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Posted: April 12, 2017 12:08 AM MDT
Updated: September 11, 2019 12:13 AM MDT
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model Brooklyn Decker made her film debut in 2011's "Just Go with It." She has also acted in the films "Battleship," "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and "Stretch," and had cameos on TV shows such as "The League" and "New Girl." She also starred in the short-lived sitcom "Friends with Better Lives" in the spring of 2014 and appears in the Netflix sitcom "Gracie and Frankie." [ + - ]
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model Kate Upton made her film debut with a minor role in 2011's "Tower Heist" and had a cameo in 2012's "Three Stooges." Her first major role came starring with Leslie Mann and Cameron Diaz in the 2014 romantic comedy "The Other Woman." [ + - ]
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was a model known for her work with Victoria's Secret and Burberry when she was tabbed by director Michael Bay for "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." She also had a role in 2015's "Mad Max: Fury Road." [ + - ]
Rebecca Romijn started her modeling career in 1991, becoming famous on the pages of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and for hosting MTV's "House of Style." She snagged her first major film role in 2000's "X-Men," playing the blue-skinned shape-shifting mutant Mystique. She's reprised the role of Mystique in three more "X-Men" movies, including a cameo in 2011's "X-Men: First Class," and has also appeared in movies such as "Femme Fatale," "Rollerball," "The Punisher" and "Good Deeds." She also had TV roles on "Ugly Betty," "King & Maxwell" and "The Librarians." [ + - ]
Brooke Shields began modeling before she was even a year old and famously appeared in controversial print and TV ads for Calvin Klein jeans at the age of 14. She made her film debut at the age of 12 as a child prostitute in "Pretty Baby" and has had many acting roles since, including starring in her own sitcom, "Suddenly Susan," between 1996 and 2000. [ + - ]
Ukrainian native Milla Jovovich appeared on the cover of the Italian magazine Lei at the age of 11 and went on to be featured in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements. At the age of 15 she created more buzz by taking over for Brooke Shields in "Return to the Blue Lagoon." She then broke out opposite Bruce Willis in "The Fifth Element" and is best known these days as the butt-kicking Alice in the "Resident Evil" movie franchise. [ + - ]
Another native of Ukraine, Olga Kurylenko moved to Paris at the age of 16 to start a blossoming modeling career that would include appearances on the French covers of Vogue and Elle magazines. After launching a film career in 2005, she has appeared in the movies "Hitman," "Quantum of Solace," "To the Wonder," "Oblivion," "Vampire Academy" and "The November Man." [ + - ]
Thanks to "Magic Mike," most people already know about Channing Tatum's past as a stripper, but he also spent time as a model before breaking into acting, appearing in campaigns for Armani, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nautica, and Dolce and Gabbana, among others. [ + - ]
After signing with the Ford Modeling Agency as a teenager, Kim Basinger spent five years as a cover model before quitting to focus on acting. She has since starred in movies such as "Never Say Never Again," "The Natural," "Batman" and "L.A. Confidential." [ + - ]
Cindy Crawford was the very definition of the word supermodel in 1994 when she decided to break into movies with the action thriller "Fair Game" opposite Billy Baldwin. The movie and, in particular, Crawford's performance were panned by critics. [ + - ]
Apart from her performances in a couple Billy Joel music videos, supermodel Christie Brinkley's only real acting role was as "The girl in the red Ferrari" in "National Lampoon's Vacation." She reprised the role in the sequel "Vegas Vacation," played herself in a few other roles and had a recurring role on "Parks and Recreation." [ + - ]
Tyra Banks first became famous as a model, appearing twice on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and working as one of Victoria's Secret's original "Angels." She began her acting career with appearances on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and jumped into movies with 1994's "Higher Learning." Her other acting credits include "Love & Basketball," "Coyote Ugly," "Halloween: Resurrection" and the TV series "Glee," "Gossip Girl" and "Black-ish." [ + - ]
When Kathy Ireland got tired of dominating the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, she struck out for an acting career, appearing in movies such as "Necessary Roughness," "Alien from L.A." and "Mom and Dad Save the World." [ + - ]
A recording career as Marky Mark, with his Funky Bunch, first brought Mark Wahlberg and his physique to the attention of Calvin Klein, which used him in a series of underwear ads and commercials. In 1993, he dropped the Marky Mark moniker to start acting. [ + - ]
Aussie Elle Macpherson was already a famous supermodel when she started appearing in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the mid-1980s. Her appearances in the issues, including a record-setting five times on the cover, made her an even bigger star. After an appearance in Woody Allen's 1990 movie "Alice," she appeared nude in 1994's "Sirens" and later added more roles in movies such as "If Lucy Fell," "The Mirror Has Two Faces," "Batman & Robin" and "The Edge" and on the sitcom "Friends." [ + - ]
Maggie Q began her modeling career in Tokyo at the age of 17 and eventually made her way to Hong Kong, where she caught the eye of Jackie Chan, who trained her as a potential action star. She has since appeared in movies such as "Mission: Impossible III," "Live Free or Die Hard" and "The Divergent Series" and in the TV series "Nikita" and "Designated Survivor." [ + - ]
Internationally known for her appearance on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and as a Victoria's Secret model, Heidi Klum has also occasionally acted, taking on supporting roles in movies such as "Blow Dry" and "Ella Enchanted" and making cameo appearances in "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Perfect Stranger." [ + - ]
As Norma Jean, Marilyn Monroe became one of The Blue Book Modeling Agency's most successful models in the mid-1940s, appearing on dozens of magazine covers. The attention led to a film contract with 20th Century Fox in 1946 and the rest is history. [ + - ]
Before Taylor Kitsch's breakout role on the TV high school football drama "Friday Night Lights," he was a model in New York City and Los Angeles, modeling for Diesel and Abercrombie & Fitch. He's also appeared as Gambit in 2009's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and starred in the films "John Carter," "Battleship" and "Savages." [ + - ]
Liv Tyler started modeling at the age of 14, but grew bored with the job and quit after less than a year to focus on acting. She has since gone on to a Hollywood career that includes "Empire Records," "Armageddon," the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "The Incredible Hulk." [ + - ]
Cameron Diaz has starred in movies like "The Mask," "There's Something About Mary" and "Being John Malkovich," but before that she was a celebrated teen model for Calvin Klein and Levi's and once graced the cover of Seventeen magazine. [ + - ]
Famke Janssen was signed by Elite Model Management in the mid-1980s and appeared in advertisements for Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel and Victoria's Secret before retiring from modeling in the early 1990s. Her breakout acting role came in 1995 as the villainous Bond girl Xenia Onatopp in "GoldenEye" and she's gone on to star in the "X-Men" series of films and both "Taken" and its sequels. [ + - ]
Charlize Theron wanted to be a dancer, but won a one-year modeling contract at the age of 16. After spending a year traveling Europe as a model, she moved to the U.S. to study at the Joffrey Ballet School until a knee injury redirected her to Hollywood. She quickly rose to fame in the late 1990s with roles in the box office successes "The Devil's Advocate," "Mighty Joe Young" and "The Cider House Rules" before winning an Oscar for 2003's "Monster." [ + - ]
Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen has it all: A super successful modeling career that got kick-started as a Victoria's Secret Angel, a huge bank account as the world's highest-paid model and NFL quarterback Tom Brady for a husband. She's also tried her hand at acting, with supporting roles in the movies "Taxi" and "The Devil Wears Prada." [ + - ]
Sharon Stone was signed by Ford Modeling Agency in 1977 and worked for a time as a model in Europe. But before long she quit modeling and moved to New York City hoping to break into film. After some smaller roles, she broke through with the help of director Paul Verhoeven's "Total Recall" and "Basic Instinct." [ + - ]
Halle Berry briefly modeled between the end of her beauty pageant career in 1986 and the start of her acting career with a role in the short-lived 1989 sitcom "Living Dolls." She's since gone on to a career that includes roles in "Jungle Fever," the "X-Men" film series and 2003's "Monster's Ball," for which she won an Oscar. [ + - ]
After participating as a modeling contestant in an International Modeling and Talent Association competition, and losing out to Josh Duhamel, in 1997, Ashton Kutcher instead signed with Next modeling agency in New York City. He went on to appear in ads for Calvin Klein and modeled in Paris and Milan before landing his star-making role on the sitcom "That '70s Show." [ + - ]
As noted, Josh Duhamel beat out Ashton Kutcher in a 1997 IMTA modeling completion. When the modeling gig didn't pan out as planned, he turned to acting, first in music videos and then on the soap opera "All My Children." He left the daytime drama for the primetime drama of "Las Vegas" in 2003, before jumping to movies like "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!" and the "Transformers" series of movies. [ + - ]
Duhamel wasn't the only former model appearing in Michael Bay's "Transformers." Before even Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley joined the film franchise in its third go-round, Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson were representing the model-turned-actor contingent. Gibson, who's also starred in movies such as "Baby Boy," "Four Brothers" and the "Fast and Furious" franchise, started out as model for companies like Guess? and Tommy Hilfiger. [ + - ]
In the early 1980s, Paulina Porizkova appeared on the covers of Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Glamour magazines and became just the second woman, after Christie Brinkley, to be featured on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue's cover consecutive times (in 1984 and 1985). She made the jump to movies in 1989, starring in "Her Alibi" with Tom Selleck. [ + - ]
Before Freida Pinto became an international star thanks to the Best Picture Oscar-winner "Slumdog Millionaire," the Indian actress was a top model for Elite Model Management. [ + - ]
Elizabeth Hurley has been associated with the cosmetics company Estée Lauder for more than 15 years since the company gave her her first modeling job at the age of 29. Her first big movie role came two years later when she starred in "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" and she's since had roles in movies like "Bedazzled" and "EDtv" and the TV series "The Royals." [ + - ]
Monica Bellucci began modeling in her early 20s, signing with Elite Model Management in Milan. She has posed for French Elle magazine and was the face for a range of Dior products from 2009 to 2011, before signing on to become the new face for Dolce & Gabbana in 2012. After some minor acting parts in the 1990s, she started gaining more attention for roles in movies like "Tears of the Sun," "Brotherhood of the Wolf," "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Passion of the Christ" in the 2000s. [ + - ]
