text:
Pope's butler pleads innocent to theft charge
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI's onetime butler declared Tuesday he was innocent of a charge of aggravated theft of the pope's private correspondence, but acknowledged he photocopied the papers and said he feels guilty that he betrayed the trust of the pontiff he loved like a father.
Paolo Gabriele took the stand Tuesday in a Vatican courtroom to defend himself. Prosecutors say Gabriele stole papal letters and documents alleging power struggles and corruption inside the Vatican and passed them off to a journalist in one of the most damaging scandals of Benedict's pontificate.
Gabriele faces four years in prison if he is found guilty, although most Vatican watchers expect he will receive a papal pardon if he is convicted.
Prosecutors have said Gabriele, 46, has confessed to leaking copies of the documents to Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, because he wanted to expose the "evil and corruption" in the church. They quoted him as saying in a June 5 interrogation that even though he knew taking the documents was wrong, he felt inspired by the Holy Spirit "to bring the church back on the right track."
Judge Giuseppe Dalla Torre asked Gabriele on Tuesday if he stood by his confession. Gabriele responded: "Yes."
Asked, though, by his attorney Cristiana Arru how he responded to the charge of aggravated theft, Gabriele said: "I declare myself innocent concerning the charge of aggravated theft. I feel guilty of having betrayed the trust of the Holy Father, whom I love as a son would."
He insisted he had no accomplices, though he acknowledged that many people inside the Vatican trusted him and would come to him with their problems and concerns. He said he felt inspired by his faith to always give them a listen.
The trial opened over the weekend inside the intimate ground-floor tribunal in the Vatican's courthouse tucked behind St. Peter's Basilica. Dalla Torre has said he expects it to be over within three more hearings.
In addition to Gabriele, the court heard Tuesday from four witnesses, including the pope's private secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, who along with Gabriele was the closest assistant to the pontiff.
Gaenswein testified that he began having suspicions about Gabriele after he realized three documents that appeared in Nuzzi's book could only have come from the office he shared with Gabriele and Benedict's other private secretary.
"This was the moment when I started to have my doubts," Gaenswein said.
The book, His Holiness: Pope Benedict XVI's private papers, became an immediate blockbuster when it was published May 20, detailing intrigue and scandals inside the Apostolic Palace. The leaked documents seemed primarily aimed at discrediting Benedict's No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, often criticized for perceived shortcomings in running the Vatican administration.
Gaenswein said as soon as he read the book, he immediately asked the pope's permission to convene a meeting of the small papal family to ask each member if he or she had taken the documentation.
One member, Cristina Cernetti, one of the pope's four housekeepers, told the court she knew immediately that Gabriele was to blame because she could exclude without a doubt any other member of the family.
In an indication of the respect Gabriele still feels for Gaenswein, he stood up from his bench when Gaenswein entered the courtroom and then again when he exited. Gaenswein didn't acknowledge him.
The trial resumes Wednesday with the testimony of four members of the Vatican police force who conducted the search of Gabriele's Vatican City apartment on May 23. In testimony Tuesday, two police officers said they discovered thousands of papers in Gabriele's studio, some of them originals.
During the testimony, the lawyer Arru complained about the conditions under which Gabriele spent his first 20 days in detention, saying the cell was so small he couldn't stretch out his arms and that lights were kept on 24 hours a day.
Gabriele said those conditions contributed to "psychological depression."
Dalla Torre invited the prosecutor to launch an investigation, which he did. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the size of the cell conformed with international standards.


text:
I still have my original boxes and discs of WipeOut 2 and Wip3Out: Special Edition, and dying to play these games again (not the newer ones on PS3 or Vita).
Would it be better to buy a PlayStation 2 instead of a PS1? I'm guessing the games will be 100% compatible right?
How about the connection to an LCD screen? I have an old BenQ FP93V lying around with D-Sub and DVI connectors, is it easier to get adapters for the PS2 or the PSX?

subset: commoncrawl


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Galilee Bedouin Camplodge
At the lower Galilee and close to Nazareth and Bethlehem of Galilee, Bedouin hospitality is waiting just for you with lots of scenic views and amazing nature.
For more then 15 years, we live with our family in good harmony and friendship with our Bedouin neighbors. We fell in love with this place on first sight, when we first arrived here fifteen years ago. We have built our home here, in the Bedouin village Hilf-Tabash, in the lower Galilee close to Nazareth and Bethlehem of Galilee. We run a tent accommodation by the name Shevet Ahim, which means Brothers' Tribe.
The landscape viewed from our place is of the charming and beautiful Galilee. Moreover, the area offers ample opportunities for site seeing in nature by foot, bicycle or four-wheeled vehicles.
The design of the place and the facilities offered combined with the soothing atmosphere of the landscape and, above all, the pleasant and hospitable spirit of the Bedouin village make the stay an authentic and unforgettable experience.
Availability & RatesTo view availability and prices please select dates and click 'Update Dates'
Campsite Facilities & Policies
- Child Friendly
- Credit Cards Not Accepted
- Free Internet Access
- Free Parking
- Free WiFi
- Hot Showers
- Internet Access
- Self-Catering Facilities
- Late check-out
- Linen Included
- Luggage Storage
- Microwave
- No Curfew
- Outdoor Terrace
- Parking
- Tea & Coffee Making Facilities
- Tours/Travel Desk
- Towels For Hire
- Towels Included
Cancellation PolicyThis property has a 1 day cancellation policy. Failure to cancel within this time will result in a cancellation charge equal to the first night of your stay.
Must-Read Campsite InfoThis property has specific Terms & Conditions.
Please note:
Check In Time: 14h
Check Out Time: 12h
Credit Cards Not Accepted: Payment by cash on arrival
Breakfast Not Included
Taxes included
DirectionsShow MapHide Map
By car:
Enter 'Tabash' on your GPS device (or enter 'Galilee Bedouin Camplodge' in Google Maps) and call us once you've reach the village for exact location.
By bus:
From Nazareth there is bus number 12 that arrived to Hilf-Tabash.
By foot:
The paths that leading to Hilf Tabash from Alonei Aba or Bethlehem of Galilee through the nature reserve is more than worth the 2 km easy hike.
Located Near
Our place is situated between two nature reserves, the Alonei Aba nature reserve on the one side and the Tzippori Brook nature reserve on the other side. In the valley below the village the Eyn Yivka spring is located. The spring is surrounded by pomegranate orchards and green patches of lawn, which stretch over an old road along the river leading to the Carmelite Monk Wheat Mill from the Ottoman period.


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The JAR file for the OCI Oracle driver is ojdbc14.jar. Make sure that the shared library is available through LD_LIBRARY_PATH and that the ORACLE_HOME property is set. Configure the connection pool using the following settings:
Name: Use this name when you configure the JDBC resource later.
Resource Type: Specify the appropriate value.
Database Vendor: Oracle
DataSource Classname: Specify one of the following:
oracle.jdbc.pool.OracleDataSource oracle.jdbc.xa.client.OracleXADataSource
user – Set as appropriate.
password – Set as appropriate.
xa-driver-does-not-support-non-tx-operations - Set to the value true. Only needed if both non-XA and XA connections are retrieved from the same connection pool. Might degrade performance.
As an alternative to setting this property, you can create two connection pools, one for non-XA connections and one for XA connections.


