Author: Serkadis

from police oracle, 17 February 2010: “As tazer continues to be rolled out across British police forces, a retired police officer – now living abroad – who purchased his lovely wife a pocket Tazer for their anniversary sent us this true(?) story: ‘Last weekend I saw something at ‘Larry’s Pistol & Pawn Shop’ that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 15th anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Julie. What I came across was a 100,000-volt pocket-sized tazer. The effects of the tazer were supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety…. I decided to give myself a one second burst just for heck of it. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and…” more

from imc-uk, 17 February 2010: “The ‘Belgrade Six’ were released today, on the first day of their court hearing. All six were charged for ‘International Terrorism’, maximum penalty 15 years imprisonment, for an action at Belgrade’s Greek embassy which caused 18 Euros. The Belgrade Six have been imprisoned since their arrest in September 2009. They faced blackmail and abuse. On the 24th of August 2009 a window of Belgrade’s Greek embassy was painted with an anarchist A, had a window smashed and had minor smoke damage caused to it…” more

from imc-uk, 17 February 2010: “The ‘Belgrade Six’ were released today, on the first day of their court hearing. All six were charged for ‘International Terrorism’, maximum penalty 15 years imprisonment, for an action at Belgrade’s Greek embassy which caused 18 Euros. The Belgrade Six have been imprisoned since their arrest in September 2009. They faced blackmail and abuse. On the 24th of August 2009 a window of Belgrade’s Greek embassy was painted with an anarchist A, had a window smashed and had minor smoke damage caused to it…” more

This week’s calendar spans three continents, three countries, and who knows how many time zones. Looking for stuff to do in the next seven days? Miami is your best bet, with events on the future of Web apps and on early-stage funding.

How do you like your events calendar? As a world map? As an iCal (and Google Calendar-importable) file? You can also import individual events using the link beside each entry. Know of something cool taking place that should appear here? Let us know in the comments below or contact us.

Sponsor

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22 – 24 February 2010: Miami, Florida

The Future of Web Apps Miami

The Future of Web Apps Miami is a three day event for Web application developers and entrepreneurs, and includes tutorials, inspiration and workshops taught by leading figures at the cutting edge of today’s Web. Companies at the event include Twitter, Facebook, Mint.com, Palm, FreshBooks, Reddit and Mozilla. Topics include HTML5, jQuery, online marketing, funding strategies, measuring the success of your Web app, and Facebook Connect. Find more information at http://carsonified.com

ReadWriteWeb readers use the code “RWW” and get $50 off.

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25 February 2010: Miami, Florida

Miami VC and Angel Event

At FundingPost‘s next event, a panel of investors who will focus on early-stage venture investing. We will be discussing trends in early-stage investing, sectors that these Angels and VCs look at, things that are most important to them when they are considering an investment and the best and worst things an entrepreneur can do to get their attention. Entrepreneur summaries will be given to the investor speakers and attendees – all of the investors will get your company description and contact info!

Additionally, there will be an optional pitching workshop lunch where we will completely deconstruct your elevator pitch, and work with you on formulating a clean and concise elevator pitch giving the important information that investors need to hear to make an educated decision on your company! Then you get to give your new elevator pitch in person to the panel of investors during the event! Click here for more information.

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2 March 2010: Wellington, New Zealand

IgniteWellington

Fast-paced, fun, thought-provoking, social, local, global — Ignite is all of these and more. It’s a high-energy evening of five-minute talks by people who have an idea and the guts to get onstage and share it with their hometown crowd. Run by local volunteers, Ignite is a force for raising the collective IQ and building connections in each city. And, via streaming and archived videos of local talks, local Ignites share all that knowledge and passion with the world. Join us on Tuesday, March 2 starting at 6 p.m. at Paramount Theatre. Entry is free. Register online now at www.ignitewellington.co.nz. For more information contact [email protected].

