Paying individuals for the donation of their bone marrow may become legal, if a lawsuit filed by the Institute for Justice (IJ) succeeds in overturning the current ban. The lawsuit was filed on October 28 in federal court on behalf of patients, doctors, and parents of sick children.
The IJ sued the United States Attorney General Eric Holder over the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984, which makes human organ sales illegal, including financial compensation for bone marrow donations. An overturn of the ban could have a large impact on physicians, donors, and especially patients, including those with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).
Bone marrow transplants are an important part of treatment in various types of blood cancers. The stem cells, after being separated from the donated bone marrow and inserted into the recipient’s bloodstream, begin to repopulate the patient’s bone marrow with new blood cells.
For MDS patients, a bone marrow transplant is the only known treatment that can bring about long-term remission. However, a transplant is not an option for all MDS patients; it is generally most effective in younger, healthier patients.
The non-profit group MoreMarrowDonors.org recruited the IJ to file the lawsuit to overturn the ban and allow for compensation to be made to donors.
“We think that there is much folly in a government law standing between a patient and a potentially life-saving program,” said Shaka Mitchell, president of MoreMarrowDonors.org. “To that end, we decided this suit is of paramount importance.”
MoreMarrowDonors.org is proposing a pilot program that will compensate the most needed donors, especially minorities, with $3,000. The money would be in the form of a scholarship, housing grant, or donation to charity. Donors and patients would be matched anonymously through a national registry.
“Our hypothesis is that many people drop off the registry or fail to follow through once contacted because they cannot afford time away from work or other commitments. By providing small scholarships, housing allowances, and gifts to charity, we think we can prevent some of the attrition that eventually leads to patients unable to find marrow matches,” added Mitchell.
In the past, transplants required the removal of bone marrow directly from the pelvic bone. The procedure has become much less invasive and painful since the development of medications that prompt the donor’s stem cells to leave the bone and enter the bloodstream. A machine filters these mobilized stem cells from the circulating blood, and the stem cells are then frozen until transplantation.
But the donor and recipient must still be perfect matches in a bone marrow transplant – even more so than in a kidney transplant. This is where the problem arises – matches are hard to come by, and patients do not have the luxury of time to wait for a match.
An overturn of the current ban could result in more donors in bone marrow registries and a higher potential for matches among MDS patients seeking a bone marrow transplant.
The National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 was originally enacted to prevent the sale of kidneys and other organs that do not regenerate. But critics argue that the original law banning compensation for organs was not meant to pertain to bone marrow – unlike a kidney, bone marrow renews itself.
“Bone marrow got stuck in the statute – by mistake,” said Jeff Rowes, the IJ’s lead attorney on the case. He described bone marrow donation as an unusual form of blood donation. “No reason to treat them like kidneys or livers,” he added.
Criticism and ethical concerns over the proposed payment of bone marrow donors have also been raised (see The New York Times Opinion blog). Some wonder if compensation will negatively affect the number of altruistic donors on the registry.
There is also concern that payment will encourage individuals to conceal health conditions in order for donations to be accepted, leading some to worry about the affect an overturn may have on the quality of the donations.
The lawsuit may take a number of years to work its way through the federal court system. In the meantime, coverage of the lawsuit in the news media may raise awareness of the shortage of bone marrow donors and trigger an influx of donors to the registry.
“The goal is to make a serious dent in the shortage of bone marrow donors,” Rowes said. “Maybe save 1,000 lives a year.”
Origianl story can be found at http://www.mdsbeacon.com/news/2009/11/12/ban-on-payment-for-bone-marrow-donations-challenged-in-lawsuit/
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
When is Daylight Saving Time in 2009 - Time To Fall Back
Ah the ending of Daylight saving (not savings) time is here! The official US Daylight Savings Time Schedule for 2009 is the 1st of November at 2:00 am. It use to end the last Sunday in October but two years ago it was to the first Sunday in November.
Good news for this year is most folks will get to get an extra hour of sleep after enjoying some Halloween festivities. Just remember to turn your clocks back an hour before retiring on October 31st.
The clocks will stay at this setting until the March 14, 2010 – as Daylight Saving time begins the second Sunday in March.
And while you are running around your house setting all the clocks back an hour don’t forget to check your smoke detectors. Fire departments encourage everyone to check their smoke detectors and change the batteries if needed when they change their clocks. Working smoke detectors can double a family’s chance in a fire.
Not all U.S. states and territories observe Daylight Saving Time including Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Nation), Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Earlier this year Alaska passed a bill to stop following it as well.
Original article can be found at:
http://www.examiner.com/x-260-Seattle-Parenting-Examiner~y2009m10d24-When-is-Daylight-Saving-Time-in-2009--time-to-Fall-back
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Let Them Drink Water! - What a fat tax really means for America.
Not long after the attack on Pearl Harbor, in the winter of 1942, physiologist A.J. Carlson made a radical suggestion: If the nation's largest citizens were charged a fee—say, $20 for each pound of overweight—we might feed the war effort overseas while working to subdue an "injurious luxury" at home.
Sixty-seven years later, the "fat tax" is back on the table. We're fighting another war—our second-most-expensive ever—and Congress seems on the verge of spending $1 trillion on health care. Once again, a bloated budget may fall on the backs of the bloated public. Some commentators, following Carlson, have lately called for a tax on fat people themselves (cf. the Huffington Post and the New York Times); others, like a team of academics writing in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, propose a hefty surcharge on soft drinks instead.
The notion hasn't generated much enthusiasm in Congress, but fat taxes are spreading through state legislatures: Four-fifths of the union now takes a cut on the sales of junk food or soda. Pleas for a federal fat tax are getting louder, too. The New York Times recently endorsed a penny-per-ounce soda tax, and Michael Pollan has made a convincing argument for why the insurance industry may soon throw its weight behind the proposal. Even President Obama said he likes the idea in a recent interview with Men's Health. (For the record, Stephen Colbert is against the measure: "I do not obey big government; I obey my thirst.")
For all this, the public still has strong reservations about the fat tax. The state-level penalties now in place have turned out to be way too small to make anyone lose weight, and efforts to pass more heavy-handed laws have so far fallen short. But proponents say it's only a matter of time before taxing junk food feels as natural as taxing cigarettes. The latter has been a tremendous success, they argue, in bringing down rates of smoking and death from lung cancer. In theory, a steep tax on sweetened beverages could do the same for overeating and diabetes.
It may take more than an analogy with tobacco to convince voters. As my colleague William Saletan points out, the first step in policing eating habits is to redefine food as something else. If you want to tax the hell out of soda, you need to make people think that it's a drug, not a beverage—that downing a Coke is just like puffing on a cigarette. But is soda as bad as tobacco? Let's ask the neuropundits.
Junk food literally "alters the biological circuitry of our brains," writes David Kessler in this summer's best-seller, The End of Overeating. In a previous book, Kessler detailed his role in prosecuting the war on smoking as the head of the FDA; now he's explaining what makes us fat with all the magisterial jargon of cognitive neuroscience. Eating a chocolate-covered pretzel, he says, activates the brain's pleasure system—the dopamine reward circuit, to be exact—and changes the "functional connectivity among important brain regions." Thus, certain foods—the ones concocted by industrial scientists and laden with salt, sugar, and fat—can circumvent our natural inclinations and trigger "action schemata" for mindless eating. Got that? Junk food is engineered to enslave us. Kessler even has a catchphrase to describe these nefarious snacks: They're hyperpalatable.
Try as we might, we're nearly powerless to resist these treats. That's because evolution has us programmed to experience two forms of hunger. The first kicks in when we're low on energy. As an adaptation, its purpose is simple enough—we eat to stay alive. The second, called hedonic hunger, applies even when we're full—it's the urge to eat for pleasure. When food is scarce, hedonic hunger comes in handy, so we can stock up on calories for the hard times ahead. But in a world of cheap food, the same impulse makes us fat.
Original article can be found at http://www.slate.com/id/2228713/?gt1=38001
Sixty-seven years later, the "fat tax" is back on the table. We're fighting another war—our second-most-expensive ever—and Congress seems on the verge of spending $1 trillion on health care. Once again, a bloated budget may fall on the backs of the bloated public. Some commentators, following Carlson, have lately called for a tax on fat people themselves (cf. the Huffington Post and the New York Times); others, like a team of academics writing in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, propose a hefty surcharge on soft drinks instead.
The notion hasn't generated much enthusiasm in Congress, but fat taxes are spreading through state legislatures: Four-fifths of the union now takes a cut on the sales of junk food or soda. Pleas for a federal fat tax are getting louder, too. The New York Times recently endorsed a penny-per-ounce soda tax, and Michael Pollan has made a convincing argument for why the insurance industry may soon throw its weight behind the proposal. Even President Obama said he likes the idea in a recent interview with Men's Health. (For the record, Stephen Colbert is against the measure: "I do not obey big government; I obey my thirst.")
For all this, the public still has strong reservations about the fat tax. The state-level penalties now in place have turned out to be way too small to make anyone lose weight, and efforts to pass more heavy-handed laws have so far fallen short. But proponents say it's only a matter of time before taxing junk food feels as natural as taxing cigarettes. The latter has been a tremendous success, they argue, in bringing down rates of smoking and death from lung cancer. In theory, a steep tax on sweetened beverages could do the same for overeating and diabetes.
It may take more than an analogy with tobacco to convince voters. As my colleague William Saletan points out, the first step in policing eating habits is to redefine food as something else. If you want to tax the hell out of soda, you need to make people think that it's a drug, not a beverage—that downing a Coke is just like puffing on a cigarette. But is soda as bad as tobacco? Let's ask the neuropundits.
