text:
I've received via email and questions via this forum.
It is by no means a complete guide to security for a Linux system, however it addresses one particular
problem, that being the ever increasing number of brute force ssh attacks now taking place on the internet today.
It would appear that the old ssh Trojan is back in circulation and that more and more Linux machines are
being infected due to users setting weak passwords for their user accounts and then having these machines externally
facing on the internet which leads to them being hacked and the Trojan being installed without them realising.
This article is by no means a criticism of Linux users in general, more an aid to help anyone that has an externally
facing Linux system protect it against such ssh attacks and to help reduce the numbers of new systems being infected.
So, how does this Trojan work ?
Well basically it has two lists, a list of usernames and a list of passwords, it then tries combinations of the two
against unsuspecting ssh serving Linux systems until it gets a match and can login, once logged in
it installs another copy of the Trojan and then the process starts again. It uses a very simple process,
one which is very easy to block with a little careful configuration.
So on to the interesting part, how do we stop these attacks from causing us problems ?
One of the simplest ways to stop these attacks is to use two widely available applications and a simple shell script to
pass data from one to the other.
The first of these applications is a program called "denyhosts". "denyhosts" monitors the /var/log/auth.log file for sequential
failed ssh login attempts and then (depending how it's config file is setup) denies the attacker access to the sshd port. This is great
as it puts an immediate stop to the attack, normally within a few seconds of the attack starting.
"denyhosts" stops the attacker accessing the ssh port (port 22 normally) by adding their IP Address into the /etc/hosts.deny file.
This is very handy as a simple shell script can read this information and then pass it to a firewall for it to be automatically added
to the ruleset to deny the attacker access to any port on the system thus increasing security even further.
I've decided to use ufw for the firewall interface as it is easy for the newbie to get to grips with.
So, lets get on with the installation and configuration!
First we need to install denyhosts, the easiest way is to do it from the command line, so open a Terminal and enter the following command:
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sudo apt-get install denyhosts
So that's denyhosts installed, but we now need to configure it, so lets stop it for the moment to make configuration easier,
so in the same terminal type:
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sudo /etc/init.d/denyhosts stop
Great, now we can edit the config file!
In the terminal enter the following command to open the editor with the denyhosts.conf file in it:
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sudo gedit /etc/denyhosts.conf
Edit the file to make the settings the same as below :
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# Debian:
SECURE_LOG = /var/log/auth.log
# Most operating systems:
HOSTS_DENY = /etc/hosts.deny
# never purge:
# To block only sshd:
BLOCK_SERVICE = sshd
WORK_DIR = /var/lib/denyhosts
# Debian
LOCK_FILE = /var/run/denyhosts.pid
# Disable Email notification.
SMTP_HOST = localhost
SMTP_FROM = DenyHosts <nobody@localhost>
SMTP_SUBJECT = DenyHosts Report
DAEMON_LOG = /var/log/denyhosts
DAEMON_SLEEP = 5s
Any setting not listed above should be left as default in the denyhosts.conf file.
Once you made the necessary changes, save the file and exit the editor.
Now we need to restart the denyhosts daemon, so now enter the following command:
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sudo /etc/init.d/denyhosts start
I'm assuming you have already installed the ssh server, however if you haven't you'll need to enter the following command to install it:
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sudo apt-get install openssh-server
Now we need to stop the sshd daemon so that we can edit the config file, enter the following command in the terminal:
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sudo /etc/init.d/ssh stop
Now we can edit the sshd_config file.
Note: I have decided not to cover key authentication in this article, as I'm keeping to the KISS principle, but I will cover it in a later article,
so this example allows login via ssh using username and pasword, so make sure you use a mix of UPPER and lower case characters with a splattering of
numbers in your password, don't use easy to guess words and names!!
So to edit the sshd_config file, enter the following command in the terminal:
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sudo gedit /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Change the entries in the sshd_config file to match the following, make sure you change the network addresses to match your network
and the username to match your Linux Login name.
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# Only allow IPV4 connections
AddressFamily inet
# What ports, IPs and protocols we listen for
Port 22
# Use these options to restrict which interfaces/protocols sshd will bind to
# Change this to match your network subnet!!
#ListenAddress ::
#ListenAddress 0.0.0.0
ListenAddress 192.168.100.125
ListenAddress 127.0.0.1
Protocol 2
# HostKeys for protocol version 2
HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
#Privilege Separation is turned on for security
UsePrivilegeSeparation yes
# Lifetime and size of ephemeral version 1 server key
KeyRegenerationInterval 3600
ServerKeyBits 768
# Logging
SyslogFacility AUTH
LogLevel INFO
# Authentication:
LoginGraceTime 30
PermitRootLogin no
StrictModes yes
MaxAuthTries 2
RSAAuthentication yes
PubkeyAuthentication yes
#AuthorizedKeysFile %h/.ssh/authorized_keys
# Don't read the user's ~/.rhosts and ~/.shosts files
IgnoreRhosts yes
# For this to work you will also need host keys in /etc/ssh_known_hosts
RhostsRSAAuthentication no
# similar for protocol version 2
HostbasedAuthentication no
# Uncomment if you don't trust ~/.ssh/known_hosts for RhostsRSAAuthentication
#IgnoreUserKnownHosts yes
# To enable empty passwords, change to yes (NOT RECOMMENDED)
PermitEmptyPasswords no
# Change to yes to enable challenge-response passwords (beware issues with
# some PAM modules and threads)
ChallengeResponseAuthentication no
# Change to no to disable tunnelled clear text passwords
#PasswordAuthentication yes
# Kerberos options
#KerberosAuthentication no
#KerberosGetAFSToken no
#KerberosOrLocalPasswd yes
#KerberosTicketCleanup yes
# GSSAPI options
#GSSAPIAuthentication no
#GSSAPICleanupCredentials yes
X11Forwarding yes
X11DisplayOffset 10
PrintMotd no
PrintLastLog yes
TCPKeepAlive yes
#UseLogin no
#MaxStartups 10:30:60
#Banner /etc/issue.net
# Allow client to pass locale environment variables
AcceptEnv LANG LC_*
Subsystem sftp /usr/lib/openssh/sftp-server
UsePAM yes
# Change YOURUSERNAME to your Linux Login name!
AllowUsers YOURUSERNAME
# NEVER allow root to login via SSH !!
DenyUsers root
So once the settings are changed accordingly, save the file and then exit the editor.
Now restart the sshd daemon using the following command in the terminal:
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sudo /etc/init.d/ssh start
The next step in the process is the installation of the firewall management program, as I said earlier in this article,
I've decided to use ufw as it is very easy for the Linux newbie to understand.
First we need to install it!
The terminal command for this is:
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sudo apt-get install ufw
Next we need to enable the firewall with the following command:
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sudo ufw enable
and now we need to ensure that the default rule for all incoming traffic that hasn't originated from this host is DENY:
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sudo ufw default deny
We are now ready to put the last piece of the jigsaw in place!
This piece consists of a simple shell script that will form the link between denyhosts and the ufw firewall control program.
For those of you who are experienced shell scriptors this is a very simple script, it's simple deliberately and yes there is
scope for improvement, however I've kept it simple for a reason, it's easy to understand and reliable!
Since the script is going to be run by the root user via cron I will suggest you install it in /root ... however if you prefer
you may install it else where, but make sure you make the necessary changes to make it work!
so, lets create the script, in the terminal type:
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sudo gedit /root/stopfailedssh.sh
In the blank editor enter the following code in it's entirety, make sure you change the IP Address to match your network
and add/delete the services as required (ufw commands), Note These rules DO NOT affect OUTGOING network traffic, only INCOMING :
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# This script is released into the public domain under the Open Source GPL Licence.
# Originally written by MikeT, http://www.avanceit.co.uk
# This script comes with no guarantees or warranties, you run it at your own risk!!
# stopfailedssh.sh
# Simple script to collect IP Addresses of hackers trying to get in via ssh
# and add them to the firewall with DENIED access ruleset
# IP Addresses are supplied by denyhosts and are listed in the /etc/hosts.deny file
# marked by sshd in the first field.
# MikeT - v1.0 15/11/08
# Update - v1.5 21/11/08
# Update - v2.0 24/11/08
# This script is called by adding the following into the /etc/crontab file
# * * * * * root cd /root && ./stopfailedssh.sh
# This will run the script every minute, which is what we want.
# Remember to remove the "#" at the beginning of the line when adding to the crontab file!!
# Save this script into /root/stopfailedssh.sh
# chown root:root & chmod 700
# Packages required by this script:
# sudo apt-get install ufw
# sudo apt-get install denyhosts
# sudo apt-get install openssh-server
# Declare Global Variables
LISTOFIPS=`cat $INPUTFILE | grep sshd | awk '{print $2}'`
LASTUPDATE=`cat /root/.stopfailedssh.UPDATE`
# Change the netork address belwo to match your network IP range!!
# Make a note of the date/time we ran
touch $TOUCHFILE
# First of all lets see if there are any changes we need to incorporate into the firewall ruleset
CURRENTCOUNT=`grep sshd $INPUTFILE | wc -l `
case $CURRENTCOUNT in
$LASTUPDATE ) # logger -p user.notice "stopfailedssh.sh: LastCount=$LASTUPDATE : Current Count=$CURRENTCOUNT - Nothing to do, exiting ...."
# If we get to here then there are new entries in the /etc/hosts.deny file that need processing!
# Remove the Allow Entries in the firewall rule set as they must stay
# at the bottom as the rules are applied from the top down.
# So all DENY rules MUST be before any ALLOW rules.
# Uncommment for Jabber server
#$UFWCOMMAND delete allow 5222/tcp
#$UFWCOMMAND delete allow 5269/tcp
# Uncomment for IRC server
#$UFWCOMMAND delete allow 6667/tcp
# Allow connections from our own network
$UFWCOMMAND delete allow from $MYNETWORK
# Allow ssh connections from anywhere
$UFWCOMMAND delete allow 22/tcp
# Uncomment for WebServer
#$UFWCOMMAND delete allow 80/tcp
logger -p user.notice "stopfailedssh.sh: Updating Firewall Rule Set now ...."
for ENTRY in $LISTOFIPS
$UFWCOMMAND deny proto any from $ENTRY to any
logger -p user.notice "$UFWCOMMAND deny proto any from $ENTRY to any"
# Now put all the ALLOW rules back into the firewall
# so that they are after all the DENY rules.
# Uncomment for Jabber Server
#$UFWCOMMAND allow 5222/tcp
#$UFWCOMMAND allow 5269/tcp
# Uncomment for IRC Server
#$UFWCOMMAND allow 6667/tcp
# Allow connections from our own network
$UFWCOMMAND allow from $MYNETWORK
# Allow ssh from anywhere
$UFWCOMMAND allow 22/tcp
# Uncommeent for WebServer
#$UFWCOMMAND allow 80/tcp
# Now the catch all, if none of the above rules apply then there is something
# fishy going on, so DENY them any access at all!
$UFWCOMMAND default deny
# Tidy up and lets get out of here !
echo $CURRENTCOUNT > $COUNTFILE
logger -p user.notice "stopfailedssh.sh: LastCount=$LASTUPDATE : Current Count=$CURRENTCOUNT - Updates Complete!"
Once you copied the code and made the necessary changes save the file and exit the editor.
Now we need to make the executable by root only:
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sudo chmod 700 /root/stopfailedssh.sh
chown root:root /root/stopfailedssh.sh
Next we need to put an entry into the system crontab file for this script to be called every minute, so once again
here is the terminal command to do it:
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sudo gedit /etc/crontab
Go to the bottom of the file and add the following:
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* * * * * root cd /root && ./stopfailedssh.sh
Save and exit the editor.
Just bounce the cron daemon to make sure it picks up the change:
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sudo /etc/init.d/cron restart
So the system is now in place, if anyone makes brute force attacks on your external facing ssh service then this
neat little system will detect it, block it and then deny the attacker access to any port on your server!
I hope this all makes sense, please feel free to post any questions !


