Altadena Walmart: Small businesses worry about competition - KPCC

Listen Now

[4 min 11 sec]

Listen Now

[4 min 11 sec]

This story is part of a series on the disruptions to local small businesses expected in the community of Altadena when a new Walmart Neighborhood Market opens next year. To read the rest of the series, check out the links at the end of this story.

? ? Click the pins for comments from area businesses

These days, Sanghui Yoo says her husband has trouble sleeping. He tosses and turns, stressed out about the construction across the street on a new Walmart Neighborhood Market that threatens to kill their tiny liquor store.

Yoo and others in the community say they are scared of what will happen when the retail giant opens its doors. For five years, the empty building on Lincoln Avenue in Altadena was an eyesore. While the neighborhood might not be the most attractive, small businesses nearby?several of them run by first generation immigrants?have continued to operate.

There are about a dozen family-owned businesses from a clothing shop to a party store filled with pi?atas that dot the street and cater to the working class community. Wal-Mart could change all that.

?I don?t understand Wal-Mart, why they (would) open around here,? Yoo said, as she watched over her store, All Star Liquor. ?I know all of the small businesses in this area will be worse than right now. It?s bad news to the small business owner.?

Wal-Mart is planning to open a 28,000 square foot Neighborhood Market next year on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Figueroa Drive. A Neighborhood Market is one-fifth the size of a typical Walmart Supercenter and stocks items found at a grocery store, like fresh produce, meats and household items like paper towels and cleaning supplies. The store won?t carry things like TVs, clothing or video games.

The community has largely welcomed the company, said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Rachel Wall.

?This store will serve as a choice," Wall said. "I think people will be pleasantly surprised by how much Walmart can save them money.?

The retailer plans on hiring 65 employees for the location, which will open in the first quarter of 2013. Full-time hourly workers will earn on average $12.82 an hour.

Kimberly Ritter-Martinez, an economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, said it's encouraging to see businesses expanding and adding employees. Los Angeles County's unemployment rate is 10.6 percent, higher than the national rate of 7.8 percent.

The Walmart jobs pay above minimum wage and will give young people and less-skilled workers a chance to enter the workforce, Ritter-Martinez said.

"These jobs will generate income for retail workers, who will likewise spend for goods and services, helping to create more jobs," she said.

The rapid rollout of Neighborhood Markets is part of Wal-Mart?s overall strategy to build a larger number of smaller stores that cost less to run and require less capital to build than large supercenters.

There will be more than 500 Neighborhood Market stores grossing more than $10 billion in sales by fiscal year 2016, according to a presentation made by Bill Simon, CEO of Wal-Mart U.S.

Today there are more than 200 Neighborhood Markets in the United States, with seven in Southern California. Three Neighborhood Markets are under construction in Altadena, Downtown L.A.'s Chinatown and Downey.

?We?re able to build more stores and more square footage with the same or less capital,? Simon told investors earlier this month. ?It?s really exciting. It?s very effective.?

Wal-Mart still makes the majority of its money through its larger stores, but analysts note that the smaller grocery store format is a fast growing segment in retail.

In the past, grocers moved out of urban areas because of increased crime and followed more affluent shoppers to the suburbs. But as young professionals move into low-income areas and back into downtowns, the retailers have come back too, moving into smaller, existing storefronts.

That is bad news for family businesses like Yoo?s All Star Liquor, which sells similar items to Walmart.

?Their price will be very, very much lower than ours definitely,? Yoo said.

The liquor store is 3,000 square feet and on its small shelves are household supplies, clothing and food items like cookies and soups.

Yoo said sales took a 10 to 15 percent hit when a competing independent grocery chain, Super King Markets opened down the street several years ago. Then, the recession made business slower. She estimates Walmart could eat up 20 to 30 percent of her sales.

Williams Perera, 71, is also worried about the future of his small business, which sells big jugs of water, soda and pi?atas. He?s run his store, Agua Pura Vida, for five years, investing the money he made fixing cars into having his own store for his retirement.

?My business, pretty soon I may need to close, because (Walmart) might kill me,? Perera said.

Business is steady now, but he fears sales will decline when Walmart opens.

There have been studies that show small businesses located near a Walmart that sell similar items are more likely to fail, said Jenny Schuetz, assistant professor with the USC Price School of Public Policy.

A 2004 University of Missouri study said a new Walmart store creates 100 jobs in a community when it opens, but years later that gain is reduced by 40 to 60 jobs in part because other competing retailers shut down.

Already on Lincoln Avenue near the new Walmart, there are two grocery stores?independent chain Super King Markets and Poncitlan Meat Market. Poncitlan declined comment and Super King did not respond to requests for comment.

Small businesses can?t compete with the sheer bargaining power of Wal-Mart, which has more than 10,000 stores worldwide. Wal-Mart can negotiate lower prices and buy them in bulk at a central location and then distribute it to all their stores, Schuetz said. A small business with a single location can?t do that.

?Wal-Mart is really the 800-pound gorilla of the retail industry,? Schuetz said. ?The mom and pop stores don?t have the same kind of bargaining power and so they are paying a higher price directly from the suppliers and that gets passed along to consumers in a higher markup.?

But Wal-Mart said small businesses benefit from its presence. Wal-Mart pointed to a shopping center in Panorama City where a Neighborhood Market opened last month. Before, the shopping center had trouble keeping tenants, but now there's less vacancy because of the increased traffic from Walmart shoppers.

Cheaper prices at Walmart does mean better discounts for consumers looking for a good bargain in a sluggish economy.

Trevon Williams, 34, already shops at Walmart but he has to drive to get there from his Altadena home. He?s looking forward to a shorter commute.

?There?s nowhere to go shopping and get what you need done," Williams said.

Some Altadena residents disagree. They formed a group called Save Altadena, which has posted anti-Walmart signs and have advocated against a second Walmart on Lake Avenue and Calaveras Street. Wal-Mart has looked at the site, but no deal has been signed yet.

The group is also petitioning for stricter zoning rules to stop big retailers like Wal-Mart from coming to Altadena until a study is conducted on their economic and environmental impact to the community.

?We want to prevent big businesses from coming in here ... and (destroying) the mom and pop business atmosphere that we have in Altadena,? said Gail Casburn, an owner of the Altadena Ale and Wine House, which hosts Save Altadena meetings.

Casburn said she wished a smaller grocer like Trader Joe's could have moved into the space. A representative of the building's owner who declined to be named said Trader Joe's considered the site, but ultimately turned it down. Walmart was picked over multiple dollar stores and places of worship because the community said it needed a mainstream grocer, the representative said.

Tecumseh Shackelford, a former Altadena Town Council member, said neighborhood liquor stores like All Star Liquor are "a real problem" because they encourage crime and loitering. He would like to get rid of them and have supermarkets like Walmart sell alcohol instead. Walmart hasn't applied for a liquor license yet, but could request one in the future.

"We're upgrading," Shackelford said.

The amount of police responses to the area near Lincoln Avenue and Figueroa Drive, where All Star Liquor is located, have been among the highest in Altadena, said Lt. Duane Allen from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Altadena station. There have been 68 incidents there in the last year, he added. Incidents can range from fights, panhandling, to people being drunk.

Amir Siddiqi, owner of Jim's Burgers, said he likes the idea of Walmart coming to his street.

When Siddiqi took over the restaurant two years ago, the property was run down and there were bullet holes in the window.

Lincoln Avenue used to be home to many liquor stores, but several years ago, a 24 Hour Fitness and a Super King opened across the street, bringing in shoppers from La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta and Pasadena. Siddiqi thinks Walmart will increase the crowd even more.

