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(12/05/06 5:22am)
Dear Harlan,\nI have been in a relationship with a wonderful man for more than three years now. I love him very much, and we are planning on getting married within the next year. Our relationship is great, except for one thing. He seems to resent me for a mistake I made many years before I met him. He resents the fact that I got pregnant and had an abortion in a previous relationship. He is very touchy about this subject matter. We have talked about it at length, and each time we talk things through, he feels better about it. But every couple of months it seems to come back and bother him. He has a fear that I am damaged goods. And he says that knowing about my sexual history in general doesn't bother him, but knowing about the abortion is just too powerful and detailed for him to get over. I want to go into our marriage without any negativity. What can I do to help him get over this emotional and mental hurdle?\nResented in \nMinneapolis
(12/05/06 4:24am)
'Tis the season that can seriously challenge our ability to manage stress. Finals are looming. Those papers you put off are due. Family and financial problems may escalate. Even students who normally manage stress reasonably well can begin to experience more of its negative effects at this time of semester. \nThese effects include getting caught in mental worry loops when trying to fall or stay asleep. Feeling edgy and irritable is another common effect of stress that can cause strains in friendships and set up negative interactions among people. Stress can also cause some people to develop headaches, stomach discomfort or other physical problems.\nOthers may experience stress in the form of feeling overwhelmed or finding it hard to focus and cope. Thinking negatively intensifies the overwhelmed feelings. \nIn addition to combating stress by eating healthily, exercising, getting adequate sleep, developing good study routines, reducing caffeine intake and trying to think as positively as possible, we invite you to try relaxation exercises. They have proven their effectiveness with athletes, musicians and others exposed to high-performance demands. \nRelaxation exercises provide some simple, powerful tools for reducing stress. They are easy to learn and incorporate into daily routines. Counseling and Psychological Services of the IU Health Center is offering links to these on its Web site, www.healthcenter.indiana.edu/caps. The exercises were developed and generously shared by Hobart and William Smith Colleges. \nYou can listen to them directly from the Web site or download them to your computer. You can copy them or record them to a CD for free. \nBrowse the CAPS Web site for other stress management tips. \nThis is the last of the CAPS articles in this series this semester. We have enjoyed the opportunity to share our thoughts on emotional health with you. Our staff wishes you a productive end of semester -- with manageable stress -- and an enjoyable break!
(12/05/06 4:24am)
U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his temporary appointment expires within weeks, the White House said Monday. The White House resubmitted Bolton's nomination last month, but with Democrats capturing control of the next Congress, his chances of winning confirmation appeared slight.
(12/05/06 4:23am)
WASHINGTON -- President Bush told an Iraqi power broker Monday that the United States was not satisfied with the progress of efforts to stop the sharp escalation of violence in Iraq.\nBush met at the White House with Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the Shiite leader of the largest bloc in Iraq's parliament.\nAl-Hakim said that he "vehemently" opposes any regional or international effort to solve Iraq's problems that goes around the unity government in Baghdad.\n"Iraq should be in a position to solve Iraq's problems," al-Hakim said.\nThe president said he spoke with al-Hakim for more than an hour and said they had a "very constructive conversation."\n"I assured him that the U.S. supports his work and the work of the prime minister to unify the country," Bush said, referring to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.\n"Part of unifying Iraq is for the elected leaders and society leaders to reject the extremists that are trying to stop the advance of this young democracy," Bush said.\n"We talked about the need to give the government ... more capability as soon as possible so the elected government of Iraq can do that which the Iraqi people want to secure their country from extremists and murderers," Bush said. "I told his eminence that I was proud of the courage of the Iraqi people. I told him that we're not satisfied with the pace of progress in Iraq. And that we want to continue to work with the sovereign government of Iraq."\nAl-Hakim, after what he called a "very clear" meeting earlier with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, told reporters in Arabic that "we have asked for the American forces to stay in Iraq" to enable Iraqi security to deal with terrorists.\nMonday's developments came amid an atmosphere of rising expectations about a new U.S. policy in Iraq and an acknowledgment by Bush's national security adviser that Bush accepts that a new approach is warranted.\nNational security adviser Stephen Hadley said Sunday that while Bush recognizes something different needs to be done, the president won't use the recommendations due this week from the Iraq Study Group as political cover for bringing troops home.