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NEW YORK — Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common subtype of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and the seventh most frequently diagnosed cancer. The most chemotherapy resistant form of DLBCL, called activated B-cell – DLBCL (ABC-DLBCL), remains a major therapeutic challenge. An international research team, led by two laboratories from Weill Cornell Medical College, has developed a new experimental drug therapy to target this aggressive form of lymphoma.
In the journal Cancer Cell, researchers report the discovery of an experimental small molecule agent, MI-2, that irreversibly inactivates MALT1 — a key protein responsible for driving the growth and survival of ABC-DLBCL cells.
"In our study we show the drug MI-2 we developed inactivates any MALT1 protein it touches, and without any apparent toxicity in animal models," says the study's lead investigator, Dr. Ari Melnick, associate professor of medicine and director of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biomedical and Physical Sciences at Weill Cornell Medical College.
The research team, which includes investigators from Spain, Canada and several other U.S. institutions, are now working to optimize the drug while testing MI-2 with other drug therapies that could be less toxic than current chemotherapy regimens.
"No single drug can cure lymphoma. This is why we need to combine agents that can strike-out the different cellular pathways that lymphoma cells use to survive," says Dr. Melnick, who is also a hematologist-oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "We want to eliminate the use of toxic chemotherapy in the treatment of lymphoma patients, and these new study findings take us one-step closer to our goal of creating effective combinational molecular targeted therapy regimens to reduce treatment toxicity and improve lymphoma patient outcomes."
"A Bona Fide Therapeutic Target"
MALT1 is highly active in ABC-DLBCL and plays an important role in lymphoma cancer cell growth and survival. The unique protein is the only paracaspase produced in humans —and is a particular type of protease protein that cuts apart other proteins. But when MALT1 slices proteins in ABC-DLBCLs, it activates growth-promoting molecules and stops the work of other proteins that inhibit that growth.
"In essence, MALT1 turns off the brakes and presses the gas pedal to accelerate cell growth and survival in this aggressive cancer," Dr. Melnick says.
In this study, the researchers developed an activated form of MALT1 in the test tube that allowed them to study the structure of the molecule, and search for small molecule agents to shut it down. The key insights enabling this technical feat were achieved by co-lead investigator Dr. Hao Wu, an expert in biochemistry and structural biology and a former faculty member at Weill Cornell who is now at Harvard Medical School.
The researchers screened libraries of chemicals until they found one that tightly bonded to MALT1, preventing it from cutting other proteins. The agent, MI-2, also inactivated MALT1 in human samples of ABC-DLBCL, according to researchers.
When they tested the agent in mice, the research team found it stopped cancer growth without toxicity in normal tissues — a trait Dr. Melnick says is due to the fact that MALT1 is not required for biological processes essential for life.
If tested successfully in human clinical trials, MI-2 could have benefits for other diseases, including MALT1 lymphoma, a lower-grade type of lymphoma. It could also possibly play a role in a variety of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders.
"MALT1 is a bona fide therapeutic target, and with the discovery of MI-2 we have provided a lead compound that forms the basis of a new class of therapeutic agents," says Dr. Melnick.
The Cornell Center for Technology Enterprise and Commercialization, on behalf of Cornell University, has filed a patent application on this research work.
This study was funded by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Burroughs Wellcome Foundation, the Chemotherapy Foundation and the Beverly and Raymond Sackler Center for Physical and Biomedical Sciences at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Other study co-authors include Dr. Lorena Fontan, Dr. Chenghua Yang, Dr. Venkataraman Kabaleeswaran, Monica Garcia, Dr. Leandro Cerchietti, Dr. Rita Shaknovich, Shao Ning Yan and Dr. Fang Fang from Weill Cornell Medical College; Dr. Elena Beltran and Dr. Jose Angel Martinez-Climent from the University of Navarra, Spain; Dr. Katherine Borden, Dr. Laurent Volpon and Dr. Michael J. Osborne from the University of Montreal, Canada; Dr. Randy D. Gascoyne from the British Columbia Cancer Agency, Canada; and Dr. J. Fraser Glickman from The Rockefeller University.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research from bench to bedside, aimed at unlocking mysteries of the human body in health and sickness and toward developing new treatments and prevention strategies. In its commitment to global health and education, Weill Cornell has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey. Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical College is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances — including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where its faculty provides comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Medical College is also affiliated with the Methodist Hospital in Houston. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.


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Mexico Bars Junk Food Ads From Children's Programming
New limits for advertisers in Mexico prohibit sugary foods from being marketed to children on television and in movie theaters. The new regulations are part of a plan to combat Mexican childhood obesity.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... with two black Indians Simon ... Mexico's cracking down and good marketing to kids ... the battle to stem the rising tide that caused problems as Mexicans get after it ... had layers of chocolate candies chips and soda ... can no longer promote their products on apps Union weekend television in Mexico ... James ... Hanson lists the bulk of years are under the age of twelve ... starting in January ... sugary cereals get there it's cookies and cakes also get less airtime ... no we must we ... continue to experience impacted the regulations concrete and ... is copyrighted and Nenad dairy stand doesn't need Mexican nutritional requirements advertise on TV during this time it's ... done and says it's working hard to lower the products sugar content by January to meet those ... with less than one grand to get a refund even products must be done slowly says the non spokesman for the sentiment survey consumers don't perceive the change global Old ... and other products sugar content of the government mandated that ... cannot speak to Syria ... this that a mascot is known in Mexico as can and ... cannot ... respect the rules suspects in the back to Friday ... the finding their ways to supply its iconic in Syria ... the company still upgrading its options he says which might include treatment for ... its ... advertising trends come and topped market for multinational ... firms ... anti Mexico's adoption she adds special taxes on sugary beverages and carried and snacks ... a ... surgeon in Mexico underweight according to government survey ... other countries also struggling with high rates of type two diabetes certain lots at least two hours of TV a day ... which is typical in Mexico ... can see more than five thousand four hundred spots for high calorie foods here ... a study by the side of the garden to bid and nutrition Institute and Mexico's tends to lead the marketing above the knee on measures taken us ... with an oak of intersections on advertising ... down the biggest challenge may be the answer to the ... Mexican public about how he ... says of the erroneous any chips Nestle pure Bratz pre investable consumption their programs sponsored by the aquaculture industry ... although lot of people know that sugar is included in such large quantities ... they don't know how much is appropriate ... so there's the conflict ...

subset: commoncrawl


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The TP-LINK Wireless N Access Point TL-WA701ND is designed to establish or expand a scalable high-speed wireless N network or to connect multiple Ethernet enabled devices such as game consoles, digital media adapters, printers, or network attached storage devices to a wireless network. It is designed using Align™ 1-stream technology to provide high-speed, unrivaled wireless performance for your network at 150Mbps. The APs support a host of different functions that makes your wireless networking experience more flexible than ever before. Now, you can enjoy a better Internet experience when downloading, gaming, video streaming or with any other application that you may wish to use.
Complying with the IEEE 802.11n standard, TL-WA701ND can easily establish a wireless network and get up to 9X the speed and 4X the range of conventional 11g products. With Align™ technology based on the IEEE 802.11n 1-stream specification shows improved performance over the existing 802.11g technology, TL-WA701ND delivers performance enhancements, allowing you to have a more joyful surfing experience, including sharing files, watching streaming media.
Supports multiple operating modes (Access Point, Multi-SSID, Client, Universal/ WDS Repeater, Bridge with AP) to enable various wireless applications to give users a more dynamic and comprehensive experience when using their AP. Multiple operating mode also helps you easily to build wireless network for hard-to-wire locations or eliminating wireless dead zone.
As for the security of WI-FI connection, WEP encryption has been no longer the strongest and safest guards for outside threats. TL-WA701ND provides WPA/WPA2 encryptions (Both Personal and Enterprises) that are created by the WI-FI Alliance industry group, promoting interpretabilities and security for WLAN.
The TL-WA701ND features WI-FI Protected Setup™ (WPS) that allows users to almost instantly setup their security simply by pressing the "WPS" button automatically establishing a WPA2 secure connection, which is more secure compared with WEP encryptions. Not only is this faster than normal security setups but more convenient in that you don't need to remember a password!
The TL-WA701ND is able to be powered using an Ethernet cable to simultaneously send data and electricity to wherever your AP may be located even up to 100 feet away. This feature multiplies your options allowing you to place the AP in a position that is most convenient to get the best signal possible, such as on the wall or on the ceiling of your office.


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They're kings of the myth-busting world! For their season premiere, Mythbusters experts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage teamed up with one of Hollywood's biggest directors, James Cameron, to address the show's most requested query: Could Titanic's Jack [Leonardo DiCaprio] and Rose [Kate Winslet] have both fit on the wooden piece of debris and survived together at the end of the movie?
In the exclusive clip below, watch Jamie channel his inner Rose and hit the water firsthand to test the film's accuracy. Using a replica wooden board cut to size — with a few adjustments for buoyancy — the guys start the clock on verifying or debunking this blockbuster myth.
Mythbusters premieres Sunday, Oct. 7 at 8/7c on Discovery.


