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Guests: Michael Smerconish, Hampton Dellinger, Hampton Pearson, Howard Fineman, Chris Cillizza, Eric Bates, Joe Conason, Melinda Henneberger, Jon Ralston, Maggie Haberman
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Honeymoon in Vegas.
Let`s play HARDBALL.
I`m Chris Matthews down in Dallas. Let me start with the biggest
question of this campaign so far. Is there any level to which Mitt Romney
will not descend, any level he will not take himself to in order to
scrounge for, as he puts it, the 51 -- or the 50.1 percent of the vote he
needs to win?
And the answer is, Just watch. He went down for Grover Norquist on
tax policy, down to the "always got to have a war" crowd on foreign policy,
down to the religious right on their "We know best" to-do list, and now
he`s gone to the lowest level of American politics, the crud at the very
bottom, nativism, know nothingism.
I`m talking about the scum of birtherism and its grand pooh-bah
himself. Tonight, we talk about Mitt Romney`s latest evidence that Mr. 1
Percent will do anything, promise anything to beat 50 percent.
Jon Ralston`s a columnist for "The Las Vegas Sun" and Howard Fineman
is an MSNBC political analyst , as well as editorial director for the
Huffington Post Media Group.
Let`s start with this -- George Will. This Sunday on ABC, George Will
questioned what Mitt Romney has to gain by associating himself with Donald
Trump. Let`s watch Will in action.
GEORGE WILL, ABC "THIS WEEK": I do not understand the cost-benefit
here. The costs are clear. The benefits -- what voter is going to vote
for him because he`s seen with Donald Trump? The cost of appearing with
this bloviating ignoramus...
WILL: ... is obvious, it seems to me. Donald Trump -- it is
redundant evidence that if your net worth is high enough, your IQ can be
very low and you can still intrude into American politics.
MATTHEWS: Well, this morning on CNBC`s "SQUAWK BOX," Donald Trump
again wouldn`t back off the birther issue, the same day he plans on holding
a fundraiser today for Mitt Romney out in Vegas. Let`s listen.
DONALD TRUMP, TRUMP ORGANIZATION (via telephone): I walk down the
street, and people are screaming, Please don`t give that up! Look, a
publisher came out last week and had a statement about Obama given to them
by Obama when he was doing a book as a young man a number of years ago, in
the `90s, born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia! I mean, this was a
statement. This was from Obama.
Now, amazingly, the publishers -- Oh, we made a mistake. I don`t
think life works that way. Now, is it the most important thing? In a way,
it is because, you know, you`re not allowed to be president if you`re not
born in the country. But let`s see what happens.
So I`m not fanning flames. This is something that came out last week.
A lot of people are questioning his birth certificate. They`re questioning
the authenticity of his birth certificate.
I`ve been known as being a very smart guy for a long time. I don`t
consider myself birther or not birther. But there are some major questions
here, and the press doesn`t want to cover it.
MATTHEWS: Well, just to correct Mr. Trump on this fact, the literary
assistant he talked about who wrote that copy said not only was the Kenya
reference her mistake but that Barack Obama never once gave the publisher
any materials or background that would imply he was born in Kenya. So so
much for that summation of the facts by Donald Trump.
Let`s take a look at what happened just a few moments ago, earlier
this -- actually, late this afternoon, on CNN with Wolf Blitzer.
TRUMP (via telephone): You know what? Everybody`s entitled to their
opinion, Wolf. You know my opinion. You know his opinion. And that`s
fine. We`re entitled -- as he said yesterday in the airplane, we`re all
entitled to our opinions. And he`s entitled to his opinion, and I think
that`s wonderful. I don`t happen to share that opinion, and that`s
wonderful also.
I think if you look at the birth certificate, take a look, and you
tell me, really -- you analyze the birth certificate -- there are many
people that don`t agree with that birth certificate. They don`t think it`s
authentic, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": I don`t know, when you say
many people don`t agree...
TRUMP: Many people.
BLITZER: Like who?
TRUMP: There are many people.
BLITZER: Give me -- give me a name of somebody...
TRUMP: There are many people...
BLITZER: ... in a position of authority in Hawaii who says...
TRUMP: ... that do not believe...
BLITZER: Well, give me a name.
TRUMP: There are many people -- I don`t give names. There are many
people that do not believe that birth certificate is authentic.
MATTHEWS: Howard Fineman, my friend, there you have an example of the
brilliance, if you want to call it that, of Donald Trump, the ability to
spin this story endlessly, going into transcripts and going into references
by assistant PR people at publishing houses, anything to keep this thing
alive. And then when pressed on it by a good reporter like Wolf, he can`t
answer the question. But it doesn`t bother him because he simply
establishes a new commandment a la Trump, which is I don`t name names.
Well, Chris, I`m actually...
MATTHEWS: What can you say? Romney is in bed with this guy. Why is
Romney pulling up the covers over him and Donald Trump? What`s he up to
here? Why`s he running (ph)?
FINEMAN: Well, first of all, I`m less interested in what Donald Trump
says than in what Mitt Romney doesn`t say, and what, for that matter, John
McCain doesn`t say.
I tried pretty hard today to elicit from either the Romney campaign or
the McCain Senate office their view on the latest about Donald Trump. I
wanted to know from the Romney people whether they thought that the
association, as George Will said, was harmful. No answer.
I wanted to know from the McCain campaign, which is -- who -- McCain -
- McCain`s Senate office, McCain having been used in an Obama ad as the
good senator who rejected this kind of politics four years ago -- I wanted
to know if McCain had anything to say about what was going on in Las Vegas
today. Silence.
So I think the silence from both Romney camp and McCain camp means the
following. They`re willing to let Donald Trump root around in this and say
whatever he wants to bring this topic up or keep the topic alive for those
voters who are going to care about it.
And they exist. They still exist in places around the country and in
swing states like Virginia, like North Carolina, like southern Ohio, and so
forth. I know those people. I went to the early Tea Party rallies in 2009
in my second home state of Kentucky, and for some of those people, this
still matters.
That`s who Donald Trump is speaking to. So Romney will take the money
and keep his distance from Trump. Don`t forget, the last time Mitt Romney
said that Barack Obama was born in the United States, the last time Mitt
Romney said that in public was April of 2011. He hasn`t said it since.
All Romney has said is, you know, people are entitled to their
opinion. So they`re letting Trump go out there and raise this as much as
he, Trump, wants.
MATTHEWS: Yes, all he did was send out his spokesman today to do it,
but he won`t put his lips around it.
FINEMAN: No, no. He won`t say it again.
MATTHEWS: Let me go out to Jon Ralston and -- Jon Ralston, here`s the
thing about why this is so important. So far in this campaign, Mitt Romney
has shown a willingness to go down for just about anybody, the tax nuts
like Norquist -- I shouldn`t say "nuts," ideologues. Let`s be fair --
ideologues. The war hawks, the neocons -- completely with them on Iran.
The Christian right, going down to Liberty University and getting an
honorary degree, whatever that is worth -- all this effort constantly to
woo the constituencies of the right and never say no to anybody.
Now he won`t say no to a birther, to a guy who`s out there trumpeting
this stuff again and again and again, that Obama`s some kind of illegal
alien who was snuck into the country like some international con artists.
He`s saying this about our president so he can reach the racists out there
and the nativists and the known-nothing people.
What`s it -- what`s it sound like to you out in Vegas?
JON RALSTON, POLITICAL COLUMNIST, "LAS VEGAS SUN": Well, Chris, I
think you hit on it. And I think that George Will was being kind and
underplaying by calling him a bloviating ignoramus.
RALSTON: That creates the appearance of a buffoon, which -- which
essentially is what Trump is. But this is the most noxious swill you can
offer up in American politics. As you say, it`s between-the-lines racism.
It`s one thing to genuflect to Grover Norquist and the anti-tax wing
of the Republican Party. It`s quite another thing to stir up the most
insidious feelings in this country. And Howard`s right, there are people
here in this swing state here who will respond to it. There are people
And the real issue here, as Howard points out, is Romney`s silence.
Chris, today on a program on the NBC affiliate here, the most visible
Romney surrogate in this state, the lieutenant governor, Brian Krolicki,
said the following when confronted with Trump`s comments. "He`s larger
than life. He`s an icon. We appreciate his assistance."
MATTHEWS: Well, Howard, the problem is Romney looks like the
apprentice here. He doesn`t look like the boss. He (INAUDIBLE) the guy
who`s on "The Apprentice" on the TV show on NBC, trying to win the support
at any cost of Romney. (SIC)
By the way, here`s Romney telling reporters on his campaign -- let`s
take a look at this latest. Yesterday, Romney told reporters on his
campaign plane that he doesn`t hold the same views as his supporters. Boy,
isn`t this special. Let`s watch.
MITT ROMNEY (R-MA), FMR. GOV., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don`t agree
with all the people who support me and my guess is they don`t all agree
with everything I believe in. But I need to get 50.1 percent or more, and
I`m appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.
MATTHEWS: You know, Howard, he`s basically -- remember what he said
when somebody said, Give me an adjective for yourself, and he said
"resolute" a while back, a few weeks back? And now he`s saying, Just give
me 50.1 percent. He`s basically saying, I`ll do what is necessary.
FINEMAN: Yes. And I think that`s been the case with Mitt Romney all
along, especially in this campaign. I think he resolved after the last
campaign, 2008, which didn`t work out, that he was going to do whatever it
took this time.
And in the early primaries, as we recall, Chris, in Iowa, in New
Hampshire, in South Carolina, in Florida, he used every weapon at his
disposal, including, if not especially, weapons that he didn`t have to hold
the handle of himself but that others used to flatten his opponents.
And that`s what he`s doing here. As I say, the Romney campaign itself
is trying to say, Hey, you know, it`s other people, it`s not us, we want to
focus on the economy. They`re maintaining radio silence about this.
And it`s politics at its roughest in this country. They justify it to
themselves. Mitt Romney, people who know him well, like him personally.
