Is Vocal Fry Ruining My Voice?
Voice experts Lee Akst, M.D., and Kristine Pietsch, M.A., explain how we use vocal fry and its effect on your vocal health.
Yeah, I use vocal fry. So what?
What do the Kardashians, Zooey Deschanel and Katy Perry all have in common? They all are well-known for their use of vocal fry, a creaky voice tone. But women aren't the only ones using vocal fry —men use it too.
Vocal fry is the lowest register (tone) of your voice characterized by its deep, creaky, breathy sound.
When you speak, your vocal cords naturally close to create vibrations as air passes between them. Like a piano or guitar string, these vibrations produce sound (your voice). When you breathe, your vocal cords are relaxed and open to let air pass through freely, which doesn't produce any sound.
When you use vocal fry, you relax your vocal cords but do not increase the amount of air you're pushing past your vocal cords, which produces slower vibrations and ultimately results in the lower creaky sound.
Does vocal fry affect your health?
Side affects of vocal fry.
Vocal fry can affect how others perceive you. "Having a little vocal fry in the voice can sometimes give off the impression of the person being more relaxed," explains speech-language pathologist Kristine Pietsch, M.A. "It's become more common for radio personalities to use vocal fry in an attempt to sound more natural and accessible to their audience; however some listeners can find it grating."
Nevertheless, for some professions, this relaxed tone may unintentionally imply a speaker is uninterested, bored or unambitious.
When is vocal fry a problem?
Does the quality of your voice interfere with your ability to meet your personal, professional, social or occupational needs?" Akst queries patients considering intervention. If the answer is yes, he refers patients to a speech-language pathologist .
"With voice therapy , people learn to coordinate their airflow, vocal fold (cord) vibration and resonance to produce a better sound," Pietsch says. "We work together to make that better sound a habit." Similar to singing lessons, treatment involves exercises, including vocal warmups, to get patients used to using their muscles in a different way to produce the sound.
Whether you use it or not, vocal fry is a pattern of voice use that does not cause harm to your voice. However, if you're not satisfied with your voice, a speech-language pathologist can help improve its quality. These methods train you to produce a stronger, more powerful voice.
Akst also encourages anyone experiencing persistent vocal roughness to receive an examination to rule out vocal cord disorders that can only be diagnosed during an exam.


text:
1949 Chifley Ministry 1946-1949
The election of Chifley's first ministry after the 1946 election took seven caucus ballots to finalise. After that tumultuous exercise in party democracy, the Chifley ministry remained quite stable and changes predominantly resulted from retirements rather than caucus intrigue.
Other topics in The Chifley Years
Ben Chifley: The man, his history and his values
Ben Chifley was one of Australia's most productive treasurers and prime ministers, helping to lead Australia successfully through the Second World War and the challenges of the early post-war years. Yet his path to the prime ministership was far from easy. Chifley was born the…
Sustaining the war economy
Ben Chifley's experience as a minister in the Scullin government during the Depression, together with his time on the banking Royal Commission, provided good foundations for his role as Treasurer in the Curtin government. He was acutely aware of how the banks had exacerbated the…
Post-war reconstruction: Nation Building
Prior to becoming Treasurer in October 1941, Chifley had already turned his mind to post-war reconstruction and the expanded role that government would have to play if a better world was to emerge from the conflict. Like many people around the world, he feared that…
Conflict and the Cold War
Although Australia avoided invasion during the Second World War, Japan's frightening lunge southward, culminating in the fall of Singapore, confirmed the deep-seated fears of many Australians about the territorial ambitions of their northern neighbours. Those fears helped to reconcile Australians to the Labor government's announcement…

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Most of our friends had young children before us. So we were well equipped with countless stories from getting peed on to diaper explosions. So when it was our turn to have Jacob, everyone warned us that our adult conversations will change to baby jargon. And sure enough it did. One night, Ryan and I sat on the couch watching TV or actually zoning mindlessly. Jacob was playing quietly on his tummy time mat and we were enjoying every minute of being able to just sit on the couch together at the same time. As I sat there my mind rambled on about when Jacob would need to eat again, and when his last diaper had been changed; the typical thoughts of a new Mommy. Then it dawned on me that he still hadn't had a bowl movement and we were nearing one week. Of course I immediately began to worry.
Ryan busted out his iPhone and began googling what was considered normal.
"Do you remember the last poopy diaper you changed?" I desperately asked, hoping it had been on his watch and I could let my mind rest.
"Hmm, it's been awhile," he replied as he continued to search for an answer.
This wasn't the answer I was hoping for, and I wanted specifics. I know it had been about 5-6 days since I had last seen a bowl movement.
I pulled out my phone too and began searching for answers, because I had to see if for myself. That's when it happened. Jacob had been way too quiet for too long and before we knew it the smell drifted through the air.
"Do you smell that?" I asked, sniffing the air.


Here are links to two articles by Pope Benedict XVI (Cardinal Ratzinger), which illustrate a definite Platonic dimension to his thinking.
The title of the first, 'The Contemplation of Beauty' (2002; alternative link), leaves no doubt about its reference to Plato and, in particular, to the speech of Diotima in Plato's dialogue, the Symposium (the most important work in Western literature on the contemplation of Beauty).
"True knowledge is being struck by the arrow of Beauty that wounds man, moved by reality, 'how it is Christ himself who is present and in an ineffable way disposes and forms the souls of men (The Life in Christ, Second book, § 15)' ".
The essay is quite accessible and profitable reading for all.
The second example is an essay titled, "Conscience and Truth", from a speech presented at the 10th Workshop for Bishops, February 1991, in Dallas, Texas.
This is a very sophisticated analysis of the subject of conscience — not very long, and best appreciated by reading it. It suffices to say the analysis involves an important distinction between two different levels of conscience; this distinction is reflected in the Latin and Greek , which each have two separate terms for these two levels, whereas English only has the one word, 'conscience'. The third section is titled, "Conscience as anamnesis", the term anamnesis, or Greek for un-forgetting, being a clear allusion to Plato's philosophy. Plato believed that we have pre-existing knowledge of divine truths, and that this latent understanding need only be re-awakened.


text:
IDF Head: Laser Air-Defense System Scheduled for Final Testing Early This Year
Orca Acquiring Israeli Web Application Security Startup RapidSec
Manager of Israel's National Baseball Team Says 'Mensch on Bench' Mascot Will Accompany Players to Championship in Korea
by Shiryn Ghermezian
Cody Decker with his 'Mensch on a Bench.' Photo: Twitter.
The manager of Israel's national baseball team told The Algemeiner on Monday that he has approved the inclusion of a popular Hanukkah toy on the team's trip to South Korea for the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC) — as long as the doll doesn't require its own seat on the plane.
Jerry Weinstein was referring to a claim made by star player Cory Decker on Sunday at a post-game press conference that he intends to bring his "Mensch on a Bench" doll to the WBC, slated to take place in March in Seoul.
"Decker is the man," Weinstein said. "He leads this team. Whatever he wants, he gets. [But] hopefully we won't have to buy a seat on the plane next to Decker for the Mensch."
The toy, a Jewish take on the legendary "Elf on a Shelf" Christmas doll, sat in front of Decker at the press conference, held after Team Israel won a qualifying match against Great Britain, earning it a spot in the WBC. The Jewish state was the final national team to qualify for the WBC, along with Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the United States and Venezuela.
The National Library of Israel in Jerusalem announced on Tuesday the acquisition of 90 singular pages from one of the...
The WBC qualifiers took place in Brooklyn, and Decker, an American Jew, said he rush-ordered the "Mensch on a Bench" from Amazon, so that it would be with the team in New York for the games, SportingNews.com reported. The doll was also included in a post-game celebration on the field after the team's win on Sunday night.
When asked at the Sunday press conference about the toy's backstory, Decker — who also has one at his home in California — offered to lend the questioner the book that accompanies all "Mensch on the Bench" purchases.
"But I want it back," he said of the hardcover title that tells the story of Hanukkah and features "Moshe the Mensch" guarding the lights of the menorah candelabra in the ancient Jewish Temple.


text:
Juventus handed 15-point deduction over financial irregularities
Pa Sport Staff
Juventus have been handed a 15-point deduction over financial irregularities (Mike Egerton/PA) (PA Archive)
Juventus have been docked 15 points by an Italian court following an investigation into capital gains violations.
The decision by the Federal Court of Appeal means the Turin giants will plunge from third to 11th place in the Serie A table, although they are expected to appeal against the punishment.
Among the individuals sanctioned is Tottenham's current director of football Fabio Paratici, who has been handed a two-and-a-half-year ban from the game.
The PA news agency understands that Tottenham are urgently seeking clarification as to whether Paratici's ban extends beyond Italy.
A total of 11 current and former Juventus officials have been slapped with sanctions including ex-chairman Andrea Agnelli, who has been banned from the game for two years.
Prosecutors had previously recommended a nine-point deduction over the scandal, in which the club were alleged to have falsely inflated the value of players and misrepresented losses.


text:
U.S. Air Force unveils additional details about next-gen air dominance program
NewsAviation
Modified date: Aug 8, 2019
Photo by Staff Sgt. James Richardson
U.S. Air Force Air Force leaders have unveiled additional details of Next-Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD, program at a Mitchell Institute-sponsored panel discussion on next-generation air superiority in Arlington, Virginia.
The NGAD program will help to decide what technologies and capabilities, with the attributes necessary to prevail in the information age, it will fund to ensure America's air dominance in the near future.
In terms of capability, the new program includes the potential for a sixth-generation fighter, but top service officials continue to stress that the result of the process will likely be a family of a systems approach.
"The U.S. military will need to continue to execute its core missions of homeland defense and nuclear deterrence," said Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael A. Fantini, director of the Air Force Warfighting Integration Capability during the discussion, and added that "It also will need to be able to defeat a peer adversary while holding another at bay while continuing to engage in countering the violent extremist challenge."
"We will not be able to accomplish that without the ability to continue to control the skies," Fantini noted.
The Air Force's next-generation air dominance program is meant to help it maintain control of the skies — and that doesn't necessarily mean a new fighter jet, said Air Force Maj. Gen. David A. Krumm, director for Air Force Global Power Programs.
"It is not a thing. It is not a platform," he said. "The next generation of air superiority is a network-connected family of systems that works together to get after the things we need to get after for our nation to ensure air superiority. It's not one thing; it's a multitude of things."
Next-generation air dominance involves ensuring that everything can share data with everything else, across services and across domains, including air, land, sea, space and cyberspace, Krumm said. "All of that connected is what we want it to be," he added.
And it takes into account the incredible pace of technology advancement as well, he said, noting that it will be constantly evolving and constantly changing.
The Air Force will look for capabilities that are rapidly upgradable and modular in nature, Krumm said.


