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Canadian pricing out... i am in tears
Canadian pricing out... i am in tears
If you read the latest Tesla blog post on service plans (the one that started the firestorm of comments), Montreal is mentionned as one of the upcoming service centers.
Good question on the reimbursement. That will be up to Tesla if they setup the program with the government. For other EVs and hybrids, it's up to the dealership to simply subtract the amount from the sale price of the car. Don't know if Tesla will do that. Similarly for the wall charger which also has a reimbursement program with the Quebec gov't.
I spoke to Hans today and he confirmed the Montreal service center opening in March and also mentioned that we should be getting a test drive event sometime in October here in Montreal. Woohoo!!
The $8K Quebec rebate is mentioned on the pricing tag of the design studio (on the canadian version of the site), the fact that there is a service center in Montreal should not affect it at all, it is not a dealership. The amount is supposed to be deducted from the price at purchase,it is not a tax credit to claim at the end of the year.
WRT the credit for a recharging station, the provincial program has specific criteria that must be met to qualify, and I am not sure if the Tesla HPWC meets them (or for that matter a NEMA 14-50 plug). I have been meaning to inquire, but never have the time to get around to it....
Woohoo indeed for mtl test drives, in the snow!, well maybe...
I heard back from the Canadian government today and looks like they won't budge from their position with the duty. Here is the extract from the email I got back from the minister of international trade:
"The Office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper forwarded to me your email
of September 4, 2012, in which you express concerns regarding the 6.1%
duty applied to Tesla electric sedans being imported into Canada.
Most trade in North America is governed by the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA), which has led to the elimination of barriers to trade
and facilitated cross-border movement of goods and services between
Canada, Mexico and the United States. The duty on Tesla electric sedans
is determined by the NAFTA rules of origin, which were extensively
negotiated, are designed with the interests of all Canadians in mind and
meant to balance the interests of producers and consumers. Rules of
origin ensure that NAFTA's benefits are not extended to goods exported
from non-NAFTA countries that have not undergone substantial processing
in North America.
The Government of Canada is committed to protecting the health and
environment of Canadians. We have passed a series of measures to reduce
emissions from vehicles and engines addressing both air pollutant and
greenhouse gas emissions. The emissions standards in place provide
regulatory incentives to the manufacturers and importers of vehicles
equipped with plug-in hybrid and all electric technology. As a result of
the regulations, it is anticipated that the market penetration of hybrid
and electric vehicles will increase.
Thank you for taking the time to outline your concerns. I invite you to
find more information on the NAFTA rules of origin on the Foreign
Affairs and International Trade Canada website at
Got the same email. Although this wasn't totally unexpected it is truly heinous. There is no way to take advantage of NAFTA with a vehicle of this design type. (IE - BEV.)
Despite the vehicle being labelled as "North American", apparently it doesn't qualify. Sigh.
My question is, do cars that are manufactured by Ford and Chrysler in the US qualify for NAFTA and not have duty? Guaranteed those cars have parts that originate from China/Japan...
@RobertMontreal - it's the percentage of parts by cost that counts. Easy for normal car manufacturers to make sure that percentage is low enough to qualify. Since the batteries are such a huge part of the cost of electric cars and they are all made overseas that's what puts them over the edge.
@gregv64 - and that's why they should modify NAFTA accordingly...
- and that's why we should eliminate NAFTA and have real free trade.
We could at least rename it. How about, "North American Dysfunctional Agreement [NADA]"?
but that's already taken up by the north american dealers.... ohhhhh I see what you did there
Why blame NAFTA? The Canadian govt could pass a law unilaterally reducing tariffs on electrical cars tomorrow if they wanted to. Tariffs are just another revenue source as far as governments are concerned. "The duty ... is meant to balance the interests of producers and consumers" is complete baloney. If they were honest, they would say, "The duty is the maximum that we could get away with without having a political consumer backlash."
Couldn't Panasonic manufacture the batteries in the US or Canada? Panasonic sells enough volume here in North America... Would help cut import duties and shipping costs for them as well as help Tesla sales in Canada...
I'm going to reply to that email I got from the trade minister. It definitely doesn't satisfy me.
My response to the trade minister (CC'ed prime minister):
"Good morning Mr. Fast,
Thank you for your email.
Although I appreciate the fact that the Canadian government is making efforts to support vehicles which reduce CO and CO2 emissions, I believe more can be done, specifically with electric vehicles that (for now) depend on foreign manufacture for the battery cells. Tesla is an innovative company that HAS addressed the problem of emissions from the vehicle (not the plant) but they must for now rely on the manufacture of their battery cells in Japan.
Since the value of those cells is so high, it greatly skews the percentage of foreign content in the car given that the rest of the car is manufactured in the US. Even the battery "pack" itself is completely assembled in the US.
For these reasons (and I know you have received requests from other potential Tesla owners as well), I strongly believe the Tesla Model S should be exempt from the 6.1% import duty. Import duties are in place in order to protect and promote local (and US because of NAFTA) manufacture, but in this case, they hinder trade between the US and Canada for a company that has made every effort to maintain manufacturing in North America and one that has established a true "green" initiative.
I would therefore urge you to please consider making specific exceptions to NAFTA trade rules specifically for electric vehicles manufactured in the US as this is an industry we truly should support, as I feel electric vehicles are the transportation method of the future, not to mention that the car is manufactured 100% in the US with whom we are supposed to have a free trade agreement.
@ RobertM
Good letter! Hope that you get a "positive" response from the Canadian government, or at least start a discussion the will lead to a positive move for Canadians.
RobertMontreal I hope you don't mind but I used your letter to reply to the form-letter I received as well. It was very well written and thought out - nicely done.
This is complete BS. Which Canadian battery manufacturer is the government protecting?
RobertMontreal, I can't help it to note that your argument would be much more convincing if you were NOT a Tesla Model S reservation holder...
I know that it will not help the early adapters, but someone needs to make sure the Canadian Gov takes another look at the Model S with the 40 and 60kW batteries.
Since the problem is the cost of batteries is such a high percentage of the cost of the car, that percentage should drop for the smaller batteries.
I wrote this to my Member of Parliament, Mike Wallace, Burlington Ontario, but have not received a response. Who else should I send a letter to?
Good morning Mr. Wallace,
I have a question regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement and the import of consumer vehicles from the United States. I'm interested in purchasing a new car from a car company called Tesla Motors. If you have not heard of this amazing car company and car (the Tesla Model S), I highly recommend you have a look (www.teslamotors.com/en_CA). The Model S is a 100% battery electric vehicle and does not burn any gasoline. The vehicle itself is 100% designed and built in the United States. Telsa bought a retired GM/Toyota factory in California where they build the Model S.
You can imagine my dismay when I noticed a large discrepancy between the U.S. and Canadian pricing, especially since the exchange rate is so close to parity. The U.S. base model is $49,900 while the Canadian is $64,500. A difference of $14,600. I contacted Tesla Motors to enquire why this was the case. Their explanation was that the Model S falls slightly below the percentage of the car that must be made in North America to qualify. This is due to the battery component (the batteries are made by Panasonic, although the actual battery pack for the vehicle is constructed in the Tesla factory). This means there is a 6.1% import duty for this vehicle.
I must admit that I find this decision to be counter the Ontario Ministry of the Environment's plan to reduce production of greenhouse gases, Natural Resources Canada's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and smog forming pollutants, and to Ontario's Climate Change Action Plan which states "The government's vision is for one of every 20 vehicles on our roads to be an electric vehicle by 2020",
I am aware of the Ontario Electric Vehicle Incentive Program which lists the Tesla Model S as qualifying for an $8,500 incentive, however this incentive is supposed to support the move to electric vehicles, not to offset an import tariff (of which this only covers a part of). From the Ministry of Transportation's web site "The intent of the electric vehicle program is to reward early adopters and make it easier for people to buy and drive electric vehicles."
I urge you to look into this issue and propose that the Tesla Model S be exempt from any import duties. The current import duty raises the barrier of adoption for myself and many like-minded Canadian's who look forward to a cleaner and sustainable future for our children and generations to come. Canada should be seen as a world leader in the production and consumption of green energy.
I thank you for your time and consideration. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns, or would like to discuss in further details.
Thank you
Send a copy to Thomas Mulcair (heads of NDP) and May (head of green party) and Bob Rae (head of liberal party) and possibly to PM Stephen Harper. Great letter.
The difference you cite is 29.2%, so the import duty of 6.1% hardly is to blame for most of that. It's barely over a fifth of it.