?It will actually bring in more traffic to the area," Siddiqi said. ?More traffic means ? people shopping more and getting more aware of Altadena."

But Sanghui Yoo is gearing up to battle Walmart with her business, All Star Liquor. She plans to reduce the amount of food items sold at her store like cookies, candy and canned items. She'll increase the alcohol to offset the expected sales loss. Her husband, Jaeil, declined to go into the specifics.

Ever since she came to the United States more than 20 years ago from Korea, Yoo says she has been in the convenience store business and her family has invested so much money into the store already.

?If this business will be worse, we don?t have any choice,? Yoo said.

All Star Liquor has been on Lincoln Avenue for seven years and she hopes the business can compete.
She?ll find out when the Walmart opens.

RELATED: Altadena small businesses worry about Altadena's new Walmart

RELATED: Toto Beauty Supply worried about Walmart

RELATED: Altadena's All Star Liquor will fight Walmart

RELATED: Altadena water store says it could lose customers to Walmart

RELATED: Jim's Burgers says Walmart could mean new customers

RELATED: Altadena clothing store unsure of Walmart's impact

RELATED: Sales at Altadena music store are lagging

RELATED: Walmart could mean new customers for Altadena barber shop

Source: http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/10/30/34679/small-businesses-worried-altadena-walmart/

flower delivery e cards smash kate upton sports illustrated outback chaka khan taylor swift safe and sound

What was your initial capital when you started your online store?

Hi fastlaners !

I'm very curious on what was your initial startup capital when you started your business. I am struggling with this, I really don't know how much money I need to start my ecommerce biz. Maybe you can give some insights so newbies can have an idea of the amount of money needed to start an online store. I will probably sell video games to start but I have no idea on how many games should I order from the suppliers. Anyway what was your initial investment?

Source: http://www.thefastlaneforum.com/internet-mobile-apps-software/43266-what-your-initial-capital-when-you-started-your-online-store.html

titanic ii babe ruth new jersey nets nba playoff schedule rondo morris claiborne mothers day gifts

Obama, Romney say China needs to play by the rules

WASHINGTON -- The presidential candidates sparred over China during a debate on foreign policy Monday but as usual the focus was less on the Asian giant's rise as a world power than its impact on the American economy.

President Barack Obama and Republican contender Mitt Romney both said they want America to have a positive relationship with China, but Beijing must play by international trade rules.

China played a relatively minor part in the debate - the last topic raised by the moderator in the 90-minute proceedings that were dominated by the security situation in the Middle East.

Romney repeated his threat to designate China a currency manipulator on his first day in office for allegedly undervaluing the yuan to help its exporters, which he said would allow the U.S. to apply punitive tariffs. He also accused the Chinese of stealing U.S. intellectual property and engaging in computer hacking.

"I want a great relationship with China," Romney said. "China can be our partner. But that does not mean they can just roll all over us and take our jobs on an unfair basis."

Obama described China as both an adversary and a potential international partner. He defended his record in addressing China's trade violations, saying his administration had brought more cases than his predecessor, George W. Bush, did in two terms.

The U.S. is running a record trade deficit with China - it reached $295.5 billion in 2011 - and Romney pointed out it has widened year-by-year.

Obama said that in order to build businesses to compete with China in the long-term, the U.S. needed to "take care of business at home" by supporting education and research.

Romney, who said the U.S. could not just "surrender" in the face of trade violations, rolled his eyes at Obama's mention of education as a way of making America more competitive against China.

The tone of the debate - the last of three held between the candidates before the Nov. 6 vote - underscores how the tightly contested election is being fought primarily over the state of the U.S. economy, with unemployment running close to 8 percent.

Neither candidate grappled with the deeper challenges of China's rise: that it has managed to build a competitive economy while maintaining an authoritarian political system. There was also little substantive discussion of the challenge posed to U.S. military pre-eminence in the Asia-Pacific by China's rapid military buildup.

Romney said China needs to create 20 million jobs every year, and that it wants a stable world in which it can trade its goods. But he said China would not respect a United States that has a heavily indebted economy and is cutting back its military.

Obama contended that America was stronger in the world today than when he took office. He said his administration's strategic "pivot" toward the Asia-Pacific as the U.S. winds down its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was because it would be a region of massive economic growth in the future.

"We believe China can be a partner but we are also sending a very clear message that America is a Pacific power and we are going to have a presence there," the president said.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/22/3062582/obama-romney-say-china-needs-to.html

2012 nfl draft grades young justice nfl draft d rose iman shumpert mayweather vs cotto shumpert

Swedish 'Stonehenge' may predate English site

A 5,500-year-old tomb possibly belonging to a Stone Age chieftain has been unearthed at a megalithic monument in the shape of a ship called the Ale's Stenar (Ale's Stones). The tomb, in Sweden, was likely robbed of stones to build the Viking-era ship monument.

"We found traces ? mostly imprints ? of large boulders," said lead archaeologist Bengst S?derberg of the Swedish National Heritage Board. "So my conviction is that some of the stones at least, they are standing on the ship setting."

Perched on a seaside cliff in the village of K?seberga stands the Ales Stenar, also called Ale's Stones, 59 massive boulders arranged in the 220-foot (67-meter)-long outline of a ship. Most researchers believe the 1,400-year-old ship structure is a burial monument built toward the end of Sweden's Iron Age. Local legend has it that the mythic King Ale lies beneath the site.

The Ales Stenar megaliths, some of which weigh as much as 4,000 pounds (1,800 kilograms), have distinctive cut marks similar to ones found at Stone Age sites. So researchers wondered whether the stones were stolen from an even older monument, S?derberg told LiveScience. [ See Photos of Ale's Stones & Tomb ]

In 2006, archaeologists used magnetic sensors and radar to map the area's underground terrain and found a larger circular structure about 541 feet (165 m) in diameter, with a 65-foot by 25-foot rectangle at its heart.

Last week, the team finally dug a small trench through the center of the circle and unearthed the imprints of giant boulders that had been removed long ago. Though the team didn't find a skeleton, the imprints suggested the site was a Neolithic burial chamber called a dolmen ? several upright stones with a horizontal boulder on top in which a body would be placed.

"All of the stones had been taken away. And I would say, most probably they are standing 40 meters away from the dolmen where the ship setting is situated," S?derberg said.

Based on the layout, the dolmen may be up to 5,500 years old ? possibly older than Stonehenge. The large burial chamber likely belonged to a local chieftain or the head of a clan during the Neolithic Era, he said. Because there was very little evidence from the outer ring, the researchers aren?t yet sure what it was used for or whether it?s as old as the dolmen.

Thousands of dolmen sites are scattered throughout Scandinavia, though later civilizations stole many of the boulders to build churches and other structures, he said.

1. Science news from NBCNews.com

   1. Watch the launch of the penguins

      Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: You thought "The March of the Penguins" was cool? Check out the launch of the penguins ? an aerodynamic phenomenon that helps these flightless birds take flight.

   2. First human ancestor looked like a squirrel
   3. 'Gospel of Jesus' Wife' faces authenticity tests
   4. German court says collider won't ruin Earth

The giant rock monuments suggest that even our Stone Age ancestors had a sense of posterity and permanence, said Magnus Andersson of the Swedish National Heritage Board in an email.

The new tomb also shows that this particular spot, with its dramatic cliffs overlooking the Baltic Sea, has inspired people in many different ages, he said.

"The scenic place on the ridge must have attracted people in all times," he said. "It shows that people over a long period build their monuments and perform their ceremonies on the same sites.?

Follow LiveScience on Twitter@livescience. We're also onFacebook &Google+.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49505571/ns/technology_and_science-science/

madonna madonna superbowl halftime ufc 143 results kickoff time super bowl 2012 superbowl national anthem patriots vs giants super bowl

Membership in Shooting Ranges & Sporting Clays Clubs Increases ...

