were most critical at the first of these televised displays, the one that took place at the El Capitan Theatre, in Los Angeles, on September 23, 1952. The surviving film of her husband's "Checkers" speech shows her on-camera, her jaw supportively set, for only seconds each time, as Nixon rebuts the accusation imperilling his campaign for the Vice-Presidency on a ticket headed by General Dwight D. Eisenhower. "SECRET RICH MEN'S TRUST FUND KEEPS NIXON IN STYLE FAR BEYOND HIS SALARY" was the New York Post's headline a few days before. Not so, Nixon now argued, and more or less proved to the television audience, by laying out everything he and his wife owned and owed: "I have no life insurance whatever on Pat. . . . I owe 4,500 dollars to the Riggs Bank in Washington, D. C., with interest four and a half per cent. I owe 3,500 dollars to my parents. . . ."
Though he was nowhere near the theatre, Checkers, a canine present from a supporter, stole the show. "Regardless of what they say about it," Nixon insisted of the dog, "we're gonna keep it." Checkers joined forces with Pat's cloth coat ("I always tell her that she'd look good in anything") to insure the candidate's continued place on the ticket. Heartwarming or revolting—take your pick—the speech was indisputably effective, and it might never have been given at all had Pat Nixon not overridden her husband's last-minute attack of stage fright. "I just don't think I can go through with this one," he told her three minutes before the camera's red light went on. "Of course you can," she replied, thereby extending his political life for more than two decades. The speech was a grand slam—Nixon celebrated its anniversary every year, even after Watergate—but Pat Nixon loathed politics from that televised moment on.
The origins of the Checkers episode can probably be traced to Nixon's run-in with Earl Warren, the governor of California, who four years earlier had been Thomas E. Dewey's running mate and sixteen years later swore in Richard Nixon as the thirty-seventh President of the United States. In the summer of 1952, Warren had positioned himself as a favorite-son candidate for President, but his control of the California delegation was threatened by Senator Nixon's attempts to maneuver it into the Eisenhower camp. Two months after the Republican Convention, a still disgruntled Warren supporter may have leaked the story of Nixon's "secret fund" to the Post.
Soon the much tonier New York Herald Tribune was chiming in, and causing Nixon's biggest problems. Having long clamored for an Eisenhower nomination, this editorial avatar of liberal Republicanism now called for the General's Vice-Presidential pick to get off the ticket. Advisers close to Eisenhower, ones much deeper inside the Party and financial establishments than the young, mortgaged, and stridently anti-Communist Senator, urged the same course. Eisenhower stayed largely silent on the matter for days, not even telephoning his running mate, though he did drop a quotable remark that Nixon would need to prove himself to be as "clean as a hound's tooth" if he wanted to remain on the ballot. When the General finally did call, a thoroughly agitated Nixon told the architect of the Normandy landings that it was time to "shit or get off the pot." By the conversation's end, however, the General still wanted the Senator to go on television to explain the whole matter.
Eisenhower scarcely understood the power of the weaponry that he was inviting Nixon to bring onto the field. But a couple of Nixon's allies, his bruising tactician Murray Chotiner and a political P.R. man named Robert Humphreys, instinctively grasped that television was about to alter politics as thoroughly as the nuclear option had recently changed military strategy. With money from various Republican campaign committees, they secured Nixon thirty minutes of airtime following Milton Berle on the Tuesday-night TV lineup. For the next couple of days, Nixon mostly secluded himself—already his customary crisis mode—and prepared. Then, shortly before the broadcast, a phone call from Governor Dewey, who, for all his establishment credentials, had been a real Nixon supporter, threw the candidate into a tailspin. Dewey regretted to tell him that Eisenhower's closest aides believed the TV speech should conclude with Nixon's resignation from the ticket. The candidate, as furious as he was shaken, hung up after instructing Dewey to tell everyone around Eisenhower that "I know something about politics, too!"
He also knew some oratorical tricks. Nixon's speech was meant to be overly detailed—its disclosure of private financial minutiae was, he assured his audience, "unprecedented in the history of American politics"—but he also employed a technique perhaps picked up from some long-ago listening to Marc Antony's funeral oration for Caesar. Before pointing out that Pat Nixon, who'd taught stenography at Whittier High, had often worked without pay in his Senate office, he informed viewers that his opponent for the Vice-Presidency, Alabama's Senator John Sparkman, "does have his wife on the payroll. . . . That's his business and I'm not critical of him for doing that. You will have to pass judgment on that particular point."
Mostly, though, the speech laid out the humdrum economies of a man whose ambitions ran to political advancement, not wealth. "For four years we lived in an apartment in Park Fairfax in Alexandria, Virginia," he declared. "The rent was eighty dollars a month." The speech was so replete with specifics that Nixon wound up running out of the time that had been purchased from NBC. He did manage his bold stroke—telling viewers that they should write or wire the Republican National Committee with their opinion of whether he should remain on the ticket—but the network cut off this Hail Mary pass in mid-flight. Nixon didn't have a chance to give out the R.N.C.'s address before NBC returned to its regularly scheduled programming.
The letters and telegrams and phone calls were vastly in his favor, and they somehow found their way to the committee. And yet Eisenhower seemed to continue his dithering. No decision came, and Nixon, feeling that he could take no more, composed a letter of resignation that Chotiner promptly ripped up. He told Nixon not to obey Eisenhower's summons to come and discuss the situation in Wheeling, West Virginia, where the General was campaigning, but to go off to Missoula, Montana, and resume his own barnstorming. This was going rogue with a vengeance, and it worked. Nixon travelled to Wheeling only after he got assurances that he would remain on the ticket. The groundswell from the speech had by this time risen so high that Eisenhower went out to the Wheeling airport to tell his much younger partner, "You're my boy." Nixon, exhausted by the ordeal, was photographed weeping on the shoulder of California's other senator, William Knowland, whom the Eisenhower campaign had been keeping close by as a possible replacement for its original choice of a running mate.
The Checkers episode is most often revisited from a poli-sci perspective, as a demonstration of TV's sudden political significance; an alternative choice for television's watershed moment is, of course, the debates that Nixon went on to have with John F. Kennedy in 1960. Checkers also tends to be used as evidence of Nixon's sharp and shameless political instincts. Rarely, though, does this weeklong extreme adventure receive its narrative due.
Last fall, the playwright Douglas McGrath tried to rectify that at the Vineyard Theatre, in New York, presenting the story, in "Checkers," as a kind of backstage drama. McGrath, who co-wrote "Bullets Over Broadway" with Woody Allen, framed the action from September of 1952 with scenes from 1966, when the twice-defeated Nixon is beginning to recognize that he's got one more shot at the Presidency, thanks to the "botch Johnson has made of this war." Murray Chotiner—shrewd, profane, and now endearing—is still around, wise to the ways of politics and of Nixon. The hard sell when it comes to running again is Pat. During the 1952 action, she's played as a loving, doe-eyed, and mostly airheaded spouse who nonetheless senses that her husband's television victory may be Pyrrhic. It leaves her prone to a number of genuine, if stiffly rhetorical, insights: "Resentment is not a good governing ideal." (Both Nixon characters use variants of "twist slowly, slowly in the wind" two decades before John Ehrlichman earned his place in Bartlett's with the phrase.)
"Checkers" lurches between comedy and drama and never settles deeply into either, but Nixon-haters who came to revel in an animated Herblock cartoon no doubt left the theatre disappointed. For all their growing disagreement, McGrath's Dick and Pat are a love match, and as airtime approaches, a moment after Uncle Miltie signs off, one can scarcely help rooting for him to prevail. As played by Anthony LaPaglia, Nixon is physically awkward and prone to third-person self-reference (more a Bob Dole tic, actually), but he is also soft-spoken and no more than ordinarily profane. LaPaglia underplays the speech; Nixon's own delivery, always available on YouTube, was a good deal more stagy.
If Watergate made it axiomatic that the coverup trumps the crime, the Checkers speech can be regarded as an occasion when a style of exculpation proved more memorable than the substance of an accusation. The "secret fund" was small potatoes: it amounted to about eighteen thousand dollars, given collectively by seventy-six donors, none of whom were permitted to contribute more than five hundred dollars. The money was used for such political purposes as mailing Christmas cards to supporters. The Post story—certainly its headline—was, in fact, a smear. Whatever the truth might be, millions on the left thought that the story was no better than Nixon deserved, certainly after his bullying treatment, during the 1950 Senate contest, of Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas, whom he'd described as "pink right down to her underwear."
The Stevenson campaign seemed reluctant to exploit the fund revelation, probably because, as Chotiner surmised, the Democratic Presidential candidate had a fund of his own that could be made to appear even more questionable. The Nixon fund was audited in the days just before the candidate took to the airwaves. "Fifty lawyers and accountants worked on a round-the-clock basis," Garry Wills writes in "Nixon Agonistes." "No wrongdoing would be found."
The most thorough reconstruction of the whole Checkers affair is now being offered in a book called "Just Plain Dick: Richard Nixon's Checkers Speech and the 'Rocking, Socking' Election of 1952" (Bloomsbury). A few years ago, the author, Kevin Mattson, a professor at Ohio University, provided a similarly exhaustive, and generally supportive, treatment of Jimmy Carter's crisis-born "malaise" speech from 1979. In this new work, Professor Mattson seems to believe that he's again playing fair, summarizing Nixon's response to the charges as a "bizarre mix of authenticity and performance art," but the author's thumb is never long off the side of the scale on which he piles up evidence of Nixon's political and personal awfulness.
