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Hotel tower planned for old Joske's building
The owner of the old Joske's building at Alamo and Commerce streets is looking to build a 23-story hotel, with timeshare units, on top of the former department store.
If the project materializes, it would create a structure that would tower over its surroundings and mark the most sweeping overhaul in the building's 124-year-history.
The landmark has been comatose since Dillard's closed there five years ago. The interior of the building is to receive a makeover, as is the adjacent Rivercenter mall. That work is to start this summer.
And while some community leaders have questioned whether the tower would disrupt the look and feel of neighboring Alamo Plaza, the developers behind the plan believe the project is necessary to revive the retail scene downtown.
"We really want to have a positive economic impact in that part of the city, and we see this as something that's very badly needed," said Mike Beucler, a partner with Dallas-based BC Realty Partners LLC, which has led the concept design process. "The quality of people that will come to the hotel and timeshare will bring tourist dollars to the city and help support the mall and surrounding businesses."
A proposal submitted to the Historic and Design Review Commission indicates the Joske's building owner, Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. of New York, would retain its historic facade but use the four-store building as the base for a possible hotel and resort.
The tower's top six floors would house several dozen one- to four-bedroom timeshare properties, with 14 floors dedicated to hotel rooms and suites.
Guests could use a pool deck on the sixth floor, and ballrooms would have balconies overlooking the neighboring Alamo Plaza, according to the "Reinventing Rivercenter" proposal included in an HDRC agenda packet.
The commission was scheduled to consider the project next Wednesday. However, BC Realty requested the item be pulled to allow for more time to meet design changes recommended by the HDRC's design review committee.
Construction of the planned tower could begin as soon as November, said Frank Valadez, president and owner of SA Partnership Architects, which has helped Ashkenazy develop plans for the Joske's building since Dillard's departure.
"I probably don't want to go into full detail on the number of rooms just because it could change," Valadez said of the planned hotel and resort. "It is a mixed use of guest rooms and timeshares ... but again, it is up for approval and revision."
According to his designs, the first three floors of the tower would include the hotel lobby, a restaurant with terrace seating, meeting rooms and other amenities.
The proposed tower's proximity to the Convention Center and Alamo would serve it well, said Henry Feldman, chairman of the San Antonio Hotel & Lodging Association and owner of the La Quinta Medical Center.
Nevertheless, he predicted the addition of a few hundred hotel rooms would flood the market downtown and risk the occupancy rates of competitors — as well as the tower itself.
"It will have a tough time for the first couple of years," Feldman said. "The location is pretty good (but) it's a very tough marketplace right now."
Beucler and Valadez confirmed Wyndham Hotel and Resorts was one of several companies interested in the project, but Feldman said the chain typically lags its competitors in revenue per available room, a key indicator of a hotel's profitability.
Wyndham also may face difficulties with a mixed-use property, he added, noting that Hyatt and Marriott currently operate successful hotels with timeshares.
"If you were talking about a Hyatt, Marriott or Hilton there, it'd be a different picture," Feldman said.
The idea of a tower on Alamo Plaza, meanwhile, doesn't sit well with the San Antonio Conservation Society.
President Nancy Avellar said she has been kept up to speed on plans for the tower as the project's architects met with the HDRC's design review committee. And while she had not seen the latest renderings, she said she has serious concerns over plans for a tower on the plaza.
"Right now, we are concerned about the height and the impact to and from Alamo Plaza," Avellar said. "We think it's overpowering."
Members of the HDRC committee also expressed concerns over the tower's height and its impact on Alamo Plaza, according to minutes from their meeting March 12 with the architect.
In that meeting, Chris Oviatt, Rivercenter mall's general manager, disagreed, saying he didn't consider the front of the Joske's building to be part of the plaza.
Neither he nor several members of the HDRC committee could be reached for comment late Friday.
Ashkenazy is likely to apply for tax-exempt status for the project, because the Joske's building is considered historic, as well as other incentives from the city.
Whether the HDRC approves the tower and the developers construct it, the project represents just one of three phases planned for the Joske's building and Rivercenter mall.
As part of the first phase, which is expected to begin in July, the owner plans to pump $3 million into the mall for the renovation of 150,000 square feet of retail space, according to records from the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration.
Phase 2 will focus on the four stories of the Joske's building that would sit beneath the planned tower.
"Joske's was a major center of retail for San Antonio for years," Valadez said. "But downtown really couldn't support two anchors like Dillard's or Macy's.
"Instead of putting another anchor there, we want to transform (the mall) by including entertainment, restaurants and expansions."
Valadez said the AMC Rivercenter 9 movie theater will turn into a cinema cafe, similar to an Alamo Drafthouse, and the mall will add several "unique retailers that don't exist in San Antonio right now."
Prior plans submitted to the HDRC showed potential tenants include Dave & Busters, H&M and Armani Exchange.


