Shabbat Meals: Grandma's Chinese Pepper Steak

By Lauren Bloomberg

Flickr: paumelia

We didn?t observe Shabbat. Well, maybe once or twice. Or perhaps I should say, not formally. Yes, we sat down for dinner as a family. Delicious food was served and we talked about our days. But we didn?t light candles. We didn?t say prayers and we didn?t break bread.

Growing up in Long Island?s suburbia, we were the type of family where the kids went to Hebrew school three days a week but we rarely ever went to services. We went to Jewish sleepaway camps and spent weekends on youth group retreats, but religion was not part of home life. Pepper steak, however, was.

It?s rare that food is served with as much ceremony as my paternal Grandmother Millicent Bloomberg?s pepper steak. In old-school style we?d start our meal with a halved grapefruit (carefully pre-sectioned until the serrated edged grapefruit spoon was invented) or slices of cantaloupe before moving onto the flank steak-and-green pepper stew. A portion would be scooped over rice (usually white) and sided with a lettuce-based salad.

Even when I was young, I wasn?t sure how faux-Chinese had ended up in my grandmother?s, and subsequently my mother?s, repertoire. I figured it was one of those recipes born out of the need to take a cut of meat and stretch the portion with the addition of vegetables and starch. But I couldn?t have been more wrong.

Like many ?family? recipes, this pepper steak was not an invention of my wonderful kin. It came from that place that many of the greatest ?secret? recipes come from: It was clipped from somewhere else. In this case, the idea was snipped from the pages of Long Island newspaper Newsday. From a 1987 article (grandma calls it an ad) devoted to the Chinese New Year. But don?t tell my cousins that.

Of course, while the recipe originated in the pages of Newsday, the version that turns up on the table in our home is twisted and different. It is also rarely the same twice. Don?t like green peppers? Grandma would substitute string beans. My mom liked to sneak broccoli into our diet by adding it to the mix. Both cooks are happy to create extra crunch and texture by straining a can of water chestnuts and mixing them in. Way before they became de rigeur, wheat berries might find their way into the rice.

Now I admit, pepper steak has never been my favorite. I prefer baked salmon or the excellent meatloaf that other relatives turned their noses at. However no dish ? be it served Monday or Friday or Saturday night ? was ever served up with the same excitement as the pepper steak. No entree more requested. No leftovers ever left over. A shabbat dinner with all of the pomp and none of the circumstance.

Millicent Bloomberg?s Pepper Steak

From: Millicent Bloomberg
Makes 4 servings

1 pound flank steak, frozen
? cup canola oil
? cup onion, roughly sliced
2 cup green peppers, roughly sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
? teaspoon ground black pepper
? teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Hot cooked rice

1) While frozen, cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices, then cut into strips about 2 inches long. Defrost.

2) When steak has defrosted, heat oil in heavy skillet over medium heat. Dry and add meat to pan. Brown, turning as needed.

3) Mix in onion, green pepper, garlic, salt, pepper and ginger. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, about 3 minutes or until tender.

4) Stir together cornstarch, broth and soy sauce until smooth. Stir into meat mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Simmer 1 minute. Serve over rice.


Source: http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/161897/

Empire State Building shooting Republican National Convention Karlie Redd ufc guild wars 2 adrian gonzalez Jerry Nelson

9 Signs The U.S. Government Treats Military Veterans Like Garbage

Michael Snyder,?Contributor
Activist Post

The way that the U.S. government treats military veterans is absolutely disgraceful. Men and women that have given everything for this nation are literally being treated like human garbage by their own government. After watching how vets are treated, it is absolutely amazing that anyone is still volunteering to be a part of the military. We pay those in the military like crap, we keep sending our best soldiers back to Afghanistan and Iraq again and again, we don't equip them properly, military suicides are at a record pace, hundreds of thousands of applications for veteran benefits are hopelessly backlogged, homelessness and unemployment among vets is much higher than for the general population, the condition of most VA hospitals is an absolute disgrace, and to top everything off now the Obama administration has started labeling military veterans as "potential terrorists".

