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Although Chicago-based REIT General Growth Properties and Australian limited property trust Centro Properties Group have been so far able to work out a series of loan extensions and temporary deals with lenders, there remain persistent fears that one or both companies may get pushed over the edge. The industry has never experienced the bankruptcy of a REIT the size of either General Growth, which has $29.7 billion in assets, according to its financial statements, or Centro, which has a true asset book value of $8.3 billion. But if credit conditions remain as they are and the recession plays out as badly as some economists fear, the likelihood only increases that one or more REITs may eventually need to file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Corporate bankruptcies (both Chapter 7 liquidations and Chapter 11 reorganizations) have increased substantially over the past two years. In 2008, 42,000 businesses filed for bankruptcy, a 45 percent increase from the 28,000 filings in 2007, according to a recent report by Paris-based Euler Hermes, the world's largest credit insurer. This year, Euler estimates that an additional 62,000 U.S. companies will be forced to file for bankruptcy protection. If Euler is right, those numbers would mark the largest increase in corporate bankruptcies in more than 16 years.
Among those ranks are a growing number of retailers. That's creating even more pressure on retail REITs as centers lose tenants while the ones that remain push aggressively for rental reductions. The difficulties in refinancing debt add another pressure. Put it all together and it creates a series of pressures on retail REITs. The industry seems profoundly worried about these developments. Retail REIT stock valuations have languished at 52-week lows for months and are off 70 percent from apexes reached in early 2007.
All this is leading observers to consider it a matter of when, not if, the industry sees a major player file for bankruptcy protection.
And that has a lot of people nervous.
What would a REIT bankruptcy look like? How could a firm reemerge from such a reorganization while still living up to the stringent rules imposed on REITs? Is it possible that the current wave of difficulties will lead firms to de-list from public markets altogether, like what small retail REIT AmREIT is currently doing?
Bankruptcy experts, however, say that many of the worries may be unfounded. The sector may not have been tested by a big bankruptcy yet, but enough is known about how the companies are structured and how a bankruptcy proceeds that experts think the industry should emerge fine, even from a series of bankruptcies. Further, there is reason to believe that because REITs control a tangible base of assets through large portfolios of real estate, these firms may be more likely to survive bankruptcies than other companies that's value is harder to pin down or could be subject to liquidation.
In any case, bankruptcy is a costly, lengthy process, and the final outcome is hard to predict.
Learning from history
One reason for nervousness about REITs and bankruptcy is that the era of large, publicly traded REITs is still relatively young. Although the structure has been around for decades, it really didn't take off as a dominant model for commercial real estate ownership until the mid-1990s when changes in regulation made it much more attractive for owners to seek REIT status. Since then, there have been some ups and downs in commercial real estate—most notably the brief debt crisis triggered by the Russian default in 1998 and a brief downturn in property fundamentals in the early 2000s—but nothing on the scale of the current credit crunch and recession. During that time, no major equity REIT was forced to seek bankruptcy protection.
However, there is some precedent for bankruptcies among mortgage REITs. In fact, the most high-profile REIT to declare bankruptcy was Criimi Mae, a REIT specializing in non-investment grade commercial mortgage investments, in 1998. Criimi Mae had a portfolio of $2.7 billion at the time of its bankruptcy. Mortgage Realty Trust and Wedgestone Financial were two more mortgage REITs that filed for bankruptcy in the 1990s.
Similar to the conditions today, REITs then were highly leveraged and were pushed into bankruptcy by a credit crunch, says John Wilcox, senior vice president of Savills Granite, a New York City–based real estate investment banking firm. Wedgestone, for example, bought mortgages with money raised in the commercial paper market. When the commercial paper market froze in the early 1990s, the company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in 1991 and emerged from bankruptcy in 1992. It had $100 million in assets at the time. However, it lost its REIT status and eventually got out of the mortgage business altogether.
Looking a bit further back, a number of mortgage REITs also filed for bankruptcy during the 10-year period from 1971 to 1981. Several traditional equity REITs, many sponsored by banks, also sought bankruptcy protection after seeing the value of their portfolios crater during the real estate bust of 1973 and 1974. For example, Chase Manhattan Mortgage and Realty Trust Co. ended up in Chapter 11 reorganization when the REIT began running out of operation funds and started to sell off assets to meet its subordinated debt obligations.
The REIT ran into real trouble when creditors holding a first debt position found out that subordinated debt holders were being paid before them, according to John Jerome, a partner with New York City-based law firm Saul Ewing LLC who worked on the REIT's bankruptcy. Burdened by inter-creditor squabbles, Chase Manhattan's REIT eventually bypassed Chapter 11 reorganization and ended up in Chapter 7 liquidation. It sold off all its assets, raising $1 billion, to pay its creditors and ceased to exist.
It's hard to predict whether REIT bankruptcies will ratchet up over the next couple of years, but they're certainly more likely to occur during recessions and credit shortages, Jerome says. "When a REIT's cash flow is impacted because the properties themselves aren't performing and that decreased cash flow makes it impossible to meet the obligations to its creditors, it may find itself resorting to bankruptcy," he warns. "The same is true if a REIT cannot refinance its debt and defaults on its loans."
Best-case scenario bankruptcy
All that said, what is likely to happen in today's market?
As long as a company has a viable business model, more often than not it will choose Chapter 11 reorganization over Chapter 7 liquidation. Both Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 allow debtors to get creditors off their backs—a process officially known as the automatic stay—but Chapter 11 allows debtors to create a plan to emerge from bankruptcy as a debt free, financially healthy and operationally strong company.
REITs, in particular, have an incentive to file Chapter 11 over Chapter 7—the value of the underlying real estate may be higher than the company's market capitalization, providing it a potential road to recovery. In a Chapter 7 liquidation scenario, a trustee is appointed by the bankruptcy court and the business winds down with every asset sold through an auction. In that case, all creditors—secured and unsecured—would likely end up with less than they would in a Chapter 11 reorganization, especially in today's market where real estate values have dropped.
For example, a creditor that forces a REIT with assets valued at $100 million burdened with $150 million in debt to liquidate is going to lose $50 million. Instead, that creditor could wait for the REIT to reorganize and potentially get back $150 million and all the interest. That's why most creditors generally are willing to support a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing over a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.
Pamela Smith Holleman, a partner with Boston-based Sullivan & Worcester LLP, who specializes in bankruptcy, says a REIT entering into Chapter 11 usually lines up debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing before it files for bankruptcy protection. DIP financing, often called war chest financing by bankruptcy and restructuring experts, is an infusion of cash from a new lender. The lender that provides DIP financing is awarded a super priority creditor position—meaning that it will be paid back before all other creditors, secured or otherwise.
DIP financing would allow a REIT to continue to operate and provides essential funds needed for continued operation, such as payroll. DIP financing is critical to the success of a Chapter 11 reorganization because it's likely the company does not have the cash it needs to continue operating even on the most basic level.
"If a REIT cannot work out its covenants to avoid default with its lenders, it has nowhere to go but bankruptcy," Jerome says. "Then the question becomes, does the REIT have enough cash flow to reorganize itself during bankruptcy. If not, it would have to liquidate."
In normal credit conditions, a REIT in bankruptcy reorganization would likely be able to find DIP financing, says Pat Dinardo, also a partner with Sullivan & Worcester LLP. But, financing terms would not be "great because you're asking someone to come into a situation that is in great disarray."
Depending on the amount of DIP financing needed, the terms can vary. In general, DIP financing has a hefty interest rate. In mid-2007, DIP financing rates were London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) plus about 5 percent. Today, DIP financing can be more than 10 points above LIBOR. This financing is also short term—typically covering the length of a proposed restructuring plan. Legally, restructurings are supposed to last 12 months, though that period can be extended with approval of the courts. Lastly, DIP financing is less available than in the past.
"What used to be a highly competitive segment of the banking industry is dead," Jerome says. That means a REIT in bankruptcy would need to find an alternative source of DIP money—a white knight, in fact. DIP financing is typically provided by investment banks, commercial banks, private equity firms, hedge funds and opportunity funds. Some experts speculate that sovereign wealth funds will emerge as new white knights, but that hasn't happened so far. Some sovereign wealth funds have provide equity infusions to troubled companies, but not gotten so far as to provide DIP financing. If a company can't find a bank or white knight, it would need to bootstrap its reorganization—something that few could do.
Unfortunately, if a company cannot line up financing before it files for bankruptcy, it's even less likely to do so after filing (although the super priority position does sweeten the deals for lenders). In that case, sometimes a bankruptcy filing might just be window-dressing or delaying the inevitable. I think a lot of the bankruptcy filings are dead on arrival and filed just to frustrate creditors," says Chad Paiva, head of Greenspoon Marder's bankruptcy practice area.
Credit where credit is due
Once a company has filed for bankruptcy, the court will assign a judge to the case. In most situations, executive management will stay in place (unless of course, the management team is suspected of mismanagement or something illegal). The company has the exclusive right for 120 days to propose a reorganization plan—a road map that details how it will pay back its creditors and how it will return to solvency. Although bankruptcy code requires companies to emerge from bankruptcy within one year, extensions are routinely offered by the courts.
Dinardo says the bankruptcy code works to maximize value for secured creditors (usually lenders), as well as unsecured creditors like the deli that caters the staff cafeteria or the company that provides utilities for its properties. To that end, the plan must deal with every class of creditors including secured and unsecured; it must even address equity and bond shareholders.
