Cited: Time

William Bratton was given the idea by Maple, an employee, for the data-driven policing. When Bratton became police Commissioner under Mayor Giuliani in 1994 these ideas which citywide. This is where CompStat evolved from and became a real-time database of crime statistics and other intelligence for pinpointing trouble spots and targeting resources for the Police Department. Precinct captains and district commanders found themselves in the hot seat and results followed. The crime rate went way down. New York, known as the city of fear, became one of the safest major cities in America. And Commissioner Bratton was put on the cover of Time.

A new survey of retired New York City police supervisors, however, confirms what many skeptics have suspected for years. Pressure from the twice-weekly CompStat reviews inspired a certain amount of fudging (exactly how much is unknown). Police hunted for bargains on eBay so that they could adjust theft reports to reflect lower values of stolen goods, magically transforming major crimes into minor ones. A fight involving a weapon–aggravated assault–might become a mere fistfight by the time the police report was filed. Nevertheless, behind the gamesmanship was a genuine drop in crime. (Murder is down an astonishing 80% from its peak in New York City, and it’s very hard to fudge a murder.) Similar declines have been recorded in many other cities.

Versions of CompStat now shape police work in metropolitan areas from coast to coast. In the Maryland suburbs of Washington, for example, Prince George’s County chief Roberto Hylton sings the praises of “a technology that we call Active Crime Reporting, which provides information every 15 minutes, so I can see, even from a laptop away from work, the whole crime picture of the county. I can shift resources. It actually provides me with the trends, patterns that have occurred the previous week, previous day, maybe even the previous year.” Paired with a program to improve trust and communication between police and crime-plagued communities, the data-driven approach is working, Hylton says.

The New Economy of Crime

Criminologists will tell you, however, that the tale of CompStat is not the whole story. New York City’s crime rate actually began to drop a couple of years before Giuliani became mayor. And rates began falling in cities without CompStat at about the same time–though not as rapidly as in New York. For a while police were changing tactics, the criminals were shifting gears too.

The high-crime hell of the 1980s and early ’90s was a period of chaos in the illegal drug trade. Powder cocaine was generally measured and sold in multiple-dose amounts behind locked doors, but crack was relatively cheap and highly portable. Upstart young dealers saw an opening and shouldered their way into a business long dominated by established kingpins. Trading valuable drugs for ready cash in plain sight was a recipe for robbery and intimidation. Dealers armed themselves for protection, and soon every teenage squabble in crack territory carried a risk that bullets would fly.

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From that low point, the drug business has settled down in most cities. Distribution is better organized. Crack use has fallen by perhaps 20%, according to UCLA criminal-justice expert Mark Kleiman, as younger users have turned against a drug that had devastated their neighborhoods. Opiates and marijuana are illegal, just like cocaine, but they don’t turn users into paranoid, agitated, would-be supermen. “A heroin corner is a happy corner” where junkies quietly nod off, says David Simon, creator of the TV series The Wire, who used to cover cops for the Baltimore Sun.

Criminologist Conklin believes that two statistics in particular–median age and the unemployment rate–help explain the ebb and flow of crime. Violence is typically a young man’s vice; it has been said that the most effective crime-fighting tool is a 30th birthday. The arrival of teenage baby boomers in the 1960s coincided with a rise in crime, and rates have declined as America has grown older. The median age in 1990, near the peak of the crime wave, was 32, according to Conklin. A decade later, it was over 35. Today, it is 36-plus. (It is also true that today’s young men are less prone to crime. The juvenile crime rate in 2007, the most recent available was the lowest in at least a generation.)

“The effect of unemployment,” Conklin adds, “is problematic.” Indeed it is. Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute dissected this issue in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed. “As the economy started shedding jobs in 2008,” she wrote, “criminologists and pundits predicted that crime would shoot up, since poverty, as the ‘root causes’ theory holds, begets criminals. Instead, the opposite happened. Over 7 million lost jobs later, crime has plummeted to its lowest level since the early 1960s.” To Mac Donald, this is proof that data-driven police work and tougher sentencing are the answer to crime–not social-welfare programs. Conklin thinks it may be too soon to tell. “The unemployment rate began to spike less than a year ago. We may yet see the pressure show up in crime rates,” he says. It’s fair to say, though, that the belief in a simple cause-and-effect relationship between income and crime has worn pretty thin.

The danger of chronic joblessness is that jobs are a part of the social fabric. Ideally, they connect people to constructive projects and well-ordered institutions. They foster self-discipline and reward responsibility. Some optimists theorize that crime rates might continue to drop in coming years as police pit their strength against a dwindling army of criminals. In his recent book, When Brute Force Fails, UCLA’s Kleiman argues that new strategies for targeting repeat offenders–including reforms to make probation an effective sanction rather than a feckless joke–could cut crime and reduce prison populations simultaneously. Safer communities, in turn, might produce more hopeful and well-disciplined kids. It’s a sweet image to contemplate in this sour era, but a lack of jobs is a cloud over the picture.

A more realistic view might be the one dramatized in Simon’s HBO series, The Wire. In 60 episodes spread across five seasons from 2002 to 2008, the program humanized this tangled question of crime fighting with penetrating sophistication. CompStat-obsessed politicians fostered numbers-fudging in the ranks. Cool-headed drug lords struggled to tame their war-torn industry. Gangs battled for turf under the nodding gaze of needy junkies. Prisons warehoused the violent and nonviolent with little regard for who could be rehabilitated. It made for award-winning drama, but it also was a reminder that in every American city, neighborhoods remain where violence still reigns and it simply isn’t safe to walk around. And national crime statistics mean nothing to the millions of people who live there.

The crime problem hasn’t been solved in these places, in fact, the fight has barely begun. The nations violence nature has been cooled by many factors that have come together more must be added to those factors. They need more creativity pragmatism and heartfelt concern for victims of inner-city crime. The prospect is daunting, and the will to keep working at the persistent pockets of lawlessness will be sorely tested during this economic crisis. Some may think it is hopeless while others compare this time to 20 years ago just before things began to get better and say there is still a chance.

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My Take: I do not know if these guys know what they’re talking about. It seems a little strange that the crime rate would go down when unemployment goes up. On the other hand, it would be logical because there would be less for thieves to steal because people would not have the money to buy them. I do know that even unemployment seems to giving money to people who need a divorce lawyer.

Of course, that only benefits one spouse who gets a alimony lawyer. That means the other spouses stuck hunting for a job. Many people hunting for a job will do just about anything except break the law. I have seen businessmen who lowered their expectations enough to where they will put in exterior doors just to earn a little extra money. It is not that difficult to put in wooden doors, so anybody can do it. But the idea that somebody is willing to do anything for a little extra money is a good thing.

I am sure that Lehigh County PA criminal attorneys are not happy they don’t have that many customers when the crime rate goes down. But I am sure is that the youth of America will keep a Lehigh County PA juvenile law attorney in the black.

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Deciding on Representation

It’s a well-known fact that lawyers are not hired solely to help people when a person has been accused of a crime. Legal representatives such as a business attorney can be hired by a company of any size to ensure that the legal interests of that business are looked after. Sometimes known as a commercial lawyer, this type of legal professional assists when a business requires help with things like liability questions and potential lawsuits and also provides guidance on matters of compliance that may come up over the course of research, development, or sales.

