Investopedia: Piedmont's Total Return Prospects Look Middling

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Utilities are predictable businesses, but not entirely risk free. That's especially true in the case of a company like Piedmont Natural Gas (NYSE:PNY) where a lot of the company's future growth is predicated on customers switching over to gas. While Piedmont does enjoy a constructive regulatory environment and has been a very consistent dividend payer, buying the shares with a yield below 4% doesn't seem to make all that much sense.

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Investopedia: When Will Genworth's Turnaround Come?

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There's still ample economic wreckage from the housing bubble and crash, but many participants have clawed their way back and are starting to see signs of normalization. Major mortgage issuers like Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) are back to paying dividends and thinking about long-term growth strategies, while insurance companies like MetLife (NYSE:MET) are largely secure from a capital standpoint (even if U.S. regulators don't completely agree).
Genworth (NYSE:GNW) is a different case. While the stock and company are clearly back from the brink of complete ruin (the stock traded for less than 90 cents just over three years ago), the company is not exactly strong or thriving again. The resignation of the company's CEO may facilitate a better turnaround strategy, but investors considering these shares are going to have to have patience to see the investment work out.

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Investopedia: Argo Group Is A Confounding, But Potentially Undervalued, Stock

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The world of insurance stocks can be simultaneously quite simple and quite complex. Actuarial science is by no means easy, and it can be difficult-to-impossible to really evaluate a company's underwriting risks or investment strategy from outside of the company. On the other hand, watching metrics like book value growth, return on equity, premium growth, combined ratio and prior year development can usually point investors towards successful insurance stock picks.

Argo Group (Nasdaq:AGII) stands out as something of a challenging case. Book value growth and return on equity have both been unimpressive, but the company's low valuation may represent a real bargain if the company can improve its operating results.

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Investopedia: Nokia Moves Around The Deck Chairs One More Time

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At this point, the agonizing pace of Nokia's (NYSE:NOK) never-ending turnaround is starting to evoke the idea of a band-aid being pulled off incredibly slowly. Once again the company is looking to take charge and fire workers, but nothing in the proposed changes are likely to boost the company's share against Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) or Samsung. Absent a hardware-software duo that can seriously challenge the top players, Nokia's slide toward irrelevance seems likely to continue.

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Investopedia: Once Again, Rails Suggest Summer Slowdown Isn't That Bad

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This summer is starting to feel a lot like last year. Europe seems to be coming apart at the seems, volatility is tracking up, and investors are on the hunt for proof that the economy is sliding back toward recession. Like last year, though, the data from the Class 1 North American railroads just doesn't support a panic scenario. Yes, business activity is leveling off, but that's what usually happens in the summer and there doesn't seem to be a compelling reason to hit the big red button just yet.

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Investopedia: Everest Re Trying To Balance Risk And Opportunity

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Plenty has been written over the last few months about the hardening market in many insurance markets. With companies forced to pay out for major disasters across the globe, including major earthquakes and floods, companies are now pushing through policy price increases for the first time in quite a while.

When it comes to Everest Re (NYSE:RE), though, there appears to be some limit to how much this hardening market will help. Everest Re is a quality insurance company, and one with substantial property reinsurance exposure, but the company's decision to prudently manage its risk exposure could limit some of the growth potential from these market developments.

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Investopedia: Smithfield's Miss May Be An Opportunity

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Companies that operate in commodity markets often require a bit of reverse psychology when it comes to their stocks. Invest in protein producers like Tyson (NYSE:TSN) or Smithfield (NYSE:SFD) when times are great, and you are likely to be buying into a peak. With that in mind, the lackluster performance of Smithfield in its fiscal fourth quarter, combined with some iffy market fundamentals, might make this a stock worth watching.

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Doctors successfully separate twins: 26-hour surgery leaves each child with leg, one needing kidney

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SALT LAKE CITY -- Twin sisters Kendra and Maliyah Herrin weremoved to separate beds for the first time in their lives Tuesdayafter 26 hours of surgery in which doctors separated the 4-year-olds.

"When I was done with the operation and we were getting ready totake [Kendra] to the ICU, I got tears in my eyes, because they lookedso good," pediatric surgeon Dr. Michael Matlak said.

JOINED AT MIDSECTION

The girls had been born in a perpetual hug, their little bodiesfused at the midsection. They shared a liver, a kidney, a pelvis, oneset of legs and part of their intestines.

Surgeons at Primary Children's Medical Center gave each girl oneleg, split their liver and intestines and reconstructed theirbladders and their pelvic rings. Kendra kept their one functioningkidney, while Maliyah will be put on dialysis and receive one of hermother's kidneys in a transplant operation in three to six months.

Parents Jake and Erin Herrin, who also have a 6-year-old daughterand twin 14-month-old boys, had an emotional reunion with theirdaughters.

"There were happy tears and sad tears," hospital spokeswomanBonnie Midget said.

Matlak said he feared the gaping separation wound on the girls'bodies would be difficult to close. But tissue expanders placed inthe twins weeks ago to grow their skin and muscles, combined withplastic surgery, made the job easier than expected, he said.

Teens say stop and search tactics used widely by police

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Teens say stop and search tactics used widely by police

Ask Domingos DaRosa how many times he gets stopped by the police and he fires back the same question many young black men in Boston ask:

"Per month?"

In June, DaRosa was stopped three times. In the latest incident, DaRosa said he was doing nothing more standing on a sidewalk near his motorcycle talking to a group of teenagers when a police officer approached him.

"He said `whose stolen bike is this?" DaRosa recalls. "I said `it's mine and it's not stolen.'"