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This information is produced and provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The information in this topic may have changed since it was written. For the most current information, contact the National Cancer Institute via the Internet web site at http://cancer.gov or call 1-800-4-CANCER.
Note: Separate PDQ summaries on Ovarian Cancer Screening and Ovarian Epithelial Cancer Treatment are also available.
Oral Contraceptives: Benefits
Based on solid evidence, oral contraceptive use is associated with a decreased risk of developing ovarian cancer.
Description of the Evidence
Oral Contraceptives: Harms
Based on solid evidence, combined current use of estrogen/progestogen oral contraceptive use is associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism. Oral contraceptives are not associated with a long-term increased risk of breast cancer but may be associated with a short-term increased risk while a woman is taking oral contraceptives. The risk of breast cancer declines with time since last use.
Prophylactic Oophorectomy: Benefits
Based on solid evidence, prophylactic bilateral oophorectomy is associated with a decreased risk of ovarian cancer. Peritoneal carcinomatosis has been reported following prophylactic removal of the ovaries. Prophylactic oophorectomy, along with salpingo-oophorectomy, is generally reserved for women at high risk of developing ovarian cancer, such as women who have a deleterious mutation in a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene.
Prophylactic Oophorectomy: Harms
Based on solid evidence, prophylactic oophorectomy among women who are still menstruating at the time of surgery is associated with infertility, vasomotor symptoms, decreased sexual interest, vaginal dryness, urinary frequency, decreased bone mineral density, and increased cardiovascular disease.
Incidence and Mortality
In 2012, it is estimated that 22,280 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed and 15,500 deaths due to ovarian cancer will occur. Incidence rates have been relatively stable since 1992. Death rates for ovarian cancer decreased by 1.9% per year from 2004 to 2008.[1]
For the general population of women, the lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer is 1.39%; the lifetime risk of dying from ovarian cancer is 1.04%.[2] Some women are at an increased risk due to an inherited susceptibility to ovarian cancer with the magnitude of that risk depending on the affected gene and specific mutation. Underlying ovarian cancer risk can be assessed through accurate pedigrees and/or genetic markers of risk. Because of uncertainties about cancer risks associated with specific gene mutations, genetic information may be difficult to interpret outside of families with a high incidence of ovarian cancer. Three inherited ovarian cancer susceptibility syndromes have been described: (1) familial site-specific ovarian cancer; (2) familial breast/ovarian cancer; and (3) Lynch II syndrome, which is a combination of breast, ovarian, endometrial, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary cancers.[3,4] Considering family history in the absence of specific information on BRCA1/2 mutation status, unaffected women who have two or three relatives with ovarian cancer have a cumulative ovarian cancer risk of about 7%.[3,5] Women who have a mother or sister with ovarian cancer have a cumulative lifetime risk of ovarian cancer of about 5%.
This summary does not address the groups that are at high risk due to inherited genetic factors. (Refer to the PDQ summary on the Genetics of Breast and Ovarian Cancer for more information.)
The pathogenesis of ovarian carcinoma remains unclear. Several theories have been proposed to explain the epidemiology of ovarian cancer including the theory of "incessant ovulation,"[1,2] gonadotropin stimulation,[3] excess androgenic stimulation,[4] and inflammation.[5] Associated risk factors for ovarian cancer support some or all of these hypotheses. Oral contraceptive use is consistently associated with a decreased risk of ovarian cancer and may operate through preventing the trauma from repeated ovulation by lowering exposure to gonadotropins. No one theory, however, explains all the associated risk factors.
Protective Factors
Factors associated with a decreased risk of ovarian cancer include: (1) using oral contraceptives, (2) having and breastfeeding children, (3) having a bilateral tubal ligation or hysterectomy, and (4) having a prophylactic oophorectomy.
Oral contraceptives
Multiple studies have consistently demonstrated a decrease in ovarian cancer risk in women who take oral contraceptives.[6,7] The protective association increases with the duration of oral contraceptive use and persists up to 25 years after discontinuing oral contraceptives. A review of the literature demonstrated a 10% to 12% decrease in risk associated with use for 1 year and an approximate 50% decrease after 5 years of use. This reduced risk was present among both nulliparous and parous women.[6] A protective association between oral contraceptives and risk of ovarian cancer has been observed in most studies [8,9,10] among women who carry a mutation in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. A population-based study conducted in Israel did not observe an association between oral contraceptives and ovarian cancer, but parity was protective.[11]
Tubal sterilization
In a prospective study, a 33% decrease in the risk of ovarian cancer among women who underwent tubal sterilization was observed after adjusting the data for oral contraceptive use, parity, and other ovarian cancer risk factors. This study also demonstrated a weaker, although statistically significant, decrease in risk associated with simple hysterectomy.[12]
Prophylactic oophorectomy
Prophylactic oophorectomy may reduce the risk of developing ovarian cancer for women at high risk. One group for whom this option is considered is women who have an inherited susceptibility to ovarian cancer such as women who have mutations in BRCA1, BRCA2, or hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC)–associated genes. These women have a lifetime risk much higher than the general population, in the range of 20% to 60%. Evidence of the magnitude of risk reduction associated with bilateral oophorectomy comes primarily from studies of women with an inherited risk of cancer. A family-based study among women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations found that of the 259 women who had undergone bilateral prophylactic oophorectomy, 2 (0.8%) developed subsequent papillary serous peritoneal carcinoma and 6 (2.8%) had stage I ovarian cancer at the time of surgery. Twenty-percent of the 292 matched controls who did not have prophylactic surgery developed ovarian cancer. Prophylactic surgery was associated with a greater than 90% reduction in the risk of ovarian cancer, (relative risk [RR] = 0.04; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.01–0.16) with an average follow-up of 9 years;[13] however, family-based studies may be associated with biases due to case selection and other factors that may influence the estimate of benefit.[14] A study of 315 women with documented HNPCC–associated germline mutations found no ovarian cancer among 47 women who had bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and 12 cases (5%) among women with mutations who had not had surgery for a prevented fraction of 100% (95% CI, 62%–100%). Prophylactic surgery, however, is not 100% effective. Case reports and case series have reported the occurrence of peritoneal carcinomatosis following oophorectomy.[15,16,17]
The degree of risk of ovarian cancer, potential morbidity and mortality of surgery, and the risks associated with early menopause, should be taken into account when considering prophylactic oophorectomy for high-risk women. Adverse effects of bilateral oophorectomy and premature menopause include infertility, vasomotor symptoms, decline in sexual interest and activity, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis. Among women who have not taken hormone therapy, women undergoing bilateral oophorecotmy were twice as likely to have moderate or severe hot flashes than women who underwent natural menopause (odds ratio [OR] = 2.44; 95% CI, 1.03–5.77).[18] Women at increased hereditary risk of ovarian cancer who underwent oophorectomy without hormone therapy reported statistically significantly more vasomotor symptoms than women choosing screening or those using hormone replacement therapy (HRT).[19] These women also reported lower sexual function scores but the difference was not statistically significant.[19] A meta-analysis of early menopause as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease observed a pooled risk of 4.55 (95% CI, 2.56–8.01) among women with bilateral oophorectomy and early menopause (defined as younger than 50 years).[20] Early menopause is also associated with an increased risk of fracture (OR = 1.5; 95% CI, 1.2–1.8).[21]
Nonhereditary Factors Associated With an Increased Risk of Ovarian Cancer
Hormone replacement therapy/hormone therapy
Postmenopausal use of HRT, also called hormone therapy (HT), is associated with an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer.[22,23,24] The risk may vary by use of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), also called estrogen therapy (ET), or estrogen-progestin replacement therapy (EPRT). A cohort study of women who participated in the Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration Project showed an increased risk of ovarian cancer associated with use of ERT/ET and ERT/ET followed by EPRT. A RR of 3.2 (95% CI, 1.7–5.7) was associated with 20 or more years use of ERT/ET only, with a statistically significant trend of increasing risk with increasing duration of use. Although no risk of ovarian cancer associated with EPRT use alone was observed, the number of women in this subgroup was small and an associated risk cannot be ruled out.[23] A case-control study of ovarian cancer also did not find an association between combined estrogen and progestin, but use of estrogen-only therapy for more than 10 years was associated with an increased risk.[25] An association between postmenopausal estrogen use and ovarian cancer mortality also has been shown. Vital status of 211,581 postmenopausal women, all of whom completed a baseline questionnaire in 1982 documenting no history of cancer, hysterectomy, or ovarian surgery was assessed through December 31, 1996. Women who were using estrogen at baseline had a significantly higher risk of ovarian cancer death than women who never used estrogen (RR = 1.51; 95% CI, 1.16–1.96). The risk increased with longer duration of use; women using estrogen at baseline and those who had used estrogen for at least 10 years had a higher risk of ovarian cancer death than did women who had never used estrogen, respectively (RR = 2.20; 95% CI, 1.53–3.17).[26]
The largest double-blind randomized controlled trial of combined HRT/HT was the Women's Health Initiative (N = 16,608). This study found that, after an average follow-up of 5.6 years, women taking combined HRT/HT (compared with women randomly assigned to placebo) had a nonstatistically significant increased risk of invasive ovarian cancer (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.58; 0.77–3.24), with a wide confidence interval.[27]
Infertility treatment
A collaborative analysis of case-control studies, analyzing data from 2,200 women with ovarian cancer and 8,900 control women from 12 U.S. studies, reported an association between fertility drug use and invasive ovarian cancer.[28] The use of fertility drugs was associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer, primarily in women who did not have a subsequent pregnancy. Two case-control studies published subsequent to the collaborative analysis did not find an association between fertility drug use and risk of ovarian cancer.[29,30]
A retrospective cohort study of women evaluated for infertility observed an increased risk of invasive or borderline malignant ovarian tumors associated with prolonged use of clomiphene.[31] Another retrospective cohort of more than 12,000 women evaluated for infertility found an increased risk of ovarian cancer compared with the general population (standardized incidence ratio 1.98; 95% CI, 1.4–2.6). There was no excess risk with the use of clomiphene or gonadotropins. Although the risks of ovarian cancer were slightly higher among women with 15 or more years from first exposure, the number of exposed cases were small (five exposed cases and three exposed cases, respectively) and observed rate ratios were not statistically significant.
Several other cohort studies of women undergoing infertility treatment have not observed an excess risk of ovarian cancer.[32,33,34] In one study, women with unexplained infertility who were not exposed to fertility drugs had an excess risk of ovarian and uterine cancers.[34]
Talc exposure
A cohort study among nurses did not observe a risk of ovarian cancer associated with perineal talc use (RR = 1.09; 95% CI, 0.86–1.37).[35] A meta-analysis of 16 studies observed an increased risk with the use of talc (RR = 1.33; 95% CI, 1.16–1.45); however, there was no evidence of a dose response.
Height, weight, and dietary factors
Obesity is associated with an increased mortality from ovarian cancer.[36] In cohort studies, height and body mass index (BMI),[37,38] including high BMI during adolescence,[38] were associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer, suggesting a role for diet and nutrition during the adolescent period.
Associations with specific dietary factors and ovarian cancer are not consistent among observational studies.[39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47]
The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.
Updated statistics with estimated new cases and deaths for 2012 (cited American Cancer Society as reference 1).
If you have questions or comments about this summary, please send them to Cancer.gov through the Web site's Contact Form. We can respond only to email messages written in English.
Purpose of This Summary
This PDQ cancer information summary for health professionals provides comprehensive, peer-reviewed, evidence-based information about ovarian cancer prevention. It is intended as a resource to inform and assist clinicians who care for cancer patients. It does not provide formal guidelines or recommendations for making health care decisions.
Reviewers and Updates
This summary is reviewed regularly and updated as necessary by the PDQ Screening and Prevention Editorial Board, which is editorially independent of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The summary reflects an independent review of the literature and does not represent a policy statement of NCI or the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Board members review recently published articles each month to determine whether an article should:
Changes to the summaries are made through a consensus process in which Board members evaluate the strength of the evidence in the published articles and determine how the article should be included in the summary.
Any comments or questions about the summary content should be submitted to Cancer.gov through the Web site's Contact Form. Do not contact the individual Board Members with questions or comments about the summaries. Board members will not respond to individual inquiries.
Levels of Evidence
Some of the reference citations in this summary are accompanied by a level-of-evidence designation. These designations are intended to help readers assess the strength of the evidence supporting the use of specific interventions or approaches. The PDQ Screening and Prevention Editorial Board uses a formal evidence ranking system in developing its level-of-evidence designations.
Permission to Use This Summary
PDQ is a registered trademark. Although the content of PDQ documents can be used freely as text, it cannot be identified as an NCI PDQ cancer information summary unless it is presented in its entirety and is regularly updated. However, an author would be permitted to write a sentence such as "NCI's PDQ cancer information summary about breast cancer prevention states the risks succinctly: [include excerpt from the summary]."
The preferred citation for this PDQ summary is:
National Cancer Institute: PDQ® Ovarian Cancer Prevention. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute. Date last modified <MM/DD/YYYY>. Available at: http://cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/prevention/ovarian/HealthProfessional. Accessed <MM/DD/YYYY>.
Images in this summary are used with permission of the author(s), artist, and/or publisher for use within the PDQ summaries only. Permission to use images outside the context of PDQ information must be obtained from the owner(s) and cannot be granted by the National Cancer Institute. Information about using the illustrations in this summary, along with many other cancer-related images, is available in Visuals Online, a collection of over 2,000 scientific images.
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More information about contacting us or receiving help with the Cancer.gov Web site can be found on our Contact Us for Help page. Questions can also be submitted to Cancer.gov through the Web site's Contact Form.
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For more information, U.S. residents may call the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Cancer Information Service toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Eastern Time. A trained Cancer Information Specialist is available to answer your questions.
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Last Revised: 2012-02-06
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10th anniversary: The Iraq War changed how the U.S. Army trains
As America was sending its sons and daughters into battle a decade ago, the U.S. Army's expertise was based largely on the conventional philosophy of tank versus tank, foot soldier against foot soldier.
That changed in a flash. The invasion of Iraq's capital of Baghdad, led by Fort Benning's 3rd Brigade Heavy Combat Team, would give way to years of war fought often in smaller towns and cities.
Shadowy terrorist figures — mixing in at times with locals — replaced the uniformed Warsaw Pact adversaries the military had long trained to fight against in a major conflict. Improvised explosive devices (IEDs), or homemade bombs planted on roadways or worn by suicidal individuals, quickly became a deadly threat aimed at not only killing U.S. soldiers, but keeping them on edge and wounding morale.
The Army knew it had to adapt — and fast — with its ranks swelling with civilians-turned-soldiers, many of whom were deploying within 90 days of completing their basic and advanced combat training.
Naturally, those changes rippled swiftly to the Home of the Infantry at Fort Benning, changes that are entrenched in the way recruits are taught today.
Staff Sgt. Jesse Murray, who entered the military just before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, knows the lessons learned from Iraq — and subsequently from Afghanistan — as well as anyone. The Fort Benning Drill Sergeant of the Year deployed to Iraq three times and today is among those training troops how to survive in harm's way.
"When I was a private, a lot of my squad leaders and leadership did not have any combat experience. And I remember during my first deployment to Iraq, there was a certain kind of anxiety," said Murray, who was with the 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Wash., when the Stryker — a speedy armored vehicle and troop carrier — made its appearance in Iraq.
Contrast that to today, when virtually all of the drill sergeants Murray works with have seen action in either Iraq and Afghanistan and have their combat infantryman's badge.
Specifically, Murray said, one station unit training — which combines basic and advanced combat training into one continuous stream of instruction — shifted away from trench warfare and firing rifles from foxholes to using various shooting positions from barriers and around building corners.
Less emphasis was placed on the use of nuclear, biological and chemical masks, with more time spent using night-vision goggles and devices. The term "weapons immersion" also entered the Army's terminology.
"When I went through originally, the only time we touched our weapons is when we went out to the range," the drill sergeant said. "Now it's a constant thing. Privates have their weapons on them all the time, and that reflects what they're going to see in Iraq ... A lot of times they try to overrun the bases and we don't have time to run back to our rooms, grab all of our ammo, get suited up, and run back out to wherever we need to be."
Training on improvised explosion devices also ramped up and easily grabbed the attention of recruits, particularly with news stories from the warfront detailing how a mundane foot patrol or drive from one area to another ended up with soldiers losing an arm or a leg, and for some, their lives.
"Whenever we talk about IEDs, that's generally when I'll talk about the real-life effects where soldiers that I know have gotten hurt or injured permanently," Murray said. "When we talk about (rocket-propelled grenades), I have a story that specifically relates to that. What I think it does is help make it real to them ... They do soak that up because it's something that they know absolutely nothing about."
The U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command projects the service will put nearly 85,000 recruits through basic combat training this fiscal year. That number will rise slightly in fiscal year 2014.
One station unit training, which includes both infantry and armor recruits at Fort Benning, will slow from just under 36,000 this year to slightly more than 30,000 in 2014, TRADOC projects.
Just as the infantry has altered its instruction, so has the U.S. Army Armor School, which relocated from Fort Knox, Ky., to Fort Benning in 2011 to create the Maneuver Center of Excellence and combine its heavier power with that of the ground troops.
First Sgt. Anthony Bell deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and did a stint as a drill sergeant just prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Today, he is a 316th Cavalry Bigade operations noncommissioned officer with a basic officer's course for armor lieutenants at Fort Benning.
"When I was a drill sergeant, it was more about developing the soldier for the conventional Army," he said. "There was an emphasis on identifying all the foreign enemy tanks for that conventional environment, that woodland environment, and maintaining your vehicles."
Just as with the infantry, the armor's training has expanded to include moving through an urban area, clearing buildings, and being able to connect with people in small towns to nurture relations and, hopefully, gather critical intelligence.
"I'm from the scout side of the armor branch, and that was a large part of our job, entering and securing buildings, which is an infantry task," Bell said of the similarities between the two service rivals who now have been brought together at Fort Benning.
Bell said the integration of the armor with the infantry is beginning to gel, with each planning more and more training time together on their schedules. The goal is to create a more efficient, nimble and fighting force beyond the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Just as the U.S. Army did prior to those conflicts, it will continue to study what has worked and what hasn't on the battlefield, then make necessary changes to training that will yield even better warriors, said Col. David Wilcox, chief of staff of the U.S. Army Initial Military Training Center of Excellence at Fort Eustis, Va. The center falls under TRADOC.
"We're cosntantly looking at what we train and how we train it, based upon those tech-savvy young folks coming in," he said. "I might add, though, they're a little bit out of shape than those of us who came in 15 or 20 years ago. So we're having to get them in shape."
Wilcox commanded a training brigade at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri from 2009-2011, with engineers, military police officers, chemical specialists and medical personnel receiving basic and advanced training there. He also deployed both to Afghanistan and Iraq, and was in the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, when a commercial jet crashed into the building three corridors over from his office.
The need for changes in training became apparent early in the invasion of Iraq, Wilcox said, with the quick turnaround of recruits to the battle front. Aside from the necessity of preparing them for entering a city or dark buildings, the Army's physical fitness program was revamped.
"It is geared more to conditions in a combat environment than it is to going out and running a 10k or a marathon," he said, using the word "agility" to describe the desired goal of determining: "What are the conditions if I had to carry a buddy 50 or 60 meters to safety? Could I do that with a basic combat load on me?"
Wilcox said the Army now is in the middle of a six-month major review of its training program as it moves from an Army at war to a force working to be prepared for a possible new threat or conflict. The review could be complete by September, he said, although there is no concrete timeframe for rolling out any changes and the numbers of troops needed in the coming years.
"It's a balancing act as we draw down the (soldier) numbers," he said. "But I think the quality will get even better as we get stricter on standards coming in, and maintaining the standards throughout your career. With the drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan, we will be more selective in our recruiting efforts."
The strategy of training agile soldiers who can think fast on their feet and solve complex problems in combat — or during natural disasters — is a major positive change that came out of the dual wars on terrorism, said Lt. Gen. Robert Brown, commander of I Corps at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
"We hadn't anticipated our soldiers would have to do that because of the complexity of the world and the environment," said Brown, who commanded Fort Benning as it was blending the infantry and armor together into the Maneuver Center of Excellence.
"It's the same thing businesses face, we all face," he said. "The clerk at a company just can't be the clerk anymore. They've got to be empowered or you're not going to do well in today's world. You're going to be too slow and you can't react fast enough to beat the enemy or anything we're facing."
Brown, whose career included a tour of duty in Bosnia prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operating Enduring Freedom, recalled a brigade commander in the European nation who became extremely frustrated because of the enormous amounts of information flowing into his headquarters.
"He was used to looking out into the desert and saying: Go left, go right, do this, do that. Well, he couldn't do that anymore. We were all over the place, and we had to be independent or you couldn't act fast enough. That picked up speed even more in Iraq and will forever, by the way, in warfare. We're never going back. We have overwhelming amounts of information."
That stream of information from various military and U.S. government sources trumps the days of taking a few scraps of intelligence, feeding it up the command chain, and then waiting for a decision for a battalion or brigade's next move on the battlefield.
"So you retrain completely different with that," the general said. "Instead of telling a soldier: Do these 10 steps. We'd say, here's what we want you to accomplish. You figure it out, and back-brief us. Use your agility, you're empowered, and finish the job. We started training that long before we deployed."
Looking ahead, with federal budget cuts guaranteed, Brown said the good news is the U.S. has the most experienced Army it's ever had. But the challenge will be maintaining that sharp edge amid a downsizing military that's been at such a high tempo for more than a decade. He said it still must remain on guard for other threats in the Asian-Pacific region, such as North Korea, which maintains a belligerent world stance.
"Of course, you've got to cut," he said. "But where's the fine line where you get to the point where you go from the best in the world to — all of a sudden — you're not anymore, because you can't maintain."
With his I Corps units, Brown said he's already having to prioritize training. And it's not an easy thing to do.
"My number one priority are those units heading to Afghanistan, of course," he said. "But that means I have some units that will go from a highly trained level to a not-ready level. How long does it take to get them back? What if they're called upon tomorrow? How much time do we have? That's tough."


