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Electric Anchor
Tidewater Selects New Model GM-EMDs
Stewart & Stevenson Services, Inc., New Orleans, La., has shipped the first four of 20 marine models of General Motors totally new EMD 16-265H diesel engines and generators to Yantai Raffles Shipyard PTE, LTD in China for installation in the MV John P. LABORDE. It is the first of five new 282-ft., diesel electric anchor handling/tug supply boats (AH/TS) under construction for Tidewater Marine, Inc., New Orleans, La. The four EMD generator sets in each vessel will produce a total of 24,000 hp (or 17,200 kilowatts of electrical power) required for the boats' diesel-electric propulsion, dynamic positioning, winching, towing and other systems as well as hotel loads. The generator sets utilize generators manufactured by the Baylor Division of National Oilwell, LP of Houston, Texas. Included in the design requirements of the new vessels are a bollard pull of over 200 metric tons and the ability to handle anchors for rigs working in depths of more than 5,000 ft. "These engines are designed and built for that kind of rigorous use, while meeting all of the new IMO requirements as well as being adaptable to meet anticipated future standards," said Ralston Cole, Stewart & Stevenson, vice-president, Power and Marine. Cole said some of the advanced features of the new 16-cylinder, four-stroke engines include the following: Twin gas-driven turbochargers; Cast ductile iron crankcases; One centrally mounted camshaft; Electronic fuel injection; Thermo-flex piston crowns
Markey Secures Order for Science Winches
SEATTLE — Markey Machinery announced that it has been awarded an order for a complete suite of winch systems onboard AGOR-27, a new academic research vessel, under construction at Dakota Creek Industries, in Anacortes, Washington. Sponsored by the US Navy's Office of Naval Research, this award continues a plan to renew America's aging fleet of academic research vessels, including ocean ranging vessels like the US Navy's Knorr (AGOR-15).
Canada's TSB Reports on 'Bosun's Fatal Fall
On 08 May 2013, at 1455 Eastern Daylight Time, the dry bulk carrrier 'Federal Yoshino' was at anchor in Baie‑Comeau, Quebec when the crew member fell to the deck in a crane-hoisted provisioning basket from a height of about 5m when the hoisting cable parted, informs the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) in a recently released investigation report. The bulker was at anchor awaiting the arrival of a grain cargo when the accident occurred
Island Pilot's DSe Hybrid on Discovery Channel
Last winter Reuben Trane, owner of Island Pilot was contacted by the producers of Discovery Channel's HD Theater who were interested in featuring his DSe Hybrid 12m in an episode about the world's most expensive rides. The show's crew met Reuben and his wife, Cheryl, in Key Largo for time on board the DSe to experience her quiet ride and hybrid technology. Episode nine in "The World's Most Expensive Rides" series aired March 7 at 9:00 p.m
Rolls-Royce Designs Selected for 53 OSV's
UT-Designs and packages of equipment from Rolls-Royce have been chosen for 53 offshore service vessels (OSVs) during the past year. The transaction represents 70 percent of orders placed during the year and is the largest in this sector of the company since the mid-1970s. Twelve of these vessels were ordered just before the end of 2000 and will be worth $57.9 million to Rolls-Royce - bringing the total value of these contracts to the company to $246.3 million.
Bourbon Orders 56 PSVs
In line with its strategy in modern offshore, Bourbon is expanding its fleet with next-generation, innovative and high-productivity vessels to assist its oil and gas clients in the development of their deepwater and continental offshore operations. On February 28 in the context of its Horizon 2010 plan, Bourbon announced investments of $1.8b, 85 percent of which will be devoted to the Offshore Division. Since January 1, Bourbon has placed the first series of orders
'Ford' Anchor Aweigh at Newport News Shipbuilding
Huntington Ingalls Industries' reports that its Newport News Shipbuilding division has successfully completed anchor testing on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), bringing the ship closer to its 2016 delivery to the U.S. Navy. Ford's new anchor system features a lighter anchor and chain, weighing in at half the weight of the previous Nimitz-class carriers' anchor systems. Newport News shipbuilders recently gathered to test Ford's anchor windlass system that is used to
Ultra Anchor Gets ABS Superior Holding Certification
Quickline, an importer and distributor of quality marine gear and accessory products, announced that its Ultra Anchor meets the highest level of holding power as defined by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), and has been awarded the certification of design assessment for Stainless Steel Superior Holding Power (SHP) for restricted service to a maximum anchor weight of 1500 kg (3306 lbs). SHP for restricted service is given to anchors with superior holding power of at least four times that
World Record-Breaking AHTS Delivered by Drydocks World
Drydocks World delivered Lewek Fulmar, the world's first UT788 CD Multi-functional Ultra Deep Water Anchor Handling Tug, Supply and Service vessel (AHTS). The vessel was built at Drydocks World's Singapore facility. The vessel has reportedly broken the world bollard pull record by an AHTS at 402.4T, surpassing the previous record of 397T. "We have now built four such vessels at our facility in Nanindah and a sixth vessel is under construction in Singapore
Rolls-Royce Wins $69m OSV Contract
Rolls-Royce won a $69m order to design and equip two advanced offshore anchor handling vessels for Norwegian ship owner Farstad Shipping. The UT 731 CD vessels are designed and equipped to handle anchors for oil rigs, tow rigs to location and also serve as supply vessels. They can operate in extreme climatic conditions and ultra deep waters, undertaking precise rig manoeuvring operations in water up to 3,000m deep. They are also equipped for sub sea construction and installation duties
Arctic Oil: Bourbon to Enter Arctic Market in 2016
Bourbon plans to enter the growing Arctic Offshore market in 2016 with a new Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessel built by the Vard shipyard. This AHTS (Anchor Handling Tug Supply) was specially designed for operations in polar waters, and more specifically in arctic zones
Industrial Pressure Washers Kill Viruses
Water Cannon pressure washers utilized to fight influenza - clean and sanitize large areas Water Cannon Pressure Washers deliver a wide swath of low pressure 180 degree F. hot (Hot Water Heater required at water source) or ambient temperature water injected with 5
Experimental Floating Wind Farm Nears Installation
Launched in March 2012, the Fukushima experimental offshore floating wind farm project sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is nearing the installation phase as preparatory works for the installation of the 7MW oil pressure drive-type wind turbine on the three-column semi-sub
Wärtsilä Propulsion and Design for Two OSVs
Two new 150-ton-bollard-pull anchor handling offshore support vessels (AHOSVs) being built at the Colombo Dockyard in Sri Lanka have been designed by Wärtsilä and will be powered by Wärtsilä integrated propulsion systems. The order was placed in August and the equipment is
Liebherr Scores Several RTG Orders
DP World Asian Terminals Inc. has placed an order with Liebherr Container Cranes for a further five RTGs at its Manila facility following an order of two units that were commissioned earlier in 2014 at the port. The RTGs feature numerous environmental, safety and productivity technologies
Kalmar Bags 9 RTGs Order from Piraeus Container Terminal
Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has signed a repeat order for nine all-electric rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) with Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT) S.A. in Greece, a wholly-owned subsidiary of COSCO Pacific Limited. The cranes, four of which are the world's widest
Liebherr to Deliver RTGs to Mayotte and Manila
Liebherr confirms orders for variable speed RTGs and electric RTGs. DPWorld Asian Terminals Inc. has placed an order with Liebherr Container Cranes for a further 5 RTGs at its Manila facility. The RTGs follow on from an order of two units that were commissioned earlier in 2014 at the port.
General Dynamics: $19M for Sub Planning Services
The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat an $18.9 million contract modification to perform reactor-plant planning yard services for nuclear submarines and support-yard services for moored training ships. Electric Boat is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).
Corvus Gains Support from WINN Initiative
Corvus Energy announced today the award of $1.3 million in repayable assistance from the Western Innovation (WINN) Initiative for its project to further develop the Corvus Energy Storage System. The Corvus Energy system provides industrial scale energy storage to enable customers to power or
Hurricane Gonzalo Knocks out Bermuda Power
Power was knocked out to 80 percent of Bermuda's electricity grid due to Hurricane Gonzalo, the island's only power company, Bermuda Electric Light Co., said on Friday evening. The company reported that about 29,000 customers were without electricity, out of 36
USCG Rescue Two from Their Diabled Sailboats
The Coast Guard rescued two people Friday after both of their sailboats became disabled approximately five miles west of the Chesapeake Bridge Tunnel near Hampton. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads received a call from Hampton Police dispatch at approximately 3:50 a.m
Maersk Supply Service Orders Six Anchor Handlers
Kleven Maritime A/S has been contracted by Maersk Supply Service to build six anchor handling tug supply vessels, with options for four additional newbuilds. The vessels, all of Salt Ship Design's SALT 200 AHTS design, will be built at Kleven's two shipyards in Norway
Maersk Supply Service Orders Six Offshore Vessels
Maersk Supply Service, a unit in Danish conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk, said on Thursday it has placed an order for six new large anchor-handling tug supply vessels from Kleven Maritime in Norway. "The vessels are built for deep water operations and potential customers are international
MacGregor Secures Deck Machinery Orders from Sinopacific
MacGregor has signed a new series of deck machinery orders for 12 vessels with the China-based Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group. This builds on a track-record of contracts that now stands at 150 shipsets of equipment successfully delivered and installed at Sinopacific yards
USS America Joins the Fleet
USS America (LHA 6), the Navy's newest and most technologically advanced amphibious assault ship, was commissioned during a formal ceremony at Pier 30/32 during San Francisco Fleet Week, Oct. 11. More than 8,000 friends, family members and invited guests gathered in front of the ship to


