Lindsay Buziak

The unsolved 2008 murder of Victoria real estate agent Lindsay Buziak will be examined before a huge North America-wide audience Friday night on Dateline NBC, a televised newsmagazine that draws up to 11 million viewers each week.

Buziak was 24 when she was stabbed to death at a Gordon Head home, where she had been lured by a man and a woman claiming to be prospective buyers. Saanich police believe the pair to be contract killers, but have not been able to determine why she was targeted.

Buziak's body was found by her boyfriend, Jason Zailo, 15 minutes after her death.

Saanich police Sgt. Dean Jantzen said the department fully expects the NBC program to bring in tips from viewers.

"We are told in talking to the producers that it will generate tips for us. The numbers, we feel, will be in the hundreds and that is typical of past productions."

Officers are ready for whatever response the show generates, Jantzen said.

"It will be monitored by our detectives. Each and every tip will be acted upon."

He said Saanich police worked with Dateline when the opportunity arose because it was a chance to have the Buziak case presented to more people.

"Our detectives came up against a wall, and decisions were made to move forward with the Dateline production."

The department hopes the show will make a difference, Jantzen said.

"It brings 11 million viewers to the table so it does open up a much-wider audience than just us in southern B.C. and on the Island.

"We want as many people to see this as possible. It doesn't matter to our detectives where you live. We don't know, it could be international for that matter."

Saanich police are dedicated to solving the case, Jantzen said.

"Our detectives feel that there are people out there who know much more than has been shared. We just are looking for the one call that will help send our detectives in the right direction."

Jeff Buziak, Lindsay's father, has expressed frustration that the case remains unsolved. He said last month that he and a private investigator, along with others, have come up with five suspects, and passed their information to police.

Christine O Donnell

Marketing consultant Christine O'Donnell upset Rep. Mike Castle in the Delaware Republican Senate primary tonight, handing the tea party movement a major victory and giving Democrats an unexpected chance to hold the First State seat.

O'Donnell, who is making her third run for the Senate in as many elections, relied heavily on national surrogates -- from the Tea Party Express to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- to fuel a shoestring campaign against the iconic Castle who had held elected office in the state for more than four decades.

"The people of Delaware have spoken," said O'Donnell in her victory speech. "No more politics as usual."

The O'Donnell victory, which was considered a political impossibility as recently as a month ago, is a major boost for Democratic hopes of holding the seat once held by Vice President Joe Biden. New Castle County Executive Chris Coons was unchallenged for the Democratic Senate nomination.

"I'm sad to say the Delaware primary results tonight are straight out of Harry Reid's dream journal," said prominent Republican strategist Mike Murphy of the O'Donnell win.

While the Delaware race was the marquee contest of the night, it was far from the only one on the ledger as seven states and the District of Columbia voted in the final major primaries of the 2010 election.

In New Hampshire, former state Attorney General Kelly Ayotte held a narrow lead over attorney Ovide Lamontagne in the battle for the Republican Senate nomination. The winner will take on Rep. Paul Hodes (D) in the race to replace retiring Sen. Judd Gregg (R).

In New York, embattled Rep. Charlie Rangel cruised to victory in a crowded Democratic primary field in the 15th district while Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D) easily beat back a primary challenge from businesswoman Reshma Saujani in the 14th.

Also in the Empire State, tea party favorite Carl Paladino crushed former Rep. Rick Lazio in the fight for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Paladino will be a major underdog this fall against state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is heavily favored in the fall.

But, there is little doubt that O'Donnell's victory is what will dominate headlines tomorrow.

In the wake of Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski's (R) primary defeat late last month, Castle went harshly negative against O'Donnell in hopes of using his financial advantage to define her in the eyes of likely voters.

But, tonight's result suggests it was too little, too late for Castle whose political career, which began when he was elected to the Delaware state House in 1966, ends in a shocking defeat.

"This shows that conservative energy at the grassroots is at tidal wave levels," said Vin Weber, a former Minnesota congressman and GOP lobbyist. "It may well cost us the Delaware Senate seat, but the same phenomenon will help Republicans, particularly in House races in November."

State and national Republicans have made no secret of the fact that O'Donnell's questionable personal finances and public misstatements -- she once said she carried two out of the state's three counties in her 2008 race against Biden but she didn't -- made her close to unelectable.

"We congratulate Christine O'Donnell for her nomination this evening after a hard-fought primary campaign in Delaware," said National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director Rob Jesmer in a terse statement released after the race was called.

The Delaware result is also a major blow to Republicans' hopes of winning back the Senate majority this fall. To do so, the GOP needs a net gain of 10 seats, which, with Delaware now likely to favor Democrats, means that Republicans need to close to a clean sweep in states like California, Wisconsin and Washington.

Long before the days of Amtrak, I enjoyed traveling along railroad tracks aboard the Empire Builder passenger train. In 1971 Amtrak assumed operations of the Empire Builder which dates back to 1929.

In the years following World War II, passengers would board the Empire Builder at Breckenridge. Later, the closest boarding places became Fargo and Detroit Lakes. Passengers head west, toward Seattle, or east to the Twin Cities and Chicago.

Until 1971, rail passengers in Fergus Falls could take the Western Star or Red River eastward to the Twin Cities and Chicago or westward to Fargo and Grand Forks.

On Saturday, May 30, for the first time in 16 years, I boarded Amtrak’s Empire Builder in the Twin Cities with my son, Mark. The train left for Red Wing, and points beyond, about 8:30 a.m., slightly behind schedule. We arrived in Milwaukee about 3 p.m., well in advance of attending a Brewers baseball game that evening.

Traveling by train allows a person to enjoy the beauty of the Mississippi River, have lunch in a dining car while passing over bridges and seeing deer and other wildlife — something you don’t see when flying on a plane. Amtrak also makes a stop at the Wisconsin Dells, with a good view of the river and its high bluffs.

Heading home, after spending lots of time along Lake Michigan, we boarded Amtrak in Milwaukee about 4 p.m. on Monday, June 1. We arrived in the Twin Cities about an hour before midnight. Before our arrival at the station the sunset along the rail route, a stone’s throw from the Mississippi River, was fabulous. Many people snapped photos from the observation deck.

You can take the option to board Amtrak at Fargo or Detroit Lakes. The down side is that you leave and arrive in the middle of the night. That’s why we opted to depart (8:30 a.m. after spending the previous night in the Twin Cities) and arrive (11 p.m.) at the Amtrak station in Minneapolis-St. Paul. We then made the drive home.