But, the plan does not have to pay back everything owed to creditors—who could receive pennies on the dollar, depending on the final creditor vote and judgment from the court. That is why there are a number of technicalities for a bankruptcy plan to be approved. Most importantly, every class of creditor must accept the plan and every creditor must be assigned to a specific class. In order for a class to accept the plan, two-thirds of creditors (in terms of dollar amount) and a majority of creditors (real number) must vote yes. For example, if one lender holding less than one-third of the debt votes no and the rest of the class votes yes, the plan can go through.
"Bankruptcy can be a way to work around the dissenting creditors," says Gary Eisenberg, a partner with Newark, N.J.–based law firm Herrick, Feinstein LLP. However, he notes that inter-creditor rights are the biggest source of litigation tied to the bankruptcy process.
Even if all creditor classes approve the plan, no creditors are repaid until the bankruptcy court also signs off on the plan. And, in most bankruptcy situations, secured and unsecured creditors are paid well before equity shareholders, say Thomas Califano, cochair of Chicago–based DLA Piper's Restructuring Practice Group. The bottom line—if a company only has $1 million in assets and $5 million in debt, shareholders won't get anything.
It's not common for REITs to have CMBS debt. REITs usually work with portfolio and balance sheet lenders. If a REIT goes bust, creditors would include both secured and unsecured creditors. Secured creditors would be those that made loans that are secured by assets such as commercial property, but they could also include office furniture, equipment such as computers, printers and copiers, etc. The list of unsecured creditors is almost infinite—everyone from the food vendor that provides coffee for the break room to the janitorial staff and the electricity company. Unsecured creditors are any company/vendor that provided services or consumable goods to the bankrupt firm.
Likewise, shareholders will be left out in the cold if creditors take new equity positions as payment for existing debt or in exchange for DIP financing. In a slightly better case scenario, established equity shareholders might be diluted by creditors who take a preferred position. Reportedly, this exact scenario is facing Centro Properties' shareholders: lenders have agreed to take 90 percent of the company's outstanding equity shares as a form of repayment for maturing loans.
"The general rule is that equity does not come out in good shape in a bankruptcy scenario," Holleman notes.
However, Dinardo has been involved in a bankruptcy proceeding in which 100 percent of equity stayed intact. In that particular scenario, creditors were paid off over a five-year period and unsecured creditors voted to allow the equity class to retain its value.
Experts say REIT shareholders are more likely to retain some value simply because of a REIT's underlying assets. "Most shareholders get nothing in a bankruptcy because most companies have no assets, and that's not the case with REITs," Jerome says. "It all comes down to valuation of the real estate assets. Even if those valuations have decreased, it's going to come back up. And, if the REIT has to go into bankruptcy, it's not the end of the story for shareholders as long as the company still has something of value."
A retailer, for instance, may be valued (on paper at least) at $100 million, but that value is likely based on several intangible assets, as well as "real property" such as inventory or stores that might represent only a fraction of the overall value. REITs, on the other hand, derive their value almost entirely from tangible assets—portfolios of buildings.
Perhaps that's why Citigroup, Pershing Square and Morgan Stanley all have made substantial investments in General Growth Properties stock over the past 90 days, spending millions of dollars to buy shares that are trading at roughly 97 percent less than they were in early 2008.
Business as usual
While Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy both focus on paying creditors, the Chapter 11 bankruptcy code emphasizes the preservation of a company's core business, according to Dinardo. To that end, the bankruptcy courts allow companies in reorganization to continue to operate under their purview, says Janis Schiff, section leader for Holland & Knight's real estate practice group. Consider both Delta Airlines and United Airlines: the companies filed for bankruptcy protection yet continued to operate their airline routes and transport passengers around the world.
Similarly, a REIT in Chapter 11 would be able to continue to operate its properties as it had done prior to filing bankruptcy. Basically, it's business as usual, Eisenberg says. "Things that are part of the ordinary course of business don't require the court's approval," he explains. In the case of a mall operator, for example, the center would be open to shoppers, employees would be paid, rents would be collected, new lease deals would be signed and so on.
Moreover, Chapter 11 gives a REIT the ability to assume or reject contracts—essentially the opportunity to revisit all components of its operations and cherry-pick among the good and the bad. For example, a shopping center REIT might be locked into contract with a security firm at a high price or be paying top rates for garbage removal. Under bankruptcy, the REIT can reject those burdensome contracts and the amount that is owed to those companies becomes an unsecured debt.
However, REITs are not able to disavow leases that aren't favorable—leases with under-market rents, for example. While tenants in bankruptcy are allowed to reject leases—pretty much for any reason—the bankruptcy code has special protection for tenants if landlords file for bankruptcy. The code says tenants have the power and can choose to stay even if a REIT wants them out. A tenant's ability to reject leases is a powerful bankruptcy tool that is weakened for REITs.
Another problem—one that is particularly relevant today—is how many retailers are requesting modified leases to deal with the recession and weak retail sales. If the REIT landlord is in bankruptcy, the bankruptcy court could decide that lease reworking is not part of the "normal course of business" and that it is detrimental to the REIT's ability to deal with its creditors.
At that point, the REIT would be hamstrung by the bankruptcy court and be unable to work with its tenants to hammer out a new lease. This lack of flexibility could expose the REIT to increased vacancies and dark stores.
And, even as bankruptcy protects a REIT from creditors and gives it tools to strengthen and streamline its business, it can also impact the very thing that makes it a REIT—its ability to pay shareholder dividends equal to at least 90 percent of taxable income. "With a typical company, there is no dividend because you're insolvent," Dinardo says. "But in a REIT situation, it becomes increasingly complex and very specific to the REIT."
The elimination of dividends endangers the enterprise's tax status as a REIT. Once disqualified, the company has lost this valuable benefit for at least five years and must pay corporate income tax. Many companies in bankruptcy that have previously paid dividends end up suspending that divident because they have no profit to pay out to shareholders. In the case of a REIT, the rule relates to taxable income and depending on how dire the REIT's operations, it might not have any taxable income.
But, if a REIT can overcome these challenges, bankruptcy can be the beginning of a better enterprise, experts say. "We used to call bankruptcy a shield against the sword, but now it's more of a corporate tool," Jerome contends. "It might have a stigma, but it isn't the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination."
One Bad Apple
A single mortgage default can bring down an entire company.
As the credit freeze continues, many retail property owners might be forced into bankruptcy or pushed into giving back properties to lenders because their portfolios are cross-collateralized.
Cross-collateralization has become the real estate industry's double-edged sword, according to many bankruptcy experts. The concept of cross-collateralization—where several properties are used to guarantee loans for other properties—was initially presented as a solution to make lenders feel more comfortable about lending money.
Essentially, lenders saw cross-collateralization as a way to reduce risk and diversify. And, as long as the borrower didn't default on the mortgage, cross-collateralization wasn't a problem. It becomes dangerous when a mortgage goes into default. Lenders have the right not only to foreclosure on the property with the mortgage, but also the properties that collateralize the mortgage.
"If the properties are cross-collateralized, it's like a house of cards—they all collapse," says Janis Schiff, section leader for Washington, D.C.–based Holland & Knight's real estate practice group.
Lakewood, N.J.–based Lightstone Group LLC is one company that has lost assets because of cross-collateralization. In October 2008, the company defaulted on a $141 million loan for Macon Mall in Macon, Ga. The loan was collateralized by the 1.4-million-square-foot mall, as well as the 431,000-square-foot Burlington Mall in Burlington, N.C.
Both malls were turned over to lenders. And, recent reports suggest that another four malls will likely be returned to lenders because Lightstone is in danger of "imminent default" on a $73.6 million mortgage that is cross-collateralized by: Martinsburg Mall in Martinsburg, W. Va.; Mount Berry Square Mall in Rome, Ga.; Shenango Valley Mall in Hermitage, Pa.; and Bradley Square Mall in Cleveland, Tenn.
In Lightstone's case, foreclosure is the only option because the mortgages are structured in such a way that prevents the company from seeking bankruptcy protection. The mortgages were securitized as commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), and CMBS mortgages are structured as bankruptcy remote vehicles. As such, if a borrower defaults on the mortgage, he has no option but to let the property (and any other properties that collateralize the mortgage) go back to the lender.
Bankruptcy is an option for REITs like General Growth Properties because they usually chose to finance their properties with balance sheet lenders rather than CMBS, experts explain. A REIT could choose to seek bankruptcy protection just for the subsidiary or entity that holds the mortgage, but might be forced to put the parent company and all its subsidiaries into bankruptcy if the parent company guarantees any of the loans.


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Crude oil dropped more than $1 towards $108 a barrel on Monday as stock markets tumbled and the dollar strengthened after an unusual bank bailout proposal for Cyprus threatened to trigger fresh turmoil in the euro zone.
Continue Reading Below
News that Cyprus would have to tax depositors as part of the bailout plan sparked fears of a run on some banks in the region, driving down the euro and other riskier assets such as Asian shares and base metals.
However, a series of recent positive numbers from the world's top oil consumer the United States and worries over supply disruption helped stem further losses in oil.
Brent futures fell $1.70 a barrel to a low of $108.12 a barrel before recovering a little to trade around $108.20 by 1030 GMT. U.S. oil declined $1.10 to $92.35.