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Hot stuff13 secrets of Prospect Park 9 things you missed at the 2014 NYC Wine & Food Festival
'Heart and Lights'
A New York City that you've never seen before is on the way, complete with a 26-foot tall animatronic Statue of Liberty. Starting previews on March 27, "Heart and Lights" is the new spectacle heading to Radio City Music Hall.
Behind the scenes at Radio City's high-tech 'Heart and Lights'
Animatronics take to the Radio City Music Hall stage. More »
Time-lapse: The making of Lady Liberty
See the making of the 26-foot tall animatronic Statue of Liberty puppet for "Heart and Lights." (Credit: The Creature Technology Company) More »
Watch: Rockettes rehearse 'Heart and Lights'
Get a sneak peek of the Rockettes rehearsing 'Heart and Lights.' (Credit: Craig Ruttle) More »
Meet the high-tech puppets of 'Heart and Lights'
There are six puppets in the new Radio City Music Hall show "Heart and Lights" that bring to life some major locations in New York City. Here's a look at each: More »
Get an inside look at 'Hearts and Lights'
Photos from behind-the-scenes of 'Heart and Lights.' More »
Playwright Doug Wright talks 'Hearts and Lights'
Wright's work is quintessential to holding the show together. More »

subset: commoncrawl


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35 Chicken Casserole Recipes eCookbook
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Eggplant Parmesan
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- 1 large eggplant
- 1/4 cup parmesean
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- 1 large yellow onion thinly sliced
- 1 cup mushrooms sliced
- 2 cups your favourite spaghetti sauce
Peel eggplant and slice thinly (about 1/4 " thick). Saute slices individually in olive oil until the eggplant becomes translucent. Drain and put eggplant aside. Saute mushrooms and onions until the mushrooms stop giving off moisture. Drain. In an ovenproof casserole (fairly deep), pour a little olive oil just to grease the bottom of the dish. Add a layer of eggplant, onions & mushrooms, and mozzarella. Cover with sauce. Sprinkle parmesean on top. Repeat these layers until the dish is full. Top with last of sauce and parmesean. I usually have 2 or 3 layers depending on which dish I use. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.
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when I take a picture of somebody :
when I ask somebody to take a picture of me :
Well I know reason #1
Did he just pull out his dick and drop it on them
*enters school talent show with blogging skills*
somone kiss me
boyfriend: what's for dinner?
can we talk about the lyrics in lorde's song 400 lux???


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McCarthy is one of the most experienced officials in MMA. | Chris
Dela Cruz/Sherdog.com
Foster, executive director of the California State Athletic
Commission, recently revealed to Sherdog.com that McCarthy will
serve as the third man in the Octagon for both the UFC on Fox
12 and UFC
176 headliners. Foster added that judges Mike Bell, Wade Vierra
and Derek Cleary have also drawn main event assignments for both
UFC on Fox 12 takes place July 26 at SAP Center in San Jose and
will see Michael
Johnson collide with Josh Thomson
in a pivotal lightweight duel. A headliner has not yet been
announced for the evening's main card, which airs live on Fox and
features a light heavyweight clash pitting Anthony
Johnson against Antonio
Rogerio Nogueira.
One week later, Staples Center in Los Angeles will house UFC 176,
anchored by Jose Aldo's
featherweight title rematch with Chad Mendes.
That event airs live on pay-per-view and will additionally showcase
a flyweight matchup between Jussier da
Silva and Zach
Neither event's fight card is complete, but here is the full list
of officials who will be on duty when the UFC revisits The Golden
State in the coming months:
UFC on Fox 12Referees:John McCarthyHerb
DeanMike BeltranJason Herzog
Judges:Wade VierraMike BellMarcos RosalesEd CollantesDerek Cleary
UFC 176Referees:John McCarthyHerb DeanJason HerzogStephen Davis
Judges:Wade VierraMike BellMike BeltranRon McCarthyDerek Cleary
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to FOX Sports 1 this Saturday night (Oct. 4, 2014) with UFC Fight Night 54: "MacDonald vs. Saffiedine" from inside Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova S read news >>
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight No. 1 contender, Daniel Cormier, has been named permanent co-host of UFC Tonight on FOX Sports 1, alongside retired UFC multi-weight contender K read news >>
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to Fight Pass on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 4, 2014) with UFC Fight Night 53 from inside Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. Get complete, official r read news >>
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is back in action this weekend (Sat., Oct. 4, 2014) with a special international doubleheader, starting with UFC Fight Night 53 on Fight Pass in Stockholm, Sweden read news >>
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) play-by-play man Mike Goldberg made his NFL on FOX debut last Sunday (Oct. 12, 2014) when the Minnesota Vikings went head-to-head with the Detroit Lions. One and read news >>
After a two-week hiatus, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to pay-per-view (PPV) this weekend (Sat., Oct. 25, 2014) with UFC 179 from Maracanãzinho Gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Get read news >>
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has rescinded Cung Le's year-long suspension. read news >>
Remember when Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White was flying to remote regions with a blank check to court former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko (and Vadummy) and read news >>
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is done playing jet setter -- at least for the time being -- and will get back to basics in its hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada. The result is a loaded UFC 178 pay- read news >>


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|In a matter of hours D&D Wiki be down for an extended period of time to perform necessary hardware upgrades.
These hardware upgrades should address user's concerns including Talk:Main Page#Web Page Not Found Error and the database access times when saving, moving, and deleting pages. Please stand by.
Talk:Toxic Bolt (4e Power)
From D&D Wiki
Finaly! A power that is acctully balanced!


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The Davy Jones' Car Toot Rotate attraction at park opening
The Davy Jones' Car Toot Rotate entrance is like a cruise through a real-life Toottown. The attraction cars are just like Benny the Cap, and as you drive you can rotate them by hugging the other guests.
Beware Pirate Mode
© copyright 2011–2014
A Pants Aflame production


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Obama to announce $14 billion in U.S. corporate investments in Africa
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will announce on Tuesday that U.S. businesses have committed to investing $14 billion in construction, clean energy, banking, and information technology projects across Africa, a White House official said.
The announcement will occur at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, part of a three-day Africa summit in Washington meant to showcase U.S. interest in improving trade and investment in the region.
"These investments will deepen U.S. economic engagement in Africa, fueling growth that will support broader African prosperity and emerging markets for US businesses, which will support jobs in both the United States and Africa," the White House official said.
Obama will take part in a discussion with corporate chief executives and government leaders at the event, which will be attended by Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former President Bill Clinton.
The business forum will allow dozens of African heads of state to mingle with U.S. and African executives, the official said. It will focus broadly on investment in finance, infrastructure, energy, agriculture, and consumer goods.
More than 90 U.S. companies are slated to participate including Chevron Corp <CVX.N, Citigroup Inc, Ford Motor Co, General Electric Co, Lockheed Martin Corp, Marriott International Inc, Morgan Stanley and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Several African companies were also expected to attend.
In a brief preview of Obama's remarks, the White House did not give specifics on the nature of the business deals or identify which companies were involved.
"These agreements represent conclusive evidence that America is open for more business with Africa as the Continent's economic ascent is just beginning," Pritzker said in a statement.
"Each day, 250,000 Americans go to work in jobs supported by exports to Africa and these deals will lead to increased prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic in the months ahead," she said.
The Obama administration has billed the summit as the first of its kind, but it comes long after Africa gatherings hosted in recent years by China, India, Japan and Europe, suggesting the United States is largely playing a game of catch-up for access to a market in several growing industries.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Eric Walsh)
I guess that this is good for Africa?
Is he campaigning in Africa?
- Two killed, four wounded in Washington state school shooting
- Wall St. finally turning on Amazon as Bezos magic fades
- Easter Island's ancient inhabitants weren't so lonely after all
- Two deputies killed, two others hurt in California shooting spree
- Two killed, four wounded in Washington state school shooting


