LUIS HORNSTEIN, UNE INTRODUCTION À SON OEUVRE

Analyste non conventionnel, libre penseur, Luis Hornstein n'h�site pas � contester les institutions psychanalytiques dans ce qu'elles ont de plus ali�nant et de plus mortif�re. La pens�e psychanalytique elle-m�me n'�chappe pas � sa remise en question. C'est un grand lecteur de la pens�e fran�aise qu'il commente et int�gre dans sa pratique clinique. Son oeuvre se d�veloppe selon deux axes : un axe �pist�mologique et un autre th�orico-clinique. Elle est surtout centr�e sur l'�tude des pathologies narcissiques et des �tats limites. Il a �labor� des mod�les cliniques avec leur m�tapsychologie respective.

Unconventional analyst, free-thinker, Luis Hornstein does not hesitate to …

South Korea ready to discuss North Korea food aid as communist country faces supply crisis

South Korea's foreign minister said Thursday his government is willing to talk with North Korea about food aid to the communist country.

Relations between the two Koreas worsened after South Korea's new conservative government was inaugurated in February with a pledge to take a tougher line on the North, which subsequently said it would stop asking for help from the South, previously a key donor.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told reporters Thursday that his country "intends to hold direct talks with North Korea if there is such an opportunity," according to his ministry. Yu did not elaborate.

However, ministry spokesman …

POSSIBLE OPPONENTS

POSSIBLE OPPONENTS

People who have declared or have taken out filing papers to runfor governor in the Oct. 7 California recall election of Gov. GrayDavis include:

DEMOCRATS

Audie Bock, former state assemblywoman

Larry Flynt, publisher, Hustler magazine

March Fong Eu, former state secretary of state

GREEN PARTY

Peter …

Greenhouse: The 200-Year Story of Global Warming

Greenhouse: The 200-Year Story of Global Warming. Gale E. Christianson. 1999. 305 pp. $25.00. Hardbound. Walker Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8027-1346-7.

For years now we have been reading about the seemingly endless debate concerning the issue of global warming and its attribution to humankind. Hardly a week goes by without some extreme weather event being portrayed in the media as an example of what we have to look forward to in a world warmed by anthropogenic greenhouse gases. These inevitably generate a deluge of letters to the editor or opinion editorial pieces pointing out that it is hubris to believe that humankind can affect the earth's climate and that higher levels of …

CBS thrives in 4Q on higher ad, licensing revenue

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — CBS Corp.'s earnings growth accelerated during the fourth-quarter as advertisers spent more broadcasting their commercials during last year's U.S. political campaigns and holiday shopping season.

The results released Wednesday provided the latest sign that advertisers are increasing their television and radio marketing budgets as they feel more confident about the U.S. economy's recovery from the Great Recession. Advertising also has been rising in most other media but newspapers.

CBS, based in New York, serves as a barometer of advertising sentiment because it runs the top-rated television network and owns 28 local TV stations and 130 radio …

Disputed Joojoo tablet to ship at end of February

The Joojoo, a Web-browsing tablet device that is the subject of a high-profile Silicon Valley legal dispute, appears on track to reach early buyers at the end of February.

The flat touch-screen computer was known until December as the CrunchPad, after the technology blog TechCrunch. It was born from a post by the blog's well-connected and outspoken founder, Michael Arrington, that called for collaborators on a "dead simple and dirt cheap touch screen Web tablet."

Singapore-based Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan stepped up. His software startup, Fusion Garage, worked with Arrington and his team until November. At that point the project imploded, with …

Jenny McCarthy gets role in horror spoof

Since screaming is what South Side native Jenny McCarthy does best(OK, maybe squealing is a better word) - it seems only fitting thatthe former MTV and sitcom star has been tapped for the horror spoof"Scream If You Know What I Did Last Halloween."

Joining the Mother McAuley High School grad in the ensemble castare Shawn and Marlon Wayans, Cheri Oteri, Jon Abrahams and LachlanMonroe. Director Keenen Ivory Wayans begins shooting the film nextweek and obviously plans a quick turnaround: The picture is nowslated to be released Oct. 15.

McCarthy first found fame as a Playmate of the Year - leading to agig on MTV's "Singled Out" and her short-lived, self-titled NBCsitcom …

Euro hit as investors fret over Europe's banks

LONDON (AP) — Renewed fears over Europe's shaky banking sector sent the euro skidding to a near 16-month low against the dollar Thursday, while stock markets failed to get much of a boost from another round of upbeat U.S. economic data

For a second day running, market concern has centered on the state of the banks following UniCredit's announcement Wednesday that it was selling new shares at a 69 percent discount to Tuesday's closing price.

UniCredit, Italy's biggest bank, is trying to raise €7.5 billion ($9.7 billion) to meet new European requirements for banks to thicken their financial cushions against possible losses. UniCredit's share price slid over 10 percent for the …

Zhang arrives for Jets in A-League

Chinese striker Zhang Shuo has arrived for duty with the A-League's Newcastle Jets but may not play for several weeks due to an undisclosed injury.

The 26-year-old Zhang, who has 10 caps for China, had his arrival delayed while he waited for a visa. He last played on July 28 for his former Indonesian club Persik Kediri.

…

Searching for Certainty: Inside the New Canadian Mindset

book value

Some of the latest business reads to help you stay on top of it all

Searching for Certainty: Inside the New Canadian Mindset

BY DARRELL BRICKER AND EDWARD GREENSPON

RANDOM HOUSE OF CANADA $35.95

Did the economic events of the 1990s -- chiefly recession, high unemployment, rampant deficits and accumulating debt - change Canadians? More important, did they toughen our resolve and adequately prepare us to face the challenges of the 21 st century?

These are the two chief questions

authors Darrell Bricker and Edward Greenspon seek to answer in their fascinating and original book. Using a tidy complement of statistics and …

Business leaders warn post -election bloodshed is devastating Kenyan economy

Weeks of postelection bloodshed have devastated Kenya's once-impressive economy, decimating its vital tourism industry and prompting foreign companies to consider pulling out, business leaders warned, as talks to end the violence resumed.

With confidence in Kenya sinking, the U.S. Peace Corps said Tuesday it was temporarily pulling its remaining 58 volunteers out of the country, after sending 86 home in January.

There were fears that other organizations _ aid groups and businesses alike _ could follow the Peace Corps' lead if there is not a quick end to the violence that has engulfed Kenya since a Dec. 27 election that local and foreign observers say was …

Dubai World says it has deal with top creditors

Dubai World won support for its $23.5 billion restructuring plan from leading lenders Thursday, giving some relief to the heavily indebted Arab sheikdom whose credit crisis sparked fears across the globe.

The state-owned company, which sits at the heart of Dubai's more than $100 billion debt pile, said a coordinating committee representing about 60 percent of its lenders had signed off on the proposal. It says it needs the backing of all its financial creditors before the plan takes effect.

Dubai's government outlined its long-awaited restructuring plan in late March, but the deal still needed approval from a broad array of international and local banks …

Tracing voluntary in AIDS rule draft

Proposed regulations for implementing the state's new AIDS lawsmake the tracing of sexual contacts voluntary and require the stateto get a court order before isolating anyone with the deadly virus.