text:
ALBANY -- A bill to ban vampires is advancing in the state Legislature, but the only creatures of the night it targets are senators and assemblymen.
Sen. Terry Gipson's bill, officially known as the Vampire Voting Act of 2013, prohibits votes on bills between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. The freshman Democrat from Rhinebeck says he introduced the measure out of frustration with the Legislature scheduling votes for the middle of the night when most constituents are asleep.
"The state Senate has a long history of doing work in the wee hours of the morning, at the last minute at times, in what seems to be an effort to rush things through so they are not exposed to the light of day," he said Friday.
Gipson said the Legislature's habit of sitting around during the day, then going into night sessions for votes on controversial bills, must stop. He said this view is shared by many of the 213 members of the Legislature with whom he's spoken.
"Why don't we just start in the morning and work in the daytime?" he said. "There's really no logical explanation to keep the status quo.
The bill cleared the Senate Government Operations Committee last week and is now in the Senate Finance Committee.
The Senate, which was in session until 4:30 a.m. one day last month while passing a budget, has not yet scheduled a vote on Gipson's bill.
For now, the Vampire Voting Act does not have a companion measure in the Assembly, which has also held late-night sessions in the past. A spokesman for the state Assembly said Friday that he knew of no plans for a member to introduce a similar bill.
Late-night sessions are not uncommon in other state legislatures. Wisconsin legislators trumpeted an agreement earlier this year to end the practice there.
"This bill will keep vampire bills from being passed in the middle of the night when controversial bills seem to come alive; bills that would wither and die if they were exposed to sunlight and citizens would have time to look at them," Gipson wrote in the memo attached to the bill. "No bill, no matter what the issue, should be brought to the floor close to or, even worse, after midnight when most people are asleep."
The vampire bill has the support of the League of Women Voters, Common Cause and New York Public Interest Research Group, three organizations often critical of the Legislature.
"At a time where it is commonplace for members of the press and elected officials to call for greater public civic engagement, conducting debates and votes on bills between midnight and 8 a.m., when most New Yorkers are asleep, speaks louder than any rhetorical calls for greater public involvement," they wrote in a joint statement released last week.
The Legislature's voting practices have come under sharp criticism since January, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed through a vote on new gun regulations. Cuomo said the last-minute vote was needed to prevent a rush on gun stores before new rules took effect. To some extent locally, though, that rush to purchase guns and ammunition occurred anyway, after the legislation passed.
Though Cuomo has promised the most transparent administration in state history, he has been assailed by critics for legislative tactics that have included stifling debate over the 2011 Marriage Equality bill and issuing last-minute bundled messages of necessity to rush votes on multiple controversial bills all at once.
Cuomo also routinely withholds from legislators an advance look at bills before they come up for a vote. He told reporters last week that the details are kept secret to minimize scrutiny and neutralize political opposition. The next day, he called into a public radio show to say he was only joking in his comments about withholding bills.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Giants becoming hard to strike out
By Chris Haft / MLB.com
SAN FRANCISCO -- Since last year, the Giants have morphed into a bunch of contact hitters.
They entered Monday night's series opener against Arizona with 117 batters' strikeouts, fewest in the National League. San Francisco's first three hitters in the order ranked among the league's top 10 in toughest to strike out: Pablo Sandoval, third (one strikeout per 12.7 plate appearances); Angel Pagan, fifth (11.4); and Marco Scutaro, eighth (10.3).
The Giants began developing their consciousness about avoiding strikeouts in midseason last year, particularly after Scutaro was acquired from Colorado on July 27. So effective was Scutaro, who batted .362 in 61 games as a Giant, that his new teammates tried to emulate his approach at the plate. San Francisco's hitters finished the season with the NL's second-fewest strikeouts.
One might expect to see Pagan or Scutaro in the toughest-to-fan list, but not Sandoval, whose free-swinging ways are legendary. But, as Giants manager Bruce Bochy pointed out, "He can expand the [strike] zone, but he can go get the ball outside of the zone."
Giants dominating in bunts by pitchers
SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants pitchers lead the Majors in sacrifice bunts, which isn't too much of a surprise. Their starting pitchers are decent athletes, so they know how to handle a bat. And third-base coach Tim Flannery, the team's bunting guru, hones the pitchers' bunting skills virtually every day.
But the margin of the pitchers' lead in this category is stunning. The Giants began Monday with 13 sacrifices, compared to just seven for teams tied for second, Miami and St. Louis.
Barry Zito leads the pitchers with five sacrifice bunts, followed by Madison Bumgarner with three. Ryan Vogelsong and Matt Cain have two each, while Tim Lincecum has one.
"Playing in a park like this where you know you're not necessarily going to hit too many home runs, you have to manufacture runs," Lincecum said. "You notice that pitchers happen to be in the middle of those big innings sometimes just by getting down a bunt. We can be a difference-maker."
The pregame batting practice that pitchers take isn't solely for their amusement.
"It's not like we're just getting work in," Lincecum said. "We literally go in there like, 'Hey, I do not want to be the guy who looks like crap.' It's another area of the game where you have to focus and really care."
Ross brings 'warm feeling' back to San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO -- One way or another, Cody Ross is going to be remembered.
"His smile," Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum said. "It was really infectious."
"How he went off," catcher Buster Posey said, referring to Ross' two home runs off Philadelphia ace Roy Halladay in the opener of the 2010 National League Championship Series.
Ross, who has migrated to the D-backs, said before Monday's series opener between Arizona and the Giants at AT&T Park that he encountered numerous well-wishers while strolling through downtown before the game.
"This city is dear to my heart," said Ross, who bonded quickly and deeply with fans despite spending only the last several weeks of the 2010 season and 2011 as a Giant. "I got a warm feeling when we flew in."
Ross said that he always will welcome his association with the 2010 club, which brought San Francisco its first World Series triumph.
"People will always remember that -- how excited everybody was, the atmosphere," he said. "It was nothing like any of us had ever experienced."
Ross likened San Francisco's 2010 club to the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who won that city's first Series in 86 years.
"I think they're sort of icons and remembered more than the 2007 team [which also captured the Series]," he said.
Worth noting
• Not surprisingly, first baseman Brandon Belt was among the Giants who took extra batting practice Monday. Belt is striving to regain his stroke after being moved into a platoon with right-handed-batting Joaquin Arias. "He needs to get back to relaxing and letting the swing do the work," Bochy said of Belt.
• According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Zito is the second Giants pitcher in the modern era (since 1900) to record scoreless outings of at least seven innings in each of his first three home starts. Hall of Fame left-hander Carl Hubbell achieved this distinction at New York's Polo Grounds in 1933.
• Due to the telecast of the Golden State Warriors' playoff game at Denver, Tuesday's Giants-D-backs game will be aired on CSN Bay Area Plus.
• Shortstop Brandon Crawford and right fielder Hunter Pence are the lone Giants to have started all 20 games this year. Pagan has appeared in all 20 games, including one as a late-inning substitute.
Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text:
BISHOPVILLE – A Norfolk, Va. man was issued several traffic citations by both Maryland and Delaware officials this week after crashing the tractor-trailer he was driving on Route 113 near the state line on Monday morning.
A Worcester County Sheriff's Deputy on Monday morning observed a tractor-trailer northbound on Route 113 near Route 589 traveling at an estimated 80 mph in a 55 mph zone. The deputy attempted to stop the vehicle as it approached the Maryland-Delaware line when the driver, later identified as Renaldo D. Long, of Norfolk, lost control of the tractor-trailer, struck a sign in the median and overturned before coming to rest in Delaware.
No injuries were reported in the accident. The Worcester County deputy issued several traffic citations including speeding and reckless driving while Selbyville, Del. police charged Long with driving under the influence of alcohol.
It was not reported what the truck was carrying, but later Monday morning, a hazardous material truck was seen in the area apparently performing some mitigation.
Three Guests Arrested For Burglary, Possession
OCEAN CITY – Three Selbyville, Del. residents were arrested and charged with burglary and drug possession charges last weekend after they were discovered using an Ocean City condo they weren't supposed to be in.
A little after 11 p.m. last Friday, OCPD officers responded to a residence at the Ocean High condominium on Penguin Drive for a reported breaking and entering in progress. The responding officers were met at the scene by a witness later identified as the property manager of the condominium. The property manager told police she had received a phone call from a family that was supposed to be staying at a unit in the Ocean High condo, but when they arrived, it appeared to be already occupied.
The property manager drove to the unit with a friend to see what was going on, and when they inspected the unit, they found it did appear to be occupied with clothing, video games, toothbrushes, prescription medicines, what appeared to loose marijuana, beer and other personal affects visible throughout the unit. After the property manager and the other witness inspected the unit, they decided to leave because they felt the uninvited guests might come back at any time for their belongings.
As the witnesses were leaving, they saw a white Chevrolet Cavalier with Delaware tags pull up and quickly left the area to avoid arousing suspicion. The property manager wrote down the tag number and then called the police immediately. While police were interviewing the property manager, a group of about six adults approached the officers and told them they were the family that was supposed to be in the unit and that the uninvited intruders were in a Chevy Cavalier.
OCPD officers detained the occupants of the Cavalier, identified as John Thomas Johnson, 21, Antonica Johnson, 18, and Clyde Campbell, 18, all of Selbyville, for questioning while other officers inspected the interior of the unit. Inside they found numerous personal items such as clothing, toothbrushes, prescription drugs and toiletries. They also found a Tony Hawk video game, beer, loose and bagged marijuana, blunt cigars and paraphernalia.
In the meantime, other OCPD officers searched the three suspects' vehicle after a K-9 dog alerted on it. Inside the vehicle the officers found marijuana, a home-made smoking device fashioned out of an empty beer can, prescription pill bottles with Antonica Johnson's name on them, and a white plastic shopping bag with the Tony Hawk video game box matching the description of the game found in the condo. Based on the evidence, OCPD officers were able to make the connection between the occupants of the vehicle and the burglarized condo unit.
Each of the three suspects was arrested and charged with third- and fourth-degree burglary, possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia.
Juvenile Charged With Malicious Destruction
OCEAN PINES – A local juvenile was arrested on Sunday night and charged with malicious destruction of property after attempting to steal Ipod headphones from a pharmacy in Ocean Pines.
Around 6:25 p.m. on Sunday, Maryland State Police troopers responded to the Happy Harry's store in the Manklin Creek Shopping Center for a reported theft. Upon arrival, store employees informed the troopers a juvenile had attempted to steal headphones for an Ipod. One employee told police she observed the suspect rip open a plastic box and take the headphones out.
The employee confronted the youth and told him to drop the item, but the juvenile fled the store. He was detained by Ocean Pines Police a short time later about a block from the store. The employees were able to positively identify the juvenile and troopers placed the 15-year-old under arrest and took him to the Berlin barrack for processing. He was charged with malicious destruction of property under $500 and released to a parent.
Pa. Man In Court For Assault, Imprisonment
OCEAN CITY – A Pennsylvania man arrested in October and charged with assault and false imprisonment after a bizarre incident that included holding his girlfriend against her will, assaulting her and implicating her in a theft scheme from a local department store had a bail review hearing on Monday in District Court and was ordered held on a $5,000 bond.
Alfred R. Ward, 37, of Middletown, Pa., remains behind bars this week after being held on a $5,000 bond during a bond review on Monday. Ward is charged with second-degree assault, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment and theft after a incident on Oct. 21 during which he held his girlfriend against her will at a downtown Ocean City motel.
Shortly before 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 21, OCPD Officer Earl Campbell was in the 9th Street area near the Madison Beach Motel when he was approached by a man who told him he could hear a female screaming at a male and begging him to let her out of the room. The officer got out of his vehicle and observed a woman trying to exit a unit in the motel from a small window. The officer than saw a male, later identified as Alfred R. Ward, 37, of Middletown, Pa., grab the female, force her back inside and close the shutters on the window.
Campbell then rushed to the motel unit and banged on the door, As he was walking up the steps, he could hear a woman scream "stop." When the officer banged on the door, Ward answered and said "sir, we were just having an argument." Campbell pushed the door open to see where the female victim was and Ward said, "Nothing is wrong, see, we were just having an argument," according to police reports.
The officer observed the victim sitting on the end of the bed and when he asked her if everything was okay, she nodded indicating yes. Campbell noticed the victim responded in that way only when Ward was looking right at her. Campbell asked Ward to step outside so he could talk to the victim alone.
When Ward was gone, the victim looked directly at the officer and whispered with her lips only "Please don't leave me, he beat me and he won't let me leave here," as she lowered the towel to reveal where Ward had punched her two times in the face and neck.
Ward was taken into custody while Campbell could sort out what had happened. The victim told the officer she was on a pay phone when an irate Ward grabbed the phone to see who she was talking to. He then slammed the phone down and ordered the victim back to the motel unit. Ward then went back into the motel unit, opened a window and yelled to her to come get her things or he was going to do what he did last week.
The victim told police a week earlier, Ward had destroyed her clothes and other belongings, and punched her in the nose and right eye. Fearful of what Ward might do, the victim said she hung up with her sister and returned to the room, where Ward allegedly grabbed her by the hair, threw her on the floor and punched her several times before trying to suffocate her.
The victim briefly got away and was attempting to get out of a small bathroom window when the witness heard the yelling and alerted the nearby Campbell. Ward was arrested at that point, and he began trying to cover his tracks by turning the tables on the victim. Ward told police the victim had stolen several items from local businesses, including a flat screen television from Rose's department store.
Ward told police the stolen television was in a van belonging to a neighbor, who agreed to hide it for the victim and Campbell found it where he was told it would be. When questioned, the neighbor told police he bought the television from Ward and the victim for $65 because he knew they needed money. The neighbor said he didn't know the television was stolen.
When questioned about the stolen television, the victim told quite a different story the Ward's. She said she went with Ward to Rose's not intending to steal anything when Ward came up to her with the flat screen television in a cart. The victim said Ward told her he was going to steal the TV but needed her to create a diversion. Concerned about what Ward might do to her if she didn't cooperate, the victim went to the customer service counter and asked for an employment application while Ward darted out the door with the television. A surveillance tape from Rose's corroborated the victim's story.
Traffic Stop Leads To Counterfeit Goods, Drugs
BERLIN – A New York man is in custody this week after a routine traffic stop in the south end of Worcester County led to the discovery of thousands of dollars worth of pirated music CDs and DVDs, counterfeit shoes and handbags and marijuana.
Around 8:45 a.m. on Saturday, a Maryland State Police trooper from the Berlin barrack stopped a vehicle bearing New York tags on Route 13 near Pocomoke for various traffic violations. The sole occupant of the vehicle, later identified as Willie A. Mitchell, 31, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was found to be driving on a suspended and revoked privilege in N.Y. During the interaction, the trooper noticed the strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle and a probable cause search revealed nearly five grams of pot in the vehicle.
Also located in the vehicle were 262 pirated music CDs, 321 pirated movie DVDs, 31 pairs of counterfeit Nike shoes, three pairs of counterfeit Timberland boots and several counterfeit handbags bearing Dooney and Bourke, Gucci and Coach logos. Mitchell was charged with possession of marijuana, felony possession of trademarked counterfeit goods and misdemeanor possession of trademarked counterfeit goods and is being held on a $5,000 bond.
Representatives from the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America and the affected clothing companies have been contacted for further information. It is estimated the sale of counterfeit products is a $250 billion a year industry.
Traffic Fatality in Pocomoke
POCOMOKE – A Pocomoke man was killed in a single-vehicle accident last Sunday afternoon after losing control of his car and overturning.
Around 5 p.m. last Sunday, Worcester County Sheriff's Deputies responded to a single-vehicle accident on Boston Rd. near Pocomoke. The officers arrived and found a Ford pick-up truck on its side on the shoulder of the road. The investigation revealed the vehicle, driven by Brandon Lambertson, 31, of Pocomoke, was traveling northbound on Boston Rd. at a speed greater than what is reasonable for the road when Lambertson lost control, left the roadway and overturned, partially ejecting the driver.
Lambertson was transported to PRMC in Salisbury and subsequently died from his injuries. Police are saying alcohol consumption was a factor in the accident.
Police Offer Holiday Warning
BERLIN – The "season of opportunity" has begun early this year, according to the Berlin Police Department, who is reminding residents simple tasks such as always locking car doors and taking in packages and electronics can go a long way in preventing theft during the holiday season and all year long.
Ocean City police issued a similar warning, urging residents when holiday shopping to stay alert and be aware of their surroundings. The OCPD warned shoppers to change directions if approached by suspicious persons, and to park in a well lit area and have their keys ready as they approach their vehicle.
Shoppers are also warned not to carry an excess amount of cash and take only the credit cards they will be using. When returning to their cars, shoppers are warned not to be overloaded with packages to the point they cannot safely evaluate their surroundings. Another safety reminder is to always lock packages in the trunk.
The holiday safety messages applied to resident's homes as well. For example, the OCPD warned local residents to turn on lights and leave a television on when they leave their homes. If traveling, local residents are being urged to ask a neighbor to keep an eye on their homes. Also, residents are warned not to display gifts where they can be seen from outside and try to avoid leaving boxes that contained expensive gifts on the curb waiting for trash pick-up.
Finally, the OCPD warned local residents it would be aggressively enforcing DWI laws and urge revelers to use a designated driver or call a taxi.