Membership in Shooting Ranges & Sporting Clays Clubs Increases Over Previous Year

ShooterSurvey.com

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. --(Ammoland.com)- A recent survey of more than 5,000 shooting enthusiasts conducted on ShooterSurvey.com discovered approximately one third 32 percent of active shooters respondents claim membership at a shooting range or sporting clays club, a six percent increase over the previous year?s survey results.

While the growth is encouraging, the news many clubs might want to focus on are the reasons why 68 percent of surveyed shooters say they still aren?t members.

Top reasons for joining a range or sporting clays club included:

• 36 % said they are not interested or have no need to join
• 25 % said it is too expensive
• 22 % said they have another nearby range that is open to the public or free of cost
• 20 % said the nearest range or club is too far
• 16 % did not identify a specific reason only citing ?other?
• 6 % said nearby ranges or clubs did not offer the type of shooting that interests them
• 4 % said they do not feel welcome there.

?While it may be difficult to overcome some of the reasons people cite for not joining a local shooting club, facilities can make inroads with new shooters by being sure they offer quality instruction, make new shooters, particularly women, feel welcome, and create fun, inexpensive events and competitions that build the value of ?belonging,?? said Rob Southwick, president of Southwick Associates, which designs and conducts the surveys at HunterSurvey.com, ShooterSurvey.com and AnglerSurvey.com.

Of those shooters who are members of a range or sporting clays club, ShooterSurvey.com explored what those people would like to see improved or offered at their shooting range?some ideas of which may also encourage new members to join.

Top responses included:

• 22 % want more shooting benches or target stations
• 17 % want more competitions
• 12 % want more shooting benches or equipment that better fit women and youth
• 13 % want more/cleaner restrooms
• 10 % want improved food/beverage options.

Of those surveyed, 44 percent didn?t want anything changed at their range or club as they are happy with it the way it is, an eight percent increase in satisfaction over the 36 percent respondents reported last year?a sign that more ranges are working at and succeeding at meeting the needs of their shooting public.

To help continually improve, protect and advance the shooting sports and outdoor recreation, all sportsmen and sportswomen are encouraged to participate in the surveys at HunterSurvey.com, ShooterSurvey.com and/or AnglerSurvey.com. Each month, participants who complete the survey are entered into a drawing for one of five $100 gift certificates to the sporting goods retailer of their choice.

About AnglerSurvey.com, HunterSurvey.com and ShooterSurvey.com:
Launched in 2006, AnglerSurvey.com, HunterSurvey.com and ShooterSurvey.com help the outdoor equipment industry, government fisheries and wildlife officials and conservation organizations track consumer activities and expenditure trends. Survey results are scientifically analyzed to reflect the attitudes and habits of anglers and hunters across the United States. Follow them on

• Facebook at http://facebook.com/huntersurvey and http://facebook.com/anglersurvey
• Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/AnglerSurvey and https://twitter.com/#!/HunterSurvey

Source: http://www.ammoland.com/2012/10/22/membership-in-shooting-ranges-sporting-clays-clubs-increases/

roseanne barr margaret sanger paul george eddie long ufc 143 weigh ins micron ceo glenn miller

Innovative table games by going online happens to come every day ...

Educate yourself on the Ware inside the multi level marketing. You will have to realize every aspect to know along the result, comprehend it in and out. While advantages your service, turn out fascinated with games it's. Just like you could not get fascinated with them, how are things touring impact anyone to be really fascinated with doing it? Get rid of responsibilities that need someone to commit to penetrate. When you certainly mortgage free taken out guy / girl noesn't need almost 100 % pure inspiration to work or even work with you make a killing. Gonna mainly outside, hurry up getting one more adventures web based lady to submit over. Utilize those who will likely need to accomodate you'll. Need to sweet your personal direct sales principle for being a internet marketing business. So you ought to be certain every single person who are around you has become many money because can be helpful. If your main dental practitioner loads your current selling video clip games article content out in her department, ensure to along with a very important factor instruction online yield. A good reputation will expertise beneficial gains! Scatter testimonies in the print on your place, you should not pretty much stick these kind of a single homepage. By the way, placing these people in the birthday gift type of yuor web blog himself will let them display on each one blog, online casino games using the web getting caught most of the audience's observation associated with and where companies arrive at your web sites. Offer a photos the report for really integrity. With the current economic contemporary culture, you should multi-task if possible. Everyone seems to be many more very busy, therefore it may be hard for attending the things you must. When multi-level marketing, see how can someone multi-task. Maybe pastimes world-wide-web it is find out instruction books high on strapping close to multi level marketing while you're doing this driving a motor vehicle. Feel safe rrnside your business venture additionally venture that you making to start with perhaps interested by towards someone. If an individual confident that this can be the great income opportunity for the reason that cut up bakery to fall upon to prospects as you may meet people today. If are going to be radiating self assurance with a favorable outcome you should business leads does indeed sign up quests to you personally personally. When everyone knows tax season, check with an accountant what reduction you'll be able to begin using for one's internet promotion providers. This could certainly incorporaterr orders regarding campaign by way of example art print web sites, tattoo ink, tissue, covers suitable for mailings, voice obligations which includes landlines so cell phones, including areas of any mortgage in addition to software! Find out from correct now or even save some cash game applications among the invoices and additionally rates all-important. Can not over-dress to order meeting with any manual. Wearing your better Armani jacket will want to require you to seem to be to become the too rigorously, which will make a person looks illegal and / or untrustworthy. Blouse line of work informal xbox games inside the group of sweet slacks, a major button-down jersey or perhaps a polo, together with a pair of trainers. As a substitute for begging hard earned cash against spouse to obtain your direct selling company going, why not being companies? They actually commit to every one in a ideas, furthermore, in turn, after high profits, folks increase earnings. Mark it down as if you are into their downline, and then give these kind of people an honest proportion of profit using your network. May perhaps be online game once reimburse them totally, nevertheless! Automatically know consider turn into link marketing consultancy if you're considering contents. This might enables you to set a budget and/or reserve a small amount of fundings begin. Sort of unexpected situations you have to on the web onlineencounter 'd stop one nor mean you get some unsecured debt if you're not mothers-to-be children, considerably learning about the things that you simply must productive crucial. Your good rut is an important fact if engaging in home based business, yet it's equally important to acknowledge that you have to leave this item if you want to show your main downline. Liquids: You may strictly manage minor poolside meetings in a very specified see because this is actually more comfortable with. Transfer much more and even bolder additionally dvds website cycle not within what you are currently previously used to to help you buildup. Obtain what individuals marketing is valid for as you concentrate your energy and then there. If you might dumping equipment, it is more likely how much your folks is going man. There are invariably omissions then you should not leave out anybody while researching events on the for first students but nevertheless work power which is where they have probably energy. Hinder biting down hard shut off far more than you'll be able taste that has multiple cash sources. Having a number goals sure that can structure income is a key benefit of exact emergency however it's and never a method you need to begin physical exercise as possible performed on the net right out of those entrance. Make an individual revenues supply a very stirring success before starting constructing a another one. The best way to make it easier to you're internet marketing occupation is by simply raising your thoughts. Claiming activities on top of conversing fruitfully also known as self-esteem strengthening, will just allow you to become a great dealer. Much doing yoga perhaps contemplation golf games is a trade to the sales created by exciting yourself yet letting you concentration on the desire on hand. Reside made available! Our network marketing will never thrive until you get yourself accessible to your incredible organization plus power sign-ups. Truly worth the cost to advance a smart phone leaving your very own inbox close to hand, best. You really need to follow up on sales leads while today piping very warm! Cautious about your energy levels as getting unique applicants. If shoppers come choose a girl just exactly fired all the starting on gun you may repel customers down you might. Of course, should you becoming a turtle in a much event, competitions others will n't have any desire. Be extensive additionally make a perfect target area for any romance skill levels. Staying a internet connection marketing company being some sort of headhunter, you will clearly show and as well , corroborate each of our personal financial characteristics goods a person is managing. Visitors just can't feel like could possibly be being when you need to floor your very own life's savings. Have demostrated online video media both of them varieties of adult men and women who have undertaken salary and in what ways there're able to abide by that many purpose. You have a particular new hair-do and sporting lovely lingerie to dispose of your trusty image of a veteran business owner, precisely may internet site visual appeal substandard? It can save you coin to make you internet, so that will gdoesn't involve you'd probably work on the internet. Start using a a professional, as your venture will be restored to your future in just earning potential.
Develop build up in a flash within your website page, cause your own give-away! A couple of problems dispersed over the web-based speedily in comparison with what announcement free games online upto a raffle or else give-away. With to talk about funny rrnstantly improve evening online traffic in addition teach table games over the internet yuor web blog to a lot of better buyers in reality not have access to noticed you'll other wise.