\n"We have not failed in Iraq," Hadley said as he made the talk show rounds Sunday. "We will fail in Iraq if we pull out our troops before we're in a position to help the Iraqis succeed."\nHe added: "The president understands that we need to have a way forward in Iraq that is more successful."\nBut with the leak of another insider's secret memo, the second in a week, the administration found itself on the defensive.\nThe latest showed that Donald H. Rumsfeld called for a "major adjustment" in U.S. tactics Nov. 6, the day before an election that cost Republicans the Congress and Rumsfeld his job as defense secretary.\nHadley played down the memo as a laundry list of ideas rather than a call for a new course of action.\nHe said that Bush -- just before a pivotal election -- was not portraying a different sense of the war to the public than his own defense secretary was giving him in private.\nThe president "has said publicly what Rumsfeld said, that things are not proceeding well enough or fast enough in Iraq," Hadley said.\nDemocrats did not buy that.\n"The Rumsfeld memo makes it quite clear that one of the greatest concerns is the political fallout from changing course here in the United States," said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "The bottom line is there is no one, including the former secretary, who thought the policy the president continues to pursue makes any sense."\nRep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said the Rumsfeld memo was an example of how the administration has been "mischaracterizing and misstating this war." He said the Iraq conflict had devolved into a civil war. "There's two factions fighting for supremacy inside Iraq and our troops are caught in between," Murtha said on NBC's "Today" show. As incoming chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee, Murtha said he would put pressure on the administration to redeploy U.S. troops there.\nBush has nominated Robert Gates to replace Rumsfeld. His confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee is Tuesday.\nAs pressure builds for a new strategy, the report from the Iraq Study Group increasingly is viewed as perhaps clearing the way for a U.S. exit strategy in Iraq. Hadley, though, said the review will be just one factor the White House considers.\nAfter a meeting last week in Jordan, Bush expressed confidence that al-Maliki and his Iraqi government can lead the country toward peace with support from the United States.\nYet Hadley found himself defending his own memo that called that very point into question.
(12/05/06 4:22am)
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday wrestled with voluntary integration plans in public schools, asking whether programs in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle are acceptable moves toward student diversity or other names for illegal racial quotas.\nJustice Anthony Kennedy, who could hold the decisive vote, joined his conservative colleagues in expressing deep skepticism about the programs.\nThe Seattle district seems to be telling its high school students who are subject to the plan that "everybody can get a meal" but that only certain people can get "dessert," Kennedy said. He was referring to the fact that some students did not get assigned to the schools they preferred based on their race.\nAbout Louisville's system-wide assignment plan, Kennedy said, "It's a troubling case."\nThe court's four liberal justices indicated they see no constitutional problem with school districts that factor in a student's race in an effort to have individual school populations approximate the racial makeup of the entire system. Federal appeals courts have upheld both programs.\nIn Louisville, the school system spent 25 years under a federal court order to desegregate its system. The school board decided to keep much of the court-ordered plan in place to prevent schools from resegregating.\n"What's constitutionally required one day is constitutionally prohibited the next day? That's very odd," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said.\nFrancis Mellen Jr., representing the Louisville schools, called the plan a success story that enjoys broad community support, including among parents of white and black students.\nKennedy wanted to know that even assuming the school board's good faith, can it assign students "based on the color of an individual child's skin"?\nThe justices and lawyers arguing the cases referred repeatedly to a 2003 Supreme Court ruling that permitted the limited consideration of race to attain a diverse student body on the college level.\nChief Justice John Roberts expressed concern about making school assignments "based on skin color" and not "any other factor."\nAttorney Michael Madden, representing the Seattle school district, said race is just one factor that it is relied on only in some instances and then only at the end of a lengthy process.\nMadden drew a distinction between the Seattle school program and the subject of the court's 2003 decision, which narrowly approved the University of Michigan law school affirmative action admissions program.\n"This is not like being denied admission to a state's flagship university," Madden told Roberts. The Seattle students are "not being denied admission, they are being redistributed."\nAmid the oral arguments, pro-affirmative action demonstrators bearing "Fight For Equality" placards marched on the sidewalk in front of the Supreme Court in a brisk wind. A parent-teachers group from Chicago and several civil rights groups were among those sponsoring the demonstration.