Tebow's presence gives Jets' offense options

New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan talks to reporters about acquiring NFL quarterback Tim Tebow from the Denver Broncos at the LSU football Pro Timing Day in Baton Rouge, Thursday, March 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan talks to reporters about acquiring NFL quarterback Tim Tebow from the Denver Broncos at the LSU football Pro Timing Day in Baton Rouge, Thursday, March 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2011 file photo, Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow reacts after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the New York Jets in an NFL football game, in Denver. Tebow was traded Wednesday, March 21, 2012, to the New York Jets. (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2011 file photo, New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez (6) and Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (15) walk off the field together after an NFL football game, in Denver. Tebow has been traded from the Denver Broncos to the New York Jets. (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2011 file photo, Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (15) reacts after a touchdown run by Denver Broncos running back Lance Ball (35) against the New England Patriots in an NFL football game, in Denver. Tebow was traded to the New York Jets, Wednesday, March 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File)

New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan talks to reporters about acquiring NFL quarterback Tim Tebow from the Denver Broncos at the LSU football Pro Timing Day in Baton Rouge, Thursday, March 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Each time Tim Tebow steps on the field for the New York Jets, defenses will know what to expect.

Well, the unexpected, of course.

The versatile and elusive quarterback with the flair for dramatic victories was acquired Wednesday from the Denver Broncos and will give the Jets' offense a boost ? for at least a few snaps a game.

"Instead of a team just preparing for our base offense, they will have to prepare for what we do and what we may do," coach Rex Ryan said at LSU's pro day Thursday in Baton Rouge, La.

Tebow, who arrived at the Jets' facility in Florham Park, N.J., for the first time Thursday afternoon, won't start as he did in Denver, not with New York committed to Mark Sanchez. But Tebow gives the Jets the option to run offensive coordinator Tony Sparano's wildcat offense ? the one that confused teams while in Miami with the Dolphins ? and provides an intriguing presence when games are on the line.

"Tim is an outstanding football player, and we can use him," Ryan said. "He'll fit our wildcat package. As a defensive coach, I know how hard it is to defend the wildcat. We can take it to another level with Tim. We will have things for Tebow each week."

Consider that fair warning.

"What we've seen from him, you've got to watch every time he's in there," Jets defensive end Mike DeVito said. "He has the ability to throw the ball and a great ability to run the ball, so any role we put him in, it'll keep defenses on their toes."

DeVito and the rest of the Jets know that from experience. Tebow led a 95-yard winning touchdown drive against New York last November, scoring on a 20-yard scramble with less than a minute remaining. That set off a string of stirring comebacks as the Broncos rode Tebow's incredible late-game play ? despite his ugly mechanics and passing stats ? all the way to the playoffs, including an overtime win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the opening round.

Long before all that, Tebow already had developed a faithful following that overlooked his flaws and focused on his leadership and ability to come through in the clutch. He's bringing those same qualities to New York, but he'll be in a different role.

"They want me to come in and compete and get better, and get better as a quarterback and to help the team any way possible," Tebow said Wednesday night. "Whatever that role is, I will do my best every time I step on that field and give my heart and soul."

Sanchez will get the snaps as the starting quarterback, and Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum have told anyone who'll listen that he is their unquestioned No. 1 guy under center.

"Mark is a great competitor," Ryan said. "He's our starting quarterback. We're incredibly fortunate to have two young quarterbacks with playoff experience and playoff wins. Mark has taken us to two AFC championship games in three years. That speaks volumes about him. He is just hitting his stride."

But Sanchez also is coming off a shaky season in which he had as many touchdown passes as turnovers: 26. His decision-making and leadership came under fire by fans, media and even some anonymous players in the offseason. After a quick flirtation with the idea of chasing Peyton Manning, the Jets issued a huge vote of confidence to Sanchez by giving him a three-year contract extension.

But less than two weeks later, New York traded for Tebow ? a player with a rock-star persona and an impressive resume smattered with comeback wins. Just how secure Sanchez's job is remains to be seen once he throws his first interception or has a bad drive. But what the Jets envision is Sanchez leading the offense and Tebow running the wildcat formation when they need a spark.

"If our offense is sputtering, and we have, say, three three-and-outs, and we roll this out there and it's successful, who knows?" Tannenbaum said on 1050 ESPN Radio on Thursday. "I think it will just depend on the game and the situation."

Third-and-long? Put Tebow in to make defenses dare him to throw.

Fourth-and-goal? Try to tackle the guy, who's built more like a fullback at 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds.

