The Carlyle Group has been single-handedly fueling the private equity deal market this summer, sealing at least four blockbuster acquisitions with its latest announcement on Thursday that it would purchase E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co.’s global auto paint business for $4.9 billion in cash.
The DuPont deal has Wall Street buzzing because Carlyle appears to be increasingly active while its major peers are quiet. Blackstone Group, KKR and TPG Group have not been nearly as busy as Washington-based Carlyle.
The flurry also coincides with Carlyle’s much anticipated initial public offering, which occurred four months ago. Since its modest debut in June at an initial price of $22 per share, Carlyle stock has been on a slow and steady march upward, closing Thursday at $25.88.
The Carlyle dealmaker who engineered three of the four acquisitions said that borrowing money to buy companies is cheap, but the timing for the surge is coincidence.
“In three of these deals, we had been talking to these companies forever,” said Gregory S. Ledford, who heads Carlyle’s industrial and transportation team, which is responsible for three big deals in recent months. “It’s not like in April we just woke up and said it’s time to put money to work. These are businesses we’ve liked and had been in contact with for quite some time.”
Carlyle’s thesis has been to unearth non-core assets that parent companies seek to sell so they can concentrate their intellectual and financial firepower elsewhere. At DuPont, the chemical giant is zeroing in on the life sciences as its core business. Carlyle’s acquisition of Hertz and Dunkin’ Donuts, both several years ago, were done under the same approach.
“They are becoming the stealth Berkshire Hathaway,” said Michael Farr of Farr, Miller & Washington, a District-based investment firm. “You look at the last three to four deals that they’ve done, they are the nuts and bolts, and understandable companies.”
Berkshire Hathaway, headed by Warren Buffett, is known for acquiring businesses with clear and simple profit models, many of which are from old-line industries such as railroads, shoes, newspapers and manufacturing.
Carlyle’s recent deals have a similar flavor, with the company buying into industries ranging from pumps to paint to petroleum — even photographs.
Two weeks ago, Carlyle and Getty Images management paid $3.3 billion to buy Getty Images — the massive photo and digital archives library — from the San Francisco-based investment firm Hellman & Friedman.
Earlier this month, Carlyle Group acquired Los Angeles-based TCW Group, a diversified asset management firm, from Societe Generale for $700 million in cash, and some debt.
Last month, the private equity firm bought Hamilton Sundstrand’s industrial pumps business from parent United Technologies for $3.46 billion. Two days before that, Carlyle partnered with Genesee & Wyoming in a $1.4 billion acquisition of RailAmerica.
On July 2, Carlyle bought Sunoco’s more than 100-year-old refinery in Philadelphia, where it plans to build a rail terminal to transfer shale oil shipped from North Dakota to the refinery.
Observers said they aren’t surprised by the deals, especially given the availability of easy capital.
“That’s their business,” said Tim Loughran, a finance professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, referring to the recent spate of acquisitions. “So why would I be surprised?”
2012年8月30日星期四
2012年8月29日星期三
rookie Paralympian headed for 2012 Games
The incubators are covered in quilts, the monitors beep softly, the team of nurses quiets and feeds the tiny, premature babies, the worried moms and dads watch and wait.
In the neonatal intensive care unit at Royal Columbian Hospital, where Nathan DeWitt was born 21 years ago, not too much has changed, except DeWitt himself. He and twin brother Brenndon were born at 26 weeks, weighing less than three pounds each. DeWitt is now a strapping young athlete, headed for the 100-metre and 200-metre wheelchair sprints at the 2012 London Paralympic Games for the first time.
“It’s like I was just here yesterday,” said mom Linda as the family, including father Shane, youngest son Brody, 15, Brenndon and Nathan met the unit’s doctors and nurses, some of whom cared for the twins two decades ago.
The reunion was arranged so that DeWitt could thank the medical team that saved his and Brenndon’s life and hospital staff could congratulate him on his unexpected success.
Babies born before 24 weeks have a survival rate of about 60 per cent, and premature babies often have cognitive and physical disabilities, said pediatrician David Ou Tim, who remembered treating the twins and still works in the neonatal ICU.
Though his twin had no long-term complications from his premature birth, DeWitt has spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, which only affects the muscles in his legs, leaving his arms strong to power his wheelchair around the track. In his running shoes and Team Canada warm-up jacket, handing out autographs to the nurses, DeWitt looked every part the Paralympian.
“It’s amazing how well some of them respond,” Ou Tim said.
Doctors thought DeWitt would never walk, let alone run or ride a bike. He can do all three. “I can do all of them like a regular person,” he said. “I can outperform some of those able-bodied people.”
DeWitt has a natural confidence and a natural ability. The rookie Paralympian began racing only five years ago, and entered his first international competition just this year in Switzerland, where he easily made Paralympic qualifying times by racing a 17.14 in the 100-metre and 31.19 in the 200-metre sprints. He trains on the track at Surrey’s Holy Cross high school six days a week, sometimes twice a day, “to get those arm muscles firing fast,” with coach James Hustvedt.
His is father an avid sports fan and coach, and DeWitt grew up with athletics. He especially enjoys sledge hockey, which is played on a sled with two hockey sticks outfitted with picks that players use to propel themselves across the ice. It’s a sport he can play with his brothers.
Wheelchair racing began as a hobby, but DeWitt quickly learned he had the skills to win. “It started as recreation. They said I had some sort of talent, and a good chance of making it,” he said.
Of the stress associated with competing for Team Canada, DeWitt’s not afraid.
“I can naturally block it out. I have no hype to live up to. I just go, race my own race.” DeWitt is focusing on the first step, the semifinals, and on racing a personal best. His first sprint takes place Sept. 4.
Though he’s had health setbacks, mainly from a cerebral shunt that was replaced 19 times over the years after a bout of hydrocephalus (swelling in the brain) at three days old. His family has faith he will excel in London.
“He’s had health issues, but every time he comes back with a vengeance,” Shane said. “He has that internal passion you need to be successful in life, or in sport.”
In the neonatal intensive care unit at Royal Columbian Hospital, where Nathan DeWitt was born 21 years ago, not too much has changed, except DeWitt himself. He and twin brother Brenndon were born at 26 weeks, weighing less than three pounds each. DeWitt is now a strapping young athlete, headed for the 100-metre and 200-metre wheelchair sprints at the 2012 London Paralympic Games for the first time.
“It’s like I was just here yesterday,” said mom Linda as the family, including father Shane, youngest son Brody, 15, Brenndon and Nathan met the unit’s doctors and nurses, some of whom cared for the twins two decades ago.
The reunion was arranged so that DeWitt could thank the medical team that saved his and Brenndon’s life and hospital staff could congratulate him on his unexpected success.
Babies born before 24 weeks have a survival rate of about 60 per cent, and premature babies often have cognitive and physical disabilities, said pediatrician David Ou Tim, who remembered treating the twins and still works in the neonatal ICU.
Though his twin had no long-term complications from his premature birth, DeWitt has spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, which only affects the muscles in his legs, leaving his arms strong to power his wheelchair around the track. In his running shoes and Team Canada warm-up jacket, handing out autographs to the nurses, DeWitt looked every part the Paralympian.
“It’s amazing how well some of them respond,” Ou Tim said.
Doctors thought DeWitt would never walk, let alone run or ride a bike. He can do all three. “I can do all of them like a regular person,” he said. “I can outperform some of those able-bodied people.”
DeWitt has a natural confidence and a natural ability. The rookie Paralympian began racing only five years ago, and entered his first international competition just this year in Switzerland, where he easily made Paralympic qualifying times by racing a 17.14 in the 100-metre and 31.19 in the 200-metre sprints. He trains on the track at Surrey’s Holy Cross high school six days a week, sometimes twice a day, “to get those arm muscles firing fast,” with coach James Hustvedt.
His is father an avid sports fan and coach, and DeWitt grew up with athletics. He especially enjoys sledge hockey, which is played on a sled with two hockey sticks outfitted with picks that players use to propel themselves across the ice. It’s a sport he can play with his brothers.
Wheelchair racing began as a hobby, but DeWitt quickly learned he had the skills to win. “It started as recreation. They said I had some sort of talent, and a good chance of making it,” he said.
Of the stress associated with competing for Team Canada, DeWitt’s not afraid.
“I can naturally block it out. I have no hype to live up to. I just go, race my own race.” DeWitt is focusing on the first step, the semifinals, and on racing a personal best. His first sprint takes place Sept. 4.
Though he’s had health setbacks, mainly from a cerebral shunt that was replaced 19 times over the years after a bout of hydrocephalus (swelling in the brain) at three days old. His family has faith he will excel in London.
“He’s had health issues, but every time he comes back with a vengeance,” Shane said. “He has that internal passion you need to be successful in life, or in sport.”
2012年8月28日星期二
The danger is palpable in an inspired Go Back
This time around, we have six not-quite-so-ordinary Australians: former Howard government minister Peter Reith; columnist and comedian Catherine Deveny; former shock jock Mike Smith; actor and former swimsuit model Imogen Bailey; former rocker and aspiring Liberal MP Angry Anderson; and Allan Asher, the former Commonwealth Ombudsman who lost his job after penning questions for Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young to put to the government in question time. Roughly, a 50-50 split on the issue.
The first season was inspired, thought-provoking and, at times, cringe-inducing television that deservedly won huge ratings for SBS and major awards at home and abroad for production company Cordell Jigsaw. This season is even better.
The celebrity angle could so easily have gone wrong, but the casting is inspired. No one is here just to make up the numbers; even Bailey, who at first seems to have been selected just so the producers can show a photo of her on the cover of Ralph, quickly proves her relevance.
For eight years she was in a relationship with a Muslim, she tells us, and often found herself on the receiving end of a kind of inverse racism. More importantly, she's a skilled empath, putting Mike Smith on the spot over the disconnect between his hard-line send-them-back position and his heartfelt response to the plight of the refugee kids he meets in Africa.
As per last year, the six are split into two teams of three. Deveny, Reith and Anderson meet an Afghan Hazari refugee in Melbourne and then retrace his steps to Kabul, while Bailey, Smith and Asher get sent to Mogadishu in Somalia, the shell-shocked capital that the refugee whose Dandenong house they have visited had fled 20 years earlier at age 13.
For both groups, the danger is palpable. Deveny, Reith and Anderson arrive in Kabul just days after US troops have set copies of the Koran alight, and the natives are restless. Their fact-finding sessions are frequently cut short when their minders say "it's not safe here".
In Mogadishu, the Al Qaeda-aligned Al Shabaab is a constant threat on the ground, though the trio's escort, a former CIA man, assures them it's a lovely place to bring up a family. "I live here, with my wife," he says. No one finds it terribly reassuring.
As Deveny harangues Reith over his role in the Tampa crisis and the children overboard affair and Reith shows you can take the man out of politics but you can't take politics out of the man, it is Anderson who starts to melt first.
True, you have to wonder if the producers allowed their guinea pigs to think they were in more danger than they actually were, but the ends so clearly justify the means that I'm willing to forgive them if that was the case. I'm also quite ready to believe it wasn't.
The first season was inspired, thought-provoking and, at times, cringe-inducing television that deservedly won huge ratings for SBS and major awards at home and abroad for production company Cordell Jigsaw. This season is even better.
The celebrity angle could so easily have gone wrong, but the casting is inspired. No one is here just to make up the numbers; even Bailey, who at first seems to have been selected just so the producers can show a photo of her on the cover of Ralph, quickly proves her relevance.
For eight years she was in a relationship with a Muslim, she tells us, and often found herself on the receiving end of a kind of inverse racism. More importantly, she's a skilled empath, putting Mike Smith on the spot over the disconnect between his hard-line send-them-back position and his heartfelt response to the plight of the refugee kids he meets in Africa.
As per last year, the six are split into two teams of three. Deveny, Reith and Anderson meet an Afghan Hazari refugee in Melbourne and then retrace his steps to Kabul, while Bailey, Smith and Asher get sent to Mogadishu in Somalia, the shell-shocked capital that the refugee whose Dandenong house they have visited had fled 20 years earlier at age 13.
For both groups, the danger is palpable. Deveny, Reith and Anderson arrive in Kabul just days after US troops have set copies of the Koran alight, and the natives are restless. Their fact-finding sessions are frequently cut short when their minders say "it's not safe here".
In Mogadishu, the Al Qaeda-aligned Al Shabaab is a constant threat on the ground, though the trio's escort, a former CIA man, assures them it's a lovely place to bring up a family. "I live here, with my wife," he says. No one finds it terribly reassuring.
As Deveny harangues Reith over his role in the Tampa crisis and the children overboard affair and Reith shows you can take the man out of politics but you can't take politics out of the man, it is Anderson who starts to melt first.
True, you have to wonder if the producers allowed their guinea pigs to think they were in more danger than they actually were, but the ends so clearly justify the means that I'm willing to forgive them if that was the case. I'm also quite ready to believe it wasn't.
2012年8月27日星期一
The struggling young assistant coach at Ohio State
Showtime for Urban Meyer. What a perfect marriage, he and the Ohio State Buckeyes make.
But then, don't they all seem that way just after the wedding?
We'll have to see. A few curves, a few bumps, a few Michigan games. Then we'll know if this match is as made in heaven as it looks. So far, they seem to go together like chocolate and peanut butter in buckeyes.
"Am I ready for this?'' he was saying Monday, five days before his debut. "We'll judge that probably in the next week, or next two weeks, next two years.
"That's the kind of neat thing about where I'm at in my career. I don't care. I want to work on getting this team ready for Miami of Ohio (and a few bigger fish to fry after that). Everything I've got. I'm not worried about what's the legacy, what's this, what's that."
There are no happy endings among his recent coaching predecessors in Columbus. Jim Tressel was forced out. John Cooper, Earle Bruce, Woody Hayes. All under different circumstances, but the trend is stark enough.
Plus, there's the shadow of NCAA sanctions and the bowl ban this season, and the bad aftertaste of a 6-7 record, the most losses for Ohio State since the William McKinley White House in 1897.
It is assumed Meyer will change all the above, even though this is not Florida. No stable of Southeastern Conference speed. No Swamp. No Tim Tebow. But it's home. He grew up in northern Ohio, went to college in southern Ohio and now is in charge of the state's crown jewel in the middle, having taken his one-year sabbatical in the broadcast booth to rebalance himself.
At this moment, many images of Ohio State's new coach come through.
Urban Meyer, the little boy in upstate Ashtabula …
"Since I was 4 years old, or maybe I was 3?," he said of his first time he watched the Buckeyes. "It's going to be an emotional time (Saturday). Very much so.''
He said he'd be needing notes "to keep my face in the game … I have to do that because I'll be coming out of my shoes a little bit."
Urban Meyer, the struggling young assistant coach at Ohio State in the 1980s …
"I didn't eat if I didn't know where the happy hours were, or if Wendy's didn't have their $2 special on salads."
He said he's been fired twice, when staffs were let go here and Colorado State. He was 27 years old on the last one, with his wife seven months' pregnant.
"Makes you want to work that much harder,'' he said.