\nDemonstrators chanted "Equal education, not segregation" and "We won't go to the back of the bus, integration is a must." Some held signs that read "Stop racism now." Among the crowd were representatives of the National Organization for Women, the NAACP and students from Howard University.\nThough outnumbered, there were some in the crowd from the other side.\n"Regardless of how well-motivated, allowing the state to engineer racial mixing only creates racial stereotypes and increases racial tension," said Terry Pell, president of the Center for Individual Rights, a public interest law firm. "The court needs to put an end to state-mandated tinkering with race."\nThe school policies in contention are designed to keep schools from segregating along the same lines as neighborhoods. In Seattle, only high school students are affected. Louisville's plan applies system-wide.\n"The plan has prevented the resegregation that inevitably would result from the community's segregated housing patterns and that most likely would produce many schools that might be perceived as 'failing,'" the Seattle school district said in its brief to the high court.\nThe Bush administration has taken the side of the parents who are suing the school districts, much as it intervened on behalf of college and graduate students who challenged Michigan's affirmative action policies in 2003.\nThe court upheld race-conscious admissions in higher education in a 5-4 opinion by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has since retired.
(12/05/06 4:17am)
Herman Edwards sucks.\nI mean it. It's not my bias toward the man for leaving the New York Jets to pursue more lucrative opportunities in Missouri. That can't be the case, considering Gang Green is improving without Edwards.\nBut here is Kansas City's head coach, leaving a sinking ship for riches elsewhere, only to find that the Jets' ship had emergency life preservers to keep their 2006 season afloat.\nMy point? Coaches can be pretty irrelevant in sports.\nAside from strategy or play-calling, I don't see coaches as valuable assets during the games. I'm not saying that an offensive playbook, practice drills in the morning skate, conditioning drills done on the hard court and the rehearsed hit-and-runs aren't important. Preparation is the coach's responsibility, and the benefits are seen on game days.\nBut what effect do coaches really have on the game as it unfolds? Not much. That's why coaching contracts seem pretty outrageous at times.\nLet's return to my ridiculed subject: Edwards signed a four-year, $12 million contract after running away from New York, where his record was 39-41. Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith, who has a 25-18 record with the Monsters of the Midway, earns a league-low $1.4 million a year.\nIs Edwards improving the team? Last year, the Chiefs finished 10-6 without a playoff berth and this year have a 7-5 record.\nWhat role do coaches play during the game? For hockey, they change the lines and offer suggestions and adjustments. But it's up to the players to make those adjustments and perform when called upon.\nI see the same problems with coaches in the NBA. In the end, despite what potent motivation a coach might provide, the Kobe Bryants, LeBron Jameses and Shaquille O'Neals will decide how the game turns out.\nTake Miami. Stan Van Gundy led the Heat to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2004-05 season but fell a couple of points short of the NBA Finals. Did the presence of next season's coach, Pat Riley, really make any tangible changes to the team's game? Despite how Riley prepared Wade and Co., each individual game was taken care of by Wade and Co.\nFor me, baseball requires the most strategy out of any sport -- and I see managers growing in importance. The in-game details of baseball are vastly more complex than any other sport. Decisions on shifting the outfield and infield defenses, ordering steals, calling pick-off attempts or relaying the bunt signal rattle the brains of baseball's managers more than coaches in other professional sports. Even still, it's the performances of the players on the field that decide the outcome.\nOne exception is the job Joe Girardi did for the Florida Marlins in 2006. He was handed raw athletes and molded them into a competitive team. This situation rarely presents itself because no other sport allows for such a discrepancy in talent and salaries. \nCollege coaches garner much more responsibility -- they are the face of the program. But in professional sports, coaches and managers assume much of the responsibility for games they don't have much control over (again, aside from preparation). \nIs preparation and focus enough for a team? If the talent's there, a little kick in the ass might be all it needs. \nMaybe Matt Foley, the motivational speaker played by Chris Farley on "Saturday Night Live," should grab a seat in the New York Yankees dugout. Would A-Rod play better if he got an earful of enthusiasm from a man "35 years old, thrice divorced who lives in a van down by the river"? He sure as hell isn't getting it from Joe Torre.\nCoaches can provide motivation when needed, direction when desperately needed and even a shoulder to cry on. So don't let signings like Herman Edwards' make you believe that coaches really manufacture that much in-game significance.\nBecause in Edwards' case, he just sucks.
