text:
At this point on the list, it becomes difficult to determine who falls where. However, the bloom is already off the rose for some formerly well regarded prospects (i.e. Paul Janish, Chris Dickerson, and Marcus McBeth) and many of the newer arrivals haven't done enough to warrant inclusion on this list as of yet (i.e. Chris Heisey, Brandon Menchaca, and Alexis Oliveras).
So, Justin Reed gets the nod at this spot. I doubt he'll be ranked in the top 30 on most lists, but I'm still intrigued by his athletic ability and potential upside and look forward to seeing what he can do in 2008.
Reed is 5'11", 179 lbs, bat left, and throws right. He is a tremendous overall athlete, but needs to learn how to translate it into baseball performance. Reed is likely to be slower to develop than most prospects, as he excelled in both baseball and football in high school, which divided his athletic focus. His baseball skills need polish, but he's got the raw ability to become a successful professional ballplayer.
Justin Reed attended Jackson Callaway High School in Mississippi until his senior year when he transferred to HillCrest Christian. Reed also was chosen to be on the roster for the Jr. Olympics. The Jr. Olympics brings all the top high school prospects in the country together and Reed made the Finalist Roster, which is the final 24 man roster. In addition, he hit .550 during the Olympic Trials, which was the 3rd highest out of the 140 players who were invited.
Reed committed to Ole Miss with a football scholarship before the Reds selected him with the 114 overall pick of the 4th round of the 2006 draft and signed him away.
It hasn't been all smooth sailing for Reed since he made his professional debut, but he's shown improvement, which is what you want out of a prospect. Most organizations actually like to see a prospect struggle at some point, as it forces the prospect to learn how to cope with adversity.
After signing in 2006, the Reds sent the 18 year old Reed to the rookie Gulf Coast League, where he hit .180/.262/.286/.548. In 187 PA, he had a 45/19 K/BB ratio and while he was only successful in 6 out of 11 stolen base attempts, he did lead the league with 6 triples.
In 2007, the Reds sent the 19 year old Reed back to the Gulf Coast League where he had much more success. He posted a line of .310/.386/.434/.820 with a 31/13 K/BB ratio in 145 PAs. Again, he demonstrated good speed with 4 triples and was successful in 9 of 12 stolen base attempts. He had a line drive percentage of 17%. His good performance earned him a promotion up to the Pioneer League.
At Billings, Reed hit .250/.353/.420/.773 with a 41/13 K/BB ratio in 119 PAs. He hit 2 triples and was successful in 4 of 8 stolen base attempts. His line drive percentage improved to 21%. His batting average was low, but Reed did get on base at a good clip, posting on IsoOBP of .103. All in all, Reed had a fairly successful 2007 season.
Reed's biggest asset is his speed, which is a plus tool. He runs the 60 yard dash in 6.48 seconds. In addition, Reed understands that his job is to get on base and has posted respectable walk rates. He also has good bunting skills, which allows him to utilize his speed.
Reed has good bat speed, but like many multi-sport athletes, he's still raw at the plate. Reed hits from a slightly wider than shoulder width stance and bounces on his front foot while waiting for the pitch. When the pitch is delivered, Reed takes a short stride and is fairly quick to the ball. He has a level swing that could produce a lot of hard line drives in the future. In addition, Reed is quick out of the batter's box and down the first base line.
On the downside, Reed has a tendency to spin out on his front foot at times, so he'll need to do a better job of staying on the ball and maintaining his balance. In addition, Reed needs to improve his hand position prior to beginning his swing. He doesn't seem to quite get his hands far enough back to be in good hitting position, which is likely to hinder his performance. If he doesn't have a good hand set before firing his swing, then he's behind before he even gets started, which may be part of the reason for his high strikeout rate and difficulty in making consistent contact.
Again, Reed needs to work on his overall game, but the raw abilities are evident.
You can access his MLB draft scouting report here.
As with all aspects of his game, Reed is still raw in the field. Oddly enough, Reed was a catcher for three years in high school, only switching to centerfield in his senior season to take better advantage of his speed. In 2007, Reed only made one error for Billings, but could improve his route running and his reads off the bat, which should happen with experience.
Reed has an accurate arm, but his throws don't have much carry. His arm is only average, but it should be enough to allow him to stay in centerfield. Given his limited experience in centerfield, it's not unexpected that he needs to improve his defensive game. However, he has the tools to become a solid defensive centerfielder.
Reed seems to have fallen off most prospect lists, but his performance does bear watching. Given that he didn't focus solely on baseball until after he was drafted, Reed's struggles are not unexpected. While he may take longer to develop than most, that doesn't mean that he isn't decent prospect. He has been slow out of the gate, but it's not how you start that matters, it's how you finish.
Reed's career will largely be driven by his ability to utilize his speed. If he can put it to use in the field and at the plate, then he could develop into a nice player. Reed has the tools to be both a solid outfielder and an effective table setter, though he'll need to cut down on his strikeouts while maintaining his "late count" approach at the plate. Overall, his 2007 season indicates that he is beginning to figure things out in professional baseball. If he continues to build on his 2007 improvement, then he could take another step forward in 2008.
The Reds are likely to start Reed out at low-A Dayton next year, where he'll need to rise to the challenge to solidify his prospect status. Fortunately, given that Reed will only be 20 years old in 2008, time is still on Reed's side, so for now he checks in at #24 on the list.
A running discussion on the Cincinnati Reds and everything else in the baseball universe.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Top Prospect List: #24 Justin Reed, cf
Labels: 2008, Baseball, J.Reed, Reds, Top 15 Prospects
3 comments:
I met him today... Much love! *Queen*ReplyDelete
A cool brush with fame for you! Hopefully, it was a positive experience and he informed you that he was ready to breakout in 2011. :)
Meet JR and its a blessing this native Jacksonn MS stand out athelete as well as person gives back 2 the young men in the communityReplyDelete
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Women of the world by robynejay
Students often don't seem to understand why the social sciences are important to understanding health and the way that we organise health services. The relevance has always seemed rather obvious to me but then I have to wonder if this doesn't have something to do with my own personal circumstances. Or else wouldn't all medical students think the same? So a few facts about me, the person who entered medical school in Belfast aged 18:
- I grew up on a small farm in Northern Ireland
- I'm the eldest of 4 children
- My maternal grandmother died in childbirth
- My mother's aunt started living with us when I was 6. My mother cared for her for 25 years until she died aged 103
- My family had a great interest in politics and my father was elected as a local councillor
- My father died suddenly when I was 14
- The family income fell as a result of my father's death but we were no longer entitled to free school meals
- I took a GCSE in sociology when at school. My coursework project considered why although the school was predominantly female, we only made up 1/3 of the a-level physics class.
