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November 8, 2011
Guests: Cynthia Tucker, Dana Milbank, Michael Smerconish, Patrick Meehan
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Showdown -- let`s play HARDBALL.
MATTHEWS: Good evening. I`m Chris Matthews, out in San Francisco.
Leading off tonight: Cain denies all. It was one of those moment
where is we all had the same picture on, simultaneously. Herman Cain
decided to meet the press. And deny all the allegations of sexual
harassment against him in toto.
He said he couldn`t even remember Sharon Bialek, the woman who came
forward yesterday to say Cain had made physical, sexual advances on her.
Cain also said the accusations would not chase him from the presidential
race. Ain`t going to happen, Cain said.
Plus, Mitt takes a hit. A leading conservative Wed site, RedState.com
said nominating Romney against Obama is a death wish for conservativism.
Among his many criticisms, Erick Erickson writes, quote, "Mitt Romney is
going to be the Republican nominee, and his general election campaign will
be an utter disaster for conservatives as he takes the GOP down with him
and burns up what it means to be a conservative in the process."
Erickson calls utterly unprincipled.
But if not Romney, who?
Also a story that saddened college football fans everywhere and
everyone in Pennsylvania, "The New York Times" reports Joe Paterno will
soon be out at Penn State, perhaps in the matter of days. At issue is his
failure to act aggressively upon being told that a former football coach
had allegedly sexually abused a boy in the football team`s showers.
And let me finish tonight with a bad marriage of the Republican and
Tea Parties.
Let`s start with Herman Cain defending himself.
NBC`s David Gregory is the moderator of "Meet the Press"; Eugene
Robinson is the columnist for "The Washington Post" and MSNBC political
analyst; and Cynthia Tucker is a political columnist and currently a
visiting professor at the University of Georgia.
I`m going to start with David.
David, as a reporter looking at this, where does this story go now in
terms of getting to the truth?
DAVID GREGORY, MODERATOR, "MEET THE PRESS": Two tracks: political,
but also the facts of the case. I`ve talked to some lawyers, since last
time we talked, and they said, you know, the notion that it`s a he said/she
said is not really accurate.
In Bialek`s case, one of the central facts of her allegation, one of
the things that she alleges is that there was a room, a suite that Herman
Cain provided for her on the night that they went out. So it`s not just a
matter what he said and now he`s totally denying even knowing her. So,
presumably there`s a record there to actually go check. Is there a credit
card receipt? Is there some sort of record?
This is indicative of also the political problem. There are more
details. There are more facts that are likely to come out. There are
other accusers who are now prepared to go public.
How much more can Herman Cain take? He was definitive today, Chris.
Denied everything, said he`s never acted inappropriately. So, he was
certainly declarative and that`s weigh down a marker.
MATTHEWS: And in denying everything, he now has to defend any case,
any bit of evidence, as you pointed, including the records of an upgrade in
that hotel room that he was responsible for. It would contradict
completely his claim of utter lack of memory.
Here`s Herman Cain today. He said he never sexually harassed Sharon
Bialek and, in fact, didn`t even recognize her, doesn`t even know the
woman. Let`s watch.
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I never acted
inappropriately with anyone, period. I saw Ms. Allred and her client
yesterday in that news conference for the very first time. As I sat in my
hotel room with a couple of my staff members, as they got to the
microphone, my first response in my mind and reaction was, I don`t even
know who this woman is.
MATTHEWS: Gene Robinson, it seems this puts him in a position that
David points out, is quite factually based. He now has to defend any of
it, against any of it as to -- if this happened, that it did happen. Hotel
records, restaurant records, eyewitnesses, people like that, anything that
comes along and says he did know her, did have dinner with her, did have
drinks with her, did go for a ride -- any evidence along that lines crashes
him unless he has one last fallback, "I forgot."
EUGENE ROBINSON, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I forgot. I don`t
known that`s going to cut it, given the definitive nature of his denial.
He doesn`t remember her, this never happened, so the records are checkable.
Also in the -- the other case that we know a little bit about, the one
in which there was one of the two in which there was a settlement with the
National Restaurant Association and the woman who is now coming public, he
said that case was resolved with a finding that the allegations were
baseless. That`s checkable. There are records that the restaurant
association has, and we can see now if, indeed, those allegations are found
to be baseless or not.
MATTHEWS: And once this woman, Karen Kraushaar, talks tomorrow to the
press, we assume it`s coming soon, her evidence will be particular.
And then and we go down to Cynthia Tucker -- her evidence will be,
obviously, it was a big part of her life if it occurred, and she will say
something quite definitive and quite illustrative of an event, or series of
events and if they match up in terms of the charges made by Sharon Bialek,
the public, including the conservative public, may see a pattern of
misbehavior here, perhaps. Your thoughts.
CYNTHIA TUCKER, POLITICAL COLUMNIST: Absolutely. I don`t think for
one moment the restaurant association paid either a settlement or a
monetary agreement because Herman Cain once said to a woman you come up to
here, just like my wife does.
I suspect that we will hear accusations where he was clearly
inappropriate behavior that clearly crossed the line in a way that led the
National Restaurant Association to pay her money. And let`s bear in mind,
there were at least two women that the National Restaurant Association
reportedly paid money to. You don`t do that just because the chairman or
CEO has made some perhaps offensive comments in passing. You do that
because there is a pattern of conduct that is clearly questionable, and
over the days and weeks to come, Herman Cain is going to have to contend
with those charges coming out hour by hour or day by day, because he`s done
nothing to lay them to rest.
MATTHEWS: Are we sure there are two cases that called settlements or
called agreements? Or there is just one? Do we know that? Are you sure,
though, there was a second one as well?
TUCKER: I believe that there were two women to woman money was paid.
MATTHEWS: OK. Let`s see. Just a moment before Herman Cain began his
press conference today, the ranks of his public accusers grew by one. As
we mentioned, Karen Kraushaar, who works as a spokeswoman now for the
Treasury Department told "The New York Times" that she was coming forward,
because her name had been leaked to several news organizations. She`s one
of the two women who settled -- here we are -- settled sexual harassment
allegations against Cain with the National Restaurant Association.
"Politico," the political newsletter said, they first reported her
allegations but did not name her by name. Well, today we know that she
told "The New York Times," quote, "When are you being sexually harassed in
the workplace, you are extremely vulnerable. Do you whatever you can to
quickly get yourself into a job someplace safe, and that`s what I thought I
had achieved when I left."
And today, Cain was asked about Ms. Kraushaar in his press conference.
Let`s take a look at this exchange with a reporter.
REPORTER: This is your press conference where you are going to level
us with and tell us what happened. So tell us what she accused you of, and
what really happened? This is your chance. Thank you.
CAIN: Well, I can only recall one thing that I was aware of that was
called sexual harassment. The one thing that I remember, that I remember
during the day, when all of this broke loose, is that one day in my office
at the National Restaurant Association, I was standing next to Ms.
Kraushaar, and I gestured, standing near her like this, you are the same
height as my wife, because my wife comes up to my chin.
That was the one gesture that I remember. The door was open. My
secretary was sitting there. It wasn`t anything behind closed doors, I
gestured because of her height, comparing it to my wife`s height. End of
MATTHEWS: David Gregory, I can only imagine, "Meet the Press" and
other organizations are thinking about -- well, let`s just put it this way.
Imagine a couple of these women sitting next to each other, imagine three
or four of them sitting next to each other, all making similar complaints
based upon their very personal memories of horrific experiences. Won`t
that have some firepower? Almost like a firing squad against them?
GREGORY: Well, Kraushaar said, what she told "The New York Times" is
that she`d like to have the four women come together to provide, her words,
as quoted, a body of evidence against Herman Cain, against his
recollection, which is thin, against his denial, which is absolute.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
GREGORY: In the case of Kraushaar, we know there was a settlement
before she left the National Restaurant Association. Again, you know, it`s
knowable to go back, even if you`re Herman Cain.
Now, for whatever reason, he doesn`t want to get into those details --
which gets to the political point. One of the things that people around
him are saying particularly who are working on the front lines in the early
states, look, it was important that he came out, he addressed this, he was
forthright about it -- if that`s what he ultimately was. And if everything
was true, that will provide some peace of mind to supporters.
But I`m also talking to pollsters who are doing checking and already
starting to hear now that his poll numbers are starting to shift.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
GREGORY: And that, of course, is the crack in the foundation that
they`re going to have to be watching very, very carefully as he is -- as he
is a front-runner, but I don`t think you can say he`s a durable front-
runner in this period.
MATTHEWS: Well, let`s go to Gene. Eugene Robinson of "The Post." It
seems to me now we have another debate coming up tomorrow tonight on CNBC,
our sister channel, and it seems to me that if you are at all one of the
reporters there, it`s going to have to come up if you`re one of the other
candidates that`s going to come up. There`s a rivalry opportunity.
How does he get through tomorrow night even, with now, probably by
tomorrow night at this time, he will have two accusers publicly by name
with specific instances of what they consider, or I would consider sexual
assault in this one case, he was so physical. What do you make of the
situation facing him tomorrow night in the debate?
ROBINSON: Well, it`s a CNBC debate, it`s going to be focused on
economic matters. So, I think he just runs back to 9-9-9, every
MATTHEWS: That`s his 911.
ROBINSON: Right. That`s his 911. Exactly. Every question, no
matter what the question is.
But, you know, political impact of this, it`s -- to me, it`s uncertain
exactly what`s going to happen. There`s an element of Cain support that is