The draft rules also require physicians and hospitals to reportthe names and addresses of people with AIDS-related complex, inaddition to reporting people with AIDS, which is already mandatory.

The confidentiality of those names would be protected underprocedures so rigid that researchers must sign a contract beforeusing the data, according to rules drafted by the Illinois PublicHealth Department.

The draft regulations contain a few surprises, such as a sectionthat outlaws the controversial "AIDS-free" cards, which state that aperson has been tested and is not infected with acquired immunedeficiency syndrome.

The rules, which must undergo public comment before beingadopted, are detailed in a document that has been quietly circulatedamong "interested parties," said department spokesman Tom Schafer.

Many who have seen the draft generally praise the proposed rulesfor striking "the right balance" in implementing the sweeping lawspassed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Thompsonthis year.

"Largely they reflect the language of the laws themselves," saidDr. Renslow Sherer, chairman of Gov. Thompson's AIDS advisory taskforce.

Among the controversial issues tackled by the department in itsrules is contact-tracing. Bills originally called for mandatorytracing, but the final measure signed into law left details up to thePublic Health Department.

The draft rules say AIDS patients should be asked to namecontacts for the past year voluntarily, and include no penalty forrefusal. The rules also order records of the contacts' names to bedestroyed after six months.

State Sen. Beverly Fawell, who had argued for stiff measures,approved of the rules, though she questioned requiring records to bedestroyed after six months.

Jury considering verdicts in trans-Atlantic airliner bomb plot case

A jury in Britain has started deliberating in the case of eight men accused of plotting to blow up at least seven airliners bound for the United States and Canada.

All eight British suspects deny charges that include conspiracy to murder.

Prosecutor Peter Wright has argued that the suspects planned to construct and detonate liquid explosive bombs onboard jetliners at the height of the summer vacation season in 2006. The case led to restrictions on the amount of liquids allowed in airplane cabins.

The prosecutor says the suspects targeted seven flights to Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Toronto and Montreal.

The jury retired Monday to consider its verdict.

Tata Motors profits jump as car sales move up

NEW DELHI (AP) — Tata Motors reports a 41 percent jump in third quarter consolidated profits driven by healthy sales of passenger vehicles in India.

Consolidated net profit for the quarter ending December was slightly over 34 billion rupees ($695 million), the company said Tuesday.

India's largest auto maker by revenue reported a 43.9 percent hike in its consolidated revenues in the third quarter with revenues going up to $9.23 billion from $6.41 billion a year ago.

The company also reported a 57 percent increase in profits for the quarter at its luxury brand, Jaguar Land Rover in the UK.

Share prices of the company were trading 5.36 percent higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange late afternoon Tuesday.

Evanston finds place in top 10 Program on rise, but still has ways to go to join elite

Evanston's on a roll. The Wildkits just missed making the ChicagoSun-Times preseason top 10, but moved in at No. 9 after winning theSchaumburg Invitational last Saturday.

"I'm not so sure we're that good yet," coach Shirley Nannini said."There's a lot more room between us and the not-so-strong programsthan there is between us and the elite programs. We are improvingevery meet and starting to look good."

The Wildkits (5-2) are led by doubles players Nicole Brown andHannah Thomas and Katie Spehar and Hannah Kauffman. The top singlesplayers are Whitney Lappley and Charlotte Mason.

Evanston's defeats were against top-ranked Andrew and No. 7Wheaton South.

"Those are the losses that tell me we have a long way to go,"Nannini said. "I'll tell you, Andrew is going to win the statechampionship. Andrew really beat us bad and Wheaton beat us 12-3.That's what tells me we have a long way to go.

"There is also a big difference between a team that can win a biginvitational and win the state meet. You can enter two doubles teamsand two singles players for state and it's your top two teams in boththat tell the top teams. Invitationals tell you who has the bestprogram that year.

"We'll see how we improve before (New Trier) Featherfest and ourown tournament.

"But this team still has some convincing to do before I thinkwe're one of the top teams."

Better than advertised

Among those surprised by Andrew's play in the early part of theseason is coach Terry Ter Haar. The Thunderbolts are undefeated andwon the Palatine Championship. They've won easily except for a tight9-6 win over No. 4 Downers Grove North on March 14.

"That was early," Ter Haar said. "I've been noticing that they areplaying a lot of different people at different positions so I don'tknow what to make of that (win) yet. But I have been a littlesurprised with how we are doing and dominating some teams."

Andrew is 7-0 after winning at Palatine and teams have had troublegetting a single point.

"I still feel we are learning at singles but we are doing betterthan I thought so that's a credit to the girls," Ter Haar said. "Wewill see after our ACT break. The big invitationals are coming up andthat will tell me a lot about where we stand with the other topplayers."

Top singles players

Erin Hois of Downers Grove South and Yvonne Cheng of NapervilleNorth are the class of the singles players, but others have hadsuccessful tournaments. Taryn Dennison of DeKalb defeated Cara Greggof Riverside-Brookfield to win the Glenbard East Invitational andAmber Whittrock of Bradley won at Hersey March 25. Carissa Nieman ofHinsdale South defeated teammate Kylie Canaday to win the Hornetsinvitational March 17.

Ms. Wheelchair loses after she's seen standing Wisconsin woman can't compete after photo surfaces

APPLETON, Wis. -- Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin has been stripped ofher title because pageant officials say she can stand -- and point toa newspaper picture as proof.

Janeal Lee, who has muscular dystrophy and uses a scooter, wassnapped by the Post-Crescent newspaper standing among her high schoolmath students.

"I've been made to feel as if I can't represent the disabledcitizens of Wisconsin because I'm not disabled enough," Lee saidThursday.

Lee, 30, of Appleton, had planned to go to the national pageantwith her younger sister, who also has muscular dystrophy and won thecompetition in Minnesota.

Students at Kaukauna High School, where Lee teaches, raised $1,000for her trip to the national pageant.

The move by the state pageant officials, led by coordinator GinaHackel, is supported by the national board.

Others would be offended

Candidates for the crown have to "mostly be seen in the publicusing their wheelchairs or scooters," said Judy Hoit, Ms. WheelchairAmerica's treasurer. "Otherwise you've got women who are in theirwheelchairs all the time and they get offended if they see someonestanding up. We can't have title holders out there walking whenthey're seen in the public."

Hackel said Lee should have been aware of the rules.

AP

Innovation + Independence: The Reserve Bank of New Zealand, 1973-2002

Innovation + Independence: The Reserve Bank of New Zealand, 1973-2002. By John Singleton with Arthur Grimes, Gary Hawke, and Frank Holmes. Auckland: University of Auckland Press, 2006. xii + 340 pp. Appendices, notes, bibliography, index, plates. Cloth, $33.95. ISBN: 1-869-40364-9.

Reviewed by Gordon Boyce

This handsome volume extends Gary Hawke's 1973 history of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The current project, tracing subsequent developments up to 2002, was initiated by a former deputy governor of the Bank and carried out by a team of Wellington-based scholars led by John Singleton.