I don't usually write about personal things here and there is a lot more I could say about what might have shaped my identity as a doctor. I am left wondering if many students don't question the structures and practice of medicine (insights that can be gained from the social sciences) because nothing in their own personal lives has sensitised them to the way that we organise society.
If this is so, what can we do about it? If I am wrong, then what can we do about it? Either way we need to do something to shake things up.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
As much as i try to avoid it, i always end up with lots of usernames and passwords to remember, not to mention a couple of bank accounts and a credit card number for on-line shopping. There's no way i'm going to remember any of them—why, i even need to keep track of my telephone number. Time to write down a tidy nice little list, that is, time to look for and set up an adequate emacs mode or two.
When it comes to keeping lists, the table editor of org-mode is what you need. Org-mode is included in emacs 22, but Carsten &co. keep adding new stuff and fixing bugs, so it won't hurt you to get the unstable version from its website. It comes with a nice manual and installing it is a freeze. You enter table mode by typing a vertical bar (
|) to separate columns:
* Bank accounts |Account | Credit card | Expiry date | Password | |-
From there
TAB and
RET are your friends: new rows are created and column widths adjusted automagically. You can also add separators by starting a line with
|- (as i did above) and typing
TAB. In no time you'll have something like this:
* Banks |-----------------+------------------+----------| | Account | Credit card | password | |-----------------+------------------+----------| | The credit box | 8180819999999333 | fooo | | GNU Free Credit | 6969696969696969 | boobarp | | Engineering Safe| 0000000111111111 | passwdd | | paypal | | paaassss | |-----------------+------------------+----------| * Sites |-------------------------------+------------------------+ | site | user | password | |-------------------------------+------------------------+ | http://www.gnu.org | a user name | password | | http://journals.foo.org | a user name | password | | http://philosophy.org | a user name | password | | http://linkedin.com | a user name | password | | http://www.pragpro.com | a user name | password | | http://www.tug.org/members | a user name | password | |-------------------------------+------------------------+ * Source code repositories...
All in conveniently foldable sections, so that you can expand only the interesting section.
But, of course, you don't want to save this as a regular file (let alone publish it on the internet). Even on a Unix machine, protecting it via file permissions is very weak. Nah, what you want is to encrypt the thing. To that end, one can use public key cryptography.
In a nutshell, you generate a pair of keys: one of them is private, only for your eyes, and therefore should be protected by a solid password; the other one is public: you make it available to anyone that wants to communicate with you. People then write their secret text and encrypt it using the public key. When that's done, only your secret key (barring the NSA) can decipher the text. Of course, nothing prevents you from using the same device to encrypt and decrypt your passwords file.
This being an emacs blog, i won't delve into the details of using GnuPG to create a key pair if you don't already have it. But you being an emacs user, i'm sure you'll be quite able to run
gpg --key-gen to generate your keys.
You could now use
gpg to manually cipher and decipher the passwords file, but, you know, one uses emacs because it can do almost any thing for you. In this case, EasyPG will take care of the chore of decrypting the file every time you open it and encrypting it back when it goes to disk. The EasyPG package comes bundled with emacs 23, and, again, it is very easy to install if you are using previous emacs versions. This is the configuration i use for this package:
;; Emacs 23: bundled EasyPG (require 'epa) (epa-file-enable)
or, if you installed it externally:
;; EasyPG installed in path/to/epg (add-to-list 'load-path "path/to/epg") (require 'epa-setup) (epa-file-enable)
(Yeah, it's called easy for a reason!) With this magic incantation in place, every time you open a file with the extension
.gpg, EasyPG will do the work for you.
So, all that is left to do is to save our file as, say,
dobeedoo.gpg and inform emacs that we want to open it as an org-mode file by adding the following first line to it:
-*- mode: org -*- -*- epa-file-encrypt-to: ("email@example.com") -*-
As you can see, we're also telling EasyPG what key it should use for its cryptographic activities.
That's it. No rocket science here, but very handy nonetheless, and a very nice example of how different major (org) and minor (org-table, epa) emacs modes can work together for you. A perfect use case of minor modes providing functionality orthogonal to that in the major mode, which is caring about the actual file contents. Personally, this is also the use case that got me started with org-mode: may it enlighten you too 🙂
Happy encrypting!
(BTW, now that you have EasyPG installed, try
M-x epa-list-keys, a nice keyring browser, if you ask me.)


text:
The folks at Uprinting have offered to send one of my readers 100 *CUSTOM* postcards!! That's right, you get to design them and make them how you'd like them!! Got a blog? Got a business? Moving soon? These could be holiday cards too!!
– 5" x 7", 14pt Cardstock Gloss, No Folding
– Front Only Printing
– 14pt Cardstock Gloss / Matte / High Gloss (UV), or 13pt Cardstock Uncoated
– 2 Business Days Turnaround time
– Free US shipping only
To enter to win 100 custom postcards, enter in the Rafflecopter form below!
This post is brought to you by our friends at Uprinting. Opinions are my own.


text:
Latest measles case spent time at Powerhouse, shopping centre
Sydney's measles patient count continues to rise, with the latest infectious person spending time at the Powerhouse Museum, Darling Harbour and a busy shopping centre in the middle of school holidays.
NSW Health is urging people between 20 and 40 years old to check they have been fully immunised against the infectious disease, reporting the latest person to contract measles only had their first dose of the vaccine.
The most recent case brings to 17 the number of patients connected to an outbreak in western Sydney, and the total number of NSW measles cases so far this year to 23.
While infectious, the individual visited: Powerhouse Museum on April 14 in the early afternoonRashays, Darling Harbour on April 14 later in the afternoonLiverpool Westfield, including an optometry practice on April 13,15 and 17Blacktown Hospital on April 15 between approximately 7.30 and 8pmCasula Central Medical Practice and Chemist Warehouse on April 18 at approximately 10am
"Our public health units are contacting people known to have been in those locations to offer preventive injections, as appropriate. However, it will not be possible to identify and contact all people who may have been exposed to the disease," Director of Communicable Disease at NSW Health Vicky Sheppeard said.
"Measles is highly contagious and is spread in the air through coughing or sneezing by someone who is unwell with the disease," she said.
People born between 1966 and 1994 may have only had one dose of the vaccine rather than the two doses needed due to the changing vaccination schedules over the period, Dr Sheppeard said.
"We are urging all people in this age bracket to check their vaccination history and have the measles vaccine if they do not have a record of having received two doses previously.
"Don't assume you are covered unless you have written records of two doses. It is perfectly safe to have the measles vaccine again, if you are not sure whether you've had two doses of the vaccination in the past," she said.
The vaccine is free to people in this age group through GPs.