Oh, he's in the wildcat, which Sparano so adores? Well, defenses need to decide if he's going to take off running, hand it off or catch defensive backs napping with a toss over their heads.

"We think we can have explosive plays out of that package as well," Tannenbaum said.

So, it could be five snaps a game. Or, seven. Maybe even nine or 10. One thing's for sure: Tebow gives the Jets their first true multipurpose threat since Brad Smith, who left as a free agent last offseason.

"Excited about the tebow trade," wide receiver Jeremy Kerley wrote on Twitter. "It's obvious tht he's a winner and thts Wht we need!"

For a team that was done in last season by distractions and disharmony, Tebow's addition would appear to do little more than add to an already volatile situation. There are times Sanchez will have to come off the field when Tebow jogs onto it, something that won't please the ultra-competitive quarterback heading into his fourth season. Ryan, though, insists Tebow and Sanchez can co-exist ? and win together.

"Tim gives us another competitor," Ryan said. "I love Tim's competitiveness. He'll fit in with our team. There will be no problem at all. We care about our team first and foremost. Those two guys are just like that."

The Jets currently have four quarterbacks on their roster ? Sanchez, Tebow, recently signed Drew Stanton and Greg McElroy. Stanton signed with New York to be the No. 2 but wants out now that Tebow is here. Tannenbaum made it clear that Tebow will be Sanchez's backup, serving in the role veteran Mark Brunell held the last two seasons.

"Brunell was more like a coach, and now Mark's going to have like a brother in there, someone he can lean on and someone he can grow with ? and they can grow together at the position," DeVito said. "So, I think Mark is going to be excited."

The possibilities certainly make the Jets excited. After all, Ryan is determined to go back to the run-first, "Ground-and-Pound" approach that made them so successful in his first two seasons as coach. With Tebow on board, the Jets just might have gotten the perfect addition for Ryan's master plan.

"What we've become," Tannenbaum said while announcing the deal Wednesday night, "is a diverse, more dynamic offense that's going to make it more difficult for opposing teams to defend."

___

AP Freelance Writer Bryan Lazare in Baton Rouge, La., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-03-22-FBN-Jets-Tebow's-Role/id-7cac03165aab4d73be9d942a9e40ab2b

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Matron: Pastoral letter from an average lesbian to the leaders of the ...

Matron initially wrote the text below as a comment on one of the many blogposts by faithful Catholics that are currently promoting the "pastoral letter" written by Archbishop Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Peter Smith on ?gay marriage'.

As Matron has already said many a time in various fora, she is no great fan of gay marriage herself because she is no great fan of marriage. As an indoctrinated 80s feminist who grew up on a steady diet of philosophical and legal critique of the institution, she has never quite managed to overcome her resistance to a concept whose sole purpose it seems to be to privilege on way of arranging one's life over another. To her, marriage itself already always seemed to be the epitome of something that creates inequality in a society and she still wonders if gay people who want to be part of it might not maybe be selling those of us who don't down the river to some extent.

For this reason gay marriage is something that Matron has consistently refused to campaign on all her gay, adult life, preferring instead to argue for a society and a legal system where people's life choices in all their rainbow coloured variety are recognised and protected by law. She stands by that even in the face of pressure from her own community because, quite frankly, it seems a bit silly to be for something just because the Catholic church is against it.

However, it cannot be denied that:

(a) there is of course a ludicrous element of inequality in the denial of marriage to one part of society solely on the basis of the gender of the person they love,

(b) the conflation of romantic notions of love, societal objectives, religious dogma, and the law has created a myriad of messy beliefs and understandings of what marriage is and should be about, and

(c) that - as the Catholic church has done - the throwing into this unholy mess of argument the imperative of marriage being solely there to enable procreation and the raising of children adds a level of irrationality and - lets face it - entertainment value to the debate that deserves its entirely separate blog post, seeing as it also seems to deny the right to marry to those straight couples who cannot have children or who definitely and freely decide not to have them.

Much has been said and argued on that latter part in particular and many examples have been cited for loving gay relationships where children are nourished, loved and cared for, versus incapable single mothers, despicable rogues of fathers, broken homes and, not least, the Catholic church's abysmal reaction to the fact of child abuse by members of its own ranks. Indeed, Matron, like almost everyone of her ilk, now has gay and lesbian friends who raise children, including a lesbian couple who is providing that loving home for a group of three sibling given up for adoption by social services after suffering physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their heterosexual parents.