New Zealand's central bank was a pioneer in four different spheres. First, it established and maintained an independent, contractually determined relationship with the government. Second, the Bank was the first in the world to target inflation as part of its strategy for guiding monetary policy. Third, the Bank adopted an unusual approach to over seeing the country's financial institutions, relying on market discipline rather than on direct supervision. Finally, it developed new structures and incentives to improve its own internal efficiency. Singleton and his colleagues examine the origins of these innovations against the backdrop of developments within the New Zealand economy in the latter part of the twentieth century.

The book begins with a clear exposition of central bank functions as they have evolved since the nineteenth century and provides some background history of New Zealand's Reserve Bank, which was founded in 1934. The aim is to show how the institution operated within one of the most tightly controlled economies in the world, which had to institute reforms after the first oil shock hit in 1973. Under the eccentric regime of Robert Muldoon (prime minister and also minister of finance from 1973 to 1984), interest rates were allowed to fluctuate, open-market operations were initiated, and the reserve-assets ratio was implemented. However, when the country lurched into crisis as oil prices fanned inflation, the balance-of-payment deficit soared, and government debt spiraled upward to dangerous levels, Muldoon clamped down, creating a "siege economy." In his capacity as minister of finance, he intruded directly into Bank policy, intimidating its governors and preventing them from carrying out the alternative plans they proposed for steering the country out of its difficulties. The defeat of Muldoon's National government at the polls by the Labour Party in 1984 opened the way for a program of comprehensive-some would say radical-reform. Indeed, the policy shift that followed-a direct reaction to Muldoon's legacy-was most uncharacteristic of a Labour-led government.

Inspired by the ideas of Roger Douglas, the new minister of finance, the Bank refloated interest rates, freed the New Zealand dollar, and supported a policy of debt management. Further reforms followed under Labour's management. Market mechanisms were allowed to work more freely, tariffs were reduced, new workplace practices were initiated, and some of the burden was removed from monetary policy so that it was no longer the chief inflation-fighting instrument.

In 1989, new legislation established the independence of the Reserve Bank. In contrast to the manifold aims previously imposed upon it, the Bank now pursued a single goal: that of ensuring price stability. From this new focus other desirable outcomes would flow. The governor became contractually bound to achieve specified inflation targets (initially 0-2 percent, but rising later to 1-3 percent-a far cry from the peak of over 18 percent recorded in 1980) that were set through negotiations with the minister of finance. Though independent from political interference, the governor was now directly accountable for the Bank's monetary performance. While the economy was recuperating from the Muldoon era and the recession of the early 19908, the Bank brought inflation under control, and New Zealand entered an era of sustained growth. The departure of Douglas during the second Labour government could have created an opportunity for backtracking, but the new minister of finance, David Caygill, subscribed to the same basic principles and ensured that Douglas's policy remained on course. Apart from a temporary setback caused by the Asian financial crisis (in fact, a serious drought that occurred simultaneously was responsible for the downturn in 1997) and minor, temporary incidents of inflation exceeding the target range, the economy performed strongly. New Zealand came to be seen as a policy laboratory that produced an enduring anti-inflation culture.

Separate chapters are devoted to the intellectual currents that shaped monetary policy and regulatory approaches to New Zealand's financial institutions. The authors stress the Bank's willingness to adopt eclectic strategies, to be open to new ideas, and to aggressively pursue connections with overseas central bankers and academics. The internal history of the Bank's organization, culture, and workforce is also considered, including the cross currents that enabled it to preserve its unique position as neither a state-owned enterprise nor a government department.

While readers of the Review may not be initially attracted to a book about central banking in New Zealand, they might find a closer look rewarding. This study reveals an innovative organization at work in difficult times, and it shows the evolution of learning within a unique institution and demonstrates how abstract ideas can shape policy. Innovation and Independence will be of interest to scholars interested in government-business relations, regulation, and the financial sector. Anyone who has heard about the bold experiments that were conducted in New Zealand and wants to find out what actually happened should pick up this volume. The authors have provided a useful glossary of terms to help readers decipher the technical language of some of the sections. Their writing is clear, and the text is leavened with numerous photographs and humorous political cartoons.

Singleton and his colleagues take an even-handed approach to issues that were controversial and divisive in their time. Moreover, they accurately record the range of opinions that were expressed and describe the context in which the restructuring of the Bank occurred. When assessing the performance of the Bank and its capable governors, they draw comparisons throughout with developments overseas. Although this is a commissioned history, its sponsors should be congratulated for hiring outside academics and for ensuring that the authors were as contractually free from interference as the Bank is from political influence.

[Author Affiliation]

Gordon Boyce is professor of international business at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He has written the seventy-five year history of the PSIS, New Zealand's largest financial cooperative, Over Half a Million Careful Owners (2005); a study of interfirm collaboration, Cooperative Structures in Global Business (2001); and, with Simon Ville, an international business history textbook, The Development of Modern Business (2002). Boyce, Ville, and Stuart Maclntyre have just published How Organizations Connect, a collection of edited papers (Melbourne, 2006).

Na'ena'e (Dubautia herbstobatae)

Na'ena'e

Dubautia herbstobatae

Status	Endangered
Listed	October 29, 1991
Family	Compositae (Asteraceae)
Description	Small shrub with alternate, elliptic leaves and clusters of yellowish orange flower heads.
Habitat	Rock outcrops in dry shrubland.
Threats	Feral pigs and goats, alien plant species, fire.
Range	Hawaii

Description

Dubautia herbstobatae (Na'ena'e) is a small, spreading shrub of the aster family that grows 20 in (51 cm) high. The shiny, leathery leaves are alternate, narrowly elliptic, and 0.8-2.2 in (2-5.5 cm) long. Each flower cluster contains five to 15 flower heads that are composed of four to 20 yellowish-orange, tubular florets. The fruit is a dry seed, covered with silky hairs. It is possible that D. herbstobatae can not self-pollinate. Flowering usually occurs in May and June. Pollination is almost certainly achieved by insect activity, and fruit dispersal is probably quite localized. The species has also been known by the name Railliardia herbstobatae.

Habitat

D. herbstobatae occurs on rock outcrops of north-facing ridges in dry shrubland at an elevation of 1,900-3,000 ft (579.1-914.4 m). Associated plant species include ohia (Metrosideros polymorpha ) and kawelu (Eragrostis variabilis ).

Distribution

D. herbstobatae was discovered in 1971 in the northern Waianae Mountains in western Oahu. This species is now known to be extant in the northern Waianae Mountains at four locations on federal, state, and city/county lands, scattered over an area about 1 by 3 mi (1.5 by 5 km). The Makua-Keaau Ridge, Waianae Kai Ridge, Kamalleunu Ridge, and Keaau Valley occurrences had respective 1997 populations of about 500, four, one, and 20 plants. These 525 individuals constitute the only known examples of D. herbstobatae.

Threats

The main threats to D. herbstobatae, as for almost all rare species in the Waianae Mountains, are habitat degradation by feral pigs and goats, and competition from invasive, alien plant species. The species faces additional threats associated with low numbers and a limited distribution, such as fire and trampling by hikers.