The police officer asked DaRosa for his license, but then refused to return it. When DaRosa asked the officer for his badge number, the officer drove off.

DaRosa, 24, who supervises a swim team at the Cleveland Community Center, said his experiences with police fit a common pattern of abuse of black, Latino and Cape Verdean youths.

The teens say they are routinely stopped, frisked, searched, cursed at and harassed by police officers. Teenagers and youth workers spoke to the Banner about growing up under what many described as a police state.

"It happens to us all the time," said Matt Parker, a life-long South End resident who graduated from South Boston High School this year. "They tell you to shut up if you complain. They'll ask if they can search you. But if you say no, they'll search you anyway."

Police officials say that stopping teens without a reasonable suspicion runs counter to departmental policy, but the teens say the police regularly bend the rules.

Often the stops involve an information gathering procedure police call FIO, short for Field Intelligence Observation Report. The teens are well-versed in the procedure.

"They ask your name and your address, where we are coming from and where we hang out," Parker says. "They ask us what we're wearing, how we describe our clothes. The detectives will say `you look like you're dealing drugs.'"

While the information collected is commonly used to monitor gang activity in an area, the teens say police indiscriminately stop youths who are not criminally involved.

Often, the police officers input the data they collect into a database.

"It can be an effective crime tool," said one police department source, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "You put a name in a database, it lists everybody that that person is associated with. But you can be listed as associated with people you have nothing to do with. You just happened to be in the same area."

The police source estimated that 80 percent of the names in the database are African Americans or Latinos.

By law, police have the right to stop citizens if the officer has an articulable "reasonable suspicion" that an individual has committed a crime or is about to commit a crime.

Police may pat suspects down to ensure they are not carrying a weapon, but they do not have the right to search suspects for drugs unless they have probable cause to arrest the suspect.

In practice, however, teenagers say they are routinely stopped and searched without reasonable suspicion.

"Cape Verdeans, blacks, Spanish, Asians -- it happens to all of us," DaRosa said. "They roll up and say `I'm a cop -- you do what I say or I'll arrest you.

"A lot of kids are afraid to say `you can't search me' because they think they'll get locked up."

Often, the police will tell the people they pull over they fit the description of a suspect in a crime.

"They always say I fit the description of someone who committed a crime, which is their big excuse," Parker said. "It just doesn't make any sense."

While stopping citizens without a reasonable suspicion is widely seen as unconstitutional, a Boston Police officer has accused Area C Captain Robert Dunford of ordering officers under his command to do just that.

In a complaint filed against the city, the Police Department and Dunford, Officer Javon Lacet says Dunford made a roll call order that police patrol Wainwright Park and stop and search the teens there "because they were all carrying guns."

Police Department officials have declined to comment on the Lacet case, citing pending litigation, but spokesman Kevin Jones said citizens who feel that they've been wrongly stopped and searched by police should file complaints.

"They have the right to make a complaint," he said. "If it's not brought to our attention, we don't know anything about it."

DaRosa, who says he did file a complaint after being beaten by police officers in 1997, said he was stymied by what he said was collusion among the officers.

"When I wanted to file charges, the first thing they asked me for was a police report," he said. "But I couldn't get it when I asked for it. It took me nearly three weeks to get it. Then the police officers all collaborated their stories and backed each other up."

Craig McClay, who works with Parker at Teen Empowerment, a South End-based youth agency, says many teens put up with the searches because they are not aware of their 4th Amendment protection against illegal search and seizure.

"People aren't informed of their rights," he said. "And a lot of cops know they don't know their rights. And even if they do complain, it's just the police policing the police."

McClay had to call police numerous times before he was able to find out what the procedure is for filing a complaint after he was stopped three months ago, while trying to hail a cab in his Mission Hill neighborhood.

McClay says the police officers' practice of stopping and searching teens creates an adversarial relationship with teens and police.

"Young people don't see the police as allies," he said. "They see them as enemies. And the police project their discriminatory thoughts on the kids."

For teenagers who have been arrested, the problem onlya gets worse. Parris Bennett, a lifelong South End resident who volunteered with teen empowerment, says he is often stopped several times a day by police officers.

"They come into a park, seven cars deep and sweep us," he said. "They say, `we're doing this all summer, so get used to it.'

"But this is where I grew up," he said. "If you want to make hanging out a crime, then lock me up. They might as well get a cell ready for me."

Wimbledon has two surprise semifinalists

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WIMBLEDON, England - Basking in the crowd's roar, the oldestWimbledon men's semifinalist since Jimmy Connors stretched out hisarms and wrapped them around himself, sharing a hug with the stadiumas he embraced the moment.

Jonas Bjorkman found it hard to believe.

"Obviously, I didn't think this was going to happen at this stageof my career," the 34-year-old Swede said. "I was just so excitedafter I won match point. I realized what I've achieved, somethingthat I never thought I would do again."

Bjorkman advanced by beating No. 14-seeded Radek Stepanek 7-6 (3),4-6, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (7), 6-4, and he's not Wimbledon's only improbablesemifinalist.

Also playing Friday will be Marcos Baghdatis, who won a tour-level match on grass for the first time only last month and beat 2002champion Lleyton Hewitt, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-2 on Wednesday.

And then there's three-time defending champion Roger Federer, whoreached his ninth consecutive Grand Slam semifinal by beating MarioAncic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Ancic upset Federer in the first round in 2002. Federer has sincewon an Open-era record 46 consecutive matches on grass, including 26in a row at Wimbledon.

Federer's latest lawn-court gem ranked with his best. He'll nextface the unseeded Bjorkman.