What you are about to read should make you very angry. The abuse, neglect and outright disrespect that military vets receive from their own government is absolutely shocking. We owe these men and women a great debt for the service that they have performed for our nation, but instead the federal government kicks them to the curb and treats them with no honor whatsoever. The way a nation treats military vets says a lot about the character of that nation, and right now the way that America treats veterans says that we have the character of a steaming pile of manure.

Multiple Tours Of Duty

The U.S. military just keeps sending young men and women back to Iraq and Afghanistan over and over again without any regard for what the consequences might be.

If you can believe it, an astounding?20 percent?of all active duty soldiers in the U.S. Army are on at least their third tour of duty.

Many others have done four tours of duty or more.

The following is from a recent?Christian Science Monitor article....

Some 107,000 Army soldiers have been deployed to war three or more times since 2001, or some 20 percent of the active-duty force. More than 50,000 of those currently in uniform have completed four or more combat tours, Army figures indicate.

The physical, mental and emotional toll of these multiple tours of duty should not be underestimated. It is absolutely unprecedented in U.S. history for so many men to be sent back into frequent combat situations so repeatedly. The price of this foolishness could potentially be felt throughout our society for decades to come.

Record Number Of Suicides

The fact that many of our soldiers are spending way too much time in active war zones is a big reason why military suicides are at a?record pace?so far in 2012.

The stress of combat duty builds up over time. The physical, mental and emotional fatigue that comes with serving in combat is immense. Many soldiers see their marriages end, and others are left with severe physical and mental disabilities.

At some point many serving in the military cannot take it anymore and they commit suicide.

During the month of July, there were?56 suicides?in the U.S. military in just 31 days.

That is absolutely disgraceful, but very little is being done about the underlying causes of these suicides.

Paying To Get Your Medal?

Many U.S. soldiers return home from war only to find that they are being billed by their own government.

One soldier even discovered that he was going to have to pay a $21 shipping fee to get his Purple Heart. The following is from?the Huffington Post....

War comes with an incalculable human cost. And apparently a shipping fee of about $21.?
Retired Sgt. Major Rob Dickerson says that's the price he was forced to pay when his Purple Heart -- the medal issued to soldiers wounded in action -- arrived at his door, C.O.D.?
Instead of being awarded the military honor in a formal ceremony, the vet with 29 years in the service was handed his award, and a shipping invoice, by a FedEx deliveryman outside his Sioux Falls, S.D., home.
Endless Waiting For Veteran Benefits

You would think that soldiers returning from war should quickly and easily be able to apply for the veteran benefits that they are owed.

Unfortunately, the complete opposite is the case.

As I have written about?previously, applying for veteran benefits is extremely complicated, and VA employees are actually paid bonuses for denying claims....

The truth is that we have made it extremely difficult for our military veterans to claim the benefits that we have promised them. Vets have to fill out an absurdly complicated 23 page application and if they make even one small mistake their applications can be stonewalled for years. The U.S. Veterans Administration actually has a policy under which they pay large bonuses to employees that meet certain application processing goals. This explains whyapproximately 70% of the claims?submitted to the Veterans Administration are refused or sent back to be redone. In fact, using the Freedom of Information Act,?one local NBC station?was able to learn that $250,000 was paid in bonuses to VA employees who work inside the Poff Federal Building in Roanoke, Virginia in just one year alone.?
Not only that, but a report issued by the VA's Office of Inspector General said the department issued millions of dollars in performance awards to employees nationwide over a two year period in 2007 and 2008.?
According to CNN, one retired VA official was singled out for improperly approving a very large number of bonuses and the report said that she "acted as if she was given a blank checkbook to write unlimited monetary awards."
Even if you do fill out your paperwork correctly, at best you are going to be waiting?many months?to find out if your claim is approved or not....
The average claim adjudication wait time is as few as 183 days or as many as 300, depending on who you ask. Claims processed in Oakland, Calif., the second-worst backlogged region in the nation according to a May Inspector General?s report, take nearly a year to get approved or denied. The backlog worsened in 2010 when VA Secretary Eric Shinseki added a handful of new medical conditions to the list of ailments presumed connected with exposure to the Vietnam-era herbicide Agent Orange, a move that was lauded by veterans? groups. But this month the VA officials announced they were nearing the end of processing about 230,000 retroactive Agent Orange claims. And the majority of the nearly 920,000 total claims still pending before the department remain overdue.
Many veterans feel that they would be better off sending their documents into a black hole than sending them to the VA. The level of negligence at some VA offices?is absolutely shocking....
Back in 2009, a VA office in Detroit turned in 16,000 unprocessed mail and 717 unprocessed documents that were stuck in storage and hadn?t even been looked at. Many other documents were found in shredding bins, not just in one office but in several regional offices.
The truth is that thousands upon thousands of vets that legitimately should be getting benefits are having their claims denied. Just check out the following example from a recentVeterans Today article....
In one case, we found a veteran with 40 percent of his brain removed found to be healthy and employable. He was also missing his right arm. The physician who examined him over looked the arm and failed to note the cognitive degeneration the traumatic brain injury had caused.
What in the world is wrong with us?