text:
Tour de France 2009: Team guide
Cycling Weekly June 23, 2009 12:34 pm
Tour de France 2009 team guide logo
We present our definitive guide to all 20 of this year's Tour de France teams.
Here you will find information on each of the 2009 Tour teams, from Ag2r to Saxo Bank. We have included details of key riders, Tour aims, equipment and much more.
Ag2r-La Mondiale
Sponsor: Insurance brands
Bikes: BH frames with Campagnolo kit
Website: www.ag2r-cyclisme.com
Managers: Vincent Lavenu, Laurent Biondi
Key riders: Vladimir Efimkin (Rus), Cyril Dessel (Fra), Nicolas Roche (Irl)
How will they do? Stage wins and plenty of time in breakaways will be the team plans, bread-and-butter for a French team. Though Valjavec is absent, Vladimir Efimkin will be looking to improve on eleventh place overall, while Dessel, anonymous so far this year, should be active in breakaways as he looks to retrieve his yellow jersey-winning form of 2006.
Nicolas Roche rides his first Tour de France after finishing a promising thirteenth in last year's Vuelta. A climber with a handy sprint on him, he is a good prospect for stage victory.
As a whole, the team is full of handy, attacking riders who could be dangerous from breakaways.
Last year: After Martin Elmiger was outsprinted by Kurt-Asle Arvesen in Foix, Cyril Dessel saved their race with a canny breakaway victory into Jausiers, leading into the late, final corner and outsprinting his two companions. Tadej Valjavec and Vladimir Efimkin (technically a stage winner in Bagnères de Bigorre last year after Riccardo Riccò's retrospective disqualification) ghosted into tenth and eleventh places overall. With three in the top twenty-five overall, the team also finished second overall behind CSC.
Tour pedigree: Including former incarnations Chazal and Casino, Ag2r have been a fixture in the Tour de France for the last fifteen years. Their first stage win came from Rodolfo Massi in the 1998 Tour, and they've enjoyed several since, thanks chiefly to mountain-fearing fast man Jaan Kirsipuu.
Surprise package: Former Coupe de France winner Lloyd Mondory packs a decent sprint. Potentially very threatening from a small breakaway group.
Factoid: Evergreen Stéphane Goubert could be the oldest man in the 2009 Tour – the climber turned 39 in March. He is remarkably consistent, if unspectacular, too, finishing inside the top forty of the Tour for the last eight years.
Agritubel
Sponsor: They make agricultural machinery
Bikes: Kuota frames with SRAM components
Website: www.agritubel-cycling.com
Managers: Denis Leproux, Emmanuel Hubert, Frédéric Mainguenaud
Key riders: Romain Feillu (Fra), Christophe Moreau (Fra)
How will they do? These three weeks in July are the highlights of Agritubel's year. Expect to see them up the road often, showing off the sponsor's name. Romain Feillu is their best bet for a stage win, lethal from a small group thanks to his strong sprint. Christophe Moreau will be wanting to end his career with a flourish and could be a danger for the polka-dot jersey, if he is not too far over the metaphorical hill. Plucky trier Nicolas Vogondy is likely to be up the road again this year.
Last year: Romain Feillu made it into an early breakaway and finished third, enjoyed a day in the maillot jaune, before the Tour's first time-trial. Feillu was one of the race's most aggressive riders, also scoring two other third place finishes. Speaking of aggressive riders, some may remember Nicolas Vogondy being caught by Mark Cavendish 200 metres from the line in Châteauroux.
Tour pedigree: For a team that has never been in the top tier of pro cycling, they've fared well. In their debut Tour of 2006, Juan Miguel Mercado outsprinted Cyril Dessel into Pau for an opportunistic stage win.
Surprise package: David Le Lay. Since joining mid-summer 2008, he has had a fine year with Agritubel, winning the Circuit de la Sarthe and coming second in the Four Days of Dunkirk and attacking on the Mur de Huy in the Flèche Wallone. Definitely one to watch out for in breakaways.
Factoid: Agritubel can boast two Tour of Britain winners in their ranks – Romain Feillu (2007) and Geoffroy Lequatre (2008).
Sponsor: A consortium of Kazakh companies
Bikes: Trek frames, with SRAM components
Website: www.astana-cyclingteam.com
Manager: Johan Bruyneel
Key riders: Alberto Contador (Spa), Lance Armstrong (Usa), Levi Leipheimer (Usa)
How will they do? Very well. The strength-in-depth of their lineup is remarkable. Simply, the Tour will be unsatsifactory if they fail to win overall. Alberto Contador is their best bet for victory, having shown no signs of slowing down after his 2007 overall victory. As much media hype as he may create, Armstrong will do well to finish in the top five overall.
Last year: After a chequered year of doping misdemeanours, Tour organisers ASO did not give them a wild-card, leading to some world-class tantrums, most notably the 'Let Levi Ride' campaign.
Tour pedigree: Non-starters; the team was withdrawn halfway through the 2007 after news of Vinokorov's positive test, and were not given an invitation to last year's race. Third time lucky?
Surprise package: This team has so many proven performers that they have no need for a surprise package.
Factoid: In Armstrong, Contador, Kloden, Leipheimer and Zubeldia, the team has five riders who have finished in the Tour de France top five before.
Bbox Bouygues Telecom
Sponsor: Bouygues Telecom is a French telecoms company, BBOX is the name of its TV, broadband and phone set-top box.
Bikes: Time frameswith Campagnolo components
Website: www.equipebouyguestelecom.fr
Manager: Jean-René Bernaudeau
Key riders: Thomas Voeckler (Fra), Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra)
How will they do? Lacking both a overall contender or sprinter of note, they will be throwing riders up the road in escapes to maximise their chances. A stage win would make the Tour a success for this French team of triers. Thomas Voeckler epitomises their style of racing: plucky and attacking, but often unsuccessful.
Last year: Predictably plucky and attacking. Thomas Voeckler wore the polka-dot jersey for the first five days. Jérôme Pineau was third on the opening stage into Plumelec, but otherwise they were very quiet, faring worst of the French teams in attendance.
Tour pedigree: Still dreaming of the halcyon days of 2004, when housewives' favourite Voeckler spent ten days in the maillot jaune. Only one stage win in the Tour de France, courtesy of Pierrick Fédrigo in 2006.
Surprise package: Twenty-two year old Pierre Rolland starts his first Tour de France, after some promising top-twenty rides at Paris-Nice in recent years. Though this will be a learning experience for him, he should be good for an attack or two.
Factoid: Thomas Voeckler spent his childhood and adolescent years on the Caribbean island of Martinique.
Sponsor: French bank
Bikes: Pinarello frames with Campagnolo components
Website: www.cyclisme-caisse-epargne.fr
Managers: Eusebio Unzue, Neil Stephens
Key riders: Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa), David Arroyo (Spa)
How will they do? Not as well as they would have done with Valverde. However,the resultant carte blanche could be good for a team packed with strong climbers and attacking flair, including Tour winner Pereiro and Gutierrez. A stage or top ten finish is very possible.
Last year: Valverde destroyed the opposition to take the first yellow jersey in Plumelec, and Luis Leon Sanchez soloed into Aurillac for a classy win. However, Valverde's ninth-place finish overall may have been slightly disappointing.
Tour pedigree: This team goes way back, to the time of Reynolds and Banesto, and therefore to Tour winners Pedro Delgado and Miguel Indurain.
Surprise package: If he gets a ride in his first Grand Tour, Colombian Rigoberto Uran could fare well. Third in last year's Tour of Lombardy and fifth overall in the Tour of Romandie, the twenty-two year old is a strong climber.
Factoid: Oscar Pereiro has not won a professional race since his 2006 Tour "victory".
Cervélo Test Team
Sponsor: Canadian bicycle manufacturer
Bikes: Cervélo frames with Campagnolo components
Website: snipurl.com/jwdtx
Manager: Jean-Paul Van Poppel
Key riders: Carlos Sastre (Spa), Thor Hushovd (Nor)
How will they do? Sastre will be keen to defend his Tour crown, but a podium finish may be his best bet, with young guns Contador and Schleck and their teams looking stronger. Consistent Hushovd is a good prospect for a stage win somewhere along the route. If Cavendish falters, he will be a favourite to take another green jersey.
Last year: Didn't exist – although Sastre won the Tour and the queen stage up Alpe d'Huez, while Hushovd also took stages.
Tour pedigree: See above.
Surprise package: Jose Angel Gomez Marchante. Beset by illness and injury in recent years, can he rediscover the climbing form that took him to fifth in the 2006 Vuelta?
Factoid: If he starts, 40 year-old Iñigo Cuesta will be the oldest man in the race. When he turned pro in 1994, for Euskadi, Mark Cavendish was only eight.
Sponsor: Offer credit over the phone and online
Bikes: Look frames with Campagnolo components
Website: www.equipe-cofidis.com
Managers: Eric Boyer, Francis Van Londersele
Key riders: David Moncoutié (Fra), Samuel Dumoulin (Fra), Amaël Moinard (Fra)
How will they do? There'll be a lot of pressure on Cofidis to take another stage. Two-time stage winner Moncoutié, now injury-free, will be dangerous on hilly transiton stages. Having lost Chavanel and Monfort over the winter, it could be slim pickings.
Last year: Samuel Dumoulin's third day stage win from a breakaway took off the pressure for the next three weeks. Sylvain Chavanel won late on to make it a bumper Tour for Cofidis.
Tour pedigree: No more relying on David Millar for stage wins.
Surprise package: He's no longer a surprise, but it will be interesting to see if Amaël Moinard can improve on his fifteenth-place finish from last year.
Factoid: Barring a last-minute midget entrant, Samuel Dumoulin will be the smallest rider at the 2009 Tour, at only 159 centimetres (5'2″) tall.
Columbia-HTC
Sponsor: Columbia manufactures outdoor clothing. HTC manufactures telecommunications equipment
Bikes: Scott frames with Shimano components
Website: www.highroadsports.com
Managers: Bob Stapleton, Rolf Aldag, Brian Holm, Allan Peiper
Key riders: Mark Cavendish (GBr), Kim Kirchen (Lux), Michael Rogers (Aus)
How will they do?
Very well. Like Rabobank, another team that can produce wins in almost
any competition – however, their cohesion sets them apart. Cavendish,
the sprinter to beat at the moment, will win several stages and a green
jersey if he wins some intermediate sprints, Rogers could finish in the
top ten overall after a promising Giro.
Last year: Superb. Four stages for Cavendish, a stage for Burghardt, the yellow jersey and seventh place for Kirchen.
Tour pedigree:
Harking back to Telekom and the days of Ullrich and Zabel, it's been
both excellent and highly-chequered by suspicion. Still, Columbia is a
very different team now.
Surprise package: No-one – after all, Mark Cavendish doesn't need someone upstaging him.
Sponsor: Euskaltel is a Basque telecoms company, Euskadi is the Basque regional government.
Bikes: Orbea frames with Shimano components
Website: www.fundacioneuskadi.com
Managers: Miguel Madariga, Gorka Gerrikagoitia
Key riders: Egoi Martinez (Spa), Mikel Astarloza (Spa)
How will they do? They'll be on the attack in the Pyrenees, and Astarloza could provide a top-ten overall finish. A stage victory would be very welcome; the finish in Barcelona would have been perfect for Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez, but he's not riding this year.
Last year: Seventh overall for Samuel Sanchez, who lost the race in the Pyrenees. Egoi Martinez was beaten into second on Prato Nevoso.
Tour pedigree: Haven't won a stage since 2003, when Haimar Zubeldia and Iban Mayo finished fifth and sixth overall. The days of Euskaltel-Euskadi illuminating the race with attacks in the mountains are long gone.
Surprise package: Igor Anton has been anonymous since crashing out of the Vuelta in sixth place last year, but if he finds his mountain legs, he could be lively in the mountains.
Factoid: Basque heritage is usually a prerequisite for joining this squad.
Sponsor: The French national lottery
Bikes: Lapierre frames with Shimano components
Website: snipurl.com/jyx7c
Managers: Marc Madiot and Martial Gayant
Key riders: Sandy Casar (Fra). Anthony Geslin (Fra)
How will they do? Attack a lot with the hope of winning a stage. Sandy Casar will ride bravely to a top-twenty finish, Sébastien Chavanel might sneak a bunch sprint top-three finish.
Last year: Close but no cigar. Gilbert was second on the opening stage to Plumelec, while Casar missed out to the tactically-astute Dessel into Jausiers.
Tour pedigree: Aside from a successful patch for a couple of years thanks to Cooke and McGee, they have a rich heritage of valiant attacking, from the likes of Durand, Mengin and Guesdon.
Surprise package: Remy di Gregorio. Has shown promise in the mountains of the Dauphine, but needs to follow through in the Tour de France.
Garmin-Slipstream
Sponsor: Garmin makes satnav equipment, Slipstream is the team management company.
Bikes: Felt frames with Shimano components
Website: www.slipstreamsports.com
Manager: Jonathan Vaughters
Key riders: Christian Vande Velde (USA), David Millar (GBr), Bradley Wiggins (GBr)
How will they do? Wiggins and Millar are contenders for the race's opening time-trial, while the team, brimming with time-trial specialists, have also been preparing assiduously for the TTT. Christian Vande Velde is the lelader, though his preparation has been a race against time after crashing out of the Giro d'Italia.
Last year: No stage win last year, though Frischkorn, Pate and Millar all had top-three finishes.
Tour pedigree: The 2008 Tour was their debut.
Surprise package: Daniel Martin. Nobody knows what to expect from him in a Grand Tour, but second place in the Tour of Catalunya suggests he is one handy climber. An outside bet for the white jersey.
Factoid: Winning is in his blood: Daniel Martin is the nephew of 1987 Tour de France winner Stephen Roche.
Sponsor: Katusha is the title of the Russian Global Cycling Proeject. The team's chief paymasters are energy companies Itera and Gazprom.
Bikes: Ridley frames with Campagnolo components
Website: www.katushateam.com
Managers: Serge Parsani, Andrei Tchmil
Key riders: Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Gert Steegmans (Bel), Filippo Pozzato (Ita)
How will they do? After strong riding in the Classics, glamour-model-cum-cyclist Filippo Pozzato will be eager for a third Tour stage win. Despite being relatively quiet thus far, muscular Flandrian Gert Steegmans will be up there in the sprints. Vladimir Karpets could scrape into the top ten if he shows the consistency that has been so perplexingly lacking in previous Tour rides.
Last year: Didn't exist last year.
Tour pedigree: See above – though the bare bones of their squad originates from Tinkoff, who won a Giro stage.
Surprise package: Alexandre Botcharov has the unenviable talent of always finishing highly without ever winning: in 11 years as a pro, he has two wins.
Factoid: No Russian has ever won the Tour de France; Denis Menchov's fourth place in 2008 is the country's best-ever overall finish.
Lampre-N.G.C.
Sponsor: Lampre makes sheet metal
Bikes: Wilier frames with Campagnolo components
Website: snipurl.com/jwnhz
Managers: Fabrizio Bontempi, Giuseppe Saronni
Key riders: Alessandro Ballan (Ita), Marzio Bruseghin (Ita)
How will they do? Probably not as well as they want to. Their big race of the year, the Giro d'Italia, was rather fallow, with Ballan out with a virus, Cunego bombing and Bruseghin scraping into the top ten. Suddenly, a team of previously-indifferent Italians need a stage win here to try and resurrect a bad year.
Last year: Atrocious. Damiano Cunego crashed and abandoned. Alessandro Ballan was outsprinted in Foix. The team finished bottom of the money list, with over half as much money as the next-placed outfit, Barloworld.
Tour pedigree: Generally follow the idea "if it ain't the Giro, it ain't worth racing". Daniele Bennati won a few before he jumped ship to Liquigas
Surprise package: Former Petacchi leadout man Mirco Lorenzetto had such good sprint form in the early season that his name was put forward as an outside bet for Milano-San Remo, only to succumb to illness. However, the fact his name is prefixed with "former Petacchi leadout man" itself explains that he isn't up there with the Cavendishs of the sprinting world.
Sponsor: Liquigas produces bottled gas
Bikes: Cannondale frames with Campagnolo components
Website: www.teamliquigas.it
Managers: Roberto Amadio, Mario Chiesa
Key riders: Daniele Bennati (Ita), Roman Kreuziger (Cze), Vincenzo Nibali (Ita)
How will they do? With Daniele Bennati and Roman Kreuziger, they have two bona fide challengers for the green and white jersey. Bennati has recovered from a niggling injury and could be Cavendish's main rival; super-talented Kreuziger, only 23, is tipped to finish in the top six overall this year. Team-mate Vincenzo Nibali could squeeze into the top ten too.
Last year: They really missed an injured Bennati. Chicchi, Pozzato and Kreuziger chipped in with top tens aplenty, but it wasn't quite the same.
Tour pedigree: In line with other Italian teams: generally not too bothered if they've had a good Giro. Their only stage win came from Filippo Pozzato in Autun in the 2007 Tour. Just don't mention Ivan Basso.
Surprise package: Tour of Romandie winner Kreuziger could surprise many with his performance.
Sponsor: Milram is a brand owned by German dairy Nordmilch
Bikes: Focus frames with SRAM components
Website: www.team-milram.com
Managers: Vittorio Algeri
Key riders: Linus Gerdemann (Ger), Gerald Ciolek (Ger), Fabian Wegmann (Ger)
Follow the pattern of their last two seasons: try hard and be visible
in their blue-cow-kit, but ultimately fall just short of the mark.
Their best bet is a breakaway victory by the likes of Gerdemann or
Wegmann.
Last year: A couple of third places for veteran Zabel. But they led the gruppetto by example.
Tour pedigree: Considering the team has had Petacchi and Zabel on board, very poor. They are yet to find a Tour de France stage.
Surprise package: Niki Terpstra showed his potential with a well-taken Dauphiné stage win, outfoxing his breakaway rivals.
Sponsor: Quick Step makes flooring
Bikes: Specialized frames with Campagnolo components
Website: www.qsi-cycling.com
Managers: Patrick Lefévère, Wilfried Peeters
Key riders: Tom Boonen (Bel), Sylvain Chavanel (Fra)
How will they do? Despite failing another test for cocaine, Tom Boonen may be allowed to race if a court rules in his favour and would be (pun intended) Quick Step's crack sprinter. A lot has changed since Boonen won the green jersey in 2007 – Mark Cavendish is now the force to be a reckoned with, and Boonen's sprinting hasn't looked as sharp as in the past. In Sylvain Chavanel and Carlos Barredo, the team has two of the peloton's most useful baroudeurs.
Last year: Gert Steegmans stepped in to save the team's blushes on the final day, powering to stage victory on the Champs Elysées.
Tour pedigree: Svorada, Zanini, Steels, Boonen, Freire… bunch sprinting is their thing. Recently, the team has also proven a dab hand on transition stages too, as breakaway stage winners Vasseur, Tosatto and Knaven can attest to.
Surprise package: The only thing surprising about Jérôme Pineau is that he hasn't won a Tour de France stage yet. After several near misses, perhaps moving to a foreign team will help to break his duck.
Sponsor: Dutch bank
Bikes: Giant frames with Shimano components
Website: snipurl.com/jwu9q
Managers: Erik Breukink, Erik Dekker, Adri van Houwelingen
Key riders: Denis Menchov (Rus), Oscar Freire (Spa), Robert Gesink (Ned)
How will they do? Very well. This team is brimming with quality, for every type of stage or competition. Menchov, Freire and Gesink will be gunning for the yellow, green and white jerseys respectively. But can Giro d'Italia winner Menchov peak twice? Can Freire beat Cavendish legitimately, without the Brit abandoning the race? Because of such wide-reaching goals, it will be interesting to see how the team copes. They even have Juan Antonio Flecha for breakaways.
Last year: Oscar Freire won a stage and the green jersey through impressive consistency. Menchov finished fourth overall.
Tour pedigree: Traditionally, long-serving Rabobank have always performed well at the Tour; they're on a ratio of a stage win per year. Just don't mention Rasmussen.
Surprise package: Robert Gesink is heralded as the lanky, emaciated Dutchman who can bring back the Dutch Tour glory days of the 1980s, when the likes of Winnen, Theunisse and Rooks terrorised the opposition in the mountains. It remains to be seen how the precocious youngster copes with the Tour de France, but a top-ten finish and white jersey win are possible.
Sponsor: Saxo Bank is an investment bank
Bikes: Specialized frames with SRAM components
Website: snipurl.com/jywr6
Manager: Bjarne Riis
Key riders: Andy Schleck (Lux), Frank Schleck (Lux), Fabian Cancellara (Swi), Jens Voigt (Ger)
They will rally behind Andy Schleck and help him on to the podium; this
is arguably the strongest team all-round at the 2009 race. The question
is, does the fresh-faced talent have the stamina and experience to
reach the top step?
Last year: A first Tour win as directuer for Riis from Sastre, as well as two stage wins and the team classification.
Tour pedigree: From early days as CSC and Jalabert, this outfit has perennially performed with aplomb here.
Surprise package:
Kurt-Asle Arvesen can't really be called a surprise package since he
won a stage of last year's Tour but after the quiet year he's had so
far, we reckon he's aiming to do something at the 2009 Tour too.
Silence-Lotto
Sponsor: Silence is a brand of anti-snoring pills made by Omega Pharmaceuticals. Lotto is the Belgian national lottery
Bikes: Canyon frames with Campagnolo components
Website: www.silence-lotto.com
Managers: Marc Sergeant, Henrik Redant, Roberto Damiani
Key riders: Cadel Evans (Aus), Philippe Gilbert (Bel)
How will they do? Evans, Evans, Evans. Everything is set up to help the sometimes-prickly Australian win the Tour de France; the team bolstered the squad with the likes of Dekker. Lang and Wegelius over the winter. However, defensive-minded Evans may be left behind in the mountains by Schleck and Contador.
Last year: Evans held the yellow jersey until Alpe d'Huez. Expected to overturn a 1'34" deficit to Sastre in the Tour's long final time-trial, he fell unexpectedly short of the mark and finished second overall. Again. Meanwhile, an ageing Robbie McEwen failed to deliver his customary stage win.
Tour pedigree: This team goes back to the mid-80s. Used to rely on McEwen for stage wins, but it's ok now they have Evans for second places…
Surprise package: Thomas Dekker briefly looked like being the next big thing, but he's gone off the boil a bit this year. Still only 24, he needs a good Tour to underline his talents, but may be confined to Evans domestique duty.
Sponsor: Skil makes power tools, Shimano makes bicycle components
Bikes: Koga Miyata frames with Shimano components
Website: www.skilcyclingteam.com
Manager: Rudie Kemna
Key riders: Jonathan Hivert (Fra), Kenny van Hummel (Ned)
How will they do? Very little. With no Tour de France experience whatsoever in their team, they are on a hiding to nothing. Will bravely have a go in some attacks though. A stage win would be a big surprise – and a massive success – for the Professional team.
Last year: Did not get invited.
Tour pedigree: This will be their first Tour.
Surprise package: Kenny van Hummel had a purple patch in May where he won just about every bunch sprint going; consequently, he currently leads the UCI Europe Tour. He's no A-list sprinter, but could raise a few eyebrows with some top tens.
Tour de France 2009 – Cycling Weekly's full coverage


