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Walden Bello, a prominent activist in the global justice movement and frequent contributor to the NI, has been included on a hitlist issued by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its paramilitary wing, the New People’s Army. The list of 15 people condemned as ‘counter-revolutionaries’ appeared in the December 2004 issue of Ang Bayan, the principal organ of the CPP. Two of those on the list, Arturo Tabara and Filemon Lagman, have already been assassinated while another, Ricardo Reyes, has been forced into hiding. Among the others still under threat are internationalist activist Lidy Nacpil and Etta Rosales, head of the human rights committee of the Philippines House of Representatives.
Bello is executive director of Focus on the Global South and a long-standing campaigner for social justice and against US intervention. He won the 2003 Right Livelihood Award (or Alternative Nobel Prize) for ‘outstanding efforts in educating civil society about the effects of corporate globalization, and how alternatives to it can be implemented’. The CPP now charges him with being an agent of US imperialism, while the global justice movement worldwide is described as a front for capitalism.
The CPP charges are ludicrous, emerging from narrow sectarianism, but the death threats are very real. The NI joins its voice to other civil-society groups the world over in deploring not only this specific threat but the use of assassination in any circumstances, whether deployed by rebel groups or by governments.
This first appeared in our award-winning magazine - to read more, subscribe from just £7 | <urn:uuid:6cf17609-c136-4acf-af9f-0f20d0b92ebf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newint.org/columns/currents/2005/04/01/philippines/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955481 | 334 | 1.664063 | 2 |
McCORDSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Still hard at it in his job search, Zack Lee has found a new and constructive way to spend his time: working to make life better for the blind.
Lee joined the Anderson chapter of the National Federation of the Blind in November and was voted in as secretary Monday, Feb. 4. The Anderson group is a relatively new part of the organization, and Lee had always been aware of the NFB but did not feel compelled to join. When Lee began looking at participating in beep baseball, a variation on the game for the blind, he got more interested.
Now, he's using his time to advocate on behalf of the blind.
Zack was born with optic nerve hypoplasia, a congenital condition where the optic nerve has not developed properly and prevents adequate visual information from reaching the brain. So he knows the hardships and trials that blind people face on a daily basis.
"As far as people with disabilities go, visually impaired are very low on the totem pole. I don't know why. So we have to do everything we possibly can to raise awareness," Lee told the Daily Reporter in Greenfield (http://bit.ly/131FGRO ).
That's where the NFB comes in.
"Basically, what we do is raise awareness about people with visual impairments. The big thing we're trying to do right now is pass some legislation that quite frankly gives blind people more rights, in a way," Lee said.
The group's four major resolutions include a prohibition of social workers and health professionals taking children away from blind parents just because of the fact that they are blind.
"That has become a problem," Lee said.
He pointed to a case in Missouri where a social worker took a child away from blind parents and they were not in contact for several weeks.
The NFB also wants public libraries to offer e-books and e-readers that can serve up audio to the blind. Lee said the blind would not be the only ones to benefit from that kind of legislation: people suffering from brain issues such as cerebral palsy, or something similar, who might have trouble turning book pages, could also be helped.
Post-secondary education institutions need to provide proper resources to students, according to Lee. And that is the third part of the NFB's current mission. If a blind person wants to become a teacher, the proper materials are not always available in large print or Braille.
"That eventually could affect someone's tenure or career," Lee said. "In college, not having the proper resources can affect someone's learning. Someone might not be able to graduate without the proper resources."
The fourth push by Lee and the NFB makes use of the Randolph-Sheppard Act, a federal law from 1936 that mandates a priority to blind people to operate vending facilities on federal property. Lee said that even though it is law, the practice has diminished.
"The problem is now there's a lot of buildings that negotiate with sighted vendors and basically the visually impaired vendors are getting ignored. They know this is supposed to happen but no one is doing anything about it," Lee said. "These are legislations that would not cost the state a dime."
Lee is working hard to find a job, and he is optimistic that his association with the NFB and the new campaign could eventually present him with new opportunities, including a career.
"This could possibly lead to some things," Lee said.
More information about the National Federation of the Blind can be found on the web at www.nfb.org.
Information from: (Greenfield) Daily Reporter, http://www.greenfieldreporter.com | <urn:uuid:0c1923dd-66db-4add-8f16-bd3da218bc95> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/apexchange/2013/02/20/in--exchange-advocating-for-the-blind.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978847 | 760 | 1.773438 | 2 |
1 definition by Morrowind Addict
A highly addictive drug that is availiable to most teenagers in devoloped countries. Morrowind users tend to experience complete withdrawl from reality, and an incredibly vivid immerision in a fantasy world. Morrowind users tend to believe that they are in this world, which seems to be characterized by annoying midgets looking for lost rings, and houses made of magic mushrooms. Morrowind users suffer from extreme paleness, insomnia, lack of proper nutrition. Morrowind addicts often consume extremely high levels of coca-cola, and various flavours of potato chips i.e Salt and Vinegar, and Ketchup. Quitting Morrowind is incredibly difficult, but possible. Those who attempt to quit suffer from withdrawl symptons such sensitivity to the sunlight, violence, irritibility, and the inability to do basic mathematics. Constant jumping, bribing of law enforcement, and the exploration of dangerous places has also been reported. In rare cases, Morrowind users will see a talking, druken mud-crab merchant that sells hard liquor.
Bob: Jim, what happened to you, you used to be cool, now, you're addicted to Morrowind!
Jim: I ain't addicted to nothing! Whoah, theres nix-hound behind you! LOOK OUT! *Lunges at friend with sword*
by Morrowind Addict Jun 30, 2005 add a video | <urn:uuid:555163b0-6a78-4a62-98c3-0fa5bf0c1eb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=Morrowind+Addict | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930052 | 289 | 1.664063 | 2 |
|Chronological and political information|
- "You loved your brother very much. I can hear you, as children, trying to fall asleep in the same large room. Your brother sang to you at night, making you feel safe when you were frightened."
- ―Luke Skywalker to Isolder
Growing up, Kalen and Isolder were close, and Kalen would often sing songs to Isolder to comfort him when he was frightened. However, as Kalen grew older, his mother felt that he lacked the necessary skills to be a leader to his people.
In 2 ABY, Kalen was captured near the Terephon system by Harravan and his group of pirates. Instead of holding Kalen for ransom, the pirates murdered him. Overcome with grief over losing his brother and looking for a way to avenge him, this event triggered Isolder to go undercover as a privateer for two years to search for those responsible.
It was revealed to Isolder six years later that it was his mother who had orchestrated Kalen's death on political grounds.
Behind the scenesEdit
- The Courtship of Princess Leia (First mentioned) (Indirect mention only)
- Young Jedi Knights: Shadow Academy (Indirect mention only)
- Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse (Indirect mention only)
- Dark Journey (Indirect mention only)
- Cracken's Threat Dossier
- The New Essential Guide to Characters
- The Official Star Wars Fact File 99 (ISO1, Prince Isolder)
- Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 25
- Galaxy of Intrigue (Indirect mention only) | <urn:uuid:01d50e38-e57a-483f-b7d9-76e3bafd2609> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kalen | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97127 | 348 | 1.765625 | 2 |
The Next Web reported on the eve of the October 4 unveiling that iPhone 4S would have “more definitive GPS features”, leaving many watchers scratching their head. The cryptic hint has now been deciphered by Russian-language iPhones.ru which first spotted a mention of GLONASS on Apple’s iPhone 4S specs page, apparently added recently (see the screenshot below). Another report by iGuides.ru went on to speculate that the quiet addition of GLONASS could be related to the fact that the Russian government threatened to ban the importation of cell phones that do not support this technology.
GLONASS, an acronym for GLObalnaya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, is a version of Global Navigation Satellite System operated for the Russian government by the Russian Space Forces. The work on the GLONASS system began in the Soviet Union back in 1976. It has been conceived as an alternative to Global Positioning System (GPS) and as such meant to reduce the reliance on global communications satellites operated by the United States.
Last week, a Soyuz booster rocket lifted the last of the 24 satellites for the GLONASS constellation. When it comes online, the GLONASS network will provide full global coverage. Apple may be relying on this chip from Broadcom that combines Bluetooth + FM + GNSS solutions in a tiny package. It also supports Bluetooth 4.0, first utilized on an iOS device with iPhone 4S.
Already some global positioning hardware is compatible with the GLONASS system, including Nokia phones coming out next year. The ailing cell phone giant praised GLONASS for being “better for northern latitudes”. Whether or not Apple’s adoption of GLONASS is a concession to Russia is up for a debate. Russian president met Steve Jobs in Cupertino last summer so GLONASS might have been one of the topics of their conversation. Apple’s products are huge among the Russian elite and are also picking up steam with middle-class citizens. We know Apple is taking the 142 million people market of Russia seriously. CEO Tim Cook told analysts on a conference call that Russia is looking “more promising”. The executive also highlighted “significant opportunities” lying ahead in the broader Middle East and Asia Pacific regions. | <urn:uuid:bb425b19-bce7-4c70-b403-5d08762f74a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://9to5mac.com/2011/10/19/apple-appeases-russians-and-improves-gps-with-glonass-support/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934423 | 479 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The purpose of the Rainbow Fianna: Wisdom School for Earthkeepers is to create individuals of integrity and compassion who work and live with animals in the highest possible way.
This is a school for animal guardians, communicators, healers and light warriors. It is a school for anyone who wants to understand the language of Mother Earth and all her children, and how to access their guidance, wisdom and knowledge. Based on the New Shamanism, it is a school for wisdom keepers and Earth keepers, true stewards of our planet for our children’s children and all those to come for the next seven generations and beyond. It is a mastery school, helping people evolve into homo luminous – and become human angels for animals and the Earth.
Take the evolutionary leap!
The Meaning of Rainbow Fianna
The Fianna was an army of Irish magical warriors in the third century AD. To join the Fianna you had to have already been versed in Bardic literature and the skill of magical and martial arts. One of the conditions for entry was having to run soundlessly through the forest without breaking a twig or getting one hair out of place, the hair being braided for this test.
Fionn Mac Cumhaill was one of the most legendary leaders of the Fianna – a King, a Druid, a poet, a seer and a master warrior. It was said he could heal his warriors by having them drink water he held in his hands. He had two hounds of the Sidhe (or Faery), Bran and Sgeolan. His martial arts teacher was a woman, Liath Luachra.
The new Golden Age we are approaching will not be a battle ground. But the Fianna have always inspired my imagination as being trail blazers for peace. The 2012 prophecy cites the need for 144,000 Rainbow Warriors. The Inka are the Rainbow nation and have gifted us the Munay-Ki as a tool for evoluntary change. With this gift comes the responsibility to become Earth Keepers, stewards of the planet with the ability to dream in a wondrous possible future.
So this is Rainbow Fianna – the school derived from a vision I had in 1995, where I saw students living and working with rescued animals as their true teachers and healers. (See my vision for For Life Sanctuaries)
Welcome to the Future!
Welcome to Now!
The mission of Rainbow Fianna is to:
- Empower students to communicate with their animal friends and the world of nature using the ancient art of telepathy to hear the whispers in the silence.
- Create a community of Earthkeepers of the highest integrity who will honour Mother Earth and All Our Relations, and consciously act to dream in a new world and way of being.
- Create a community of animal light warriors who protect and serve homeless animals.
- Create a community of Fifth Dimensional humans Who Walk in Beauty.
- Preserve the Old Knowledge for future generations.
- Provide tools of healing for personal transformation so that the Human Shadow does not fall across any animal.
Rainbow Fianna graduates are certified after:
- completing all four levels of the Animal Shamanism Cycle of the Elements,
- having been initiated into all nine rites of the Munay Ki, and
- completing at least three Rainbow Fianna Master’s courses.
Please see our Courses page.
. . . . . .
Photo credit: listentoreason | <urn:uuid:790f5f28-57a7-45de-9319-e50d4c9d28ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://billiedean.com/wisdom-school/rainbow-fianna | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946863 | 724 | 1.84375 | 2 |
"'Is it a big deal? Or is it business as usual?' are questions I'm hearing," says Scott Halliwell, a certified financial planner with USAA. "While many issues were resolved, a lot of taxpayers still aren't sure how their tax returns and deductions are affected.”
If you're one of those people, brush up on these 10 deductions before tackling your tax return. They are worth reviewing, as they could lower your tax bill.
1. Traditional IRA contributions. You have until April 15 to contribute up to $5,000 to a traditional IRA for 2012 and, if you qualify, deduct it on your tax return. Here are some guidelines:
If you were 50 or older on the last day of 2012, you can contribute up to $6,000.
If you (and your spouse if you're married) weren't covered by an employer's retirement plan in 2012, you can generally deduct your contribution in full.
If you were covered by an employer plan, you can only take a full deduction if your modified adjusted gross income was $58,000 or less ($92,000 or less for married couples filing jointly). Your deduction is reduced if your modified adjusted gross income is higher. If your spouse was covered by a retirement plan at work but you weren't, you're eligible to take a full or partial deduction if your combined adjusted gross income was below $183,000. See IRS Publication 590 for more details.
2. Self-employed retirement plans. If you work for yourself, you can open a Simplified Employee Pension IRA by April 15 and deduct your contribution on your 2012 return. SEP IRAs may be an easy way to create your own retirement plan, and they can allow much higher contributions than traditional IRAs. Contributing to a SEP IRA does not exclude you from making an IRA contribution, but it may affect whether you can take a deduction for it. (A SEP IRA is considered an employer-sponsored plan).
3. Mortgage interest. You're allowed to deduct interest paid on your primary mortgage, as well as home equity loans, home improvement loans and lines of credit. In general, you may deduct interest on up to $1 million of primary mortgage debt and up to $100,000 of home equity balances.
4. State and local taxes. The federal government generally allows taxpayers to deduct property and income taxes paid to state and local governments.
5. Sales tax. If you didn't pay much state income tax - or live in a state that doesn't tax income at all - you may be able to choose to deduct sales tax instead. And you typically don't need receipts - simply calculate an assumed amount using an IRS table or online calculator.
6. Charitable gifts. Make sure you have the right documentation. Cash contributions - regardless of the amount - require a canceled check or dated receipt. Any contribution of $250 or more requires bank or payroll deduction records or a written acknowledgement from the charity. Noncash contributions valued at more than $5,000 generally require an appraisal.
7. Education costs. Up to $2,500 in interest on loans for qualified higher education expenses may be deductible if your adjusted gross income is less than $75,000 ($150,000 if you're married and filing a joint return). A portion of your tuition and fees may be deductible if your adjusted gross income is $80,000 or less ($160,000 on a joint return).
8. Medical and dental costs. You may be able to deduct these expenses if they exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income.
9. Health insurance. In general, self-employed taxpayers may be able to deduct all of their health insurance premiums.
10. Health savings accounts. If your family was covered by a high-deductible health insurance plan in 2012, you may be able to contribute up to $6,250 to a health savings account ($3,100 if it only covered yourself). Contributions are deductible, and similar to IRAs, you have until April 15 to contribute for the 2012 tax year. | <urn:uuid:6c6aa1f3-2cad-45b2-81fd-eb3081a92ae2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://calhountimes.com/view/full_story/21698072/article-Deductions-that-could-dramatically-cut-your-tax-bill?instance=all_articles | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966176 | 834 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Welcome to Tokelau
So it turns out that Tokelau, a 17 sq. km. Pacific island nation under the sovereignty of New Zealand, will sell you a .tk domain name for $25, no matter who you are, in exchange for which you help to raise the per-capita income of the Tokelauans above the current level of USD $420. In fact, Tokelau will only charge you if your proposed domain is already taken under the umbrellas of .com, .org, .net, what have you, and is thus a hot commodity. Otherwise, mi casa su Tokelau. The country has no international debt, without Tony Blair ever once, I feel sure, breaking a sweat over it.
But before all those sugarplum visions of nike.tk, microsoft.tk, paris-hilton.tk, and ebay.tk start tickling your fancy... just what the hell is going on?
If you fly out to New Zealand, and fly or sail from there to American Samoa, and then catch the twice-monthly boat from there to Tokelau, you can meet the other 1500 residents of the country into which you have cybernaturalized yourself. If you're Catholic—if you are, say, the new Demon Pope—you'll prefer the atoll of Nukunonu, where everyone's Catholic, to those of Atafu (Congregationalist) or Fakaofo (mixed). And here I thought Fakaofo was Pig Latin for something really rude.
Fakaofo also has free high-speed internet connections for all residents, and in that way, it resembles an Ivy League university, except it is prettier, and the food sounds much better. This means you will be able to check your own .tk website while you are in Fakaofo, and it perhaps explains why Tokelau has more of a Web presence than you might think, including this poem. Andrew Marvell is not fearing for his legacy just yet, but she's sure got her market cornered. (Thanks, Jane, for the flag image.)
Oh, and yes, despite all of that taxing travel time and distance, even with 150-year-old craft and navigation, an American did still manage to work his way out to Tokelau and set up a slave plantation in 1856. Anyone not vomiting? Is everyone ill? Is anyone okay?
Class is now over, but here is the extra-credit question? -
So, the fact that Tokelau is farming out its own domain names at $25/pop, and it's clearly generating enough publicity that I learned about this whole phenom by fortuitously landing on a .tk page... is this a new low-point in the forced self-abjection of developing and undeveloped nations, a new peak in paternalistic cultural tourism, or a clever Tokelauan gesture of working with what they've got? Jury is out.
The things you learn. | <urn:uuid:f5f9bfa6-c971-47ed-80fa-f4ae2e70abe8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2005/06/welcome-to-tokelau.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9464 | 629 | 1.523438 | 2 |
car was running pretty crappy had a local dealer look at it found oils in engine coils and on plugs. Said I need to replace all eight coils and plugs. My question is, oil in coils means leaky gasket. Could I get away with cleaning coils and plugs and replacing gasket covers only?
Q&AAsk Your Question
1994 BMW 540i
Question: Do I replace coils and plugs or just valve cover gasket and hope for the best?
Answer #1patrick mannion from Greg Solow's Engine Room, April 07, 2010, 18:28Master
I would replace the valve cover gasket and spark plug tube seals first. Note which coil came from which cylinder and which coils had oil on the plugs which could potentially have damaged the coils. After replacing the valve cover gasket and related seals then see which cylinders are misfiring and replace coils as need be. If you are replacing coils inspect/replace spark plugs and save a duplication of labor later.
Answer #2jason94 April 07, 2010, 20:04Journeyman
Probably not because you already have symptoms. Replace gasket and plugs and see if that works. | <urn:uuid:5a779438-e7db-4d80-b1bd-c52f46d4a355> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://repairpal.com/do-i-replace-coils-and-plugs-or-just-valve-cover-gasket-and-hope-for-the-best-220 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961157 | 239 | 1.523438 | 2 |
A vote to support a resolution to request legislation for mandatory drug tests for public assistance programs was tabled by the Ashe County Board of Commissioners on Monday.
“I would like to see a fail-safe answer, but I don’t think this is it, but I think we need to keep looking at it because there is an awswer out there,” said BOC Chair Larry Rhodes.
The resolution would have sent a message to N.C. Legislators that Ashe County supports drug testing for public assistance programs, attempting to prevent public assistance recipients from using public assistance funds to purchase drugs.
Before deciding to table the vote on this resolution, the board discussed the issue during their 2 p.m. work session.
“When I first read this, I said ‘that’s good,’ but after I thought about it and talked to a number of people who worked for social services, they don’t think we should do it,” said Commissioner William Sands during the work session. Sands said he had too many questions about funding and implementing drug testing.
“The question I have is we are setting polices about monies coming from other agencies. I think about the cost; the cost to do it, to implement it, and to test each person that comes in,” said Sands.
During the meeting, it was revealed the cost of each drug test will be $38, according to information from Commissioner Gary Roark.
“Then I think about if someone smokes a little pot and tests positive for it, what happens to that person’s children?” asked Sands.
Commissioner Gerald Price agreed with Sands.
“I think he’s pretty well on target,” said Price. “I absolutely see no way of policing it.”
However, two commissioners, Roark and Judy Porter Poe voiced an opposing viewpoint during the discussion.
“I think about those kids too, and I think about the elderly,” said Poe.
“Does anyone feel it is better to leave children in a home where parents are drug users? I haven’t found any statistics that says it is better to leave children in a home where parents spend their money for drugs instead of feeding and clothing their children,” said Poe during the commissioner comments portion of the meeting.
Poe later said she feels it is unfair to enforce drug testing policies for county workers and vote against a resolution that would establish drug testing for those seeking public assistance.
“If I applied for a job with county government, social services, sheriff department, I would have to submit to a drug test before employment, and submit to random drug test as long as I remained employed. Refusal or failing a drug test is reason for termination,” said Poe.
“How can we expect people on public assistance to get work and provide for their families, when they aren’t willing to stay sober and drug free to get free public assistance. Yet we expect them to stay drug free and sober and go to work each day. We have this thing backwards,”said Poe.
Poe also responded to commissioners Sands’ and Price’s financial concerns about implementation and policing to the mandatory drug-testing policy.
“I understand that it will cost money to place children, whose parents use drugs, in foster homes, but which is the best for the children?” said Poe. “We already have too many school age children whose only meals they receive for the day are breakfast and lunch at school.”
Commissioner Roark agreed with Poe, and said the board needs to find a solution for this problem.
“I think we need to take a step to fix this,” said Roark, supporting the resolution.
With the BOC divided 2-2 on the issue, Rhodes sided with Sands and Price, and said he would not support the resolution.
“I don’t like the idea of anyone getting a handout from the public,” said Rhodes. “I don’t feel this is the tool we need to fix it (public assistance fraud).”
During the BOC meeting, the board voted 5-0 to table voting on the resolution until next meeting, which will take place on Monday, May 20.
According to Ashe County Manager Dr. Pat Mitchell, 29 states discussed legislation about mandatory drug testing, and as of Monday morning, only two of North Carolina’s 100 counties have approved this resolution. | <urn:uuid:27cde9e5-9944-43e7-a744-250c339b59de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jeffersonpost.com/pages/home/push?per_page=5&class=&x_page=12&rel= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973148 | 945 | 1.53125 | 2 |
There are numerous types of birth control which can help women prevent unwanted pregnancy and regulate menstral cycles. These can be classified into reversible and irriversible methods. Below is a list of all the various methods of birth control, along with useful information about what it is andhow it works. It is important to remembert that of the methods listed below, ONLY the male and the female condom provide protection against STIs.
Reversible Methods of Birth Control
Birth control pill
Also called “the pill,” it contains the hormones estrogen and progestin. It is prescribed by a doctor. A pill is taken at the same time each day. If you are older than 35 years and smoke, have a history of blood clots or breast cancer, your doctor may advise you not to take the pill. The pill is 92–99% effective at preventing pregnancy.
Unlike the pill, the mini-pill only has one hormone, progestin, instead of both estrogen and progestin. It is prescribed by a doctor. It is taken at the same time each day. It is a good option for women who can’t take estrogen. They are 92–99% effective at preventing pregnancy.
Birth control shot
This is an injectable progestin that inhibits ovulation and prevents sperm from reaching the egg. It is 99.7% effective when used as directed. The shot is administered every three months by your doctor. It is convienient and there is no daily task to remember.
A flexible ring which is about 2 inches in diameter and it is inserted into the vagina. The ring releases the hormones progestin and estrogen. You place the ring inside your vagina. You wear the ring for three weeks, take it out for the week you have your period, and then put in a new ring. It is 92–99% effective at preventing pregnancy.
This skin patch is worn on the lower abdomen, buttocks, or upper body (but not on the breasts). This method is prescribed by a doctor. It releases hormones progestin and estrogen into the bloodstream. You put on a new patch once a week for three weeks. During the fourth week, you do not wear a patch, so you can have a menstrual period. The patch is 92–99% effective at preventing pregnancy, but it appears to be less effective in women who weigh more than 198 pounds.
The implant is a single, thin rod that is inserted under the skin of a women’s upper arm. The rod contains a progestin that is released into the body over 3 years. It is 99 percent effective at preventing pregnancy.
Intrauterine Devices (IUDs)
T-shaped device, which is inserted into the vagina by a health care professional that stays in place. This device is 99.8% effective, and lasts up to 10 years. Some of the side effects are heavier, tougher persiods, and side effects similar to the pill if the device contains hormones. The benefits are longevity, and there is no planning needed before sexual intercourse.
Worn by the man, a male condom keeps sperm from getting into a woman’s body. Latex condoms, the most common type, help prevent pregnancy and HIV and other STIs as do the newer synthetic condoms. “Natural” or “lambskin” condoms also help prevent pregnancy, but may not provide protection against STIs, including HIV. Male condoms are 85–98% effective at preventing pregnancy. Condoms can only be used once, and are most effective when used consistently and correctly. You can buy condoms, KY jelly, or water-based lubricants at a drug store. Do not use oil-based lubricants such as massage oils, baby oil, lotions, or petroleum jelly with latex condoms. They will weaken the condom, causing it to tear or break.
Worn by the woman, the female condom helps keeps sperm from getting into her body. It is packaged with a lubricant and is available at drug stores. It can be inserted up to eight hours before sexual intercourse. Female condoms are 79–95% effective at preventing pregnancy when used consistently and correctly, and may also help prevent STIs.
Diaphragm (with spermicide)
Round, flexible rubber with a rigid rim that covers the cervix. It is placed inside the vagina to cover the cervix to block sperm. The diaphragm is shaped like a shallow cup. You can insert it just prior to intercourse of up to six hours beforehand. You should use spermicides with this barrier method, as that will help kill the sperm, and prevent fertilization. The diaphragm is 84–94% effective at preventing pregnancy. Visit your doctor for a proper fitting because diaphragms come in different sizes.
This is similar to the diaphragm, but smaller in size. It is used in the same fashion as the diaphragm. It fits over the cervix and keeps sperm from entering. The cap should be used with spermicide for extra protection. It is inserted before intercourse and can be left in for up to 24 without spermicide. It should be washed, dried, and stored in its case after each use. Visit your doctor for a proper fitting because cervical caps comes in different sizes.
These products work by killing sperm and come in several forms—foam, gel, cream, film, suppository, or tablet. They are placed in the vagina no more than one hour before intercourse. You leave them in place at least six to eight hours after intercourse. You can use a spermicide in addition to a male condom, diaphragm, or cervical cap. Spermicides alone are about 71–82% effective at preventing pregnancy. They can be purchased in drug stores.
The sponge is made of plastic foam and contains spermicide. It is soft, round, and about two inches in diameter. It has a nylon loop attached to the bottom for removal. The sponge is inserted into the vagina to covers the cervix and blocks sperm entry. The sponge is more effective for women who have never given birth, and thus, there are varying levels of effectiveness.
Fertility awareness and abstinence
This method means not having vaginal intercourse at any time. It is the only 100% effective way to prevent pregnancy.
Natural family planning or fertility awareness
Understanding your monthly fertility pattern can help you plan to get pregnant or avoid getting pregnant. Your fertility pattern is the number of days in the month when you are fertile (able to get pregnant), days when you are infertile, and days when fertility is unlikely, but possible. If you have a regular menstrual cycle, you have about nine or more fertile days each month. If you do not want to get pregnant, you do not have sex on the days you are fertile, or you use a form of birth control on those days. These methods are 75–99% effective at preventing pregnancy.
Permanent Methods of Birth Control
These methods are meant for people who want a permanent method of birth control. In other words, they never want to have a child, or they do not want more children. The methods listed here are more than 99% effective at preventing pregnancy.
Female Sterilization — Tubal ligation or “tying tubes”
A woman can have her fallopian tubes tied (or closed) so that sperm and eggs cannot meet for fertilization. The procedure can be done in a hospital or in an outpatient surgical center. You can go home the same day of the surgery and resume your normal activities within a few days. This method is effective immediately.
A thin tube is used to thread a tiny device into each fallopian tube. It irritates the fallopian tubes and causes scar tissue to grow and permanently plug the tubes. It can take about three months for the scar tissue to grow, so use another form of birth control during this time. Return to your doctor for a test to see if scar tissue has fully blocked your fallopian tubes.
Male Sterilization – Vasectomy
This operation is done to keep a man’s sperm from going to his penis, so his ejaculate never has any sperm in it that can fertilize an egg. This operation is simpler than tying a woman’s tubes. The procedure is done at an outpatient surgical center. The man can go home the same day. Recovery time is less than one week. After the operation, a man visits his doctor for tests to count his sperm and to make sure the sperm count has dropped to zero; this takes about 12 weeks. Another form of birth control should be used until the man’s sperm count has dropped to zero.
Birth Control Effectiveness Chart
(Information taken from the Center for Disease Control, www.cdc.gov) | <urn:uuid:2c452585-0889-4b79-b1e9-5391c2ac2828> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marshall.edu/wpmu/wcenter/emergency-contraception-and-birth-control/types-of-birth-control/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943668 | 1,814 | 1.703125 | 2 |
When our Student Activities Director said he’d booked Max Brooks, author of the post-apocalyptic zombie novel World War Z: An Oral History, for a visit to Mansfield University campus in November 2012, I asked him if I could have the author for a couple hours to interview him on my half hour talk show “Conversations.”
I also volunteered to take the author to lunch. I knew the novel was a best seller but research showed that Max Brooks is a very respected name in the zombie world.
And the zombie world is huge.
I wanted to do the interview for two reasons.
1. Brooks knows his stuff: geography, politics, climate, plagues, infrastructure, communities and nations working together to rebuild after international calamity. That’s why the Naval War College takes him seriously.
2. Problems plagued the film production. It began with a bidding war between Brad Pitt and Leonardo DeCaprio before the book was even published. Pitt won and the problems began with the script and continued through production and post production. This was going to build to really major publicity. MU could be in the mix.
My show airs weekly on regional cable outlets, but I also have my own Mansfield University YouTube channel where we post all the shows. It was a no-brainer that World War Z the film was going to create a lot of chatter world-wide and I was being handed a gift.
I read the novel , an interesting, intelligent treatise in the manner of Studs Terkel’s oral histories.
Brooks and I had lunch in a quiet restaurant and began talking. Almost immediately he exclaimed: “You’ve read the book! I can tell in the first 30 seconds if the interviewer has it – and 90 percent of them haven’t.”
We had a lively discussion ranging from zombies to his parents to his childhood fears that led to his study of zombies. Later we did two half hour interviews. The first was about zombies, what they represent and how to survive zombie attacks. The second was about the writing life and growing up in Hollywood with parents Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, and, of course, the movie.
Once they were posted, the interviews did respectably for a specialized subject – a few hundred views each. Then, in April 2013, when the Vanity Fair cover story on Brad Pitt and World War z hit the stands, I pulled a five-minute clip from “Conversations” and produced a stand-alone video, and an audio podcast.
I took the information from the interview and wrote a blog for Huffington Post entitled, “World War Z Author Says Movie and Book Share Title Only.” It included links to the two shows and the shorter interview. It went live May 9.
By the end of the day, the video had picked up 48 views. Folks on my FB page began sharing it. Genre bloggers grabbed the clip and posted blogs about the interview.
Ten days later the interview had scored 6,150 views, about 600 views a day. The “Conversations” interviews picked up several hundred more.
Of course, Mansfield University is mentioned at the beginning of the shows and in the Huffington Post blog. I expect all will continue to attract viewers and readers as the World War Z promotion machine kicks into full throttle.
None of the above cost the university a cent other than my time.
Footnote: Producing your own talk show is not complex. I use our TV Services director. We shoot it in the studio and occasionally on location. I give him general directions, sometimes provide photos for B-roll , and he does the editing. It’s great for college-community relations and YouTube, of course, gives you a potential international audience.
I’ll do a future post on hosting and distributing your own show in the future if you’re interested. | <urn:uuid:c3ff0b24-a0f8-41cd-ab6a-99e5c7ea5bed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://higheredmarketingblog.wordpress.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969865 | 811 | 1.625 | 2 |
Pelvic Floor - Mickie Elias
After childbirth, many women like Mickie develop pelvic floor discomfort along with stress incontinence. “When I worked out, it got much worse,” she said. “I put off surgery because it's just such a sensitive issue to talk about, but my surgeon made me feel so comfortable.” After a pelvic reconstruction at Summa Barberton Hospital, Mickie exercises and works on her feet every day without worry. “The staff was so kind and encouraging. It was the number one thing that got me through. It’s great to be back to normal!”
Did you know that one in three women suffers from a pelvic floor disorder such as urinary incontinence or pelvic prolapse? Summa Barberton Hospital specialists help women regain their freedom and quality of life through urogynecological and pelvic reconstructive surgery. Most of these surgeries are minimally invasive, with many performed on an outpatient basis. | <urn:uuid:69efcb93-2671-49c5-b05c-30667074a0d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.summahealth.org/medicalservices/womens/WhyChooseSumma/womenstestimonails/pelvicfloortestimonials | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969505 | 202 | 1.53125 | 2 |
On February 26, Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman as he walked to a family member’s home from a convenience store where he had just bought a bag of Skittles. He was only 17 years-old.
As long as I’ve been alive these senseless killings, these tragedies, have been a part of my environment. Outrage is understandable and marches are great for increasing awareness about the need for justice, but his family is now seeking donations to their legal fund. So here’s another way to take action: You can donate as little as $2 to the family’s verified fund. That’s about the same amount you would spend on a bag of Skittles. | <urn:uuid:904bf846-932f-4f5c-b829-97452807e5da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sofreshandsogreen.com/2012/03/26/how-to-help-the-family-of-slain-teen-trayvonmartin-get-justice/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984359 | 149 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Thailand will allow the UN's refugee agency to visit nearly 850 Rohingya migrants detained after raids on hidden camps in the South.
Rohingya migrants whoare being held at Thung Lung police station in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district. They areamong843 Rohingya detained in three operations in Songkhla in the past twoweeks. TAWATCHAI KEMGUMNERD
At least 843 Rohingya have been arrested in the past week in police sweeps of remote areas in rubber plantations near the border with Malaysia, leading the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to try to confirm whether any of them plan to seek asylum.
This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here. | <urn:uuid:68442473-57eb-4666-8c13-660c759929e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/331174/un-gains-rohingya-access | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930633 | 165 | 1.523438 | 2 |
A project is defined, in part, by its outcomes. They describe us what it looks like at our intended project destination, in terms of where we are but also in terms of what we have learned, gained, developed. By defining good outcomes, we actually develop a great way to regularly check whether we are still on course. You typically do this at regular intervals, for example when you are performing a (weekly) review.
But sometimes formulating these outcomes is difficult, not to say almost impossible. I want to take a quick look at this type of situation, what may be a cause and how we can attempt to solve it.
What defines a good outcome?
A good outcome should be SMART. If your outcome is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound, it becomes adequately concrete to be followed up. There is a reference, an adequately concrete basis for developing a baseline. I've written about this before here.
what can go wrong? A concrete example
Now, theoretically I'm very much aware of what a good outcome should be. I mean, I've even adapted some text expander snippets for that exact purpose. However, the following happened to me only a couple of days ago.
In the course of my weekly review I bumped into the following inbox item (duly captured in my GTD process) "learn python". The source of this idea was an interesting post on MacStories by Federico Viticci on Pythonista for iOS. I'm a real pushover for this kind of excellent articles.
I knew this was not a simple next action. After all, you cannot 'do' learn python. So, it's a project. A project has both a defined 'why' and an outcome. The why was easy. Because I am curious about python. Okay, now the outcome. What does it look like when I get to the other side? Mmm ... Well, I know python. But what does that mean? Knowing is not adequately concrete. I cannot measure knowledge of python unless I define an objective benchmark. But I don't know enough about python to be able to define such a bench mark. ...
It turns out I never really considered what relevance python has or can have for me. I actually did not have enough information on python to assess its use for me. I simply did not have enough basis yet to motivate my (significant) investment in learning this language.
So I converted the project into "research relevance of programming languages for BTC, casmo and personal activities." In Covey speak, I did not have the end in mind. My project now has a number of steps aimed at identifying languages, understanding what I can do with them and matching or approximating this to a need I have or may have in the future.
Now, The answer may be that I have no need for learning a programming language. Perhaps I need to focus on bettering my CSS skills first. But at least I will not be off squandering my time on a no doubt interesting topic that will not contribute to my development or efficiency.
Don't get me wrong. I may still find arguments to learn python, even if it will not yield direct and measurable benefits. But, and that is a highly relevant difference, it will be a considered choice. That choice may mean I need to give up a number of other projects. But it will be considered.
I failed to properly formulate a smart outcome for a project. While I was very motivated to learn python, I did not have a good enough reason for committing to it yet. There was no project, only enthusiasm about a potentially interesting subject matter I could get lost in.
While sometimes it may be your subconscious resistance to work that is pushing you in that direction, this was just an inadequately considered idea. Which is why doing the necessary research is a smart sub project to execute.
what has this taught me?
Well, first it taught me there are quite a few potential projects in my inbox or equivalent that are significant time sinks that I have yet to define a good outcome for. As long as the outcome is not clear, as long as they don't qualify as a real problem or issue I am trying to solve, I do not engage with them other than doing some research to clarify my thinking about the end I have in mind.
It also taught that that the SMART framework, heavy as it may be, has a marked advantage: if you fail the SMART test, you have an outcome issue. You are not clear enough. So you need to go back and think it over, again.
For those of you interested in the outcome of this specific issue, you may be interested to know that post my research I decided not to study python yet, and 'learn AppleScript first, as it allows me to automate more on my Mac. This will more directly impact my productivity. | <urn:uuid:8b46f39f-5a66-497d-8301-f5d9a007031c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://exploringtheblackbox.net/exploringtheblackbox/?month=november-2012 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969702 | 998 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Reversing Tubes Or IVF: Which Is Better?
Posted On: Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
Most parents desire a child genetically similar to them.
In-vitro fertilization (IVF) or reversing a tubal ligation are the best choices to allow for genetically similar children.
Often couples will want to know which treatment is better: IVF or tubal ligation reversal?
The answer may surprise you…
Is IVF Better Than Tubal Reversal?
Is IVF better than tubal reversal? Each infertility treatment can provide the same end result; however, the treatments are vastly different from each other.
IVF is an infertility treatment where the woman receives hormonal medication to cause increased egg production. The mature eggs are harvested from the woman during an egg retrieval procedure. The eggs are then combined with the partner’s sperm and are allowed to fertilize and develop outside of the woman’s body. If the eggs are healthy enough then they are placed inside the woman’s uterus in the hope that they will attach and continue to grow.
Each IVF attempt is called a cycle. Each IVF cycle costs about $12,000 and each cycle is about 35% successful.
Is Reversing Tubes Better Than IVF?
Reversing tubes can be better than IVF for many women. Reversing tubes requires a surgical procedure to open and reconnect the blocked tubes. Once this occurs then pregnancy can occur naturally and more than once.
Tubal reversal at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center costs approximately $5,900 at the time of this publication. During a one hour outpatient operation the tubes are surgically rejoined. This reverses the blockage caused during the tubal ligation and allows for natural pregnancy. After tubal reversal a woman has a chance to become pregnant every month.
The average chance of becoming pregnant after tubal reversal at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center is approximately 70%.
Which Is Better Tubal Reversal Or IVF?
If you have had your tubes tied then tubal reversal can be a good choice to obtain your pregnancy goals. Why?
Reversal of tubes is more affordable than IVF and allows the chance to become pregnant naturally and each month.
IVF Advice And Tubal Reversal Advice
IVF is a better choice than tubal reversal if you have severely damaged fallopian tubes, if the male partner has severely abnormal sperm, and for some women over the age of 42. Tubal reversal is a better choice for women with a tubal ligation who do not have any other infertility issues.
Many patients will have conditions which make IVF a better choice; however, many of these women will still express an interest in tubal reversal surgery because they do not want to face the ethical challenges IVF may present, they do not have the financial resources to pursue multiple IVF cycles, or they do not want to use donor eggs.
Tubal reversal is often the better choice for those who want to undo the ‘permanent’ decision they made in the past and want to have a baby naturally.
Women who are interested in tubal reversal are encouraged to call the office of Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center at (919) 968-4656 for more information about reversing tubes. | <urn:uuid:3c49d589-641a-4928-993d-ab4d4a42646e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tubal-reversal.net/blog/2011/tubal-ligation-reversal/reversing-tubes-or-ivf-which-is-better.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938365 | 694 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Nobody told us we couldn’t
Published: Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 11:28 p.m.
Terrebonne and Lafourche residents witnessed two milestones last week that might seem unrelated but are bound by a common thread.
Terrebonne voters overwhelmingly approved a half-cent sales tax Dec. 8 that will provide $330 million to complete a levee system that will protect the parish, along with parts of Lafourche, against flooding from Gulf storms.
Two days later, officials announced a partnership that will save Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center, the state charity hospital in Houma that serves thousands of the area’s poor and uninsured, from severe budget cuts and layoffs that threatened to cripple or close it.
The ties that bind these two achievements occurred to me as I stood amid dozens of employees, patients and public officials who packed the hospital’s lobby for Monday’s announcement.
In an emotional speech, state Sen. Norby Chabert, R-Houma, son of the hospital’s namesake, discussed what the medical center means to the area’s neediest residents. He recalled the uphill battles fought to open the hospital in 1978 and to keep it viable ever since.
“Since day one, this hospital has had to fight for its existence,” Chabert said. “It’s an example of how we help ourselves down here because without immediate intervention, had these parish governments not stood up, we would not be here today.”
He was referring to the contribution of local tax money parish governments will make — $1 million was approved by the Lafourche Council last week, and another $2 million is expected to come Wednesday from the Terrebonne Council. Sure, that local money could have been spent on other priorities.
But it says a lot about this community when residents and the government officials they elect to represent them are willing to do more than complain and ask for handouts. They put their hard-earned money to work to solve problems in a way that benefits the entire community.
It’s the same impetus behind not only the levee tax that passed Dec. 8, but the construction of the entire Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane-protection system. Congress and the Army Corps of Engineers have dragged their feet for nearly two decades on plans to build a massive levee system that originally was intended to protect Terrebonne and parts of Lafourche from up to a Category 3 hurricane. In the meantime, locals have been swamped by several hurricanes, some of which barely brushed the coast.
Fed up with federal delays, the Terrebonne Levee Board set out on its own to build an interim levee system designed to provide at least some protection against the glancing blows that have flooded the area over the past decade.
Terrebonne residents stepped up not once but twice, enacting a quarter-cent sales tax in 2001 and the latest half-cent sales tax that, along with state contributions, will complete the interim levee system within the next three or four years.
I have not always been a cheerleader for Morganza, but it’s the only immediate option we have. And regardless of how you feel about the solutions to either of these two issues — health care or levee protection — you have to admire the gumption of everyone involved.
The impetus behind these two efforts, like so many of the best things that happen around here, stems from a trait deeply rooted in our local culture. It is the can-do attitude local entrepreneurs harnessed to build massive oilfield-construction and shipbuilding businesses from humble beginnings as shrimpers and oilfield laborers. It is the can-do attitude local boat captains took with them when they pioneered the treacherous North Sea oilfield and other parts of the world where few would dare to navigate.
My classmates in Leadership Louisiana, a program designed to build a network of residents who care about the state and want to make it better, marveled at what locals have built as we rode a bus down La. 1 earlier this year for a tour of Port Fourchon.
What possessed people to build such massive ships, platforms and the port itself down here in the middle of the marsh, one of my north Louisiana classmates asked.
Nobody told us we couldn’t, one of our local guides answered.
A kernel of truth resides within that half-joking remark. Of course, we live here, so we already know that.
Courier and Daily Comet Executive Editor Keith Magill can be reached at 857-2201 or firstname.lastname@example.org.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. | <urn:uuid:5e0d28c9-41b8-40b4-8904-95cec780a3e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20121215/OPINION01/121219713/0/.nachrichten | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956619 | 1,029 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Get flash to fully experience Pearltrees
A few years ago, my life was a mess. So was my house, my desk, my mind. Then I learned, one by one, a few habits that got me completely organized. Am I perfect? Of course not, and I don't aim to be. But I know where everything is, I know what I need to do today, I don't forget things most of the time, and my house is uncluttered and relatively clean (well, as clean as you can get when you have toddlers and big kids running around).
If you’re not using Twitter , you’re not alone.
Sample Cover Letters and Job Search Correspondence For the Graduate School of Education Navigate this page:
Post written by Albert van Zyl from the blog HeadSpace . The lives of great people give us interesting clues about how to organise our days. All of them attached great value to their daily routines. This is because they saw it as being part of ‘becoming who they are’, as Nietzsche puts it.
Using verbs and adjectives effectively adds impact to your resume.
By Kiersten Kaye ( @klkaye ) I know it’s cliché, but if I had a dollar for every time someone told me “I hate recruiters” or “Looking for a job is SO hard,” I’d be a very rich woman.
By Maria Hanson, LiveCareer
We all want to get stuff done, whether it’s the work we have to do so we can get on with what we want to do, or indeed, the projects we feel are our purpose in life. To that end, here’s a collection of 50 hacks, tips, tricks, and mnemonic devices I’ve collected that can help you work better. Most Important Tasks (MITs): At the start of each day (or the night before) highlight the three or four most important things you have to do in the coming day. | <urn:uuid:8ae250fa-6db9-44c2-8a48-524e78cb5476> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pearltrees.com/t/financial/career/id2677607 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961044 | 423 | 1.679688 | 2 |
03 May 2010 02:48
The Dutch Community in Melbourne celebrates the Dutch Queen's birthday just a few days after the official day on the 30th of April. This year, Queen Beatrix's birthday was again celebrated on Dutch Orange Day at Queensbridge Square, in the heart of Melbourne. The event, open to all, was full of music and Dutch foods.
01 Mar 2010 22:23
A commemoration was held at Martin Place in Sydney, to remember the more than five Allied Navies who took part in this major conflict which preceded the invasion of Malaysia, the surrender of Singapore and the Dutch East Indies in February 1942. "They have no grave but the cruel sea." ( from the Naval Ode).
24 Feb 2010 00:22
The Clipper Stad Amsterdam follows in the footsteps of Charles Darwin,150 years after the publication of Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species". The Clipper Stad Amsterdam, by request of the Dutch Broadcaster VPRO, sails around the world following the route of the Beagle.
07 Oct 2011 04:19
100 Days for KIKA a unique cycling feat. In 100 days Mark van Rijmenam and Reinier van Dieren cycled about 40.000 kilometres around Australia. The main aim was to collect funds for KIKA, a Dutch organisation which specialises in research as to why children get cancer.
08 Mar 2011 23:51
Sunday the 6th of March was the official opening of the Dutch Australian Heritage centre (DAHC) in Carnegie (Victoria). The new building was officially opened by the Dutch Ambassador Willem Andrae, where a large collection is being housed of items which the Dutch migrants brought with them to Australia. The Heritage Centre also has a large collection of books and printed matter with regards migration, for all to enjoy or used as a learning tool for future generations.
21 Feb 2011 00:26
The 36th annual Holland Festival was held on Saturday the 19th of February at the Sandown Entertainment Complex in Springvale, Melbourne. A full day of fun, music and laughter for the whole family. Dutch culture, music, foods and more. Yvon Davis recorded interviews and took some photos as well.
Listen Now to your language program | <urn:uuid:3eeb357a-b7cf-4cd0-86bd-3f7ea398434a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/dutch/galleries/page/id/1276/p/116/in/english | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952218 | 460 | 1.632813 | 2 |
"Proposal for a Meeting of Heads of State and Spiritual Leaders in Iceland in 2000"
In 1991, the MILLENNIUM INSTITUTE submitted a proposal to the government of Iceland for a meeting of heads of state and spiritual leaders to be held in 2000 at Thingvellir, Iceland, the natural amphitheater that was the original meeting place of the Icelandic Parliament.
Thingvellir is now a beautiful national park where the Parliament of Iceland still meets on the most important occasions. Use of Thingvellir is controlled by the Thingvallanefnd (the Thingvellir committee of the Icelandic Parliament) and virtually no meetings are permitted there except meetings of the Icelandic Parliament.
There have been several meetings and discussions of the proposal with the senior leaders of Iceland, including Prime Minister David Odson; Former Prime Minister Steingrimur Hermannsson; Mr. Bjorn Bjarnason, Vice-President of the Parliament; Mr. Jon Sigardsson, Minister of Industry and Commerce; The Most Reverend Bishop of Iceland Olafur Skulasou; The Most Reverend Catholic Bishop of Iceland Alfred Jolson; Pastor Hanna Maria Petursdottir, Director of the National Park and Thingvellir.
The Icelandic leaders are interested, but cautious. They wonder if heads of state and spiritual leaders would be willing to come to what many who have never visited this beautiful country regard as "the very edge of the inhabitable world."
It would encourage Icelanders greatly if spiritual leaders individually or collectively wrote letters asking that Iceland host this much-needed meeting. Letters from others would also be helpful. Letters should be addressed to: His Excellency Bjorn Bjarnason, Vice-President of the Icelandic Parliament and Chair of the Thingvallanefnd, Althingi, 150 Reyjavik, Iceland and should refer to the following proposal.
A Proposal to the Thingvallanefnd for a Meeting of Heads of State and Spiritual Leaders at Thingvellir in 2000
I am writing at the direction of the Board of Trustees of the MILLENNIUM INSTITUTE. We would like to begin exploration of the possibility that a major meeting of the world's heads of state and spiritual leaders could be held at Thingvellir in the summer of 2000.
The following paragraphs are our first attempt to put our ideas on paper. After you have reflected on them, we would appreciate you raising them with the members of the Thingvallanefnd. If there is openness to some discussion, we would like to join with an appropriate group of Icelanders in the development of a plan for the meeting and the preparation of a feasibility study.
For almost a decade now, we at the INSTITUTE have been encouraging nation after nation to prepare what we call a 21st Century Study, i.e., a long-term exploration of how a nation will manage its affairs in the 21st century. Over the years we have developed training materials and a Tool Kit to facilitate these studies.
A fifth of the nations of the world now have study projects that meet or approximate our definition of a 21st Century Study. As you know Iceland is one of these countries. Before 2000 we hope to persuade every nation to prepare a 21st Century Study.
In the course of working with many nations, it has become clear to us that we humans face an uncertain 21st century. While there will certainly be many opportunities, there will also be enormous challenges: growing nationalism; conflicts of ethnicity and religion; limitations of petroleum and fresh water resources; disruption of Earth's atmosphere and climate; destruction of habitat and the extinction of huge numbers of species; continued rapid growth of human numbers; risks of AIDS and other diseases; drug trafficking; the poverty, neglect, and abuse of women and minorities; the destructiveness of modern weapons; and the fragility of our global economic systems. To meet these challenges and take advantage of our opportunities, we humans must find ways to work much more closely together in the future than ever before.
It is the conviction of the Trustees and staff of the INSTITUTE that rational analysis of the opportunities and challenges can help guide human steps into the future. However, if we humans are to achieve the cooperation and understanding essential to a successful 21st century, something inspirational is also needed. Because of this conviction, we are trying to combine the rational analysis of the 21st Century Studies with the spiritual inspiration of the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions. Our fondest hope is that the national 21st Century Studies, the religions of the world, and the unique and special traditions of Thingvellir can be combined into an enormously powerful, planetary event at the entry into the 21st century.
Deep in the human psyche is a compulsion to celebrate anniversaries and birthdays, and the entry into the 21st century will be no exception. If anything, this particular anniversary will be a psychological experience more profound than the usual transition to a new century because it is also (on the most widely used calendar) the transition to a new millennium. Already hotel ballrooms are being booked up for December 31, 1999. The entry into the 21st century will be a birthday and anniversary of planetary proportions, and if the energies it will generate can be channeled in a constructive direction, the future of Earth could be radically better than might otherwise be the case.
We are convinced that if the anniversary compulsion is to be channeled in a constructive direction, that direction must be determined with care through systematic analysis. We also believe that the vision for the future must arise from multiple perspectives, not from a single source. That is why we are now devoting so much time and effort to the encouragement of integrated, multi-sectoral national 21st Century Studies.
In virtually every country in which a 21st Century Study has been successfully completed, the study has had a major impact on the thinking of the people and leaders of the country. Part of the impact comes from the fact that there are so few well-developed analyses of the future possibilities for a country; when one comes along, it quite naturally attracts attention. Another reason is that the reports help nations to overcome the denial of some of the issues that everyone senses but for which there exists no suitable forum for discussion. In one country, it was the dumping of massive amounts of toxic wastes in rivers and on the land. In another it was unsustainably high rates of population growth. In another it was excessive dependence on imports of petroleum and other resources. Thus the 21st Century Studies are a tremendous help to nations in overcoming denial and addressing critical national issues affecting their future development.
But the studies by themselves are inadequate to allow nations to overcome one very important denial, namely that they are part of a single planet. As a result, we find virtually every nation assuming that its balance of payments problems in the early years of the 21st century will be solved by exporting more that it imports. (In reality, of course, it is impossible for all nations to export more than they import.) Virtually every nation is assuming that it will be able to import more oil from the Middle East, import more food from the world's bread baskets, and release more carbon dioxide and chloroflurocarbon into the atmosphere. While such assumptions seem to make sense in the context of a single nation looking in isolation at its own future, in total they imply disastrous consequences for the planet as a whole.
To help nations see themselves within a planetary context, we are beginning to synthesize all of the studies into a picture of Earth in the 21st century. The first version of this synthesis is our book, Studies for the 21st Century, which summarizes about forty 21st Century Studies. This book, which has been prepared with funding from UNESCO, will be ready for publication before the end of the year. The next version of our synthesis is being prepared for the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions.
The religions of the world will have a powerful influence on the human future. Currently there are about forty wars in progress around the world, and the hostilities inspired by religions are major factors in virtually every one of these wars. Religious beliefs also stand in the way of attention to a number of critical issues. The best known of many examples is the attitude of various faiths to family planning, but equally important are teachings concerning "progress" and the difference between needs and wants. For these reasons, it is critically important that the leaders of the world's religions be engaged in a dialog on the critical issues of the future. This is what will happen at the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions, August 28 to September 4, 1993, in Chicago.
The first Parliament of the World's Religions was held in Chicago in 1893. It was an enormously successful and influential event that focused on increasing inter-religious understanding and tolerance. Now a centennial of the original Parliament is being organized. The 1993 Parliament will be a major global event at which influential representatives of the world's religions will be asked to address the critical issues of the 21st century.
The MILLENNIUM INSTITUTE is a partner with the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions in organizing the 1993 Parliament. Our part of the overall task is to prepare a synthesis of everything available on the future of Earth. The report, to be entitled Global 2000 Revisited: What Shall We Do?, will describe what Earth will be like in the 21st century if all nations continue as they now plan and will ask the world's spiritual leaders to share their wisdom on how we humans should manage our affairs on Earth in the 21st century.
We are also beginning to assemble a "catalog" of key projects and major actions that need to be done for Earth. One example might be to utilize the best satellite technology now available to build and deploy a highly effective famine early warning system. Another might be a system to provide at least an elementary education to every child on the planet.
The report and a very early draft of the catalog will be major inputs into the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions. The Parliament will provide a high-visibility forum at which thoughtful spiritual leaders will have a global audience. Many prominent spiritual leaders have already agreed to attend, including His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Dr. Abdula Omar Nasseef, Director General, Muslim World League. An agenda item for the 1993 Parliament is the possibility of establishing a continuing institution called the Parliament of the World's Religions.
Following the 1993 Parliament, we want to work with the continuing Parliament of the World's Religions (if it comes into being), with other interreligious organizations, with individual spiritual leaders, and with individuals from all faith traditions to prepare an event or series of events in the 1999-2001 period. Part of the preparation will be the development of three documents: (1) the report on the projected state of Earth in the 21st century; (2) the combined wisdom of the faith traditions with respect to the critical issues; and (3) the catalog of key projects and actions that the respective traditions could support and recommend. This work should be completed by about 1996.
We will need the assistance of a group of dedicated and committed spiritual leaders. We need them to help think through what are the key projects and actions needed to put Earth on a sustainable course and to help arrange the participation of fifty to one hundred of the most respected spiritual leaders of the world. We also need them and the leaders of the national 21st Century Studies to help arrange meetings with all heads of state of the world, and to ensure that all heads of state participate.
To the political leaders, we will say, in effect:
Anniversaries, of course, are a time for celebration, but they are also a time for giving gifts. Since this is an extraordinary anniversary, your nation may want to join other nations in making a gift to Earth for the 21st century.
To help you to think through what gift might be appropriate for your nation to give, we have brought you three reports: a picture of the future of the planet in the 21st century; the wisdom and teaching of the faith traditions on the critical issues of the 21st century; and a catalog of major projects and actions that experts, visionaries, and spiritual leaders recommend be done for Earth.
We ask that you share these documents with your parliament (or congress, etc.) and begin consideration of a major gift that your nation could make to Earth in the 21st century.
The invitation would also ask the heads of state, after deciding with their parliament on a suitable gift for Earth, to search out their nation's best calligraphist and have their nation's pledge to Earth recorded on the large sheets of special paper. They should then bring their nation's pledge with them to the gathering at Thingvellir.
The event at Thingvellir in 2000 will require careful planning, and we would like to work closely with Icelanders and spiritual leaders in exploring the possibilities. Currently we envisage fifty to one hundred spiritual leaders assembled under a beautiful tent at one end of the upper flats at Thingvellir. In front of the spiritual leaders would be a stone table, constructed for the occasion by an artist. Beyond the table on the plane would be an even larger colorful tent, and under this tent would be assembled the almost two hundred heads of state of the world, each accompanied only by a spouse.
The actual celebration would have the three parts traditional to most "transition" celebrations: a ritual death to and giving up of the old 20th century and its ways of being and thinking; a brief, symbolic transitional event to mark the entry into the new; and a celebration of the possibilities of the new. Gifts to Earth from both heads of state and spiritual leaders would be a part of the celebration and would express our collective best wishes for Earth during the new era. The gifts from spiritual traditions may be even more important than the gifts from nations.
For the actual gifting ceremony, the spiritual leaders and heads of state would rise and walk to the stone table. Then, facing their peers and (by television) the peoples of the world, they would each read from the beautifully hand-written page their faith's or nation's pledge of what it will do for Earth in the 21st century. Similar events could be planned and held in individual nations, provinces, communities, and even families throughout the world.
After the announcement of each gift, the head of state or spiritual leader would place the written pledge on the stone table. At the end of the ceremony, the pages would all be bound together in what might be called Earth Book, 2000 and entrusted to the Icelandic Parliament, the Althingi, for safekeeping. The book would also be translated into many languages and distributed widely as a palpable symbol and reminder of what the peoples of Earth committed themselves to on the occasion of their entry into the 21st century and the third millennium.
The meeting would need to continue for several days. There are three reasons. First, the importance of this milestone, this anniversary of Earth, demands that the spiritual and political leaders of Earth pause for several days to mark and celebrate it. Second, two hundred heads of state and a hundred spiritual leaders will need at least a few minutes each to announce their gifts. And, finally, the event must not be rushed. There must be time for celebration, music, and perhaps even dancing. This will be an event that will be remembered forever, and we must do it well.
You may ask, Why hold this meeting at Thingvellir? In answer, we would say that perhaps there are other places on Earth where such a meeting could be held, but of the places we know of, Thingvellir seems best for several reasons.
Facilities and accommodations are another consideration. We would hope that the whole gathering could be kept simple. If it were held in the summer, the meeting itself might be in the open air tradition of Thingvellir. We envision the use of large colorful tents so that no new buildings would be needed at Thingvellir. If the guests were strictly limited to the spiritual leaders and heads of state, their principal spouse or partner, a single aid or assistant, and no news media, the numbers would probably not exceed the capacity of the accommodations and food services in Reykjavik in 2000.
The 21st century holds many opportunities and obstacles for our generation and for our children. An event that draws on the traditions of Thingvellir and the emotional energies of the entry into the new millennium could help all of us on Earth to make the best of the opportunities and to overcome the challenges.
When you have had an opportunity to reflect on this letter, we would appreciate an opportunity to meet with the members of the Thingvallanefnd. Then, if there is interest, we could begin together developing a plan and preparing a feasibility study.
Gerald O. Barney | <urn:uuid:f49da9db-425a-458e-9918-20fb8c8d25e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/iceland.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951122 | 3,455 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Doing business at WTC BangkokJun 2012
Shani Wallis, TunnelTalk
Gathering the WTC (World Tunnel Congress) in Bangkok focused attention on a part of the world that is destined to generate a new wave of intense tunnelling activity. The emerging nations of Southeast Asia all need extensive infrastructure investment for national, international and urban transportation, energy supply, and public utilities and water services. All demand underground construction and tunnel excavation.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon invites ITA support for Rio+20 conference
Presentations by keynote speakers, as well as within the technical programme of the WTC, explained the planning of new infrastructure projects. Strong delegations of government officials and decision makers from the region, including from the mountain nations of Nepal and Bhutan, were particularly appreciated by the companies that had stands in the industry's technical exhibition.
Of particular significance for the ITA in Bangkok was a personal video address from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. As a recognised NGO (non-governmental organisation) of the UN, the message from the Secretary-General came with an invitation to the tunnelling community to support the UN conference on sustainable development, Rio+20, which is to be held this month in Rio de Janeiro on 20-22 June.
The conference also relates specifically to the ITA's Committee on Underground Space (ITACUS) that is working with UN partner organisations UN-HABITAT and its International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR) and other associated organisations to ensure the underground option is considered seriously in efforts to respond to rapid urbanisation and the effects of climate change across the globe. The three-year programme spearheaded by ITACUS went into its second year of activity in Bangkok and will culminate at the WTC in Geneva next year with the presentation of a policy white paper to be considered for adoption by the UN. The programme this year was supported by the organisation ISOCARP (the International Society of City and Regional Planners) and its Vice-President, Shipra Narang Suri contributed to the proceedings.
Prof Fritz Grübl at the podium
Thailand, as a founding member-nation of the ITA (International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association), has positioned itself as the industry's hub into Southeast Asia linking its connections with member-nation neighbours Laos, Vietnam, and Indonesia, and, with Malaysia and Singapore, into the wider global community. Its historic ties with neighbouring Myanmar were of particular importance in encouraging the formation of a Myanmar tunnelling society and successful application for member-nation status at the Association's General Assembly in Bangkok.
Joining Myanmar as new member nations in Bangkok are Costa Rica, Ecuador and Macedonia, bringing the number of ITA member nations to 68 (Table 1). There are also 190 corporate members (15 and 23 of these with Prime Sponsor and Supporter status respectively) and 115 individual members.
The Sir Alan Muir Wood Memorial Lecture, this year delivered by Prof Fritz Grübl of the University of Applied Science in Stuttgart, Germany, described the particular criteria of concern in the design of precast segmental linings for tunnels of large diameter, and used the design of the lining for the proposed 18.65m o.d. TBM bored tunnel for the Orlovski highway project under the River Neva in St Petersburg to illustrate the points. A copy of the paper is published in a volume of conference proceedings, comprising nearly 1,000 pages, as well as on a DVD. It will be available also as a pdf download and presentation on the ITA website.
Next year, Dick Robbins, President of The Robbins Company, and so well known within the international tunnelling community, will present the Sir Alan Muir Wood Memorial Lecture in Geneva.
In 2014, after Geneva, the 40th ITA General Assembly and WTC will be held in Iguaçu Falls in Brazil, from 9-15 May. Following that, in 2015, the General Assembly in Bangkok accepted the invitation of member-nation Croatia to host the event from 22-28 May in Dubrovnik.
Table 1. The ITA now has a total 68 member nations
United Arab Emirates
United States of America
Croatia was a clear winner from the three invitations extended also by Munich, Germany, and Copenhagen, Denmark. Taking the ITA and WTC programme to Croatia provides an opportunity to focus on another important and emerging market of the world. Croatia and its neighbours in Southeast Europe have ambitious programmes for new national, international and urban transportation expansion, and underground works for energy generation and public utility services.
The exhibition of the WTC in Bangkok presented an array of industry specialities and expertise; from technical developments and supplies, to engineering services, local client organisations of Thailand as well as local Thai contractors and tunnelling association pavilions by member nations. Several of the major equipment suppliers to the industry including Herrenknecht, MAPAI, Normet, Robbins and BASF Meyco, are members of the ITA's committee on technical development. Under the chairmanship of Daniel Ruckstuhl of BASF Meyco, the purpose of ITAtech is to advance the introduction of new technology and overcome reluctance in some markets to try new methodologies.
Scope of ITAtech
All of those managing stands in the exhibition had decided to be in Bangkok specifically because of its location within the Southeast Asia area of the international marketplace, and each was pleased with the traffic and quality of visitors to their stands. During the event, TunnelTalk interviewed some of the managers on video, with each taking the opportunity to express their thoughts, their particular expertise and their appreciation of the event in their own way.
After such a successful time in Bangkok we are all still working on the follow-ups before we convene next at the NAT in Indianapolis in the United States, and after that in Geneva in May next year. The TunnelTalk team looks forward to meeting everyone again there and then!
Exhibitors at the WTC exhibition spoke of the importance of the WTC as a shop window to the industry and of South East Asia as a important market for company expansion and business
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and comments. You share in the wider tunnelling community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language professional. | <urn:uuid:4c886ff9-511d-47b8-a67d-7edc7930c014> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tunneltalk.com/ITA-WTC2012-Jun12-Bangkok-programme-and-exhibition-postview.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940275 | 1,306 | 1.507813 | 2 |
This is a story from my own family tree, in particular it is about my g-g-grandfather Richard Eason. When I started looking into my family history I got his NSW death certificate from 1922 on which the informant (his son Irwin) stated that he was born in County Tyrone, Ireland; that his residence in Australia had been for 72 years; and that his mother’s name was Sarah Irwin.
A search of the State Records NSW index to Assisted Immigrants arriving in Sydney and Newcastle showed a Richard Eason arriving in NSW on the Orient in 1850, aged 20. I have copies of two passenger lists from this event – the “Agents’ Immigrant Lists” and the “Board’s Immigrant Lists”. The “Board’s” list shows, among other things, parents names and whether they are still living, and relatives in the Colony. (Archives Authority of New South Wales, Persons on Bounty Ships to Sydney, Newcastle, Moreton Bay, 1848-1891, (Board’s Immigrants Lists 1848-1891), SR Reel 2461). Richard gave his father’s name as Richard Eason and indicated that he was no longer living; and he gave the name John Clements in Swan River as his relative. What is actually written in the column looked to me at the time like “acq John Clements Swan River” and I decided that “acq” meant “acquaintance” and left it at that.
I also found that a Catherine Clements, also from Tyrone, was on the same ship the Orient and gave as her relative “a brother John Clements Carcoar and a sister Sarah living in Sydney”. I wish I could say that I looked through the whole passenger list to find anyone else that had come from Tyrone, but I actually found her name in the Hervey Bay Indexers’ The Relations Index of Immigrants to NSW on microfiche in my local library.
Eventually, many years later, I did look up the arrival of this John Clements. I rechecked the Hervey Bay Indexers’ The Relations Index of Immigrants to NSW and they stated the relationship of John Clements to Richard Eason was cousin. So I looked for the arrival of John Clements. John wasn’t in the online index for assisted arrivals from 1844 at www.records.nsw.gov.au, but he was in the microfilmed card index of arrivals from 1828-1842 (Index to Assisted (Bounty) Immigrants to New South Wales 1828-1842, Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City). He arrived on the Pearl in 1841. In Assisted (bounty) immigrants 1839-1842 (SR Reel 1335) John’s native place was Clogher, Tyrone, the same as my Richard, he was Presbyterian (Richard was Church of England), and his parents were Joseph and Catherine Clements, both living.