Dr Sheppeard said it was important for people to watch for symptoms, arrange to see the GP if concerned, and limit exposure to others until the GP has made a diagnosis.
Symptoms of measles include fever, sore red eyes and a cough followed three or four days later by a red, blotchy rash spreading from the head and neck to the rest of the body.


text:
At Primary Partners, we strive to be the best mortgage provider on the market. We continuously work and grow with our clients, thus bringing our service to new levels. We do this by understanding the needs of our clients and helping them make life changing financial decisions.
With today's busy schedules, if you are like most homeowners, you are not able to spend hours, let alone days, attempting to shop and secure financing for your home loan. We will ask the proper questions, offer multiple options, and provide sound advice to ensure you receive a loan program that's right for you.
Although we are located in Southern California, Primary Partners is able to do business in other states. We are not limited to local areas. In fact, this allows us to work with lenders all over the nation to ensure each client gets the best options for their family's needs.
Our goal is to provide the best program to reach each borrower's short and long-term goals faster, while educating our clients about the process along the way. By choosing Primary Partners, each client will complete their financing by securing a competitive rate and program that fits their unique situation without having to waste valuable time and energy.
Thank you for visiting our web site. We look forward to putting our mortgage services to work for you!
---The Primary Partners Financial Staff


text:
He wrote:
To me, it seems that some people fundamentally don't understand the function of a critic. Drama critics, movie critics, restaurant critics, music critics, tech critics — all of us, it seems to me — are hired specifically to present our opinions.
I would never describe my weekly columns as "news stories," even if there's sometimes a news element. They are reviews meant to guide readers toward products that, in my opinion, are good or bad.
You can certainly disagree with a critic. Sometimes, knowing that you almost always disagree with a certain critic is just as helpful in guiding your buying decisions as always agreeing.
But in the end, a reviewer is entitled to like the new Flickr just as much as longtime photographers are entitled to hate it.
The reason I am quoting this excerpt from Pogue's blog should be clear to most of my readers.


text:
On Friday, September 28th, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden's Head Librarian Anna Brooke gave a presentation at the NY Art Book Fair's Contemporary Artists' Books Conference on how artists' books can be used in conjunction with a museum's collection to provide greater insight into an artist's body of work. Work studies student Lauren Zook, currently enrolled in the George Mason – Smithsonian collaborative masters program for decorative arts, aided in developing the presentation and has written a summary of it for our blog.
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library has acquired an unusual type of book—the artist's book. Some of these books are mass publications and others are unique and vary in size and shape. A new initiative has been made by the Smithsonian Libraries to make these artists' books more accessible to the public and protect them from damage. Most of the artists' books at the Hirshhorn Library were produced by artists represented in the museum's collection. These artists' books can provide new insight to an artist's work, show similar themes, and can even be shown in galleries as autonomous works of art.


text:
I haven't done week 26 yet. Because it was my brothers wedding and I'm waiting until I get all the pictures from him. And then I will attempt to put that week together, oh my. It's going to be a project folks !! Sooooo many fun and amazing photos that I want to use.
Back to the present week. Week 27. Mostly full of July 4th festivities. Which were very mild but still fun.
I embellished the title card a little. Wanted to add the week # on there. I also wanted to make one of the photos bigger. I chose to do it with the firework picture because it fit best in the spot, as far as being cut up.
The red arrow is from Ali Edwards found here . The white star is from Studio Calico. The bottom outlined brush can be found here.
THE PICTURES : I created this one myself in photoshop. I took two of these great looking Polaroid frames. They are a great freebie found here. Then I took 2 instagrams from that week and put them in the frames. The instagram button is from studio calico kit, but I believer Marcy Penner makes them in her shop. The arrow is a freebie from persnickety prints .
Family shot
LEFT SIDE : I used the stars from this freebie brush. I just recolored the stars. The 2012 is from Ali Edwards brackets brush.
RIGHT SIDE : This is one of the freebies that Becky Higgins released for us. Here is the link to her freebies page . This one was done by Cathy Z.
THE PICTURES : This one is of Katelyn's shirt. I just love getting everyone in their "RED, WHITE, & BLUE." I had the cream overlay from my stash and then I added the banners and the heart.
Arrow is from Studio Calico.
This one is not from the 4th but from the week. I used one of the digital journaling cards and made it a little smaller, so that it fit into the space that I needed. Added my journaling and printed it out.
The brush is from Ali Edwards Summer Rocks.
LEFT SIDE : I used this great 4th of July themed freebie. A sticker on the top and call it done.
RIGHT SIDE : Scalloped tag from Maya Road. #4 From American Crafts. Elf I believe.
LEFT SIDE : This photo didn't turn out to well, but I love the actual photo of Noah with his sparkler. He would have lit them and held them all night, he was so fascinated.
Little stars from Studio Calico.
RIGHT SIDE: Stamp that I have had forever.
And another week done. Yeah !! I am still loving this project and enjoying every minute of it. Have a great Pre-Halloween weekend everyone.


text:
[City Hall]
This is not what Steve Israel was expecting.
The heads-up dinner with Sen. Charles Schumer (D) was eaten. The internal poll showing 60 percent of people were less likely to vote for the incumbent after hearing her record on guns and tobacco had been parsed.
The phone system was ordered, the website designed, the preliminary offers to campaign staff had been made.
May 20 had been chosen to make the maximum splash while allowing enough time to clock significant fundraising numbers in the last month of the second quarter—conference call with supporters and friends at 2 p.m., blast to a 50,000-e-mail list at 2:30, conference call with reporters at 3. The paperwork was ready for a full campaign launch, not just an exploratory committee, and the schedule of targeted announcements and intimate town hall meetings through July was mostly set.
There was work left to do in the last week—shoring up a few more supporters, having a few more meetings with his colleagues in the delegation, finalizing the script for the campaign video, which would have featured photographs of places like the Brooklyn hospital where he was born and his father's apartment building near Shea Stadium then and now, with his voice-over about how some things have changed in New York but some things never should.
Some change is good, but some things should never change," he said, sitting in his D.C. office a week before the campaign announcement.
"For me, it's protecting our kids from guns—we shouldn't change our position on that. We should be standing up to the NRA every day, not just recently. It's protecting our kids from tobacco—we shouldn't change our positions on that. It's making sure our kids grow up in an inclusive, tolerant place—we shouldn't change our position on immigration. On the fundamental, core issues of keeping New York safe and prosperous for our kids, I believe consistency and principle is vital. And that's what this is about."
He acknowledged that this was no random list, but precisely the issues on which he was planning to hit Kirsten Gillibrand, and on which she was most vulnerable. He knew. He had paid for the polls.
The clock on the wall began buzzing, calling him for votes, and he mused about Don Quixote. Israel keeps a cheap edition of the novel out on a shelf and a statuette of the Man of La Mancha himself at the edge of his desk.