Cited: MSNBC

Another clunker deal is in the works. The only difference is that instead of your car they want your finances as long as her more than five years old. So if you want some money, it might be time to go shopping.

I have a hard time getting rid of things. My parents taught me to use something until it wears out. I guess that’s why my wife and I have the same washer and dryer we bought when we moved into our house 25 years ago. They work just fine, so why buy new ones?

Let me answer my own question — because new models would be better for the environment and save us money in the long run. A new washer and dryer would use significantly less water and electricity.

The federal government hopes to give me and millions of other Americans the little nudge we need to go appliance shopping. It’s set aside $300 million in stimulus funds to offer rebates to those who buy energy efficient appliances.

This rebate program is designed to boost sales and convince shoppers to choose the greener, but often more expensive models. The savings will help shorten the payback period.

“There are costs associated with buying the new machine, but there are also costs associated with keeping your old machine,” notes Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman, deputy home editor at Consumer Reports. “Some of the costs to the environment are actually pretty big.”

For example, the average American family does about 400 loads of wash a year. That requires thousands of gallons of water. Lehrman says a new high-efficiency washer can cut that water usage in half. Plus, it spins out more water, so the electricity or gas needed to dry the clothing also drops dramatically.

With an appliance that is less than five years old, the incremental change in efficiency is probably not worth the cost of replacing it. But you’ll clearly come out ahead with an appliance that’s 15 years or older.

But what about the energy it took to make that washer, refrigerator of dishwasher? Doesn’t that have to be considered?

“If your appliance is between 10 and 15 years old, the benefit to the environment is positive, even with the energy it took to make the appliance in the first place,” Lehrman says.

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A state-by-state proposition

Last year’s “Cash for Clunkers” vehicle program was run by the federal government, so the rules were the same in every state. This appliance rebate program is being handled at the state level. Each state decides which appliances qualify, the size of the rebate and when the purchase must be made. Some states have already launched their rebate programs. Many others start in April.

For example, Connecticut offers a $50 rebate on qualifying refrigerators and $100 on washers. In Rhode Island the rebates on these same appliances are $150. Consumers in Nevada and New Mexico can claim $200 on a fridge.

“These state programs can be quirky and you really have to check the fine print” advises Tom Watson, a green projects manager for King County, Wash. “But this is a terrific opportunity to save some big bucks on energy-efficient appliances.”

The U.S. Department of Energy allocated the $300 million in stimulus funds based on each state’s population and specific rebate program. For instance Ohio receives $11 million while Alaska gets $658,000.

What happens to old appliance? In some states you can do what you want with it. You can recycle that old refrigerator, sell it, donate it to charity or move it into the basement or garage. Of course, if you keep it you wind up using more energy, not less.

That’s why many states pay more if the old appliance is recycled. Some states, including California, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Wisconsin, require proof of recycling with every rebate claim.

“We knew that if we didn’t require recycling we might not displace energy use but actually increase it,” says Sara Vandergrift with Focus on Energy, Wisconsin’s energy efficiency program.

The recycling rules are usually easy to meet. For instance, in Wisconsin many retailers will pick up the old unit, sign the rebate form and properly recycle the old appliance. Residents can also take the old machine to a municipal, utility or private recycling facility and get a receipt that proves they did it.

Some states don’t offer rebates on appliances

Indiana has restricted its 6 million program to HVAC systems: furnaces, boilers, heat pumps and air conditioners.

“We wanted to get the biggest bang for the buck in terms of energy savings,” says Eric Burch with the Indiana Office of Energy Development.

Oregon will use its $3.6 million in stimulus funds to get high-efficiency heating systems into the homes of low income residents. The goal is to retrofit approximately 1,800 homes in the state.

“A lot of these homeowners are in crisis,” says Shellí Honeywell with the Oregon Department of Energy. “They have no heat because their heating systems don’t work. We’re excited to be able to go in and replace these furnaces, to provide heat, energy-efficient heating, in these homes.”

Tip: Don’t wait too long

Whatever sort of rebate your state offers, a lot of people will want to cash in on it. They’ll apply for the money as soon as it’s available. Those who wait may miss out.

Indiana’s program started Feb. 1. During the first 10 days of the month, the state received hundreds of applications. In Wisconsin, the initial response has been so big (7,000 applications in the first 30 days) money that was supposed to last a year may run out in just nine months.

You can find detailed information about the rebate program and what your state is doing on the U.S. Department of Energy Web site (http://www.energysavers.gov/financial/70020.html).

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My Take: The only problem I can see with this is that people who cannot really a word to get rid of their old appliances are going to try to get the rebates especially in those states that do not rip wire from that the old appliance has been recycled. I am sure that they require proof of purchase, the people can get that just about anywhere. With the cars, all you had to do was junk a car and you would get proof and the DMV would have evidence. There were several junkyards that would buy junk cars during the “clunker” program.

Even if people have proof that an appliance has been recycled, how does the government plan on double-checking it? There is nothing similar to the DMV for appliances. I think this program is going to find it has a lot of problems and too many people will want to participate.

I know the environment is important to everybody. And reducing the amount of energy will help improve the environment. I think I am going to just sit back and Njoy my electronic cigarette. That is how I am helping the environment and my health. Njoy products are available online if you’re interested in trying to quit smoking and helping your health and environment.

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Modern Bankruptcy Law

Although modern bankruptcy law has seen some significant modifications over the past few decades, the changes aren’t something that would confuse a Rockland County New York bankruptcy lawyer as each major change to bankruptcy law has come about after extensive considerations at a federal and state level before changes to local bankruptcy proceedings have been made. For example, today’s bankruptcies will often focus on allowing a business to continue its services and rehabilitate its financial health instead of the complete elimination of the business through a dissolution of assets and an eradication of the entire business.

Car Loans and Vehicle Extras

When securing car loans for an automobile purchase, the decision process shouldn’t end when you’ve chosen your vehicle and secured financing. One of the best ways to improve your buying experience is to educate yourself on the options available for your new car and whether those options are something you can get rolled into the car’s price or if they will cost extra. Consider whether options such as tinted windows, deluxe wheel covers or an improved sound system are options you’d like to add to your vehicle purchase. Knowing ahead of time what options are available takes the guesswork and surprises out of purchasing.

Cited: MSNBC

According to many experts that were surveyed for a look at “The Future of the Internet”, in 2020 the Internet just might make us more literate in a different kind of way. Also, the consensus of the experts is that Google “will make people stupid” because people rely on the search engine so much. Of course, privacy will be a little bit more difficult to achieve than it is already on the Internet.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center asked nearly 895 technology “stakeholders and critics” about their expectations for the Internet 10 years from now. Among those queried: representatives from the Institute for the Future, Association of Internet Researchers, professors, Internet law and privacy experts, Internet pioneers and those in the business world.

One of the questions they were asked was whether Google, in some ways is a metaphor for the ease of information on the Internet, “will make people stupid” because of society’s over-reliance on the search engine and the Web for everything from addresses to easily copied school reports to “Googling” prospective suitors or employees.

The notion was addressed in a 2008 story for The Atlantic titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by author Nicholas Carr.

Carr wrote that “For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind. The advantages of having immediate access to such an incredibly rich store of information are many.”

