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Morehouse Community Medical Center will provide important screening services at no cost next week in observation of National Health Center Week.
For more than 45 years, community health centers have delivered comprehensive, preventative and primary health care to patients with little or no income.
In 2011, approximately 20.2 million people were treated by community health centers, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Morehouse Community Medical Center in Bastrop will be celebrating next week by providing free health screenings from Aug. 6-10.
“We've been celebrating National Health Center Week since we opened five years ago,” said MCMC CEO Katie Parnell. “We've had health fairs, but this is the first year we've had free health screenings.”
The free health screenings offered at the MCMC Bastrop Office will be:
Hemoglobin A1C and Lipid Panel for diabetic patients ages 18-75
CBC, CMP, LPID and TSH for Hypertension patients ages 18 +
Prostate cancer screening for men ages 50 +
Colorectal cancer screening for all patients ages 51-74
“Some of these tests are for preventative measures and some are for chronic diseases,” Parnell said. “We decided to focus on these areas because we see a lot of patients with these problems.”
Parnell said one of the benefits of providing free screenings is that the center can help patients who may not otherwise be able to afford the tests.
“Even though we have reduced fees, we understand some patients can't pay for the services they need,” Parnell said. “We are the only community health center in Morehouse Parish. We want to achieve quality measures with patients who have certain diagnoses.”
All of the screenings will be available Mon.-Fri. from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. No appointment is necessary. Morehouse Community Medical Center is located at 518 Durham St. For more information, call 283.8887 or speak to your provider. | <urn:uuid:d3b75716-b9da-4098-a648-a9d37459323d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bastropenterprise.com/article/20120804/NEWS/308049994/1014/LIFESTYLE | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95583 | 432 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Report by General Relator of Synod
On Eucharistic Amazement
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VATICAN CITY, OCT. 5, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the "report before the discussion" given Monday by the general relator of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Angelo Scola, patriarch of Venice, Italy.
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Eucharist: the freedom of God encounters the freedom of man
I. Eucharistic amazement
When they celebrate the Eucharist, the faithful can relive in some way the experience of the two disciples of Emmaus: and their eyes opened and they recognized him" (Lk 24:31)". This is why John Paul II asserts that the Eucharistic action incites amazement . Amazement is the immediate answer of man to the reality calling upon him. It expresses the recognition that reality is a friend to him, it is a positive that encounters his constitutive expectations. Saint Paul, writing to the Romans, explains the reason for this: reality safeguards the good plan of the Creator. To such a point that the Apostle could say of men who in their injustice hold back the truth" who have no excuse" because for what can be known about God is perfectly plain to them" -- because ever since the creation of the world, the invisible existence of God and his everlasting power have been clearly seen by the mind's understanding of created things" -- they knew God and yet they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him" (cf. Rom 1:19-21). Uncertainty and fear, instead, can come into it at a later time in the experience of man when, because of the finite and evil, fear makes its way within him and the positivity of reality does not remain.
Thus, on one hand, Eucharistic action, like the rest of entire Christianity inasmuch as source of amazement, is inscribed in human experience as such. However, on the other hand, this is manifested as an unexpected and completely free event. In the Eucharist that God's Plan is a plan of love is revealed. In this, the Deus Trinitas, which in itself is love (cf. 1Jn 4:7-8), lowers into the given Body and Blood poured by Jesus Christ, becoming food and drink that nurture man's life (cf. Lk 22:14-20; 1Cor 11:23-26).
Like the two of Emmaus, regenerated by Eucharistic amazement, they took up their path again (cf. Lk 24:32-33) thus, the people of God, abandoning themselves to the force of the sacrament, is urged to share the history of all men.
John Paul II, with great insight, immediately also made his by Benedict XVI, wished to prolong the beneficial fruits of the Great Jubilee in the special Year of the Eucharist, establishing that this XI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops be dedicated to The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church. The solemn concelebration we began this with yesterday in the Basilica of Saint Peter's, objectively opened us to that attitude of amazement, if opportunely seconded during our workings, which will contribute to making us rediscover the centrality and the beauty of the Eucharist of the Church spread throughout the entire world.
Why is the Eucharist the fascinating heart of the life of the people of God destined to the salvation of all of humanity? Because it reveals and makes present today the history of Jesus Christ as the achieved meaning of human existence in all of its personal and community dimensions, and documents it on an anthropological, cosmological and social level. The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light": in the Eucharist, this central conciliar assertion reveals all its realism. In the bread and wine, the fruits of the earth and labor, the total offering that man makes of himself, one of soul and of body, of his sentiments and his work is reasserted; his relationship of permanent interaction with the universe is expressed and, at the same time, his original solidarity with all his brethren, from the family and the closest communities to reach the extreme boundaries of the earth, is documented.
In the Eucharistic gift, the believer is allowed access to the living and personal Truth, which indeed makes free" (cf. Jn 8:36). In the Eucharist, the invitation from Jesus if you wish to be perfect" (Mt 19:21) takes on its full meaning. Man is provoked to come out of himself towards others and all of reality, to satisfy the desire of happiness he bears in his own heart . In the Eucharist, Jesus truly becomes the Way to the Truth that gives Life (cf. Jn 14:6).In this, the Church, personal and social reality at the same time, concretely becomes a people of peoples, that admirable sui generis ethnic entity Paul VI spoke of.
Source and summit of the life and the mission of the Church is the whole Triduum Paschale, but this is as it were gathered up, foreshadowed and concentrated forever in the gift of the Eucharist" inasmuch as it activates a mysterious oneness in time" between that Triduum and the passage of the centuries". For this, for the past two thousand years, the holy people of God, whatever the generation, status, race or culture they belong to, convenes every Sunday in the ecclesia eucaristica, publicly professing their own faith. In fact, the Eucharist, in itself and in its connection with the seven day sacramental, reveals the entire breadth of the mystery of the faith. This concretely explains the reason for which even during the times and places of greatest trials the Church, supported by the Spirit, never weakened. To oppose this, the millennial practice of placing Sunday Eucharistic action contributed greatly.
These are, in the extreme synthesis, the reasons that can incite Eucharistic amazement in the men and women of all times and all places. The present Relatio ante disceptationem intends to show this in some way. In the preparatory framework of the Lineamenta first and the Instrumentum laboris later, without the pretense of being complete, but also without avoiding the main problems, this has the only goal of opening up the dialogue between the Synodal Fathers. I will anticipate the points to facilitate our work. After having referred to Eucharistic amazement, the Introduction (Eucharist: the freedom of God encounters the freedom of man) emphasizes the connection between the Eucharist with evangelization and with the ratio sacramentalis proper in Revelation. In the First Chapter (The novum in Christian worship) I will try to highlight the new things in Christian worship. The Second Chapter (Eucharistic action) will deal with Eucharistic action and its distinctive elements and in the necessary connection between ars celebrandi and actuosa participatio. A Third Chapter (Anthropological, cosmological and social dimensions of the Eucharist) will try to show how the Eucharist intrinsically contains an anthropological, cosmological and social dimension. The Conclusion (Eucharistic existence in contemporary trials) will offer a synthetic summary of the matters worked upon to end with a brief wish on our workings.
II. The Eucharist implies evangelization
The data gathered by the Instrumentum laboris prepared in view of this Synodal Assembly of ours show that the Eucharistic practice is very varied in the large areas of the globe. This certainly has a lot to do with their significant cultural differences, which are expressed in an evident way also in the quality of participation in the Eucharist, which, in turn, is connected to the authenticity of the ars celebrandi.
However, a general overview is needed. The decrease in Eucharistic amazement depends, in a final analysis, on the finitude and on the sin of the subject. Often however, this finds fertile terrain in the fact that the Christian community that celebrates the Eucharist is distant from reality. It lives in abstractions. It no longer speaks to the concrete man, to his sentiments, his work, his rest, his needs for unity, truth, goodness, beauty. And thus the Eucharistic action, separated from daily existence no longer accompanies the believer in the process of maturing of one's self and in his relationship with the universe and with society.
The Synodal Assembly will need to look into this state of matters carefully and suggest some possible remedies. It cannot limit itself to re-emphasize the centrality of the Eucharist and the dies Domini. Objectively this is out of the discussion, but the difficulties lie in how to rekindle amazement, generated by the Eucharist, in the many non-practicing baptized persons (in some European countries this can be more than 80%). Before men can come to the liturgy they must be called to faith and to conversion" -- we must not forget this. Therefore, the announcement and the personal and community testimony of Jesus Christ to all men are necessary to inciting vital and open Christian communities. Also, the life of these communities demands a systematic formation in the mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2:16) (catechesis -- in a very particular way that concerning Christian initiation of children and adults, culture). This happens through education in the free giving (charity, commitment to social sharing). This requires a universal communication of the new life in Christ (mission). In a word, the constitutional factors of evangelization and of new evangelization are essential implications in Eucharistic action.
III. The Eucharist and the ratio sacramentalis of Revelation
Vatican Council II, especially in the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, placed emphasis on the characteristic as event proper to Revelation. Thus it offered a solid doctrinal basis to Eucharistic realism that can only guarantee the contemporaneity between the saving Triduum of Easter and the man of all times. The Constitution delves into the teachings of Vatican I in a Christocentric key. Revelation is achieved and completed in the Person and in the history of Jesus Christ, true man and true God. Crucified, died and resurrected for us men and for our salvation . In His work for salvation He reveals the merciful face of the Father who, through the power of the Risen Spirit, makes us sons in the Son (cf. Eph 1:5). Nomen Trinitatis publicando" Jesus Christ, through the total donation of His innocent life, unravels the enigma of man and, in this way, gives worth to his freedom enabling him to decide for himself. In fact, Jesus Christ asks the freedom of each man to welcome, through obedience to faith, this gift of His in every action of one's existence (cf. Rev 3:20). This welcoming implies, in turn, the total giving of one's self on man's part (cf. Mt 19:21). Thus the exclusion of any magical concept of the sacrament in general and the Eucharist in particular.
Christ himself anticipated the unique and unrepeatable event of the Paschal Triduum in the Supper with His Apostles, which He strongly wished for (cf. Lk 22:15). Sitting at the table with the apostles at the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the Eucharist. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit which makes possible the effective realization of the command do this in memory of me" (Lk 22:19; 1Cor 11:25), He opens the believer of all times to the possibility of taking part in salvation. Therefore, in the Eucharistic action, the freedom of God effectively encounters the freedom of man. From this encounter with freedom the Christian, marked by the recognition of the gift of God and the communion with Him and his brothers, is prone to give his entire life a Eucharistic form . And this because in the Eucharist is expressed in an eminent way what the Fides et ratio calls the ratio sacramentalis of revelation". This allows the faithful to discover that, through all the circumstances and all the relationships that objectively make up human existence, the event of Jesus Christ calls his liberty to a progressive involvement with the life of the Trinity. Accompanying him in this experience is Jesus himself: I am with you always; yes, to the end of time" (Mt 28:20). For this He assures His loving presence to the Christian community: for where two or three meet in my name, I am there among them" (Mt 18:20). This is how the primitive community lived from the beginning: These remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers" (Acts 2:42). And on the life of the people of God who through history throws a blinding light on the eschatological perspective in which Jesus placed, from its institution, Eucharistic action: I tell you, I shall never again drink wine until the day I drink the new wine with you in the kingdom of my Father" (Mt 26:29; Mk 14:25; Lk 22:18).
The ratio sacramentalis implicated in the mystery of the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, shows that the life of every man is objectively vocation. Every state of life -- marriage, ministerial priesthood, consecrated virginity -- receives the final root of its own form from the Eucharistic mystery. Therefore, in the Eucharistic convocation, each believer finds the origin and the meaning of one's own vocation, which impresses a Eucharistic form to his existence.
The novum of Christian worship
The imposing fact of the two thousand years of practice of the Sunday Eucharistic celebration, decisive for the genesis and the growth of the Christian communities of every time and place, is not insignificant. This primate of the Eucharist as action is exhaustively explained from the ratio sacramentalis of revelation from which the Eucharistic form of Christian existence flows. For this we must place with decisiveness at the center of our workings on the Eucharist, source and summit of the life and the mission of the Church, the deeper knowledge of the Eucharistic action itself. This choice allows the overcoming of every false opposition between theology and liturgy.
I. The "logikē latreía" (Rom 12:1)
While recognizing with the researchers a certain differentiated anthropological continuity with the rites proper to the various religious forms, in a particular way the sacrificial rites of the Ancient Near East, with the Hellenistic and in particular with the sacred meals of Judaism during the Hellenistic era, today is recognized by all that the Eucharist of Jesus in the Last Supper gave life to a novum. The institution of the Eucharist is inserted in a ritual supper, whose Paschal context has already been ascertained (cf. Mt 26:9-20; Mk 16:18; Lk 22:13-14; Jn 13:1-2), like the singular action by which Jesus associates His own to His hour and mission anticipating the sacrifice of His Easter, definitive way to establish the Kingdom. Eating His Body and drinking His Blood, the disciples are incorporated into Christ: in this way communion is activated, which constitutes the Church. In the Last Supper, Jesus Christ, speaks to the disciples in words that sum up the whole of the Law and the Prophets", offering Himself as the sole victim proportionate to the Father (cf. Mt 26:26-28; Mk 14:22-24; Lk 22:19-20; 1Cor 11:23 et seg.). In this act He involves also His disciples, not through a formal and sad remembrance of His person and His action, but for the permanent and active participation in His offering of the disciples until the end of time: do this in memory of me" (Lk 22:19).
Thus emerges the indissoluble tie that binds the Eucharist to the Church and the Church to the Eucharist. It is not by chance that ecclesia is the technical term that, from the beginning, indicates the action of Eucharistic reunion of the Christians (cf. 1Cor 11, 18; 14, 4-5.19.28). From the very beginning, the Church has drawn her life from the Eucharist. This sacrament is the reason for her existence, the inexhaustible source of her holiness, the power of her unity, the bond of her communion, the source of her dynamism in preaching the Gospel, the principle of her evangelizing activity, the font of charity, the heart of human promotion and the anticipation of her glory in the Eternal Banquet at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb (cf. Rev 19:7-9)". From what has been said, Eucharistic activity emerges in all its strength as source and summit of the ecclesial existence of the Christian, because it expresses, at the same time, the genesis and the achievement of the new and definitive worship, the logiken latreían: I urge you, then, brother, remembering the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicated and acceptable to God; that is the kind of worship for you, as sensible people (logiken latreían)" (Rom 12:1). This Pauline vision of the new worship as a total offering of one's person -- May he make us an everlasting gift to You", has definitely overcome any separation between the sacred and the profane. Christian worship is not a parenthesis within an existence lived in a profane horizon. Neither is it a purely sacrificial and reparatory act to the offenses or distancing from the eyes of God. New Christian worship becomes the expression of all renewed existence: whatever you eat, then, or drink, and whatever else you do, you do it all for the glory of God" (Cor. 10:31). Every act of freedom by the Christian is thus called to being an act of worship. The intrinsically Eucharistic nature of Christian spirituality takes its form from this.
Inasmuch as it assumes the human being in all its historical depth, the Eucharist, the summit of sacramental life , makes possible, day after day, the progressive transfiguration of the predestined man called by grace to being the image of the Son Himself (cf. Eph 1:4-5). Think about the extraordinary efficiency of Baptism: we discover that the children, incorporated in Christ in the Church, are ours because they are the sons of our Father who is in heaven. Confirmation unveils to those receiving it, called to witness, that the sentiments and work receive real truth from the Spirit of the died and risen Jesus Christ, through the sacrament the determining experience of sentimental life, Matrimony, is entrusted to the Church by the Lord. He alone is able to achieve the forever" of love that every spouse, when truly in love, has in their heart. And perhaps is this not the most human and delicate attentiveness to freedom -- often hurt by sin -- what the Church offers us by inviting us to reconciliation with God and with the brothers in the sacrament of Penance? Then when man is hurt in his own flesh by the inevitable trial of illness, the Anointment of the Sick expresses the special closeness of Jesus who suffered so much, died and was resurrected for us. An altogether particular closeness if accompanied by the regular possibility offered to the sick of receiving Communion and, when necessary, the Holy Viaticum. And this that we may promptly heal and, in any case, not lose hope of resurrecting with Him and thus to meet Him once again and our brothers in our real bodies. Some, though, not because of their merits but through the initiative of the Spirit of Jesus, are taken into the service of the people of God as ordained ministers (sacrament of Holy Orders).
This way the liturgical life of our communities testifies how in the concrete development of human existence -- birth, relationships, love, suffering, death, life after death -- Jesus is made present to all men every day, in every situation . In the framework traced, once again the force of the ratio sacramentalis of the Catholic genius emerges.
II. The value of the Eucharistic rite
With this vision inaugurated by Christian Eucharist not only worship but also the rite begins to take on a radically new physiognomy. That of the action of Christ Himself who, with the gift of His Spirit, admits His own into the presence of the Father to accomplish the priestly service".
For its nature as the source of logiken latreían the ritual Eucharistic action becomes objectively also the most essential and decisive of all human actions. In the Eucharistic rite, in fact, the accomplished meaning of history and thereby its truth erupts, at a precise moment in time. In this way, the Eucharistic rite creates a discontinuity in the development of the daily events of man, but it is in this open space, open to this discontinuity, that man learns to decide for himself for the truth objectively given to him by the rite itself. This choice comes about within faith: one can confront oneself to the given truth only in total entrusting of oneself. Therefore the Eucharistic action is the source and summit of Christian ecclesial existence, due to the celebration of the rite itself that, in all its substantial fullness, adequately expresses the faith lived by the Christian people. Inserted temporally and spatially in the weave of daily existence, but at the same time coming from above" as a sacrament, that is to say efficient sign and instrument of Divine grace, the ritual Eucharistic action becomes a paradigm of the entire existence of man . The Eucharistic rite is not accidental with respect to personal and social existence, nor intrinsic to the inevitable being of man in the world, but it is the center of the real life of the new creature (cf. 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15). His existence is completely human therefore historical, but at the same time, due to the Eucharistic memory of the Body given and the Blood poured of the Risen Cross, it already lives in the eternal perspective of resurrection (cf. Cor. 15:19-22). In Eucharistic action the earthly liturgy is intimately bound with the celestial one . The exchange of communion between the living and the dead that the Masses in suffrage of the dead are important expressions, constituting a permanent witness of the faith of the Church in the inseparable bond between earthly life and eternal life .
This Unitarian vision of the Eucharistic action as the heart of all of Christian existence has always been present in ecclesial conscience. From putting oneself in the action made by Jesus as maintained by the Biblical canon, to the traditio that in its unceasing rhythm of transmission and reception ensures it through time and space; from the various liturgical forms of the first centuries, which still today shine in the liturgical rites of the ancient Eastern Churches, to the predominant fixation of the Roman rite; from the precise indications at the Council of Trent and the Missal of Pius V to the liturgical reform of Vatican II: each step in the life of the Church confirms the fact that Eucharistic action, source and summit of Christian ecclesial existence, coincides with the sacramental rite that generates and accomplishes new and definitive worship (logiken latreían). Consideration of the rite in all its fullness allows avoiding any fragmentation and juxtaposition between Eucharistic action and the needs of new evangelization, which go from the proclamation to the necessary anthropological, cosmological and social implications that the Eucharist objectively places in the field. It also allows the Christian community to simultaneously follow an accurate faithfulness to the liturgical notes and an attentive ability to adapt in the instances of inculturation.
III. The Eucharistic celebration makes the Church
The Eucharistic amazement of the two disciples of Emmaus echoes in the marvel of the liturgical action of the Eucharistic celebration. This is the act of worship called to express the unique Paschal event in an eminent way. During the Last Supper Jesus clearly manifested with His gestures and His words the intrinsic bond between the advent of the kingdom of the Father and His personal destiny (cf. Mt 26:29; Ml 14:25, Lk 22:15-16; Jn 12:23-24). In the transforming identification of the bread and wine with the Body and Blood of Christ (real presence ), the Last Supper sacramentally anticipates the sacrifice of the new Easter as the form through which the Father accomplishes, in the Son and with the work of the Holy Spirit, His redemptive plan of salvation: Then he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me". He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for you" (Lk 22:19-20). Everyone can see the difficulty that the sacrificial language, used in Scriptures and by the tradition of the Church , encounters in today's culture . However, if one wishes to respect the full weight of the unconditional gift Jesus Christ gives of Himself, it would seem urgent today to rediscover the Eucharist as sacrifice. Jesus Christ calls upon His disciples to that integral form of worship (logiken latreían) which is the offering of one's whole life, in which the Christian is progressively molded through the full, acknowledged and active participation in the Eucharistic celebration .
The invitation to eat His Body and to drink His Blood (communion) constitutes the sure way to salvation (cf. Jn 6:47-58). Therefore, the memorial in continuity with the Jewish Passover (cf. Deut 16:1 et seg.), possesses the physical concreteness of the assumption of the Eucharistic species, safeguarded from any intellectual limitation of faith. The fruit of this action is the sacramental communion with Christ (cf. Cor. 10:16), made possible by the love with which the Spirit glorifies the flesh of the Risen. The same Spirit that moves Christ to the total giving of Himself moves His disciples to welcome Him in obedience to faith, moves them to remain in Him and to thus receive life as He receives it from the Father (cf. Jn 14:26; 16:13).
This sacrament is given for the communion of men in Christ. For Paul, the koinonia is the fruit of the Eucharist through which Christians, incorporated in Christ, become one body and participate of one Spirit (cf. Cor. 10:16-17). They are the new people of God who, guided by the successors of the apostles cum et sub the successor of Peter, go through history with the sure hope that the Risen Jesus constitutes the beginning of their personal resurrection (cf. Cor. 15:17-20).
Outside of this Eucharistic and sacramental communion the Church is not fully constituted: The Eucharist makes the Church. The new people of God (ecclesial body) is configured by the Eucharistic Body of Christ which makes sacramentally present the Body of Jesus born of the Most Holy Virgin Mary . The ecclesial body thus becomes truly molded like the Body of Christ present in time and in history, due to the bond that ties it to the Eucharistic Body of Christ. In the ritual celebration of the Eucharist the Church realizes the form itself of its identity as people gathered by the love of God.
1. A first confirmation: the Bishop, liturgist par excellence
This becomes even clearer if one looks at the venerable tradition, which has always recognized the Bishop as the liturgist par excellence and the administrator of the sacraments . The Bishop does not preside the Eucharist, due to a merely juridical reason, because he is the head" of the local church, but in remaining faithful to the commandment of the Lord who entrusted the memorial of his Paschal event to Peter and the apostles. He made them the faithful dispensers of His mysteries and, due to this, the first ones responsible for evangelical announcement to the whole world. For this reason the diocesan Bishop is the guide, the promoter and the custodian of all liturgical life. In the celebrations done under his presidency, especially the Eucharist, celebrated with the participation of the priest, the deacons and the people, the mystery of the Church is manifested". This is especially evident in the ordained Eucharistic concelebration which adequately manifests the unity of the priesthood". Communion with the Bishop is the condition for legitimizing the Eucharistic celebration in favor of the people of God. Once more the fruitfulness of the ratio sacramentalis of revelation comes to light: the ecclesial subject (personal or community) does not participate fully in redemption if he does not embrace the sacramental modalities that constitute the form that Jesus chose to remain within human events.
2. A second confirmation: the nature of the Christian temple
A second confirmation of how the Eucharistic celebration concretely makes the Church is the radical differences between the Christian temple, the pagan temple and the Judaic one. While the pagan temple and the Judaic one were characterized by the presence of the divinity and because of this presence were considered sacred and sacralized, the place" of Christian worship, in a certain sense, consists in the action itself of the celebration of the mystery. The word ecclesia indicates the action of Christian uniting. Only as a consequence it came to indicate the place itself, for this reunion, where divine presence is realized.
Also, while in the pagan temple and, in a certain sense, even the Judaic temple, the encounter of the faithful is in some way casual, in the place for Christian worship this is the constitutive element of the temple itself. Each and every faithful is the living stone of the temple (cf. 1Pt 2:5). The Spirit is the cement that unifies them (cf. Eph 2:22). This explains the care with which the Church unceasingly offers indications about the architecture and sacred art . In fact, the temples should be modeled upon the liturgical assembly in actu celebrationis, as epiphany" of the communio hierarchica that is the Church.
3. A third confirmation: Intercommunion?
A rather delicate pastoral problem, tied to the ecumenical field, allows for ulterior verification of the fact that, within the inseparable connection between the Eucharist and the Church, the causality of the Eucharist over the Church (the Eucharist makes the Church) is essential and a priority with respect to that of the Church over the Eucharist (the Church makes the Eucharist). This fact leads to underlining the decisive weight of the Eucharist in ecumenical practice.
The many developments in this matter are well known . They are, at the same time, the consequence and cause of the intense ecumenical work of the Twentieth Century. First of all, one must underline the substantial communion of faith between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church on the theme of the Eucharist and the priesthood , communion that, through a major mutual study of the Eucharistic Celebration and Divine Liturgy, is destined to grow . We should also welcome positively the new climate on the Eucharist in the ecclesial communities born at the time of the Reform. In different degrees and with few exceptions even these communities always underline the decisiveness of the Eucharist as the key element in dialogue and in ecumenical practice.
On the basis of this and other data one can understand how, even after the pronouncements by the Magisterium on this subject , this question is unceasingly asked: Can intercommunion" of the faithful belonging to different Churches and ecclesial communities constitute an adequate instrument to favor the path towards Christian unity? The answer depends upon the careful consideration of the nature of the Eucharistic action in all of its fullness as mysterium fidei . In fact, Eucharistic celebration is by its nature the profession of integral faith in the Church.
Inserting the sacrifice on the Golgotha into the Last Supper, the Lord realizes the communion of His Person with His disciples and makes it possible for all the faithful in all times and places. Participation in this communion goes beyond the ability of human love and his noble intentions. Through listening to the Word, realized fully in welcoming the offering of the Body and Blood of Christ, Eucharistic action expresses the fullness of faith and the visible unity of the faithful, which Jesus invites the apostles to join in service as priests and pastors. Only inasmuch as it realizes the full profession of apostolic faith in this mystery does the Eucharist make the Church. If it is the Eucharist that ensures the true unity of the Church, celebration or participation in the Eucharist that does not imply the respect of all the factors that concur to its fullness would end up, despite the best of intentions, by further dividing ecclesial communion and its origins. Therefore, intercommunion does not seem to be an adequate means to achieve Christian unity .
This assertion on intercommunion does not exclude that, under special circumstances and with respect for the objective conditions , one may admit to the Eucharistic communion, as panis viatorum, individual persons belonging to Churches or ecclesial communities that are not in full communion with the Catholic Church. In this case, the necessary rigor requires that we speak about Eucharistic hospitality. We are in the presence of the pastoral solicitude (historical-salvation) of the Church that encounters a particular circumstance of need of a baptized faithful . In these cases the Catholic Church allows Eucharistic communion to a non-Catholic faithful if he asks for it spontaneously, manifesting adhesion to the Catholic faith and spiritually well-disposed. The problems underlying the inadequate category of intercommunion" and the practice of Eucharistic hospitality require further reflection, starting from the intrinsic bond between the Eucharist and the Church, on the relationship between Eucharistic communion and ecclesial communion. In this sense, it might be useful for the Synodal Assembly to go back to these elements.
In responding to the urgency of the ecumenical way we must not forget the main path. Not being allowed to Eucharistic concelebration and Eucharistic communion by Christians from different Churches and ecclesial communities and the exceptional quality of Eucharistic hospitality, are not only the cause for suffering; rather, they must represent the permanent prodding for the continuous and common search for the mysterium fidei that requires all Christians to the unity in the integral profession of faith.
After having suggested some elements of a methodological sort to explain the novum of worship and Christian rite, it would now be opportune to consider closely Eucharistic action per se. First of all, the main distinctive elements of Eucharistic celebration will be examined. In a second part, some reflections on the ars celebrandi and the actuosa participatio will be proposed.
I. Distinctive elements of the Eucharistic celebration
A synthetic look at the distinctive elements of celebration of the Eucharist reveals the force of the harmonious and articulate unity of the Eucharistic rite. We do not intend, at this moment, to go back over, in a complete way, the various moments of Eucharistic celebration, but limit ourselves to identifying the essential nucleus: the inseparable unity of liturgy of the Word and Eucharistic liturgy. Starting with what has been said until now we consider it in its essential nature as gift. However, one must underline how, in the presence Eucharistically given by Jesus, the faithful are called to adoration, and how, faced with such a great mystery, they must confess their own sins asking for forgiveness. We will also mention the duty (ite missa est), which by its very own nature generates such a gift.
1. Inseparable unity of the liturgy of the Word and Eucharistic liturgy
In the historical evolution that goes from the Last Supper of Jesus Christ to the Eucharist that the Church today lives, the constitutive and permanent nucleus of the ritual action is given by the close bond between the liturgy of the Word and Eucharistic liturgy . In this unity eulogy" and Eucharist" propose to the faith of the followers of Christ the Paschal Mystery through the listening and the explanation of Scriptures (homily ), inseparable from the representation of the sacrifice (Eucharistic prayer), which culminates in communion with the bread and wine transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ . This can be seen in the compared structure of the stories about the institution, this can be drawn from the act in Emmaus, this is confirmed in the description of common life of the first Christians that Acts 2:42 shows us. Just as, without any solution of continuity, all the history of Eucharistic celebration bears witness to this, to the one delineated in today's Missal.
From this inseparable unity certain constitutive elements on the unique Eucharist of Jesus Christ that realizes the faith of Christians emerges. First of all the factor that the protagonist of the liturgical action is Jesus Christ. He, concentrating on His Person and His history in the Paschal event, reveals Himself at the same time as priest, victim and altar.
As priest, Jesus Christ, through the power of the Spirit, becomes the pontiff between God the Father and the people (cf. Heb 5:5-10). As witnessed by the stories about the Supper, He Himself interprets His priestly mission objectively in the scriptural eulogy and in the sacrificial offering. But Jesus is, at the same time, the victim of propitiation (cf. 1Jn 2, 2:4, 10) and in such a way that His priesthood implies the total donation of Himself, which is manifested in the offering of the bread and wine transformed into His given Body and in His poured Blood (sacrifice ), which the people physically take part in (communion ). This priest, who is also the victim, offers His sacrifice on the Cross . Nailed to the Cross He lowers the heavens to earth, reconciliating (redemption) man with God (cf. Eph 2:14-16; Col 1:19-20). The cross thrust in the Golgotha ends up expressing the entire universe and Christ, priest and victim, becomes one with the cross he is nailed to. Thus also becoming the cosmic altar.
This knowledge should stop the progressive weakening of the sense of mystery to which, today, many Christian communities are exposed, especially in the Eucharistic celebration. So as not to fall into a sacral vision, certainly not a Christian one, one risks, so to say, turning liturgy into a mere expression of the horizontal" dimension of the community, forgetting the vertical" one.
Jesus Christ, unique and unrepeatable protagonist of the Eucharistic rite, convokes in the Spirit the assembly of Christians, called upon to take part in faith (Creed), in an articulate and ordinate way, to the holy mysteries celebrated in his favor (Messe pro populo). In silence, in dialogue, in songs, in body gestures, Eucharistic action develops and through which salvation is communicated to the assembly of the faithful . About what has been said, we sense the need for studies on liturgical formation addressed to the entire people of God -- our catechesis should recuperate the fundamental mystagogical dimension of the first centuries -- and, in particular, to all those who are called upon to practice ministries or offices during the celebration (presbyters, deacons, readers, acolytes, ministers, schola cantorum). In articulating the offices of the celebration, which is done within the Christian temple oriented to the altar, where the ambo and the see are coordinated, the priest does his singular ministry with the particular assistance of the deacon. At the decisive moment of the celebration, he acts in persona Christi capitis ensuring, enforced by the sacrament of Holy Orders, not by chance inserted by Christ Himself within the Eucharistic institution of the Last Supper, what common Eastern and Western Tradition call sacramental economy . This is the work of the Holy Spirit invoked during the Eucharist through the epiclesi that it may activate the substantial conversion of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ and that it may generate the Eucharistic res, which is the unity of the Church .
Hence it is to be understood how the inseparable unity of the Liturgy of the word and the Eucharistic liturgy flows into sacramental communion , to which the faithful are admitted, with significant realism, through the physical act of the procession. Through the assimilation of the sacramental species, in reality, as the Church has always professed, the faithful are assimilated to Christ, incorporated in Him, for their salvation and the salvation of the world . Time and space, inescapable coordinates of the life of man, are assumed and transformed by the Eucharistic action with a view to this salvation. If the configuration of the temple manifests this transformation of space, the beauty and articulation of the Liturgical Year starting with the Easter Triduum passing through the dies Domini and the liturgical times, express in a Eucharistic way the redemption of time: this is no longer a succession of instants destined to fade away, but becomes a sacrament of the eternal.
a. The Eucharistic gift: neither right nor possession
The characteristic of gift, proper of the Eucharistic action, which implies the communication of the freedom of the Deus Trinitas in Jesus Christ, to the freedom of men asks that its gratuity never be misunderstood. Even if its absence provokes great suffering, it does not confer the faithful nor the people of God any right to the Eucharist.