"I love having Don Quixote," he said. "It proves to me that if you're not willing to give up, you're not willing to give in, you can get things done."
His candidacy was an open secret, leaking everywhere, but he resisted the urge to go public before the carefully-laid plan dictated. "I believe in doing things on my time frame, at my own comfort level," he said. "And I don't want other people to decide when I do things, or how."
He stood to welcome a group of car dealers down from New York, there to make their case to him. The meeting lasted a few minutes, then he rushed off to the House floor. Call time to pull in more donors was scheduled for the rest of the afternoon.
Then came the call from the White House. Rahm Emanuel wanted to see him. Immediately.
Three hours earlier, Israel was sitting in Hunan Dynasty, a favorite D.C. haunt. The congressman is a Chinese food fanatic—three to five meals minimum per week—so this was the natural choice for an embargoed interview explaining the candidacy that was already underway, though not publicly. The hostess hugged him hello. The waitress brought over a complimentary California roll. But the congressman concentrated less on the food than on the rhetoric which he expected to soon make public. "Leadership" and "principles" were key words. "Appointment, not anointment," was a phrase he seemed to like, as was "vote any way the wind blows."
The appeal to party unity being made by some back home did not faze him.
"I believe particularly when a senator is appointed that it is healthy, if not necessary for the public to have an opportunity, for Democrats to have an opportunity to shape that decision," he said, adding later, "I always thought it was Republicans who discouraged competition at the polls. I don't think Democrats ought to discourage competition at the polls after an appointment."
Two days earlier, he had kicked off the last week of pre-campaign with a big green energy summit on the home turf at Farmingdale State to produce an integrated proposal for the Department of Energy aimed at making the Route 110 corridor the new smart-grid capital of the nation. Earlier that day, he stood with Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Nassau), railing against illegal guns. Sure, the event was supposed to be better attended and about the Assault Weapons Ban, but whatever. The news hit was about gun safety, the picture of Israel at the side of McCarthy, the unimpeachable voice on gun safety and on attacking Gillibrand. Fellow Gillibrand basher and Senate hopeful Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan/Queens) as a late addition to the event helped, too.
The inevitable question soon came: "Will the three of you agree among yourselves which, if any, of you would run in the Democratic primary in New York?"
McCarthy hemmed and hawed. No one had announced yet, she said. Maloney put her hand on McCarthy's shoulder, said she would be honored to support her. Then there was Israel. Silently, he nodded a few times quickly, a big grin on his face.
Yes. He could.
"There was a team in place, a manager in place, a group of consultants in place—a serious road map to do this," said one person close to Israel with knowledge of the planning. "He was 1,000 percent in. He was all the way in, prepared fully to engage in a full-throated campaign."
Or, in the words of Resi Cooper, Hillary Clinton's former Long Island director and a consultant on Israel's campaign: "This is the greatest campaign that never was."
Israel and his team had been expecting to hear from the administration. Just not yet. They had a hunch what was coming. Nonetheless, they held out hope.
"Things hadn't gone exactly as planned the whole way, so I think there was some question as to exactly how the administration was going to come out here," said one of the people involved with the Israel campaign. "You can't be as smart as Rahm Emanuel is and as brilliant as the president is—it's not like they didn't see these polls … it was not a completely left-field scenario to let this play out."
Not that they expected warm words of encouragement.
"Best case was that we go in there and make our case that we were serious and we were going to bust our butts and were going to make this happen, and convince them to give us time," the person involved with the campaign said. "That would have been all we could ask."Having until the fall to raise money and demonstrate support would have been ideal. But even getting a pass to stay in until the end of the fundraising quarter on June 30 would have been a victory for the nascent campaign operation.
Israel and Emanuel are friends, and have been since their days working together on the DCCC. Among the many things they connect on are New York bagels, which Israel often brings for him when the trip to Washington includes going through New York City (Emanuel's characteristic response to the dozen sent over when he became chief of staff was a short e-mail: "Thanks for bagels. You forgot the lox.")
Israel has been a frequent visitor to Emanuel's West Wing office since Inauguration Day to talk about policy. This time, though, the conversation was pure politics, according to several people close to Israel familiar with the discussion.
Like many things, the end of Israel's candidacy came as part of a larger deal. Senate Democrats have set the new benchmark for a governing majority at a filibuster-proof 60, and even with Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter now on board and Al Franken to arrive soon from Minnesota, they would prefer a few seats to spare. Next year's political map presents opportunities in unlikely places like Kentucky, Missouri and Maine. There are already unexpected problems in Illinois and Connecticut.
They do not want to have to worry about another incumbent, particularly in the pricey New York media markets, even if there is no strong state Republican Party at the moment to run a general. The primary would be enough of a drain.
For all the excited talk of Democratic cooperation, the White House needs to be on good terms with the Senate to move its agenda. According to several familiar with what was said, taking care of this problem was the first and only favor the Senate Democrats have asked of the White House so far. Somewhat reluctantly, the administration decided to provide for them.
Clearing the field in New York was not about Gillibrand or Israel, left wing politics or moderate politics, gun stances or immigrant rights. It was about Senate Democrats having enough cash to seize red meat territory in the heartland and a new White House eager to collect a big chit.
So Israel was given an ultimatum: if he proceeded with the Senate race, the White House would go to great pains to shut off every dollar in the state. With Schumer's help, the administration would make sure all the big Democratic donors and institutional players kept their distance. They would show no restraint, even campaigning against him and raising money in Israel's own home turf.
Obama himself would come out to campaign in New York City, cutting off at the knees the downstate, Manhattan-focused appeal Israel would have needed to run to Gillibrand's left. And perhaps most damning of all, given whom the math dictated Israel would have needed in his column, Emanuel indicated that the nation's first black president was prepared to barnstorm through New York's black neighborhoods hand-in-hand with the junior senator, employing his appeal to African-Americans to a political degree he usually avoids. Oh, and as for Israel having any role shaping policy in the House while all this was going on? Forget it.
Those were the sticks.
Or, Emanuel told Israel, there was another option. Step aside and earn the gratitude of the White House. Israel wants to be a prime player on green energy, one of Obama's legislative priorities. Common ground could be found. Emanuel knew how to rise through the ranks of the House leadership—he was third in command, not all that far from being speaker before accepting his job from Obama. Perhaps something along those lines was of interest? And hey, these days, you never know what could happen in politics anywhere in the country, but especially in New York. Another opportunity could arise sooner than he might think. Counting the president and White House chief-of-staff as friends might be of some use.