By the way, parking is free for your vehicle at Amtrak stations.

The original Empire Builder made its first journey along the Great Northern Railway on June 11, 1929. The train was named in honor of railroad tycoon James J. Hill, who reorganized several failing railroads. He extended the Great Northern line to the Pacific Northwest in the late 19th century.

Hill's nickname was "The Empire Builder.”

In prior years, I’ve also taken the Empire Builder westward, to Seattle. When the train gets past the prairies of North Dakota and eastern Montana, it’s very special to find yourself in the Rocky Mountains and Glacier National Park. Depending on the time of year and weather, mountain vistas can be seen from the train as it skirts the southern edge of the park.

In fiscal year 2007, the Empire Builder carried over a half million passengers, maintaining its status as the most popular long-distance train in Amtrak's national system.

Over the years Amtrak has relied, in part, on government subsidies. This has resulted in many debates on the viability of the Amtrak system. This year the rail system is taking advantage of federal stimulus dollars. A main supporter is Vice President Joe Biden, a longtime Amtrak rider.

It’s good to know that the Empire Builder is one of the better used trains in the Amtrak system. For me, riding the rails has been something special, off and on, for over half a century.



source : http://www.fergusfallsjournal.com

Longtime talk-show host Irv Homer died last night at Bryn Mawr Hospital after he was stricken during an appearance at Eastern University in St. Davids. His age is being reported at 86, but public records say he was 85.

Mr. Homer, who lived in Feasterville, had been a longtime talk show host on WWDB from 1975 until its format was flipped in 2000. After that, he joined WBCB in Levittown, hired by Merrill Reese, and did the odd shift on WPHT. Homer hosted an Internet show as recently as Wednesday, and was a contributor to 6ABC's Sunday public-affairs show Inside Story.

A man who relished his nickname as "Evil Irv," he got into the business as a bar owner who liked calling in to talk shows back in the 1960s. He was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame and in 1972 ran for vice president as a Libertarian.

His pet project was the Sunshine Foundation, which grants the wishes of terminally and chronically ill children and their families. He was a national vice president.



source : http://www.philly.com

On Tuesday Cornell informed more than 45,000 current and former members of the University community that their sensitive personal information — including name and social security number — had been exposed when a University-owned laptop was stolen earlier this month.

The breach exposes many Cornellians to the possibility of identity theft, and the University said it will provide protective services to those affected, including free credit reporting, credit monitoring and identity theft restoration services to those affected by the breach.

A University employee, described as “a member of the Cornell technical staff” had access to a computer containing the sensitive data for the purposes of correcting file-processing transmission errors, according to the University.

The files on the computer containing the names and social security numbers were not encrypted and the laptop was left in a physically unsecure environment, which violates University policy, according to Simeon Moss '73, director of Cornell University Press Relations.

Moss said that the data on the laptop contained “no other sensitive data elements” besides names and social security numbers and the University is “confident” that it has identified everyone whose data was on the computer.

The stolen computer stored the social security numbers of 22,546 students (10,597 of whom are alumni) and 22,731 faculty and staff members (of whom 4,284 are retirees or other separated employees), according to Moss.

New York State Police have launched an investigation to find the thief and locate the computer.

State Police Investigator Aaron Lewis told The Sun on Wednesday that there is a chance that the person who stole the laptop does not know that it contains such sensitive information.

“There is no indication that this is a sophisticated type of operation to steal people’s identities,” Lewis said. “It appears to be more of a crime of opportunity.”

Lewis said that investigators have interviewed people involved in the incident as well as the Cornell employee who had custody of the computer. Thus far, however, there are no further leads and the case remains open, he said.

The employee who had the computer is not a suspect in the investigation, Lewis added.

Cornell officials have only said that the employee violated University policy by leaving the laptop in a physically unsecured location, and characterized the person’s actions as “unintentional.” They have declined to comment on whether the person was still employed or has been the subject of any disciplinary action.

Lewis also cautioned that since the breach has been widely reported in the media, there is now a greater chance that someone will realize that the laptop contains the sensitive data.

“It’s obviously a Cornell computer and has a Cornell sticker,” Lewis said.

Laptop thefts on college campuses like Cornell occur somewhat frequently, he said, and most never get recovered.

Both Lewis and University officials declined to comment on when and from where the laptop was stolen.

“Cornell informed us within a few days that [the laptop] possibly has sensitive information on it,” Lewis said.

“It did take the university some time to make sure that they knew all the information that was on the computer,” Moss said.

Moss said that while Cornell Police would assist other law enforcement agencies, they are not involved in the investigation. The Ithaca Police Department said it was not involved in the case.

While officials said there has been no indication that the exposed data has been abused, the incident shines light on the broader issue of security and the vulnerability of private information in the digital age.

Last June, a computer at Cornell used for administrative purposes was hacked, and the University alerted 2,500 students and alumni that their personal information had potentially been stolen. In 2005, the University alerted over 900 individuals that their personal information was stored on a computer that had been inappropriately accessed.

Lewis said that those affected by the recent data breach should follow Cornell’s protocol. There is no need to call local or state authorities unless one’s information is stolen and used in an unauthorized way, he added.

Cornell said it will provide credit monitoring and identity theft restoration services through Kroll, Inc. at no charge to affected individuals. The University said it will provide those individuals with more information about how to access the services in a letter sent via U.S. mail.

Moss said on Wednesday that the cost to the University of providing these services was not available and likely unknown at this point.

"Given the importance that Cornell places on data security, this is truly an unfortunate situation,” Vice President for University Communications Tommy Bruce said in a statement on Wednesday. “We apologize to all those who have been affected, and we are dedicated to resolving this matter fully."



source : http://cornellsun.com

A "gangsta rapper" known for hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons is set to perform in Rotorua.

The Game - or Jayceon Terrell Taylor - has sold millions of albums worldwide and will perform in Rotorua on August 15 as part of his first New Zealand tour.

The famous artist is well-known for feuds with other artists and for having served jail time for felony weapons charges.

It's also been reported that he was a member of the Bloods gang, spent time selling drugs and has been charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and allegedly threatening a person with a gun and impersonating a police officer.

Debate over who should and shouldn't perform in Rotorua was sparked in 2007 when it was announced notorious R'n B bad boy Bobby Brown was to hold a show in the city.

He eventually cancelled his planned Rotorua concert because of poor ticket sales - something which was partly blamed on the negative publicity.

