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Compassion Over Killing Investigations
COK's powerful undercover animal cruelty investigations shine a bright light on cruelties kept hidden behind the closed doors of animal agribusiness. In addition to garnering international media coverage reaching millions of viewers, our video exposés have led to a slaughterhouse shutdown, animal cruelty charges, groundbreaking lawsuits, and animal rescues. Please watch and share the footage below.
PA: Nightmare Behind Nestlé
Date: April 2019
Location: Pennsylvania
Working inside Martin Farms, a Pennsylvania dairy factory farm, COK's investigator documented senseless and violent abuse of mother cows and their defenseless calves. This is some of the worst abuse we've ever documented, and yet it also shows practices representative of what life is like for animals on a typical dairy farm.
In this case, COK's investigator followed a truck from this factory farm to an ice cream facility, owned by the world's largest dairy company: Nestlé, the maker of ice cream brands including Dreyer's, Edy's, and Häagen-Dazs.
COK's video exposes:
- "Downed" cows, unable to walk or stand, hoisted by their hips with metal clamps, to be moved or chained and dragged by tractor
- A manager shooting a "downed" cow in the head, who remains conscious for almost a minute before she's finally shot for the last time
- Farm manager sadistically stabbing a cow with a sharp instrument in a botched attempt to supposedly treat a stomach ailment. The cow bleeds heavily and receives no pain relief or veterinary care.
- "Downed" cows abused, killed, and butchered on site, the meat distributed to workers in garbage bags
- Workers spraying cows in the face with scalding hot water to force them to move faster
- A cow with a teat that had been sliced off, bleeding as she's being milked
- Cows, many sick and injured, being hit, stomped on, or kicked by workers
- Cows suffering bloody, painful uterine prolapses and open sores denied vet care
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
MD: High-Speed Chicken Slaughterhouse
Date: November 2018
Location: Maryland
This gut-wrenching video filmed by a Compassion Over Killing investigator working inside Amick Farms reveals egregious cruelty at this USDA-approved high-speed chicken slaughterhouse.
COK's powerful investigation broke in a hard-hitting story from The Washington Post.
Amick Farms is one of 24 chicken plants running at slaughter line speeds of up t0 175 birds killed each minute under the US Dept. of Agriculture's high-speed slaughter program.
COK's video exposes:
- Workers punching, shoving, or throwing birds down the quickly moving line
- Birds slowly drowning in electrified stunning baths during equipment break-down
- Evidence of birds who were scalded alive in vats of hot water
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
NC: Factory Farms Hit by Hurricane Florence
Date: September 2018
Location: North Carolina
Compassion Over Killing investigators were on the ground and in the air in North Carolina to document the devastation on countless factory farms in the wake of Hurricane Florence.
This powerful video reveals how the severe toll of this deadly storm was multiplied by factory farms.
Massive manure lagoons have overflown, spilling tons of untreated waste into waterways and surrounding communities.
Abandoned in locked cages and sheds, with no chance to escape the rising waters of the relentless floods, millions of farmed animals — treated as mere commodities — were simply left to die.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
VA: Chicken Factory Farm
Date: December 2017
Facility: Atlantic Farm
Location: Temperanceville, VA
This heart-wrenching video, featured in a powerful breaking exclusive by the Washington Post, exposes shocking abuse of birds, including the painful effects of rapid growth, at a Virginia factory farm supplying Tyson Foods, the nation's largest chicken producer.
COK's video reveals:
- Workers violently kicking, slamming, or throwing live birds
- A worker impaling live chicks with a metal nail at the end of a pipe
- Birds run over and crushed to death by forklifts
- Workers killing sick or injured birds by stepping on them
- Sick or injured birds piled on top of each other in buckets, often with dead birds, and left to suffer and die
- Birds unable to walk because of by painful leg injuries or deformities related to rapid growth
This latest investigation marks the second time in little more than a year that COK has exposed horrific cruelty to birds within the poultry giant's supply chain.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
PA: Dairy Factory Farm
Date: May 2017
Facility: Mason Dixon Farms
Location: Gettysburg, PA
This heartbreaking video reveals violent abuse of gentle mothers cows at Mason Dixon, a supplier to some of the biggest names in dairy.
The first dairy facility to implement "robo-milking" of cows by machine, Mason Dixon supplies Land O'Lakes and Dairy Farmers of America (DFA).
COK's undercover footage reveals:
- egregious cruelty to animals: cows being kicked in the face, punched in their udders, excessively shocked, jabbed, and having their tails twisted or bent
- cows living in hazardous conditions, routinely getting stuck on water troughs or inside stalls
- worker safety concerns: workers handling formaldehyde with no protective clothing or masks
Genetically manipulated to produce huge quantities of milk, dairy cows are sometimes also given bovine growth hormones that unnaturally boost milk production even more. Cows at Mason Dixon produce up to 25 gallons of milk a day, more than twice the amount on other dairy factory farms.
To keep producing milk, dairy cows are continually artificially inseminated. Time and again, their newborn calves are taken away, and the milk intended for these baby animals is sold for human consumption.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
CA: Lamb Slaughterhouse
Date: February 2017
Facility: Superior Farms
Location: Dixon, CA
This video filmed by a Compassion Over Killing undercover investigator offers the first hidden-camera look inside a US lamb slaughterhouse. At Superior Farms, the largest lamb producer and a supplier to the nation's top two food retailers: Walmart and Kroger, COK documented egregious cruelty to young lambs and alarming food labeling practices.
Our footage uncovers:
- Multiple violations of the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act
- Ineffective stunning, leading to some animals experiencing the shock of the electric stunner more than once
- Even after having their throats cut, many lambs are kicking or thrashing their heads – signs they can feel pain – as their tails are cut off
- Workers changing "best by" dates on refrigerated meat labels, deceiving consumers about the freshness of the products.
Each year, approximately 2 million sheep are slaughtered for food in the US, yet until now there has not been an undercover look inside this industry. The story of COK's gut-wrenching video first broke in a powerful exclusive in The New York Times.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
VA: Tyson chicken breeding factory farm
Date: August 2016
Facility: Tyson Foods (contract farms)
Location: Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Buckingham Counties, VA
In 2016, a Compassion Over Killing investigator wore a hidden camera while working behind the closed doors of several Tyson chicken breeding facilities throughout Virginia. We uncovered the brutal and unnecessary practice of "boning,"–which, due to our investigation, Tyson has since discontinued. Our video footage also uncovered the following day-to-day horrors:
- Tyson workers and even a supervisor torturously suffocating birds by standing on their heads
- Tyson workers punching and kicking live birds
- Birds being crushed to death by transport crates and run over by forklifts
- Workers shoving and slamming birds into transport cages
Each year in the U.S., approximately 9 billion chickens are abused and killed for food. Yet, until now, little was known about the conditions of breeder chickens. Our undercover footage reveals that these "parent flocks" suffer some of the worst abuses in the chicken industry.
Aug. 2017 update: COK's video prompts unprecedented cruelty charges & convictions.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
MN: Pig Slaughterhouse
Date: October 2015
Facility: Quality Pork Processors, Inc. (exclusive supplier to Hormel Foods)
Location: Austin, Minnesota
In 2015, a Compassion Over Killing investigator wore a hidden camera while working behind the closed doors of a Minnesota pig slaughter plant which kills and processes animals for Hormel. This plant is one of the largest pig slaughterhouses in the U.S., and one of five plants enrolled in a pilot USDA program that allows for faster processing speeds with reduced government inspection. Our video footage uncovers the following day-to-day horrors:
- animals being beaten, shocked, dragged, and improperly stunned—all out of view of the few government inspectors
- sick and injured pigs unable to walk, known as "downers," enduring particularly egregious abuses, since they cannot walk to the kill floor
- pigs covered in feces or pus-filled abscesses being slaughtered and processed for meat with a USDA inspection seal of approval
Each year in the U.S., more than 130 million pigs are shipped to slaughterhouses like QPP, where they will spend their last moments in terror and agony. Our undercover footage shows that abuse is systemic in the industry—and that minimal government oversight at slaughterhouses like QPP has devastating consequences for animals, workers, and consumers.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
CA: Turkey Hatchery
Date: March – April 2015
Facility: Foster Farms
Location: Fresno, CA
In 2015, a Compassion Over Killing investigator wore a hidden camera while working behind the closed doors of a California turkey hatchery owned by Foster Farms — one of the top poultry producers in the U.S. Our video footage uncovers the following day-to-day horrors:
- Newly-hatched chicks having their sensitive toes and beaks mutilated without pain relief
- Unwanted chicks being dumped into a giant blender-like machine, which grinds them up alive
- Other "inedible" chicks being slowly and ineffectively suffocated in cheap plastic bags
- Live baby birds with grotesque injuries left to suffer without euthanasia for prolonged periods
Each year in the US, more than 300 million baby turkeys are hatched and abused in hatcheries like this one. The undercover footage reveals that abuse is systemic in the industry—even among companies like Foster Farms that tout their commitment to "humane" values.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
NC: Chicken Slaughterhouse
Date: March – April 2015
Facility: Mountaire Farms
Location: Robeson County, NC
In 2015, a Compassion Over Killing investigator wore a hidden camera while working behind the closed doors of a North Carolina chicken slaughterhouse owned by Mountaire Farms, Inc. — the seventh largest chicken producer in the U.S. Our video footage uncovers the following day-to-day horrors:
- Birds being violently thrown around the facility
- Workers punching, shoving, and pushing birds who are hanging, upside-down in shackles
- A worker ripping out bird's feathers and throwing them at another worker
- Birds being forcefully slammed into leg shackles
- Sick or injured birds being thrown into piles of dead and other dying birds like garbage material
Each year in the US, more than 8 billion chickens are abused and killed in slaughterhouses like this one. Yet, the North Carolina poultry industry is working feverishly to pass an "ag-gag" law in the state, to shield companies like Mountaire from investigations that would reveal animal abuse and other wrong-doings occurring behind their closed doors.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
NC: Chicken Factory Farm
Date: June 2014
Facility: Pilgrim's Corp.
Location: Harnett County, NC
In early 2014, a Compassion Over Killing investigator wore a hidden camera while working behind the closed doors of a North Carolina chicken factory that supplies Pilgrim's Corp. (formerly known as Pilgrim's Pride) — the second-largest chicken producer in the world. Typically kept hidden from public view, our video footage uncovers the following day-to-day horrors:
- birds suffering from painful leg deformities, unable to walk
- sick or injured birds thrown around
- unwanted birds stuffed into buckets with dead or decaying corpses
- unwanted birds, many who are sick or injured, buried alive in mass graves
Each year in the US, more than 8 billion chickens are raised and killed for their meat, and countless more suffer and die before even reaching the slaughterhouse. Much of the suffering these birds endure results from standard industry practices. Few people have seen the daily miseries these baby birds are forced to endure — until now.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
MN: Turkey Breeding Factory
Date: November 2013
Facility: Hargin Inc., a turkey breeding factory farm
Location: Starbuck, MN
In 2013, a COK undercover investigator worked inside Hargin, Inc., a turkey breeding factory farm in Minnesota where an estimated 25,000 female turkeys are locked inside filthy, overcrowded sheds. These hens will spend their lives being artificially inseminated over and over again to continually lay eggs that will hatch young turkeys to be raised and slaughtered for food.
Sadly, these birds often get their wings, heads, or feet stuck in the mechanical nesting boxes — causing severe injuries as the desperately try to free themselves. To make matters worse, the squalid, cramped conditions cause many hens to suffer from various ailments, such as severe irritations covering their heads and faces. As is standard in the industry, sick and injured birds are typically left to suffer without veterinary care.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
CO: Dairy Calf-Raising Facility
Date: November 2013
Facility: Quanah Cattle Co., a calf-raising facility
Location: Kersey, CO
A COK undercover investigator uncovered egregious abuse to newborn calves inside Quanah Cattle Co., an animal agribusiness company that purchases calves from surrounding dairy factories and temporarily confines them before shipping them out to be raised for their meat.