Israel left Emanuel's office with a pretty clear picture of where things stood. His closest circle of advisors—chief of staff Jack Pratt, campaign manager Justin Schall and his consultants, Resi Cooper and John Lapp—anxiously waited for word of what had happened. He made them wait a little as he processed the conversation himself while keeping up appearances during the annual D.C. fundraiser for the Assembly Democrats hosted by Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees reception that night.
Briefly, Israel and his team considered a campaign with the White House against them. Perhaps they could call Obama's bluff—after all, he is the man who won the most successful anti-establishment, left-leaning primary campaign in history. Coming out for Gillibrand if he stayed in would have required a notable conceptual contortion. But given how and when Emanuel weighed in, they believed the White House would follow through. Even so, they wondered whether they could still woo enough of the hard-core left that votes in New York primaries (a population which gave Jonathan Tasini 16 percent in 2006 against Hillary Clinton, after all) to be competitive. Maybe, they said—though not with Obama, Emanuel and Schumer starving them of enough money to fund even the lower-cost, direct-mail, grassroots campaign being planned.
And then there was the line at the heart of Emanuel's appeal: "We need you to serve your country." That proved the most difficult to get past, everyone agreed. Israel could not ignore the call to duty.
Said one person involved with the campaign: "It was a little hard for me to say to him, 'Well, I think I know how you can serve your country better than the president.' That was a hard one to sell."
Israel spent much of the next day on the House floor, voting on bills, struggling with what to do and smiling as his friends in Congress, still in the dark, egged him into just declaring his candidacy already.
"Thursday and Friday were tough days," he said later, looking back. "One of the most difficult elements of this was speaking to my colleagues and hearing their encouragement and not being absolutely certain that I was going to make this race."
The circle of those who knew what was happening remained extremely tight. Even Gov. David Paterson (D) was apparently kept out of the loop (the governor's office declined comment as to whether the White House informed him before deciding to get involved in state party politics and protecting the senator he appointed).
The regular campaign staff call was delayed until the next morning, but mapping out an exit strategy through back channels with the White House began. How would he drop out? When? The Israel camp had invested a lot of time and political capital in lining up the pieces. Promises had been made. Favors had been extracted. Deals had been struck.
Israel woke that Friday morning still in Washington, still sure he could run and run strong, no matter what Emanuel had said. He is a man with an admittedly healthy ego anyway, and the notion that his in utero candidacy had already forced the White House's hand only fed that.
"Based on all the polls that are out there, and based on the president's preference, I believed I could still go forward," he said, reflecting on his mindset at the time. "But then I made the assessment that it would be a lot to ask of my staff, it would be a lot to ask of my family and it would be a lot to ask of myself to go against the preferences of the president of the United States."
So okay, he said. He would not run. But nor would he walk away from all that he had built without giving his supporters and allies, as well as the political world at large, a reason. The best reason, in fact. The president would ask Israel to leave himself.
A call was arranged for that afternoon.
Israel landed back at LaGuardia just after 2:30. When the phone rang, promptly at 3, he was in the car, a staffer behind the wheel, moving slowly over the Queens/Nassau border.
Up on the wall of the reception area of his Washington office, Israel has a photo of the last time he spoke to the president, when, he admits, he knocked his way through the crowd to get a handshake and a moment to chat after the State of the Union. This conversation was longer, more personal and much more direct. Obama told Israel how concerned he was about holding the Senate seat for Democrats and the worrisome effect of a serious primary. Party unity at this moment, Obama told him, was extremely important.
Israel acknowledged what was in play.
"Mr. President, I understand your views, I understand how seriously you feel about this," he said, "and to respect party unity and your request, I won't pursue it this year."
They chatted about the climate change bill, creating green jobs. They chatted about the congressional reception at the White House that Israel was planning to attend with his wife the following week, the evening of what would have been his debut as a candidate.
In a little over five minutes the conversation was over. They exchanged goodbyes.
"I'll see you Wednesday night, buddy," Obama said.
And so ended Steve Israel for Senate 2010. But not all was lost in that phone call, the congressman joked. "If you've got to sit in rush-hour traffic on the Grand Central Parkway," he said, laughing, "not a bad way to pass the time."
The other major contenders did not take the news well. McCarthy, who was finally content that she had gotten someone else to take on Gillibrand (and was planning to endorse Israel as soon as possible without offending the other candidates), was standing in the flower aisle of her local Home Depot when the call came. She was furious, burning with a rage so white-hot about her president closing off the challenge that even her closest advisors kept back.
Maloney was furious, too, but not because Obama had called Israel. She was furious because she had not been called, had not been hauled in for a workout with Emanuel herself.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (D), meanwhile, started road-testing a Catskills routine about wondering where his phone was and how he could get interrupted by a call at any moment. But his plans were unchanged, he insisted the next morning. Four days later, he was out of the race.
Israel got back to his district office, informed his staff. He made a few more calls, then headed home to get ready for a trip upstate that remained on the calendar: his older daughter Carly graduating from SUNY Albany. Campaign or not, that was where he was going to be spending his Saturday.
The last time Israel's Senate hopes crumbled, at the end of the appointment process, he was standing in an airport on his D.C. commute. For a moment, his heart skipped: there, on CNN, was footage of him walking across the screen! It was actually happening!
But no, he realized after a few seconds, this was just B-roll of Paterson from the last time he had made national news with a visit to the Middle East at the end of December, which Israel had been part of as well. That had been a productive trip, or so it seemed at the time. Between visits with the troops, he and the governor had bonded over his interest in the Senate seat and a common interest in green energy. Paterson was in the midst of writing his State of the State then. Somewhere over Afghanistan, they spent three hours conceiving and developing the section proposing an upstate research consortium on hybrid electric batteries—the only substantive policy proposal in the speech—building on ideas of statewide cooperation on energy that had come to him while traveling the state, to make him everyone's first, or at least second, choice for Hillary Clinton's seat, as he had been advised to do by the governor.
Of course Israel was going to run for Senate eventually. He has a story about watching the Watergate hearings in ninth grade while the other kids were outside playing softball, a story about being drawn into politics by seeing his fourth-grade teacher slump down upon hearing the news of Robert Kennedy's death over the PA system, and even a story about completing an assignment earlier that year to draw a cartoon with Lyndon Johnson, in a Stetson, declaring, "Vietnam is a rootin', tootin' war."
Running for Senate next is what people like Israel do: he was student council president in high school (actual campaign slogan: "Don't be dizzy, vote for Izzy"), a congressional staffer right out of college, an aide to the Suffolk County executive back home and a Huntington town councilman, all leading up to the bare-knuckled, behind-the-scenes primary machinations which helped him flip Rick Lazio's old House seat in 2000. Almost immediately, he was negotiating a hardball gerrymander that traded the more Republican areas out of his district for the more Democratic ones of what was Rep. Peter King's (R), even as he stayed in the conservative Blue Dog caucus, voted for the Bush tax cuts and the Iraq War and proudly circulated a photo back home of him and his wife arm-in-arm with George W. Bush that almost prompted a liberal primary challenge of his own in 2004.