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I did a three part interview series recently with HRM Online introducing emerging approaches to learning. You can probably guess what they are:
- Informal Learning
- Social Learning
- Mobile Learning
- Virtual Learning
- Gaming and Simulation
- Performance Support
Part one introduces the new paths to learning at work. I'll post each part in the series here as they are released. I'll be doing a Webinar on the same topic on May 15. Information on how to register are listed with the video or you can register here
Here's the preamble for the video:
"As technology and workplaces change, the way we learn needs to adapt to meet the needs of your employees. Classroom learning and traditional online courses aren't sufficient on their own anymore, but what replaces it? From social media and mobile technology to gaming and virtual tools, there is a lot to learn and there are lots of tools available"
Click the image to play the video…
Update May 1/2013:
Here is part 2 of the interview. The focus is on social and mobile learning with some discussion of gaming and simulation. Click the image to play.
Update May 14:
Here is the third and final instalment of the interview. The focus is on virtual learning, performance support and implications for the learning and development professional.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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Guests: Bertha Coombs, Marjorie Margolies, Rep. Gerry Connolly, Cynthia Dunbar, Wayne
Slater, Mike Pence, Ron Brownstein, Bob Baer
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Three days and counting.
Let's play HARDBALL.
Good evening. I'm Chris Matthews in Washington. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Leading off tonight: From no to yes. Count Dennis Kucinich in. He became the first Democrat to switch his health care vote from no to yes, thanks in no small part to the lobbying of President Obama himself. The president's inching towards 216 yes votes. Tonight, we'll ask—well, we'll talk to a fence-sitter, a Democrat who voted yes the first time but isn't so sure now. And we'll also talk to a former member of Congress who learned the hard way what can happen when you're the last vote the president needs.
Plus, should we all study like Texans? What happens in Texas doesn't stay in Texas when it comes to schoolbooks. The Texas school board has just made big changes to make their schoolbooks and yours more conservative. The state buys such a large number of textbooks that it makes their selections cheaper for other states to assign. If you like the Moral Majority, you'll love what they've done down in Texas. We've got a Texas school board member coming on the program.
Also, why did Attorney General Eric Holder say Osama bin Laden will never be captured alive? We'll talk to a former CIA officer about that provocative declaration.
Also, "March Madness" starts tomorrow, and we've got President Obama's picks for the final four and for the overall tournament champion in tonight's "Sideshow."
And finally, I'll finish tonight with a word about why this "deem and pass" strategy on health care reform could mean big trouble for the Democrats down the way.
We start with the vote on health care. Back in 1993, Pennsylvania congresswoman Marjorie Margolies cast the deciding vote—the deciding vote in the House favor of President Clinton's budget that year. That vote cost her her seat in Congress. She's now a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a founder of—and president of Women's Campaign International.
Marjorie, it's so great to have you on. You're such a great person, and you sacrificed your entire political being back in '93 as the Republicans, led by Bob Walker, a Republican from Pennsylvania, cheered on the fact, Good-bye, Marjorie, you're gone, because you voted for that budget of President Clinton.
Your feelings about what's facing other members like you in the three days between now and the vote on health care.
MARJORIE MARGOLIES (D-PA), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN: It's tough. What's being said out there is that the sky is falling and that there will be an extreme depression. That's what was being said then. And you may note—although we do live in different economic times, you may note that most economic experts say that's where the richness, the economic richness of the '90s started.
But it was tough to go through. You know, you don't hear from your constituents when they're happy. You hear when they don't like something. So you walk back in your office and they say, Oh, 9 out of 10 voters say vote against it. But—and you've heard this ad nauseam. If you take the bill apart and you tell people what it's all about, for the most part, people want it. And we found the same thing then.
It was just very difficult. I happened to be in the most Republican district Democrat by the country. So that...
MATTHEWS: Well, you know, my brother's county chairman up there, Montgomery County. I'm well aware of the fact that he's a Republican.
MARGOLIES: I know!
MATTHEWS: I know all about that. Let me ask you this about—now I'm going to pump you up here as a great person. In '93, that big vote on the budget, was the predicate for that rock-em, sock-em economy of the 1990s. It's what allowed the Fed to lower interest rates. It set monetary and fiscal policy on a course towards balanced budgets. It was later helped along, I must say, by Newt Gingrich and his conservative colleagues. But it really got started, the good economy of the '90s, by sensible budgeting, which really didn't raise the taxes of anybody, really.
And I wonder, do people ever come up to you and say, Thank you, Marjorie, because you were the decisive vote of getting us the 1990s economy? I'm just being sarcastic because I know they didn't.
MARGOLIES: They do. I mean, not—not often. And a lot of it—a lot of it is kind of nonsense, frankly. You know, Why did do you it? Especially today, I'm getting a lot of, you know, pushback. But by and large, it was—according to what you were saying and most people say, it was a good vote. It was the right thing to do. And I think that's the reason we are sent down there. Not me, but those—those members who are still there.
MATTHEWS: OK let's take a look at a piece of tape that I think tells people pretty clearly the emotions on the different sides of this. This was taken by a "Columbus Dispatch" reporter early in the week out in Ohio. It was at a health care rally, with advocates and opponents on both sides.
It was in Columbus, outside of the office of Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy. Boy, does this stick in the memory, once you've seen this once. Let's watch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At one point, a man whose sign said he had Parkinson's sat down in front of health care opponents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're looking for a handout, you're in the wrong end of town! Nothing for free over here! You have to work for everything you get.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll pay for this guy. Here you go. (INAUDIBLE) the pot. I'll pay for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want a handout.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There, here's another one. There you go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No more handouts!
MATTHEWS: Did you see that, those people in the rally mocking that guy who's got Parkinson's? He's on the ground. He's in a terrible position of almost supplication saying, I need this health care bill, and they're deriding this guy, physically throwing money at him. You know, I don't know what your reaction is. This is a pretty nasty crowd of people out there.
MARGOLIES: It's awful. It's just—I'm—I was stunned then, but I'm also stunned now by the nastiness. I'm stunned by the partisanship. It's not what people want. But we are kind of—we're—we're just getting people into such incredible anger. I mean, we're working people up into this incredible anger. And a lot of it just doesn't make sense. Most of it's just so darned unkind, as you just saw.
MATTHEWS: Yes. Well, let me show you a bit of nastiness. This is in our new poll that just came out yesterday. These are the numbers that drive men and women crazy and probably have discouraged them from ever running from office. This is an NBC poll. It asks people, If your a congressperson, your representative, votes yes, what would (INAUDIBLE) in November? And it basically says they're more likely to back you 28 percent, say they're more likely to vote against you 36 percent. So you're in no good shape if you vote for the bill. If you vote no on Obama's health care plan, if you vote against the bill, it's still bad, 31 percent say they're going to vote—more likely to vote for you, 34 percent they're less likely to vote for you.
So the polling shows that no matter how you vote, at least on the bottom line, that people are going to vote against you, if you even took a vote, if you even showed up on the floor that day.
MARGOLIES: That—we found that. After that controversial vote in 1993, we did a poll and it was split 50/50. We just heard from the people who were negative. People are angry.
What usually happens, though, in the end, is they'll throw the bums out, except not my bum. So you get a lot of the same people back. It's—this is very, very tough. This is where, you know, Pericles comes in. You got to show leadership. Stop being led.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
MARGOLIES: Show leadership. And that is not easy. And you hear from your constituents, We want you to represent us. Sometimes, that's right. But an awful lot of times, especially now, that isn't right. I mean, you really have to lead. And this is...
MATTHEWS: So you're with Edmund Burke.
MARGOLIES: ... a very tough one. I think to do...
MATTHEWS: You're with Edmund Burke.
MARGOLIES: I think to do...
MATTHEWS: And the electors of Bristol.
MARGOLIES: Yes.
MATTHEWS: You've got to—I give you my judgment. I offer you my judgment. That's what I give you as a member of Congress.
MARGOLIES: Well, thank you. No, you're right. But I do think that this is a time where doing nothing is not acceptable.
MATTHEWS: OK, let's take a look at history and what history's going to be made here, for or against this bill, if it goes up or it goes down. Here's more from Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Jack Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Clinton, all pushing for national health care along the lines that we're talking about this weekend. Let's listen.
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Many subjects connected with our social economy call for immediate improvement. As examples we should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care.
HARRY S. TRUMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This administration has proposed a program of improved medical care. Our medical program will mean happier homes, healthier children, greater opportunity for useful lives for all the people.
JOHN F. KENNEDY, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The fact of the matter is that what we're now talking about doing, most of the countries of Europe did years ago. The British did it 30 years ago. We are behind every country, pretty nearly, in Europe in this matter of medical care for our citizens.
RICHARD M. NIXON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As a fourth great goal, I will offer a far-reaching set of proposals for improving America's health care and making it available more fairer to more people.
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All of our efforts to strengthen the economy will fail—let me say this again, I feel so strongly about this. All of our efforts to strengthen the economy will fail unless we also take this year—not next year, not five years from now, but this year—bold steps to reform our health care system.
MATTHEWS: You know, it stuns me, besides the fact of how young the Clintons look in those pictures, that Richard Nixon—you know, and you go back and study it, as I have done over the years, Nixon, a Republican, sort of a mainstream Republican—he was pushing for a requirement by the federal government that if you own a business, you've got to give your people health care.
MARGOLIES: That's right.
MATTHEWS: If somebody did that today, the employer mandate, they'd be called far-out progressive. And yet this isn't unusual for American politicians of both parties to say, you know, you ought to have health care.
MARGOLIES: We are very used to telling people what they want to hear. We're very used to telling people that they can have it all without paying for it. You know, you can balance the budget on waste, fraud and abuse. Nonsense. We're going to have to look at entitlements. We're going to have to look at the things that we don't want to look at, or we're socking our children and our grandchildren with things that they will never be able to figure out.
The bill that I helped pass in 1993 at least tackled the deficit. And you well know, at the turn of the century, we had—we had some surpluses.
MARGOLIES: I was sitting there when Clinton delivered this—that message, and we are still looking at this problem. And this bill—this bill is only a start.
MATTHEWS: I know. I know. Thank you very much. Marjorie Margolies, professor at University of Pennsylvania—I've got to get my daughter to sign up for your class! Anyway, thank you so much, Marjorie...
MARGOLIES: Yes!
MATTHEWS: ... for coming on and being a great teacher of history.
MARGOLIES: You're welcome.
MATTHEWS: You know, the college of hard knocks I think is the one you went to, anyway, because you learned the hard way what happens in these votes.
MARGOLIES: True.
MATTHEWS: Congressman Gerry Connolly's a Democrat from Virginia who voted yes back in November for health care and now says he's not—
Congressman, everybody respects you and your thinking on this. What is it?
Where are you on health care right now as the vote comes up on Saturday?
REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D), VIRGINIA: Well, first of all, let me wish you a happy St. Patrick's Day, Chris.
MATTHEWS: Thank you, sir. Same to you...
CONNOLLY: The holiest day of the year for (INAUDIBLE)
MATTHEWS: With the name Connolly, it's appropriate.
MATTHEWS: It's appropriate. Thank you.
CONNOLLY: What gives me pause and what I want to see is, I want to see the Congressional Budget Office numbers, and I want to see the language of the text before I commit to another health care bill. Quite frankly, the bill I supported was quite different than the Senate bill, and the Senate bill certainly gives me some heartache. So before I vote for something, I want to see, you know, the whole picture.
MATTHEWS: Well, you sound like you're not convinced the Senate's going to make the fixes with reconciliation that the House makes.
CONNOLLY: I think we have reason to be concerned given the fact—you know, the Senate was originally the cooling plate for legislation. Now, that cooling plate has been taken a little too seriously. It's now, you know, a glacial ice shelf...
MATTHEWS: Yes.
CONNOLLY: ... and I think they take their role just a little too seriously -- 290 pieces of legislation we passed last year are still awaiting action in the other body.
MATTHEWS: Well, (INAUDIBLE) tell you. I know you're a skeptic and you're a member of Congress and you have a right to be skeptic, given the way the Senate behaves, with 290 bills sitting over there the House has passed. But if they don't pass the reconciliation that you pass, if they don't do it, I think it's the end of the Democratic Party as an organization. They have to do it.
Here, by the way, are the members who've decided today on the health care bill. Big news today. Dennis Kucinich at 10:00 o'clock in the morning called a press conference and said he's going to vote for the bill, with its imperfections. Dale Kildee, a pro-life Democrat—he's going to stick with the bill, even if it's the new version. He's going to try to get the modifications, obviously, through reconciliation. Jim Oberstar, another pro-lifer—he's with the bill now. Lynn Woolsey voted for it I believe last—against it last time. She's switching and is going to vote for it now, with its imperfections.
So you're seeing people coming in from left, right and center here. Let me show you—here's Kucinich, a progressive, speaking today. He's, of course, from Cleveland, Ohio. Here he is, talking about why he's finally come down for the bill this morning. Let's listen.
REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), OHIO: I have doubts about the bill. I do not think it is a step toward anything I've supported in the past. This is not the bill I wanted to support, even as I continue efforts until the last minute to try to modify the bill. However, after careful discussions with President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, my wife, Elizabeth (ph), and close friends, I've decided to cast a vote in favor of the legislation. If my vote is to be counted, let it count now for passage of the bill.
MATTHEWS: Congressman Connolly, some people have said that if you vote against the president on this bill which he's invested so much in—in fact, his whole credibility—it's a no-confidence vote, like in the British system. You're saying no to his leadership. Is that how you would see it if you voted no in the end, as a no confidence in his leadership?
CONNOLLY: I don't know that I would see it that way, Chris. But I certainly am aware of that as a factor, and that's something that weighs, you know, among one of many factors on you as you try to make up this decision.
MATTHEWS: Thank you very much.
CONNOLLY: Clearly, that—clearly, that weight on Dennis Kucinich when he made his decision.
MATTHEWS: Well, everybody's—everybody's looking at your decision.
Everybody's got a lot of respect for you, Congressman.
CONNOLLY: Thank you.
MATTHEWS: Happy St. Patrick's to you, sir.
CONNOLLY: Thank you.
MATTHEWS: U.S. Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia.
Coming up: Can anything be done to stop conservatives in Texas from rewriting those textbooks down there to emphasize—well, these are public school textbooks—Christianity, to promote conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly, to completely ignore the name Ted Kennedy in recent American history? Texas uses so many textbooks that these conservative changes will affect students nationwide because they make the textbooks cheaper because they buy so many of them. Is it time to mess with Texas? We'll get to that one next.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL. Students in Texas will likely soon have a new angle on what they're taught in social studies classes. The Texas Board of Education has endorsed curriculum changes, some of which include ensuring students learn about the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and '90s, including Phyllis Schlafly and the Moral Majority.
In January, the board voted down an amendment to include Senator Ted Kennedy in a list of important historic figures. It will include the unintended consequences, in quotes, of the Great Society legislation. It will replace the word "capitalism" with the words "free enterprise system" throughout text, and it will cut Thomas Jefferson from the list of people whose writings inspired revolutions in the 18th and 19th centuries from the curriculum of world history courses. That last amendment, by the way, was put forth by Texas school board member Cynthia Dunbar, who joins us right now. Also joining me right now is Wayne Slater of "The Dallas Morning News," who's been with us so many times before.
Ms. Dunbar, thank you for joining us. Why do you see—well, explain that last one. We just want to get to some of these particulars so people know what we're talking about.
CYNTHIA DUNBAR, TEXAS SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER: Right.
MATTHEWS: Why isn't Thomas Jefferson seen as a leader of revolutionary thinking in the 18th and 19th century? He wrote the Declaration of Independence.
DUNBAR: Right.
Well, actually, I'm really glad that you even put that forward, because it's been misrepresented in the media a lot that Thomas Jefferson was actually stricken from the TEKS, which is the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, which is not accurate.
He's actually listed in several places within—throughout the document, including the political philosophies of the founding fathers. And part of, I think, what people don't understand is, this is not a curriculum. This is just essential knowledge and skills. It's not an exhaustive list, but it can become overburdensome.
And, actually, what was listed in the final motion that was adopted was the underlying political philosophers, from which Jefferson was one who derived his political ideologies, and so it was just an issue of keeping it germane, because it listed the political philosophers of Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Blackstone, Locke.
And it was from those writers that Thomas Jefferson did derive his political philosophy, and that that political philosophy is specifically listed with—among those of the founding fathers.
Let me go to Wayne on that.
What's your thought? Is that your reading of the document in Texas?
WAYNE SLATER, COLUMNIST, "THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS": Well, yes, I mean, that's basically what it was.
But this is an important document. It's going to determine what the curriculum is. The other thing is that you get rid of Thomas Jefferson, and you include John Calvin and Thomas Aquinas. Nothing wrong with Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin, but I think we see the fingerprints here of the ideological push against someone like Jefferson, who, although I'm sure Ms. Dunbar wasn't voting this way, there are other Christian evangelicals who think, among the founding fathers, he's their least favorite, because he was not really as Christian as many of the others.
MATTHEWS: You want to respond to that?
DUNBAR: Yes.
MATTHEWS: Was it because of—a lot of them were deists back then, as we all know, at the time of the American Revolution. They believe that God sort of set the clock and then didn't really intervene in our lives. You know what—you know the religious issue here.
MATTHEWS: Do you—is that—there was discrimination against Jefferson because he wasn't sort of a fundamentalist Christian?
DUNBAR: Absolutely not. I mean, I can only speak for myself directly, but I know about the conversations that I have had with the other conservatives on the board.
It had nothing to do with striking at Thomas Jefferson. The reality is, if we take—if we leave Thomas Jefferson in this list of political philosophers as one founding father, then it becomes glaringly obvious that we're leaving out other founding fathers, including the impact that Benjamin Franklin had on the French Revolution.
And we don't want to do that. I mean, it is an issue of germaneness.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
DUNBAR: And, so, it was not at—striking at Thomas Jefferson, although that seems to be—make sensational news.
MATTHEWS: What is your—what was the—what was the—what was the invocation of Thomas Aquinas about? How did that fit into your textbook guidance?
DUNBAR: Well, actually, because what was presented originally was the enlightenment theories that led to the revolutions, and although that is one of the theories of the political philosophers, including Voltaire and Rousseau, there were other political philosophies that were presented, especially at the time of these revolutions.
And to show the disparity, there was—Montesquieu and Locke were listed, which are the first and the third most quoted, but Blackstone, who is the second-most quoted of the founding fathers, was left out. And Blackstone's ideology, along with Calvin and others, would have not been in enlightenment theory. So, it was really more coming back as a balancing act.
MATTHEWS: Well, what was Aquinas to do with the American Revolution?
I'm missing this.
DUNBAR: Well, Aquinas actually was one of the original political philosophers that came forward, and some of his writings were actually what was brought forward with Blackstone and Locke and others as far as the ideology of just the laws of nature.
And those ideologies and those political philosophers actually led up...
DUNBAR: ... to generation after generation...
DUNBAR: ... to what the viewpoint of the founding fathers was.
MATTHEWS: What is your—what is your viewpoint, as a school board member? You wanted to get on the school board. Do you believe we should have prayer in public school, for example?
I want to know what your—what your ambition is as a school board member in Texas. Do you think we should have prayer in school?
DUNBAR: Well, actually, I would take probably a very unique position. And, having sat on the board, what I have seen is, time after time, we end up with the ideology of the majority faction over the minority faction.
And I actually, as a strict constructionist, have a little bit of a problem with that—well, actually a big problem with that, because I don't think we should use taxpayer dollars to promote anyone's particular ideology over another.
Even if I fall into the majority faction, I can't rejoice in that, in knowing that the minority rights are being trampled on using taxpayer dollar. So, actually, I mean, my whole viewpoint with this has been something that's been brought to light. Having served on the board, seen that issue after issue...
MATTHEWS: Right.
DUNBAR: ... that's brought up, we actually have to make one decision that quite often tramples the rights of the minority.
MATTHEWS: Wayne, do you see that as the—as the guide—as the sort of the theme of this new document in Texas that's guiding the—the printing of these—publishing of these schoolbooks? Do you think there is an attempt to push religion or conservative philosophy, and can you look to examples of that?
SLATER: Well, there—there certainly is.
I mean Ms. Dunbar has said in her own book that this government of ours is an exceptional Christian government. And there are representations all through this about the founding—the Christianity, the religious upbringing of and the underpinnings for our founding fathers.
And it's represented throughout. The key thing here is that, if you look at one or another of the changes that were made in the school board, I think they're really justifiable. You can say let's add Jefferson Davis and give him equal standing with Abraham Lincoln.