From his title, courtesy of Variety's editorial about the speech, through his endnotes, Mattson has trouble avoiding a rote, ritualized contempt for Nixon. We are told that the Senator's relationship with Whittaker Chambers was "the closest thing to a friendship either man could have" (so much for Bebe Rebozo), and that Nixon "had an early propensity for mouthwash," as if being anti-halitoxic were some newly recognized ideological flaw. When Nixon is shown offering a whistle-stop crowd a fairly plainspoken explanation of why he chose to use political contributions rather than taxpayer money for certain expenses, Mattson notes, "Amazingly enough, the crowds cheered" the candidate's "legalese." In writing about the columnist Drew Pearson, the author discerns no double standard operating within these two sentences of his own: Pearson "saw a coarse ugliness entering Nixon's campaign in its last leg. So he gathered his staff in his Georgetown house and renewed their efforts to dig up dirt about the vice-presidential candidate." When Mattson hears an answer that's different from the one he wants, he decides that his subject was evading the question, and on at least one occasion he makes a Nixon quotation mean the opposite of what was obviously intended:
[Norman Vincent Peale's] The Power of Positive Thinking asked readers to embrace their internal salesmanship and overcome doubts. As Nixon explained, the fund crisis taught him that "it isn't what the facts are but what they appear to be that counts when you are under fire."
Mattson offers Nixon's remark as a reference to the selling job he was doing in the Checkers speech. But if readers go back to the quotation's original source—Earl Mazo's sympathetic 1959 biography of Nixon—they will find that the Vice-President was referring to the appearance of the charges, not to any spin he used in refuting them. There is no mention of Peale.
Mattson's book also makes some peculiar social assertions: "A country stabilizing its abundance and prosperity had started to define people by what they owned." This is a thought that Jimmy Carter enunciated in his "malaise" speech. "Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns," Carter said in 1979. Both Carter and Mattson find this change occurring in the years after the Second World War, though one might ask whether an earlier America, in which ownership of property determined the right to vote, and the property owned was sometimes human, hadn't encouraged its citizens to define themselves by what they possessed rather more than the latter-day, tail-finned and hula-hooping country would. When it comes to Checkers himself, Mattson makes a pronouncement as startling as its grammar is shaky: "By 1952, acquiring a dog constituted a democratic rite of passage, no longer the exclusive possession of America's wealthy aristocrats, who were known to prance around with their purebreds in places like the Upper East Side of Manhattan." Who knew that, decades earlier, Penrod and Dorothy Gale had been putting on such airs when they took Duke and Toto out for a walk down the small-town lanes of Indiana and Kansas?
Despite all this dubious sociology, Mattson makes clear from the first page of "Just Plain Dick" that he would really rather be writing a novel. "If the brain waves of Richard Nixon," he begins, "had been read between September 18 and 22, 1952, they might have gone like this." What follows is a four-page italicized and wholly implausible internal monologue in which Nixon sounds like a cross between Andy Hardy and Bela Lugosi. Now and then, along the narrative way, this sort of fictionalizing takes over, minus a preposition or two: "That was good, Nixon thought as he combed further through the speech on the train and then the automobiles that took him to the Auditorium." Mattson has a tendency to refer to the dramatis personae surrounding the protagonist by their first names, as if all of them—"Adlai" and "Drew" and "Mac" (General MacArthur)—were Facebook friends rather than figures in a work of history.
When Mattson does consent to work within the normal confines of nonfiction, he operates like an academic with dreams of a mass audience, or, at least, the hope of receiving teaching evaluations that will commend him as an especially with-it prof. He twice uses the word "bummer"; has characters being "pissed off" or "pissing off" others; and summarizes Nixon's attitude toward Truman's Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, by stating, "Richard Nixon, for one, really hated the guy." It's all reminiscent of the flop-sweaty Nixon who went on "Laugh-In" during the 1968 campaign to ask, "Sock it to me?"
Mattson hints at a respectful longing for such bygone mandarins of the commentariat as Walter Lippmann and Stewart Alsop. But he seems more nostalgic for the quicksands of psycho-history, whose feverish vogue in the nineteen-eighties was much stimulated by the availability of Nixon as subject matter for scholars like Fawn Brodie. "By the evening of September 23," Mattson writes, "Richard Nixon had become what J. D. Salinger called in The Catcher in the Rye a 'madman.' " The author's attempts to be fair are fleeting and obligatory; they appear almost like Post-it reminders to himself to give the other side a chance. The most generous passages try to see Nixon as "one of us," to use the title of an admirably even-handed biography from 1991 by the liberal columnist Tom Wicker. Drawing a contrast between Ike ("a great man") and Nixon ("an everyman"), Mattson portrays the latter as being "like the post-war strivers and strugglers . . . looking to buy a house in the suburbs and to own a car, radio, and television set and to get on with life. They were not the great men. They belched and cussed." When, presumably, they weren't swigging mouthwash. There is something to what Mattson says, of course—and it helps to remind us why there were Nixon Democrats even before 1960, let alone 1972—but the "one of us" view of Nixon has always had its own tinge of pathology, making "us" the head case, a crudely aspirational people with our minds on the crabgrass instead of the dawn.
Garry Wills wrote that after Checkers there "would never be any trust" between Eisenhower and Nixon. But the two men's relationship after the fund crisis had a dozen shifting dimensions, each of them now done narrative and analytical justice by Jeffrey Frank in "Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage" (Simon & Schuster). "Over years of casual familiarity, Eisenhower's view of Nixon kept changing—from the disdain that he felt for most professional politicians to doubts about Nixon's 'maturity' to a kind of hesitant respect," Frank writes. "Nixon's feelings about the general could change, too—from neediness and even awe to rare bursts of hateful rage, as when he called him a 'goddamned old fool,' or by one account, 'a senile old bastard.' " If Frank, a former editor at this magazine, adds modestly to our understanding of Eisenhower, he contributes enormously to our comprehension of his Vice-President; this is, in fact, one of the best books ever written about Richard Nixon. Despite his second billing, it is the younger man whose point of view and agonies dominate the story. If Ike seems at times as vaporous and ungraspable as Ronald Reagan, Nixon is nothing but edges, endlessly available to capable hands; in the end, knowable.
Nixon and Eisenhower shared a certain "duplicity" and came from similar parents, "devout mothers . . . and short-tempered fathers," but Ike was a much cooler customer, sometimes to the point of what Frank calls "casual cruelty." The twenty-two-year age difference between the two, further increased by the stature gap, ruled out any easy bonding when Nixon was presented to the General, by Ike's advisers, almost the way Checkers showed up in a shipping crate. Eisenhower didn't like the hearty lèse-majesté with which Nixon grabbed and raised his patron's arm for the photographers on the Convention rostrum. But Nixon's little gaffes mattered less than the quick study he made of his boss in the months that followed; he came to understand not only Ike's vanity but his own superior instincts for "raw political combat."
Once they were in office, the Vice-President worked hard to please. He took up golf; became a thoughtful contributor to Cabinet meetings; did the dirty work of the 1954 mid-term campaign; travelled around the world; and handled any number of social obligations that Eisenhower preferred to skip for quiet evenings at home with Mamie. After the President's heart attack, in 1955, without any guidance from a Twenty-fifth Amendment, Nixon improvised his way toward the sweet spot between reluctance and assertiveness. Murray Chotiner sensed "opportunity" in the health crisis, but Nixon was smart enough not to overplay his hand. John Foster Dulles, the Secretary of State who could remember Woodrow Wilson's incapacity from a stroke, was permanently impressed.
But Eisenhower seemed less so. The lengthiest torment of Nixon's Vice-Presidency was the possibility of being dumped from the ticket in 1956. Eisenhower suggested that Nixon might be better prepared for an eventual Presidency by running the Pentagon in a second Eisenhower term. The suggestion may have been sincere, in the light of Ike's military frame of reference, but it was also typically passive-aggressive. In January of 1956, the President would not allow Nixon to attend a political-strategy dinner with the Administration's most important players: "Ordinarily you would be the first one I would ask," Eisenhower explained to him. But "since you are going to be so much the object of conversation, it would be embarrassing to you."
For months to come, the situation seemed an endless replay of the General's indecision during Checkers; but in the end, as Frank demonstrates, Nixon "outmaneuvered" his boss for the second time. He even quietly condoned a write-in effort on his own behalf in the New Hampshire primary, which garnered a surprising number of votes and sent his stock upward. If read along with the most recent volume by Robert Caro, Frank's book makes plain that Richard Nixon was never as daunted by Dwight D. Eisenhower as Vice-President Lyndon Johnson was by John F. Kennedy.
Nixon's second Vice-Presidential term was a long waiting game interrupted by an Eisenhower health emergency even more serious than the heart attack. In November, 1957, the President suffered a stroke that left him, for a brief period, incoherent and enraged with frustration. Resignation was in the air; the New York Post, Nixon's early scourge, editorialized that Eisenhower should quit and make way for his Vice-President. Nixon again demonstrated competence and restraint, winning praise even from such liberals as Lippmann and James Reston. "It was no longer easy to regard him merely as the pitiless bastard who had befouled Helen Gahagan Douglas in his 1950 Senate campaign and seemed suspiciously in league with the party's McCarthyite wing," Frank writes.
Yet Nixon never seemed able to cross some final threshold with Eisenhower. The President's famous remark, during a press conference in the 1960 campaign, that he might be able to think of a major contribution Nixon had made to the Administration "if you give me a week," may have reflected his own decreasing mental agility, but it came after an endorsement that had been much delayed and was somewhat wan. Eisenhower didn't do much campaigning for his designated successor, and he wouldn't so much as deflect a little defense spending to areas where it might do Nixon some electoral good. After Kennedy's narrow win, Eisenhower offered tone-deaf consolation to Nixon and Pat. The Democratic victor agreed to participate in a televised tribute to the outgoing President before Nixon could bring himself to.
Only in Eisenhower's last years, which mostly coincided with Nixon's long period in the "wilderness," did there develop anything like warmth between the two men. Perhaps Nixon's having shrunk back into his britches helped. But Eisenhower did want to remain connected, and he even campaigned for his former Vice-President during Nixon's unwise run for the California governorship, in 1962, against the incumbent, Pat Brown. When that, too, ended in defeat, Ike sympathized to some extent with Nixon's last press-conference denunciation of the media ("You won't have Nixon to kick around any more").
