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The bodies of the two young fighters from Hezbollah were already in the ground when the memorial service began. They'd been killed days before, and their smiling portraits hovered above an outdoor stage in their village, Sohmor, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. The stage was framed by huge banners, portraying Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's secretary-general, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader. In the portraits, the two fighters—Ali Hussein al-Khishen and Ali Mustafa Alaeddine—looked barely their age, nineteen. Khishen had chubby cheeks and a boyish smile; Alaeddine's countenance was sterner and more knowing. "You are the proof of martyrdom!" one of the posters said.
The mourners, thousands of them, shuffled to their seats, the black-clad women drifting to the back. The atmosphere was not sombre but upbeat, undefeated, like a football stadium before kickoff. Boys in blue shirts and white kerchiefs—Mahdi Scouts—poured coffee from ornate decanters and handed out bottles of water. A Hezbollah brass band bleated out what sounded like a Sousa march. Khishen and Alaeddine were being celebrated in death.
At the time of the service, late last year, Hezbollah had spent months denying that its men were crossing the border into Syria to fight for Bashar al-Assad's murderous regime. Yet evidence was mounting that they were. The day before the funeral, Syrian rebels announced that they had killed a Hezbollah commander and at least two of his men. Hezbollah acknowledged that the commander, Ali Hussein Nassif, had died, but refused to disclose where or how, saying only that he had been "performing his jihad duties."
Like the fallen commander, the two dead fighters in Sohmor had been killed under murky circumstances. Hezbollah said that the two had died at an ammunition depot inside Lebanon, in an accidental explosion, four days before. But the service in Sohmor was a thikra usbu', an Islamic ceremony held seven days after death. At the burial, the bodies of Khishen and Alaeddine had been kept inside their caskets, invisible even to their families.
The crowd stirred as guards began appearing on rooftops, clutching soft violin cases with the butts of machine guns poking out. Then a bearded man in a black turban walked onto the stage with his hands clasped, like a cleric. It was Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah's Executive Council. The audience grew silent.
"Don't cry, Sohmor," Safieddine began. "You can't have dignity without young blood." He didn't say how Khishen and Alaeddine had been killed, and he made no mention of an ammunition depot. Instead, he told the people that their sons had died for a noble cause, and that Hezbollah was built on sacrifices such as these. Then he talked about Syria. "We are more sure every day that the challenges we face from Israel, America, and the Arab countries are huge—and that the Arab countries are spending money to destroy Syria and Hezbollah," he said.
Safieddine wasn't exaggerating: after decades of belligerence, Hezbollah is surrounded by existential threats. In an Arab world dominated by Sunni Muslims, Hezbollah agitates on behalf of Shiite identity—forming, along with Syria and Iran, a column of resistance sometimes called the Shiite Axis. For thirty years, Syria has offered protection and facilitated a pipeline of money and arms from Iran. With Syrian and Iranian help, Hezbollah has become the most powerful force in Lebanon. Too strong to be challenged even by the government, it has set up its own mini-state and built one of the world's most sophisticated guerrilla armies. It has kept up a relentless campaign to confront Israel, even provoking a war in 2006.
Now the civil war in Syria is threatening to break the axis. Without Syria, Hezbollah would have no bolster against its Sunni enemies, within Lebanon and throughout the region. Worse, it would be left alone to face Israel. In front of the crowd in Sohmor, Safieddine didn't have to elaborate this point. He said only, "We are aware of what is happening in Syria, and we are courageous and more ready than ever for resistance."
Back in Beirut, a Hezbollah officer conceded that the explanation for the young martyrs' death—the explosion at the ammunition depot—had been contrived. They had been killed in Syria, he said: "There were a lot of bodies coming back." It was something that no one was permitted to discuss, for obvious reasons: Hezbollah could not afford to anger Sunnis, but neither could it allow its allies in Syria to fall. "If Bashar goes down," a Hezbollah commander told me, "we're next."
The Hezbollah commander, who called himself Dani (a pseudonym required to maintain his safety), met me in a private home around the corner from "the secure area," a cluster of buildings that serves as Hezbollah's headquarters in the southern Beirut neighborhood of Al Ghobeiry. Dani walked in wearing jeans, a tight black T-shirt, trail shoes, and a Quicksilver cap; his hair was short and his fair-skinned face was shaved clean. I was struck by his appearance, so unlike the cliché of an Islamic militant, and Dani did not fail to notice. "We're not all bearded fanatics, you know," he said. Dani, who is about forty years old, looked more like a good-natured auto mechanic, which he is, most of the time. One of eleven siblings, he is married and has two children of his own.
Dani grew up in a village within sight of the Israeli border, but, as he remembers it, his family had no anti-Israeli feelings. His father traded wheat and olives and often crossed over to buy and sell in the Israeli port of Haifa. "My dad had a lot of Jewish friends back then," Dani said. "He didn't think a lot about occupation."
Throughout Dani's childhood, the Palestine Liberation Organization was based in Lebanon. A Sunni-dominated group, it treated the Shiites harshly, and was an increasingly unwelcomed presence. Then, in 1982, the Israel Defense Forces poured across the border, in a huge military operation aimed at destroying the P.L.O., and soldiers made their way to Dani's village. At first, the villagers, like many Lebanese, welcomed the Israelis, whom they hoped would rid them of the P.L.O. "I ate the candy they threw us," Dani said. But it wasn't long before Israeli soldiers began to sweep the region's Shiite villages for weapons, detaining men with no connection to the P.L.O. Soon Dani needed written permission from the Israelis to move in and out of town. "They made us prisoners in our own country," he said.
Ever since the nineteen-twenties, when the colonial French carved Lebanon from the remnants of the Ottoman Empire, it has been a political playground for its more powerful neighbors: Israel, Syria, the Palestinians, and Saudi Arabia, each of which has routinely manipulated Lebanese politics through local proxies. Lebanon's vulnerability lies in its intense polarization, which has bedevilled every government that has tried to run the place. The country was intended by the French as a kind of sanctuary for Maronite Catholics. Over time, the Catholics and other Christians, who were once a majority, clung to power even as they were surpassed in numbers by Muslims. Now eighteen officially recognized religions and sects thrive among four million people, in a country the size of Connecticut. Sunnis, Shiites, and Christians predominate, but none has a majority. In 1975, sectarian tensions, aggravated by the growing militancy of the P.L.O., exploded into a civil war. The war lasted fifteen years, devastated the country, and killed a hundred and twenty thousand people. In the midst of the war, in 1982, came the Israeli Army.
As Dani looked for a way to resist the invaders, the obvious option, the Lebanese Army, was closed. The Army—indeed, most of the government—had all but ceased to exist. Then a new group arose, dedicated to opposing Israel; it was known as Hezbollah, from the Arabic for "Party of God." The group dates its beginning to November 11, 1982, when a teen-ager named Ahmad Qassir approached the Israeli headquarters in Tyre and blew himself up. Its true origins aren't so simple. Hezbollah emerged from a collection of disparate armed groups, but almost immediately the fighters began receiving training, direction, and money from Iran's Revolutionary Guard. "The Iranians were looking for an opening in Lebanon, and the Israeli invasion gave it to them," David Crist, a historian for the U.S. government and the author of "The Twilight War," an account of the American-Iranian rivalry since 1979, said. "The Iranians' great success is that they took all these disparate groups that were fighting the Israelis and brought them together."
The Iranian regime spent as much as two hundred million dollars a year supporting Hezbollah, according to a U.S. Defense Department report. For Iran, Hezbollah was an appealing proxy. Like the Iranian regime, it was composed of Shiites, a minority throughout most of the Islamic world and historically its downtrodden class. Hezbollah's founders, adhering to the doctrine of wilaayat al faqih, recognized Iran's Grand Ayatollah as the leader of the global Islamic revolution. But mostly the Iranians wanted Hezbollah as an advance force to confront Israel. In Hezbollah's first manifesto, published in 1985, its leaders proclaimed their dedication to fighting until Israel was "obliterated." Paul Salem, the director of the Carnegie Middle East Center, in Beirut, said, "Hezbollah is an Iranian aircraft carrier parked north of Israel. 'You hit us, we hit you.' That is what Hezbollah gets the big bucks and the missiles for."
Among the fighters in the early days was Hassan Nasrallah, a round-faced cleric whose magnetism captivated almost everyone he met. Nasrallah, then in his early twenties, was a son of Karantina—"the Quarantine"—one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Beirut. His father sold fruit from a pushcart. He was an avid reader of theology as a boy, and he later attended the fabled Shiite seminaries of Najaf, in Iraq, and Qum, in Iran. In 1992, Israeli forces assassinated Abbas al-Musawi, the leader of Hezbollah, by firing a missile at his car. Nasrallah took his place, only months after returning from Iran.
Soon after Hezbollah was founded, Dani, though still a boy, left home and joined. "I vowed never to return to my village until it was liberated," he said. Over the next eighteen years, Hezbollah waged a guerrilla war against Israeli soldiers who occupied southern Lebanon. Dani fought all the time. "I became a soldier," he said. American troops came in to help the Lebanese government, and Hezbollah struck against them as well. According to U.S. officials, two of the bloodiest attacks against Americans in the nineteen-eighties were carried out by Hezbollah operatives with Iranian support: the suicide attack on the American Embassy in Beirut, in April of 1983, which killed sixty-three people; and the truck bombing of Marine barracks that October, which killed two hundred and forty-one Americans. (Hezbollah has denied involvement in either attack.) In 1985, Hezbollah militants kidnapped Colonel William R. Higgins, an American officer overseeing United Nations peacekeepers on the Israeli border, and tortured him to death. "We were under military occupation at the time, as far as I see it, and so therefore I don't think those were terrorist attacks," Dani said.
A few days after we first spoke, Dani took me on a tour of southern Lebanon, where war with Israel festered for decades. We drove south out of Beirut, along the Mediterranean coast, past Sidon's sea castle, the stone fortification built by the Crusaders in the thirteenth century, and through the ancient city of Tyre. "All of this," he said, pointing out the window, "used to be in Israeli hands." Martyrdom posters lined the roadside, along with other indications that Hezbollah was governing the place. "Hezbollah welcomes the Pope!" one poster said.
We stopped in a village, at a café called Al Bas, where a young man who introduced himself as Hussein Hodeh was standing behind an espresso machine. When I asked him about the village's allegiances, he shrugged and said, "It's a Hezbollah town." I asked how he knew, and he reached under the counter and unfurled a yellow Hezbollah battle flag. "I'm Hezbollah myself," he said, with a laugh. "I'm a fighter."