Several invasive plant species threaten D. herb-stobatae. Christmasberry (Schinus terebinthifolia ), an aggressive tree introduced to Hawaii before 1911, forms dense thickets and may also release chemicals that inhibit the growth of other species. Koa hoale (Leucana leucocephala ), an alien tree that colonizes disturbed lowland areas, is also a threat. Molasses grass (Melinis minutiflora ), which ranges from the dry lowlands to the lower wet forests of the leeward ridges, grows in dense mats that smother native vegetation. It is also fire adapted and provides a fuel for spreading wildfires.

Fire is particularly a threat to D. herbstobatae populations near the U.S. Army's Makua Military Reservation and Schofield Barracks. Within a 14-month period from 1989 to 1990, ten fires resulted from weapons practice on the reservation.

The small, isolated population of this species leaves it especially vulnerable to extinction from an unpredictable human or natural event.

Conservation and Recovery

The army is constructing a fence along Ohikilolo Ridge and the eastern rim of Makua Valley to provide a barrier against goats and pigs. This fence should help to prevent further goat ingress into Makua from the neighboring Keaau Ranch.

To minimize damage from fires, the army has constructed firebreaks between weapons practice areas and the surrounding forest.

National Tropical Botanical Garden holds seeds of D. herbstobatae.

Contacts

Pacific Joint Venture
300 Ala Moana Boulevard, Room 3-122
P.O. Box 50167
Honolulu, Hawaii 96850-0056
(808) 541-2749

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Regional Office, Division of Endangered Species
Eastside Federal Complex
911 N.E. 11th Ave.
Portland, Oregon 97232-4181
(503) 231-6121
http://pacific.fws.gov/

References

Cuddihy, L.W., and C.P. Stone. 1990. Alteration of Native Hawaiian Vegetation: Effects of Humans, Their Activities and Introductions. Cooperative National Park Resources Study Unit, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.

Macdonald, G.A., A. T. Abbott, and F.L. Peterson.1982. Volcanoes in the Sea, 2d ed. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.

Stone, C.P., and J.M. Scott, eds. 1985. Hawai ' i's Terrestrial Ecosystems: Preservation and Management. Cooperative National Park Resources Study Unit, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 13 May 1992. "Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Endangered Status for Six Plants from the Kokee Region, Island of Kauai, Hawaii." Federal Register 57 (93): 20580-20587.

Wagner, W.L., D.R. Herbst, and S. H. Sohmer. 1990. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai ' i. University of Hawaii Press and Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu.

A plea to young black men: Stop killing

Editor's note: This is the latest column by the author in an occasional series this summer on homicide.

Dear young black man,

They used to come for us cloaked in white sheets and hoods under the cover of night. Today they come in black hoodies and ski masks, both by day and by night.

They used to carry our boys away from home, never to be seen alive again. They used to string us up until we dangled like strange fruit from poplar trees, dumped our bodies in murky rivers or beat us in lynch mobs beyond recognition by our own mothers.

Today, they carry us away in the trunks of cars, leave our young, strong and promising sons, brothers and fathers riddled with bullets, lying naked near railroad tracks, in alleys or fields. They come for us by murderous mob, gun down our young as they play outside, even our mothers, daughters at bus stops and our babies as they sit innocently in strollers.

Today, the carnage of their homicidal rampage has left an almost endless trail of bodies and bloodstained streets.

Except they used to be the Ku Klux Klan.

But today, they is you. Oh, young black man.

The Tuskegee Institute in Alabama recorded 3,446 lynchings of blacks from 1882 to 1968 -- the toll of 86 years. The toll of blacks murdered in Chicago alone over 18 years, from 1991 to 2009: nearly 9,500, and counting.

The numbers alone say you have put the Klan to shame in the killing of African Americans and the terrorizing of black communities. There is no other way to put it: You have become our -- your -- worst enemy.

It is not by any means the majority of you who are responsible for this fratricide that causes hearse wheels to roll through our neighborhoods like the wind blows.

There are many young brothers striving to keep the faith, living according to the law, seeking to give more than they take -- good, promising young men. My letter is not to you but to those who on the surface look like you -- those who have allowed evil and hatred to transform them into predators.

Dear brother, as a human being, it is a difficult tragedy to behold. As a black man, it is sometimes even more than I can bear.

So I write to you, amid news of the slaying of 13-year-old Robert Freeman, shot 13 times while riding his bike, and on the heels of nine people shot at a bus stop.

I write even as the dust settles upon the graves of the latest homicide victims, and in the midst of a long, hot and bloody summer in which the death bell will toll and toll again before its end.

I am writing because statistics show that you most often are our killers. Because young brothers involved in gangs, armed with guns, brazen and filled with rage and no regard for human life, are responsible for the gunfire that has transformed neighborhoods across America into terror zones fueled by urban tribal wars.

I write to you in the hope that, contrary to popular opinion, some of you do read, in hope that you might hear the plea of one whose cries reflect the agony of a nation.

So I beg you: Lay down your guns, for the sake of the children, for the sake of our people.

I write to tell you that real power is not in the taking of life but in the giving of life; to inform you that murder is pure evil, and also to share this truth: He that lives by the sword will surely die by the sword, and he who takes a life unjustly will surely have to answer -- in this life, or the next.

It isn't the white man who is making our dear mothers cry.

It's you, young black man.

And why?

How many of us have to die?

Signed with tears, your brother John.

John W. Fountain, whose column runs Thursdays in the Sun-Times, is a professor of journalism at Roosevelt University.

Bridges built to help Borneo orangutans meet mates

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Endangered orangutans on Borneo island are using fire hoses slung across rivers by humans to help them move around isolated forests to potentially meet new mates and boost the species' chances for survival, an environmental group said Monday.

Malaysian authorities are building more of the makeshift bridges after some orangutans were spotted using them over the past year, said Marc Ancrenaz, co-founder of French-based conservation group Hutan, which is working with Malaysian state wildlife department officials on orangutan protection.

Conservationists estimate about 11,000 orangutans live in Malaysia's Sabah state in Borneo, but many are isolated from each other because swaths of forest have been cut for development, logging and oil palm plantations.

Environmental groups and wildlife authorities have been hooking up old fire hoses strung together between trees on different sides of rivers to help orangutans — which cannot swim — swing or walk across them. The first bridge was set up seven years ago, but it was only last year that an orangutan was captured on camera using one of them.

Witnesses have seen others doing so since then, prompting officials to build more bridges.

"It takes a while for the animals to get used to it. ... If we are not able to reconnect them, they will go extinct very soon," Ancrenaz said.

But the bridges are "just a quick fix" because the long-term solution would be reforestation, Ancrenaz said.

Benoit Goossens, an adviser for the Sabah Wildlife Department, said more bridges will soon also be hung across oil palm plantation moats.

Studies of the orangutan population in part of Sabah indicated they might go extinct within 60 years due to inbreeding and loss of habitat unless the jungle patches are reconnected.

Hutan estimates the number of orangutans in Sabah has decreased eight-fold in the past 15 years, though conservation efforts in recent times have slowed the decline.