But equally, Matron knows of gay and lesbian relationship breakdowns, with or without children, where the partners had to deal with exactly the same social and legal issues as their straight counterparts. The bottom line is that we are no better and no worse at this relationship and raising children thing than straights have been for millennia. Nor should we expected to be and Matron does not believe that a "holier than though" attitude is going to help anyone even one iota.

But what she does believe is that the discourse that is currently being had openly on the letters pages of our national newspapers, blogs and social networks is deeply offensive and hurtful, showing as it does to those of us who might just have thought that this society is changing for the better and might be becoming more tolerant, what a morass of hate and prejudice still lurks beneath the surface. To this extent it is not only damaging to indivuals' mental health and self esteem but it is damaging to the very fabric of our society.

And for a church that professes to have as its major tenet the commandment to "love thy neighbour" there is remarkably little of that love shown to any neighbour who doesn't play by its own restrictive, narrow-minded and, yes, openly discriminatory rules. So even if Matron could bring herself to have faith in some spiritual superior being for whose existence there is not a shred of scientific evidence, she would never be able to believe in a god this spiteful and a church this hellbent (pardon the pun) on the exclusion and damnation of significant parts of his creation. That sort of god is not a loving god, no matter what his minions preach from their pulpits of a Sunday morning.

"Sticks and stones", one could of course argue and, on the plus side, Matron has also received many messages of support from straight friends, family and acquaintences that make it clear that things are not all bad. But the sticks and stones argument never really works very well for those of us with thinner skins and for Matron this week there was the added complication that she was actually required to attend a full Catholic mass at a time when the only reason why she would ever want to go near a Catholic church would be to picket it.

So here is the comment that she posted on that other blog in which she describe just how that made her feel. It's a bit more private and personal that her usual ramblings and she will no doubt regret posting it later, but for the time being she thinks that there isn't enough out there yet about this aspect of the whole debate:

"Yesterday, I was glad enough to be there for my lesbian partner when we attended the catholic funeral mass for her grandmother, a woman who, aged 85 at the time, welcomed me into her heart and her family 17 years ago when my girlfriend and I first started going out. Walking behind the coffin into the church together with the rest of the family we had to go past a table with a neat pile of your ?pastoral letters? and, next to it, a petition on the matter, signed no doubt by many of the parishioners who were sitting in the pews waiting for us to pass. It made it clear to me once more that although everyone in my partner?s family treats me as a fully signed up member of their clan, the same way in fact, as they treat the spouses of my partner?s siblings, the church they belong to continues to see me as a second class citizens regardless of how much time, love and committment I share with their daughter, how much I get involved in their gatherings, the care for their children and their elderly. Whatever I do and however much love I show towards my partner and those she holds dear, in the eyes of their church I will never be good enough.

I am not sure, if any of those who are promoting this letter have the capacity to understand how much hurt and offence you are causing to those of us who, although we may not be religious, try to live a live in which we do the right things, love those dear to us without constraints and in return only want to get shown the same love and respect for these efforts as everybody else.

Whatever you think about marriage and the rationale for it, the public discourse church leaders are currently creating, the comparisons they are making between what, in my and most other cases, are supportive, loving and committed relationships between two (not three, four or five) people and things like bestiality and legalising slavery etc. are homophobic and show none of the love towards your fellow creature that your own church?s founder commands.

Given everything I read in the papers in recent weeks, it took all I?ve got for me to decide to even go near a Catholic church yesterday. I did it because the woman I love needed my support and because I know the woman we were burying would have wanted me to be there. Which part of that love that we share is so lacking in the necessary quality that it doesn?t make the grade in your book? If an 85 year old Irish catholic woman could accept my relationship with her granddaughter, why can?t her church?"

Source: http://cybermatron.blogspot.com/2012/03/pastoral-letter-from-average-lesbian-to.html

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Omaha Roofing and its Future | Industrial Mechanical