For the same reason, it would be somehow a form of idolatry to think that the gift of the Eucharist could ever be possessed by man; it does not support a nearly gnostic pretension of dominion. Nor can Eucharistic adoration end up being a gaze which aims to understand the latens deitas, even if Jesus Christ, in an act of extreme self-lowering, ties Himself permanently to the species.
a1. Sunday Assemblies in Absence of Presbyter
The problem of the lack of priests can be faced with courage in the horizon of the Eucharist as a gift. This state of things has given rise to a considerable increase of dominical Assemblies in absence of a priest (Liturgies of the Word with or without the distribution of Communion, celebrations of the Liturgy of the Hours or of popular devotions) .
In regard to this it is especially important to insist on the belonging of every community, especially the Parish, to a Diocese The Eucharist is never missing in the local Diocese. For this reason it is good pastoral praxis to encourage as much as possible the participation in the Eucharist in one of the communities of the Diocese, even where that requires a certain amount of sacrifice.
In second place, it is useful to underline for the faithful the propaedeutic character of every Dominical celebration in absence of a priest." Wherever a certain amount of mobility is not possible, the appropriateness of these Assemblies will be seen in their capacity to accentuate in the people the ardent desire of the Eucharist. The sacrifices and even heroism of not a few persecuted Christians in order to live the Eucharist shows how its absence cannot ever be filled by other forms of worship, however significant. We want, in this respect to honour the extraordinary Eucharistic experience of our mourned Cardinal Van Thuan during his imprisonment.
a2. Viri probati
To overcome the lack of priests, some, guided by the principle of salus animarum suprema lex, advance the request for the ordination of married faithful, of proven faith and virtue, the so called viri probati. The request is often accompanied by the positive recognition of the validity of age-old discipline of presbyteral celibacy. However, this law should not, they affirm, impede that the Church be equipped with an adequate number of ordained ministers, when the scarcity of candidates to celibate priesthood is assuming extremely grave proportions. It is superfluous to reiterate, in this context, the profound theological motives which have lead the Latin Church to unite the conferring of Ministerial Priesthood to the Charism of celibacy. Rather, the question imposes itself: is this choice and this praxis pastorally valid, even in extreme cases such as those mentioned above? It seems reasonable to answer positively. Being intimately tied to the Eucharist, ordained priesthood participates in its nature of a gift and cannot be the object of a right. If it is a gift, ordained priesthood asks to be constantly requested for. It has become very difficult to ascertain the ideal number of priests in the Church, from the moment in which this is not a business" which should be equipped with a determined quota of team managers.
In practical terms, the urgency, which cannot be postponed, of the salus animarum urges us to reiterate with strength, especially in this See the responsibility each particular Church has with regard to the Universal Church, and for that reason also to the other particular Churches. Therefore, the proposals made in this Synodal Assembly to identify the criteria for an adequate distribution of clergy in the world, will be very useful. In this area the path to be walked seems as yet very long. Perhaps it is a good idea to remember that all during history, Providence has sustained the prophetic and educational value of celibacy, asking also for a special availability for the ministry of priesthood to the realities of consecrated life, maintaining the respect for their charism and history. One can quote here the praxis of the ordination of monks in the Oriental Church and within the Benedictine Tradition.
The essential character of the Eucharist as gift permits us to overcome, based on an attentive consideration of the rite of the Mass in its nature of liturgical action, the improper contraposition, inherited in some way from Modern Times, between the Eucharist as food to be eaten (banquet) and Eucharist as divine presence to be adored. If it is true that in the first Millennium Eucharistic Adoration was not expressed in any of the forms we now know, one should however, affirm that from the beginning, it has been very present in and to the conscience of the People of God. The second Millennium has later made explicit its value, not without drawing benefit from the controversy about the real presence in Medieval Times, and from that of the permanence of Christ in the Eucharistic species with the Reformation. During the Last Supper, in the participants, the consciousness of the concrete presence of Christ asking for adoration, identified in the consecrated bread and wine (cfr. Mk 14:22-24; Mt 26:26-28; 1 Cor 11:24-25; Lk 22:19-20), is imposing. It is, therefore, undeniable, that the practice of Eucharistic Adoration, just as is done today in the Latin Church, has made more evident a fact that belongs to the essence of faith in the Eucharistic mystery .
To make of eating and adoring alternative activities means not taking into account the integral and articulated unity of the Eucharistic Mystery . The Eucharistic meal is not just a meal shared together but the gift that Christ gives of Himself. To participate in this gift eating His Body already implies being prostrated with faith in adoration . In that way, the Adoration of the Most holy Sacrament is totally one with the celebration from which it comes and towards which it points . In the Eucharist, adoration must become union" . This full consciousness of the value of Adoration must be expressed even in the artistic-architectural relevance owed to the custody of the Most Holy Eucharist in our Churches .
Obviously, however, one must insist decisively that both the consuming of the Eucharist and Eucharistic adoration are always ecclesial acts . They cannot be conceived as an individual practice of piety. To adore Christ during consecration and communion and to adore Him present in the Tabernacle implies to recognise oneself and to act as a member of his ecclesial Body. In that way, the Eucharist is not an encounter that finished in the act of consuming, but is a permanent encounter, as is also permanent, in virtue of the Eucharistic presence, the continuous coming of the Lord in his Church .
In the light of the ecclesial nature of Adoration, it is better understood why Christian piety has united to Eucharistic adoration also the ‘reparation' for the sins of the world: before the Lord, as members of his Body, we are all responsible for each other .
3. Attitude of confession and penance
To receive, in the Eucharistic celebration, the gift of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus is the culminating expression of the following of Christ for someone who considers themselves disciple, and allows themselves be introduced into communion with Him.
The radical difference between He who gives Himself and the one who receives the gift, well documented from the disproportion between the immeasurable richness of the Pascal Event and the extreme poverty of the species of bread and wine, opens the faithful to the consciousness of the mysterium tremendum of the Eucharist. One cannot approach it without perceiving one's own unworthiness and preparing oneself asking for the forgiveness of one's sins .
In this way, not only the meaning of the Penitential Act of the Introduction Rites emerges, made solemn in particular cases by the aspersion with blessed water which recalls Baptism, but above all the intrinsic relationship between the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation .
When the faithful, incorporated in Christ through Baptism, commit a mortal sin, they separate themselves from the communion with Him and with his Church, whose fullest expression is sacramental Communion . However, the merciful Father does not abandon them, but through the medicine Jesus Himself wanted there to be, invites them to the free, personal and humble confession of their fault in order to welcome them once again in an even more intense embrace -- through contrition, confession of sins, absolution by the Minister, who also here acts in persona Christi capitis, and penance -- in communion with Him that is extended to all brothers and sisters. For this reason, an adequate Eucharistic Catechesis can never be separated from the proposal of a penitential journey (cf. 1 Cor 11:27-29) .
In the attitude of confession is where the venerable practice of the Eucharistic fast has its roots, to which, in this Assembly, it will be useful to dedicate some reflection.
a. Remarried, divorced persons and the Eucharistic Communion
From this viewpoint particular attention is merited by the special mode with which those divorced and remarried are called to live their ecclesial communion.
No one can ignore the diffused tendency of the divorced and remarried to Eucharistic communion, beyond what the Teaching of the Church indicates. It is necessary to establish that at the base of this tendency there is not only superficiality. Beyond the considerably diverse situations of the various continents, it should be recognized that -- especially in countries of a long Christian Tradition -- there are not few baptized who have been united in sacramental matrimony through a mechanical adhesion to tradition. Many of these get divorced and remarried. Following the practice of Christian life, some of these manifest serious unease and at times, considerable suffering when faced with the fact that the union after the marriage blocks their full participation in sacramental reconciliation and Eucharistic Communion. Some important doctrinal and pastoral indications have been offered by Familiaris Consortio and by other documents [. Those divorced and remarried need to be supported by the whole Christian community in the knowledge that they are not excluded from ecclesial communion. Their participation in the Eucharistic Celebration permits, in every case, that spiritual communion, if correctly lived, which mirrors the sacrifice of Jesus Christ himself. On the other hand, the Teaching of the Magisterium on this theme is not only prone to avoid the spreading of a mentality contrary to the indissolubility of marriage and the scandal of the People of God. Instead, it places us in front of the recognition of the objective bond that unites the sacrament of the Eucharist with the entire life of the Christian, and, in particular, with the sacrament of marriage .
In fact, the unity of the Church, which is always a gift of His Spouse continuously springs forth from the Eucharist. (Cf. 1Cor 10:17). Therefore, in Christian Matrimony, due to the sacramental gift of the Spirit, the conjugal bond, in its public, faithful, indissoluble and fruitful nature, is intrinsically connected to Eucharistic unity between Christ the Bridegroom and the Church as Bride (cf. Eph 5:31-32) . This way, the mutual consent that husband and wife exchange in Christ and make them a community of conjugal life and love has, so to speak, a Eucharistic form.
During the present Assembly we must further delve into and pay great attention to the complex and diversified cases, the objective modalities in verifying the hypothesis of nullity of canonical marriage; verification that, to respect the public, ecclesial and social nature of marital consent, can but, in turn, be imbued with a public, ecclesial and social characteristic . Therefore, the recognition of marital nullity must imply an objective instance, which cannot be lowered to the spouses individual consciences, not even when supported by the opinion of an illuminated spiritual guide.
However, because of this, we must continue in the work of rethinking the nature and the actions of ecclesiastic tribunals, that they may be ever more an expression of the normal pastoral life of the local Church . Beyond the continuous vigilance on times and costs, one should consider the juridical figures and procedures, simplified and more efficiently responding to pastoral care. There is no lack of significant experiences in regard to this in the various Dioceses. The Synodal Fathers, in this same Assembly, will have the opportunity to make known others. In any case, ordinary pastoral action in remote, close and immediate preparation of fiances to Christian Matrimony remains decisive, as well as the daily accompaniment to the life of the families within the grand ecclesial home. Finally, what is of particular importance is the appreciation and care for the many initiatives aimed at helping those divorced and remarried to live serenely within the Christian community, the sacrifice objectively required by their condition.
4. Ite missa est
The Eucharist is viatorum nourishment for the faithful on the path in history towards eternal life. This is a truth that, in a particular way, the liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Churches has unceasingly reproposed . The act of praise and grace that is effectuated in the Eucharistic celebration, sacramental memorial of Christ's Easter, fills the faithful with singular gratitude. This is not only manifested in the devout giving thanks" after communion, which ecclesial praxis recommends be in silence and which can be accompanied by a meditative song, but is fully expressed in the mandate to extend this communion to the whole family of humanity. This missionary result of the Eucharistic celebration does not have first and foremost the character of a duty", but that of a free witness to the progressive transformation of one's whole existence made possible by the sacramental gift, welcomed by human freedom, for all people .
Thus the witness ends up coinciding with that logiken latre an by which communion with Christ invests all the circumstances and relationships that are established in the ambit of human existence. In the past and present life of the Church, an emblematic figure of such a witness is that of the martyr. Just as Christ himself did, the martyr, by pure grace, makes of the eucharistic giving of his life an offering pleasing to the Father.
In this way and naturally, the Eucharist touches and transforms personal, communitarian and social history. This is what the evangelizing mission of the Church primarily consists in .
II. Ars celebrandi and actuosa participatio
From this vision centered on the Eucharist as an ecclesial action expressed in the unity of the Eucharistic rite -- the heart of which is the liturgy of the word intrinsically ordered to the Eucharistic one , gift welcomed in a spirit of adoration, which in turn requires an
attitude of confession and urges to mission -- emerges a fact that merits being emphasized with decision.
To affirm that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the life and mission of the Church implies above all to recognize the necessary obedience of the Church herself towards the Eucharistic sacrament. There the primacy of the traditio over the receptio is expressed: in the Last Supper the initiative is Jesus' who hands Himself over to his own; in the passage from the supper to the ecclesial liturgy Paul tells us that he is handing on that which he received (cf. 1 Cor 11:23); in differentiating the rites and in the progression of liturgical reform the guiding criteria is always that of the primacy of the traditio . For this reason in every Eucharistic celebration the community lives the experience that the apostles in the Supper already had: the faithful are called to receive the One who gives Himself.
This constitutive element of the Eucharistic action leads to a decisive pastoral consequence: the need to overcome all dualism between l'ars celebrandi and l'actuosa participatio. The conscious, active and fruitful participation of the People of God -- above all on the occasion of the dominical precept -- in truth coincides with adequate celebration of the holy mysteries. Once again the proper characteristic of the Eucharist as gift comes to the fore. If and when the art of the celebration is objectively taken care of, participation in it can become plena, conscia ed actuosa . It's a question of obeying the Eucharistic rite in its extraordinary completeness, recognizing its canonical and constitutive strength, from the moment that, not incidentally, it has assured the existence of the Holy Church of God for two thousand years.
With regard to the various cultural sensitivities, this criteria should orientate the modality in which one solicits the participation of all faithful in the rite itself. In order to not limit oneself to the mere repetition of formula and gestures this asks for the conscious self-offering of each faithful who actualize in this way the Baptismal priesthood of the People of God. In this context one can also appreciate the enormous utility of the liturgical norms that the Holy See, the Episcopal Conferences and the Ordinaries make available to the Churches. In this framework all the ministers and offices connected to the liturgical rite are included and lived. Their function is not that of gratifying whoever carries them out, as an inappropriate and actually quite exterior idea of the active participation of the faithful suggests. Their essential action has as its aim to assure the beauty and objective dignity of the celebration for the whole Assembly . Without being able to enter in the important specific problems, it will be useful in this report to recall that art also, placed at the service of Eucharistic action -- especially in that which regards vestments, altar cloths and holy vessels -- as also song and music, receive in their turn full light from the ars celebrandi. They contribute to the actuosa participatio if they respect this objective ars celebrandi.
Anthroplological, cosmological and social dimensions of the Eucharist
I. Two Premises
The consideration of the Eucharistic rite as a sacramental action that is, by itself, capable of presenting the Eucharist as source and summit of the life and mission of the Church, would not be complete if one did not show its transforming strength in the personal and communitarian life of the faithful and, through that, its fruitfulness towards the family of humanity and all peoples. In other words, the Eucharist conferring Eucharistic form on human existence, influences not only individuals and ecclesial communities, but through these also society, cultures, as well as determining the interaction of human beings with the universe.
1. Eucharist and Evangelization
The uniqueness of the Easter event , which gives origin to the intrinsic unity of the Eucharist and the Church documented in the one act of worship which is the Eucharistic rite, engenders as well the profound unity between the life and the mission of the Christian and that of the whole Church. The common witness of the free and satisfying encounter with Christ flows into the proclamation and invitation to all the family of humanity, excluding nobody, to take part in the life of the Christian community. Pursuing in the community an education in gratuity, in thinking like Christ and in universality, Christians are driven to commit themselves with all human beings on a cultural, ecological and social level.
Conceived in that way, the daily life of the Christian individual (Eucharistic spirituality) always both personal and communitarian, puts into practice, in a tangible way the evangelization and new evangelization in which human promotion is always implied.
2. Eucharist, Intercultural nature and Inculturation
Evangelization, by the nature of man and in force of the dynamism of the Incarnation, is always historically situated and called to interact with the most diverse cultures. One can well understand that care that, after the Second Vatican Council has been given by the various Churches to the process of inculturation of the liturgical rites. This urgency has been reiterated by the Magisterium many times in the last decades . It is worth while remembering that the decisive condition for the necessary development of this important process which, by its very nature requires to be submitted to constant verification, is the previous recognition of the original intercultural nature of the event celebrated. The Eucharistic celebration represents the Paschal Event which itself puts the conditions for its communicability to all human cultures. This is made possible by the universal Singularity of the Person and the story of Jesus Christ who, precisely through the Incarnation assumes the entire human condition. In order to express the intercultural dimension of the Eucharist it is valuable -- especially in occasions of big international celebrations or in Churches where there is a relevant number of foreign visitors -- the use of the Latin language.
With regard to this perspective, the use of the vernacular and the considered use of particular expressive forms in the rites, temples, decor and songs to celebrate the Eucharistic action, which should always and in every latitude remain the unique Eucharist instituted by Christ , can become fruitful and paradigmatic expressions of the need for inculturation for evangelization .
If a condition for inculturation is the recognition of the intercultural nature of the mystery celebrated, then by its very nature every Inculturation implies a continuous evangelization of the culture itself. This will not lack an unavoidable critical" instance towards the culture in which a specific Christian community find itself to live and celebrate.
Interreligious dialogue also finds a space in the balanced link between evangelization and inculturation assured by the very nature of the Eucharist . It is indeed an intrinsic moment of the faith of the Christian community, which is decisive in a missionary context, and especially in the populated Asian continent. In this context, it is advisable to look with attention at the Oriental Churches to draw profit from their experience.
II. Anthropological Dimension of the Eucharist
If the Eucharist is the gift of the sacramental encounter between humanity and the God of Jesus Christ who makes us truly free" (Jn 8:36), then such an event has by its very nature a fundamental anthropological dimension.
The transformation of existence by the work of the Eucharistic action is documented above all in the tension of Christians in the following of Christ. Many times Paul affirms that the existence of the new creature unfolds entirely in Christ (cf. Rm 6:11; Gal 2:20) . In the communion with the Body and Blood of Christ the Deus Trinitas comes to the encounter of human beings. His irruption in daily life offers human beings the possibility of not enclosing themselves in their own finitude and sin.
This personal gift extends itself with naturality in communion among Christians: the unity of the Church is, as we already remembered, the res of the sacrament. As the new Testament narrations document of the first community, the sacramental genesis assures the objectivity of communion that tends to permeate all the spiritual and material aspects of Christian existence (cf. Acts 2:42-44; 4:32-33) . Doctrine, morals, ascesis, and spirituality are not expressions of a generic religiosity, but rather, due to their Eucharistic root they become unitary articulations of the achievement of God's plan for every person and for all of history: make of Christ the heart of the world" . This way, all life is conceived as vocation and this agrees with that imitatio Christi witnessed through the ages by the saints in the diverse states of life. Christian existence follows the master's footprints, tending to eternity at the same time as responsibly and constructively attentive to every implication of history . Announcement and witness, catechesis, personal and communitarian Christian education, sharing with man and its expressions, made of sentiments, work and rest, to the point of confronting the burning anthropological questions that today shake l'humanem (love, marriage, family, life, sickness, death), are for the Christian objectively implied aspects of the Sunday Eucharistic celebration.
III. Cosmological dimension of the Eucharist
In the Eucharistic action which in the last instance rests on the unity in Christ Jesus of priest, victim and altar, the new creature is lead to continuously renew his relationship with matter and with the universe . St. Paul emphasises the relationship between the fruitful labour of the new creature and that of the new creation (cf. Rm 8:19-23; 2 Cor 5:17). Anthropological labour and cosmological labour are united in the ever-present eschatological perspective. It is important to underline the cosmological dimension of the Eucharist as documented from ancient times by the very orientation of the Christian temple.
The Eucharistic form of existence allows us to avoid at its root, at least in principle, two serious risks that would heavily compromise the man-cosmos relationship.
On the one hand that of an exaggerated anthropocentrism which makes of man the absolute owner of creation. In the presentation of the gifts (fruit of the earth and the work of human labour: the bread and wine to which water is united) it is expressed explicitly that the protagonists of the relationship man-creation are not only two, the community of men and the universe, but three. Confirming what is already contained in the second account of creation (cf. Gn 2:4b-25) there is a Third who puts human beings and creation into relationship with each other: God who, from the beginning, places man in the garden" so that he would cultivate and take care of it. Man and the universe are joined in the sole historia salutis guided by God. In redemption, Christ opens the perspective of the final glorification of humanity and of the universe, definitively redimensioning every anthropocentric pretension.
On the other hand, the balanced relationship between God, humanity and the universe -- made explicit by the Eucharist excludes any biocentrism or ecocentrism which would lead to eliminating the ontological and axiological difference between man and all other living beings . The cosmological dimension of the Eucharist finds a truly significant symbol in the life of St. Francis of Assisi. The famous Hymn to brother sun appears as a powerful poetically significant documentation of the position of the person who lives a Eucharistically defined existence and who, because of this, knows how to recognize every creature in their bond with God: Praise to you my Lord, with all your creatures". The conscience of St. Francis expresses an attitude of gratitude to God for and with all things. Gratitude that he learns precisely from the Eucharistic mystery of which in his time and not by chance he was an admirable cantor and defender, in obedience to the decrees of the IV Lateran Council .
In addition, the communitarian dimension of the Eucharistic action allows Christians to not forget that the creation-cosmos is a common and universal good and that commitment to the same is extended not only to the demands of the present, but also to those of the future. For that reason, responsibility towards creation takes on the aspect of a caring for this dwelling place which, in a certain sense prolongs the body, and should find an adequate translation at educational, social and juridical levels which would both respect in it the value of dwelling place and resource .
Also the Christian temple and in it the Chapel or the area reserved for the monstrance and for adoration with the tabernacle, expressing the care for the abode of the Eucharistic and ecclesial body of Jesus Christ, can become valuable educational resources for the ecclesial assembly for a correct relationship between human beings and creation.
IV. Social dimension of the Eucharist
The total gift of Himself, Eucharistically assured by Christ for the people of all time, is for the salvation of all. In this sense the Eucharist is for the world. The synoptic Gospels remind us in the decisive parable about the good wheat and the darnel that the commitment in the following of Christ has as its field the world (cf. Mt 13:38). It jumps to the eyes how the Eucharist possesses an intrinsic social dimension, inseparable from the cosmological and anthropological one. The history of the Church, rich in works of charity and creative yeast of relevant civil and political institutions documents it with abundance of elements. In the work of these days, the occasion to have ulterior confirmation of it from the particular Churches here represented, will not be lacking.
Charity is essentially Eucharistic , just as the Eucharist is charity . The alms that the faithful give on the occasion of the Sunday celebration indicates with clarity the importance of this bond. Among the innumerable witnesses of holiness linked to charity we want to remember that of Blessed Theresa of Calcutta. Her charism, deeply marked by the relationship with the Eucharistic sacrament, knew how to recognize the love of Christ as an inextinguishable source of sharing towards the poorest and most abandoned dying.
In today's framework, marked by the violent transition from modernity to a new cultural and geopolitical configuration (post-modernity?), social urgencies which the Christian who lives his own existence in a Eucharistic form should face, appear particularly differentiated and acute. Globalization, network society, the new horizons opened by biotechnology and the process of inevitable fusing of different peoples and cultures, unfortunately accompanied by wars, terrorism and inhuman violence, makes the urgency of social justice and peace not tolerate delay. The situation of poverty and, not rarely, that of endemic hardship, to which a large portion of the population of the globe, especially in Africa, is condemned, constitutes a wound which inescapably judges the authenticity with which Christians of every latitude live the Eucharist. To gather every Sunday, anywhere on earth, to have part of the same Body and the same Blood of Christ imposes the duty of a tenacious battle against all forms of marginalization and economic, social and political injustice to which our brothers and sisters, especially women and children, are submitted.
The forms of this battle demand adequate criteria derived from the proportional relationship between charity and justice that since apostolic times the Eucharist has demanded as necessary for life in common (cf. 1 Cor 11:17-22; Jm 2:1-6). The Christian community, conscious of its unique nature, should continue with the appropriate analysis and put into place the relevant distinctions, to see the adequate means to confront an evil which today has taken on world-wide dimensions and more than ever cries revenge in the presence of God (cf. Gn 4:10). It would seem evident that dealing with such a relevant question as is that of social justice, cannot be separated from the untiring duty of seeking peace. As well as this, the relationship peace-Eucharist, well expressed in the Latin rite of the fraternal embrace which precedes communion is based on the unbreakable conviction that Christ is our peace" (Eph 2:14). The Eucharistic root of the Christian's work for peace will keep him safe from two grave temptations in this respect. That of utopic pacifism, on the one hand, and that of a type of Realpolitik on the other, which considers war inevitable. Peace, instead, is a serious and difficult task which is ever before us and must be patiently pursued everyday in our own persons and in all our relationships, starting with those family ones, passing through the intermediate communities to finally reach international relationships.
These decisive social implications of Eucharistic action require the contribution by Christians for the edification of a civil society in the diverse cultural areas of humanity. Based on the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, constitutive of the social teaching of the Church, Christians promote a civil society based on dignity and the rights of the person, first of all the right to religious freedom, and that of all intermediate bodies, in particular the family. In the same direction, Christians contribute, with all men of good will and in respect for what is for the most part the plural nature of society, to the promotion of state and international institutions that favour good government. Beyond the promotion and regulation of a good life at the level of individual nations, these should come together to what is by now an urgent necessity to build a new world order based on rules that are shared and binding, that guarantee all peoples the possibility of a balanced and integral development of the natural and human resources.
Eucharistic existence in contemporary trials
In the encounter with freedom that liturgical action favors, for two thousand years the experience of amazement has been renewed for man, with particular intensity by the Eucharistic Rite. In the practice of the rite itself, in the lowering of the risen Son who died on the cross and is risen and through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Father shows Himself, gives Himself and expresses Himself to man. In the eulogy and in the Eucharist, in listening to the word and in the consummation of the sacrifice, the faithful worshiper of God, after the confiteor, is accepted to communication with the Body that redeems, due to the unrepeatable event of the Easter of Jesus, and is sent to bear witness to the redemption of the whole world.
The Eucharist becomes at the same time the source and the summit of the life and mission of the Church in the self-same action in which it is celebrated. The Paschal event, the Eucharist and the Church thus achieve the concrete form through which, throughout history, the Trinty encounters all men for their salvation.
The marvels of divine grace are enclosed in the holy species of the bread and the wine transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ. In these, the Son of God, made man, dead and risen, willingly remains given: awaiting the free involvement of man. The Church celebrates these mysteries, is nourished by this heavenly food and adores Him, recognising in the sacramental Jesus the Way to the Truth and to Life. Man who by grace receives this gift has each time a singular experience. The loving mercy of the Trinity breaks into the mechanical succession of the instances of his time, creates there a beneficial discontinuity which provokes a decision. Then realising at the abysmal difference between the infinite freedom of God which is given eucharistically and the limitation of human freedom the faithful abandons himself to Christ, and transforms his existence into a living offering.
This takes on a true and personal eucharistic form on a personal and social level.
The physiognomy of the Christian and the community of the faithful live by this Eucharistic form which progressively transforms the rhythms of personal existence, while contributing to the building of a good live even on a social level. Birth, growing up, being educated, love, suffering and death are signed by the eucharistic power articulated in the whole seven day sacramental and, because of the Eucharist, the life of Christians and of the communities draws benefit from receiving the gifts of the Spirit, from the increase in virtues, from the discovery that God's commandments, authentically obeyed, are the fulfilment of love. The relationship of the redeemed man with the universe is deeply renewed, while with ever-increasing energy, Christians are urged towards a radical commitment for social justice and the achievement of peace above all in these uniquely troubled times in which all cultural areas in the world find themselves, the Christian, living his own communitarian existence in an eucharistic form, becomes a tireless proclaimer and witness of Jesus Christ and of His Gospel in all fields of human existence: from the local district to the school, to the workplace, to the world of culture, of economics, of politics, of social communications etc.
Christian communities, eucharistically founded, become the place in which every individual can experience that the following of Christ opens to eternal life, offering, already from within history, the hundredfold (cf. Mt 19:29). Women and men from all classes, races and cultures, may at any time in their lives, meet other men and women, Christians, who due to their Eucharistic existence, propose themselves as discreet companions of a path of freedom.
II. A Final Wish
This Eucharistic form of the personality and of the Christian community is not a utopia. It already fully lives in Mary, the Eucharistic woman. By her fiat Mary is the symbol of the Eucharistic gift of self and of the immaculate Church . The Fathers and the Magisterium of the Church have always underlined the inseparable relationship between Mary and the Church. Pope John Paul II, defining Her as the Eucharistic woman , called by name the form of this relationship. In fact this flourishes on the Mother's unique participation in the fulfilled offering of Self made by the Son.
We ask the Immaculate Virgin and all the Saints that the works of this Synodal Assembly may be carried out in the beneficial horizon of this Eucharistic form.
* * *
John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 6.
Cf. ibid., 5-6.
Cf. John Paul II, Redemptor hominis 10.
John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 6: I would like to rekindle this Eucharistic amazement by the present Encyclical Letter, in continuity with the Jubilee heritage".
Cf. Missale Romanum, Oratio Post Communionem, I Dominica Adventus.
Gaudium et spes 22.
Cf. Gaudium et spes 14.
Thomas reminds us that with baptism man is regenerated in Christ (regeneratur in Christo), while with the Eucharist man perfects his union with Christ (perficitur in unione ad Christum). This is why while baptism is called the sacrament of faith" (sacramentum fidei), which is the foundation of spiritual life; the Eucharist is called the sacrament of charity" (sacramentum caritatis) which is the perfect tie" (vinculum perfectionis) according to St. Paul (Col 3:14)", Thomas, Summa Theologiae III, q. 73, a. 3.
Cf. Augustine, Comment on the Gospel according to Saint John 69, 2.
Where is the people of God" spoken of so much, and spoken of today, where? This sui generis ethnic entity that distinguishes and qualifies itself by its religious and messianic characteristics (priestly and prophetic, if you wish), where everything converges upon
Christ, as its central focus, and all that derives from Christ? How is it paged? How is characterized? How is it organized? How does it practice its ideal and tonic mission in society, in which it is immersed? Well, we know that the people of God now, historically, has a name much more familiar to all; it is the Church", Paul VI, General audience, July 23rd 1975.
John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 5.
In the Eucharist the entire mystery of our salvation is summarized (totum mysterium nostrae salutis comprehenditur)", Thomas, Summa Theologiae III, q. 83, a. 4. The Eucharist is the greatest of all the marvels made by Christ, the admirable documentation of his immense love for men", Thomas, Opusc. 57, on the Feast day of Corpus Domini.
Reunited on the day of the Lord, Sunday, having broken the bread and given grace, after having confessed your sins, that your sacrifice may be pure", Didachè 14, 1. Also cf. Justinian, I Apologia 67.
Sacrosanctum Concilium 9.
Dei Verbum 4: Then, after speaking in many and varied ways through the prophets, "now at last in these days God has spoken to us in His Son" (Heb 1:1-2). For He sent His Son, the eternal Word, who enlightens all men, so that He might dwell among men and tell them of the innermost being of God (see Jn 1:1-18). Jesus Christ, therefore, the Word made flesh, was sent as "a man to men." (3) He "speaks the words of God" (Jn 3:34), and completes the work of salvation which His Father gave Him to do (see Jn 5:36; Rev 17:4). To see Jesus is to see His Father (Jn 14:9). For this reason Jesus perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of making Himself present and manifesting Himself: through His words and deeds, His signs and wonders, but especially through His death and glorious resurrection from the dead and final sending of the Spirit of truth. Moreover He confirmed with divine testimony what revelation proclaimed, that God is with us to free us from the darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to life eternal.".
Thomas, In I Sent., Prol.: "Ego sapientia effudi flumina" Sir 24, 40 - Venit Filius et illa flumina olim occulta effudit nomen Trinitatis publicando".
John Paul II, Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday 2005 n. 1.
John Paul II, Fides et ratio 13: In a sense, then, we return to the sacramental character of Revelation and especially to the sign of the Eucharist, in which the indissoluble unity between the signifier and signified makes it possible to grasp the depths of the mystery. In the Eucharist, Christ is truly present and alive, working through his Spirit; yet, as Saint Thomas said so well, what you neither see nor grasp, faith confirms for you, leaving nature far behind; a sign it is that now appears, hiding in mystery realities sublime". (16) He is echoed by the philosopher Pascal: Just as Jesus Christ went unrecognized among men, so does his truth appear without external difference among common modes of thought. So too does the Eucharist remain among common bread".
Cf. Instrumentum laboris n. 25.
Together with the disciples he celebrated the Passover of Israel, the memorial of God's liberating action that led Israel from slavery to freedom", Benedict XVI, Homily for the Holy Mass for the celebration of the XX World Youth Day on the plains of Marienfeld (August 21st 2005).
Instrumentum laboris, Preface.
Eucharistic Prayer III.
C. Thomas, Summa Theologiae III, q. 63, a. 6; q. 65, a. 3; q. 75, a. 1 and a. 3. Also cf. John Paul II, Redemptor hominis 20.