Junk food literally "alters the biological circuitry of our brains," writes David Kessler in this summer's best-seller, The End of Overeating. In a previous book, Kessler detailed his role in prosecuting the war on smoking as the head of the FDA; now he's explaining what makes us fat with all the magisterial jargon of cognitive neuroscience. Eating a chocolate-covered pretzel, he says, activates the brain's pleasure system—the dopamine reward circuit, to be exact—and changes the "functional connectivity among important brain regions." Thus, certain foods—the ones concocted by industrial scientists and laden with salt, sugar, and fat—can circumvent our natural inclinations and trigger "action schemata" for mindless eating. Got that? Junk food is engineered to enslave us. Kessler even has a catchphrase to describe these nefarious snacks: They're hyperpalatable.
Try as we might, we're nearly powerless to resist these treats. That's because evolution has us programmed to experience two forms of hunger. The first kicks in when we're low on energy. As an adaptation, its purpose is simple enough—we eat to stay alive. The second, called hedonic hunger, applies even when we're full—it's the urge to eat for pleasure. When food is scarce, hedonic hunger comes in handy, so we can stock up on calories for the hard times ahead. But in a world of cheap food, the same impulse makes us fat.
Original article can be found at http://www.slate.com/id/2228713/?gt1=38001
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Khloe Kardashian Wedding Pics Available Bright and Early Tomorrow
OK! Magazine" Publishes Offical Khloe Kardashian Wedding Pics Tomorrow
Khloe Kardashian wedding pics will be available tomorrow in all their glory in OK! Magazine. Khloe Kardashian wedding pics were sold to OK! Magazine for $300,000 in a deal brokered by Kris Jenner, Khloe's mother-manager.
So many people are anxiously awaiting official Khloe Kardashian wedding pics. With everything going on in the world, I have
Khloe Kardashian Wedding Pics Available Bright and Early Tomorrow
Costumes | Party Ideas | Kids and Safety | Movies and Music | Scary Stories | More » to stop and wonder why we are so interested in Khloe Kardashian wedding pics.
Perhaps with all the bad things going on in the news such as the Derrion Albert beating and the dual wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's refreshing to see a happy couple enjoying a lavish wedding. The Khloe Kardashian wedding pics show us a side of life we don't get to see every day on the news - happiness.
Some would argue that the interest in Khloe Kardashian wedding pics is because of a waning intelligence level in America's youth and young adult population. Similar to the movie Idiocracy, people argue that society is slipping backwards and becoming -dumb.
Personally, I think that people have an interest in Khloe Kardashian wedding pics because her story is interesting. She has a lot of drama going on with Lamar Odom. Not only will the wedding pics show the Kardashian-Jenner clan, they will show many stars rubbing elbows and enjoying a great day together.
Khloe Kardashian wedding pics will highlight a great day, but they won't show the whole picture of the couple's relationship. Lamar Odom has two children with his ex-girlfriend Liza Morales. Khloe Kardashian will have to step in and be there for those children when they are with Lamar.
Khloe Kardashian wedding pics haven't even hit newsstands and people are already wondering how long the couple will last. I like to give people - even celebrities - the benefit of the doubt. Just because Kardashian and Odom didn't date long before they were married doesn't mean they won't last.
PerezHilton.com has a preview of the Khloe Kardashian wedding pics. The cover features mainly the Kardashian sisters, and Lamar blends into the background.
Original article can be found at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2235739/khloe_kardashian_wedding_pics_available.html?cat=2
Khloe Kardashian wedding pics will be available tomorrow in all their glory in OK! Magazine. Khloe Kardashian wedding pics were sold to OK! Magazine for $300,000 in a deal brokered by Kris Jenner, Khloe's mother-manager.
So many people are anxiously awaiting official Khloe Kardashian wedding pics. With everything going on in the world, I have
Khloe Kardashian Wedding Pics Available Bright and Early Tomorrow
Costumes | Party Ideas | Kids and Safety | Movies and Music | Scary Stories | More » to stop and wonder why we are so interested in Khloe Kardashian wedding pics.
Perhaps with all the bad things going on in the news such as the Derrion Albert beating and the dual wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's refreshing to see a happy couple enjoying a lavish wedding. The Khloe Kardashian wedding pics show us a side of life we don't get to see every day on the news - happiness.
Some would argue that the interest in Khloe Kardashian wedding pics is because of a waning intelligence level in America's youth and young adult population. Similar to the movie Idiocracy, people argue that society is slipping backwards and becoming -dumb.
Personally, I think that people have an interest in Khloe Kardashian wedding pics because her story is interesting. She has a lot of drama going on with Lamar Odom. Not only will the wedding pics show the Kardashian-Jenner clan, they will show many stars rubbing elbows and enjoying a great day together.
Khloe Kardashian wedding pics will highlight a great day, but they won't show the whole picture of the couple's relationship. Lamar Odom has two children with his ex-girlfriend Liza Morales. Khloe Kardashian will have to step in and be there for those children when they are with Lamar.
Khloe Kardashian wedding pics haven't even hit newsstands and people are already wondering how long the couple will last. I like to give people - even celebrities - the benefit of the doubt. Just because Kardashian and Odom didn't date long before they were married doesn't mean they won't last.
PerezHilton.com has a preview of the Khloe Kardashian wedding pics. The cover features mainly the Kardashian sisters, and Lamar blends into the background.
Original article can be found at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2235739/khloe_kardashian_wedding_pics_available.html?cat=2
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Halloween Costume Ideas 2009: From Kim Jong Il to Octomom to more Appropiate Childrens Costumes
Besides gorging on sweets on Halloween, you could also dress up in a Halloween-themed costume and celebrate with family and friends. Halloween parties are common and most people choose to dress up as a favourite cartoon character or animal on this special day. If a loved one is at sea about choosing the right Halloween costume, then you could gift a suitable one. However, while gifting a Halloween costume, ensure that the size is right, neither too tight and nor too loose. Some creative Halloween costume ideas perfect for 2009 are Michael Jackson Halloween Costumes which include with silver sequined gloves, black fedoras and other essential accessories. One could also dress up as Kate Gosselin with a big, asymmetrical tusk of blonde hair in front and a bunch of uneven, fuzzy hair sticking out in back. Other popular costume ideas for Halloween 2009 are Kim Jong Il Costumes, Rod Blagojevich Costumes, Octomom Costumes, Sarah Palin Costumes and many more that imitate models, public leaders, politicians and so on. Celebrities, actors, reality TV stars and others are a great fodder for fun Halloween costumes.
However, while putting together a Halloween costume, do not forget the right accessories. The right accessories, especially with a Halloween theme like fangs, devil horns, angel wings, makeup and trick-or-treating bags will make dressing up fun. Some popular ideas for Halloween costumes for children are Coppenrath Princess Lillifee- Ballet dancer dress-up, Mattel Superman Fly Cape, Mattel Inflatable Suit, Cesar Group Lazy Town Sportacus Muscle Costume, Cesar Group Spiderman Classic Muscle Costume, Rubie’s Power Rangers Red Costume, Hilka McLaren Racing Suit Costume, Rubie’s Power Rangers Black Costume, Vivid WWE Title Belt - Classic World Tag Team Championship Belt, RDP Creative Borat Mankini Thong and Hasbro X-Men Origins Wolverine: Electronic Claw.
Tags: Halloween Costume Ideas 2009, kim jong il costume, kim jong il halloween costume, kim jong il halloween, rod blagojevich halloween costume, octomom costume, halloween costumes for black men, octomom holloweeen costumes, halloween costume ideas, x men costume ideas 2009, octomom news, do it yourself costumes for 2009, 2009 halloween costumes, octomom, halloween ideas, octomom costume halloween, octomom news articles, kim jong costume, halloween kim jong il, best halloween costume ideas, octomom
Original article can be found at http://www.home-living-news.co.uk/decorating/794/halloween-costume-ideas-2009-from-kim-jong-il-to-octomom-to-more-appropiate-childrens-costumes.html
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Samantha Geimer picture: Samantha Geimer picture photo
Samantha Geimer, 45, was Roman Polanski’s victim when she was 13 years old. Geimer has asked the prosecutors to drop the old charges. Geimer said that her family and herself are suffering with the continued pursuit of the case against Roman Polanski.
Polanski’s defence lawyers wanted to get the L.A. Supreme Court disqualified from hearing the case. The Judge Peter Espinoza ruled that there were no grounds to disqualify the case.
Original article can be found at http://news.cnpanyu.com/2009/0927/6202.html
Monday, September 21, 2009
Gwinnett County schools up for $1M national prize
Gwinnett County Public Schools soon may join the elite ranks of school systems in New York City and Boston as one of the top urban school districts in the country.
The 160,000-student district — the largest in Georgia — is one of five finalists for the Broad (pronounced "Brode") Prize for Urban Education, which honors school systems that have showed the most improvement in student achievement, particularly for minorities and low-income students. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will announce the winner Wednesday at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
The prize includes $1 million in scholarships for students graduating from the winning district in 2010 and $250,000 for scholarships for the other systems.
For the county just north of Atlanta, it also means recognition beyond Georgia, where Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks is known for narrowing the achievement gap between the white and minority students in his district. Black and Hispanic students make up about half the student population.