(12/05/06 4:14am)
IU men's soccer midfielder Josh Tudela was named a third-team All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America last week. \nTudela, a graduating senior, was also named Big Ten Player of the Year. He and fellow senior midfielder John Michael Hayden earned spots on All-Great Lakes Region teams, also named by the NSCAA. \n"(Tudela) is a well-rounded player, and he makes everyone around him better," IU coach Mike Freitag said in a statement. "He is the best example for his teammates. He knows the intensity that's necessary to train at, and he knows the intensity to play at. He's instilled this work rate into him that makes him successful."\nTudela is the 34th Hoosier in 34 years of the IU men's soccer program to be named an All-American. IU has had at least one All-American every year since 1996.\nTudela finished his senior campaign with three goals and two assists, and he was captain during the team's Big Ten regular and conference tournament titles.\nHe and Hayden were invited to the Major League Soccer player combine, which will be held next month in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
(12/05/06 4:13am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- A ring commemorating IU's 1976 NCAA basketball championship was offered for auction on eBay on Monday, a day after bidding on a similar ring ended at $50,100 without meeting the seller's minimum price.\nThe bidding for the second ring, which the unidentified seller said had belonged to a player on the last unbeaten NCAA championship team, began at $32,019.76 and will end Sunday.\n"Best news of all, there is no reserve on it. So if you place a bid and you're the high bidder, you will win this fantastic ring," the seller said on the eBay posting.\nIn an e-mail exchange with The Associated Press, the seller said he acquired the IU ring secondhand, not directly from the player, and that he has bought and sold other rings.\n"I don't do this for a living; it's just a serious hobby," he said. "I am sure I will get a ton of e-mails saying they can't believe that someone from the 1976 team would ever sell their ring. It does happen for whatever reason."\nNo bids had been submitted as of Monday afternoon.\nThere were 112 bids on the first ring, which the seller said had belonged to the late Harold Andreas, an assistant coach on IU's 1976 title team.\nThe reserve price for that ring was not disclosed. The AP sent an e-mail message to the seller asking whether it would be sold for the top bid or offered for auction again.
(12/05/06 4:12am)
In a positive sign for the future of IU football, seven IU freshmen were named to the Sporting News Big Ten All-Freshman Team. The seven selections were the most for any conference team.\nRedshirt freshman quarterback Kellen Lewis led a group of seven, featuring receiver Nick Polk, defensive end Jammie Kirlew, buck Josh Bailey, safety Austin Thomas, offensive tackle Rodger Saffold and linebacker Will Patterson.\nPlaying in 11 of 12 games for the Hoosiers, Lewis threw for 14 touchdowns -- an IU freshman record -- and 2,221 passing yards, while also rushing for 441 yards and five more scores.
(12/05/06 4:10am)
Sophomore running back and kick returner Marcus Thigpen pulled in two national \nawards for his 2006 season. He was named to the Rivals.com All-America First Team and ESPN.com's All-Film team.\nOn 24 kick returns over the course of the season, Thigpen racked up 723 total yards, an average of 30.1 yards \nper return, with three touchdowns, tops in the country.\nThe sophomore had his best game of the year Oct. 7 at Illinois. \nThigpen gained 197 yards on four kickoff returns with 91 rushing yards and 23 receiving yards.\n His 311 all-purpose yards was the fourth-best single game effort in IU's history.
