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Episode 7388 (26th July 2010)

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Episode 7388
Production code P694/7388
ITV transmission date 26th July 2010
(Monday - Part 1)
Script editor Verity Ellis
Story editor Iain MacLeod
Story associates Mark Bickerton
Lee O'Donnell
Martin Sterling
Catherine Cookson
Daniel Dockery
Writer Damon Rochefort
Designer Alan Davis
Director Tim Dowd
Executive Producer Kieran Roberts
Producer Phil Collinson
Previous episode 23rd July 2010
Next episode 26th July 2010

Audrey dreads facing her friends knowing they're all talking about her. She tells Lewis that she wants to sell up, move to Greece and open a B&B. Gail's furious at the thought of her mother living with a male escort. David and Nick enjoy making prostitute jokes and Gail storms out in a huff. It's Chesney's birthday and John begs him to cut Fiz a bit of slack just for the day at least. Eileen views No.9 and tells Molly and Tyrone that she's interested in buying it. Molly puts pressure on Tyrone to hand his notice in at the garage. Carla and Nick survey the building work at the factory. Nick assures her it's all on schedule. Liz gets chatted up by various punters including a hairy biker. She reckons it must be the perfume she's wearing. Sally makes a couple of jibes at Molly about No.9 and its lack of garden. Molly bites her lip. John calls in the café intent on asking Roy for his job back but he has second thoughts and leaves. Audrey's fretting about Lewis, worried she's scared him off with talk of emigrating to Greece when he arrives with a bundle of brochures. Lewis suggests they go to Greece on a recce and find the perfect place to live. Audrey's thrilled and they kiss. Gail's stunned.

Regular castEdit

Guest castEdit

Notable dialogueEdit

Audrey Roberts (to Gail McIntyre): "D'you know, I reckon there's a great big poster of you on the wall in the local loony bin with your mobile number underneath."

July 2010 episodes
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Wed 14thThu 15th • Fri 16th (1 2) • Sun 18th • Mon 19th (1 2)
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• No Sweat
  • Wednesday, February 20, 2008

    Republican Corruption in Alaska: Don Young, Corrupt Every Which Way He Can

    I recently I wrote a piece on the very, very nasty corruption among Republicans in Alaska. Specifically, I wrote about a scandal involving an oil services company, VECO, that involves bribery and buying of favors involving four Alaskan Republican State Legislators, one US Senator from Alaska (Ted Stevens) and the lone House Representative from Alaska (Don Young). The single Democrat, a state legislator, initially investigated was never subsequently accused of wrongdoing. In other words, the VECO scandal is exclusively a Republican scandal.

    But when I wrote that piece, I hadn't realized I had only scratched the surface. Turns out, one recipient of VECO's alleged bribes, Rep. Don Young, may well be the poster boy for just about every kind of Republican corruption this nation has been seeing.

    Here is a rundown of Don Young's sleaze from The Muckraker:

    It's hard to keep track of all of Rep. Don Young's (R-AK) scandals. But we're here to help. Here's a snapshot of what we know about all the ways Young has managed to get into trouble.

    Coconut Road
    McClatchy reported last week that investigators have begun scrutinizing Young's now famous $10 million earmark for a Florida interchange. Whether the earmark was a quid pro quo for a big time contributor is only half the story. Young also appears to have changed the bill's language after it passed Congress in order to make sure that the money went where (or to who) he wished.

    Dennis Troha
    As we noted in our post on Young's remarkable fundraising record in the run-up to the 2005 transportation bill, Wisconsin businessman Dennis Troha is reportedly cooperating with investigators regarding his contributions to Young and other lawmakers. Troha allegedly gave his support in exchange for a measure that was inserted into the bill.

    The FBI is also scrutinizing Young's dealings with Alaska oil services company Veco Corp. At issue is whether he accepted bribes in exchange for political favors over the course of his long friendship with former Veco CEO Bill Allen. In January, Young tried to make amends by returning $38,000 to Allen for the decade-worth of pig roast fundraisers the executive held in Young's honor each year in Anchorage. From 1996 to 2006, when Allen played host to the pork gala, Veco and its employees gave Young at least $157,000. Young was chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for six of those years.

    It's unclear what Young might have arranged for Veco in exchange. But Veco has certainly done well as a federal contractor. The company's federal sector website touts having "successfully completed projects totaling over $25 billion," since 1992. Investigators are reportedly investigating Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) role in helping Veco get a $170 million contract. But which contracts might Young's help have proven instrumental? We'll keep you posted.

    Jack Abramoff
    Young also touches another investigation. The sole Alaska congressman kept close ties with Jack Abramoff and was known to hold fundraisers in Abrmoff's MCI skybox. Last year, Paul reported on a 1999 Abramoff-organized Congressional junket Young led to the Marshall Islands. At the time, Young was the chair of the House Resources Committee. The delegation, which included Reps. John Doolittle (R-CA), Ken Calvert (R-CA) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), visited the Kwajalein Atoll missile test site and attended a meeting of the parliament, during which a resolution was introduced to rename the test site after Ronald Reagan. Thanks to Paul's intrepid reporting, we hear Young allegedly addressed the assembly in Bermuda shorts. Young vehemently denies wearing the short pants which are still part of the Royal Navy uniform.

    Mark Zachares, a native Alaskan and former senior aide on the House Transportation Committee -- during Young's tenure as chair -- pleaded guilty in July to hawking political favors in exchange for perks (like $60,000 in cash and a trip to Scotland) and a future job from Abramoff. Though Zachares carried out Abramoff's work under Young's noise, no concrete evidence has surfaced showing that Young was directly involved. But, Young's effort seven years ago to stop sweatshop reform in the Mariana Islands raises some suspicion. Zachares was a Mariana Islands official at the time and Abramoff was the islands' lobbyist and paid $11 million to make sure Congress didn't interfere with wages or immigration -- the two areas under Zachares' domain. Thanks to Young, the reforms were halted.

    And Zachares wasn't the only aide of Young's to have a relationship with Abramoff. Young's staffer Duane Gibson left to go work for Abramoff.

    That's four separate scandals Don Young is mired in. That is pretty damned disgusting if you ask me. But there might even be more. I find a site called that has a pretty comprehensive coverage of Don Young's corruption. Here is their summary with links to more:

    House Transportation Committee

    Don Young used his power as Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to steer vast sums of public money to his family and campaign donors.

    Click here to Read more »

    Young’s Ties to [Convicted Felon] Abramoff

    Mark Zachares’ corruption is the latest to surface in a long line of links between Young and Abramoff.

    Click here to Read more »

    Young’s Aide Zachares Gave [Convicted Felon]Abramoff Inside Information

    For four years, Zachares engaged in a conspiracy to enrich the infamous Abramoff, a Republican Party insider whose corrupt acts entangled several members of Congress and other government officials.

    Click here to Read more »

    The [Convicted Felon] Abramoff Skybox

    On February 2, 2000, Young called Abramoff’s assistant Jennifer Calvert to ask for use of Abramoff’s MCI skybox for two upcoming fundraisers.

    Click here to Read more »

    Mariana Islands

    Over the years Young repeatedly acted to aid the government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a small group of Pacific Ocean islands under U.S. jurisdiction. Abramoff was paid $11 million to lobby for CNMI from 1994 to 2001.

    Click here to Read more »

    Marshall Islands

    On January 4, 1999, Abramoff was hired to represent the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). Abramoff’s main mission was to stop legislation pending in Congress, which would have raised costs of clothing manufacture by the Tan family and other clothing manufacture interests there.

    Click here to Read more »

    Post Office Project

    In September 2002, Young sought to intervene with the General Services Administration on behalf of Abramoff, who at that time was seeking preferential treatment for a group of his Tribal clients who were bidding on a proposal to develop the Old Post Office Complex site in Washington, DC.

    Click here to Read more »

    Young’s Ties to VECO

    VECO CEO Bill Allen and VP Richard Smith pleaded guilty in May, 2007 to bribing Alaska lawmakers.

    Click here to Read more »

    Don Young’s Way

    The proposed bridge across Knik Arm near Anchorage, otherwise known as Don Young’s Way, became a subject of national ridicule and driver of earmark reform in Congress. Young sponsored an earmark of more than $230 million dollars in the 2005 federal highway transportation bill for the bridge that is to be named after himself.

    Click here to Read more »

    AK or Arkansas?

    Arkansas, with a population of about 2.8 million, reaped a total of about $2.38 billion in the five-year national transportation bill that Young helped pass in 2005 when he was chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

    Click here to Read more »

    Coconut Road in Florida

    The New York Times reported Young’s connection to a $10 million appropriation he earmarked for Coconut Road in Florida.

    Click here to Read more »

    Trucking legislation

    Another example of Don Young taking official action that benefited some of his campaign donors is the passage of legislation that revised truck-hauling rules.The Anchorage Daily News reported that the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office opened an investigationinto a deal involving payments to Rep. Young and other Congressmen by indicted Wisconsin businessman Dennis Troha.

    Click here to Read more »

    Sources of campaign funds

    Of Young’s five largest sources of funds in the most recent campaign cycle, two - Veco Corp. and Jht Holdings - are tainted by corruption scandals. Veco is the oil field service company whose executives Bill Allen and Richard Smith pled guilty to bribing Alaska legislators. Since 1989 Young has received more than $200,000 from VECO employees, his largest source of campaign funds.

    Click here to Read more »

    Ties to GOP leaders

    Young voted with President Bush 86% of the time and the Republican Party line 94% of the time.