Just days old, many of these calves – some of whom still have their umbilical cords hanging from their bodies – are too feeble or frightened to walk steadily, and our investigation documented these fragile animals being dragged by their legs, pulled by their ears, lifted by their tails, thrown, kicked, and slammed.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
PA: Chicken Hatchery
Date: October 2013
Facility: Bell & Evans., a chicken hatchery
Location: Belleville, PA
A Compassion Over Killing investigator worked inside a chicken hatchery owned by Bell & Evans, a company that prides itself for its so-called "humane animal welfare." Our undercover video, however, exposes the harsh realities forced upon these baby birds on their very first day of life as they emerge from their shells, destined to be raised for their meat.
Inside this Bell & Evans facility, where an estimated 20 million baby birds are hatched each year, our video shows chicks being treated like mere inanimate objects — some unwanted baby birds are even ground up alive.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
CA: Dairy Cow Slaughter Plant
Date: August 2012
Facility: Central Valley Meat Co., a cow slaughterhouse
Location: Hanford, California
A COK investigator working inside Central Valley Meat Co. in June and July of 2012, documented inhumane treatment, improper slaughter methods, and intentional cruelty forced upon these animals in the last moments of their lives, including:
– Downed cows, unable to walk to the kill floor, shot in the head and workers often walking away while the animal continues to struggle and kick
– Some downed cows who were still alive after being shot in the head were then suffocated by workers who stood on their mouths and nostrils preventing the cows from breathing
– Cows being tortured – repeatedly hit, jabbed, electrically shocked, and sprayed with hot water – in a narrow chute leading to the kill floor.
Following our investigation, which received large-scale media coverage including features on ABC World News Tonight and by the Associated Press, the USDA temporarily shut down the slaughter plant. McDonald's, In-N-Out and Costco also severed supply ties with the facility.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
IA: Pig Breeding Factory Farm
Date: February 2012
Facility: Hawkeye Sow Centers, a pig breeding factory farm
Location: Leland, Iowa
A COK undercover investigator to documented the day-to-day miseries forced upon thousands of female pigs at this facility—who are intensively confined in tiny crates where they can't even turn around—and their piglets, who endure painful mutilations without any relief. The video footage revealed:
– Poorly performed castrations that resulted in herniated intestines
– Workers pushing the herniated intestines back inside the piglets, then wrapping the area with tape
– Countless sick or injured piglets left to suffer without veterinary care, many of whom later died
– Sows languishing with uterine prolapses and later dying
– Forced cannibalism: intestines from dead piglets are pulled out and turned into "gruel" to feed back to pigs
– Layers of feces caked on the floor of crates and filthy, fly-infested conditions
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
CA: Chicken & Duck Hatchery
Date: 2009
Facility: Cal-Cruz Hatcheries, a chick and duckling hatchery
Location: Santa Cruz, California
COK's investigator witnessed and painstakingly documented miserable conditions forced upon thousands of newly hatched birds at Cal-Cruz Hatcheries, including:
– A chick drowning in a bucket of liquid waste
– Birds entangled in machinery
– Sick or severely injured birds left to suffer for hours
– Unwanted hatchlings dumped down the egg shell disposal chute, then sprayed with a high-pressure hose
– Birds thrown five to six feet across the room into buckets where they often languished for hours
Following the COK investigation, the hatchery was permanently shut down, and 88 ducklings were taken from the hatchery. While several of these newly-hatched birds were too sick or injured to survive, more than two dozen were given a new chance at life at a nearby sanctuary.
In court, COK argued that the evidence documented in this undercover video of the hatchery constituted unlawful animal cruelty, in violation of the California Business and Professions Code, undermining the integrity of the market. The legal settlement reached marks the first time allegations of animal cruelty were successfully resolved using this civil law.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
MN: Egg Factory Farm
Date: August 2009
Facility: Michael Foods, an egg factory farm
Location: Minnesota
At Michael Foods, a COK investigator documented horrific abuses including:
– Hens immobilized in the wires of their cages, unable to access food or water
– Decomposing and "mummified" corpses left in cages with live birds
– A Michael Foods employee decapitating a hen
Michael Foods supplies eggs to several national restaurant chains, including Dunkin' Donuts. Compassion Over Killing has reached out to Dunkin Donuts numerous times to inquire about the treatment of hens in its supply chain and to encourage the company to make meaningful changes for by making vegan donuts.
***Read more about this investigation and urge Dunkin Donuts to offer a vegan donut***
NY: Foie Gras Farm
Date: 2008
Facility: Hudson Valley Farms, a Foie Gras farm
Location: Ferndale, New York
During a white-gloved, guided tour, a COK investigator documented the sheer barbarity of the foie gras industry. What our investigator documented can only be described as a torture chamber for birds. The undercover footage shows:
– Pipes being shoved down ducks' throats and food pumped into their stomachs
– Ducks grabbed by their wings, shackled upside down, and their throats slit
COK is currently involved in a lawsuit against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for allowing the sale of foie gras since it is a diseased poultry product.
***Watch our VIDEO and read more***
NJ: Egg Factory Farm
Date: 2007
Facility: ISE-America, an egg factory farm
Location: New Jersey
The undercover footage at this facility shows:
– Birds overcrowded in cages
– Severely decomposing birds left in cages with live birds
– Ill birds denied individual veterinary care
– Hens stuck in between the wires of their cages, unable to access food and water
Eggs coming from this facility included a logo marking them as "Animal Care Certified." Following the investigation, COK filed a lawsuit against the industry trade group United Egg Producers (UEP) and ISE America alleging violations of consumer protection laws based on the continued use of the misleading "Animal Care Certified" logo on egg cartons.
NC: Turkey Hatchery
Date: June – July 2006
Facility: Turkey hatchery that supplies Butterball
Location: North Carolina
From the moment chicks were hatched at this facility, they were submerged into a world of misery. Chicks at the hatchery were routinely:
– Dumped out of metal trays and jostled onto conveyor belts after being mechanically separated from cracked egg shells
– Newly-hatched turkeys were tossed around like inanimate objects
– Sorted, sexed, de-beaked, de-toed, and in some cases de-snooded before they are packed up and shipped off to a "grow out" confinement facility
***Watch the VIDEO and read more***
PA: Egg Factory Farm
Date: November – December 2005
Facility: Esbenshade Farms, an egg factory farm
Location: Mount Joy, Pennsylvania
While undercover, our COK investigator found:
– Birds overcrowded in wire cages so small, they cannot spread their wings
– Hens left to suffer from untreated illnesses or injuries,
– Birds with their wings, legs, or feet entangled in the wires of cages, unable to access food or water
– Injured or dying birds removed from their cages and left in the aisles without access to food or water,
– Birds impaled on the wires of the cages with many already dead
This investigation resulted in 70 counts of animal cruelty being filed against the owner and manager, and it is the first case ever in which criminal charges for cruelty to animals were filed for the day-to-day operations at a factory farm.
***Watch the VIDEO and read more***
Interstate Transport Investigation
Date: July 2005
COK investigators traveled throughout the United States to document the conditions endured by farmed animals shipped across the country on trucks and trailers. The investigators found:
– Farmed animals overcrowded onto vehicles and moved long distances
– Transport often exceeded 28 hours without food, water, rest or adequate protection from elements
– An untold number suffer in-transit injuries, illnesses, stress and even death
Following the investigation, COK filed a petition with the USDA challenging the Twenty-Eight Hour Law of 1873, which stated animals could not be transported via "rail carrier, express carrier or common carrier" for longer than 28 consecutive hours without being unloaded for five hours for "feeding, water, and rest." After reviewing the petition, the USDA announced that it will begin protecting farmed animals transported long distances by trucks.
***Watch the VIDEO and read more***
MD: Egg Factory Farm
Date: February 2005
Facility: Redbird Egg Farm, ISE-America, County Fair Farms
Location: Maryland
COK investigators went into three Maryland egg farms to document the unthinkable cruelties egg-laying hens endure. In the farms, investigators found:
– Tens of thousands of hens crammed into tiny wire cages
– Hens denied veterinary care and left to suffer from illness and disease
– Deceased hens left in the cages, their bodies decomposing around live hens
***Watch the VIDEO and read more***
MD: Slaughter Plant
Date: September – October 2004
Facility: Perdue Farms, a slaughter plant
Location: Showell, Maryland
Using a hidden camera, our COK investigator documented horrible—yet routine—cruelty to animals on a daily basis, including:
– Workers violently throwing birds around the slaughter plant's hanging room
– Birds—many who were dying—left unattended on the conveyor belt during workers' lunch breaks
– Dead and dying birds on the grounds outside of the plant
– Birds flapping violently after having their throats slit
***Watch the VIDEO and read more***
MD: Egg Factory Farm
Date: May 2004
Facility: Red Bird Egg Farm
Location: Millington, Maryland
At this "Animal Care Certified" facility, COK undercover investigators documented:
– Extreme confinement: cages stacked upon cages
– Vast manure pits under the cages containing escaped birds
– Piles of dead birds
– Several birds were rescued by COK from this farm
MD: Egg Factory Farm
Date: May 2003
Facility: ISE-America, an egg factory farm
Location: Cecilton, Maryland
COK investigators documented egregious abuse:
– Hens stacked 5 tiers high with several hens stuffed into each battery cage
– Hens suffering from severe feather-loss and often living in the feces of those caged above
– Birds needing veterinary care left to suffer with injuries and infections
MD: Egg Factory Farm
Date: February 2003
Facility: ISE-America, an egg factory farm
Location: Cecilton, Maryland
Heavy snowstorms plagued the Washington, D.C.-metropolitan area in February 2003, and tens of thousands of egg-laying hens at ISE-America fell victim as the roofs of some sheds at the ISE mega-egg farm in rural Cecilton, Maryland had collapsed due to the snowfall, and hens were trapped inside battery cages, some crushed, others mangled, both housing live and decomposing hens.
Many of the highest cages in the four-tiered sheds were flattened, hens crushed beneath metal sheeting and plywood. Other wire battery cages were smashed, and still live hens were found amidst badly rotting corpses.
***Read more***
Multi-State: Broiler Farm
Date: 2003
COK investigators found:
– Farms riddled with such filth, ammonia fumes, and other serious air pollution that breathing can be painful and difficult
– A painful slaughter procedure in which the birds are hung upside down, electrocuted into paralysis, and have their throats slit open
– Birds living in their own waste where they cannot escape the high levels of ammonia and bacteria
– Bodies often scalded by ammonia, and many suffering from respiratory infections
***Read more***
MD: Egg Factory Farm
Date: August – November 2002
Facility: Red Bird Egg Farms
Location: Millington, Maryland
COK investigators found:
– Hens in battery cages that never touch the earth and live suspended over unsanitary manure pits
– Unhealthy cysts on many birds
– Overgrown nails, making walking and standing difficult
– Deceased hens discarded like trash
MD: Egg Factory Farm
Date: April and May 2002
Facility: County Fair Farms, an egg farm
Location: Westminster, Md.
Using video and still cameras, the investigators documented numerous cases of neglect and animal cruelty including:
– Countless dead hens in cages with live hens
– Hens stuck in the wires of their cages, dying from dehydration
– Hens with serious infections, growths, prolapsed rectums and other health problems
– Hens suffering massive feather-loss
The COK investigators at County Fair Farms openly rescued ten hens from the facility who were in desperate need of immediate veterinary care.
MD: Livestock Auctions
Date: October – December 2001
Location: Maryland
COK conducted an investigation throughout the state of Maryland, documenting the conditions for animals at three livestock auctions: Westminster Livestock Auction, Four State's Livestock Sales, and Frederick Livestock Auction, all of which are owned by B&J Auctions.
Violence and intimidation toward animals are the norm at livestock auctions.
***Watch the VIDEO and read more***
MD: Egg Factory Farm
Date: May 2001
Facility: ISE-America, an egg factory farm
Location: Cecilton, Maryland
COK activists rescued eight hens from ISE-America who were in dire need of veterinary attention. These hens now live in safe homes where they can feel sun on their backs, scratch the earth with their feet, and fulfill their needs and desires, free from the horror of their previous existence. They will never again be abused by the egg industry.
While several of these newly-hatched birds were too sick or injured to survive, more than two dozen were given a new chance at life at a nearby sanctuary.