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Kliemann Brothers: HVAC in Tacoma, WA is your complete source in Western Washington for all your heating, air conditioning, duct work and gas furnace needs.
A full service Tacoma catering company specializing in stylish presentation featuring fresh and creative foods. Not only will your guests love our beautifully displayed food, we also provide abundant amounts to satisfy all appetites!
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Herman and his team are awesome.Cindy Sims


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Morphett Vale Events & What's On Today
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A mix of Ballet, Tap, Jazz and musical theatre. Join us on a trip around the world. Commencing in Australia and finishing in Australia. *Children ... more
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Arguably SA's largest indoor market of variety, with over 1,000,000 items in stock, open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 9-4pm. This fantastic ... more
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ACH Group are aware that many carers struggle to balance the demands of employment, care giving, family responsibilities, and managing their househ... more
Asia Pacific Tang Soo Do Federation – Tang Soo Do Community0 Reviews
It is the aim of the Asia Pacific Tang Soo Do Federation to promote and enhance the essence and training structure of all traditional Tang Soo Do p... more
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The premier adventure company in South Australia, Rock Solid Adventure has been running adventure programs throughout the world for over fifteen ye... more
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Welcome to Lee Benson Fencing Adelaide, we are devoted to providing high quality craftsmanship of Good Neighbour fencing, post and rail fencing, an... more


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Gallery Box
Chroma Studio and Gallery
Chroma Studio and Gallery is located at 600 1st Street (NE corner of 1st and Roma). It's open Tuesday and Wednesday by appointment and Thursday through Saturday 12 to 6 p.m. For more information, visit chromastudios.wordpress.com.
Culture Shock
Art News
Hey, Hey, Goodbye
An elegy for the College of Santa Fe
Book Review
Put on the Red Light
Red Light Women of the Rocky Mountains
Today's Events
48 Hour Horror Films Premiere Screenings at KiMo Theatre
See the world premiere of the Albuquerque 48 Hour Horror Film Project, films made just days earlier.
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UPDATE 2-Taiwan pro-China party holds edge in mayoral races
* China seen calm as KMT keeps 3 of 5 posts
* Taiwan financial markets seen steady or stronger next week
(Adds election results, analyst quote)
TAIPEI, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Taiwan's China-friendly ruling party held onto most of the island's mayoral posts up for grabs in tense elections on Saturday seen as a test of the party's popularity ahead of the 2012 presidential race.
Wins in three of five mayoral seats gave the Nationalist Party, or KMT, a clear shot at retaining the presidency, which will calm Beijing as it has worked closely with the party on landmark trade deals after decades of political hostilities.
China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan for six decades but since 2008 has discussed economic issues with President Ma Ying-jeou's government. Beijing hopes those talks will lead eventually to political unification.
"Of course China doesn't want to see any change in the status quo, particularly in the three cities that the KMT has held for a long time," said Shane Lee, political scientist at Chang Jung University in Taiwan.
The KMT won second four-year terms in Taipei and Sinbei, the island's two largest cities, and in the central city of Taichung. The anti-China opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) held the southern cities of Kaohsiung and Tainan.
Taiwan financial markets will at least remain stable and may gain on the KMT's victories as the results herald more tie-ups between export-reliant Taiwan and economic powerhouse China.
Investors had feared that a DPP win could extend to the presidency and threaten trade deals. China and Taiwan are due to talk next year about new import tariff cuts following an economic cooperation framework (ECFA) signed in mid-2010.
Saturday's wins also end a slump for the KMT. The party did poorly in local polls elsewhere in Taiwan last year and in by-elections earlier this year as Ma's opinion poll ratings struggled after a string of 2009 domestic flaps. [ID:nRISKTW]
However, Taiwan politics change fast, meaning the 2012 presidential race will be decided by unforeseen new issues dominating the public agenda that year.
KMT leaders were low-key in their acceptance speeches.
"Hau Lung-bin will go to the people and listen to their voices," the reelected Taipei mayor said of himself in a televised speech. "There are a lot of areas where we need to review and improve."
Voters cast ballots after the son of a former Taiwan vice president was shot and wounded during a ruling party campaign rally near Taipei late on Friday and a bystander was killed.
Media reports said a man arrested for the shooting was a member of a criminal gang and did not appear to have a political motive.
Opposition ex-president Chen Shui-bian won by a thin margin in 2004 after a bullet grazed him and his running mate. The KMT said that incident was staged to win sympathy votes. (Editing by Andrew Marshall)
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Throw out the retirement 60-40 rule?
Forget the conventional wisdom about being conservative with your money after 65 – here's what you should be doing instead. Video


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Michael Sam drafted by Rams with 249th pick
Michael Sam waited nearly three days to finally hear his name called in the NFL Draft, but the wait finally paid off. With the 249th pick in the draft, the St. Louis Rams picked Sam, a local college player from Missouri. Sam was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, but he was not rated…Read More


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There's just something cool about being within the most populous metropolitan area in the world. Sure all big cities have their own unique vibe, but Tokyo has more than a vibe –it has a heartbeat. 298 more words
Tags » Heartbeat
some music I make..
"yeah" by rose
analog photography for the album by Camila Montoya
11:11 - How it changed my life.
Shared by Garvita.
"11:11 comes twice a day because God believes everyone deserves a second chance."
25th January,2014, 11:11 am.
"Please give me the boy I love." 408 more words
Heartbeat: What Do We Call This
Shared by Shakira.
I've known you long enough to know your insecurites and your flaws.
I've always ben trying to get your attention and now that you say i have it i feel like nothing made of lies and weekness. 641 more words
When His Train Leaves...
Shared by wordsonawhim.
In the moments my boyfriend comes to visit, I feel like I'm in an everlasting love scene replicating Notting Hill or Pretty Woman. 524 more words
What it takes
I never loved him for what he could give me
I loved him for what I could give him
My heart, My life, My all… 111 more words
Life as an RN...
12 hours.. more like 14.
Patients… Patience.
Responsibility… for human lives.
Expectations… to be super human.
Emotions… tapped out.
I spend all day preaching to patients to keep hydrated, drink more fluids, eat your meals. 220 more words


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Analyst Research
|Report Title
Trading Report for (UTX). A detailed report, including free correlated market analysis, and updates.
Provider: Stock Traders Daily
"The Economy Matters" Report for UTX: the economy's impact on UTX's price and risk, featuring the powerful Economic Climate Rating and the new MacroRisk "Stoplight" and Risk Correspondence Score
Provider: MacroRisk Analytics/EconomicInvestor
Provider: ValuEngine, Inc.
Provider: New Constructs, LLC
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. NASDAQ delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.
SKF INC Signs Long-Term Agreement With United Technologies Corp's Pratt & Whitney
SKF INC announced that they have signed a long-term agreement with Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp., for approximately SEK170 million. Within the agreement, SKF will provide main shaft bearings for Pratt & Whitney's PurePower PW1100G-JM engine. This agreement and associated work builds upon SKF's support of other Pratt & Whitney engine programs.
Latest Developments for United Technologies Corp
- United Technologies Corp reaffirms FY 2014 guidance
- Toshiba Corp and United Technologies sign new agreement to grow joint venture
- United Technologies Corp reaffirms FY 2014 guidance - Conference Call
- United Technologies Corp reaffirms FY 2014 EPS guidance; gives FY 2014 revenue guidance in line with analysts' estimates
Latest Key Developments in AERO/DEF
- DigitalGlobe raises low end of prior FY 2014 revenue outlook
- Lockheed Martin to acquire Systems Made Simple
- Alliant Techsystems Inc lowers high end of prior FY 2015 revenue guidance and reaffirms FY 2015 EPS guidance
- L-3 Communications Holdings Inc lowers high end of prior FY 2014 revenue guidance; lowers FY 2014 EPS guidance; gives FY 2015 guidance below analysts' estimates
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Amera Andersen
Biography of Amera Andersen
I'm a formal poet and have written in more than 50 poetic forms. I am the creator of the Shadow Sonnet. Form source: shadowpoetry.com
I also have used the pen name: Amera Eileithyia
I hope you enjoy my poetry and find the tools that I have compiled useful. Most of my poetry is composed in accepted forms but you may find a Free Verse poem or two here. Most of my work is posted on AllPoetry.com
Amera is a classically-self-taught poet, award-winning author, social-butterfly and Renaissance thinker who leads from the heart toward a world of unlimited possibilities, She believes every person is worthy of being loved and deserves know and explore their own unique and beautiful talent. She believes that poetry is a gift and with help and support from other poets that gift can be perfected and carry the art to a new level.
PoemHunter.com Updates
'Flower of Love'
by Oscar Wilde
'Poetry is everywhere; it just needs editing.'
James Tate
Share your poems
about 'Christmas'
Read more poems from
'Gertrude Stein'
Spirit to Spirit
Spirit to Spirit
So many things have turned my spirit so.
Yet I do resist and yield to it yet.
Know that I give my strength for you to know.
Forget you? No, I shall never forget.
Left with my sandpaper dreams since you left.
Love lies in my spirit, for you my love.