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4 March 2010: Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley VC and Angel Conference

At FundingPost‘s next event, a panel of investors who will focus on early-stage venture investing. We will be discussing trends in early-stage investing, sectors that these Angels and VCs look at, things that are most important to them when they are considering an investment and the best and worst things an entrepreneur can do to get their attention. Entrepreneur summaries will be given to the investor speakers and attendees – all of the investors will get your company description and contact info!

Additionally, there will be an optional pitching workshop lunch where we will completely deconstruct your elevator pitch, and work with you on formulating a clean and concise elevator pitch giving the important information that investors need to hear to make an educated decision on your company! Then you get to give your new elevator pitch in person to the panel of investors during the event! Click here for more information.

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11 March 2010: Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles VC and Angel Event

At FundingPost‘s next event, a panel of investors who will focus on early-stage venture investing. We will be discussing trends in early-stage investing, sectors that these Angels and VCs look at, things that are most important to them when they are considering an investment and the best and worst things an entrepreneur can do to get their attention. Entrepreneur summaries will be given to the investor speakers and attendees – all of the investors will get your company description and contact info!

Additionally, there will be an optional pitching workshop lunch where we will completely deconstruct your elevator pitch, and work with you on formulating a clean and concise elevator pitch giving the important information that investors need to hear to make an educated decision on your company! Then you get to give your new elevator pitch in person to the panel of investors during the event! Click here for more information.

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15 – 16 March 2010: London, England

2nd Annual Social Networking World Forum — London

The 2nd Annual Social Networking World Forum takes place at the Olympia Conference Centre in London. The two-day event features four dedicated conference streams:

1. Social Networking World Forum
2. Enterprise social media
3. Social TV World Forum
4. Mobile Social Networking Forum

The event features key speakers from global brands, organizations, social networking publishers and developers, pioneering social media leaders, top agencies, content producers, and more.

• Full workshop program within exhibition area
• Evening networking reception
• Pre-show online meeting planner for delegates
• Free pass for exhibition only

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26 March 2010: San Francisco, California

Freemium Summit

The first Freemium Summit is a one day event focused on exploring what it takes to succeed under the freemium business model. Across all segments of the media landscape, entrepreneurs and executives are pioneering models that combine a free offering with a premium, paid offering. This hybrid business model is one of the most exciting areas of business model innovation impacting the world of media and the Freemium Summit will explore the most important topics on the minds of leading practitioners.

Confirmed Speakers: Toni Schneider, Automattic (WordPress); Matt Brezina, Xobni; Aaron Levie, Box.net; Phil Libin, Evernote; Tom Conrad, Pandora; Drew Houston, Dropbox; Ranjith Kumaran, YouSendIt; Ben Chestnut, Mailchimp; Lance Walley, Chargify; Isaac Hall, Recurly; and Lincoln Murphy, Sixteen Ventures.

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7 – 9 April 2010: Sydney, Australia

ConnectNow

ConnectNow brings together international specialists and thought leaders in social media, emerging technologies and their intersection with business. Learn how the realtime web, location based services, augmented reality, ubiquitous computing and personalised services are changing marketing and communications. Understand the importance of trust in relationship marketing and what is “social currency”. For more info email [email protected].

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13 – 15 April 2010: Dallas, Texas

PubCon South

PubCon, the premier search and social media conference, features the industry’s biggest names and key players shaping the future of the Web. PubCon South will include cutting-edge panel sessions exploring tracks dedicated to search, social media and affiliate marketing, an intensive professional search and social media training program, and some of the world’s top keynote speakers. PubCon South at Dallas will also hold a one-day, two-track slate of intensive educational training programs led by some of the industry’s most respected search professionals. The event takes place at the Richardson Conference and Civic Center. Register here.

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16 April 2010: Mountain View, California

Under the Radar: Cloud

Under the Radar: Cloud is must-attend event for dealmakers and heads of IT from large enterprises, SMBs, service providers, carriers and media companies who are responsible for helping their companies leverage new technology and innovation in the fast-evolving IT ecosystem. Join us for the 15th Under the Radar conference, featuring a hand-picked selection of the world’s most innovative cloud startups among 350 top tech, media, telcom and finance executives. For ticket and more information, visit http://undertheradarblog.com.