"I think we have really moved away from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning. While that may sound simple, it's an extremely complex concept," Wilbanks said in a telephone interview. "When I go to visit a school and a classroom, I don't observe the teacher. I watch the students. Are they engaged? Are they working on assignments? Are they working with each other?"
A team that visited Gwinnett County schools from the Broad Foundation noted the district's tough curriculum that requires more of students than what the state does. The district also has open classrooms where administrators can float in and out, observing how teachers are doing and what students are learning.
About 70 percent of principals' evaluations are based on student performance on tests, which means they are held directly responsible for how much students learn.
"They're doing things that are not really happening around the country," said Erica Lepping, spokeswoman for the Broad Foundation.
About 72 percent of black students in Gwinnett graduate from high school, and 61 percent of Hispanic students get a diploma. That compares with 59 percent of black students nationally, and is on par with the national average for Hispanic students.
The district has steadily increased the rate of black students taking Advanced Placement courses since 2005, hitting 12 percent last year with 44 percent scoring enough to get college credit. That's compared with the national average of 8 percent of black students taking an AP course and only 4 percent passing the test.
For Hispanic students in Gwinnett, the gap between them and their white peers in elementary school reading has narrowed by 9 percentage points since 2006.
For the prize, the other finalists are: Aldine Independent School District in Houston; Broward County Public Schools in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Long Beach Unified School District in California; and Socorro Independent School District in El Paso, Texas.
The Los Angeles, Calif.-based Broad Foundation has given out the award since 2002 to honor achievement among the nation's 100 largest urban school districts. Previous winners include the New York City Department of Education, Boston Public Schools and Houston Independent School District.
Original article found at http://www.ajc.com/AJC-sharing_/gwinnett-county-schools-up-137097.html
The 160,000-student district — the largest in Georgia — is one of five finalists for the Broad (pronounced "Brode") Prize for Urban Education, which honors school systems that have showed the most improvement in student achievement, particularly for minorities and low-income students. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will announce the winner Wednesday at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
The prize includes $1 million in scholarships for students graduating from the winning district in 2010 and $250,000 for scholarships for the other systems.
For the county just north of Atlanta, it also means recognition beyond Georgia, where Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks is known for narrowing the achievement gap between the white and minority students in his district. Black and Hispanic students make up about half the student population.
"I think we have really moved away from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning. While that may sound simple, it's an extremely complex concept," Wilbanks said in a telephone interview. "When I go to visit a school and a classroom, I don't observe the teacher. I watch the students. Are they engaged? Are they working on assignments? Are they working with each other?"
A team that visited Gwinnett County schools from the Broad Foundation noted the district's tough curriculum that requires more of students than what the state does. The district also has open classrooms where administrators can float in and out, observing how teachers are doing and what students are learning.
About 70 percent of principals' evaluations are based on student performance on tests, which means they are held directly responsible for how much students learn.
"They're doing things that are not really happening around the country," said Erica Lepping, spokeswoman for the Broad Foundation.
About 72 percent of black students in Gwinnett graduate from high school, and 61 percent of Hispanic students get a diploma. That compares with 59 percent of black students nationally, and is on par with the national average for Hispanic students.
The district has steadily increased the rate of black students taking Advanced Placement courses since 2005, hitting 12 percent last year with 44 percent scoring enough to get college credit. That's compared with the national average of 8 percent of black students taking an AP course and only 4 percent passing the test.
For Hispanic students in Gwinnett, the gap between them and their white peers in elementary school reading has narrowed by 9 percentage points since 2006.
For the prize, the other finalists are: Aldine Independent School District in Houston; Broward County Public Schools in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Long Beach Unified School District in California; and Socorro Independent School District in El Paso, Texas.
The Los Angeles, Calif.-based Broad Foundation has given out the award since 2002 to honor achievement among the nation's 100 largest urban school districts. Previous winners include the New York City Department of Education, Boston Public Schools and Houston Independent School District.
Original article found at http://www.ajc.com/AJC-sharing_/gwinnett-county-schools-up-137097.html
Sunday, September 20, 2009
NFL Scores 2009 Sunday Highlights
With nine games completed and six games to go, it's been a busy Sunday for NFL Football 2009. Week 2 of the NFL games have had their share of upsets and sidelined players. Tonight's big game on Sunday Night Football puts the New York Giants up against the Dallas Cowboys. Scores are streaming in and games are up on televisions across the nation.
Some NFL games can be viewed free online as well as on television.
Here are some scores and highlights from a few of today's NFL games:
Panthers 20 Falcons 28
The Falcons wore throwback uniforms honoring the 1966 inaugural season for the team. Falcons rookie DT Peria Jerry left the game in the fourth quarter with a leg injury and had to be assisted off the field. He did not return. While the Falcons converted on both of their fourth-down attempts with Matt Ryan picking up the necessary yard each time, the Panthers missed on their one crucial fourth-down attempt.
Patriots 9 Jets 16
The Jets backed up their week of talking up the game and set the New England Patriots straight. The game was the 100th meeting between the two teams. Jets CB Lito Sheppard was injured in the first half with a quad and did not return to the game. Tom Brady made a pass to Joey Galloway on fourth-and-10 was batted down by safety Kerry Rhodes. The Patriots turned the ball over on downs, allowing the Jets to run out the clock. Game over.
Bengals 31 Packers 24
Chad Ochocinco scored a touchdown for the first time in six games. Packers OT Chad Clifton was injured in the start of the second half with an an ankle injury and was sent to the locker room for an X-ray.
In a fairly sloppy game, The Bengals finished with 13 penalties for 100 yards, while the Packers were flagged 11 times for 76 yards. The game ended with Green Bay making it to the line of scrimmage too late. Game over.
Saints 48 Eagles 22
In his first NFL start, Philadelphia QB Kevin Kolb threw for 391 yards, but had three interceptions and was sacked twice. McNabb was out for the game with his ribs still healing. Saints Reggie Bush made a 19-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. The score put New Orleans at a comfortable advantage at 41-20 and ended Philadelphia's chances of winning.
More NFL week 2 Sunday game scores:
MIN 27 DET 13
ARI 31 JAC 17
OAK 13 KC 10
HOU 34 TEN 31
STL 7 WAS 9
Six games to go at this point with five in progress and the big Sunday night NFL game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys starts tonight at 8:20pm EST. The opening of Cowboys Stadium made its debut in the preseason, but this is the first time a regular-season game will take place at the new building.
Original story can be found at http://www.huliq.com/8059/86610/nfl-scores-2009-sunday-highlights
Some NFL games can be viewed free online as well as on television.
Here are some scores and highlights from a few of today's NFL games:
Panthers 20 Falcons 28
The Falcons wore throwback uniforms honoring the 1966 inaugural season for the team. Falcons rookie DT Peria Jerry left the game in the fourth quarter with a leg injury and had to be assisted off the field. He did not return. While the Falcons converted on both of their fourth-down attempts with Matt Ryan picking up the necessary yard each time, the Panthers missed on their one crucial fourth-down attempt.
Patriots 9 Jets 16
The Jets backed up their week of talking up the game and set the New England Patriots straight. The game was the 100th meeting between the two teams. Jets CB Lito Sheppard was injured in the first half with a quad and did not return to the game. Tom Brady made a pass to Joey Galloway on fourth-and-10 was batted down by safety Kerry Rhodes. The Patriots turned the ball over on downs, allowing the Jets to run out the clock. Game over.
Bengals 31 Packers 24
Chad Ochocinco scored a touchdown for the first time in six games. Packers OT Chad Clifton was injured in the start of the second half with an an ankle injury and was sent to the locker room for an X-ray.
In a fairly sloppy game, The Bengals finished with 13 penalties for 100 yards, while the Packers were flagged 11 times for 76 yards. The game ended with Green Bay making it to the line of scrimmage too late. Game over.
Saints 48 Eagles 22
In his first NFL start, Philadelphia QB Kevin Kolb threw for 391 yards, but had three interceptions and was sacked twice. McNabb was out for the game with his ribs still healing. Saints Reggie Bush made a 19-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. The score put New Orleans at a comfortable advantage at 41-20 and ended Philadelphia's chances of winning.
More NFL week 2 Sunday game scores:
MIN 27 DET 13
ARI 31 JAC 17
OAK 13 KC 10
HOU 34 TEN 31
STL 7 WAS 9
Six games to go at this point with five in progress and the big Sunday night NFL game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys starts tonight at 8:20pm EST. The opening of Cowboys Stadium made its debut in the preseason, but this is the first time a regular-season game will take place at the new building.
Original story can be found at http://www.huliq.com/8059/86610/nfl-scores-2009-sunday-highlights
Friday, September 18, 2009
Cavaliers Guard Arrested In Md.
A D.C. area native-turned-NBA player was arrested in Prince George's County on Thursday after a police officer who pulled him over on the Beltway found that he was carrying three loaded guns, authorities said.
Delonte West, 26, a graduate of Greenbelt's Eleanor Roosevelt High School and a guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers, was traveling north on the Beltway in a three-wheeled motorcycle called a Can-Am Spyder when he cut off a Prince George's canine officer near Route 214, authorities said. The officer pulled over West for making an "unsafe lane change," police said, and when the officer approached the motorcycle, West told him he had a handgun in his waistband.
That prompted the officer to call for backup and search West's vehicle. He found three guns -- a Beretta 9mm in West's waistband, a Ruger .357 magnum strapped to his leg and a shotgun in a guitar case slung over his back, said Maj. Andy Ellis, a spokesman for the Prince George's police.