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WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Even if Syria acts in good faith to rid itself of its chemical weapons, it will take some time to accomplish, a White House spokesman said Wednesday.
But the United States is "not interested in delaying tactics," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters.
"There is no question that the credible threat of U.S. military force brought us this diplomatic opening," Carney said. "Until two days ago, Syria did not even acknowledge that it possessed chemical weapons. We have seen more cooperation and helpful activity on this matter from the Russians in the last two days than we've seen in the last two years."
U.S. officials will review a potential U.N. agreement from Russia to secure Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, Secretary of State John Kerry said.
The draft U.N. resolution would come from Moscow a day after U.S. President Obama said in a nationally televised address he would hold off on military action and pursue Russia's proposal for international monitors to take over and destroy Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons.
"I don't have a timeline to give to you," Carney said. "What I can say is that it obviously will take some time. There are technical aspects involved in developing a plan for securing Syria's chemical weapons and verifying their location and putting them under international control. ... But we also are not interested in delaying tactics, and we believe it's very important to hold Assad accountable. What is, I think, very clarifying about this is, as the president made clear all along, the potential use of limited military strikes by the United States was in response to Assad's use of chemical weapons."
Carney said the process "needs to be credible. It needs to be verifiable."
The United States is "entering this with our eyes wide open, ... As the president has said, our military commanders, his military commanders have assured him that the military is ready and that waiting for a certain period of time will not negatively affect their ability to inflict the kind of damage that we envision on Assad's capabilities, if that were to become necessary.
"We, of course, remain skeptical of any commitments that Syria is making," Carney added. "The Assad regime is not shown itself particularly consistent in keeping its commitments. But it is absolutely the right thing to do to explore this possibility."
The United States says the Assad regime's latest use of sarin gas killed more than 1,400 people, including 426 children. More than 100,000 have died in the two-year-old Syrian civil war so far.