"The bailout conditions for Cyprus, specifically the unprecedented removal of funds from depositors' accounts, is sending share and commodity prices lower," said Tamas Varga, oil analyst at oil brokers PVM Oil Associates in London.
"This step is causing shivers throughout the financial world, and it has created the fear that a reaction in other peripheral eurozone countries could hit the whole banking sector in Europe," Varga added.
Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, said the revival of worries over the health of the euro zone could force oil prices down further.
"Oil prices are still vulnerable," Fritsch said. "Commodities are under pressure despite the fact that many of them did not benefit from the recent rally in stock markets."
"In the short term, the pressure is likely to continue as further financial investors withdraw from the market."
Oil markets will remain volatile for the next few days as investors watch for any spillover of the developments in Cyprus to other EU nations, analysts said.
In a radical departure from previous aid packages, euro zone finance ministers want Cyprus savers to forfeit a portion of their deposits in return for a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout for the island, which has been financially crippled by its exposure to neighbouring Greece.
The parliament of Cyprus is to vote on Monday on whether depositors should forfeit part of their savings to fund the bailout, mainly needed to recapitalise banks.
The uncertainty surrounding the proposed bailout drove investors to the safety of gold, which rose above $1,600 an ounce for the first time in more than two weeks.
The dollar index rose 0.5 percent on Monday. A stronger dollar tends to weigh on dollar-denominated commodities such as oil.
"It's a Cyprus shock. The euro fell, and crude followed that lower," said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity sales manager at Newedge in Tokyo. "We don't know what's going to happen, and it's becoming an uncertain factor."
Technical signals are mixed for Brent as it is not clear that a rebound from the March 13 low has completed, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. U.S. oil may drop to $91 as it failed to break resistance at $93.72 for the second time.
Further losses in oil were capped by expectations of a steady revival in demand growth from the United States.
U.S. manufacturing output bounced back in February in the latest signal of strength in an economy that is showing clear momentum. Factory production increased 0.8 percent last month after falling 0.3 percent in January, the Federal Reserve said. The gain was broad based and double what economists had expected.
Worries of an escalation in a standoff between the West and Iran over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme could also help ensure prices don't fall much further. Concerns of supply disruption from the Middle East have kept Brent above $100 a barrel through most of 2012 and this year. (Additional reporting by Osamu Tsukimori in Tokyo; Editing by XXX)

subset: commoncrawl


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WFP's web editor Chris Endean is on a mission to Malawi. This is his second report from a country in the midst of a food crisis, and first appeared on the Guardian Unlimited website.
We could tell we were close to the food distribution site long before we actually reached the village of Masenjeve in Chiradzu district. A trail of local villagers stretched back down the dirt road, converging on the local school classrooms that WFP uses to store its food rations.
In total, 365 people were gathering to claim their monthly ration of maize. Hester Nyasulu of Concern Universal, the UK non-governmental organisation responsible for distributing the food, told me that the number of people needing aid to stave off hunger in this region has risen threefold since August.
Sharing ration
After the worst harvest in 10 years, demand is fast outstripping supply with more and more people running out of their staple diet.
Hester explains that each bag of maize is supposed to feed a family of six for one month. But several villagers confessed to me that their rations would only last two weeks because they would have to share with relatives.
By far the majority waiting patiently were women. Despite the baking sun, they heaved 50 kilo sacks of maize on to their heads and set-off for home – usually, several miles away.
The lucky ones tied their sacks to rudimentary bicycles and started pushing. We accompanied one, 65-year-old Katalina, to her mud hut.
Sitting in the shade of her porch amid the parched fields that this year have been a graveyard for Malawi's harvest, Katalina explained how four of her eight children died in their 20s.
Both are buried in the local cemetery, where row upon row of fresh piles of red earth are testimony to one of the world's highest HIV prevalence rates. Now Katalina must look after her daughter's two orphans: Andrew, aged 17, and Bison, 14.
Katalina expresses her relief that she is eligible for food aid. Before she had to pay for maize at the government-run warehouse just up the road in Namitambo.
Today, word has quickly got around that the warehouse has opened its doors for the first time in two weeks and scores of villagers are queuing for government subsidized maize.
Marooned behind a barred window and guarded by a gun-toting farmer, Evas Gama has Namitambo's least enviable job – portioning out meagre amounts of maize at the rate of 17 Kwachas per kilo.
Rising prices
The arithmetic is easy because most people cannot afford much. Delita Darison, aged 54, shows me her four kilo sack. With four kids to feed, she expects it will last less than a week.
The warehouse is unlikely to get another consignment anytime soon, but it's the only alternative to the local market where maize costs 38 Kwachas per kilo – well out of Delita's reach.
This is what most worries WFP and other aid agencies. If the price of maize is already beyond most Malawians, how many will require free food aid from January to April when the country enters its more traditional 'hunger season'? At the last count, we are estimating 40 percent of the entire population, some five million people.


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'The Walking Dead' Season 2 key art & zombie photos
When Season 2 of AMC's hit "The Walking Dead" premieres at 8 p.m. Oct. 16, Rick Grimes and his group of surviving humans will leave Atlanta for the woods and, hopefully, fewer zombies to fight. Hmm, lots of luck with that guys. Whatever happens, the key art for Season 2 conveys the idea of that migration but reflects Season 1's iconic poster in which Rick is shown on horseback headed into Atlanta. In the new poster, he's running down a dirt road, with a farmhouse in the background instead of a city skyline. It's pretty cool, too. I've also included some photos from the first two episodes of the new season. Are you ready for more zombies? Curt Wagner, RedEye's Show Patrol 3 minutes with Bicycle Girl Comic-Con trailer for "TWD"
Copyright © 2018, RedEye Chicago


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FAYETTEVILLE Arkansas' nine full-time football assistants will make a combined $3 million in the 2013-14 academic year, the most ever by one staff at the school.
The university released contract details for Michael Smith and Barry Lunney Jr. on Tuesday. Smith and Lunney were hired last week as the Razorbacks' receivers and tight ends coach, respectively.
Smith will make $275,000 annually - the same amount to be owed to his predecessor, George McDonald, who resigned two weeks ago to take the offensive coordinator position at Syracuse. Lunney, a former Arkansas quarterback, will earn $200,000 annually.
The contracts for both run through June 30, 2014. They will owe the UA $50,000 if they choose to leave for another program before the end of the contract period.
Better assistant pay was one of the reasons given by Bret Bielema for accepting the Razorbacks' head coaching position in December. Bielema's Wisconsin staff last year made a little more than $1.9 million and he lost six assistant coaches from his staff following the 2011 season.
Bielema, who will make $3.2 million annually at Arkansas, led the Badgers to three consecutive Rose Bowl appearances before resigning last month.
The $3 million cumulative total is up from $2.603 million last year at Arkansas. The Razorbacks' assistant coaches have received sizable pay raises following each of the last three seasons.
New assistant staffs at SEC schools Tennessee and Kentucky will make $3.085 million and $2.267 million, respectively, next season, according to reports.
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Jamie Chung & Jesse Metcalfe Party with 'EW' for Emmys 2014
Jamie Chung shows off some texture with her dress while attending Entertainment Weekly's 2014 Pre Emmy Party held at the Fig & Olive Melrose Place on Saturday night (August 23) in West Hollywood, Calif.
The 31-year-old actress was joined at the bash by Dallas star Jesse Metcalfe and his girlfriend Cara Santana, as well as Salem's Ashley Madekwe and her hubby Iddo Goldberg.
Also in attendance were The Following's Jessica Lowndes, Pretty Little Liars star Sasha Pieterse, and fashionista Louise Roe.
FYI: Ashley is wearing a Wes Gordon dress, Stuart Weitzman sandals, a Jimmy Choo clutch, and H.Stern jewels. Louise is wearing a DVF dress and bag, Kara Ross jewelry, and Kurt Geiger shoes. Sasha is wearing a Valentino dress, Rupert Sanderson shoes, and Oroton bag, and XIV Karats. Jamie is wearing a Marchesa dress.
10+ pictures inside of Jamie Chung, Jesse Metcalfe, and more partying before the Emmys…


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Vol. 26
Articles, Essay, Comments, and Notes
The Tulane Journal of Law & Sexuality: A Review of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Law
First published in 1991, the Tulane Journal of Law & Sexuality is the first and only student-edited law review in the country devoted solely to covering legal issues of interest to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community on a wide variety of subjects, including constitutional, employment, family, health, insurance, and military law. The Journal addresses all of these issues and more with theoretical and practical articles by academicians, practitioners, and students. This journal is published annually and has broad national and international circulation.
The Journal also publishes the winning article of the annual National LGBT Bar Association Michael Greenberg Student Writing Competition. This exciting competition is dedicated to encouraging and recognizing outstanding law student scholarship on the legal issues affecting LGBT persons.
Membership on the review is open to all rising 2L, 3L, LLM, and transfer students. Members are chosen through summer and fall writing competitions. The responsibilities of the staff members include: editing articles, journal membership recruitment, and writing case notes and comments on recent developments in any subject related to LGBTQ legal issues.


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So since this IS fantasy island, I thought Id do a little Madden experiment and put Peyton Manning and Mario Williams on our Hawks and simulate a season....these were the results.