Now he has a six-year contract, reported to be worth at least $24 million.
But then, don't they all seem that way just after the wedding?
We'll have to see. A few curves, a few bumps, a few Michigan games. Then we'll know if this match is as made in heaven as it looks. So far, they seem to go together like chocolate and peanut butter in buckeyes.
"Am I ready for this?'' he was saying Monday, five days before his debut. "We'll judge that probably in the next week, or next two weeks, next two years.
"That's the kind of neat thing about where I'm at in my career. I don't care. I want to work on getting this team ready for Miami of Ohio (and a few bigger fish to fry after that). Everything I've got. I'm not worried about what's the legacy, what's this, what's that."
There are no happy endings among his recent coaching predecessors in Columbus. Jim Tressel was forced out. John Cooper, Earle Bruce, Woody Hayes. All under different circumstances, but the trend is stark enough.
Plus, there's the shadow of NCAA sanctions and the bowl ban this season, and the bad aftertaste of a 6-7 record, the most losses for Ohio State since the William McKinley White House in 1897.
It is assumed Meyer will change all the above, even though this is not Florida. No stable of Southeastern Conference speed. No Swamp. No Tim Tebow. But it's home. He grew up in northern Ohio, went to college in southern Ohio and now is in charge of the state's crown jewel in the middle, having taken his one-year sabbatical in the broadcast booth to rebalance himself.
At this moment, many images of Ohio State's new coach come through.
Urban Meyer, the little boy in upstate Ashtabula …
"Since I was 4 years old, or maybe I was 3?," he said of his first time he watched the Buckeyes. "It's going to be an emotional time (Saturday). Very much so.''
He said he'd be needing notes "to keep my face in the game … I have to do that because I'll be coming out of my shoes a little bit."
Urban Meyer, the struggling young assistant coach at Ohio State in the 1980s …
"I didn't eat if I didn't know where the happy hours were, or if Wendy's didn't have their $2 special on salads."
He said he's been fired twice, when staffs were let go here and Colorado State. He was 27 years old on the last one, with his wife seven months' pregnant.
"Makes you want to work that much harder,'' he said.
Now he has a six-year contract, reported to be worth at least $24 million.
2012年8月26日星期日
While having the park set up was the first step
Kids in the hamlet of Conklin are getting a chance to ride. A hockey rink has been converted to a summer skate park and, after some paperwork and sponsorship, Lantix Skateboard Training is up and running.
“A company out there put some equipment inside this dome. It’s a hockey rink in the winter time, but in the summer it’s for kids, but they didn’t really have anything so they put in these ramps,” said Jamie Whitfield, organizer and trainer of the lessons. “There’s a mini-ramp, half-pipe, a few other ramps, some rails.”
While having the park set up was the first step, Whitfield knew from experience that to get kids using the equipment they’d need some hands-on education.
“I gave them (the Conklin Community Association) a proposal,” said Whitfield. “I got a schedule made up, put a lot of work into it, and we started it last Thursday.”
Whitfield, a long time resident of the Wood Buffalo region, has been on and off boards for the last 15 years. Starting when he was 12, he spent about 10 years training hard and made it to a fairly high skill level. In the early 2000s he even helped organize a competition in Fort McMurray. He describes the group he skated with in his youth as being as close as family, and that’s an aspect of the skate culture he looks to bring to the kids.
“I know a lot of kids nowadays are getting in to more trouble. There’s not too much opportunity out in Conklin for these kids,” he said. “They have all the equipment now, I’m going to teach them how to properly ride a skateboard before they even get into the tricks.”
For the first few sessions he’s had 18 kids turn up, ranging in age from four to 16, both boys and girls. He’s broken them up into two groups, taking the younger ones earlier in the day while the older ones work summer jobs.
“Everything is free for the kids, from the board, helmet, elbow pads, knee pads and shoes,” said Whitfield. “It’s not me that hooked them up, it’s the companies that hooked them up.”
The first day included taking shoe sizes, since some of the kids didn’t have appropriate foot wear. While Whitfield has put the organizational energy into the program, he’s received sponsorship from some of the local companies.
“Without the generous donation from Kingdom Cats Ltd., T.J’s Oilfield, Tartan and Kazaam Skate and Snow, this wouldn’t have been possible,” he said. “All it take is a couple good ideas and people help for a good cause.”
“A company out there put some equipment inside this dome. It’s a hockey rink in the winter time, but in the summer it’s for kids, but they didn’t really have anything so they put in these ramps,” said Jamie Whitfield, organizer and trainer of the lessons. “There’s a mini-ramp, half-pipe, a few other ramps, some rails.”
While having the park set up was the first step, Whitfield knew from experience that to get kids using the equipment they’d need some hands-on education.
“I gave them (the Conklin Community Association) a proposal,” said Whitfield. “I got a schedule made up, put a lot of work into it, and we started it last Thursday.”
Whitfield, a long time resident of the Wood Buffalo region, has been on and off boards for the last 15 years. Starting when he was 12, he spent about 10 years training hard and made it to a fairly high skill level. In the early 2000s he even helped organize a competition in Fort McMurray. He describes the group he skated with in his youth as being as close as family, and that’s an aspect of the skate culture he looks to bring to the kids.
“I know a lot of kids nowadays are getting in to more trouble. There’s not too much opportunity out in Conklin for these kids,” he said. “They have all the equipment now, I’m going to teach them how to properly ride a skateboard before they even get into the tricks.”
For the first few sessions he’s had 18 kids turn up, ranging in age from four to 16, both boys and girls. He’s broken them up into two groups, taking the younger ones earlier in the day while the older ones work summer jobs.
“Everything is free for the kids, from the board, helmet, elbow pads, knee pads and shoes,” said Whitfield. “It’s not me that hooked them up, it’s the companies that hooked them up.”
The first day included taking shoe sizes, since some of the kids didn’t have appropriate foot wear. While Whitfield has put the organizational energy into the program, he’s received sponsorship from some of the local companies.
“Without the generous donation from Kingdom Cats Ltd., T.J’s Oilfield, Tartan and Kazaam Skate and Snow, this wouldn’t have been possible,” he said. “All it take is a couple good ideas and people help for a good cause.”
2012年8月23日星期四
Harry had to navigate working with the opposition
He was a career U.S. diplomat of the old school: polite and professional, an intent listener who never gave offense. But when Harry G. Barnes Jr. presented his credentials in 1985 to Chile’s dictator, Augusto Pinochet, he threw down a quiet challenge that eventually helped nudge the general from power.
“The ills of democracy can only be cured with more democracy,” the new American ambassador told Pinochet. Several days later, in an interview, the military ruler spluttered an angry retort. “Since when are some ambassadors arbiters of our internal problems?” he demanded. “We are not anyone’s colony or slave.”
Mr. Barnes’s mission was to convince both Pinochet and his demoralized opponents that the Reagan administration would no longer tolerate the general’s abusive grip on power. For three years, Mr. Barnes pushed steadily for political change in Chile – opening his embassy to opposition leaders, standing up publicly for victims of repression and making it clear that he had Washington’s blessing.
In 1988, after 15 years of military rule, Pinochet was peacefully defeated in a national plebiscite and forced to step down as president in 1990, ushering in an era of democratic governance and economic success that has become a model for Latin America. Mr. Barnes left Chile soon after the plebiscite and retired from the Foreign Service. He died Aug. 9 in Lebanon, N.H., at 86. His family said he had contracted an infection.
During 38 years in the Foreign Service, Mr. Barnes was posted in eight countries, learning to speak many of their languages, and he served as ambassador to India (1981 to 1985) and Romania (1974 to 1977) as well as Chile. In India, he plunged into negotiations on nuclear and arms issues after a generation of ideological estrangement.
After retirement, he worked for the Atlanta-based Carter Center as director of human rights and conflict resolution programs from 1994 to 2000, traveling often to global trouble spots.
But it was Mr. Barnes’s role in Chile that earned him a niche in history. A small country that loomed large in the ideological wars of the 1960s, Chile embarked on a chaotic socialist period under President Salvador Allende.
In 1973, Allende and Chile’s leftist aspirations were crushed by a military coup that was welcomed by the Nixon administration and reportedly abetted by the CIA. Pinochet, who was army chief, seized power and vowed to extirpate communism from Chilean soil. Over the next several years, thousands of political activists were detained, tortured or vanished in custody.
By the mid-1980s, the Reagan administration in Washington had soured on Pinochet and was looking for an antidote to its controversial anti-communist role in Central America and the Iran-contra scandal. Mr. Barnes was sent to Chile to push for a return to civilian rule. It was a delicate task, with powerful adversaries in both capitals, and he tackled it with characteristic and quiet determination.
“Harry had to navigate working with the opposition, the socialists and Christian Democrats, without becoming an enemy of the government or the Chilean right,” said Elliott Abrams, then the top State Department official for Latin America and now with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “He also had to navigate in Washington,” where the new policy on Chile was opposed by powerful conservatives such as the late Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). “I think he did a magnificent job.”
Mr. Barnes made few public pronouncements in Chile but many pointed gestures, such as participating in candlelight protest vigils. In 1986, he and his wife, Elizabeth, braved police tear gas to attend the funeral of Rodrigo Rojas de Negri, 19, a Chilean exile visiting from Washington who was burned during a protest in Santiago and dumped by a military patrol to die.
“If the United States was trying to be clear about our concern for human rights,” he said later, “the death had to be protested.”
Pinochet, infuriated by Mr. Barnes’s activities, barred the ambassador from his palace and ordered his image cropped from ceremonial news photos. But years later, with Pinochet an aging international pariah, Mr. Barnes was awarded Chile’s highest honor in recognition of his contribution to the restoration of democracy.
“He had a very hard time here in Chile,” Andres Zaldivar, a longtime Christian Democratic senator, wrote in a Chilean newspaper last week, noting that Mr. Barnes faced constant harassment from the regime but always “kept the embassy open to us in the opposition.” Without intervening in domestic politics, Zaldivar wrote, Mr. Barnes was “a very important factor in the democratic transition process.”
Harry George Barnes Jr. was born June 5, 1926, in St. Paul, Minn. After Army service, he graduated in 1949 from Amherst College in Massachusetts and joined the Foreign Service in 1950, pausing in mid-career to receive a master’s degree at Columbia University in 1968.
Besides his wife of 64 years, the former Elizabeth Sibley, survivors include three children, Douglas M. Barnes of Miami, Sibley A. Barnes of Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Pauline M. Barnes of Walpole, N.H.; a brother; and a grandson. A daughter, Adrienne Barnes, died in 2003.
Mr. Barnes made a mark during other postings beside Chile. In Nepal, he was remembered for commandeering a U.S. government plane to obtain rabies vaccines for some children who had been bitten by a dog.
In Romania, while he was deputy chief of the U.S. mission in the 1960s during the communist reign of Nicolae Ceausescu, it was discovered that Mr. Barnes’s voice was being picked up and broadcast from inside the embassy. In an oral history years later, he recalled a colleague handing him a note that said, “You’re on the air.”
After a little experimenting, the mystery was solved: A microphone had been planted in the heel of one of Mr. Barnes’s newly repaired shoes.
“I had sent them out with our maid,” he recounted. When they came back, something seemed amiss. “One heel felt a little bit higher, so I sent them back. When they came back they were OK, but that of course gave a clue to as to where to look.”
“The ills of democracy can only be cured with more democracy,” the new American ambassador told Pinochet. Several days later, in an interview, the military ruler spluttered an angry retort. “Since when are some ambassadors arbiters of our internal problems?” he demanded. “We are not anyone’s colony or slave.”
Mr. Barnes’s mission was to convince both Pinochet and his demoralized opponents that the Reagan administration would no longer tolerate the general’s abusive grip on power. For three years, Mr. Barnes pushed steadily for political change in Chile – opening his embassy to opposition leaders, standing up publicly for victims of repression and making it clear that he had Washington’s blessing.
In 1988, after 15 years of military rule, Pinochet was peacefully defeated in a national plebiscite and forced to step down as president in 1990, ushering in an era of democratic governance and economic success that has become a model for Latin America. Mr. Barnes left Chile soon after the plebiscite and retired from the Foreign Service. He died Aug. 9 in Lebanon, N.H., at 86. His family said he had contracted an infection.
During 38 years in the Foreign Service, Mr. Barnes was posted in eight countries, learning to speak many of their languages, and he served as ambassador to India (1981 to 1985) and Romania (1974 to 1977) as well as Chile. In India, he plunged into negotiations on nuclear and arms issues after a generation of ideological estrangement.
After retirement, he worked for the Atlanta-based Carter Center as director of human rights and conflict resolution programs from 1994 to 2000, traveling often to global trouble spots.
But it was Mr. Barnes’s role in Chile that earned him a niche in history. A small country that loomed large in the ideological wars of the 1960s, Chile embarked on a chaotic socialist period under President Salvador Allende.
In 1973, Allende and Chile’s leftist aspirations were crushed by a military coup that was welcomed by the Nixon administration and reportedly abetted by the CIA. Pinochet, who was army chief, seized power and vowed to extirpate communism from Chilean soil. Over the next several years, thousands of political activists were detained, tortured or vanished in custody.
By the mid-1980s, the Reagan administration in Washington had soured on Pinochet and was looking for an antidote to its controversial anti-communist role in Central America and the Iran-contra scandal. Mr. Barnes was sent to Chile to push for a return to civilian rule. It was a delicate task, with powerful adversaries in both capitals, and he tackled it with characteristic and quiet determination.
“Harry had to navigate working with the opposition, the socialists and Christian Democrats, without becoming an enemy of the government or the Chilean right,” said Elliott Abrams, then the top State Department official for Latin America and now with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “He also had to navigate in Washington,” where the new policy on Chile was opposed by powerful conservatives such as the late Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). “I think he did a magnificent job.”
Mr. Barnes made few public pronouncements in Chile but many pointed gestures, such as participating in candlelight protest vigils. In 1986, he and his wife, Elizabeth, braved police tear gas to attend the funeral of Rodrigo Rojas de Negri, 19, a Chilean exile visiting from Washington who was burned during a protest in Santiago and dumped by a military patrol to die.
“If the United States was trying to be clear about our concern for human rights,” he said later, “the death had to be protested.”
Pinochet, infuriated by Mr. Barnes’s activities, barred the ambassador from his palace and ordered his image cropped from ceremonial news photos. But years later, with Pinochet an aging international pariah, Mr. Barnes was awarded Chile’s highest honor in recognition of his contribution to the restoration of democracy.
“He had a very hard time here in Chile,” Andres Zaldivar, a longtime Christian Democratic senator, wrote in a Chilean newspaper last week, noting that Mr. Barnes faced constant harassment from the regime but always “kept the embassy open to us in the opposition.” Without intervening in domestic politics, Zaldivar wrote, Mr. Barnes was “a very important factor in the democratic transition process.”
Harry George Barnes Jr. was born June 5, 1926, in St. Paul, Minn. After Army service, he graduated in 1949 from Amherst College in Massachusetts and joined the Foreign Service in 1950, pausing in mid-career to receive a master’s degree at Columbia University in 1968.
