Ronda Rousey has finally met her match. Rousey, who has won every one of her fights with an armbar in the first round. And yet, when she meets up with an adorable four-year-old, what does Rousey do? She submits to an armbar!
Rousey's actual next opponent is Liz Carmouche at UFC 157. Will we see another armbar from the UFC bantamweight women's champ? Speak up in the comments, on Facebook or Twitter.
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Finding a pet-friendly hotel isn?t the hassle it once was. A lot of hotels do accept pets. The gamble is, what will the room be like? Sometimes, it feels like pet owners are the new smokers. You can check in, but you?ll be sleeping in the smelly room across from the ice machine on the ground floor. In Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., for instance, our pet-friendly hotel room had tufts of fur on the pillowcase when I turned down the bedspread. I called the front desk to complain, and we got moved to a new room where our cat disappeared into a hole in the drywall behind the toilet.
So it was nice last week to check into a dog-friendly hotel that had none of these problems. Retired veterinarian Dr. Paula Terifaj owns and operates the DogSpa Resort and Wellness Center in Desert Hot Springs, Calif. The DogSpa isn?t a spa for dogs, as the name suggests, but rather a hotel where dogs of all sizes and breeds may stay unattended in the room, run in the private off-leash dog park or roam the main lounge while their humans eat breakfast. But what had enticed me there were the website photos. In one shot, a cute dog is paddling in the hotel pool. In another, a woman luxuriates with a glass of wine while a large hunting dog nuzzles her in the hot tub.
Two days later, we arrived with our golden retriever. ?You have the place to yourself,? said innkeeper Bob, who offered us our choice of rooms. We picked a corner suite with a comfy king-size bed, a cozy kitchenette and a door leading out to the swimming pool.
The pool was a big draw because Desert Hot Springs is legendary for its soothing mineral waters. The city sits on a branch of the San Andreas Fault, and is one of few places known to have both hot and cold subterranean water basins. Its cold spring water wins international tasting contests for best tap water. The mineral-rich hot water and allure of a desert hideaway attracted Al Capone to the area in the 1920s, and continues to be a magnet for celebrities from Los Angeles, an hour and 45 minutes away. The naturally heated water in the hotel?s hot tub is pumped from a backyard well, and maintains a year-round temperature of 40? C.
In our room, we watched the TV news: orange farmers were worried that the cold snap would ruin crops. In spite of the freezing wind, I stepped outside in bare feet and bathing suit with the dog behind me. ?Jump in,? I told her. At home on Vancouver Island, our dog?s favourite pastime is fetching balls from the ocean. Now, though, she looked at me nervously, tucked her tail between her legs and cowered at the water?s edge, staring at the steam, the bubbles, the flashing lights.
The next morning, I expressed my disappointment to Terifaj that our waterdog wouldn?t go in the water. ?Oh, that?s a myth that dogs want to go in the swimming pool,? she said. After breakfast, she joined me in the lounge, where I met her rescued pit bull mix named Brad Pitt. Like any other dog at DogSpa, the mild-mannered Brad Pitt was off-leash, hopping about freely on three legs due to a bad knee.
Terifaj said that her frustration with other hotels led her to open DogSpa: ?Here, pet-friendly means you don?t pay anything extra for your dog, and you?re not relegated to certain rooms.? She didn?t like being judged by other guests. ?Have you ever been there when people are giving you the eye because your dog is peeing and pooing? I thought we needed a place where we could just go relax with our dogs, and not feel like an outsider.?
She?s certainly in the right spot. In nearby Palm Springs, hotel guidebooks provide lists of dog-friendly restaurants. And when a waitress at Davey?s Hideaway Restaurant saw me stop to read the menu outside, she invited me to bring my dog in for dinner. When we showed up later without the dog, she scolded me, ?Why didn?t you bring your dog? I told you to bring the dog!?
Back at the hotel, I thought dog lovers should know about this place. The owner might consider changing the name, though. It?s not a spa for dogs. She should find something that says ?People spa, dogs welcome, vet on site.?
NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks opened mixed Wednesday as encouraging earnings reports helped to offset disappointing news that showed the U.S. economy unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 4 points to 13,949 as of 9:58 a.m. EST. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 1 point to 1,509. The Nasdaq composite gained 9 points to 3,162.
The U.S. economy shrank from October through December for the first time since the recession ended, hurt by the biggest cut in defense spending in 40 years, fewer exports and sluggish growth in company stockpiles. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter. That's a sharp slowdown from the 3.1 percent growth rate in the July-September quarter.
Amazon jumped $14.25 to $274.40 after the world's biggest online retailer showed improving profit margins when it posted fourth-quarter earnings late Tuesday. Boeing gained 30 cents to $73.95 after it reported earnings that beat analysts' expectations, as rising profits from commercial jets offset a smaller profit from defense work.
The Dow Jones average has surged since the start of the year climbing close to 14,000 and to within touching distance of its record level. Investors bought stocks after lawmakers reached a deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" and on optimism the U.S. housing market is recovering and the jobs market is slowly healing.
Investors will parse the Federal Reserve's statement later Wednesday following the conclusion of the central bank's first two-day meeting this year.
Economists are expecting the Fed to affirm that it intends to keep short-term rates near zero until joblessness dips below 6.5 percent from the current 7.8 percent. The statement is scheduled to be released at 2:15 p.m. EST.
Among other stocks making big moves Wednesday;
? Chesapeake surged $1.33 to $20.35 after the company said late Tuesday that its embattled CEO Aubrey McClendon will leave the company this spring.
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.?~ Leo Tolstoy ~
As Financial Coaches, we meet with many people who think that they are on a budget, because they know how much they spend each month. They can tell you how much was spent on groceries or the dentist. They just check the credit card bill or the bank statement. Then there are people?who use tools like mint.com This is a free service to track your spending and look at current balances on all your financial accounts. They will send you bill reminders and suggest where you can save or cut expenses. This is a great tracking tool, bit it is not a budget. Tracking your expenses and savings after the month is over will give you valuable information about where your money went. Keeping receipts for cash expenses and itemizing bills and bank statements will give you a better idea. But is this not budgeting.
What is a budget?
A budget is a tool to?help you determine where your money will be spent, before?you spend it. A large portion of our monthly expenses are either fixed or stay roughly the same each month. There are always miscellaneous spending items that will come up such as soccer pictures, gifts or a flat tire. A budget gives you a way to plan for theses expenses without overspending. A budget is built each month before the month begins. You put your income at the top and categorize your spending until you have spent all of your income for the month either on expenses or savings.
Advantages to cash
Building a budget and assigning cash categories can make a big difference in how you spend. We use cash for groceries, restaurants, household products, miscellaneous expenses and personal spending (AKA blow money). It registers in your brain a lot more when hand the wait-staff at a restaurant $100.00 bill than it does to just put it on a credit or debit card. If makes you think first before ordering appetizers or before even?setting foot into a restaurant at all! Cash is visual. You can see how much you have left in your spending category as the month progresses. It helps keep you from going over your budget. If you run low in a category, you need to revisit your budget and adjust numbers to take money away from on category and add to another. Make sure that you write down your changes so that you can apply them if they apply again the next month.