Police charged West with two criminal counts of carrying a handgun for the Ruger and the Beretta, and issued him a traffic citation for driving "in excess of reasonable and prudent speed," court records show. Ellis said West was within his rights to carry the shotgun.
It is not clear why West was so heavily armed or why he was traveling alone in the Largo area at 10 p.m. on a Thursday, Ellis said. West's father, Dmitri West, said, "All I can say is Delonte was looking behind his back and protecting himself." He said his son was looking out for both specific people and because he was generally concerned about his well-being as a high-profile athlete. He declined to say who might be targeting the NBA star.
"Bottom line is there's a lot of not-too-nice people out here," Dmitri West said.
Ellis said he did not know what, if anything, West said to the officers who arrested him. But he said West "was very cooperative the entire time."
Police arrested West and seized his guns and his motorcycle, Ellis said. He was released from jail early Friday on his personal recognizance, court records show. He is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 20.
No one answered the door at West's home in Brandywine, and no one returned a written message left there seeking a comment. Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry released a statement saying: "We are aware of the situation and take this matter very seriously. We have been in communication with Delonte and his family. We are gathering more information and will not have further comment until the appropriate time."
West was named The Post's All-Met Player of the Year in 2001 after his senior season at Eleanor Roosevelt. He went on to play three seasons at Saint Joseph's and turned professional after teaming with back-court mate Jameer Nelson to lead the Hawks to a 30-2 record and a region final appearance in the 2004 NCAA tournament. He was drafted 24th overall by the Boston Celtics in 2004 and was traded to the Cavaliers after the 2006-07 season.
West recently got married and purchased a $1.05 million home in Fort Washington. He missed several games for the Cavaliers last season with a broken wrist, but was a contributor in the team's run to the Eastern Conference finals.
Original article can be found at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/18/AR2009091802528.html
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Annie Le autopsy to be released
The state medical examiner’s office said Tuesday that it would release the results of an autopsy of a Yale University graduate student amid indications that police were preparing to make an arrest in her killing.
A spokeswoman for the chief state medical examiner’s office told The Associated Press that the cause of Annie Le’s death would be released after 3 p.m. Tuesday. The office had been withholding its report to assist the police investigation.
New Haven police did not return calls Tuedsay morning. They have said that Le’s killing was not a random act and that no students are believed to be involved in the death.
Authorities Monday officially identified the remains as those of Annie Le, 24, the Yale doctoral student in pharmacology who had been missing since last Tuesday and whose body was discovered Sunday hidden inside a wall in a basement lab building where she worked in the medical school complex.
PHOTOS: Click here to see the latest photos from the investigation, and photos of Annie Le
Click here to read, "Yale Mourns Annie Le at candlelight vigil"
The medical examiner in Connecticut is withholding Le's cause of death "for investigative purposes."
Meanwhile, the New Haven Register reported that detectives were focusing on a lab technician who works in the building where the body was found.
The newspaper reported that the technician had failed a polygraph test and had scratches on his chest, as if he were in some type of a struggle.
connections
Michael Jackson General Motors Nancy Garrido O J Simpson Arnold Schwarzenegger Nearly all of the basement animal research floor where Le's remains were found can be accessed only by students, faculty, staff and lab technicians who have been given specific permission to be there, student researchers said.
In an earlier statement e-mailed to the Ivy League school Monday, Yale Police Chief James A. Perrotti tried to tamp down rumors circulating on the shaken campus.
"There are no suspects in custody," Chief Perrotti said. "We ask for your patience as we thoroughly investigate this crime."
Authorities would not answer questions about a suspect, but say they are sure that there are "no students involved" in Le's killing, Perrotti said.
New Haven police spokesman Joe Avery said Monday that because the death did not appear to have been committed at random, there was no need for alarm on campus.
'It wasn't a random act," Avery said. "It doesn't appear to be a random act."
Sari Levy, 18, a freshman at Yale from Great Neck, said, "Everything is a little bit shaken up. It's more like emotionally distressing than actually fearing for your own safety." Levy and her roommates planned to attend a candlelight vigil for Le at Yale Monday night.
Le, who is from Placerville, Calif., east of Sacramento, was to marry Jonathan Widawsky, also 24, a Columbia University graduate student from Huntington, on Sunday at Syosset's North Ritz Club. The 11:30 a.m. nuptials were canceled Friday, after she was reported missing on Tuesday.
Widawsky is not a suspect and is working with investigators, police said.
Avery said police at first thought Le might have been a runaway bride. That theory was soon debunked as investigators were not able to find any surveillance video of Le exiting the Amistad lab, and she was seen on the video at about 10 a.m. walking into the building for a research lab appointment.
Yale officials say every entrance and exit to the building on the school's medical school complex is captured on video by a series of 70 cameras. The basement where Le was found in a part of a wall used for utility cables and plumbing is highly secure, university officials said, and only students, faculty and staff with a need to be in the basement are able to go there.
At Le's off-campus home about a mile and a half away, three plainclothes Yale police officers spent about 10 or 15 minutes in the residence Monday afternoon, then emerged with a camera. They would not answer reporters' questions.
Original story can be found at http://www.newsday.com/long-island/annie-le-autopsy-to-be-released-1.1445629
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Serena Williams loses cool in mad ending to U.S. Open women's semifinal against Kim Clijsters
For nearly two weeks, Serena Williams had made a flawless run through the U.S. Open, pulverizing opponents and dominating matches, a seeming lock to defend her title and capture her 12th career Grand Slam.
It all unraveled in unimaginable fashion a few minutes before 11 p.m. Saturday night, with a foot fault, a profane tirade and a code violation that happened to come on match point, after an irate Williams told a lineswoman, "I swear to God, I'll f --- take this ball and shove it down your f -- - throat. "
Faster than you can spell colossal anticlimax, the rackets were down, the match was over, the crowd was incensed and a teary-eyed Williams was leaving the court to a cascade of boos.
On a cool, dank night, before a crowd of maybe 8,000 fans inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, Kim Clijsters decisively outplayed the second-seeded Williams in their Open semifinal. She moved into tonight's final against No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, with a 6-4, 7-5 victory, even though she looked as if she didn't want to leave the court Saturday night, and have the match finish the way it did.
"The normal feelings of winning a match weren't there," Clijsters said.
"It was just a point penalty, just at a bad time, basically," said Williams, who was consoled in the locker room by sister Venus afterward.
The match was delayed a day by rain, and will be discussed and debated far longer than that, considering the way it concluded: with Serena in the face of the lineswoman who called the foot fault - a horrid call at a horrible time - before getting called for a second code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct. The first violation - a warning - had come after she lost the first set, when Serena slammed her racket against the blue court and whacked it into the net.
"She could've kept her cool," said Oracene Price, Serena's mother.
The whole flow of the match was no less stunning than the ending. Clijsters, the 26-year-old, comebacking mother freshly returned from two years of retirement, performed brilliantly against Williams, a player she had beaten only once in eight prior meetings. Clijsters broke Williams' vaunted serve four times and spent the better part of two sets moving her around and dominating the rallies with penetrating, angled groundstrokes.
Clijsters held serve at love to go up 6-5 in the second, and as Williams served in the 12th game to try to force a tiebreaker, Williams hit a backhand into the net to go down 15-30. On her ensuing second serve, she was called for the foot fault to make it 15-40 - double match point.
An infuriated Williams walked over to the lineswoman - the USTA would not release her name - angrily shook her racket at her and let fly with profane comments. The lineswoman walked over to the chair umpire, Louise Engzell, to report what had been said. Brian Earley, the tournament referee, came on the court to discuss the matter. Williams approached the net and denied that she had threatened the lineswoman.
With the second code violation, Earley informed Williams that she would be assessed a point penalty. A match-point penalty. She got no slack for a call that replays showed was clearly wrong.
In the interview room, Williams declined to disclose what she said to the lineswoman.
"I don't think that's necessary. I'm trying to move on," Williams said. "I'm clearly not happy. Obviously I wanted to fight. I always fight when I'm down."
Clijsters, the first unseeded finalist since Venus Williams 12 years ago, has never played Wozniacki, who defeated Janina Wickmayer of Belgium in the simultaneously played semifinal held in Louis Armstrong Stadium. There was no time to think about the final Saturday night, after the abrupt ending to a superb match, and Serena Williams' unthinkable exit.
"It's just unfortunate that a battle like that has to end like that," Clijsters said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2009/09/12/2009-09-12_serena_williams_loses_cool_in_mad_ending_.html#ixzz0QzuZd5QC
Original article can be found at http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2009/09/12/2009-09-12_serena_williams_loses_cool_in_mad_ending_.html
Saturday, September 12, 2009
State officials warn of loan modification and foreclosure scams
The Wisconsin Department of Justice and Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection are advising residents to be wary of foreclosure rescue services and loan modification offers.
In recent months, the number of complaints about these services has increased, according to a news release from the state Attorney General’s Office. Homeowners are being bombarded with advertising from companies claiming they can save homes, reduce mortgage payments or find free money for consumers.
For free help, people can contact a Housing and Urban Development Department-approved counselor at www.hud.gov or check out www.makinghomeaffordable.gov to check for eligibility for assistance.
Original article can be found at http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/article/20090908/WRT0101/90908127/1982
In recent months, the number of complaints about these services has increased, according to a news release from the state Attorney General’s Office. Homeowners are being bombarded with advertising from companies claiming they can save homes, reduce mortgage payments or find free money for consumers.