Besides his wife of 64 years, the former Elizabeth Sibley, survivors include three children, Douglas M. Barnes of Miami, Sibley A. Barnes of Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Pauline M. Barnes of Walpole, N.H.; a brother; and a grandson. A daughter, Adrienne Barnes, died in 2003.
Mr. Barnes made a mark during other postings beside Chile. In Nepal, he was remembered for commandeering a U.S. government plane to obtain rabies vaccines for some children who had been bitten by a dog.
In Romania, while he was deputy chief of the U.S. mission in the 1960s during the communist reign of Nicolae Ceausescu, it was discovered that Mr. Barnes’s voice was being picked up and broadcast from inside the embassy. In an oral history years later, he recalled a colleague handing him a note that said, “You’re on the air.”
After a little experimenting, the mystery was solved: A microphone had been planted in the heel of one of Mr. Barnes’s newly repaired shoes.
“I had sent them out with our maid,” he recounted. When they came back, something seemed amiss. “One heel felt a little bit higher, so I sent them back. When they came back they were OK, but that of course gave a clue to as to where to look.”
2012年8月22日星期三
who attended the groundbreaking ceremony hours
MORE expressions of sympathy were offered yesterday by Cebu officials to the families of the late Interior and Local Governments Secretary Jesse Robredo and Capt. Jessup Bahinting, who died in last Saturday’s plane crash in waters off Masbate City.
Both Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale and Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Meinrado Paredes said anyone who would be appointed to succeed Robredo has big shoes to fill.
“I hope and I pray it will be somebody like Jesse. Robredo was very ‘accessible’ and would walk the extra mile. His integrity was beyond question. There was no fanfare in his arrival,” the vice governor said.
Magpale said she will support plans to name the new Philippine National Police Regional Training Center in Consolacion town, Cebu after Robredo, who attended the groundbreaking ceremony hours before the plane crash.
“I’m for it if only to perpetuate his memory and so that local officials won’t forget his advocacy,” Magpale said.
Judge Paredes said looking for Robredo’s replacement is an uphill climb.
He said he admired Robredo’s honesty and work ethic.
“Robredo was a model public servant. He lived a simple life. He was credible, honest, indefatigable, and a good family man,” Paredes said.
The Cebu City Council recalled that Robredo worked with the city government in helping urban poor families especially those involved in the 93-1 lot dispute and the Mahiga creek settlers whose shanties were demolished.
“We sincerely express the Cebu City Council’s deepest sympathy and condolence to the bereaved family of Secretary Jesse Robredo for this unfortunate demise of a beloved father and husband and to join our Fellow Filipino as the entire nation deeply grieves for the loss of the most highly respected and credible leaders the country has ever had,” said their resolution introduced by Councilor Alvin Dizon.
Robredo was cited one of the country’s exemplary leaders who helped transform Naga City into one of the most progressive cities in the Philippines.
He was known for his advocacies in people empowerment, ethical leadership and good government.
“This unfortunate and untimely demise of a well-respected public servant is a great loss to the country and to the Filipinos,” the council said.
Rep. Gabriel Luis R. Quisumbing of Cebu’s 6th district also condoled with Robredo’s family and hailed Capt. Bahinting for his selfless service to others.
Capt. Bahinting flew in anti-venom medicine from Camiguin province for a Cebu City zoo worker that was bitten by a King Cobra.
“We won’t forget the service Capt. Bahinting rendered for his community and his country.” Quisumbing said.
In Lapu-Lapu City, Mayor Paz Radaza said she knew what the Robredo family felt since she lost her brother-in-law, the father of her nephew Lapu-Lapu City Councilor Harry Radaza, in a plane crash.
“Our prayers are with him and his family. The country has lost a catalyst of good governance…To the two pilots and their families, our prayers are with them too,” Radaza said.
Both Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale and Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Meinrado Paredes said anyone who would be appointed to succeed Robredo has big shoes to fill.
“I hope and I pray it will be somebody like Jesse. Robredo was very ‘accessible’ and would walk the extra mile. His integrity was beyond question. There was no fanfare in his arrival,” the vice governor said.
Magpale said she will support plans to name the new Philippine National Police Regional Training Center in Consolacion town, Cebu after Robredo, who attended the groundbreaking ceremony hours before the plane crash.
“I’m for it if only to perpetuate his memory and so that local officials won’t forget his advocacy,” Magpale said.
Judge Paredes said looking for Robredo’s replacement is an uphill climb.
He said he admired Robredo’s honesty and work ethic.
“Robredo was a model public servant. He lived a simple life. He was credible, honest, indefatigable, and a good family man,” Paredes said.
The Cebu City Council recalled that Robredo worked with the city government in helping urban poor families especially those involved in the 93-1 lot dispute and the Mahiga creek settlers whose shanties were demolished.
“We sincerely express the Cebu City Council’s deepest sympathy and condolence to the bereaved family of Secretary Jesse Robredo for this unfortunate demise of a beloved father and husband and to join our Fellow Filipino as the entire nation deeply grieves for the loss of the most highly respected and credible leaders the country has ever had,” said their resolution introduced by Councilor Alvin Dizon.
Robredo was cited one of the country’s exemplary leaders who helped transform Naga City into one of the most progressive cities in the Philippines.
He was known for his advocacies in people empowerment, ethical leadership and good government.
“This unfortunate and untimely demise of a well-respected public servant is a great loss to the country and to the Filipinos,” the council said.
Rep. Gabriel Luis R. Quisumbing of Cebu’s 6th district also condoled with Robredo’s family and hailed Capt. Bahinting for his selfless service to others.
Capt. Bahinting flew in anti-venom medicine from Camiguin province for a Cebu City zoo worker that was bitten by a King Cobra.
“We won’t forget the service Capt. Bahinting rendered for his community and his country.” Quisumbing said.
In Lapu-Lapu City, Mayor Paz Radaza said she knew what the Robredo family felt since she lost her brother-in-law, the father of her nephew Lapu-Lapu City Councilor Harry Radaza, in a plane crash.
“Our prayers are with him and his family. The country has lost a catalyst of good governance…To the two pilots and their families, our prayers are with them too,” Radaza said.
2012年8月21日星期二
Locals gather to help search for missing Wicklow youth
THE FAMILY of a Co Wicklow man who has been missing since last weekend yesterday appealed for help in tracing him.
James Sheehan (18) was last seen in Arklow early on Sunday morning after leaving Sally O’Brien’s nightclub. A major search involving gardaí and locals got under way in Arklow yesterday.
He is described as 189cm (6ft 2in) tall and of athletic build, with tightly cut red hair. He was wearing a light grey Henley hoodie with a neon orange lining, blue jeans and tan Kickers shoes.
His mother Catherine Sheehan said yesterday she last spoke to her son on Friday morning.
“I became worried on Sunday night because I hadn’t heard anything from him and he’s always on his mobile phone,” she said.
“When he left the nightclub, he walked over the bridge and his friend offered him a lift. He said, ‘No, I’m all right’, but then he got into the car and his friend dropped him off at Willow Grove housing estate. That was the last time he was seen,” she said. “He’s a mammy’s boy. He always comes home.”
His father and family had been searching for Mr Sheehan since early yesterday morning, she said, adding the teenager had many friends and was a “cheeky chappie with an answer for everything, but in a humorous way”.
She ruled out any involvement with drugs, saying he was anti-drugs and anti-smoking.
A friend of the family said he spoke to Mr Sheehan on Friday and he was in good form.
“We were chatting, laughing away and slagging each other. He’s a great kid. We’re all in shock and hope that he returns home safely,” he said. “His brother Anthony (24) is in bits. This is very tough for him because they’re very close brothers. I’d ask anyone if they know anything, whether it’s good or bad, to come forward and tell the gardaí.”
Garda Insp Mary Aldridge said the river in Arklow was being searched. “There is nothing to indicate that he is there but we are checking it so that we can eliminate the river from all the places we are searching,” she said.
“There was some activity on his phone up until 5.10am. If anyone saw any activity between 2.50am and 5.10am, or indeed any time since, then please get in contact with the Garda.”
Yesterday his mother said she did not know whether reports that her son was bundled into a car by two men after a scuffle at the estate were true. Gardaí had no information of the events being linked at this point.
James Sheehan (18) was last seen in Arklow early on Sunday morning after leaving Sally O’Brien’s nightclub. A major search involving gardaí and locals got under way in Arklow yesterday.
He is described as 189cm (6ft 2in) tall and of athletic build, with tightly cut red hair. He was wearing a light grey Henley hoodie with a neon orange lining, blue jeans and tan Kickers shoes.
His mother Catherine Sheehan said yesterday she last spoke to her son on Friday morning.
“I became worried on Sunday night because I hadn’t heard anything from him and he’s always on his mobile phone,” she said.
“When he left the nightclub, he walked over the bridge and his friend offered him a lift. He said, ‘No, I’m all right’, but then he got into the car and his friend dropped him off at Willow Grove housing estate. That was the last time he was seen,” she said. “He’s a mammy’s boy. He always comes home.”
His father and family had been searching for Mr Sheehan since early yesterday morning, she said, adding the teenager had many friends and was a “cheeky chappie with an answer for everything, but in a humorous way”.
She ruled out any involvement with drugs, saying he was anti-drugs and anti-smoking.
A friend of the family said he spoke to Mr Sheehan on Friday and he was in good form.
“We were chatting, laughing away and slagging each other. He’s a great kid. We’re all in shock and hope that he returns home safely,” he said. “His brother Anthony (24) is in bits. This is very tough for him because they’re very close brothers. I’d ask anyone if they know anything, whether it’s good or bad, to come forward and tell the gardaí.”
Garda Insp Mary Aldridge said the river in Arklow was being searched. “There is nothing to indicate that he is there but we are checking it so that we can eliminate the river from all the places we are searching,” she said.
“There was some activity on his phone up until 5.10am. If anyone saw any activity between 2.50am and 5.10am, or indeed any time since, then please get in contact with the Garda.”
Yesterday his mother said she did not know whether reports that her son was bundled into a car by two men after a scuffle at the estate were true. Gardaí had no information of the events being linked at this point.
2012年8月20日星期一
Top-Ranked Stanford Mines Peninsula Schools For Talent
They're the reigning national champs, and the Stanford Women's Soccer team is looking to a Peninsula prep star to help earn another.
Burlingame High grad Taylor McCann saw a YouTube video in which someone did a bunny hop after scoring a soccer goal.
"I said I would do that if I ever scored," McCann said. "I had to follow through."
She did score and she did follow through. She was playing with the Stanford women's soccer team and it occured during the NCAA tournament.
She never practiced the move, which included taking off her shoes and using them as rabbit ears.
Stanford went on to win the NCAA national title last year, beating Duke, 1-0, in the final.
With the loss of three graduated seniors, two of them named Player of the Year by different organizations, McCann figures to get more opportunities to score.
The bunny hop move, however, has been retired from her reportaire.
The Cardinal opened their season Friday with a 6-1 victory over visiting Santa Clara, ranked No. 17 in the nation. McCann recorded a pair of assists.
Aragon High grad Kat McAuliffe played 12 minutes for the Broncos.
McCann, now a junior, has already played in two national championship matches. She's gearing up to make a run for a third straight appearance.
"It's not just ourselves," she said. "We hold each other to high standards."
Those standards have been around since Stanford began a women's soccer program and first reached the Final Four in 1993, with former Olympian Julie Foudy playing.
One of McCann's teammates two years ago was Kelley O'Hara, who will be a sideline reporter for tonight's game on the Pac-12 Networks. O'Hara just returned from London, where she helped the Americans to a gold medal at the London Games.
"It's great to be around players like that," McCann said. "They are inspiring to watch."
Hillsborough resident Hannah Farr is also playing for Stanford this season. She missed all but six games last year due to an injury and is looking forward to a healthy season.
"The seniors last year were the best I've ever played with or against," said Farr, who attended St. Ignatius Prep. "I learned a lot from them and I hope to carry that on. We just believe we're the best every year."
Farr is at Stanford on a lacrosse scholarship and plays both at Stanford. The Cardinal lacrosse team entered last year as one of the top-rated teams in the nation. An unfortunate series of mishaps led to a sub-par performance though.
Farr has the possibility of becoming an NCAA champion in two separate sports. Lacrosse will be a long shot this year.
Burlingame High grad Taylor McCann saw a YouTube video in which someone did a bunny hop after scoring a soccer goal.
"I said I would do that if I ever scored," McCann said. "I had to follow through."
She did score and she did follow through. She was playing with the Stanford women's soccer team and it occured during the NCAA tournament.
She never practiced the move, which included taking off her shoes and using them as rabbit ears.
Stanford went on to win the NCAA national title last year, beating Duke, 1-0, in the final.
With the loss of three graduated seniors, two of them named Player of the Year by different organizations, McCann figures to get more opportunities to score.
The bunny hop move, however, has been retired from her reportaire.
The Cardinal opened their season Friday with a 6-1 victory over visiting Santa Clara, ranked No. 17 in the nation. McCann recorded a pair of assists.
Aragon High grad Kat McAuliffe played 12 minutes for the Broncos.
McCann, now a junior, has already played in two national championship matches. She's gearing up to make a run for a third straight appearance.
"It's not just ourselves," she said. "We hold each other to high standards."
Those standards have been around since Stanford began a women's soccer program and first reached the Final Four in 1993, with former Olympian Julie Foudy playing.
One of McCann's teammates two years ago was Kelley O'Hara, who will be a sideline reporter for tonight's game on the Pac-12 Networks. O'Hara just returned from London, where she helped the Americans to a gold medal at the London Games.
"It's great to be around players like that," McCann said. "They are inspiring to watch."
Hillsborough resident Hannah Farr is also playing for Stanford this season. She missed all but six games last year due to an injury and is looking forward to a healthy season.
"The seniors last year were the best I've ever played with or against," said Farr, who attended St. Ignatius Prep. "I learned a lot from them and I hope to carry that on. We just believe we're the best every year."
Farr is at Stanford on a lacrosse scholarship and plays both at Stanford. The Cardinal lacrosse team entered last year as one of the top-rated teams in the nation. An unfortunate series of mishaps led to a sub-par performance though.
Farr has the possibility of becoming an NCAA champion in two separate sports. Lacrosse will be a long shot this year.
2012年8月19日星期日
The two schools split all the students in rural Laurens County
On a night where community was celebrated as much as anything else and bug spray should have been offered at the concession stands, East Laurens topped West Laurens 21-14 in a four-quarter, highly-competitive pre-season scrimmage.
The two schools split all the students in rural Laurens County. But both live in the shadow of the other school in Laurens County – Dublin, which is one of the few schools in Georgia run by a local municipality. The Fighting Irish have also been very good on the gridiron, having captured four state titles in school history. East and West Laurens have combined to win two region titles in their football histories.
There is a city-county dichotomy here that seems unique and therefore complicated.
And while the city-county struggle here may be complex at times there was very little complicated about East vs. West on this night. The two schools, considered rivals by some in attendance, combined their cheerleaders before the game at midfield – with both sets turning together towards each side of the stadium and chanting for their side. It was a sign that Laurens County wasn’t east or west – it just was.