Season record: 13-3 1st in NFC
MVP : Peyton Manning
Marshawn Lynch 1251 yards 11 td
Doug Baldwin 1158 yards 8 td
Sidney Rice 824 yards 10 td
BMW and Tate 5 tds each
Mario Williams 14 sacks
Super bowl: Bills VS. Seahawks (lol)
Seahawks win 30-17.
There you have it folks! Get it done JS & PC!!!!
Is my Tapatalk supposed to burn when it pees?


text:
Flood assessment teams pour through DuPage neighborhoods
The floodwater that once surrounded Diane Lyons' Lisle house and forced her sister to flee by boat is long gone.
But Lyons on Monday still was dealing with the damage caused by the April 18 flood, including a ruined water heater, furnace and air conditioner. Repair crews already had removed all the drywall and carpeting inside her house's sunken den.
"To me, a house like this is uninhabitable because you can still smell the mold," said Lyons, who has been staying with a friend in Naperville. "I just can't live here."
Meanwhile, Lyons says her homeowner's insurance won't pay for the repairs. And she doesn't have flood insurance.
"I am hoping FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) will help." she said.
The process of determining whether that will happen began Monday when two preliminary damage assessment teams started their countywide survey of damage in DuPage's hardest-hit areas.
Marquita Hynes, a FEMA spokeswoman, said the teams -- which have representatives from FEMA, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the federal Small Business Administration -- are collecting data "to give an overall snapshot of information" that state officials will use to decide if they should ask President Barack Obama for a disaster declaration.
Residents cannot apply for individual relief through FEMA until a disaster declaration is issued.
Other preliminary damage assessment teams were touring Cook and Lake counties on Monday. Hynes said it's expected to take the teams several days to visit sites in each county and speak with local officials and residents.
Hynes stressed the teams won't have enough time to visit every property that sustained damage.
"There's no way we're going to look at everything right now," she said.
In Lisle alone, officials said 403 residences and businesses were damaged, including "numerous" houses that are without utilities and are structurally unsound.
Other DuPage communities with a significant number of affected structures include Naperville, Lombard, Villa Park, Winfield and Wheaton.
"The biggest problem we have right now is people getting impatient," Lisle Mayor Joseph Broda said. "I can understand that wholeheartedly because they have so much to do."
Broda said he was relieved to see the preliminary damage assessment teams for DuPage start their work in Lisle.
"People are waiting to find out what to do," he said.
There were huge piles of trash along some of the streets in the Lisle neighborhood that the teams visited. Representatives from the Red Cross were in the area distributing flood cleanup kits to residents.
Homeowner Craig Damian, who has lived in Lisle for more than three decades, said he never had a large amount of water in his basement. During this month's flood, his basement had six feet of water.
He said he would be surprised if a disaster declaration isn't issued.
"If they look at the pictures that were taken when it (the flood) happened, there shouldn't be any doubt at all," Damian said.
If individuals are eligible for public assistance, they could use it to pay for their uninsured losses, including rental expenses incurred while their homes are being repaired.
"There's a lot of people who don't have flood insurance," said David Gervino, emergency management coordinator for the county's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
DuPage homeowners were eligible for assistance following the floods of July 2010.
Meanwhile, municipalities, townships, park districts and other governmental entities have until Wednesday to submit expense forms to the county for costs related to the flood cleanup.
Government agencies could be eligible for reimbursement of up to 75 percent of expenses for employee overtime and costs of equipment such as boats, public works vehicles, fire trucks and police cars.


text:
Re: Why gun nuts get called gun nuts
Could you please post this kind of drivel at Hullabaloo or one of the other 'lib/pwog' sites. Please.
A blog (from "web blog") is a discussion or informational site consisting of discrete entries ("posts") typically displayed newest first. All Corrente posts are front-paged; there is no up-rate or down-rate process. Corrente posts are almost entirely community moderated. We encourage a clash of ideas, and do not encourage a clash of persons.
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It's really tough to have a debate on guns with pro-gun types because they are nuts. And by nuts I mean: they typically don't follow and discernable logic for establishing a proposition through argument. The comment thread here from earlier in the week shows two of the favored strategies for gun nuts: derailment and ignoring. Here is how the derailing worked.
The main point that I was trying to establish in the thread was: fewer guns means less gun violence. Now, even having to debate this gives you an idea of how crazy the gun nuts are; you're engaged with someone who sees no connection between guns and gun violence. It's like trying to debate a supply sider on the effects of tax cuts: Something that makes zero sense on the face of it and has been repeatedly proved wrong in practice is now up for debate ("teach the controversy!")
In other words, the conversation immediately goes through the looking glass. But OK, I thought, let's take a little trip to Crazy Town and see if we can't salvage something sensible out of it. My guide was user YesMaybe [YM], and we began an extended discussion on this report. Again, the big picture here is the question "does reducing the number of firearms reduce the amount of firearm violence?" In reference to this:
Following implementation of the ban, the share of gun crimes involving [automatic weapons] declined by 17% to 72% across the localities examined for this study (Baltimore, Miami, Milwaukee, Boston, St. Louis, and Anchorage), based on data covering all or portions of the 1995-2003 post-ban period. This is consistent with patterns found in national data on guns recovered by police and reported to ATF.
I noted that there was a decline of 17% after the ban. I don't have the exact verbiage since it was lost in cyberspace during the site upgrade (verbiage which is now, hilariously, a big sticking point for YM), but I'll gladly stipulate that I used some kind of inexact shorthand when describing it. Since we both had the source material available I didn't give much thought to typing it out verbatim or copying/pasting. Any ambiguity could be resolved almost immediately.
Well that was a BIG mistake on my part. YM took it as evidence of great perfidy, describing it as a "baloney claim," an "entirely false claim" (and that I am "suffering from terrible confirmation bias on this topic, to the point of misreading clear language and ignoring blatant contradictions"), that it was "simply false and based on misreading" and "a huge misrepresentation" (also: the ban "didn't have much of an effect"). And of course it was all duplicity on my part. It wasn't a trivial (see below) distinction that had no impact on my main point ("fewer guns means less gun violence"), but a deliberate lie made in a bad faith attempt to secure through deception what I could not secure through refuting YM's sublime reasoning. Huzzah!
This is what's called derailing. By seizing on a trivial detail, immediately ascribing dark motives to it, and fixating on it to the exclusion of everything else, the discussion shifts from the main topic ("fewer guns means less gun violence") to an incredibly tedious argument over syntax.*
What's funny is that even the precise wording YM calls attention to over and over again supports my thesis: Banning a category of firearms reduced the crime rate in that category by between 17% and 72%. Pretty impressive! But in a derailed argument, semantics are king. Even if the lowest value of 17% is still well into statistical significance, do you really want to go further into Crazy Town by arguing over what statistical significance is? (And what exactly ARE statistics, anyway?)
In any event, the discussion was well and truly off the tracks. I tried to work back to the main topic ("fewer guns means less gun violence") a number of times. YM was, unsurprisingly, interested in navel gazing over the speculative effects of re-instituting the 1994 ban. Not in, say, looking at an actual real world example that provided a chance to test the hypothesis ("fewer guns means less gun violence").
Australia instituted a ban after a horrific massacre in 1996. There was no grandfathering with this one, either. It was a retroactive ban, and citizens were offered a buyback program for compensation. Fewer guns! Did it lead to less gun violence?
Australia's 1996 gun law reforms were followed by more than a decade free of fatal mass shootings, and accelerated declines in firearm deaths, particularly suicides. Total homicide rates followed the same pattern. Removing large numbers of rapid-firing firearms from civilians may be an effective way of reducing mass shootings, firearm homicides and firearm suicides.
Wow! It sure looks like fewer guns has meant meant less gun violence in Australia! Wouldn't it be amazing to be able to discuss that? It would be like getting a one way ticket out of Crazy Town! Gun nuts will have none of it though, and you can look at YM's resolute and impressive refusal to acknowledge that in the comment thread as proof. They stake out their turf and cannot be budged. No matter how directly you put contrary information in front of them, they will not see it.
There are lots of discussions that could be had about our dysfunctional and murderous gun culture: The way our Second Amendment devotees never discuss what a well regulated militia consists of; or how a police state was smoothly set into place while the vigilant gun-loving sentries were asleep at their posts; or the comical absurdity of the "armed citizenry as bulwark against tyranny" laff line (a Predator drone would turn you and your stout little band of patriots into pink mist before you even knew you were being targeted, dumbass); or, most importantly of all, how fewer guns means less gun violence.
Good luck getting any of those discussions off the ground with a gun nut, though.
ROSENFELD: Policy number two has to do with our other gun violence problem. The problem we've been talking about over the last few days and indeed over the last year. And that's the gun violence problem associated with the mass shootings. That's a rather different problem.
Smart policing of the sort I just described is not going to work as well because as you pointed out, mass shootings are rare, they're not spatially concentrated. And so smarter policing --
KLEIN: You don't mean all in the same city?
ROSENFELD: They don't occur all in the same city. They don't occur in the same neighborhoods. They're so rare, they don't occur clustered anywhere, fortunately.
There it seems to me restricting access to high-powered weapons and large capacity magazines is a necessary step. As you point out, it's not going to lead to an immediate elimination or even, it seems to me, important reduction in the number of incidents. But overtime, I'm reasonably certain that it would lead to a reduction in the number of victims.
We call these mass killings because of the number of victims involved. And if there's less access to the kinds of weapons that show up disproportionately to these killings over time, there should be fewer victims.