But, he noted, his “mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.”

Making ‘better choices’

In the Pew study, 76% of the respondents said they agree that by 2020, “people’s use of the Internet has enhanced human intelligence; as people are allowed unprecedented access to more information, they become smarter and make better choices. Nicholas Carr was wrong: Google does not make us stupid.”

Another 21% disagreed, and said a decade from now, “people’s use of the Internet has not enhanced human intelligence and it could even be lowering the IQs of most people who use it a lot. Nicholas Carr was right: Google makes us stupid.”

Carr, also the author of the book, “The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google,” was among those surveyed for the report, and said he stands by what he wrote. “But I would add that the Net’s effect on our intellectual lives will not be measured simply by average IQ scores,” he said in the Pew report.

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“What the Net does is shift the emphasis of our intelligence, away from what might be called a meditative or contemplative intelligence and more toward what might be called a utilitarian intelligence. The price of zipping among lots of bits of information is a loss of depth in our thinking.”

Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, said just as in society at large, “a lot of the people in this expert group do feel some level of stress by the volume of the information that’s flowing into their lives, and the ways in which they skim over material as they are browsing.”

Yet, he said, “when they think 10 years from now, are we going to be collectively smarter or not, the answer is pretty overwhelmingly that they do think so, that perhaps individuals will lose their way, but that as a society, we’ll get smarter collectively.

“We measure intelligence in a certain way now, and maybe the whole nature of intelligence will be changing 10 years from now,” he said. “It won’t necessarily be how much you can retain, how much your hard drive can hold in your head, but it’ll be the way you can assess information, that you can think critically, that you can synthesize information.”

Sandra Kelly, 3M Corp.’s market research manager and a participant in the study, said she doesn’t think “an adult’s IQ can be influenced much either way by reading anything, and I would guess that smart people will use the Internet for smart things and stupid people will use it for stupid things in the same way that smart people read literature and stupid people read crap fiction.

“On the whole, having easy access to more information will make society as a group smarter though.”

Enhance reading, writing, knowledge?

When asked whether by 2020 it will be clear that the Internet enhances and improves, or diminishes and endangers reading, writing, and “the intelligent rendering of knowledge,” 65% said the Internet will foster such improvements; 32% disagreed, and 3% did not respond.

“I think that a marginally greater number of people will be engaged in creating media — visual as well as text — and as a result, the overall literacy will increase,” said Alex Halavais, vice president of the Association of Internet Researchers, said in the report.

Halavais, in an e-mail interview, said “I’m at the Digital Media and Learning conference this week, where no one would suggest the Internet and search engines are making kids less smart. It does create new issues of literacy, in the same way that the printing press created new capacities and standards of literacy.

“The media ecology is shifting, and what makes us literate is shifting with it. The most literate in the search society are not those who hold the most information in their head, but those who can find information and learn new things the quickest.”

Sharing more — and less

“Ten years from now, it’s likely people are going to be sharing more information, but there’ll probably be more levels of control over it,” said Anthony Townsend, a study participant and research director for the Palo Alto-based Institute for the Future, in an interview with msnbc.com.

“You can already see this happening”, he said. Young people are very sophisticated about what they make public and what they keep private, and how they create different tiers of friends. One of the things Facebook has done is completely rendered the word ‘friend’ meaningless, because there are now many different kinds of friends.

“You’re going to see, I think, technologies that let people say what kind of friend you are, or manage it that way without necessarily telling you that.”

David Clark, senior research scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, said in the report that 10 years from now, “we may lose our ability to write, in the literal sense that students are no longer taught penmanship. We will either type or print like 8-year-olds.

“But I think even e-mail stimulates the putting of ideas into writing. And while we may read only on electronic media, I think the book and the scholarly work will survive as important means both of transferring knowledge and of entertainment.”

‘Literary culture is in trouble’

But Patrick Tucker, senior editor of The Futurist magazine, said in the report that “Literary culture is in trouble … We are spending less time reading books, but the amount of pure information that we produce as a civilization continues to expand exponentially. That these trends are linked, that the rise of the latter is causing the decline of the former, is not impossible.

“One could draw reassurance from today’s vibrant Web culture if the general surfing public, which is becoming more at home in this new medium, displayed a growing propensity for literate, critical thought,” he said. “But take a careful look at the many blogs, post comments, Facebook pages, and online conversations that characterize today’s Web 2.0 environment,” he wrote.

“This type of content generation, this method of ‘writing’ is not only sub-literate; it may actually undermine the literary impulse …. Hours spent texting and e-mailing, according to this view, do not translate into improved writing or reading skills.”

Anonymity and privacy issues

The “Future of the Internet” report is the fourth since 2005 from Pew and Elon University. Some themes — such as “the right balance between anonymity and privacy on the one hand, and disclosure and sharing on the other hand” have been recurring ones over the years, said Rainie.

In the new report, 55% said they believe Internet users will still be able to communicate anonymously in 2020, while 41% said a decade from now that “anonymous online activity is sharply curtailed.” (And 3% did not respond to the question.)

“The environment in the social media world has changed some of the nature of that debate,” said Rainie. “But the basic sense that there is a struggle over what’s the balance point to strike on that absolutely continues.”

Stewart A. Baker, Internet legal specialist formerly with the Department of Homeland Security, said in the report that anonymity online “will gradually become a lot like anonymity in the real world. When we encounter it, we’ll take a firm grip on our wallet and leave the neighborhood as soon as possible — unless we’re doing something we’re ashamed of.”

In an interview, Baker said 10 years from now, just as today, there “may still be pockets of anonymity; it is after all the norm today, and anonymity is something that we all value for ourselves — just not for others.”

It “will evolve into a kind of caveat emptor space,” he said. “You’ll know you’re taking risks when you go there, but you’ll value the anonymity enough to live with the risks.”

Townsend, of the Institute for the Future, said “If you look at the last 15 years of the Web and the Internet, it’s been a pretty straight line of governments imposing their sovereignty on cyberspace.

“The whole notion of anonymity on the Internet is one of these vestigial principles or kind of obsolete assumptions about how the Internet actually works … It’s a pretty trivial exercise today for a government to identify the data or activities of any individual online relatively quickly, unless they take really extreme measures to protect themselves.”

Those extreme measures are usually those of hackers or lawbreakers, which governments are usually attempting to hunt down. The average John Doe citizen may be caught in this search even though he/she takes measures to protect their anonymity.

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My Take: I am not sure if I agree or disagree with this article. There are many things that do make sense and others that do not quite make sense. There are so many things on the Internet that are helpful to people who cannot get around that easily. For example, a person working full-time with a family that wants to get a better education. The Internet allows them to take Internet courses until they are able to actually go to a classroom. Or maybe they need to take safety courses because they received a traffic ticket.

The Internet allows that individual to participate, online, in a defensive driving program that would take the points off of their drivers’ license. Of course, if you keep with the same train of thought, a person would not be able to take a motorcycle driving course in NY online because they would need to physically have a motorcycle at a class. A person who was trying to get a bus driving job could not take a driving course online because they have to show how well they can drive. They would need to take bus driving lessons in NY to show that they can drive in New York traffic.