Last year, Sabah's government announced it would bar companies from planting palm oil and other crops near rivers to preserve the natural habitat of orangutans and other threatened animals. Authorities working with the World Wildlife Fund have also pledged to replant trees in crucial territory over the next five years.

Court: Gov't must state position on gay troop ban

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal appeals court that has called for the immediate halt of the military's ban on openly gay troops issued an order Monday requiring the U.S. government to state whether it will continue to defend the policy's constitutionality in court.

Monday's order comes less than a week after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco told the Obama administration to immediately cease enforcing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which could speed up its repeal.

The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by the Log Cabin Republicans against the Department of Justice.

The gay rights group last year persuaded a lower court judge to declare the ban unconstitutional after a trial that put the Obama administration in the position of defending a policy it opposes.

DOJ attorneys have said they are defending the policy in court as they do with any law that is being challenged. They also have said the issue should be decided by Congress and not the courts.

The three-judge merits panel of the 9th Circuit said after reviewing briefs from both parties in the case, that it appears the government is not prepared to defend the policy's constitutionality.

The order was not signed by the judges and it was not known if the three jurists were the same ones who ruled last week on stopping its enforcement.

Log Cabin Republicans attorney Dan Woods said the court is forcing the government to take a stand. "Now the government is not going to be allowed to have it both ways anymore," Woods said. "The court is saying either fish or cut bait."

DOJ spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said the department is reviewing the judge's order and had no immediate comment.

Woods said the order shows the court is wondering whether Congress intends to intervene in the case, just as it did when President Barack Obama ordered the DOJ to stop defending the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act in February.

The House of Representatives disagreed, hiring separate counsel to defend DOMA's constitutionality.

Woods doesn't expect that will happen this time because Congress approved repealing the military ban in December and the Pentagon is already preparing to accept gay military personnel.

Monday's order states that if the government does not intend to defend the policy's constitutionality, it must report that to Congress, and let the court know whether that will happen in time for Congress to intervene if it chooses.

It also asked the parties to show why this case should not be dismissed as moot either immediately or when Obama certifies that all conditions have been met for the repeal.

It gave the parties 10 days to respond.

The court said last week there's no longer any purpose for a stay the appeals court had placed on U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips' lower court ruling that had halted the policy. The court cited the Obama administration's recent position in another case involving same-sex marriage that it is unconstitutional to treat gay Americans differently under the law.

Although the stay is lifted, the 9th Circuit scheduled an Aug. 29 hearing to consider whether the government's appeal of the lower court's decision is valid.

But it's unclear whether the Pentagon will pursue the appeal, since defense officials already have said they'll stop enforcing the ban to comply with last week's court order that blocks the military from discharging anyone based on their sexual orientation.

As soon as the Pentagon certifies that lifting the ban will not affect military readiness, the military has 60 days to implement the repeal, which could happen by September.

Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said it is unsafe for military members to reveal their sexual orientation until the repeal is fully implemented.

He said the court is correct in pressing the government on this so it will make it clear that it is dropping the matter and "we will soon have finality with certification and repeal."

_____

Associated Press writer Pete Yost in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Boat overturns in India, killing at least 22

PATNA, India (AP) — A boat carrying dozens of farm workers capsized Sunday on the flooded Ganges River in eastern India, killing at least 22 people, police said.

The death toll is likely to rise because more than a dozen others were reported missing in the accident near Buxar, a town in Bihar state, said Neelmani, the state director-general of police.

Neelmani, who uses one name, said at least 25 people were able to swim ashore. The region is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Patna, the state capital.

He said 22 bodies were recovered from the river and divers were searching for others.

The accident occurred as the poor farm workers were returning home after working in nearby villages.

Monsoon rains have swelled the river in recent days.

Boat accidents are common in India, where many vessels are unsafe and overloaded.

Former major league pitcher Jeriome Robertson dead

Former major league pitcher Jeriome Robertson, whose 15 wins led all rookies in 2003, has died. He was 33.

Robertson was killed Saturday when he lost control of his motorcycle and crashed, the California Highway Patrol said.

The left-hander went 15-9 with a 5.10 ERA for Houston in his one big year and topped the team in victories. Robertson was traded to Cleveland before the next season after the Astros signed free agents Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.

Robertson's last game in the majors came in July 2004 _ he hit Magglio Ordonez with his final pitch and was ejected. He later played in the minors for the Mets and Reds, and finished in 2007 in the Mexican and independent leagues.

Astros star Lance Berkman recalled Robertson's success.

"When you play with someone a year, you remember them. It's certainly a tragedy and what more can you say? It's a bad deal," Berkman said before Tuesday night's game against Washington.

"He won 15 games for us. That's what I remember about him that year. He was solid every time out. He made a big step forward in his development. Then we traded him and really he kind of dropped off the face of the earth," he said.

Robertson pitched in only eight more games in the majors after getting dealt to Cleveland. He finished with a career record of 16-12 with a 5.71 ERA.

Money talk

Phenomena like the recent stock market turmoil and our dollar's sharp decline always prompt major discussions on how such events come about. Experts and non-experts alike wonder how all of it could have been avoided.

After years of debate more often steeped in political than economic considerations, EEC countries have come up with their own solution: a single currency. The new European Central Bank has already been set up and the euro will be launched officially on January 1. In three years, the euro will start circulating, and six months later it will fully replace European Economic and Monetary Union currencies.

Alexandre Baril is a Canadian CA posted in the London office of Deloitte & Touche. From there, he has witnessed the debate surrounding the creation and introduction of the new currency. In "No small change" (p. 26), he looks into the pros and cons for the economies of EMU members and Europe in general. He also explains the likely impact of the common currency on this part of the world.

It will be interesting to monitor the euro experience in the context of NAFTA and the new round of constitutional debates that the upcoming election in Quebec is sure to spark.

Our cover personality also has ties to London. When he was managing partner of Poissant Thibault KPMG, Charles-Albert Poissant negotiated a partnership between Quebecor and controversial British financier Robert Maxwell -- without the Montreal company losing control or having to guarantee Maxwell's bank loans for the purchase of Donahue.

Poissant doesn't fit the traditional picture of a CA, writes Guy Paquin in "Going against the grain" (p. 20). This merger and acquisitions specialist is more entrepreneur than auditor, and has spent most of his career ensuring the growth of his firm and his clients. But he finally gave in to the entreaties of his long-time client and friend Pierre Peladeau and joined Quebecor as chairman of the board and CEO of Donahue. Eleven years later, he succeeded Peladeau himself as chairman of Quebecor.

Telecommunications companies have been waging a ruthless war for the long-distance market for several years. And it's not over yet. Internet companies now offer this service for next to nothing. In "Here come the headsets" (p. 38), Yan Barcelo explores technologies that could eventually reduce the world to a single rate area.

In this month's Performance department, Patricia O'Brien reverses the roles as she looks into the world of financial analysts (CFAs) those who spend so much time analyzing the financial information prepared and audited by chartered accountants. In the rapidly expanding assurance services market, are financial analysts competing with CAs?

