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Friday, July 13, 2012

Report: Penn St. officials concealed sex abuse

FILE - In this June 18, 2012 file photo, former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky leaves the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa. Former FBI director Louis Freeh, who led a Penn State-funded investigation into the university's handling of molestation allegations against Sandusky, is scheduled to release his highly anticipated report Thursday, July 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Former FBI director Louis Freeh speaks about the Freeh Report during a news conference, Thursday, July 12, 2012, in Philadelphia. Freeh says the most "saddening and sobering" finding from his group's report into the Jerry Sandusky child sex scandal is Penn State senior leaders' "total disregard" for the safety and welfare of the ex-coach's child victims. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2011 file photo, Penn State coach Joe Paterno stands on the field before an NCAA college football game against Northwestern, in Evanston, Ill. Former FBI director Louis Freeh, who led a Penn State-funded investigation into the university's handling of molestation allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, is scheduled to release his highly anticipated report Thursday, July 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 1999, file photo, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, right, poses with his defensive coordinator. Jerry Sandusky, during the college football team's media day in State College, Pa. Former FBI director Louis Freeh, who led a Penn State-funded investigation into the university's handling of molestation allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, is scheduled to release his highly anticipated report Thursday, July 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Vathis, File)

FILE - In these combo from Nov. 7, 2011 file photos, former Penn State vice president Gary Schultz, left, and former athletic director Tim Curley, right, enter a district judges office for an arraignment in Harrisburg Pa. Former FBI director Louis Freeh, who led a Penn State-funded investigation into the university's handling of molestation allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, is scheduled to release his highly anticipated report Thursday, July 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Brad Bower, left, Matt Rourke, File)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Joe Paterno and other top Penn State officials hushed up child sex abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky more than a decade ago for fear of bad publicity, allowing Sandusky to prey on other youngsters, according to a scathing internal report issued Thursday on the scandal.

"Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State," said former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who was hired by university trustees to look into what has become one of sports' biggest scandals. "The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized."

After an eight-month inquiry, Freeh's firm produced a 267-page report that concluded that Hall of Fame coach Paterno, President Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz "failed to protect against a child sexual predator."

Freeh called the officials' disregard for child victims "callous and shocking."

"In order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at the university ? Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley ? repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky's child abuse," the report said. Paterno "was an integral part of this active decision to conceal," Freeh said at a news conference.

School leaders "empowered Sandusky to attract potential victims to the campus and football events by allowing him to have continued, unrestricted and unsupervised access" to campus and his affiliation with the football program, the report said. The access, the report states, "provided Sandusky with the very currency that enabled him to attract his victims."

Freeh said officials had opportunities in 1998 and 2001 to step in.

Sexual abuse might have been prevented if university officials had banned Sandusky from bringing children onto campus after a 1998 inquiry, the report said. Despite their knowledge of the police probe into Sandusky showering with a boy in a football locker room, Spanier, Paterno, Curley and Schultz took no action to limit his access to campus, the report said.

The May 1998 complaint by a woman whose son came home with wet hair after showering with Sandusky didn't result in charges at the time. The report says Schultz was worried the matter could be opening "Pandora's box."

Then, in 2001, after a member of Paterno's staff saw Sandusky in a campus shower with a boy, officials did bar him from bringing children to campus and decided not to report him to child welfare authorities.

"There's more red flags here than you could count over a long period of time," Freeh said.

Sandusky is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of 45 criminal counts for abusing 10 boys. The scandal led to the ouster of Paterno and Spanier. Curley and Schultz are awaiting trial on charges accusing them of lying to a grand jury and failing to report abuse. They have pleaded not guilty.

Trustee Anthony Lubrano, a critic of the board's dismissal of Paterno in November, said the board was still formulating a response.

Freeh also said Sandusky's conduct was in part a result of the school's lack of transparency, which stemmed from a "failure of governance" on the part of officials and the board of trustees. He said the collective inaction and mindset at the top of the university trickled all the way down to a school janitor who was afraid for his job and opted to not report seeing sex abuse in a school locker room in 2000.

The report also singled out the revered Penn State football program ? one built on the motto "success with honor" ? for criticism. It says Paterno and university leaders allowed Sandusky to retire in 1999, "not as a suspected child predator, but as a valued member of the Penn State football legacy, with future 'visibility' at Penn State'," allowing him to groom victims.

Investigators, however, found no evidence linking his $168,000 retirement package in 1999 to the 1998 police investigation. Freeh called the payout unprecedented but said there was no evidence it was an attempt to buy Sandusky's silence.

Sandusky's trial last month included gut-wrenching testimony from eight young men who said he abused them as boys, sometimes on campus, and included testimony that showed he used his prestige as a university celebrity to manipulate the children.

By contrast, Freeh's team focused on Penn State and what its employees did ? or did not do ? to protect children.

More than 430 current or former school employees were interviewed since November, including nearly everyone associated with the football program under Paterno. The Hall of Fame coach died of lung cancer in January at age 85, without telling Freeh's team his account of what happened.

The report included a series of emails among school administrators following accusations against Sandusky in 1998 and 2001.

After Curley opted not report Sandusky for an alleged assault of a boy in the football locker room showers in 2001, Schultz called the decision to try and get Sandusky to seek professional help "humane." But he also noted that "the only downside for us is if the message isn't (heard) and acted upon and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it."

The emails also point to Paterno being aware of the 1998 accusation.

With the report now complete, the NCAA said Penn State now must address four key questions concerning "institutional control and ethics policies," as outlined in a letter sent to the school last fall.

"Penn State's response to the letter will inform our next steps, including whether or not to take further action," said Bob Williams, the NCAA's vice president of communications. "We expect Penn State's continued cooperation in our examination of these issues."

The U.S. Department of Education is examining whether the school violated the Clery Act, which requires reporting of certain crimes on campus, including ones of a sexual nature. The report said Penn State's "awareness and interest" in Clery Act compliance was "significantly lacking."