    Click here to Read more »

    Ties with [Indicted] Tom Delay

    Young has taken money from Tom DeLay’s ARMPAC, voted to weaken House ethics rules when DeLay proposed doing so, voted to allow the GOP House Leader to continue to serve after an indictment, and voted with Tom DeLay 88% of the time.

    Click here to Read more »

    Not a pretty picture. In 2006 in state after state, Abramoff tied, corrupt Republicans were indicted, convicted and/or voted out of office by angry voters. If Alaska follows the trend of cleaning house that so many other states did, Don Young's days are seriously numbered.

    You can help clean up Alaska by donating through my Alaska Act Blue Site.

    Wednesday, February 13, 2008

    Republican Corruption in Alaska: VECO and Republican bedfellows

    I have reported many times about how the Republican Parties in Ohio, Missouri and Kentucky were about the most corrupt political establishments in America. One that I have been missing is the Alaska Republican Party. I think it is time I turn northward to discuss what is going on in Alaska.

    At the epicenter of Alaska corruption seems to be the Alaska oil services company Veco Corp. Veco, until its recent buyout, was an oil pipeline service and construction company. Perhaps Veco would like to be best known for the fact that it carried out a great deal of the clean up efforts after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. But this is not the only thing they were known for. They were known for illegal influence on Republican politicians.

    In 2006 the FBI served some 20 search warrants on the offices of six Alaska state legislators: Sen. John Cowdery (R-Anchorage), Senate President Ben Stevens (R-Anchorage) (son of US Senator Ted Stevens), Rep. Vic Kohring (R-Wasilla), Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch (R-Juneau), Sen Don Olson (D-Nome), and Rep. Pete Kott (R-Eagle River). Also named in the search warrants were VECO officers Bill Allen, Rick Smith and Pete Leathard.

    Then in 2007, Pete Kott, Vic Kohring and Bruce Weyhrauch were arrested and charged with bribery, extortion, fraud in connection with allegations of soliciting and receiving money and favors from VECO chief executive officer Bill Allen and chief lobbyist Rick Smith in return for their votes on an oil tax law favored by VECO.

    Ben Stevens has not been indicted so far, but has been implicated in the scandal. But his father, US Senator Ted Stevens, is also under investigation by both the FBI and IRS in connection with the remodeling of Ted Stevens' home in Girdwood, Alaska. This remodeling was actually supervised by VECO, and invoices for the work were first sent to VECO before being sent to the Senator. The remodeling done by VECO wasn't just a minor job, but actually doubled the size of the house to 2471 square feet, now valued at about $441,000...which seems awfully cheap to a New Yorker like me. Maybe I should be buying a home in Alaska!

    Who paid for what aspects of the remodeling, why VECO, an oil services firm, was involved in the first place, and what they got in return are all under investigation. In July, 2007, the FBI and the IRS raided Stevens' house. Interestingly, this occurred soon after VECO execs Bill Allen and Rick Smith plead guilty in U.S. District Court in May, 2007. Did they rat out Ted Stevens, leading to the search of his remodeled house?

    To quote the TPM Muckraker:

    Here’s the straightforward arrangement: oil company decides to remodel senator's house, oil company finds contractor, contractor creates new first floor in senator's house, contractor sends invoices to oil company, oil company reviews bills, oil company faxes bills to senior senator, senior senator pulls cash from a special account set up specifically for the construction and pays contractor, senior senator never speaks to contractor. The arrangement looks fairly questionable on its face. And it looks even more questionable when you take Veco's track record into account. The person from Veco who hired Paone was Veco CEO Bill Allen. Allen happens to have just plead guilty this month to federal conspiracy and bribery charges for “giving things of value” to local lawmakers. In a court document accompanying his guilty plea, the Anchorage Daily News noticed a seemingly irrelevant description of what the company did not do while he was in charge: "Veco was not in the business of residential construction or remodeling." So far Stevens has refused to explain the arrangement. But it has piqued the FBI’s interest and investigators are looking into it.

    Of the original 6 Alaska state lawmakers who had their legislative offices searched at the beginning of the whole scandal, only State Senator Don Olson (D-Nome) (the ONLY Democrat to have been investigated) has not been implicated in the scandal.

    But the Republican VECO scandal doesn't stop there. In addition to one of its US Senators, Alaska's only Congressional Rep is ALSO implicated in the VECO scandal. Representative Don Young (R-AK) is under federal investigation for accepting bribes from VECO. Because of this, it seems Don Young must now spend much of his campaign money on legal feels. In 2007 alone, his legal fees reached $854,035. Note that Don Young's campaign could practically buy Ted Stevens's VECO remodelled house twice over with that money.

    You can read more here, here and here.

    So what's the bottom line for Alaska? Well, there is the embarrassment of being listed as one of the four most corrupt states in the country, along with Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri. But it also is spoiling the business climate in Alaska. At the end of 2007, MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. decided not to bid for a contract working on a natural gas pipeline in Alaska, citing these scandals as one main reason. From Scripps News:

    "As you are painfully aware the ongoing corruption investigations coupled with previous indictments, guilty pleas and convictions draw into question virtually every major Alaskan project participant and governmental levels from State to Federal," says the letter from MidAmerican CEO David Sokol. "Obviously your administration had no involvement in these previous shenanigans nor did we; however, you and we alone cannot develop the pipeline project through AGIA's expected process."

    So Republican corruption is bad for business. And that is bad for Alaska and bad for America. Let's remember, Republican corruption is partly responsible for Democrats winning big in 2006 and 2007 in Ohio and Kentucky. Will Missouri and Alaska be the next states where Republican corruption is voted out of office? You can help out by donating here to turn Alaska blue.

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Looking To Become Fashion Savvy? Keep on Reading

It is very important to dress well and look good. But, you do not need to spend so much time or money to get the look you want. Truly, many great fashion concepts are easy to accomplish. Keep reading to find out more.

One thing you are going to want to do is always keep an eye open for changes in style. Magazines can help you see what is on the runway right now. Magazines are going to be your best friend because they probably have the information that you need.

Make sure that you create an individualized style to break away from the norm. Many people are fashion followers, but what stands out is a fashion leader. It is up to individuals sometimes to create a style that people can appreciate and that others will follow.

Don't keep a beauty supply case as big as a suitcase. Select the products you like in a few seasonally appropriate colors. Make certain to have colors for night and day wear. Once you open makeup it can go bad. If something sits out for too long, germs can also spread on the product.

Make your style unique. Multitudes of people follow the pack when it comes to fashion; however, real originality comes from those who listen to their own style ideas. It takes a unique personality to pull this off; however, you will love the response you get as people admire your personal style.

Develop Your Fashion Savvy With These Tips Be wary of sizing. Don't buy clothing that you haven't tried on. Size isn't based on standard measurements any longer. They vary between brands. Always look at the sizing chart if you want to purchase clothes on the Internet. Make sure they have a return policy that allows your to obtain a refund if necessary.

Drying with a towel can create additional frizz in your hair. This will damage your hair and make it more likely to frizz. A great alternative here is to actually wrap your hair up inside of the towel, like a beehive. Then you can press the towel gently to absorb the moisture. When you are happy, brush and comb your hair.

Want To Be Knowledgeable About Fashion? Keep Reading If you are trying to shop on a small budget, then you shouldn't be ashamed of informing your friends. By letting others know your needs, you may receive items that are in great shape when others grow tired of them. This is an excellent way to get fashionable clothes for free.

Besides finding perfectly fashionable clothing, you need to know how to match your shoes to your ensemble. This means making sure that your shoes, your belt, glasses, etc, blend well with your clothing items. This will help you create a classic look that will help you rise in the fashion world.

Handy Fashion Advice To Help Improve Your Look You should wear white any time of year, Labor Day or otherwise! You can wear clothes in any color that flatters you. If your best color is white, you should certainly wear white all year. Few can find fault with a fabulously dressed, confident woman, no matter what color she's wearing.

Feeling Frumpy? Smart Fashion Tips That Can Help Apply a bit of mousse to add volume to thin hair, but use a light hand so you don't overdo. Really huge, high hair that was popular during the 80s might be in style, but it's difficult to pull off and often leads to an unflattering look.

Many fantastic fashion ideas and principals exist that are easy, inexpensive and effective. Better your look with some or all of these tips. The difference between your old look and new look will be surprising. Selecting Just The Right Accessories Can Make Your Outfit
Spruce Up Your Wardrobe With These Fashion Tips!


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Thursday, March 24, 2016

Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line, Jake Owen, Thomas Rhett, The Band Perry & More To Headline Country Jam Jul 21-23

Jason Aldean
 Florida Georgia Line
 Jake Owen
  Thomas Rhett
 Cole Swindell
 & Many More Set To Headline Country Jam USA July 21-23 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin

GA Three-Day Passes Available for $165 and Student Three-Day Passes Available for $125 until April 21
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (March 23, 2016) – Country Jam USA is once again bringing the biggest and brightest stars in Country music to Eau Claire, Wis., for what has become THE event of the summer. Country superstars Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line, Jake Owen, Thomas Rhett, Cole Swindell, Eli Young Band, LOCASH, Colt Ford, A Thousand Horses, Brothers Osborne, The Cadillac Three, Clare Dunn, Jackson Michelson and Sasha McVeigh will take the main stage for a three-day party (July 21-23) that includes live Country music, camping, shopping, eating, partying and more!