"If I keep up this sort of performance, I don't see myselflosing," Federer said. "But it's the Wimbledon semifinals, and Idon't want to underestimate anybody."

Bjorkman has been easy to overlook. His record for the year was 2-10 less than three weeks ago, and he arrived at the All England Clubranked 59th.

"You could ask me two weeks ago, and I would have been happy justto come through the first round," he said. "Now I'm sitting heregoing to play semis. It's just almost like a big shock. I've beentrying to enjoy every single moment out there, because I know I'm nothaving too many Wimbledons left in me."

Baghdatis is only beginning to blossom, and he hit 53 winners andconverted all seven of his break-point chances to beat Hewitt. Thelone Cypriot to play in a major event, Baghdatis achieved a careerbreakthrough by finishing runner-up to Federer at the AustralianOpen, and he has soared from 56th to 16th in the rankings this year.

His opponent Friday will be either French Open champion RafaelNadal or No. 22 Jarkko Nieminen. Their quarterfinal was postponeduntil Thursday after Bjorkman's victory over Stepanek took 61/2hours, including two rain delays totaling 21/2 hours.

Gates reaffirms US commitment to Afghanistan

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U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that the Afghan security force needs to be strengthened and more soldiers and police need to be recruited to battle militants, but he added that the U.S. is committed to help Afghanistan for the long haul.

Gates, who met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace in Kabul, is the first member of President Barack Obama's Cabinet to visit since Obama announced last week that he is sending 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan, but intends to pare down the U.S. role in July 2011. The defense secretary and other administration officials have described the 2011 date as just the beginning, with the process likely take at least two or three years to complete.

Finding ways to strengthen and increase recruiting in the beleaguered Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police was among the topics Gates and Karzai discussed. At a joint news conference, Karzai said it would be 15 years before Afghanistan would be able to pay the cost of maintaining the Afghan security forces.

Karzai also reaffirmed his commitment to fight corruption. The president, who won re-election to a second term in a ballot marred by fraud, is expected to announce his new Cabinet in the next several days. It will be the first test of Karzai's willingness to meet his pledge to reform the government.

He is under intense pressure from the international community to nominate a slate of reformists to help rid his government of bribery and graft.

Despite lawmakers' demand that Karzai submit a full slate of ministers for approval, Karzai said he will send parliament 40 percent of his Cabinet list in the coming days. He said those ministers who have proven track records of service will remain in the Cabinet, although he did not say if they would stay in their same posts.

Karzai has repeatedly argued that while there is corruption in the Afghan government, there is also corruption within international contracting processes.

Gates also said he had talked with the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, and the commander of NATO and U.S. forces about how to improve monitoring and rein in corruption among contractors working on projects funded by the international community.

During his visit, Gates is meeting with troops, but the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is in Washington to testify about the new U.S. war plan.

En route to Kabul, Gates told reporters he believes the U.S. mistakenly abandoned Afghanistan in 1989 as it fought the Soviets and understands Afghan concerns that they will be left alone against the Taliban. Gates said he wants to assure Karzai and his advisers "that we are not going to repeat the situation in 1989" and that "we intend to be their partner for a long time to come."

He also said he will press Karzai and Afghan Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak on efforts to recruit and train more Afghan soldiers and police officers. McChrystal has set the goal of building the Afghan security force to 400,000 by 2013. There are roughly 94,000 Afghan police officers and 97,000 soldiers today.

Radiology for the surgeon: Musculoskeletal case 35

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Presentation

A 34-year-old man was referred to an orthopedic surgeon after twisting his right knee. He had ongoing pain and locking and could not fully extend the joint.

Physical examination revealed marked tenderness along the medial joint line and reduced passive and active joint extension. Plain radiographs showed no abnormality, so he underwent MRI (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3, Fig. 4).

What is the diagnosis?

Diagnosis

Bucket-handle tear of medical meniscus - the double PCL sign

The T^sub 1^-weighted images demonstrated marked truncation and foreshortening of the medial meniscus, particularly posteriorly (Fig. 5, arrow). The characteristic "bow-tie" was not appreciable on 2 successive sagittal images. Sagittal T^sub 2^ and oblique sagittal T^sub 2^ fast spin-echo images showed a linear hypointensity anteroinferior to, and paralleling, the PCL (Fig. 6, arrow, Fig. 7, arrow). Axial T^sub 2^-weighted imaging demonstrated a free markedly hypointense fragment in the intercondylar notch (Fig. 8, arrow).

A bucket-handle tear is an important type of meniscal injury and nearly always involves the medial meniscus. Typically, there is an oblique or vertical tear in the posterior horn that extends longitudinally through the body of the meniscus toward the anterior horn, and displacement of the inner meniscal fragment creates the "handle,"1 as seen schematically in Figure 9 and Figure 10. A clinical history of locking or lack of full extension is common, as in our case.

These tears, despite their size and significance, are often overlooked on MRI, probably because of a combination of the parallel orientation of the tear in relation to the sagittal image plane and because the peripheral nondisplaced portion of the meniscus may have only a subtle truncated or foreshortened appearance.2 The most reliable sign is reported to be a displaced fragment of meniscus. Four imaging signs of displaced fragments have been described, namely the double PCL sign, the flipped meniscus sign, the fragment in intercondylar notch sign and the absent bow-tie sign.1,3

The double PCL sign consists of an intercondylar meniscal fragment of low-signal intensity located in the same sagittal plane as the PCL, with the meniscal fragment lying inferior and parallel to the PCL. The parallel low-intensity bands can also be appreciated on coronal images but are correspondingly smaller since they are imaged end-on in their transverse diameter.4 Unlike the flipped meniscus fragment in notch and absent bow-tie signs, it is nearly always associated with bucket-handle tears of the medial meniscus,3,5 although it has been described in association with lateral tears.1 It has been proposed that this is because the more laterally located anterior cruciate ligament acts as a barrier to lateral meniscal fragments.3

Bucket-handle tears are generally managed by arthroscopic resection of the displaced fragment.