In the world of personal finance there is room for both tracking and budgeting. In fact, everyone, no matter what your income level, should be?doing both. It can be?as simple as a yellow pad or computer based. In order to be?pointed in the right direction for long term gains, you need to put these systems in place.
We welcome your comments. Here are some things to think about:
What type of tracking system works for you?
Do you make a new budget each month using a computer spread sheet or a yellow pad?
Tim and Kathryn Gerken are Financial Coaches in Newcastle, WA. They do a monthly budget and track spending on an excel spread sheet. If you would like a copy of the form, please contact us and we will email it to you!
Jan. 28, 2013 ? Ever since discovering a decade ago that a gene altered in lung cancer regulated an enzyme used in therapies against diabetes, Reuben Shaw has wondered if drugs originally designed to treat metabolic diseases could also work against cancer.
The growing evidence that cancer and metabolism are connected, emerging from a number of laboratories around the world over the past 10 years, has further fueled these hopes, though scientists are still working to identify what tumors might be most responsive and which drugs most useful.
Now, in a new study in the journal Cancer Cell, Shaw and a team of scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies found that phenformin, a derivative of the widely-used diabetes drug metformin, decreased the size of lung tumors in mice and increased the animals' survival. The findings may give hope to the nearly 30 percent of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors lack LKB1 (also called STK11).
The LKB1 gene turns on a metabolic enzyme called AMPK when energy levels of ATP, molecules that store the energy we need for just about everything we do, run low in cells. In a previous study, Shaw, an associate professor in Salk's Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory and researcher in the Institute's new Helmsley Center for Genomic Medicine, demonstrated that cells lacking a normal copy of the LKB1 gene fail to activate AMPK in response to low energy levels. LKB1-dependent activation of AMPK serves as a low-energy checkpoint in the cell. Cells that lack LKB1 are unable to sense such metabolic stress and initiate the process to restore their ATP levels following a metabolic change. As a result, these LKB1-mutant cells run out of cellular energy and undergo apoptosis, or programmed cell death, whereas cells with intact LKB1 are alerted to the crisis and re-correct their metabolism.
"The driving idea behind the research is knowing that AMPK serves as a sensor for low energy loss in cells and that LKB1-deficient cells lack the ability to activate AMPK and sense energy loss," says David Shackelford, a postdoctoral researcher at Salk who spearheaded the study in Shaw's lab and is now an assistant professor at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.
That led Shaw and his team to a class of drugs called biguanides, which lower cellular energy levels by attacking the power stations of the cell, called mitochondria. Metformin and phenformin both inhibit mitochondria; however, phenformin is nearly 50 times as potent as metformin. In the study, the researchers tested phenformin as a chemotherapy agent in genetically-engineered mice lacking LKB1 and which had advanced stage lung tumors. After three weeks of treatment, Shaw and his team saw a modest reduction in tumor burden in the mice.
Continuing the study between Salk and UCLA, Shaw and Shackelford coordinated teams in both locations to perform further testing on mice with earlier stage disease, using cutting-edge imaging technologies just like those used on lung cancer patients in the clinic. They found that early phenformin treatment causes increased survival and slower tumor progression in tumors lacking LKB1, but had no significant benefit for tumors with alterations in other lung cancer genes. This specificity in treatment fits with an emerging approach in cancer treatment nationwide, known as personalized medicine, in which the therapies for each patient are selected based on the genes altered in their tumors.
"This study is a proof-of-principle that drugs of this chemical type cause energy stress and lower ATP levels to where it kills LKB1-deficient cells without damaging normal, healthy cells," says Shaw, senior author of the study.
The Food and Drug Administration took phenformin off the market in 1978 due to a high risk of lactic acid buildup in patients with compromised kidney function, which is not uncommon among diabetics but less of an issue for most cancer patients. The issue of kidney toxicity would also be bypassed in cancer patients because the course of treatment is much shorter, measured in weeks to months compared to years of treatment for diabetes patients.
The next step is to determine if phenformin alone would be a sufficient therapy for certain subsets of NSCLC or if the drug would perform better in combination with existing cancer drugs. Based on their findings, the researchers say that phenformin would be most useful in treating early-stage LKB1-mutant NSCLC, as an adjuvant therapy following surgical removal of a tumor, or in combination with other therapeutics for advanced tumors.
"The good news," says Shackelford, "is that our work provides a basis to initiate human studies. If we can organize enough clinicians who believe in investigating phenformin -- and many do -- then phenformin as an anti-cancer agent could be a reality in the next several years."
Other researchers on the study were Laurie Gerken, Debbie S. Vasquez, and Mathias Leblanc of the Salk Institute, and Evan Abt, Atsuko Seki, Liu Wei, Michael C. Fishbein, Johannes Czernin, and Paul S. Mischel, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The work was supported by the Salk Institute's Dulbecco Center for Cancer Research, the Adler Family Foundation, the Ahmanson Translational Imaging Division at UCLA, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
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NOAA forecasters say an unnamed extra-tropical storm will experience explosive intensification over the North Atlantic this weekend. Its central low pressure could rival a category 4 hurricane's.
By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / January 25, 2013
Forecasters are predicting explosive intensification this weekend for an extra-tropical storm in the North Atlantic that is expected to eclipse the intensity of last October's superstorm Sandy.
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Unlike Sandy, the nameless North Atlantic superstorm poses no threat to land. But it does highlight the power such storms can attain.
It's forecast to develop winds of up to 98 miles an hour, while the air pressure at its center ? expected to reach a low between 920 to 930 millibars ? would rival that of a category 4 hurricane, according to forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Prediction Center in College Park, Md.
The system is the same storm "that gave us some snow a couple of days ago in DC," says Robert Banks, a forecaster at the Ocean Prediction Center. The storm intensified as the cold air moved out over relatively warm North Atlantic water, which is feeding energy into the system.
In addition, the system is merging with two other upper-level troughs ? providing the storm with yet more punch.
It's not clear how this storm will fare in the record books, Mr. Banks says. But over at the Weather Underground's web site, data gathered by British weather historian Stephen Burt shows five other storms between 1824 and 1986 with central pressures ranging from 920.2 to 925.6 millibars.
An extra-tropical superstorm in January 1993 holds the record for low pressure ? 913 millibars ? for North Atlantic winter storms in an event that destroyed an oil tanker after it ran aground at the Shetland Islands. The tanker, the MV Braer, was carrying 85,000 tons of crude oil.
RAVENNA, Italy (Reuters) - Italian Coast Guard divers searching for a missing American F-16 and its pilot were focusing on Tuesday on waters where a fishing boat found debris believed to belong to the jet, a Coast Guard official said.
