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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Democrats Are Stupid, Too

Even many Republicans agree that they lost the battle over the shutdown and the debt ceiling. The Tea Party walked the country to the edge of economic ruin and their party to the edge of political catastrophe until Republican leaders in Congress flinched. Maneuvering themselves into that defeat was an act of insane recklessness by Republicans and a political gaffe of the first order. Perhaps they’ll do it again in a few months.

Democrats, though, have little to celebrate.

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2013/10/22/democrats_are_stupid_too_318399.html
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Mayor helps new theater dedication in Brooklyn

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, director Julie Taymor and actor Mark Rylance gathered Tuesday in Brooklyn to help cut the ribbon for a jewel box-sized, shiny new theater, the first permanent home for Theatre for a New Audience in its 34 year existence.

It is the city's first new theater designed expressly for Shakespeare and classic drama since 1965, and is the first permanent home for the itinerant company, which was founded in 1979 by Jeffrey Horowitz. He estimates it will attract an audience of between 30,000-to-40,000, many public school children.

"Friends, Romans, Brooklynites," the mayor intoned inside the $69 million theater, which was created with public and private pledges. "Lend me your ears. We come not to praise Shakespeare, but to stage him."

In addition to a 299-seat main theater, the 27,500-square-foot company's home also houses a 50-seat rehearsal space and a lobby cafe. It overlooks a new public garden plaza and sits along a walking path between the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Opera House and Harvey Theater. The city pledged some $34 million to the project.

Designed by Hugh Hardy of H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, the new theater has a large glass facade, gunmetal gray panels, a 35-foot-tall main stage, a second-floor lobby and a central staircase. The building went up in a former parking lot and has been named the Polonsky Shakespeare Center after a gift from the Polonsky Foundation.

The new theater boasts an ability to morph into seven different stage and seating configurations. Hardy said building it posed an interesting challenge: "How do you make a small building important?" The answer was to tilt the square structure and help it stand out by using glass and shiny metal.

"I can imagine a child coming in here and saying, 'Yeah, but it's empty. It's got nothing in it,'" said Rylance, the two-time Tony Award-winning English actor who is alternating between starring in "Twelfth Night" and "Richard III" on Broadway. "It's wonderful for plays. It doesn't have a character that forces itself on you. It's a neutral space that is waiting for the words of the actors to fill it."

Taymor, of "The Lion King" and "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" fame, has accepted the theater's invitation to direct the official 2013 inaugural production, "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Taymor has already directed four plays for the troupe, including Carlo Gozzi's "The Green Bird," which moved to Broadway in 2000.

Taymor has already been hard at work getting "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and her cast of 36 ready for its Nov. 2 opening. "I've been in the dark. Oh, I shouldn't have said that," she joked, referring to her rocky ride with the comic book musical.

"I love being here. It's the perfect play to open this theater because it is a blessing of the house," she said. "The theater is flexible and it's small and intimate. How many times do you get a space that's dedicated to that and dedicated to experimentation?"

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Online:

http://www.tfana.org

___

Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mayor-helps-theater-dedication-brooklyn-164030453.html
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Texas dad alleges bullying in 91-0 football game

In this Oct. 18, 2013, photo, Aledo's Daythan Davis, left, runs past Western Hills Jacoby Powell (6) , and Desmond Mize as he races for a first down in the first quarter of a football game in Aledo, Texas. Aledo defeated Western Hills 91-0. A parent at Western Hills high school has filed a bullying complaint against the winning coach. (AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Bob Haynes) MAGS OUT; (FORT WORTH WEEKLY, 360 WEST)

In this Aug. 31, 2013 photo, Aledo High School football coach Tim Buchanan watches from the sideline during the second half of a game against Highland Park, in Allen, Texas. A parent at a Texas high school that lost a football game 91-0 has filed a bullying complaint against the winning coach. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Aledo High School coach Buchanan learned of the online complaint against him Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013, the day after his team beat Western Hills in a 4A matchup. (AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Bob Booth) MAGS OUT; (FORT WORTH WEEKLY, 360 WEST)

In this Oct. 18, 2013, photo, Aledo High School player Ryan Newsom (17), runs between Western Hills players Shane Little, left, and Jacoby Powell during the first quarter of a football game in Aledo, Texas. Aledo defeated Western Hills 91-0. A parent at Western Hills high school has filed a bullying complaint against the winning coach. (AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Bob Haynes) MAGS OUT; (FORT WORTH WEEKLY, 360 WEST)