The revelation was Sarah Clements, found in the same index and arriving on the same ship, the Pearl, as her brother John – her parents were Joseph Clements and Catherine IRWIN. My Richard’s mother was Sarah IRWIN, so I started to think that they really were cousins, not just acquaintances. Sarah also stated that she was under the protection of her Aunt Mrs Irwin, so I searched the rest of the passenger records for Mrs Irwin, and found William Irwin with his wife Catherine and their 5 children. William, a native of Clogher, Tyrone, was a farm labourer, and his parents were stated to be John Irwin, a farmer, and Sarah Stevenson. (Archives Authority of New South Wales, Assisted (Bounty) Immigrants Arriving Sydney 1828-1842, SR Reel 1335)
To cut a long story short, it is entirely possible, perhaps even probable, that this William Irwin is the brother of my Richard Eason’s mother Sarah Irwin, whose father was John Irwin, a farmer, and whose mother has not been recorded in any document I have been able to find. Having found a possible brother of Sarah’s whose parents were recorded I can deduce the name of Sarah’s mother – Sarah Stevenson. In addition it is likely that the Irwins’ were Presbyterian, another revelation. So by chasing up a relative’s name on a passenger list I have been able to find a likely name for my previously-unknown g-g-g-g-grandmother. Where records in Ireland are so scarce, this is no small thing!
So the lesson is this: Always follow up the names of people that are associated with your ancestors, even if you can’t see any connection. You never know where they might lead you. I thought this cousin John Clements was just an acquaintance from Richard’s old country and ignored him, and in the end he was the only link I have, even now, to Richard’s maternal grandmother. The records in Ireland are notoriously scanty and tracing generations back through baptism and marriage registers, even if they still exist, is impossible from Australia unless you pay a researcher in Ireland or go there yourself, which is my next plan!
A note on sources – all the records I have referred to are microfilmed copies of records held by State Records New South Wales. They are available at the Reading Rooms in The Rocks and Kingswood and in many libraries around New South Wales and other Australian capital cities. | <urn:uuid:b78f3075-f78b-4f0b-8c1e-30e036c0e9f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://heritagegenealogy.com.au/blog/dont-forget-the-relatives-a-nsw-immigration-story/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977881 | 1,166 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Since the popular uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak, thousands of employees across Egypt have walked out on strike. Their demands range from rising wages to removing corrupt officials affiliated with Mubarak’s National Democratic Party. Democracy Now! correspondent Anjali Kamat speaks to Khaled Ali, a labor lawyer with the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights. [includes rush transcript]
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Since the uprising toppled Mubarak, thousands of employees across Egypt have walked out on strike. They include workers from textile mills and a pharmaceutical plant in Alexandria. Employees are also on strike at Cairo’s airports and banks. This is an interview that Anjali Kamat did with a leader of the labor movement.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s right, we’re turning right now to Khaled Ali to talk about how labor organized.
KHALED ALI: [translated] Strikes across Egypt did not stop after Mubarak’s resignation. On the contrary, the strikes escalated, and new sectors began participating in the strikes, including the police force and bank workers, who protested wage disparities and corruption. The public transport workers started a strike for four days. Medical ambulance workers in the Health Ministry began a strike. In Mahalla, a textile town just north of Cairo, workers came out to demand a minimum wage of 1,200 pounds a month. The average number of strikes taking place from February 12th until the present is between 30 and 60 strikes per day, to the extent that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces have issued a communiqué asking strikers to stop walking off the job. So those who were part of the previous regime are now asking strikers to go home and stop striking. Despite the fact that this communiqué was issued last Sunday, strikes have not stopped. There were even strikes the following day.
Many political activists have ended their protest and left Midan Tahrir and settled for the demands of the movement up 'til now for democracy and freedom, and there are even suspicions that some political activists have been sitting with members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, cutting deals behind closed doors. But the success of the revolution for the workers is not simply the departure of key officials from the old regime. Its success means an improvement in their living standards, the existence of social justice and guaranteed steps that their lives will get better in the future. That's why worker protests across different sectors are calling for a removal of corrupt officials in these institutions and companies. And they see the presence of these officials as a continuation of the old regime. The workers’ actions right now are the best means of preserving the gains of the revolution.
ANJALI KAMAT: The role of middle-class youth has been highlighted in this Egyptian uprising that’s taken place. What do you believe to be the role of workers leading up to the uprising, making it possible, and also what role did economic factors play in this uprising?
KHALED ALI: [translated] This is an incorrect analysis of the revolution, a misreading of what happened in the past years. You can’t deny the role of middle-class youth in the revolution, and you can’t deny that youth are the ones who sparked this revolution. But there’s a big difference between those who sparked the revolution and those who continued on with the revolution and are still continuing on until all its demands are met. There is no revolution in the world that doesn’t take place without reasons. And we had many reasons — economic and political and social — which pushed people to take to the streets and remain steadfast for 18 days. I agree that youth played an important role, and I say that this revolution represented the desires of all the Egyptian people across different classes.
When they tried to occupy — when the government forces tried to occupy in Tahrir Square with their camels and their pro-government thugs, the government spread rumors about the protesters in Tahrir Square that they’re taking money from foreign sources and that they’re following foreign agendas. In response, Tahrir Square began to respond, and the middle class was important in this, that we have money, we’re comfortable, and we don’t need money from any foreign sources.
But the workers were part of this revolution, as well. The workers have successfully launched and sustained the largest wave of labor mobilizations this county has seen, from 2004 until 2011. The workers are the ones who brought down the structures of this regime in the past years. They are the ones that have been fighting for independent organizing on the ground, and they’re the ones who created Egypt’s first de facto independent trade union. And they insisted on the right to have pluralistic trade unions, not just unions that are stacked with government supporters. They’re the ones who brought their grievances to the streets. Last spring, workers were protesting in large numbers in front of the upper and lower houses of the Egyptian parliament, bringing their grievances to the streets. Workers laid the ground for the emergence of this revolution, and I believe that any analysis which says otherwise is superficial.
We are in the process of collecting documents about the numbers of people who died and who are injured. Among them — among the questions that we’re asking people is, "Where did the deceased live? Was he a worker, or was he unemployed? And do they work on a temporary basis? Are they government employees? Are they permanent workers? How much was their salary?" Until now, most of the cases we have encountered are cases of people who were poor and lived in poor neighborhoods. They’re the ones who came out and joined these street battles during the revolution. They’re the ones who are not afraid of being shot. They’re the ones who are killed. These people gave their lives without ever claiming that they were the owners of this revolution. We need real documentation to know how this revolution truly succeeded.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Khaled Ali, a labor lawyer with the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights. Special thanks to Ahmad Shokr for his help in translating, and, of course, to Democracy Now!’s Anjali Kamat. | <urn:uuid:48622a00-ecf4-4727-829a-7cb0560954a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/18/egyptian_uprising_fueled_by_striking_workers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97222 | 1,303 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The northern boundary of T43N is the horizontal line at the top of the map in the east, and the Meramec River. The southern boundary of T42N is the darker, solid horizontal line that passes just below Dittmer toward the bottom of the map.
The western boundary of R3E is the first vertical line from the left edge of the map. The portion of T42N,R2E in Jefferson County is the small triangular area to the left of that line. The boundary between R3E and R4E is the vertical line in about the middle of the image that passes through the "O" and "P" of Hoene Spring, and the "S" of Byrnesville. | <urn:uuid:09d3ec30-734f-4dc4-a318-0a8312c8501b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jcat2/maps/NW.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939936 | 149 | 1.8125 | 2 |
IT is more than a decade now since Susan Rothenberg's horses began appearing in galleries and museums. They were peculiar creatures. They looked like horses, but they were invariably flat, featureless and tailless, and they stood and rocked in dense, nondescript spaces. There was nothing romantic about them, but they were not anti-romantic either, and here and there they nodded in the direction of their illustrious ancestors. The nerve and conviction of these paintings became signposts for a generation.
''Susan Rothenberg, The Horse Paintings: 1974-1980,'' at the Gagosian Gallery, 521 West 23d Street, through Feb. 28, is not comprehensive. There are eight paintings in the show; there are roughly 50 horse paintings in all. Nor is it the best selection; the exhibition was determined by availability. Nor is it an attempt to identify the artist with the Gagosian Gallery; the show was planned well before the Willard Gallery, which has represented the artist for years, announced that it would close in June.
Four of the paintings are essentially black and white; four are black and terra cotta. The 1974 ''Triphammer Bridge,'' with its two-legged black horse as flat as a donkey on a wall waiting for a blindfolded kid with a pin and tail, may have been the first horse painting Rothenberg did. The 1980 ''Tuning Fork,'' in which the horse is frontal and the painting more polychromatic, was one of the last, before she devoted herself to the disembodied heads and the body parts that have the persistence of memory and the elusiveness of dreams.
The show suggests just how organic Rothenberg's development has been. The body shapes hovering in her early 80's paintings seem to have emerged almost by themselves from the paintings of the previous years. They are suggested in the negative areas between or around horse's legs, or in patterns of brushstrokes that seem to have come and gone as Rothenberg sought to anchor image to ground. Her ability to listen to her work, no matter how disconcerting and provocative the voices might be, helps explain its urgency.
Within a pictorial arena that is almost Minimalist in its simplicity, there are several elemental struggles. One is defined in terms of figure and ground. The effort to get the image of this wild animal to remain still without the help of pictorial anchors led to a close exploration of contours and edges. The horse paintings, and perhaps all of Rothenberg's works, have a great deal to do with fitting, and fitting in. When the image is located in space, it seems at home in nothingness.
There is a continuing struggle between movement and immobility. By painting horses in profile, Rothenberg suggests their potential for movement. But by flattening them, she also stops or freezes movement and makes the image seem in some way frontal. In two paintings, a horse is squeezed into the outline of a geometrical form. In ''Black in Place,'' the form is a triangle; in ''Kelpie'' it is round like a head. In each painting, the horse seems both wild and tamed, both itching to bolt and about to lurch forward like a piece of porcelain.
The horse paintings can also be approached through the relationship between line and color, or between the spareness of the imagery and lushness of the paint. It is also important that Rothenberg's expressionist brushwork was applied with infinite patience. Sometimes there is a sense that a horse has been placed in the canvas and then used as a source whose energy and will the artist taps again and again until they become part of the painting and the horse becomes little more than a carcass. Rothenberg's horse paintings are moving and disturbing, and they will not be easily exhausted. Also of interest this week: Lothar Baumgarten (Marian Goodman Gallery, 24 West 57th Street): This installation is based on the 15 months the West German Conceptual artist Lothar Baumgarten spent living with Indians in the Upper Orinoco Basin, in southern Venezuela, in 1978 and 1979. There were about 85 people in this particular community, which at that time had had relatively little contact with the outside world. The moment on which the show focuses is the return from an extended hunting trip, when the backs of the Indians were laden with the fruit of their labors, and the community was particularly vulnerable to attack.
Baumgarten is concerned with difference. This work is an attempt to find an artistic form that will allow him to express not himself and his feelings about the Indians, nor the particularity of the Indians and the texture of their lives. What interests him is the space between him and them, between culture and nature, and between our civilization and theirs. By making an installation that can function as that space, he hopes to encourage a new tolerance and awareness of the ''other.''
Most of the gallery walls are sponged with red made from the onoto seed used by the Indians to paint their bodies. Since some of the white walls of the gallery are untouched, white is placed within a red context. There are 13 photographs on the walls. They seem spontaneous, taken in transit; some are washed out and out of focus. Baumgarten wanted to avoid any sense that the Indians were specimens, or that they were in any way ''captured'' by the camera.
Also on the walls, sometimes covering part of the photographs, never directly corresponding with the images, are texts. They may make a distanced political statement: ''the dwelling of our advantages are others' chains.'' They may both challenge and reinforce distance: ''eating fruit from the warm throat of a killed bird.'' The texts are mounted on charcoal lines that look like frames in photo albums, or bars of cages. There are also strips of black paper covering one entire photograph and parts of others and suggesting the partialness of any outside perspective.
The great strength of the work is that it does create a space between us and the Indians that is filled with air. The weakness is that it remains schematic. It is so concerned with relieving weight, with denying the possibility of our and the artist's own projection and identification, and with defining an in-between that it can only make its point and then stop.
Would it be possible to focus attention on difference while at the same time drawing attention to the artist's particular and passionate involvement in Indian life, and to the particularity of the people? Would it be possible to build into work that wants to create fresh possibility a sharp sense of the violence that can result from the fear and romanticizing of the ''other''? And what about the awareness that recognizing the ''other'' is not only a political problem, but also a human and perhaps a metaphysical problem that can rear up whenever any two people, anywhere, get together? (Through Feb. 7.) Dennis Adams - Building Against Image 1979-1987 (Alternative Museum, 17 White Street): Dennis Adams is concerned with the mass media as a force that destroys and creates meaning; with the way advertising is used in public places as a commercial and ideological tool, and with the shapes of places like movie theaters and kiosks and their potential for communication. His work is experimental and filled with ideas, but it is also filled with questions, particularly about the effectiveness of the public pieces with which he is increasingly concerned.
In the 1979 ''American Eulogy (BJZ),'' he appropriated 26 different photographs of Patti Hearst and assigned to each of them a letter of the alphabet. Then he organized the photograph-letters into a statement that covers an entire wall and forms an inverted pyramid. The orderly, yet disequilibrated work creates the sense both of a profusion of meaning and of emptiness. For some writers, this combination of utter void and bottomless production has been the American story.
In his bus shelters, which remain more challenging in theory than in practice, Adams is determined to beat advertising at its own game. He devises actual shelters that are defined by a disjunctive relationship between words and images, form and function. The goal is not to lead the public through advertising's process of initiating desire and promising satisfaction, but rather to stop desire, promise nothing and question how public sites are used.
One of Adams's strengths is his use of materials and color. His blank aluminum panels suggest memory; his black structures suggest the violation of it. In ''Street Vendor's Kiosk With Image of Donald Trump,'' a large aluminum panel seems to have been inserted through two photopanels of Donald Trump into a devouring black kiosk. Once the kiosk digests the panel, we are left with objects like war toys and cheap transistor radios in which memory has been turned into disfigured, commercial products. Here, too, the idea is compelling, but something important gets lost as the work evolves from stages in which the artist is clearly present to the finished public piece, from which he seems absent. (Through Feb. 21.) | <urn:uuid:d8762bb0-3d58-4fe9-98cc-8e9bba4bb606> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/23/arts/art-rothenberg-horses-at-the-gagosian-gallery.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976416 | 1,860 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Toilets use the most water in your bathroom. Get a low flow toilet. If you have purchased a home with a pre-installed 1.6 gpf model, there’s no way of knowing whether the previous owner made any such inefficient modifications. The parts usually last around 5 years so be sure to ask the hardware store for 1.6 gpf replacements.
A funny thing has been happening lately, my grown children are teaching me. My children have gone green. They recycle, conserve water, car pool, and eat organic, not because they have to; because they want to. Recently, when I introduced them to a friend of mine in the green build industry; they already knew I wasn’t talking about the color.
Oh sure, I try to do my part, but not to the degree they do. So I decided to educate myself. I didn’t think I was wasteful, I just thought if I paid a little better attention I too, could do better.
Many bring their own shopping bags to the grocery. Nearly everyone has a recycle bin in their home and out side. If everyone does a little together it’s a lot.
The other day I actually downsized my cable program. It’s really kind of fun.
I found myself looking a little closer at my daily habits. Trying to be a little kinder to the planet and found in doing so I was also a little kinder to my checkbook (yeah, I still have one, don’t want to waste my checks) as well.
When I bought a new toilet; I bought one that conserves water. I am reusing water bottles, bags, sometimes even recycling gifts; it’s no longer rude it’s applauded! Multitasking errands to saves time and money. I try not to waste trips mileage, gas; I don’t want to “use up” my car either. I try not to run my appliances during peak hours and do a full load. I have been trying to save electricity; turn the thermostat up or down just a little wear a sweater, turn on the fan you understand where I’m going with this. If you are reading this I’m probably preaching to the choir.
I am in the market for a new home. I am downsizing. So just for the heck of it I decided to look into building green. I am amazed by what I found.
Green building offers today’s conservative, earth friendly consumer yet another opportunity to protect our plant while protecting your wallet at the same time. Build green. It just makes sense. Not only are you building with recycled material which is great for the environment; saving trees and conserving water. But I am also participating in the reduction of materials being deposited into our landfills.
My green build will also be more energy efficient, fire and termite resistant, and I will accomplish my project in a shorter period of time. I will save additional dollars simply by the reducing the number of labor hours required to build my new home.
If all the reasons just listed aren’t enough. The government rewards green building with tax incentives. I can take pride in knowing that I am taking responsibility for my carbon print. This is something I didn’t even realize I had until recently.
I have had a house built in the past and green building was never an option that was suggested by our builder. I am so excited. I just can’t wait to tell the kids. Wait, maybe I’ll just ask them when they were looking into buying a new home how big was the green build factor in helping them to make their decision.
Please see our new business at www.NRGBuildingSolutions.com
“Turn your Blueprints Green” by utilizing Structural Insulated Panel Systems (SIPS) with Icynene® insulation under roof. By combining SIPS with the latest HVAC and air filtration technology, healthy environments are created with extreme energy efficiency.
NRG will help you through the easy process of building your new building green.
Some benefits to our SIP Building System:
- Save energy and resources
- Fire and termite resistant
- Superior sound proofing
- Strength, quality and speed of construction
- Resistant to moisture, mold and mildew
- Diminished air pollutants and dust
- Effective R-30 to R-50+ Ratings! | <urn:uuid:d45051a7-8cd4-4cb2-ae7c-a05eb9df9dff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nrgbuildingsolutions.com/tag/green-homebuilding/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962063 | 929 | 1.625 | 2 |
University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia)
May – June 2003
The Department of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications in the University of New South Wales was developing a new system to track information regarding thesis projects � including who was working on them, who the supervisors and examiners were, what the thesis topics and titles were. Also an important feature was to facilitate thesis projects that had either one or more than one participating students. This included moving students from project to project during the course of the academic year. The application was to be developed on a GNU/Linux system using the apache web server and PHP as the programming language. MySQL was the database server.
- Assisting in the design of the application database schema.
- Design and development of report production in RTF.
- GNU/Linux (2.4 kernel � Red Hat distribution.).
- GNU emacs for PHP development.
- SQL (MySQL); PHP; HTML.
Thesis database: This was the sole project for this job. It was an application to allow university administrators to track who was working on theses, whether singly or in a group, who was performing assessments of the theses, who supervises them, and during which academic session the theses are being conducted. I was asked to assist in the design of the application, particularly the database schema. When the deployment date of the application was brought forward, I assisted in the development of a section of the application which was to produce a letter to be sent to each assessor in the system. This was to be generated using version 6 of the RTF specification. The database used was MySQL, and the programming language was PHP. | <urn:uuid:1df83d93-7bb1-4c0d-8a8a-5be889b61563> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.linux.ie/eibhear/2005/01/15/eibhears-cv-unsw/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969503 | 350 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Jake Garn speaks with Julie Jones from the Huntington City Youth Council. Endless Possibilities was the theme for the talk to Emery High Students.
Emery High Principal Larry Davis introduces Jake Garn to the EHS students.
Jake Garn visited Emery High on Friday and Endless Possibilities was the theme of his presentation. Garn was at the school by invitation of the Emery County Youth Councils. Garn wanted everyone to know he is a rural boy and not a Salt Lake City boy. He was born in Richfield. "I cannot describe what awaits you in the future. I could not have guessed my own life," said Garn.
Garn said he was a navy pilot for five years and with the Utah Air National Guard for 20 years as a pilot. He retired as a Brigadier General with 10,000 hours flight time. He was qualified to fly a space shuttle mission, although the media failed to mention all that they just said a Senator was forcing his way on a space flight. He said flight has come so far in the time he has been alive and his father was 10 at the time of the Wright Brothers first flight.
Garn said no matter what changes are in store for the future, the students must be trained to take advantage of whatever the future holds. They must train their brains for an uncertain future. "If someone had told me while I was in high school that I would one day fly in space, I wouldn't have believed them. I couldn't have planned for it, it didn't exist at the time. Push yourselves. Teachers who pushed me made it possible for me to take advantage of those opportunities as they came up. I was the 104th person in space. I recently attended a space convention with my friends who have shared that experience. There are less than 500 people who have been in space.
"On launch day we sat on the launch pad for nearly four hours, we thought we might not go because the window of opportunity was almost closed, but then we launched. I have a resting heart beat of 48 beats per minute, but with one million pounds of thrust my resting pulse at takeoff was 137. The space shuttle is powered by rocket boosters made in Utah. Within 8.5 minutes we were 125 miles above the earth and traveling 25 times faster than the speed of sound. Speed is amazing in space. In the 169 hours I spent in space I flew more miles than in my 10,000 flight hours on earth. This is a beautiful planet. I just don't have the words to describe how it feels looking back at earth. You can see the continents, the rivers, everything. It seemed unreal. It was a life changing experience. The Russian cosmonauts are my brothers and sisters. There are more galaxies out there. Earth is just a spec of dust. When you have looked back at earth then war just doesn't make much sense. We are all children of God and how we treat each other doesn't make sense. Space travel changes you, it just makes you feel fortunate to be a human being.
"Zero gravity and weightlessness is amazing, I blew myself across the cabin and almost went through the wall. Weightlessness is fun. In space you cannot drink without a straw. To prepare for reentry you have to drink a lot of water," said Garn.
Garn said one of the problems with long term space travel is maintaining the human body. Upon his arrival back on earth, he had trouble readjusting to gravity and even walking was difficult for a time. He still dreams about his space flight. "If a little kid from Richfield can have that experience then it wouldn't surprise me if some of you live on Mars. Opportunity will come if you prepare. If you can say, I can do that, you will be ready when opportunities come," said Garn.
Garn says he will never grow up and he can still do more pushups than his four sons combined, he recently rode his bike for 100 miles. He rollerblades with his grandkids to prepare for the ski season which he loves."I'm 76, but so what," said Garn.
Garn is also an organ donor and told of his kidney being in Washington DC with his daughter.
Garn answered questions from the students. Colton Judd wondered how Garn became involved in politics. His boss one time in the National Guard sent him to the Salt Lake commission to work out some problems the commission had been giving the guard concerning their base. One of the commissioners wasn't very helpful and told Garn, well if you don't like the job we're doing maybe you should run for commission and Garn being a little annoyed with the commissioner said, "Well maybe I will because any damn fool could do a better job than you guys." Garn was quoted in the press and he received a call from his mother who wasn't happy with Garn for swearing. But, he did end up running and defeated that commissioner and later became the mayor of Salt Lake and eventually ran for the senate where he served three terms.
Garn said he is disgusted with the current political climate in Washington with partisan politics. "We ought to be Americans before we are democrats or republicans. If I had hair I would tear it out," said Garn.
He stressed the need for term limits, he said politicians are so worried about their political future they don't do anything for the country. He said some people say why waste money in space and Garn tells them they haven't spent a penny in space, there aren't any stores there. All the money and jobs is put into the economy on earth. Without Thiokol where would Brigham City be. America has many inventions and basic research and development that came about because of the space program. One invention is Velcro. NASA is only 6/10ths of 1 percent of the nation's budget. "If we had term limits Congress would vote for the future. They need to shutup and sit down together and solve the problem," said Garn.
He said his father was is hero because he taught him to be honest. His father was a pilot and his pilot's license was signed by Orville Wright. Garn's father built most of the airports around the state. "I am successful because of what my father taught me," said Garn.
While serving in the Senate, Garn's wife died in a car accident and left him alone with four small children. He remarried and has been married 32 years and had three more children with his second wife.
Garn told the story of Hubert Humphrey who took Garn's two month old baby around and showed him off to the Senate and Congress. Humphrey was a great human being, even though Garn and Humphrey differed politically it didn't matter. They were friends.
Garn said he has always set goals for himself even if no one else knew about them.
Garn encouraged the students to explore the endless possibilities that might await them in the future and to be prepared. | <urn:uuid:9ab244db-9628-47e0-8f2c-144eead55c26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ecprogress.com/print.php?tier=1&article_id=6961 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990664 | 1,424 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Why Is Colon Cleansing so Important?Colon Cleansing is so vital because the colon is the ''sewage system'' of the body. The colon deals with the most toxic excretions of the body. As such it is essential that the colon works well so that these excretions are removed in a timely way.
Colon Cleansing And Dr John Christopher
Brilliant herbalist and naturopath, Dr John Christopher, said: "Death begins in the colon". This was because he had seen many cases where improving bowel function had changed a health situation from very bad to very good.
Dr Christopher recommended a herbal formula based on Cascara Sagrada (Rhamnus purshiana) plus 7 or 8 other herbs (the precise formulation can vary slightly). This formula has been copied by many others because it is so effective. The main benefit is that it will produce 3 bowel movements a day -- as often as you eat -- for most people, even when this has previously been a real problem to achieve. Many, many people swear by this formula.
Signs Of Good Colon Function
If the colon is working well, we see:
- Regular, bowel movements 3 times a day (or as often as you eat)
- Easily passed, well formed (not loose) stools
- No urgency
- Abdominal comfort -- not lots of gurgling or aching
To maintain these features of a healthy bowel it can be helpful to follow a colon cleansing programme which includes the Dr Christopher formula mentioned above or a similar variation. This might be called ''cascara compound'' or a similar name. A good length for a Colon Cleansing programme could be 3 months or so.
Additional Helpful Measures For Colon Cleansing
However, other lifestyle measures are also important to good bowel function, and so when Colon Cleansing it is important to pay attention to these factors too. This is where a comprehensive ''colon cleansing programme'', including both herbal support and lifestyle recommendations is often so valuable. These extra factors include a good diet, plenty of exercise and sufficient relaxation. | <urn:uuid:a82959aa-f1da-4152-b560-3b67dc6df3cc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Why+Is+Colon+Cleansing+so+Important%3F-a01073839842 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95273 | 437 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Like its peers across the nation, Yale Law School has seen a drop in applications this year.
Yale Law Director of Public Affairs Janet Conroy said that as of the application deadline date March 1, applications to Yale Law were down 16.5 percent, from 3,797 applications last year to 3,172 this year. This decrease is consistent with the national trend, said experts at the Law School Admission Council and admissions officers at top law schools. Conroy said Yale Law administrators are not concerned about the decrease.
“The bottom line is that our volume this year is within our normal historical range, so we’re not worried,” she said.
Conroy added that this year’s drop in applications followed a spike last year, in which the school received its highest number of applications in 14 years. She added that she cannot speculate as to why the number of applications has fluctuated from last year to this one.
The drop in law school applications may be a result of recent media coverage of the bleak job market and crippling debt that await law school graduates today, said Wendy Margolis, Director of Communications for the Law School Admission Council, which administers the Law School Admissions Test. The media frenzy peaked with a January New York Times article, “Is law school a losing game?,” which emphasized the growing unemployment rates among law school graduates. Kelly Voight, the executive director of Yale Law’s Career Development Office, told the News at the time that nearly all Yale Law graduates continue to find employment despite the weak economy.
Yale Law’s dip in applications is consistent with national trends: Margolis said that as of March 18, the average decrease in applicants sits at around 11 percent nation-wide. Students are also applying to fewer schools, as the Council learned from an 11.6 percent decrease in paper applications also reported March 18. However, Margolis said these numbers could change, as the council only has 89 percent of the national data at this time.
“Applicants and applications were up quite a bit in the mid first decade of this century, but this is correcting itself now,” Margolis said. “People are giving [their futures] more consideration before applying.”
Still, she said law school remains a good investment for people who truly want to pursue a legal education and have plans for dealing with debt accrued from tuition.
Two law schools contacted also reported a decrease in applications this year — Duke Law School saw a decrease of 20 percent, while The University of Chicago Law School saw one of 14 percent. Judith Romero, associate director of media relations at Stanford Law School, said Stanford’s applicant pool has fluctuated but they do receive 4,000 applications each year.
William Hoye, associate dean of admissions at Duke Law School, said he thinks concerns about the economy are at least partly responsible for the fall in applications, adding that students may also be becoming more selective in choosing where to apply.
He added that despite the decline in applications to Duke Law, the school is still seeing the third largest applicant pool in its history.
Although three Yale Law students interviewed were aware of the national decrease in law school applicants, they were surprised to hear that applications were down at their school, which is ranked number one in the country by the U.S. News and World Report rankings.
“Yale has been sort of immune from the horror stories we hear every week about law school,” said Taylor Asen LAW ’12. “But given how many articles there have been about how many jobless law graduates there are, it is no surprise that people aren’t flocking to law school like they used to.”
This year, Yale Law extended its admissions deadline from Feb. 15 to March 1, though Conroy said she did not know how many applications were received after the original deadline or if the extended due date will be used in future years. Decisions will be released by mid-April.
Correction: April 2, 2011
Due to incorrect information provided to the News, the article “Law School sees application fall” reported that the University of Chicago Law School’s decrease in applications this year as 12 percent. In fact, applications fell 14 percent. The article also misrepresented Judith Romero’s statement. She said there were in fact fluctuations from year to year in Stanford’s applications, although they do typically receive 4,000 applications each year. | <urn:uuid:79c82753-69da-4abb-ad50-a8988d971b37> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2011/03/30/law-school-sees-application-fall/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97691 | 919 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Local donors give $300,000 to Israel cancer research
TORONTO — Longtime Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) donors Carole and Howard Tanenbaum have pledged $300,000 to the organization over 10 years.
The funds come from the Howard and Carole Tanenbaum Family Charitable Foundation and will enable ICRF to award Carole Tanenbaum Woman of Action Business Award each year at its Woman of Action luncheon.
The luncheon, to be held on April 9 at the Royal York Hotel, recognizes the outstanding achievements of women in business, philanthropy and science.
Carole Tanenbaum, creator of Carole Tanenbaum Vintage Collection, was the honoree in 2007.
“Howard and I are longtime supporters of [ICRF}. This fund enables Israeli scientists to research and discover new ways of detecting and curing cancer,” she said.
“As a past honoree it is gratifying to continue to award outstanding women in business for their accomplishments and success. It is my hope that the [award] inspires all women to pursue their goals and follow their dreams.”
Money raised through the annual Women of Action luncheon goes to support a number of outstanding ICRF scientists in Israel. Each year, three or four scientists are selected as recipients of the ICRF Woman of Action grants
ICRF executive director Joy Wagner Arbus said that the donation, part of the ICRF’s major gifts initiative, can help increase cancer research.
“It is very meaningful because Carole is a past honoree, and the foundation believes in helping small charities because it catapults what [the charities] are able to do.”
ICRF’s scientific research has resulted in the development of such drugs as Gleevec, used in the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia, and Velcade, a drug developed based on Nobel Prize winning research by ICRF-funded scientists used in the treatment of multiple myeloma. | <urn:uuid:7b34f6fe-d62b-4174-bcab-c38cafec3785> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cjnews.com/node/97411?q=node/98014 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937729 | 417 | 1.546875 | 2 |
In this turbulent economic time, consumers have an eye on the presidential election, wondering how their personal finances will be affected. What will benefit consumers more, a successful reelection for President Obama, or Governor Romney winning the race?
We asked several of the top financial bloggers who attended FinCon12 earlier this month to give their opinion on how the election could impact the financial industry.
When asked “What financial tip would you immediately pass on to your readers if Obama were re-elected?”, here were some of their responses:
Philip Taylor of PT Money: The post election buzz I suspect will be about the Bush tax cuts expiring at the end of 2012. If Obama is re-elected, he’ll have permission (so-to-speak) to finally end the Bush tax cuts, something he’s been promising since 2008. My tip would be to shift income to 2012 and expenses to 2013 for tax saving purposes.
Len Penzo of Len Penzo dot com: If Obama is reelected, buckle up and pray. I expect to see continued massive annual deficits that will hasten the alarming devaluation of the U.S. dollar we’ve been experiencing over the past several years. Will that lead to uncontrollable hyperinflation and the eventual collapse of the dollar? Nobody knows for sure, but with Ben Bernanke and a Fed seemingly unwilling or unable to protect our currency any longer, I’d refinance my home loan to the longest period possible. Remember, inflation is a debtor’s best friend, and I’ll be paying back my lender with increasingly worthless dollars.
Jeff Rose of Jeff Rose Financial: Don’t make any drastic changes. Your main financial goals should remain the same–pay off debt, build your emergency fund, save for retirement, etc. A change in the presidency will not have an immediate impact to your long term goals.
Beverly Harzog of Beverly Harzog.com: With an Obama election, the stock market will likely go down because financial markets will be concerned about more regulation. It would be easy to suggest that this could lead to increased interest rates or fees on credit cards. Keep reading any correspondence you get from your card issuers just in case anything changes.
Then we asked, “What financial tip would you immediately pass on to your readers if Romney won?” Here are some of their thoughts:
Taylor: If Romney wins, the Republicans will make a solid attempt to repeal Obamacare. I’ll inform my readers, who might have been depending on this law’s effects, that they probably need to make other plans.
Penzo: If Romney is elected, the good news is I expect economic collapse will be averted; I also expect his policies will finally allow the economy to recover. The bad news is I expect that recovery will eventually ignite a nasty period of high inflation. For that reason, anybody who is thinking of retirement should consider holding off on those plans until a new Fed Chairman appointed by Romney gets inflation under control. I would also consider taking on additional “good” debt to buy real estate–before price rises really take hold–assuming I had the means to do so, that is.
Rose: Again, don’t make any drastic changes. Keep trying to achieve your financial goals. A change in the presidency will not have an immediate impact to your long term goals.
Harzog: The financial markets usually respond favorably to a Republican win. I think it’s possible a Romney win might make banks breathe a little bit easier and that could result in some excellent credit card offers, such as enticing sign-up bonuses. I wouldn’t be surprised if banks decided to be a little more generous up front just to get folks on board. So I’d tell my readers that if they needed a new credit card, this might be a good time to look and see if there are any cards with some generous bonuses. But I’d only give this recommendation to folks that need a new card. I wouldn’t recommend running out and getting a new card just because Romney won. | <urn:uuid:07519fbf-e7ba-4cc7-81a2-62a046116f3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2012/09/27/some-leading-financial-bloggers-weigh-in-on-elections-impact/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955449 | 853 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Have a Daughter? Get a Prenup!
A new study shows that couples with first-born daughters are 5% more likely to divorce than those who don’t, and the statistic shoots up to 10% in families who have three or more daughters.
Now that the numbers are in place, psychologists are hotly debating why families with boys have fewer occurrences of divorce. Some researchers argue that fathers are more likely to stay with their family if they are concerned about the impact a fatherless childhood may have on a boy. Others contend that women feel they will have more support from their daughter if they move out on their own than they would if they have a son.
What do you guys think?
[Image courtesy of CityofElkCity's Flickr stream.] | <urn:uuid:36605993-609e-4f6d-af26-b7bcbc5b92ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldsstrangest.com/mental-floss/have-a-daughter-get-a-prenup/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978886 | 157 | 1.648438 | 2 |
There has been a marked increase in the number of Hungarians immigrating to Israel as well as the number involved in Jewish identity programs in Hungary, according to Jewish Agency records. In 2007, 49 Hungarians made aliyah, whereas in 2010 the number had climbed to 115.
The Jewish Agency said Tuesday that it expects additional immigration from the Eastern European nation. "In addition to the dramatic increase in the number of immigrants, the profile of immigrants from Hungary has changed and today we see more young people seeking their future here," said Eran El-Bar, a former Jewish Agency emissary to central European states.
"This summer 255 people from central Europe will come to Israel, 180 of them from Hungary. The new immigrants are having their first real interaction with Israeli society, including through various volunteer programs," El-Bar said.
"This is an unprecedented flood of immigrants from Hungary," El-Bar said. "They come here through Birthright and Jewish Agency missions. Happily, Hungarian youth are starting to take an interest in destroyed synagogues and the glorious past of Hungarian Jewry as a result of their strengthening ties with Israel." | <urn:uuid:20c2ab19-7253-4ffe-884e-d9cb18ff8a0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=652 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975858 | 232 | 1.703125 | 2 |
A Mogadishu court on Tuesday handed down one-year prison sentences to a woman who said she was raped by security forces and a reporter who interviewed her. The judges decided the woman falsely claimed she was raped and had insulted the government…
Rights groups have decried the case as politically motivated because the woman had accused security forces of the assault. Rape is reported to be rampant in Mogadishu, where tens of thousands of people who fled last year’s famine live in poorly protected camps. Government troops are often blamed.
The woman’s sentence will apparently be delayed by a year, to let the woman care for her young child. Where would she be if not for government?
More Reason on Somalia | <urn:uuid:42e9c7cc-9c86-43f9-ab61-d6e4e96b1c2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reason.com/blog/2013/02/05/hows-that-government-working-out-for-som/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98133 | 147 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Today's photo shows one of the beautiful stained glass windows in the First Baptist Church in Terrell. The church is located on the corners of Brin and Catherine streets and Brin and Frances (they have the whole block). The church was started in the 1870s, and has been housed in several buildings since then. The windows were originally part of one of the earlier church buildings built in 1905, and were later installed in the newer sanctuary built in the 1950s. A history of the building and church can be found here. | <urn:uuid:2cf045ab-5002-4846-ae8a-9652656e4585> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.texasdailyphoto.com/2008/01/first-baptist-church-terrell.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.995053 | 106 | 1.757813 | 2 |
DRIVERS: TONY ROLT
Name: Tony Rolt
Nationality: Great Britain
Date of birth: October 16, 1918 - Bordon
At 21 Tony Rolt was a lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade when in May 1940 his unit was ordered to France to help try to hold back the German advance. Rolt was in charge of one of the reconnaissance platoons and soon found himself in the thick of the fighting as the defenders of Calais fought for three days to hold back the 10th Panzer Division and so delay its attack on Dunkirk. This was of vital importance as it meant that large numbers of British soldiers were able to evacuate, but the defenders of Calais were not so lucky and Rolt was taken prisoner. He then dedicated himself to escaping from Germany and after seven escapes he was finally sent to the maximum security German prison at Colditz. It was there that Rolt dreamed up the amazing idea of building a glider in the attics of the castle and flying two men out. The castle was liberated by the Allies before the glider was ready to fly. Rolt was awarded a Military Cross for his conduct in the Battle of Calais.
He returned to Britain and began working with his mechanic Freddy Dixon on an idea that they had considered before the war: four-wheel drive. They formed Dixon Rolt Developments which pioneered the viscous coupling. This later attracted backing from the tractor magnate Harry Ferguson and became known as FF Developments. Rolt was also busy racing with ERAs and other interesting machinery. He and Peter Walker shared a car in the first F1 World Championship race at Silverstone in 1950. This led to a works drive with Jaguar and in 1953 Rolt and Duncan Hamilton shared victory in a C-Type Jaguar in the Le Mans 24 Hours.
By the early 1960s FF Developments had decided that it would build a 4WD racing car to demonstrate the value of four-wheel drive technology and Rolt drove the Ferguson P99 car. This later became the only 4WD car to win a Formula 1 race when Stirling Moss drove it to victory in the Gold Cup at Oulton Park. The 4WD concept was also quite successful in America and in 1966 was built into the Jensen FF road car. The company ended up being a huge success with its technology being used throughout the motor industry and Rolt retired a wealthy man. | <urn:uuid:d8c8d3ac-a99d-48a4-ae09-b42210d8fb5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/drv-rolton.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986971 | 482 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Early Church Fathers
Part II. Of the Life of the Pastor.
Chapter VII. That the Ruler Relax Not His Care for the Things that are Within in His Occupation Among the Things that are Without, Nor Neglect to Provide for the Things that are Without in His Solicitude for the Things that are Within.
The conduct of a prelate ought so far to transcend the conduct of the people as the life of a shepherd is wont to exalt him above the flock. For one whose estimation is such that the people are called his flock is bound anxiously to consider what great necessity is laid upon him to maintain rectitude. It is necessary, then, that in thought he should be pure, in action chief; discreet in keeping silence, profitable in speech; a near neighbour to every one in sympathy, exalted above all in contemplation; a familiar friend of good livers through humility, unbending against the vices of evil-doers through zeal for righteousness; not relaxing in his care for what is inward from being occupied in outward things, nor neglecting to provide for outward things in his solicitude for what is inward. But the things which we have thus briefly touched on let us now unfold and discuss more at length.
The ruler should always be pure in thought, inasmuch as no impurity ought to pollute him who has undertaken the office of wiping away the stains of pollution in the hearts of others also; for the hand that would cleanse from dirt must needs be clean, test, being itself sordid with clinging mire, it soil whatever it touches all the more. For on this account it is said through the prophet, Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord (Isai. lii 11). For they bear the vessels of the Lord who undertake, on the surety of their own conversation, to conduct the souls of their neighbours to the eternal sanctuary. Let them therefore perceive within themselves how purified they ought to be who carry in the bosom of their own personal responsibility living vessels to the temple of eternity. Hence by the divine voice it is enjoined (Exod. xxviii. 15), that on the breast of Aaron the breastplate1 of judgment should be closely pressed by binding fillets; seeing that lax cogitations should by no means possess the priestly heart, but reason alone constrain it; nor should he cogitate anything indiscreet or unprofitable, who, constituted as he is for example to others, ought to shew in the gravity of his life what store of reason he carries in his breast. And on this breastplate it is further carefully prescribed that the names of the twelve patriarchs should be engraved. For to carry always the fathers registered on the breast is to think without intermission on the lives of the ancients. For the priest then walks blamelessly when he pores continually on the examples of the fathers that went before him, when he considers without cease the footsteps of the Saints, and keeps down unlawful thoughts, lest he advance the foot of his conduct beyond the limit of order. And it is also well called the breastplate of judgment, because the ruler ought ever with subtle scrutiny to discern between good and evil, and studiously consider what things are suitable for what, and when and how; nor should he seek anything for himself, but esteem his neighbours' good as his own advantage. Hence in the same place it is written, But thou shall put in the breastplate of Aaron doctrine and truth2 , which shall be upon Aaron's breast, when he goeth in before the Lord, and he shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his breast in the sight of the Lord continually (Ibid. 30). For the priest's bearing the judgment of the children of lsrael on his breast before the face of the' Lord means his examining the causes of his subjects with regard only to the mind of the judge within, so that no admixture of humanity cleave to him in what he dispenses as standing in God's stead, lest private vexation should exasperate the keenness of his censure. And while he shews himself zealous against the vices of others, let him get rid of his own lest either latent grudge vitiate the calmness of his judgment, or headlong anger disturb it. But when the terror of Him who presides over all things is considered (that is to say of the judge within), not without great fear may subjects be governed. And such fear indeed purges, while it humiliates, the mind of the ruler, guarding it against being either lifted up by presumption of spirit, or defiled by delight of the flesh, or obscured by importunity of dusty thought through lust for earthly things. These things, however, cannot but knock at the ruler's mind: but it is necessary to make haste to overcome them by resistance, lest the vice which tempts by suggestion should subdue by the softness of delight, and, this being tardily expelled from the mind, should slay with the sword of consent.
The ruler should always be chief in action, that by his living he may point out the way of life to those that are put under him, and that the flock, which follows the voice and manners of the shepherd, may learn how to walk better through example than through words For he who is required by the necessity of his position to speak the highest things is compelled by the same necessity to exhibit the highest things. For that voice more readily penetrates the hearer's heart, which the speaker's life commends, since what he commands by speaking he helps the doing of by shewing. Hence it is said through the prophet, Get thee up into the high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion (Isai. xl. 9): which means that he who is engaged in heavenly preaching should already have forsaken the low level of earthly works, and appear as standing on the summit of things, and by so much the more easily should draw those who are under him to better things as by the merit of his life he cries aloud from heights above. Hence under the divine law the priest receives the shoulder for sacrifice, and this the right one and separate (Exod. xxix. 22); to signify that his action should be not only profitable, but even singular; and that he should not merely do what is right among bad men, but transcend even the well-doers among those that are under him in the virtue of his conduct, as he surpasses them in the dignity of his order. The breast also together with the shoulder is assigned to him for eating, that he may learn to immolate to the Giver of all that of himself which he is enjoined to take of the Sacrifice; that he may not only in his breast entertain right thoughts, but with the shoulder of work invite those who behold him to things on high; that he may covet no prosperity of the present life, and fear no adversity; that, having regard to the fear within him, he may despise the charm of the world, but considering the charm of inward sweetness, may despise its terrors. Wherefore by command of the supernal voice (Exod. xxix. 5) the priest is braced on each shoulder with the robe of the ephod, that he may be always guarded against prosperity and adversity by the ornament of virtues; so that walking, as S. Paul says (2 Cor. vi 7), in the armour of righteousness an the right hand and an the left, while he strives only after those things which are before, he may decline on neither side to low delight. Him let neither prosperity elate nor adversity perturb; let neither smooth things coax him to the surrender of his will, nor rough things press him down to despair; so that, while he humbles the bent of his mind to no passions, he may shew with how great beauty of the ephod he is covered on each shoulder. Which ephod is also rightly ordered to be made of gold, blue, purple, twice dyed scarlet, and flue twined linen (Exod. xxviii. 8), that it may be shewn by how great diversity of virtues the priest ought to be distinguished. Thus in the priest's robe before all things gold glitters, to shew that he should shine forth principally in the understanding of wisdom. And with it blue, which is resplendent with aerial colour, is conjoined, to shew that through all that he penetrates with his understanding he should rise above earthly favours to the love of celestial things; test, while caught unawares by his own praises, he be emptied of his very understanding of the truth. With gold and blue, purple also is mingled: which means, that the priest's heart, while hoping for the high things which he preaches, should repress in itself even the suggestions of vice, and as it were in virtue of a royal power, rebut them, in that he has regard ever to the nobility of inward regeneration, and by his manners guards his right to the robe of the heavenly kingdom. For it is of this nobility of the spirit that it is said through Peter, Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood (1 Pet. ii. 9) With respect also to this power, whereby we subdue vices, we are fortified by the voice of John, who says, As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God (John i. 12). This dignity of fortitude the Psalmist has in view when he says, But with me greatly honoured have been Thy friends, O God; greatly strengthened has been their principality (Ps. cxxxviii. 17). For truly the mind of saints is exalted to princely eminence while outwardly they are seen to suffer abasement. But with gold, blue, and purple, twice died scarlet is conjoined, to show that all excellences of virtue should be adorned with charity in the eyes of the judge within; and that whatever glitters before men may be lighted up in sight of the hidden arbiter with the flame of inward love. And, further, this charity, since it consists in love at once of God and of our neighbour, has, as it were, the lustre era double dye. He then who so pants after the beauty of his Maker as to neglect the care of his neighbours, or so attends to the care of his neighbours as to grow languid in divine love, whichever of these two things it may be that he neglects, knows not what it is to have twice dyed scarlet in the adornment of his ephod. But, while the mind is intent on the precepts of charity, it undoubtedly remains that the flesh be macerated through abstinence. Hence with twice dyed scarlet fine twined linen is conjoined. For fine linen (byssus) springs from the earth with glittering show: and what is designated by fine linen but bodily chastity shining white in the comeliness of purity? And it is also twisted for being interwoven into the beauty of the ephod, since the habit of chastity, then attains to the perfect whiteness of purity when the flesh is worn by abstinence. And, since the merit of affliction of the flesh profits among the other virtues, fine twined linen shews white, as it were, in the diverse beauty of the ephod.
The ruler should be discreet in keeping silence, profitable in speech; lest he either utter what ought to be suppressed or suppresswhat he ought to utter. For, as incautious speaking leads into error, so indiscreet silence leaves in error those who might have been instructed. For often improvident rulers, fearing to lose human favour, shrink timidly from speaking freely the things that are right; and, according to the voice of the Truth (Joh. x. 12), serve unto the custody of the flock by no means with the zeal of shepherds, but in the way of hirelings; since they fly when the wolf cometh if they hide themselves under silence. For hence it is that the Lord through the prophet upbraids them, saying, Dumb dogs, that cannot bark (Isai. lvi. 10). Hence again He complains, saying, Ye have not gone up against the enemy, neither opposed a wall for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord (Ezek. xiii. 5). Now to go up against the enemy is to go with free voice against the powers of this world for defence of the flock; and to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord is out of love of justice to resist bad men when they contend against us. For, for a shepherd to have feared to say what is right, what else is it but to have turned his back in keeping silence? But surely, if he puts himself in front for the flock, he opposes a wall against the enemy for the house of Israel. Hence again to the sinful people it is said, Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee: neither did they discover thine iniquity, to provoke thee to repentance (Lam. ii. 14). For in sacred language teachers are sometimes called prophets, in that, by pointing out how fleeting are present things, they make manifest the things that are to come. And such the divine discourse convinces of seeing false things, because, while fearing to reprove faults, they vainly flatter evil doers by promising security: neither do they at all discover the iniquity of sinners, since they refrain their voice from chiding. For the language of reproof is the key of discovery, because by chiding it discloses the fault of which even he who has committed it is often himself unaware. Hence Paul says, That he may be able by sound doctrine even to convince the gainsayers (Tit. i. 9). Hence through Moloch; it is said. The priest's lips keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth (Malac. ii. 7). Hence through Isaiah the Lord admonishes, saying, Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet (Isai. lviii. 1). For it is true that whosoever enters on the priesthood undertakes the office of a herald, so as to walk, himself crying aloud, before the coming of the judge who follows terribly. Wherefore, if the priest knows not how to preach, what voice of a loud cry shall the mute herald utter? For hence it is that the Holy Spirit sat upon the first pastors under the appearance of tongues (Acts ii. 3); because whomsoever He has filled, He himself at once makes eloquent. Hence it is enjoined on Moses that when the priest goes into the tabernacle he shall be encompassed with bells (Exod. xxviii. 33); that is, that be shall have about him the sounds of preaching, lest he provoke by his silence the judgment of Him Who beholds him from above. For it is written, That his sound may be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord and when he cometh out, that he die not (Exod. xxviii. 35). For the priest, when he goeth in or cometh out, dies if a sound is not heard from him, because he provokes the wrath of the hidden judge, if he goes without the sound of preaching. Aptly also are the bells described as inserted in his vestments. For what else ought we to take the vestments of the priest to be but righteous works; as the prophet attests when he says, Let Thy priests be clothed with righteousness (Ps. cxxxi. 9)? The bells, therefore, are inherent in his vestments to signify that the very works of the priest should also proclaim the way of life together with the sound of his tongue. But, when the ruler prepares himself for speaking, let him bear in mind with what studious caution he ought to speak, lest, if he be hurried inordinately into speaking, the hearts of hearers be smitten with the wound of error and, while he perchance desires to seem wise he unwisely sever the bond of unity. For on this account the Truth says, Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another (Mark ix. 49). Now by salt is denoted the word of wisdom. Let him, therefore, who strives to speak wisely fear greatly, lest by his eloquence the unity of his hearers be disturbed. Hence Paul says, Not to be more wise than behaveth to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety (Rom. xii. 3). Hence in the priest's vestment, according to Divine precept, to bells are added pomegranates (Exod. xxviii. 34). For what is signified by pomegranates but the unity of the faith? For, as within a pomegranate many seeds are protected by one outer rind, so the unity of the faith comprehends the innumerable peoples of holy Church, whom a diversity of merits retains within her. Lest then a ruler should be unadvisedly hurried into speaking, the Truth in person proclaims to His disciples this which we have already cited, Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another (Mark ix. 49). It is as though He should say in a figure through the dress of the priest: Join ye pomegranates to bells, that in all ye say ye may with cautious watchfulness keep the unity of the faith. Rulers ought also to guard with anxious thought not only against saying in any way what is wrong, but against uttering even what is right overmuch and inordinately; since the good effect of things spoken is often lost, when enfeebled to the hearts of hearers by the incautious importunity of loquacity; and this same loquacity, which knows not how to serve for the profit of the hearers, also defiles the speaker. Hence it is well said through Moses, The man that hath a flux of seed shall be unclean (Levit. xv. 2). For the quality of the speech that is heard is the seed of the thought which follows, since, while speech is conceived through the ear, thought is engendered in the mind. Whence also by the wise of this world the excellent preacher was called a sower of words (seminiverbius) (Acts xvii. 18). Wherefore, he that suffers from a flux of seed is pronounced unclean, because, being addicted to much speaking, he defiles himself by that which, had it been orderly issued, might have produced the offspring of right thought in the hearts of hearers; and, while he incautiously spends himself in loquacity, he sheds his seed not so as to serve for generation, but unto uncleanness. Hence Paul also, in admonishing his disciple to be instant in preaching, when he says, I charge thee before God and Christ Jesus, Who shall judge the quick and the dead by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the word, be instant opportunely, importunely3 (2 Tim. iv. 1), being about to say importunely, premises opportunely, because in truth importunity mars itself to the mind of the hearer by its own very cheapness, if it knows not how to observe opportunity.
The ruler should be a near neighbour to every one in sympathy, and exalted above all in contemplation, so that through the bowels of loving-kindness he may transfer the infirmities of others to himself, and by loftiness of speculation transcend even himself in his aspiration after the invisible; lest either in seeking high things he despise the weak things of his neighbours, or in suiting himself to the weak things of his neighbours he relinquish his aspiration after high things. For hence it is that Paul is caught up into Paradise (2 Cor. xii. 3) and explores the secrets of the third heaven, and, yet, though borne aloft in that contemplation of things invisible, recalls the vision of his mind to the bed of the carnal, and directs how they should have intercourse with each other in their hidden privacy, saying, But on account of fornication let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife her due, and likewise the wife unto the husband (1 Cor. vii. 2). And a little after (Ibid. v. 5), Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to prayer, and come together again, that Satan tempt you not. Lo, he is already initiated into heavenly secrets, and yet through the bowels of condescension he searches into the bed of the carnal; and the same eye of the heart which in his elevation he lifts to the invisible, he bends in his compassion upon the secrets of those who are subject to infirmity. In contemplation he transcends heaven, and yet in his anxious care deserts not the couch of the carnal; because, being joined at once to the highest and to the lowest by the bond of charity, though in himself mightily caught up in the power of the spirit into the heights above, yet among others, in his loving-kindness, he is content to become weak. Hence, therefore, he says, Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not? (2 Cor. xi. 29). Hence again he says, Unto the Jews I became as a Jew (1 Cor. ix. 20). Now he exhibited this behaviour not by losing hold of his faith, but by extending his loving-kindness; so as, by transferring in a figure the person of unbelievers to himself, to learn from himself how they ought to have compassion shewn them; to the end that he might bestow on them what he would have rightly wished to have had bestowed upon himself, had he been as they. Hence again he says, Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for you (2 Cor. v. 13). For he had known how both to transcend himself in contemplation, and to accommodate himself to his hearers in condescension. Hence Jacob, the Lord looking down from above, and oil being poured down on the stone, saw angels ascending and descending (Gen. xxviii. 12); to signify, that true preachers not only aspire in contemplation to the holy head of the Church, that is to the Lord, above, but also descend in commiseration downward to His members. Hence Moses goes frequently in and out of the tabernacle, and he who is wrapped into contemplation within is busied outside with the affairs of those who are subject to infirmity. Within he considers the secret things of God; without he carries the burdens of the carnal. And also concerning doubtful matters he always recurs to the tabernacle, to consult the Lord before the ark of the covenant; affording without doubt an example to rulers; that, when in the outside world they are uncertain how to order things, they should return to their own soul as though to the tabernacle, and, as before the ark of the covenant, consult the Lord, if so, they may search within themselves the pages of sacred utterance concerning that whereof they doubt. Hence the Truth itself, manifested to us through susception of our humanity, continues in prayer on the mountain, but works miracles in the cities (Luke vi. 12), thus laying down the way to be followed by good rulers; that, though already in contemplation aspiring to the highest things, they should mingle in sympathy with the necessities of the infirm; since charity then rises wonderfully to high things when it is compassionately drawn to the low things of neighbours; and the more kindly it descends to the weak things of this world, the more vigorously it recurs to the things on high. But those who are over others should shew themselves to be such that their subjects may not blush to disclose even their secrets to them; that the little ones, vexed with the waves of temptation, may have recourse to their pastors heart as to a mother's breast, and wash away the defilement they foresee to themselves from the filth of the sin that buffets them in the solace of his exhortation and in the tears of prayer. Hence also it is that before the doors of the temple the brazen sea for washing the hands of those who enter, that is the lover, is supported by twelve oxen (1 Kings vii. 23, seq.), whose faces indeed stand out to view, but whose hinder parts are hidden. For what is signified by the twelve oxen but the whole order at pastors, of whom the law says, as explained by Paul, Thou shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn (1 Cor. ix. 9; ex Deut. xxv. 4)? Their open works indeed we see; but what remains to them behind in the hidden retribution of the strict judge we know not. Yet, when they prepare the patience of their condescension for cleansing the sins of their neighbours in confession, they support, as it were, the laver before the doors of the temple; that whosoever is striving to enter the gate of eternity may shew his temptations to his pastor's heart, and, as it were, wash the hands of his thought and of his deed in the layer of the oxen. And for the most part it comes to pass that, while the ruler's mind becomes aware, through condescension, of the trials of others, it is itself also attacked by the temptations whereof it hears; since the same water of the layer in which a multitude of people is cleansed is undoubtedly itself defiled. For, in receiving the pollutions of those who wash, it loses, as it were, the calmness of its own purity. But of this the pastor ought by no means to be afraid, since, under God, who nicely balances all things, he is the more easily rescued from his own temptations as he is more compassionately distressed by those of others.
The ruler should be, through humility, a companion of good livers, and, through the zeal of righteousness, rigid against the vices of evil-doers; so that in nothing he prefer himself to the good, and yet, when the fault of the bad requires it, he be at once conscious of the power of his priority; to the end that, while among his subordinates who live well he waives his rank and accounts them as his equals, he may not fear to execute the laws of rectitude towards the perverse. For, as I remember to have said in my book on morals (Lib. xxi., Moral, cap. 10, nunc. n. 22), it is clear that nature produced all men equal; but, through variation in the order of their merits, guilt puts some below others. But the very diversity which has accrued from vice is ordered by divine judgment, so that, since all men cannot stand on an equal footing, one should be ruled by another. Hence all who are over others ought to consider in themselves not the authority of their rank, but the equality of their condition and rejoice not to be over men, but to do them good. For indeed our ancient fathers are said to have been not kings of men, but shepherds of flocks. And, when the Lord said to Noe and his children, Increase and multiply, and replenish the earth (Gen. ix. 1), He at once added, And let the fear of you and the dread of you be upon all the beasts of the earth. Thus it appears that, whereas it is ordered that the fear and the dread should be upon the beasts of the earth, it is forbidden that it should be upon men. For man is by nature preferred to the brute beasts, but not to other men; and therefore it is said to him that he should be feared by the beasts, but not by men; since to wish to be feared by one's equal is to be proud against nature. And yet it is necessary that rulers should be feared by their subjects, when they find that God is not feared by them; so that those who have no dread of divine judgments may at any rate, through human dread, be afraid to sin. For superiors by no means shew themselves proud in seeking to inspire this fear, in which they seek not their own glory, but the righteousness of their subordinates. For in exacting fear of themselves from such as live perversely, they Lord it, as it were, not over men, but over beasts, inasmuch as, so far as their subordinates are bestial, they ought also to lie subdued to dread.
But commonly a ruler, from the very fact ofhis being pre-eminent over others, is puffed up with elation of thought; and, while all things serve his need, while his commands are quickly executed after his desire, while all his subjects extol with praises what he has done well, but have no authority to speak against what he has done amiss, and while they commonly praise even what they ought to have reproved, his mind, seduced by what is offered in abundance from below, is lifted up above itself; and, while outwardly surrounded by unbounded favour, he loses his inward sense of truth; and, forgetful of himself, he scatters himself on the voices of other men, and believes himself to be such as outwardly he hears himself called rather than such as he ought inwardly to have judged himself to be. He looks down on those who are under him, nor does he acknowledge them as in the order of nature his equals; and those whom he has surpassed in the accident of power he believes himself to have transcended also in the merits of his life; he esteems himself wiser than all whom he sees himself to excel in power. For indeed he establishes himself in his own mind on a certain lofty eminence, and, though bound together in the same condition of nature with others, he disdains to regard others from the same level; and so he comes to be even like him of whom it is written, He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride (Job xli. 25). Nay, aspiring to a singular eminence, and despising the social life of the angels, he says, I will place my seat in the north, and I will be like unto the Most High (Isai. xiv. 13). Wherefore through a marvellous judgment he finds a pit of downfall within himself, while outwardly he exalts himself on the summit of power. For he is indeed made like unto the apostate angel, when, being a man, he disdains to be like unto men. Thus Saul, after merit of humility, became swollen with pride, when in the height of power: for his humility he was preferred, for his pride rejected; as the Lord attests, Who says, When thou wast little in thine own sight, did I not make thee the head of the tribes of Israel (1 Sam. xv. 17)? He had before seen himself little in his own eyes, but, when propped up by temporal power, he no longer saw himself little. For, preferring himself in comparison with others because he had more power than all, he esteemed himself great above all. Yet in a wonderful way, when he was little with himself, he was great with God; but, when he appeared great with himself, he was little with God. Thus commonly, while the mind is inflated from an affluence of subordinates, it becomes corrupted to a flux of pride, the very summit of power being pander to desire. And in truth he orders this power well who knows how both to maintain it and to combat it. He orders it well who knows how through it to tower above delinquencies, and knows how with it to match himself with others in equality. For the human mind commonly is exalted even when supported by no authority: how much more does it lift itself on high when authority lends itself to its support! Nevertheless he dispenses this authority aright, who knows how, with anxious care, both to take of it what is helpful, and also to reject what tempts, and with it to perceive himself to to be on a par with others, and yet to put himself above those that sin in his avenging zeal.
But we shall more fully understand this distinction, if we look at the examples given by the first pastor. For Peter, who had received from God the principality of Holy Church, from Cornelius, acting well and prostrating himself humbly before him, refused to accept immoderate veneration, saying, Stand up; do it not; I myself also am a man (Acts x. 26). But, when he discovers the guilt of Ananias and Sapphira, he soon shews with how great power he had been made eminent above all others. For by his word he smote their life, which he detected by the penetration of his spirit; and he recollected himself as chief within the Church against sins, though he did not acknowledge this, when honour was eagerly paid him, before his brethren who acted well. In one case holiness of conduct merited the communion of equality; in the other avenging zeal brought out to view the just claims of authority. Paul, too, knew not himself as preferred above his brethren who acted well, when he said, Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy (2 Cor. i. 23). And he straightway added, For by faith ye stand: as if to explain his declaration by saying, For this cause we have not dominion over your faith, because by faith ye stand; for we are your equals in that wherein we know you to stand. He knew not himself as preferred above his brethren, when he said, We became babes in the midst of you (1 Thess. ii. 7); and again, But ourselves your servants through Christ (2 Cor. iv. 5). But, when he found a fault that required to be corrected, straightway he recollected himself as a master, saying, What will ye? Shall I came unto you with a rod (1 Cor. iv. 21)?
Supreme rule, then, is ordered well, when he who presides lords it over vices, rather than over his brethren. But, when superiors correct their delinquent subordinates, it remains for them anxiously to take heed how far, while in right of their authority they smite faults with due discipline, they still, through custody of humility, acknowledge themselves to be on a par with the very brethren who are corrected; although for the most part it is becoming that in our silent thought we even prefer the brethren whom we correct to ourselves. For their vices are through us smitten with the vigour of discipline; but in those which we ourselves commit we are lacerated by not even a word of upbraiding. Wherefore we are by so much the more bounden before the Lord as among men we sin unpunished: but our discipline renders our subordinates by so much the freer from divine judgment, as it leaves not their faults without retribution here. Therefore, in the heart humility should be maintained, and in action discipline. And all the time there is need of sagacious insight, lest, through excessive custody of the virtue of humility, the just claims of government be relaxed, and lest, while any superior lowers himself more than is fit, he be unable to restrain the lives of his subordinates under the bond of discipline. Let rulers, then, maintain outwardly what they undertake for the benefit of others: let them retain inwardly what makes them fearful in their estimate of themselves. But still let even their subjects perceive, by certain signs coming out becomingly, that in themselves they are humble; so as both to see something to be afraid of in their authority, and to acknowledge something to imitate with respect to humility. Therefore let those who preside study without intermission that in proportion as their power is seen to be great externally it be kept down within themselves internally; that it vanquish not their thought; that the heart be not carried away to delight in it; lest the mind become unable to control that which in lust of domination it submits itself to. For, lest the heart of a ruler should be betrayed into elation by delight in personal power, it is rightly said by a certain wise man They have made thee a leader: lift not up thyself, but be among them as one of them (Ecclus. xxxii. 1). Hence also Peter says, Not as being lords over God's heritage, but being made ensamples to the flock (1 Pet. v. 3). Hence the Truth in person, provoking us to higher virtuous desert, says, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are greater exercise authority upon them. It shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be greater among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the San of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister (Matth. xx. 25). Hence also He indicates what punishments are in store for the servant who has been elated by his assumption of government, saying, But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites (Matth. xxiv. 48, seq.). For he is rightly numbered among the hypocrites, who under pretence of discipline turns the ministry of government to the purpose of domination. And yet sometimes there is more grievous delinquency, if among perverse persons equality is kept up more than discipline. For Eli, because, overcome by false affection, he would not punish his delinquent sons, smote himself along with his sons before the strict judge with a cruel doom (1 Sam. iv. 17, 18). For on this account it is said to him by the divine voice, Thou hast honoured thy sons more than Me (Ibid. ii. 29). Hence, too, He upbraids the shepherds through the prophet, saying, That which was broken ye have not bound up, and that which was cast away ye have not brought back (Ezek. xxxiv. 4). For one who had been east away is brought back, when any one who has fallen into sin is recalled to a state of righteousness by the vigour of pastoral solicitude. For ligature binds a fracture when discipline subdues a sin, lest the wound should bleed mortally for want of being compressed by the severity of constraint. But often a fracture is made worse, when it is bound together unwarily, so that the cut is more severely felt from being immoderately constrained by ligaments. Hence it is needful that when a wound of sin in subordinates is repressed by correction, even constraint should moderate itself with great carefulness, to the end that it may so exercise the rights of discipline against delinquents as to retain the bowels of loving-kindness. For care should be taken that a ruder shew himself to his subjects as a mother in loving-kindness, and as a father in discipline. And all the time it should be seen to with anxious circumspection, that neither discipline be rigid nor loving-kindness lax. For, as we have before now said in our book on Morals (Lib. xx., Moral n. 14, c. 8, et ep. 25, lib. 1), there is much wanting both to discipline and to compassion, if one be had without the other. But there ought to be in rulers towards their subjects both compassion justly considerate, and discipline affectionately severe. For hence it is that, as the Truth teaches (Luke x. 34), the man is brought by the care of the Samaritan half dead into the inn, and both wine and oil are applied to his wounds; the wine to make them smart, the oil to soothe them. For whosoever superintends the healing of wounds must needs administer in wine the smart of pain, and in oil the softness of loving-kindness, to the end that through wine what is festering may be purged, and through oil what is curable may be soothed. Gentleness, then, is to be mingled with severity; a sort of compound is to be made of both; so that subjects be neither exulcerated by too much asperity, nor relaxed by too great kindness. Which thing, according to the words of Paul (Heb. ix. 4), is well signified by that ark of the tabernacle, in which, together with the tables, there as a rod and manna; because, if with knowledge of sacred Scripture in the good rulers breast there is the rod of constraint, there should be also the manna of sweetness. Hence David says, Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me (Ps. xxiii. 4). For with a rod we are smitten, with a staff we are supported. If, then, there is the constraint of the rod for striking, there should be also the comfort of the staff for supporting. Wherefore let there be love, but not enervating; let there be vigour, but not exasperating; let there be zeal, but not immoderately burning; let there be pity; but not sparing more than is expedient; that, while justice and mercy, blend themselves together in supreme rule, he who is at the head may both soothe the hearts of his subjects in making them afraid, and yet in soothing them constrain them to reverentialawe.
Chapter VII. That the Ruler Relax Not His Care for the Things that are Within in His Occupation Among the Things that are Without, Nor Neglect to Provide for the Things that are Without in His Solicitude for the Things that are Within.