You can say, raise questions about the civil rights movement, specifically the 1964 Civil Rights Act or the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and say there were unintended consequences, whatever that means, that children should—should study.
But it's the pattern, a series of things, that really underscore a—a Christian world view and a world view, I think, that—that some people in Texas believe is exclusionary. But, as Ms. Dunbar said, it was not minority who ruled here. It was the—it was the...
SLATER: ... 10-5 Republican majority who ruled.
Thank you, Ms. Dunbar. Thank you. We will have you back on this. This is a interesting topic. I'm fascinated by this whole question of how we're educating our children and to what extent are we using traditional beliefs to guide our kids, and to what extent are we getting a little bit away from them? But, also, we have got to deal with facts and not with ideology.
DUNBAR: Absolutely.
MATTHEWS: Thank you very much.
DUNBAR: Absolutely.
MATTHEWS: Thank you, Wayne.
As you suggested you agree.
DUNBAR: Thank you.
MATTHEWS: Thank you, Wayne Slater.
And, thank you, Cynthia Dunbar of the Texas School Board.
Up next: On the eve of March madness, President Obama reveals his NCAA Tournament picks. He's got time do this stuff? We have also got the Final Four next coming up in the—in the "Sideshow."
You're watching HARDBALL.
He's going to tell us who is going to win this whole thing.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Back to HARDBALL town.
Time—now to the "Sideshow," tonight's top of the morning.
Here's President Obama today at the annual Saint Patrick's Day Luncheon.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Someone actually discovered my Irish lineage when I was running for president, and my first thought was, why didn't anyone discover this when I was running for office in Chicago?
OBAMA: You know, I would have gotten here sooner.
OBAMA: And it's also a day to thank the Irish people for all that they have done for America.
The truth is, they weren't always welcomed. There were times where the Irish were caricatured and stereotyped and cursed at and blamed for society's ills. So, naturally, it was a good fit for them to go into politics.
MATTHEWS: Well, not a lot of people know it now, especially young people, but there used to be a deep prejudice in this country against the Irish. My mother used to tell me about the anti-Catholic prejudice back in her day that lasted right up to World War II.
Anyway, the president also set aside today time to another big-time American tradition, March—March madness. Then he gave ESPN a look at his NCAA presidential picks for the Final Four teams. They are Kentucky, Villanova, Kansas State, and Kansas. So, you got those four? His pick to go all the way?
Well, here is the president breaking it down on "SportsCenter" himself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, so let's bring it home into the final game?
OBAMA: The final game, we have got Kansas...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, Kansas beating K State...
OBAMA: ... and Kentucky.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. That would be a rematch in the coaching department from 2008, when John Calipari was coaching Memphis against Bill Self.
OBAMA: Against Bill Self. And I think, once again, Self wins.
That's the game right there. All right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
OBAMA: You bet.
MATTHEWS: Wow. Well, so, the president's putting his money on Kansas. I'm, of course, rooting for Villanova to go all the way.
Up next: Republicans keep fighting against health care reform. It's helped them politically, but how long will they just keep saying no, and how long will it work? We will talk to one of the House Republican leaders, Congressman Mike Pence, one of the leaders. He's from Indiana. And he's coming up next.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
BERTHA COOMBS, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: I'm Bertha Coombs with your CNBC "Market Wrap."
And keeping with Saint Patrick's Day, a lot of green on the boards today, the Dow Jones climbing 47 points, extending its winning streak to seven days in a row, the longest streak since last summer. S&P 500 added six. The Nasdaq was up 11.
A surprisingly sharp drop in the producer price index, easing inflation fears and helping fuel the market's momentum today, prices paid at the farm and factory falling 0.6 percent.
Energy costs, in particular, seeing the biggest decline, with gasoline prices plummeting more than 7 percent in February.
And Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke on Capitol Hill today fighting to maintain the Fed's power to regulate small banks. Bernanke said the insight this process provides is crucial to setting monetary policy.
In stocks, materials were the big winners—aluminum manufacturer Alcoa and chemical giant DuPont finishing at top of the Dow, while International Paper and semiconductor-maker LSI Corp. led the S&P.
That's it from CNBC, first in business worldwide—now back to
MATTHEWS: Back to HARDBALL.
"The Columbus Dispatch," as we said before, has this amazing video of health care reform advocates and opponents protesting earlier this week outside the office of U.S. Ohio Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy.
Let's listen as the reporter describes this incredible scene of Americana.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At one point, a man whose sign said he had Parkinson's sat down in front of health care opponents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're looking for a handout, you're in the wrong end of town. Nothing for free over here. You have to work for everything you get.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, I will pay for this guy. Here you go.
Stir the pot. I will pay for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want a handout.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... give you money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... the other one. There you go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You love a communist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Communist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No more handouts!
MATTHEWS: Indiana Congressman Mike Pence is the House Republican Conference chairman.
Mr. Pence, thank you for watching that, really, I think disgusting picture of some pretty nasty people.
MATTHEWS: I—I kept thinking—and this isn't partisan at all.
MATTHEWS: I think Ronald Reagan would have said, those people are awful. Ronald Reagan would have sat down with the guy and talked to him, and found out his situation. Now, maybe he wouldn't have handled it the way a Democrat would, but I don't think he would have been that dismissive of that guy's plight. He wasn't faking it. That guy had a problem, health-wise.
Your thoughts?
REP. MIKE PENCE ®, INDIANA: Well, I—I think it's despicable. A man sitting on the street with Parkinson's, to be berated by that, in that kind of a setting, is—I think that is awful. And I would denounce that in the strongest terms.
But I do think it gives you a glimpse, Chris—not to excuse that behavior, but I had a constituent ask me at a town hall meeting out this week—he said, out in Washington, D.C., do they know how upset we are? Do they know how angry are that they continue to drive this government takeover of health care and now begin to twist the rules of the House and Senate into a pretzel to pass it?
And I—I had to tell them, I—I—I didn't think so. I didn't think the majorities out here in the House and Senate or the White House really just understand just how frustrated the American people are. But it doesn't excuse that kind of behavior for a second.
MATTHEWS: What did you think of that guy's idiom when he said, "We don't give handouts over here"? Was that sort of in a reference to fact we in America, as opposed to socialist Europe? I was trying to figure out what that meant, over here.
It sounded like, in this country, we don't do it the other countries do did. So, your thoughts on that?
PENCE: Yes, I don't—I don't—I really don't know what he was talking about. Frankly, it just seemed—it seemed very mean to me, quite frankly.
PENCE: And I—I—I just would share with your revulsion at that kind of a confrontation.
You know, I saw that kind of stuff during the demonstrations over the war in Iraq. You know, people would, you know, act in ways that I didn't think reflected well on them or really reflected the character of this country. And that looks like another one of those cases.
MATTHEWS: We've got a new NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" poll out. As you know, these are pretty darn nonpartisan. We got—it finds that a 14 point swing has occurred favoring Republicans on handling health care. Look at this, 35 percent now approve of Republicans' handling of the health care. It's not exactly going through the roof, but it's a lot better than it was. It was in the 20s. Fifty nine percent disapprove. But back in January, as I said, it was 26 percent positive, 64 negative.
So in this game of difficulty, where nobody's loved in politics, it looks like you're picking up a beating or two.
PENCE: Well, I don't know that Republicans are picking up. I think it's a combination of two things. I really do believe the public is rejecting this massive government takeover of health care.
And I think, as a result of what happened at the Blair House, what happened at our retreat, I think the public is starting to take a look at Republican ideas. You know, the idea that we ought to allow Americans to purchase health insurance across state line, the idea of medical malpractice reform, covering pre-existing conditions with the savings from that.
I don't know if it's being attracted to Republicans, as much as
being attracted to Republican ideas that I believe—if we can scrap this
bill, I believe we could achieve some incremental, step-by-step reforms, on
a bipartisan basis, that would reflect those ideas and be broadly accepted
by the American people, Chris.
MATTHEWS: Why didn't you do that when you had President Bush—I mean, President Bush—the second President Bush—and you had control of both houses? You speak positively of the need for reform. And yet when the Republicans controlled both houses and the White House, you never do this stuff.
PENCE: Well, and I would—but I would add that what we did do was in the wrong direction.
MATTHEWS: But you didn't do the things you just ran through.
PENCE: Yeah, well—
MATTHEWS: But you didn't do what you said you would do. It's would have could, should of, it sounds like to a lot of Democrats. Every time a Democrat tries to do health care reform, you guys, very logically, come along and say, here's a more modest package. But you never offer that more modest package when the Democrats aren't in power, because you don't have to do it.
PENCE: Well, no, actually, I think Republicans actually kind of doubled down on big government solutions. I was one of the 25 Republicans who opposed the prescription drug entitlement on the floor of the Congress during that famous three-hour vote.
Frankly, the Republicans didn't bring solutions based on limited government and free market alternatives to the public to deal with this. We did the big government solutions. I think it's part of the reason Republicans were shown the door 2006.
But this new government takeover of health care takes the big government ideas of the Bush administration on health care and puts them on steroids. And i think—I think the public, apart from, you know, liberal Americans, who are entitled to their opinions—I think decisive majorities across this country are rejecting the big government approach.
They know it'll result in more deficit and debt and higher taxes. And they want us to do the incremental, step-by-step approach, that gives them in more power, it gives them more economic freedom. And I think we could do that if we stop the bill, Chris.
MATTHEWS: OK, well, you may get a chance, if they stop the bill. Then maybe you can push the Republican proposals for the first time. Thank you very much, Congressman Mike Pence, for joining us from Indiana. He's on the House—he's up there on the House rights now.
Ron Brownstein's political director—you know that is pretty—I saw you shaking your head positive. I know that you are a straight arrow here. But the fact is, it is a fact. Republican offer these wonderful sounding, moderate alternatives, but only in the face of a Democratic progressive suggestion.
RON BROWNSTEIN, ATLANTIC MEDIA: The story's a little bit more nuanced. The fact is that these are ideas that Republicans had during—when when they unified control of the House and the Senate and the White House, under Bush. Some of them did pass the House. Their idea of association health plans did pass the house. Medical malpractice, at one point, did pass the House.
The interstate health insurance never did pass the House because that is a much more controversial idea that it is usually explained to be, because it essentially allows the states that regulates least to set the rules for everyone.
MATTHEWS: You go state shopping.
BROWNSTEIN: But fact is that all of these ideas were never able to achieve consensus when Republicans controlled government. They could not get them out of the Senate. They could not get 60 votes. And in—
MATTHEWS: You know why? They really didn't want to do it.
BROWNSTEIN: They're asking Obama to accept ideas that they could not pass when they had unified control of government. That is—that's a key point here, in terms of looking at the alternative.
MATTHEWS: New numbers here in the "Wall Street Journal"/NBC poll.
It shows that 36 percent now say that the president's plan is a good idea;
48 percent say it's a bad idea; 46 percent say it would be better to pass it; but 45 percent say it would better to keep the current system.
That last number hangs up there. After months and months of ridicule, of individual parts, of the sausage-making of this fight over the public option, of all of this negative and yet you have a slight --
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.
MATTHEWS: -- one-point advantage for passing this
BROWNSTEIN: They're back to even, you know.
MATTHEWS: What happened?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, Gallup, ABC, "Washington Post," AP, the overall Pollster.com, my colleague, Mark Blumenthal, they're assessment are all about the same now, where you have somewhere around 45 percent saying yes, do it, maybe slightly more or about the same saying, don't do it.
What you're seeing—by the way, in your poll today, I think probably for the first time, on that question, that 45/45 question, a plurality of independents say, do it.
MATTHEWS: But if you're a Democrat, bottom line—be prescriptive; you're a Democratic member, you have to vote for it?
BROWNSTEIN: I think you have to vote for it, looking at those numbers, especially when you consider the ancillary costs if this goes down and what it says about the overall ability for Obama to govern, what it might mean for Obama's approval rating, what it might mean for Democratic turnout on November. On balance, politically, this is an argument for doing it, although, you know, it's not a slam dunk.
MATTHEWS: That's one reason why Lynn Woolsey of California is sticking with this bill. There's a big push to be solid on this thing, show some solidarity, and be with your constituents. Anyway, Ron Brownstein, thank you.
BROWNSTEIN: It's an up or down almost parliamentary vote now.
MATTHEWS: I think it's a no-confidence vote—up next—if you vote against it.
Up next, Attorney General Eric Holder says there's no way we'll ever get Osama bin Laden alive. Why is he making these assumptions, these declarations? They are so provocative. How does he know how we're going to catch this guy? That's coming up. We'll talk to former CIA officer Bob Baer about that, a very provocative statement by the attorney general. This is HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: We're back. Attorney General Eric Holder, as most people know now, has made a provocative statement. He dismissed the idea of bringing Osama bin Laden to justice in a courtroom, because he said we're never going to capture him alive.
Bob Baer is a former CIA field officer, and he also offers new details, hot stuff, in this month's "GQ" about the suicide bombing at a CIA base in Afghanistan, that killed seven Americans in December, making that one of the deadliest attacks in the agency's history.
Let's try to get to that. But first, Eric Holder, why does he make these statements? What do they say to agency people, in the company right now, when they hear, we're going to kill him?
BOB BAER, FMR. CIA FIELD OFFICER: You know, in fact, we are going to kill him. He's up in the tribal areas and the only way to get to him is with a missile fired by UAV.
MATTHEWS: So it won't be close engagement?
BAER: No, we're not going to send troops up there. It's impossible. It will never happen. We'll never send Delta up. We're going to have to kill him with a missile.
He's going to get on a phone one day, and we're going to send a missile down that signal.
MATTHEWS: Is that one of those things like you see the satellite photos, and you see them brining up the pictures, blowing it up, blowing it up, blowing it up, until they finally actually see the guy in the picture? Is that how they do it?
BAER: They just need the signal. All they need is that—
MATTHEWS: They GPS it right from the phone?
BAER: GPS right down the signal, missile goes right down to the signal.
MATTHEWS: To whoever has the phone in their hand.
BAER: They'll pick up a voice and they'll say, the sheikh is next to us, next door, fire it down. They know this.
MATTHEWS: They know this.
BAER: They make mistakes. Somebody always makes a mistake.
MATTHEWS: Throws him a phone?
BAER: No, doesn't throw him a phone. Somebody makes a mistake. They can't keep their mouth shut. They're bragging, somebody in the village.
MATTHEWS: Your view is forget the jurisprudence her and whether we should be talking about knocking people off before the trial, it's probably right?
BAER: It's probably right, but we shouldn't be talking it. We're a nation of rule of laws. We shouldn't be talking about assassinating people.
MATTHEWS: Last one; what went wrong with those seven people that got killed over in Afghanistan, that horrible case where the CIA blew it? They brought the guy in with a bomb on him. They never frisked him. What happened?
BAER: They didn't know what they were doing. There were three rings of security coming into that base in Afghanistan. When the first ring, they came to it, the car, they should have pulled the guy out. They should have searched him there, because we would be talking about one or two dead, not seven. They failed to do that.
They met him in front of this motor pool, and they were going to greet him. It was a big deal. This guy was important.
MATTHEWS: He was a friendly.
BAER: He was a friendly. This was the big breakthrough. This was going to get us to bin Laden or Zawahiri.
MATTHEWS: Who makes the call on these security decisions? The CIA are the toughest, most skeptical people in the world. They trust nobody. Why did they trust him with their lives and lost their lives as a result?
BAER: You know, Chris, that was not supposed to be an operational base. It was supposed to be analysts running that base. That was a base the CIA didn't want to open, because it doesn't have enough people, as many as the military would like. So they put those people to help the military to target, not to meet assets, like this Jordanian.
MATTHEWS: So it's like "Three Days in the Congo," where a guy doing analysis ends up being an operations—
BAER: Exactly. The CIA didn't want to open that base, because it's controlled by Haqqani (ph). But it was the military said, no, we need people there.
MATTHEWS: OK. The CIA that's now run by Leon Panetta, the long-time congressman, former OMB director. Is it up to the game? It's a brutal game of life and death. Can we win this battle against terrorism with the CIA we have now?
BAER: No, we can't. The CIA is over-extended. We don't have enough linguists. We don't have enough operators. We have too many people confined to the Green Zone in Baghdad. The same in Kabul. There's too many people without—
MATTHEWS: Why don't they have the lobbying power to come up and demand what they need to win this war? Because this war's probably not going to be won by Patton's army. It's probably going to be won in the dark areas, as Dick Cheney likes to call it.
BAER: I can't say for sure. But I'd say the secretary of defense, Gates, gets in to see the president a lot more than Panetta. He's calling the shots.
MATTHEWS: He would rather have fire power and ordnance and weaponry than this kind of more power to the CIA?
BAER: He's got to go along with the generals. And the generals want as many people as possible. That's the military mentality. They say, if we 150,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, the CIA's got to have 1,000. But that's way beyond the CIA's manpower.
MATTHEWS: Isn't that the reason we won initially in Afghanistan, it was the agency guys?
BAER: Yeah, but it was a few guys. It was a few guys, using technical sources, run remotely from Washington. They were doing fine.
MATTHEWS: Now back to the question, where is bin Laden?
BAER: If he's alive, he's in the tribal territory.
MATTHEWS: Northwest territories?
BAER: Northwest territories. We can't get to him, though.
MATTHEWS: Why not?
BAER: It's too tough up there. You would have to fight a major war to get into those areas.
MATTHEWS: What's between him and us?
BAER: Tribal people protecting him.
MATTHEWS: Thank you, Bob Baer. Why aren't you still in this thing?
You're a smart guy.
When we return, I've got some thoughts about why this deem and pass tactic the House is talking about could be big trouble for the Democrats. You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with the possibility that the US House of Representatives will approve the giant Obama health care bill without actually voting on the bill itself. Something about the House merely deeming the bill to have passed in the US Senate.
My question is fairly simple: how do you demand an up or down vote in one chamber, and deny one in the other? You insisted on the right of the Senate to pass the reconciliation measure by an up or down majority vote. How can you refuse to have the co-equal House of Representatives to do the same?
If a majority vote is good enough for the Senate, shouldn't it be the minimal requirement for action by the House? I've heard the argument for having the House avoid an up or down vote on the bill passed by the Senate. It's that it will prevent the Republicans running TV ads saying that the Democratic members of Congress voted for the Senate bill as if they are not modifying it, cleaning it up, which, in fact, they are doing.
That you would stop Republican ad writers from blasting Democrats unfairly for voting for a bill that has problems, such as the notorious Cornhusker Kickback, even though the member already voted to eliminate such provisions in the reconciliation bill, that's paired along with this bill.
But I think avoiding a direct up or down vote on the Senate bill would expos the Democrats to a worse charge, that they pulled a fast one. There's really only one reason not to have a direct vote on the health care bill in the House; that's to let a member claim he didn't vote to support it.
But if any political consultant or staffer or member of Congress believes that he can use legislative slight of hand or confusion to protect themselves, they're courting more trouble. This vote to deem the health care bill to have passed the Senate would not only be noted by a Republican opponent, it would surely be weaponized.
Worse yet, it would be taken to the Supreme Court, a bold step that would really impeach this process of creating health care for all Americans.
Again, the bottom line, you cannot demand an up or down vote in one chamber, the US Senate, and deny one in the House of Representatives, a body of men and women, Democrats, Republicans and independents, which has prided itself long before this health care fight, and will wish to do so years after it, as the people's House.
That's HARDBALL for now. Thanks for being with us. Catch us against tomorrow night at 5:00 and 7:00 Eastern. Again, happy St. Patrick's Day.
Right now, it's time for "THE ED SHOW" with Ed Schultz.
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text:
Much of yesterday was spent as today will be, removing countless screws from the bridge deck planks. Lots of screws. I'll do the math, but I'd say probably 1,000 + screws. Frozen screws. Screws that snap. Stripped screws. Each and every one has to come out. And first each must be dug out from beneath a teak bung, some of which have been epoxied in place, or glued with some strange rubbery compound. Others just pop out. You never know what you'l find. A tedious task to say the least. But that goes with the territory. Much of boat maintenance/restoration is tedious, monotous work.
One thing that made last spring's work pass more pleasantly was XM Radio. Most times it stayed on X-country, other times Fred or Ethel. Stations all phased out when Sirus and XM merged. Which was the same time I cancelled my contract, vowing I'd only return when the programming I enjoyed did as well. Thousands of other listeners cried foul as well, but judging by the comments on the petitions, (4,450 at last count) most remained customers, hoping things would improve. From what I've heard, it hasn't. But I've found some alternatives, and they seem to be working. I still miss Rogue Calls, but at least I've found a place to hear most of the music I'd come to expect on X-country. The first, recommended to me by someone named Cody (hmmm?) is Texas Free Radio. Take a listen, there's good things to be found there. The other is Slacker.com, which also lets me listen to their Americana station, Alternative Country, or switch over to several of their Alternative Rock stations. They have plenty more beyond that, it's just a matter of what you like. Optimum has WiFi I can log onto right by the boat, so with my laptop and a set of cheap speakers, so if all works as planned, there'll be music onboard today. And you can get on Slacker via Crackberry. So for all of you still stuck on XM and unhappy, there are options. It just takes a little creativity and some loose screws.