They think he`s a great family guy. When it comes to politics, we have not
seen the limits of what he`s willing to say or not say to get that 50.1
MATTHEWS: The astounding thing here is, to use gambling terminology,
Jon -- and I`ve lost money at the gaming tables, just like a lot of people
who are watching the show have over the years, especially at something
simple like roulette. You know, you go in to the table -- I often thought
about this. Instead of wasting your time working the odds, because the
odds are always against you on the side of the house, go in and put all
your 100 bucks or 1,000 bucks, whatever you have to gamble for the whole
weekend, put it down on red, and if it comes up great, you probably have as
good an odds on that one roll, one spin, and then you walk out.
It seems like this guy, Donald Trump, bet everything he had on the
fact that the birth certificate wouldn`t be there in Honolulu. It wasn`t
going to be there. He comes out, he basically, loses. He ends up with
nothing. He bets red, it comes up black, or the other way around.
And now it doesn`t seem to bother him. This is my proof of Trumpism.
It doesn`t matter whether he`s proven wrong. It has simply to do with this
kind of -- this ability to just be -- just chutzpah, over and over and over
again, just keep saying things, that his transcript doesn`t add up, the guy
had a 3.7 at Columbia. He was magna cum laude. He was head of the Law
Review at Harvard.
But just keep raising these things and saying that there`s people out
there that agree with me. There`s always going to be some clown out there
that just read "The New York Post" or some other right-wing rag and is
going to believe anything they hear, that will believe Trump. And he uses
them as his authorities.
I thought it was great that -- that Wolf said, Name one person. How
would he know the names of the people yelling at him from the other corner?
That`s his expertise. That`s his authority figures. And yet here he is
dancing in his honeymoon with (ph) Vegas with a guy who`s the Republican
nominee! Unbelievable. I don`t know...
RALSTON: Chris...
MATTHEWS: ... to say or what to ask anymore. It`s...
RALSTON: Chris...
MATTHEWS: Is this politics? What is this?
RALSTON: He doesn`t care. He doesn`t care. That`s the issue. He
doesn`t care. He thinks that any publicity is good publicity. He doesn`t
-- he probably came off of that interview with Wolf Blitzer and high-fived
his staff! He thought it was wonderful.
Here`s the issue, though. There are a lot of conservatives today
putting out on Twitter and elsewhere, Oh, this doesn`t matter. People
aren`t going to vote based on Donald Trump. Here`s the issue, though.
Number one, Trump is not just some ordinary Romney supporter he can
distance himself from. He`s not some person holding a sign in a crowd.
He`s a guy raising millions of dollars tonight in Las Vegas...
MATTHEWS: Yes.
RALSTON: ... at a hotel called Trump. Secondly, does anybody in the
universe think this is the last dumb, obnoxious, offensive thing Donald
Trump will say before November? Of course not.
I still believe Romney`s going to have to deal with this at some
FINEMAN: Yes, I think -- I think, Chris, to Jon`s point, that -- I
don`t think Mitt Romney could get rid of Donald Trump if he wanted to
because there would be risks in doing that, in that you don`t know how
Donald Trump will respond when cornered. And of course, Mitt Romney is not
the kind of guy to take that risk.
Not only is he getting money, so he`s getting money from him. He`s
going to raise millions through -- through Donald Trump probably, and
thereby show the other Romney supporters, Hey, Mitt Romney`s willing to
associate with anybody, no problem, so let`s all get in on this thing.
FINEMAN: But if Mitt Romney were, by some stretch of the imagination,
to say to Donald Trump, I don`t want to have anything to do with you
anymore, can you imagine what Donald Trump would do next? It could be
very, very interesting, and Romney doesn`t want to know what that is.
MATTHEWS: Yes. I know. There might be a dead rabbit on the lawn.
MATTHEWS: Anyway, I just want to tell you, that might be -- I will
not be ignored. I think we saw that when Michael Douglas tried that once.
Anyway -- "Fatal Attraction." Anyway, thank you, John Ralston. What
happens in Vegas doesn`t stay in Vegas. Anyway, thank you, Harold Fineman,
as well, my buddy.
FINEMAN: Thank you, Chris.
MATTHEWS: Coming up: The three things the Obama camp -- campaign --
the Obama campaign needs to be worried most about between now and the
reelection, the three biggest worries. We`re going to get to that.
Also, again tonight, our special feature "Dirty Angry Money." By the
way, how right-wing billionaires are trying to put Romney in the White
House so they can have him there. Nice to have him there for you, isn`t
And the jury in the trial of John Edwards tonight remains out. Is
that good news for the once top Democrat?
And "Let Me Finish" where we started, Mitt Romney`s failure to show
some political character.
And this is HARDBALL, the place for politics.
MATTHEWS: Mitt Romney campaigned today in Colorado on his way to Las
Vegas, and we have a new poll out of Colorado that shows a tight race out
there. Let`s check the HARDBALL "Scoreboard."
According to the new poll for the Democrat-leaning Project New
America, President Obama has a 4-point lead over Romney in Colorado, 48
percent to 44 percent. Now to another battleground state, Michigan, and
it`s trending towards Obama. According to a new PPP poll, the president
leads Mitt Romney in Michigan by 14 points now, 53 to 39. Has something to
do with the car industry comeback, don`t you think?
And we`ll be right back.
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL. Even the best run campaigns turn
on the unexpected event or the surefire strategy that backfires. With
that, we decided to look at what may be President Obama`s campaign`s
biggest fear right now, or three fears.
Let`s break it down with "The Washington Post`s" Chris Cillizza, who
writes "The Fix" column and is an MSNBC political analyst, of course, and
Maggie Haberman, who`s senior political writer for Politico.
Let`s take a look at the first one here. You both agree the number
one concern for the Obama campaign -- we all must have known this -- the
economy flatlines. Is that their number one concern when you talk to them,
MAGGIE HABERMAN, POLITICO.COM: Yes, it is. I mean, bar none, the
idea is if the economy stays where it is, the unemployment rate stays where
it is or ticks down a bit, but you know, not much, if it stays in this area
and/or gets worse, this is a major concern between the months of August,
September, October. The feeling is that whatever the president says, he
won`t be heard, it won`t matter, and Mitt Romney will win.
MATTHEWS: OK, let me go to Chris on that. Agreed that if the economy
flattens or even gets worse, it`s just bad news all the way.
CHRIS CILLIZZA, "WASHINGTON POST," MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I
don`t make a policy of disagreeing with Maggie, and she`s totally right,
Chris. I mean, I think that what it is -- what`s fascinating about it,
it`s not just the economy, it`s the timetable by which the Obama team needs
progress of some way of forward movement to be shown.
By September -- let`s say the unemployment rate in September shows
that unemployment has dropped, it`s 7.7 percent. Let`s just throw that out
there, 7.5 percent. You start to get a little too late as you get into
September, October because people make their minds up about the economy is
good or the economy is bad. Again, they make their minds up largely on
perception, as opposed to reality.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
CILLIZZA: But these next few months do really matter, because he
needs -- he, the president, needs to show genuine movement so that they
have an answer to that question that Romney is going to ask from today
until November 6, which is, are you better off today than you were four
years ago?
MATTHEWS: OK. I disagree with -- that`s fine, because I think that
come back to school time, we all go back to school, and the air turns a bit
crisper, the news gets better on the economy.
I think there will be a tremendous euphoria.
MATTHEWS: Anyway, let`s go to the second big concern you both point
to -- and you first here, Chris -- Bain attack by the Obama people fizzles.
You both agree that`s their second biggest worry, this attack on Bain
Capital and Romney`s role in killing jobs or whatever in the steel
industry, et cetera, won`t work.
CILLIZZA: Yes.
I mean, look, Chris, I think it`s gotten a lot of attention and
there`s been a lot of back and forth so far, oh, is it working, is it not
working? In truth, the Obama campaign has not spent all that much money
sort of exploring Mitt Romney`s record at Bain. And so until they do that,
I don`t think we can draw conclusions about whether it`s working or not.
But if it doesn`t work, that is, if people essentially say, look, Mitt
Romney was a businessman, yes, he did some things that weren`t great but he
also did -- he also helped build companies, they buy the Romney argument on
why Bain is good, it just is hard for Obama to make the case, then, because
they have to make this a choice, not a referendum.
MATTHEWS: Right.
CILLIZZA: If it is a choice between what -- an image of Mitt Romney
as a vulture capitalist and Barack Obama as a guy doing the best he can and
looking out for the middle class, Obama probably wins.
If it`s a referendum on how has Barack Obama handled the economy vs.
kind of nondescript business guy who has done some good things, some bad
things, but let`s give him a chance, Romney wins.
MATTHEWS: Let me go to -- let me jump ahead to your third pick here,
Maggie, because it`s different than Chris`. And that`s why I want to start
with this on your -- European, some kind of bust over there, whether it`s
Greece-related or Spain-related, what`s their -- when they watch what`s
happening, and you`re an economics person, when they watch over here,
what`s the thing that could really cause a clattering bad effect in our
economy between now and November?
HABERMAN: The euro crisis is a major -- or potential euro crisis is a
major problem. It will have a ripple effect on markets.
It sort of won`t matter what happens here because it`s completely out
of their control. This is something they`re watching very carefully. It
is -- again it is not anything they can do anything about. It`s a big X-
factor. Obviously, there are other global concerns that could be big X-
factors, too, but anything that could have an impact on the economy here
really scares the Obama folks.
I think it`s not number one, it`s not number two, but it is something
that they`re keeping an incredibly close eye on.
MATTHEWS: And it could kill growth here. It could kill our...
HABERMAN: Absolutely.
MATTHEWS: It could kill us by the second or third quarter.
HABERMAN: Absolutely.
MATTHEWS: OK. Let me go to your third pick, which is different,
And you say -- and I found this fascinating, because it`s out of the
box -- a brilliant uptick in the Romney prospect because he picks the
perfect, wonderful, exuberant possibility for V.P., and it just does
something magical to their campaign.
CILLIZZA: First of all, Chris...
MATTHEWS: No, I`m thrilled at this prospect. I didn`t know it was
CILLIZZA: I like to keep you -- I like to keep you fascinated so I`m
happy that you find this fascinating.
