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Historical Perspectives
Arabs Uniting Again Against Israel (FrontPageMagazine.com) y David Meir-Levi 04/06/12)
Source: http://frontpagemag.com/2012/04/06/arabs-uniting-again-against-israel/
Front Page Magazine.com
Front Page Magazine.com Articles-Index-Top
Last month the present writer reported briefly on the Qatar Conference that took place in Doha, capital of Qatar, at the end of February, discussing one aspect of the conference as an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate-fest. In light of the March 30th Global March to Jerusalem, it is time to re-visit the Qatar Conference and examine its probable long-term impact.
The participants and agenda of the International Conference for the Defense of occupied Jerusalem displayed an unprecedented broad spectrum of the Arab and Muslim nations and organizations, uniting in Qatar for the sole purpose of strategizing new ways to destroy Israel. Unusual, but not surprising, was the official presence of representatives from the UN and Iran, the American and UK Muslim Brotherhood organizations, an Israeli Hamas leader, and Neturei Karta rabbis, who, despite their much ballyhooed sympathies for the Palestinian cause, were brutally beaten by Arab marchers. Unofficial attendees included EU leaders and U.S. and European academics.
One of Israels greatest advantages in its fight for survival against the 64-year long Arab war to destroy the Jewish state has been Arab disunity. For that reason alone, the Doha Conference deserves special notice by virtue of the events successfully hosting Sunni and Shiite, Arab and Iranian, participants for whom the old Arab proverb, my enemys enemy is my friend, took on new meaning.
The conference featured four themes: the legal status of Jerusalem and its holy places under Israeli occupation, the Arab identity of the city, Israeli crimes against the Muslim world by its efforts to judaize Jerusalem and how to combat these efforts, and appropriate measures to engage civil society in the struggle to maintain the Arab character of the city. In addition to vilification of Zionism and demonization of Israel, most of the conference focused on strategies to rescue Jerusalem from Israel. This new rescue Jerusalem theme may be the result of recent statements by some Hamas leaders and Abu-Youssef el-Qaradawi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader, in which Israels tampering with el-Aqsa becomes a new casus belli for the Muslim world.
Over the past six years, the Muslim Brotherhood has sponsored a series of such conferences to develop strategies to delegitimize and vilify Israel, many of them in Turkey and with the cooperation of the Turkish government: apparently part of the new Turkish governments interest in becoming a new nexus for the Muslim world, a nexus whose first priority is the destruction of Israel.
According to its website, the concept of a Global March to Jerusalem (GM2J) has been discussed for decades; but the eventof Friday, March 30, was born a year earlier in discussions among the organizers of the Asian Caravan to Gaza, which will useTurkey as its port of departure for its as yet unrealized blockade-busting voyage to Gaza.
The Asian Caravan to Gaza has close connections with the Muslim Brotherhood, as do the Global March organizers[i]; and the Muslim Brotherhood leaders were key players in the Qatar conference. It is probably no coincidence, therefore, that a year after the Asian Caravan folks began discussing it, and only a month after the Qatar conference focused on rescuing Jerusalem, we witnessed close to 20,000 people massing on Israels borders on Friday, March 30, to rescue Jerusalem from Israels judaization of the future capitol of Palestine.
There was ample news coverage and analysis in the weeks leading up to the march,[ii] with speculation about how Israel would handle this massive civilian, yet hostile, breach of its borders. There was somewhat more limited coverage of the event itself in mainstream media, perhaps because it drew nowhere near the two million participants of which organizers boasted in the days leading up to the event. There was some violence and one fatality, but the Israeli security forces effectively used non-lethal riot-control techniques and hi-tech interference to dampen mob enthusiasm; and Jordanian, Lebanese and Egyptian forces prevented marchers access to the Israeli borders.
In light of the unexpectedly poor turnout and relatively uneventful nature of the event, several post-mortem analysts have declared it a dud and fizzled instead of sizzled. None the less, the GM2J website declared the event a major success, acknowledging the poor turnout but stressing the broad-spectrum participation of people from 84 nations across the globe. They have a point. After all, 20,000 people is still a lot of people, even though it is a mere one percent of the organizersexpected 2,000,000; and the participation of representatives from 84 nations does justify calling it a global march.
But there is another reason why this even was indeed a major victory for the Arab cause and a set-back for the Jewish state: it looks like it is the first in a new series of anti-Israel tactics.
Just as the poorly attended but ground-breaking anti-Israel conference at Harvard created a new front in the campus warsagainst Israel, so too the GM2J and its backers and organizers, from the Asian Caravan and the Muslim Brotherhood to the Qatar Conference and Neturei Karta, can all rejoice in their new tactic: the mass mobilization of civilians in unarmed and non-violent hostile activity.
The wars have failed, the terrorism has failed, boycotts and divestments and sanctions have failed, American vetoes haveprevented Arab sponsored anti-Israel resolutions from succeeding in the UN Security Council, and most of the western public has begun to lose interest in the endless relentless rhetoric of Palestinian victimhood at the hands of their supposedly oppressive Israeli occupiers. So now is the time for some new and improved creativity. Since the free Gaza flotillas fizzled and the plans for an airborne blockade-busting event never got off the ground, the creative thinkers behind the strategies of the annihilate-Israel crowd have come up with this visionary break-through idea: unarmed civilians by the thousands or tens of thousands, violating Israels borders and marching on Jerusalem a new front in the endless war.
Israel handled this one well, there were not enough marchers, and the Arab countries bordering Israel did not cooperate. So now the GM2J knows what kinks need working out before the next global march; and now, at last, they can look forward to some global Muslim unity, as demonstrated at the Qatar conference, in support of their new tactic.
[i] And see also http://globalmbreport.org/?p=5932 ; http://globalmbreport.org/?p=5787; and http://globalmbreport.org/? p=5645 (reporting on a left wing European website, http://www.antiimperialista.org/gmj_europe, which invites Europeans to join with the Muslim Brotherhood and other organizers to march on Jerusalem).
[ii] http://frontpagemag.com/2012/03/28/the-global-march-to- jerusalem/? utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=5701a467f2 -Mailchimp_FrontPageMag; http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/03/reverend-jeremiah-wright- leads-global-march-to-jerusalem-protesters-throw-firebombs-rocks-at- police-video/; http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article599335.ece ; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? f=/n/a/2012/03/29/international/i081339D56.DTL#ixzz1qXpgaGNZ and http://issuu.com/jewishvoice/docs/201203, for example. (Copyright © 2012 FrontPageMagazine.com 04/06/12)
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Spirit of Tarleton
Yes, I am the spirit of Tarleton. I was born in 1899 from the soul of an itinerant farmer.
I suffered the pangs of early childhood with James Cox, Pearl Chamberlin, Charles Froh, George Ollie Ferguson, and Charlie Hale.
I was with Governor Ferguson in 1917 when he made Tarleton a part of the Texas A&M College, and taught with D. G. Hunewell, Pearl Mahan, H. C. Doremus, and Jack English.
I nursed the sick with Louise Barekman, and I laid a cornerstone with J. Thomas Davis.
I sowed the fields with Monroe Wells, and I wrapped the Maypole with Laura Fellman.
I was in Ripley's "Believe It or Not" with J. Dixon White when he shot a 57 on a par 72 course.
I won 86 consecutive basketball games with Coach Wisdom, Elmer Finley, Oran Spears, Willie Tate, and Jude Smith, and I brought home 19 state and conference track championships with Coach Frazier, Hugh Wolfe, Ralph Moser, Jack Pettit, and Pence Dacus.
I saw war clouds gathering over Europe with Jack McCullough, John Buckner, Tid Watkins, and Edwin Dyess, and I was at Pearl Harbor with Clyde Sweeney.
I died on the beach at Normandy with Col. James Bender, and I climbed the cliffs at Pointe Du Hoc with Gen. Earl Rudder.
I fell from the skies over Stuttgart, Germany with John Fielding Higgs, and I flew 30 seconds over Tokyo with Bob "Bullet" Grey.
I was in the blood of Elmo Donaho spilled on Heartbreak Ridge.
I built a financial empire with Gus Wortham, and I ran Houston Natural Gas with Robert Ray Herring. I held the scalpel with Randolph Clark, Norman Shumway, Vance Terrell, and Bud Frazier, and I shared the classroom with Mae Jones, Dick Smith, Dollie Glover, Doyle Graves, Doc Blanchard, and Joe Autry.
I won an Oscar with George Kennedy, and I was on "Eyewitness News" with Marvin Zindler.
I went to the National Baseball Finals with Cecil Ballow, Roy Menge, and Mickey Lee, and I was in the Kennedy Parade and on the UT Tower with Jerry Flemmons.
I claimed a national tennis championship with Buddy Stasney and Wayne Kiser, and I won the Aztec Bowl with John Dunn, Pat Ballow, Ronald Mays, and Walter Moegelin.
I held Todd and Brian McMahon in my arms while they cried for their father, J. D., and I roamed the gridiron with Marvin Brown, Lloyd Corder, and Ricky Bush.
I won the national rodeo championships with Johnny Edmondson, Randy Magers, Terry Walls, Connie Wilkinson, Vicki Higgins, Martha Thompkins, and Sally Preston.
I was with Governor Price Daniel, Joseph Chandler, Rufus Higgs, Harvey Belcher, and Jack Teddlie when Tarleton became a four year college, and I marched with the Texan Stars.
I walked the Halls of Congress with Sam Russell and Charlie Stenholm, and I sat on the bench with Ernest Belcher, J. Curtiss Brown, Don Jones, and James Morgan.
I toured the Caribbean with the Troubadours, and I played at the World's Fair with the Jazz Ensemble.
I presided over the Senate with Ben Barnes, and I sat on the Railroad Commission with Jim Langdon.
I made the laws of Texas with J.P. Word, Carl Hardin, J. Manley Head, Joe Hanna, Bill Meier, Mike Moncrief, and Bob Glasgow.
I was on the Coordinating Board with Jack Arthur.
I broke the color barrier with Jumper Davis, and I was with Nancy Golden when she became the first woman student body president, Guin Sherman Lemke when she was elected president of the Alumni Association, and Deann Moore when she was commissioned a Second Lieutenant.
I wore the crown of Miss Rodeo America with Debbie Johnston, and I wore the collar of Homecoming Queen with Jessie.
I won All America honors with John Riggs, Randy Winkler, Harlen Wunsch, Moise Pomenay, Tally Neal, Dianna May, Wanda Byrd, Cindy Greer, and James Hawkins, and I set basketball records with Judy Gleaton, Dwayne Johnson, and Ross Taylor.
I am the Sunflower Bowl championship ring on the fingers of Gaylon Bowser, Mike Myers, Perry Bukowski, and Craig Hancock, and I high jumped into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame with James Hawkins.
I ran the distance with Javier Tamez to become a four-time conference champion, sprinted with Chuck High, and went to the national finals with Lane McNamara as Tarleton's first decathlon performer.
I was with the Computer Information Systems and Management Department when it was selected the top four-year educational program in the United States, and I cheered when Dara Robertson was placed on the USA Today's All Academic College Team.
I ranked with Jan Lowery as one of the winningest coaches in all divisions of women's basketball in the U.S., and I won 12 conference championships and advanced to the national finals three times with Wanda Byrd, Vickie Neff, Dianna May, and Jennifer Washington.
With the affiliate chapter of the American Chemical Society, I was designated one of the "Outstanding" chapters nationwide, and the only one from Texas.
I swirled among hundreds of athletes from throughout the U.S. and Canada as Tarleton hosted the national track and field finals of the NAIA.
I pitched no-hitters and went to the Philadelphia Phillies with David Agado, and I was with Jeffrey McFadden when he became Tarleton's first All-America basketball player and joined the professional ranks.
I blocked and ran to a football record with Eric Lugo, Mike Loveless, Eddie Washington, Brian Lewis, Robert Simpson, Jr., and Bobby Sutton when the Texans posted the first 10-0 season in Tarleton's history.
I won the Piper Award with Aaron Grant, Don Zelman, and Tim Flynn, and I was named Texas Artist of the Year with Covelle Jones.
I sat on the Board of Regents 23 years with Clyde Wells, and I explored outer space with Millie Hughes-Fulford.
I was with E.J. Howell and Bill Trogdon when Tarleton burst from her shell and lifted her wings to the sky.
I spread across the heart of Stephenville as TSU's physical facilities mushroomed, and I rumbled across Texas with the Alumni Association chapters.
I was the Mace at the inauguration of Barry B. Thompson, and I graduated with Emily Jane.
Yes, I have the spirit of Tarleton, and by the grace of God I'll always have.
About the Author
A Stephenville native, J. Louis Evans attended John Tarleton Agricultural College from 1933 to 1941. After serving in the military, Evans returned to Tarleton in 1952 to manage the College Store. He left in 1958 to enter private business and over the years worked for a number of newspapers including the Stephenville Empire Tribune, the Hamilton Herald and the San Marcos Record.
Evans was elected Mayor of Stephenville four times, was company commander of the Stephenville National Guard, president of the Lions Club, American Legion Commander and Chamber of Commerce Director. He was named Stephenville Jaycees "Outstanding Young Man" in 1959 and was honored as Distinguished Alumnus of Tarleton in 1975.
In 1970 he was named as Tarleton's Director of Development and Executive Director of the Tarleton Alumni Association and served for four years in that position before leaving to become editor of the San Marcos paper. He returned to Tarleton in 1976 to resume his role as Executive Director of the TAA and served as Director of Information. He retired in 1984.
Out of respect for his long association with the University, Evans was invited to speak at the December 1984 graduation. His only daughter, Emily was among the graduates. His short Tarleton history lesson remains among the more popular commencement remarks ever delivered at the University. The piece was last updated in 1991 by Evans at the request of the Alumni Association.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Date: Thursday, November 17, 2011
Time: 2:00 pm
Location: Belk Library, room 421
The Doorways International Program Series presents "Work, Life & Fun in Modern China" a panel presentation with visiting Chinese Scholars. Come and hear about life, work and fun in modern China. This is an interactive panel so be curious and bring questions! There might even be tasty tidbits of Chinese food to sample.
- Guo Peixiao: Insigma Hengtian Software: Global Infrastructure Service (GIS) Project Manager on IT Outsourcing in China and Life in Hangzhou (a "village" of 8.7 million people).
- Xu Xuan : Exchange Librarian from Fudan University on Librarianship and Campus Life at Fudan University in Shanghai, China
- Zhu Shenshen : Shanghai Daily Newspaper: Business Journalist on Trends in the Internet Landscape in China and life in Shanghai
- Lin Yang : China Internet Information Center : IT Infrastructure and security on information security and life in Beijing
- Tan Hong: Software Engineer with Insima Hengtian Software on a "Typical Day" of an IT Software engineer in Hangzhou and weekend entertainment
- Gu Jun works for Sinolingua Co. Ltd in Beijing, and will talk about publishing business in China.
- Li Lei: A graduate student at Shaanxi Normal University will share her experience as a graduate student in a Chinese university.
The Doorways series is co-sponsored by Belk Library and Information Commons and the Office of International Education and Development. Its goal is to provide a platform for people to share their research and knowledge on international issues and build relationships on campus based on interest in international affairs. For more information on this program or the Doorways series, call (828) 262-4967.