In fact, leading a life based on the sacraments and animated by the common priesthood means in the first place that Christians desire God to act in them in order to enable them to attain, in the Spirit, "the fullness of Christ himself."( (Eph 4:13. God, on His part, does not touch them only through events and by this inner grace; He also acts in them with greater certainty and power through the sacraments. The sacraments give the lives of Christian sacramental style. Now, of all the sacraments it is the Holy Eucharist that brings to fullness their initiation as Christians and confers upon the exercise of the common priesthood that sacramental and ecclesial form that links it -- as we mentioned before -- to the exercise of the ministerial priesthood. In this way Eucharistic worship is the center and goal of all sacramental life. (cf. AG, 9 et 13; PO, 5)", John Paul II, Dominicae Cenae 7.
Eucharistic Prayer II.
You give the Church of Christ the celebration of the ineffable mysteries in which the our smallness as mortal creatures is subliminated in an eternal relationship, and our existence in time begins to flourish in a life without end", Preface to the XIX Week Per Annum of the Ambrosian Missal.
Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1402-1405.
Eucharistic Prayer I: Almighty God, we pray that your angel may take this sacrifice to your altar in heaven. Then, as we receive from this altar the sacred body and blood of your Son, let us be filled with every grace and blessing". Also cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium 8.
Cf. Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani (April 20th 2000) 379-385.
Cf. Paul VI, Mysterium fidei 35-46; Catechism of the Catholic Church 1373-1381; John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 15.
The texts of Mark and of Matthew (Mk 14:22-24; Mt 26:26-28) refer to the Sinaitic alliance (cf. Ex 24:8), while Luke and Paul (Lk 22:19-20; Cor. 11:23 et seg.) to the promise of a new alliance (cf. Ger 31, 31-34). As for the magisterium cf.: Council of Trent, Sessio XXII. Doctrina de Ss. Missae sacrificio, DS 1738-1759; Pius XII, Mediator Dei, Part II; Paul VI, Mysterium fidei, 27-32; John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 12-13.
Cf. John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 13.
Cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium 14.
"If you do not eat" -- he says -- "the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (Jn 6:53). This would seem like ordering a crime or a repugnant act. In reality in stead it is a figurative expression with which one is ordered to participate in the passion of the Lord", Augustine, Christian doctrine, III, 16, 24.
Then comes the Holy Spirit, the fire after the water and thus you become bread, that is the body of Christ", Augustine, Speeches, 227, 1. This is the sacrifice of Christians: we, being many, are one body in Christ. And this also is the sacrifice which the Church continually celebrates in the sacrament of the altar, known to the faithful, in which she teaches that she herself is offered in the offering she makes to God", Augustine, The City of God, X, 6.
The Eucharist becomes the image of the unity of the Church just as the bread is made up of many grains, which milled together, form one thing. cf. Didachè, 9, 4; Augustine, Comment on the Gospel according to Saint John, 26, 17.
What we are consecrating is the body born of the Virgin", Thomas, Summa Theologiae III, q. 75, a. 4. Aquinas explicitly quotes the De Sacramentis by saint Ambrose. Cf. also Pascasio Radberto, De corpore et sanguine Domini, VII: Quibus modis dicitur corpus Christi": CChCM, 16, 37-40.
The virtue of this bread is unity, in the sense that, transformed into the Body of Christ, having become its members, we are what we receive. Then this will truly be our daily bread", Augustine, Speeches, 57, 7, 7.
Congregation for Divine worship and the discipline of the sacraments, Redemptionis sacramentum (March 25th 2004) 19-25.
Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani (April 20th 2000) 22.
Sacrosanctum Concilium 57.
Cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium 122-129; Sacred congregation of rites, Inter Oecumenici 90-99; Sacra Congregatio Rituum, Eucharisticum Mysterium 24, 52-57; Congregation for Divine worship, Liturgiae instaurationes 70; Catechism of the Catholic Church 1179-1186; John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 49.
Cf. John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 21-23.
Apart from the important invitation of Unitatis redintegratio 22 we limit to remembering the main documents from the various interconfessional dialogues on the Eucharist. Cf. Mixed international Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, The mystery of the Church and the Eucharist in light of the mystery of the holy Trinity (Munich June 30th - July 6th 1982), in Enchiridion Oecumenicum 1/2183-2197; Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, Doctrine on the Eucharist: Declaration of Windsor 1971, in Enchiridion Oecumenicum 1/16-28; Anglican Consultative council - Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, The Church as communion (Joint Declaration 1990), in Enchiridion Oecumenicum 3/ 38-106; Clarifications of Certain Aspects of the Agreed Statements on Eucharist and Ministry of the First Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, together with a Letter from Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (1993), in Enchiridion Oecumenicum 3/107-124; Clarifications of Certain Aspects of the Agreed Statements on Eucharist and Ministry of the First Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, together with a Letter from Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (Declaration by the Co-Presidents, 1994), Enchiridion Oecumenicum 3/305-314; Clarifications of Certain Aspects of the Agreed Statements on Eucharist and Ministry of the First Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, together with a Letter from Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (Letter by Card. Cassidy to the co-Presidents of the ARCIC II, 1994), in Enchiridion Oecumenicum 3/ 315-317; Gemeinsame römisch-katholische/evangelisch-lutherische Kommission, Das Herrenmahl (1978), in Enchiridion Oecumenicum 1/1207-1307; Mixed Commission on reformed roman catholic studies, Official report on the dialogue (1979-1977) on The presence of Christ in the Church and in the world, Rome, March 1977, in Enchiridion Oecumenicum 1/2383-2408; Commission Faith and Constitution of the Ecumenical Council of Churches, One baptism, one Eucharist and a Mutually Recognized Ministry. Three agreed statements, Accra July 23rd - August 5th 1974, in Enchiridion Oecumenicum 1/2860-3031; Id., Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (Document of Lima), in Enchiridion Oecumenicum 1/3032-3181; Secretariat for the Union of Christians, Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry", Faith and Order Paper n. 111 (BEM). A catholic response (July 21st 1987), in Enchiridion Vaticanum 10/1914-2078.
Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Communionis notio (May 28th 1992) 17.
Even though we may not yet agree on the issue of the interpretation and importance of the Petrine Ministry, we are nonetheless together in the apostolic succession, we are deeply united with one another through episcopal ministry and through the sacrament of priesthood, and together profess the faith of the Apostles as it is given to us in Scripture and as it was interpreted at the great Councils. At this time in a world full of skepticism and doubt but also rich in the desire for God, let us recognize anew our common mission to witness to Christ the Lord together, and on the basis of that unity which has already been given to us, to help the world in order that it may believe. And let us implore the Lord with all our hearts to guide us to full unity so that the splendor of the truth, which alone can create unity, may once again become visible in the world", Benedict XVI, Homily for the Solemnity of saints Peter and Paul (June 29th 2005).
Vatican Council II teaches: This communicatio" is governed by two principles: bearing witness to the unity of the Church; the sharing in the means of grace. Witness to the unity of the Church very generally forbids common worship to Christians, but the grace to be had from it sometimes commends this practice", Unitatis redintegratio 8. Also cf.: Orientalium Ecclesiarum 26-29; Secretariatus ad christianorum unitatem fovendam, Directorium ad ea quae a Concilio Vaticano II de re oecumenica promulgata sunt exsequenda, Pars prima Ad totam Ecclesiam (May 14th 1967); Pars altera Spiritus Domini (April 16th 1970); Instructio In quibus rerum circumstantiis de peculiaribus casibus admittendi alios christianos ad communionem eucharisticam in Ecclesia cattolica (June 1st 1972); Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Directory for the application of the principles and norms on Ecumenism III (March 25th 1993); John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 43-46.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1327: In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: "Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking (Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, Adversus haereses, 4, 18, 5)".
Cf. John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 44.
Cf. Codex Iuris Canonici 844; Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium 671; Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Directory for the application of the principles and norms on Ecumenism n. 123-125, 130-132. In this case, in fact, the intention is to meet a grave spiritual need for the eternal salvation of an individual believer, not to bring about an intercommunion which remains impossible until the visible bonds of ecclesial communion are fully re-established", John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 45.
Cf. John Paul II, Ut Unum sint 46.
Sacrosanctum Concilium 56: The two parts which, in a certain sense, go to make up the Mass, namely, the liturgy of the word and the Eucharistic liturgy, are so closely connected with each other that they form but one single act of worship".
The delicacy and the extraordinary importance of the question should give way, in the present Synodal Assembly, to vast confrontation aimed at gathering and evaluating the most diverse witnesses on the preparation, the contents and the modalities of communication proper to the homily.
It is important to take note about the relationship between Scriptures and the Eucharist, the fact that the sacramental celebration constitutes the paradigmatic context of the reading of Holy Scripture and its interpretation.
Habens ergo novus sacerdos, non iam vetus Melchisedech, neque natus caro de carne, non de sudore suo, neque de terra, cui misere et multiplicate servit; sed novus Iesus natus de Spiritu spiritus, de donis ac datis divinis, de coelo coelestem hostiam carnis et sanguinis offert, dicens, non ut prius timide, neque hostiam servitutis, sed cum exsultatione et laetitia", Isaac of the Star, Epistola De officio missae: PL 194, 1894 B-C.
Cf. Paul VI, Mysterium fidei 26-34; Catechism of the Catholic Church 1362-1372; John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 12-13.
Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1384-1390; John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 16-17.
The victim to be killed is no longer chosen from the herd of animals; sheep or goats are no longer lead to the sacred altars: the sacrifice of our days is now the body and blood of the Priest himself. This has been since the time of the Psalms as was prophesied by him: you are priest eternal according to the order of Melchisedech" (Psa 10:4)", Augustine, Speech 228/B, 1. It was first consumed from his hands in the mystic supper, when he took and broke the bread, and then on the cross, when he was nailed to it. In that moment, having received the dignity of the priesthood or, better, since he had always had that, accomplishing it with all his works, consumed the sacrifice that was to be offered for us", Hesychius of Jerusalem, Comment on the Leviticus, 1, 4.
Father, we celebrate the memory of Christ, your Son. We, your people and you ministers, recall his passion, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension into glory, and from the many gifts you have given us we offer to you, God of glory and majesty, this holy and perfect sacrifice, the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation", Eucharistic Prayer I.
Cf. Pier Damiani, Liber qui appellatur, Dominus vobiscum, X: PL 144, 238 D - 239 A.
Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1076.
Cf. Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogical Catechesis, 5, 7.
[...] ut omnes in Christo unum simus [Gal 3, 38]. [...] Unitas Ecclesiae ex personis innumerabilibus, diversi sexus, diversae conditionis, diversi ordinis, diversaeque professionis, multis modis solet significari. Hoc autem loco ab Apostolo significatur per unitatem panis et unitatem corporis", Baldwin of Ford, The sacrament of the altar, II, 4: SC 94, 362. Also cf. John Chrysostome, Homily on Pentecost, 1, 4.
Cf. Sacra Congregatio Rituum, Eucharisticum mysterium (25 May 1967) 31-41; Sacra Congregatio de Disciplina Sacramentorum, Immensae caritatis (29 January 1973); Sacra Congregatione pro Cultu Divino, Eucharistiae sacramentum (21 June 1973) 13-78; Sacra Congregatio pro Sacramentis et Cultu Divino, Inaestimabile donum (3 April 1980) 1-19; Congregation for the divine worship and the discipline of the sacraments, Redemptionis sacramentum (25 March 2004) 80-107.
*Novum plane quod carnis Dominicae substantia, in aliena specie sumpta, sanctificationis virtutem animae confert+, Gilberto di Hoyland, In cantica. Sermo VIII, 8: PL 184, 46 D.
*Truly great and ineffable is the sacrament, in which we really eat your flesh and truly drink your blood: mystery which instills us with terror and fear, whose height defies human sight which seeks to scrutinise it. [And] the sacrifice of our redemption, by the exercise of my ministry, be spread by your compassion and your gift until bringing salvation for all faithful, living and dead." John of Fecamp, Theological Confessions, III Part, 28.
Cf. Congregatio pro Clericis et Aliae, Instr. Ecclesiae de Mysterio (15 agosto 1997); Congregatio pro Cultu Divino et Disciplina Sacramentorum, Directorium de celebrationibus dominicalibus absente presbytero (2 giugno 1988).
The diocese, as taught by Vatican Council II, is a portion of the people of God which is entrusted to a bishop to be shepherded by him with the cooperation of the presbytery. Thus by adhering to its pastor and gathered together by him through the Gospel and the Eucharist in the Holy Spirit, it constitutes a particular church in which the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and operative", Christus Dominus 11.
Cf. The Rule of St. Benedict 62, 1
Theological Tradition and the Teaching of the Church has made use of the category of transubstantiation exactly in order to express this essential aspect of Eucharistic faith more adequately. Cf. Council of Trent, Sessio XIII, Decretum de S. Eucharistia, DS 1642 and 1652; Paul VI, Mysterium fidei 40 and 47; John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 15.
Cf. XI General Ordinary Assembly of Bishops, The Eucharist, source and summit of the Life and Mission of the Church. The Lineamenta. 60
Based on what St Augustine can say: No one eats that flesh without first having adored it" adding that if one does eat that flesh without first adoring it is a sin, cf. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 98, 9.
John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 25, The worship of the Eucharist outside of the Mass is of inestimable value for the life of the Church. This worship is strictly linked to the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The presence of Christ under the sacred species reserved after Mass – a presence which lasts as long as the species of bread and of wine remain – derives from the celebration of the sacrifice and is directed towards communion, both sacramental and spiritual […] If in our time Christians must be distinguished above all by the art of prayer", [NMI 32] how can we not feel a renewed need to spend time in spiritual converse, in silent adoration, in heartfelt love before Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament?"
Benedict XVI, Homily of the Holy Mass for the Celebration of the XX World Youth Day, at Marienfeld, (21st August, 2005).
Cf. Codex Iuris Canonici 938
Cf. Sacra Congregatio Rituum, Eucharisticum Mysterium, (May 25th 1967) 49-67; Sacro Congregatio pro cultu Divino, Eucharistae sacramentum (June 21st 1973) 1-12, 79-112; Sacra Congregatio pro Sacramentis et Cultu Divino, Inaestimabile donum, (April 3rd 1980) 20-27; Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship and Sacramental Discipline Redemptionis sacramentum (March 25th 2004) 129-145.
The Eucharistic presence of Christ -- his sacramental I am with you" -- allows the Church to more deeply discover its own mystery as stated in all the ecclesiology of Vatican Council II, in which the Church is in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race"(LG 1). As a sacrament, the Church is a development from the Paschal Mystery of Christ's "departure," living by his ever new "coming" by the power of the Holy Spirit, within the same mission of the Paraclete-Spirit of truth", John Paul II, Dominum et vivificantem 63.
John Paul II, Mane Nobiscum Domine 18: Let us take the time to kneel before Jesus present in the Eucharist, in order to make reparation by our faith and love for the acts of carelessness and neglect, and even the insults which our Saviour must endure in many parts of the world". Whoever nears the Eucharist in a state of sin is worse than a demon", John Chrysostome, Homilies on the Gospel according to Matthew, 82:6. Therefore, everywhere the ordered development of the mystery is respected: first one proceeds to the remedy of the wounds through the remission of sins, then the food from the heavenly table is given in abundance", Ambrose, Exposition on the Gospel according to Saint Luke, 6:71.
Cf. Council of Trent, Sessio XIII. Decretum de Ss. Eucharistia, DS 1661.
Cf. John Paul II, Reconciliatio et Paenitentia 17 and 27; Catechism of the Catholic Church 1385.
Not all medicine s are good for all illnesses. [...] Similarly, Baptism and Penance are like purifying medicines (medicinae purgativae) given to take away the fever of sin. The Eucharist, instead, is a tonic (medicina confortativa), which should not be conceded, if not only to those already free of sin", Thomas, Summa Theologiae III, q. 80, a. 4, ad 2um.
Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1449-1460.
John Paul II, Redemptor hominis 20: Without this constant ever renewed endeavour for conversion, partaking of the Eucharist would lack its full redeeming effectiveness and there would be a loss or at least a weakening of the special readiness to offer God the spiritual sacrifice In which our sharing in the priesthood of Christ is expressed in an essential and universal manner".
Cf. John Paul Paolo II, Familiaris consortio 84; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on receiving Eucharistic communion by the divorced and remarried faithful, September 14 1994.
Cf. John Paul II, Familiaris consortio 57.
John Paul II, Mulieris dignitatem 26: We find ourselves at the very heart of the Paschal Mystery, which completely reveals the spousal love of God. Christ is the Bridegroom because "he has given himself": his body has been "given", his blood has been "poured out" (cf. Lk 22:19-20). In this way "he loved them to the end" (Jn 13:1). The "sincere gift" contained in the Sacrifice of the Cross gives definitive prominence to the spousal meaning of God's love. As the Redeemer of the world, Christ is the Bridegroom of the Church. The Eucharist is the Sacrament of our Redemption. It is the Sacrament of the Bridegroom and of the Bride. The Eucharist makes present and realizes anew in a sacramental manner the redemptive act of Christ, who "creates" the Church, his body.(...) It is the Eucharist above all that expresses the redemptive act of Christ the Bridegroom towards the Church the Bride. This is clear and unambiguous when the sacramental ministry of the Eucharist, in which the priest acts "in persona Christi", is performed by a man". Also cf. Council of Trent, Sessio XXII. Decretum de Missa, DS 1740; Catechism of the Catholic Church 1617.
Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Churches on receiving the Eucharistic communion by the divorced and remarried faithful (September 14 1994) 7-8.
Cf. Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, Dignitas connubii, January 25 2005.
After communion, in the Byzantine Rite, the priest implores: O our most holy Easter, Christ, Knowledge, Word and Power of God, let us participate with you in an ever more perfect way, in the unending light of your Kingdom to come", La Liturgie de sain Jean Chrysostome, Ed. des Bénédictins de Chèvetogne, 19574, 60.
If you take your seat at a great man's table, take careful note of what you have before you; if you have a big appetite put a knife to your throat" (Pro 23:1-2). You know which is the Great Man's table; on it is the flesh and blood of Christ, whoever sits at this table, will have to repay. And what does repay in kind" mean? This means that since Christ gave his life for us, thus we too, to edify the people and confirm the faith, we must give our lives for our brethren", Augustine, Comment on the Gospel according to Saint John, 47, 2.
John Paul II, Mane nobiscum Domine 24-25: Entering into communion with Christ in the memorial of his Pasch also means sensing the duty to be a missionary of the event made present in that rite. The dismissal at the end of each Mass is a charge given to Christians, inviting them to work for the spread of the Gospel and the imbuing of society with Christian values. The Eucharist not only provides the interior strength needed for this mission, but is also -- in some sense -- its plan. For the Eucharist is a mode of being, which passes from Jesus into each Christian, through whose testimony it is meant to spread throughout society and culture".
One must always keep in mind that the word of God, read by the Church and proclaimed in the liturgy, brings, in some way, as its own end, to the sacrifice of the Covenant and to the meal of grace, that is the Eucharist. Therefore, the celebration of the Mass constitutes a unique act of the Divine Worship, in which the sacrifice of praise is offered to God and man is told of the fullness of redemption", Ordo Lectionum Missae 10.
Some because of ignorance others because of mere simplicity of the mind do not repeat in the consacration of the chalice and in the distribution of the Eucharist what Jesus Christ, our Lord, did and asked us to repeat. Therefore I have found it necessary and in conformity to Christian piety to write you a letter about this, even if someone still makes this error that he may discover the truth in all its light and return to the origins of divine teaching", Cyprian, Epistle De sacramento calicis Dominici", 63, 1. Cf. also Basil, On the Holy Spirit, 27, 66.
Cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium 11.
Cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium 14.
Cf. Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Redemptionis sacramentum (March 25 2004) 43-47.
Cf. Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Redemptionis sacramentum (March 25 2004) 117-128.
It is opportune to remember that the ars celebrandi neeeds paradigmatic places of reference that can help all the Christian people. It is also opportune to remember, with reference to this, the importance of the celebrations of the Bishops of the Cathedral Churches (cf. Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani [April 20 2000] 22), as well as the singular function that can be realized by the Institutes of Consecrated Life, in particular the monastic communities (cf. John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte 32-34; Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Lives, Istruction Starting from Christ 8, 25-26, 31).
Cf. Ad gentes 22; Congregation for Divine Worship, Varietates legitimae (January 25 1994); John Paul II, Redemptoris missio 25, 52-54,
76, 85; Id., Fides et ratio 61e 72; Id., Ecclesia de Eucharistia 51.
The recommendation in Sacrosanctum Concilium 38 leads in this direction: Provisions shall also be made, when revising the liturgical books, for legitimate variations and adaptations to different groups, regions, and peoples, especially in mission lands, provided that the substantial unity of the Roman rite is preserved; and this should be borne in mind when drawing up the rites and devising rubrics".
On this see the Roman Missal for the dioceses in Zaire and the approval on the Ordo Missae for India. Attempts on this have also been made in Latin America.
Cf. John Paul II, Redemptoris missio 52-55.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person" (Jn 6:56). Eating this food and drinking this beverage means to live in Christ and having him always in us", Augustine, Comment on the Gospel according to Saint John, 26, 18.
As stated in the Epistle to Diognetus: For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.", epislte to diognetus V, 1-5.
Liturgy of the Hours, Monday of the Second Week, Vespers, Antiphon 3.
John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n. 20: A significant consequence of the eschatological tension inherent in the Eucharist is also the fact that it spurs us on our journey through history and plants a seed of living hope in our daily commitment to the work before us. Certainly the Christian vision leads to the expectation of new heavens" and a new earth" (Rev 21:1), but this increases, rather than lessens, our sense of responsibility for the world today [...] Proclaiming the death of the Lord until he comes" (1 Cor 11:26) entails that all who take part in the Eucharist be committed to changing their lives and making them in a certain way completely Eucharistic". It is this fruit of a transfigured existence and a commitment to transforming the world in accordance with the Gospel which splendidly illustrates the eschatological tension inherent in the celebration of the Eucharist and in the Christian life as a whole: Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev 22:20)".
John Damascene, followed by Orthodox tradition, does not hesitate in asserting: And I honor and worship the matter, which has made possible my salvation", John Damascene, Orationes de imaginibus I, 16.
Cf. John Paul II, Speech to the participants of a convention on ecology and health, March 24 1997, n. 5.
Cf. Francis of Assisi, First Admonition: Wherefore, O you sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? (Ps 4:3). Why do you not recognize the truth and believe in the Son of God (Jo 9:35)? Behold: daily he humbles himself (Phil 2:8) as when from heaven's royal throne (Wisd 18:15) he came down into the womb of the Virgin. Daily he himself comes to us with like humility; daily he descends from the bosom of the Father ( Jo 1:18; 6:38) upon the altar in the hands of the priest. And as he appeared to the Apostles in true flesh, so now also he shows himself to us in the sacred bread. And as they by their bodily sight saw only his flesh, yet contemplating him with the eyes of the spirit believed him to be very God, so we also, as we see our bodily eyes the bread and wine, are to see and firmly believe that it is his most holy body and blood living and true. And in this way the Lord is always with his faithful, as he himself says: Behold I am with you until the end of the world (Mt 28:20)", Fonti Francescane, Edizioni Messaggero, Padova 1980, 138.
Cf. John Paul II, Speech to the participants of a convention on ecology and health, March 24, 1997, n. 2.
John Paul II, Dominicae Cenae 5: Eucharistic worship constitutes the soul of all Christian life. In fact, Christian life is expressed in the fulfilling of the greatest commandment, that is to say, in the love of God and neighbor, and this love finds its source in the Blessed Sacrament, which is commonly called the sacrament of love. The Eucharist signifies this charity, and therefore recalls it, makes it present and at the same time brings it about".
You also realize, Venerable Brothers, that the Eucharist is reserved in churches or oratories to serve as the spiritual center of a religious community or a parish community, indeed of the whole Church and the whole of mankind, since it contains, beneath the veil of the species, Christ the invisible Head of the Church, the Redeemer of the world, the center of all hearts, "by whom all things are and by whom we exist" (1Cor 8, 6). Hence it is that devotion to the divine Eucharist exerts a great influence upon the soul in the direction of fostering a "social" love, in which we put the common good ahead of private good, take up the cause of the community, the parish, the universal Church, and extend our charity to the whole world because we know that there are members of Christ everywhere", Paul VI, Mysterium fidei, 68-69.
Cf. Lumen gentium 52-69.
Cf. John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia 53-58.
[Original text: Latin] | <urn:uuid:ce4a2059-fde6-440c-8905-52a9e2c21870> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/report-by-general-relator-of-synod | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932519 | 25,508 | 1.84375 | 2 |
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August 1, 2009
A distinguished Harvard colleague writes an open letter to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. published in the Harvard Crimson, about his behavior toward Sgt. Crowley. Ruth R. Wisse is the Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature, and Professor of Comparative Literature, at Harvard, and a very well-known figure. It raises issues that Gates really should address, and coming within the community, in the community's own forum, from a fellow holder of an endowed chair, it cannot really be ignored.
What puzzles me most in the report of your actions-or reactions-on July 16 is why you would have chosen, as I've heard you put it elsewhere, to "talk Black" to Officer Crowley instead of "talking White" as you so eloquently and regularly do? These are distinctions I've heard you expound-how educated African Americans switch their register of speech depending on what part of themselves they want to get across. Many of us do something similar inside and outside our particular communities, but you make it sound like a sport that is also for African Americans a tool of survival. So why didn't you address the policemen as fellow Cantabrigians? What was that "yo' mama" talk instead of saying simply, in the same register your interlocutor was using, "Look, officer, I'm sorry for your trouble. Thanks for checking on my house when you thought I was being burgled, but this is my home, and if you give me a minute, I'll find the piece of mail or license that proves it to you." It seems it wasn't the policeman doing the profiling, it was you. You played him for a racist cop and treated him disrespectfully. Had you truly feared bias, you would surely have behaved in a more controlled, rather than a less controlled, way. ....
Rather than taking offense at being racially profiled, weren't you instead insulted that someone as prominent as you was being subjected to a regular police routine? A Harvard professor and public figure-should you have to be treated like an ordinary citizen? But that's the greatness of this country: Enforcers of the law are expected to treat all alike, to protect the house of a black man no less carefully than that of white neighbors. ....
The ironies of progress can hardly be lost on you. When I came to Harvard in 1993, you had just published in the New York Times an op-ed urging black intellectuals to face up to their own racist attitudes. Invoking the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr., you wrote, "While anti-Semitism is generally on the wane in this country, it has been on the rise among black Americans. A recent survey finds not only that blacks are twice as likely as whites to hold anti-Semitic views but-significantly-that it is among younger and more educated blacks that anti-Semitism is most pronounced." You argued then that owning up to such internal racism was the key to self-respect. Now that America has a black president, Massachusetts a black governor, and Cambridge a black mayor, you appear to have adopted the posture of racial victim. Are you trying to keep alive the politically potent appeal to liberal guilt?
It is one thing for Professor Gates to wear the mantle of race warrior in the national spotlight, but never forget that the man lives and works in (and desires the esteem of) a community, one which has a very powerful sense of itself as something quite special and deamnding of excellence. I lived within this very community for almost 20 years, and I can tell you that the thought that people around him might look at him with less respect will bother Gates a lot.
Following the experience of Sgt. Crowley thoughtfully attending to his needs, while his supposed friend Barack Obama moved on to other things, oblivious to Gates' trouble with the stairs, I have to wonder if the good professor might be rethinking one or two assumptions. It would not surprise me. We don't know what was said at the Beer Summit, but if Sgt. Crowley was as clear and articulate as he was in the presser afterward, he might actually have touched the heart of the proud professor.
Hat tip: Jack Kemp | <urn:uuid:2d5e9eb1-86ba-4920-b3e4-75daaf2bcba8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/08/dear_skip.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977409 | 892 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The American Indians used to say: to see the tracks of an animal is to see its life. To know its day. And, at some point along the trail, to know what it had for breakfast. (poopy joke, sorry)
Kids are no different.
Okay. We just completely made that up, but it sounds really good, you have to admit, and the banana added for scale really puts things in perspective!
In any case, it’s important to know how to spot tracks and “sign” (outdoorsman speak for poop) and familiarize yourself with the wild animals you’ll encounter as a parent, your children.
Have you mastered tracking your wild animals yet?
Charlie & Andy are two sleep-deprived friends with nothing left to lose but their sanity as they attempt to navigate fatherhood. The duo co-founded HowToBeADad.com, an entertainment site for parents and non-parents alike. | <urn:uuid:ef78c403-19c3-4d18-a42c-5daae0699d52> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/laugh-of-the-day-hunt-and-track-your-children/ | 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 | 0.976163 | 199 | 1.804688 | 2 |
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- A teeth-chattering cold wave with sub-zero temperatures is expected to keep its icy grip on much of the eastern U.S. into the weekend before seasonable temperatures bring relief.
A polar air mass has prompted the National Weather Service to issue wind chill warnings across upstate New York and northern New England.
In northern Maine, the temperature dipped to as low as 36 degrees below zero Wednesday morning. The weather service is calling for a wind chills as low as minus-45.
In Frenchville, Maine, restaurant owner Keith Pelletier says it's so cold that even snowmobilers are staying inside. He says his customers are dressed in multiple layers of clothing and keep their cars running in his parking lot while they're eating lunch. | <urn:uuid:05e89563-adf0-471e-a1bb-bf6a427337f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thegatewaynews.com/ap%20state/2013/01/23/deep-freeze-to-continue-to-weekend-in-east | 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 | 0.973009 | 162 | 1.632813 | 2 |
A BRIDGE TO SCRAPER PRODUCTIVITY
Better Roads Staff
Delhi, ON – As Mike Kloepfer and his engineering team designed the new Titan S4412B scraper system, they were looking for more than just another entry into the scraper category. “We were after a complete earthmoving system that would actually help contractors to earn more money for their business,” says Kloepfer, President of Titan Earthmoving Equipment (EMD), a division of Titan Trailers Inc. “That simply means moving more material over the life of their investment in the equipment.”
With his background in designing custom hauler bodies for specialized on-road/off road applications, Kloepfer has an intuitive understanding of load stresses and axle loads. His first priority in developing the scraper system was to re-examine how scrapers carry their loads and deliver power to the ground.
“We had a great head-start with the drawframe concept that Jim Bult brought to us,” Kloepfer says. “He understood where the problems were with traditional pull-scrapers, and brought us the challenge of refining the High Arch drawframe into a well-engineered solution.”
Kloepfer had consulted with Jim Bult in the past to develop trailer solutions for Bult’s transportation business, and Bult returned with his experience and ideas after taking on a major earthmoving project for an airport development near Chicago.
One key to improving the scraper Kloepfer found was to focus on its power unit. To create a productive end-to-end system, Titan went to work integrating a new high-capacity bowl with a highly efficient, purpose-built power unit: the Bell 4206D scraper tractor. To achieve that goal, Titan engineering built on Bult’s own design concepts to achieve the most important innovation in the S4412B: its distinctive High Arch Drawframe.
The Titan Drawframe is based on a heavy box-section gooseneck coupler fitted to a robust yoke that spans the entire bowl. The arch terminates in a receiver that fits to a massive 12 in. (30,5 cm) diameter ball hitch designed especially for the Bell tractor. Notably, the ball hitch is positioned well ahead of the tractor’s rear axle.
Kloepfer notes that Jim Bult had brought a fresh perspective to how scrapers work, with a vision about how they “ought” to be designed. The unique coupling system helps Titan overcome many of the inherent shortcomings in traditional pull-scraper design. “Usually, you see scrapers hooked up to farm tractors that are built for pulling implements behind them, not for hauling and supporting heavy loads. The stresses are completely different. In spite of that knowledge, newer, larger scrapers are being designed the same way as older smaller agricultural scrapers, and still compensating for the built-in deficiencies by putting as much load as possible on the scraper axle.”
“The genesis of the Bell 4206D scraper tractor goes back to the Bell 40 ton articulated haul truck,” he continues, “so it’s engineered to carry more of the load. Then Bell turned that baseline into the 4206D with a shortened frame, new axle and transmission configurations and a new cab configuration specifically for scraper operations. With the High Arch Drawframe, we can really take full advantage of Bell’s tractor design. The High Arch puts the weight right where it does the most good, at the center point of the tractor’s frame. All four wheels carry the weight equally when loaded, so all four wheels deliver more power to the ground. They easily carry 50% of the total load, without getting overstressed. Now, rimpull actually improves as you increase the load in the scraper.”
The result is a system that produces better traction in all soil conditions, greater agility, increased maneuverability and safety at high speeds, as well as heavier payloads – all without compromising the service life of the tractor.
In principal, the High Arch Drawframe distributes half of the total weight between the bowl and tractor, and it distributes the weight on the tractor equally over its two axles. In the test loading, 108,000 lbs. (48 988 kg) [52%] is carried by the rear scraper axle, well within its rated limit. On the tractor, each axle carries very close to 50,000 lbs. (22 680 kg). “There’s no need to be shy about putting this kind of weight on the Bell axles,” claims Kloepfer. “Fully loaded, they are still well under their rated capacity. The system is designed to move 55 tons of material on every cycle, every day without overstressing the equipment. And this system is built to keep up that pace for years to come.”