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House on the Sea with Tropical Garden, Own Boat, Directly on Canal
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13 Thoughts To Nuke Your Brain
Prepare yourself for a fact blitzkrieg!
Prepare yourself for a fact blitzkrieg!
Nick Kubinski 2 months ago 83 responses
Why do these radical feminanimals hate men so much?
Hannah Jewell 2 months ago 204 responses
That's right. A scorpion was found in this box of raspberries that was imported from California to Canada. Got a bit of a surprise when I found it.
rweldrick 2 years ago 266 responses
A nice project for you to tackle at the office this week. Why not share yours with us. View Image ›
todd v2.0 4 years ago 36 responses
In an exercise called "Cobra Gold," U.S. soldiers basically act out their own version of Fear Factor, drinking cobra blood and eating lizards, frogs, and scorpions. If the rules of Don't Ask, Don't Tell apply to participating in Cobra Gold, then consider us WAY GAY. View Image ›
Eliot Glazer 4 years ago 11 responses
My two least favorite animal are bees and spiders. Scorpions are the worst of both worlds. Fact: scorpions are demonic creatures. Somehow, this man has found a sick, dark love for these hell-spawn, and shares his home with over 4,000 of them. Watch Video ›
Conor H. 5 years ago 2 responses


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Whisenhunt Buys Prime I-540 Property from Bank of America for $19 Million
by George Waldon on Friday, Mar. 9, 2012 3:25 pm
Editors Picks
Whispers Blogby Arkansas Business Staff
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Updated: 08/19/2014 5:38 PM |
Created: 08/19/2014 5:09 PM
By: Devin Neeley, KOB Eyewitness News 4
DURANGO, Colorado - Historic downtown Durango sees plenty of visitors each year. Some come for outdoor activities, others to see the sights.
But some of those sights, like the historic buildings, are posing problems for locals and visitors in wheelchairs.
"Anyone in a chair would have difficulty getting around Durango," said Vincent Ladue, who has spent the past six years living in Durango.
He enjoys the town, but says sometimes getting around is a challenge.
"If [buildings] aren't accessible, we can't go there," Ladue said.
Ladue took KOB downtown to show just how tough it can be. He knows every step and ramp in the area.
There are an estimated 18,000 disabled people in southwest Colorado, not including tourists.
"It would be a real shame if somebody had to say 'unfortunately, this is the last summer we can visit Durango because we can't get up the steps'," said Jason Ragsdell, Independent Living Coordinator with Southwest Center for Independence.
With so many historic buildings in town, accessibility can be tricky.
"I know it must be frustrating for people with disabilities, because it would be for me," said Rod Barker, owner of the Strater Hotel.
He says he's worked to make changes to the more than 100-year-old hotel, but that it hasn't been easy.
"The historic nature of the building would require that we fundamentally change just about everything," said Barker.
The hotel does have an elevator and one accessible bathroom, but the lobby has stairs on all sides.
"Some places have ramps to go in, some have steps, and we can't go over steps," explained Ladue.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires only requires historic buildings to make minimum changes for accessibility. It doesn't require changes that would drastically change the makeup of the building.
KOB welcomes a lively and courteous discussion as long as you follow the rules of conduct set forth in our Terms of Use. Comments are not pre-screened before they post. You agree that anything you post may be used, along with your name and profile picture, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and the license you have granted pursuant to our Terms of Use.
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Theater Review: 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'
Date: March 6, 2013
by: Paula Atwell | Theater Critic
First produced on Broadway in 1962, the multiple Tony Award-winning musical comedy, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," written by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart and influenced by the plays of Plautus, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim is playing at the Manatee Players. The much beloved show, characterized by its Vaudevillian take on the Greek classics, was made into a motion picture in 1966, starring Zero Mostel.
The Manatee Players' faithful and satisfied followers exited stage left after a recent performance, singing the reprise to "Lovely" on their journey through the parking lot. It was a lively production, filled with funny lines and a set relying almost entirely on plywood, paint and imagination, designed by Donna Buckalter. Director and choreographer Bob Trisolini infused the scenes with some cute dancing and a suitably campy disposition.
The cast was up to the task, especially charmer Mike Nolan, who plays the lead, Pseudolus, a slave trying to win his freedom in whatever manner comes his way. Accompanied by The Proteans, a trio including Hunter Brown, Dr. Will Horton and William Leo Williams, who play other slapstick-inspired parts as needed, this group opens the show with the adorable number, "Comedy Tonight." Other especially memorable songs included, "Impossible," charmingly sung by Jason Ellis as Hero, the young star-crossed lover, and Senex, played by Mark Shoemaker. "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid" was another standout song and dance performed by Shoemaker and Nolan, with the entertaining addition of cute Rodd Dyer as hysterical Hystrium and Charles Craig, as Lycus, an easily befuddled dealer in courtesans. Meg Newsome, as Domina, dominated her spouse quite nicely and showed off a big voice with the song, "That Dirty Old Man."
Smaller, but no less entertaining, parts were nicely played by Jgar Hellwig, as the manly Miles Gloriosus; Sarah Harrington as love interest, Philia; and Denny Miller as Erronius. The Courtesans, featuring Cheryl S. Gutner as Tintinabula; Sharon Bartley as Panacea; Emma Slotabec and Erika Quartuccio as the Geminae; Alina Evans as Vibrata; and Sarah Harrington as Gymnasia graced the stage at every opportunity.
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- Nov
1 Dickey Betts & Great Southern Charity Concert
5:30 pm
- Nov
1 Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota presents the Morgenstern Trio
7:30 pm
- Nov
2 Jazz Club of Sarasota Presents "Jazz on the Water"
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
- Nov
2 Three Artists: Pianist Eleonora Lvov, Painter Karin Zukowski, Dessert Diva Ilana Jones
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poker face
As ladies in the Lakewood Ranch Women's Club walked into a Monte Carlo-themed Casino Night Oct. 23, at the Polo Grill and Bar, a Sean Connery-version of James Bond, dressed in a white tuxedo, took them by the arms, and posed for a picture.
Give, get a treat
Residents of Summerfield Glades have made it a Halloween tradition to gather at the driveway of Maggie White and pass out candy.
Fall back an hour
Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. Nov. 2, so turn back those clocks before bedtime Saturday night.