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SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt.—Four Beacons scored and UMass Boston (2-3-1, 2-3-1 ECAC East) overcame a second period deficit on the road, to earn a 5-4 win over St. Michael's College (1-5, 1-5 ECAC East) Saturday afternoon at the Cairns Arena.
Sophomore Kayla Kiernan (North Smithfield, R.I.) scored two goals, including the game-winner, to help UMass Boston end a two-game losing streak.
It was Kiernan's second two-goal game this season, as she leads the Beacons with four goals and six points. She also picked up an assist in the victory.
Sophomore Kailyn Burke (Franklin, Mass.) earned her first career victory in her first collegiate start. After making her collegiate debut in Friday night's 6-0 loss at Norwich University, Burke made 27 saves on 31 shots.
Seniors Emily LaRosa (Weymouth, Mass.) and sophomores Emily Howard (Terryville, Conn.) and Alyssa Sullivan (Medford, Mass.) scored goals as well for UMB.
While Alli Greenberg ( Stoughton, Mass.), Katie Loiselle (Glocester, R.I.) and Emily Russell (Marblehead, Mass.) all picked up assists.
Purple Vikings' sophomore Kristin Spulecki led the home team with two goals in the losing effort.
St. Michael's goalie Erin Stevens was under consistent pressure all afternoon long, making 36 stops on 41 shots.
The Beacons held a 41-31 shot advantage, but St. Michael's was much more effective on the power-play with a 2-for-6 effort. UMass Boston went 0-for-2 on their two chances.
The Beacons broke on the board with a pair of tallies in a 3:18 stretch of the opening period. Kiernan first went from forehand to backhand out front to deke Stevens at 7:30 before Stevens stopped an initial Kiernan shot a few minutes later, but Sullivan pounced on the rebound and potted her team's second goal, at the 10:48 mark.
St. Michael's would get a goal back late in the first period on the power play, when Spulecki beat Burke for the first of her two goals.
In the second stanza, the teams combined for seven goals, all of which came in the final 4:36. After the hosts killed off a 17-second UMass Boston 5-on-3 power play and the ensuing one-player advantage, during which Stevens made back-to-back right pad saves to keep the score 2-1, Tracy Stevenson fired a shot from the left boards that knotted the game at the 15:24 mark.
Just 2:04 later, Allison Graf's shot from the left point found the upper right-hand corner of the net, giving Saint Michael's a 3-2 edge.
However, the Beacons countered when Howard skated into the zone and picked the upper right corner at 18:26, and LaRosa slipped a backhanded shot inside the left post with 45.3 seconds left.
In the third, Stevens denied Kiernan during a 2-on-1 break with four minutes gone before Kiernan made it 5-3 at 6:48. Just nine seconds removed from being released from the penalty box, Kiernan rushed into the zone and had a shot denied by Stevens, but she picked up the rebound and tallied.
UMass Boston will finish off their three game road-trip when they travel to Brunswick, Maine Tuesday to face off against Bowdoin College at 7 p.m.