Only one form used to report such crimes was completed on campus from 2007 through 2011, according to the Freeh findings. And no record exists of Paterno, Curley or assistant coach Mike McQueary reporting that McQueary saw Sandusky in a shower with a boy in 2001, as they would be obligated to do under the Clery Act.

As of last November, Penn State's policies for Clery compliance were still in draft form and had not been implemented, the report found.

U.S. Department of Education said it was still examining whether Penn State violated the Clery Act, but declined to comment on Freeh's report.

Mary Krupa, an 18-year-old Penn State freshman who grew up in State College, said the conclusion that the school's highest officials were derelict in protecting children didn't shake her love of the town or the school.

"The actions of five or six people don't reflect on the hundreds of thousands" of students and faculty who make up the Penn State community, she said while walking through the student union building on campus.

Freeh said he regretted the damage the findings would do to Paterno's "terrific legacy" but there was no attempt to pin the blame on the late coach.

"What my report says is what the evidence and the facts show," he said.

Christian Beveridge, a masonry worker who grew up near Penn State, said the findings will ruin Paterno's legacy but not the closeness that people in town and fans feel for him.

"He built this town," said Beveridge, 40, resting in the shade on campus during a break. "All of his victories, he'll be remembered by everyone in town for a long time, but there will be that hesitation."

___

Armas reported from Scranton and Scolforo from Harrisburg. Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-07-12-Penn%20State-Abuse/id-ad4e351813034205b0fe9dac89e16bf4

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Thursday, July 12, 2012

New Arafat medical file released in death probe

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) ? Medical files released for the first time Thursday portray Yasser Arafat as a robust 75-year-old whose sudden health crisis, a month before his mysterious 2004 death, was initially blamed on viral gastroenteritis.

The treatment notes by Arafat's Arab doctors who cared for him at his West Bank compound before he was airlifted to France are part of a renewed push to find out what killed the Palestinian leader.

For years, little was heard about official Palestinian efforts to uncover Arafat's cause of death. An investigation by the Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera, in collaboration with Arafat's widow, Suha, has put new pressure on Arafat's successor, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to be seen as vigorously searching for the truth.

Last week, Switzerland's Institute of Radiation Physics said clothing and personal items used by Arafat in his final days showed elevated traces of the radioactive agent polonium-210. The items were provided by Mrs. Arafat and sent to the lab by Al-Jazeera. The findings, though inconclusive, revived Palestinian claims that Arafat was poisoned.

Some Palestinian officials have charged that Israel poisoned Arafat. Israel has repeatedly denied the charges over the years, saying it would not have been in Israel's interest to kill him, though it blamed him for Palestinian violence. An Israeli official dismissed the renewed allegations as "ludicrous."

Mrs. Arafat, who refused to consent to an autopsy immediately after her husband's death, has lived abroad for years and is estranged from most of the Palestinian leadership.

Abbas and his aides have sent conflicting messages about their intentions.

Earlier this week, senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said Abbas made a final decision to allow an autopsy.

On Thursday, members of a committee investigating Arafat's death were less forceful. Justice Minister Ali Mohanna said Arafat's nephew, Nasser al-Kidwa, asked for the full report from the Swiss lab, and a decision on further testing would only be made after reviewing the report.

While backtracking on an autopsy, Arafat's doctors for the first time released their detailed treatment notes covering the 18-day period when they cared for him at his Israeli-besieged West Bank compound before he was airlifted to a French military hospital on Oct. 29, 2004.

Based on the doctors' report and later test results in France, Arafat had escaped many of the chronic afflictions, like diabetes, common in his age group. A non-smoker, he weighed 68 kilograms (150 pounds). He was taking medication for chronic tremors whose cause was not explained further. They wrote that he suffered from a gallstone and had vitiligo, a loss of pigmentation of the skin.

Arafat's downward spiral began just before midnight on Oct. 11, 2004. Two hours after a late supper, he vomited but had no other complaints, the report said.

His doctors diagnosed him with viral gastroenteritis. He improved with medication and went about his daily routine, and four days later even joined in the dawn-to-dusk fast of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

But there was persistent vomiting and diarrhea, and he began feeling weaker. His blood platelet count dropped, and on Oct. 28, his medical team ? by now consisting of doctors from Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Palestine ? decided to send him abroad. The next morning, he was flown to France, where he died on Nov. 11, 2004.

An Israeli specialist, Dr. Joseph Zimmerman, who reviewed the Ramallah medical file at the request of The Associated Press, said Arafat's early symptoms were not consistent with viral gastroenteritis.

"I don't think that this common garden-variety viral infection would progress to such an extent and result in a fatality," said Zimmerman, a senior physician at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem.

Zimmerman said poisoning seemed unlikely, even by a radioactive agent such as polonium-210. He pointed out that Arafat's platelet counts dropped suddenly and stayed low and that he eventually exhibited signs of liver dysfunction.

"This is not typical of poisoning," Zimmerman said, adding that a bacterial infection could have caused these symptoms.

French doctors said Arafat died of a massive stroke and suffered from a blood condition known as disseminated intravascular coagulation, or DIC. The records were inconclusive about what brought about the DIC, which has numerous possible causes, including infections and liver disease.

Parts of Arafat's French medical file were also posted Thursday on the website of the Yasser Arafat Foundation, though key elements had been published in the past.

At Thursday's news conference, one of Arafat's physicians, Dr. Abdullah Bashir, said he believes the available medical data points to poisoning, but would not elaborate.

Bashir released a 2010 exchange of letters with the French hospital in which his request to get more information on toxicology was turned down.

___

Associated Press writers Blake Sobzcak in Jerusalem, Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah and Cassandra Vinograd in London contributed reporting.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arafat-medical-file-released-death-probe-190907751.html

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Angelina Jolie's dad defends Brad Pitt's mom

By Tina Daunt, The Hollywood Reporter

Danny Moloshok / REUTERS

There?s nothing like controversy to bring a family together.?Brad Pitt?s father-in-law-to-be -- Jon Voight -- spoke out in defense of the superstar?s mother, Jane, who has come under intense fire because she wrote a letter to her local newspaper expressing conservative Christian social views -- and a preference for Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama.