kind of based on, you know, almost a middle finger to the traditional
political process. He`s not like the others. He`s not the traditional
politician. He hasn`t ever held elective office. And I think there`s a
core that`s going to try to stick with him, no matter what.
Now, all bets are off if he is proven to have flat-out lied today.
But if it remains ambiguous, I don`t see all of his support just
GREGORY: Chris, can I add that talking to rival campaigns, there is
a lot of trepidation here to start pushing him around. And what is that
trepidation about? His support is strong. I mean, as Gene is suggesting,
this is hard-core, anti-establishment supporters who are out there, and
including those in the early states, because we`ve seen the polling.
One campaign said, look, we want his supporters to reluctantly come to
the conclusion that he can`t win and then who inherits that support?
MATTHEWS: You know, you are thinking what I`m thinking. That Newt
Gingrich has already figured out this Gordian Knot here, and he`s the one
who`s going to cut it, right? He`s going to be the best buddy Herman Cain
ever had on this planet for the next week, right?
GREGORY: I think in the debate tomorrow night, I think in the debate
Saturday night, they`re going to walk a very fine line.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
GREGORY: You know, it`d be in some people`s interest to remind people
that he was a lobbyist in Washington. Others who are trying to burnish
their anti-establishment credentials, and what may come with that is some
of the alleged activity while he was a lobbyist.
But short of that, I think they actually try to layoff of him. You
know, again, this is about what happens in the next few days and how much
support begins to crumble beneath him.
MATTHEWS: I think he`s a genius at what the Jesuits might call
disassembling. In fact, they taught us how to do it. That answer he gave
about whether he was going to take a lie detector test is for the record
books, guys. I still don`t know what he`s saying.
Anyway, thank you, David Gregory. Thank you, Gene Robinson, and,
Cynthia Tucker. What a team.
Coming up, we saw the accuser, we saw the response. Now, will Cain`s
presidential candidacy survive? We`re going to go to the politics of this
right now, which is our specialty.
You`re watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL.
Despite having to face reporters and a national television audience to
discuss multiple charges now of sexual harassment, Herman Cain insists he
remains optimistic about his chances. Let`s listen.
CAIN: It is natural some voters would be turned off by the mere
mention of the accusations. That`s normal and that`s expected. And all
you have to do is look at campaigns historically and you are able to
identify those situations where some members of the public, some of the
voting electorate, are going to be influenced by the court of public
MATTHEWS: And as we said earlier, Cain made it clear, he`s not
getting out of the race. But what toll will this take on him politically?
What will happen today and what will happen tomorrow probably?
Howard Fineman is a senior political editor for "The Huffington Post,"
as well as an MSNBC political analyst. And Dana Milbank is a political
columnist with the great "Washington Post."
Howard, we`ve been through so much together. This one is so
fascinating. I have -- you and I, if we could get a piece of this guy`s
self-confidence and get rid of our composite guilt about everything. This
guy has no guilt about anything he`s ever possibly has done. He is
innocent of all impropriety in his whole life. He is St. Francis or
whatever, I don`t know who he is. He`s divine almost in his perfection.
And no matter what anybody throws at him, he just throws balk a very
logical statement: no, you`re wrong. I`m right.
HOWARD FINEMAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: I wish I could get away with
saying I`ve never done anything inappropriate to anyone ever.
But this is -- back in the Nixon years, they used to talk during
Watergate about a modified limited hangout. You know, that they would let
certain facts out, and they would then go from there.
This is Herman Cain doing the Full Monty.
MATTHEWS: The slow back.
FINEMAN: I mean, he`s saying -- yes. He`s saying no way, no how, I
don`t remember this woman, I don`t know this woman, I never did anything
wrong. There were any -- you know, there was never a settlement, never
any real accusations.
Keep in mind, this is a guy who`s somehow or another caused $80,000
worth of payments to be made to two staffers of the National Restaurant
Association back when he was the head of it, and he left the association
six months early on his contract.
So, something, somewhere along the line happened. But, of course,
he`s denying all and that makes it both perilous in terms of the evidence
and politically. Because all you need is one chink in that armor and I
think even the people who are staunchly with him right now will begin
having second thoughts.
MATTHEWS: Let`s take a look at this matter that fascinates me a
moment ago.
Dana Milbank, you could do a whole column on this one, which you are
genius at.
DANA MILBANK, WASHINGTON POST: I can`t do it late at night, though.
MATTHEWS: I know. You can`t use it late, this late.
Cain gave a somewhat inscrutable answer when asked whether he would
submit to a lie detector. Here`s what he said. Try to figure out what he
REPORTER: As distasteful as it might be, would you be willing to do a
lie detector test to prove your honesty in something like this?
CAIN: Yes.
REPORTER: Go ahead.
CAIN: Yes, I absolutely would. But I am not going to do that unless
I have a good reason to do that. I -- That`s one of the first covenants I
made in watching this with my staff. I`ve also shared that with my
attorney. Of course, I would be willing to do a lie detector test.
MATTHEWS: What did he say, Dana?
MILBANK: Well, no way, not in on God`s green earth am I going to take
a lie detector test.
MATTHEWS: Or this -- yes, I absolutely would?
MILBANK: And then he said only I think it`s appropriate. And guess
who the arbiter of what is appropriate here? Which is the same thing
that`s going on with all of these accusations. It doesn`t matter what
somebody else says, even if he did it, if he does not consider that to be
inappropriate. And I think that`s what we`re talking about here is what
Herman Cain`s standard of inappropriate is, even if anybody --
MATTHEWS: Oh, no. I think you`ve been surpassed by this woman`s
testimony yesterday, which was graphic, detailed and close to what I would
consider assault. Her description, Bialek`s description, of what she said
happened, either he did or he didn`t, it`s not open to interpretation of
whether it`s appropriate or not, is it?
MILBANK: When we talked about that, that`s true. But I`m trying to
say, inside what I believe is the brain of Herman Cain, he believes he is a
perfect man who has beaten cancer and everything else, he can do no wrong.
So, anything that is conflicting with that is tossed out.
That`s behind many successful executives and many successful men, and
it`s behind many successful politicians. What we have here is an extreme
and an extraordinary case of somebody who actually is literally gotten to
the point where he can`t think of anything bad that he`s ever done.
MATTHEWS: Howard and Dana, we know now that the other woman, one of
the other women here, is going to come out and make a statement apparently
in the next 24 hours. So, what does that do politically?
If you`re Tony Perkins, if you`re one of the religious right leaders,
who I respect for their views, they have true views. They`re not
politicians particularly. They have principles.
What do they do if it becomes clear if there is a -- what I would call
-- what`s the right word they use in court? A mostly -- a dominance of
proof. Not a clear cut case.
FINEMAN: A preponderance of the evidence.
MATTHEWS: Thank you. You are a lawyer. I forgot.
MILBANK: A preponderance of the evidence.
MATTHEWS: The preponderance is against him.
FINEMAN: All right. I`m trying to view this from places I visit a
lot during the campaign year, which are the pews of mega churches in states
like Iowa and South Carolina and elsewhere.
They want to like Herman Cain because he seems like a decent guy.
They like his economic views. They like his professions of faith. They
like the fact that he`ll burst into gospel songs at any moment, OK?
They like all that. They know he`s a conservative. They want to show
that they`re not prejudice. They want to have a reason to vote for him.
But in their mind, they also have whatever reason not to vote for
them. And unless his story is straight, there is going to be a hesitation
there. They`re going to sit there in that church pew and they`re going to
say, do we really want to commit to a guy whose story we don`t quite know?
The other thing this raises beyond all of the questions of sexual
harassment, as serious as they are, is the question of: who is Herman Cain?
Who is he really? He burst on the scene as far as national politics is
What do we really know about him? Who is he really? What is his
whole life story? What do we know beyond the smile and the evident
salesmanship -- aggressive salesmanship that he has?
And I think it`s going to make people with this person coming out
tomorrow, whatever else it will make some of the evangelicals in Iowa and
South Carolina hesitate.
MATTHEWS: You know, it`s interesting, Dana, one of the creeds of the
far right and a lot of them are against this, is we hate lobbyists. We
hate people that are lobbyists. We hate Washington, it`s corrupt, it`s
packed with lobbyists.
This is a lobbyist. I`m sorry. Did everybody notice? Now, he`s head
of the National Restaurant Association. He is a certified big-league,
major-league lobbyist as he pointed out today, 150 employees working on his
staff, basically lobbying the United States government for a pressure group
purpose, which is to help his industry.
MILBANK: Exactly.
MATTHEWS: How come he walks on that one?
MILBANK: Well, he`s all along he`s played this brilliantly well. You
know, he`s sort of in on the joke. You get the sense that he knows there
is some absurdity to his campaign, the lobbyist running as the ultimate
Washington outsider. I think you got a real moment -- one moment of
honesty tonight when he said, look, I don`t really care about the court of
public opinion.
Now, in the sense, that`s shocking for a politician because what is
politics but the court of public opinion. But he was saying I only care
about those people who support me and believe in me. He is dealing with
this, what is really a tiny sliver of the electorate, and that`s why they
won`t necessarily or certainly, all of them won`t necessarily pull away.
They`ll rally to his side when he runs against Washington.
MATTHEWS: Dana, I must disabuse of that. If you want to know what a
tiny sliver the electorate is, it`s the number of Republicans who are
enthusiastic about Mitt Romney, 11 percent of the Republicans say they are
enthusiastic about him. I`m sure there`s a larger percentage enthusiastic
about Herman Cain.
MILBANK: That`s not a sliver, that`s a scintilla.
FINEMAN: What we`re talking about here, let`s say there`s going to be
a turnout of maybe 150,000, 175,000 in the Republican caucuses in Iowa on
January 3rd. Herman Cain is playing for 25,000 or 30,000 of those. Will