Slowly, he began to tack left. He resigned from the Blue Dogs, though he retained his openness to tax cuts, and slowly worked his way up the ranks on the Armed Services Committee (since left behind), where his interest in renewable energy was first piqued as an offshoot of national security, and on the Appropriations Committee, which gives him crucial power over funding.
He was among the many beginning to circle for Clinton's Senate seat as she led the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, then had that dream die a slow death as the presidential primaries lurched through South Carolina, Super Tuesday, Wisconsin, North Carolina.
In the bizarre, drawn-out appointment process after her surprise departure for the State Department, though, Israel quickly emerged as a star. He was on every list of major contenders. He resonated. He felt strong. Down to the wire, he knew he was still in the running.
Israel stayed away the morning that Paterson announced he was appointing Gillibrand, who had not traveled the state like he had over the previous weeks. He was, however, up in Gillibrand's neck of the woods just a few days later, helping seal Scott Murphy as the Democratic nominee for her old seat as part of his duties as the national recruiting chair for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a recent promotion.
Being in on the ground floor with the newer members has fed his popularity among his colleagues, building strong relationships he was planning to use to position himself as the delegation choice in the primary. Instead, in the days since the president's call, his colleagues have been getting pressure to throw their support to Gillibrand, who has been told by the White House that solidifying the delegation is a precondition for further support. Many, however, still harbor resentment, either because of personal dislike, a lingering frustration with the absurdity of the appointment process, her leapfrogging over them despite lacking seniority or her ideological distance from them. Israel getting knocked aside has only exacerbated some of those feelings.
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan), the dean of the delegation, said he was optimistic that the bitterness can be overcome.
"We hope we can avoid a primary, but every member has to decide. We have such qualified candidates in the delegation, so I don't want to put a damper on anybody that's worked hard," Rangel said, the morning after Israel's decision went public.
After all, Rangel said, with the new president's standing in the Democratic Party and the country as a whole, there was no arguing with him, even with the controversial move of mixing up in a primary.
"Right now," Rangel explained, "the president can't do any bad things."
Gillibrand and Israel did not speak after he made his announcement. They have not since a congressional reception at Gracie Mansion May 1. But though he may be out of the race, Israel said he does not expect to keep quiet about her in the years ahead, especially on those "New York values" he was planning to put at the center of his campaign.
We're going to have to continue to disagree on some of those issues, and I'll continue to stand firm on principle," he said. "You can speak up when you think someone is wrong without necessarily running a primary against them. And that's what I told the White House that I'd be willing to do."
One of the immediate reactions to the president's intervention among local Democrats was fear. How weak really is Gillibrand if the White House needed to get involved so heavy and so early, they worried. Former Gov. George Pataki (R), whose spokesperson said is making a decision unaffected by the developments on the Democratic side, has opened up an eight-point lead in the latest Marist Poll. They wonder if the national political chess game which cleared the field for Gillibrand could cause a big problem for the party in New York next November.
Israel, a self-taught history buff who has an edited book of underdog military speeches under his belt, framed the reaction in those terms.
"History tells us that parties in the first election their candidate becomes president don't do well. So I think there is a concern for history right now," he said, admitting that he had heard the thought. "Add to that that the senator was appointed, not elected, and you have an even deeper concern."
On the other hand, now Gillibrand seems unlikely to have to defend her left flank in any major way during a primary, sure to save her problems going into the general. Her fundraising prowess is already the stuff of legend. With that taken care of, she could have increasingly clear sailing going in to 2010, and then on through election for a full term in 2012.
If not, though—if for reasons national, historical, economic or personal she loses next year—Israel, who two years ago was a fairly obscure congressman from outside the state's main media market, will be in the wings. And until a chance arises, he will keep raising money, traveling the state and holding onto some extremely powerful favors, along with a list of legislative accomplishments that will no doubt be pushed forward.
As much as options seem foreclosed right now, things could change very quickly. Stranger things have happened to the man whom his junior senator, the Democratic majority, the White House chief of staff and the president himself all needed to very suddenly get out of the way.
"Just as a phone call from the president and a decision not to pursue a primary was unpredictable," he said, thinking back on what he had just been through, "just as unpredictable could be a future opportunity where the earth, the moon and the stars are in the proper alignment."
Just weeks ago, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Nassau) was speaking in definitive, confident terms about her ability to win a primary against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D). By then, though, her plan seemed to be working: she had softened the ground for other people to make the race, and McCarthy, who desperately did not want to run herself, was at peace.
But with Obama and the White House now aligned against Gillibrand having a primary and urging Rep. Steve Israel (D-Suffolk), McCarthy's preferred choice, out of the race, she avoided the same kind of strong language.
"I don't know whether I could beat her. I honestly don't know that," she said, adding that while she understood that Israel had no choice but to follow what the president said, "I do believe, as far as democracy goes, if someone wants to run against her, they should be allowed to run against her."
Asked whether the news of Israel's and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's (D) withdrawals had prompted her to begin preparing a more active candidacy to ensure Gillibrand did not go through the primary unchallenged, McCarthy said only, "I am preparing to raise a lot of money."
A few hours before Israel's conversation with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel that resulted in his decision to leave the race, McCarthy took an opening at a press conference on new proposed gun legislation to tear into Gillibrand's moderating of once hard-line gun rights stances.
"This was a strictly political move in my opinion," she said, adding that she "would prefer someone who represented New York State has more values on protecting what the majority of New Yorkers believe in." At the press conference, McCarthy indicated that Gillibrand's movement to a new position was not enough for her.
She is still holding out hope that Rep. Carolyn Maloney or Suffolk Legislature Majority Leader Jon Copper will run. But with the weight of the White House now behind the junior senator, McCarthy backtracked slightly, setting a different measure of victory.
"The people who know me," she said, "know that when I'm pushed against a wall, I come out fighting. And that's what I'll continue to do. But in many ways, I know that I already won because she's changed her opinions certainly on every other issue because she knows I'm always looking over her shoulder."
However, she said, that does not mean her candidacy against Gillibrand is dead, too.
"I want my name out there," she said. "Yes I do. Yes I do."
I think you have "Filtered HTML" turned on here. If you switch to "Full HTML," it will probably...
Black Star News has been producing stellar investigative journalism since 1997, including focusing on police brutality and other abuses targeting marginalized communities. We have broken several major stories. We welcome news tips to firstname.lastname@example.com and email@example.com
We need your advertising support to produce strong journalism, especially during periods of economic instability, so please contact email@example.com for advertising rates and long term packages.
