When you want front-row grunt

If all the different SUV models currently available in New Zealand were members of a rugby team, the Mitsubishi Pajero would be a front-row prop.

That's because it's a big sturdy beast with a virtually unbendable chassis and a very solid undercarriage, and an engine that offers heaps of low-down grunt.

It all means that whereas some large SUVs might prefer to dance around obstacles, the Pajero would probably go straight through - just like a good prop forward should.

And helping things along would be its 3.2-litre common rail intercooled turbo diesel, which makes 150 kilowatts of power and a very grunty 448 Newton metres of torque.

Extra help comes from Pajero's high-strength monocoque body and ladder frame chassis, which give huge torsional rigidity, just the ticket to allow the big Mitsubishi to get the best out of one of the most comprehensive four-wheel-drive packages on the market.

Called Mitsubishi All Terrain Technology - or Matt for short - it features a 'Super Select' 4WD that allows the driver to move from rear-wheel drive into 4WD High at speeds of up to 100 kmh, plus other goodies such as stability control, traction control, engine-brake- assist control, which helps maintain traction while travelling down slippery slopes in 4WD Low, and hill-hold assist.

It's one of the most robust systems around. And even when that's not enough, and the driver is experiencing severe traction loss, the Pajero is also equipped with a rear differential lock which deactivates the Matt and can direct all the torque to the two rear wheels. Mitsubishi says this is very useful in muddy or sandy conditions where any loss of torque could leave the vehicle stuck.Get information on Air purifier from the unbiased,

I have powerful memories of just how good all this is.

Some time ago Mitsubishi New Zealand held a media day on military land high up near the eastern slopes of Mt Ruapehu, which required large amounts of time to be spent extracting the very best 4WD Low performance out of these Pajeros. They all did the job very well, taking us to places that one wouldn't normally expect a standard SUV to be able to go.

The downside is that compared to most of the newer medium- to large-sized SUVs on the Kiwi market, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated and urbane,Spro Tech has been a plastic module & Mold Maker, this big Mitsubishi drives more like a truck - albeit a luxurious one.

It was reminded of all this recently when I spent time behind the top model in the Pajero range, the $87,Daneplast Limited UK are plastic injection mould & toolmaking specialists.590 long-wheelbase Exceed turbo diesel.

It has full leather upholstery,The magic cube is an ultra-portable, with the front seats heated and with full electric adjustment, and other items of luxury include fully automatic air conditioning with a system for those in the rear, 12-speaker audio, and a DVD entertainment system for those in the back.

Initially, this big Pajero comes as something of a culture shock. Once you've climbed aboard and settled in, when you fire up the big turbo it roars into life with the sort of diesel noise that you don't hear too much these days.

But once you do move off and become used to the noise, the seating height, and the ride that is associated with a combination of a very robust suspension system and big 18-inch wheels and tyres, it soon becomes apparent that Pajero is quite an enjoyable drive.

I did some serious kilometres during the week I had the Exceed; and I've got to say, the more I drove it the more I liked it. Of course it's a truck, but that big torquey diesel up front meant I could pull up any hills in a very relaxed fashion. And if I'd wanted to, I could have towed up to 3.3 tonnes.Information on useful yeasts and moulds,

Despite the fact the Exeed has a kerb weight of more than 2.3 tonnes, I achieved better than the official consumption figure of 9.2 litres per 100 kilometres - and this model has an 88-litre fuel tank, which means that if driven carefully this Mitsubishi has a range approaching 900 km.

Ownership of an SUV such as the Pajero is very much a horses- for-courses sort of thing, because I can't see the need any ordinary motorist to have one unless it is needed for towing or a lot of off- road work.

In other words, there are other vehicles a lot more appropriate for tooling around town or for the odd cruise out on the open road.

New townhomes on the ‘Block’

Earlier this year, Treasure Hill Developments unveiled a townhouse project on Shaw St. near College St. on a site previously occupied by a Catholic school.

The development — a row of faux Victorian-style townhouses meant to mimic the architecture of the neighbourhood — met with a “tepid response,” according to broker Paul Johnston. “After spending a few months marketing the homes, the developer quickly recognized that this wasn’t what a sophisticated downtown market wanted.”

So in October, Treasure Hill decided to overhaul the project and brought on board a new team, including Johnston, principal of Unique Urban Homes, über-urban interior design firm Cecconi Simone, and architect Richard Wengle, one of the city’s top high-end custom home designers.