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See what's around you with Google Places
Fresh off the recent update of their visual search tool Google Goggles, Google has released what promises to be an extremely handy tool while on the go – Google Places. Similar to apps like Yelp and AroundMe, Places allows users to easily find attractions, restaurants and more based on their location.
Google Places with Hotpot helps you discover nearby places you'll love. Quickly search for Restaurants, Cafes, Bars and other places, while on the go.
Google Places also makes it easy to quickly rate the places you visit. By rating places, you power Hotpot — Google's new personalized recommendation engine, which lets you get place recommendations based on the places you like and recommendations from your friends.
To make the most of the app, you can visit also google.com/hotpot from your computer and begin adding friends. Subsequently, the search results will not only be based off of recommendations from around the web and your personal preferences, but also what your friends have recommended. Check out Google Places now for free for your iPhone/iPod Touch.
Google, Google Places, Size: 6.9 MB – Free

subset: commoncrawl


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iPhone 6s Speakers
Elige tu modelo de iPhone 6s:
iPhone 6s Earpiece Speaker
Fix problems with call audio by replacing a malfunctioning earpiece speaker. This part is compatible with an iPhone 6s.
iPhone 6s Loudspeaker
Fix speakerphone or other audio output problems by replace a damaged or malfunctioning large speaker. This part is compatible with an iPhone 6s.
iPhone 6s Earpiece Speaker Bracket
This metal bracket secures the earpiece speaker to the display assembly.
iPhone 6s Loudspeaker Mount
Replace a punctured or missing plastic mount and anti-dust mesh for the loudspeaker and lower right microphone and keep dust and dirt from blocking the speaker or microph...
iPhone 6s Earpiece Speaker Mesh
Replace a punctured or missing mesh and plastic bezel that covers the earpiece speaker opening and keep dust and dirt from blocking the speaker. This part is compatible w...
Info de Dispositivo
The successor to the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6s was formally announced by Apple on September 9, 2015 and released September 25, 2015. Notable features include 3D Touch, Live Photos, the new A9 processor and M9 coprocessor as well as the Taptic Engine, previously only seen in the Apple Watch. The iSight camera is now 12 MP and sports the ability to shoot 4K video while the FaceTime camera has been upgraded to an impressive 5 MP.
Apple estimates that the iPhone 6s provides "up to" 50 hours of audio playback, 14 hours of talk time on 3G, 10 hours of Internet use on 3G, 10 hours of Internet use on LTE, 11 hours of Internet use on Wi-Fi, 11 hours of video playback and "up to" 10 days of standby time.
There are three models of the iPhone 6s. Model A1633 is sold in the US optionally locked to AT&T or offered unlocked, contract free for several carriers like T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint. Model A1688 is sold in the US for Sprint and Verizon or for T-Mobile with a nano-SIM, and for a wide variety of carriers in Canada, Europe, Asia, and elsewhere worldwide. Model A1700 is sold for mainland China.