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Windows 7 boot delayed/skype bugs/cpu too hot?/mobilegeni daemon and nengine startup??
Hey guys. A couple of hours ago, I opened up my computer, because a part of my fan that blows air out fell out of place. I am pretty sure I got it in the correct spot. It is running, but ever since, as odd as this sounds, Windows 7 has had a much slower boot than usual. Along with that, Skype is stating I have a terrible internet connection and taking a long time to boot (I have it set to boot when I load my computer). Also, I ran speccy, and my CPU seems to get pretty hot. Around 50-60 degrees C. I am pretty sure it was much lower before, which makes me think I still have the fan misplaced. Anyways, I discovered that on startup two new programs are trying to run. They're "nengine" and "mobilegeni daemon". These are brand new. I ran Norton on a full scan and no threats were found. I am using the Windows Malicious Tool remover now, hoping it catches something...
It's weird, this all started acting up after my fan got out of place. I am pretty sure I put it in the right place. And now Windows 7 boot is slow, skype boots slow and says I have a bad internet connection (I use an ethernet cable), the CPU seems to get hotter than usual and "nengine" and "mobilegeni daemon" appear. I cannot uninstall those two start up things, as they don't appear in the section where I can uninstall a program.
My computer was just working perfectly a few hours ago. :((
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Few have been paying attention to the "supporting actor" trials now paving the way for the main act in the prosecution of America's largest terrorist act since 9/11, the Boston Bombing.
They're worth paying attention to, for what they demonstrate about how the government is ensuring that the official story will stick all the way through to conviction.
The latest development in this blockbuster drama came during the trial and conviction of Robel Phillipos, friend of accused Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. A jury on Oct. 28 convicted him on two counts of lying to investigators, for which he now faces up to 16 years in prison.
Jurors found he'd made false statements during two interviews with the FBI within days of the April 15 bombing. Specifically, he was convicted for lying about his whereabouts on the night of April 18. Phillipos, 19, said he was "stoned out of his mind" on marijuana at the time, and that's why he gave the conflicting statements, according to his defense attorney.
This trial fits squarely with the particular public image of the Tsarnaevs and their friends that has arisen from media coverage and the government pronouncements in it. Anyone remotely involved with the brothers is immediately judged to be part of a nest of conniving terrorist sympathizers. That's certainly no presumption of innocence. Phillipos undoubtedly faced this added burden in his trial.
Taken together with a steady stream of leaks about the bombing investigation, it's clear the government wants to ensure it will have a slam-dunk case against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at his trial in January. Yet it doesn't have to go the extra mile, thanks to a tried-and-true FBI method that was on display in Phillipos' trial.
Testimony during Phillipos' prosecution elicited obvious contradictions in the government's case, and demonstrated how the FBI's interviewing methods stack the deck in its favor, every time.
First, let's take a look at the discrepancy in the government's case, which surfaced during FBI Agent Timothy Quinn's testimony. Quinn, who interviewed Phillipos, told prosecutors when he testified on Oct.15 that the defendant told him he wanted to help the FBI "nail the mother***ker," referring to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Quinn then stated that he didn't believe Phillipos.
That story only lasted until the cross-examination by Phillipos' attorney, when Quinn said the defendant was highly cooperative. (In point of fact, Phillipos agreed to be interviewed multiple times without a lawyer.)
Off the Record But Don't Argue It
There was another disparity in the facts that arose, which was central to Phillipos' case and to understanding how powerful FBI interviews are as prosecutorial weapons.
The dispute hinged on when Phillipos arrived at Dzhokhar's dormitory room, and who was with him. Prosecutors pointed to a written confession in which Phillipos said he showed up with two Tsarnaev friends. Yet Phillipos' attorney pointed out that the trial had already established that one of those people was in the room long before the defendant arrived.
What does all that mean? That Phillipos' confession had factual errors. Moreover, it suggests that the written statement was coerced or included false information colored by what Phillipos' interrogator told him. At the very least, it does lend credence to the notion that he does not accurately remember the night's events.
It also tells us something about the tricky issue of "making false statements." As Phillipos' defense attorney pointed out numerous times, none of the FBI interviews were recorded electronically, either with video or sound. There's no way for a third party to verify what actually went on in those interviews.
Hard to believe that in this day and age, right?
Boston area defense attorney and civil liberties advocate Harvey Silverglate has written extensively on the FBI's non-recording policy and its potential for abuse. He summarizes the inherent problem with the FBI's policy this way:
FBI agents always interview in pairs. One agent asks the questions, while the other writes up what is called a "form 302 report" based on his notes. The 302 report, which the interviewee does not normally see, becomes the official record of the exchange; any interviewee who contests its accuracy risks prosecution for lying to a federal official, a felony.
So, as Silverglate points out, something as simple as arguing an FBI agent's interpretation of what was said, or what they think they heard, opens up an individual to threats of prosecution similar to what Phillipos faced.
Not only that, juries must place their faith entirely in the honesty of the testifying agent. Yet lying under oath by law enforcement is so common it's been given its own name: "testilying."
Regardless of what transpired in those interviews, 16 years behind bars seems extreme for the charge of "making false statements." Even The Boston Globe, not known for its evenhanded coverage of the Marathon bombing, recently ran an editorial questioning the wisdom of putting a young man behind bars for that long because of what appeared to be a stupid mistake.
What could possibly be worth the state expending so many resources to prosecute and then incarcerate this individual for as long as 16 years?
Silence, perhaps?
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• Governor vows 'disruptive change' on climate denial (TruthOut)
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That's the question author Peter Dale Scott examines in his forthcoming book "The American Deep State: Wall Street, Big Oil and the Attack on U.S. Democracy," due out on Nov. 12. Scott, a professor emeritus of English at Berkeley and former Canadian diplomat, is considered the father of "deep politics"—the study of hidden permanent institutions and interests whose influence on the political realm transcends the elected.
In the "American Deep State," Scott takes a compelling look at the facts lurking behind the official histories of events to uncover the real dynamics in play. In this exclusive excerpt—the first of several we will feature on WhoWhatWhy—he looks at the revolving door between Wall Street and the CIA, and what that demonstrates about where power truly resides.
In the last decade it has become more and more obvious that we have in America today what the journalists have called… America's "deep state." (1)
This expansion of a two-level or dual state has been paralleled by two other dualities: the increasing resolution of American society into two classes—the "one percent" and the "ninety-nine percent"—and the bifurcation of the U.S. economy into two aspects: the domestic, still subject to some governmental regulation and taxation, and the international, relatively free from governmental controls. (2)
All three developments have affected and intensified each other—particularly since the Reagan Revolution of 1980, which saw American inequality of wealth cease to diminish and begin to increase. (3) Thus for example Wall Street—the incarnation of the "one percent"— played a significant role in creating the CIA after World War II, and three decades later the CIA and big oil played a significant role in realigning American politics for the Reagan Revolution.
There is an ambiguous symbiosis between two aspects of the American deep state:
Top-level Treasury officials, CIA officers, and Wall Street bankers and lawyers think much alike because of the "revolving door" by which they pass easily from private to public service and back.
But a much larger role for the private sector has come with the increased outsourcing of the government's intelligence budget. Tim Shorrock revealed in 2007 that "about 70 percent of the estimated $60 billion the government spends every year on . . . intelligence" is now outsourced to private intelligence contractors like Booz, Allen & Hamilton (now Booz Allen Hamilton) and SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation). (4)
The Overworld
I shall argue that in the 1950s, Wall Street was a dominating complex. It included not just banks and law firms but also the oil majors whose cartel arrangements were successfully defended against the U.S. government by the Wall Street law firm Sullivan and Cromwell, home to the Dulles brothers. This larger complex is what I mean by the Wall Street overworld.
There seems to be little difference in Allen Dulles's influence whether he was a Wall Street lawyer or a CIA director. Although he did not formally join the CIA until November 1950, he was in Berlin before the start of the 1948 Berlin Blockade, "supervising the unleashing of anti-Soviet propaganda across Europe." (5) In the early summer of 1948, he set up the American Committee for a United Europe (ACUE), in support of what became, by the early 1950s, "the largest CIA operation in Western Europe." (6)
The CIA never abandoned its dependency on funds from outside its official budget to conduct its clandestine operations. In Southeast Asia in particular, its proprietary firm Sea Supply Inc. supplied an infrastructure for a drug traffic supporting a CIA-led paramilitary force, PARU. [Two CIA proprietaries, Sea Supply Inc. and Civil Air Transport (CAT) Inc. (later Air America), initially supplied the KMT 93rd Division in Burma that organized opium mule trains down to Thailand, where opium sales were still legal.
Later, when the USG officially distanced itself from the KMT drug army, the CIA organized an offensive and defensive paramilitary unit, PARU, inside the Thai Border Police (BPP). Like the BPP, PARU financed itself by seizing KMT opium and turning it in to the Thai Government, receiving a bounty payment of 12.5 percent of the retail value.] (7)