“We completely re-imagined the development,” Johnston explains “The site remains the same, the number of homes remains the same, but the front architecture and the programming of the homes from an interior perspective has been completely regenerated and is now decidedly modern.”

The re-launched project,Spro Tech has been a plastic module & Mold Maker, Block, is comprised of 37 four-storey freehold townhouses that range in size from 2,650 square feet to 3,700 square feet. The homes have between three to five bedrooms, depending on the plan and how buyers choose to configure their units.

Prices start in the high $900,000s and go up to $1.69 million.

Sales for Block launched in November and more than half of the homes were sold in the first weekend.

As far as Johnston is concerned, the success of the redesigned project is a testament to the demand in the city for at-grade contemporary housing.

“That response is proof positive that consumers today want a home that reflects the architecture of our time, as opposed to something of an era gone by,” he says. “This is what people want in urban living.Daneplast Limited UK are plastic injection mould & toolmaking specialists.”

Interiors at Block include 10-foot ceilings on the main floor and nine-foot ceilings on the second and third floors. Buyers have a choice of porcelain tile or engineered wood flooring on the main floor, and the second and third levels have engineered wood flooring throughout the hallways, bedrooms and closets.

“Cecconi Simone has the ability to program a space in a very efficient and intelligent manner that is remarkably contemporary,Information on useful yeasts and moulds,” says Johnston.

“But they also have a real capacity to capture the trends and the look and spirit of the time — their design is unequivocally modern. There is not a crown moulding that has passed the doors of Cecconi Simone.”

Kitchens have custom-designed cabinetry available in three colour options, a choice of Corian or composite stone countertops and a Miele appliance package, including an electric or gas cooktop, stainless steel fridge and built-in electric oven and microwave.

Bathrooms have oversized glass shower enclosures with rain-soaker showerheads, a soaker tub,porcelain floor and wall tiles and Corian sink and countertop.

The wood-frame townhouses — which feature staggered facades and wide windows in front — are clad in a combination of pre-cast concrete, masonry and stucco, with metal accenting. They also have balconies and flat roofs with skylights.

While Wengle is well known for designing luxury custom homes in high-end neighbourhoods such as Forest Hill and Rosedale, Johnston says the architect — “a modernist at heart” — was keen to work on a contemporary project like Block.

“Although his practice has been in much more traditional work in the last number of years, this is a direction that Richard is very excited to be moving in because it’s really where his roots are.”

As a result, Johnston says, buyers at Block get the custom home look at a fraction of the cost of a Wengle one-off project.

Each home at Block has a private terrace, back-door entrance and a single-car garage that can be accessed from the rear laneway.

The homes are designed with flexibility in mind,Get information on Air purifier from the unbiased, Johnston notes. Buyers have the option of having separate floors for the master bedroom and kids or guest rooms, and the basement can be configured as a gym, theatre or office.

Alternatively,The magic cube is an ultra-portable, buyers might opt to add an additional bedroom and kitchenette on the bottom floor so that the space can function as an in-law suite, nanny’s quarters or rental apartment, with a separate entrance from the street.

“We’re responding to the fact that the vast majority of people downtown have dynamic needs for their homes,” he says.

Why the average age of vehicles in America keeps rising

Automaker want to tap into the potential of demand that is simmering with an aging fleet of cars in garages these days, but, simply put, cars cost too much and are failing with every cost increase to meet the masses where it counts - price. But before we go and list the criteria, a simulated conversation on the floor of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit will set the tone of this rant further.

“Say again, Q?” asked agent 007, as they strolled through the displays looking at prices and technologies of the cars they might use in the future.

Q, the infamous technical genius in Her Majesty’s service, looked at him in his typical stern, stiff upper-lip fashion, then said, “Now, see here, 007, when you pull this lever (pronounced lee-ver) called government pressure, you get expensive technologies like forced electrification of the automobile, which in turn delivers a vehicle that the masses simply cannot afford anymore.

“Yes,Information on useful yeasts and moulds, Q, but even a Sshcott like me can see that much. Then again, I do get a free Aston Martin to drive, much like the auto executives.”

“Stay focused,Get information on Air purifier from the unbiased, 007. Free even to you still costs money to someone,” said Q. “Same goes for other forced government subsidies and mandates. So when a government like America favors a particular technology over another via taxpayer subsidies, you inadvertently bypass free markets, and set a price threshold by which future buyers will simply not pass, especially when those subsidies are stopped.”