Just have to be careful with the base price comparisons.
The base price is the US is actually $57400 (Tesla often quotes $49900 but that includes the $7500 tax break).
The base price in Canada also includes the leather option of $1500 US.
So the comparable prices are $58900 vs. $64500, a difference of $5600 which is that 6.1%, a "region specific fee", and any possible exchange rate. Right now I think it should be working in our favor, but Tesla doesn't seem to be adjusting their price accordingly. (I have a bone to pick with GB about that. :))
Oops, I see what I did wrong... the pricing posted on the US page includes the $7500 federal tax credit. The Canadian pricing does not include the tax credit. It should actually be $57400 for the US Base model price. The 6.1% on the non-tax credit US price is $3501.00. That seems a little more in line with the Canadian pricing (including interior upgrades etc.). I hope our polititions are as bad at math as I am! :)
Thanks RobertMontreal, just saw your post after I submitted mine!
Not surprised to see responses from gov't officials that are full of talking points and spin.
Stark, I, too wrote a letter to Mike Wallace. Here is the brief response I received just a couple of days ago:
Thank you for your e-mail. After discussing the issue with the Caucus Liaison Officer in the Finance Minister's office, he has suggested that, due to the technical aspect of import duties, the Department officials in this area should respond to you. I am therefore forwarding your correspondence to them.
Mike Wallace
I guess that is why this was followed a few days later with the same letter listed elsewhere on this thread from Mr. Fast.
Yes, the 6.1% is $3593. So hardly a deal-breaker on its own.
Cathy, you got a nicer response than I did:
Thank you for your e-mail. Due to the technical nature of duties, I am forwarding it to the Department of Finance for a response.
Mike Wallace
Hopefully something can be done. Brian H, I know in the grand scheme of things it isn't that much, it's the principle that is bugging me personally. We already get taxed to death up here. Us in Ontario will also be paying 13% Goods and Services Tax (GST). So throwing another 6.1% on top of that for something that should really fall under "free trade" irks me. Of course, maybe I'm just cheap! On a sunnier note, I'm meeting with a solar company tonight to plan my solar install which will take advantage of feed in tariffs offered by the government.
Perhaps a GST exemption for north american made (over 50% parts content, assembled in NA) plug ins would be make a good piece of legislation... It would be a tax relief and encouragement of North American manufacturers so I see no reason why a centre-right guy like PM Harper would not like it. If he took the lead on this no way NDP and Liberals could say no on a green issue like this, a real political winner. PC's seem to have more sense then their cousins to the south who lost the election miserably by not learning from Reagan or Clinton and failing to win the centre by practical smart moves like what I am suggesting. However if proposed by opposition it might die as the Left might have other programmes it wants to protect more than a common sense measure that boosts jobs AND the environment.
Any updates about this? I am looking at all the 3 models, and each of them have the 6.1% duty. If the Canadian government is being difficult about the current battery, I can appreciate Tesla's pricing position. My question is, is Tesla going to do something about it to make the battery "US manufactured". Or at least enough to bypass this stupid duty. Or are we Canadians too "small fry" for them to care about this market?
One would argue that for someone spending 100K on a car, what's another 6K? You'd be surprised how many of us don't want to make the leap just purely out of principal of not getting robbed by the government.
Sorry to jump in this thread. I have no dog in this fight but I was curious if this is another example of rules and laws that never envisioned EVs when they were created. For example, the "turn off engine" rule when driving through some military check points.
My observation is this, what if you bought a $50K ICE vehicle for Canadian use that was 100% American made but included a $20K lifetime supply of (probably foreign) gasoline? Would that affect the 6.1% tax calculation? Does that make that car 60% American made?
Some could argue that the battery is not equivalent to a gas tank and it is actually an energy source, like gas. It is a stretch, I know, but it is still not fair to treat the battery as equivalent to a gas tank. So the truth may lie somewhere in between.
The other point I was wondering is, who decides what percentage of the car is American made? Google to the rescue. It seems to me that Canadians might indeed have a bone to pick with us in the US, because it seems that we are the ones deciding what percentage of the car is US/Canadian made, according to Part 583 of the American Automobile Labeling Act (AALA): http://www.nhtsa.gov/Laws+&+Regulations/Part+583+American+Automobile+Lab...
Here is another one for a lawyer to chew on. The AALA states that the content is measured by value. It also states that "when optional equipment is offered for vehicles within the carline, the vehicle manufacturer estimates the installation rates for that equipment." The battery is an "option", right? I mean, the only battery that was "included" in the base model was the 40kwh battery. All the other sizes are optional upgrades. Therefore, can the extra $10K or $20K be computed as an installation rate and part of the American content of the vehicle? Even though the 40kwh model is not currently offered for sale, it is still part of the Model S carline.
By the way, Tesla is not even listed in the 2013 or 2014 AALA reports.
Just curious. Happy motoring.
@PorfirioR. Thank you - these are all great points.
Will follow up and see if something can be done about this. I suggest the other readers to do the same.
I am in tears as well. Why is the tesla I would like to buy is like 20K plus than the exact car in the USA.
Not NAFTA-qualified. Yet. When the battery giga-factory gets going, assuming it's in NA, that should change.
have a look at UK pricing (noting that 1GBP = 1.64USD) and tell me who should be crying... we Brits and other Europeans are really paying up for the privilege of driving the S!
I bought a tesla in Canada - and I felt the price was very fair relative to the USA. The price advertised in the USA is after the reduction from electric vehicle incentives ($7500) whereas the price advertised in Canada does not have the incentives deducted. Also when you look at exchange rate, etc. it is even more fair now.
The price is higher a bit compare to US models but Tesla made some compensation as Leather seats was standard when the time I placed the order on all models. Never seen one with textile in Canada.
You need compare to other Canadian auto pricing not Tesla US. Just an example, the Avalon is about $5k less in the US.
I have one with textile in Toronto. It's just personal but I'm not fond of the feel of leather. Honestly I find the look of Tesla's textile seats much more attractive than most others manufactures.
Anyone who has fully deconstructed non-US prices has found that TM is keeping their promise to hold prices stable and add only taxes, duty, and shipping.
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Denver debate do-or-die for Romney
The kickoff presidential debate Wednesday in Denver is shaping up as do-or-die time for Mitt Romney, with the pressure intensifying this week after a flurry of swing-state polls showed President Barack Obama opening up a sizable lead.
Republicans, fretting about dwindling days for Romney to turn around his campaign, fear that if their nominee doesn't come away with a decisive first-debate victory, he'll continue to spiral downward and lose his last, best shot for a comeback.
Story Continued Below
The fear among donors and strategists: a break-even or so-so performance would subject Romney to a self-reinforcing cycle of criticism and pessimism in his own party that will send other Republicans fleeing and make it difficult for Romney to project a closing argument against Obama over the drumbeat of why-are-you-losing questions.
( PHOTOS:10 great debate moments)
So the Mile-High face-off has gone from merely important to critical for a challenger in need of a break.
"It went from being important to being life-sustaining," said GOP pollster Steve Lombardo, who worked for Romney in 2008. "Both from a fundraising perspective, to keep the money coming, and just a political perspective it's huge. Romney can't just do well and hold his own — he has to win and win decisively. If he's at parity with the president, I don't think that's enough."
Asked if it was time to sound the alarm over the listing Romney campaign, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said in an interview that it depends on Denver.
( Also on POLITICO: Mitt to "fact check" Obama in debate)
"I believe that we won't know until after the first debate," Gingrich explained.
But as with any campaign that's trying to find traction, Romney is getting competing doses of advice from Republicans about just how he can emerge triumphant next week and win some momentum before the last two debates.
( Also on POLITICO: Full 2012 presidential debate schedule)
Some in the party are prescribing a forward-leaning assault on Obama's record.
"As my wife put it to me the other day, if he is assertive and direct with Obama as he was to me in the two Florida debates, he'll be fine," Gingrich said, recalling the primary face-offs in which Romney unleashed a torrent of opposition research upon his rival. "And I think that's a good way to think of it. He's got to go in there and not be hostile, but be assertive, clear and direct and not back off."
Suggested Gingrich: "He's got to draw a sharp contrast between a Romney recovery and Obama stagnation. He's got to say, 'With all respect, Mr. President, this is the worst recovery since the Great Depression.'"
But other Republicans, eyeing the remaining swing voters who still retain some warm feelings for Obama, are counseling a Romney return to the more-in-sorrow-than-anger appeal he used against the president for much of this year.
( PHOTOS: The debate stand-ins)
"What Romney has got to do is follow through on the tone that he has set in the campaign, which is: 'Look, the president gave it his best shot, you gave him the benefit of the doubt, now let's turn the page," said Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), a member of the House GOP leadership who represents a suburban Chicago district.