The ruler should not relax his care for the things that are within in his occupation among the things that are without, nor neglect to provide for the things that are without in his solicitude for the things that are within; lest either, given up to the things that are without, he fall away from his inmost concerns, or, occupied only with the things that are within bestow not on his neighbours outside himself what he owes them. For it is often the case that some, as if forgetting that they have been put over their brethren for their souls' sake, devote themselves with the whole effort of their heart to secular concerns; these, when they are at hand, they exult in transacting, and, even when there is a lack of them, pant after them night and day with seethings of turbid thought; and when, haply for lack of opportunity, they have quiet from them, by their very quiet they are wearied all the more. For they count it pleasure to be tired by action: they esteem it labour not to labour in earthly businesses. And so it comes to pass that, while they delight in being hustled by worldly tumults, they are ignorant of the things that are within, which they ought to have taught to others. And from this cause undoubtedly, the life also of their subjects is benumbed; because, while desirous of advancing spiritually, it meets a stumbling-block on the way in the example of him who is set over it. For when the head languishes, the members fail to thrive; and it is in vain for an army to follow swiftly in pursuit of enemies if the very leader of the march goes wrong. No exhortation sustains the minds of the subjects, and no reproof chastises their faults, because, while the office of an earthly judge is executed by the guardian of souls, the attention of the shepherd is diverted from custody of the flock; and the subjects are unable to apprehend the light of truth, because, while earthly pursuits occupy the pastor's mind, dust, driven by the wind of temptation, blinds the Church's eyes. To guard against this, the Redeemer of the human race, when He would restrain us from gluttony, saying, Take heed to yourselves that your hearts be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness (Luke xxi. 34), forthwith added, Or with cares of this life: and in the same place also, with design to add fearfulness to the warning, He straightway said, Lest perchance Pleat day come upon you unawares (lbid.): and He even declares the manner of that coming, saying, For as a snare shall it came on all them that dwell an the face of the whole earth (Ibid. 35). Hence He says again, No man can serve two masters (Luke xvi. 13). Hence Paul withdraws the minds of the religious from consort with the world by summoning, nay rather enlisting them, when he says, No man that warreth for God entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him to whom he has approved himself (2 Tim. ii. 4). Hence to the rulers of the Church he both commends the studies of leisure and points out the remedies of counsel, saying, If then ye should have secular judgments, set them to judge who are contemptible in the church (1 Cor. vi. 4); that is, that those very persons whom no spiritual gifts adorn should devote themselves to earthly charges. It is as if he had said more plainly, Since they are incapable of penetrating the inmost things, let them at any rate employ themselves externally in necessary things. Hence Moses, who speaks with God (Exod. xviii. 17, 18), is judged by the reproof of Jethro, who was of alien race, because with ill-advised labour he devotes himself to the people's earthly affairs: and counsel too is presently given him, that he should appoint others in his stead for settling earthly strifes, and he himself should be more free to learn spiritual secrets for the instruction of the people.
By the subjects, then, inferior matters are to be transacted, by the rulers the highest thought of; so that no annoyance of dust may darken the eye which is placed aloft for looking forward to the onward steps. For all who preside are the head of their subjects; and, that the feet may be able to take a straight course, the head ought undoubtedly to look forward to it from above, lest the feet linger on their onward journey, the body being bent from its uprightness and the head bowed down to the earth. But with what conscience can the overseer of souls avail himself among other men of his pastoral dignity, while engaged himself in the earthly cares which it was his duty to reprehend in others? And this indeed is what the Lord, in the wrath of just retribution, menaced through the prophet, saying. And there shall be like people, like priest (Hos. iv. 9). For the priest is as the people, when one who bears a spiritual office acts as do others who are still under judgment with regard to their carnal pursuits. And this indeed the prophet Jeremiah, in the great sorrow of his charity, deplores under the image of the destruction of the temple, saying, How is the gold become dim! The most excellent colour is changed; the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of all the streets (Lam. iv. 1). For what is expressed by gold, which surpasses all other metals, but the excellency of holiness? What by the most excellent colour but the reverence that is about religion, to all men lovely? What are signified by the stones of the sanctuary but persons in sacred orders? What is figured under the name of streets but the latitude of this present life? For, because in Greek speech the word for latitude is pla/toj, streets (plateoe) have been so called from their breadth, or latitude. But the Truth in person says, Broad and spacious is the way that leadeth to destruction (Matth. vii. 13). Gold, therefore, becomes dim when a life of holiness is polluted by earthly doings; the most excellent colour is changed, when the previous reputation of persons who were believed to be living religiously is diminished. For, when any one after a habit of holiness mixes himself up with earthly doings, it is as though his colour were changed, and the reverence that surrounded him grew pale and disregarded before the eyes of men. The stones of the sanctuary also are poured out into the streets, when those who, for the ornament of the Church, should have been free to penetrate internal mysteries as it were in the secret places of the tabernacle seek out the broadways of secular causes outside. For indeed to this end they were made stones of the sanctuary, that they might appear in the vestment of the high-priest within the holy of holies. But when ministers of religion exact not the Redeemer's honour from those that are under them by the merit of their life, they are not stones of the sanctuary in the ornament of the pontiff. And truly these stones of the sanctuary lie scattered through the streets, when persons in sacred orders, given up to the latitude of their own pleasures, cleave to earthly businesses. And it is to be observed that they are said to be scattered, not in the streets, but in the top of the streets; because, even when they are engaged in earthly matters, they desire to appear topmost; so as to occupy the broad ways in their enjoyment of delight, and yet to be at the top of the streets in the dignity of holiness.
Further, there is nothing to hinder us from taking the stones of the sanctuary to be those of which the sanctuary was itself constructed; which lie scattered in the top of the streets when men in sacred orders, in whose office the glory of holiness had previously seemed to stand, devote themselves out of preference to earthly doings. Secular employments, therefore, though they may sometimes be endured out of compassion, should never be sought after out of affection for the things themselves; lest, while they weigh down the mind of him who loves them, they sink it, overcome by its own burden, from heavenly places to the lowest. But, on the other hand, there are some who undertake the care of the flock, hut desire to be so at leisure for their own spiritual concerns as to be in no wise occupied with external things. Such persons, in neglecting all care for what pertains to the body, by no means meet the needs of those who are put under them. And certainly their preaching is for the most part despised; because, while they find fault with the deeds of sinners, but nevertheless afford them not the necessaries of the present life, they are not at all willingly listened to. For the word of doctrine penetrates not the mind of one that is in need, if the hand of compassion commends it not to his heart. But the seed of the word readily germinates, when the loving-kindness of the preacher waters it in the hearer's breast. Whence, for a ruler to be able to infuse what may profit inwardly, it is necessary for him, with blameless consideration, to provide also for outward things. Let pastors, then, so glow with ardour in regard to the inward affections of those they have the charge of as not to relinquish provision also for their outward life. For, as we have said, the heart of the flock is, even as it were of right, set against preaching, if the care of external succour be neglected by the pastor. Whence also the first pastor anxiously admonishes, saying, The elders which are among you I beseech, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock of God which is among you (1 Pet. v. 1): in which place he shewed whether it was the feeding of the heart or of the body that he was commending, when he forthwith added, Providing for it, not by constraint, but willingly, according to God, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. In these words, indeed, pastors are kindly forewarned, lest, while they satisfy the want of those who are under them, they slay themselves with the sword of ambition; lest, while through them their neighbours are refreshed with succours of the flesh, they themselves remain fasting from the bread of righteousness. This solicitude of pastors Paul stirs up when he says, If any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel (1 Tim. v. 8). In the midst of all this, then, they should fear, and watchfully take heed, lest, while occupied with outward care, they be whelmed away from inward intentness. For usually, as we have already said, the hearts of rulers, while unwarily devoting themselves to temporal solicitude, cool in inmost love; and, being carried hither and thither abroad, fear not to forget that they have undertaken the government of souls. It is necessary, then, that the solicitude expended on those who are put under us should be kept within a certain measure. Hence it is well said to Ezekiel, The priests shall not shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow, long, but polling let them poll their heads (Ezek. xliv. 20). For they are rightly called priests who are set over the faithful for affording them sacred guidance. But the hairs outside the head are thoughts in the mind; which, as they spring up insensibly above the brain, denote the cares of the present life, which, owing to negligent perception, since they sometimes come forth unseasonably, advance, as it Were, without our feeling them. Since, then, all who are over others ought indeed to have external anxieties, and yet should not be vehemently bent upon them, the priests are rightly forbidden either to shave their heads or to let their hair grow long; that so they may neither cut off from themselves entirely thoughts of the flesh for the life of those who are under them, nor again allow them to grow too much. Thus in this passage it is well said, Polling let them poll their heads; to wit, that the cares of temporal anxiety should both extend themselves as far as need requires, and yet be cut short soon. lest they grow to an immoderate extent. When, therefore, through provident care for bodies applied externally life is protected [or, through provident care applied externally the life of bodies is protected], and again, through moderate intentness of heart, is not impeded4 , the hairs on the priest's head are both preserved to cover the skin, and cut short so as not to veil the eyes.
Meanwhile it is also necessary for the ruler to keep wary watch, lest the lust of pleasing men assail him; lest, when he studiously penetrates the things that are within, and providently supplies the things that are without, he seek to be beloved of those that are under him more than truth; lest, while, supported by his good deeds, he seems not to belong to the world, self-love estrange him from his Maker. For he is the Redeemer's enemy who through the good works which he does covets being loved by the Church instead of Him; since a servant whom the bridegroom has sent with gifts to the bride is guilty of treacherous thought if he desires to please the eyes of the bride. And in truth this self-love, when it has got possession of a ruler's mind, sometimes carries it away inordinately to softness, but sometimes to roughness. For from love of himself the ruler's mind is inclined to softness, because, when he observes those that are under him sinning, he does not presume to reprove them, lest their affection for himself should grow dull; nay sometimes he smooths down with flatteries the offence of his subordinates which he ought to have rebuked. Hence it is well said through the prophet, Woe unto them that sew cushions under every elbow, and make pillows under the head of every stature to catch sows (Ezek. xiii. 18); inasmuch as to put cushions under every elbow is to cherish with bland flatteries souls that are falling from their uprightness and reclining themselves in this world's enjoyment. For it is as though theelbow of a recumbent person rested on a cushion and his head on pillows, when the hardness of reproof is withdrawn from one who sins, and when the softness of favour is offered to him, that he may lie softly in error, while no roughness of contradiction troubles him. But so rulers who love themselves undoubtedly shew themselves to those by whom they fear they may be injured in their pursuit of temporal glory. Such indeed as they see to have no power against them they ever keep down with roughness of rigid censure, never admonish them gently, but, forgetful of pastoral kindness, terrify them with the rights of domination. Such the divine voice rightly upbraids through the prophet, saying, But with austerity and power did ye rule them (Ezek. xxiv. 4). For, loving themselves more than their Maker, they lift up themselves haughtily towards those that are under them, considering not what they ought to do, but what they can do; they have no fear of future judgment they glory insolently in temporal power; it pleases them to be free to do even unlawful things, and that no one among their subordinates should contradict them. He, then, who sets his mind on doing wrong things, and yet wishes all other men to hold their peace about them, is himself a witness to himself that he desires to be loved himself more than the truth, which he is unwilling should be defended against him. There is indeed no one who so lives as not to some extent to fail in duty. He, then, desires the truth to be loved more fully than himself, who wishes to be spared by no one against the truth. For hence Peter willingly accepted Paul's rebuke (Galat. ii. 11); hence David humbly listened to the reproof of his subject (2 Sam. xii. 7); because good rulers, being themselves unconscious of loving with partial affection, believe the word of free sincerity from subjects to be the homage of humility. But meanwhile it is necessary that the care of government be tempered with so great skill of management that the mind of subjects, when it has become able to feel rightly on some subjects, should so advance to liberty of speech that liberty still break not out into pride; lest, while liberty of the tongue is perchance conceded to them overmuch, the humility of their life be lost. It is to be borne in mind also, that it is fight for good rulers to desire to please men; but this in order to draw their neighbours by the sweetness of their own character to affection for the truth; not that they should long to be themselves loved, but should make affection for themselves as a sort of road by which to lead the hearts of their hearers to the love of the Creator. For it is indeed difficult for a preacher who is not loved, however well he may preach, to be willingly listened to. He, then, who is over others ought to study to be loved to the end that he may be listened to, and still not seek love its own sake, lest he be found in the hidden usurpation of his thought to rebel against Him whom in his office he appears to serve. Which thing Paul insinuates well, when, manifesting the secret of his affection for us, he says, Even as I please all men in all things (1 Cor. x. 33). And yet he says again, If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ (Gal. i. 10). Thus Paul pleases, and pleases not; because in that he desires to please he seeks that not he himself should; please men, but truth through him.
The ruler also ought to understand how commonly vices pass themselves off as virtues. For often niggardliness palliates itself under the name of frugality, and on the other hand prodigality hides itself under the appellation of liberality. Often inordinate laxity is believed to be loving-kindness, and unbridled wrath is accounted the virtue of spiritual zeal. Often precipitate action is taken for the efficacy of promptness, and tardiness for the deliberation of seriousness. Whence it is necessary for the ruler of souls to distinguish with vigilant care between virtues and vices, lest either niggardliness get possession of his heart while he exults in seeming frugal in expenditure; or, while anything is prodigally wasted, he glory in being as it were compassionately liberal; or in remitting what he ought to have smitten he draw on those that are under him to eternal punishment; or in mercilessly smiting an offence he himself offend more grievously; or by immaturely anticipating mar what might have been done properly and gravely; or by putting off the merit of a good action change it to something worse.
It should be known too that the vices of subjects ought sometimes to be prudently connived at, but indicated in that they are connived at; that things, even though openly known, ought sometimes to be seasonably tolerated, but sometimes, though hidden, be closely investigated; that they ought sometimes to be gently reproved, but sometimes vehemently censured. For, indeed, some things, as we have said, ought to be prudently connived at, but indicated in that they are connived at, so that, when the delinquent is aware that he is discovered and borne with, he may blush to augment those faults which he considers in himself are tolerated in silence, and may punish himself in his own judgment as being one whom the patience of his ruler in his own mind mercifully excuses. By such connivance the Lord well reproves Judah, when He says through the prophet, Thou hast lied, and hast not remembered Me, nor laid it to thy heart, because I have held My peace and been as one that saw not (Isai. lvii. 11). Thus He both connived at faults and made them known, since He both held His peace against the sinner, and nevertheless declared this very thing, that He had held His peace. But some things, even, though openly known, ought to be seasonably tolerated; that is, when circumstances afford no suitable opportunity for openly correcting them. For sores by being unseasonably cut are the worse enflamed and, if medicaments suit not the time, it is undoubtedly evident that they lose their medicinal function. But, while a fitting time for the correction of subordinates is being sought, the patience of the prelate is exercised under the very weight of their offences. Whence it is well said by the Psalmist, Sinners have built upon my back (Ps. cxxviii. 3). For on the back we support burdens; and therefore he complains that sinners had built upon his back, as if to say plainly, Those whom I am unable to correct I carry as a burden laid upon me.
Some hidden things, however, ought to be closely investigated, that, by the breaking out of certain symptoms, the ruler may discover all that lies closely hidden in the minds of his subordinates, and, by reproof intervening at the nick of time, from very small things become aware of greater ones. Whence it is rightly said to Ezekiel, Son of man, dig in the wall (Ezek. viii. 8); where the said prophet presently adds, And when l had digged in the wall, there appeared one door. And he said unto me, Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every similitude of creeping things, and abomination of beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, were pourtrayed upon the wall (Ibid. 9, 10). Now by Ezekiel are personified men in authority; by the wall is signified the hardness of their subordinates. And what is digging in a wall but opening the hardness of the heart by sharp inquisitions? Which wall when he had dug into, there appeared a door, because when hardness of heart is pierced either by careful questionings or by seasonable reproofs, there is shewn as it were a kind of door, through which may appear the interior of the thoughts in him who is reproved. Whence also it follows well in that place, Go in and see the wicked abominations that they do here (Ibid.). He goes in, as it were, to see the abominations, who, by examination of certain symptoms outwardly appearing, so penetrates the hearts of his subordinates as to become cognizant of all their illicit thoughts. Whence also he added, And I went in and saw; and behold every similitude of creeping things, and abomination of beasts (Ibid.). By creeping things thoughts altogether earthly are signified; but by beasts such as are indeed a little lifted above the earth, but still crave the rewards ofearthly recompense. For creeping things cleave to the earth with the whole body; but beasts are in a large part of the body lifted above the earth. yet are ever inclined to the earth by gulosity. Therefore there are creeping things within the wall, when thoughts are revolved in the mind which never rise above earthly cravings. There are also beasts within the wall, when, though some just and some honourable thoughts are entertained, they are still subservient to appetite for temporal gains and honour, anti, though in themselves indeed lifted, as one may say, above the earth, still through desire to curry favour, as through the throat's craving, demean themselves to what is lowest. Whence also it is well added, And all the idols of the house of Israel were pourtrayed upon the wall (Ezek. viii.10), inasmuch as it is written, And covetousness, which is idolatry (Colos. iii. 5). Rightly therefore after beasts idols are spoken of, because some, though lifting themselves as it were above the earth by honourable action, still lower themselves to the earth by dishonourable ambition. And it is well said. Were pourtrayed; since, when the shows of external things are drawn into one's inner self, whatever is meditated on under imagined images is, as it were, pourtrayed on the heart. It is to be observed, therefore, that first a hole in the wall, and afterwards a door, is perceived, and that then at length the hidden abomination is made apparent; because, in fact, of every single sin signs are first seen outwardly, and afterwards a door is pointed out for opening the iniquity to view; and then at length every evil that lies hidden within is disclosed.
Some things, however, ought to be gently reproved: for, when fault is committed, not of malice, but only from ignorance or infirmity, it is certainly necessary that the very censure of it be tempered with great moderation. For it is true that all of us, so long as we subsist in this mortal flesh, are subject to the infirmities of our corruption. Every one, therefore, ought to gather from himself how it behoves him to pity another's weakness, lest, if he be too fervently hurried to words of reprehension against a neighbour's infirmity, he should seem to be forgetful of his own. Whence Paul admonishes well, when he says, If a man be overtaken in any fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted (Galat. vi. 1); as if to say plainly, When what thou seest of the infirmity of another displeases thee, consider what thou art; that so the spirit may moderate itself in the zeal of reprehension, while for itself also it fears what it reprehends.
Some things, however, ought to be vehemently reproved, that, when a fault is not recognized by him who has committed it, he may be made sensible of its gravity from the mouth of the reprover; and that, when any one smooths over to himself the evil that he has perpetrated, he may be led by the asperity of his censurer to entertain grave fears of its effects against himself. For indeed it is the duty of a ruler to shew by the voice of preaching the glory of the supernal country, to disclose what great temptations of the old enemy are lurking in this life's journey, and to correct with great asperity of zeal such evils among those who are under his sway as ought not to he gently borne with; lest, in being too little incensed against faults, of all faults he be himself held guilty. Whence it is well said to Ezekiel, Take unto thee a tile, and thou shalt lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the dry Jerusalem (Ezek. iv. 1). And immediately it is subjoined, And thou shalt lay siege against it, and build forts, and cast a mount, and set camps against it, and set battering rams against it round about. And to him, for his own defence it is forthwith subjoined, And do thou take unto thee an iron frying-pan, and thou shall set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city. For of what does the prophet Ezekiel bear the semblance but of teachers, in that it is said to him, Take unto thee a tile, and thou shall lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city Jerusalem?
For indeed holy teachers take unto themselves a tile, when they lay hold of the earthly heart of hearers in order to teach them: which tile in truth they lay before themselves, because they keep watch over it with the entire bent of their mind: on which tile also they are commanded to pourtray the city Jerusalem, because they are at the utmost pains to represent to earthy hearts by preaching a vision of supernal peace. But, because the glory of the heavenly country is perceived in vain, unless it be known also what great temptations of the crafty enemy assail us here, it is filly subjoined, And thou shalt lay siege against it, and build forts. For indeed holy preachers lay siege about the tile on which the city Jerusalem is delineated, when to a mind that is earthy but already seeking after the supernal country they shew how great an opposition of vices in the time of this life is arrayed against it. For, when it is shewn how each several sin besets us in our onward course, it is as though a seige were laid round the city Jerusalem by the voice of the preacher. But, because preachers ought not only to make known how vices assail us, but also how well-guarded virtues strengthen us, it is rightly subjoined, And thou shall build forts. For indeed the holy preacher builds forts, when he skews what virtues resist what vices. Anti because, as virtue increases, the wars of temptation are for the most part augmented, it is rightly further added, And thou shall cast a mount, and set camps against it, and set battering rams round about. For, when any preacher sets forth the mass of increasing temptation, he casts a mount. And he sets camps against Jerusalem when to the right intention of his hearers he foretells the unsurveyed, and as it were incomprehensible, ambuscades of the cunning enemy. And he sets battering-rams round about, when he makes known the darts of temptation encompassing us on every side in this life, and piercing through our wall of virtues.
But although the ruler may nicely insinuate all these things, he procures not for himself lasting absolution, unless he glow with a spirit of jealousy against the delinquencies of all and each. Whence in that place it is further rightly subjoined, And do thou take to thee an iron frying-pan, and thou shall set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city. For by the frying-pan is denoted a frying of the mind, and by iron the hardness of reproof.
But what more fiercely fries and excruciates the teacher's mind than zeal for God? Hence Paul was being burnt with the frying of this frying-pan when he said, Who is made weak, and I am not made weak? Who is offended, and I burn not? (2 Cor. xi. 29). And, because whosoever is inflamed with zeal for God is protected by a guard continually, lest he should deserve to be condemned for negligence, it is rightly said, Thou shall set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city. For an iron frying-pan is set for a wall of iron between the prophet and the city, because, when rulers already exhibit strong zeal, they keep the same zeal as a strong defence afterwards between themselves and their hearers, lest they should be destitute then of the power to punish from having been previously remiss in reproving.
But meanwhile it is to be borne in mind that, while the mind of the teacher exasperates itself for rebuke, it is very difficult for him to avoid breaking out into saying something that he ought not to say. And for the most part it happens that, when the faults of subordinates are reprehended with severe invective, the tongue of the master is betrayed into excess of language. And, when rebuke is immoderately hot, the hearts of the delinquents are depressed to despair. Wherefore it is necessary for the exasperated ruler, when he considers that he has wounded more than he should have done the feelings of his subordinates, to have recourse in his own mind to penitence, so as by lamentations to obtain pardon in the sight of the Truth; and even for this cause, that it is through the ardour of his zeal for it that he sins. This is what the Lord in a figure enjoins through Moses, saying, If a man go in simplicity of heart with his friend into the wood to hew woad, and the woad of the axe fly from his hand, and the iron slip from the helve and smite his friend and slay him, he shall flee unto one of the aforesaid cities and live; lest haply the next of kin to him whose blood has been shed, while his heart is hot, pursue him, and overtake him, and satire him mortally (Deut. xix. 4, 5). For indeed we go with a friend into the wood as often as we betake ourselves to look into the delinquencies of subordinates. And we hew wood in simplicity of heart, when with pious intention we cut off the vices of delinquents. But the axe flies from the hand, when rebuke is drawn on to asperity more than need requires. And the iron leaps from the helve, when out of reproof issues speech too hard. And he smites and slays his friend, because overstrained contumely cuts him off from the spirit of love. For the mind of one who is reproved suddenly breaks out into hatred, if immoderate reproof charges it beyond its due. But he who smites wood incautiously and destroys his neighbour must needs fly to three cities, that in one of them he may live protected; since if, betaking himself to the laments of penitence, he is hidden under hope and charity in sacramental unity, he is not held guilty of the perpetrated homicide. And him the next of kin to the slain man does not kill, even when he finds him; because, when the strict judge comes, who has joined himself to us by sharing in our nature, without doubt He requires not the penalty ofhis fault from him whom faith hope and l charity hide under the shelter of his pardon.
But all this is duly executed by a ruler, if, inspired by the spirit of heavenly fear and love, he meditate daily on the precepts of Sacred Writ, that the words of Divine admonition may restore in him the power of solicitude and of provident circumspection with regard to the celestial life, which familiar intercourse with men continually destroys; and that one who is drawn to oldness of life by secular society may by the aspiration of compunction be ever renewed to love of the spiritual country. For the heart runs greatly to waste in the midst of human talk; and, since it is undoubtedly evident that, when driven by the tumults of external occupations, it loses its balance and falls, one ought incessantly to take care that through keen pursuit of instruction it may rise again. For hence it is that Paul admonishes his disciple who had been put over the flock, saying, Till I come, give attendance to reading (1 Tim. iv. 13). Hence David says, How have I loved Thy Law, O Lord! It is my mediatation all the day (Ps. cxix. 97). Hence the Lord commanded Moses concerning the carrying of the ark, saying. Thou shalt make four rings of gold, which thou shalt put in the four corners of the ark, and thou shall make staves of shittim-wood, and overlay them with gold, and shall them through the rings which are by the sides of the ark, that it may be borne with them, and they shall always be in the rings, nor shall they ever be drawn out from them (Exod. xxv. 12 seq.). What but the holy Church is figured by the ark? To which four rings of gold in the four corners are ordered to be adjoined, because, in that it is thus extended towards the four quarters of the globe, it is declared undoubtedly to be equipped for journeying with the four books of the holy Gospel. And staves of shittim-wood are made, and are put through the same rings for carrying, because strong and persevering teachers, as incorruptible pieces of timber, are to be sought for, who by cleaving ever to instruction out of the sacred volumes may declare the unity of the holy Church, and, as it were, carry the ark by being let into its rings. For indeed to carry the ark by means of staves is through preaching to bring the holy Church before the rude minds of unbelievers by means of good teachers. And these are also ordered to be overlaid with gold, that, while they are resonant to others in discourse, they may also themselves glitter in the splendour of their lives. Of whom it is further filly added, They shall always be in the rings, nor shall they, ever be drawn out from them; because it is surely necessary that those who attend upon the office of preaching should not recede from the study of sacred lore. For to this end it is that the staves are ordered to be always in the rings, that, when occasion requires the ark to be carried, no tardiness in carrying may arise from the staves having to be put in; because, that is to say, when a pastor is enquired of by his subordinates on any spiritual matter, it is exceedingly ignominious, should he then go about to learn, when he ought to solve the question. But let the staves remain ever in the rings, that teachers, ever meditating in their own hearts the words of Sacred Writ, may lift without delay the ark of the covenant; as will be the case if they teach at once whatever is required. Hence the first Pastor of the Church well admonishes all other pastors saying, Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you (1 Pet. iii. 15): as though he should say plainly, That no delay may hinder the carrying of the ark, let the staves never be withdrawn from the rings. | <urn:uuid:57aa2733-20c6-42ac-af79-8cf2cf423bc2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bible.ca/history/fathers/NPNF2-12/Npnf2-12-224.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97661 | 16,770 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Good tests could be for example coming Olympics Game (for areas covered by) and next winter season; they have faced several outages during past two years on fixed network due to strong weather condition, maybe 4G - as broadband- could act as connections' recovery
However, typically when a new technology is introduced, it costs more than the existing alternatives.
@cryptoman, I totally agree with you. I think the service providers would like to getback the revenues from 3G services because they would have made huge investment for building 3G infrastructure. Hence they would be price the 4G more than 3G so that users prefer 3G over 4G.
Cryptoman, i do not expect 4G to cost less than 3G due to inherent higher cost of a new technology. But i am skeptical about the price of 3G to go down. I do not know what are the basic benefits of 4G over 3G but i know that 3G is way better than 2G. So, even if 2G is at half the price of 3G even then i will not use 2G. As i use broadband quite ofter so i can compare the 3G to it and am satisfied. Don't know whether i will be spoil with 4G.
Price can make a difference. However, typically when a new technology is introduced, it costs more than the existing alternatives. Do you think there is a possibility that the 4G services will cost less than the 3G ones?
If 4G remains more expensive than the 3G services, this will only boost the 3G sales, unless 4G truly has something exquisite to offer. Once 4G spreads more, the 3G service costs will automatically go down as many operators will still want to make huge amounts of money from their existing 3G networks. This simple reactive reflex will make life difficult for 4G obviously.
Also, if 4G devices are superior than 3G devices in terms of battery life, feature set and usability etc. that could also encourage consumers to get on the 4G bandwagon. I am not sure if this strategy can be successful over a long term as great devices that support 3G as well will also be coming out.
Hi, have you used the 4G services. What’s the peculiarity, when compare with 3/3.5G offerings and how is the data transfer speed. Other than data transfer and Video calls, any particular application supports are available for 4G.
I think the key reason for reservations against 4G in Europe is the lack of applications that truly show the benefits of the technology. The type of applications for 4G should clearly demonstrate the added value 4G will bring to its users. 3G networks are already addressing most of users' needs at an acceptable cost. What 4G will add on top of that is the real question here.
I also think that 4G has not been marketed and promoted as aggresively as 3G was. 3G was a true milestone compared to GSM/GPRS. Will 4G be able to make a similar transformation in mobile networking? I am not too clear on that to be perfectly honest with you. Would I be willing to pay more for 4G services compared to that of 3G? Probably not...
EBN Dialogue enables and encourages you to participate in live chats with notable leaders and luminaries. Not only editors and journalists, but the entire EBN community is able to comment and ask questions. Listed below are upcoming and archived chats.
Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
While no one really can accurately predict the future, we can take guidance from another Drucker saying which is the best way to predict the future is to create it.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges. | <urn:uuid:b62a334a-8c10-43d3-b51b-5a0d3462a75d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ebnonline.com/messages.asp?piddl_msgthreadid=246366&piddl_msgid=640811&piddl_msgtocontent=yes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957317 | 1,138 | 1.804688 | 2 |
View Full Version : Calibrating an lcd monitor for video editing
2008 February 27th, 02:31
is there any reasonably easy way to calibrate an lcd monitor for editing and color correcting video. I don't have a monitor calibrator, the kind that goes on the screen and calibrates for you. I just need a good bit of settings, or some kind of tutorial of a way to get the best out of the monitor.
any help is appreciated.
2008 February 27th, 04:44
Calibration without a colorimeter can be hit and miss. Having said that...
One of the best ways I know of is to approach one of the larger print-makers in your area, such as Queensberry (an international company) and ask them to send you a starter kit. This will usually contain a CD, lots of paper info and a color print which you can use to adjust your LCD as close as possible to the print. The CD usually contains a digital version of the print, as well as the color profiles for each of the print papers the company specializes in.
Your part will be to tweak your monitor settings as best you can, given the LCD's contrast capability etc.
2008 February 29th, 22:37
There's a method called blue gun, which you can also do with a midnight blue gell. You'd have to look it up on the internet though.
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Who Should Take Credit For Thwarting the Christmas Terror Attempt?
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There's a bit of a hissy fit building about how the Obama administration is inappropriately taking credit for the citizen thwarted terrorist attempt. Oy vey.
Jake Tapper points out that such citizen initiative was once considered the result of a brilliant Bush administration anti-terrorist strategy:
In a press conference on January 17, 2002, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft made a similar claim about shoe-bomber Richard Reid.‬‪
"Throughout the war on terrorism, our military and intelligence officials have made a concerted effort to share appropriate information with the public in order to enlist their assistance,” Ashcroft said. “We've asked citizens to be vigilant, to be alert to any possible threat. The success of this strategy was made clear by yesterday's indictment of Richard Reid, who may very well have succeeded in destroying American Airlines Flight Number 63, as the indictment charges, had it not been for the courage and attentiveness of the citizen passengers and crew."
In fact, there was a time when Bush was saying "Let's Roll" in his speeches as if he were the one to have inspired the phrase.
Frankly, no administration can take credit for this. Citizens act in these situations because they value their lives and the lives of others. I suppose you can call that an "anti-terrorism strategy," but most people would simply call it survival. | <urn:uuid:9b0de022-4b65-4d53-9c4d-855fcbcf03ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alternet.org/story/144845/who_should_take_credit_for_thwarting_the_christmas_terror_attempt?qt-best_of_the_week=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969084 | 310 | 1.507813 | 2 |
English-Canadians are outraged by some separatists who trampled and drove their cars over the Canadian flag last weekend during a protest in front of Montreal’s City Hall.
They would have seen their anger reflected in Quebecers’ reactions to an upcoming broadcast of a new documentary that deals with anti-Quebec sentiment and the desire of English-Canadians to separate, called Les Etats Desunis du Canada (The Disunited States of Canada).
The documentary will premiere next Sunday, but the trailer has already had 130,000 hits on YouTube and its producer had a great interview on the most popular show on French CBC last Sunday night, Tout le monde en parle.
So, while people in the ROC (Rest of Canada) feel disrespected by Quebec separatists crushing the maple leaf, others in La Belle Province are “humiliated” by another round of so-called Quebec bashing. Or isn’t it simply the latest episode of what Hugh MacLennan called the “two solitudes?”
There is a difference, however, between the two outrages.
The anti-Canadian flag campaign in Quebec this time is being run by no less than the Parti Quebecois government itself. You could answer that the federal government subsidized the documentary, but if it had been up to Stephen Harper to decide, the movie would never have gotten your tax dollars.
On the other hand, Pauline Marois’ team has tried to banish the red flag from the legislature. First, more than a month ago, the PQ’s whip, Yves-Francois Blanchet, sent a letter to the president of the National Assembly to ask him to remove the undesirable “red rag,” as former PQ leader Bernard Landry would have called it.
Unsuccessful, the minority government then tabled a motion which was defeated last Tuesday. The same day, Marois promoted Blanchet as her environment minister.
But not one single Quebec politician came out to denounce and distance him or herself from the radical separatists, who treated the flag as a piece of garbage.
And honestly, they didn’t need to because none of us did our job in the French media to properly report the incident. I guess giving the mic to a few weirdos out West calling Quebecers crybabies or “vermin” attracts bigger audiences in Quebec.
It always seems easier to play the victim or feel the hatred of our neighbours than admitting our own mistakes or condemning our loved ones.
And, unfortunately, this exacerbation of tensions between Quebec and the ROC is not on the verge of ending.
The PQ will do everything it can to polarize anglophones in a bid to boost its 31% support among voters.
Instead of bringing Quebec’s economy back on track so we could stop depending on Alberta’s money and end the frustration of westerners, the PQ will keep trying to create flag wars or, even better, open up a linguistic crisis by tabling a new Bill 101 as it just did Wednesday.
I don’t know if we are on the verge of a new constitutional existential crisis, but we certainly cannot blame the separatist movement for not trying to start one by poking and provoking you. | <urn:uuid:a4aac075-7937-43ba-81c7-568934e1b113> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/12/05/duel-of-disrespect | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960781 | 683 | 1.5 | 2 |
VOL. 127 | NO. 72 | Thursday, April 12, 2012
US Budget Deficit Hits Record High for March
MARTIN CRUTSINGER | AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. budget deficit is running slightly lower than last year's through the first six months of the budget year but is still on track to top $1 trillion for a fourth straight year.
The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the deficit in March totaled $198.2 billion, a record for that month. That left the gap through the first half of 2012 at $779 billion, down 6.1 percent from a year ago.
The Congressional Budget Office forecasts a deficit of $1.17 trillion for the entire 2012 budget year, which began Oct. 1. This would be a small improvement from last year's $1.3 trillion deficit. Still, the chronic budget deficits are likely to be a top issue in the presidential election.
Through the first six months of this budget year, government revenue has totaled $1.06 trillion, up 4.4 percent from the same period a year ago. Individual and corporate tax receipts are both up, reflecting the improving economy.
Government spending through the first half of the budget year totals $1.84 trillion, slightly less than in the same period a year ago.
Democrats and Republicans are offering voters stark choices on how they would deal with the country's budget problems.
The budget approved by the House late last month calls for deep cuts in Medicare and other programs and a new round of tax cuts that would most benefit wealthy Americans. Obama has called that "thinly veiled social Darwinism" and a radical vision for the country.
Obama's budget request in February called for $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade, through spending cuts and tax hikes on the wealthy. Republicans have rejected the tax increases. They want deeper cuts in government programs.
The House-passed budget has no chance of winning Senate approval, setting the stage for gridlock until after the November elections.
The government last recorded a surplus in 2001. The deficits returned after President George W. Bush won approval for broad tax cuts, pushed a major drug benefit program for seniors and launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The deficits grew further under Obama as the Great Recession reduced tax revenue as unemployment rose and income fell. The budget gaps have topped $1 trillion in each of his first three years in office. Obama and Democrats pushed for more emergency spending to support the economy, including extending federal unemployment benefits and cutting Social Security taxes.
Congress and the White House have struggled to agree on changes to tax levels or spending programs that would reduce the deficit. They will face another big challenge at the end of this year. That's when tax cuts enacted by the Bush administration in 2001 and 2003 are set to expire.
A set of automatic spending cuts totaling about $1.2 trillion over 10 years are also scheduled to kick in. Both parties oppose the automatic spending reductions, in part because they include deep cuts in defense.
The CBO has estimated that if Congress extends the Bush tax cuts, as it has in the past, and blocks the spending cuts, the deficit will remain near $900 billion or more for the next decade.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:34fc4b91-6c2b-425e-9e80-d1d28dbf3540> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2012/apr/12/us-budget-deficit-hits-record-high-for-march/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953689 | 686 | 1.625 | 2 |
- Special Sections
- Public Notices
Declining attendance in house museums across the country hasn’t translated to the Brown-Pusey House in Elizabethtown.
Historic homes-turned-museums, including some of the most famous, have reported declining numbers of visitors since the 1970s and have dropped even more in recent years.
The Brown-Pusey House on North Main Street hasn’t seen any significant attendance change. That likely is because museum admission is free and the house serves various purposes for the community, Executive Director Twylane Van Lahr said.
“We’re very fortunate here,” she said.
Van Lahr, who serves on the Kentucky and Museum Heritage Alliance Board, has heard from directors of other museums facing attendance and cash flow problems.
Steady income streams help the Brown-Pusey House avoid those problems and consistently draw about 16,000 visitors each year, she said.
The home was built in 1825 by John Y. Hill and was donated to the city in 1923 by doctors William Allen and Robert Brown Pusey.
The privately owned, nonprofit building costs about $3,000 each month to operate, provide maintenance, pay salaries and cover utilities.
That amount doesn’t count repairs and restoration. Preserving the history of the house often can cost more than buying all-new replacements, she said.
Restoring two windows recently cost about $2,000 each, compared to the $700 price tag to replace them.
The house faced tough financial times until 2007, not because of dropping attendance, but because the original trust from the Pusey family covering daily expenses no longer was generating enough revenue to support costs.
A new trust from a community member who had been friends with the Puseys, combined with fundraisers, other donations and income from rental fees, allows the museum to have enough money to operate and complete occasional improvement and repair projects.
Maintaining the building’s history is important because the facility and items displayed allow visitors to see and touch things they only read about in books, Van Lahr said.
“It makes it more relevant to them,” she said.
That allows the museum to serve its mission of preserving the house’s history and bringing the community together, Van Lahr said.
“We want to keep this place for the community,” she said.
The mission is further served by expanding the functions served by the buildings, Van Lahr said.
The Brown-Pusey House is one of the few historic houses that allows weddings and other events inside.
There also are occasional events, such as pumpkin decorating and Santa’s workshop, that encourage children to have fun while being surrounded by history, Van Lahr said.
The first use of the building when it opened to the public was as a library.
Volunteers also draw new visitors by doing more than many other historical sites to keep the website updated, Van Lahr said.
That’s important because the advertising budget is small and research shows an average mother will check an attraction’s site about eight times before taking her family to see it, she said.
“We have to be creative sometimes to get their attention,” she said.
Amber Coultercan be reached at (270) 505-1746 or email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:99d72f80-99db-4cb9-a23d-930c92cc1b26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/welcome-mat-still-out-brown-pusey-house-fares-better-other-historic-homes-income-attendance | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957798 | 712 | 1.734375 | 2 |
In the interview below, Ann Mack, director of trendspotting at JWT, sits down with Brendan Byrnes to discuss the science and skill behind identifying big trends in their early stages. This sort of vision is absolutely vital for long-term investors, and is a cornerstone of our own resident superinvestor David Gardner's system for crushing markets. He seeks out game-changing companies before Wall Street is keen to their potential and helps investors profit as the companies soar. I invite you to learn more about how David discovers his winners today with a personal tour of his flagship service: Supernova; just click here now for instant access.
Brendan Byrnes: One of the big trends we've seen is going to intelligent objects that know what consumers want, and increasingly can almost "do it all" for a lot of people. What are some companies that are embracing this, and how can they take advantage of this trend?
Mack: I love this trend, probably because I'm a tech geek, but technology is getting embedded into everything, from our eyeglasses to our shirts to our shoes, to our appliances and our cars. Some companies are doing it really in interesting new ways.
Oakley, for instance, has its Airwave goggles for skiers and snowboarders, which uses GPS sensors, Bluetooth technology, and a display to provide information on the slopes; information like speed, location, altitude, and distance traveled.
Brendan: I think this is one of the more interesting ones. I want to go a little bit more in-depth with this one.
You also have Ford, with SYNC system that can sync pretty much everything in there. You have automatic 911 calls; you might be in an accident. Also Whole Foods with the smart cart. What is that all about?
Mack: Oh yeah, the smart cart. It actually follows you. You put your list in, and this is just a prototype so it might not be just yet at your store, but you put your grocery list in and it actually follows you around the store as you do your grocery shopping. Then when you put the items in your cart it notes that, so when you go check out it's a seamless exit. | <urn:uuid:a55d0bc5-9beb-4c3e-a5a5-2fcf8f9a7be4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/01/10/how-these-companies-track-you-with-tech.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96072 | 453 | 1.585938 | 2 |
As a coach, you likely have a multitude of plaques on your walls displaying a variety of certifications - but those do not make you a great coach. To be a great coach you must inspire me.
Regardless of your politics, there's no disputing the incredible work ethic and success of Arnold. In this inspirational video he shares his insights on forging the life he imagined.
This week get inspired with this compilation of amazing athletes and athletic achievements. We're inspired by the success of others, but how badly do you want success?
Momentum, in sports, is a psychological concept - the roar of a crowd moves us, a referee's call throws us off. How do we recognize momentum and keep it from heading us the wrong way?
John Wooden is known as one of the best coaches, basketball or otherwise, in history. In this video Wooden explains the true meaning of success and how it has nothing to do with points.
Nobody knows how to inspire like Rocky Balboa. This speech from the classic film is a message that all of us need to hear from time to time. Take a moment to listen to Rocky's wise words.
When the odds don't add up in your favor. When everyone is telling you the other team is destined to win, that you're not good enough, chance can step in and then it's game on.
There is something indescribable about a photo that captures an emotional moment. Combine great photos with inspirational words and you have the motivational work of Aly Willier and RXSTAR.
Awake & Evolve Workouts
Mature Athlete Workouts
Strength & Conditioning Workouts
Sport Specific Workouts | <urn:uuid:4255ee3d-2ed1-419a-89ed-5a91dc7b8357> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://breakingmuscle.com/category/tags/inspiration | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93573 | 342 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Headlines about Governor Mitt Romney paying a 14.1% effective tax rate in 2011 may have been the last thing some early voters saw before casting their ballots -- probably to the frustration of the Romney campaign. While each campaign jockeys for the best position come November 6th, early and absentee voting is already underway. In half the country (25 states) polls have already opened for early or absentee ballots (see the graphic below showing the states where voting has already started). That means whatever is happening right now in this race could have a direct impact on the final result. In some crucial swing states, that impact could be tremendous. In 2008, early ballots accounted for 78.9% of the vote in Colorado and 60.6% of the vote in North Carolina.
There are also signs that the next six weeks may not alter this race significantly. A new poll by Politico and George Washington University found that 84% of voters have made up their minds on either candidate. That poll also gave President Obama a 3% point lead nationally. | <urn:uuid:17417cdd-2fa5-43e5-90fb-6c123da61743> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nowwithalex.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/24/14071779-let-the-voting-begin | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968587 | 209 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Intel-led fast Wi-Fi group menaces IEEE
Enhanced Wireless Consortium revs up
A month ago, Intel and three other chipmakers formed a breakaway group to develop their own specification for fast Wi-Fi, just as it seemed that the two factions warring to produce the official IEEE 802.11n standard in this area were approaching a truce.
Those consortia, TGn Sync and WWise, claim to be close to arriving at a merged proposal, only to see the new group’s numbers swollen to 27. Under the name Enhanced Wireless Consortium (EWC), the rogue faction looks set to bypass the IEEE process in the same way that another Intel-inspired body, WiMedia Alliance, has done in short range wireless standards.
The original founders of EWC were Intel, Atheros, Broadcom and Marvell. The new line-up also includes another WLan chipmaker, Conexant; plus all the largest consumer Wi-Fi equipment makers – Cisco/Linksys, D-Link, Buffalo, Netgear, 3Com, Symbol and US Robotics; consumer electronics/PC giants Sony, Toshiba, Apple and Lenovo; and others.
The enlarged group looks fairly unassailable in terms of control of the WLAN market, especially as 802.11n increasingly becomes a technology for in-home digital networks rather than conventional access. With an eye on applications such as distribution of high definition TV around a house, the EWC says it would push Wi-Fi speed up as high as 600Mbps in a short timescale, leaping ahead of 802.11n targets of around 150Mbps in the first generation.
It also claims to have a specification ready and waiting, ahead of the converged proposal promised by the two IEEE-focused groups, although with probably a few weeks in it, the claims to be speeding up the progress to 802.11n are somewhat hollow.
As in the UltraWideBand saga, the action may accelerate standards development by circumventing the IEEE’s cumbersome and feudsusceptible processes. But it also shifts the networking industry away from true open standards to a model more familiar in consumer electronics- the key growth market, of course, for fast Wi-Fi and UWB - where powerful companies reach consensus around a technology and create a de facto standard, that is then subsequently ratified by an international body, almost as a fait accompli.
This approach was taken by the WiMedia Alliance, when its proposal – based on UltraWideBand and OFDM - failed to gain the 75 per cent majority needed to become the basis of the IEEE 802.15.3a standard for short range, high data rate networks. It then created its own alternative platform, which will be ratified by the ECMA standards body, a group that boasts a fast track process far less open to political schisms than the IEEE’s.
There are many echoes of that situation in the new move by EWC, although the justifications are less obvious. In 802.15.3a, very new concepts were being put forward, in 802.11n, it will be essential that compatibility with the well established Wi-Fi standards is maintained, and so there is less logic to starting afresh outside the IEEE.
It is hard to argue against the notion that Intel and its allies no longer see the IEEE as a body that meets their needs to get new technology to market quickly, nor as a group that they can influence to change its processes in favor of their business models.
In this case, then, it will be almost impossible for the IEEE not to work to get EWC back under its auspices. After all, the four founders of the group account for 80 per cent of Wi-Fi chip sales. And if EWC does submit its proposal to the taskgroup, there will be huge commercial pressure to accept it, in order not to delay the standard beyond 2006. The biggest loser will be Airgo, whose MIMO smart antenna technology underpins the converged proposal but which competes head-on with EWC co-founder Atheros.
The actual EWC proposal is likely to be a subset of the probable merged WWIse/TGn Sync platform. Its key technical elements, all included in one or both of the existing proposals, are: mixed-mode interoperability with 802.11a/b/g networks; PHY transmission rates up to 600Mbps; enhanced efficiency MAC with frame aggregation to bring actual throughput closer to the raw PHY rate, providing at least 100Mbps application level bandwidth; support for 2.4GHz and/or 5GHz unlicensed bands; support for either 20MHz or 40MHz channel sizes; spatial multiplexing modes for simultaneous transmission using one to four antennas; enhanced range via multiple antennas and advanced coding.
The new group has not broken ties with the IEEE entirely yet, and will meet the joint WWiSE/TGn Sync faction later this month for discussion. The goal is for the smaller group to concede before the next IEEE 802 taskgroup meeting takes place in November. At this meeting, any proposal needs to get a 75 per cent super-majority to avoid the process starting again from scratch. The EWC claims it can get products based on its platform in about a year’s time.
Copyright © 2005, Faultline
Faultline is published by Rethink Research, a London-based publishing and consulting firm. This weekly newsletter is an assessment of the impact of the week's events in the world of digital media. Faultline is where media meets technology. Subscription details here. | <urn:uuid:51cec6ee-b883-4ce6-a3fb-3aac2cbb64ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/13/fast_wi_fi_group/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936525 | 1,147 | 1.609375 | 2 |
5 Popular Facebook Scams (and How to Avoid Them)
Just as bearded hipsters migrate from bar to bar in pursuit of young ladies to ogle, so too have scammers and hackers followed their prey from MySpace to Facebook. As a result, the social network once deemed the "safe" option is now plagued by legions of 419 scammers, phishers, and peddlers of malware.
Fortunately, there are a few simple rules Facebookers can follow to stay safe: Never click on suspicious links from friends; use a service like LongURL before following any shortened links; and assume that anyone begging for money is up to no good. And if you do happen to fall victim to a scam, quickly alert your friends (to prevent spreading the damage), then alert Facebook administrators and, if it's serious, law enforcement as well.
Since a reputable source once counseled that knowing is half the battle, here's a rundown of the Facebook scams most demanding of your awareness and good judgment:
1) The friendly 419 scam:
The notorious 419 scams have sadly become ubiquitous on the Internet. While they began as e-mail cons, usually involving promises of a vast fortune from a Nigerian prince, they have morphed into a new and more sophisticated ploy that involves hijacking the Facebook account of a friend in order to fool kind souls into thinking they're helping a pal. Thieves use an account to garner sympathy as they claim to be in desperate need of cash, often because they've been robbed or detained while traveling abroad. One duped Missouri woman wound up handing over $4,000 before she realized she'd been had.
2) Hidden fee apps:
There are plenty of Facebook apps and quizzes with questionable motives and privacy policies, but there are some that are outright scams. Take, for instance, the sad tale of Leanne Saylor, who fell prey to scammers after taking a simple IQ quiz on the service. To receive her results, she was required to submit her cell phone number and wait for a text. When she didn't receive anything, Saylor entered her phone number two more times. When she opened her next cell phone bill, she discovered three charges from the app, totaling a whopping $44. AT&T blocked future fees, but Saylor learned the hard way that she should never give out her cell phone number to strangers, much less strange apps.
3) Fake login pages:
A particularly sneaky method of ensnaring Facebookers lies in the loads of phishing messages that lead to convincing-but-fake versions of the Facebook login page. Typically, these spam e-mails are brief and contain a link, usually ending in ".im" or ".at." (We received one that simply read, "Look at goodmall.be.") Once you enter your e-mail and password to 'log in,' it's game over; a hacker has control of your account and will quickly use it to perpetrate any one of the scams listed here. What's worse, they'll impersonate you to spread phishing e-mails to all of your friends.
4) Malware links:
Once an account is hijacked, it can be used to deluge that account holder's friends with messages containing links to malicious sites. It's rough stuff. These poisonous software packages leave you vulnerable to the theft of even more data, including all the passwords, account numbers and credit card information you may have entered into your PC. Recently, a barrage of spam messages featuring a link to "CoooooL Video" actually led to nothing but a nasty malware infection.
5) Facebook apps that are malware:
Creating Facebook applications has become so easy that hackers have created apps with the sole aim of tricking you into handing over your personal data or Facebook password. Some versions impersonate one of the standard Facebook features, like "Your Photos" and "Friend's Gifts," and send convincing notifications, like "someone has commented on your photo," or so-and-so "has posted on your wall." But clicking on them either leads to a fake login page, or a window asking for permission to access your Facebook account. These scams are particularly tough to spot because they mimic actual Facebook notifications. The only way to protect yourself is to look for tiny inconsistencies in the false apps (e.g., odd or incorrect icons, clunky wording and poor English usage). It seems your teacher wasn't lying after all when she said learning grammar was important. | <urn:uuid:218caba0-e8b2-41ea-ab42-0a9e54fe765b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.switched.com/2009/09/15/5-popular-facebook-scams-and-how-to-avoid-them/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942964 | 910 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Google has released a new application on the App Store for iPhone. We are talking about “Coordinates”, a management tool for mobile workforce that improves the efficiency of your mobile teams. Google Coordinates app allows users to know the ...―
Now a days, most of the people don’t like to carry a camera, instead they use their mobile phones to capture their memorable moments. It is really fun to capture shots when you are around with your friends and family. It becomes even more...―
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Voice Music Downloader allows you to download free music from sites with open access to MP3 files. It is also the first Music Downloader with voice search functions of tracks in 25 languages and completion of the download in the background. This...―
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In the past few years, we’ve witnessed a revolution in the way our daily lives go about. As tired as one may be to hear such a statement, the fact is that it still boggles the mind. The birth of the Internet plays a bigger part in this than ...―
They say all things come for an end, and what a way to start the 2013 for the Jailbroken devices as the popular Jailbreak App repository Hackulous is now closing its site for a seemingly invalidate but sensible reason. We are very sad to announce...―
LightDV is a new video editing application that allows you to quickly change the look of your video by adding cool effects and filters. The application allows you to insert one of 77 filters within the video recorded via iPhone, to literally ...―
The Marion Police Department, Virginia intending to facilitate and encourage residents to report any crime, for this purpose they have created a free app called iWatchMarion. The application is available on the App Store and allows you to report...―
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Tweet I am a member of the Collective Bias Social Fabric Community. This shop has been ...
It’s no surprise traditional black and white eReaders like the Amazon Kindle are ... | <urn:uuid:253b69cc-4710-4b40-9bbc-d5aaaa152d98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bloggers.com/topics/iphone+app/page7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9491 | 688 | 1.617188 | 2 |
It seems only yesterday that debate raged, or at least quietly burbled, regarding plate curves and color bars. “Should color bars be curved, or should they be linear?” was the question that inquiring minds wanted to know. Happily, that question has been resolved for most, if not all printers. The absolute condition of the press, as represented by linear color bars, has been deemed to be far less important that the actual net color results as measured by color bars that have received the same curve treatment as the actual images, and the large majority of printers give their color bars exactly the same treatment as the rest of the job. After all, we want the color bars to be a true reflection of the actual appearance of the job.
But what about ink optimization? (AKA ink savings, GCR, or various sorts of secret sauce). Should color bars get the same treatment as the image, as they do with curves, or should they shielded from optizimation treatments? Based on informal conversations, it seems like quite a few users feel that indeed, ink optimization should, like curves, be applied globally, to image and color bars equally; but in fact, the situation is completely different, and ink optimization is not only inappropriate for application to color bars, but is absolutely detrimental to their utility and may even represent a sort of false representation of results, particularly in a G7 enviornment.
To illustrate exactly why optimization is so detrimental to the utility of color bars, I’d like to start with a basic color bar of the kind that is frequently configured to fit onto the end-flap of package products (and thus cannot easily escape the effects of optimization, since it is integrated into the image).
This little collection of just ten patches is just enough to judge compliance to G7 specifications with great accuracy, and can either be spread across the press sheet in the traditional manner, or as stated above, hidden into the end flap of the product. It includes solids of CMY and K as well as 25 50 and 75 percent patches of K and CMY grays, A perfect, minimal and effective QC tool. But will it withstand ink optimization?
To see, I have integrated it into some images we all know very well.
There they are, our three favorite girls, the SCID musicians, with a G7 color bar in the corner to assure that all is fine and in perfect gray balance (subject to the limits of web viewing).
In order to simulate a perfect storm, I have created a rather serious color imbalance, the kind that the G7 specification is designed to monitor and control. In this case, while solid ink values have remained perfectly constant, a shift has happenned in the Cyan and Magenta TVI, causing a shift in gray balance that is equally visible both in image and color bars.
The image here is seriously out of balance, but the color bars have done their job. The 25 50 75 CMY gray bars show the same shift we see in the image, allowing process control specialists to spot the unacceptable color variation and reject the job.
Now let’s take a look at the same imagebut this time including aggressing GCR/ink optimization.
This image looks like at first like a victory for ink optimization. This image of the musicians, which were subjected to the same imbalances as the unoptimized image, looks better than the unoptimized image. There is still shifting of the clothes, the flesh tones, the background, but the shifting has at least been reduced. But what about the color bars? Oh my! They are absolutely perfect! Any objective measurement of the color bars would show that we have a 100% perfect job, with complete compliance to G7 in every way, But there is one small problem. The actual image, while better than the unoptimized image is still visually unacceptable, yet based on the color bars, it would have passed QC inspection. How did this happen?
If we peel away the black to look at CMY and K separately, we see that black tints are reproduced with tints of black, amd CMY tints are reproduced with tints of CMY, just as expected.
Performing the same operation on the optimized file, we see that the black tints are reproduced using tints of black, and CMY tints are reproduced with….tints of black! They have completely lost their predictive power as QC devices, and no amount of TVI shifting will cause the slightest shift in gray balance.
With optimization, the image fares less well than the color bars. While GCR does an excellent job of protecting neutrals from shifting, this effect diminishes as we move away from the neutral axis to more saturated colors. Since most images contain many colors, they will invariably tend to fare worse than color bars designed with perfect CMY neutrals.
Does this mean we shouldn’t use ink optimization? Not at all. Optimization/GCR of images with non-optimized color bars is an excellent way to save ink, shorten makeready and increase stability on a wide range of images. But optimization is entirely inappropriate for color bars. Optimized G7 color bars can produce “false negatives” indicating a G7 compliant job even when TVI values and corresponding image appearance are seriously shifted. Be sure that across-the-sheet plate colorbars are excluded from the optimization portion of the workflow. And if colorbars are integrated into the image, such as patches hidden into packaging end flaps, be sure that any image optimization is done off-line, prior to plating, so that color patches can be excluded. | <urn:uuid:1f6a6c31-ae83-4298-bab6-f17e57b06d2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://colorclarity.net/should-color-bars-be-optimized/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955377 | 1,159 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Hundreds Mourn Victim of East Timor Post-Poll Violence
Hundreds of mourners, many carrying flags of the opposition Fretilin party, marched in a funeral procession on Tuesday for a victim of East Timor’s post-election violence.
Thousands of people took to the streets to watch, while a number of shops closed early and riot police were out in force. The UN mission in the impoverished country says the latest bout of unrest is not a setback.
Angry demonstrations erupted in the capital Dili on Sunday, shortly after the party of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao — East Timor’s resistance hero — announced that Fretilin would be excluded from a government coalition.
Many marching behind the coffin of university student Armindo Pereira, whose fatal shooting Sunday in the village of Hera is under investigation, held signs blaming Gusmao’s National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) party.
“Victims of dictator Xanana!,” read a hand-scrawled banner with a crude cartoon portrait of the prime minister.
Police have confirmed they fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse mobs that gathered after the CNRT announced it would form a coalition with the Democratic Party (PD), which is part of the current government, and the smaller Frenti-Mudanca.
Fretilin secretary-general Mari Alkatiri said it was regrettable that the CNRT’s live broadcast of the announcement included “insults and denigration of Fretilin,” implying that had triggered the violence.
The United Nations sees the July 7 polls — and their aftermath — as the last big test that will decide whether its remaining 1,300 peacekeepers and other security staff can withdraw from the fledgling nation of 1.1 million at the end of the year.
Since winning formal independence in 2002, East Timor has suffered bouts of violence, including a bloody episode ahead of 2006 parliamentary elections which left 37 people dead and displaced tens of thousands.
The Court of Appeal on Tuesday confirmed the results of the July 7 polls, in which CNRT won 30 seats, Fretilin walked away with 25, PD got eight and Frenti-Mudanca received two.
CNRT’s win was three short of the majority needed in the 65-seat parliament to govern alone.
Following the end of Portuguese rule in 1975, East Timor was occupied by Indonesia for 24 years. Some 183,000 people died from fighting, disease and starvation before the half-island state voted for independence in 1999. | <urn:uuid:20e28fdd-bd0d-4115-8422-8ad499772978> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/archive/hundreds-mourn-victim-of-east-timor-post-poll-violence/531076/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958253 | 534 | 1.765625 | 2 |
A Song that Fueled a Revolution
Chris Heagle, producer
While doing research for our upcoming show with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, I stumbled on the remarkable 2002 documentary, Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony. It chronicles the struggle against apartheid through music and is an amazing resource.
As the film shows, music, especially singing, was integral to the anti-apartheid movement. This song, “Senzeni Na?” stood out (in fact, I can’t get it out of my head!). Its title translates to “What have we done?” and its haunting melody served as both a lament and a rallying cry. There’s a powerful clip from Amandla! that talks about the influence of this song, but due to copyright, I was unable to isolate and embed it here for you. However, you can watch this section by forwarding to the 40:30 mark of the film.
Jimmy Matyu, a columnist for The Herald in South Africa, writes:
“‘Senzeni Na?’ was one of the most powerful and moving songs during the struggle against apartheid and had the power to unite all African people who were the most viciously oppressed section of the South African population. This song, sung at rallies, meetings, protests, funerals, wanted an answer either from God or the government about what blacks had done to deserve such inhumane treatment or naked suffering. This line was repeated so many times and broken only by that soul-touching line, Isono sethu bubumnyama (Our only sin is our darkness).”
Senzeni Na? (Zulu/Xhosa) What Have We Done? (English)
Senzenina What have we done?
Sono sethu ubumnyama Our sin is our blackness
Sono sethu yinyaniso Our sin is the truth
Sibulawayo They are killing us
Mayibuye i Africa. Let Africa return.
As usual, we’ll be posting a playlist of all of the amazing music from this show, as well as some gems that didn’t make into the final production, on our website when the show comes out next week. | <urn:uuid:d21d712f-0df6-4c14-b762-a0919dd5c5ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.onbeing.org/post/543663916/a-song-that-fueled-a-revolution-chris-heagle | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959426 | 468 | 1.828125 | 2 |
The iOS app economy is making $4.3 billion per year with 49.5 million apps downloaded every day, according to an analyst.
Based on the data Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed during WWDC, Asymco analyst Horace Dediu has calculated that 49.5 million apps are downloaded every day.
He reached this number based on Cook’s revelations that 30 billion apps have been downloaded to date; $5 billion paid to app developers; and that there are 400 million iTunes accounts.
According to Dediu’s research, apps over took music downloads back in summer 2009. Compared to books and iTunes songs, “apps are being downloaded at a far faster rate–at least four times faster,” according to the report.
“It won’t be long before total app downloads will be double total song downloads. Put another way, in the time it took the App store to reach 30 million, the song store sold only 3 million,” claims the report, which notes that songs are generally more expensive than apps.
The report addresses concerns that the expansion of the user base into the hundreds of millions is leading to a collapse in app pricing, and concludes: “It turns out the average price of an app has held steady since approximately 1 billion downloads were recorded. That price is now about 24 cents per app (including free).” | <urn:uuid:e153bf4d-5a52-48a2-a844-8cbe0324abc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.macworld.co.uk/ipad-iphone/news/?newsid=3364078 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971902 | 285 | 1.507813 | 2 |
By PDADCO payday loan
Written by Brendan W. Tully, DDS, MBA Monday, 16 July 2012 18:10
As Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom enter their eighth and tenth years respectively, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) continue to kill and maim US service members on a regular basis. Despite adherence to a strict protocol of protective equipment including Kevlar helmets, throat guards, and ballistic goggles, the oral-facial complex is still very vulnerable in the modern day combat environments of Iraq and Afghanistan. Dentoalveolar injuries sustained from IEDs will continue to present significant challenges for both the civilian and military comprehensive dentist.
A 32-year-old male US Army staff sergeant was patrolling in an armored Bradley fighting vehicle in the area of Balad, Iraq, in 2007 in support of OIF when an IED exploded underneath his vehicle. According to witnesses, the force of the blast lifted the 25-ton vehicle off of the ground and knocked the patient unconscious for a period of 20 minutes. The patient, who was wearing ballistic goggles, sustained numerous shrapnel wounds to the face and was bleeding profusely before Army medics were able to stabilize him. The patient’s left mandible (midbody) was fractured in the explosion (Figure 1) and upon regaining consciousness, he reported “spitting out teeth” as a result of numerous enamel fractures sustained primarily in the anterior and posterior maxilla (Figures 2 and 3).
|Figure 1. Panoramic radiograph (PANOREX) of patient shortly after he arrived from Iraq.||Figure 2. Preoperative photo of patient open.|
|Figure 3. Preoperative photo of maxilla.||Figure 4. Patient receiving the Purple Heart from his commanding officer.|
The patient was medically evacuated to Camp Anaconda in Balad, where US Army oral surgeons completed open reduction internal fixation on the patient’s left mandible. In addition to his oral-facial wounds, the patient also sustained a moderate traumatic brain injury and an IED-related injury to his left foot. The patient was transferred to a US Army hospital in Lanstuhl, Germany, and then eventually back to the United States (Figure 4).
Upon return to the First Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Tex, the patient reported to the Billy Johnson Dental Clinic, home to one of the US Army’s three 2-year comprehensive dentistry residency programs. Fort Hood is one of the largest military installations in the United States and is home to America’s Armored Corps, including the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, the First Cavalry Division, and the Fourth Infantry Division. One in 10 active duty US soldiers is stationed at Fort Hood.1
Diagnosis and Treatment Planning
The patient’s chief request was to “save as many teeth as possible.” After a thorough exam and a complete diagnostic evaluation, including periodontal probing and hygiene prophylaxis, the soldier was accepted as a patient in the residency, and work began immediately in the preparatory/hygienic/diagnostic/disease control phase of the Anderson Medical Model.2 The patient had adequate oral hygiene, was not in pain, and reported no allergies or tobacco use. Clinical probing depths of 4 mm were noted on only 3 tooth surfaces and tooth No. 26 had asymptomatic localized Miller Class III recession (Figure 5). The patient was taking Midrin for migraine headaches and amitriptyline, a tricyclic antidepressant, also for the treatment of migraine headaches.
|Figure 5. Preoperative photo of patient closed.||Figure 6. Postoperative photo of maxilla.|
|Figure 7. Master cast of the patient’s maxilla with locators.||Figure 8. Denture caps.|
Because the patient wanted to save as many teeth as possible, the decision was made to proceed with both an implant and tooth-retained maxillary removable partial denture after extracting those teeth determined to be nonrestorable or unfavorable as long-term overdenture abutments.
Teeth Nos. 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 13 were extracted, and a temporary transitional partial was delivered. Because of its history of multiple restorations and Class 1 mobility, tooth No. 10 was determined to be a poor long-term overdenture abutment and it was extracted, leaving tooth No. 11 as the only remaining anterior tooth to serve as an overdenture abutment. Crown lengthening on tooth No. 3 was also accomplished at the time of the maxillary extractions.
The Anderson Medical Model requires a re-evaluation phase to assess the patient’s oral hygiene status before progressing to the corrective restorative phase of the comprehensive treatment. The patient demonstrated a marked improvement in his oral hygiene and work continued to restore the patient’s remaining dentition.
In the corrective restorative phase, elective endodontics was performed on tooth No. 11, a post space was created, and a locator root attachment, also referred to as a locator abutment for natural teeth (Zest Anchors) was cemented with a self-curing resin cement (Panavia [Kuraray America]).
Although canines have traditionally been used as overdenture abutments, their prominent bony eminence can complicate the aesthetic contours of removable prostheses. The prominent canine eminence can also contribute to tissue undercut problems, making it difficult for patients to place and remove their prostheses. With the use of lateral incisors as overdenture abutments, tissue undercut problems are usually avoided and favorable aesthetic results are readily attained.3
An endosseous implant and a 4-mm healing abutment (Replace Select 4.3 mm x 10 mm [Nobel Biocare]) was placed in the area of tooth No. 7, and the patient’s transitional partial was relieved in order to avoid immediately loading the implant. A survey PFM crown with a mesial rest was cemented with a resin cement (RelyX Unicem [3M ESPE]) on tooth No. 3 (Figure 6), and a vinyl polysiloxane impression (Aquasil Ultra Heavy Smart Wetting Impression Material and Aquasil Ultra XLV Smart Wetting Impression Material [DENTSPLY Caulk]) was taken and subsequently poured up with locator analogs (Figure 7). The master cast was fitted with 2 denture caps—one on the implant in the area of tooth No. 7 and one denture cap on tooth No. 11 (Figures 8 and 9). This allowed the Kennedy Class IV removable partial denture (RPD) to be fabricated with the denture caps incorporated into the initial processing, thus avoiding the procedure of “picking up” the locator abutments and retro-fitting the RPD (Figure 10).
|Figure 9. Master cast with removable partial denture (RPD) framework.||Figure 10. Completed RPD. Note denture caps with black inserts.|
|Figure 11. Preoperative full-facial photo.||Figure 12. Postoperative facial view of patient.|
While it is not unusual to have both a combined natural tooth and an implant-retained prosthesis, the issue of attaining maximum parallelism between the locator attachments is critical. Most implant overdenture abutments require parallelism within approximately 10° to function properly.4 Parallelism of the retentive abutments allows for: (1) consistent and uniform fit of the prosthesis, (2) an unobstructed path of prosthesis insertion and removal, and (3) less wear on the retentive elements. Nonparallel abutments may compromise the structural integrity, aesthetics, and function of the prosthesis and may only be remedied with surgical re-treatment or prosthetic compensation in the form of an altered design of the final prosthesis.5
Various levels of prosthetic retention can be achieved with the color-coded replacement male inserts that correspond to different levels of retentive force. After trying several different colors, the patient was most comfortable with the blue replacement male inserts (1.5 lbs of retentive force) and later reported that he had no fear of losing his prosthesis during mastication.