Omaha, Nebraska is gradually moving away from its traditional industries, like the meat packaging industry which supported the city for many years. It is now leveraging its former assets in the transportation industry to serve as a center for other industries. Medical, banking, information technology and call center industries increase the demand for construction of infrastructure
Roofing professionals can expect challenging times ahead as Omaha continues to grow and experience positive economic growth. Omaha?s skyline continues to move upward as the city experiences a new economic growth spurt. A number of new developments are attracting a wave of people relocating to the city.
Omaha has does not have a suburban area; residences are concentrated within the city itself. Those in the building trades are gearing up to the new reality of the market, where home repairs are done in multi-story buildings. In this place, majority of customers of local roofing companies are commercial business owners instead of homeowners.
Large buildings have a different type of roofing. Omaha buildings usually have a flat, concrete rooftop instead of the familiar sloped roof commonly found. This kind of roof is ideal for commercial structures, as it is very cost efficient and easier to maintain. Buildings usually have stairways that lead to the roof, allowing easier access for maintenance personnel.
The roof is usually covered by tar and gravel to prevent water from accumulating on the surface. But in an economically progressive city like Omaha, there will likely be an additional demand for roofing technologies that are more environmentally friendly roofing. Omaha NEbuildings sometimes use laminates, films that are bonded onto the roof surface not just to provide weatherproofing but also to reflect solar radiation and reduce ambient air warming.
Another type of roofing that is slowly gaining popularity all over the world is green roofing. Omaha buildings are ideal for this kind of roofing because plants and gardens can easily be grown on flat ground. With this kind of roofing, commercial buildings not only enjoy having excellent insulation and reduced chance of leakage; they also help in providing a cleaner urban atmosphere.

About the Author

For More Information, please visit our website at http://www.mckinnisroofing.com

Source: http://www.ulyssis.net/archives/471

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Siskel and Ebert: An Oral History

Key to Participants:
Listed in order of appearance

Nancy Stanley, makeup artist, At the Movies/Siskel & Ebert/Ebert & Roeper/At the Movies redux (1982?2010)
Michael Phillips, co-host, Ebert & Roeper/At the Movies redux (2006?2008/2009?2010)
Abe Peck, former features reporter, Chicago Sun-Times
Mary Margaret Bartley, scenic designer, Siskel & Ebert/Ebert & Roeper (1986?2001)
Thea Flaum, executive producer, Opening Soon at a Theater Near You/Sneak Previews (1976?1982)
Nancy De Los Santos, producer, Sneak Previews/At the Movies (1980?1984)
Joe Antelo, executive producer, At the Movies (1982?1986)
Rick Kogan, dean of local newspapermen, Chicago Tribune
Stuart Cleland, associate producer, Siskel & Ebert/Ebert & Roeper (1987?2003)
Larry Dieckhaus, executive producer, Siskel & Ebert (1987?1997)
Mary Kellogg, senior vice president of programming and production, Buena Vista Television (1985?2005)
Donna LaPietra, executive producer, Siskel & Ebert (1986?1987)
Michelle McKenzie-Voigt, assistant/associate director, Sneak Previews (1979?1982)
Gordon ?Buzz? Hannan, stage manager, Siskel & Ebert/Ebert & Roeper (1986?2001)
Ray Solley, producer, Opening Soon at a Theater Near You/Sneak Previews (1976?1982)
John Davies, associate producer, Sneak Previews (1981?1982)
Robert Feder, media columnist, Time Out Chicago (now)/Chicago Sun-Times (then)
Jamie Bennett, senior vice president, Buena Vista Television (1985?1991)
Van Gordon Sauter, news director, CBS2 Chicago (1973?1975)
Tod Mesirow, director of communications, WTTW (1980?1982)
Laura Hernandez, production assistant/producer, Sneak Previews/At the Movies (1980?1982/1983?1984)
Don Voigt, director, Sneak Previews/Siskel & Ebert (1982/1986?1988)

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924791/news/1924791/

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Stupid Voters Are People, Too

Since last week. After Pelosi and Maher?s silly video came a much more serious study of the same question: a Politico article about, basically, voter stupidity. According to reporter Alexander Burns, voters believed in a ?litany of contradictory, irrational or simply silly opinions,? and were ?wandering, confused and Forrest Gump-like? through a campaign that was too complex for their tiny brain pans. ?A lot of times,? explained Politico editor-in-chief John Harris, introducing and defending the piece, ?stories generate from the editors? rants.? Mea maxima culpa; they were angry, and they forgot to hold their breath and count to 10.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=0cc769a4d7f9d0f751b69141bc58e556

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Dun & Bradstreet halts China unit operations amid probe

(Reuters) - Dun & Bradstreet , a global business information firm, said some of its local employees in China may have violated U.S. anti-bribery laws and it has suspended operations at one of its local units pending an inquiry.

Dun & Bradstreet, formed from a 1933 merger of two rival credit reporting agencies, said it is investigating allegations that data collection practices at Shanghai Roadway D&B Marketing Services Co, which it formed in 2009, may violate Chinese consumer data privacy laws.

In a statement, Dun & Bradstreet said the Shanghai Roadway unit had 2011 revenue of around $23 million and operating income of $2 million. Total group revenue last year was $1.76 billion.