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I've heard that the creative Riva TNT cannot work on a socket 7 board...and i was wondering if anyone knows whether it the Banshee could work on a Asus P5A board?
please reply ASAP!
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On a recent Fox News appearance, retired US Army Colonel Ralph Peters may have been the initial well-known person in America to claim that President Obama is the "first anti-Israeli President" in US history. Media Matters, a far left organization funded by billionaire Democrat George Soros, inexplicably posted the video of Peters making the claim and inadvertently feeding oxygen to the narrative. Here are portions of the comments by Colonel Peters in response to questioning by Megyn Kelly on "America Live" on March 26, 2010:
"This is something about a chip on the President's shoulder…Israel wants to live in peace with its neighbors, its neighbors want Israel destroyed. The President refuses to understand that…It's become a credo of the left…that Israel is always the oppressor and that Palestinian terrorists are freedom fighters…You have to look at the President's background…. His mother, extremely left, his university chums, on the left, Bill Ayers, left, 20 years with Reverend Wright. All of their doctrines say the Palestinians are wonderful and the Israelis are basically Nazis…and I think the President has got that by osmosis… Beyond the armchair psychoanalysis, you have to look at what people do, listen to what they say, and this is our first anti-Israeli President. Its bewildering its astonishing."
Colonel Peters appears to be speaking without an evidentiary basis about Obama's mother and university chums, as no evidence has surfaced that ties them to anti-Israeli thinking. However, Bill Ayers, who was associated with the President for many years, recently demonstrated his anti-Israeli thinking by being "one of 431 academics to sign a petition calling for divestment, boycott and sanctions against Israel." The Reverend Wright, who was the President's "spiritual adviser" for decades, is a longtime strong supporter of well-known anti-Semite Louis Farrakan. Beyond those two individuals, Obama had a long and deep relationship with Palestinian interest groups for many years during his time in Chicago, as epitomized by his close relationship with Palestinian Professor Rashid Khalidi. Obama's relationship with Khalidi became a flash point of the 2008 campaign as the LA Times refused to release video it is holding of Obama at a going away party for Khalidi, who was leaving to take a job at Columbia University, where many Palestinian supporters said quite untoward things about Israel. Here's the LA Times report on the party:
It was a celebration of Palestinian culture — a night of music, dancing and a dash of politics. Local Arab Americans were bidding farewell to Rashid Khalidi, an internationally known scholar, critic of Israel and advocate for Palestinian rights, who was leaving town for a job in New York. A special tribute came from Khalidi's friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Sen. Barack Obama. Speaking to the crowd, Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi's wife, Mona, and conversations that had challenged his thinking.
His many talks with the Khalidis, Obama said, had been "consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases. . . . It's for that reason that I'm hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation — a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid's dinner table," but around "this entire world." Today, five years later, Obama is a U.S. senator from Illinois who expresses a firmly pro-Israel view of Middle East politics, pleasing many of the Jewish leaders and advocates for Israel whom he is courting in his presidential campaign. The dinner conversations he had envisioned with his Palestinian American friend have ended. He and Khalidi have seen each other only fleetingly in recent years.
And yet the warm embrace Obama gave to Khalidi, and words like those at the professor's going-away party, have left some Palestinian American leaders believing that Obama is more receptive to their viewpoint than he is willing to say. Their belief is not drawn from Obama's speeches or campaign literature, but from comments that some say Obama made in private and from his association with the Palestinian American community in his hometown of Chicago, including his presence at events where anger at Israeli and U.S. Middle East policy was freely expressed.
At Khalidi's 2003 farewell party, for example, a young Palestinian American recited a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism in its treatment of Palestinians and sharply criticizing U.S. support of Israel. If Palestinians cannot secure their own land, she said, "then you will never see a day of peace." One speaker likened "Zionist settlers on the West Bank" to Osama bin Laden, saying both had been "blinded by ideology."
Considering the facts laid out by the LA Times above, it is easy to understand why the video of the Khalidi party would have made for interesting viewing, especially to see Obama's reaction to the virulently anti-Israel statements made there as noted by the LA Times. However, the most important fact from this reporting is that many Palestinian American leaders believed in 2008 that Obama as President would be "more receptive to their viewpoint than he is willing to say" based on "comments that some say Obama made in private" and his long term association with the Palestinian-American community in Chicago. Indeed, considering the recent "humiliation" of Israel's democratically elected leader, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu (more on that later), by President Obama at the White House, this 2008 comment by a Palestinian-American leader appears prophetic:
But his presence at such events, as he worked to build a political base in Chicago, has led some Palestinian leaders to believe that he might deal differently with the Middle East than either of his opponents for the White House."I am confident that Barack Obama is more sympathetic to the position of ending the occupation than either of the other candidates," said Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow for the American Task Force on Palestine, referring to the Israeli presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that began after the 1967 war…. "That's my personal opinion," Ibish said, "and I think it for a very large number of circumstantial reasons, and what he's said."
In his defense, Obama at the time of the publication of the April 2008 LA Times piece "called himself a 'stalwart' supporter of the Jewish state and its security needs" and his chief strategist David Axelrod had this to say:
"Barack's belief is that it's important to understand other points of view, even if you can't agree with them," said his longtime political strategist, David Axelrod. Obama "can disagree without shunning or demonizing those with other views," he said. "That's far different than the suggestion that he somehow tailors his view."
The video of the Khalidi going away party remains under lock and key at the LA Times to this day, adding an element of mystery to the analysis of Obama's true feelings towards the Jewish state. However, the recent meeting at the White House between President Obama and Prime Minimster Bibi Netanyahu provides some fresh, direct evidence of the President's feelings towards Israel, as described by the British press, which is much more willing to honestly report on Obama's activities than the American media:
For a head of government to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of. Yet that is how Binyamin Netanyahu was treated by President Obama on Tuesday night, according to Israeli reports on a trip viewed in Jerusalem as a humiliation.
After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on settlements, Mr Obama walked out of his meeting with Mr Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisers and "let me know if there is anything new", a US congressman, who spoke to the Prime Minister, said. "It was awful," the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting "a hazing in stages", poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House telephone line. Another said that the Prime Minister had received "the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea".
The American media, of course, completely ignored the shameful treatment of the democratically elected leader of Israel by Obama's White House, although CentristNet did issue a piece comparing the treatment of Israel's democratically elected leader to the treatment of Saudi's dictator King Abdullah by Obama. Apparently angered by Netanyahu's failure to immediately agree to Obama's demands for an immediate freeze to construction in East Jerusalem, Obama left the Prime Minister to go have dinner without him, stating that ""I'm still around" and "Let me know if there is anything new" as he left the Prime Minister.
Obviously, this type of extraordinarily harsh treatment of the democratically elected leader of one of America's closest allies, Israel, in the White House is strong evidence that President Obama may indeed have negative feelings towards Israel, perhaps the most negative feelings of any occupant who's ever occupied the Oval Office, as theorized by Colonel Peters. Perhaps the many years of hearing from Khalidi, Ayers, Wright and others about the "abuses" of the Israelis and the righteous nature of the Palestinians had an effect on Obama, and led him to the harsh treatment of the Israeli prime minister.
Indeed, from the Israeli perspective, the Obama Administration has been quite disappointing, if not infuriating, regarding its failure to take any significant action to contain or rollback the Iranian push to acquire nuclear weapons. Obama's first meeting as President with Netanyahu resulted in a pledge to work on negotiations with the Iranians until the end of 2009, and then move towards strong sanctions thereafter if negotiations did not bear fruit. Obviously, Obama has not made such sanctions a priority since the turn of the year, which must be quite unnerving to our Israeli allies. Indeed, Iranian nuclear proliferation is the number one national security threat to Israel, not the Palestinian issue, and Bibi stated as much to then-candidate Obama when the two met in July 2008:
One substantial piece of evidence is the conversation that occurred earlier last week at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem between two men some might think are on opposite sides of the spectrum: the supposedly diplomatic Barack Obama and the uber-hawkish Bibi Netanyahu, head of the Likud Party and a fair bet to return to the prime minister's office. According to Netanyahu advisor Uzi Arad—a former Mossad official who was present at the 45-minute talk—Obama agreed with Netanyahu that "the paramount and most urgent issue is Iran," and that "a nuclear Iran is unacceptable not only to Israel but to the United States."
Netanyahu "also made it clear to him that on the Iranian threat there is no dissension in Israel; this is a national attitude." In a telephone interview on Thursday, Arad told me that he believed that the Democratic candidate for president concurred with Netanyahu as well about the sequence of events that must occur: On Iran "the clocks and centrifuges are clicking and spinning, and not only is time of the essence but the order of things is as well. Should one fail to neutralize that Iranian threat now, it would undercut anything that would be achieved with the Palestinians, Syria or Lebanon."
As Arad put it: "If you follow that logic, the current efforts to move on the Palestinian issue are pathetic, because they would not be worth the paper they're written on if Iran is not contained. If Iran became nuclear it would mean the victory of the militants in Hamas and Hezbollah and undercut the moderates." Obama, for his part, said he was for the use of "more carrots and sticks" and wanted to have dialogue and engagement policy with Iran before taking any other action, according to Arad.
"Netanyahu reacted by saying that what is essential here are not means but the ends. … They are in agreement about the overall objective. Then Netanyahu added his considered judgment that the more credible the military option, the more likely it is that diplomacy with sanction will succeed." Obama's "body language conveyed" that he agreed with that as well, Arad said.
So Netanyahu clearly expressed his view that the immediate focus of US foreign policy in the Middle East must be Iran, not the Palestinians, and apparently Obama agreed. Netanyahu made this point again, very clearly, when he visited the White House for the first time in May 2009:
U.S. President Barack Obama set a rough timetable for his diplomatic outreach to arch-foe Iran for the first time on Monday, saying he wanted to see serious progress by the end of the year. He also held out the prospect of tougher sanctions against Tehran "to ensure that Iran understands we are serious."
Obama's comments came after talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which the new Israeli leader was expected to stress Israel's concerns about Iran's nuclear program. Israel believes it is a cover to build atomic weapons. With many Israelis skeptical about his efforts to engage Iran diplomatically, Obama stressed that attempts by the previous Bush administration to isolate Iran had failed, "so what we are going to try to do is do something different."