As for our regular contributors, Gerard Berube says the Bank of Canada is responsible for the monetary and financial crisis recently gripping the country. Like many economists, he feels the Bank has painted itself into a corner with its relentless battle against inflation, preventing it from adequately confronting the problems that have recently arisen ("Blame monetary policies," p. 11).

Marcel C6te addresses the delicate issue of wage equity, no doubt inspired by the accusations of discrimination levelled against the federal government for its compensation policy. Don't miss "Economic Outlook," p. 60.

This is Your Mother's Staffing Firm

It's one of those ideas that makes you want to slap your forehead and say, "Why didn't I think of that?" Jane Seibel often hears that when talking about her one-year-old staffing firm Employmoms. Her firm specializes in helping mothers get back into the workforce by connecting them with companies with family-friendly policies. It also helps companies connect with an untapped pool of talent.

Employmoms' job candidates have 10 to 15 years of experience. "They [job candidates] say, 'Finally, someone understands what I'm going through.' We advocate for them," Seibel says. "We're one of the few in this space."

The impetus for starting the company came when Seibel's youngest of three daughters went to kindergarten, and she decided to head back to work. She previously held several executive director positions at nonprofits prior to taking time off to raise her daughters. But, like other mothers, Seibel found it difficult to re-enter the workforce.

During her panel interview for a part-time job at Dartmouth College, she realized the hours required by the position wouldn't work with family demands. It was after that she had her "Aha!" moment that led to starting Employmoms. While on vacation in Canada, she was sitting in a pool with other mothers and talk turned to women wanting to find part-time work with flexible hours. "It hit me that this is universal, that I'm having this discussion that I've had for the past 12 years. My entrepreneurial spirit kicked in and I started looking at the problem from a business perspective," Seibel says. She spent a year auditing classes at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and worked on a business plan. What emerged is Employ-moms, which she launched in June 2007 in Hanover. The company places mothers re-entering the workforce in part-time and full-time positions with flexible schedules in a variety of industries and career levels.

tive," Seibel says. She spent a year auditing classes at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and worked on a business plan. What emerged is Employ-moms, which she launched in June 2007 in Hanover. The company places mothers re-entering the workforce in part-time and full-time positions with flexible schedules in a variety of industries and career levels.

While she knew the client base was there, she wasn't sure how businesses would react. She found them hungry to tap into this underutilized pool of talent, she says. Word about the agency spread among women in the Upper Valley, and businesses and the media soon came knocking. In just a year, Employmoms is profitable and has opened two more offices in Portsmouth (in January) and Bedford (in June). It now has a national job listings board, and Working Mother Magazine selected Employmoms as one of its "25 Best Women Owned Businesses."

Candidates at Employmoms run the full gamut, from attorneys to accountants," says CEO Seibel. "What differentiates us is these are candidates who are untapped." The Upper Valley office has already cultivated 250 job candidates, the Portsmouth office 100 candidates and within a week of opening the Bedford office, Employmoms had already recruited 45 candidates there. She has placed candidates at law offices, Hypertherm and Dartmouth College, among others."Companies get it and want to tap into our workforce," Seibel says.

She has eight employees of her own and says she is ready to ramp up to the next level, including opening offices in Burlington, Vt. and Portland, ME in the fall. She's been approached about investing in the company and franchise opportunities. She is holding off on both for now, having grown the company with her own finances. "It's important to me to build a sound business model," Seibel says. For more information, visit www.employmoms.com.

Calif atty general asks GMAC to cease foreclosures

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California's attorney general wants GMAC Mortgage LLC to stop foreclosures in the state until it proves it is complying with a state law aimed at preventing foreclosures.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Friday that he directed Ally Financial Inc., which owns GMAC, to prove it is complying with a law that prohibits lenders from taking steps to foreclose a home before making an effort to work with the borrower.

The state law covers mortgages made between Jan. 1, 2003, and Dec. 31, 2007. It requires lenders to attempt to contact a borrower to determine if they're eligible for a loan modification before issuing a notice of default on the mortgage, the first step in the foreclosure process.

On Monday, GMAC said it had halted certain evictions and sales of foreclosed homes in 23 states — California is not among them — to correct a "potential issue" in its foreclosure process.

On Friday, the company went further and said procedural errors were made in certain affidavits required by some states as part of the foreclosure process.

"The error is not related to the accuracy of the underlying transaction or the ultimate decisions to have exercised the foreclosure proceedings," the company said in a statement.

Moreover, the company said its review of the matter has revealed no evidence of any factual misstatements about details such as loan balance, its delinquency or the validity of the note and mortgage.

An Ally Financial spokeswoman declined to comment specifically on the California attorney general's directive.

The Florida attorney general is investigating three law firms for allegedly providing fraudulent affidavits that identify who holds the original mortgage note in foreclosure cases. In Florida and in other states, this document allows lenders to bypass a costly trial and proceed with a foreclosure.

Two of the three firms being investigated — the Law Office of Marshall C. Watson and the Law Offices of David J. Stern PA — have represented GMAC in foreclosure proceedings. And the person who signed many of these allegedly false affidavits was an employee of GMAC.

In a deposition taken in December, GMAC employee Jeffrey Stephan said he signed 10,000 affidavits or similar documents a month without personally verifying who the mortgage holder was. That means many foreclosures could have taken place based on false documentation.

Brown alluded to Stephan's deposition, saying California homeowners facing foreclosure are "clearly in jeopardy since an Ally Financial official admitted his review of thousands of critical foreclosure documents was really a sham."

The company has not addressed how many homeowners would be affected by its suspension of evictions and foreclosure sales. It expects the issues to be resolved within a few weeks or, at latest, by year-end.

California has the nation's fourth-highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 194 households receiving a foreclosure-related warning last month, according to foreclosure listings service RealtyTrac Inc.

1 Home Lost to Wildfire in Western Mont.

MISSOULA, Mont. - A wildfire in western Montana destroyed a house and two outbuildings, a U.S. Forest Service official said Saturday.

The fire, which has scorched about 4 square miles, is one of five large blazes in Montana, according to the National Fire Information Center. Twelve states, almost all of them in the western U.S., are still reporting large wildfires, the center said.

Firefighting crews, four helicopters and 10 fire engines fought the fire about 35 miles east of Missoula Saturday in temperatures that approached 100 degrees. They protected 10 homes and other structures from the flames, said Wayne Johnson, an information officer with the firefighting team. …

weed helps to keep george michael smiling.(Entertainment)

Pop star George Michael said smoking cannabis kept him "sane and happy" and appeared to light up a joint during an interview on Britain's ITV channel, ITV said last Friday.

The comments have landed the former Wham! frontman in hot water with mental health groups and drug charities concerned about the message Michael's comments will send to young people. "All drugs have potential to harm and that is the principal message we need to get across," William Butler, spokesman for a drugs charity, told London's Evening Standard.

Rock singer Melissa Etheridge and her partner, actress Tammy Lynn Michaels, announced that Michaels had given birth to twins.

The couple said on Etheridge's website that son Miller Steven and daughter Johnnie Rose were born on Tuesday.