How can we treat our vets this way?

Horrific Economic Problems

The unemployment rate for veterans is much higher than the overall rate of unemployment, and military veterans are losing their homes at a much faster rate than the general population as well.

According?to Veterans Today, a shockingly high percentage of military families have been losing their homes since 2008....

Figures lie, some groups are counted, some are not. But the lowest figures available have one in three families, this includes active duty serving overseas, reservists and National Guard and veterans losing their homes since 2008.?
Two thirds of those are now 'split up' with at least one member listed as 'homeless.' Almost all are, according to official figures, 'living in poverty.'
200,000 Military Veterans Sleeping On The Streets Of America

The U.S. government does not prepare our vets to come back and reintegrate into society. They just kind of kick them to the curb and hope that they can find jobs.

Sadly, homeless vets will be sleeping the streets of every major U.S. city tonight. The following is from a recent article?in the Los Angeles Times....

According to the latest count by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the number of homeless individuals in Los Angeles County dropped by 3% between 2009 and 2011. The numbers declined for all groups except one: veterans. There were 9,000 homeless veterans here in 2011, a 24% increase over 2009. And the number of chronically homeless veterans ? individuals who are homeless because of severe mental disabilities ? increased by more than 100%, from 1,243 to 2,520.?
And more are coming. California's Department of Veterans Affairs estimated in 2009 that 28,000 vets would return from Iraq and Afghanistan per year during this administration.
Overall, it is estimated that?200,000?military veterans will be sleeping on the streets of America tonight.

Say a prayer for them because they need it.

The Shocking Condition Of VA Hospitals

When wounded soldiers come home from the battlefield the U.S. government has a responsibility to take care of them properly.

Unfortunately, the truth is that many facilities for veterans are absolute hellholes. The following is from a recent articlein the Washington Post....

Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.?
This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss.
How in the world can we do this to our vets?

Today, it takes military vets an average?of seven months?to get an appointment at a VA facility.

They are not getting the care that they need, and it would be a tremendous understatement to say that the condition of many VA facilities is absolutely horrendous.

A while back, ABC News did an in-depth investigation of conditions at VA facilities across the United States. What ABC News found was absolutely shocking. The following are just a few of the things that they discoveredduring the course of their investigation.....

  • Bathrooms filthy with what appeared to be human excrement
  • Dirty linens from some patients mixed in with clean supplies
  • Examining tables that had dried blood and medications still on them
  • Equipment used to sterilize surgical instruments that had broken down
  • Some patients were forced to beg for food and water
  • Veterans that were neglected so badly that they developed horrific bedsores and dangerous infections
This is the kind of thing you would expect in a third world country, not the United States of America.

Funerals And "End Of Life Counseling"

The federal government does not seem to have much respect for veterans at the end of their lives either.

You would think that vets should be able to have the funeral services of their own choosing, but in some areas of the country the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs?has been caught?banning the words "God" and "Jesus" during funeral services for veterans.

Perhaps instead of spending their time poking their noses into funeral services they should spend their time processing some of those backlogged claims for veteran benefits.

And the "end of life counseling" that many veterans are receiving is extremely disrespectful as well. The following is from an article?in the Wall Street Journal?that described the kind of "end of life counseling" that the federal government provides veterans....