At the age of 16, Diane Kruger represented Germany in the Elite Model Look competition and started a modeling career afterward. She booked ads from Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and more while also appearing on the cover of Vogue Paris, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan. Since giving up her modeling career to focus on acting, she has landed parts in movies like "Troy," "National Treasure" and "Inglourious Basterds." Despite the growing movie career, she also returned to modeling, becoming the global spokesmodel for L'Oreal in 2009 and modeling for Calvin Klein's fragrance line Beauty in 2010. [ + - ]
Barely out of her teens, Andie MacDowell signed a contract with Elite Model Management in New York City in 1978. She went on to model for Vogue magazine in the early 1980s and appeared in ad campaigns for Yves Saint Laurent, Armani perfume and Anne Klein, but it was a series of billboards and national commercials for Calvin Klein that earned her an audition for her 1984 film debut in "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes." She's since had roles in movies like "Sex, Lies & Videotape," "Groundhog Day" and "Four Weddings & a Funeral." [ + - ]
Ali Larter, best known for starring in the science-fiction drama "Heroes" as well as the movies "Varsity Blues," "House on Haunted Hill" and "Final Destination," got her start as a teen model, signing with the prestigious Ford Modeling Agency in New York City. She skipped her senior year of high school to model in Australia, Italy and Japan before deciding to take acting classes while visiting Los Angeles for a modeling gig. [ + - ]
Part of Larter's inspiration for becoming an actress was her friendship with fellow model Amy Smart. Larter met the aspiring actress while they were both modeling in Italy and the two eventually were roommates in Los Angeles. Smart appeared in "Varsity Blues" with Larter and had gone on to roles in movies such as "Road Trip," "Rat Race," "The Butterfly Effect" and "Crank." [ + - ]
Lily Cole, who has modeled for Vogue magazine and was named 2004 Model of the Year by the British Fashion Awards, made her first leading movie role opposite Heath Ledger in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus." She also appeared in 2012's "Snow White and the Huntsman" and as herself in "Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie." [ + - ]
Cybill Shepherd was a cover model for Glamour, Vogue and Brides magazines in the late 1960s and early '70s before making the leap to movies with roles in "The Last Picture Show" and "Taxi Driver." [ + - ]
Bridget Moynahan got her start modeling for department store catalogs in Springfield, Massachusetts, moving on to appearances in magazines such as Vogue and Elle by the time she was 18. She made her television debut in 1999 in HBO's "Sex and the City" and has since appeared in movies like "Coyote Ugly," "The Sum of All Fears," "I, Robot" and "John Wick" and the TV series "Blue Bloods." [ + - ]
Claudia Schiffer rose to fame in the early 1990s as one of the world's most successful models and has appeared on more than 700 magazine covers in her career. Her movie career has been less successful, including playing the role of "Aerobics Instructor" in 1994's "Richie Rich," herself in movies like "Prêt-à-Porter" and "Zoolander," and other small roles in "Black & White" and "Love Actually." [ + - ]
Canadian Tricia Helfer won Ford Models' "Supermodel of the World" contest in 1992 and went on to model for Ralph Lauren, Versace, Chanel and Giorgio Armani while also appearing on the covers of Elle, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Vogue magazines. Her big breakthrough when it came to acting was when she was cast to play the humanoid Cylon Number Six in the re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica" television series in 2004. [ + - ]
After high school in upstate New York, Chad Michael Murray struck out for Hollywood, where he supported himself with modeling gigs for clients such as Skechers, Tommy Hilfiger and Gucci. He got his big break with a part in "Gilmore Girls," going on to roles in the teen TV dramas "Dawson's Creek" and "One Tree Hill." [ + - ]
Jaime King was discovered at age 14 and soon became a famous fashion model going by the name James King. She appeared in Vogue, Mademoiselle and Harper's Bazarr, among other fashion magazines, before taking on small film roles. Her first major role came in 2001's "Pearl Harbor," followed by starring roles in movies like "Bulletproof Monk," "Sin City" and "My Bloody Valentine 3D." [ + - ]
Before starring as the Man of Steel in Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns" reboot, Brandon Routh modeled to pay his bills as a student at the University of Iowa. [ + - ]
Prior to breaking through by playing the mutant superhero Cyclops in the "X-Men" film franchise, James Marsden was a Versace model. He's also starred in movies such as "Hop," "Enchanted" and "27 Dresses" and the HBO series "Westworld." [ + - ]
Alex Pettyfer was a model in several advertising campaigns for Burberry, but left modeling at the age of 15 to focus on acting. He's since landed starring roles in the movies like "I Am Number Four" and "Beastly," as well as a supporting role in "Magic Mike." [ + - ]
Kelly LeBrock began her modeling career at the age of 16, going on to appear on thousands of magazine covers and in fashion spreads before landing roles in movies like "The Woman in Red" and "Weird Science." [ + - ]
Gemma Ward made her modeling debut at the age of 15 in her native Australia. Within two years she was walking New York runways and became the face of Calvin Klein's Obsession Night perfume billboards, bumping Kate Moss from the job. She made her Hollywood debut as "Dollface," one of three masked intruders in the 2008 suspense thriller "The Strangers." She's also played a mermaid in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" (pictured) and had a minor role in Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby" in 2013. [ + - ]
Analeigh Tipton placed third in the 2008 season of "America's Next Top Model," leading to a contract with Ford Models. She made her film debut in 2011's "The Green Hornet" and broke through later in the year with the role of a babysitter crushing on Steve Carell's character in "Crazy, Stupid, Love." She also co-starred in the 2013 zombie comedy "Warm Bodies" and the 2014 Scarlett Johansson action-thriller "Lucy." [ + - ]
There are some people who the camera just loves. Perhaps that's why many models make the leap to acting.


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MELVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSIC), the world's largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental, medical and animal health practitioners, is honoring National Breast Cancer Awareness Month by raising awareness of the importance of early detection through the Company's seventh annual 'Think Pink, Practice Pink' program, in partnership with the American Cancer Society (the "Society").
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121002/NY84567)
Through the 'Think Pink, Practice Pink' program, Henry Schein offers a wide selection of "pink products" —ranging from health care consumables and practice supplies to apparel and gift items— to its Dental, Dental Laboratory, Medical, and Special Markets customers. Through the end of December, a portion of the sales of these special products will be donated to the Society through the Henry Schein Cares Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization that supports and promotes dental, medical, and animal health by helping to increase access to care globally. Over the past seven years, Henry Schein's 'Think Pink, Practice Pink' program has raised more than $500,000 for cancer care.
"Our 'Think Pink, Practice Pink' program exemplifies Henry Schein's unique model of social responsibility, through which we create opportunities for our Team Schein Members, supplier partners, and customers to participate in a shared effort to 'help health happen,'" said Stanley M. Bergman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Henry Schein, Inc. "Working together, we can exponentially enhance the impact that any one of us could have alone."
Henry Schein provides free health and disease screenings for Team Schein Members throughout the year, including mammograms, as part of Henry Schein's wellness and prevention program. Every year, there have been a number of Team Schein Members who have had diseases or conditions discovered as a result of these screenings.
"Early detection followed by prompt treatment saves lives. It is that simple," said Mr. Bergman. "We are proud to partner with the American Cancer Society to raise awareness and support individuals undergoing treatment, and proud to provide health screenings to our own team, underscoring our deep belief in the importance of wellness and prevention, a fundamental pillar of Henry Schein Cares, our global corporate social responsibility program."
Through 'Think Pink, Practice Pink,' Henry Schein helps the Society raise awareness of breast cancer and other cancers, and supports care provided through Hope Lodge. Hope Lodge is a network of free temporary housing services throughout the country where cancer patients and their loved ones are given a comfortable and supportive place to stay during their treatment and are provided with information to help them make decisions about disease treatment. The Henry Schein Cares Foundation dedicated the Henry Schein Cares Welcome Center at the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge Jerome L. Greene Family Center in New York City in 2010.
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, during which the Society and many national public service organizations, professional associations, and government agencies spread the message that early detection of breast cancer followed by prompt treatment saves lives. As part of the 'Think Pink, Practice Pink' program, Team Schein Members will celebrate National Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a number of activities at Henry Schein's world headquarters in Melville, N.Y. Team Schein Members will wear pink on October 11, and be provided with essential information about breast cancer detection. Team Schein Members also contribute their own funds on October 11, to be donated to the Society.
About Henry Schein, Inc.
Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSIC) is the world's largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental, medical and animal health practitioners. The Company also serves dental laboratories, government and institutional health care clinics, and other alternate care sites. A FORTUNE 500® Company and a member of the NASDAQ 100® Index, Henry Schein employs more than 15,000 Team Schein Members and serves approximately 775,000 customers.
The Company offers a comprehensive selection of products and services, including value-added solutions for operating efficient practices and delivering high-quality care. Henry Schein operates through a centralized and automated distribution network, with a selection of more than 90,000 national and Henry Schein private-brand products in stock, as well as more than 100,000 additional products available as special-order items. The Company also offers its customers exclusive, innovative technology solutions, including practice management software and e-commerce solutions, as well as a broad range of financial services.
Headquartered in Melville, N.Y., Henry Schein has operations or affiliates in 26 countries. The Company's sales reached a record $8.5 billion in 2011, and have grown at a compound annual rate of 18 percent since Henry Schein became a public company in 1995. For more information, visit the Henry Schein Web site at http://www.henryschein.com/.