text:
Anand Grover
A Bill that falls short
November 27, 2016 12:02 am | Updated 12:04 am IST
PHOTO: R.V. MOORTHY
Two months after the Cabinet approved the HIV Bill, the text of the much-awaited legislation was made available this week. The version of the Bill to be tabled in Parliament is a watered down, emasculated and weak form which has too many flaws; it is no game changer.
In the Bill, the proposed Section 14 talks of prevention measures that the Central or State governments may take, "as far as possible," for the provision of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) and Opportunistic Infection (OI) Management, against the spread of HIV. Not only does the amendment not address treatment it also goes on to provide drugs for both ART and OI 'as far as possible'.
Danger of a resurgence
It has to be appreciated that before the advent of ART, HIV was a death sentence for People living with HIV (PLHIV). The Indian government has been providing free-of-cost antiretrovirals for PLHIVs since 2004. Today, first-line and second-line ART is available in the government programme free of cost. Soon, the third line of treatment may be required. India's HIV community has legitimate apprehensions about access to life-saving medicines as up to now the government programme has been largely funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM). The fund is in danger of being discontinued from 2017.
The phrase "as far as possible" is a significant loophole in the Bill which would set the clock back to before the mid-1990s. Without the guarantee of treatment, HIV will once again become a death sentence for patients. As the global target moves towards ending AIDS, India will be in danger of seeing its resurgence.
Indian generic companies supply antiretrovirals to the developing world while the HIV community in the country is left stranded. The irony is unmissable.
Thus the provision in the proposed Section 14 has to be amended to provide for guaranteed treatment.
The expression "as far as possible" must be deleted, as the community of PLHIV is rightly demanding.
The other major flaw is the amendment that is sought to be made on the scope of the ombudsman's jurisdiction, an innovation of civil society. The proposed Bill states that the ombudsman shall inquire into violations in the provision of health-care services. However, the government has proposed amendments to increase the scope of the ombudsman's jurisdiction which mandates him to enquire into all violations of the provisions of the Bill including discrimination. This would be a disaster.
The law as drafted by civil society envisaged an ombudsman working at the district level who would attend to complaints on health issues relating to HIV. There are several cases involving health issues of PLHIVs not being attended to by health services especially in the private sector. Pregnant women living with HIV bear the brunt of discrimination in health services. The idea was that PLHIVs don't have to go to court, which would not only be cumbersome but would also require the services of a lawyer. It would quick and efficient. An aggrieved PLHIV would go to court on violations of the law relating to health services only after going through the ombudsman.
The original drafts envisaged a full-time person working on the issue at the district level. Under the proposed Bill, the ombudsman is now to function at the State level. Moreover s/he can be an ordinary government servant.
Now that the ombudsman is neither a full-time officer nor trained in judicial matters and considering the types of issues that he would have to deal with — from informed consent to discrimination etc., coupled with the huge workload foisted on him — the proposed amendment would only result in the whole mechanism becoming unworkable. Thus the amendment as proposed by the government has to go.
Needle safety programme
Another crucial flaw deals with the needle safety programme. The government has proposed amendment to Clause 22 of the Bill, by deleting all references to needle and syringe exchange. This clause of the Bill was aimed to protect volunteers and patients from illegality— as providing sterile needles is considered a crime and PLHIV and health workers can be picked up for aiding and abetting the unlawful use of drugs.
On employment
Further, the Bill does not confer powers to civil courts in relation to employment. As per prevailing law, only a government or a public sector employee can seek employment or reinstatement if s/he is discriminated and not employed or illegally terminated. Thus, if the person is not employed in the entities which are "State"— as defined under the Industrial Disputes Act — s/he cannot seek employment or reinstatement if s/he has been discriminated. In such cases, a person can only go the civil court and claim damages.
The law as originally drafted provided for specific powers to the civil court including employment and reinstatement and compensation for loss of wages and damages. None of this is provided in the latest version currently waiting to be passed in Parliament.
All these need to be considered positively to make the HIV Bill a game changer in India.
Anand Grover is a Senior Advocate and the Director of the Lawyers Collective, which drafted the HIV Bill.
Weekend Being / AIDS / India
Why do LIC, SBI continue to invest in Adani group, Opposition asks
Odisha Health Minister Naba Kisore Das shot dead by former security officer
Rajinikanth issues public notice over infringement of rights
Hindenburg Research | With an eye for fraud
MFs hold investment of ₹26,388 crore in Adani Group shares
Adani Enterprises FPO: Amid the Hindenburg saga, what do the fundamentals indicate ?
Hockey World Cup 2023 Final, HIGHLIGHTS: Germany defeats Belgium to win its third WC title; Netherlands beats Australia to win bronze