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VFW Appoints First Female Assistant Quartermaster General
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) has appointed a 13-year Army and Desert Storm veteran as the first female Assistant Quartermaster General for the nation's largest combat veteran service organization.
Debra Anderson was sworn in on August 23, 2015, before the VFW's National Council of Administration. The announcement comes just days after a historical change to extend VFW Auxiliary membership eligibility to male spouses and male family members, solidifying the VFW's commitment to membership equality for all military families.
"Since coming to the VFW in 2006, Debra has been dedicated to furthering the VFW's mission at Post, District and National levels. I have no doubt that she will continue to ensure the VFW remains the top veterans' service organization FOR VETERANS," said John Biedrzycki, VFW national commander.
Prior to her appointment, Anderson served as director of Human Resources and Investment Coordinator where she managed all aspects of human resources for the VFW National Headquarters.
Anderson earned her VFW eligibility for service with the U.S. Army during Desert Storm and left the Army in 1993 as a Major. Among her numerous military decorations, she has been awarded the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal (2), Southwest Asia Service Medal, Kuwait Liberation Medal and Parachutist Badge.
She graduated cum laude with a degree in Economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia and earned a master's degree in Systems Management from the University of Southern California.
Anderson joined the VFW in 2006 at Post 7356 in Parkville, Mo., where she currently maintains her Gold Legacy Life membership. She has served as Voice of Democracy chair, junior vice commander, senior vice commander, All-American Post Commander, trustee and district adjutant.
(via VFW.org)
Action Alert: Veterans Choice Program and Access Survey
Background: Last year, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 (Choice Act) to improve access to health care for veterans and reduce VA appointment wait times. Since its enactment, the VFW has worked to ensure this important law serves the best interest of veterans. In the past year, the VFW has commissioned several surveys; compiled three reports; worked directly with VA officials and health care contractors; and testified before Congress multiple times on the state of the VA health care system and the implementation of the Choice Act, resulting in significant changes in the program to better serve veterans.
Action Needed: Take the VFW's latest Veterans Choice Program and Access Survey to help the VFW hold VA accountable for delivering veterans timely access to high quality care. To take the survey, click here:
VFW Auxiliary Now Accepts Men
John A. Biedrzycki Jr., national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) [last week] added his official signature to the new congressional charter of its Auxiliary organization in a historical event solidifying the VFW's commitment to membership equality for all military families.
The former Ladies Auxiliary VFW, founded in 1914, is the VFW's highly regarded support organization and is considered its "Partner in Service."
Under its former name Ladies Auxiliary VFW, membership within the organization was offered exclusively to female spouses and family members of any member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The gender-specific eligibility requirement remained for more than 100 years until July 20, 2015, when delegates to the VFW's 116th National Convention in Pittsburgh voted to amend the dated by-law to extend the same membership opportunity to eligible males.
Appropriately, the Ladies Auxiliary VFW has changed its official name to the VFW Auxiliary.
"It's an exciting time to be a member of the Auxiliary," said National President Francisca Guilford. "Women comprise nearly twenty percent of our nation's military, and this change allows all spouses, fathers, grandfathers, sons, grandsons and brothers to serve others in honor of their veteran."
Currently, the Auxiliary has more than 465,000 members, a number that is now expected to sharply increase over the next year. Its members represent all 50 states, the District of Columbia, several foreign locations including Germany, Guam and Panama, and have made an impact in local communities around the globe.
Last year alone, its members worked to provide $4.6 million dollars in monetary aid to veterans, active duty military and their families, and volunteered nearly 800,000 hours in VA Medical Centers, hospitals, nursing and veterans' homes. Auxiliary members also contributed greatly to cancer research, youth activities, civic patriotism and much more.
For more information about the VFW Auxiliary, please visit www.vfwauxiliary.org.
(via VFW.org)
VFW: Sequestration Must End!
WASHINGTON (July 10, 2015) — There was nothing shocking about Thursday's force reduction announcement by the Army. The Budget Control Act of 2011 had dictated the terms by which America's largest military service would incrementally shrink from a wartime high of 570,000 active-duty soldiers to 450,000. Still to come, however, is the return of mandatory sequestration in fiscal year 2016, which would further shrink the active Army to 420,000 soldiers, as well as drastically slash the operating budgets of all four military services.
"Sequestration is the most significant military readiness and national security threat of the 21st century, and despite almost universal congressional opposition to it, no member of the House or Senate has yet introduced any legislation to end it," said John W. Stroud, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. "Our military can beat any military in the world, but they can't fight a Congress that is essentially forcing them to operate for a decade on only eight years' worth of funding."
Though the Army's announced two-year plan to reduce its end strength by 40,000 soldiers and 17,000 civilians was preordained four years ago, Stroud said what's important now is for the new Congress to act.
"We need both political parties to finally say 'enough,' not because a continued sequester will hurt civilian economies in certain congressional districts, but because a continued sequester weakens America, worries our allies and emboldens our enemies," he said. "Our brave men and women in uniform will continue to perform and excel at every mission, but overtasking with inadequate resourcing will cost lives — American lives — which is an impending disaster the VFW will not allow. Sequestration must end!"
(via VFW.org)
VFW Salutes New Agent Orange Decision
The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United is saluting today's [last week's] decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs to begin accepting disability claims from veterans potentially exposed to Agent Orange-contaminated aircraft in the post-Vietnam era. The decision by VA Secretary Bob McDonald could now benefit as many as 1,500 to 2,100 Air Force and Air Force Reserve personnel who might suffer from any of 14 presumptive medical conditions that have been determined to be related to Agent Orange exposure.
The VA secretary made the decision to expand benefits following a 2015 report by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine on Post-Vietnam Dioxin Exposure in Agent Orange-Contaminated C-123 Aircraft. The report found evidence that those who served aboard or worked on the C-123 aircraft were exposed to the herbicide, both during and after Vietnam, when many of the aircraft remained in service for aeromedical transportation or in a mosquito abatement role back in the U.S.
"The VFW has been pushing for this decision for years," said VFW National Commander John W. Stroud, "because something inside these aircraft was making people sick years after the plane last flew a defoliating mission in Vietnam. We thank the Institute of Medicine for determining a contributing link between exposure and the 14 medical conditions, and Secretary McDonald for making a quick call to care for more veterans."
All airmen who were assigned to flight, ground or medical crew duties at Lockbourne/Rickenbacker Air Force Base in Ohio (the 906th and 907th Tactical Air Groups or 355th and 356th Tactical Airlift Squadrons), at Massachusetts's Westover AFB (the 731st Tactical Air Squadron and 74th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron), or with the 758th Airlift Squadron in Pittsburgh, during the period 1969 to 1986, and who may have developed an Agent Orange-related disability, are encouraged to file a disability compensation claim through the VA's eBenefits web portal (https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/), or to seek the free and expert assistance of a national VFW Service Officer at http://www.vfw.org/NVS/.
Read more about the today's [last week's] decision at http://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/20825/va-expands-disability-benefits-for-air-force-personnel-exposed-to-contaminated-c-123-aircraft/.
(via VFW.org)
VFW Calls New VA Appropriations Bill 'Bad for Veterans'
WASHINGTON — The national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States said the U.S. House of Representatives is set to penalize disabled veterans this week if it votes to reduce the Department of Veterans Affairs budget request by more than $1.5 billion.
"The nationwide crisis in care and confidence that erupted in the VA last year was caused in many ways by a lack of adequate resourcing that only Congress is authorized to provide," said John W. Stroud, who leads the 1.9 million-member VFW and its Auxiliaries. "That's why the VFW is demanding that the House amend this bill to appropriate a funding level that fully funds VA."
In its current form, the fiscal year 2016 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill makes across-the-board cuts to all VA discretionary accounts, and drastically underfunds medical care, major construction and Information Technology accounts. Stroud said across-the-board cuts to discretionary spending is what Congress created back in 2011, but by another name, sequestration. Now the House wants to impose its own sequester on a federal department whose sole mission is to care for wounded, ill and injured veterans.
"The VA cannot fulfill its mission without proper funding, but the House for whatever reason now wants to ration care, eliminate infrastructure projects, and stop improving upon the programs and services that the VA was created to provide," said the VFW national commander. "This bill is bad for veterans and any vote for it is unconscionable, which is why we want veterans and advocates everywhere to get involved by urging their elected officials to fully fund the VA."
Make your voices heard here.
via VFW.org
2014-2015 National Youth Scholarship Winner Videos
The winners of the 2014-2015 National Voice of Democracy and Patriot's Pen scholarship competitions were named earlier this month at the National Legislative Conference in Washington DC.
Adam Densmore from the Department of Colorado was named the first-place winner of the $30,000 Voice of Democracy T.C. Selman Memorial Scholarship Award. This year's theme was "Why Veterans are Important to our Nation's History and Future." Densmore was sponsored by VFW Post 3631 and Ladies Auxiliary in Aurora, Colorado.
The second-place winner, Jaycie Schenone, sponsored by VFW Post 6604 and Ladies Auxiliary in Folsom, California, received the $16,000 Charles Kuralt Memorial Scholarship Award. The third-place winner, Mackenzie Leishman, sponsored by VFW Post 2350 and Ladies Auxiliary in Elko, Nevada, received the $10,000 VFW Scholarship Award.
Ethan Schroeder from the Department of Pennsylvania was named first-place winner of a $5,000 award for his submission on this year's theme "Why I Appreciate America's Veterans." Schroeder was sponsored by VFW Post 92 and Ladies Auxiliary in New Kensington, Pennsylvania.
The second-place winner, Jordyn Mies, sponsored by VFW Post 7824 and Ladies Auxiliary Vancouver, Washington, will receive a $4,000 award. The third-place winner, Tracy Kruse, sponsored by VFW Post 2966 and Ladies Auxiliary in Scotland, South Dakota, will receive a $3,500 award.
VFW National Commander Testifies Before Congress
During today's [Wednesday's] testimony before a joint hearing of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees, the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. (VFW) expressed the organization's deep concern over America's disregard for veterans.
"What concerns the VFW and patriots everywhere is that America has forgotten that OUR NATION IS STILL AT WAR," explained William A. Thien, commander-in-chief of the VFW. "We have 38,000 men and women stationed inside Afghanistan fighting to ensure the country doesn't become a terrorist training ground again. We have another 30,000 stationed in South Korea helping to preserve a 61-year-old ceasefire that is looking more and more tenuous. We have tens of thousands more service members stationed abroad helping to bring peace and stability, and humanitarian assistance when and where it's needed."
Thien went on to address the war now being waged on American soil as well, reminding lawmakers of the ongoing veterans' fight to retain their promised benefits and Quality of Life programs. He noted the passage of the recent COLA penalty, an initiative that VFW was adamantly against since its introduction late last year. "Some believe the cost of war ends when the last troops leave Afghanistan. We know this is not true, and that is why we need a fully funded state-of-the-art VA health care system, benefits programs and cemetery system."
He pledged that the more than 1.9 million members of the VFW and its Auxiliaries will fight to preserve the safety and security of America and the viability of its All-Volunteer Military. He also vowed to fight attempts to force veterans, service members and their families to shoulder an unfair share of the nation's debt, and promised to continue the fight for adequate funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as for advance appropriations for its programs.
Thien explained to Congress that the VFW's mission is to ensure that a nation that creates veterans fulfills its sacred duty to care for them when they return home. "The VFW exists to serve veterans, and that includes representing them in Washington where the voice of one veteran is often overlooked and the voice of servicemen and women is prohibited.
"Everything the VFW wants costs money, but everything the VFW wants is for someone else—someone from every city and town in every congressional district, and in every state and territory who swore an oath of allegiance to protect and defend our great country and its Constitution," Thien stated.
There is Equal Opportunity for the Appearance of Political, Product or Service Advertising on this Network. Advertising is for Informational Purposes Only and Should Not Be Construed as an Endorsement.