“Let’s go Falcons!” All cheerleaders turn. “Let’s go Raiders!”
It was odd to say the least, but in a world where win-at-all-cost mentalities often overshadow (and almost always out scream) others it was a nice gesture to see.
The pleasantries ended for the coaches as soon as the ball was kicked off because the game featured many predictably pre-season-like follies high school fans have come to expect in August.
“We had about three bad plays in the first half,” West Laurens head coach Stacy Nobles said. “We just made too many mistakes tonight to win. The good news is that it is a scrimmage. But we don’t like losing in anything – whether it is tying shoes or whatever.”
An offsides here, a procedure penalty there, the pigskin laying naked on the turf all too often--it was tit for tat, but West Laurens’ mistakes cost them the game.
Busy and relentless was one way to describe Georgia commit Johnny O'Neal's activity as well as that of the local insects at the game. Who was more active: West Laurens’ O’Neal or the gnats swarming my body while watching on Falcon Field? The gnats were all in my face; O’Neal was in the face of the Falcons.
It was a real competition, but the gnats never gave up – O’Neal had to leave the field when the West Laurens’ offense came on to try to score. And even he had to deal with them when he left for the sideline.
“You try to get used to the gnats, but it’s the country around here,” O’Neal said with a grin on his face. “You just have to keep swatting them away.”
Kind of the way O’Neal would slap blockers away from his path to the ball.
O’Neal was most effective after the south Georgia (or middle Georgia… depending on who you are talking to) sun gave way to the sticky night air. By then the gnats had either become lazy or retired for the night.
Meanwhile, O’Neal’s work seemed to be best at night, which was when his team needed him the most. With West down 21-14 in the fourth quarter, O’Neal had a three-yard tackle for a loss on first down on consecutive drives. Both times the Raiders forced a three-and-out.
“He was disruptive. A lot of times we just couldn’t block him,” East Laurens head coach Gary Morton said after the game. “He was a lot bigger than the person I would send out there to block him.”
The 6-2, 230-pound O’Neal forced three fumbles during the game – recovering one of them.
“Johnny is going to be around the ball. The bad thing about it was that the fumbles that we created tonight--we didn’t recover enough of them,” Nobles said.
An official overruled one stripped fumble by O’Neal. The official missed the call. O’Neal had a slew of tackles on the night, one of which stalled the Falcons’ efforts to score near the end of the first half when he slammed into East Laurens’ quarterback Terrell Free from behind and jarred the football loose.
“That could have been a scoop and score,” Nobles said.
But it wasn’t meant to be – kind of like me learning how to deal with the gnats.
The two schools split all the students in rural Laurens County. But both live in the shadow of the other school in Laurens County – Dublin, which is one of the few schools in Georgia run by a local municipality. The Fighting Irish have also been very good on the gridiron, having captured four state titles in school history. East and West Laurens have combined to win two region titles in their football histories.
There is a city-county dichotomy here that seems unique and therefore complicated.
And while the city-county struggle here may be complex at times there was very little complicated about East vs. West on this night. The two schools, considered rivals by some in attendance, combined their cheerleaders before the game at midfield – with both sets turning together towards each side of the stadium and chanting for their side. It was a sign that Laurens County wasn’t east or west – it just was.
“Let’s go Falcons!” All cheerleaders turn. “Let’s go Raiders!”
It was odd to say the least, but in a world where win-at-all-cost mentalities often overshadow (and almost always out scream) others it was a nice gesture to see.
The pleasantries ended for the coaches as soon as the ball was kicked off because the game featured many predictably pre-season-like follies high school fans have come to expect in August.
“We had about three bad plays in the first half,” West Laurens head coach Stacy Nobles said. “We just made too many mistakes tonight to win. The good news is that it is a scrimmage. But we don’t like losing in anything – whether it is tying shoes or whatever.”
An offsides here, a procedure penalty there, the pigskin laying naked on the turf all too often--it was tit for tat, but West Laurens’ mistakes cost them the game.
Busy and relentless was one way to describe Georgia commit Johnny O'Neal's activity as well as that of the local insects at the game. Who was more active: West Laurens’ O’Neal or the gnats swarming my body while watching on Falcon Field? The gnats were all in my face; O’Neal was in the face of the Falcons.
It was a real competition, but the gnats never gave up – O’Neal had to leave the field when the West Laurens’ offense came on to try to score. And even he had to deal with them when he left for the sideline.
“You try to get used to the gnats, but it’s the country around here,” O’Neal said with a grin on his face. “You just have to keep swatting them away.”
Kind of the way O’Neal would slap blockers away from his path to the ball.
O’Neal was most effective after the south Georgia (or middle Georgia… depending on who you are talking to) sun gave way to the sticky night air. By then the gnats had either become lazy or retired for the night.
Meanwhile, O’Neal’s work seemed to be best at night, which was when his team needed him the most. With West down 21-14 in the fourth quarter, O’Neal had a three-yard tackle for a loss on first down on consecutive drives. Both times the Raiders forced a three-and-out.
“He was disruptive. A lot of times we just couldn’t block him,” East Laurens head coach Gary Morton said after the game. “He was a lot bigger than the person I would send out there to block him.”
The 6-2, 230-pound O’Neal forced three fumbles during the game – recovering one of them.
“Johnny is going to be around the ball. The bad thing about it was that the fumbles that we created tonight--we didn’t recover enough of them,” Nobles said.
An official overruled one stripped fumble by O’Neal. The official missed the call. O’Neal had a slew of tackles on the night, one of which stalled the Falcons’ efforts to score near the end of the first half when he slammed into East Laurens’ quarterback Terrell Free from behind and jarred the football loose.
“That could have been a scoop and score,” Nobles said.
But it wasn’t meant to be – kind of like me learning how to deal with the gnats.
2012年8月16日星期四
We can replace Kurt
"We can't have a say on whether he signs or not with us, so all we can do is make it as good as environment as we can for him and hope that he stays," Vince said.
"If he did move on we've got guys coming through that have performed really well, Josh Jenkins and these guys that are chomping at the bit to get a game.
"We have got to back up if things don't go well."
Coach Brenton Sanderson said on Wednesday that even if Tippett announced he would join another team next season, he wouldn't be immediately banished from the club.
The last two Adelaide defectors, Nathan Bock (to Gold Coast in 2010) and Phil Davis (to GWS in 2011), were both told to clear their lockers.
But Sanderson said that as long as Tippett's decision wasn't a distraction to the rest of the playing group, he'd play finals football.
Vince backed his coach's position, claiming that if Tippett did abandon the Crows he would remain a wanted teammate in September.
"If he comes out and said he was staying or going it wouldn't affect the way that we treat him or the way we play and I'd hope it wouldn't change the way he plays," he said.
"He's a massive part of our finals campaign, so I was just saying to a few boys before, his next six weeks for our club is massive depending on how far we go into he finals.
"We've copped the raw end of it a bit, we've lost three of probably our key players over the last three or four years…but that happens in footy and money talks these days."
But while he said the players' treatment of Tippett wouldn't change regardless of his intent for next year, Vince couldn't vouch for Taylor Walker's understanding.
When he re-signed with the club earlier in the year, Walker joked on radio that he'd burn Tippett's house down if he didn't follow suit.
"Tex would do something like that, he's the only guy who would probably do something," Vince laughed.
"If he did move on we've got guys coming through that have performed really well, Josh Jenkins and these guys that are chomping at the bit to get a game.
"We have got to back up if things don't go well."
Coach Brenton Sanderson said on Wednesday that even if Tippett announced he would join another team next season, he wouldn't be immediately banished from the club.
The last two Adelaide defectors, Nathan Bock (to Gold Coast in 2010) and Phil Davis (to GWS in 2011), were both told to clear their lockers.
But Sanderson said that as long as Tippett's decision wasn't a distraction to the rest of the playing group, he'd play finals football.
Vince backed his coach's position, claiming that if Tippett did abandon the Crows he would remain a wanted teammate in September.
"If he comes out and said he was staying or going it wouldn't affect the way that we treat him or the way we play and I'd hope it wouldn't change the way he plays," he said.
"He's a massive part of our finals campaign, so I was just saying to a few boys before, his next six weeks for our club is massive depending on how far we go into he finals.
"We've copped the raw end of it a bit, we've lost three of probably our key players over the last three or four years…but that happens in footy and money talks these days."
But while he said the players' treatment of Tippett wouldn't change regardless of his intent for next year, Vince couldn't vouch for Taylor Walker's understanding.
When he re-signed with the club earlier in the year, Walker joked on radio that he'd burn Tippett's house down if he didn't follow suit.
"Tex would do something like that, he's the only guy who would probably do something," Vince laughed.
2012年8月15日星期三
A Stylish Satchel Than Can Carry Everything
With handles sturdy enough for heavy loads, plenty of pockets and sufficient structure that you don't have to dig around inside, it's a carryall, but more organized. This sizable bag is increasingly valuable as we tote the accoutrements of busy lives: mobile phones, iPads, sunblock, stuffed animals for the kids, water bottles.
The satchel has been around since the 17th century—doctors traditionally carried them, and so did the Pony Express, not to mention legions of schoolchildren. Their current incarnation came about just as tablet computers became a part of daily life.
Now that pockets are no longer adequate for the job of toting techno-gadgets, the obsessive search for the perfect bag is shared by men. The average man now carries seven items, from a cellphone to a pad of paper, according to research by the bag maker Coach. "All these protruding objects affect how my suit fits and looks," says Randy Maniloff, a Philadelphia attorney who recently went searching for the perfect bag.
At the same time, a more casual ethos has altered our taste in bags. In many places these days, a backpack is too collegiate, but a formal, hard-sided briefcase can look as awkward as dress socks with shorts.
The success of Proenza Schouler's luxe PS1 three years ago may have been a turning point, both for the brand and for satchels themselves, which gained "It bag" status.
Now, designers are creating bags for both men and women that have exteriors that are stylish and interiors designed for modern busyness. Hermes has seen an uptick in interest in nontraditional shapes for men, such as messenger bags and soft totes such as its Double Sens. Hermes has even been selling a slim tote that can accommodate an iPad, business cards and a notebook. "It's a man's clutch, in a way," says spokesman Peter Malachi. For spring, the company is developing a larger bag that could hold even more of the items that people haul around each day.
Bags are highly personal. You might be a messenger type—wanting that front flap to shield the unsightly mess within—or a hobo type seeking unimpeded access. Magnetic clasps offer ease, but a turnkey is more secure in a pickpocket zone. Zippers offer security, at the cost of added effort to open and close them.
Tastes in bags vary around the country, says Bill Adler, founder and designer of WILL Leather Goods in Eugene, Ore. He says East Coast men tend toward more formal, full-leather, hand-carried bags, while the West Coast prefers lighter canvas-leather mixes with shoulder straps.
WILL recently launched a new satchel, the Everett, to answer the needs of people who travel with a small office on their shoulder. In designing its exterior, Mr. Adler gave a nod to the past—with a brass clasp imitating one from the 1920s, when new modes of transportation made travel a part of daily life. But the interior, he says, must hold the functions of today. The Everett has space for folders, technology and even a pair of gym shoes.
For men, the messenger bag, a bag with a long, cross-body strap, can make a style statement. Yet the space between that and a "murse"—a men's purse—can be slim. Generally, if a man's bag is too small to carry a legal-size document, it starts to look like a murse.
When Mr. Maniloff went shopping in Philadelphia, he sought a satchel that would transition to his evening hobby—open-mike night at the comedy club—without drawing derision from his colleagues at the office: "It can't look like I'm wearing a pocketbook. Noooooo," he says. He settled on the casual, unobtrusive Tumi Alpha messenger-style bag with a cross-body strap. On the first day out, he loaded it with his wallet, keys, BlackBerry, digital recorder, notepad, pen, bifocals, work ID card, newspaper and a tin of mini Altoids. "I felt so liberated," he says, "not to have any of that in my pockets."
For me, like many people, a bag must have compartments, including a safe place for my iPad and easy access to my cellphone. It must easily accommodate manila file folders. It must have feet or some protection from scuffs when it sits on the floor.
The good news is that there are many such bags out there, from pricey lines such as Reed Krakoff to mass brands. Women have many more options than men, but women's bags tend to be more expensive. Fortunately, some brands—Coach and Hermès, for instance—have styles in their men's collections that a woman can love.
Shopping online is risky. Few brands include enough information, such as the number of pockets and compartments, measurements, and detailed interior photos, for shoppers to judge them. Also, it's a good idea to hang a bag on your shoulder to assess whether the strap is wide enough, the handles long enough and the opening placed conveniently.
The satchel has been around since the 17th century—doctors traditionally carried them, and so did the Pony Express, not to mention legions of schoolchildren. Their current incarnation came about just as tablet computers became a part of daily life.
Now that pockets are no longer adequate for the job of toting techno-gadgets, the obsessive search for the perfect bag is shared by men. The average man now carries seven items, from a cellphone to a pad of paper, according to research by the bag maker Coach. "All these protruding objects affect how my suit fits and looks," says Randy Maniloff, a Philadelphia attorney who recently went searching for the perfect bag.
At the same time, a more casual ethos has altered our taste in bags. In many places these days, a backpack is too collegiate, but a formal, hard-sided briefcase can look as awkward as dress socks with shorts.
The success of Proenza Schouler's luxe PS1 three years ago may have been a turning point, both for the brand and for satchels themselves, which gained "It bag" status.
Now, designers are creating bags for both men and women that have exteriors that are stylish and interiors designed for modern busyness. Hermes has seen an uptick in interest in nontraditional shapes for men, such as messenger bags and soft totes such as its Double Sens. Hermes has even been selling a slim tote that can accommodate an iPad, business cards and a notebook. "It's a man's clutch, in a way," says spokesman Peter Malachi. For spring, the company is developing a larger bag that could hold even more of the items that people haul around each day.
Bags are highly personal. You might be a messenger type—wanting that front flap to shield the unsightly mess within—or a hobo type seeking unimpeded access. Magnetic clasps offer ease, but a turnkey is more secure in a pickpocket zone. Zippers offer security, at the cost of added effort to open and close them.
Tastes in bags vary around the country, says Bill Adler, founder and designer of WILL Leather Goods in Eugene, Ore. He says East Coast men tend toward more formal, full-leather, hand-carried bags, while the West Coast prefers lighter canvas-leather mixes with shoulder straps.
WILL recently launched a new satchel, the Everett, to answer the needs of people who travel with a small office on their shoulder. In designing its exterior, Mr. Adler gave a nod to the past—with a brass clasp imitating one from the 1920s, when new modes of transportation made travel a part of daily life. But the interior, he says, must hold the functions of today. The Everett has space for folders, technology and even a pair of gym shoes.
For men, the messenger bag, a bag with a long, cross-body strap, can make a style statement. Yet the space between that and a "murse"—a men's purse—can be slim. Generally, if a man's bag is too small to carry a legal-size document, it starts to look like a murse.