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The Volturi. In Vancouver.
Here are Michael Sheen and Jamie Campbell Bower arriving yesterday for New Moon. For those of you who are not familiar, Michael Sheen is the father of Kate Beckinsale's daughter. It's widely believed she left him for Len Wiseman during the filming of Underworld. Michael received critical acclaim in both The Queen and most recently in Frost/Nixon.
Meanwhile, Kate's only contribution these days has been overdressing.
Also attached – Dakota Fanning at LAX en route to Vancouver. Have received many, many emails about her boots today.
Thank you for giving me yet another opportunity to brag about my boots. I will. Mine are brown suede. Click here for the original post.
Anyway, Dakota is tentatively supposed to start shooting today schedule permitting. What's up this week? Green screen work that involves driving around in a Porsche. And the cliff diving scene. Bella wants to jump, Edward the apparition asks her not to.
Then Edward takes a phone call, gets very upset and the phone disintegrates in his hand.
And then Edward, Bella, Alice are escorted by some vampires (including Dakota Fanning) through the underground passage to meet with the others. I actually remember reading this part and half laughing half gagging through all of Bella's "staggered/fainting/collapsing" spells. Actually, no. That was the entire book. Ugh.
Also shooting the scene when they leave and Heidi brings in the victims.
More tomorrow. And another series of pictures on the way.
Photos of Dakota Fanning from Matingas/Bauergriffinonline.com
Exclusive photos of Michael Sheen and Jamie Campbell Bower from PUNKD Images
Here they come
The Volturi. In Vancouver.


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Clearly the Liberal Democrats are finished as a political force – that's why they just won a by-election in Tunbridge Wells, for its Borough Council in Pembridge.
From LDV
LD Claire Brown 578 (43.3; +2.7)
Con 460 (34.5; -24.9)
Majority 118
Turnout 35.41%
LD gain from Con
Percentage change is since May 2010.
This also seems to prove my theory on the recent Burnley by-election, where the Liberal Democrats came sixth – Labour hasn't had any major bad publicity recently and the Liberal Democrats have lost the anti-governmental protest vote. Also important to note is that Burnley is a traditionally leftist area, whereas Tunbridge would be more centre-right – just look at the candidates. This also seems to make sense with the Paisley by-election we've had as well, where Labour took a seat from the SNP, with Lib Dems falling from third to fifth.
Other perspectives might be that UKIP are stealing a substantial amount of the Tory vote, meaning what we lose from Labour in May, we might make up by taking from the Tories. Unfortunately, this means a further shift right-ward for the party, something I can't be happy with.
Ok, so Labour and the Greens didn't put any candidates into this election – but still, the Tory-UKIP contest wouldn't be altered by the presence of the left-wing candidates, and the Lib Dem vote did hold strong, regardless of the lack of Labourites stealing Lib Dem votes.
The Liberal Democrats have suffered, doubtless, which just means that Farron needs to criticise the government more … and we need to wait for Labour to screw up. It's Labour, they always do.
Related Articles
- Delighted of Tunbridge Wells: Lib Dems gain from Tories in by-election (libdemvoice.org)
- Lifeline for battered Lib Dems in Tunbridge Wells by-election (independent.co.uk)
- Blow for Cameron: Tories lose Tunbridge Wells (liberalconspiracy.org)
- "UKIP Beat Tories and Lib-Dems in Barnsley" and related posts (anenglishmanscastle.com)


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My blog has been changed to make it more appealing for those who have New England ancestors and want to see the area through photos. Things I'll include are typical white New England churches, libraries showing their genealogical collection, historical societies, cemeteries, war memorials, in general, anything to do with history.
For four years I've blogged mostly about my personal genealogy in New England (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire), New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada. I still will, can't forget my own roots.
Please check out the labels on the right side for articles. The header tabs at the top are a work in progress.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Looking Back
First I want to publically thank the seven people who awarded me the Kreativ Blogger Award, their first names and blog sites are below. Please check them out.
Gini at http://ginisology.blogspot.com/
Sharon at http://kindredfootprints.blogspot.com/
Jenna at http://desperatelyseekingsurnames.blogspot.com/
Bill at http://westinnewengland.blogspot.com/
Earline at http://ancestralnotes.ebradt.org/
Hummer at http://branchingoutthroughtheyears.blogspot.com/
Dru at http://findyourfolks.blogspot.com/
The first six of the above names are new friends, I didn't know them prior to October. The awards came via a commet to my site, or email. I am not sure if the senders ever read my replies, so I am doing it publically here. When each award was given, I was really shocked, and didn't know what to do. So I did what comes naturally, I declined for several reasons. First, I am hoping to have clean and clutter free blog, and second, I don't want to be in the position of awarding it to others, as there are so many good Blogs out there. Each and everyone is deserving, we are all spending lots of time on them, both in the thinking, typing and editing phases of their creation. I don't think I will ever single out a blog as being one of the best, as I already like many.
Sometimes, I feel like I am living in the editing phase. There hasn't been a single blog that, even tho I use the Preview option, I haven't had to go back to change something. Yesterday's blog was set in error for 12/29/09 because I was working on December blogs, and did the entire month. But, in reality, I wanted the cemetery article shown for yesterday, Nov. 29. I began to wonder where it was on the dashboard. A quick check showed it was set for December 29!
This new time-consuming part of my life has forced me to be a bit more organized and plan ahead about the subject matter. I think that yesterday's blog is a good example. I decided when I posted my cemetery list, (see November 18, 2009, Cemetery List in Google Spreadsheet) that I would scan and enter all those photos into http://www.findagrave.com/ in the order of that cemetery list. I was going to post some Bishop photos for Tuesday, then in going through my stuff, found the plot information, cemetery map and my old photo from 1981. That did it, I had my article, and decided it was good for a Sunday read.
Thank you too to the people who have helped me: Gini and Dru for recent help and Cheryl for her early encouragement. Apple sent me a detailed explanation of how to make my links smaller (I am still having problems, but maybe it due to our different programs). I appreciate you all.
And a special thank you to Les, who quickly emailed me after my yesterday blog of Nov. 29th appeared. He said he would go three miles to the cemetery to take pictures for me. Within hours, I had new pictures of the monument with the names of my grandparents, great grandparents, gg grandparents and ggg grandparents!
I hope to make this Looking Back segment a monthy piece, and will cover just a few things, mostly follow-ups during the current month.
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In what seems to be turning into a regular trip to the historic castles of Wales, this week sees the TARDIS materialise at the gate of Caernarfon Castle in North Wales. The police box prop stands prominently in the Queen's Gate and will be there until 27th July.
TARDIS at Caernarfon Castle, photo via visitwales/Yfrog
TARDIS at Caernarfon Castle, photo via visitwales/Yfrog
Previously, the police box appeared at Raglan Castle back in February, and also turned up on the battlements of Caerphilly Castle during December 2009 as part of promotional activities by the Welsh historic environment service CADW.
Doctor Who's relationship with castles and castle-like structures has flourished in recent years; May's adventure The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People saw several such locations used for filming, including Cardiff Castle, Caerphilly Castle, St Donat's Castle (aka Atlantic College), and the ruins of Neath Abbey.


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The Cooking Channel's New Hosts and Shows
Meet the Stars and Shows of the Cooking Channel
Meet the Stars and Shows of the Cooking Channel
I don't know about you, but I'm pretty excited for the Food Network's upcoming sister station, the Cooking Channel. The new network debuts on Monday, and to help you figure out which shows you'll TiVo and which shows you'll skip, I've put together this little guide. Here, you'll meet 10 of the Cooking Channel's new programs and their hosts.