The debris, including fragments of carbon steel, was found floating in the northern Adriatic overnight, Rear Admiral Francesco Saverio Ferrara said. The U.S. Air Force said in a statement on Tuesday it was thought to be wreckage from the missing aircraft.
"We hope to find out more during the day so we can have a more complete picture of what happened," Ferrara said.
The missing jet took off from Aviano Air Base on a training exercise on Monday evening, and the control tower lost contact with the plane at about 2 p.m. ET.
Search-and-rescue operations are being conducted by sea from the port of Ravenna, and Air Force planes from Aviano are spearheading the search from above, Ferrara said.
Snow and rain hampered the operation overnight, and on Tuesday fog was hampering visibility, the Coast Guard said.
Aviano is the base for the U.S. Air Force's 31st Fighter Wing. The Air Force said a board of officers would investigate the incident.
"Wing leadership remains hopeful that we will safely rescue our pilot," an Air Force statement said.
(Reporting by Giorgio Benvenuti; Writing by Steve Scherer in Rome; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
Nick Carey, Bernie Woodall and Karen Pierog, Reuters
DETROIT - At the Detroit Auto Show earlier this month, luxury was in the air. Pricey new Bentleys and Maseratis glittered - including a Maserati 2014 Quattroporte with a $132,000 price tag; U.S. Cabinet Secretaries and dignitaries rubbed shoulders; and many of the well-heeled attendees ponied up for a $300-a-ticket black-tie charity ball.
But in a city that is slowly dying, the glitz didn't extend much beyond the Cobo Center exhibition hall.?General Motors Co. and Chrysler, which along with Ford Motor Co. gave the Motor City its identity, survived near-death experiences after filing for bankruptcy during the financial crisis.?
Now, Detroit itself is edging closer to a similar precipice, only unlike the automakers, its chances of getting a federal bailout are almost nonexistent.
The story of Detroit's decline is decades old: Its tax revenue and population have shrunk and labor costs have remained out of whack. But the city's budget problems have deepened to such an extent that it could run out of cash in a matter of weeks or months and ultimately be forced into what would be the largest-ever Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy filing in the United States.
Frustrated by the lack of concrete progress, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, last month appointed a team to scour the city's books. The audit could result in a state takeover of Detroit's finances through the appointment of an emergency financial manager. Such a manager, who would seize control of the city's checkbook, could then propose federal bankruptcy court as the best option.
Snyder, who has called the situation "a crisis in terms of financial affairs," said the team would deliver its report in February.
"Detroit is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy after the City Council has failed to make the necessary cuts to deal with having a smaller population," said Rick Jones, chairman of the Republican majority caucus in the state Senate.
Jones, who has indicated he does not favor a bankruptcy, said he would like to see an emergency manager installed to fix the city's problems. If that failed, there would be a case for finding a way to shrink the Detroit municipal area, he argued.
Detroit's population is now just over 700,000 - down 30 percent since 1990 - but the city still has to provide services to an area encompassing more land than San Francisco, Boston and the borough of Manhattan.
While Democratic Mayor Dave Bing and the Detroit City Council have moved to reduce spending and initiate some reforms to stave off a takeover, including layoffs and wage and benefit cuts, the progress may not be enough for Michigan officials and lawmakers.
Streets without lights In the booming post-Second World War era, Detroit was America's fifth-largest city. Today, it ranks 18th. In addition to a sharp population decline, it suffers from high unemployment related to a loss of businesses, a flood of home foreclosures and a cut in state funding. That has led to shriveling revenue, leaving the city unable to afford a workforce of more than 10,000 and the surging health and pension costs that go with them and with its retirees. As a result, credit ratings on Detroit's approximately $8.2 billion of outstanding debt have sunk deeper into junk territory.
The city's labor costs, including health care and pensions, are shrinking in absolute terms but rising as a share of the budget. They are slated to drop to $968 million, or nearly 49.5 percent of the operating budget, in the fiscal year ending June 30 versus $1.14 billion, or 45.5 percent, a year earlier.
Signs of decline are everywhere - in a rising crime rate, streets without lights and block after block of abandoned buildings. The murder rate of one per 1,719 people last year was more than 11 times the rate in New York City. The jobless rate is above 18 percent, more than twice rate for the country as a whole.
A bankruptcy would be messy.
The interests of creditors would likely collide with those of labor unions wanting to protect workers' benefits, said Eric Scorsone, a Michigan State University economist who has written papers on municipal bankruptcy and on the state's emergency manager laws.
"It is going to require the players - the City Council, the mayor, the state - to be on the same page. If you go into bankruptcy with a lot of conflict and dissent, it's going to cost more," said Scorsone.
It could also be racially explosive. Detroit has the largest percentage of black people of any U.S. city, with 83 percent of the population identifying themselves as African American, black or Negro, according to the 2010 U.S. census. Most of Michigan's state government, including the governor's office, is run by white Republicans. ?
Detroit Council Member JoAnn Watson, who along with two other members of the city's all-black City Council has been resisting reform measures, said she is still hopeful of a federal bailout or an injection of state money that she claims the city is owed.
Mayor Bing would not comment for this story.
Consequences The automakers have little to say publicly about the crisis. Most of their operations in Michigan are now outside Detroit, and getting any top executive to even discuss the possibility of a city bankruptcy was almost impossible at the auto show. "I don't want to get into the politics," said GM CEO Dan Akerson, while Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said: "I don't see what the consequences would be for us."
One of the city's biggest challenges is its complex set of labor agreements with a whopping 48 bargaining units that represent most of the city's workforce.
Max Newman, a bankruptcy attorney at Michigan-based Butzel Long, said a Chapter 9 bankruptcy could help the city throw out its collective bargaining agreements with unions.
Costs would have to be tackled since Detroit cannot just jack up taxes to reduce the cumulative budget deficit, which grew to $326.6 million in fiscal 2012 from $196.6 million in fiscal 2011. The state would likely resist tax increases, and they might only make matters worse anyway. "If taxes go up any further it would exacerbate the flight out of the city," Newman said.
But for some of those who have seen Detroit struggle for years, bankruptcy is starting to look like the least awful option - even though it will be painful.
"I think...off and on, that it wouldn't be a bad idea," said former Ford chief financial officer Allan Gilmour, now the president of Detroit's Wayne State University. "Let's clean this out once and for all."
Additional reporting by Deepa Seetharaman and Paul Lienert in Detroit.
A British newspaper claims to have discovered the convoluted way oil billionaires in the United States can funnel huge amounts of cash toward climate change-denial campaigns, while reaping tremendous tax advantages in the process.
A shadowy group called the Donors Trust is largely funded by billionaire Charles Koch and his wife Liz, according to an investigation by The Independent. The trust indirectly receives millions of dollars in funding from a third-party group called the Knowledge and Progress Fund, which the Koch family operates, the paper claims.