those people be shaken by what they hear progressively over the next few
days? Will they instead alternatively circle around and defend him?
I think the chances of their circling around and heartfully embracing
him diminish with each passing day as another actual face comes out, not
just the media conspiracy, but an actual person comes forth. That`s what
he`s got to worry about. Those are those people. If he ends up finishing
in the obscure distance in Iowa, then he can forget it.
MATTHEWS: OK. This is an interesting story. Let`s hope we get the
truth and we get fairness in all of this.
Anyway, thank you, Howard Fineman. Thank you, Dana Milbank.
Up next, more social philosophy from GOP candidate Michele "it`s every
man for himself" Bachmann. That`s in the "Sideshow."
You`re watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Back to HARDBALL.
Now, for the "Sideshow."
First up: Jon Huntsman is stuck at about 1 percent in the polls. And
more than a few people suggested that his real goal isn`t to win, but to
derail Mitt Romney. Latest evidence from the Huntsman camp, a new Web
site, ScaredMittless2012.com, boasting a logo with the catch phrase, "Mitt
Romney, running from America," and a clock counting up the time from the
last Sunday appearance by Romney. We stand now at day 610.
And let`s check out this site`s latest video.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE NARRATOR: He has not appeared on this program or
any Sunday talk show since March of 2010. We invited Governor Romney again
this week, but his campaign says he`s still not ready.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just don`t take questions.
What I don`t want to do is -- listen to my words. Listen to my words.
That is --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE NARRATOR: He`s still not ready to sit down for an
MATTHEWS: I guess last week`s ad dubbing Romney a perfectly
lubricated weather vane is more of a jumping off point for Huntsman. He
clearly got it out for Mitt. He knows his only - his only chance of
breaking in to this thing is getting with the Romney after New Hampshire.
Next up, a daily dose of Charles Dickens. And its GOP candidate
Michele Bachmann in takes the podia for this one. The candidate spoke
yesterday at the family research council and press for spending cuts to
social programs. Let`s listen.
MICHEL BACHMANN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our nation needs to stop
doing for people what they can and should do for themselves. That revives
the principle of a national work ethic that we have sadly forgotten. That
means an honest day`s work for an honest day`s pay. Self-reliance means,
if anyone will not work, neither should he eat.
MATTHEWS: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. Well, it`s
biblical language, but not exactly religious.
And finally, early this year, the White House launched a new Web site
where Americans can petition government officials to answer their questions
on basically anything as long as they gathered enough signatures.
What`s one of the topics that finally garner a response, the economy,
foreign affairs, nope, aliens? That`s right.
The petition called for the White House to answer quote "immediately
disclose the government`s knowledge of communications with extraterrestrial
beings and formerly acknowledge an extraterrestrial presence engaging the
human race." We would have seen that one coming, would you?
But in all due diligence, the office of Science and Technology help up
each end of the bar releasing this statement "the U.S. government has no
evidence that any life exists outside our planet or that an
extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human
race. In addition there, is no credible information to suggest that any
evidence is being hidden from the public`s eye." It would have been very
interesting if the government office had said anything else but that.
Up next, Mitt Romney takes a big hit from a leading conservative Web
site, calling the possibility of Romney winning the nomination "an utter
disaster." But if not Romney then who? Cain? You`re watching HARDBALL on
MILISSA REHBERGER, MSNBC CORRESPONDENT: I`m Milissa Rehberger.
Here`s what`s happening.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he`s doing it for the
good of the country. He has agreed to resign after the parliament passes
economic reforms rather demanded by the European Union.
Meanwhile, Greece will unveil a new government tomorrow after its
prime minister was forced from office under similar circumstances.
U.S. officials are exploring the possibility of further sanctions
against Iran after a scathing U.N. report provided the strongest evidence
yet that it is trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Three senior air force officials are being disciplined after a probe
found gross mismanagement in the handling of bodies of military personnel
at Dover air force base.
The polls just turned out in Ohio with official there reporting steady
to heavy turnout. And voters decide the fate of the crucial limiting
collective bargaining right for a public worker.
And wrapper heavy D, who branched out to movie and TV appearances has
died after being rushed to the hospital in Los Angeles. He was only 44
years old.
Now back to HARDBALL.
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL. Is Mitt Romney a real
A lot of conservatives say no, and worry they are missing their chance
in nominating a true believer to take on President Obama at a time when he
is vulnerable. This morning, Erick Erickson of the influential
conservative Web site Redstate.com wrote a state scathing post about Romney
quote "Mitt Romney is not the George W. Bush of 2012. He is the Harriet
Miers of 2012. Only conservative because a few conservative grand pooh-
bahs tells us, Mitt Romney is conservative. And for no other reason, Mitt
Romney is going to be the Republican nominee and his general election
campaign will be an utter disaster for conservatives as he takes the GOP
down with him and burns up what it means to be a conservative in the
Can Romney withstand these kinds of attacks and pick up the three
quarters of Republican voters who aren`t with him yet?
With me now are two veteran presidential campaign strategists,
democrat Bob Shrum, most recent the Kerry 2004 campaign and Republican
Steve Schmidt, who worked on the Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign and in 2008, the
McCain campaign. He is also an MSNBC political analyst.
Steve Schmidt, I want your thoughts about this. And now it looks like
Cain has got problems up the kazoo. He has got to keep battling. It does
like more and more like Romney is going to be the nominee. Can he be a
good nominee, a winning nominee if so many are conserves are openly
contentious of his beliefs?
STEVE SCHMIDT, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: I do think that he is likely
to be the nominee, if for no other reason he`s the only plausible
Republican candidate for presidency at this point in the race. And I think
Erickson`s he comments are unfair to Romney. And one of the things - just
remembering the McCain campaign, Chris, in 2008 is you had all these
"conservatives" who were cheer leading for Mitt Romney during the entire
duration of the primary. He was the conservative candidate. And now some
elements have turned against him.
But I think if you read what Mitt Romney says, if you follow Mitt
Romney`s vision, I think he is clearly a conservative candidate in the
race, and I -- I don`t understand why Erick Erickson would go out and say
that Mitt Romney is not capable of winning a race when in fact no president
has gotten re-elected with an unemployment rate above 7.4 percent.
MATTHEWS: Can you name an issue on which Mitt Romney will not bend in
order to win?
SCHMIDT: Look, I think that --
MATTHEWS: Name one. Name one, Steve. You know he won`t change.
SCHMIDT: I think -- I think that -- I think that you know these were
issues for Mitt Romney in the Senate race, in the presidential race last
time. And at the end of the day, he will have to deal with it. It`s a
criticism. John Kerry had to deal with it.
MATTHEWS: No. But you have to deal with it now, you, sir. My
colleague, name one issue which Mitt Romney will not bend on in order to
win the presidency?
SCHMIDT: I`m not -- I`m not a spokesperson. I`m not a spokesperson
for Mitt Romney. But I believe he is you know that he is enunciated his
plans pretty clearly on fiscal issues. He gave us a serious talk about
entitlement reform. I don`t think Mitt Romney would ever compromise the
national security of the country. I think he`s prepared to be president,
and I think he`ll have to deal with issues in the context of a race.
I think it`s important to remember that this was a line of attack we
used against John Kerry in 2004, but it didn`t become a disabling issue to
John Kerry until he went out and said he voted before it before he voted
against it.
Mitt Romney has to be very careful. All campaigns begin with assets
and liabilities. This is clearly a liability. The Romney people are aware
of it. His strategies are smart people. And we`ll see what happens.
MATTHEWS: Bob Shrum, here is more what Erick Erickson said about the
flip-flopping issue. "Romney is a man devoid of any principles other than
getting himself elected. As much as the American public does not like
Barack Obama they loathe a man so fueled with ambition that he will say or
do anything to get himself elected. Mitt Romney is that man. I`ve been
reading the 200 peaches of single-spaced opposition research from the John
McCain campaign on Mitt Romney. There is no issue I can find on which Mitt
Romney has not taken both sides. He has neither liberal nor conservative.
He is simply unprincipled. The man has no core beliefs, other than in
himself. Mitt Romney is the silly putty of politicians. Press on him real
hard, and he`ll take on whatever image you press into him, until the next
group starts pressing."
That is damnable -- damning rather description of anybody. Bob Shrum,
could you help us here? You ran against a campaign against him. Can you
think of something that Mitt Romney would stand on and accept defeat on
because he`s so principled? Any issue.
BOB SHRUM, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I haven`t seen one yet. Look, this
guy gives flip flopping a good name. He`s a warp speed weather vane. And
he has changed on issues, large and small issues of conscience, issue of
policy. Steve is quite right. And I love Steve and he was trying hard in
that segment.
But Steve is quite right. Kerry got caught up in this, because he
said I voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it. His record was
actually a lifetime of consistency on all of the big principled issues.
Romney`s record is a lifetime of changing as your candidate, Steve,
John McCain said in 2008 when Romney said I stand for change, and McCain
says you sure do. You change all the time.
So, I don`t think Erickson`s right. I think it is going to be a close
tough election. I don`t think you can necessary write Romney off, saying
he has no chance. And I think Steve is also right. He is the only
plausible nominee.
MATTHEWS: Why Steve, do the other candidates always end up hating
Romney personally?
MATTHEWS: Personally.
SCHMIDT: Well, you know, look, I think in the you know in the 2008
campaign, Mitt Romney was the first perch to run a negative ad that rubbed
some of them the wrong way. But look, he`s the front-runner in the race.