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Teammates Jason Brown and Charlie White contribute to a United States bronze medal in the new mixed team figure skating event.
Jewish figure skaters Jason Brown, 19, and Charlie White, 26, were early medalists in this year's winter Olympic games in Sochi, Russia.
The two contributed their talents as members of the United States' figure skating team to help win a bronze medal on Feb. 10 in the mixed team event.
The event — a competition re-introduced after last appearing in 1976 — consists of six components: long and short solo programs for both men and women, as well as pairs and ice dancing competitions. The results of the various pairs and individual performances are tallied up for a total team score.
White, along with longtime ice dancing partner Meryl Davis, took first place in the ice dancing pairs competition, while Brown took fourth place in the men's free skate program, to help the United States gain enough overall points for a third place team finish.
The medal was White's second — he won silver in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. For Brown, who was making his Olympics debut, the medal was his first.
After the conclusion of the team event, White posted on his Twitter page: "We worked really hard to earn that Olympic Medal — something that will be uniting us together as family for the rest of our lives! Go
Russia won gold behind powerful individual performances from 15-year-old Yulia Lipnitskaya and star Yevgeny Plushenko, who counted this as his fourth Olympic medal. Lipnitskaya chose music from the Schindler's List soundtrack as the accompaniment to her free skate program.
Canada grabbed the silver medal with a strong second place finish.


text:
St. Patrick's Day Nibbles and Drinks
Tasty treats fit for a leprechaun!
-Carolyn French
As you well know, St. Patrick's Day revolves around the act of filling one's self with as much alcohol as humanly possible.
To keep your strength up in between the beer pong sessions and the pub crawling escapades, throw together these super easy (and oh so scrumptious) dishes and drinks for you and your best buds!
Exclusiv Vodka's Saint Pat's-tini, courtesy of Exclusiv Vodka
2 oz Exclusiv Vodka
1/2 oz Creme de Cocoa
1 oz Bailey's Irish Cream
1/2 oz green Creme de Menthe
Shake first three ingredients, pour into a chilled martini glass, and sink Green Creme de Menthe. Garnish with a mint leaf and chocolate shavings.
Read Sexy St. Patrick's Day Lingerie!
Emerald Isle, courtesy of About.com
1 oz gin
1 tsp green Crème de Menthe
2 dashes bitters
Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes. Shake well and strain into a chilled glass.
Next: delicious nibbles!