When Mr. Maniloff went shopping in Philadelphia, he sought a satchel that would transition to his evening hobby—open-mike night at the comedy club—without drawing derision from his colleagues at the office: "It can't look like I'm wearing a pocketbook. Noooooo," he says. He settled on the casual, unobtrusive Tumi Alpha messenger-style bag with a cross-body strap. On the first day out, he loaded it with his wallet, keys, BlackBerry, digital recorder, notepad, pen, bifocals, work ID card, newspaper and a tin of mini Altoids. "I felt so liberated," he says, "not to have any of that in my pockets."
For me, like many people, a bag must have compartments, including a safe place for my iPad and easy access to my cellphone. It must easily accommodate manila file folders. It must have feet or some protection from scuffs when it sits on the floor.
The good news is that there are many such bags out there, from pricey lines such as Reed Krakoff to mass brands. Women have many more options than men, but women's bags tend to be more expensive. Fortunately, some brands—Coach and Hermès, for instance—have styles in their men's collections that a woman can love.
Shopping online is risky. Few brands include enough information, such as the number of pockets and compartments, measurements, and detailed interior photos, for shoppers to judge them. Also, it's a good idea to hang a bag on your shoulder to assess whether the strap is wide enough, the handles long enough and the opening placed conveniently.
2012年8月14日星期二
Oklahoma Man Executed For Killing Cynthia Lynn Jarman
An Oklahoma death row inmate who tried to delay his execution by challenging the state's lethal injection method was executed Tuesday evening just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to step in.
Michael Hooper, convicted for the December 1993 shooting deaths of his former girlfriend and her two young children, received a lethal dose of drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. The 40-year-old was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m., according to the Department of Corrections.
Hooper was sentenced to death for killing 23-year-old Cynthia Lynn Jarman and her two children, 5-year-old Tonya and 3-year-old Timmy. Prosecutors alleged that the victims were with Hooper in a pickup truck in a mowed field when he placed a 9mm pistol under Cynthia Jarman's chin and shot her, then shot the children to prevent them from being witnesses.
Each of the victims was shot twice in the head, and their bodies were buried in a shallow grave in a field northwest of Oklahoma City.
Hooper had sued the state last month in an effort to halt his execution, claiming that Oklahoma's three-drug lethal injection protocol was unconstitutional. The lawsuit sought to force the state to have an extra dose of pentobarbital, a sedative, on hand during his execution.
Pentobarbital is the first drug administered during lethal injections in Oklahoma and is used to render a condemned inmate unconscious. It's followed by vecuronium bromide, which stops the inmate's breathing, then potassium chloride to stop the heart.
Hooper's attorney, Jim Drummond, had argued that if the sedative were ineffective, the remaining drugs could cause great pain in violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
The lawsuit also noted that other states have adopted a one-drug process using a fast-acting barbiturate that supporters say causes no pain.
But his request to stall the execution was rejected by a federal judge, then upheld by a federal appeals court. And the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Hooper's request without elaboration just hours before his execution.
Hooper was the fourth death-row inmate executed in Oklahoma this year.
Gary Roland Welch was executed Jan. 5 for fatally stabbing a 35-year-old man, and Timothy Stemple was executed on March 15 for the beating death of his wife. Michael Selsor was put to death on May 1 for the shooting death of a Tulsa convenience store manager.
Michael Hooper, convicted for the December 1993 shooting deaths of his former girlfriend and her two young children, received a lethal dose of drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. The 40-year-old was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m., according to the Department of Corrections.
Hooper was sentenced to death for killing 23-year-old Cynthia Lynn Jarman and her two children, 5-year-old Tonya and 3-year-old Timmy. Prosecutors alleged that the victims were with Hooper in a pickup truck in a mowed field when he placed a 9mm pistol under Cynthia Jarman's chin and shot her, then shot the children to prevent them from being witnesses.
Each of the victims was shot twice in the head, and their bodies were buried in a shallow grave in a field northwest of Oklahoma City.
Hooper had sued the state last month in an effort to halt his execution, claiming that Oklahoma's three-drug lethal injection protocol was unconstitutional. The lawsuit sought to force the state to have an extra dose of pentobarbital, a sedative, on hand during his execution.
Pentobarbital is the first drug administered during lethal injections in Oklahoma and is used to render a condemned inmate unconscious. It's followed by vecuronium bromide, which stops the inmate's breathing, then potassium chloride to stop the heart.
Hooper's attorney, Jim Drummond, had argued that if the sedative were ineffective, the remaining drugs could cause great pain in violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
The lawsuit also noted that other states have adopted a one-drug process using a fast-acting barbiturate that supporters say causes no pain.
But his request to stall the execution was rejected by a federal judge, then upheld by a federal appeals court. And the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Hooper's request without elaboration just hours before his execution.
Hooper was the fourth death-row inmate executed in Oklahoma this year.
Gary Roland Welch was executed Jan. 5 for fatally stabbing a 35-year-old man, and Timothy Stemple was executed on March 15 for the beating death of his wife. Michael Selsor was put to death on May 1 for the shooting death of a Tulsa convenience store manager.
2012年8月13日星期一
Ged Carrington is the only other senior lineman besides Tytan Timoteo
Steve Morton was Washington State's offensive line coach last year; Jody Sears was the Cougars'defensive coordinator. When head coach Paul Wulff and his staff were fired, Sears found work first as Weber State's defensive coordinator on John L. Smith’s staff, then stepped in as Smith's replacement when he suddenly departed in April.
Meanwhile, back in January, Morton had been laid up with a hip replacement, right while everyone else in the college coaching profession was engaged in the annual carousel of hunting for work. So Morton settled into a position doing alumni fundraising at Washington State, expecting to sit out a year from coaching until Sears called recently because O-line coach Cecil Thomas took the head coaching job at Granger High School.
Even then, Morton, who has also coached at USC, Washington, Stanford, Iowa State, Nevada and San Jose State, wasn't sure he could make the transition from one WSU to another WSU work.
“You know, the guy that did sawed the bones off, did the body and fender work, I’d like to have him see me the rest of the way through,”
Morton recommended some others, but Sears called back and asked him to reconsider.
“Quite frankly, I’m delighted it worked out, because this is my 38th season: Working for full-grown adults, with full-grown adults, on a full-time basis, is highly overrated,” he jokes. “The opportunity to take young people from diverse backgrounds and bring them together for a common good and try to get something out of them, it's stimulating, it's motivating and it's awesome. On top of that, I love the thrill of trying to get a plan together, guys come together and try to go win a football game. Then we've got one down and, who’s next?”
Morton says he is blessed to be here and is enthusiastic about coaching the Weber State Wildcats in Ogden, Utah, even if he never expected to be here.
“From where I thought I was going to be three weeks ago to where I am now,” he said, “this is like a free pass to Disneyland.”
Sears has known Morton most of his life.
“When I was growing up, he was coaching at Washington State with Jim Walden. That was back in the ‘80s,” he said. “He recruited my brother, “To bring a coach with his expertise, his knowledge, his experience, is awesome for the (coaching staff). We feel extremely blessed to have him.”
Sears and Morton each played at Washington State, several years apart, and both got their first coaching jobs from Walden.
Sears told his offensive linemen they were in for some upper level coursework under Morton's tutelage.
“I told them, you're going to get your bachelor's and your masters here in about four months on the O-line,” he said.
Professor Morton takes over a group of students who have a lot to prove.
Starting offensive tackles J.C. Oram and Caleb Turner moved on with graduation and starting guard Jiniki Timoteo is no longer on the roster.
Senior Tytan Timoteo, who has started 30 games for the Wildcats over the past three years and is an all-Big Sky second teamer last season, is expected to be an anchor on an inexperienced line. Junior Tyson Tiatia, who is a two-time all-conference honorable mention at center, is also back, but the line will likely feature several underclassmen.
Ged Carrington is the only other senior lineman besides Tytan Timoteo. Sophomore tackle Shelton Robinson and guards Austin Butler and Alex Land are expected to contribute. Sophomore Cash Knight, who worked out at defensive tackle in the spring, is again listed with the O-linemen, and there are six freshmen listed who have an opportunity to challenge for playing time.
“Anytime you lose an All-American (like Oram), that's going to be a question mark,” Sears said. “Those are huge shoes to fill.”
Morton has the challenge of jumping into a job with only weeks before the Weber State season starts Feb. 1 at Fresno State, relying on his experience while learning the terminology of Weber State’s system.
“Really and truly, in some aspects of it, I feel like I'm the fifth-grade history substitute teacher, I've just got to stay one day ahead of the class and I'll be all right. I can fake the rest of it.”
THREE BIG SKY TEAMS IN TSN POLL: Montana State is ranked fourth in the preseason Football Championship Subdivision poll of sports information directors and media members compiled by The Sports Network.
Sam Houston State, which beat Montana State in the quarterfinals and Montana in the semifinals, is ranked first, followed by defending national champion North Dakota State.
Georgia Southern is ranked third, followed by Montana State and James Madison.
Meanwhile, back in January, Morton had been laid up with a hip replacement, right while everyone else in the college coaching profession was engaged in the annual carousel of hunting for work. So Morton settled into a position doing alumni fundraising at Washington State, expecting to sit out a year from coaching until Sears called recently because O-line coach Cecil Thomas took the head coaching job at Granger High School.
Even then, Morton, who has also coached at USC, Washington, Stanford, Iowa State, Nevada and San Jose State, wasn't sure he could make the transition from one WSU to another WSU work.
“You know, the guy that did sawed the bones off, did the body and fender work, I’d like to have him see me the rest of the way through,”
Morton recommended some others, but Sears called back and asked him to reconsider.
“Quite frankly, I’m delighted it worked out, because this is my 38th season: Working for full-grown adults, with full-grown adults, on a full-time basis, is highly overrated,” he jokes. “The opportunity to take young people from diverse backgrounds and bring them together for a common good and try to get something out of them, it's stimulating, it's motivating and it's awesome. On top of that, I love the thrill of trying to get a plan together, guys come together and try to go win a football game. Then we've got one down and, who’s next?”
Morton says he is blessed to be here and is enthusiastic about coaching the Weber State Wildcats in Ogden, Utah, even if he never expected to be here.
“From where I thought I was going to be three weeks ago to where I am now,” he said, “this is like a free pass to Disneyland.”
Sears has known Morton most of his life.
“When I was growing up, he was coaching at Washington State with Jim Walden. That was back in the ‘80s,” he said. “He recruited my brother, “To bring a coach with his expertise, his knowledge, his experience, is awesome for the (coaching staff). We feel extremely blessed to have him.”
Sears and Morton each played at Washington State, several years apart, and both got their first coaching jobs from Walden.
Sears told his offensive linemen they were in for some upper level coursework under Morton's tutelage.
“I told them, you're going to get your bachelor's and your masters here in about four months on the O-line,” he said.
Professor Morton takes over a group of students who have a lot to prove.
Starting offensive tackles J.C. Oram and Caleb Turner moved on with graduation and starting guard Jiniki Timoteo is no longer on the roster.
Senior Tytan Timoteo, who has started 30 games for the Wildcats over the past three years and is an all-Big Sky second teamer last season, is expected to be an anchor on an inexperienced line. Junior Tyson Tiatia, who is a two-time all-conference honorable mention at center, is also back, but the line will likely feature several underclassmen.
Ged Carrington is the only other senior lineman besides Tytan Timoteo. Sophomore tackle Shelton Robinson and guards Austin Butler and Alex Land are expected to contribute. Sophomore Cash Knight, who worked out at defensive tackle in the spring, is again listed with the O-linemen, and there are six freshmen listed who have an opportunity to challenge for playing time.
“Anytime you lose an All-American (like Oram), that's going to be a question mark,” Sears said. “Those are huge shoes to fill.”
Morton has the challenge of jumping into a job with only weeks before the Weber State season starts Feb. 1 at Fresno State, relying on his experience while learning the terminology of Weber State’s system.
“Really and truly, in some aspects of it, I feel like I'm the fifth-grade history substitute teacher, I've just got to stay one day ahead of the class and I'll be all right. I can fake the rest of it.”
THREE BIG SKY TEAMS IN TSN POLL: Montana State is ranked fourth in the preseason Football Championship Subdivision poll of sports information directors and media members compiled by The Sports Network.
Sam Houston State, which beat Montana State in the quarterfinals and Montana in the semifinals, is ranked first, followed by defending national champion North Dakota State.
Georgia Southern is ranked third, followed by Montana State and James Madison.
2012年8月12日星期日
South-West PDP and its discordant tunes
WHEN will the suffering of the Peoples Democratic Party, Lagos State chapter, abate? The political elephants involved in the battle for the soul of the party are hell bent in seeing their battle to a logical end, but an uphill task lies ahead of the party, especially its resolve to wrestle power from the Action Congress of Nigeria in the state in the 2015 general election.
Except the major players in the crisis that has lingered on for so long put aside their personal interests and forge a common front, the party’s ambition to unseat the Senator Bola Tinubu-led ACN may remain a mirage. Even though members of the party, at different fora, had insisted that all was well with the party, political observers know that it is not yet uhuru. Notable players in the party includes its former Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George; former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, Dr Abayomi Finih, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Dr Wahab Dosumu; former deputy governor of Lagos State, Chief Kofoworola Bucknor Akerele, to mention a few.
The crisis rocking the party dated back to 2006, shortly after the assassination of its governorship candidate, Chief Funso Williams, in the build up to the 2007 general election. Members of the party were said to be divided over who should step into the shoes of Williams before they later settled for Senator Obanikoro. The party lost the election to the ACN candidate, the incumbent governor of the state, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN).
While the party was still nursing the injury of its defeat by the ACN, its chieftain and foremost leader, Chief Bode George, was arrested and convicted of financial impropriety while serving as the Board Chairman of the Nigeria Ports Authority. His conviction dealt a severe blow to the party, as it now became a sheep without a shepherd. This led to the emergence of various factions, which some notable members prefer to refer to as caucuses.
With the release of George from prison, political pundits thought the end had come to the leadership tussle rocking the party but they were proved wrong, as his release, rather than ending the crisis, amplified it. Members of the party were divided along interest lines. While some aligned with George, others pitched their tents with Senator Ogunlewe, Dr Finih, Dr Ade Dosumu, Senator Obanikoro and Chief Bucknor-Akerele.
Noting the danger inherent in the division among the rank and file of the party in the state, the PDP National Working Committee waded into the matter, hoping to proffer lasting solution and map out a strategy to conquer the state in 2011. But this was not to be. The emergence of Dosumu as the candidate of the party in 2011 further rubbed salt in the injury of some notable members of the party, who then saw Chief George as an impositor. But George insisted that Dosumu was a product of the primary conducted by the party. In one of the interviews he granted, he said “But you people (press) covered the primaries. It is like saying that we imposed President Jonathan, did you not watch the primaries live? Was the Lagos State primary done in secret like in the other parties? So, how could you say we imposed? I was not even there, I was in prison and the people decided.’’