About ten miles from the Israeli border, we turned inland, moving across a hilly landscape of limestone bluffs and olive trees. Dani pointed out landmarks. "That bridge—the Israelis used to bomb it all the time," he said. After a while, we reached Mleeta, a fantastical theme park dedicated to Hezbollah's triumphs, and pulled into a parking lot next to a tour bus. In the nineties and again in 2006, Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah militiamen fought for the ground on which Mleeta sits, and the battlefield has been preserved, in the manner of Normandy or Gettysburg. The grand opening, in 2010, was attended by a representative of the Lebanese Prime Minister. Down a path from a gift shop that sells Hezbollah T-shirts and coffee mugs adorned with Nasrallah's face, Dani pointed into a wide pit and said, "This is the destroyed Israeli tank." There lay the carcass of an enormous Merkava, Israel's finest, its bottom blown out by a bomb and its barrel tied in a knot. It was surrounded by a small sea of Israeli helmets. "It's all real here, all real," Dani said. "I know—I remember."
We walked past a tunnel network and an array of Katyusha rocket batteries, alongside a group of European tourists snapping photos. Here and there, Dani paused. "The Israelis were right here," he said. "Sometimes they would advance, sometimes we would advance. Sometimes the fighting was face to face." Dani spoke with predictable contempt for Israel. "It's a cancer," he said. "It's a parasite." But he had nothing but admiration for the soldiers he had faced in battle. "The Israeli fighters are very fierce and very brave. They knew every inch of this ground, better than we did. We respect them. We don't take them lightly. That's why we were able to beat them."
Everywhere in Mleeta there are placards and inscriptions, all with the same theme: before Hezbollah, there was nothing but humiliation. "From 1948 until the invasion of Lebanon, in 1982, the Israeli enemy imposed on Lebanon and the region only one choice," one of the placards said. "Surrender, defeat, and subjugation." Hezbollah, the sign went on, "announced the birth of a different course: Resistance." In 2000, the last Israeli troops withdrew from southern Lebanon. Dani went back to his village, which his relatives had fled. "I was the first one from my family to enter our village," he said.
Nasrallah gave a speech in the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil that was triumphant and anti-Zionist, if not overtly anti-Semitic. "We must acknowledge the grace of the fighting, the resisting and the sacrificing of the people who left their homes, families, and universities," he said. With the Israeli withdrawal, Nasrallah became a hero in Lebanon and throughout the Arab world. "Nasrallah's legitimacy in the Shiite community is almost unquestioned," Salem, of the Carnegie Middle East Center, told me. "He is one of those historic figures, like Nasser in Egypt, whose identity merges with the people. He's a messiah figure."
When I asked Dani what Iran and Syria were doing in Lebanon, he went quiet; the subject is taboo in public and in the press. He would say only, "Assad is our friend; we don't deny that. If he goes down, it's bad for us." On the Syrian civil war, Dani held to the Hezbollah line: it was true that Bashar didn't treat his people well—"We recognize this," he said—but the real trouble in Syria was caused by Western nations that were backing the rebels in order to take pressure off Israel. Yet the prospect of a Sunni majority, even a fundamentalist regime, coming to power in Syria was so alarming that at one point Dani seemed to be siding with Israel. "You wait and see," Dani told me. "You're going to have Salafists in Syria attacking the Golan Heights. What are you going to do then?"
It was clear that Hezbollah's leaders had concluded that any change in Syria was almost certain to wash across the border, and that they were getting ready. "If the Sunnis take over Syria," Dani told me, "we're going to be fighting them in Beirut."
To better understand the link between Hezbollah and Syria, I paid a dinner visit to the Beirut home of Walid Joumblatt, the leader of a tiny religious group, the Druze, and perhaps Lebanon's most nimble and sophisticated politician. Joumblatt is an unprepossessing man—with a bald head, weary eyes, and a tiny mustache, he looks like a latter-day Edgar Allan Poe. But, with his small bloc of parliamentary seats, he has spent his career moving from one faction to another, making and breaking Lebanese governments.
We dined on 'assafeer, roasted larks so small that you don't need to remove the bones, and Joumblatt reached frequently for a decanter of sake. His dining room was filled with books; on a side table sat a copy of "Description of Egypt," Napoleon's attempt to catalogue Egypt's archeological history. Oscar, Joumblatt's Shar-Pei, was underfoot. "My best friend," he said.
As Joumblatt told it, the Syrians had destroyed his family, and afflicted his country for decades. The Syrian Army first rolled across the border in 1976, in the early part of the Lebanese civil war, on the pretext of restoring order. But, as the civil war continued, the troops remained. Led by Hafez al-Assad, and then his son, Bashar, the Syrians dominated Lebanon's society and its economy, extracting billions of dollars in tithes, bribes, and drug money. The Assads intervened regularly in Lebanon's democratic political system, often calling on local proxies to carry out assassinations. Joumblatt's father was the first. In March of 1977, Kamal Joumblatt, then the leader of the Druze, was shot dead as he was driving home. His militia had been resisting the Syrian troops, and the suspicion has always been that Hafez al-Assad ordered the killing.
Walid, then twenty-seven, took over as leader and, barely a month later, found himself sitting next to Assad. "I still had some hair—I was not yet bald—and Hafez looked at me and said, 'How strange, you look like your father,' " Joumblatt told me. "I was hiding my anger. I had to do it for the sake of my community. I had no choice but to fix up a pact with the devil. So I shook hands with this man. I looked at him. And he did not move—he was known not to move, like a pharaoh." Joumblatt sighed. "Lebanon is not an independent country. We have the sea, we have Israel, and we have Syria."
In the nineteen-eighties, Syria's relationship with Hezbollah was strained, and sometimes devolved into street fighting. But when the civil war ended, in 1990, Hafez al-Assad decided to allow Hezbollah to carry on its fight against the Israelis and to use the group as a local ally. For Hezbollah, an alliance with the Syrians meant that it could go on building its military without interference from the Lebanese government.
Over the years, growing numbers of Lebanese came to regard the Syrians as overbearing and exploitative—an inland relative bullying and mooching off a smaller, more sophisticated cousin. Around 2000, Rafik Hariri, a two-time Lebanese Prime Minister and a charismatic businessman with ties to the Saudi royal family, began trying to pull the country out of Syria's orbit. In August, 2004, Hariri visited Damascus, where Bashar al-Assad warned him that his efforts were putting him in grave danger. "We will break Lebanon," Bashar said. When Hariri returned to Lebanon, according to Joumblatt, who was a close friend of his, "he said, 'Either Bashar is going to kill me or he is going to kill you.' He was resigned to fatalism. God decides. And it happened." On February 14, 2005, Hariri was driving along the Corniche, Beirut's spectacular coastal drive, when a suicide truck bomber crashed into his motorcade. He and twenty-two others were killed.
For Assad, the murder of Hariri appeared to be a routine act of political manipulation. But, instead of quashing Lebanese desires for independence, the killing intensified them. Hundreds of thousands of Christians and Sunni Muslims poured into downtown Beirut to demand an end to the Syrian occupation. (Across town, Hezbollah staged enormous rallies of Shiites calling for the Syrians to stay.) In April of 2005, as outrage over the assassination grew—and as pressure mounted from the United States and the United Nations—Syrian troops departed, ending the occupation after twenty-nine years. "The Syrians came in on the blood of Kamal Joumblatt and left on the blood of Rafik Hariri," Joumblatt said.
Hezbollah, with its protector gone, was forced to make an uncomfortable move: it got into government. The group had been fielding candidates for parliament since 1992, but only reluctantly, as members insisted that their first duty was to confront Israel. Hezbollah's parliamentarians have learned to play politics—Nasrallah has dropped the sectarian language of his predecessors and stopped deploying suicide attacks—but they still stand apart. In the national assembly, they typically huddle across the floor from their fellow-Shiites in the Amal Party, whose Westernized members talk freely with women and drink alcohol. And they do not speak without permission from their leaders. (None were willing to coöperate with this article.)
After the assassination of Hariri, Lebanon split into two camps: an anti-Syrian faction led by Hariri's son, Saad; and a collection of pro-Syrian groups, including Hezbollah. The anti-Syrian faction has taken an increasingly aggressive position toward Hezbollah, demanding that the group give up its weapons and become an ordinary political party. Hezbollah has resisted, sometimes violently. The result has been near-perpetual crisis. In 2008, the Lebanese government, led by the Hariri bloc, voted to outlaw Hezbollah's private communications network. Within hours, Hezbollah gunmen fanned out across western Beirut, precipitating clashes with Christians and Sunnis that left scores dead. As the violence raised fears of outright sectarian war, Hezbollah and its allies struck a deal that gave them far greater representation in the government. "Hezbollah is in government to make sure there is no decision to take away their arms," Alain Aoun, a member of the Lebanese parliament and a coalition partner of Hezbollah, said. "This is their main concern."
The Hariri assassination continues to haunt Hezbollah. Both the Bush and the Obama Administrations believe that Assad was deeply involved, and that he used Hezbollah to help. In 2005, Lebanon detained the heads of four of its security agencies—regarded as Syria's close allies—for their alleged involvement; they were held for nearly four years and released. Then, in June of 2011, a tribunal backed by the U.N. indicted four members of Hezbollah. According to the indictment, the Hezbollah operatives served as spotters as Hariri's car drove along the Corniche. Investigators were evidently led to the men because one of them made a cell-phone call to his girlfriend during the stakeout.
Hezbollah insists that the tribunal is biased and invalid. In 2011, with Hariri's anti-Syrian faction in control of the government, Hezbollah demanded a meeting to discuss the investigation. When Hariri refused, Hezbollah and its allies in the cabinet orchestrated the collapse of the government. "They wanted a government that was not against them on this issue," Aoun said. After months of negotiation, Hezbollah's bloc, which already had a large number of parliamentary seats, controlled a majority of the cabinet; Hezbollah members were charged with overseeing the agriculture ministry and the reform of the Lebanese bureaucracy.
Dani told me, "The only reason we get into politics is because we have to. But we hate politics—we hate it." And yet Hezbollah has found itself charged with such mundane duties as delivering electricity and collecting garbage. "Running a government is not their primary concern," Mohamad Chatah, a senior member of Hariri's party and a former ambassador to the United States, said. "Obviously, their stature comes primarily from the battlefield and their hostility to Israel, but their success in doing other things adds to their support, and they have been generally good at doing other stuff. But you have to remember that Lebanese standards are not very high."