I think there’re too many pros and cons about the Internet affecting intellect to really make up my mind. I do realize that the Internet has made people lazy. Instead of going to the library, they now go to the Internet. Instead of walking down the street or jumping in their car and physically searching a library what they are looking for, they sit at their desk and type in what they are looking for. So I guess my one opinion of what the Internet does for people is that it makes them lazy.

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Cited: Variety/Publishers Weekly

Columbia Pictures is bringing back the Bronze Age by reviving Doc Savage. Doc Savage is a pulp fiction hero popular in the 1930s and 40s. In pulp novels, movies and comic books he was known as the Man of Bronze and hero to man.

Shane Black is attached to direct the film from a screenplay he is penning with Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry. Neal Moritz (”Fast and Furious”) will produce through his Sony-based Original Film banner.

One of the most popular characters in the pulps of the 1930s and ’40s, Doc Savage was also popularized on radio, film and TV. Trained since birth to be nearly superhuman in every way, Doc Savage uses his skills and powers to fight evil all over the world.

“Doc Savage is an icon, a character with limitless possibilities,” said Columbia co-president Matt Tolmach of the character, who is by turns a scientist, physician, adventurer, inventor, explorer and researcher. “We have had a great experience working with Neal to bring another classic character of the era, the Green Hornet, to a new generation of fans, and we think he and Shane make the ideal team to bring Doc Savage back to the bigscreen.”

Black, who was one of the highest-paid scribes of late ’80s and early ’90s when he penned such screenplays as “Lethal Weapon” and “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” segued to directing in recent years. He made his helming debut with the Robert Downey Jr. starrer “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (2005).

He’s also known for his vast collection of antique detective books and pulp fiction. He’s known for his vast collection of antique detective books and pulp fiction so he definitely has a love of the material. I’m hoping his passion for the source equates to a quality film.

Bagarozzi and Mondry’s credits include “Cold Warrior” and “Tick-Tock,” which is in development at Columbia.

On March 3rd, DC Comics kicks off a new fictional universe built on a combination of two sturdy adventure concepts: classic pulp icons including Doc Savage and the Avenger and hardboiled superheroes from Batman to the Spirit. Or as writer Brian Azzarello put it, “The number one draw is ‘Let’s do a superhero book with no super powers…can we do it?’ It takes the concept that superheroes grew out of normal people in fantastic situations. This was before there were rockets from Krypton or radioactive spiders or the stuff that gave characters superhuman abilities.”

The idea takes off in First Wave, a six-issue series meant to establish the new pulpy milieu for DC to spin other superhero monthlies out of. Joining Azzarello (best known for his multi award-winning crime series 100 Bullets) will be artist Rags Morales (of novelist Brad Meltzer’s Identity Crisis comic), and the task set in front of the creators involved telling an origin tale of sorts for a modern world still taken with pulp fixtures like towering zeppelins, glitzy speakeasies and Gatling guns. “We’ve taken the world and changed it a lot,” Azzarello explained. “There still is uncharted territory in this world. Not everything is mapped out by satellites. Not every corner of the globe has been explored. That sense of mystery and high adventure that was the stock and trade of these stories is something I’m trying to bring back with a modern sensibility along with a kind of film noir perspective to things too.

That cross of old school style and modern story sense means rethinking several characters well known to comic readers including DC’s Dark Knight and Will Eisner’s masked crime fighter the Spirit. “We are establishing certain parameters for this world to operate under,” says Azzarello. “There’s a certain take to the Spirit. There’s a certain take to Doc. There’s this ‘new’ old version of Batman. We’re establishing the way these characters behave and also the way the world behaves around them. It’s fun to take a character like Batman and say, ‘How would this character have gone if there was no Superman and all the other super powered characters he got tangled up with?’ I’ve never bought into the idea that Batman would be in the Justice League of America. We’re creating a world where none of these super characters exist. Doc is the top of the food chain. He’s the pinnacle of humanity.”

The writer admitted that making Doc Savage engaging for a new audience was part of both the draw and the challenge of the series. The so-called “Man of Bronze” introduced in 1933 through pulp powerhouse Street & Smith was licensed by DC from current owner Conde Nast. And while DC introduced their version last November in a one-shot comic featuring Batman, the character still remains lesser known by readers while loved by many comic creators Azzarello explains. “The reason he’s so much more important amongst the creative community than he is amongst readers is because the creative community has taken bits and pieces of that character and reinvented them into other characters that readers are much more familiar with now. He had a Fortress of Solitude. He was a rich kid. It was all those superhero tropes that we’re accustomed to now.”

Azzarello recalls his own connection with the character as reading some of the pulps and comics when he was younger. “You read four or five of them, and you realize ‘Whoa! These are about the same thing every time.’ [But] I’m not interested in retelling any of them. You’ve got to bring something new to the table for this stuff to work. The same goes for the Spirit or the Avenger.”

The rest of the DC “pulp universe” established in First Wave will feature characters pulled from DC’s own history including motorcycle riding vixen the Black Canary and airborne military men the Blackhawks. Azzarello described his own goal of putting Batman front and center saying “Batman was something I wanted. I’ve got to give readers somebody that they kind of know for this market. And it’s exciting to do that because you think you know him, but I don’t think you’re going to recognize him beyond the costume. Our Bruce Wayne is young and has got a real chip on his shoulder, but he’s also really cocky. It’s different from the brooding Batman we’re used to seeing. “

The line of pulp heroes will be expanded by DC with monthly adventures of The Spirit and Doc Savage in April, even before First Wave wraps up. Azzarello was surprised he had been called to head the entire project and plans to enjoy the adventure nonetheless.

“I’m not the monthly comic guy, and I never really have been. I have a vision and I know what’s going to happen in the First Wave series. I know where they’ll be at the end and that I’ll leave them for other people to pick up.”

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My Take: I am a Doc Savage fan! I am ecstatic that they are going to make a new Doc Savage movie. The last one they made was so campy it was ridiculous. Doc Savage is amazing. Not only is he a medical doctor, he is a surgeon as well. His knowledge is uncanny. He can really roll with the punches. He wears a vest that has so many tools that, like lockpicks and car opening tools.

If I were member correctly, he charges men how to pick locks among other things. He has fought some of the strangest enemies and they don’t have powers either. He uses technology to fight his crimes as well as his intellect.

One time when I was searching the Internet I found a memorial website that was dedicated to Doc Savage. I’m sure you’ve seen sites like it before but most of them are wedding is in an and, baby or even birthday websites. But this one of Doc Savage had images, fan stories and details of his adventures.

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Other Resources

Cited: Associated Press

The attorney for Amy Bishop, the Alabama college professor accused of killing three colleagues during a faculty meeting, may be insane because she cannot remember the shootings.

Roy W. Miller, the court-appointed attorney for Amy Bishop, told The Associated Press in an interview on February 18 that his client has severe mental problems that appear to be paranoid schizophrenia. Miller discussed the case hours after hundreds of mourners attended the first funeral and memorial services for Bishop’s slain co-workers.

Authorities said three more people were hurt when Bishop pulled out a handgun and started shooting during the routine meeting with colleagues on Feb. 12. Charged with capital murder and attempted murder, she is being held without bond.