Three-day general admission passes are available for $165, student and military three-day passes for $125, one-day general admission passes for $105, Reserved seating starting at $185 and VIP starting at $235 until April 21. For those wanting the best Country Jam USA experience possible, Ultimate VIP passes are available starting at $2500 and include access to a private backstage bar and restroom, private shuttles to/from campgrounds and hotels, free food and booze in the VIP hospitality area, WiFi and seats so close to the stage, you’ll basically be the fourth member of The Band Perry. And because the party literally doesn’t stop for three days, campsites are available starting at $100. To purchase tickets, camping and for all of your Country Jam USA needs, including a list of nearby hotels and the shuttle schedule, visit

Festival organizers are also giving ticket holders the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see their favorite Country stars up-close-and-personal with the Party Pit. This additional ticket is located directly in front of the main stage, the Party Pit puts fans steps away from their favorite artists during their performances! There are a very limited number of passes in this standing-room-only area. Party Pit passes are available for $135 for Thursday, $110 for Friday and $150 for Saturday, OR fans can purchase the three-day Party Pit pass for $225, which will put them directly in front of the stage every single day for every single performance. Just think about the photos you’ll be posting on Instagram of Jason Aldean, FGL, Jake Owen, Thomas Rhett and more from the front row! Talk about #blessed. Other add-ons include Skybox seats, which give fans an unrivaled view of both onstage and backstage, and the Cenex Country Club, a new offering that includes free beverages, snacks, liquor discounts, private restrooms and a shaded tent.

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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

It's called Rajam

Tehran, 10 July (AKI) - Jafar Kiani has been stoned to death in Takestan, in Iran's north-western province of Qavzin, at the order of a local Islamic judge. The death sentence by stoning against Kiani and his partner Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, with whom he had cohabited out of wedlock for 13 years, has been suspended after a widespread international campaign by human rights activists on behalf of the couple convicted of adultery.

The execution, which took place despite the reported opposition of the Islamic Republic's central judicial authorities, has stunned Iranian activists who champion a moratorium on capital punishment by stoning.

Activists now fear that Ebrahimi, who has an 11-year-old child by Kiani, will also be stoned.

The Islamic Penal Code of Iran allows for the punishment of death by stoning for crimes of adultery.

In December 2002, Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi, the head of Iran’s judiciary, ordered a ban on stoning. Despite this, lapidation continues, and it is disproportionately applied to women, despite campaigning by Iranian women’s rights activists, human rights groups have denounced.

Linguistically, hudud in Arabic means limits or preventions. Legally, they are limits, which prevent the crime from increasing in society, prevent the criminal from going back to similar crimes, and prevent those who think about the same crime from pursuing it. Hudud in this sense are not merely punishments, on the contrary, they are limits and preventive means placed within a larger framework of justice, related directly to the interests of people to serve the ultimate objectives of the Islamic law.

The punishment system in Islam has concerns that Muslims need to be aware of. It concerns that are aimed toward the three dimensions of any crime: the criminal (the one who carried out the act), the society (where the crime took place) and the victim (the one who was subject to the criminal act). These objectives are:

  1. To criminals, punishment is kaffara (purification) and reforming for the re-acceptance into the society.

  2. To society, punishment is a preventive method to save the society from crimes.

  3. To victims, punishment is a mean of retribution.

“Imran b. Hussein reported that a woman from Juhaina came to Mohammed and said she had become pregnant because of adultery. She said: ‘I am pregnant as a result of Zina.’ Mohammed said: ‘Go back, and come to me after the birth of the child.’ After giving birth, the woman came back to Mohammed, saying: ‘Please purify me now.’ Next, Muhammad said, ‘Go and suckle your child, and come after the period of suckling is over.’ She came after the period of weaning and brought a piece of bread with her. She fed the child the piece of bread and said, ‘O, Allah's Apostle, the child has been weaned.’ At that Muhammad pronounced judgment about her and she was stoned to death.” “The Book Pertaining to Punishments Prescribed by Islam (Kitab Al-Hudud).” Sahih Muslim, B. 17, N. 4207. USC-MSA, Compendium of Muslim Texts.

“Allah sent Muhammad with the Truth and revealed the Holy Book to him, and among what Allah revealed, was the Verse of the Rajam (the stoning of married person (male & female)) who commits illegal sexual intercourse, and we did recite this Verse and understood and memorized it. Allah's Apostle did carry out the punishment of stoning and so did we after him.

I am afraid that after a long time has passed, somebody will say, 'By Allah, we do not find the Verse of the Rajam in Allah's Book,' and thus they will go astray by leaving an obligation which Allah has revealed. And the punishment of the Rajam is to be inflicted to any married person (male & female), who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if the required evidence is available or there is conception or confession.” Sahih Bukhari, Book 82: Volume 8, Number 817: Narrated Ibn 'Abbas. www.usc.edu/.

It's nice having an annotated glossary at hand.

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Digital Breakdown: Kings’ Defensive Issues Against Portland

In the Kings loss to Portland on Tuesday night, they had plenty of opportunities to get stops by playing sound, fundamental defense. Instead, they often found themselves a step behind on their rotations or not rotating at all.Here's a video breakdown from what I saw as key fundamental miscues... More

From the Kings: $1 Beer Night Nearly Sold Out

From the Kings Media Release: SACRAMENTO, CA, December 15, 2009 ---- Less than 900 tickets remain for the Sacramento Kings game against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 7:30 p.m. at ARCO Arena. The game will be showcased to a national TV audience on ESPN. “Our fans’ response ... More

From SacBee: Joe Maloof Talks Petrie Extension

Sam Amick caught up with Joe Maloof after the initial report from Adrian Wojnarowski reported there were Geoff Petrie contract extension ideas: "I think we want to visit (extension talks) fairly soon, and we want to look at it within the next couple weeks. We'll sit down with Geoff, and discuss ... More

Current Kings 4-Game Slide: What Gives?

Okay, so the Kings are in their fourth straight four-game streak and after jumping out to a 9-8 record (the Kings haven't started with an above .500 record that deep into the season since 2004) they've fallen to 9-12 with their current four-game losing streak.Here are the numbers for this ... More

Tyreke Evans: Your 2010… MVP?

Frank Hughes from has a little fun with the MVP race and throws Tyreke Evans into the Top 10: There are two different views of expectations that enable The Race to have some fun and throw Evans in the mix. First, there are the expectations of the Toronto Raptors, who should have a far ... More

From YouTube: Rookie of the Year Mix OCT/NOV

Just received an email from the Reke Havoc YouTube account with this video. Enjoy: More

From Robson Praises But Questions the Kings

Here's a little snippet from Britt Robson's check around the NBA in which he feels teams like the Kings and Suns are going to come back down to Earth: I'm also not waiting for the NBA to announce its Western Conference Coach of the Month for November -- I'll take Sacramento's Paul Westphal. After ... More

Tyreke Evans Named Western Conference Rookie of the Month

From the Sacramento Kings Media Release: Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month for games played from the start of the season (Oct. 27) through November. Evans is averaging 18.8 points (44.6 FG%, 32.3 3pt%, 79.0 FT%), 5.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.33 ... More

From Nets Are Scorching: Kings-Nets Preview

Sebastian Pruiti is one of the driving forces behind Nets Are Scorching, the Brooklyn New Jersey Nets blog for the TrueHoop Network. And he does a really good job of covering this Nets team.Well, he posted a great preview/breakdown of the matchup tonight between the winless Nets (0-15) and the ... More

Experiment: Tyreke Evans Highlights

Tried a little something different here. Here's a little highlight video I put together from Evans' game against the Jazz on November 7th. As most of you remember, it was his first game without Kevin Martin and he scored 32 points and dished out 7 assists. Enjoy and leave your criticisms in the ... More


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MOSLEY: Parcells' slur causes stir

Discussion in 'Off-topic Zone' started by Gooch, Jun 7, 2004.

  1. Gooch

    Gooch E-Dog

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    add to trickblues earlier post

    Parcells' slur causes stir
    05:55 PM CDT on Monday, June 7, 2004

    By MATT MOSLEY / DallasNews.com

    IRVING – Cowboys coach Bill Parcells used a racial slur during a news conference at the team's practice facility Monday. While discussing two of his assistant coaches, quarterbacks coach Sean Payton and defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, Parcells said, "Sean's going to have a few ... no disrespect to the Orientals, but what we call Jap plays, OK, surprise things."

    When an audience of reporters began to murmur about the comment, Parcells added, "No disrespect to anyone."

    Parcells was referencing Payton's penchant for installing trick plays. Regarding Payton and Zimmer, Parcells said, "You've got to keep an eye on those two because they're going to try and get the upper hand."

    Parcells' comments came after he was asked about his comfort level with his coaching staff.

    "Bill Parcells is a brilliant coach," said John Tateishi of the Japanese-American Citizen's League, a national civil rights group. "Unfortunately, he is ignorant about racial slurs. I take great offense by what he said. Parcells ought to know better. He sorely needs more education on what is offensive and non-offensive to Japanese-Americans. I am shocked that he would say this. "

    The Cowboys issued this statement Monday afternoon:

    "He (Parcells) stated that he intended no disrespect. The organization apologizes to anyone who may have been offended."

    Japanese journalist Akira Kuboshima, visiting Valley Ranch for the Cowboys' minicamp, said Parcells apologized to him for the comments during the afternoon practice.

    "It's more shocking that everyone in there noticed," said Kuboshima, editor of American Football Magazine Japan. "I don't want anyone to hear or read that. I wish everyone would just forget it. I admire Coach Parcells."