Black Star News has been producing stellar investigative journalism since 1997, including focusing on police brutality and other abuses targeting marginalized communities. We have broken several major stories. We welcome news tips to email@example.com and email@example.com
We need your advertising support to produce strong journalism, especially during periods of economic instability, so please contact email@example.com for advertising rates and long term packages.
All content is copyright Black Star News © 2011. All rights reserved.


text:
Hearing set for man behind anti-Muslim film
LOS ANGELES A federal judge in Los Angeles will decide next week whether the man behind an anti-Islamic film that sparked violence in the Middle East should be sent back to prison for violating his probation.
Mark Basseley Youseff is expected in a courtroom on Wednesday. He was convicted in 2010 of bank fraud.
Prosecutors say Youseff had eight violations, including lying to his probation officers and using aliases. Youseff also goes by the name of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.
The 55-year-old was remanded into custody without bond after he was determined to be a flight risk.
Federal authorities say he was behind the film "Innocence of Muslims," which has led to violence in the Middle East and the deaths of dozens, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens.


text:
- Parent Category: News
Reddick man apparent drowning victim
Kankakee County Sheriff's police report a 61-year-old Reddick man was found dead in a lake outside of his home.
Russell A. Hartkopp was discovered face down in the lake near his home last Thursday afternoon. The man lived in Shannon Shores Mobile Home Park.
Sheriff's police report Hartkopp was found by his son.
Police reported Hartkopp was cleaning a raft while his 41-year-old son worked nearby. The son called police after he realized his father was face down in the water.
Kankakee County Coroner Bob Gessner said toxicology reports are pending An autopsy was completed Friday.


text:
Founded by former Motorola chief Bob Galvin, the Galvin Electricity Initiative is leading a campaign to transform the way communities generate, deliver, and use electricity in the U.S. We promote a new smart grid paradigm that is consumer-focused and based on microgrids – the foundation of Perfect Power. Our Microgrid Hub, Electricity Consumer Principles, and Policy Framework have become industry leading examples of the electric revolution.
Learn more.


text:
Pap Smears and Cervical Cancer Screening
NetWellness experts receive many questions on pap smears and cervical cancer screening. Cervical cancer, like all other cancers, develops when the normal process of cell division goes awry. Normally, cells are constantly dividing and dying ensuring that there is a balance between cell death and cell division. A tumor forms when new cells grow out of control because they have lost their ability to turn off the switch that tells them to grow or when old cells are not destroyed and disposed of by the body.
Non-cancerous tumors (benign) are generally not life threatening. This is because they do not usually invade surrounding tissue and spread, are easily removed, and do not tend to grow back after removal. Cancerous tumors (malignant) can be life threatening. This is because they can invade normal tissue, often spread, can be difficult or impossible to remove, and have a stronger tendency to grow back after being removed.
Risk Factors
Research tells us that some factors put you at higher risk to develop cervical cancer. These are:
Human papillomavirus: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the main risk factor for cervical cancer. HPV is a virus that can infect the cervix. HPV infections are very common. These viruses can be passed from person to person through sexual contact. Most adults have been infected with HPV at some time in their lives. Some types of HPV can cause cervical cancer, and other types cause genital warts. Doctors may check for HPV even if there are no warts or other symptoms.
Lack of regular Pap tests: Cervical cancer is more common among women who do not have regular Pap tests. The Pap test helps doctors find precancerous cells and can help to determine if you have the HPV virus. Treating precancerous cervical changes often prevents cancer.
Weakened immune system (the body's natural defense system): Women with HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) infection or who take drugs that suppress the immune system, such as steroids, have a higher-than-average risk of developing cervical cancer. For these women, doctors suggest regular screening for cervical cancer.
Age: Cancer of the cervix occurs most often in women over the age of 40. Although, the infection with the HPV virus usually occurs in teenage and young adult women.
Sexual history: Women who have had many sexual partners or who have had sexual intercourse with a man who has had many sexual partners are at higher risk of developing cervical cancer. In both cases, the risk of developing cervical cancer is higher because these women have a higher-than-average risk of HPV infection.
Smoking cigarettes: Women with an HPV infection who smoke cigarettes have a higher risk of cervical cancer than women with HPV infection who do not smoke.
Long term useof birth control pills: Using birth control pills for a long time (5 or more years) may increase the risk of cervical cancer among women with HPV infection. This may be related to the use of birth control pills without the use of condoms that would protect against the HPV virus.
Having many children: Studies suggest that giving birth to many children may increase the risk of cervical cancer among women with HPV infection. This may be related to sexual activity without the use of condoms. Diethylstillbestrol: Diethylstilbestrol (DES) may increase the risk of a rare form of cervical cancer and other cancers of the reproductive system in daughters exposed to this drug before birth. DES was given to some pregnant women in the United States between about 1940 and 1971. (It is no longer given to pregnant women.)
Screening Saves Lives
The good news about cervical cancer is that it can be prevented if abnormal cervical cells are detected early on (before they become cancer). Also, as with any form of cancer, chances of surviving the disease go up when it is detected early and treatment is started right away. Another piece of good news is that the test to screen for cervical cancer, called a Pap smear, is quick, easy, and part of your regular [ED1] women's health exam (also called a pelvic exam). Be aware that the new Cervical Cancer screening guidelines were issued in 2012.
- Age 18: Once a young woman has become sexually active in any way and/or has reached the age of 18 she should start visiting a women's health care provider such as a nurse midwife, nurse practitioner, family physician, or gynecologist to receive annual women health exams.
- Age 21: Pap tests should start when a woman turns age 21.
- Age 30-65: should have screening pap smear every 3 years unless found to be abnormal and then more frequent screening may be needed.
- Age >65: women can stop having pap smears if they have had adequate pap tests over the years.
Pap Test
A Pap test is simple, quick, and painless; it can be done in a doctor's office, a clinic, or a hospital. Clinicians and healthcare providers suggest that a woman schedule her Pap test for a time that is 10 to 20 days after the first day of her menstrual period. While a woman lies on an exam table, the clinician inserts a speculum into her vagina to widen it. A sample of cells is taken from the cervix with a plastic spatula and a small cervical brush. The specimen (or smear) is placed in a liquid container and is sent to a laboratory for examination.
Many doctors are now routinely checking HPV on Pap cells. If a woman over age 30 who is low risk for cervical cancer has a normal pap test and tests negative for HPV, she may not need a repeat pap test for five years.
Abnormal Pap Test Results
Many women have had the experience of receiving abnormal results from their Pap test. This is common and does not necessarily mean that the abnormal cells that have been detected are cancerous or pre-cancerous. Doctors routinely check HPV on abnormal pap results. If you test negative for HPV, it is unlikely that you have cervical cancer, and you will need to repeat your pap test in one year. If you test positive for HPV, you will need to see a specialist for further testing.