Sitting next to Netanyahu in the Oval Office, Obama said he hoped to begin negotiations with Tehran soon, after Iran holds elections next month. Iran's leaders have so far rebuffed his efforts to reach out to them and toughened their rhetoric. "The important thing is to make sure there is a clear timetable, at which we point we say these talks don't seem to be making any serious progress," Obama said.
"By the end of the year we should have some sense whether or not these discussions are starting to yield significant benefits, whether we are starting to see serious movement on the part of Iranians," he said.
While little to no progress has been made in the Iranian negotiations front, as Iran has dragged out the negotiations month after month but failed to make an agreement, Iran has continued to threaten the existence of the State of Israel on a regular basis, most recently earlier this month:
The Palestinians and the nations of the Middle East will be rid of a "bad omen" once Israel is annihilated, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday, in a speech communicated by Press TV. Israel, a foreign presence and a "Western prodigy" in the region, had "reached the end of its road," Ahmadinejad told supporters in southern Iran. Israel was not as useful for "its masters" – apparently a reference to the United States and Europe – as it was at its inception, he said. Calling Jews who immigrated to Israel before or after the founding of the state "the most criminal people in the world," he said it was now clear that there was no regime more hated than Israel.
One can only imagine the uproarious outcry in America for an immediate military response if any foreign leader made such comments in reference to the United States. Even left-leaning US attorney Alan Dershowitz is troubled by Obama's recent anti-Israeli actions, stating that "Obama has to realize is that he is dealing with Israel, a democracy to which you can not always dictate specific terms" while noting that the Iranians are quite pleased to see Obama aggressively attacking Netanyahu:
How would you advise Obama? I would tell him that the process cannot be unilateral and that there must be mutual concessions. For example, the Obama administration has falsely blamed the naming of a Ramallah square after a terrorist who murdered Jews on Hamas, rather than on the Palestinian Authority.
The Obama administration has to make as substantial demands of the Palestinians as it does of the Israelis. If you think this crisis is severe, you should know it is nothing compared to what could happen with regard to the Iranian issue at some future date. I'm afraid [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad is one of the happiest men these days thanks to the many incidents between the United States and Israel. [PA Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas, by the way, is also pretty happy.
An overwhelming majority of the members of the House of Representatives are also troubled by Obama's actions towards Netanyahu, with 327 out of 435 signing a letter to Obama urging him to stop attacking Israel and instead focus on Iran:
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will continue discussions with his senior ministers in the coming days, looking for a way out of the crisis with the US. He received some badly needed support on Friday from 327 congressmen, who signed a letter expressing concern that "the highly publicized tensions" in US-Israeli ties will "not advance the interests" of either state.
Meanwhile, in Washington, 327 congressmen – three-quarters of the House of Representatives – signed a bipartisan letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressing solid support for Israel and the expectation that differences between Jerusalem and Washington will be smoothed over quickly and in private. "We are writing to reaffirm our commitment to the unbreakable bond that exists between our country and the State of Israel and to express to you our deep concern over recent tension," the letter read. "A strong Israel is an asset to the national security of the United States and brings stability to the Middle East.
"We are concerned that the highly publicized tensions in the relationship will not advance the interests the US and Israel share. Above all, we must remain focused on the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear weapons program to Middle East peace and stability."
Regarding the Iranian threat, an Israeli security expert's comment to Newsweek in July 2008 really brings home the explicit threat that Iran poses to the continued safety of Israeli citizens and indeed the existence of the state of Israel:
As Ron Tira, an Israeli security expert, puts it: "If you look at the really big picture, there's not only an Iranian aircraft carrier in Lebanon [Hezbollah], but there's another one 45 kilometers from Tel Aviv in Gaza [Hamas]. With those two Iranian aircraft carriers in place and Iran proceeding with its nuclear program, with the prospect of America withdrawing from Iraq in the next two years, and Iran becoming a dominant force there … Israel is in position where it needs to act unilaterally and pay whatever the cost." Miller adds that these huge problems will remain the same "not only for Olmert's successor but for Bush's."
Despite this existential ongoing and growing threat to the State of Israel from Iran, Obama has chosen to publicly humiliate the Israeli leader for failing to move on the Palestinian track to Obama's liking, even though Obama himself has failed to move on the Iranian track as promised to Netanyahu at their first meeting in July 2008, the subsequent meeting in May 2009 and thereafter between lower level officials. Perhaps all of the anti-Israeli rhetoric pouring out of White House officials and Obama's treatment of Netanyahu is simply an expression of the widespread left wing ideological thinking that Israel is the wrongful aggressor and the Palestinians are the innocent victims.
However, the optics of a US Administration harshly condemning a close democratic ally like Israel, and even going to far as to humiliate the Israeli leader at the White House, while sending sweet messages of conciliation to the Iranians and bowing publicly to the Saudis, paints a troubling picture of a historically negative state of US-Israeli relations. Considering all of these facts, from an Israeli perspective or that of an American supporter of Israel like Colonel Peters, it is not hard to conclude that President Obama could indeed be the first anti-Israeli President in American history.
UPDATE: A conservative publication in Australia tends to agree that Barack Obama is the first anti-Israeli President, for much the same reasons listed above:
When Obama met the king of Saudi Arabia, a nation in which no one votes, women are subject to severe and demeaning restrictions and it is against the law to have a Christian church, Obama bowed in deep respect.
When Obama ran into Venezuela's murderous despot, Hugo Chavez, at a summit, there was a friendly greeting observed by all.
But there is one leader whom Obama draws the line at. He will not be seen in public with Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Astonishingly, when Netanyahu saw Obama at the White House this week, all photographers and all TV cameras were banned, a level of humiliation almost completely unique in modern White House practice.
You might even conclude that Obama is trying to interfere in internal Israeli politics and bring down a government. This is something post-colonial, post-multicultural Obama would never do with Iran, but with Israel, the US's longstanding ally, it's fine.
And what was Netanyahu's crime, this act of infamy that Obama's senior staff described as an "affront" to America? It was that the relevant housing authority passed another stage of approval for 1600 Israeli housing units to be built in East Jerusalem in about three years' time. It was very foolish that the Israelis allowed this announcement to take place while US Vice-President Joe Biden was in Israel. But they apologised to Biden at the time, Biden kissed and made up with the Israelis and was back to delivering fulsome pro-Israel speeches before he left.
After that point, though, the US reaction went into overdrive. Impeccable American sources tell me this reaction was driven by Obama, and to a lesser extent the Chicago mafia around him.
We must ask why this is so, but first let's get Netanyahu's infamous crime into perspective.
Last November Netanyahu announced a 10-month moratorium on all building activity in Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Israel has already promised not to take any more land for settlements but there is the question of renovating existing buildings and constructing new ones in existing settlements.
As Hillary Clinton acknowledged in her speech this week to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, East Jerusalem was never part of this agreement. The two main peace offers Israel has made to the Palestinians in recent years were the Camp David/Taba proposals and the accompanying Clinton parameters in 2000, and Ehud Olmert's offer to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in 2008. Both plans offered essentially the same formula. The Palestinians get all of the Gaza Strip, about 95 per cent of the West Bank and a compensating parcel of territory from Israel proper to make up for the small amount of territory in the West Bank that Israel would keep which houses the main Jewish population blocks. The Palestinians also get some parts of East Jerusalem as their capital. This principle of territorial swaps was accepted by Yasser Arafat and Abbas.
East Jerusalem has always had a different status from the West Bank and some Israelis certainly don't want to give any of it to a new Palestinian state. But everyone accepts that some Jewish neighbourhoods would remain part of Israel. These are mostly neighbourhoods, as Netanyahu pointed out this week, which are five minutes from the Knesset and a couple of blocks beyond the 1949 armistice line. The administration of George W. Bush had formally agreed with the Israelis that these areas would be permanently part of Israel. Bill Clinton had negotiated an offer to the Palestinians in 2000 which accepted this.
It would be a radical change of policy for an Israeli government to decree that no building would ever take place in Jewish areas of Jerusalem. It would also be a change of American policy.
Moreover, no serious analyst could believe that such building is a roadblock to peace. Peace negotiations have gone on with such building taking place in the past. And all the things that truly make peace impossible – Arab and Palestinian refusal to accept the legitimacy of any Jewish state, Palestinian insistence on certain deal breakers such as the right of return of all Palestinian refugees and their descendants to Israel proper, the insistent and violent anti-Semitism of Palestinian and Arab propaganda and the regional ambitions of players such as Iran and Syria – will be completely unaffected by any decision to build apartments in a Jewish neighbourhood in East Jerusalem in three years time. So why has Obama gone into full jihad mode against Israel? Three explanations suggest themselves. Obama has had a terrible year in foreign policy. He has achieved nothing on Iran or China or anything else of consequence. He is too smart to believe this intimidation of Israel will advance peace, but it might get peace talks going again. The Palestinians only made settlements a roadblock after Obama did. They are refusing to join Israel in peace talks, which Netanyahu would be happy to participate in. They have said they might engage in proximity talks – which means not talking to the Israelis directly but to mediators who will shuttle back and forth carrying messages between them and the Israelis. This is primitive and ridiculous stuff, but if such talks get going Obama could claim some kind of victory, or at least progress.
And Obama is showing that his personal popularity, not America's standing, still less matters of substance such as Iran's nuclear program, is what motivates him.
This leads to the second explanation of his behaviour, and that is to make himself personally popular in the Muslim world. Beating up on Israel is the cheapest trick in the book on that score and it can earn him easy, worthless and no doubt temporary plaudits in some parts of the Muslim world.
And thirdly, Obama is the first post-multicultural president of America. In his autobiography he talks of seeking out the most radical political theorists he could at university. For these people Israel is an exercise in Western neo-imperialism. Obama makes their hearts sing with this anti-Israel jihad.
Accompanying Obama's own actions has been some of the most dangerous rhetoric ever to come out of a US administration, to the effect that Israeli intransigence endangers US troops by inflaming extremists in the Islamic world. No serious analyst anywhere believes that Israel is an important source of the conflicts in Afghanistan or Iraq. Using this type of argument comes dangerously close to the administration licensing a mutant strain of anti-Semitism – it's all the Jews' fault.