Miller said Bishop’s failure to obtain tenure at the University of Alabama in Huntsville was likely a key to the shootings. Bishop, who has a doctorate from Harvard University and has taught at the University of Alabama in Huntsville since 2003, apparently was incensed that a lesser-known school rejected her for what amounted to a lifetime job.

“Obviously she was very distraught and concerned over that tenure,” Miller said. “It insulted her and slapped her in the face, and it’s probably tied in with the Harvard mentality. She brooded and brooded and brooded over it, and then, `bingo.’”

Bishop’s husband, James Anderson, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” he also thought the failed tenure battle was involved.

“Only someone who has been intricately involved with that fight understands what a tough, long, hard battle (it is) … That I would say is part of the problem, is a factor,” he said in an interview aired February 19.

Anderson said his wife had never taken any anger management courses, even though prosecutors asked for that when Bishop was charged with starting a fight over a booster seat at a restaurant in 2002. Anderson told ABC he didn’t think she needed the course. Bishop admitted to the assault in court, and the charges were dismissed six months later.

Miller said Bishop seems “very cogent” in jail, where he has spent more than three hours with her over two days, yet she also seems to realize she has a loose grip on reality.

“She gets at issue with people that she doesn’t need to and obsesses on it,” Miller said. “She won’t shake it off, and it’s really (things of) no great consequence.”

Bishop, who claims an IQ of 180, can’t explain the shootings, he said.

“She says she does not remember anything about it,” said Miller.

The chief prosecutor in Huntsville said he would not oppose a mental evaluation for Bishop, 45.

“In this case, as in all cases, if they want to start talking about a mental defense, then have at it. We’ll be ready when it comes to court,” said Madison County District Attorney Robert Broussard.

Miller said he expects prosecutors to seek the death penalty, but Broussard said his office hasn’t decided whether to seek Bishop’s execution or a sentence of life without parole if she is convicted.

“We’ll wait until we have every piece of evidence in front of us to decide on that,” said Broussard. He said investigators had yet to review evidence about Bishop’s troubled past, including her fatal shooting of her younger brother in 1986 in a case authorities in Massachusetts ruled accidental.

In Bishop’s only public comments since the slayings, the teacher said the shootings “didn’t happen. There’s no way.”

“What about the people who died?” a reporter asked as she was led to a police car hours after the killings.

“There’s no way. They’re still alive,” she responded.

The shooting decimated the biology department - of 14 members, six were killed or wounded, one is jailed, and the rest are dealing with the shock and loss of colleagues. Two of those shot were hospitalized in critical condition Thursday, while another who was shot in the chest has been released.

Mourners hugged and cried Thursday at a memorial service for biology department chairman Gopi K. Podila. A long line of mourners moved slowly from the funeral home lobby, down a hallway and before an open casket in the sanctuary.

He was remembered as a father figure who cared deeply about his students, the kind of professor who kept his office door open in case they needed to talk about personal problems. Former student Joy Agee recalled that he helped her overcome her anxiety about a speech to a community group by showing up in the audience.

“He told me if I got nervous during the speech to just look at him and just talk to him,” she said.

Podila had supported Bishop’s tenure application.

After the service for Podila, more than 100 people attended a service held by the Council on African-American Faculty for slain biology professors Adriel Johnson and Maria Ragland Davis.

Johnson had organized the council at UAH in 2004, while Davis helped promote it in recent years. The two were among seven black faculty members at the school at the time, a number that had grown to 14 prior to their deaths. Overall, the school has 340 full-time faculty members.

“We have not only lost two founding members of our group but we have also lost two of our biggest advocates,” said Sonja Brown-Givens, the council’s current president.

On February 26, a spokesman, Ray Garner, for the University of Alabama in Huntsville confirmed that the school was in the process of terminating any Bishop’s employment. Garner also stated that Bishop was retroactively suspended without pay since the shootings on February 12.

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My Take: This is one of those strange cases. Am I the only one that thinks it’s strange that she “accidentally” shot her brother and killed him? Everything I have read is confusing about that one incident. Yet she was not arrested or convicted of a crime. Now she claims she doesn’t remember the shooting at the University and her lawyer thinks she’s insane. Maybe she should hire a criminal attorney instead of having a court-appointed one.

I would love to be the LA California court reporting service that takes her deposition. That would be very interesting to hear. Although, LA Court reporters are restrained or restricted from talking about what they hear. Still, it would be interesting to hear.

What I think is curious is that the only motive that they have come up with is her tenure? I know tenure means that you can’t just be fired, but if she was a good teacher she should be able to get a job anywhere, unless she actually has some kind of mental disorder. One thing is for sure, she wouldn’t have need of an juvenile defense law firm.

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Criminal Law and Driving

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Experience Does Count

A Monmouth County NJ criminal attorney who has been part of the landscape in the criminal justice system for years knows when to fight and how to fight. They also know when not to fight, and when to “back off” a bit and negotiate. That is a knowledge and skill borne only from experience. If you have been charged with a crime or offense, or have been contacted by authorities, you need an experienced, seasoned Monmouth County NJ Municipal Court lawyer at your side, because the beginning of the case is critical. Do not make a mistake at the point that could cost you for years.

Cited: Reuters

Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid got help in his campaign on February 19 from Pres. Barack Obama who unveiled a $1.5 billion housing aid program that will support homeowners in the hardest hit states in the housing crisis, Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada

Housing was at the center of the financial crisis that threw the economy into deep recession in late 2007. While signs of stabilization are appearing, home foreclosures are still rising in much of the country.

Obama said he is designating $1.5 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to fund programs at local housing finance agencies in California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan, which have seen home prices decline more than 20 percent from their peaks.

“This fund’s going to help out-of-work homeowners avoid preventable foreclosures,” Obama told a town hall-style meeting at a school near Las Vegas.

“It will help homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth find a way to pay their mortgages that works for both the borrowers and the lenders alike.”

Nevada is still struggling from the home market crash, and Obama’s choice to make the announcement there was no accident.

The president is trying to boost Reid, a Nevada Democrat who trails potential Republican opponents by double digits in opinion polls ahead of November elections that could change the balance of power in Congress.

For those in Kentucky who are having mortgage problems . . . Before you lose your mortgage, you need to consider what options are available to you. There is Indianapolis IN refinancing that not only will get you ahead of your mortgage, but it might also lower your mortgage payment. You might also consider Louisville KY home loans as a second mortgage that would allow you to pay off your first mortgage and avoid foreclosure.

Reid has helped push Obama’s agenda to boost the economy, overhaul the U.S. healthcare system and fight climate change, but Republican critics say he has neglected his home state while working on the national stage.

Housing woes

After a prolonged boom that began in the late 1990s during which banks loosened lending standards and took on excessive risk, the sector suddenly lost steam and prices deflated abruptly after 2006.

While falling values have left many mortgage-holders with homes worth less than the loans on them, soaring unemployment has led to even more mortgage defaults.

There has been some recent positive news, notably a report this week showing that construction starts on new homes hit a six-month high in January. Over the past 12 months through January, housing starts were up 21 percent, a sign that underlying demand was beginning to firm again. A senior Obama administration official said the administration knew many people were still hurting.

“We are extremely cognizant of just how difficult the housing situation remains,” the official told reporters.

“But (we are) very relieved that we are in a dramatically different place today where we have very significant stabilization in prices across most of the country.”