"The creation of life brings about immeasurable love, and pours hope into the future," they wrote. "The joy will help carry us through our upcoming sleepless nights." Etheridge announced in August 2005 that she was free of cancer nine months after undergoing surgery to remove a malignant tumour in her breast.

In what amounts to joining the family business, Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of Piano Man Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley, is in the midst of a 16-city run in support of her independently recorded and distributed debut CD, Sketches.

The songwriter/pianist/vocalist's autumn tour includes her first West Coast dates and is set to wrap on November 11 at the Sellersville Theatre.

"It's going great," Joel said from the tour's stop in Los Angeles. She said a brief tour of Hard Rock venues last May was good preparation for this run.

Hotel heiress Paris Hilton is to model for an upmarket American fashion line in India next year despite her music video being banned in the country for being too explicit.

The 25-year-old heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune will shoot for her friend, Anand Jon, an American fashion designer of Indian descent who is introducing a line of high-end evening wear for India's stylish elite.

Said Jon: "Paris is a very close friend of mine. We have known each other for a long time now. So, when I told her about this visit, she was pretty excited," - Reuters

weed helps to keep george michael smiling.(Entertainment)

Pop star George Michael said smoking cannabis kept him "sane and happy" and appeared to light up a joint during an interview on Britain's ITV channel, ITV said last Friday.

The comments have landed the former Wham! frontman in hot water with mental health groups and drug charities concerned about the message Michael's comments will send to young people. "All drugs have potential to harm and that is the principal message we need to get across," William Butler, spokesman for a drugs charity, told London's Evening Standard.

Rock singer Melissa Etheridge and her partner, actress Tammy Lynn Michaels, announced that Michaels had given birth to twins.

The couple said on Etheridge's website that son Miller Steven and daughter Johnnie Rose were born on Tuesday.

"The creation of life brings about immeasurable love, and pours hope into the future," they wrote. "The joy will help carry us through our upcoming sleepless nights." Etheridge announced in August 2005 that she was free of cancer nine months after undergoing surgery to remove a malignant tumour in her breast.

In what amounts to joining the family business, Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of Piano Man Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley, is in the midst of a 16-city run in support of her independently recorded and distributed debut CD, Sketches.

The songwriter/pianist/vocalist's autumn tour includes her first West Coast dates and is set to wrap on November 11 at the Sellersville Theatre.

"It's going great," Joel said from the tour's stop in Los Angeles. She said a brief tour of Hard Rock venues last May was good preparation for this run.

Hotel heiress Paris Hilton is to model for an upmarket American fashion line in India next year despite her music video being banned in the country for being too explicit.

The 25-year-old heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune will shoot for her friend, Anand Jon, an American fashion designer of Indian descent who is introducing a line of high-end evening wear for India's stylish elite.

Said Jon: "Paris is a very close friend of mine. We have known each other for a long time now. So, when I told her about this visit, she was pretty excited," - Reuters

weed helps to keep george michael smiling.(Entertainment)

Pop star George Michael said smoking cannabis kept him "sane and happy" and appeared to light up a joint during an interview on Britain's ITV channel, ITV said last Friday.

The comments have landed the former Wham! frontman in hot water with mental health groups and drug charities concerned about the message Michael's comments will send to young people. "All drugs have potential to harm and that is the principal message we need to get across," William Butler, spokesman for a drugs charity, told London's Evening Standard.

Rock singer Melissa Etheridge and her partner, actress Tammy Lynn Michaels, announced that Michaels had given birth to twins.

The couple said on Etheridge's website that son Miller Steven and daughter Johnnie Rose were born on Tuesday.

"The creation of life brings about immeasurable love, and pours hope into the future," they wrote. "The joy will help carry us through our upcoming sleepless nights." Etheridge announced in August 2005 that she was free of cancer nine months after undergoing surgery to remove a malignant tumour in her breast.

In what amounts to joining the family business, Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of Piano Man Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley, is in the midst of a 16-city run in support of her independently recorded and distributed debut CD, Sketches.

The songwriter/pianist/vocalist's autumn tour includes her first West Coast dates and is set to wrap on November 11 at the Sellersville Theatre.

"It's going great," Joel said from the tour's stop in Los Angeles. She said a brief tour of Hard Rock venues last May was good preparation for this run.

Hotel heiress Paris Hilton is to model for an upmarket American fashion line in India next year despite her music video being banned in the country for being too explicit.

The 25-year-old heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune will shoot for her friend, Anand Jon, an American fashion designer of Indian descent who is introducing a line of high-end evening wear for India's stylish elite.

Said Jon: "Paris is a very close friend of mine. We have known each other for a long time now. So, when I told her about this visit, she was pretty excited," - Reuters

How to go green at low cost

"Everyone's talking about the weather but nobody's doing anything about it," Mark Twain famously said. Everybody seems to be talking about environmentally friendly things for the home too. But is there anything you can do about it that's not costly?

"Greening one's home does not have to be cost-prohibitive," said Alison Shoemaker, owner of Alison Designs and one of the few interior designers with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accreditation. "The first step is to discover the little things that we do every day and change our behavior to make it environmentally friendly."

To get started, Shoemaker recommends a few easy tips:

Pitcher this: Keep …

Fayetteville renewal OK'd. (broadcasting license; WFCT-TV, Fayetteville, North Carolina)(Brief Article)

The FCC last week dismissed a petition filed by the NAACP to deny the renewal of WFCT-TV Fayetteville, N.C. The local chapter of the civil rights group claimed that WFCT-TV had violated the FCC's EEO rules. The FCC found no evidence of a violation, although …

IS HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA WORTH ALL THE POMP?(MAIN)

Byline: TIM COLLIE Knight-Ridder

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The high school diploma, once a passport to the middle class, is quickly becoming a ticket to nowhere.

As an economic indicator, the sheepskin is one of the most outdated credentials in American society, its critics say: It's no longer enough to ensure a good job with a wage to sustain a family.

As an educational benchmark, a high school diploma has lost meaning. It is awarded to students ranging from the functionally illiterate to the academically gifted.

Students know this. Colleges know this. Businesses know this.

Students have learned they must have something more to get ahead, whether it be college credits earned in high school or technical/vocational diplomas that carry definitive weight.

Businesses have learned they must spend millions each year to teach or retrain future employees. This way, they can know exactly what kind of employee they will be getting.

The …

Prosecutors build case in US abortion murder trial

Prosecutors are expected to present evidence Monday that a man meticulously planned the murder of one of the few late-term abortion providers in the U.S. by stalking the doctor and gunning him down inside a Kansas church.

Scott Roeder is on trial on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault for the May 31 death of Dr. George Tiller, who was shot while serving as an usher at his church.

Roeder publicly admitted killing Tiller, saying he did so to save "unborn children." He has pleaded not guilty.

Roeder, of Kansas City, Missouri, said in a court filing that the trial would be a charade if he were not allowed to argue that the …

CONTRARIAN MANIFESTO

Boom or bust? We're always wrong

NEW YORK - My father taught me to go left.

Not politically. He was a right-wing Republican. At the movies.