'Your Life, Your Choices' presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political 'push poll.' For example, a worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be 'not worth living.'?
The circumstances listed include ones common among the elderly and disabled: living in a nursing home, being in a wheelchair and not being able to 'shake the blues.' There is a section which provocatively asks, "Have you ever heard anyone say, 'If I'm a vegetable, pull the plug'?" There also are guilt-inducing scenarios such as "I can no longer contribute to my family's well being," "I am a severe financial burden on my family" and that the vet's situation "causes severe emotional burden for my family."?
When the government can steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves that life is not worth living, who needs a death panel?
The Obama Administration Has Labeled Military Veterans As "Potential Terrorists"

On top of everything else, the Department of Homeland Security has labeled military veterans as?potential terrorists.

The following is a quote from a DHS report entitled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment"....

The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.
Sadly, this kind of philosophy is not just reflected in policy papers. Now we are actually starting to see military veterans rounded up and shipped off to mental institutions for "evaluation" if they express views that the government does not like.

For example, you have probably already heard about the?Brandon Raub?case by now. Brandon Raub is a 26-year-old military veteran who was forcibly detained by the local police, the FBI and the Secret Service on August 16th. He was shipped off to a psychiatric facility because of song lyrics and political views that he had posted on his Facebook page.

Thankfully, the Rutherford Institute agreed to defend him and he was released a few days ago.

But if he had not had a really good lawyer he could have been rotting in a mental institution for years.

Unfortunately this does not appear to be an isolated incident.

Just check out the following example from a recent article?by Paul Joseph Watson....

Radio host Steve Quayle?was sent news?of an Army combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient in west central Ohio who was the victim of a police raid on the evening of August 22nd during which Miami County Ohio Sheriff?s deputies executed a search warrant to seize the man?s firearms for the 'safety of the defendant and the general public,' according to the warrant.?
The veteran, who is currently unnamed, had his guns taken because he was adjudged to be mentally incompetent, despite the fact that his previous VA psychiatric evaluations were all clear, he is not on medication, and he had no criminal record. The man appears to be a respected member of the community ? he works for a Christian company and his father is a police officer and a pastor.
Once a military vet is determined to be "mentally ill", he or she can be rounded up by the authorities at any time.

And tons of vets are being labeled as mentally ill these days. In fact, one study discovered that approximately?one-third?of all military veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq were officially determined to be mentally ill.

It is very dangerous to be a military veteran these days.

So why should anyone volunteer to be in the military at this point?

It has become abundantly clear that the federal government is not on the side of veterans.

The federal government wants lots of warm bodies to throw into battle, but when those bodies get broken the government is not there to pick up the pieces.

How we treat our veterans is a national disgrace.

Wake up America.

Source: http://theerant.yuku.com/topic/52706/9-Signs--U-S-Government-Treats-Military-Veterans-Like-Garbag

amber portwood Michael Strahan Phyllis Diller Darla Moore newsweek Rihanna Tony Scott

Religious groups vie for new Web domain names

2 hrs.

PARIS --?Centuries-old theological disputes have broken out in cyberspace as religions aim to influence the future presentation of faith on the Internet.

The forum for the rivalry is not the pulpit or church bulletin, but the website of ICANN, the corporation that oversees the Internet address system and now wants to expand it beyond the usual .com, .org or .net domains.

When ICANN began accepting applications for new names early this year, bids came for extensions such as .catholic, .islam and .bible. Not far behind were critics who challenged many applicants' right to monopolize those and other religious terms.

"I respectfully ask you not to award .bible to a bunch of hardcore Bible-thumpers," wrote one critic of an application by the American Bible Society to manage that extension.

Questioning a Turkish IT company's bid for the .islam domain, Fahd Batayneh of Jordan's National Information Technology Centre asked how it could ensure no pornographers or Muslim extremists would use names with this ending?

ICANN (www.icann.org), the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is accepting comments on these and other applications for another month and will then evaluate the bids for new extensions, known as top level domains (TLDs).

First results are due next summer. A group awarded a TLD can manage that domain exclusively, renting out addresses that use its extension and rejecting bids it considers unsuitable.