subset: commoncrawl


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Cueto matches career high with 12 K's in win
CINCINNATI -- A commanding Johnny Cueto performance, plus an early lead, were ingredients to a recipe the Reds often crave but haven't gotten enough of this season.
But this was a night where starting pitcher, bullpen, defense and offense worked in synergy. Cueto tied a career high with 12 strikeouts over six scoreless innings as the Reds took a 5-0 victory over the Dodgers at Great American Ball Park on Wednesday night, after losing the previous two games of the series.View Full Game Coverage
CINCINNATI -- A commanding Johnny Cueto performance, plus an early lead, were ingredients to a recipe the Reds often crave but haven't gotten enough of this season.
But this was a night where starting pitcher, bullpen, defense and offense worked in synergy. Cueto tied a career high with 12 strikeouts over six scoreless innings as the Reds took a 5-0 victory over the Dodgers at Great American Ball Park on Wednesday night, after losing the previous two games of the series.View Full Game Coverage
"Johnny was doing what he does best, that's pitching. That's why we call him around here 'Johnny Beisbol,'" Reds catcher Brayan Pena said. "He never backs down from any challenge. He knows this was very important for us. We didn't play those [first] two games against them the way we wanted to play. For him to step it up today, it was awesome."
While giving up only three singles, Cueto did not walk a batter. He retired his first nine in a row before Dee Gordon's leadoff single in the fourth inning. Gordon was subsequently picked off.
Although the night was relatively smooth for Cueto, there was still a lot of work, as he threw a lot of pitches -- 112 -- over the six innings. He is only the third Reds pitcher since 1914 to record 12 strikeouts in a six-inning start, and the first since Edinson Volquez on May 23, 2008. Cueto also struck out 12 on April 14 vs. the Pirates.
"They really, really, worked on me. I was trying to strike out everybody, I'm going to tell you that," Cueto said through translator Tomas Vera.
"It was a battle," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "They dragged out some at-bats and fouled off a lot of tough pitches and made him throw a lot of pitches. It was six innings that we had to have."
In Cueto's last meeting against Hyun-Jin Ryu, on May 26 at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers' lefty stifled the Reds and took a perfect game into the eighth inning. There was no such drama this time.
Ryu, who came in with only four earned runs allowed in 38 innings pitched on the road this season, gave up four earned runs on Wednesday alone in his six innings.
Cincinnati took a 3-0 lead in the third inning with a two-out rally that started with back-to-back walks to Billy Hamilton and Todd Frazier. On a 2-1 pitch, Joey Votto went opposite field to line a two-run double near the left-field line. Brandon Phillips sliced a RBI single to right field that scored Votto.
It gave Cueto a nice cushion to work with. After he picked off Gordon in the fourth, the ace struck out five in a row before back-to-back singles by Miguel Rojas and Drew Butera began the Dodgers' sixth. The jam was shut down when Cueto retired the next three batters with two more strikeouts.
Said Cueto: "When I got the three runs of support, I started saying to myself, 'I have to start tightening it up right now.' Usually these are the innings they're coming after me and score runs."
Ryu retired eight of nine batters until Jay Bruce scorched a first pitch into the right-field seats for a one-out homer in the sixth inning. It marked the first time since April 25 that Votto and Bruce had RBIs in the same game.
"We have players here that have accomplished things in this game at a very high level. Even though we're off to a slow first 60-plus games of the season, we still believe we can be a dynamic offensive club," Price said.
Meanwhile, Cueto (6-5) bolstered his credentials for a potential first-time All-Star Game nod. His 109 strikeouts and 102 innings lead the National League, as does his opponents' batting average of .160.
The Dodgers posed a threat to the bullpen in the seventh when Logan Ondrusek allowed a one-out single and a walk and Manny Parra surrendered a bloop hit to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate. But the inning's third pitcher, Jonathan Broxton, took over and got pinch-hitter Hanley Ramirez to ground to shortstop, where Zack Cozart turned the inning-ending double play.
"That was huge for us, to get our defense off the field and get in there and try to score some more runs," said Broxton, part of a staff that notched 16 strikeouts overall in the game.
Cincinnati added a run in the seventh with a Hamilton RBI single off Paul Maholm. For a Reds team outscored, 12-3, in the previous two games, it was a satisfying outcome and their seventh shutout win this season. They can even the four-game series and finish with a 5-5 home stand with one more victory in the series finale on Thursday.
Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Mark My Word, and follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon.


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TXDOT holds open house in SETX
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is giving each Texan the agency's entire $11 billion budget to use as they wish.
While that may sound like a lot of money — and it is — TxDOT isn't exactly opening their pocket books and handing out cash. Instead, TxDOT is hoping to educate Texans through an interactive, online tool that allows citizens to pick and choose what the state's budget priorities should be as it relates to the future of transportation in Texas.
The tool is all part of TxDOT's new, long-term plan for Texas roadways wherein officials will travel around the state hosting open houses to get Texans involved in their budget making process. At an open house at the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission in Beaumont on Tuesday, June 10, TxDOT's top officials were on hand to show citizens the interactive tool in the hopes that Texans better understand the growing issues facing transportation in Texas as the next legislative session nears.
"We show you where TxDOT spends money and then give you the opportunity to create your own budget — put your investments where you'd like to and see how the system operates with the way you allocated the money," said TxDOT's Statewide Planning branch manager Michelle Conkle. "We're collecting comments on that and coming up with a recommended investment strategy to present to our commission and hopefully come up with a final plan. This is very important because we're going into a legislative session, so that's basically the timing of everything."
While the interactive tool might not place real money in your hands, TxDOT is hoping citizens will utilize the tool on the agency's website so TxDOT can better understand the needs and wants of Texans from region to region.
TxDOT spokeswoman Sarah Dupre said her agency has been in close contact with Jefferson County's government agencies in trying to help relieve congestion and maintain roadways.
"In our area, all of our city members and some of the mayors, city planners, people like that come and we have meetings during certain months," Dupre said. "So, they're the ones that help make the decisions of our roadways, like the US 69 project. They make the decisions."
Although local projects such as US Highway 69 and the Neches River bridge are first and foremost on Southeast Texan's minds, Conkle said Texans should have a statewide outlook on Texas' transportation needs.
"We're just trying to go out to the public and explain that this is what we're doing with the money," she said. "What you're seeing today is what you're getting and we're just trying to keep it in a state of good repair. But we can't continue doing the things we're going to need to do to keep the system in a state of good repair with our appropriations having to go out this way — and no more revenue."
According to figures presented at the open house, a larger portion of TxDOT's budget — currently $1.36 billion, or 12 percent — is being spent on paying down debt, or debt service from bonds approved by Texans.
"For a very long time, TxDOT was a pay-as-you-go state, so we paid for our projects as we collected revenues," Conkle said. "When we started having to do a lot of projects or emergency work, you have to pass bonds. It's very much like borrowing tomorrow's money. So, that's become a significant part of our annual budget. It's not any more significant than our other expenses; it just looks a lot different than it did 15 years ago. That's not an insignificant number."
Another number that isn't insignificant is the number of new Texans. According to Conkle, at least 1,000 people move to Texas every day, due in large part to the development of shale plays in central and northern Texas. This boom in oil and gas is wreaking havoc on roads and highways in these areas as large truck traffic pounds the pavement daily.
"The number of trucks traveling in those areas right now, the roads weren't built for it," Conkle said. "It's causing a terrible amount of damage, and we have to be cognizant of that especially of the resulting safety problems. So, again, TxDOT statewide planners have to figure out how to take a small amount of money and do the most good around the state to be fair and equitable to the local and regional needs."
Currently, TxDOT's largest expenditure in their budget is about $4.27 billion, or 39 percent, strictly on maintaining existing roadways. TXDOT currently spends about $3.25 billion, or 29 percent, on new construction.
Locally, preventive maintenance by TxDOT is going to roads such as 421 in Lumberton.
"A lot of people have called and said, 'Why are you messing up a totally good road?'" Dupre said of 421 in Lumberton. "I try to explain to them that we're not messing it up, we're just trying to maintain it. It's going to last longer, and that's less money we're going to have to spend to completely replace it."
According to TxDOT's figures, annual transportation needs exceed their current budget by at least $5 billion, mostly in the area of congestion. But Conkle said spending more money on upgrading capacity might not necessarily affect outcomes in congested urban areas.
"We could take all the money out of pavement and bridge and put it here (congestion) and wouldn't see an appreciable difference," Conkle said. "That's what the tool shows you as well. At the end of the day, this is more likely going to be changes in people's behavior — driving behavior, taking transit, demand management strategies, not building capacity — to get us out of congestion problems."
The interactive tool will be on TxDOT's website at www.txdot.gov until September, at which time the agency will take user data and present it to state officials.
"The message is that as a community, as Texans, as people who travel around the state, we're going to have to come up with a way to keep these roads as nice as they are today," Conkle said. "TxDOT doesn't have control over how much money we have. We just try to put it in the best place possible and give you an opportunity to tell us where you would put it if you had to make our hard decisions."