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Like some lazy summer library staff reading recommendations? Spend August under a tree with a glass of lemonade and a good book!
Barb Killing Lincoln by Bill OReilly was both history and mystery. Written in the form of a novel, the historical facts were given in a way that the book moved along depicting the events that happened in the time just before President Lincoln was shot. It also carries the reader along on the hunt for John Wilkes Booth.
Knitting mystery series, by Maggie Sefton, (10 books as of this summer), takes place in Ft. Connor, Colo., and involves a group of friends that meet at the yarn shop, Lambspun. A light read for summer for those who enjoy knitting; there is also a knitting pattern in each book.
Kurt For light summer reading let me recommend J. Maarten Troosts Sex Lives of Cannibals. The author describes the two years he and his wife spent on the tiny Pacific island of Tarawa, especially the times when Western culture crossed paths with island life. Hes funny! Expecting a tropical paradise, he and his wife go down to the beach to watch the sunset only to realize that the locals use it as their latrine: like negotiating a mine field. Hes also thoughtful, his chapters alternating between his own dealings with island life and the history and problems of the island nation of Kiribati and its people. A very entertaining book.
I would also like you to consider any book in our collection by Craig Childs. Childs could be called a regional writer, covering the deserts of the Four Corners. He is also an adventurer, amateur archaeologist, amateur biologist and philosopher. His writing is a wonderful blend of personal description of his surroundings when he is running down a slot canyon ahead of a flash flood or staring down a mountain lion at a waterhole, he puts you there with him. I especially enjoyed Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession, where Childs asks the question: To whom does the past belong? Concerning finding artifacts in the wild, Childs writes, If anyone tells you there is only one answer to the conundrum of archaeology, he is trying to sell you something. At this point, considering all that has been removed, it is worth leaving the last pieces where they lie.
Joanie Work Song by Ivan Doig is set in Butte, Montana in the early 1900s. Anaconda ran the booming mining town. The main character of this novel worked at the library (no wonder I liked it!) and was involved with people from the Union. Throw in a romance developing at a snails pace, some rough and tumble Welsh miners, some Chicago thugs and one of the very best American writers of our time, and you have fascinating historical fiction.
Yolanda Books by Luis Alberto Urrea: Into The Beautiful North is a fictional and affectionate, humorous look at the idea of Unailtes (USA) among northern Mexicans. A group of young Mexicans are given the task of going to America to bring back what their diminishing town needs. Through their story, the author presents realities most of us have heard about, but will never have to experience. The non-fiction work by Urrea is Across the Wire. A moving account of the authors work across the border in Tijuana, the book presents some uncomfortable realities. Urrea serves with an American church and works in the communities living in the dumps. The authors family and personal history add to the readers understanding of hard-to-imagine situations.
Margaret Set in freezing, cold Lake Superiors Upper Peninsula, Steve Hamilton is my newest find in the mystery field. Alex McKnight is a man just trying to get his life back in order. He has found the great small town of Paradise and lives in the woods where the winters reign supreme. Hamilton has some great reoccurring characters that you enjoy meeting, and the Glasgow Inn gets my vote as the place Id like most to sit back while a blizzard fueled by the Great Lakes brews outside. McKnights adventures showcase the hardy individuals who populate the U.S./Canadian border and an interesting crew they are!
Historical fiction is a particular favorite of mine and C.J. Sansom has written a series of historical thrillers set during the Tudor reign of the dissolute Henry VIII. Matthew Shardlake is the humpbacked lawyer navigating the treacherous waters of the Protestant Reformation during the 1500s. The monasteries were being shut down, their hospitals closed and alms-giving stopped, leaving many people homeless, starving and sick. Taking the wrong side, either politically or religiously, could result in heinous death. In this brew of uncertainly, Matthew finds his way through a fascinating era in English history.
Lavon I do not listen to many books on CD except when traveling, and the best I have ever listened to is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It is the biography of Louis Zamperini, an American runner in the 1938 Berlin Olympics. Some time later he went into the military, and was serving during World War II when he crashed in the Pacific. This is his story of survival at sea in a small raft and as a P.O.W. in a brutal Japanese camp. It really is a story of tragedy and triumph over extreme circumstances. It was a fascinating book, and I think I gained some new insight about the Second World War and the brave Americans who fought in the Pacific during that time.
Scorpions for Breakfast by Arizonas Governor Jan Brewer was a very enlightening book as to the plight that state has had to face. Most of us have heard of Brian Terry, the border patrol officer that was killed, and Robert Krentz, an Arizona rancher killed on his property along the border, but most of us have no idea what other types of problems Arizona residents have had because of a poorly protected border. She brings to light many of the situations that people outside of Arizona may have never heard about, and she does it with humor and frankness that I found very refreshing in our very politically correct society!
Susie One of my favorite reads this year takes place in Hitlers Germany. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and An American Family in Hitlers Berlin by Erik Larson, reads like a political thriller and tells the story of the first years of Hitlers reign through the eyes of William E. Dodd, Americas first ambassador to Hitlers regime and his daughter, Martha.
Sally Jo My sister and I trade book recommendations and one of her latest suggestions was a winner. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is an incredibly imaginative adventure centered around two young illusionists and a magical circus. The narrative of this adult fairy tale is so visually inspiring, you will not want to put it down, even after the last page!
Kathy The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is narrated by Death and reveals the story of how the Nazi devastation greatly effected the German people who loved their country but did not love the politics of hate and destruction. Nine year old Liesel Meminger is the book thief, a foster daughter of a gentle man and a stern mother. She has befriended the mayors wife from whom she steals most of her books and has a warm relationship with a Jewish refugee hidden in their basement who becomes her mentor. Then theres Rudy, her contemporary and her partner in crime. Ill say no more!
The Fault In Our Stars by John Green is a love story that will stay with you for a long time. Hazel and Augustus meet at a cancer support group for kids only. They talk like kids, and act like kids even though they carry this heavy burden of the knowledge that their lives will be cut short. There is no time for games and dishonesty. But there is time for shocking honesty! Its a fast read and very enjoyable, and even though it may sound totally depressing, it isnt. I loved it so much, I read it a second time.
Laura 33 Men: Inside the Miraculous Survival and Dramatic Rescue of the Chilean Miners by Jonathan Franklin, was a fascinating read about the miners in Chile who became trapped in a mining accident about two years ago. They survived underground for 69 days. The author gained access to the scene and the key players (rescuers, volunteers, politicians and family members) as this drama unfolded on the world stage. Mainly its a testament to the miners resilience and their mental toughness. If this doesnt give you claustrophobia, nothing will.
Love in the Time of Cholera by the Nobel prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez is my next pick. This is a funky novel about missed opportunities, familial loyalty and unrequited love. You almost ache for the main character, Florentino Ariza, as he pines away for his lost lady love, Fermina Daza. Ferminas father forbade the two to court and she eventually married a doctor who offered her security. As Fermina begins raising a family, Florentino begins a life of loneliness, waiting, and meaningless romantic liaisons. In old age, after fifty-one years, nine months, and four days, Florentino and Fermina reunite after Ferminas husband dies. Irony is evidenced in the books title. Dr. Urbino pledged to practice modern medicine and help eradicate cholera. When Florentino and Fermina reunite they are on a river boat. Fermina is afraid to dock because of small town mores. Florentino has the captain raise the yellow flag of cholera. Nobody will allow the boat to dock and Florentino and Fermina are left in a world of their own making.
Joanie Howland is director of the Cortez Public Library, 202 N. Park St. She can be reached at 565-8117.