ICANN can't

The religious problems facing this 21st century project are as old as the schisms and heresies that have haunted faiths for ages. Who speaks for Islam? Does the Vatican have a monopoly on the word "catholic"? How should one interpret the Bible?

"I don't think I can solve issues that have been going on for centuries," Akram Atallah, interim head of ICANN, told Reuters by telephone from its Los Angeles headquarters.

"Our goal, at the end of the day, is to provide innovation in the domain name system."

Website owners are now restricted to a few dozen TLDs such as .com and country code domains such as .co.uk. Many of the 1,930 applications for new TLDs came from companies, including Internet giants such as Amazon and Google.

If there are rival bids for the same TLD, ICANN has panels of experts to consider legal, financial and technical factors in making the decision to award a domain name. A dispute resolution process exists if an losing applicant disagrees.

But there won't be geeks consulting Gospels to decide who can have a TLD such as .church.

"We don't look into whether the Vatican has the right to the .catholic name," Atallah said. "Hopefully, the process will get to a conclusion that is satisfying to the majority."

Saudis oppose, Christians squabble

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, seems to see no hope of a consensus on religious TLDs and opposes them all.

Its Communications and Information Technology Commission filed 163 comments, opposing not only TLDs with Muslim terms such as Islam, halal and Shia but also Catholic and Bible.

It also criticized bids for sex, gay, wine, virgin, dating, porn and other terms that go against its strict moral code.

The Vatican's application for exclusive use of .catholic drew criticism from members of several Protestant churches who also use the term, which comes from the Greek for "universal".

"This request is a move by a powerful group to squelch the voices and rights of other Christians," wrote Dave Daubert, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Elgin, Illinois.

Some comments asked if the large Life Covenant Church, based in Oklahoma, would share the .church name it applied for with other Christians who did not hold its evangelical beliefs.

"If something as basic as the Ten Commandments can't be agreed upon, how can the TLD be operated fairly?" one asked.

The American Bible Society would share the .bible domain with "individuals and groups who, regardless of faith, have a healthy respect for the Bible," spokesman Geoffrey Morin said.

Clerics aren't the only ones trying to get into the game.

AGITSys, an Istanbul-based IT company, said it wanted to create "a quality online space for the Muslim faithful" with domain names such as .islam and .halal and would allow Sunnis, Shi'ites and members of other schools of Islam to use it.

"They didn't consult anybody in the Islamic community," said Batayneh from Jordan. "This application should have come from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah."

Some religions seem to have kept out of the fray entirely. There were no applications for .buddhist, .hindu or .jewish.

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/religious-groups-vie-new-web-domain-names-973932

independence day BET Awards 2012 declaration of independence 4th Of July 2012 Zach Parise Spain Vs Italy Euro 2012 tiger woods

Google Play kicks off end of summer sale

Android Central

Gameloft isn't the only one putting their Android wares on discount for the long weekend; Google Play has an official end of summer sale that has quietly started, with many apps already discounted. Check out this search to see what's currently discounted, and expect that list to grow as the weekend wears on. We've received a few tips about the impending sale, but we're still waiting for a big promotional banner on the front page of Google Play, or some equally obvious place to find all of the discounted apps in one spot.

Have you found any particularly great apps with recent discounts? 

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/0Tu_eNDiHGQ/story01.htm

april 18 nfl schedule delonte west vanessa williams nicklas backstrom discovery shuttle allure

Strong female portrayals counteract negative effects of violent media for young adults

ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) ? Men and women are less likely to experience negative effects to sexual violent media when watching a positive portrayal of a strong female character, even when that character is a victim of sexual violence.

Christopher Ferguson, Assistant Professor at Texas A&M International University, surveyed 150 university students in a controlled environment in a recent study published in the Journal of Communication. Each participant screened a variety of TV shows that portrayed women in different lights when it came to sexual violence. The results showed that men and women had less anxiety and negative reactions when viewing television shows that depicted a strong female character rather than a submissive one.

Past research has been inconsistent regarding the effects of sexually violent media on viewer's hostile attitudes toward women. Much of the previous literature has conflated possible variables such as sexually violent content with depictions of women as subservient.

The submissive characters often reflect a negative gender bias that women and men find distasteful. This outweighed the sexual violence itself, giving credence to what Ferguson calls the "Buffy Effect" -- named after the popular television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its strong lead female character.