Then Rotorua MP Steve Chadwick and performer Sir Howard Morrison had questioned whether Brown should be allowed in to New Zealand given his long list of drug and drink-driving convictions.

At the time Sir Howard said celebrities with criminal histories should not be allowed into New Zealand.

He did not want to comment on The Game yesterday, saying he would leave the matter to the Immigration Department.

Rotorua MP Todd McClay said yesterday he hadn't heard of the performer but some of what he'd seen on the internet "certainly raised questions".

He planned to contact immigration staff to check they were aware The Game planned to come to New Zealand. There were rules around who was allowed into the country and he wanted to see the performer treated the same as any other person, he said.

Some of what he had read on the internet raised questions about whether The Game was a good role model for youngsters, Mr McClay said.

However, he was cautious about central or local government having a say about who should be allowed to perform in New Zealand if they'd been allowed in and weren't breaking laws, he said.

If the performer was eligible to enter the country, Mr McClay said it would be up to Rotorua as a community to determine whether they believed he was a good role model by deciding whether or not to support the concert.

The MP said it would be "a cold day in hell" before he took his children to see The Game.

Events and Venues Rotorua general manager Peter McLeod said he was not aware of the performer's convictions. It was up to the promoter of the tour to apply for a visa.

Mr McLeod said if it were felt there was the chance of trouble, his staff would most certainly look into it. However, The Game was a popular entertainer whose music appealed to young people, he said.

"I see no reason why he shouldn't perform here if he's allowed into the country."

The Game is also to perform in Auckland and Wellington as part of his The Game: LAX Tour 2009.

Some of The Game's most well-known hits include How We Do, Hate It Or Love It, Let's Ride, My Life, Dreams, It's Ok (One Blood) and his new single Camera Phone featuring Ne-Yo.

Tickets for The Game's Lax Tour 2009 go on sale next Thursday.

Tickets for the planned Rotorua concert are available from Ticketmaster.



source : http://www.rotoruadailypost.co.nz

Chase Kear of Kansas recently survived an athletic injury and his survival is being called a "miracle." Chase fell on his head at pole vaulting practice and had to undergo a procedure to remove part of his skull. The doctor claimed Chase had a slim chance of surviving.

Paula Kear said, "Chase survived in part because hundreds of people prayed to Father Emil Kapaun to intercede on his behalf."

Father Emil Kapaun died in 1951, yet he's performing miracles? I think not. Just the notion of that being possible is ridiculous. Where's the credit to the doctors and nurses who are the reason Chase is alive? Without them no god or chaplain or anyone else could have saved Chase; he would be dead.

Now the Vatican has gotten involved to investigate this supposed "miracle" to determine whether or not it qualifies as a miracle, so that Kapaun might be named a saint.

Incidents such as this make me wonder when people will realize you don't need god or prayer, what we need is other people. Doctors saved Chase, not a dead guy.



source : http://www.examiner.com

What would California look like broken in three? Or a Republic of New England? With the federal government reaching for ever more power, redrawing the map is enticing, says Paul Starobin

Remember that classic Beatles riff of the 1960s:

“You say you want a revolution?” Imagine this instead: a devolution. Picture an America that is run not, as now, by a top-heavy Washington autocracy but, in freewheeling style, by an assemblage of largely autonomous regional republics reflecting the eclectic economic and cultural character of the society.

There might be an austere Republic of New England, with a natural strength in higher education and technology; a Caribbean-flavored city-state Republic of Greater Miami, with an anchor in the Latin American economy; and maybe even a Republic of Las Vegas with unfettered license to pursue its ambitions as a global gambling, entertainment and conventioneer destination. California? America’s broke, ill-governed and way-too-big nation-like state might be saved, truly saved, not by an emergency federal bailout, but by a merciful carve-up into a trio of republics that would rely on their own ingenuity in making their connections to the wider world. And while we’re at it, let’s make this project bi-national—economic logic suggests a natural multilingual combination between Greater San Diego and Mexico’s Northern Baja, and, to the Pacific north, between Seattle and Vancouver in a megaregion already dubbed “Cascadia” by economic cartographers.

Devolved America is a vision faithful both to certain postindustrial realities as well as to the pluralistic heart of the American political tradition—a tradition that has been betrayed by the creeping centralization of power in Washington over the decades but may yet reassert itself as an animating spirit for the future. Consider this proposition: America of the 21st century, propelled by currents of modernity that tend to favor the little over the big, may trace a long circle back to the original small-government ideas of the American experiment. The present-day American Goliath may turn out to be a freak of a waning age of politics and economics as conducted on a super-sized scale—too large to make any rational sense in an emerging age of personal empowerment that harks back to the era of the yeoman farmer of America’s early days. The society may find blessed new life, as paradoxical as this may sound, in a return to a smaller form.

This perspective may seem especially fanciful at a time when the political tides all seem to be running in the opposite direction. In the midst of economic troubles, an aggrandizing Washington is gathering even more power in its hands. The Obama Administration, while considering replacing top executives at Citigroup, is newly appointing a “compensation czar” with powers to determine the retirement packages of executives at firms accepting federal financial bailout funds. President Obama has deemed it wise for the U.S. Treasury to take a majority ownership stake in General Motors in a last-ditch effort to revive this Industrial Age brontosaurus. Even the Supreme Court is getting in on the act: A ruling this past week awarded federal judges powers to set the standards by which judges for state courts may recuse themselves from cases.

All of this adds up to a federal power grab that might make even FDR’s New Dealers blush. But that’s just the point: Not surprisingly, a lot of folks in the land of Jefferson are taking a stand against an approach that stands to make an indebted citizenry yet more dependent on an already immense federal power. The backlash, already under way, is a prime stimulus for a neo-secessionist movement, the most extreme manifestation of a broader push for some form of devolution. In April, at an anti-tax “tea party” held in Austin, Governor Rick Perry of Texas had his speech interrupted by cries of “secede.” The Governor did not sound inclined to disagree. “Texas is a unique place,” he later told reporters attending the rally. “When we came into the Union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that.”

Such sentiments resonate beyond the libertarian fringe. The Daily Kos, a liberal Web site, recently asked Perry’s fellow Texas Republicans, “Do you think Texas would be better off as an independent nation or as part of the United States of America? It was an even split: 48% for the U.S., 48% for a sovereign Texas, 4% not sure. Amongst all Texans, more than a third—35%—said an independent Texas would be better. The Texas Nationalist Movement claims that over 250,000 Texans have signed a form affirming the organization’s goal of a Texas nation.