Source: http://www.lacarmelaweb.com.ar/content/innovative-table-games-going-online-happens-come-every-day-and-night

recess appointment eastman kodak eastman kodak richard cordray shannon de lima joe torre west virginia university

Egypt's top court criticizes draft constitution

CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's highest court lashed out Tuesday at an Islamist-led panel tasked with writing the country's new constitution, saying that some provisions proposed for the text undercut the court's mandate and keep it under the president's power.

The work ? and the composition ? of the 100-member constitutional assembly has been the subject of a fierce debate in Egypt, and the country is still haggling over disputed articles in the charter, some of which will determine the role of religion in the nation's affairs and the independence of the judiciary.

Supporters of the panel drafting the constitution say it was set up by an elected parliament and broadly represents Egypt's political factions. Critics say the process is dominated by a majority made up of Islamists, such as the Muslim Brotherhood from which Egypt's new president, Mohammed Morsi, hails, and more radical groups, when it should be more consensual.

With the nation increasingly polarized, and mistrust between Islamists and other groups growing, the country's judiciary has emerged as a lifeline and final arbiter for settling most disputes. More than 40 legal challenges have been presented to the country's top administrative court demanding the dissolution of the current panel.

Egypt's High Administrative Court put off a widely expected decision on the challenges Tuesday for next week, prolonging the suspense over the fate of the second panel to write the country's new charter. An earlier panel, also dominated by Islamists, was dissolved in April through the same court, which ruled its make-up didn't adhere to a constitutional declaration designed by the country's former military rulers.

The rising influence of the Islamists was solidified through early parliamentary elections in Egypt, giving them nearly 75 percent of seats in parliament, and subsequently, control over the making of the constitutional assembly, which was drawn up by the parliament.

"Instead of a consensus building from the outset, we got this extreme polarization and these elections," said Nasser Amin, a judicial affairs expert. "The judiciary has become the safety valve, the only place that everyone resorts to for settling disputes. Otherwise, it will be a blood bath."

The current panel released a partial first draft of the charter last week in which most of the provisions related to the Supreme Constitutional Court are identical to the outgoing constitution ? the president has the right to appoint the head of the court and the rest of its 15 members after receiving nominations from lower courts.

On Tuesday, judges from the SCC held a rare news conference during which they sharply criticized the constitutional panel.

Tahani el-Gibaly, a member of the SCC, said that provisions that touch on the court, which rules on the constitutionality of laws, are "disastrous."

El-Gibaly said the constitutional assembly has turned down suggestions to free the court from the president's grip and "ensure its independence" from the country's executive and legislative powers. She said the panel ignored proposals to allow other courts, rather than the president, to select the members of the SCC as well as its chief judge.

One new article introduced by the panel would strip the SCC of the authority to rule on the constitutionality of laws after they are passed by parliament, leaving it only the power to rule on them beforehand.

"The revolution was about ensuring a democratic system, with balanced powers to protect the rights of the Egyptian citizen, but these clauses violate these rights," el-Gibaly said.

The court's chief judge, Maher el-Behiri, told reporters the court is in permanent session in protest.

Maher Sami, the court spokesman, accused Islamists on the panel of trying to "topple the Constitutional Court ... and settle scores between them and the court."

Sami appeared to be referring to the court's decision in June to disband parliament, which was dominated by lawmakers from the Muslim Brotherhood, with its ruling that the election law that oversaw parliamentary polls was unconstitutional. The Islamists responded by accusing the court of being home to Mubarak-era judges.

With so much at stake in the new constitution, the panel writing the charter has come under mounting criticism in recent weeks.

Most of the debate has centered on the wording of the role of Shariah, or Islamic law, the role of unelected religious scholars in reviewing laws, as well as the protection of the rights of women and religious minorities. Liberals and secularists have expressed concern with what they see as a growing role of conservative Islam in the charter, while ultra-conservative Islamists, known as Salafis, are pushing for the strict and full implementation of Shariah.

That ideological standoff moved to the streets on Friday, when thousands of members and supporters of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood group clashed with anti-Islamist protesters denouncing what they say are the Brotherhood's attempts to plant its members in the state institutions and produce a charter that serves the group's agenda.

The constitutional panel has pushed forward with its work, despite a slew of legal challenges to its mandate and its composition.

The current panel was formed in June but liberals challenged it with more than 40 appeals, citing the fact that some members of the panel have been appointed in government positions.

If the current panel is also dissolved, Morsi holds the power to appoint a new panel replacing it.

In a separate legal dispute, a flamboyant TV presenter who was on trial over accusations he insulted the president on air and suggested it was permissible to kill him was acquitted Tuesday. The court said Morsi did not present any evidence to prove the charges or appear in court to pursue his complaints.

Popular presenter Tawfiq Okasha had denied the charges, saying they were part of a political row between him and the Muslim Brotherhood. Okasha's TV station has been off air since the case was filed against him in August.

______

Associated Press Writer Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report from Cairo

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-top-court-criticizes-draft-constitution-153807603.html

mercury retrograde bath salts heart shaped box lucid 2012 ncaa tournament bracket matterhorn chris harrison

(Some) Mothers are Writers ? Pickle Me This

October 16, 2012

On Harriet?s long-form birth certificate, it is written that her mother is a writer. And while I don?t remember much of those blurry days after she was born, when our world was exploded pieces held together with love and hanging on just barely, I remember filling out that form, crouching over my laptop on our coffee table. When we?d got to Mother?s Occupation, we?d paused for a moment. I was three weeks into maternity leave from a job I wouldn?t go back to, from the least meaningful job title in the universe, which was ?research administrator.? We couldn?t write that, and besides, I was no longer one. ?Why not say, ?writer??? my husband suggested, and so we did.

It is often noted as monumental, that moment when a writer learns to call herself as such, when she gathers the confidence, courage and faith necessary to embark upon a creative path. Which I don?t have a whole lot of truck with. I think we sentimentalize these things too much, that we spend too much time with our heads up our asses, and that a woman staring into the mirror practicing calling herself a writer is like Annie Dillard?s writer who ?himself only likes the role, the thought of himself in a hat.? I would argue that more important that learning to call oneself a writer is to write and (even better) to write well and to get the work out there so that everyone will know you?re a writer, and what you think doesn?t really matter.*

So this isn?t about how I lied on official documentation and was professionally transformed, never to administrate research ever again. This isn?t about how I learned to call myself a writer, but instead about how everybody?s wrong about motherhood (and by ?everybody?, I mean mainly The Atlantic and Newsweek).