For a while after that, as he practiced law in New York, Nixon became more like Ike's usual friends. "He was earning a great deal of money," Frank points out, "and would not have felt out of place among the wealthy middle-aged men who had surrounded President Eisenhower." Eventually, through the marriage of Nixon's daughter and Ike's grandson, the two men became in-laws. Eisenhower thought that Julie and David, whom Frank calls "a somewhat out-of-time couple," were rushing things; Nixon worried that any wedding just before the 1968 election would look like a political stunt; and John Eisenhower, the father of the groom, believed that the Nixons were "social-climbing" with the marriage. That didn't stop him, the following year, from accepting Nixon's appointment as Ambassador to Belgium.
Eisenhower died at Walter Reed Army Hospital two months after Nixon's Inauguration. The new President eulogized him at the Capitol and wept when departing the Rotunda. Frank believes this can be explained by "Nixon's continuing sadness at never having been admitted to the general's small, rarely expanded circle, the one that he reserved for friends." If this is the one point of "Ike and Dick" that seems reductive, that's because Frank has already assembled a panoply of additional reasons for those ambivalent tears. Curiously, the author does not mention that on the night before Nixon announced his resignation from the Presidency, five years later, he reassured those who were worried that he might lose his composure by saying that he hadn't cried since Eisenhower died.
Frank takes pains to avoid not only the auto-denunciations of so many left-leaning Nixon biographers but also the mawkish fealty of a smaller biographical band on the right. This intellectual restraint extends to the book's form. Unlike Mattson, Frank does not surrender to any temptation to novelize, even though he is a novelist, the author of a well-regarded "Washington trilogy" that includes "The Columnist" (2001). "Ike and Dick" shows how much life remains in artfully straightforward narrative history. It's done here with an old-fashioned sharpness of eye ("Mamie Eisenhower shared some of her fur wrap with Pat Nixon") and a springiness of phrasing: Frank calls Nixon's rumination on all the reasons to run or not to run in 1968 "a slightly narcissistic workout," since there was never any doubt about the decision he would reach.
Milton Eisenhower expressed gladness that his brother "did not live to see the things [Nixon] did" toward the end of his time in the White House, and Frank finds it "natural to wonder whether Watergate and all of its tributaries would ever have materialized if the patriarch had lived beyond the first two months of the Nixon presidency." But readers of "Ike and Dick" may find their own minds dialling things back to Eisenhower's stroke, in 1957, in order to speculate about what might have happened had Ike, instead of Dick, become the first President ever to resign.
Nixon would have reached the Presidency a dozen years sooner, at the age of forty-four. He would have arrived in the Oval Office misshapen by politics, to be sure, as a bruising campaigner who'd been forced to balance his checkbook on live TV and then spend five years trying to figure out the ways of a maddening boss whom everybody else seemed to love. But he would not have undergone the psychological damage of two crushing defeats that still lay ahead, and he would not have been presiding over a country at war in Southeast Asia and with itself. If that had happened, who knows what this gifted, knotted-up man, this "one of us," might have spared himself, and his wife, and every other one of us? ♦


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How to Take Stock of Your Life
Just a quick reminder that for the entire month of December my novels, Off to Be the Wizard and Spell or High Water are on sale over at Amazon US (The sale is only available to people in the United States. Sorry for the confusion). The Kindle editions are $2.00 and the paper versions are only $9.50.
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subset: commoncrawl


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|Norway - Division 3 - Gr. 3
Norway - Division 3 - Gr. 3 - segments table
Segments Table
Note: The 'Segments Table' is a visual representation splitting the teams into 5 segments. Each team is assigned to a specific segment, depending on the team's number of points. Each of the 5 segments spans one-fifth (20%) of the total points held by the team ranked 1st in the league. For each team, the number of matches played appears in green between brackets, and the number of points is displayed in black.


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Toronto grabs two first-round picks
The Blue Jays used the 16th overall pick in this year's draft on Texas high school shortstop Kevin Ahrens, and the 21st selection catcher J.P. Arencibia of U. of Tennessee.
Here's what Baseball America has to say about each player:
Kevin Ahrens, SS/3b
School: Memorial HS, Houston. Class: Sr.
B-T: B-R. Ht.: 6-2. Wt.: 180. Birthdate: 4/26/88.
Scouting Report: The best high school hitter in another strong year in Texas, Ahrens repeatedly draws comparisons to Chipper Jones. That holds up on several levels, as Ahrens is a switch-hitter with power and a high school shortstop who will have to move to third base at the next level, whether that's at Texas A&M or in pro ball. More of a gap-to-gap hitter in the past, Ahrens has gotten stronger and started to turn on his power at the World Wood Bat Championship last fall, hitting a game-winning triple in the quarterfinals and a game-winning homer in the semis before his Houston Heat lost in the championship game. He's proficient from both sides of the plate, with a sound approach and little effort in his swing. The only thing lacking in Ahrens' game is speed, as he's a below-average runner. Though he still sees himself as a shortstop, he'll definitely have to shift to the hot corner, where his plus arm and soft hands will be assets. In a tremendous year for high school third basemen, Ahrens could be a bit of a steal in the late first round or early supplemental first round.
J.P. Arencibia, c/1b
School: Tennessee. Class: Jr.
B-T: R-R. Ht.: 6-1. Wt.: 195. Birthdate: 1/5/86.
Scouting Report: Shortly after Julio Borbon broke his ankle in the preseason, Tennessee's next best hitter, Arencibia, pulled a muscle in his back and was forced out of the lineup until mid-March. He ranked with Borbon among USA Baseball's college national team's top prospects last summer after leading the team with nine home runs in 121 at-bats. Power has long been his calling card. The Miami native tied Alex Rodriguez' Westminster Christian High career record for home runs with 17 and was drafted by the Mariners in the 17th round in 2004. A potential first-rounder entering the season, Arencibia struggled offensively and behind the plate upon returning to the lineup. He's an aggressive hitter with plus power to all fields. His swing gets long and he tends to have too much of an uppercut stroke. The verdict is out on whether he'll stay behind the plate as a pro. His receiving skills are rudimentary at best, and his footwork prevents him from getting off better throws despite solid-average to plus arm strength. His stock has slipped, but he won't make it out of the second round.


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Sunday, February 28, 2010
congrats, canada!
environmental news story sunday
tracking a rising tide of waste. wisconsin is churning out permits for industrial-scale farms to spread millions of gallons of manure on state fields but provides little oversight after that, inspecting them only once or twice every five years, a wisconsin state journal investigation has found. - madison wisconsin state journal
melamine: the toxic legacy. - dairy giant fonterra is not providing any direct compensation to chinese victims of the contaminated milk scandal despite a new study which shows many of the affected children have ongoing health problems. - auckland sunday star times
warm winters distress reindeer herders. warm winters in recent years have forced herders here in the far northern kola peninsula to delay for months the rounding up of their reindeer from the vast tundra -- at great economic cost. - afp
unpredictable weather patterns hurting farming. a study indicates that on-going extreme changes and variability in zambia's climate could bring losses of more than us$4 billion in agricultural income in the next 10 years, driving hundreds of thousands into poverty and food insecurity. - ndola times of zambia
animal tagging dropped. facing opposition, the federal government has dropped a six-year effort to get farmers nationwide to tag and trace the movements of livestock. the system was launched by the usda in 2004 after a mad cow disease scare in canada. - lancaster intelligencer
oregon oyster farms recalls oysters, 8 sickened as newport wine & seafood festival starts. the beds have been closed by the department of agriculture as food safety specialists investigate the source of the outbreak. water samples will be taken this weekend to test for norovirus contamination. - portland oregonian
california farms to get more water from u.s., state. drought-stricken farmers in california were granted a measure of relief on friday when federal and state officials said they expected to supply them with significantly more water this year than last. - reuters
monterey county awash in pesticides. pesticides are not sustainable. pesticides and fumigants are made to kill. they're also made of petroleum. corporations and corporate farming companies are using scare tactics to resist any change that affects profits. - salinas californian
savor taste of locally grown food. the benefits of supporting a local food system are enormous. economically, it would create living wage jobs revitalizing poor communities. societal benefits would include improved health and access to healthier food as well as increased food safety - fresno bee
italian oil slick reaches key farm center of parma. sludge from an oil spill snaked down the po river on thursday to reach the province of parma, raising fears that the home of italy's famed prosciutto, parmesan cheese and other agricultural staples might be at risk of water contamination. - ap
greenpeace denounces un support for gm crops in mexico. the united nations' food and agriculture organization is supporting the introduction of transgenic, or genetically modified, crops in Mexico and other developing nations, the greenpeace chapter in that country denounced - efe
pesticide regs clean valley's air. pesticide emissions that contribute to smog in california dropped significantly in 2008, the first year restrictions on agricultural fumigant applications specifically targeting air quality were in effect. - modesto bee
the future of fish farming? recirculating aquaculture systems, or ras, are closed-loop production systems that continuously filter and recycle water, enabling large-scale fish farming that requires a small amount of water and releases little or no pollution. - christian science monitor
republicans bash usda's climate research. research on the effects of global warming on farmers seen as a waste. - greenwire
heritage hogs. variety isn't just the spice of life. you could say it is life. and you can't have variety without lots and lots of genes. farmers have spent thousands of years developing livestock that do well in different conditions. - environment report
plow shares. the crop mob, a monthly word-of-mouth (and -web) event in which landless farmers and the agricurious descend on a farm for an afternoon, has taken its traveling work party to 15 small, sustainable farms. together, volunteers have contributed more than 2,000 person-hours, doing tasks like mulching, building greenhouses and pulling rocks out of fields. - nytimes
Labels: california, drought, environment, farmers, farms, fish, food safety, italy, mexico, milk, pesticide, republicans, toxins, united nations, water
mad about my dear gaffney
Saturday, February 27, 2010
following leaders of mountains of shame....
looking for someone to blame.
take a wild friggin' guess as to whose side i'm on...