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Dangerous Policy Lurks behind Romeike Triumph
Federal officials announced last week that they will allow the Romeike family to stay in America. The decision came after Department of Justice lawyers argued that Germany's mistreatment of homeschoolers like the Romeikes is perfectly reasonable. Read more about the Romeike family.
by Michael Farris
HSLDA Founder and Chairman
Other than the Romeike family themselves, no one could have been more thrilled than me with the sudden reversal from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which allowed them to remain in the United States. Just one day after the Supreme Court refused to review the court order that demanded their deportation to Germany, the Romeikes were informed by DHS that they could remain indefinitely in the United States where they can continue to homeschool their children.
The DHS notification came to attorney Will Humble, who was the immigration lawyer assisting the Romeikes and HSLDA at all phases of these proceedings. Humble was lead counsel before the administrative judge, and I was lead counsel before the federal courts.
This administrative victory needs to be understood for what it is. It is a victory for the Romeike family alone. No other German homeschooling family can benefit from the administrative grace that was shown in this one instance.
Damage Done
Despite this welcome relief for this one courageous family, the damage done to our laws on asylum and the principles of religious and parental freedom remains.
We cannot slip into complacency and believe that all is well on all fronts. The dangers latent in this case must be understood, combatted, and reversed.
Some court decisions contain language that presents a self-evident danger to liberty. Other times the dangers are much more subtle. For example, in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935), the Court held that Congress could not regulate commerce once goods had come to rest within a state. It could only regulate commerce while in transit and—with words that launched a thousand regulations—those things that "directly affect" commerce. The "effects test" has been used by Congress, the Supreme Court, and the executive branch to impose countless regulations on all manner of activity that would otherwise be outside of federal jurisdiction.
The dangers to liberty that are embedded in the Romeike case are equally subtle. One has to take a closer look at the facts in the record, the arguments of the Obama Justice Department, and the decision of the Sixth Circuit to fully appreciate the very dangerous ideas that were embraced in this case.
But once these dangerous ideas are unmasked, it becomes apparent that they pose real threats to the principles of freedom that virtually all Americans would have believed were solidly established.
Burden of Proof
As with any asylum case, the Romeikes needed to prove two basic propositions to be entitled to asylum. They had to prove that they faced either past or future persecution and that this persecution was motivated, at least in part, on one of the grounds contained in our asylum statute. Religious persecution is one of these recognized grounds for asylum.
Thus, the case boiled down to two particular questions:
1. Was the punishment that the Romeikes would face upon deportation back to Germany sufficiently severe to count as persecution?
2. Was the motive of the German government marked, at least in part, by a desire to repress the family's exercise of their religious beliefs?
On one level, the first question was not seriously debated. All parties agreed that if the family returned to Germany and continued to homeschool, they would face the threat of losing custody of their children.
Our government was not so callous as to suggest that losing one's children would not be a severe punishment. However, the government and Sixth Circuit contended that it would not be persecution, because the family could just stop homeschooling and send their children to public schools in order to avoid the punishment.
In this context, the controlling legal rule is that persecution is proven when a government acts against a person either for an immutable characteristic or for a reason that one should not be required to change.
"Tolerance will never be achieved by a government which is intolerant of religious minorities."
Michael Farris
HSLDA Founder and Chairman
Our government contended that forcing a parent to have their children attend a school that violates their religious beliefs does not offend a conviction that one should not be required to change.
Dangerous Conclusion
Hence, the first dangerous rule to emerge from the Romeike case is that governments may order children to attend schools that violate the family's religious beliefs. It was not a direct ruling in this case anymore than the effects test was a direct ruling in the Schechter Poultry case, but the conclusion is present just the same.
The second issue—was Germany motivated, at least in part, by a desire to suppress the religion of the Romeikes?—requires review of some important facts from the record. Both HSLDA and the Justice Department placed considerable emphasis on a finding by Germany's Federal Constitutional Court that contained a discussion of the motive for the ban on homeschooling.
The general public has a justified interest in counteracting the development of religiously or philosophically motivated "parallel societies" and in integrating minorities in this area. Integration does not only require that the majority of the population does not exclude religious or ideological minorities, but, in fact, that these minorities do not segregate themselves and that they do not close themselves off to a dialogue with dissenters and people of other beliefs. Dialogue with such minorities is an enrichment for an open pluralistic society. The learning and practicing of this in the sense of experienced tolerance is an important lesson right from the elementary school stage. The presence of a broad spectrum of convictions in a classroom can sustainably develop the ability of all pupils in being tolerant and exercising the dialogue that is a basic requirement of democratic decision-making process.
Our Justice Department and the Sixth Circuit found no motive to suppress religion in this official description of Germany's policy. Yes, Germany did say it was "counteracting the development" of religious and philosophical minorities. But look at the motive, our Justice Department and Sixth Circuit argued. Germany is just trying to promote tolerance by putting children of all viewpoints together in one place.
Tolerance? Really? The aberrational German theory of "tolerance" was clearly demonstrated by the facts in the record.
Another German appeals court held that it is appropriate to use the family courts to seek "the removal of the right [of parents] to determine the residence of the children and to decide on the children's education." The same court held that it is "completely acceptable" for courts to "enforce the handover of the children, by force if necessary and by means of entering and searching the parental home."
Why was it acceptable to use these strong-arm police tactics? That German court gave an answer: to prevent "the damage to the children, which is occurring through the continued exclusive teaching of the children of [sic] the mother at home." The court conceded that it was not concerned with academic issues—homeschooling could successfully transmit knowledge. It was the philosophical development of children that was at issue.
The German court believed that it was "damaging" to children to be taught only the philosophy of their mother.
And so as to not leave any discretion for leniency by lower officials, this appellate court instructed the family courts that they have "the immediate task to take away all home schooled children."
All about Tolerance
So, what does our Justice Department say about all of this?
The German court thus explained what it saw as the value of the law in bringing people of differing views together to learn from each other and to learn to accept those whose views differ from their own. The goal in Germany is for an "open, pluralistic society." Teaching tolerance to children of all backgrounds helps to develop the ability to interact as a fully functioning citizen of Germany. It is scarcely feasible, with those stated goals in mind, to tease from the opinion a persecutory motive on the part of those who enforce the law.
There you have it. The German courts have said it is damaging for children to learn only the religious and moral values of their parents. The German courts say that they wish to counteract the development of religious and philosophical minorities. The German courts say it is appropriate to use force to remove children. The German appellate courts tell the lower courts that they have the immediate task to remove all homeschooled children from their parents. And our Justice Department says it is impossible to find in these facts anything other than an open, pluralistic democratic society teaching children to be tolerant.
The Justice Department's view echoes the words of George Washington University Law Professor Catherine Ross:
In order for the norm of tolerance to survive across generations, society need not and should not tolerate the inculcation of absolutist views that undermine toleration of difference. Respect for difference should not be confused with approval for approaches that would splinter us into countless warring groups. Hence an argument that tolerance for diverse views and values is a foundational principle does not conflict with the notion that the state can and should limit the ability of intolerant homeschoolers to inculcate hostility to difference in their children—at least during the portion of the day they claim to devote to satisfying the compulsory schooling requirement.
Ross joins Germany and our Justice Department in believing that pluralistic societies may crush "intolerant" homeschooling parents to promote tolerance in their children.
History and logic prove, however, that tolerance will never be achieved by a government which is intolerant of religious minorities.
Incidentally, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights—a treaty that Germany has adopted—says this about the rights of parents in education:
The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to have respect for the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to choose for their children schools, other than those established by the public authorities, which conform to such minimum educational standards as may be laid down or approved by the State and to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.
This treaty was adopted in the aftermath of the horrors of Nazi Germany. The right of parents to ensure that their children have an education that conforms to the parents' convictions is considered a fundamental human right—a right Germany currently rejects and considers dangerous.
"In order for the norm of tolerance to survive across generations, society need not and should not tolerate the inculcation of absolutist views."
Catherine Ross
George Washington University Law Professor
Freedom at Risk
The long-term concern for American homeschoolers arising from the Romeike case is obvious. If our government contends that Germany did not violate the principles of religious freedom when it banned homeschooling in order to gain philosophical control over children, then it implies that it would not violate religious freedom or parental rights if the United States decided to ban homeschooling for the same purpose. After all, we would simply be promoting tolerance and pluralism.
That is the subtle but dangerous message buried in the Romeike decision.
How should we respond?
There are two specific areas of concern that demand our attention. First, we need to deal with the specific problems in our asylum system that have led to a severely limited view of religious freedom and parental rights. Second, we need to address the underlying antagonism that our government is expressing against the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children.
HSLDA has worked with leaders in the House of Representatives to secure language that would ensure an amendment to our asylum law that addresses parental rights and religious freedom. If an overhaul of the immigration system passes Congress, there is a very good likelihood that this correction will be adopted. We will have more to say on that topic, including calls to action, should this provision become a point of contention in that process.
HSLDA is unlikely to get engaged on the broader immigration issue. We simply want to ensure that if such a measure is moving through Congress, families like the Romeikes will find refuge in the United States.
The more pressing issue is the need to address parental rights in general. At the same time that the Romeikes were facing deportation, other pitched parental rights battles in our own country were taking place. Perhaps the best known of these battles was the Pelletier case in Massachusetts.
Doctors at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) conspired with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families to seize custody of Justina Pelletier because the BCH doctors thought that they knew better than the doctors at Tufts Medical Center how to treat this young girl. Because the Pelletiers wanted to choose the doctor for their daughter, they lost custody to the State of Massachusetts.
I was asked to draft a specific statute that has been introduced in Massachusetts to fix the underlying law in that state. And such laws, which specifically address parental rights to choose a doctor, may become necessary in other states.
Protecting Liberty
But there is a bigger and broader solution. The Parental Rights Amendment (PRA) is the ultimate form of protection for our family liberties. Just as the Second Amendment tells all levels of government that they may not interfere with our right to bear arms, the Parental Rights Amendment tells all governments to not interfere with our rights to raise our children.
We have also proposed state versions of the PRA in statutory form, which have recently been enacted in Virginia and Nevada. We also helped draft Michigan's parental rights statute which was adopted in 1994. Utah, Kansas, and Arizona also have similar statutes on their books.
Everyone who believes that we need to ensure parental rights are protected at the highest legal level should join these efforts. Please go to www.parentalrights.org and sign up to become a part of the team—which, at a minimum, is a commitment to call or write your legislators when bills are moving in Congress or in your state.
Do we want a nation where the government can tell us that they can take our children away from us—all day or during the school day—so that they can ensure our children develop the philosophy that the government wants to instill?
Liberty cannot be sustained in a nation in which all children are indoctrinated in the government scheme of homogenized philosophies. We must have a people who can think for themselves and believe in the religion of their own choice.
These freedoms are threatened by our own government. But only our silence and inaction will actually defeat us.
Stand up. Speak up. Show up.
Protect Your Family
We greatly value you and your support—it is a privilege to serve you! If you or someone you know is not a member of HSLDA, will you consider taking a moment today to join or recommend us? Your support enables us to defend individual families threatened by government officials and protect homeschooling freedom for all. Join now >>