Hezbollah's emergence as a force in Lebanese politics has put the Obama Administration in a difficult spot. Since 1997, the United States government has deemed Hezbollah a terrorist organization, and thus off limits to American diplomats. In January of 2011, a new Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, who has Hezbollah members in his government but is not affiliated with the group, took office. Officials with the Obama Administration have met with him but not with his Hezbollah partners.
As Hezbollah solidifies its official power, anxiety over assassination still permeates Lebanon's political class. In April, Samir Geagea, the leader of a Christian party known as Lebanese Forces, narrowly survived a sniper attack while strolling outside his house. No one could prove anything, of course, but many people I talked to assumed that Hezbollah agents, working with Syrians, carried out the attack. In October, General Wissam al-Hassan, a senior intelligence official and an ally of the United States, was killed by a car bomb in Beirut. Hassan had led the investigation into Hezbollah's role in Hariri's killing, and had recently ordered the arrest of a pro-Syrian politician named Michel Samaha, for trying to smuggle explosives into Lebanon at the behest of Syrian intelligence. "We think Hezbollah did the killing," an Israeli official told me. "They are the only ones with the motive and the technical sophistication."
When I pressed Joumblatt about who might be carrying out the assassinations, he gave me a weary look. "Look, I am not now, morally speaking, someone who is entitled to give lessons," he said. After his father's murder, he became one of the most ruthless commanders in Lebanon's civil war, presiding over shelling in Beirut and sectarian killings. "I was a warlord. My people committed crimes, under my command, sometimes obeying orders, sometimes not obeying orders. Because it was a civil war. War is horrible, but civil war is something worse. I am also someone who has a black past."
Now, Joumblatt told me, he, too, was worried about his safety. But, despite having lost his father and his friend Hariri to assassination, he wasn't doing much to protect himself. "I have some guards here," he said. "But these people—they have the technology to kill you even inside your own home."
At Wadi Naim, three miles from the Israeli border, a vast Hezbollah bunker complex is hidden in a valley wall, camouflaged by limestone and bush. It's invisible from the road, two hundred feet below, invisible from the air, invisible even to the visitor standing on top of it. The only way to find it is by using a G.P.S. programmed with the precise coördinates. Under a foot of dirt and rubble is a trap door, and a ladder leading down to the main tunnel. Inside, the only sign of life was a colony of black bats, dangling silently from the ceiling. Startled by my entry, they dropped down, then glided up the shaft toward the light.
Underneath the limestone, the bunker is supported by walls of reinforced steel. There was a kitchen, a bathroom, and space for twenty people to sleep. Standing inside, a hundred feet underground, it was not difficult to imagine a group of Hezbollah fighters sitting out a bombardment for days, even weeks, the Israelis unaware of their location or unable to penetrate it.
In July of 2006, Nasrallah ordered his men to stage an attack inside Israel. They captured a pair of soldiers, and, for the next thirty-four days, the Israel Defense Forces mounted an enormous response. Israel killed scores of Hezbollah's men and destroyed its headquarters and its supply network. The attacks killed as many as twelve hundred Lebanese civilians, flattened entire blocks of southern Beirut, and destroyed many of the roads, bridges, and public buildings in southern Lebanon.
Yet Hezbollah mounted a fierce resistance, from bunkers like the one in Wadi Naim, where fighters emerged to attack with wire-guided missiles and quickly ran back inside. At the same time, thousands of Hezbollah rockets rained down on Israel from batteries hidden in forests, fortified garages, and even people's homes. The result was a bloody draw—a revelation to the Israeli Army, accustomed to dominating wherever it fights. General Dan Halutz, the I.D.F.'s chief of staff, resigned during an investigation that identified "grave failings" in his generals' prosecution of the war. Just how Hezbollah fighters were able to build bunkers such as the one I visited in Wadi Naim has never been fully explained. "Hezbollah will not surprise us again," Ehud Barak, Israel's Defense Minister, has said.
For Nasrallah, the war was both a victory and a catastrophe. Shortly after a ceasefire was arranged, he said that he would never have ordered the initial operation had he known that it would lead to war—"absolutely not." He was nearly killed himself. Halutz told me that Israel had twice sent jets to attack bunkers where Nasrallah was thought to be hiding. "The first time, we had the right place but he was very deep underground," he said. "The second time, he wasn't there. The third time, we won't miss."
But when the war was over Nasrallah's status was higher than ever. Israeli soldiers returned from the front lines stunned by the prowess of the Hezbollah fighters, who were sometimes equipped with night-vision goggles and sophisticated eavesdropping equipment. On the first night of the conflict, a Hezbollah missile struck an Israeli destroyer off the coast. Hezbollah fighters destroyed Merkava tanks and killed a hundred and twenty-one Israeli soldiers. "This was a strategic, historic victory, without exaggeration," Nasrallah said in a televised speech. "We emerged victorious, where Arab armies had previously been defeated."
Another thing that helped take the sting out of the Israeli assaults was Iranian money. At extraordinary expense, south Beirut and southern Lebanon were rebuilt; it is difficult these days to find a building that shows damage from the war. According to a Lebanese security official, the reconstruction was financed largely by Iran, which bypassed the Lebanese government. In the months after the ceasefire, Hezbollah trucks pulled into devastated neighborhoods and handed out Iranian money to Lebanese who'd lost property and kin. The security official said that the Iranians poured between two and three billion dollars into the country; the money was transported by air to Syria, he said, and then "they brought American dollars on trucks from Damascus."
As I drove through southern Lebanon with Dani, he pointed to freshly paved roads and newly built hospitals. "Iran paid for all of this," he said. "If we had been forced to rely on the Lebanese government, this area would still be in ruins." Iranian money is the crucial means by which Hezbollah militants have cemented support in the Shiite community. In southern Beirut, I met a man who identified himself as Ahmed Shah, a shop owner and father of two who lived a few blocks from Hezbollah's headquarters. For fifteen days in 2006, Shah and his family rode out the Israeli bombardment, feeling the building shake day and night, until they finally decided—like hundreds of thousands of other Lebanese—to flee. Shah moved his family to an apartment on the Christian side of the city, which the Israelis spared. When he returned, three weeks later, he found his neighborhood demolished. "A missile cut my building in half," he said.
Shah was seated at a picnic table, drinking tea with friends. Behind him was his rebuilt apartment, paid for almost entirely by Hezbollah. The day the war ended, Shah said, Hezbollah men began walking through the neighborhood, surveying the wreckage and handing out cash. A few days later, Shah met a group of Hezbollah administrators, who laid down the terms: at a cost of forty thousand dollars, they would rebuild his apartment, and they would give him five hundred dollars a month to rent an apartment for the next year and a half. The Hezbollah administrators gave Shah ten thousand dollars more to furnish the new place. Shah figured that the Lebanese government paid for perhaps a quarter of the reconstruction, but even that money was distributed by Hezbollah.
"Everyone supports Hezbollah here—it is the only government we have," Shah said, as his friends at the table nodded. "We don't mind that the Iranians are paying for everything." I asked Shah if his allegiance to Hezbollah wasn't costing him his neighborhood. Hezbollah started the war, after all. He shrugged. "It happened in 1982, 1985, 1994, 1996, 2000, and 2006," he said. "Every few years, this neighborhood is destroyed, usually by Israel." His friends nodded again. "It's about that time again."
In late January, the Israelis struck a convoy in Syria that they said was carrying anti-aircraft missiles to Hezbollah—missiles that could make it more difficult for Israeli aircraft to fly unhindered over Lebanon. Shortly after that, a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was killed as he crossed the border into Lebanon; no one claimed responsibility, but Hezbollah accused Israel. Both Hezbollah and Israel are preparing for the next war—and it promises to be far more devastating than the previous one. In 2006, Hezbollah fired an estimated four thousand rockets and missiles into Israel. This time, according to American officials, Hezbollah's arsenal stands closer to fifty thousand projectiles, many of which have ranges long enough to strike every major city in Israel. The longer ranges have allowed Hezbollah to disperse its missiles across the country—all but insuring that an Israeli response would destroy areas far outside southern Lebanon.
Israelis expect that any war with Hezbollah is likely to be short. Foreign leaders, from the United States and elsewhere, will try to bring fighting to a quick end, which gives both sides an incentive to inflict as much damage as possible before a ceasefire. In Lebanon, I was told repeatedly that Hezbollah could be drawn into war if Israel attacked Iran's nuclear-enrichment facilities. Last year, Nasrallah threatened that, if Israel struck Iran, American targets would be attacked. "A decision has been taken to respond, and the response will be very great," he said in a television interview. "American bases in the whole region could be Iranian targets. . . . If Israel targets Iran, America bears responsibility."
If Hezbollah joined in such attacks, it would be catastrophic for the state of Lebanon. After the 2006 war, Israel announced the Dahiya Doctrine, which an Israeli official explained as "Lebanon is Hezbollah and Hezbollah is Lebanon. Hezbollah shoots at us and we go to war against Lebanon." Some Lebanese believe that Hezbollah is ultimately more loyal to the Ayatollah than to its home country. "It's the third time in history that the Persians have been on the shores of the Mediterranean," Joumblatt said. "You have a community dominated by Hezbollah, well entrenched in Lebanon, with a formidable arsenal, and supplies and ammunition and money that are huge. You have to sit and talk with them, but what do you say? They don't decide. It's Khamenei and Ghassem Soleimani who decide," he said, referring to the Supreme Leader and a powerful Iranian official in the Revolutionary Guard. "It's beyond Lebanon."
Halutz, the Israeli commander, believes that Hezbollah's leaders would not necessarily respond if Israel attacked Iran. "They will wait and see the first results," he said. "If their partners are not successful, then they will not join. They will not bet on a losing horse." When I asked Dani about this, he said his leaders assumed that they didn't have to waste time wondering whether they would fight on Iran's behalf. "If the Israelis attack Iran, then they will attack us, too," he said.
Even if there is no war, Hezbollah could lose its main link to Iran if the Assad regime falls. Nearly all of Hezbollah's war-making material—missiles, money, and ammunition—travels through Syria. The group is already scrambling to find new supply lines. Still, the Lebanese security official said that losing Assad would be a grave blow. "Right now, Hezbollah has enough missiles for one more war—a big war—but then all their weapons are gone," he said. "When that happens, if Assad is gone, then life will be very hard for Hezbollah. They will have to change. They will have to moderate their behavior. They will have to put away their dreams."