STORY: Brad Pitt's mother pens anti-gay, anti-Obama letter to local newspaper

Academy Award-winner Voight is more than just Angelina Jolie?s dad; he?s also one of Hollywood?s most reliable conservative voices. On Tuesday, he flatly told Fox News that he agrees with Jane Pitt?s views. ?Good for her? for expressing them, Voight said.

The controversy concerning Pitt?s mom arose after she wrote a letter to Missouri?s Springfield News-Leader in which she described Obama as ?a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.? The paradox is that Jane Pitt?s missive was intended as a plea for tolerance and a response to another News-Leader correspondent who argued that Christians should not vote for Romney because he?s a Mormon. The star?s mother argued that fellow Christians should give ?prayerful consideration? to supporting the presumptive GOP nominee, who she called a man of ?high morals? whose values she contrasted with those of Obama.

VIDEO: Brad Pitt's Brother Responds to Jane Pitt's Anti-Obama Letter

Because of her famous son, the roof fell in, and Pitt quickly found herself being reviled as a homophobe.

A number of leading conservative commentators, including Rush Limbaugh, also have come to Jane Pitt?s defense. The most extensive defense so far, however, has come from National Review Online columnist Michelle Malkin, who pointed out that much of the anti-Pitt vitriol has involved figures associated with Hollywood and gay groups based in California. Malkin accused both of advancing a double standard, which advocated tolerance -- except for views like Jane Pitt?s.

She quoted extensively from the deluge of often-obscene Tweets that have surged through social media. One read: ?BRAD PITT?S MOM WROTE AN ANTI-GAY PRO-ROMNEY EDITORIAL. KILL THE (expletive).? Another: ?Brad Pitt?s mom, die,? while another read, ?Brad Pitt?s mother . . . what a brainless old (expletive)..?

Earlier this week, Brad?s brother, Doug went on NBC?s TODAY to defend their mother, who is declining further comment. ?You know,? he said, ?I think moms and dads and kids agree to disagree all overthe world. So why would our family be any different? There can be healthy discussion when people disagree with you. The bad thing is when it turns to venom and negativity, and we don?t have that in our family. It?s open discussion. We can learn from each other, and if anything, it solidifies your point. Or maybe you learn something.?

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Research murky on danger of Asian carp invasion

This June 13, 2012, photo shows an Asian carp, jolted by an electric current from a research boat, jumping from the Illinois River near Havana, Ill. Scientists at a network of field stations on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers are using electric currents to stun fish so they can be scooped up and examined. Researchers have been monitoring fish populations on the rivers for many years and now are looking for evidence that native species are being affected by the arrival of invasive Asian carp. (AP Photo/John Flesher)

This June 22, 2012, photo shows Travis Schepker, a biology intern, holding an Asian carp pulled from the Illinois River near Havana, Ill. Scientists are monitoring native fish populations for signs of damage from Asian carp. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)

This June 13, 2012, photo shows Asian carp jumping from the Illinois river as scientists aboard a research boat activates an electric current near Havana, Ill. Scientists at a network of field stations on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers are using electric currents to stun fish so they can be scooped up and examined. Researchers have been monitoring fish populations on the rivers for many years and now are looking for evidence that native species are being affected by the arrival of invasive Asian carp. (AP Photo/John Flesher)

This June 22, 2012, photo shows Asian carp, jolted by an electric current from a research boat, jumping from the Illinois River near Havana, Ill. Scientists at a network of field stations on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers are using electric currents to stun fish so they can be scooped up and examined. Researchers have been monitoring fish populations on the rivers for many years and now are looking for evidence that native species are being affected by the arrival of invasive Asian carp. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)

This June 22, 2012, photo shows a researcher holding an Asian carp pulled from the Illinois River near Havana, Ill. Scientists at a network of field stations on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers are using electric currents to stun fish so they can be scooped up and examined. Researchers have been monitoring fish populations on the rivers for many years and now are looking for evidence that native species are being affected by the arrival of invasive Asian carp. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)

HAVANA, Ill. (AP) ? As scientists aboard a research boat activate an electric current, the calm Illinois River transforms into a roiling, silvery mass. Asian carp by the dozen hurtle from the water as if shot from a gun, soaring in graceful arcs before plunging beneath the surface with splashes resembling tiny geysers.

Water quality specialist Thad Cook grunts as a whopper belts him in the gut. His colleagues duck and dodge to avoid the missile-like fish that plop onto the deck, writhing madly until someone can grasp the slimy, slithering critters and heave them over the side.

It's like a scene from a Hitchcock movie ? and indeed the flying carp have played villainous roles in many a YouTube video. Biologists, however, fear a different kind of horror story may be taking shape underwater: a war for survival between the aggressive Asian carp newcomers and native species important to people who catch fish for a living or fun.

"We suspect at some point there will be a real crash in the populations of some of these native fishes," said John Chick, an aquatic ecologist with the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center on the Mississippi River near St. Louis.

While years of study have turned up ominous signs that the carp are capable of crowding out other species and changing ecosystems, the worst-case scenario scientists expect to unfold hasn't yet been realized. Some scientists say that dire predictions about the damage carp can do may be premature. That makes the research Chick and his colleagues are conducting critical: It likely will influence how the debate over managing waterways made vulnerable by carp plays out in Congress and the courts.

U.S. research so far has focused on rivers, where Asian carp are most plentiful. A common method for determining which fish are in a given location is to shoot an electric charge into the water that temporarily stuns them so crews can scoop them up in nets. Silver carp, an Asian type known for springing from the water when startled, manage to jump first.

Imported decades ago to cleanse algae-choked aquaculture ponds and sewage treatment lagoons, they escaped during floods and have marched up the Mississippi watershed in more than two dozen states, ranging as far as Kansas and the Dakotas. They're taking dead aim at the Great Lakes, with the leading edge on the Illinois River some 55 miles south of Lake Michigan, although their DNA has been found in Chicago a mere 6 miles from the lake.