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Exceptional Care. Without Exception.
Boston Medical Center (BMC) is more than a hospital. It´s a network of support and care that touches the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in need each year. The hospital is also the primary teaching affiliate of the nationally ranked Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM). We are also as founding partner of Boston HealthNet – an integrated health care delivery systems that includes 15 community health centers.


text:
|Volcano Linklist
Livecams related to volcanoes
If you add a link, please add it in the form: "volcano name livecam of source" and also add it to the related volcano category. Please register on the left side near the bottom for this. Thank you for your contribution!
See on the bottom of the page for a map which is showing all the registered livecams. Klick on this link to get a list of all volcanoes covered in this directory.
Thanks to Fred Rostorfer, Jamie Trouskie, Kevin Rogers, J. Emmelhainz, Jessica Reitano, Simone Genovese, Roz Fordham, Th. u. Chri. Iseli-Mori, Jürgen Emmelhainz, Kent Stewart, François Chataigner, Mike Junker and others for pointing to new or even their own cams!
Thanks also to the different other volcano live cam sites like Stromboli Online, John Seach, Eruptions blog, Volcanism Blog and many more.
And last but not least: the biggest thank you goes of course to the operators of the different volcano live cams! Please click on the pictures for visiting their websites.
Note: The copyright of the integrated livecam pictures belong to the owners of the different sites! Please send a mail to stefan.kuettel(at)stromboli.org if your pictures shouldn't be included in this list and I will remove it.
Stefan, stromboli.org
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Back To New Swim Gear
Kiefer Neoprene Aqua Glove
Item # 650485
Kiefer Neoprene Gloves have a very comfortable fit and are easy to put on and remove! These comfortable gloves offer maximum resistance to build upper body strength during swimming workouts or water aerobics. These webbed gloves have open fingertips and adjustable Velcro wrist closure. Palm side is made from durable neoprene for a non-slip grip and added resistance, back of the glove is made from stretch nylon.
Color-coded sizing, great for water workout / aquatic therapy classes and health club water aerobics programs.
Sizing / Colors:
Small - Purple (Youth/Women)
Medium - Black (Women)
Large - Yellow (Women/Men)


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How to use Jlink to access Mathematica Boolean Functions
In Wolfram Workbench, I'm running a Java app that's working ok with the generic import
import com.wolfram.jlink.*;
, and it will execute basic functionality like evaluate, getInteger, etc. But I can't seem to execute any of Mathematica's Boolean functions. Can't use BooleanConvert, nor BooleanFunction, nor BooleanMinimize, or any of the related methods.
Does anyone know how to access these? I'm using createKernelLink().


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Adding a playmaker in upcoming draft
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Who will the bears select in the first round?
Braylon Edwards
[ 8 ]
Mike Williams
[ 13 ]
Ronnie Brown
[ 4 ]
Cedric Benson
[ 2 ]
Total Votes : 27
Joined: 03 Mar 2005
Posts: 10
Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 1:27 am
Post subject: Adding a playmaker in upcoming draft
I am getting very excited about the draft becuase it is inevitable the bears will add another weapon to Sexy Rexy's arsenal. There are only three teams that pick before the bears and there are atleast four playmakers available that i will love to see in blue and orange. I love the two top wideouts Braylon Edwards and Mike Williams, both are big targets and will provide problems lined up across from 'moose'. Due to Ron Turner's emphasis on the run, I also think the two top running backs would provide an immediate lift. While Cadillac is good, I think Ronnie Brown and Cedrick Benson are number 1 and 2 repectively. Both are big, strong, athletic backs that would provide a good compliment to TJ next season, and could eventually develop into primier running backs in the leage. I also think that if we chose a WR first we will get a RB in the second, and visa versa. Now, let's shore up the o-line, add an OLB, and an experienced QB and in April we can sit back and watch our offense continue to blossom.
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Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Posts: 96
Location: chicago
Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 2:52 am
Post subject: Braylon Edwards a better choice NOW over Mike Williams
While i still believe that Willliams is still better all-around receiver in terms of translatable skils to the NFL, I am gonna have to say that Edwards would be a better fit since the signing of Moose. Muhammad provides the bears with a big strong, physical receiver in the mold of a T.O., who runs great routes and truly understands how to play the game. Muhammad is aggressive and a great blocker. Mike Williams has the potential of a T.O., and has very similar skills, why would the bears need two types of the same receiver? With out a burner, like Edwards, to stretch out the field they could just throw double team after double team at both or just sit in coverage waiting for ball to be throw to either one. With edwards, they have the vertical threat to offset Muhammad as the aggressive, physical possession receiver(he does get yards off the catch though). Team Muhsin muhammad, edwards, and berrian together and they have the tools to drive cornerbacks nuts. All are tall, two are burners with one with decent speed, and all have great hands. Berrian may have to work on his route-running and toughness, but that is the beauty of muhammad, he could teach both.
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Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 1549
Location: Chi-Town
Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 1:25 pm
Post subject:
we dont need a speed reciever like edwards, we have berrian for the long ball. i think a pair of big physical reciever will be amazing especially in the red zone
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Joined: 03 Feb 2005
Posts: 536
Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:15 pm
Post subject:
I would also go with Edwards, not only for now but who could teach him better then a guy with the same build as him.
I really like both E
dwards and Williams but I think Edwards is the better fit here.
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Joined: 04 Jan 2005
Posts: 22932
Location: Reynoldsburg, OH
Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:17 am
Post subject:
I think you guys gotta go with Braylon
This is called TRUTH!
Rest In Peace David, Renee and Joe (Crakburn)
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Joined: 04 Mar 2005
Posts: 55
Location: Slidell, Louisiana
Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:42 pm
Post subject:
The Bears do not need a running back. Thomas Jones is a complete back and a good fit for the Bears. It would be ridiculous bringing in another back. You guys need a WR and thats why the Bears are going to draft one in this coming draft. Don't tell me Mushin will fix all problems because he won't. Without Mushin your receiving core was young and horrible. One player can't turn that all around.
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Joined: 05 Mar 2005
Posts: 13
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 2:22 pm
Post subject:
None of the above. Defense wins championships!!!!
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Joined: 28 Dec 2004
Posts: 258
Location: Illinois
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 3:10 pm
Post subject:
yeah thats "defense wins championships" right so that is why washington went to the super bowl last year? i think a good d is important but you have to have a serviceable o to move the ball. (see washington, baltimore)
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Joined: 05 Mar 2005
Posts: 13
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 3:18 pm
Post subject:
Hey Da Bears you must not have been around and watching the 85 bears. It was more fun to see the defense on the field than the offense, and we shut out half the teams we played. Walter ran out the clock and that was that. We can do the same thing this year if we pick up Derrick Johnson and let Jones and the A-train run out the clock behind a healthy o-line.
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Joined: 07 Mar 2005
Posts: 48
Location: Crystal Lake, IL
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 7:28 pm
Post subject: DA Bears
I tend not to have a possitive attitude when it comes to the upcoming draft. I love Mike Williams. I hate Braylon Edwards. Te two big backs in Ronnie Brown and Benson are interesting options. HOwever, the Bears in recent years have lacked the guts to stand their ground and take their man. That is why I beleive the bears will blow it and trade down. I hope they don't and take a blue chip prospect, but at the same time I get this sick feeling the beloved will chicken out last minute and trade down. Help me out guys and assure me this won't happen.
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Joined: 07 Mar 2005
Posts: 7
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 5:21 pm
Post subject:
It is nice having the 4th pick overall in the draft. Although we fans did not hink so last season when we sucked it up. With our first pick we should snag ronnie brown or besen. I personally would wrather have ronnie because bensen has attitude problems. Lovie just dropped Terrell so that we would not have attitude problems. Also we just picked up Muhammed so we don't need another receiver... at least not in the first round.
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Joined: 07 Mar 2005
Posts: 7
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 5:22 pm
Post subject:
It is nice having the 4th pick overall in the draft. Although we fans did not think so last season when we sucked it up. With our first pick we should snag ronnie brown or bensen. I personally would wrather have ronnie because bensen has attitude problems. Lovie just dropped Terrell so that we would not have attitude problems. Also we just picked up Muhammed so we don't need another receiver... at least not in the first round.
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Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 1528
Location: CA
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:51 pm
Post subject:
As a very biased fan I want either Ronnie Brown or Mike Williams with the 4th pick. If they aren't available I would like us to trade down but that means we need a taker. If Brown and Williams are gone that means either Braylon or D Johnson are available and those players may draw some trade interest. I do like both Edwards and Johnson but I jsut dont think they willl have the immediate impact that Brown or Williams would have with our team.
I really think the Bears need to acquire another 2nd round pick because I think there are numerous players of need that will be available in the 2nd round. TE, LB, WR, OG all are positions that we can grab quality players in the 2nd round.
So to sum up, if we dont get Ronnie Brown or Mike Williams, do whatever it takes to trade down and a grab another pick
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Joined: 09 Jan 2005
Posts: 568
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:08 am
Post subject:
Bo knows more than football- he knows the draft as well. I don't think you could've said it any better. If Mike Williams, or Brown aren't there, trade down. I wouldn't mind seeing DJ, but I don't think I can say that for anyone else at 4. There are a lot of options in the second round Fason, Baas, Shazor, JJ Arrington, and possibly someone who slips come draft day.
Thanks so much Scar!!
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The owner of Redondo Beach's massive, outdated power plant many in the community want gone has submitted an application for a "smaller, cleaner, quieter modern, facility," said AES Southland spokeswoman Clarissa Cordova.
She said "significant enhancements" have been made to the proposed design of the new power plant, which is expected to be posted today on the California Energy Commission website at www.energy.ca.gov.
"We have fully enclosed the plant and are especially pleased to be able to preserve the iconic Whaling Wall," Cordova said. "All of these refinements result in a plant that is quieter and a better fit for the community."
Cordova said the company expects to have its initial public hearing on the project in the first quarter of 2013.
However, earlier this month the Redondo Beach City council placed an initiative on the March ballot that would rezone the land and phase out the power plant entirely.
- Nick Green