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16 – 17 April 2010: Royal Oak, Michigan

FutureMidwest

FutureMidwest is the region’s largest technology and knowledge conference. Founded by Adrian Pittman, Jordan Wolfe and Zach Lipson, FutureMidwest is the fusion of two successful conferences held in Michigan in 2009 – the Module Midwest Digital Conference and TechNow.

Both conferences highlighted how technology and digital tools have dramatically changed the way we do business and the effect this transition has had on companies. FutureMidwest kicks things up a notch with presentations, group breakout sessions, relationship-building opportunities and influencers who are taking action to redefine business in the digital age. Register here.

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19 – 21 April 2010: San Francisco, California

DrupalCon

DrupalCon is the premier conference focused on Drupal, the award-winning open source content management framework that is galvanizing social publishing and web development today. For a registration fee of $195, attendees get three full days of sessions led by the best and brightest Drupal experts.

Drupal has been downloaded over 2 million times since its inception, and project growth has doubled annually for several years. Drupal is used to deliver a wide variety of application types including blogs, wikis, community networks, digital media portals, and web content publishing and management.

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26 April 2010: San Francisco, California

Future of Money and Technology Summit

The Future of Money & Technology Summit will bring together the best and brightest thinkers around money, including visionaries, entrepreneurial business people, developers, press, investors, authors, solution/service providers, and organizations who work where cash and commerce collide. We meet to discuss the evolving ecosystem around money in a proactive, conducive to dealmaking environment. Featured speakers include Jolie O’Dell from ReadWriteWeb, as well as representatives from Wells Fargo Bank, Kiva, SharesPost, Jambool, Founders Fund, Outright.com, SoftTech VC, and many more.

Use discount code “rww” to get 10% off registration.

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11 May 2010: San Francisco, California

FinovateSpring

FinovateSpring 2010 will again showcase the most cutting-edge financial and banking technology innovations to Silicon Valley and the world. With Finovate’s signature mix of short, fast-paced onstage demos (no slides are allowed) from handpicked companies and intimate networking time with their executives, this conference packs a ton of unique value into a single day.

Come see the cutting edge of banking and financial technology and network with hundreds of the leading financial executives, venture capitalists, press, industry analysts, bloggers and fintech entrepreneurs. Early bird registration rates are available.

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5 October 2010: New York City

FinovateFall

FinovateFall will return to Manhattan on Tuesday, October 5 to showcase dozens of the biggest and most innovative new ideas in financial and banking technology from established leaders and hot young companies. The Fall event is the original and largest Finovate and features a single day packed with our special blend of short, fast-paced onstage demos (no slides are allowed) and intimate networking time with top executives from the innovative demoing companies.

FinovateFall is a unique chance to see the future of finance and banking before your competition and find the edge you need in today’s market. Early bird registration rates are available.

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Download this entire events calendar in iCal format.

Discuss

FoxNews.com: “Rep. Ron Paul, former Republican presidential candidate and leading light of the current libertarian grassroots movement, enjoyed a huge rock star moment at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), as he took the stage Friday to thunderous applause and a standing ovation in a ballroom filled to capacity.” Continue reading at FoxNews.com

Related posts:

1. Ron Paul: “The revolution is alive and well” Politico.com: “Ron Paul supporters came out in force on Friday,…
2. Ron Paul at CPAC 2010 Ron Paul is participating in the following events at the…
3. Ron Paul at CPAC 2009 Watch Ron Paul and others live on C-SPAN. 02/27/2009 4:00…

Article Tags: Roger F. Gay

Inspired for the most part by an article written by Guardian science correspondent Ian Sample, some by an article by Pulitzer Prize op-ed columnist Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times, as well as others I’ve read over the past couple of years, I decided to try my hand at environmental journalism. Feel free to leave a comment to let me know how I’m doing. Just remember – it’s all about science.

