Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Monticello Results

WEATHER Clear TRACK Fast

FIRST-mile; pace; $4000; cond

OFF: 12:29 TIME: 1:59.0

2

L M XKR (M Forte)

4.60

2.60

2.10

1

BehndEnemyLnes(JDevux)

3.90

2.50

4

Wantasmile (K DI Benedetto)

2.10

Scr: Sandri Hanover.

* Perfecta (2-1) $11.80 * Trifecta (2-1-4) $36.20 * Superfecta (2-1-4-3) $159.00

Winner picked by Little (Best Bet)

SECOND-mile; pace; $4000; cl($2000)

OFF: 12:47 TIME: 2:00.0

2

BssoHnover(JTggrtJr)

3.00

2.40

2.40

3

PhrmRevew(KDIBenedetto)

5.20

43.50

5

Bull Rush (M Forte)

4.30

Scr: Yacht King.

* Perfecta (2-3) $19.60 * Trifecta (2-3-5) $95.50 * Daily double (2-2) $8.30

THIRD-mile; pace; $2700; cond

OFF: 1:06 TIME: 1:58.2

3

DougsBoy(ASchwrtz)

4.80

2.60

2.60

2

High Calibre N (KSwitzerJr)

2.50

2.40

1

Shady Idea (J Taggart Jr)

4.30

* Perfecta (3-2) $12.40 * Trifecta (3-2-1) $43.20 * Pick 3 (2-2-3) $24.00 * Superfecta (3-2-1-4) $247.00 Perfecta picked by Little

FOURTH-mile; pace; $10000; cl($4000)

OFF: 1:30 TIME: 1:56.4

2

DuncnsWstrn(MFort)

6.00

3.00

2.50

4

Rare Display (J Taggart Jr)

3.10

2.50

5

Hes Great (S Bouchard)

3.30

* Perfecta (2-4) $15.80 * Trifecta (2-4-5) $59.50 * Pick 3 (2-3-2) $34.60 * Superfecta (2-4-5-1) $312.00

FIFTH-mile; pace; $2000; cond

OFF: 1:44 TIME: 2:01.3

3

CmHmHny(KSwtzrJr)

3.10

2.50

2.10

4

Terrific Seven (J Marohn Jr)

11.60

4.60

5

Best of Times (M Forte)

2.80

* Perfecta (3-4) $33.40 * Trifecta (3-4-5) $95.50 * Pick 3 (3-2-3) $41.20 * Superfecta (3-4-5-7) $358.50

SIXTH-mile; pace; $2700; cond

OFF: 2:04 TIME: 1:58.2

3

MsftWrror(KSwtzrJr)

5.00

3.30

2.60

8

Incredible Al (M Forte)

12.40

6.60

5

Flak Jacket N (J Marohn Jr)

2.50

* Perfecta (3-8) $81.00 * Trifecta (3-8-5) $291.00 * Daily double (3-3) $7.10 * Pick 3 (2-3-3) $62.50 * Superfecta (3-8-5-7) $769.00

SEVENTH-mile; pace; $10000; cl($4000)

OFF: 2:22 TIME: 1:57.3

1

Bobs Alibi (T Gale)

41.60

12.80

5.40

6

MllonDollarBay(JMarohnJr)

12.60

4.60

2

Out To Kill A (K DI Benedetto)

2.10

Scr: First Landing.

* Perfecta (1-6) $374.50 * Trifecta (1-6-2) $1,187.00 * Pick 3 (3-3-1) $197.50

EIGHTH-mile; pace; $3400; cond

OFF: 2:38 TIME: 1:58.0

4

SouthwndIrvn(JDvux)

5.20

3.30

2.60

6

My Edward (T Gale)

22.20

9.20

7

Alias Smitty (G Merton)

7.30

* Perfecta (4-6) $85.50 * Trifecta (4-6-7) $546.00 * Pick 3 (3-1-4) $296.00 * Superfecta (4-6-7-1) $1,101.00

NINTH-mile; pace; $4000; cl($2000)

OFF: 2:56 TIME: 2:01.0

5

BouncyThr(JMrohnJr)

10.80

4.80

3.20

7

KeystoneSwngr(ASchwrtz)

4.00

3.20

1

Kamwood Jasper N (R Harp)

3.10

* Perfecta (5-7) $57.50 * Trifecta (5-7-1) $235.50 * Daily double (4-5) $19.60 * Pick 3 (1-4-5) $2,336.00 * Superfecta (5-7-1-8) $1,216.00