    Last week, Dolphins linebacker Junior Seau apologized for using a derogatory term for gays while describing his relationship with his teammates.
  2. MichaelWinicki

    MichaelWinicki "You want some?" Staff Member

    39,020 Messages
    9,654 Likes Received
    I'm so sick of BS like this becoming a news story I could scream.

    What an absolute load of crap.
  3. junk

    junk I've got moxie

    9,294 Messages
    247 Likes Received
    Maybe I am an idiot, but how can a term based on someone's country of origin be deregatory or racist?
  4. Bizwah

    Bizwah Well-Known Member

    6,310 Messages
    547 Likes Received
    The "wussifying" of America continues.
  5. TruBlueCowboy

    TruBlueCowboy New Member

    7,301 Messages
    0 Likes Received
    I can't believe people are making a big deal out of this affair.
  6. BrAinPaiNt

    BrAinPaiNt Hunka Hunka Burning BP Staff Member

    66,892 Messages
    12,819 Likes Received

    That out of the way for Michael.

    I think he knew it may be taken that way and it is why he said what he did before and after making the statement....he then apologized for it later.

    Hey we are starved for any news....and just like any other area of news...they always use the controversial or bad news...before they do the good news.

    I am actually shocked it just now came out as the PC was earlier in the day.
  7. Sarge

    Sarge Red, White and brew... Staff Member

    22,928 Messages
    4,017 Likes Received
    Bores me to tears. Agreed.
  8. Duane

    Duane Well-Known Member

    6,948 Messages
    103 Likes Received
    We have a road back in Beaumont called "Jap Road". It was named after the Japanese folks that lived there way back. Now apparently none of the local Japanese residence take offense to the name. However, a group in Houston does. They were making a big stink about it at one time.
  9. thor_01

    thor_01 New Member

    451 Messages
    0 Likes Received
    in this case it goes to the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, which even though the little bast.... did it they don't want to be reminded about it i guess........

    either way a politically correct President i can see, a politically correct head coach is just being to damn particular................
  10. junk

    junk I've got moxie

    9,294 Messages
    247 Likes Received
    Well, according to dictionary.com

    n. Offensive Slang
    Used as a disparaging term for a person of Japanese birth or descent.
  11. MichaelWinicki

    MichaelWinicki "You want some?" Staff Member

    39,020 Messages
    9,654 Likes Received
    Hey love the avatar Brain!

    "Oddball" is one of my favorite characters.

    Great movie too!
  12. dillinger319

    dillinger319 Striped Leopard

    888 Messages
    54 Likes Received

    This is absolutely ridiculous......SP......I cant belive that that guy said " i take offense to that" The shaq thing was worse than this but he explained himself days after it happened....Coach Parcells said no disrespect right away.... This is like some white guy saying he was going to eat some chinese food and it bothering someone of Chinese ethnicity....This is stupid....What a world that we live in......
  13. novadog

    novadog New Member

    85 Messages
    0 Likes Received
    Jap was a term used in a predominatly derogatory fashion it's a racial slur in today's PC. Personally I think it's funny that he refers to trick plays that try to catch the other team off guard as "jap" plays. LOL

    Either way he knew he shouldn't have said it when he did and that's usually a sign :p

    oh well

  14. jay cee

    jay cee Active Member

    2,901 Messages
    0 Likes Received
    When I read it on one of the guys update, I thought it was an acronym or something. I disagree with most of the posters so far on this thread. I think he was wrong and It's good he apologized.

    Call it PC or whatever, but it is not good to use slurs.
  15. BrAinPaiNt

    BrAinPaiNt Hunka Hunka Burning BP Staff Member

    66,892 Messages
    12,819 Likes Received

    I agree.....and I think he does as well as he apologized.

    I do not think he meant it in a bad way but still it is not to be condoned IMO.
  16. BrAinPaiNt

    BrAinPaiNt Hunka Hunka Burning BP Staff Member

    66,892 Messages
    12,819 Likes Received

    Thanks...love the movie as well....I still have to get the DVD along with the Dirty Dozen, The Devils Brigade and Where Eagles Dare.
  17. Maikeru-sama

    Maikeru-sama Mick Green 58

    14,547 Messages
    1 Likes Received
    See I knew there was gonna be TROUBLE when I heard him say that while listening to the PC at work. I think he used POOR judgement by using this word. If you have to APOLOGIZE or say NO OFFENSE before you use a word, then you probably should not say it.

    - Mike G.
  18. cowboy4322

    cowboy4322 Cowboy Realist

    347 Messages
    0 Likes Received
    Personally I think this is such crap because right away Parcells said "no disrespect intended", its not like he said it and didn't say anything after that, I really think this is getting blown way out of proportion that it's ridiculous. I think that the person who said that he was offended needs to freakin chill out, he knows well and good that Parcells didn't mean it.

    This Political Correctness crap makes me wanna puke sometimes.

  19. jay cee

    jay cee Active Member

    2,901 Messages
    0 Likes Received

    Hopefully, Parcells won't be fired like poor Jimmy the Greek. ;)
  20. Eric_Boyer

    Eric_Boyer Well-Known Member

    5,377 Messages
    1,036 Likes Received
    The problem is that the PC crowd focus is so strongly on the word they lose sight of the message.

    In this case, Jap was actually a complement. As best I can tell he was using it to describe innovation and trickery in the play-calling.

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Ever since Passbook was announced for iOS back in June of 2012, there has been plenty of folks asking in the CrackBerry forums whether or not such a thing would come to BlackBerry. If you're not familiar with Passbook on iOS, it's essentially an app that is designed to serve as a one-stop repository for all the tickets, coupons, gift cards, and other vouchers provided by third-party applications. Overall, it's a pretty neat thing to have implemented though admittedly, I've not used it much on iOS to say whether or not it's something I would personally use on a BlackBerry smartphone.

Poking around the BlackBerry 10.2 OS leak a little bit further, it's starting to look as though BlackBerry may be working on their own app to offer a Passbook like experience on BlackBerry 10. Files for an app called 'Cardholder' have been spotted in the OS and when you take a closer look at the information it's using examples like an Air Canada Boarding Pass for integration. Coincidentally enough, something Alec Saunders was recent spotted mentioning.

Even the icon for the app itself lends some plausible credit to what the app may end up being. With it all coming from an OS leak though, it's hard to say if there is anything really concrete there. Maybe BlackBerry is just testing some things out but then again, maybe it's something we'll see plenty of more of in the near future, maybe even some integration with BBM Money? That's not a far stretch of the imagination and really, Passbook has sort of taken off for a quite a few places.

Considering this has been a topic of conversation for a while in the CrackBerry Forums now and with my experience with Passbook having been really next to none, I have to wonder. Do you all, as BlackBerry smartphone consumers hope to see BlackBerry come up with their own integration solution for Passbook? There has been a few apps in the past the offered integration on BlackBerry, Android has apps that support it and even Windows Phone 8 has support for the .pkpass files used for Passbook. If it were available for BlackBerry 10, would you all use it? Sound off in the comments and let us know in the poll.


text:
Saturday, September 10, 2011

D.I.Y. Felt Car Play Mat

I saw some adorable felt play mats on Pinterest and just had to make one for Wyatt.  He loves playing with little cars and pretty much anything with wheels. Now I am just trying to decide if I should give it to him tomorrow when he wakes up...or buy some new cars and things for it and give it to him as a Christmas gift?? What do you think??

I started with a 5' x 3' foot piece of green felt, fairly cheap at the fabric store. For everything else I used the 8.5" x 11" pieces of felt from Michael's...they are less than a dollar each. They even have some cute textured ones I used for the stone pathways at the park.

I used my rotary cutter for the first time to cut all my straight lines, but everything else I cut by hand. I don't have a lot of free time, so I just went for it.  My mother-in-law gave me a huge cutting mat...I asked her to borrow hers for this project and she said she had a brand new one that she hadn't even taken out of the box, because it was to big for her table...SCORE!!! It worked great.

I put the whole board together with a glue gun, because I don't know how to sew very well...and glue gun seemed easier, until I really badly burned four of my fingers last night...not fun.

Here is a close up look at the different sections of the board.

 Construction Zone

 Parking Lot/ Shopping Center...and Target too!

Zoo...after burning my finger there was no way I could make felt animals...these were I think 59 cents at Michael's.


text:
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Thursday, May 26, 2016