MATTHEWS: I am. But I want to know who this is.
CILLIZZA: Well, here`s my thought, is that Mitt Romney will get to do
one thing that Barack Obama doesn`t get to do between now and November 6.
Barack Obama is the president of the United States.
Huge advantages come with that, bully pulpit, everything we already
know. The one thing that Mitt Romney will get to do and will get
significant press off of as we head into the conventions is picking his
V.P. Now, I don`t think -- I just saw that thought bubble.
I don`t there is a perfect person to put in there, but I don`t also
think it is something we can just write off and say it doesn`t matter. We
saw the negative side with John McCain picking Sarah Palin in `08. I`m not
sure a Marco Rubio or a Chris Christie, or whatever name you want to throw
in there, solves -- if Romney is behind, solves Romney`s problems.
But I do think it does have the potential. We now have three out of
four major players in the presidential race are already set. The fourth is
to be determined. I don`t think it`s ridiculous to say the fourth will
matter. It`s not going to end the race either way unless Mitt Romney picks
Sarah Palin, which I don`t think he will do, but it does have an impact.
And I would agree with Maggie on the euro.
MATTHEWS: You have set it up. You have set it up, Chris. I don`t
know if you did this on purpose, but you have set it up to be, if he picks
a Catholic, it will be interesting. If he picks a Protestant, it will be
CILLIZZA: I did not do that on purpose.
MATTHEWS: Rubio and Chris Christie, you have done this. I know you
didn`t do it on purpose, but it`s more interesting that you did it not on
MATTHEWS: Maggie, what do you think of this? Can a V.P. prospect be
that interesting and that much of a cannonball that it just blows this
thing up, be, wow, this guy is more fascinating than I ever thought he was,
this is bigger and more patriotic than we ever thought, look at who he
HABERMAN: Now, I don`t make it a habit to disagree with Chris, but I
am going to disagree with him here.
I think that if Mitt Romney were to pick a Marco Rubio or a Chris
Christie, he would get press bang. I don`t think he`s likely to pick
either of them for the reason that they would overshadow him. I think
you`re much likely to see something like a Rob Portman. And I think that`s
not going to get you the razzle-dazzle headlines that would be a huge game
changer here.
MATTHEWS: OK. It is an interesting ethnic divide here, though, isn`t
it, Chris Cillizza? It`s fascinating.
CILLIZZA: You know this better than I do. Catholic voters are the
kind of -- look at Catholic vote in the last eight to 10 presidential
elections. Whoever wins the Catholic vote almost exclusively wins the
MATTHEWS: They decide it.
MATTHEWS: What does that say about us?
CILLIZZA: There are one or two examples where that`s not the case,
but it`s just a fact.
MATTHEWS: Serious about their religion, fickle about their politics.
MATTHEWS: Anyway, thank you very much, Chris Cillizza.
CILLIZZA: Thank you.
MATTHEWS: And thank you, Maggie Haberman.
HABERMAN: Thank you, Chris.
MATTHEWS: And tomorrow we`re going to look at the biggest fears on
the Romney side. We`re going to be even on this one. What`s Romney`s
biggest worries? We`re going to talk to top reporters about that, too. I
love the way we did it tonight.
Up next, Rudy Giuliani has nice things to say about Mitt Romney, but
he`s really saying nice things about Rudy Giuliani, as usual -- Giuliani`s
tortured explanation for the change he`s making, that is coming in the
This is HARDBALL, the place for politics.
MATTHEWS: Back to HARDBALL and now for the "Sideshow" tonight.
First off, Rudy being a bit Rudy. Remember this lukewarm endorsement
of Romney?
RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: I think that Mitt
has won fair and square. This reminds me of going to a surgeon. Right?
If I have got a terrible cancer or something to be operated on, when I had
to be operated on for prostate cancer, I didn`t go to the nicest doctor. I
went to the best doctor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
GIULIANI: The guy could have a great personality and tell great
jokes, and you put the knife in the wrong way.
MATTHEWS: So, what`s love got to do with it? Anyway, Giuliani now
explains why his bashing Romney`s job creation back in Massachusetts was
great for him to do, but not for Romney to -- or not for Obama to do now.
GIULIANI: There`s a certain amount of personal ego in that.
At that point, I was probably comparing his record to my record. And
maybe it was circumstances or whatever, but I had massive reduction in
unemployment. He had a reduction in unemployment of about 8, 10 -- I think
it was 15 percent. I had a reduction in unemployment of 50 percent. They
had a growth of jobs of about 40,000. We had a growth of jobs of about
So I was comparing what I thought was my far superior record to his
otherwise decent record. The simple fact is that Mitt Romney has been far
more successful in the things that he`s done than Barack Obama.
MATTHEWS: Doesn`t it sound, most of that, like Rudy really plugging
Anyway, former Senator Alan Simpson isn`t one to sugarcoat things.
No, he isn`t. On CNN, Simpson let it trip at members of his own party,
Republicans, who are in the grip of right-wing ideologues.
RESPONSIBILITY AND REFORM: I guess I`m known as a RINO now, which means a
Republican in name only, because I guess of social views perhaps, or common
sense would be another one, which seems to have escaped members of our
For heaven`s sakes, you have Grover Norquist wandering the earth in
his white robes saying that if you raise taxes one penny, he will defeat
you. He can`t murder you. He can`t burn your house. If you want to be a
purist, go somewhere on a mountaintop and praise to east or something.
But if you want to be in politics, you learn to compromise. Show me a
guy who won`t compromise and I will show you a guy with rock for brains.
MATTHEWS: Go on some mountain somewhere and praise the east. I love
A rock-ribbed Republican, Alan Simpson, going after the rock heads.
Finally, here`s a question. What`s it called in the world of Twitter
when one of your tweets adds up to exactly the 140-character limit? Well,
President Obama got the answer to that question during a Twitter Q&A after
an event recently in Iowa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) for Twitter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) zero characters left. That`s the
perfect tweet.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That`s the perfect
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s the perfect tweet.
OBAMA: What is it called?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A twoosh.
OBAMA: A twoosh.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A twitter swoosh.
OBAMA: I twooshed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you proud of it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a record for twooshes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was.
OBAMA: I`m the twoosh master.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much, sir.
MATTHEWS: Well, there you have it. It`s called a twoosh when you
have a perfect score, a perfect number of characters. I guess it`s like a
swish in basketball, all net.
Up next: dirty, angry money -- how a few billionaires in this country
-- on the right, of course -- are trying to get Mitt Romney elected so they
can him right in the White House, where they can want him, and can use him.
And what are they expecting if Romney wins? Good question. We are going
to get to it.
You`re watching HARDBALL, the place for politics.
HAMPTON PEARSON, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: I`m Hampton Pearson with your
CNBC "Market Wrap."
The Dow surges 126 points. The S&P is up about 14. The Nasdaq gains
33. Today`s big gains did not carry over to Facebook shares. The stock
sank more than 9 percent, closing below $29 a share. Investors also
overlooked a gloomy report on consumer sentient. According to the
Conference Board, confidence is at its lowest level in four months. And
Case-Shiller says home prices fell 2 percent in the first quarter to new
post-crisis lows.
That`s it from CNBC, first in business worldwide -- now back to
MATTHEWS: Back to HARDBALL.
I`m in Texas today in the heart where all this dirty, angry money is
coming from. Texas millionaires and billionaires have given more money to
the super PACs than any other state in this country. And most of that
money has gone to Republican groups like Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney
super PAC, and American Crossroads, which is Karl Rove`s group.
Why would somebody give millions of dollars to get Mitt Romney elected
president? Well, part of the answer is almost certainly business. Many of
the wealthy Republican backers have very obvious financial incentive to see
Romney sitting right there in the Oval Office. The latest issue of
"Rolling Stone" magazine lays out some of them, but should the voices of
billionaires count more than individual voters? Apparently they think so.
Eric Bates is executives editor of "Rolling Stone" and Joe Conason of
course is editor in chief of NationalMemo.com.
Let me bring in -- why don`t you run through a couple of these
Let`s start, Eric, with this guy. He`s a Texas business guy, a real
tycoon, Harold Simmons, who is worth nearly $10 billion. He has given more
than $16.5 million to Republican super PACs like Karl Rove`s American
Crossroads and to pro-Romney group Restore Our Future.
According to Bloomberg News, Simmons has built an underground dump in
West Texas for radioactive waste material. Easing regulations on the
nuclear industry could be worth billions to him.
ERIC BATES, EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE": That`s right.
MATTHEWS: Follow up on that. Harold Simmons, what`s he get to gain
by getting Romney where he wants him in the White House?
BATES: Yes, Simmons is pursuing this huge dump in Texas that would
dump radioactive waste from 36 different states in Texas. It`s sitting
right on top of a major drinking water aquifer, so there are real pollution
and contamination issues.
And Simmons is a guy who has been sued repeatedly by the Justice
Department for failing to clean up contaminated Superfund sites, so he`s
got a track record of really dubious practices when it comes to
contaminated waste. And having somebody like Romney in the White House
where who has pledged to roll back the EPA and roll back environmental
regulations, would be a real boon to him.
MATTHEWS: Let me go over to Joe Conason.
Back in the `60s, we had a term for characters like this. We called
them pigs. And I meant that.
MATTHEWS: Back in the day -- because people that would destroy the
environment, destroy the American political system for their own personal
MATTHEWS: We have got another character here, Bob Perry. He`s a mega
home builder also from Texas. He is worth an estimated $600 million. He`s
given $4 million to Romney`s super PAC, another $2.5 million to American
Crossroads. That`s the Karl Rove crowd. He`s covering his bets.
Tort reform is his favorite issue. For Perry, according to "Rolling
Stone," he wants to make it harder to bring lawsuits over homes that are
purchased, you know, of shoddy materials, whatever. Whatever the issue
might be, this fellow apparently wants to make sure he doesn`t have to deal
with regulators.
MATTHEWS: Your thoughts.
JOE CONASON, NATIONALMEMO.COM: Yes.