About Henry Schein Cares and the Henry Schein Cares Foundation
Henry Schein Cares, Henry Schein's global corporate social responsibility program, stands on four pillars: engaging Team Schein Members to reach their potential, ensuring accountability by extending ethical business practices to all levels within Henry Schein, promoting environmental sustainability, and expanding access to health care for underserved and at-risk communities around the world. Health care activities supported by Henry Schein Cares focus on three main areas: advancing wellness, building capacity in the delivery of health care services, and assisting in emergency preparedness and relief. Firmly rooted in a deep commitment to social responsibility and the concept of enlightened self-interest championed by Benjamin Franklin, the philosophy behind Henry Schein Cares is a vision of "doing well by doing good." Through the work of Henry Schein Cares to enhance access to care for those in need, the Company believes that it is furthering its long-term success.
Established in 2008, Henry Schein Cares Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization, works to foster, support, and promote dental, medical, and animal health by helping to increase access to care for communities around the world.
The Henry Schein Cares Foundation carries out its mission through financial and health care product donations that support health care professionals and community-based programs focused on prevention, wellness, and treatment; disaster preparedness and relief; and capacity building of health institutions that provide training and care. To learn more about the Henry Schein Cares Foundation, please visit: www.hscaresfoundation.org. The "Helping Health Happen Blog" is a platform for health care professionals to share their volunteer experiences delivering assistance to those in need globally. To read more about how Henry Schein Cares is making a difference, please visit our blog: http://helpinghealthhappen.org/.
Susan Vassallo
Vice President, Corporate Communications
(631) 843-5562
SOURCE Henry Schein, Inc.

subset: commoncrawl


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Army gives Park Service a lift
When your new office is located in one of the world's most extreme natural environments, it's nice to have a little help moving in.
The National Park Service recently enlisted the help of the U.S. Army to shuttle supplies to Park Service base camps located far up 20,328-foot Mt. McKinley.
"It's a huge logistical operation for us with the amount of gear we have to bring up and the places we have to get it to," said Park Service mountaineering ranger Mark Westman.
Westman was one of several rangers who boarded three CH-47F Chinook helicopters flown by the Army's B Company, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment (the "Sugar Bears") on an April 24 mission to bring supplies to the Kahiltna Glacier, site of a 7,000-foot base camp where most climbers begin their summertime trek up North America's tallest peak.
The helicopters flew about 45 minutes from the spruce-dominated lowlands near Talkeetna to the massive glacier — essentially a trip into another world. As the helicopters gained altitude, the scenery outside changed from forested river deltas to canyon-lashed foothills and then, finally, to jagged mountain peaks and snow-covered glaciers.
Park Ranger Joe Reichert said the Park Service needs about 14,000 pounds of gear to supply ranger stations located at the 7,000- and 14,000-foot levels.
"That includes food for about 10 people for about eight to 10 weeks," Reichert said.
Reichert said rangers are needed on the mountain because of the high volume of climbers who attempt to reach the iconic summit each climbing season, the peak of which runs from May 15 to June 15.
"Between 1,100 and 1,300 [climbers] has been the average for the past decade," he said.
About half of those climbers reach the summit in an average year, Reichert said.
But not all make it back safely. More than 120 people have died on the mountain over the years, including 11 in 1992 alone, the deadliest year on record. Hazards on McKinley include storms that can pack winds in excess of 100 MPH and temperatures plunging to minus-20 — even in mid-summer.
"The weather contributes to a lot of accidents here," Westman said.
But the challenging environment also offers a unique training ground for the Sugar Bears, whose missions often take them into some of the most inhospitable mountain terrain in the world. According to Chief Warrant Officer 3 Francois Collard, that's why the Army is so willing to shuttle Park Service gear up the mountain each year.
"This is something we do that preps us for combat missions downrange," said Collard, who flew one of the three choppers used in this year's supply mission. "In Afghanistan, for example, where they have a lot of high peaks."
The unit spends a couple weeks each year training at altitude in the area, Collard said. Before they hauled supplies for the Parks Service this season, the Sugar Bears performed a variety of maneuvers around the massive mountain, including difficult "pinnacle" landings, where helicopters hover over high peaks and touch just their tail section to the mountain. Collard said the training gives crews experience working above 10,000 feet, where oxygen masks must be worn to prevent hypoxia, a potentially deadly condition caused by a lack of oxygen.
The ability for the two federal agencies to work together provides numerous benefits to both, as well as the climbing community on the popular mountain. Since the Army is sometimes called in to assist with high-altitude rescues, it's important for the helicopter crews to know the terrain.
"This is training that we need to go and perform the rescue mission, but we also get great benefit to perform our mission downrange," he said. "At the same time we're helping these guys out. So it's a win-win situation."
It's also not a bad gig. This spring was Collard's first trip to the mountain, and he said training on McKinley's otherworldly terrain was an awe-inspiring experience.
"It's an awesome privilege to do this," he said.
After landing on the sparkling Kahiltna Glacier, the Army and Park Service crews rapidly unloaded gear and stashed it for moving later to 14,000 feet. Watching them work were a pair of climbers, Jeff Beckstrand and Jason Blauch, who traveled from Salt Lake City, Utah to spend two weeks on the mountain. The men said they didn't plan to summit McKinley, but instead were making ascents up technical routes on smaller peaks in the area.
Getting to experience such a unique environment is what draws droves of climbers and sightseers up the mountain each summer, Blauch explained.
"It's unbelievable up here."


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text:
Based on year-end 2018 data
About Us
Fastenal Company founder Bob Kierlin put the company's basic principles into words that would communicate our goal to new personnel.
His beliefs were centered around four words: Growth Through Customer Service®
Fastenal provides companies with the fasteners, tools, and supplies they need to manufacture products, build structures, protect personnel, and maintain facilities and equipment.
Guided by a motto of Growth Through Customer Service®, our local teams work closely with customers to keep needed supplies flowing, provide supply chain solutions and expertise, and drive business improvements that help them compete and thrive. Simply put, we don't just make a sale — we align with our customers to make them more successful.
The Fastenal story began in 1967 when Bob Kierlin pooled together $30,000 with four friends and opened the first Fastenal location, a 1,000 square foot shop in his hometown of Winona, MN. The original business plan was to dispense nuts and bolts via custom vending machines, but the idea proved to be ahead of its time. Several decades would pass before Fastenal finally popularized industrial vending.
After surviving the typical struggles of a startup business, Fastenal gradually found its niche by going the extra mile for customers and providing the kind of service that kept them coming back. Kierlin later drilled this approach down to four simple words: Growth Through Customer Service®.
Want to delve deeper into the Fastenal story? Watch this video about the history of Fastenal and hover over the years below to learn more about key milestones in our history.
What's the "secret ingredient" that's enabled Fastenal to grow from a small-town fastener shop into one of the world's most dynamic and innovative companies? Most members of the Fastenal team would say the answer is our culture, including our deeply-rooted commitment to training, decentralized decision-making, and promotion from within.
Our most successful employees live and work by the following cultural values.
Are these values as important to you as they are to us?


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So my goal for 2011 is to read 111 books. That's 11 more than last year for those who have trouble with math like me.
The first book I finished in 2011 ... "Matched" by Ally Condie.
Cassia Reyes is a model student, daughter, and citizen. How could she not be when the Society has everything planned and functioning perfectly? All of her needs are met: food, shelter, education, career training, and even her future husband are selected by officials who know what is best for each individual by studying statistical data and probable odds. She even knows when she will die, on her 80th birthday, just as the Society dictates. At her Match Banquet she is paired with Xander, her best friend and certainly her soul mate. But when a computer error shows her the face of Ky, an Aberration, instead of Xander, cracks begin to appear in the Society's facade of perfection. A series of events also shakes her dedication to Xander and puts her future in jeopardy.
Most of the reviews I have read talk about how Condie basically ripped off the plot of "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. I haven't read Lowry's book (though I have since purchased it and will read it) so I can't speak to the plagiarism claims. With that in mind, I really enjoyed the book. Its very reminiscent of "The Hunger Games" and other dystopian teen novels.
The puppy doesn't want me to finish this post so I will have to try again later. Apparently, she's not much of a reader. Or panda lover.
Up next is "The Secret Daughter" by Shilpi Somaya Gowda which I have actually almost finished. So look for the review soon.


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Becky Kregling
|Head Coach
|(203) 396-8352
|25th Season
Becky Kregling, a USBC Silver Certified Coach, has been at the helm of the Sacred Heart women's bowling team since its inception in 1993.
Coaching Accolades:
- With a 14-6 league record, clinched a share of the 2016 NEC Regular Season Championship, entering the tournament as the No. 2 seed
- After earning the 2016 NEC Coach of the Year Award, and landing three players on All-NEC teams (Sarah Rhodes - All-NEC First Team, Lauren Hoffman - All-NEC Second Team, Casey Smith - NEC All-Rookie Team), led SHU to the program's third NEC Championship
- Led the Pioneers to their first-ever Northeast Conference Championship in 2009-10, capturing the crown in just the event's second season of existence
- SHU made it two titles in three years under Kregling, as Sacred Heart hoisted the NEC Championship trophy at the end of the 2011-12 campaign
- Kregling has helped the Pioneers to five NCAA Tournament appearances (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2012) since the event's conception in 2004
- Has led the Pioneers to 12 USBC National Championship Tournaments, including 10 straight years before the start of the NCAA Tournament
- Has produced four All-American and a National Rookie of the Year
- Named Eastern Intercollegiate Bowling Conference (EIBC) Coach of the Year twice (2001-02, 2002-03)
Professional Accomplishments:
- Member of the NCAA National Women's Bowlng Committe from 2003-2006, serving as chair for the 2005-06 season
- Elected Vice President of the National Tenpin Coaches' Association in March 2006, serving as the VP until 2009 when she was elected the NTCA's President serving in the top seat from 2010-2014
- Has served as the Secretary/Treasurer for the New England Bowlers Association (NEBA) since 1998
- Continued to compete regularly until 2000 with a high average of 232 with 15 perfect 300 games and five 800+ series
- In 1985, she was named the Albera E. Crowe Star of Tomorrow, and award given annually by the NGB to the best youth bowler
- In 1986, she won the Women's Sports Foundation Up and Coming Award, marking the first and only time that award has been given to a bowler
- In 2007, Kregling became the second woman in the 44-year history of NEBA to win a tournament. Ironically, the first woman to do so is a former SHU student-athlete and professional tour champion Jennifer Swanson
- A member of Team USA in 1996 and 1997


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Since I mentioned the Bloodhound cocktail in the previous post, figured I should put up that recipe.