MATTHEWS: Huckabee said he had no soul. And you`re guy, McCain, was
so mad at him, he ran Sarah Palin as his running mate because he couldn`t
stand the idea of giving Mitt Romney a break by making his VP running mate.
SCHMIDT: I would dispute the Sarah Palin pick was revenge --
SCHMIDT: You know, look, at the end of the day, the economy is
terrible, the Republican candidate is somebody who is going to need -- is
going to have to be someone who can make an economic argument. And I think
you saw with the Herman Cain news conference if that`s the stuff we are
going to talk about on the Republican side in the election, we`re doomed.
And so -- and so I think that Mitt Romney right now, like I said, he`s the
plausible candidate in this race.
MATTHEWS: In other words, you can run Sam the sham and he will win
against Obama, that`s the basic argument you`re making, right? Sam the
sham can win this.
SCHMIDT: Listen, I think he`s going to be a very tough opponent. You
know, the president is forceful, he`s disciplined, he`s focused, and
Republicans shouldn`t be dancing in the end zone, despite what the economic
indicators are.
MATTHEWS: Shrum, more time next time. Thank you, Bob Shrum. Thank
you Steve Schmidt.
Up next, legendary Penn State football coach, our hero for many of us.
Joe Paterno may soon be out for his failure to take stronger action against
the former coach who had, well, allegedly sexually abused a boy in the
football team shower. This is a bad, bad situation.
You`re watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL. The Penn state community has
been rocked by charges against a former coach, Jerry Sandusky, accused of
sexually abusing eight boys over the span of 15 years, young kids
basically. This time been covered his time working at the university and
in retirement.
And now, the scandal could affect the tenure of the beloved legendary
coach, Joe Paterno, who everybody loves. Although Paterno has done nothing
illegal, but many involved with the case say he didn`t do enough when he
was confronted with the allegations against Sandusky back in 2002.
"The New York Times" reports, "Penn state said to be planning Paterno
exit amid scandal"
Well, joining me right now is Pennsylvania`s Patrick Meehan who today asked
Education Secretary Arnie Duncan for a federal investigation in the
Sandusky charges and MSNBC political analyst Michael Smerconish.
Guys, hold on for one second. Michael gives us the narration of the
story up to date now. Where it`s at?
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think as it
relates to coach Paterno, Chris, the worst of it pertains to so-called
victim number two. It is March of 2002, a graduate assistant working with
the Penn state football program goes into the locker room, 9:30 at night
and reportedly sees coach Sandusky engaged in anal intercourse with a boy
he estimates to be 10 years old. He doesn`t intercede, doesn`t call the
police, he calls his father he tells the grand jury. His father says
you`ve got to tell Paterno.
So, the following day in person, he tells coach Paterno. Paterno`s
response, the following day, now Sunday, is to tell the athletic director.
And therein Paterno says he has discharged his responsibility, which
legally speaking he may have done, but from a humanity standpoint, there is
a lot of outrage in happy valley that he didn`t do enough.
And subsequently and frankly, something reminiscent in the way the
church has handled this, nothing is done other than to ask this man to
surrender his keys and his access to the locker room. And that`s why
people are so horrified.
MATTHEWS: So he basically -- this coach or this person, the graduate
student witnessed basically the intercourse of an adult male with a
prepubescent boy.
SMERCONISH: Correct. And he maintained, and I have the grand jury
report here, that`s the way he explained it to coach Paterno. Paterno`s
testimony in the grand jury was that he was told that there was quote
"fondling or do something of a sexual nature."
Well, not exactly anal intercourse, but pretty damn bad either any way
you slice it.
MATTHEWS: You know, let`s go to Congressman Meehan. Congressman
Meehan, thank you. You`re a freshman now. You don`t expect to face these
kinds of situations. What do you think a federal investigation will
achieve here?
REP. PATRICK MEEHAN (R), PENNSYLVANIA: Well Chris, there was a
significant point here is that there was an obligation under the clearly
act all the way back in 2002 to report incidents of crime that take place
on campus. And according to the university`s own guidelines, there would
have been an investigation that would have been done by the university
police back in 2002. And if you had that, you would have had the
opportunity to ask this graduate assistant, who`s now been identified as
Mike McCurry (ph) who`s an assistant coach at Penn state, back in 2002 what
he saw.
And also likely would have had an opportunity to identify who this 10-
year-old boy was and we would have been able to resolve this incident
almost a decade ago. To think that since that time, you know, the mile
foundation has continued -- the second mile has continued to operate and
for over nearly a decade Sandusky presumably has continued to have access
to young boys.
MATTHEWS: Now, these people in these programs, these programs that
teal with young boys, they`re basically operating in local apprentice.
They have the responsible as a parent, Congressman. I mean to abuse a
child in this case sexually is just horrible and the idea of how people
live with this or know about somebody they know, who`s been engaged in some
kind a heinous behavior and says, that`s one of the things we deal with
Penn state treats football as a religion. I want to go on Michael on
this. Mike, can you get this, too? It`s a religion up there in Penn
state. Go up any day, any football game up there, realize the value they
place. Would this like a religious thing almost that they covered it up
because it might affect the program? Is that what happened here?
SMERCONISH: I think that`s a great analogy. I think in several
different moments of truth, again, and again, we`re accepting as accurate
the grand jury report. But in several different moments of truth, each of
these individuals showed an allegiance to the institution. Meaning I think
the Penn state football program as opposed to these eight young boys who
were being victimized in the most heinous of fashion.
MATTHEWS: And these weren`t football recruits. These were boys. Not
men. Congressman, you were U.S. attorney, and by the way, respected one
for a long time in Philadelphia. What do you think of this case?
MEEHAN: Well, I think there was a duty to inquire. I mean, I clearly
think this is the kind of a case that`s going to have more significant
ramifications for Penn state. Because apart from the legalities, too many
adults turned and looked the other way when there should have been notice
there was a reasonable duty of inquiry. There had to be adults that
continued to watch Sandusky around children. And what you may not
appreciate, is there was an investigation, some of them, particularly
athletic director, were aware of a 1998 investigation into exactly this
kind of conduct. The district attorney apparently chose not to prosecute,
but when you see subsequent conduct, that in and of itself, I think
requires adults to take an additional step and to assure that Sandusky is
fully investigated and that there isn`t an ability to be near children.
Look, this is grooming conduct that I used to see as a prosecutor.
MATTHEWS: You know, I just think we always have to remember our first
responsibility is to the children, not to the fellow adults. We shouldn`t
look out for the guilty. We should look out for the innocent. Boy, it
just gets sounds so much like the church, my church.
Thank you U.S. Congressman Patrick Meehan and Michael Smerconish.
So, I`m out here in San Francisco today. This morning I spoke at the
Jewish community center a great crowd. And tonight I`ll be at the common
wealth crowd of Silicon Valley. I`m going to talk about my new book
tonight "Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero." Great crowds, great reactions to
people to a great hero we has a president. Jack`s first political battle
of course was with his father who he challenged. He challenged Joseph
Kennedy`s appeasement policies of World War II. That`s how Jack started
out in life, challenging his father.
When we return, how the Republican Party is paying for instill with
the tea party?
You`re watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with this.
The Republican Party is paying for its deal with the tea party, right
now. The tea party helped the Republicans win control of the house last
year. John Boehner holds the speakership because of that deal. But the
deal is undermining the chances of the Republicans to win in 2012.
Tea partiers don`t like taxes. Don`t like the government. Don`t like
government, period. And this explains as I`ve said before why the tea
partiers don`t believe in leaders. They don`t believe in having leaders.
Why have leaders if you don`t want them to govern?
What they like people who attack government, people like Sarah Palin
who is a hard critic of government. She spent two years discovering it was
more to her liking to be outside of government than running Alaska as its
The same goes for most of the candidates who show up for these
Republican debates. Ron Paul is a critic of government as such. He
doesn`t want to run the government. He wants to basically shrink down to a
size where anyone can run it.
So now, the Republicans face the awful outlook of having two
candidates still standing for president. One they don`t like, don`t trust,
really don`t want to see in the White House. Really don`t want to have to
defend once he gets there, if he gets there.
The other really is not likely to get to the White House but embodies
and his soul the tea party mentality, which is you don`t have to know
anything about government to run against it, which is what tea partiers do.
All you need is kind of unexplained self-confidence that you can do
whatever you set out to do, that you need to apologize for nothing, need to
demonstrate knowledge about nothing.
And how does this play out? How does a party go before the American
people with a candidate for president it would prefer not to see in the
presidency or a candidate whom no one else but the tea party could imagine
Mitt Romney, the candidate they don`t like or Herman Cain, the
candidate who nobody but the tea party can imagine in the country`s highest
office. Which will it be? How did it come to this?
It came to this when the Republicans decided to cut a deal with the
political force, the tea partiers, who really don`t share even their
Republican limited confidence in government. A political force determined
not to race up, but to bring down.
And that`s HARDBALL for now. Thanks for being with us. "The Ed show"
with Ed Schultz starts right now.
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Twins option Oswaldo Arcia to Triple-A
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN - The Minnesota Twins announced following tonight's game that they have optioned outfielder Oswaldo Arcia to Triple-A Rochester. Arcia appeared in 30 games for the Twins, hitting .255 (25-for-98) with four home runs and 14 RBI.
The Twins will make a corresponding roster move at a later date.
Read More: Minnesota Twins