Competing interests: None declared.

[Reference]

References

1. Helms CA, Laorr A, Dilworth Cannon W Jr. The absent bow tie sign in bucket-handle tears of the menisci in the knee. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1998;170:57-61.

2. Herman L, Beltran J. Pitfalls of MR imaging of the knee. Radiology 1988;167:775-81.

3. Wright DH, De Smet AA, Norris M. Bucket-handle tears of the medial and lateral menisci of the knee: value of MR imaging in detecting displaced fragments. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1995;165:621-5.

4. Singson RD, Feldman F, Staron R, Kiernan H. MR imaging of displaced buckethandle tear of the medial meniscus. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1991;156:121-4.

5. Ruff C, Weingardt JP, Russ PD, Kilcoyne RF. MR imaging patterns of displaced meniscus injuries of the knee. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1998;170:63-7.

[Author Affiliation]

Submitted by Ronan S. Ryan, MD, Lorie O. Marchinkow, RTR, and Peter L. Munk, MD, Department of Radiology, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, BC

Inquiries about this feature should be directed to the section editor: Dr. Peter L. Munk, Professor, Department of Radiology, Vancouver General Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, 899 West 12th Ave., Vancouver BC V5Z 1M9; fax 604 875-4723; plmunk@interchange.ubc.ca

About the list: EXECUTIVE RAISES

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Byron L. "Bud" Bergren, president and chief executive officer of The Bon-Ton Stores Inc., was No. 1 on the Central Penn Business Journal's list of executive raises this year.

Bergrens total compensation package increased by more than 160 percent between 2003, when he joined Springettsbury Townshipbased Bon-Ton, and 2004, when he became the department store chain's CEO. Bergren had been president and CEO of Elder-Been-nan Stores Corp. of Ohio prior to its acquisition by Bon-Ton in 2003.

Bergren's base salary rose to $750,000 in May, and his employment agreement with the company allowed for a maximum bonus of 100 percent of his base salary in 2004 and 150 percent of his base salary in succeeding years, according to papers filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this year.

Bon-Ton Senior Vice President Lynn C. Derry also made the list, with a 22 percent increase in compensation.

Bon-Ton Chairman Tim Grumbacher ranked No. 8 last year, but he is not among the top 25 this year. His total compensation increased by only 8 percent.

Four of Armstrong Holdings Inc.'s five top executives made the list. As a group, financial adviser L.A. Companaro, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Lockhart, Executive Vice President Stephen J. Senkowski and Senior Vice President John N. Rigas made $2.5 million more in 2004 than in the previous year.

Subsidiary Armstrong World Industries Inc. has been under bankruptcy protection for several years. According to Business Journal records, last month, a federal bankruptcy court agreed that Armstrong World Industries could proceed with two incentive plans that would financially reward key employees who help the company reach performance goals.

Last year, the Business Journal ranked the executive raises list based on changes in base salaries and limited the list to chief executive officers.

This year, the list is ranked on growth of total compensation, including salaries, bonuses and all other compensation.

The list also was opened to top executives for whom compensation information was available, not just CEOs. That led to a number of new executives being ranked on this year's list.

Compensation information about more than 65 top executives can be downloaded in spreadsheet format from our database at www.centralpennbusiness.com.

MIND OVER MONEY

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REGION

Control emotions, understand psychology for smart investing, consultants say

"Don't panic," is advice heard often from financial planners and investment brokers. But don't be surprised if they start talking about psychology, too.

Control and an understanding of the psychology of investing can help people make better decisions about how to commit their money to build wealth and security in a financial market that has dramatically changed, said Kerry Johnson, a research psychologist and author.

Johnson, who will speak Oct. 29 to retirees at Lancaster-based financial planning firm Sequinox, has published several books on how psychology hinders smart investments.

"That's one of the things that affects the market right now," Johnson said.

Social economics is the study of investor behavior, such as paranoia about risk, and how it changes the markets, he said. It's also the reason that investors should consult qualified professionals to help them navigate the changing tides with a level head, he said.

"The general public is not aware of the mistakes they make every day in handling their accounts," said Joe Wirbick, president of Sequinox.

There's still volatility on Wall Street, which means people have to think more about their decisions, Wirbick said. Markets continued up steadily for more than 60 years and then crashed hard in 2007, producing the deepest recession the U.S. has seen since the Great Depression, he said.

In the wake of that wave is an environment where the rules are different, and there's a need to watch investments closely to adjust when necessary to reduce risk and prevent losses, he said. Recent signs of recovery on Wall Street can be misleading, too, he said.

"Everyone's under the assumption that everything's fine again," Wirbick said, stressing that's not the case and investors should be wary of such cavalier attitudes. "Just putting money in a 401(k) and not thinking about it for the next 40 years is no longer going to work."

That thinking is one of the many common mistakes, Johnson said. It's called "status quo bias," meaning an investor will stick with what they have in their portfolio even if it is underperforming.

That often leads to "sunk-cost fallacy," or the thought that a particular investment is too big to fail, and investors should stick with it. No one wants to cement losses, but sometimes making a change before losses get too big can open other opportunities, Johnson said.