TENTH-mile; pace; $5400; cond

OFF: 3:14 TIME: 1:58.1

1

Game Jocko (M Forte)

4.90

2.60

3.00

2

Another Mike (G Merton)

3.40

2.80

7

Happyending (M Merton)

7.30

* Perfecta (1-2) $13.40 * Trifecta (1-2-7) $103.50 * Pick 3 (4-5-1) $80.50 * Superfecta (1-2-7-4) $761.00

ELEVENTH-mile; pace; $4000; cl($2300)

OFF: 3:31 TIME: 1:58.0

2

AreYouNuts(GMrton)

4.70

3.20

2.80

4

UnversalDremN(MMerton)

3.10

3.60

5

Mor Winning Ways (G Decker Jr)

8.60

* Perfecta (2-4) $17.60 * Trifecta (2-4-5) $211.00 * Pick 3 (5-1-2) $164.00 * Superfecta (2-4-5-7) $2,162.00

TWELFTH-mile; pace; $2700; cond

OFF: 3:50 TIME: 1:58.4

3

Imposter A (M Forte)

3.90

2.60

2.30

6

Coastal Highway (JDevaux)

6.50

4.10

2

Byrd (W Mann)

3.10

* Perfecta (3-6) $18.40 * Trifecta (3-6-2) $85.50 * Pick 3 (1-2-3) $32.20 * Superfecta (3-6-2-4) $566.00

THIRTEENTH-mile; pace; $3400; cond

OFF: 4:09 TIME: 1:57.2

1

FrStrTmmy(JTggrtJr)

6.00

2.50

2.10

4

D M Sundance (KSwitzerJr)

2.10

2.10

7

Triple The Money (M Forte)

2.30

Scr: Ehi Guaglione; S F Exposed.

* Perfecta (1-4) $8.40 * Trifecta (1-4-7) $30.00 * Pick 3 (2-3-1) $26.60

Trifecta, M Forte, M Forte, pace, J Taggart Jr

Nypost.com

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Serbia Moves Closer to EU

BRUSSELS—Serbia took a major step toward winning European Union backing to open accession talks Friday after it reached a deal with Kosovo on regional cooperation and joint border management.

EU member states are set to decide Tuesday whether to give Serbia so-called candidacy status, meaning accession talks can begin. That could still leave actual Serbian accession to the EU many years away.

"These agreements are a major step forward," Catherine Ashton, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, and Stefan Fuele, EU Commissioner for enlargement, said in a joint statement. "They are important not just for Serbia and Kosovo but for the stability of the region."

The commission also proposed to launch a feasibility study for a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Kosovo. The agreement is the first formal step in the often-lengthy process for winning EU membership.

The EU's member states said in December that they supported granting Serbia candidate status in principle, but set a number of conditions to giving the green light. Those conditions included completing a regional cooperation accord with Kosovo, a deal on integrated border management, and active cooperation with the EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX, and the North Atlantic Trade Organization-run KFOR peacekeeping force.

During talks in Brussels on Thursday, seven of the EU's 27 member states hadn't signed off on approving Serbia's candidate status—including Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K.—according to one EU diplomat. But there were signs that this resistance was softening, especially after Friday's deal. For Serbia to win candidacy status, all member states must approve.

In a statement Friday afternoon, U.K. Foreign Minister William Hague welcomed the Serbia-Kosovo deal, and said it was "crucial for ensuring that both Kosovo and Serbia continue their progress toward future membership of the European Union."

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement Friday that the Kosovo-Serbian deal was "an important step for setting the course" for Tuesday's debate on Serbia's candidate status.

Meanwhile, in a letter Wednesday, the Italian, French and Austrian foreign ministers said the EU should "honor our promises made in December…and grant Serbia candidate status."

Friday's deal between Serbia and its one-time province of Kosovo focuses on two main issues: allowing Kosovo to represent itself in international conferences and detailing how the two will manage their joint border and crossings.

"This is important as it makes Kosovo a full participant in its own right in regional meetings and events, and will allow for further progress to contractual relations with the EU," the announcement said.

Distrust between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo runs deep. NATO bombed Serbia in 1999 to stop attacks by the Serbian military on ethnic Albanians. In 2004, rioting across Kosovo destroyed Serb property and forced many Serbs to leave their homes. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but Serbia, along with several EU member states, doesn't recognize it.

Tensions have mounted in northern Kosovo since last summer, as Serbs there fought to prevent the country's ethnic-Albanian-dominated central government from asserting control over the area. Serbs have built roadblocks and clashed repeatedly with international peacekeepers. That violence stalled Belgrade's bid for official membership candidate status in December. Serbia had first applied to join the EU in 2003.