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Brevard sees four off the crossbar in 2-0 defeat to TusculumSeptember 28, 2011
Mendonca and Rasinmaki place shots on goal in loss
Greeneville, Tenn. - Felipe Mendonca and Tommi Rasinmaki fired shots on goal and Pauli Jussila made a match high five saves, but Stephen McNeill and Pontus Rosen both found the back of the net for the host Pioneers as the Tornados fell at Pioneer Field on Wednesday night, 2-0.
Rasinmaki and Mendonca both paced the Tornados (0-8-1, 0-3 SAC) offense early, recording shots on goal in the first ten minutes, but Tusculum (1-6-1, 1-0 SAC) was first on the scoreboard as McNeill intercepted the ball on a defensive turnover and beat Jussila in the one-on-one encounter, placing the ball in the back of the net at the 17:27 mark to put the Pioneers up 1-0.
Jussila was able to keep Tusculum off the board for the remainder of the half, recording three more saves as the teams went into the half with the score remaining at 1-0.
Rosen added a second score in the final half, taking the assist off the through ball from Kjetil Paulsen and eluding Jussila for the score at the 63:25 mark.
Both sides had scoring chances the rest of the game, but Tusculum's Drayson Davenport was wide on a penalty kick and Brevard's Adam Martin, Andre Corvello, Patrick Urmson and Daniel Zambrano all saw shots hit the crossbar as the game ended with Tusculum on top, 2-0.
The Tornados return home to Brevard, N.C. as they welcome SAC rival Mars Hill College to the BC Soccer Field on Saturday, October 1st. Kickoff between the Tornados and the Lions is set for 2 p.m.


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Target 'Respectfully' Says Leave Your Guns at Home
(NEWSER) – You can't bring your .38 to Target anymore. The company—whose logo is, ironically, basically a shooting range target—has "respectfully" requested that customers keep their firearms at home and out of stores—even in communities where carrying a gun in public is legal,USA Today reports. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America quickly lauded the move; the group began a petition a month ago to pressure Target to prohibit guns and got 400,000 signatures. The group had also released images of Open Carry Texas members toting rifles in a Dallas Target, "down the same aisles where we shop for diapers and toys."
Read the full story on Newser.com
PHOTO: Getty Images


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Use this forum to suggest Good Words for Professor Beard.
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
- Grand Panjandrum
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Reading a history of the reformation last night, I came to the place where Henry VIII made Cranmer his vicegerent with considerable power. At that point the author broke in to admonish his readers not to confuse vicegerent and vice-regent, which of course is easy to do. Though Cranmer had considerable power, it was supposed to be focused on the religious area. So it occurred to me that vicegerent would make a good word of the day.
Re: vicegerent
This is one difficult word to wrap my feeble brain around. It would seem to be simply another word for deputy or even agent. Yet most of the links I've come across make it seem a word much used in Islamic terms. Then again, there are a few that relate it to the Roman Catholic church. It's a tough one, to be sure.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
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Planning a visit? We've made some changes. More information...
The Washington State Library provides training and continuing education opportunities
to library staff statewide and certifies the professional credentials of librarians.
Happy 10 Year Anniversary to WebJunction! Washington library staff appreciate WebJunction and here's our celebration video in honor of their 10 year anniversary.
Washington State Library offers a variety of training opportunities for library
staff statewide. Training is offered in person and online.
In 65% of communities across the country, libraries are the only source for free access to computers and the internet. If you have computers in your library, you are getting questions and requests for help from your patron on any number of subjects, from basic computer skills like setting up an email accounting and navigating the Internet to social networking, applying for jobs online, or using-readers. You may not have expected technology training to be a part of your library career; but the need is clear, and you can help patrons and staff learn new technologies with the right tool kit and some confidence.
In this 4-part webinar series, Stephanie Gerding provides library staff and trainers with practical tips and best practices for planning and promoting computer classes at the library, engaging students and evaluating success. She addresses the most common concerns from new trainers, including fear of failure, lack of confidence, uncertainty about how to deal with difficult situations and worry about logistics, space concerns, and planning. By viewing this series you'll learn all the many ways that your library can meet the needs for technology job and best us the resources you have on hand. Join us, boost your confidence, get organized, and become a more effective technology trainer!
Stephanie Gerding is a librarian, author, and trainer with over 15 years of professional experience working with libraries, nonprofit, and government organizations. As an independent library consultant, Stephanie plans and conducts training for thousands of participants around the world in grants, technology, train-the-trainer, digital literacy, planning, advocacy, and online training topics. She has managed statewide training programs at New Mexico and Arizona State Libraries, worked as a library trainer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, taught graduate-level online courses, and is a certified trainer for the Public Library Association. She is the Training and Outreach consultant for TechSoup for Libraries. Stephanie is an author of three books, including "The Accidental Technology Trainer" and Winning Grants.
DISCLAIMER: The State Library regularly highlights third-party
events and online resources as a way to alert the library community to training
and resource opportunities. By doing so, we are not endorsing the content of the
event, nor promoting any specific product, but merely providing this information
as an FYI to librarians who must then decide what is right for them.
Library Training
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Funded in part by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).


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Head of the Schuylkill Results
Princeton Chase Results
PHILADELPHIA/PRINCETON, N.J. - Quite a finish to the Fall season for the University of Pennsylvania lightweights. After a win at the Head of the Charles last week, the Quakers followed up that performance with a victory at the Head of the Schuylkill on Saturday and finished as the top freshman lightweight crew on Sunday at the Princeton Chase.
At the Head of the Schuylkill, Penn rowed to victory in the heavyweight freshman race. The Quakers were tops with a time of 13:31.36. That was just about six seconds faster than the Princeton lightweights, who finished as the runner up. The second Penn boat was seventh among the 22 teams and finished in 14:58.47.
At the Princeton Chase, the freshman 8 were the top lightweight crew and finished behind just three heavyweight boats for a fourth-place finish overall. The Quakers finished in 14:06.660 which was seven seconds better than the nearest lightweight boat. In addition, Penn's varsity was sixth overall with a finish of 13:44.257 which bested the top boats from Navy, Columbia and Dartmouth. The second varsity was 22nd with a time of 14:51.136 and beat out their counterparts from Dartmouth and Georgetown. In the fours, Penn finished ninth in 15:30.952.
The two regattas marked the end of Fall competition for the Red and Blue. Penn now prepares for the spring season where competition will begin again in late March.


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What I did this summer: Reporting from West Africa
Paul Bowers
Print journalism junior Paul Bowers has been telling stories that detail the world around him since he was a boy. Last spring, New York Times' Nicholas Kristof surprised Bowers with the opportunity to expand his worldview. Kristof, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, announced that Bowers would be his reporting partner on a two-week trip to West Africa.
Bowers beat out 900 other applicants for the spot.
"The fact that Paul's entry was viewed more favorably than students' submissions from Harvard, Yale, University of North Carolina, and Columbia University Graduate School demonstrates everything that's great about studying journalism," said Carol Pardun, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. "If you are tenacious, brave and, yes, talented, the sky is the limit."
Carol Pardun
Bowers stood out from the competition with an essay and video blog that expressed his need to share other peoples' experiences. Kristof said it was Bowers' compassionate storytelling that gave him the edge in the third-annual competition.
"I picked Paul partially because I thought he could effectively communicate with college students," Kristof said in a video blog. "He had a great record of writing, he does blogs, and he knows video."
During the May trip, Bowers was given free rein to blog about whatever he thought the rest of the world should see and hear. He posted daily stories and video blogs about his adventures with the locals and the struggles of everyday life in Liberia and Sierra Leone, two neighboring countries on the coast of West Africa.
Nicholas Kristof
Although he has been writing professionally since he was 13, Bowers said he was surprised by the amount of people who followed his online stories. Though he claims that friends and family made up the majority of his followers, people from Africa and across the United States have commented online about the truthfulness of his reporting.