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Prosecutors are treating Michael Jackson's death as a homicide, while the singer's personal doctor, who was with him when he died apparently from a lethal injection of anesthetic, has left California for Houston.
L.A. County D.A. spokesperson Sandi Gibbons told TMZ the D.A. has been in contact with the coroner as well as police.
"It is common for Los Angeles County Law enforcement agencies to be in contact with the District Attorney's office during criminal investigations," Gibbons said.
The L.A. County coroner's toxicology report and full autopsy, expected to have been released as early as this week, has been postponed for another two weeks. While Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter did not give reason for the delay, TMZ reports the extra time is needed for several outside consultants to finish their reports. They should reveal whether propofol, a powerful anesthetic not meant for use at home, was in Jackson's system at his time of death, and if so, whether the levels were lethal.
Officials are still trying to figure out how the drug made it to Jackson's home. Federal drug agents have contacted Teva Pharmaceuticals, the maker of the drug, and AmerisourceBergen, the distributor, for a listing off all doctors, pharmacies and hospitals that purchased propofol and its brand name counterpart, Diprivan.
Meanwhile Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician who was questioned by L.A. police two days after the pop star's death, has reportedly left California and is at his practice in Houston, Texas, waiting to hear from police, reports TMZ.
Murray's lawyer, Edward Chernoff, said Murray never gave or prescribed Jackson the painkillers Demerol, OxyContin, or anything else that may have contributed to the King of Pop's unexpected death.
And in other developments, Jackson's ex-wife Deborah Rowe is striking back at a woman who claimed in a TV interview that Rowe told her she didn't want custody of the pop star's children.
Rowe filed the defamation and invasion-of-privacy lawsuit in Los Angeles against Rebecca White of Florida. It seeks unspecified damages, but specifically targets any money that White may have been paid by TV show "Extra" for an interview that aired earlier this week.
Rowe's lawsuit says she hasn't communicated with White since Jackson's death last month.
In the interview, however, White claimed Rowe had emphatically stated in an e-mail exchange that she didn't want custody of Jackson's three children. Rowe had two children while married to Jackson.


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[Verse 1]
Niggas think they the coldest but nigga you just the oldest
Niggas be chasing their youth, but it's gone
Yo, 'Ye, this nigga didn't even want to put you on
He turned around, put on Sean
But forgot to tell him Beni Han-han, don't sell no fuckin' wontons
I don't wear Sean John, but I fuck with that Cîroc shit
2Pac back, well Hit 'Em Up with some Pac shit
"Who run the world?" Jayceon
Yeah, with Kelly Rowland, come and be my motivation
If you invented swag, then I invented gangsta
Got one in the chamber; the throne is now in danger
And I don't wear no Gucci Gucci Fendi Fendi Prada
I'm Charles Louboutin, you niggas ain't saying nada
Lil white bitch, better stay in your place
You call me a nigga, I'mma put the K in your face, this a stick up bitch
So put your hands up in the air!
I just wanna know is any gangstas up in here
I do it, I do it, boy
[Verse 2]
Call Khaled tell em "fuck it I'm on one.."
I created Tyler the Creator
Here go, courtside seats: you are now watching the greatest
Shades blocking the haters, stays rocking the latest
The show goes 'til I start aiming the lasers
And Lupe will souffle, half you muther fuckers
It's the Drew League, I don't wanna speak about The Rucker
Cause Jennifer Lopez just got a divorce and
Already got her up in the Porsche tryna teach you how to love
Marc Antony too short, look how that nigga look
Man, I'm "6 foot, 7 foot, 8 foot.."
Crooks and castles, all my niggas crooks with castles
Red Nation graduation: yeah crooks with tassles
It's a party, it's a party it's a party
Sitting up in Marvin's Room, blowing that Marley
[Verse 3]
I got the money up in the rubberband
Run up on me, try to take it from me
I ain't Morris Chestnut, I ain't Ricky
But I give you 9 shots, you can call it 50
Dre got that super bass, I just call it Nicki
Working on that Detox, blowing on that sticky
Can I hit it in the morning? Bet it be a quickie
Gotta hustle hard Ace, Tunechi and Ricky
Waves Frank Ocean? You could see my odd future
You gonna need more than Novacane after I shoot you
Yesterday I went to Coachella, not to see Jigga
I went to see Wiz, but there's Amber: perfect
I took a seat on the red futon
Hit it with that Wiz shit on - whatever
So put that pussy on my face
And let me taste a little taste
I'mma eat it up like it's my last
I'mma do it different, she ain't getting no cash
You know why? I'm not a star
Somebody lied, I got a chopper in the car, that ain't a lie
Uncle Otis, holler at me!
The Game takes a cue from Hopsin's "Ill Mind Of Hopsin 4" and proceeds to diss numerous artists, including long-time target Jay-Z, Kreayshawn, Big Sean, Frank Ocean and more.
The title is a play on the phrase "Uncle Tom," referencing a black person who is servile to whites, named after a character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.


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Senate Republicans have been unsuccessful in obtaining the details of the $291 million deal between Jackson Laboratory and the state because Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has refused to reveal the documents - in the same way that documents were not released in Florida.
The letter of intent, which outlines the details of the agreement between the two sides, has remained confidential because the Malloy administration says it contains trade secrets.
In similar fashion, Jackson refused to reveal details of its proposal in Florida, which was eventually withdrawn after a storm of local opposition.
Duane Billington, a retired engineering technician in the affluent city of Naples, said he was frustrated in his attempts to gain information in the Sunshine State.
"I was skeptical, and you could never get any direct answers from them,'' Billington said. "They said, 'That's confidential. We don't want our competitors to know.' They have no trade secrets on what they're proposing.''
Billington strongly disputed the various estimates in Florida about job creation, saying that the numbers never added up.
In Connecticut, deputy Senate Republican leader Leonard Fasano of North Haven has been asking a series of questions and disputes the notion of trade secrets.
"Take out the trade secrets,'' Fasano said. "All I'm interested in is knowing the structure of the deal. I can't figure out what my questions have to do with trade secrets.''
Malloy's senior advisor and chief spokesman, Roy Occhiogrosso, told Capitol Watch on Wednesday afternoon that the administration has answered a series of questions - in writing - that Fasano had posed.
"I don't know anything about that in Florida,'' Occhiogrosso said when told about the situation there. "I don't know what Florida's laws are on trade secrets.''
He said, however, that Connecticut clearly has exemptions to the Freedom of Information laws regarding trade secrets.
Regarding concerns that there could be a potential lack of support among state Senate Democrats for the Jackson proposal, Occhiogrosso said that is "incorrect information which will soon be borne out.''
He added that he is "very confident'' that Malloy has the necessary support in both the House and Senate to pass the Jackson plan. Senator Andrew Maynard of North Stonington, for example, had initially been unsure about the proposal, but now he intends to vote for it.


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Business Change Communication Checklist
Who would have thought communicating business change was so interesting, dynamic, and, quite frankly, so much work? If your head is spinning with ideas and you're ready to go out there and communicate far and wide, wonderful! If not, take a step back. Breathe. And then work through the following communication checklist to get you partnering and creating dialogue as fast as your ears and mouth can carry you.
Answer the three big questions:
Where is the project headed?
What's in it for me (from the employees' perspective)?
How are we going to get there?
Fine-tune your messages based the answers to those three big questions as they fit into the vision for the project. Then:
Create your communication plan.
Keep communication fresh, frequent, and flowing.
Mix up how the message gets across. Have face-to-face meetings, conference calls, and other interactive communication. Change does not happen by e-mail.
Throughout your communication messages, keep these questions in mind:
What's going on now?
What will happen next?
What do I need to do?
Be sure you are doing all of the following:
Enlisting and educating managers and directors to help you communicate the change. Don't just let your project team leader or CEO do all the talking!
Repeating yourself. Repeating yourself. Repeating yourself. You will need to repeat critical messages five, six, seven, or maybe even more times. Go out there and communicate like crazy.
Defining your target audience and secondary audience. Be sure you've thought about all your target audience members and included them in your communication plan.
Evaluating your communication using feedback tools. Always go back and adjust your message if necessary — and communicate again and again.