The most exalted of the world’s eminent scientists – ever – are predicting a new warm period set to begin in the very near future, which could increase the the earth’s temperature by as much as 60-70 degrees Celsius in some places. That’s 120-140 degrees Fahrenheit. It has been confirmed by really advanced super-computer models written by the world’s most intelligent people that, should this take place, and there’s absolutely no doubt whatsoever in the minds of all reasonable people everywhere – at least the smart and scientific ones – that it will, vast amounts of ice and snow will melt quickly, creating a huge volume of run-off water that will overwhelm rivers and streams creating local flooding before eventually raising the levels of lakes and oceans. Much of the ice currently covering small lakes will also disappear.

Source: mensnewsdaily.com

Read in full with comments »   

From time to time I’ll get a comment from a skeptical reader that says something like, “I don’t think it’s possible to reprogram your genes through diet/lifestyle. Of course our genes are set at birth and our DNA, or program, is copied into every cell of our bodies. You cannot modify or reprogram your genetic code.” I’d like to address this misunderstanding.

One of the best ways to illustrate what I mean by “reprogram your genes” is to use the analogy that Duke University’s Randy Jirtle, Ph.D., uses in the following videos. Think of your genome as being like computer hardware. If you were to program your computer you wouldn’t be changing the hardware, rather, you would be changing the software that tells the computer what to do. So just as we talk about reprogramming or programming a computer and don’t suggest that the hardware itself has changed we likewise can talk about reprogramming our genes without suggesting that the genes have changed. In the case of genes what we are really changing is the epigenome. To quote Dr. Jirtle, “the epigenome would be like the software that tells the computer when to work, how to work and how much.”

Luckily for us our genes are not our destiny. We have immense control through lifestyle behaviors to turn some genes on and other genes off for desired physical results. Watch these videos for it to all come together if it hasn’t already.

There are multiple future possible versions of you. It’s up to you to decide which version you will become. It’s up to you to make lifestyle choices that direct genes toward fat burning, muscle building, longevity and wellness, and away from fat storing, muscle wasting, disease and illness.

This is what The Primal Blueprint is all about. It’s why the sub-title of my book is “Reprogram Your Genes for Effortless Weight Loss, Vibrant Health and Boundless Energy”. And it’s what we talk about (either directly or indirectly) day-in and day-out here at Mark’s Daily Apple. We tend to focus on the practical, but epigenetics is at the heart of why we do what we do. Living like Grok just happens to be the best starting point for directing gene expression.

So my tip to you today comes straight from the lips of Madonna: Express Yourself.

Hat tip to MDA reader Samson for the videos.

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. Reprogramming Your Genes Starts with Reprogramming Your Mind
2. Control Your Lifestyle, Control Your Genes
3. Dear Mark: Gene Expression

from email, 13 February 2010: “On March 31st 1990, the day before the tax was to be implemented, over 200 Haringey residents met up at Turnpike Lane tube to travel together to join over 250,000 people marching through Central London calling for mass non-payment and resistance to the tax. It was a carnival atmosphere. As the demonstration passed Thatcher’s headquarters (Downing St) there was a confrontation with police, and it soon turned into a battle with mounted police and riot units. Eventually, Trafalgar Sq became a battleground as thousands of people fought police for control of the square and the area around it. The anti-poll tax movement gained world-wide coverage…” more

Article Tags: Ross McKitrick, Steve McIntyre

When the infamous hockey-stick graph that purported to prove that human activities are causing runaway global warming was finally broken, there is some irony in the fact that a couple of Canadians did the breaking. Retired mining engineer Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick, Professor of Economics at the University of Guelph, have been a thorn in the side of global warming alarmists for years. McIntyre, McKitrick and, more often, the acronym “M&M” to refer to the pair, are the subject of many discussions in the e-mails released from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (CRU) last November.

Reading the e-mails, it quickly becomes clear that leading alarmist scientists, like Michael Mann at Penn State and Phil Jones at the CRU, seemed positively obsessed – almost to the point of appearing deranged at times – with discrediting McIntyre and McKitrick. For example, when the pair published their first hockey stick busting paper in 2003, Mann sent an angry e-mail to his colleagues, telling them how to deal with MM: “The important thing is to deny that this has any intellectual credibility whatsoever and, if contacted by any media, to dismiss this for the stunt that it is.”