"Although sexual and violent content tends to get a lot of attention, I was surprised by how little impact such content had on attitudes toward women. Instead it seems to be portrayals of women themselves, positive or negative that have the most impact, irrespective of objectionable content. In focusing so much on violence and sex, we may have been focusing on the wrong things," Ferguson said.

"While it is commonly assumed that viewing sexually violent TV involving women causes men to think negatively of women, the results of this carefully designed study demonstrate that they do so only when women are portrayed as weak or submissive," added Journal of Communication editor and University of Washington Professor Malcolm Parks. "Positive depictions of women challenge negative stereotypes even when the content includes sexuality and violence. In this way Ferguson reminds us that viewers often process popular media portrayals in more subtle ways than critics of all political stripes give them credit for."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by International Communication Association, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Christopher J. Ferguson. Positive Female Role-Models Eliminate Negative Effects of Sexually Violent Media. Journal of Communication, 2012; 9999 (9999) DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01666.x

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/JLlnLXe0Fow/120830065813.htm

joyful noise one life to live jeff fisher van der sloot heather locklear mlk memorial mlk memorial

AP: Review says Sandusky fits sex predator status

FILE - In this June 22, 2012 file photo, former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, center, leaves the Centre County Courthouse in custody after being found guilty of multiple charges of child sexual abuse in Bellefonte, Pa Sandusky has been recommended for designation as a sexually violent predator, a legal status that would require lifetime registration with authorities, according to a person who has read an assessment board's report to a judge in the case. The recommendation from the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board was disclosed to The Associated Press on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012 by the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the report's confidential nature. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

FILE - In this June 22, 2012 file photo, former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, center, leaves the Centre County Courthouse in custody after being found guilty of multiple charges of child sexual abuse in Bellefonte, Pa Sandusky has been recommended for designation as a sexually violent predator, a legal status that would require lifetime registration with authorities, according to a person who has read an assessment board's report to a judge in the case. The recommendation from the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board was disclosed to The Associated Press on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012 by the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the report's confidential nature. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

(AP) ? Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has been recommended for designation as a sexually violent predator, a legal status that would require lifetime registration with authorities, according to a person who has read an assessment board's report to a judge in the case.

The recommendation from the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board was disclosed to The Associated Press on Thursday by the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the report's confidential nature.

Sandusky, 68, was convicted in June of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. He is jailed awaiting sentencing and maintains his innocence.

Sandusky, given his age and the serious nature of the crimes of which he was convicted, is likely to receive a sentence that will keep him in prison for life. No sentencing date has been announced.

Pennsylvania law designates certain offenders as sexually violent predators if they are considered to have mental abnormalities or personality disorders that make them likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses.

If prosecutors pursue the sexually violent predator status and Sandusky opposes it, Judge John Cleland will decide whether it is merited.

A spokesman for the attorney general's office declined to comment on Thursday, and Sandusky defense attorney Joe Amendola did not return phone and email messages seeking comment.

Sexual Offenders Assessment Board spokesman Leo Dunn said the board does not comment on any case, but he noted it has never failed to complete an assessment within 90 days, as required. The judge ordered Sandusky's evaluation by the board on June 22, shortly after the jury verdict.

Dunn said such evaluations are assigned to an investigator, who then reports his or her findings to a board member. The board member produces an evaluation, which includes a recommendation.

Some sex offenders must register under the Pennsylvania Megan's Law for 10 years, but that requirement is lifelong for sexually violent predators, who must update their residences to the state police on a quarterly basis and prove they are participating in approved counseling.

Also, the chief law enforcement official in the community where a sexually violent predator lives is required to notify the public by producing a flier that bears the offender's name, address, photograph and offense.

Eight young men testified against Sandusky, describing a range of abuse that went from grooming and manipulation to fondling, oral sex and anal rape when they were boys and included acts that occurred inside Penn State team showers.

One young man testified his muffled screams from the basement of the Sandusky home in State College, where Penn State is based, went unanswered as Sandusky attacked him.

"He got real aggressive and just forced me into it," the 18-year-old testified. "And I just went with it ? there was no fighting against it."