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Fox Relies On Right-Wing Group's Flawed Claims To Attack Health Care Regulations
Fox News relied on dubious arguments from a conservative group with a history of ethical problems to cast doubt on how the Obama administration is implementing government regulations related to the health care reform law.
In a segment titled "Regulation Nation," anchor Jenna Lee claimed that the health care law's new regulations are on the "fast track" because the public hasn't been afforded enough time to offer input on them before their passage. Correspondent Shannon Bream added that this was in contrast to a 1993 executive order from former President Clinton, which required a minimum of 60 days for comment.
Bream based her reporting on the work of right-wing group Americans for Limited Government, which has a history [1] of ethical problems that include fraud and financial disclosure issues. The group has also been accused of engaging in character attacks [2].
In fact, the Obama administration has complied with regulatory rules. Moreover, despite Bream's assertion that comment periods should last at least 60 days, there is no required minimum period.
Federal Register guidelines [3] state that "in general, agencies will specify a comment period ranging from 30 to 60 days," but they may also use shorter periods "when that can be justified." Clinton's 1993 executive order [4] recommended that a comment period last at least 60 days "in most cases."
An executive order [5] President Obama signed in January 2011 improving regulation and regulatory review reaffirmed Clinton's order, reading:
To the extent feasible and permitted by law, each agency shall afford the public a meaningful opportunity to comment through the Internet on any proposed regulation, with a comment period that should generally be at least 60 days.
Bream ended the segment by claiming that "there have been nearly 6,000 federal regulations proposed just in the last 90 days."
According to the government's regulation website, regulations.gov [6], there have been 5,803 new postings in the last 90 days. However, more than 4,000 of those are "notices," which include updates to previous regulations, scheduled hearings, grant applications, and meeting announcements. Less than 1,500 are listed as new regulations and rules.
Fox previously used the term "Regulation Nation" to launch a weeklong attack on federal regulations [7] just as the Republican Party announced its push for repealing regulations. Fox also has a history of attacking health care reform [8].
- Posted In
- Government [9], Health Care Reform [10]
- Network/Outlet
- Fox News Channel [11]
- Person
- Shannon Bream [12], Jenna Lee [13]
- Show/Publication
- Happening Now [14]


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Eintracht Frankfurt 2000 3RD shirt black/red.Embroidered team badge,logo and sponsor in front.Open collar.Mesh ventilation throughout.Puma celleratorUSP advanced moisture-wicking technology.100% polyester.EU product.
Soccerplus first opened in 1994. We were one of the first soccer websites to hit the webView more
Address: 1640 E. Washington Blvd.
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Phone: 1-800-945-7291
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OK, this is neat, BUT a couple of things:
A) If I'm too paranoid to trust a 14 character password to protect my wireless LAN, offshoring my AAA to some site on the internet isn't going to work either.
B) After reading a translation of the about page Google Translate I noticed something important. The goal of the site isn't to make your network 'more secure', it's to allow you to share you internet with select people and still have control (i.e. not sharing your one key with everyone.)
C) Setting up a RADIUS server isn't expensive. "Pourquoi le service WifiRadis est-t-il gratuit ? ("Why is the service WifiRadis he free?) Parce que personne ne va payer pour cela, cela ne vaut pas un radis. (Because nobody will pay for it, it is not worth a bean. )"
D) WPA2-Personal is really damn secure even if you capture the 4 way handshake. The only weakness is users who don't set up good passwords. Any DOS that can be performed against it without the preshared key can be performed against a WPA2-Enterprise.


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Join Meryl Streep and friends of the National Women's History Museum for the first annual The de Pizan Honors, a gala event paying tribute to women from the past and present. The event will take place on November 16, 2011 at the Ronald Reagan Center in Washington, D.C. beginning at 6:00 pm.
The de Pizan Honors stand apart from the hundreds of events that honor women—the lives and contributions of the Honorees will be recognized within the soon-to-be-constructed world-class National Women's History Museum, at the National Mall in Washington, DC.
Join us for an evening of food, fun, and history, as we celebrate the legends from the past and the women who are creating a legacy today. Hosted by Meryl Streep and other personalities from the entertainment industry, the proceeds from the event will support the operations of the Museum, ensuring that women have a permanent place in history.
The reception begins at 6:00 pm, followed by the Honors ceremony at 7:00pm. VIP ticket holders will enjoy an intimate dinner after the presentation.
To buy tickets click here: http://www.nwhm.org/support-nwhm/events/de-pizan-tickets
Sponsored by:


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Grassroots Network
For the Glory. For the Future. For Penn State.
Whether you can spare a few hours or a few minutes, you can make a difference as a champion for Penn State—join the Penn State Grassroots Network.
More than 30,000 Grassroots Network volunteers are making a big difference advocating for Penn State's future—will you add your voice?
In as little as a few minutes a month, volunteers are communicating Penn State's needs to the Pennsylvania governor, state legislators, and members of Congress. Grassroots Network volunteers are pivotal in addressing the issues that are important to Penn State and the Penn State community, such as:
- keeping tuition increases as low as possible;
- raising the quality of a Penn State education;
- keeping its Commonwealth Campuses strong; and
- preserving the value of a Penn State degree.