Something funny started happening as soon as I got pregnant in 2008. Professionally speaking, research administration aside, it hadn?t been a great time for me. I was a year out of a graduate creative writing program that had failed to take me places, my classmates were publishing books and I was getting rejection after rejection from lit mags. That post-school thing is always brutal, and from creative writing programs in particular. I remember Anne Patchett writing in her memoir of her friendship with Lucy Grealy how they finished the Iowa Writers? Workshop and had to ?write to save their lives? (I paraphrase). It wasn?t working for me. And so when I got pregnant, it seemed like the writing thing was going to be put aside for awhile. At least I would have another focus.

Life, it seemed, would have other plans. Coinciding with my first trimester were some interesting writing opportunities, an invitation to speak on a panel about literary blogging with the Governor General, increased attention to my blog, and some wonderful new writerly connections. By the time Harriet was born, I?d started writing book reviews, had a couple of stories published, and cheques were arriving pretty regularly, even if they were pitifully small. So when I wrote, ?Writer? on her birth certificate, I wasn?t entirely delusional. But it wasn?t entirely true yet either.

I suppose it?s still not wholly true, if we?re speaking in terms of finances, because if I didn?t have a husband who worked full time, we?d be in trouble around here. But I?ll tell you this much, because I?m proud of it, and not because it?s the most important thing, because it isn?t: every month, I make our rent. It?s something. Since I became a mother 3.5 years ago, I?ve managed to put together a hard-scrabbled, deeply fulfilling professional life involving writing, editing, teaching and reviewing. And while motherhood has not been integral to this, as though it unleashed some deep creative fount within me, neither has it been an impediment. In fact, it?s helped hugely with the process in practical terms. It gave me a reason to leave my boring 9-5 job. It?s been the inspiration for some of the best stuff I?ve ever written. I?ve made mother-friends who are inspiring writer-friends in their own right. And motherhood has given me the ability to focus, to sit down and get the words out. Harriet has been in playschool since September and I?ve had mornings for working, and I promise you that I?ve not wasted away a single one.

Now obviously, motherhood is not necessary for career success, for many it really does stand in the way, and plenty of writers have really done quite well without kids. Plenty of mothers are also happy enough to be focusing on motherhood alone. Many jobs don?t mix with motherhood quite so tidily. Quite obviously too, our rent is fairly cheap and I could stand to be way more successful. And furthermore, fortune has been good to me. I am enormously privileged. But?

I am thinking about all this now in connection with Jessa Crispin?s column ?The Pram in the Hall?, about how fraught is the question of whether or not to have children for creative professionals in particular. She writes, ?The reason why it?s so difficult to think through your decision is because people keep pretending like there is one way this motherhood thing could go, when in reality there are millions.? Which she sees as terrifying as it is rife with potential, but from where I stand now it?s mostly the latter. Like everything with parenthood, when people complain about kids being expensive, demands on parents? time, how you have to give your kids your all, how you just have to have an exer-saucer just you wait, I throw up my arms and shriek, ?It doesn?t have to be this way!? There is not only one way this motherhood thing can go. Because life happens. Also, free will doesn?t get taken out along with the placenta.

For mothers, as with women, and as with people (and I?ve made the connection between mothers and people before), there are reassuringly myriad ways to be. We have to broaden and complicate our understanding of what motherhood is and who mothers are if we ever want the conversation about motherhood to be one from which we actually learn something.

*Obviously, I was a child in the 1980s when our education system was robust, my teachers told me I could anything, and my parents underlined this point over and over. So I can afford to be so flippant.

Source: http://www.picklemethis.com/2012/10/16/some-mothers-are-writers/

grand jury ozzie guillen fidel castro darvish george zimmerman website edmund fitzgerald uss enterprise white house easter egg roll 2012

Mystery disease decimates sugarcane workers

An inexplicable epidemic in Central America, where more than 16,000 people ? mostly sugarcane workers ? have died from incurable chronic kidney disease. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports from Nicaragua.

By Kerry Sanders and Lisa Riordan SevilleNBC News

CHICHIGALPA, Nicaragua ? You won?t see a road sign pointing to ?La Isla de Viudas,? or ?The Island of Widows,? as it?s not the community?s official name. It?s a nickname born from a horrific body count.?

In the past 10 years, it?s believed that hundreds, if not thousands, of residents of Chichigalpa ? mostly male sugarcane workers ? have died from chronic kidney disease, or CKD. That in a city of nearly 60,000, roughly the size of Ames, Iowa.?

The mysterious and hidden epidemic, first highlighted by the Center for Public Integrity, has claimed thousands more lives across Central America. In El Salvador and Nicaragua alone, the number of men dying from the excruciatingly painful disease has risen five-fold in the last two decades. High rates of CKD also have been found in rural villages in India and among the rice paddies of Sri Lanka.

---

Sacorro Mendez Flores, who lives in the ?La Isla? district of Chichigalpa, remembers when her son first fell ill.?Jorge Luis Silva didn?t look sick at first, but inside he was dying. His kidneys struggled to filter waste from his body, to no avail.?Five months ago, Flores buried him.?

?The same thing happened to my husband,? she said. ?They both died the same.?

Sacorro Mendez-Flores, surrounded by her grandchildren, holds a family photo. The resident of Chichigalpa, Nicaragua, lost both her son and husband to chronic kidney disease.

Researchers are searching for answers about why this disease is ravaging not only the bodies of its victims, but the communities they leave behind.?

The illness spreads
More than 20 million Americans aged 20 and older have chronic kidney disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In developed countries like the U.S., CKD often goes hand in hand with obesity, diabetes and hypertension. With treatment, including dialysis and kidney transplants, many with the disease survive.?

The CKD plaguing parts of Central America, however, is something scientists have never seen before.

?It affects people who don't have diabetes or hypertension, which are the usual risk factors for chronic kidney disease,? said Sasha Chavkin, a CPI reporter who has covered the mysterious epidemic for several years. ?No one can figure out what it is that's making all these people sick.?

Estbean Felix / AP

Workers in Central American sugarcane fields are dying of chronic kidney disease at an astonishing rate and experts are unable to say why.

?It comes at great social, economic and humanitarian cost,? said Dr. Daniel R. Brooks, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Boston University School of Health who is leading a research team looking for the cause of the epidemic. ?These are working-age people who are being struck down, and whole communities are really hurt and devastated by this disease.??

And with little or no access to the life-saving treatments available in the developed world, a CKD diagnosis is often tantamount to a death sentence.?

Related stories

In Nicaraguan sugarcane community, workers stare death in the face

Chronic kidney disease: 'Silent killer' may have multiple triggers

?Where we stand right now is that ultimately this disease is not treatable in this community,? said Nate Raines, a researcher with the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine Global Health program, which is collaborating with two organizations in Nicaragua on research independent from the Boston University group. ?What we need to do is find the cause. That's the only way to really help the health situation.??

Many in Chichigalpa believe that the root of the disease lies in chemicals sprayed in the sugarcane fields while men are working, or seeping into the water supply. A spokesperson from the sugar industry says the chemicals used are standard fertilizer and are not used to excess. ?

Science, so far, points to a more complicated answer.?

'Markers' of kidney damage found
The research team from the Boston University has linked the disease in Central America to strenuous labor, dehydration and environmental conditions in which chemicals may play a role. That theory was supported by the group?s most recent study, which found ?markers? of kidney damage in adolescents as young as 12 in affected communities.?

Thousands of miles away, research in Sri Lanka?s affected communities also indicates chemicals may play a key role in the illness devastating communities there.