Describing himself as the symbol of the party in the state, Chief George said other people that were parading themselves as leaders of the party lacked honesty of purpose, commitment and loyalty, adding: “They don’t even understand these two words: loyalty and commitment. That is why they are junketing. They think they can just come through the back door and hit the rooftop; it does not work that way.’’
In the build up to the state congress, the PDP constituted a reconciliatory committee led by Senator Obanikoro with the aim of reconciling the aggrieved members prior to the conduct of the congresses. The group met with notable members of the party but the meeting did not yield any fruitful result, as some factions of the party rejected the candidacy of Honourable Tunji Shelle as the state chairman of the party.
Chief Ogunlewe faulted the conduct of the primary, adding that members people should be allowed to elect their own leader. The issue had lingered on for long and, according to him, it was high time the national leadership of the party intervened.
On why peace seemed to have eluded the party, he submitted, “you need a lot of goodwill for people to believe in you. The moment you start practising exclusion, you will end up laying the foundation for failure. Everybody must be accommodated, everybody must feel important.
“We told the state leadership of the party to let us know which of the zones is expected to present the positions to be contested for. We also made it clear that on no account should any of the zones be excluded, on no account should political powers be concentrated in one zone. As a party, we need to rotate the state leadership of the party because it is a constitutional matter; both the constitution of the party and constitution of the nation.’’
Disturbed by this development, a delegation from the leadership of the party, led by Chief Segun Oni and Senator Iyiola Omisore, came to Lagos to broker peace and let the members see why they must work together as a team and ensure the success of the party in subsequent elections. While some members were present at the meeting, others were absent, thereby sending a wrong signal.
Also, a party delegation led by Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun visited Chief Bode George and other notable members of the party, with the sole aim of restoring normalcy back to the party and positioning it for the local government election, but to no avail. The ACN capitalised on the division among the members of the PDP to further confirm its supremacy, even though some of its representatives were accused of non-performance.
But the PDP spokesperson, Taofik Gani, said it was going to be a different ball game in 2015, arguing that there was no faction within the party but caucuses, which, to him, was not peculiar to the PDP. He said the state executive committee put in place a reconciliatory committee aimed at reconciling aggrieved members but, rather than accepting the olive branch, some members headed to court.
With the present development, coupled with the issue of litigation, can the party challenge the dominance of the ACN in 2015? Time will tell.
Except the major players in the crisis that has lingered on for so long put aside their personal interests and forge a common front, the party’s ambition to unseat the Senator Bola Tinubu-led ACN may remain a mirage. Even though members of the party, at different fora, had insisted that all was well with the party, political observers know that it is not yet uhuru. Notable players in the party includes its former Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George; former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, Dr Abayomi Finih, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Dr Wahab Dosumu; former deputy governor of Lagos State, Chief Kofoworola Bucknor Akerele, to mention a few.
The crisis rocking the party dated back to 2006, shortly after the assassination of its governorship candidate, Chief Funso Williams, in the build up to the 2007 general election. Members of the party were said to be divided over who should step into the shoes of Williams before they later settled for Senator Obanikoro. The party lost the election to the ACN candidate, the incumbent governor of the state, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN).
While the party was still nursing the injury of its defeat by the ACN, its chieftain and foremost leader, Chief Bode George, was arrested and convicted of financial impropriety while serving as the Board Chairman of the Nigeria Ports Authority. His conviction dealt a severe blow to the party, as it now became a sheep without a shepherd. This led to the emergence of various factions, which some notable members prefer to refer to as caucuses.
With the release of George from prison, political pundits thought the end had come to the leadership tussle rocking the party but they were proved wrong, as his release, rather than ending the crisis, amplified it. Members of the party were divided along interest lines. While some aligned with George, others pitched their tents with Senator Ogunlewe, Dr Finih, Dr Ade Dosumu, Senator Obanikoro and Chief Bucknor-Akerele.
Noting the danger inherent in the division among the rank and file of the party in the state, the PDP National Working Committee waded into the matter, hoping to proffer lasting solution and map out a strategy to conquer the state in 2011. But this was not to be. The emergence of Dosumu as the candidate of the party in 2011 further rubbed salt in the injury of some notable members of the party, who then saw Chief George as an impositor. But George insisted that Dosumu was a product of the primary conducted by the party. In one of the interviews he granted, he said “But you people (press) covered the primaries. It is like saying that we imposed President Jonathan, did you not watch the primaries live? Was the Lagos State primary done in secret like in the other parties? So, how could you say we imposed? I was not even there, I was in prison and the people decided.’’
Describing himself as the symbol of the party in the state, Chief George said other people that were parading themselves as leaders of the party lacked honesty of purpose, commitment and loyalty, adding: “They don’t even understand these two words: loyalty and commitment. That is why they are junketing. They think they can just come through the back door and hit the rooftop; it does not work that way.’’
In the build up to the state congress, the PDP constituted a reconciliatory committee led by Senator Obanikoro with the aim of reconciling the aggrieved members prior to the conduct of the congresses. The group met with notable members of the party but the meeting did not yield any fruitful result, as some factions of the party rejected the candidacy of Honourable Tunji Shelle as the state chairman of the party.
Chief Ogunlewe faulted the conduct of the primary, adding that members people should be allowed to elect their own leader. The issue had lingered on for long and, according to him, it was high time the national leadership of the party intervened.
On why peace seemed to have eluded the party, he submitted, “you need a lot of goodwill for people to believe in you. The moment you start practising exclusion, you will end up laying the foundation for failure. Everybody must be accommodated, everybody must feel important.
“We told the state leadership of the party to let us know which of the zones is expected to present the positions to be contested for. We also made it clear that on no account should any of the zones be excluded, on no account should political powers be concentrated in one zone. As a party, we need to rotate the state leadership of the party because it is a constitutional matter; both the constitution of the party and constitution of the nation.’’
Disturbed by this development, a delegation from the leadership of the party, led by Chief Segun Oni and Senator Iyiola Omisore, came to Lagos to broker peace and let the members see why they must work together as a team and ensure the success of the party in subsequent elections. While some members were present at the meeting, others were absent, thereby sending a wrong signal.
Also, a party delegation led by Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun visited Chief Bode George and other notable members of the party, with the sole aim of restoring normalcy back to the party and positioning it for the local government election, but to no avail. The ACN capitalised on the division among the members of the PDP to further confirm its supremacy, even though some of its representatives were accused of non-performance.
But the PDP spokesperson, Taofik Gani, said it was going to be a different ball game in 2015, arguing that there was no faction within the party but caucuses, which, to him, was not peculiar to the PDP. He said the state executive committee put in place a reconciliatory committee aimed at reconciling aggrieved members but, rather than accepting the olive branch, some members headed to court.
With the present development, coupled with the issue of litigation, can the party challenge the dominance of the ACN in 2015? Time will tell.
2012年8月9日星期四
Gage gets victory lap before retiring as AFGE leader
Even now, days from retirement, Gage is “still caught up in TSA land,” he said, dealing with cases that will go to a new arbitration system, a contract ratification process and continuing the union’s membership drive.
He has gained respect for being a fierce advocate of his members even from people who are not always on the same side of an issue.
“John Gage has been a passionate and highly effective labor leader for years,” said Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director John Berry. “John long ago recognized a simple and profound idea — that labor and management achieve more when we work together.”
After nine years as president, Gage is ready to move on. His June letter to members announcing his retirement said, “I’ve never been able to put the union in the proper place; I’ve never been able to be the activist and simultaneously take care of those who love me. For once, I’m putting my family first.” That family includes an AFGE lawyer, his wife, Patti McGowan.
For Gage, the long TSA fight encapsulates his view of what it means to be a union leader.
The main elements of his job are “communications, representation, organizing, political action, and I don’t pay attention to anything else,” he said. “TSA was kind of all four. What a struggle.It was heroic.”
That struggle included battles with a Bush administration that was not union friendly, an Obama administration that was friendly but slow, in the union’s view, on granting TSOs collective bargaining rights, and an organizing campaign that became quite unfriendly.
The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) is the second largest federal worker union and the two labor organizations regularly are allied to protect employee pay, benefits and jobs. But they fought a bitter battle against each other to win over the TSOs, a huge prize in labor organizing. And the wounds apparently haven’t healed.
Asked for a comment about Gage on the eve of his retirement, NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley offered this: “For nine years, John Gage has been a presence in the federal labor-management environment, serving the interests of those represented” by AFGE. The rest of her four-sentence statement didn’t even refer to him.
That contrasts sharply with praise from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
“John Gage has been a fearless advocate for working people. He’s been a tireless leader who has sought to create an economy that works for everyone. His recent success in helping 40,000 TSA workers secure union representation is just the tip of the iceberg of a long career filled with passion and dedication on behalf of his members and all workers throughout the country.”
How Gage’s tenure is viewed depends on where you sit, said Dan Blair, president and chief executive of the National Academy of Public Administration. Acknowledging that AFGE’s members have reason to be pleased with Gage, Blair, a former OPM official under President George W. Bush, also said “some would think his leadership is shortsighted” because Gage hasn’t prepared his membership for fundamental changes to the civil service system that Blair said need to happen.
Gage, a former minor league catcher, likes to wear black high-top gym shoes, no matter what else he has on. He’s leaving during a time when federal employees have been forced into a two-year freeze on basic pay rates and more cuts are looming. Pressure is building for structural reforms to the pay classification system, reforms that organized labor is unlikely to support.
Today’s atmosphere for federal workers is “worse than toxic,” Gage said. “I can’t think of any good thing to say about it.” No matter who wins the presidential election, federal employees are going to take “a very significant hit,” he added.
Gage understands that protecting against those hits is a job that is larger than the largest union. International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers President Gregory J. Junemann said he appreciates the way Gage reached out to smaller labor organizations.
“He really understood that AFGE was not in the fight alone,” Junemann said, adding: “This is the best thing about John. He left AFGE better than he found it.”
He has gained respect for being a fierce advocate of his members even from people who are not always on the same side of an issue.
“John Gage has been a passionate and highly effective labor leader for years,” said Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director John Berry. “John long ago recognized a simple and profound idea — that labor and management achieve more when we work together.”
After nine years as president, Gage is ready to move on. His June letter to members announcing his retirement said, “I’ve never been able to put the union in the proper place; I’ve never been able to be the activist and simultaneously take care of those who love me. For once, I’m putting my family first.” That family includes an AFGE lawyer, his wife, Patti McGowan.
For Gage, the long TSA fight encapsulates his view of what it means to be a union leader.
The main elements of his job are “communications, representation, organizing, political action, and I don’t pay attention to anything else,” he said. “TSA was kind of all four. What a struggle.It was heroic.”
That struggle included battles with a Bush administration that was not union friendly, an Obama administration that was friendly but slow, in the union’s view, on granting TSOs collective bargaining rights, and an organizing campaign that became quite unfriendly.
The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) is the second largest federal worker union and the two labor organizations regularly are allied to protect employee pay, benefits and jobs. But they fought a bitter battle against each other to win over the TSOs, a huge prize in labor organizing. And the wounds apparently haven’t healed.
Asked for a comment about Gage on the eve of his retirement, NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley offered this: “For nine years, John Gage has been a presence in the federal labor-management environment, serving the interests of those represented” by AFGE. The rest of her four-sentence statement didn’t even refer to him.
That contrasts sharply with praise from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
“John Gage has been a fearless advocate for working people. He’s been a tireless leader who has sought to create an economy that works for everyone. His recent success in helping 40,000 TSA workers secure union representation is just the tip of the iceberg of a long career filled with passion and dedication on behalf of his members and all workers throughout the country.”
How Gage’s tenure is viewed depends on where you sit, said Dan Blair, president and chief executive of the National Academy of Public Administration. Acknowledging that AFGE’s members have reason to be pleased with Gage, Blair, a former OPM official under President George W. Bush, also said “some would think his leadership is shortsighted” because Gage hasn’t prepared his membership for fundamental changes to the civil service system that Blair said need to happen.
Gage, a former minor league catcher, likes to wear black high-top gym shoes, no matter what else he has on. He’s leaving during a time when federal employees have been forced into a two-year freeze on basic pay rates and more cuts are looming. Pressure is building for structural reforms to the pay classification system, reforms that organized labor is unlikely to support.
Today’s atmosphere for federal workers is “worse than toxic,” Gage said. “I can’t think of any good thing to say about it.” No matter who wins the presidential election, federal employees are going to take “a very significant hit,” he added.
Gage understands that protecting against those hits is a job that is larger than the largest union. International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers President Gregory J. Junemann said he appreciates the way Gage reached out to smaller labor organizations.
“He really understood that AFGE was not in the fight alone,” Junemann said, adding: “This is the best thing about John. He left AFGE better than he found it.”
2012年8月8日星期三
The couple raised their two boys and one girl in a home on Santa Fe Drive
After a bout with polio that nearly killed him, Douglas H. Buck emerged stronger than ever and with a wish for health for everyone.
“For the rest of his life, he was always very physically active,” said his widow, Mims Buck.
Now his name graces the Buck Recreation Center, which is this year’s Western Welcome Week grand marshal. Staff will ride in the parade, which is themed “Fit and Fun.”
Western Welcome Week begins Aug. 8 and runs through Aug. 19.
In the ’70s, Mr. Buck owned a building on Littleton Boulevard and Spotswood Street that he donated to South Suburban Parks and Recreation District for a clinic and community center. After his death, his family donated the proceeds from the sale of those buildings plus $1 million to kick start construction of the center.
“He believed in democracy,” said Mrs. Buck. “He didn’t like country clubs and exclusive things. He liked it so everybody could go. … It just seemed to us to be a continuation of the first gift and an expansion into his belief that people needed those kinds of activities.”
Mrs. Buck died July 12 at the age of 102, just weeks before the parade that will honor her family name. The Littleton Independent was fortunate to sit down with her and her son David in April, and she shared memories of her husband and their 50-year life in Littleton.
The couple met at the University of Colorado, where he studied business and she studied psychology.
“He seemed very solid,” said Mrs. Buck.
They were married in November 1929, and Mr. Buck started work at an investment firm. He was good at it, but his timing was bad – the Great Depression found him working at his father-in-law’s mortuary. He brought the business of burial insurance to the company, and later bought the whole business.
He ran the mortuary until 1965, when he sold it to oil company Tenneco and went back to investing at a very lucrative time in Denver.
The couple raised their two boys and one girl in a home on Santa Fe Drive, where Denver Seminary is now. When they arrived, Littleton was mostly industrial and rural, with a population of only around 3,000.
“It was very diverse,” she said. “There were some really well-off kids from Bow Mar, and a whole bunch of other kids who … well, not everybody washed the barnyard off their shoes before they came in the house.”
Three weeks before his daughter was born in 1943, Mr. Buck was in the hospital, his arms stricken with polio – a dreaded disease at the time that affects nerves and can lead to paralysis.
“He was very upset and scared for the children,” recalled Mrs. Buck.
After an arduous recovery that took about four years, Mr. Buck was back in the saddle. David Buck remembers him taking the kids swimming on a regular basis, working in the garden and walking often.
Mrs. Buck said her husband had a wonderful sense of humor, though he might have come across as serious to those who didn’t know him well.