We at Smoke Shack know that people feel strongly about their barbecue, and so do we. Whether it's grilled or smoked, sauced or rubbed, pork or beef; everyone has a favorite. With this in mind, we are excited to share our style of BBQ. Certified humanely raised meats are dry rubbed, slow smoked and sauced by you. We're a cozy little joint with just 47 seats. This means we're unable to accept reservations. Please feel free to walk in.


Posted on April 6, 2017 by Steven Kaufman	in Featured, So You Want to Blog and tagged Blogging, Steven Kaufman, The Pop Project, The Pop Project:with Steven Kaufman, Tips for Blogging.
So I've decided to spread my wealth knowledge and share some things that will help you be a better blogger. These are just some things that I've experienced and learned from to help improve my skills. Some are things I noticed in other blogs. I'm not going to point fingers but rather just point out tips. Now, by all means, I'm not saying that I'm an expert on blogging. I'm definitely not perfect at it. I do have a degree in Communications and many years experience in Journalism, which is how I treat this blog. So we are going to kick this off with at the starting line: Getting started.
That gif of Miley is just for kicks and giggles. Has really nothing to do with the article. Okay, so before you start blogging you need to pick what do you want to blog about. Don't worry about whether or not your topic is overdone or will get you to being a celebrity. Just pick a topic that you enjoy and you enjoy talking about. You can blog about cats, you can be a fashion blogger, and you can even be a blogger about blogs. You can have a blogception. You want to make it something you will enjoy doing. I'm always a fan in doing something that you love. If you love it, then it will show in your work. Hell, you can be like me and pick a vague topic so you can talk about literally everything.
Before you go set up a blog, you need to realize that it will be a very long time before your blog will be exactly how you want it. Still, shoot to be the best with what you have to work with but it will take a while for you to be like the blogs you see with the flashy pages and embedded videos that are actually saved on the site. Everything takes time. Rome wasn't built-in a day, and either will your blog. You also won't be able to make any money for a very long time. So please don't quit your job because you won't be able to blog without money. You could try but you need internet in order to blog and you can't really do that without money.
Now there are many of different websites to host your blog. WordPress.com is the one that I use and I recommend because it's easy to use and you don't need to know web design. It also has a lot of quality themes. Make sure you don't pay for any hosting. Keep it free because if you decided that blogging isn't for you, then you wouldn't lose any money. Just your time and effort. That's easier to get back than your money. But just make sure which one you are using, you like. Now, you can change at the beginning but nine times out of ten, you will be starting over again. If you change, then you will pretty much be forced to re-upload all the existing post to your new one if you are keeping the same topic. I recommend doing through research before selecting one.
After you have your topic and your hosting site for your blog, start planning out your content. And that is where we will hold off until next week.
Leave your thoughts in the comments below. Make sure you follow my Twitter for amazing content that is mind-blowing.