In the mandible, the patient complained that tooth No. 26, in extreme lingual version, was a constant irritant to his tongue and it was subsequently extracted. Tooth No. 30 was diagnosed with a necrotic pulp and asymptomatic apical periodontitis. Nonsurgical root canal therapy was performed on tooth No. 30 followed by a PFM crown. A Class I occlusal amalgam was placed on tooth No. 28 followed by a distal occlusal amalgam on tooth No. 29. Previous studies by the Dutch research group of Käyser and Nijmegen6 found that shortened dental arches comprised of anterior and premolar teeth generally fulfilled the requirements of a functional dentition.6 For this reason, and the close proximity of the screw and plate to tooth No. 20 on the patient’s left mandible, an endosseous implant to attain first molar occlusion was not attempted.
As a result of the IED explosion, the patient suffered from short-term memory loss and was unable to remember everyday schedules and appointments without the assistance of a US Army-provided Palm Pilot. The patient was also experiencing severe migraine headaches that became progressively worse with physical activity. After extensive neurological testing and physical therapy, it was determined that the patient was unable to perform his role as a front line soldier and the Army elected to medically retire the patient.
As of the submission of this article, the patient is currently awaiting a medical retirement board and release from active duty (Figures 11 and 12).
- US Army. The Official Website of Fort Hood, Texas. pao.hood.army.mil. Accessed January 14, 2012.
- Anderson MH, Molvar MP, Powell LV. Treating dental caries as an infectious disease. Oper Dent. 1991;16:21-28.
- Nelson DR, von Gonten AS. Biomechanical and esthetic considerations for maxillary anterior overdenture abutment selection. J Prosthet Dent. 1994;72:133-136.
- Dario LJ. A maxillary implant overdenture that utilizes angle-correcting abutments. J Prosthodont. 2002;11:41-45.
- Shor A, Shor K, Goto Y. Implant-retained overdenture design for the malpositioned mandibular implants. Compend Contin Educ Dent. 2006;27:411-421.
- Kanno T, Carlsson GE. A review of the shortened dental arch concept focusing on the work by the Käyser/ Nijmegen group. J Oral Rehabil. 2006;33:850-862.
Disclosure: Dr. Tully reports no disclosures.
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- Treatment Planning | <urn:uuid:34599ed7-5fa7-45aa-91e7-5f5614948a99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dentistrytoday.com/restorative/7841-treatment-of-and-improvised-explosive-device-blast-injury- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935293 | 2,409 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Galena Fire ‘human caused,’ still 45 percent contained Sunday
Galena Fire west of Ft. Collins, Colo. March 15, 2013
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The Galena Fire has now burned an estimated 750 to 1,000 acres west of Fort Collins near Horsetooth River, according to the Poudre Fire Authority.
The fire that erupted Friday near the Lory State Park remained about 45 percent contained, officials said Sunday morning. Residents will continue to see activity in the interior of the fire with active flames and tree torching. Winds were expected to increase Sunday afternoon, which will likely result in lots of smoke in the Fort Collins area.
According to Kathy Messick with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, the cause of the fire has been determined to be human caused.
Patrick Love with the Poudre Fire Authority said the cause was accidental. Love mentioned that the cause is also “not from a prescribed burn or an escaped controlled burn.”
The fire started near the entrance to the Lory State Park, officials said.
A Type III fire incident management team took over controlling the fire on Saturday morning.
According to Tony Simons, an incident commander with Larimer County emergency services, there are currently 50 firefighters on the ground, and another 60 are expected to arrive in the area Saturday.
“This time of year, there are not a lot of fire resources available,” Simons said during a press conference Saturday morning. A Type II helicopter arrived Saturday to help fight the flames, and a second helicopter will also be assisting firefighting efforts Sunday.
Mandatory evacuation orders were issued Friday afternoon after the fire was threatening more than 50 homes. Additional evacuation notices were issued for residents south of the fire.
In a press release sent out on Saturday afternoon, John Schulz with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office said that all evacuations for the Galena Fire would be lifted Saturday at 8:00 p.m.
Residents in the affected area will be allowed to return home, and will not need credentials to return to their houses. According to Schulz, these residents will remain on pre-evacuation status and should be prepared to leave if necessary.
The area affected is north of Larimer County Road 38E. This includes all feeder streets to Shoreline Drive in the vicinity of Inlet Bay and north up to and including the Continental Circle area.
Christensen said 579 emergency notifications were sent to residents living in the area Friday.
The Cache la Poudre Elementary School in Laporte was designated as the evacuation center. The Red Cross has set up a shelter there.
Currently there are road blocks at Shoreline Drive and County Road 38E and Skyline and 38E on the south part of the fire evacuation area. Lodgepole Drive at Lory State Park is also closed. County Road 38E is open. South Bay, Inlet Bay, Lory State Park and Horsetooth Mountain Park remain closed.
Authorities hope that Saturday’s cooler weather forecast will help firefighting efforts. Temperatures are expected to drop into the 50s, according to Chief Meteorologist Dave Fraser. There is also a 40 percent chance of rain expected for the Front Range.
Winds have also died down since Friday afternoon, which officials said were “extremely erratic,” and pushed the fire south toward Horsetooth Mountain Park.
Officials expect winds to increase to around 20 to 30 mph on Sunday.
Firefighters managed to save two houses and a state park visitor’s center from the fire, according to authorities.
There have been no injuries or loss of structures reported.
There were about 125 people at the resident evacuation meeting held at the Cache La Poudre gym at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Lory State Park and Horsetooth open space remain closed.
The emergency hotline number for the Galena Fire is (970) 498-5500. | <urn:uuid:ec8c4965-e955-402f-9eba-90dc0b3379d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kwgn.com/2013/03/16/galena-fire-human-caused-still-45-percent-contained-sunday/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964025 | 820 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The nation's higher-than-normal mortgage loan delinquency rate is not driven by new loans. / Joe Raedle, Getty Images
Here's some good news on home loan delinquencies.
If not for all the homeowners who haven't paid their mortgages in more than a year, the nation's home loan delinquency rate would be only slightly higher than normal, shows new research from credit monitor TransUnion.
The delinquency rate would fall to about 2.5%, down from more than 5%, if those borrowers were excluded, says Tim Martin, TransUnion vice president.
Before the foreclosure crisis and housing bust, the normal mortgage delinquency rate was about 1.5% to 2%, TransUnion says.
The company expects the mortgage delinquency rate -- which looks at borrowers 60 or more days past due -- to finish this year at 5.32% and to drop only slightly to 5.06% by the end of next year.
The nation's higher-than-normal mortgage loan delinquency rate is not driven by new loans. "It's a lot of folks ... who have been delinquent for a really long time," Martin says.
Before the recession, it was unusual for a borrower to go more than 180 days without either being able to fix their situation or go through the foreclosure process, TransUnion says.
At the end of October, homes that went through a foreclosure sale were delinquent an average of 728 days, mortgage tracker Lender Processing Services says. That was up from 497 days two years earlier.
If the pace of improvement in curing delinquent loans doesn't pick up, national home loan delinquency rates will take another four years to get back to normal, TransUnion says.
More than 80% of the nation's currently delinquent home loans were originated before 2008, TransUnion's data show. The pre-2008 loans make up 54% of all mortgages, it says.
TransUnion predicts the biggest declines in mortgage delinquency rates next year will occur in several states that were hit hardest by foreclosures. Nevada will see a 19% drop. California and Arizona will post 12% declines.
In all of those states, foreclosures don't go through the courts so they can occur more rapidly than they typically do in states where foreclosures do go through the courts.
Thirteen states will see mortgage delinquency rates rise next year, TransUnion says.
They are largely states that have lower delinquency rates now compared with the national average, TransUnion says, and include North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.
Despite likely increases next year, those three states will end 2013 with the lowest mortgage delinquency rates in the nation, TransUnion predicts.
North Dakota, which is experiencing an energy boom, will be at 1.5% of home loans being 60 or more days late. Nebraska and South Dakota will come in at about 2.3%.
Florida will have the highest delinquency rate at almost 12%, followed by Nevada at just over 8%.
The national mortgage delinquency rate peaked in the fourth quarter of 2009 at 6.89% after rising 12 consecutive quarters from its 1.9% mark in the fourth quarter of 2006, TransUnion says.
Copyright 2013 USATODAY.com
Read the original story: Mortgage delinquencies to remain high in 2013 | <urn:uuid:100d2be9-66f3-4008-97ec-79348cf3eb62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lohud.com/usatoday/article/1761365?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFrontpage%7Cp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960174 | 677 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Tracy is a great place to live because it has a small-town feel to it; however, if Tracy added an aquatics center it would make Tracy even better. Adding an aquatics center would make families happier, bring jobs to Tracy and would be good for the community.
The kids would love to swim, go down waterslides and jump off the diving boards. Kids would have a safe place to hang out with friends. If Tracy added an aquatics center, it would be a great place for local families to socialize and spend time together.
Next, the aquatics center would bring jobs to Tracy. The aquatics center would need many lifeguards to keep everyone safe in the water. Then, the aquatics center would need people to work at the concession stands to make and sell food.
Finally, the aquatics center would be good for the community. It would bring people into Tracy, which would be good for the local businesses like restaurants and gas stations. Also, the local residents would not have to go to other towns for water attractions, which keeps more money in the town of Tracy. So it seems to me that the aquatics center would be a great addition to Tracy’s economy. | <urn:uuid:b35c2b86-be84-4ee0-8356-380f7f9811c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tracypress.com/view/full_story/21719395/article-Your-Voice--Aquatics-center-would-make-?instance=home_opinion_lead_story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978491 | 249 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Mark Levinson No.380S preamplifier
All manufacturing companies deal with this question continually, but with Madrigal's Mark Levinson brand, we've become accustomed to the decimal progression: the No.20 monoblock became first the No.20.5, then the No.20.6; the No.30 D/A processor metamorphosed into the No.30.5, the No.31 transport into the '31.5. But the pattern was broken when the substitution of a new printed-circuit-board material transformed the No.38 preamplifier into the No.38S.
The Mark Levinson No.38S has been my reference preamplifier for the past three years (footnote 1), but as a result of major "comping," the '38S was transformed this past summer into the No.380S. The circuit and pcb material are the same, the remote-controlled, MDAC-based, 0.1dB-step, balanced volume control is the same, the appearance is the same, even the price ($6495) is the same—but the substitution of 106 passive components in strategic places resulted in a sufficiently large sonic improvement that Madrigal felt a new model designation was called for.
So how does the new preamplifier sound?
First, don't listen to the piece until it's warmed up—out of the box, my sample was rather upfront in its presentation. But after two hours it settled down, and I was able to do some serious listening. I used both the '380S and the original review sample for extended periods, as well as doing A/B comparisons at matched levels (something made trivially easy by the preamps' repeatable and well-calibrated level settings).
Second, how do you describe the sound of something that's superficially identical to your reference, but better? Audiophiles habitually refer to sonic differences between two components in terms of differences in frequency balance: A had more bass, B had more treble, C had a depressed midrange. But when comparing the two Levinson preamps, I kept hearing how similar they were on these terms. There were no response or balance differences that I could confidently hang my hat on, yet there was a musical rightness to the sound of the '380S that I consistently preferred. Stereo images seemed better-defined, and individual sonic objects within those images had more of a rounded, fleshed-out character. In the deathless prose of Sam Tellig, there was simply more "there" there. And more "air" there, if you will.
This was an area where the original '38S had been showing its age in light of the performance offered by two of the preamps I've been listening to in Wes Phillips' system: the Conrad-Johnson Premier 14 and Ayre K-1. Not that the '38S was a sonic slouch—far from it. In fact, when we used it to provide some gain to drive the disc-cutting amplifiers when we mastered Stereophile's Sonata LP (see "Cutting Up," Vol.20 No.3), we were impressed by how little it got in the way of the music. But the No.380S just went that essential bit further. A small difference in objective terms, but one that is, subjectively, enormously important. I can confidently recommend the No.380S as my solid-state preamplifier of choice.
Footnote 1: My Stereophile review appeared in July 1995 (Vol.18 No.7). You should refer to that review, and RH's earlier review of the No.38 (Vol.17 No.8), for functional and technical descriptions. | <urn:uuid:66db5993-920f-47b2-bdc8-5b83c4722c38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/676 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968711 | 778 | 1.515625 | 2 |
According to the MOP [Mob of Pundits] crowd, American car companies have messed up -- making too many trucks and sport-utility vehicles, ignoring consumer and governmental demands for more fuel-efficient vehicles and, as Will stated in a column last week, entering "improvident labor contracts" with the UAW.As Brown reminds us, Honda, Nissan, Toyota and even Mercedes-Benz all had some kind of truck or SUV too because they were following "market demand." Nobody twisted our arms and forced us to buy the gas guzzlers.
Americans went truck crazy in the 1990s and in the early years of this century, making light trucks more than 50 percent of new vehicles annually sold in this country, for the same reason they are in danger of re-embracing that madness -- cheap gasoline. They were enabled by lawmakers who, with one hand, pushed car companies to increase technical fuel efficiency while using the other to give American consumers the least-expensive gasoline in the developed world.
Increased technical fuel efficiency plus low-cost gasoline fueled consumer demand for more driving and bigger and more powerful vehicles with which to do that driving. Gasoline consumption in the United States soared . . . until high fuel prices restored some sanity to the U.S. consumer automotive market.
What about the critics who say, "but look at that fuel-efficient, gas-electric Toyota Prius hybrid?"
Go ahead and look at it, preferably in Japan, where the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has done a marvelous job of coordinating industrial and energy policy into a vehicle development and consumption strategy that makes sense. We have no such government-industry cooperation in the United States. We have no industrial policy, no energy policy, which largely is why we now have a core segment of our natively owned manufacturing infrastructure teetering on the brink of collapse.Furthermore, Brown points out that European and Asian countries tax horsepower. The least-efficient motor fuels are taxed heavily, while favorable treatment is given to more efficient fuels, such as diesel.
That cost-sharing creates a kind of honesty. Car companies aren't inclined to design, develop and produce gas-guzzlers because European and Asian consumers are not inclined to buy them. It creates market predictability, contrary to what we have in the United States, where vehicle markets can flower or wither in an instant, depending on the price of fuel.What did Brown have to say about the unions?
It is the rankest hypocrisy for well-paid journalists to decry the "high" pay of UAW-represented employees. I doubt that there is one UAW critic in the media, or on Capitol Hill, who would be willing to settle for a UAW paycheck. I'm almost certain there isn't one who would be willing to trade his or her relatively cushy employment for a year on an auto plant assembly line.Brown doesn't excuse the Big Three and he admits they've made mistakes, but he also points out they've done many things right - "contributing to the defense of this country; helping to create a viable middle class, especially in America's minority communities; and contributing to technological advancements in the global automobile industry."
Criticism of "improvident labor contracts" thus smacks of class bias. It reeks of the notion that some work, such as that involving manual labor, inherently deserves less compensation than others, such as expressing one's opinion. It's more baloney.
The bottom line: "The potential failure confronting GM, Ford and Chrysler is not Detroit's alone. It belongs to all of us."
The solution to this problem belongs to all of us too - consumers, domestic automakers and the government. We have to keep pushing for meaningful energy policies regardless of the price of gas and we have to demand industrial policies that level the playing field for our domestic automakers and workers. | <urn:uuid:d07ce6f2-9314-4f49-93bc-1f557bf0a142> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stonesoupmusings.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952873 | 794 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Iraq protester sets self ablaze in anti-government rally
MOSUL, Iraq |
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - An Iraqi protester set himself ablaze on Sunday in a dramatic turn in more than three weeks of rallies by Sunni Muslims challenging Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government.
Thousands of Sunni demonstrators have rallied since late December against a Shi'ite-led government they believe has marginalized their minority sect, raising fears the OPEC country may slide again into widespread sectarian confrontation.
During protests of around 2,000 demonstrators in the northern city of Mosul, one man set himself ablaze before others quickly stamped out the flames with their jackets, police said. He was sent to hospital with burns to his face and hands.
"We don't want people to hang themselves or burn themselves, this would be against Islam," said Ghanim al-Abid, protest organizer in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad. "But he reached such a state of despair he set himself on fire."
Self-immolations have had resonance in the Arab world since a Tunisian vegetable seller set himself on fire two years ago. His death in January 2011 triggered the wave of uprisings that toppled leaders across North Africa and the Middle East.
Sunday's incident in Iraq shows the frustration among Sunnis that has not ebbed despite concessions from Maliki.
Many Iraqi Sunnis feel they have been unfairly targeted by security forces and sidelined from power since the fall of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and the rise of the Shi'ite majority through the ballot box.
Protests have centered Anbar province, a vast desert area that makes up a third of Iraq's territory, populated mainly by Sunnis in towns and settlements along the Euphrates.
SYRIA CRISIS LOOMS
A year after the last American troops left, Iraq's government of Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish parties is deadlocked in a crisis over how to share power. Insurgent bombers are still seeking to enflame sectarian tensions.
Violence and Sunni unrest are worsening concern that the conflict in neighboring Syria, where mainly Sunni rebels are fighting Shi'ite Iran's ally President Bashar al-Assad, will upset Iraq's own delicate sectarian and ethnic balance.
A suicide bomber killed an influential Sunni lawmaker on Tuesday, and another suicide bomber hit the disputed city of Kirkuk a day later, killing more than 20 people.
Sunni turmoil erupted in late December after state officials arrested members of a Sunni finance minister's security team on terrorism charges. Authorities denied the arrests were political, but Sunni leaders saw them as a crackdown.
Maliki has appointed Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani, an influential Shi'ite figure, to address protester demands, and the government has released more than 400 detainees in an effort to appease rallies.
"There is no time left for talks. The government has to stand up to its responsibility and take a crucial decision to meet demands," said Sunni lawmaker Wihda al-Jumaili.
Protesters want anti-terrorism laws modified, prisoners released, an amnesty law passed and an easing of a campaign against former members of Saddam's outlawed Baathist party, a measure Sunnis believe has been used to target their leaders.
They are also demanding better government services, a complaint they share with other Iraqis frustrated by the lack of economic progress despite windfall state revenues from growing oil production.
Sunni protesters are also split among moderates more keen to work to improve power-sharing agreements and hardline Islamist voices who are calling for Maliki's ouster and even the formation of a separate Sunni region inside Iraq.
(Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Peter Graff)
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Vault And Voting? Speech Day is Murder Day
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This page has been viewed 3 times this month, and 147 times total. | <urn:uuid:96497891-1b7e-4714-831f-ac937c14d6cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/91108-Vault_And_Voting_Speech_Day_is_Murd.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953717 | 225 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Browsing on Facebook turned out to be a blessing in disguise for a two years old baby, as after noticing the picture of the baby on the website a nurse identified a symptom of cancer in the eyes of the toddler. The incident occurred when Nicola Sharp was looking at the pictures of her friend Michele Freeman on the website and noticed something unusual with the eyes of the daughter of Michele.
Nicola observed that her friend’s, two-year-old daughter’s left eye was not alright as Grace’s pupil was white, when it should have had a red tint due to the red eye effect in the pictures. The most common reason for the whiting of the red eye tint is because of cancer, which Nicola knew and intimidated her friend Michele about the observation.
After being informed about the observation by Nicola, Michele immediately decided to get Grace diagnosed, following the procedure Grace was found to be suffering from two tumors in her left eye. She had also completely lost sight in her left eye.
After the diagnosis, specialists, who are treating Grace, told Michele that if Michele would have been late and the tumor would have spread, Grace’s life could have been in danger. While talking about the development, Michele stated that it was because of Nicola that Grace’s life was saved and that if it wouldn’t have been for Nicola nobody would have noticed the tumor except when it would have been too late. | <urn:uuid:f126d8be-ef02-485d-9c90-3786e5af41b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://topnews.co.uk/214610-facebook-browsing-results-detection-cancer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985282 | 293 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Last weeks Green Business Roundtable featuring Tim Erdman, CEO and Board Memeber of Virent Inc. discussed a new catalytic technology that has the capacity to reform all cellulose matter from plants into gasoline. In addition to developing a fuel source that does not rely on the banked fossil fuels, the technology developed by Erdman's company is working with a major soda manufacturer to use plant matter to make paraxylene plastics, which may replace the way all plastics eventually are manufactured. Also, Erdman has his eye on a new technology for solar panels that have proven to increase their efficiency to over 50% absorption. For more information you can visit the article posted in the Telluride Daily Planet.
A big and gracious Thanks to Tim Erdman for sharing these exciting developments with us and the greater Telluride Community. THANK YOU! | <urn:uuid:72cabf1f-9f81-4b29-bf0d-ee96ae296a07> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newcommunitycoalition.org/december-gbr-recap-creating-hydrogen-from-plants/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953478 | 171 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Binational Gay Couples Seeking Home in USA
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Amid pressure from Democratic lawmakers, Homeland Security officials reiterated that a foreigner’s longstanding same-sex relationship with a U.S. citizen could help stave off the threat of deportation.
Binational gay couples are eligible for consideration under a federal program designed to focus resources away from low-priority deportation cases and let officials spend more time tracking down convicted criminals, said Marsha Catron, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.
However, the Obama administration will not automatically shelve deportation cases or process green card applications involving foreign citizens married to same-sex American partners.
Catron said Homeland Security will continue to comply with a 1996 law that prohibits the government from recognizing same-sex relationships, even as it takes these relationships into consideration when evaluating possible deportation.
The Obama administration last year said it considers the Defense of Marriage law unconstitutional and would no longer defend it in court.
Friday’s statement, which builds on comments Homeland Security officials made last summer, came three days after 84 lawmakers led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi demanded the agency put its position in writing and disseminate it to Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices to help keep same-sex couples together.
The reassurance was first reported on Thursday by the online news site BuzzFeed. Immigrant advocates welcomed the comments but said a formal policy still is needed.
"It is significant to me because it is expressly inclusive of LGBT families," said Lavi Soloway, an immigration attorney who represents a number of same-sex couples in deportation proceedings.
Yet "as long as it’s not in writing it doesn’t mean that much for an individual in deportation," Soloway said.
That sentiment was echoed by Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill, whose boss is awaiting word on whether the administration plans to recognize couples’ ties in a memo or field guidance," not just public statements.
"We look forward to the written guidance that we expect would be a logical next step," Hammill said.
Homeland Security officials did not answer questions about whether a written memo would be issued.
The federal government last year began reviewing deportation cases to determine which ones should be top priority and which ones might be shelved. Government attorneys weigh factors such as a person’s criminal record, family ties and community relations in making their decisions. ICE officials said at the time that long-term same-sex relationships could be included under the family ties criteria.
As of July 20, government attorneys had reviewed more than 355,000 deportation cases and determined about 6 percent qualified to be placed on hold, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At least half a dozen same-sex couples who were at risk of being separated have won temporary reprieves, either from immigration judges or under the broader review.
Immigrant advocates have criticized the program for failing to help more immigrants, while gay rights advocates have continued pushing for a blanket moratorium on deportations of foreign nationals who are legally married to same-sex spouses or in long-term gay relationships.
Supporters of stricter limits on immigration have decried it as a way of circumventing Congress.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, questioned how the Obama administration could simply contradict the 1996 law passed by Congress known as the Defense of Marriage Act.
"I just don’t see how you can exercise discretion as though they’re spouses if they’re not spouses under federal law," said Krikorian, whose group wants more limits on immigration. "It doesn’t even matter what you think about DOMA."
In this week’s letter, Democratic lawmakers accused Homeland Security officials of overlooking binational same-sex couples for prosecutorial discretion - even though agency officials said almost a year ago that same-sex marriages and partnerships would be considered a positive factor in their cases.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit seeking green cards on behalf of five foreign citizens married to gay or lesbian Americans has been put on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to take up several other cases challenging the Defense of Marriage Act. | <urn:uuid:26a13a47-47c8-4fa4-a871-b99334477fef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edgemiami.com/index.php?ch=style&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=135800 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96023 | 849 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Firefighters made progress Thursday in fighting a blaze that has devoured more than 18,000 acres in Colorado, but their sense of accomplishment was tempered by the news that nearly 350 homes in Colorado Springs had been destroyed by the flames.
Mayor Steve Bach, citing preliminary numbers, told reporters that 346 residences on 34 streets were destroyed.
A meeting was planned Thursday night for residents of specific streets affected by the Waldo Canyon Fire, Bach said.
"This is going to be a tough evening, but we're going to get through it," he said. "This community is going to mount an unprecedented response to this. ... This community is going to surround them with love and encouragement, and we are going to move forward as a city."
The blaze, which has chased 36,000 people from their homes in the city, was estimated to be at 10% containment, incident commander Rich Harvey said.
Calmer winds and lower temperatures Thursday helped firefighters in fighting the blaze.
"The weather cooperated with us today like it has in no other day since this fire started," said Jerri Marr, forest supervisor of the Pike and San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands. "We made significant progress today."
Still, she warned, "There's a lot of fire out there on the ground."
The U.S. Forest Service has estimated it could be mid-July before the fire is fully under control.
Colorado Springs Police Chief Pete Carey told reporters, "There's a small number of people we're trying to track down," attempting to determine which evacuation center they might be in and whether they left notifications for relatives. Those number fewer than 10. | <urn:uuid:109da880-81fb-438b-b1d8-18867f19440e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbaltv.com/news/national/Nearly-350-homes-destroyed-in-Colorado/-/9379440/15329924/-/p79vfpz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978524 | 345 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Progress on Implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
ROBERT A. PECK
PUBLIC BUILDINGS SERVICE
U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 23, 2010
Good Morning Chairman Oberstar, Ranking Member Mica, and members of the Committee. My name is Robert A. Peck, and I am the Commissioner of the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Public Buildings Service (PBS). Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today to discuss GSA’s contribution to our nation’s economic recovery through green modernization and new construction of our federal buildings.
Nearly one year ago, $5.55 billion in funding provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) gave us an unprecedented and exciting opportunity to contribute to our nation’s economic recovery and environmental sustainability. The investments we made and continue to make in our public buildings are helping to stimulate job growth and retention in the construction and real estate sectors, reduce energy consumption, improve the environmental performance of our inventory, reduce our backlog of repairs and alterations, and increase the value of our assets. In addition, our investments will help further developments in energy efficient technologies, renewable energy generation, and green building solutions.
We are successfully meeting our established milestones to meet the intent and goals of the Recovery Act. I will first summarize, then further elaborate on our accomplishments. Since passage of the Recovery Act on February 17, 2009, we have accomplished the following:
- Submitted the first spend plan, identifying projects funded by the Recovery Act, to Congress on March 31st. As revised to date, the plan includes 261 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories. These projects fall into four categories:
- New federal construction : 17 projects totaling $1 billion, including $450 million at the DHS Headquarters on the St. Elizabeths campus
- Major building modernizations: 45 projects totaling $3.2 billion
- Limited-scope “green” projects: 199 projects totaling $912 million
- Established and met our target dates for contract awards and outlays:
- $1 billion in contract awards by August 1, 2009
- $2 billion in total contract awards by December 31, 2009
- Put ourselves on track to meet our next targets:
- Award a total of $4 billion by March 31, 2010
- Award $5 billion in design and construction contracts by September 30, 2010
- To date, we have obligated approximately $2.1 billion and outlaid over $184 million
- Identified a number of green technologies to include in our projects. I am proud to announce that we have already installed 37 energy efficient lighting system projects, 7 PV roof projects, and 136 advanced meter projects.
System Projects Underway as of 01/29/10 Projects Completed by 12/31/09 System Tune-ups / Recommissioning 86 55 Lighting 49 37 Water 11 7 PV Roof 22 7 Roof 30 24 Façade / Windows 9 6 Advanced Meters 38 136 Solar Hot Water 1 0 Wind 2 2 Geothermal 1 0
- In addition to our Recovery Act Funds, GSA expects to receive approximately $1 billion in Recovery funds from other agencies, such as the Department of State and Social Security Administration, among others. To date, we have received nearly $397 million in Recovery Act reimbursable work authorizations and of that have awarded over $120 million in contracts on behalf of other agencies.
- Over the last 2 reporting periods, GSA obtained nearly 100 percent compliance on contract recipient employment reporting on all 500+ separate contract awards. During the first quarter, only one recipient did not comply; in the second quarter, GSA achieved 100% compliance.
- Established PBS as a Green Proving Ground to provide practical data in order to measure the returns on investment in emerging green technologies and practices
GSA is proud of these accomplishments and our opportunity to contribute to this nation’s economic recovery and reinvestment in our building infrastructure. I will now elaborate further on what we’ve done as well as describe some of our exciting building projects.
Given the urgency of the situation and the goals of the Recovery Act, we knew this could not be business as usual. We moved forward quickly to select the best projects for accomplishing the goals of the Recovery Act based on two over-arching criteria: potential of the projects to put people back to work quickly and to transform federal buildings into high-performance green buildings. To help manage and oversee our Recovery Act program, PBS created a new national approach to program management and we adopted a credo of “On Schedule, On Budget and On Green.”
As described earlier, we met our targets of “On Schedule and On Budget” by achieving our aggressive goals of obligating $1 billion by August 1, 2009, and a total of $2 billion by December 31, 2009. This means we awarded twice the dollar amount of contract awards in the last 6 months of fiscal year 2009 as we award in an entire “normal” year. More impressively, we surpassed December’s goal of $2 billion by $70 million. This is especially impressive given the fact that project awards were on average 8-10 percent below our projected estimates, due to the soft construction markets in many areas. To further describe the magnitude of this achievement: to meet the December goal, we accelerated schedules for 98 projects representing $577 million in investments
We are meeting our performance target of “On Green” with our Recovery Act funding targeted at high-performance green building projects. The funding provided by the Recovery Act has jump-started our effort to meet mandated energy and water conservation targets in the years to come. We appreciate Congress’ foresight to direct the majority of our funding toward high performing green buildings.
Key to meeting these aggressive measures are monitoring project progress, identifying schedule variances early, streamlining and accelerating projects, and sharing best practices. PBS has quickly identified and revised the spend plan to reallocate savings from projects underway toward the enhancement, acceleration or funding of other projects. To date, we have revised our spend plan twice: revisions were submitted to this committee on November 23, 2009 and January 19, 2010. The spend plan revisions represent a reallocation of more than $200 million. Speedy revisions to the spend plan were essential to meeting our interim goals and will be essential to meeting the mandated timelines in the Recovery Act.
Stimulating the Economy
GSA’s infrastructure investments vary in scope, type, and region and cover our entire portfolio. Funds from the Recovery Act are converting our inventory to high-performance green buildings, as well as renovating and constructing federal buildings, courthouses, and land ports of entry. These projects range from single building system modernizations to large complex new construction projects. As of February 16, 2010, our obligations totaling $2.1 billion are funding the following projects in 50 states and 2 territories and in the District of Columbia:
- New Federal Buildings and Courthouses: 8
- Land Ports of Entry: 6
- High Performance Green Buildings - Full & Partial Modernizations: 43
- High Performance Green Buildings Limited Scope Projects: 176
A list of the projects awarded as of this hearing is enclosed.
Notably, GSA’s “obligations” are awards flowing directly to our contractors, i.e., directly into the construction, real estate and architecture/engineering sectors. While contract award is the catalyst for money flowing through the economy, funds associated with construction or design projects are not immediately outlaid following contract award. Rather, payments to contractors for progress made over the life of the contract provide steady support for our economy over an extended period – not a jolt that lasts only a few months.
Less visible but important contributions to economic recovery follow shortly after we award a contract: contractors immediately begin securing financing, hiring initial personnel, and initiating early steps to perform the project. In addition, job numbers increase after the contractor completes these initial steps, not necessarily immediately after the contract has been awarded. There is a lag between the time a contract is awarded and when new jobs are created.
As of the reporting quarter ending December 31, 2009, reports from our Recovery Act funding recipients indicate that 1,646 prime contractor jobs have been funded as a direct result of PBS Recovery Act funding.
Diversity of Investments
As noted, the projects we have funded vary in amount of investment, scope of project, type of project, and geographic region.
New projects range across the nation in size and scope
For example, in Austin, Texas, we are building a new courthouse that incorporates many innovative green features such as high-efficiency heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and extensive use of natural light. PBS is building this courthouse to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification through the U.S. Green Building Council. Although construction began in September, the project team continues to review the design to determine if additional high-performance green building features can be added to the project, including recycled interior finish materials and a highly insulated cool roof. Anticipated completion date is December 2012.
Our progress toward the consolidation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Headquarters at the St. Elizabeths campus, in Washington, DC is on track. The St. Elizabeths project is the Washington metropolitan area’s largest federal project since construction of the Pentagon, and will help revitalize and spur additional development in Southeast Washington’s Anacostia community. Funding for the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Headquarters, the first project for the DHS Headquarters at St. Elizabeths is a mix of Recovery and non-Recovery funding from both GSA and DHS. The first awards occurred before August 2009, earlier than anticipated. Subsequent awards for construction management services and for construction of the core/shell of the National Operations Center followed in November and December. We also awarded a contract in December to complete the design of some future phases of this enormous and critical campus project. Finally, in December we also made an award for the renovation/expansion of the central utility plant for the St. Elizabeths campus. The USCG Headquarters will feature green roofs, landscaped courtyards to capture and reuse surface water runoff, and innovative HVAC systems. We registered all buildings at St. Elizabeths with USGBC, and we expect the St. Elizabeths campus to earn a LEED Gold certification.
GSA is moving forward with a $213 million port-replacement project in Nogales-Mariposa, Arizona. The entire construction portion, $199.4 million, is funded through the Recovery Act. The Mariposa LPOE is expected to achieve a LEED Silver certification. It will use electricity-generating photovoltaic solar panels, solar-powered domestic hot water, and advanced lighting. Our goal is to provide up to 20 percent of the facility's energy from solar power produced onsite. Construction is scheduled for completion in 2014.
The Bakersfield Courthouse in California is a 33,400 gross square foot, two-story courthouse project within the central business district of Bakersfield. The new courthouse will be a catalyst for the redevelopment of the historic downtown area. Key green elements include improved indirect daylighting in the courtroom, radiant heating and cooling, drought-tolerant landscaping, solar array infrastructure, active energy saving technologies and evaporative cooling. The Bakersfield design-build contract was awarded in November 2009, with construction scheduled to start in June 2010. Completion and occupancy is scheduled for 2012. The project goal is to attain a LEED Silver rating or better.
PBS: A Proving Ground for Green Technologies and Practices
We are leveraging our Recovery Act investments to turn our large, varied and stable inventory of buildings into a proving ground for green building technologies, materials, and operating regimes. By adopting new ideas and products, then evaluating and publicizing our results, GSA is working to become one of the commercial real estate industry’s “go to” sources for data on the environmental and economic payback of new systems and procedures. Our investments in innovative technologies and alternative energy solutions can help lead the transformation to new green jobs and new green industries.
For example, at the Edith Green/Wendell Wyatt Federal Building in Portland, Oregon, we are installing one of the nation’s most extensive vegetative facades. This westerly-facing green façade will provide shading and reduce solar load during summer months, and will admit light and allow solar gain in winter months.
At the Major General Emmett J. Bean Federal Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, GSA intends to design and install a state-of-the-art photovoltaic roof with over 4,500 solar panels. This project is being undertaken in collaboration with the Department of Energy and supported by the Sandia National Laboratories. The panels will cover 25 percent of the 480,000 square foot roof and will produce over 1.4 megawatts of electricity. GSA is mounting a “Photovoltaic Lab” comprised of four alternative photovoltaic systems; each array is about three kilowatts each. This lab will create a benchmark for commercially available photovoltaic solar panels operating in Midwest climates, and will provide long-term operational and maintenance “lessons learned” for each of these systems. The photovoltaic systems are expected to reduce peak electrical usage of the building by six percent as well as provide a proving ground for emerging technologies.
Measures to Improve Projects Previously Funded
In addition to funding new project starts, we are improving the green building performance of projects that were already underway before the Recovery Act.
For example, GSA awarded a contract for the renovation of the façade and windows of the historic Brooklyn General Post Office for $53 million in July 2009 that will improve the energy performance of the facility and complete another aspect of the renovation of this historic asset.
At the Margaret Chase Smith Building in Bangor, Maine, we will be able to significantly reduce our energy consumption and obtain LEED certification by upgrading or replacing windows, HVAC, and electrical systems. The building’s current design reduces energy usage (BTUs per GSF) by half and relies on geothermal systems for 90 percent of the required heating and cooling. We will achieve further energy reductions through Recovery Act funded energy improvements.
At the Columbus, New Mexico Land Port of Entry, we are providing additional funds to improve the energy efficiency of the facility with a goal of achieving a net zero energy building. A net zero energy building is a highly energy-efficient building that uses renewable energy-generation technologies to produce as much energy as it consumes from traditional utility grids over the course of a year. Not only will this reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it will also support the mission need of DHS’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection to maintain critical systems in the event of a complete loss of utilities. Building systems and technologies may include: integrated building walls containing super-insulation and high-performance glass; high-efficiency HVAC systems; energy-saving lighting systems; ground-source heat pumps; passive solar heating; natural ventilation; use of day lighting; solar heated air; and solar thermal water heaters.
Limited Scope Projects
We are also pursuing projects that will upgrade the performance of specific systems within many of our buildings. These “Limited Scope” projects focus on improving energy performance and are evaluated in the context of the existing physical condition of the building. We evaluated these buildings and identified opportunities to “tune-up” the systems, improve building mechanical system controls, recommission building systems and retrofit or replace lighting or HVAC systems. To better achieve the goals of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007, we particularly focused on those projects related to renewable energy production and water conservation.
For example, at the Robert J. Dole U.S. Courthouse in Kansas City, Missouri, GSA invested $1.6 million to install a new white roof and photovoltaic solar panels. The white membrane roof will deflect the sun’s rays and keep the building cooler in the summer while helping to reduce the urban heat island effect. In addition, 200 thin-film photovoltaic solar panels installed on the portion of the roof receiving the most sun are expected to generate about 5 percent of the building’s electricity. The roof design and installation created jobs in solar manufacturing, design, and roofing. GSA also plans to invest an additional $3.1 million to improve the building’s infrastructure and operating systems.
GSA has evaluated approximately 2,800 proposed energy conservation measures for 250 buildings. Only the best proposals were approved and will progress toward contract awards within the month.
High-Performance Green Building Small Projects
In addition to the Limited Scope projects, there are approximately $100 million of High-Performance Green Building Small Projects that represent other opportunities for funding measures to convert our buildings to high-performance green buildings. These projects tend to be smaller in scope and size.
For example, GSA will be installing five 100 kilowatt wind turbines at the Pembina, North Dakota Land Port of Entry. Combined, the turbines will produce 76 percent of the energy consumed at the station and will generate approximately 1,250 renewable energy credits (REC). Multiple turbines will provide system redundancy during routine maintenance and power outages. Standing 90 feet high, these units will become landmarks and a tangible symbol of our commitment to renewable energy as visitors cross the border from Canada to the United States.
Increased Workload Created by Recovery Act Projects
To address the increased workload created by Recovery Act funded projects, we have reassigned experienced existing personnel to support Recovery Act projects. Gaps created by this movement as well as new staffing requirements created by the burgeoning workload are being filled, as appropriate, with temporary/term federal personnel or contractors.
Managing, Tracking and Reporting Building Projects
As we move forward with our infrastructure investments, we have set interim target dates for project awards in each quarter to ensure we obligate $5 billion of the more than $5.5 billion we received in Recovery Act funds by the end of fiscal year 2010. We established tracking and reporting systems to help us meet our reporting requirements and better manage our projects. We are monitoring “early warning” signals of project slippage and taking immediate corrective action.
The Recovery Act requires contractors and other recipients of Recovery Act funds to submit quarterly reports that provide the public information on the prime and sub-awards, funding, and project status. The second reporting period was completed on January 29.
For this reporting period, we continued the multimedia outreach approach we developed last reporting quarter to ensure recipients were aware of the quarterly reporting requirement. We telephoned our prime recipients, directing them to the FederalReporting.gov website used to register and report, we e-mailed Recipient Reporting Guidance to all recipients, we provided pre-populated report templates, and we posted guidance to the gsa.gov/recovery website. We also continued our call center to assist recipients with any questions about reporting. Our recipients have provided positive feedback about GSA’s call center, and have expressed gratitude to our staff for assisting with the reporting process. I am proud to report that as of January 30, 2010, 100 percent of GSA’s recipients have reported in 533 reports.
We are excited that apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs are an integral part of our Recovery Act projects. GSA launched the pre-apprenticeship program with two contract awards to the Community Services Agency (CSA) of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO in Washington, DC, and Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. (OTI) in Portland, Oregon. In December 2009, CSA (20 graduates) and OTI (23 graduates) both celebrated the first graduating classes of pre-apprentices. CSA, OTI, and subsequent pre-apprenticeship program contract awardees will work with the Department of Labor to place the program graduates in registered apprenticeship programs at construction sites. The registered apprentices will gain on-the-job experience and industry-recognized credentials.
GSA is in the process of soliciting proposals to fund additional pre-apprenticeship training programs in six identified high unemployment areas: San Juan, Puerto Rico; Tampa, Florida; Detroit, Michigan; Fresno/Bakersfield, California; Youngstown/Dayton, Ohio; Providence, Rhode Island. The pre-solicitation notice was advertised on January 20, 2010, the request for proposals was advertised on February 4, 2010, and proposals will be due on or about March 3, 2010.
Support to Other Agencies
In addition to GSA’s Recovery Act program, we are supporting the real estate needs of other agencies that have received Recovery Act funding, such as the Social Security Administration (SSA), DHS, the Department of State (State), and DHS Customs and Border Protection (CBP). To date, we have entered into reimbursable work agreements with customer agencies totaling $397 million across 26 projects. Of this amount, $120 million has already been awarded. In total, we anticipate receiving approximately $1 billion for Recovery Act projects from our customers.
- Working collaboratively with SSA, GSA is working to deliver a new data center to replace the existing National Computer Center. SSA turned to GSA for assistance in locating, designing and building this new data center, which will meet the agency’s expansion needs for the long-term. We are in the process of developing SSA's Program of Requirements for the new data center, and expect to complete the Program of Requirements in August 2010. We are conducting a site search including the possibility of locating the new data center within the existing headquarters campus. Construction award is expected in March 2011.
- For the St. Elizabeths DHS’ Headquarters consolidation, which provides space totaling 4.5 million gross square feet, GSA has accepted $199 million in reimbursable Recovery Act funds from DHS. Of this amount, $50.5 million has been awarded. As described above, we are pursuing a number of exciting and innovative high performing green features for the DHS Headquarters; the buildings have been registered with the USGBC and we anticipate earning a LEED Gold certification.
- We are providing acquisition, project management, planning, design/build, and construction management services in support of CBP's Land Port of Entry (LPOE) Modernization Program. GSA has accepted $88 million in reimbursable funds related to the Recovery Act, of which $64 million has been awarded. CBP's Recovery Act funds will be utilized to replace eight aging LPOEs in four states along the northern border: Morgan, Scobey and Wild Horse in Montana; Churubusco in New York; Antler, Noonan and Maida in North Dakota; and Frontier in Washington. Seven projects were awarded on August 14, 2009 using GSA’s IDIQ contracts. The design contract for the eighth project, Maida, North Dakota, was awarded in January 2010 and is expected to be completed by the end of June 2010. The designs for the seven other projects are expected to be completed by April of 2010.
Congress entrusted GSA with a significant increase in funding to support the construction and modernization of high performance green buildings while quickly putting people back to work during these challenging economic times. The men and women of GSA have risen to the challenge, and we are implementing our program rapidly and successfully.
Today, I have described GSA’s accomplishments and contributions to our nation’s economic recovery through our investments in green technologies and reinvestments in our public buildings funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We look forward to working with you and members of this Committee as we continue to deliver this important work.See list of projects awarded as of 1/29/2010. | <urn:uuid:fd1158e2-f678-4c7a-a796-9e98acfb00e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gsa.gov/portal/content/104159 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943784 | 5,008 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The timber-framed hall house sits on the edge of Ashdown Forrest in the picturesque Wealden village of West Hoathly. Built in the fifteenth century for the Priory of St. Pancras in Lewes, the property was later seized by Henry VIII. Central chimneys and a fine Horsham stone roof were added later when it became a substantial yeoman farmer’s house.
Now, containing seventeenth and eighteenth century country furniture, ironwork, textiles and domestic objects displayed in furnished rooms, it stands in a traditional cottage garden. The garden includes herbaceous perennials, shrubs, wild flowers and over one hundred and seventy herbs. | <urn:uuid:ec2dc8c8-1bb3-423a-bbb8-7c6b83e93f74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.all4kidsuk.com/business/the-priest-house | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946371 | 138 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
[ Kaid Benfield is Director of Sustainable Communities for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He also writes what I consider the best blog out there by anyone who is institutionally affiliated. I'd encourage you to check it out. And more institutions who want to do social media well should learn from Kaid's example.
I'd like to preface this article with an editorial comment that I'll stress is mine, not Kaid's. I sometimes get grief for saying that we are drowning in regulation in this country and it is killing our ability to get things done. But I'm more and more seeing writings from even clear liberals who increasingly see that this regulation doesn't just stop bad stuff, it stops the good stuff too. Here Kaid explains how smart growth is actually illegal in most places. Reading the news we also hear about things like organic raw milk farms in Wisconsin getting shut down or how Occupy Charlotte protestors can't bring in port-a-potties (a basic sanitary measure) because it is against code. And of course try to build a transit line and see how long it takes to clear the review. Hopefully at some point we'll see some sort of bi-partisan consensus around dialing back at least the worst of this regulatory insanity - Aaron. ]
When then-governor Parris Glendening announced a key portion of what was to become Maryland’s path-breaking land use legislation in the 1990s, he stood in the historic district of Annapolis, where Maryland’s State House is located. He told the crowd that the best parts of downtown Annapolis – a picturesque, highly walkable and much-loved collection of 17th- and 18th-century homes, apartments, shops, civic and church buildings, restaurants and small offices just above the city’s harbor – could not have been built in the late 20th century.
Modern zoning and building codes wouldn’t allow it. There are too many uses mixed together, insufficient setbacks from the street, not enough parking, stairways that don’t meet modern building codes, streets too narrow, and so on. The implication was clear: there is something very wrong with a system of laws that has deviated so far from our intrinsic instincts that it has, perhaps unwittingly but nevertheless effectively, outlawed the very things that have made Maryland’s state capital so popular with residents and visitors.
This blog is replete with great examples of more recent development that attempts to recapture some of the attributes that make historic districts so loved. We are pleased to celebrate these new examples of sustainability, places that make walking a viable option for going about one’s life, that shrink the footprint of development, conserving land and infrastructure.
But, in almost every case, those exemplary new developments have required special exceptions from the building and zoning codes in effect in their municipalities. This has basically made sustainability much harder to build than sprawl, when our regulatory system should be doing just the opposite.
This brings me to a simple set of recommendations by “a roundtable of interested parties” constituted in Seattle. My friend Chuck Wolfe is a member of that roundtable, and he has very helpfully summarized the group’s key findings in a post on the Seattle blog Crosscut. (Chuck also writes his own blog MyUrbanist, and we are both writers in The Sustainable Cities Collective.) The recommendations are not radical but, rather, all grounded in pragmatism and, if I may say so, common sense:
Encourage home entrepreneurship. Home-based businesses should be freely allowed so long as impacts to surrounding properties are minimized. I have to note that I am writing this blog from my home right now (it’s 10.30pm); I have no idea whether that is technically legal or not. The large government agency where my wife works has such an aggressive telecommuting program that some 80 percent of agency employees now work from their residences most of the time. It’s time for our laws to catch up with reality, save the transportation energy and congestion associated with commuting, and allow people to work and serve customers from home again, as we did routinely for centuries.
Concentrate street-level commercial uses in pedestrian zones. On this issue, Seattle’s current law is actually more progressive than most: street-level commercial uses have been required for some time in larger new buildings. The roundtable, working from experience, is recommending that the requirement become more nuanced and be made applicable primarily to buildings in designated pedestrian zones, not uniformly applied outside of those areas as well.
Enhance the flexibility of parking requirements. “As Seattle’s transit service improves, demand for on-site parking will shrink. This recommendation will allow the market to determine how much parking should be provided in locations within one quarter mile of good transit service (generally, those with at least 15 minute headways). It eliminates minimum parking requirements for residential or non-residential uses in such locations.” Personally, I might apply a nuanced approach here as well, with perhaps some limited minimum requirements for larger buildings that abut single-family residential areas. There doesn’t need to be an all-or-nothing approach, and we want neighbors to feel comfortable with nearby intensification where it makes sense.
Allow small commercial uses in multifamily zones. This should be a no-brainer; bring back the corner store, please. The recommendation in Seattle is to allow small corner stores in two- and three-story multifamily zones in certain designated districts; the city already allows them in “mid-rise” and high-rise districts.
Expand options for accessory dwelling units. I believe accessory units – garage and basement apartments, “granny flats” and the like – should be allowed most everywhere. They allow a bit more density with very little change to the look and feel of a neighborhood. In this case, the roundtable is recommending expansion of Seattle’s excellent “backyard cottages” concept.
Allow mobile food vending and similar temporary uses. Another no-brainer. Food trucks and farmers’ markets are springing up everywhere in America. And it’s not exactly a radical idea: ever hear of the Good Humor man? But it some places it is restricted, common sense notwithstanding. (Reminds me of the recent local case in suburban DC where a kids’ lemonade stand set up outside the US Open Golf Tournament was shut down by the authorities. Jeez.) In Seattle, the roundtable would allow vending carts on private property where other commercial uses are permitted and extend the permitted days and hours of farmers markets. Sounds like a baby step to me, but at least it’s in the right direction..
Change state environmental law to obviate redundant review of projects. “The Roundtable recommended that the city take advantage of opportunities to streamline and combine SEPA review with other aspects of regulatory review for proposed residential and mixed-use projects in designated growth centers, such as urban centers and light rail station areas.” This one may be controversial with some of my environmental colleagues and partners, but the angel can be in the details – if, for example, the impacts of area plans have been reviewed, review of the same issues may not need to be repeated for projects that conform to those plans, especially in places where we have determined that growth should occur and where mitigation is built into the project. I don’t pretend to know the specifics of applicable city and state law in Seattle and how the recommendations would modify it, but I do think some degree of relaxation can be appropriate in designated growth centers, when the proposed project conforms to the desired types of growth as articulated in earlier legal documents.
As noted earlier in the post, these are hardly radical proposals. As my title suggests, they represent “beginning” steps. The real stunner is that our laws have become so contorted and restrictive that they are needed. The roundtable has done the citizens of Seattle a service by undertaking their study and making the recommendations, and Chuck as done us all a favor by spreading the word.
Note: Hover over photos for image credits.
Editorial Note: For more information about what’s going on in Seattle, see:
This post originally appeared in The Switchboard on July 27, 2011. Reprinted with permission of the author. | <urn:uuid:80cbefaa-c1de-4a4f-a24c-7cf9d1295a50> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbanophile.com/category/authors/kaid-benfield/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954189 | 1,737 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Frankel, Matthew [faculty advisor, Department of English]
non-fiction, culture, literature
Within the past several years, best-seller lists have witnessed a growth in popularity of memoirs or creative non-fiction writing. Being an avid bookstore wanderer, I noticed this influx and wondered about the reasons behind it. What is so appealing about this genre to readers, and why do people write these kinds of books? What sort of mental processes within the author’s mind are expressed on the page, and how do those processes reflect or interact with the reader? Is it all merely cathartic writing/reading? Or is it a mode of solidifying one’s identity and place in the world, both for the writer and the reader? Midnight Dawning is a non-fiction collection that combines multiple genres, specifically poetry, vignettes or prose and journalistic writing. I focused on my experiences growing up in an Italian dominated neighborhood and the alienation I felt, having strongly identified with my Swedish heritage. Along with interpreting and analyzing these experiences and how they shaped my attitudes and views, I researched Swedish traditions and culture, including the Swedish community in RI. I used my affiliations with cultural organizations and groups to conduct interviews and research information, also using library and Internet resources. The overall aim of the project is to attempt a form of creative writing I haven’t explored before, and to study multiple genres by actively participating in them. Regarding non-fiction specifically I want to study how non-fiction writing acts as a structuring of experience or reflection that the audience experiences as the writer re-experiences it, to study my own development through conflict and personal experience, and offer new insight into Swedish culture and the ethnic community in Rhode Island. | <urn:uuid:e18df608-e233-4ce9-8bad-8ed96315f2bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/srhonorsprog/100/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937606 | 356 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Before you went to bed
we were at the point where you recovered the partition table of the drive and had the whole of it as unallocated space.
From that point, use Gparted to create your partition(s) with the ext3 filesystem.
Right click on the drive and select "New" and select ext3 as the filesystem.
If you just need one partition, use all the available space.
If you need more than one, adjust them according to your needs.
The first partition will be a primary one.
Next one will be an extended one containing one or more logical partitions.
When you're done, click "Apply" and Gparted will create them and format them with the selected filesystem.
No need for an extra format as I wrote in my previous post. | <urn:uuid:9210b25e-4475-44b7-9c37-bd9245760ee2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=111869.msg955413 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945796 | 167 | 1.75 | 2 |
||This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2013)|
|Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine|
|Church||Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)|
|Elected||May 27, 1992|
|Ordination||June 15, 1962|
|Consecration||July 9, 1966
by Pimen I of Moscow
November 23, 1935 |
Markivtsi, Khmelnytskyi region
Metropolitan Vladimir (Volodymyr; secular name Viktor Markianovich Sabodan, Russian: Виктор Маркианович Сабодан, Ukrainian: Віктор Маркіянович Сабодан, born November 23, 1935) is the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) (UOC-MP). Metropolitan Volodymyr's official title is : His Beatitude Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine. As head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), he is the head of the only Ukrainian Church inside Ukraine to have canonical standing (legal recognition) in Eastern Orthodoxy worldwide.
Viktor Sabodan was born in a peasant family in Khmelnytskyi region.
In 1965 he completed the post-graduate course at the Moscow Theological Academy and was appointed Rector of the Odessa Theological Seminary and elevated to the rank of Archimandrite. In 1966 he was appointed Deputy Head of the Russian Orthodox Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.
In 1966 he was appointed Bishop of Zvenigorod. His episcopal consecration was conferred on July 9, 1966 by Pimen I of Moscow in the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. In 1969 he was nominated Bishop of Chernihiv and temporary administrator of Sumy Diocese. On September 9, 1973 he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop of Moscow Diocese and Rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary. On July 16, 1982 he was appointed to Rostov-on-Don Diocese and elevated to the rank of Metropolitan. From 1984 he was Patriarchal Exarch of Western Europe, and from 1987, a permanent member of the Holy Synod, Chancellor of Moscow Patriarchate. In 1992, he was elected by the Kharkiv Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as Metropolitan of Kiev, and Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Later than year he was enthroned as Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine, replacing Metropolitan Filaret who was excommunicated for participating in schismatic activities.
He is the author of numerous research papers on theology, the majority of which were included in the six-volume edition of his works published in 1997–1998.
Metropolitan Volodymyr enjoys singing and collects recordings of Ukrainian folk songs as well as stamps and postcards. He has no objections to a good meal.
Here you can share your comments or contribute with more information, content, resources or links about this topic. | <urn:uuid:21358b29-422c-4c2f-a893-6079b376a3c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mashpedia.com/Metropolitan_Volodymyr_(Viktor_Sabodan) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956386 | 639 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Does anyone feel there is not enough gun violence in the country today?
But what do we do about it? Liberals hate the NRA; gun groups and the NRA refuse to cooperate with any gun control.
There are four major reasons for gun violence: (1.) criminals (2.) crazy people (3.) careless people and (4.) incompetent people. None of them are protected by the Second Amendment, which is about a well-regulated militia.
Criminals using guns must be controlled by law enforcement. Stop-and-frisk should be a legitimate tactic in getting illegal guns off the street.
Crazy people should not have guns. Mental health authorities should have the right to identify unstable people who should be legally barred from gun ownership or gun use.
Careless people leave guns around to be stolen or misused. The Newtown killer got his guns this way. Organized training and testing should teach gun safety for all legitimate users.
Incompetent people do not know how to use guns properly. The NRA and other gun groups should train and screen gun users to ensure competency, with a test at the end of the process.
Law enforcement must move on illegal guns; mental health must identify those too unstable to have access to guns; the NRA and organized gun groups must ensure that legal gun users are conscientious and competent to handle dangerous forearms. Until all parts of the puzzle are in place, the violence will keep eating away at the public life of this country. | <urn:uuid:5ec3134c-0927-43ac-8cd1-c67636f3f6d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Letter-Put-the-puzzle-of-gun-use-in-place-4324902.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955949 | 302 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Ottawa, 4 June 2010
In this information bulletin, the Commission sets out guidelines for the application of the Common Ownership Policy for Radio (the Policy) related to:
1. As its first objective, the Common Ownership Policy for Radio (the Policy) ensures a plurality of ownership within the private commercial element of radio broadcasting, and that Canadians thus have access to a variety of editorial voices within the radio component of the broadcasting system.
2. A secondary objective of the Policy is to maintain a balance of competition between radio broadcasters in any particular market.
3. Over the past four years, the Commission has dealt with several applications for new stations and changes of ownership that have breached the Policy. Following the Commission’s practice, applicants were therefore requested to justify exceptions to the Policy, even in cases where the diversity of voices and the balance of competition in a market might not have been significantly affected. Most of the applications for exceptions were denied.
4. The Commission will continue to ensure that applications that invoke the Policy and in actual fact affect the diversity of voices and the balance of competition among broadcasters in Canadian markets are provided careful consideration. However, others that invoke the Policy but have negligible consequences will be dealt with according to the guidelines set out in this Information Bulletin. The guidelines will help distinguish between these two types of applications, all the while maintaining the objectives of the Policy, and will provide more clarity and predictability for the broadcasting system.
5. The Policy states that, in markets with fewer than eight commercial stations operating in a particular language, a person may be permitted to own or control as many as three stations operating in that language, with a maximum of two stations in any one frequency band. In markets with eight commercial stations or more operating in a particular language, a person may be permitted to own or control as many as two AM and two FM stations in that language. The Radio Regulations, 1986 define “market” as follows:
6. Rare exceptions to the Policy have been granted where, due to adverse economic circumstances, the survival of radio stations has been in serious doubt. The Commission has also stated that exceptions may be permitted to address severe technical limitations.
7. Currently, the Policy is invoked whenever a broadcaster seeks to add a station in a market where its ownership of stations is already at one of the limits described above. Applications to amend licences that envisage increases in the coverage areas of existing stations may also invoke the Policy. It is also invoked whenever there is overlap between the contours of a proposed station in a given market and the area covered by an adjacent market where the applicant already operates two stations on the same band. This applies to any case of overlap, even if approval of an application entailing a minor overlap would not significantly affect the diversity of voices and the balance of competition in a market. It has been the Commission’s practice to deny such applications where the justifications for exceptions are not based on serious economic or technical circumstances.
8. In light of an analysis of recent cases where the Policy has been applied, the Commission has determined that, based on the population contained within an overlap:
Between these two points, the Commission considers that certain factors would need to be examined in order to determine whether or not the diversity of voices or the balance of competition would be affected.
9. The AM and FM signals from most commercial stations are receivable for many kilometres beyond their 15 mV/m or 3 mV/m contours, respectively, where reception conditions are favourable. In many cases very significant populations reside in these areas. This characteristic of radio broadcasting has been an important consideration in the development of these guidelines.
10. In setting out its guidelines for the application of the Policy below, the Commission discusses the following:
11. In areas where communities and radio markets are close together, the contours of stations licensed to serve those communities frequently overlap into adjacent markets. In cases where a licensee owns a station or stations in the adjacent market and applies for an additional radio service whose coverage would include portions of that market, a determination is needed as to the number of stations currently operated by that person in a particular language in both markets.
That station will be included in assessing how many of that owner’s stations operate in a particular language in that market unless the answers to both of the above questions are negative.
12. Applications that raise concerns in regard to the Policy will be examined to determine the extent to which the 15 mV/m or 3 mV/m contour of the proposed station enters a market where the applicant owns stations operating in a particular language.
Only where the answers to these questions are negative will the application generally be approved, and a justification based on serious economic or technical circumstances will not be required.
13. A third factor could become relevant in large markets, where the concern about diversity of voices might be mitigated because a substantial number of radio station owners serve the market.
14. The Commission will continue to assess whether approval of an application would result in a situation where there would no longer be a vacant frequency for use by a new player in the future. Such a circumstance would generally give rise to a call for applications.
^ As set out in the Radio Regulations, 1986, a person “includes an individual, partnership, a joint venture, an association, a corporation, a trust, an estate, a trustee, an executor and an administrator, or a legal representative of any of them.”
^ The Commission uses MapInfo and PCensus software to calculate the populations within contours and overlapping areas. | <urn:uuid:1b406641-a5b8-4f14-957e-1b03df171a54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2010/2010-341.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961311 | 1,138 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Sholapur Travel Guide, India
Sholapur is the capital of Sholapur district, in the South Western Maharashtra region of India. Like many major Indian cities, Sholapur is an amazing cultural melting pot. Kannada, Telugu and Marathi people cohabit the city, and have worked together peacefully to build a flourishing industrial city that still keeps in touch with its customs and traditions. Sholapur is famous for its cotton industry, and the locally produced bed-sheets, or chaddars, are known for their beautiful designs and quality. Sholapur is dotted with numerous temples and religious sites which have become important tourist attractions. The city is usually crowded with visitors, both tourists and pilgrims from other parts of India. Undeniably, Sholapur is a perfect example of India’s diversity and exoticness. This Sholapur Travel Guide will give you some useful practical information about this amazing city.
Sholapur Travel Guide - Transport
Sholapur is a transport hub for Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, three major districts. The city is therefore very well connected to other large cities in India. If you’re planning to travel by train, there are frequent and regular services that connect Sholapur to Bombay and Hyderabad. In fact, most trains heading towards the Southern regions of the country stop at Sholapur. Trains are the most popular means of transport in India, and no visit to this country would be complete without getting to know India’s rail transport. If you want to get a taste of the local culture at cheap prices, this Sholapur Travel Guide recommends that you travel by rail. Buses are other fairly good options, although perhaps somewhat less comfortable than trains. If you want to travel by plane, you can only get to Sholapur from Bombay, currently the only available connection. Once you’ve arrived in the city, the best way to get around is by bus, if you have to go longer distances. If you are simply doing some sightseeing, it is recommended that you walk, as local public transport can be quite crowded, especially at rush hours.
Sholapur Travel Guide - Accommodation
India is quite a popular destination with backpackers, mainly due to its low prices. There are many affordable hostels, and even surprisingly cheap hotels with rather good living conditions. However, keep in mind that some hotels don’t quite live up to quality standards despite their good rating. Hotel Pratham is only a few minutes from the railway station, and offers modern facilities and comfortable rooms. Srikamal International hotel offers friendly atmosphere and clean rooms. It is located quite close to the shopping district, and railway station. Hotel Poonam Lodge, located close to the Central City Gardens, has en-suite rooms and relatively good conditions and a good restaurant.
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No travel tips have been added yet for this category. Be the first to add a new one. | <urn:uuid:54037ffe-a009-4f70-9098-c1bd679e3765> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.travelgrove.com/travel-guides/India/Sholapur-Travel-Guide-c890047.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961978 | 689 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Life Formula is a philosophy for the practice of life. Currently taught in a workshop format, and soon to be available on line, this teaching helps one to expand and evolve their consciousness toward a healthy and balanced state mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. It is a process of waking up to the nature of duality so that one may transcend the stories of life and live the creative impulse of an evolutionary consciousness that is creative, expressive and expansive, balanced and joyful, present, open and honest with integrity; and it smiles with the inner grin of love and peace with passion and drive.
If we want the world to change in a significant way we first have to look at our own evolution and consciousness. In the same manner, if we want to experience that deep seated sense of balance and wellbeing throughout our mind, body, heart and soul, we must also look at our capacity to develop and grow in a spiritually integrated sense. Such a look at the Self will embark one upon their path to higher consciousness and an integrated, more meaningful life purpose. Such a look into the Self also encourages a greater fundamental consideration of the world as the larger SELF. For we must remember As Within, So Without. Working in this way one learns to transform their sense of Self so that they may transcend negative behaviours and attitudes to the benefit of not only them self, but also those with whom they interact, and consequently, the Universe in general... all the while growing and evolving ones true nature, ones true inner grin.
Kali Cathie (CCHt, B.Soc.Sc) is an Analytical Clinical Hypnotherapist with a degree in psychology (for more information on her and her work see http://malahypnotherapy.com). She approaches her work as an Analytical Hypnotherapist and Spiritual Teacher with an evolutionary perspective to consciousness, growth and development for the greater good of All. Working with a holistic outlook that takes into consideration all aspects of Mind, Body, Heart and Soul, her goal is to help people bridge the gap between these areas of life so that one experiences, not only the peaceful comfort of inner congruency, but also the sense of wholeness and completeness that comes from fulfilling ones Soul Intention towards the evolution of consciousness and a peaceful earthly balance.
The ultimate goal is not to make sense of this mind and this world in which we live, but to transform the mind and the world completely. Transformation comes from being proactive and thinking for oneself outside of the mainstream box. It's not for those who want things to remain the same. Real transformation takes effort and a willingness to not only change, but to persist consistently in creating the changes our mind and our world requires. We, after all, are the Creator of the reality in which we live - so it is up to us to create the world in which we want to experience that reality. Quality of life for all is enhanced when we each engage in our own self enquiry, not only by being healthy and having healthy attitudes and emotions, but by having a healthy sense of who we are and what we came here to DO and how we came here to BE. Imagine a world in which an authentic inner truth was lived by all...
Kali's Life Formula workshops are the result of her work in combining Analytical Hypnosis with a deep understanding of Spiritual Growth and Development so that the end result is an awakening, healing and integrating of the psychospiritual realm. After several years of working one-on-one with clients she has now combined the methods and tools together that hand the responsibility back to the individual to accomplish growth and balance for themselves so that they may hand this educated consciousness on. In this way her clients and students find a stronger desire to live their Inner Truth through their own Inner Wisdom to the benefit of a healthier and more balanced self, culture and nature. The bigger picture is a positive effect to all and a more sustainable and balanced practice for life on planet earth.
From these workshops you will be encouraged to develop a meditation practice, a conscious embodiment practice (such as yoga), as well as an organic, and as much as possible, locally grown diet. You will be inspired to read more, learn more, live more and BE more. | <urn:uuid:6d0cc271-f96d-4d99-9a2e-279edb4751a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lifeformula.co.nz/about | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953093 | 861 | 1.625 | 2 |
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Faced with budget cuts, colleges may cap some programs
- James Gallagher
RALEIGH – Even as the state’s unemployment rate has doubled and more people seek new skills to combat a brutal job market, the providers of such training, North Carolina’s community colleges, are looking to cap enrollment in some programs because of expected budget cuts.