The arch configuration also allows a very compact connection from the ball to the yoke of the drawframe. With the Bell tractor’s 42° of articulation, the 55 ft. (1 676,4 cm) long scraper system is able to turn within a radius of just 39 ft. (1 189 cm), giving operators the maneuverability to navigate quickly and safely on congested worksites. The large ball hitch also helps to isolate the cab from the roll and pitch of the scraper as it traverses rough terrain. The wildly rocking ride that scraper operators have come to expect is replaced by a smoother, more comfortable, safer work environment.
Kloepfer is confident that the S4412B will prove to be the moneymaker for customers that he envisioned it to be. “Jim Bult brought us the High Arch concept as an earthmoving contractor and businessman; and the result is a business solution. It will move more material, whether it is a struck load or a heaped load, it will haul out the material faster, and it will keep on producing long after it paid for itself. I think that’s a winning a formula.”
About Titan EMD
Titan Earthmoving Equipment is a division of Titan Trailers Inc., a world-class innovation leader in purpose-built equipment designed to meet the most demanding hauling applications for customers in forestry, scrap recycling, waste-hauling and demolition industries. Since 1973, Titan has earned its reputation for reliability and durability through a combination of old school craftsmanship and new age design and manufacturing technologies. The S4412B scraper system builds on Titan’s experience in optimizing weight distribution, maximizing bulk load capacities and building in strength against the severe structural stresses.
The alliances that have been built with Bult Equipment and Bell Equipment, powers Titan’s ongoing development of efficient, integrated scraper solutions backed by generations of world-class expertise and experience.
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WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US Senate on Saturday approved an elaborate housing rescue plan designed to help thousands of homeowners avert foreclosure and bolster mortgage finance giants that have struggled amid a volatile housing market.
But it came as the government shut down two more banks, taking the total to 10 that have been closed in the 18 months since the housing crisis first shuddered through the economy.
The Senate adopted the bill, which provides 300 billion dollars in federal guarantees to help refinance troubled mortgages, by a vote of 72-13, after the House of Representatives passed it on Wednesday.
President George W. Bush had dropped his earlier opposition and promised to sign the bill into law as soon as possible.
Before the vote, senators praised the bill as a product of rare bipartisan cooperation and said the legislation was vital to stem the fallout from a slumping housing sector.
"You're having the worst of all possible worlds. Wealth is declining, the source of wealth creation and costs are rising simultaneously," said Democrat Chris Dodd who chairs the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
"When we consider the role home equity has played in support of consumer spending, we see the danger a vicious downward cycle could create," Dodd said in a session carried live on C-SPAN television.
In addition to the federal guarantees for home loans, the bill provides for government credit and equity injections in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage lenders that underpin much of the housing market.
The bill also calls for some 3.9 billion dollars to help local governments buy and rehabilitate foreclosed homes.
Opponents, who tried to delay the vote and forced a rare weekend session, argued the plan would distort the market by rewarding "irresponsible" lenders and consumers and allow the government too big a role in the housing market.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that providing a financial lifeline for the government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as more regulatory oversight "would contribute to confidence and stability in housing and financial markets."
"President Bush will sign this bill when he receives it, despite our concerns with some provisions, including nearly four billion (dollars) to help lenders, not the homeowners this legislation is intended to serve," he said.
The aid package comes with the housing sector still weakening from a nearly two-year-old slide and data showing home prices falling further, inventories rising and many buyers waiting on the sidelines.
Some analysts say the market is frozen as a result of tight credit and buyers paralyzed by concerns that prices will continue to fall.
"As more homes are dumped on the market, home prices fall further, driving further mortgages underwater, leading to further foreclosures, further homes dumped on the market, and further home price declines," said economist Richard Kelly at TD Bank.
Signs of continuing carnage in the sector came late Friday when the US Treasury took over two affiliated western banks, First Heritage Bank of Newport Beach, California, and First National Bank of Nevada, based in Reno, Nevada.
The Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said both were undercapitalized and facing losses that would wipe out their capital.
While relatively small -- First Heritage Bank had three branches and First National Bank of Nevada 25 branches -- the two were clear casualties of the plunge in real estate values and rise in foreclosures in the formerly booming southwest.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said that the 28 branches would reopen Monday as part of Mutual of Omaha Bank, which took on all deposits of the failed banks as well as paying 200 million dollars for other assets.
The closure came just weeks after the failure of the much larger IndyMac Bank, which was weakened by heavy exposure to risky subprime mortgages and collapsed after a run by depositors.
Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More » | <urn:uuid:985fcdd7-f511-436a-b123-8bacd2f38c35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jS95o9QA5nHCzgYqcZFnDkQhxmMA | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969691 | 781 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Tonight on 60 Minutes, Tyler Drumheller, the former chief of the CIA’s Europe division, revealed that in the fall of 2002, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and others were told by CIA Director George Tenet that Iraq’s foreign minister — who agreed to act as a spy for the United States — had reported that Iraq had no active weapons of mass destruction program. Watch it:
BRADLEY: According to Drumheller, CIA Director George Tenet delivered the news about the Iraqi foreign minister at a high level meeting at the White House.
DRUMHELLER: The President, the Vice President, Dr. Rice…
BRADLEY: And at that meeting…?
DRUMHELLER: They were enthusiastic because they said they were excited that we had a high-level penetration of Iraqis.
BRADLEY: And what did this high level source tell you?
DRUMHELLER: He told us that they had no active weapons of mass destruction program.
BRADLEY: So, in the fall of 2002, before going to war, we had it on good authority from a source within Saddam’s inner circle that he didn’t have an active program for weapons of mass destruction?
BRADLEY: There’s no doubt in your mind about that?
DRUMHELLER: No doubt in my mind at all.
BRADLEY: It directly contradicts, though, what the President and his staff were telling us.
DRUMHELLER: The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming, and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy, to justify the policy.
Read the full transcript HERE.
UPDATE: More at CBS News. | <urn:uuid:22946424-1c94-4524-9eca-998ae1b063ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/security/issue/?m=20060423&mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969883 | 373 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Here you will find information on the why the site was created and also linking banners (at the bottom).
Site Info: by Carnie Pollock
I first read one of Edmund Cooper's books when I was 14 years old. Sadly he had passed away three years before that time. The book had such an impression on me that I re-read it dozens of times over the years. The title was 'The Overman Culture' and it was a story about a boy who discovers the truth about himself and his importance for mankind. It was the first of many Edmund Cooper books that I read in my teenage years.
Edmund Cooper is just one of many authors that I collect. The others include: Philip Jose Farmer, Robert Silverberg, Stephen Donaldson, Larry Niven, Arthur C. Clarke.....etc (okay - just think of escapist Sci-fi). However, 'The Overman Culture' is in my top ten Sci-fi books of all time. Edmund Cooper has always been able to amaze me with his fantastic story concepts; his books are always page turners that you can't put down. One of my other favourites is a book called 'Sea-Horse in the Sky' where some aircraft passengers wake up in plastic coffins in a middle of a road.
I started work on this website in the Spring of 2006. The idea came to me when I was looking on the internet for any Edmund Cooper titles that I hadn't read. There weren't many websites out there which came as a big surprise. After all, he was an incredible writer with a fantastic array of works.
There are criticisms of his work. Many say that he is very sexist but forget that he came from an era where attitudes were different from today. As a woman, I still enjoy his works. He also comes under fire for being an atheist but I think that makes his fiction refreshing (there are too many Sci-Fi books out there with religious elements). There are also criticisms of his life but his alcohol-related death is simply a tragedy linked to his traumatic past which also influenced his works.
I have made many websites (no I'm not going to plug them) and some of them are Science Fiction. The idea to make a site myself was something I knew would give me great pleasure and gave me a sense of purpose as I was overcoming a long-term illness. I started to gather all the information I could find and bought my last few books on eBay. I went on a mammoth Edmund Cooper reading spree and immersed myself in his universes. It made me more determined than ever to complete this site.
So here it is, after many many months of work. I have to say a big thanks to my husband and our three young children for putting up with Mummy forever on the computer. Also a big thankyou to the Edmund Cooper Literary Trust and Edmund's family for their help.
This is for Edmund Cooper - you changed my universe!
‘All rights reserved. Carnie Pollock asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this website. No part of this website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any for or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.’
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This site is non-profit. You can help us by linking to our site by either a direct link or by using our banner. To add the following banner simply copy the code in the following text box and paste it onto your web page where you would like it to appear. Please do not add our banner to a site that has Adult material. Thanks. | <urn:uuid:3b18995a-b69f-4895-b829-3f5d23a2e7aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edmundcooper.dsl.pipex.com/siteinfo.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983516 | 753 | 1.546875 | 2 |
years ago this April, Jill Robinson first walked onto a bear bile farm. On that day in April 1993, Jill could have walked away, but she chose to act and do what she could. Today, you also have a choice. If everyone reading this donated just US$20, it would pay for the care of over 150 bears at our China sanctuary for a full year. Please help us celebrate 20 years of progress. Donate US$20 today (or whatever you can afford).
Animals Asia Foundation
World Animal Day Report 2010
Wuhan Stray Animal Rescue Center: Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
On 5 November 2010, Wuhan Stray Animal Rescue Center joined a dog show in Wuhan, Hubei Province and promoted the messages: “Be a responsible pet owner”, “Don’t eat dogs and cats” and “Adopt a dog instead of buying one”.
Their booth was the second most popular, with many people visiting the dog show and reading banners and leaflets and listening to what the volunteers told them. This was a good opportunity to promote this important information to members of the public who are, or will be, pet owners.
They held an award ceremony for the winners of the “Sharing Love with Them” photo competition. The event attracted much attention from the local media. | <urn:uuid:ae5cb1ba-9c4d-471b-a394-77f59804d03c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?UID=N083Q7DG81W | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961825 | 286 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Q: There seem to be many options for tax breaks when you have a child in college. Some seem to cancel each other out. We have a son that just started college in the fall and are a bit confused. Please explain which options for tax savings and withdrawals from retirement accounts would be the most advantageous in different situations.
It is rather complex. For some, you can only take one and not the other, some are only available for undergraduate course work and then there are the income limits. The main education tax incentives to take into consideration are: American Opportunity Credit, Lifetime Learning Credit, Tuition and Fees Deduction and Student Loan Interest Deduction.
The American Opportunity Credit is an expansion of the Hope scholarship credit. The tax credit is limited to $2,500 per student, per taxable year. The credit is permitted for 100 percent of the first $2,000 and 25 percent of the next $2,000 of expenses for tuition, fees and course materials. The credit may be claimed for the first four years of undergraduate course work. The credit is also 40 percent refundable, which means you can get it even if you owe no tax. To be eligible, the student must be enrolled at least half-time in a degree program. A taxpayer whose modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is $80,000 or less ($160,000 for joint filers) can claim the full credit for themselves, a spouse or a dependent. The credit is reduced for those with MAGI above these levels and for those with MAGI greater than $90,000 ($180,000 for joint filers) the credit is not available.
The Lifetime Learning Credit is similar to the one above but it can be used for both undergraduate and graduate course work. The credit is limited to $2,000. This credit is only allowed once per tax return (not per student per year) but there is no limit on the number of years you can claim the credit. You are eligible for this credit if you are enrolled in one or more courses. A taxpayer with MAGI of $52,000 or less ($104,000 for joint filers) can claim the full credit for themselves, a spouse or a dependent. The credit is reduced for those with MAGI above these levels and for those with MAGI greater than $62,000 ($124,000 for joint filers) the credit is not available.
The Tuition and Fees Deduction allows for up to 100 percent of qualified undergraduate or graduate course work to be deducted. The amount of the deduction is limited to $2,000 for single filers with MAGI of $80,000 or less and $4,000 for joint filers with MAGI of $160,000 or less. Taxpayers with MAGI above these levels do not qualify for the deduction.
The three incentives explained above cannot be combined for the same student so you need to determine which is more beneficial in your situation. Since a credit is worth more than a deduction, the first two are probably the best tax break if you qualify.
Student loan interest may also be deducted. A taxpayer with MAGI of $60,000 or less ($120,000 for joint filers) can claim a deduction of up to $2,500 of interest paid on an education loan. The deduction amount is reduced for those with MAGI above these levels and for those with MAGI greater than $75,000 ($150,000 for joint filers) the deduction is not allowed.
IRA withdrawals are penalty free at any age if used to pay for qualified undergraduate and graduate education expenses. Make sure you understand the impact on your retirement plans before you make withdrawals from your IRA, take a loan from your 401(k) or use a home equity line to cover education expenses.
Holly Nicholson is a certified financial planner in Raleigh. She cannot answer every question. Reach her at askholly.com or P.O. Box 99466, Raleigh, NC 27624 | <urn:uuid:9d9e83b2-b288-4eae-8ab2-94a206bf1b26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/15/2548717/several-education-tax-breaks-available.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962955 | 814 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Provost Faculty Scholarship Recipient
Walter Saul, D.M.A.
For the occasion of the Fresno Pacific University Community Wind Ensemble's Carnegie Hall concert in April 2009, Walter Saul, music faculty, arranged his "Prelude and Fugue in C# Minor." The composition is part of Saul's From Alpha to Omega, a series of 48 preludes and fugues, starting with A major and ending with G# minor, the Alpha and Omega of the musical alphabet.
Saul had three goals: "to provide a new and significant piece of literature for wind ensemble, to provide an added 'cachet' for the Community Wind Ensemble's Carnegie Hall debut and to provide an example and model of scoring for my Music 411 Scoring and Arranging class," he says.
The work is used in Saul's scoring and arranging class for discussion and to illustrate how students may create similar arrangements for the Community Wind Ensemble. In turn, some of these arrangements may be played by the ensemble.
FPU created the Provost Research Grant in 2008 to encourage faculty to develop their scholarship. Awards have been given in fields from science to religion and have funded the creation of new music and the translation of ancient languages. Read the full Provost Faculty Scholarship report which includes all the faculty recipients and an overview of their work. | <urn:uuid:ba8a8857-1a9e-4727-9a9e-67d0463bb81c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fresno.edu/department/music/faculty/saul/provost_scholarship | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948314 | 273 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Birrell has been a Bikram yoga instructor for five years and manager at the Bozeman yoga studio since 2010. Bikram Yoga Bozeman, owned by Chris and Rebekah Bunting, recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary and has experienced tremendous growth as more and more people see the results and benefits of the practice. Since Bozeman is blanketed in snow much of the year, it's not a surprise that doing yoga in a hot environment is so popular.
"Many students find that the intensity of the practice helps them get more out of their own mind."
What is Bikram yoga?
Bikram yoga is also called hot yoga because the yoga workouts are done in a heated room. However, Bikram isn't just any yoga practice. "Bikram Yoga is a 90-minute series of 26 beginning yoga postures (asanas) and 2 breathing exercises (pranayamas) that are done in the same order," Birrell explains. "Most poses are done twice — the first set acts as a diagnostic, and the second set is where you push a little more and create change in the body and the mind."
The beauty of the Bikram practice is that it works the whole body, with each pose warming you up and preparing you for the next posture and the postures to come. It not only promotes health and strength, it is also very healing, according to Birrell. "A state-of-the-art ventilation system brings fresh pre-heated air into the room throughout class to ensure that there is plenty of fresh oxygen to breathe," she says. "The heat provides many benefits, including increased blood flow throughout the body, and helps detoxify the body through the sweat."
Benefits of Bikram yoga
Bikram yoga is an intense form of hatha yoga that offers many health benefits, including strength, flexibility, balance and a cardiovascular workout. Birrell got into Bikram after suffering running-related knee injuries. "I thought I would just do the yoga for a few months while training for a marathon, but after experiencing the physical, mental and emotional benefits of the yoga, I became hooked," she recalls. "Many people find that they receive increased healing benefits from Bikram due to the scientific design of the posture series, as well because of as the heat."
Bikram for mind-body fitness
In addition to gaining strength and flexibility, many students also experience weight loss. But Birrell says Bikram isn't just good for your body. It also gives you an overall sense of well-being. "Many students find that the intensity of the practice helps them get more out of their own mind," she explains. "We call it a '90-minute moving meditation' that is great for stress relief and bringing balance back to the mind-body connection."
Risks of Bikram yoga
Though working out in a 105-degree room seems most suitable for hard-core athletes and yoga enthusiasts, Birrell says Bikram Yoga Bozeman's students range in age from 12 to 74, are from all walks of life and come in with different physical, mental and emotional goals. "Bikram yoga is a beginning yoga class, and new students do not need any experience with yoga to come," she adds.
However, Bikram is not recommended for pre-pubescent children, says Birrell. "Without developed sweat glands children could overheat in the room. At Bikram Yoga Bozeman we do not allow children under 12 to practice in the hot room."
Just do it
Wondering if Bikram yoga is for you? "It's normal to feel a little nervous or scared," Birrell says, "but my best advice is to just try it. I promise you will feel change."
Click here to read Jenny McCarthy dish about her new late-night show, dating & motherhood!
More on yoga
Photo credit: Michael Roman/WENN.com
The opinions expressed in this article are of the author and the author alone. They do not reflect the opinions of SheKnows, LLC or any of its affiliates and they have not been reviewed by an expert in a related field or any member of the SheKnows editorial staff for accuracy, balance or objectivity. Content and other information presented on the Site are not a substitute for professional advice, counseling, diagnosis, or treatment. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical or mental health advice from your physician or other qualified health provider because of something you have read on SheKnows. SheKnows does not endorse any specific product, service or treatment. | <urn:uuid:24510af8-da66-45b4-a7c3-ff11717c63c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sheknows.com/health-and-wellness/articles/979951/jenny-mccarthys-bikram-yoga-workout | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972127 | 956 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Li Wei always wanted to become an artist. He studied at a private arts school, but had to work at odd jobs to support himself later on. While he was then able to work securely as an artist using paint, Li realized that performance art was the only way that he could truly express himself. Thus began his foray into his “action shots”.
When Li began his performance art series around 2000, they were simply that: performance art. The photographs only came in when Li wanted pictures to document his performances. When Li began his “Falls Into…” series, (depicting the artist literally falling into walls, cars, roads, etc.), photography became an integral part of his works.
In order to pull off these amazing shots, Li uses anything from mirrors to heavy-duty rope to rented-out cranes. These elements are then edited out to give a sense of impossibility to his pictures. While the editing process might fall under the Photoshop category, it’s important to note that 99% of his images are done on the scene and the final 1% is just retouching. | <urn:uuid:2a883e6b-af20-457f-8ac2-5c4891f39512> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pgaush-fateyelash.tumblr.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.991714 | 229 | 1.65625 | 2 |
A baby was ‘frozen’ for four days to keep him alive. Edward Ives had just a five per cent chance of survival as his heart was racing at more than 300 beats a minute.
So doctors tried to force it to slow down by lowering his temperature.
The newborn’s parents nervously watched as their son lay sedated and cold to the touch – wrapped up in a blanket filled with cooling gel.
But the pioneering treatment worked and, on the evening of the fourth day, his heartbeat finally became normal.
‘It was horrible to see him lying there, freezing in nothing but a nappy,’ said mother Claire Ives, 29. ‘It looked like he was dead.
‘All I wanted to do was scoop him up and give him a warm cuddle. I just had to keep reminding myself that it was saving his life.’
Mrs Ives, a nurse, first guessed something was wrong with Edward when she was 35 weeks pregnant and heard his heart beating quickly.
Tests confirmed her suspicions. Her unborn child had supraventricular tachycardia and would need to be delivered immediately.
She and husband Phillip, of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, feared the worst.
But after being slowly warmed back up to 37C (98.6F) from 33.3C, Edward left hospital a month after his birth in August at University College London Hospital.
‘When I got him home, it felt like a dream come true,’ added Mrs Ives. | <urn:uuid:83a0670b-9ed9-4821-aaf2-1a4c4a79aa62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1136392-doctors-freeze-baby-boy-to-treat-heart-condition/page__p__595520288 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990052 | 320 | 1.6875 | 2 |
The Royal Guards are responsible, in cooperation with the police and palace authorities for guarding The Royal Palace of Stockholm and Drottningholm Palace. The Royal Guards are also part of the defence force of the centre of Stockholm. When guard duties are required, The Royal Guards also act as honorary guard to HM the King.
Changing the Guard takes place every day of the year. However the march through the city of Stockholm with military band is usually only during the summer months from May to August. | <urn:uuid:109ffdd7-ea96-4bbf-a48b-83548f421fe3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forsvarsmakten.se/en/Organisation/The-Royal-Guards/ | 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 | 0.968688 | 98 | 1.710938 | 2 |
The Atlanta-metro area has one of the fastest growing poverty rates in the United States, leaving children and families in our communities going hungry.
Because of private donations of food and money, MUST’s three Food Pantries give away an astounding ton of food a day to those in need. Canned goods and other non-perishable items such as canned meats, diapers, rice, peanut butter and cereal are available to Cobb and Cherokee residents in need. Households may receive food four times a year, free of charge. Anyone can receive bakery items daily donated by local grocery stores.
In addition to our Food Pantries, MUST operates the Loaves and Fishes Community Kitchen which feeds about 150 hungry men, women and children everyday. Breakfast and dinner are also served to residents at the Elizabeth Inn.
Feeding neighbors in need has always been a core component of MUST Ministry and remains a constant reminder of the miracle of the loaves and fishes.
“My church was having a food drive for MUST, so I took a flier to FedEx to have it printed. The gentleman who helped me looked at the flier and said, ‘MUST fed me for a year.’ He explained that he lost his job and it took him a long time to find a new one. ‘I couldn’t have made it without the help I got from MUST and I will always be grateful for that help. --Beth | <urn:uuid:cb0d36e1-93e1-4bef-b94c-e52179705ad4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mustministries.org/pages/food-is-a-must | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974171 | 295 | 1.75 | 2 |
Yesterday, Sunday March 11, 2007, Jacques Chirac delivered his farewell speech to the French people. It is published (in French) in its entirety at La Tribune. The ponderous cliché-ridden discourse is mercifully short. In it he says that he would have liked to do more to shake up conservative habits and egos, but that he is proud of what he accomplished.
The French patriots are breathing a sigh of relief that he didn't do more, although he nearly managed to destroy his nation and his people. Of all the critiques I've read today, and they are all damning, this one by Catholic writer Bernard Antony is the most devastating. Antony, a devout Catholic with close ties to the Church, is founder of Chrétienté Solidarité (Christian Solidarity) and publisher of the journal Reconquête (Reconquista):
With his grandiloquent solemnity in the utterance of Masonic remarks that might have been made by a sub-prefect during the Third Republic, Jacques Chirac, true to himself in his constant and perfected mediocrity, offered no surprises. He was still faithful to his great capacity for lying without the slightest shame, and with the most accomplished disdain for any intelligent being that may remain among those Frenchmen impermeable to the media's hammering.
If ever there was a man who abetted and collaborated all his life with the worst extremisms, with the worst racisms, it is he, Jacques Chirac, who in half a century of political life never made one single gesture for the victims of communism and its hundred million dead, and its thousands of individuals from all nations who suffered enslaved in its empire since 1917. For in truth, communism had already exterminated long before Nazism, following its example, began its exterminations. It continued to exterminate in our own time in the Cambodian genocide, and it continues in China, Indochina and Cuba, to oppress and persecute.
Abortionist-in-chief, Jacques Chirac, by promulgating the Veil Law had only one hatred: that of the Christian roots of France and the values of the authentic culture of life; he never uttered one word evoking the endless atrocities committed by the Marxist-Leninist regimes. And so he was the accomplice of the worst and the longest-lasting extremism that the earth has ever known. To such a degree that even the astounding anti-Semitism of Marx and Stalin were not denounced by this professional hunter of anti-Semites. Nor did this would-be cowherd denounce the Marxist hatred of peasants that sent to their deaths 10 million Russian and Ukrainian peasants.
Jacques Chirac, the grandiloquent, was never politically or morally great. But in the art of lying, he was not mediocre: he was superb. | <urn:uuid:4302b35c-2726-44c0-aac1-40c98c9f8ce9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://galliawatch.blogspot.com/2007/03/grandiloquent-liar.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976765 | 584 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Despite typically eating healthily, I put on a few pounds over Christmas and still haven’t lost them. I am a medium stocky build and could probably do with losing a bit of muscle. Is it better to get stronger, or lose weight? What’s your take?
—Tim Tucker | Fort Davis, Texas
Crash dieting is not the answer. Not only do hardcore diets take all the joy away from climbing (and life) but they make weight control more difficult by disrupting your metabolism. However, a sustainable, common-sense-based approach to weight control is just as important as a training program to anyone who is serious about improving their climbing. It is a sobering thought that you are better off doing no training for two weeks and losing three pounds than training while gaining a pound or two.
Take me as a case study. I have always shirked from weight control and focused on training, but last year I started training with a weight belt. When you climb wearing an extra five or six pounds, you understand immediately how much stronger you would climb if you lost an equivalent amount of weight. While I have never classed myself as overweight, I have always had a little excess to trim away. Though most of what I had to lose was muscle rather than fat, I decided simply to moderate things a little. I cut out deserts, stopped eating cakes with my coffee, and limited my portion sizes. Every time I put the usual amount of rice or pasta in the pan I simply tipped half a handful back. For breakfast I started having a slightly smaller bowl of cereal with one piece of toast instead of two. I also weighed myself every day to follow my progress. Surprisingly, I hardly noticed any difference in terms of how hungry I felt, and I realized that I had developed a habit of over-feeding myself. I lost six pounds over three months (most of which was probably muscle) and then went out to Kalymnos and climbed better than ever in my life. In retrospect, I would never have achieved the same results purely by tweaking my training and ignoring the issue of weight loss. If you only focus on training, then you can only improve by training harder and harder, and the penalty for that is often injury. But if you drop a few pounds (as well as training), not only should you improve more, but you may be less likely to get injured as you will be putting less strain on your tendons. Thus the weight-control assists the training and the training assists the weight control.
I know that sports nutrition is a complicated topic, but my tips for weight loss are basic. Just become aware of your food intake. Ask yourself if you really need it or if you are just comfort eating. Of course you must also make sure you are achieving the correct balance of nutrients, and not adversely affecting your health with an eating disorder, but this is another subject.
Even though this approach is infinitely easier, more sustainable and more effective than crash dieting, you still shouldn’t do it all the time. Make sure you build in recovery phases where you allow yourself a few pies and cakes as a reward. | <urn:uuid:10b7a502-e905-491f-9d25-96d52a55395b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/super-send-me?A=WebApp&CCID=14096&Page=7&Items=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981264 | 642 | 1.625 | 2 |
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Windsurfing will return as an Olympic sport in 2016, and in 2020, kiteboarding will be added alongside it.
Farrah Hall, an Olympic windsurfer from Cape St. Claire, has written a blog on a recent revival in her sport, which was on the cusp of being removed from the Olympics. "I feel we are entering a better and exciting time for the sport of Olympic sailing," Hall said in a recent posting on her blog. When Patch last spoke with Hall, windsurfing as a sport in the Olympics was set to be replaced by kiteboarding. It seemed like a done deal at the end of the 2012 summer games in London. Hall said she would be training for both windsurfing and kiteboarding. But a recent vote by the International Sailing Federation secured windsurfing for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro. Kiteboarding will become an official Olympic sport in the 2020 games. Hall said…
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Local Olympian Farrah Hall was invited to the White House to hear the president speak.
Cape St. Claire's own Olympian Farrah Hall took a trip to the White House this week to hear President Barack Obama speak with Team USA's Olympic and Paralympic teams. Hall posted a photo gallery of pictures she took of the event on her Facebook page, where she was mere feet from Obama. She also scored a hilariously up-close shot of Vice President Joe Biden. Team USA's athletes were honored for their participation and success in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Obama told the athletes they were the country's ideal representatives, according to a release from The White House. "One of the great things about watching our Olympics is we are a portrait of what this country is all about—people from every walk of life, every background, every …
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Farrah Hall and other Maryland Olympians stood on the field at the Baltimore Ravens' first game of the season.
Local Olympian Farrah Hall of Cape St. Claire stood side-by-side with other Maryland Olympians at the Baltimore Ravens' first game of the season on Monday. The athletes received the VIP treatment and field access as they posed for photographs and video of them shown on the massive stadium screens. Hall, an Olympic windsurfer and graduate of Broadneck High School, posted about 50 photos of the evening's big event on her Facebook page. Another Broadneck Olympian, Matthew Centrowitz, wasn't at Monday's game. He's been traveling around Europe competing in various running events. But he is expected to arrive back in town this week. See also:
Friday, September 7, 2012
Windsurfing is out and kiteboarding is in, according to a decision by the group that oversees international sailing competitions.
Local Olympian Farrah Hall is back in town after sailing among the best in the world in the London 2012 Olympic Games, but a big change could be in store for her career. By the time the summer games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil kick off in 2016, windsurfing may no longer be in the lineup. In its stead, kiteboarding has been given the green light by the International Sailing Federation. Hall said it will be an awkward transition for those heavily invested in windsurfing, and she felt the decision was premature. "I think everyone wants to see kiteboarding come to the Olympics, but maybe it'd be better in 2020," she said. At the end of the games in London—her first Olympic experience—Hall had assembled a program and routine she said she felt …
Saturday, September 1, 2012
County Councilman Chris Trumbauer presented Farrah Hall with an official council citation for representing our country in the Olympics.
A hometown Olympian, Farrah Hall of Cape St. Claire, returned home Wednesday after competing in London. Hall was honored by a welcome home celebration at the East of Maui Surf Shop in Annapolis on Wednesday evening. In attendance were dozens of friend and family, and members of area surf and sailing clubs. Hall placed 20th overall in women's windsurfing in the 2012 Summer Olympics, and said the experience was challenging and enlightening. Anne Arundel County Councilman Chris Trumbauer (D-6th District), of Annapolis, awarded Hall with an official council citation. The full citation reads: The County Council Citation is presented to Farrah Hall in recognition of your participation in the Games of the XXX Olympiad held in London, England, …
Monday, August 27, 2012
A welcome back celebration for Cape St. Claire's Olympic windsurfer will be held in Annapolis on Wednesday.
Cape St. Claire's Olympic windsufer Farrah Hall will be welcomed back from competing in London this week outside of East of Maui Surf Shop in Annapolis. Hall placed 20th overall in women's windsurfing in the 2012 Summer Olympics, and said the experience was challenging and enlightening. She plans to start training for the next summer games soon. But for now, it's time to kick back and celebrate her international performance. Hall's welcome home celebration is being hosted by the Baltimore Area Boardsaling Association, the local windsurfing club, and will be held Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. There may even be a chance to view her Olympic competition sail at the event, and footage of her at the races in London. "Most of you know that Farrah …
Monday, August 20, 2012
Annapolis' Farrah Hall took her windsurfing skills to the Olympics.
After all the talk of Farrah Hall of Cape St. Claire windsurfing in the London 2012 Olympic Games, there wasn't much footage floating around online of her performances. But a few weeks after the games, her coach Max Wojcik created this video montage of Hall training and competing in London and uploaded it to YouTube. Hall placed 20th overall in women's windsurfing, and said on her blog the games were an enlightening learning experience for her. She said she has plans to get back on the path to the next summer games. For more news like this, check Broadneck Patch's guide to local Olympians, which keeps track of all stories written about Broadneck's international athletes, Hall and Matt Centrowitz.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Hall said she's learned from her mistakes in the games, and hopes to prepare for the next summer games in 2016.
Cape St. Claire windsurfer Farrah Hall said competing in the Olympics this year made her realize the uphill path ahead of her. Hall placed 20th overall after 10 rounds of sailing in women's windsurfing in her first Olympic games. Hall shared her impressions on the games in her latest blog. Here are some excerpts from it: "I now understand the meaning of the dedicated years of my life I spent achieving this goal. As an athlete, I've also begun to comprehend the level of experience and focus needed to really succeed in this event." "Although I put together a really good program this past year, it's just the baseline for a truly excellent one." "What I needed was a plan to regain 'attack mode' - this was something I hadn't considered in my …
Monday, August 6, 2012
"I’m really proud to represent our country," Hall said.
Farrah Hall of Cape St. Claire improved her overall standings in her final two races of the Olympic games, ending in 20th place. The ninth and 10th races for women's windsurfing were sailed on Sunday morning in London. Hall placed 16th in both races, which increased her rank among the 26 windsurfers from 22nd to 20th. It was her first time at the Olympics. In an interview with the U.S. Sailing Team after the races on Sunday, Hall said it has been an exciting trip. “The light wind conditions we had today was better,” she said. “I could put together races a bit better. In my development I am a better light-wind sailor. I’m going to keep working on that. It’s really exciting to be part of the U.S. Olympic Team. I’m really proud to represent …
Saturday, August 4, 2012
The Cape St. Claire windsurfer said it's not a disaster, but disappointing.