Is Q right? Is this a case of shooting ourselves in the foot again? Of course it is. Drop that $7,Spro Tech has been a plastic module & Mold Maker,500 taxpayer subsidy and watch those full EV sales drop like a rock. So, what do people do when they cannot afford a product? They shop elsewhere or hold off on buying all together. So, wonder no more why the average age of cars has gone up in America.

Likewise, how do people react when they do not have jobs, or have a job with the fear of losing it? Or when gasoline prices are high because the President shoots down a pipeline which would alleviate the strain and create jobs? People close up their pocketbooks.

And what about those who can barely afford an EV even with a subsidy? They will simply count the total cost, then choose another option or wait until a better option is availed. Thus, their cars are held longer and longer until they decide.

But the government, auto executives and marketing MBAs still do not get it. They’re being pandered to by the bureaucrats of green-at-all-costs persuasion to choose the politically expedient electrification over the more conservative, logical and economic choices like nat-gas vehicles, mild hybrids, stop-start and other IC engine technologies like HCCI and split-cycle air hybrids which are in development until battery technology matures.

So, aside from a robust economy, allow me to vent my own vision on what America needs when it comes to transportation. In my view, based on 39 years in the auto industry and one who has raised a family and is aware of family wants and needs, America needs an automobile that meets all of the following criteria:

A propulsion system that delivers 50 MPG in the city, not just the highway, because that is where most of us drive; plus it more than meets the federal study that says the average daily driving range is 40 miles. Also limits fuel costs to less than $100 per month, even at $3.50 per gallon. Any higher than that and nat-gas should be used without hesitation.

A lightweight body structure that is large enough to accommodate a family of five comfortably, yet enables any choice of propulsion system to be efficient and cost effective, including electric, hybrid, IC engine .

I chose that $230 lease figure simply because it is in the middle between a purchase and lease of present vehicles that fit the needs and budget of a middle-class family,Daneplast Limited UK are plastic injection mould & toolmaking specialists. including a retiree. You can adjust the plus/minus if you like. If the total cost of car and fuel reaches beyond $330 per month, though, then natural gas should obviously be used, as we have plenty of supply here in America.

Size and economics should not fight one another. On a size basis, the average need is somewhere between a Chevy Cruze, an HHR, a Malibu or a Ford Fusion. Regardless of brand, there is a size whereby most family transportation needs can be met; and that has to be part of the economic target criteria.

Recall the old days when a factory worker could buy a Ford or a Chevy without air, but with roll-down windows and even rubber floor mats supported by a radio and a heater. At least an owner would have a car that was large enough for an entire family. Families went on vacation in these vehicles; and while any expense is a burden to any family,The magic cube is an ultra-portable, at least the product delivered its pure purpose - a transportation vehicle.

What do we get today? We get vehicles so loaded up in options that the only way to get a cheaper car is to step down in size to something that no longer fits family needs, not to mention, risk the safety of the family in a crash.

While I like electric cars, at this time they simply violate the first criteria - upfront or monthly cost. However, they do deliver efficiency and lower operating costs. Problem is, it is difficult to justify a $400-450 per month lease for a Volt or a Leaf, especially when a Ford EcoBoost engine in an equivalent sized car will deliver a total operating and total buying cost that is cheaper.

Again, I estimate the size needs are somewhere between a Chevy Cruze, an HHR, a Malibu or a Ford Fusion; the larger the better.

Light weight need not imply less safe, though. Colin Chapman who started Lotus proved this in racing, as he opted to create race cars that were lighter with smaller, less powerful engines, but were equal in safety. Why can’t we do the same? Fact is, we can.

However, ask the steel industry who has a stake in the status quo. Ask the automakers who have already committed millions in manufacturing plants based on the process of welding multiple steel parts. Processing lighter material like aluminum, magnesium and carbon fiber simply change the plant dynamics, not to mention the skill sets of unionized workers who are too often reluctant to change their job description.

Fact is, aluminum and magnesium are indeed lighter; and lighter is what gives every propulsion a greater level of efficiency, whether it is an IC engine or an electric drive motor. If there was ever a place for subsidy, it should be in the research and development of larger, lightweight auto body structures and processes.