(12/05/06 4:07am)
The Big Ten announced its conference honors Nov. 21 with two Hoosiers -- James Hardy and Tracy Porter -- making the second team as voted by the media and earning an honorable mention from the conference coaches. \nIn just 10 games, sophomore receiver Hardy led the Hoosiers with 51 receptions for 722 yards and 10 receiving touchdowns. Hardy missed two early-season games for personal reasons. Against Michigan State on Oct. 28, he pulled in a school-record four touchdowns. He also had a three-touchdown day Oct. 14 in IU's upset of then-No. 15 Iowa.\nJunior cornerback Porter was second on the team with four interceptions and finished third with 58 tackles. Serving as the team's primary punt returner, Porter gained 223 yards on 12 returns, including a special-teams touchdown against Western Michigan.\nSenior safety Will Meyers will serve as IU's representative for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. Each Big Ten school has one representative. \nMeyers was also named to ESPN The Magazine's Academic All-America First Team, his second consecutive selection.\nThe senior captain led the Hoosiers with five interceptions and 78 tackles, 53 of them solo
(12/05/06 4:06am)
Coach Hep wants you.\nAnd IU wants Terry Hoeppner, too.\nDuring halftime of Saturday's radio broadcast of the IU men's basketball victory against the University of NAorth Carolina at Charlotte, Hoeppner announced he is receiving a two-year contract extension that will run through the 2011 season.\nHoeppner originally signed a five-year deal that goes through 2009.\n"He's the right guy for the job, and he has proved that in his first two seasons here," IU Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan told the Indianapolis Star on Sunday. "He's a strong representative for the institution, and his enthusiasm for the program has been contagious. He's the perfect man to head the IU football program."\nIn two seasons as IU's head coach, Hoeppner has led the Hoosiers to an overall record of 9-14 with a 4-12 mark in the Big Ten.\nThe 2006 season saw IU get within one game of bowl-eligibility before losing its final three games.\nDuring the season, Hoeppner underwent his second brain surgery in less than a year. The surgery caused him to miss two games.
(12/05/06 4:05am)
It's that time of the year again. It's time for crowded shopping malls, visits with the wonderful people in your family and the never-ending saga between Christmas and anti-Christmas idiots.\nThe old "war on Christmas" -- as Bill O'Reilly and other corporate news psychos have called it in the past few years -- seems like something that should have died out. However, the battle seems to be back in time for the 2006 season, as Wal-Mart recently announced that it would now be saying, "Merry Christmas" to its customers, replacing the previously used, "Happy holidays."\nO'Reilly asserts that other retailers, such as Best Buy and Crate & Barrel, are telling their employees to greet customers with "Happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" (though evidence suggests such policies don't exist). This angers O'Reilly and others who feel that retailers who don't mention Christmas in their message are abandoning the holiday.\nWith so many different religious beliefs in America, this melting pot of a country with alleged First Amendment rights, why is it that pro-Christmas people are so selfish to think that everyone must mention Christmas? If a business wants to be respectful of all holidays, that respect includes Christmas. So why complain if they don't mention the Christian holiday? If you wish to celebrate Christmas, that's fine, but let other people celebrate whatever they want. Isn't this supposed to be a country where we have freedom of religion and freedom of choice?\nEven if businesses wanted to mention Christmas in their message, wouldn't they appear to be hypocrites if they didn't mention all of the other religious holidays celebrated during this time of the year? If so, doesn't it seem logical to think that there are too many holidays to mention them all? It should just be customary to say, "Happy holidays" and cover them all at once.\nI'm not just out to get people who celebrate Christmas. They are only one side of the problem. On the other side of the coin are the anti-Christmas wackos. These people complain that they are being oppressed each year because all of the talk about Christmas. Many of these whiners seem to think that people shouldn't be allowed to say things like "Merry Christmas" because they find it offensive. Apparently, they're just as bad as the pro-Christmas psychos because they only want their way and wish everyone else would be forced to live by it.\nSaying "Happy holidays" isn't so bad because it's a neutral way of telling peope to enjoy the month of December, regardless of what you believe. If someone has a problem with that, they're stupid.\nIf you would rather say, "Merry Christmas," that's fine, too. If somebody gets offended when you say it, they're also stupid. \nPerhaps for the holidaze this year, people should not celebrate anything. Doing some research and learning as much as they can about the First Amendment might be more beneficial. If such a high level of stupidity is allowed to continue, the future of this world does not look too promising.