“We’re not going to turn any students away, but the pickings are going to be a little slimmer than in the past,” says North Carolina Community College System President Scott Ralls.
With the budget shortfall estimated at $4 billion, legislators are struggling with the biggest deficit in state history. The budget cuts being discussed for community colleges, nearly $17 million by one proposal, equate to cutting as many as 4,500 students from the system.
Meanwhile, demand for programs offered at community colleges continues to climb steadily. The system saw enrollment rise 8 percent in the past fiscal year, which ended June 30, and officials expect an even bigger increase this fall. North Carolina’s unemployment rate has more than doubled over the past year, to 11.1 percent.
The budget cuts, combined with a spike in incoming students, could force the state’s community colleges to cap enrollment for some courses or limit the number and types of courses offered.
Cutting funding to the system at the exact time its services are most needed is a mistake, officials say.
“Our mission is to educate the folks who need us to improve their career opportunities,” says Donald Reichard, who retired June 30 as president of Johnston Community College. “It’s certainly not in the best interest of the state or in the best interest of economic development in Johnston County.”
Johnston Community College saw enrollment shoot up 30 percent and has limited the number of students in its allied health courses because of insufficient clinical space.
The community college system, which traditionally has held an open door policy, accepting all students who express interest, has long served as a center for recycling workers with new skills. The colleges provide the needed training and education for displaced workers to find work in other developing industries. In years past, when funds were a little easier to come by, colleges would simply add sections to classes that reached their maximum student capacity. That isn’t happening any more.
Wanda Maggart, senior vice president for institutional advancement at Durham Technical Community College, says that not only will the college be unable to add new sections as needed, but it may have to start cutting less popular courses.
Maggart says that once the college completes general registration later this summer, administrators will have a better idea of the specific classes that have to be cut.
Further complicating matters is that some courses, particularly those needed for the completion of an associates degree, can’t be cut, she says. “The student has to make progress in a program,” she says.
That could mean the college would have to cut programs and courses that are intended to train new workers or retrain displaced workers for new positions.
Given the cuts already made, Wake Technical Community College already has made adjustments to its offerings and courses.
Among the measures are increasing class sizes when possible and asking instructors to teach more classes, says Steve Scott, president of Wake Tech.
Scott says Wake Tech will spend what it needs during the fall semester and then adjust the spring semester courses based on available funds.
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The virtual Brady Haran
The Virtual Journalist
Video journalist Brady Haran has become a "virtual journalist" for a series of reports into the Second Life phenomenon.
With a little help from his friends, Brady also launched an East Midlands Today "bureau" in the online world.
The virtual office modelled on the real
He said: "The bureau is modelled on the main EMT building in Nottingham.
"It even has a replica of our studio so anyone can come in and sit on the famous white chairs usually occupied by Anne and Dom."
The virtual bureau also has links to BBC East Midlands content, including all radio stations and websites.
Brady added: "Hopefully any Second Life visitors will have a look around, and maybe get in touch about stories in their first or second lives."
The bureau was built with help from University of Derby students Matthew Brittain and Chris Butler.
Second Life is a virtual world with more than 8.5 million residents.
Members create "avatars" , which are three-dimensional characters they control in the fantasy environment.
People can buy and rent land, build things and interact with other residents.
Such is the popularity of Second Life, people have started making real money by conducting business in the virtual environment.
One example is Ricard Gras, whose company La Interactiva is based in Leicester.
Ricard started out making films in Second Life (known as machinima) but now concentrates designing and building virtual property.
He said; "We've created offices, campuses for universities and a lot of interesting artistic projects."
His most recent project is an art gallery, for which Ricard has paid real money for virtual artwork!
The University of Derby is also heavily involved with Second Life.
John Sear - first and second life
John Sear, who runs the computer games programming course, has even purchased an exclusive island which he uses as a training area for students.
John said: "I can just quickly nip and look over (students) shoulders and see what they are working on but don't have to be in the room... I can be at my desk at home or in my office."
Psychology lecturer Simon Bignell is about to start conducting lessons in Second Life.
He said: "You can be a distance learner on the other side of the world, and you can interact with Derby students in real time with your real voice."
Simon said Second Life allowed educators to create ideal learning environments that may not be possible in the real world.
The real and virtual Simon Bignell
But he did not think virtual education would ever replace the real thing.
Brady said: "After hearing so much about it, my time in Second Life was certainly eye opening.
"Many people are extremely positive about it, but I also encountered some concerns.
"The pitfalls are often similar to those experienced on the Internet - or the real world for that matter.
"For example, many people are using Second Life for adult activities and some people act anti-socially, so vigilance is essential if you wish to avoid this."
Brady also said he had many problem technical problems with Second Life.
He said: "I thought maybe it was just me or my computer, but anecdotally I've heard many people have similar problems, so maybe there are still some bugs to be ironed out."
If you're on Second Life and want to visit our EMT building. you find it at the island called 'Games at DerbyUni' and co-ordinates 44,50,29
last updated: 14/08/07 | <urn:uuid:2c8caaf6-5001-4a0f-a7ac-d122c180769d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastmidlandstoday/content/articles/2007/08/13/_brady_in_second_life.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957943 | 773 | 1.765625 | 2 |
I have an audit customer that is in the process of finishing his basement. The basement foundation walls are poured concrete. He has installed a polyethylene vapor barrier over the concrete wall per his brother's instructions who is a builder. He plans to install unfaced insulation in the 2 by 4 stud walls that are 2 inches away from the concrete wall. He will be also installing drywall and heating the space with his existing HVAC unit. This is an all-electric two story home located in Ohio.
I'm already recommending he seal the entire rim joist with foam since they are leaking a lot of air. The rim joists are currently fitted with faced fiberglass batts. My thoughts are to advise him to also foam the entire basement wall but I'm not sure this is the correct or the best solution. If he decides to install fiberglass batt insulation in the 2 by 4 walls, where should the vapor barrier be installed? The poured cement basement walls are dry with good drainage outside so I'm thinking the vapor barrier should be installed between the drywall and insulation since the basement will be a conditioned space.
Also, review the work of the Pat Huelman and the folks of the Cold Climate Housing Center. Pat and his people have done a lot of work in this area. And he and Dick Stone do a lot of training -- Affordable Comfort, the Duluth EDC conference, etc.
I don't believe any of their work contradicts the info in the "Builder's Guide: Cold Climates" book. But they may well have info on the most recent "miracle" materials out there intended to "allow" building assemblies that will just never work. (Like this goofy idea that you can successfully put a functioning vapor barrier on the warm side of a below-grade concrete wall!)
Your question and the subsequent responses got me thinking.
I tell myself I should know the answer to this question but I found myself wavering a bit.
I have “Cold Climates” but it has been awhile since I have reviewed it and looked at this wall profile.
Out of curiosity I searched the web and here is what I found at an EPA site.
“An appropriate assembly for the inside of a basement wall consists of 1 in. of plastic foam board or closed-cell polyurethane spray foam followed by a stud wall with fiberglass insulation filling the cavities. This assembly is covered with moisture- and mold-resistant gypsum board covered by two coats of latex paint. The foam board serves two purposes: providing a capillary break between the foundation wall and the stud wall and keeping warm, humid basement air away from the earth-chilled foundation. It is good practice to put 1 in. of foam board beneath the sole plate of the stud wall and the basement floor and to leave a ½-in. gap between the basement floor and the bottom of the gypsum board. Doing so provides protection from minor floods and damp concrete floors.”
Clicking the link provides additional explanation and context for this strategy.
I wonder if this is consistent with the other resources mentioned. If not i would like to hear others thoughts.
You can find an excellent publication on this question at http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/reports/rr-1003-building-a.... The publication presents many solutions and rates them on several criteria. They also conducted detailed thermal and moisture modeling.
I put 2" XPS on my basement walls as a temporary way to add some insulation before I got to the task of finishing the basement walls. I did not seal the joints between the sheets or the gaps at the top and bottom of the sheets. I had lots of ice on the top of the foundation wall and ice at every joint and gap down to the soil line. A well sealed vapor barrier at the foundation wall is absolutely critical to preventing moisture problems.
After seeing the moisture/ice problems first hand, I think I will insulate the stud walls with closed cell foam to assure that I have no air leaks. This will cost more but the peace of mind is worth it. I live in a very cold climate near Yellowstone National Park. We have had many consecutive days of -20 to -30 F this winter. I am sure this contributed the ice formation behind the XPS and on top of the foundation wall. | <urn:uuid:03d1cedb-5eeb-4c14-8867-a730a7fca810> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://homeenergypros.lbl.gov/forum/topics/where-to-install-the-vapor?commentId=6069565%3AComment%3A26902 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955925 | 892 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Published in Physician Law Weekly, February 21st, 2007
One of those initiatives is a "Promise Ring," a symbol of the unbroken promise between two sisters that launched the organization.
In the 25 years since its inception, Komen for the Cure has successfully brought breast cancer out of the closet, changing how the world talks about and treats the disease. It has grown to become the world's largest grassroots network of survivors and activists, investing...
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Learn more about a six-week, no-risk free trial of Physician Law Weekly
NewsRx also is available at LexisNexis, Gale, ProQuest, Factiva, Dialog, Thomson Reuters, NewsEdge, and Dow Jones. | <urn:uuid:93f93931-d23d-4a5e-bd29-9136e0c12b9e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsrx.com/newsletters/Physician-Law-Weekly/2007-02-21/4402212007100PLW.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949991 | 161 | 1.648438 | 2 |
21 years ago in the Star
Fire destroys downtown building
A fire that destroyed a commercial building on Eagle River Loop caused $150,000-200,000 in damages, according to a story on the front page of the Dec. 16, 1992 Chugiak-Eagle River Star.
According to firefighters, the blaze likely started with an overhead gas heater. It likely burned undetected for several hours, then exploded once it reached the outside air, according to Station 11 captain Bob Benson.
“It was just sitting, waiting for the air,” Benson told the Star. “And once it got air — BOOM — everything went.”
The building housed Heatco Plumbing and Heating, Amazon Upholstery and Alaska Safety Awareness Project.
The rest of the story
A local man disputed a previous Star account of a recovered stolen vehicle.
According to Steve Grohol, a recent story that credited “sharp-eyed” police for locating his stolen car was “totally bogus.”
Instead, Grohol said it was he and a friend who spotted Grohol’s stolen vehicle and held the 15-year-old thief until cops arrived. Grohol said several police cars drove past the situation before he and his friend were finally able to convince one to stop. | <urn:uuid:b7620c6e-d64e-4730-becf-9afba8ee008c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alaskastar.com/Alaska-Star/January-Issue-2-2013/21-years-ago-in-the-Star/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969225 | 272 | 1.546875 | 2 |
- Message Boards
- Buyer's Guide
- About Us
The names "Jack Dorsey" and "Mark Zuckerberg" might not be recognized by all, but in many ways they are shaping the way businesses — large and small — operate. As the founders of Twitter and Facebook respectively, they have both brought to the world new ways to market, communicate, advertise and bridge the gap between customers and owners. With Twitter having 100+ million "active users" and Facebook's 850+ million, both social media forums are serious allies in your efforts to bring in, and keep, new customers.
Therefore, if you're a business owner who has not jumped on the Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ (see sidebar) bandwagon, you might want to consider these facts:
- They're free to use.
- Almost everyone, from the baby boom generation to Generation Z, is utilizing social media on a daily basis.
- It's a way to show your customers your work, your mission statement and your commitment to your services.
- It makes your business, including your address, phone number, hours of operation, more accessible.
- It allows you to track what customers are saying about you, good and bad.
And, if you already have a Facebook or Twitter account, it's important to make sure you're using them most advantageously. After all, one inactive Twitter account could make a follower look elsewhere. Or a business without a Facebook account could make one question their validity and hipness. So before that happens, read further to find out how to make your presence known and standout to your current and potential customers.
Why social media is important
According to Lisa Barone, the chief branding officer of Outspoken Media, social media is important to your business because that's where your customers are looking.
"One out of every five searches on the Web has local intent. Your customers are researching online to buy offline. They're using the Web and social media channels to see if anyone has experience with your brand. They're checking out your online reviews to see if that experience is positive or negative. They're using your website and your social presence (Facebook, Twitter, whatever you have) to learn more about you and see if they trust you and if you're someone they want to do business with. The importance of word of mouth hasn't changed, but it's moved online."
Janet Fouts, a social media coach, and founder of Tatu Digital Media, said a carwash or detailing company could make use of social media networks to drive traffic and offer specials to customers. "For this," she said, "Twitter is great to reach out to local customers in real-time and Facebook is great to keep a space online where customers can ask questions, get feedback and offers and share those with their friends. As users share the information with their friends, word spreads quickly."
Fouts added that it's also not just for the younger crowd. "Look, I'm over 50 and I'm here to tell you social media is not a fad, and it's not 'just for kids.' It is the way we will be marketing our businesses going forward, and in the future we won't call it social media any more. It will just be part of the fabric of our lives."
Lon Safko, a social media strategist who speaks and consults with Fortune 2000 companies and is the author of "The Social Media Bible," said soon the term "social media" will have no relevance and social media tools will be integrated with traditional advertising and marketing tools.
"People are thinking of social media on the right hand and traditional media on the left," Safko said, "but we have to look at it as if it is all one media. The only difference between the two is social media is free to implement. And, it provides two-way communication. With traditional we just push the message. With social media you have all of these platforms to engage your customers with you and your business and you and your brand."
Facebook's new membership is starting to slow, Safko added, but that's because they're running out of people. But, the people who are using it are avid users. "Even if the membership slowed, as long as you have access to 850 million people, your demographic, prospects and customers are on there and using it. I think Facebook is awesome. …All sales come down to you and another person. I want people to connect with me personally, as soon as you know who I am, you'll trust me cause I'm legitimate and you'll buy from me."
Using it the right way
The biggest mistake you can make as a business owner is to not get involved and stay active with your social media platforms, said Barone.
"It's easy to think that because you're serving local customers that you don't need the Web or social media forums," Barone said. "But like I mentioned before it's the ROBO effect — your customers are researching online, buying offline. So if you're not there when they're looking for you, you don't even factor into their buying decision."
Another mistake, Barone said, would be thinking you can just do social media "when you have the time" or "at whim." "It really needs to be scheduled into your day just like anything else. If you only do social media 'when you're free,' you'll never be free and it won't get done."
Fouts said that a big mistake is to only post about yourself. "If it's all ads, we are not going to listen. Instead post on your Facebook or Twitter page about the local community and what's going on around you. Share success stories, photos and talk about the great cars you get to see."
Your social media strategy
According to Barone, obviously your specific social media strategy will depend on your business goals, your industry, and how you're defining success. Don't feel the need to join every social media site just because you know it exists. Instead, find two sites where your audience is hanging out, and then become part of them. Join in the conversations. Talk to people about their interests and problems. Really engage people. You'll be surprised how quickly you start developing authority. Once you've mastered a couple sites, you can spread your wings and expand.
One great tip, according to Barone, is to use social media exclusives to reward people who fan or follow your business in social media. "This gives them a reason for taking that action, it helps promote your brand further on these networks, and it helps foster a stronger brand community. Fifty-eight percent of users expect exclusive content from brands as a reward for liking them on Facebook. It doesn't have to be a free product, but it can be exclusive content, photos they can't get anywhere else, a special video. Just something that rewards their participation and gives them a reason for sticking around."
Also, consider encouraging online reviews, Barone added. "If you're not already encouraging your customers to leave reviews about your business on sites like Yelp and Google Place Pages, you're missing a great opportunity. Customers are using these sites to decide if they want to do business with your company. The search engines are also using them to understand how people feel about your brand. You should be working review solicitation in your sales process." | <urn:uuid:75a8e343-7a5b-4c12-8813-68eba79e16aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.carwash.com/articles/the-seriousness-of-social-media-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967054 | 1,512 | 1.773438 | 2 |
This study analyzes the role of relationship lending in the automobile credit market among a population generally perceived to be high risk - and thereby 'unlendable'. Using a unique dataset from the Vermont Development Credit Union's "Working Wheels" low-income car loan program, we find that the strength of the relationship between creditor and higher risk borrowers significantly raises the probability of loan approval, and that such borrowers who receive loans are relatively creditworthy. Specifically, for applicants without credit scores, we find that -- in addition to income and debt ratio -- age and the nature of the established relationship with the lender significantly affect the probability of loan approval. By contrast, for applicants with credit scores, only income, debt ratio and the credit score are the significant determinants. In addition, despite the greater information asymmetry associated with applicants whose credit histories are unknown, we find no significant difference in delinquency rates between those with and without credit scores. In the current climate of welfare reform, we conclude that policymakers should consider programs that encourage welfare recipients to establish relationships with traditional financial institutions and establish more programs like "Working Wheels" that facilitate access to affordable credit for automobiles. | <urn:uuid:af69b3e0-4c66-4f45-91cf-2b986583a657> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://middlab.middlebury.edu/2002/10/01/overcoming-information-asymmetries-in-low-income-lending-lessons-from-the-working-wheels-program-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94933 | 230 | 1.523438 | 2 |
I'm amazed by what can be found on Flickr. Just in the last couple weeks, someone posted photos of their friend's LVL home by Rocio Romero. It's quite nice both inside and out. And we've talked about Rocio Romero prefabs before, including this Napa LV Home and this Arkansas LVL Home, and what's interesting is: how they're customized. Every Rocio Romero home starts with a primary focus on quality, sustainability, and design — from there, owners tend to add their own personality to the inside and out.
Although I don't have precise details on this home (it's just a Flickr find), LVL homes are about 1453 sf, ~25' x 60', and include a living room, dining room, kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and closets. That's pretty incredible for a home that starts out costing $42k.
Romero also focuses on sustainability. Here's the information from her website: "Our designs are environmentally friendly. We embrace the beauty of the landscape by visually bringing the outdoors in. We use environmentally friendly materials and we employ prefabricated systems to minimize used resources. We design our homes to be energy efficient and flat pack our products to minimize the space required for shipping, using less fuel and creating fewer truck emissions. We work together with our customers to come up with creative green solutions that offer cleaner air as well as consume less energy, such as solar power, radiant heating, and swamp coolers."
If anyone can drop a comment stating where this home is located, that would be great.
Photos via GirlintheGreenDress.Article tags: residential, Rocio Romero | <urn:uuid:0adfad16-9362-4fa4-befd-27f6bc85e1c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jetsongreen.com/2008/06/lvl-home.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955002 | 342 | 1.570313 | 2 |
According to Jacob Delemos, the spokesman for Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski, the county received a grant of approximately $230,000 to conduct a feasibility study of whether the pedestrian crossing footbridge can be constructed at the site.
"Right now, it's just a lot of preliminary work," Delemos said. "The study will go to see if we can solicit proposals from engineering firms."
Delemos said that the grant to conduct the feasibility study came from the North Jersey Transportation Planning Association, a group for which Janiszewski serves as chairman.
Delemos also said that the area in question, near the popular Columbia Park shopping plaza, is heavily traveled by both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
"There were definitely some pedestrian concerns at the site," Delemos said. "It's a heavily traveled portion of Kennedy Boulevard and we're looking to see if anything can be done to create a safer environment at that intersection."
Vehicles coming off state highway Route 495 onto Kennedy Boulevard also cause problems for both vehicle and pedestrian traffic, as well as the traffic entering and leaving the Columbia Park shopping center.
The study will enable county officials to determine possible costs, as well as the route of the crossing, either above ground or under ground.
A similar pedestrian crossing has been tentatively slated to be built across Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City, in the middle of the St. Peter's College campus.
"We're looking at every avenue possible," Delemos said. "We're seeing if it can be done, if the funding is there. The study will determine the best course the county could take."
Delemos said that any extensive pedestrian footbridge crossing would need approval from the administrations of both North Bergen and Union City.
"Although Kennedy Boulevard is a county road, we will certainly have the input of the mayors [Union City's Brian Stack and North Bergen's Nicholas Sacco] concerning the project," Delemos said.
Delemos said that the county engineer, Bob Jasek, and his staff of engineers, have been examining the site for several years as a possible site for a pedestrian crossing.
"Since there were concerns from residents, the county engineers looked into it and made a recommendation," Delemos said. "They have given their direction which way the county should go."
Delemos said that the first series of proposals from prospective engineering firms will be accepted this week. "Again, everything is strictly preliminary," Delemos said. "We want to see something get done at the location, but we have to wait to see when the study comes out. It would be an extensive project and we would review the best avenue, whether it's an overpass or an underpass. But it's something that we're taking very seriously. There are lot of things that have to be taken under consideration. This is only the first step."
Delemos said that if a pedestrian crossing is approved to be built, it would approximately take two years for construction.
Part of the study will determine the source of funding for the project as well. | <urn:uuid:4ea781a9-cef2-42cd-a42a-64d3ddb4b052> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/2373671/article-Pedestrian-bridge-set-for-North-Bergen-Union-City--County-officials-receive-grant-that-will-check-feasibility-of-overpass | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97617 | 639 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Collection Number: M87-29
Creator: Jack Spottswood Photography
Title: Spottswood Photographic Collection, 1916-1967
Quantity: 50,000 photographs (not all are online)
The 2,500 prints on this Web site represent a selection from the Spottswood Collection. The entire collection can be viewed onsite at the State Archives of Florida in Tallahassee.
Description: This collection consists of over 50,000 images comprising five decades of photography by Jack and Gordon Spottswood. As commercial photographers, the Spottswoods were kept on retainer by the Seaboard Railroad and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and they did a considerable amount of work for real estate agencies and for insurance companies photographing accident scenes. As a result, the collection contains numerous images of Jacksonville-area street scenes, businesses, churches, hotels, theaters, and trains, as well as studio portraits and wedding photographs.
Among the images in this collection are stores, restaurants, banks, automobile dealerships, service stations, and other businesses; synagogues, churches, choirs, and pastors and their families; scouting groups, political organizations, athletic clubs, charitable organizations, fraternal organizations, and other clubs and civic organizations; construction sites and equipment; funerals and wakes; railroad train engines, crews, passenger cars, freight cars, tracks, yards, and terminals; other transportation images, including cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, ships and boats, and planes; residences, including private homes, apartments, and housing projects; school buildings, groups, and events, including public and private high schools, vocational schools, military academies, and business colleges; sporting groups and events; and advertising displays for banks, stores, food manufacturers, and other businesses. Women are well represented in the collection. Areas of particular interest are postmortem photographs, women working in health care, and union strike photographs.
Historical Note: John Gordon "Jack" Spottswood Junior was the son of a Jacksonville stock claim agent. Jack Junior did free-lance photography and worked as an assistant sports editor and photographer for the Florida Times-Union before establishing an independent photographic studio in 1915. Jack's son, John Gordon Spottswood, known as Gordon (or J. Gordon), graduated in 1943 from Bolles Military Academy before serving in the United States Navy during World War II. After the war, Gordon went to work as a photographer in Spottswood Studio, later known as Jack Spottswood Photography (or Jack Spottswood Studio). After Jack's death (ca. 1950), Gordon continued operating the studio for several decades. After closing the downtown studio, Gordon Spottswood set up a studio in his home to continue taking portraits until his death in 2009. Gordon Spottswood became the first certified forensic photographer in the state and received the first lifetime membership in the Professional Photographers of Florida.
Florida Memory is funded under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the Florida Department of State, Division of Library and Information Services.
Florida's history is your history. Help us preserve it by joining the Friends of the State Library & Archives of Florida | <urn:uuid:7c340940-ffb1-443d-be7a-e68b73b588d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://floridamemory.com/photographiccollection/collections/?id=42 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948774 | 651 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Deer hunt set for Maine island
ISLESBORO, Maine ó Islesboro residents are having a special deer hunt on their island to reduce the number of Lyme disease cases and protect the islandís woodlands.
The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has signed off on a controlled deer hunt to run from Dec. 10 through the end of the year.
The island allows deer hunting from September into early December, but only with bows and arrows.
The special season allows shotguns, the first thatís ever happened on the island. Itís open only to residents and family members.
Voters last year approved a plan to cull the deer herd from about 50 deer per square mile to about 10 per square mile.
Of the islandís 600 year-round residents, dozens have contracted the tick-borne Lyme disease over the years. | <urn:uuid:fd4289a2-a3e9-449a-99c5-d9f66fff6450> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20121120/NEWS/711209893/0/INFO0301 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936294 | 172 | 1.5 | 2 |
All across the country, people were protesting in front of Petland stores this weekend. It happens every year during the Holiday season as, The Humane Society of the United States, a private not for profit advocacy group, works to raise awareness about deplorable conditions in puppy mills. Complaints include charges that animals are kept in unsanitary cages, are unsocialized, poorly bred, have numerous health problems, and breeding bitches are kept in cages and impregnated every time they come into heat until they are not longer viable, and then are killed.
I came across one of the protest groups as I was doing my holiday shopping in Lewis Center, OH. A group of people gathered in front of the mall braving frigid temperatures for the sake of abused pups. A spokeswoman for the group, Mary O’Connor-Shaver of Columbus Top Dogs provided a press release which states:
“The goal of this event is to raise awareness of Petland and its relationship to puppy mill breeders and to solicit support from the community asking that Petland stop selling puppies while Central Ohio homeless dogs and puppies wait to be adopted.”
She wants the public to understand “There is a difference between reputable breeders and commercial breeders…Pet stores should be more regulated. We are finding these [pet store] dogs are very sick.”
She said “Lisa Wahoff, director of the Franklin County Animal Shelter pulled data in 2006 showing that as many as 7 out of every ten dogs coming into the shelter each day could be traced back to Petland sales.”
After speaking to the protesters, I took the time to talk with the folks at the Lewis center Petland store. Danny, the manager, brought out the Petland mascot Safari Sam to greet me and pose for pictures. He said Safari Sam was on his way out to the roadside to wave at the cars, and had been out earlier that morning standing side by side with the protest group. “The protesters show up every year during the holidays, but as you can see, it does not affect businesses at all.” He said with a wave of his hand, indicating the packed crowd of customers in the store. He was very good natured about the protest and adamantly stated that “all Petland puppies come from U.S.D.A. approved breeders.”
A report from the website bestfriends.org provides a comprehensive .pdf report outlining the definition of a puppy mill. One point of note in the reports states:
• Puppy mills are often USDA-licensed so they can sell puppies to pet stores. A USDA license is a red flag that breeders are in the business to make money.
The Petland manager went on to say “Petland does not approve of inhumane animal conditions.” “We think of Petland like a pre-school. We sanitize several times a day, and have customers use anti bacterial hand cleaner in between every pup they handle. Sanitation is a number one priority.”
In addition, the Petland website provides a comprehensive and scathing retort to the HSUS charges claiming this organization falsified video footage, fools the public, and uses a large percentage of donated monies for salaries and operating costs instead of the intended purpose of saving dogs.
I looked at the puppies and the condition of the cages and could only describe the Petland environment as impeccable. The puppies were handled by many customers who would go into a designated play area and get down on the floor with the pups while a staff member supervised. The staff was very attentive and helpful as they explained various breed traits. Clearly the workers were well informed, and dedicated to matching the right breeds with the families needs. Issues of size, temperament allergies and shedding were all topics I overheard during my visit. If these puppies came from disreputable puppy mills where poor kennel conditions and lack of socialization are a problem, the pups certainly do not live under those conditions once they are in Petland’s hands.
The Petland manager also talked about Petland’s Adopt-A-Pet program, which connects families who have a litter of puppies or kittens to families looking to adopt. He said “When someone finds a box of abandoned kittens and brings them in to us, we take them in, get them vaccinated, feed them, and provide them with good homes.” He want on to add, “Every Petland animal finds a home.” Implying Petland does not ever euthanize unwanted animals.
O’Connor-Shaver scoffed at that claim saying “no rescue organization in town has ever been contacted by Petland in regard to developing a partnership for their Adopt-A-Pet program.”
I asked Petland what they do when a puppy is growing and no one is buying. “We mark down the price, several times if we have to. Eventually they all find a home.”
While that may be true, one anti puppy mill website has posted an interview with a former Petland manager who tells of dogs being brought to the stores by the truckload, and those that do not pass muster are returned to the breeder. What happens to those puppies is unknown.
Petland claims the animal advocacy groups tie their annual protests to year end fundraising drives and prey on the sympathies of consumers to increase donations. The flip side of that argument is the protesters say this is the third year in a row the Ohio legislature has allowed the Puppy Mill bill to die in committee. They claim the commercial pet industry has ‘a strong lobby at the statehouse”, and “several powerful members of the committee make sure the bill never reaches the floor.”
For additional background information regarding the legal battles on this issue visit The Dog Service Network LLC blog and The Columbus Dog Connection.
These sites list the names of Ohio legislators involved in the committee hearings on The Puppy Mill Bill, but do not provide details on which legislators have received campaign donations from related lobby groups.
Such information would be most helpful to voters wanting a common sense solution to this issue.
For more information, the on line magazine Dog Owners Guide provides a balanced review of Puppy Mills, respectable breeders, and rescue organizations. | <urn:uuid:6a133305-20f4-40d3-8294-9af5bf96cb12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kelleybell.blogspot.com/2008/12/puppy-mill-problem.html?showComment=1287529422509 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96688 | 1,303 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Student athletes at Chicago schools who show symptoms of a concussion wouldn't be able to return to their sports without permission from a medical professional under a measure approved Wednesday by two City Council committees.
The rule, which could get a full City Council vote as soon as Thursday, would apply to all public and private schools that get free water from the city. Schools that don't comply would start getting water bills.
Chicago Public Schools already require that student athletes be removed from the playing field if they display symptoms of concussion, which can include headache, dizziness or memory loss.
But the new measure, supported by CPS officials, won't let the students back to practice or play until they get a note from a doctor or certified athletic trainer saying it's OK.
The Illinois High School Association, which governs high school sports in Illinois, last year passed a rule that allows any official, coach or trainer who suspects a player of having a concussion to remove that player from the game. The player can return to the game only if cleared by a proper medical professional.
The City Council's Finance and Education committees heard from medical professionals who lauded the city's initiative, which has been enacted in jurisdictions across the country amid a growing understanding of how serious repeat head injuries can be.
"Our goal is not to eliminate sports, but rather to make youth sports safer," said Dr. Hunt Batjer, a Northwestern Memorial Hospital neurosurgeon. | <urn:uuid:9ad545a9-06db-48fe-9b8a-55967507af9e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-01-12/news/ct-met-city-council-concussion-20110112_1_athletic-trainer-high-school-sports-concussion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969944 | 287 | 1.71875 | 2 |
HOUSING RECOVERY ON! Home Prices Driving Consumer Spending, Says Report
Six Year Real Estate Decline Seen Ending With Rental Property Spurt
After six years of declining sales and falling prices that wiped $7 trillion from the value of housing assets, a turning point has been reached.
The worst is over for the U.S. housing market!
After six years of declining sales and falling prices that wiped $7 trillion from the value of housing assets, a turning
point has been reached.
The Demand Institute (a new research organization) sees average prices rising by up to 1 percent in the second half of 2012 (in seasonally adjusted terms), marking the start of a housing recovery.
As the market revives, so will consumer spending: the business of building, buying, and selling homes generates enormous expenditure in a wide range of industries, including those associated with the transaction, those that produce goods and services for the home itself, and those that provide goods and services in the neighborhood around the home.
This housing recovery will be different in nature from previous recoveries because it will be shaped by new market conditions and expectations. This report explains those differences and the various ways in which they impact consumer demand.
This will be a two-stage recovery. Seasonally adjusted average
house prices will increase by up to 1 percent in the second half of
2012, rising to an annual rate of increase of 2.5 percent by 2014.
Between 2015 and 2017, they will rise by 3 to 3.5 percent -- it will be a two-stage recovery.
The recovery will be led by demand from buyers for rental
properties, rather than, as in previous cycles, demand from buyers
acquiring properties for themselves. More than 50 percent of those
planning to move in the next two years say they intend to rent.
Young people -- who were particularly hard hit by the recession --
and immigrants will lead the demand for rental properties.
Developers and investors will fulfill this demand: developers by building multifamily homes for rent (that is, buildings containing two or more units, such as apartment blocks or townhouses), and investors by buying foreclosed single-family properties for the same purpose.
Rental demand will help to clear the huge oversupply of existing
homes for sale. In 2011, some 14 percent of all housing units were
vacant, while almost 13 percent of mortgages were in foreclosure
or delinquent -- increases of 12 and 129 percent respectively over
2005 levels. It will take two to three years for this oversupply to be cleared, and at that point home ownership rates will rise and return to historical levels. More than 70 percent of those planning to move three to five years from now say they intend to purchase their home.
The housing market recovery will not be uniform across the
country. Some states will see annual price gains of 5 percent or
more. Others will not recover for many years. The deciding factors will include the level of foreclosed inventory and rates of unemployment.
There will also be vast differences within states. Here, additional
factors count, such as whether local amenities, including access to
public transport, are within walking distance of homes. By examining
seven factors that influence house prices at a local level, the report identifies four categories of cities and towns in which prices will behave differently (population share in parentheses):
Resilient Walkables (~15%)
Slow and Steady (~35%)
Damaged but Hopeful (~30%)
Weighed Down (~20%)
We predict that each category will demonstrate a distinct pace
and strength of price recovery. The Resilient Walkables are likely
to lead the way with strong, early growth, while the Weighed Down
will trail behind with slower and slighter price growth than the
The Demand Institute is a non-advocacy, non-profit organization and a division of The Conference Board, which holds 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in the United States.
The Demand Institute is jointly operated by The Conference Board and Nielsen. Our headquarters is in New York City, with a presence in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Singapore and
Washington, D.C. For more information, visit demandinstitute.org
Ask The Experts Article 7018
Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at email@example.com)
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(NATO Informal Ministerial, Birmingham, England)
Bacon: Walter B. Slocombe is the under secretary for Defense and is talking on the record. He will give you a summary on what happened this morning, and take your questions on that and other issues that affect the United States and NATO.
Slocombe: Thank you.
This morning, as you know, the ministers focused on the Balkans, talking not only about the situation directly affecting the NATO Forces in Bosnia and Kosovo, but also about the significant development in Yugoslavia with the election of Kostunica.
I think it is appropriate to begin with the observation that a great many of the ministers made, which is the primary credit for this very important, very positive development lies with the Serb people and the Serb opposition, who in the face of intimidation, fraud, irregularities, stood up and spoke so strongly that it was impossible for even all the instruments that Milosovic had at his control to steal the election. Or at least steal it successfully; not that he didn't try.
On the other hand, it is also true that the efforts of the NATO alliance and the EU, and individual countries including the United States, to keep up the pressure on Milosevic, and to make it clear that an essential precondition of a change in Serbia's relationship with the outside world is a change in government, was also an important contributing factor. As one of the ministers has put it, "The game has changed, but the game is not yet over, by a long shot."
It is clearly a positive development; there have been some good initial contacts with Kostunica, indicating a desire to address issues to normalize relations, and to move to change the situation, in connection with that, the United States supports the action of the EU in taking the initial steps to lift the sanctions which have the greatest immediate impact on the Serb population, while maintaining sanctions that are aimed specifically at Milosevic and his cronies.
As the secretary general said in his statement, we expect the new president and new government which will come in power in the FRY, to cooperate on implementing the Dayton Peace Agreement, with respect to Bosnia and UN resolution 1244 and the Military Technical Agreement, with respect to Kosovo.
As you know, at least a couple of you accompanied him, Secretary Cohen came here from meetings in Thessaloniki, Greece, yesterday at the Southeast European Defense Ministers. Before we talk in detail about Bosnia and Kosovo, it is useful to take a moment to look back and see the huge improvement that there has been in the security situation in the international environment in Southeast Europe in the last 8-10 years, in addition to the hopeful steps of Belgrade and to real progress in both Kosovo and Bosnia.
Looking at the countries that were at the SEDM from the region, in alphabetical order, eight to ten years ago, Albania was in a state of near internal collapse, it had a major set of disputes with its neighbors about borders, about the status of minorities, and we are now in a situation where it is a struggling democracy. It has very serious problems, but it needs to improve its economy, but it is cooperating with the Alliance, it has resolved its problems with Greece and with Macedonia, and is moving forward.
Bulgaria and Romania, to depart slightly from the alphabetical order, both governments were dominated by largely unreconstructed former communist regimes. They each had border or ethnic disputes with their neighbors. Romania had major problems with Hungary and Ukraine; Bulgaria, problems with its Turkish minority, with Macedonia - those problems have now been resolved, and again, they are democratic governments trying to make the necessary market reforms, and reform and update their militaries.
In Croatia, Franjo Tudjman was in power, was a major force for instability in Bosnia, in a constant conflict with Belgrade, except when it was in his interest to cut a deal with Milosevic. There was a very high level tension, with respect to the Serbs, and the Krajina. And now, there has been an election, Tudjman's heirs lost the election, Croatia is in the PFP and joined the SEDM at the meeting.
Macedonia, during this period of time, was embargoed by its neighbors; it had problems with both Bulgaria and Greece. It has now held a free election, which I guess it was Secretary Robertson who said, was a very close to normal European election. There are still, in all of these countries, plenty of problems, but we have, over the last eight or ten 10 years, or less, move to a whole new generation of problems, a whole new stage of problems. The problems of consolidating democracy, of consolidating stable international relations. And that is a major step forward in the region. And it is one for which the alliance can claim at least part of the credit.
Turning specifically to the Bosnia and Kosovo, General Ralston and Admiral Venturoni gave reports, that is obviously not for me to say in detail what they said, but just to just give you some highlights, the points that were made by them, as well as by other ministers, and by Secretary Cohen. In Bosnia there has been a substantial reduction in SFOR, from something like 30,000 to something like 20,000, with a corresponding reduction in the U.S. contingent from roughly 6200 to 4300. We are in the process of consolidating, it will be a difficult process, of consolidating three entity armed forces and minority refugee returns are running twice the level they were last year. SFOR is preparing for elections and, in general, there is a secure and stable environment, it is not without difficulties, by any means, but it is a relatively stable country, and in which the civil institutions are beginning to develop and take over.
In Kosovo, an issue of importance for the alliance, the rotation to the fourth headquarters, is virtually complete. The formal change of command will take place in a few days. A major focus there is the preparations for the election, which will take place later this month. KFOR and UNMIK are working very closely on this and other issues that will support the OSCE in carrying out those elections.
The security situation is unsettled, but vastly improved. Incidents of violence are down. The situation in Kosovska Mitrovica has been calm substantially. UNMIK authority has expanded by the shut down of the smelter. In the Ground Security Zone, that is the five-kilometer area inside Serbia, bordering on Kosovo, the efforts by KFOR to ensure that Albanian insurgencies don't provoke Serb over-reaction have been reasonably effective.
I had the privilege of spending Saturday evening and Sunday in Kosovo with the American forces, and I want to add a few personal observations. First of all, the Americans troops are immensely impressive. There is good cooperation with the other nations and even just in the American area, it is a startling range of different countries. We are working with Russian troops, with Greek troops, with troops from the United Arab Emirates, with troops from Poland, from Ukraine, from Lithuania. Any impression that the Americans are holed up in Bondsteel is wholly wrong. The Americans are out on the streets; actively patrolling both mounted and dismounted patrols. In intimate contact with the local leadership, the officers have quite an amazing range of contacts and knowledge of the people in the communities where they deal. There are dramatic changes from when I was there a year ago, in particularly, from when I was there almost a year and a half ago, 15-16 months ago, right after the war stopped. A million refugees have come back, they are rebuilding their lives; you see schools, shops, and houses being rebuilt. Obviously, there is a tremendous amount to do to fix up the infra-structure, and build a viable economy, but the progress that has been made is quite startling. And, in particular, if you contrast from what the situation might have been if you had a million refugees on a sort of Gaza strip in Europe, siting on the borders. There is continuing inter-ethnic violence, it is a serious problem; crime, in general, is a serious problem. KFOR, with the support, and indeed, increasing role with KFOR in a supporting role for the UNMIK police and the local police, are protecting the Serb and other minority populations. Incidents are still to high a level, but they are down. They are getting ready for the election, and in general, the plan there is that the election will be conducted by the OSCE. UNMIK and local police will provide local security, but KFOR will have an active role in protecting polling sites. They will not physically move the ballots, but they will protect the movement of the ballots. The challenge of successfully transition to a multi-ethnic, reasonably, stable community in Kosovo, is by no means, complete. It is well underway, and is generally inspiring to see what has been accomplished. And that is a summary of what was said in the meeting this morning and where we are.
With respect to the elections, it is important to make the point that it is not simply a question of holding the elections, but of making sure that the results are implemented in Kosovo. There has been very good progress with building up local police, Kosovo protection police service. One of the big needs is to build up the judiciary so there is a legal and judicial system. I think that is a summary of what was discussed and what were my impressions from the trip.
Q: You mentioned that there had been some initial contact with Kostunica, by that did you mean NATO contacts?
Slocombe: No, by member countries. They reported on the contents of those contacts.
Q: I have two points, one regarding the events in Belgrade. To what extent do you see a developing difference within the Alliance, between the American's views and the views of some of the European members, as to the timing of the importance of handing over of Milosevic to the War Crime Tribunal? There seems to be a slight difference in emphasis between Washington and some of the European governments.
Slocombe: If you see it, I am sure you see it, I don't see it, and I certainly didn't hear it this morning, and I haven't heard it in others. I think everybody takes the position, which is what Secretary General Robertson just said, that the tribunal is a properly constituted international tribunal; that Milosevic and others have been indicted; there is no statute of limitations on war crimes. They are to be held accountable personally for trial, and for trial by the ITCY, the International Tribunal. On the other hand, it is also obviously true that the first task is consolidation of democracy in Belgrade, that is the priority task. In all honesty, I don't think there is but I certainly did not detect a trans-Atlantic difference of view on this point.
Q: On the second point, on Kosovo itself, there is kind of contradiction in NATO policy, in that we went in to support the ethnic Albanians, but of course, we don't support their view that the ultimate aim should be an independent Kosovo. Not many countries in the region want to see an independent Kosovo. As long as Mr. Milosevic was there, that difference was academic. Are we going to have to put in, are the NATO alliance going to have to put in much more now to convince the political leadership of the Albanian population in Kosovo, that their future actually lies in some sort of relationship with Belgrade?
Slocombe: The position of the United States, the position of the alliance, and the position of the international community are reflected, importantly, in resolution 1244. It is not to support Kosovo independence, but to support a broad autonomy and self-government for the people of Kosovo, and that it should be a multi ethnic community. That is obviously a difficult thing to accomplish. And, you are right, there is a conflict between the desire of many Kosovar Albanians for full juridical independence, state sovereignty, and the desire of many Serbs, including, President Kostunica, for the reintegration of Kosovo, on some terms or other, back into Yugoslavia. That is an issue, which is going to have to be resolved, ultimately by agreement and by negotiation. You make a valid point that it was clear that as long as Milosevic was in Belgrade, there was no prospect of a good faith negotiation, but never addressing the issue was not a viable solution. You are perfectly right; we will now have to address that. It will be a very gradual process.
Q: If I could ask to come back to the question on war crimes. Is there a consensus that Milosevic should be dealt with, primarily, what primly is a matter of Serbs in the first instance. And the question of other indictees still at large, and other Bosnian Serbs?
Slocombe: What I said about Milosevic applies to all the people who have been indicted. It is not for the international community to deal with the question of -- the international community, the United States, NATO, the EU, Russia, have no power, jurisdiction to quash an indictment, or to say that the indictment is not good. The position of the United States is, and I do not detect any difference with any of the other countries that have spoken, certainly this morning, that Milosevic and all the other people who have been indicted should be accountable before the ITCY.
Q: Could I just ask you about the possible reduction of troops in Kosovo and Bosnia in the aftermath of the change we witnessed. Was there any talk about that, and if not, I noticed that Lord Robertson spoke about the appropriate levels to the threat, when might the threat be reassessed within NATO?
Slocombe: There was no discussion -- there was a consensus that it would be inappropriate either to reduce levels in either place now at this point. In Bosnia we have just completed a rather long process which has lead to a very substantial reduction. Remember, we started out with something like 60,000 people. SFOR is now down to something under 20,000. So, that process is just finished. And in the case of Kosovo, obviously, the judgement is the current force level is the appropriate one for the situation as it exists. NATO, as a matter of routine every six months, does a review of these two operations, and will continue to do that. And, at an appropriate time, governments will consider whether, on the basis on the military advice and assessment of the security situation, what is required for the situation, but there is no current plan to reduce in either place. That does not exclude the possibility that, with developments, in both respective places, and in the relationship between Bosnia, in one hand, and Kosovo, in the other, and Serbia, that it might not be possible to make more changes in some point in the future, and that is what will be addressed in future reviews, including one that will be done in December.
Q: Can I ask what is the United States position on European defense policy and producing a European rapid reaction force?
Slocombe: You can certainly ask. The full answer would take a long time. Let me try to give a short answer.
The United States has, since the original idea came up back in the Berlin Ministerial, I forget how many years ago, been in favor of the European initiative to develop its defense capability. Not because we believe that somehow Europe needs to get ready for the United States to leave Europe, because we are not going to leave, and certainly not to replace NATO. But I don't think that is the view of any of the European governments and why they are doing this. We are in favor of this for two reasons, one, we believe that it would be a way to strengthen both NATO and the EU. And second, we understand that it reflects a growing European integration and that this will naturally have a growing European common approach to foreign policy issues, and therefore a desire to have common defense capability, a common military capability to back up those positions.
The issue, I think, is less whether the United States is in favor of this, than it is how to realize the positive potential of this development. And the desire to realize that potential is common to Allies on both sides of the Atlantic and the countries that are both in and outside EU and NATO. There are a couple of priorities. One is that the main problem is capability. As you all know NATO does not have an army; countries have armies, air forces, navies, marine corps. NATO has a certain command structure, early warning capabilities, and communication capabilities, but fundamentally military capabilities is a national issue. And so both NATO and the EU will look necessarily for exactly the same military capabilities. There is an agreement that those capabilities need to be improved, and there is, without completely being identical, virtual agreement on the areas where there has to be priority. To having forces that are more mobile, more deployable, more sustainable, and more effective. And less designed for static defense of frontiers against cross boarder attacks. The Defense Capabilities Initiative and the work within NATO, and the work on the headline goal force within the EU are in this sense very closely compatible. The second point is to how to have a consistent, not identical, but consistent planning process, which, as we think is generally accepted within both the Alliance and the European Union, should be based on the NATO force-planning structure. They are separate organizations, which will ultimately make separate decisions. And that those decisions ultimately will be made only by the members of the organization. But there has to be complete transparency and complete coordination. This is one of the reasons why we made the proposal that there be a full transparency for the non-NATO/EU members into the NATO process and for the non-EU/NATO members into the EU process.
And finally, there is the very important issue of which that is an aspect of participation of the non-EU Allies in being able to consult on decisions that affect their security, and potentially affect their forces. And, in transparent planning. And, reconciling the fundamental fact that both NATO and the EU will make ultimate decisions themselves, with the fact that it is not the same countries, but very broad overlap with very broad common interests. There are a lot of other issues about ESDI and NATO/EU relationships, Berlin plus and all that. That is essentially what our position is. That will be the primary, exclusive subject of discussion this afternoon, and Secretary Cohen, as I understand, will do a press conference and provide more detail. | <urn:uuid:fe022bcf-5fde-4510-b4d2-d663a50898b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defense.gov/Transcripts/Transcript.aspx?TranscriptID=1829 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976276 | 3,883 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Order read for resuming Adjourned Debate on Question [27th March.]
That, before Parliament is asked to take a decision upon the proposals contained in Command Paper 4268, it is expedient that a Joint Select Committee of Lords and Commons, with power to call into consultation representatives of the Indian States and of British India, be appointed to consider the future government of India and, in particular, to examine aid report upon the proposals in the said Command Paper."—[Sir S. Hoare.]
§ Question again proposed.
§ 3.20 p.m.
§ Viscount WOLMER
When the House adjourned last night, I had already had the privilege of addressing it for a few minutes on this question. I do not propose to occupy more than a very few minutes on this occasion, but as I have been asked to put forward the point of view of a number of other Members besides myself, and as I had not quite finished my speech last night, I should like to make our position quite clear. I am not going to repeat what I ventured to say yesterday. I gave reasons why many of us think that the Constitution which the Government are proposing for India cannot possibly work smoothly and cannot lead to that spirit of partnership which, I am sure, we all desire. I pointed out that a Constitution of this kind could not have worked in Ireland, and never has worked in any part of the world where a similar balance of constitutional rights has been attempted.
The only point I desire to make this afternoon is that, in view of the extremely hazardous nature of this experiment, to put it at the lowest, in view of the fact that such constitutions as this one, though they have been tried, have never been successfully worked in history before, it seems to us that to try such an experiment on a population of 350,000,000 people is an act of folly, and worse than folly. The fortunes, the homes, the lives of these people are at stake. It is a responsibility greater, I suppose, than any ever cast upon this House before. There is another aspect of the question which I would not mention in the same breath, which I do not 850 think ought to be put in the same category with that to which I have just referred, but which is nevertheless of sufficiently grave importance to be taken into very weighty consideration by this House. It is the fact that hundreds of millions of pounds of British capital are invested in India. That is a consideration which the House cannot ignore, and have no right to ignore. They have no more right to gamble with the savings of the people of this country and other countries than they have to gamble with the lives and fortunes of the inhabitants of India.
I merely draw attention to these two facts in view of what I am now going to say. It seems to us that the issue is so grave that every Member of this House has to take action on his own responsibility in this matter, without regard to party ties, without regard to personal friendships, without regard to how his own personal fortunes may be affected. That is not only true of every Member of this House. It is true of the Cabinet as well, and the Under-Secretaries. I cannot believe that all my friends in the Cabinet are happy and satisfied that they are justified in making this momentous experiment. I appeal to them to consider their responsibilities in the matter. I appeal particularly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to consider his responsibility in the matter. I cannot believe that he feels happy in the issues that may result from this gigantic experiment and the repercussions which it must inevitably have on the finance and credit of this country if that experiment ends in disaster. I appeal to my right hon. Friend to "go over the top," as many of us have to "go over the top" in this matter, and put an issue of this magnitude above all other considerations that would normally weigh with us.
My final word is this. I hope that my right hon. Friend the Leader of my party will not take it in an unfriendly way, but I think that the Conservative party has been put into an intolerable position in this matter. As I listened to the very eloquent speech of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for India—received in icy silence by his own party— for an hour and a half, I felt that we had been let drift to the edge of a cataract, and that we were then being asked what was our alternative policy. It is not a fair position in which to place the party. 851 Looking back on the course of events during the last few years in this matter, I have come to the conclusion that the Leader of the Conservative party is really, at heart, a sentimental Liberal. With all the great qualities which have endeared him personally to us, I think he really does believe that a nation can be regenerated by being given the vote, that with the franchise comes an accession of grace and wisdom which cannot be obtained in any other way, just as he believed that giving votes to flappers would elevate the female sex of this country. Personally, although I respect all those sentiments, I profoundly distrust them, and I believe they are distrusted by the great majority of the party to which I belong.
Although it is our duty, and indeed we are bound, to lead India on in the path of constitutional progress, we have a far greater responsibility to the 350,000,000 people of India whose lives and interests are in our charge. Therefore, even at this eleventh hour, I would beg that we do not make the experiment on this gigantic scale, but that we make it on a much smaller scale. Give fuller powers if you like than to the diarchy which you are setting up at the centre; give real responsibility to one or two selected provinces; make your full experiment, but make it on as small a scale as you can. Do not be afraid to go slowly, because I believe that slow progress in this matter is much more likely to be true and lasting progress than a step too rapidly taken.
§ 3.28 p.m.
§ Sir ROBERT HORNE
At the end of the very lucid speech of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for India, he desiderated comments upon his plan from moderate men of good will and good sense. I hope the House will not regard me as being officious in venturing to answer that appeal. I believe myself to be moderate. I know myself to be of good will towards everybody who sincerely tries to find the right solution of this great problem, and the only question that remains is the question of my good sense. I hope that I possess some of that invaluable quality, but, at any rate, the House will judge. Hitherto I have taken no part in these Debates in the House upon this great question, and I have not gone into the Lobby in any of the Divisions connected with it. I 852 have observed, I think, an attitude of comparative impartiality and of suspended judgment. But it is no longer possible for any Member of this House to remain in that position of quiescence.
I agree with what my Noble Friend said a few moments ago, that every Member of Parliament is bound by his very duty, after the Select Committee has reported, to take his place, if not in the discussion, at least in the Lobby, and he must have a reason for the faith which he then exhibits. It is true that there is a very great temptation to most of us to lean back upon the Government in this matter. We are inclined to take the view that this is a very complicated topic, which few of us have the opportunity to study, that the Government and their advisers are people upon whom great reliance may be put, that they can be trusted to weigh up all the considerations which should operate on one side or the other, and that we cannot do better than to trust them.
And let me make this avowal. If I had to surrender my judgment upon this question, there is no person in whose favour I would more readily yield it up than my right hon. Friend the present Secretary of State for India. His sincerity and his patriotism are beyond all question. He has, in my personal judgment, as great a political flair as any man with whom I have worked in connection with the Government and Parliament, and he adds to that quality a balance of mind and a coolness of judgment which are the admiration of all his friends. Moreover, we owe him—the; Conservative party owes him—a great debt of gratitude, because he has demonstrated, as I think beyond all question, that it only requires sufficient firmness and courage in your administration to make India an orderly State.
But the truth is, as my noble Friend said a moment ago, that none of us can devolve on any other person this burden, which is firmly planted upon the shoulders of each of us. This is no question of loyalty to the Ministry. It never was in issue in the course of the last election. Our opinions and our votes upon it will exhibit neither favour nor disfavour to the National Government. The fact is that everyone of us is confronted with the greatest issue which has ever come before this or any other Parliament, and 853 upon our own individual consciences it rests to meet the issue squarely and honestly. To do him credit, the Secretary of State has faithfully recognised the position of the private Members of the Conservative party in this regard. There were many what are called by that hideous word "tendencious" suggestions, both in speeches and in the Press, to the effect that we were going to be jockeyed by the Government in this matter, and indeed perhaps it is not surprising that some people thought that some such effort might be made, because one thing which has hurt many of us in the contemplation of this great problem has been, the way in which we have seemed to slither from position to position, and how at every stage at which it was attempted to apply a judgment to the question at issue we were always told, "You cannot go back; somebody has said this, some other person has said that; the Indians have put this interpretation upon it; your word as an Englishman is the thing that matters most; and, therefore, you must just accept the position as it is."
I, for one, am grateful to the Secretary of State that he has relieved us from all that trouble. He has not only given us the opportunity of discussing the White Paper freely, but he has thrown the whole question open. What the Select Committee is to investigate and report upon to this House is nothing less than the future Government of India, without qualification or trammel. To-day, and in the course of this Debate which goes on to-morrow, we are only approaching a very small fence, which is that of setting up the Select Committee. This is a fence which none of us would desire to avoid. The greater hurdle awaits us later. It is true that the speech of my right hon. Friend the Member for Darwen (Sir H. Samuel) last night seemed to show that he was anxious to ride his steed at the last fence six months before we come to it. I think perhaps he has taken the wrong form of quadruped for this event, and it might not be unjustiable if he got the reply that Balaam got in another adventure.
But we are now discussing something about which there is no difficulty. The question remains as to how we are to use this opportunity of discussion. Are we simply to wave a handkerchief of cheerful farewell to the Select Committee 854 which is to be set up, or are we to give some indication of the things that are troubling our minds, which, after all, if they take the trouble to read our discussions, may give some guidance to them as to the difficulties with which we are confronted? We may be very ignorant. I, although I have a considerable personal acquaintance with India, which is kept up through multifarious duties, feel myself aghast at the amount of ignorance which inhabits my breast upon this vast problem. Nevertheless, it is people like myself, ordinary Members like myself, who ultimately have to decide this question, and accordingly it is perhaps well that the Select Committee should be made aware of some of the difficulties which are perturbing us.
I do not propose to give anything more than some preliminary impressions. I am not going to attempt to lay down any view dogmatically. I have not the courage of my Noble Friend who has preceded me, and, no doubt, of others who will also take part in the Debate, but I would like this afternoon to indicate some of the troubles and difficulties which seem to me to lie in the way. There is a great temptation to go back into the history of this great problem, but I shall not ask the House to do so to-day. I shall not go further back than November of 1930, when the Round Table Conference met, to that which is admitted—it was stated by the Secretary of State yesterday afternoon—to have been a crucial point in the movement towards this self-government in India. Up till then the Simon Commission Report held the field. It was the only plan of which anybody was thinking, and discussion was revolving around the proposals contained in that report. Then there met the Conference, at which everything was altered, apparently, by a speech of one of the leading Princes which indicated the readiness of the Princes of India to come into a Federal scheme.
That changed the whole atmosphere and the whole course of the discussion. Let us keep in mind that up to that point, while the suggestion of Federation had been indicated in the Simon Report, it was something far off, which nobody could contemplate for a moment. Not only the Simon Commission, but those upon whom the Secretary of State now relies for indications as to the pre- 855 sent feeling of officials in India, that is the Government of India at that time, with at its head Lord Irwin, the great protagonist of this movement for greater responsibility in India, declared that any Federal system of government was a very remote event which need not occupy the time of practical men for a long time to come. But everything was changed almost in the twinkling of an eye. I am going to start from that moment, and I am going to assume, what the Secretary of State asked me to believe yesterday, that owing to attitudes adopted by Minister in the past something in the shape of representative government must be given to India. I am going to assume that, but I am also going to take into account the qualification which my right hon. Friend made when he said that we were still to be the judges of the time, of the degree, and of the opportunity.
If I were writing a memorandum for the Select Committee, I should make my first point that they have got to keep these circumstances clearly in view. What emerged from that particular conference? There emerged the Federal scheme, and along with it a series of safeguards. If the House will allow me, I should like to look first at the question of safeguards as a preface to the question which deals with the position of the Indian States in the proposed Federation.
As to safeguards, I should like to make one or two general observations. Safeguards in the setting up of a new constitution were never more necessary than in the present circumstances. You are giving a system of Parliamentary democracy to 350,000,000 people at a time when many countries in the world that have tried Parliamentary democracy are turning from that system in despair. Accordingly, it would seem to require a more meticulous examination than usual of this proposition before we decide the form the system is to take. If we look round Europe to-day we find a ring of dictatorships of various forms. There is one form in the Soviet in Russia; it takes another shape in Italy, and still another shape in Germany. Austria, Hungary, Jugoslavia, Poland and Turkey are all acting on parallel lines, each taking their own particular form of it, but all despairing of Parliamentary democracy and turning to some shade of dictatorship. A French friend of mine said to me some time ago, 856 "You English people think, and have always prided yourselves on the fact, that you gave a great boon to the world in representative government. Believe me, you gave most of us a curse, because you are the only race that knows how to work the system."
§ Sir R. HORNE
Reflect for a moment on the difficulties of democratic government in, for instance, France, which has had over 20 Governments since the War. I do not wonder that Frenchmen dislike the contemplation of party parliamentary democracy. Even we here, when we had more than two parties and a minority Government, know to what representative government tended to reduce us. There was a series of not very respectable bargains in order to keep the Government in power. Luckily in this country either we are too stupid to think of more than two propositions at a time, or we have usually the sublime political instinct which causes us to give at least one large party the majority in Parliament. We see from experience the terrible difficulties that are involved as soon as we have a series of groups in a representative assembly. What are we to say about making this vast experiment on a country of 350,000,000 people whose whole traditions are patriarchal in type and entirely contrary to those which we in the Western world have followed; where there are scores of races, castes and creeds and languages; and where the only cement is the British influence which, whatever you have to say for this particular scheme, must be weakened by what is done. I am not saying this as an argument for getting rid altogether of the theory that we are to give some form of representative government to India. I am not one of those much inclined to follow shibboleths. I do not believe in the kind of slogan that you cannot go back. I would always go back if it seemed the right course, unless the danger of not going back was greater than the danger of going forward.
With regard to this particular matter, it seems to me that we cannot entirely, even if we would at the present time, get rid of the obligations of the past, and that we are bound to consider a representative Government in some shape or 857 form and in some measure and degree. That is my first general observation about safeguards. My second is this. It would be far better to have no safeguards at all than to have ineffective safeguards. There is something to be said for granting a Constitution without any safeguards as a great gesture of confidence to the people to whom you have given it. You might expect to get some response. There is more to be said for granting a Constitution in our particular circumstances which is carefully and efficiently safeguarded, but there is nothing to be said for granting a constitution with safeguards, which irritate and are not effective. In that way you get the worst of both worlds. Accordingly, I propose for a moment or two to apply my mind to the discussion of some of the safeguards which are in this proposed Constitution. I think that we have to consider with reluctance what we are safe-guarding ourselves against in the Indian Constitution. I am not going to make a general attack on the kind of Indian Minister we will be likely to get. I believe that we will get very many good Ministers from the Indian community.
On the other hand, what we are safe-guarding India, our fellow-Indian subjects, against is the attitude of those who have not hesitated to make their position known. After all, the safeguard is against the type of people who wish to destroy the system, and I regret to think that many voices come from India which declare in the most explicit terms what their object is. Only the other day we had this announcement, which is not in itself more extravagant than many others, from a very famous man, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru. Although some people may think he has not now quite all the influence he used to have, none the less he is a very important person in the Indian community. He said:There may be men who may say that the Constitution is not worthy of our acceptance because it falls short of our expectations. To them I would hold up the example of men like De Valera in Ireland and Hitler in Germany. De Valera was not half the nuisance that he is to-day before he entered the Government. It is not only good law but ordinary common sense, I say with all respect that possession is nine points of the law. Either the progressive elements must capture the Constitution or they must be prepared to step aside.858 It is plain that those who are represented by Tej Bahadur Sapru and such men as he are only ready to accept this measure in the knowledge that they are going to make it impossible to work except in their own way. I wish to make it perfectly clear that I am not making such a reflection upon all the people who will possibly be brought into Government in India. All I say is that we must count upon having men of that line of thought in office at some time or another, and it is against men of that type that the safeguards must be strong enough to preserve the Constitution which is being set up.
What are those safeguards? Let me take, first of all, what is regarded as the ultimate safeguard, that is to say, when Government is brought to a standstill, and the Viceroy and all those whom he can gather round him come in and once more take over the machine. I should not myself be very much disposed to rely upon that ultimate safeguard if these men were clever enough, as indeed they are, to select their own time. I can very well imagine a point in history when we might find it very difficult to get the Government which might be in power in this country to take any action which would support the Viceroy in the course he has adopted. In fact, they might be inclined from their general principles to wish that those who were thus usurping authority might be successful. It seems to me that if we are going to rely upon safeguards we must depend upon those which should come into play long before we come to that breakdown.
In the next place, as was pointed out by Lord Zetland in a, letter to the "Times" in a far more complete way than I can do to-day, the burdens placed upon the Viceroy make it almost impossible that any one man could really give his attention to the situation and operate in time the safeguards which are supposed to be in his charge. I know that my right hon. Friend said yesterday, with a great deal more knowledge than I have, that under the new Constitution the Viceroy would not be more severely burdened than he is at the present time; but there is this great difference. At the present time the Viceroy has round him a set of Ministers upon whom he can absolutely rely, and information is always 859 at his disposal, but the very hypothesis of the position in which the safeguards are to be worked is that he has got a hostile Ministry who can stop the flow of information to the Viceroy, or can allow him to get it only at the last moment, when it is too late to act. Accordingly, I do not myself feel very great confidence in the Viceroy being able to use successfully the safeguards which are in his charge. I do not want to be dogmatic about this, but I would suggest that these are points which a Select Committee ought to investigate very thoroughly before they come to a conclusion.
I have no doubt the House will remember that I asked yesterday two questions of my right hon. Friend which are relevant to a point which I am now about to make. The Viceroy is to have control of the Army, by which it is supposed that he will be able to ensure peace and tranquillity in India. I do not think I am putting this proposition too strongly when I say that while the Army by itself is, no doubt, a powerful engine, I do not believe it can have one-hundredth part of its effect unless the Viceroy and the Governors of the provinces at the same time have control of the police. It was the liaison between the police and the Army which enabled my right hon. Friend to make so great a change in India during his term of office. We can easily see why this is so. The police go right down into the villages, they are the sources of information; they are also the guard, to some extent, of the means of transportation by which the Army moves, and I should not very much envy a Viceroy who sought to move some portion of the Army to a disaffected district if at the same time the police were against him and were unwilling to co-operate with the Army. At any rate, the effectiveness of the Army in such circumstances would be very greatly reduced.
My right hon. Friend sought to give me an assurance about the police. He said that for the next five years, at any rate, when the matter would be reviewed, the selection of the police would be in the hands of the Secretary of State. That goes a certain distance, undoubtedly, but let us look at it from a practical point of view. We are professing at least to transfer law and order to a Minister, and I cannot imagine that that Minister is 860 not to have ordinary ministerial functions. He must, as I take it, move the police about according to his judgment as to where they ought to be. He also will have a very great influence on the prospects of individual policemen. He will make the reports as to their conduct, he will give a decision as to which part of his Province any particular policeman will have to go to, and the man may be made very miserable or comfortable according as he has the good will of the Minister or not.
While it is perfectly true that the selection of the police is with the Secretary of State, in actual operation the man to whom the police will inevitably look for all their future prospects will be the Minister. When there is trouble these Indian police, who have behaved in he most admirable manner under the present régime, will very naturally be considering who is going to win out, and from whom they are most likely to get the most advantageous prospects. This affects, also, the question of information. Whatever instructions may be given about police reports going to the Governor, the Minister, in the ordinary executive discharge of his duties, is in a position to say about what class of offences reports are to be made, and if the Minister is disaffected—and that, after all, is the hypothesis upon which we are arguing—it seems to me to be perfectly simple for the Minister who is in charge of the police to make it impossible for the Governor to discover what is going on in the way of offences in the Provinces, or at any rate to see that information gets to him only when matters have gone too far.
I am putting forward these things for the consideration of the Select Committee. I am now going to venture a remark with very great diffidence. I see that my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary is present and is obviously going to speak. He knows very much more about this question than I could ever learn, however hard I studied or however long I lived. But I have never been able to understand the reasoning by which the Simon Commission came to the conclusion that you had to give control of law and order to the native ministries in the Provinces. It is said, roughly, that if you did not do that the whole thing would be a mockery—not in 861 language as strong as that, but there was a suggestion of that kind, that otherwise it was not really giving responsibility to them. At the same time it is obvious that the members of the Simon Commission had some doubt at the back of their minds upon this matter, because they provided for an extra Minister. They did not say he was to look after the police. It was always possible, we were told, for the Provincial Governor to use him for that purpose.
Of course that has disappeared in this plan, but I can well imagine your giving self-government in a very complete degree to a province, and even to the whole of India itself, without giving the popularly-elected body control of the police or the Army. Why should not one say, "Well now, we will give you a country in which to legislate "—I am taking this as mere assumption—"You will be able to carry out all the plans that you think are for the good of your people, and we will give you that country, guarded and looked after, so that you will not have to worry about keeping it in order." What is there detrimental to the pride of a people in that?
For my part I regard this question of the police as the linch-pin of the whole system of government of India. At least I so regard it until I am convinced to the contrary. I would hope, at any rate, that this whole question may be reviewed. I will put it like this: If I were the person responsible for the government of India I would rather be given the kind of Constitution at present proposed if you gave me control of the police, than have no responsible government at the centre with the control of the police in the provinces in the hands of native Ministers. I do not say that I approve of either of these alternatives, but I put it in that form to show how strong my view is about the necessity of keeping control of the police. These are the safeguards with regard to the orderly government of India and the preservation of the Constitution.