The public needs and wants cost efficient, safe, affordable vehicles. They are holding onto their cars longer for real, not imaginary reasons. They want their cars as green as is affordable; but that’s the point that gets missed. In order to make green really count in the world, there has to be volume production associated with it; otherwise the green effort is merely a drop in the ocean. And the only way to sell these new efficient cars in high volume is to reinvent the processes so they can be built at a cost that the masses can afford.

Are you listening, especially Detroit automakers? Do not celebrate too much. After all, NAIAS 2012 is nearly over, so it’s time to get back to work. Fail at this and you will once again pay for your lack of vision. If you do not deliver this time, I fear the Chinese whom you have trained and helped build factories and processes will one day step up to the plate with high quality, lesser priced, light-weight vehicles and export them to America. Learn the meaning of Mene, Mene Tekel.

Small businesses see mobile payments as chance to lower costs

Resembling an oversized piece of Chiclets gum, the Square is one of several new approaches that offer small retailers alternatives to complete reliance on traditional payment providers such as Visa, MasterCard and American Express.

The companies - including eBay's PayPal, ProPay and SparkBase - are part of a brewing battle over how we pay for things in person. The volume of mobile card payments surged by more than half in 2011 to $86.1 billion, according to tech researcher Gartner Inc., as small businesses look for ways to get around transaction fees for card payments.

Eric Grover, a payments consultant with Intrepid Ventures in Minden, Nev., said the potential market is "huge." Still, he sees Square, which processes payments through a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase, as an extension of the existing system rather than a disruption.

"They're extending the existing system to potentially millions of very small merchants - piano teachers, plumbers, electricians ...The magic cube is an ultra-portable, somebody who in the past would take cash or check," Grover said.

The Square card reader plugs into the headphone jacks on most smartphones and turns them into card swipers, enabling individuals or businesses to accept card payments without the complications of a merchant account with a bank and costly special equipment.

Square sends free credit card readers to people who sign up. Target also sells them for $9.99.

Users pay 2.75 percent per transaction. That isn't a cheap rate, but it's the only fee users pay, the company says, while traditional payment systems can charge activation fees, monthly or annual fees, gateway fees and hardware rental.

Abene figures Urban Bean is saving about $400 a month using Square at its coffee shop on Lyndale Avenue in Minneapolis. But she hasn't totally bypassed the card companies that irritated her, since Urban Bean must be hooked into major networks such as Visa and MasterCard for many of her customers' cards to work.

Based in San Francisco,Daneplast Limited UK are plastic injection mould & toolmaking specialists. Square Inc. was launched in 2009 by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and glass artist Jim McKelvey, Square now boasts more than 1 million users and says it's processing more than $2 billion a year annually.

Most users are small businesses - B&Bs, photographers, even traveling musicians, said company spokeswoman Lindsay Wiese. Square also offers Card Case, a smartphone application that eliminates swiping and plastic cards altogether, similar to Google Wallet but based on a different point-of-sale communications technology.

The target: about 20 million small businesses in the United States that don't accept debit or credit cards, according to the payment-card trade journal Nilson Report.

"There's been a lot of Christmas tree farm lots that have been using Square,Get information on Air purifier from the unbiased," Wiese said.

Square investors include major venture capital names such as Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers - even credit giant Visa Inc. itself. JPMorgan Chase is an investor and key partner - Square processes its payments through Chase subsidiary Paymentech.

New payment systems could present the industry's traditional players with a significant challenge, according to an Aite Group report last month entitled "Digital Wallets: Who Will Win the Game?"

"The playing field is set for a major battle, and the traditional payments powers appear to be at a disadvantage," it says.

Aite Group senior analyst Adil Moussa called Square's ability to enable face-to-face mobile credit card processing quickly, without requiring users to set up a merchant account with a bank, "a huge advantage."

Doomtree Records agrees.

A few years ago, the independent hip-hop label in Minneapolis was searching for a better way to handle customer payments on concert tours. Forcing people to trot off to an ATM machine for cash to buy T-shirts, CDs and beer cozies was definitely crimping Doomtree's merchandise sales, said Doomtree member Ander Other. Then it started using Square.

"It's super easy to deal with it compared to previous card readers where you had to get a merchant account from a bank and have this really huge, almost dorky-looking card swiper that you'd see in a coffee shop or something," Other said.

Experts disagree on just how much effect Square will have in the rapidly evolving card payments industry. Moussa describes it as "extremely disruptive" - particularly for banks selling card processing services to retailers.

"It just eliminates so much and makes it a solution that's in the hand of everybody," Moussa said.