Labels: music
time to call the doggies off, tired of the shadowin'...
slide me to the side again... slapped in the face again.
i love this song. but it isn't for everyone.
sorry 'bout that...
Labels: music
another healthcare insurance issue
barb dill, a widow battling the system regarding her husband's suicide due to ptsd induced depression asks the question that we should all ask ourselves and our elected officials.
....some families of civilian contractors who have committed suicide have tried to battle for help through an outdated government system designed to provide health insurance and death benefits to civilian contractors injured or killed on the job.
under the system, required by a law known as the defense base act , defense firms must purchase workers' compensation insurance for their employees in war zones. it is highly specialized and expensive insurance, dominated by the troubled giant aig and a handful of other companies. the cost of it is paid by taxpayers as part of the contract price.
but the law, which is designed to provide coverage for accidental death and injury, blocks payment of death benefits in the case of almost all suicides. cases linked to mental incapacity are the lone exception, judges have ruled.
a joint investigation last year by propublica, abc news and the los angeles times revealed that contract workers must frequently battle carriers for basic medical coverage. while congress has promised reforms, there has been no discussion of changing the law when it comes to suicides involving civilian defense workers.
the military, by contrast, allows survivors to receive benefits in cases in which a soldier's suicide can be linked to depression caused by battlefield stress.- propublica and the daily beast
"shouldn't our government be responsible for the companies they hire?" dill said. "shouldn't our government take care of its own people, who are doing jobs our government, ultimately, wanted them to do?"
Labels: contractors, government, healthcare, insurance, soldiers, war
a whole lotta shakin' that went on
and still going on...holy mole. when you get "aftershocks" of 6.9....yikes.
Labels: chile, earthquake, youtube
a democrat showing some green spine
rep. tom perriello tells 'spineless' senate to get 'its head out of its rear end' and confront climate crisis - think progress
Labels: climate change, congress, democrats, environment, spinal fortitude
our hearts go out to chile
a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck chile early saturday, shaking the capital of santiago for 90 seconds and sending tsunami warnings and advisories along much of the pacific basin. - nytimes
president michelle bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe" in affected areas and appealed for calm.
tsunami warnings have been issued for hawaii, australia, new zealand, central america and pacific island nations. - bbc
california warned its coastal cities to prepare for possible tsunami waves following a deadly magnitude-8.8 earthquake off the coast of chile. - latimeslivestream (in spanish)
a devastating earthquake struck chile early saturday, toppling homes, collapsing bridges and plunging trucks into the fractured earth. a tsunami set off by the magnitude-8.8 quake threatened every nation around the pacific ocean — roughly a quarter of the globe. - sfgate
one surprising reporter on the huge chilean earthquake this morning: former "american idol" contestant elliott yamin.
cnn noted this morning that yamin has "been tweeting like crazy."
yamin, who had been performing in chile, was to do interviews with abc and nbc this morning. he wrote: "scariest nite/morn of my life!!…" - orlando sentinel
here's hoping that our hawaiian bloggy buddy linkmeister will be ok and stays "HI" and dry.
civil defense sirens were sounded at 6 a.m. to alert residents about the tsunami generated by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake off chile. the first waves are expected to reach hawaii at about 11 a.m. - honolulu star-bulletinit's a good time to ask yourself, do you have your earthquake preparedness kit at the ready?
hawaii woke residents with sirens, alerting them to the waves. a tsunami warning — the highest alert level — was issued earlier for the island chain. boats and people near the coast were being evacuated. hilo international airport, located along the coast, was closed. - sfgate
Labels: chile, earthquake, hawaii, south america, tsunami, twitter
down the penrose lane
more @ penrose on politics!
Friday, February 26, 2010
congresscritter alan grayson was right
emergency rooms should be able to turn patients away to cut costs, minnesota gov. tim pawlenty (r-minn.) said last night - crooks and liars
Labels: healthcare, hospitals, minnesota, republicans
the finns
for the record
from the more email links we never bothered clicking dept.
ausgezeichnet, jensbruse
was bedeutet die "software, die sie downloaden können"?
schritt 1 - archiv downloaden und speichern auf ihrem computer.
schritt 2 - archiv entpacken.
schritt 3 - installieren und benutzen!
jensbruse, d33w-1991 ihren persönlichen code zu 30% rabatt auf alle produkte.
World's Stupidest Stories
Thursday, February 25, 2010
35 people died while obama debated the do-nothing republicans about health care in his fool's errand quest for bipartisanship.
35 counts of murder should be lodged against the president, the senate and the house for their lame approach to health care that makes insurance company profits first and foremost the concern of "health care reform".
our elected representatives are all murderers. they are scum. they should be spat upon for killing innocent americans whose only crime is they couldn't afford to pay wellpoint, aetna and blue cross.
(45,000 / 365 / 24) * 7 = 35
math is hard. death is harder.
Labels: bipartisanship, healthcare
go suomi!
what the f**k?
the state assembly passed a resolution thursday that would establish the first week of march as "cuss free week" throughout the state. if approved by the senate next week, the measure would take effect immediately.i suggest calling your "favorite" california politico (say, like, the governator?) and "voice" your objection over this waste of time and our ever evaporating moolah.
the resolution includes no enforcement mechanism and is simply meant to promote greater harmony and connectedness, said assemblyman anthony portantino,
a democrat from la canada flintridge and co-author of the measure.- sfgate
Labels: california, government, politicians, sacramento
since i'm unemployed and have a bit of time
newt gingrich, who toyed with running for the wh in '96 and seriously engaged the idea of running in '08, but ultimately did not, said today, "'12 is different."
in an interview with national journal reporters and editors this morning, gingrich said he and his wife callista were "trying to organize our activities to be in a position to make a decision [about running for president] in february or march [of '11]...
if this mother of all hypocrites does decide to run for the white house, i might have to resurrect mockingbird's medley. there's just too much blog-fodder to pass up here -- that, and newt gingrich is a total f&%k.
Labels: politics
take the godwin quiz!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
for miss beverly (plastic) hill's sake
the officials from "miss california pageant" should just say "no" to promoting this hatemongerer in stilletos.
now, miss beverly hills 2010 lauren ashley, who will compete in the miss california pageant in november, has gone further. ashley told fox news that not only is she against same-sex marriage, but that she thinks it is divine law that gays should be put to death because "the bible is pretty black and white" - think progressthe guilded city has "disowned" this homophobic bimbo (from pasadena).
Labels: california, faux news, gay/lesbian, hate mongering
$108 million and $0 taxes
michael hiltzik in the la times today
to everyone who claims that our wealthiest citizens pay more than their fair share of income taxes and we should cut them a break because they're the ones who, you know, create jobs in our economy, i have four words for you:(h/t seeing the forest and speak out california)
frank and jamie mccourt.
the mccourts, who own the los angeles dodgers (so she says; he says he's the owner and she's not), jointly pocketed income totaling $108 million from 2004 through 2009, according to documents jamie mccourt recently filed in the couple's divorce case in los angeles county superior court.
on that sum, they paid zero federal and state income tax. jamie suggests that some tax breaks will apply this year too.
the teabagger terrorist took action against the tax system being set up against the average little working guy. if we don't want any more teabagger terrorist actions, we really need to take a look at the tax system and stop the raping of the working class before it's too late.
los angeles should rename the team - the "tax dodgers."
Labels: baseball, blogtopia, california, los angeles, taxes, taxpayers, terrorists
gray lady down!
as you may know, our good buddy brad blog has been holding the nytimes' feet to the proverbial fire over their sloppy reporting on this story:
that, even though...
- former ma attorney general scott harshbarger, whose investigation [pdf] of the edited versions of the videos found no illegal conduct by acorn staff and observed that "at each and every" acorn office visited by o'keefe with his partner hannah giles (who was dressed as a "prostitute") he was "dressed like a college student - in slacks and a button down shirt," and;
- acorn has stated on the record, based on interviews with their employees, that [emphasis in original] "o'keefe was not wearing that absurd costume when he visited our offices," and;
- giles herself has now twice admitted on the record (once on video tape), that o'keefe never wore his 70's-era blaxploitation pimp costume in those offices, and;
- o'keefe and giles' benefactor, andrew breitbart, who published and promoted the videos (and misrepresented them himself in his own washington times column) also finally acknowledged the pimp outfit was only used as a marketing gimmick, and;
- while the times' scott shane first reported on september 15th of last year that o'keefe "visited acorn offices...dressed so outlandishly that he might have been playing in a risqué high school play" and, on september 18th, as traveling in "the gaudy guise of pimp and prostitute through various offices of acorn," and;
- the paper had reported similarly time after time since then (without noting the existence of harshbarger's report even once), and;
- even though i directly debunked several pieces of "evidence" that hoyt originally proffered for his original assessment that he "would not recommend a correction, based on the available evidence," and offered him much more corroborated evidence along with it, and;
- even though he acknowledges his original evidence was, indeed, inaccurate, and;
- even though congress voted to defund acorn just days after the new york times' first inaccurate report;
but of course by now, he has seen, or at least he has been sent, "conclusive evidence that the times was wrong." yet he has still declined to recommend any retractions by the "paper of record."
i am as utterly gobsmacked now as i was when times' senior editor of standards greg brock originally cited an appearance by james o'keefe wearing his pimp costume on fox "news," during which host steve doocy said the rightwing activist was "dressed exactly in the same outfit that he wore in these acorn offices up and down the eastern seaboard," as evidence to support their reporting.
clark hoyt may be reached here. be polite but firm.
great moments in religious philosophy
in response to scott brown's bipartisan vote on the jobs bill, a wingnut wrote on on rep. brown's twitter feed:
yeah, and one of you will deny me before the first duck crows.
got a new toy to play with...
now if i can just get the sumgun to work the way it's supposed to -- but anyway...