text:
Knowing industry guidelines can save you money and enhance performance.
The vast array of surge protection devices, and the ratings that characterize them, can be confusing. How do you sort through all the choices to determine the design strategy and product choices that will provide the protection you need at a cost you can afford? Let's look at three common approaches.
One approach is to provide surge protection devices (SPDs) only at the service entrance. You may think you're solving all of your surge problems in one stroke, but this approach doesn't work—as we'll show you later.
A second approach is to provide point-of-use protection with individual SPDs at critical equipment. This approach works well for low-level surges, but fails to protect equipment from higher-energy surges.
A third approach is to combine complementary SPDs at the entrance and at the equipment. This isn't simply a matter of adding more devices, as we'll explain shortly. To complete the protection provided by this third approach, you must install lightning protection. And, to ensure your surge protection devices can work, you must address the grounding practices throughout the facility—starting with the entrance neutral-to-ground bond.
SPD ratings. To understand why the first two approaches work—and how to implement the third approach—you need to know a few things about SPD ratings. The easiest and best guide to follow is the NEMA LS-1 Standard on Low-Voltage Surge Protection Devices. The LS-1 document outlines the critical elements for a technically sound surge protector specification without getting bogged down by insignificant ratings. Another excellent source recently published is IEEE C62.62, Standard Test Specification for Surge Protective Devices for Low-Voltage AC Power Circuits, which complements the NEMA standard.
Because tests for ratings like response time and energy dissipation (joules) are not uniform, these ratings don't add much value to a specification. Response time figures, typically based on component data, disregard the installation parameters of the surge protector. This fails to account for the fact that conductor length will affect this number and there is no standard conductor length. However, it's safe to assume that the surge protector will respond "instantaneously" when it sees a surge.
Joules is also a number typically taken from calculated component data. As a rule of thumb, a surge protector designed with 20mm diameter metal-oxide varistors (MOVs) will have a joule rating of 80J per MOV, which correlates to about 6,500A of surge current withstand capability. Therefore, a device with 4 MOVs, for example, would have a joule rating of 320J, or 26,000A, of surge current.
Because testing can easily and reliably confirm maximum surge current ratings, these ratings are meaningful in describing how robust a surge protector is. Manufacturers subject the device to a high surge current test based on criteria outlined in IEEE C62 test standards.
Another critical rating is the suppressed voltage rating (SVR) provided by Underwriters Laboratories. The lowest assigned UL1449 rating is 330V peak. The rating known as maximum continuous operating voltage (MCOV) will affect the UL1449 SVR. In general, the higher the MCOV, the higher the SVR. The MCOV should be at least 115% of the nominal operating voltage of the system the protector will be in. This will provide enough tolerance for temporary system over voltages based on the steady-state tolerances provided in ANSI C84.1, Electric Power Systems and Equipment-Voltage Ratings (to which utilities in the United States adhere). Remember that a surge protector should conduct, or turn on, only when transient voltages last on the order of microseconds. Steady-state system over-voltage conditions can degrade or destroy a surge protector. In fact, UL1449 now requires a failsafe test to confirm "loss of neutral scenarios" by subjecting the surge protector to twice its nominal rating.
Other ratings such as noise filtering may be of importance in attenuating electrical noise generated by motor-operated equipment. A rule of thumb is 20 db provides 10:1 noise attenuation, while 40db provides 100:1 and 60db provides 1000:1. In general, 35db up to 100MHz provides excellent filtering.
Art. 285 is new to the 2002 NEC. It covers SPDs installed on the load side of the service disconnect (UL1449 Listed). Previously, the NEC covered only surge arresters installed on the line side of the service (in Art. 280)—these are not Listed under UL1449 and not used at a typical panelboard. Sec. 285.11 requires an AIC rating for the SPD. This has caused confusion, because a hardwired parallel-operated SPD panel is not assigned a nameplate ampacity rating. UL1449 never required such a nameplate or marking unless the SPD was series-operated (connected in-line and drawing continuous load current). UL is working with manufacturers to address an AIC marking requirement, and manufacturers are sizing surge panels to carry an AIC of a typical molded case circuit breaker for the application. If the main service breaker has a 100KAIC fault current, that doesn't necessarily mean the surge panels would require this level. Also, be sure not to confuse the maximum surge current ratings (8 x 20us waveform) with the AIC rating. The AIC rating is based on steady-state available fault current from the power source of the facility using a time duration of three and a half cycles, as opposed to the surge current withstand time duration associated with an induced-lightning stroke in the domain of a few microseconds.
Implementation strategy. Several standards apply to SPD implementation. One in particular, IEEE C62.41, Recommended Practice on Surge Voltages in Low-Voltage AC Power Circuits, provides location categories for a generic facility in three distinct locations: Service entrance (Cat. C), major feeders & branch circuits (Cat. B), and outlets (Cat. A). The standard assigns each category a surge magnitude based on these locations, as well as a waveform based on the source of the surge (lightning, induced, or equipment generated). This concept supports the approach of cascading or networking SPDs throughout a facility to anticipate surges originating from equipment internal to the building or from outside influences like lightning.
Developing your implementation strategy around this concept is a proven way to maximize protection while, in most cases, dramatically reducing cost. How would you do this? First, provide lightning protection per NFPA 780, Standard for the Installation of Lightning Protection Systems. Second, provide high-energy surge protection at the service entrance. This protection will reduce the surge to a level that downstream SPDs can handle. Remember, SPD protection is like a window—it can span only so far up or down. So you must cascade to get the full span of protection.
Your next step is to provide branch circuit panelboards with wired-in surge protective devices to divert surges generated by neighboring equipment internal to the building. Studies show about 80% of surges originate within the facilities themselves. Now, you can see cascading really helps you target against your main sources of surge without leaving you open to high-energy external surges. At this design level, you also want to provide surge protection for network cabling and similar infrastructure. Your last step is to provide dedicated point-of-use protection. Where you have equipment with power and communications ports, remember both are doors through which surges can enter, so protect accordingly.
Installation. When connecting a hardwired, parallel-operated surge protector, you must follow some basic installation guidelines. Typically, the surge panel will be connected to dedicated breakers within the panelboard. These can be any rating, even as low as 20A. Their purpose is to act as a safety disconnect for any future servicing. Use as short a conductor length as possible between the surge panel and the connection to the breakers in the panel board. The parasitic inductance of the excessive leads introduces a voltage loss in series with the shunt (or parallel) connected SPD. A rule of thumb is you'll need an extra 100V on the SVR of each SPD in that panel for every foot of conductor.
The application of facility-wide surge protection is critical to maintaining the flow of production. Your goal isn't simply to protect the investment in equipment—though that is a major cost-savings. Your goal is to prevent downtime so revenue can continue to flow. A single catastrophic power disturbance can easily wipe out any "savings" realized by not investing in the proper SPD devices, strategy, and installation.
Wakeham is director of marketing & product development for Leviton's Power Quality Division.