Well, Mr. Perry was the main guy responsible for the swift boat
campaign in 2004, Chris, as I`m sure you remember. He is a -- basically a
financial instrument of the Karl Rove machine, which he is this year as
well, and he clearly has an incentive, as all of these guys do, by the way,
to have their taxes cut enormously, which is what the Romney and House
Republican economic plan would do.
Aside from their own individual sort of pet peeves with regulation,
and the rest, they all would love to have their taxes cut. They don`t care
really about deficits. They want a better tax break for billionaires.
MATTHEWS: They want more money.
CONASON: That`s what they want, yes. And that`s what they`re after
here, and they think they will get it.
MATTHEWS: Eric, fill me in on this Bob Perry. Why does he want to
fight tort reform? He doesn`t like lawyers, but so what? What is his big
issue personally here?
MATTHEWS: Have they been going after him on his building projects or
what? Where`s been the attack on him that he`s so worried he needs a guy
in the White House to look out for him?
BATES: Sure.
You get sued all the time if you`re a builder. He has been sued all
the time. He`s a major producer to every Supreme Court justice in Texas.
They call it the Perry court, and the Perry court vacated a ruling against
him that was for $800,000. A jury in the same case awarded $85 million.
So, there`s a huge financial incentive for him in these cases.
MATTHEWS: What were those cases about? Was it building materials,
what was it about?
BATES: Shoddy home building, not fulfilling contracts, and in that
case, you`re looking at putting a cap on those jury awards so that
basically he won`t be required to pay if his company does a bad job.
MATTHEWS: John Paulson, another fellow here. Let`s go to Sheldon
Adelson, I`ve always found fascinating. I met the fellow one time.
He`s one of these natural business guys. He just got the instinct
for the casino business. He`s made zillions. He`s pro-Israel and been
apparently right wing. But that`s not the issue.
Apparently, has a real problem, Eric, with organized labor. He
doesn`t like unions.
BATES: That`s right. He`s been fighting the unions in Vegas over
his casino for a long time. And Adelson is really a prime example since
Citizens United, a Supreme Court ruling that allows these guys to put a
minimal amount of money into presidential campaigns. So a guy like Adelson
was able to singlehandedly prop up the Gingrich campaign, which never could
have happened before the Supreme Court ruling.
JOE CONASON, NATIONALMEMO.COM: I hope to say, Chris --
MATTHEWS: That`s an amazing general thing, Joe. Twenty million
bucks, he could just write the check to keep a -- Newt Gingrich was a
fascinating guest on our program last week. I`m glad he came on, we had a
great argument. We`ll do it again, I hope.
But the fact that he can basically personally finance a presidential
campaign is really brand new material here, Joe.
CONASON: For his own whims. By the way, Sheldon Adelson hates
unions, and he especially doesn`t like them in Nevada where he operates
casinos. At the same time, he complains about the socialist Obama
administration, but he`s very happy doing business in communist China,
where there are no unions that are effective, so he can do whatever he
So, communism doesn`t bother the guy. You know, a strong, American-
style labor union he doesn`t like and he wants to get rid of them. So, you
know, you can make your own judgment about that.
MATTHEWS: Let`s go through this thing. What used to be the old
days, they didn`t care how rich you are, unless you`re a lawyer, where
you`re good at bundling, Eric, and a bunch of law associates you could go
on and pull and a bunch of them to agree to sort of give the money with you
in one big bundle, you couldn`t really give a lot of money to presidential
candidates. You were limited to the $2,300 cycle for the primary and the
This has changed it all. These guys now are back to pre-Watergate
days where one to three people could really have a big ownership of the
White House.
BATES: Yes, this is really unprecedented. The argument used to be
in campaign finance, well, for $2,300, can you really buy a campaign? Can
you really buy a candidate and expect something in return? And maybe that
was an argument back then.
But if you`re spending $3 million to $4 million on a single candidate
as Bob Perry has, of course you`re going to be expecting something in
return for that kind of money, there`s no question about it.
MATTHEWS: And the candidate will get selected. We`ll hear your side
of the argument at minimum. He will think about your side positively at
And you may not buy the guy but you damn well opened the door to him
and had the best chance to sell him, and he will probably -- or she will
probably go with you if they can get away with it. That`s the scary part.
YATES: Of course, they will. You`re buying access for sure. If
nothing else you expect to pick up the phone and get the ear of somebody in
the White House.
CONASON: And you need to run for reelection. You need midterm
contributions. This is the first flood, and with many more to come if this
law stands.
MATTHEWS: You mean they stay bought?
CONASON: Of course, they get bought and they stay bought at least
until the next election and through the next election. Then they`ll come
out of office and complain about what a bad system it is and how much they
hate raising money.
MATTHEWS: Yes. Well, the question is, money can`t buy you love but
it might be able to buy you presidents.
Anyway, thank you, Eric Bates. What a great piece in "Rolling
Stone". What a magnate (ph) you`re becoming after all these years.
Anyway, after all these years, you`re still great.
And, Joe Conason, it`s great to have you on anytime.
Up next, the jury in the trial of former presidential hotshot John
Edwards has been deliberating now for seven days. Are they any closer in
getting to a verdict?
My hunch and it`s got to be a good hunch for Edwards, they can`t seem
to agree to convict the guy. It seems like that`s good news. We`ll find
out from some expert when he gets on here in a minute.
This is HARDBALL, the place for politics.
MATTHEWS: Well, big news on the Matthews family front. This
morning, a bit after -- actually before 5:00 a.m., my daughter-in-law Sarah
gave birth to a baby girl, a Philly girl. Actually 7 pounds 1 ounce.
There she is in that picture.
And here she is with Sarah and my son Michael, the happy threesome.
No name yet, but the Matthews family as you can tell from me tonight, in my
effervescence, is very happy.
We`ll be right back.
MATTHEWS: We`re back.
John Edwards, the Democratic candidate for vice president in 2004 and
the man who came in second in the Iowa caucus as recently as 2008, is
facing 30 years in prison right now. But the good news for him, I think,
the jury seems to be having a hard time reaching a verdict.
Hampton Dellinger is NBC News political analyst and former deputy
attorney general of North Carolina. He joins us from the courthouse in
And Melinda Henneberger is covering the trial for the "Washington
Let me start with Hampton.
Is this good news, the fact this jury cannot convict after seven days
now, they can`t seem to agree on these counts?
HAMPTON DELLINGER, ATTORNEY: Chris, it could be, but Edwards has got
to be concerned that in their confusion, they may try and find a way out by
convicting him of a charge or two as opposed to all six. There is a huge
difference for him between acquittal and conviction.
There may not be much difference in terms of the sentencing between
one conviction and six. There is no question, though, this jury is
confused and they have every right to be. The federal government can`t
even decide whether it`s a crime or not. DOJ indicted him. The Federal
Election Commission doesn`t see a problem with this money for the mistress.
MATTHEWS: You know, it just seems to me, Melinda, the judge in this
case is asking the jury to basically create law, to create a precedent
here, that if you give money to somebody to help deal with the personal
matter, embarrassing relationship, embarrassing affair, if you will, that
helps keep her out of the story, out of news, that`s in effect a political
contribution, that should have been reported and covered that way. But
this is brand new in terms of making them make that judgment. The judge
said, if it`s mostly for political reasons, not entirely, that`s still
enough guilt there for Edwards to fry here.
MELINDA HENNEBERGER, THE WASHINGTON POST: She actually said, if it`s
a reason, then he`s guilty. The way I heard that if the election and the
effect of the election were a reason rather than the reason, then it seems
to me, that she was saying you do have to find him guilty -- which I`m not
sure if she`s right about that. But I think her instruction in that way
was pretty clear.
But it just seems that with this jury that the whole craziness of the
case is rubbing off on the jurors maybe because we`ve heard these stories
about color coordinated outfits from the alternates and, you know, she said
today in open court, the judge did, a lot of things can go on in a jury
room when it drags on this long and not all of them are good. And --
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about --
HENNEBERGER: Sure.
MATTHEWS: OK, Melinda, you`re on. What is this juror issue that
came up, a juror issue that they had to deal with? What was the problem
HENNEBERGER: I don`t -- we don`t know for sure what the juror issue
was. But there has been a lot of talk in the courtroom about one of the
alternate jurors who -- that`s been reported has been flirting openly about
with the defendant and he with her. So I don`t know as one of my
colleagues at "The Post" wrote, and there is one place not to meet Mr.
Right and that would be at his trial.
So, you know, given what he is on trial for, I mean, it`s truly
unbelievable. It really sort of, on the one hand, you have been taking
this so seriously, looking a back at every single scrap of paper, you know?
They`ve asked to see 500 different court exhibits -- so taking it
And then this complete atmosphere of the thing going on with this
alternate juror. What`s good, actually --
MATTHEWS: Hampton, I guess as new example of the dangers of hooking
up in a bar, what do you think, or at the bar?
DELLINGER: Sure. And, Chris, I was in the courtroom everyday. And
I tell you what`s unbelievable, is the idea that Edwards was flirting with
the juror. You know, his behavior was abhorrent -- he brought disrepute on
my home state. I`m not apologist for him in any way.
But the idea that Edwards was flirting with a juror has no basis in
fact. Now, there was an alternate who may have, you know, went a little
too fair with their smiles at Edwards. But remember, we`re in the South.
People are friendly. People smile at each other.
DELLINGER: If there was a problem with the juror, Catherine Eagles,
the presiding judge, would have dismissed that juror in a heart beat.
MATTHEWS: Well, let me ask you about something that`s even less
tangible here, which is the mood of the jury. I`ve heard it described as
haggard, tired. How would you describe this jury after all these days of
argument, I guess, instead of among themselves?
DELLINGER: Sure. You know, day and night between the 12 who are now
deciding the case and four alternates. And they`ve done -- the alternates
have done color coordination. But again, I think that`s really a nonissue.
The jurors who are deciding look like, you know, they`ve been put
into a situation they have no idea what to deal with. It shows, I think,
the unfairness to put the jury in the middle of a decision the federal
government disagrees about.
You know, it`s one thing to throw the book at someone. I`ve got no
problem with that. But it`s another thing to hit them in the back of the
head. The jury has a tremendous weight on them, and they don`t know what
to do with it.