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Muhlenberg's 'Marriage of Figaro' brings Beaumarchais's 18th century comedy to a modern audienceDirector Francine Roussel's production will feature an original musical score by Lehigh Valley composer Mike Krisukas
Thursday, April 11, 2013 03:54 PM
"The Marriage of Figaro" is known worldwide to opera aficionados and Bugs Bunny fans from the opera composed by W.A. Mozart. Less well-known to modern audiences is the 1784 comedy by French playwright Beaumarchais, upon which Mozart based his opera.
The Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance Department will present the Beaumarchais play as the finale to its 2012-13 Mainstage Series, April 25-28. Directed by Francine Roussel, the production will feature an original score by composer and musician Mike Krisukas, known to Lehigh Valley audiences as the guitarist and lead songwriter for the band Zen For Primates.
"'The Marriage of Figaro' is so well built, the characters so real, and the spirit of the play so uplifting that it deserves exposure to an American audience," Roussel says. "Opera buffs may know the Mozart classic, but less often the play on which it is based. On Beaumarchais' behalf, we hope to rectify that inequity."
Writing a few years before the French Revolution, Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais pours his rage at the aristocracy into "The Marriage of Figaro," which manages equal parts hilarity and outrage. First produced in 1784, the play was a sequel to "The Barber of Seville," picking up three years after the wedding of the Count and Countess that concludes that play. Now Figaro, the Count's valet, plans to marry, but the Count has tired of his lovely Countess and lusts for Figaro's bride-to-be, Suzanne. He determines to revive the ancient "droit du seigneur" — the lord of the manor's right to bed any new bride on her wedding night.
Figaro, Suzanne and the Countess concoct a counter-plot, but the Count's page, Cherubin, makes hash of it through his passionate crush on the Countess. The multiple layers of misunderstanding yield what Roussel calls "one of the most perfect farce scenes of all time," in one of the most scathing critiques of aristocratic privilege ever written.
"Le droit du seigneur — while anathema to modern sensibilities — was the 'natural order' for the aristocracy in much of 18th century Europe," Roussel says. "Beaumarchais had the temerity to write a comedy about this shocking practice, subtly undermining class privilege, exposing gender inequalities, and revolutionizing the condition of women. Danton claimed that 'Figaro killed off the nobility.' Perhaps — but with laughter, not the guillotine."
Krisukas says his starting point for the show's original score was his and Roussel's mutual interest in Spanish flamenco styles.
"Part of the excitement in entering a new artistic project is the opportunity to be quickly thrust into a new world," Krisukas says. "It's like going on a journey and immersing yourself in some new land with its own culture, language, history and artistic perspective."
The production also features original choreography by Nina Pongratz, scenic and lighting design by Curtis Dretsch, and costume design by Liz Covey.
"All Will End with Joyful Songs: A Panel Discussion" will be held Thursday, April 25, at 12:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall, Baker Center for the Arts. This discussion will provide unique perspectives on the content and context of "The Marriage of Figaro." Theatre professor James Peck and French professor Kathy Wixon will moderate the discussion. The panel will include Roussel, Krisukas, Pongratz, and students of Wixon's French Theatre of the Resistance course.
Muhlenberg College is a liberal arts college of 2,200 students in Allentown, Pa. The college offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in theater and dance. The Princeton Review consistently ranks Muhlenberg's production program in the top ten in the nation, and the Fiske Guide to Colleges lists both the theater and dance programs among the top small college programs in the United States.
Performances of "The Marriage of Figaro" are April 25-28: Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for LVAIC students, faculty and staff and for patrons 17 and under.
Performances are in the Baker Theatre, Trexler Pavilion for Theatre and Dance, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew St., Allentown. Performance information and tickets are available at 484-664-3333 or muhlenberg.edu/theatre


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|Jepson Flora Project: Jepson Interchange
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Jepson Interchange (more information)
©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
Perennial to trees, from membranous bulb, fibrous corm, scaly rhizome, or erect caudex
Stem generally underground
Leaves generally basal, often withering early, alternate, generally ± linear
Inflorescence various, generally bracted
Flower generally bisexual, generally radial; perianth often showy, segments generally 6 in two petal-like whorls (outer sometimes sepal-like), free or fused at base; stamens 6 (or 3 + generally 3 ± petal-like staminodes), filaments sometimes attached to perianth or fused into a tube or crown; ovary superior or inferior, chambers 3, placentas generally axile, style generally 1, stigmas generally 3
Fruit: generally capsule, loculicidal or septicidal (berry or nut)
Genera in family: ± 300 genera, 4600 species: especially ± dry temp and subtropical; many cultivated for ornamental or food;
some TOXIC. Here includes genera sometimes treated in Agavaceae, Amaryllidaceae, and other families.
Perennial; bulb with 1several large fleshy scales, 0many small scales
Stem erect, simple (0 in non-flower plants)
Leaves alternate (or whorled below), sessile, linear to ± ovate (1 "bulb-leaf" in non-flower plants)
Inflorescence: raceme; bracts leaf-like
Flower generally nodding, bell- or cup-shaped; perianth segments 6, of 2 similar whorls; nectaries 6, on perianth parts; stamens 6, included, inserted at perianth base, anthers attached ± near middle; ovary ± sessile, style 1, entire or 3-branched
Fruit: capsule, loculicidal, thin walled, ± rounded, 6-angled, or winged, chambers 3
Seeds many, 2 rows per chamber, flat, brownish
Species in genus: ± 100 species: n temp
Etymology: (Latin: dicebox, from fruit shape)
Reference: [Turrill & Sealy 1980 Hooker's Icones Plantarum 34:1275]
Bulbs of some eaten by Indians of North America
Horticultural information: DRN: for pots or rock gardens; DRY when dormant. Most are very DFCLT.
Bulb; large scales 25; small scales 220
Stem 112 dm
Leaves in 14 whorls of 28 below, alternate above, 416 cm, linear-lanceolate to ovate
Flower nodding; perianth parts 14 cm, oblong to ovate, brownish purple mottled yellow to pale yellowish green mottled purple; nectary 1/22/3 perianth length, lanceolate, yellow with purple dots; style divided 1/2
Fruit widely winged
Chromosomes: 2n=24,36,48
Ecology: Common. Oak or pine scrub, grasslands
Elevation: < 1800 m.
Bioregional distribution: North Coast, Klamath Ranges, North Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, n Sierra Nevada Foothills, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, Outer South Coast Ranges
Distribution outside California: to British Columbia, Idaho
Synonyms: F. lanceolata Pursh (illegitimate name); F. phaeanthera Purdy
Highly variable; needs further study; hybridizes with F. recurva.
Bulb with 60100+ small scales
Flower: perianth parts scarcely mottled
Ecology: Very uncommon. Coastal grassland
Elevation: < 100 m.
Bioregional distribution: n Central Coast (w Marin Co.).


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Dodgers family expresses gratitude for Jobe
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Dodgers right-hander Chad Billingsley was an 18-year-old right out of high school when he met Dr. Frank Jobe for the first time.
Jobe gave Billingsley his first shoulder and elbow exam as a professional ball player.
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Dodgers right-hander Chad Billingsley was an 18-year-old right out of high school when he met Dr. Frank Jobe for the first time.
Jobe gave Billingsley his first shoulder and elbow exam as a professional ball player.
Legendary Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser was a seasoned veteran and 32 years old when Jobe changed the path of his career.
Hershiser won 99 regular-season games before Jobe operated on his shoulder in 1990. He won 105 games after the procedure.
On Friday, Billingsley, Hershiser and several members of the Dodgers family expressed their gratitude and shared memories of the famous doctor whose work saved their throwing arms and extended their careers.
A World War II veteran and sports medicine pioneer, Jobe is best-known in baseball circles for transplanting a tendon to replace the torn ulnar collateral ligament of Dodgers left-hander Tommy John in 1974 and putting in place a procedure that has prolonged the careers of ballplayers at every level.
Jobe died Thursday at the age of 88.
"There's no question he is a pioneer, and I think that's the best word you can use for him, and I think he would have appreciated that title," Stan Conte, Dodgers vice president, medical services, said. "In baseball, he is Godfather of sports medicine, for sure. Most time when a surgery is performed for the first time, it is modified a lot of different times and mutated to get better, but this surgery is the same as it was back in 1974, with a few exceptions. That tells you he was right on the mark in what he was trying to do."
Jobe was in his 50th season with the Dodgers.
"I was on cloud nine from being drafted in the first round, but what the Dodgers organization really put in the guys' minds was the history of the organization, and he was definitely one of the guys you would hear discussed," said Billingsley, who had Tommy John surgery last summer. "With instructors and people in the organization, his name would come up all of the time for what he has done for the Dodgers."
Jobe was honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., during an awards ceremony last summer, and by all accounts, he will be remembered as a Hall of Famer in every sense of the word.
"If there's a medical wing of the Hall of Fame, he should definitely be in the Hall of Fame," said Hershiser, who now serves as a broadcaster for the team. "He's touched more wins and more saves and more at-bats than anybody in baseball history. He's extended the joy of every baseball fan because he allowed great players and any big leaguer to get back on the field and contribute to the excitement and joys of their careers."
Said Conte: "In all due respect to the Hall of Fame, they need to fix this if there is a category for pioneers in baseball in the Hall of Fame. The professional baseball athletic society has been lobbying for years and years to get him in. I'm so glad that they honored him last year. It was a huge thing in his life to be honored by the Hall of Fame. That said, I think it's time to put someone like him in the Hall of Fame."
Several other players in the Dodgers' clubhouse have first-hand experience with Jobe's famous surgical procedure.
Dodgers pitching prospect Ross Stripling is set to have Tommy John surgery, and reliever Brian Wilson has had two Tommy John surgeries. Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu had the procedure while in high school.
"I didn't know the doctor, but I am really regretful to hear this news because he invented a procedure that nobody else had thought of, and I'm especially grateful because it prolonged my baseball career and allowed me to pitch in the Major Leagues for the Dodgers," Ryu said.
Outfielder Carl Crawford had Tommy John surgery in 2012.
"I don't know if I would have stopped playing, but I know I would be playing in a lot of pain right now," Crawford said. "Treatment every day. It would have been painful for me. Guys come back throwing harder and stronger, playing longer. I'm pretty sure that surgery has saved plenty of careers."
Dodgers pitcher Scott Elbert had the surgery on his left arm last June.
"I'm obviously still bouncing back from it, but if it wasn't for what he did for everybody else, I wouldn't be here," he said. "He resurrected so many careers of guys that thought they were done as soon as they got hurt. It's a tremendous thing that he did, and I'm thankful for everything that he's done."
A patriot and a pioneer, Jobe's legacy extends beyond the Dodgers' clubhouse. His work will continue to impact future generations.
"Now the success rate is so good that I'm sure that many years ago before the surgery came along that a guy like Ross Stripling, a young guy with high hopes, if this would have happened to him it would have been like his career is over," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "Now it happens and it's like, '12 months from now, he'll be close to pitching again,' and you almost assume that he's going to come back just as good or better."
Jesse Sanchez is a national reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @JesseSanchezMLB.