Labels: it is what it is, life, music
mad about gop stimulus hypocrisy
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
happy blogiversary!
steve benen celebrates 7 years of blogging today!
say hello
who participated in blogroll amnesty day a bit late, and so we're a bit late in mentioning it!
also, say hello to she writes like she talks!
scar wars
it doesn't get any funnier than the concept...but it doesn't need to...it's hilarious
curling: another country heard from (literally)
also of note: canada's cheryl bernard held onto the top seed in women's curling, to face switzerland in the semi-finals on thursday. tho we still don't find curling worth our time, we do fondly remember cheryl's work in wings.
and, credit where credit is due, o canada: moir and virtue's first place performance in ice dancing was a joy to behold. congrats, you canucks!
but, this being an american blog, and our being big fans of andrew lloyd weber's chef d'oeuvre, here's one last look at silver medalists meryl davis & charlie white dancing to phantom of the opera:
note: above is from the nationals held in spokane, wash, in january, not from last nite's award-winning performance (you can see that here, thx for not sharing, nbc!). but it's still a great routine. (note: mrs. skippy astutely pointed out that davis refrained from the hoary chestnut of wearing a phantom mask for the routine, a most wise decision, aesthetically.)
how crazy is crazy?
"you'd be an idiot not to notice the temperature change," he says.
he also thinks it could be caused partly by man's activity.
at home, he's going green by using energy-saving products.
"i'm willing to do anything but use the cfls," he says of compact fluorescent light bulbs. "i put them in once and couldn't stand the way they lit up the room"...
beck also has lots of friends on the other side of the political spectrum, he reveals in the usa weekend piece. he calls george clooney "a good, honest man." beck says the two of them had an extended conversation about the genocide in darfur.
"we came to an immediate, completely wholehearted agreement about the situation," beck says. "that is, to put aside the politics and give troops what they need to protect people over there. he's a good, honest man who believes passionately about doing something about it."
beck's personal publicist, matt hiltzik, is a democratic power player who helped get hillary rodham clinton elected to the u.s. senate, says the magazine report.
"and let me tell you about liz julis, the editor of my magazine, fusion," he says. "every year, i match charitable donations that my employees make. she ends up giving her money away to some hippie hemp farm somewhere, and she loves to rub it in that i'm writing a check for something like that. she's one of my favorite people because we hardly agree on anything, but we challenge each other."
this day in history
Labels: history, santa barbara
the x-tremely weird files
on the surface, the web page looks unassuming and unimaginative, w/no graphics or pictures, or even adjectives to let you know what kind of rabbit hole you are about to fall into. but as you read the seemingly innocuous case studies, you are taken into a world somewhere between the x-files and the twilight zone.
we'll let io9, the people responsible for our getting hooked on this weird web site, explain further:
there's the coffee vending machine that dispenses a cup of whatever you ask for, even if it has to reach out to other planets to do so. there's the woman with a full nazi german war bunker somehow contained within her nose. there's the red stone that lets you walk through mirrors into an abandoned world, as described in a genuinely unsettling series of accounts that i do not recommend reading late at night. there's the zombie virus from outer space.
the central conceit of the scp foundation is that it's your basic shadowy multinational organization dedicated to the study and containment of all things paranormal. to that end, the stories take the form of case studies, incident reports, and lists of precautions, written in a clinical, detached tone that's impressively consistent. (in reality, the "foundation" seems to have begun life as a series of posts on 4chan, though by now it's got a culture and register all its own.)
it would be easy for a site like this to descend quickly into grim, top-this humorlessness, but fortunately that's not the case. a lot of the stories have a healthy sense of whimsy (see scp-131, the affectionate, catlike "eye pods"), and the foundation researchers are usually depicted as a prankish, haphazardly principled lot, in what might be a sly comment on the real-life bureaucrats who make the decisions that shape our world.
a good place to start is the secure facilities page, where you'll find brief descriptions of the sites and task forces at the foundation's disposal. these are expertly written to rev the imagination. (sample entry: "mobile task force rho-5, aka 'stitch in time': assigned to scp-276 for the purpose of repairing temporal anomalies. currently somewhere in the victorian period.") after that, you are encouraged to dip into the full index, picking up the site vocabulary ("euclid," "keter," "o5-x," "[redacted]") as you go.
as it is a wiki site, everyone is encouraged to write their own reports about preternatural phenomena, but apparently http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/guide-to-newbies. we assume that if you submit a substandard report, not only will it be edited or completely deleted, so might you be.
and probably by something really creepy.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Getting back to the current Olympic competition, I was very disappointed by the way the US men's and women's teams performed. They're all from Minnesota, you see, and I was looking forward to cheering the home town folks in the medal matches. John Schuster on the men's side played very poorly, and I turned off the match against China tonight when he stunk up things in the, I think it was, fifth end and allowed a two-point end to get away by failing to make a not particularly difficult shot. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't the hardest shot in the world. Don't get me wrong; I appreciate Schuster's abilities, but he had a very bad Olympics. That can happen to the best athletes at any time, but this was a very bad time for it to happen to John because the curler who throws fourths is more important in curling than the runner who runs the anchor leg of a relay race.
I'll be trying out the game some time in the future, though I can't say exactly when. I have a lot of things going on at work and I need to heal up from a recent surgery (thank goodness I am fortunate enough to have health insurance...and a terrific surgical team...and thank goodness for nurses, who are genuine heroes in my book).
Curling is a great sport and I am looking forward to getting out on the sheets and sliding a few stones around, just to test it out. I hope I can meet some of the US men's or women's team members at the St Paul Curling Center, or one of the other curling centers here in Minnesota, and get some autographs. I'd also like to tell them my idea about working things out with a physicist at the U. They'll tell me that you can't slide rocks based on numbers, but if you can make the problem digital, I think it can help some people (not all) to visualize the shots, and if you can visualize it, you can make it.
anthem double cross
california's insurance regulator said monday his office has found more than 700 violations by the state's largest for-profit health insurer, including late payment of claims, giving misleading information to consumers and failing to cooperate with regulators.
anthem blue cross faces a maximum $10,000 penalty for each violation, insurance commissioner steve poizner said. his office said the violations occurred between 2006 and 2009.- sfgate
Labels: california, healthcare, insurance, lawlessness
again...where is sarah palin and her outrage
oh, yeah...that's right...it was made by a fellow rethug so it's o.k.
on thursday, virginia state delegate bob marshall (r) spoke at a press conference against state funding for planned parenthood. he blasted the organization for supporting a women's right to choose, saying that god punishes women who have had abortions by giving them disabled children - think progress
Labels: palin, republicans, womens issues
another queen song bites the dust
we are the champions
let's talk entitlements
carpinteria is a lovely little city on the pacific just south of santa barbara, boasting such features as a city-owned coastal preserve and one of the four remaining seal rookeries in southern california.
just about the last place you'd expect to become the target of a hostile corporate takeover.
the corporation is venoco inc., an independent oil company with revenue of more than half a billion dollars a year, which currently owns an oil storage facility in carpinteria. one would get weary painting big oil companies as soulless monsters, if venoco didn't make it so easy.
this denver-based firm is spending lavishly to pass a ballot initiative specifically exempting itself from the city's industrial development and environmental rules. - latimes
Labels: california, corporations, election, election integrity, lawlessness
where is sarah palin's outrage
where is sarah palin's outrage that there are republicans want to be death panels for those like her son, trig?
Labels: hate mongering, palin, republicans, social security
burn pits
sgt. klayton thomas looked every bit the poster boy marine as he strode into a military hospital last september to get his back checked.
he taught karate and earned his abs in the gym. he had survived a 2007 deployment
to iraq, even thrived during his prolonged stay in the middle of the then-treacherous sunni triangle. he rarely drank. he didn't smoke. life seemed perfect on this mid-september thursday, if only his back would stop aching. the 25-year-old columbus, neb., native thought he had wrenched it playing soccer. three months and 10 days later, he died in hospice care.
this much is known: thomas succumbed to an unstoppable lung cancer that crushed his vertebrae, blitzed his bones and invaded his brain, dumbfounding doctors who had spent their entire careers treating the disease.
his death leaves a medical mystery, one similar to those posed by hundreds of other american military personnel battling exotic cancers or struggling with rare respiratory problems.
this mystery begins in the unlikeliest of places: iraqi "burn pits" — large, primitive landfills where contractors set trash aflame, causing ever-present black smoke to drift over dozens of u.s. military bases.
...military contractors burned nearly every bit of waste from military bases — trash that included plastics, batteries, old weapons, ruined machinery and a fuel known to cause cancer, according to government and independent reports.
they burned because military leaders originally saw the pits as temporary, a congressman thinks, the simplest way to dispose of trash before troops quickly exited iraq. but as the war continued, they burned because it saved money, according to subsequent lawsuits, allowing u.s. contractors to avoid having to install costly incinerators. - omaha world herald
"the military needs to step up and address this problem," said john wilson of the advocacy group disabled american veterans, which maintains a registry of more than 500 veterans with disorders they blame on burn pits. the fumes emanating from the pits, he warned, could become the agent orange of the current war zone.time to ask of our congresscrittes the "burning questions" why is this practice being continued and when will it stop?
items burned in the pits have included medical waste, plastics, computer parts, oil, lubricants, paint, tires and foam cups, according to soldiers and contractors. some say amputated body parts from iraqi patients were burned in balad, site of a large u.s. military hospital - latimes
Labels: contractors, healthcare, iraq, iraq war, soldiers
Sunday, February 21, 2010
environmental news stories sunday
but, without further adieu, stories you probably didn't hear from the corporate infotainment industry.