Secessionist feelings also percolate in Alaska, where Todd Palin, husband of Governor Sarah Palin, was once a registered member of the Alaska Independence Party. But it is not as if the Right has a lock on this issue: Vermont, the seat of one of the most vibrant secessionist movements, is among the country’s most politically-liberal places. Vermonters are especially upset about imperial America’s foreign excursions in hazardous places like Iraq. The philosophical tie that binds these otherwise odd bedfellows is belief in the birthright of Americans to run their own affairs, free from centralized control. Their hallowed parchment is Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, on behalf of the original 13 British colonies, penned in 1776, 11 years before the framers of the Constitution gathered for their convention in Philadelphia. “The right of secession precedes the Constitution—the United States was born out of secession,” Daniel Miller, leader of the Texas Nationalist Movement, put it to me. Take that, King Obama.

Today’s devolutionists, of all stripes, can trace their pedigree to the “anti-federalists” who opposed the compact that came out of Philadelphia as a bad bargain that gave too much power to the center at the expense of the limbs. Some of America’s most vigorous and learned minds were in the anti-federalist camp; their ranks included Virginia’s Patrick Henry, of “give me liberty or give me death” renown. The sainted Jefferson, who was serving as a diplomat in Paris during the convention, is these days claimed by secessionists as a kindred anti-federal spirit, even if he did go on to serve two terms as president.

The anti-federalists lost their battle, but history, in certain respects, has redeemed their vision, for they anticipated how many Americans have come to feel about their nation’s seat of federal power. “This city, and the government of it, must indubitably take their tone from the character of the men, who from the nature of its situation and institution, must collect there,” the anti-federalist pamphleteer known only as the Federal Farmer wrote. “If we expect it will have any sincere attachments to simple and frugal republicanism, to that liberty and mild government, which is dear to the laborious part of a free people, we most assuredly deceive ourselves.”

In the mid-19th century, the anti-federalist impulse took a dark turn, attaching itself to the cause of the Confederacy, which was formed by the unilateral secession of 13 southern states over the bloody issue of slavery. Lincoln had no choice but to go to war to preserve the Union—and ever since, anti-federalism, in almost any guise, has had to defend itself from the charge of being anti-modern and indeed retrograde.

But nearly a century and a half has passed since Johnny Rebel whooped for the last time. Slavery is dead, and so too is the large-scale industrial economy that the Yankees embraced as their path to victory over the South and to global prosperity. The model lasted a long time, to be sure, surviving all the way through the New Deal and the first several decades of the post-World War II era, coming a cropper at the tail end of the 1960s, just as the economist John Kenneth Galbraith was holding out “The New Industrial State,” the master-planned economy, as a seemingly permanent condition of modern life.

Not quite. In a globalized economy transformed by technological innovations hatched by happily-unguided entrepreneurs, history seems to be driving one nail after another into the coffin of the big, which is why the Obama planners and their ilk, even if they now ride high, may be doomed to fail. No one anymore expects the best ideas to come from the biggest actors in the economy, so should anyone expect the best thinking to be done by the whales of the political world?

A notable prophet for a coming age of smallness was the diplomat and historian George Kennan, a steward of the American Century with an uncanny ability to see past the seemingly-frozen geopolitical arrangements of the day. Kennan always believed that Soviet power would “run its course,” as he predicted back in 1951, just as the Cold War was getting under way, and again shortly after the Soviet Union collapsed, he suggested that a similar fate might await the United States. America has become a “monster country,” afflicted by a swollen bureaucracy and “the hubris of inordinate size,” he wrote in his 1993 book, “Around the Cragged Hill: A Personal and Political Philosophy.” Things might work better, he suggested, if the nation was “decentralized into something like a dozen constituent republics, absorbing not only the powers of the existing states but a considerable part of those of the present federal establishment.”

Kennan’s genius was to foresee that matters might take on an organic, a bottom-up, life of their own, especially in a society as dynamic and as creative as America. His spirit, the spirit of an anti-federalist modernist, can be glimpsed in an intriguing “mega-region” initiative encompassing greater San Diego County, next-door Imperial County and, to the immediate south of the U.S. border, Northern Baja, Mexico. Elected officials representing all three participating areas recently unveiled “Cali Baja, a Bi-National Mega-Region,” as the “international marketing brand” for the project.

The idea is to create a global economic powerhouse by combining San Diego’s proven abilities in scientific research and development with Imperial County’s abundance of inexpensive land and availability of water rights and Northern Baja’s manufacturing base, low labor costs and ability to supply the San Diego area with electricity during peak-use terms. Bilingualism, too, is a key—with the aim for all children on both sides of the border to be fluent in both English and Spanish. The project director is Christina Luhn, a Kansas native, historian and former staffer on the National Security Council in Ronald Reagan’s White House in the mid-1980s. Contemporary America as a unit of governance may be too big, even the perpetually-troubled state of California may be too big, she told me, by way of saying that the political and economic future may belong to the megaregions of the planet. Her conviction is that large systems tend not to endure—“they break apart, there’s chaos, and at some point, new things form,” she said.

The notion that small is better and even inevitable no doubt has some flavor of romance—even amounting to a kind of modern secular faith, girded by a raft of multi-disciplinary literature that may or may not be relevant. Luhn takes her philosophical cue not only from Kennan but also from the science writer and physicist M. Mitchell Waldrop, author of “Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos.”

Even for the hard-edged secessionist crowd, with their rapt attentiveness to America’s roots, popular texts in the future-trend genre mingle in their minds with the yellowed scrolls of the anti-federalists. “The cornerstone of my thought,” Daniel Miller of the Texas Nationalist Movement told me, is John Naisbitt’s 1995 best seller, “Global Paradox,” which celebrates the entrepreneurial ethos in positing that “the bigger the world economy, the more powerful its smallest players.”

More convincingly, the proposition that small trumps big is passing tests in real-life political and economic laboratories. For example, the U.S. ranked eighth in a survey of global innovation leadership released in March by the Boston Consulting Group and the National Association of Manufacturers—with the top rankings dominated by small countries led by the city-state republic of Singapore. The Thunderbird School of Global Management, based in Arizona, has called Singapore “the most future-oriented country in the world.” Historians can point to the spectacularly inventive city-states of Renaissance Italy as an example of the small truly making the beautiful.