If the EU opens the door to accession talks Tuesday, it will be the latest step in efforts to incorporate the Western Balkans within the regional bloc. Last year, the EU completed accession talks with Croatia, set to the become the EU's 28th member in 2013. The EU also gave Montenegro candidate status in December.

—Alessandro Torello and Gordon Fairclough contributed to this article.

Write to Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@dowjones.com

Kosovo, Serbia, regional cooperation, member states, member states, candidate status, candidate status, Albanians in Kosovo, European Union

Online.wsj.com

Cory Hahn is still part of a team

<a href=Cory Hahn" border="0" width="580" height="414" />

Cory Hahn, who was paralyzed from the chest down while sliding into second base during an early season game last year, watches Arizona State prepare for a game against UC Riverside. Hahn continues his studies while keeping a close tab on the baseball team. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

From Tempe, Ariz. -- The coach once helped carry his son from tee ball to the top of the high school baseball world, never missing a game, cheering every moment, from midnight batting practice to driveway bullpen sessions to championship glory.

Today, the coach gently places his son over his shoulder and carries him from his wheelchair to the front seat of his dusty truck.

Bill Plaschke

Bill Plaschke

Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

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"We were never much for hugging," Dale Hahn says. "But now I get to hug my son all the time."

The coach once pushed the son to become California's Mr. Baseball, working on his swing, inspiring his hustle and watching him become a powerful outfielder with speed, smarts, a full scholarship to Arizona State and a major league future.

Now, the coach pushes the son's wheelchair across busy streets and over large bumps to a college economics class.

"There were times I would wonder, what's better, being dead or being like this?" Cory Hahn says. "But then I look up and see my dad and think, if he can do it, I can do it."

It has been a year since this former Santa Ana Mater Dei High baseball star broke his neck diving into second base in his third collegiate game, shattering the life of the Southland's brightest baseball star into tiny dark pieces.

Yet while everything has changed, nothing has changed.

Cory Hahn is a C5 quadriplegic, paralyzed from the chest down. He has limited use of his hands and arms. The kid who once led his team to a CIF championship by pitching five perfect innings, making an over-the-shoulder catch and hitting a long home run now battles to eat hamburgers, wash his hair and wheel to class.

"My goals don't take days anymore, they take weeks, they take months," he says.

But, as always, Cory is able to stretch toward those goals from the broad shoulders of the balding guy he calls Pops. The man who always urged him to give full effort by "Spilling your bucket" has met this challenge by overturning his life.

After spending years as his son's baseball coach, Dale Hahn has quit his job as a sales rep to become his son's life coach.

When Cory moved back to the Arizona State campus in January to continue his studies, Dale went with him. While Cory moved into a rental home with three teammates, Dale moved into an extended-stay hotel down the street.

Cory awakens every morning to the sound of his father's key in his bedroom door. Dale shows up at 7 a.m., flicks on the lights, turns on the television, maybe turns on the space heater, and then pulls his son out of bed to begin their day.

Together they dress and shower and prepare Cory, with each day painstakingly bringing a tad more separation for the fiercely independent son. Just the other day, they celebrated that Cory was using his once-lifeless hands to wash his own hair.

"We live for the little victories," Cory says. "We're a team."

Together they drive to campus in Dale's truck, where they go from a street parking spot to Cory's first class, with Cory wheeling himself most of the way. It is a process that makes his shoulders ache and has turned his hands into giant calluses, but he refuses to use a power chair or wheelchair gloves, staring down his new life as he once stared down 90-mph cutting fastballs.

"I see all these college kids running and skating across campus, and then I see Cory just chugging along in his chair, the world moving past him," Dale says. "I feel really bad for him … and I am so, so proud of him."

After classes, together they go to lunch, with Cory able to feed himself only after countless days of practicing with his dad. Their efforts were fueled from the embarrassment Cory said he felt when, eating lunch for the first time with friends, he realized they would have to feed him.

Cory Hahn, Arizona State, Dale Hahn, Dale Hahn, Cory, Tempe, Ariz.

Latimes.com

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Daniel Hope: Inspired by Joseph Joachim

The playing of the British violinist Daniel Hope, who is performing at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall this Sunday, is not just distinguished by its tonal beauty, but by its compelling rhetorical quality—the 38-year-old's phrasing seems often to express an unwritten text. Perhaps this is the result of growing up in a literary household. Mr. Hope's father is the novelist and poet Christopher Hope, whose earlier poetry, critical of apartheid, had obliged the family to leave South Africa for Britain, and whose novels since then have garnered important British literary awards.