The CIA appears also to have acted in coordination with slush funds from various U.S. government contracts, ranging from the Howard Hughes organization to the foreign arms sales of U.S. defense corporations like Lockheed and Northrop. (8)
The international lawyers of Wall Street did not hide from each other their shared belief that they understood better than Washington the requirements for running the world.
This mentality exhibited itself in 1952, when Truman's Justice Department sought to break up the cartel agreements whereby Standard Oil of New Jersey (now Exxon) and four other oil majors controlled global oil distribution. (The other four were Standard Oil Company of New York or Socony [later Mobil], Standard Oil of California [now Chevron], Gulf Oil, and Texaco. Together with Royal Dutch Shell and Anglo-Iranian, they comprised the so-called "Seven Sisters" of the cartel.)
Faced with a government order to hand over relevant documents, Exxon's lawyer Arthur Dean at Sullivan and Cromwell, where Foster Dulles was senior partner, refused: "If it were not for the question of national security, we would be perfectly willing to face either a criminal or a civil suit. But this is the kind of information the Kremlin would love to get its hands on." (9)
Overthrowing Iran
At this time the oil cartel was working closely with the British Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC, later BP) to prevent AIOC's nationalization by Iran's Premier Mossadeq [or Mosaddeq], by instituting, in May 1951, a successful boycott of Iranian oil exports. "In May 1951 the AIOC secured the backing of the other oil majors, who had every interest in discouraging nationalisation. . . . None of the large companies would touch Iranian oil; despite one or two picturesque episodes, the boycott held." (10)
But Truman declined, despite a direct personal appeal from Churchill, to have the CIA participate in efforts to overthrow Mossadeq, and instead dispatched Averell Harriman to Tehran in a failed effort to negotiate a peaceful resolution of Mossadeq's differences with London. (11)
All this changed with the election of Eisenhower in November 1952 (with considerable support from the oil industry), followed by the appointment of the Dulles brothers to be Secretary of State and head of CIA.
In November 1952 CIA officials began planning to involve the CIA in the efforts of MI6 and the oil companies in Iran (12)—although its notorious Operation TP/AJAX to overthrow Mossadeq was not finally approved by Eisenhower until July 22, 1953. (13)
Nearly all recent accounts of Mossadeq's overthrow treat it as a covert intelligence operation, with the oil cartel (when mentioned at all) playing a subservient role. However the chronology, and above all the belated approval from Eisenhower, suggest that it was CIA that came belatedly in 1953 to assist an earlier oil cartel operation, rather than vice versa.
In terms of the deep state, in 1951 the oil cartel or deep state initiated a process that the American public state only authorized two years later. Yet the inevitable bias in academic or archival historiography, working only with those primary sources that are publicly available, is to think of the Mossadeq tragedy as simply a "CIA coup."
1. Mike Lofgren, "A Shadow Government Controls America," Reader Supported News, February 22, 2014, http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/22216 -a-shadow-government-controls.
2. To take a single telling example, six of Sam Walton's heirs are now reportedly wealthier than the bottom 30 percent of Americans, or 94.5 million people (Tim Worstall, "Six Waltons Have More Wealth Than the Bottom 30% of Americans," Forbes, December 14, 2011, www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/12/14/six -waltons-have-more-wealth-than-the-bottom-30-of-americans/).
3. See Kevin Phillips, The Politics of Rich and Poor: Wealth and the American Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath (New York: HarperCollins, 1991).
4. Tim Shorrock, Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008), 6.
5. Gordon Thomas, Secret Wars: One Hundred Years of British Intelligence Inside MI5 and MI6 (New York: Thomas Dunne Books/ St. Martin's Press, 2009), 98.
6. Richard Aldrich, The Hidden Hand: Britain, America, and Cold War Secret Intelligence (Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2001), 343. Dulles also chaired the executive committee of the companion National Committee for a Free Europe (behind the Iron Curtain), whose legal affairs were handled by Sullivan and Cromwell (Wilson D. Miscamble, George F. Kennan and the Making of American Foreign Policy, 1947–1950 [Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992], 204).
7. Scott, American War Machine, 65–67, 87–96.
8. Norman Mailer, "A Harlot High and Low: Reconnoitering Through the Secret Government," New York, August 16, 1976 (Hughes); Michael Schaller, Altered States: The United States and Japan Since the Occupation (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 294 (Lockheed).
9. Ovid Demaris, Dirty Business: The Corporate-Political Money-Power Game (New York: Avon, 1974), 213–14.
10. J. P. D. Dunbabin, International Relations Since 1945: A History in Two Volumes, vol. 2, (London: Longman, 1994), 344. The boycott is denied without argumentation in Exxon's corporate history (Bennett H. Wall et al., Growth in a Changing Environment: A History of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey), Exxon Corporation, 1950–1975, vol. 4 (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988), 476:
11. Mostafa Elm, Oil, Power, and Principle: Iran's Oil Nationalization and Its After math (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1992), 198–99 (Churchill); Robert Moskin, American Statecraft: The Story of the U.S. Foreign Service (New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2013), 627–28 (Harriman).
12. William Roger Louis, "Britain and the Overthrow of Mossadeq," in Mark J. Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne, eds., Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2004), 168. Cf. William R. Clark, Petrodollar Warfare: Oil, Iraq and the Future of the Dollar (Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2005), 125: "The Dulles brothers had already conceived a plot when Eisenhower became president in January 1953;" Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (New York: Doubleday, 2007), 83: "[In November 1952] "The CIA was setting out to depose [Mossadeq] without the imprimatur of the White House."
13. Scot Macdonald, Rolling the Iron Dice: Historical Analogies and Decisions to Use Military Force in Regional Contingencies (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000), 98. Cf. Richard H. Immerman, John Foster Dulles: Piety, Pragmatism, and Power in U.S. Foreign Policy (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999), 67. Allen Dulles played a personal role in TP/AJAX, by flying to Italy and persuading the frightened Shah to return to Tehran.
IMAGE: Peter Dale Scott
IMAGE: Dr. Mossadeq Waves
IMAGE: Dr Mossadeq enters Court]]>
Just a month after knife-wielding Army veteran Omar Gonzalez vaulted the fence and sprinted inside the White House's East Room, another intruder jumped the barricade but was quickly captured. By two canine Secret Service agents named Hurricane and Jordan.
The dogs got Dominic Adesanya, 23, just after he landed on the White House lawn on Oct. 22. Human Secret Service counterparts arrived to arrest Adesanya while he was fighting with the dogs. Initially, the Secret Service was going to charge Adesanya with felony assault on a law officer for the dog fight, but later backed off.
All of this would almost be the punch line to a joke if not for a series of failures by the Secret Service that have come to light, culminating with the resignation of Director Julia Pierson. Adesanya's is the fourth breach of White House security in barely more than a month.
In fact, it's getting so common you'd be forgiven for thinking getting past the Secret Service is some kind of fraternity hazing fad gone wild.
Let's review: There was the Gonzalez breach; the case of Kevin Carr, who drove to a non-public entrance and refused to leave; an incident where an armed security contractor with three assault convictions was let onto an elevator with the president; and a series of revelations about a 2011 shooting incident. In the last case, the most shocking discovery was that the Secret Service took four days to figure out bullets hit the building, and only because a housekeeper found fragments of glass and concrete.
There's a pattern to these incidents, save the one involving the contractor. In the three others, the suspects were said to have some kind of mental illness— the familiar "Lone Nut" explanation. All three men had been intercepted previously while trying to get into the White House (Adesanya and Carr) or with ample evidence of attempting to do just that (Gonzalez).
On top of that, this latest incident only adds to President Obama's threat tally, which is three times higher than those of his predecessors.
Resilient Against Reform
It's little wonder he called Joe Clancy, a trusted former agent, out of private employment to take over after Pierson's departure. President Obama is doubtlessly aware of the enormous trust he has to place in his praetorian guards, whom in other countries have turned against their masters. He also may be aware of the limits of his power inside an establishment where larger forces shape much of what happens.
Taken together, there is an substantial and growing body of proof that the Secret Service is in desperate need of reform. Remember, this is the agency that let James J. Rowley, the man in charge when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, stay on for another decade. He was later honored despite overseeing the greatest failure a VIP protection unit can make, and some of his successors were similarly rewarded for other disasters. (See here for our story recollecting a few of the more egregious examples.)
Clancy, who's heading the agency in an acting capacity, will determine whether there is any real reform in the Secret Service now. Yet there are decades of history working against him. So far, the publicly lauded unit has proved resilient against any and all attempts at lasting change.
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• A different view of Syria (NY Review of Books)
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In the counterterrorism realm, "imminence" is the magic word these days. The government need only utter it to hand itself a virtual license to kill.
Understanding how language can be marshaled for controversial and even bloody purposes requires the ear of a linguist and the mind of a contracts lawyer.
But the time to go back to school is now—with "imminence" seemingly exploding everywhere.
In the past few years, the term has been invoked again and again in reference to the thousands targeted by the United States drone program. And it pops up just about every time the U.S. plans another drone attack or military commitment.
Consider the repetition of the word in the latest round of justifications for more air strikes in Iraq and Syria.
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel warned that the U.S. must be ready for stronger commitments to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria because it poses an "imminent threat to every interest we have." The Khorasan group—a purported al-Qaeda "super" cell—landed on the American targeting list because it was planning an "imminent attack" against the West, said Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby.