Review: THE REAL PLANET OF THE APES by David R. Begun

The idea that humans and the great apes evolved from a common ancestor in Africa is one that goes back to Charles Darwin. After all, chimps and gorillas, the closest relatives to humans, live in Africa today, and our earliest human ancestors are also African. It’s logical, then, to assume that the evolution of the ape into the common ancestor of human beings is a purely African story.
  Not so fast, says David R. Begun. A world-renowned authority on ape evolution, Begun – a professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto – argues in The Real Planet of the Apes (Princeton University Press) that the fossil record tells us that not only were there also early apes in Europe and Eurasia, but that the European apes represent far more than just an interesting side story. Indeed, Begun states in his Preface that his conclusion is that “it is Europe, and not Africa, that is the centre of origin of the ancestors of living great apes and humans.”
  It’s a bold move, contradicting Charles Darwin, although Begun does point out that Darwin, in The Descent of Man, argues for the probability rather than the certainty of the African origins of ‘our early progenitors’. Darwin then goes on to clarify his statement by saying that it is useless to speculate on the subject, given the remoteness of the period in question and how often migrations were likely to occur during such a vast time-scale.
  Begun, for his part, is cheerfully aware of how his theory flies in the face of received wisdom. “Few of the ideas and interpretations expressed in this book are exclusively my own,” he writes, before adding, “The few that are mine more less exclusively tend to be controversial.”
  His willingness to point up the potential controversies and flaws in his theory is just one of the reasons why Begun makes for such lively company in The Real Planet of the Apes. The book is as accessible as palaeontology is likely to get, and it’s peppered with examples of Begun’s offbeat sense of humour, as well as examples of his readiness to give credit where it is due.
  Essentially, and although Begun covers the story of ape evolution over the past 30 million years, his theory centres on the Miocene period from roughly 10 million years ago. It is at this point that the fossil record begins to reveal Dryopithecus, Rudapithecus and Ouranopithecus, among others, hominids which appear around the time of the Last Common Ancestor (LCA) of the family that includes humans, chimpanzees and gorillas (the orang-utan, or Pongo, branched off from the hominids some five or six million years previously; despite its very human features, ‘the old man of the forest’ is much, much older than man).
  Primitive apes flourished in Africa about 20 million years ago, Begun tells us, although these were more monkey-like than ape-like. They later dispersed north into Eurasia to more seasonal climates, conditions that then selected for new adaptations in apes, which resulted in apes evolving novel features relating to diet and locomotive and positional behaviour (e.g., moving to an upright stance as opposed to horizontal, becoming suspensory apes who hang from branches as opposed to walking along the tops of them). Then climate changes drove the large-brained, suspensory apes south again, with the ancestors of orang-utans migrating towards South-East Asia and our common ancestor heading due south to the African tropics.
  Crucially, Begun tells us, “I was intrigued by the African ape features I found in European fossil apes and the complete lack of evidence for fossil great apes in Africa during the same time period.”
  It’s a fascinating theory, even if much of Begun’s book is taken up with the difficulty of establishing the theory based on the fossil record. “I am determined to falsify this hypothesis,” he tells us. “That may sound strange. But we cannot really prove anything in palaeontology.” The problem, of course, is not only that fossils are so difficult to find, but that intact skeletons of great ape fossils are vanishingly rare. Begun paraphrases Darwin, who described the fossil record as a book most of which has been erased by time. “It is a virtual certainty that we have not and probably will never find fossils of more than a small fraction of the species that have ever lived. In many cases it might even be less than 5%.”
  Compounding the issue, at least in terms of readability for the layman or laywoman (i.e., yours truly), is the fact that many of the fossils Begun relies upon for evidence are teeth. ‘Paleoanthropological nerds’ such as himself, Begun tells us, have looked at thousands of teeth, and many of the examples of species discovered have been identified on their dental records alone (one example of Griphopithecus, discovered at Engelswies in modern Germany, was identified on the basis of “only one half of a tooth, and a pretty worn one at that.”) The detective work is hugely impressive, certainly, but general readers might find themselves increasingly skipping over those pages dedicated to wear patterns, pointed cusps, dentine horns and crenulated molars.
  By the same token, the book is dotted with fascinating examples of how evolution works, or why a particular species, having evolved to a certain point, then dies out despite being perfectly adapted to its environment. Oreopithecus, known from fossil sites at Tuscany and on Sardinia, appears to have evolved in isolation on islands (as the Tuscan region would have been roughly eight million years ago), with little by way of competition from other animals or any predators to worry about. By comparison with its peer Rudapithecus, however, Oreopithecus had a brain less than half its size. “Reduction in brain size is fairly unusual in evolution,” Begun says, “but Oreopithecus is the exception that proves the rule […] Oreopithecus became the ape version of a tree sloth: large, suspensory, slow moving and not especially clever. It is not much of an intellectual feat to move slowly among the branches gathering leaves and other abundant forest resources, especially if you do not have to worry about predators.”
  The book ends on a downbeat note when David Begun turns away from sifting through the past and looks to the future. Chimps and gorillas, he reminds us, are both on the endangered list. “The future for great apes is grim,” he says, as a result of deforestation, the ‘bush meat’ trade and the trade in animal trophies. “Unless there is a concerted effort internationally to eliminate these markets and there are major changes in governance to provide local people in the countries in which great apes live with more resources to support their families, I do not hold out much hope for the great apes, or most primates for that matter.”
  Unless we can find a way to live with our great ape brethren, Begun concludes, we will be the last ape standing. It’s a conclusion that offers a stark inversion of the playful title of this book, as the human ape precipitates the potential extinction of its closest family relatives. ~ Declan Burke

  This review was first published in the Irish Examiner.

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how much will it cost to get a misdemeanor expunged

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Answered on Sep 16th, 2013 at 11:51 AM

This answer varies depending on the attorney. I have heard of attorneys who charge $100 for an expungement. I have heard of attorneys who charge $3,500.

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A criminal record can follow you for years, even decades, making it more difficult to get a job or obtain a professional license, qualify for certain security clearances and/or rent an apartment. If you've previously been arrested, charged with a crime or found guilty of a violation, misdemeanor or felony, you may, after a period of time, be able to have your record expunged, or purged. An expungements attorney can explain your state's requirements for expunging, modifying and/or sealing criminal records. If you qualify, your law firm or lawyer can guide you through the expungement process.
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[concurrency-interest] Java7 Fences API

Doug Lea dl at cs.oswego.edu
Tue Jan 13 10:05:20 EST 2009

[This is initially CCed to concurrency-interest list as an FYI,
but please direct followups to the JMM list only.]

The basic JSR133 JMM scheme provides three kinds of
underlying ordering constaints, that are tied to variable
declarations -- read-volatile, write-volatile, and
write-final (aka write-release, aka publish, aka lazy-set),
or for stand-alone AtomicX objects.

This turns out not to mesh very well with the development of
core concurrent algorithms (like the ones I tend to
implement), where you often need these special flavors of
reads and writes on an occasional basis, which is currently
either impossible or insensible to achieve.  As an example,
the performance sensitive queues underlying ForkJoin
require some critical write-releases of
variables/array-slots during ownership transfer.  These are
slightly more expensive than normal (non-volatile/final)
writes but much cheaper (in this context) than full

These also come into play in less esoteric usages. It is
very common to want to arrange a write-release to safely
publish a reference that could not be declared "final" for
one reason or another (for example because initialization
occurs in a callback).

Today, these usages cannot even be expressed without
cheating -- using the defacto-standard Unsafe API, which
truly is unsafe to use, so we really don't want people doing
this.  Things were not so bad when I and maybe 5 other
people were the only ones who cheated in this way, but more
and more people find that it is the only way to do it, so
do. Google reports estimated 8460 hits on "sun.misc.unsafe",
which probably corresponds to at least hundreds of
usages. Not good.  (Also, there are a couple of cases that
the current Unsafe API doesn't include, but should be in
place for Java7.)

In the recent C++0x standard, this kind of usage was
addressed by allowing per-usage modes on new read and write
methods. (And further, supporting more than the three modes
considered here, but I don't think we need to introduce more
for Java.)

We can't do this in Java, because Java does not support
call-by-reference. We cannot introduce an API with methods
that would be used like (using C addressof "&"):
   writeVolatile(&aField, aValue)

The closest you can come to this in Java is to include
similar methods in java.lang.reflect.{Field,Array}.  This is
an option, but not a very nice one. Even when optimized as
well as they can be on good JVMs, there is still enough
overhead to defeat the goals of using such methods.

Another tactic along these lines would be to lift
restrictions about volatileness inside
j.u.c.atomic.AtomicXFieldUpdaters, and similarly for array
versions. However, these encounter the same overhead
problem: They require internal dynamic type checks that are
(sometimes) tolerable for heavy operations like
compareAndSet (CAS) and writeVolatile, but surely not for
the above. (And stay tuned for some possible improvements in
these for CAS.)

So, after years of resisting the idea, my current conclusion
is that we need to stop wishing for a miraculous solution to
lack of call-by-ref, and instead allow developers to roll
their own out of the raw ingredients -- fences. There are
three kinds of fences that come into play here, best
illustrated by their usages in the above constructions for
some field/slot v, and local variable/expression r.  First
illustrated with argumentless fence methods:

readVolatile:  r = v; postLoadFence();
writeVolatile: preStoreFence(); v = r; postStorePreLoadFence();
writeFinal:    preStoreFence(); v = r;
   where {writeRelease, lazySet, publish} are same as writeFinal

JMM note: Recall that "final", and the above implementation
of writeFinal is "one-sided" -- in normal use it does not
require a readFinal counterpart. But if another thread has
already seen the ref (because of a leak before publishing)
then pretty much anything is allowed to happen. Here, it
would be allowed, but not required, to use readVolatile to
read it, which improves range of use a bit.

API note: The method names are intentionally clunky to avoid
the common mistake of putting read-fences before, not after,
reads, which sometimes intuitively looks correct but isn't,
and similarly for writes.  We've seen "experts" discussing
fences make this mistake, which suitable naming seems to fix.

The argument-ful versions of these methods allow tighter
specifications of effects, and closer correspondance to
typical read/write forms, by mentioning the object being
read/written.  These may enable a compiler to generate
better code by being less conservative about effects. Using
these versions to read a field of object x, you can do
   r = x.field; postLoadFence(x);
or even
   r = x.field; postLoadFence(x, xField);
where xField is the result of reflectively looking up
X.field.  These are optional in the Fences API because the
gain in precision is not always (or even usually) worth the
overhead of supplying this information.

All together, the Fences API seems to be the best of a bad
set of options. It provides the necessary capabilities, and,
as awkward/ugly as it is, it is vastly better than
continuing to implicitly invite developers to use Unsafe.