The $1.5 billion would be distributed to state agencies based on which states were suffering the most. Money could go to programs to help unemployed homeowners, for example, or borrowers who owe more on their houses than they are worth.

The Treasury Department’s recent $23 billion program was topped with the housing aid for 50 state housing finance agencies according to an official.

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My Take: The way Obama announced this new housing aid program was purely sneaky. He did it to give the senator a boost in the eyes of his constituents. I am sure that the senator’s campaign donators do not have to worry about housing with their Casa Del Sol homes. And the senator definitely does not worry about his housing.

People who can afford Andalucia homes are rarely behind on their mortgages anyway. Those are the homes of the rich. The rich are the ones sell their Palisades real estate property before they lose their elegant homes. In fact, there are many people who own Grandview real estate to write on that line, but still haven’t lost it.

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Other Resources

Cleaning Safety

Since most types of cleaners contain a variety of chemicals to ensure they get the job done, it’s important to consider some safety rules when using chemicals and when relying on the help of Ft Lauderdale janitorial services. Choosing products that are non-toxic is a great first step as many companies make cleaning substances today that are made of very natural substances. In addition, a deep cleaning session is also a great time to check things like smoke detectors to ensure their batteries are operational. Some smoke detectors even require cleaning themselves and doing so during a home cleaning saves time.

Cited: Associated Press

There was a sharp decline of people falling behind on their mortgages in December of last year, which is a sign that may indicate the foreclosure crisis is beginning to end. This is a very interesting occurrence because if there are going to be any delinquencies it usually happens at the end of the year.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said February 19 that the percentage of borrowers who missed just one payment on their home loans fell to 3.6% in the October to December quarter, down from 3.8% in the third quarter. The decline was even more surprising because delinquencies usually rise at that time of year due to higher heating bills and holiday spending.

The new trend in late payments is significant because it means the number of people going into foreclosure will continue to decline this year. And that is important for all homeowners in areas where cheaply priced foreclosures are bringing down neighboring values.

In high-foreclosure cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami, for example, homes have lost roughly half their values from their peaks. But Friday’s report showed Nevada, Arizona and Florida had some of the biggest declines in new delinquencies.

Jay Brinkmann, the trade group’s chief economist, said the report likely marks “the beginning of the end” of the wave of mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures that started more than three years ago.

Still, more than 15% of homeowners with a mortgage have missed at least one payment or are in foreclosure, a record for the 10th straight quarter.

“The bad news is that we still have a big problem,” Brinkmann said. “The good news is it looks like it may not get much bigger.”

There will be, however, more short-term pain. Nearly half of all delinquent borrowers were at least three months behind on their payments, up from a typical level of under 20%.

Banks have prolonged the foreclosure process, traditionally between four and six months, as they evaluate borrowers for help under the Obama administration’s $75 billion mortgage relief effort. It lowers borrowers payments to as low as 2% for five years and extends loan terms to as long as 40 years.

But experts warn that hundreds of thousands of borrowers won’t be eligible or won’t complete the process. So far, only 116,300 borrowers out of about 1 million who enrolled have had the terms of their mortgages changed permanently.

The five hardest hit cities will be receiving $1.5 billion to help housing agencies spur local solutions. Those five states are Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada.

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My Take: As someone who is trying to buy a house, this may be bad news. It would mean that the housing prices might be going back up and then I wouldn’t be able to afford my first house. As it is, the neighborhoods that houses are available in might require me to get Sacramento CA unarmed security guard.

What does it say about a neighborhood when those who live in it have to get California security guard patrol services to protect themselves and their property? It says a lot! Then again, if enough of the right people purchase houses, then the bad element will move out. At least that’s the way it should work.

There are a few homes for sale in better neighborhoods that I might be able to afford if prices don’t go up. Those are the homes that get Maryland house cleaning services on a weekly or monthly basis. You know the type of home I mean, really nice places. You would not Rockville house cleaning to take care of their dirty house.

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Wood Furniture

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VA Roof Repair and Black Mold

There are a few places in the home where roof leaks and moisture are more likely to lead to black mold. Since black mold tends to grow in moist and dark places, bathroom showers and cabinets under the sink are two very common places to find it. Roof leaks can also allow black mold to develop on the ceilings and even along the walls in some cases. If you don’t get Virginia roofing repairs as soon as the leak develops, the mold may be able to take hold and it will quickly spread as soon as it has become established.

Cited: Associated Press

On February 19, Tiger Woods publicly apologized for his behavior and admits that he was “foolish”. He also admitted that he was in therapy without revealing any new details about his infidelity and told the world he’s not sure when he will play golf again.

Speaking before a small group at the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse and a massive television audience, one of the world’s most-recognized athletes repeatedly told his family, sponsors and fans — in essence, everyone connected with him — that he was sorry for behavior.

“I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did was not acceptable,” said Woods, looking composed and speaking in a steady voice. His wife, Elin, was not with him. As for coming back to the PGA Tour, Woods said: “I do plan to return to golf one day. I just don’t know when that day will be. I don’t rule out it will be this year.”

Like Woods’ career itself, the event demanded attention. The golfer talked for 13½ minutes at the clubhouse, home of the PGA Tour. About 40 people were in the room, including his mother in the front row. All sat quietly as Woods, a billion-dollar brand, spoke from behind a podium backed by a blue curtain. When he finished, Woods hugged his mother and she whispered in his ear.

“I said ’I’m so proud of you. Never think you stand alone. Mom will always be there for you and I love you,”’ Kultida Woods said.

Admitting he felt he “deserved to enjoy the temptations” that came with his fabulous success, Woods said he is solely responsible for his actions. “I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior,” Woods said.

Woods said he was in treatment for 45 days and will return for more therapy, adding he has more work to do to resolve his personal problems.

Woods had not talked in public since his drove his SUV into a tree outside his home in Florida on Nov. 27 that triggered shocking revelations about Woods’ serial infidelity.

As for his marriage, he said: “Every one of these questions and answers is a matter between Elin and me, issues between a husband and wife.”

In Sweden, Elin’s father, Thomas Nordegren, said he saw Woods’ confession.

“I watched it but I have nothing to say right now,” Nordegren told The Associated Press. Elin’s mother, Barbro Holmberg, declined to comment on Woods’ apology, through her spokeswoman Eva Malmborg.

Friday’s event was tightly controlled, with only a few journalists allowed to watch Woods live. The televised confession became a major television event with the networks breaking in to show it.

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos called the speech “one of the most remarkable public apologies ever by a public figure.” Certainly, no other PGA Tour player could command this kind of attention.

But Woods has always been special on the course and in popular culture. Television ratings double when he is in contention, which has happened a lot on his way to winning 71 times on the PGA Tour and 14 majors, four short of the record held by Jack Nicklaus.

No other athlete had such a spectacular fall. Accenture and AT&T have ended their endorsement contracts with him, and Woods has become the butt of jokes on everything from late shows to Disney performances.

“I think that since Day 1, people that know him and people that don’t know him, what I’ve heard from most people is mainly, I mean there’s some anger in some corners, but mainly it is a sense of sadness,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. “He’s an American hero. And he’s had his issues.”

“At the end of the day, he’s a human being. We all make mistakes,” he said. “My personal reaction was that his comments were heartfelt. He clearly recognizes that there has been serious impact to a wide range of individuals and organizations.”