Could you please post this kind of drivel at Hullabaloo or one of the other 'lib/pwog' sites. Please.
Lambert, can you please throw a flag on this shit? Last I heard, facts were important, and there was a big difference between a reduction in "the share of gun crimes involving [automatic weapons]" and a "reduction in the gun crime rate" (especially considering the point, stated in the report that AWs are only rarely used in gun crimes in the first place).
All I did was point out that his claim was false and contradicted the reports own findings. I then pressed him on it when he failed to admit it. If this is something that warrants ridicule, I am clearly out of my element here.
I wish your reply made sense but it does exactly what danps says; speaks right past the evidence and engages the semantics.
Nuclear weapons are only rarely used in war as well. The difference between the effect of a nuclear weapon vs a hand grenade is dramatic, yes?
It "speaks past the evidence" because I'm not arguing for or against further gun control. I was just pointing out a false factual claim danps made. Is that a crime?
As for this 'semantics' bullshit, let me pose it to you in a different context. Is the following difference also just a matter of semantics. Note: I don't have the exact numbers (so 20% is my made up figure), but the gist is true (the US's share of the total did decrease as China has increased its own share to 50% of the total, I just can't find the numbers with a quick google search).
"Between 1990 and 2012, the share of global carbon emissions due to the US decreased by 20%."
"Between 1990 and 2012, global carbon emissions decreased by 20%."
This is EXACTLY the same type of mistake. I dare you to say this difference is 'semantics'!
You are still accusing and objecting to his (supposed) phrase "reduction in the gun crime rate", which, if he made it, he walked back here. When if he merely had written "reduction in the AWS gun crime rate", it would have been completely accurate even by your measure and you expect us to believe you would have been in complete agreement? Please.
And so now, rather than have celebrated correcting him and proceeding with the evidence provided ether pro or con, you are now asking people to go back and recreate databases to see if danps had properly formulated a phrase he has already backed away from, if indeed he ever made it.
Yes. That is semantics.
... because what's nuttier than waltzing into FreedomWorks with your own packing staffer?
And I'm perfectly happy calling Barbara Boxer a sleazy gun advocate (but wasn't it something the way Obama slapped her down for undercutting him, and especiallly his presser tears. Oh, wait...)
I'm not so happy to call the guys with guns in the woods up here gun nuts. Hunting isn't my thing, but hunters is what they are.
* * *
I think a lot of this whole discussion is what I think I might call "the dick outside of the pants" problem. (Swords, I suppose, are OK....) There's a lot of gun culture, like the open carry guys waltzing into the coffee shops with their guns, that I think is at an absolute minimum and should be mocked and shamed, much as (say) fraternity drinking, which is incredibly damaging to young people, should be mocked and shamed. Worked with cigarettes, after all, even if it did take 30 years.)
... and I can't do that because to do that I would have to manually restore the 30 or so nodes left to restore from the upgrade, which comes before restoring the comments, which I would have to do to disentangle the fershuggeneh comments in which the original 17% figure, which seems to be one of the bones of contention, appears. I do not have time to do that because the overall stability and functionality of the site comes first, since it benefits all users.
* * *
That said, I draw your collective attention to my views such as they are, following an extended foray onto the gun boards from Maine. My key takeaway is that gun nuts, gun advocates, and gun owners are overlapping but distinct categories. One may be a poor gun advocate -- one who makes bad arguments -- without necessary being a gun nut (see definition at link). And it is in fact true that one may be a gun owner without being a gun nut (though shooting dear with automatic rifles puts a gun owner into the nut category IMNSHO).
* * *
It would also be nice if Corrente, having weathered a recent Israeli/Palestinian thread without anybody stomping off, a rare achievement, could do the same for the gun discussion. (Not that it won't die as soon as the Ds don't need it as a distraction to give the libruls the illusion they're doing something.) This is especially true because you are all regular and valued contributors.
* * *
I am the greatest swordsman in Japan. In consequence, I very rarely have to use my sword any more. (The recent episode on ObamaCare is a rare exception -- plenty of blood and entrails there!) I don't swordfighting so much any more because (a) it's bad for my health, because anger is bad for my health, and (b) it doesn't scale to match the systemic problems we face, so it's an opportunity cost.
1. Even though "your argument is not you," that's a hard posture to maintain when somebody is trying to hammer your argument onto your forehead with a nail. So I don't think it was an especially useful tactic of dan's to do that.
2. It is true that gun nuts and gun advocates (like Barbara Boxers for example) put out an utterly immense, AIPAC-class quantity of bullshit (partly funded, I might add, by those gun owners who pay dues to the NRA.) Gun culture, IMNSHO, has clearly created a self-licking ice cream cone where the answer to everyone is "more guns!" So I don't blame Dan for becoming exasperated. It's also true that I haven't encountered that bullshit for long, so I don't have it sorted (unlike, say, Austerian or HCR bullshit).
3. Re: the 17%, there really does need to be some sort of structured contestation on data sets, if not agreement. That won't be easy, if gun data is like climate data, for example. Or cigarette data/ (I gave some geographical data at the link above; what leaves out is that America is uniquely bad* in gun death numbers, much as it is uniquely bad at health care numbers.)
4 The comparison to Digby is ludicrous for all sorts of reasons, and "pwog" is offensive because infantilizing and for that reason diminishes the user. IMNSHO 'career "progressive"' in quotes is far more skewering, doesn't diminish the user, and has the merit of putting these guys in their proper class position as well.
Bottom line is you guys need to figure out how to argue better. That's my flag.
So shoot me. Ha ha. Or not, right?
NOTE * Unless one views a much higher death rate as acceptable collateral damage
Well, maybe you could add a moderation rule that says something along the lines of:
"Some things are true and some things are false. Good reasoning and communication is aided by appealing to things which are true and avoiding appealing to things which are false. Therefore, (a) never intentionally make false claims, and (b) if you unintentionally make a claim that's false and someone points out to you that it's false, the correct thing to do in response is acknowledge your mistake, not attack and distract."
Something like this is a ground-rule for rational discussion, so I've been assuming that it was at least implicitly a rule here.
What danps, and now okanogen apparently, are saying is that it's a trivial detail and semantics that the 1994 law didn't reduce the gun crime rate by 17% as danps claimed it did (when in fact the report found NO effect on the gun crime rate). That's full-blown moronic.
But for reasons stated, I can't assess the claim. I know what you say, but I don't have the many hours it would take to reconstruct the thread to assess the claim myself.
Below I reboot that issue ("is it true?")
Danps starts out by dehumanizing and degrading gun owners by calling them "nuts". Lambert joins right in (note to self: no more donations to Corrente).
I'll hit a few of Danps' lies and distortions, but it would take a book to do justice to them.
Danps said "fewer guns means less gun violence." Oh really, then why do the predominantly white state with the highest gun ownership -- Idaho, Utah, North Dakota -- have the lowest murder rates in the country ?
Danps tries to dodge that question by talking about "gun violence" as opposed to "murder rate." Danps' definition of "gun violence" includes suicides, which are known to be higher in rural states, and which is a choice, not an act of violence. "Gun violence" may even include people shot by cops.
Re: Australia. Australia's homicide rate was declining before it's drastic gun laws were passed. It continued to decline at about the same rate after the laws were passed. But Danps can't see that because he is focused on "gun violence" rather than homicide rates.
Danps never discusses other factors that influence homicide rates, like inequality, unemployment, racial tension, the black market for drugs, or the cultural artifacts of slavery. Nope, Danps has a Freudian fixation on a certain phallic symbol.
Fuck Danps, Fuck Lambert, and Fuck Corrente if Corrente is going to be about name calling and culture war instead of about a progressive plan to unite and lift up the 99%.
You want a culture war, you got one. I'm out of here.
Gun [nuts|advocates|owners] are overlapping and not identical categories. Unfortunately for us all, there really are gun nuts out in the real world -- unless you think machine gunning deer for sport is a sign of normalcy. Or taking over a Washington think tank at gun point. If the term offends you, what's another one?
I think "urban elitism" is an Orwellian canard -- and a dehumancing right wing talking point as well, It doesn't, I think, apply to dan anyhow, who I believe lives in a smallish town. To me, it looks like a gun regulation regime that's appropriate for rural areas got imposed on cities, even though it's inappropriate for them.
And on culture war, so far as I can tell, gun advocates won. The country is awash in guns and they aren't even regulated to the extent cars are!
Lastly, if you think you can drive Corrnte content by either withholding or giving money, then shove it up your ass and get out. Shall I cancel your account?
A sharply declining trend in gun use in homicides and robberies began in 1969, the year of the Port Arthur gun massacre and the imposition of tight gun control, which followed a year in which 44 per cent of all homicides were by gun, according to the National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP).
I haven't found a chart on this, regardless of whether the Australian homicide rate was declining, or not, the "sharp" decline took place after tight gun control was imposed. That looks an awful lot like cause an effect to me.
Now, if I were dan, or I were you, or I were YM, I would immediately turn this into a sign of perfidy. But I'll just leave it at that....
So where, in your view, does gun policy fit into that? Is there anything at all about the current gun regimen that needs to change?
I would especially like to hear about any pulblic purpose reasons to maximize gun ownership, which is the obvious goal of the gun manufacturers (sales) and their lobbying arm (the NRA). Because one of the things that totally ticks me off in the whole gun discussion is the idea that mass ownership of guns is necessary to prevent tyranny. Well, after FISA, Patriot Act, TSA, DHS, NDAA, the "kill list" and the suppression of Occupy, that argument is looking a little threadbare to me. I mean, what does is take?