[cchope] Zina Saunders

A student of the celebrated Russian teacher Zakhar Bron at London's Royal Academy of Music, Daniel Hope was from early childhood a protégé of the violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin, who in 1999 made his last public appearance conducting Mr. Hope in Alfred Schnittke's technically daunting Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Chamber Orchestra. During the last six seasons of the venerable Beaux Arts Trio, Mr. Hope was its violinist, the youngest member in its history.

Mr. Hope's interests range beyond the classical repertoire, however. In a recent series of conversations and emails, he noted: "My goal is always to keep my ears as wide open as possible. I have been privileged to work with many great classical musicians, from Menuhin to [the Beaux Arts' veteran cellist] Menahem Pressler, who imparted so much wisdom. Intense study with Indian musicians such as Gaurav Majumdar and Zakir Hussain has inspired me to rethink my view of instrumental sound. And some of the most spontaneous and inspiring recording sessions I ever experienced were with Sting, a consummate and fiercely intelligent musician from an entirely different genre."

Mr. Hope's activities also include administering music festivals on two continents. He is artistic director of Germany's Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, with which he has been associated for two decades. And since 2002 he has also served as associate artistic director of the Savannah Music Festival, in Georgia, where artistic director Rob Gibson has given free rein to Mr. Hope's remarkably catholic taste in programming. Talking about this year's Savannah season (March 22-April 7), Mr. Hope noted that "Savannah's hallmark is its cultural diversity, and on any given day our programs range from, say, the Baroque to Brahms to Edgar Meyer, from Fauré to Portuguese Fado, from Béla Fleck to Chris Thile. It's a celebration of music in all its many forms."

During his current visit to New York, Mr. Hope is leading another celebration. On Sunday he joins pianist Wu Han, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist David Finckel and violinist Erin Keefe of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in "Inspired by Joachim." The concert program reflects Mr. Hope's investigation into the work and influence of the great 19th-century Austro-Hungarian violinist and composer Joseph Joachim, who also inspired his critically acclaimed Deutsche Grammophon recording "The Romantic Violinist: A Celebration of Joseph Joachim." Mr. Hope said that, "In a sense, we are reintroducing one of the 19th century's most transcendent violinists and musical minds to today's New York audience."

Joachim (1831-1907) is best known to posterity for his close friendship with Johannes Brahms, whom he introduced to Robert and Clara Schumann. But there is a great deal more to his story. "As dedicatee of Brahms's Violin Concerto, Joachim is the name that every violinist first encounters when he opens that score," Mr. Hope observed. "But it was not until I read his collected letters that I realized the true extent of his influence on the major composers of the day.

"Most fascinating is his correspondence with Brahms and with Max Bruch, going into tremendous detail about interpretive suggestions for both composers' violin concertos. Bruch wrote his G-Minor Concerto for another violinist, but Joachim took it and revised it completely into 'his' piece. In fact, Bruch worried that if people read his correspondence with Joachim, they would think Joachim had written the concerto himself. Also of great interest were the letters voicing Joachim's very public break with Liszt and the school of music he represented—after having studied with Liszt at Weimar. It was a move that shook the music world."

A protégé of Felix Mendelssohn, Joachim had triumphantly played Beethoven's Violin Concerto under Mendelssohn's baton in London in 1844, helping establish that work in the core repertoire. As part of the Brahms-Schumann circle, Joachim performed, composed, formed the celebrated Joachim Quartet, founded the Berlin Music Academy and enjoyed an unassailable reputation for the dignity and purity of his playing. His influence as the teacher of more than 400 violinists was equivalent to that of Liszt in the keyboard realm, despite their aesthetic differences.

"Joachim's concert programming was 'cutting edge' for his time," Mr. Hope said. "He reintroduced Bach solo sonatas, he initiated entire programs of string quartets when mixed programs of chamber music, operatic selections and other genres were customary."

Joachim not only conducted the English premiere of Brahms's First Symphony, but also played the premieres of his Violin Concerto and his Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, both having been composed for him (and Robert Hausmann, cellist of the Joachim Quartet, in the latter instance). In addition, the Schumann-Brahms circle included Bruch, Albert Dietrich, Antonin Dvořák and several other important composers, all of whom wrote works for him.