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As a leading pediatric orthopedic center, TSRHC has treated more than 245,000 children since its inception, with more than 40,000 clinic visits each year. The hospital takes a multidisciplinary approach to care, tailoring treatment to the individual needs of each child and family.
TSRHC is proud of the healing, hope and happiness we have shared with thousands of patients and their families. At TSRHC, every staff member is dedicated to creating a positive hospital experience for our patients – so that they can create their own experiences out in the world.
Help make dreams possible. Your gift allows the hospital to continue its mission of helping children regardless of the family's ability to pay.
Within a unique caring environment, patients at TSRHC benefit from a world-renowned medical staff and the promise of a brighter future, through the research and innovation driven by the hospitals five centers of excellence. TSRHC is consistently recognized as one of the premiere pediatric orthopedic hospitals in the world.
North Texas Amateur Baseball League (NTABL) All-Star Games
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TSRHC treats children with orthopedic conditions, such as scoliosis, clubfoot, hand disorders, hip disorders and limb length differences, as well as sports injuries, fractures, certain related arthritic and neurological disorders and learning disorders, such as dyslexia.
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2222 Welborn Street
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Sustainable Innovation Summit
November 5, 2007
Thank you very much. It is great to be here at Thunderbird as part of your Sustainable Innovation Summit. And it a thrill it is to be addressing a group of T-birds. It inspired me, in fact, to consider all of the avian analogies we can apply to what's been happening on the climate issue of late.
See, for too long, climate skeptics and some of our political leaders have been too chicken to address this issue. They've ducked the hard choices. Fowled the debate with doubts about whether climate change is really happening. Hawked their own bogus theories. Parroted the same old tired lines. Well, I am here to say their goose is cooked and it's time to take a gander at reality. Because it's our tern now. That's T-E-R-N. And I hope you T-Birds will join me in helping climate solutions take flight.
In all seriousness, I applaud Thunderbird's mission to "educate business leaders who create sustainable prosperity worldwide." I also want to congratulate Thunderbird for receiving – for the 7th consecutive year – the prestigious designation as the #1-ranked school for International Business. The award highlights your school's global mindset, an apt description for an institution that is preparing future business leaders to tackle the greatest of global challenges – climate change.
Because today, I believe, there is no greater threat to sustainability (or prosperity) than climate change. And I am not alone in this belief. Over the last decade, there has been a remarkable change in how people think about the climate issue, what they believe, and what they feel we should do. And nowhere has this transformation in opinion and outlook been more pronounced than in the global business community.
The introduction this fall of Thunderbird's Carbon-Free Degree, fosters exactly the type of innovative ideas and concrete actions needed in this country, and around the world, to find climate solutions. Equipping yourselves with the knowledge and practical experience to succeed in a future low-carbon economy is critical. But what's truly important is that Thunderbird graduates will now enter the business world as leaders who both understand and can implement sustainable solutions that firms need to gain competitive advantages in today's global marketplace.
Today, I'd like to reflect a bit on why business opinion on the climate change issue has changed, and on why some of the strongest support for climate solutions now originates not in the halls of government or in non-governmental organization offices, but in corporate boardrooms around the world. I will talk about the history of business engagement (and disengagement) on this issue. And I will offer a couple of examples of major companies that are walking the talk when it comes to climate solutions.
The main idea I want to leave you with is that there has been a major shift in the global business community – from denial to acceptance and now to active engagement in public policy on the climate issue. And it is a shift that I believe bodes well for national and international action to protect the climate in the months and years ahead.
But before I get to all that, it's important to reflect on why there has been this shift, why the business community (or segments of it) is now responding seriously to climate change when simply talking in a rational way about this issue in private-sector circles was viewed as heresy just a few years back.
The biggest influence has been a need for certainty about how markets are going to change, sparked by a growing patchwork of state by state and country by country climate policies, and a sense that aggressive federal and global responses are inevitable. But the advancing science has been important for some companies too. Over the last decade, the case for a skeptical, wait-and-see approach to climate change has melted faster than summer sea ice in the Arctic. We now know from the science that this is a real and urgent problem, with a real cause – and that cause is human activity. The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected that global temperatures will increase between 3.2 and 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100. Sea levels will rise by as much as a foot to a foot-and-a-half. Many species will be lost. In addition, there is a 90-percent chance or greater that the world will see more hot extremes, heat waves and heavy precipitation events. And it is likely we will see more droughts as well.
But climate change isn't solely a problem of the future; it is happening right now. I mentioned the Arctic sea ice. This summer, we saw it shrink to its smallest recorded extent ever. According to the National Sea Ice Data Center, at the height of the melting, sea ice declined at a rate of 81,000 square miles per day. That's the equivalent of losing an area the size of Kansas – in a day. Researchers say this rate of loss was unprecedented in the satellite record. Of course, the sea ice will come back as winter temperatures return, but even the wintertime ice has been in decline – with 2007 and 2006 marking the lowest winter ice extent ever.
Clearly, we have a very serious problem on our hands. Left unabated, climate change will have tremendous negative consequences for our country and our world.
But the science also tells us something else. … It tells us there is no longer any doubt about what is causing this problem: greenhouse gas emissions from human sources—and, more specifically, from three key sectors: electricity; transportation, primarily automobiles; and buildings. Consider this: China is building a new coal-fired power plant every week to 10 days. And it's not just China and other developing countries. As of 2006, U.S. emissions were up nearly 18 percent compared to 1990.
As a result of all these emissions, the level of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is growing. Advance details from the latest IPCC synthesis report tell us we are at 450 parts per million of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, if we discount the shading effect of aerosols. And the reason why this number (450 parts per million) is significant is that we have reached this level more than a decade earlier than we thought just a short time ago. What's more, scientists tell us that in order to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, we must stabilize atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases at a level of roughly – you guessed it – 450 parts per million. Obviously, this is a mammoth task that will require bold actions, actions that must begin now and continue for decades to come.
So this is what the science says: It says that the climate is changing, that these changes will accelerate in the years ahead, and that human activity is the major cause. Is anybody listening to the science? Fortunately, the answer is yes. As I said before, some of the most attentive listeners are in the global business community. And I want to use the remainder of my remarks to provide an overview of how business has responded to this issue, and what kind of response we can expect to see moving forward.
I want to start by reflecting back on the late 1980s and early 1990s. As you may recall, this was a time when most major U.S. companies responded to climate change in the vein of Alfred E. Neuman: "What … me worry?" But they didn't stop there, with a simple shrug of their collective shoulders. No. In many cases, business actively sought to confuse the debate by disputing the basic science behind global warming.
They did this because they saw the writing on the wall; they saw what was happening globally on this issue. They saw how the world had united around the goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992. The UNFCCC, as it is known, set an ambitious long-term objective: to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would – and I quote – "prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system." This is a goal that the United States, and virtually every other nation, embraced.
Businesses also saw how the world came together five years after the signing of the UNFCCC in an effort to try and give that agreement some teeth. This is what happened in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, when the United States and other countries signed the Kyoto Protocol, with its mandatory emission targets for developed countries. Well, whatever you think of Kyoto, this agreement just didn't sit well with many segments of the global business community. And so they set out to undermine the agreement – in part, by attempting to undermine the science behind it.
The prevailing sentiment on this issue in global business circles was embodied in the work of an organization called the Global Climate Coalition (GCC). This is a group that held sway in the U.S. during the 1990s, and it had one of those classic Washington names that make you think they're on the side of reasonable solutions … when, the fact is, their major objective is to muddy the issue just enough to stop any solution they don't like.
Well, the Global Climate Coalition was quite good at this for a time, and it recruited some major players to try and demonize Kyoto and torpedo the scientific case for action – including Exxon, Ford, Royal Dutch Shell, Texaco, BP, General Motors, and Daimler Chrysler. But over time, many of these companies left the coalition and began distancing themselves from GCC's views. The GCC suffered major membership losses in 2001, and simply went out of business. In the end, the GCC fell victim to changing views in the corporate community about climate change and the need for action on greenhouse gas emissions. I saw this change firsthand when we formed the Pew Center on Global Climate Change in 1998.
One of our priorities from the start was to recruit major companies to serve as founding members of our Business Environmental Leadership Council . Thirteen companies joined in the beginning, including such industry stalwarts as American Electric Power, Boeing and Toyota. And all of these companies agreed to a set of principles that basically said this: we know enough about the science of climate change to justify taking action now.
Now remember: this was happening just months after the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated, at a time when most major businesses still viewed climate change with either indifference or hostility, one where serious action, if it came at all, was decades away. And yet a small group of business leaders joined with us at the Pew Center to say the time was right to do something, and that international action was needed. And the formation of our Council in 1998, along with other actions and statements around that time emanating from the corporate sector, marked the moment when the first wave of business leaders finally moved from denial of climate change to acceptance that this was a real problem and that solutions were needed.
Today, almost 10 years later, the Pew Center's Business Environmental Leadership Council consists of 45 companies representing approximately $2.8 trillion in market capitalization and over 3.8 million employees. It is the largest U.S.-based association of companies committed to climate change policy and business solutions. Membership spans a range of sectors including high technology, diversified manufacturing, oil and gas, transportation, electric and gas utilities, chemicals, healthcare, insurance, and financial services.
The growth of our Council over the last decade is a reflection of the growing acceptance among business leaders that climate change is a real problem. It is also a reflection of business leaders' understanding that serious government action to address this issue at all levels is inevitable; it is only a matter of time.
Consider what businesses say about the likelihood of U.S. government action. Ninety percent of the companies we polled in 2006 said they believed climate regulations were imminent in the U.S. Of those, 67 percent believed regulations would take effect between 2010 and 2015; 17 percent expected this before 2010. And I should note that this survey was taken before the 2006 elections, when Democrats took control of both the House and Senate with new promises of swift action on this issue.
Globally, the feeling is the same ... business understands that this train is rolling down the tracks and can't be stopped. And, in fact, companies operating in Europe and elsewhere already live under climate regulations.
Even in China, we see significant progress. That country's leaders have established a domestic target of a 20-percent reduction in energy intensity by 2010. China also has aggressively developed its renewable energy sector. It has established a goal to raise the proportion of renewable energy in the primary energy supply to 16 percent by 2020, up from 7 percent today.
Businesses are not hunkering in a cave somewhere. They see governments around the world taking action on this issue—or, at least, talking about taking action in a serious way. And, part of the motivation among the companies that have been out front on the climate issue is to help shape the actions that the world's governments ultimately take. They want a seat at the table when international and national leaders talk about policy solutions to the climate problem.
And there is something else they want … they also want what we call "regulatory certainty"—in other words, they believe it's inevitable that governments are going to act in a more decisive way on this issue… but like everyone else, business leaders don't know exactly how governments will act. And not knowing what's on the horizon is not good for business. Think about those companies in the electric power sector that have to make significant up-front outlays for new plants and equipment that government actions could render obsolete in one fell swoop. Or, think about businesses that are primed to innovate and to invest in new, low-carbon energy technologies and products. … Figuring out the potential return on those investments just isn't possible right now, in the absence of a clearer sense of the policy environment five, ten or twenty years out.
Of course, there are other motivating factors for business to get involved in this issue, including mounting concerns about a patchwork of sub-national regulations. 17 states in the United States, for example, already have emission reduction targets, including California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts and Arizona. In the same way that business leaders don't like uncertainty about what the global and national rules will be, they also don't like having to live by a lot of different rules in different places.
And then there is the main motivating factor that drives business decisions: profits. Many businesses very plainly see climate change and the drive to respond to it as a business opportunity – at least by managing risks better than competitors, and ideally by building growth platforms around low-carbon products and services. And they want to ensure that national and international policies are aligned with their own objectives for making the most of emerging global markets for climate-friendly technology. Let me offer three examples:
• First, Caterpillar is the largest supplier of machinery to the mining industry. They have a strong interest in maintaining long-term spending on equipment. Thus, they have a strong interest in developing climate solutions that include support for clean coal with carbon capture and sequestration. In the absence of rapid progress on this, some of their mining customers might run into financial difficulty if power companies switch to gas, nuclear, and renewables. In some cases, companies like Caterpillar actually are able to take a longer-term view than their clients.
• Second, there is GE. GE has built an entire line of products called Ecomagination that focuses on developing solutions to the world's environmental problems, including climate change. Its products include wind turbines, more energy-efficient appliances, and clean coal technologies. Ecomagination has been extremely successful, reporting revenues last year of $12 billion, putting the company on track to exceed its sales target of $20 billion by 2010.
• And, last but not least, I want to mention Alcoa. Alcoa is one of the world's leading aluminum manufacturers. And this company believes federal policies to reduce emissions will lead to higher demand for their products, particularly in the automotive and aircraft sectors. The thinking is that GHG policies will drive carmakers to use more lightweight aluminum in producing cars and planes. Reducing a vehicle's weight by 10 percent typically yields a seven-percent reduction in GHG emissions.
Again, these are real opportunities for real profits in a world where carbon constraints become the norm. And, of course, none of this has escaped the notice of investors around the world. Wall Street in recent years has exhibited a growing interest in and affection for those companies, industries and sectors that stand to benefit in a world that finally gets serious about constraining carbon. This may sound odd at a time when oil company stocks are at record highs, but it's true: there has been a gradual awakening to the climate issue on Wall Street. And I want to highlight the six stages to the financial community's awakening on this issue:
First, the emergence of shareholder activism as a tool for influencing corporate behavior. Sister Patricia Daly, from the order of the Sisters of St. Dominic of Caldwell, New Jersey was an early pioneer in this, as was the Christian Brothers Investment Services, and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. Their big idea: to use the power of stock ownership as a way to get companies to pay more attention to their impact on the climate.
The environmental group Friends of the Earth, got into the act in 1990. As part of its climate change shareholder campaign, it filed a resolution with ExxonMobil, calling on the company to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its energy production plants and facilities. Niagara Mohawk Power was the target of a 1994 church-sponsored resolution demanding that it prepare a report describing plans or actions to reduce GHG emissions. That one received support from 19.4 percent of the shares voted, one of the highest votes ever on a social issues proposal.
Since then, there has been steady growth in both the number of, and support for, shareholder resolutions. More than 150 climate change resolutions have been filed in the last five years alone. Over the past two years, climate change has emerged as the leading focus of non-financial shareholder resolutions.
While the content of these resolutions varies, most share a common set of goals: public reporting of GHG emissions and disclosure of climate-related risks and opportunities; voluntary goals and timetables to achieve absolute reductions in GHG emissions; and support for government programs that set mandatory limits on GHG emissions to bolster strategic planning and investor certainty.
And, it's important to note that while these shareholder resolutions almost never pass, they have been very important in influencing corporate behavior. For example, after the Connecticut state treasurer's office filed three consecutive climate resolutions (all unsuccessful), American Electric Power agreed to conduct an analysis of pending climate legislation and its impacts on the company's bottom line. This analysis became the basis for AEP's plans to invest up to $1.6 billion in a next-generation coal plant that emits substantially less CO2 than conventional coal plants and is designed for carbon capture and storage.
The second stage was the rise of eco-funds and environmental indices. Not too long ago, this was a tiny and not very influential corner of the capital markets. But in 2005, so-called socially responsible investment (or SRI) funds had approximately $2.29 trillion in assets under management worldwide. One of the largest SRI firms, Calvert, manages more than $16 billion in assets. And, there are also numerous funds focusing specifically on companies providing environmental solutions. An example is the Winslow Green Growth Fund.
The surge in investor appetite for environmentally friendly investment funds is leading investment banks to create special indices and structured products related to the industry. There are now at least a half-dozen indices tracking the clean-energy sector in North America alone, and several more in Europe.
Examples include the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the ABN Amro Climate Change & Environment Index; Standard & Poor's clean-energy index; and HSBC Holdings PLC's Global Climate Change Benchmark Index. And that's just a few.
The third phase in the financial community's awakening was the engagement of public pension funds on this issue. These funds control huge pots of money, and they are showing an increasing willingness to consider climate change as an investment criterion.. How are they getting involved? By engaging directly with companies; by voting proxies against management; and by sponsoring shareholder resolutions themselves.
One of the major players in this arena is the California Public Employees Retirement System (or CALPERS). CALPERS has a total market value of approximately $250 billion. And now it has set up a $200 million Environmental Technology Program Board that targets investments in environmental technology solutions that are more efficient and less polluting than existing technologies. CALPERS also has $500 million earmarked for investment in stock portfolios that use environmental screens.
The fourth phase was the growth of cleantech venture capital flows. As all of these other developments have been unfolding, there have also been steady increases in venture capital and private equity flowing into clean technology companies, with particularly dramatic growth occurring in just the last three years. Cleantech encompasses a number of different sectors, from agriculture and air quality to recycling, water purification and management, and energy technology. And, today, this segment of the business world is one of the top venture capital draws, behind only software, biotechnology, and telecommunications.
What's more, in the world of cleantech investing, energy technology has received by far the greatest levels of investment over the years. In 2005, the energy technology area was the beneficiary of about 44 percent of total U.S. cleantech investing ($590 million out of a total of $1.34 billion).
Which brings me to the fifth phase, the involvement of the major commercial and investment banking giants. One way this happened was through something called the Carbon Disclosure Project (or CDP).
CDP is a coordinating body for institutional investors. Each year, it sends out a questionnaire seeking information from companies about the business risks and opportunities presented by climate change. The success of CDP has grown every year in virtually every metric. This year, 315 institutional investors participated with $41 trillion in assets under management. The questionnaire went to 2,400 companies – and the response rate was a very respectable 77 percent.
CDP signatories include major mutual funds, and major banks and financial houses, such as State Street, Barclays, AXA, Northern Trust Corporation, UBS, and Morgan Stanley. Those six signatories alone account for about 10 percent of the holdings of GE, 11.7 percent of Apple, almost 12 percent of DuPont, and 12.2 percent of Duke Energy -- making climate every bit a C-level issue for these companies.
These major financial houses also are becoming directly involved in financing climate solutions. For example, Goldman Sachs since 2005 has invested about $1.5 billion in alternative energy and clean technology businesses; and Morgan Stanley this year bought a stake in MGM International, another company that invests in emissions reduction projects. Bank of America and Citi are among the other major banks that have unveiled major, multibillion-dollar cleantech and climate initiatives. And, several of these banks are backing up their investments with calls for federal action on the climate issue, citing the need for regulatory certainty, as well as the economic and ecological impacts of climate change.
Which brings me to the sixth and final phase in the world of finance: the effort to correlate environmental performance with financial performance. There is significant work under way right now to figure out whether companies that perform well on the environment in general, and perhaps specifically with regard to climate change and related market changes, indeed outperform their peers in the market.
If that analysis becomes widely supported by leading lights in Wall Street and in other financial centers, I expect many more companies to engage meaningfully on the climate issue. Some of the best firms already are noticing early evidence. A year ago, for example, Abby Joseph Cohen, chief U.S. investment strategist for Goldman Sachs, spoke at one of our BELC meetings. She said that while they weren't ready to publish it, the firm's analysis suggests that top performers in the environmental category achieved as much as a 5-7 percent share price premium over competitors.
Now, there are several hypotheses about why a company with a better environmental record is likely to outperform competitors financially. And my hunch, which I am sure would find support here at Thunderbird, is that exceptional performance related to the environment correlates highly with other management strengths. Those who are alert enough to perceive and understand looming climate risks and opportunities may simply be better than their peers in dealing with the many other long-term and uncertain market factors that all companies face.
Six phases. Six developments in the world of finance that are helping to drive business interest in and action on the climate issue. But there is still the question: once they are interested, what can businesses do?
That's a question we tried to answer in the 2006 Pew Center report, "Getting Ahead of the Curve: Corporate Strategies That Address Climate Change." The report compiles the experiences and best practices of large corporations that have developed and implemented strategies to address climate change, and it is available on our website.
I'll now walk you briefly through the steps that a couple of leading companies profiled in our report took to establish their corporate strategies.
First, Duke Energy. As a major provider of electric power, Duke Energy is convinced that carbon constraints are inevitable and is taking action in a couple of ways: it is reducing its own emissions and it is actively engaging in the policy debate on this issue.
Duke's involvement in climate policy dates back to when its chairman, Jim Rogers, was the CEO of Cinergy, the company that merged with Duke in 2006. Cinergy first studied ways to lower emissions in the early 1990s and adopted a voluntary goal to reduce annual emissions to 5 percent below 2000 levels for the years 2010 through 2012.
The company's decision to more aggressively embrace climate change was made possible by three converging forces: an internal management push, pull from external stakeholders, and technological developments that would allow the company to move forward in a carbon-constrained world.
In order to meet its goals for reducing emissions, Duke plans to rely mainly on power plant efficiency projects, many of which actually return value to the company in the form of fuel savings and generation of pollution allowances for sulfur and nitrogen oxide reductions. Looking long-term, Duke is examining the potential of larger scale renewable energy sources in its service area, including wind, solar and biogas/biomass. Duke also is interested in pursuing carbon capture technologies for coal generation, and continues to view nuclear power as a potential option
Duke's involvement in the climate issue is a reflection of a fact of life facing the electric utility industry. This industry needs short-term regulatory and market clarity in order to properly value its investments. Duke and other companies are making decisions about investments in generating capacity that have an expected life of 40 or 50 years. As I said before, they need to know what's on the horizon in terms of the rules and regulations governing their business. Uncertainty is not cool.
My second example is DuPont. Perhaps more than any other major company, DuPont is shifting its focus on climate change from an emphasis on risk management to business opportunity. This is a company, you may recall, that rapidly responded to early scientific information implicating chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the depletion of the earth's ozone layer. After the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty to protect the ozone layer, was signed in 1988, DuPont announced a voluntary CFC phase-out. Shortly thereafter, it began producing safer alternatives and today is a leading manufacturer of those substitutes.
Well, DuPont has applied the same, forward-thinking mindset to climate change. Around the same time that it began producing CFC alternatives, DuPont began tracking its GHG emissions. Three years later, DuPont publicly announced a target to reduce emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2000. When DuPont realized its initial 40-percent goal would be readily met through changes in industrial processes, it adopted a new set of targets. The company committed to hold energy use flat at 1990 levels; to source 10 percent of its energy from renewable resources; and to reduce GHG emissions to 65 percent below 1990 levels, all by 2010.
DuPont has now moved into what CEO Chad Holliday calls a "third phase of sustainable growth." In this phase, sustainability will be fully integrated into DuPont's business models, and will become the market-driven business priority throughout the value chain.
DuPont also has launched a joint initiative with BP to develop biobutanol. Biobutanol is a renewable transportation fuel that can be made from all the same plant sources as ethanol. Biobutanol, however, has significant potential advantages over ethanol, including higher energy content (meaning you can get more miles per gallon out of it), higher blendability (meaning you can mix it in higher concentrations with gasoline), and better supply and distribution dynamics (meaning you can ship it through the existing oil and gas pipeline, as opposed to ethanol which has to be shipped by more expensive rail or barge).
I mention biobutanol because this is an initiative that attempts to achieve the hardest, but also the most rewarding, goal in climate change corporate strategy-making: implementing a game-changing strategy that allows a company to leap far ahead of competitors by creating or reshaping key markets they can dominate. The creative collaboration between BP and DuPont on biobutanol, I believe, illustrates the types of ventures we'll see more of as more companies seriously explore climate change-related market opportunities.
And it is important to note that the biobutanol strategy adopted by these companies includes a clear policy component, as both companies are relying on their vast knowledge of energy and environmental regulations to make the strategy work.
Engagement in public policy. As I said before, it is one of the key corporate strategies with respect to climate change. And it is where we have seen a pronounced shift in business activity on this issue. Don't just take it from me. When we surveyed Fortune 500 companies on how they ranked activities related to climate change according to most profitable, government affairs and lobbying ranked fourth. And that surprised even those of us who operate largely inside the Washington beltway.
Both Duke Energy and DuPont have been very visible players in the climate policy debate. And both of these companies are part of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, which has taken business engagement on this issue to a new level in the United States. USCAP, as it is known, is a coalition of 27 major corporations and six NGOs, including the Pew Center. And it is calling on Congress to enact mandatory domestic climate policies at the earliest possible date. The founding membership of USCAP was drawn mainly from the Pew Center's Business Environmental Leadership Council.
USCAP believes Congress should pass legislation that sets firm short and medium-term binding emissions targets in the United States, on a trajectory to reduce emissions by 60 to 80 percent by 2050. In the view of the USCAP partners, a cap-and-trade system should be the cornerstone of U.S. climate policy, but they also advocate additional policies in the initial phase for specific sectors, such as coal-based energy, buildings, and transportation in order to help advance new technologies.
The corporations involved with USCAP recognize that policy engagement is an integral part of business strategy, right up there with marketing and product development. And it's not just in the United States where business is engaged in shaping public policy. The Canadian Council of Chief Executives, for example, issued a formal declaration in October encouraging Canada to be a global leader in supporting global emission cuts. The more successful businesses are in reducing energy use and related costs, the more profitable they'll be, the Council president said.
So the case for business engagement on the climate issue does not rest solely on altruistic grounds. There are clear strategic drivers, investment drivers and profit drivers that have prompted Duke Energy, DuPont and others to become a force for change on this issue – and to shift over time from denial of the problem to acceptance and now to leadership in the policy debate.
Responding to climate change, in other words, is not about sticking it to industry and business. That's the old way of thinking. It's so 1980s and 1990s. Today, we know that responding to this challenge is a core business issue. It's about managing risks and opportunities; developing and entering new markets; positioning businesses and industries for the future. It's about achieving the Thunderbird credo of "sustainable prosperity." And any business that is not working right now to make sure that it can prosper in a carbon-constrained world is behind the times.
In the years and decades to come, climate change will have enormous implications not just for business but for all of society. And I hope that all of you, as future business leaders, will help make sure that we are doing everything in our power to respond to this issue in ways that make both dollars – and sense.
Thank you very much.