Other psychological factors adversely affect investment decisions, too, he said. "Recency bias" means investors trust only the most recent information, disregarding compiled data about long-term performance. "Decision paralysis" is when investors are flooded with too much information, creating a fog of uncertainty.

"The most common error that people make is thinking that any two situations are the same," said Matthew Dobbie, managing partner at U Financial, based in East Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County.

The financial consulting firm was formerly Wienken & Associates Ltd. and operated under the name Executive Planning Group.

Investments should be looked at as whole, not just as retirement investments, education savings and money management, he said. It will be easier to save and invest money if clients have someone showing them how other avenues, such as debt management, cash-flow management and tax planning, can free up more money, he said.

He added "trend chasing" and "cognitive dissonance" to the list of psychological missteps. While information on the market is good, chasing the latest trends without an analysis of how it benefits your portfolio could have investors grasping at straws, he said.

"Cognitive dissonance" is when people make decisions in conflict with rational thinking, Dobbie said. It's like skipping regular dentist or doctor visits because nothing hurts. That may seem logical, but it's not going to help catch cavities or other illnesses before they do more damage, he said.

"You try to rationalize not doing something because you don't want to think about the problems," he said.

Tempering emotion is difficult, said Jeffrey Gay, a partner with Miller & Gay Investment Management, a Raymond James Financial Services branch in York. It's been more difficult over the past nine years because the markets were hit with two dramatic downturns, the first in 2001 and the second in 2007, he said.

"It's hard for many people," he said. "They watch television and get caught up in the emotions of the moment."

With so many changes in one decade, it becomes conventional wisdom to manage investments more closely, he said. That's fine as long as investors don't micromanage assets too frequently, which can be as damaging as doing nothing at all, he said.

It's better if people relax and look at investments from a long-term strategy, relying on more than just instantaneous information, consultants said.

"It really helps people come to grips with the big picture," Gay said.

[Sidebar]

"Just putting money in a 401(k) and not thinking about it for the next 40 years is no longer going to work."

Joe Wirbick, Sequinox

[Sidebar]

Psychoanalyzing investments

Most investors unknowingly fall victim to psychological pitfalls that cause them to make poor decisions about their portfolios, according to psychologists and financial planning experts.

Here are some common terms they use to describe the inner workings of the brain when dealing with investments:

Status quo bias - Picking investments, then forgetting about them or holding onto them despite poor performance

Sunk-cost fallacy - Belief that a particular investment is too big to fail; no one wants to cement losses, but sometimes a change opens better opportunities

Recency bias - Trusting only the most recent information, disregarding data about long-term performance

Decision paralysis - Flood of information creates a fog of uncertainty; investors balk about changes

Trend chasing - Chasing the latest trends without an analysis of how they would benefit a portfolio

Cognitive dissonance - Decisions in conflict with rational thinking

-Jim T. Ryan

[Author Affiliation]

BY JIM T. RYAN

jimr@journalpub.com

Mohamed wins men's race at Lidingoloppet

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Mustafa Mohamed won the men's 30-kilometer race Saturday at the Lidingoloppet, the world's biggest cross country festival.

The Somalia-born Swede broke away alone with about three kilometers left and crossed in 1 hour, 37 minutes, 10 seconds. It was his third win.

"I'm tired and very happy," said Mohamed.

His specialty is the 3,000-meter steeplechase and he has a fourth-place finish at the 2007 athletics world championships as his best result in that event.

Japhet Kipkorir and Obed Kipkurui, two other foreign-born Swedes, were second and third in 1:37.23 and 1:39.40 respectively.

Kenyan runners, who have dominated the race for the past decade, missed the podium. Defending champion Joseph Kimisi was fourth in 1:39.41 for the best finish by a Kenyan.

The weekend festival on the Stockholm suburb island of Lidingo, held for the 44th time, featured some 30,000 runners from about 30 countries competing in various men's and women's races.

POPULIST APPEAL

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POPULIST APPEAL

Scott Fife's Steunenberg Trial exhibit

In the winter of 1905, then ex-Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg was killed at his garden gate in Caldwell by an assassin's bomb. The killer was quickly apprehended and became a witness for the prosecution in the ensuing murder trial, in which an influential union leader was charged with orchestrating the fatal plot. The trial took place in the Ada County Courthouse and became a national sensation.

History, however, has a way of moving on. Events of significance lose the settings in which they were significant and stand before us like statues in a park. But the story of Frank Steunenberg's murder has fared better than that. It is at the center of an enthralling and panoramic investigation into turn-of-the-century American society and politics by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist J. Anthony Lukas in his 1997 book, Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America. In it, Lukas explores a time in our national history when class struggle seemed on the verge of boiling over into all-out war.

Seattle-based visual artist Scott Fife was inspired by the book, and shortly after its publication, started work on a collection of fabulously inventive sculptures that embody the book's cast of major characters in their haunted present. Currently on display at the Boise Art Museum, they make up the better half of two impressive collections of Fife's work being shown there.

Featured in the cast are such luminaries as Chicago defense attorney Clarence Darrow, Idaho's own Republican Sen. William Borah, renowned Pinkerton detective James MacParland, President Theodore Roosevelt and actress Ethel Barrymore. At the center of it all, we see some less widely recognized figures such as the defendant, "Big Bill" Haywood, and the assassin turned star prosecution witness, Harry Orchard.

In Fife's embodiments, which are formally based on the classical busts of the Roman Republic, we are presented with the most haunted surface on the planet: the human face. This, more than anything, is what makes his work so compelling.