“He might have seemed hard on the outside, but he was really very kind,” she said.
“He had a very agreeable nature,” agreed David Buck. “And he was extremely philanthropic. He didn’t think that we should gather all our wealth together, so he established our charity in 1986.”
He said his mother, too, was always supportive of her children’s endeavors, from horseback riding to art, football to wrestling.
“She always took an enormous amount of interest in what her children did and made sure we did it right,” recalled David.
As a result of the family’s passions, thousands of children have access to affordable fitness, seniors have a place to socialize and the community has a place to gather to learn, meet and mingle.
“I consider myself a very fortunate person,” said Mrs. Buck.
“For the rest of his life, he was always very physically active,” said his widow, Mims Buck.
Now his name graces the Buck Recreation Center, which is this year’s Western Welcome Week grand marshal. Staff will ride in the parade, which is themed “Fit and Fun.”
Western Welcome Week begins Aug. 8 and runs through Aug. 19.
In the ’70s, Mr. Buck owned a building on Littleton Boulevard and Spotswood Street that he donated to South Suburban Parks and Recreation District for a clinic and community center. After his death, his family donated the proceeds from the sale of those buildings plus $1 million to kick start construction of the center.
“He believed in democracy,” said Mrs. Buck. “He didn’t like country clubs and exclusive things. He liked it so everybody could go. … It just seemed to us to be a continuation of the first gift and an expansion into his belief that people needed those kinds of activities.”
Mrs. Buck died July 12 at the age of 102, just weeks before the parade that will honor her family name. The Littleton Independent was fortunate to sit down with her and her son David in April, and she shared memories of her husband and their 50-year life in Littleton.
The couple met at the University of Colorado, where he studied business and she studied psychology.
“He seemed very solid,” said Mrs. Buck.
They were married in November 1929, and Mr. Buck started work at an investment firm. He was good at it, but his timing was bad – the Great Depression found him working at his father-in-law’s mortuary. He brought the business of burial insurance to the company, and later bought the whole business.
He ran the mortuary until 1965, when he sold it to oil company Tenneco and went back to investing at a very lucrative time in Denver.
The couple raised their two boys and one girl in a home on Santa Fe Drive, where Denver Seminary is now. When they arrived, Littleton was mostly industrial and rural, with a population of only around 3,000.
“It was very diverse,” she said. “There were some really well-off kids from Bow Mar, and a whole bunch of other kids who … well, not everybody washed the barnyard off their shoes before they came in the house.”
Three weeks before his daughter was born in 1943, Mr. Buck was in the hospital, his arms stricken with polio – a dreaded disease at the time that affects nerves and can lead to paralysis.
“He was very upset and scared for the children,” recalled Mrs. Buck.
After an arduous recovery that took about four years, Mr. Buck was back in the saddle. David Buck remembers him taking the kids swimming on a regular basis, working in the garden and walking often.
Mrs. Buck said her husband had a wonderful sense of humor, though he might have come across as serious to those who didn’t know him well.
“He might have seemed hard on the outside, but he was really very kind,” she said.
“He had a very agreeable nature,” agreed David Buck. “And he was extremely philanthropic. He didn’t think that we should gather all our wealth together, so he established our charity in 1986.”
He said his mother, too, was always supportive of her children’s endeavors, from horseback riding to art, football to wrestling.
“She always took an enormous amount of interest in what her children did and made sure we did it right,” recalled David.
As a result of the family’s passions, thousands of children have access to affordable fitness, seniors have a place to socialize and the community has a place to gather to learn, meet and mingle.
“I consider myself a very fortunate person,” said Mrs. Buck.
2012年8月7日星期二
Until recently Han Huohuo was just a 20-something Chinese fashion blogger
Today he enjoys front-row seats at European catwalk shows and rubs shoulders with the editor of Chinese Vogue.
More than a million people now follow the wildly famous fashion blogger on Weibo, China's answer to Twitter, and a leading website recently listed him among the country's top 20 movers and shakers in the industry.
The 28-year-old's flamboyant style - he favours women's clutches, skintight black pants and the occasional high heel - and passion for the industry have won him fame in a country where fashion icons are just starting to emerge.
Experts say his rapid rise to fame over the past four years was propelled by international brands eager to latch onto anyone who holds sway in China - set to become the world's largest luxury market by 2015, according to a Boston Consulting Group forecast.
"You've got so many luxury brands throwing money at China and they are grabbing people who have some sort of influence," says Chloe Reuter, who runs a luxury communications agency in Shanghai, Reuter PR.
"It's extraordinary what kind of stuff they get given. They fly first class and have chauffeurs.
"Because everything is very new, people are basically being catapulted into A-list segments - something that might take a lot longer anywhere else."
Han's unconventional style would stand out anywhere, but in China, it is particularly unusual.
His microblog - set against a leopard-print background - features a stream of portraits of himself stalking city streets in leather pants, designer purses, fur-lined coats and gold bracelets.
Part of his head is shaved, while what hair he has is long and swept back like a mane.
Not everyone likes his look, with some scorning his feminine style as "abnormal" and "evil".
"It's just like Lady Gaga," Han says, referring to the pop star known for extravagant outfits.
"A lot of people criticise her but many are also praising her because she did what others didn't dare to do.
"The reason I got attention is that I did what others didn't dare to do.
"I think I encouraged a lot of people."
Han launched his blog in 2008 but since then his microblog, which he began in 2009, has become his main outlet for expression.
He is now so well-known that he says he sometimes dresses down when he goes out to avoid being pestered for photos.
Most of his fans simply follow him on his Weibo account.
"I look at it pretty often. He has his own ideas and opinions," says Jiang Li, a design student at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology.
"We see him as one of the trendier fashion icons," says her classmate Guan Jiao.
Han entered fashion early - and almost by accident.
Bored with university, he left to work as a travel writer for a Beijing magazine that decided to launch a fashion section. The management tapped Han to run the new venture simply because he was the youngest person in the office.
From there he became an editor at the Chinese version of Marie Claire magazine, where he built up his fashion knowledge and network, leaving four years later in 2010 to start his own projects.
Now his fame extends to the upper crust of the fashion world, including the editor of Chinese Vogue, Angelica Cheung.
Cheung says bloggers like Han are "very good in terms of influencing this younger generation of consumers", but cautions that they could lose their position as quickly as they won it if they only post uninformed or unoriginal views.
"I think certainly these fashion bloggers create a lot of celebrities out of nothing," she says.
"The only ones who will remain are the ones who have real knowledge and insight into the fashion industry.
"Even with Han Huohuo, he's still young. There's still a lot to learn."
And other fashion voices are cropping up as well - not only online personas such as "Dipsy" and Leaf Greener but also artists including Yi Zhou, models like Du Juan and editors such as Cheung, says Reuter.
As he seeks to establish himself beyond his blog, Han has worked with labels including Hong Kong-based Linea Rosa to design shoes and clothing, compiled a fashion photography book and appeared as a judge on a Chinese fashion design television show.
He says his style has evolved into plainer clothing like T-shirts, although bold accessories - especially women's purses - are still a must.
"Accessories must stand out," he says.
"I really like women's clutches because I think men's accessories are too ugly… they're impossible to use.
"I don't care what people say. I figure, I like them, and that's the most important thing."
More than a million people now follow the wildly famous fashion blogger on Weibo, China's answer to Twitter, and a leading website recently listed him among the country's top 20 movers and shakers in the industry.
The 28-year-old's flamboyant style - he favours women's clutches, skintight black pants and the occasional high heel - and passion for the industry have won him fame in a country where fashion icons are just starting to emerge.
Experts say his rapid rise to fame over the past four years was propelled by international brands eager to latch onto anyone who holds sway in China - set to become the world's largest luxury market by 2015, according to a Boston Consulting Group forecast.
"You've got so many luxury brands throwing money at China and they are grabbing people who have some sort of influence," says Chloe Reuter, who runs a luxury communications agency in Shanghai, Reuter PR.
"It's extraordinary what kind of stuff they get given. They fly first class and have chauffeurs.
"Because everything is very new, people are basically being catapulted into A-list segments - something that might take a lot longer anywhere else."
Han's unconventional style would stand out anywhere, but in China, it is particularly unusual.
His microblog - set against a leopard-print background - features a stream of portraits of himself stalking city streets in leather pants, designer purses, fur-lined coats and gold bracelets.
Part of his head is shaved, while what hair he has is long and swept back like a mane.
Not everyone likes his look, with some scorning his feminine style as "abnormal" and "evil".
"It's just like Lady Gaga," Han says, referring to the pop star known for extravagant outfits.
"A lot of people criticise her but many are also praising her because she did what others didn't dare to do.
"The reason I got attention is that I did what others didn't dare to do.
"I think I encouraged a lot of people."
Han launched his blog in 2008 but since then his microblog, which he began in 2009, has become his main outlet for expression.
He is now so well-known that he says he sometimes dresses down when he goes out to avoid being pestered for photos.
Most of his fans simply follow him on his Weibo account.
"I look at it pretty often. He has his own ideas and opinions," says Jiang Li, a design student at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology.
"We see him as one of the trendier fashion icons," says her classmate Guan Jiao.
Han entered fashion early - and almost by accident.
Bored with university, he left to work as a travel writer for a Beijing magazine that decided to launch a fashion section. The management tapped Han to run the new venture simply because he was the youngest person in the office.
From there he became an editor at the Chinese version of Marie Claire magazine, where he built up his fashion knowledge and network, leaving four years later in 2010 to start his own projects.
Now his fame extends to the upper crust of the fashion world, including the editor of Chinese Vogue, Angelica Cheung.
Cheung says bloggers like Han are "very good in terms of influencing this younger generation of consumers", but cautions that they could lose their position as quickly as they won it if they only post uninformed or unoriginal views.
"I think certainly these fashion bloggers create a lot of celebrities out of nothing," she says.
"The only ones who will remain are the ones who have real knowledge and insight into the fashion industry.
"Even with Han Huohuo, he's still young. There's still a lot to learn."
And other fashion voices are cropping up as well - not only online personas such as "Dipsy" and Leaf Greener but also artists including Yi Zhou, models like Du Juan and editors such as Cheung, says Reuter.
As he seeks to establish himself beyond his blog, Han has worked with labels including Hong Kong-based Linea Rosa to design shoes and clothing, compiled a fashion photography book and appeared as a judge on a Chinese fashion design television show.
He says his style has evolved into plainer clothing like T-shirts, although bold accessories - especially women's purses - are still a must.
"Accessories must stand out," he says.
"I really like women's clutches because I think men's accessories are too ugly… they're impossible to use.
"I don't care what people say. I figure, I like them, and that's the most important thing."
2012年8月6日星期一
Patriotism and the Olympic games have long gone together
There was no mystery as to which team Varun Pemmaraju was supporting: His American flag was tied around his neck, the Stars and Stripes floating like a cape behind him.
"I was going for the Superman, Captain America-look," said the beaming 19-year-old computer science and chemical engineering student from San Jose, California, as he stood a stone's throw from Olympic Stadium. "I thought America was a little under-represented."
Patriotism and the Olympic games have long gone together, but gone are the days when one just waved a flag. Now flags are worn.
The fashion flags can be found at Olympic Park and around London as shift dresses and smocks, pants and shorts, hats and shoes, even dangly earrings and bracelets.
There's apparently no garment - nor nail polish - that can't be fashioned into something akin to a national banner.
Although the sponsorship police at the International Olympic Committee can stop merchants from using the five Olympic rings, there's no trademark police on flags.
Besides, capitalising on a good fashion idea is not new. In recent years, "fast fashion" has transformed the retail industry, as mainstream companies seize the hottest ideas from the catwalk, copy them as quickly as possible and move them onto the shop floors. Some manufacturers have gotten so fast they can produce wearable creations from factory to store in the same season in which they were created by top designers at Chanel, Ralph Lauren or Dior.
None of these flag fashions are going to give Burberry a run for their money - they are not made to last.
Jayne Ody got her raincoat, which was covered in Union Jacks, from Primark, a British store that specialises in cheap, cheerful fashion. And it was a bargain, at ￡8.
Her friend Ann Wanklyn was wearing two Welsh flags - emblazoned with a dragon - that had been sewn together into a simple shift dress. But Wanklyn is not about to claim she's a fashion princess - Olympic Park is a sporty crowd.
"You won't see anyone here walking around in heels, I can tell you that," Wanklyn said.
Turns out those flags can be handy in this unpredictable British weather. Someone seems to have a concession of selling a plastic variety that doubles as a raincoat. The British flag, as one might expect, seems to be very popular, but so is the tricolour of France and the triangle-cornered ones of the Czech Republic.
And then there are the Dutch. Who needs a flag when your nation is basically a colour - blinding orange? There are orange jackets, overalls, shoes but you almost never see the Dutch flag itself.
The orange also comes in the form of tiny hats - a bargain at ￡1 each - as worn by three Wagenaar sisters. Sabine Wagenaar, 24, simply laughed when asked about her fashion choice.
"It's a nice little hat," she said giggling. "It's girlie."
Then there are those just trying to buck their athletes up. Hugh Barton, 11, from Brisbane, Australia, was sad that the Aussie swimmers weren't at their best this year. He wore a flag around his neck and held one in his hand for maximum patriotism.
"Australia needs moral support," he said.
Before the games, American athletes were briefed on how to hold the flag should they be lucky enough to win. The US Olympic Committee pointed out a picture of swimmer Missy Franklin displaying the flag properly after winning gold - right hand on stars, left hand on stripes.
Americans have rules outlining the proper way to show respect to the flag and athletes, as ambassadors and representatives of their country, are expected to respect that and do it right. Under federal law, the flag is not dipped to any person or thing, for example.
"The take the ambassador program very seriously," said Bill Mallon, a historian. "They try to avoid the ugly American image by doing proper things at the games and teaching the right things to do."
But fans at Olympic Park were wearing the Stars and Stripes were doing so in joy and exuberance - honoring the flag in their own little way.
"It's a way of celebrating all the things that your country is about," said Pemmaraju, the University of California student said. "I know America is not a perfect country. but it's got me where I am. I'm proud to be an American."
"I was going for the Superman, Captain America-look," said the beaming 19-year-old computer science and chemical engineering student from San Jose, California, as he stood a stone's throw from Olympic Stadium. "I thought America was a little under-represented."
Patriotism and the Olympic games have long gone together, but gone are the days when one just waved a flag. Now flags are worn.
The fashion flags can be found at Olympic Park and around London as shift dresses and smocks, pants and shorts, hats and shoes, even dangly earrings and bracelets.
There's apparently no garment - nor nail polish - that can't be fashioned into something akin to a national banner.
Although the sponsorship police at the International Olympic Committee can stop merchants from using the five Olympic rings, there's no trademark police on flags.
Besides, capitalising on a good fashion idea is not new. In recent years, "fast fashion" has transformed the retail industry, as mainstream companies seize the hottest ideas from the catwalk, copy them as quickly as possible and move them onto the shop floors. Some manufacturers have gotten so fast they can produce wearable creations from factory to store in the same season in which they were created by top designers at Chanel, Ralph Lauren or Dior.