(12/05/06 3:58am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- A man accused of trying to pass through airport security \nwearing body armor and carrying a pellet gun as he escorted his mother and cousin to their flight faces a disorderly conduct charge, airport officials said.\nCarlos M. Delay, 19, was arrested Sunday at the Indianapolis International Airport, according to an Airport Police Department report. Delay told officers he wore the vest and carried the gun in his waistband for security but forgot about them when he went to the airport.\nSecurity agents stopped Delay at about 6:30 p.m. as he tried to pass through screening.\nAirport police Chief Bill Reardon said Delay told police that he wanted to have some protection at the airport in case there were terrorist threats. Delay was charged with disorderly conduct for the commotion the incident caused, Reardon said.\nDelay's relatives' flight took off before authorities could interview them, according to the police report.\nDelay spent five hours in custody and an hour in a police lockup unit at the airport before being released.\n"I see now that what I did was wrong, but I don't think it was as big a thing as the police made it out to be," Delay said.
(12/05/06 3:57am)
VALPARAISO -- Hate crimes send a chilling message beyond victims, and laws are needed to ensure that authorities do not write them off as mere pranks, an Anti-Defamation League spokesman said.\nIndiana is one of five states without legislation allowing prosecutors to enhance penalties for bias-motivated crimes, said Adam Schupack, associate director of the greater Chicago offices of the Anti-Defamation League.\n"We think it's important government acknowledge these crimes have a disproportionate impact on the community," Schupack told The Times of Munster for a Monday story.\nHate- or bias-motivated crimes are defined at the state and federal levels as offenses committed against a person or property motivated by a bias against the victim's race, religion, disability, national origin, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.\nThis type of bias has been suspected in several criminal cases across northwest Indiana this year, including:\n• Someone painted an offensive racial term and posted a cross at a Valparaiso apartment complex in October\n• Six bullet holes were discovered in July in the copper dome of the Michigan City Islamic Center in Pine Township. Doors, windows and a spotlight also were damaged.\n• An obscene racial term was found scrawled in February on the home of a Munster, Ind., family from India. The month before, the family's vehicle blew up in their driveway.\n• Also in February, a 15-year-old Hobart High School freshman was charged with spray-painting racial epithets and a swastika near the home of a black resident in the city. The resident told police her telephone line also had been cut in the past.\nThe size of the problem is not known. Law enforcement agencies are required to \nreport suspected bias cases to the state and federal governments, but there are no teeth in the laws to ensure compliance, Schupack said.\nVictims of these crimes also are hesitant to come forward, he said. Sixteen suspected hate crimes have been reported statewide so far this year, and 51 were reported last year, said 1st Sgt. Dave Bursten, an Indiana State Police spokesman.\nThere were 8,380 hate crimes reported across the nation during 2005, down from 9,035 the year before, according to the most recent statistics provided by the FBI.\nThe Anti-Defamation League called the 2005 federal figures "clearly incomplete," pointing out that police agencies in New York City and Phoenix were among thousands that failed to report.\nBursten said bias-related incidents account for a very small percentage of the total number of crimes committed. He questioned the need for special hate-crime legislation, saying police already investigate the underlying motives in these cases.\nState Rep. Duane Cheney, D-Portage, said a hate-crime law would have a tough time winning approval in the conservative Indiana General Assembly, although he would support such a measure.\n"I believe we have a duty to send a message that it is morally wrong on its face," he said of hate crimes, "especially in a nation where we claim to be welcoming to all"
(12/05/06 3:56am)
MUNCIE -- Muncie and Bloomington are both vying for a 1,000-job IBM customer service center that would support a $1.16 \nbillion plan for the company to handle processing of food stamps, Medicaid and \nwelfare cases, officials in those cities said.\nGov. Mitch Daniels announced last week that the changes recommended to him by a team of top aides will outsource some of the functions now performed by the state's Family and Social Services Administration. A team of vendors led by IBM Corp. would process applications for the services that one in six Hoosiers receive, and the team would lend technical support to FSSA over 10 years.\nArmonk, N.Y.-based IBM said it would bring about 850 jobs to the state in about two years, most of them at the service center. Within four years, that would grow to about 1,000 jobs.\nThe governor's office said several sites for the center were being considered. An IBM official said last week that a decision would not be made until next year.\nThe governor could make a final decision on signing a contract with the IBM consortium after a public hearing on Friday.\nDan Allen, president of the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, said Sunday there was a potential IBM project in the works locally.\nBloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan confirmed that his city had bid for the service center. IBM is reportedly looking for sites close to universities.\n"We think we got it, but until they sign on the dotted line, we are at the mercy of the state," Allen said. "We have been a bridesmaid \nbefore."\nAllen said east central Indiana, including Muncie, has an educated high-tech workforce.\n"Ball State University is a leader in technology," Allen said about the Muncie area's assets for attracting information technology business. "We are heavily wired and have wireless capability."\nLast February, Muncie landed a new Sallie Mae debt service center that will create 700 new jobs over the next three years. The average pay for Sallie Mae jobs is about $31,000 a year, but the IBM customer service center could average pay between $30,000 to $50,000 yearly.\nState Rep. Dennis Tyler, D-Muncie, said Sunday he would be "tickled to death" if Muncie landed the center.\nHowever, Tyler also said it was important for legislators to examine state contracts that privatized services. He expressed concerns about what would happen to current FSSA offices and employees under the IBM deal.\n"Any time you are doling out that kind of money, you must have oversight," said Tyler, who serves on the House Public Health Committee.\nHouse Speaker B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said the House would also conduct public hearings on the contract between the state and IBM consortium through its public health committee.\n"We are a long way from allowing a private firm to come in here and take over the responsibility of providing crucial service for people who are most in need of our help," Bauer said.\nDaniels indicated the state and IBM would continue to maintain welfare offices in all 92 Indiana counties and that FSSA employees who now determine eligibility would have jobs with the state or its contractor.
(12/05/06 3:56am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- The state attorney general's office has sued a Chesterton, Ind., man accused of selling cornhole games and never delivering them.\nScott Thompson, also known as Scott Klenk, sold the bean-bag toss games to more than 30 people at community festivals around the state, at shopping malls and online, the attorney general's office said Monday. Thompson operated under the business names "Cornhole Gamz" and "The Backyard Board Company," with customers paying from $20 to nearly $330 for the games.\n"After hearing word from consumers that this company was failing to deliver the products it sold, the company assured us it would reform its business practices," Attorney General Steve Carter said. "Despite promises to the contrary, it continued to deceive its customers. We are seeking full refunds and an injunction barring this behavior in the future."\nThompson sold the games at events in Indianapolis, Valparaiso, Whiting, Ind., and other communities, the state said.\nThe lawsuit filed in Porter Circuit Court seeks consumer refunds, injunctive relief, costs and civil penalties.\nA home telephone number listed in Thompson's name in Chesterton was disconnected Monday.
(12/05/06 3:43am)
In order to be a successful entrepreneur, you must be able to manage others and create a system of success. The book "E-Myth" by Michael Gerber is a great guide to doing just that. Today, I'll talk about what I describe as the "opt-out" strategy vs. the "opt-in" strategy. \nAfter dealing with many different employees for more than a year, I started to see a trend. With very few exceptions, my employees were neither motivated nor proactive. Rather than lying to myself and telling myself there was a problem with each of my employees, I started to focus on the real problem: As is often true in entrepreneurship, it was the entrepreneur.\nThe problem started with a couple idealistic misconceptions that I held. This misconception was that my employees would be as proactive and would care as much about my business as I did. Wrong. Another misconception was that the employees would do more than I required of them. Wrong again.\nThe problem is that an employee's mind-set and an entrepreneur's are not the same. With few exceptions, employees seek to do what they are told to do and minimize errors. It is up to the entrepreneur to inspire or instruct the employees to do more.\nThis issue is actually much deeper than the entrepreneur-employee relationship; it is at the very core of societal progress. Most individuals only do what is required of them. Most people will hand in papers, study for tests and do other tasks that have a deadline. In other words, they will not "opt out" of required tasks. \nHowever, ask them to do a task "for fun" and with no deadline and they probably won't do it. In other words, they will not "opt in." Naturally, people will always place time-sensitive material in front of material that is not time-sensitive.\nThe solution becomes converting "opt-in" activities into "opt-out" ones.\nFor personal goals, it's crucial to establish concrete deadlines and targets. For my company, the solution to this problem became creating processes and regulations that had to be followed. In other words, my employees had to "opt out" of doing tasks because they were expected to be performed. Deadlines and rules were set. Rather than proactively following general guidelines, my employees had to opt out of not doing them.\nThe differences in results from the "opt-out" and "opt-in" strategies are not subtle; they are as clear as night and day. Use these strategies on yourself and your coworkers, and you will see dramatic results. Guaranteed.