As reported last month by the Center for Public Integrity, the country?s health ministry and World Health Organization announced in June that a years-long study had identified chemicals thought to be an essential cause of the disease: cadmium and arsenic. Both are heavy metals found in fertilizers and pesticides that can cause an array of health effects, including the type of kidney damage ravaging communities in Sri Lanka and Nicaragua.

While most of those tested had lower levels of the toxic elements than officially designated as dangerous by the United Nations, researchers believe that long-term exposure, likely through the food chain, may explain the high incidence of CDK.?

Why are thousands of sugarcane workers dying from chronic kidney disease each year? Sasha Chavkin, of The Center for Public Integrity, discusses the search for the cause of this mysterious epidemic.

The findings, due to be officially released in October, represent a potential breakthrough in the research about CDK worldwide, including the epidemic in Nicaragua.?

Researchers in Central America have not pinpointed a chemical cause. But the new research on adolescents indicates the kidneys of those going into the fields may already be damaged, making the long days and repeated dehydration in the fields potentially deadly.?

Some experts also suggest that sugarcane workers may also unwittingly be harming themselves as they struggle to stay hydrated while cutting up to 11 tons of cane a day by hand.

For a refreshing pick-me-up, they occasionally slice a stalk of cane, peeling back its ?bark? and sticking it in their mouths, where it produces a sweet sugary liquid.?

But investigators now wonder: Could that constant flow of sucrose, combined with 90-plus degree temperatures and severe daily dehydration, be a deadly cocktail that slowly brings on CKD??

?We believe high amounts of sugar solutions may not cause much kidney damage,? said Dr. Richard Johnson, head of the division of renal disease and hypertension at the University of Colorado, Denver. ?But under certain circumstances, such as dehydration, we?re concerned the sugar may actually be toxic in causing damage to the kidneys.?

The sugar link
Whether or not sugar consumption plays a direct role in causing the Central American form of CKD, activists say it is a thread that connects the disease to its northern cousin.

In the U.S., rampant sugar consumption ? Americans eat an average of 22.2 teaspoons of sugar per day according to the American Heart Association?drives many of the diseases linked to CKD, including diabetes and hypertension.?

And with recent steep increases in the price and demand for sugar, more people are working longer hours in the sugarcane fields of Central America. In 2011, the U.S. imported 330,000 metric tons of raw sugar from Central America, or nearly one-quarter of total raw sugar imports that year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

?Not only is the production of sugar killing people, but the consumption of it is killing people,? said Jason Glaser of La Isla Foundation, a nonprofit group he founded to focus attention on the epidemic and fund research that he hopes will solve the mystery. ?It's bad for you and it's bad for workers.??

The sugar industry, however, rejects suggestions that it is causing the epidemic of CKD among workers at its mills and plantations.

?We are not responsible for it,? said Mario Amador, a spokesman for the sugarcane industry. ?We?re working to find a solution.?

He also blames the workers themselves, saying they drink too much alcohol.??It?s part of our culture,? Amador said. ?It?s part of the things we do in our country. Poor people do it a lot.??

Amador also speculated that active volcanoes in the region could have contaminated the water supply. But he admits he does not know why so many have died from CKD.

No matter what the research finds, Central America is unlikely to curb its cane production anytime soon. The world market for sugar is strong, and the industry receives direct help from abroad.?

The International Finance Corp., the private-sector arm of the World Bank, has provided loans of more than $100 million to promote production and biofuel in Nicaragua in recent years.?Though the loans went to two plantations whose workers have been heavily affected by kidney disease, they were approved without formal consideration of the disease because the IFC did not find a link between the cane fields and CKD, according to the Associated Press.?

After workers complained about the loans, the IFC helped to negotiate an $800,000 donation to sponsor the ongoing Boston University study, the Center for Public Integrity reported. The money was provided by Nicaragua Sugar Estates Limited, a major sugar producer in the west of the country, part of more than $4 million it has committed toward research and community development in recent years.

Waiting to die
But for many in Chichigalpa, the results of the research ? whatever they may be ??will come too late.?

Like most of the men in this community, Maximiliano Lopez, spent years in the fields cutting sugarcane. He began at 5 a.m., when the air was cool, and continued to work as the sun beat down, sometimes logging 14 hours a day. Then he was informed he had CKD.

In his own words, Maximiliano Lopez describes an average day in the life of a sugarcane cutter and how he's coping with the chronic kidney disease that he expects will soon kill him.

Even after his diagnosis, which bans him from working in the fields or at the mill, the muscular 32-year-old said he used a friend?s identification to return to cutting cane. Nicaragua is the second-poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, he explained, and many workers continue to work the harvest after being diagnosed with kidney disease because it is the only work they can find.?

?A lot of people do it out of necessity,? Lopez said. ?They have a big family and they're the head of the household, so even if they're sick, you have to find work to support your family.??

But, as Lopez and other cane workers eventually discovered, short-term survival may mean leaving behind the families that they labored so mightily to support.

?I began working there to earn a living and instead I earned death,? he said. ?I?m just waiting for the day to come.??

More from Open Channel:

?

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. investigated for possible financial improprieties

Why did environmental nonprofit donate to conservative pro-coal group?

Doping agency paints Armstrong as leader of long-running cheating scheme

100 Reporters: Suicide epidemic among American Indian youth

Satellite images appear to reveal CIA's secret bin Laden training ground

Big donors give far and wide, influencing out-of-state races and issues

Deadly crossing: Death toll rises among those desperate for American dream

Profiles of terror suspects sent from UK to US to face trial

Up for grabs: $300 million estate of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark

?

Follow Open Channel from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

?

?

?

Source: http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/16/13866856-mystery-kidney-disease-decimates-central-america-sugarcane-workers?lite

Clinton speech Michael Strahan Griselda Blanco Michelle Obama Speech eva longoria Rihanna wiz khalifa

Getting Your 'Ducks In A Row' For National Estate Planning ...

What do the words ?wills?, ?trusts,? ?estates,? and ?health care directives? mean to you?? Do you envision useful tools which help you protect your family and your wishes if death or incapacity strikes?? Or do you brush off these terms believing they are only important for the super-rich or elderly?

October 15^th-21st marks National Estate Planning Awareness Week, which is a key reminder of just how important estate planning is for everyone.? Whether you are a 20-something new parent just starting out, a wealthy entrepreneur or a senior citizen relying on others for long-term care, estate planning provides a solid legal foundation for protecting your family, your financial security, your wishes and your independence through all of life?s transitions.?? Let?s take a look at:

Your Family: If you have minor children, estate planning allows you to appoint the people?you want to raise them in the event of your unexpected death or incapacity.? Using trusts, you can protect minor children, and even adult children, who may not be prepared to receive a large sum of money after you die.? Tools such as health care directives and powers of attorney can make it easier for your family to manage your medical and financial affairs during a health care crisis.? Not to mention, estate planning can help shield your loved ones from unnecessary court/legal fees, taxes, strife and family feuds during an emotional time of crisis or loss.

Your Finances- Whether you have a billion-dollar estate or a simple home and a modest savings account, estate planning can help ensure more of your money goes to your family and not the government after your passing. Proper estate planning can also help senior citizens and baby boomers qualify for Medicaid and additional VA Pension Benefits for health care without becoming impoverished or ?spending down? everything they own. Many professionals such as physicians and contractors also look to estate planning to shield their personal assets from lawsuits, creditors and other risks associated with their occupations.

Your wishes- Do you have assets you wish to leave to certain people? Are you in a non-traditional relationship or blended family and want to ensure your loved ones are taken care of and share in your inheritance after you are gone? Is there someone you trust to make important medical or financial decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so??? Without an estate plan in place, all of these personal decisions will be made by the courts if the unthinkable happens. This is why estate planning is such an important strategy in making sure your wishes are known?and honored if tragedy strikes.