In the opaque world of Lebanese politics, one path to understanding lies in the study of Hassan Nasrallah's face. When he was younger, Nasrallah gave off the hard stare of a soldier sure of his aim. As Hezbollah grew, his features softened; he donned wire-rimmed glasses and his beard turned gray, giving him the aspect of a slightly mischievous shopkeeper. Since the war in 2006, Nasrallah has lived almost entirely indoors, often in concrete bunkers, venturing out rarely, lest the Israelis try to kill him.
In October, Nasrallah appeared on Lebanese television, and the uprising in Syria seemed to have changed his face again. It was rounder, puffier, paler—the face of a man who is not only hunted but alone. Seated in front of a bright-blue background, he wore fashionable glasses, a trimmed beard, and the black turban that indicates presumed descent from the Holy Prophet. He started by talking about a pilotless drone that Hezbollah had sent over Israel. The drone, designed by Iran and assembled by Hezbollah technicians, had made it nearly to Dimona, a city in southern Israel that is believed to contain that country's nuclear facilities, before it was shot down. Nasrallah broke into a smile. The Israelis, he said, were "perplexed" by Hezbollah's ability to carry off such a sophisticated stunt. "The Lebanese should be proud that they have young men with such brains!" he said. For a moment, Nasrallah seemed his old self. Then his smile vanished, and he said he wanted to talk about reports in the Lebanese press that Hezbollah men were fighting in support of Assad.
The issue of Hezbollah's role inside Syria raises fundamental questions about its identity and purpose. Is it really a "resistance" organization, dedicated only to fighting Israel? American and Lebanese officials say that Hezbollah fighters are indeed helping the Assad regime in Syria, mainly by advising Syrian fighters. The Hezbollah operatives are working close to the front lines and may be fighting themselves, the American official said. (He added that Iran prefers Hezbollah agents because they speak Arabic, as do the Syrian fighters.) Most Lebanese I talked to took it for granted that Hezbollah operatives were helping prop up Assad, for obvious reasons of self-interest.
Siding with the Assad government has already left Nasrallah alone in the Arab world. In 2011, an American official told me, he went to Damascus to try to persuade Khaled Meshal, the leader of Hamas, to support the Syrian regime. Hamas had been an ally of Assad's and, like Hezbollah, the recipient of extensive support from Syria and Iran. According to the official, who had knowledge of the meeting, Nasrallah reminded Meshal of their obligation to the Iranian government and pressed him to back Assad. Meshal refused, and shortly thereafter broke publicly with Syria.
In Nasrallah's televised speech, he mentioned Lebanese news reports of secret Hezbollah funerals for fighters killed there; he spoke of one report saying that seventy-five of his fighters had been killed in a Syrian village called Ribleh. And he mentioned the Free Syrian Army's claim that a Hezbollah commander had been killed inside Syria. Nasrallah spoke glowingly of the dead: "Dear, chaste holy martyrs!" Then he denied it all. The reports were cooked up by enemies, he said. A number of Hezbollah fighters had been killed, but they were actually Lebanese along the Syrian border, who had come under unprovoked attacks from the rebels. "This has nothing to do with fighting alongside the government," he said. "This is truly what took place."
The explanation seemed tortured, even ridiculous, but Nasrallah went on, his eyes narrowing and his mouth tightening. He said that the Lebanese government would not know how to protect its citizens. "What shall we do?" he said. "O our state, our government, our Lebanese parties, our political leaders, and our political and religious authorities!" By the time he brought his speech to an end, every trace of his boyish charm had departed. "Finally, I will say, Let no one bully us. Let no one try us."
A few days later, I drove to the town of Arsal, on the Syrian border. As I approached, the civil war came into full view: a fight was on for possession of a border post held by the Syrian government. A Syrian gunship circled overhead. Explosions thundered in the distance.
The Masharia mosque, a half mile inside Lebanon, had Hezbollah flags flying, and an ambulance parked outside. Syrian refugees in Arsal told me that Hezbollah members were making regular trips across the border. "They pick up their wounded and bring them back here," one refugee, who was camped nearby with his family, told me.
Not far from the scene of the battle, I met a mid-level commander in the Free Syrian Army, whose nom de guerre is Abu Bakr. He looked exhausted from months of fighting inside Syria, but his beard was neatly trimmed. Over coffee at his home in Arsal, Abu Bakr told me that he was a Lebanese Sunni—not a Syrian citizen. He was fighting out of solidarity with his fellow-Sunnis, who were resisting the Assad regime across the border. He said he felt confident that the rebels would prevail, but that the fighting he'd been in was horrendous. "They are being slaughtered," he said of the rebels.
Abu Bakr understood Hezbollah operatives to be playing a significant role in helping the Assad regime, especially in training the shabiha, Assad's brutal militia. He said that he had interrogated Hezbollah prisoners who were captured inside Syria, and that he had regularly tracked fighters as they crossed from Lebanon. A week before we spoke, comrades in Lebanon had radioed ahead that a Hezbollah convoy was heading to the border. As soon as the convoy crossed into Syria, Abu Bakr and his men struck. "We killed nine Hezbollah fighters," he said.
The decision to wait until the convoy had entered Syria was an obvious one, Abu Bakr said. The fear of all Lebanese living along the border is that the war in Syria will spill over. So far, he said, it has not, but, the longer the war goes on, the greater the chances that it will. "We hope this will not happen, but everyone is worried about it," he said.
On a recent Friday morning in Sidon, a crowd of three thousand Sunnis gathered at the Bilal bin Rabah mosque. They had come to hear Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir, one of the country's best-known Sunni preachers. Sidon is a Sunni-majority city in a region dominated by Hezbollah. In recent months, as the Syrian civil war has taken on a sectarian character, Sunni-Shiite tensions have risen in Sidon, and Assir's sermons have become inflamed. He is a striking figure: tall and thin, with an enormous wiry beard, which he sometimes sets off with black wraparound sunglasses.
Assir began by telling his listeners what was happening to Sunnis in Syria. "Just watch your television," he said. "Children are being killed, mothers are crying, destruction is everywhere. Our people and our mosques are being destroyed in Syria.
"We should sympathize with the Syrian revolt on the basis of our religion," Assir said. "For forty years, the Sunnis in Syria have been stepped on and humiliated. Ask yourself: What am I doing? We are asking you to support the Muslims of Syria." Assir moved to a more delicate subject. "You know, Hassan Nasrallah says he is not involved in Syria," he told the crowd. "And he is a liar! They rape women. They are slaughtering our children." Hezbollah's attempts to hide its role in Syria were preposterous, Assir said. "It is too big."
Assir ended his sermon by turning to Lebanon. The struggle engulfing Syria was coming home, he said; the Sunnis of Lebanon have been oppressed no less than the Sunnis of Syria. Already, Assir said, Shiites under Hezbollah's leadership have persecuted the Sunnis of Sidon, depriving them of municipal services and jobs, turning their neighborhoods into garbage dumps, attacking them and killing them without provocation. As the Sunnis rose against Assad, Assir said, so they will rise against Hezbollah. "Who has enslaved us in Lebanon for years? Who has been blackmailing us? Who killed Rafik Hariri?" he asked. "The same criminal!"
Since the civil war ended, in 1990, the Lebanese political system has relied on an exquisite balance among the main groups, and on a measure of self-restraint on the part of each. Hezbollah, with the help of its Iranian and Syrian benefactors, has pushed and sometimes broken the limits of the Lebanese system. The question for the future may be whether Hezbollah can restrain itself if it is threatened with a diminishment of its power.
The situation could come to a head during parliamentary elections in June, and many Lebanese predict that voters will return Saad Hariri's anti-Syrian group to power. "If they win, and the Assad government is gone, then I imagine they will try to disarm Hezbollah," Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a Lebanese writer close to Hezbollah's leaders, said. "Hezbollah would be forced to defend itself." When I asked Dani what the consequences might be, he didn't hesitate: "There would be civil war."
In the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, sectarian violence has broken out between Sunnis and an enclave of Alawites, killing dozens of people, but the fighting has not spread. For the moment, Joumblatt told me, a civil war is not likely, if only because Hezbollah is too strong to be challenged. "It would be suicidal to go to war with Hezbollah," he said. Joumblatt believes that Hezbollah will one day transform itself entirely into a political party, but not anytime soon. "The calculation is that, once Bashar is gone, then Hezbollah will be weakened. But I don't see it. They might be weakened, but, at the same time, they are still here, with their fifty thousand missiles. It took the British twenty years to persuade the I.R.A. to decommission its weapons. Here I think it will take centuries."
Still, there are signs that Hezbollah, squeezed by the war in Syria, is beginning to cede some power. After joining the government, in 2011, Hezbollah deputies consented to fund the U.N. tribunal investigating Hariri's murder—the same tribunal that had indicted Hezbollah's operatives. Hezbollah has stood by while the new Prime Minister cultivated a relationship with the United States. The group has shown remarkable flexibility in negotiations over the drafting of a new electoral law, which could transform the composition of the Lebanese parliament. And, in September, Nasrallah agreed for the first time to allow the Lebanese Army to enter southern Beirut to restore order. "Domestically, they are being very compliant," Basem Shabb, a Christian member of parliament, said. "Hezbollah's absolute domination of Lebanon is not what it used to be. And it will only get harder."
Dani got out of his car and looked across the border into Israel. The line between Lebanon and Israel is among the most surreal international boundaries in the world. The implacability of the dispute is surpassed only by each country's need for space. And so, in place of rows of barbed wire and minefields, there is a single chain-link fence on the Israeli side and an occasional cement wall on the Lebanese. From where Dani stood, the Israeli soldiers were close enough to talk to. Israeli homes are a hundred yards away. A long paved road runs along the length of the border, connecting a row of villages. One of them is the village that Dani fled as a young man in 1982, when the Israeli Army swept across the border.
Dani and I watched the Israeli soldiers on the other side; one of them, shirtless, was climbing a ladder to fix a break in the fence. On our side, a group of U.N. peacekeepers from Fiji posed for pictures. A scrawl of graffiti paid tribute to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister: "Bibi We Love You."
"My father used to cross right here," Dani said.
I asked Dani if Hezbollah's dream of pushing Israel into the sea wasn't dead, or waning fast. He shook his head. Hezbollah, I reminded him, was now governing Lebanon. It was evolving into something other than an armed group dedicated to destroying Israel. The Assad regime was collapsing, along with Hezbollah's supply lines. Perhaps, I suggested, Hezbollah's moment had passed. Dani's eyes stayed fixed on Israel. "Next time, we're going across," he said. ♦