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KINGSTON, N.Y., Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A Democratic school board member will join the New York state Senate after beating a Republican ex-state assemblyman by 18 votes in the November election.
Cecilia Tkaczyk, a farmer from rural Duanesburg, overcame a 35-vote deficit to beat George Amedore, a homebuilder from Rotterdam, to represent the state's new 46th Senate District -- a district many Democrats said was created to ensure Amedore's victory.
She is the last winner in the country of a state legislative race held in November.
Her victory Friday, the second-closest in modern state Senate history, gives Democrats a 33-30 Senate majority, although the chamber, which began its new legislative session Jan. 9, is controlled by a power-sharing coalition of Republicans and a breakaway conference of six independent Democrats.
Amedore -- who filed his oath of office as a senator Jan. 3 after being certified the winner by a state judge Dec. 19 -- said through a spokesman he would not challenge Tkaczyk's win.
The former state assemblyman holds the record as the shortest-tenured state senator in modern Senate history, the Albany Times Union said.
"No one believed our campaign had a chance in a district hand-carved by Republicans, and yet the power of good ideas and a strong campaign proved itself," Tkaczyk said in a statement Friday.
Senate Republicans said in a statement "the outcome of this race doesn't change anything" in terms of Senate control.
After acting state Supreme Court Justice Guy Tomlinson's certified Amedore's victory, Tkaczyk's campaign appealed. Tomlinson had said Amedore won by 37 votes out of more than 126,000 ballots cast Nov. 6.
The state Supreme Court, despite its name, is a trial-level court in New York.
A mid-level court ruled 99 more ballots must be opened. Amedore lost an appeal of that ruling to the state highest court.
Tkaczyk closed the gap Thursday after eight previously challenged paper ballots in Greene County were counted. She sealed her victory Friday when she got 69 of 90 paper-ballot votes counted in Ulster County. A remaining ballot in Albany County went to Amedore.


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After he was diagnosed with sudden, life-threatening liver failure that had no apparent cause, underwent a last-minute organ transplant and had emergency brain surgery to remove a blood clot, 14-year-old Adam Snow spoke and smiled Monday afternoon for the first time in days.
Adam said hi to his parents, who had been with him at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh since Oct. 23.
A freshman at Butler Area Intermediate High School, Adam underwent surgery last Saturday morning after his family spread the word -- on Facebook and Twitter -- that he needed a whole, adult, type O-negative liver. Although Adam is still in the intensive care unit, he could go home in as little as three weeks, his mother said.
"We're just happy that he's alive, happy that he's OK, happy that he's going to lead a life that's full," Linda Snow, Adam's mother, told ABCNews.com. "We're excited to get him home."
The weekend before Adam was rushed to the hospital, he'd attended football practice and went hunting. Monday morning, he approached his parents with slightly yellowed eyes and told them he thought he had the flu.
Although Adam's parents took him to the family doctor for his flu symptoms, they were rushed to the hospital when Adam's blood tests showed poor liver function.
"We went in for cold and flu medicine, and three weeks later [we're told] he's going to die unless we get him a liver," Linda Snow said. "It's pretty crazy that someone could go downhill that fast."
Adam was diagnosed with acute liver failure, which means his liver would fail within six weeks, Dr. Pierre Gholam, a liver specialist at University Hospitals in Cleveland who was not involved in Adam's case, explained.
Adam's surgeon at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Dr. George Mazariegos, said doctors tested Adam for a wide panel of viruses and liver diseases that could have caused the sudden failure, but every test came back negative.
Doctors don't know what caused Adam's liver to shut down, but Mazariegos said he was aware of a "significant" number of similar cases.
"It's a condition that's frightening for anyone because it occurs in someone who may be completely healthy and has no liver disease," Mazariegos said. "His liver really rapidly deteriorated quickly."
Acute liver failure can also affect kidney function and cause the brain to swell, both of which could independently threaten Adam's life, Mazariegos said. To keep an eye on brain swelling and pressure, doctors inserted a catheter just outside the outer lining of Adam's brain, called the dura.
On Friday at 8 p.m., doctors told Adam's parents he could die within 48 to 72 hours unless they found a type O-negative liver. He was heavily sedated and on a ventilator just weeks after attending that Friday football practice. Mazariegos said Adam's rapid deterioration bumped him up to the top of the organ transplant list, but it could still take days or weeks they didn't have to find a match.
Linda Snow didn't know much about Facebook and Twitter, but Adam's five siblings and friends spread the word that they needed a healthy organ in a hurry. They created the "Praying for Adam" Facebook page on Friday, and by Monday afternoon, it had more than 7,000 "likes."
"It made a family out there decide, 'OK, let's pull the plug,'" Linda Snow said. "I do believe if nothing else that it's made people aware that organ donors are important.
"I was not an organ donor," she said. "And I will be an organ donor."
The donor was anonymous, as per the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network's policy. (OPTN is part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services.)
But a few hours after the liver transplant, Adam had to go under the knife again, this time to remove a blood clot in his brain, which Mazariegos said was an indirect cause of his liver failure. The compromised organ rendered his blood unable to clot, causing him to bleed more than a healthy person when doctors implanted the catheter to monitor brain swelling. After surgery, the blood clotted around the catheter.
"Keep Praying" the Facebook page post read as Adam went into surgery again Saturday night.
Linda Snow estimates that her son has 200 stitches in his head because she counted to 50 and gave up.
"This kid has a lot of nice scars that he can talk about," she said, laughing.
But today, doctors removed Adam's ventilator, allowing him to speak for the first time in days.
"We actually got a couple smiles out of him," Adam's brother, Christopher Snow, told ABCNews.com on the phone as he left Adam's room. "I'm absolutely on cloud nine."
Adam's hospital stay will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, Linda Snow estimates, because one medication cost $10,000 per dose. Mazariegos said he didn't know what the final bill would be or what portion would be covered by the Snow's insurance, but said from experience that treatments and recovery could be expensive.
Christopher Snow helped set up the Adam Snow Benefit Fund to receive donations to help his parents pay for his Adam's treatment. Donors can contribute to the fund on PayPal or contact NexTier Bank in Pittsburgh for more information.
"We're very hopeful that he'll have an excellent quality of life," Mazariegos said. "The most important thing to ensure that was he was able to get a timely transplant, and he's doing well from that."


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If you're a YouTube connoisseur, you've probably already seen a train plow through snow before. But that's because a giganto snow plow is attached to the front of the locomotive—those trains were meant to kill and plow snow. This train? It's just a regular train. And it's freaking badass.
The train from Kiwirail in New Zealand plowed through deep snow from Arthur's Pass to Christcurch and makes every other train who taps out and gets delayed at the first sight of snow seem like a wimp. Tracks? This train don't need no tracks! Well, it still does but it doesn't need to see those damned tracks. Mother nature, you just got beat. [YouTube]


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September 26, 2010
(rt) Illustration: Great shirts, Bill Murray, & more
- Shirts:
- How many can you get? 80's films as logos.
- I love Neven Mrgan's falling-stuff-as-dude Incident shirt.
- Offbeat but impressive: Hand Painting Ads by Guido Daniele.
- "For relaxing times… Suntory Time" Just ordered this great poster. Good Don Draper & Joan, too.
- A nice tutorial on creating a digital bokeh effect using Photoshop's brush engine.
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For the 2013 season, Western Great Plains farmers will have a new tool to help manage drought conditions with the stewarded commercial introduction of Monsanto's Genuity DroughtGard Hybrids. The DroughtGard Hybrids system combines germplasm selected for its drought-tolerant characteristics, the drought-tolerant biotechnology trait and agronomic recommendations.
The system is designed to help the corn plant so it can use less water when drought stress occurs. This improved hydro-efficiency creates the opportunity to conserve soil moisture and can help minimize yield loss from drought conditions. This season approximately 250 farmers participated in Monsanto's Ground Breakers large-scale, on-farm testing program by planting DroughtGard Hybrids on their farms to get first-hand experience with the new product.
"Early results from our Ground Breakers trials this year are encouraging," said Mark Edge, DroughtGard Hybrids marketing lead. "Harvest is just getting started in many areas throughout the Western Great Plains, and Ground Breakers farmers in Central Texas and Eastern Kansas are seeing an up to 6 bushel advantage over competitor hybrids. We believe DroughtGard Hybrids will become an important tool for farmers to help mitigate yield loss caused by drought stress."
Brad Farr, of Cambridge, NE, tested DroughtGard Hybrids this season as part of Monsanto's Ground Breakers program and says he looks forward to planting the product again next season. "I think it will be very beneficial," Farr said. "All the research they put in shows they are committed to the farmer and helping us get the most out of our acres."
The DroughtGard Hybrids introduction in 2013 will be led by Monsanto's DEKALB brand with limited availability in Monsanto's other brands and licensees. The company is also planning DroughtGard Hybrids field trials across the corn-growing area next year. In 2014, DroughtGard Hybrids availability is expected to expand across Monsanto brands and licensees, providing farmers a stronger line of defense against drought.
"DEKALB is very proud to lead the introduction of the new DroughtGard Hybrids system, giving farmers an additional tool to help protect the yield potential of their DEKALB corn products," said Rick Myroup, brand marketing manager. "Drought tolerance has historically been a staple of our breeding program, and this product launch is the latest example of DEKALB bringing leading innovations to farmers."
Farmers who purchase DroughtGard Hybrids must sign a stewardship agreement committing to use the grain as on-farm feed or to sell the grain for domestic use due to pending import approvals in key export markets.
While Monsanto anticipates all key regulatory approvals to be completed during 2013, the company will be working with farmers and the grain trade to assist in identifying domestic markets until all such approvals are received.