For free help, people can contact a Housing and Urban Development Department-approved counselor at www.hud.gov or check out www.makinghomeaffordable.gov to check for eligibility for assistance.
Original article can be found at http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/article/20090908/WRT0101/90908127/1982
Friday, September 11, 2009
World's oldest person dies in Los Angeles at 115
By SOLVEJ SCHOU (AP) – 4 hours ago
LOS ANGELES — Gertrude Baines, who lived to be the world's oldest person on a steady diet of crispy bacon, fried chicken and ice cream, died Friday at a nursing home. She was 115.
Baines, who remarked last year that she enjoyed life so much she wouldn't mind living another 100 years, died in her sleep, said Emma Camanag, administrator at Western Convalescent Hospital.
The centenarian likely suffered a heart attack, said her longtime physician, Dr. Charles Witt. An autopsy was scheduled to determine the cause of death.
"I saw her two days ago, and she was just doing fine," Witt told The Associated Press. "She was in excellent shape. She was mentally alert. She smiled frequently."
Born in 1894 in Shellman, Ga., Baines claimed the title of the world's oldest living person when a 115-year-old woman, Maria de Jesus, died in Portugal in January.
"I'm glad I'm here. I don't care if I live a hundred more," Baines said in November after casting her vote for Barack Obama in the presidential election. "I enjoy nothing but eating and sleeping."
The oldest person in the world is now Kama Chinen, 114, who lives in Japan, according to Dr. L. Stephen Coles of the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks claims of extreme old age. Chinen was born May 10, 1895, Coles said.
The oldest person who has ever lived is Jeanne-Louise Calment, according to Coles. She was 122 when she died Aug. 4, 1997, in Arles, France.
Baines outlived her entire family, including her only daughter, who died of typhoid.
Baines worked as a maid in Ohio State University dormitories until her retirement and has lived at the Western Convalescent Hospital in Los Angeles for more than 10 years.
"Living that long is like winning the genetic lottery," Robert Young, a scientist and senior consultant with Guinness World Records, said at her birthday party in April.
Staff at Baines' nursing home described her as a modest woman who liked to watch the "Jerry Springer Show" and eat fried chicken, bacon and ice cream. She refused to use dentures.
"I don't know how she does it. She only has her gums, no teeth," said Susie Exconde, the nursing director who found Baines dead in her bed at about 7:25 a.m.
Witt, Baines' physician, said that when he visited her earlier this week, she only complained that her bacon was soggy and arthritis was causing pain in her right knee.
Baines celebrated her birthday at the nursing home April 6 with music, two cakes and a letter from Obama.
Featured on local television newscasts when she voted last year, Baines, who is black, said she backed Obama "because he's for the colored." She said she never thought she would live to see a black man become president.
"We were hoping to have her until the next election," Exconde said. "We'll miss her."
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Original article can be found at http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iuPqRuHpLY2dDl1KLZB6irSiYAogD9AL9ET80?index=0
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Dear Diary: Bitten, and It’s No Hickey
Television Review | 'The Vampire Diaries'
When Stephenie Meyer emerged as a titanic cultural force with the first of her “Twilight” books a few years ago, L. J. Smith must have wanted to unleash a brigade of termites on her house and curse the day her laptop was wired. In 1991 Ms. Smith began a series of young-adult books, “The Vampire Diaries,” about a melancholy but benevolent teenage vampire and his obsession with a cute, suburban high school girl with an Italianate first name. This, in both broad terms and certain specifics, is the essence of the “Twilight” story, which has spawned movies, conventions and fan sites as it has cemented the author’s celebrity on a level with J. K. Rowling’s.
CW
Girl meets boy with a secret: Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley in “The Vampire Diaries.”
And yet at the same time, if it weren’t for the recent success of “Twilight” and the seemingly unappeasable national interest in vampire arcana, “The Vampire Diaries” might not have found its way to television, where it begins on Thursday as another slickly produced series about teenage life in the CW stable. Developed by Kevin Williamson, of “Scream” and “Dawson’s Creek” fame, the show deploys the visual aesthetics of the “Twilight” movie, the heavy fog and brooding cinematography, dispensing with much of the moroseness. There’s an engrossing moodiness to Mr. Williamson’s latest venture, but one he conveys without annulling the pact he long ago made with himself never to let his cheekiness go undetected.
Mr. Williamson understands the modern American teenager more fully than Ms. Meyer, not only in the sharp grasp he maintains on adolescent idiom but also in his realization that young people feel as empowered in their roles as knowing cultural consumers as they can be by fulfilling their romantic longings. As the heroine’s best friend in “The Vampire Diaries,” Bonnie (Katerina Graham) makes claims for her abilities as a psychic early on by announcing: “I predicted Obama. I predicted Heath Ledger. And I still think Florida will break off and turn into little resort islands.”
The heroine is Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), a pretty if not Serena van der Woodsen-gorgeous student starting a new year at Mystic Falls High. She has joined the vast population of fictional children who suddenly find themselves parentless: Elena’s mother and father were killed in an accident the previous spring, and she is now living with a distracted graduate-student aunt and a brother who struggles with drug problems and a bruising unrequited crush.
Elena submits to her grief by writing in her diary and compulsively visiting her parents’ grave site. As it happens, cemeteries are a good place to bump into guys who haven’t been recruited to play starting cornerback for the football team, and Elena quickly comes upon Stefan (Paul Wesley), who looks like a young Matt Dillon, possesses a “romance-novel stare” and in class displays an uncanny erudition about local history.
A closeted vampire, Stefan is operating from memory not book knowledge. In the 1860s he loved a woman named Katherine, of whom Elena is a replica. And while the two seem to have quite a mind meld going — Stefan is also an orphan and similarly in the habit of journaling — trouble comes in the form of his evil brother, Damon (Ian Somerhalder), who looks like the kind of person who would steal mittens from an 8-year-old and who clearly wants to have Elena for dinner rather than take her out for a nice meal at Tim Hortons.
Like Edward Cullen of “Twlight,” Stefan doesn’t feed on the human form, or at any rate works very hard to quell the urge. At first look “The Vampire Diaries” has the feel of something more permissive and less morally rigid than the “Twilight” franchise, which certain sophisticated 14-year-olds I’ve known will disparage as they march back to their rooms to read the Brontës or “The Bell Jar.” But the show subtly delivers its own lessons: that indiscriminate sex is emotionally destructive, that developing mechanisms of resistance builds character. As Elena tells her substance-abusing brother, “I’m going to be there to ruin your buzz every time.”
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
CW, Thursday nights at 8, Eastern and Pacific times; 7, Central time.
Written by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the book by L. J. Smith; Mr. Williamson, Leslie Morgenstein and Bob Levy, executive producers; Ms. Plec, co-executive producer; Pascal Verschooris, producer. Produced by Alloy Entertainment and Bonanza Productions Inc.
in association with Warner Brothers
Television and CBS Television Studios.
WITH: Nina Dobrev (Elena Gilbert), Paul Wesley (Stefan Salvatore), Ian Somerhalder (Damon Salvatore), Steven R. McQueen (Jeremy Gilbert), Sara Canning (Jenna Somers) and Katerina Graham (Bonnie Bennett).
Original article can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/arts/television/10vampire.html?hpw
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Duvall Lobbyist Denying "Speculative Media Reports"
Is Heidi DeJong Barsuglia, the energy lobbyist named in press reports as being the subject of Mike Duvall's filthy sexual boasting, denying that she was involved with the married Republican lawmaker, who resigned this afternoon?
Sempra Energy, where Barsuglia works, just released the following statement:
Sempra Energy takes very seriously any reports involving the conduct of our employees. We are investigating this matter and the recent media reports that named one of our employees. The employee has denied the speculative media reports. Our investigation will be conducted to ensure not only that our policies on employee conduct are strictly adhered to, but also that our employee is treated fairly.
It's unclear exactly what Barsuglia has denied to her employers. And we've yet to hear directly from Barsuglia herself -- she didn't respond to TPMmuckraker's call for comment earlier today. So we'd better wait for more information.
But this story could be about to get even more interesting.
Original story can be found at http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/duvall_lobbyist_denying_speculative_media_reports.php
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Obama's school speech video: Watch it here
President Obama delivered the speech to students across the country today that has created quite a controversy. The setting was Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia and was met along the way with protests. One sign read "Mr. President, stay away from our kids." Not exactly a warm welcome!
Before giving his speech, the president met with a group of students in the school library. Proving he's not entirely out of touch with what kids today are up to, he advised students to "be careful what you post on Facebook. Whatever you do, it will be pulled up later in your life."
The speech drew controversy from some conversatives who believe the president is bypassing parents and going straight to children to push his agenda. Other parents were more concerned about the proposed lesson plans that were to accompany the speech, including one that asked students to write a letter to President Obama on how they would help him. Although the lesson plans were revised, and never mandatory, parents were still upset that the federal government was involving itself in educational curriculum, something that is decided at a state level.
Now that the speech is over, President Obama will likely get back to his latest controversy: Healthcare reform.
Here is the president's speech, in case you missed it or would like to watch it with your child:
Original article can be found at: http://www.examiner.com/x-1146-Seattle-Eastside-Family-Examiners~y2009m9d8-Obamas-school-speech-video-Watch-it-here
Before giving his speech, the president met with a group of students in the school library. Proving he's not entirely out of touch with what kids today are up to, he advised students to "be careful what you post on Facebook. Whatever you do, it will be pulled up later in your life."