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itmikewilliams necessitava di un nuovo design di presentazione PowerPoint e ha lanciato un contest su 99designs.
È stato scelto un vincitore tra 7 design presentati da 4 designer.
Mike Williams
Looking for a Fresh new Powerpoint template and design for the attached Powerpoint. It currently has a mix of colors and text. Looking for a consistent color scheme that matches http://www.teammimms.com and the attached infographic.
1. Looking for a title page that pops
2. Need clean and clear layouts for bullet pages
3. Quote pages should be similar to what they are but with the Purple and Gold color scheme
4. Looking for someone to be creative in how that layout and convey our messages
5. On slide 6, I would like the icons replaced with those that match or convey the text below. Again, some of these slides were just taken from elsewhere
6. On slide 8 I would like to see icon uses and creative way to convey a process from one step to the other.
7. Need the separator slides to pop. Again, everything should be in the purple, gold or white colors and hues.
Looking for some appealing yet clean and well laid out.

subset: commoncrawl


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Industrial Robotics Editorials
Industry : Paper
Robot Safety Awareness Webinar
A new robot safety standard is set to take effect in 2011. Manufacturers have already started producing robots that are compliant. Users and integrators now must consider guidelines that are harmonized with ISO. For more than a decade, OSHA has referred to the ANSI/RIA R15.06-1999 Robot Safety Standard but times
Look to RIA for a Revitalized Robotics Industry
There is no sugar coating the fact that the robotics industry suffered from the Great Recession but there are some bright spots. RIA's Director of Market Analysis, Paul Kellett, presented detailed statistics during the Robotics Industry Forum and they show the industry has contracted. However, he also highlighted areas where
KUKA RoboCoaster is Sum of All Thrills at Disney's Epcot
Until recently, few people could boast they had strapped themselves to a robot and gone for a ride (although quite a few did this at 2005 International Robots & Vision Show when KUKA brought an early version of their RoboCoaster). Now you can go
Robotics for Senior Management
Introduction These guidelines for senior management have been prepared by the Robotic Industries Association to provide a better understanding of industrial robot technology and to describe the impact of industrial robots on a company's operations and strategies. The recommendations are based on the experience of robot implementers and users who have