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Workers will lose union gains
Gov. Rick Snyder first picked the pockets of senior citizens with a new tax on their pensions while giving his business buddies a cut in taxes. Now, he�and his Republican cronies have set out to lower the standards of living of the workforce in Michigan, once again, for the benefit of his business buddies.
People in Michigan have always had the freedom to work and a right to work. If workers did not want to join a union, then they went to work where there was no union.
I have never worked where there was a union, but I always knew that every benefit, every job protection I had when working was the result of the struggles and sacrifices of unionized workers on the picket lines. They have my utmost respect, gratitude and support.
For the people of Michigan who voted for Snyder, against Proposal 2 and who supported the right-to-work law, I hope you will be happy with what you have gained. You will now have the freedom to work for lower wages. You will have the freedom to work in unsafe and unhealthy environments. You will have the freedom to work with no benefits, such as health care, vacation time, sick days, lunch breaks or holidays off. You will have the freedom to work 10, 12, 14 hours a day and a 60-hour or more work week without overtime pay.
You will have the freedom to work with no job protection. That means you can be fired at any time for no justifiable reason. Maybe the boss doesn't like the way you comb your hair.
You will also have the freedom to work without paying union dues, a right you always had. But soon, you will not have the protection and benefits the unions have provided. It will not be next week or next month that they will disappear. It will be a subtle and gradual loss, hardly noticeable at first. But in a year or two years, take measure and see what you have lost. Mark my words: You will have lost a lot more than paying union dues.
Waterford Township