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Home >> Course Descriptions >> College of Education
Survey of Moderate, Severe and Profound Disabilities
Three semester hours.
Focus will be on legal issues relating to moderate, severe and profound disabilities. Research topics in specified Supreme Court case will be required. Important aspects of IDEA will be discussed. The educational focus will be on resource room and self-contained programs as well as special schools, hospitals or other long-term program. Prerequisite: EDSE 5305. May be taken concurrently with EDSE 5305.
Home - General Information - Student Services -
Academic Undergraduate Regulations -
Undergraduate Degrees - Academic Graduate Regulations -
Graduate Degrees - Course Descriptions - Faculty -
Appendix A - Appendix B - Appendix C - Appendix D


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The Pink Cat brauchte ein neues Logo Design und hat einen Wettbewerb auf 99designs gestartet.
Aus 106 Designs von 37 Designern wurde eine Gewinner gewählt.
Would love to have an outline of a cat in pink, perhaps wearing a diamonte necklace and a nice bushy tail and with the words "The Pink Cat" included. BUT very open to other suggestions!
Pls don't let the above requirements stunt your talent!
The Pink Cat
Desired Color Scheme:
Outline of cat needs to be pink
Desired Style:
classy, elegant, tasteful, pampered, boutique
Accepted File Formats:
all vector files and incl .eps,.gif, .jpeg, tif, .bmp, .pdf
This is a new online retail business selling designer products and accessories for cats and cat lovers.
An outline of a pink cat with a diamonte necklace and the words The Pink Cat included was how I have envisioned it but I am open to suggestions.
This logo will be applied to the website, business cards, stationery etc and perhaps on products as well, so very important that it has the "WOW" factor.
The logo will be used primarily on the website, but we will also use it in printed materials like stationary and receipts. The logo might be silk screened on t-shirts also.
All finished logo must be original work only.
Please do not submit clipart or copyrighted material. Fonts used need to be freeware.
The full ownership of copyright must be transfered to us and a written agreement will need to be signed giving us full ownership of the logo.
Thank you.
Finden Sie heraus, wie ein Designwettbewerb funktioniert, oder lernen Sie mehr über unsere Logo-Design-Angebote.


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Laverne Haynes, Tina Johnson and Judy Ann Crumitie are all hopeful.
They're facing charges of voter fraud, and Monday they found out that someone facing the same charges had theirs dropped.
Tina Johnson, Madison Nine, stated, "we just trying to just do the best we can, but it's really been rough," Johnson said.
Judy Ann Crumitie, Madison Nine: "we just got caught up in a ordeal that it really shouldn't have happened," Crumitie said.
Laverne Haynes, Madison Nine, "it's like a rollercoaster, we've had highs, we've had lows," Haynes said.
Known as the Madison 9, they all asked a judge to completely dismiss their case, claiming they did nothing wrong.
That worked for Montollis Roberson, the only one so far who had that to happen.
The arrests stem from November 2011.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement says that fraud occurred during a county school board election.
Jami Coleman, Madison Nine Legal Team, stated, "I'm confident that the charges for the remaining individuals will also be dropped, at least that's what were hoping and praying..."
The three had their legal team with them Tuesday at a Madison County School Board meeting. They showed up to make a statement that these heavy charges haven't brought them down.
"Guess I should say I'm just very prayerful that I should get the same," Johnson said.
"She got hers and we're gonna get ours, I know that," Crumitie said.
"That's all that we've all ever said we wanted to hear that the charges were dismissed," Haynes said.
The three have trials next week where their fate will be decided.
Their cases are set for January 23rd. Stay with WCTV Eyewitness News for updates on the trials.
Madison, FL - One year, two months and two weeks is how long Montollis Roberson waited for this moment.
"Words cannot explain what I have gone through and please don't make me cry," Roberson said.
Her attorney, Bob Cox, called her Monday with good news. Charges of voter fraud against her were dropped by a judge.
"I thought I was dreaming, I had to pinch myself and I called him and when he called me back I think I threw the phone down, I started shouting," she said.
Roberson is one of the 'Madison 9'.
She was arrested back in November 2011 along with eight others and charged with voter fraud.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said the charges stem from a county school board election.
"We were able to show the judge that there was no fraudulent intention, there was no false ballots cast and the court I think very heroically stepped in to protect the people there and dismissed the case," Cox said.
Roberson not only had an issue with being arrested, but also with how she was arrested.
"Can you imagine your mother for trying to help people to register to vote to have guns pointed at their head, that's not America," said Ben Crump, a member of the legal team for the Madison Nine.
After the year and a half long battle, the fight is over. Roberson looks forward to moving on with life.
"Thank God it's over, I knew justice would prevail and I know the rest of the group, they're gonna be exonerated also."
Roberson's case is over and two others entered pleas, but six of the nine still have pending charges.
Crump and Cox hope the charges against the other people are dropped as well.


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Seems Dallas isn't the only place dealing with the issue of skyscrapers and sunlight.We have the new 42-story Museum Tower with a slightly convex face blasting the neighboring Nasher Museum with reflected light.
London has the soon-to-be-completed 37-story "Walkie-Talkie" building with its slightly
face allegedly
A Londoner who works near the building told
Bloomberg News
that the building's reflected light was "like walking through a wall of heat."
And that's in London, which is not exactly known for its sun and heat.
piece has photos of an
egg being fried in the building's reflection
. Salon reports that the building was designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, who also designed another concave-faced building, the Vdara Hotel in Las Vegas, that reportedly shot a light beam at the pool that people nicknamed
A Chicago lawyer told the
Las Vegas Review-Journal
that his hair had been scorched by the intense reflection.
The Las Vegas hotel applied a high-tech film to the glass. The BBC reports that the London tower's owners are considering putting a similar film on the windows, or even
to break up the mirror-like face. In Los Angeles, where a similar problem bedeviled the Frank Gehry-designed Disney Concert Hall in 2003, they sanded down some of the offending steel panels.
We'll see what North Texas creativity will come up with.


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Jean-Paul Espaignet
BilbaoAbout this photograph
The crowd theme is often repeated in contemporary art. This reflection examines the notion of anonymity, as well as individuality and groups. Espaignet inserts a multitude of framings at the heart of a comprehensive composition. The purpose of each framing is to focus on an individual or a group of individuals.Read more Read less
The photographs are carefully packaged in order to ensure their optimal protection during transport.
After thirty years in the world of photography, Jean Paul Espaignet is testing a new artistic method based on analysis. He collects images and exploits this 'raw material' by eliminating anything superfluous. He aims to extract the very essence of what forms a shot. This approach forms refined creations where the emphasis of a subject or action takes priority.


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Free shipping continues above Dkr 739
Free shipping continues above Dkr 739
"Te ò" was designed by Stefano Pirovano and it's part of the objects for breakfast founded on the research of reproducing small playful, sensorial performances.
The Alessi Research Centre (CSA) was set up in 1990 for two purposes: to draw up theoretical papers on topics associated with objects (to be published as books), and to coordinate work with young designers. Up until that time Alessi had only worked with "major designers", and I felt a certain degree of responsibility towards young, upcoming designers. Alberto Alessi
Born in Milan in 1961, he is a designer, stage designer, graphic artist and interior designer, combining various languages in his projects and insisting on the close bond between function and representation in his objects.


text: A certain culture believes that evil can live beyond the grave. They also believe that the destruction of the dead body can keep that one from coming back. Destroying the newly deceased body can destroy the soul if done properly. They first burn the body for 24 hours, smash the remains as well as possible, then burn the what is left for another 24 hours.


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Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand unfazed by lack of contract discussions
Rio Ferdinand is keen to extend his stay at Manchester United and is unfazed by a lack of contract negotiations.
Last Updated: 02/02/13 11:22am
The 34-year-old, who arrived at Old Trafford over a decade ago from Leeds United, is remaining patient over a new contract despite his current deal expiring this summer.
Ferdinand said: "Of course I would want to stay, 100 per cent, provided I'm still playing like I am and feeling as good as I am at the moment.
"Manchester United is a great club, the number one, and you would never want to play anywhere else if you can still play for them.
"I want to be able to contribute properly and to be a player they actually need. You can tell if you're not really needed at a club any more. You just know.
"We are not in discussions about a new contract at the moment and I'm fine with that because of the understanding I have with the manager.
"I don't expect to be treated any different to the other older players like Giggsy or Scholesy, who normally sign on again at the end of the season."


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The average Brit spends a staggering £11,100 on rent before buying their first home, new research has shown.
They will rent on average for three years before buying their own home, spending an additional £577 on letting fees and £587 in security deposits
People on average start renting at the age of 21 after leaving home, according to a poll of 2,000 tenants and home-owners.
While 60% of people believe it is financially unwise to rent, 25% do not view renting as unwise.
The most common number of homes rented before buying is one (for 56% of people) followed by two (20%), with most people renting alone (29%) or with one other person (55%).
The research was carried out by letting agent Harry Dhaliwal of the national property group Belvoir, ahead of forthcoming changes to buy-to-let stamp duty being introduced in April.
Industry related figures show that 22% of households in the UK are now rented from private landlords, up from 9% in 1985.
The average rent in UK is £761 per month including rents in London, though excluding London the average drops to £689 per month across the rest of the UK.
The average monthly rent in London is now £1560.
Manchester-based letting agent Harry Dhaliwal who runs the city's franchise of the Belvoir group, commented, "Sometimes the rhetoric around generation rent becomes quite exaggerated and whilst the rental market is growing so is the quality and variety of rental property.
"The findings of our survey highlight that renting across the UK is not as expensive as sometimes reported and most people get full deposits back from landlords. It remains to be seen what effect the stamp duty changes to buy-to-let purchases will have in April."
"Whilst the struggles for first time buyers in London and high rental cost in the capital are well documented, the picture across the UK in general may not be as grey as it is sometimes depicted.
"There are superb professional opportunities in most of the UK's main cities and in the digital age the flexibility around employment and running a business mean renting or buying outside London has probably never been more attractive."