I wish to make a remark or two about two other items that arise in connection with the subject of safeguards. The first is in connection with the prevention of discrimination in trade. I would compliment the Secretary of State upon the way 862 in which he has devised the paragraph dealing with the question of discrimination. It is in a form which, I think, will be regarded, as suitable by most British traders. At the same time there is another paragraph which deals with subsidies, and I hope it will be kept clearly in mind that any Indian Government could entirely defeat your ideas with regard to discrimination in trade if they were allowed freely to grant subsidies to their own people who are in competition with your trade. I will give an example which will readily occur to everyone. Suppose that the Indian Government were to choose to give large subsidies to Indian ships on their coasting traffic—subsidies which are denied to ships which have been plying on the Indian coast for many years. It is obvious that they could ruin the chances of a profit being made from the running of British ships in those circumstances. Accordingly, I hope that this matter will be taken into account, and that some way will he devised by which this matter may be remedied.
There is another paragraph in connection with that which is worth a reference, namely, that the Governor-General may allow such discrimination if he regards it as necessary for the peace and tranquillity of India. I can imagine that provision being an incentive to making it a question of peace and tranquillity. These are smaller points, and I only mention them in order that consideration may be given to them. On the matter of finance, which is one of the questions of very grave importance, I do not propose-to say much. I shall not venture to give any view as to the effect upon Indian credit of the proposals which are made, nor as to the efficacy of the safeguard for Indian credit. Irresponsible words-dropped out in regard to such matters as these, which are of vast importance to many thousands of people, may create either pessimistic views or optimistic hopes which are unfounded, and I would prefer to say only that I hope that this is a matter which will be very carefully gone into by the Select Committee. I will only add, as another thing to which the Select Committee should give attention, the cost of this new government of India. We cannot exclude from our purview the fact that any form of government such as is now proposed will be 863 much more expensive than anything that exists at the present time.
I do not know whether the House is aware under our older system, before even the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms were made, India was run at a cheaper cost than practically any other country in the world, under the administration of the British officials who so admirably did their business. These costs have gone up very greatly during recent years, and since the reforms of the Montagu-Chelmsford time. You will find most harrowing stories in the reports of the effect of putting district boards into native hands, boards which have previously been controlled by the collector of the district. Many of those boards, which were previously not only solvent but prosperous, are now faced with bankruptcy.
It may be necessary to incur some expense in order that the Indian people may learn their business and methods of Government, but at any rate do not let us blind our eyes to the fact that this does mean more expense in India. You are setting up two new Provinces, which will themselves create new expense. I hope accordingly that the Select Committee, when dealing with the matter, will advert particularly to the amount of extra expense of administration and to the amount required in the way of new taxation. Taxation means a great deal to the people of India. I was talking to a native Price, who told me that at a representative gathering of his people he asked them if they wished to come into the Federation. They said they did not mind, provided it did not mean further taxation. In my belief out of the 350,000,000 of people in India there are at least 300,000,000 who would rather go on as they are with no higher costs, than have a Government of their own kind with higher taxation. All of the theory about people yearning to govern themselves, even at a higher cost, is entirely fallacious.
I have delayed the House too long, but if I may be forgiven I would like to turn to the second head of my remarks. That is the question of the participation of the Princes in this Confederation. We all remember the enthusiastic welcome which was given to the suggestion that 864 the Princes were prepared to join a Federal Government of India. It was supposed that you could bring a Conservative element into the Government and that it would be the first and best safeguard for good Government. That was the theory. The question is whether this is founded upon fact and realities. In this connection it matters a great deal as to what representation the Princes are to have. I find that in the Lower House the Government propose that they should have 125 votes out of 375, and that in the Upper House they are to have 100 votes out of 260. I should not say that that unduly exaggerates the Princes' influence in those chambers. I find that very fallacious ideas abound as to how the votes are likely to go. For example, it is said by some—I have seen it in print—that you can add the votes of the Princes to the votes of the Moslems. The fact is that the Princes themselves are seriously divided as between Hindus and Moslems, and if it comes to a question which depends upon the religion of the communities of India you will undoubtedly find the Princes not voting in a block, but in a very divided way.
This matter becomes very pertinent when you look at the proposals of the White Paper. We all thought, at the time when it was first mooted that the Princes were coming in, that we should have the whole or a great majority of the States in the Confederation; but what is provided in the White Paper is that you may set up your Confederation with only a half of the population of the States in the system, and there is no provision for weightage in either of the Assemblies to make up for the Princes who are not there. That would seem to show that you might start the Confederation with the Princes having only 65 Votes in a House of 310, and in the other case only 50 Votes in a House of 210. I do not know what other Members of this House feel, but I confess that if this is your first safeguard it seems to me a very weak one.
I do not know what the particular ideas were that moved a meeting of the Chamber of Princes in Delhi on Saturday, but at any rate we are now faced with a situation which I am sure that none of us could have contemplated. We have been supposing up to now that the Princes were all the time in the Government's pocket. They are nothing of the 865 kind. As we know, there was a somewhat awkward episode at the meeting of Princes on Saturday last, between the Viceroy and a Prince who is very well known to us all, the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, known everywhere in Britain affectionately as Ranjit Singhi. From intimate personal knowledge of that great Prince I can say that his devotion to India is only equalled by his loyalty to the Empire. I know no better British citizen than the Jam Sahib. When you find him in this kind of controversy it reveals a position of some disquietude. There was a part of his speech which he was not allowed to make—I see that it was reported in one organ of the Press here on Monday. I suppose he must have given it to the Press afterwards—in which he says:I would appeal to those British statesmen who look upon the Indian States as the strongest link in the British connection, to put themselves in our position and to ask honestly whether my apprehensions are not justified, and Whether the Princes of India would not be upholding their traditional loyalty to the Crown more effectively by counselling caution than by involving themselves in entanglements which future generations may condemn as destructive of their power to assist either the Crown or themselves.I find that the Maharaja of Patiala, who is now the new Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes, moved a Motion, which was carried, in this shape:This Chamber places on record its strong opinion that the entry of the Princes into the federation depends upon the inclusion in the Constitution and the Treaties of Accession of the essential safeguards for which the States have consistently pressed.I am not aware what those particular safeguards are. I saw in the report that one of the questions that was raised, and upon which there was controversy, was the setting up of a tribunal to try to decide the justiciable issues as between the Crown and the Princes. The proposal was objected to by the Viceroy, on the ground that it would weaken his personal contact with the Princes. I do not presume to have any opinion upon such a question as that. All I say is that it is repugnant to my mind as a lawyer to think of even the Crown being a judge in its own cause when it is a matter of material interest. So far as contacts are concerned, there would be plenty of other questions as between the Viceroy and the Princes to keep them in frequent contact. I cannot see that the proposal would 866 weaken the position which has long existed between the Viceroy and the Princes. And here is a formidable consideration. Your Princes will only be of use to you as a stabilising element in the Constitution, if you bring them in with a feeling that they are being properly treated and that their interests are not being injuriously affected. If you get them in in a surly or reluctant mood, to what extent are you going to rely upon them as a cementing element in your constitution? Whatever attitude the Government is taking upon this matter, it is at least worth while bringing the Princes into the confederation in a position of strength, and under conditions in which they feel contented and happy in the situation in which they are being placed.
I put these considerations before the House, not, as I have said, in any dogmatic spirit, although I am afraid that, in stating them, perhaps I have gradually become more emphatic than a mere doubter should have been. I am not putting them forward in a spirit of dogmatism, and I am certainly not doing so in any spirit of hostility to those who are seeking to find a proper method of governing India in the future. There is much to be inquired into, and the doubts which I have expressed have been reinforced in my mind by the opinions that I get from India. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for India said yesterday that while he valued the views of those who had served for years in India in the past, to some extent they were out of date and that the modern machinery of Government in India was represented by men who were taking a totally different view. That must be so, since he says it, as he is in daily touch with the subject, but it is an extraordinary thing to me that the doubts of people whose term of office has come to an end in India and who have only been back in England a few weeks or a few months—so far as I have had contact with them—are, in regard to the future in India, as great as those that I have expressed to-day.
At any rate, I make this speech in no carping spirit, and I hope that the House will be satisfied that my one desire is to reach a solution which will be best for the welfare of India and for this country. India is a great factor in the world. It represents a seventh of all 867 the population in the world. It matters greatly to the trade of the world at the present time as to what is to happen to India. We are now accustomed to think of trade being at the very core of all our interests. We used to hear a sneer sometimes when one mentioned that Britain was so interested in India's trade, as if it were some unworthy consideration. Why, it is the source of all well-being, not merely in India but here. We are entitled to think of the vast toiling mass of people in India, we are entitled to think of our unemployed people in this country, and it ought to be one of our great endeavours to make trade as thriving both there and here as our efforts can achieve, during the time that we influence affairs.
I have ventured to put these reflections before the House, and I hope that some of them may be considered by the Joint Select Committee. It is their argosy we are setting afloat to-morrow night. On them lies a more poignant burden of responsibility than has ever been committed to any body of men during the history of our country. May they be endowed with wisdom and with courage.
§ 4.22 p.m.
§ Mr. T. WILLIAMS
The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead (Sir R. Horne) has just made a very important contribution to our Debate. I am afraid that I shall have to confess to the House that my knowledge of the subject with which the House has been asked to deal is very slender indeed, and I almost feel inclined to apologise for any time that I may occupy in so important a Debate. Each hon. Member must accept personal responsibility, not only for what is said but for the action that is taken, when we are dealing with a matter of this importance. As a result of the speech of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead, I should like to submit a very specific question to the Government representative who is to reply. The right hon. Gentleman said in the earlier part of his speech that the proposals of the White Paper were perhaps the maximum that might be expected, and that any difference in the conformation would be merely in detail and not in principle. In view of the statement at the bottom of page 1 of the 868 White Paper, I want to ask this specific question: The country must now be informed definitely, precisely and accurately what latitude of action the Joint Select Committee will have. Can they make any alteration they like in the White Paper scheme, and will the Government accept their Recommendations, whatever they may be? Is it the intention of the Government that there must be no substantial change in the scheme, but only adjustments of detail I hope that we shall get a definite, specific reply to that question from a responsible Member of the Government.
The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead has not improved the situation by the speech that he has made this afternoon. I felt rather sorry, and I regretted a good deal, that so much emphasis was laid upon the commercial side, upon British interests in India, and too little upon the very natural desire on the part of educated and responsible Indians to govern themselves. That ought not to be the dominant thought in the minds of hon. and right hon. Gentlemen in this House. One can appreciate the difficulties of the Secretary of State for India, just as one appreciates one's personal responsibility when dealing with questions in which 350,000,000 people are involved. The right hon. Gentleman made some reference to the possible cost of future new Governments in India, and he thought that those 350,000,000 people, if consulted, would prefer to carry on as they are at the moment rather than have expenses imposed upon them as the result of some new form of government. I wish I could think that the right hon. Gentleman really has the interests of those 350,000,000 people at heart, and I wish I could feel that that was the dominant thought in his mind. Rather, I fear that it was not so much about the 350,000,000 people, but the very small proportion of people in India who derive very large profits out of the 350,000,000. In any case, I think we are all called upon to weigh our words very carefully, if we hope to find a decent solution to the vast problem which is confronting this Parliament.
After 150 years of occupation of India and 75 years of promise, few hon. and right hon. Gentlemen will boast of our achievements in that great country. India is still one of the poorest nations on earth, and has approximately 96 per 869 cent. of illiteracy, and that is little to boast of. If I understand the Secretary of State for India aright, I understand his hesitation in making any progress at all. He largely based his hesitation upon the fact that the Indians are not yet fit to govern themselves, as we understand government in this country. I understand the Minister's hesitation. We, in our administration of India, have failed, to a large extent, to produce an educational system and an educational progress that would fit the 350,000,000 Indians to govern themselves in a responsible manner, as we govern ourselves in this country. Neither can I appreciate the attitude of the Noble Lord the Member for Aldershot (Viscount Wolmer). He suggested quite frankly and honestly—and I always appreciate his frank statements—that we ought to do nothing, that we ought to remain just as we are; and I was interested to hear the right hon. Gentleman who followed him say that instinctively he should always go backwards unless it was less dangerous to go forward. Apparently, both the Noble Lord and the right hon. Gentleman think alike in that particular.
§ Viscount WOLMER
I am sure that the hon. Member does not wish to misrepresent us. I argued for fuller experiment on a smaller scale, giving one or two provinces a very complete form of self-government, without some of these safeguards, as a real test of responsibility. I submit that that is not standing still.
Would the Noble Lord give women votes in those provinces? That is a very important question.
§ Mr. WILLIAMS
I would not wilfully misrepresent the Noble Lord in any way, but, according to my deduction from what he said, he appears to be an opponent root and branch of any real progress in India. While the problem may seem to be insurmountable, with all the racial, religious and other difficulties, I am not yet convinced that, if there were a genuine desire on the part of all hon. and right hon. Members of the House, and a, genuine desire on the part of Indians—who, after all, determine their attitude and their actions on the basis of what they conceive to be our point of view—this difficulty could not be solved. Nationalism may be very foolish indeed; I think it is; but it represents a not 870 unnatural desire on the part of educated and responsible Indians for some opportunity to help to govern themselves in a much more responsible fashion than has been their lot so far.
Seventy-five years ago, a very definite promise was made to India. Since then we have had 14 years of dyarchy, and recently three years of Round Table Conferences, with commissions, investigations, reports, White Papers, solemn promises and pledges; and the result of all this long travail has been the White Paper which we are discussing this afternoon. Before I forget it, I should like to bring to the notice of the Noble Lord the Member for Aldershot a cartoon in to-day's "Evening Standard," showing himself, with one or two other Noble Lords and the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Epping (Mr. Churchill), with all sorts of weapons, chasing the little mouse which has emerged after these 14 years of dyarchy and three years of Round Table Conferences. It is neither Home Rule, self-government, independence, Dominion status, nor national freedom. Indeed, the White Paper simply means that for an undefined period full, rigid power remains at Whitehall or with the Governor-General in India The exceptions are only very slight indeed.
There is no substantial promise in any part of this document that even the suggested new Constitution can move forward and develop according to the efforts of those who are placed in charge, either in the provinces or in the Federal Government in India. When the Noble Lord and the right hon. Gentleman talk about democracy or abdication, it seems to me that, were this scheme to be embodied in any future Act, it would be the very negation of democracy, as the Noble Lord truly said, for you would have a Governor-General and Viceroy and Ministers who would not only have power to assent to or refuse their assent to any Measure that may be introduced, but would have power to cripple the Government as regards finance and so on. That, I submit, is the very antithesis of democracy, and, so far as abdication is concerned, I do not think that any hon. or right hon. Gentleman can sustain that claim.
The White Paper, however, does suggest one of the most complicated pieces of governmental machinery that has so far been devised to govern mankind. The 871 London "Times," referring to it a short time ago, said:This draft Constitution is one of the most complicated instruments that has ever been framed for the government of mankind.The very complexity of this proposal seems to indicate that the Minister in charge has never really intended that any real progress should be made. I rather suspect that fear—either genuine fear born of his comprehensive knowledge of India and Indians, or fear of back-benchers —has been responsible for the complexity of the scheme, which, as my hon. Friend the Member for Limehouse (Mr. Attlee) said yesterday, will never be worked with success unless and until more self-government is permitted to the Indians. In every sort and kind of conversation and conference, and in every document that has been issued until the White Paper, Indians have always been led to believe that, whatever the next step might be, it could only be a transition stage from the new form of government to the ultimate self-government on Dominion lines which the Indians have been expecting.
It has always been recognised, not only by hon. Members on these benches, but by hon. Members who sit below the Gangway and by all responsible Indians, that the transition stage would bring with it such necessary safeguards with regard to finance, defence, and, perhaps, trade and commerce, as appeared to be necessary at the moment. But the transition idea has been completely lost by the way, and, whether this new Constitution is going to be good, bad or indifferent, certainly there is no indication that at any future time any progress is going to be made. The Prime Minister, when he issued the White Paper on the 1st December, 1931, said that the objective was responsible Government qualified during a period of transition by limitations in certain directions, and this was repeated at the second Round Table Conference; but we discover that the transition idea has been lost by the way. I do not think it is unfair to suggest that this is one more instance of breaking faith with that section of the Indian people who really are anxious to co-operate with this or any other Parliament in Great Britain for the purpose of making such progress as circumstances in India justify.
872 Again, there appears to be no possibility of any improvement in the new Constitution, should it be based upon the proposals embodied in this White Paper. In other words, assuming that the Select Committee, with very slight modifications, produced a Bill based upon the proposals contained in the White Paper, then, so far as the Indians are concerned, that is the last promise we are likely to make to them. There is no sign that with application, vigour and energy, the Indians will earn a greater measure of self-government and freedom than they would enjoy under the terms of the new Constitution. That seems to us to be one more repetition of the old mistake. We have already had two experiences in America and Ireland, but, apparently, some hon. and right hon. Gentlemen never learn any lessons, whatever there may be in history to teach them.
One observes that in this scheme, despite the fact that the provincial governments will have certain powers over and above those which they enjoy at the present time, and that there will be some phantom of self-government in the provinces, yet in the Central Legislature this Parliament remains absolutely supreme. I should like, in passing, to express amazement that hon. and right hon. Gentlemen are opposing the scheme, apparently, because the safeguards are insufficient, because the Secretary of State for India has not made doubly and trebly sure that in the last resort the power is always vested in the right hon. Gentleman himself and in the Governor-General and Viceroy, which means that the British Parliament have the final power in case of grave menace to the peace and tranquillity of India or any part thereof.
The right hon. Gentleman mentioned the police. It is perfectly true that the provincial Parliaments will have control of their own police, but, in the last analysis, the Governor-General, controlling the Army, as he will, will have control, not only over the provincial Parliament, but over the provincial police also. It seems to me that the Simon Commission were perfectly correct when they stated that to leave a provincial Parliament controlling 50,000,000 lives, controlling the industries and caring for the well-being of the people, without control of their own police, would be to 873 reduce self-government to a farce. Again, even in the Provinces, the Governor-General has the power in regard to financial stability, the credit of the Federation, the safeguarding of minorities, the safeguarding of members of the public service, the protection of the rights of any of the Indian States, and the prevention of commercial discrimination.
The right hon. Gentleman made some reference to subsidies, but, unless I am sadly mistaken—I hope I am—the prevention of commercial discrimination will involve a situation where even the Federal Government will have no control over infant industries, and no opportunity to develop them by the artificial means, which have been so frequently employed by this National Government. They will have no power to produce State monopolies, and I am not at all sure that they will have power to grant subsidies to this, that or the other industry or service. The Governor-General has power over any matter affecting the administration of reserved departments, he has the power to dissolve, prorogue or summon the Legislature, he can assent to a Bill or he can refuse to assent to a Bill, and in any case, even if a Bill passes the Central Legislature, the British Parliament will have power within 12 months to prevent the Measure from becoming law. Therefore, it seems to me that, so far as safeguards are concerned, full power is still reserved to the British Parliament, notwithstanding any pretence that we may make in regard to granting self-government to India.
Then there is reserved to the Governor-General the right to promulgate Ordinances such as those from which India, and, indeed this country, and the workpeople in both countries, have been suffering from during the past two or three years. Certainly the situation in that regard has affected our people in Lancashire, and to that extent has affected our people in many other parts of the country also. I want to suggest to the right hon. Gentleman, when he fears that the safeguards are insufficient, that he might do well to invite the Select Committee to be less stringent with regard to safeguards if he wishes that Indians should develop, not only a desire to govern, but that social consciousness and civic pride which we in 874 this country have built up by a thousand and one institutions of our own which are more or less self-governing. It seems to me that if, as the right hon. Gentleman said, the linch-pin is the be-all and end-all of self-government, we cannot afford to contemplate a reemergence of the old order; for, whatever the right hon. Gentleman may think about the control of reserved subjects, it seems to me that the Home Secretary in this country would be a rather futile Minister, so far as the peace of this City is concerned, unless he had full control of the police under his hand.
Then there is no indication in the White Paper that Dominion status can ever be secured. I want to ask hon. Members who persist in stating that no promises have been made to bear in mind the many statements that have been made from time to time by responsible Ministers in the past and in the present Government. The Prime Minister, for instance, at the Commonwealth Conference not too long ago said:I hope that within a period of months rather than years there will be a new Dominion added to the Commonwealth of our nations, a Dominion of another race, a Dominion that will find self-respect of an equal within this Commonwealth. I refer to India.Was it unreasonable that Indians would expect that the Prime Minister, when he had the power, would give effect to that promise? But Dominion status, apparently, has vanished entirely from all the words embodied in this document, and the Indians have no alternative but to conclude that what the Prime Minister thought was right in 1928 is no longer right in 1933. I am not at all sure that many of the statements of responsible Indian statesmen are not justified as a result of the volte face that has taken place.
On the question of defence and finance, there is no indication in this document that, even if Indian statesmen applied themselves to the problem of governing efficiently, either finance or defence would ever be handed over to India and, after all, one would imagine that the one thing about which Indian politicians, charged first with the responsibility of governing their provinces, and secondly charged with governing in the federation unit, must be careful is controlling 875 effectively their own finance. There is no indication that at any time in the future they will have any control over that. With regard to defence, the Governor-General alone will take decisions, both as to recruitment and as to cost, and the very Parliament that is called upon to pay the price will never have the power to vote for any of these things. It has always been understood by those who have seriously studied Indian affairs that, when some new form of self-government was produced, Indianisation of the army, be it slowly or less slowly, would actually take place. No provision is made for Indianising the army, and it seems to me to be an absurdity that we should suggest, as some hon. Members fear, that we are giving to India self-government and yet there is no indication, either at present or at any future date, that any sort of Indianisation is to take place with regard to their means of defence.
With regard to the new Constitution, be it good, bad or indifferent, there is no indication in the White Paper when it is likely to come into existence. All sorts of curious qualifications are embodied herein. There must be a federal bank, and they must restore the export balance. I should like to know by what sort of miracle, when all the nations are developing nationalisation commercially, and 230,000,000 of India's people are employed exclusively on agriculture, and when agricultural prices are so low, they can secure that export surplus which is a prerequisite before even this new Constitution can be brought into existence. Then there are the Indian States which may or may not agree to come into this federal Constitution. Finally, the Lords and Commons must both pass a Resolution or the Constitution will not come into existence. In page 17 of this document, the Secretary of State expresses what I regard as very great doubt whether the new Constitution will come into existence at all.If a situation should arise in which all other requirements for the inauguration of the federation having been satisfied"—every word of that sentence rather suggesting that he never expects that all these other requirements will have been satisfied. I do not wonder at the doubt in the right hon. Gentleman's mind. The Federal Bank and the export balance, 876 the Indian States, 50 per cent. of the Princes, and 50 per cent. of the population, is rather a formidable proposition. The Lords and the Commons, after what we have witnessed in these two days, will always leave the position in doubt as to when, if ever, the new constitution is likely to come into existence. These questions of the Federal Bank and the control of Indian finance rather seem to savour of a position where the 300,000,000 of Indians, for whom the right hon. Gentleman was so pathetically considerate, are never likely to enjoy any social services. It seems to me that this question of control of finance and the all-important question of British interests in India creates a great deal of apprehension in my mind, for I rather fear that the workers will get small consideration should the Federal Government ever come into existence. I am not at all sure whether or not the point made by the right hon. Gentleman was or was not a sound one that the Indian States, having been used first as a means of securing a Parliament which would always be representative of the dominant class, may be used to prevent any new constitution coming into existence at all. They have the power in their hands by withholding their consent, and all that the Secretary of State has got to replace them, should the Indian States withdraw their support, would be to invite Indian representatives to a conference so that they could reconsider the whole question. That would put us back just where we were before the Round Table sittings commenced. The so-called extremists in India are not unjustified when attacking the British Parliament for their lack of understanding of the Indian people, to whom so many promises have been made and for whom so many have been fulfilled.
There is only one other question to which I want to refer, and that is with regard to the recruitment of the Civil Service. Imagine the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead at the head of a Government which was denied the power to appoint its own Civil Service! I am sure he would not be a member of such a Government.
Duchess of ATHOLL
No Government in this country recruits its Civil Service. It is the Civil Service Commissioners.
§ Mr. WILLIAMS
The Noble Lady is perfectly correct, as usual, but, while the Government in this country do not appoint the Civil Service, they determine through their agents who shall appoint them and the conditions of their appointment. In this White Paper the suggestion is that the recruitment of the Civil Service and the police shall continue to be made by the Governor-General or Viceroy, or his agents. If, however, at the end of five years—this is a burst of generosity on the part of the Secretary of State—certain circumstances have arisen, the right bon. Gentleman will not object to submitting this question to some form of inquiry, but he takes very good care not to undertake in advance to accept the recommendations of the Committee of inquiry, and, in the last analysis, the Government preserve the power to appoint not only the civil servants but the police, too. I think that the Select Committee which the right hon. Gentleman is going to appoint will be confronted with a tremendous problem. They are entitled to expect the sympathy, good will and support of every Member of the House; but it ought clearly to be understood, before they commence their sittings, that these words embodied in the White Paper are not sacrosanct and that if, during their deliberations, it can be proved that some of these safeguards are necessary and that some extension of real self-government, real freedom and real liberty for the Indians to govern themselves can be given, the Government ought not to hesitate to accept the logic of the situation.
The Indians are, indeed, entitled to some measure of justice, not because they have been unruly over a period of time, but because it is justice. I can quite conceive an educated Indian demanding for himself the right to help to govern his country, just as we insist upon the right to govern ourselves, and it will redound to our credit if we can preserve the good will of the Indians themselves, at the same time conceding to them what is their right, and it will make for commercial, social and spiritual harmony in the Empire to have granted to India what we conceive to be India's right.
§ 4.59 p.m.
§ Sir ADRIAN BAILLIE
I was not very surprised at the uncharitable criticism 878 which the hon. Member has levelled at the proposals in this White Paper and I was not very surprised, either, at the rather more uncharitable criticism which he levelled at the general trend of the speech of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead (Sir R. Home) when he said, that the right hon. Gentleman was more concerned with vested interests than with the 350 teeming millions. In point of fact, in so far as the right hon. Gentleman was resisting the proposals contained in the White Paper, he was doing the very reverse. By so doing, he was, if anything, opposing the vested interests to whom, if this constitution is granted, we shall be handing over, to some extent, the Government of India. By the "vested interests," I mean the rich merchants of Bombay and Calcutta. The merchants of Bombay especially, we know, have gone very far in the past to subsidise Congress, which hon. Members of this House think will dominate the future policy of. India.
For the rest, I have always considered that much harm has been done to the cause of India and for India by the two extreme points of view which are taken in this country and this House—the extreme point of view taken on the one hand by those whom I may call the diehard Tories, and that taken on the other hand by the hon. Members of the Opposition. They seem to think that we have merely to hand over the blue-print of a, Western civilisation to India, and that Hindu politicians will then promptly put it into working order and that those 350,000,000 teeming, poorly-paid workers will be better off. Personally, I maintain considerable doubt in that respect. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead seemed to build up his entire speech on the assumption that the Indians are not prepared, and are not going to be prepared, to work this particular form of Constitution—or, in point of fact, any other form of Constitution—with the responsibility at the centre which we may have in mind. He based that assumption on the report of a speech which had been made by Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru. While I should cordially share his regret that such a speech should have been made, and disappointment at the reception which these proposals have received in India, I think that we ought 879 to discount these factors a little, bearing in mind the well-known bargaining power of the Oriental, who, until a deal is completed, will always ask ten when he may be prepared to accept two.
As a supporter of the Government's policy in its Indian constitutional reforms, I was also very grateful for the form of the Motion which we are discussing today. I feel that it is of vast importance to know that, if we are to vote on this occasion, our vote will not necessarily bind us 'as pledged to all the proposals contained in this White Paper, or to any particular one of them. Our liberty to criticise these proposals on this occasion or at a later date is, in fact, safeguarded. As it is, it seems to me that this Debate has afforded, and will afford, a valuable opportunity to hon. Members of this House to indicate to the Government—or, better still, to the Joint Select Committee which has been set up—their appreciation of these proposals in general and of the particular proposals in the White Paper which the House as a whole thinks should be further examined, modified or amended.
If I might be allowed to make a contribution in this direction, I should like to draw attention to a proposal connected with the Federal Franchise. I note the Local Chamber or House of Assembly will be composed of 125 members appointed by the Princes, and that 250 members will be directly elected to seats apportioned to the provinces and to the several communities and interests in those provinces. I should have thought that a system of direct election in this case was not only impracticable but also undesirable, in view of the immense area covered by particular constituencies. I have been informed that constituencies may even be as large as the Area of Monmouth and Wales put together, an area which in this country is represented by 30 Members or more. When the difficulties of transport in India are appreciated, and when the fact is appreciated that the great majority of the electors and the public are illiterate, and that the only way in which a member can put his policy before the electorate is by the spoken word, I cannot help wondering what made the Franchise Committee make this recommendation in regard to direct election. I feel that the House will possibly like a 880 little more information on this recommendation from one of the Government spokesmen.
To come to the Provincial Legislature: I observe that, with the exception of Bengal, Behar, and the United Provinces, the Legislature is to be unicameral. I know that the Simon Commission had much difficulty in coming to a decision on this point, on account of the great diversity of local opinion. I should have thought, however, from experience of autocracy in the past that the bi-cameral legislature was the sounder form of government. I do not entertain very great apprehension in this connection, because the Government clearly does not intend to be dogmatic about it, but proposes to give the Provincial Legislatures the right to change their minds.
It has frequently been suggested that the new Constitution will be too much for the Viceroy or Governor-General, and that he must be a super-man. That point was fairly satisfactorily dealt with by the Secretary of State for India in his opening speech yesterday, when he said that, according to his advice, the actual capacity of the Viceroy or Governor-General will not be taxed in the future to any greater extent than it already is to-day. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead is still in some doubt about that question, and I am sure that it should be a matter for further examination by the Joint Select Committee. It has also been said that, while the Governor-General is to be invested with powers that are nominally wide, nevertheless in practice he will in the long run have to yield to the will of his responsible Ministers unless he is to face a complete deadlock or a return to autocracy. Moreover, I have read in more than one leading article that it is useless to light the fire of responsible government and to block up the chimney. My own feeling is that, while the Government have every intention and hope of lighting the fire of responsible government, they do not intend in any way to block up the chimney. I believe this to be the case, and I do not believe that the framers of the proposals in this White Paper had any idea of the Governor-General having to be a super-man or that he should assume the role of a dictator. In paragraph 23 of the introduction to these proposals, I read: 88123. Although the Reserved Departments will be administered by the Governor-General on his sole responsibility, it would be impossible in practice for the Governor-General to conduct the affairs of those Departments in isolation from the other activities of his Government, and undesirable that he should attempt to do so, even if it were in fact possible. A prudent Governor-General would therefore keep his Ministers and the advisers whom he has selected to assist him in the Reserved Departments in the closest contact…I come now to the matter of financial responsibility, about which reasonable and legitimate fears have been expressed in this House. I know that the Government, when approaching this problem, was faced with one of "those awkward dilemmas," and this particular dilemma was given considerable prominence in the leading article of the "Evening Standard" of 21st March. That article was entitled "Indian Loans in Danger," and the writer put in a very justifiable plea for the British investors, who, he calculated, had invested in India—on a conservative estimate—up to £500,000,000. He claimed—and rightly—that the British investor should not suffer for his faith in the stability of India, and that the security should remain unimpaired. He went on, however, to show that the Governor-General would have, under his special responsibilities, the responsibility for the financial stability and credit of India. He said:In this particular responsibility the Governor-General will act without the advice of his Ministers.If the editor of the paper or the writer of the article would read the proposals of the White Paper again, he would see that he was wrong in suggesting to his readers that in this matter the Governor-General will—I emphasise the word "will"—act without consulting his responsible Ministers. It is perfectly clearly laid down in the paragraph I have just quoted that he is not desired to act without consultation, but he is desired to be in constant touch. I believe that the motive underlying all these proposals is that, while it has been considered necessary to include a formidable, bristling array of safeguards, it is the earnest hope of the Government that these safeguards will never have to be employed.
I should like to quote a few words of paragraph 26 of the Introduction, where it is said that the proposals proceed— 882on the basic assumption that every endeavour will be made by those responsible for working the Constitution to approach the administrative problems which will present themselves in the spirit of partners in a common enterprise.Is it possible that it is just this spirit of partnership in a common enterprise to which the opponents of these proposals object? Is it just possible that those who have formed the self-styled "Indian Defence Committee" fear and object to this spirit? I wonder! I might even be allowed to suspect that that is so from some of the utterances of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Epping (Mr. Churchill). We were told yesterday by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Darwen (Sir H. Samuel) that the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Epping is good at chaff, or, at least, that his chaff is good. I believe that on one occasion the right hon. Member was referred to in this House in terms something like "the Swashbuckler for Epping." I am still young enough to enjoy, if not to be carried away by, the irresponsible exuberances of a Cyrano de Bergerac. It seems to me that the right hon. Member is himself still young enough, in spirit at least, to relish the performance of that part. In fact, in some ways I do not think it would be uncharitable if I said that, so far as India is concerned, he still has the mentality of the Victorian subaltern. If all those who go to form the Indian Defence Committee may not be accused of having the mentality of the Victorian subaltern, nevertheless a large majority seem to have the outlook of the Kipling Commissioner.
The House would much appreciate, I think, a frank and fearless exposition of the real, fundamental objections of those who are opposed to the Government's policy on this occasion. I am sure that we shall get such a frank, fearless and courageous exposition from the right hon. Member for Epping when he addresses, the House, but I think we shall be disappointed if we expect from him or from any other member of this great Defence Committee any constructive alternative proposal. The exposition of such constructive alternative proposal has been requested for a long time, but so far nothing has been vouchsafed. If we are asked as an alternative to look at the recommendations of the Simon Commission, I would beg the Government not 883 to consider the recommendations of the Simon Commission as a satisfactory alternative, because in India, at least, such a step would be regarded as being just as retrograde as a purely negative policy, and a purely negative policy has never convinced anybody of its necessity.
I believe that the happiness of India depends upon the spirit of partnership, upon the willing co-operation of the intelligentsia of India, which we ourselves have created. Without such willing co-operation any administration in India in the years to come will be almost impossible to carry on without a very large measure of coercion. If it is a question of the danger of going back or the danger of going forward, I say that the danger of going back is far greater than the risk of going forward. If we go back at this moment and lose any possibility of gaining the willing cooperation of the intelligentsia of India, I think it will be good-bye to any hope of improved trade in India or improved trade relations between this country and India in the near future. A forward policy is the only policy which can bring about that state of affairs and introduce the proper elements in which an improvement in our personal and trade relationships with the Indians can be assured.
§ 5.17 p.m.
§ Colonel GOODMAN
I would not have intervened were it not that I have spent a considerable part of my life in India. As I held no official position but was engaged in earning my livelihood, I had plenty of opportunities of mixing with all classes, and the experience that I gained there has given me the opportunity of appreciating the complexities of the question which the House is now debating. While I am prepared to admit that those who are skilled in the arts of statesmanship are well qualified to speak on the questions of which they have a personal Knowledge and which come within the scope of their duties, I take exception to the attitude which has been adopted in some quarters of considering that because a man has some personal knowledge of India he has become so narrow-minded and so myopic in vision that his opinions are hardly worth consideration. I also take exception to the suggestions which have been made that Conservative Members of Par- 884 liament may be directed to vote for the White Paper and the Government scheme, and that no matter what their personal knowledge may have been they are not to hold any views of their own. Conservative Members of this House are not delegates who merely have to record votes according to their instructions. I was very relieved to find that the suggestions were entirely without foundation and that our allegiance to the Government is not to be strained by requiring us to vote for or give support to a scheme for the future government of India which has not yet been authoritatively examined.
I certainly shall be prepared to vote for the proposal to set up a Joint Committee to examine the White Paper, because that is very necessary. The attitude of those who will be intimately concerned with implementing the scheme of the Government requires clarification. At the present time the degree of dubiety is far too pronounced to enable anyone to say with certainty how the parties stand, and Members of Parliament who have to approve or disapprove of this scheme ought to know that. There is the only way in which they can conclude whether or not the scheme is workable. The only way that I know of in which we can ascertain the definite views of all the parties concerned is by the setting up of a Joint Committee. I heartily approve of the power given to the Committee to consider the question on a broader basis. I congratulate the Government on widening the scope of the Committee's investigations. The whole problem may be found in the very pregnant sentence which appears on page 15 of the White Paper:The present proposals, in general, necessarily proceed on the basic assumption that every endeavour will be made by those responsible for working the Constitution to approach the administrative problems which will present themselves in the spirit of partners in a common enterprise.So far as I am aware, there has been no evidence of the recognition of a spirit of partnership on the part of those who will be responsible for the working of the new Constitution. As far as I know, there has been no indication of any spirit of partnership on the part of Congress. We have been told, with authority, that Congress is the only active political institution or organisation in India, and that 885 their attitude is of primary importance. I have failed to observe any overwhelming anxiety on the part of Indian Liberals to accept the proposals of the Government in a spirit of partnership. With regard to the Princes, who are undoubtedly an essential factor in any partnership, we have no information from the White Paper regarding their attitude. In this respect the White Paper is deplorably vague. We do not know whether the Princes will come in in sufficient proportions to make Federation a practical policy. Until we do know that, it is impossible for us to say whether or not the scheme will work.
I have observed from the apologetics which have been appearing in the Conservative Press favourable to the White Paper, that great stress is laid on the safeguards. I hope that those advocates of the White Paper will not try to lull us into a sense of security by emphasising the value of the safeguards. Partnership implies complete trust and understanding. Safeguards are not compatible with partnership. I read in a Conservative newspaper, the "Sunday Times," that the safeguards were imposed against licence. I could not imagine any more maladroit advocacy of the scheme than that. I would not take anyone into partnership if I believed that he intended to abuse the conditions of that partnership, and what I would not do for myself, because I believe that it would be folly, I certainly would not consent to it being done for my own country. If there is real partnership there is no need for safeguards. If there is no real partnership then safeguards are elusive, because they cannot be enforced except by the destruction of the partnership itself, and in the case of the form of partnership that we are discussing to-day only by the use of force.
I trust that the Secretary of State for the Dominions will take part in the Debate and will tell us how complete were the safeguards in the Irish Free State Act. They were very complete, but he cannot get one of those safeguards respected to-day, and he dare not try to enforce them. All that he can do is to stand by and watch their destruction one by one, and when he is asked questions in this House he can only respond by a jest or some humorous sally. I hope the Ministers will not try to impose the White 886 Paper on the country by stressing the safeguards. The more they do that, the more certain we shall be that they are not happy about it themselves. Every safeguard implies a doubt. I observe from the White Paper that the last safeguards in the extremist emergency are to be the Houses of Parliament. That provision seems to me to be entirely incompatible with the principle of responsible Government in India. The supreme arbiter in the event of a breakdown of the new Constitution—there are many of us who think that that event is more than a probability—are to be the Houses of Parliament. That is to say, that a constitutional crisis in India is to be dealt with in this Parliament, probably with the Whips on and by the votes of the majority for the time being.
It seems to me most undesirable that an Indian constitutional crisis should become an issue of party controversy here. Both Houses of Parliament will be involved. It may happen that a Socialist Government may be in office when a dispute arises. Then it seems to me that another constitutional issue of the greatest importance will arise. I cannot see a Socialist Government in power supporting the Viceroy in any action which he might take against Congress, any more than I can see a majority in the other place supporting Congress in any action which it might wish to take against the Governor-General. We see from the Labour party's Amendment that they are dissatisfied with the White Paper and have ranged themselves alongside the dissentients.
In conclusion, I should like to quote a letter which appeared recently in the "Times." It was a letter sent to the Indian people by the Socialist party. It said:We took no part in the London conference which has recently finished its work.That was the third Round Table Conference.In our opinion such a conference could neither speak nor act as representative of all sections of the Indian people. In fact, the largest section, that is, the National Congress, could not be present because all its leaders and tens of thousands of its adherents were in prison. We are confident that no settlement will ever be reached without the consent and approval of this representative body of Indian opinion. We hope that 1933 will see the prison doors flung wide open and our good friend 887 Mahatma Gandhi and others seated round a table assisting the Viceroy to draft such a constitution as will enable the Indian people to take over the control and management of their own affairs.I ask hon. Members to picture the situation which would arise with Congress causing trouble in India and a Socialist Government in power at Westminster. Such a position would be absolutely impossible. For the reasons I have given I say that the White Paper, and the whole question itself, should be subjected to the acutest investigation before a Bill is brought in which will be regarded by this House as wholly acceptable to all parties. I am glad that the White Paper is to be submitted to a Joint Select Committee before a, vote is taken on the scheme in this House, and for that reason I give my hearty support to the proposal for setting up the Joint Committee with terms of reference based on the Motion.
§ 5.32 p.m.
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir John Simon)
I agree with the hon. and gallant Member for Islington, North (Colonel Goodman) that the task which will fall upon the Joint Select Committee, which it is now proposed to set up, will be one which will call for the most thorough and impartial examination of the scheme contained in the Government White Paper, and that the form of the Bill which ultimately will be presented to this House, and to another place, should not be finally settled until the result of that examination has been completely ascertained. The hon. and gallant Member pointed out that our actual duty in the present discussion is merely to decide whether we will set up such a Joint Select Committee, and I apprehend that there will be general agreement in the House that such a Committee should be set up. But it is perfectly natural, and quite inevitable, indeed I think very important, that we should ventilate at this present stage the views which are held in different parts of the House, and I venture to intervene because, having had the grave responsibility for a long period of time of presiding over the Statutory Commission, and taking a part in submitting its report, the whole subject is one of the most intense importance to me. Let me say to the right hon. Mem- 888 ber for Aldershot (Viscount Wolmer) that as far as I am concerned he may be quite confident that I shall not give my adhesion to any scheme which I think is not in the real interests of India and this country.
The Statutory Commission was appointed in November, 1927, and paid two long visits to India. We had the experience, which I think is very unusual, of making some acquaintance with every great capital in each Province and, at any rate, of a portion of the countryside. We were given full opportunities of making some investigation as to the views of the different sections of that vast population, and I am free to confess that at the end of it I am the last person to advance any dogmatic view on these tremendously difficult questions. The effect on me was to convince me more than ever that we in this country, in this little island, have a task upon our shoulders—and we must recognise it —of the gravest responsibility, and no considerations should be put into the scale against doing our best firmly, and with such judgment as we possess, to do the right thing. I would remind hon. Members of the task which was given to the Statutory Commission and the circumstances under which we had to carry out our duties. The Government of India Act contained a section, Section 84A which required that there should be such a Statutory Commission appointed within 10 years of the passing of the Act, and our terms of reference were:To report…to what extent it is desirable to establish the principle of responsible government, or to extend, modify or restrict the degree of responsible government existing in British India.I emphasise the last words because it is very necessary to remember that the Statutory Commission was concerned with the problem as it presented itself within the bounds of British India; a very material limitation of our duty, and one which should never be overlooked. I make this further point at once—I will not argue it because it is quite plain and is discussed elaborately in the Report of the Commission—that it is perfectly plain that the Preamble of the Act under which we were appointed deliberately concedes that we are, as a matter of policy, pledged to a fair pursuit of the policy submitted to this House by the late Mr. 889 Montagu. The circumstances in which that policy was adopted are within the knowledge of hon. Members. It was not some party decision taken by the Government of the day and acquiesced in grudgingly, it may be, by critics in another quarter. If ever there was a deliberate decision countersigned by the people of this country and by both Houses of Parliament it was the decision embodied in that Preamble, and it was for that reason that the Statutory Commission, after its preliminary work, begins the first volume of its Report by a sentence which I will read:We enter upon our task, therefore, upon the basis and assumption that the goal defined by Mr. Montagu represents the accepted policy to be pursued, and that the only proposals worthy to be considered are proposals conceived in the spirit of the announcement of the 20th August, 1917, and inspired with the honest purpose of giving to it its due effect. It is in this spirit and with this purpose that we frame our report, and we can do no other, for we are appointed under a Section of the very Act of Parliament which contains the Preamble.I submit to the House that in preparing ourselves to examine—and everyone must examine them by personal effort and according to his own judgment and conscience—these tremendously difficult problems, we really ought to begin on the basis there set out. It is quite impraticable and will be, I conceive, wholly improper for us to take any other course. The pace, the method, the condition, all these things are open to consideration; but there is no question at all that this country is pledged as clearly as we can be pledged, in honour and in policy; and that pledge is undoubtedly to pursue in the Indian Empire a road which will lead to responsible government. I well understand, perhaps better than many, how difficult it is. You need to have travelled all over India to have seen the differences there are between the circumstances of India and the circumstances in which Parliamentary government has been developed here. You need to have actual experience of it; it should enter into your very fibre; then you will realise what a tremendous pledge it is that we have given to India. But we have given it, and we are bound, within our discretion and judgment, in all honesty, to have the courage to do our best to fulfil it.
I shall best serve the interests of the House if I devote myself to two ques- 890 tions only, questions which very naturally may be put to anybody who has some responsibility for the Statutory Commission. One has to do with the subject of the change in Provincial government and the other has to do with the subject of change at the centre. The Provincial question is the treatment of law and order, to which the right hon. Member for Hillhead (Sir R. Horne) referred in his telling speech, all the more telling because he told the House that he was putting his difficulties rather than pronouncing his judgment. The other question is this, and I will put it to myself in order that the House may see that I am prepared to face the issue fairly. We in the Statutory Commission reached a unanimous conclusion—perhaps a rather remarkable agreement, but for its Chairman very satisfactory. I had the great pride of finding two colleague's of mine from the benches opposite, two Conservative Members of this House, and two other Members drawn from the House of Peers, prepared to agree with me; and we signed a report unanimous from beginning to end, without a single dissenting minute. In that report we declared for a solution which, at any rate in the first instance, would involve the establishment of what is called autonomy in the Provinces. We pronounced against the offer, at the same time and on analogous lines, to establish self-government at the centre. The question which I must face, and which I will do my best to face, is this: That being so, what is the relation between the view which the Statutory Commission held and the Government White Paper now?
I would remind the House of the quotation with which I began, that our terms of reference were strictly limited to British India. I believe that the conclusion which was forced upon my colleagues and myself was entirely right. Treating that as the subject-matter of our inquiry we came to the conclusion, and expressed it clearly, that it was not a wise development of the constitution of British India to seek to establish at the centre a government which some people had suggested of a responsible kind. But at the same time that we came to that conclusion we came to another conclusion, which I was authorised by my colleagues to embody in a letter which I wrote on their behalf, and my own, to the Prime Minister. I will read a passage 891 from that letter now. We wrote that letter after we had been over every Province of India in the course of two very long and detailed journeys, and we wrote it some six months before our actual Report appeared. We said this:As our investigation has proceeded, we have become more and more impressed in considering the direction which the future constitutional development of India is likely to take, with the importance of bearing in mind the relations which may develop between British India and the Indian States.The House will observe that the Indian States were outside our reference.We are not at present in the position to forecast the report which we shall in due course hope to present to Parliament. It is, however, already evident to us that, whatever may be the scheme which Parliament will ultimately approve for the future Constitution and governance of British India, it is essential that the methods by which the future relationship between these two constituent parts of Greater India will be adjusted should be fully examined.We then asked from the Head of the Government a direction to go outside the strict boundaries of our inquiry in order that we might inform ourselves as well as we could of what appeared to us to be the essential question as regards the central government of India, namely, what is the nature of the development which might take place if only you looked at all the necessary factors? Everybody who has looked at our report will see that there are chapters in which we have, to the best of our ability, presented to the House and the country a close analysis of the essential relations which exist between that part of India governed by the Indian Princes and the other part of India which is, in the fullest sense, called British India. Let me summarise in two or three sentences the essential facts. It is a common phrase that there are two Indias. There are not two Indias. There is one India, and it is the Greater India which includes the Indian States as well as the British Provinces. That is the true way in which anyone will look at it who has really studied the subject with any close care.
At Geneva, India is represented, and when we say that India is represented at Geneva we mean this Greater India. There is no difference between one part and the other. If you travel in India you will not find that the boundaries 892 between these Indian States and the Provinces are boundaries which you can detect by any of the ordinary natural indications of a frontier. You travel in the train in and out with as much ease as you pass from one English county to another. More and more the problems of India are the problems of this Greater India—the economic problems of India, the transport problems of India, the financial and currency problems of India, and the whole future of India. My colleagues and I were so convinced of this, although I count myself a man who can understand terms of reference and keep, I hope, reasonably within them, I was so convinced of it, that I broke every proper rule connected with a Chairman of a Royal Commission and asked leave from the Head of the Government to go outside the ambit of the main inquiry so that we might examine what I believed to be the real unity which had to be considered.
We went further. We said in our Report that it appeared to us, as indeed it appeared to others before us, that when you came to consider the reforms of the central government of India, it must take the form of a Federation in which the Indian States would be constituent elements, as well as the British provinces. It took a long time to write the Report, and it takes a long time to read it, but I can assure Members of the House that if they will go into the Library and look at the chapters in which that matter has been dealt with they will find a mass of reasons which really demonstrate that fact beyond all possibility of dispute.
Here is the point at which the Commission undoubtedly reached a different judgment from that which is involved in the White Paper. I have looked at the White Paper with very anxious care, and I am not at all disposed to depart from the deliberate position of this Report without good reason. We took the view when we wrote the Report—and it was based on the information then before us—that it was exceedingly improbable that for, at any rate, a considerable time to come, the Indian Princes and the Indian States would be prepared to come into the greater Indian Federation. It is proper, perhaps, to add that, of course, we have not taken evidence from any Indian States. No Indian Princes came before us. No 893 Minister from any one of these great countries, some of which are as big as some of the smaller countries of Europe, came and offered us his views. Our knowledge of the Indian States at close quarters was limited to visits of recreation—most fascinating experience—due to the courtesy of those great potentates. Frankly, I was perfectly confident that the development of a new form of government at the centre in India was dependent upon the Indian States coming in, and that consequently, as far as I could see, this was not likely to take place for a very considerable time. I am free to add—and I wish to serve the House with complete candour—that I took the view, and I think that it is the view entertained in many quarters to-day, that from the matter of simplicity there would be a great deal to be said for providing, in the first place, for provincial autonomy.
Standing here and speaking as a Member of the Government, and seeking to make the fullest acknowledgment of the views I hold, I can well believe that there are very large practical arguments in favour of that view, and among them is this—that if you are ever going to have, in the proper sense, the Federation of the constituent elements in greater India you must be assured that these great Provinces—the Province of Madras is as big as the country of Italy, and there are others on the same scale—should really get their identity established, and their self-consciousness well declared, and their policy and responsibility thoroughly appreciated by the population. For those reasons we came to the conclusion which I have stated, and I hope that I have stated it with complete fairness to the House. I have these things clearly in my memory, and nobody with the tremendous responsibility which rests upon the shoulders of my colleagues and myself can do other than remember every incident of this inquiry to the end of his days.
But there is a new fact, and I want to call the attention of the House to it. You may assume that the new fact is of less or of more importance according to your judgment. You may regard it as a certain fact, or only as a probability or only as a possibility; but there is a very relevant new fact which has entered the field of this problem since our report was 894 presented. When the first Round Table Conference was held and when—following precisely the suggestion we had made to the Prime Minister—the Indian Princes were invited to the conference as well as prominent Indian politicians from British India, a declaration was made—and I have it here—on behalf of the Princes of India, on 19th January, 1931, by the mouth of His Highness the Maharajah of Patiala, at that time the Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes, in which he was speaking, not for himself alone, but for a large body of Princes whom he had consulted. I will read the statement which he made. After declaring that he was of opinion that federation in the sense I have described was the true future of India, he said:The main principle of federation stands acceptable, and I echo the confident hope expressed the other day by His Highness the Maharajah of Bikaner that by far the larger proportion of the States will come into the federal structure at once and that the remainder will soon follow.That may be too sanguine a view, but I am only concerned with reminding the House of what was said. He went on to say, and I draw particular attention to these words:We have all made it clear, however, that we consider certain things to be essential. We can only federate with a British India which has self-government and not with a British India governed as it is at present.I think that every serious-minded man who has studied this immense problem must admit that that declaration and what it implies is an event of very great importance, and I am willing to admit here that I had not expected such a declaration to be made. I thought at the time that it was a sanguine view. There are indications, which I dare say hon. Gentlemen will have observed, in the newspapers to which reference has been made by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead. We must certainly not take this assurance made in January, 1931, as if it was the same thing as being an accomplished fact. At the same time I put to the House—I do not like to call it a dilemma—this alternative which presents itself to anyone who thinks on the subject. Either these anticipations are in a fair way to be fulfilled or they are not. Suppose they are not. Then I stand here and I say with the greatest firmness and 895 without any qualification at all that, as I understand the policy of the Government and the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for India the proposal in the White Paper that there should be a development of self-government at the centre of India depends entirely upon whether certain conditions can be fulfilled and are fulfilled in respect of the Indian Princes. On the other hand, let up suppose that they can be fulfilled. As to that we shall know in the course of the months which are now approaching. Then, in one of the most tremendous problems that ever faced a Parliament—it would be a grave responsibility if we allowed our previous impressions and our earlier convictions so to override the processes of judgment that we were not prepared to weigh that new possibility fairly in the scale and see whether or not, if that opportunity offered, it was one which we ought to be ready to take.
To my mind, that is the essential question which now faces us and about this issue, I have not changed my conviction in the very least and I do not understand that my colleagues in the Government take a different view. If you confine yourself to what is, after all, the wholly artificial and limited outline called British India, and attempt to develop what are ordinarily called responsible institutions on the Parliamentary model there, you will fail. I do not want to develop the argument but I feel that very strongly and we all have to ask ourselves: If it be true that we have an opportunity now of helping to develop this greater India, are the opportunities thus offered to be rejected because of the condition which the Princes clearly indicate, or are we on the other hand to face the risk, if you please, the risk that, no doubt, many sober-minded men think may be involved in so tremendous an experiment? I heard the Prime Minister at Geneva the other day, in a phrase which called forth a great response, say, in reference to the effort to reach a Convention on disarmament, that you bad to choose between a risk and a certainty. The risk, no doubt, exists in every attempt to arrange a limitation of armaments but it must be set against the certainty of what will happen if you do not agree on disarmament. I would respectfully say to the House that I think it has to do something of the same sort here.
896 For my part, I want to see the prospects of this new development of a Greater India most thoroughly investigated—and the opportunity of these great Indian Princes coming in and playing their part freely tested—before I am prepared to reject the whole scheme. My right hon. and gallant Friend (Colonel Wedgwood) need make no mistake. It is not I think going to mean the imposition of a particular view of government from one side upon the other. I will not be as positive as my right hon. Friend opposite—I only say, I think not. The truth is that these conceptions of government permeate both ways and I am convinced that the things which tie India together, the things which make India one, are so intimate, the strands are so numerous—a common spirit of race, religion, and tradition as well as material things like communications, finance, and the wireless and the rest—that I do not think you had better assume that this is going to be a one-sided bargain, which is going to impose one system of government upon the rest of India at the expense of another. At this stage, having regard to the fact that the White Paper is going before this Joint Committee, for the purpose of an examination, in which as I hope we are going to get the service of the very best brains in the House and of those critics who have prepared themselves for that examination by the most careful scrutiny I. for my part, am anxious to see this White Paper presented to the Joint Committee for that very purpose. I repeat that the only condition upon which you can hope to develop what is called responsible government at the centre is the condition that you develop the Greater India of which I speak. If you do this, then I think, that amalgamation may very well have in it the seeds of satisfactory progress. Before you say that you are willing here and now to reject that proposal, think twice and think thrice of what the results may be in India, if we ourselves at this time promote a division between the Indian Princes and their great territories on the one hand, and the British India for which we have a special responsibility on the other.
I want to say a word now about a question which was put plainly to me by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead on the subject of provincial governments. Here again is a subject 897 on which the Statutory Commission had a view, expressed, I hope, in good clear English. We stated the arguments pro and con as well as we could. The question is this: What are you to do about what is called law and order? If the House will excuse me, I venture upon a very elementary exposition. The police service in India is a provincial service. Many people who have given some attention to this subject, but who have not closely studied its working, have suggested "why not centralise the police administration?" I at one time was attracted by the idea but I am convinced that it is wholly impracticable. India is much too big. Even if you could imagine an. organisation at the centre it would have to be represented in each of the great provinces by what would in effect be a separate department and you would only get back to where you were before, with additional complications which I need not explain. Therefore, the police, the business of keeping law and order, is a provincial service. The superior officers of the police, whether Indian or British, are recruited as the House probably knows on an all-India basis. They are officers for whom the Secretary of State has and will continue to have responsibility and their position is guaranteed by the fact that we in this House have a responsibility for them which has never been given up. [An HON. MEMBER: "Never?"] Those who are at present in the service shall certainly have that responsibility for them maintained. Those who are recruited under any provision which assures them of protection shall have protection to the end. The question of whether that system is ever changed is a question which will have to be decided when the time comes, but there is nothing in the Government proposals involving a change.
These superior officers are recruited on an all-India basis and will continue to be so recruited. They are posted to the various provinces, among other reasons for the practical reason that a man has to go to a particular province because he knows the language and things of that sort make that method essential. They have, let us acknowledge it here, one of the most difficult tasks which could possibly fall upon the shoulders of administrators anywhere. They are men who are doing their duty under the most 898 trying circumstances and if ever men deserved it, these men deserve our strongest support. At present the police service—it is not called "law and order" and it really covers several things—is a reserved service in the provinces and the question which we had to face on the Commission and the question which my right hon. Friend put to me was this: Ought the police service in the provinces to remain reserved, or ought it to pass into the hands of a. Minister responsible to the Provincial Legislature?
My right hon. Friend was good enough to say, and I know he has done me the kindness of reading the report, that he had not fully appreciated the reasons why the Commission after a very careful examination of the arguments on both sides came to the conclusion that the police service should not, remain a reserved subject, but should be transferred. Let me state to the, House what those reasons were and it will be for them and others to judge whether they were adequate or not. You need to examine closely the procedure, the actual method of the provincial legislatures in India, in order to understand how very unsatisfactory is the present position of the police service in India. The legislatures in these provincial assemblies, according to the present Constitution, feel no responsibility for the police service at all. They very frequently attack the police and I am bound to say that I have seen reports of attacks on the police made by members of the provincial legislatures which seemed in the highest degree ungenerous and unjust. They sometimes refuse to vote the necessary funds to maintain the police and it has happened again and again in the provincial legislatures that there has been a combination of parties, quite irresponsible as far as the police is concerned, who have followed up, it may be a popular outcry or some criticism which is easy to make, by depriving the police force of the money which is necessary if the force is to be maintained.
The result of all this undoubtedly is that, unless you change their position the police force in India and all the apparatus of law and order tend to be regarded as the agent of an alien bureaucracy. It is very unfair. It does not in the least correspond with the class of duty which these men are doing but it is the fact that a very large part of the Indian 899 population under present conditions is encouraged to take that view. These men are doing an essential work which is sometimes an unpopular work and sometimes a dangerous work. It is a work without which the neighbourhood which they survey would fall into utter anarchy. I invite the House to face this problem. What would you do if you found that that was the situation which in fact existed in India? The thing is all the more difficult because other departments of government will be in the hands of Indian Ministers. There seems to have been very little complaint, for instance, in these preliminary discussions, about transferring the administration of land revenue to the Indian Ministers but that is a very important transfer. The more you do that—the more you isolate the police and put them in a special position—the more you encourage this attitude towards them which is very ungenerous and very unfair and which I think if there is ever going to be a development of Indian Government with which we can be satisfied, must be changed.
We came to the conclusion on the Commission, after setting out the arguments on the other side with the greatest fullness—we came to a conclusion unanimously as to the right course to take. There was only one way to deal with that situation and it was to face the cause of this trouble and see how to remove the cause. And the only way to remove the cause was to make the Provincial Government, as a whole, responsible for the police, to make it their responsibility to see that the police should be provided with the necessary funds, and to make a Minister responsible to that legislature, a Minister who would have to answer for the working of the police and thus to fix responsibility on the shoulders of the critics. I believe there is no other way. It was for those reasons that we came to the conclusion, after minute examination, after inquiry of many of the most distinguished superior officials on the subject, after testing Indian opinion, that the right course was the bold course of putting responsibility on the shoulders of the critics.
There were two qualifications which we had in mind and which the Government White Paper at present has not found it 900 necessary to provide. I do not wish to omit to mention the fact. We thought that this provincial government though it would become a unitary government, though there would be no reserved service, none the less might be a government which included, in addition to Indian Ministers, who were elected politicians, also an official.
§ Sir J. SIMON
We did not prescribe that it should be so, we did not prescribe what portfolio he should hold, but we did think that that method might be one which, while we secured responsibility being put on the shoulders of the Legislature as a whole, we none the less limited the undoubted risk involved in this bold course. The matter requires very careful examination and would be exactly one of the things that could very properly be examined, ventilated, discussed and analysed at the meetings of the Joint Committee. But I ought to tell the House that while I am, just as alive to-day as I was when I wrote that passage in the report to the seriousness of this point, I think, from what I have since heard, there are in fact very considerable administrative difficulties in combining an official Minister, somebody sitting on this Bench who is of the official class, with a system which, apart from that, boldly, deliberately and thoroughly establishes what you would call responsible government in the Provinces. The other difference—and again this is a very important point—was that, of course, we were proceeding on the assumption that though there was this transfer in the Provinces, none the less there would lie behind that, and at the centre, a Government of the sort which we conceived, and unquestionably it would be a matter for very grave consideration in the Joint Select Committee how far these considerations will Alter the view which any of us might take, myself included, as to the practicability of this particular plan.
I have tried to state to the House, I hope with complete candour, the points on which there is a division between the views which we presented in our report and the outline in the White Paper. I should feel much more difficulty than I do if my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for India was to-day or to-morrow asking the House to vote in favour of 901 the White Paper, but he is not doing that. He is saying: "We must set up now, without further delay, a Joint Committee, and in order that that Joint Committee may not wander at large over the field, we, who have worked for many months on this subject, present a detailed and 'articulated scheme in this White Paper which we do not say, indeed, is to be the Bill which we will introduce, but which will give everybody the present view which the Government put forward, with every opportunity for its being examined, criticised and improved."
In conclusion, may I be allowed to make this one observation I do not know whether we ought to be glad or sorry that this tremendous responsibility has fallen upon the shoulders of us who are Members of this present Parliament, but it is one of the most tremendous events in history, and I cannot conclude without saying that one of the thoughts which have always been at the back of my own mind is this: Holding as I do so firmly, with such complete conviction, that the British race has contributed great and good things to the order and development of the Indian sub-continent, I do ask the House of Commons to consider whether there is not a contribution still to come from us, the most difficult contribution of all. Why is it that the Indian politician is so obsessed with this idea of Parliamentary institutions? It is because of us. It is we who have told him that this is the way in which order can be maintained. We have told him that, and therefore we ought to approach—
§ Sir J. SIMON
I would ask my hon. and gallant Friend to use his imagination and to see how this strikes the Indian mind. He hears us claim, and I think rightly claim, that we have made a tremendous contribution to India, but he also feels in his heart that it is we of the West who have caused to rise in his mind these ideas that liberty can be reached along this road; and I would venture to read to the House what was the very last paragraph but one of the Indian Statutory Commission's Report, which carries with it, I must ask the House to believe, the very centre of my 902 thoughts during some very anxious and laborious years. This is what we wrote:No one of either race ought to be so foolish as to deny the greatness of the contribution which Britain has made to Indian progress. It is not racial prejudice, nor imperialistic ambition, nor commercial interest, which makes us say so plainly. It is a tremendous achievement to have brought to the Indian sub-continent and to have applied in practice the conceptions of impartial justice, of the rule of law, of respect for equal civic rights without reference to class or creed, and of a disinterested and incorruptible civil service. These are essential elements in any state which is advancing towards well-ordered self-government. In his heart, even the bitterest critic of British administration in India knows that India has owed these things mainly to Britain. But, when all this is said, it still leaves out of account the conditions essential to the peaceful advance of India, and Indian statesmanship has now a great part to play. Success can only be achieved by sustained goodwill and co-operation, both between the great religious communities of India which have so constantly been in conflict, and between India and Britain. For the future of India depends on the collaboration of East and West, and each has much to learn from the other.I would beg the House of Commons and Parliament now to ponder whether we ought not to show ourselves willing to discuss openly and freely this evolution of Indian government with good sense, with courage, but at the same time realising that the road upon which India has been set by the declaration of Parliament and by the policy of the country is the road which leads, in all good faith, by such stages, by such modes, as may be fair and just, to the ultimate realisation of Indian self-government.
§ 6.24 p.m.
§ Colonel WEDGWOOD
I wish the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs had not the terrible faculty of always convincing me, as well as the rest of his audience, that he is right, because I intend to-day to show that his policy as enunciated here to-day is wrong. I appeal from the Philip of to-day to the Philip of the Simon Commission. I am against this Constitution, and he knows the grounds on which I am against it. He knows that they are right, and before this Debate is over I trust that the right hon. Gentleman will agree with me instead of my agreeing with him. This Constitution is an abdication, the abdication of Parliament. In future, when this Constitution is once passed, we can ask no questions in this 903 House on Indian affairs—the Meerut sentences, hours of labour worked in mines, the use of British troops in holding down the peasants of Indian States. This Parliament ceases to act so far as India is concerned, just as much as we have ceased to act in connection with Canadian matters. We abdicate, this country abdicates, and the English traditions abdicate. I dislike abdicating in any circumstances. I dislike, above all, abdicating in favour of some power which will be worse than the power exercised by this House. We all have our Tories as well as our Liberals in every assembly, but the right hon. Gentleman knows as well as I do that there is not a Tory Member in this House who is not better than 10 Indian Princes. You surrender, you scrap this House, and you substitute the Princes of India.
We have done this once before. We have abdicated before. I ask hon. Members to cast their minds back to the year 1906, when we gave a Constitution to South Africa. There is now no part of the civilised globe where the coloured man is so miserable as he is in South Africa—no justice, no freedom, and, what is worse, no hope, and just sufficient education to know that there never will be any hope. I was over there recently, and I happened to call on Sir James Rose Innes; when I was leaving I said to my coloured chauffeur, "Sir James is a good friend of your people." He stopped the car and turned round, and his coloured face went nearly white with rage as he said, "Sir James is the only friend we have got in this country." I remember that I addressed a meeting of natives in Johannesburg, a few educated ones, a few school teachers, missionaries, journalists, doctors, and so on, and I gave them the usual pleasant Sunday afternoon address about hope, prospects of the future, organisation, education; and, of course, I absolved the English Members of Parliament from any responsibility for the injustices from which they suffered in Africa. At the end one old missionary got up and said, "You say that you are not responsible for our condition in South Africa, but who was it who signed the Constitution? Who was it who voted for the Constitution without providing any safeguard for the poorest here?"
Well, you did it, and I did it. We were all carried away with exactly the 904 same emotion as is carrying away this House now to give this self-government to India, to abdicate all power of this Parliament over people's lives, to substitute for it something which will be irremovable. Does the House realise what it is that we are giving to India? We are giving them so Conservative a Constitution that nothing can ever change it. There will be no more Government of India Acts after this. We are putting power for all time into the hands of one narrow class in India. The Princes are rather like the German Princes of the 18th century of the time of Jew Suss. They have absolute power in their hands and nothing can take it from them except the revolution of their own peoples. We are calling them in aid. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead (Sir R. Horne) has explained why. It is a good sound Conservative safeguard. It is far worse Conservatism than ever we have had in this country. They have the absolute power of life and death over their subjects. They are to federate with British India. What are they putting into it? Any laws that they make will not affect their subjects. Hon. Members need not fear the absence of these; they will all come in; it is merely a question of bargaining. When they are in do you think that they will alter a constitution which gives them all the power and no liabilities?