Annapolis windsurfer Farrah Hall suffered a penalty after starting too early in a race on Saturday, but smiled through it, saying she's still having fun on the waves. In the eighth race for women's windsurfing on Saturday morning, Hall was penalized for an OCS (on-course side, or starting the race early). She was docked on points equal to the number of competitors, which in this race was 26. Hall is now in 22nd place overall after the eighth race of 10 scheduled. Hall said in an interview with the U.S. Sailing Team's website on Saturday that she has struggled with strong breezes since the games began. "This isn't my strong condition," Hall told US Sailing. "We had windy conditions every day. It is the most fun conditions, and I 'm having … | <urn:uuid:18c87515-607d-4544-b73e-63ed22d23510> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://broadneck.patch.com/topics/Farrah+Hall | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974613 | 1,910 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Anyone who has studied shamanism in any detail will have heard statements to the effect that shamans imbibed the potent Fly Agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria) in a rather odd, idiosyncratic manner: they would collect the urine of reindeer that had eaten the mushroom and become intoxicated as a result, and drink this urine in order to enter altered states of consciousness.
But is it true? In his fantastic book Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom (Amazon US and UK), Andy Letcher dispels many myths about 'freaky fungi', and the reindeer urine story is one. According to Letcher, it is "a modern urban myth that shamans or anyone else drank reindeer urine: an intoxicated deer would be slaughtered and eaten, by which means the effects would be passed on."
So there you have it: the reindeer urine shamanism story has been debunked. One might think so, except someone has since disputed Andy Letcher's claim: the expert author on mushroom culture, Andy Letcher! Writing on his blog, Letcher tells how a chance meeting with a reindeer herder, who had herds in both Britain and Scandinavia, led to a surprising outcome. Without being prompted on the question of reindeer urine being drunk by shamans, the herder told Letcher the following story:
Once, while living amongst the Saami, his hosts started feeding reindeer with fly-agarics, which the deer consumed with some relish. Waiting for nature to take its course, the fruits of micturition were collected in a bucket (strapped to the animals' flanks perhaps?), boiled up in a pot (I'm guessing to concentrate the brew or perhaps to make it more potable) and shared round.
"I don't drink and I've never taken any drugs" he told me. "But I took some when they passed it round. Well, you have to, don't you? They expect it. Anyway, I was high as a kite I was, high as a kite. There was an old eighty year old grandmother with us, and I fancied her, that's how high I was. High as a bloody kite!"
Letcher's last word on the topic? "So there you have it. A report from a credible witness that some Saami do drink fly-agaric-imbued reindeer urine and that the effects are palpable. I stand corrected."
And if you're wondering why shamans would choose to drink Fly Agaric-containing urine (both reindeer, and human), rather than eat the mushrooms raw, Paul Devereux's wonderful book The Long Trip: A Prehistory of Psychedelia Amazon US and Amazon UK) may provide at least one possibility:
Filip Johann von Strahlenberg, a Swedish prisoner of war in the early eighteenth century, reported seeing Koryak tribespeople waiting outside huts where mushroom sessions were taking place, waiting for people to come out and urinate. When they did, the warm, steaming tawny-gold nectar was collected in wooden bowls and greedily gulped down. The Amanita muscaria effect could apparently be recycled up to five times in this manner, and, remarkably, was less likely to cause the vomiting often associated with the direct ingestion of the mushroom itself.
So, next time you're at a party and everyone's discussing magic mushrooms and urine drinking, you'll be able to set them all straight. The Daily Grail, always here to help you improve your social conversations.
[Image by Onderwijsgek, Creative Commons Licence] | <urn:uuid:ea7b7082-3c6b-47c1-96de-019169b4b528> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailygrail.com/Shamanism/2012/9/Taking-the-Pss-Did-Shamans-Really-Drink-Reindeer-Urine | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972321 | 759 | 1.515625 | 2 |
The event will begin at 7 p.m. in the high school’s auditorium.
The summit will feature law enforcement experts, school personnel and safety officials from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.
Participants in the summit will include: Floyd County Sheriff Tim Burkhalter; Floyd County Police Chief Bill Shiflett; Floyd County Emergency Management Agency Director Scotty Hancock; Georgia Emergency Management Agency Regional School Safety Coordinator Anna Lumpkin; Jerry Jennings, a licensed professional counselor; Floyd County Schools Superintendent Jeff McDaniel; Floyd County Board of Education Chairman David Johnson; and members of the community.
“I know that I will never forget where I was on Dec. 14, 2012, when I heard about the horrific loss suffered at Sandy Hook Elementary,” McDaniel said of the deadly shootings in Connecticut. “This is not an education problem but rather an issue that is brought to our doorstep. We hope this event begins the discussion of how we move forward as a community.” The summit event will be concluded with an opportunity for those attending to ask questions or make comments. | <urn:uuid:021d1a83-9ce4-466c-9651-677f3a7ba297> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rn-t.com/view/full_story/21523617/article-School-safety-summit-planned-for-Thursday-night-at-Model?instance=home_news_lead | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936566 | 221 | 1.578125 | 2 |
“Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind... War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.
“I hear it said that West Berlin is militarily untenable-and so was Bastogne, and so, in fact, was Stalingrad. Any danger spot is tenable if men-brave men-will make it so.
“Like dealing with Dad-all give and no take. (On negotiating with Soviet Premier Nikita S Khrushchev)
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause who at best, if he wins, knows the thrills of high achievement, and, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
“The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are. ... The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission. (Announcing blockade of Cuba)
“The freedom of the city is not negotiable. We cannot negotiate with those who say, What's mine is mine and what's yours is negotiable.
“Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process.
“Washington D.C. is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
“We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
35th President of the United States; established the Peace Corps; assassinated in Dallas (1917-1963)
“The spice extends life. The spice expands consciousness.
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custom essay writing - Printer Paper for Matrix Printers by Gotoforms | <urn:uuid:8f782abb-9cee-4dea-bb6d-60ed3bd80fde> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.quotes.net/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950056 | 508 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Let's take a trip down Hypothetical Lane.
Say an eastern all-sports conference would have been formed in the early-1980s, when Joe Paterno embarked unsuccessfully on the project.
Along with Penn State, the initial group under consideration included Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia, Boston College, Rutgers and Temple.
Paterno thought Miami might have been interested, and he has often mentioned Maryland as well.
Had that league launched 30 years ago, what would it look like today? Would Miami and Maryland be in it? How about the Virginia schools (UVA and Virginia Tech)? And how great would the PSU-Pitt rivalry be now?
Would the Big East basketball conference ultimately joined or merged, perhaps in another division, to form a super eastern conference?
What kind of leadership would it have had? Would JoePa, a driving force initially, delegated power or been content to run it himself? Would he have stayed in coaching this long? (We probably know the answer to that one).
Would Penn State have dominated? The Nittany Lions, at that point, pretty much had their way against every member of the east excluding parts of the Johnny Majors-Jackie Sherrill eras at Pitt which managed three wins (1976, '79 and '80) over a five-year period before the Nittany Lions re-asserted themselves.
PSU's move into the Big Ten, announced in 1990, created a ripple effort throughout college sports, particularly in the east. Miami joined the Big East. Virginia Tech jumped to the Big East and then bolted to the ACC. Arkansas joined the SEC. BC joined the ACC. Syracuse almost did. Florida State joined the ACC, followed by Miami.
With mega-conferences forming, in part to stage championship football games and now the Big Ten expanding, how would a Penn State team in an eastern league be viewed today?
Surely, the Nittany Lions' football tradition and facilities and eastern drawing power would have enticed the Big Ten and its widespread marketing vision.
Under that scenario, it's quite possible that the Nittany Lions could have found themselves being wooed by the Big Ten and thus having their loyalty tested.
How could they leave a league they helped start?
Then again, Syracuse helped start the Big East, and it's looking more and more like the Orange - like Pitt and like Rutgers and like UConn - will jump immediately in the event a Big Ten invitation is mailed. They'll have no choice because, with respect to their conference brothers, no one can afford to risk watching this financial ship sail without them.
Or had PSU been comfortable in the east, would the Big Ten, in addition to its constant courtship of Notre Dame, have just looked westward at the likes of Missouri and Nebraska?
Would a Big East with Penn State be as lucrative as a Big Ten with Penn State?
Penn State would seem to be better positioned for the future where it is right now.
We don't know what the last 25-plus years of Penn State in an eastern conference would have wrought, but it's doubtful it would have provided as much stability - and competition - as the Big Ten.
Rudel can be reached at 946-7527 or email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:3f46eadd-3d83-42f0-837d-61c1c2571c93> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/530397/Playing-the--what-if---game-with-PSU.html?nav=805 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981785 | 683 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Painter and sculptor Eduardo Chillida claimed "I'm always trying to do what I don't know how to do," according to author Stanley Meisler.1 Chillida continually set new goals for himself in coming to terms with new media. I feel the same way.
When I first read Chillida's statement, I was beginning my second career, moving from high school teaching and administration to an assistant professorship teaching graduate students about educational leadership. My new career presented me with new challenges, many of them related to tasks I had set for myself involving digital technologies. I was determined to create my own website, for example, and was wrestling mightily to understand what Marc Prensky's "digital natives" might regard as common knowledge.2 I wanted to incorporate digital video segments of practice into my teaching, and I was frustrated by the intricacies of software that seemed to be written in an incomprehensible language. Successfully taking on projects involving technology that I know can be done easily by people more skilled than I depends on my finding and benefiting from appropriate support. Luckily, I found it.
Joining a Focused Faculty Learning Community
In moving to my current institution, I had the opportunity to join a newly formed faculty learning community (FLC) focused on integrating technology with teaching and sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE). Despite having a general idea of how an FLC might operate and participating in many collaborative ventures, I had never been engaged with a formal, longer-term group. My new FLC colleagues, who came from the many departments and schools across our large research institution, brought a wide range of perspectives. They shared my generic understanding of an FLC—that is, a group of faculty working together on an issue. It turned out to be much more involved, however, calling to mind Michael Fullan's laconic assessment that the "learning community" title "travels faster and better than the concept."3
In the FLC's initial meetings, ably led by a facilitator with expertise in applications of digital technology in education, we set about defining our community in practice. What emerged was
- A commitment to a meeting schedule (we would meet every second week through the fall and spring)
- A projected learning curve (we would spend the fall learning about a range of Internet tools and related digital technologies)
- An individual task requirement (we would each seek to incorporate one or more of the technologies we learned about through fall into our teaching in the spring semester)
- A group project requirement (we would agree on a large-scale group project with which we could all engage towards the end of the spring semester)
Members also agreed that the FLC's experience would form the substance of a proposal to an appropriate conference in the spring, with FLC members determining their individual ability to attend should the proposal be accepted.
In return for the FLC members' time commitment, and to ensure that good ideas did not languish for lack of seed money, the CTE set aside a stipend of $1,000 per FLC member to defray the costs of hardware or software needed to complete the individual tasks we set ourselves. Part of the stipend could be accessed during the year, with the balance available at the end of the year.
All of this planning took time, of course, and my individual project turned out to be a major undertaking. Hours of discussion with my FLC colleagues preceded my decision about what I would attempt to do. Hours more were required to address the many questions that I asked and even re-asked in the supportive environment of the FLC.
After much deliberation, I chose to create podcasts of my discussions of the PowerPoint slides I have created over a number of years to summarize the course content. These would enable students to access the material ahead of the class meetings. My intention was to carve out more time in class for simulations and role-playing, thus engaging students with the performance-related skills I hoped to engender in them. Implementing this new approach was easier said than done, unfortunately.
First, I did not own an iPod, thinking of them as entertainment toys. Encouraged by the FLC discussions, however, I saw a role for iPod technology in enhancing teaching and learning, and part of my stipend went to purchasing one.
Next, the facilitator introduced me to an online service (http://www.lecture123.com) suited to my purpose and arranged for me to try it out. It worked well in two trial situations late in the fall, but the cost once the trial had expired seemed prohibitive. The facilitator then arranged for me to access stand-alone software (Camtasia Studio from TechSmith, http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp) with which I produced the podcasts I envisioned. Although still on the learning curve for using the software, I can nonchalantly don an audio-active headset, produce a podcast, and make the podcast available on my website.
Personal Value of the FLC
Both the community involvement and the meeting structure of the FLC suited my needs. The wide range of perspectives my colleagues brought to our discussions expanded my understanding of potential applications. The structure, as it emerged, also fueled my learning. By having set times committed to group sharing, along with financial support for technology, FLC members were able to meet our individual and group goals.
Even more than the structure, however, the FLC's leadership was key to its success. The practitioner who facilitated the meetings was highly competent, extremely patient, and dedicated to providing whatever resources we required to get the most out of the entire experience. On the rare occasions when I could not attend a particular meeting, I was able to call on his time for an update or access the online material he continually supplied on the university's course management site. Further, when I decided on my individual project, the facilitator made me aware of options, made it possible for me to try them out, and ensured that I had the software I needed for my project.
The CTE-sponsored FLC at my university has provided the support and resources needed for me to make a major change in the way I deal with content in my course. This has resulted in offering a different learning modality to my students.
I continue to monitor and improve the usefulness of my podcasts by gathering student feedback and making adjustments. For example, almost one year out from my initial implementation of the concept, the purpose of the original podcasting exercise has changed—it has evolved to become a tool that allows students to review my class discussions at their leisure. Assuming students would use the podcasts before coming to class didn't work out as I expected, but the unanticipated post-class use benefits them in a different way.
A backhanded compliment to the podcasts' usefulness occurred in a recent class when I heard my voice emanating from a student's laptop. The student had unintentionally opened my preceding podcast while the live event was in progress!
Use of an iPod has furthered my own learning in new ways as well. These days, I listen to language lessons on my way to work and thus know considerably more Spanish than I did previously.
Participating in the FLC has shown me how to implement projects involving technology in my teaching approach, with clear benefits for students. It has also provided an enjoyable way to meet and discuss pedagogy with colleagues from across campus. Perhaps the clearest endorsement I can offer of the FLC is this: I chose to continue my membership for the current year as I continue "to do what I don't know how to do." | <urn:uuid:025bf32b-69e7-40ea-a7ec-031ad3db2e7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/doing-what-i-don%E2%80%99t-know-how-do | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969742 | 1,561 | 1.625 | 2 |
Statement on Public Performance from Swank
What are "Public Performances?"
Suppose you invite a few personal friends over for a dinner and a movie. You purchase or rent a copy of a movie from the local video store and view the film in your home that night. Have you violated the copyright law by illegally "publicly performing" the movie? Probably not.
But suppose you took the same videocassette and showed it at a club or bar you happen to manage. In this case you have infringed the copyright of the movie. Simply put, videocassettes obtained through a video store are not licensed for exhibition. Home video means just that viewing of a movie at home by family or a close circle of friends.
What the Law Says
The Federal Copyright Act (Title 17 of the United States Code) governs how copyrighted materials, such as movies, may be used. Neither the rental nor the purchase of a videocassette carries with it the right to show the tape outside the home.
In some instances no license is required to view a videotape, such as inside the home by family or social acquaintances and in certain narrowly defined face-to-face teaching activities.
Taverns, restaurants, private clubs, prisons, lodges, factories, summer camps, public libraries, day-care facilities, parks and recreation departments, churches and non-classroom use at schools and universities are all examples of situations where a public performance license must be obtained. This legal requirement applies regardless of whether an admission fee is charged, whether the institution or organization is commercial or non-profit, or whether a federal or state agency is involved.
Penalties for Copy Right Infringement
"Willful" infringement for commercial or financial gain is a federal crime and punishable as a misdemeanor, carrying a maximum sentence of up to one year in jail and/or a $100,000 fine. Even inadvertent infringers are subject to substantial civil damages ranging from $500 to $20,000 for each illegal showing.
How to Obtain a Public Performance License?
Obtaining a public performance license is relatively easy and usually requires no more than a phone call. Fees are determined by such factors as the number of times a particular movie is going to be shown, how large the audience will be and so forth. While fees vary, they are generally inexpensive for smaller performances. Most licensing fees are based on a particular performance or set of performances for specified films.
In other specialized markets, such as hotels and motels, many Hollywood studios may handle licensing arrangements directly.
Why is Hollywood Concerned About such Performances?
The concept of "public performances" is central to copyright and the issue of protection for "intellectual property." If a movie producer, author, computer programmer or musician does not retain ownership of his or her "work," there would be little incentive for them to continue and little chance of recouping the enormous investment in research and development, much less profits for future endeavors.
Unauthorized public performances in the U.S. are estimated to rob the movie industry of between $1.5-$2 million each year. Unfortunately, unauthorized public performances are just the tip of the iceberg. The movie studios lose more than $150 million annually due to pirated videotapes and several hundred million more dollars because of illegal satellite and cable TV receptions.
Copyright Infringers are Prosecuted
The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) and its member companies are dedicated to stopping film and video piracy in all its forms, including unauthorized public performances. The motion picture companies will go to court to ensure their copyrights are not violated. Lawsuits for example, have been filed against cruise ships and bus companies for unauthorized on-board exhibitions.
If you are uncertain about your responsibilities under the copyright law, contact the MPAA, firms that handle public performance licenses or the studios directly. Avoid the possibility of punitive action. | <urn:uuid:d1e7ee27-c1e0-4e8e-869b-0a51158f7a2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.albion.edu/news-and-events/recent-news/news-archive/17-albionview/209-testing-the-waters | 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 | 0.945955 | 802 | 1.71875 | 2 |
In the previous post I offered a very brief survey of some controversies, pointing out that while there have been some true-blue antinomians, the charge is often made by those tilting in a more neonomian direction against faithful, apostolic, evangelical preaching. For example, in spite of the fact that Lutheran and Reformed churches have gone on record against antinomianism in no uncertain terms, that has not kept them from being accused of holding at least implicitly to antinomian tenets.
The Lutheran Confession
In his Small Catechism, Luther begins with the Ten Commandments, concluding, “God threatens to punish all that transgress these commandments. Therefore we should dread His wrath and not act contrary to these commandments. But He promises grace and every blessing to all that keep these commandments. Therefore we should also love and trust in Him, and gladly do [zealously and diligently order our whole life] according to His commandments.”
Settling the controversies in its own circles, the Lutherans confess in the fourth article of the Formula of Concord (1577), “We reject and condemn as offensive and detrimental to Christian discipline the bare expression, when it is said: Good works are injurious to salvation.”
For especially in these last times it is no less needful to admonish men to Christian discipline [to the way of living aright and godly] and good works, and remind them how necessary it is that they exercise themselves in good works as a declaration of their faith and gratitude to God, than that the works be not mingled in the article of justification; because men may be damned by an Epicurean delusion concerning faith, as well as by papistic and Pharisaic confidence in their own works and merits (IV.2).
After affirming the civil and elenctic uses of the law (viz., to curb public vice and to drive sinners to Christ), the sixth article defends the “third use”: “..that after they are regenerate and [much of] the flesh notwithstanding cleaves to them, they might on this account have a fixed rule according to which they are to regulate and direct their whole life…” (VI.1).
The following conclusions are worth quoting at length:
We believe, teach, and confess that, although men truly believing [in Christ] and truly converted to God have been freed and exempted from the curse and coercion of the Law, they nevertheless are not on this account without Law, but have been redeemed by the Son of God in order that they should exercise themselves in it day and night [that they should meditate upon God's Law day and night, and constantly exercise themselves in its observance, Ps. 1:2 ], Ps. 119. For even our first parents before the Fall did not live without Law, who had the Law of God written also into their hearts, because they were created in the image of God, Gen. 1:26f.; 2:16ff; 3:3. We believe, teach, and confess that the preaching of the Law is to be urged with diligence, not only upon the unbelieving and impenitent, but also upon true believers, who are truly converted, regenerate, and justified by faith (VI.2-3).
For although they are regenerate and renewed in the spirit of their mind, yet in the present life this regeneration and renewal is not complete, but only begun, and believers are, by the spirit of their mind, in a constant struggle against the flesh, that is, against the corrupt nature and disposition which cleaves to us unto death. On account of this old Adam, which still inheres in the understanding, the will, and all the powers of man, it is needful that the Law of the Lord always shine before them, in order that they may not from human devotion institute wanton and self-elected cults [that they may frame nothing in a matter of religion from the desire of private devotion, and may not choose divine services not instituted by God's Word]; likewise, that the old Adam also may not employ his own will, but may be subdued against his will, not only by the admonition and threatening of the Law, but also by punishments and blows, so that he may follow and surrender himself captive to the Spirit, 1 Cor. 9:27; Rom. 6:12, Gal. 6:14; Ps. 119:1ff ; Heb. 13:21 (Heb. 12:1) (VI.4).
The regenerate bear the fruit of the Spirit not as “works of the Law” in the sense of condemnation and justification, but “spontaneously and freely”; “for in this manner the children of God live in the Law and walk according to the Law of God, which [mode of living] St. Paul in his epistles calls the Law of Christ and the Law of the mind, Rom. 7:25; 8:7; Rom. 8:2; Gal. 6:2″ (VI.5-6).
Thus the Law is and remains both to the penitent and impenitent, both to regenerate and unregenerate men, one [and the same] Law, namely, the immutable will of God; and the difference, so far as concerns obedience, is alone in man, inasmuch as one who is not yet regenerate does for the Law out of constraint and unwillingly what it requires of him (as also the regenerate do according to the flesh); but the believer, so far as he is regenerate, does without constraint and with a willing spirit that which no threatenings [however severe] of the Law could ever extort from him (VI.7).
Therefore, the Formula rejects as an “error injurious to, and conflicting with, Christian discipline and true godliness” the view that this law is “not to be urged upon Christians and true believers, but only upon unbelievers, non-Christians, and the impenitent” (VI.8).
The Reformed Confession
In the earlier Reformed confessions, the primary goal is to clear the evangelical doctrine of justification from the Roman Catholic (and Anabaptist) charge that it rejects any place for good works, rather than any direct threat of antinomianism within the ranks.
The Belgic Confession (1561) affirms that regeneration by the Spirit through the gospel “creates a new man, causing him to live a new life, and freeing him from the bondage of sin. . Therefore it is so far from being true that this justifying faith makes men remiss in a pious and holy life, that on the contrary, without it they would never do anything out of love to God, but only out of self-love or fear of damnation. Therefore, it is impossible that this holy faith can be unfruitful in man.” These good works “are of no account towards our justification, for it is by faith in Christ that we are justified, even before we do good works; otherwise they could not be good works.” Although “God rewards good works, it is through His grace that He crowns His gifts” and “we do not found our salvation upon them; for we can do no work but what is polluted by our flesh, and also punishable…Thus, then, we would always be in doubt, tossed to and fro without any certainty, and our poor consciences would be continually vexed if they relied not on the merits of the suffering and death of our Savior” (Art. 24).
The Heidelberg Catechism begins its “Gratitude” section by asking why we should still do good works if we are justified by grace alone in Christ alone through faith alone. We do so “because Christ by his Spirit is also renewing us to be like himself, so that in all our living we may show that we are thankful to God for all he has done for us, and so that he may be praised through us. And we do good so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits, and so that by our godly living our neighbors may be won over to Christ” (Q. 86). Conversion involves repentance as well as faith: dying to the old self and living to Christ (Q. 87-90). What then defines a “good work”? “Only that which arises out of true faith, conforms to God’s law, and is done for his glory; and not that which is based on what we think is right or on established human tradition” (Q. 91). This sets the stage for Catechism’s treatment of the the Ten Commandments (Q. 92-113). “In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience. Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God’s commandments” (Q. 114). The law much still be preached in the church for two reasons: “First, so that the longer we live the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness. Second, so that, while praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, we may never stop striving to be renewed more and more after God’s image, until after this life we reach our goal: perfection” (Q. 115). There are also many relevant statements in the Canons of the Synod of Dort (1619).
The same view is found in articles 15-18 of the Church of England’s Thirty-Nine Articles. However, the debates of subsequent decades brought refinement to the Reformed confession even as they did for Lutherans.
In the Westminster Confession (1647) we find the most mature reflection of Reformed churches on these questions. After a remarkably clear statement of justification, taking into account a variety of subtle deviations, the Confession treats sanctification and faith, repentance, and good works in chapters 13-16. Again the Pauline emphasis on sanctification arising necessarily from election, effectual calling, justification and adoption is evident.
Christ, “by his Word and Spirit,” destroys the dominion of sin, weakening and mortifying its desires while quickening and strengthening the new creature in “the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (13.1). Though “imperfect in this life,” there arises “a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh.” Nevertheless, by God’s grace the saints will prevail (13.2-3). The Spirit brings us to repentance through the law and the gospel (15.1-2). We do not rest on repentance “as any satisfaction for sin,” but it evangelical repentance is always present with true faith as the gift of God (15.3).
Good works are those done according to God’s law, not human authority, zeal or pious intention (16.1). They are “the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith…” (16.2). Yet believers’ good works are by grace in Christ, through his Word and Spirit, “not at all of themselves” (16.3). “We cannot by our best works merit pardon or sin, or eternal life at the hand of God…,” since even the best works of believers are still “defiled, and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection, that they cannot endure the severity of God’s judgment. Notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works are also accepted in him; not as though they were in this life wholly unblamable and unreprovable in God’s sight; but that he, looking upon them in his Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections” (16.5-7).
Chapter 19, “Of the Law of God,” distinguishes clearly between the way the law functions in a covenant of works (promising life for obedience and threatening death for disobedience) and in the covenant of grace . “Although true believers be not under the law, as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified, or condemned; yet it is of great use to them, as well as to others; in that, as a rule of life informing them of the will of God, and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly; discovering also the sinful pollution of their nature, hearts, and lives; so as, examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against sin, together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ, and the perfection of his obedience” (19.6). Expanding on the law / gospel distinction that grounds it, the federal scheme (covenant of works / covenant of grace) is crucial for avoiding legalism as well as antinomianism.
Drawing on Confessional Wisdom for Contemporary Debates
I have quoted Lutheran and Reformed confessions at length on this question at least in part because I sense that in some circles today there is a dangerous tendency to rally around persons, forming tribes around particular flags. Unchecked, this leads—as church history teaches us—to slander and schism.
There are several dangers to point out regarding this temptation to follow persons rather than to confess the faith together with saints across various times and places. There are personal idiosyncrasies attached to individuals, no matter how great their insight into God’s Word. With a clear conscience Paul could tell the Ephesian elders that he had fulfilled his office, declaring to them “the whole counsel of God” (Ac 20:27). This is our goal, too. Paul’s message came directly from the ascended Christ, and yet his letters reflect the particular controversies, strengths, and weaknesses of the churches he served. His personality and emphases differed at times from those of other apostles, even Peter and James—sometimes to the point of sharp confrontations. Nevertheless, the Spirit brought a sweet unity to the apostolic church as it gathered in a representative synod of “apostles and elders.” In solemn assembly in Jerusalem, the whole church received its marching orders for the proper view and treatment of Gentile believers.
How much more, after the death of the apostles, is our Lord’s wisdom evident in the representative assemblies of his body. It’s interesting that at the Council of Jerusalem not even Peter was given precedence over the body. Not even Athanasius’ writings were made binding at Nicea. Lutherans are not bound to Luther’s corpus and Reformed churches do not even subscribe anything written by Calvin. Jonathan Edwards did not sit at the Westminster Assembly. We are not obliged today to these confessions because of great persons, but because of great summaries of God’s Word.
It can be as difficult for their followers as for prominent preachers and theologians themselves to submit to the consensus of a whole body rather than to promote their own distinctive teachings, emphases, and corrections. Those who were raised in more legalistic and Arminian backgrounds may be prone to confuse every call to obedience as a threat to newly discovered doctrines of grace. The zeal of those who are converted from a life of debauchery or perhaps from a liberal denomination may boil over into legalistic fervor. As in the Jerusalem Council, representatives came to Nicea, Chalcedon, Torgau, Dort, and Westminster with idiosyncrasies. Yet they had to make their case, participate in restrained debate, and talk to each other in a deliberative assembly rather than about each other on blogs and in conversations with their circle of followers. Muting personal idiosyncrasies in favor of a consensus on the teaching of God’s Word, these assemblies give us an enduring testimony for our own time. Nothing has changed with respect to how sinners are justified and sanctified. There has been no alteration of God’s covenantal law or gospel.
On one hand there is reason for thanksgiving today. Many believers, especially younger ones, are embracing the doctrines of grace. Parachurch associations have provided a remarkable opportunity to extend this message and to provide mutual support to those in different denominations, or no denomination at all.
On the other hand, Christ founded a church, not an association or a website. He gave authority to churches, subordinate to his Word, to guard the apostolic deposit entrusted to them. This ministerial authority is lodged in the offices of pastor and elder, in local and broader assemblies. And yet, even in churches officially committed to this form of mutual fellowship and admonition, one discerns a growing tendency to gather into parties rather than presbyteries. Can we imagine Paul blogging about Peter rather than confronting him face to face? Are controversies to be decided by pastors and elders or by posts and emails?
Social media today create grassroots, democratic movements overnight, but unless we submit to the New Testament structures of mutual edification, these exciting wonders will be monsoons that pass as quickly as they came, leaving devastation in their wake. We have to reflect on the assets and liabilities of these new forms of mass communication, using them to the glory of God in their appropriate domain while submitting ourselves to the often humbling, slow, deliberative, and consensual processes of church courts.
If the growing charges and counter-charges of antinomianism and legalism continue to mount in our own circles, may God give us good and godly sense to recover the wisdom of our confessions as faithful summaries of biblical faith and practice. And may the Spirit direct us to the fraternal fellowship of the church’s representative assemblies for mutual encouragement and correction. | <urn:uuid:bb6dff45-c6ab-4937-a056-dce07e08232f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whitehorseinn.org/blog/2012/03/22/antinomianism-and-reformation-confessions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95962 | 3,734 | 1.828125 | 2 |
If there is one sport that combines fun in the great outdoors, exercise and skill it would be golf. The sport of golf has grown to include many groups that we would not have associated with the game just a few years ago. Golf courses are now filled with groups that include the very young to the very old. There are specialty golf clubs designed to improve the score for those golfers that use them. The world of golf has truly opened up to include anyone that is looking for a sport that focus on technique and skills. There are some golfers that practice and play several times a week and then there are those that team up with friends two or three times a month. Both types of golfers know how much fun it is to get together and play a sport we all love.
Cash for Textbooks | <urn:uuid:e77bc399-f515-48a9-a19c-fce781422759> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://golfelife.com/2012/08/skill-it-would-be/ | 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 | 0.9879 | 162 | 1.554688 | 2 |
I never used to understand what it meant to love someone so much that it physically hurts. I thought it was just an expression. It’s not. That feeling of loving someone so much that even the thought of being without them is so unfathomably painful that it’s enough to make your stomach churn and head pound and make you want to bawl your eyes out. So much that they’ve grown to be a part of you. They’re half of your whole heart. And living without one half of a heart is impossible. I never used to think it was possible to love someone more than yourself. Just another expression. I always hoped it was possible, but I never really knew. I do now. I just said I couldn’t live with half of a heart, but if that one person needed it, it’s theirs. No hesitation. “Walking to the ends of the Earth” isn’t just some “cliche” phrase. I’d do it. I’d do it a thousand times over. And then another thousand for good measure. I never used to think it was possible to miss someone the second you’re without them. But I do. I miss them right now. I never used to think it was possible to constantly want to surround yourself with someone’s voice, someone’s smile, someone’s entire being. And never get sick of it. But I found that. And to be honest, this all scares me to death. | <urn:uuid:50184ccf-7efe-4490-bbdc-e0e9ce632d00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wolfbabies.tumblr.com/post/28307828318/i-never-used-to-understand-what-it-meant-to-love | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977746 | 323 | 1.546875 | 2 |
COVINGTON - Violent crime decreased by 29 percent in the city of Covington between 2007 and 2008, according to statistics released Monday by the FBI, while property crimes increased by 10 percent over the same period.
Violent crime - broken into the categories of murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault - showed the biggest decline in rapes, which were down by 50 percent. There were 10 forcible rapes reported in the city in 2007, compared to five in 2008.
Murder increased in the city in 2008, going from zero in 2007 to two in 2008. In addition, robberies were down by 32 percent, from 34 to 23, and aggravated assaults were down by 27 percent, from 33 to 24.
Covington Police Chief Stacey Cotton said his department makes an effort to deal with violent crime at the earliest incidence before there is an opportunity for it to escalate.
"The Covington Police Department has always worked really hard to deal with the domestic violence issues when they occur and any other violent crime issues when they occur and make cases - not just separate the parties," he said.
Property crimes were up overall by 10 percent in 2008, with the greatest percentage increase in burglaries at 14 percent. Burglaries increased by a total of 34, from 194 in 2007 to 228 in 2008.
Larceny/theft showed an increase of 9 percent in 2008, a jump of 55 cases. Motor vehicle thefts increased by 1, from 53 to 54.
There were no arsons reported in the city in 2007 or 2008.
Cotton said it is typical for crime rates to fluctuate year to year and it is difficult to tie those fluctuations to particular factors. Cotton said crime rates may be affected by changes in population, better crime reporting and perhaps the economy, although he said his department has not seen the economy as an influence in Covington.