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A FORMER deputy leader of Worcester City Council has come out in support of merging rubbish collections across the whole county - and has revealed he first raised it three years ago.
Councillor Roger Knight, who was also in charge of Worcester's bin collections until last year, was pushing heavily behind-the-scenes for some kind of county 'deal' before elections saw him lose his role.
Your Worcester News can reveal:
- Cllr Knight first raised his idea in 2011 by presenting it to an influential county-wide board in a private meeting
- After little progress was made he again pushed for it 18 months ago, but at least one council raised concern over potentially losing branding on bin lorries
- Cllr Knight insists a merger would save "massive" amounts of money to be re-invested in other front line services, and says it could even allow for the current Sixways depo to be turned into a plush hotel
Cllr Knight's intervention comes two weeks after we revealed how tentative talks have started over potentially merging collections.
He said: "Something needs to be done, I first raised it three years ago because it's clear to me the current situation is unaffordable in the long run.
"At the moment, for example, we have two sets of vehicles going up Grasshopper Avenue from two councils because part of it is in Worcester and the other bit is in Wychavon.
"We have all this duplication costing millions of pounds - one service would mean one set of fleet, one duty manager, one system of service management - the savings would be enormous.
"We cannot carry on going cut, cut cut - this is the way forward for bin collections and I don't think we will make the same level of savings by contracting it out, the way forward is to keep it in-house and merge together.
"The Sixways depo could even become a quality hotel. We need to push this."
Cllr Knight says he first raised it at a meeting of the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Waste Board.
At the time a representative from Herefordshire Council said they would be prepared to back it, but at least one district council in north Worcestershire was reluctant.
One of the concerns was believed to be around unfounded concerns councils would lose their own branding on refuse lorries.
Back in January Worcestershire County Council agreed to investigate the implications after saying no potential costs and savings have ever been established.
The review, which is ongoing right now, is expected to conclude by mid-autumn.