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To find your partner suggestions, click/tap on Matches. To find the visitors to your profile, click/tap on Visitors. You can also find a link to these lists on your homepage.
To filter your matches or visitors, mark the filters you wish to apply:
- New - profiles you have not yet viewed.
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Great Food
Follow by Email
Responsible sourcing Dairy with principles We're serious about our supply chain. My co-worker is using Jenny Craig but it was just to cost prohibitive for me. Evaluating the Evidence for a Paradigm Shift". Nutrisystem is the best diet plan I have ever tried. Maybe I'm too used to supersizing everything?
Healthy Eating Tips to Prevent, Control, and Reverse Diabetes
Of the 23 trials they identified, 12 were methodologically sound enough to include in their analysis. The analysis revealed that some statistically significant weight loss occurred, but the magnitude of the effect is small and the clinical relevance is uncertain.
They also found that gastrointestinal adverse events were twice as likely in the hydroxycitric acid group as in the placebo group. When you are considering the potential benefits of products look for meta-analysis studies that take in all the sound research available.


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Citizens loan deal draws critcism at House panel hearing in Tallahassee
A controversial program to shrink the size of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp. by spending $350 million to encourage private companies to take over business came under fire from all sides on Tuesday as the state-run insurer made its first appearance before a House committee.
The program, which would loan some of the company's surplus cash to private insurers who agree to take over policies, is expected to be approved by the Citizen's eight-member board of governors in the coming weeks.
"It's worthy to spend a little bit of surplus in order to get risk off the books,'' said Sharon Binnun, Citizens chief financial officer.
But the concept was derided by two legislators as "corporate welfare" and frivolous, and Chairman of the Insurance and Banking Subcommittee, Rep. Bryan Nelson, R-Apopka, raised doubts about the effectiveness of the idea after Citizens officials said the loan program has attracted only three companies out of a possible 20 that might be eligible.
"We've got to have more carriers involved,'' Nelson said, who said he wants to see the plan revised to encourage smaller companies to take the loan incentives.
Under the proposed loan program, private insurers could borrow up to $50 million for 20 years at an interest rate of two percent. Insurers would agree to hold the policies for 10 years and, after three years, could raise rates on customers more than 10 percent.
Rep. Frank Artiles, R-Miami, who is not a member of the committee, blasted the proposal as a "corporate bailout" scheme designed to help Florida-based Tower Hill insurance and its three companies. He warned the program has no safeguards against a private insurer that encounters financial difficulties can cannot pay the loan.
"The reality is citizens is going to dump 300,000 policies into the private market and give them to weaker insurance companies,'' he said. "So, at the end of the day, when those companies fold and walk away, you're going to end up with them again."
Artiles on Tuesday asked the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation to reform a top to bottom investigation, known as a "Market Conduct Examination," on Tower Hill Preferred, Tower Hill Prime, Tower Hill Select and Tower Hill Signature in light of the proposed loan plan.
Artiles has been one of the most vocal critics of Citizens Insurance, warning that the company's policies threaten to increase the risk on policyholders and will add to instead of reduce the risk to the state.
He won an unusual ally Tuesday when Rep. John Wood, a Haines City Republican, who is also not a member of the committee, also raised doubts about the concept. He represents a region of the state that has long complained about being forced to subsidize Citizens Insurance rates in the state's coastal areas.
"This surplus notes thing is frivolous in my opinion, totally frivolous,'' said Wood. He suggested Citizens freeze existing policies and charge the actuarially sound rates on new business to drive away customers.
"My constitutents are at great risk,'' he said. "I'm sympathic to Rep. Artiles. but I'm not going to have Dade County take down the whole state of Florida…We need real relief fast."
Rep. Doug Broxson, R-Milton, who is an insurance agent, asked how the company can suppress growth when it fails to charge rates that reflect the acturarial risk — a move that would discourage people from signing up with Citizens.
"We're re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,'' he said.
Dan Sumner, Citizens general counsel, said the board hasn't proposed charging higher rates for new business, but "would benefit from legislative clarification" on the controversial issue.


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New Veeam Backup for Windows Server 2012
10/10/2012 Leave a comment
Hi there.
Veeam, one of the best backup software for Hyper-V, released a new product that support Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V virtual machines.
With an easy interface to backup your VMs on the fly, it supports compression, deduplication and the option to restore the VM in any other host.
The new version also has a free edition that supports backup compression, VM, VM file and file level recovery, file management and much more.
For more information, visit the website http://bit.ly/OmkKOW
Leandro Carvalho
Certified Ethical Hacker | MCSA+S+M| MCSE+S | MCTS | MCITP | MCBMSS | MCT | MVP Virtual Machine
My Blog | MSVirtualization (pt-BR) | Technet Wiki Articles | MVP Profile
Twitter: LeandroEduardo | LinkedIn: Leandroesc


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By Mead Gruver, Associated Press
"CHEYENNE, Wyo. – CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday for the first time that fracking — a controversial method of improving the productivity of oil and gas wells — may be to blame for causing groundwater pollution.
The draft finding could have significant implications while states try to determine how to regulate the process. Environmentalists characterized the report as a significant development though it met immediate criticism from the oil and gas industry and a U.S. senator." More>>>>


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Time to Chicken Out
Let's terrorize some children!
Oh, YES, 'fraidy cat half-chicken! For far too long now, Easter has been the holiday of the cute and cuddly. Well, NO MORE.
"Right, Bugsy?"
Or shall I introduce you to the Ghost of Easters Past?
Now, brave Wreckies, if ye do doubt your courage - or your strength! - come nae further!
For DEATH awaits you all...
Thanks to Shannon C., Heather, Summer B., Jekka G., Candice C., Danna F., Rachel P., & Jennifer D., who tell me that goes great with mint jelly filling.
Now: run awaaaay!!


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LONDON (MarketWatch) — European stock markets moved lower across the board on Wednesday, as lingering concerns about a slowdown in China and Ukraine/Russia tensions hit sentiment. Weak industrial-production data from the euro zone also hampered the investing mood.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, -0.80% slid 1.1% to end at 327.95, closing at the lowest level in a month.
Weighing on the pan-European benchmark, shares of G4S PLC GFS, -2.36% lost 5.3% after the security company said it swung to a loss in 2013, partly due to a 386-million-pound ($642 million) restructuring charge.
Shares of Valeo SA FR, -2.40% dropped 2.1% after the French government sold a 2.5% stake in the auto-parts manufacturer for 200 million euros ($277 million).
On a more upbeat note, shares of Prudential PLC PRU, -1.60% rose 2.7% after the U.K. insurer raised dividends and said it extended its strategic partnership with bank Standard Chartered PLC STAN, -0.46%. Standard Chartered shares closed 1% lower.
Adecco SA ADEN, -1.71% climbed 4.5% after the staffing firm reported fourth-quarter earnings ahead of expectations.
More broadly, European stock markets already from the open mirrored the weak trading day in Asia, where Japan's Nikkei NIK, +0.16% slumped 2.6% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.81% dropped 1.7%. The losses came as worries over a slowdown in China continued to weigh on the trading mood, after a surprise decline in Chinese exports rattled markets at the beginning of the week.
• Bull market's biggest winners and losers
• Market is up 170% since 2009 — and you?
• How to prepare for the next bear market
• Never forget 2009: Be an elephant, not a bull
• ETFs to bet on as the bull market turns 5
• What to get a bull market that has everything
• What this bull market needs to live a 6th year
• CHARTS: If the S&P 500 repeat past bull runs
In January, weaker-than-expected manufacturing data from the world's second-largest economy triggered a wider market rout, with emerging markets and their currencies hit especially hard. A major concern is that a hard landing in China could slow growth globally, after years of stellar expansion in the country helped boost the international economy. Read: China may giveth to banks, after China taketh away
Continued Russia/Ukraine tensions further spurred the selling in equities. The leaders of the Group of Seven biggest economies urged Russia not to annex Ukraine's Crimea region and warned, should Russia still take the step, that the G7 would respond with further action "individually and collectively".
Markets in Europe were also hit by data showing a surprise drop in industrial production for the euro zone in January. Output fell 0.2% from December, below consensus estimates of a 0.5% rise. Figures for December, however, were revised higher to a drop of 0.4% from the 0.7% decline previously reported.
Howard Archer, chief U.K. and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said the data marked a disappointing start to 2014 for the manufacturing sector, but that the underlying numbers are more encouraging. The January figures were dragged lower by a 2.5% drop in energy output, while output of capital goods rose 0.9%, signaling business investment may have started to pick up in the region, Archer said.
"The overall impression is that the euro-zone manufacturing sector is currently on a modest recovery path," he said in a note.
Several European Central Bank officials were also on the calendar on Wednesday. Benoît Coeuré, an executive board member with the ECB, said there are no signs of deflation in the currency union, but that it is a possible risk. Low inflation in recent months has stoked concerns of deflationary pressures and most economists had expected the ECB to either cut rates or otherwise loosen monetary policy at its meeting last week. The bank, however, stood pat, with ECB President Mario Draghi appearing in no rush to further ease the economy.
Meanwhile, executive board member Peter Praet indicated the central bank is moving closer to making a decision on whether to publish the minutes from central bank meetings.
Among country-specific indexes, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index UKX, -0.26% dropped 1% to 6,620.90, while France's CAC 40 index PX1, -1.05% gave up 1% to 4,306.26. Germany's DAX 30 index DAX, -1.01% slid 1.3% to 9,188.69. Read: This chart shows why the DAX could continue to underperform
U.S. stocks were also mostly lower on Wall Street.
More must-reads from MarketWatch:
Europe's hot new export is deflation
Jeff Gundlach: China bears watching; the taper may get tapered (recap)