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MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – In their final game of a three contest set, the King Tornado dropped a 9-3 decision to the No. 23 Georgia College Bobcats on Saturday afternoon. Cory Snyder has a second straight two-hit game as the Tornado fell to 1-2 after their first weekend of play.
Georgia College scored four runs in the first three innings off of sophomore pitcher Reiss Stanley (Lenoir City, Tenn.). Bobcat left fielder with a double to center field, one of his two hits on the day. Tanner Funk brought him around on a single to center to take a 1-0 lead. A sacrifice down the first side plated another run for the hosts in the second inning. The third inning featured a RBI double by Karsten Strieby and a run-scoring single by Cody Maas to guide GC to a 4-1 advantage.
King scored their first run in the top of the third, unearned, after Shane Timberlake (Lynchburg, Va.) came around on a single up the middle after center fielder Patrick Daugherty booted the ball, allowing Timberlake to round the bases.
Jarrod Payne (Johnson City, Tenn.) came alive in the fourth inning with a RBI single to left, plating Josh Huffman (Lynchburg, Va.). Huffman led off the inning with a single to center before scoring from second on the Payne single.
Though the Bobcats put the game away in the sixth with a three-run inning from back-to-back doubles by Funk and Travis Echols to take a 7-2 lead.
Both teams exchanged runs in the seventh frame. King's run came via a single by Cory Snyder's second hit of the game, a single to right, plating Tyler Orndorff (Stephenson, Va.). Georgia College added another run in the eighth by way of a Daniel Bick single.
Reiss Stanley (0-1) took the loss after allowing four runs in 3.2 innings of work. The sophomore struck out four and walked three against 21 batters. The combination of Jake Portugal (Barrington, R.I.), Daniel Glenn (Pineville, N.C.), and Brandon Houser (Kodak, Tenn.) combined for 1.1 of quality relief, allowing only two hits and one unearned run while striking out two and walking one.
King (1-2) will travel to Florence, S.C. to participate in the Auddie Brown Classic on Feb. 11 and 12. They will play Young Harris and preseason No. 1 Francis Marion before returning to the King Baseball Complex for their home opener on Feb. 18 against Salem International.


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Thyroid surgery is used to treat
thyroid nodules,
thyroid cancer, and
hyperthyroidism. During this procedure, part or all of
thyroid gland is removed. The
thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped gland located at the front of the
During surgery, an incision is made in the skin. The muscle
and other tissues are pulled aside to expose the thyroid gland.
Many people leave the hospital a day or two after surgery. How much time you spend in the hospital and how fast you
recover depend on your age and general health, the extent of the surgery, and
whether cancer is present.
Surgery is used to treat thyroid
problems if:
Surgery is rarely used to treat hyperthyroidism. It may be
used if the thyroid gland is so big that it makes swallowing or breathing
difficult or thyroid cancer has been diagnosed or is suspected. Surgery also
may be done if you are pregnant or cannot tolerate antithyroid
You may have all or part of your thyroid gland removed,
depending on the reason for the surgery.
Some surgeons are now doing endoscopic thyroidectomies using several small incisions through which a tiny camera and instruments are passed.
Success of a thyroidectomy to remove
thyroid cancer depends on the
type of cancer and whether it has spread (metastasized) to other parts of the
body. You may need follow-up treatment to help prevent the cancer from
returning or to treat cancer that has spread.
Thyroid surgery is generally a safe surgery. But
there is a risk of complications, including:
If you have a total thyroidectomy,
you will develop
hypothyroidism and need to take man-made (synthetic)
thyroid hormone for the rest of your life. If you have a lobectomy or subtotal
thyroidectomy, you may have hypothyroidism and you may need to take thyroid
medicine for the rest of your life.
You will most likely be
treated with radioactive iodine after surgery for thyroid cancer to make sure
that all the thyroid tissue and cancer cells are gone.
You may
have a lobectomy, with or without isthmectomy, if your doctor suspects that a
nodule may be cancerous. If you do have cancer, a surgeon usually will do a
completion thyroidectomy.
After surgery for
hyperthyroidism, some people will have low calcium levels and may need to take
calcium supplements.
Complete the surgery information form (PDF)(What is a PDF document?) to help you prepare for this surgery.
Last Revised:
March 28, 2011
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & Matthew I. Kim, MD - Endocrinology
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.


text:
Fiddleheads Cafe was established in 2000 and purchased by Sherry Williams in 2004.Right
in the heart of Hancock, Fiddleheads offers a wide variety of goods
enjoyed by the local community and passing visitors alike.Popular
offerings include fresh salads, homemade soups,and sandwiches made on
our own freshly baked bread,created with a gourmet flare. From fresh
made breakfast options to tempting pies, cookies, and other goodies
there is something to suit every taste, with new options regularly
available.Come join us and enjoy dining in our cozy restaurant or on our
outside porch and patio. Fiddleheads also offers highly personalized
catering services for any event.We
would love to sit down and discuss the ways that we can help you create
an amazing catered event. Our team of dedicated professionals will go
to any length to provide you and your guests with a truly memorable
experience.Please feel free to contact us with any questions.Thank You,Sherry Williams Owner
Fiddleheads Catering is the preferred caterer for many New Hampshire businesses and organizations.Click Here to view our Testimonials.
Mon-Fri: 6:30 am - 7:00 pm Sat: 8:00 am - 7:00 pmSun: 8:00 am - 3:00 pm
Fiddleheads Catering28 Main St.Hancock, NH 03449Phone: email@example.com


text:
2005 International
Space Station Status Reports
Station status reports
are updated weekly or as events warrant. During shuttle missions
to the station, station status will be included in the shuttle
mission status reports.
Curator: Kim
Dismukes | Responsible NASA Official: John Ira Petty | Updated: 01/04/2006Privacy Policy and Important Notices


text:
, a 27-year-old who has experienced a lot in his young career and life.
A good read again from colleague Ryan Miller with his Q&A/Timeout feature on Rochester Lancers midfielder Grady Renfrow
, a 27-year-old who has experienced a lot in his young career and life. That includes battling leukemia. Renfrow really opens up about the physical and mental part of taking on cancer, and how refreshing to see a piece on a former Penn State athlete without having to get his opinion on the child-sex scandal that has engulfed (Un)Happy Valley.
Syracuse goalkeeper Eric Reed, who was in camp with the Lancers but signed with Syracuse, has earned the MISL Player of the Week award for helping the Silver Knights move to 3-0 with road wins at Norfolk (23-7) and defending MISL champion Baltimore (18-7) last weekend. Syracuse, which plays at Rochester on Saturday night at 7, beat the Lancers in their season opener, 16-15, on a last-minute goal. Here's more on Reed
I guess that conversation I had last week with WNY Flash coach Aaran Lines about finding a right back who likes to attack more than Rebecca Moros, whom he praised for helping shore up the defense last season, really meant something because the wheels had to already be in motion to sign Manya Makoski, whose contract was announced on Wednesday. She pointed out to me on her Twitter feed that she's an "ATTACKING" back and her numbers at Arizona State bear that out. Don't let her name fool you, either. She was born in Connecticut. Like many Flash players, she seems - at least on Twitter - to be quite personable. Follow her by clicking here