In this Oct. 18, 2013, photo, Aledo's Jess Anders races past Western Hills's Desmond Mize to score the touchdown during the second quarter of of a football game in Aledo, Texas. Aledo defeated Western Hills 91-0. A parent at Western Hills high school has filed a bullying complaint against the winning coach. (AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Bob Haynes) MAGS OUT; (FORT WORTH WEEKLY, 360 WEST)

Texas high school coach Tim Buchanan benched his starters after only 21 plays, kept to a conservative ground game and even allowed the clock to run uninterrupted after halftime to hasten the final whistle. Still, his Bearcats won 91-0.

Now the coach is facing formal accusations of bullying.

The impressive victory for undefeated Aledo High School, a football powerhouse in suburban Fort Worth that has put up similar numbers against other schools, has forced an investigation after a parent from the opposing team filed a bullying complaint. The complaint, which must be investigated under state law, says Buchanan should have done more to prevent the lopsided score.

"It wasn't good for anybody," Buchanan said of the Friday win over Western Hills in a Class 4A matchup. "I've sat and gone over and over and over it on what we could have done differently. The score could have very easily been 150 to nothing."

Western Hills coach John Naylor told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he disagreed with the bullying allegation, which Buchanan said suggested his coaches "should have made their payers ease up and quit playing that hard." Naylor did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment Tuesday.

Under state law, Aledo's principal must investigate the complaint and prepare a report. The complaint was filed with the school district, which the law requires to provide bullying complaint forms on its websites.

The University Interscholastic League, the governing body for high school sports in Texas, only has a mercy rule for six-man football that ends a game when one team gets ahead by 45 points by halftime or later. There is no mercy rule for 11-man football, though coaches can agree to end a game early, UIL spokeswoman Kate Hector said.

Buchanan said Tuesday he wasn't aware of that option.

There were about 1,500 fans still in the stands at the end of the game, most of them Aledo's, he said. About 5,000 were at the Bearcats' stadium in Aledo at the beginning because it was a recognition night for band members' parents. A cold front that brought rain added another reason to leave when the game started to get out of hand, Buchanan said.

While blowouts are not uncommon in Texas high school football, Aledo has racked up several of them this season, due in part to being placed in a new district that has not been as strong in football. The Bearcats' average victory margin in four district games is 77 points.

The University Interscholastic League bases its realignment decisions on enrollment and geographic location to minimize travel time, a move aimed at reducing class absences. When Aledo was placed in a different district before last season, its travel time to the furthest location was cut from two hours to about 35 miles, Buchanan said.

Buchanan's team, which is averaging 69.3 points a game with a 7-0 record, ran just 32 plays but scored on about every third one during Friday's game. Aledo rushed for 391 yards. It scored eight touchdowns on the ground, two each on passes and punt returns, and one on a fumble recovery.

"It certainly didn't seem like they were trying to run up the score in this case," Hector said.

Western Hills had 79 yards rushing and 67 yards passing.

The UIL follows NCAA rules, but most other states follow guidelines of the National Federation of State High School Associations, said Bob Colgate, the federation's director of sports and sports medicine.

Colgate said many of the federation's 48 member states and the District of Columbia have adopted a mercy rule in 11-man football. He noted that a survey published in February found that 16 states reported using a mercy rule with point margins, which are set by individual states, ranging from 30 points to 50 points.

Aledo Principal Dan Peterson said his report on the bullying complaint should be completed this week. It will be given to the father who filed the complaint and the staff at Western Hills.

Hector said anyone can submit a proposal for a rule change which could then be considered by the UIL's legislative council.

Buchanan said his school, winner of four state titles since 1998, and district are very supportive of the football program. The same, he said, cannot be said of Western Hills.

"It's not so much money as it is lack of emphasis," he said. "If you're going to have a program, support it."

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-10-22-FBH-High-Score-Bullying-Complaint/id-a379e7584af140689a3d9e7da6e7a362
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Bellator signs 28-0 featherweight prospect 'Morceguinho'

Bellator has added another finisher to its roster.

Undefeated featherweight Julio Cesar Neves Junior, better known in Brazil simply as "Morceguinho", has signed a deal with Bellator after racking up an impressive 28-0 record in the Brazilian regional circuit.