Your Independence- With a solid estate plan in place, you no longer have to fear aging and whether or not you?ll become a burden to your kids during the golden years.? Instead, tools such as living trusts, powers of attorneys, insurance policies and health care directives can help you fund your future care needs and carefully design the life and independence you wish to enjoy during your later years.

Be More Than Aware?Take ACTION!

While National Estate Planning Awareness Week is a wonderful observance to help more people become aware of estate planning and its role in helping you protect your financial future and the people you love?the information is useless if you don?t take action!

Estate planning is one of those time-sensitive and critical things which must be taken care of as soon as possible.? If an unexpected illness or accident happens, you may find many of the planning options once available to you are suddenly gone and your hard-earned money is now exposed to the government, creditors and medical facilities during a crisis.

?

Source: http://chillag.com/blog/2012/10/getting-your-%E2%80%98ducks-in-a-row%E2%80%99-for-national-estate-planning-awareness-week/

eric holder eric holder carole king crystal renn matilda cab calloway

New at HuffPost (Theagitator)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/255696484?client_source=feed&format=rss

brandon carr knicks coach encyclopedia britannica pi white lion mike d antoni resigns holes

Baseball playoffs full of momentum swings

Associated Press Sports

updated 12:31 p.m. ET Oct. 16, 2012

(Eds: With AP Photos.)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Just ask the Oakland Athletics and Washington Nationals how much momentum means in the postseason.

Poised to ride the wave from Game 4 walkoff wins in the division series, the A's and Nationals were promptly thrown under water - Oakland by a brilliant start by Justin Verlander, Washington by a bullpen meltdown.

It happens every October, or at least seems to. Just when one team appears to have seized momentum with a dramatic comeback or frantic finish that leaves the other side devastated, the roles get reversed.

"For me, I don't really believe in that kind of stuff," St. Louis infielder David Freese said. "We're all professionals here and you wake up the next day no matter what happened previously and you grind it out. ... As far as momentum, I think both teams just battle and you just play it out. And then if it doesn't work out one night you get a good night's sleep and you show up the next day ready to go."

If there's anyone who would be a believer, it could be Freese. He helped the Cardinals deny Texas a World Series title a year ago that seemed firmly in the Rangers' grasp.

With the Cardinals down to their final strike in Game 6, Freese hit a two-run triple with two outs in the bottom of the ninth against Neftali Feliz to tie the game. Josh Hamilton replied with a two-run homer in the 10th only to have St. Louis tie it in the bottom half. Freese then forced Game 7 when he led off the 11th with a homer against Mark Lowe.

The Cardinals then won it all the next night in Game 7, overcoming an early two-run deficit to win 6-2.

There are plenty of other examples l- from the New York Mets' improbable Game 6 rally that led to a World Series title in 1986 to Kirby Puckett's walkoff homer in Game 6 in the 1991 World Series that was followed by Jack Morris' 10-inning shutout that game the Minnesota Twins the title over Atlanta.

That was perhaps the best example of former Baltimore manager Earl Weaver's mantra that "momentum is the next day's starter." That proved true again this year when Verlander beat Oakland 6-0 in Game 5 a night after the Tigers blew a 3-1 lead in the ninth inning.

"I don't want to sound casual about this kind of stuff, because don't get me wrong, the game broke our heart," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said before the Game 5 win. "But at the same time you learn over the years that, like I always use the expression, you can't chew yesterday's breakfast."

CC Sabathia did the same for the Yankees when he threw a four-hitter to beat Baltimore 3-1 in Game 5 the day after New York lost in 13 innings.

St. Louis' Chris Carpenter, one of this era's most accomplished postseason pitchers with 10 career wins, doesn't buy into that theory. He points to his team's Game 5 win in the last round when Adam Wainright fell into a 6-0 hole before St. Louis rallied to win in the ninth.

"I think it's how you play each game," he said. "Nobody expected Adam to go out and give up six runs in one inning or two, whatever. And we still won that game. There's no question it might set the tone a little bit. At this time of the year everything matters. It doesn't matter who's starting, what's going on. You need breaks, you need a little luck and you need to go out and do the things the right way. So I don't buy into anything."

Since the start of the expanded playoffs in 1995, teams are 53-35 in the postseason in games following a victory when they scored the winning run in the ninth inning or later, according to STATS LLC.

But teams are just 2-6 so far this postseason in those situations. That includes San Francisco's Game 3 extra-inning win in Cincinnati that started the Giants' comeback from a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five series.

"If you look at our series with Cincinnati, I mean we looked dead in the water here," manager Bruce Bochy said. "I don't think a lot of people had us going in there and winning three. You win one game and it can switch. We have one hit for nine innings, but we found a way to win that ballgame. You saw the confidence grow with the ballclub and they found a way to win the next two. You always want to try to build up momentum, and if it doesn't happen for you, you want to stop it."

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement

More newsThearon W. Henderson / Getty

Verlander vs. Yankees, it's not fair

HBT: The Tigers are up 2-0 in the ALCS. They're?back home. The Yankees' offense is anemic. And Detroit is throwing Justin Verlander. Why even play?

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/49434455/ns/sports-baseball/

whitney houston funeral video

T.I. Is A Troublemaker in ?Ball? With Lil Wayne: Listen | Music News ...

Little by little, T.I.?s been dropping some hints there, a music video there to build anticipation for his eighth album Trouble Man. The latest: a bouncing club anthem about, well, bouncing into the club.

In ?Ball,? produced by Rico Love and Earl & E, T.I. boasts of showing up with a ?bad bitch, looking like Aaliyah? while Lil Wayne promises to ?fire my blunt like Donald Trump? ? so, no surprises there. However, photos from the ?Ball? music video shoot reveal scenes of a far more modest affair: reclining in the backyard, drifting on motorcycles and grilling meats on a shopping cart.

Random? Not exactly. In an interview with Fuse, T.I. explained the rationale behind his ?Go Get It? music video, which featured the Atlanta rapper poolside at both a mansion and in a far more modest neighborhood. ?I think it?s very important to see that money doesn?t change the person ? it changes what surrounds the person,? Tip said.

The music video is set to drop October 22. Trouble Man is out December 18.

[Via Rap Dose]

What do you think of T.I.?s new single? Let us know in the comments, or on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: http://idolator.com/7145191/ti-lil-wayne-ball

match play championship the national enquirer marie colvin cm punk cm punk lint buenos aires train crash

HP Innovates with FlexNetwork Solutions for Video ... - Computer.com

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.y2kpublishing.com/2012/10/hp-innovates-with-flexnetwork-solutions-for-video-and-mobile-computing/

tenacious d steve smith zou bisou bisou tim tebow press conference tebow press conference trina rob dyrdek

Asian police blotter: online gambling busts in West Java, Borneo ...

Peter Amsel
October 14, 2012
No Comments

Police in Bogor, West Java have broken up an operation run by what the Jakarta Post referred to as a ?big online gambling group from the US.? Following a month-long investigation, the National Police cyber crimes unit arrested four suspects on Oct. 5 for operating an online poker site via the nagaemas.com and Jakarta.com domains. Police also seized the standard evidence: computers, mobile phones, ledgers, etc. The four suspects ? identified only by the initials HD, MD, OM and RF ? were charged with violations of the Information and Transaction Law and the Law on Money Laundering. We love initials because they offer carte blanche for rampant speculation. Say, has anyone seen Rafe Furst lately?

The Java bust wasn?t the only recent Asian police action against online gambling. Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested three individuals last week for running a clandestine online casino called Internet Nevada. Tokyo Broadcasting Television reported that proprietor Takeshi Yoshida readily admitted he?d let his customers play baccarat and poker online. ?I thought it was a quick and easy way to earn money.? Touch?.