Charles Koch and his brother David are majority shareholders in Koch Industries, an immense conglomeration of oil and gas companies with a global reach ? and a definite interest in denying any link between fossil-fuel use and climate change.
A recent profile in Forbes called Charles Koch "one of the 50 most powerful people in the world, one of the 20 wealthiest ? and one of the dozen most vilified."
The IRS recognizes the Donors Trust as a charitable organization due to its status as a "donor-advised trust." These trusts "are individual accounts administered by tax-exempt organizations, such as community foundations and national charities," according to the Wall Street Journal.
Because the IRS considers these organizations charitable groups, money donated to them is tax-deductible, and the popularity of such trusts is growing quickly. Contributions to donor-advised trust funds increased 10.6 percent in 2011 over 2010, the Journal reports. [The Reality of Climate Change: 10 Myths Busted]
"It's becoming the vehicle of choice," said Robert Brulle, a sociologist at Drexel University in Philadelphia, referring to the donor-advised trust. "It's an attractive conduit of funding to these conservative think tanks," Brulle told LiveScience.
But what do the recipients of the estimated $500 million in donor funding since 2003 actually do with the money? "A lot of it is just unknown," said Brulle. "It goes into the black box of Donors Trust" where the money is, for the most part, untraceable.
The website for Donors Trust provides some clues to their interests: "The current environment on university campuses values Diversitas over Veritas ? but cultural diversity is a poor substitute for truth, which must be the prevailing aim of the university. And discovering truth is impossible without a commitment to freedom of inquiry and the broadest possible range of viewpoints ? what we call intellectual pluralism.
"Typically, we provide top-notch professors with substantial seed capital, spread over three years. After these professors have demonstrated progress with their 'centers,' we assist them in identifying other funding sources ? alumni, institutional or foundations ? to sustain their efforts."
According to the Independent's investigation, Donors Trust has given significant funding to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank. Climatologist Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University has sued that group, claiming it accused him of scientific fraud and compared him to a child molester. (Nine investigations of Mann's climate research, including one by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and another by the National Science Foundation, have found no evidence of academic fraud. The CEI removed the harsh claims several days after publication.)
Mann, however, remains committed to promoting a science-based approach to climate change. "I like to think we're turning the corner on this issue. The damaging impacts that climate change is already having on us here in the U.S. ? are increasingly clear to the person on the street," Mann told LiveScience in an email interview.
"Climate-change denial, despite the great degree of funding and organization behind it, is simply no longer credible to the vast majority of the public," Mann said. "It is my hope ? and my expectation ? that we will soon transition from the unworthy debate about whether the problem even exists to the worthy debate to be had about what to do about it."
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In the case of Glooscap Heritage Society v. The Queen, a charity had its charitable status revoked for improperly issuing tax receipts and operating for the benefit of a tax shelter. The Charity filed an objection to the revocation and applied for an order delaying the revocation until their challenge was heard but this objection was ultimately dismissed.? The Court acknowledged that ?Glooscap?s activities are socially worthy and important to the community? but the Court noted that ?Glooscap?s involvement with the tax shelter is central.?? There is a very important discussion about the issue of reputation.? There is also an interesting recognition by the FCA on the subject of ?the regrettable, often abysmal, sometimes unspeakable events surrounding Canada?s history of aboriginal/non-aboriginal relations: Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples: Looking Forward, Looking Backward, vol. 1 (Ottawa: Canada Communication Group Publishing, 1996)?.? In this case the Court noted that Glooscap issued $19,775 in total donations during 2007-2011 that were not related to the tax scheme but issued $116 million in tax receipts related to the scheme.
In the decision, the court stated:
?[4] In order to delay the revocation, Glooscap must satisfy the Court that it has met the normal test for the granting of stays and injunctions: International Charity Association Network v. Minister of National Revenue, 2008 FCA 114 at paragraph 5. Glooscap must show it has an arguable case against the revocation, it will suffer irreparable harm if the revocation is allowed to happen, and the balance of convenience lies in its favour: RJR-MacDonald v. Canada (Attorney General), [1994] 1 S.C.R. 311.
[5] For the reasons set out below, Glooscap has not satisfied this test. Therefore, I shall dismiss Glooscap?s application to delay the revocation of its registration as a charity, with costs.?
The FCA then goes on to talk about the low threshold for the first step of the test, ?arguable case?, and the Minister conceded and the Court concluded that the charity met this part of the test.
However, to meet the second part of the test, ?irreparable harm?, there must be evidence that the unavoidable irreparable harm would result unless the stay was granted. In this case, it was accepted that the charity would suffer some reputational harm however most of it was caused by the actions of the charity by being associated with a tax shelter, not the revocation of the charity?s status. The charity knew that they could lose their charitable status if they became involved with a tax shelter yet they still chose to continue with these actions. The Court stated (my highlighting):
?[35] Glooscap has adduced evidence from very well-placed deponents: the executive director of the tourist association with which Glooscap is partnered, a multi-decade councillor with the Millbrook First Nation reserve, and the general manager of the museum. However, much of the evidence of harm given by these deponents consists of sweeping, unparticularized assertions and declarations that difficulties would arise that might result in actual harm.
[36] Without a better understanding of Glooscap?s overall financial situation and fundraising ability, I cannot conclude that a loss of donations would result in any irreparable harm to it or its activities.
[37] Glooscap submits that revocation of its registration as a charity will cause harm to its relationships, particularly with non-aboriginal organizations, and these injuries are not capable of later remediation. However, its evidence goes no higher than to identify ?jeopardy? or a risk to those relationships: see paragraphs 11 and 13 of the Mingo Affidavit.
[38] The Court does accept that Glooscap will suffer some reputational harm. However, as explained below, much of the reputational harm, especially in the donor community, will be caused not by the revocation of Glooscap?s registration as a charity, but rather by the reassessment of the donors to the tax shelter.
[39] Ultimately fatal to Glooscap`s application is the requirement that it establish irreparable harm that is unavoidable, i.e., irreparable harm that will be caused by the failure to get a stay, not harm caused by its own conduct in running a clearly-known risk that it actually knew about, could have avoided, but deliberately chose to accept: Dywidag Systems International, supra at paragraphs 14 and 16.?
... ?[41] In this case, Glooscap knew about the sizeable advantages of registered charitable status: exemption from income tax and the ability to issue receipts for donations received. It was warned at an early stage that it might lose its advantageous charitable status if it associated with this tax shelter. Part of that risk is the very thing that has now materialized ? the revocation of its charitable status before it can challenge the revocation in this Court. Warnings about involvement with this tax shelter came from the Canada Revenue Agency (two emails and a meeting), Glooscap?s own lawyer (two letters) and its own auditor. Glooscap?s auditor resigned, at least in part over the issue. There were also warnings that involvement in the tax shelter would require an amendment to Glooscap?s objects and the approval of the Canada Revenue Agency. Yet, knowing of the risks, Glooscap chose to continue its association with the tax shelter, and in fact renewed its association in 2009.