Source: frontpagemag.com

Read in full with comments »   

CHAMPAIGN – Kathy Kinser was pretty sure she’d never again see her white General Electric side-by-side refrigerator featuring front access water and ice dispenser and an LED screen.

Earlier this week, the nearly $3,000 appliance was returned to the spot from which it had been stolen Jan. 19. It was inside the home she and her husband are building in southwest Champaign.

“It has one little mark on it, but I can use it,” said Kinser, 68, who earlier this month told The News-Gazette how she struck the burglar in the head with an ax when he returned to her home Jan. 24, apparently intent on picking up more of her new appliances.

“It’s good that the refrigerator can be appreciated by burglars as well as regular owners,” she joked upon learning it had been found in a home in Sidney. “I really didn’t think I would get it back. I honestly thought it was on its way to the nethermost regions of the country.”

Detectives from Champaign, Urbana and the Champaign County sheriff’s office have recovered most of the items that a Champaign couple with a heroin problem admitted stealing from 11 homes between Dec. 31 and early February.

Crystal Neidel, 35, and Shawn Mathews, 33, charged with three counts of burglary, have cooperated with the detectives. Mathews told police about being hit in the head with the ax but said he was not seriously injured.

“If it wasn’t for them telling us where everything went, we wouldn’t have been able to find it,” said Urbana investigator Matt Quinley, who is still searching for two rolls of new brown carpet stolen from a southeast Urbana home under construction in mid-January.

Quinley, sheriff’s investigator Travis Burr, and Champaign detective Mark Vogelzang have put in several hours since the couple’s arrest Feb. 4 tracking down the merchandise that was stolen from upscale homes in Champaign, Savoy and Urbana.

Sheriff’s Lt. Ed Ogle said almost all the stolen items were found at two homes in Champaign and two in Sidney, where occupants had bought the items at greatly reduced prices.

“We recovered 28 boxes of ceramic tile, 11 boxes of wood flooring, mortar and grout, about $1,300 worth of material,” Ogle said of finds by Burr on Tuesday and Wednesday. “Luckily we got the flooring before anyone could get it installed.”

“We recovered the refrigerator from Mrs. Kinser’s break-in and the stainless steel microwave and a gas range from one of our Savoy burglaries. We think we have everything back.”

Sgt. Jim Rein, Vogelzang’s supervisor, said the items taken in the Champaign burglaries have also been found, some were in a rented storage unit.

“If it’s too good to be true, it’s too good to be true,” Rein said of those who bought the hot items. “These were top-of-the-line appliances. They were really nice. If someone says give me $300 for this side-by-side stainless steel refrigerator, a red flag should go up.”

Quinley added that as soon as the items were found, they were returned to the builders of the homes. Quinley found a cook-top stove and a wall oven at a resale store in Urbana.

Steve Meid, co-owner of Signature Homes in Champaign, said appliances and flooring were stolen from three Savoy homes he’s building. Such thefts are mercifully rare, he said.

“I’ve probably had only one occasion where somebody took flooring out of a house under construction in the last seven years,” said Meid, who’s built about 200 homes in that time.

“It’s not very common. It seems kind of unusual. We’ve had vandals that show up once in a great while, but usually it’s someone annoyed they’ve lost a job,” he said.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

CHAMPAIGN – A plan to take the power to draw county board districts from politicians and to give it to an independent, bipartisan commission won the endorsement Friday of the Champaign County Farm Bureau and the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce.

Other groups, including the League of Women Voters, also will be asked to support the proposal to be discussed by the county board in future months.

“Partisan politics is tiresome and detrimental to good public policy,” said Laura Weis, president and CEO of the chamber of commerce. “At the core of partisan politics is our current system which allows a select few politicians to draw their own maps in secret.”