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. Perhaps the finest thing of all is Dolphy's own 'The Prophet'
quite clearly an autobiographical piece, an insight into Dolphy's own quicksilver personality and forward-looking intelligence."Penguin Guide
"After having left the ensemble of Charles Mingus and upon working with John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy formed a short-lived but potent quintet with trumpeter Booker Little
. [which] became legendary over the years
and developed into a role model for all progressive jazz combos to come
. 'Fire Waltz' demonstrates perfectly how the bonfire burns from inside the soul of these five brilliant provocateurs."All Music Guide


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Drainpipe cleaners are chemicals used to clean drainpipes. Drainpipe cleaner poisoning occurs when someone swallows or breathes in (inhales) a drainpipe cleaner.
This is for information only and not for use in the treatment or management of an actual poison exposure. If you have an exposure, you should call your local emergency number (such as 911) or the National Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222.
Note: This list may not include all sources of drainpipe cleaners.
Seek immediate medical help. Do NOT make a person throw up unless told to do so by Poison Control or a health care professional.
If the chemical is on the skin or in the eyes, flush with lots of water for at least 15 minutes.
If the chemical was swallowed, immediately give the person water or milk, unless instructed otherwise by a health care provider. Do NOT give water or milk if the patient is having symptoms (such as vomiting, convulsions, or a decreased level of alertness) that make it hard to swallow.
If the person breathed in the poison, immediately move him or her to fresh air.
Determine the following information:
The National Poison Control Center (1-800-222-1222) can be called from anywhere in the United States. This national hotline number will let you talk to experts in poisoning. They will give you further instructions.
This is a free and confidential service. All local poison control centers in the United States use this national number. You should call if you have any questions about poisoning or poison prevention. It does NOT need to be an emergency. You can call for any reason, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
See: Poison control center - emergency number
The health care provider will measure and monitor your vital signs, including temperature, pulse, breathing rate, and blood pressure. Symptoms will be treated as appropriate. You may receive:
How well you do depends on the amount of poison swallowed and how quickly treatment is received. The faster you get medical help, the better the chance for recovery.
Swallowing such poisons can have severe effects on many parts of the body. The outcome depends on the extent of this damage.
Damage continues to occur to the esophagus and stomach for several weeks after the poison was swallowed.
Wax PM, Yarema M. Corrosives. In: Shannon MW, Borron SW, Burns MJ, eds. Haddad and Winchester's Clinical Management of Poisoning and Drug Overdose. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 98.
1000 Johnson Ferry Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30342
(404) 851-8000
450 Northside Cherokee Blvd.
Canton, GA 30115
(770) 224-1000
1200 Northside Forsyth Drive
Cumming, GA 30041
(770) 844-3200


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Lecture 0080 10:10a-11:00a MW
Corequisite discussions (Choose one):
0081 3:35p-4:25p W 0082 3:35p-4:25p W 0083 9:05a-9:55a R 0084 9:05a-9:55a R 0085 10:10a-11:00a F 0086 10:10a-11:00a F
This lecture course, which includes discussion sections, will explore the often uneasy relationship between pagan or classical culture and Christianity in the Renaissance. While focusing on the Renaissance, we will begin with early Christian society and the Middle Ages. From the few explicit references of Paul of Tarsus to pagan philosophy in his own day, we will move to the early Christian theologians or Church Fathers, who very often pointed to the dangers of classical learning.
After a survey of Medieval teachings, we will explore in depth Francis Petrarch's efforts, in the fourteenth century, to balance classical and Christian ideals. Humanist thinking of the fifteenth century will be examined around several themes:
(1) the critique of monastic culture, (2) attitudes toward papal and sacramental claims of the Catholic Church, (3) Biblical scholarship, and (4) theories of education. Sources will range from rather serious treatises to Renaissance joke books. Finally, we will turn to the so-called Paganism of the Neoplatonic culture, the "Christian humanism" of Erasmus and Thomas More, and the implications of the work of Machiavelli for traditional Christian morality.
Finally we will examine the Protestant Reformers and their attitudes toward classical antiquity. The course will require weekly readings in primary sources, a few quizzes, a midterm and final, and a research paper exploring in depth a subject of the student's choosing.


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Eight More States Petition D.C. Court to Join Dodd-Frank Suit
The attorneys general of eight states asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia this week for permission to join a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
If approved by the court, Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas and West Virginia would join Oklahoma, South Carolina and Michigan in the suit. The suit, originally filed June 21, 2012, also includes the original plaintiff, State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, as well as the 60 Plus Association and the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
The 11 state attorneys general are challenging Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act, which gives the Secretary of the Treasury so-called "Orderly Liquidation Authority."
The attorneys general claim that by abridging the rights that federal bankruptcy laws long have guaranteed to creditors, OLA strips the states of valuable property rights for states' investments of taxpayers' revenues and government employees' savings. They claim the ability of the federal government to divvy out funds during the liquation process will incent the federal government to compensate Wall Street and big banks at full value, due to their too-big-to-fail status, at the expense of other creditors.
In addition to Title II, the private plaintiffs in the lawsuit are challenging the Financial Stability Oversight Council, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the validity of the CFPB Director Richard Cordray's recess appointment.
As a member of the FSOC, NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz is named as a plaintiff in the suit. The $275 million State National Bank claims in the suit that CFPB regulations have forced it to discontinue products such as mortgage lending and remittances.
The suit gained additional merit Jan. 25 when the same D.C. District Court unanimously invalidated President Barack Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, saying the act was unconstitutional. That appointment occurred the same day as Cordray's in early January 2012, when the Senate was in a pro forma session.
"Dodd-Frank was sold to the American people as a silver bullet to prevent another financial crisis and safeguard consumers," said Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens in a release. "In reality, it is a bureaucratic nightmare that puts Georgia taxpayers at risk and introduces more uncertainty into the economy. This is just another example of a power grab by the federal government attempting to dictate the operations of an entire industry.
If successful, the suit could overturn CFPB regulations that have been finalized since Cordray's appointment. However, NAFCU President/CEO Fred Becker cautioned that credit unions would likely still be required to comply with the rules even if the plaintiffs were victorious.


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Marketplace Morning Report for Tuesday, March 27, 2012
This week, we're looking at how new technology is changing the American workforce. The series is called 'Robots Ate My Job,' and David Brancaccio of our Economy 4.0 unit is driving across the country without interacting with a single human being. Today, a look at self-checkout at grocery stores. A couple of congressional panels will look at the Military's push into alternative energy. And Day Two of the Supreme Court arguments surrounding the new health care law begins.


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It's been over six years since Janet Jackson last released an album of new music, dating all the way back to Discipline, which surfaced in February 2008 and became her sixth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200.
Now, after a long way away, it looks like Jackson's finally going for No. 7.
Idolator reports that after the sizable break, Jackson is back in the studio recording Discipline's followup, which would be her 11th LP overall.
Related: 10 Women Who Should Headline Coachella in 2015
The news comes after an interview that speaker company Barefoot Sound conducted for its website with Ian Cross, a producer and engineer who let slip that an album was on the way.
"The new album is going to be great," Cross said. "It's a process. There's a lot in store, yet to come. I can't go into too many details but I think Janet Jackson's fans are going to be very excited about the new album, and I think people who don't know her as fans are going to be excited about it, too. The new paradigm of music, the real people in music now, are blending technology and music together. It's becoming more and more seamless.
Read More Music News On Fresh1027.com:


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When I read the thread title, I became pretty anxious, thinking some of their first and second rounders failed physicals... Come to find out, we're talking a 7th rounder along with a bunch of nothings. Nothing to talk about here.
News flash- Matt Roark was released this afternoon.
Justin Francis passed his physical on Friday and was removed from the active/non-football injury list, according to a source.
There goes any shot the Patriots had of making the playoffs.
Last edited by Spectre; 07-21-2012 at 09:09 PM.


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Dramatic Vocal Arts
Under the directorship of Professor of Voice, Allison Swensen-Mitchell, the Dramatic Vocal Arts workshop offers students a rich experience with opera performance and production, along with an in-depth integration of singing, stage movement, and character development. The Dramatic Vocal Arts ensemble presents one full production each year, with full costumes, stage setting, and orchestral accompaniment provided by the University Chamber Orchestra.
Recent productions include Puccini's Suor Anglica, Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II, Cosi Fan Tutte by W.A. Mozart, Our Town by Ned Rorem, Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel, Bizet's Carmen, The Secret Garden, a musical, by Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman, and most recently Gianni Schicchi by Puccini.
The ensemble is open to Willamette University students by audition.