The Pap test, although an incredibly helpful tool for preventing and detecting cervical cancer, it can sometimes give false positives or negative results. In order to help prevent receiving incorrect test results, follow these tips:
48 hour before your test Do NOT:
- douche.
- have sexual intercourse.
- use vaginal medicines (except as directed by a doctor) or birth control foams, creams, or jellies
For more information:
Go to the Women's Health health topic.


text:
Well, this is fascinating. Especially since I've been looking at a lot of shopper marketing recently, as well as talking to insurance people about how AJP region differs from, say, EMEA. Companies get astonishingly detailed info about people's habits, but having read the article below and seen the brilliant video that summarises Keith Chen's hypothesis, I wonder if they already look at what languages we speak to work out likelihood to X or Y.
Article below by Derek Thompson, originally from Atlantic. The original article also has a chart you might find interesting, but the whole thing is summed up nicely in this video. Though I've got to say, the last bit about death and so on seems like latched-on stats. The link there is wooly, which is a shame, as I loved the rest of it. Anyway, make up your own mind:
Can Your Language Influence Your Spending, Eating, and Smoking Habits?
An absurd-sounding claim leads to a surprising finding
Yes, I know. That headline. It looks like the most egregious form of causal inference. Americans don't save money because of … our grammar? How utterly absurd. But bear with me.
In the 1930s, linguists proposed that the way we read, write, and talk helped to determine the way we see the world. Speakers of languages that had the same word for orange and yellow had a harder time actually distinguishing the colors. Speakers of the Kook Thaayorre language, which has no words for left and right, must orient themselves by north, south, east, and west at all time, which enhances their awareness of geographical and astronomical markers.
Last year, economist Keith Chen released a working paper (now published) suggesting speakers of languages without strong future tenses tended to be more responsible about planning for the future. Quick example. In English, we say "I will go to the play tomorrow." That's strong future tense. In Mandarin or Finnish, which have weaker future tenses, it might be more appropriate to say, "I go to the play tomorrow."
Chen wondered whether languages with weak future tenses would be more thoughtful about the future because they consider it, grammatically, equivalent to the present. He mapped stronger and weak future-tense languages across Europe and correlated the data with future-oriented behaviors like saving, smoking, and using condoms.
Remarkably, he discovered that speakers with weak future tenses (e.g. German, Finnish and Estonian) were 30 percent more likely to save money, 24 percent more likely to avoid smoking, 29 percent more likely to exercise regularly, and 13 percent less likely to be obese, than speakers of languages with strong future tenses, like English.
If your B.S. antennae are standing straight up (as mine were), you might be more interested in this next part. Chen next compared speakers born and raised within the same countries, as well, controlling for factors like age and number of children. He found the same results: Speakers with weak future tenses demonstrated dramatically, and statistically significantly, more responsible future-oriented behaviors — even within countries like Switzerland, which are a motley blend of strong-future languages (like French) and weak-future languages (like German).
The correlation was savaged by some economists and linguists as facile or worse. But others re-ran the data and found, to their astonishment, that Chen seemed to be right. His paper was published (along with thanks to some of his fiercest critics) in the American Economic Review this year.
"One important issue in interpreting these results is the possibility that language is not causing but rather reflecting deeper differences that drive savings behavior," Chen concluded. Languages map to large groups of people, but so does religion, culture, family values, and a common history. Are Germans frugal because their language protects them from hyperbolic discounting, or is it just that, well, they're Germans?
That question doesn't have a satisfying answer, but this paper, as wild as it seems, isn't a radical departure from the literature. "Overall, my findings are largely consistent with the hypothesis that languages with obligatory future-time reference lead their speakers to engage in less future-oriented behavior," Chen wrote.
What does it mean? I have no idea, and Chen himself has responded to the criticism of his work with an honorable blend of erudition and shrugging disbelief. But I suppose that if you suffer from issues like crippling procrastination, as I do, it couldn't hurt to learn Estonian — or, perhaps more simply, to write inspirational notes to yourself exclusively in the present tense. The future might be a different country, but it doesn't have to feel that way.


text:
naomidagenbloom 2008 September 2
Vuee, Vuee, We need to hear MORE from you now about the way Alaska has come into our consciousness via your governor–the believer in "stakeholders."
Readers can't get off that easy, Little Red Hen— what questions do folks have?
The reason I have been rather quiet, blogwise, is because the news from rural Alaska about living there isn't good. There has been next to nothing improved since earlier posts, this includes the past 18 months of the personable Gov. Sarah Palin. I'll give examples below, but they sound depressing. So readers, what do enquiring minds want to know? If nothing else, I can at least point you to some good sources of facts or commentary from Alaska perspective.
An older friend of mine (from Tucson) sends this musing upon the early photo of Sarah Palin and her caribou ( http://newsminer.com/photos/galleries/2008/sep/01/sarah-palin-growing-alaskan/1156/. It is the photo of the red-nosed caribou NOT a reindeer.)
>My deep reflections, caribou inspired::
1. Macho women don't need to wear pantsuits to assert themselves.
2. Most currently popular female names go from my daughter Michelle to my mother Sarah.
3. Sarah definitely shoots better than Dick. How about Joe's expertise with firearms?
4. Candidates should not be judged only on basis of age, gender, and looks.
5. Candidate's children are given on-stage prominence. It should be unfair to have the youngest ones debate politics, but what about having a food fight?
- there's the older gentleman who is resigning himself to move 400 miles away from home to be near his grandkids because his grown children had to move to Anchorage to find work to meet the utilities payments
- there's all the older people who need an assisted living arrangement or nursing home (a 400 mile trip, if one can afford to get into Bethel from the village to get on the jet)
- there's fuel oil at $6-15 a gallon
- there's the Bush-Cheney stimulus payments which only went to those who have taxable income. They don't go to those who cashed in IRAs early to pay electricity or who struggle to make sense of their returns.
- there's electricity at 40 cents or more per kilowatt hour (with a subsidy for residences) in rural Alaska (Wasilla pays considerably less, without subsidy)
- there's gasoline, needed to go out and "grocery shop" on the tundra or out in the river, at $6 to $18 gallon.
- there's gaining grandmother status at 34
- there's raising grandchildren at 70
- there's having your one-time $1200 "energy check" from the state stolen by your children for smokes and booze
PALIN: "Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest – and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works."
Andrew Halcro does a fine job at http://www.andrewhalcro.com/grading_palins_speech_a
Also: tech support has a listing of reasonable sources at Sarah Palin content
Site Search Tags: Sarah+Palin, caribou, elderly, Alaska, aging, Little+Red+Hen, diasability, long-term+care