Also, their existence might drive better kinds of support
layered on top of them. Imperfect approaches to "nicer"
supprt include:

1. Macros. If there were a standard Java Macro preprocessor,
someone might introduce some (using C style for now):
    #define publish(v, r) preStoreFence(); v = r
Although even this could use C-like comma operator so it is
one expression. (And readVolatile is trickier still.)  As
overkill, maybe some AOP frameworks could be used in this

2. Syntax support via casts. Allow casted references well as
assignment. (You can't cast l-values because there are no

readVolatile:    r = ((volatile)x).field;
writeFinal:      x.field (final)= r;
writeVolatile:   x.field (volatile)= r;

The main weirdness is that "(final)=" doesn't mean what it
looks like, since it also serves as a writeRelease, which
need not be the only/last assignment. And in any case, it is
almost as ugly as using the Fence API, so I doubt that this
approach would be prioritized very highly when considering
syntactic Java language changes.

The specs of these methods still need some work -- I haven't
touched them since initially sketching them out last
year. Suggestions welcome.

At some point the JLS memory model specs would need to
reflect these changes.  Conceptually, it does not seem all
that hard to generalize the JMM to cover valriables that are
only sometimes (vs always) treated as volatile or final,
especially in comparison to other JMM spec problems that
someday need to be addressed (mainly, those described in
Jaroslav Sevcik's ECOOP08 paper).

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Fill Your Days With Nuts, Olive Oil, Chocolate and Wine - NYTimes.com

hopeful and opt...
Posts: 1718
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 855
Joined: Mar 2010

It's old news but still useful.  Regular exercise of almost any kind is also beneficial.

hopeful and opt...
Posts: 1718
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 351
Joined: Jan 2011

Do not quit heart meds.  Because of Agent Orange I have ischemic heart disease, along with met prostate cancer.  They put a stent in my heart and told me to take cholesterol meds, plavix, and another drug.  Doc told me I was too healthy for this and he sees me once a year. Recently was about to get first colonostophy.  Had to call heart doc and ask for permission to cut out plavix because Dr. Said I had a 30 percent chance for polyp.  Heart Dr. Laughed and told me that I was on standard meds for heart disease but I did not have regular disease.  He said I could quit all the drugs.   I will keep taking drugs for the short term because of other issues.

I would say depending on your physical shape and amount of work-outs, exercise you do that this would determine heart healthy.

Your BP, hdl , ldl, and a good scan of heart should tell you what you need to know.

hopeful and opt...
Posts: 1718
Joined: Apr 2009

PCa Patients: Avoid These Foods

I’ve been advocating a heart-healthy Mediterranean diet for my prostate cancer patients for years. Many have been confused by some of my other dietary recommendations. Here’s a question on diet that appears in our current issue of Prostate Forum (Volume 14 Number 10) that explains some of those recommendations:

Dear Dr. Myers: Why should I avoid the following foods: red meat and pork; canola oil and vegetable oil; King mackerel, shark, and albacore tuna; flax oil or flaxseed; corn products and corn oil, and walnuts and pecans. Can you provide a brief explanation for each?

Red meat and pork: I am concerned about red meat consumption for several reasons. First, high red meat consumption appears to harm general health. There are longevity hot spots where people live long lives in good health. Red meat consumption is absent or uncommon in every case. Conversely, nowhere on this earth are cultures characterized as having high red meat consumption among those with longevity and good health. Second, a chemical, PhIP, forms on the surface of red meat as it browns during cooking. PhIP is a cancer-causing chemical that has been linked directly to prostate cancer. In fact, after reviewing the literature, I have concluded that this is as close to proven as you can get without doing an unethical clinical trial. That trial would be to randomize men to placebo versus PhIP to see if those on PhIP developed prostate cancer. We encourage our patients to minimize red meat consumption and increase fish consumption
King mackerel, shark and albacore tuna: My concern here relates to general health. These fish have high mercury content. In fact, it is so high that it is recommended that pregnant women avoid them to protect the fetus.
Flax oil, walnuts and pecans: These are rich in the omega 3 fat, alpha linolenic acid or ALA. ALA intake has been linked to the development and progression of prostate cancer. To add insult to injury, a recent consensus conference concluded that fish omega 3, but not ALA, are needed for human health. In sum, ALA is an inferior omega 3 fatty acid for human nutrition and may enhance the risk of prostate cancer.
Corn oil and vegetable oil: Humans do best on a diet with a proper balance between omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids. In general, the ideal ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 is 1-3. Corn oil is 45. So a little corn oil or corn oil-containing foods can really destroy the balance between omega 6 and omega 3. Vegetable oil is an undefined mix of oils. It allows the vendor to pick the cheapest oils available. Corn oil is abundantly available and cheap.
Canola oil: It is rich in ALA and omega 6 fatty acids.

Posts: 225
Joined: Apr 2010

Omega 3/Omega 6 balance is critical from what I understand. In most American diets it is about 20/80 and should be at least 50/50. Hopeful, I wish you would embellish your comments on flaxseed and walnuts for I thought they were a great source of Omega 3s. I also take in salmon, pom juice, flaxseed, cocoa above 80%, green tea for omega 3s.

No red meat for the reasons you noted, plus in California drive by Harris ranch and see cattle being fattened up in pens and with hormones. It is probably OK to have range fed beef occasionally except for the purists of mind. No dairy---many of the same concerns, and as little sugar as is humanly possible (make an effort). Cancer cells feed on same.

Now to translate to general health over and above PCa, I found my lipitor controlled cholesterol going from 210 to about 125 over 2 1/2 years.

Big supplements of vitamin D3----see Dr. Pendergrast at Stanfurd's studies.

Daily excercise---cardio, weight resistance, walking, riding, biking or swimming.

hopeful and opt...
Posts: 1718
Joined: Apr 2009

These comments are made by Dr. Myers, Medical Oncologist, not me. He advocates a different ratio of Omega 3 versus Omega 6 that you do.

Here is what Wikipedia shows for walnuts.

To me it seems that long term studies are needed to determine benefits of walnuts.

It also seems to me that walnuts are  heart healthy……..heart healthy is prostate healthy

Anyway this is my opinion

Posts: 3
Joined: Apr 2013

These chocolate and wine are good for the body if it is in moderate consumption, they said that too much is not good for the health. It also lays out what people following the diet need to eat: olive oil, used in abundance on salads and cooked vegetables. Worried about gaining weight with all the oil and nuts? Never fear, the researchers say. They report that studies show people do not gain weight when they add those foods, probably because they make people feel full so they eat less of other things.

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In this series we’re profiling first time attendees at the CUPE National Convention. New delegate Catherena Nauss explains how she got active in her union and gives us her impressions of her first CUPE National Convention.

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Obituary: Bob Bear 1933 - 2014

Bob Bear of Claypool, AZ, passed away on Monday, February 17, 2014 in Cottonwood, AZ. He was 80 years old. Bob was born on February 21, 1933 in Camp Verde, AZ to Jim Bear and Sadie Francis. He grew up and attended school in Camp Verde, later joining the U. S. Army and serving in the Korean War.

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Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Java SE 5.0u65, 6u75, 7u60, and 8u5 allows remote attackers to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown vectors related to Hotspot.
Note: References are provided for the convenience of the reader to help distinguish between vulnerabilities. The list is not intended to be complete.
Date Entry Created
20140617 Disclaimer: The entry creation date may reflect when the CVE-ID was allocated or reserved, and does not necessarily indicate when this vulnerability was discovered, shared with the affected vendor, publicly disclosed, or updated in CVE.
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Assigned (20140617)
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Comments (Legacy)
Proposed (Legacy)
This is an entry on the CVE list, which standardizes names for security problems.


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The Downfall Of Amanda Bynes

Anyone who was around in the 90s remembers Amanda Bynes as the funny, quirky and relatable teenager who appeared in popular shows like All That and What I Like About You. Nowadays, Bynes has stepped out of her funny and lovable ways to become one of the most negatively talked about child stars in the media. Bynes’s odd behavior started in 2010 after she announced she was retiring, then un-retiring from acting via her Twitter account, which she later deleted.

Photo Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Photo Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Fast forward about two years to April 2012, when Bynes was arrested for driving under the influence and accused of two hit-and-run accidents.  Since these auto incidents and creating a new Twitter account, Bynes has continually remained in the headlines with her absurd tweets and disobeying of the law. Recently, Bynes took to wearing outlandish wigs in various court appearances, including a waist-length aqua colored one that she wore to court July 9 as she faced a judge on charges of marijuana possession, tampering with evidence and reckless endangerment (CNN).

If the criminal charges and strange hair styles don’t seem out of the ordinary for a wild former child star, Bynes has also developed  penchant for insulting fellow public figures on Twitter. Followers, fans and everybody in between are privy to her personal thoughts, which include an array of opinions of rapper Drake. Bynes’s tweets about Drake range from how she alternatively finds the rapper hideously “ugly” and “the man of [her] dreams.”

However, her Twitter attacks did not end there, as Bynes has called over 10 other celebrities “ugly” or something worse, including President Obama and his wife Michelle, Miley Cyrus, Perez Hilton and Rihanna.

Source: Twitter

Source: Twitter

These tweets have streamed in for a few months and only slowed down once Bynes was interned in a psychiatric ward after starting a fire in a stranger’s driveway.  Officials at the scene decided to intern her against her will under 5150 W&I (California Welfare & Institutions Code), saying Bynes fit the criteria.  Since her involuntary stay at the psychiatric hospital and discussions that her parents will seek a conservatorship, Bynes has not tweeted or spoken publicly.