How, though, to get from big to small? Secessionists like Texas’ Miller pledge a commitment to peaceful methods. History suggests skepticism on this score: Even the American republic was born in a violent revolution. These days, the Russian professor Igor Panarin, a former KGB analyst, has snagged publicity with his dystopian prediction of civil strife in a dismembered America whose jagged parts fall prey to foreign powers including Canada, Mexico and, in the case of Alaska, Russia, naturally.

Still, the precedent for any breakup of today’s America is not necessarily the one set by the musket-bearing colonists’ demanded departure from the British crown in the late 18th century or by the crisis-ridden dissolution of the U.S.S.R. at the end of the 20th century. Every empire, every too-big thing, fragments or shrinks according to its own unique character and to the age of history to which it belongs.

The most hopeful prospect for the USA, should the decentralization impulse prove irresistible, is for Americans to draw on their natural inventiveness and democratic tradition by patenting a formula for getting the job done in a gradual and cooperative way. In so doing, geopolitical history, and perhaps even a path for others, might be made, for the problem of bigness vexes political leviathans everywhere. In India, with its 1.2 billion people, there is an active discussion of whether things might work better if the nation-state was chopped up into 10 or so large city-states with broad writs of autonomy from New Delhi. Devolution may likewise be the future for the European continent—think Catalonia—and for the British Isles. Scotland, a leading source of Enlightenment ideas for America’s founding fathers, now has its own flourishing independence movement. Even China, held together by an aging autocracy, may not be able to resist the drift towards the smaller.

So why not America as the global leader of a devolution? America’s return to its origins—to its type—could turn out to be an act of creative political destruction, with “we the people” the better for it.



source : http://online.wsj.com/

BUYINS.NET, www.buyins.net, announced today its proprietary Market Maker Friction Factor Report for June 9, 2009. Since late October market makers are now required to be on the bid as much as they are on the offer and for like amounts of stock. This fair market making requirement is designed to prevent market makers from manipulating stock prices. On Tuesday there were 3,573 companies with abnormal market making 3,294 companies with positive Friction Factors and 2,187 companies with negative Friction Factors. Here is a list of the top 6 companies with the highest net sell volume on Tuesday and lowest negative price Friction (bearish). This means that there was more selling than buying in the stocks and their stock prices dropped faster with less Friction. Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM), AT&T (NYSE: T), United Microelectronics (NYSE: UMC), Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), ThinkorSwim Group (NASDAQ: SWIM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) and Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE: HIG). To access Friction Factor, Naked Short Data and SqueezeTrigger Prices on all stocks please visit http://www.buyins.net. Market Maker Friction Factor is shown in the chart below:

Symbol Change % BuyVol Buy% SellVol Sell% NetVol Friction

PM -$0.68 -1.53% 3,222,709 29.15% 6,314,828 57.12% -3,092,119 -45,472

T -$0.21 -0.86% 11,568,086 38.16% 14,316,379 47.23% -2,748,293 -130,871

UMC -$0.28 -9.15% 2,375,407 33.59% 4,303,939 60.87% -1,928,532 -68,876

BMY -$0.22 -1.11% 6,931,882 39.65% 8,377,094 47.92% -1,445,212 -65,691

SWIM -$0.25 -2.29% 211,806 12.79% 1,444,228 87.21% -1,232,422 -49,297

HIG -$0.41 -2.77% 4,867,594 38.51% 5,860,192 46.37% -992,598 -24,210

Click here to view chart: http://www.buyins.com/ff/ffnvdn6-9-09.jpg

Analysis of the Friction Factor chart above shows that each of the six stocks mentioned above have low price friction combined with more selling than buying (negative Net Volume) in their stocks. The Friction Factor displays how many more shares of buying than selling are required to move a stock higher by one cent or how many more shares of selling than buying moves a stock lower by 1 cent.

For example, the chart above shows PM down -$0.68 with a Friction Factor of -45,472 and a Net Volume of -3,092,119. That means that it takes 45,472 more shares of selling than buying to drop PM by one penny. On Tuesday the Market Makers allowed the stock to move down on heavier selling than buying (low negative friction).

Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE: PM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) manufactures and sells cigarettes and other tobacco products in markets outside of the United States of America. The companys portfolio comprises international and local brands. Its primary international brands include Marlboro, Merit, Parliament, Virginia Slims, L&M, Chesterfield, Bond Street, Lark, Muratti, Next, Philip Morris, and Red & White. The companys local brands principally include A Mild, Dji Sam Soe, and A Hijau in Indonesia; Diana in Italy; Optima and Apollo-Soyuz in Russia; Morven Gold in Pakistan; Boston in Colombia; Belmont, Canadian Classics, and Number 7 in Canada; Best and Classic in Serbia; f6 in Germany; Delicados in Mexico; Assos in Greece; and Petra in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It operates primarily in the European Union, the Middle East and Africa, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. The company is based in New York, New York.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) operates as a communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates provide the AT&T brand services in the United States and internationally. The companys Wireless segment offers wireless voice communications services, including local wireless communications, long-distance, and roaming services with various postpaid and prepaid service plans. This segment also supplies various handsets and personal computer wireless data cards, as well as accessories. Its Wireline segment offers voice services, including local and long-distance services, calling card, 1-800 services, conference calling, wholesale switched access service, caller ID, call waiting, and voice mail services. This segment also provides data services, such as switched and dedicated transport, Internet access and network integration, and data equipment; high-speed connections comprising private lines, packet, dedicated Internet, and enterprise networking services, as well as DSL/broadband, dial-up Internet access, and WiFi products; businesses voice applications over IP-based networks; and local, interstate, and international wholesale networking capacity to other service providers. In addition, it offers managed Web hosting, application management, security service, integration services, outsourcing, directory and operator assistance services, government-related services, and U-verse television and satellite video services. The companys Advertising and Publishing segment publishes Yellow and White Pages directories; sells directory and Internet-based advertising; and provides multi-enterprise collaboration services to businesses in various industries, including retail, financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, and telecom. The company was formerly known as SBC Communications Inc. and changed its name to AT&T Inc. in November 2005 as a result of merger with AT&T Corp. AT&T Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Dallas, Texas.