subset: commoncrawl


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Steve Holloran
E C Glass High
Memories of Steve Holloran
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text:
|Cumming, Ga.
|High School:
|Forsyth Central
|Health Education
2008: Ran in five of the team's eight meets ... Took 30th (22:23) running attached at the PBC Championships, the top unattached runner from any team ... Finished 75th overall and fifth on the team at the NCAA Region Championship (26:36) ... Posted a season-best 5k of 21:13 at the Mercer RunFit Sports Invite ... Posted a season-low 6k of 27:50 at the Pre-Region Meet.
High School: Lettered in competitive cheerleading at Forsyth Central High.
Personal: Born Feb. 18, 1987 ... Daughter of David and Ann Hayes ... Majoring in health education ... Chose Georgia College for its beautiful campus, its size and that it's close to home ...


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In some parts of the country the dog show weekend has already started. Just up the road from us in the Music City of Nashville TN, the four day Country Music Cluster begins today in Franklin TN hosted by the Nashville Kennel Club show and the Tullahoma Kennel Club Of Tennessee. Also beginning today is the Alamo City Cluster in San Antonio TX, also running four days. The San Antonio Kennel Club and the Kennel Club Of Greater Victoria will do the honors.
Three day clusters starting tomorrow are slated for Garden City Kansas and Auburn IN. The Garden City Kennel Club will host the former and Laporte County and Logansport KCs will share the latter. Out on the west coast San Francisco residents can drive the 800 miles north to the Seattle Kennel Club (WA) Saturday/Sunday double header or 400 miles to the south to the Apple Valley Kennel Club shows in Victorville CA.
Seattle. Washington
Also hosting traditional weekend fare are the Columbia Missouri KC and the Palm Beach County (FL) KC. Finally metro New Yorkers can grab the Sunday Times and head to suburban White Plains NY for the Saw Mill River Kennel Club show. They're all AKC all breed dog shows and you will find something to take your breath away at any of the shows


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Samuel Hopkins Adams
Date: 1871 - 1958
Remarks: Samuel Hopkins Adams (1871-1958), the American muckraker and author best known for his investigative journalism. In a series of eleven articles he wrote for Collier's Weekly in 1905, "The Great American Fraud", Adams exposed many of the false claims made about patent medicines, pointing out that in some cases these medicines were damaging the health of the people using them. The series had a huge impact and lead to the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. In 1911 the Supreme Court ruled that the prohibition of falsifications referred only to the ingredients of the medicine. Adams returned to the attack and another series of articles in Collier's Weekly, Adams exposed the misleading advertising that companies were using to sell their products. Adams was a prolific writer, who wrote fiction as well. "Night Bus", one of Adams's many magazine stories, became the basis for the film It Happened One Night. His best-known novel, Revelry (1926), based on the scandals of the Harding administration, was later followed by Incredible Era (1939), a biography of Harding.


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Fleming Neon High (FNHS) Class of 1959 Alumni List
Help us Update the Fleming Neon High 1959 Class List by adding any names missing from the list below:
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1959 Class List
Know Fleming Neon High Class of 1959 graduates that are NOT on this List? Help us Update the 1959 Class List by adding missing names.
The top movie in theaters during 1959 was Ben-Hur, grossing over $73,000,000 in its lifetime. The most popular television series for 1959 was Gunsmoke
Reunions and Fleming Neon High School News
More 1959 alumni from Fleming Neon HS have posted profiles on Classmates.com®. Click here to register for free at Classmates.com® and view other 1959 alumni.
The students that went to school at the Neon high school called Fleming Neon High School and graduated in '59 are on this page. Register to add your name to the class of 1959 graduates list.
If you are a Fleming Neon alumn, we encourage you to register and be sure to sign up for the alumni newsletter.


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Samana Information
Start Planning Your Dominican Republic Vacation
Samana Overview
Samana is an ecological paradise. Because the area is still generally unspoiled, visitors get the treat of seeing original beauty all around them. Almost all of the economy revolves around the beaches, so that's exactly where you should head. The beaches here are unique, with palm tree-covered hills lining undeveloped sands. But although the beaches themselves are beautiful, Samaná's ecological beauty extends far outside of sand and waves. The Haitises National Park, Salto El Limon Waterfall and the world's largest coconut plantation are worth an exploration, and activities like horseback riding, mountain biking and hiking make exploring even better. However, there are more than just natural sites here. New developments including upscale hotels, fine dining and shops are popping up, so Samana is rapidly becoming a complete destination vacation.
Other Destinations in Dominican-Republic
Mapping Out the Dominican Republic
La Romana is home to resort delights, like Casa de Campo's world-renowned Teeth of the Dog golf course. In Puerto Plata, surf's up where you can find all types of water sports on its Amber Coast. People flock to Punta Cana's luxurious resorts on pristine beaches for snorkeling and fun in the clear-aqua water. But visit Samaná to see majestic humpback whales up close, migrating through the bay. Finally, UNESCO World Heritage site in Santo Domingo is the oldest city in the Americas and is the cultural and political capital of the Dominican Republic. Whatever you want to do, the Dominican Republic's got you covered.
Los Haitises National Park
Nature lovers and eco-tourists especially will appreciate the beauty of the Haitises National Park. As a protected forest reserve with hills, mangroves, limestone caverns and wildlife, the park has plenty to offer. It's known as having one of the most important rainforests and mangrove reserves in the entire Caribbean. And while the amount of wildlife here is impressive enough, the pictographs inside the cave system add culture and history to the park's appeal.
If you visit the northeast, you should take advantage of the massive ecological haven near your vacation spot and definitely stop by. You can get there easily by a short boat ride across the bay and excursions from Samana resorts are readily available. The photo ops are seemingly endless in a place so beautiful.
Cayo Levantado
One of the more popular tourist attractions for its beauty and the fun activities it offers, Cayo Levantado is a small island in the Samaná Bay. Its lovely white sand beaches are lined by tall coconut trees to create a picturesque vision of paradise.
Imagine yourself lounging on the warm sand with a good book and refreshing drink in hand. With its coral reefs and clear-turquoise water, you'll easily be able to explore under the sea. The calm and shallow warm water is comfortable for the whole family to enjoy and if you work up an appetite, there are restaurants and vendors to choose from to enjoy lunch on the beach. People arrive by the boat loads every day to share in the beauty, so hop on in and don't miss out.
Adventure Diving
The coral reefs and shipwrecks in the water of the Samaná area make diving an especially exciting adventure here. Perfect for history buffs, the scuba diving excursions in Samaná add a little culture to an already-anazubg experience.
If you head to Las Terrenas, you'll see the beautiful coral nicknamed "the three whales." Further east, Las Galeras has sunken shipwrecks and rock formations in the sea. More advanced divers should check out "Cabo Cabron" which has a 120-foot descent into the ocean.
Picture-Perfect Playa Rincon
To see an untouched, picture-perfect beach vision in person, you have to visit Playa Rincon. Three miles of soft, white sand lined with lush palm trees team up with cerulean water and majestic mountaintops to create a stunning view of flawlessness. The beach is secluded, unspoiled and gorgeous, so if you're the type of person who loves catching nature in its original state, this is the place for you.
You can catch a boat from Las Galeras to set sail toward this slice of heaven. Because it's untouched, you'll have to remember to bring your necessities. Conveniences like food, drinks and lounge chairs are available for a price, but are well worth it for the view and experience.
Whale Watching
The biggest attraction in the area comes to Samaná each January to March. During this time, thousands of humpback whales migrate through the Samaná Bay to mate and give birth to their young.
The journey to these waters is a ritual and is an exciting event for the people who are lucky enough to see it. Visiting this area during this time of year to share with these amazing mammals up close is an experience of a lifetime.
Excursions depart to catch the frolicking giant creatures in action. Grab the best seat on the boat to watch them splash and spout water and don't forget your camera! You'll want a keepsake of your time with these majestic sea mammals.
Samana Quick Facts
Peso (RD$)
Same voltage as North America, but the sockets are two pronged.
All U.S. citizens must have a valid passport when traveling to and from the Dominican Republic.
Drinking Water
Drink only bottled water. Avoid tap water and drinking beverages with ice cubes.
Time Zone
Eastern Standard Time (UTC/GMT -4 hours)
Peak Season
Dec to Feb, July to Aug and Semana Santa (the week before Easter)
|5.7 in.
|4.3 in.
|4.6 in.
|5.6 in.
|9.1 in.
|6 in.
|7.3 in.
|9 in.
|7.6 in.
|9.7 in.
|0 in.
|8 in.
*Historical averages.


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Good Mood Top
Another summer staple to add to your wardrobe. You can't go wrong with a classic black and white stripe and a fun ruffled sleeve detail.
100% Rayon
TERMS AND CONDITIONS - excludes our made to order Bridesmaids range.
We aim to have your order sent out within 24 hours of receiving. If you require an urgent or Saturday delivery please contact us on firstname.lastname@example.com and we will do our best to make this happen for you.
We use NZ Post Courier for most deliveries. A tracking number will be emailed to you when your order has been dispatched, you will then be able to follow the progress of your delivery through the link supplied.
International orders will either use Nz Post Courier or DHL.
Shipping in New Zealand is FREE on all orders over $50!
Shipping within New Zealand will generally take between 2 - 3 working days. Rural deliveries may require an extra 1-2 days.
International shipping is a $20 flat rate. Shipping time frames for international orders are between 5 - 10 days. If you require an urgent or delivery please contact us on email@example.com and we will do our best to make this happen for you (there may be an extra cost)
Extra fees for duties and taxes may be charged to you as the purchaser from your local government upon your item entering your country if you have exceeded your local threshold levels. As it varies from country to country, you are best to refer to your local customs office for charges that may occur.
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Any questions on your returned item please email firstname.lastname@example.com
TERMS AND CONDITIONS - For our made to order Bridesmaids range.
PAYMENTFull payment is required before we start your orderTIMEFRAMEOur timeframe spans from 8-14 weeks from order to ownership. An additional 6 - 8 weeks is needed if custom colouring is required.An urgent order may be possible depending of the time of the year, this will be based on the current production schedule and if it is possible to accommodate the faster time frame. Your details will need to be assessed and answer advised after approval from Management.GARMENTSGarments are made to standard BLAK pattern and sizing. The sample range is available for complimentary in store appointments to ensure you have tried on and are happy with with your selected size.We take great pride in providing our customers with impeccable quality product. While every endeavour is made to accurately reproduce our colours, there may be a variation in colour shade to your final purchase. As each order is dyed separately to your order specifications each dye batch can have a sight colour variation. This Variation can occur due to the nature of the fabric dyes and dying process, the amount of fabric being dyed at any one time and climatic conditions like temperature at time of dying.If an ordering multiple dresses for the one bridal party, please ensure to either order all together or note this at the time of purchase so we can ensure the order is dyed together in the same dye batch, as each dye batch can vary slightly.Every effort has been made to present the colours as close as possible to the correct colour via our online store, but this cannot be guaranteed as each screen may show a different variation of the colour.CANCELLATIONS AND RETURNSDue to this being a made to order product there are no cancellations, changes, returns or credits for other BLAK products.Any issues on the garments must be raised at the time of pick up or on arrival to you by courier. If the garments need to be returned for inspection this must be done within 24 hours of receiving. If an issue arises, BLAK must have the opportunity to inspect this and come to an agreement with the customer.