Unlike the busts of Rome, which captured their subjects in a state of utter composure and stoicism so suited to polished stone, Fife renders his portraits in the more pliable and ephemeral archival cardboard. We get a compelling human presence. The cardboard, in its raw state, is the color of concrete and one is tempted, on first glance, to see the larger-than-life busts as the heads of crumbled statuary. But as one gets closer, they feel lighter, more fragile. The paper breathes. It's several steps closer to flesh than stone or bronze. As objects, they have great immediacy and interest. Fife's process is all his own. Every detail right down to the hair is constructed from cardboard. The drywall screws he uses to hold things together are visibly part of the finished pieces. Wood glue runs in thin tendrils from the hair like sweat, and the seams, abrasions and red pencil he uses to mark cuts are left behind like blemishes on the skin. The results are arresting because out of all that object-quality seeps the animation, the liveliness and the palpable presence of haunted human faces. Fife refers to the work as a public sculpture and says, "It is made to engage the viewer and inspire inquiry and knowledge about a significant aspect of Western history ... the sculpture speaks of class struggle, political intrigue and the country's economic and social landscape of capitalism and populism." Fife's decision to reference Lukas' book so directly brings up another aspect of his work: It's populist appeal. Bring the whole family and the neighbors because this is for everyone. It's refreshing to see an artist make such explicit reference to a popular book. He runs the risk of being called an uncommissioned illustrator, which is a step down from just a regular illustrator, which is a step down, in a lot of people's opinions, from an artist. Artists are supposed to be more mysterious, more challenging and less approachable.

A few years back, writer Jonathon Franzen contributed a piece to the New Yorker about avant-garde novelist William Gaddis. In it, he made a distinction between what he referred to as novelists who worked on the "contract" model and those who worked on the "status" model. Contract writers felt they were entering into a contract with their readers, in which the reader had a claim. The writer got to be a writer and make art, and the reader got to read books that were enjoyable to read. Status writers felt they were obligated to nothing and no one apart from themselves and the purity and authority of art. Contract writers are populist. They write books that anyone might enjoy and they can be quite good. I would trade the entire masterfully cranky and pathologically experimental oeuvre of Gaddis for any of Graham Greene's quintessentially contract-style works.

Of course, there are exceptions and degrees down the line, but I think the distinction is a valuable one, and one that undoubtedly carries over into the visual arts. In fact, the status model has become downright endemic in the visual arts. The art getting most of the attention, the "important art," has the strong scent of elitism, of coming from a "privileged" class-mainly, the people who "get it." It's important that regular folks don't get it. It's important that regular folks be confused, subverted and flummoxed. It's important to manufacture mysteries and keep them closely guarded. If it made sense to regular people it wouldn't be special. It would just be part of the giant lie that is the regular people. If the regular people like it, it probably isn't "important."

But I think all kinds of people will enjoy Fife's work, and I still think it's important. I think making the things he does using materials available in anyone's garage is important. You could call it a populist aesthetic.

In the fine catalog essay, which accompanies the show, Fife says, "I like the physical nature of building the sculpture ... the idea of the material itself-it's friendly, flexible, there's a glow from in it. I'm the full-service artist-doing it all at the moment. I like the aspect of the low-tech tools that I need to make something like this ... the directness of it, that I could begin to shape this ... there is the sense of one person building this." I would add, there is the sense that one person is building this for other people to enjoy.

In addition to, "Big Trouble: The Idaho Project," the show includes a large selection of works from his "Shapers of the 20th Century" series including portraits in sculpture and large-scale ink wash drawings of cultural and historical icons from the last century. Though it doesn't have the powerful backdrop of Lukas' book, and can seem to rely on the mystique of celebrity somewhat, it is nonetheless, a stunning collection of works and one that should not be missed.

Fife's exhibit runs through April 15. Boise Art Museum, 670 Julia Davis Dr., 208-345-8330, www.boiseartmuseum.org. Gallery hours are Tues.-Wed. and Fri-Sat.: 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thur.,: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; and Sun.: noon-5 p.m.

Teen who lost feet on Ky. ride settles lawsuit

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A Kentucky amusement park says it has reached a settlement with the family of a Louisville teen whose feet were severed after an accident on a ride last year.

Kaitlyn Lasitter was 13 when a cable broke as she was riding on the Superman Tower of Power at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in June 2007. Doctors reattached her right foot, but were unable to save her left one.

Kentucky Kingdom spokeswoman Carolyn McLean said Friday that the settlement will provide lifetime care for Kaitlyn, but terms are confidential.

Calls to Kaitlyn's father and the family's attorney were not immediately returned.

A state report blamed a faulty cable and a ride operator's slow response, but officials say there's no way of knowing why the cable snapped. The ride has been dismantled.

Turkey indicts 33 in alleged coup plot

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Authorities have indicted 33 people in an alleged secularist plot to destabilize Turkey and overthrow the government.

The 33 are accused of planning assassinations of prominent members of Turkey's Christian and Jewish minorities and other sensational attacks to foment chaos and bring down the Islamic-oriented government.

The suspects include three retired or active-duty admirals and dozens of other military officers. Trial is set for June 15.

Hundreds of civilians, retired and active-duty officers are already on trial on charges of an apparently separate plot against the government. Turkey also recently detained and charged nearly 40 other officers for plotting a coup.

Secularists believe the arrests are a government effort to intimidate them through the courts.

First batch of bailout money for banks moving soon

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The government prepared Monday to move the first batch of bailout money to banks as fretful world markets plunged again. Wall Street ended with a big drop at the closing bell, sending the Dow Jones industrials to their lowest close since the financial meltdown began.