MATTHEWS: Well, that`s the second question is this -- I want to go
back to Melinda. You`re a journalist, is this just too much for 12 members
of your peer group, just regular people, some high school, some college, I
guess, mixed bag of people, to be asking them to basically define what is
illegal here?
HENNEBERGER: Well, it may or may not be. I`m not a legal can
expert, so I can`t say whether we`re asking too much of them. I mean, in
terms of what juries in general have to deal with, this is a serious case
as it every criminal case where someone`s freedom is on the line.
But it`s not a capitol murder case. You`re not talking about taking
someone`s life. You`re not talking about, you know, that sort of a
situation. So maybe it`s too much to ask, but that would be on the judge,
I think, in what she`s laid out for them.
And they have been asked to do this. It is their job to try to come
to a conclusion and if they don`t, if they do deadlock, then I would
certainly see that as good news for John Edwards because I really can`t
imagine that they`re going to try this case all over again.
MATTHEWS: What a story this is. I think it`s a tough case -- we`ll
see. I don`t want to get involved in affecting the jury in any way after
watching television.
Anyway, thank you, Hampton Dellinger. And thank you, Melinda
HENNEBERGER: Thanks.
MATTHEWS: When we return, let me finish where we started tonight,
with Mitt Romney`s failure to show political character. He won`t say no to
anybody and he won`t even say "no thanks" like to Donald Trump. How about,
"No thanks, Donald, I don`t need you this time around"?
You`re watching HARDBALL, the place for politics.
MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight where I started.
There is a bit of political give in any politician. There are people
he or she will ally himself with that they wouldn`t take out to dinner,
wouldn`t want their kids to marry. OK, fair enough.
Then there`s the type that`s so scared he might lose, so resolute to
win -- as Mitt Romney describes himself -- so resolute he`ll do anything to
Dealing with birther says doing anything. Showing up on stage with
someone who says the president was someone born in another country, that
he`s a foreigner, sitting illegally and mysteriously in the Oval Office --
that`s doing anything.
I`m proud of this country because it had the stuff to pick someone
for president last time who didn`t fit the old, limited notion of who we
could pick. I`m not proud of having a presidential campaign polluted by
Donald Trump is a brilliant, over the top showman. He`s not
responsible for the fate of the country. But Mitt Romney wants to be.
Siding with the golden puba of birtherism isn`t a good way t prove your
political character, which is the ability to say no or in this case, no
thanks, to values you do not share.
By allying himself with this element, Romney is showing a willingness
to do anything to get elected. What should make us think he would be any
harder to bed politically once he`s in office?
That`s HARDBALL for now. Thanks for being with us.
"POLITICS NATION" with Al Sharpton starts right now.
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text:
Roger and thee: What not to ask Ebert
Roger Ebert's scene-by-scene seminars have been a Charlottesville mainstay since 1992 when he dissected Citizen Kane. But if you're planning to attend Roger Ebert's scene-by-scene seminar on Chinatown, be forewarned. The famed critic loves inquisitive audience interruption– but he doesn't love every question. The Hook asked him which questions he dreads.
"People sometimes ask me what I thought of a recent movie, which is another way of saying, 'I didn't care enough to read your review, but don't mind taking your time now.'"
And that's not all that riles the reviewer.
"I also cringe," says Ebert, "when people 'interpret' a film by finding points of correspondence between it and their own pet theory. i.e., Mulholland Drive is 'really' Don Quixote."
[Ebert's 1992 seminar seems to have inspired the career of Emily Couric's son, Jeff Wadlow. Read the interview with Wadlow under "Facetime."]

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Stocks May Strain To Hold 9-Month Highs
If upcoming earnings from U.S. retailers are as unimpressive as the rest of the profit season has been, Wall Street could face a tough time justifying a stock market at nine-month highs.
Even with a Greece deal now in the works and the U.S. economic recovery showing stronger momentum, strategists think the market could face resistance in a push higher.
Less than two months into the year, the benchmark Standard & Poor's index .SPX is up more than 8 percent and has already exceeded many analysts' forecasts for the year.
The problem is the market has not seen as much upbeat news out of this earnings season as it has in recent ones.
"Earnings have generally come in more disappointing than they have been," said Robert Van Batenburg, head of equity research at Louis Capital in New York. "I don't think there's a lot of fireworks coming" from last week's financial results.
The index ended Friday at 1,361, its highest since May 2011. That was above a Reuters poll forecast in December that the index would end 2012 at 1,340.
A break above 1,370 would put the S&P 500 at its highest since June 2008, before the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers.
The Dow industrial average .DJI is fast approaching the key psychological level of 13,000, while the Nasdaq .IXIC has been trading at its highest since 2000 and is near the 3,000 level.
S&P 500 earnings performance has so far trailed recent quarters in terms of beating Wall Street's estimates. The percentage of companies beating analyst profit expectations is at 64 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.
While that percentage has improved since the start of the earnings season, it's below the average beat rate for the past four quarters of 70 percent, the Thomson Reuters data showed.
This week brings results from top retailers, including Wal-Mart (WMT.N) and Home Depot (HD.N). Companies in the consumer discretionaries group so far have a beat rate of 70 percent, above the average for the S&P, but many retailers in the group have yet to report.
The week is seen as one of the last big ones of the earnings period.
With results in already from 404 S&P 500 companies, investor focus already may have shifted away from earnings.
That leaves a lot of focus on the outlook for Europe and the U.S. economy. Data on existing- and new-home sales is expected this week.
News of a deal for Greece, expected to help the country avoid a messy default, has helped drive stocks higher as has stronger data on the U.S. economy.
Euro zone finance ministers are set to meet on Monday about the financial rescue for Greece. U.S. markets will be closed for the Presidents Day holiday.
The market's recent run higher has put it at some key technical levels that some say could cause it to stumble.
"The market is likely to reach a short-term top," said Bruce Zaro, chief technical strategist at Delta Global Asset Management in Boston.
The percentage of New York Stock Exchange stocks trading above their 50-day moving averages is in the 85 percent to 90 percent range, he said, which is typically a signal that the market is overbought.
He sees a pullback to the 1,260 to 1,270 range on the S&P 500 in the near term.
Some strategists said they would see a break above 1,370 as a key buying opportunity.
"You break out to 13,70 to 1,380 and then you have to say to yourself something real is happening here. I'm kind of on the sidelines until I see that, but I will be jumping in if that starts happening," said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.
The CBOE Volatility index .VIX, Wall Street's fear gauge, was down 7.5 percent on Friday and has been below the 25 level for more than two months, suggesting investors are less worried about the market's outlook.


text:
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text:
Symposium Examines Leopold's Legacy
Aldo Leopold believed that nature has rights independent of people and that the fate of humanity is intimately linked with the health of the land. Those beliefs culminated in a classic piece of environmental literature, A Sand County Almanac, in which Leopold articulates a land ethic that has been a source of inspiration for stewards of the environment for generations. On April 3, F&ES celebrated the centennial of Leopold's graduation from the Yale Forest School with a symposium that examined his critical contributions to environmental conservation. Natural scientists, environmental historians, Leopold biographers, environmentalists, philosophers and other luminaries discussed Leopold's place in American environmental history; his contributions to philosophy, ethics and natural resource management; how the land ethic might be recast for an increasingly urban community and the global environmental and social challenges of this century; and what he might have said to this year's F&ES graduates. To listen to audio recordings from the symposium, visit the conference website.
Above: Estella Leopold, right, Aldo's daughter, and
Clare Kazanski, Leopold's great-granddaughter, shared some of their thoughts
about Leopold. Estella recalled a morning at the "shack," a getaway for the
Leopold family in the Wisconsin wilderness, her father rising early to write:
"I came down for coffee and he put his pencil down. He handed me some yellow papers
with some handwriting on them and said, 'Do you want to see my latest essay?'
And I said, 'Oh, of course, Dad.' And so he handed it to me, and I said, 'Dad,
can I type the first copy of this essay, this wonderful essay?' He said,
'Okay.' I want to tell you, I am very proud to say that I was the first one to
type those memorable words: 'There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a
farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and
the other that heat comes from the furnace.'" (Photo Credit: Jeannine Richards)


text:
There's been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the Boston Celtics acquiring Sacramento Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins, and with good reason. He's everything the Celtics need right now — a young, athletic center who averages around 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. He's the big help they need in the middle to take the load off Kevin Garnett now, and he's the co-star of the future with point guard Rajon Rondo.
There's been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the Boston Celtics acquiring Sacramento Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins, and with good reason. He's everything the Celtics need right now — a young, athletic center who averages around 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. He's the big help they need in the middle to take the load off Kevin Garnett now, and he's the co-star of the future with point guard Rajon Rondo.
It's the perfect acquisition: someone to keep the Celtics in contention this season, and help ignite their often-stagnant offense, while keeping them competitive for years to come. He's a perfect fit (although he's also a perfect fit on just about any team in the league).
There are just two problems: one, the Kings might not want to part with him, and two, the Celtics definitely don't have the pieces necessary to pry him from Sacramento.
There's been a great deal of assumption throughout the NBA that Cousins is available because he's been a problem for the Kings organization. He's been suspended by both the league and the team, and he's been at odds with Sacramento coach Keith Smart. He's viewed as a troublemaker, a head case. But he's also an extremely talented head case.
Over the past couple of weeks, we've heard varying reports about whether or not the Kings were looking to deal Cousins. Marc Stein of ESPN reported that while the Maloof family, who own the Kings, wanted to hang on to Cousins, GM Geoff Petrie wanted to trade him. According to The Boston Herald's Steve Bulpett, Danny Ainge reached out to the Kings to see if they could swing a deal. Other teams, such as the Detroit Pistons, were believed to be interested as well. Comcast Sports Net New England even went so far as to report Sunday night that Cousins would be a Celtic by Monday morning.
Much of the speculation was perpetrated because the Celtics waived Kris Joseph and Jarvis Varnado on Sunday, leading to speculation that Boston was clearing room for a big trade. If they weren't scheming this way, those players' one-year deals would become guaranteed at 5 p.m. Monday and the Celtics would be on the hook for the remainder of their salary.