Woods’ statement came during the Match Play Championship, sponsored by Accenture, angering some players including Ernie Els.

Former champion Nick Faldo, whose own personal life has been subject to media scrutiny over the years, watched Woods and told the Golf Channel: “It has left a big question mark: When is he going to return? We have had the apology but as golfers we are back at square one.”

The companies that have stuck most closely by Woods, Nike Inc. and Electronic Arts Inc., reiterated their support.

“Tiger has apologized and made his position clear. Nike fully supports him and his family. We look forward to him returning to golf,” the company said in a statement.

EA Sports president Peter Moore said: “It was good to see Tiger address the public today, and we’re supportive of his focus toward family and rebuilding his life.”

“I really feel I deserve to look at him in person face-to-face in the eyes because I did not deserve this,” she said.

Woods’ appearance drew reaction from all corners. One of Woods’s alleged mistresses who happen to be a former pornographic star, Veronica Siwik-Daniels, said in a Los Angeles radio studio and watched Tiger did his apology. She states that she wants an apology because the scandal has brought unwanted attention to her.

Update: Tiger is returning to the golf course at the Masters tournament next month! Ticket prices have already gone up! The question is, will he play his usual great game?

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My Take: I get so tired of fans glorifying and putting on a pedestal sports figures as well as movie stars and then become disgusted when they realize that they are only human. These fans spend thousands of dollars on sports tickets to see Tiger Woods play golf and when he slips off his pedestal, a raking over coals.

The same thing happened with the movie star a while back. A videotape came out of him in a motel room with a woman and they were apparently having sex. Theaters that were showing movies that had the star lost money because of it. Even people who download movie of the star stopped downloading.

You can get many free movie downloads that followed the downfall of many a politician, sports figure and movie star. That is because so many people hunger to hear about somebody else’s problems because they think it will make their problems less important.

I am one of a few who believe that no matter how famous a person is they are entitled to their privacy. That includes Tiger Woods. What happens behind closed doors is none of anybody else’s business! Even if those people behind those closed doors are famous!

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Getting a DVD Copy

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Cited: Associated Press/Reuters

The FBI has declared 2001 anthrax mailings case closed as it has decided that the government researcher acted alone. The long-running investigation has been closed according to a person familiar with the case on February 19. The person informed of the decision to close the case was not authorized to speak about it before an official announcement expected later on February 19 and therefore spoke on condition of anonymity.

The anthrax letters were sent to lawmakers and news organizations as the nation reeled in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The anthrax case was one of the most vexing and costly investigations in U.S. history until officials announced in 2008 that the lone suspect was Dr. Bruce Ivins, who killed himself as authorities prepared to indict him. The move February 19 seals that preliminary investigative conclusion.

Investigators had been on the verge of closing the case last year but government lawyers decided to conduct a further review of what evidence could be shared with the public, according to several people familiar with the case.

Officials were hesitant about releasing some information because of concerns about violating privacy rights and grand jury secrecy, said those familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations.

Laced with anthrax, the letters were sent with childish, blocky handwriting and chilling scientific expertise. The spores killed five people: Two postal workers in Washington, D.C., a New York City hospital worker, a Florida photo editor and a 94-year-old Connecticut woman who had no known contact with any of the poisoned letters. Seventeen other people were sickened.

For years, the FBI chased leads.

Authorities tried to build a case against bio-warfare expert Steven Hatfill, but ultimately had to pay him a multimillion-dollar settlement. In 2008, they announced that the mystery had been solved, but the suspect was dead.

Authorities said that in the days before the mailings, Ivins had logged unusual hours alone in his lab at the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md. They also say he threw investigators off his trail by supplying false leads as he ostensibly tried to help them find the killer.

However, according to Justice Department documents that were released February 19, over 1,000 possible suspects were investigated by the FBI until they concluded that the U.S. Army scientist alone committed the crime.

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Officially closing its investigation, the department said various steps taken in the past year only confirmed its earlier conclusion that the scientist, Dr. Bruce Ivins, who committed suicide in 2008, had mailed the anthrax-laced letters. Ivins, the 62-year-old microbiologist took a fatal overdose of Tylenol, dying on July 29, 2008. After Ivins’ suicide, FBI Director Robert Mueller said the investigation found Ivins was the culprit, and prosecutors said they were confident he acted alone.

In seven years after the attack, an “Amerithrax task force” of investigators spent more than 600,000 work hours, conducted some 10,000 witness interviews on six continents, and recovered about 6,000 items of potential evidence.

The documents for the first time detailed the scope of the work by the FBI and other investigators in scrutinizing more than 1,000 individuals, located both in the United States and overseas, as possible suspects. They included physicians, scientists, researchers, a disgruntled foreign scientist, a microbiologist who committed suicide after the attacks and a microbiology student with alleged ties to al Qaeda’s anthrax program.

But all of those suspects, as well as another U.S. Army scientist, Steven Hatfill, who had been an early focus of the investigation, were eventually ruled out and the attention shifted to Ivins.

SEVEN-YEAR INVESTIGATION

By 2007, investigators conclusively determined that a single-spore batch of anthrax created and maintained by Ivins at his laboratory in Maryland was the parent material for the spores in the letters.

“The evidence gathered in this seven-year investigation establishes that Dr. Bruce Ivins was the anthrax mailer,” according to the documents, citing direct evidence about the anthrax spores and what it called “compelling circumstantial evidence.”

Ivins committed suicide on July 29, 2008, just as prosecutors prepared to charge him with murder for committing the attacks. His attorney has maintained he was innocent. Some of the evidence involved his suspicious behavior.

“Dr. Ivins was alone in his lab for long stretches of time in the evenings and on the weekends leading up to the anthrax mailing events. This picture is in stark contrast to his behavior before and after the mailings,” the department said.

It said the suicide “was the result of his final downward slide” into depression and other mental health problems.

“Dr. Ivins profound mental health struggles provide both a context for his motives to commit the crime and an explanation for how he could commit such a horrific and tragic offense,” the department said in a 92-page summary.

In the months after his suicide, investigators continued to review thousands of e-mails going back 10 years and examined additional evidence. Investigators also obtained court orders allowing access to his mental health records and interviewed mental health providers who had treated Ivins.

Skeptics — including prominent lawmakers — pointed to the bureau’s long, misguided pursuit of Hatfill, and noted there was no evidence suggesting Ivins was ever in New Jersey when the letters were mailed there.

At the urging of lawmakers, the National Academy of Sciences has launched a formal review of the FBI’s scientific methods in tracing the particular strain of anthrax used in the mailings to samples Ivins had at his Fort Detrick lab.

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My Take: After reading the article, I think I am one of the skeptics. If all reports indicate that this particular doctor was not even in the cities of the envelopes were mailed from, who mailed them? That seems to be good evidence that there was someone else involved. That is like saying the undying needs hair restoration when he has a full head of hair. I can just see the hair transplant going in the room to perform the restoration and finding a guy with a full head of hair instead.

It just seems a little stupid to me. Now you might see a Dothan Alabama face lift done when it really doesn’t need to be done, but that is the person wanting it. Even a Tallahassee FL plastic surgeon will not argue with an insistent patient as is evident with many Hollywood stars. This makes me wondering why the FBI would not pay attention to the fact that the letters were mailed from one city and their main suspect was in another.