The current county board district map was drawn by Democrats, who controlled the board following the 2000 Census. But supporters of independent redistricting acknowledged that the Republican Party, which dominated the county board until 2000, had drawn the map to its advantage for decades before.

The goal of an independent commission, supporters said, is to open up the mapmaking process and encourage competitive elections.

“We’re not getting people to come out and run for election. They won’t run because they think it’s all planted and the districts are all fixed and the incumbents are all in,” said Urbana Democrat Steve Beckett, who authored the redistricting commission resolution before the county board.

Beckett said he was “embarrassed” by his vote for the last redistricting map.

“Two people in a backroom drew a map. A major component of that was incumbency, could they eliminate people they wanted eliminated from office. And they succeeded,” he said.

The Republican-drawn map 10 years earlier also was “ridiculous,” he said. “That wasn’t representative of this county.”

Champaign Republican Alan Nudo said competitive districts would lead to better candidates for the board.

“Good candidates will come to the fore if they think they have a competitive election,” he said.

Republican Greg Knott, who lives in rural St. Joseph, acknowledged it would be difficult to make all county board districts equally competitive, but an independent commission wouldn’t draw districts that overtly attempt to help incumbents or aim to keep one party in control of the county board.

“Are you going to have some districts that are more heavily Republican than Democratic, or more heavily Democratic than Republican? Probably, but I think if the criteria is not to keep the party in control … that’s the objective you have when you draw a gerrymandered map,” Knott said.

Republicans will support the independent redistricting commission, Knott said. But Champaign Democrat Michael Richards said most Democrats will oppose it.

Using the commission would make county board members less accountable, he asserted.

“I think the voters want their county board members to be accountable,” he said. “They want us to be accountable for the decisions, whether it’s the nursing home or other matters of the county.”

Richards also contended that the resolution, as drafted, would appear to allow for only two rural-dominated districts. There are now four majority rural districts.

The resolution says the county board should adopt a plan that “divides townships or municipalities only when necessary to conform to the equal population requirement.” Richards said population growth in City of Champaign and Cunningham townships would appear to require that six districts be primarily urban and that a seventh district would primarily suburban, including the village of Savoy and Champaign Township.

The redistricting commission plan calls for the appointment of an 11-member commission, including two county board members from each party, that would be appointed by the November county board meeting. The process of drawing the map would be open to the public, including public hearings, and would require districts to be equal in population and compact and contiguous. The county board would have to vote to adopt the map. If it was unable to do so, the process would be turned over to another group of elected officials and party chairmen.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

A 22-year-old student at Northern Illinois University has been charged in the shooting Friday morning of another student on the school’s DeKalb campus.

Zach R. Isaacman, of Pingree Grove, was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm; aggravated battery; and unlawful use of

a weapon, NIU reported on its Web site. Pingree Grove is a town northwest of Elgin.

A 24-year-old student, who identified himself as Brian Mulder, was shot in the upper leg in the

incident and treated at Kishwaukee Community Hospital in DeKalb, the school said. The

gunshot wound is not believed to be life-threatening.

The incident happened about 3:30 a.m. Friday outside of the Stevenson North residence hall in DeKalb.

The two men were involved in an altercation that resulted in one shooting the other in the leg. Isaacman fled and was arrested by NIU police about five minutes later. The

gun used in the incident was recovered. Officials could not comment on a motive or type of gun used.

Isaacman lives in off-campus housing.

Mulder is listed in the university phonebook as both a resident of the Stevenson Hall dorm where the shooting occurred. Mulder also serves as president of the Stevenson North Hall Council, the NIU Web site said.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, a four-star general who served as a top adviser to three presidents and had presidential ambitions of his own, died Saturday of complications from an infection, his family said. He was 85.

Haig’s long and decorated military career launched the Washington career for which he is better known, including top posts in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations. He never lived down his televised response to the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

Hours after the shooting, then Secretary of State Haig went before the cameras intending, he said later, to reassure Americans that the White House was functioning.

“As of now, I am in control here in the White House, pending the return of the vice president,” Haig said.