This is the 17% quote:
Following implementation of the ban, the share of gun crimes involving [automatic weapons] declined by 17% to 72% across the localities examined for this study (Baltimore, Miami, Milwaukee, Boston, St. Louis, and Anchorage), based on data covering all or portions of the 1995-2003 post-ban period. This is consistent with patterns found in national data on guns recovered by police and reported to ATF.
Is the methodology solid? Are there counter-examples? Are the results due to some other cause, for example, economic?
NOTE This is a reboot of the previous comments thread, which is not lost -- it's in the old database, but it will take me hours and hours and hours to manually move it from the old database onto the posts. A very poor use of my time IMNSHO when I still have many site stability and administrative issues to deal with.
Lambert, I think you're missing the point. I am not now and have at no point called into question the veracity of the report's contents. I don't know the methodology, counter-examples, what-have-you. I am taking this report (by the DOJ NIJ), as well as the NRC report (which are both cited on the wikipedia article about the 1994 ban) at face value. So, to answer your question: yes, this is true to the best of my knowledge (I'm not an expert, I am just going off the reports and I haven't even read them through, just glanced).
The issue is that in the original thread, Dan asked me to address an alleged "17% decline in the gun crime rate". I then asked where he got that from, and he pointed to this part of this report. It is entirely clear that what it says is not even close to "17% decline in the gun crime rate". See my carbon emissions analogy in my response above to okanogen's comment if you don't understand why the two are hugely difference.
Now, if what you're not sure is whether I am accurately representing dan's original claim, that can be cleared up when the original thread is restored (which you can do whenever the higher priority stuff is done, I'm not saying you should do it now). But let me point out that Dan has at no point claimed I was inaccurate and that he didn't claim that (if I quoted him wrong that's a mistake I would take back). Instead he's dismissing the whole thing as trivial or mere semantics or that he was using "inexact shorthand". Regarding that, see again my response above to okanogen.
Also, if you're not sure of whether I was accurate in quoting Dan's original claim, you can look through the original thread without porting it to the new site. I have no idea how long that would take you since I don't know the tools involved. But if you can, in a couple of minutes look through it and find the exact phrase Dan used that put it beyond any doubt.
Reconstructing a comment thread by manually cross-checking comment data from the database IDs that order and relate the thread is not on. It would be even more time consuming and probably less accurate than reconstructing the thread on the site and has the additional disadvantage of being a dead loss so far as any other readers are concerned.
Please try rebooting the 17% discussion at the comment I provide. Is it true or not?
"Please try rebooting the 17% discussion at the comment I provide. Is it true or not?"
I already did: http://www.correntewire.com/comment/214562#comment-214562
Hypertext, AKA The Web, has the potential to be a self-correcting medium. Reader comments can be a check on your accuracy if you let them. I hate being wrong. I tend to get defensive. Still, I'd prefer to find out I was wrong than to persist in error. At this link is an example of how that can work. The reader who provided the correction is "beachmom", and I was the writer. We proceeded from initial disagreement to correction. I tried to find confirming evidence on my own, and couldn't, beachmom found the factoid she remembered, and I thanked her for the correction.
That's how reasonable people discuss facts, and it's how a reasonable writer deals with correcting them when he gets them wrong, I think. It doesn't always work that way, and I don't always work that way, but it's the ideal I strive for.
Being shown to be wrong publicly is a natural consequence of publicizing your opinion. If you write enough things, you will be wrong about some of them. What you as a writer do afterward is what impresses or fails to impress me. Try to be right, but assume you'll be wrong at least occasionally.
I don't have the time to look into who is right at the moment, nor does it appear to be possible. Nevertheless, I'll just write this, because I this isn't the first time I've noticed the need. Embrace what this new medium can offer, despite the fact that it's going to hurt a little.
I agree entirely. If it turns out that I am misremembering what Dan wrote, I will gladly apologize for wasting everybody's time and getting people needless upset.
However, I will in under no circumstances accept that the difference between "a 17% reduction in the gun crime rate" and "the share of gun crimes involving AWs declined by 17% to 72%" is trivial, mere semantics, or inexact shorthand (which is what danps is effectively claiming to avoid admitting he just misread the text as you would have in his place). As I wrote above, it is just like the difference between these two:
"Between 1990 and 2012, the share of global carbon emissions due to the US decreased by 20%."
"Between 1990 and 2012, global carbon emissions decreased by 20%."
What I've been trying to do is point out that these two are not equivalent and the difference is significant rather than mere semantics. And this is what I'm ridiculed for by danps. This will be my last comment on this topic, unless it turns out I was wrong in which case I'll apologize to everyone.
The whole derailment actually began with hyperlinked text. There was a dispute over how I characterized the language in the study that was linked to in the comments. I've already allowed that I may well have omitted the acronym "AW" in my original comment. I haven't disputed it at all. Even though the original comment it lost, I'm perfectly happy to stipulate I could have left it out.
What's noteworthy here is not the correction itself, but how it was handled. The question in assessing a correction in a debate is, "does it change the argument?" If it doesn't - as in the case of beachmom's noting it was three years instead of four - it's pretty simple: Make the note and proceed with the discussion.
That isn't what happened here. The correction didn't make a difference to the thesis ("fewer guns means less gun violence") because as I noted above: Banning a category of firearms reduced the crime rate in that category by between 17% and 72%. It should have been pretty straightforward, especially since we were working from the same text and any ambiguity could have been cleared up immediately. "The report says AW violence, not all gun violence." "Right, but the point still stands: banning the category reduced violence in that category." (Argument proceeds from there.)
But look at how the argument doesn't proceed; YM repeatedly ascribed bad faith to me on it, unlike beachmom did with you. That's a tell. YM then fixated on it to the exclusion of everything else. Even the next tiny step forward in the discussion - that a (minimum) 17% decline in the banned category is pretty solid evidence that fewer guns means less gun violence - is off limits. That's another tell. YM wasn't, and isn't, interested in focusing on whether fewer guns means less gun violence. It's all about finding some bare, irrelevant scrap to obsess over in order to avoid discussing the main topic.
The reason I'm happy to grant that I may not have used "AW" originally is because, under the circumstances, it was irrelevant. It didn't change the thesis, and because we were working from the same readily available source I expected any reasonable person looking at it to make the appropriate mental adjustment (and maybe relegate the "correction" to a pedantic "well, actually" as a side note). I still think that's the case; I don't think YM's reaction was a reasonable one.
Think of it this way. In one of your posts you write "its" instead of "it's." One commenter writes "I think you meant it's" (pedantic side note) while another writes "HA! You wrote 'its' you dummy! You are clearly an ignoramus and cannot speak knowledgeably on any subject!" and follows up with multiple additional comments on how you clearly do not speak English as a first or maybe even a second language (derailment). Are those the same? And more to the point, what will be your opinion of each?


text:
Hamiota altilis
|Scope: Global
Language: English
|Scientific Name:
|Hamiota altilis (Conrad, 1834)
Common Name(s):
Lampsilis altilis (Conrad, 1834)
|Taxonomic Notes:
|Apparently this species has been listed as Lampsilis clarkiana in the literature more often than as Lampsilis altilis. Hanley (1983) was the first to indicate L. altilis may belong to a different genus rather than Lampsilis and that L. altilis is distinct from Lampsilis perovalis, but probably identification of the two taxa has been confused in the literature. Distinct shell morphology in the form L. clarkiana may warrant genetic evaluation in comparison to typical L. altilis (J. D. Williams pers. comm. 1997). Lampsilis altilis, Lampsilis perovalis, Lampsilis subangulata, and Lampsilis australis have been placed into the new genus Hamiota (Roe and Hartfield 2005).
A list of synonyms for this species can be found on The MUSSEL project web site (Graf and Cummings 2011).
|Red List Category & Criteria:
|Endangered B1ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v)+2ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v) ver 3.1
|Year Published:
|Date Assessed:
|Cummings, K. & Cordeiro, J.
|Bohm, M., Collen, B. & Seddon, M.
|Dyer, E., Soulsby, A.-M., Richman, N., Whitton, F., Kasthala, G., McGuinness, S., Milligan, HT, De Silva, R., Herdson, R., Thorley, J., McMillan, K., Collins, A., Offord, S. & Duncan, C.