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Franco the Artist in Vancouver
For Caesar: Rise of the Apes with Freida Pinto and John Lithgow. Lithgow dined with Steve Martin yesterday at Blue Water Cafe. And Freida was spotted out and about downtown. James Franco, the lead, and my former #1, hit up a movie on Sunday. He went to see Predators. Looks good, non? No, not the clothes, I mean his face. James is shaving because he's filming. Seems healthy, not as gaunt/exhausted as we've seen him even though he has so much going on. Where does this kid find the time?
All that studying, several movies on the go, and of course he, um, writes a lot, and there's his first solo art exhibit that just opened in New York at Art International Radio's Clocktower Gallery last week. Called The Dangerous Four Boys, Franco's work is a mixed media experience featuring short films, sketches, sculpture, photography, and a rocket ship. What? Yes. A rocket ship, a space ship, made of wood, and all of it meant to illuminate fame in the context of masculine sexuality and Franco's own celebrity. He explains it, sort of, thus:
"The detritus of the movies became sculptures in a way, in a way they kind of become proof of the movies. After you see the movies those structures resonate with all of the events of the movies. They kind of accumulate a certain vibration or just more significance in your head because of what's happened in the film ... [And] by having the films near them, the films become more palpable in a way."
Please. My head hurts too.
I am not arty. But all the arty people, they're really into it, not as something to snicker about, but as something to discuss.
Click here for a strong review from the Village Voice and also to see the space ship, and here for thoughts from Entertainment Weekly and here for more arty analysis from Art in America Magazine. Yeah. Art in America Magazine. For real.
Exclusive photos from PUNKD Images


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Liverpool Manager Brendan Rodgers and Carl Junot, The Virginia B. and James O. Welch '52 Head Coach for Harvard Men's Soccer, prior to a scrimmage between members of the Liverpool and Harvard staffs. (Harvard Athletic Communications).
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- British football
club and English Premier League member Liverpool practiced at
Harvard this week prior to the team's friendly exhibition against
Roma at Fenway Park July 25.
Liverpool, nicknamed The Reds, trained at Harvard for seven days, practicing at Ohiri Field and working out at the Palmer Dixon Strength & Conditioning Center.
The team also held a soccer clinic at the Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium for Boston area children. Liverpool's coaches and staff faced the Harvard coaches in a friendly scrimmage at Ohiri Field Thursday, with the squads tying, 2-2.
Liverpool faced Roma at historic Fenway Park in Boston in a game televised across the world on ESPN. Roma emerged with a 2-1 victory over The Reds, who will conclude their tour of the United States against Tottenham in Baltimore, Md. Saturday, July 28.


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LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Communications is close to buying the remaining stake in Verizon Wireless from Vodafone Group PLC it does not own for potentially $130 billion, according to people familiar with the talks, in what could be the third-biggest deal of all time.
Verizon, the number one U.S. mobile carrier, has made no secret of its desire to gain full ownership of a network that is growing fast and generating billions of dollars in free cash flow, hoping to reap the monetary benefits.
Now, rising interest rates, rapidly intensifying competition and Verizon's share price, which is off 12 percent in recent weeks, have lent urgency to get a deal done before raising money becomes too expensive.
Across the ocean, Vodafone's Chief Executive Vittorio Colao has bided his time, making it clear he would only sell the 45 percent stake at what he considered the right time and most importantly the right price. The deal would leave the world's second largest mobile operator with assets in Europe and emerging markets such as India, Turkey and Africa and money to give back to shareholders.
The deal has been years in the making. Vodafone came close selling out in 2004, when it bid for AT&T Wireless and would have had to shed its Verizon stake. The British company, however, lost that bid to Cingular, and has since held on to the Verizon Wireless stake for its exposure to the U.S. wireless market.
The Verizon Wireless joint venture started in 2000.
A few weeks ago, Verizon and Vodafone resumed talks discussing a sale for around $130 billion, according to a person familiar with the situation, who asked not to be named. Two sources said an announcement could come as soon as next week.
A third person familiar with the matter cautioned that while the companies had made progress, some issues around taxes, price and structure still need to be ironed out. The person cautioned that the deal could still fall apart.
If conditions remain as they are, financing would not be a problem, the source added, saying it would include syndicated loans and tiers of lenders.
Reuters reported in April that Verizon had hired advisers for a possible $100 billion bid, an opening gambit that analysts and investors said was too low, putting the value of Vodafone's holding nearer $120 billion.
With the price tag rising from there, the only M&A deals bigger than this would be Vodafone's $203 billion takeover of Germany's Mannesmann in 1999 and AOL's $181 billion acquisition of Time Warner the following year.
A statement from Vodafone on Thursday confirming talks sent its shares up 9 percent to a 12-year high of 207 pence as investors and analysts said a deal could finally be on the cards. It shares closed at 205.78 pence. Shares in Verizon ended the day with a 2.7 percent gain in New York to $47.82.
Assuming a $130 billion price tag, total advisory fees for banks involved would be in the $200 million to $250 million range, according to Freeman estimates. Arrangement fees for a loan syndication could be around 0.2 percent to 0.4 percent of the proceeds raised or in a range of $125 million to 250 million range for a $60 billion syndication, the research firm estimated.
As U.S. growth slows, because most people already own smartphones, and competition intensifies, Verizon is under pressure to find ways to expand. Despite the steep sums being discussed, Verizon investors expect handsome rewards from full Verizon Wireless ownership.
Even assuming a $130 billion price tag, with roughly half funded by debt, such a deal would increase Verizon's pro forma earnings per share by 13 percent in 2014, Nomura analyst Adam Ilkowitz said in a research note.
"As Verizon would own 100 percent of arguably the best wireless asset in the country, in addition to a modestly improving wireline business, we believe the market should support this deal even at this lofty multiple," Ilkowitz said.
With 2012 free cash flow of $28.6 billion at Verizon Wireless, RBC Capital Markets analyst Doug Colandrea said Verizon has the ability to rapidly repay the debt raised to fund the deal.
The two companies also own a cross holding in Vodafone Italy, which could form part of the deal, with Verizon possibly selling its 23 percent back to Vodafone, which has 77 percent, sources told Bloomberg.
Charles Stanley analyst Tom Gidley-Kitchin said it was inevitable Verizon would make a serious approach.
"Vodafone doesn't have to sell, they are quite prepared to wait," he said. "I don't think Vittorio Colao is going to be bamboozled into selling at a sub-optimal price, so I think Verizon will understand they will have to pay closer to $130 billion."
Vodafone has changed its strategy from being a pure mobile operator to offering combined services such as television and fixed line broadband. To that end it has agreed to buy Kabel Deutschland for 7.7 billion euros.
The stake in Verizon Wireless has become increasingly valuable to Vodafone as its fortunes have waned in its core European markets.
But it has a strategy of wanting full control of its assets, and as the junior partner in Verizon Wireless, it has no control over the timing and level of dividends from the group.
Vodafone's Colao said in May he would not bow to pressure to do any deal.
Verizon has been able to use the dividend as a lever to persuade Vodafone to sell. The company paid no dividends from the asset between 2005 and 2011, which at the time was viewed by analysts as trying to pressure Vodafone into doing a deal.
Verizon Wireless paid out a $7 billion dividend to its parent companies in June, indicating that they were on better terms than at earlier stages in the relationship.
A Verizon representative declined to comment.
Vodafone investors and analysts expect the company, which has $30.6 billion of debt according to Thomson Reuters data, to return a lot of the proceeds of a deal to shareholders, rather than embark on more M&A or paying down borrowing.
"We would expect them to distribute a very large proportion of the proceeds to shareholders," analyst Gidley-Kitchin said.
A disposal would change the investment case for Vodafone, as the group would be left with a mixture of low growth, but cash generation in Europe and higher growth, but less cash generating emerging markets, he said.
Analysts and investors have said that structuring the deal to ensure not too much tax was payable by the seller was a tricky issue.
"The tax leakage being rumored is $10 billion, which I think would be a good result for Vodafone holders," one of the 10 largest investors in the UK-listed telecoms company told Reuters.
Vodafone's credit default swaps, which measure the cost of insuring against a default on its debts, fell 6 basis points to 70 basis points after the news.
Additional reporting by Avik Das and Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore, Paul Sandle and Sinead Cruise in London, Nicola Leske in New York; Editing by Edwina Gibbs, Edward Tobin, Will Waterman, and Leslie Gevirtz


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Spatial information describes the physical location of objects in space. Though often used interchangeably, geographic or geospatial information/data - defined as information that can be related to a location on the earth's surface - is a subset of spatial information. Street maps, topographic maps and nautical charts are some of the most common representations of geospatial data. Other representations of geospatial data include vegetation maps, maps of property boundaries, and maps of infrastructure such as water and sewer lines.
Knowledge of geospatial data has great importance and many varied benefits. Individuals and organizations in the public and private sector use geospatial information for activities such as recreation, natural resource management, asset management, and land use planning. Accurate and consistent geospatial data is essential in helping us manage our current resources and plan for the future.
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Recreational Maps
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Take Great Photos with Your iPad
We're seeing more people take photos using their iPads because it's their most handy camera, but can you really get a good shot? Of course! Photo expert Jeff Carlson shares techniques for snapping sharper photos, handling exposure, and capturing HDR images. Enjoy this free chapter from Jeff's book! September 27, 2013