'tiger by the tail?' - wyoming's energy ambitions might force legislators to contemplate something that goes against their current fiscal instincts: increasing regulatory budgets. some question whether the state environmental agency is equipped to handle the growing workload. - casper star tribune
new consumer product safety commission chief charges ahead with ambitious agenda. - the new head of consumer product safety in the united states has quickly put american and foreign toymakers, crib manufacturers and producers of other goods on notice that there's a new sheriff in town - mcclatchy
county farmers digging in. - during the past decade, farmers have been thrown into an international debate. they must decide between genetically modified seeds and traditional seeds- state college centre daily times
authors attempt 'death by rubber duck.' - inspired by morgan spurlock's fast-food gluttony in the movie super size me, two environmental activists from canada devised their own experiment. - all things considered
ex-industry insider goes extra mile to fight vt. yankee. - when paul blanch heard that the vermont legislature would take one more day of testimony before voting on the future of its nuclear power plant, the west hartford, conn., resident jumped into his car and drove to the green mountain state. - barre montpelier times argus
honda makes a big drive into solar power. - for now, soltec remains a small part of the car giant's business. honda insists, however, that it is an important part of its plan to cut the amount of carbon dioxide that is generated from its cars. - london times
officials wary of agricultural terrorism. - in the past decade, safeguarding food and agriculture from both foreign and domestic terrorism has become a point of emphasis for the u.s. department of agriculture, which has dealt with food safety since its establishment in 1862.- sioux falls argus leader
toxic fume fire to 'burn for months.' - the largest fire in the history of the new providence landfill site is expected to continue burning for months perpetuating fears toxic smoke will choke the island.- nassau tribune
texan warns new york county about gas drilling. - the mayor of a map-speck texas town warned sullivan county that noise, air pollution and heavy traffic will overrun the catskills if smart regulations are not implemented before natural gas drilling starts- middle town times herald record
florida legislators consider lifting ban on offshore drilling. - by now, the arguments are well rehearsed. offshore oil drilling is either a dangerous gamble with florida's beach-driven tourism industry, or a potential job creation and tax windfall.- mcclatchy
Labels: agriculture, canada, cars, ecology, energy, environment, epa, farmers, fire, florida, nuclear power, oil, solar, terrorists, toxins, vermont
curling irony
this is not to take anything away from the summer atheletes, of course; michael phelps deserves his medals (and his bong, ioho), carl lewis is amazing, and we're sorry jackie joyner kersey got busted for drug use.
but watching people run around in a circle is not very exciting to us, compared to watching people slide down a mountain at 65 mph. so we were incredibly happy to see lindsey vonn get her gold in the downhill (but we admit we kind of laughed when she was unable to hide her resentment at getting a bronze in the g-force). we were sorry shani davis only got silver.
we were appalled that the poor georgian luger lost his life in a practice run on the day the olympics opened; even more appalled that the official word was that it was his fault, and not the track design, even tho the olympic staff re-built the offending wall that the poor man flew over.
tho we are americans, we wonder if the russian evengi plushenko wasn't robbed of the gold that evan lysacek won by a hair. but we, along w/the whole world, know there was no doubt that the russian ice dancing pair oksana domina and maxim shabalin simply dominated the rink in the first round.
and what can be said about shaun white, except that he looks and sounds like carrot top in his prime? and we don't know about you, but snowboard cross is our new favorite sport.
so, to sum up: running and jumping in sand on a track? waving a ribbon around on the gym floor? diving? meh.
but anything that gets people going 90 mph in freezing cold weather gets our blood boiling.
however, before you summer afficianados starting writing those nasty snarky emails to us, we will admit: curling neutralizes every single thing we've said.
curling has got to be the stupidest, most pointless, lamest sport ever invented, and we're counting dwarf-tossing and dungeons and dragons, too.
the pace is excruciatingly slow; if it were any slower, the participants would freeze to the ice themselves.
and what's with the two folks running in front of the big rock with little brooms, smoothing the ice? how unfair is that, compared to every other friggin' sport in the games, where the players have to take the ice and snow as it is?
can you imagine how better the ice dancers would be if they had their own personal human zambonis clearing the way?
Saturday, February 20, 2010
mad about obama and voltaire
Friday, February 19, 2010
chairman governor dr. dean's brother is in town
maybe i'll just run for some sort of office one of these days.
Labels: democrats, howard dean, progressives, santa barbara, ucsb
politics, the media, everything
come on, join the party. dress to kill.
Labels: music
life imitates art, and art imitates blogs
fault line, by barry eisler, showed good, pulpy spy-vs.-spy promise in the early pages: a lawyer who specialized in computer software patents has a client, who is murdered on the first page (hell, in the first sentence! always a good sign when a book starts out fast and violent). the lawyer is subsequently attacked himself, so he contacts his estranged brother, who is a black ops/military spy, for help.
so far, so good. but why we mention it to you, our dear readers, is that we began to notice some not-so-subtle hints that the author, barry eisler, must be a big fan of blogtopia, and yes, we coined that phrase. so much so, that he actually used names of bloggers as character names in his tome.
the afore-mentioned first sentence should have been a dead (pun intended) give away:
however, a bit later in the early chapters, one of the characters muses about blogs:
we weren't even totally convinced that these mentions were something more than coincidence when we came across this familiar name on the very next page:
still, we said, the names "josh" and "marshall" aren't all that uncommon...and mr. eisler didn't call that minor character josh michah marshall, after all.
but then, the girl who lost her virginity to josh, dumped him on the very next page, and you'll never guess the name of her next boyfriend:
or so we told ourselves, until a few pages later, when the mystery led to the death of a manager in the us patent office who was working on paperwork for hilzoy's invention. when the lawyer called the patent office to find out about his friend, his call was re-directed:
but, we soon decided that it was a benign reference to all the good which blogtopia (y!wctp!) has done, because yet a few more pages later, the lawyer and the ex-virgin insist on spilling the beans about the whole mystery. and do they want to go to the mainstream press? no, of course not. she lurvs the blogs! and by name, as well:
"of course," alex said. "sourceforge, or slashdot - "
"not just the tech sites," sarah said." "we could written to every political blog out there - talking points memo, unclaimed territory, no comment, balloon juice, hullabaloo, the daily dish, firedoglake. we could have documented the people who were killed, the break-in at your house - "
strangely enough, he's probably right.
now, we don't know if every single one of these bloggers have secretly signed away the rights to their names to mr. eisler for his book. we tend to think not, but, as we said above, this is probably more a tip of the hat to the work the bloggers have done, rather than under-handed identity theft.
we haven't finished the book yet. it is a rather good yarn, w/intense emotional rivalry between the two brothers (they lost a sister early in their lives, and all the familial floatsam and jetsam you could imagine appears therewith), and the spy/procedural, set in san francisco, is pretty exciting. we'd recommend mr. eisler's work to any fan of the genre.
however, if we find later in the book a police detective called sgt. skippy the bush kangaroo, eisler will be hearing from our lawyers!
addendum: our good friend batocchio sends us word that mr. eisler is indeed a big fan of blogtopia and yes, we coined that phrase:
answer: more than fair. it was a pleasure for me to name so many characters after bloggers i admire, and to make blogs key to the characters' hopes for defeating the conspiracy plotting to kill them. in making bloggers and blogs central, and, by implication, making the mainstream media moribund and irrelevant, i think fault line reflects reality–while, i hope, nudging reality along.
discussions of the rise of the blogosphere and the decline of the "mainstream media" tend to center on the logistics of shipping paper or the expense of broadcast and other such costs of traditional media. and while these are all relevant factors, how often does the msm consider whether part of their business woes might be a reflection of the quality of the underlying product? is it possible the blogosphere's growth is attributable at least in part to a growing sense among the public that by and large, the msm acts either as a government press organ or as a gossip rag?
oh, okay...
i just figured out an embedding trick. i've long wondered how others could embed two or more yootoob clips in the same post -- i could only do one at a time. for now, one clip is all i want. but... now i know.
heh heh heh...
Labels: music
yeah, whatever...
Labels: it is what it is, terrorists, violence
Thursday, February 18, 2010
"hello" dalai...well hello dalai.....
barack obama expressed "strong support" for the tibetan way of life when he saw the dalai lama at the white house today, a meeting that risks further damaging us-china relations. - the guardian
Labels: dalai lama, obama, tibet
goldman sachs and the banksters hate america
....the bottom line is that banks like goldman have learned absolutely nothing from the global economic meltdown. in fact, they're back conniving and playing speculative long shots in force — only this time with the full financial support of the u.s. government. in the process, they're rapidly re-creating the conditions for another crash, with the same actors once again playing the same crazy games of financial chicken with the same toxic assets as before. - rollingstone.com
Labels: america, banking, bankruptcy, corruption, goldman sachs, greed
yet another reason texas
nearly a third of texans believe humans and dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time, and more than half disagree with the theory that humans developed from earlier species of animals, according to the university of texas/texas tribune poll. - texastribune.com
give love...
Labels: music
mad about senator bayh, buh bye!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
with all these women skiers tumbling on the slopes
there are some
i give love.