The 19-year-old fighter has gone the distance only three times in his career, finishing 17 fights via knockout -- including this "knockout of the year" candidate -- and eight via submission since his MMA debut on October 2011.

Neves, the younger brother of Bellator tournament winner Rafael "Morcego" Silva (21-3), has won 18 fights over the last 12 months, and the date and opponent for his Bellator debut are yet to be announced.

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/10/22/4907208/bellator-signs-28-0-featherweight-prospect-morceguinho
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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Lucy Wainwright Roche: In The Family Business

Courtesy of the artist

Lucy Wainwright Roche.

Courtesy of the artist

Songs by Lucy Wainwright Roche seems to be told with a shrug, a note of apology, or modesty. And, yet, her father is the witty and acerbic singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III. Her mother is Suzzy Roche — one third of the harmonious Roche sisters. Her half-brother and -sister are Rufus and Martha Wainwright, each acclaimed singer-songwriters in their own right.

But Lucy Wainwright Roche looked around at all that talent and didn't really want to be a part of it.

"I had no interest in being a musician because I was surrounded by them. It seemed like a terrible plan," Roche tells NPR's Melissa Block, laughing.

There's a Last Time for Everything is available from Amazon and iTunes.

Her own shyness was also an initial problem.

"The very first show I did alone had been a terrible, awkward, horrible disaster," she says. "And then the second one — about halfway through I realized I should just be the way I would be if I was just talking to one person. That solved the problem. Then I was like, 'Oh, I'm not really building the mystique. I'm just sort of being normal. And that helped because I'm not much of a mystique builder."

None of Roche's family appears on There's a Last Time for Everything. That's in part due to the short recording schedule, but she says it was "great to do it in a little bubble away from the family."

Somewhere in the middle of the album, Roche covers the empowering Robyn anthem "Call Your Girlfriend" and strips it down to what a friend of her calls a "sad snoozer."

"When I first heard that song, I was like, 'Wow, I have never heard someone say exactly that in that way in a song before.' I'd never heard somebody say, 'Look, call your girlfriend. Tell her we're going to be together now and tell her it's fine.' I thought it was a quite direct and interesting approach, although I'm not sure how well it would work in real life. But I was smitten with the idea of the song."

The first time listeners might have met Lucy Wainwright Roche was in a 1985 song written by her dad and aunt, Terre Roche. "Screaming Issue" is a beautiful lullaby about Roche as a screaming baby. She loves it now, but as a kid, she really didn't like it "because people would always sing it to me."

Her parents split up when she was two years old, and since Loudon Wainwright spent part of his time in England, father and daughter didn't see each other very much during her childhood. Roche says as an adult, she's traveled a lot with him on tour.

"I think it's a thing that most people who don't spend a lot of time with a parent as a kid, [they] rarely get to make it up," Roche says. "And we have in a way. So that's been a really interesting chapter for us, I think."

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/22/239739332/lucy-wainwright-roche-in-the-family-business?ft=1&f=1039
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Mayor helps new theater dedication in Brooklyn

___

Online:

http://www.tfana.org

___

Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-10-22-US-Theatre-for-a-New-Audience/id-8ba4ee7c753c4527911215623183f685
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China Mobile profit down on tougher competition

BEIJING (AP) — China Mobile Ltd., the world's biggest phone carrier by subscribers, said its latest quarterly profit tumbled 8.7 percent due to tougher competition.

Profit in the three months ended Sept. 30 was 28.4 billion yuan ($4.5 billion), down from 31.1 billion yuan a year earlier, the state-owned carrier said.

"The group experienced severe difficulties and challenges arising from increasingly complex competition," China Mobile said in a statement.

Beijing restructured China's phone industry in 2008, creating three carriers each with a mix of mobile and fixed-line assets, to spur competition and innovation.

Since then, China Mobile and rivals China Telecom Ltd. and China Unicom Ltd. have suffered reduced profit margins despite rapid growth in new customers, especially for third-generation service.

China Mobile's revenue for the quarter rose 11.3 percent to 159.9 billion.

The total number of 3G subscribers was 169.5 million as of Sept. 30, up from 137.9 million a year earlier.

The company said it expects both new opportunities and more competitive pressure once Beijing begins to roll out fourth-generation services.

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China Mobile Ltd.: www.chinamobileltd.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-mobile-profit-down-tougher-competition-135112240.html
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