Prosecutors said Sandusky used his status as a Penn State football icon and the charity for youth he founded, The Second Mile, to attract victims. He was arrested in November after a grand jury investigation that also led to charges of perjury and failure to report suspected abuse against university administrators Tim Curley and Gary Schultz. Those charges, which the men deny, have not gone to trial.

Hall of Fame football coach Joe Paterno was fired by the university's board of trustees days after Sandusky's arrest, and the scandal also cost university president Graham Spanier his job. Paterno died of lung cancer in January, while Spanier, who has not been charged with any crime, remains a tenured faculty member.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-08-30-Penn%20State-Abuse-Sandusky/id-1b94625c5c2444cb8592b42abccf585b

mpaa south carolina debate lauren scruggs william shatner seattle weather skier sarah burke gingrich wife

Visualized: Samsung's eerily familiar IFA Smart Lounge

Image

So many tired and weary feet at this show, who wouldn't want a nice lounge? Particularly a Smart one? And hey, Samsung's tenty IFA lounge seemed oddly welcoming -- at least to us Engadget folk. You'd think Samsung would be a little more cautious these days...

Visualized: Samsung's eerily familiar IFA Smart Lounge originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/as1DiIZjrRA/

eddie royal brandon marshall iditarod nfl free agents 2012 encyclopedia brittanica nfl free agency jonbenet ramsey

WMU intramural sports offers | Western Herald

By Adam Dietz

The Western Michigan University Intramural sports program welcomes athletes of all levels of expertise, from record setting high school quarterbacks or people who think the Denver Nuggets were something that could be ordered off the dollar menu at McDonalds.

The collegiate way of living is always akin to good health and physical fitness, so staying active is of the utmost importance in these formidable years of college students? lives. The program boasts 10 different sports throughout the year that typically cost $9 per participant

The fall sports available for 2013 include: softball, sand volleyball, indoor volleyball, flag football, basketball, tennis, racquetball and ice hockey.

All of the sports listed are available in three formats: men?s league, women?s league and co-recreational league, in which both sexes play together for a common cause.

The team registration process is as painless as reading this well-written article. There are essentially two options for signing a team up to play in a specific league.

The first is through the information super highway that we know as the internet. Participants can visit www.imleagues.com/wmich to make a profile for themselves and sign up their team. All players must have a profile on this website in order to take part their desired league. Once the profile has been completed, players must visit the Intramural Sports office in the3rd floor of the Student Recreation Center and for themselves and/or their teammates.

Students can also stop by the Intramural Sports office and ask for a roster sheet that will require you to manually fill all of your players? names, Western Identification Numbers (WIN) and email addresses.

Both registration techniques require visiting the3rd floor of the Student Recreation Center for payment as there is not yet an online payment option.

The Intramural Sports program also serves as an employer for students who are interested in working with and around sports. Each year, the program hires students to officiate sports across the spectrum. Being an official is an excellent way to stay involved in campus, make friends and earn extra spending money.

?The sports I typically need hire for are flag football, basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball and ice hockey,? said Intramural Sports Coordinator, Darren Leigh.

The current pay rate for officials is $8.22 per game for all sports except Hockey which pays $11 per game. Previous experience as an official is not a requirement, as an extensive amount of training is given to prospective officials.

?The Western Michigan University Intramural Sports program is unparalleled in its ability to enable campus involvement and entertainment,? said Leigh. ?With a campus wide enrollment of 25,000 plus students, sometimes one cannot help but feel like a small tadpole in a much larger pond. The dorms and classrooms are where friendships are cultivated and intramural sports/student recreation are where they can be harvested.?

For more information on the Intramural Sports program visit the Facebook page, ?WMU Intramural Sports? or on the Twitterverse @WMU_Intramurals. The Intramural Sports office is open weekdays from 1:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. with abbreviated hours on the weekend once classes begin. Informational meetings and registration deadlines are fast approaching

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=30627

Posted by Ambrosia on Aug 30 2012. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Ambrosia

Source: http://www.westernherald.com/news/wmu-intramural-sports-offers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wmu-intramural-sports-offers

jayhawks wwe wrestlemania oakland shooting mega millions mega millions winning numbers autism speaks ubaldo jimenez

Rick Santorum attacks Obama over welfare reform waiver. Was that fair?