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Summary and Keywords
While both pragmatic theory and experimental investigations of language using psycholinguistic methods have been well-established subfields in the language sciences for a long time, the field of Experimental Pragmatics, where such methods are applied to pragmatic phenomena, has only fully taken shape since the early 2000s. By now, however, it has become a major and lively area of ongoing research, with dedicated conferences, workshops, and collaborative grant projects, bringing together researchers with linguistic, psychological, and computational approaches across disciplines. Its scope includes virtually all meaning-related phenomena in natural language comprehension and production, with a particular focus on what inferences utterances give rise to that go beyond what is literally expressed by the linguistic material.
One general area that has been explored in great depth consists of investigations of various 'ingredients' of meaning. A major aim has been to develop experimental methodologies to help classify various aspects of meaning, such as implicatures and presuppositions as compared to basic truth-conditional meaning, and to capture their properties more thoroughly using more extensive empirical data. The study of scalar implicatures (e.g., the inference that some but not all students left based on the sentence Some students left) has served as a catalyst of sorts in this area, and they constitute one of the most well-studied phenomena in Experimental Pragmatics to date. But much recent work has expanded the general approach to other aspects of meaning, including presuppositions and conventional implicatures, but also other aspects of nonliteral meaning, such as irony, metonymy, and metaphors.
The study of reference constitutes another core area of research in Experimental Pragmatics, and has a more extensive history of precursors in psycholinguistics proper. Reference resolution commonly requires drawing inferences beyond what is conventionally conveyed by the linguistic material at issue as well; the key concern is how comprehenders grasp the referential intentions of a speaker based on the referential expressions used in a given context, as well as how the speaker chooses an appropriate expression in the first place. Pronouns, demonstratives, and definite descriptions are crucial expressions of interest, with special attention to their relation to both intra- and extralinguistic context. Furthermore, one key line of research is concerned with speakers' and listeners' capacity to keep track of both their own private perspective and the shared perspective of the interlocutors in actual interaction.
Given the rapid ongoing growth in the field, there is a large number of additional topical areas that cannot all be mentioned here, but the final section of the article briefly mentions further current and future areas of research.
Keywords: implicatures, presuppositions, conventional implicatures, reference, pronouns, demonstratives, psycholinguistics, experimental linguistics
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|"Well, I think we should put it back in order for them, don't you?"
This article or section needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality.
- Voldemort: "...I understand better now. I shall need, for instance, to borrow a wand from one of you before I go to kill Potter. No volunteers? Let's see...Lucius, I see no reason for you to have a wand any more."
- Lucius: "My Lord?"
- Voldemort: "Your wand, Lucius. I require your wand."
- — Lord Voldemort to Lucius Malfoy in 1997[src]
This wand belonged to Lucius Malfoy, head of the pure blood Malfoy Family. Noticeably, the wand is concealed within Lucius Malfoy's snake-headed walking stick, an heirloom of the Malfoy Family. The wand fits into the walking stick like a sword into a scabbard. Lucius was in possession of his wand/walking stick for the majority of his life, but when he was sent to Azkaban his son was seen in possession of the walking stick (though it is doubtful he used his father's wand much, rather continuing to use his own). After Azkaban, Lucius regained his wand, but it was taken by Lord Voldemort in order to solve Voldemort's problem with his and Harry's wand sharing the same core. It was destroyed during the Battle of the Seven Potters in Voldemort's possession.
Lucius Malfoy
Lucius Malfoy carried this wand through much of his life. It is unknown if he carried a different wand earlier in his career as a wizard, though it seems likely he would have gone through at least one or two wands before acquiring this one. Concealed within the serpent-headed walking stick, it acted as much as a symbol of his status as the tool of a wizard.
Even when on missions after the return of Lord Voldemort, Lucius kept his wand within its walking stick. He carried it with him during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, and used it to duel members of the Order of the Phoenix.
After being discovered to be a Death Eater and arrested, Lucius lost possession of wand and walking stick heirloom temporarily. His son, Draco Malfoy, was shown to have taken ownership of the walking stick in his father's absence, though it is unknown whether Draco kept his father's wand in it or (most likely) just continued to use his own wand.
Argus Filch was distrusting of Draco taking the walking stick into Hogwarts Castle, suspecting it to be an artefact filled with Dark Magic. Severus Snape, Draco's sworn protector, allowed him safe passage into the castle and he took the stick with him into the castle.
After his release from Azkaban, Lucius regained ownership of his cane and wand.
The wand was taken from him by Lord Voldemort in 1997 since the Dark Lord wanted to prevent Priori Incantatem from occurring between his own wand and Harry Potter's wand. Harry's wand destroyed it during the Battle of the Seven Potters. It is noted that the Dark Lord only took Lucius' Wand, not the Cane nor the Head, which he broke off (presumably as a means of spiting Lucius, who's many failures and falling out of favour with Voldemort were why Voldemort had taken his particular wand in the first place).
Behind the scenes
- In the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Lucius does replace this wand, though that does not happen in the books.
- If this wand is truly one-thousand years old, its original owner may have been Armand Malfoy, who lived in the mid-11th century.
- Considering Lucius Malfoy had this wand in his possession in 1992 when his father was still alive, it is possible that when a Malfoy inherits the Manor in Wiltshire, they receive the elm wand alongside it, meaning that owning it might be a sign of the person in question being the patriarch or matriarch of the Malfoy family.
- The snake head and the cane Lucius uses to contain his wand are only shown in the films. There is no mention of either of these in the books.
- Lord Voldemort broke the silver snake head from the handle of the wand, returning it to Lucius, before using it to try and kill Harry Potter. This would seem unusual on Voldemort's part, given that a snake head decoration would seem to most something he would find appealing. However, the likely explanation is that he wanted to spite Lucius.
- In Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Lucius' wand does not break during the Battle of the Seven Potters. Voldemort can be seen holding it while interrogating Garrick Ollivander about it after the battle. While it is never seen after that, it's plausible that Voldemort either snapped it in two out of anger, or just got rid of it. The fate of the wand in the film remains unknown.
- In the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in the Skirmish in the Malfoy Manor, Lucius can be seen pulling the snake head out of the cane, obviously out of habit for there is no wand connected, and he snarls when he realises this.
- Jason Isaacs once tried to smuggle this wand off the set, but was caught.[1]
- Though the length of this wand is never given within the novels, the wand prop replica used in the films measured at 18 inches in length.
- Elm wands are said to be highly desirable to pure-blood supremacists, making it ideal for a Malfoy family heirloom.
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
- Harry Potter: The Character Vault


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Fans of airy indie rock and superheroes should check out the new video from Vancouver quintet Sunshine. "Showering With Wine" juxtaposes droning guitars and sweet, sweet kisses between a drunk and adorable Batman and Superman. It's a hazy adventure of a song and a video, and it's available exclusively today on The A.V. Club.
Sunshine's self-titled new record is out Feb. 26 and features cameos from members of The Raveonettes, The New Pornographers, and Morrissey's band.


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Courtyard by Marriott Cocoa Beach/Cape Canaveral
First Courtyard Marriott in Florida to receive the "Green Lodging" Certification. For Great packages and special offers visit our website. Our state-of-the-art lobby at Courtyard by Marriott Cocoa Beach-Cape Canaveral provides great flexibility and choices for our guests. It features inviting spaces to work or relax, and Wi-Fi throughout..
Located on famous Cocoa Beach, 200 yards from the Atlantic Ocean and just minutes from Port Canaveral Cruises, Victory Casino Cruises, Kennedy Space Center, Historic Cocoa Village, Brevard Zoo and their Treetop Trek Aerial Adventures. Close to all of Central Florida's Orlando Attractions. Cocoa Beach is less than an hour from the Orlando International Airport.
Your stay at Courtyard by Marriott Cocoa Beach-Cape Canaveral is sure to be more comfortable, more productive and more enjoyable than ever before!