The Treasury Department said it would start moving $125 billion to nine major banks this week by buying ownership stakes, the first big transfer since the $700 billion bailout package was passed early this month.

Assistant Treasury Secretary David Nason said the infusion would go to the largest banks in the nation, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

A group of smaller but significant regional banks, including Capital One Financial and SunTrust Banks, began announcing their own preliminary deals with Treasury for another $125 billion. That money should be released as soon as paperwork is finished.

The Fed also began a major program to buy up the short-term debt, known as commercial paper, that businesses use to pay for everyday expenses and salaries. Lending, the lifeblood of the economy, froze up after the collapse of investment house Lehman Brothers in mid-September and has thawed agonizingly slowly since.

On Wall Street, buying and selling that was halfhearted by the standards of the past month had major averages drifting higher and lower throughout the day. Then stocks plunged in the final 10 minutes of trading.

The Dow Jones industrials finished the day down 203 points, or 2.4 percent, closing at the 8,176 level _ their lowest close of the year. Remarkably, it was the 28th time in the 31 trading sessions since the financial meltdown began that the Dow has moved triple digits for the day.

But the carnage was worse elsewhere on another day when investors worried about a looming worldwide recession. Major stock markets in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Britain, France and Germany dropped sharply earlier in the day. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index closed at its lowest level in 26 years.

The Fed was expected to make an even more dramatic move later this week by cutting interest rates, perhaps lowering the key federal funds rate by as much as a half-point, driving the federal funds rate down to 1 percent.

The question is whether all the efforts, including billions of dollars of loans to banks by the Fed and other central banks around the world, will be enough to get lending going again.

So far, it hasn't helped much. A closely watched measure that tracks what banks charge each other for loans, edged down marginally on Monday, suggesting credit is a bit looser than a few weeks ago but remains tight.

"All these efforts are doing some good, but the question is whether they will do enough," said David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor's in New York. "The credit markets are still pretty locked up."

Besides pumping money into the banking system, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and other Treasury officials are considering a round of requests for help from other industries, including big insurance companies, automakers and foreign-controlled banks.

Presidential press secretary Dana Perino told reporters Monday that the financing arms of the automakers might be eligible for federal help. She said the Bush administration was also working quickly to release $25 billion in loans approved by Congress last month to bolster the beleaguered auto sector by providing support for car makers to develop new energy-efficient vehicles.

The broader bailout package has undergone major changes since it was passed by Congress. Global markets staggered, forcing other countries to rush to the aid of their own banks, and Paulson decided U.S. banks needed even more urgent help.

The original idea behind the bailout was to buy up bad mortgage-related debt off the books of banks, but only $100 billion has been set aside to do that this year. The government announced plans Oct. 14 to buy direct stakes in the banks.

Among the regional banks, KeyCorp said it would issue stock for a $2.5 billion infusion from the government, and SunTrust Banks said it has received preliminary approval from Treasury for $3.5 billion.

In return for its infusion of new money to bolster bank balance sheets, Treasury will get preferred shares paying a 5 percent return initially and warrants to purchase common shares, allowing taxpayers to benefit once the banks' recover. However, Treasury does not get any voting rights with its ownership stake and will not be able to have a say in choosing the bank's board of directors.

Treasury has also given the go-ahead for stronger banks to use the money it receives in the rescue program to acquire weaker banks, drawing criticism from those who say the government should not be financing the consolidation of the banking system _ in effect helping to choose winners and losers.

Karen Thomas, the executive vice president for the Independent Community Bankers of America, which represents the country's 8,000 smaller banks, said her group supported efforts to consolidate troubled banks with stronger ones but did not believe it was proper to pick winners among healthy banks.

___

Associated Press writers Jeannine Aversa and Jennifer Loven in Washington, Tim Paradis, Madlen Read and Sara Lepro in New York and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.

Singapore urges US to lift sanctions on Myanmar

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Singapore welcomed greater U.S. engagement in Asia and urged Washington to lift economic sanctions against Myanmar to encourage democratic reform there.

Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam made the comments Wednesday after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, where the allies agreed to deepen their long-standing ties.

The Obama administration is stepping up its involvement in the economically prosperous Asia-Pacific. Part of that policy has been to reach out to military-dominated Myanmar after two decades of isolation over its brutal suppression of democracy.

The U.S. has announced it will restore full diplomatic relations with Myanmar after releases of political prisoners and a gradual shift from direct military rule. But for now, the U.S. retains tough economic, trade and political sanctions against the country also known as Burma.

"We believe it's time to look at the sanctions and reconsider their utility," Shanmugam told The Associated Press in an interview.

He acknowledged that legal steps are required for lifting sanctions but added: "Myanmar needs to be encouraged in this process, and its people need to be helped. I think economic sanctions aren't helping the people."

The conduct of by-elections to be contested by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in April will be an important test. If the vote is free and fair, pressure will grow on the U.S. to ease the restrictions, which would require the consent of Congress.

Shanmugam said Myanmar's President Thein Sein, who visited Singapore this week, is committed to continuing reforms.

Singapore, a prosperous city state, is among America's most steadfast allies in Asia, and last year offered berths to U.S. Navy ships, supporting an American effort to reassert its military presence in Southeast Asia after a decade of preoccupation with Iraq and Afghanistan.

That reflects the allies' shared interest in preserving regional security and freedom of navigation in seas crucial to world trade where China's assertive behavior has caused unease.

But Singapore also retains good relations with China, and while Shanmugam said that for decades the U.S. has been key to peace and prosperity in Asia, he stressed that meant more than military presence.