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If you have suffered a workplace accident or have another disability that limits your ability to work, you may be eligible for compensation that could help you pay for your medical bills and related expenses. At the Law Office of Rockwell, Kelly, Duarte & Urstoeger, LLP, we represent injured and disabled California individuals who are seeking financial relief for medical and other costs arising from their inability to work. If you've been injured on the job, we can help you progress through the layers of the workers' compensation and Social Security Disability systems so you can collect appropriate compensation for your medical bills, lost wages and related expenses.
In certain circumstances, workers' compensation and Social Security Disability are your legal right. We are passionate about defending the rights of individuals against employers and insurance companies that would seek to limit such payments or deny valid claims. We understand that people who have been hurt just want what is fair. We also understand that one person battling an insurance company is not an equal fight. At Law Office of Rockwell, Kelly, Duarte & Urstoeger, LLP, we are Modesto lawyers who can help level the playing field and get you the compensation you deserve. Call us at 209-225-9463 to discuss your situation.
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A's blessed with promising outfielders
Choice, Green and Mitchell made strides toward Majors in 2011
By John Parker / Special to MLB.com | November 29, 2011 5:00 AM
The Athletics farm system had an excellent season at the team level in 2011. Triple-A Sacramento posted the best record in the Pacific Coast League, winning its fifth consecutive division title (and 10th in 12 years) before being swept by Omaha in the PCL Finals. Double-A Midland finished 14 games under .500, but Class A Advanced Stockton, Class A Burlington and Class A Short-Season Vermont each advanced to the postseason in their respective leagues -- Vermont for the first time since 1996.
More importantly for the future of the big league club, the organization had a number of prospects get ever closer to the Majors. First-round Draft picks Grant Green (2009) and Michael Choice (2010) were named Topps All-Stars at the Double-A and Class A level respectively, while veteran outfielder Jermaine Mitchell had a breakthrough year that will put him in the running for a job in Oakland in 2012. They were just a few of the A's top performers this year.
A's Organization All-Stars
Catcher -- Anthony Recker, Sacramento (99 games), Oakland (five games): Recker's seventh professional season was a big one for Recker, who set career marks in batting (.287), on-base percentage (.388) and slugging (.501). An 18th-round pick in the 2005 Draft, Recker made his Major League debut in a wild game in New York on Aug. 25 that saw the Yankees hit a Major League-record three grand slams in a 21-9 win over the A's.
"It was a day I will never forget," Recker told his hometown Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Morning Call. "It was an awesome feeling to get my first start in the big leagues and it was exciting to get out to a 7-1 lead. Unfortunately, it couldn't continue.
"I just wish I could have contributed offensively," said Recker, who went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a walk.
Four days later -- on his 28th birthday -- Recker was named to the Pacific Coast League's postseason All-Star team.
Recker led Sacramento in on-base percentage and drew a career-high 56 walks while playing 61 games behind the plate (where he threw out 25 percent of attempted base stealers), 25 at first base and 14 as designated hitter. Between May 21 and June 7, Recker batted .403 with seven homers and 17 RBIs during a 17-game hitting streak.
First base -- Josh Whitaker, Burlington (113 games): A 25th-round pick out of Kennesaw (Ga.) State in the 2010 Draft, Whitaker surpassed all expectations in his first full season as a pro. The 6-foot-3, 235-pounder led the Midwest League with a .326 average, .556 slugging percentage and .957 OPS (his .402 on-base percentage ranked third).
"We actually didn't send him out to Burlington for a week or two when the season started," A's director of player development Keith Lieppman said. "We just wanted to see where he was in extended spring training and make sure he was ready. He was ready."
Whitaker spent most of his time (55 games) at first base, but also played 11 games in right field and served as Burlington's designated hitter in 44 games. He was named to the Midwest League All-Star squad as a designated hitter and to the Topps Class A All-Star team as a first baseman. After hitting 17 homers -- fifth-most in the Oakland system -- in the Midwest League, Whitaker should be a force to be reckoned with in the California League next season.
Second base -- Wes Timmons, Midland (39 games), Sacramento (56 games): In his first nine professional seasons -- all in the Braves organization -- Timmons had never hit better than .293 in any campaign. In his first year in the A's system, the 32-year-old infielder bettered that mark by nearly 50 points, batting .341 to lead all Oakland full-season hitters. His .420 on-base percentage was second in the organization and he delivered a career-best eight homers and 62 RBIs in 95 games.
The Braves' 12th-round pick in 2002, Timmons has always been a tough out, but never more than this year, when he struck out just 21 times in 401 plate appearances. The West Virginia native had Double-A Midland's longest hitting streak -- he batted .484 over 15 games between July 24 and Aug. 7 -- as well as Triple-A Sacramento's longest such streak (18 games between June 23 and Sept. 4).
The only place Timmons struggled was on the mound. He made his career pitching debut at Colorado Springs on Sept. 5, allowing one run on two hits in a third of an inning and suffering the loss.
Third base -- Stephen Parker, Midland (132 games), Sacramento (five games): After a magnificent 2010 campaign that saw him hit 21 homers and drive in 98 runs for Stockton in the California League, Parker's slugging percentage dropped 100 points this season. But he still had a fine year, batting .287/.373./.408 with 10 homers and 76 RBIs, fifth-most in the Oakland organization.
Parker also drew 71 walks, good for fourth in the A's system, and was tied for fifth with 76 runs scored. After batting .265 in the first half of the season, the Brigham Young product hit .313 after the Texas League All-Star break and dramatically reduced his strikeouts while bolstering his walk rate.
The 2009 fifth-round pick made his Triple-A debut with Sacramento on Sept. 1, going 0-for-4 against Las Vegas, but collected four hits in seven at-bats at Colorado Springs the following night. In five playoff games with the River Cats, Parker went 0-for-12 with six strikeouts and five walks.
Shortstop -- Grant Green, Midland (127 games): This selection is a bit of a misnomer, because Green spent the second half of the regular season and all of the Arizona Fall League campaign working on a transition to the outfield. Nevertheless, the 13th overall pick in the 2009 Draft was named to the Texas League All-Star team as a utility player and the Topps Double-A All-Star squad as a shortstop.
Playing in the outfield is "kind of boring" Green told the Odessa American.
"They said that the whole thing is just to get to the Major Leagues," Green said. "If they say this is the best way for me to get there, the fastest way, I might as well do it."
At the plate, Green hit .291/.343/.408 and ranked second in the A's system with 154 hits. The University of Southern California product, who turned 24 in late September, was also second in the Texas League in hits and third with 33 doubles. He was named XM All-Star Futures Game MVP in July after leading the U.S. team to a 6-4 win with two doubles and an RBI.
"For him to make that adjustment to the outfield in the middle of the season was tough," said Lieppman. "But he really improved as the season went along, and by the end of the [Arizona] Fall League, he was making some great plays out there. And as he settled in, it allowed him to focus more on his hitting."
Designated hitter -- Adrian Cardenas, Sacramento (127 games): Though possessed of less power than one might want from a designated hitter, Cardenas is a tough player to pin down to just one position. Apart from 34 games at DH, he played 44 contests in left field, 35 at second base, 13 at third and three at shortstop. The Florida native also batted in eight different slots in the order -- all but cleanup -- for Sacramento.
Cardenas hit no matter his position in the field or at the plate. His .314 batting average ranked fourth among full-season hitters in the A's system and he tied Green for second in the organization with 154 hits. Cardenas, who turned 24 in October, struck out just 56 times while drawing 47 walks.
A first-round pick by the Phillies in 2006, the A's acquired Cardenas in a deal for pitcher Joe Blanton in 2008. Though his natural position -- second base -- appears to be blocked in Oakland by Jemile Weeks, there should be room somewhere in the Majors for such a versatile player.
Michael Choice, Stockton (118 games): The A's made Choice their first-round pick -- 10th overall -- in the 2010 Draft. In his first full season in 2011, the University of Texas product more than earned that high regard.
Playing center field for Class A Advanced Stockton, Choice led the Cal League with 30 home runs and ranked ninth in all of Class A with a .542 slugging percentage. His 30 homers and 82 RBIs were second-most in the Oakland system, while his 61 walks ranked sixth. Choice's 134 strikeouts were fourth in the organization.
Choice batted .285 overall but hit .332 in the second half of the season, bolstered by a performance that saw him named Topps Cal League Player of the Month for July. Choice hit .416/.475/.820 with 10 home runs in 22 games during that month. He started it off with a team-high 17-game hitting streak between July 1-18 and matched Inland Empire's Kole Calhoun for the Cal League's longest on-base streak of the season: 47 straight games between June 5 and Aug. 11.
The slugger, who turned 22 in November, worked with the Ports coaching staff to shorten his swing and make more contact as the season went along. He fanned 82 times in his first 65 games, but just 52 times in his final 53 contests.
"I'm just looking for hard contact," he said. "You can't try to hit home runs; it doesn't work that way."
The work paid off as Choice received Cal League All-Star and Topps Class A All-Star honors.
Jai Miller, Sacramento (110 games), Oakland (seven games): The 26-year-old had a breakthrough season at the plate in his ninth professional campaign. Miller, who was set to play wide receiver and point guard at Stanford before signing with the Marlins in 2003, led the A's organization with 32 homers, 88 RBIs and a .588 slugging percentage. He also ranked second in the system with 179 strikeouts, but stole 16 bases without being caught once.
Only Graham Koonce, who hit 34 long balls in 2003, had more homers in one season for the River Cats.
Miller got off to a strong start, batting .339 with six homers and 22 RBIs in 18 April games, and had a monumental July that saw him hit 12 homers and drive in 24 runs in 27 games, highlighted by a three-homer game at Las Vegas on July 8.
The Alabama native, who led all Triple-A hitters in slugging, was named to the Pacific Coast League All-Star team as well as the Topps Triple-A All-Star squad.
Jermaine Mitchell, Midland (74 games), Sacramento (56 games): Mitchell, a fifth-round pick out of North Carolina-Greensboro in 2006, was one of the great stories of the 2011 Minor League season.
What Mitchell, who turned 27 earlier this month, accomplished was more than a mere power surge -- he improved vastly in nearly every facet of his game, with results that proved terrifying to opposing pitchers.
Mitchell was among the Oakland organization's offensive leaders in nearly every category: He batted .332 (second among full-season farmhands), had a .430 on-base percentage (first), 178 hits (first), 16 triples (first), 115 runs (first), 93 walks (second), 27 stolen bases (second) and 78 RBIs (fourth). He was tied for sixth in the Minor Leagues in runs scored, fourth in hits and third in triples.
Each of those stats represents a career mark for Mitchell, who batted .282 last season. The A's added him to their 40-man roster on Nov. 18.
"He had a remarkable season," said Lieppman. "It's tremendous when a guy who's a little older just has everything come together. Unfortunately, he's recovering from knee surgery that may keep him out through Spring Training, but certainly he'll have every chance to find a role in Oakland. He has game-changing speed."
Right-handed starting pitcher -- Graham Godfrey, Midland (one game), Sacramento (19 games), Oakland (five games): After a tough 2010 season in which he went 4-8 with a 5.33 ERA and a career-high 62 walks in 125 innings, Godfrey rebounded with a sterling 2011 campaign.
The 27-year-old College of Charleston product was 14-3 with a 2.59 ERA in the Minors and made his Major League debut on June 10, ultimately going 1-2 with a 3.96 mark in five appearances for Oakland. Godfrey led the A's organization in victories and fell just shy of qualifying for the system's ERA crown.
"Graham's been outstanding [with] 14 wins in a season after being up and down," Sacramento manager Darren Bush said as the River Cats prepared for the playoffs. "To be able to go up there [to Oakland] and be able to pick up where he left off every time he comes back has been huge for us."
Though lacking overwhelming strikeout numbers, Godfrey has found success by keeping the ball in the park. He allowed six home runs in 107 1/3 innings in the homer-happy Pacific Coast League, but was victimized by three long balls over 25 frames in the Majors.
Honorable mention: Blake Hassebrock
Left-handed starting pitcher -- Jacob Brown, Burlington (eight games), Stockton (20 games): A 26th-round pick out of Georgia Southern in the 2010 Draft, Brown opened 2011 with Burlington, where he proved dominant in his full-season debut.
In eight outings -- seven of which were starts -- for the Bees, Brown went 4-0 with a 1.62 ERA while holding Midwest League hitters to a .198 average.
Things did not go as smoothly for Brown after his promotion to Stockton on May 25. The southpaw yielded nine earned runs over 2 2/3 innings in his Cal League debut and dropped four of his first five decisions before holding host Bakersfield scoreless over six frames on July 13.
Brown's second-half performance was much more solid than his first six outings with the Ports, but he continued to struggle with the long ball, allowing 16 homers in 99 Cal League innings after surrendering just one in 50 Midwest League frames.
Relief pitcher -- Anthony Huttenlocker, Stockton (41 games): Relievers come in all shapes, sizes and styles, and the A's system had several that stood out in different ways. Though he lacked overwhelming strikeout numbers and his WHIP (1.07) was not the lowest, the left-handed Huttenlocker led the group with a 4-0 record and a 1.83 ERA over 69 innings for Stockton.
"He's a soft-toss lefty that has had to overcome doubts about his velocity," said Lieppman. "But he has a plus-plus change-up and is a real bulldog on the mound -- he's proved a lot of people wrong in the three seasons he's been with us. He reminds me a little bit of Wade LeBlanc."
In his three seasons as a pro, Huttenlocker has allowed just six home runs over 159 1/3 innings -- more than half of which were pitched in the Cal League. Those are numbers that will have scouts looking past the numbers on the radar gun.
Honorable mention: Josh Lansford, Zach Thornton, Jeff Urlaub, Pedro Vidal
John Parker is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.View More