"It is bypassing the traditional channels and making it more accessible."

But Square has plenty of competition. There are about 100 providers selling card-processing services to retailers, according to industry estimates. Nearly every major player has a mobile credit card processing system and is courting retailers small and large, Grover said.

Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp,Take a walk on the natural side with stunning and luxurious Floor tiles from The Tile Shop. via its Elavon subsidiary, is in on the game, too. In early 2011, it introduced a similar technology for mobile devices called VirtualMerchant Mobile. It has less than 200,Information on useful yeasts and moulds,000 active users, the company, but it is targeting somewhat larger retailers and not the "micro merchant space" pursued by Square, said Elavon spokeswoman Michelle Wagner. Unlike Square, it requires the user to have a merchant account with a bank.

Fox’s ‘The Finder’ needs to find some chemistry

You know what I hate? I hate first episodes of new shows that spend so much time explaining the basic plot setup and supplying so much background about each character, you feel as if you’ve just conducted a job interview.

That’s what the series premiere of “The Finder”: a lot of really bad dialogue filled with Information about each and every character in this spin-off of Fox’s hit “Bones.”

It’s not as if I feel like raising my hand and snarling, “Hey, that’s my job” to tell you who’s who and where they came from, but by contrast, I was recently watching the first episode of a new BBC America series called “The Fades” and was not only impressed by how much it didn’t feel obligated to tell me about when each character was potty trained or had that unsightly wart removed, but I also was more effectively hooked by the series.

Anyway, the show’s title is a former military officer named Walter Sherman (Geoff Stults) who lives in the Florida Keys and finds things and people that others can’t. His friend, Leo (Michael Clarke Duncan), owner of the End of the Earth bar,Promat solid RUBBER MATS are the softest mats on the market! where Walter hangs out, handles the business end of the operation because, we learn later in a typically didactic piece of unliikely dialogue,Take a walk on the natural side with stunning and luxurious Floor tiles from The Tile Shop. Sherman stopped him from killing a guy years before and Leo is forever in his debt.

Walter also has a sort of friends-with-benefits thing going with Deputy U.S. Marshal Isabel Zambada (Mercedes Masohn), with the benefits defined both as hookups and supplying information to helInformation on useful yeasts and moulds,p Walter with his cases. Other characters include Willa (Maddie Hasson), a teenage con artist on parole, and, in the first episode, Cooper Allison , a teenage boy who wants Sherman to find his missing father.

The kid’s dad was flying solo when his plane was lost over swampland. The presumption is that he was running drugs. If he didn’t die, though, it means he turned his back on his son. Sherman takes the case and soon realizes he has a connection to the kid’s father. There’s a dream sequence in the middle of the show that’s absurd enough to make you want to bring back the curriculum vitae-style dialogue that lards up the rest of the episode. Overall, though, the central mystery takes a backseat.

The show has promise,Can't afford a third party merchant account right now? but the one thing it doesn’t yet have that has made “Bones” such a survivor is chemistry.China yiri mould is a professional manufacturer which integrates Plastic Mould design and manufacture and plastic product development. David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel play very well off each other in the older show as an FBI agent and forensic anthropologist, respectively. Their give-and-take doesn’t break any molds, but it provides a certain energy that transcends whatever mystery may anchor any individual episode.

With the first episode spending so much time and energy telling us about the characters, rather than, oh I don’t know, having them actually show us who they are by acting a well-written script, it’s hard to see where the chemistry potential is in “The Finder.”

Gigamon Enhances Cisco Network Management

Today’s networks are by nature complex. Adding to that complexity is the ever increasing volume of traffic generated by a seemingly endless demand for additional services. TCP/IP and Ethernet networks were originally designed and implemented to support data traffic; however,China yiri mould is a professional manufacturer which integrates Plastic Mould design and manufacture and plastic product development. today are expected to also carry voice, video, fax, image, and who knows what next. Add to this the need to ensure your network traffic is secure and you have a constantly changing networking landscape that can challenge even the most proficient network professionals.

To keep pace, organizations have implemented numerous monitoring and management tools to inform and enable their staff to keep the network running. For Cisco networks such tools as SPAN , RSPAN , ERSPAN ,They become pathological or Piles when swollen or inflamed. and VACL can aid network professionals in isolating and troubleshooting network issues. However, these are all limited in the amount of ports that can be monitored and effectively managed by the various IT departments .