(12/05/06 3:38am)
The glitzy world of Hollywood came to life in the world premiere of "Reel," which opened Friday at the Wells-Metz Theatre. Written by IU graduate student Paul Shoulberg and produced by the Department of Theatre and Drama, "Reel" is a play that provides a behind-the-scenes look at the search for love on a Hollywood film set. \nThe crew is stuck on a love scene in a new movie. Oscar-winner Alex, played by graduate student Matthew Buffalo, and Hollywood newbie Kendra, played by senior Malia Tilden, cannot seem to capture the love that Gordon, their famous director, is looking for. Gordon, played by senior Ross Matsuda, is under pressure from the studio to finish, but he refuses to quit until the scene is perfected. Maura, played by graduate student Allison Moody, is a butch, no-nonsense camerawoman who is more concerned with aesthetics than accurately conveying love. At the bottom of the Hollywood hierarchy is Eli the gaffer, played by sophomore Michael Aguirre, and his errand-running fiance Wynne, junior Melanie Derleth. Eli is convinced that he is about to make his screenwriting debut and unintentionally pushes Wynne away.\nBuffalo did a remarkable job of portraying the self-absorbed, heartless Alex, who, because he is upset that he is doing poorly in the film, ends up destroying not only the movie, but Eli and Wynne's relationship as well. Buffalo's exaggerated diction and stereotypically actor-like behavior resulted in many laughs throughout the night. \nMoody gave a strong performance, nailing Maura's strut and sarcastic facial expressions. She simultaneously mastered her character's breakdown as she gave in to love. \nThere is another notable member of this small cast: Shoulberg's writing. The lines are fast-paced and witty, and Shoulberg has no reservations about using the "F" word. \nShoulberg's ability to write how people actually speak makes the audience feel like they are actually setting in on the set, witnessing the breakdown of each individual. As the play progresses from lighthearted to heavy, Shoulberg's writing creates distinct feelings for the audience. By the end of the show, it was easy to loathe Alex, sympathize with Wynne and want to shake some sense into Eli. \nShoulberg's ability to engage the viewer is a key sign of his playwriting talent, which he already exhibited in six full-length plays, two one-acts, a screenplay and many 10-minute plays he has written in his mere two years at IU, according to a program biography.\n"Reel" is an excellent contemporary piece, furthered by the fact that it is written by one of IU's own aspiring playwrights. The cast works together famously, and it is surprisingly easy to get caught up in the realistic Hollywood world of "Reel." \n"Reel" will be playing at 7:30 p.m. today through Dec. 9 at the Wells-Metz Theatre. Tickets are $13 to $16 and can be purchased at the IU Auditorium Box Office or through Ticketmaster and Ticketmaster.com. Student rush tickets for $10 are available the day of each show with a valid IU student ID. Visit www.indiana.edu/~thtr for more information.
(12/04/06 5:59am)
A man delivering newspapers to the Indiana Memorial Union early Thursday morning reported his vehicle stolen after he returned to find his van missing, said IU Police Department Sgt. Andy Stephenson.\nThe driver left his 2003 red Ford Windstar parked in the Union circle for about 10 minutes with the car running and driver's side door open, Stephenson said. When he returned after delivering the papers, the van was gone. The driver was not a student.\nThe man filed a police report for the stolen vehicle, Stephenson said. There were no suspects, but the vehicle's information has been entered into a nationwide computer database so if any police agency anywhere in the country runs that license plate, it will come back as a stolen vehicle and be recovered, Stephenson said.\nAnyone with information about the incident should contact the IUPD at 855-4111.