None of these flag fashions are going to give Burberry a run for their money - they are not made to last.
Jayne Ody got her raincoat, which was covered in Union Jacks, from Primark, a British store that specialises in cheap, cheerful fashion. And it was a bargain, at ￡8.
Her friend Ann Wanklyn was wearing two Welsh flags - emblazoned with a dragon - that had been sewn together into a simple shift dress. But Wanklyn is not about to claim she's a fashion princess - Olympic Park is a sporty crowd.
"You won't see anyone here walking around in heels, I can tell you that," Wanklyn said.
Turns out those flags can be handy in this unpredictable British weather. Someone seems to have a concession of selling a plastic variety that doubles as a raincoat. The British flag, as one might expect, seems to be very popular, but so is the tricolour of France and the triangle-cornered ones of the Czech Republic.
And then there are the Dutch. Who needs a flag when your nation is basically a colour - blinding orange? There are orange jackets, overalls, shoes but you almost never see the Dutch flag itself.
The orange also comes in the form of tiny hats - a bargain at ￡1 each - as worn by three Wagenaar sisters. Sabine Wagenaar, 24, simply laughed when asked about her fashion choice.
"It's a nice little hat," she said giggling. "It's girlie."
Then there are those just trying to buck their athletes up. Hugh Barton, 11, from Brisbane, Australia, was sad that the Aussie swimmers weren't at their best this year. He wore a flag around his neck and held one in his hand for maximum patriotism.
"Australia needs moral support," he said.
Before the games, American athletes were briefed on how to hold the flag should they be lucky enough to win. The US Olympic Committee pointed out a picture of swimmer Missy Franklin displaying the flag properly after winning gold - right hand on stars, left hand on stripes.
Americans have rules outlining the proper way to show respect to the flag and athletes, as ambassadors and representatives of their country, are expected to respect that and do it right. Under federal law, the flag is not dipped to any person or thing, for example.
"The take the ambassador program very seriously," said Bill Mallon, a historian. "They try to avoid the ugly American image by doing proper things at the games and teaching the right things to do."
But fans at Olympic Park were wearing the Stars and Stripes were doing so in joy and exuberance - honoring the flag in their own little way.
"It's a way of celebrating all the things that your country is about," said Pemmaraju, the University of California student said. "I know America is not a perfect country. but it's got me where I am. I'm proud to be an American."
2012年8月5日星期日
The Australians invented duna days and turned it into an artform
We call them duvet days, mental-health days, employer-funded recreational time out. It's pulling a sickie. You call in sick when you just can't be bothered facing the world at work.
Some companies write a couple of duvet days into employee contracts. They don't mind if you're honest, or quiet, about it.
A Gisborne man has learned, though, that the secret to getting away with it is keeping it all on the down-low. His downfall was Facebook.
This bloke worked at a training institute and had asked for a week of unpaid leave for a waka ama championship, but the boss was short-staffed and could give him only three days off. Come Monday, the worker called into work sick with a damaged calf muscle. By Wednesday, the boss was looking at pictures on Facebook of the worker happily enjoying life at the waka ama competition.
The boss sacked him and the Employment Relations Authority has ruled that the sacking was justified for misuse of sick leave.
It did not accept his reasons that he should be able to manage his health as he saw fit and that his "spiritual being" was better away with the family than being miserable at home.
If he was sick, he should have been at home recuperating. If he was fit, he should have been at work and should not have tried to pull one over the boss.
Bosses get suspicious of people who call in sick when they have been refused leave, or who regularly don't turn up for work on Fridays or Mondays. Social-media sites such as Twitter and Facebook are good research tools for their investigations.
If bosses and their staff are honest, this situation shouldn't arise. The worker says "I'm mentally had-it" or "I need a day to clean my golf shoes"; a reasonable boss is likely to say, "We can't make Wednesday work, but have Friday off."
If you have a less-than-understanding boss, though, and it's really a choice of a duvet day or being "overly honest", the experts suggest you don't go near social network sites while you charge the emotional batteries. And maybe you can get away with picking up some essentials at the supermarket or getting a DVD, but don't zip into town for a new pair of shoes. Just in case.
Some companies write a couple of duvet days into employee contracts. They don't mind if you're honest, or quiet, about it.
A Gisborne man has learned, though, that the secret to getting away with it is keeping it all on the down-low. His downfall was Facebook.
This bloke worked at a training institute and had asked for a week of unpaid leave for a waka ama championship, but the boss was short-staffed and could give him only three days off. Come Monday, the worker called into work sick with a damaged calf muscle. By Wednesday, the boss was looking at pictures on Facebook of the worker happily enjoying life at the waka ama competition.
The boss sacked him and the Employment Relations Authority has ruled that the sacking was justified for misuse of sick leave.
It did not accept his reasons that he should be able to manage his health as he saw fit and that his "spiritual being" was better away with the family than being miserable at home.
If he was sick, he should have been at home recuperating. If he was fit, he should have been at work and should not have tried to pull one over the boss.
Bosses get suspicious of people who call in sick when they have been refused leave, or who regularly don't turn up for work on Fridays or Mondays. Social-media sites such as Twitter and Facebook are good research tools for their investigations.
If bosses and their staff are honest, this situation shouldn't arise. The worker says "I'm mentally had-it" or "I need a day to clean my golf shoes"; a reasonable boss is likely to say, "We can't make Wednesday work, but have Friday off."
If you have a less-than-understanding boss, though, and it's really a choice of a duvet day or being "overly honest", the experts suggest you don't go near social network sites while you charge the emotional batteries. And maybe you can get away with picking up some essentials at the supermarket or getting a DVD, but don't zip into town for a new pair of shoes. Just in case.
2012年8月2日星期四
Chamberlain gets standing ovation
The first ovation came on Tuesday when Joba Chamberlain climbed out of the Yankee Stadium dugout and jogged to right field. First pitch was some two hours away, but word had spread that Chamberlain was active, off the disabled list for the first time in more than a year. The fans cheered as he played catch.
The second ovation came on Wednesday afternoon, when the bullpen door opened and Chamberlain emerged. He hadn’t been on a big league mound since June 5, 2011. He’d been through elbow surgery, ankle surgery and three different minor league rehab stops. The crowd stood as he ran out to pitch the seventh inning.
The final ovation came nine batters later, and Chamberlain had couldn’t hide his disappointment. His second pitch had been a home run. He’d retired four of the nine batters he’d faced. He’d coughed up two runs in an inning and two-thirds.
Yet the crowd cheered as he walked off the mound, and he seemed to tip his cap as he entered the dugout. Or maybe he was just wiping sweat.
“I was just taking my hat off, really,” Chamberlain said. “There’s no thanks and no words I can say for everybody that’s hung with me and done all that.
“Obviously not the result I wanted for my first one, but we won the game, and that’s all that matters.”
Chamberlain is back, and for now, that matters as much as anything. He’s been through the Joba Rules. He’s been assigned to the bullpen, moved into the rotation, then bumped back to the bullpen. He’s been away for nearly 14 months of rehabilitation.
But for a Yankees team that’s lost a series of superstars and everyday player, Chamberlain’s return is a shift in the other direction. The Yankees have been waiting for this moment, counting on this moment, and they believe he can be a difference maker down the stretch.
“It certainly gives us another power arm out of the pen, if he’s the Joba of the past,” Brian Cashman said.
Reports from Chamberlain’s eight minor league rehab appearances were overwhelmingly positive. He had a 0.96 ERA with 10 strikeouts and one walk through 9.1 innings. He was consistently reaching the upper 90s with his fastball.
The second ovation came on Wednesday afternoon, when the bullpen door opened and Chamberlain emerged. He hadn’t been on a big league mound since June 5, 2011. He’d been through elbow surgery, ankle surgery and three different minor league rehab stops. The crowd stood as he ran out to pitch the seventh inning.
The final ovation came nine batters later, and Chamberlain had couldn’t hide his disappointment. His second pitch had been a home run. He’d retired four of the nine batters he’d faced. He’d coughed up two runs in an inning and two-thirds.
Yet the crowd cheered as he walked off the mound, and he seemed to tip his cap as he entered the dugout. Or maybe he was just wiping sweat.
“I was just taking my hat off, really,” Chamberlain said. “There’s no thanks and no words I can say for everybody that’s hung with me and done all that.
“Obviously not the result I wanted for my first one, but we won the game, and that’s all that matters.”
Chamberlain is back, and for now, that matters as much as anything. He’s been through the Joba Rules. He’s been assigned to the bullpen, moved into the rotation, then bumped back to the bullpen. He’s been away for nearly 14 months of rehabilitation.
But for a Yankees team that’s lost a series of superstars and everyday player, Chamberlain’s return is a shift in the other direction. The Yankees have been waiting for this moment, counting on this moment, and they believe he can be a difference maker down the stretch.
“It certainly gives us another power arm out of the pen, if he’s the Joba of the past,” Brian Cashman said.
Reports from Chamberlain’s eight minor league rehab appearances were overwhelmingly positive. He had a 0.96 ERA with 10 strikeouts and one walk through 9.1 innings. He was consistently reaching the upper 90s with his fastball.
2012年8月1日星期三
Her moral compass is stuck at zero tolerance
Elvis has clearly left the building if we’re talking about Graceland or Nashville, but you can find his essence weekends at Connecticut Cabaret Theatre in Berlin where the action is “All Shook Up.”
A new musical comedy conceived by Joe DiPietro, inspired by and saluting the songs of Elvis Presley, will have you swiveling your hips, donning a black leather jacket or a pink poodle skirt and a pair of beautiful blue suede shoes, until Saturday, August 25.
Think “Footloose” meets “Cyrano de Bergerac,” collides with “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” with a touch of “Romeo and Juliet” and you’ll be close to what happens in a small Midwestern town in 1955 where a opinionated and prejudiced Mayor Matilda Hyde, captured by a powerhouse Melinda Learned, keeps a tight rein on everybody’s actions and thoughts.
Prescribing to the Mamie Eisenhower Decency Decrees, the Mayor has forbidden loud music, tight pants, dancing, public necking and any interracial dating. Her moral compass is stuck at zero tolerance. The calm and quiet is disturbed and disrupted when a stranger rides into town on a motorcycle and begins to question the stable and staid status quo. Matthew Collin Marrero’s Chad is a rebel and a roustabout and proud of it, and he will change the town whether it’s ready or not.
Chad has such an effect on the local auto mechanic Natalie, a sweet Jessica Frye, that she disguises herself as Ed to win his approval and affection. When it comes to being cool, town folks like Natalie’s dad Jim (Steve Sorriero) and her good friend Dennis (Jonathan Escobar) line up to take lessons. When Chad thinks Miss Sondra (Emily LaRose) is the cat’s meow, he sends Ed to woo her, only to have Sondra fancy herself smitten by Ed instead.
Meanwhile Sylvia (Alaina Monts), who runs the local malt shop, tries to give friendly advice to Jim as well as look after her daughter Lorraine (Kourtney Coleman) who finds herself falling for the mayor’s son Dean (Erik Bloomquist), one of those big no-nos, forbidden relationships, until Sheriff Earl (Russell Fish) stands up to the mayor and helps ensure that “all’s well that ends well.”
More than two dozen great Elvis tunes like “Jailhouse Rock,” “Hound Dog,” “Teddy Bear,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Burning Love,” under the musical direction of Pawel Jura, keep the rafters rocking. This fine regional cast, under the direction of hunka, hunka happy Kris McMurray, also includes an ensemble of Kate Branstetter, Linda Kelly, Sandra Lee, Lyndsi Skewes, Maggie Sloan, Michael Falconeri, Roger MclLwain, James J. Moran and Brandon Secco.
For tickets ($30), call Connecticut Cabaret Theatre, 31-33 Webster Square Road, Berlin at 860-829-1248 or online at www.ctcabaret.com. Performances are Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7:15 p.m. Now is the time to renew subscriptions for their sixteenth anniversary season. Remember to pack goodies to share at your table or buy dessert and drinks at the concession stand.
You “Can’t Help Fallin’ in Love” with Chad and the gang as they “Follow That Dream,” declaring “It’s Now or Never.” Bebop on over to Berlin and enjoy the finger snapping, toe tapping fun.
A new musical comedy conceived by Joe DiPietro, inspired by and saluting the songs of Elvis Presley, will have you swiveling your hips, donning a black leather jacket or a pink poodle skirt and a pair of beautiful blue suede shoes, until Saturday, August 25.
Think “Footloose” meets “Cyrano de Bergerac,” collides with “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” with a touch of “Romeo and Juliet” and you’ll be close to what happens in a small Midwestern town in 1955 where a opinionated and prejudiced Mayor Matilda Hyde, captured by a powerhouse Melinda Learned, keeps a tight rein on everybody’s actions and thoughts.
Prescribing to the Mamie Eisenhower Decency Decrees, the Mayor has forbidden loud music, tight pants, dancing, public necking and any interracial dating. Her moral compass is stuck at zero tolerance. The calm and quiet is disturbed and disrupted when a stranger rides into town on a motorcycle and begins to question the stable and staid status quo. Matthew Collin Marrero’s Chad is a rebel and a roustabout and proud of it, and he will change the town whether it’s ready or not.
Chad has such an effect on the local auto mechanic Natalie, a sweet Jessica Frye, that she disguises herself as Ed to win his approval and affection. When it comes to being cool, town folks like Natalie’s dad Jim (Steve Sorriero) and her good friend Dennis (Jonathan Escobar) line up to take lessons. When Chad thinks Miss Sondra (Emily LaRose) is the cat’s meow, he sends Ed to woo her, only to have Sondra fancy herself smitten by Ed instead.
Meanwhile Sylvia (Alaina Monts), who runs the local malt shop, tries to give friendly advice to Jim as well as look after her daughter Lorraine (Kourtney Coleman) who finds herself falling for the mayor’s son Dean (Erik Bloomquist), one of those big no-nos, forbidden relationships, until Sheriff Earl (Russell Fish) stands up to the mayor and helps ensure that “all’s well that ends well.”
More than two dozen great Elvis tunes like “Jailhouse Rock,” “Hound Dog,” “Teddy Bear,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Burning Love,” under the musical direction of Pawel Jura, keep the rafters rocking. This fine regional cast, under the direction of hunka, hunka happy Kris McMurray, also includes an ensemble of Kate Branstetter, Linda Kelly, Sandra Lee, Lyndsi Skewes, Maggie Sloan, Michael Falconeri, Roger MclLwain, James J. Moran and Brandon Secco.
For tickets ($30), call Connecticut Cabaret Theatre, 31-33 Webster Square Road, Berlin at 860-829-1248 or online at www.ctcabaret.com. Performances are Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7:15 p.m. Now is the time to renew subscriptions for their sixteenth anniversary season. Remember to pack goodies to share at your table or buy dessert and drinks at the concession stand.
You “Can’t Help Fallin’ in Love” with Chad and the gang as they “Follow That Dream,” declaring “It’s Now or Never.” Bebop on over to Berlin and enjoy the finger snapping, toe tapping fun.
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