1/4 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Dry Vermouth)
1/4 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth)
1/2 Dry Gin. (1 1/2 oz)
2 or 3 Crushed Strawberries.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
This is a great cocktail when strawberries are in season.
Some suggest raspberries instead of strawberries; but, strawberries and gin are a great combo. Use a milder gin like Beefeater or Bombay, and it's a good cocktail to win vodka drinkers over to gin.
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.


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The relentless technological and digital innovation that has characterized — and in many ways defined — the past decade has a way of making not-terribly-old devices seem positively ancient. Palm Pilots, landline phones and VCRs feel like tech dinosaurs, while the hiss, crackle and pop of a dial-up Internet connection is available via Youtube for those who crave archaic soundscapes.
What, then, can we make of minuet-dancing, mandolin-playing, smoking, drinking automatons that captivated men, women and children centuries ago and endure today as collectors' gold?
The fact that, as LIFE phrased it in a 1971 article, the 18th- and 19th-century automatons in this gallery once "had no other purpose than to amuse" both deepens their old-fashioned charm and highlights their oddity.
"Nobody knows why monkey automatons were once so popular," LIFE noted of an elaborately clothed simian automaton that, when activated, shined shoes. The automatons LIFE showcased in that 1971 article doubled as music boxes. Aided by "a concealed maze of spring-driven pulleys and levers," they appeared to write letters, smoke cigarettes or served tea in miniature teacups.
Today, aficionados pay stiff prices to amass and enjoy musical, miniature automata from all over the world. The wine-swigging chef in this photo gallery — yes, that's a cat peering out from the saucepan — went for $3,750 at Rita Ford Music Boxes in New York City in the 1970s; decades later, a quick eBay search for similar toys yields prices in the thousands, as well.
Ultimately, automatons are emblems of nostalgia. But they also share a key parallel with digital toys and tools: they are devices of human manufacture that emulate and often take the place of living processes and creatures. Today, self-monitoring wristbands gauge our sleep patterns and count how many steps we take in a given day. Robotic vacuums clean our floors. Smart phones do almost everything. Like old-school automatons, today's cutting-edge gadgets sometimes appear to pursue lives of their own — evincing a semi-independence that is both eerie and entertaining.
Here, at the end of another year of dizzying digital advances, LIFE.com celebrates some singular — and just slightly creepy — machines that were among the true tech marvels of their time.
— Tara Thean is a freelance writer and graduate student in biological sciences at Cambridge University. Follow her on Twitter @tarathean.


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MO- Ex St. Louis Jewish teacher jailed again; SNAP responds
For immediate release: Wednesday, July 24
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, firstname.lastname@example.com)
A Jewish teacher who worked and abused in St. Louis and Australia has been sentenced to three years in jail but could be freed in about three months.
David Kramer, 52, is a former Yeshivah College teacher. He pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation in St. Louis in 2008 and was sentenced to a seven-year prison term.
This week in Australia, Kramer pled guilty to charges of molesting four boys there.
We urge Jewish officials – in Missouri and Australia – to do more. Kramer very likely hurt other kids. He could face other charges. And if he doesn't, he could walk free soon and assault more children.
It's not enough for religious figures to sit back and do little or nothing while victims, police and prosecutors work overtime to try to keep kids safe from criminals like Kramer. Every single person who saw, suspected or suffered Kramer's crimes must find the courage to speak up now. And every single Jewish employee or synagogue member who has knowledge or suspicions of wrongdoing here must do likewise.
Staying silent is immoral. It only endangers more kids.
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No happiness: Close brings out Albert's sad little life
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Feb 15th, 2012
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I know a novel that begins: "This is the saddest story I've ever heard." Now here is one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. It is sad because a woman has chosen to lead her life in a way that is...
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GOP group mocks Ashley Judd's Senate hopes in ad
Ashley Judd is getting her introduction to campaign-style politics in a new ad mocking her past comments about President Obama and the state she calls home.
The actress is considering a Senate bid next year in Kentucky against Republican leader Mitch McConnell. The ad is paid for by American Crossroads, the super PAC co-founded by GOP strategist Karl Rove that spent millions of dollars in the 2012 elections.
"Ashley Judd — An Obama-following radical, Hollywood liberal who is right at home here in Tennessee. I mean, Kentucky," says the ad announcer.
Judd was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention last summer from Tennessee, the state she has called home for years. She grew up in Kentucky and went to college there.
The ad uses clips of Judd saying, among other things, that she is "aggressively and delightfully radical" and would "follow" Obama anywhere. Those kinds of quotes aren't likely to engender her to Kentucky voters, who overwhelming voted Republican in the last presidential election.
Judd said last month that she's looking closely at the 2014 race, arguing that the people of Kentucky "need a fighter."
American Crossroads will run the ad for two weeks through online advertising, and is spending $10,000. Apparently, the group had some fun digging up Judd's remarks and putting together its latest work.
"We hope you enjoy watching the ad as much as we enjoyed creating it," said Jonathan Collegio, the group's communications director.


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Joko Widodo Wins Indonesia Presidential Election
Widodo Victory Comes After Subianto Withdraws From Race
JAKARTA, Indonesia—Jakarta Gov. Joko Widodo was declared the winner of Indonesia's presidential election, ending weeks of uncertainty in the wake of a hard-fought contest in the Southeast Asian nation.
The national elections commission said Tuesday after days of collating more than 133 million ballots from across the sprawling archipelago that Mr. Widodo edged out former army Gen. Prabowo Subianto with 53.15% of the vote—a margin of about 8.4 million votes. Voter turnout was almost 70% for the July 9 election....


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Guests: Julia Boorstin, Mindy Finn, David Corn, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Susan Collins,
Andrew Young, Steve McMahon, Todd Harris
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Rules of engagement.
Let's play HARDBALL.
Good evening. I'm Chris Matthews in snow-covered Washington. Leading off tonight: This could be the start of something big. That's right, President Obama's remarkable appearance before House Republicans on Friday has ignited something good in our democracy, a push to turn an American president's meeting with their political rivals and allies into a regular event. A rump group of political thinkers from the anti-tax right to the blogging left is asking, If the prime minister can do it over in England, why can't our guy do it here? Anything they can do, maybe we can do better.
Next topic tonight, the Republican criticism of how the Obama administration handled the Christmas Day bombing attempt. More on that in the program. We're going to have a lot more of that on the program tonight. But mainly, the issue is going to be the question of whether the president should meet regularly with his political opponents in some formal manner. Anyway, back to the Christmas Day bomber. The question is, of course, whether it's being handled correctly with a criminal approach with Miranda rights, or whether you lose a lot of information that way. A lot of questions there. And a lot of questions about whether the Republicans are guilty, if that's the right word, of doing the exact same thing they're attacking the Democrats are doing. As I say, if the shoe fits, wear it.
And Andrew Young, the man who once took the heat for being the father of John Edwards's love child, is certainly getting even with his former boss. He's got a book, what else? But does he have a story? We've got him tonight on HARDBALL. Tighten your seatbelt, Mr. Young.
Plus, Colin Powell says it's time to drop "Don't ask, don't tell." Now, that's news. He was the guy, the general, who instituted the whole charade. Can the combination of Obama and Powell get it changed now? We'll ask the HARDBALL strategists tonight.
Finally, did she or didn't she? Sarah Palin says she congratulated Scott Brown after his win in Massachusetts. Mr. Brown said he can't remember that ever happening. He must have forgot. Oh, yes, and then he remembered. So what's happening here? Is this guy becoming a politician even before he's actually a senator? That's in the "Sideshow" tonight.
We start with the debate over "question time" in America. David Corn is the Washington bureau chief for "Mother Jones" and Mindy Finn is a Republican blogger. So the question, lady and gentleman, is—and I'll start with you, Mindy, you haven't been on the show—it's fascinating to me that you folks out there in the blogosphere and elsewhere—sideliners politically—are calling for a front-line regular back-and-forth between the president of the United States and his rivals on the other side of the aisle and also with his own people. Tell me about what you want to see.
MINDY FINN, REPUBLICAN BLOGGER: Well, I think that we see that both parties are tired of politics as usual. You know, Scott Brown's win obviously was a rejection of the Democratic Party and their policies, but frankly, what voters are saying are the same things they said in 2006 and 2004, which is, Washington isn't listening to us and we're tired of politics as usual.
And so I think that what happened Friday, with the president going to speak to the Republican retreat, allowing Republican members to pose their questions and him to respond, and even more importantly, that it was televised publicly, is something that needs to happen more regularly. We need a more civil...
MATTHEWS: Yes, we carried it. I don't think Fox carried it in its entirety. (INAUDIBLE) we played it all over again a couple times. We had a whole special, and we're very proud of that here.
David Corn...
DAVID CORN, "MOTHER JONES": You...