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Picture a family that gets in over its head in debt. The two heads of the household decide the problem needs urgent attention, but that they won't consider any solutions that involve changes to their income, their mortgage and housing costs, their health care, or their retirement plans.
Now picture that family being the United States, as represented by its elected officials.
That's essentially what's happening now in Washington, as Democrats and Republicans agree on a major problem but not on how to fix it. On Thursday, bipartisan talks led by Vice President Joe Biden continue. After the group met Wednesday, lawmakers expressed optimism about reaching a fiscal deal, even though some key pieces of the nation's finances are currently viewed as "off the table."
Republicans generally don't want to consider raising taxes as part of a plan to reduce federal deficits. And the rift between the two parties over how to fix Medicare and Social Security has pushed those entitlement programs to the sidelines.
So the two parties are focused on other parts of the federal budget – such discretionary spending and where to cut it – as they rush to put a fiscal deal in place before Aug. 2. Both sides agree that it's a good idea to act by early August, ideally a bit ahead of that Treasury-announced deadline, to avoid a serious funding challenge for the nation. After that, the government won't be able to borrow, by issuing new bonds, unless Congress has raised the debt limit.
The limited scope of the bipartisan talks doesn't mean they are fruitless.
In fact, as lawmakers left Wednesday's meeting members of both parties struck an optimistic tone about the progress being made. The group is meeting at a stepped-up pace (it will gather again Thursday, for its third meeting of the week) with the goal of setting a framework for legislation by July 4.
Still, because some key elements of the budget aren't in play, it appears likely that the resulting legislation will be a partial solution to fiscal troubles. To truly put the national debt on a track of stabilization or decline, those "off the table" elements will almost certainly need to be part of the solution.
Here's a glimpse of the math: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and interest on the national debt currently account for nearly half of all federal spending –and that total is poised to grow substantially if no changes are made. They are comparable to the role that housing, health care, and retirement plans play in the typical family budget.
President Obama's bipartisan fiscal commission proposed last year that the government should aim to cut projected federal deficits by about $4 trillion over the next decade. Independent advocates of fiscal responsibility have embraced that goal as roughly the amount needed to halt the rapid growth of public debt and maintain investor confidence in the US economy.
For context, even after making $4 trillion in headway the US would still run deficits totaling perhaps $5 trillion over the next 10 years, but the deficit problem would decline when viewed as a share of the overall economy.
Say you wanted to achieve that whole $4 trillion in progress through spending cuts, without touching Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. That would require major cuts, probably on the order of 15 percent, to all other parts of the budget.
That "other" part of the budget includes domestic discretionary programs, defense, and miscellaneous spending programs (such as farm subsidies) that Congress has made mandatory rather than subject to annual appropriations. All this spending is projected by the Congressional Budget Office to total some $21 trillion over the next decade.
The fiscal commission estimated that some of the fiscal progress in its $4 trillion total – about $700 billion worth – would come from reductions in expected interest on the debt. Following that logic, cutting about $3.3 trillion (or 16 percent) of that $21 trillion in projected spending might reach the target.
Note that if Congress decided some programs shouldn't be cut that much, the remaining spending cuts would have to go even higher.
Defense spending is an example – and not just a hypothetical one. National security accounts for nearly half of that $21 trillion in projected spending over the next decade. So if Congress decided to cut security spending by 5 percent, the remaining spending would face cuts of about 25 percent, to reach the target.
Many politicians in both parties are reluctant to cut military spending that much, warning of a possible erosion of national security.
In a hearing on the budget Wednesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates talked about the tough choices the Pentagon confronts as it enters a likely era of tighter budgets. He said the nation will need to examine goals such as the longstanding notion that America should be able to fight two sizable wars at once, or other ways to reduce spending.
His comments came in response to a question about how to reach an Obama administration goal of $400 billion in defense cuts (a spending reduction of less than 5 percent) over a decade.
Overall, closing the budget gap without adjusting entitlement benefits or taxes would only become more difficult as America looks beyond a 10-year time horizon. That's because of the costs of baby-boom retirements and a related jump in interest costs on the debt.
The upshot of all this analysis: There's room to make some significant headway on the budget deficit by cutting miscellaneous things like farm subsidies, highway funding, and nonessential weapons systems. But that's probably just one piece of a larger puzzle.
For his part, Mr. Biden has said he's optimistic that the bipartisan talks will result in a deal to raise the national debt limit while cutting expected spending by more than $1 trillion. He didn't say over what time frame.


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CIA Sent FBI Agents After, Ended Career Of 19-Year Employee Over A FOIA Request For Historical Documents
from the open-and-transparent-retaliation deptIt wasn't even whistleblowing, although that too can destroy careers and lives. It was a FOIA request, made by someone who knew exactly which documents he wanted released.
His CIA career included assignments in Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq, but the most perilous posting for Jeffrey Scudder turned out to be a two-year stint in a sleepy office that looks after the agency's historical files."Historical documents of long-dormant conflicts and operations." Scudder dared to ask for these documents, and the CIA cut him loose. It also sent another federal agency after him -- the FBI.
It was there that Scudder discovered a stack of articles, hundreds of histories of long-dormant conflicts and operations that he concluded were still being stored in secret years after they should have been shared with the public.
To get them released, Scudder submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act — a step that any citizen can take, but one that is highly unusual for a CIA employee. Four years later, the CIA has released some of those articles and withheld others. It also has forced Scudder out.
On Nov. 27, 2012, a stream of black cars pulled up in front of Scudder's home in Ashburn, Va., at 6 a.m. FBI agents seized every computer in the house, including a laptop his daughter had brought home from college for Thanksgiving. They took cellphones, storage devices, DVDs, a Nintendo Game Boy and a journal kept by his wife, a physical therapist in the Loudoun County Schools.To date, only his daughter has received her laptop back. Every other computer remains in the hands of the FBI, despite the fact that no charges were ever pressed and despite the fact that many of the documents Scudder asked for have been released by the CIA in the interim. More from his request list are due to be released in the near future.
The CIA avails itself of a wide array of FOIA exemptions, but its reluctance to publish historical documents is just baffling -- and is most likely a result of the agency's long-running adversarial relationship with transparency. It's been noted here before that the CIA has used the often-abused b(5) exemption to withhold documents over five decades old (dealing with the Bay of Pigs invasion), claiming that the release of the "sensitive" documents would "confuse the public."
Despite Scudder's efforts, the flow of historical CIA documents will only decrease in the future. The office charged with declassifying historical documents has been closed, deemed expendable by the agency in the face of budget cuts. This workload will be routed through the agency's FOIA office, creating even more incentive for the CIA to stonewall requests.
Scudder never did anything his superiors thought was wrong until after he attempted to free these historical documents. Everything the agency never took issue with during his previous 18 years of employment -- like personal call infractions and the possession of photos (taken by Scudder in his position as "official CIA photographer") deemed "classified" -- was suddenly yet another reason to force him out. It's been clear for a long time that the government doesn't care much for whistleblowers. It also seems to have something against transparency, even concerning documents of historical interest only.
Scudder did nothing criminal. He just did something the agency didn't like. And for that, he lost his job and clearance. So, it's not just whistleblowing that can get you destroyed. It's also holding the government to its own transparency standards -- something that isn't remotely criminal but is apparently completely unforgivable.
Filed Under: cia, classified info, fbi, foia, freedom of information, jeffrey scudder, whistleblowing


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Dressed to kill at the Alley
Costume designer delivers 1940s drama via period pieces in "The Hollow"
What you wear before a murder and after are two different things.
It's one of the many noteworthy aspects of the Alley Theatre's production of Agatha Christie's "The Hollow." The show's 1940s-inspired costumes reflect the nuances of both life and death, said costume designer Tricia Barsamian.
"It can be so powerful what the clothes say. You can see how murder affects the characters emotionally through their clothing. Each look gives off clues," she said.
"The Hollow," directed by Gregory Boyd, tells the story of a weekend gathering at the Hollow family estate in which a male guest is murdered. Nearly everyone is a suspect, including his wife, current mistress and his film star ex-mistress.
"Almost everyone gets four different looks, and each costume signals a change of characters in a very significant way without me giving away too much," said Barsamian.
But it's the female characters, she said, that set the standard for the show's costumes.
"We have a sad female character, a strong artist, a matriarch who is worldy. With so many female roles, it makes creating their costumes much more involved and detailed."
More Information
Agatha Christie's
'The Hollow'
continues at the Alley Theatre through Aug. 4. For tickets, visit alleytheatre.org.
Barsamian, a New York-based designer who also worked on the Alley's production of "Black Coffee" and "The Mousetrap," spent many hours researching 1940s history books for costume ideas. She also scoured eBay and Etsy for vintage and retro pieces. She said classic designers, such as Ralph Lauren, help to add modernity to a classic look.
Most instrumental in helping Barsamian create the costumes is the Alley's costume shop, which includes a team of drapers and other craftsmen, who help modify garments and make them look like something from the period. Each draper is responsible a character's dress from the underwear to the accessories.
"We're sculpting the characters from the ground up. Hopefully, when you see the play, you don't know what was custom, vintage or newly bought," Barsamian said.
One of the standout pieces created for the show is a Schiaparelli-inspired hat. The classic hat style is named for the Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli who was one of Coco Chanel's major rivals. Barsamian knew she wouldn't be able to find one, so she had the Alley shop create one.
Barsamian said the finale scene is an example of the power of costume design. It features one of the characters wearing a vintage black velvet coat with gold embroidery that Barsamian found in London.
"The character is only in it for about a minute, but it's such an important look. If she didn't wear this, the show wouldn't end same."


text: On October 16, 1916, Margaret Sanger opened America's first birth control clinic in Brooklyn. Within 9 days, the clinic was raided and Sanger was jailed for a month for "maintaining a public nuisance" and flouting the Comstock Act of 1873. Upon release, she reopened the future Planned Parenthood, and was arrested again. Sanger's activism sprang in part from the hypocrisy of wealthy people using illegal birth control while it was unavailable to those who really needed it. While her organization's early "more from the fit, fewer from the unfit" stance is an ugly reflection of the times, Sanger's courage and conviction resulted in an invaluable legacy we can all stand to appreciate right about now. Good "day" trivia, right? [Wired]


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Too Broke Birthday Enamel Pin Card
$ 12.00
This product is currently sold out.
Say it with Flair! The magnetic back on the pin lets you drop it easily in an envelope and you're all set. It's a card and gift in one.
- 4.25" x 5.5" greeting card with magnetic enamel 1" pin
- Packaged in polybag with fun, colorful envelope
- Printed in the USA on thick matte paper