The Tully Hall program will thus reflect Joachim as inspiration to one of Central Europe's most important musical coteries. On the bill are Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Opus 25 and several of his Hungarian Dances arranged by Joachim for violin and piano; Dvořák's "Echo of Songs" for String Quartet, B. 152; and the Schumann and Brahms movements from their collaborative "F-A-E" Sonata. In addition, audiences will be treated to Joachim's own Romanze, Opus 2 and his Sostenuto and Andante Cantabile from "Hebrew Melodies," Opus 9, after Lord Byron.

"Joachim's writing for the violin is technically extremely challenging, yet always wonderfully intelligent," Mr. Hope said. "You never find virtuosity for its own sake. His concern was with expression and with expressing fundamental musical values." All in all, Sunday's program will place Joachim in his historical context while placing familiar and unfamiliar works against the backdrop of his influential life.

Mr. Scherer writes about music and the fine arts for the Journal.

Daniel Hope, Hope, Christopher Hope, Brahms, Johannes Brahms, Joseph Joachim, Joachim Quartet, Alice Tully Hall, Violin Concerto, Yehudi Menuhin, Max Bruch, Robert and Clara Schumann, Robert Hausmann, Felix Mendelssohn, Violin and Chamber Orchestra

Online.wsj.com

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Evocation

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Evocation

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Saturday, February 4, 2012

Local college hoop coaches overwhelmingly pick Giants over Patriots

It’s almost unanimous. Every Division I metropolitan area basketball coach believes the Giants will win tomorrow’s Super Bowl against the New England Patriots. Giselle might be praying for husband Tom Brady but we’ve got St. Francis, St. Johns’s, St. Peter’s praying for Big Blue, plus Fordham, Iona and Seton Hall.

The lone voice of dissent comes from Columbia’s Kyle Smith who clearly knows where his bread is buttered. The Patriots owner, Bob Kraft, is a Columbia graduate.

The rest of the fraternity went Big Blue, though Hofstra’s Mo Cassara and LIU’s Jim Ferry came the closest to picking the Patriots before sanity prevailed. Cassara, the former coach at Clark and an assistant at B.C., hesitated for a moment before being told The Post would publish his home address if he picked the Patriots.

Ferry, a former assistant at Keene St in New Hampshire and Bentley College in Mass., before becoming the head coach at Plymouth State in N.H., acknowledged members of his family are Patriots fans but, when informed The Post would publish his license plate number, declared himself a Big Blue fan.

Here is a breakdown of why the area hoops coaches picked the Giants and their game MVP prediction. Because we’re obliged to provide some basketball content in this space, we look at how each program has fared.

Columbia, Kyle Smith: Patriots. Have to go with the Columbia graduate, Robert Kraft. MVP: Tom Brady.

Lions: 12-8, 1-3 in the Ivy League.

FDU, Greg ‘Shoes’ Vetrone: Giants. The Giants will win the Super Bowl their defense is playing at a level that champions are made of. MVP: Victor Cruz will have a big game. I have to pick him, he’s a Jersey boy.

Knights: 2-20, 1-10 in the Northeast.

Fordham, Tom Pecora: Giants. Honest, hard working, classy head coach. Go Giants. MVP: Victor Cruz.

Rams: 9-12, 2-6 in the Atlantic 10.

Hofstra, Mo Cassara: Giants. Mark Herzlich, the guy beat cancer and should just be named MVP. Plus, he’s a Boston College guy. MVP: Mark Herzlich.

The Pride: 8-16, 2-10 in the Colonial.

Iona, Tim Cluess: Giants. They are on a roll. Solid ‘D’ and Eli will come through. MVP: QB Eli Manning.

Gaels: 18-5, 10-2 in the MAAC.

LIU, Jim Ferry: Giants. I think they’re locked in together as a group. They’ve taken it to a whole nother level. MVP: Eli Manning, he showed some big time toughness in that San Francisco game.

Blackbirds: 15-7, 10-1in the Northeast.

Manhattan, Steve Masiello: Giants! Because of the defense. MVP: Jason Pierre Paul.

Jaspers: 17-7, 10-2 in the MAAC.

Marist, Chuck Martin: Giants. Coach [Tom] Coughlin is very underrated and there’s leadership from the top. There’s a group of unselfish high character and mentally tough group of guys who believe in each and are willing to sacrifice personal gain for the greater good of the team. MVP: Victor Cruz.

Red Foxes: 7-15, 2-9 in the MAAC.

NJIT, Jim Ingles: Giants. I am a Giants fan, always have been, always will be. MVP: Eli Manning, never gets caught up in any nonsense; goes out does his job every day.