Labels: music
the only real surprise here...
virginia gov. robert f. mcdonnell has signed an executive order barring discrimination in the state workforce on grounds that include race, sex, religion and age, but not sexual orientation.
the order, which mcdonnell (r) signed feb. 5, cements federal law, which prohibits discrimination on those grounds.
it also follows mcdonnell's long-standing position on the issue of legal protections based on sexual orientation. mcdonnell had criticized his two democratic predecessors for including language about it in their similar executive orders, arguing they overstepped their executive authority by extending protections to gay employees not envisioned by the general assembly...
of course mcdonnell would make that argument. he's been a diehard right-wing theocrat for decades. discriminating against gays is pretty much all the religious right still has to hold onto from a political standpoint -- the rest of their stone-headed agenda flew away into the sky with george w. bush a little over a year ago.
but am i mad at bob mcdonnell? not quite. you can't reach people like him. the best you can do is avoid them whenever possible. i'm more ticked off at the dem candidate creigh deeds for running a lousy campaign, and at the virginian democratic "base" that stayed home on the day mcdonnell was elected. deeds wasn't exactly a friend of the lgbt community. but the alternative was mcdonnell -- and there was a small chance that the alternative could have been avoided, had the voter turnout been higher.
so thanks a million, "base." you too, mr. deeds. if you dem jackasses are prone to wondering why you hardly seem to get anywhere with your stated goals, well, there's just one example...
Labels: democrats, gay/lesbian, it is what it is, republicans
the interstate commerce clause
a lobby group that includes bp and shell in its membership has launched a legal challenge against low-carbon legislation in california that in effect rules out the use of oil from canadian tar sands. the action by the national petrochemical & refiners association (npra) comes amid growing political, investor and consumer pressure on US oil companies not to participate in the carbon-intensive tar sands of alberta.
a npra statement said the legislation was unlawful for a number of reasons, including the imposition of "undue and unconstitutional burdens on interstate commerce". - the guardian
Labels: california, constitution, republicans, supreme court
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
happy mardi gras!
Labels: holiday, mardi gras, new orleans, youtube
because the california governor's office
level the playing field.
you can help level the playing field in 2010 against billionaire meg whitman's cash campaign. california shouldn't be for sale to the highest bidder on ebay. so join us and help stop big business billionaire meg whitman before the clock runs out. - leveltheplayingfield2010.com
Labels: california, ebay, election, fundraiser, governor
let's send a foodie to the senate
tamyra d'ippolito, a cafe owner who has been seeking the democratic nomination for the senate seat currently held by evan bayh, just told tpmdc that she does have the minimum number of ballot-petition signatures need to get on the ballot for the democratic primary.- talkingpointsmemo
d'ippolito told me she is the first woman to ever run for the us senate in indiana. her impression from working on prior campaigns and from this one is that indiana political culture is a "tight old boys school, it borders on sexism." in a state where the population is 52% women, d'ippolito says "in the future, we women of indiana are not going to tolerate" the chummy, insider culture. - fdl
tamyra...you go, girl!
dick is daring us
"i was a big supporter of waterboarding," cheney said in an appearance on abc's this week on sunday. he went on to explain that justice department lawyers had been instructed to write legal opinions to cover the use of this and other torture techniques after the white house had settled on them.
section 2340A of the federal criminal code makes it an offense to torture or to conspire to torture. violators are subject to jail terms or to death in appropriate cases, as where death results from the application of torture techniques. prosecutors have argued that a criminal investigation into torture undertaken with the direction of the bush white house would raise complex legal issues, and proof would be difficult. but what about cases in which an instigator openly and notoriously brags about his role in torture? - harpers
Labels: cheney, criminal, lawlessness, liars, sunday teevee bobble heads, teevee, torture
all impressed and half undressed...
oh, but the prestige and the glory...
Labels: music
Monday, February 15, 2010
our redwoods are in trouble
the california coast has seen fewer foggy days in the last century, threatening the health of the region's majestic redwood trees.if you have not done so, may i suggest going and hugging a tree in the majestic silence of muir woods...before it's too late.
over the last century, new research suggests the average daily fog has decreased more than three hours, causing the coast redwoods to lose more water in the dry summer season, leaving them more susceptible to drought.
"redwoods are an iconic species and we all love them, but I think it's important to note that lots and lots of species depend on fog," said climate scientist phil duffy of climate central in palo alto, california, who was not involved in the study. "so if you really do increase or decrease the fog, then that will have effects on whole entire ecosystems in these coastal hills." - wired science
Labels: california, climate change, environment, science, trees, weather
even more reason the fed
the us federal reserve is sitting on significant paper losses on the real estate assets it acquired in the bear stearns rescue, with much of the red ink coming from debt used to back some of the most high-profile buy-out deals of the bubble years.
among the debts weighing on the central bank's portfolio are those used in financing the acquisitions of hilton hotels, which is being restructured, and hotel operator extended stay, which is in bankruptcy, people familiar with the matter say- financial times.
...u.s. officials are looking to foreign government funds again. the federal reserve is scheduled at the end of march to halt its purchases of mortgage-backed securities, a move that could drive up the low interest rates that have helped the housing market show new signs of life. the fed is gambling that private investors will step in to buy the securities, helping to keep rates from spiking. senior officials in the obama administration and at the fed say they are counting in part on foreigners to keep the housing market funded - wapo
Labels: federal reserve, financial markets, wall street
rip doug fieger
fieger formed the knack in los angeles 1978, and the group quickly became a staple of sunset strip rock clubs. a year later he co-wrote and sang lead vocals on "my sharona."
fieger said the song, with its pounding drums and exuberant vocals, was inspired by a girlfriend of four years.
"i had never met a girl like her — ever," he told the associated press in a 1994 interview. "she induced madness. she was a very powerful presence. she had an insouciance that wouldn't quit. she was very self-assured. ... she also had an overpowering scent, and it drove me crazy."
"my sharona," an unapologetically anthemic rock song, emerged during disco's heyday and held the no. 1 spot on the billboard pop chart for six weeks, becoming an fm radio standard.
john amato, of c&l, happened to have worked w/doug for a bit. he tells us:
i'm sure there will be more details released on the band's website so if you are a fan---tune in.
he will be sorely, sorely missed. my heart goes out to his family.
farewell, my friend.
rest in peace, doug fieger.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
r. i. p., dick francis
dick francis, the prolific bestselling author and former professional jockey, has died aged 89, his family announced today.
best known for his thrillers set in the racing world – he was the author of 42 novels – francis was also one of the most successful postwar national hunt jockeys.
the winner of more than 350 races, he was champion jockey in 1953/54 and rode for the queen and the queen mother.
on the racetrack francis was best known for riding the queen mother's horse, devon loch when it fell just short of the winning line in the 1956 grand national. to "do a devon loch" is still synonymous with losing a race from an unassailable position. - the times
god speed, richard. thanks for the spills and chills of your life and livelihood. there will not be another quite like you, of that i am "dead cert."
environmental news story sunday
weed killer in the crosshairs. - in recent years, questions have surfaced about atrazine's safety, especially after monitoring programs picked up the chemical in drinking water and lab studies demonstrated the pollutant's ability to emasculate - if not deform - amphibians and fish. - science news
bernalillo's water treatment system dumps sludge into drinking water. - a year after the town of bernalillo spent at least $4.9 million to equip its two active wells with new arsenic filtration systems designed by bernalillo-based ars-usa, residents started complaining about a white residue in their tap water. - new mexico independent
manchin to epa: leave our coal ash alone. - gov. joe manchin has thrown in with the coal operators and power companies who oppose any move by the u.s. environmental protection agency to declare toxic ash from coal-fired power plants to be a hazardous waste - charleston gazette
keep food and farms safe: ban use of sludge. - sludge stinks. it's been one of my soapbox issues since 1994, when i wrote about a greenwich township farmer who was forced to give up his plan to apply sewage sludge to two fields. Scary words appeared in my research. pathogens. carcinogens. heavy metals. - reading eagle
do what it takes to get arsenic out of the water. - here we are, a decade after epa's new arsenic standard was set and four years after the deadline to take action, and we still have thousands of east valley residents at risk. - palm springs desert sun
tritium: vermont's nuclear nightmare. - what happens next will be defined by fierce grassroots activism crashing into a flood of corporate money in support of a rickety old reactor being operated with increasing recklessness. - pacific free press
spent ammo's harm to environment is debated. - lead in paint, gasoline and drinking water is prohibited as dangerous for health and the environment. but tons of lead from ammunition can accumulate on the ground over years. no federal law addresses lead containment at outdoor shooting ranges - nashville tennessean
feinstein water plan puts boxer in a bind in central valley. - sen. dianne feinstein has just complicated sen. barbara boxer's search for san joaquin valley voters. by announcing plans to override scientists and boost irrigation deliveries, feinstein gratified valley farmers and the region's farm-friendly lawmakers - fresno bee
water-gulping companies' risk disclosures run dry: report. - most publicly traded companies that depend on water do not adequately disclose their financial risks to droughts and future regulations, even as water scarcity problems mount, according to a report released on thursday. - reuters
report: 38 per cent of land faces desertification. - over a third of the world's land could be turned into desert, according to a new report published in the international journal of life cycle assessment that warns increased rates of desertification could have a huge impact on global food and water supplies - london business green
bark beetles' song could save forests. - researchers at northern arizona university think they may have found an environmentally safe and readily available weapon against the tree-eating armies of bark beetles. - phoenix arizona republic
n.j. environmental groups accuse gov. christie of 'raiding' funds for clean air, water. - state environmental groups today accused gov. chris christie of attacking the environment by "raiding" the state's clean energy fund, the highlands council budget and other coffers dedicated to clean air and water protections. - newark star ledger
marine base's ex-residents – many ill – only now learning of toxic water. - some estimates are that over a 30-year period, as many as 1 million people were exposed to well water that contained trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, benzene and vinyl chloride. - mcclatchy
washington's snowstorms, brought to you by global warming. - can you sit in a snowstorm and imagine a warming world? if you're a senator, can you come back to work and pass a bill that blunts the pace of climate change? if the answer is no, then we're really in a world of trouble. - wapo
microsoft co-founder gates tackling climate change. - microsoft co-founder bill gates has broken from philanthropic work fighting poverty and disease to take on another threat to the world's poor -- climate change. - afp
pollution creating acid oceans. - the world's oceans are becoming acidic at a faster rate than at any time in the last 65 million years, threatening marine life and food supplies across the globe, according to a new study - london daily telegraph
algae to solve the pentagon's jet fuel problem. - a cheap, low-carbon fuel would not only help the us military, the nation's single largest consumer of energy, to wean itself off its oil addiction, but would also hold the promise of low-carbon driving and flying for all - london guardian
olympics 2012 site may be built on top of radioactive waste. - the entire 2012 olympics site has been built on top of a thin plastic sheet less than 3 feet beneath the surface to separate the soil from the ground below that could be heavily contaminated with asbestos and radioactive materials - london daily express
Labels: army, coal, ecology, energy, environment, epa, farms, food, food safety, lead, nuclear power, olympics, snow, toxins, vermont, water


text:
Local accident: Two brilliantly unique EPs
The Id
Ultra Dolphins
Ultra Dolphins
Ever since punk became a vampire, the genre's great bands have replaced broad salvos with homemade sounds- cookies! And here now are two CDs that feel local, present, irreducible; their idiosyncrasies are part of their brilliance and a foundation for confrontation (or, at least, a lot of beautiful noise-making).