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Counselor Cites 'Three C's of Career Success' for Spouses
By Rudi Williams
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 29, 2006 - With frequent moves preventing them from moving up the career ladder in a single workplace, military spouses face unique career challenges, a military spouse career counselor told more than 150 spouses attending a recent Military Spouse Career Expo at Fort Belvoir, Va.
Laureen DuPree, an Army Community Services employment readiness counselor and instructor at Fort Belvoir, told the group about what she called "the 3 C's to career success."
Noting that over the past 20 years, the percentage of military people who are married has tripled. "Five years ago 52 percent of the military were married," she noted. "Research shows that the number of marriages among active duty servicemembers is increasing."
More than 1.1 million military spouses provide a lifeline of love, support and encouragement to servicemembers who have a 24-hour-a-day job, DuPree said, and their opinion matters. "A study published in Military Psychology Journal showed that a spouse's opinion about the active duty member's re-enlistment was at least as important, if not more so, than the opinion of the active duty member himself," she noted. Military spouses who are employed, she added, express a higher degree of satisfaction with military life than those who aren't.
But finding a job matching the spouse's talents isn't always easy as the military family moves from place to place. "The numbers indicate that military spouses on the whole make less money than their civilian counterparts even, though they are generally better educated," DuPree noted. "Seventy-five percent have at least some college education."
The unemployment rate for military spouses of active duty personnel is twice the national average for men and three times the national average for women, she said.
"We're also getting older, which represents another career challenge," she said. About 20 percent of active duty personnel are over the age of 35, which makes it likely that their spouses are close to that as well," DuPree said. "Entering and re-entering the job market becomes more difficult as time passes."
Dupree cited her "Three C's of Career Success" as the keys to career building: recognizing one's calling, or niche, in the work world; expanding connections, or networking; and broadening choices by taking advantage of education and training opportunities, volunteer work opportunities and other enrichment opportunities.
DuPree noted that 85 percent of workers are dissatisfied in their jobs. "I believe that the root cause of much job disaffection is because the worker lets the job choose her or him instead of the worker choosing the job," she said. Often, people take jobs that are not a good fit for them and work hard to fit themselves into the job, she explained.
"That's too hard work to do for a lifetime of jobs," she told the audience of military spouses.
"I've spent 30 years trying to help people get in touch with their calling," she said. "I have talked to people who are 16 and people who are 66. It's never too late or too early to look at yourself to find this. For most of us, it's a process. But it should be a mindful process. There are lots of career decision-making tests out there."
She recommended that the spouses reflecting on their teen years early adulthood to determine their calling. "What were you excited about?" she asked. "What could transport you into timelessness?"
DuPree said she didn't know what her niche was until she became a military spouse and was faced with unemployment and underemployment. "I began to make career choices that suited me," she noted. "These then evolved into the career counseling and spouse training positions that I've held for 22 years. My niche is guiding others into possibilities."
She challenged spouses in the audience "to reflect on your childhood passions, ask yourself what have you absolutely loved doing in some of your volunteer jobs, what did you absolutely love doing in some of your jobs. Discover your calling, honor it, find your niche -- keep looking and pursuing it. The joy it will bring is worth the pursuit."
DuPree's second "C" of career success is connecting "steel cable ties" with friends and families as well as building "social capital" with labor unions, community and social clubs, military spouses clubs and other organizations. "All of these are organizations which put people in touch with other people," she noted. "These relationships build a wealth of connections which we call 'social capital.' The more capital or connections you have, the more job opportunities will present themselves. People like to help people with whom they have a connection."
She noted that good jobs always seem to come from somebody who knows somebody. "But you have to work at expanding connections and ties," DuPree said. "Become a joiner, get involved in school, sports, church organizations, professional organizations, whatever your interests are. Talk to people, connect with people, earn that social capital. You can take that to the bank, and you can withdraw it from the bank when you need it later."
DuPree's final "C" is choice. "I believe that we as military spouses often feel like we have no choices," she said. "The military sends our spouses, and we, of course, follow. And we make the best of it. We get rather passive, I think, because of the circumstances of frequent moves. Often we can't find the energy to make active, positive choices, and so we just let things happen."
Military spouses too often take the easiest route to finding a job and don't get involved in activities or groups, DuPree said. "However, the choices we make, whether active or passive, determine the quality of our lives," she added. "We want to make choices that will expand our menu of choices when it comes to employment options. Choose to discover your calling, think about it and dream about it."
Choosing work that leads to expanded skills, DuPree told the audience, is another choice military spouses should make.
"Every job that you choose to take should help to expand your career choices at your next duty station and the next, and so on," she said. "Always ask yourself, 'Will this job bring me in closer touch with my calling?' Make active choices and choose wisely. Our choices determine the quality of our lives."
NOTE: View the original version of this web page on DefenseLINK,
the official website of the U.S. Department of Defense, at


text:
Recent News
June 03, 2013
Cheryl's Recalls 1.6 oz. Buttercream Frosted Cinnamon Pumpkin Cookies
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services received information regarding a recall of 1.6 oz. Buttercream Frosted Cinnamon Pumpkin Cookies because the wrapper on these affected cookies may not specifically state that the cookie contains Peanuts, a known allergen. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to peanuts run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products.
The 1.6 oz. Buttercream Frosted Cinnamon Pumpkin Cookies were sold at Cheryl's retail stores located in Columbus and Dayton, Ohio and nationwide via Cheryl's website located at www.cheryls.com during the months of April and May, 2013 and contain Lot No.: 88 13 1 on the packaging wrapper.
The full recall can be found at www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm354659.htm?source=govdelivery.


text:
Hagel Technologies was founded in 1997 and is currently based in London, Ontario, Canada. We are a small, privately held company. We are experts at architecting, designing, and implementing intelligent network management, monitoring and optimization software. Our customers are home users, large corporations and anything in between.
We strive to solve real-world problems with our software, make your day a little bit easier, just let you get the job done. We amaze our customers with exceptional technical support, reasonable pricing and flexible upgrade policies.
DU Meter provides an accurate account of the data which is flowing through your computer's network connection. This real time readout is presented in both numerical and graphical format (more).
TweakMASTER is the supreme Internet Optimizer. No matter what version of Windows you have or what type of Internet connection you use, TweakMASTER will provide a faster browsing experience (more).
TradeTrakker is an easy-to-use, yet powerful financial portfolio management application. Whether you are new to investing or an experienced trader, TradeTrakker will help you monitor and analyze your investments (more).


text:
The Travel Hacking Cartel
Earn hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer miles...without getting on a plane
Most frequent flyer miles are earned on the ground.When you become a travel hacker, you'll start padding out your own mileage accounts, then you'll redeem them for high-value trips.
Read the stories from our members.
Become a travel ninja... with or without the nunchucks.What if the whole world were open to you? Leave your limits behind and go anywhere, anytime... even if you never leave your own country.
Adventure without borders. Learn how it works.
Jetset, backpack, or just fly for free.Regardless of your travel style, the cartel will help you do more of what you love. Our goal is to democratize free travel, and we'll help you get out the door to where you want to go.


text:
Thanks to Michael from MindLoveMisery's Menagerie for hosting this week's prompt: A tale which takes place beyond the veiled mist.
Kyria had been warned since she was a small child, beyond the veil was dangerous. Her older siblings had told her monsters lived there, that there were witches waiting to eat a young child.
What the adults said wasn't much better. Her Grandma Iris said she'd lose her soul if she was caught in the veil beyond. She talked about shape shifters and immortal creatures of the dark such as vampires and werewolves.
One day hanging the laundry on the line at her grandmothers, Kyria gazed at the veil nearby. She hadn't thought of it for a long time and she wasn't sure why it called to her now. She'd never admit she could hear the whispers of the creatures which lived their. They were tempting her and she knew it.
Did everyone in the village see the veil as she did? Kyria believed they had no idea where it physically was, that to them it was was only folklore for children and not a real thing; it was extremely real to Kyria and she knew for her grandmother as well.
Kyria was twenty-four and long past the age of adulthood. Her parents lived together and her siblings with their families. She hadn't found a suitable man to marry so her father decided she should move in with her ailing Grandmother and care for her. He thought she needed to be of use somewhere since she hadn't married quickly as her sisters did.
The more Kyria thought about the veil and the mist shrouding it, the more she thought about how she'd never put herself out there in life. She'd always done what she was told and when others failed she was the one who took their place, who filled in so everything went smoothly.
It was how she made up for her so-called "selfishness," still being single and not having children for her family and village. She wondered why she had never pushed her boundaries and was tired of being ruled by her father's and her grandmother's whims.
Kyria loved her Grandma Iris the most because she understood Kyria better than anyone. But her grandma still cautioned her to never cross the veil daily. But grandma was inside sleeping and Kyria heard the whispers from veil more and more these days. They were a sirens call to her.
She ignored all she had been told by her grandma, her family, and her friends as a child. She decided today she would cross the shrouded veil into the other world. Dropping the laundry Kyria walked towards the veil and into the mist surrounding it. The veil shimmered as she came closer and sonorous voice could be heard singing on the other side.
When she reached the line where the spiritual and natural worlds met Kyria stopped for a moment and stood. She smiled and with both hands raised in front of her she was able to feel the mystical energy she was about to pass through.
She stepped into the shimmering fog and breathed deeply. Her long blond hair flew out behind her and it was the last thing her grandmother saw as she watched her granddaughter cross into the other world.
Grandma Iris sighed in frustration but she knew as it had been with her, the veil had been too much of a temptation for Kyria. She knew that adventure and discovery awaited her sheltered granddaughter. As it had been with Iris, the veil and it's magic was in Kyria's blood. Grandma Iris was the only one besides Kyria who actually could see the veil, she had made herself guardian of the gateway and hoped Kyria would take over for her one day.
But as the last of Kyria's blond hair slipped through veil and disappeared, Iris couldn't help being thrilled for her granddaughter. What awaited Kyria would shape and change her. It would motivate and hurt her, it would be an experience far beyond the scope anyone in the village would ever experience.
Iris blew a kiss towards the veil and whispered a blessing for Kyria. The feelings of excitement in Iris were so intense it was as if it were fifty-years-ago and she herself was crossing the veil.
©Mandibelle16. (2017) All Rights Reserved.