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Concert posters, a sleek black piano, a photo of Portland-area jazz artists during a 2005 "Great Day in Portland" event at the
From the looks of
's office at Portland State University, the city's jazz scene is thriving.
A professional jazz pianist as well as a PSU associate professor and director of the Vinnegar institute, Grant's music classes have been filled with interested students for the last 17 years, but he wants to know if jazz in Portland will last.
As part of the Arts Spoken Word series at the
Grant will be discussing the question, "What makes a healthy jazz scene?" on Tuesday, June 18.
"Jazz as an Ecology"
: Discussion by Portland jazz pianist Darrell Grant as part of the Walter Cultural Arts Center's Spoken Word series
: 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 18
: The Walters Cultural Arts Center at 527 E. Main St., Hillsboro
: The event is free. Call 503-615-3485 or visit
for more information.
Originally from Lakewood, Colo., Grant gravitated to music at an early age. He started playing piano when he was 7 and by fourth grade he was in his first jazz band.
"When you're exposed to a certain type of music at an early age – it doesn't seem strange to love something like jazz when you're young," Grant said. He said his music influences include his mother, who was a singer.
Grant studied at the renowned Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, where he studied classical piano. When he graduated, he had the choice to continue his studies, pursuing a doctorate in classical music, or dive into the improvisational jazz world that had fired his imagination since childhood. He chose the latter, attending the University of Miami for a master's degree and eventually migrating to New York City to be "right in the middle of the jazz scene," as he described it.
It was the mid 1980s and rent was cheap (especially if you lived out of a converted dark room), so he set out as a freelance musician. He soon landed his first big gig, with the legendary jazz singer Betty Carter, and within two years scored his first recording contract.
"Compared to other people, I saw my job as a secure position," Grant said, a comment that baffles many of his students. "As a freelancer, I couldn't ever be fired. I could play one gig a month and have my rent paid."
When he married his wife, Anne McFall, they knew they didn't want to start a family in New York. While visiting Portland jazz drummer Alan Jones in 1996, they decided they would give the Northwest a shot.
"I wasn't really looking that closely at the Portland jazz scene," Grant said. "When a position opened up at PSU, it was fate."
Grant, 51, plays at jazz venues throughout the Portland-metro area. He's also traveled to places like Poland, Cuba, Japan and Khabarovsk, Russia (Portland's sister city), where he lead the 2011 Jazz Bridge Project.
Seeing the major jazz hubs of the world, Grant has contemplated the connection between music and place, how location influences quality and style.
Looking at jazz as an ecology – the interaction between music and its environment – Grant suggests there are several things that need to be in place for it to thrive.
He compares jazz to a forest habitat. Successful musicians, like old growth trees, form the foundation and allow the growth of future artists, he said. Grant points to jazz drummer Mel Brown as one of the Portland greats.
Other necessary nutrients to a healthy music scene are things like jazz radio stations, venues and education.
In 2000, Grant started "The Incredible Journey of Jazz," a program that takes jazz into classrooms from Gresham to Beaverton.
Grant said he's passionate about jazz because it's the lens through which he views the world.
"Our practices come to frame our life experiences," Grant said. "Jazz is my practice. It's about history, skills, relationships and communication with other artists. It provides me with cultural understanding."
So will jazz last in Portland? Though challenged here much more than in bigger, more diverse cities like New York and Chicago, Grant said he believes it will. For starters, he plans on playing, teaching and jamming with his compatriots for many years to come.
"Jazz is not dead," Grant asserted. "Jazz is fertile here and I know there's room to grow."
-- Taylor Smith