MATTHEWS: ... the president of the United States exposed himself to his enemy. The question is, Would any president, Democrat or Republican, agree to a regular format of possible mistakes, exposure? Ever time you get on television, by the way, you and I know...
CORN: Yes!
MATTHEWS: ... you can make mistakes.
CORN: I do know. Yes. And well, the president doesn't seem to be too scared of going on TV a lot, maybe more than other presidents...
MATTHEWS: Yes, with a teleprompter!
MATTHEWS: ... a group of people that are hostile to him?
CORN: We have about three dozen people on the left and the right, bloggers, politicos, techie people, Internet advocates, who have formed this group. It's Demandquestiontime.com. There's a petition. Thousands of people have signed it today. And we all saw what happened on Friday, as you were watching, too, and realized there was something special and historic about it. And we call on both Obama and the Republican leadership in Congress to do this on a regular basis.
And I—listen, it may not be what's best for the politicians. It may be, though, what's best for the American public and to have a civil debate people can watch and decide for themselves.
MATTHEWS: OK, I think it's a great idea. I think it's great for America. I'm tired of each party talking only to itself in an echo chamber.
But here's what David Axelrod, who's the president's spokesman, said on Monday to "Politico" about the idea of regular question time, before your effort was announced. Quote, "The thing that made Friday interesting was the spontaneity." That was this past Friday. "If you slip into a kind of convention, then conventionality will overtake the freshness of that."
I'm afraid—Mindy, my fear is that either party, whosever in opposition, will have a choreography. They'll come up with a set of questioners. They'll have ringers. They'll ask questions that embarrass the president, and it's just be one of these—another one of these tricky little numbers, inside-the-Beltway games that offend people even more about our democracy. It won't be spontaneous.
FINN: Well, it's certainly possible that that could happen, but I think that if political shenanigans go on and it's something that's publicized, televised and public, that the American people will reject that. I think they'll protest that because that's going to look like more politics as usual, political shenanigans...
MATTHEWS: Yes.
FINN: ... and they'll reject whosever doing it, whether it's the Democratic Party or the Republican.
MATTHEWS: Let's remind—excuse me. Let's remind ourselves, Mindy and David, of what we saw last Friday because it was really a moment in American democracy at its best. Let's listen.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got to close the gap a little bit between the rhetoric and the reality.
If you were to listen to the debate, and frankly, how some of you went after this bill, you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot. No, I mean, that's how you guys—that's how you guys presented it.
MATTHEWS: Boy, there's the president out there sort of freelancing, using language that normally is tricky, making a joke about you being perceived as a Bolshevik. I've been through this myself. You say something you think is clever, it's taken out of context. The president admits he's a Bolshevik, next thing you know, somebody's saying.
CORN: But you know, Mindy's right. If anybody on either side tried some sleight of hand in this, it might backlash against them. I thought each side in that debate on Friday was trying to do their best. They were at their best. Obama was at his best. The Republicans were at their best in presenting their argument. That's what made is so impressive.
MATTHEWS: Yes, but the Republicans were caught off guard. Here's my question. The criticism from the Republican side afterwards—no real hard question about foreign policy and security. Your thoughts, Mindy? The questions were all about economics. The president was ready on that. It was somewhat—he could handle it. Wouldn't it be tougher of him—for him if it was about security, about foreign policy?
FINN: It would be.
MATTHEWS: That's their argument.
FINN: There should have been questions about foreign policy and security. I think the important point is that during political campaigns, the candidates make time to have debates and regular debates.
MATTHEWS: Well said.
FINN: And then, once the campaigns are over...
MATTHEWS: So well said!
FINN: ... they don't have them.
MATTHEWS: Let me tell you my problem. I worked on the other side for many years. I worked in party politics. I worked on the Hill as an aide, top guy with the speaker. And my job was try to get the Democrats to respond to Ronald Reagan every week. Nobody wanted to do it! They would have prepared speeches. The president was on radio every Saturday. They had an hour to respond. Nobody wanted to use that hour to truly respond.
Every time there's a State of the Union address—and your party did it (INAUDIBLE) with Governor Donaldson—McDonnell, rather. Nice speech. It wasn't a response to the president. Why didn't they use the time between the president's speech, when it gets released around 6:00 o'clock at night, and actually read the speech and respond to it? Governor McDonnell didn't do that.
CORN: But Chris...
MATTHEWS: Just a minute. Mindy, you've worked in politics. You've worked for (INAUDIBLE) candidates. They hate spontaneity!
FINN: You're right, they do, which is...
MATTHEWS: They hate it!
FINN: But there's also a reason that their approval ratings are abysmal, and it's for that reason.
MATTHEWS: Why didn't Governor McDonnell respond to the president the other night at the State of the Union? Why did he give his own speech? Why did he give a speech that he'd written weeks ahead of time?
FINN: You'd have to talk to Governor McDonnell about that.
MATTHEWS: But you know why! He doesn't want to respond. They never do!
CORN: But if he's...
MATTHEWS: Who was that guy? Who was that, Bobby Jindal, comes out with that speech that night. That thing had been written weeks before.
CORN: But Chris, if you had placed Bobby Jindal in a room with the president or other Democrats and said, Hey, let's see what you have to say...
MATTHEWS: He would have done well.
CORN: ... he would have done much better. I mean, this would—this forces them to play at a higher level.
MATTHEWS: OK, maybe the first thing we ought to do is the State of the Union, that people have to respond. They can't have a script. They have to come out and watch the speech with the American people, Brian Williams or anybody—me or somebody else has got to come out and grab them right there and say, What did you make of the president's speech? What did you like about it? What didn't you like about it? And force them to respond in real time. And if they can't do it, don't give them the time!
FINN: I think that's a great...
MATTHEWS: ... networks would do that?
FINN: I think that's a great idea.
MATTHEWS: Don't give them the time!
FINN: Absolutely. I think anything that advances our democracy, where people are discussing these issues in a more substantive basis, that the American people are actually benefiting from, rather than only benefiting the politicians, is a step forward.
CORN: This puts both parties, the opposition party and the president, on a bit of a hot seat.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
CORN: They have to come out and perform very well. They will be judged on the questions that are asked and...
MATTHEWS: OK, let's...
CORN: ... and on the answers given.
MATTHEWS: ... get this—you guys all watch—I do watch—it's on C-Span.
CORN: Yes.
MATTHEWS: You get to see question period. And you see Gordon Brown, the current prime minister...
FINN: Yes.
MATTHEWS: ... he's down in the well. The other guys are up in the hills overlooking down on the—this time, the president was in Baltimore, up at this ground podium, looking down on the little people. The Republicans at sitting there at their breakfast tables with their families. He had a physical advantage, right?
FINN: Yes.
CORN: Sure did.
MATTHEWS: In the British politics, he's down there taking the flak from these guys. Do you think a president would accept that kind of situation, where he's down in the well and the critics are up there cat-calling him?
FINN: Well, you know, that's something that the British system—they're more used to. I think that it's...
MATTHEWS: They're good at it.
FINN: And they're good at it. Look, all we're asking right now is let's take the minimal step of a commitment to regular meetings between the president and the opposition party...
FINN: ... and the Senate...
MATTHEWS: ... give me a formal look at what it would be like. OK, it's Friday night. It's 8:00 o'clock. What would it look like?
CORN: Well, on MSNBC, of course...
CORN: Listen, I think Friday—last Friday was a pretty good model.
And if—you know, if they want to talk about how high the podium is—
you know, they do that in presidential debates all the time, the silliness
you know, it could get bogged down, but...
MATTHEWS: So you see the president of either party addressing the Congress...
CORN: Oh, it doesn't have to be in the body of the Congress. It could be at a conference room. You know, these are all things that could be talked about. I think once both sides accept the principle—which the White House hasn't done—and we're waiting to hear back from the Republican leadership what they're going to say to demand...
MATTHEWS: Well, we had Mike Pence on Friday night, and I asked him if he would go along with it. He said they wouldn't—they wouldn't—wouldn't have a question period like that.
CORN: Well, let's vote. You know, he's not the only voice in the Republican leadership. There are others out there, and we're waiting—and there's a petition...
MATTHEWS: I think you guys deserve credit just for pushing this thing. I think it's a bipartisan (INAUDIBLE) We're going to take a look at the president today. Let's watch the president today.
OBAMA: Some of that transparency got lost, and I think we paid a price for it. And so it's important, I think, to constantly have our cards out on the table and welcome challenges and welcome questions. Now, if the Republicans say that they can insure every American for free, which is what was claimed the other day, at no cost, I'd want to know.
OBAMA: Because I told them, I said, Why would I—why would I want to get a bunch of lumps on my head doing the hard thing if you've got the easy thing?
MATTHEWS: Well, there you have it. Will we have a question period sometime in your lifetime where the president of the United States is forced to answer questions on a regular basis from the opposition in Congress?
FINN: We're going to keep pushing for it, so yes.
CORN: If you want that, Demandquestiontime.com. I hope it happens.
MATTHEWS: Well, that's what they could—it's called Demandquestion...
CORN: ... time.com. People can go and sign the petition...
MATTHEWS: It's actually called, according to this script—it's called, quote, "Demandquestiontime.com." Anyway, thank you very—David Corn. Thank you, Mindy Finn. Here's our—their Web site, as I said.
And coming up, the Obama administration is being criticized for treating the Christmas Day bomber as if he was an ordinary criminal. Now the administration is pushing back against the GOP critiques, saying the suspected terrorist would have been less cooperative had he faced an interrogation in a military uniform—an interrogator in a military uniform. This is getting a little too inside here. We don't know, really. Well, we'll see. It depends on, I would think, the suspect what you're going to get out of (INAUDIBLE) whether the guy's got a uniform or not.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
Welcome back to HARDBALL. Republicans have been criticizing the Obama administration for being too soft on the Christmas Day plane bomber, for reading him his Miranda rights and for handling him to the regular justice system. But now comes word that the terrorist suspect is giving useful information to his interrogators. So can Republicans really go after the president for how he handled the Christmas Day plane bomber?