As it turns out, all the speculation and rumor was just that. Sam Amick of USA Today, who was formerly a beat reporter covering the Kings and is still closely connected to the organization, tweeted on Sunday night, "DeMarcus Cousins is not going to the Celtics. Teams continue to be told that he's not available. That is all."
That tearing sound you hear is the collective heart of Celtics fans breaking in two. But, really, why did they have their hopes so high in the first place? Boston has nothing that would appeal to Sacramento outside of Rajon Rondo, and it would make no sense whatsoever to deal the point guard for whom you're trying to find a running mate.
The common trade scenario bandied about by Boston fans involves some combination of Jeff Green, Courtney Lee, Jason Terry, Jared Sullinger and Avery Bradley. So essentially, if such a trade could be worked, it would amount to Ainge admitting that his entire off-season body of work, outside of re-signing Kevin Garnett, was a mistake and that he needs to press the reset button over a month before we even hit the trade deadline. And it would amount to the Kings being so over Cousins that they'd jettison him out of town for the Celtics' flotsam and jetsam and perhaps a draft pick that would fall in the bottom half of the first round.
Sure, Bradley is a good player, but the Kings have more talented two guards already on the roster. Sullinger is a nice piece for the future, but he's still an unknown quantity and certainly not worth giving up a player of Cousins' caliber. It just doesn't make any sense.
In actuality, the Celtics probably have nothing the Kings could want, and other teams likely wouldn't want to get involved to help the Celts get back in the race. Around the league, I'm sure some franchises are taking great joy that the Celtics are struggling to stay above .500 and hold onto the East's final playoff spot. Ainge may be able to swing a deal for big man help, but not anyone in the upper or even middle echelon of centers or forwards.
But the waiving of Joseph and Vernado does open up two roster spots and frees up some cash for the cap-strapped Celtics, meaning they can pursue some veteran free agent help as the season chugs along. Boston's best hopes to shake things up a bit might just be the waiver wire, and if there's one upside to how poorly they've played this season, at least they'll get a shot at those types of players before Miami can snatch any of them up.
So help is likely on the way, but it's not coming in the form of DeMarcus Cousins, as perfect of a fit as he might have been.
Tim Weisberg covers the Boston Celtics for The Standard-Times. Contact him at email@example.com


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EMC has named former Huawei Technologies executive John Roese as chief technology officer.
Roese, also a former Nortel Networks CTO, will play a key role in shaping EMC's cloud and big data technology strategy, the company said.
Reese reports to Jeremy Burton, EMC's executive vice president of product operations and marketing.
Roese is a 20-year veteran of the IT industry who is credited with 20 pending or granted patents.
"John brings to EMC a unique blend of experience spanning the entire breadth of IT systems from silicon all the way up through networking, storage, servers and virtualization," Burton said in a statement. "In addition, he's directed product development in enterprise, carrier and consumer markets."
Roese was most recently general manager of North American R&D at networking and telecommunications giant Huawei.
At Nortel, Roese was the senior technology and R&D executive, overseeing an R&D staff of 12,000 and an annual budget of $1.7 billion.
Prior to Nortel, he was a CTO at Broadcom Corp.
Roese replaces Jeff Nick, who assumes a new CTO role and reports to Paul Maritz, EMC's chief strategist. In the new post, Nick will focus on big data and emerging applications initiatives, EMC said.
Lucas Mearian covers storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, financial services infrastructure and health care IT for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian, send e-mail to email@example.com or subscribe to Lucas's RSS feed .


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Neighborhood Resources
Our online Neighborhood Resources is a collection of our favorite how-to guides, grant opportunities, workshops, city services and more. New York City is home to a wealth of resources—gather the tools to better your community here!
Know of other resources that are worth sharing?
Di Cui at
or 212-822-9563
Explore the Citizens Committee Resource Library
How to Start a Community Garden
The American Community Gardening Association offers a fact sheet designed to give many different groups the basic information they need to get their gardening project off the ground.
Type: General Resources
NYC Community Garden Advocacy
The New York City Community Garden Coalition's mission is to promote the preservation, creation, and empowerment of community gardens through education, advocacy, and grassroots organizing.
Type: General Resources
Volunteer at a Community Garden
Get Dirty NYC! connects volunteers with community gardens.
Type: General Resources
Organizing for Community Gardeners
Green Guerillas uses a mix of education, organizing, and advocacy to help people cultivate community gardens, sustain grassroots groups, engage youth, and address issues critical to the future of their gardens. In addition, they organize seed giveaways on a year-round basis.
Type: General Resources
Soil Nutrient Analysis
Cornell's Nutrient Analysis Laboratory tests soil and provides pH kits, plant and water testing.
Type: General Resources
Gardening Information
Cornell Garden Based Learning provides basic information on gardening.
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Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) is one of the great Church Fathers he fourth century; he was the eldest son of Saint Monica.
Aurelius Augustinus was born in 354 in Tagaste to a Christian mother and a Pagan father, raised in Roman north Africa, educated in Carthage, and employed as a professor of rhetoric in Milan by 383. He followed the Manichaean religion in his student days, and was converted to Christianity by the preaching and example of Ambrose of Milan. He was baptized at Easter in 387, and returned to north Africa and created a monastic foundation at Tagaste for himself and a group of friends. In 391 he was ordained a priest in Hippo Regius (now Annaba, in Algeria). He became a famous preacher (more than 350 preserved sermons are believed to be authentic), and was noted for combatting the Manichaean heresy.
In 396 he was made coadjutor bishop of Hippo (assistant with the right of succession on the death of the current bishop), and remained as bishop in Hippo until his death in 430. He left his monastery, but continued to lead a monastic life in the episcopal residence. He left a Rule (Regula in Latin) for his monastery that has led him to be designated the "patron saint of Regular Clergy," that is, parish clergy who live by a monastic rule.
Augustine died on August 28, 430, during the siege of Hippo by the Vandals. He is said to have encouraged its citizens to resist the attacks, primarily on the grounds that the Vandals adhered to heretical Arian Christianity.
Influence as a theologian and thinker
Augustine remains a central figure, both within Christianity and in the history of Western thought. Himself much influenced by Platonism and neo-Platonism, particularly by Plotinus, Augustine was important to the "baptism" of Greek thought and its entrance into the Western Christian (and subsequently the European) intellectual tradition. Also important was his early and influential writing on the human will, a central topic in ethics, and one which became a focus for later philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche, but also to the Protestant Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin.
Augustine's writings developed St Ambrose of Milan's theory of just war. He also advocated the use of force against the Donatists, asking "Why . . . should not the Church use force in compelling her lost sons to return, if the lost sons compelled others to their destruction?" (The Correction of the Donatists, 22-24). However, he objected to capital punishment and said that it would be preferable to set his opponents free than to execute them.
The addition of Augustine to the Menologion is uncertain. Some regard him as glorified by popular recognition in the distant past, yet he was not added to the Horologion in Greece until 1983 (and then only in the index, but with no mention of his name on the page for June 15). He appears to have been added to the calendar in Russia during the "Western Captivity" when the influence of Latin scholasticism was at a high point. His feast day in the Orthodox Church is June 15. In the West, he is remembered on August 28. which was the day of his death in A.D. 430.
Reception of Augustine in the Orthodox Church
The Fifth Ecumenical Council, held in Constantinople in A.D. 553, listed Augustine among other Fathers of the Church, though there is no unqualified endorsement of his theology mentioned (just as there is none for most saints of the Church):
- We further declare that we hold fast to the decrees of the four Councils, and in every way follow the holy Fathers, Athanasius, Hilary, Basil, Gregory the Theologian, Gregory of Nyssa, Ambrose, Theophilus, John (Chrysostom) of Constantinople, Cyril, Augustine, Proclus, Leo and their writings on the true faith.[1] (emphasis added)
In the acts of the Sixth Ecumenical Council (not yet translated into English), he is called the "most excellent and blessed Augustine" and is referred to as "the most wise teacher." In the Comnenian Council of Constantinople in 1166 he is referred to as "Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΙ


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Chihuahuas are number one among dog owners in LA County (numbers two and three are labs and American pit bull terriers). The most popular name for the wee Chihuahuas is "Princess"; there are 1,262 of them. (There are also 192 dogs named Shaq, 1,020 named Kobe, and a pit bull named Bradpitt.) The least popular breeds in LA county? Alaskan Klee Kai, Ariegeois, and Swedish Lapphund. The least popular dog owner? Paris Hilton, who keeps 782 of the "Princesses" named Chihuahuas locked up in a shoe closet at all times. [LA Times]
All Dogs World" />


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Helping China produce more milk will boost U.S. dairy exports to China
As China expands its domestic milk production, it will buy more milk products from the United States. That may seem counterintuitive, but it's really just a case of the Chinese dairy industry generating more demand than it will be able to supply, according to an analysis by UW-Madison agricultural economists.
"The potential market is so huge that whatever inroads they make for themselves in terms of dairy production will expand the market for others," says Ed Jesse, who co-authored the study of China's dairy sector. "You'll get more people that garner a taste for dairy products and for types of dairy products that they don't' have now."
A bigger Chinese dairy sector will also benefit U.S. firms that export dairy equipment, services, dairy cattle, semen and embryos—many of which are based in Wisconsin—notes Karen Nielsen, director of the UW-Madison's Babcock Institute for International Dairy Research and Development.
Nielsen and others from Babcock Institute will be in China this month to work out details on a new partnership with the Shanghai Dairy Group, a conglomerate involved in milk production, processing, marketing and research. UW dairy experts and Chinese counterparts will establish a center to provide training and consulting for workers on the Shanghai Group's farms.
On June 12, UW-Madison Chancellor David Ward and Kathryn VandenBosch, dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, will meet with Shen Weiping, President of the Shanghai Dairy Group, to sign a letter of intent regarding the project. Ben Brancel, Wisconsin Secretary of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, will be at the same event to sign a letter of intent with the Shanghai group regarding future trade opportunities.