The speech drew controversy from some conversatives who believe the president is bypassing parents and going straight to children to push his agenda. Other parents were more concerned about the proposed lesson plans that were to accompany the speech, including one that asked students to write a letter to President Obama on how they would help him. Although the lesson plans were revised, and never mandatory, parents were still upset that the federal government was involving itself in educational curriculum, something that is decided at a state level.
Now that the speech is over, President Obama will likely get back to his latest controversy: Healthcare reform.
Here is the president's speech, in case you missed it or would like to watch it with your child:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Original article can be found at: http://www.examiner.com/x-1146-Seattle-Eastside-Family-Examiners~y2009m9d8-Obamas-school-speech-video-Watch-it-here
Monday, September 7, 2009
Labor Day Bust
Today is Labor Day, the day America modeled after the Canadian holiday to honor workers. Always the first Monday in September, it gives many of us a three-day weekend.
Many of my Florida counterparts, particularly in Jacksonville, have lived with the recesson for the past 18 to 24 months. In the week before Labor Day, the recession slapped my hometown of Bismarck N.D. in the face. It also hit my family personally.
My 26-year-old, college educated daughter learned one week ago today that she will be laid off in two months. After she graduated, she moved to Duluth, Minnesota-Superior, Wisconsin, about eight hours northeast of Bismarck.
Like Tallahassee where I live now, Bismarck is North Dakota’s capital so government is a major employer there. Health care is, too. The Bobcat manufacturing plant is another; or make that, was another.
The company announced last Wednesday it is closing its Bismarck plant, shutting down 475 jobs at the same time. We all know Bobcat—the yellow equipment used for digging at construction sites! (That’s lay-woman’s speak since I have zero experience with equipment like that.)
Until now, North Dakota was outside looking in at everyone else suffering through this recession. Unemployment hovers around 3 percent, the housing market remained fairly stable and the 2009 North Dakota legislature had a surplus to deal with! Remember surplus, Florida?
It seemed inevitable that the trickle-down effect would make its way there. Bobcat’s customers, for example, are not in North Dakota only. As construction ground to a halt two years ago, it seems that demand for construction equipment would end, too. It’s taken a while, but apparently it has. And the trickle-down will spread to other Bismarck businesses that serve Bobcat, and those that Bobcat employees frequent.
One of the saddest quotes, to me, from one of Bobcat’s displaced workers was, "We're all in our 50s and we're not hirable."
There is no reason in our society where taglines like, “50 is the new 30,” abound, a 50-year-old should be considered non-hirable. In the current economy his particular skills may not be in great demand, but he and future employers should recognize that his experience and skills set are applicable in other ways. Age by itself is no indicator of an employee’s value; not to mention, age discrimination is illegal.
For my daughter, at her young age I hope she’ll recognize that what looks and, in the immediate moment feels, like a disaster, can be an opportunity. Turns out because she works in Minnesota and will file for unemployment compensation there, as a displaced worker she can return to college for free for two years.
Thankfully she has a bachelor’s degree, which is something nobody can ever take from her, but she isn’t working in that field. Now she’s considering vet tech school and given her passion for animals, it makes sense to me. But hey, what does Mom ever know?
It’s frightening and I worry for her and for my dear North Dakota. Like its people, the state is hardy and will pull through. My daughter will as well. I know it is true that she can learn and grow from this difficulty. The lessons will serve her well at some point that we may not see now, but I sure wish she didn’t have to experience this.
I believe Florida and the rest of the nation will survive this, too. Not because of any of our political leaders because I think they have already proven they are clueless, but because we are people strong in spirit who don’t stay down too long. We are not inclined to enduring ‘pity parties’ nor are we inclined to sit back too long waiting for someone else to take care of us.
We are smart, we are creative, we are pioneers. Working together, supporting our government rather than relying on it, we will pull through and be all the better on the other side. And today, Labor Day 2009, let’s all remember the critical importance of American workers and work quickly find ways to keep them all on the job.
Original article can be found at: http://www.jacksonville.com/interact/blog/linda_mcdonald/2009-09-07/labor_day_bust
Many of my Florida counterparts, particularly in Jacksonville, have lived with the recesson for the past 18 to 24 months. In the week before Labor Day, the recession slapped my hometown of Bismarck N.D. in the face. It also hit my family personally.
My 26-year-old, college educated daughter learned one week ago today that she will be laid off in two months. After she graduated, she moved to Duluth, Minnesota-Superior, Wisconsin, about eight hours northeast of Bismarck.
Like Tallahassee where I live now, Bismarck is North Dakota’s capital so government is a major employer there. Health care is, too. The Bobcat manufacturing plant is another; or make that, was another.
The company announced last Wednesday it is closing its Bismarck plant, shutting down 475 jobs at the same time. We all know Bobcat—the yellow equipment used for digging at construction sites! (That’s lay-woman’s speak since I have zero experience with equipment like that.)
Until now, North Dakota was outside looking in at everyone else suffering through this recession. Unemployment hovers around 3 percent, the housing market remained fairly stable and the 2009 North Dakota legislature had a surplus to deal with! Remember surplus, Florida?
It seemed inevitable that the trickle-down effect would make its way there. Bobcat’s customers, for example, are not in North Dakota only. As construction ground to a halt two years ago, it seems that demand for construction equipment would end, too. It’s taken a while, but apparently it has. And the trickle-down will spread to other Bismarck businesses that serve Bobcat, and those that Bobcat employees frequent.
One of the saddest quotes, to me, from one of Bobcat’s displaced workers was, "We're all in our 50s and we're not hirable."
There is no reason in our society where taglines like, “50 is the new 30,” abound, a 50-year-old should be considered non-hirable. In the current economy his particular skills may not be in great demand, but he and future employers should recognize that his experience and skills set are applicable in other ways. Age by itself is no indicator of an employee’s value; not to mention, age discrimination is illegal.
For my daughter, at her young age I hope she’ll recognize that what looks and, in the immediate moment feels, like a disaster, can be an opportunity. Turns out because she works in Minnesota and will file for unemployment compensation there, as a displaced worker she can return to college for free for two years.
Thankfully she has a bachelor’s degree, which is something nobody can ever take from her, but she isn’t working in that field. Now she’s considering vet tech school and given her passion for animals, it makes sense to me. But hey, what does Mom ever know?
It’s frightening and I worry for her and for my dear North Dakota. Like its people, the state is hardy and will pull through. My daughter will as well. I know it is true that she can learn and grow from this difficulty. The lessons will serve her well at some point that we may not see now, but I sure wish she didn’t have to experience this.
I believe Florida and the rest of the nation will survive this, too. Not because of any of our political leaders because I think they have already proven they are clueless, but because we are people strong in spirit who don’t stay down too long. We are not inclined to enduring ‘pity parties’ nor are we inclined to sit back too long waiting for someone else to take care of us.
We are smart, we are creative, we are pioneers. Working together, supporting our government rather than relying on it, we will pull through and be all the better on the other side. And today, Labor Day 2009, let’s all remember the critical importance of American workers and work quickly find ways to keep them all on the job.
Original article can be found at: http://www.jacksonville.com/interact/blog/linda_mcdonald/2009-09-07/labor_day_bust
Friday, September 4, 2009
Robert Gates protests AP decision as 'appalling'
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is objecting “in the strongest terms” to an Associated Press decision to transmit a photograph showing a mortally wounded 21-year-old Marine in his final moments of life, calling the decision “appalling” and a breach of “common decency.”
The AP reported that the Marine’s father had asked – in an interview and in a follow-up phone call — that the image, taken by an embedded photographer, not be published.
The AP reported in a story that it decided to make the image public anyway because it “conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it.”
The photo shows Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, who was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush Aug. 14 in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan, according to The AP.
Gates wrote to Thomas Curley, AP’s president and chief executive officer. “Out of respect for his family’s wishes, I ask you in the strongest of terms to reconsider your decision. I do not make this request lightly. In one of my first public statements as Secretary of Defense, I stated that the media should not be treated as the enemy, and made it a point to thank journalists for revealing problems that need to be fixed – as was the case with Walter Reed."
“I cannot imagine the pain and suffering Lance Corporal Bernard’s death has caused his family. Why your organization would purposefully defy the family’s wishes knowing full well that it will lead to yet more anguish is beyond me. Your lack of compassion and common sense in choosing to put this image of their maimed and stricken child on the front page of multiple American newspapers is appalling. The issue here is not law, policy or constitutional right – but judgment and common decency.”
The four-paragraph letter concluded, “Sincerely,” then had Gates’ signature.
The photo, first transmitted Thursday morning and repeated Friday morning, carries the warning, “EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT.”
The caption says: “In this photo taken Friday, Aug. 14, 2009, Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard is tended to by fellow U.S. Marines after being hit by a rocket propelled grenade during a firefight against the Taliban in the village of Dahaneh in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Bernard was transported by helicopter to Camp Leatherneck where he later died of his wounds.”
Gates’ letter was sent Thursday, after he talked to Curley by phone at about 3:30 p.m. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said Gates told Curley: “I am asking you to reconsider your decision to publish this graphic photograph of Lance Corporal Bernard. I am begging you to defer to the wishes of the family. This will cause them great pain.”
Curley was “very polite and willing to listen,” and send he would reconvene his editorial team and reconsider, Morrell said. Within the hour, Curley called Morrell and said the editors had reconvened but had ultimately come to the same conclusion.
Gates “was greatly disappointed they had not done the right thing,” Morrell said.