If you're putting together a luxury itinerary we can now include Wadi Rum without reducing the quality of the accommodation. In fact our luxury camp in Jordan - Discovery Bedu - is more 5 star than some of the hotels.
With only six tented suites it offers an exclusive camping / glamping experience in Wadi Rum for the luxury traveller. Your clients can sit back and relax in our open air Star lounge as they search for shooting stars and sip on a cold beer or glass of wine.
Run exclusively by local Bedouin it offers a fantastic insight into their culture without reducing the quality of accommodation.
The new kid on the block when it comes to camps in Wadi Rum but this one has a great pedigree of hospitality. Working in conjunction with the Amra Hotel Petra the level of hospitality at the Wadi Rum Night's camp is excellent. It's a fantastic mix of 5 star Bedouin hospitality, as good as it gets with the attitude to facilities you find in a hotel.
Choose betwen the luxury Bedouin tents, Kingsize, Twins or Tripples they really have thought of most things.
There are two available excursions on offer through the standard packages - Camel Safaris and 4 x 4 Tours, both reasonably priced and geared towards the glamper rather than the hard - core adventure tourist.
Until very recently Wadi Rum was empty of cultural tourist spending the night as the availability of quality camps was pretty much non - existant. It was fine if you wanted to go climbing, trekking or were travelling through Jordan on a budget, but for international tour operators who wanted to include an overnight desert experience for their clients the options were limited.
Luckily all that has changed and the Bedouin now provide a range of excellent camps and excursions. Discovery Circle prides itself of choosing the very best accommodation available in every category always making sure it fits in with our clients, or should we say your clients, dreams and expectations.
So it's time to include an overnight desert experience for you clients so when they leave Jordan they have something to cherish, apart from Petra, for the rest of their lives. Experience tells us they will thank you for including it and satisfaction levels will be extremely high.