Some saw the comment as an inappropriate power grab in the absence of Vice President George H.W. Bush, who was flying back to Washington from Texas.

Haig died at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he was surrounded by his family, according to two of his children, Alexander and Barbara. A hospital spokesman, Gary Stephenson, said Haig died at about 1:30 a.m.

In his book, “Caveat,” Haig later wrote that he had been “guilty of a poor choice of words and optimistic if I had imagined I would be forgiven the imprecision out of respect for the tragedy of the occasion.”

Haig ran unsuccessfully for president in 1988, when Bush won the Republican nomination.

“I think of him as a patriot’s patriot,” said George P. Shultz, who succeeded Haig as the country’s top diplomat in 1982.

“No matter how you sliced him it came out red, white and blue. He was always willing to serve.”

Born Dec. 2, 1924, in the Philadelphia suburb of Bala Cynwyd, Alexander Meigs Haig spent his boyhood days dreaming about a career in the military. With the help of an uncle who had congressional contacts, he secured an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1943.

After seeing combat in Korea and Vietnam, Haig an Army colonel at the time was tapped by Henry Kissinger to be his military adviser on the National Security Council under President Richard M. Nixon. Haig “soon became indispensable,” Kissinger later said of his protege.

Nixon promoted Haig in 1972 from a two-star general to a four-star rank, passing over 240 high-ranking officers with greater seniority.

The next year, as the Watergate scandal deepened, Nixon turned to Haig and appointed him to succeed H.R. Haldeman as White House chief of staff. He helped the president prepare his impeachment defense and as Nixon was preoccupied with Watergate, Haig handled many of the day-to-day decisions normally made by the chief executive.

On Nixon’s behalf, Haig also helped arrange the wiretaps of government officials and reporters, as the president tried to plug the sources of news leaks.

About a year after assuming his new post as Nixon’s right-hand man, Haig was said to have played a key role in persuading the president to resign. He also suggested to President Gerald Ford that he pardon his predecessor for any crimes committed while in office a pardon that is widely believed to have cost Ford the presidency in the 1976 against Democrat Jimmy Carter.

Years after serving as one of Nixon’s closest aides, Haig would be dogged by speculation that he was “Deep Throat” the shadowy source who helped Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein break the Watergate story. Haig denied it, repeatedly, and the FBI’s Mark Felt was eventually revealed as the secret source.

Following Nixon’s resignation, Haig stayed with the new Ford administration for about six weeks, but then returned to the military as commander in chief of U.S. forces in Europe and supreme allied commander of NATO forces a post he held for more than four years. He quit during the Carter administration over the handling of the Iran hostage crisis.

Haig briefly explored a presidential run in 1979, but decided he didn’t have enough support and instead took a job as president of United Technologies his first job in the private sector since high school.

When Ronald Reagan became the 40th president of the United States, Haig returned to public service as Reagan’s secretary of state, and declared himself the “vicar of American foreign policy.”

His 17-month tenure was marked by turf wars with other top administration officials including Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and national security adviser William Clark.

Two months into the new administration, Haig was portrayed as pounding a table in frustration when the chairmanship of a crisis management team went to Bush. Despite the clashes, Haig received high praise from professional diplomats for trying to achieve a stable relationship with the Soviet Union.

In his book, Haig said he had concluded during a 1982 trip to Europe with the president that the “effort to write my character out of the script was under way with a vengeance.” He resigned days later.

Describing himself as a “dark horse,” Haig sought the Republican presidential nomination for the 1988 elections. On the campaign trail, he told supporters about his desire to “keep the Reagan revolution alive,” but he also railed against the administration’s bulging federal deficit calling it an embarrassment to the Republican Party.

Haig dropped out of the race just days before the New Hampshire primary.

During his career in public service, Haig became known for some of his more colorful or long-winded language. When asked by a judge to explain an 18 1/2-minute gap in one of the Nixon White House tapes, Haig responded: “Perhaps some sinister force had come in.”