[42] Glooscap submits that it exercised good faith throughout. In support of that submission, among other things, Glooscap points to confirmatory testimony given on cross-examination of a representative of the Canada Revenue Agency. That may be so, but the fact remains that at an early stage Glooscap knew of the risk of the very harm that has eventuated here and it chose to run that risk.
[43] If Glooscap blundered itself into involvement in this tax shelter, oblivious to any real risk, the irreparable harm might not be fairly laid at its feet. Similarly, circumstances such as mistaken advice, mistake as to the facts, trickery, duress or unauthorized conduct by someone wrongly purporting to act for Glooscap might cause a different view to be taken of the matter. But in this case none of these circumstances are present.?
As the irreparable harm part of the test was not met the court did not go into detail on the third part ?balance of convenience?.? The Court just noted:? ?[44] Were it necessary to proceed to this branch of the test, this Court would have found that the balance of convenience lies against the granting of relief to Glooscap.?
The Court noted:
[45] This Court recognizes the high significance and importance of the aboriginal/non-aboriginal partnership in this case between Glooscap and the tourist association, especially when viewed against the regrettable, often abysmal, sometimes unspeakable events surrounding Canada?s history of aboriginal/non-aboriginal relations: Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples: Looking Forward, Looking Backward, vol. 1 (Ottawa: Canada Communication Group Publishing, 1996).
The Court discussed the issue of what is in the ?public interest?.? I find this part to be fascinating:?
?[53] The weight to be accorded to that public interest, already significant, is driven upward by the sizeable amounts said to be in issue in this case: $116,999,482 given in receipts to participants in the tax shelter in 2008-2011, in circumstances where valid non-tax shelter donations over the same period totalled only $19,775. It is also driven up by Glooscap?s decision to involve itself in the tax shelter despite the clear warnings it received.
[54] In assessing and weighing the public interest considerations in this case against the considerations offered by Glooscap, I can do no better than to adopt the words of my colleague, Sharlow J.A., in International Charity Association Network, supra at paragraph 12 (2008 FCA 62): The Minister takes the position, properly in my view, that the public has a legitimate interest in the integrity of the charitable sector. It is reasonable for the Minister to attempt to safeguard that integrity by carefully scrutinizing tax shelter schemes involving charitable donations of property and, where there are reasonable grounds to believe that the property has been overvalued, by taking appropriate corrective action. In the circumstances of this case, the Minister?s factual allegations, while untested, are sufficiently serious to outweigh any advantage [the charity] might derive from an order deferring the revocation of its registration as a charity.?
The Court ultimately decided:
?For the foregoing reasons, I shall dismiss Glooscap?s application to delay the revocation of its registration as a charity. The Minister shall have his costs of the application.?
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who's leading the push to restore an assault weapon ban, acknowledged on Sunday that the effort faces tough odds to pass Congress and she blamed the nation's largest gun-rights group.
Feinstein, D-Calif., on Thursday introduced a bill that would prohibit 157 specific weapons and ammunition magazines that have more than 10 rounds. The White House and fellow Democrats are skeptical the measure is going anywhere, given lawmakers who are looking toward re-election might fear pro-gun voters and the National Rifle Association.
"This has always been an uphill fight. This has never been easy. This is the hardest of the hard," Feinstein said.
"I think I can get it passed because the American people are very much for it," Feinstein said of the measure that follows a similar measure she championed into law 1994 but expired a decade later.
She acknowledged, however, the NRA's political clout.
"They come after you. They put together large amounts of money to defeat you," Feinstein said.
She also said the group was a pawn of those who make weapons.
"The NRA is venal. ... The NRA has become an institution of gun manufacturers," she said.
The NRA disputed her characterization.
"The NRA is a grass-roots organization. We have more than 4 million dues-paying members and tens of millions of supporters all across this country. Our political power comes from them. Decent and logical people would understand that," spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to take up the proposal on Wednesday and hear from the NRA's CEO and senior vice president, Wayne LaPierre. Mark Kelly, the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., who was shot in an assassination attempt, also plans to testify.
Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the GOP vice presidential nominee in 2012, said Congress should focus on the causes of violence and not the weapons alone.
"We need to look beyond just recycling failed policies of the past. ... Let's go beyond just this debate and make sure we get deeper. What's our policy on mental illness? What's going on in our culture that produces this kind of thing? You know, we need to have that kind of a discussion and debate," Ryan said.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., also urged lawmakers to consider mental health issues.
"When I hear some of this conversation, I think that we're looking at symptoms, we're not looking at the root causes," she said. "And I understand the senator's passion for this, but I got to tell you, an assault ban is not the answer to helping keep people safe."
New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who favors the assault weapons ban, expressed skepticism that it would be returned to law.
"It's probably a heavy lift in Congress," he said.
In the wake of the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. In December, President Barack Obama has pushed to expanded background checks, restoring the assault weapons ban and banning high-capacity ammunition magazines. But members of his own party may thwart his hopes.
Feinstein appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" and CNN's "State of the Union." Ryan was on NBC's "Meet the Press." Blackburn and Kelly were on CBS.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A bipartisan group of leading senators has reached agreement on the principles for a sweeping overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, including a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in this country.
The deal, to be announced at a news conference Monday, also covers border security, non-citizen or "guest" workers and employer verification of immigration status.
Although thorny details remain to be negotiated and success is far from certain, the development heralds the start of what could be the most significant effort in years toward overhauling the nation's inefficient patchwork of immigration laws.
President Barack Obama also is committed to enacting comprehensive immigration legislation and will travel to Nevada on Tuesday to lay out his vision, which is expected to overlap in important ways with the Senate effort.
Passage of legislation by the full Democratic-controlled Senate is far from assured, but the tallest hurdle could come in the House, which is dominated by conservative Republicans who've shown little interest in immigration reform.
Still, with some Republicans chastened by the November elections which demonstrated the importance of Latino voters and their increasing commitment to Democrats, some in the GOP say this time will be different.
"What's changed, honestly, is that there is a new, I think, appreciation on both sides of the aisle ? including maybe more importantly on the Republican side of the aisle ? that we have to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
"I think the time is right," McCain said.
Besides McCain, the senators expected to endorse the new principles Monday are Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado; and Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida and Jeff Flake of Arizona.
Several of these lawmakers have worked for years on the issue. McCain collaborated with the late Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on comprehensive immigration legislation pushed by then-President George W. Bush in 2007, only to see it collapse in the Senate when it couldn't get enough GOP support.
The group claims a notable newcomer in Rubio, a potential 2016 presidential candidate whose conservative bona fides may help smooth the way for support among conservatives wary of anything that smacks of amnesty. In an opinion piece published Sunday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Rubio wrote that the existing system amounts to "de facto amnesty," and he called for "commonsense reform."
According to documents obtained by The Associated Press, the senators will call for accomplishing four goals:
?Creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already here, contingent upon securing the border and better tracking of people here on visas.