Senator Dianne Feinstein chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. Well, that's the question to you, Madam Chairman, Senator. Is the case now up in the air again as to the best way to handle these terror suspects?
Well, in my view, it is not up in the air. I think what we've seen is something very unique, which is politicizing it. This is the same way that Bush 1, Bush 2, Clinton handled it, and every single terror suspect was handled this way in the eight years of George Bush's administration. A couple were transferred into the military jurisdiction, but they were all initially charged when committing a crime in this country in an Article 3 court, essentially.
And it is just not true that the FBI cannot interrogate. I think the best interrogation that I have seen in the eight years I have been on the Intelligence Committee and the 17 years I've been in the Senate is actually performed by the FBI.
MATTHEWS: We have reasons for interrogating people for criminal reasons. We try to determine their guilt or innocence, try to understand the crime itself. We also have intelligence reasons for interrogating people. Can they be performed by the same prosecutor, the same interrogator, that function?
FEINSTEIN: Well, they can be trained by people who are trained in this kind of interrogation. And the FBI's had a very good record. I mean, an agent, Jack Klunnan (ph), back in 1993, the World Trade tower bombs, he interrogated the blind sheikh, others. He got convictions and he also got people to turn on one another. It was a very successful interrogation, and it was not done with any enhanced interrogation techniques. So they know how to interrogate.
And I can tell you without going into detail because I have been briefed that the interrogation of Abdulmutallab has been handled well, it's been effective. Operations have been put in play. And I think it's been a very good experience.
Additionally, the attorney general today wrote a letter to the minority leader of the Senate, and I'd really urge everybody to read that letter. It very carefully outlines what his legal practice, what his past practice, what this attorney general and this administration is doing. And I believe they are absolutely correct.
Secondly, I believe, though, that the administration should have flexibility in this issue and flexibility to determine whether the individual might be transferred toward military jurisdiction or not. But the point is, these are crimes committed in this country, and therefore there are certain legal strictures that do apply.
MATTHEWS: OK. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. thank you, Senator.
FEINSTEIN: Thanks, Chris.
MATTHEWS: And with us now is Republican senator Susan Collins of Maine, who's on Homeland Security. Senator, thank you for joining us. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote in a letter today to you and some other Republican senators, quote, "Since the September 11, 2000 (SIC), attacks, the practice of the U.S. government, followed by prior and current administrations without a single exception, has been to arrest and detain under federal criminal law all terrorist suspects who were apprehended inside the United States. The prior administrations adopted policies expressly endorsing this approach."
How can you deny that the—this administration is doing something wrong, if it is doing something exactly the way the previous one did? Your thoughts, Senator?
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS ®, MAINE: Well, Chris, first of all, that would imply that I agreed with the previous administration's handling of some of these terrorists.
It is ironic, to say the least, to have the Obama administration now saying, "We're just following what the George Bush administration did," when they have been saying that everything the previous administration has done was in error on most things.
But here's my point. I believe that, before a decision is made on whether to detain a captured foreign terrorist in a military system or in our civilian courts, there should be consultation with the intelligence community.
And I know, from asking the question of the director of national intelligence, the secretary of homeland security, and the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, that they were not consulted before Abdulmutallab was told that he didn't have to answer further questions and given a lawyer, at our expense.
That simply does not make sense, given how critical it is that we secure as much information to try to prevent future attacks.
MATTHEWS: Well, here, I have a letter—and you have seen it—from
from the attorney general to you.
And he says—quote—"I made the decision to charge Mr. Abdulmutallab with federal crimes and to seek his detention in connection with those charges with the knowledge of and with no objection from all other relevant departments of the government." He goes on to say he checked with all the intelligence community and he got no objections about his course of action.
You say there was no consultation?
COLLINS: That is correct. And I would draw a distinction that it is far different to inform someone of a decision that's already been made vs. consulting with them.
It is clear that Abdulmutallab had a great deal of information. He had just come from Yemen. We know that Yemen is a hotbed for al Qaeda. We know that plots are being hatched against this country.
And what we had was a very brief interrogation, followed by five to six weeks during which time al Qaeda is not just twiddling its thumbs in Yemen. It is changing its plots. It is moving around. It is swapping out its communications equipment.
That was valuable lost time. And we could have learned information that might have been extremely valuable to helping to thwart future attacks.
MATTHEWS: OK. OK. I'm open to your argument, as most Americans are. We're in a quandary on this. What is the best way to get information when we need it?
What would you do with the Fort Hood situation, where you have an American involved with apparently being influenced somewhat by a lackey over there on the Internet and having some communication with a foreign enemy of the United States?
At what point does a person become a foreign agent? Was Lee Harvey Oswald an agent of Castro, but he killed Kennedy because he love Castro? Was Sirhan Sirhan working for a Middle East government or terrorist group when he killed Bobby Kennedy?
At what point do you deny a person his rights in this country because you believe they are under the leadership or influence of a foreign enemy? Where do you decide?
COLLINS: Well, first of all, anyone put into our civilian courts has the same rights as an American citizen.
So, that is why that initial threshold decision is so important. It is ironic, because, in the case of the Fort Hood massacre, Major Hasan is going to go through the military system, a military court-martial. He's not going to be in a...
MATTHEWS: Yes.
COLLINS: ... the civilian court system, because he's a member of the Army.
It seems to me, if that is good enough for Major Hasan, it ought to have been good enough for Abdulmutallab.
MATTHEWS: Well, how do you decide that someone is an agent of a foreign power or an enemy combatant? I mean, I went through the cases of our assassins in this country who were clearly operating out of loyalty to foreign masters, even if they didn't get direct orders.
I mean, everybody knows Lee Harvey Oswald was working for Castro—or was in love with Castro, that Sirhan Sirhan hated Bobby Kennedy's Middle East policy. They were operating as agents, even if they weren't.
Where do you draw the line and say, that guy really is an agent, or that person really is not? How do you know?
COLLINS: That's why you can't have a unilateral decision made by the Department of Justice, which is what you had in this case.
Clearly, the Justice Department is a critical player, but so is the director of national intelligence, Homeland Security, the Counterterrorism Center, the CIA, the secretary of defense.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
COLLINS: So, what you do is a consultation...
MATTHEWS: Yes, I see.
COLLINS: ... with all those parties, so you find out, what information do they have in intelligence files that might well affect the decision on where the person should be detained and questioned and also tried?
MATTHEWS: OK. Well, they are very good arguments. And thank you very much for bringing them to us, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a member of the Homeland Security Committee.
Thank you so much. I think your arguments are winning with a lot of people.
Up next: Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer went on "The Colbert Report" last night, because, as Colbert pointed out, it's not right he really has to worry about being humiliated these days. He's already been there. This is fascinating to watch these two go at each other. It's going to be on a minute. That is next.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Back to HARDBALL. And time for the "Sideshow."
Eliot Spitzer was on "Colbert" last night, for the first time since he was caught with a prostitute and had to resign from office. Here he is with Colbert.
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT": When I see you on TV now, I know that guy has got to be an honest broker, because you have got nothing to lose, right?
ELIOT SPITZER (D), FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: That sums it up.
COLBERT: Yes.
COLBERT: I mean, you have got no public image to uphold. It is better that you don't...
COLBERT: ... uphold your public image at this point.
SPITZER: Well, there is a certain virtue to being able to tell the absolute truth and stick it to people, without worrying about repercussions. That is true.
COLBERT: Exactly. There's nothing they have got on you.
SPITZER: That is—not anymore.
COLBERT: Ben Bernanke...
SPITZER: Yes.
COLBERT: ... who oversaw the collapse of, not only the United States', but pretty much the entire world financial system...
SPITZER: Right.
COLBERT: ... and brought our economy to its knees has been reappointed as head of the Fed.
SPITZER: Right.
COLBERT: Does this give you hope for being reelected governor of New York?
COLBERT: Because...
COLBERT: ... may I remind you, he screwed everybody.
COLBERT: I just became a fan of Ben Bernanke.
MATTHEWS: I love Colbert.
Anyway, Spitzer is doing it right. He quit, gave up the governorship, took the heat, and is showing the kind of humility, well-earned humility, that this country is willing to accept.
Next up: Sarah who? Watch senator-elect Scott Brown dance away from Sarah Palin, saying he never even spoke to her.
BARBARA WALTERS, ABC NEWS: Do you think that Sarah Palin is presidential material?
SCOTT BROWN ®, MASSACHUSETTS SENATOR-ELECT: Well, sure. She has been a mayor and a governor and has a lot of national following.
But I think, the more people in a presidential race, the better. She has never contacted us and vice versa.
MATTHEWS: Wow. Really? She has never contacted you? You have never talked?
Then how do you figure this statement from Palin's camp Massachusetts election night, two weeks ago? Quote: "Governor Palin spoke with a very happy senator-elect Brown this evening and congratulated him on his most historic victory."
After being called out yesterday, the Brown camp said Palin's election night call had completely slipped his mind.
It is interesting how we remember forever the moment we talk to one of our heroes, but find less significant chats just slipping from our minds. Could he really have had a conversation with the Alaska governor and forgotten it? You betcha.
Now to the "Number."
Remember that grab-your-pitchfork moment last year when word reached us about those big bonuses to AIG's Financial Products unit, the same unit that drove AIG into the ground? Well, it is bonus time again today. How much bonus money is being paid out to roughly 400 current and former AIG Financial Products employees? One hundred million dollars. That's a quarter-million apiece, $100 million in bonus money going to the guys who got AIG into the mess. Tonight's grab-your-pitchfork "Big Number."