"Economic engagement, we think, is extremely important," he said.

He said Singapore had encouraged the U.S. involvement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact being negotiated by nine nations, also including Chile, New Zealand, Brunei, Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Peru.

Shanmugam said it is realistic for "broad parameters" of the agreement to be hammered out this year, but said it would be up to larger economies involved if they were to meet the U.S. goal of completing the pact this year.

Snow more messing around

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CLEVELAND — Players and coaches building a snowman near first base, closer Matt Thornton throwing snowballs at a member of the Cleveland grounds crew and manager Ozzie Guillen leading a closed-door team meeting.

The White Sox are more than ready for their 2011 odyssey to begin this afternoon. Finally.

The main message Guillen wanted to instill in his players Thursday at Progressive Field: ''You guys win games — I lose the games.''

"Whatever happens, regardless of whatever happens, when you are winning, we have good players, [but] when you are losing, it's up to Ozzie and [hitting coach] Greg Walker and [pitching coach] Don Cooper,'' Guillen said. ''I like it that …

US ambivalent on Sudan genocide charge

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For years, the Bush administration has taken a strong stance denouncing atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region and labeling them genocide. Yet it offered only an ambivalent response when the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court filed genocide charges against Sudan's president.

For all its criticism of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the U.S. administration is reluctant to take steps that lend legitimacy to a court whose jurisdiction it has questioned and whose treaty it refuses to sign.

The Bush administration opposes the court because of suspicions that its jurisdiction is too broad and fears that American servicemen fighting abroad or the …

A league of their own

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According to the U.S. Bureau of Census, 15 percent more women than men voted in the '96 Presidential election. In an attempt to close this "participation gap," a group of men, and women, have formed a new grassroots organization: The League of Men Voters, based in Boystown, Nebraska.

During its first year, the nonpartisan group will concentrate on building a membership base and registering men to vote. Looking beyond the …

Hubby's accuser arrested; Dion 'delighted'

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Celine Dion is said to be "absolutely delighted" by the news thatYun Kyeong Sung Kwon was arrested Wednesday on charges of writing$500,000 in bad checks at two well-known Las Vegas casinos. Kwon, thewoman who recently sued Dion's husband, Rene Angelil, for sexualassault, was arrested by authorities in Pasadena, Calif. Police sayKwon wrote nine bad checks in 1999 and 2001. The largest was in theamount of $200,000. The casinos allegedly stung by the bad paper wereHarrah's and the Flamingo.

A source close to Dion says the singer and her husband are hopefulthis news "will illustrate the kind of woman she is. ... Writing badchecks is like lying. You're lying about the amount of …

Leon celebrates Black music in Chicago

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In honor of Black Music Month, WGCI-FM/107.5 morning show personality Nikki Woods hosted the ultimate meet and greet with actor, performer and musician Leon. He has starred in such movie greats as The Five Heartbeats, The Temptations, Cool Runnings, Above The Rim and Waiting To Exhale. The big screen start recently greeted a bevy of fans at Sensual Steps Shoe Salon, 4518 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Guests enjoyed an intimate afternoon of cocktails, delectable eats and soothing spa …

US extends major provisions of Patriot Act

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The House of Representatives agreed Monday to a 10-month extension of three major law enforcement powers in the fight against terror that some privacy advocates from both the right and left regard as infringements on civil liberties.

The House measure, passed 275-144, would extend authority for the USA Patriot Act-related provisions until Dec. 8. Common ground must be found with the Senate before the provisions expire on Feb. 28.

At issue are two provisions of the post-Sept. 11, 2001, law that give counterterrorism offices roving wiretap authority to monitor multiple electronic devices and court-approved access to business records relating to a terrorist …

As with Iraq, US intelligence on Iran's weapons ambitions found faulty

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First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.

In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States backed away Monday from its once-ironclad assertion that the Islamic republic is intent on building nuclear bombs.

Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.

Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January: "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."

Just last …

North Korea Said to Cooperate With IAEA

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VIENNA, Austria - North Korea is prepared to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog in its mission to shut down the country's nuclear facilities, according to a report made available Tuesday to The Associated Press.

The confidential four-page report said North Korea has agreed to provide International Atomic Energy Agency experts with needed technical information, access and other help needed to shut down North Korea's plutonium-producing Yongbyon nuclear facility.

The report will be discussed by the agency's 35-nation board and is expected to be approved as early as Monday, paving the way for the beginning of the IAEA mission overseeing the shutdown and eventual …

White House: Next week's GDP rate will not be rosy

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The White House said Thursday the economy will remain gloomy through at least the end of the year, inching closer toward a recognition the United States is in a recession.

"We expect our GDP (gross domestic product) number next week not to be a good one and the next quarter to be tough as well," White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

Many analysts predict the economy could contract over the final three months of this year and in the first 90 days of 2009. That would meet the classic definition of a recession _ two consecutive quarters of economic contraction. Some financial analysts say the sagging economy already is in recession.

…

Rep. Bobby Rush holds senior health fair

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To help promote healthier and longer lives for senior citizens, U.S. Representative Bobby L. Rush (D-1st) the University of Chicago Hospitals, the Alden/Princeton Rehabilitation Center and the First Congressional District Health Care Task Force, are holding a senior health fair. The fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, June 20, at the Alden/Princeton Rehabilitation Center, 255 West 69th St.

According to Rush, V-103 radio personality, Herb Kent, will be on hand to welcome seniors attending the health fair workshops, screenings and seminars.

The University of Chicago Hospitals will conduct screenings on diabetes; Alden/Princeton Rehabilitation Center will conduct …