Hamiota altillis has been assessed as Endangered under criterion B1ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v)+2ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v) due to its extent of occurrence being < 1,000 km2 and area of occupancy being < 500 km2, populations being severely fragmented and isolated, and the area/quality of available habitat being reduced by the many threats posed to the species, resulting in a continuing decline in EOO, AOO, number of mature individuals and subpopulations. It is a declining regional endemic that was once widespread throughout the Mobile River basin in the Tombigbee, Black Warrior, Cahaba, Alabama, Tallapoosa, and Coosa Rivers in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It has been reduced to eight or ten scattered occurrences throughout its historic range, resulting in a 50% reduction in range (A. Bogan pers. comm. 2010). It could face the threat of extinction should there be significant further loss of habitat or quality of habitat.
|Previously published Red List assessments:
|Range Description:
|The type locality for this species is the Alabama River near Claiborne, Monroe County, Alabama. Historically, it was recorded from the Sipsey and Buttahatchie Rivers in the Tombigbee River drainage; Black Warrior River and its tributaries (Sipsey Fork, Brushy and Capsey Creeks); Cahaba River and its tributaries (Little Cahaba and Buck Creek); Alabama River and a secondary tributary, Tatum Creek; Chewacla and Opintlocco Creeks in the Tallapoosa River drainage; and the Coosa River and its tributaries (Choccolocco and Talladega Creeks). The current distribution of the species is believed to be limited to the headwaters of the Sipsey Fork of the Black Warrior River drainage; Tatum Creek in the Alabama River drainage; Little Cahaba River in the Cahaba River drainage; Conasauga River in the Coosa drainage and one site in the main channel; and Chewacla and Opintlocco Creeks in the Tallapoosa River drainage (USFWS 1993, 2000). The total area of occupancy is estimated to be between 50-250 miles of stream length. Mirarchi et al. (2004) cite the species as being endemic to eastern reaches of Mobile Basin in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, including the Coosa, Tallapoosa, and Cahaba River systems with widespread but small and isolated populations. It has been extirpated from the Tombigbee in Mississippi (Jones et al. 2005). The species has been extirpated from 31-41% of its historic range (USFWS 2003), with even greater reductions since then (Bogan pers. comm. 2011). Although its range potentially extends over an area of more than 50,000 km2, within this range, the species is only found in a few dozen widespread but isolated occurrences. Taking these discontinuities into account, the extent of occurrence is estimated as less than 1,000 km2.
|Countries occurrence:
Native:United States (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi - Regionally Extinct, Tennessee)
|Additional data:
|Range Map:
|Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.
|Historically, this species was widespread throughout the Mobile River basin in the Tombigbee, Black Warrior, Cahaba, Alabama, Tallapoosa, and Coosa Rivers in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee (USFWS 2003). Currently, it is limited to eight occurrences which are scattered throughout the historic range, including the upper Cahaba River and Little Cahaba River (Jefferson/Shelby/Bibb Counties, Alabama); and Coosa River and its tributaries, including Duck Creek (Walker County, Georgia), Euharlee Creek (Bartow County, Georgia), Conasauga River (Murray/Whitfield County, Georgia and Polk County, Tennessee), and Holly Creek (Murray County, Georgia), Terrapin Creek and South Fork Terrapin Creek (Claiburne County, Alabama); Yellowleaf Creek and Muddy Prong (Shelby County, Alabama); Kelly Creek and Shoal Creek (Shelby/St. Clair County, Alabama), Choccolocco Creek (Calhoun County, Alabama) and its tributaries Cheaha Creek (Talladega/Clay County, Alabama), and Tallasahatchee Creeki (Talladega County, Alabama); Sipsey Fork of the Black Warrior River drainage in Alabama; and the Tallapoosa River and tributaries, including Uphapee Creek (Macon County, Alabama), Choctafaula Creek (Macon/Lee County, Alabama), Chedwacla Creek (Macon/Lee County, Alabama), Opintlocco Creek (Macon County, Alabama), Cane and Little Cane Creeks (Cleburne County, Alabama), Muscadine Creek (Cleburne County, Alabama), Big Creek (Haralson County, Georgia) (USFWS 1993, 2000, 2003). In the Coosa River basin in Georgia, it is known historically from the Etowah, Oostanaula, and Conasauga River drainages but has not been collected live recently except in the Conasauga (Williams and Hughes 1998). This species has been recently reported from the Conasauga River inside and adjacent to the Cherokee and Chattahoochee National Forests, Murray/Whitfield Cos., Georgia, and Polk Co., Tennessee; as well as Holly Creek, adjacent to the Chattahoochee National Forest, Murray Co., Georgia (Johnson et al. 2005).
All populations are small and localised and there is a potential of additional, unknown, relict populations in small to moderate-sized streams (USFWS 2000). Population size cannot be estimated due to insufficient information. However, this species has experienced a 50% reduction in range over the last 25-50 years (Bogan pers. comm. 2010).
|Current Population Trend:
|Additional data:
|Habitat and Ecology:
|Historically, this species was found in large rivers to small creek habitats (USFWS 2000). Van der Schalie (1938, 1981) indicates that it generally occupies creeks and smaller rivers. It is typically found in areas with at least some current, though usually not in swift current, and substrates of sand and mixtures of sand and gravel without heavy silt accumulations (Williams et al. 2008); yet, it has been found associated with swift-flowing riffles and gravel-cobble substrates in the Conasauga River. Recently, it has been found in stable sand and in gravel in small streams above the Fall Line (USFWS 2000).
It is a long-term brooder, gravid from late summer or autumn to the following spring. Ortmann (1924) reported one female gravid with eggs during mid-May, which he noted was "entirely abnormal". This is one of only four freshwater mussel species known to produce superconglutinates. The superconglutinates of this species are fusiform in shape, larger at one end than the other, creamy white with a dusky stripe dorsally and no eyespot (Haag and Warren 1999). It is discharged into paired mucus tubes that remain attached to the female parent, at least for a period. Females also display mantle flaps mimicking fish. While displaying, the female either positions itself with the posterior one-third to one-half of its shell above the substrate or lies completely out of the substrate on its dorsum (Haag et al. 1999, Williams et al. 2008). Maximum age is 15 years according to Haag and Rypal (2010).
|Continuing decline in area, extent and/or quality of habitat:
|Congregatory (and dispersive)
|Use and Trade:
|Previously the species was overutilised for commercial, recreational, scientific or educational purposes but mussel harvesting is now illegal (USFWS 1993).
|Major Threat(s):
Previously the species was overutilised for commercial, recreational, scientific or educational purposes but mussel harvesting is now illegal (USFWS 1993), so this is now a historical threat. In Tennessee and Kentucky mussel harvesting still occurs but not for this species, however incidental take may occur.
Habitat modification, sedimentation and water quality degradation represent the major threats to this species. Disappearance from significant portions of its range are primarily due to changes in river and stream channels due to dams, dredging, or mining, and historic or episodic pollution events. The species is not known to survive in impounded waters and more than 1,700 km of large and small river habitat in the Basin have been impounded by dams for navigation, flood control, water supply, and/or hydroelectric production purposes (USFWS 2004).
In the Mobile River basin, the greatest threats are dams (for navigation, water supply, electricity, recreation, and flood control), channelisation (causing accelerated erosion, altered depth, and loss of habitat diversity, substrate stability, and riparian canopy), dredging (for navigation or gravel mining), mining (for coal, sand, gravel, or gold) in locally concentrated areas, point source pollution (industrial waste effluent, sewage treatment plants, carpet and fabric mills, paper mills and refineries in mainstem rivers), and non-point source pollution (construction, agriculture, silviculture, urbanisation) (USFWS 2004).
The threats listed above may result in the imminent death of individuals or populations and/or inhibit reproduction. Isolated imperiled populations in the Mobile River basin are likely to be vulnerable to random accidents, such as toxic spills, and to naturally catastrophic events, such as droughts and floods, even if land use and human populations were to remain constant within isolated watersheds (USFWS 2000).
|Conservation Actions:
This species was listed as threatened in 1993 and a recovery plan was drafted (USFWS 2000). Williams et al. (2010) lists this species as threatened according to the AFS assessment. It has also been assigned a NatureServe Global Heritage Status Rank of G2G3 - Imperiled to Vulnerable, and State/Province Status Ranks of S2 - Imperiled for Alabama, and S1S2 - Critically Imperiled to Imperiled for Georgia and Tennessee (NatureServe 2009).
A specific recovery plan has been created for the Mobile River basin (USFWS 2000) which contains the following objectives: (1) protect habitat integrity and quality of river and stream segments that currently support or could support imperiled aquatic species, (2) consider options for free-flowing river and stream mitigation strategies that give high priority to avoidance and restoration, (3) promote voluntary stewardship as a practical and economical means of reducing nonpoint pollution from private land use, (4) encourage and support community-based watershed stewardship planning and action, (5) develop and implement programs and materials to educate the public on the need and benefits of ecosystem management, and to involve them in watershed stewardship, (6) conduct basic research on endemic aquatic species and apply the results toward management and protection of aquatic communities, (7) develop and implement technology for maintaining and propagating endemic species in captivity, (8) reintroduce aquatic species into restored habitats, as appropriate, (9) monitor listed species' population levels and distribution and periodically review ecosystem management strategy, (10) coordinate ecosystem management actions (more detail in USFWS 2000).
Chewacla and Opintlocco Creeks in the Tallapoosa River drainage flow through the Talladega National Forest. The tributaries to the Sipsey Fork in the upper Black Warrior Drainage originate and flow through the Bankhead National Forest. The USDA Forest Service in Alabama is keenly aware of the presence of these mussels within their jurisdiction and are working to protect them. It has funded mussel surveys in streams under its jurisdiction, and has revised and implemented protective stream management zone guidelines on National Forest lands in Alabama (USFWS 2000). This species has been recently reported from the Conasauga River inside and adjacent to the Cherokee and Chattahoochee National Forests, Marray/Whitfield Cos., Georgia, and Polk Co., Tennessee (Johnson et al. 2005). Critical habitat has been designated in Georgia in the Tallapoosa River and Oostanaula complex; in Alabama in the Cahaba River, Tallapoosa River, Uphapee complex, Coosa River, Hatchet Creek, Shoal Creek, Kelly Creek, Cheaha Creek, Yellowleaf Creek, Big Canoe Creek, and Lower Coosa River; and in Tennessee in the Oostanaula complex (744 occupied, 134 unoccupied km) (USFWS 2004).