Up next: Former John Edwards aide Andrew Young is throwing the book at his former boss. And he will be here to play HARDBALL.
You're watching it, HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
JULIA BOORSTIN, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: I'm Julia Boorstin with your CNBC "Market Wrap."
Stocks looking weak today on some disappointing earnings and lukewarm reports on jobs in the service sector, the Dow Jones industrials sliding 26 points, the S&P 500 dipping six points, and the Nasdaq up less than one point.
Private payroll shed about 22,000 jobs in January. That's less than expected and in line with projections that we could start to see job growth in February. And the service sector grew for the first time since September last month, indicators on new orders and business activity also on the rise in January.
On the earnings front, drugmaker Pfizer missing expectations and giving a disappointing outlook for the rest of the year, sharing falling about three-and-a-quarter percent.
Rival Merck shares also taking a hit, sliding more than 2 percent.
And Toyota getting clobbered today on those recalls and new reports that the 2010 Prius may have brake problems as well—Toyota shares plunging 6 percent.
That's it from CNBC, first in business worldwide—now back to
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL on sex, lies and videotape.
Last month, John Edwards admitted he had fathered a child by his former mistress Rielle Hunter. Now Andrew Young, a former aide to John Edwards, has written a tell-all book about the scandal. It's called "The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down."
Andrew Young, welcome to HARDBALL.
Andrew Young, you are a kind of "Valachi Papers" kind of a guy. You were in the mob and now you're ratting out—you're ratting out the mob.
How do you feel about John Edwards right now, the guy, John Edwards?
ANDREW YOUNG, FORMER AIDE TO JOHN EDWARDS: Well, I mean, I would say that, first of all, loyalty runs two ways. And, with John Edwards, it only ran one way.
So, I don't—I loved John Edwards for as long as I possibly could. I gave him more than two years. When he initially asked me to do this, he promised me that he was going to come clean as soon as the election was over. And I have waited as long as I possibly could to—to try to get this behind me.
MATTHEWS: He promised to come clean about his relationship with Rielle Hunter if he lost. He wasn't going to come clean if he had won?
YOUNG: He promised, as soon as the election was over, and/or if Elizabeth died first, he promised he was going to come clean about the whole thing.
MATTHEWS: But, if he had won, would he have come clean? Did he tell you?
YOUNG: Yes. He—yes, told me he was going to come clean about the whole thing.
MATTHEWS: One thing that staggers me—and it's not in your book, but you can flesh this out.
YOUNG: Sure.
MATTHEWS: He seemed to be under a delusion—and maybe people reading your book will find the answer—tell me this—that he could leverage the fact that he was John Edwards, even after he got creamed up there in Iowa...
YOUNG: Right.
MATTHEWS: ... even after he was facing the fact that he had fathered a child and the baby was going to be born, and he was going to be exposed. He was still trying to leverage either the vice presidency or the attorney generalship, and even—even less than that, he was trying to get a speaking gig at the convention in prime time.
What is it about John Edwards that led him to believe he could always get something out of nothing?
YOUNG: Well, Chris, you have been at this a lot longer than I have. I mean, it is something that politicians, especially politicians that run for president, they feel like they are untouchable. They feel like they can get away with almost anything.
And it is not—not just politicians. I mean, it is powerful people
in Los Angeles and in New York. And John Edwards felt like that he could
use the delegates that he had retained to use that as influence to get a
V.P. or an attorney general spot with—with Obama and with Clinton—or
with—or with Clinton
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about your role in this. When you went on the lam, when you went out there in that sort of like High Sierra kind of hideout, where you and the baby and Rielle Hunter and your wife all went off and disappeared...
YOUNG: Right.
MATTHEWS: ... who financed your getaway? Was that Bunny Mellon? Who was paying the tab for the hotels?
YOUNG: Fred Baron was. Fred Baron was.
I mean, the trial lawyer lobby, as you know, desperately wanted to have John Edwards in the attorney general spot because of tort reform.
MATTHEWS: Why? because he would be their ringer?
YOUNG: Well, he would be—tort reform was a huge issue. And the trial lawyers across the country were laying off employees in mass numbers.
MATTHEWS: And they wanted to have John Edwards in there to protect their money?
YOUNG: Desperately, yes.
MATTHEWS: And what was his view, that they had a right to make as much as they could?
YOUNG: I don't know that I ever heard him say it that explicitly, but, yes, yes.
MATTHEWS: Is John Edwards worth the money he made all these years as a trial lawyer, or was he just clever in sort of schmoozing and even seducing those rural jurors down in North Carolina? What was his game?
I read his book. I didn't see any genius in it. I guess, one or two cases, he showed some smarts. How could he make a ton of money as a trial lawyer? Have you ever figured that out, why that guy got to be senator, got bankrolled by the trial bench, and—and almost got to be president? What was his secret?
YOUNG: I have—first of all, I'm a big fan. I watch you ever day. First of all, all of us down in North Carolina are not holding Tea Parties and burning crosses. John Edwards—they are not all a bunch of rural bumpkins. John Edwards was very successful and he rose to the top because he was very charismatic and a very hard worker. I mean, he—within nine years, he was three times a viable VP pick, two times a viable presidential pick.
MATTHEWS: You are building him up again.
YOUNG: The truth of what I write in the book is the first several years that I worked for him—the first two years, it was immediately after their son Wade had passed. John Edwards was a good man. I want to tell you, I truly loved him and his family. We got to be close. We vacationed together. We went to Final Four together. You name it. We were close.
Somewhere along the lines of when—after Kerry lost, you know, he was no longer serving in the Senate. For two or three years, he traveled the world, visiting with billionaires in Russia, going to—anyone with Tony Blair. Everybody treated him like he was the future president in waiting. Obama and Clinton at that point, for those years, were not seen as viable threats.
MATTHEWS: Yeah. How long did you work for him, when he thought you were loyal to him, but you weren't? How long did you convince him you were a loyalist but had given up on him morally?
YOUNG: I would like to say I was loyal to him—
MATTHEWS: No, but how long did you stay with him after you stopped being loyal to him?
YOUNG: Probably a year.
MATTHEWS: A year you were basically an undercover guy working for a guy who thought you were loyal to him, but you weren't?
YOUNG: We—and I'm not trying to make excuses for anything we did.
We were wrong.
MATTHEWS: No you. Not we. You.
YOUNG: I'm including my family in that.
MATTHEWS: You worked for a guy who you were pretending to be a loyal to. You were pretending to be a loyal aide to John Edwards for a year when you really weren't. You were working either against him or you didn't like the guy anymore.
YOUNG: I don't know that I was working against him. I was on Fred Baron's payroll. I was not on John Edwards' payroll.
MATTHEWS: He thought you were an Edwards guy?
YOUNG: Definitely. Definitely
MATTHEWS: How do you feel about that, being basically a rat fink. I mean, working for a guy—I can't imagine being in politics working for a guy I had given up on. It seems to me you ought to get out. Find a way and get out, get another job, get out. Don't work for somebody you think is a louse (ph). You did for a year.
YOUNG: Let me finish. If you recall, once the lie was told that I was the paternal father, the Edwards and the campaign went everywhere they could claiming that I was a thief; I was an ineffective employee; I was just somebody who did the laundry.
MATTHEWS: At that point, you had to get out. Did you get out at that point?
YOUNG: No. No, I didn't. And I raised millions of dollars for these guys. When this went forward to the end, there was no place for me to go to get a job. I have three kids, two with health issues. Is what you're saying right? Was it morally right for what we did? Absolutely not. You're right. At the same time, I had responsibilities.
MATTHEWS: I hear you. Let me ask you this, would we be in trouble now if he had become—let's say would the Democratic party have been in trouble if he had become the nominee for president or vice president? Would this have gotten out and destroyed the party's chances.
YOUNG: My personal opinion, yes.
MATTHEWS: Would it be bad for America to have him as VP or president of the United States? Would it have been bad for America? I'm using those words particularly.
YOUNG: Absolutely.
MATTHEWS: Why?
YOUNG: John Edwards had all the attributes you look for in a president, except for one. He had all the leadership skills. He had—he was incredibly intelligent. Elizabeth was incredibly intelligent. He was charismatic, when he was on. There were times he came across as a used car salesman.
The one attribute that he didn't have was ethics. There was a cold, calculated, almost Jekyll and Hyde personality to him that would be unbelievably scary.
I want to say, when I first started in politics, it used to be that you had to be a vetted Democratic or Republican that had worked their way up through the ranks and people knew everything about you. You had to be a military leader. You had to be a business leader. As it is now, if you can do a 30-second sound bite, if you can raise money, and if you can have a lobby like the trial lawyers behind you, you can be president of the United States.
MATTHEWS: The thing that scared me about him, Andrew—I don't mean you at all. The thing that scared me about John Edwards—he was attractive. I suppose he could win people over in a small room. I've seen him do it. He is very effective. I get the feeling he never read a book. I don't think he ever read the newspaper. I think he had a total lack of intellectual interest in the presidency. I don't know why he was pursuing it, except out of some sort of grand egotism. Did you get a sense he had an intellectual reason to be president?
YOUNG: Well, I think he was inspired initially—his son, you know, this was one of his son's dream for him to run for office. You know Elizabeth Edwards very well. She is one of the smartest people on the planet. Very early on, going back to law school, they had almost a partnership, going through when they practiced.
She was the brains. She ran the campaign. She wrote all the papers, the speeches. He was the spokesperson.
MATTHEWS: Yeah. I always thought she was great and he was a lightweight. But that's just from my instinct with dealing with these people. An absolute lightweight, had no intellectual content at all, all sail and no cargo.
Whereas I think of Elizabeth—whatever you know about her that I don't' know, I have always liked her. So, c'est la vie. You have a book out. It's called "The Politician." What is the real worth in reading this book, besides just expose?