This Constitution has come to stay. Do hon. Members with any trace of Liberalism in them or any idea of British traditions realise how the elected part of the Assembly are to be chosen? The electorate is to be the richer 2 per cent. of the population for the Central Government. In this country the electorate is roughly 50 per cent. Will hon. Members put to themselves what would be their position in this House to-day if they were elected by an electorate of 2 per cent. on a property basis. Not one of my colleagues on these benches would be here at all, nor would any of the Liberals. As to the views of hon. Members on the Conservative Benches, some of the Members might be the same, but the views they expressed in the House would be very different. The ordinary Member of this House would be elected by 1,200 to 1,500 electors on a property basis. The working class would not be in it. The elected Members to the 905 Federal Assembly will be as Conservative, if not more Conservative, than the Indian Princes. I do not know whether anybody has studied page 90 of the White Paper showing how the Federal Assembly will really be constructed. Madras is to have 37 members all told, and 19 of them will be elected. Of those 19 seats four are reserved for the depressed classes. The result is that there will be four constituencies in Madras which we have been told is the size of Italy. One constituency will be as large as the six northern counties of England, and it will have roughly 200,000 electors. It will return four Members, one of them reserved.
How on earth is any poor man to be elected under such conditions? He will never even be able to pay for a motor car to get round the place. I expect the Foreign Secretary will agree with me that the election expenses for the Assembly that is now in existence are enormous measured by British standards. I am told that £10,000 is the ordinary charge of a successful candidate for the Indian Assembly. You are making it worse by this system so that the ordinary elected member cannot possibly be anything but a millionaire or a man with a millionaire party behind him. The depressed classes are not called that now; they keep changing their name, though they never change the condition; the depressed class used to be called the outcasts, and that was not thought quite decent, so they were called the depressed classes. Now, I understand, in order to make them quite respectable, they are called the scheduled castes. There are to be reserved seats for these so as to be sure that there shall be something to which you can point as representing labour. You are going to give seats to the depressed classes on the reserved system. I really must describe what that system is. It is a device to salve the conscience of the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State. He knows as well as I do that communal representation is an un-English vice, so he invented the reserve seat. I will deal with communal representation presently.
Under the system of reserved seats there are four-member constituencies, and the working class—the depressed class, which is the same thing—are allowed to put up no less than four men. The working class have not votes themselves, 906 but the other people have got votes, and they have to vote for these reserved seats at the same time. They will select from among the four supposedly labour men the one who will be most amenable when elected. I do not say that he will be amenable to start with, but he will become so. He must do, because his chance of re-election depends upon it. A man is always responsible to the people who vote for him, and therefore whatever the energy of his radicalism may be at the start, the very fact of his re-election depends upon his words and votes. It will make that man the innocent instrument—it is merely human nature—of the elected propertied class who elect the others. There is no safeguard under this system—no safeguard for the poor. The main point I want to make clear is that we are abdicating our power and our responsibility for the whole future of the 350,000,000 people in India and handing the trust over to an organisation which from its very constitution cannot be trusted.
Who are the people in India who ask for this? I do not think that it is the steel frame which is asking for it. I do not think that it is the Viceroy. I do not think that the people are asking for it, and I am quite sure that Gandhi is not asking for it. This is being asked for by the people who are going to benefit. Who are these Indian politicians? One could go through the names of dozens of them. Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, Chintamani, Kelkar, Jayakar, even Sastri himself. Let us see what their record is. For 13 years they have had charge of provincial government in India. How have they carried out their trusteeship to the Indian people? What have they done for women and the marriage laws? What have they done for the working class, for the poor strikers in Bombay? They have shoved up the price of everything by import duties—but then that is common form. What have they done for the ryots in the United Provinces? What have they done for the factory workers and the mine workers? What have they done even for education of which they have sole control? Everybody knows that the only hope of the improvement of the conditions of the Indian people lies in education—sole control for 13 years and done nothing! What have they done for the outcasts? If it had not been for Gandhi 907 they would never have looked at them. They have had the power and have done nothing.
The caste system has grown up in India to be so strong that it will take more than a generation of radical education to stop it. The only people who could have done it are two. One is Lala Lajpat Rai, who was killed, and the other is Gandhi, and he is in prison. On the whole, I think that I would not abdicate my power over India in order to substitute the power of the Indian Princes and of politicians elected on this system. The right hon. Gentleman the Foreign Secretary produced a valuable Report, which I would beg to see substituted for this thing which we have now. At any rate, it was a step forward, and this is a step back. At any rate, it was possible of amendment and under it this House would still have control, and could have taken the next step forward when the time was due. But this White Paper is—finish. Here you graft an unfair Constitution upon the people of India, excluding the whole of the working class and the ryots from any voice whatever in the government of their country. This is not self-government, but a Venetian oligarchy that you are imposing on India, preventing men for ever making any change however badly it works. Of course it will work badly.
The right hon. Gentleman knows what human nature is. He himself, if he were an Indian politician working a scheme like this—how would he secure power, how would be retain power? By black-guarding England and putting every blame for everything upon England. He could not help it. Does he really think that under this Constitution we are going to get a partnership which will work? This is worse than an abdication, I think this is a cowardly abdication, cowardly as well as futile. What are you trying to do I Was it not possible to govern India in accordance with English principles? Was it necessary to try to divide India between Moslem and Hindu; to see the British officials getting rid of the House of Commons in order to shelter behind the Princes of India? The right hon. Gentleman and several others have wondered whether all the Princes will come in. Of course they will come in. What do they sacrifice by coming in? Nothing. And what do they gain? The 908 power to dictate to the British Government in India. Bargaining is going on with H.H. the Nizam about I3erar. I suppose there are negotiations going on with the Maharajah of Alwar. I suppose there are negotiations going on with Sir Hari Sing, the Maharajah of Kashmir. I take it there are negotiations going on with every one of the Princes. And they have got the whip hand, they can dictate the terms on which they will come in; and, once in, they sacrifice nothing. Not one single constitution is to be given to any of those States, at least not in connection with the Indian Federation. Beside these great educated communities like Madras, Bombay and Bengal, great provinces which are at least of the 19th, if not of the 20th century, we have got these 18th century pocket-boroughs. Well, "pocket boroughs" is unfair. A pocket borough did get some money at election times. By putting itself in the power of these people the Government of India deprives itself of the power of taking up ordinary English standards in the ordinary day-to-day administration of the country.
I do not know whether we can defeat this federal solution, I am afraid it may be too late, but for goodness sake let us reduce the power, so far as the Joint Committee can, of the central organisation as against the Provinces. The central organisation under this scheme is hopeless for ever, but the Provinces are not. There is in them a wider franchise, thanks very largely to Lord Lothian's Committee. The only spark of Liberalism in the whole business has been Lord Lothian's Committee. The House will observe that the recommendations of Lord Lothian's Committee have not been carried out in the White Paper, and the franchise, which was high enough in all truth, even in the Lothian Report, has been made higher still. They talked about 15 per cent. of the population having votes for the Provincial Councils. I am not a gambling man, but bet it will be nearer 10 per cent. by the time we have got this thing through, because if there is one thing I have observed—and I do not know whether the right hon. Gentleman has observed it—it is that directly you get either officials or Indians or Burmese or the Singalese discussing any question of franchise, though they may have admirable views on self-govern- 909 ment they are determined that the working class shall have no voice.
The Ceylon Government very nearly threw out the Donoughmore Committee's report and the reforms passed by the Labour Government for the only reason that they gave adult suffrage. Does the right hon. Gentleman really want to have the explanation of the refusal of Burma to separate from India? I can give it to him. The Burmese priests, who are considerable in power and in numbers, thought that if we were going to give power to the democracy in Burma—mind you, in Burma you would have had adult franchise and women voters—there would be certain to be an end of the habit they have of one-third of the population living on the other two-thirds. I have never found in any of the Indian Provinces or in Ceylon or in Burma half so great a desire to protect the working class by giving them a vote as I find in the reports of Conservative Commissions sent out from this country to fix things up, and therefore I am afraid that the figure will be not 15 per cent. but nearer 10 per cent. by the time the provincial electorates have been worked out.
After all, when people in Assam, even, are managing their own affairs, as they will under this Constitution, or under the Simon Constitution, looking after their own troubles, dealing with their own roads, dealing with their own taxation, then, perhaps, we shall find a little less of the racial bitterness and a possibility of building up administrators who are thinking of something else besides the villainies of right hon. Gentlemen opposite and the treachery of right hon. Gentlemen on this side. I have always thought the hope for India was in building up the village punchayat and working upwards from that. I thought it was a great mistake when we threw the district boards open without leaving an Englishman in charge of those district boards to help to start them and guide them in the first years. In the same way, I think the best hope of ever getting central government and a Central Assembly in India which will be a working, practical partner for the British Empire is by building the Provinces first. I welcome—it is the only thing I do welcome—the fact that two new Provinces are set up. I wish there had been 50.
910 This is my last word. We can do something, even when this scheme goes to the Joint Select Committee, to enhance the power of the provinces and reduce the extraordinarily Conservative character—it is a mistake to call it Conservative, the Nazi character, of the central Government. We can do something which is actually suggested by the right hon. Gentleman, if I remember aright, in his report. We can see to it that the sham elected members mentioned on page 90 are replaced by indirectly elected members from the provinces. I never thought that in my life I should ever get up and recommend indirect election against direct election, but when I think how the directly elected people are going to get there I think I prefer the indirect form. In the first place, you will get people from the provincial councils who have learned their business in the provincial councils. You may leave it open to them to send people to the central Assembly who are not yet members of the provincial councils, but instinctively, naturally, they will elect members who are members of the council, just as this House of Commons, with the solidarity of the trade union spirit, which I always so much admire in it, prefers Members of Parliament to have governorships or other offices rather than they should go to mere outsiders.
In the first place, you get more experienced people, and in the second place get people who have not attained to the position solely by race hatred. You will not get Patels, and people of that sort, elected by the provincial councils. They will send people who will look after the interests of their provinces, such as business men, you will get a far more useful Assembly and at the same time not half such big head lines. Furthermore, the fact that these people are representing councils and are not directly elected by the great people of India in sham electorate for communal reasons will mean that the power and the importance of the. Assembly will be lessened in so much as. its people are indirectly elected and, pari passu, the position and importance of the provincial councils, in which is all our hope, will be increased. I despair, and have despaired for the last three years, of any hope for the future of India, because of this federation scheme, because we are handing over our trust to people. 911 we cannot trust; but something can still be saved if we save the provincial councils and miss no opportunity of reducing the importance of the All-Indian politician in an All-India Assembly.
§ 6.58 p.m.
§ Sir GEORGE GILLETT
The House will hardly expect me to follow too closely the arguments of my right hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Colonel Wedgwood), for one thing because I am not certain that I understand the exact position which he takes up. The right hon. Gentleman has told us that he is opposed to the White Paper, but at the same time he has given us indications that he regrets the day when certain English civil servants will cease their administrations, and he also regrets the fact that the franchise set out in the White Paper does not cover a far larger number of people. Seeing that the right hon. Gentleman stated at the end of his speech that he was opposed to the idea of Federation, I do not know why it is that in the days of the Labour Government, when the Round Table Conference was sitting, and this fundamental principle was first adopted, the right hon. Gentleman never let us know, as far as I am aware, that he was fundamentally opposed to that principle.
§ Sir G. GILLETT
At any rate, I personally never had the privilege of hearing the right hon. Gentleman express those views with regard to Federation, and it seems to me that he comes here to-day to make a statement in opposition to the plans which were brought forward in the White Paper. I confess that I welcome the speech of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, because it seems to me that he lifted the Debate on to the level which is essential if we really are to face up to the problem now being presented to the House. The right hon. Gentleman who spoke last referred with regret to the action he took with regard to South Africa. Many of us have seen the different stages in history by which the British Empire has been willing to recognise first Canada, then South Africa and, finally, Southern Ireland. In the 912 claims to self-government made by these, many of us have felt that we have seen developing an ideal in which we believe. If to-day we are faced by the greatest problem that this Empire has ever had—this problem of self-government in India—surely many of the principles we have found applicable to the smaller examples of Canada, South Africa, and Ireland apply, to some extent at any rate, to this new problem. I can understand Members of this House who say that they do not believe in the old-fashioned idea of self-government, for we have new ideals of Communism and Fascism in the world to-day.
There may also be numbers who say that they cannot believe in a Government for India, except an autocratic Government, and that they disapprove of the line of development suggested by the Government. At the same time, if we believe in the fundamental principle that the ultimate ideal is that the people of a country have a right to govern their country, and that those who may not agree with the Government should have the right to voice their views, we can, at any rate, commence with the plan now before Parliament and lay down a frame upon which a future edifice may be built. It is easy in the House of Commons to point out the various difficulties connected with this scheme. I would remind the House that when Lord Durham went to Canada and outlined the basis upon which the constitution of the Dominion of Canada is founded he, when he returned to this country, was received with criticism and died a broken-hearted man, although he had really laid the foundation of the Dominion of Canada as we see it to-day. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for West Birmingham (Sir A. Chamberlain), a few years ago, stated in this House that the only vote he regretted was the vote against the formation of the Federation of South Africa. The right hon. Gentleman who spoke last, who voted on the opposite side, is now also regretting the vote he gave on that occasion.
We have seen, with regard to Ireland, certain problems and difficulties which have been criticised in the House in the course of the Debate yesterday and today. But we have first of all to decide—and here my right hon. Friend opposite has taken a quite consistent course— 913 whether we believe in this ideal of self-government, and whether we are going to attempt to put it into being in India. When we have adopted that view, there are certain fundamental principles we have to recognise. We have had criticism in certain quarters that the safeguards are not sufficient. We have now the criticism that the safeguards are perfectly useless. We have had criticism of the safeguards from the right hon. and gallant Gentleman who spoke last. What are the objects of these safeguards? It seems that the first great principle is that the people of India look to this country for the protection of their frontiers by the armed forces of Great Britain. The second principle, it seems to me, is also one of protection: it is the claim which certain sections of the populace have as minorities. In one province the minority may be Mohammedan, and in another Hindu. These people have a claim that before any scheme of self-government comes into being they should be assured that their interests are to be protected.
We have in India the problem of Ulster over and over again. We had the same problem in Canada—the racial question and also the religious question. There, however, it was fairly simple because they were divided. In Ireland a solution was found by cutting off Ulster. In India you cannot do that because in India you have an Ulster in almost every province. There are racial and religious differences, and the people affected are demanding from this country certain safeguards before any new system of government is brought into existence. In regard to the system of government that is going to be brought forward, my right hon. Friend who last spoke, complained, as I gather, that the new Government will probably he a conservative one. Surely in any scheme by which you are going to give self-government, even in a limited form to a country—and I would remind them that you are dealing with a great population, a large percentage of which is illiterate—it is practically impossible to give a universal franchise. What happened in this country? The right hon. Gentleman referred to a Member being elected by a small electorate that only a few years ago a Member was elected by the votes of 2,000 people.
§ Sir G. GILLETT
That is exactly what happened. You had your pocket boroughs, and then a small extension of the franchise to men only. In the lifetime of many of us these small constituencies still existed. Half of the borough I now represent had, about 20 years ago, only 5,000 electors, and they sent a Member to this House. There were no women voters in those days. Now we have India in the stage in which this country was, perhaps, 20 or 30 years ago. The right hon. and gallant Gentleman complained because it is not proposed to give universal suffrage to the whole of the people. It is also too readily assumed by the right hon. and gallant Gentleman, that the Government of India he desires is necessarily going to be a Government that is going to carry out the kind of measures he thinks they should carry out. It does not necessarily follow that because you give universal, or any, suffrage that people, when they get that suffrage, are naturally going to have a policy which commends itself to my right hon. Friend. In fact, I can never follow what his beliefs really are, because he is the most independent Member of this House. He sits on the Front Opposition Bench, but we cannot label him in any way. He is seemingly elected by the Socialist party, but he is the greatest individualist in this House.
§ Sir G. GILLETT
I cannot say what his policy would be. We are always inclined to think a new Government will carry out the views we think they ought to do. The right hon. Gentleman says they have not attended to sundry matters with regard to education, public health and the treatment of women. But we often find, when self-government is given to a nation, that they probably use it in a way different from what we think is indicative of progress. If we take some of the views of Mr. Gandhi in regard to the Government of India, I ask to what section of the House they make appeal? Many of his views with regard to commerce, trade and Protection are most strongly akin to the extreme Right of the Conservative party. They have 915 nothing to do with the Free Trade views of the Labour party. If you ask what are Mr. Gandhi's views in regard to modern industry, it has to be said that it is quite true some of his supporters belong to the Communist party. The Communist party in Russia worships machinery, but Mr. Gandhi, as far as I can see, simply worships the spinning-wheel. What would be the policy of these future Governments if they came under Mr. Gandhi we cannot possibly say.
If you recognise any limited form of self-government for a nation, you have to leave it to make its decisions on these problems. It is the whole basic principle of self-government that you hand these powers over to them. On these grounds it seems quite impossible that, in the Debate to-day, we can go too fully into the questions of safeguards and how far they secure this or that position? I do feel that it is absolutely essential we should have these safeguards. I am speaking as one representing the man in the street and, in that respect, I rather regret that the White Paper has laid almost undue stress upon these safeguards. We hear so little of what the positive proposals are; we hear so much of what the restrictive proposals are. The Secretary of State, when he made his opening speech, gave a most interesting description of the effect of these proposals upon the life of the ordinary labourer in India. The matters to be dealt with by the council, in which he is to be represented, at least to a limited extent, include his land, his water and his life in almost every direction. I very much wish the White Paper had laid greater emphasis upon the powers to be conferred on these local councils, powers which, if I understood aright, even my right hon. Friend thought were to a certain extent to be commended. It was on this account that, looking back at the various stages in our history, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs said that we have had to face up to demands from different parts of the Empire to be allowed the freedom of self-government. To-day we have once again to say, "Yes" or "No" to that demand.
I still unhesitatingly protest my belief in the principles of self-government. I recognise that there are stages through 916 which a nation has to pass. We cannot expect that the people of India, who have never had the educational advantages as ourselves, will proceed to exactly the same result as we in this country. There are many systems of government in the world to-day. Looking back to the history of France, we can say that the dictatorship of Napoleon had a very profound influence upon that country, and perhaps it served a great end in the time in which he lived; but we should not think it an ultimate ideal if France had always remained under the power of Napoleon. France has evolved into democratic government to-day. There may be other systems of government in, the world which may be helpful to the countries concerned, but the ultimate ideal, which we have set before ourselves, is self-government. Almost 100 years ago, Macaulay, speaking in this House in regard to India, said that one day Members of the House of Commons would be asked, by leave of the people, to give that self-government, and he used the words that when that day came it would be "a proud day for the House of Commons." Almost exactly 100 years after Macaulay used those words, the day has arrived, and the opportunity is given to us, the proud opportunity, as Macaulay said, of trying to solve this great problem. It is, as the Secretary of State has indicated, possibly the greatest question to come before the House of Commons, important as many of the other questions in world-settlement seem to be. It is quite possible that, looking back, the historian of the future, as he speaks of the problems that have come before this House, will lay his finger on the problem of Indian government as being the greatest that this House has had to confront.
There are many points upon which one could make criticisms and suggestions—for example, there is the position of women, and the franchise might have been extended rather wider here or there—but no doubt those points will be considered by the Joint Select Committee. To-day, the fundamental question that we have to ask is whether we still believe in the principle of self-government, and whether we believe that this is one step in Indian progress towards that ideal; and, if so, we should give our support to the Government.
§ 7.19 p.m.
§ Mr. MUNRO
The remark was made to me the other day that little or nothing fresh could be said about the great subject that we are discussing to-day, but to that I replied: "That may be true, but that little may be useful if somebody fresh says it." I welcome very greatly the opportunity to make a few brief comments on the subject of India), which has 'always interested me very deeply. I would like straight away to thank the Secretary of State for India, on behalf of many back benchers, for giving us such a lucid and dispassionate statement of the situation as he saw it. In his speech there was no shirking of the difficult issues which are bound to arise; they were all faced and dealt with categorically. For that I feel grateful to him. He put it that the Government's proposals were a comprehensive scheme and an outcome of facing hard facts. That is a very true and short description of the scheme which we are discussing. It was also said by the Secretary of State that the scheme was put, forward because there was no better one to be considered at the moment. I would have passed over the remarks made by the hon. Gentleman the Member for Limehouse (Mr. Attlee), who spoke immediately after the Secretary of State for India, and who gave a somewhat tepid disapproval of the proposals, but that there was one that I do not think should pass without comment. It was that any Constitution to be an advance must meet with the complete agreement of the people of India; by that he meant the politically-minded people in India. If that was his idea of a Constitution, I consider he was, in saying that, postponing the advance, if not permanently, for a very long time. It is quite obvious, and well-known to all of us, that no such agreement has yet taken place on the part of the politically-minded people of India.
I have listened to innumerable discussions, conversations, and Debates on the subject of India, and all the time there have appeared to be two strong and vocal sections of opinion. We have had those who seemed to despise and to disregard, as though of no account, the long experience that others have had in India. Their cry seemed to be, "What should they know of India who only India know?" I would state my profound dis- 918 agreement with that attitude, because would always pay the greatest respect to long-service experience in any country. On the other hand, we have had those, also very vocal, who seemed to think that unless people have been to India they are not competent, and should not, in fact, attempt to give judgments or make decisions about India. I deprecate that attitude, too. I am hopeful that both sections may give consideration to the views which I would like to put forward. Although I have never been to India, I have had a lifelong experience in the administration of Moslem Arabs and of Nilotic tribes in Africa. Therefore, I feel that both those sections, as well as what I might call the middle opinion, ought, and I hope will, consider the views that I express. I mention that because, on one of the points with which I would like to deal, namely, the transfer of law and order, 1 can fairly claim that in my experience I have had a full and vivid realisation of the apprehension and uneasiness which questions of the transfer of law and order are bound to cause in the hearts of those concerned in the problem of India.
I am glad that the Motion has been put forward in the way that it has. It is in complete accordance with the statements of the Government on previous occasions. The Secretary of State for India has constantly assured us that we were to be free to act unfettered in our final decision. Apropos of that, I would like, on behalf not only of myself but of many back benchers, to resent the implication and imputation that I have frequently seen expressed, that we are a set of nerveless, automatic vote-registering machines. I am perfectly competent, and I know that that is so in the case of others; however difficult and complex the problems are with which we are faced, we have made it our business to study them and to listen to everything possible, in order to find out about those problems. I am quite sure that any decision to which we shall eventually come will be based on the complete and sincere conviction that we are doing what we consider best for the peoples of Britain and of India. There is no time for me to refer to history, but I would say that, in my view, the proposals in the White Paper are the logical outcome of the train of events since 1917. I say, in parentheses, although it may be irrele- 919 vant, that at that time I considered that the Montagu-Chelmsford proposals were unnecessary and untimely. I am still of that opinion about them, but I believe that the present proposals are the inevitable outcome of the statements then made. I do not see how anyone can evade the pledges and the determined statements of our policy that were subscribed to by all parties. Any observations about our possibly abdicating our powers should have been made then, if they were to be made, and not now.
I want to mention two main points, which are closely inter-related in the proposals before us. The first is about Federation. Even our critics agree that Federation must be, and is, the ultimate goal. Those critics, as we know, have a very formidable leader in the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Epping (Mr. Churchill). I am sorry that he has just left the House, because I would have liked to say of him that I have always considered him, in his political life, as giving a perfect example of the conjugation of the verb "to criticise," active and passive. I always had that feeling in regard to the right hon. Gentleman, and I am sorry that he has had to go away just before I was going to say it. These critics claimed that the path to Federation lay through provincial autonomy and its being tried out in the provinces in the first instance. That is a very attractive theory, and one which sounds full of common sense. Of course, it received the strongest confirmation at the time of the publication of the Simon Report, and we have just heard from the chief author of that great report the reasons for the present alteration in their opinion.
Personally, I feel that the accession of the Indian Princes was, and is, essential to any scheme of federation. We have heard that the Princes said that, if they came in, there must be a change of Government at the Centre, and I feel that on that score, and with a view to gaining the accession of the Princes, it was a wise move to proceed towards a goal which we had declared to be the ultimate goal to aim at. Another point which certainly has force is as to how the Princes, or any of them, could be expected to accept a scheme of Federation unless they had at least before them the skeleton framework of what it meant. I am sure I am right in saying that no 920 Prince, either in India or elsewhere, would come into a scheme that was completely vague and indefinite, not knowing either the obligations or the duties that would be thrust upon him.
The other main point with which I want to deal is as to the question of law and order. As I have said, I have had a great deal of experience in another country. Admittedly I have had different races around me, but I have had a great deal of experience and complete responsibility for the maintenance of law and order in very large areas, as large, in fact, as those in India which are being discussed to-day. I am stressing that fact because I would like it to be quite clear that, in the decision to which I have come, I have the fullest realisation of the dangerous possibilities of the transfer of law and order. I feel that in such a transfer there must be the greatest dangers and difficulties. But, although we are not asked to come to any very definite decision on this occasion, I personally am convinced that, if any progress is to be made towards the realisation of the goal at which we are aiming, the transfer of law and order in the provinces must take place. It is, as I have said, with a deep sense of the difficulties and dangers of such a course that I say that, and I am very glad to think that the Select Committee which we are about to set up will have the fullest opportunity of going into all the various problems connected with this matter. I believe quite sincerely that it would have been impossible to leave that matter alone in the provinces. I am sure that the decision to transfer law and order is an essential decision in future progress.
I would like to make one or two remarks about the White Paper itself. I am not so impressed with the tremendous burdens put upon the Governor-General and Viceroy; or, rather, I might say that I think there is little to fear, in view of the Secretary of State's reply on that point. I am more particularly concerned with the position of the Governor in the Province. I believe it was suggested yesterday that the burden was so heavy that some help should be given to the Governor in the Province, and I should like the Select Committee, when they consider these matters, to consider carefully the appointment of a Deputy-Governor. I know, from personal ex- 921 perience in the Sudan, what a tremendous help in states of emergency, which did occur sometimes in that country, it was to have a Deputy-Governor in each Province. It is an incalculable help to the Governor himself. Moreover, I understand that at the present moment, if the Governor of a Province became ill or had to be absent, his duties would at once devolve on the senior official on the Executive Council. Under the White Paper proposals, however, as I understand them, the Executive Council will disappear, and, therefore, as things stand at present, there seems to be no provision for the Governor being either ill or absent. In addition to that, I feel, as I have said, that such an appointment would be of tremendous assistance to the Governor.
Another factor of the greatest importance, which was mentioned by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead (Sir R. Horne), is the question of furnishing information to the Governor. We must realise, looking at things from the worst point of view, that the Minister concerned with law and order may be hostile to the Administration, and I am convinced that there must be some arrangement, carefully investigated by the Select Committee, by which the Governor would have immediate access to whatever information he considers necessary. I quite realise the great difficulties of putting that in the Constitution, but, when I recollect what grave crises have often been saved by timely, secret and accurate information, I feel that it is a most essential point for the Select Committee to consider. In conclusion, I would like to express my sincere conviction that the proposals contained in the White Paper are an excellent basis for the consideration of the Select Committee, and, what is more, are in my opinion, an absolutely honest attempt to give to Indians the management of their own day-to-day affairs—an attempt which I hope and believe, after the modifications which it will undoubtedly undergo at the hands of the Select Committee, will ultimately be successful.
§ 7.39 p.m.
§ Viscount KNEBWORTH
I hope the House will excuse my taking part in this Debate, as one who has had some recent connection with India and who has a sin- 922 cere and very tender love and affection for India and the Indian people. The hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. T. Williams), were he here at the moment, would probably suspect me of trying to make a profit out of somebody, having regard to the views that I am expressing, but I do not approach this question, as do hon. Members opposite and hon. Members below the Gangway, with any particular admiration for the virtues of self-government. I am only concerned with the virtues of self-government in so far as they appertain to good government, and I thought it was an interesting philosophical reflection on the part of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead (Sir R. Horne) that there is this wave of democratic opinion sweeping over Asia just at the moment when Europe was beginning to doubt the efficacy of democratic control. But, while one may notice with curiosity that state of affairs, one cannot ignore the facts, and I should not regard as a suitable definition of good government arty proposal which did not take into consideration the fact that there is in India to-day, to a growing extent, among informed and well-educated opinion, a demand for a degree of responsibility such as has not been known before in the history of India. That is a factor which must be taken into consideration when we come to examine the problem before us.
I fully accept the basis on which the Foreign Secretary to-day began his speech, and on which he ended it—the basis that Parliament is here to implement, in the long run, the declaration in the Preamble of the Act of 1919. We are concerned to do that, and the only thing that we are here to discuss is the method by which it can be done. I believe that it is possible both to secure the essential principle of good government and also to secure a measure of self-government in a newly awakened India; but I think that the whole approach to this question has been very unfortunate, and I hope I may be excused if I ask the House first to consider, not in great detail, but in some detail, the successive stages in the history of India during the past six or eight years, at the conclusion of each of which stages the issue has been so prejudiced that, when the Constitution Bill eventually comes to Parliament for consideration, we shall find our ultimate decision already tied, if not by 923 law, at least, to use the expression of the Secretary of State, by the court of conscience.
Personally, I should have liked to make dyarchy a success. I believe that, some two years before the Statutory Commission was appointed, the Muddiman Commission made certain recommendations which would have made it possible for dyarchy to work. But those recommendations were never acted upon, because it was said at the time that in two years the Statutory Commission would be appointed, and the whole subject would come up for review. Then came the Simon Report, recommending provincial autonomy; and, with the recommendation of provincial autonomy, it was impossible ever to go back to the recommendations of the Muddiman Commission. Then came the Round Table Conference and the idea of Federation. The conception of a United States of India was let loose into the political field, and from that moment it became impossible ever to go back to the recommendations of the Simon Commission. Then the Prime Minister, in his speech winding up the Third Round Table Conference, stated that it was intended to press on with the federal idea as soon as possible. He used words which suggested that it was the Government's intention to produce the full-fledged Federal Constitution and the local autonomous unit out of the same hat at the same moment; and, from the moment when that idea was put forward, it was impossible to go back to the consideration of a gradual development. Now we have the White Paper which we are considering to-day, setting out the deliberate views of the Government, and at every single stage in these proceedings it must be palpably evident that the eventual issue which we are to discuss, and which Parliament must decide, has been prejudiced to such a degree that, although in theory the decision will rest in our hands, yet in practice this Government, at any rate, will find it quite impossible to go back over the many stages which it has already covered.
I want to approach the question of the proposals contained in the White Paper not so much from the point of view as to whether the safeguards are adequate or inadequate, but as to whether the proposals present a proper method of dealing with the question at all. It is, 924 perhaps, rather impudent of me, with very little experience and few sources of information at my command, to criticise the Government proposals, but I was elected to do that if I thought fit, and I have to use my discretion in the matter as much as any other Member of the House. My objection to the proposals is that they are not such as, in my opinion, will give good government to India. My objection to them in principle is that they amount to very little more than a re-hash of the old principle of dyarchy, which was proved after 10 years of experience to be a ghastly failure. I should like to call attention to a passage in the speech of the Secretary of State which bears on this point. He met the criticism that responsibility with safeguards is a negation in terms in the following words:If the safeguards are effective responsibility is a sham; if responsibility is effective the safeguards are a sham. Fortunately, the world is not run on a rule-of-three of this kind.It seems to me that that is just the kind of thing that hon. Members opposite say when they want to raise a loan of £100,000,000 for purposes of their own. They say that fortunately the world is not run on a rule of three of this kind. [An HON. MEMBER: "Take one nought off, will you?"] They will put it on again, so it does not matter. This criticism that you cannot have responsibilities and safeguards is a criticism of principle which, to my mind, cannot be lightly brushed aside in that way. The Secretary of State went on to say that this criticism meanteither that there could never be responsibility in India, or it would mean that if there were responsibility it must be responsibility without safeguards."—[OFFICIAL. REPORT, 27th March, 1933; col. 708, Vol. 276.]In my opinion, responsibility without safeguards is the only form of responsibility and, as one who genuinely and sincerely is desirous of helping the people of India along the road to eventual responsible government and Dominion status, I believe the only proper approach to the problem is one that gives responsibility and, where it gives it, gives it absolutely, and gradually, as responsibility in a particular sphere has been exercised satisfactorily, the field of responsibility might be extended. But what we are asked to accept in these 925 proposals is a local autonomy in the Provinces with considerable overriding powers of government at the Centre, complete with the outworn paraphernalia of dyarchy, complete with the reserved and transferred subjects, complete with its power of certification, complete with the new special responsibility entrusted to the Governor-General. I fear that these proposals will meet with precisely the same difficulties and the same results as the whole conception of dyarchy has met with during the last 10 years.
The House is asked by the Secretary of State and others, if it does not like this White Paper, what alternative it has to offer? I want to ask why we have not been able to advance along this path by gradual but deliberate stages? Why could we not give absolute responsibility for the transferred subjects to the provinces and, if that proved a success, advance towards the recommendations of the Simon Report and give complete local autonomy, still retaining power at the centre, and why, if that had been a success, could we not in the end have considered responsibility at the centre also? The reason we are given for the policy contained in the 'White Paper is that a new factor entered into the picture when the Princes declared their willingness to be a party to a federation, but I cannot see what new factor that creates. The Princes did not make a demand that a federation should be created in which they could be parties. They merely said: If a federation can be formed, we shall be prepared to participate in it. No doubt, that was a very delightful revelation, which the Government were very glad to hear, but it does not make it necessary immediately to create that federation in order that the Princes may participate. It has usually been the practice in the past, when you are building a wall, to lay the bottom row of bricks first and subsequently to superimpose other bricks until the top is reached. The wall that we are building is of a peculiar nature, and it is proposed to lay the top row of bricks first and to fill in the space between it and the ground afterwards. The position does not arise in which we can talk of federation and talk of the Princes being prepared to come into a federation until we have created, at least in the provinces, those great autonomous units actually 926 governing themselves successfully and well.
It may be very difficult for the Government, after all the steps—to my mind, the unfortunate steps—which have been taken, at least since the appointment of the Statutory Commission, if not before, in any way now to modify the proposals that it has put forward, but I do not believe that it is yet too late for the House to pronounce definitely its opinion that it is prepared to assist India along the path towards self-government and Dominion status, that it is prepared to give responsibility and to give it absolutely, perhaps in the provinces, or perhaps in only part of the provinces, but, that until these autonomous units are created, until the working of that responsibility in the provinces has been found to be a success, the House is not prepared to abrogate any authority at the. centre of administration whatever. I believe that, if these proposals eventually take the form of an Act and become operative, because they are founded upon a wrong principle, because they are the result of an attempt to reconcile things which are irreconcilable, because they do not regard the fundamental principle that responsibility and safeguards are incompatible in themselves, they will merely water the seeds of strife, conflict and which have been the principal features of Indian history since the War. I believe they will produce precisely the same results of obstruction, of unhappiness and of distress which diarchy produced, and I believe they will bring trouble to the Indian people and embarrassment to the administration, but I hope I am wrong.
§ 7.55 p.m.
§ Mr. BERNAYS
It is very pleasant to rise from these benches in wholehearted support of the Government, all the more because the opportunities for doing so are becoming increasingly rare. I should like to try to put up some answer to the very formidable attack made on the White Paper by the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Member for New-castle-under-Lyme (Colonel Wedgwood), all the more formidable when one remembers the quarter from which it came. Ft had a great many cheers from a. wing of the party with which the right hon. and gallant Gentleman is not usually associated, but I was in- 927 terested to see that, while he has had the courage to put down an Amendment, for which presumably he is going to vote, those who cheered him are going to vote for the Government. He suggests in the Amendment that the people of India should indicate that they want these proposals to be enacted by this House. How are the people of India to indicate their views on this question other than the ways in which they have indicated them, by their Press—the whole of the Indian Press is Nationalist—by the representatives of Indian opinion who have come here at successive Round Table Conferences and through the meetings of Congress, which, after all, is the only popular party in India. When I paid, it is true, only a globe trotter's visit to India, I tried to find out how far there was an opinion there in favour of the present system of Government. Honestly, I could not find any support anywhere. There were differences in the degree with which the Indian people disliked the present system, but they all united in disliking it and wanting it to end.
I think that the right hon. Gentleman was rather unfair in the sneers that he uttered at the expense of the Indian politicians. After all, they have made great sacrifices of time and, in the case of men with great practice at the Bar and great businesses in India, great sacrifices of money in order to come here and help in the work of the Constitution. It would have been very easy for them to throw in their lot with Congress. That would certainly have been the popular thing to do, and we owe them a debt that they have stood by us when they had so many inducements to desert us. When the right hon. Gentleman says, "What have these Indian politicians done for social reform?", what exactly have we done for social reform? It is easy to sneer, but, after all, they have only been in even a limited degree of power for 10 years, and we have been there for 150. Though I fully agree that we have done a great deal, I think that anybody who goes there will agree that we could have done a great deal more. In any case, we are the last people who ought to sneer at the Indian politicians for the condition in which India is at the present moment. I agree entirely with what the right hon. Gentleman said 928 about the importance of safeguards for the Indian people, and it is very refreshing to hear the emphasis laid primarily on safeguards in the interests of the Indians, and not—as so often in this Debate—on safeguards in the interests of the commercial classes of this country. I entirely agree with the point that he made that we ought to have some guarantee that, if the Princes come into the Federation, they shall establish some type of constitution. Anyone who goes to India and visits some of these more backward native States must be horrified at the condition of their autocracy. I remember, in a remote Indian State, coming across a fort in the middle of the desert; I was told—and I have no reason to doubt it—that the Indian Prince would put in that fort, without any sort of trial, any man who happened to be inconvenient to him.
I also agree with the right hon. Gentleman on the necessity for an extension of the franchise. The opponents of the White Paper who cheered the right hon. Gentleman did not cheer that suggestion. There is no support among them for an extension of the franchise; in fact, they are always arguing that we are giving up India, delivering it over to the illiterate millions. I fully agree with the right hon. Gentleman; it is these illiterate millions who, if brought on to the electoral roll, might be a guarantee against oppression. In fact, there is one point in this White Paper which fills me with misgiving, and that is the narrowness of the women's franchise. These proposals, taken at their face value, only give one-seventh of the votes to women. There is also a requirement that women who are entitled to be on the register in respect of their husbands' property have to make an application to be put on the electoral roll. That means, I suggest, a considerable disfranchisement of the women of India. After all, if women even in this country had personally to apply to have their names on the Electoral Register, there would be a great many who would not take the trouble to do so. That is even truer of India where the inferiority of women is deeply engrained in the Asiatic mentality. When the first election comes, we may well find that only something like one-twentieth of the voters are women. That, I suggest, is most unfortunate. It is in the direction of the improved status of women 929 that India, for all the tremendous changes that are going on, has gone the shortest distance and is making the slowest progress. Over vast tracks of India woman is still regarded as a chattel. In millions of homes in India to-day she will not sit down to meat at all until she has served her lord and master. Even among the educated classes a woman frequently appears to Western eyes as more of a servant than a partner. I suggest that here, in this Constitution, is an opportunity of erecting a ladder up the rungs of which the women of India can climb to the heights of self-respect.
Moreover, what we call here the social services practically do not exist in India. The conditions of factory labour, as described in the Whitley Report, beggar imagination. They recall the most horrible period of our own industrial revolution. Everyone who has the most cursory acquaintance with India would agree that housing conditions are appalling. I have seen underground hovels in the bazaar in Bombay—[Laughter]. I do not see why it should he most frightfully funny.
§ Mr. BERNAYS
—Underground hovels, without floorboards, without window, without fireplace, without the elementary cooking utensils. Here men come to birth and grow to manhood.
§ Sir C. OMAN
If I might interrupt the hon. Member, who are the landlords and millowners who are responsible for the conditions of these people?
§ Mr. BERNAYS
If the hon. Member would allow me to develop my argument, my whole point is that I want to bring in the illiterate millions to curb the power of the landlords, to insist on better conditions. I do not say that it is the fault of the Government. The British Government might have done more to stimulate those services, but it is in great measure the fault of the landlord and the millowner. What I want is that the electorate should control them. Up to now there has been no driving force towards social reform. The British in India have been too busy in the necessary 930 tasks of policemen, and the Indians have been too busy agitating, to be social reformers. I hope that with the grant of this Constitution all that will end. I suggest that, in this attack on social conditions, we should give the women the fullest opportunity of playing their parts. We here know how the extension of the franchise to women has stimulated the social conscience.
I should like to direct another question to the Government on this White Paper. Would it be possible to arrange some kind of time limit for the deliberations of the Joint Committee? I suggest that it is most important that the committee should not interpret its mandate as an invitation to an eighteen-months' exploration of the Indian problem. We have had two commissions of inquiry to India, and three Round Table Conferences. Surely the time for inquiry is over and the time for action has arrived? I wish that it were possible for this committee to conclude its deliberations by, say, August, if only for the sake of these Indian visitors. After all, the Indian politicians—these distinguished gentlemen—have visited this country four times in the last three years, and we ought, if only out of consideration to them, to speed up the deliberations of this committee.
The delays which must take place before this Constitution is established are very formidable. There is the condition of the establishment of a Reserve Bank. I should like to interpolate a question to the Government here—whether a committee has yet been set up to inquire into the conditions of that Reserve Bank? I believe that the announcement that the Government were already getting such a committee to work on the establishment of a Reserve Bank would be regarded in India as a very important guarantee of their effectiveness. There is the further delaying clause that, even when the Bill is passed, it will not become law except by special Resolution of both Houses of Parliament. The unchanging East is changing so fast that there is a real danger that the India for which we are legislating in this Constitution may be quite different from the India that will have to work it. It is all the more important that there should be no shillyshallying or dilatoriness in the deliberations of this Joint Committee.
931 These, however, are minor points compared with the importance of getting the Constitution started. No doubt the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Epping (Mr. Churchill) will exhaust to-morrow every wile to bring this Constitution to ridicule and contempt. One can only repeat the question which is becoming the dominant motive of every speech in this House: What is the right hon. Gentleman's alternative? That question has been asked so often that I cannot think that the right hon. Gentleman can shirk an answer. But it will certainly be the only time that he will have stated where he intends to go since he first started riding the tiger! If he says, like my Noble Friend the Member for Hitchin (Viscount Knebworth), that he stands by the Simon Commission, then he must answer some of the very formidable criticisms that have been brought against the Simon Commission. Our answer is, from that point of view, that the Simon Commission is unworkable. There is also the very cogent argument used last night by my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster (Mr. Molson), who pointed out that under the Simon Commission the Government in the Assembly would be deprived of the support of its 25 official members. If that support goes, there is complete deadlock, because the Government have relied on almost every important division upon the support of those 25 official members. We should see the irresistible force coming up against the immovable object. What is the answer to that? And who are to work the Constitution favoured by my Noble Friend? Who will be their friends? My Noble Friend and his supporters allege that nobody in India wants our scheme. Who wants theirs? At least, powerful representatives are coming over to this country next month to co-operate in working out the details of this Constitution, and not a voice has been raised in India in support of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Epping and his friends. Even the Moslems have revolted from them, and are clamouring for a greater measure of self-government than is provided in the White Paper.
There will be nothing but the Army left, and what will be the position of the Army in such circumstances? They could not remain. I was discussing the 932 situation with a distinguished general in Simla, who by temperament would naturally be attracted to my right hon. Friend the Member for Epping. I asked him whether he was in favour of that scheme being carried out in India, and he said that if it were carried out the Army could not be responsible for the defence of India with our present troops. That was an opinion which should carry some weight. It might be necessary to send out powerful reserves. Are the opponents of this White Paper prepared to face up to that? Are they prepared to face up to the necessity of telling the electorate that the reserves are necessary? We are accused of breaking up the Empire. I cannot imagine any policy that would break up the Empire more quickly than the policy of the right hon. Member for Epping and his friends, and I resent the suggestion, frequently made by him and his followers, that they are more jealous of the interests of the Empire than we are. They have no right to discuss Indian policy as if the lovers of Empire were exclusively on their side.
We on these benches have a peculiar right to talk about the Empire. Was it not a Liberal Government that gave self-government to South Africa? [Laughter.] Well, we did not laugh when the War came, and, instead of a stab in the back, we had the most generous gifts of manhood and resources. It is not in the existence of the Empire that we quarrel but as to its future. We think that we have come to the end of one great chapter in British politics. I agree that it is a chapter upon which we can look back with considerable pride and satisfaction. We believe that the end of one chapter is only the opening of another. The time of tutelage in India is over. The opportunity of leading India into association with the self-governing Dominions of the Empire has arrived, an Imperial adventure, difficult and dangerous if you like, but I believe in the highest sense of the word as right as any adventure that this Empire has undertaken.
§ 8.16 p.m.
§ Mr. EMMOTT
I hope that I shall have the House with me when I say that it is indebted to the hon. Member for North Bristol (Mr. Bernays) for the speech that he has just addressed to it. It was clear, pungent, and throughout inspired and in- 933 formed by strong feeling. I could not but think, however, that in certain parts of it the hon. Member failed entirely to appreciate the point of view of some hon. Members whose attitude he criticised. It has been brought against us more than once in the course of this Debate that our attitude is merely negative, and that the position of the right hon. Member for Epping (Mr. Churchill) is unintelligible because he has no practicable alternative to set against the proposals of the Government. The right hon. Member for Epping can answer for himself, but those of us who hold certain opinions upon this topic can and ought to make plain exactly where we stand.
At this point it pray be convenient if, leaving to a later stage of my remarks any criticism of the speech of the hon. Member for North Bristol, I proceed at once to put before the House a few observations upon the speech of the Foreign Secretary. I am a little sorry that he is not in his place at this moment. I quite appreciate the reason for his absence, and I do not for a moment complain of it, but the speech which he addressed to the House was so interesting, so fascinating, and raised so many extremely important points that I have no need to apologise for referring briefly to it. I shall only claim a comparatively few minutes of the time of the House. The right hon. Gentleman put before us in a very fair way the position in which he finds himself. He made it plain that in the report of the Commission over which he presided with so much dignity and distinction a certain argument was used and a certain position was arrived at, but he made it clear that since the report had been issued a great change had come over the situation. I was, however, left with considerable doubt at the conclusion of his speech whether the right hon. Gentleman had really dealt with an essential difficulty in his argument. The hon. Member for Hitchin (Viscount Knebworth) has already touched upon this point, but in view of its importance I need not apologise for mentioning it again. It is necessary to put before the House certain passages in the right hon. Gentleman's own report upon the question of the nature of the central Government to be established in India,. In paragraph 165 of the report there appears the following: 934First, we lay down without hesitation the proposition that dyarchy at the Centre, or any system of divided responsibility resembling dyarchy, is quite impossible. Unity in the central executive must be preserved at all costs.I am going to add to that passage one or two others, but I pause to point out that there is in that passage no qualification of the position that the unity of the central executive must be preserved at all costs. In other paragraphs the report alludes to the same topic. In paragraph 177 the Commission say:While there can be no going back from the present degree of responsibility at the Centre, we are equally clear that it would be impracticable and undesirable to introduce the principles of dyarchy into the Central Executive. We consider that responsibility for the subjects which must necessarily be the province of a Central Government cannot be departmentalised.Again, there is no qualification of the position that the Commission take up. A little later in paragraph 177, the Commission say:We do not think that the evolution of the constitution at the Centre will necessarily follow this path,"—that is, the path of dyarchy. In paragraph 29 of the report this passage is found:We do not think that the British Parliamentary system, with an Executive representing a single party and depending from day to day on the vote of a majority of directly elected representatives, is likely to be the model according to which responsible government at the Centre for India will be evolved.The point that I am very much concerned to make is that in none of these passages is there any qualification of the position there maintained. It is not as if there were a single word to indicate that in the opinion of the Commission, if federation were established then a system of dyarchy at the centre might also be established. One could understand very well the position which a right hon. or an hon. Gentleman might take up to-day if the report had contained passages to another effect; if there had been some suggestion that the conditions precedent to the establishment of federation being satisfied, and federation then being contemplated as likely to come into existence, the system of dyarchy might be established at the centre. But there is no such suggestion, as far as I can remember, in the whole of the report. I may be wrong, and I stand to be corrected 935 on this point, but I think I am right in saying that in the whole of the second volume of the report there is no suggestion that it was in the minds of the Commission that, if the Princes expressed their willingness to come into federation, and if all the conditions precedent to the establishment of federation were satisfied, and federation were contemplated not merely as a possibility of the remote future but as a possibility of the near future—that in those conditions a system of dyarchy might be contemplated in the central Government.
The right hon. Gentleman faces the position with the utmost fairness, as indeed this House would expect him to do. He does not attempt to extricate himself from the difficulty in which he finds himself by any burking of the issue. He tells the House fully and fairly that a complete change has come over the political situation. That change, of course, is the declaration made on behalf of the Princes, or some of the Princes, at the first session of the Round Table Conference. That declaration amounted to this: that the Princes would be willing to come into a federation, but only upon the condition that the central Government was changed, only upon the condition that the central Government ceased to be what it is now, and became a Government containing at least an element of responsibility. I speak from memory, and am not certain of the exact phrase which was used, but I think it is the essence of their position that the Princes expressed themselves as being willing to come into federation if the central Government contained an element of responsibility. The right 'hon. Member now says: "Here is this position. Are we to accept federation upon this condition? Are we, in other words, to abandon the position we then took up, and to establish federation upon this condition; or are we to abandon the prospect of federation in order to avoid introducing a system of dyarchy into the central Government?" It is certainly a question of enormous difficulty, and I am most anxious to avoid any language which may savour of dogmatism. I deliberately use the language of suggestion, and say, may it not be that the method of approach that is contemplated by the Government in 936 the proposals of the White Paper is not really the right method of approach to the question of the establishment at the centre of a government which is suited to the conditions of India? If the arguments of the Commission are sound, and they seem to me to be completely sound, if the argument of the Commission that dyarchy is a system which must not be introduced into the central Government is sound, then must we not contemplate the possibility of a completely different system of government being established at the centre? It is not for me on this occasion to go into details in regard to the nature of any such central Government, but it may well be that the form of government which will prove to be best suited to the conditions of India and the form of government which will be established at the centre, is not the form of government of the nature envisaged by the proposals in the White Paper.
There is much evidence, and most weighty evidence, in support of the view that the form of government which is really suited to the culture, the traditions and the history of the Indian peoples is a form of government which consists in its essentials of an irremovable executive. I do not suggest that any particular executive should be irremovable over a long period of time, but I suggest that an executive which is not responsible to a popularly elected assembly and which is not removable over a certain period of years, may, in its essentials, whatever the particular form that government might take, prove to be the form best suited to the central Government of India.
May I refer to another part of the right hon. Gentleman's argument? He was concerned, as was the Secretary of State for India yesterday, with the all-important question of the transfer of what is known as Law and Order in the provinces to Ministers responsible to a popularly-elected Legislature. I use the phrase "Law and Order," although "courts and police" would perhaps he more accurate. It is not altogether fair to suggest that the position which some hon. Members take up is one which is lacking in clarity or distinctness. All we ask is that fair consideration should be given by the Select Committee to the proposals contained in the report of the right hon. 937 Gentleman himself. The point has already been referred to, but only briefly, by an hon. Member who spoke last night, and it may be worth while if I remind the House of a passage in one of the paragraphs of the report that is relevant in this connection. The right hon. Gentleman points out in that passage how vitally important the department of police is in regard to all relations of Indian life. It is far more than a mere department of police; it is something upon the proper operation of which the whole security of Indian life depends.
The Secretary of State yesterday was concerned to meet certain criticisms which, according to his statement, had been brought or might be brought against the position taken up by the Government on this matter. He dealt very fairly with two propositions, the first of which was, that the Services would blankly refuse to obey orders, and the second, that the Governor would not really be capable of carrying his powers into effect when his Government threatened to resign, and you might be left without a Government at all. I think that the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for India has not entirely appreciated the position of criticism which is assumed by some hon. Members of this House. That is not precisely the criticism which we urge against the proposals of the Government. It will be observed that the two propositions which the Secretary of State was concerned to meet and to rebut were concerned with the legislative position and a situation of crisis. I think that I may fairly put it in that way. What would happen in certain conditions? Would the Services blankly refuse to obey orders, and would the Governor be unable to carry his powers into effect when his Government threatened to resign? Both those positions are concerned with a situation which might accurately be described as a situation of crisis. The House will agree that in order to deal with a crisis or an emergency the system which the Government propose to establish is fully adequate.
But what we are really concerned with is not a position of crisis; and not legislation. We are concerned with a matter which is at least equally as important as the legislative power of the Governor and the possibility of crisis or emergency. 938 We are concerned with the administration which continues day by day, week by week, and month by month. The real danger, surely, under the plan of the transfer of law and order in the manner proposed by the Government, is one which, is concerned with administration The Minister in charge of law and order, to, put it at its lowest may possibly belong to one of the great religious communities of India. He may be a member of the Congress. In the eventuality of serious trouble arising, must we not imagine a situation in which there may be placed upon that man a burden which it is absolutely impossible for him to bear? Of course, as a Minister, he would not be immediately concerned with some action taken at a particular moment in certain circumstances; but the point surely is that every police officer must be satisfied that, whatever action he undertakes in the due performance of his duty, he will be upheld by his superior officer or officers. He must be certain of support at the top. At the same time the people of India, the security of whose life depends upon loyal police administration, must be satisfied that the duties of the police will be carried out with absolute fairness. Is there not very grave risk that in certain circumstances, where communal strife has risen to a high point, and where religious passions are deeply stirred and are exacerbated, it may be, by some hideous act of violence—is there not a real danger that a police officer may be afraid to take action because he fears that if he does so he will be taking action against members of his own community, and that it will not be upheld by those above him? When I speak of those above him I have in mind the whole scale of officers ascending to the highest point, to the Minister.
It cannot be said that these matters of administration do not really concern the Minister. They must concern him eventually. The ultimate responsibility being upon the Minister, surely it is obvious that any action taken by any police officer, of whatever rank in the Service, may come under the review of the Minister. It is therefore essential, in our submission, that there should be selected as the Minister to whom the control of law and order is to be entrusted a man upon whom the Governor can absolutely rely for the just and fair performance of 939 his duties. I am far from suggesting that such men are not to be found in the Provinces of India. Our position is not that such men are not be found, but that if a Governor has to find such a man in the ranks of the elected members of Provincial legislatures he may find himself in a very great difficulty. Our position is that we wish to ensure that the Governor should have the power to select a man who does not belong to the category of elected members. It may be that the Governor will find in the legislature the very man, whoever he may be, who is well suited to the performance of this work. But it may not be so.
Therefore, we strongly support the suggestion of the Statutory Commission that the Constitutional Statute should be in such a form as to make it possible for a Government to include an element drawn from official or other non-elected sources. The Commission in another paragraph in the report have already referred to the matter and have alluded to the possibility that the Governor, when he forms his Cabinet after a general election, will include in it one or more non-elected persons. That is our position. At least I can speak on this matter for myself. Certainly I do not dissent from the position assumed by the Statutory Commission. I am willing to rest upon the position assumed by the right hon. Gentleman and his colleagues. So much for this point.
I should like to add a general word upon the topic about which I first addressed the House. I do not understand why the proposals contained in the White Paper in regard to the transfer of powers of government to Ministers responsible to popularly-elected legislatures should not be carried out; but why not leave the situation there? It seems to be generally assumed that if that change were carried into operation it would not be sufficient, that a far greater change ought to be made, and that nothing will satisfy the desires of Indian politicians but a change also in the central Government. Surely the change envisaged by Government in these proposals is a very great one indeed. The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs this afternoon referred to the extent of that change and mentioned the transfer of the subject of Land Revenue to responsible Ministers as constituting in itself a very important 940 change. I cannot help feeling, although I only throw this out as a suggestion, that there has been evinced in certain parts of this Debate a failure to appreciate that the changes which it is sought to introduce in the provincial governments are, themselves, changes of real importance.
It may well be that in the future the central government may have a diminishing importance in India. It may appear in the course of time that the important organs of government in India are the provincial governments and not the central government. If we look ultimately towards federation, may it not he found that federation will be brought about not by the method envisaged in the White Paper but in quite another way? I am not sure that I did not catch a hint to this effect in the speech of the Secretary of State for India yesterday. I speak from memory, but the right hon. Gentleman referred, I think, to the possibility of regional arrangements, affecting, I presume, certain provinces and their neighbouring states. May it not be that if federation is to come into existence, it will come into existence through a process of regional arrangements? May not certain provinces and certain neighbouring States make arrangements among themselves to form political units; and may not those units themselves in time come together to form a federation? Federation may well come about in that way. We are very much concerned that there shall be real constitutional development in India, but we are very much concerned that that constitutional development shall take a safe and right course. What we are fearful of at this moment is that if the system of dyarchy is established in the Central Government, the possibility of sound and strong federation may be postponed to an almost infinitely remote future.
§ 8.48 p.m.
§ Miss RATHBONE
I do not think that any fair-minded person can envy the position of the Government or fail to admire the extraordinary ability and lucidity of the two chief exponents of their policy, the Secretary of State for Indian and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The Government are in a difficult position because they are being shot at from the right, the left and 941 the centre, and much of the criticism is more effective on the destructive than on the constructive side. Of all the speeches to which I have listened either to-day or yesterday, that which made most impression on my mind, among the critical speeches, was the speech of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Colonel Wedgwood). That the House too was impressed by it, was very manifest. As I listened to that speech, it seemed to me that it was just as though someone was lifting a great stone and showing underneath all the creeping life that had been hidden by it. In addressing the House on this occasion, I want, if I can, to raise another stone which covers another aspect of the Indian problem equally neglected with that to which the right hon. and gallant Gentleman referred.
I have a few words to say about the general question, but what I desire specially to speak about is the position of women under the new Constitution. My qualification for doing so is that for the last four years I have lived almost night and day with this question. There has been hardly a day, and certainly not a week, which I have not spent partly in pondering it. I wonder whether those who speak, as we so often hear people speaking, of minorities in connection with the Indian question, ever remember India's largest minority, its women. Yet women in India are not only a minority numerically—they are about 9,000,000 fewer than the men for reasons which are not irrelevant to my subject—but they are also a minority distinguished by the feature which alone justifies the safeguarding of a minority, namely, the possession of special needs and interests which are likely to be neglected unless special provision is made for them. That this is so of Indian women the Government do not deny. They attempt in the White Paper to make special provision for women, in special franchise qualifications and reserved seats on the legislatures. My point is that that provision is entirely inadequate.
But before I enlarge on that, may I remind the House of the special nature of its responsibility in this matter? Many speakers have referred to Great Britain's trusteeship for the millions of humble people in India who live out their lives 942 while politicians wrangle and fight for place and power. Does that responsibility not extend to the women? When Dr. Ambedkar was speaking of the untouchables at the Round Table Conference he said—I am quoting from memory: "You have been in India for a century and a half. You found us a depressed class. You leave us a depressed class. What have you done for us?" That question might be asked also about the women of India. In what condition did we find the women of India? In what condition are we leaving them? I can only touch briefly on a few of the indisputable facts. These facts do not relate to the educated and emancipated women, nor to all the rest, because conditions vary infinitely according to community, caste and province. I only touch on conditions widely extended which do affect, not thousands but millions of women in India.
First, there is the illiteracy of the great majority of the women. This is often advanced as a reason against their enfranchisement. But the majority of the proposed male voters are also illiterate and yet nearly every important commission and committee which has dealt with this question, has declared that, for the sake of their own self-protection, it is necessary to give a substantial measure of enfranchisement to the peasants, the untouchables and the women. Why are the women illiterate? The Hartog Committee of the Simon Commission gives the answer. It is because the provincial Governments grudge spending money on the education of girls and the fathers are generally indifferent to it. Yet that very educational authority has testified to the way in which the national progress of India is being held back by the illiteracy of the women. How are you to overcome these obstacles if women are deprived of political influence?
Secondly, there is the purdah seclusion of women. Many people who have never studied the subject find something rather mysterious and attractive about the idea of the zenana and the veil. Do they realise that strict purdah as practised among the lower middle classes—and it is among those that many people think the practice is extending rather than decreasing—often means that girls from the age of 12 onwards are shut up in two or three dark rooms into which 943 no ray of sunshine ever penetrates, which they practically never leave for years except to go into a dirty little walled court, with the result that there is a frightful death-rate from tuberculosis and other horrible diseases which are the direct result of the lack of sunlight. According to the most recent reports, the tuberculosis rate in India, a land of fierce sunshine, is rapidly spreading, especially among girls of from 10 to 20 years old, and for one boy who dies from tuberculosis, five girls die.
Thirdly, marriage customs and laws. Who can defend the abominable injustice which permits a mere child to be married to a man whom she has never seen and binds her to him indissolubly for life, while he is free to cast her aside merely because she is barren or because he prefers someone else. Then there is child marriage. Read that most terrible but very courageous document, the Joshi Report on Age of Consent and Marriage. I have not time for even the briefest account of its findings, but that weighty committee of Indian judges, lawyers, and doctors appointed by the Government, after a year's exhaustive examination of the subject, were evidently so overwhelmed with the horror of the evidence brought before them that they could hardly find words strong enough to express it, and they summed up their findings in a passage which deliberately compares child marriage leading to premature maternity, in its intense suffering and devastating effects on the vitality of the race, to the bygone practice of suttee or the burning of widows alive on their husbands' funeral pyres and pronounce that early maternity is the greater evil. They report that the custom is decreasing hardly at all, and that even to-day almost 50 per cent. of the girls of India are married before they are 15, and large numbers before they are five.
Lastly, maternal mortality. In this country we consider a death-rate of nearly four maternal deaths per thousand births as something shocking, and a recent report pronounced that more than half of those deaths are avoidable. In India by a very cautious and conservative estimate—most people with whom I have discussed this subject think it far too conservative, but I like to err on the safe side—there cannot be fewer than 126,000 deaths of mothers every year, or 14 every 944 hour. And such deaths, many of them of young girls in their very early teens, prolonged, agonising, deaths without any kind of anaesthetic or medical attendance of any kind, except that of a dirty, untrained, ignorant village midwife, for in all British India, with nearly 130,000,000 women and girls, and with 8,000,000 births every year, there are, according to a recent report, only about 400 full qualified medical women, although the great majority of the women are forbidden by their social customs to accept attendance from anybody but a woman. As for trained nursing, it is in its infancy, and except in the towns the number of nurses is negligible; and the same is true of trained midwives. No wonder that the Health Commissioner for India, in his latest report, begins this part of his subject as follows:The problems attending maternity work, and in particular maternal mortality, show a depressing tendency to remain completely unsolved—one is tempted to add insoluble.Again:Advance in this branch of health work is extremely slow, and it is only by looking back a considerable number of years that we can appreciate progress at all.How can progress be quickened? How can we stop this river of dreadful death? The Health Commissioner himself, in one of his unusual incursions into politics, gives the answer:Entry of women into public life. With the new Constitution many women will be enfranchised. Naturally their interests will focus on problems which specially concern them…This will be reflected in legislation concerning women and children.Every recent committee and commission has hinted at the same connection between cause and effect and suggested the same remedy. Let the women take a hand, they say, and bring about the social reforms which are so necessary for them.
Now let us turn to the White Paper, and see how the Government deal with the recommendations of their own responsible committees and commissions on this subject. The Simon Commission's Report, which the right-wing section of opinion has to-day elevated into a sort of Ark of the Covenant, deals at considerable length with this question, and after discussing all the difficulties, such as purdah, illiteracy, and all the rest, suggests that the present almost negligible women's franchise in India 945 might be augmented by enfranchising the wives of men voters, but at a higher age than men. On their own estimate this would have produced an electorate of something like one woman to two men, probably more. I will not trouble the House with quotations, but those hon. Members who are interested may turn to Volume II, page 93, of the Simon Report. The Government were apparently so impressed by that recommendation that in their own instructions to the Lothian Franchise Committee they state:His Majesty's Government attach special importance to the question of securing a more adequate enfranchisement of women than the existing system which…has produced a women's electorate numbering less than one-twentieth of the total male electorate.In obedience to that instruction, the Committee produced proposals which would have given women a voting ratio of about one woman to four and a-half men; that is, considerably less than under the Simon proposals. But in compensation they proposed reserving a certain number of seats for women in both the Federal Assembly and the Provincial Legislatures.
The White Paper accepts that proposal as to reserved seats, but as regards franchise it has thrown the great majority of women voters overboard. By the admission of the White Paper itself, the voting strength which it proposes to bestow on them for the Central Assembly is that "less than one-twentieth of the electorate" which the Government themselves, in their own instruction to the Lothian Committee, pronounced inadequate; and for the Provinces it proposes a voting ratio nominally of one woman to seven men, but by the device of requiring the wife voters who form the great majority to apply for their votes, it provides a check which I think most people who know anything about social conditions in India will agree is likely to cut down their voting strength to very little if any better than the original, "less than one-twentieth of the electorate."
I cannot help thinking that those who advised the Government to adopt that expedient for cutting down the numbers of women voters without seeming to do so must have winked at each other as they did it. Even in this country, if that condition were applied, supposing party 946 organisations were as rudimentary as in India and every voter was obliged to apply for his or her vote, not at the time of the election, but perhaps a year or several months before, how many would take the trouble to do so? It seems both harsh and illogical to apply that condition to women and not to men. First, one woman to two men; then, one woman to 4½ men; now, one woman to 20 men for the Assembly and in effect little if any better for the Provinces. Admirers of Jane Austen may remember a delightful passage at the beginning of "Sense and Sensibility," when John Dashwood cogitates how he can best fulfil the promise which he gave to his father on his death-bed to provide for his mother and sisters. Beginning with a proposal to give them £1,000 apiece, he arrives by several stages at the conclusion that an occasional basket of garden stuff is all that can reasonably be expected of him. It seems to me that the mind of the Government has followed very much the same course in dealing with Indian women.
I shall be told that that is unfair, and that there are reserved seats for women and that the actual number of women voters will be greatly increased. That is something, but let us be realists. The new administration in India will begin its work under great difficulties; it will be poor, very poor. It will be beset with claimants. Every candidate, every Government Department, will be expected to fulfil all the expectations that have been raised as to the millenium which is to come about when India has self-government. To whom will they listen? Will they listen to the claims of those who have nineteen-twentieths of the voting strength behind them or to the claims of those with one-twentieth? To whom do politicians usually listen? To their constituents, or to those who have nothing but the justice of their case and the greatness of their need to back them? I entreat the Government to think again on this subject. We are told that there are administrative difficulties. When the Lothian Committee travelled in India, did they not weigh those difficulties? If they are considered serious, I would beg the right hon. Gentleman to consider if he cannot give women something in exchange for what he is taking away. May I make a definite suggestion? Why should not he revert to the Simon Com- 947 mission proposal and enfranchise at a specified age the wives of all propertied male voters and not merely those holding exceptionally high property qualifications? In that way we should have a much larger women electorate on paper than is proposed by the Lothian Committee, but when the requirement for making application for their votes is taken into account, probably the resultant numbers would not be very much greater.
I ask the Government to consider what effect this whittling down of the hopes that have been held out is likely to have on the ardent excitable women of India. Many of them are halting between the path of co-operation and the path of revolutionary agitation. Into which of these paths are the Government pushing them? There is another consideration which should weigh even more with the Government. The figures which I gave just now concerning social conditions had to be so shortly given that they may not have conveyed much impression to the House, but they represent an enormous amount of death and suffering and disease. If it be true, as most responsible observers believe, that there is no way of changing those terrible conditions except through the political influence of women, may it not be the case that on this part of the White Paper, which seems to most hon. Members to be so relatively unimportant, may hang issues of life and death for literally hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of women in the years to come? We have not been able to do much for Indian women during the century and a-half of our rule. We have done something, but not much. Whenever measures were proposed to help the women, the argument—was it sometimes the excuse—has always been that we as alien rulers dare not interfere lightly with social customs based on religious traditions which we did not share.