Today’s high density data environments require more than these tools can deliver alone: enter Gigamon. To effectively manage a network requires that the right network data get to the right IT department(s). Gigamon’s Traffic Visibility Fabric can deliver the requisite management data to the appropriate analysis tools.

The Gigamon solution is a combination of out-of-band data access switching plus passive monitoring instrumentation to enable required security, compliance, forensics review, application performance, VoIP QoS, uptime and other network management tasks.Information on useful yeasts and moulds, Data is acquired from multiple SPAN ports or taps and can be multicast to multiple tools, aggregated to a few consolidated tools, and/or filtered or divided across many instances of the same tools. Gigamon’s solution may be thought of as a “data socket” providing immediate access for ad hoc tool deployment without impact to the production network.

I was able to speak with Jim Berkman, Director of Worldwide Channel Marketing, and Anoop Kartha,Overview description of rapid Tooling processes. Technical Marketing Engineer, who walked me through what Gigamon’s solutions do. “Our visibility fabric allows you to connect more than the two tools that you would normally be able to connect to SPAN ports so we are able to provide pervasive visibility across the network,” stated Berkman. “In general we solve a problem that every Cisco user has.” Kartha, “There are only so many SPAN ports available to send traffic to the analytical tools ports. What we do is sit in the middle, collect aggregate information flowing through the production network, tap into that information, replicate it, filter out the unwanted data, and then send it to the appropriate tools.” “By filtering the data we’re ensuring that the various tools are not inundated by unwanted and unnecessary data. We can also aggregate information from different parts of the network so that the different tools can be consolidated in one location and don’t have to be spread all across the network.” Gigamon can also replicate the information so that it can be sent to multiple locations for redundancy/back-up.Take a walk on the natural side with stunning and luxurious Floor tiles from The Tile Shop.

Gigamon has recently released new versions of their tools that enable users to capture data between two different series of Cisco switches by stripping out VLAN and MPLS tags then sending this traffic data to analytical tools. Kartha, “We provide a lot of flexibility to manipulate the data beyond simply stripping out the header information before sending it on to the analytical tools. This also is helpful in compliance situations where sensitive data needs to be protected. Additionally, we can reduce the amount of storage space required for keeping management data.

The Same Stones as Dachau

Sister Rosalia Bauer, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, prayed in front of what she called “the abortion mill” every Friday for 13 years. She said that as a nurse she could never call that building a clinic. She called it a mill. A mill that manufactured and profited from death.

She remembers being joined to pray at the clinic by a woman from Poland. The woman took one look at Northern Illinois Women’s Center and told Sister Rosalia that “the stone on the outside of the building are the same kind of stone used in Dachau.”

The building at 1400 Broadway in Rockford Illinois had ironically been built as a schoolhouse over a century ago but for the past few decades it’s been home to the region’s only abortion clinic. At its height, the NIWC destroyed 75 human beings a week. It may also have been one of the most infamous in the country.

Pro-life school teacher Kevin Rilott remembers the first time he came to pray at NIWC many years ago. A man came out and yelled at him “Why do you come here. Only n%&&ers and prostitutes get abortions. Why are you here?”

“He thought that would drive me away,” said Rilott. “But I thought if that’s the attitude, we’re definitely needed here.”

And things got worse from there.

Vicki Johnson, a pro-life Christian who’s prayed outside of the NIWC for over two decades, said she remembers someone affiliated with the NIWC dressed up as Cookie Monster handing children balloons made out of condoms at a youth picnic.

They all remember the landlord dressed as a priest ushering women into the driveway and yelling obscenities at the pro-lifers praying there. Another time a man dressed in a devil costume.

And then there were the windows. In the windows of the NIWC hung awful pornographic pictures, pictures of Jesus giving the middle finger to the pro-lifers, devil masks in the windows, a rubber chicken hung on a crucifix, and a sign saying of the NIWC “No job too big or too small.” They even hung a scoreboard of babies killed vs. babies saved at NIWC 50,000 vs. Jesus Christ 50.

Yeah, it was that bad.

But the pro-lifers never relented. Every Wednesday and Friday they were out there praying and pleading with the women who walked into the clinic. For years a group of pro-lifers came to pray outside an abortion mill in Rockford Illinois.

At its height the NIWC took the life of 75 children and it was open three days a week. But recently, that number had dwindled down to 20 per week and it was only open two days a week - a testimony of the power of pro-life sidewalk counselors and prayers.