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Allergen & Nutrition Info
We understand the challenges facing the community of people who struggle with food allergies or have to manage food and beverage sensitivities in their lives. We know how difficult it is to eat safely, especially when eating out. Your options are severely limited because of the absence of available information. It is important that you are aware that milk, eggs, tree nuts, seafood, soy, wheat, sesame products, crustacean shellfish, fish, sulfites and other allergens are present in our restaurants. We ask that when placing your order you alert your server and the manager on duty to your food or beverage allergy or sensitivity. The more information relating to your specific needs you can provide, the better we can attempt to protect you. We will then try our best to avoid any accidental cross-contact, but we do not have separate equipment dedicated for the preparation of allergen based food requests. All food in our establishment may come into contact with surfaces, fryers, grills, utensils or other equipment that have previously contacted an allergen. Finally, it is a good idea to remind your server about your request when your food arrives at the table in order to confirm that you are receiving the correct dish.
The nutritional and allergen information provided on menus and on our websites is based entirely on the information provided by our ingredient manufacturers and suppliers. We have limited this discloser to the "Big 8" (wheat, soy, milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish) as those are the only ones manufacturers are required to disclose. Suppliers may change the ingredients in their products or the way they prepare their products without informing us. From time to time we or our suppliers may substitute products due to inventory shortages and we can't be sure that the substitute products will be free of the allergen you wish to avoid. If there are changes we are made aware of we will update our website, so please check our website frequently.
The labeling practices and terminology relating to manufacturer's handling of other potential allergens in their facilities varies greatly and can be vague. Because of this, we have not included in our listings allergens that may be present in the supplier's plants or may even come in contact with the same manufacturing equipment. Cross contact may have occurred at these facilities and is beyond our control. For example, our almonds may be packaged at a facility which also processes other tree nuts.
The range of tolerance or reactions to the presence of food and beverage allergens varies greatly from person to person. Decisions on the amount of precautions you should take or risks you may expose yourself to, are always best made by you in consultation with your health care provider.
Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness, especially if you have a medical condition. No allergen or nutritional information in restaurant materials or our website should ever be considered a guarantee, but simply our effort to better serve our customers. CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries Group, Inc., including its franchisees and licensees, is not liable for the validity of information provided by our suppliers and distributors of products used in our kitchens.


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Soccer Inks Three on National Signing Day
LSU Sports Interactive
BATON ROUGE -- Wednesday was an important day for women's soccer programs across the country as high school recruits made their college decisions known by signing National Letters of Intent with their respective universities on National Signing Day.
The nationally-ranked LSU soccer program was no different as head coach Brian Lee added the services of three prep standouts who will suit up with the club beginning in the 2008 season.
The recruits from the Class of 2008 who have decided to continue their athletic and academic pursuits at LSU include goalkeeper Mo Isom of Marietta, Ga., defender Brittany Potts of Aurora, Ill., and forward Hannah Jobe of Baton Rouge.
"We're very pleased with the outcome of this signing class as it fills some specific needs that we have both in the short term and in the long run," Lee said. "Each of these young ladies possesses the characteristics both on and off the field that will allow them to succeed in our program. Team chemistry is always important, and we expect them to fit in very well with our returning players."
Isom, who graduated from Lassiter High School in December and is already enrolled at LSU, is considered one of the nation's premier goalkeeper recruits for the Class of 2008 and will have the opportunity to compete against one of the nation's toughest schedules this spring.
Isom is one of the most decorated recruits to ever sign with the Tigers as she was named a youth All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in 2006 and followed that with an all-region selection by the organization in 2007.
She has been an active member of the Region III Olympic Development Program Team since the 2005 season and has competed internationally with the squad as a U-17 U.S. adidas All-Star.
Isom boasts an impressive 10-0-0 mark with 10 shutouts in 10 career international matches against U-17 teams from Austria, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Sweden. She also took part in the ODP U-19 National Training Camp in Ventura, Calif., in 2007 and 2008.
"Mo is without a doubt one of the top goalkeeper recruits in the country in this signing class," Lee said. "She is a tremendous athlete who possesses all of the physical tools to develop into one of the top goalkeepers in all of women's college soccer. She also adds a new dimension to our team because she can punt the ball 75 yards and her goal kicks are excellent.
"The fact that she is enrolled for the spring semester will only help her mature as we begin our offseason training program. She will feel more like a sophomore in the fall after facing the likes of North Carolina, Duke, Texas and Texas A&M this spring. Mo is someone who will represent LSU very well on and off the playing field."
Potts will continue her already stellar career at LSU after graduating from Neuqua Valley High School in Aurora, Ill., this spring. She is the sister of LSU's two-time All-SEC defender Chelsea Potts as the duo will anchor the middle of the defensive back line in the fall.
Potts comes from an impressive soccer background that includes a five-year stint with arguably the premier club program in the country in Eclipse Select.
She helped lead Eclipse Select to United States Youth Soccer Association regional and national championships in 2006. The squad was ranked as the No. 1 club team in the nation during the regular season in 2007 by both Soccer America and NationalSoccerRanking.com.
"Brittany is just what the doctor ordered for our team in this signing class," Lee said. "We've got a veteran team coming back, but we could certainly use another ball-winning, athletic center back and defensive midfielder to give us the depth we need to compete for an SEC championship in 2008. We feel like Brittany will play a major role in our success in the fall."
Jobe comes to LSU from Bethany Christian School in Zachary as one of the top recruits in the state of Louisiana for the Class of 2008. A versatile forward and midfielder, Jobe has been a member of the Louisiana State ODP Team and the Baton Rouge Soccer Club since 2002.
Lee said that Jobe is cut in the mold of all-conference standout Roslyn Jones as she possesses all of the characteristics that are necessary to make an impact both on and off the field for the Tigers.
"Hannah is probably the top forward to come out of Louisiana in this class," Lee said. "She is an athletic prospect who we feel has a chance to really flourish in our environment. She reminds our staff a lot of Roslyn Jones at the same age, and we feel like she possesses the skills to make an impact on our program both on and off the field during what is sure to be a brilliant career."
The signing of Isom, Potts and Jobe will give the Tigers one of the deepest rosters in the SEC as they look to build on their most successful season in program history after winning their first SEC Western Division title and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament this past fall.
"We're continuing to make progress on a national level, and we're excited about how these kids will fit in with our veteran nucleus that keeps getting better every day," Lee said. "They will have great role models with the likes of Rachel Yepez, Malorie Rutledge, Casey Crawford and others already in the program that can show them how to become the best student-athletes they can be."