?Reforming the legal immigration system, including awarding green cards to immigrants who obtain advanced degrees in science, math, technology or engineering from an American university.
?Creating an effective employment verification system to ensure that employers do not hire illegal immigrants in the future, including requiring prospective workers to verify legal status and identity through a non-forgeable electronic system.
?Allowing more low-skill workers into the country and allowing employers to hire immigrants if they can demonstrate they couldn't recruit a U.S. citizen; and establishing an agricultural worker program.
The principles being released Monday are outlined on just over four pages, leaving plenty of details left to fill in. What the senators do call for is similar to Obama's goals and some past efforts by Democrats and Republicans, since there's wide agreement in identifying problems with the current immigration system. The most difficult disagreement is likely to arise over how to accomplish the path to citizenship.
In order to satisfy the concerns of Rubio and other Republicans, the senators are calling for the completion of steps on border security and oversight of those here on visas before taking major steps forward on the path to citizenship.
Even then, those here illegally would have to pass background checks and pay fines and taxes in order to qualify for a "probationary legal status" that would allow them to live and work here ? but not qualify for federal benefits ? before being able to apply for permanent residency, a critical step toward citizenship. Once they are allowed to apply they would do so behind everyone else already in line for a green card within the current immigration system.
That could be a highly cumbersome process, but how to make it more workable is being left to future negotiations. The senators envision a more streamlined process toward citizenship for immigrants brought here as children, and for agricultural workers.
The American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement that the framework agreed on by the senators could provide important protections for illegal immigrants who are exploited by employers and live in "constant fear" over their immigration status.
But the ACLU took issue with the proposal to require employers to use an electronic employment-verification system, calling it "a thinly disguised national ID requirement" that would undermine employees' privacy and lead to discrimination against those "who look or sound 'foreign.'"
The debate will play out at the start of Obama's second term, as he aims to spend the political capital afforded him by his re-election victory on an issue that has eluded past presidents and stymied him during his first term despite his promises to the Latino community to act.
"As the president has made clear for some time, immigration reform is an important priority and he is pleased that progress is being made with bipartisan support," a White House spokesman, Clark Stevens, said in a statement. "At the same time, he will not be satisfied until there is meaningful reform and he will continue to urge Congress to act until that is achieved."
For Republicans, the November elections were a stark schooling on the importance of Latino voters, who voted for Obama over Republican Mitt Romney 71 percent to 27 percent, helping ensure Obama's victory. That led some Republican leaders to conclude that supporting immigration reform with a path to citizenship has become a political imperative.
While the Editors' Choice Star Walk 6 (for iPad) reveals the night sky, including constellations, star clusters, galaxies, nebulae, and planets, another Vito Technology app, Solar Walk (for iPad) ($2.99), focuses on our solar system. It lets you view and scale 3D representations of the Sun, planets, comets, and asteroids, view information on, and (in most cases) images of these objects, and view the solar system (or a planet and its moons) in motion. This impressive iPad app provides a good introduction to the solar system for younger students as well as newcomers to astronomy.
After the app's gorgeous opening screen, showing an artist's view of the inner solar system, the app zeroes in on Earth, showing satellites and their orbits around it, continents, vegetation, clouds, and seas, and the lights on our planet's night side when you rotate it (by sweeping your finger across the screen).
One fun feature of Solar Walk is the time slider along the right-hand edge, coupled with the digital clock at upper right. By setting the clock for minutes, hours, days, months, or years and engaging the slider, you can enable the Earth to rotate (and watch artificial satellites in motion, at least at the slower speeds). If you expand the view by pinching, it will show the Moon in motion around the Earth as well. You can either control the motion by hand, or set the slider in motion by sweeping your finger upwards or downwards and letting go.
Your Personal Transporter At the screen's lower left is a Search button. It will transport you to other objects: the Sun; the planets (Pluto is included as such); dwarf planets and asteroids (Ceres, Makemake, Haumea, Sedna, Eris, and Eros); and comets (Halley's Comet, Hale-Bopp, Borrelly, and Ikeya-Zhang).
Clicking on the information ("i") icon for a world gives you general information about it, figures (data), some info on the world's internal structure, and a list of science missions to it.
By using the slider and clock, you can set these objects in motion as well, so you could watch, for example, the globe of Mars rotate (surface features are marked, and there's a 3D depiction of the Curiosity rover at Gale Crater); Jupiter's cloud belts rotating, and its four large moons in orbit; or the pear-shaped nucleus of Halley's Comet releasing clouds of gas and dust as it rotates. Expanding the Sun view shows you the planets in motion, although its scale is such that the inner planets vanish when you expand the view to encompass the outer worlds.
Also in Search are tabs marked Satellites, Geography, and Stars. With Satellites, you can zero in on specific Earth-orbiting artificial satellites, the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station (ISS) the most notable of them. Clicking on a satellite name/icon will take you to a close-up view (a detailed 3D representation) of it in space. By rotating a satellite and using the time slider, you can make it seem like the satellite is orbiting the Earth, with the ground, ocean, or clouds passing beneath it. (This works better with the ISS than with smaller satellites.) As with planets and other objects, you can access an information page and image gallery.
We Lost New York The Geography tab gives you a choice of four worlds: Moon, Mars, Earth, and Venus. Clicking on one gives you a list of features, both well known and obscure, in alphabetical order. Clicking on any of them takes you to the feature's location, where it's labeled on the planet's rotatable globe, as are other features. On the Earth map, most large cities are shown, although there are some notable omissions. For instance, in the United States, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, Jacksonville, and Washington D.C. are shown, but New York City, for one, seems to have vanished. Hamilton, Bermuda, Thorshavn, capital of the Faroe Islands, and Longyearbyen on Svalbard are shown, but more notable island cities like San Juan, Puerto Rico, Honolulu or, for that matter, Dublin, are missing.
The Stars tab takes you to selected stars. They're shown in their true colors, more or less; for instance, Sirius is bluish, while Barnard's Star is reddish. They're all depicted at the same size; although you can adjust their distance (and therefore, their apparent size) there's no scale, so you wouldn't know by looking at them Sirius is much larger than Barnard's Star, and Betelgeuse much larger than Sirius). They're all shown as single stars, whereas many are double (as is the case with Sirius) or triple (like Rigel Kentaurus, aka Alpha Centauri). The astronomical data you can call up for each star does indicate which are multiple stars, as well as their mass and radius compared with the Sun?if you know how to read it. And although most bright stars are shown, as well as many fainter ones, once again there are some notable omissions, like the brilliant stars Antares, Rigel, Spica, Deneb, and Canopus (the third brightest star in the sky).
At the top left is a Share button that lets you send a screenshot to email or Facebook, tweet it, save it to camera roll, print it, and rate or gift the app.