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For the second year in-a-row the Hope women's basketball team is among 25 NCAA Division III teams being honored nationally for academics.
For the second year in-a-row the Hope women's basketball team is among 25 NCAA Division III teams being honored nationally for academics.
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) has announced its Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, DCAA Division III, NAIA and Junior/Community colleges.
The Flying Dutch ranked 18th in Division III for having the highest grade point average (GPA) for the 2009-10 season based upon nominations submitted by WBCA-member coaches. There are 425 women's basketball teams in Division III.
Hope has the distinction of being the only Division III team to be ranked in both the WBCA Poll and the Academic Honor Roll.
The Flying Dutch, coached by Brian Morehouse, had a cumulative 3.437 grade point average. The year before Hope maintained a 3.447 GPA for achieve Honor Roll distinction for the first time.
Carnegie-Mellon University, Pa. leads this year's list with a 3.616 grand point average. Hope is the only MIAA team to be named to the Honor Roll.
Hope was ranked second in the final WBCA poll for 09-10 after finishing runnerup in the NCAA Division III tournament. The Flying Dutch posted a 32-2 record.
Earlier this month the Flying Dutch were awarded an MIAA Team GPA Award for a fourth consecutive year.


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Next month space enthusiasts will hold the 2nd Annual SpaceUp Houston Unconference to discuss space exploration and radical ideas for how we might go about doing this.
The event will feature eight discussion sessions held over two days, a Space Show & Tell as well as feature innovations from Johnson Space Center and the community.
The best thing about these gatherings is the networking and outside-the-box thinking they promote. And I think most will agree that, to become a spacefaring-beyond-Earth-orbit nation again, we need some outside-the-box thinking.
Registration is now open for the event, which will be held at the Lunar & Planetary Institute, just a few miles from the NASA Johnson Space Center.