He also noted that most crimes are committed by the same 10 percent of the population, which means that crime rates can be affected by the number of criminals who are incarcerated at any given time.
"A large release of individuals can impact crime levels," he said.
He pointed to Georgia's "three strikes" legislation that requires criminals convicted of three prior felonies to serve their full sentences without parole. Cotton said release of those first convicted under that legislation began about 12 months ago and will continue.
"'Three strikes and you're out' sounded really good," Cotton said, "but the unintended consequence is that when they've done their full time and they have been released, they are out without any supervision." | <urn:uuid:8985f16b-74d2-433f-8293-f1240df5981f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newtoncitizen.com/news/2009/sep/17/violent-crime-sees-decrease-in-covington/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983584 | 528 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Surviving a Leadership Shakeup
Dr. Ray Benedetto is Co-Author of It's My Company Too! How Entangled Companies Move Beyond Employee Engagement For Remarkable Results.
Recent revelations by disgraced "hero" Lance Armstrong raised speculations about the future of LiveStrong, the charity Armstrong founded to fight cancer in the aftermath of his own cancer-fighting experience. Although some anticipate a short-term drop in LiveStrong's fund-raising, many believe the non-profit will survive because of its core mission — a mission that goes far beyond the image of its founder.
The Fallacy of "Hero" Leadership
Parallels exist between LiveStrong and Penn State in the aftermath of the Sandusky scandal that tarnished Joe Paterno's reputation, forcing the resignation of university president Graham Spanier. Although different circumstances existed, core issues were similar: shattered perceptions of "hero" figures combined with the betrayal of the trust and honor given to leaders who failed to do the right thing. Becoming enthralled with "heroes" based on celebrity, position, wealth or athletic prowess creates a foundation for mental distress because people are human and will make mistakes. Leaders of well-run organizations understand the disruptions such mistakes can have on mental stability, and put leadership systems in place to counteract the negative effects of such events.
Change Is Inevitable
Many people associate strong leaders with the success of an organization, but regardless of its size or purpose, an organization succeeds through the efforts of many people rather than the reputation of any single person. Studies by Booz and Company about CEO succession and longevity within large publicly-held companies show CEOs have a median tenure of about five years, while a quarter of CEOs from 2,500 reporting companies have eight or more years in that role. CEO tenure in privately-held companies is longer, many times because the CEO is also the founder, owner or primary stockholder. Regardless of organizational size, CEOs are responsible for company performance, including growth and sustainability.
Leadership shakeups rarely occur when leaders are doing the right things and objectives are being met or exceeded. Shakeups invariably occur when a leader betrays a trust or stakeholders lose confidence in that person's ability to lead, guide and influence others effectively. Leaders who break or betray a trust lose credibility, and with it, the ability to lead. Armstrong and Spanier are simply two very visible examples of many more that exist.
Poor leadership and company performance do not occur overnight. Poor performance stems from several factors that build and contribute to a company's demise. Employees can usually spot the early warning signs of failure: lack of a well-defined vision, high turnover rates, cuts in training programs and core business operations, an exodus of top talent and a series of "quick fixes" by managers fighting a losing battle. Company crises occur as the result of poor leadership at the top, a failure to put a well-defined leadership system into place.
Core Elements of Effective Leadership Systems
When compared to civilian organizations, the military services match or exceed Fortune 100 companies in size, infrastructure and resources. The military services are well known for executing their missions. They do so despite thousands of promotions, retirements, job rotations and replacements each year. How do they do it?
Rather than personality or charisma, the military services have well-defined leadership systems that meld individual character, emotional intelligence, critical thinking and business knowledge with collective commitment to high ideals, teamwork and service to others.
We found similar characteristics in the high-performing small to mid-sized companies we studied. People who share core values and develop positive relationships around those values within the organizational setting are more likely to be committed to their work, especially when leaders set the right example. Leaders develop trust with those they serve by being authentic, honest and forthright rather than setting themselves apart from others.
High-performing organizations avoid leadership "shakeups" through effective planning and leadership development throughout the organization. By modeling the way and teaching others how to lead at all organizational levels — strategic, operational and grassroots — senior leaders develop the talent that will sustain the organization despite external changes and potential disruptors. Effective leaders put several anchors in place to help everyone "survive" the changes in leadership that are expected to occur through natural evolution.
Three Critical Anchors for Surviving Change
The following "anchors" underpin organizations doing the right things and planning for eventual changes in leadership. These anchors are also good for surviving unexpected changes and evaluating existing leadership. Surviving any type of leadership change begins long before the event occurs. If the anchors are not in place, preparing for a new job with a better employer might be in order.
Reemphasize organizational purpose, especially the core values, vision and mission, as the anchorsthat keep everyone steady and underpin the organization's culture. Culture is the "social glue" that keeps everyone together. Reinforcing the values, vision and mission helps others see beyond themselves and any other person.
Regain trust by pursuing moral and ethical "high ground."Re-examining practices based on core values is essential for stabilizing the organization after major leadership changes. The military services constantly emphasize compliance with core principles and values, which helps align everyone — regardless of rank, position or responsibilities — on the vision and mission on a daily basis despite leadership changes.
Communicate openly and regularly with employees to regain trust. Employees at all levels need and want to know what is going on. They need to be respected for the value each person brings to the organization. Lack of regular communication gives rise to rumor, speculation and distrust, which work against the leaders who remain and continue to carry responsibilities for company performance.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of BusinessNewsDaily. | <urn:uuid:da49f23c-1440-40d2-aa14-8791674a47b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3853-surviving-leadership-changes.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945675 | 1,176 | 1.664063 | 2 |
It is a hopelessly busy week for me, so blogging is going to be light the next couple of days, on top of which the coveted Power Line Green Weenie Award should only be given out once a week, but sometimes exceptions need to be made, and like Captain Kirk’s “supplemental” log entries, this is one of those moments. Herewith a letter to the editor of the current issue of Nature magazine, presented without comment, as no comment is necessary:
We are scientists recently arrested in Canada for blockading a 125-car train carrying coal destined to release 26,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. We joined 11 other Canadians in this act, despite the personal risks and potential negative impact on our careers.
Time is running short and our dialogues on climate change with Canada’s conservative government have been futile, which is why we undertook this extreme action. We were following the example of NASA climatologist James Hansen, who has been arrested three times in the past three years for civil disobedience in protesting against the mining of coal or development of the Canadian oil sands.
There’s more, but you get the idea. Signed, Alejandro Frid and Lynne Quarmby. Yeah, I’ve never heard of them either, or the Canadian universities where they are no doubt tenured. But Nature, a prestige journal, saw fit to publish this drivel. For this, Nature and the two earnest professors earn a special “supplemental” Green Weenie, blackboard edition.
Oh what the heck, I’ll comment anyway: Losers. | <urn:uuid:1c580164-9783-41b9-85e8-30059a2d233e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/07/green-weenie-supplemental.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946966 | 338 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Only in Ascension Do We Take Our Physical Body with Us into a Higher Dimension
In sahaja samadhi our physical bodies do not migrate to a higher dimension during the remainder of our physical life, but in ascension they do. Because enlightenment does not result in physical ascension, enlightenment teachings do not mention the subject.
“This time [i.e., this enlightenment] you ascend with your physical body. It is not therefore [the] death of your old one, but simply a change that enables you to use it in a higher vibration.” (1)
He calls ascension “unique” for this reason. (2)
A group calling itself the Arcturians, speaking through Suzanne Carroll, note that, in previous enlightenments, “you died and abandoned your physical body in order to soar into your true Home in the higher dimensions. In your present reality, you have volunteered to stay on earth in your earth vessel to assist with planetary ascension.” (3) With ascension, the body will rise up.
SaLuSa’s comrades, Atmos and Diane, both from Sirius, concur. Atmos calls “the coming Ascension … a unique event, because it is the first occasion that you have been given the opportunity to ascend with your physical body.” (4) Diane agrees: “the coming unique opportunity [is] to ascent with a physical body.” (5)
SaLuSa informs us that “bodies are vehicles that house your soul for the duration of your time in any one environment. Soon yours will change again, as you move into the higher vibrations and indeed for some of you they have already begun.” (6)
Only in Ascension do Our Bodies Alter from Carbon to Crystalline Base
The physical body, SaLuSa continues, “has changed its body cells to make it suitable for life in the higher dimensions.” (7) One of these changes is that the structure of our physical body will not be “as your existing carbon-based body, but one that has become crystalline and can function in the 5th. Dimension, one that has become lighter, and has moved into a near perfect expression of itself.” (8) Ela of Arcturus calls our new body a “higher expression of your physical body.” (9)
Why need we make this change? SaLuSa states that “the physical matter of your dimension is tenuous and cannot hold together in the higher realms. That is why the changes from carbon-based cells to crystalline, are necessary.” (10)
A spiritual group calling itself the White-Winged Collective Consciousness of Nine asserts that the crystalline patterning of the body was occurring by late 2008: “The crystalline energies are now moving into your density or rather your bodies are adjusting to their new crystalline patternings.” (11)
It is common to hear the masters of ascension call this new vehicle a “light body.” The Archangel Michael, for instance, uses this terminology: “Ascension is when the soul transforms its physical body into light and steps into the next level of consciousness.” (12) The Arcturians also call ascension “a grand transformation from a carbon-based body to a light-based body.” (13)
Again in 2010 SaLuSa utells us: “In the realms of Light, … your bodies are already changing at this very time, and your Light bodies are forming in readiness for Ascension.” (14)
Matthew Ward advises us how to work with these changes.
“Some of you are asking how to know if you are absorbing sufficient light for cells to change from carbon to crystalline. I would say that the best sign is your thoughts, feelings and choices: Are they aligned with godliness? Have you forgiven self and others for actual or imagined hurts; is your mind open to considering new information; are you exercising your powers of discernment and trusting your intuition?” (15)
Ascension Promises a Return to “Full” Consciousness
The masters of ascension make a claim that I’m not aware the masters of enlightenment make and that is that ascension promises a return to “full” consciousness.
Given that the masters of ascension say that ascension is virtually endless, why would they associate “full consciousness” with the Fifth Dimension, when endless dimensions with their expansions of consciousness lie beyond it?
One reason given here is they say that we chose to descend from the Fifth Dimension into the Third in order to experience separation from God and learn from that experience. Now that we’re returning to the Fifth Dimension, they may be arguing that we’re returning to the “full” consciousness we previously possessed.
It may also be that the masters of ascension are engineering a project that involves a very large number of people on the planet, many of whom don’t have an extensive spiritual background. The masters may wish to use a simplified and easily-understood spiritual vocabulary so as to elicit understanding.
It could also be that the re-awakening of dormant DNA strands and chakras, which we will discuss in the following section, as well as the conditions of life in the Fifth Dimension make our consciousness after ascension much fuller compared to our consciousness before.
Whatever the reason, they predict an enhancement of our consciousness that is wonderful to anticipate. Here SaLuSa offers the explanation of a return to a “full” state of consciousness we previously possessed.
“You are far from full consciousness, yet in a comparatively short time you will again reach such levels. With your finite minds you cannot truly understand what that means, but try imagining that you know everything that is, was and will be.
“Perhaps it sounds too much for you to deal with, but when it occurs it will be a most natural development for you. You will be returning to a familiar state that you once held before you moved into the cycle of duality.” (16) | <urn:uuid:e3727858-6be9-4a6c-bc0a-15cc27f28ae0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theawakenedstate.tumblr.com/post/17053587982/ascension-is-enlightenment-plus | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93887 | 1,283 | 1.695313 | 2 |
10 secrets to Instagram’s success
It’s fair to say Instagram has dominated news headlines this week, after being acquired by Facebook for an astounding $US1 billion.
With 30 million users on iOS alone, it’s easy to see why Facebook was so keen to get its hands on the photo-sharing app, despite the fact it is yet to generate revenue or turn a profit.
Based in San Francisco, Instagram was founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, both of whom are graduates of Stanford University and will now join the Facebook team.
It’s understood the $US1 billion is being paid out with a mixture of cash and stock.
Systrom owns 40% of Instagram, giving him $US400 million, while Krieger holds 10%, with a $US100 million downfall.
These figures aren’t bad for a company that’s only two-years-old, but they haven’t been achieved without hard work and creativity. Here are 10 secrets behind Instagram’s success.
1. Teach yourself tech
Systrom is one of a growing number of self-taught programmers, and his success highlights the value of learning to code.
Prior to Instagram, Systrom used his evenings to work on simple ideas that would help him learn how to program. One of these ideas was combining elements of Foursquare and Mafia Wars.
“I figured I could build a prototype of the idea in HTML5,” he said.
“At a party… [I met] two people from Baseline Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. I showed [them] the prototype and we decided we’d meet up for coffee to talk about it.”
“After the first meeting, I decided to take the dive and leave my job… Within two weeks of leaving, I raised $500k from both Baseline and Andreessen Horowitz.”
2. Don’t be afraid to change
The Instagram service was not the original concept developed by Systrom, who, after graduating from Stanford, worked on Google’s Gmail and corporate development.
He spent his weekends building an app that allowed location-aware photo and note-sharing, dubbing it Burbn. That’s how Systrom met Krieger, who was an enthusiastic early Burbn user.
While the pair didn’t know each other, they had both participated in Stanford’s Mayfield Fellows program, which educates students in successful and failed start-ups.
In a brave move, Burbn was pared down to photos only and dubbed Instragram.
3. Play on emotions
Unlike a lot of tech start-ups, Instagram has created a platform built on emotion, namely nostalgia, which has a surprisingly powerful effect on consumer behaviour.
For example, there is an Instagram filter called “1977”, which gives pictures a square white border reminiscent of a Polaroid photo, and fades out the colours to suggest the photo has aged.
“[With Instagram], we are creating a kind of instant nostalgia for moments that never quite were,” Ian Crouch wrote in an article for The New Yorker.
4. Keep it light
Instagram is famously located in Twitter’s old headquarters in San Francisco’s South Park neighbourhood. However, it subleases its space from another company.
Instagram operates out of Twitter’s old conference room – the entire company is nothing more than a collection of desks in a room smaller than most garages, keeping costs to a minimum.
And with only 10 employees on board, questions have been raised as to why Instagram hasn’t gone out and hired more people, although Systrom insists “we only hire the best of the best”.
A small team also keeps Instagram from burning through cash. Fewer staff means fewer paychecks, which means less pressure on the company to generate revenue right away.
5. Look beyond your own backyard
While Instagram doesn’t actually make any money, it is not without commercial possibilities.
In addition to a growing and involved user base, the app is catching on with companies, including the Ann Taylor clothing chain, Urban Outfitters Inc. and fashion label Marc Jacobs.
All three of these companies have created Instagram accounts and actively use the service to promote their brands.
The app is also popular with celebrities and politicians, including US President Barack Obama, singer Justin Bieber, professional skateboarder Tony Hawk and rapper Snoop Dogg.
6. Prioritise service over new technology
More than a year ago, Systrom announced that Instragram was coming to Android, although it only became available last week. However, Systrom has explained why it took so long.
“We saw an opportunity to be really good at one thing, [which is the iOS app] and it turns out that helped us,” he said.
“It wasn’t because we felt like Android wasn’t an opportunity we wanted to go after… It’s more that we were three people trying to keep the site up.”
“Everything became a priority, and because everything became a priority we had to focus on what was most important, which was to keep the site going and make users really happy.”
7. Keep users engaged
While Instagram is notorious for taking its time with certain developments – namely its Android app – it also makes a point of surprising users with technology updates.
Last year, it introduced a complete upgrade to Instagram’s camera, with a brand-new technology layer. This included live filters, instant tilt-shift, high-resolution photos and one-click rotation.
But rather than throwing users in the deep end and expecting them to work out new features on their own, Instagram regularly offers users tips to ensure they get the most out of the application.
“Instagram Tips is a series that features Instagram-related pro-tips for both novice and expert users alike! Check out the Support Centre for more tips and help,” Instagram says on its site.
8. Hire a community evangelist
In August last year, Instragram added a fifth staff member to its ranks but, unlike previous hires, this one was not an engineer.
Jessica Stollman joined the team as a community evangelist. Zollman was already known to Instragram as a devoted fan – she chased down an invite to use the app during its beta stage.
According to Systrom, Zollman was hired to help manage and nurture all aspects of the company’s relationship with its fan base – a seemingly simple yet underrated job.
“[The role encompasses] everything from community outreach to holding events, to writing on our blog, to helping people with their technical support issues,” Systrom said.
9. Win awards – and lots of them
No start-up should underestimate the value of winning awards, particularly in the early days, when marketing budgets are non-existent and no one knows your name yet.
Instragram has an impressive number of awards under its belt, ensuring its validity not only among users but among prospective investors.
In January last year, Instragram was the runner-up for Best Mobile App at the 2010 TechCrunch Crunchies Awards, and was named Best Locally Made App in the SF Weekly Web Awards.
Then in December, Apple named Instagram App of the Year for 2011 – a major coup for the young company. Both Systrom and Krieger have also been featured in various publications.
10. Remain humble
Despite Instagram’s popularity, Systrom and Krieger have always remained humble, maintaining focus on the task at hand while being honest about their mistakes.
“Instagram is an app that only took eight weeks to build and ship, but was a product of over a year of work,” Systrom wrote in a blog post.
“We spent one week prototyping a version that focused solely on photos. It was pretty awful. So we went back to creating a native version of Burbn.”
“We actually got an entire version of Burbn done as an iPhone app, but it felt cluttered and overrun with features.”
“We went out on a limb and basically cut everything in the Burbn app except for its photo, comment and like capabilities. What remained was Instagram.” | <urn:uuid:70463255-164b-4ae0-aea6-0e9bcfe153c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.startupsmart.com.au/success-stories/10-secrets-to-instagrams-success/201204125988.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964057 | 1,753 | 1.539063 | 2 |
NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partner university faculty. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
H63D positive- C282Y negative
My husband has many of the classic signs/symptoms of HH although his C282Y mutation was negative. His serum ferritin is 750+ although his iron,tibc & saturation are all normal. One of his liver enzymes is 250+ and testostorone is at 160. His heart has an enlarged chamber and he has become diabetic. Is it possible that he has Hemochromatosis although most of blood tests were normal, or is it impossible?
If the information is accurate, the likelihood is that genetic hemochromatosis is not the cause of all your husband's symptoms. There are a few rare forms of hemochromatosis for which genetic testing is not yet available, and it’s certainly possible that he might have one of these forms.
The only other way to confirm whether or not iron is directly responsible for some of his problems would be to evaluate iron levels by means of a liver biopsy. This is somewhat invasive and would not be undertaken casually; however, he does have evidence of some liver dysfunction with the abnormal liver enzymes, and this certainly might be a consideration. It might be something that he could consider discussing with his physician to see if this is an appropriate diagnostic maneuver to undertake.
Mark Wurster, MD
Former Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
College of Medicine
The Ohio State University | <urn:uuid:5c9e177d-bf1b-49d2-8e1a-da83a6cbba7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.netwellness.org/question.cfm/35374.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97701 | 329 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Owner's Manual: No Substitute for LSD
Base mileage is the key to consistency
Years ago I coined the term "adult-onset athletes." I wanted to describe runners who had never participated in sports in school and who had probably never learned to respect the wisdom of seasons. These runners would not have benefited from coaching that taught the importance of phasing in the separate periods of: 1) conditioning; 2) competing; 3) peaking for championship performances; 4) and then taking at least a couple of weeks of active rest to recover.
Unfortunately for adult-onset runners, the sport of road running has developed into an endless, year-round competitive season. As a result, these runners may never learn the need for recovery from the mental, emotional, and physical stress of the constant racing month after month. To illustrate, here's the development pattern of the typical adult-onset runner.
Laura wakes up after her 30th birthday party, looks into the mirror and exclaims, "My God. Who is that hung-over chubette staring back at me?" Slowly, a wave of maturity washes away the delusions and allows her to admit to the reality in the mirror caused by her Good Times lifestyle. "A-ha!" she says. "It's time to grow up, get in shape, and lose some weight."
Wisely, Laura selects a simple plan of walking a mile a day and cutting back on the calories and cocktails. Soon she stretches the walk to 45 minutes a day. After a couple of months, five or six pounds are missing and Laura feels great. But now her weight stabilizes and she can't seem to walk fast enough to feel as satisfyingly tired as she did when she first started heading out the door each morning. Laura decides to try some jogging. But, sure enough, after a few minutes, she is seriously huffing and puffing and realizes she can't maintain this effort for the whole workout. So she slows down to a walk, and as soon as she catches her breath, tries jogging again. Without realizing it, she is doing a natural form of fartlek training that soon conditions her to go the whole "workout" without walking. Several months later, leaner and fitter, Laura has built up a nice endurance base from her aerobic activities.
So, to speed up the story, Laura goes through the whole walk-jog-run cycle, developing her stamina and then her speed. At the suggestion of a friend, she decides to try a 10K race. Next thing we know, Laura finds some hidden athletic talent and is soon winning some hardware. Now she's hooked on the sport, loves her new athletic self-image and is going to two or three races every month, year-round.
About four or five years later, as I have witnessed time after time, the PRs stop coming. Laura now overtrains as she pushes harder and harder in her workouts. The constant, year-round training/racing catches up with her. The inevitable crash is a stress fracture of her tibia that requires a "Mother Nature's Recovery Period." No running for six weeks! Her reaction? A classical emotional and psychological response: depression so deep that she isolates herself from her running friends. She won't listen when they suggest cross-training in the pool or on a bike because she's so mad at them for running off and leaving her behind.
Following her time off , Laura is now close to completely de-conditioned. Unfortunately, because the original development of her fitness level had gone, unconsciously and without interruption, from below lousy to peak performance, Laura doesn't realize the need to duplicate that same pattern, albeit this time for just six to eight weeks. So, after just a couple of weeks of easy jogging to get her mileage back up, she feels great and decides to return to the track workouts with her old training partners. Laura's surprised by how quickly she catches up with them and, of course, feels she's ready to race again. Big mistake! She soon finds that both her training and racing times are puzzlingly inconsistent. One day she feels super and runs well. Next workout or race, she bombs out. This continues until another crash interrupts the pattern.
Why? Because Laura never truly rebuilt her aerobic base. Immediately after getting the OK to resume training, she should have done an endurance phase of Long Slow Distance running. The effort would have had the same benefits as those of her first several months of easy walk/jogs of five or six years earlier. This new, solid foundation of aerobic fitness would have allowed her to climb back up the training triangle and perform consistently again.
As many veteran runners realize, this doesn't happen just to adult-onset athletes. Time after time, I see examples of serious runners who don't appreciate the ravages of the endless season. Many are often like the subject of last month's column who didn't understand the day to day recovery benefits of LSD. They also don't appreciate the wisdom of seasons, and why, with a nice layoff for active rest, they can avoid the injuries and illnesses from burnout.
In every case, whether the recovery period is planned by the runner or imposed by Mother Nature, a nice wide mileage base must be rebuilt by LSD training. The bigger the miles, the better.
Roy Benson, MPE in Exercise Physiology, has been a distance running coach for 44 years. | <urn:uuid:50f3ab0a-54ee-4fb3-acee-0b166804171c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/owners-manual-no-substitute-lsd | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972644 | 1,120 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Legal Guns Would Make Norway Safer
How long would the Norway gunman have lasted in Texas or any state where concealed-carry laws are on the books? I ran a survey while on a cruise: in Texas, 3 minutes; in Montana, 7 to 8 minutes; in Arizona, 2 minutes; and in Nevada, 3 to 5 minutes.
Had Norway not surrendered to the anti-self-defense nuts, and allowed Norwegians to protect themselves by legally carrying guns, the massacre might well have been prevented. There's a lot of truth in the old adage that if guns are outlawed only outlaws will carry guns.
That was certainly true in Norway where Anders Breivik, a lone gunman, launched his assault on youth campers of Utoya Island. According to press reports he fully expected Norway's special forces to swoop down and stop him at any minute. It didn't happen. Faced with unarmed victims he was given plenty of time to kill 68 innocent people who could not defend themselves. Had just one of them been armed, Breivik could have been stopped dead and lives would have been spared.
Moreover, if anyone had paid attention to Breivik's rants they would not have been surprised when he acted on them, especially since Breivik had preceded his attack by setting off a car bomb in the heart of Oslo.
Tragically, Norway's anti-gun hysteria resulted in laws restricting gun ownership by law-abiding citizens, leaving them exposed to gun violence at the hands of criminals such as Breivik, who simply ignore anti-gun ownership laws. Despite the Second Amendment, which protects American citizens' rights to access to guns for self-protection, the Constitutional right of citizens to bear arms is under constant assault.
In his best-selling classic "More Guns, Less Crime," John R. Lott, Jr. has proven that guns make us safer. And in the book "The Bias against Guns," he shows how liberals bury pro-gun facts out of sheer bias against the truth.
With irrefutable evidence, Lott shot down gun critics and provided information we need to win arguments with those fanatics who want to ban gun ownership, leaving criminals who ignore anti-gun ownership laws armed.
History teaches us that governments faced with an armed citizenry are restrained from usurping the rights of individuals. It is thus no surprise that governments which seek to exercise dictatorial powers over their citizens inevitably seek to restrict of outlaw gun ownership by their citizenry.
In an interview with the University of Chicago, Lott said that states with the largest increases in gun ownership also have the largest drops in violent crimes. Thirty-one states now have such laws -- called "shall-issue" laws. These laws allow adults the right to carry concealed handguns if they do not have a criminal record or a history of significant mental illness.
He noted criminals are deterred by higher penalties. Just as higher arrest and conviction rates deter crime, so does the risk that someone committing a crime will confront someone able to defend him or herself. He shows that there is a strong negative relationship between the number of law-abiding citizens who have gun permits and the crime rate, noting that as more people obtain permits there is a greater decline in violent crime rates. He adds that for each additional year that a concealed handgun law is in effect the murder rate declines by 3 percent, rape by 2 percent, and robberies by over 2 percent.
Concealed handgun laws reduce violent crime for two reasons. First, they reduce the number of attempted crimes because criminals are uncertain which potential victims can defend themselves. Second, victims who have guns are in a much better position to defend themselves. That's just common sense.
Our Founding Fathers understood the need for an armed citizenry. Thanks to the colonists who were armed, America triumphed over the strongest army in the world. They insisted that their fellow Americans have a right to bear arms in order to guarantee their liberties and safeguard them from those who would deny them the freedom they won on the battlefields of the American Revolution.
We need to be ever vigilant -- there are always those who would trample on our rights as free Americans. As long as we retain the right to self-defense guaranteed by the right to own and bear arms, our freedoms will be secure.
Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press, 2011). He is the founder and chairman of The Reagan Group and president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Visit his website at www.reagan.com, or e-mail comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com.
©2011 Mike Reagan. Mike's column is distributed exclusively by: Cagle Cartoons, Inc., newspaper syndicate. For info contact Cari Dawson Bartley. E-mail Cari@cagle.com, (800) 696-7561. | <urn:uuid:f2edd427-3911-4a12-80e8-2db05e41f1ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elliscountypress.com/editorials/12669-legal-guns-would-make-norway-safer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969595 | 1,012 | 1.570313 | 2 |
In case you missed it, here’s the New Republic on nullification. You’ll never guess: it’s “racist” to support decentralization! Centralized political orders, on the other hand, have never, ever oppressed minorities. Ever.
Here’s another try. “Declaring federal laws unconstitutional is generally the U.S. Supreme Court’s job. When states attempt to do so it’s called nullification, which the Supreme Court has rejected and which was at issue during the Civil War.”
Once again, nothing here is not already addressed at: | <urn:uuid:a0fbead6-e75b-4e8e-98c6-120fc5d22655> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/the-anti-nullificationists-soldier-on/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957731 | 130 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Despite Cheering Crowds, Army Unit Sees Urban Combat in Baghdad
Wednesday, April 9, 2003 | 14:26 PDT BAGHDAD, Iraq
For the weary members of "Attack" Company, it was a happy moment in a long day. Iraqi crowds were waving, grinning, cheering as the U.S. Army soldiers moved up the street Wednesday toward the tourism department.
It turned in an instant.
From somewhere in the air came weapons fire -- a rocket-propelled grenade. Explosions. An American down. U.S. tanks returning fire. Urban combat.
From the beginning, this was what the Americans had dreaded -- the nightmare scenario of blameless civilians on the street, peril from dark corners and sudden fighting in a city.
The mission, as laid out, was simple.
The company, with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, was ordered to take a key intersection near a northern bridge across the Tigris, part of the U.S. military's expanding control of Baghdad. A tank squad was going along to provide heavy firepower.
Just as the Bradley fighting vehicles and Abrams tanks moved into the crossroads, a rocket-propelled grenade screamed from a narrow side street to the left, out of a decrepit slum of crumbling two-story apartment buildings.
The lead tank crew fired a .50-caliber machine gun down the street and an incendiary round into a suspicious building.
"Keep moving! Keep moving!" shouted Capt. Chris Carter, the company commander. He didn't want to risk getting pinned in an urban canyon with seven-story government buildings on both sides.
The tanks pulled forward. The 15-vehicle convoy edged up the street, making a U-turn at the next intersection. More Iraqi defenders fired another rocket-propelled grenade, striking the center of the turret. The tank's uranium armor absorbed the blast; only scorched paint told the tale.
Pulling between two garbage-filled lots on the north side of the intersection, the tank crews faced back down the street, pointing their 120-mm main gun between two government buildings.
There was no fire -- at first. Carter popped his hatch to speak to one of his squad leaders when another rocket-propelled grenade came screaming in, hitting the squad leader's turret just below where he was standing.
The squad leader went down, hurt, as shrapnel penetrated the armor and the hatch. The street exploded in gunfire as Iraqi fighters sprayed the vehicles with small-arms fire and the Americans shot back.
The back ramps of the Bradleys opened and a dozen infantrymen scrambled out, shooting at the government buildings and toward the slums where some of the fire was coming from. An armored ambulance, a red cross emblazoned on the side, loaded the seriously wounded soldier onto a litter and raced away.
The men, some with playing cards stuck in their helmets for good luck, cursed as they returned fire. Their sweat flowed, even though they were wearing only T-shirts under their flak jackets.
Suddenly, three men appeared hunkered down on a balcony in the area where the first rocket-propelled grenade had been fired. One Bradley opened up with high-explosive cannon shells, ripping through the building.
Confident the intersection was under his control, Carter sent squads into the tourism department building to weed out snipers. Another team moved into the building hit by the Bradley fire.
Inside the tourism building, the troops found hundreds of Iraqis looting all the food and furniture they could find. Smiling, they called to the Americans. "Down with Saddam!"
In the other building, the U.S. troops found three dead men but no weapons. They were squatters, their bodies mangled and covered with dust from the shattered cement. Their meager belongings -- a change of clothes, a bowl, some cooking utensils -- were in the squalid rooms.
"I don't know if these people are innocent," Carter said. "But the guys with RPGs caused this."
The families of the men began gathering outside, realizing what had happened. Women and children wept.
Back at the intersection, hundreds of Iraqi men and women shouted at the troops. "Good, Good Mister!" they said, trying to shake American hands. Mothers held up babies for the soldiers to kiss, thanking them for driving out Saddam Hussein.
Carter was upset about the tank fire, but understood it. With hundreds of civilians at the intersection, the chances of a nervous teenage soldier mistaking something for a weapon are high.
An Arab translator explained the situation to the Iraqi civilians and advised them to stay indoors after dark. Anyone roaming the streets at night, he said, would be considered suspect.
As the message was repeated over a loudspeaker, a rocket-propelled grenade whizzed at the tanks from a mosque near the bridge. Mosques are off limits to U.S. troops until hostile fire comes from them, and Carter ordered the tanks to fire, blowing holes in the walls.
The shooting from the mosque stopped.
As Carter tried to persuade the Iraqis to stop looting and stay away from American positions, an Iraqi engineer, who asked that his name not be used, made one plea.
"There are many families here, many children," he said. "Please be careful when you are shooting."
Battle Looms in Tikrit as South Nearly Subdued
By Paul Richter
Sidney Morning Herald
Thursday 10 April 2003
US and British forces have largely destroyed the capacity of the Iraqi military to mount organised resistance in more than a dozen cities, yet huge expanses of Iraq remain outside coalition control.
In addition to Baghdad, where fierce firefights continue, allied forces have yet to seize much of thinly populated western and northern Iraq or the area around Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit - the only region that appears to have enough intact military units to put up a meaningful fight.
Coalition troops have taken control of Basra, Najaf, Nasiriyah and Karbala, and have partial control in about 12 cities along their 500-kilometre supply line to the south.
And in northern Iraq, US and Kurdish forces dislodged Iraqis from Maqloub mountain, used to defend the city of Mosul on Wednesday.
Commanders hope dominance over increasing areas of the capital will push Iraqis to the "tipping point" - convincing them to give up the fight and clearing the way for US ground forces to make a final push through Saddam's stronghold and the cities of the north.