"Most people choose the right entrance," he told me. "There are usually more seats on the left side of the theater." He dressed like a conformist, but Dad was a contrarian. "If you don't know what to do," he said, "do the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing. On average, conventional wisdom is always wrong. Run away from the crowd - and you'll come out ahead in the long run."

Never has the wisdom of his words been more apparent. Acting like Chicken Little proven right, government and business are making decisions …

Ericsson Further Expands China Mobile's IP Backbone Network.(LM Ericsson Telephone Co., Internet protocol)(Brief Article)

Ericsson announced that it will build out the provincial IP backbone networks for Chinese mobile operators Shandong Mobile, Shanxi Mobile and Inner Mongolia Mobile, all subsidiaries of China Mobile Communications Corporation (China Mobile), with its leading IP Backbone Routers and services.

Under the contract with Shandong Mobile, Ericsson will provide its industry leading AXI 520 IP Backbone Routers (based on Juniper Networks M40) for the operator's provincial IP backbone network. Ericsson will also supply extensive customer services, such as installation, support and training. The network will carry GPRS mobile services and a variety of data, voice and multimedia …

Comparison in Policing: An International Perspective.

edited by dean Paul Brodeur. Avebury. 1995.

As the world becomes more interconnected and its societies become more mobile, fragmentary, and diverse, the role and effectiveness of the public police becomes more ideologically and operationally problematic. One way of dealing with post modern confusion and uncertainty is to hold periodic conferences or workshops. The usual suspects are invited; government policy wonks, selected police representatives, and academics of various backgrounds. The written results of such conferences are a predictably mixed bag of official policy propaganda, dutifully descriptive pieces, and sometimes insightful essays and commentaries.

…

Job growth in state lags rest of nation.(Business)

Byline: JAY GALLAGHER Gannett News Service

ALBANY - New York's economy continues to improve, but its job growth lags the rest of the country, according to a new report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The report, released Tuesday, showed that the New York economy continues to be a tale of two states.

While Long Island, New York City and the Hudson Valley continue to thrive, persistent pockets of anemic growth - and even job losses - remained upstate.

Partly as a result, the gap in average home prices in different regions of the state continues to widen - from an average of $74,500 in the Elmira area of the Southern Tier to more than …

2 REPORTS INDICATE A SLUGGISH ECONOMY.(BUSINESS)

Byline: DAVE SKIDMORE - Associated Press

Inflation at the wholesale level took a midsummer siesta in July. So did car buyers.

The government's reports on the Producer Price Index and retail sales, signifying a sluggish economy, held long-term interest rates near record lows on Thursday -- good news for anyone thinking of buying a house or refinancing their mortgage.

A big drop in energy costs helped push prices paid to farms and factories down by 0.2 percent, the second consecutive decline, the Labor Department said.

Retail sales, held back by a 0.7 percent drop in auto purchases, managed a barely perceptible 0.1 percent increase, …

Wilson shines as Arkansas downs Miss. St. 44-17

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Mississippi State has had all of the Southeastern Conference West Division it can handle.

The Bulldogs latest setback came at the hands of No. 6 Arkansas in a 44-17 drubbing on Saturday.

The loss drops Mississippi State (5-6, 1-6 SEC) to 2-12 against the West during coach Dan Mullen's tenure, and this one wasn't close.

Razorbacks' quarterback Tyler Wilson had a school-record 32 completions and threw for 365 yards and three touchdowns as Arkansas (10-1, 6-1) scored 30-straight points at one point in the way to its seventh-straight win.

All six of the Bulldogs' losses this season have now come against teams currently ranked in the BCS …

Bridesmaids keep Mass. limo carjacking a secret

BOSTON (AP) — A Boston man has been accused of carjacking a wedding limousine at a church and ordering the bridesmaids to get out — but they kept it a secret until the wedding was over.

Police say Joseph Ghella broke a limo window with a hammer outside Blessed Mother Teresa church Saturday and ordered the driver and several bridesmaids out. The church's pastor says the bridesmaids remained calm and no one inside the church …

The Strategy Elephant World's best-known management maverick takes apart the various strategy 'schools', a self-confessed Leftist on India's globalisation experience, and inspiring lessons in leadership.

STRATEGY SAFARI

By Mukul Pandya and Robbie Shell

Wharton School Publishing

PP: 466

Price: Rs 350

It's no exaggeration to say that for every manager in the world,there's a unique strategy. Which is why different companies performdifferently and even within the same organisation, all the managersdon't deliver equally. Why should that be the case when companies, atleast the better ones, recruit managers with comparable strategyskill sets and operate in more or less the same environment? There'sno simple answer to it, but what it does point to is the complexityinvolved in strategising. It really starts with some fundamentalissues, not least of which …

Manenberg on the march over province's 'empty promises'.(News)

BYLINE: AZIZ HARTLEY

MANENBERG residents have marched to the provincial legislature in protest over what they say has been a lack of support for community upliftment programmes by Proudly Manenberg - a campaign working to change the area's ghetto image.

Tensions have developed between the province and Proudly Manenberg leaders over funds the government said it would pump into the campaign's projects, such as the cleaning and greening of Manenberg

In December, the MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Garth Strachan, refused to sign a Proudly Manenberg charter on community-driven projects.

Deputy President Baleka Mbete …

BROADCASTERS HONOR BRUNO.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: Associated Press

BOLTON LANDING -- The New York State Broadcasters Association on Monday named state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno as ``New Yorker of the Year'' for his work to win approval of a tax cut for the industry.

Bruno was honored for pushing legislation adopted this year that makes broadcasters …

Titan halts Phase II Pivanex NSCL studies.(Tuesday, June 22)

Safety concerns prompted Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc. to stop a year-old Phase IIb study of its cancer drug Pivanex. The South San Francisco-based company said an interim analysis by an independent data monitoring committee identified safety issues in the combination treatment of Pivanex with docetaxel for non-small-cell lung cancer patients. Titan …

Kansas Off to 1st 8-0 Start in 98 Years

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Chalk up another win for Kansas, and this one is downright historic. Brandon McAnderson rushed for a career-high 183 yards and two touchdowns and the 12th-ranked Jayhawks improved to 8-0 for the first time since 1909 with a 19-11 win over Texas A&M.

Todd Reesing went 21-for-33 for 180 yards and the Jayhawks' fifth-ranked defense did the rest, holding the Aggies to 127 yards and six first downs through three quarters. A&M gained 191 yards in the fourth quarter, after the Jayhawks built a 19-0 lead.

Kansas improved to 4-0 in the Big 12 for the first time, snapped a seven-game losing streak to A&M and earned its first win in Texas since …

New Cardiovascular Research Data Have Been Reported by Researchers at Tufts Medical Center.

"The future of cardiology rests in the hands and minds of cardiovascular trainees and fellowship programs," scientists in Boston, Massachusetts report (see also Cardiovascular Research).

"Education and training is rapidly changing, and the paradigm of 'see one, do one, teach one' has now been replaced by formal assessments of competency, the incorporation of practice improvement and systems-based practice, and a focus on duty hours. To keep up with the expanding knowledge and science in cardiovascular medicine, the cardiology community needs to understand new educational initiatives and formulate pathways to teach, mentor, and educate trainees to become competent …