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So here's a shocker: It turns out the 1998 asteroid disaster movie "Armageddon" was a tad unrealistic.
In the film, a team led by Bruce Willis plants a nuclear bomb deep inside a 600-mile-wide (1,000 kilometers) asteroid as it streaks toward Earth. The explosion splits the space rock in two, and the pieces zip safely past the planet, ensuring humanity lives to see another day.
But a new analysis by four physics students in England suggests that this asteroid-deflection tactic couldn't possibly have worked. Willis and his band of roughnecks would've needed a bomb almost 2 billion times stronger than anything ever detonated on Earth, the students say.
Ben Hall, Gregory Brown, Ashley Back and Stuart Turner — all master's students at the University of Leicester — devised a formula to determine the total amount of kinetic energy needed to blast apart the "Armageddon" asteroid and ensure that the chunks miss Earth. [ Video: Nuclear Bomb Takes out Asteroid ]
They came up with a figure of 800 trillion terajoules — compared with the 418,000 terajoules produced by history's most powerful blast, the Soviet Union's test detonation of the "Big Ivan" hydrogen bomb in 1961.
The students also conclude that humanity would have to detect such a large asteroid much earlier than in the movie to have any chance of deflecting it. (In the movie, the Texas-size space rock is discovered just 18 days before its potential impact.)
"I really enjoyed the film 'Armageddon' and up until recently never really considered the plausibility in the science behind the movie," Hall, 22, said in a statement. "But after watching it back, I found myself being more skeptical about the film in many areas.
"I think that directors attempt to make films scientifically accurate but find that a lot of trouble is run into in what can and cannot be done, thus leading to falsification in the science to make movies more interesting or visually appealing to the audience," he added.
Hall and his colleagues published their results in two papers — "Could Bruce Willis Save the World?" and "Could Bruce Willis Predict the End of the World?" — in this year's University of Leicester Journal of Special Physics Topics, which features original studies conducted by students in the final year of the four-year program toward a Master of Physics degree.
While "Armageddon" got some big things wrong, scientists do think humanity can deflect many dangerous asteroids if they're detected early enough.
Space news from NBCNews.com
Teen's space mission fueled by social media
Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: "Astronaut Abby" is at the controls of a social-media machine that is launching the 15-year-old from Minnesota to Kazakhstan this month for the liftoff of the International Space Station's next crew.
- Buzz Aldrin's vision for journey to Mars
- Giant black hole may be cooking up meals
- Watch a 'ring of fire' solar eclipse online
- Teen's space mission fueled by social media
Most researchers regard a nuclear explosion as an option of last resort, however – something to try if the clock is really running out.
With years or decades of lead time, a so-called "gravity tractor" probe could be launched to rendezvous and fly with the asteroid. Over time, the spacecraft's subtle gravitational tug could pull the space rock into a more benign orbit.
Or a kinetic impactor could be slammed into the asteroid in deep space, knocking it onto a different path. But this might be tough to achieve when it is the 600-mile-wide "Armageddon" asteroid, which is about the same size as the dwarf planet Ceres.
Follow Space.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
- Killer Asteroids: We're WISE to You Now!
- When Space Attacks: The 6 Craziest Meteor Impacts
- 5 Reasons to Care About Asteroids
© 2013 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.


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The front of this palm card is identical to the 2008 SAAM poster. This tri-fold palm card, available in packs of 50, suggests ways to demonstrate respect for everyone and to build healthy work environments. This card also features an area for your organization information. On the center outside fold is a box, 3.25 x 1 inches, in which you may stamp or write your organization's name and contact information. These affordable palm cards make effective handouts.
Sold in packs of 50.


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AUGUSTA, Ga. – Augusta State earned a twin bill split with the North Georgia Saints Saturday afternoon in a Peach Belt Conference doubleheader, taking game one 15-4 and dropping the second affair 12-3 at Lake Olmstead Stadium.
ASU (9-12, 3-5 in PBC) notched 17 hits in game one to help starting pitcher Kip Custer (2-0). Custer went 8.2 innings and gave up 10 hits for four runs, with two strikeouts. UNG's Taylor Keinat went 4.1 innings of work, before he was relieved by Chip Fleming and Tim Hernandez.
Tied 1-1 going in to second, the Jaguars blew it open by adding 14 unanswered runs until the ninth inning with numerous batters contributing to the blowout. Junior JD Sabo went 3-for-5 with three runs and an RBI while Jeff Rice also went 3-for-5 with a run and RBI. Freshman Hunter Boose notched two hits for four RBIs and junior Kevin Dodson and freshman Justin Mee each had two hits and an RBI. The Saints' three runs in the ninth inning were not enough to overcome the deficit as UNG fell 15-4.
Junior slinger Clint Echols (0-3) started game two for the Jags, until he got in trouble early and was relieved by senior Josh Barks. Echols went 2.2 innings to give up two hits for four runs and walking seven. Barks pitched 4.1 innings for six and four runs before Dalton Reed and Tyler Ross relieved for an inning each.
UNG took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first and never let it go, adding 11 more runs to the Jags' three. The Saints' bullpen relied on starter Clint Spratlin and Brandon Agar. Agar got the win in 5.1 innings, allowing three hits for one run and striking out five.
ASU's Nathan Crown and Mee each compiled two hits, with Crown earning an RBI. ASU wraps up the weekend series against North Georgia tomorrow, March 10 for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch at LOS.


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PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Harvard women's basketball fell at Rutgers, 63-52, Monday night in the second round of the WNIT despite 15 points and six rebounds from senior guard Jasmine Evans.
The Crimson, which wraps the season at 22-8 for the most wins since 2002-03, shot 33.9 percent (19-of-56) from the field and committed 20 turnovers.
Rutgers (24-9) advances to host Seton Hall in the round of 16 Thursday. The Scarlet Knights were paced by Kahleah Copper with 19 points and 12 rebounds, as Betnijah Laney added 17 points. RU made 15-of-24 free throws, while Harvard went to the line just nine times, connecting seven times.
Senior captain Christine Clark capped her outstanding career with 11 points, her 98th double-figure outing. Sophomore guard Kit Metoyer added nine points.
The Scarlet Knights jumped out to a 10-2 lead after six minutes of play before Metoyer buried a three from the wing to pull the Crimson within five. Four points from Rutgers moved the score to 14-5 before Harvard stopped the Scarlet Knights and ripped off 10-straight points to take its first lead of the game, 15-14. Metoyer dropped in a long triple to end the run, as the Crimson held RU to without a basket over the six-plus minute span.
Rutgers regained the lead with a 7-2 spurt, but the Crimson held on, pulling within one twice. Harvard headed into the locker room trailing, 29-23. For the half, the Crimson shot just 25 percent (8-of-32) with nine turnovers.
Clark started the half with an old-fashioned three-point play, spurring Harvard on a 9-2 run after the break. Evans ended the run with a strong drive to the hoop, giving the Crimson a 32-31 advantage with 17:17 to play.
RU went on the attack offensively, posting 14 of the next 16 points to take its largest to that point, 45-34, with 10 minutes to play. The Crimson fought back, as Evans connected on a three, Fagbenle ducked in for a lay-in and Melissa Mullins added a free throw to pull Harvard within six, 46-40.
Trading baskets over the next four minutes, Rutgers used a four-point burst and connected on six of its final seven free throws to seal the game.
Game Notes: With 11 points, Christine Clark finishes her career No. 4 all-time at Harvard with 1,711 points. Clark scored in double-figures for the 98th time in her career, 25th time this season and 18th-straight. Jasmine Evans registered her 15th game in double-figures with a team-high 15 points, adding six rebounds. Harvard wraps the season with the most wins since 2002-03. Temi Fagbenle paced the Crimson in rebounding for the 16th time this season with eight boards. Harvard moves to 0-4 when scoring 55 points or less.


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hello it seems that there has not been any introduction post for a while i guess we should give this tradition new life, right?
my name is Gwineth, I am infertile due to endo and fibroids, although I had been treated and there has been no sign of either of those in my body but nevertheless, I had 2 failed ivf rounds and now aiming for the third ivf but this time it is going to be on donor's eggs. we were told that Ukraine is a great country for ivf on donor's eggs because they allow you to choose the girl (but not to meet her) and you won't be paying a fortune for the tx. on top of that they provide you with medicines so you do not have to buy them on your own. so. we will see if any of those is true! as we are preparing to have a trip to Ukraine next week.
that's it I think, I am open for any discussion and if you have questions, I am willing to answer all of them.