Even so, coalition forces continue sporadic battles in small towns south of Baghdad. They face the task of rooting out remaining regime loyalists who they fear could join Islamic fundamentalists from abroad to wage guerilla campaigns.
Coalition forces say they are not seeking to control every hamlet or capture every enemy fighter. Rather, they will consider the campaign won when they have crushed the largest pockets of resistance, making it safe for coalition troops to move through the country and allowing life to return more or less to normal.
Coalition forces have gradually gained control along large sections of the supply line. British troops were greeted warmly in Basra on Monday after a two-week siege, and nearby Umm Qasr, Faw and Safwan in the south are in complete allied control.
US forces gained control over most of Karbala, Najaf and Nasiriyah over the weekend, along with Kut and Samawah.
But Baghdad is not the only remaining battleground. On Tuesday, there was intense fighting near the small town of Hillah, about 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, and in the countryside east of Karbala.
US forces are suddenly being greeted warmly in places such as Najaf. Iraqis are offering more intelligence on the location of their leaders and are apparently suggesting where caches of weapons might be found.
In many cities, if allied troops are not greeted with roses, they are at least not hindered.
US and British forces are also increasing their effort to locate key supporters of Saddam's Government. This is necessary to reduce Iraqi civilians' fears, reduce the threat of attacks and gather intelligence on the location of leaders and weapon caches.
US commanders continue to be cautious about the prospects for Baghdad, emphasising that American forces still may see tough fighting from Republican Guard troops, paramilitary fighters and security forces. Most of the city of 5 million people remains outside US control.
While US forces have cut the main highways from the city to prevent forces fleeing, analysts say they are still likely to face a fight north of the city after Baghdad falls.
Parts of two remaining Republican Guard divisions are between Baghdad and Tikrit, 160 kilometres to the north. US commanders are expected to wait for reinforcements from the army's 4th Infantry Division before moving towards Tikrit.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)
All republished content that appears on Truthout has been obtained by permission or license. | <urn:uuid:c0d67ed4-40f9-43a2-b431-ae9f4d55ec1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archive.truthout.org/article/despite-cheering-crowds-army-unit-sees-urban-combat-baghdad | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964609 | 1,875 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Thomas H. Beeby, one of the “Chicago Seven” architects who challenged modernist orthodoxy in the 1970s and ’80s, has received the 2013 Richard H. Driehaus Prize from the University of Notre Dame.
Mr. Beeby is the 11th recipient of the prize, which honors lifetime contributions to traditional, classical, and sustainable architecture and urbanism. He will receive $200,000 — and a bronze miniature of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates — at a ceremony in Chicago on March 23.
Mr. Beeby, the chairman emeritus of HBRA Architects in Chicago, served from 1985 to 1991 as the dean of the Yale School of Architecture, where he remains an adjunct professor. At his firm Mr. Beeby spent nearly 40 years as design director, leading projects like the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University, and the United States Federal Building and Courthouse in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
“Tom Beeby has had a transformational role in modern architecture’s return to classical and traditional design principles,” Michael Lykoudis, the dean of the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture, said in a statement. “Beeby’s recent design of the Tuscaloosa courthouse is a great example of how the rigor and richness of classicism can be used to achieve a sense of place and purpose that will be relevant well into the future.” | <urn:uuid:2d51856d-ec79-45ee-bac8-cb5fe643065e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/chicago-architect-wins-200000-prize-from-notre-dame/?ref=arts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942043 | 310 | 1.828125 | 2 |
At the second Islamic Finance and Trade Conference held on the 28th and 29th October 2008 in London, strong calls were made for radically reshaping the world’s financial architecture, both by Muslims and non-Muslims. Anne Pettifor, executive director of Advocacy International, a consulting firm that works with low income country governments and organisations to promote positive development, investment and environmental sustainability, demanded that conventional bankers follow Islamic financial ethics and prohibit interest. Five years ago, Pettifor argued that “the next seismic debt crisis would be in America, not Argentina.”
Islamic economics emphasises the importance of distribution of wealth. In sharp contrast, our financial system with banks at the epicentre, promotes hoarding of wealth. Even Islamic banks offer products that are shaped around their conventional banking counterparts. Assets and liabilities are priced off the yield curve and remain dependent on the term structure of interest rates.
This paper proposes an alternative framework for Islamic finance that strives to move from Shariah-compliant to Shariah-based. The model proposed herein, which better resembles fund management, suggests that an investment fund can be launched for every business a bank extends credit in, albeit on an equity participation basis.
A fund structure provides the fund manager with more flexibility with respect to asset liability management. That is, unlike a bank treasurer who is continuously plagued with maturity mismatches between short-term liabilities and long-term assets, a fund manager has more freedom to deploy capital in lucrative investments without nearly the same level of concern for liquidity or redemption.
This is simply because fund investors recognise that their capital is at risk and acknowledge that their investment horizon needs to be long term. Naturally, no fund manager can expect to increase assets under management (AuM) or even remain afloat for that matter without generating profits consistently.
Some Mudarabah or equity participation fund structures which can be used in place of traditional bank lending are described below. In this model, the fund manager acts as Mudarib and investors providing capital are Rab al maal. The Mudarib earns a management fee as a percentage of the profits (for example, 10%) of the Mudarabah. All profits are distributed to investors. However, administrative expenses related to setting up or operating the fund can be charged to investors.
Trade Financing Fund
The trade financing fund enters into partnership agreements as the capital partner with entrepreneurs or companies to import goods for resale in the domestic market. The focus can be in industries and product segments that demonstrate high profitability and rapid inventory turnover.
In view of the size and predominance of the agriculture sector in the Muslim world, it is only natural to address the Islamic financing needs of agri-businesses. The fund can enter into partnerships as the capital partner with large and small farmers to finance the production of crops, farming equipment and livestock.
Agriculture Salam contracts
The trading fund can make two-way markets in agricultural Salam contracts, selling Salam contracts to end-users and buying Salam contracts from producers. Profits will be distributed to the fund’s investors on a monthly basis after administrative costs have been deducted.
Consumer Financing Fund
House finance facility
The consumer financing fund can enter into 10-, 15- or 20-year co-ownership agreements using diminishing Musharakah mode of Islamic finance with property buyers as a method for providing Shariah-compliant property financing to the consumer sector. This fund would also address the pressing need for income-oriented investment vehicles for Islamic investors.
Car finance facility
The fund can penetrate the consumer car finance market by entering into Salam contracts with leading automobile manufacturers for the advance purchase of fleets to be sold through dealers on a deferred payment basis. Manufacturers will have an incentive to enter into these types of agreements with the fund because they will receive payment in advance.
Using this leverage, the fund will negotiate a better price for purchasing the goods in bulk. The price benefit will then be transferred to dealers in the form of a sales commission in order to give them incentive to offer their clients the fund’s deferred payment plan. The deferred payment plan will also be available through other distribution outlets.
Durable goods finance facility
The fund can capture market share in the consumer durable goods finance sector by entering into Istisna contracts with electronics and home appliance manufacturers for the purchase of goods to be sold through retail outlets on a deferred payment basis.
Manufacturers will have an incentive to enter into these types of agreements with the fund because they will receive payment immediately upon completion of the consigned goods.
Using this leverage, the fund can negotiate a better price for purchasing the goods in bulk. The price benefit will then be transferred to dealers in the form of a sales commission in order to give them an incentive to offer the fund’s deferred payment plan to their clients. The deferred payment plan can also be made available to consumers through other distribution outlets.
Venture Capital Fund
Education venture capital fund
The education fund can enter into partnerships as the capital partner with educationists who have extensive administrative experience in establishing and operating profitable school systems.
A diminishing Musharakah structure can be employed over a 5-year period to recover the fund’s investment and pass on ownership to the educationist-entrepreneurs.
Islamic microenterprise fund
The Islamic microenterprise fund can enter into partnerships as the capital partner with the poorest of the poor in rural areas of developing Muslim countries. Grameen Bank’s replicable model can be adopted, albeit on a partnership basis.
Real Estate Fund
Islamic real estate investment fund
The Islamic real estate investment fund can invest in prime properties such as office buildings, residential complexes and shopping malls in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries in order to earn monthly rental income for the fund’s investors.
The fund will also seek capital appreciation by entering into partnership agreements with leading property developers to finance selected development projects throughout the Muslim world.
Commodity Trading Fund
The commodity trading fund can take short-term strategic proprietary trading positions in major and liquid exotic currencies, metals and energies based on an analysis of global economic and political developments, commercial supply and demand, as well as international reserves and capital flows. Fund profits can be distributed to investors on a quarterly basis.
The banking community may be quick to point out the failure of Mudarabah funds in Pakistan. Mudarabah funds were envisioned to adopt a model similar to the one prescribed herein. However, former bankers, when entrusted with this responsibility, were unable to think outside the realm of banking. Nor did Pakistani laws allow funds to purchase real assets.
Portfolio management, asset allocation, diversification and concentration whether in the context of exchange-listed securities or private equity were not frequently used concepts, much less strategies at the time.
The model for Islamic finance proposed herein is unquestionably more operationally intensive than conventional banking. It requires fund managers to develop a strong understanding of the industries they allocate funds to, much like sector analysts; it requires that they serve on boards of companies they partner with, much like venture capitalists; it requires due diligence, monitoring, risk management and auditing either directly or through third party consultants.
The fund manager will have to negotiate profit sharing ratios with businesses and entrepreneurs, which can be significantly more mind gruelling than agreeing on spreads over an inter-bank offered rate. Clearly, these requirements are much more onerous than extending credit based on collateral and/or creditworthiness.
However, the resources necessary for achieving this in an integrated fund model are readily available. For example, research analysts specialising in every industry (construction, autos, healthcare, technology and so on), who understand the nuts and bolts of their respective industries from the ground-up, can be hired as employees or consultants.
The events of the last few months have revealed the frailty of fractional reserve banking. While governments in developed and emerging markets alike have taken action individually and in concert to restore faith in the banking system, they have used other people’s wealth to do so. The debt burden created in this process will have to be borne by future generations worldwide.
Considering that conventional banks have failed to live up to their reputation as icons of conservatism and wealth preservation, would it not be prudent for institutions engaged in Islamic finance to adopt an alternative model such as the one proposed herein, which on the surface may appear to be riskier than its conventional counterpart because of its partnership structure but, when executed with proper due diligence and risk management, may offer significantly better risk-adjusted returns.
The fund model for Islamic finance proposed herein eliminates many of the excesses for which Wall Street is widely criticised. Fund managers are rewarded for performance only and cannot rely on fees from assets under management to remain afloat.
Entrepreneurs are no longer burdened with debt if their business or invention fails. From the investor’s perspective, the worst-case scenario involves the loss of his original risk capital, not an amount two or three times that. Profit or loss, wealth will have been distributed equitably.
Imran is a Dubai-based banker.
This article first appeared in Islamic Finance news (Volume 5, Issue 50). | <urn:uuid:b38eb5a0-64de-496a-a2d0-b3f398a3b782> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eurekahedge.com/news/09_mar_Vol5Iss50_Alternative_approach_to_islamic_finance.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946785 | 1,875 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Imported Goats Improve Australian Mohair
Angora goats imported from Texas and South Africa have improved Australian mohair enough to give farmers a better return than they get from wool.
That’s the opinion of Mohair Australia, which believes goat farmers have the opportunity to move from a fringe “hobby industry” into a mainstream commercial enterprise.
Australian mohair lacked that crucial feel of luxury until South African and Texas goats were imported to breed with the locals, said Steve Roots, president of Mohair Australia, a breed society for angora goats.
“The old Australian goats had a lot of kemp which gives the fleece ‘prickle factor.’ In those days, you could expect to get one kilo from an adult animal. Now it is five,” Roots told Meat Trade Daily News.
Mohair producers average $13 a kilogram for clean fiber compared with about $8 for sheep wool, returning higher profits even though they grazed far fewer animals per acre, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation said.
Jeff and Juliana Neve, members of Mohair Australia, said some shearers are prejudiced against goats, believing them to be difficult because they are smarter than sheep.
“Well, sheep are dumb,” Juliana Neve said. “You might get a goat which will yell out, while sheep wouldn’t make a noise, but there is no problem with shearing (goats). They don’t fight as long as you lay them comfortably.”
Fencing is another point of contention, Roots.
Angora (goats) are not like your dairy goat which will go over the fence,” he said. “Your angora will go under the fence … They go around the perimeter looking for a way out — the buggers. You could say sheep are easier to contain because they will not go under.” | <urn:uuid:8cd517b5-8694-4b63-bec5-a5faa8ab4674> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allthingsgoat.com/2010/02/imported-goats-improve-australian-mohair/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959746 | 402 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Lately I’ve noticed an increase in e-mails and blog comments from people asking about how articles are handled in Times Reader. After a couple of attempts to answer the questions myself I realized I wasn’t “in the know” as much as I thought I was. Then it dawned on me. I work at the New York Times. Which means I can act like a journalist — almost — in a way.
So I grabbed my trusty pen and notepad and got down to some journalistic investigating. This involved walking five feet to the desk of Adam Trilling, the software engineer who is the source on the source of Times Reader. Below is the grueling interrogation.
Me: Is every article in the paper guaranteed to be in Times Reader?
Adam: The content of Times Reader is based on the Web site, rather than the newspaper. This means that any article that appears on the Web site will appear in Times Reader. Occasionally, the Web editors will decide not to include an article on the web site that appeared in the paper (when a printed article has quickly been overtaken by events, for example), and that article will not appear in Times Reader. More frequently, editors will publish articles to the Web site that are not printed in the paper because of space or other constraints. These articles will appear in Times Reader. So while not every article from the printed paper appears in Times Reader, the vast majority of print articles do appear, and the overall content of Times Reader is generally more extensive than that of the paper.
Me: What main differences are there between the printed paper, the Web site and Times Reader when it comes to content?
Adam: The newspaper, the Web site, and Times Reader are vastly different formats, and each has different concerns to address in presenting the news in the optimal way for that format. The newspaper is published once a day, while the Web site and Times Reader can be updated frequently. So a rapidly developing story might not appear in the newspaper until the day after the event occurred, while the Web and Times Reader would have one or more articles on the event that are updated as new facts are ascertained. The Web site and Times Reader generally differ more in presentation than content; for example, the News in Pictures feature is unique to Times Reader because it works better in that format.
Me: When I’m using Times Reader I quite often see the same article repeated not only in multiple sections but over multiple days. What’s up with that?
Adam: As an example, consider the Dining section. The Dining section only appears in the newspaper on Wednesdays. News doesn’t always fall neatly on certain days of the week, but The Times wouldn’t suddenly publish an entire Dining on Friday just because there was a noteworthy food-related article. The Web site and Times Reader don’t have this problem; if a Dining article is published on a Friday, it can take its place along with the articles that originally appeared in the Dining section on Wednesday. So, in sections that do not appear in the paper every day, you will often see articles from past days.
Similarly, many articles could legitimately claim to be in multiple sections. In the newspaper, it would be confusing to readers and a waste of paper and ink to print the same article in different sections, but in Times Reader, we can link to the same article from multiple sections at no additional cost.
Me: I tend to be awake at all hours of the night. I noticed Times Reader reports it’s still giving me yesterday’s news when it’s well after midnight. I set my clocks to E.S.T. so when does today’s news actually become today’s?
Adam: The news day does not exactly follow the calendar day. “Today’s news” becomes “yesterday’s news” when the editorial team says so, essentially. This usually happens several hours after midnight during the week, when the printed newspaper for that day is completed. However, the newspaper is completed much earlier on the weekends, and Sunday’s news may appear in Times Reader as early as 9 p.m. Saturday.
Me: Lastly, would you say coming to work each day is a tremendous joy because of my dashing good looks or my sparkling yet intellectual personality?
So there you have it, brutally honest answers for your Times Reader content questions. Of course if there’s something you’d still like to know feel free to leave a comment below and Adam or I will try our best to answer.
So before I abandon my journalistic ways, I have one question for you, the user. One thing Adam didn’t mention was the current Article List. It was designed before the Seven Day Archive feature was implemented. Originally we tried to give you as much news as we could because you didn’t have the option to go back several issues and find it there. Now you do.
So I ask you: What would you prefer? Do you like the current system? Would you rather avoid the redundancy but have noticeably less content each day? Or would you rather have it more closely mimic the paper and take a hard-line approach to only reporting today’s news today?
Leave us a comment below and let us know what you think.
Senior Software Engineer | <urn:uuid:2e9c94f4-0c4c-4112-90e0-8a4f3604da69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://firstlook.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/a-hard-hitting-interview-with-times-readers-data-guy/?apage=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959291 | 1,114 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The Prattle is about 16½ years old now, and in that time it has come to my attention that there are one or two Christian extremists out there who are, well, a little bit violent. This bargain will disappoint them - there's no way it can be used for its original purpose. Today's offering is a DIVINE FIND - SHOTGUN SHELL TURNS INTO POPE'S HAT?!? which was
MYSTERIOUSLY FOUND IN PRAIRIE WITH NO TRACES OF FIRE.... Which is good, because the rest of the description implies that there is a class of Darwin-bait that throws ammunition into bonfires:
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own the divine treasure emblazened in a fire, molding itself into the shape of the Pope's hat. How the shell did not burn up entirely is a mystery that will probably never be solved, but the shocking result is a sight to behold. The shell was found after the christening of the new Pope, but it is believed to have been molded into its present form sometime before or at the time of the former Pope's death. Could this shell have been burning into its undeniable shape as the Pope died? Draw your own conclusions as to the meaning of this strangely divine occurrence, but bid now or forever hold your peace. The only reason this one-of-a-kind miracle is being sold is the feeling that it truly belongs to another person, but who is the true owner?
Item is guaranteed 100% authentic. Seller acknowledges that no human was involved in the forming of the item into its present shape. It is believed that the item has been formed as a direct result of divine intervention. | <urn:uuid:f919a5da-f244-4961-91d4-e87b07c45e69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prattle.net/religious-tat/2005/05/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971362 | 359 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Fort Hays State University's Student Government Association is participating in Relay For Life on May 1 from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. This is an annual event to raise money for cancer research.
This year, the SGA hosted a "Fries Friday" at the North Hays and South Hays McDonald's, which agreed to give a percentage of their french fry sales from Friday, April 23, to the Student Government Association for Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society.
Relay for Life begins with a candle lighting ceremony for cancer survivors and proceeds through many activities during the night. Participants take turns walking at Lewis Field throughout.
The main purpose of the event is to promote cancer awareness and raise research money for the American Cancer Society. | <urn:uuid:e68bd091-166f-4c81-95ba-eecca3cec299> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bigcat.fhsu.edu/currentevents/display_event.php?id=2739 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954197 | 156 | 1.546875 | 2 |
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida officials are now saying that nearly 200,000 voters may not be U.S. citizens.
Earlier in the week, state election officials announced they had identified more than 2,600 people who are in Florida legally but ineligible to vote.
The Department of State is asking county election officials to verify the information. Election supervisors are contacting voters and if someone is not a citizen, their name will be dropped from the voter rolls.
But an initial list drawn up by the state -- and not widely released -- shows that a comparison of voter lists and driver's license information turned up a list of nearly 182,000 people who may not be U.S. citizens.
State officials, however, note that some of those on list may now be citizens.
|Get the ingredients you need to cook with Rach all week long.|
|Full length exclusive concerts from hot artists.|
|Take a break!
Classic Pacman, Frogger, Asteroids and more.
Sell almost anything locally. | <urn:uuid:07a14983-cb43-492d-bd15-629fed8d4a63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wtvy.com/news/florida/headlines/Nearly_200000_Fla_voters_may_not_be_citizens_151216445.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940764 | 219 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Sales down, vendors point to economy
As the number of farmersâ markets on and around campus continues to rise, many of those markets â including the Trojan Fresh Market, which will be on campus on Thursday â have seen profits fall, though most blame the slip on the economy and not on the increased competition.
Besides the on-campus Trojan Fresh Market, there are at least six other markets near USC. Many of these markets report that their profits are down, but individual vendors often benefit by selling at multiple venues.
Helen Lee, who manages the farmersâ market at the Shrine that runs every Tuesday, said she does not think her market is competing with the Trojan Fresh Market or any of the others.
âWe donât consider us in competition with USC,â Lee said. âAnd the Trojan Fresh Market doesnât affect our business. In fact, [USC] Hospitality came through here and took some vendors to the Trojan Fresh Market … We encourage that.â
Lee said she never had any intention of making money from the farmersâ markets. Instead, she wanted to help the vendors make money, so when theyâre approached and asked to join other farmersâ markets, she views it as a good thing.
â[The Shrine farmersâ market] helps a lot of local neighbors who came here as vendors,â Lee said. âWeâre definitely here just for the people.â
Vendors at the Shrine, however, have also found business to be slow so far this year.
Olove Boyd, an employee for Heavenly Delights, which sells cobbler at the Shrine and other farmers markets, said business is down right now.
âUsually itâs slow in the beginning, but hopefully it picks up,â Boyd said. âI think itâs the economy. Farmersâ markets are not a necessity … When there are cutbacks, people take hits.â
Boyd noted that it is USC that drives her business, even with the presence of the Trojan Fresh Market.
âThe majority [of customers] are students and USC employees,â Boyd said. âUSC helps our business or we wouldnât be here.â
Dexter Scott, who sells beans at the Shrine farmersâ market, said he has also experienced a decrease in sales this semester.
âIt is one half of last yearâs gross income,â Scott said.
A farmersâ market on Vermont Avenue and Adams Boulevard seems to be experiencing the same problems as the Shrine farmersâ market. Most of the vendors are seeing less and less business, but still, they say the economy is at fault rather than competing markets.
âEach year it seems to get slower and slower because of the economy,â said Luis Buenrostro, who sells produce.
The marketâs manager, Kimberly Edwards, said she also believes the decline in profits is because people do not have the money to shop at farmersâ markets. She said she does not think she is losing clients to other farmersâ markets in the area.
âA lot of these customers who come here … they follow us where we go,â Edwards said. âOur business is slow because of the recession, and farmersâ markets are more expensive than the store.â
Edwards added that USC drives the market, even though the Trojan Fresh Market is a more convenient option.
âWe got a lot of people from USC coming here,â Edwards said. âWe see doctors, students, teachers … We get a big variety of people from USC.â
But Meera Dahyabhai, marketing chair for the student group Environment First, which is involved in the Trojan Fresh Market, said she thinks the competition has affected Hospitalityâs farmersâ market.
âThe revenue patterns have overall decreased due to competition with other markets,â she said.
Still, she said she does not think the increasing number of markets is a bad thing.
âItâs all about reaching the same goal,â Dahyabhai said. âThe main goal is to fund that idea of organic and fresh products to support local vendors.â | <urn:uuid:122bab23-d6d7-422e-be02-6dace6aff586> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dailytrojan.com/2009/11/19/sales-down-vendors-point-to-economy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970161 | 854 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Where Do We Go From Here?
Program Defines Issues for JSPAN Action
(JSPAN) Over 150 people braved stormy weather to attend the program "Iraq: Finding the Right Road" on the evening of November 16th. After a welcome by Board Chair Sue Myers, President Jeff Pasek explained that the program would bring the issues into focus so as to permit JSPAN to adopt a policy position with respect to the future course of the U.S. in Iraq.
Edward Turzanski, Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, spoke in support of continuing the present course. He stated that the Sunni minority in Iraq has missed two out of three chances to take part in the future of their country, with the third opportunity coming up: elections scheduled for December 15, 2005, to choose a new national assembly. Turzanski urges us to watch this event, and the Sunni participation in it, as a key indicator of a brighter future. He expressed the importance of a working democracy (even an imperfect one) in Iraq to put pressure on Syria and other Arab states to provide key rights to their citizens, including the right to vote, free speech and a free press. As for the benefits of fighting to establish democracy in the Middle East, Turzanski restated the long-held view that democracies do not fight wars against each other.
Dick Polman, national political analyst for The Philadelphia Inquirer, examined the reasons for the decline in support for the war, and the political implications of the decline in the President's approval ratings in the upcoming election year. Polman perceives the issue of Iraq as straddling party politics, recognizing that a great many Democrats in Congress joined Republicans in voting to grant the President the power to take military action. Polman sees significance in the resolution that passed the Senate a day before the JSPAN program, calling on the President to provide quarterly reports on the progress of the war (although that resolution does not actually require any measure of success to be achieved or any deadline to be set for the U.S. to withdraw).
Rabbi Seymour Rosenbloom, spiritual leader of Congregation Adath Jeshurun, spoke vehemently against the war on moral grounds. He urged that although Jewish law allows defensive wars, there is no defense interest on behalf of the United States in Iraq. With the failure to find weapons of mass destruction, the original main argument for the war has been removed, but the Administration has suggested that fighting terror is a further reason - a viewpoint that does not impress the Rabbi in light of the absence of any indication that terrorists operated from Iraq prior to the invasion. Nor is Rosenbloom impressed with the most recent argument, that the U.S. lives already lost cannot be allowed to have been spent in vain. With 2,100 American lives and an estimated 30,000 Iraqi lives lost, the Rabbi called for an "immediate" withdrawal, concluding with the observation that each life lost represents not just a single death, but a loss of all the children, grandchildren and further descendants that individual might have produced - each lost life "a world in itself."
After a lively question and answer period, those present enjoyed refreshments and additional conversation before returning to the rainy night for the trip home.
Jewish Social Policy Action Network | <urn:uuid:217f1371-787d-4f1f-9873-91245dec0ad6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pjvoice.com/v6/6008iraq.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951919 | 674 | 1.789063 | 2 |
The photo of a flattened 2010 Honda Fit filled the large onstage screen behind Principal Bill Lee as he spoke to several hundred students in Marietta High School's auditorium Monday morning.
"Someone asked me if this car had fallen out of the sky-it didn't. Last Monday two of our students were (in) this car, and they're extremely lucky to be alive today," Lee said. "You've heard me say it before-life's tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid."
He said the two young men involved in the mishap, the 16-year-old driver and his 17-year-old passenger, had not used good judgment which resulted in a crash that set off a chain reaction of events that could have turned out deadly.
Marietta High School Principal Bill Lee, left, and Glendale Road resident Kathryn Hartline spoke to several hundred students about making smart decisions Monday in the wake of a major car accident that involved two MHS students last week.
The Marietta Times
Lee read The Marietta Times article describing the Nov. 26 accident in which the Honda ran off the roadway in the 1500 block of Glendale Road.
The car knocked over a power pole, bringing down live electrical lines that fell across an oncoming vehicle, and caused a power surge that caught a clothes dryer in a nearby home on fire.
Miraculously, there were no serious injuries, although the 17-year-old passenger in the Honda said he was transported to Marietta Memorial Hospital for a bump on the head.
Teens and car crashes
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens.
In 2010, an average of seven teens, ages 16 to 19, died every day from motor vehicle injuries.
Per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are three times more likely than drivers aged 20 and older to be in a fatal crash.
In 2010, about 2,700 teens in the United States aged 16 to 19 were killed, and almost 282,000 were treated and released from emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor-vehicle crashes.
The presence of teen passengers increases the crash risk of unsupervised teen drivers. This risk increases with the number of teen passengers.
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The 61-year-old woman driving the vehicle on which the power lines fell did not wait for the lines to be removed, but was able to exit her car without being harmed.
Lee said the 16-year-old driver of the Honda was cited with failure to control the vehicle.
But after reading the news article Lee told the students what the outcome might well have been more serious.
"These two guys would be dead," he said, pointing to the two involved in the accident.
"And the driver whose car became entangled in the power lines-who also made a poor choice by getting out of her vehicle amid the live wires-would have been the second death," Lee said, adding that the dryer fire in the house next door where a woman and her two children live would have been three more deaths.
He emphasized the choices people make can have an impact on their families, friends and on someone they may not even know.
Lee asked the 16-year-old driver how fast the Honda was traveling when the crash occurred at 11:45 a.m.
"I'd say about 60 or 65 mph," the young man answered, noting they were trying to get back to school before their lunch break was over at noon.
The speed limit on the road is 35 mph.
He added that the vehicle flipped over once after striking the pole, causing both front and side air bags to deploy. Both driver and passenger were wearing their seat belts.
The driver said he had not been issued a ticket by police, but he has to appear in court on Dec. 27.
Kathryn Hartline, 38, is the mother of two who lives in the home at 1502 Glendale Road where the dryer fire occurred.
"I'm very thankful that you guys are not injured," she said, adding that she, too had been involved in an auto accident at age 17 when she was also a student at MHS.
Hartline said she understood that accidents can happen to anyone.
"But you have to look out for yourselves and for other people," she said. "Mr. Lee said these two students are lucky, but I'm lucky, too. I had been doing laundry earlier that morning-I could have died and left my children without their mother."
Hartline noted that the blaze had blackened a large portion of the wall behind the dryer, and some clothing hanging nearby was burned.
She added that her children often play in the front yard and also could have been killed, in addition to the 61-year-old driver who got out of her car amid the downed power lines.
"My message to you all is that you're in control. Texting can wait, phone calls can wait and speed can wait," she said, adding that being five minutes late for class is better than losing a life.
MHS student Andrew Lisk, 16, said the message is something students need to hear.
"I thought this was a very good presentation," he said. "And I can relate to what they're talking about. I think most of these kids will benefit from it."
Going into Monday's assembly Chase Mayer, 17, didn't know who had been in the accident.
"I was afraid it might be one of my close friends," he said, adding that he did know the car's driver.
Mayer said he was also shocked to hear the crash had occurred within a few blocks of the school.
"Someone was looking out for them,' he said. "It could have ended a lot worse."
Mayer's brother, Sterling, also 17, said the incident should be a wake-up call for other students.
"So many people think that something like this couldn't happen to them," he said.
Fellow student Taylor Davis, 17, said he knew the driver and passenger who survived the crash.
"It surprised me because they're both really smart people," he said. "And I have to give them kudos for standing up and talking about it in front of everyone. They're trying to get some good out of a bad experience."
Davis said the incident would have an impact on his driving, too.
"It made me think about not going that extra 5 mph when I'm driving through town," he said.
During the presentation Lee asked if any students could tell him what was written on a large sign from the Ohio Highway Patrol that's posted in the school's main hallway.
One student correctly answered, "You are in control."
Lee said that was right, but there were three other words on the sign that are just important.
"Those three words are safety, responsibility and awareness," he said. | <urn:uuid:ecad2cfa-1697-4b96-bde5-a22a5761cb4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mariettatimes.com/page/content.detail/id/548408/Crash-course.html?nav=5001 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990212 | 1,448 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Marketing is not branding. Branding is about designing your business, so as to create a foundation from which marketing can do its work. Branding is about creating the word. Marketing is about getting the word out.
Branding sets the stage for being relevant, meaningful, exclusive, and most of all memorable. It’s about acknowledging or creating a unique story or purpose that unifies what matter most— you, your staff, and your clients.
Your Brand Promise
The traditional benefits and features of your product or service do not figure into your brand. It is realizing or even creating the difference which sets you apart from all your competitors. What motivates you and your team? What is it that excites your clients? Answer these questions and you will know the overt benefit your product or service promises to provide.
Your company must then be organized in such a way that you can deliver on your brand promise. Every action, every initiative, every plan must be carefully and obviously linked to the delivery of your brand promise.
Does the brand convey a message that will make customers say, “Now that’s unique. I want to know more.” Think about Crest Whitestrips®. Proctor and Gamble became the first to introduce an over-the counter teeth whitening product in 2001. Soon, many other competing products began turning up on store shelves, but P&G still had the advantage because they did it first.
If consumers perceive brand value, they’ll become loyal customers. For example, Chanel and Old Navy sell clothing, but their customers – and their well executed branding efforts – are quite different. They are both successful because when it comes to clothing, they are clear about what is most important to their respective markets. This affinity is conveyed through branding.
3. Do you live up to your brand promise?
Your customer might buy a product initially because of something they saw on television or read in a newspaper, but if it doesn’t do what it says it does, they’ll never buy it again. And word of mouth can hurt, as well as help you: Rest assured that people will happily tell others about their bad experience. Brand credibility is easy to lose and very difficult to regain. Make sure your products/services live up to your brand statements.
4. Are you targeting your market?
Mass marketing is rarely seen, these days. Today, niche marketing is the way to go. Niche marketing is especially important if you are launching a branding strategy on a small budget. Marketing specifically to your target market will be much more cost effective. For example, if your brand involves organic food products, sponsoring a ‘green’ project will build greater brand affinity than an ad placed in the sports section of the newspaper.
5. Is everyone on the same page?
Do your advertising & marketing goals correspond with the goals of your public relations efforts? Although each facet of your creative team is responsible for specific parts of the branding effort, all of the pieces must fit together if brand consistency is to be achieved. Advertising, marketing and public relations efforts must run parallel. Everyone should be communicating the same messages and targeting the same markets. | <urn:uuid:70caecf9-49f2-4397-b715-46c192fca643> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aaaphoneonhold.com/a-few-words-about-branding/ | 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 | 0.962141 | 654 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Pakistan: Now or Never?