So in light of the continued use of the word, it may be worthwhile to take a closer look at what U.S. officials actually mean when they use it.
Imminence: Wassat?
Under international law, targeted killings may be justified if the attacking party acts in self-defense. That's pretty understandable criteria. But disagreement abounds over what constitutes self-defense.
According to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, member states have an inherent right to self-defense if an armed attack occurs against them. But many politicians and intellectuals see this understanding of self-defense as restrictive. That's because it only allows states to react after an attack takes place.
The newfound pre-eminence of "imminence" springs from a desire to give the notion of self-defense a more flexible, modern definition.
An imminent threat is typically understood to involve urgency. In other words, it refers to a situation in which "the necessity of that self-defense is instant, overwhelming, and leaving no choice of means, and no moment of deliberation." That standard, known as the Caroline test, has for years been the guiding definition for the international community.
But this more lenient construction wasn't permissive enough for the U.S. The Justice Department, seeking elbow room, invoked imminence in an internal memo justifying the killing of Americans who are senior leaders of al-Qaeda or an associated group. It argued that such citizens could be killed legally because they present a threat of imminent attack.
License to Kill
Yet the definition of imminent, in the logic of that particular memorandum, is a flabby one at best. It "does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future."
International experts harrumph at this. That viewpoint "is deeply contested and lacks support under international law," according to Philip Alston, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions.
So the solution is simple: flout international law, and you have a virtual license to kill. Indeed, says Alston, the U.S. viewpoint advocates for a more "robust" form of self-defense that ignores established legal frameworks and "reflects an unlawful and disturbing tendency in recent times to permit violations of (international humanitarian law)."
The new-look imminence principle owes much to the "Bush Doctrine" of preemptive strikes. The latter policy declared that the U.S. is willing to take "anticipatory action to defend" itself "even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy's attack. To forestall or prevent such hostile acts by our adversaries, the United States will, if necessary, act preemptively."
The Obama administration's definition of "imminence" appears to be little more than an expanded continuation of the Bush-era's indulgent interpretation of "preemption."
Droning on About Pakistan
And it gets worse.
We have already seen how America's very liberal interpretation of imminence has given rise to the "license to kill" that experts like Alston warned it would.
On top of that, there's proof that the imminence doctrine has been twisted around to suit immediate political and diplomatic needs. In the process, the flimsiness of the excuses required to declare something or someone an imminent threat has been exposed.
The evidence comes from one of the lowest points in Pakistani-American relations. In 2011, an attack by U.S.-led NATO forces killed at least 24 Pakistani soldiers. In the ensuing diplomatic ruckus, Pakistan demanded that the U.S. stop drone strikes on its territory. Washington tried to sooth tensions by halting the drone campaign for a few months.
But wait a minute: how could the U.S. suddenly stop an urgent campaign—then in its seventh year—to destroy the myriad national security menaces roaming the wilds of Pakistan? Did all the imminent threats just dry up overnight, even though hundreds had been found and killed since 2004?
This becomes an especially perplexing riddle when one considers this: there were more drone attacks in Pakistan in the year before the program's hiatus than in any one before or since. If the pause in U.S. drone strikes was a political maneuver, then the imminent nature of the U.S.-described threats can and should be questioned.
Good-Will Kills
That's not the only time the government has used the cover of imminence to suit political ends. The New York Times reported in 2013 that "American officials have at times tried to placate Pakistani officials by killing militants who pose a greater threat to Pakistan than they do the United States." Some officials in Washington called such strikes "good-will kills."
If that's the case, then it means that international political and diplomatic considerations figure into the American calculus. Yet how can the U.S. justification of its targeted killing program—striking imminent threats to the United States—apply to the defense of other nations?
Many international observers predicted that the imminence doctrine would only encourage more war. They've been proven right. And since international law is only as strong as the weakest of the most powerful nations enforcing it, America's respect for its letter and spirit will have an enormous global impact.
So the U.S. adoption of this bold new "imminence" may set precedent for other nations to follow. If it becomes the norm, the threshold for justifying state violence and war will be lowered significantly.
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The impending arrival of Venezuela on the United Nations Security Council is provoking a firestorm of media criticism in the U.S. Virtually all the stories focus on the human rights record of this South American nation with an avowedly leftist government.
In addition to the five permanent members of the Security Council – the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China—the U.N. General Assembly votes to fill 10 other seats, on a rotating basis, for two-year terms.
On Oct. 16, Venezuela won the seat reserved for a Latin American or Caribbean nation unopposed. The last time Venezuela was up for a seat, in 2006, the U.S. succeeded in blocking its bid. This time, U.S. officials have had to be content with issuing dire warnings about a dangerous new player on the international community's most prestigious and powerful panel.
An article in the New York Times suggested the newly appointed country "may well use its perch on the Council for delivering anti-American diatribes." A Foreign Policy story entitled "Venezuela's Revenge" described the Venezuelan delegation as cult followers of late president Hugo Chavez, then quoted Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations:
Venezuela's conduct at the U.N. has run counter to the spirit of the U.N. charter and its violations of human rights at home are at odds with the [U.N.] charter's letter.
The Christian Science Monitor uncritically repeated American officials' condemnations, and added that some "conservative critics say" Venezuela has "provided Iran with entree into the Western Hemisphere."
But is Venezuela really an unrivaled human-rights monster, worthy of universal condemnation?
A look at some established human-rights metrics offers a more nuanced view:
The U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights gives protection from the deprivation of life as well as cruel punishment. "The death penalty violates both of these fundamental rights," Amnesty International said.
Venezuela abolished the death penalty in 1863, although security forces have been involved in extrajudicial killings and have often gotten away with it.
The U.S. has executed 30 people this year. Last year, it executed 39, the fifth most in the world, according to Amnesty. Police killings of unarmed "suspects" have made headlines in the American press all too frequently.
The Universal Declaration states that "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including… medical care."
Venezuelans are guaranteed the right to health care under the country's constitution. While the system is plagued by shortages of medicine, patients are not turned away based on their inability to pay.
The U.S., despite its position among the richest societies in the world, scores poorly in terms of healthcare among its peers. The U.S. charges high fees to the uninsured, resulting in a situation in which the majority of bankruptcies filed by U.S. citizens are caused by medical debt.
Hand-in-hand with this trend, American citizens are far more likely to forego medical care because of cost than citizens of comparably prosperous societies. It's too soon to tell how Obamacare will affect this situation.
Thanks to an excessive police response, Amnesty International sent an observation team to Ferguson, Missouri, during the unrest—the first time Amnesty has deployed observers in the United States. It has been estimated that routine practices at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp may violate as many as 19 of the 30 articles in the Universal Declaration.
In Venezuela, police abuse and prison violence—the worst in Latin America—remain serious problems. Security forces enjoy impunity for extrajudicial violence, according to Human Rights Watch.
Venezuela's government has routinely targeted TV stations, websites and publications critical of the government with administrative enforcement actions. It has yanked TV stations with opposing political views off the air with little or no warning, or threatened their licenses.
Despite occasional harassment (and even imprisonment) of reporters who fail to cooperate with courts by revealing the names of sources, the United States is generally rated a bastion of press freedom. An issue that has generated increasing controversy is whether freelance investigators deserve the same Constitutional protections as credentialed journalists for mainstream publications.
The U.N. in resolution 64/292 declared the right to safe water and sanitation an essential human right.
In June, a group of experts who report to the UN called the cut-offs of water supply to Detroit families unable to pay water bills a violation of human rights. "In other words, when there is genuine inability to pay, human rights simply forbids disconnections," said Catarina de Albuquerque, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water and sanitation.
About three-fourths of Venezuelans living in rural areas had access to potable water in 2007, according to the World Bank. Venezuela claims it has given water access to 96 percent of the public, but the latest World Bank reports have no correlating data.
None of this is to say that Venezuela is not a large-scale violator of human rights, as it most certainly is. Even the United Nations has taken it to task for attacks by security forces on university students and protesters. Rather, the facts demonstrate a selective national blindness on the part of many Americans toward their own government's human rights record.
To the mainstream American media, the term "human rights violations" refers to events in which a country commits violations that the United States does not.