text:
The Mighty Heart controversy
For me it started with the article by Debbie Schlussel in the FrontPage magazine. Let's not mince the words - the article is a hatchet job, and a very thorough one to boot. Debbie has definitely gone overboard, trying to judge the movie as if it were financed by the Israeli Tourism ministry and should have been focused solely on the Jewish motives. That bit of criticism really cracked me up:
And don't forget Wall Street Journal reporter Steve Levine, played by Gary Wilmes, the most stereotypically Jewish-looking actor they could cast - a living embodiment of the angst-ridden, sweaty big-nosed, glasses-wearing Jew you'd find in "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" picture book for kids.
I have even taken the trouble to look up the poor guy's picture. I am not sure that Gary Wilmes is that living embodiment mentioned above, but it is clear that he will have to consider an investment in some major plastic surgery now.
But after looking up some stuff on Debbie's site, I think I have caught the drift. It seems that Debbie is sometimes slightly overexcited (all for the good cause, no doubt), like in this case, for instance:
Then, there is this BS:
In Palestine, Jewish terrorist attacks finally persuaded the British to pull out.
WRONG again. The Brits pulled out, if anything, because they were tired of Islamic/Arab violence (there was no Jewish violence against the Brits) against British soldiers, and because eventually the land was carved up into Israel, Jordan, etc.
Ah well, as I said, it is all for the good cause, and anyway history these days is a flexible science...
But... Saying all this, there is more to Debbie's article than meets the eye. Of course, there is no place to criticize Winterbottom, Julie and Pitt for focusing on Mariane Pearl and the chief of Pakistan's counterterrorism unit. After all, it is their movie and their license.
But blaming the barbaric execution of Daniel Pearl on the misdeeds of US in Guantanamo is pure unadulterated bullshit. The list of kidnappers/murderers demands includes the one re Gitmo prisoners indeed, but read it in its entirety:
We still demand the following:
The immediate release of U.S. held prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The return of Pakistani prisoners to Pakistan.
The immediate end of U.S. presence in Pakistan.
The delivery of F-16 planes that Pakistan had paid for and never received.
We assure Americans that they shall never be safe on the Muslim Land of Pakistan.
And if our demands are not met this scene shall be repeated again and again...
It is quite clear that the absurd list was never intended as a base for negotiations and that its sole purpose was to increase the publicity for the planned act of murder. The fact that Winterbottom, Julie and Pitt made Gitmo a focal point of the movie is telling.
Another salient point in the article - disregard of the fact that Daniel Pearl is Jewish. As noticed here:
...something could have been inserted about Daniel Pearl, a man from a family with deep Israeli roots — scenes and sentiments that would make him a real person who once lived, loved, and later died a horrible death, publicly.
It is not certain that Daniel's fate was sealed by the fact of his Jewishness, but it is certain that the fact did not escape the attention of his murderers and they obviously enjoyed it. The title of the execution clip - "The Slaughter of the Spy-Journalist, the Jew Daniel Pearl" is sufficient testimony.
The royal pair of Hollywood is definitely way above their heads into politics. Not that it makes them outstanding, many other Hollywood stars and mega-stars have discovered the politicking as a new and glamorous pastime. But the mix of the mega-star popularity, naivety, good will and ability to dumb down any complex issue to a set of childish slogans has a definite impact on general population. Here is one example of a rave review by a groupie:
...without apology, it is simultaneously an unabashedly political vehicle that does not fall victim to sloganeering or jingoism, as well as an effective and gripping re-telling of a story that is still fresh in the minds of the audience. I know a lot of people are criticizing the movie.. but the best thing about this movie was it does not points finger on anyone.
Yep. An unabashedly political vehicle that does not "points finger on anyone", indeed...
But the best expression of the above mentioned Hollywood mix is provided by the royal pair:
The hero of this movie is a Muslim Pakistani Captain . . . . Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Jewish--they all came together, all of them becoming great friends.
Why, indeed, can't we all get along and be friends? I really don't know. Maybe because there are too many gently smiling folks like this one:
I really recommend this clip as a mandatory viewing. Notice that the person that appears in it is an American resident and knows his rights exceedingly well. It is also worth your while to visit his site at _http://www.al-buruj.com/_ to get an in-depth understanding of the creature. And the ideology that moves him and his ilk, making it kinda difficult to make friends with him.
But don't tell Brangelina about it - it may distress them, possibly on a shooting day, and then the damage to the world will be immeasurable ...
to Bagel Blogger.
Labels: Feh , Politics
At least 30 former Guantanamo Bay detainees have been killed or recaptured after taking up arms against allied forces following their release.
to Daled Amos.
Labels: Terrorism
Hitler? Sheffield Utd?
The arcane art of understanding the history of relationships between British football fans, their clubs of choice and their rivalries is definitely out of my reach. Clearly, the whole football business was invented in times immemorial by the Elders to keep the British Empire from growing too quickly. Looking back, it seems that this measure was too severe...
Anyhow, this is funny - so enjoy.
Mind readers
I don't know how exactly it is done, but the precision of the result in uncanny!
You Should Learn Portuguese
Muito legal! For you, learning a language is all about the lifestyle that comes with it.
And Brazilian beaches, hotties, parties, and soccer matches are just your style.
What Language Should You Learn?
Oh Rio, Rio!
A very minor celebration
Granted, the number we are going to celebrate in our own humble way will seem puny and laughable to many a blogger. Still, it is another good reason for lawful intoxication:
So here is to the victory of bloggers over common sense. Cheers!
About frugality
Vice President Dick Cheney is undergoing a minor surgical procedure Saturday to replace the battery that powers a device monitoring his heart rhythms.
I bet you anything that these scrooges from the government procurement office ordered a cheapest no-brand battery the last time it was replaced. Instead of going the right way.
Labels: Juvenilia
Hearing an echo
This headline in Guardian would make a normal person sit up and pay attention:
US academics admit aiding Iran democracy drive
Two Americans detained by Iran for alleged spying last night admitted involvement in US-backed pro-democracy projects but appeared to stop short of making widely anticipated full confessions. The acknowledgements by Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbaksh - both Iranian-born academics - came in recorded interviews broadcast on state television apparently to show that civil protest movements in Iran were being supported by the US.
Acknowledgment... Real eerie. Especially considering what it is about and where it comes from.
A sixty seven years old Iranian-American academic against the might of Islamic Republic of Iran.
Ms Esfandiari, 67, Middle East director of the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Centre, and Mr Tajbaksh, 45, an associate of the George Soros Open Society Institute, face charges of "espionage" and "endangering national security" after being accused of trying to overthrow Iran's Islamic system.
And a Guardian scribe registering the farce in a detached way of an uninvolved apolitical observer. An immediate association:
The British lawyer and MP Denis Pritt, for example, wrote: "Once again the more faint-hearted socialists are beset with doubts and anxieties," but "once again we can feel confident that when the smoke has rolled away from the battlefield of controversy it will be realized that the charge was true, the confessions correct and the prosecution fairly conducted."
Probably we are not far from reading in the Guardian something in the line of: "the trials in Moscow Tehran represent a new triumph in the history of progress". No doubt St. Seumas is already training his pen...
to Judeopundit.
Labels: Iran
A hot day
No, not it Israel - in Santa Fe on that day.
Unless...
This, rather mundane these days headline, is repeated every week or so:
UN Mideast envoy warns of Gaza collapse
The U.N. Mideast envoy warned Wednesday of impending economic collapse in the Gaza Strip unless Israel reopens the Hamas-led territory's main commercial crossing to the outside world to ease international isolation.
I'm sure that the writer did not mean anything but well, same as Michael Williams, the quoted UN envoy. And that the statement in its published form was crafted for brevity and for maximum impact. So, putting that "unless" on paper, the author of the statement had a tough choice to make. Either go the full-proof, short and easy way (which was the eventual decision, obviously) or to make an effort and to say that unless:
Hamas stops the attacks against Israel - both by its own members and by the other gangs
Hamas stops the incessant attacks against and digging under the border crossings
Hamas starts cooperating with Israel and international organizations that try to feed and to cure the people of Gaza
the tragic situation of 1.5 million citizens of Gaza will get worse and worse.
It must be said that, surprisingly, the UN envoy referred to some of the salient points:
Williams said Palestinian militants fired 192 rockets and mortar shells at Gaza's crossings and into Israel in the last month. He said Hamas' military wing was responsible for most of the attacks on the crossings, while Islamic Jihad fired most of the rockets and mortars into Israel.
However, the AP hack conveniently placed this text way down, where most of the readers do not arrive, getting first slightly incensed by the intransigence of these cruel Jooz and then bored by the whole damn subject.
And so the wheel turns...
"Self-hating Jew" - a terminology issue?
The article What self-hating Jews can teach Muslims is one of the many thought provoking pieces by Bradley Burston. Its main premise: using a specific category of Jews (and Muslims) as a mirror, albeit distorted and faulty, to highlight the ills of the respective societies, is not a trivial idea. Of course, this article will be attacked (actually it is attacked, just look at the talk-back) by both the ultra-left and supra-right and no doubt Bradley himself will be branded as a self-hating Jew (I just cannot force myself to read the talk-back, after stumbling on a revelation that "Einstein gave Israel the formulae for the Atom bomb").
My attention, aside of the main idea mentioned above, was riveted by the use of the term "self-hating Jew". It seems that this buzzword, so beloved by the cranks of the Masada2000 type, was unquestioningly accepted not only by the hawks of the Jewish political spectrum but by the doves as well.
It is rather an unfortunate turn of events, for several reasons.
1. "Self-hating Jew" is a fallacy.
Aside of a handful of (more or less) obvious psychiatric cases like this one, the overwhelming majority of people branded this way are anything but self-haters. These people do hate most of us, Israelis, for just being what we are. They hate the unfortunate (for them, but also for us) fact of being born into a Jewish family. They hate the mere suspicion of whispering behind their backs, especially during an anti-Zionist gatherings they frequent. They hate each other, squabbling and competing for media attention and notoriety.
But they definitely do not hate themselves, rather the opposite. They clearly understand where their personal profit is and do their best to turn even the fact of their Jewishness into a marketable product. It could be witnessed by so many articles starting with a statement like "I am a Jew, but...".
Ask yourself whether insidious Norman Finkelstein - a man who transformed the largely Jew-haters' occupation of denouncing the so called "Holocaust industry" into a profitable high visibility business - is a self-hating Jew? Hardly.
Is John Rose - a person whose hate of the "Zionist Entity" may serve as a beacon for any wannabe Jihadi martyr - a self-hating Jew? Nope.
Is Tony Greenstein (to use another recently reviewed example) a self-hating Jew? No way, his love of self is nothing short of narcissism...
Etc. The examples above are not anecdotal evidence, rather some fairly typical, if more notorious, representatives of the species.
2. "Self-hating Jew" is misleading.
I would guess that Bradley used this term for convenience only - to designate the easily identifiable group of people. However, the danger inherent in this unfortunate term becoming a commonly used language coin should be transparent. For those of us who are just lazy, it contains a convenient explanation of the phenomenon. This term does not require further breakdown, analysis and the trouble of going into the reasons why. Which frequently leads us to wrong conclusions about the nature of this or that attack and, as a result, to a wrong response that may entirely miss the point addressed by this or that SHJ...
3. "Self-hating Jew" label is convenient to the so called "self-hating Jews".
Of course, the two points above are used (and abused) exceedingly well by the people we unthinkingly label by that term. It should be clear that by wrongly labeling a person we provide him/her with a convenient point for a counter-attack, having nothing to do with the issue at hand and in this way only help this person in muddying the issue.
These are my three points on the subject, following the IDF tradition of dividing everything (but the cafeteria chicken) into three parts. And my only hope is that it will dissuade a few of my readers from using this term altogether.
And if you are in need of a strong adjective or two to replace that SHJ nonsense - we are open for business here at any time (aside of that allocated for eating, sleeping and related tasks).
Labels: anti-Zionists
To pick up the blogging activities where they stopped is a bit difficult. So, to warm up - a few news items that met my wandering attention during the last month or so.
Doctors remove polyps from Bush's colon
Doctors removed five small growths from President Bush's colon yesterday after he temporarily transferred the powers of his office to Vice President Dick Cheney under the rarely invoked 25th Amendment. "All were less than 1 centimeter (about four- 10ths of an inch) and none appeared worrisome," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
That's not necessarily a most important news (even if its subject is the first colon), but what drew my attention was the picture editors have chosen to illustrate the subject of the said surgery:
The only two protein-based objects in the picture that may have been suspected as polyps are clearly too large to match the description in the above quoted article. To avoid the confusion, here is a picture of a polyp and its normal habitat:
The picture makes it clear that a polyp a) does not bark and b) does not manage other people offices (S., please, refrain from the obvious remark).
After less than an year of trying to handle our minister of strategic threats Avigdor Lieberman, Iranians switched to the new policy: if you can't beat them - join them. So they have decided to make him an Iranian Honoris Causa:
Is Avigdor Lieberman a "good Muslim"? An Iranian newspaper apparently thought so when they accidentally used a picture of the Israeli minister of strategic affairs to illustrate an article about Iranians being mistreated in the United States. The article accused the US of discriminating against Iranians living in its territory, citing the example of an Iranian man who was fired from his American job due to his religious beliefs, according to the website Assar-Iran.
This is one strategic threat Lieberman was surely not prepared to cope with. His neighbors started complaining lately about intermittent wailing in several languages spiced by Russian cursing at all hours. (Hat tip to BV).
One of my earliest suspicions (dated even earlier than the suspicion about the bees and flowers story) was confirmed by this news.
Tiny brain OK for civil servant
A man with an unusually tiny brain managed to live an entirely normal life as a civil servant. Scans of the 44-year-old man's brain showed a huge fluid-filled chamber took up most of his skull. French researchers say it left room for little more than a thin sheet of actual brain tissue. "He was a married father of two children, and worked as a civil servant," Dr Lionel Feuillet of the Universite de la Mediterranee in Marseille wrote in a letter to the Lancet medical journal.
What can one say, aside of idle speculation on the nature of the fluid?
And from the latest news, something picked from the Channel 2 radio today:
Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu published a spate of ideas for improvements in our school education. The improvements according to Bibi should include a 50% salary increase, more stringent requirements to the wannabe teachers, more powers to the school principal etc. The strange thing is that the stuff was published in Russian only, addressed to the Russian-speaking population via good services of a popular Russian language newspaper.
Addressing in this way the slice of population that is (supposedly) more sensitive to the quality of education is a fairly transparent ploy. Obviously Bibi is trying to win back some votes from the above mentioned Lieberman.
The less strange part (well, knowing Bibi a bit) is that this same Bibi, while serving as a minister of finance, cut tens of thousands of hours, causing some serious "downsizing" in the schoolteachers population. Ah, well, what else is new?
And going back to the subject of polyps: some electronic gizmo in Blogger innards has decided to classify me as a spambot and enforced the cursed word verification on this here blog. Dear Google - the countdown has started...
Labels: Juvenilia , Miscellaneous
Be back soon
In a few days, I guess, the normal services should be resumed. Meanwhile, enjoy:


Whether you play table tennis for fun or dream of making the National Table Tennis team, LOOPS Melbourne has the right Table Tennis program for you. For all levels of play, from beginners to advanced — LOOPS Melbourne has you covered!
LOOPS is a specifically-designed centre for table tennis in the West of Melbourne. Established in 2018 for all levels of table tennis play, from beginner to advanced — for everyone of Melbourne to enjoy!
Social table tennis at its best, come along and enjoy our outstanding facilities.
Whether you want to play the experts, organise a few friends for a hit, corporate or school bookings. All casual entry sessions include use of our ROBO-LOOPERS, balls and racket hire. LOOPS offers 10,000 square feet of quality space using only the best equipment on the market.
LOOPS programs are backed by the best, with over ten years of industry experience and proven performance at an affordable rate. From school holiday fun to weekly mentoring and training.
LOOPS offers a wide range of events including teams, individual, rated and non-rated. Social events are held daily, so you'll be sure to find a suitable time, day and level to get started.
Coming soon to LOOPS. A new level of play and an experience for all to enjoy.
Read what our previous clients have to say about LOOPS. If you've had a good experience with us and would like to share, email us.
"LOOPS is a table tennis player's dream, set up and managed by professionals who know the game with some additional items in place for the newcomer to table tennis to enjoy. A must try for the peeps of the West."
"Australia's first choice table tennis club and training provider, catering for beginner to advanced level play."
"There is no one like Simon Gerada in the table tennis industry, a true professional with a wealth of specific table tennis knowledge for any level of player."