Highlanders: 9-12, 2-2 in the Great West.

Rutgers, Mike Rice: Giants. Myles Mack will be sad if Cruz doesn’t shine. MVP: Victor Cruz.

Scarlet Knights: 12-11, 4-6 in the Big East.

St. Francis, N.Y., Glenn Braica: Giants. I’m a diehard Giants fan my whole life! The MVP’s got to be Eli since Brady’s on the other side. He has to at least match him which should get him the MVP.

MVP: Eli Manning.

Terriers: 11-10, 8-2 in the Northeast.

St. Johns, Steve Lavin: Giants. They have an inspired defense, improving with each passing week that is built to give Brady problems. Plus, I’m biased because when I first came home from the hospital Coughlin and his staff sent me an autographed Giants football with well wishes. MVP: Victor Cruz.

Red Storm: 10-12, 4-6 in the Big East.

St. Peter’s, John Dunne: Giants. I’m a season-ticket guy, Giants all the way. I just think they’re defense is going to get to Brady. Brady doesn’t like getting knocked down and hurried and rushed. Their front four is going to be the difference in the game: MVP: Eli Manning.

Peacocks: 4-18, 3-8 in the MAAC.

Seton Hall, Kevin Willard: Giants. The Giants because of their pass rush and a strong aerial attack against a weak New England defense. MVP: “CRRRUUUUUZZZ!!!”

Pirates: 15-7, 4-6.

Stony Brook, Steve Pikiell: Giants. I like teams that defend. MVP: Jason Pierre Paul.

Seawolves: 14-7, 9-1 in America East.

Wagner, Danny Hurley: Giants. Got to go with the NY-NJ Giants. MVP: Victor Cruz.

Seahawks: 18-4, 9-2 in the Northeast.

lenn.robbins@nypost.com

Eli Manning, the Giants, Giants, The Giants online, Victor Cruz, Tom Brady, Big Blue, New England Patriots, Mo Cassara, Mo Cassara, Giants fan, Patriots, Jim Ferry, St. Francis, Kyle Smith

Nypost.com

2012-02-03 at 19-06-26

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2012-02-03 at 19-06-26

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Friday, February 3, 2012

Pit stop

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Pit stop

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2012

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Thursday, February 2, 2012

Stanford moneyman knew it was fraud

HOUSTON — It was a deceptive fax sent from a fake office in London that led R. Allen Stanford’s former finance chief to conclude that his high-flying billionaire boss was a fraud.

James Davis, a college roommate of Stanford’s who went on to become his moneyman, told a federal jury in Houston yesterday that in the summer of 1991 Stanford handed him a document and asked him to fly with it to London. There, he was to take the document to a 10-foot square cubicle and fax it to a potential client.

The purpose of the trip, Davis testified, was to hide the fact that the company named on the document’s letterhead, British Insurance Fund Limited, didn’t actually exist. That company was supposed to be insuring the CDs deposited in Stanford’s bank, Davis said, when in fact BIF Ltd. was a purely paper creation.

Shortly after this, Davis told a packed Texas courtroom, he began to make a joke of shuffling into Stanford’s office as if his wrists and ankles were bound together, as if he were walking in shackles.

The point, he said, was to let Stanford know that if they continued operating as they were, they would end up behind bars.

Davis, who has pleaded guilty to securities fraud, admitted that he had committed crimes and said he had helped Stanford, who is accused of bilking investors out of $7 billion, even as he raised questions with his boss.

Davis described Stanford as a charismatic but dictatorial boss, one who would fly into a rage if Davis made a decision without Stanford’s approval and who operated through “flattery, intimidation and fear.”

Asked by prosecutors why he stayed in his job, Davis choked back a sob and answered, “because I was greedy.”

All told, Davis said, he earned some $14 million during his time with Stanford.

Allen Stanford, Stanford, British Insurance Fund Limited

Nypost.com

Jim Jones Revue

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Jim Jones Revue

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Flickr.com

Hmm...very interesting details

photo

Hmm...very interesting details

Seurat spent over two years painting A Sunday Afternoon, focusing meticulously on the landscape of the park. He reworked the original as well as completed numerous preliminary drawings and oil sketches. He would go and sit in the park and make numerous sketches of the various figures in order to perfect their form. He concentrated on the issues of colour, light, and form. The painting is approximately 2 by 3 meters (6 ft 10 in x 10 ft 1 in) in size.

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Georges Pierre Seurat

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

A Sunday Afternoon

oil sketches, A Sunday Afternoon

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