YOUNG: I think a couple of things. It talks about the seduction of
politics. It talks about how people like myself get roped into believing -
you know, just like Reggie Love and other people like that, you can take a short track from being just a common campaign laborer to working at some of the highest levels in the White House.
MATTHEWS: I know.
YOUNG: But it also shows betrayal. John Edwards—here is the truth. John Edwards was one of my best friends, and I took a bullet because I believed in him, and he backed over me with a semi truck.
MATTHEWS: OK, thanks.
YOUNG: I'm sorry. Go ahead.
MATTHEWS: We've got to go. Andrew Young, your book is called "The Politician." Thanks for joining us on HARDBALL.
YOUNG: Thank you for having me.
MATTHEWS: Up next, the strategists will be here to debate Don't Ask Don't Tell. This is a hot one. I think it is moving towards getting rid of that, because Colin Powell, who could be the decider on this, has now said h e thinks Don't Ask Don't Tell is wrong. He wants open service in the military, as does the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who personally endorsed it. This is a big development in American social thinking. This is HARDBALL, coming up on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: We're back. Former Secretary of State and retired General Colin Powell weighed in on the fight over ending the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy today. Here's his powerful statement: quote, "in the almost 17 years since the Don't Ask Don't Tell legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed." Wow.
Let's bring in the strategists, Democrat Steve McMahon and Republican Todd Harris. I'm amazed. People don't change their minds. When he changes his mind, it's a big deal, on top of Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, saying he personally thinks we got to get rid of it. Open service seems to be the call these days.
STEVE MCMAHON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Colin Powell coming out and doing this is an absolute game changer. It's interesting because there is a generational split. You've pointed it out on the show before. Younger people think that gay and lesbian Americans are just like—
MATTHEWS: They think we're crazy at my age to have this debate.
MCMAHON: they don't have a problem with gay marriage. One of the reasons the Republicans are having a problem with young people is because they are on the wrong side of so many social issues. This is just another example of that.
MATTHEWS: A key question, Todd—it's not the only question. But a key question is whether young service people, those who volunteer to risk their lives, to give their careers to military service, how they adjust to it. I think that's part of the answer. They don't have the right to veto it, but what does that question answer? How does that answer? Your thoughts?
TODD HARRIS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It would be answered in a real-time lab experiment, if they actually overturned the ruling. I think—I have to say, I think this is not great politics for President Obama. Even if you put aside what people think about this policy, there are basically three groups of opinions about this. There are people who are going to hate it. There are people who are going to love it.
And then there are people in the middle who think, largely, that this administration is trying to tackle too much right now. Overwhelmingly, when you look at polling data, and you say what should the focus of the Obama administration be, it's jobs and the economy. The more there are issues like Don't Ask Don't Tell, Cap and Trade that look like this administration is taking their eye off the ball, it's bad politics for Democrats.
MATTHEWS: OK, when would you say would be a good time to bring up the issue of Don't Ask Don't Tell? Give me a year. For 17 years now, we've been putting it off.
HARRIS: We haven't been in two wars in 17 years with the unemployment rate where it is today. So I would say, for most people, they would say this is not the right time.
MATTHEWS: I don't think it's ever the right time, by that standard. I got to go. Steve, we got to come back. We're short on time. We've got a hell of a show tonight. We'll be right back with HARDBALL, and this debate. We'll pick up on it, right back.
ADM. MIKE MULLEN, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Speaking for myself, and myself only, it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. No matter how I look at this issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.
MATTHEWS: Wow, that was Admiral Mike Mullen, speaking for himself, he said, on Tuesday. We're back with the strategists, Democrat Steve McMahon and Republican Todd Harris. Your thoughts? You want to change this law. Is the Democratic party for it?
MCMAHON: Absolutely. It's very powerful. I'm told that the commanding officers of the military were telling President Obama privately that it was only a matter of time that the policy was going to change anyway, and the president said, it's time to do it now.
I disagree with Todd. I think it's good politics because the people who hat this are never going to vote for the president anyway. The people who love it are going to give him a lot of credit. And the people in the middle are very, very tolerant, and are voting Democratic on these kinds of issues. Maybe not right now on economic issues, but on these kinds of issues.
MATTHEWS: Todd, I don't know the Kinsey (ph) numbers, or what you go by, but there are a lot of gay people voting in this country. Aren't they going to be thrilled by the fact the president has taken up this cause publicly again?
HARRIS: I'm sure that they will be. But to Steve's point, they are largely voting for President Obama anyway. The issue—I don't think when it comes to independent voters that this is a gay rights issue, where people who are—
MCMAHON: It's an equality issue.
HARRIS: Hold on. My point in bringing this up is that there are a
lot of people right now who are hurting economically, and if they feel like
regardless of how they feel about this issue, if they feel like the administration is not focused on jobs and the economy, I think it's going to hurt.
MATTHEWS: Quick question, Todd, are you for opening it up to open service yourself, personally?
HARRIS: I'm not running for office, so my personal opinion doesn't matter.
MATTHEWS: I want to know—I'm curious right now, are you for this policy of open service or not?
HARRIS: Look, I'm a Libertarian. I don't really care about most of these issues. I'm for small government.
MATTHEWS: In other words, you're for open service, but you're here speaking for the neibobs (ph) who don't agree with you. I love the way you patronize your party. Any way, thank you, Steve McMahon and Todd Harris. Join us again tomorrow night at 5:00 and 7:00 Eastern for more HARDBALL.
Right now, it's time for "THE ED SHOW" with Ed Schultz.
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Copyright 2010 Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by
United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed,
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permission of Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark,
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Watch Hardball each weeknight at 5 & 7 p.m. ET


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LONDON (MarketWatch)—European stocks slipped Wednesday, with a pull back in shares of broadcaster Mediaset SpA weighing on the benchmark index after it reached a six-year high.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, +0.29% gave up 0.1% to end at 341.59. It ended Tuesday's session at its strongest closing level since January 2008, at 341.89.
Edging back from highs, European stocks gained no traction after the European Central Bank's chief economist said the low-inflation environment in the euro zone has policy makers considering measures to address the issue. Measures may include issuing a negative deposit rate on bank deposits. Such a move could prompt banks to make loans instead of leaving any surplus of money overnight at the ECB.
Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann late Wednesday reportedly said the German central bank would support action taken by the ECB, if warranted, but that not every measure the ECB discusses may be suitable to tackle the low-inflation problem.
"As the inflation outlook keeps on worsening, the pressure for the ECB to intervene is reinforced," Société Générale economist Herve Amourda who in a note also said French consumer prices, released Wednesday, in April "surprised on the downside."
Highlighting weakness in the euro zone's recovery, figures from the European Union's statistics agency showed industrial output in March was down 0.3% from February, and by 0.1% from the same month a year ago.
Standing out among the largest decliners on the Stoxx 600 index was Mediaset MS, +0.73%, falling 6.6% after the Italian broadcaster swung to a first-quarter loss of €12.5 million ($17.14 million), weighed by its domestic unit.
First-quarter results for Mediaset came in below expectations, and second-quarter advertising trends "are poor," said analysts at Barclays on Wednesday. "On this basis, we feel the shares discount too much recovery."
In London, ITV PLC ITV, +1.46% fell 6.2% after the British broadcaster issued a trading update. But Compass Group PLC CPG, -1.13% shares pushed up 1.6% as the food services company said it would return 1 billion pounds ($1.68 billion) to shareholders in a special dividend. The move follows an increase in first-half profit supported by growth in North America and emerging markets.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index UKX, -0.16% shook off losses by the close, rising 0.1% to 6,878.49, which was enough to mark its highest finish since late December 1999.
The Bank of England on Wednesday in its May Inflation Report largely left forecasts for growth and inflation unchanged, indicating an increase in the benchmark interest rate from a record low 0.5% remains on course to take place early next year.
Among country-specific stock indexes, Germany's DAX 30 index DAX, +0.08% ended down less than 1 point at 9,754.39 after Tuesday's close at an record high. Earlier Wednesday, EU-harmonized German inflation came in at 1.1% in April, broadly in line with forecasts.
France's CAC 40 index PX1, +0.56% fell 0.1% to 4,501.04.
More news from MarketWatch:
Janet Yellen to speak at Yankee Stadium


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1. "I'm the most stressful part of your day."
When she first started her job as a customer service representative at a manufacturing company, then-23-year-old Jennifer Matlack liked her co-worker, a fellow customer service rep. "In the beginning, she was lovely — friendly and funny," she says. "We laughed a lot." But after a few weeks, the co-worker began rolling her eyes when Matlack spoke, ignoring her and making snide comments — and it got even worse. "One day she crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it at my head," Matlack says. "I didn't even know what to do; I was in shock." The situation became so stressful to Matlack that she says she "spent a lot of time crying in the bathroom stall."
Fully 83% of American workers say they are stressed out by at least one aspect of their jobs, up 10 percentage points from last year — with more than one in 10 citing annoying co-workers as the biggest source of stress, according to a study conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Everest College. Those colleagues who talk too much, share too much personal information, gossip often or blame others for their failures are among the most stress-inducing, says career coach Marc Dorio. Despite all the agony these individuals inflict, their exasperated office mates rarely ask them to change, experts say — and that may be an expensive mistake: Workers who report high levels of stress spend nearly 50% more on health care each year than their more-relaxed peers, according to a study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.


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How to Make a Small Bathroom Look Bigger
Homeowners with small bathrooms know firsthand how limiting they can be. A small bathroom might be perfectly functional, but a restrictive layout in any room can keep it from its true potential. Knocking down walls to remodel your whole space isn't always an option, so here are eight simple solutions that will help your small bathroom look bigger while sprucing up your current look.