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Lander FCA is a student-led Christian community for all students, athletes, and coaches on the Lander University campus to come together to worship, grow, and cultivate healthy relationships with Jesus Christ and His church. We believe that God calls people to live our their faith in fellowship with other believers, and we aim to build lasting friendships in the body of Christ through faith, fun, family, and outreach.
Club President:
Cierra Revelle
Club Advisor:
Samantha Pinchoff
Lander University offers a beautiful campus, modern residence halls, excellent academic programs and exciting sporting events. While to campus is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we invite you to explore Lander virtually.
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Students in Lander University's School of Nursing team up with the G. Frank Russell Technology Center to assemble "period packs," small packages containing feminine hygiene products, for young homeless women in local school districts.
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Lander's recent symposium on the South and World War I was a resounding success, drawing large audiences and attracting scholars from across the country, but it might never have happened without the publication of The American South and the Great War, 1914-1924, by Lander's Dr. Ryan Floyd, associate professor of history.
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Celebrating their fortieth reunion, the brothers of Kappa Sigma fraternity sold barbecue plates to tailgaters as part of Lander's 2020 Homecoming festivities on Saturday, Feb. 22. The funds raised from their cookout will support the Mary Kinard Able Scholarship fund.
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This page can be viewed at http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a0205BlackBlackwater
This is a scalable context timeline. It contains events related to the event February 2005: Former CIA Counterterrorism Chief Joins Blackwater. You can narrow or broaden the context of this timeline by adjusting the zoom level. The lower the scale, the more relevant the items on average will be, while the higher the scale, the less relevant the items, on average, will be.
The Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a neoconservative think tank formed in the spring of 1997, issues its statement of principles. PNAC's stated aims are:
to "shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests"
to achieve "a foreign policy that boldly and purposefully promotes American principles abroad"
to "increase defense spending significantly"
to challenge "regimes hostile to US interests and values"
to "accept America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles." (Project for the New American Century 6/3/1997) The Statement of Principles is significant, because it is signed by a group who will become "a roll call of today's Bush inner circle." (Freedland 2/26/2003) ABC's Ted Koppel will later say PNAC's ideas have "been called a secret blueprint for US global domination." (ABC News 3/5/2003)
The Project for the New American Century (PNAC), an influential neoconservative think tank, publishes a letter to President Clinton urging war against Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussein because he is a "hazard" to "a significant portion of the world's supply of oil." In a foretaste of what eventually happens, the letter calls for the US to go to war alone, attacks the United Nations, and says the US should not be "crippled by a misguided insistence on unanimity in the UN Security Council." The letter is signed by many who will later lead the 2003 Iraq war. 10 of the 18 signatories later join the Bush Administration, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Assistant Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretaries of State Richard Armitage and Robert Zoellick, Undersecretaries of State John Bolton and Paula Dobriansky, presidential adviser for the Middle East Elliott Abrams, Defense Policy Board chairman Richard Perle, and George W. Bush's special Iraq envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. Other signatories include William Bennett, Jeffrey Bergner, Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kagan, William Kristol, Peter Rodman, William Schneider, Vin Weber, and James Woolsey. (Project for the New American Century 1/26/1998; Mackay 3/16/2003; Unger 2007, pp. 158) Clinton does heavily bomb Iraq in late 1998, but the bombing doesn't last long and its long term effect is the break off of United Nations weapons inspections. (Weisman 3/23/2003) The PNAC neoconservatives do not seriously expect Clinton to attack Iraq in any meaningful sense, author Craig Unger will observe in 2007. Instead, they are positioning themselves for the future. "This was a key moment," one State Department official will recall. "The neocons were maneuvering to put this issue in play and box Clinton in. Now, they could draw a dichotomy. They could argue to their next candidate, 'Clinton was weak. You must be strong.'" (Unger 2007, pp. 158)
The Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf (CPSG), a bipartisan group made up largely of foreign policy specialists, sends an "Open Letter to the President" calling for President Clinton to use the US military to help Iraqi opposition groups overthrow Saddam Hussein and replace him with a US-friendly government. US law forbids such an operation. The group is led by, among others, former Representative Stephen Solarz (D-NY) and prominent Bush adviser Richard Perle, a former assistant secretary of defense.
Largely Neoconservative in Makeup - Many of its co-signers will become the core of the Bush administration's neoconservative-driven national security apparatus. These co-signers include Elliott Abrams, Richard Armitage, John Bolton, Stephen Bryen, Douglas Feith, Frank Gaffney, Fred Ikle, Robert Kagan, Zalmay Khalilzad, William Kristol, Michael Ledeen, Bernard Lewis, Peter Rodman, Donald Rumsfeld, Gary Schmitt, Max Singer, Casper Weinberger, Paul Wolfowitz, David Wurmser, and Dov Zakheim. (CNN 2/20/1998; Lang 6/2004) The CPSG is closely affiliated with both the neoconservative Project for the New American Century (PNAC—see June 3, 1997 and January 26, 1998) and the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI), both of which boast Perle as a powerful and influential member. Jim Lobe of the Project Against the Present Danger later learns that the CPSG is funded in large part by a sizable grant from the right-wing Bradley Foundation, a key funding source for both the PNAC and the AEI. According to Counterpunch's Kurt Nimmo, the plan for overthrowing Iraq later adopted by the Bush administration, and currently advocated by the CPSG, will be echoed in the PNAC's September 2000 document, "Rebuilding America's Defenses" (see September 2000). (Nimmo 11/19/2002)
Advocates Supporting Iraq-Based Insurgency - The letter reads in part: "Despite his defeat in the Gulf War, continuing sanctions, and the determined effort of UN inspectors to root out and destroy his weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein has been able to develop biological and chemical munitions.… This poses a danger to our friends, our allies, and to our nation.… In view of Saddam Hussein's refusal to grant UN inspectors the right to conduct unfettered inspections of those sites where he is suspected of storing his still significant arsenal of chemical and biological munitions and his apparent determination never to relinquish his weapons of mass destruction, we call upon President Clinton to adopt and implement a plan of action designed to finally and fully resolve this utterly unacceptable threat to our most vital national interests." The plan is almost identical to the "End Game" scenario proposed in 1993 (see November 1993) and carried out, without success, in 1995 (see March 1995). It is also virtually identical to the "Downing Plan," released later in 1998 (see Late 1998). In 2004, then-Defense Intelligence Agency official Patrick Lang will observe, "The letter was remarkable in that it adopted some of the very formulations that would later be used by Vice President [Dick] Cheney and other current administration officials to justify the preventive war in Iraq that commenced on March 20, 2003" (see March 19, 2003). The CPSG advocates:
US support for Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress (INC—see 1992-1996) as the provisional government to replace Hussein's dictatorship;
Funding the INC with seized Iraqi assets, designating areas in the north and south as INC-controlled zones, and lifting sanctions in those areas;
Providing any ground assault by INC forces (see October 31, 1998) with a "systematic air campaign" by US forces;
Prepositioning US ground force equipment "so that, as a last resort, we have the capacity to protect and assist the anti-Saddam forces in the northern and southern parts of Iraq";
Bringing Hussein before an international tribunal on war crimes charges.
Carrying out these actions, Solarz says, would completely eliminate the threat of weapons of mass destruction that he claims Iraq owns. (Abrams et al. 2/19/1998; CNN 2/20/1998; Lang 6/2004)
The Project for a New American Century (PNAC) publishes a letter addressed to Congressman Newt Gingrich and Senator Trent Lott. The letter argues that the Clinton administration has capitulated to Saddam Hussein and calls on the two legislators to lead Congress to "establish and maintain a strong US military presence in the region, and be prepared to use that force to protect [US] vital interests in the Gulf—and, if necessary, to help removed Saddam from power." (Century 5/29/1998)
The neoconservative think tank Project for the New American Century writes a "blueprint" for the "creation of a 'global Pax Americana'" (see June 3, 1997). The document, titled Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century, was written for the George W. Bush team even before the 2000 presidential election. It was written for future Vice President Cheney, future Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, future Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Florida Governor and Bush's brother Jeb Bush, and Cheney's future chief of staff Lewis Libby. (Project for the New American Century 9/2000, pp. iv and 51 )
Plans to Overthrow Iraqi Government - The report calls itself a "blueprint for maintaining global US preeminence, precluding the rise of a great power rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests." The plan shows that the Bush team intends to take military control of Persian Gulf oil whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power and should retain control of the region even if there is no threat. It says: "The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein." The report calls for the control of space through a new "US Space Forces," the political control of the internet, the subversion of any growth in political power of even close allies, and advocates "regime change" in China, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Iran and other countries. It also mentions that "advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool" (see February 7, 2003). (Project for the New American Century 9/2000 ; Mackay 9/7/2002)
Greater Need for US Role in Persian Gulf - PNAC states further: "The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."
'US Space Forces,' Control of Internet, Subversion of Allies - PNAC calls for the control of space through a new "US Space Forces," the political control of the Internet, and the subversion of any growth in political power of even close allies, and advocates "regime change" in China, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Iran, and other countries.
Bioweapons Targeting Specific Genotypes 'Useful' - It also mentions that "advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target" specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool."
'A New Pearl Harbor' - However, PNAC complains that thes changes are likely to take a long time, "absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor." (Johnson 1/12/2003)
Bush Will Claim a 'Humble' Foreign Policy Stance - One month later during a presidential debate with Al Gore, Bush will assert that he wants a "humble" foreign policy in the Middle East and says he is against toppling Saddam Hussein in Iraq because it smacks of "nation building" (see October 11, 2000). Around the same time, Cheney will similarly defend Bush's position of maintaining President Clinton's policy not to attack Iraq, asserting that the US should not act as though "we were an imperialist power, willy-nilly moving into capitals in that part of the world, taking down governments." (Masters 1/12/2002) Author Craig Unger will later comment, "Only a few people who had read the papers put forth by the Project for a New American Century might have guessed a far more radical policy had been developed." (Unger 3/15/2004) A British member of Parliament will later say of the PNAC report, "This is a blueprint for US world domination—a new world order of their making. These are the thought processes of fantasist Americans who want to control the world." (Mackay 9/7/2002) Both PNAC and its strategy plan for Bush are almost virtually ignored by the media until a few weeks before the start of the Iraq war (see February-March 20, 2003).
CIA Director George Tenet and Cofer Black, the director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center, meet at 9:30 a.m. in the White House Situation Room with President Bush and the National Security Council. Tenet presents a plan for tracking down Osama bin Laden, toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan, and confronting terrorism worldwide. According to journalist Bob Woodward, the plan involves "bringing together expanded intelligence-gathering resources, sophisticated technology, agency paramilitary teams and opposition forces in Afghanistan in a classic covert action. They would then be combined with US military power and Special Forces into an elaborate and lethal package designed to destroy the shadowy terrorist networks." A key concept is to utilize the Northern Alliance, which is the main opposition force in Afghanistan. Despite being "a strained coalition of sometimes common interests," Tenet says that along with the CIA teams "and tons of money, the Alliance could be brought together into a cohesive fighting force." Black gives a presentation describing the effectiveness of covert action. He says they will need to go after the Taliban as well as al-Qaeda, as the two are joined at the hip. He wants the mission to begin as soon as possible, and adds, "When we're through with them, they will have flies walking across their eyeballs." Black claims that once they are on the ground, victory could be achieved in weeks. According to Bob Woodward, "No one else in the room, including Tenet, believed that was possible." Black also warns the president, "Americans are going to die.… How many, I don't know. Could be a lot." Bush responds, "That's war. That's what we're here to win." This is the second presentation laying out an increasingly detailed set of CIA proposals for expanding its fight against terrorism. (George Tenet had given the first when he met with the president the day before (see September 12, 2001).) Tenet will give a more detailed presentation of the CIA's covert action plan two days later, at Camp David (see September 15, 2001). (Woodward 2002, pp. 50-53; Balz, Woodward, and Himmelman 1/29/2002; Kessler 2003, pp. 233-234)