And later, when he criticized Reagan’s “fiscal flabbiness,” Haig asserted that the “ideological religiosity” of the administration’s economic policies were to blame for doubling the national debt to $2 trillion in 1987.

Haig is survived by his wife of 60 years, Patricia; his children Alexander, Brian and Barbara; eight grandchildren; and his brother, the Rev. Francis R. Haig.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

An Orland Park-based savings bank was among four banks seized Friday by federal regulators, boosting to 20 the number of U.S. bank failures this year.

George Washington Savings Bank had four branches and about $412.8 million in assets and $397 million in deposits, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.

FirstMerit Bank NA, of Akron, Ohio, agreed to take over deposits at George Washington Savings Bank. FirstMerit is also taking over essentially all the assets. For George Washington, the FDIC predicts the takeover will cost the insurance fund $141.4 million.

The loss-sharing agreement for George Washington covers $324.2 million in assets.

Regulators seized 140 banks in 2009 in the worst financial climate in decades.

The other banks closed Friday were La Jolla Bank, of La Jolla, Calif.; Marco Community Bank, on Marco Island, near Naples, Fla.; and La Coste National Bank, of La Coste, Texas.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

The Chicago area could get as much as 10 inches of snow this weekend, the National Weather Service reports.

The weather service has issued a winter storm watch for most of the area beginning Sunday evening and running through Monday evening. Cook, DuPage, Lake,

McHenry, and Kane counties are included in the watch.

The snow should develop across northern Illinois by Sunday

evening, the weather service says. South of Interstate 80 will

see a mix of rain and snow or just rain, but north of I-80,

could see snow accumulating to more than 6 inches by Monday

morning, with further accumulations throughout the day,

the weather service said. Snow should begin to

diminish from the west Monday evening, the weather service

said.

Snowfall totals will likely reach 6 inches within 12 hours

and continue to 10 inches or more through the day Monday,

the weather service said.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

Politico.com: “Ron Paul supporters came out in force on Friday, chanting their support for the Texas Republican congressman. Paul was the only speaker so far to fill the entire convention hall at the Conservative Political Action Conference, and some of his supporters were turned away after the room reached its capacity of 1,100 people.” Continue reading at Politico.com

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So the first episode of the PSN reality series, The Tester, finally hit the PlayStation Store on the last update. It’s nearly a gig large and it should take you awhile to finish downloading, especially if it’s

Filed under: Truck, Ford

While we wholeheartedly love the F-150 SVT Raptor, part of us wondered whether there’d be many takers for a $40,000 truck that was purpose-built for the sand dunes. Looks like we needn’t have worried, as it appears demand is very strong for the Raptor. In fact, Ford had its flacks issue a press release bragging about just how successful the Raptor’s been so far. The factory super-truck has reportedly found 5,300 takers to date, and F-150 marketing manager Mark Grueber says Raptor “is so popular that we actually wound up building more 5.4-liter V-8 models than we had originally anticipated.”

The reason Ford thought customers might be interested in waiting to pull the trigger on a Raptor is the spring availability of the Dearborn, MI-based automaker’s new 6.2-liter V8 engine. The new 6.2 promises 411 horsepower and 434 pound-feet of torque, or 91 more ponies than the soon-to-be-mothballed 5.4. Ford’s already taking orders for the 6.2-liter model, and we’re thinking they’ll only increase in number over the coming weeks and months.

After filling out 5,300 orders, Ford also has a better idea of which amenities customers want in their Raptors, and the content story is a good one for the automaker. Ford reports that customers are checking option boxes for the luxury package, reverse-sensing camera and moonroof at a rate of at least 79 percent. Ford’s expensive but fantastic touchscreen navigation with SIRIUS Travel Link[TM] is being chosen in 62 percent of Raptors sold. And while we loved the Raptor in Molten Orange, 52 percent of customers are opting for Tuxedo Black. Hit the jump pore over Ford’s bragfest press release.

[Source: Ford]

Continue reading Ford SVT Raptor outselling estimates, black most popular color

Ford SVT Raptor outselling estimates, black most popular color originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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