"All you've got to do is look at tributaries of the Mississippi or Ohio rivers and you'll find them," said biologist Ron Brooks of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

Those environments are hotbeds for research, and could foretell what will happen if carp invade other waterways. What's missing, though, is smoking-gun evidence that Asian carp will devastate other fish. Even in places such as the Illinois and Mississippi, where carp are rampant, changes have been incremental.

For example, while indigenous bigmouth buffalo and gizzard shad both have gotten skinnier since the carp arrived, the buffalo's population has declined only moderately while the shad have fluctuated. Commercially harvested buffalo are found on grocery shelves from Alabama to Minnesota. The shad are crucial prey for bass and other sport fish.

"When you get a species invasion ... typically you see some native species decline or go extinct locally," said biologist Jim Garvey of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. "We haven't seen that yet. We're kind of wondering what the heck's going on."

Chick and others have found that silver and bighead carp, the most menacing of several Asian varieties in the U.S., eat the same food as the bigmouth buffalo and gizzard shad. A separate study detected weight declines among buffalo and shad in the Illinois River, believed to have the largest concentrations of Asian carp.

Researchers are looking for proof that Asian carp are at least partially to blame for the drop-offs. "It's just a correlation at this point," Chick said.

Other research supports the potential that the newcomers could take over the neighborhood. Garvey and associates reported this year that Asian carp account for more than 60 percent of the biomass ? the combined weight ? of all fish species along the lower 150-mile stretch of the Illinois River. They also make up virtually all fish longer than 16 inches.

Such findings stir unease in the Great Lakes region, which could become the Asian carp's next frontier. Ravenous and prolific, the carp typically weigh 30 to 40 pounds but can exceed a hefty 100 pounds. They gorge up to one-fifth of their body weight daily on plankton ? tiny plants and animals that nearly all fish eat.

Many fear the carp would unravel food webs supporting a $7 billion Great Lakes fishing industry. Silver carp, the ones that leap from the water with enough force to break boaters' noses, could give the region's tourism a black eye.

Knowing how damaging carp can be is important because the fight against them is costing big bucks ? and could get lots pricier.

Government agencies have spent more than $150 million on technology to repel the invaders, including an electric barrier in a Chicago-area canal linking Lake Michigan with the carp-infested Illinois River. Five states are suing the federal government to blockade the canal, which would take years and cost billions. Shipping and tour boat groups say that step would be as ruinous to them as Asian carp would be to the fishing industry.

"This kind of research gives an early warning and justification to do everything possible to keep them out," said Marc Gaden, spokesman for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. "The more understanding you have of what makes these fish tick and what's happening in the ecosystem where they've already invaded, the closer you get to maybe discovering ways to get them under control."

A U.S.-Canadian team Thursday released a risk analysis for the Great Lakes. Some experts have questioned whether the lakes have enough warmth and food to support Asian carp. But the report found that the hardy fish would find hospitable conditions in bays, nearshore areas and tributary rivers feeding all five of the lakes ? even chilly Superior. Warm, shallow Lake Erie, with the most abundant fish numbers, is an especially ripe target.

It could take as few as 10 pairs of males and females to establish a successful population if they can find good spawning areas, and more than 70 rivers around the Great Lakes region appear suitable, the report said. If they slip into Lake Michigan and establish a foothold, they could journey northward to Lake Huron and southward into Lake Erie within a decade, it said.

Scientists are also digging through online databases for clues about how Asian carp have affected lake ecosystems in other countries. Duane Chapman, a U.S. Geological Survey biologist, says silver carp have driven down populations of native species in Europe similar to the Great Lakes' prized walleye and yellow perch.

Chick offered one possible explanation for why the carp's impact hasn't been more dramatic so far: There may be still enough food ? for now ? to ward off starvation in the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, which are richer with algae and zooplankton than most of the Great Lakes. So the expected die-off of other fish could take years to develop, until a tipping point is reached.

Calculating damage from Asian carp is slow and often frustrating work, thanks in part to the ever-changing nature of rivers. Fluctuating water levels, nutrient runoff and temperatures also affect fish numbers. But researchers are working to solve the mystery before the fish proliferate in the Great Lakes, determined to beat the clock and prevent the feared disaster damage.

"No one knows for sure what would happen," Garvey said. "But we don't want to get to that point. We're looking at some really scary scenarios."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-07-12-US-Asian-Carp-Science/id-ae8312286d7e4042bb3f872fb87dafb7

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OECD sees no end to jobs crisis as economy struggles

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Eight is enough: NL routs AL in All-Star Game

Sandoval's 3-run triple sparks National League to 8-0 victory

By DAVE SKRETTA

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 3:13 a.m. ET July 11, 2012

Melky Cabrera and Pablo Sandoval sent the National League to a big early lead. Matt Cain and the rest of an imposing pitching staff finished off a Giant blowout in the All-Star game.

Flashing their bright orange spikes and booming bats, the San Francisco sluggers keyed a five-run blitz against Justin Verlander in the first inning that powered the NL to an 8-0 romp over the American League on Tuesday night.

Cabrera homered and won the MVP award in the ballpark where he played last season, and Cain got the win in the NL's most-lopsided All-Star victory.

Chipper Jones singled in his final All-Star at-bat at age 40 as the NL, under retired manager Tony La Russa, once again claimed home-field advantage in the World Series.

La Russa asked Jones to address the team before the game and the Atlanta third baseman told players: "Whether you're 19 or 40, we are all equals here."

"I am not going out losing my last one. So, you with me?" he added.

Said La Russa: "I thought Chipper set the tone."

Jones received one of the loudest ovations during the pregame introductions and many players said in recent days they were honored to be All-Stars alongside him.

"I was glad Tony asked me to say something," Jones said. "I just wanted the guys to know that nothing is a given. You don't know when your last one is going to be. Don't miss this opportunity."