Samantha Power's diplomatic rhetoric is to be expected, and hypocrisy is part of the game in such a setting. What is more telling is the American media's complacency with a double standard that pretends to objectivity where there is none.
To ignore the very real criticisms coming from the U.N. and other countries about human-rights violations in the U.S. is to perpetuate a failure to see ourselves as others see us—a failure that can prove self-defeating to any nation that seeks to advance its interests in an international forum it does not control.
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FBI Director James Comey is no fan of the latest iPhones.
In fact, where millions around the world are drooling over Apple's latest mobile phone, Comey sees a "black hole" where criminals can hide beyond the reach of the FBI. Public safety, of course, is at risk from this phenomenon that Comey dubbed "Going Dark" in the very same speech in which he proclaimed that he is no scaremonger.
The newest hobgoblin we're being asked to fear is the advanced encryption in the iPhone and Google's Android devices. It is so strong that the FBI can't break it and the companies themselves can't get in, so it's like a closet that can't be unlocked, Comey said. And the FBI needs to be able to break it when it has a court order, or else criminals and terrorists might get away.
Apple and Google are reacting to market demand for greater privacy caused by Edward Snowden's revelations of NSA snooping. But "the place they are leading us is one we shouldn't go to without careful thought and debate as a country," he said.
That's a statement hermetically sealed off from history, since we have been down this road before. And privacy won. It's also out of touch with the present state of encryption technology, and the FBI's own prior public stance toward data protection.
The Government's New Godzilla
Start with this fact—encryption tools exist in myriad forms, free to anyone with an Internet connection. And the FBI is on the record encouraging people and businesses to use it to protect their personal and business data from foreign hackers and governments. As well it should be, since there have been three major data breaches this year including one into the faux Fort Knox cybervaults of J.P. Morgan.
So why target Apple and Google? To make life easier for FBI agents who are stuck with what Comey called inefficient and costly legal means of investigation. If companies build encryption with no means of interception, it would leave "the government at a dead end—all in the name of privacy and network security," Comey said.
It's notable that Comey made this assertion the centerpiece of his first law-enforcement policy speech, delivered today at the Brookings Institution and perfunctorily leaked in advance to the New York Times.
The speech is part of a growing drumbeat from the national security machinery that claims that encryption is, like any threat the government decides to describe as the new Godzilla, a mortal one. Comey is preparing to ask Congress to change the wiretap laws to reflect modern technology, so his motive is abundantly clear.
You've got to give Comey credit—he employed the phrase "FOMO," or fear of missing out, to make his case:
With Going Dark, those of us in law enforcement and public safety have a major fear of missing out—missing out on predators who exploit the most vulnerable among us…missing out on violent criminals who target our communities…missing out on a terrorist cell using social media to recruit, plan, and execute an attack.
Then he described a series of cases where encryption could have prevented arrests. Among the crimes he mentioned were two involving children: a beating death of a two-year-old girl and the murder of a 12-year-old by a known sex offender.
To be sure that never happens, the FBI needs a front door—not a back door—that Google, Apple and others should provide, Comey said.
The notion that the marketplace could create something that would prevent that closet from ever being opened, even with a properly obtained court order, makes no sense to me.
It does make sense, however, to the companies in Silicon Valley, which went through a similar debate two decades ago. Back then, the government proposed the "Clipper chip" backdoor and lost the battle resoundingly. Now, federal law explicitly protects the right of companies to create encryption without a backdoor.
"We have, as a country, decided that people should be able to encrypt their information and should be able to control it," Jeremy Gillula, a staff technologist with the Electronic Freedom Foundation, told WhoWhatWhy. Comey's attempt to reopen the debate is unfortunate, he said.
The EFF in the 1990s litigated the landmark case which established that encryption programs are protected speech under the First Amendment. Prior to that, encryption technology was classified a munition subject to government regulation.
Nothing to Fear But FOMO Itself
The stakes for Silicon Valley are higher this time around, because of the impact of the Snowden leaks. The loss of confidence in American companies as a result may cost them as much as $35 billion in the next two years.
And as others have pointed out, if American companies buckle to U.S. government demands to weaken privacy protection, countries with no privacy protections will demand similar access. That would in turn cause an even greater erosion of consumer trust.
That didn't stop Comey from arguing that the citizenry has nothing to fear from U.S. government privacy intrusions, because they will be lawful and only done with a court order—unlike in the past. The public is now too distrusting of government to have a debate about privacy versus security, he said.
Perhaps it's time to suggest that the post-Snowden pendulum has swung too far in one direction—in a direction of fear and mistrust.
But what about the government's role in carrying out wholesale surveillance? Did Comey mention that? No.
Comey closed in asking: "Are we so mistrustful of government—and of law enforcement—that we are willing to let bad guys walk away…willing to leave victims in search of justice?"
It's a perfect ad hominem argument to deflect blame away from the goverment: is the public willing to give up more privacy to ensure no baby-killers and terrorists get away?
A better question is whether the FBI is willing to work harder to investigate with the ample surveillance arsenal it has, instead of asking for another dilution of privacy in the name of safety.
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• Here's what democracy looks like—Vermont debate all inclusive! (RealClearPolitics)
• Obama-haters' excuse of the day: Michelle dances with a turnip (Washington Post)]]>
You've probably seen that the Secret Service's first female director, Julia Pierson, resigned after a series of embarrassing presidential security fiascoes.
At first glance, it looks like Pierson was felled by the most basic rules of Official Washington: don't make a bigger mess after you were hired to clean up another one. And don't embarrass the boss, which in her case, can translate to putting his life at literal risk. Professional hara-kiri looks like the obvious choice.
But let's back up a bit. In Pierson's case, the disaster she inherited was a scandal over agents enjoying the services of Colombian hookers while preparing for a presidential visit to Cartagena in 2012.
Her predecessor, Mark Sullivan, was allowed to retire with his full 30 years of service despite the revelations of improper revelry. Unknown to the public then was that Sullivan had overseen an utterly bungled investigation into a shooting incident at the White House in 2011. It took the agency four days just to figure out that bullets had hit the presidential residence. Despite getting shouted at by First Lady Michelle Obama and scolded by the president, Sullivan left with accolades.
That kind of graceful exit is indicative of the special logic that seems to apply to the Secret Service, which does have one of the most challenging missions in the world.
Even so, big failures usually don't attract the biggest punishments. In fact, they seem to attract rewards.
Fail Hard and Prosper
Consider this: James Joseph Rowley was in charge when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He stayed in office for another decade. Rowley's publicly promoted legacy is that he modernized the agency's training and methods—after Kennedy's death. The much-discredited Warren Commission recommended he be given that opportunity, and went easy on him for the staggering negligence and/or malfeasance seen in Dallas.
Rowley's reward for the ultimate mission failure? The Secret Service emblazoned his name on its agent training center.
The career of H. Stuart Knight, in charge during the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, also survived that near-miss. Instead, it was an internal Treasury Department power struggle that brought him down more than a year later. Like Rowley, he too was credited with improving the agency's training and methods.
So where, then, does that leave Pierson's legacy?
She's already made history by becoming the first woman to lead the Secret Service. She'll also be remembered for being in charge when a knife-wielding intruder sprinted deep inside the White House, an incident that demonstrated frightening incompetence and inattention—at best. Not to mention the incident in which an armed felon was allowed into an elevator with President Obama.
Predictably, there are two overarching arguments for why Pierson got the boot, each of which align with a partisan ideology. One says she was treated differently because she was a woman. The other argues that she was fired because she failed to do what she was supposed to do, and in part, bore the burden for the mistakes of her predecessors.
Indeed, there was bipartisan outrage at the fiascoes, and Pierson didn't acquit herself well during a Congressional grilling.
Both sides agree that there is a great need for reform, and that's what new acting Director Joe Clancy—who headed President Obama's personal protective detail—is supposed to do.
It's an interesting move by the president, because he recalled Clancy from the private sector. So Clancy ought to come without all of the political entanglements and divided loyalties a serving officer would have. And his hiring may show that President Obama understands the deep institutional constraints and risks he faces at the pinnacle of government power.
An Unintended Reform
And then we must consider a big factor that's often been ignored: the Secret Service, once embedded in the Treasury Department, has for the last 11 years been part of the overstuffed Department of Homeland Security. Agents say that's subjected the Secret Service to the bureaucratic infighting, political meddling and inefficiency that characterizes DHS. Perhaps that's why Pierson failed to make any real reforms.
But the Secret Service has needed real changes for more than a half-century. It rewarded one director who oversaw the ultimate failure of the agency's mission: protecting the president's life. And it has sent others who oversaw egregious episodes of ineptitude into comfortable retirements.
For that reason, Pierson's legacy may become one of unintended reform: It's the first time a Secret Service director has had to pay the real price of failure.
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text:
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