The pro-lifers had become so effective that the NIWC erected sheet metal on the inside of the fence so the pro-lifers couldn’t make eye contact with the women entering the back of the clinic. So Bill Landerholm, the father of six, got on stilts so he could look over the fence and speak with the women.Information on useful yeasts and moulds, He remembers at least one child who was saved by this.

To counter Bill, the NIWC set up a radio boom box blaring a local radio station so that the pro-lifers offers of help could not be heard.

So the pro-lifers turned the tables on the abortion clinic. With the radio blaring, the station took a call from one of the pro-lifers and allowed for the activist to explain what was happening.

Then the DJ, taken aback at what was happening, used the blaring radio to his advantage chanting “God bless pro-lifers, God bless pro-lifers, God bless pro-lifers!”

Needless to say, when the workers at the abortion clinic heard the pro-life message blaring over their own radio, they were more than a little perturbed. And this is where the story gets even weirder. Not content to stop blaring the radio, the landlord of the abortion clinic stood by the radio boom box with a chainsaw. A chainsaw! Any time he feared that the radio station might say something pro-life, he would rev up the chainsaw to drown out the radio.

Recently, the pro-lifers arranged for an ultrasound truck to be parked outside the clinic. But this opened up one of the most bizarre chapters in the NIWC’s history.

For the past few months, every time the ultrasound truck attempted to park outside the clinic, the NIWC’s landlord ran his old used cars out into the street to fill the spot. Think about how committed he was to preventing women from seeing the baby in their womb. As Sister Rosalia said, 85-90% of women who see an ultrasound don’t go through with the abortion. And he knew it because any time a spot opened up he raced out.

One day last August a number of priests arrived at the clinic to pray. The landlord was so disturbed by the presence of the priests that he spent his time creating and hanging anti-Catholic signs from the window. So consumed he was with hatred for the priests that he missed that a spot had opened up directly across the street from the clinic.

And because of that, a life was saved. A woman who was entering the clinic chose to go into the ultrasound truck instead of the NIWC. And the pro-lifers in Rockford held baby showers for mothers who chose life. “Formula, diapers, clothes, whatever they need,” said Kevin Rilott. “And we don’t leave it there. We’ve had women come to us five to ten years after they chose life. We’ve always met their needs.”

In contrast last May, pro-choicers stood in the driveway and cheered as women chose death.

Recently, there was a YouTube video showing someone affiliated with the clinic threatening to run over a pro-lifer who suffered a convenient leg cramp standing in the way of a car from blocking the ultrasound truck from pulling into a spot.

It was in September when a group of pro-lifers prayed around an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe outside the clinic. A woman walked towards the clinic but chose life using the pro-life mobile ultrasound clinic.

The clinic’s landlord saw this and came running outside and began what pro-lifer Kevin Rilott called “a verbal tirade of pornographic bile directed at the Virgin Mary.China yiri mould is a professional manufacturer which integrates Plastic Mould design and manufacture and plastic product development.”

One pro-lifer,Smooth-On is your source for Mold Making and casting materials including silicone rubber and urethane rubber, who is a navy veteran, said he had never heard such hideous and grotesque language.

But that day was the last day one of the most infamous abortion clinics in the United States would kill a child. After hundreds (if not thousands) of calls from the pro-lifers over the years to the Department of Health, there was an investigation.Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality,

“I think that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, said Landerholm. “They have inertia unless something moves them. If you give them a right push, it may just move them in the right direction.”

According to the suspension notice released by the Illinois Department of Public Health on September 30, 2011, “the department had found conditions at the facility that are a direct threat to the public interest, health, safety and welfare requiring immediate, emergency action.” It was closed down and never reopened.

It’s fitting that today, Dr. Alveda King will be at the NIWC to pray and celebrate the closing of the clinic with pro-lifers. She told me on Sunday, “The message I’ll be bringing is one of love, mercy, and grace.”

She said, “This is good news, not only for Rockford” but she said she’ll remind them that the fight is not over. “We must all keep fighting for the civil right of babies in the womb. If a person is not allowed to live,The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free, no other civil right can be realized.”

Vicki Johnson, a mother of three and grandmother of eight said, “After 29 years, it’s been a long time coming but abortion didn’t end in America Friday. We’re definitely going to continue our pro-life message.”

Landerholm said he’s already looking at abortion clinics an hour away from his home. “We have to go toe to toe with the workers of evil with our signs and prayers,” he said.