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Every Sunday afternoon, visitors make their way to MAG's second floor, drawn by the rich music emanating from the Fountain Court. There, in the midst of late Renaissance and Baroque paintings and sculptures, stands a restored, visually stunning 18th-century Italian Baroque organ.
"The instrument is a living, breathing, singing work of art," says David Higgs, chair of Eastman's organ department. "It is one of the oldest organs now in America, and its sound has a profound effect on the musical sensibilities of those who hear it."
The organ was built around 1770 in central Italy and its 600 pipes were crafted to render the vocal and instrumental sonorities of its time. Its 22-foot case was lavishly carved, painted and gilded. But two centuries later, the organ was bound for sale as a piece of furniture. By a stroke of luck it was discovered by the German organ builder Gerald Woehl, who fully restored the instrument in his workshop.
The organ was installed at the Gallery in 2005. Since then, its beautiful authentic sounds have been heard by thousands of people who have dropped in on the weekly Sunday mini-recitals or come to special Baroque Organ Showcase concerts by internationally known guest artists and Eastman musicians.
Highlights have included collaborations with Pegasus Early Music and with composers writing new music specifically for the instrument; improvisation with dancers from SUNY Brockport; and popular Christmas concerts.
Eastman organ professors David Higgs, Hans Davidsson, and William Porter produced the inaugural CD of performances on the Italian organ. Italian organ virtuoso and scholar Edoardo Bellotti, who was a member of the international reference group for the organ's restoration, performed on the Italian Baroque Organ for his first American recording. Titled Promenade, the CD was inspired by works in the Gallery's collections and features improvisations by Bellotti and organ works by Baroque composers which are paired with seven paintings. Both recordings are available in the Gallery Store. Hear excerpts
Bellotti returns this fall to perform in one of a series of concerts celebrating the fifth anniversary of the organ. On Sunday, November 14 at 7:30 pm, he'll be joined by members of Weser-Renaissance, an ensemble noted throughout Europe for their exacting work with 16th- and 17th-century music.
Other events include a special holiday concert on Sunday, December 19 at 5:30 pm, and mini-recitals by Eastman School of Music students each Sunday at 1 and 3 pm.
Top of page: The organ's inaugural concert in October 2005 is a performance of the Monterverdi Vespers.


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Record fine for dairy effluent pollution in the Waikato
The Environment Court's issuing of a record fine for dairy effluent pollution reinforces Environment Waikato's recent message that effluent pollution of the environment is unacceptable.
The Environment Court's issuing of a record fine for dairy effluent pollution reinforces Environment Waikato's recent message that effluent pollution of the environment is unacceptable.
Hamilton may be a far cry from Gotham City, but it has its very own "batgirl".
Environment Waikato still has money available to help farmers in the Mangakino, Reporoa and Broadlands areas fence their streams off from stock.
A recent explosion in the popularity of kayaking has Environment Waikato staff concerned about the growing potential for boating collisions.
Environment Waikato is taking action against polluters in the dairy industry, with prosecutions pending for companies and individuals connected to 15 Waikato farms for breaches of dairy effluent rules.
Environment Waikato is to launch a brand new bus service for Hamilton's fast-growing Rototuna suburb, along with a raft of improvements to many other city routes.
Environment Waikato is celebrating a massive increase in bus use across the region.
A major possum control operation is planned for the Pirongia-Otorohanga area in order to create a buffer zone around Mt Pirongia for conservation and agricultural production control purposes.
Environment Waikato is strongly supporting the continued use of 1080 in a submission to New Zealand's Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA).
Environment Waikato is offering dairy farmers in the Waikato region the chance to have the nutrient value of their dairy effluent tested at a special discounted rate.
Farmers and lifestyle block owners in the northern Coromandel area should mark Saturday, 10 February in their diaries.
If you're farming in the Waitomo district now's a good time to check your farm sheds for old, unused or unwanted agrichemicals. That's because Environment Waikato, in conjunction with the Ministry for the Environment (MfE), is running a free agrichemical collection in the district next month.
The Waikato Medical Officer of Health today lifted the advisory ban on swimming and other contact recreation in the Raglan Harbour, following the results of the latest Environment Waikato water quality testing.
Environment Waikato is congratulating vigilant residents at Hahei who, along with emergency services and United Water acted promptly when the main sewage pumping station began overflowing today during a power cut.
The Waikato Medical Officer of Health is still advising people to avoid swimming or collecting shellfish in the areas of the Raglan Harbour affected by a sewage spill which occurred on Saturday afternoon.


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Adding rules to filter messages
You can set it up so Web-Based Email will automatically filter your emails into folders based on rules you set. For more information about creating folders, see Create an email folder.
- Log in to your Workspace Email account and open your product. (Need help logging in?)
- From the Settings menu, select Message Filters.
- Click Add New.
- Select the rule based on one of the email's fields, enter the value to activate the filter, select which folder to move the email to, and then click OK.
To change a filtering rule's priority, click the up or down arrow next to the rule.
To edit or delete a filtering rule, from the Actions column, click Edit or Delete.


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I always had to keep in mind that my children come first and that the divorce/separation issue was between their father and I. So with that being said I always made sure the experience of going from house to house was a pleasant experience. Never "bashing" their father always telling them what fun they would have and to enjoy their time with him. It was not always pleasant being with him and i knew it but i never wanted them to know that I was upset that they had to be away from me. So many divorced parents put the children in the middle of their battle and that should NEVER, EVER happen!
Just wanted to say that I love your response to this, I feel the same way that you do, the children should come first no matter the bad outcome between the parents. To many people really do forget that . I to never say anything harsh towards their father or their stepmother, cause I know that each person has a special part in their lives as well. You rock as a mom :)


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So my good friend, Dan Katz, is always sending me articles on the latest in bicycle innovations, so I decided to give him a logo for a new section I'm calling: Tech Watch.
(ah, fun with photoshop)
Ready for Ecco-Friendly Bike Navigation?
Iriver presents the NV mini.
and it works […]


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American Agritech has sourced the world's most premium coir fiber. Cocogro has a very low salt content that is available in 3⁄4'' double-sieved long fibers to reduce dust and give ample space within the mix. Cocogro has excellent drainage properties and can be used over a longer period of time than coir fiber with shorter fibers. With longer fibers and reduced dust, growers will experience an optimal air to water ratio, which is vital for strong root development. Cocogro is unique because it is not chemically treated like other coir fibers on the market. Cocogro is a superior coir fiber because it is aged a minimum of 18 months and has finished its decomposition stage. In addition, Cocogro passes through at least three monsoon seasons, which naturally washes away harmful salts out of the final product. Most other coir fibers are only 4 to 5 months old and have excessive potassium and salts and thus have to be chemically treated.
© 2004 - 2020 EcoGarden Supply. All rights reserved.


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Welcome to Jhoots Pharmacy
Do you request a repeat prescription from your local surgery?
Arranging for it to be picked up, taking it to your local pharmacy and then waiting for it to be dispensed can be time consuming! At Jhoots Pharmacy we can make it easier. Did you know that you can request your repeat prescription from your local surgery as normal and then ask for it to be collected by Jhoots? We can then have it ready and waiting in our pharmacy when you call for it. We can also deliver it to your home for free! Sign up today or visit your local Jhoots Pharmacy for more information.
At Jhoots, we have great prices on everyday products. See in store for more promotions and special offers or speak to your delivery driver for details.


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Music DescriptionIf I Lose Myself – A song with high quality fresh sounds, enjoy hearing each time you listen. A happy, energetic track great for commercials and advertising, web videos, motivational videos and more.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!
Follow me on: Evienis Production
FLP file for FL Studio http://audiojungle.net/item/if-i-lose-myself/5655305


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With Alumni . . . Boston — Richard A. Farrar, a former member of the audit staff, has assumed the position of controller with a Boston client the Vermont Tap and Die Co. (a division of Bermont American Corporation), in Lyndonville, Vermont.) Peter J. Power resigned to accept a position as assistant to the general manager of Ebsco Industries, Inc., in Red Bank, New Jersey. Walter T. Barker resigned from the audit staff in July to take a position as assistant controller at the Wesson Memorial Hospital in Springfield, Mass. Chicago — Ronald Stone resigned from our audit staff to accept a position with our client, The Greyhound Corporation. Dayton — Donald Boomershine has been appointed controller of the Texarkana Division of Divco-Wayne Industries. James Sauer and Douglas Strain have resigned their positions on the Dayton office audit staff to accept assignments with a client of the firm, The Rike-Kumler Company. James is in charge of the internal audit function, replacing Gene Roberts, a former employee who has been promoted to assistant to the executive vice-president. Douglas is the assistant office manager. David Dern resigned to become controller of Six Industries, Springfield, Ohio. Zane Haught resigned to join a local accounting firm, R. S. Thompson & Company, in Richmond, Indiana. Conrad Weinrich, an alumnus of the audit staff, has been promoted to manager of the systems and procedures department of The Mead Corporation. Denver — Andrew Jakes left the Denver office to go back to Denver University to participate in a Masters Program. After completion of the course he will take up a teaching career. Detroit — Four staff members have left the firm recently for responsible positions with clients: Donald O. Nellis moved to Portland, Oregon, to become assistant controller of Evans Products Company. On July 1, James H. Dunbar assumed the position of controller of Flint Ink Corporation in Detroit. Edwin H. Hicks has joined American Motors Corporation as assistant manager of the tax department. In May, John P. Tierney was' named chief accountant of Pioneer Finance Company. Executive -— Joseph Levee resigned to accept a position with Socony Mobil Oil Co., as senior research and planning analyst in the tax department. Grand Rapids — William N. Dahlquist, who had been with the Grand Rapids office for five years, resigned to take a position in Chicago with Bell & Howell Co., as manager of the internal audit department. Milwaukee — Kenneth W. Rammer left the firm to accept a position as controller for a client, Aluminum Specialty Company, in Manitowoc. Minneapolis — Lee Christoffersen left to take a position as business manager of the United Christian Churches of America office in Minneapolis. On September 1, Donald Etnier will take up his duties as Assistant Professor in accounting at the Arkansas State College at Jonesboro, Arkansas. New York — Seymour Flug resigned to assume the position of assistant controller at Kerkeby-Natus Corporation. Pittsburgh — Gary B. Fink, a senior on the audit staff, left the firm to become asssistant to the controller at Mc- Creary Tire & Rubber Company, a Pittsburgh office client. San Francisco — George English left our firm to accept a position as controller for the Russell Markets in Hay-ward, California. John Kadlecek, formerly of our San Francisco and Denver offices, dropped in to say "hello" recently. He is now associated with McMurtry Mfg. Company in Denver as controller. They are a client of the Denver office. Washington — Hugh Cochrane has accepted a position with Stewart's Incorporated, a client. Tom Fox has resigned to join a local accounting firm. Jack Rihtarchik, audit manager in the Washington office and one of its first staff members, resigned August 1 to accept a position as Controller with Documentation, Inc. SEPTEMBER, 1963 45