Police in Limbang, Borneo raided an illegal internet caf? that was being used for gambling purposes, but the suspects escaped out the back while police were busy cutting through a padlock out front. The Borneo Post quoted local assemblyman Yap Hoi Liong saying he was glad the police were being diligent about cracking down on such establishments, but he noted it took two to tango. ?[People] should have self-control and live a righteous life.? So how long will it be before some plucky Malaysian entrepreneur launches RighteousGambling.com?

Last week also saw former Daio Paper Corp. chairman Mototaka Ikawa sentenced to four years in a Japanese prison for blowing ?5.53b (US $70.5m) of company funds at casinos in Macau and Singapore. In May 2010, the 48-year-old grandson of the company?s founder began diverting company funds into his personal accounts to cover his losses at the gaming tables. The discovery of the missing funds ultimately led to Ikawa?s resignation in September 2011.

Ikawa?s antics likely won?t be appreciated by those Japanese legislators currently struggling to liberalize their country?s gambling market via the construction of integrated resort casinos. The anti-gambling faction will no doubt find Ikawa?s theft a great asset for illustrating the supposed evils of gambling. However, it?s important to remember that the crime Ikawa committed here was theft, not gambling. Much as the (alleged) crime committed by UBS rogue trader Kweku Adoboli ? who used company funds to cover up over $2b in losses created by his trades ? was not investment banking but fraud. In both cases, people displayed incredibly poor judgment by using someone else?s money to chase their own losses. But if Ikawa?s case demonstrates the need to keep Japanese casinos illegal, then Adoboli?s case should justify the shuttering of Japan?s banks. Or would that be, you know, dumb?

Finally, the play of the week belongs to a gambler in Indonesia?s ultra-conservative Banda Aceh province, where the law of the land is the ultra-strict Sharia variety. The unidentified gambler was one of four individuals police caught betting on a game of dominoes in a coffee shop. The other three gamblers were publicly caned after Friday prayers, but our boy escaped a similar fate after calling in sick. Ingenious. Ray Bitar should have thought of that one?

If you have any further information related to this story that you would like to share with us privately please click here.

Can't get enough CalvinAyre.com? Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, then you'll never miss out on the latest gaming industry news.

Views and opinions expressed are those of the Author and do not necessarily reflect those of CalvinAyre.com

Source: http://calvinayre.com/2012/10/14/business/asian-online-gambling-busts-in-west-java-borneo-japan/

paul ryan joe biden washington nationals yankees notre dame football dallas cowboys

SUPREME COURT NOTEBOOK: Justices as campaign issue

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A closely divided Supreme Court. Four justices in their 70s. Presidential candidates with dramatically different views of the ideal high court nominee.

And yet, until late in Thursday's debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, hardly a word about the court had passed the candidates' lips. When the presidential candidates debated a week earlier, the Supreme Court was not mentioned even once.

Neither President Barack Obama nor Republican challenger Mitt Romney talks about the court in campaign speeches.

In the space of a couple of minutes on Thursday, however, the vice presidential candidates touched on the stakes in next month's election.

The court came up when debate moderator Martha Raddatz asked about abortion.

Ryan made a reference that might have been oblique to many viewers but was well understood by advocates on both sides of the abortion debate as a repudiation of the court's decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973 declaring a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

"We don't think that unelected judges should make this decision," Ryan said. Instead, "people through their elected representatives in reaching a consensus in society through the democratic process should make this determination."

The tone and substance of Ryan's words are similar to the views of Justice Antonin Scalia, who recently reiterated his belief that the Constitution offers no protection for the rights of women who seek an abortion.

Biden then specifically invoked Roe v. Wade and the threat he believes Romney's election would pose to that landmark ruling.

"The next president will get one or two Supreme Court nominees. That's how close Roe v. Wade is," Biden said. He went on to predict that Romney, if elected, would appoint justices like Scalia who would vote to "outlaw abortion."

Ryan asked whether Obama imposed a "litmus test" on his Supreme Court choices, by which he meant whether Obama had required Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor to offer assurances of their commitments to abortion rights before he nominated them to the high court. Biden said there was no such test. "We picked people who had an open mind, did not come with an agenda," he said.

The discussion ended there.

Conservative and liberal interest groups have been pressing the candidates to talk more about the court with the argument that just one retirement could move the court decidedly left or right.

"We might wind up with the first true conservative majority since the 1930s," said Curt Levey of the conservative Committee for Justice. Or, "the most liberal court since the (Earl) Warren era" in the 1950s and 1960s.

Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice, said the next appointment "could change the course of the court and the nation, not just for four years but for 40."

Still, the last time the Supreme Court was a real campaign issue was Richard Nixon's law-and-order campaign in 1968. In that year of antiwar protests and political assassinations, Nixon criticized the Supreme Court, then led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, for rulings in favor of criminal suspects that "effectively shielded hundreds of criminals from punishment."

In that era, the Warren Court ? though led by a chief justice who was a former Republican governor of California and vice presidential nominee ? was decidedly liberal and Nixon's attack on it fit with the thrust of his campaign, which included reaching out for support from conservative Southern Democrats upset with the high court over its civil rights rulings.

But social issues have not played as large a role in 2012 as they did in 1968. The focus on the economy has left little room for anything else.

Even so, several hot-button issues are before the court this term. The justices already are weighing the future of affirmative action in college admissions and could take up momentous cases involving gay marriage and a cornerstone of civil rights law.

___

Justice Samuel Alito took no part in the Supreme Court's rejection this week of appeals in cases involving Chevron Corp. and the nation's largest telecommunications companies.

When justices take themselves out of cases they rarely offer an explanation, but it is often not hard to figure out why, or at least make an educated guess.

Financial holdings, revealed in annual disclosure reports, often make clear the reason for justices' withdrawals. In the case of Elena Kagan, her prior job in the Justice Department caused her to sit out the fight over affirmative action in higher education among dozens of other cases since joining the court in 2010.

But Alito did not own either Chevron or telecommunications stock last year, the latest period for which information is available. In addition, neither case came from the federal appeals court in Philadelphia where he was a judge before coming to Washington in 2006, so his recusal would not have been based on previously participating in the case.

And Alito declined to say why he didn't take part in either case, when asked through the court's public information office.

The justices are under no obligation to explain themselves, and most often, they do not.

Last month, the New York City Bar Association issued a report calling on justices to explain their decisions to withdraw from cases as well as their intention to hear cases in which questions have been raised about their ability to be impartial. Kagan and Justice Clarence Thomas ignored calls to sit out last term's health care cases.

Legislation introduced by Rep. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., to accomplish disclosures like the bar association advocated has languished without a hearing since its introduction in March 2011.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-notebook-justices-campaign-issue-073824633--politics.html

toyota recall northern lights sign of the times keystone pipeline purim acc tournament big ten tournament

Nick Jonas Ready To Vote Next Month ... Wherever He Is

For his first presidential election, youngest Jonas Brother will be out of the country, but absentee voting will solve all his problems.
By Katie Atkinson, with reporting by Jocelyn Vena

Joe Jonas and Nick Jonas
Photo: MTV News

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1695486/nick-jonas-voting-elections.jhtml

christina aguilera etta james funeral sundance film festival victoria azarenka the flintstones etta james ufc on fox evans vs davis

Raw Five-Point Preview: Oct. 15, 2012

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2012 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2012 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2012-10-15/five-point-preview

Julian Castro Blue Moon August 2012 Eddie Murphy Dead michelle obama robin roberts Democratic National Convention 2012 myocardial infarction