In addition to the data collection practices, D&B said it was reviewing complaints that local employees may have violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other laws at its China operations.

The company gave no specific details of the allegations, but said it was cooperating with a Chinese investigation and has voluntarily reported the matters to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Calls to the Shanghai Roadway D&B Marketing Services unit went unanswered on Monday and attempts to access the company's website generated an error message.

A report in the Shanghai Daily newspaper cited Shanghai police as saying they had confiscated four computer servers at the unit's headquarters and questioned three senior executives.

State television said the company had private information, including income levels, jobs and addresses, for some 150 million Chinese residents and had sold individuals' details for 1.5 yuan (23 cents) each to companies involved in marketing or phone sales, the newspaper reported.

The report said the company had collected personal information from banks, insurance companies and real estate agents as well as from cold-call companies.

Wendy Wysong, a foreign legal consultant at Clifford Chance in Hong Kong, said U.S.-based businesses operating in China are regularly scrutinized by U.S. anti-corruption officials, adding that cases of alleged bribery are increasing faster in China than in other countries.

"Very often, as appears here, as a result of internal investigations of other types of non-compliant conduct, possible corrupt conduct is also discovered," she said.

Other U.S. firms operating in China have been accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, including IBM, which agreed last March to pay $10 million to settle a complaint, without admitting guilt, that its employees bribed South Korean and Chinese officials.

Law enforcement officials are currently investigating whether Avon Products used bribes to win the first-ever license given by China to a Western company to sell products door-to-door, and a $135 million donation by Wynn Resorts is also under scrutiny in Macau, China's gambling hub.

Dun & Bradstreet filings with the SEC describe the firm as "the world's leading source of commercial information and insight on businesses."

It said its global database and proprietary analytical functions create reliable information that "is the foundation of our global solutions that customers rely on to make critical business decisions."

Dun & Bradstreet operates several other majority-owned joint ventures in China.

In 2007 it took a majority stake in a venture with Huaxia International Credit Consulting Co Ltd called D&B Huaxia; in 2008 it bought a majority stake in a joint venture with Huicong International Co Ltd; and last year it acquired nearly all of MicroMarketing Co, a direct marketing service with offices in Beijing and Shanghai.

In 2009, Dun & Bradstreet acquired a 90 percent stake in Roadway International Ltd, the leading provider of integrated services of direct marketing in China, and transferred D&B Huaxia's sales and marketing business to the Roadway unit.

That same year, Dun & Bradstreet described in an SEC filing the range of risks the company faced throughout its global operations.

"A failure in the integrity of our database, whether inadvertently or through the actions of a third party, which may be on the rise, could harm us by exposing us to customer or third-party claims or by causing a loss of customer confidence in our solutions," the statement said.

It did not make specific mention of its China operations, but the company noted "there is increasing awareness and concern among the general public and companies regarding marketing and privacy matters."

"Nonetheless, future laws and regulations with respect to the collection, management and use of information, and adverse publicity or litigation concerning the commercial use of such information could result in limitations being imposed on our operations, increased compliance or litigation expense and/or loss of revenue, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results."

Dun & Bradstreet's Asia Pacific region, which also includes ventures in Australia and Japan, accounted for nearly 15 percent of the company's revenue in 2011, company reports show.

Shares in Dun & Bradstreet, valued at around $4.1 billion, have gained 48 percent in the past six months and last week hit a 13-month high.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in BANGALORE, Ken Wills and Beijing newsroom in BEIJING, Rachel Armstrong in HONG KONG; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Ian Geoghegan and Matt Driskill)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dun-bradstreet-halts-china-unit-operations-amid-probe-085109968.html

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Tiffany 4Q profit falls as costs offset sales

NEW YORK (AP) ? Tiffany says its fourth-quarter profit fell slightly, as higher costs more than offset an increase in revenue.

But the iconic jewelry company issued a stronger-than-expected outlook for the current year.

Its shares rose 2.2 percent to $70.21 in premarket trading.

For the quarter ended Jan. 31, the New York-based company reported net income of $178.4 million, or $1.39 per share. That's down from $181.2 million, or $1.41 per share, in the same quarter of 2010.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $1.42 per share.

Revenue rose 7.8 percent to $1.19 billion, matching analysts' predictions.

Tiffany & Co. projected a 2012 profit of $3.95 to $4.05 per share on sales growth of about 10 percent. That suggests $4.01 billion in sales.

Analysts expect earnings of $3.93 per share on revenue of $3.91 billion.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-03-20-US-Earns-Tiffany/id-df2b489440724fe5bd7a61b57ce1f138

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