The Ford Edge is a wonderful SUV model that gives you marvelous performance and good gas mileage for a vehicle within its class. The Edge comes in three distinct trim levels. You have the SE, SEL and the Titanium. Al Piemonte Ford has the Ford Edge in stock along with a wide variety of other new Ford models from our new vehicle inventory. You will find the best deal on a Ford Edge Chicago suburbs when you do business with our dealership. Customers can shop for Ford cars, Ford trucks, Ford SUVs, Ford vans, Ford crossovers and fuel efficient vehicles on this user friendly website.
You can schedule a test drive with us online. Feel free to test drive the Ford Edge or any other vehicle that you desire. Our professionals are here to help you select the right vehicle for your lifestyle. We can offer you tips on how to go about customizing your vehicle with novel parts and accessories, as well as upgrade packages. Finding the best deal on a Ford Edge Chicago suburbs has never been easier than when you do business with Al Piemonte Ford.
We also have pre-owned specials, new vehicle specials and service specials in place. Please contact us here at Al Piemonte Ford when it comes to our specials. Our specials do tend to change sometimes. You can speak to one of our online professionals regarding the Ford Edge, other new, used and certified pre-owned makes and models, as well as our best deal on a Ford Edge Chicago suburbs. If you have the time, please give us a review. We welcome your feedback about your experience with us here at the dealership or how you felt your experience was with our online professionals.
Drivers can apply for financing on this website. You can also discuss leasing options with our experts. Our finance department works with all kinds of drivers and will try to get you the best interest rate possible on your vehicle selection. We will also be more than happy to tell you about our best deal on a Ford Edge Chicago suburbs. This is just one of many awesome vehicles that we have for sale here at Al Piemonte Ford.
There is also a blog section on this website that provides you with interesting information. Please take the time to go through this site to find out more about our dealership, our vehicle selection, vehicle pricing and how you can value your trade with us. Al Piemonte Ford wants to have you come back as a long term customer. Just let us know how we can assist you with your automotive needs today. Contact us when you have questions about our best deal on a Ford Edge Chicago suburbs. We are ready to tell you more about this specific Ford Motor Company vehicle selection and other vehicles that we have for sale. Our dealership looks forward to meeting with you soon.


3M Polyurethane Protective Tape 8671P is a polyurethane elastomer that resists punctures, tearing, abrasion and erosion. It is formulated especially for resistance to ultraviolet light and provides protection from corrosion, abrasion and minor impact damage. This tape is constructed with a long-aging, solvent-resistant, pressure-sensitive acrylic adhesive protected by an easy-release liner. 3M 8671 has been used as Helicopter Rotor Blade protection. Outdoor Grade - Poly Linered.


The Kitteridge Report on New Zealand's intelligence agency, the GCSB, is written in polite bureaucratic language but the activities it documents amount to a gross breach of the GCSB's responsibility to the New Zealand public. There are some sensible parts of the report but Rebecca Kitteridge is too generous to the GCSB when she suggests that the problems arose in part from unclear legislation.
I am embarrassed to say that I heard the unequivocal assurances and read the clear prohibition in the GCSB legislation, and I believed that they did not spy on New Zealanders. But it turns out they have been regularly spying on New Zealanders from before 2003 and since.
They have seriously let down the public.
Both her report and John Key have suggested that the GCSB legislation needs to change. But this call for "legislative clarification" is worryingly ambiguous. Reports now suggest Key will decide to solve the problem by permitting the GCSB to spy on New Zealanders. That is, simply making the illegal spying legal.
The GCSB's public standing is already at an all time low. I believe that legalising domestic spying, and going back on the long-term reassurances made to New Zealanders, will seriously damage public opinion towards the GCSB. The GCSB would be foolish to ask for this and the Prime Minister would be foolish to grant it.
Does the NZSIS need the GCSB's massively intrusive spying capabilities to do its job? No, it does not. Spy agencies always want the maximum powers they can get, but no sensible country would turn itself into a police state supposedly to protect its citizen's freedoms.
It would possibly help the spy agencies to have little spy cameras in every person's home but we don't do that because the intrusion isn't justified for protecting New Zealanders. We shouldn't turn the GCSB's Cold-War-style spy equipment against New Zealanders either.
is convenient to blame him. In our system the person who should be responsible is the minister in charge of the GCSB, John Key.
If there was systemic unlawful activity inside Inland Revenue or some other government department, the proper thing would be for the minister to resign. It's called the system of ministerial responsibility, where a minister has ultimate responsibility for the actions of their department.
I think the former GCSB legal office is being publicly scapegoated because this happens to be the Prime Minister's responsibility and Key doesn't want to wear it.
But the faults in the GCSB that led to the illegal spying were not about one individual. They were about organisational weaknesses.
Secrecy has made them complacent and sloppy, and compliance with the law and faithfulness to the New Zealand public has not been taken seriously enough. The GCSB staff numbers rose by 150% in the decade after the September 11 attacks, a larger rise possibly than any other government agency. Yet with all those new staff, in a period when the GCSB was involved in the murky area of war-on-terror spying, it continued to have only one part-time legal officer.
This is not the fault of the part-time legal officer. It is the fault of the people overseeing the GCSB and making the decisions about staff and priorities. In this, all roads lead to the Prime Minister.
Right from the first publicity about illegal GCSB spying on Kim Dotcom, there has been a concerted effort by the government to try to avoid any blame or responsibility falling on Key. But that is where it ultimately belongs.
Responsibility is with Key (and Clark), sure - but my impression from Kitteridge's report is that the Inspector-General oversight system failed. These guys are former high court judges - shouldn't they have read the legislation and pointed out that it was contradictory?
These guys are former high court judges - shouldn't they have read the legislation and pointed out that it was contradictory?
It's not contradictory. The GCSB can help out other agencies in the exercise of their functions, including within New Zealand.
If the police or SIS are investigating foreigners in NZ, the GCSB is perfectly capable of assisting them in doing so.
That's not how the GCSB decided to interpret the law though - they decided they were allowed to spy on New Zealanders and cited their act as proof, even though it explicitly said they couldn't.
Graeme is being deadpan ironic ... he's pointing out that there is a reading of the Act that means the apparant "contradiction" does not actually exist, thereby providing the preferable (even "right") way to interpret it. However, this is not the meaning that the SIS/GCSB/Inspector-General all chose to take - hence the unvoiced implication of his comment is that they were wrong and misapplied the law.
So, yeah ... the Inspector-General oversight system failed, raising significant questions as to whether it is sufficient (questions even Key seems to think need addressed).
That's not how the GCSB decided to interpret the law though..
No, but when we were all discussing Dotcom, that's what the law appeared to mean to me.
The GCSB helped the police get information to enable them to conduct their raid safely. They couldn't do this because Dotcom had residency, but had he not, they could have. I thought it was odd that the police could have additional information to protect them in safely conducting raids in NZ only when the person being raided was a non-resident, as though we were more okay with the risk of police casualties inflicted by a resident.
It didn't seem to me to be contradictory. It still doesn't. There is a clear sphere in which the GCSB can assist the police and the SIS within the current legislative framework.
So help me with this... from what we know, did the GCSB know the law restricting their ability to spy on NZers and, as Graeme's reading implies, simply stretch their intepretation of it? Or did the GCSB simply not know they weren't allowed to spy on NZers? That is, did they think that under some loophole the law wasn't as clear as everyone now says it is?
I ask because the GCSB seems to be arguing that "in hingsight' it's clear they can't do what they did, but at the time it wasn't clear. How/why wasn't it clear then?
And Danyl, I haven't had time to read Kitteridge, but surely there's clear ministerial responsibility regardless of other oversight? If a DHB broke the law, say, (bad medical ops as opposed to bad surveillance ops!), regardless of what the Health & Disability Commissioner or whoever failed to do, the buck would still stop with the minister.
Or think Cave Creek - sure DOC got pinged but there were still long and insistent calls for Denis Marshall's head. Shouldn't any minister be held to account if their ministry repeatedly breaks the law?
So help me with this ... did the GCSB simply not know they weren't allowed to spy on NZers?
My take is that the GCSB knew they were not permitted to spy on New Zealanders, but simply did not know they were spying on New Zealanders. Rather, they thought the SIS, or the Police were spying on New Zealanders, and they were just providing technical assistance.
In this case I think it's reasonable for the Minister to accept the legal opinion of a (retired) High Court judge. If they tell the PM that his Ministry is operating within the law then I can't see why he shouldn't take that at face value.
Gathering 'meta-data' seems more problematic to me. In the case of SIS collaboration at least someone has signed off on an investigation at some point.
Sorry, Graeme - the difference between "spying" and "providing technical assistance" is not at all clear to me.
Moreso, the system is entirely without transparency. So discussion of how the security intelligence agencies interpreted the extent of their powers is not possible - we have no information at all about the cases themselves.
As a citizen I find this situation and its direction highly concerning. We are heading straight towards a massive extension of state power without any guarantee of proper scrutiny or transparency. Thanks, Nicky, for grounding the discussion. Could you please keep up your work on this on behalf of us all.
Point taken. Which raises the question of why Neazor's still in the job. He raised broad questions, but the advice was that the GCSB were OK. Given they weren't, shouldn't he and the "legal people' who advised Key wrongly say sorry/step aside?
I love when legal minds start dancing on pin heads and splitting legal hairs. In my view,it gives credibility to the law being an a**. The common sense, to the everyday, interested Josephine Public, is that there are very disturbing inferrences from these recent revelations.
"The common sense, to the everyday, interested Josephine Public, is that there are very disturbing inferrences from these recent revelations."
I don't see why you think those of us with "legal minds" who "split legal hairs" would not agree with you. But that said, the reason that these revelations raise "disturbing inferences" is that it appears the spy agencies have been carrying out their activities without paying due care to the law that governs them. And as that is a question of law - have the agencies in fact acted in breach of the statute? - you have to expect a certain amount of legal analysis.
Alternatively, we could dispense with the law altogether and decide everything according to common sense. What could possibly go wrong?
Point taken. Legal analysis is inevitable for academics.
I am not suggesting that we dispense with the law all together. Only that lawyers will seek legal judgements, and not necessarily wise ones. I'm sure you agree that the legal system is as flawed as we are.
I am more interested in the implications of this matter for the general public. Perhaps the role of a journalist/lawyer, rather than an academic.
Why are we spied on at all, 'legally' or otherwise?
If I want to commit a crime and believe it would be more successful if done secretly I will set out to do it that way and the public will hope that I get caught by our internal spy network - that's why we have one. But unless we assume governments never commit secret crimes, whose job is it to catch them at it ?
Is it too farfetched to assume that secrecy is a rich soil for dishonesty to grow in? Will every government allowed to have a legal 'spy community' by its citizens turn on them sooner or later?
I assume that whether or not this sort of thing has just broken into the news, people like Nicky are plugging away at it, trying to keep some of the most noxious weeds out of the democratic garden. Once we have done what gardeners do, decide which are plants and which weeds, we will need to make some effort weeding and risk getting our hands dirty.
The Grant Wormald affidavit filed in the Dotcom case provides an insight into GCSB thinking (http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1303/Wormald_Affadavit.pdf).
It is clear that they thought Dotcom was not a citizen or resident and they could therefore intercept his communications. This was a simple mistake which needs no law change to alter.
Paragraph 44 is disturbing however. One of the GCSB spooks seemed to suggest that they could act if there appeared to be serious offending in New Zealand. He must be talking about section 8(2)(c) of the Act which says the Bureau may perform its functions only for purposes including "in support of the prevention or detection of serious crime."
If you stretch the language of this section to make it empowering and totally ignore section 14 prohibition of spying on Kiwis then it seems at least some within GCSB think that they are authorised to spy on Kiwis if they are involved in the prevention or detection of serious crime.
Such an interpretation to me seems bizarre but I can't read Wormald's affidavit in any other way.
Rebeccas review is so narrow in focus that is simply wrong. How can such a fragmented approach to the act be recommended as suddenly ensuring the act is fit for purpose? The act itself is so fundamentally flawed, and you guys squabble over the fringe analysis. How can we have faith in a system, when its checks and balances mechanisms are too dumb to realise how dumb they are being?
The act gives away far more control than people are aware of; written while Bush was the president, a president well known for manipulating clauses to enable acts which ultimately lead to theft, while a world stood by and enabled him.
The wording of the act doesn't even require a thief like Bush must get creative with the interpretation to enable his ability to spy.
All you need do to qualify yourself a person of interest is stand up for human rights in a way that biases against business (economic) interests.
From such an act, an as an employee of the USA bureau acting in accordance with sections 7 & 8 of the act, there are at least three moves I could make to enable my legal right to spy on you WITHOUT A WARRANT in accordance with 3(e).
I haven't had the benefit of months of analysis, but I still managed at least three ways to manipulate the act legally.
Even an environmental concern given voice, that biases against economic benefit will qualify you eligibility to be spied on.
Though I must admit, if I were only interested in preserving strictly New Zealand zoned interests in human rights and environmental interests, then my ability to loosely apply foreign -person, -organisation, -intelligence suddenly becomes a lot more restricted.
An unsigned building in East Tamaki, Auckland, looks like a pocket edition of an NSA Data Center. Does anyone know what function it serves?