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC), together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells advanced process integrated circuits (ICs) for applications spanning various sectors of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan. It develops system-on-chip (SOC) ICs for various applications, including copper interconnects, low k dielectrics, embedded DRAM, and mixed signal/RF CMOS. United Microelectronics Corporation also offers foundry services and mask tooling services. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Hsinchu City, Taiwan with additional offices in Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the United States.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) engages in the discovery, development, licensing, manufacture, marketing, distribution, and sale of pharmaceuticals and nutritional products worldwide. It operates in two segments, Pharmaceuticals and Nutritionals. The Pharmaceuticals segment offers cardiovascular products, including PLAVIX, AVAPRO/AVALIDE, and PRAVACHOL; virology products comprising REYATAZ, SUSTIVA, and BARACLUDE; oncology products comprising ERBITUX, TAXOL, SPRYCEL, and IXEMPRA; affective and other psychiatric disorder products, such as ABILIFY; immunoscience products comprising ORENCIA; and other pharmaceutical products that include EFFERALGAN, ASPIRINE UPSA, DAFALGAN, and FERVEX. It sells its pharmaceutical products to wholesalers, distributors, retailers, hospitals, clinics, government agencies, and pharmacies. The Nutritionals segment manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells infant formulas and other nutritional products comprising ENFAMIL products that contain nutrients, such as docosahexaenoic and arachidonic acids. The company is also developing various compounds, which are in phase III clinical trials, including Apixaban, Saxagliptin, Dapagliflozin, Ipilimumab, Belatacept, XL-184, Tanespimycin, and Brivanib. In addition, it develops a therapeutic class of biologics called ADNECTINS. BMS has agreements with Sanofi-Aventis; Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; ImClone Systems Incorporated; Gilead Sciences, Inc.; Medarex, Inc.; and AstraZeneca PLC, as well as collaborations with Pfizer Inc.; Exelixis, Inc.; and KineMed Inc. It also has an agreement with PDL BioPharma, Inc. for the development and commercialization of anti-CS1 antibody and elotuzumab for multiple myeloma; and a strategic alliance with Ensemble Discovery Corporation. The company was formerly known as Bristol-Myers Company and changed its name to Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in 1989. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

thinkorswim Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SWIM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) provides online brokerage, investor education, and related financial products and services for self-directed investors and active traders in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Investor Education and Brokerage Services. The Investor Education segment offers investor education products and services that provide learning in various interactive delivery formats. It has approximately 398,000 graduates of its foundation course and 97,600 paid subscribers to its Web sites. This segments learning formats include Preview Event, a free event that introduces students to fundamental investing concepts; Workshops, which include live and instructor-led investing workshops that cover topics ranging from fundamental investing principles to advanced strategies; Home Study/Online Courses; Coaching Services, such as interactive workshops, and on-demand and one-to-many coaching services; Ongoing Support and Tutorials; and thinkorswim paperMoney, an application that enables the student to learn to execute trade online and test strategies. Its course offerings comprise Investing Foundation Course, Basic Options, Advanced Technical Analysis, Advanced Options, Forex, and Advanced Forex. The Brokerage Services segment provides a suite of trading platforms for self-directed and institutional traders, and money managers. This segment enables customers to trade a range of investment products. Its platform comprises interfaces, as well as trading, analytics, and research tools, which enable its customers to trade electronically. This segment also provides investment management services, enhanced investment strategies, and trade recommendations. thinkorswim Group was formerly known as Investools, Inc. and changed its name to thinkorswim Group Inc. in June 2008. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in New York, New York with additional offices in Draper, Utah and Chicago, Illinois.

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: HIG), through its subsidiaries, provides insurance and financial services in the United States and internationally. It engages in life, and property and casualty insurance businesses. The life insurance business comprises six segments: Retail Products Group (Retail), Retirement Plans, International and Institutional Solutions Group (Institutional), Individual Life, Group Benefits, and International. Retail segment offers variable and fixed market value adjusted annuities, retail mutual funds, 529 college savings plans, and Canadian and offshore investment products. Retirement Plans segment provides products and services to corporations and municipalities. Institutional segment offers institutional liability products and variable private placement life insurance, as well as mutual funds to institutional investors. Individual Life segment sells variable universal, whole, and term life products. Group Benefits segment offers group life, accident, and disability coverage. International segment provides investments, retirement savings, and other insurance and savings products in Japan, Brazil, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The property and casualty insurance business includes five segments: Personal Lines, Small Commercial, Middle Market, Specialty Commercial, and Other Operations. Personal Lines segment offers automobile, homeowners, and home-based business coverage. Small Commercial segment provides standard commercial insurance coverage to small commercial businesses. Other Operations segment comprises certain property and casualty insurance operations, including the companys asbestos and environmental exposures. The company was formerly known as ITT-Hartford Group, Inc. and changed its name in 1972. The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. was founded in 1810 and is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut.

About BUYINS.NET

WWW.BUYINS.NET is a service designed to help bonafide shareholders of publicly traded US companies fight naked short selling. Naked short selling is the illegal act of short selling a stock when no affirmative determination has been made to locate shares of the stock to hypothecate in connection with the short sale. Buyins.net has built a proprietary database that uses Threshold list feeds from NASDAQ, AMEX and NYSE to generate detailed and useful information to combat the naked short selling problem. For the first time, actual trade by trade data is available to the public that shows the attempted size, actual size, price and average value of short sales in stocks that have been shorted and naked shorted. This information is valuable in determining the precise point at which short sellers go out-of-the-money and start losing on their short and naked short trades.

BUYINS.NET has built a massive database that collects, analyzes and publishes a proprietary SqueezeTrigger for each stock that has been shorted. The SqueezeTrigger database of nearly 2,550,000,000 short sale transactions goes back to January 1, 2005 and calculates the exact price at which the Total Short Interest is short in each stock. This data was never before available prior to January 1, 2005 because the Self Regulatory Organizations (primary exchanges) guarded it aggressively. After the SEC passed Regulation SHO, exchanges were forced to allow data processors like Buyins.net to access the data.

The SqueezeTrigger database collects individual short trade data on over 7,000 NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ stocks and general short trade data on nearly 8,000 OTCBB and PINKSHEET stocks. Each month the database grows by approximately 50,000,000 short sale transactions and provides investors with the knowledge necessary to time when to buy and sell stocks with outstanding short positions. By tracking the size and price of each months short transactions, BUYINS.NET provides institutions, traders, analysts, journalists and individual investors the exact price point where short sellers start losing money and a short squeeze can begin.