The Movies section presents educational animations of some (mostly) basic astronomical phenomena. They include Size Comparison [of worlds], Earth's Cycles, Solar Eclipse, The Moon Phases, Tidal Phenomena, Major Circles of Latitude, Zodiacal Constellations, and Cassini-Huygens. They're brief and basic, but do impart useful information to people new to astronomy.
Solar Walk also runs on an iPhone, with the same basic features and functionality. Though fine on an iPhone, the iPad's more generous screen only serves to enhance the experience.
Solar Walk is not quite as intuitive as Solar System, and its 3D graphics generally aren't as stunning. Both apps have gorgeous image galleries. There are some curious selections and omissions to Solar Walk's geography and star Search features. But the app has some good features, including introductory videos, searches, social media integration, and a more modest price.
More iPad App Reviews:
??? Solar System (for iPad) ??? Solar Walk (for iPad) ??? iHeartRadio (for iPad) ??? Temple Run 2 (for iPad) ??? 3D Brain (for iPad) ?? more
A humming city and an professional center of the country, Chennai is the capital of Native indian state - Tamil Nadu. The use of various technological innovation, components production and software sectors makes the town a hot spot for business. With a wide professional platform, great air connection and lots of enhance ways of housing the town embraces authorities and business of the world with open hands. Accommodations in the town has never been a problems as the town is marked with tremendous list of Chennai resorts. The technological innovation industry is huge and that causes the improved level of kindness at these resorts in Chennai.
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About the Author: A humming city and an professional center of the country, Chennai is the capital of Native indian state - Tamil Nadu. The use of various technological innovation, components production and software sectors makes the town a hot spot for business.
There are a number of people that suffer these days with dependency whether to drugs or other harmful substances. Nowadays there are a number of substance abuse rehabilitation establishments that are designed to help people get back on track and to live a fresh life once and for all. There are a variety of options available to individuals these days who wish to get a clean life and to live a sober life also. Here are a few basic facts in regards to substance abuse programs and facilities.
Referrals
For people looking to get clean, you can find your own clinic to enroll in or you can speak to your physician. Because addiction is recognized as an illness these facilities are created to help overcome the addiction once and for all. Going to a facility can be done by referral of friends and family or the person on their own walked in to get support. Once you go ahead and take the step to commit to a cleaner life these establishments are going to be a great place to begin.
Intake
This substance abuse rehab program requires an assessment of you and your dependency. Staff will meet with you so they can better learn more about you and what your preferences might be from the program. Not only will they need to learn about what you have abused previously, but they're likely to want to know about current drugs and substances you use. In the event you show signs of both mental and physical health issues they're going to be tackled as well. Both of these situations are normal with dependency. Additionally, staff will look into your mental health and see what types of symptoms you suffer from the addiction.
The assessment may also consider the amount of commitment you are ready to make to change your way of life. They will consider what triggers could impact your recovery such as friends or family along with other social difficulties. This information is likely to be utilized to assist with the power of the care you really need to help meet your needs to recover.
Cleansing Your Body
All drug facilities perform a detoxification of the entire body. This is a step that's made to help detoxify the entire body from toxic substances and prescription drugs. This helps the body eliminate the dependency on Xanax, tranquilizers, and opiod in a safe way. Without care done the right way there might be serious harm done to the body over time. This process can take between 7-10 days.
When it comes to this drug rehab facility you'll be able to choose from outpatient or inpatient facilities. Outpatient facilities allow you to be at home while attending treatment groups. Recovery is difficult, but when the right support is there it can be done.
About the Author:
What you just learned about substance abuse rehab facilities is simply the beginning. To obtain the full story and all of the details, check us out at our website.
This may seem strange, but some friends of mine are in a band and we started talking about me interviewing them.? While it seemed funny at first?as time went on?the idea caught on.? So here?s the interview with LOUDFINGER!
RIK MORGAN
Rik Morgan was conceived on the front row of a Black Sabbath concert in Dallas, Texas. Upon his birth, the Liberty Bell crack was mended by a lightening strike. Doctors never did understand how a Gibson SG was delivered with Rik, but it is well documented and that he was born with it in his hand. Although 30 years of Rik?s life were spent in the wilderness and are unaccounted for, it is believed that he was studying guitar with the Viking God?s in Valhalla. Nicknamed, THOR, because of the way he swings his guitar like Thor?s Hammer, Rik is well known for causing earthquakes and laying waste to many a venue with his devastating hard rock guitar licks and custom-built 100watt Marshall stack.
Q1) You?ve got a business background.? How do you feel that applies to Loudfinger?
A1) I try to keep the business completely separate from the music.? I?m the antithesis of Gene Simmons.? I?m not trying to build a brand here; I?m just having a good time and I encourage the rest of the band, as well as the audience, to do the same.
?Q2) You?re not getting any younger?? How long do you expect to keep this up?
A2) For me; Rock & Roll is the fountain of youth, baby.? For as long as I?m still kicking, I?m gonna rock hard and stay young!
Barry Dodd
Barry?s love of rock began during his business trip to Africa in 1981.? While harvesting elephant tusks to make ivory piano keys, he accidentally discovered that powdered rhino horns were a powerful aphrodisiac.? One night while conducting field experiments ingesting the powder and combining with alcohol, he satisfied every available woman in the local hunting tribe, but none could quench his lust.? Fortunately for him, Ozzy Osbourne was passing through and in trade for Barry?s aphrodisiac formula, introduced him to rock & roll, and also his strange traveling companion, Lucifer.? Barry was transformed into a rock god, and Ozzy patented Viagra ? a fair trade.
Q1) You?re the new guy.? What do you bring to the band?
A1) I feel like I bring to the band a new and different attitude that definitely shows up in the music.? It?s all about chemistry.
Q2) You?ve been in the local scene since the early 80?s.? How does today?s rock scene compare to the past, and where do you think it?s heading?
A3) Well, back in the day, we didn?t have the same quality of gear.? Most bands had pawn shop equipment, and it sounded like it.? Today, it?s easier than ever to score a good rig.? I think the future is pretty bright because of it.
Q3) How would you categorize the dynamic sound of Loudfinger?
A3) It comes from a place down deep where only the strong survive.
Q4) Why do women seem to love bearing their breasts at Loudfinger performances, and how many boobs have you autographed since joining the band?
A5) I think it?s because the keep spilling drinks down their shirts.? I?ve only signed a couple.? That?s because security came and kicked me out of the old folks home.? Wait, are we talking individual boobs, or pairs?? They come in two?s, you know.
CHRIS CARROLL
Throughout the decades of his quest for that musical Holy Grail known as the Mic of the Magus, which makes any who hold it a rock god of epic proportions, Chris Carroll has led many a nefarious pretender to their doom with his sonic attack. As did the bard in ancient times or the Pied Piper of lore, he leads any within the sound of his voice to the very brink of redemption or condemnation. Wielding a knife-edged and pitch perfect voice, he lays low the nay-sayers and hate-mongers, any who would question his resolve and the validity of his claim to the Mic of the Magus, for he believes he is pre-destined to wield it against the army of posers who muddy the crystalline waters of rock & roll perfection. To all who oppose him, he raises his Loudfinger and crushes them beneath his boot while calling to the Loudfinger Legion to join in his rebellion against the powers of inferior musicianship, imploring them to raise their Loudfingers high, raise them proud, shout it out and LIVE LIFE LOUD!!!