Neoconservative writers Robert Kagan and William Kristol predict "a wide-ranging war in locales from Central Asia to the Middle East and, unfortunately, back again to the United States," of which the Afghanistan conflict is merely "an opening battle." The "unequivocal destruction of the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden" are the first steps in a larger conflict that must "spread and engulf a number of countries in conflicts of varying intensity," requiring US forces to invade "multiple" countries. "It is going to resemble the clash of civilizations that everyone has hoped to avoid. And it is going to put enormous and perhaps unbearable strain on parts of an international coalition that today basks in contented consensus." Kagan and Kristol say that both the 9/11 attacks and the recent anthrax mailings are likely the work of Iraq, and thus President Bush "ha[s] no choice" but to destroy the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. The continued security of Israel is of paramount importance, they write; the US must join with Israel in battling Islamist terrorism in the region by any means necessary. There is virtually no difference between the Taliban and the Palestinian Authority, they write; both must be shut down. Putative US allies such as Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia might object, and may even declare war against Israel. If so, they must be given the same treatment as the Taliban, the Palestinians, and Iraq: overthrow and domination. "With or without a new Arab-Israeli war, it is possible that the demise of some 'moderate' Arab regimes may be just around the corner." (Kagan and Kristol 10/29/2001)
Neoconservative professor Eliot Cohen writes that the Afghan war is misnamed. It should be, he says, the latest salvo in "World War IV," the US-led fight against Islamist terrorism. In agreement with other neoconservatives (see 1992, February 2002, April 3, 2003, and Spring 2007), Cohen says that World War III was the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. Like the Cold War, this "world war" against militant Islam "is, in fact, global;… will involve a mixture of violent and nonviolent efforts;… will require mobilization of skill, expertise and resources, if not of vast numbers of soldiers;… may go on for a long time; and… has ideological roots." Afghanistan is "just one front in World War IV," Cohen asserts, and after the US destroys al-Qaeda and kills its leadership, including, presumably, Osama bin Laden, it must then engage in new battles. Cohen recommends that the US ally itself with secular democracies in the Muslim world, and actively target Islamic regimes that sponsor terrorism, including Iraq (which he calls "the obvious candidate," as it "not only helped al-Qaeda, but attacked Americans directly… and developed weapons of mass destruction"). After overthrowing the Iraqi regime, he counsels the US to "mobilize in earnest." (Cohen 11/20/2001)
It is announced that Cofer Black, head of the CIA's counterterrorism division for the last three years, has been assigned to another position. However, in 2004, six anonymous US intelligence officials will claim that, in fact, Black is removed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld because Black publicly revealed details of the US military's failure to capture or kill bin Laden in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in late 2001. Sources will call Black "very aggressive, very knowledgeable," in fighting al-Qaeda. According to these sources, after the Tora Bora battle ended, an intelligence analysis determined that bin Laden had been trapped in Tora Bora, and deemed his escape a "significant defeat" for the US. Rumsfeld, however, disagreed with the criticism, and said there was not enough "solid evidence" to come to that conclusion. Black then spoke on deep background to the Washington Post, and on April 17, 2002, the Post called the failure to capture bin Laden "the gravest error in the war against al-Qaeda."(see April 17, 2002) Rumsfeld learned about Black's role and used his influence to get him removed. (Sale 7/29/2004)
Embarrassed and angered by CIA Director George Tenet's refusal to support the use of the Iraq-Niger uranium claim in President Bush's upcoming State of the Union speech (see October 5, 2002, October 6, 2002, January 27, 2003, and 9:01 pm January 28, 2003), the White House decides to go behind Tenet's back to get CIA approval for publicly citing the claim in the speech. Robert Joseph, director for nonproliferation at the National Security Council (NSC), telephones Alan Foley, director of the CIA's Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control Center (WINPAC), and mentions plans to include the Africa-uranium claim in Bush's upcoming State of the Union address. When Foley warns that the allegation has little evidence to support it, Joseph instead suggests including a statement about the British learning that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa, leaving out the bit about Niger and the exact quantity of uranium that was allegedly sought. (Pincus and Priest 7/17/2003; Risen and Sanger 7/17/2003; Carney and Duffy 7/21/2003; Milbank and Allen 7/27/2003; Unger 2007, pp. 273-274) Foley apparently has no qualms about putting his bureau's stamp of approval on the claim, having already told his staff, "If the president wants to go to war, our job is to find the intelligence to allow him to do so." Foley rationalizes that if Bush attributes the claim to British intelligence, he can make it without having to worry whether it is actually true. The fact that the CIA has repeatedly labeled the British reports as untrustworthy does not stop Foley from vetting the claim. (Unger 2007, pp. 273-274) Joseph will claim he does not recall the discussion, and White House communications director Dan Bartlett will call Foley's version of events a "conspiracy theory." (Milbank and Allen 7/27/2003)
Brent Scowcroft, the foreign policy adviser who has increasingly become a figure of ridicule inside the administration (see March 8, 2003), is dismissed from the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Though Scowcroft is one of the most respected policy experts in Washington, and one of George H. W. Bush's closest friends and colleagues, President Bush does not do him the courtesy of speaking to him personally about his dismissal. (Unger 2007, pp. 326)
Cofer Black, former chief of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center, joins Blackwater. He becomes the company's vice chairman. (Levenson 11/2/2007)
Fox News analyst Dan Senor, the former spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq (White House 10/1/2006; Greenwald 5/10/2008) , writes an article for the neoconservative magazine Weekly Standard about the upcoming trial of captured Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein. Senor writes that the trial will provide "a peek into the depths of human evil and, embarrassingly, if incidentally, into the concurrent indifference of Western nations to Iraqi suffering. Thus far, the accountability of Nuremberg, the Hague, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone has eluded Arab-Muslim leaders. This is about to change." Senor also says that part of Hussein's trial strategy will be to attempt to create sympathy for his "humiliation" that will translate into "a spike in the insurgency…" He notes that "an increase in violence is anticipated by Commanding General George Casey too." (Senor 10/2/2005) According to Pentagon documents released as part of the New York Times investigation into the Pentagon propaganda operation surrounding Iraq (see May 9, 2008), Senor routinely asks the advice of Pentagon public relations official Larry Di Rita about what he should say on his television broadcasts, and submits articles such as this to Di Rita for editing directions. (Greenwald 5/10/2008)
In a major policy speech regarding Iraq, President Bush announces that he will order 21,500 more US combat troops to Iraq, in a troop escalation he calls a "surge." The bulk of the troops will be deployed in and around Baghdad. In addition, 4,000 Marines will go to the violent al-Anbar province. In announcing the escalation, he concedes a point he has resisted for over three years, that there have not been enough US troops in Iraq to adequately provide security and create conditions favorable for an Iraqi democracy to take hold. He admits that his previous strategy was based on flawed assumptions about the unstable Iraqi government. "Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility lies with me," he says. Bush says that to consider any withdrawals of American troops would be a grave mistake, and that by increasing the number of troops in Iraq now, conditions will improve to a point at which troops can be withdrawn. "To step back now would force a collapse of the Iraqi government," he says. "Such a scenario would result in our troops being forced to stay in Iraq even longer, and confront an enemy that is even more lethal. If we increase our support at this crucial moment, and help the Iraqis break the current cycle of violence, we can hasten the day our troops begin coming home." Bush also commits the Iraqi government to meeting a series of "benchmarks," tangible indicators of progress being made, that include adding a further 8,000 Iraqi troops and police officers in Baghdad, passage of long-delayed legislation to share oil revenues among Iraq's ethnic groups, and a $10 billion jobs and reconstruction program, to be financed by the Iraqis. Bush aides insist that the new strategy is largely the conception of the Iraqi government, with only limited input from US planners. If successful, he says, the results will be a "functioning democracy" that "fights terrorists instead of harboring them." (Sanger 1/10/2007; Karl 1/10/2007; White House 1/10/2007) While no one is sure how much the new policies will cost, Bush is expected to demand "billions" from Congress to fund his new escalation in the weeks ahead. (Marketwatch 1/5/2005)
'New Way Forward' - The surge has a new marketing moniker, the "New Way Forward." Some believe that the surge is more for political and public relations purposes than any real military effectiveness. "Clearly the deteriorating situation in Iraq is the overall background," says political scientist Ole Holsti. The changes may indicate "they are looking for new bodies bringing fresh thinking…or you may have a kind of public-relations aspect," to show Bush's change in course is "more than just words." (Wolfson 1/5/2007; USA Today 1/5/2007)
Surge Already Underway - Interestingly, while Bush announces the "new" strategy of escalating the US presence in Iraq tonight, the escalation is already well underway. 90 advance troops from the Army's 82nd Airborne are already in Baghdad, and another 800 from the same division are en route. The escalation will necessitate additional call-ups from the National Guard as well as additional reactivation of troops who have already toured Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, the naval group spearheaded by the aircraft carrier USS Stennis will shortly be en route to the Persian Gulf. Whether the new plan will work is anyone's guess, say military commanders in Iraq. The escalation will take several months to implement and longer to see tangible results. One military official says, "We don't know if this will work, but we do know the old way was failing."
Contradicting Previous Assertions - In announcing the surge, Bush contradicts the position he has asserted since the March 2003 invasion—that military commanders were determining the direction of the war effort. Bush has repeatedly spoken of his disdain for micromanaging the war effort, and has said that he won't second-guess his commanders. "It's important to trust the judgment of the military when they're making military plans," he said in December 2006. "I'm a strict adherer to the command structure." However, Bush balked at following the advice of many top military officials and generals, who have recommended a gradual drawdown in troop strengths, and in recent weeks replaced several top military officials who expressed doubts about the need or efficacy of new troop deployments in Iraq (see January 5, 2007). Instead, Bush believes the escalation will alleviate the drastically deteriorating security situation in Iraq. According to Pentagon officials, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who oppose the surge, have agreed to support it only grudgingly, and only because Bush officials have promised a renewed diplomatic and political effort to go along with the escalation. Outgoing Central Command chief General John Abizaid said in November that further troop increases were not a viable answer to the Iraq situation, and in their November 30 meeting, Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki did not ask Bush for more troops, instead indicating that he wanted Iraqi troops to take a higher profile. Viewpoints differ on Bush's interaction with his commanders up to this point—some have seen him as too passive with the generals and military advisers, allowing them almost free rein in Iraq, while others see him as asserting himself by forcing the retirements or reassignments of generals who disagree with his policies.
Rebuffing the ISG - Many observers believe the surge is a backhanded rebuff to the Iraq Study Group (see January 10, 2007).
Surge Plan Concocted at Right-Wing Think Tank - Interestingly, the surge plan itself comes largely from neoconservative planners at the American Enterprise Institute (see January 2007).
Long-Term Ramifications - The Joint Chiefs worry that a troop escalation will set up the US military for an even larger failure, without having any backup options. The Iraqis will not deliver the troops necessary for their own security efforts, they believe, and worry that US troops will end up fighting in what amounts to a political vacuum unless Bush comes up with a plan for dramatic political and economic changes to go along with the military effort. A surge could lead to increased attacks by Iraqi al-Qaeda fighters, open the troops up to more attacks by Sunni insurgents, and fuel the jihadist appeal for more foreign fighters to battle US forces in Iraq. And the escalation's short-term conception—to last no more than six to eight months—might well play into the plans of Iraq's armed factions by allowing them to "game out" the new strategy. The JCS also wonder just where Bush will find the troops for the surge. Frederick Kagan, one of the architects of the surge plan, and Republican presidential candidate John McCain want far more than 20,000 troops, but the Joint Chiefs say that they can muster 20,000 at best, and not all at once. Rumsfeld's replacement, Robert Gates, played a key role in convincing the Joint Chiefs to support the escalation. The biggest selling point of the escalation is the White House's belief that it will portray the administration as visibly and dramatically taking action in Iraq, and will help create conditions that will eventually allow for a gradual withdrawal of US troops: Bush says, "[W]e have to go up before we go down." (Abramowitz, Wright, and Ricks 1/10/2007)
Cofer Black, former chief of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center, is named a senior adviser for counterterrorism and national security issues in the presidential campaign of Republican Mitt Romney. Black will also be named chairman of the campaign's counterterrorism policy advisory group in September. According to the Boston Globe, "some observers" will say that Black has significant influence on Romney's campaign, as Romney says he wants to double the size of Guantanamo Bay, endorses tough interrogation techniques, praises the Patriot Act, and supports some aggressive surveillance policies. According to the Globe, "many people in the national security field expect that Black would play a leading role in a Romney presidency, making Black a potentially pivotal figure for a former governor with little foreign policy and counterterrorism experience." (Levenson 11/2/2007)
Seven weeks after Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates calling for Congressional briefings on Pentagon plans to withdraw troops from Iraq or explanations as to why those plans do not exist (see May 23, 2007), Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman responds to Clinton in a letter of his own. After giving a brief overview of the current military and political situation in Iraq, Edelman says: "Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia.…[S]uch talk understandably unnerves the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume enormous personal risks." (US Department of Defense 7/16/2007 ) Some observers are surprised by Edelman's language as Clinton is not only a senator, but a member of the Armed Services Committee. The New York Times's Kate Phillips terms the letter "a stunning rocket." (Phillips 7/19/2007) The letter also directly contradicts Gates, who said earlier that the Senate debate on withdrawing from Iraq was "helpful in bringing pressure" on the Iraqi government to work towards peace and unity (see March 30, 2007).