All material herein was prepared by BUYINS.NET, based upon information believed to be reliable. The information contained herein is not guaranteed by BUYINS.NET to be accurate, and should not be considered to be all-inclusive. The companies that are discussed in this opinion have not approved the statements made in this opinion. None of the companies in this report have paid to be included in this report. From time to time we will mention a company that may have previously paid $995 per month for market data purchased from BUYINS.NET. This opinion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. This material is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell securities. BUYINS.NET is not a licensed broker, broker dealer, market maker, investment banker, investment advisor, analyst or underwriter. Please consult a broker before purchasing or selling any securities viewed on or mentioned herein. BUYINS.NET will not advise as to when it decides to sell and does not and will not offer any opinion as to when others should sell; each investor must make that decision based on his or her judgment of the market.

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This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a companies' annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the SEC.

source : http://www.tradingmarkets.com

Sharra Ferbrache is suing Tony Mandarich over his alleged website SharraFerbrache.com. Sharra Ferbrache on SharraFerbrache.com was depicted with “private” photos reportedly taken during her time dating Mandarich. The former Green Bay Packers player reportedly purchased SharraFerbrache.com last September; in that time he reportedly then proceeded to post … private … photos of Sharra along with videos of the same … character.


Now Sharra is suing Mandarich. The Phoenix New Times reports as of 1 pm local time the website was live, but as of 3 pm PST it appears down.


Reported requests for comment from Mandarich have not been granted.

Sharra Ferbrache, who was once engaged to this guy, is now suing Mandarich, currently married, along with his development business. She is reportedly seeking the site to be removed, the domain surrendered and damages for” privacy invasion, emotional distress and other charges.”


source : http://news.lalate.com

Slow your roll, Twin Cities

Last year, the Houston-based Innovative Beverage Group introduced Drank, "the world's first extreme relaxation beverage." The grape-flavored, lightly carbonated drink is infused with natural ingredients such as valerian root, melatonin, and rose hips--which induce a significant calming effect on the drinker--making it the ultimate anti-energy drink. Curious, then, that it's marketed toward the urban sect (it's packaged in a gaudy purple can emblazoned with the slogan "Slow Your Roll") and is stocked on the same shelves as energy drinks such as Red Bull and Rock Star. Unfortunately for Minnesotans--whose stereotypically passive-aggressive natures make for a lot of pent-up stress--Drank isn't yet widely available on local shelves, though a national sales agreement with 7-Eleven bodes for better days ahead. In the meantime, you can order it by the case online. Decider presents this list of types who could benefit from some extreme relaxation.

Sad-sack barflies
As any red-faced, bleary-eyed lush will tell you, those bar tabs can really add up. Sitting hunched over the bar and pouring beer after beer down your throat in an attempt to drown away the pain of your miserable, pathetic existence isn't cheap--even if you're drinking at a dive bar such as Palmer's. And life isn't made any more bearable by the sense of rejection that comes with being thrown out of a bar or the crushing realization that casual sex isn't just unfulfilling, it also amplifies the overwhelming feeling of loneliness you suffer through each and every day. Instead of wasting your life--and money--away at a bar, stay home and knock yourself out with a Drank. The beauty of the product is that it hits you hard and fast--so you'll be blissfully snoozing away before you even have the chance to cry yourself to sleep. Plus, you can't catch an STD from it.

College students
If you're one of the 99 percent of college students who puts off all academic work until the end of the semester, you're probably familiar with the plethora of pharmacy-approved speed at your disposal. Whether you're downing Adderall like they were Skittles or dealing with a Jessie Spano-style caffeine-pill addiction, your brain will be in overdrive and your heart rate hazardously hummingbird-esque by the third sleepless night. Too cranked up to get some much-needed shut-eye the night before your big exam? Sedate yourself--the natural way--with a Drank. You'll wake up the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to face the day's challenges, instead of feeling fucked out of your mind.

Hippies
If anyone's going to be resistant to a commercial means of chilling out, it's the granola-eating, tree-hugging, all-natural types. But Drank should not be dismissed as a frivolous alien emblem of processed, corporate evil. Don't be deceived by the electroshock-purple packaging--the contents of the beverage are in line with whatever dried goods and animal/gluten/dairy-free "edibles" ye hippie folk already have in the cupboard. In fact, Drank is as au naturale as your beloved valerian root tea, so get over the aggressive appearance and try this alternative option. If anything, it's cheaper and more legal than some of your other means to the same end.
The dance-party crowd
As anyone who has ever consumed a Red Bull and vodka (or even a coffee and a bloody Mary during brunch, for that matter) can attest, uppers and downers don't actually cancel each other out. Instead, they pull you in two opposite directions at once, resulting in a whole new level of fucked up. The dance-party crowd may still be lamenting the loss of their precious Sparks after MillerCoors LLC decided to remove the caffeine and taurine from the popular line of energy drinks last December, but the reformulated, alcohol-and-sugar-fueled drink still packs a punch. Pound a purple can of medicinal-flavored Drank immediately after guzzling an orange-and-silver can of tart-tasting Sparks for the ultimate double-fist drinking experience.


source : http://twincities.decider.com

Pat Williams thought his basketball career was over.

But then one day, his varsity boys basketball coach Lance Baylis gave him a call on the phone.

“He called me up to see if I wanted to play at Jackson Community College, and I said sure,” the Holly graduate said. “I went to open gym a couple of times and then they wanted me to play for them. That was it.”

Well, maybe there was a bit more to it than that. Through his determination and work ethic, Williams made it impossible for the JCC coaching staff not to offer him a scholarship to play with the program.

“He really impressed the coach,” Baylis said. “A lot of community coaches do open gyms, and, prior to Pat going down there I knew a lot of players were not returning, so I gave a call to Pat to give him a heads up.

“From there Pat earned himself a scholarship through his tenacity and perseverance, and I couldn’t be any happier for him.”

Simply stated, Williams made his break. While Williams was a member of Holly’s co-Metro League championship boys basketball team this winter, he wasn’t one of the household names. But when given a shot during the open gyms, he seized that opportunity. Williams went to every session he could and raised the eyebrows of the coaching staff.

“Kids that lived 10 minutes away didn’t come every day, and I went there (living) an hour-and-a-half (away),” Williams said.

JCC is a young program, just returning to action two years ago. Last year the program had a respectable second season, posting a 12-15 mark.

“They are just building the program and are getting better,” Williams said. “This is a great opportunity, and the coach is really nice. And it’s a whole new environment.”

“He made his break,” Baylis said. “I know the JCC coach and he is a dynamic coach and a good person. He knew he had to go down there and prove himself and earn it and he did.”

Williams expects to play at guard.

“I am working on everything I can — my shooting, handling and keeping playing solid and hard defense,” Williams said. “I am going to work hard.”