Rick Santorum attacked President Obama in his speech for the GOP convention, repeating a common criticism that Obama has watered down welfare reform. Fact-checkers say the claim is not true, but it fit well into Tuesday's 'We Built It' theme.?

By Linda Feldmann,?Staff writer / August 28, 2012

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum addresses to delegates during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday.

Charles Dharapak/AP

Enlarge

He was one of Mitt Romney?s fiercest competitors for the Republican presidential nomination.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

But on Tuesday, at the opening night of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., Rick Santorum played the loyal soldier to his party?s standard-bearer, launching a spirited attack against President Obama over welfare reform and reinforcing his own brand as an impassioned opponent of abortion.

Mr. Santorum, who emerged as the favorite of social conservatives during the primaries, also made much of his own experiences on the campaign trail, suggesting the 50-something former senator from Pennsylvania may want to take another run at the presidency, either in four or eight years.

But Santorum?s first order of business was to make the case against Mr. Obama.

?Under President Obama, the dream of freedom and opportunity has become a nightmare of dependency with almost half of America receiving some sort of government assistance,? Santorum said.??

?This summer,? the ex-senator continued, ?he showed us once again he believes in government handouts and dependency by waiving the work requirement for welfare.?

Fact-checkers deny that the Obama administration has eliminated the work requirement attached to the 1996 welfare reform. The waivers, some given at the request of Republican governors, give states flexibility in how they handle their welfare rolls, as long as they maintain a 20 percent increase in the number of people getting work.

But it?s campaign season, and welfare is a hot topic ? ready made for the night of the convention dubbed ?We Built It,? which centers on the theme of hard work. And the Republicans have no better amplifier of hot-button social issues than Santorum.??

The Pennsylvanian was scheduled to speak early in the evening, but convention organizers were reportedly so excited about his remarks that they moved him later, to the 9 o?clock hour, not far from the evening?s highlights, speeches by Romney?s wife, Ann, and keynoter Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/KO4Wvn_QjPg/Rick-Santorum-attacks-Obama-over-welfare-reform-waiver.-Was-that-fair

Caster Semenya Medal Count 2012 Olympics victoria beckham London 2012 rhythmic gymnastics Meteor Shower August 2012 jessie j jessie j

Read More - Health & Fitness Articles at Exercise 24 - Typepad

Love said he believes that the long-term benefits of specific decisions can be reinforced with tangible rewards, like a note, a raise or promotion, which may serve as indicators of long-term success and help overcome short-term prejudicesWhile psychologists have long studied how humans make choices, is among the first research that looks at how far people ?could have? when making decisions that affect their future was repeated.

Faced with a choice that could give the format a short-term satisfaction or long-term benefits, people with complete information on options for the award are generally faster, according to new research from the University of Texas at Austin psychologists.

?You think, with information on options, a person would make a better decision. Our study suggests the opposite,? said Associate Professor Bradley Love, who led the research with university students Eight Ross. ?To fully appreciate the long-term option, you must choose repeatedly and begin to feel the benefits.?

?We hope that the new Defra Ministers will make a lot of attention to the report, particularly the basic message that the responsibility and cost sharing should reduce the risks and costs of animal disease and improve animal welfare.?

In a real life scenario, a student who was studying at home and later learned that he had missed a picnic would be less inclined to consider the next time a similar situation ? although this option offers more long-term benefits .

However, subjects who received a full and accurate information on what should have abandoned the short term to earn points in the long run, has selected the rapid increase of more than twice as likely than those given false information or no information about the benefits would give up.

?Basically, people stay away from thinking about pain in the short-term gains, or are buried and, objectively, will end up worse,? said Love.

Source: http://www.exercise24.org/?p=464

sarah burke death etta james funeral erin brockovich dodgeball 2012 pro bowl postsecret ufc on fox 2

Source: http://browningcolby.typepad.com/blog/2012/08/read-more-health-fitness-articles-at-exercise-24.html

jose reyes college football bowl schedule college football bowl schedule double mastectomy 2011 bowl schedule bcs games heath bell