Natalie Geisler/ CBS Local

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Thursday, June 18, 2009

We Need An Unmaking Of The American Consensus

I'm thinking about printing out this paragraph from Digby and putting it above my bathroom mirror like Stallone did when he trained in Siberia in Rocky IV.

The bipartisan elite consensus that governs this country is quite simple. First, deficits and high taxes are always the basic cause of economic stress or the biggest threat facing a recovery, no matter the circumstances. (The corollary is that cutting taxes and spending are the ultimate answer to every economic challenge.) Taxes on the wealthy (excuse me "the most productive") must be kept as low as possible, the military cannot be subject to any budgetary constraint and the national security state cannot be held accountable, business and industry must always be given top priority and all other government expenditures are legislative bargaining chips regardless of their impact on the lives of average Americans. Nobody questions that consensus or even suggests that some other set of priorities might be useful from time to time.

This pretty well describes every single bit of dysfunction that we deal with in making progress, and it's always been there to a certain extent. It's a consensus that serves elites and those in positions of power in Washington, and any defeat of that is always an uphill climb, even in a time of crisis. Paul Krugman posts a very revealing set of polls from back in the mid-1930s, during the Depression, that parallel today's polls showing Americans, after years if not decades of constant conservative dogma, fearing higher deficits just in time for a Democratic President (though not to the level of media hype):

Gallup Poll [December, 1935]

Do you think it necessary at this time to balance the budget and start reducing the national debt?

70% Yes
30 No

Gallup Poll [May, 1936]

Are the acts of the present Administration helping or hindering recovery?

55% Helping
45 Hindering

Gallup Poll (AIPO) [November, 1936]

65% YES
28 NO

This was right around the time that Roosevelt tried to balance the budget, leading to a mini-recession inside the Depression, and prolonging the overall slowdown. He learned from that mistake, but the question is whether or not we will today. As Krugman says:

The point here, I think, is that most people don’t know much about macroeconomics. Hey, most members of Congress don’t know much about macroeconomics — and recent discussions suggest the possibility that many macroeconomists don’t know much about macroeconomics. Voters do, however, notice results.

So the moral for Obama is, of course, to ignore this poll, for the sake both of the economy and of Congressional Democrats — Blue Dogs included.

Sadly, I don't think that's how it'll turn out. Look no further than the totally shameful overturning, against the wishes of the Pentagon, of the phasing out of the F-22 program, which nobody in the military wants, which EVEN LOCKHEED MARTIN has agreed not to build anymore, but which is so important to elements of the military industrial complex that Democrats and Republicans in the House couldn't say no:

Yesterday, the House Armed Services Committee “threw a wrench in the Obama administration’s plans to end” the F-22 program, voting 31-30 on a measure marking up the Defense Department spending bill that would “add $369 million in extra funding to keep production of the Air Force’s most advanced jet alive.” Six Democrats — Reps. Jim Marshall (GA), Joe Courtney (CT), Gabrielle Giffords (AZ), Eric Massa (NY), Bobby Bright (AL), and Mike McIntyre (NC) — joined 25 Republicans in voting for the amendment. The Wall Street Journal reports that “the extra money would be a boost for Lockheed [Martin's] Marietta, Ga., production facility” which is in Marshall’s home state.

WTF Eric Massa?

Add to that the money in the war funding supplemental for C-17 planes that the military doesn't want. Clearly what happens is that parochial interests about plants scattered across all 50 states trump the national interest. And in the end, perversely, the people in those districts get screwed.

I recognize that there's a structural problem here as well, with the undemocratic nature of the US Senate and the even more undemocratic filibuster. But the establishment consensus knows no party, and you cannot lay the blame entirely at the feet of process.

If a near-Depression and a triumvirate of Democrats in Washington can shock this loose, I don't really think we ever will.

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31 January 2012 @ 05:29 pm
Pocket Princesses Comics by Amy Mebberson

Amy Mebberson, also known as Mimi-Na on DeviantArt (artist for the internet-famous Retro Disney Pin-Up series), is a comic artist for Disney•Pixar (The Muppets, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo). She loves Disney, is a wonderful artist, and has a great sense of humor.

She just started a Pocket Princess series on her Tumblr, featuring the Princesses interacting with one another to mixed results. arielstreasures turned me on to this and the comics are really funny! Amy hopes to have a comic every Friday, so here's hoping there's more!

Current Mood: nerdynerdy
BGE: Reidbehindgrey_eyes on January 31st, 2012 10:39 pm (UTC)
OMG TOO PRECIOUS! The last two are my faves :DDD
i am the dragonwishuponastar on January 31st, 2012 10:55 pm (UTC)
hehe, I love the Tiana and Ariel one!
mommamacnzmommamacnz on January 31st, 2012 11:38 pm (UTC)
These are great.
hallarchhallarch on January 31st, 2012 11:42 pm (UTC)
These are sooo cute!
月影のエーフィ: *disney* Mulan - Close Uptsuki_no_eifie on January 31st, 2012 11:52 pm (UTC)
Hahaha!! I love the first and last ones, but they're all so cute~ ♥
Aratelinwen: Geekyaratelinwen on January 31st, 2012 11:57 pm (UTC)
Those are TOO adorable!

I especially love Mulan and Rapunzel plotting to cut the other girls' hair.
☸☼☸☼☸: disneysteamage on February 1st, 2012 12:00 am (UTC)
I love these. XD The Ariel/Tiana one is my fave. (I think they'd actually get along, though- except for differing views on seafood. :S)
Cat: Pocahontas - Hairun_attra on February 1st, 2012 12:12 am (UTC)
madison_face09: Hayley and Josh in BBBBmadison_face09 on February 1st, 2012 12:29 am (UTC)
I honestly can't choose a favorite. I love them all. These are amazing!
melissa: ariel: big hug!arielstreasures on February 1st, 2012 12:52 am (UTC)
Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Thank you for making this post! I'm such a klutz at html and click-through links. It looks beautiful :) And awww, you're using the Cinderella swishy icon :D So much love. I really love the way she does their hair C:

I didn't know if anyone saw her sketch of the first one xDD

Thanks again Abi :-D <3
Jamie: Ariel - Fancyprincessatta on February 1st, 2012 04:22 am (UTC)
The Tiana and Ariel one is my favorite so far. The whole concept is perfect and adorable.
blueriptide: Applejackblueriptide on February 1st, 2012 05:08 am (UTC)
Hahaha I love all of these!!! <3
genforever246genforever246 on February 1st, 2012 05:28 am (UTC)
LOL those are awesome. I could totally see that happening if the Dosney princesses all lived in a dream castle together. I especially like the first one because honestly, I have wondered the same thing. I love Belle even more now.
Chris: Chubby90scartoonman on February 1st, 2012 06:29 am (UTC)
Those are awesome! And just because Tiana's goofy sidekick was killed, doesn't mean she has to do the same to Ariel's.
Keeleybuzzardhula on February 1st, 2012 07:16 am (UTC)
The narcolepsy one & Mulan and Rapunzel's plotting. ADORBS <3

These are so cute and hilarious! Thank you for sharing, because these are amazing!
lt_brea: Alice last of the mohicanslt_brea on February 1st, 2012 04:11 pm (UTC)
Thanks for showing us these! I'm a follower now for sure :)
mew2mewmew2mew on February 1st, 2012 05:23 pm (UTC)
I love "summer cut" xD
qlbunnies: real mulanqlbunnies on February 2nd, 2012 05:10 am (UTC)
I love the rare opportunities when we get to see the princesses with pissed-off faces.


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Court stops ballot counting in 46th Senate District race

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The counting of 99 more votes in the 46th Senate District has been put on hold at least until next week. The state Court of Appeals on Thursday granted a motion from former Republican Assemblyman George Amedore’s legal team to hold off counting the votes until the court can decide whether it wants to hear an appeal in the case. Amedore currently leads Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk by 37 votes. The state Supreme Court Third Department’s ...

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Democracy at work? NOPE!


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National Assembly summons Chris Ngige over allegations of favoring indigines from his state in NSITF employment

Nigerian Senate and House of Representatives Joint committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity has summoned the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige to appear before it over allegations of favoritism of indigenes from Anambra state, his home state, in the employment process at the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF which held between July and August this year.

Ngige is accused of issuing 44 slots out of the 131 employment positions in NSITF for indigines of his state while issuing just one or none to some states such as Kwara and Katsina. No date has been fixed for him to appear before the committee.

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What’s Wrong with the Gang of Six Plan?

Alison Acosta Fraser /

Desperate for a “balanced” approach to resolving the debt ceiling impasse, President Obama glommed on to the Gang of Six’s plan before the ink was dry.

The plan has lots of tough-talking language intended to make both sides of the aisle tingle.  But that’s where the balance ends. In reality, it’s a mostly empty bipartisan shell—heavy on tax hikes and promises of spending cuts, but devoid of details on how to make the sweeping transformative changes needed to solve our debt and spending crises.

A core problem, of course, is that plan’s false assumption that we need “balance”—i.e., both tax hikes and spending cuts—to solve a spending crisis.  Naturally, the only “balance” needed to solve a spending crisis is spending cuts.  Tax hikes only “enable” more bad spending behavior.  But set that aside for a moment.  Just what are the problems with the Gang of Six’s  “Promises, Promises” proposal?