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Presque Isle, Maine -- The Maine Presque Isle women used a balanced attack to defeat the visiting Eagles of Eastern Maine Community College 68-52 Saturday afternoon.
The Owls had five players register double digits and were led by Amanda Hotham and Kristin Thompson who each scored 14 points to improve the Maine Presque Isle record to 12-4. Sophomore Hotham also gathered 14 rebounds and Olivia McNally added 13 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Junior co-captain Brigette Pratt and Darby Toth rounded out the Owls in double figures with 11 points each.
Kara Hebert led the Eagles (3-12) with 15 points and 5 rebounds. Carolyn Best had 12 points and 14 rebounds.
The Owls will next play at Maine Maritime on Tuesday, January 28. The Eagles will also head to the road to battle Central Maine Community College on Wednesday, January 29.


text: Executive Team Rabbi Daniel L. Lehmann is the eighth President of the Graduate Theological Union, where he also serves as Professor of Pluralism and Jewish Thought and chairs the executive team. He is the first non-Christian president in the institution's 56-year history. From 2008 through 2018, he served as president of Hebrew College in Newton, MA. Prior to joining Hebrew College, he was the founding headmaster of Gann Academy — The New Jewish High School of Greater Boston, and founding director of the Berkshire Institute for Music and Arts (BIMA). He also co-founded several educational programs in... About the GTUBoard of TrusteesPresidentLeadership


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I am interested in learning the class structure of Plants vs Zombies, particularly level design; for those who haven't played it - this video contains nice play-through: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89DfdOIJ4xw.
How would I go ahead and design the code, mostly structure & classes, which allows for maximum flexibility & clean development? I am familiar with data driven design concepts, and would use events to handle most of dynamic behavior.
Dissection at macro level:
- (Once every Level) Load tilemap, props, etc -- basically build the map
- (Once every Level) Camera Movement - might consider it as short cut-scene
- (Once every Level) Show Enemies you'll face during present level
- (Once every Level) Unit Selection Window/Panel - selection of defensive plants
- (Once every Level) Camera Movement - might consider it as short cut-scene
(Once every Level) HUD Creation - based on unit selection
(Level Loop) Enemy creation - based on types of zombies allowed
- (Level Loop) Sun/Resource generation
- (Level Loop) Show messages like 'huge wave of zombies coming', 'final wave'
(Level Loop) Other unique events - Spawn gifts, money, tombstones, etc
(Once every Level) Unlock new plant
Potential game scripts:
a) Level definitions: Level_1_1.xml, Level_1_2.xml, etc.
Level_1_1.xml :: Sample script
<SpawnPoints> tiles where particular type of zombies (land vs water) may spawn</spawnPoints>
<props> position, entity array -- lawnmower, </props>
<... list of zombies who gonna attack by ids...>
<... list by plants which are available for defense by ids...>
<ZombieWave name='first wave' spawnScript='zombieLightWave.lua' unlock='null'>
<startMessages time=1.5>Ready</startMessages>
<endMessages time=1.5>Huge wave of zombies incoming</endMessages>
b) Entities definitions: .xmls containing zombies, plants, sun, lawnmower, coins, etc description.
Potential classes:
//LevelManager - Based on the level under play, it will load level script. Few of the // functions it may have:
class LevelManager
bool load(string levelFileName);
bool enter();
bool update(float deltatime);
bool exit();
LevelData* mLevelData;
// LevelData - Contains the details of level loaded by LevelManager.
class LevelData
string file;
// array of camera,dialog,attackwaves, etc in active level
LevelCutSceneCamera** mArrayCutSceneCamera;
LevelCutSceneDialog** mArrayCutSceneDialog;
LevelAttackWave** mArrayAttackWave;
// which camera,dialog,attackwave is active in level
uint mCursorCutSceneCamera;
uint mCursorCutSceneDialog;
uint mCursorAttackWave;
// based on cursor, get the next camera,dialog,attackwave,etc in active level
// return false/true based on failure/success
bool nextCutSceneCamera(LevelCutSceneCamera**);
bool nextCutSceneDialog(LevelCutSceneDialog**);
// LevelUnderPlay- LevelManager
class LevelUnderPlay
LevelCutSceneCamera* mCutSceneCamera;
LevelCutSceneDialog* mCutSceneDialog;
LevelAttackWave* mAttackWave;
Entities** mSelectedPlants;
Entities** mAllowedZombies;
bool isCutSceneCameraActive;
bool enter();
bool update(float deltatime);
bool exit();
I am totally confused.. :(
Does it make sense of using class composition (have flat class hierarchy) for managing levels.
Is it a good idea to just add/remove/update sprites (or any drawable stuff) to current scene from LevelManager or LevelUnderPlay?
If I want to make non-linear level design, how should I go ahead? Perhaps I would need a LevelProgression class, which would decide what to do based on decision tree.
Any suggestions would be appreciated very much.
Thank for your time,


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Jail Cooking Show: Vanilla Waffer Pie Recipe!
Episode 3 from the cooking show "Jail Recipes" starring Thirstin Howl The 3rd as Chef Survival Kit.
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Apple iPhone 5c Refurbished Pink 8GB
The iPhone 5C from Apple is for the colourful. Make a statement with a choice of five colours and then mix it up by added a contrasting coloured case. But it's not just about looking pretty; the iPhone 5C comes with an A6 chip, an 8 megapixel camera, a 4 inch retina display and ultra-fast WiFi which all combine to bring you an amazingly powerful phone in a new design which feels great in your hand.More...
This mobile phone is no longer available.
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Why we love it:
By using beautifully smooth polycarbonate reinforced with steel to create the 5c's chassis, Apple have created an iPhone shell which is more fun and bright than ever before whilst keeping it super-durable and ready for anything. In glossy green, this model will be the envy of all those you meet!
The iPhone 5c lets you view all your content in exquisitely pin-sharp clarity, on its dazzling four-inch Retina display. Once you've watched your favourite films and played the latest games using this stunning screen, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it!
The 5c comes with a brilliant 8 megapixel iSight camera, complete with High Dynamic Range, video stabilisation and simultaneous HD video and image recording. Your shots will be brighter, clearer and crisper than ever!
Delivery Information (Discontinued):
We're sorry, but this product has been discontinued.
- Max. talk time: Up to 10 hours
- Primary Camera Flash: LED
- Primary Camera max. video resolution: Full HD / 1080p (1920x1080)
- Primary Camera resolution: 3264 x 2448
- Secondary Camera: 1.2 Megapixels
- Bluetooth: 4.0 with A2DP, LE
- Connector: Lightning
- GPS: A-GPS and GLONASS
- Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n
- Display Pixel density: 326 ppi
- Display Resolution: 1136 x 640
- Display Size: 4.0"
- Display Type: IPS
- Mobile hotspot: Yes
Memory and Software
- Internal memory: 8GB
- Memory card slot: None
- Processor: 1.3 GHz Dual-core
Size and Weight
- Dimensions (H x W x D): 124.4 x 59.2 x 9 mm
- Weight (grams): 132