It sounds like he already has.

Dyson Drivers' Le Mans Results
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY June 15, 2009 -- In racing, there is no substitute for time in the car. Race conditions provide the best learning platform for future success. The three Dyson Racing drivers who ran the 77th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans came away richer for the experience.

Chris Dyson in the #25 RML AD Group LMP2 Mazda Lola Coupe finished sixth in class. Mechanical issues side-lined the car a couple hours from the end while running a class fourth.


The car ran third or fourth in class the majority of its race. "We were all a bit disappointed that we did not make the full race distance," Dyson said. "My co-drivers Mike Newton and Tommy Erdos did a great job, and we were in touch with the leaders the entire race. The RML team executed extremely well and the car was quite good. It is unfortunate that we did not end up with the podium finish we believed we earned, but at the end of the day I view it as a positive experience for us and the Mazda program. This is the same car that we race in the states and what we learned at Le Mans will serve us well for the rest of the season." The #87 GT2 Aston Martin of Marino Franchitti, Paul Drayson and Jonny Cocker finished eleventh in class in the twice around the clock classic. "The event has just been fantastic with Drayson Racing. The car and the team were so well prepared for it," Franchitti said afterwards. "Everything was smooth running. We had a couple issues in the race but we got through them with the least amount off-track time. There wasn't a mark on the car. Obviously, at the end, there is disappointment because we were so close to the finish. It was just a real pleasure and honor to share with Paul and Jonny and everybody. I just wish we would have gotten to the end and gotten the finish that everyone deserves."

Guy Smith, along with co-drivers Olivier Pla and Miguel Amaral, drove their #40 Quifel ASM Ginetta-Zytek 09S sportscar to twelfth in the LMP2 class.

A little more than three hours into the race, the car went off at Arnage and the resulting damage could not be repaired. Smith noted afterwards that "some braking issues had started during the warm-up. Miquel (Amaral) took over for me, but he went off the track. He got going again, only to immediately lock up under braking and hit the barriers. He managed to get the car back to the pits, but the damage was too extensive to repair." Smith finished fourth in LMP2 last year and was second overall in 2004 and won the race in 2003.

The next round of the ALMS is the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, CT. The race is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. EDT on Saturday, July 18. Chris Dyson and Guy Smith are currently second in the LMP2 driver standings with Marino Franchitti and Butch Leitzinger three points behind in third.

source : http://www.motorsport.com

The out-there MC is living life after Timbaland

Big SeanYo Gotti

"Even when Nas said hip hop is dead, the music lived on through dude making that statement. It lived through death."­
­

Terry "Izza Kizza" Davis, 27, says he can handle the heat. After all, when you were personally signed by legendary producer Timbaland to be the featured MC on his Mosley Music imprint, there can be no shortage of confidence. Izza has since split with Timbo's label over creative differences, but he has the super-producer's blessing and maybe some beats. And with an elastic rhyme flow that's as lyrical as it is left field, Valdosta, Ga.'s own Izza is out to become the next Southern spitter. With two impressive mixtapes, Kizzaland and The Wizard of Iz, already out to the masses, the ambitious rhymer is working on tracks for his as-yet-untitled debut, due out this October. Here's Izza.

VIBE: How did you deal with the pressure of being Timbaland's new go-to MC?

Izza Kizza:
I hooked up with Tim in early '08. It's a heavy responsibility and exciting at the same time. You always want to be attached to somebody like him. It's like, "Damn, this dude is a hip hop phenomenon and a huge inspiration." A lot of what him and Missy were putting together was great. And not just with Missy; Tim is a great producer all the way around when you think back and look at the Ginuwines, the Aaliyahs, and now to the Justin Timberlakes. Just being in dude's presence has been great.

Tim really hasn't had that one MC, outside of Missy, whom people really connected to. Are you up to the task?

Yeah. I think that people recognize true talent. They can understand when somebody is creative and working their heart out. I put my heart into the music. I think it's a real dope thing for people to just be like, "Dude got it...he's the next whatever, whatever." Especially these days, when everything is all over the place. You got music coming from all directions. I'm trying to do music that's going to play forever and ever. I'm just doing me.

Your last mixtape, Kizzaland, reminded a lot of people of that free-spirited Dungeon Family sound. Is that the direction you were going for?

I don't like to categorize myself with "I'm this kind of rapper." I describe my style as unpredictable. I like to do hot music-hot lyrics over hot beats. I'm going to let the people decide for themselves who they think I am. You'll hear me doing a record like "They're Everywhere," and then I'll come back and do a harder record like "Throw It Up" with David Banner. I'm happy with the mixtape game. Artists really have the chance to express themselves. To me the album is almost separate these days. That's where you show that you can connect with different people on a commercial level. On the mixtapes, you get to do whatever you want.

Tell us about your new mixtape.

My mixtape is called Wizard of Iz. We jacking The Wiz and bringing some 'hood swag to it. I've been working with a lot of up and coming producers. I have joints with established artists like David Banner; I got a joint with Lil Wayne and Birdman that's ill. I'm working on a joint right now with Missy. She still one of my favorites. And I got a joint with Twista. But for my label album, I kind of just want it to be for people to get to know me. It's going to be mostly me all over it. I want people to see Izza Kizza. I want this album to show people that I can stand alone.

Do you have a favorite producer at the moment?

I have to start with Timbaland. You really don't even have to explain that pick. The man has a track record of ridiculous hits. I also have to say my man Koolade is one of the most incredible producers I have ever heard. And he's from Croatia. He does a lot of my records, like "They're Everywhere." He's one of the dudes that's so true to hip hop that he's not wrapped up in what everybody else is doing. It ain't all about a check with him. He's so dope.

Which song can you listen to every day and never get sick of it?

That has to be an OutKast's "Morris Brown." I can listen to that song all day [laughs].

What would you change about hip hop?

I don't think nothing is wrong with hip hop right now. It's the same how it was back in the days. People change musically. Overall, we have changed from using 45s to tapes to CDs and now the MP3. The music game itself is about change. A lot of people complain about this and that, like, for instance, Soulja Boy. But we had artists in the past doing dance songs since people were dancing to the twist. Even when Nas said hip hop is dead, the music lived on through dude making that statement. It lived through death. Every inch of hip hop, we need it to keep it alive. I love that you can be who you are in hip hop. The Internet has been a blessing and a curse. But one thing I will say is I wish the labels would stop jerking the artist. Let the hustlers hustle.

source : http://m.vibe.com