text:
Platinum Affiliate Program Sponsors
1xBet Partners
Open letter to 1xBet
Thread: Open letter to 1xBet
24 March 2019, 1:14 pm #1
DanHorvat
Actual location may vary.
I know you're run by a certain organization and that this is an operation that's designed to look legit so that you can confiscate balances of a certain percentage of unsuspecting players. You do that by making them jump through impossible hoops, such as requesting notarized copies of documents (sometimes even a certificate of mental sanity) to be sent by post to Russia, only for you to later claim you never got the letter. You're asking people what their sexual orientation, religion and political views are.
My biggest concern is what you're doing with the personal information that can be easily misused to open various accounts that can then be used for money laundering. You're definitely not a legal entity that can be trusted to handle personal info responsibly - and there's no one to complain to if you don't.
Apart from 1xstavka.ru (the local Russian-licenced brand), you're also operating 1xbit.com, xparibet.com, 1xslot.com. The 1xBet website is accessible from 1xbet.com, xbet-1.com and 1xfaa.world.
Your Cyprus companies - Bonnal Ltd, Exinvest Ltd, Talkeetna Ltd - are all registered at the same address. You can change them around, dissolve them or open new ones as you please. And I have no doubt you will. Your Curacao eGaming (1668/JAZ) licence holders are 1xCorp N.V. and Aspro N.V., and Techinfusion Ltd also used to exist during a brief time during which you pretended to own a Gibraltar licence.
For all of the above reasons, I made it my business to write a 1xBet review despite not being your partner. The 1600-word review explains in detail what you're doing, is linking to individual theft cases, and is warning people to stay away. I'll make sure my review ends up at #1 on local Google for most 1xBet-related search queries. I can do that. It would be a particular treat if I manage to have your logo with the scam alert graphics appear as the first image on image search for "1xbet". It's nice. Big yellow danger sign. Looks good on you.
You will NOT be stealing money from my compatriots who worked hard for that money and have already been cheated by the government and everyone else since 1990 onwards, and are betting to try to pay rent and bills. For now I just published the review, but I might as well contact other webmasters in the country to let them know what's going on. I'll also be posting on local forums when I find the time.
I call everyone who has even an ounce of integrity to stop working with these scammers (despite the affiliate program being clean) and to stop enabling theft of money from people who put their trust in you and your reviews. It's not worth the money you'll make as an aff. There are other bookmakers and casinos to promote. Make a stand. You'll feel good.
Since these guys do their scam business exclusively online, and rely on affiliates to provide brand recognition and traffic, then the affiliates also have the power to stop this organization from penetrating the European markets further. Up to you all. I've made a stand and am defending my country.
Serie A, Cardiff, Tottenham Hotspur, CAF African Nations Cup and the Nigerian Football Association all said yes to their money. Sadly, at this moment GPWA is also on the list.
I'm saying NO.
Buy a sponsored blogpost from $50 to $250 and increase your rank. Click to see available websites.
RIVIERACASINO.COM for sale
Last edited by Sherlock; 29 March 2019 at 7:59 pm.
We are all bloodsucking ticks, hungry, devious
each one latched on to the ass of the previous
when the last and the first latch on it can be shown
ass-blood sucked by the first from the last is his own


Many small businesses can't qualify for a small business loan from a traditional local bank. A bad credit record disqualifies many. Lending standards have tightened. Some small towns are limited by local banks that don't support small business; others don't have locally-owned banks any more. The good news is that alternatives are available. We'll be profiling alternatives to traditional small business loans in this ongoing series on financing. This week: local loan funds.
to renovate their historic buildings.
Local loan funds are targeted by geographic area. Basically, you have to be located in the right area to get one.
When we profiled our first alternative small business loans, Chatham County (North Carolina) Economic Development Corporation replied on Twitter that they have their own local program, the Chatham Loan Fund. [@ChathamEDC] In my area of Oklahoma, small businesses can look to Northwestern Electric Cooperative's Economic Development Loan fund.
Many local programs like this were funded through USDA Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant programs.
How do you find these in your area? You have to search, sometimes relentlessly. Look at your local economic development groups and committees. Check with your Chamber of Commerce. Ask your utilities, especially rural cooperatives. And remember to look at neighboring bigger towns; they may cover your area, too.


The Cat in the Hat is a 2003 platformer video game released by Vivendi Universal Games and developed by Magenta Software and Digital Eclipse. It is based on the Cat in the hat christmas special video of the same name.
It is based on the film of the same name. Amazon. com: The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About Christmas!. Additional DVD options, Edition, Discs. Price. *Home Media Award: Best Kids Video 2012* * National Parenting Publication Award (NAPPA): Gold Winner 2013* 'Twas the day.
The evil Grinch who stole Christmas is back to steal Halloween!. This is the first Dr. Seuss television special to use the 1971-1975 Cat in the Hat Productions. Take off on kids science adventures with online games, videos, and printable activities all starring Dr. Seuss' the Cat in the Hat. Baby and Kid Cartoon& Games ♥ Special Christmas Hairstyles Baby Girls Games Movi ♥ Englis. Make a Cat In The Hat Cake Pop - A Cupcake Addiction How To Tutorial.
May 16, 2013. This is" The Cat in the Hat Christmas Party Song" by Collingwood& Co. on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love.
The Cat In The Hat Knows A Lot About Christmas! The Cat in the Hat, Sally, and Nick help the lost reindeer to return to Freeze Your Knees Snowland on time. 'Twas the day before Christmas and all through the yard the Cat in the Hat.
This will not become a regular Christmas special in my home, and probably. Enjoy a night in with these popular movies available to stream now with Prime Video. The contents of this Web site were developed under a cooperative agreement, # PRU295A, from the U. S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Nov 16, 2012 · Series-inspired special teaches kids about animals, caring.
Read Common Sense Media's The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About Christmas! review, age rating, and parents guide. Watch Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat trailers and video and find out where to buy or view the Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat movie. Get ready for the fur to fly as Dr. Seuss' beloved tale comes to life in this very special, live-action family film starring Mike Myers, Alec Baldwin, Sean Hayes and Dakota Fanning.
The Cat in the Hat Christmas Special- The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About Christmas and Giveaway! On November 21, PBS KIDS will premiere the first-ever Cat in the Hat Christmas special, THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT CHRISTMAS! Set to be a new holiday family tradition, this adventure. The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot about Christmas Special Premieres on Wednesday, November 21 on PBS Kids. This new family holiday tradition follows the Cat, Nick and Sally on an adventurous journey around the world to help a lost reindeer find his way home in time for Christmas.
Amazon. com: the cat in the hat christmas. Interesting Finds Updated Daily. Prime Video. $0. 00 Watch with a Prime membership. $3. 99 - $9. 99 $ 3 99-$ 9 99 Rent or Buy. PBS KIDS CAT IN THE HAT Holiday Special Proves to be a Blockbuster. the first-ever CAT IN THE HAT Christmas special, THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT. and on the PBS KIDS Video App — the. The Cat in the Hat is an animated TV special based on the book of the same name.
Christmas! The Cat in the Hat. the Cat in the Hat in the Book but in the video. The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! Wikia has new videos that include the latest TV clips, movie trailers, music videos, actor interviews and episodes. Watch now! The Cat in the Hat is an American animated musical television special first aired on CBS on March 10, 1971, based on the 1957 Dr. Seuss children's book of the same name, and produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises.
PBS KIDS Special: The Cat In The Hat Knows A Lot About Christmas premieres November 21# giveaway (closed) written by thatsit November 18, 2012 Families love PBS Kids for their terrific children's programing.