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In September 2016, Shahril Ridza Ridzuan, Chief Executive Officer, Employees Provident Fund (EPF) in Malaysia, spoke to Victoria Barbary, Director of Strategy and Communications at the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds about the challenges facing his organisation as a long-term investor. They also discussed the particular challenges facing institutional investors in South-East Asia, as the Chinese economy, which has been the powerhouse of growth in the region, rebalances and slows. Finally, they discussed the new role of environmental, social and governance issues for the EPF.
Edited transcript
- Shahril Ridza Ridzuan, Chief Executive Officer, Employees Provident Fund in Malaysia
- Victoria Barbary, Director of Strategy and Communications at the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds
Shahril Ridza Ridzuan: The EPF is a retirement savings fund for Malaysia's private sector workers. It is a defined contribution fund and we represent approximately 14.55 million members, which is about half the Malaysian population. We are roughly US$185 billion in terms of asset size, and one of the 10 largest state-run retirement or pension funds in the world. About 27% of our assets are allocated outside of Malaysia.
Both employees and employers contribute monthly to the fund and this is mandated by law. Employees, who are EPF members, must contribute a minimum of 11%, while the employers' contribution is 12% to 13% depending on income levels. We enforce the contributions and pursue defaulting employers. Our nationwide network of 68 branches offers members' services ranging from handling complaints to withdrawals.
The EPF is based on the concept that people save as they go, and then they withdraw the money when they reach retirement. We have multiple options for members on how they can withdraw their money, whether lump sum, partial, monthly, yearly, etc.
Victoria Barbary: As a defined contribution fund, how has your investment strategy evolved since the global financial crisis?
Shahril Ridza Ridzuan: We have set key financial metrics and targets, with the intention to minimise risk to members' capital and limit drawdowns. Our main objective is to achieve inflation plus 2% over a three-year rolling period. We are educating our members that it is better to have a long-term sustainable real return fund, as opposed to maximising the nominal yield. This is particularly challenging in the today's current global economic environment. Although yields today are pretty low by recent historical standards, we are still able to meet our targets.
Victoria Barbary: How has your asset allocation evolved given the trend towards private equity, infrastructure and real estate? How has integrating that illiquidity changed and evolved the way that you manage that portfolio?
Sharil Ridza Ridzuan: Until the early 90s, the Fund consisted of 90% Malaysian fixed income and government securities - it was a safe and conservative portfolio. But over time, that changed as we started to focus on providing a real return on members' capital. We began to invest in equities in the 90s; and thereafter, started to invest in Malaysian illiquid assets such as private equity, property and infrastructure. In the early 2000s we had to start investing overseas to reduce the pressure of trying to find enough Malaysian investments. We had become so big that we started to crowd out other Malaysian investors.
When I joined EPF in 2009, about 5-6% of the Fund was invested in global assets. Now we are about 27% in global equities and fixed income, the bulk of this being in the more traditional asset classes of equities and fixed income. Our total investments in illiquid assets is approximately 5% of our actual deployed capital. If we include private equity fund commitments, this figure is probably closer to 7-8%. We think it should be roughly about 10% considering where we are today, and we expect to grow to about 15% over the next 5-10 years.
Victoria Barbary: What are the challenges of growing that illiquid allocation? Have you had to build teams in-house?
Sharil Ridza Ridzuan: The challenge for us to grow illiquid assets is that a lot more due diligence is required for every single investment.
Yes, we do a lot of it in-house. We first started out in private equity, we started with a fund-of-funds programme. We use a few key global partners and part of the mandate of those partners was helping us develop the structures, methodologies and talent needed to bring asset allocation in-house. Much of the work was in training our people with the right skill sets and experience. Today, we manage about 90% of our assets in-house, with just under 350 investment professionals and we are very comfortable with this.
Victoria Barbary: What do you use external managers for today?
Sharil Ridza Ridzuan: We use external managers in new areas we want to move into or where it's too difficult to build up the resources ourselves. For instance, when we first started investing in global equities, we gave out mandates as we didn't have enough internal expertise. But we gradually built teams to mirror their processes, and eventually most of the money, about 70%, is now managed in-house. We currently use external fund managers for private equity, but we are starting to develop the ability to run that in-house as well.
Victoria Barbary: Where are you seeing the best opportunities? Where might you want to increase and enhance your skill-set as a team?
Sharil Ridza Ridzuan: For us, diversification is key to the stability of our fund so it's about making sure we have the right balance among all out asset classes. We feel that we're still a bit short in the illiquid inflation asset classes so we're putting more emphasis on that. Our London office, for instance, deals only in illiquid assets. So essentially, all trading for fixed income and public equities are all done out of KL (Kuala Lumpur), but we actually do split the sourcing and deal-making for the illiquid asset class between our KL office and the London office. In London, especially with due diligence for documentation and deal-sourcing, we are gradually ramping up of our capabilities along that space. That's an area where we need a very different kind of expertise. You need a whole host of skill sets, not just fund management.
Victoria Barbary: As a South-East Asian investor with a lot of domestic investment, how is the slowing of China affecting your domestic investments vis-a-vis your international investments?
Sharil Ridza Riduzan: The ASEAN region is about half a billion people; that is a very big marketplace with huge trade and GDP growth even among member countries. So how we view the geographical split is we have the ASEAN region and North Asia, which includes China, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Japan falls within our developed markets' mandate.
We tend to view ASEAN and North Asia as equal weights. Obviously due to our position within Malaysia and our close business links in the region, we have a lot more comfort and visibility in ASEAN. We have informational advantages here, whereas in North Asia we're just another investor.
We're obviously keeping an eye on China – its growth is a major factor in ASEAN trade into North Asia as well as global growth, but we have always believed that over the long term, these things tend to even out. While we view today's period of low growth with concern, the big benefit of China from an inflation hedging perspective is that it has been exporting deflation for a while now. So we're still comfortable with our inflation spread targeting and having the right diversification of assets to meet that.
Victoria Barbary: How have your views towards risk changed over the years?
Sharil Ridza Ridzuan: That is an interesting question at this time. As you know, many investors have been accustomed to decent nominal yields so it's difficult to wean yourself off that. Five years ago, members were targeting inflation plus 2% and therefore returning 6%. Today returns are at 4%, but still on an inflation plus 2% basis. Technically on a spread or inflation hedging basis, you're fine, but there are psychological hurdles. The problem is exacerbated for pension funds who have to meet defined obligations, predicated on a particular rate of return. If your model has always been based on achieving 7-8%, today that means doubling the risk taken.
It's hard for us to educate our contributors that 6% plus returns are a thing of the past unless you want to take on a huge amount of portfolio risk, as pensioners don't think in terms of spread. Our challenge is to educate our contributors (our 14.5 million members) that inflation plus 2% is a good target to have, especially if this means plus 4% returns. Plus 6% nominal returns is a thing of the past and you would have to take on a huge amount of risk.
Victoria Barbary: Have you had a lot of pressure or requests from members to focus on the environment and social governance issues?
Sharil Ridza Ridzuan: When you represent 14.5 million people, there's going to be a section of the membership that just want to maximise returns. But today an increasing majority of our members are concerned about sustainability issues and what we are investing in are in line with their values. People do not want to be associated with industries or products that they view as harmful or not aligned with their beliefs.
Several years ago we embarked on a more ESG-focused stream of investing. We have publicly stated that the EPF would not invest in gambling, alcohol or weapons production. We still have some old investments in tobacco, but these eventually will be sold down and no new money invested in tobacco.
Victoria Barbary: Is Sharia-compliant investing something you are looking to expand?
Sharil Ridza Ridzuan: Sharia investing goes hand-in-hand with ESG and sustainability. The industries that you have to avoid in order to be Sharia-compliant, you would have to avoid anyway for ESG compliance. The key difference is that conventional, interest-based banking is excluded from Sharia investing. It's our view that Sharia investing is a subset of ESG. In that sense, it's actually ESG plus another filter based on banking.
Due to our push towards ESG compliance, there hasn't been much issue of being Sharia-compliant at the same time. Our portfolio today is roughly 90% ESG-compliant and about 45% Sharia-compliant. We are probably the single largest Sharia-compliant investor in the world.
Members who wanted a fully Sharia-compliant asset pool now have the option of converting from the current ESG conventional pool to a fully Sharia-compliant pool. We successfully launched Simpanan Shariah, the fully Sharia-compliant fund on 8 August 2016, with an allocation of MYR100 billion. We saw a 40% uptake in the first month; our members are excited about it.
Victoria Barbary: Do you expect to continue to expand that allocation?
Sharil Ridza Ridzuan: I think so. We're encouraging people to view Sharia investing as a subset of sustainable investing. Within Sharia, financing is meant to be a risk-sharing concept whereby, the providers of credit and the providers of equity are supposed to share risk. So it's a form of sustainable banking.
Victoria Barbary: What do you see as the major trends for long-term returns?
Sharil Ridza Ridzuan: It depends on fund type, time horizons and your investment objective. For our Fund, a more balanced diversified asset class is still good. Because we have an inflation spread mandate, we would like to acquire more inflation-hedged assets, like infrastructure, property assets or even inflation-linked securities.
Victoria Barbary: Are there any areas where you think you're not getting properly compensated for the risk you're taking?
Sharil Ridza Ridzuan: As an institution, we think that the risks involved in higher-grade credit are not as well-priced in as we would like. We also struggle with technology company valuations, especially internet or new economy companies which don't make any money, but have ridiculously high valuations. We prefer cash flow driven companies. We have always been motivated more by cash flow and dividend yields, but less so on absolute capital gains. It makes our life easier in terms of predicting and managing our members' returns. This keeps volatility low and our members happier, which to be honest – makes life a lot easier.Return to Investment Institute


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colours necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 23 diseños de 10 diseñadores freelance.
Scan+plus is a registered trademark which needs a distinctive logo (device) and textual treatment.
It is an internal business application that takes scanned barcode data from retailers, manipulates it then generates reporting that enables the retailers to better manage their business.
ItÂ's a cyclical activity.
Initial designs of Scan+plus has treated the scan as a heavy slab face with the +plus as superscripted book face. Don't feel constrained by this design philosophy – be creative.
Desired Color Scheme:
Red (PMS Red 032C) and blue (PMS 7469C) - Orange (PMS 150C)
Desired Style:
? be stylish, but simple
? be bold to gain recognition
? be able to be used as a creative device
? be clearly visible as a small sized graphic
? retain clean lines as a large size graphic (vector)
Accepted File Formats:
vector graphics, PSD, EPS, AI, JPG
As an overall direction the design should:
 be stylish, but simple
 be bold to gain recognition
 be able to be used as a creative device
 be clearly visible as a small sized graphic
 retain clean lines as a large size graphic (vector)
 please include the (R) registered trademark glyph
Some suggestions are;
 allow for both vertical and horizontal use of the logo i.e. segregate the scan+plus textual reference from the design to permit it to be integrated both beside (both left and right) and below the logo
 preferred colours include red and blue - orange sparingly
 design pieces that can be broken apart for creative device use (e.g. undergraphic)
 look to web2.0 for graphic style inspiration mindful that greyscale use is likely
Additionally the designers consideration of how to treat the logo on a black background is desired. Would there be an alternative palette in this circumstance?
The designs submitted will go to a panel for selecting a design.
Feedback will be supplied daily. I've tried to give you as much as I can - any questions send me a message. Thanks and good designing...
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Typically offered every other year
The American Bar Association accreditation standards require students to regularly attend the courses in which they are registered. Lewis & Clark expects students to attend classes regularly and to prepare for classes conscientiously. Specific attendance requirements may vary from course to course. Any attendance guidelines for a given class must be provided to students in a syllabus or other written document at the start of the semester. Sanctions (e.g., required withdrawal from the course, grade adjustment, and/or a failing grade) will be imposed for poor attendance.
Law Registrar is located in Legal Research Center on the Law Campus.
Registrar Seneca Gray
Law Registrar
Law Registrar Lewis & Clark Law School10015 S.W. Terwilliger Boulevard MSC 51 Portland OR 97219


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Ubisoft's been coy about what platforms its next open-world game will be coming out for, even if they've already said when. That it's coming to PC is a given, I think.
But this Watch Dogs screen that's been floating around today definitely looks like something destined for the next round of console hardware. But will Orbis or Durango be able to render this amount of detail? We'll see.


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Kol Khalviar - I Killed T.R.O.Y [Unsigned Hype]
": Chicago native Kol Khaviar does it again, blessing the Pete Rock/CL Smooth classic They Reminence Over You. True lyricists need to check this out"
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