The Id's twin guitars make an awesomely dirty din– motorcycles stuck in the mud– but they're running off a reliable pop engine. You will not take this dissonance as discomfort: The Id mine their scratchy strings for texture and volume, but what I hear most are intricate, loopy melodies.
As for many of today's "post-punk" bands, it's the beat that's particularly innovative, disorienting, and, on the new Quadraped EP, seasick. I wish Id drummer Beth Mickle would teach a master class: Her spare stutters show more finesse and creativity than all those stupid rocker fills. The drums here are essential, exploding in splashes and the jagged, inexact "pops" one associates with Rice Krispies.
With a breathless drive, catchy vocals, and smart lyrics, "The Arm of Stonewall Jackson" must be the best song ever written about Richmond. More incredulous than angry, it deserves some lovely memory within the ex-Confederate mind of the future.
On the other hand, the Ultra Dolphins' lyrics and music have few clear referents: I think of a heavy, spike-laden exercise bike. If the trio's new EP is even aggressive, it's only for sparring.
The Ultra Dolphins are one of the most engrossing acts within an incredibly physical punk subgenre wherein, like buildings, the songs are about themselves and their relationships to other (musical) structures. Only sweaty, exultant, tantrum-throwing humans live there. If the riffs are occasionally meandering, they help distance the listener from (plentiful) cerebral pleasures, and lock us into the song's frantic momentum.
Disorienting and antsy, these songs are not bludgeons; they are thrillers, inventing astonishing twists and turns, avoiding all that is hackneyed in hardcore. Even "Shoont!" which uses its genre's devices more obviously (launches and lurches, sirens and sludges), feels like the work of a craftsman with a vast toolbelt.
The playful victory-melody at the song's end ("Im-puh-see-bluh-bay-bay!") is especially unexpected and welcome.
E-mail firstname.lastname@example.com and firstname.lastname@example.com, respectively, to acquire these brief, exciting records. The Ultra Dolphins recently relocated from Harrisonburg to Philly, and The Id will soon be moving from Central Virginia to that "better place." My faith in our local idiosyncrasies, however, is still strong.


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Welcome To The Man Expeditions Community
Our sponsors have been generous enough to give all new members (i.e. you) who share Man Ex with their friends a free flight to South Africa to attend any of our Africa Safari Expeditions that support the work we do for baby orphaned rhinos. All you have to do is share with 5 of your friends via the social buttons below to unlock your free flight. Flights are offered from anywhere in the world to a maximum value of $1,000. As soon as you reach 15 share points (the equivalent of referring 5 friends) we will email you a FREE flight coupon code for you to use for any Man Ex Africa Expedition in 2019.
A few words from our current members
My trip to Africa with Man Expedition in 2016 totally exceeded my expectations. This was my first experience with group adventure travel and it won't be my last. The Man Expeditions team delivered as promised....scalable adventure, luxury accommodations, a full but flexible itinerary with built-in down-time, and awesome healthy food.
I have to commend the Man Expeditions Team on the role they played in cultivating such a positive group dynamic rooted in a culture of mutual respect and inclusivity. From our first emails back and forth leading up to the trip, I realize now that they set the tone well before any of us landed in South Africa.
Can't say enough about Man Expeditions. Have been on the Southern Africa trips to Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa 2 years in a row. The adventures are always well planned and the group of men are the kinda guys you get to know and want to know for life. Can't wait for the Alaska adventure in a few weeks, it's gonna be completely different but just as exciting I'm sure. For those of you who are looking for well planned adventure trips with a great group of guys, Man Expeditions is the perfect choice. Come join the fun and feel the love.
BEST TRIP We have ever taken. The team at Man Expeditions were excellent hosts. In fact so good we are joining the next expedition with them. We met so many interesting and fun guys and I am sure we will all be friends forever.
As I near MY FORTH trip with Man Expeditions, I couldn't help but go back and look at some of the pictures of my first trip.... Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for changing my life, through the trip of a lifetime. To all the team, you're one in a million. I truly feel like the luckiest guy in the world, for having been introduced to Man Expeditions, for it has given me so so much.
"Man Expeditions trips are an excellent opportunity to meet like-minded guys from all over the world. In our group many of the people we met forged strong friendships that continue to this day. As an active, health-conscious person it is nice to have an alternative to party weekends where you can meet men in a social and healthy setting. I highly recommend Man Expeditions for your next travel adventure!"
Last February I joined the first Capetown, South African Man Expedition. I was especially attracted to the physically demanding itinerary items and to be going with like-minded men meant that I could meet some solid people with the possibility for ongoing friendship.
The itinerary was a super mix of fun-packed adventure with lots of free time built in to take in the culture and other amazing things that this awesome country has to offer (e.g. the southern sky and constellations I had never seen before at the Capetown Observatory).
With the expertise that our leaders brought to bear from initial concept right through to the optional safari add-on excursion, including well-organized structure throughout, you'll be in good hands and come back with new lifelong friends, and amazing photos and stories you'll have for life. The experience is well worth the investment!


text:
by Brian DeCandia, sports information graduate assistant
MORROW, Ga. – The Georgia College women's basketball team (4-22, 2-15 PBC) ended their 2011-12 season with a loss at No. 4 Clayton State University (26-2, 16-1 PBC) Saturday night, 93-58.
The first half did not open up in the Bobcats favor as the Lakers went on a 16-to-4 run to start the game. GC could not keep Clayton State at bay as the Lakers went into the break up 22 points.
The Bobcats played a much better second half scoring 38 points. Freshman Shanteona Keys (Roswell, Ga.) led the way with a career-high 29 points on 9-of-21 (.428) shooting from the field and 7-of-10 (.700) from the charity stripe. This was Keys' second straight 20-point game and sixth this season. She chipped in four boards, five assists and two steals.
Fellow classmate Belinda Schaafsma (Momence, Ill.) was also in double-digits tying a career-high 11 points on 5-of-8 (.628) shooting. Schaafsma added eight caroms and three assists. Drameka Griggs was the high scorer for the Lakers with 20 points on 7-of-11 (.636) from the field.
GC shot .370 (20-54) from the field and 6-of-18 (.400) from beyond the arc. The Lakers shot 34-of-73 (.466) and 19-of-26 (.731) from the free throw line. The Bobcats lost the rebounding battle 45-38.
This loss brings an end to the 2011-12 season for the Bobcats. A season that saw Keys average 15.5 points per game on 38.9 percent (129-332) shooting, good for second overall in the Peach Belt Conference. She also averaged 3.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steals.
The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 10 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at www.twitter.com/BobcatSports and www.facebook.com/gcbobcats for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit www.GCBobcats.com for more information, and to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GC Athletics Hall of Fame.


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Over the past decades, evidence for the health advantages of breastfeeding and recommendations for practice have continued to increase. WHO can now say with full confidence that breastfeeding reduces child mortality and has health benefits that extend into adulthood. On a population basis, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life is the recommended way of feeding infants, followed by continued breastfeeding with appropriate complementary foods for up to two years or beyond.
To enable mothers to establish and sustain exclusive breastfeeding for six months, WHO and UNICEF recommend:
- Initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of life;
- Exclusive breastfeeding - that is, the infant only receives breastmilk without any additional food or drink, not even water;
- Breastfeeding on demand - that is, as often as the child wants, day and night;
- No use of bottles, teats or pacifiers.
Breastmilk is the natural first food for babies, it provides all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs for the first months of life, and it continues to provide up to half or more of a child's nutritional needs during the second half of the first year, and up to one-third during the second year of life.
Breastmilk promotes sensory and cognitive development, and protects the infant against infectious and chronic diseases. Exclusive breastfeeding reduces infant mortality due to common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea or pneumonia, and helps for a quicker recovery during illness.
Breastfeeding contributes to the health and well-being of mothers, it helps to space children, reduces the risk of ovarian cancer and breast cancer, increases family and national resources, is a secure way of feeding and is safe for the environment.
While breastfeeding is a natural act, it is also a learned behaviour. An extensive body of research has demonstrated that mothers and other caregivers require active support for establishing and sustaining appropriate breastfeeding practices. WHO and UNICEF launched the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) in 1992, to strengthen maternity practices to support breastfeeding. The BFHI contributes to improving the establishment of exclusive breastfeeding worldwide and, coupled with support throughout the health system, can help mothers sustain exclusive breastfeeding.
WHO and UNICEF developed the 40-hour Breastfeeding Counselling: A Training Course and more recently the five-day Infant and Young Child Feeding Counselling: An Integrated Course to train a cadre of health workers that can provide skilled support to breastfeeding mothers and help them overcome problems. Basic breastfeeding support skills are also part of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness training course for first-level health workers.
The Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding describes the essential interventions to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.


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