'Impugning the Patriotism of Any of Us Who Raise Questions' - Clinton fires back four days later, accusing Edelman of dodging her questions. Instead, she says, Edelman "made spurious arguments to avoid addressing contingency planning.… Undersecretary Edelman has his priorities backward." (USA Today 7/20/2007) Edelman, Clinton says, is "impugning the patriotism of any of us who raise serious questions." (Dorr 8/6/2007) Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines says, "We sent a serious letter to the secretary of defense, and unacceptably got a political response back." Clinton again asks for a briefing on end-of-war planning, classified if necessary. Edelman does imply that the Pentagon is formulating such plans in his letter, but says that the Pentagon will not divulge any such planned operations. (USA Today 7/20/2007)
Democrats Defend Clinton - Fellow Democratic senator John Kerry joins in criticizing Edelman's response. "This administration reminds us every day that they will say anything, do anything, and twist any truth to avoid accountability," Kerry says in a statement. (US Senate 7/19/2007) Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton, calls Edelman "one of the more ideological holdovers" in the Defense Department from President Bush's first term in office. Edelman, who replaced Douglas Feith in the Pentagon, is a former national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney. (Think Progress 7/22/2007)
Conservatives Weigh In - On the other side, conservative blogger and Fox News pundit Michelle Malkin asks rhetorically, "Wasn't this a case of Hillary putting on her little imaginary four stars on her sleeve and playing armchair general?" (Media Matters 7/23/2007) But an Army Times writer, Air Force veteran Robert Dorr, calls Edelman's letter "disrespectful" and writes: "No matter what you think of the war or of Clinton, Edelman's response was unusually harsh. Senators hold their jobs because people voted for them. Appointees such as Edelman, who weren't elected by anyone (and in the case of Edelman, received a recess appointment and wasn't confirmed by the Senate), should be responsive to lawmakers' concerns." (Dorr 8/6/2007)
Neoconservatives form a new think tank to rehabilitate their image and regain some of the influence they had under the Bush administration, according to news reports. The Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) is headed by Weekly Standard publisher William Kristol, foreign policy consultant Robert Kagan, and former Bush administration official Dan Senor. Its first activity will be to sponsor a March 31 conference (see March 31, 2009) pushing for a US "surge" in Afghanistan similar to the one Kagan helped plan for Iraq (see January 2007).
Successor to PNAC - Many see the FPI as the logical successor to Kristol and Kagan's previous neoconservative organization, the now-defunct Project for the New American Century (PNAC—see January 26, 1998). PNAC's membership roll included many prominent Bush administration officials, including then-Vice President Dick Cheney and the Defense Department's top two officials, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz.
Employees - Information about FPI's creation is initially sketchy, with the organization deliberately avoiding media attention. Two of its three listed staff members, Jamie Fly and Christian Whiton, are former Bush administration officials, while the third, Rachel Hoff, last worked for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Mission Statement; Conflict with China, Russia - FPI's mission statement says that the "United States remains the world's indispensable nation," and warns that "strategic overreach is not the problem and retrenchment is not the solution" to Washington's current financial and strategic woes. It calls for "continued engagement—diplomatic, economic, and military—in the world and rejection of policies that would lead us down the path to isolationism." The statement lists a number of threats to US security, including "rogue states," "failed states," "autocracies," and "terrorism," but focuses primarily on the "challenges" posed by "rising and resurgent powers," of which only China and Russia are named. Kagan has argued that the 21st century will be dominated by an apocalyptic struggle between the forces of democracy, led by the US, and the forces of autocracy, led by China and Russia. He has called for the establishment of a League of Democracies to oppose China and Russia; the FPI statement stresses the need for "robust support for America's democratic allies." Apparently, confrontation with China and Russia will be the centerpiece of FPI's foreign policy stance, a similar position to that taken by the Bush administration before the 9/11 attacks.
Reactions to New Think Tank - Steven Clemons of the New America Foundation says: "This reminds me of the Project for the New American Century. Like PNAC, it will become a watering hole for those who want to see an ever-larger US military machine and who divide the world between those who side with right and might and those who are evil or who would appease evil." Reporters Daniel Luban and Jim Lobe write, "[T]he formation of FPI may be a sign that its founders hope once again to incubate a more aggressive foreign policy during their exile from the White House, in preparation for the next time they return to political power." (Luban and Lobe 3/25/2009)
Journalist Ari Berman, of the liberal magazine The Nation, writes that presumptive Republican presidential Mitt Romney (R-MA) seems to be relying on a large number of neoconservatives to help him formulate his foreign policy stance for the election. Berman believes it is safe to assume that Romney will appoint many of his neoconservative advisors to powerful positions in his administration should he win the November election. Berman writes: "Given Romney's well-established penchant for flip-flopping and opportunism, it's difficult to know what he really believes on any issue, including foreign affairs (the campaign did not respond to a request for comment). But a comprehensive review of his statements during the primary and his choice of advisers suggests a return to the hawkish, unilateral interventionism of the George W. Bush administration should he win the White House in November." Conservative Christian leader Richard Land has said that Romney could shore up his sagging credibility with conservatives by "pre-naming" some key Cabinet selections: former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) as Attorney General, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) as US ambassador to the United Nations, and former State Department official John Bolton as Secretary of State. Berman calls the prospect of those appointments "terrifying" and "more plausible than one might think." Neoconservative blogger Jennifer Rubin recently wrote for the Washington Post that "[m]any conservatives hope" Bolton will accept "a senior national security post in a Romney administration." For his point, Bolton has endorsed Romney, and has campaigned on his behalf. Romney is not well versed in foreign policy affairs, Berman writes, noting that in 2008 the presidential campaign of John McCain (R-AZ) found that at the time "Romney's foreign affairs resume is extremely thin, leading to credibility problems." Romney suffered the criticism of being "too liberal" in 2008, and in 2011-12 attempted to refute that criticism by publicly aligning himself with Bolton and other neoconservatives. Brian Katulis of the liberal Center for American Progress has said, "When you read the op-eds and listen to the speeches, it sounds like Romney's listening to the John Bolton types more than anyone else." (Rucker 3/13/2012; Berman 5/21/2012)
The Project for the New American Century - Bolton and seven other Romney advisors are signers of a letter drafted by the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), an influential neoconservative advocacy group (see June 3, 1997 and September 2000) that urged both the Clinton and Bush administrations to attack Iraq (see January 26, 1998, February 19, 1998 and May 29, 1998). (The PNAC is defunct, but was replaced by a similar advocacy group, the Foreign Policy Initiative, or FPI—see Before March 25, 2009). PNAC co-founder Eliot Cohen, who served as counsel for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from 2007-2009, wrote the foreward to Romney's foreign policy white paper, entitled "An American Century." Cohen has called the war on terror "World War IV" (see November 20, 2001), and helped push the Bush administration into going to war with Iraq after the 9/11 bombings. In 2009, Cohen reiterated his 2001 call for the US to overthrow the government of Iran (see November 20, 2001). Another PNAC co-founder, FPI's Robert Kagan, a longtime advocate for widespread war in the Middle East (see October 29, 2001), helped Romney formulate his foreign policy. Romney's foreign policy stance is based largely on negative attacks on the Obama administration, which it accuses of kowtowing to foreign governments, and a massive military buildup. (Rubin 10/9/2011; Berman 5/21/2012)
Bush Administration Officials' Involvement - Many former Bush administration officials are involved with Romney's foreign policy. Robert G. Joseph, a former National Security Council official who is primarily responsible for having then-President Bush claim that Iraq had tried to buy enriched uranium from Niger (see January 26 or 27, 2003), former Bush administration spokesman and FPI founder Dan Senor (see October 2, 2005), and former Defense Department official Eric Edelman (see July 16-20, 2007) are prominent members of Romney's advisory team. Preble says of Romney's foreign policy advisors: "I can't name a single Romney foreign policy adviser who believes the Iraq War was a mistake. Two-thirds of the American people do believe the Iraq War was a mistake. So he has willingly chosen to align himself with that one-third of the population right out of the gate." Edelman, like others on the Romney team, believes that the US should attack Iran, a position Romney himself apparently holds. Senor serves as a conduit between the Romney campaign and Israel's far right, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Recently, Senor posted the following on Twitter: "Mitt-Bibi will be the new Reagan-Thatcher." Lawrence Wilkerson, the chief of staff for then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, has said the Republican Party "has not a clue" how to extricate the US from its "state of interminable war," and apparently little appetite for such extrication. "In fact, they want to deepen it, widen it and go further, on Chinese and Japanese dollars." The influence of far-right neoconservatives "astonishe[s]" Wilkerson. Christopher Preble, a foreign policy expert for the Cato Institute, says that neoconservatives have remained influential even after the Iraq debacle because they have rewritten history. "They've crafted this narrative around the surge (see January 10, 2007), claiming Iraq was, in fact, a success. They've ridden that ever since."
Huge Spending Increases for Defense, Possible Recession - If Romney follows his current statements, a Romney administration under the tutelage of his neoconservative advisors would usher in a new era of massive defense spending increases. He advocates spending a minimum of 4 percent of the nation's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to increase spending on defense, which would increase the Pentagon's budget by over $200 billion in 2016. That is 38% more than the Obama administration plans to spend on defense. Romney would pay for that increase with severe cuts in domestic spending. Fiscal Times columnist Merrill Goozner has written: "Romney's proposal to embark on a second straight decade of escalating military spending would be the first time in American history that war preparation and defense spending had increased as a share of overall economic activity for such an extended period. When coupled with the 20 percent cut in taxes he promises, it would require shrinking domestic spending to levels not seen since the Great Depression—before programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid began." Goozner wrote that Romney's spending plan "would likely throw the US economy back into recession." The proposed huge spending increases are in part the product of the Defending Defense coalition, a joint project of the FPI, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and the Heritage Foundation. (Goozner 3/7/2012; Berman 5/21/2012)
Cofer Black and Enhanced National Security - Romney's counterterrorism advisor is J. Cofer Black, a former CIA operative and Bush-era security official. Black presented a plan to invade Afghanistan two days after the 9/11 attacks, and claimed that al-Qaeda could be defeated and the world made secure from terrorism in a matter of weeks (see September 13, 2001). Black was fired from the CIA in 2002 for publicly criticizing the Bush administration's failure to capture or kill Osama bin Laden (see May 17, 2002). In 2005, Black became a senior official for the private mercenary firm Blackwater (see February 2005). He has been a Romney advisor since 2007 (see April 2007). Black advised Romney not to consider waterboarding as torture, and has touted his CIA experience with that agency's illegal "extraordinary rendition" program, which sent prisoners to foreign countries for abuse and torture. Romney relies on Black for security assessments of security assessments of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt and Iran, including Iran's nuclear program. Preble says, "Romney's likely to be in the mold of George W. Bush when it comes to foreign policy if he were elected." Berman writes that "[o]n some key issues, like Iran, Romney and his team are to the right of Bush." Berman goes on to write that if Romney adheres to his statements on the campaign trail, "a Romney presidency would move toward war against Iran; closely align Washington with the Israeli right; leave troops in Afghanistan at least until 2014 and refuse to negotiate with the Taliban; reset the Obama administration's 'reset' with Russia; and pursue a Reagan-like military buildup at home."
Moderates Sidelined - The moderates on Romney's team have been shunted aside in favor of the hardliners. Mitchell Reiss, Romney's principal foreign policy advisor in 2008 and a former State Department official under Powell, no longer enjoys favored access to the candidate. In December 2011 Romney publicly contradicted Reiss's advocacy of US negotiations with the Taliban, instead advocating the total military defeat of the Taliban and criticizing the Obama administration's plan to "draw down" US troops from Afghanistan. Vice President Joseph Biden has said that Romney and his neoconservative advisors "see the world through a cold war prism that is totally out of touch with the realities of the twenty-first century." Romney began tacking to the right during the early days of the Republican primaries, aligning himself with candidates such as Gingrich, Herman Cain (R-GA), and Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and away from moderate candidate Jon Huntsman (R-UT) and isolationist candidate Ron Paul (R-TX). Heather Hurlburt of the centrist National Security Network says: "The foreign policy experts who represent old-school, small-c conservatism and internationalism have been pushed out of the party. Who in the Republican Party still listens to Brent Scowcroft?" (see October 2004). Wilkerson says moderate conservatives such as Powell and Scowcroft are "very worried about their ability to restore moderation and sobriety to the party's foreign and domestic policies." Berman writes, "In 2012 Obama is running as Bush 41 and Romney as Bush 43." (Berman 5/21/2012)
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This time around they have, however, resulting in some sexy Ragnaros-styled armor, a new non-legendary version of his mace, Sulfuros, and a druid staff that drops off one of raid's other bosses that transforms the wielder into a molten cat.
The new dungeon even boasts three new mounts; one for competing all of the raid achievements, one random drop, and a special mount that drops every time Ragnaros fails. Just don't expect him to be a pushover this time around. Judging by Stockton's laughter at my suggestion, 25 frost mages isn't going to cut it.
I might want that. Just a little bit.