This is familiar ground for the Babcock program, which has been collaborating with Chinese dairy scientists since the 1990s. In 2004 the Babcock Institute partnered with China Agriculture University in Beijing to set up the Sino-U.S. Dairy Research and Development Center, which holds seminars for dairy industry leaders from throughout China.
China's appetite for dairy products is growing quickly, according to the analysis prepared by Ed Jesse and colleagues Bill Dobson and Fengxia Dong for the Babock Institute. Dairy foods aren't part of the traditional diet, but consumption has risen as incomes have gone up and more families have acquired refrigerators. The economists expect per capita consumption of dairy products in China to grow 3.4 percent to 5.7 percent annually.
U.S. dairy exports reflect this. The value of U.S. dairy product sales to China increased more than eleven-fold from 2000 to 2010, according to the report. In 2010, China replaced Japan as the third-largest market for U.S. dairy exports.
China is pulling out all of the stops to grow its own milk production and processing industry. A five-year plan calls for boosting domestic production by two thirds over 2010 levels. But the UW analysts believe this goal is unattainable. China hasn't had much luck increasing the productivity of its cows, has problems managing its large, feedlot-style dairies, and pays a high cost to import feed.
"I don't think they'll ever be able to produce enough to meet that demand," says Jesse.
And that's why helping China boost domestic production will help boost exports of U.S. dairy goods, he adds.
"Everything we do to expand local milk production and outsourced milk production in China benefits the total market in China for dairy products," he says.
The analysis of China's dairy sector and other global dairy trade reports are available online at babcock.wisc.edu.


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If you've seen "Fantastic Four," then you know they'll make a sequel of just about anything. And if you've seen the sequel, "4: Rise of the Silver Surfer," then you know the franchise is ripe for a reboot.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Adrien Brody are your frontrunners to take over for Ioan Gruffudd (gesundheit) as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, according to ScreenRant.
Brody showed some action chops and a washboard stomach in the new "Predators," and he played a genetic scientist in "Splice," so he's seemingly got all the tools at his disposal to play the heroic super genius. Rhys Meyers is a good enough actor, but doesn't strike us as terribly heroic.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
Alice Eve, who recently dropped out of "X-Men: First Class," is rumored to be in contention with Amber Heard for the role of Sue Storm, aka The Invisible Girl.
And The Thing will mercifully be rendered entirely in CGI, a welcome change from that ridiculous suit that poor Michel Chiklis sported in the first two films.
There's been talk that the film will be "Fantastic Four Reborn," but there's no confirmation. In any event it won't be here until 2012 at the earliest, so it's probably best not to fret about this too much. But it seems safe to say the third installment will be a marked improvement.


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Dwight Moody told a story of a man who was asked by his ten-year-old son, "Daddy, why don't you ever go to church with us?" The father replied, "I don't need to go to church, son. My faith is established." Later that same day the man drove his horses out of the barn and hitched them to a buggy. As he and his son drove out of the yard, the horses became mired in a mud hole. The man tried in vain to extricate them, whereupon the boy observed: "They're not going anywhere, Daddy. I believe they're established.
How established is our faith? We may feel our faith is so steady and secure that there is no need for us to do anything else. We feel comfortable with our life and our relationship with God. That could be a good explanation for not attending Divine Liturgy week after week, month after month or arriving 45 minutes to an hour after the liturgy begins. That might be why we neglect to pray or read the sacred scriptures day after day. It may be the reason for turning our back on the poor and the needy who ask for our help. Our faith is so steady and secure that we feel no need to grow in it. If that is the case then we are just like Dwight Moody and his horses—stuck in the mud!
Today is the First Sunday of Great Lent, what we also call the Sunday of Orthodoxy or the Sunday of Icons. On this day every year we read the Gospel of John 1:44-52. We hear that Philip told Nathanael that he and others had found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth (v.45). After Nathanael questions whether the Messiah could come from Nazareth, Philip answers him, "Come and see" (v.46). This phrase, "Come and see" (Greek "erchou kai ide") is simple yet powerful. "Come" implies movement from one place to another. The fact that Philip and others "found" Jesus implies that they were searching. They were moving from one place to another, looking for the one whom Moses and the Prophets wrote about (v.45). The message is that: If we want to find Jesus, then we must move from one place to another. In other words, if we want to see the Messiah, then we must change. We must grow and mature. Many other people moved to see Jesus including Andrew and John (Jn.1:35-42); Zacchaeus who climbed a tree; the Centurion; Mary, Peter, John coming to the tomb; the Paralytic (6th Sun. Matt.); the Paralytic w/ four friends; the Samaritan woman at the well. Movement is a subtle, yet central aspect of each of their stories.
One of our basic human needs, besides food and water, is for safety and security. It affects everything we do. After we feel safe and secure, usually we focus our energies on improving our comfort. So, it's one thing to have a place to sleep, it's another thing to have a mattress to sleep on and still another thing to have a sleep number bed. All our routines of life are meant to give us a sense of safety, security and comfort. The world, society and people around us are not constant. They are always changing and we expend a lot of energy and resources to adjust to those changes in order to keep ourselves safe, secure and comfortable. We experience physical and emotional stress as we see things change around us. It does not matter whether the change is positive or negative, it is still stress inducing.
Our relationship with God has many similarities to our pursuit of safety, security and comfort. We feel safe if we have a faith or belief in Jesus Christ. We feel more secure if we think we are following His commands and doing His will. We feel comfortable if think we are going to heaven. We want these to be set in place so we don't have to worry or get stressed out about them. Typically, we only go so far and then think we have arrived at our destination. Unfortunately, some churches and church officials teach this very thing, including the "Once saved, always saved" approach to salvation. "Come and see", well I came and I saw, now I need to get back to more important things.
This is not how our relationship with God works. In the scriptures, after people make a move to come and see Jesus, He does not tell them, "Ok, you're all set, go back to what you were doing before." Rather, He commands them to further movement and change with words like, "Go; Follow Me; and Give." In other words, if we want to have an authentic relationship with God and other persons, it by definition, must be changing and growing. It cannot be "established". We cannot be stuck in the mud. Have we ever said to ourselves, "I have never seen or experienced God or at least not for a long time"? Well, maybe it's because we never moved, we never changed, we never grew up or matured. Once we stop changing, we stop coming or going, then we stop seeing God in our life.
Jesus is the One who never changes. That's why God calls Himself, "I AM" or "O WN". That's why St. Paul says in Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." That's why Jesus says that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. We are the ones who must change in order to become like Him, to fulfill the image and likeness of God within us.
Many people reacted to Jesus and His teachings with indignation and seething hatred because He was telling them that they must change. That stressed them out because they loved their safe, secure and comfortable lives more than they loved God. Is it any different in our own day when people get upset with the teachings and traditions of the Church that constantly tell them to move from one place to another in terms of spiritual maturity?
John the Baptist preached "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Jesus preached the same message. Repent (Greek "metanoia") means to change. Especially during Lent the Church encourages us to repent, to change, to move from one place to another. The pillars of Great Lent are Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. Prayer is a movement of our soul, changing it's focus from inward or earthly to outward and heavenly. Worship is a moving from home or work to God's house. Fasting is a change of our appetite/desire for food into one for God. Almsgiving is a moving of material resources from ourselves to others.
Are we having difficulty believing that anything good can come from all of this? "Come and See!" Amen.
Fr. Richard Demetrius Andrews is the pastor of St. George Greek Orthodox Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Fr. Andrews is the past president of Minnesota Eastern Orthodox Christian Clergy Association (MEOCCA), and a volunteer chaplain with the St. Paul Police Department.


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Kings and Jackets face off, surrounded by questions
The Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets are both in last place in their respective divisions, but these franchises are in vastly different situations.
While the Kings are trying to get on track to defend their first Stanley Cup title, the Blue Jackets are surrounded by questions after changing general managers ahead of Friday night's matchup at Staples Center.
This is the only home game for Los Angeles (4-5-2) within a nine-game stretch. The Kings completed a 2-3-0 road trip with Monday's 4-1 victory over St. Louis.
Columbus (4-7-2), meanwhile, fired general manager Scott Howson on Wednesday and replaced him with Jarmo Kekalainen, a Finnish native who becomes the first European GM in NHL history.
Kekalainen will arrive in Columbus as soon as travel and visa issues are resolved, but any sense of history for the Blue Jackets' European players is of secondary concern to fixing issues on the ice.
"I remember how it was with the first coach from Europe, when he coached in the NHL, it was always a topic," Czech winger Vinny Prospal said. "Here, this is a hard business, and you're only going to evaluate people, not where they are from but what they do and how hard they work."
The Blue Jackets are opening a six-game trip. The timing of Howson's dismissal caught them off guard after Columbus outshot Edmonton 40-14 in a 3-1 loss Sunday and ended a three-game slide with Monday's 6-2 victory over San Jose.
"Unfortunately something like that happens because of our performance on the ice," defenseman Jack Johnson said. "But it's our job as a team not let anything derail us, we have to keep moving forward and get ready to try to win a game on Friday."
Johnson will return to Los Angeles for the first time since the deal last Feb. 23 that sent Jeff Carter to the Kings.
These teams are meeting for the second time after the Kings won 4-2 on the road Feb. 5. Justin Williams had three assists, Carter had a power-play goal and Jonathan Quick made 18 saves to improve to 8-2-0 with a 1.99 goals against-average in his last 10 starts versus Columbus.
Backup Jonathan Bernier made 21 saves Monday in his first start. Quick has started every other game, but coach Darryl Sutter wants to see improvement from his No. 1 goaltender. Quick has allowed three goals in each of his last two games.
"We need him to play a hell of a lot better than he has," Sutter told the Kings' official website. "Our goals against, our save percentage, when you do all that stuff, it's not where it has to be."
Sutter also expects a different challenge from the Blue Jackets since James Wisniewski and Nikita Nikitin didn't play in the first meeting.
"They bring Wisniewski in, and they can pair the two Russians (Nikitin and Fedor Tyutin) together because they're healthy now, and pair Johnson and Wisniewski," the coach said. "That's a pretty formidable four guys, so that would be the difference from the last time."