First, the heavy reliance on tax hikes….. er, revenues.  Yes, they claim their proposed “tax reform” delivers $1.5 trillion in real tax relief.  But the “reform” also generates an additional $1 trillion in revenues for the federal coffers to meet the deficit target (plus another $133 billion for the Highway Trust Fund). But wait, there’s more! Masked in cloudy language about CBO baselines is the fact that they would let the Bush tax cuts expire—hiking taxes another $3.8 trillion. At the end of the day, the Gang’s plan would raise taxes by as much as $4.9 trillion and give $1.5 trillion back.  What they trumpet as a tax cut is really a $3.4 trillion tax hike.

And not to worry, the Gang assures us, not a penny of the new tax revenue will go to new spending.  It will all be used to pay down the debt.  Riiight!  By definition, every extra dollar of tax revenue permits an extra dollar of spending.

Yes, the plan suggests some good tax ideas, like rate reductions and corporate tax reform.  But the price tag for the bad ideas is way too high and the details for the good are far too sketchy.

And what about the crux of their plan: a $3.7 trillion deficit reduction target. Will it arrive there by spending cuts? Taxes?  Some combination of both? It’s anybody’s guess.  The plan presents absolutely no overall spending target, either in dollars or percent of GDP.  So how does it stack up to the House-passed budget, or the House-passed “Cut, Cap and Balance” bill?  Nobody knows.

All they tell us is their plan would work in three phases. Phase one is what they call an “immediate aggressive deficit reduction down payment” of $500 billion.  Is that spending cuts or “immediate aggressive” tax hikes?   Unclear.   And even if the “down payment” is all cuts, how soon is “immediate”?  Will any cuts take effect this year? In 2012?  Or will they all be made in the immediate, post-2012 future?

Phase Two of the plan would put various congressional committees to work getting spending reductions, budget process reforms and the tax hike details fleshed out.  Again, everything happens in the future. Results could be delivered in six months, but there is no requirement or mechanism to make sure it happens.  All in all, there are no guarantees of action, no requirements that any cuts actually take place.

As for the few specifics of what they might deliver, the Gang seeds their plan with ideas for both sides of the aisle:

Lastly, there is no certainty whatsoever that national security spending would not be eviscerated in this process.  According to an assessment by House Armed Services Committee Chair Buck McKeon, R-Calif., the Gang’s plan could slash defense spending by nearly $900 billion, despite warnings that our military is showing signs of “hollowing out” and already experiencing major shortfalls in readiness.

Phase Three is the Gang’s vague goal to make Social Security solvent over 75 years – but only after Phase One passes the Senate.  How you do this really matters.  It’s entirely possible to develop a plan that fixes Social Security over 75 years while materially worsening deficits now. That’s not gonna fly.

And here’s where the fine print is insidious. The Gang inserted a poison pill for their entire plan: if the Social Security phase does not pass with 60 votes, then somehow the previous deficit-reduction bill is null and void. If this is the case – why offer the bill at all?

The nation faces two debt issues: the current debt ceiling and the fact that, under current policies, the national debt is set to soar much, much higher.  Credit-rating agencies have announced the obvious – if the United States doesn’t get its debt under control, its credit rating is at risk.  Given the scant details and the vagueness of even the goals themselves, the Gang’s plan will not meet the Moody’s test for ensuring a AAA credit rating any more than would the fundamentally flawed McConnell-Reid plan. And melding the Gang’s plan into McConnell-Reid as some suggest wouldn’t make matters any better.

At the end of the day, this empty skeleton of a plan delivers nothing but risk.  Risk that spending won’t be cut now.  Risk that spending won’t be cut in the future. Risk – make that a probability – that taxes will go up.  Risk that our debt will go up without the transformational changes needed to put the nation on a sound economic and fiscal path.

Like its Senatorial cousin, the McConnell-Reid “cut, run, and hide” plan, the proposal offered by the Gang of Six is long on promises and short on concrete action.  Washington should get to work making real cuts spending cuts.  Now.

Alison Acosta Fraser is director of The Heritage Foundation’s Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies.


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On Stage

Passion, energy and creativity are expressed through dance on the Danceworks stage. Danceworks performers are a driving force in the Milwaukee  performaning arts community.

Danceworks Performance Company (DPC) is our inventive and collaborative resident contemporary company, whose focus is on collaboration, fusion of forms and current trends in the field, and many events include educational components to encourage artist-to-audience dialogue and participation. Danceworks Youth Performance Company (DYPC) is a vibrant company of advanced student dancers. The DanceLAB honors and nurtures the development of dance by offering year-round opportunities: performances, internships, mentorships, space access and advocacy for artists serving the Milwaukee community. We stay on the lookout for talented emerging or established dance artists.

For more information on upcoming performances, call our Box Office at 414.277.8480 x6025

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Monday, September 01, 2008

No light in the attic: unenlightened chavismo and a lightless Venezuela

The news today is yet again another massive blackout in Venezuela. It is not clear how much of the country was cut off as amazingly government seems to be clueless. But I can say that San Felipe was more than 3 hours without electricity, some areas of Caracas are still not back up on the grid and Valencia was wiped out, hospitals only starting to get back some service around 5 PM. Maybe Gustav was bearing down on Louisiana but hurricane Hugo keeps in its never ending quest to destroy Venezuela.

Though I felt for those trapped in Caracas overburdened subway today, this massive blackout was a good opportunity to think about a few things and get back into posting mood. There was this very nice article by Roger Santodomingo this morning in Tal Cual, which I could read before the computers went out (here, for those without a subscription). The topic was the censorship that Maripili Hernandez imposes at Canal I. Some background is needed.

Maripili Hernandez is one of those chavistas that are presentable. She can say several full sentences in a row without being improper, something that Chavez himself is unable to do. She does have some knowledge of the world and some professional dedication, though in her case it does not seem to be very productive. She was on board with Chavez from the start but somehow never quite made it up to the inner circle. Or was dropped form it. Whatever. She was briefly foreign minister for North America, about the only chavista that could be sent there. On many an occasion I had the opportunity to expose her in this blog, in particular in such a stellar moment as her patriotic histrionics. Gustavo Coronel has also told her down.

But apparently she did something improper as she is the only chavista of some weight that was also inhabilitada by Clodosvaldo, that is, barred from seeking political office without a trial. But that is not big deal for her: she obviously is not into electoral politics and besides now she has her own TV network, Canal I.

Canal I was inaugurated over a year ago by one of those chavista groups that made millions in half a decade of chavista rule (William Ruperti is the face). It is meant to be the counter weight of Globovision but, well, it is having trouble as it is just too obviously pro Chavez, not to mention far from the professional standards of Globovision or even Venevision (heck, not even a working web page!). I did try to watch it a few times, hoping that perhaps I would get a more palatable point of view of chavismo ideas. But quickly I realized that I was better off reading directly Aporrea or watching Alo Presidente on Sundays.

At any rate, Ruperti did hire Maripili to direct the new network. That was a gamble form the start as Maripili presided over the downgrading of VTV early in Chavez term. I think, in her discharge, that she did not agree with the 24/24 propaganda nature of VTV and found a way out. But her tenure was considered a failure and her jobs hereafter were in the great chavista tradition of mediocrity and incompetence. Then again, if Ruperti did not want to get into trouble with Canal I, hiring Maripli was a good move I suppose.

So Roger Santodomingo narrates in his article today how Maripili fired one of her journalists, Mairim Unamo, because she wanted to do a piece on the Antonini trial starting in Miami this week, as Miguel is following closely. That is right, Maripili Hernandez, once a defender of free speech is now your ordinary censor once her political side is threatened by an exploding scandal which revelations would undo any normal government. It will not undo this one because well, there is justice in the US but not in Venezuela.

This poses once again several questions. One, is what are chavistas thinking? How long can they pretend that what is happening in Miami is just a media conspiracy? That the 800 000 USD bag did not exist, or was just Antonini pocket money for his Argentina vacation? There is a point where you can legitimately start wondering about the mental capacity of these people such as Maripili who in a previous life had still some self respect. Now, the more the ship sinks the more willing they are to sink with it it, or so it seems.

But the answer to this first question can come from the second question: what is their concept of democracy? We have already seen that often: for chavista hard core defenders the only democratic credential chavismo, and Chavez, need is to win elections. The more often they win them, the more they are allowed to trample minority rights. That when they were a minority their rights were not that trampled, witness of it that eventually they came to power, does not seem to cross their feeble minds.

But what can you expect from true understudies like Maripli when her real boss this week attacked the opposition once again in a totally undemocratic way? Apparently Chavez was sore because the opposition is collecting signatures to protest the 26 laws from the enabling law and to send that to the OAS (I signed, by the way, did you?). Why is the opposition sending that to the OAS? Because there is no justice in Venezuela and because the High Court already approved some of these laws BEFORE they were known by the public in general, or a legitimate debate took place in the country.

So a very miffed Chavez replied to the folks gathering the petition that they were ridiculous and that what he should do is to ask for a new enabling law and stick to them 26 more decree laws. That is right, he just spoke like the neighborhood thug he is ("clavarle", with a sexual connotation), imposing his will and only interested in finding ways to screw his opponents and control his turf. HIS, is the operative word here. Not an ounce of democratic talent here. So, why should we expect democratic talent from Maripili?

But they are not making good progress. For all the efforts to ignore the Maletin, for all the self-censorship we saw for too long in the Venezuelan media (with the notable exception of Globovision and some bloggers who never forgot the issue), we are seeing again articles on the coming up trial making it to the front pages. Maripili might have fired Mairim but it might not be enough to save some of her superiors. Then again, we could ask a third question: is she able to understand what is going on in the country? I doubt it, the light in those attics was shuffled long before the country went blank today.

-The end-

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