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As you may recall, CNN refused to cover State Sen. Leland Yee's arrest in any detail because his was a local story, and that was beneath them. This was true despite the fact that it was, by any standards, an exceptionally juicy narrative, complete with peculiarly named mobsters ("Shrimp Boy"), hypocritical politicians (gung-ho gun-control Yee selling black market weapons), and murderous Islamists (the recipients of those weapons). "Feh!" sneered CNN. "It's in line with us covering state senators & state secretary of state races just about never. You see another conspiracy?"
In examining the veracity of that smear, let's put aside CNN's enthusiastic (although not as enthusiastic as MSNBC's) Chris Christie coverage. Arguably, Christie was cover-worthy because he had presidential aspirations, raising him above a mere "state senator."
But what about U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister? He's the Louisiana congressman who was caught kissing a staffer. Admittedly, he is a member of Congress, making him a nominally national figure, but honestly, it's a generic story about a guy known only in his Louisiana parish: politician runs on family values (and they all do) and then gets in trouble over a woman. Except for the fact that there's some implied sex, it's not a sexy story, it's not about a man who's carved out a national reputation for himself, and it doesn't implicate larger political concerns. None of that has stopped CNN.
To date, and using CNN's own search engine, I've found seven — count 'em! seven! — CNN main stories and blog posts about McAllister:
Over at NewsBusters, Brent Bozell and Tim Graham offer a primer on the decisions MSM outlets use when they determine what's newsworthy. You won't be surprised that the algorithm includes determining what's good for Democrats and bad for Republicans. Nor will you be surprised to learn that Leland Yee isn't the only utterly corrupt Democrat — and, moreover, one who is corrupt in interesting and creative ways — whose story the media has determined simply isn't newsworthy.


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Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr., KBE (born December 23, 1944) is a retired general of the United States Army. Graduating as valedictorian of his class at West Point, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and later graduated from the Command and General Staff College with a master's degree in military science. He spent 34 years in the Army and the Department of Defense, receiving many military decorations, several honorary knighthoods, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Clark commanded Operation Allied Force in the Kosovo War during his term as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000.
Clark joined the 2004 race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination as a candidate on September 17, 2003, but withdrew from the primary race on February 11, 2004, after winning the Oklahoma state primary, endorsing and campaigning for the eventual Democratic nominee, John Kerry. Clark currently leads a political action committee — "WesPAC" — which was formed after the 2004 primaries, and used it to support numerous Democratic Party candidates in the 2006 midterm elections. Clark was considered a potential candidate for the Democratic nomination in 2008, but, on September 15, 2007, endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton. After Clinton dropped out of the Presidential race, Clark endorsed the then-presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama. Clark currently serves as the co-chairman of Growth Energy, an ethanol lobbying group.


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Items 1 to 10 of 11 total
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List GridAdvanced Search
Down with the Law
Anarchist Individualist Writings from Early Twentieth-Century France$15.00 $11.25
Voices from within the anarchist individualist movement, including a first-hand account of life among the members of the Bonnot Gang.
The Terror Nation$15.95 $7.95
.In ISIS: The Terror Nation, world-renowned terrorism expert Loretta Napoleoni builds on her international best-selling The Islamic Phoenix, with new chapters on the...
Merchants of Men
How Jihadists and ISIS Turned Kidnapping and Refugee Trafficking into a Multi-Billion Dollar Business$24.95 $12.95
Overall, the kidnapping industry today is bigger than the illegal drug trade and worth hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Merchants of Men is based on...
Addicted to War
Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism—Revised Edition$12.00
A new edition of the classic antiwar text. Updates include Barack Obama's drone wars, Chelsea Manning and wikileaks, statistics on military spending, and the ongoing costs and consequences of wars...
Imperialist Canada$24.95
Imperialist Canada exposes Canada's imperialist past and present, at home and across the globe. Todd Gordon interweaves histories of indigenous dispossession in Canada with the cold facts of...
Preempting Dissent
The Politics of Inevitable Future$12.95
The Bush administration's "War on Terror" ushered in a new logic of surveillance, suppressing public dissent and mobilizing both "faith" and "fear." Elmer and Opel reveal the underlying logic of...
The Imperial Presidency
Sovereignty, Terror, and the "Second Superpower"$14.98
It's Noam Chomsky vs. the Bush Regime in this much-anticipated spoken-word release. Recorded in November 2004, just after the reelection of George W. Bush, Chomsky pinpoints the principle...
Guns For Hire
How The CIA & US Army Recruit Mercenaries For White Rhodesia$5.00
A collectors item from the anti-colonial struggles of the seventies. This text details how the US military and CIA colluded with Solider of Fortune magazine and others to send white mercenaries to...
The Shadows Under The Lamp
Essays On September 11 And Afghanistan$16.95
A brief analysis of September 11, and its origins, from the editors of 'Anarchist Studies' and the 'Research On Anarchism' website. The Earthquake examines the evidence, the causes and the...
The New War on Terrorism
Fact and Fiction$14.98
"We certainly want to reduce the level of terror...There is one easy way to do that...stop participating in it."--Noam Chomsky, from the CDWhat is terrorism? And how can we reduce the...
Items 1 to 10 of 11 total
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I feel really good about this video, and I think it presents an honest look at my trip to Liberia with MiiR this past January. Several of my images were recently selected in the 2011 PDN Faces contest, and I thought this would be a good excuse to put together a video that shows a little more of what the experience was like and how the images came together. I cannot say enough about my editor for this video, Andy Maier. He put so much thought and hard work into this, and his efforts made all the difference. I feel blessed to be able to work with wonderfully creative people, such as Andy and everyone else I have been creating with this past year.
The man at the beginning of the video is Pastor Kondoh, and he will be coming to Seattle in just a couple of weeks for a project MiiR CEO Bryan Pape and I are working on. I can't wait to see him again. This will be a trip of many firsts for him, including his first time out of Africa, and his first time on an airplane. Without sounding like a tease, I do have a little bit of freedom to talk more about the project I referred to above. You can hear about it in greater detail on the podcast interview I did with Faded & Blurred recently. I start talking about it around minute 40.


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Corn traded near the lowest in almost six months and was on the verge of a bear market amid expectations farmers will produce a record crop in the U.S., the world's largest grower and exporter.
Corn may join wheat in a bear market as global grain stockpiles rise, helping curb world food costs while crimping farmers' incomes. Prices fell this week after USDA said domestic inventories of the most- valuable U.S. crop were bigger than expected. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. forecasts a retreat to $4 in six months.
"Grain prices have plunged and they are more than due for a bounce," economist Dennis Gartman wrote in his newsletter. "It shall be of the proverbial 'dead cat' variety however, we fear, for the corn and soybean crops are huge and growing larger by the week."
Soybean Acreage Shocks Trade
Corn for December delivery added 0.1 percent to $4.1825 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade by 7:53 a.m. local time. Prices fell to as low as $4.1625 yesterday, the lowest level for a most-active contract since Jan. 10, and are down 6.5 percent this week. Corn dropped 19.8 percent from the April 29 close to yesterday, nearing the 20 percent drop that commonly defines a bear market.
World grain production will be larger than expected a month ago, the United Nations' Food & Agriculture Organization wrote in a forecast today. Supply will outpace demand, lifting grain ending stocks to 604.1 million metric tons by the end of the season, rising from 573.9 million tons a year earlier and the highest since 2001, the FAO said.
Higher Stockpiles
"The market is bearish," said Avtar Sandu, senior commodities manager at Phillip Futures Pte in Singapore. "The U.S. crop is growing very well," and stockpiles were much higher than analysts expected, he said.
U.S. corn stockpiles were 3.85 billion bushels at the start of June following a record 2013 crop, the USDA said on June 30. That topped the average estimate of 3.72 billion bushels in a Bloomberg survey of 26 analysts. The U.S. harvest will reach 13.935 billion bushels this year, it said last month.
Chicago trading is scheduled to halt early today ahead of tomorrow's Independence Day holiday.
"The markets are taking a break ahead of a long weekend in the U.S.," Paris-based farm adviser Agritel wrote in a market comment. "Weather conditions remain extremely favorable for corn, because the abundant rains recently won't displease this water-hungry crop."
Wheat for September delivery gained 0.4 percent to $5.78 a bushel. Futures touched $5.675 on June 30, the lowest since Feb. 7. Milling wheat for November delivery traded on Euronext in Paris rose 0.1 percent to 184.50 euros ($251) a ton.
Soybeans for delivery in November advanced 0.3 percent to $11.4525 a bushel, breaking four days of losses. The oilseed fell to $11.32 on July 1, the lowest since December 2011.
Click here for more news and videos from Top Producer's Power Hour.
Native Warm-season Grasses to Offset the 'Summer Slump'
National DHIA Scholarship Application Available Online