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Gaddafi's downfall: what next for Libya?
Date created : Latest update :
Just how much of a helping hand did NATO provide in the rebels' sudden surge towards Tripoli? François Picard's panel argues over the Transitional National Council's street credibility and the West's ability to leave Libya quietly.
- Richard DALTON, Former UK Ambassador to Libya - RICHMOND
- Philip STONOR , Former Deputy UK Defence Attaché in Paris
- Lindsey GERMAN, Convenor of the Stop the War Coalition
- Catherine NORRIS-TRENT, France 24 Correspondent
- Ali ERRISHI, Former Libyan Minister of Immigration
- Chris MOORE, France 24 International Affairs Editor
watch the second part here


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ACA NEOGEO BASEBALL STARS PROFESSIONAL Review
Unfortunately, professional review of the ACA NEOGEO BASEBALL STARS PROFESSIONAL game is not yet ready. This game is on the list and will be reviewed in the nearest feature. Meanwhile, you can find more from the official description below.View all reviews
If you have something to say about this game and make own review - write us. We are looking for talented game critics!
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Get workflow control, eliminate your tightening errors and assure your quality using the batch sequence.
With Torque Seating Monitoring MTF6000 will assure high torque accuracy, secure clamping torque and eliminate your tightening errors.
With remote programming you can access the controller from anywhere, giving you full control of any controller any time.
The combination of MTF6000 and ToolsNet8 will empower your transition for Industry 4.0. This is one of the most powerful solution for full transparency and will boost your continuous improvements.


text: We're not a crew of stuffed shirts at Kirkus; you'll never hear us argue that you should always read the book instead of seeing the film version. Some movies, in fact, are hands-down more memorable than the book they were adapted from. But some movies that are adapted from books are so successful as movies and linger so vividly in the public imagination that it's easy to forget they began life as a vibrant, beloved book. Here's our list of Oscar-winning or –nominated movies based on books you'll love reading.


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In Stockton, Calif., Slow Fall Off Financial Cliff
A red, white and blue sign declaring Stockton an "All-America City" still adorns City Hall, but the building's crumbling facade tells the real story of the community's recent fortunes.
STOCKTON, Calif. — A red, white and blue sign declaring Stockton an "All-America City" still adorns City Hall, but the building's crumbling facade tells the real story of the community's recent fortunes.
Since the sign went up nearly a decade ago, Stockton has twice topped Forbes magazine's list of "America's most miserable cities." And now another unflattering title could be headed its way: largest American city to declare bankruptcy.
The city of 290,000 that rode the wave of the housing boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s now finds itself littered with foreclosed homes, saddled with pension, health care and other obligations it can't afford, and unable to pay its bills.
The City Council voted last month to suspend $2 million in bond payments and begin negotiations with bond holders, creditors and unions. A new California law requires that cities begin a 60-day mediation process before filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, though city leaders can file at any time if negotiations stall.
The police union, upset over job cuts and a record murder rate, posted billboards tracking the city's "body count" and giving out the city manager's phone number. One blood-spattered sign read: "Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in California: Stop laying off cops!"
The city's deficit now is $15 million — a little more than 9 percent of its annual general fund — and that could double in the next fiscal year.
"We are hanging on by our fingertips," said Mayor Ann Johnston, who has overseen three fiscal emergency declarations and hopes to persuade the city's creditors to forgive some debt.
Founded along the San Joaquin River during the Gold Rush, Stockton has much to boast. It's a gateway to Yosemite National Park and sits atop fertile soil that supports an agricultural industry that built the city and still is its underpinning — the three-day annual Stockton Asparagus Festival draws 100,000 people. It's one of just two deep-water inland ports in California.
During the housing boom, people priced out of the San Francisco Bay area were trundling down Interstate 5, buying up homes in subdivisions built for commuters.
"We became affordable housing for the Bay Area," Johnston said.
City leaders believed the influx of residents and wealth would finally lift the community into its rightful place as a top-tier city. From 2000 to 2005, median home prices quadrupled to $400,000.
The downtown waterfront is a monument to the high hopes of the era. An extensive promenade leads past a 12,000-seat sports arena, a gleaming hotel that opened as a Sheraton and an upscale restaurant, much of it bought with city money.
Today, there are more Canadian geese than people in this part of town. Residents say they avoid the arena because they don't feel safe at night. The Sacramento restaurateur the city lured with generous incentives has closed his doors-- though white tablecloths still adorn the sleek dining room-- and the Sheraton management has also left town.
A developer recently bought the hotel at auction and is refashioning the rooms into dorms for University of the Pacific students.
Though many communities across the country are struggling with their finances and some already have filed for bankruptcy — Pennsylvania's capital of Harrisburg, Jefferson County, Ala., and little Central Falls, R.I. — Stockton's litany of problems stand out.
The unemployment rate has doubled over the past decade and now hovers around 16 percent. A fifth of residents live below the poverty line.
The city has the second-highest foreclosure rate in the nation — it alternates with Las Vegas for the dubious distinction of first place. Home prices have fallen to pre-2000 levels, and as many as half of homeowners owe more than their houses are worth.
The looming bankruptcy was a subject of discussion at Weston Ranch subdivision, where three unemployed neighbors passed a rainy afternoon drinking beer in lawn chairs. All three are underwater on their homes.
George Rios, 42, said his family would have left Weston Ranch already if the bank had not reduced their home loan by half.
"You're here because of your property," he said, gesturing to the three empty homes he can see from his lawn. "If you don't have a property, why are you going to stay?"
The housing bubble masked decades of sloppy bookkeeping, according to City Manager Bob Deis, including double counting parking ticket revenue and overestimating the general fund.
"I've never seen anything like this, I've never heard anything like this, and it goes back a long time," he said.
Deis also faults the city's generous retirement plan, which includes free health care. Stockton expects to spend $9 million on health benefits for retired workers next year, more than it pays for current employees. The city's is carrying a $417 million unfunded liability for retiree health care over the next 30 years.
The police union, the Stockton Police Officers Association, is fighting to stop the city from defaulting on its promises. The union bought the house next to Deis', a move President Steve Leonesio said was a coincidence.
With staffing down by 25 percent, the department can no longer man its main station, Leonesio said. Yellow caution tape fluttered around the building's entrance on a recent weekday. A vandal had smashed out the glass doors. Last year, someone shot at the building from a car, stippling the brick wall with bullet holes.
The crime-prone city saw a record 58 murders last year. Police no longer look for stolen cars or take reports for lower-level crimes.
Leonesio warned that Stockton might have to bring in the National Guard if it declares bankruptcy.
"We don't have enough officers here," he said.
The city has a feel of defeatism, said Robert Benedetti, political science professor at University of the Pacific.
"Every time that Stockton seemed to be getting going, something bad happens," he said. "The citizens who live here don't understand exactly why things go wrong here as they do."
Sara Gonzales, 24, manages the Beach Hut Deli across from Stockton's 16-screen waterfront movie theater. An 11 year-old girl was shot in the ankle last summer while sitting on a bench here. Since then, people have kept their distance after dark.
Gonzales, a University of the Pacific graduate, had wanted to stay in town to be near her young niece. Now she is working on transferring to another of the sandwich company's California franchises.
"It's progressively gotten worse since I've been here," she said. "I don't want to leave because of my family, but I'm over Stockton."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.


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Shooting a Shotgun vs. a Rifle
- Point a shotgun.
- Focus your eye on the target.
- Pull the trigger.
- Aim a rifle.
- Focus your eye on the crosshairs or front sight.
- Squeeze the trigger.
You are looking at a preview of what's in the Today's Hunter in South Carolina Course. Feel free to look around, but you'll need to register to begin progress toward getting your Hunter Education Certificate.