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Boba Fett just got a little cooler. USA Today reports today that the Jolie-Pitt family had a Star Wars Halloween this year, with Maddox (6) going as Boba Fett and Brad as a stormtrooper.
USATODAY.com has the story:
Rather, Star Wars and furry animals seem to be all the rage in the Jolie-Pitt home, as evidenced by last week's Halloween costume selections. Said Jolie: "We were Boba Fett (Maddox, 6). My littlest daughter (Shiloh, 17 months), we couldn't figure out if she was a bunny or a monkey, so she was a 'bunkey.' My 2-year-old (Zahara) was a bunny, and my 3-year-old (Pax) was a monkey. I was Curious George and Daddy (Pitt) was a Stormtrooper."


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Kitty Thomas
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Dog food reviews
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Naturapet Innova Reduced Fat Adult (archived)
Date of last review
Thu December 27, 2007
Recommended By
Average Price
Average Rating
100% of reviewers
None indicated
None indicated
Feeding guideline:
A 50lb dog should be fed 2.5 Cups - 277.75 g, 1,069.33 Kcal/day
Calorie Content:
3,850 kcal/kg (112 g = 1 cup)
433 kcal/cup (3.95 oz = 1 cup)
Turkey, chicken, barley, brown rice, potatoes, rice, chicken meal, pea fiber, herring meal, chicken fat, flaxseed meal, natural flavors, apples, carrots, cottage cheese, sunflower oil, alfalfa sprouts, egg, garlic, dicalcium phophate, potassium chloride, chicory root extract, direct-fed microbials, L-cartinine, lecithin, rosemary extract, vitamins/minerals
Crude Protein (min) 18 %
Crude Fat (min) 8 %
Crude Fat (max) 8.5 %
Crude Fiber (max) 5 %
Moisture (max) 10 %
Linoleic Acid (Omega-6 Fatty Acid) (min) 1.58 %
Vitamin E (min) 1000 IU/kg
Vitamin C (min) 500 mg/kg
Total Microorganisms (min) 90,000,000 CFU/lb
Typical analysis:
Moisture 7.5 %
Protein 18.77 %
Fat 8.2 %
Linoleic Acid 1.58 %
Omega 3 0.6 %
Carbohydrates 55.38 %
Fiber 4.91 %
Ash 5.24 %
Calcium 0.86 %
Phosphorous 0.72 %
Magnesium 0.13 %
Sodium 0.13 %
Potassium 0.6 %
Chloride 0.34 %
Iron 171 mg/kg
Zinc 251 mg/kg
Copper 17 mg/kg
Iodine 2.5 mg/kg
Manganese 56 mg/kg
Selenium 0.38 mg/kg
Arginine 1.27 %
Histidine 0.37 %
Isoleucine 0.66 %
Leucine 1.06 %
Lysine 1.11 %
Methionine 0.4 %
Met-Cysteine 0.62 %
Phenylalanine 0.74 %
Phe-Tyrosine 1.27 %
Threonine 0.68 %
Tryptophan 0.19 %
Valine 0.83 %
Taurine 0.05 mg/kg
Choline 1947 mg/kg
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) 5.67 mg/kg
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) 6.65 mg/kg
Vitamin B3 (Niacin) 53 mg/kg
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) 4.97 mg/kg
Folic Acid 19.49 mg/kg
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid) 22 mg/kg
Biotin 1.68 mg/kg
Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin) 62 ug/kg
Vitamin A 21279 IU/kg
Vitamin C 90 mg/kg
Vitamin D 2102 IU/kg
Vitamin E 1250 IU/kg
Vitamin K 304 ug/kg
ME 3850 kcal/kg
Nutritional statement:
Animal Feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate that Innova Reduced Fat Adult Dog Food provides complete and balanced nutrition for maintenance.
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Registered: October 2005
Posts: 3953
Review Date:
Thu December 27, 2007
Would you recommend the product?
| Price you paid?:
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| Rating:
First two ingredients are named meat products
Inadequate meat content
The first two ingredients in this food are named meat products but are inclusive of water content (around 80%). Once this is removed as it must be to create a dehydrated product, the ingredients will weigh about 20% of their wet weight. As ingredients are listed in weight order, it is thus unlikely that these are truely the first and third ingredients in the food, but would be more accurately placed further down the ingredient list. The seventh ingredient, chicken meal, is most likely the true first meat ingredient in the food, followed by herring meal 9th on the ingredient list.
The third, fourth and sixth ingredients are grains. Barley and oats are decent quality grains and good carbohydrate sources. Potatoes are further carbohydrates and starch. Pea fiber is primarily filler. This food appears rather heavy in grains and light in meat content.
The food does contain a range of fruits/vegetables and probiotics. We appreciate the inclusion of whole eggs. Overall, the food does use primarily good quality ingredients, but suffers a great deal in low meat content. It has been rated 4* on ingredient quality, but we would suggest it be supplemented with meat.
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Like most geeks, I watched with great anticipation as the iPad was unveiled yesterday. In my case, it was from liveblogs monitored on spotty 3G and WiFi access at the Jfokus after-conference event. I'm reasonably impressed with the device, especially the $500 price point on the low end. But after giving it some thought, I have a few good reasons to wait on purchasing one. Here's five I came up with:
- Wait for the next generation. Never, ever buy the first generation of a device this new and this complex. Doubly so for anything the Apple hype machine is pimping. First-gen devices are always at least a little bit tweaky, and Apple has proven repeatedly that their first-gen devices are overpriced, underpowered, and replaced by something better in 4-6 months.
- Wait for competitors to answer. Sure, there have been other tablets and "slates" announced over the past year, but the iPad has moved the bar. Given the number of competing vendors, the availability of viable tablet options like Windows 7 and Android (or Chrome OS), and the ever-present iControl and iLock-in associated with all things Apple, you can bet there's going to be a bunch of competitive options during 2010.
- Wait for everyone else to buy it. Yeah, this one is painful, but think about all the suckers that bought the iPhone right when it came out. You'll spend a couple months as a temporary luddite, ridiculed by your peers. And then you'll get a better device for cheaper and have the last laugh. I mean, isn't half the joy of the iPad in having the bigger iPenis? You can hold off for a while.
- Wait for crackers to bust it wide open. Nobody's happy that the iPhone is a closed platform, nor are they happy that the App Store is so sketchy at approving applications. So why not wait and see what the busy iPhone hackers can do with an iPad before diving it? Chances are it will be a far better laptop replacement once they get ahold of it.
- Wait because you don't actually need it. It can't replace your phone. It can't replace your laptop. It can't replace your 50" LCD TV. Seriously now...what do you need it for?