The Buffalo News ran the photo on page 4, and the The (Wheeling, W.Va.) Intelligencer ran an editorial defending its decision to run the photo. Some newspapers – including the Arizona Republic, The Washington Times and the Orlando Sentinel – ran other photos from the series. Several newspaper websites – including the Akron Beacon-Journal and the St. Petersburg Times – used the photo online.
Morrell said Gates wanted the information about his conversations released “so everyone would know how strongly he felt about the issue.”
The Associated Press reported in a story about deliberations about that photo that “after a period of reflection,” the news service decided “to make public an image that conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26759.html#ixzz0QBRPi0nF
Original article can be found at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26759.html
The AP reported that the Marine’s father had asked – in an interview and in a follow-up phone call — that the image, taken by an embedded photographer, not be published.
The AP reported in a story that it decided to make the image public anyway because it “conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it.”
The photo shows Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, who was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush Aug. 14 in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan, according to The AP.
Gates wrote to Thomas Curley, AP’s president and chief executive officer. “Out of respect for his family’s wishes, I ask you in the strongest of terms to reconsider your decision. I do not make this request lightly. In one of my first public statements as Secretary of Defense, I stated that the media should not be treated as the enemy, and made it a point to thank journalists for revealing problems that need to be fixed – as was the case with Walter Reed."
“I cannot imagine the pain and suffering Lance Corporal Bernard’s death has caused his family. Why your organization would purposefully defy the family’s wishes knowing full well that it will lead to yet more anguish is beyond me. Your lack of compassion and common sense in choosing to put this image of their maimed and stricken child on the front page of multiple American newspapers is appalling. The issue here is not law, policy or constitutional right – but judgment and common decency.”
The four-paragraph letter concluded, “Sincerely,” then had Gates’ signature.
The photo, first transmitted Thursday morning and repeated Friday morning, carries the warning, “EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT.”
The caption says: “In this photo taken Friday, Aug. 14, 2009, Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard is tended to by fellow U.S. Marines after being hit by a rocket propelled grenade during a firefight against the Taliban in the village of Dahaneh in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Bernard was transported by helicopter to Camp Leatherneck where he later died of his wounds.”
Gates’ letter was sent Thursday, after he talked to Curley by phone at about 3:30 p.m. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said Gates told Curley: “I am asking you to reconsider your decision to publish this graphic photograph of Lance Corporal Bernard. I am begging you to defer to the wishes of the family. This will cause them great pain.”
Curley was “very polite and willing to listen,” and send he would reconvene his editorial team and reconsider, Morrell said. Within the hour, Curley called Morrell and said the editors had reconvened but had ultimately come to the same conclusion.
Gates “was greatly disappointed they had not done the right thing,” Morrell said.
The Buffalo News ran the photo on page 4, and the The (Wheeling, W.Va.) Intelligencer ran an editorial defending its decision to run the photo. Some newspapers – including the Arizona Republic, The Washington Times and the Orlando Sentinel – ran other photos from the series. Several newspaper websites – including the Akron Beacon-Journal and the St. Petersburg Times – used the photo online.
Morrell said Gates wanted the information about his conversations released “so everyone would know how strongly he felt about the issue.”
The Associated Press reported in a story about deliberations about that photo that “after a period of reflection,” the news service decided “to make public an image that conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26759.html#ixzz0QBRPi0nF
Original article can be found at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26759.html
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Englewood Cliffs native Christina McHale wins first round match at the U.S. Open
NEW YORK -- Christina McHale came to her first U.S. Open when she was 10 years old, which seems like a long time ago until you realize she's only 17 now.
The Englewood Cliffs native won her first professional tennis match Tuesday in the tournament she has always loved so much, defeating Slovenian Polona Hercog in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, before a throng of family and friends who packed the bleachers on Court 10.
"The U.S. Open's my favorite tournament of the year, so it was really exciting to come out there and get a win,'' McHale said. "When I first got out on the court, I got a rush of excitement and nerves. It's a great feeling to play here.''
With the win, McHale, 5-foot-5 and ranked No. 381 in the world, will get to play another match in her favorite tournament -- a second-round meeting with former No. 1 Maria Sharapova, who defeated Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-3, 6-0, Tuesday night.
"I think it'll be real exciting,'' McHale said.
But that's something McHale will worry about Wednesday night, after she plays her doubles match with Asia Muhammad. Tuesday night was a night for feeling good, and for going out for a nice dinner after the match, and then home for a good night's sleep -- if that was possible.
McHale, who is starting her senior year of high school (she has gone to school online since attending The Academies at Englewood as a freshman), got a wild-card entry into the U.S. Open after winning the USTA Girls' 18 National Championship last month in California.
She has improved rapidly over the past two years because she has been "getting more match play at this level, and getting more confidence playing against pro players.''
In January, McHale played in the Australian Open, and lost a three-set match to Aussie Jessica Moore, 6-1, 3-6, 7-9. So Tuesday night's result, beating a player ranked 300 places higher than her (Hercog is No. 81 in the world) represents a major leap forward.
Not that McHale had really thought much about all that.
"It's still kind of sinking in,'' she said.
It had been a long day at the U.S. Tennis Center for McHale. She splits her time living part of the year in Englewood Cliffs and part in Boca Raton, Fla. For this tournament, she is staying at home, and she got to Flushing Meadows around 12:30 p.m.
She had already hit for 45 minutes in New Jersey, so when she arrived at the Tennis Center she had a little lunch and then hit again at 1:45 p.m. Then she sat around until her match started, at about 5:45. That's a lot of time to think.
Still, she'd played on these courts many times as a junior player, so that part was okay, and everything worked like clockwork, as Hercog folded up in the second set.
When she got to match point, McHale insisted she didn't start celebrating early.
"I never really was like, 'I got it, this is over, now,' '' she said. "I was like, 'I want to get this over right now, and not give her a chance to come back.' ''
Original article can be found at http://www.nj.com/sports/njsports/index.ssf/2009/09/englewood_cliffs_native_christ.html
The Englewood Cliffs native won her first professional tennis match Tuesday in the tournament she has always loved so much, defeating Slovenian Polona Hercog in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, before a throng of family and friends who packed the bleachers on Court 10.
"The U.S. Open's my favorite tournament of the year, so it was really exciting to come out there and get a win,'' McHale said. "When I first got out on the court, I got a rush of excitement and nerves. It's a great feeling to play here.''
With the win, McHale, 5-foot-5 and ranked No. 381 in the world, will get to play another match in her favorite tournament -- a second-round meeting with former No. 1 Maria Sharapova, who defeated Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-3, 6-0, Tuesday night.
"I think it'll be real exciting,'' McHale said.
But that's something McHale will worry about Wednesday night, after she plays her doubles match with Asia Muhammad. Tuesday night was a night for feeling good, and for going out for a nice dinner after the match, and then home for a good night's sleep -- if that was possible.
McHale, who is starting her senior year of high school (she has gone to school online since attending The Academies at Englewood as a freshman), got a wild-card entry into the U.S. Open after winning the USTA Girls' 18 National Championship last month in California.
She has improved rapidly over the past two years because she has been "getting more match play at this level, and getting more confidence playing against pro players.''
In January, McHale played in the Australian Open, and lost a three-set match to Aussie Jessica Moore, 6-1, 3-6, 7-9. So Tuesday night's result, beating a player ranked 300 places higher than her (Hercog is No. 81 in the world) represents a major leap forward.
Not that McHale had really thought much about all that.
"It's still kind of sinking in,'' she said.
It had been a long day at the U.S. Tennis Center for McHale. She splits her time living part of the year in Englewood Cliffs and part in Boca Raton, Fla. For this tournament, she is staying at home, and she got to Flushing Meadows around 12:30 p.m.
She had already hit for 45 minutes in New Jersey, so when she arrived at the Tennis Center she had a little lunch and then hit again at 1:45 p.m. Then she sat around until her match started, at about 5:45. That's a lot of time to think.
Still, she'd played on these courts many times as a junior player, so that part was okay, and everything worked like clockwork, as Hercog folded up in the second set.
When she got to match point, McHale insisted she didn't start celebrating early.
"I never really was like, 'I got it, this is over, now,' '' she said. "I was like, 'I want to get this over right now, and not give her a chance to come back.' ''
Original article can be found at http://www.nj.com/sports/njsports/index.ssf/2009/09/englewood_cliffs_native_christ.html
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Skyline College shooting leaves one student shot and campus on lockdown
Police are searching for a gunman at Skyline College in northern California. A notice on the website for Skyline College reads: Emergency Notification: We have had a shooting on campus and are now in lockdown. Please shelter in place, away from windows, with doors shut until further notice. We sent an emergency text message to all students. Wednesday evening classes have been cancelled.
The incident resulted in the school ordering a lockdown and ordering all students to stay within their rooms and away from windows. The shooting took place at approximately 1:30 p.m. CT. in Lot 7 of the college campus in San Bruno, California. The victim was shot in the buttocks and taken to a hospital. The victim has not been identified and his or her condition has not been made public.
The SWAT team was called in and after the initial emergency notification and text messages; the SWAT evacuated students and escorted them off campus. Students who witnessed the attack stated that the victim came into the schools’ learning center and stated that he was shot. Another student told authorities that she witnessed three males running to a parking lot near Building 5. One of the suspects was carrying a gun and wearing a black hoodie sweatshirt. Authorities are currently searching for the three suspects.
Skyline College is located at 3300 College Dr. San Bruno, CA 94066. Classes began on August 19, 2009.
If you have any information regarding the suspects you are advised to call the San Bruno police department or 911.