A distinguished civil servant once told me that when he first went to India as a young man the one maxim which was repeatedly impressed on him was, "Keep your hands off religion and the women." Is not the truth of it that this maxim has been so faithfully obeyed by the administrators that they have kept not merely their hands but their minds off the women? The very thought of the 948 women, if it ever intruded, has been hastily dropped into that dark little oubliette which all of us keep in our minds for that most detested of intruders—a persistently neglected responsibility. Now that we are going to hand over practically unfettered control—for the famous safeguards do not affect such lesser matters as education, health and marriage laws—to whom are we going to hand over? To Indians, but to which Indians are we going to hand them over? To the men who have inflicted these terrible social customs, or also to the women who have suffered under them? It cannot be maintained that Indian opinion offers any real obstacle to the granting of a substantial measure of enfranchisement to women. Indian opinion on this subject has been always, if anything, somewhat in advance of British opinion. Most of the Indian members of the committees that have sat have been willing to go further than the British members.
The new Constitution is now being settled for many years unless it is broken down by revolution. Vested interests will grow up. The opportunity of doing something in this matter is now, and for us British men and women will probably never recur. Shall we not at least put into the hands of the women the constitutional means of securing for themselves those social reforms which affect them so vitally, not only in their own lives, health and happiness, but, through their children, the future welfare of the race? As what I have said shows, it was with no light heart and no great confidence that I approached these proposals. But what is the alternative? If even these moderate proposals which are contained in the White Paper are withheld from India, who can doubt that there will be an enormous surge into the ranks of Congress and into the most revolutionary part of Congress? What is our best safeguard against that? I would join my voice with those who have pleaded with the Government to bring about, if they can, a better atmosphere of good-will in India by releasing those leaders of Congress who are now under detention and who are looked up to by great sections of the Indian people as their spiritual leaders.
I believe that many of those who speak so strongly about the trusteeship of this 949 country for the people of India must have had some qualms when they listened to the speech of the right hon. and gallant Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme. He foreshadowed all that might happen to the peasants who are the special care of many of the Members who have spoken against these White Paper proposals. He spoke of what might happen to them under the Brahminical oligarchy which we are setting up. What kind of check can we apply? I suggest that the best check would be to let those take a hand in the future negotiations who are likely to stand up for the peasants, for the depressed classes, and for the women. Whatever we may think of Mr. Gandhi as a politician—and I have no great admiration for him as that—I have a great admiration for him as a social reformer. I believe that if we could secure the co-operation of his section of Congress, we might indeed by an act of magnanimity be taking risks, but we might be averting the greatest risk of the Constitution breaking down because of the determined hostility of those men whom we cannot keep in prison for ever, and who have it in their power either to help to make the Constitution work or to obstruct it and gradually to lead the people of India into the path of revolution.
§ 9.14 p.m.
§ Mr. ATKINSON
When the Constitution for India first came to the front, I, and many more like me, who knew very little about India, thought that it was a matter which would be determined by the advice of experts, meaning by experts people who had spent their lives in Indian work as administrators or soldiers, and that they would be listened to. Gradually we have found that we have to make up our own minds. We have been told that we must ignore those people, because India has changed and their knowledge is out of date. I do not find it so easy to dismiss their opinions. They are always rather convincing people when you talk to them, and I cannot think that the changes in India are very material. To my mind, the success of this or any other scheme must depend very much upon the measure of the loyalty, the character and the reliability brought to its service, and I have not myself seen very much evidence of any great improvement in any of those 950 matters. But of this I am certain, that 90 per cent. of the people in India are still looking to us to protect them. They look to us to protect them from famine and crime and things of that sort, but mainly from the moneylender. The great bulk of the cultivators in India are in the toils of the moneylender or bunnia caste. Mr. Gandhi belongs to that caste.
§ Mr. ATKINSON
His caste is the bunnia or moneylending caste. The great bulk of these cultivators are in the toils of the moneylenders. There is only one thing which prevents the moneylenders foreclosing and becoming the owners of the great bulk of the land in India, and that is the Land Alienation Act, which, of course, is due to us, and which prevents the moneylender going to extremes. The cultivator asks himself, if we go, how long that Act will continue to exist. I would like to put that question myself, like to know whether it will be open to the Government of any province to repeal an Act which we have passed for the protection of the cultivators, because if there is a free hand to undo that legislation of ours it is perfectly certain that the cultivators' tenure will be of the slenderest, and that the land of India will gradually pass into the hands of the moneylender class.
I do not take extreme views against this White Paper. I know we have made promises, and I know that we have to do something, and something big. I do not say a word against provincial autonomy, and I think the more complete that is the better it will be, probably. I will not say a word against Federal Government, but what I do want to make quite clear is that this so-called federal suggestion is a complete misnomer. In a true federation we have a number of States standing together and each giving up a certain number of its sovereign powers, which are in future exercised by the Federal Government, but in this case the native States are giving up no sovereign powers. This so-called federation simply means that we are setting up an assembly in which the native Princes have a right 951 to speak by themselves or their representatives, but not that this Federal Government has a right to deal with any of the reserved matters inside those States, only inside British India. There is in this scheme a whole list of subjects reserved for the Federal Government, and one naturally thinks that relates not merely to British India but to the native States. No such thing.
The Federal Government is only to have power, in the native States, over such matters as the Princes choose to give up. Take copyright, which is one of the reserved matters, as an example. The Federal Government, which will be to a great extent controlled by the Princes, is to have a right to deal with the law of copyright in British India, but not in the native States. And so it is with many other subjects. That is not federation at all; it is quite inconsistent with federation. If there were real, true federation, so that there were joint interests in every matter reserved to the Federal Government, the scheme would appeal to me as strongly as the Foreign Secretary said it appealed to him; but to suggest that this scheme is anything like the scheme which he says that he dreamed is, of course, foolish, because the two things bear no resemblance. But I do not want to dwell longer upon that question.
The chief, indeed, the only point with which I rose to deal, is the question of the handing over of the control of law and order. Even there I do not want to suggest that that proposal ought to be ruled out, but I make the plea that the handing over of the control of law and order ought to wait until we know the kind of assembly and the kind of executive which this scheme is going to produce. I should not mind it being included in any Act which was passed if the putting into operation of that particular power were reserved until an Order in Council had been made, but it seems to me that to hand over control of law and order before there is some idea of what this scheme will produce is to run a wholly unnecessary risk. It has been made clear to-night that it is no answer to say, "The Simon report advocated the handing over of the control of law and order." It did so on two assumptions, first, that there was a, strong, undivided central Government, and, second, 952 that, in case competent and trustworthy Ministers should not be appointed, the Governor should have the power to nominate official Members of the Government who could control law and order.
Neither of the two conditions which the Simon Report stipulated finds a place in this White Paper. Therefore, we are free to consider afresh the question of handing over the control of law and order. It seems to me that the unbroken—and I emphasise the word "unbroken," because there must be a period of semi-chaos, one imagines, when this scheme is coming into operation—the unbroken maintenance of law and order transcends in importance every other feature in this White Paper. Legislative assemblies are, of course, very important, but I suggest that they never do all the harm we expect of them, and they certainly do not do all the good we hope of them. The administration of law and order on the contrary, is something of vital importance, because of the daily mistakes and the daily injustices that may be committed. It is a mistake to think that reverence for law and order is an instinct, or that the instinct for justice is ingrained in the human race. That is not so. As Dicey pointed opt, this is an attribute of the Anglo-Saxon race, and of the Anglo-Saxon race alone, and, indeed, it is our greatest gift to the world. I am not sure that it has not been our greatest gift to India. Let hon. Members look round and see whether they can find any evidence of it in other countries. Look at Russia. Turkey was referred to the other clay. There is no idea of justice in Turkey. Look at the treatment of the Armenians. Look at the treatment of the people there under the present Government. Read "The Grey Wolf" if you want to find out what is going on there. They have no idea whatever of justice. In Germany there is the treatment of the Jews, for example. You can look at almost every European country, and at some time or other you will find there has been a complete negation of any principle or idea of justice.
Therefore, to suppose that there is any actual instinct for justice in India is wholly without justification. It has been said that for a hundred rupees you can buy a complete murder case against an enemy—witnesses, lawyers and corpse, all complete. If anybody takes the trouble to read the appeal to the Privy Council 953 just before Christmas, in the case of a Medical Officer of Health and a Police Superintendent who had been convicted and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment, can get a very good idea of what the administration of justice may be. If it had not been that they had a right of appeal to the Privy Council—a right which, I see, is to be taken away in some cases in the White Paper—these men would have spent their lives in gaol. That throws an interesting light on what can be done by organised conspiracy and bribery in that country. I remember talking to a man who had been a district officer for many years, and I asked him for his views. He said, "You can only remain in India as long as the silent millions want you to remain. They will always want you so long as you secure them fair and impartial justice. The moment you fail in that they will cease to want you, and you will have to go." He said that that was the only thing which mattered.
The first qualm I have, after trying to make up my mind in this matter, is this: Have we any right to abandon this responsibility and to hand it over to an absolutely unknown quantity—because in ray humble opinion it will be nothing other than an unknown quantity? We abandoned the Loyalists in Ireland and we lost Ireland in consequence. I am certain that we ought not lightly to abandon this responsibility. What is the basis of the trouble about the administration of justice in India? It all arises out of the communal bias. The problem in India, as everybody knows, is rendered immeasurably more difficult by the domination of caste and religion, which has led from time to time to perfect orgies of murder. That is inevitable, and it is certain to go on, because unfortunately with Mohammedans on certain occasions there is a solemn duty to sacrifice cows. On the other hand, a cow is sacred to the Hindus, and whenever the Hindus see their sacred animal being led through the streets for slaughter it creates friction, and again and again this develops into conflict of the most bloody description, when thousands of people lose their lives. In Bombay in 1929 a thousand lives were lost, and in 1932 another thousand. We all remember the Cawnpore massacres of a few years ago. They read badly enough, but when one 954 heard the truth from people who 11 id been there it was still worse.
The question with which we are faced is this: Where is the minority in India that trusts to the majority? There is not one. I will just take an illustration of what I mean. Take the Punjab. There the Moslems will be in a slight majority over the Sikhs and Hindus. What did the representatives of these two sections say at the Round Table Conference? It was pointed out how susceptible the population was to religious emotions, in a country whose record of crime showed a complete disregard for the value of human life. The Sikh representative said they much preferred the present arrangement, and that this scheme was a practical impossibility, because if a Governor did his duty he could only discharge it properly by producing a state of continuous deadlock; in other words that the Government would always have to exercise its discretionary power. The Hindu representative urged again the necessity of protecting law and order, and he said that corruption and communal bias were terribly increasing and justice and fair play were becoming meaningless words. It was perfectly plain that both these representatives dreaded the administration of law and order being handed over to the Moslems. It seems on every side that the minority always mistrusts the majority. If you have a difficulty of that kind, why walk into this? At present law and order is administered impartially, but it is going to be handed over to a political administration which must inevitably always be controlled by one or the other, Mohammedan or Hindu. The minority in every case is completely mistrustful of the majority.
There are two things we ought to learn from our own administration of justice there in the last 20 or 30 years. There have been two very difficult movements to deal with—the civil disobedience movement and the terrorist movement. I want to point out, firstly, that the ordinary administration of law and order would have broken down—indeed it did break down again and again—if it had not had a sympathetic legislature and executive behind it. In other words the administration of the law there does require a thoroughly sympathetic legislature and executive behind it, giving it at any moment exceptional and most 955 drastic powers. The other thing is that the help of the Army is required when you declare martial law. A perfect liaison is necessary between two. At present they are under the same control and you get that liaison, but if you are going to sever the two you will not get that liaison and you will not get the Army and the police working in harmony together.
I had intended to say a little more about the police, but time is getting on. The civil disobedience movement is always buoyed up by extremists. There was some severe fighting at Sholapur in 1930 and that was only held in check by martial law, for the police were not able to do it. The terrorist movement, as everybody knows, the ordinary administration could not control. They made no headway with it until in 1915 they were given powers of the most special kind. Let me give one illustration of the kind of thing that does happen, is happening and will yet happen. It will be remembered that two ladies were killed by mistake for Mr. Kingsford, a magistrate, arrests were made and there was a trial. During the trial a witness who turned King's evidence was murdered in gaol, and a police inspector in charge of the case was shot dead in the street: the public prosecutor was murdered within the precincts of the court; and the deputy-superintendent of police in charge of the case was murdered immediately outside the court. That is what terrorism means, the making impossible of the administration of justice. Unless you have the Administration absolutely determined to back up the police force and to give them exceptional powers whenever they are wanted, you are not going to succeed in maintaining law and order.
Both those movements are just as rife to-day as ever. You do not suppose that this scheme is going to satisfy them. They act in sympathy. When the murderer Gopi Nath Saha was being executed, the Bengal Congress passed a resolution eulogising him. In 1930, when Gupta murdered Colonel Simpson, the Corporation of Calcutta passed a resolution of sympathy with the murderer. Thus encouraged, within 16 days, Mr. Garlick, president of the tribunal that convicted that man, was also murdered. That is the atmosphere, and it is a diffi- 956 cult one to deal with. In the same year they murdered two police officers. Again and again you have disturbances and murders of the most horrible description. In my humble opinion you need a very strong legislature and executive behind your police officers. I think that you can lay down these two propositions: A legislature and executive in sympathy with law and order is essential to the proper administration of justice; you must have an Army that you can trust and that is in complete liaison with your police.
As to the Army, very little has been said about the demand for the Indianisation of the Indian Army. I think that that is the most terrifying demand that has ever been put forward. There is an Army of 160,000 men, and if it is going to be Indianised I do not know whether, in those emergencies, you could rely upon them in the way that you can now. There are 187,000 police. Everybody knows that the police force takes its tone from those who are responsible for it. Here the tone will be settled by the Minister of Justice. The pressure brought to bear upon the police can be enormous during a civil-disobedience movement. The police, their wives, their families and their relatives were boycotted wherever they lived, throughout India. Supplies were denied to them and so were medical and health services. I am told that such tremendous pressure was brought to bear upon them that it was a surprise to their officers that they remained so completely loyal. Take a question like the boycott of British goods, backed up by picketing. Picketing is against the law. Whether picketing is stopped by the police will depend absolutely upon the organisation behind them, and upon what instruction the Minister gives. We know in this country what happened with the 20-miles speed limit. In some counties it was not enforced, and in others it was rigidly enforced. Police take their orders from above. Unless you know the sort of Legislature and the sort of executive you are going to get, to hand over the control of the police to Indian Ministers in 11 different provinces is asking for trouble.
Take the question of the possession of firearms, which is against the law. Whether that law is enforced will depend, in those different provinces, upon some unknown Minister. Have we any right 957 to suppose that in 11 different provinces we are going to have 11 different Governors who will all do their duty regardless of their inclination? I do not believe it. We have to run many risks in this scheme, whether we like that or not, but this is a risk which we need not run at the moment. My belief is that before we hand over law and order we should wait and see the kind of legislature that we are to get, and the kind of Ministers that are going to be produced. This will take place 11 times over in 11 provinces. It is folly to make a leap in the dark, and I do not think that we have a right to do it. It is so easy to avoid that risk. We, on our part, would know that we had not handed over this serious and terrible responsibility that rests upon us, to some unknown quantity, at a time when it had been so very easy to wait and see exactly the nature of the tribunal to which we were handing it.
§ 9.41 p.m.
§ Sir JOSEPH NALL
The House will be very grateful to the hon. and learned Member for Altrincham (Mr. Atkinson) for having so vividly brought to our notice the kind of abuse of authority which has already set in in India, under the reforms introduced in 1919. We may well have regard, in considering a fresh extension of those self-government proposals, to what may be the ultimate results of that kind of insidious growth of abuse in the legal and administrative spheres, if the proposals now before us for submission to the Joint Select Committee are put into operation in their present form. I would just refer in passing to three speeches which contained matters that I wish to mention. They were the speeches by the hon. Lady the Member for the English Universities (Miss Rathbone), the hon. Member for North Bristol (Mr. Bernays) and the hon. Member the Member for Hammersmith (Miss Pickford) yesterday. They referred to the enfranchisement of women. I will deal quite shortly with what the hon. Lady for the English Universities had to say, because she drew attention, with a little more detail, to matters which had been indicated by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Colonel Wedgwood) who said that in the last 10 years leading members of the Legislative 958 Assembly had had every opportunity of bringing forward amending legislation for the amelioration of conditions in India, but they have not only taken no steps to do so.
According to the records of the proceedings of the Assembly, and many reports and documents which are available for the information of the House, they have in fact exerted their influence against progress, and against any kind of amelioration of the conditions of those unfortunate women and children who, in certain parts of India now suffer a moral thraldom of which the world seldom hears. What a travesty of all our ideals of social reform and of human amelioration, that, just when at long last some small seed of education is beginning to take root in the mind of India, and when there is some move towards bringing to an end those conditions, we should now be proposing to hand over to the very influences which, for the last 20 years or more, have worked against reform, the initiative in government, and the means whereby they can hold up even that small social progress which has taken place and can ensure, if they so wish, that no further progress will be made. It is to Mr. Gandhi's credit that he has railed against the obstructive methods of some of his own friends.
The depression of womenfolk in India is a sorry story, and I cannot understand those hon. Members of this House who seem to find, in the White Paper proposals for reform, some prospect of a relief from that condition of affairs. The hon. Lady the Member for the English Universities drew attention to what she described as the growing practice of purdah. How on earth are women who are subject to that system going to exercise the vote, or know anything about the vote Is it not obvious that, if the franchise for women under these conditions is unduly extended, it must inevitably lend itself to widespread personation and every kind of irregularity such as so easily creeps into the electoral system where there is a. tendency to abuse it?
I did not, however, intervene mainly for the purpose of dealing with that subject, but for the purpose of calling attention to the almost, complete absence from the White Paper of any provisions to preserve and safeguard our trade con- 959 nections with the Indian Empire, beyond the vague references to commercial discrimination. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, in his desire to be absolutely fair and, so far as he can be, impartial in the exposition of the schemes which he is putting before the House, would, I am sure, be the last to mislead the House in any way, but I must ask his attention to the situation which arises from what he said yesterday. It is a tragedy that, in a matter of this kind, there is no full reference to the future basis, the future platform, of the legal and fiscal system which is to govern our trade relations. My right hon. Friend dismissed this subject in a few words, but, after all, as has been said this afternoon, trade and commerce are the very mainspring of the whole prosperity, the whole body politic, the whole system of our existence. Without a continuance and expansion of trade and commerce in India, without an expansion of the industrial activities of her large agricultural population, India's future would be sorry indeed; and, without a revival of our own industrial activities in this country, our plight will be sorry indeed. It is extraordinary that the Government, who were elected primarily for the purpose of restoring our trade activities, should have proceeded to deal with a subject of this magnitude with hardly any reference to the one supreme topic on which they were elected. My right hon. Friend last night, although everyone knows that he is anxious to be fair and impartial in his exposition of his own case, dismissed this matter in a few words when he said:Let me now say a word about the commercial safeguard, namely, the safeguard designed to prevent commercial discrimination, a part of our proposals that I know excites, and rightly excites, the keenest interest in business and trading circles in this country. The House will see that we are proposing to deal with the question of commercial discrimination upon the simple basis of reciprocity. Put into a single sentence, our proposals are that anything that we do for Indian traders or for Indian professional men in Great Britain, Indians should do for British traders and British professional men in India. That is the basis of our proposals for the prevention of commercial discrimination."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 27th March, 1933; col. 713, Vol. 276.]I venture to suggest that that is not quite a full explanation to the wide circle of people engaged in trade and commerce 960 and industry in this country who are wondering what may emerge from these proposals so far as that vital activity is concerned. The fact is that the reciprocity to which my right hon. Friend refers has nothing whatever to do with that subject of reciprocity with which one usually associates the word. It has nothing to do with Customs, Excise and so on; it relates only to paragraph 29 of the Introduction, on page 16 of the White Paper, and to the proposals in paragraphs 122, 123 and 124 on pages 70 and 71 of the proposals in the White Paper. Those paragraphs deal entirely with matters of common law, company law and professional qualifications, and the ordinary liberty of the subject to move about in whatever locality he may find himself. They have nothing to do whatever with these far more important questions which affect the interchange of trade. When we turn to paragraph 111 of the White Paper, on page 67, we read:The Federal Legislature will, to the exclusion of any provincial legislature, have power to make laws for the peace and good government of the Federation or any part thereof with respect to the matters set out in Appendix VI, List I.In that List I, Item 34 is:The regulation of the import and export of commodities across the Customs frontiers of the Federation, including the imposition and administration of duties thereon.That is handing over completely and in, tote to the Federal Government the whole fiscal authority of India, without any kind of reservation or any "special responsibility," with the single exception of the reference to discrimination which is contained in other paragraphs of the White Paper. It not only affects the imports of British goods into whatever realm may be covered by the Federation—and the limits of that realm cannot be known until the number of States which may enter it is known—but the passage of goods through the Federation to any State which does not seek to come into it, and the entrepot trade which may make use of any Indian port. These are all to be subject to this unfettered control, through Customs, Excise or regulations, which the Federal Government may see fit to impose upon them. Therefore, I think it is very extraordinary that to a matter of this kind no further reference should be made in the White Paper. All that we have is this very vague and 961 possibly quite unreal reference to discrimination.
§ Mr. MOLSON
May I interrupt my hon. Friend for a moment, because this is a matter of very great importance? Are we to understand that he and the friends for whom he speaks are suggesting that the Government at this point should go back upon the Fiscal Convention which was the recommendation of a Joint Committee of both Houses in 1919?
§ Sir J. NALL
No, I am not; I am basing my comments on that. If my hon. Friend wishes to go into detail, let me refer him to paragraph 268 of Volume 1 of the Simon Report, where he will see an extract from the Joint Select Committee on the Government of India in 1919. The last words of the extract say, relating to the intervention of the Secretary of State or the Viceroy:When it does take place, should be limited to safeguarding the international obligations of the Empire or any fiscal arrangements within the Empire to which His Majesty's Government is a party.The Simon Report referred to the matter again in paragraph 352, Volume 2. I do not want in this Debate to enter into any controversy as to what that fiscal convention means. I will only put it in this form, which I think the Secretary of State will not dispute, that in certain circumstances, which may or may not be remote, according to the interpretation which the Secretary of State of the day might put upon the words of the so-called convention, he might intervene if the Government of India, whose policy he can dictate, fails to agree with the Assembly, a somewhat anomalous position because, obviously, he could direct the Government of India at present deliberately to disagree with the Assembly. I only put it so high that in certain circumstances which may or may not be remote, as things are at present, the Secretary of State might intervene. That is entirely, for what it is worth, swept away in the White Paper proposals with no safeguard of any kind. It entirely ignores that recommendation of 1919 that at least the preservation of inter-Empire obligations to which our Government may be a party must be preserved. It is an extraordinary thing that the future legal and fiscal platform of the important trade relations between this country and the Indian Empire have been left out of this 962 White Paper and are summarily dismissed by my right hon. Friend in a very short sentence in his speech. The policy in the document, which ignores the very fundamentals of our existence as a nation, is a negation of statesmanship. I commend this matter to the further consideration of the Cabinet. I would remind my right hon. Friends of the party to which I belong of the ugly gibe once uttered to our party in Sir William Harcourt's warning to Lord Carson when he said: "The Conservative party never took up a cause without betraying it."
§ 10.0 p.m.
§ Mr. DAVID GRENFELL
The hon. Gentleman who has just spoken expressed his concern over the prospects of future generations in India, but he left off quoting the Secretary of State at a point where we thought his explanations and assurances were perfectly satisfactory. If he will pursue his reading of column 713, he will find that the Secretary of State said:That is the basis of our proposals for the prevention of commercial discrimination. Obviously, they make no change in what has come to be known as the Fiscal Autonomy Convention. I am one of those who believe that the commercial relations between India and Great Britain are much better settled by agreement, if they can be settled by agreement, and it is indeed a satisfactory augury that the Indian delegates at Ottawa were able to make a satisfactory agreement, at any rate on a part of the subject, with the representatives of Great Britain and the rest of the Empire, and that that agreement has been ratified by a huge majority in the Indian Assembly. To-day I say no more about commercial discrimination—not that I do not regard it as quite one of the most important questions that we have to consider."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 27th March, 1933; col. 713, Vol. 276.]Then he goes on to other safeguards. Does the hon. Gentleman who spoke last protest against the power now being enjoyed by the Indian Government to impose tariffs in her own interest? Does he oppose the continuation of those powers? If he does, he should say so. The whole point of his speech is that he thinks that, if India is to embark on a new system, she should be granted less fiscal authority than she possesses at present.
The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead (Sir R. Horne) raised several very important points. He thanked the Secretary of State for assenting to the proposition that the Select 963 Committee may be asked to discuss, not a cut-and-dried scheme but the whole question of the future government of India. The Foreign Secretary confirmed that statement in words in which he said that the House was not asked to vote for or against the White Paper. We should like to know on this side of the House how these proposals are really to be put and how far they may be modified from their present form with the approval of Parliament if the form in the White Paper is not to be the basis of the legislation that is to follow Y The Secretary of State has not been explicit enough in that regard. We are anxious to know, because we can foresee, without a fairly close adherence to the White Paper, the possibility of the Select Committee being driven here or there by opponents of the scheme, by those who wish to delay and destroy it.
As I listened to the right hon. Gentleman, I wondered what kind of amendments he would like to make to the scheme. He said he disliked the White Paper because he doubts the efficacy of Parliamentary democracy as a system, and he dealt almost tearfully with the decay of Parliamentary institutions in Europe and deduced from that that, while Europe was unable to sustain her faith in the practice of Parliamentary democracy, it was an inappropriate time to experiment with this great system in India. The right hon. Gentleman, indeed, went very much farther than that in some of his criticisms of the proposals, and dwelt frequently and long upon the lack of adequate safeguards in the scheme. While he inferred that his main intention was to provide safeguards against abuses in India and against people in India who were seeking and who were anxious to make trouble, he suggested—in a somewhat doubtful interpretation of part of the White Paper—that there might be a necessity for safeguards against a sympathetic Government in this House that would help people in India to defeat the interests of this country. We ought to know whether those people who support the Government are opposed to these proposals root and branch, and whether they are determined to destroy any settlement with India on this occasion. We have put our criticisms forward and shall continue to put them forward, but we are 964 not prepared to assist those which simply speak, in this House and outside with the intention of repudiating the pledges and promises which we have given for many years to that great country in the East.
The right hon. Gentleman described the control of the police as the linch-pin of the Government of India. That reflection is not very comforting. If, after so many years' connection with the people of India, after their devoted allegiance to this country, and after the fellowship, the mutuality and the co-operation which a large number of Indians have shown towards the rulers and the people of this country, we are now to be told in this House that unless we control the police the whole cart is upset and there is no possibility of stable conditions in India—that is a disturbing thought. Then the right hon. Gentleman threw a side-light on economic conditions which was still less comforting. I thought, when he expressed his opinion that there are 300,000,000 people in India who do not care what kind of Government they have so long as they are not called upon to pay more taxes, that he uttered a very disturbing thought indeed. If there are 300,000,000 people in India who cannot take an interest in anything but their poverty, we think that that is the very strongest possible argument in favour of India being allowed to try some other form of Government which will meet her economic needs as well as her political condition.
The right hon. Gentleman has been asked whether he is prepared to consider any proposals on behalf of the Indian people sympathetically. I was not in the House yesterday, but I read this morning the conclusion of the speech of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Darwen (Sir H. Samuel). In his concluding sentences he was reported to have said that this White Paper represents—I forget his exact words—the consumation and the crown of our efforts in India. In the OFFICIAL REPORT I find that the word "crown" is missing and the word "triumph" takes its place. When I compare that opinion of the right hon. Gentleman with the sentiments which the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead expressed upon safeguards this afternoon, I try to imagine what kind of Constitution the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead would like to 965 confer upon India. I have read the White Paper and I see safeguards of all kinds joined up and intertwined, and it occurred to me that if these safeguards are not adequate, not close enough drawn on India, the right hon. Gentleman would like to put the Indian people into a kind of cage, where the Indian would be allowed to spread his wings but not to fly, to go up and down upon his perches but not to leave his cage, to chirp and to whistle, but not to sing the song of joy and perfect freedom. I thought that the right hon. Gentleman does not really want to give the very smallest measure of freedom to the people of India, but to keep them in confinement and isolation for perpetuity. There was no indication in his speech from beginning to end that he wanted any freedom given to or any responsibility placed upon the people of India.
The right hon. Gentleman the Foreign Secretary gave the House some very useful information this afternoon. It helped me very much indeed, and I feel that it must give much help to the House and to those outside, in this country and in India, who are watching the progress of this Debate. He explained to the House how the idea of federation to include the Princes of the States with the provinces of British India had come to be. We are pleased that the right hon. Gentleman expressed his views so frankly. We are not quite satisfied that his conclusion is a right one, but he certainly conferred a favour on the House in taking us into his confidence and allowing us to see so plainly what he and his colleagues in the Government think on the matters which he discussed. He surprised every one of us by stating that in his view self-government in British India alone—self-government in British India independent of the provinces—must fail. We should like to know the advantages of federation and the inclusion of the States. In that regard the right hon. Gentleman gave us a picture of the geography and topography of India. He said that India was a large sub-continent with no barriers, no boundaries; that it was one in extent, and there was no ordinary evidence of boundaries such as we see, for example, in Western Europe.
The right hon. Gentleman may be quite right. Indeed, we agree with him that on the geographical statement the case 966 for the inclusion of the States in an All-India Federation is complete and unanswerable. But, to our view this White Paper and the proposed lines of the Constitution, the federation does not come quite as naturally when one considers the prospect of the joining of a number of Provinces where certain forms of government are in existence and are well known and in daily practice, with the Indian States, which are governed differently, being subject to autocracy and to the complete and despotic power of the Princes themselves. While the advantage of bringing all these States together to make a compact geographical whole is apparent, there must be in a corresponding disadvantage in trying to bring the entirely dissimilar Provinces together in a Federation where they have to work certain things in common, despite the great disparity in the forms and practice of government on the lower plane, where these people exist separately.
It has occurred to me that there is one thing missing in the White Paper. I have seen no indication anywhere that there is going to be at any time an attempt to assimilate the conditions in the natice States with the conditions in the Provinces. As far as one can judge, there is no intention, at this stage, or at any future date, to bring about any assimilation of governmental and administrative conditions between the native States and the Provinces. I should like to know—and I think the information will assist the House very much—whether that is in the mind of the Government. I should be grateful if at some time during this Debate the spokesmen of the Government would say whether it is proposed to establish, with the concurrence, the consent and the co-operation of the Princes, a form of democracy. The form may be tentative and modified, if you like, but I should like to know whether there is at some time any intention of building up in the Provinces a progressive form of democracy, allowing the Native States to retain their present form of autocracy. We must acknowledge that there is no amalgamation. I think that was the term used by the Foreign Secretary. He said that we must be patient; that there will be a good deal of permeation. There will be one State enjoying one form of Government and it will be contiguous to a Province which will have another form 967 of Government. He said that there will flow ideas and examples one from the other and that the tendency will be to assimilate by mere contiguity, with no effort on the part of ourselves and with no direction from any outside authority. That sounds all right, but it is not very convincing when one looks at it, because it is not a case of permeation and not a case of amalgamation but the survival of one of two forms. It may reduce the measure of freedom in the Provinces, where we expect freedom and liberty to expand more readily, with the possibility that the example of the State may be taken, and freedom will become more and more restricted in the Provinces. I am only putting that view forward as an opinion which I have formed by reading the White Paper, and not because of any prejudice against the proposals set out therein. I should like the Minister to tell us whether there is that possibility or whether the Joint Committee will be able, with the consent of the Princes, to introduce into the native States constitutions working like our limited monarchies in the Western world, and to allow India to be free to become a country where practically the same political conditions will obtain throughout.
Much has been said about the maintenance of law and order. We have heard a great deal about law and order in this country. There are some people who are obsessed with the idea of law and order. They talk of it without any indication of the effect of the words. The question of law and order for India always suggests a measure of suppression, the keeping down of the Indian people. If there is no respect for law and order you cannot keep law and order except by coercion and compulsion. We prefer to approach the question from an entirely different direction. One would conclude from what has been said in this House that the Indian people have not learned the value of the police, well conducted, and that they are incapable of maintaining a police force and of conferring upon it the necessary authority for the performance of its duties. We do not take that view. We believe that the Indian people must recognise from experience the value of a well-disciplined police force and that the Provinces will 968 find it an advantage to control their own police and to see that they are given due respect and assistance in the performance of their duties.
We are apt to view these matters from the standpoint of the Englishman. Those who, like myself, have never been to India and have no real idea of the conditions in that great country look at matters from the Englishman's standpoint, and I am afraid that our judgment is not always as sympathetic as it might be. Here is an attempt to build up a comprehensive machine, but I doubt whether many can follow its intricacies or can have a clear idea as to how it will work in practice. It is largely experimental, and may be changed before the day comes. It would be an advantage if we could put ourselves in the position of Indians who desire self-government and recognition as a people and as a sovereign state. It was promised them; and they have every right to expect it on the definite pledges made by this country. But when Indians look at this proposal and find all these safeguards and checks, I feel sure that it must damp the ardour and confidence as well as the anticipations of those Indians who are politically-minded.
Much has been said against the politically-minded Indians. When did it become a crime to be politically-minded? We make a claim that we are the most politically-minded people in the world. It is true; and it has given us political qualities, attributes and gifts, which have been denied to many other people. It cannot be wrong for Indians to be politically-minded. It is said that it is only a few Indians who are politically-minded. If that is the case, it is no credit to us. If we have maintained our police and our standing armies in India for so many years and now find that out of 350,000,000 people only 1,000,000 or 2,000,000 are sufficiently alive and interested to take a hand in the politics of their own country it is the strongest condemnation that can be brought against us as the responsible power in that land. It is not an offence, and Englishmen should be the last to denounce anyone for having political aspirations and desires.
Let me say one word about economic conditions. The hon. Member for Bristol, North (Mr. Bernays) referred to the shocking housing and social conditions which he witnessed in India. I have 969 read something of the great poverty of the Indian people, and my interest is mainly one of sympathy with the poverty which exists. Anyone who takes an interest in India cannot fail to be interested in the great problem of providing the people of that country with a better standard of living and better conditions generally. To dead with these economic conditions requires not only the interests of one or two millions of the people but the interest and active co-operation of all classes of the Indian people. No Government in this country, no Governor-General in India, can remove poverty in India without the active co-operation of the Indian people themselves, and in the interests of better economic conditions we ought to create and stimulate the widest possible interest in political matters.
That cannot be done on the franchise proposed in the White Paper. There should be a much wider franchise. If you compare it with the franchise in this country there are 20 British voters for every one Indian voter for the lower Chamber of the Federal Legislature; 17 British voters for every one Indian voter for the Provincial Legislatures, and 15 British women votes for every one Indian woman voter. You cannot do the best for India unless you get the largest possible number of Indians not only alive to their interests but actively participating in the task of Government. That may not be achieved by these proposals, indeed, the measure of interest and freedom of the Indian people may be reduced, diminished, if we hand over India to a small governing class consisting of a few elected and nominated people. If India is handed over under those conditions, we may retard the progress of political development in India and delay indefinitely the improvement in her economic conditions.
There is another point. Self-government requires the co-operation of all Indians. It cannot be done from outside. We cannot give India self-government from outside. It is something which has to be done by Indians themselves. We can lay down conditions under the White Paper which will enable Indians to get a firm foothold and to go forward in the task of building up self-government in the course of time for themselves. What does Dominion status exactly mean in the 970 terms of the White Paper? I have no time to read the definition of Dominion status by people whose names are revered in this House. The Prime Minister himself has defined Dominion status, but we do not find it in the White Paper. If it can be shown in the White Paper we should like to see it. There are so many safeguards, reserved subjects and special responsibilities to which Indians are denied access, and we do not find real Dominion status. The Secretary of State has said that we have pledged ourselves. It is very important that we should not betray our pledge, but there is an appeal which stands much higher than that. We have been in India for a long time. In India our pledges, and our written and spoken words should mean that our example counts for something. If it does not we have been remiss in our duties and responsibilities to that country.
If India wants democracy, political freedom and Parliamentary government, it is the very Ingest compliment that can be paid to us. We have lived with them, and they have come over here, and if they want to fashion their governmental institutions on our pattern we should take it as a compliment and value it very much indeed. It shows that the Indian people have learned something from us and would like to emulate and to imitate our example. We should try to assist India. We on this side of the House believe that the Indian people are capable of very much more rapid progress than could be imagined from hearing the speeches of hon. Members on the opposite side of the House. One would imagine that the Indian is an inferior creature doomed everlastingly to a position of inferiority compared with ourselves; condemned to economic subjection and to an inferior position in world politics. We do not believe that to be the case. No one knows the capacity of the Indian for self-government and for economic improvement until he has been allowed a chance. India is reaching out for the cup of freedom. Do not let us remove it from her grasp. Rather let us bring it nearer so that she may drink deeply from the cup of freedom and liberty, and then we shall all share in the benefit of the greater freedom which we extend to her. Our freedom will grow in comparison and our honour will stand higher in the world.
§ 10.30 p.m.
§ Sir JOHN WARDLAW-MILNE
I think I may claim that although I have not spoken on Indian matters in this Parliament, it has been my lot and my privilege to listen to more speeches about India in the last few years than possibly most Members of the House, and I have listened to many speeches since the first Round Table Conference was set up in which the word "abdication" has been continually used. I have heard it said that we were abdicating our position in India altogether. It would appear that those who hold the view that no further progress should be made can be divided into two categories. First there are those who, although they would refuse to admit it, really wish to go back to the position prior to 1919. Secondly, there are those who take up the attitude that the reforms of 1919 not having proved a success, we should stay where we are and no further progress or concession should be made. It is perfectly clear that Parliament in due course may make a decision on the lines that the reforms of 1919 have not been a success. I admit that Parliament has a perfect right to go back on what it did in 1919, but I think that those who complain about the position which has arisen since 1919, and who object to our making any forward progress, are apt to forget that it is not this Parliament, it is not even recent Parliaments, which are to blame for the responsibilities now upon us, if there is any blame at all, but those who decided to pass the Act of 1919.
Duchess of ATHOLL
Would the hon. Gentleman kindly indicate what hon. Members in this Debate have suggested that they wish to retreat from the position of the Government of India Act of 1919 or that no further progress should be made?
§ Sir J. WARDLAW-MILNE
The Noble Lady has misunderstood me. I have not said that any hon. Members in this Debate made any such statement. What I said was that those were opinions which had been expressed and I think she knows as well as I do that such opinions have been expressed, not only in Committee Rooms of this House but also in the country. There are, as I say, certain people who no doubt would deny entirely that they hold that view but who put forward arguments of which it is the only 972 logical conclusion. I am not at the moment endeavouring to find fault with anybody who holds that view. It is a perfectly logical conclusion for those who argue that the reforms have been a complete failure. I agree, as I have said, that Parliament is not bound, but the point which I make is this. Those who passed the Act of 1919 are only to a small extent represented in this House now, and, if a mistake was made at that time, it was made in that Act, and, although Parliament was never finally committed to go further, unless we are prepared to go back, the process which we started in 1919 must go forward.
I come now to the curious fact that part of the strongest opposition to the kind of proposals which have been under consideration during the Round Table Conferences has come from people who were parties to the 1919 Act. Among them—I am sorry he is not in his place—is the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Epping (Mr. Churchill). Before I deal with the White Paper, I want to refer to one other point. It will be in the recollection of some hon. Members that a year or two ago, after the statement of the Viceroy of that day regarding what was in the minds of the Government as to the ultimate aim of reform in India, namely, Dominion status, the Debate in this House was curtailed at the request of the present Prime Minister. I do not in the least quarrel with that. It was a very difficult time in India, and it was possibly best that the Debate should not be continued then. But I have never held that Dominion status has ever been promised to India. I have here a collection of nearly every statement in this connection made by prominent statesmen in the last 10 or 15 years, and although it could be said that Dominion status, directly or indirectly, is implied—you can imply anything you like from some statements made—those actual words were never definitely used. On one occasion only, curiously enough, by my right hon. Friend the Member for Epping was the promise of Dominion status referred to. It is only fair to say, especially as he is not in his place at this moment, that at a subsequent date he explained that his reference to Dominion status was to a kind of condition in which Dominion status was only to be used in a ceremonial manner. I do not understand 973 what that means, but I leave it at that. I hold very strongly the view, and I want to take this opportunity, which I did not have at the time of making it clear, that Parliament has never been committed in my opinion to Dominion status being conferred upon India. What it may do in the future is another matter.
The second category of those who object to the propositions in the White Paper is of those who think that we ought to proceed entirely on the lines laid down in the Statutory Commission's Report. The main objection, in the Debates yesterday and to-day, to the proposals in the White Paper appears to be in connection with the eventual scheme of Federation suggested, but Federation was not only suggested in the Simon Report; it occupied a whole chapter in it. [An HON. MEMBER: "Two chapters."] Again, Federation goes farther back than that report, because it was referred to as the ultimate goal in the Act of 1919. I fail to understand therefore the position of those who oppose on this ground the proposals in the White Paper going to the Joint Select Committee for discussion, because that is as far as we are asked to go at present. I find it difficult to understand what difference they expect to find between the Simon Report proposition, the ultimate aim being Federation, and the proposals which the White Paper sets out to-day. I suppose the real difference would be that they would say, in the first place, that the Federation suggested by the Simon Commission was a Federation in the future, that it was not a matter likely to come into being in any time that they could foresee, and therefore they did not go into it very fully.
Alternatively, they may say it was a Federation which was to have the services of a large number of British officials, and that the real objection to any handing over at the Centre comes from the fact that you will not have to depend upon a steel frame of the kind that existed a few years ago. It is, I think, worthy of consideration as to what has been happening with regard to the European element in the services in the past few years. For example, 10 years ago, in 1922, there were 1,179 Europeans in the Indian Civil Service; to-day there are 843. In 1922 there were 208 Indians; there are now 465. In the police there 974 were, in 1932, 627 European officers; today there are 528. In 1922 there were 66 Indian police officers; there are now 152. And in the same way through the other services, the process of Indianisation has been going on for many years.
It may well be a matter for careful consideration of the Joint Committee as to whether some minimum, comprising the British element in the great services of India, of British officers should be laid down. We are entitled to lay that down, and it may be desirable to do so, but I do not think it is any use pressing the argument that we are not able to depend in future upon the services being loyal and reliable because they will largely be Indian, in view of the fact that they are largely Indian to-day, and many of those Indians have been as loyal and dependable as any British officer. Another argument which I heard very often expressed before the White Paper was issued was that it was quite certain we should find that there were no real safeguards. I wish to pay my tribute to the Secretary of State, and I think that the least we can say to him is that he has fulfilled in the letter and in the spirit every pledge he ever gave with regard to safeguards, for there is no doubt whatever that every safeguard which has ever been suggested exists in the White Paper. At the same time, it will be said that they are only paper safeguards. That is perfectly true. Of course they are paper safeguards, but what safeguards have we in India to-day that are not paper safeguards? The only eventual safeguard against complete breakdown was referred to by the Secretary of State yesterday. A complete breakdown of the Constitution means that the Viceroy will have to govern, as in fact Governors have had to govern in various provinces during the past few years where the Provincial Government has failed to function during the days of dyarchy.
I do not look for a period of perfect peace in India or expect that everything will work smoothly, nor do I agree that everything in the White Paper is as I should like it to be. I could refer to several things that will require consideration, but that does not alter the fact that there is no real difference to my mind between the safeguards in existence in India now and the safeguards which will exist if and when some such proposals 975 as those in the White Paper are 'adopted, except that those safeguards will then have been more clearly defined than they are to-day.
§ Major-General Sir ALFRED KNOX
Surely the fact that we have the police and the executive power in our hands is not a safeguard which is merely on paper?
§ Sir J. WARDLAW-MILNE
I am coming to that point. I said a moment ago that too much stress is laid on the fact that we are to-day supposed to have a British executive to carry out the authority of the Government, but I am pointing out that it is not entirely British, but is rapidly becoming Indianised, and that it may be possible and desirable to consider limiting the extent to which that Indianisation is to be carried out. The main point with those who hold the view that safety will consist in giving autonomy to the provinces while maintaining our hold on the Central Government is that they consider that if there is any breakdown, the Central Government at any rate can function. I very much doubt if that is so. I very much doubt whether the Central Government could function—except in the case of a complete breakdown, when they would function in any case—any better in that case than they would be able to do wader the present proposals. The fact that the provinces are independent would, to my mind, make it almost impossible for the Central Government in such an event to take over all the authority which was exercised by the provincial Governments.
There is, however, as my hon. Friend says, an important point in connection with the police. The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs made it perfectly clear why the Simon Commission came to the decision they did in regard to law and order. I frankly have never held the view that they were right in making that decision. At the same time, I think it would be impossible completely to control the police from the centre. I had the privilege only a few months ago of sitting on a committee which considered the question of a number of small police forces in this country. We know to what an extent local feeling is aroused over a matter of that kind here 976 and how jealous local authorities are of any transfer of their powers. Think of the difficulty, in a country the size of Europe, of controlling the whole of the police from one centre. I am very doubtful whether that is practicable, but I am going to suggest that there is possibly a middle course to take in this connection. It is well known that there are certain police forces in India which must remain central. I will not go into details, because we all know of them. After all, there are only some 200,000 police—thana—in India, and while village police and local town police might well be handed over to the Provincial Governments, I see no particular reason why there should not be a central police force—a federal police force, if you like—and particularly why the terms of recruitment of the whole police force of India should not be settled from one centre on one basis.
I think it is extremely important, whoever is going to carry out the local government of the police, that pay and pensions should be laid down for the whole of the force by a central authority. The Foreign Secretary said that he had found a grave objection on the part of local legislatures to passing the necessary grants for police forces which they did not control. I can entirely support that view. I know myself, from experience in the Bombay Legislative Council, before the days when there was an Assembly, how hitter and unjustified were some of the attacks upon the police, largely because they were looked upon as outside local control, and not in any way under the authority of an elected legislature. Against any possible danger, at any rate so far as the local police is concerned, there has to be set the advantage to come from making those who are likely to be critical take the responsibility for the administration of the service.
It is perfectly clear that before any federal scheme can come into operation two vitally important financial matters will have to be considered. Both are mentioned in the White Paper, but I venture to say that their importance is perhaps not over-emphasised. One is the financial stability of the different units that are to form the Federation. That alone is a matter which must give many of us room for considerable doubt as to 977 the time when Federation will be possible. It is clear that we have a good long way to go in India before we can be satisfied on this point. The setting up of the Federation, supposing for the moment that these particular proposals were approved by the Joint Standing Committee, does not come about automatically, but only comes about at the request of both Houses of Parliament. Therefore, when that day comes Parliament will have to be entirely satisfied regarding the financial condition of the federated units. It also means, of course, the satisfactory setting up of a Federal Reserve bank and that cannot come about in a moment.
I turn now to the attitude of the Indian States. I cannot myself see, and I have never taken the view, that Indian States are necessarily going to be a purely Conservative element in the administration. I do not think we are entitled to assume that. We have to consider the fact that if the States are going to hand over any of their authority at all—probably very little—to a Federation, they are certainly going to get a good deal in return. I do not think we are entitled to say they are bound to look at every matter which goes before them from the point of view of what we might consider would be the normal attitude of a British Government in India. It may be we shall find the States are by no means necessarily a Conservative element, but their presence in any Federation is essential and their help, assistance and impartial outlook will be invaluable. On another point, may I say that I think the difficulties between the Governor-General and Ministers who may be in charge of the Government of the day are not likely to be so acute as some hon. Members seem to think. Conditions in India are rather different from conditions anywhere else, and a good deal of influence can be brought to bear by governor-generals and governors to secure that there will be an alternative party to take up a term of office. If the Prime Minister or Minister in charge of a Government decided that he would have to resign, I am not so afraid as some hon. Members appear to be, that we shall immediately be faced with a complete breakdown of the Constitution on that account. After all, I think it is the general experience that other parties are willing to form governments and that 978 desire for the sweets of office is not a characteristic confined to the West alone. I think it will be found that others will offer to come forward to take the place of those who retire. At the same time I do wish to make it quite clear that in the great experiment we are making, a breakdown of the Constitution is by no means impossible. That is a situation we have to face, and because of it we must examine our safeguards with the greatest care.
That brings me at once to a point which I have always bad very much in mind, but which is not mentioned in the White Paper at all, though it is well worthy of consideration. That is, whether this scheme, or anything that may evolve from it, does not bring about the desirability of separating the functions of the Viceroy from those of the Governor-General? I think it is perfectly possible that it will be found that the two offices should not necessarily be held by one person and it may well be a proposal worthy of serious consideration if a Federation comes into being. Further, I would like to say one word about what has been said already tonight regarding trade and industry. There is no doubt whatever that those who are interested in trade between this country and India and in British trade in India will rightly require that their views regarding the future under these proposals get a little more consideration than perhaps so far appears to have been given them. There is no doubt that action other than that which constitutes actual commercial discrimination could be taken by a Government that was not favourable to British interests to an extent to make it almost impossible for Britishers to trade at all. I hope when the time comes the Joint Select Committee will take this matter into very careful consideration.
There is clearly going to be, under these proposals, a definite period before federation can operate. Apart from the fact that it must be set up on a request from Parliament, it is clear, for reasons which have been given regarding the necessity for financial stability and the setting up of a reserve bank and other matters, that a period of some years must elapse. The first real question, however, which will have to be faced by the Joint Select Committee—that is the 979 first place where it will be faced—is whether it is desirable to put federation into the scheme, if and when these various parts are ready to function, or whether we are to begin with provincial autonomy and leave the question of federation for the future. My own belief is that there is no harm whatever in setting out, not merely what is the goal at which we are aiming, but the basis on which it can be operated. At the same time, it should be very clearly stated what the minimum conditions are that this country will accept before Parliament asks the Crown to act.
The rate of progress in these reforms cannot be set in this country; it can only be set in India. One of the most important features of the White Paper is comprised in the words which say—I speak from memory—that the basis of the whole of these proposals is that there should be evidence of a partnership in a common enterprise. It is perfectly clear that if there is no spirit of co-operation, if that co-operation does not exist, the whole scheme breaks down. It is India that will have to decide. If the proposals that come from the Joint Standing Committee put a stop to politically-minded Indians endeavouring to get something out of the British people and to wrest some further concession from Great Britain, and set them to grapple with India's problems and to consider the real difficulties which beset her, a great deal will have been achieved. My hon. Friend the Member for the English Universities (Sir R. Craddock) spoke yesterday of the Government of the past. I entirely agree with what he said as to the integrity and the uprightness of those Governments. I also know what a bureaucratic kind of government it was and how extremely difficult it was to influence it. We have nothing to be ashamed of; very much to the contrary, in the great record of what we have done for India; but it is not an unnatural attitude for India. to-day to ask for some further share in the Government.
980 We have to make up our minds quite clearly. Can we go back? I maintain that even dyarchy, bad system as it has been, has, curiously enough, worked better than we had any reason to expect. It is surprising to me that it did not fail. Dyarchy has not entirely failed. The mere fact that a great many people of good will have endeavoured to work the system of dyarchy is an argument for considering whether we can advance further. I did not entirely agree with the recommendations of the Simon Commission on the transference of law and order. In this White Paper, the Government has certainly put forward every possible safeguard, and it is for the Joint Select Committee to see to what extent those safeguards can be made real and effective. The responsibility before us is a very serious one, and, as this House cannot, in my view, go back, it will have to consider very carefully upon what lines it is to go forward in the joint interests both of India and of this country.
§ Ordered, "That the Debate be now adjourned."—[Captain argesson,.]
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Boston declares snow emergency
Wintry conditions stretch from Texas to Maine
Snowfall accumulations between 4 and 8 inches were expected near the New England coastline by Sunday morning as another wave of winter weather moved along the East Coast, according to forecasters.
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino declared a snow emergency and parking ban that went into effect at 9 p.m. Saturday.
"With up to 8 inches of snow expected in parts of the city, and freezing temperatures forecast for the next week, it's extremely important we get our roadways cleared as soon as possible in the interest of public safety," Menino said in a statement.
About 200 pieces of equipment were to be deployed on Boston roadways Saturday evening.
Heavy snow also was expected overnight in portions of Maine and New Hampshire.
Lighter and scattered amounts were expected Sunday across much of New England, the Appalachians and the Upper Great Lakes, according to the National Weather Service.
Snow covers 64% of the ground in the lower 48 states, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Last winter's top snow coverage for the lower 48 was nearly 48%.
Storm-related incidents have been blamed for the deaths of at least 10 people nationwide, including two children in Arkansas.
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Region: Italy, Campania
Difficulty: Easy and Quick
This is a recipe my grandfather Raffaele DeYeso would make for himself. He just called it “dandelion.” My mother tells me the story of how her father, who was from a small village in southern Italy and who immigrated to America in 1912, would take her as a little girl on the IRT subway up to Pelham Bay from their apartment in Manhattan to pick wild dandelions in the spring of the late 1920's. The common lawn dandelion is a delicious green, but it must be picked, root and all, when the leaves are young and before any flower or bud appears. You must also be careful that pesticide has not been sprayed on the lawn and you should never pick dandelions near roadways (where unfortunately they are just begging to be picked) because of automobile exhaust.
This bitter green is used in salads or cooked with olive oil and prosciutto. The dandelion sold in the market is cultivated, making for longer, tender leaves. The bitter taste of dandelion, which I love on its own, is also a natural accompaniment to a rich dish.
Yield: Makes 2 servings
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 bunch dandelion (about 3/4 pound), bottom quarter of stems removed, washed and shredded
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
In a skillet, heat the olive oil and butter over medium-high heat and when the butter melts add the garlic and the dandelion. Cook until the dandelion wilts and the water evaporates, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve. | <urn:uuid:b77eb6bf-d220-40bb-a0ff-a4853ad73646> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cliffordawright.com/caw/recipes/display/bycountry.php/recipe_id/695/id/3/pg1/9/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947529 | 375 | 1.609375 | 2 |
The last time I called up Bill Blass, his unmistakably gravelly voice had been reduced to a whisper by throat cancer. Still, it retained all its authoritative nonchalance. “Hello, kid,” he said, “are you still employed?” Friends of Blass, whether they were house cleaners, journalists, clotheshorses or ambassadors, could all have expected a similar greeting. If not “kid,” they might be called “old boy” or “babe,” and the ensuing remark would succeed in making them feel at once sharply observed and gently teased, as though they had just been scratched affectionately behind the ear, in the way that Blass liked to communicate with his beloved yellow Labrador retriever, Barnaby. Blass’ death at the age of 79 prompted several friends to describe their sense of loss as a “black hole,” but it’s a not a term that he would have endorsed. I once remarked upon the unexpected death of a mutual acquaintance, and after tapping the ash off his cigarette, he said, before changing the subject, “Yes. Too bad, isn’t it?”
From time to time, Blass, who was born in Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1922, was likened to Jay Gatsby, another character who escaped the American hinterlands and acquired great wealth and celebrity in the East. Given the frequency with which his name appeared in boldface alongside those of America’s best-dressed column campers, and his passion for filling his much-photographed apartment on Sutton Place and his 18th-century stone house in New Preston, Conn., with princely furniture and pedigreed antiquities, it may have seemed that Bill Blass was gleefully living out the fantasy of Fitzgerald’s “elegant young roughneck.” But to those who knew him, the comparison didn’t hold up.
It wasn’t just that Blass-whose mother was a part-time seamstress, and whose father owned a hardware store and committed suicide when Bill was 5-never did anything to fabricate his past. Or that all the books on his shelves were real. Unlike Gatsby’s West Egg mansion, Blass’ homes were furnished with the rigorous taste of a man who acquired things not for show, but for the satisfaction of his own curious eye. His old friend, the Picasso biographer John Richardson, who advised him on his collection of drawings, said, “Bill didn’t want anything religious or rococo. Nymphs and putti-out! He liked basic, vivid images-a human figure, a battle scene. Whenever we went to a museum or an art dealer, he knew exactly what he wanted to look at, and then we’d be out of there in 10 minutes.”
The idea of throwing open his home to hordes of voyeuristic revelers would have been abhorrent to him. There were never more than six people for lunch or dinner in the cozy, wood-beamed dining room in Connecticut that had once been a tavern patronized by George Washington. (“He never slept here,” Blass hastened to add.) The meals consisted not of caviar, sculpted mousses and baked Alaska, but a perfectly charred hamburger (slathered with Stilton cheese) or his robust, much-celebrated meat loaf, followed by a crisp green salad and a fruit cobbler with ice cream (all washed down with excellent claret). The visitors’ length of stay would be carefully regulated-the handsomely understated rooms were devoid of chairs conducive to extended after-meal chatter-so that the master of the house could retreat to his bedroom with the good book he was always in the middle of, usually a work of biography or history.
Although Blass may have been photographed in black tie more often than any man in America, he was essentially a stay-at-home. At the occasional big soirée he felt obliged to attend, he never worked the room, but stood off to one side, coolly surveying the babble and always ready with a quick, side-of-the-mouth assessment of the whole faintly ridiculous parade: “She had been a has-been,” I once heard him remark about the entrance of a woman who was conspicuously on the comeback trail.
Blass liked to say that he learned how to design for women from observing how they lived, and he cited as influences such society doyennes as Kitty Miller and Elsie Woodward, who welcomed him into their stylish houses when he arrived on Seventh Avenue in the late 40′s as an unconscionably good-looking young man with rakish charm. But his inimitably American sense of style-which led him to put a T-shirt with a taffeta skirt, or a camel’s hair polo coat over a short evening dress-came out of more accessible terrain. He loved to talk about how, as a boy, he’d spend entire days in a movie house luxuriating in the distant domains of Kay Francis, Carole Lombard and Constance Bennett. He once told me that the best years of his life were spent in the Army during the Second World War as an enlisted man, in a camouflage unit whose job was to position simulated weaponry to draw enemy fire. “It was the camaraderie I loved with men of all different types,” he said, “from artists to coal miners.”
More than any other designer of his generation, he took his cues from his clients-not just from women in New York, but from women all over America. He was the P.T. Barnum of the trunk show, hauling his wares from Pittsburgh to Portland, bringing to his well-heeled patrons his own highly refined notions about what they looked best in, while absorbing-and adapting-their own notions of what they felt comfortable in. He cultivated America. Blass designed by sketching on whatever was at hand-notebook, napkin, even saucer-and, like his observations, his figures are elegantly direct to the point of bluntness, teasingly alive for all their frugality of line. “He was a great editor of everything-rooms, people, clothes,” says Brooke Hayward Duchin. Blue jeans, he wrote in The New Yorker a few years ago, are “the most significant contribution America has made to fashion.”
On the road, he collected some awfully good tales, which I hope found their way into the memoir he finally got around to writing. (It will be published in the fall by HarperCollins under the title Bare Blass .) I heard no more telling comment about why Bill Clinton succumbed so readily to the charms of Monica Lewinsky than his account of taking a trunk show to Little Rock, Ark., and being repeatedly propositioned by a young hussy who kept turning up in his hotel suite, despite his requests to the management that she be thrown out. “Apparently in Little Rock,” Blass said with the dry amusement of a rock-ribbed Republican, “they go with the room.”
Stories of his generosity were legion among his friends, and not just because eight years ago he gave $10 million to the New York Public Library, which put up a plaque bearing his name in the card-catalog room. (The gift was testimony, in part, to his close friendship with the late head of the library, Father Timothy Healy, who friends surmise became something of a father figure to him.) Peter Duchin recalls admiring an unusual painting in the Connecticut house-a large, half-painted scene of the Corso in Rome-and jokingly asking whether it might be left to him in his will. A few weeks later, Blass turned up at a birthday party for the bandleader with the painting under his arm.
A lifelong bachelor, Blass maintained what John Richardson called a “cordon sanitaire” around his private life. It was a line that his friends, if they wanted to remain his friends, knew instinctively not to cross. And yet he was the most down-to-earth of companions. Marguerite Littman, one of his best pals in London-where he went four or five times a year to stay at the Connaught, have lunch at Harry’s Bar, and prowl for antiques on Pimlico Road-remembers taking him to meet Princess Diana at Kensington Palace and being struck by how easily Blass, with his Midwestern straightforwardness and mid-Atlantic drawl, converted the princess into an old friend. “They were both enchanted with each other,” Ms. Littman said. “Of course, he immediately saw the point of her-how funny she was-just as he always saw the point of everything.”
Carolyne Roehm recalled the time, many years ago, when her boss, Oscar de la Renta, asked his good friend Blass to look after her one evening while they were all in Lake Como, Italy. “I was a 24-year-old assistant making $175 a week, and I was in awe of him,” she said. “The very first grown-up dress I ever owned was a Blass. But he took me out to dinner and said, ‘O.K., kid, so you want a martini?’ He treated me as though he’d known me all my life, which of course is how he treated everyone, no matter who they were. I went to visit him a week ago and, as I was saying goodbye, I whispered in his ear, ‘I love you very much.’ He looked at me and growled, ‘Oh, don’t get all teary-eyed on me.’”
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On Monday I shared some things we can do that will help us become thankful so that we can praise God in the midst of the storms of our lives. Here are some more things that have helped me over the years and I pray they help you as well.
1. Remember that joy and happiness are two different things
Keep things in proper perspective. Happiness, as defined by Merriam Webster as good fortune or prosperity, a state of well-being and contentment, joy or a pleasurable or satisfying experience.
Joy is listed as the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires, delight, the expression or exhibition of such emotion, gaiety, a state of happiness or felicity, bliss, a source or cause of delight.
So happiness is dependent upon external circumstances, whereas joy exists in spite of whatever is going on around us and is a result of what’s happening on the inside. You can still have joy even though you are not happy because you can have a hope because you are in God’s will and will be rewarded in heaven even if you aren’t here on earth. You can be joyous in your strength or your endurance or your obedience even if you are unhappy about your health or your finances or your relationships.
2.Do things that bring you joy
Look at pretty pictures of God’s world and remember how everything is delicately balanced for us and given for us to use. It’s hard to look at he beauty of God’s world and not feel some amount of joy.
Listen to uplifting music and sing along or sing harmony. I am a wanna be musician. I used to write songs and I was a voice major in college before I switched to Speech Communication. I can’t help but feel better when I hear beautiful music and sing along. It usually makes me feel better to sing along to praise and worship music sometimes the same song over and over again. Here’s one of my favorites:
Call a friend. Sometimes you need a real, living person you can talk things over with. Just talking through our feelings can help us feel a bit better because we have expressed them and someone cared enough to listen. Many times we aren’t looking for a solution because we already know what our options are, but sometimes we may be surprised as our friend’s ability to help us find one! Even if nothing gets resolved, you will probably find yourself feeling better just because you were able to share your feelings with a good and trusted friend.
3.Read encouraging devotionals
Not devotionals on being thankful, but ones that encourage you. BibleGateway has a devotionals you can subscribe to that I have found helpful: Encouragement for Today, Devotions for Women and Devotions for Moms. I don’t recommend the one called Standing Strong in the Storm because it’s mostly about people who have endured religious persecution. While that might be important to read and inspiring at other times, I find that they are not something we can relate to when we are in the middle of stress. Unless your struggle is religious persecution on a grand scale, I find I can’t relate to them and they make me feel bad for even being upset about financial or health or relationship issues which doesn’t help me feel any better about my situation.
4. Help someone else
I know it sounds a bit backwards, but it can often feel good to be the solution for someone else’s problem. Sometimes we are almost paralyzed by our fear or stuck in our sadness that we feel a complete lack of control over our lives. It can feel empowering or at least uplifting to be the solution to something, no matter how small the issue is. As they used to say back when I was a little girl, “try it; you’ll like it.”
You may not be able to become happy about your circumstances, but you can do things that bring you some joy. This joy will help us see the blessings God has put in our lives and this will, eventually, allow us to thank God and even praise him in the storm.
Now that we have a few things we can do that will help us become more joyous, next week I will share about what happens to us when we are thankful. What happens to our feelings and what happens to our communication.
If you liked this post, read…Seven Reasons Why YOU Should Sign Up for the Art of Eloquence Newsletter! | <urn:uuid:e11b0f9e-5b02-472a-9c0e-eb9779a53608> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://artofeloquence.com/category/communication-articles/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951268 | 940 | 1.570313 | 2 |
UPS's economic sustainability starts with helping other businesses become more
sustainable. We do that by responsibly handling our customers' shipping and logistics
activities more resource-efficiently than they can do themselves. We deliver an average of
more than 15.8 million packages each business day.
Then we do more. We create additional direct economic value by compensating our
employees well, paying taxes, paying a share of profits to shareholders, direct spending
to suppliers and providing support for community organizations. | <urn:uuid:da8d2c33-d96f-4d14-90fc-cfa39717a58a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.community.ups.com/Sustainability/Marketplace | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931692 | 103 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Thu August 16, 2012
Throughout the course of reporting the Remembering Andrew series we’ve been asking a few of the same questions about Hurricane Andrew to virtually everybody we interview. Things like:
When did you know it was time to take Andrew seriously?
When did you know Andrew had truly arrived?
But there’s one question in particular, that seems to trip people up:
What did you see the moment you stepped out of your door after Andrew?
Here is how some WLRN Miami Herald News listeners answered that question:
“I would say it’s like a Hurricane Andrew. Things where they are not supposed to be. Roofs , trees, some cars. To describe it then, was almost impossible, to describe it now–it’s legendary.” –Lou Holtzman
“It was an animal that was outside that wanted in.” –Geoffrey Tomb
“It was just like living on the inside of a tornado for five hours.” –Ed McClean
“You could say Andrew was a horrible hurricane. It was the most devastating hurricane to hit South Florida yet, but Andrew was more than that. It was an opportunity to recognize the effect of what Mother Nature has in store for us when she wants to dish it out. But also an opportunity to recognize our abilities and willingness to use our humanity to meet that.” — Felix Martinez
“It was a monster.” –Jenny Bethencourt
“War disaster zone. Yeah, it looked like a war zone.” –Jodi Ziskin
“Cataclysmic. Like a bomb had dropped on Homestead.” –Geoffrey Philp
“I guess the best description I can give it, it’s like God came through with a 25 mile wide monster weed whacker and just leveled a path through South Dade County.” –Ron Magill
“When Hurricane Andrew hit, I was working in the foreign office. Living in London, Britain, dealing with the Gulf War. A lot of my career has been dealing with what man has done to other men in the pursuit of either political objectives or destruction. After coming to Florida, and learning about Andrew, I’m very cognizant of the impact that nature can have on our environment and of man. There’s a particular poem by T.S. Eliot called ‘The Waste Land’ where he talks about devastation. Well Hurricane Andrew feels to me a little like that.” — Kevin McGurgan, British Consul-General in Miami
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water.
-T.S. Eliot, "The Waste Land" | <urn:uuid:d07844a2-933d-4959-b360-880c716ae623> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wlrn.org/post/describe-andrew | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963476 | 629 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Ill. Revamps Juvenile Justice System, Emphasizes Reform
Illiniois has begun to see the light and takes a step in the right direction in dealing with juvenile offenders:
Barbed wire is on the way out as the state's new Juvenile Justice Department stresses education and reform to give young offenders a chance to turn around....For more than three decades, the Illinois Department of Corrections had been responsible both for the state's adult convicts and for juveniles serving time here. But this summer, in a swing of the pendulum away from an emphasis on punishment and back toward a focus on reform, Illinois created a new Department of Juvenile Justice.
...."With kids we have to lock up because of their behavior, our goal is to motivate them, not suppress them," said Malcolm Young, executive director of the John Howard Association of Illinois, a prison advocacy group that helped drive creation of the new agency. "We want to stimulate them with textures, colors, softer sounds, brightness and even food they like, not stultify them in a cold, closed, hard, flat uncaring setting."
Let's hope other states will watch and learn.
|< Richard Armitage Named as Plame Leaker | Kidnapped Fox Journalists Freed >| | <urn:uuid:1ab8f18c-3d6b-43ae-9574-69caacfda758> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/08/27/851/48606/juvenileoffenders/Ill-Revamps-Juvenile-Justice-System-Emphasizes-Reform | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948608 | 259 | 1.671875 | 2 |
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