The NL didn't miss much early.

Ryan Braun, an All-Star again after his drug suspension was overturned last winter, doubled, tripled and made a fine catch in the outfield to help give the NL its first three-game winning streak in two decades.

Teen sensation Bryce Harper had a shaky All-Star debut with a walk, strikeout and missed catch. Fellow rookie Mike Trout, only 20, showed off his dynamic skills.

Cain combined with Stephen Strasburg, R.A. Dickey, Aroldis Chapman and the rest of a lights-out staff on a six-hitter.

The game was pretty much decided a few moments after it started.

Sandoval hit the first bases-loaded triple in All-Star history off Verlander, who couldn't control his 100 mph heat. Cabrera singled and scored the first run, then hit a two-run homer against Matt Harrison in a three-run fourth.

"I don't get many triples," said the slow-footed Sandoval, known as Kung Fu Panda. "We had some fun with that in the dugout."

Nicknamed the Melk-man, Cabrera is with his fourth team in four years. The former Royals outfielder drew big cheers as he received the MVP award, his mother next to him.

"I didn't come to win an MVP. That's just a surprise," he said. "The same opportunity that Kansas City gave me last year is the same opportunity that San Francisco is giving me every day to showcase my talent. Again, I'm just very thankful for the fans that voted for me to come here."

San Francisco fans, who made a late voting push to elect Sandoval and Cabrera to starting spots, might really appreciate the victory come October. The Giants are a half-game behind the first-place Dodgers in the NL West.

Rafael Furcal also hit a three-bagger, making the NL the first league with three in an All-Star game.

As the All-Stars returned to Kansas City for the first time since 1973, La Russa bid a fond farewell to the national stage in the city where he played for his first major league team.

Having retired after managing St. Louis to last year's World Series title, La Russa became just the fourth inactive manager to skipper an All-Star team and improved to 4-2.

"Just lucky, like I've been 30 years," La Russa said.

After all the talk about AL dominance during the offseason when Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder switched leagues, the NL boosted its advantage to 43-38-2 and won for just the third time in the 10 years the All-Star game has been used to determine home-field advantage in the World Series. La Russa's Cardinals benefited from last year's NL All-Star victory, with St. Louis winning Games 6 and 7 at home against Ron Washington's Texas Rangers.

"It's very disappointing, because we're competitors and we want to win," said Washington, who lost for the second straight year. "They came out. They swung the bats. Once they got the lead, started bringing those arms in their hand, and they got the job done."

Jones, retiring at the end of the season, also had one last All-Star moment, pinch hitting in the sixth and singling just past second baseman Ian Kinsler and into right field. Jones chuckled as the ball rolled through.

At 19 the youngest position player in All-Star history, Harper had a shaky start when he entered in the fifth. The heralded rookie, wearing shiny gold shoes, didn't flash a Gold Glove and lost Mike Napoli's routine fly to left in the lights, allowing it to drop behind him for a single.

Harper then caught Kinsler's bases-loaded flyball to end the inning, earning applause from the crowd of 40,933 at Kauffman Stadium, spruced up by a $250 million renovation that was completed three years ago.

Harper tagged up on a long fly after his walk in the fifth, but got himself hung up in a rundown and tagged out.

Trout, among a record five All-Star rookies, had a nice showing against two very different pitchers. The Angels outfielder singled and stole a base against Dickey's knuckleball, then drew a walk against Chapman and his 101 mph heat.

"I'm going to remember this the rest of my life," Trout said.

Cain pitched the 22nd perfect game in big league history last month. He didn't have to be perfect in this one, allowing one hit in two innings for the win.

"For those guys to go out and score five runs in the first inning was definitely a little more relaxing for me," he said. "But I still tried to stay focused."

Cain was followed by 10 relievers, with Jonathan Papelbon getting the last out with a runner on third base.

Verlander had a puzzling outing. In games that count, he hasn't allowed five runs in an inning since April 2010, according to STATS LLC. He became the first All-Star to give up a five-spot since Houston's Roger Clemens in front of his hometown fans in 2004.

"It was pretty difficult for me to get the ball down today," said Verlander, who admitted he approached this differently than a regular-season start.

In a 35-pitch inning, he threw five pitches clocked at 100 mph and another at 101.

"But I had fun," he said. "That's why I don't try to throw 100 in the first inning. But this is for the fans. It doesn't usually work out too well for me."

A crowd clad in red, white and blue T-shirts cheered during pregame introductions for hometown star Billy Butler, who dropped his cap when he tried to wave it. Fans booed the New York Yankees' Robinson Cano, who angered local fans when he bypassed Butler for Monday night's Home Run Derby.

Not since Game 7 of Kansas City's 1985 World Series win over the Cardinals had the baseball world descended on the Royals' ballpark, a rare 1970s beauty known for its 322-foot-wide fountain in right and the 105-foot-high scoreboard topped by a crown.

Cabrera singled with one out in the first and scored on a double to deep right by Braun, the reigning NL MVP.

Verlander threw six straight balls during consecutive two-out walks to Carlos Beltran and Buster Posey. Wearing shiny gold-and-orange spikes for the occasion, Sandoval sent a drive off the base of the wall in the right-field corner for a 4-0 lead.

He scored when Dan Uggla grounded to the shortstop hole and Fielder failed to come up with Derek Jeter's one-hop throw to first, leaving Uggla with an infield hit.

After Furcal tripled to right, pinch-hitter Matt Holliday singled for a 6-0 lead and Cabrera followed with a drive into the left-field bullpen.

As he neared second base, Cabrera stuck out his hand to shake with Cano, his buddy from their days together with the Yankees. Cano just let him pass by.

Dickey, a first-time All-Star at 37, pitched a one-hit sixth, plunking Paul Konerko on his shoulder with a pitch.

Although he has a big league-best 12-1 record, Dickey was denied the start - possibly because of the difficulty of catching his knuckler. He brought along an oversized glove from Mets catcher Josh Thole that was used by Carlos Ruiz, who replaced Posey behind the plate in the sixth.