Police Department
San Bruno Police Department
1177 Huntington Avenue
San Bruno, CA 94066
Business: (650) 616-7100
EMERGENCY: DIAL 911
- OR - (650) 877-8989
Original story can be found at http://www.examiner.com/x-12837-US-Headlines-Examiner~y2009m9d2-Skyline-College-shooting-leaves-one-student-shot-and-campus-on-lockdown
The incident resulted in the school ordering a lockdown and ordering all students to stay within their rooms and away from windows. The shooting took place at approximately 1:30 p.m. CT. in Lot 7 of the college campus in San Bruno, California. The victim was shot in the buttocks and taken to a hospital. The victim has not been identified and his or her condition has not been made public.
The SWAT team was called in and after the initial emergency notification and text messages; the SWAT evacuated students and escorted them off campus. Students who witnessed the attack stated that the victim came into the schools’ learning center and stated that he was shot. Another student told authorities that she witnessed three males running to a parking lot near Building 5. One of the suspects was carrying a gun and wearing a black hoodie sweatshirt. Authorities are currently searching for the three suspects.
Skyline College is located at 3300 College Dr. San Bruno, CA 94066. Classes began on August 19, 2009.
If you have any information regarding the suspects you are advised to call the San Bruno police department or 911.
Police Department
San Bruno Police Department
1177 Huntington Avenue
San Bruno, CA 94066
Business: (650) 616-7100
EMERGENCY: DIAL 911
- OR - (650) 877-8989
Original story can be found at http://www.examiner.com/x-12837-US-Headlines-Examiner~y2009m9d2-Skyline-College-shooting-leaves-one-student-shot-and-campus-on-lockdown
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Gmail’s Down. Here’s How to Check Its Status
Gmail’s Down. Here’s How to Check Its Status
By Miguel Helft AND Sam Grobart
Update: At 5:37 ET Google announced on its Apps Status Dashboard that Gmail service had been restored. Users in various locations confirmed that Gmail was working. The company did not say what caused the outage, which lasted nearly two hours.
Update 4:51 p.m.: Google has changed its latest status update, having removed language about when a resolution is expected. The new text reads:
We are continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by September 1, 2009 5:16:00 PM UTC-4 detailing when we expect to resolve the problem.
Users can access their email via IMAP or POP. You can find instructions for how to do this here.
Google’s e-mail service is out of order right now, but if you want to check on its status, check out Google’s App Status Dashboard, which is a clearing house for information about Google Apps outages.
Google said that the problem was affecting so many of its customers that it decided to also notify users on the Gmail Blog. Engineering director David Besbris described the problem as a “minor issue,” but provided no clues as to what caused the outage. “We’re terribly sorry for the inconvenience and will get Gmail back up and running as soon as possible,” he said.
This is hardly the first time that Gmail has been down. We have reported on outages in May and February of this year and in August of last year.
Google engineers will have an extra handicap while trying to fix the problem. The company uses Gmail internally, and Google employees confirm that they too are without email.
Original article can be found at Gmail’s Down. Here’s How to Check Its Status
By Miguel Helft AND Sam Grobart
Update: At 5:37 ET Google announced on its Apps Status Dashboard that Gmail service had been restored. Users in various locations confirmed that Gmail was working. The company did not say what caused the outage, which lasted nearly two hours.
Update 4:51 p.m.: Google has changed its latest status update, having removed language about when a resolution is expected. The new text reads:
We are continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by September 1, 2009 5:16:00 PM UTC-4 detailing when we expect to resolve the problem.
Users can access their email via IMAP or POP. You can find instructions for how to do this here.
Google’s e-mail service is out of order right now, but if you want to check on its status, check out Google’s App Status Dashboard, which is a clearing house for information about Google Apps outages.
Google said that the problem was affecting so many of its customers that it decided to also notify users on the Gmail Blog. Engineering director David Besbris described the problem as a “minor issue,” but provided no clues as to what caused the outage. “We’re terribly sorry for the inconvenience and will get Gmail back up and running as soon as possible,” he said.
This is hardly the first time that Gmail has been down. We have reported on outages in May and February of this year and in August of last year.
Google engineers will have an extra handicap while trying to fix the problem. The company uses Gmail internally, and Google employees confirm that they too are without email.
Original article can be found at Gmail’s Down. Here’s How to Check Its Status
Monday, August 31, 2009
Listen to Jay-Z's 'Blueprint 3' for free on September 1st
Despite the leaked tracks that have emerged from Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 album, fans will get the chance to hear the album in its entirety starting September 1st.
In a venture with MTV and Rhapsody, you will get a chance to hear the 15-track album for free on Rhapsody and MTV’s websites. In addition to the partnership, Rhapsody will be the exclusive retailer for Blueprint 3 from September 8-10, prior to the official album release date which is September 11th.
Jay had this to say about the partnership with Rhapsody and MTV.
It's great to get the support of two major music industry players for The Blueprint 3," said Jay-Z. "Rhapsody brought an amazing creative vision to the table, and it was exciting collaborating with them.
Jay-Z is also set to star in three Rhapsody TV ad spots featuring his new song with Kanye West and Rihanna “Run This Town”. The commercials will premiere tomorrow (09.01). In addition to the two 30-second commercial spots, a 60-minute Rhapsody TV spot starring Jay-Z will premiere during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on September 13th. The rapper is also scheduled to be one of the performers on the roster.
You can listen to the Blueprint 3 starting tomorrow by visiting (www.rhapsody.com/jay-z) and MTV's "The Leak" (http://theleak.mtv.com/).
To get your copy of Blueprint 3 before September 11th, visit the Rhapsody MP3 Store at www.rhapsody.com/mp3. This version of the album will feature two exclusive Jay-Z tracks.
Original article can be found at http://www.examiner.com/x-1622-NY-HipHop-Music-Examiner~y2009m8d31-Listen-to-JayZs-Blueprint-3-for-free-on-September-1st
In a venture with MTV and Rhapsody, you will get a chance to hear the 15-track album for free on Rhapsody and MTV’s websites. In addition to the partnership, Rhapsody will be the exclusive retailer for Blueprint 3 from September 8-10, prior to the official album release date which is September 11th.
Jay had this to say about the partnership with Rhapsody and MTV.
It's great to get the support of two major music industry players for The Blueprint 3," said Jay-Z. "Rhapsody brought an amazing creative vision to the table, and it was exciting collaborating with them.
Jay-Z is also set to star in three Rhapsody TV ad spots featuring his new song with Kanye West and Rihanna “Run This Town”. The commercials will premiere tomorrow (09.01). In addition to the two 30-second commercial spots, a 60-minute Rhapsody TV spot starring Jay-Z will premiere during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on September 13th. The rapper is also scheduled to be one of the performers on the roster.
You can listen to the Blueprint 3 starting tomorrow by visiting (www.rhapsody.com/jay-z) and MTV's "The Leak" (http://theleak.mtv.com/).
To get your copy of Blueprint 3 before September 11th, visit the Rhapsody MP3 Store at www.rhapsody.com/mp3. This version of the album will feature two exclusive Jay-Z tracks.
Original article can be found at http://www.examiner.com/x-1622-NY-HipHop-Music-Examiner~y2009m8d31-Listen-to-JayZs-Blueprint-3-for-free-on-September-1st
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Jaycee Dugard
Jaycee Lee Dugard's story has placed the city of Antioch, CA on the map, though not in a good way. Kidnapped at age 11 in South Lake Tahoe, found on Wednesday in Antioch, seeing her mother for the first time since June 1991 on Thursday, can she, now 29, ever have a normal life?
While imprisoned in the compound in the backyard of kidnapper Phillip Craig Garrido, 58, and his wife Nancy, 55, Jaycee Lee Dugard's story includes giving birth to two daughters, now aged 11 and 15, fathered by Garrido. Likely, she spent much of her life terrified and abused. Given thay, she is experts in child psychiatry and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) say her recovery is just beginning.
When asked about the Jaycee Dugard story, Paula Fass, a history professor at UC Berkeley and author of the book "Kidnapped: Child Abduction in America" said:
"Someone asked me if I think she'll ever have a normal life. I'm not sure 'normal' is the word. But let's hope she can still live decently and reconnect with that earlier life. The challenge will be to try to integrate these two parts of her life - before she was taken, and her children now - in a way that can be meaningful."
Despite the abuse, Jaycee Dugard's story almost certainly has a component of Stockholm syndrome, a condition in which captives become sympathetic to their captors. In fact, Dugard's stepfather, Carl Probyn, has told media outlets that Jaycee has expressed guilt for bonding with Phillip Garrido.
Stockholm Syndrome is not uncommon in these types of cases. She also probbably suffers from PTSD, as well.
Those issues, and the added complication of her children, could make recovery more difficult. In fact, while many are focusing on Jaycee Dugard's and recovery, let's not forget the children. Some compare their behavior at U.C. Berkeley, which eventually led to the capture of Phillip Garrido, to "Stepford Wives." They have reportedly never attended school or seen a doctor.
It is possible, according to experts, that the children will give Jaycee Dugard a focus for the future, and perhaps gave her a focus during her captivity as well, a reason to live, so to speak, and others to worry about besides herself.
One wonders, however, how long it will take before the media steps back so she and her family can pay attention to recovery, and not the press. We can only hope, also, that Hollywood will give her a chance to recover, before assailing her with offers for the "Jaycee Dugard Story" movie you know is coming.
Original article can be found at http://www.huliq.com/3257/85603/experts-jaycee-dugards-story-just-beginning
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