Los Angeles is 9-3-0 in its last 12 against Columbus, which has come up empty in its last 39 power-play chances against the Kings.


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Every CryptoSkull is unique. UNIQUENESS INDEX shows total rareness of all image features. CryptoSkulls with rarer features have less UNIQUENESS INDEX.
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Collection Items
MapMap showing route taken by U.S. prisoners of war, Feby. 1864, when sent from Richmond, Va., to Andersonville, Georgia. Depicts railroad lines from Raleigh, N.C., through South Carolina and Georgia, highlighting in purple ink the particular train route Sneden took as a prisoner.
- Contributor: Sneden, Robert Knox
- Date: 1864


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One of the aspects of Baca County that drew me in were the mentions I read of Rock Art to be found on the sandstone of the canyon walls in the area. Those who know me would confirm that of my more refined interests - history flows into travel, photography flows into wildlife, and geology and 4wheeling have a practical link as well. In short I am curious about how people do, and have, carved out a life for themselves in the environment they call home.
My first experience with pre-historic rock art was as a young Boy Scout on a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota. One of the leaders 'encouraged' jaded young teens to paddle extra miles to see art. Well, when I contemplated something that had endured on a rock face above the water for untold years I was hooked. Since then I have been amazed at the sights I have seen at Bandelier National Monument, Mesa Verde and absolutely blown away by the Chaco Canyon World Heritage Site.
The images I found in the Comanche were not those. Don't get me wrong, for me at least they still had the same link...not necessarily spiritual - but infused with such base humanity. The canyon that was home to life giving springs out on the otherwise unbroken plains had to be significant for those who visited and relied on their waters. Images placed on rock, and the pink baked stone of an overhang where countless fires had burned. Those are the testaments of people who must have returned to this place with joy in season.
Birders may relate to my frustration with rock images though. I have bought books and searched online, and still I feel that there should be more information on the themes and recurring images. Mostly, I fail to find anything that satisfies me or relates to my own impressions. That's okay though, a large part is the thrill of realizing that a stone surface I had been looking past for minutes has just revealed a hidden secret. See the one below?
Then there are others that make me wonder in a more cynical way. This last image was found in the canyon below the empty Two-Buttes Reservoir. It was much larger than those I had located at Carrizo Canyon, more reminiscent of those farther southwest. It was also in the midst of some sadly modern tags. So I was once again left to wonder - were the ancients leaving their own message to their world - or were some kids of the seventies and eighties telling future generations of the wonders of Pac-Man?
Most of the fun is in the wondering, so hopefully these will keep readers' eyes on the rocks as well as the skies.


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She is known for her dedication and hard work — from heading out at 4:30 a.m. to see what the road conditions are during a heavy snowstorm to help her decide whether to call off school — to working late into the evening catching up on paperwork and other tasks.
Supt. of Schools Dorothy Galo, a lifelong Hingham resident, has served in many capacities as an educator with the Hingham Public Schools during her long career and knows the well-respected system inside and out.
She is known for her dedication and hard work — from heading out at 4:30 a.m. to see what the road conditions are during a heavy snowstorm to help her decide whether to call off school — to working late into the evening catching up on paperwork and other tasks.
"Timing is everything," she said.
In honor of her many years of service, the Hingham Education Foundation hosted an appreciation reception last November to celebrate Galo's 50 years of service to Hingham students, staff, parents, and the overall community.
Galo wore many hats prior to her appointment as superintendent of schools in 2001 — math teacher, head of the math and science departments (at the same time), assistant high school principal, and assistant superintendent of schools (while continuing in her role as director of the math and science departments during tough financial times).
"We joked at the time about what a bargain this was for the school system!" Galo said with a smile. "I agreed to continue to serve in both departments for a time, noting that both deserved to have chairs." They got them when Galo was appointed superintendent 13 years ago.
After spending so many years in various school buildings before becoming superintendent, Galo is fulfilling her goal of getting back into the schools more.
That means interacting with teachers, principals, other staff members, and the children at the elementary and secondary level on a regular basis and attending various activitities as well as meetings with faculty, department heads, resource teachers, and principals and assistant principles. "Great things are going on in our schools, and you have to be there to see it," Galo said. "All of our staff members, from lunch workers to paraprofessionals to teachers and administrators, take great pride in their work and like to be noticed and valued."
Galo was particularly impressed during her recent tour of the new Middle School, scheduled to open next fall. "This will be an incredible asset for the entire community, whether attending events in the auditorium or using the gym/exercise room or the magnificent library," she said. "Despite the challenges at the beginning of the process, looking back now I can truly say, 'It was worth it!'"
Observing teachers working with students and attending school concerts and other events has left Galo with the feeling,"I did the right thing with my life."
Visiting the schools remains a priority, despite her heavy work load, in large part due to increasing state mandates and accompanying required paperwork — everything from establishing an HPS anti-bullying policy to complying with Massachusetts Department of Education requirements to educator evaluations.
Technology advancements, while forward-moving, have created a level of communication that's not easy to keep up with. "It's not unusual for me to receive 100 emails a day, many wanting my immediate attention," Galo said. "I do try to respond quickly when I'm not in back-to-back meetings."
When asked what qualities make a good superintendent, Galo named "having a lot of patience and being a good listener, highly organized, and able to deal with different personalities and people." Problem-solving skills are also high on her list. "Things almost never go as planned," she said good-naturedly. "You have to find ways to make things work, whether a budget issue or a situation involving a student."
Good communication is also key — both when writing and when speaking publicly.
School Committee Chair Ray Estes said it has been an honor to work with Galo over the past four years.
"On behalf of the School Committee, I congratulate and thank her for her 50 years (and counting) of dedicated service to the Hingham Public Schools," he said. "Dot's energy and commitment to educating our youth is inspiring, and history will certainly judge her years as a teacher and administrator most favorably. She is a respected leader in our community and a thoughtful and cooperative partner in achieving what is best for all Hingham's citizens."
Estes noted that Galo "has witnessed tremendous change over the decades and has been nimble in her willingness to adapt to the social, economic, and political times that have shaped Hingham's journey through time."
"I can think of no Hinghamite who has made a more significant and lasting contribution to our community than Dot," Estes said.
Looking back
Galo grew up in Hingham, the oldest of eight children in a family with modest resources. "That colors everything I do and contributes to my feeling that it's important to provide access to a good education for all kids," she said. "The young people may all look alike for the most part because there's very little diversity in Hingham, but what doesn't necessarily show up is the underlying socio-economic diversity that exists here."
Galo noted that there are both large and modest-sized homes. "It's harder to have less in Hingham than in the city, where there are social service resources and public transportation — and not as many name brands, big houses, and expensive cars," she said.
Even though her family was of modest means, "We always had enough food to eat and a roof over our head," Galo recalls. "But during these tough times some people are indeed worrying about those things and also about the lack of affordable housing in Hingham. Things have changed a lot, and there's a growing divide, with fewer town employees living here now."
That said, "kids are kids," Galo said. "They all basically want and need the same things — to be cared for, loved, and protected —— and they share many of the same visions and goals. Hairstyles and clothing have changed over time, but the basics haven't."
What has changed most, though, is "the lifestyles and stress that families are under these days," Galo said. "Hingham is not alone in this. Many families have two working parents, with the expectation that their kids will be involved in sports and other activities. These are fast-paced times." All that stress has resulted in some very young children having anxiety and depression issues, Galo observed.
That said, she believes that the majority of parents are doing the best they can and want the best for their children, including giving them a wonderful childhood.
While she appreciates the value of organized activities, she noted that many children don't have time to play in their own neighborhoods.
"The result is a loss of different experiences," she said. "Unsupervised play provides an opportunity for kids to work things out and to learn how to get along with each other." Too much technology also contributes to a lack of direct communication.
Despite the challenges, "Hingham is a wonderful place for kids to grow up," Galo said.
Earlier years
In a trip down memory lane, Galo recalled spending her freshman year in high school in what is now the Town Hall. That building was initially built as a high school. It later served as one of two junior high schools in town during a time of peak enrollment.
In her elementary years, Galo attended West School where Thaxter Park is now located; North School in a wood-frame building that was part of the former Hingham Shipyard, due to space issues; and in what was at that time known as the Little Red Schoolhouse (now a private house and formerly the Hingham Municipal Lighting Plant office) at the corner of Elm and Central Street when she was in the first grade.
Galo spent part of her junior high years in the former Lincoln School on Central Street (now the Lincoln School Apartments).
She recalls sharing the high school in Hingham with Hull students before the town built its own.
As a youngster Galo enjoyed skating on the pond by her house and later at the Hingham Skating Club off East Street, where she and her friends warmed their hands over a pot-bellied stove.
She also enjoyed playing kickball with the neighborhood kids, building forts, and picking blueberries.
"Life was simpler when I was a kid," Galo said.
She was also a good student, participating in school activities. "I had a good school experience," she said. Not surprisingly, one of her favorite subjects was math, and she went on to major in math at Radcliffe. Galo also holds a master in math education degree from Northeastern and a PhD in education from Walden University.
Upon graduation Galo was offered a job with an insurance company in Boston, but before she started that position she received a call from a friend asking her to take a temporary job at Scituate High School in the fall of 1961 teaching an extra algebra class resulting from an inadvertent over-booking of students for that subject.
Following a series of unanticipated events, Galo never did work at the insurance job. Thus began her long career as an educator, responding to interesting opportunities as they arose but with no particular goal in mind. She began her career in Hingham a few years after working in Scituate. "I've always loved what I was doing at the time I was doing it," Galo said. "It's important to change what you're doing from time to time to keep things fresh."
She recalls buying a car while earning a starting salary of $4,600 a year.
Back to now
Beyond her more-than-full-time job as superintendent, Galo is involved with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and other education organizations.
"It's important to know what's going on in other communities," she said.
In what little spare time she has, Galo enjoys playing golf at the Cohasset Golf Club and also in Florida, where she has a condominium.
You can follow Reporter Carol Britton Meyer on Twitter @CMeyerJournal.