"I really appreciate the warm reception by the fans in Kansas City. Maybe a lot of them have heard my story," Dickey said.

"It was definitely worth the wait," he said.

La Russa, usually serious and tense after games, was playful after his finale, chanting "Mel-ky! Mel-ky! Mel-ky!" as the MVP walked to the podium.

"If you're trying to win one game, there's not a better manager out there," Braun said. "It's only fitting that he went out with a win."

NOTES: The NL extended the AL's scoreless streak to 14 innings - its longest drought since 1995-97. ... The NL won for just the sixth time in a quarter-century. ... The NL had last won three straight in 1994-96. ... It was the first All-Star shutout since the NL's 6-0 win in 1996 at Philadelphia.

More news

Class of the AL is clear

??HBT Extra: The Yankees, Rangers and Angels are playoff locks in the AL, while the Nationals are solid in the NL and the Dodgers need to make a move, Craig Calcaterra and Tiffany Simons say in their second-half lookahead.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/48143043/ns/sports-baseball/

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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Mike Ragogna: The Story of Light: A Conversation With Steve Vai, Plus The Flobots' "Circle In The Square" Video Exclusive

THE FLOBOTS COME FULL CIRCLE

The Flobots drop a new video exclusive for HuffPost, "Circle In The Square," that is probably their biggest statement song yet. "The 'Circle In The Square' is a reference to many things," says Jonny 5 of Flobots. "Most specifically, it is the circle of people that formed in Tahrir Square last spring. More generally, it is any community gathered in a public place. As a symbol, it's the power to manifest a paradox, to refute expectations, to reshape conventional wisdom. People used to say the Arab world was incompatible with democracy, or that no one cared about income inequality in the US. They don't say that now."

Jonny 5 continues, "We had a ton of fun making this video. That was actually very important to us. Right now in both music and society, there's a weird artificial line drawn between living it up and giving a s**t. But the truth is, you can do both. To live life fully means to engage with the world around you. It means to make beauty more plentiful to more souls on this planet, to transform systems of oppression into mechanisms of liberation. It means bringing people together and exploding with color. It's a movement that appeals to everyone. That's what we want to say with this video."

2012-07-11-618snpqgNUL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

A Conversation With Steve Vai

Mike Ragogna: Steve!

Steve Vai: Hey, hey!

MR: So you have a new album, The Story of Light. Is it really the story of light?

SV: (laughs) Well, I guess it's what I might perceive as a story of light. It's actually this big part of a concept that started with my last record that slowly unfolds. This particular record is called The Story of Light (Real Illusions). When you're creating, you can do whatever you want because there are no rules.

MR: When you're writing, what's your process like?

SV: Well, I don't put up any parameters of how inspiration might come in because it can come in a variety of ways, so there's really no one way. Some people may say, "Well first I come up with a lyric, and then I write the music around it," and that's great. Sometimes I do it that way, and sometimes I just come up with a title, and sometimes I'll put my fingers on the guitar and something comes out. If you start putting up parameters, you can kind of cut off your potential to be open to anything. I need to be open to everything because I'm not always inspired.

MR: Does inspiration randomly come to you?

SV: Well the funny thing about being inspired is you don't know it's happening when it's happening, I think, because you're in it. It's not until later that you say, "Oh, okay" maybe a second later or a minute later or whatever. You can't really be fascinated with what you're doing at the very moment it's happening. But you know when you're doing something that's got some quality to it.

MR: Let's go to the song "John The Revelator." What's the story behind that one?

SV: Well, I have this collection of music called Anthology of American Folk Music. It's all these really old Americana Folk recordings with everything from slaves to fieldworkers to reverends and just blues guitar players...not even blues, before blues. One of the recordings was from Blind Willie Johnson, and it was called "John The Revelator," and it just really grabbed me. The whole package grabs me. I don't go anywhere without it. It's like four CDs, and it's really authentic and sincere when you hear these people.

MR: This is a good seg into the movie Crossroads. You were not only on screen in Crossroads, but you also supplied the guitar work...well, you and Ry Cooder. Can you go into the story of how that came about?

SV: Yeah, sure. That was odd because I got a call from Ry Cooder. He had just called Guitar Player Magazine, and he said, "I need a hot shot guitar player. Who's the new hot shot?" They played him one of my songs over the phone, and he said, "Okay, that's the guy." He called me and sent me a script because originally, it was just to play the guitar part in the film, not to be the actor. I read the script, and I immediately saw how it could kind of evolve into this kind of guitar head cutting duel. So Ry and myself had worked on it, and we finished it, and the director Walter Hill came in and heard it, and he was pretty impressed. He asked me if I wanted to play the part of Jack Butler, the guitar player, in the film. At first, I thought, "I'm not an actor. I don't know," and then he asked again, and I said, "Oh, I'll give it a shot." I put on the persona of Jack Butler, and that's really how it happened. It was very simple.

MR: You also were with the band Whitesnake, on their Slip of the Tongue album.

SV: Actually, Whitesnake came later. Right around this period, I was just joining David Lee Roth's band. I did the Eat 'Em and Smile record and Skyscraper, and we did two world tours. It was quite wonderful.

MR: Was he as wild as he came off as in those days?

SV: Much more. People have a persona of what a rock star is like and all, but Dave was different because he was really intense, and he was very focused, unbelievably driven, and he would set out to accomplish something, and he would accomplish it with no excuses. It was really great to learn from him. He was really amazing, and he really knew how to throw a party.

MR: Nice, and getting back to Whitesnake...

SV: Well, after I had left Dave's band, I went back and finished Passion and Warfare, which was my solo record at the time. Dave Coverdale called, and he was looking for a guitarist. I was a little apprehensive. I really liked Whitesnake. I liked the music a lot, and I really liked David as a singer, but I had just gotten off tour, and I really wanted to kind of hunker down and finish this record. But I thought it would really be a great opportunity to go up there and play to a million people again and be a rock star and all that stuff. The allure of that compelled me to join the band, and it was great. David is a wonderful cat and amazing singer, and it was a good time, and I finished my solo record too, so it all worked out.