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A dear friend died recently.
Sometimes I go to funerals for the sake of others – the survivors who will live with a hole in their lives for years to come. But this one was for me.
The hole is in my life.
Not gigantic – not the sort of hole that would be left without my wife or sons or brothers. But yes, a hole.
A Zen chant:
All things are impermanent.
They arise and they pass away.
Living in harmony with this teaching brings great happiness and joy.
In every moment, there is change.
Not so much a truism as a definition: there is no moment without something changing.
It took me several weeks of study, of knocking my head against the wall of my own mindset, to finally "get" special relativity. Conceptually, I could accept that the nearer one draws to the speed of light, the greater one's mass.
I even thought I was ok with the idea that the greater one's speed, the slower ran one's clocks, relative to an identical clock at the point of origin. And I generally could work with the idea that the difference in clock time of the rocket and the earth was a calculable function of the velocity of the rocket.
But I made a mistake in my original conception.
I understood the idea that time would run more slowly for the astronauts in the rocket.
But the way I understood that was that those travelling in the rocket experienced those peculiar effects because they were in a peculiar situation that made their clocks move more slowly. *Real* time continued to click away right on schedule.
Eventually, I realized a mistake in my understanding: how did the clocks know how slowly to go? Which was the wrong question, but kind of right, nonetheless. Because the clocks don't go more slowly. They measure each and every second, exactly as a second. It wasn't just the clocks that went more slowly: the molecules and atoms and subatomic particles of the clocks moved more slowly, too.
*All of existence* that moves in that direction at that velocity moves at the same speed -- exists at the same speed.
For that to make any sense at all, *time itself* had to be defined by change.
From within a system, no change=no time.
It's nighttime and moonlit. I'm walking barefoot on the concrete pavers of the courtyard. As a foot presses into the stone, the residual heat of the absent sun warms the skin of the sole. As each foot lifts, the warmth disappears and the sole feels the barest whisper of cool, night air. My gaze is soft, resting on an invisible spot in the air ten or twelve feet ahead of me. With each step, that spot never changes. But with each step, all of the visible world in the periphery flows and fluxes. Parallax motions work their changes with mathematical precision, responding to my step. If there were an I, it would be the center of the flow of space and time. But there isn't. That sense is quiet. Missing, yet not missed. There is only the flowing. The changing. The arising. The passing.
Robyn was one of those people who was gently, insistently kind. When she'd walk in a room, she'd look for someone who needed attention. Who needed a hug. Who needed love. Her actions were modest. She wasn't particularly interested in herself, but fascinated by the world. Committed to a particular way of living.
At the funeral, one of her daughters told a story. Shortly after they'd moved to Colorado, the daughter was walking home from elementary school. Some boys started to throw rocks in her direction. Then, bolder, they threw rocks at her. One hit her just below the eye. She ran home with an ugly welt, crying and scared. Robyn hugged her and comforted her and cleaned her up. Then Robyn got two chocolate suckers out, and led her daughter to the boys' house, to share the sweets with them.
Love your enemies.
And teach your children how to love their enemies.
There's lots about the meditation that I practice and teach that tends to be misunderstood. I suspect that the misunderstanding must have something to do with how I'm teaching it, but whatever. One of those misunderstandings is that there's something to be thinking about – or that there's nothing to be thinking about. But as far as my meditation practice is concerned, thoughts are just the sensations of the mind.
As I sit in this moment, I smell the dry, processed scent of airplane ventilation system. In the next moment, I see sunlight angled in on the seat-tray of the passenger next to me. I feel the pressure of the soles of my feet against my socks, shoes, and floor. A particular hair follicle on my left cheek. The blue of the computer screen background. The vibration of the airplane's engines coming through my seat cushion. The sensation of the air I inhale as it crosses the edge of my right nostril. The pressure on the pad of my left ring finger against the keyboard. The taste of Diet Coke. A thought of my wife at home. Anticipation of New York City. Stomach. Thought. Sensation. Thought. Dit. Dit. Dit. Ditditditiditditditditditdit…………………………………………….
Each perception is a change relative to the prior state. The very definition of a moment.
One of the most important meditation instructions I ever received was this: "It doesn't matter what arises in your experience; it only matters that you notice it."
"And then speed up your noticing."
I considered the instruction, and thought, "ok, I'll try it."
Then I got the next part of the instruction: "With diligent practice, you can notice dozens of perceptions each second."
Each second?!!? No way. Uh uh.
And in a way, I was right: it was impossible to do what I was doing dozens of times per second.
Eventually (and this took years), I began to realize several things. First, I realized that in a normal conversation, at normal talking rates, I was already perceiving, processing, and making use of at least a dozen inputs per second. Think about it. "Think" "about" "it"
"- -"
"- -"
In a single second, a dozen sound changes, to say nothing of assembling the sounds into conceptual words, to say nothing of associating the words with meanings, to say nothing of understanding the meaning ,to say nothing of formulating intention with respect to the meaning, to say nothing of acting on the intention.
So I realized that in fact, a dozen is more than possible. I remembered that movies run at about 30 frames per second, giving even the fastest-noticing people the illusion of motion pictures.
So what was the meditation secret? Getting out of the way. Letting go. Why was I only able to notice two or three things per second? Because I was holding onto them. Sometimes only a split-second or two; sometimes longer. Long enough to recognize them, name them, assign some content-meaning to them, relate to them, attach to them or avert from them. Lost in thought.
So how am I getting in the way of Robyn's death? Attachment. She was – she is still – interwoven in my experience. My mind formulates certain meanings with her role in my life assumed, steady, essential, permanent.
And yet, she is not.
If I simply notice that, there is a sense of change. If I try to argue with reality – the reality that does not include her – suffering arises. Disappointment.
All is unsettled. Anicca.
Even Robyn. Even "I." Even even.
Anicca: impermanence
Ken McLeod: What is the one thing you know about every relationship you have? That it will end. So what should you do with every relationship? Savor it.
Several years ago, I worked at a company that was in the final stages of being sold to another company. Because there were a lot of government regulatory approvals that were required before the deal could close, there was a gap of about a year between the time the deal was announced and the time it was expected to be completed. As is usually the case with such events, many of us working there expected to lose our jobs within a few days of the deal closing.
Toward the end of the process, a group of us decided to have a celebration dinner at a nearby restaurant. We reserved a private room, and had some fun sharing food and stories and laughs from our time together. Toward the end of the evening, Tom – a lawyer I'd worked with for several years – asked for a moment to speak. We quieted down. He brought out a bottle of port, and said, "I like to collect bottles of port when I can, but it's harder to find the right moment to open a old bottle of port than it is to find a really old bottle of port. When I learned that the company was being sold, I realized that this was the occasion and the group to share this with." He then uncorked a bottle of 130 year old port. The room we were in was large enough for the 14 or 15 of us there that evening, but not much larger than that.
As soon as he pulled the cork, the entire room was filled with an incredible fragrance of pears and walnuts. We breathed it together. It lasted only a couple of moments, then disappeared.
And ten years later, I still remember it clearly.
When I think of savoring the impermanent I think of the brief scent of Tom's 130 year old port, reconnecting with the outside world, blossoming briefly, then done.
A blessing – not a curse:
Every building ends in ruin.
Every meeting ends in parting.
Every aggregation ends in dispersion.
Every birth ends in death.
Friday, December 09, 2011
Thoughts on a flight after a friend's funeral
A dear friend died recently.
Posted by greenfrog at 3:02 PM |
Labels: anicca, impermanence


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Ariana Grande Splits From Jai Brooks, Posts 'Love Me Harder' Snippet [VIDEO]by Mandi Salerno | PopCrush
Ariana Grande is having a summer of ups and downs. Her hits 'Problem' and 'Break Free' are ruling the charts, and she's counting down the days to the release of her new album 'My Everything.' On the other hand, she's dealing with the recent loss of her grandfather, and now a split from her boyfriend Jai Brooks.
A source told E! News that the couple ended once again last month, this time on Ariana's terms.
"When her grandfather was dying, everyone was there for her. People flew to Florida to be with her, but Jai didn't," the insider revealed. "Ariana just felt he wasn't there like he should have been."
The singer also tweeted a slightly cryptic message earlier today (Aug. 4), thanking her fans for their support and advising them to surround themselves with people who will be supportive through good and bad times.
love u pic.twitter.com/Xfa5bTT4vL
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) August 4, 2014
Poor Ariana! She didn't let her reflective mood keep her down for long, though, returning to Instagram a few hours later to share a teaser of a new song from her album. 'Love Me Harder' — could the title be another indirect? — is a collab with the Weeknd, and from the sounds of the 15-second clip, it's another upbeat dance track.
Hopefully Ariana's busy promo schedule will keep her mind off of her losses! We're thinking of you, Ari!