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162 Laurel Ave. C. Tolentino, remodel bath, $55,000
2 Pepperwood Court R. Johnson, add roof-mounted solar photovoltaic, $22,890
325 Ambar Way K. Flaum, replace window, $40,000
455 Yale Road J. McGeever, demolish home, $14,000
1261 Laurel St. M. Alida, replace water line, $10,000
570 Laurel St. M. Teruel, remove fireplace and install kitchen counter, $22,000
11 Brent Court Working Dirt LLC, remodel kitchen, baths, dining and office, $75,000
1030 Oakland Ave. R. Mueller, remodel bath, $10,000
839 Roble Ave. 2, 4 Phoeng Foundation, remodel kitchen and bathroom, $92,000 each
575 Oak Knoll Lane K. Cotton, add outdoor kitchen, relocate electrical line, $8,000
903 Arnold Way A. Huang, remodel bath, $5,000
1140 Middle Ave. Middle Way LLC, new 3,583-sq.-ft., two-story residence, $564,000
2882 Sand Hill Road CLPF-Sand Hill Commons LP, replace two antennas, install two new antennas, $15,000
1401 Santa Cruz Ave. J. Conovo, replace sewer lateral, $3,500
1195 Hamilton Court AMB Property LP, add bracing to an existing wall, strengthen fence around storage, $25,000
300 Constitution Drive Tyco Electronics Corp, install new 3-in. RP backflow valve on new water service, $n/a
308 Sherwood Way J. Paulson, new detached in-law unit, $95,000
918 Creek Drive D. Wilkinson, new two-story single-family residence, $656,540
900 Hamilton Ave AMB Property LP, add three new rooms and add HVAC unit on roof, $81,000
1365 Delfino Way A. Griggs, install new AC unit in backyard, $3,250
209 El Camino Real Mad Manor LLC, repair electrical receptacles, $1,000
1890 Oak Knoll Lane D. Ram & K. Lessee, add roof-mounted solar system, $15,000
1245 San Mateo Drive P. Seawell, remodel four bathrooms, $150,000
54 Callie Lane S. Rehm, re-roof, $13,900
1260 Bay Laurel D. Mullarkey, new pool and spa, $50,000
730 Sharon Park Drive M. Saaber, new retaining wall, $4,000
1125 Deanna Drive N. Gautam, new roof-mounted solar system, $21,000
Palo Alto
101 Alma St. Unit 1206 C. VanVleet, kitchen partial remodel, $5,800
3000 W. El Camino Real #800 Equity Office, copy room, storage room, lights, $95,000
1479 Hamilton Ave. B. Gassee, new two-story house with basement, $844,828; detached garage, $20,753
2465 Farber Place Palo Alto Technology Center, tenant improvement of office space, $1,800,810
1030 University Ave. D. Mackenzie, remodel living room and dining room, $3,500
550-564 Forest Ave. T. Markland, remove concrete topping slab on carport, $23,000
4037 Sutherland Drive S. Chan, addition of front living room, foyer, porch, bedroom, $147,309
338 Loma Verde Ave. Khanna, residential addition, $134,000
895 Melville Ave. E. Dorsey, study addition, remodel kitchen, upgrade drainage, $55,000
1701 Page Mill Road Board of Trustees at Stanford University, office building, basement garage, $26,372,052
146 Edgewood Drive 1456 Edgewood LLC, new carport support, $5,000
3077 Country Club Court Lee Shenk Revocable Trust, residential remodel and addition of new tankless water heater, $950,000
118 Churchill Ave. J. Matlof, residential remodel and addition, $165,948
604 Oregon Ave. A. Ragade, residence remodel, bathrooms, kitchen, den, $230,000
180 El Camino Real Space 244B Double P Corporation, interior build out of existing space at Stanford Shopping Center and new storefront, $90,000
941 Maddux Drive H. Jackson, existing studio expansion, $8,651
278 University Ave. KEEN Inc., garage, $150,000
260 College Ave. Apt. A, B, F SPN Real Estate, remodel bathroom, new laundry room, plumbing, $18,000 each; paint garage doors and carports, electrical, $11,000
101 Alma St. Unit 105 A. Sugimoto, remodel two bathrooms, $10,900
655 Kingsley Ave. repairs to kitchen, dining room and living room, $20,000
875 Blake Wilbur Drive Stanford Hospitals and Clinics, equipment replacement, exhaust ducts, painting
3477 Alma Village Circle Trestle Partners, building permit for Lot 21 at Alma Plaza, $382,805
3483 Alma Village Circle Trestle Partners, building permit for Lot 22 at Alma Plaza, $412,413
3489 Alma Village Circle Trestle Partners, building permit for Lot 23 at Alma Plaza, $392,170
3503 Alma Village Circle Trestle Partners, building permit for Lot 28 at Alma Plaza, $392,170
3507 Alma Village Circle Trestle Partners, building permit for Lot 29 at Alma Plaza, $312,290
1620 Webster St. Y. Shazeer, new single-family residence with attached garage and basement, $1,608,000
2924 Waverley St. G. Tu, new construction two-story home with detached garage, $487,766
769 Rosewood Drive L. Christel, single-family residence with attached garage, $697,600
70 Kirby Place D. Carmeli, new single-family home, $735,348
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At last!
One step closer to the Lucy Liu bot I've always dreamed of.
RoboSapien gets a mate... Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com CES on Video WowWee wheels in Tribot DisplayLink demos multi-monitor USB dongle Guitar Hero gets true air axe WowWee demos FemiSapien robotrix Eye-Fi pitches camera-friendly memory card with... Wi-Fi Amiga explains AmigaOS 5 …
One step closer to the Lucy Liu bot I've always dreamed of.
... what's the point? They aren't graceful, they aren't particularly programmable, they look cheap. I really dont' get the whole plasticosapien thing. Bring back Aibo.
I am sure that there will be a HUGE market for robot prostitutes when they get to the stage of almost being life like.
Now call me picky but that's an 8-pinter if ever I saw one. Blimey. In fact I'd struggle to keep my kebab down.
Of course, the Femisapian will only be truly authentic when it starts nagging you to cut the back lawn and take it shopping. And occasionally saying "Does my bum look big in this?"
I've longed believed that in the same way God made Adam before Eve so the same will be true in the artificial world; let's face it, the Homosapian version will only need a beergut and limited vocabulary. Walk in the park if you ask me.
Paris because a plastic version of her would, sadly, be a best seller.
I got one for Xmas - fun for a while but basically they are just a remote-control toy; programability is very limited.
Then again if robot programming is your thing Lego Mindstorm is the way to go I guess.
They're missing a trick here: add a sailor's hat and corncob pipe: with those forearms and legs, she's... Robo-Popeye! Even her walk is a rolling sailors gait. Someone call King Features and arrange a licensing deal!
I totally agree, nothing I've seen from WowWee has ever made me think "cool toy, gotta get me one of those". I once had a play with the original Robosapien and it was just as I had thought, a complete waste of plastic & electronics.
Sony really should bring back the Aibo, create a new generation one and show the rest of the robot toy world how it should still be done.


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David Wright off to hot start
Mets third baseman leads National League in batting average
Six weeks into the Major League season, David Wright was leading both leagues in batting with an average over .400. But the Mets third baseman says he never checks the scoreboard for updates because the numbers change all the time.
So far, the changes have all been positive for him.
Wright's sizzling start has turned heads around the league. He is locked in at the plate, putting up huge numbers through the first quarter of the Mets season. To understand his production, consider that no right-handed hitter has maintained this early-season pace since Manny Ramirez a decade ago with Boston.
Wright says the players around him are just as responsible for his success as he is.
"As a player, I can tell you that when the players in front of you and behind you in the lineup are going well, it makes my job easier," he said. "That's no secret."
Then, there is the matter of teammates looking out for each other.
"We know each other," Wright said. "Guys I played with for a few years now, we know each other's swings so well. They know what to look for in my swing, and I know what to look for in their swings. We do it all the time. We see things around the batting cage. If your swing goes bad, they'll tell you. They call things to your attention. If we see something out of whack, we let them know about it."
That has not been a problem for Wright this season. Besides his .402 batting average after 37 games, Wright is leading the Majors with a .474 on-base percentage. He had a .598 slugging percentage and had reached base in 32 of 34 games he played. His .411 batting average against right-handers also was tops in the National League.
No Met in club history has approached Wright's .408 average through May 15. The closest was Cleon Jones, who was at .390 at that point in the 1969 season and finished at .340.
Wright is very good at self-analysis.
"I know what my swing is supposed to look like," he said. "So do the other guys around here."
So people like teammate Daniel Murphy -- also off to a hot start -- manager Terry Coillins and hitting coach Dave Hudgens keep a close watch on him.
"I'll hit with the same three or four guys every day," Wright said. "They see things. Murphy's good like that with me. Terry will say, 'I've seen you for a year and a half now. I know what your swing is supposed to look like.'
"You come here every day and get your work in," Wright said. "It's a matter of repetition, duplication. That's what baseball is all about -- muscle memory. It helps when you find something you feel good with and can stay consistent with day in and day out."
Consistency is how successful seasons are crafted. Wright knows his pace will be impossible to maintain. Consider that baseball's last .400 season was authored by Ted Williams in 1941, more than seven decades ago. The closest to .400 since then was Tony Gwynn's .394 in the strike-shortened 1994 season, followed by George Brett's .390 in 1980. When a hitter gets that close, a handful of hits can push him past the .400 plateau. However, that handful of hits can be difficult to come by over the long season.
Wright has become the face of the Mets franchise, the most important player in the lineup. High-profile teammates like Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes have moved on.
"He's a star," Collins said. "And this is his club."
Ask Wright about his prospects for the rest of the season and he smiles broadly.
"We have a long way to go," he said.
Hal Bock is a freelance writer based in New York.
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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buckaroo wrote: At least he's not a dog aggressive, chicken killing fence jumper... ! Who is writing these bios!? .
OH my god! I can't believe that's in there like that!!! Missy is one of my favorites, she's an awesome dog with a great attitude. I really need to get back on marilynn's good side and try to get her to give me account control on adoptapet, It's no small wonder we've still got Missy with a bio like that behind her. Buddy and Gina's both say they've been in rescue a long time which I'd imagine leads people to believe they've been in forever because there's something wrong with them.
The worst part is Gina isn't dog aggressive, she gets along great with Mischief and Gina, I've never seen her with Buddy but as mellow as he is I'd wager she would get along with him too. *edit* Gina will get snarky right back if another dog gets in her face but heck, I get snarky if someone gets in my face too *edit*
Gina, Buddy, and Missy are all at a boarding facility that works with our group and "fosters" some dogs, they're in kennels all the time and though they do get walked and played with I've noticed their behavior kind of slipping a little, Missy didn't pull on the lead when I first met her three years ago, she does now, things like that. It's no surprise though, kind of like chain brain I'm sure being stuck in a kennel is no less mentally frying than being on a chain your whole life.


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Straight Formal Updo Hairstyle with Side Swept Bangs - Light Blonde (Golden) Hair Color
Description(Added: 12th August 2010 )
This up-style is all about height and body. The roots have been set in rollers then teased at the roots to achieve the maximum lift to create this wonderful shape. This will be great for any special occasion and will need plenty of hairspray or lacquer to hold in place.
- Hair Category: Formal
- Hair Length: Updo Long
- Hair Elasticity: Straight
- Gender: Women
- Face Shape: Round, Oval, Heart, and Triangular
- Hair Density: Medium/Thick
- Hair Texture: Fine/Medium
- Age: Under 21, 21 - 30, 31 - 40, and 41 - 50
- Height: Any
- Weight: Thin/Average/Large
- Glasses: Without glasses suits best
- Styling Time: 30+ minutes
- Styling Tip: Allow up to 2 hours styling time for hot roller setting, teasing, pinning and spraying. This long lasting style is great for all occasions and all weather conditions.


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By Grandma
Resolution: 1500x1112 px
By Grandma
Resolution: 1500x1112 px
Hello, welcome to Grandma Loves Sewing. Thank you for visiting my website. I will be glad if the information provided will come to your use. Know more about me
All Rights Reserved - 2017 Grandma Loves Sewing
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