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By Karin Calloway
Related Menus
Cucumber-Peanut Salad
One of my favorite Thai appetizers is the fried curried fish balls called Thot-Mun. While they're a bit of trouble for the home cook, the delicious cucumber salad that usually accompanies them is part of my enjoyment of the dish, and I often let it stand alone as a delicious salad course for a Thai dinner party.
The salad begins with simple syrup made of vinegar and light brown sugar. The combination is simmered up, then allowed to cool before being tossed with thinly sliced cucumber, hot chiles, peanuts and fresh herbs.
The salad dressing can be made a day ahead, and the cucumber can be sliced and chilled early in the day of your party. Combine the dressing and other ingredients just before serving, though, for the crispest salad that retains the true flavors of the herbs. The salad also makes a delicious bed for seared sashimi-grade tuna or sake-poached sea bass or halibut.
Slice cucumber into very thin slices. Place cucumbers in a bowl with chilies, peanuts and herbs. Pour the dressing over the top and mix gently.
Makes 6 servings.
*If using pickling cucumbers, slice in half lengthwise and remove the seeds before slicing. If using standard grocery store cucumbers, peel first, then slice and remove the seeds.


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Ugly, ugly info coming in. Read here from nationalfootballpost.com. Brad Biggs says that Finley's injury may put him out for the season. Brother Steve indicates that Fox 11 in Green Bay is also reporting this. And now, Bedard at jsonline who initially had a more optimistic read on the news this morning, is indicating Finley is looking at, at the least, 8-10 weeks of recovery – making it a tough decision for the team w/re to placing him on IR. Ugh. Anyway you look at it, this sucks.
I realize it's highly doubtful that we'll leave a roster spot open for a guy whose recovery is expected to be at least 8-10 weeks, but frankly, I'm annoyed by the thought that we'll probably end up filling Finley's roster spot with an undrafted free agent who is presently working at a factory (assuming TT won't trade for someone, which would be the only way to acquire quality right now). But with all the other injuries and needs for guys on special teams etc, my guess is that Finley's done for the year.
Just a nasty situation. The guy is very good but staying healthy already seems like a problem for him in his young career.
One thought on all these injuries – in the next 4-5 weeks, I think we may get a better sense for how good McCarthy, Capers and TT are at their respective jobs. In tough times, we look to leadership – it's an opportunity now for them.


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I'm in a giving mood….blame the good weather.
Anyway, I thought I'd divulge a few of the things that have been making my life more fun as of late. First up, time to get a little Beaut.ie on yisser arses:
I have discovered two new beauty products that have made my life a lot easier. First up is the Bourjois 1 Second Fan Effect Brush nail polish. No more waving my hands about like a muppet to get my nails dry (and then, per sod's law, getting them fucking well smudged on something): this stuff works in record time. And you literally need to use one stroke of the brush…hell, a cracked-out chimp could do her nails with this gear. The first time I got introduced to it in fact, I had several Martinis taken and used it with one eye closed. And you know what? I looked like I'd gotten a frickin' manicure. In the middle of Solas.
I've also been curious about getting eyelash extensions, but now I don't need to, thanks to the L'Oreal Double Extension Beauty Tubes Mascara. Seriously, it makes your lashes hit your bloody eyebrows. Plus, there are no smudges, at all at all. I woke up one morning with the full face of make-up on and a rather handsome young specimen there next to me. Initially, I panicked, thinking that the poor chap would be a little freaked to see me in my grizzled panda-eyed state, but no…the lashes stayed put. Even if he didn't.
Right, onto the music recommendations before the boys start to doze off.
I, along with about 30 others, went to see a rather lovely band last night called A Sunny Day In Glasgow, who are in fact from Philadelphia. I'm a sucker for twee, shoegaze, lo-fi indie and this lot really did it for me. Those fabulous folk at Foggy Notions really have an ear for a brilliant, obscure act, and have brought some fantastic, lesser-known luminaries to Ireland in the last year. It was a criminally short set, and the vocals sounded fairly manky in a live setting, but on record ASDIG are really rather incredible. Think the shimmery, glazed dreaminess of Cocteau Twins or Velocity Girl mixed with something a little more robust like Superchunk or Drop Nineteens. A match made in heaven if you ask me. And yes, I did leave my heart in 1995.
Sure give this ASDIG song a lash:
A few nights ago, I dropped in on Honoria for a sociable cup of tea, which then of course turned into an impromptu, 8-hour Sauvignon bender. That lass is such a feeder!! Anyway, we ended up yanking out old records at 4am (profuse apologies, Penny's neighbours) and found a long forgotten gem from Rollerskate Skinny entitled Shoulder Voices. And, having not heard this lovely album in well over a decade…well, it was simply the nicest shock you could get. If you haven't yet had the pleasure of hearing the sadly defunct Rollerskate Skinny, take a gander at this (and pay no mind to their ridiculously charmless singer, the albums really are worth a listen):
Another of my favourite defunct bands is Swirlies, who created one of the best shoegaze albums ever, in my mind. You can download their albums here, legally and for free. Start with They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days, and see how you go. And don't say I never give youse nothing.
Or if you don't fancy doing all that, just listen to this:
What with the renewed interest in My Bloody Valentine, I am optimistic that shoegazing will make a comeback. Oh happy feckin' day.
For purposes of gainful employment, I had been working with a lot of music since very recently, and I admit, dear reader, that I became so jaded and sated with music that couldn't bear to listen to anything new. But I am finally coming out of hibernation and am finally able to stomach the sound of a decent album again. In fact, I have been monstrously excited by albums from Beirut, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear.
So if anyone has any music recommendations along those lines, please lob 'em on over. At this moment in time, I like my music like I like my men; woodsy, earthy, robust, sincere, a little bit dark…and with a kink.


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A May 2011 study has already changed what I tell parents about nonfat milk. Commonly, parents are counseled to switch their children from whole milk to low fat or nonfat milk by age 2 or 3, in an effort to reduce calories, reduce fat, and reduce the risk of obesity.
For years my take has been that if a child is drinking organic milk from cows grazing on pasture, and the child is otherwise eating healthy amounts of good food, then why not stick with whole milk – closer to the way it appears in nature? But if the child is already getting too many calories or too much fat in the diet already, then switching to nonfat dairy may be one of the easiest ways to cut out excess calories. Was I wrong?
Learn from Diet Soda
One would think that switching from full-calorie soda to diet soda would drop calories and weight, but some studies suggest that the artificial sweetness triggers people to make up those calories in other ways. Could the same thing be true for milk?
Putting it to the Test
Researchers studied 145 children, half who remained on whole fat dairy foods and half who switched to reduced-fat dairy foods. At the end of six months the investigators compared the BMI, waist size, calories consumed, foods consumed, and blood cholesterol of the two groups.
The two groups ate the same amount of calories overalll, both at the beginning and at the end. The low fat group did reduce their fat intake and their dairy calories, but made up for this by eating more carbs (not necessarily a better choice).
There was no difference in waist size or in BMI between the two groups.
Hendrie GA, Golley, RK. "Changing from regular-fat to low-fat dairy foods reduces saturated fat intake but not energy intake in 4-13 year old children." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. May 2011; 93(5):1117-1127.