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Revolution on paper:
Mexican prints 1910–1960
22 October 2009 – 5 April 2010
Exhibition closed
Room 90
The exhibition is the first in Europe to focus on the great age of Mexican printmaking in the first half of the 20th century. It features 130 works by over 40 artists including prints by Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
Between 1910 and 1920, Mexico was convulsed by a socialist revolution that aimed to topple the elite ruling class and improve conditions for society at large. The left-wing government which emerged laid great emphasis on art as a vehicle to promote the values of the revolution. Walls of public buildings were covered with vast murals, and workshops made prints for mass distribution.
Some of the finest prints from the period were produced by the 'three greats' of Mexican art: Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
The exhibition includes Rivera's famous Emiliano Zapata and his horse which has achieved iconic status in 20th-century art. It also features works by artists that rose to prominence after the founding of the Taller del Gráfica Popular (the national print workshop) in 1937, and earlier works by José Guadalupe Posada, who was posthumously recognised by the revolutionaries as the father of printmaking in Mexico.
Further information
Emiliano Zapata and his horse, Diego Rivera, 1932, lithograph © 2009, Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico D.F. / DACS
Dead Soldier, Francisco Dosamantes, 1940, lithograph, copyright unknown
The laughter of the people - away with your nonsense, José Chávez Morado, 1939, lithograph © DACS 2009
Victory!, Ángel Bracho, 1945, linocut, copyright unknown
Black Woman, David Alfáro Siqueiros, 1935/6, lithograph © DACS 2009
The Torches, Leopoldo Méndez, 1947, woodcut, copyright unknown
The Graveyard of all the Skeletons, José Guadalupe Posada, 1905, photorelief / letterpress, copyright unknown
The Skeleton of Pascual Orozco, José Guadalupe Posada, 1912, photorelief / letterpress, copyright unknown
Propaganda, Alfredo Zalce, 1939, lithograph, copyright unknown
Grief, Rufino Tamayo, 1930, woodcut
Woman and Child, Tehuantepec, Leon Underwood, 1928, wood-engraving
Nude with beads (Frida Kahlo), Diego Rivera, 1930, lithograph © 2009, Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico D.F. / DACS


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Abigail Kwak
Ann Sippel
Bethany Matthews
Delilah Buitrago
Pembroke West
Emily Augenbarn
Sierra Bradshaw-Kreimer
Pembroke West Crew
Pembroke East
Pembroke West Hall
College Assembly
Philly 101
Family Welcome Picnic
Hall Advisor Selfie
Lena Jacobson and Natasha Neil
Lena Jacobson and Natasha Neil welcome their daughter, first-year Natasha Neil, at the Family Welcome Picnic.
Sierra Bradshaw-Kreimer and Patricia Bradshaw
Chris Pathmanabhan and Parents.
Kim & Students at Family Picnic
Firstyear Claudia Zavala and dad, Oscar Zavala
The Arch After Move-In
Kate Weiler and Parents
Evelyn Ferrall
Megan Winner


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Edwards, Devoto Help Deliver Sweep of Cal State San Bernardino
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SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – No. 20 UC San Diego took both games of the twin bill Saturday at Softball Park to complete a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) sweep of Cal State San Bernardino. The Tritons used a strong pitching performance from Alexis Edwards and timely hitting from Bianca Devoto to win the opener, 2-1, before closing out the set with 19 hits in a 13-4 win in the finale.
The Tritons were led by three RBI apiece from Devoto, Katie Saunders, Caitlin Brown and Amani Proctor on the day, while Edwards picked up her fifth complete game of the year in 10 total innings between the pair of games.
UCSD improves to 18-4 overall and 13-3 in the CCAA to strengthen its grip of first place in the conference, while CSUSB falls to 16-13 overall and 10-10 in league play.
Game One
With the score tied 1-1 in the top of the seventh, head coach Patti Gerckens inserted Devoto as a pinch hitter with two outs and a runner on third. The result proved to be the game winning knock to right field to score Callie Grant, who had singled through the left side, moved to second on a passed ball and advanced to third on Mya Romero groundout. The clutch single to right came on a 2-0 pitch as the freshman showed no nerves to give the Tritons the lead.
Edwards came out in the bottom half of the inning and retired the Coyotes after allowing a single with one out to seal the 2-1 victory.
UCSD scored its first run in the second inning after Proctor stole three bases after reaching on an error. She stole second and third on consecutive pitches before stealing home on a double steal with Taylor Sepulveda, who walked.
The victory for Edwards marked her ninth of the season as she continues to build a new career high for victories each week. She finished with a full seven frames and allowed four hits, three walks and struck out four.
The offense was led by Devoto's RBI and two hits from Grant.
The loss was tagged to Stephanie Luhman after throwing a complete game with no earned runs allowed. The Coyote offense was led by a hit and an RBI from Mary Menicucci.
Game Two
The series finale proved to be a slugfest, as the Tritons recorded a season high 19 hits and scored double-digit runs for the fourth time of 2014. The 19 hits mark the most since 2007 as UCSD finished with the same amount in a 12-4 win over Cal State Monterey Bay.
The offense didn't waste any time jumping on the scoreboard and plated three in the opening frame on three hits. Grant started the rally with a single up the middle and Mya Romero followed by reaching on a fielder's choice to the shortstop. McKenna Clewett advanced the runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt before Saunders recorded an RBI infield single. Devoto followed with an RBI single to continue her hot day at the plate and Brown capped off the inning with a perfectly executed suicide squeeze to make the score 3-0.
The Tritons continued the offensive onslaught in the second inning and threw up a six spot on the scoreboard on five hits. Kirsten Willmon led things off with a single through the right side before Emily McQuaid and Grant reached on Coyote errors. Clewett brought the first run of the inning home on a sacrifice fly to right field for an RBI. Saunders continued her strong series with a two RBI single to left field before Brown doubled for an RBI. Proctor finished off the inning with a single to center field to plate a pair of runs to give the Tritons a 9-0 advantage.
After allowing four runs in the bottom of the third, the Tritons added insurance runs in the fourth and fifth, and two in the seventh. Proctor tripled home Devoto in the fourth, Romero doubled home McQuaid in the fifth and Devoto and Brown brought home runs in the seventh on a walk and single, respectively.
UCSD closed out the win with a quick seventh to make the final 13-4.
The offense was led by three RBI apiece from Saunders, Brown and Proctor, while Devoto finished with two RBI and Romero and Clewett finished with one RBI apiece. Saunders, Devoto and Brown all delivered three hits in the game, while Romero and Proctor finished with two each.
Alayna Brenman was credited with the win after tossing 1.2 innings in relief of Jennifer Manuel. Brenman allowed two hits, no runs and a recorded a strikeout. Edwards finished out the game with three innings and allowed two hits and struck out one.
The loss was given to Luhman, while the Coyote offense was led by three hits from Nicole Nobbe.
UCSD is back at home on Tuesday, Mar. 25 after taking off next week. The Tritons host Hawaii Hilo in a non-conference doubleheader, with first pitch slated for 4 p.m.


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English, PDF, 811kb
Protectionism and local content requirements are holding back investment in clean energy and thus undermining the fight against climate change. This Investment Insights puts forward policy options for mobilising investment in clean energy and restoring order and confidence in international markets.
The perceived potential of clean energy to support employment in the post-crisis recovery context has led several OECD and emerging economies to design green industrial policies aimed at protecting domestic manufacturers, notably through local-content requirements (LCRs). These typically require solar or wind developers to source a specific share of jobs, components or costs locally. Such requirements have been designed or implemented in the solar- and wind-energy sectors in at least 21 countries, including 16 OECD countries and emerging economies, mostly since 2009.
Empirical evidence gathered in this report shows however that LCRs have actually hindered international investment across the solar PV and wind-energy value chains, by increasing the cost of inputs for downstream activities. This report also takes stock of other measures that can restrict international investment in solar PV and wind energy, such as trade remedies and technical barriers. This report provides policy makers with evidence-based analysis to guide their decisions in designing clean-energy support policies.
English, PDF, 2,488kb
This brochure provides basic information about the Policy Framework for Investment, the most comprehensive and systematic approach for improving investment conditions ever developed. The PFI was updated in 2015 to reflect new global economic fundamentals and to integrate the numerous lessons learnt through the use of the PFI since 2006.
An updated version of the Policy Framework for Investment (PFI) was released in 2015. The update reflects new global economic fundamentals that have emerged over the last 10 years and takes into account the numerous lessons learnt through the use of the PFI, particularly in developing and emerging economies.
OECD Ministers have endorsed updated guidelines to help national governments and regional groups create the right conditions to attract domestic and foreign investment.
English, PDF, 1,593kb
This compilation of blogs written about the social, economic, and policy aspects of international investment. This compilation was prepared for the OECD's 2015 Ministerial Council Meeting.
The OECD Council recommends use of the Framework: to facilitate coherence for better policy formulation and implementation; as a tool for self-evaluation, peer reviews, knowledge and experience sharing, regional co-operation, and multilateral discussions on investment-related policies; and, as a source of international good practices on investment climate reforms.
The greatest puzzle today is that since the global crisis financial markets see so little risk, with asset prices rising everywhere in response to zero interest rates and quantitative easing, while companies that invest in the real economy appear see so much more risk. What can be happening?
This Investment Policy Review examines Nigeria's achievements in developing an open and transparent investment regime and its efforts to reduce restrictions on international investment.


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There is a lot of injury information to know on Sunday mornings. We'll round up the biggest news right here every week. We'll update the page throughout the morning.
1. NFL.com and NFL Network's Albert Breer reported that New Orleans Saints wide receiver Marques Colston will play against the Kansas City Chiefs despite his foot injury. He is indeed active for the game. Colston did not look 100 percent last week.
2. St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson will face the Chicago Bears on Sunday, according to NFL Network's Stacey Dales. The news is a surprise after Jackson didn't practice all week.
3. ESPN reported Sunday that San Diego Chargers running back Ryan Mathews is expected to play against the 2-0 Atlanta Falcons. That's no surprise considering he fully practiced all week. It will be Mathews' first game of the season.
4. NFL Network's Michelle Beisner reports Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garcon will not face the Cincinnati Bengals. He was doubtful on the injury report because of his foot injury. Leonard Hankerson and Aldrick Robinson figure to split Garcon's snaps.
5. Green Bay Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings "looked good" at practice Saturday. He's officially questionable to face the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night, but things are pointing up.
6. Tight end Kellen Winslow is expected to be active for his first game with the New England Patriots on Sunday night, according to ESPN.
7. Austin Collie is active for the Colts. Dwight Freeney is inactive.
8. The Rams made wide receiver Brian Quick inactive Sunday. Austin Pettis up over him. Quick had a lot of offseason hype but hasn't found a role early in the year.
9. The 49ers will be without running back Brandon Jacobs and wide receiver Ted Ginn once again.
10. Lions running back Mikel Leshoure will start in his first game back from suspension.
11. Browns return man Josh Cribbs is active despite being limited in practice all week.
12. Javon Ringer is out for the Titans at running back. Chris Johnson will carry the load again.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.