1)? You?ve seen many personnel changes with Loudfinger; has it helped or hurt the band?
A)? You know, there have been a lot of personnel changes; 5 drummers & 3 bass? players in a little over 4 yrs.? I?ve been sad to see some leave, ecstatic to see others ? go, but I believe that every time we?ve replaced a member, we?ve upgraded.? We are a much more solid band playing much more difficult material than we ever would have attempted back then.? I?m extremely proud of the band we are now and would go? up against any band out there.
2)? Any words for former members?
A)? Nothing too elaborate.? I just wish them well in all their endeavors and hope they realize they left the best thing that ever happened to them.? And no, they can?t come back.? I?ve got a Loudfinger salute for them if they try.? Love ya!
3)? Your singing style is amazing, but difficult to categorize.? How would you categorize your style and the bands overall style?
A) Thank you for the compliment.? I really appreciate that.? My style is a grafting of? all the influences I?ve enjoyed in my life.? I?ve enjoyed so many types of music, but the 80?s have been my biggest influence.? Geoff Tate, Bruce Dickinson, Don Dokken, Steve Perry and David Coverdale are just a few of my favorites, vocalists I?ve always tried to emulate because of their amazing talent.? Combine that with charisma and showmanship, and you have a recipe for success.? We?ve tried to keep this band focused on our roots, and it shows in our performances.? That said, however, our own music reflects past and present rock genres and I believe is relevant in either setting.
4)? You are responsible for all the artwork and merchandise for Loudfinger.? Is that a role you enjoy?
A) ?Yes, it is.? So much so that I am loathe to relinquish control.? The other guys have wanted to take some of the burden, but I just don?t want anything out there that doesn?t represent us in the most positive light.? I?ve worked hard over the years to create an image/brand that both represents the historical aspect of? the Loud finger ?? (find out more at www.loudfinger.com) and the hard rock/metal persona we wish to project.? Plus, it?s just a bad ass logo for a bad ass band with a bad ass name!
REX SCOWN
Rex Scown has been playing drums, in some capacity and sometimes incapacitated, on and off for thousands of years. He has studied under the great Ajisuki from Japan, the legendary Hephaestus of ancient Greece (hence the heavy hands), and most recently, under the Zulu spiritual leader Credo Mutwa in order to develop his physical body, life force and prestige. He feels that although society has rolled to show it?s soft underbelly and modern conveniences have dulled his trade and mankind in general, Loudfinger is a beacon in the darkened haze, carrying the dying torch of the spirit of Rock ?N? Roll.
Q1:???? You were part of the music scene through the ?90?s with Joker Spade, during what some consider the ?heyday? of rock in the Permian Basin. How does the new scene compare to that?
A1:????? That?s like comparing feral children to apples. The good ole days were just that, good ole days. There seemed to be more of a demand for hard, live music back then. Spade had a large, loyal following. And it was great. These days, we?re fighting an uphill battle. I mean, Loudfinger has a loyal fanbase, but it?s not nearly as big. The demographic in this area is not conducive to hard rock. If your not in a Texas Cuntry band (I left the ?o? out purposely) wearing a catch-me fuck-me, wore out straw hat or in a Tejano outfit, your screwed. We obviously do this because we love the music and we love playing live. Those are the only two reasons why I carry on.
Q2:???? Some have categorized your drumming style as heavy-handed metal. How would you define your style and how does that affect the band?s dynamic?
A2:????? I think that?s a very fair definition. Your not going to see me pulling off any of Buddy Rich?s licks or heel-toeing 64th notes on the double bass pedal, but I can hold it down, keep time and keep it heavy with a bit of dynamic. Have a listen to Call Me Wicked at a live show, a good example. I feel it fits in very nicely with what Rik and Cory are doing and I?ve worked with Barry before in Joker Spade. Barry and I go together like peas and carrots. Loudfinger is good at the guitar hooks and catchy choruses. Plus, I really dig Chris? vocal style, very melodic. Right up my alley.
Q3:???? Who were your greatest influences?
A3:????? First off, I?m a fan of most genres. I grew up on Outlaw Country. My mom had me listening to Willie, Waylon and David Allan Coe of course, Gary Stewart (my personal favorite), Emmylou Harris, Delbert McClinton and the like. I have to throw in Little Feat, they have the greatest live album ever released-Waiting for Columbus. Greatest influence would have to be the NWOBHM bands. In particular, Clive Burr and Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden. The lyrical prowess of Steve Harris and Bruce Dickinson and the twin harmonies of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. That stuff will get you higher than a tree lizard.
Q4:???? Loudfinger has a reputation for going through drummers faster than a monkey on meth! Do you expect to be around for a while?
A4:????? I don?t see why I wouldn?t be. I think I fit well with the band and the guys. Our influences and styles work nicely together. Also our original material is pretty damn tasty. Like I said earlier, we do this because we love music and performing live.
As far as the satan worship and virgin sacrifices go? There?s only a handful of things I haven?t tried because I was afraid I might like them too much. That would be one. Live life loud, rock hard and stay young!!!
CORY HEINZMAN
Cory was born in Miami, Florida, and moved to California under mysterious circumstances shortly after the age of 3.? Growing up in Southern California, he spent time supplying medicinal products to his friends, many of whom benefited from Cory?s tutelage and later went on to become legendary icons of rock.? Guys like Eddie Van Halen, Slash and George Lynch still keep in touch with Cory; asking for advice from time to time.? ?That?s why I have to keep changing my phone number every three months? says Cory.? Cory has performed on numerous #1 chart-topping hits in almost every musical genera, but to remain humble, he always insists on being excluded from any official credits.? He?s a musical genius, and true humanitarian.
Q1) Who are your greatest influences and why?
A1) Randy Rhoads, George Lynch and Eddie Van Halen.? Because I like the dark neo-classical sound.
Q2) How would you categorize the dynamic Loudfinger sound?
A2) A raw, energetic sound that gets you by the throat.
Q3) You?ve been at this for a long time?? What are you hoping to accomplish with Loudfinger?
A3) To have a few solid studio albums and do some touring.
Q4) Why do women throw their panties at the stage during Loudfinger performances, and where do all those panties end up?
A4) Oh, I?m sure they have their reasons?? I can?t tell you where ALL of them end up, but, you know, if you think of it like a universal business card, my Rolodex is full, if you follow my meaning.
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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 26th, 2013 at 12:31 pm and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
This may seem strange, but some friends of mine are in a band and we started talking about me interviewing them.? While it seemed funny at first?as time went on?the idea caught on.? So here?s the interview with LOUDFINGER!