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Related Resources

Cited: Time

Continued from “A Chef at McDonald’s? Part 1“

Coudreaut was experimenting with some very non-McDonald’s ingredients on the day of my visit. He was working with celery root, broccoli rabe, wild salmon, hazelnuts and candied orange rind. There was a huge pot of veal stock simmering on a back burner of the Wolf. He seemed to want to prove his culinary skills, and he did — he made a delicious lunch — but what does any of this have to do with creating food at a real McDonald’s?

The answer is that every great manufacturing company runs a crazy R&D department, a place where mad scientists get to fiddle with toys and produce one or two breakthroughs a year. Coudreaut and his staff of 16 consider approximately 1,800 ideas for new menu items each year, but only a couple — or in an atypical year, as many as five — make it onto the menu. Few stay permanently.

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Coudreaut and his team spend most of their time playing with ingredients far more practical than broccoli rabe and celery root. Most days, they work with chicken and apples and beef. Facing the kitchen through a glass wall is a large sign reading IT’S NOT REAL UNTIL IT’S REAL IN THE RESTAURANTS.

That’s a highly corporate way to think about food — celery root is certainly real, so real that it’s covered in dirt when you buy it at the supermarket — but McDonald’s is, after all, a corporation. Coudreaut may be a chef, but his employer is no restaurant. McDonald’s Corp. is largely a holding company, a middleman that works between restaurant owners and food suppliers. It provides franchisees with inexpensive, processed ingredients and — this is where Coudreaut’s team and other development people come in — a guarantee that new menu items have been tested and tweaked and retested so they can come out looking and tasting roughly the same in every McDonald’s in every part of America. (Teams led by other chefs work on other continents; that’s why McDonald’s has used rice patties as burger buns in Hong Kong and Taiwan and now offers a whole-shrimp sandwich on a steamed bun in Japan.)

And anyway, there is literally not enough celery root grown in the world for it to survive on the menu at McDonald’s — although the company could change that, since its menu decisions quickly become global agricultural concerns. Not long after he arrived at McDonald’s in 2004, Coudreaut added to the menu an Asian salad that included edamame. The Soyfoods Council, a trade group, immediately got calls from consumers across the nation looking to buy edamame at their grocery stores. “Now you can find it in supermarkets all over,” says the council’s executive director, Linda Funk, who has even seen the immature soybean pods sold near her small hometown of Janesville, Wis.

Nothing gets on the menu at McDonald’s without the approval of hundreds of people: marketers, franchise representatives, engineers who specialize in food hold times, operations managers who know precisely how far refrigerated trucks can drive before food rots and money people who have read reams of market research that has relentlessly focus-grouped every ingredient combination that could be part of a Snack Wrap.

The franchisees are a particularly important constituency, since they pay for the equipment to produce any new menu item. They often have ideas for Coudreaut’s team to appraise — the Angus burgers were co-developed with a group of California franchisees — and they often push back against odd-sounding creations like one of Coudreaut’s failures, a breakfast Snack Wrap made with a crepe that held vanilla cream cheese and fruit. (”Why it didn’t work is because we served it cold,” Coudreaut says. “We serve hot food. Even our salads, we serve warm chicken on top.”) The testing process is painstaking: it took two years for the Angus Third Pounders, the company’s first new burger in eight years, to get on the menu.

When I visited his kitchen, Coudreaut made an exquisite endive and poached-pear salad with dried cherries and mustard-seed dressing. Say he wanted to put that salad on the menu. Among his first steps would be to go to the produce experts at McDonald’s and ask about endive. He imagined the answer he would get: “Well, Dan, you’re gonna have to get somebody to grow it. And that’s not hard to do, but it’s gonna take three years.” (See 10 myths about dieting.)

So then Coudreaut might consider mixing the endive with more commercially available lettuces, a step that would reduce the lead time. What about the mustard-seed dressing? You could do that even faster, plus it’s a “great flavor combination with the cherries,” he said. Except there’s a problem with cherries: you can never guarantee that all the pits are out. Imagine the lawsuit from the guy who breaks a tooth on a pit. So you end up with only the pears. They are widely available and have a great shelf life. Coudreaut poached the pears he served to me in gewürztraminer. McDonald’s could never do that for its outlets, but what if you softened pear slices in a poaching liquid other than wine — a step that would both enhance flavor and extend hold time? “Why couldn’t we do a signature poached pear?” Coudreaut asked, getting very excited.

At just this point in our conversation, the McDonald’s p.r. executive who was with us — an elegant British woman named Danya Proud — coughed rather loudly. Coudreaut trailed off. R&D is secret at every company. (See nine kid foods to avoid.)

Building a Better Big Mac

Of course, this is still McDonald’s, which means Coudreaut’s food must eventually be so simple that a high school dropout can make it. And so, culinarily speaking, McDonald’s moves in baby steps. Before Coudreaut, the company had never asked its cooks to brush a glaze onto a chicken breast before setting it on a salad. Now glazing the chicken is standard, which is one reason the salads taste so much better.

Coudreaut’s quest to improve on time-honored formulas is what led him to the Mac Wrap, a product that will be a good experiment in whether the eating habits of McDonald’s customers can be nudged in new directions. Coudreaut’s immediate boss, vice president of menu management Wade Thoma, had to push hard inside the Oak Brook headquarters to sell the idea that the Mac Wrap is, in Coudreaut’s words, “how people are eating today — on the go, in smaller portion sizes.” Smaller doesn’t necessarily mean healthier, though. McDonald’s is acutely aware of the criticisms about the food it has sold for the past half-century, but in the end, it also knows that very few McDonald’s customers have read Fast Food Nation, a scathing indictment of the industry, or seen the 2003 documentary Super Size Me, in which a filmmaker ate only McDonald’s for a month and — shockingly — got fat. Instead, McDonald’s has learned to focus on balance: you add a healthy Southwest Salad, and then you add a rich Angus burger. Also, you don’t mess with the fries. Coudreaut could never mess with the fries.

Still, it’s nice to know McDonald’s employs a dreamer. In addition to that endive salad, Coudreaut sautéed a very simple wild-salmon fillet for me — just salmon seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked in olive oil. Four ingredients. I asked why four ingredients couldn’t work at McDonald’s. Coudreaut thought for a moment and gave a half nod, half shrug. “Maybe five years from now,” he said.

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My Take: Now we know why McDonald’s has a chef! With so many meal ideas, they need to paid someone to figure them out. Then again, the same thing goes for advertising, they pay someone to do it. That’s why you see a lot of McDonald’s promotional T-shirts being sold all over the world. Of course, any business needs to have some kind of promotional golf shirts to build their brand.

There is something about McDonald’s that makes people remember the simpler times in life. Going to McDonald’s helps people remember when things were not so tight moneywise. They can dream about decorating their son’s bedroom with the aviation gifts he wants or dream about a new car. Maybe you and your spouse want to put in ceiling fans that look like wood propellers to give your family room and antique take look.

No matter what, visit the McDonald’s can not only be fun and enjoyable, but telling as well. Now it seems that they are trying to make their menu and even healthier, which will bring in even more people.

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