Further research is required (population and distribution trends, and monitoring of populations and threats) and conservation measures - specifically effective and enforced site and species protection - should be implemented to ensure adequate protection of this species.
|Cummings, K. & Cordeiro, J. 2012. Hamiota altilis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2012: e.T11250A502085. . Downloaded on 22 September 2018.
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We were slightly miffed when Sony announced the PSP Go! the other day. Not because of any great disappointment at the hardware - we knew all about that prior to the official announcement. Rather, we were annoyed at the lack of a UK price for the unit.
We discovered that the US and European PSP Go! will retail at 250 Dollars and Euros respectively, and the fear was that the '250' policy would extend to Sterling, too.
Interestingly, a sneaky peek over at two of the largest video game retailers in the UK, Game and GameStation, shows that the PSP Go! can be preordered for the sum of £229.99. Earlier today, it was listed as £179.99, which would have made it the same price as the original PSP when it was released back in 2005.
So, educated punt? Or do they know something we don't?


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SL Green has now hired Tara Stacom at Cushman & Wakefield to handle leasing of the nearly 850,000 square feet of space at 180 Maiden Lane that could be available in the middle of 2014 when AIG's lease is up.
Stacom is also leading the leasing assignment for the nearby One World Trade Center.
"We had a bunch of conversations with them when we bought the building and always assumed they would vacate," said SL Green's Steve Durels. "Now the moment is upon us to begin the marketing."
Durels says the asking rents are in the $40s to $50s per square foot. There are East River views from the third floor upwards along with "Goldmanesque" infrastructure left by Goldman Sachs.
Mayor Bloomberg's focus on healthy eating may be boosting the profile of the city's fresh food suppliers — but many are still coming to the city for a handout.
At next month's Industrial Development Agency hearing, four different food suppliers will be seeking incentives. These benefits may include payments in lieu of real estate taxes, known as PILOTS, or the waiver of city and state sales taxes or mortgage recording taxes for the properties.
No exact requested benefits or job increases are yet available. These jobs, however, are usually the kind that would likely be filled locally and for the most part, would be for laborers who do not require computing or engineering skills.
R Best Produce, which delivers specialty produce that it imports from Caribbean, would like to renovate a 237,000-square-foot building on 465,000 square feet of land that is being vacated by Manhattan Beer at 400 Walnut Ave. in the Bronx.
The parcel at 400 Walnut is owned by the Sol Goldman family.
The beer company is leaving next year to consolidate on 19 acres where it is developing a $60 million facility and getting $24 million in tax breaks.
R Best has to move because its own spot nearby at 200-240 Food Center Dr. is being entirely taken over by co-tenant Dairyland through its parent, The Chefs' Warehouse.
For another project, Bronx-based Foodfest Depot, which was among those displaced from the Bronx Terminal Market, wants to fix up a 98,000-square-foot building on 153,000 square feet of land at 550 E. 132nd St.
This plot was sold to the US Postal Service in 1988 for $4.5 million but was transferred to the city the following year for non-payment of taxes. That action was reversed by a court order in 2001. However, many Finance Dept. records still show the city as the owner, even though tax and water bills are mailed to the USPS.
A USPS spokeswoman confirmed that it is starting to market the site.
In Queens, the Japanese Food Depot, a wholesale supplier, is seeking benefits for two buildings totaling 29,000 square feet on a 60,000-square-foot parcel at 31-45 Downing St.
Even Staten Island is getting into the food fun, with a proposed 9,000-square-foot Food Kingdom supermarket on 10,000 square feet of land at 331 Port Richmond Ave. along with a 14,000-square-foot site at No. 332 across the street on the corner of Palmer Avenue.
Earlier this year, Fresh Direct agreed to stay in the city but move from Long Island City, Queens to a 500,000 square-foot facility on 16-acres in the Bronx in the future.
While numerous developers, including the entire Roth family, Larry Silverstein, Harry Macklowe, Kent Swig and Steve Witkoff along with other real estate executives like Mary Ann Tighe and architect Costas Kondylis, attended, Steve Roth and Jerry Speyer both spoke about losing their longtime friend and land use lawyer, Sandy Lindenbaum, at his funeral on Monday at the packed Central Synagogue.
Roth noted, "He was indeed, the very best there was" and was "smartest-in-the-room smart" who could "predict the final outcome one, two or three years later."
Calling Lindenbaum the "master of the 30-second phone call" and someone who "memorized the entire city zoning code," Speyer said, "Sandy unquestionably shaped the New York skyline for many decades."
His many deals and endearing smile will live on in our memories.


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Watch Rev Elder Nancy Wilson's Sermon on our new branding Sunday, 12 January 2013 at https://holycrossmcc.sermon.tv/6318713
Dear MCC Pastors, Lay Leaders and Congregations:
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"Metropolitan Community Churches is one of the best kept secrets!" We have all heard this said, but we know that MCC's dramatic impact on lives, history, and the church is a story worth telling. At this moment, we are poised to tell that story locally and globally in a powerful way. Our storied legacy prepares us for an amazing future!
We arrived at this moment 44 years after the Rev. Troy Perry, to whom we owe so much, established MCC with the founding principles of: Salvation, Community, and Christian Action. Today, mainline American Protestant Churches and churches in other countries are more open than ever, while MCC is now a denomination unto itself. At the same time, the vast majority of Christians live in contexts that are homophobic, transphobic, in denial about HIV/AIDS, and are often oppressive to women.
The truth is, we know our roots!
- In the first incarnation, MCC was the gay and lesbian church. We were welcome at MCC.
- In the second incarnation, MCC was the church with HIV/AIDS. We lived and died together.
- In the third incarnation, MCC was the human rights church. Our reach became international.
- Now what? Where do we go from here?
The truth is, we are just getting started!
We truly live in a global village. Technology has created new paradigms for faith experiences. Social justice on one continent deeply impacts what happens on another one. The internet has allowed affinity groups and niche communities to align around the world and build global constituencies.
- Salvation, the deep healing of our spirituality, bodies, minds and hearts, in reconciliation with God and one another, is needed by so many who are painfully alienated from religion! The Internet gives power and immediacy to our view of the amazing Grace of God! MCC is THERE!
- Community now means the global village – city by city, online community by online community! Love, acceptance, and hope nurture young people—bullied for being "different" and betrayed by religion—who are spiritually hungry for authentic community. Families want a church where everyone is welcome. MCC is HERE!
- Christian action is about social justice in the context of this new "community." MCC buildings are still a hub of action in many communities. We are on the ground in 40 countries, and our Moderator sits on the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Faith and Neighborhood Partnerships. We have food pantries, shelters and ecumenical relationships. MCC ACTS!
The truth is, we are on the way!
MCC's inquisitive theology and history of radical hospitality give the denomination the leverage to live the charge of the Gospel to follow Jesus by embodying and living out the prophetic call for global social justice. MCC is right on the edge of emerging as the progressive Christian voice in the world with the potential to call for the reconciliation of human sexuality and spirituality as we transform ourselves, our Church and our world in fulfillment of the Gospel.
The truth is, we have a story to tell!
MCC Staff and Governing Board worked hard for a year and a half to provide the story-telling tools you need to let the world know that MCC is not a secret! It is Good News! In the next few months, we will equip MCC members, friends and allies with information about who we are so you can amplify our voices at the grassroots level! This will help us begin to communicate better to those who are not yet a part of MCC.
The truth is, we have the tools to tell our story!
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As we have shared these new materials with young adults in MCC, with pastors, churches, leaders, and focus groups, we have seen a level of excitement and pride that is palpable.
- Starter kit of posters, promotional stickers, and bumper stickers will be mailed to each church
- Additional posters and stickers are available for purchase
- A banner will be available for purchase
- Free downloadable resources include a digital web banner, a digital ad, and preaching resources for clergy who wish to do a sermon series or a liturgy on what it means to be MCC.
- A free webinar, accessible around the world, will be available to assist churches plan how to use these materials. Dates and times of the live webinar are 7 December 2012, 12:00am UTC/GMT (6 December, 7:00pm U.S. Eastern) and 13 December 2012, 6:00pm UTC/GMT (1:00pm U.S. Eastern). A recorded version will be posted for on-demand viewing at a later date.
- Other posters will follow the initial four, available before General Conference next July 2013
The truth is, the MCC banner will be visible at Chicago Pride before General Conference.
"Believe" is not just a General Conference theme, it is our core being. MCC believes that our call and commitment is for today's opportunities and challenges. MCC believes the Spirit of the Living God will bless us and use us in even more ways to bless and transform lives and history!
The truth is, WE ARE CALLED!
I invite you to join me and MCC leadership in investing with us in telling the story of our global ministries. We are called to a ministry of love, hope and justice. We are headed into a new era of excellence and effectiveness for MCC. As we approach Advent, we know that Emmanuel means God With Us. In that knowledge, we can offer the best of who we are and who we are becoming to a world that needs our message and ministry more than ever!
Grace and Peace,
Rev. Dr. Nancy Wilson
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Date Updated: 8 April 2013
Date Updated: 8 April 2013
Date Updated: 8 April 2013
Date Updated: 8 April 2013
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