MR: And then there was G3.

SV: Yeah, G3. Joe Satriani called me once, and he said, "I'm putting this tour together, and I want to make it these three guitar players that just really play their asses off, like a celebration of the guitar." I went, "Sure, count me in!" That turned out to be a really great brand. Matter of fact, I just got back from Australia with Joe, where we had Steve Lukather, and it was very, very cool.

MR: Steve, over the years, you also contributed music to video games. For example, you're on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

SV: I'm on a bunch of them. I can't remember what they are. Grand Theft Auto is one of them. They licensed the track. And Guitar Hero and Rock Band, they have a bunch of tracks. But the only time I ever really actually went in and recorded on a soundtrack for a video game was for...

MR: ...Halo!

SV: Halo, yes. It was a good time because my friend Nile Rogers was producing it, and he called me and said, "Hey, come on down. I'm in Seattle here." I was in Seattle at the time, and he said, "I got this video game that I've been working on," and I thought, "I don't know, man. I don't know if I'd fit into a video game." He goes, "Oh no, you'll love this." I didn't realize how big the game was, that it was the most anticipated game in the world before it came out...Halo III or something. So I just had a good time recording it, but it kind of dawned on me what this thing was about when I was in the studio and I was talking to my son. I said, "Yeah, I'm playing on this video game." He's usually not very interested in anything I'm doing because they're teenagers, and I said, "Oh, the game is Halo III, this Halo game." There was like dead silence. Finally, I was a star in my kid's eyes because I was playing on this Halo video game. It sold millions. It was crazy.

MR: And it all began way back, when you were Frank Zappa's transcriber and eventual his guitarist.

SV: Yeah, when I started working for Frank, I was 18, and I was transcribing music because he felt I was too young to audition for the band. But when I was 20, I moved out to California, and that's when I joined the band.

MR: How long were you with the band?

SV: I worked for Frank for about six years. I transcribed for a couple of years, and then I joined the band and I toured for three years with Frank. Then I went back to transcribing because he had quit touring. He went out after that, but I had moved on by then.

MR: Many years later, you got together with his son, Dweezil.

SV: Oh yeah, I'm good friends with the family and Dweezil. I've known him since he was a little boy. He is this unbelievably naturally talented person at anything he does. He's very intelligent, funny, and really took hold of Frank's music. It really got to him. He created this Zappa plays Zappa band, and I toured with him in the beginning a little while, a couple tours.

MR: All right, let's get back to the album and talk about the track "Gravity Storm."

SV: Well, it was a riff that I had come up with, but in the story, there are these gravity storms that take place because the earth had kind of pitched its axis a little bit because of everything that man is doing, so the poles were shifting and we would get these gravity storms where the gravitational pull would increase, sometimes a little bit, and sometimes tremendously. Sometimes they'd be so strong they could actually crush you, so I wanted to create this track that had this crushing nature, this feeling of gravity to it. I achieved that by using all these subtle bends on the guitar with my fingers. When you listen to the track, it's got all this weight to it. That's the gravity storm.

MR: What about "No More Amsterdam," the one you wrote with Aimee Mann?

SV: I had known Aimee because we went to college together. We actually lived in the same building a few doors away from each other. My girlfriend at the time was really good friends with Aimee--my girlfriend from then, who's now my wife. So through the years, she was always listening to Aimee's music, and there was just something about it, about her, about Aimee, that I really loved as an artist. She's extremely creative, like a poet. She has this very vulnerable, beautiful kind of a voice. So I was having trouble writing the lyrics, and my wife said, "Why don't you call Aimee and see if she'd be interested in working with you?" I did, and it turned out so beautiful. It's a vocal duet. She wrote the lyrics, and I wrote the music, and I really like the way it turned out.

MR: Steve, what was your reaction when you sat down and listened to it top to bottom, sequenced and mastered?

SV: Gee, I wish it was all done so I could be collecting the royalties. I'm kidding! Well, I'm half joking. (laughs) Going through the process is really the fun of it. As you know, it can be really treacherous and trying and challenging and all that, but I love it. I love making music. I love playing the guitar. I'm trying not to sound pretentious, but for me, when I listened back to this record, and as is the case with most of my records, it usually turns out better than I expected. It's all relative because this is just my take. I'm grateful that I can even write a song, but I was so thrilled after the record. I've been putting a band together. I'm going on a world tour. I love traveling. I love touring. One of the great things about being a guitar player is there are these hoards of guitar players around the world in every corner of the world that fetish the guitar and every little nuance about it, so I can go to China and Africa and India and Australia and all through Russia and Eastern Europe. I just looked at my itinerary for Europe, and it starts out in Helsinki, Finland and goes to Latvia and Lithuania and Estonia and all the way to Greece and Athens, then back to Europe proper, and then I go to all those other places I mentioned and South America. It's really a thrill, and that's what I'm looking forward to. Playing this music for people who really enjoy it.

MR: Do they get into the minutia, like what guitars you play, etc.?

SV: There are all sorts of fans. There are people that are really interested in breaking down everything you do, especially on the guitar, and finding out how you played this and what gauge strings and what kind of amps and what kind of cables and batteries, and then there are people that don't care about any of that. They just like listening to the music and feeling the energy, and there are people that may not buy the record, but they want to see the show because they heard that the show is something interesting and accessible. And then there are people that a guitar solo just sounds like Morris code because they're tone deaf, but they experience music differently and on other levels, which are just as valid, but different. There's every type. It's great.

MR: What are your favorite guitars lately?

SV: Well, I designed a guitar with Ibanez called The Jem 25 years ago, and it's still running extremely strong. It's the most consistent thing in my life. That's my favorite guitar.

MR: Steve, you're a beekeeper too, aren't you?

SV: Yup.

MR: Can you go into that? How did that start? How do you do it?