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The studio behind "The Dark Knight Rises" is removing all images and references to guns from all "Batman" movie trailers ... TMZ has learned.
Sources tell TMZ ... the honchos at Warner Bros. gave the order just a few hours after the shooting in Colorado this morning.
We're told the studio is hoping to replace the current made for TV trailers with the gun-free version as soon as possible.
We've called Warner Bros. for comment -- so far, no word back.


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MU Extension > MELD
Expand all | Collapse all
Our society is changing at an ever-increasing rate. Technology and changing demographics have changed how we learn and do business. University of Missouri Extension faculty and staff must be at the forefront of change and act as effective change agents. They must have appropriate leadership skills to effect change.
Through the Missouri Extension Leadership Development class (MELD VII), University of Missouri Extension will provide a leadership development opportunity to 20 participants during a year-long period.
MELD participants will be guided by the Vision, Mission and Values of MU Extension.
Vision: University of Missouri Extension is a valued and trusted educational solution to improve the quality of life in Missouri, the nation and the world.
Mission: Our distinct land grant mission is to improve lives, communities and economies by producing relevant, reliable and responsive educational strategies that enhance access to the resources and research of the University of Missouri.
Respect: Respect for one's self and for others is the foundation of honor and the basis for integrity. A hallmark of our community is respect — for the process by which we seek truths and for those who engage in that process. Such respect is essential for nurturing the free and open discourse, exploration and creative expression that characterize a university. Respect results in dedication to individual as well as collective expressions of truth and honesty. Respect is demonstrated by a commitment to act ethically, to welcome difference, and to engage in open exchange about both ideas and decisions.
Responsibility: A sense of responsibility requires careful reflection on one's moral obligations. Being responsible imposes the duty on us and our university to make decisions by acknowledging the context and considering the consequences, both intended and unintended, of any course of action. Being responsible requires us to be thoughtful stewards of resources — accountable to ourselves, each other and the public we serve.
Discovery: Learning requires trust in the process of discovery. Discovery often fractures existing world views and requires acceptance of uncertainty and ambiguity. Therefore, the university must support all its members in this lifelong process that is both challenging and rewarding. As we seek greater understanding and wisdom, we also recognize that knowledge itself has boundaries — what we know is not all that there is.
Excellence: We aspire to an excellence that is approached through diligent effort, both individual and collective. Pursuing excellence means being satisfied with no less than the highest goals we can envision. Pursuing excellence involves being informed by regional, national and global standards as well as our personal expectations. We recognize and accept the sacrifices, risks and responsibilities involved in pursuing excellence, and so we celebrate each other's successes. We commit ourselves to this process in an ethical and moral manner.
Engagement: We are committed to being an engaged learning organization focused on greater access and inclusivity. This commitment comes with a responsibility to listen to and collaborate with our communities, participants and stakeholders. Engagement is demonstrated by a reciprocity and partnership where knowledge and its application are exchanged in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Engagement enriches scholarship, fosters relevant responses and enhances social and economic outcomes.
© 1993
to Curators of the University
of Missouri, all rights reserved, DMCA
and other copyright information
University of Missouri Extension is an equal opportunity/access/affirmative action/pro-disabled and veteran employer.
University of Missouri Extension
© 1993
to Curators of the University of Missouri, all rights reserved


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Insert bearings (Y-bearings)
Insert bearings (SKF Y-bearings) are based on sealed deep groove ball bearings in the 62 and 63 series, but have a convex outer ring and in most cases an extended inner ring with a specific locking device, enabling quick and easy mounting onto the shaft.
Industry offers to meet your specific challenges
Find the suitable locking method
Bearing features
Quick and easy to mount
The different locking methods enable quick and easy mounting of insert bearings onto the shaft.
Accommodate initial misalignment
The spherically shaped outside surface enables initial misalignment by tilting in the housing (fig. 1).
Long service life
The different sealing solutions available provide a long service life for a wide variety of applications with high contamination levels.
Reduced noise and vibration levels
Where high requirements on noise and vibration levels are important, SKF can provide the appropriate shaft locking method.
Where to use insert bearings?
Because of their versatility and cost-effectiveness, insert bearings are typically used in the following applications:
- Agricultural machinery
- Food and beverage processing and packaging
- Conveyor systems
- Material handling systems
- Textile equipment
- Industrial fans
- Special machinery, e.g. car wash systems, gym equipment, go-karts
Need more?
In addition to the bearings presented in this section, SKF supplies insert bearings for special application requirements. This assortment includes:
- Bearings and bearing units for high temperature applications
- Bearings with Solid Oil
- Bearings with a customized design or dimensions (→ contact SKF)


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A friend of mine had a poster made for his business. Here is a segment of it:
I can't tell for sure, but I think the angle of the logo is not quite right... (I don't mean any pun with the business's name)
This leads me to an underlining question: are there angles that are aesthetically preferred? Are some angles easy on the eye while others look a bit "off"?


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Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Time of Poss.
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – Despite leading by 11 points with less than four minutes to play, the UW-Eau Claire football gave up a couple of costly plays at the end of the game in a 27-24 loss to eighth-ranked University of St. Thomas (Minn.) in the season opener at Carson Park today.
Eau Claire, which had never faced St. Thomas previously, trailed just once before the final four minutes of the contest.
St. Thomas scored on the first drive of the game after the Blugolds fumbled the opening kickoff, giving the Tommies the ball on the Eau Claire 29 yard line. But Eau Claire answered on the very next drive as Austin Goetsch (Sr.-Waunakee, Wis.) caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Austin Neu (Sr.-Iron Ridge, Wis./Hustisford) to tie the game 7-7.
From there, the Blugolds built a 17-7 lead after a Joe Poulin (So.-Roberts, Wis./St. Croix Central) rushing touchdown and a Josh Albrecht (Sr.-Eau Claire, Wis./North) 34-yard field goal, but the Tommies put three more points on the board just before halftime with a 32-yard field goal to make the score 17-10.
In the third quarter, St. Thomas kicked another field goal, that one from 33 yards out, making the score 17-13.
Joel Sweeney (Jr.-Tomah, Wis.), who finished the game with 104 yards on 27 carries, opened the fourth quarter with a one-yard touchdown run and Albrecht tacked on the extra point to give Eau Claire a 24-13 lead.
But with four minutes on the clock, the Tommies converted on a 4th-and-1 from their own 49 and then followed with a 49-yard touchdown pass on the next play. After a successful two-point conversion, the Tommies trailed by just three (24-21).
The Blugolds got the ball back but a on the very first play, Blugold quarterback Neu, under pressure, threw the ball up and St. Thomas' Tyler Erstad came down with it. The Tommies then used just three plays to march 55 yards and scored what proved to be in the winning touchdown.
Both teams were plagued with penalties and poor ball handling the entire day. Eau Claire had eight penalties, four fumbles, only one of which was lost, and threw two interceptions. St. Thomas was flagged 13 times and lost two fumbles.
Neu finished with 196 yards passing and Eau Claire totaled 283 yards of offense. St. Thomas had 418 yards of offense, 152 on the ground and 266 in the air.
Sean Graham (Jr.-Hales Corners, Wis./Whitnall) and Jake Safstrom (Jr.-Grafton, Wis.) each had sacks for Eau Claire while Mitch Olson (So.-New Auburn, Wis./Chi-Hi) and Scott Burzynski (Jr.-Stanley, Wis./Stanley-Boyd) recovered fumbles.
Eau Claire will be at home again next Saturday to face Saint John's University (Minn.). Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.


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Update: On super sale HERE
This piece was a nice change of pace for me, as I was able to get back into some of my old obsessions: repeating textures, patterns, and color! Created for the Dreaming Child show at Chicago's Gallery 27, artists were asked to create a piece based on their favorite fairy tale, children's book, or bedtime story.
I decided on one of my all-time favorites, the well-known classic, Sleeping Beauty. It gave me a great excuse to work on something super girly (long hair, rosy cheeks, flowers– the works!), as it's been a while. I also tried out a few new things with this piece; playing with the perspective, composition, and depth, along with adding a few different kinds of texture. It was a lot of fun painting this, and I was finally able to sit & listen to Stephen King's The Stand (on audiobook) in its entirety!
10.5in x12.5in
Flashe paint on wood, sealed in resin