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Theater review by Adam Feldman. City Center Stage II (Off Broadway). By Laura Marks. Dir. Gaye Taylor Upchurch. With America Ferrera. 1hr 30mins. No intermission.
The immaculate white kitchen where most of Bethany takes place seems, on its surface, perfectly ordinary. But surface is all it is; there's nothing in the cabinets or the fridge when Crystal (Ugly Betty's America Ferrera) arrives at night, having overcome the lock on a sliding glass door. She doesn't live there, but neither does the house's original owner—in the wake of the foreclosure crisis, the neighborhood is a ghost town—and the place still has electricity and water. Well-styled and dressed in a professional suit for her job at a Saturn dealership, Crystal does not look typically indigent, like the house's other squatter, Gary (Tobias Segal), a wary conspiracy theorist accustomed to "living under the radar." But in Laura Marks's hard-boiled and timely new drama, Crystal and Gary are in the same leaky boat: homeless people in peopleless homes, the products of capitalist laissez-faire and laissez-tomber.
"When you have to struggle for food and shelter, just like we did millions of years ago, boom! You start getting your mind back," says Gary. Although he is no expert on soundness of mind, the play illustrates the basic point he is making. Conventional ethics are a luxury beyond Crystal's means; she is determined to recover her young daughter from the custody of the state, and needs the commission she could make by selling a car to Charlie (Ken Marks), a motivational speaker with dubious motives. (He preaches a Secret-like philosophy that speaks to the lure of magical thinking in a world of diminishing realistic options.) Directed with a sense of looming desperation by Gaye Taylor Upchurch for Women's Project Theater, Bethany tests the limits of subsistence morality as it edges Crystal into an increasingly dark corner: What will she, or won't she, do next? And the intrinsically likable Ferrera keeps you guessing all the way. Her acting is tinged with indication, but in this case that works to the play's advantage. If Ferrera's performance gives little sense of Crystal's deeper backstory, that is appropriate for a character who can't afford more than fronting.—Adam Feldman
RECOMMENDED: America Ferrera talks about her Off Broadway return
Follow Adam Feldman on Twitter: @FeldmanAdam
|Venue name:
|New York City Center Stage II
131 W 55th St
New York
|Cross street:
|between Sixth and Seventh Aves
|Subway: B, D, E to Seventh Ave; F, N, Q, R to 57th St
|Event phone:


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Hewes Middle School is the proud recipient of a new $6.5 million activity center. A ribbon was cut and doors officially opened Jan. 24.
"To have something brand spanking new is pretty awesome," Principal Michele Boudreaux said of the 13,000-square-foot gym which is one of four being installed in the Tustin school district with money from the Measure L Campus Modernization Program.
More than 60 people sat in the bleachers—which still have that new-bleacher-smell of industrial plastic and shellacked wood — and listened to Principal Boudreaux as she thanked the individuals and organizations that helped make the activity center a reality.
The ceremony included performances by the school choir and jazz band, as well as a surprise guest bagpiper. The bagpipes were in keeping with the Scottish-themed middle school's mascot, the Highlander (i.e. an inhabitant of the Highlands of Scotland).
After the performances, Tammie Bullard, president of the Tustin School Board, sawed through the surprisingly robust ceremonial ribbon with an over-sized pair of novelty scissors.
After the ceremony, a half dozen boys played an impromptu game of basketball on one of the gym's six full-size hoops, while parents and teachers toured the rest of the facility, which includes a 50-unit computer room paid for by $20,000 in funds raised by the PTA.
Rory Blatchford, an eighth-grader in the school choir, said he was excited to finally have an indoor gym at the school.
"Now, if it's raining we get to come in here instead of watching a movie," he said. Rory's triplet brother Sam, who plays alto saxophone for the school band, said he's glad to have more space for the band.
"It's really cool we can do everything in here. The band was really crowded before in the multi-purpose room."
The third triplet, Ben, who is in choir, says he's looking forward to having more room for school dances.
"We were all crammed into the multi-purpose room before. Body heat, you know? It just got the room so hot and stuffy."
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