SV: Well, I was living in Hollywood with my wife, and I had two boys, and they were young. We didn't want to raise them in Hollywood, so we moved to the Valley, and we got out there and we found this property that was two acres. It was vacant because the guy that owned it didn't want to move in for like ten years. Everything was dead, and I wanted fruit trees and the American Dream. My wife wanted these gardens and everything, so I did some research, and I discovered that honeybees are a really great way to pollinate, and they're really easy to keep. They don't require much work at all. You don't have to do anything except when you extract honey. It's a big job, so every year, we have a honey harvest party. Last honey harvest, I pulled 512 pounds of honey! They're really amazing, fascinating creatures. Their whole social infrastructure is literally unbelievable. I get a lot of satisfaction from having bees.

MR: The obvious question is have you gotten stung?

SV: Oh man, I've gotten the piss stung out of me, are you kidding? The temperament of a hive is based on the queen, so if you have a rough queen, like a queen that grew up in a rough neighborhood or something, the whole hive is pretty aggressive. So there are certain things you do. I wear bee suits and stuff, but I've had hives that have been very aggressive. Most of the time, like the hives I have now, they're so mellow. You don't need any protection even really. They're just really sweet little creatures. And they know you because the more you go into the hives, the more they get to know you. They know your scent. We're friends, you know? But still I'm very careful. The only time I've ever gotten stung is when I do stupid things.

MR: You mean like going in quickly, like you're just going in and out for a sec?

SV: Yeah, that usually doesn't work. But also the way that you propagate your hive is when they swarm, you catch the swarm and you create another hive, but one time I was capturing this one swarm--I've done this many times--I hit the swarm by accident when I was trying to throw a rope over the ranch, and half of the swarm fell off and fell down my back inside my clothes. I didn't have my gear on. So that was my stupid mistake, and I had all of my clothes off in about three seconds.

MR: Oh my God! I'm afraid of one bee, I don't know how you do it.

SV: Very carefully.

MR: Since you know more than anyone I know about bees, let me ask you about the Africanization of bees scare that we had? How did it eventually affect our populations?

SV: Well, it didn't affect the population of the bees. What it did was they did come, and they are here. In certain parts of America, they're more prominent, and they are very, very dangerous. They're very different from regular bees. They look the same. Actually, they're a little bit smaller. But they're really rough. If I go into my hive, and I don't do all of the proper things, it can take like forty seconds to get them riled up. But the African bees can take four seconds, and they just don't let up. If they attack you, they just don't let up. If you do get attacked by an African hive, you have to run in a straight line for a quarter of a mile without stopping. You can't jump in water. You can't turn or anything because they just won't let up.

MR: Oh God.

SV: A word of advice about bees!

MR: Well speaking of advice, there's a question I ask everybody, which is what advice do you have for new artists?

SV: Well, try to find the thing that excites you the most, and then throw yourself into it, and don't worry about what anybody else is doing.

MR: Is that what young Steve Vai did?

SV: When I look back, yes. Actually, I should say, whenever I found myself most satisfied and most successful, that's what I was doing because you're going to be the most successful at the thing that excites you the most, because when you're an artist or you're trying to create a career, there are a lot of storms and you have to be wearing some really serious overcoats. Your overcoat, basically, is your passion for what you're doing. If you have any reservations or any questions, you're doomed because true artists don't. They just do it because they have no choice. They don't care. To them, the finished picture in their mind is the most compulsive and attractive thing, and they can't help themselves. We all have that in different ways in different parts of our lives, but if you're really a music lover, and you want to make a career in the music business, it now is probably a better time than any. I love the music business. It's filled with creative people, and there's so much opportunity. But your perspective on the music business and your career is going to be forged by the attitude you have when you go into it, so it makes really good sense to cultivate a really good, strong, positive attitude of confidence. You cannot miss them.

MR: Hey, it seems that one of your early credits has you playing with The Ohio Express.

SV: (laughs) The Ohio Express was a band that I had in high school. It was the first band I was in. I didn't even play guitar! I played the keyboard, and I only knew two chords. We could play "Proud Mary" all day. (laughs)

MR: As you mentioned earlier, you are going to be touring pretty extensively.

SV: Yeah, absolutely.

MR: Will the family be coming along?

SV: Actually, I'm heading out on a G3 tour in Europe, and my boys and my wife are coming for that. But they're like tweny and twenty-three now.

MR: Eh, kids are kids until they're at least thirty.

SV: Maybe they'll always be kids to me.

MR: Nice. Steve, I really want to thank you, this has been terrific.

SV: Well thank you! And good luck with your station. I know how grass roots you guys are and how supportive you are of artists. I really applaud that.

MR: Steve, everyone at Solar-Powered KRUU-FM thanks you for your kind words. All the best with everything.

Tracks:
1. The Story Of Light
2. Velorum
3. John The Revelator
4. Book of the Seven Seals
5. Creamsicle Sunset
6. Gravity Storm
7. Mullach a'tSi
8. The Moon and I
9. Weeping China Doll
10. Racing the World
11. No More Amsterdam
12. Sunshine Electric Raindrops

Transcribed by Kyle Pongan

BEND SINISTER'S SMALL FAME

And the story goes...

Vancouver band Bend Sinister has a new album, Small Fame, that was released July 10. This is their first full length since 2008 and also their first time breaking into the US market. They've received amazing reviews on past releases and tours throughout Canada. CBC Radio raves "Bend Sinister is one of Canada's most powerful and most underrated bands. They don't write songs, they write anthems." Now Toronto claims, "Dan Moxon will leave your jaw on the floor." The 12-track album was produced by Shawn Cole and recorded at Fader Master and Mushroom Studios in Vancouver, check out the track "She Don't Give It Up" at this URL: http://soundcloud.com/tijuanagiftshop/bend-sinister-she-dont-give-it/s-Ol3uH

Follow Mike Ragogna on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ragz2008

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ragogna/emthe-story-of-lightem-a_b_1663851.html

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