Perspectives on Pakistan
Back in the spring, when the Pakistani Taliban still controlled the Swat valley, video footage of a girl being flogged became one of the most powerful images of their rule. The footage, shot on a mobile phone and circulated on YouTube, turned public opinion against the Taliban and helped lay the groundwork for a military offensive there.
In the latest spate of bombings sweeping Pakistan, women have again become targets. First came the twin suicide bombing on the International Islamic University in Islamabad which included an attack on the women’s canteen. Then last week, more than 100 people were killed in the car bombing of a bazaar in Peshawar which was frequented largely by women.
“It was the deadliest bombing in Pakistan in two years and its target was clear: not the police, not the security forces, not political leaders, but Peshawar’s women,” wrote Rafia Zakaria in the Daily Times. ”The site of the blast, Peshawar’s Meena Bazar, as is well known in the area, is an exclusively women’s shopping area where women and children shop for clothing, household wares and similar goods. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of those killed were women and children.”
“While the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have denied involvement in the bombing, investigations, the modus operandi of the attack and most importantly the target of the bombing all point to their culpability. Most significant of these factors is that the attack targeted women. It is after all females who have borne the brunt of the TTP’s onslaught since they began their reign of terror in the northwest of Pakistan. As the Taliban’s war against the Pakistani state has ensued, the marginalisation of women, the destruction of schools constructed for their education and their banishment from public spaces like the Meena Bazar have been a central facet of the Taliban’s campaign of terror and hatred. This latest attack thus fits perfectly into this grimly familiar design. The massive and indiscriminate killing of scores of innocent women and children who had dared to leave the walls of their home inculcates the very fear that the Taliban seek to instil among Pakistani women across the country.” | <urn:uuid:73954d37-2d58-483c-a753-f2b36597edaa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.reuters.com/pakistan/tag/islambad-university/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971601 | 473 | 1.773438 | 2 |
So I've been brainstorming this new series I've recently begun, and came to the conclusion that as I talk about starting with the right ingredients, how to shop with nutrition in mind, food groups and balance for a growing family, etc. it only made sense to begin right here. Chez moi.
This week I bring to you an incredibly detailed tour of the innermost workings of my pantry and food cupboards (this is an old picture of my pantry- the contents are similar, but it's currently much more full than this!). I do this for several reasons:
1) When you don't know where to start, sometimes it helps to see exactly what someone else is doing. Personally, I loved Heavenly Homemaker's series on real food, and the glimpse into exactly what she spends her money on. It was helpful to see what was similar to me, and what wasn't, and how a mom with older and more children (and all boys!) was doing it.
2) It helps to take some of the things I talk about and make them real. Now you'll know what is really in my kitchen, and if it's ambiguous or unclear, I'll try to let you know what it's for or why I buy it. It may help you to understand exactly what we do and don't eat (and you'll even see a few of our weaknesses!).
3) It may help to paint a picture for you of what stocking a kitchen with real, whole foods might look like. Some of you may be very surprised. Some of you may think "hey, that sounds like my pantry!" Many of you may fall somewhere in between.
By no means do I believe my kitchen or style of cooking to be perfect or exemplary in any way (far, far from it!), but we have made a journey over the past 6 years to eating almost entirely whole foods that are homemade, and perhaps this little glimpse it worthwhile for those who are a bit earlier into their own journey of eating healthier!
So, what's in my pantry?
Bottom shelf-- Non-refrigerated produce, dry beans, oil.
- Bag of organic potatoes, bag of yellow onions (sometimes organic, sometimes not), bag of sweet potatoes (in the winter I would have squash, too)
- 3 L tin of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Big bag of salted Kettle Chips (see how early the weaknesses come out?)
- Big bag of organic corn tortilla chips (we really enjoy Mexican food)
- Large bags and bins of dry beans: chickpeas, black beans, refried bean mix, red adzuki, red lentils, kidney, navy, pinto
Next shelf-- Grains/baking
- Large bin of brown rice
- Organic steel cut oats (2 lg. bags)
- Bit of org. oat flakes and spelt flakes, and a small bag of organic oat groats
- 1 gallon raw wildflower honey (which I use for all my baking)
- 1 bag unbleached, wheat flour (for the purpose of baking or making meals for others)
- Tub of bulk rice pasta (Tinkyada brand- our favorite!)
- Lg. bag of organic spelt berries for grinding into flour (this is my primary baking grain)
- Lg. bag of organic unhulled buckwheat (the dark kind- I bought this by accident), and one of hulled buckwheat (the light kind- this was on purpose- I mostly use it to sprout and make into granola, or to grind for baking)
- Large container of dried, shredded coconut
- Bag of organic quinoa
- And usually, I have millet, but I need to re-order some
Next shelf-- Cans/more pasta/random
- Box egg replacer (for me- I am trying to avoid eggs, as they seem to exacerbate my eczema- this is incredibly sad, as good quality eggs are such a powerhouse of nutrition!)
- Box of Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain spaghetti noodles, and a box of Tinkyada rice lasagna noodles
- Jars of raspberry preserves
- Large box of croutons, bought nearly a year ago for making lunch for those who helped us move into our house- think they're still good? Hmmm...
- Case of cans of tomato paste
- Bag of homemade sprouted, raw buckwheat granola
- Cans of wild pacific salmon (alaskan is better, but much pricier)
- Bottle of Knudsen prune juice (cause you just never know when someone will need it! :)
- Small jars containing: green lentils, lima beans, organic popping corn
- Bag of pot barley (for soups, stews, etc. though I prefer unhulled barley for baking and pancakes)
- Small bag of wild rice
Next shelf-- Dried fruit/more cans/random
- Large bag of dried dates (I use these in baking and smoothies, and my kids eat them like candy)
- Large box of organic raisins
- Seeds for sprouting: clover and broccoli
- Last can of a case of organic diced tomatoes
- Renegade bag (large one, too!) of semi-sweet chocolate chips- now what bad girl bought those and snuck them into my pantry? Or better question yet- who was it that ate a handful of them while making the list of all the healthy foods in her pantry??? Oh wait, that was me! :)
Top shelf-- Mostly extras
- Couple cans of club soda that don't fit in the fridge (one of my hubby's favorite drinks is concentrated apple juice mixed with club soda- a much healthier alternative to pop!)
- Extra bottles of Bragg's Liquid Aminos and organic apple cider vinegar
- Extra baking powder and raw carob powder
- Extra cod liver oil (mint flavored- yum!)
- Bag of white pasta for guests or to bring meals to others
- Bag of organic yellow corn meal (did you notice that all my corn products are organic? This is because corn is most often genetically modified these days, not to mention highly sprayed. Best to eat it organic, or not at all)
- White sugar (for making kombucha, and baking for others)
Upper cupboards-- spices, baking, oils, etc.
- Food coloring (only for playdoh, never for food! I use fruit/veggie juices to color instead), and birthday cake candles
- Baking powder (aluminum free)
- Blackstrap molasses
- Bag of Orgeon Spice Ranch Buttermllk Dressing powder (one of my few convenience foods- I love to use this to mix up a quick veggie dip with yogurt or sour cream)
- Remnants of a bottle of organic Sunflower Oil (used for making homemade mayo)
- Bag of Redmond's RealSalt (sea salt from Utah)
- Extra bottle of liquid Stevia, and a box of Stevia packets
- Raw carob powder (I use this in place of cocoa)
- Bag of kelp powder, and a container of nutritional yeast flakes (though I'd group together two of the weirdest items, just for fun- sounds strange, but we love the yeast flakes on popcorn!)
- Spices galore! Interesting whole foods cooking is best with lots of variation in spices!
- Organic virgin coconut oil (for frying and baking)
Was that detailed enough for you? Phew! :) Questions? Comments?
For those who feel that they have a lot to purge and a long ways to go towards having healthy foods stocked up in their kitchen, what are some of the first items that you think need to go or be added? What sounds most feasible to you?(And remember, my pantry is not the ideal- it is just an example. This will look a bit different for everyone!) | <urn:uuid:dd865a1a-d0b6-45dd-b17b-879f02866d2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2008/07/nutritional-foundations-a-tour-of-my-pantry-and-cupboards.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955473 | 1,661 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Abbotsford lies in what is popularly called the Fraser Valley Bible Belt but you’d hardly believe it from the recent actions of government officials toward the homeless. Supporters of that community’s...
TORONTO - A touring exhibition devoted to the history and future of video games — billed as the largest of its kind in the world — will make its first Canadian appearance at the Ontario Science Centre, from March 9 to Sept. 2.
"Game On 2.0," organized by the Barbican Centre of London, England, covers 60 years of gaming history, focusing on game design, development and production.
As well, over 150 games will be set up for visitors to play, ranging from early hits such as "Pong" and "Pac-Man" right up to "Halo Reach," "World of Warcraft" and "Guitar Hero 5." Pinball games will also be featured.
Launched in 2010, the exhibition has appeared at venues in Australia, Greece, Hungary, Norway and the U.S. | <urn:uuid:0c378a34-54e0-4de2-bff3-d28fe691f066> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theprovince.com/technology/from+pong+guitar+hero+exhibit+highlights+history+video+games/8037156/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972813 | 212 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Why Pursue a Career in Criminal Justice?
If you complete the two-year Criminal Justice major at Georgia Perimeter College, you have a wide range of career options that include:
- Applying for jobs immediately;
- Enrolling in a police academy;
- Using the two-year degree for career advancement or
- Transferring to a four-year college for a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice.
GPC has an articulation agreement with the Georgia State University Criminal Justice Department and can academically advise those seeking transfer to the University of Georgia Criminal Justice Department.
You will receive an Associate of Science degree and be able to pursue a lucrative, rewarding and exciting career in law enforcement, court administration or corrections.
The GPC Criminal Justice Program is also a good pre-law introduction for students interested in attending law school.Photos of equipment and police personnel courtesy of DeKalb County Police Department. | <urn:uuid:80b7ac22-066f-43c7-9cd5-92c39f6f9600> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://assistive.usablenet.com/tt/depts.gpc.edu/~gpccj/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94608 | 186 | 1.601563 | 2 |
An online journal about visual art, the urban landscape and design. Mary Louise Schumacher, the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic, leads the discussion and a community of writers contribute to the dialogue.
Art on the fridge
It's perhaps the most common showplace for artwork we know -- the refrigerator. Either as a kid or a parent, you've probably hung art proudly yourself, right? No PhD in curatorial studies required.
And consider this: The familiar ice box is not so different, really, from the cool white cubes we typically call galleries and museums, though we sure regard them differently. Artist Paul Drueke's project, which goes on view tonight at the Green Gallery takes these "galleries of the masses" out of their domestic settings into a gallery space, elevating the former and bringing the latter a bit more down to earth.
The "Cool White Cube" show documents the refridgerators found in the homes of suburban families, gallery owners, film directors, chiropractors and waiters, to name a few.
The opening for this show is tonight at the Green Gallery, 631 E. Center St., 3rd floor, from 7 to 11 p.m. This should be a good one. | <urn:uuid:44c23173-8198-4661-98d6-a1482d681d0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/32300629.html?_escaped_fragment_=page=1%26viewAll=0%26sort=oldestfirst%26pageSize=10 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930067 | 254 | 1.539063 | 2 |
In Revelation we read about several resurrections. We read the "bad" people need to sleep for another 1000 years. The good people will rule with Jesus.
It's often said those good people are Christians.
If so that automaticly means Christians will die. (without death no resurrection)
I would count the great OT names like Abraham, Job, Daniel, etc to the good people. But are they Christians?
Or is the whole "only Christians" a distortion of the truth?
- I can accept the 1000 years are not literal but just mean "a long time"
- I also accept spiritual components.
But even if the 1000 years only last 1 year and it's 100% spiritual there is a diffence as shown in the various resurrections. Jesus who never was spiritual dead was the first fruit of those resurrections. So Jesus' literal/bodily resurrection is extremely closely linked to the other resurrections. So for me answers like "It's all spiritual" are just ways of saying "I don't know" or "I don't want spend the time figuring it out."
Simply because patterns (literal vs spiritual) are parallel story lines. Not linear ones. | <urn:uuid:0b3e794e-afed-4cf1-a1c5-43b3f8b23c22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tentmaker.org/forum/book-of-revelation/revelation-15-and-reborn/msg135847/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961402 | 246 | 1.5 | 2 |
|Honda U3-X, the automaker's new personal mobility device. U3-X is a compact experimental device that fits comfortably between the riderĄ¯s legs, to provide free movement in all directions just as in human walking ¨C forward, backward, side-to-side, and diagonally(watch the video). U3-X 's wheel looks like a regular large wheel, but the wheel is actually made up of several small wheels in a series. It weighs under 22 pounds, uses an electric motor, with a seat and foot rests that fold into the device for ride and carry. No word on when it is available, but Honda is planning to show it off next month Tokyo Motor Show 2009. | <urn:uuid:b3a0d9d0-e85d-4855-8c8c-f767c0d03943> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://likecool.com/Honda_U3-X--Tech--Gear.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947643 | 151 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Since we at Newstalgia take requests, I've had several over the past few weeks for some 80's bands. Needless to say, I ran across this concert from the BBC featuring 80's icons The Style Council and I didn't think twice.
A great band that didn't have the same appeal over here as they did in the UK, probably having more to do with the Thatcher Years and political statements germane to the UK than the U.S. - the whole concept behind The Style Council was taking the Punk/Mod ethos that was The Jam (Paul Weller's previous group) and weaving it into a highly conservative appearing setting, adapting that wonderful concept known as "taking the piss".
The result was wildly successful, but mostly misunderstood over here. Like I said, we didn't have Thatcher and our idea of class consciousness isn't the same. So it fell largely on perplexed ears.
But in 1984, Style Council were riding the crest of a wave and this concert captures them right there.
UPDATE: We just found out Sarah Palin (Quitty McQuitter) will be on -- Shock -- Fox News Sunday tomorrow morning. -- BG
Time for your weekly Driftglass and Bluegal podcast -- and high school sounds about exactly right when it comes to politics these days.
You can listen to past editions here and at http://dgbgpodcast.blogspot.com/, and the podcast is also available on i-Tunes. If you enjoy these as much as I do, donations are greatly appreciated. Please consider throwing five bucks in the hat.
Art Garfunkel left Paul Simon alone in New York to Go act in 1970's Catch-22. Simon wrote this song about being left behind, and susequently included it on the duo's final album Bridge Over Troubled Water.
As if the dispersants themselves weren't toxic enough, the 1.8 million gallons of Corexit 9500 (oil dispersant) sprayed on BP's spill in the Gulf of Mexico breaks down the oil, releasing some of the most toxic chemicals already in the oil into the water, dramatically increasing the toxicity of the spill.
Amid growing concern about the use of dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico, a group of scientists working for law firms suing BP says their testing indicates that the dispersants being used to break up the oil are making this spill even more toxic to marine life.
Dr. William Sawyer, a toxicologist, is part of a team of scientists hired by law firms — led by Smith Stag of New Orleans — that are representing Louisiana fishermen and environmentalists.
The scientists collected and analyzed globs of oil, sand, and water from more than a dozen sites in four states along the Gulf.
Sawyer told NBC News that the findings are troubling. "We now have compelling evidence that the dispersant has enhanced and increased the toxicity from the spill," he said.
Last week, a group of independent scientists called for an "immediate halt" to the use of dispersants. In what was called a "consensus statement," they warned that dispersants pose "grave risks to marine life and human health." Read on...
Organizer Jeffrey Weingarten set the bar pretty low for the Uni-Tea diversity rally today, saying that if even one "other than white" person attended, they'd consider the event a success.
So I guess, by that standard, it was a success. There were at the very most 200 people, counting a couple dozen members of the press (it was hard to get a better count, since the area is also frequented by tourists there to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell).
The crowd was serenaded by The Bangers and their American Heroes and Patriots Tour™ (featuring appearances by Rita Cosby), a mediocre rock band with song lyrics like "Thank God for you/You protect us from terror."
The lead singer urged people go up to any veterans at the rally "and give him a big hug." Then he exhorted the crowd: "The left will never be right" and announced ear plugs would be distributed to the crowd "for the left ear only." (Get it?)
I walked around and talked to a few people in the sparse crowd. Linda Hertzog, 62, a housewife, lives in suburban West Chester, PA and is active in the Valley Forge Tea Party group.
"I'm here supporting my brothers and sisters," she said. "We're told we're a majority white organization, and we have African-American speakers here today. I wanted to support them."
She spoke of capitalism being "demonized" and insisted the reason corporations were sitting on record cash reserves was because of the "uncertainty" of Obama's policies. (And here, I find them predictably pro-corporate. Go figure!)
"How many people are in the stock market? We have to protect them," she said.
College student Matt Hissey, 21, and bartender Brendan Kissam, 25, are self-described gay conservatives. "Just because you're gay doesn't mean you have to be a liberal," Hissui said.
"I advocate a government so small, it can fit into a clutch purse at the Tonys," Kissam said. Oo, snap!
Hissey, a libertarian, is all for legalizing drugs -- but not gay marriage. (Something to do with Anglo-Saxon law and "morality.") Although a member of College Republicans, he said, he was frustrated. "The party's umbrellas is little, they don't want to expand."
Mark Hutchinson, 52, of Mays Landing, NJ, carried a New Jersey state flag. He's a retired chef who, unlike the other attendees I spoke to, has actually been concerned about constitutional issues for a while, through a militia-type website called LibertyandProsperity.org.
He's most concerned about government spending. When I asked which spending, he replied, "All of it. We don't need cash for clunkers, buying auto companies. This stimulus spending is nothing but a slush fund for Obama and his cronies."
I pointed out that war spending dwarfed all that, and asked why that didn't upset him. He sidestepped the question: "Congress needed to declare war. Congress abdicated its responsibilities."
While trying to talk to people who have such a narrow perspective does make my head hurt, I do identify with their sense of frustration. It's that to them, the solution is to embrace an extreme, uninformed ideology that dismisses nuance, and doesn't leave much room for common ground. (It's very disorienting to talk to people who have more sympathy for corporations than the unemployed.)
The right wing supplies them with a consistent narrative that validates their worldview, and as I walked away, I thought that it was a damned shame progressives didn't get there first.
Despite protective parents who worked hard to keep her out of the public spotlight, we still remember watching Chelsea Clinton grow up. Maybe that's why some of us still feel a little protective of her, too. When Rush Limbaugh held up a picture of her at 13 and called her "the White House dog," we were furious at his cruelty.
When Bill and Hillary's marriage was on the rocks, I think all of us felt for the young girl in the middle:
By all accounts a smart, well-mannered girl, she seems to have grown up into a wonderful young woman. I don't know about you, but I was impressed at how easily she moved into the public eye for her mother's presidential campaign -- and then moved right back into her private life.
It can't be easy, being the only child of two such powerful personalities. But Chelsea has pulled it off with considerable grace, and I hope you'll join me in wishing her only the best on her wedding day.
(P.S. Because this is C&L, and some commenters are always negative, I'll point out that the rumors about this being a $3 million wedding are untrue. Feel better now?)
That's the jaw-dropping conclusion of a recent study by the study by the Center for American Progress. Thanks to the Republicans' historic use of Filibusters, anonymous holds, and other obstructionist tactics, President Obama's confirmation rate is "falling off a cliff." The CAP assessment of data from the Congressional Research Service, the Justice Department and the Senate Judiciary Committee found that:
Such tactics are completely unprecedented, and so are their results. Fewer than 43 percent of President Obama's judicial nominees have so far been confirmed, while past presidents have enjoyed confirmation rates as high as 93 percent. And President Obama's nominees have been confirmed at a much slower rate than those of his predecessor--nearly 87 percent of President George W. Bush's judicial nominees were confirmed.
To be sure, the Republicans' successful rearguard action is helping to preserve conservative dominance of the federal judiciary. But with its sluggish pace of nominations, the Obama administration isn't helping itself.
I swear on all that is sacred to any of you that what I'm about to write is true. I have to say that up front because even in the bizarro world that is politics, this story is still right out of outer space.
Let's say there was a district in Michigan where a Republican (Mike Rogers) barely won his seat in a special election back in 2000 when Senator Debbie Stabenow won her seat. Like, he won by 111 votes or so. And let's say that the same Republican has won every election since largely because no candidate has really stepped up to challenge in a meaningful way.
In this story, said district (MI-08) is an interesting mix of progressive and militia types, but overall, the district went 2-1 for Obama in 2008.
In 2010, you'd think it might be worth trying to target said district and Mike Rogers for a Democratic win. Here's how it plays, via Swing State Project:
Earlier this year, a young guy named Kande Ngalamulume (he was born in Zaire, now known as the Congo) decided to take a shot. No political experience, he'd lived outside of Michigan since 2002. His biggest claim to fame was having been a track star at Michigan State.
Then it turns weird:
Unfortunately, after finding a lack of financial support (he had only raised a total of around $25,000 or so, I believe), he dropped out of the race on June 2--and not only did so in a very public manner (via email press release), but did so several weeks after the filing deadline...and then left the state.
I guess Rick Sanchez thinks those with ties to white supremacists groups like FAIR are "respectable". Maybe someone should ask him to talk to Rachel Maddow first about what type of questions he should be asking and how you should be portraying Dan Stein if he doesn't want to make himself look like he's trying to put a smiley face on this man's extremism.
FAIR, an organization that has been dominated for much of its life by its racist founder John Tanton, has probably done more to inject fear and bigotry into the national immigration debate than any other modern organization. Its demonizing propaganda, aimed primarily at Latinos, comes at a time when the number of hate groups continues a decade-long rise, fueled by anti-Latino hatred. At the same time, the FBI reported a 40% rise in anti-Latino hate crimes between 2003 and 2007. Those crimes decreased slightly in 2008, the latest year for which statistics are available.
What follows is a list of factors that resulted in the listing of FAIR as a hate group. More detailed information on FAIR and its founder may be found here and here. Read on...
Why someone of Latino background like Sanchez would like to give this extremist some cover is beyond me, but his show is always pretty much milk toast even when he pretends like he's going to get tough with a guest, so there's not much of a surprise here with this pathetic interview which is just pretty well business as usual for him.
SANCHEZ: All right. You heard Darrell Issa and I having this conversation a little while ago. This is an important conversation, because it's circular and it keeps going back to the very same place. And it seems silly at times. But there are people who, now, are serious-minded enough to try and come up with some kind of -- some kind of cooperative system that creates an immigration legislation for the United States.
However, and this is very important, can he find that cooperation from others? And I want to introduce you to somebody now. It's a lot harder to do what Darrell Issa was saying he wants to do when you try -- when you have to try and convince some of those on the anti- immigration front. Folks like FAIR who are very respectable in their opinion but they're very, very strident in their opinion about this.
So, I want you to hear now from that side of the story. Here's Dan Stein. He's the leader of this group.
STEIN: The basic problem, Rick, is that, you know, you're hung up on this amnesty concept. Do you think the amnesty issue is what's preventing progress at the federal level?
STEIN: That's not the case. Clearly, everybody on our side opposes amnesty.
The issue here --
SANCHEZ: So, wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. You just said everybody on our side opposes amnesty. Let me just be clear about what you just said.
Are you saying when you say that to the American people, everybody on our side opposes any legislation that would allow someone presently living in the United States who's not legal to in any way have a path to citizenship so that he can acquire residency?
STEIN: Well, if the person can acquire it through lawful means like marriage to a U.S. citizen or what-have-you, but, you know, if they've fallen out of status, willfully disregarded U.S. immigration law, I wouldn't have given Obama's aunt asylum for example.
Look, the laws are laws. Laws matter. It is impossible for somebody to live here illegally, violating immigration law and not violate a lot of other laws as well, tax laws, withholding laws, involving fraudulent documents --
Admittedly, it's a little hard to see, but you can see the full thing here at GOP.gov (.pdf).
And again, I must ponder whether the Republican Party is truly this clueless when they opt to illustrate their booklet of summer activities for Republican members of Congress with photos of Denis and Margaret Thatcher, Lech Walesa, Ike and Mamie Eisenhower, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Winston Churchill and Jack Kemp. Let's see--they've used three foreign leaders (including one fervent labor organizer and Iraq War critic) and three (four, if you count Teddy Roosevelt bringing up the rear at the bottom of the page) American Republican politicians who have all long since passed away. This is "treading boldly"? They can't even find a living Republican to hold up? And really, Jack Kemp? What's that about? A fairly undistinguished House career, two failed presidential campaigns and then finally Secretary of Housing and Urban Development--this is the coverboy for the Republican Party's plan to sway those all important "independent" voters for the mid-term elections?
But wait, it gets better. Take a look at page 6, where they outline a typical August calendar: it is literally re-tweeting the RNC talking points. That's it. The booklet recommends holding town halls and setting up media interviews...but never forgetting their daily re-tweet.
Amazing. We're in the midst of two wars, the most severe economic dire straits since the Great Depression, and we have lunatics of the right wing noise machine all but directly calling for armed revolution and the GOP's answer is for its members to log on to Twitter.
The second half of the booklet is ostensibly the GOP's platform. Are you surprised to learn that it's heavy on spin and provable falsehoods: "Most Americans do not want a government takeover of health care that was forced upon them and would like to see it replaced with common sense solutions that lower costs and protect jobs." and light on actual solutions (lower taxes! less regulation! repeal health care! That's it in a nutshell.). Energy is barely mentioned except as a way to point out those mean old Democrats' onerous regulations on energy is a job killer.
In fact, there's a distinct lack of anything of substance in the kit. No discussion of immigration reform, other than the meaningless "secure the borders." Calls to reduce the size of government without the honesty to admit that it grew under their majority during Bush. Calls to stop runaway spending without acknowledging their own profligate ways.
There's enough cognitive dissonance in that kit to keep an analyst busy for years. | <urn:uuid:63884586-2bdb-465e-8fee-42e27a2a21f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/archives/2010/07 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973964 | 3,514 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Don Jelinek was a SNCC organizer and LCDC attorney in Mississippi and Alabama from 1965-1968.]
Wall Street Lawyer Goes South
Civil Rights Lawyer For The Movement
Civil Rights Lawyer as a Civil Rights Worker
Problems of a Civil Rights Lawyer as an Organizer
Second Chance: Going Home And Coming Back
Sex and the South: From Slavery to The Movement
White Lawyer in Black Power Selma
Blacks vs Blacks in the First Black Elections
Paul Bokulich: The Battle Against All-White
". . . More Important Than Sheriff or Governor"
Southern Whites Attack Civil Rights Lawyer
Fired by ACLU as a "Gangrenous Arm"
Selma Underground: The Fathers of St. Edmund
SNCC: Vietnam, Israel, & Violence
Fight For Food: SRRP Feeds Tens of Thousands
Final Departure: Leaving the South
Bruce Hartford: So how did a nice guy like you get involved in civil rights? How did you get involved in the Movement?
Don Jelinek: I was then 31, I came down to Mississippi for my three-week summer vacation and stayed three years. I was then working on Wall Street . . .
Bruce: As a lawyer
Don: As a lawyer. A lawyer friend from another firm had gone South in '64. And when he came back . . .
Bruce: When you say "gone South in '64," you mean for Freedom Summer?
Don: That's right, and when he came back from his three-week summer vacation work, he told me and other people what had gone on. I felt embarrassed because as between the two of us, I was supposed to be the "political" one. So, he connected me with ACLU; I called up and made arrangements to go the next summer: 1965.
Bruce: Summer of 65?
Don: Summer of 65. Once I decided to go, I told a number of my co-workers and the next thing I know, one of the Wall Street partners calls me into his office to tell me how well I am doing, that I was approaching partnership track, but that going South wouldn't sit well with a number of their clients. Not him personally, God forbid! but the ACLU communist thing, he said, made things "not comfortable." He said, coincidently, that in that same time period that I would be away, they are going to have a partnership meeting, concerning new partners, and I might want to be available. He was coming on very forcefully. I said that as tempting as all that is, I couldn't possibly not go South after having committed myself to going. I made up stories about how ACLU had rejected other people to accept me; Yes, I would like to not go but I cannot back out at this late date.
Bruce: This is a year in advance?
Don: Well, I had set it up with ACLU nine months in advance and then, on the eve of the summer, called to confirm it; I started talking about it a few months in advance. Wall Street was not alone in wishing I would not go. My parents were unhappy that I was jeopardizing my lawyer position to "work for the colored who don't like Jews anyhow." My law school friends all thought I was crazy, and accused me of turning radical.
And so the day finally came and I sat in an airport, awaiting a plane that flew to Jackson, Mississippi. En route to Mississippi, where the prevailing civic and cultural activity seemed to be the lynching of blacks and sympathetic outsiders like myself I felt a twinge of madness. At New York's John F. Kennedy airport, on August 15, 1965, waiting for a flight South to serve a three-week stint as a volunteer civil rights lawyer, I was proud . . . but mostly I was frightened. Frightened because the bodies of three civil rights workers had been unearthed the previous summer, because three others had already been slain this year, because a civil rights lawyer had been shot at only a few months ago, but mostly because, to me, Mississippi was Nazi Germany with a Southern accent and I was a Jew voluntarily flying to the crematorium.
Frightened but proud. I was joining the beautiful struggle . . . and beautiful was the word of the day. The Civil Rights Movement was beautiful: young civil rights workers clad in workshirts and blue jeans courageously defending the black sharecropper, an ageless yet aged farmer; the saintly leader Martin Luther King, Jr., leading his people to the refrain of the civil rights anthem, "Black and White Together, We Shall Overcome!" America the Beautiful was united in combat against the evil of racism.
But the black rural South I was about to enter was not as I envisioned it that day safely seated in a New York airport. Three years later when I looked back upon it I could still say it was beautiful, even up close, even after the stereotypes and cliches were stripped away. Yet it was not beautiful in any way easily understood by a citified Northerner. During those three years, I was to discover and rediscover an alien world, no, two alien worlds: one, that of the black sharecropper, the other that of the civil rights worker each in its own way fighting to overcome a caste system, conceived in slavery, reinforced by law and official acquiescence, and maintained by custom and violence.
The world of the black sharecropper, invisible to voter registrars and census takers, materialized for me in the form of families with as many as 18 children, living in wooden, dirt-floored shacks, the walls with gaping holes covered by newspapers and pictures of Jesus Christ, John Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. Freezing winters were relieved, if at all, by a pot-belly stove, the only source of heat as well as the sole implement for cooking. Sweltering summers were not relived at all. Medical care was virtually non-existent from birth to death, from no prenatal care to unattended demise. And medical care was desperately needed for nutritionally-starved adults and lethargic, malnourished children, the product of a diet of greens, cornbread, occasional pork parts drowned in thick gravy, Kool-Aid and coffee. From dawn to dusk the sharecroppers farmed, but at the end of the year, they were still in debt, with even less money for a decent home, decent food and minimal medical care the next year.
But despite (or because of?) the privation, the sharecroppers were wholesome, religious, caring people: caring, in fact, for large extended families including the babies of their children working in the North, and old folks who were never shuttled off to old-age homes. Serious crime and adultery were almost unknown, children were respectful of their elders, marriages didn't seem to break up, few farmers even cursed. Down to their last morsel (literally, their last), a sharecropper family would share their meal with another black family or a civil rights worker.
And the social rituals were striking. When I drove up to a sharecropper's home, introduced myself and offered a document for the farmer to sign, he would simply ignore my breach of basic friendliness and tell someone to run inside and "get this man some Kool-Aid." Then all the children would swarm around me as their elders asked questions: Where are you from? Do you have a family (meaning a wife and children)? What do you think of the South? Hot 'nuf for you? Have you seen so-and-so? Is this one out of jail? Has that one recovered from the beating? Isn't it horrible that another one was shot to death? Then neighbors would arrive and ask the same questions all over again. I would be expected to stay for dinner, play with the children (who intermittently searched for black skin under my whiteness) and probably stay overnight why not? since by then it was too late to see anyone else.
Representing the black farmer was a shock for a Wall Street lawyer accustomed to impersonal, professional relationships timed to the quarter hour. If Paul Revere had tried to warn black Mississippi, I thought to myself, he would have ridden up, shouted "The British are coming" and would still be at the first house talking about his silverware when the King's Men arrived.
Communication at first was nearly impossible. The black sharecropper would speak v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, forcing the visitor to grit his teeth to avoid interrupting and finishing the sentence; the words of the Northerner would be in the rhythm of a railroad train, roaring ahead, seemingly out of control the speeded-up abbreviated speech patterns overwhelming to the rural listener. Adding to the confusion each speaker would add regional accents, drawls, colloquialisms and style the latter a very serious matter since the white Northerner spoke with ironic humor, exaggeration and sarcasm, while the black Southerner, holding a very straightforward view of life, considered hyperbole a lie. A further complication was the tendency of some blacks, dating back to days of slavery, to tell the white man what it was thought he wanted to hear. To achieve even the semblance of communication, veteran civil rights workers were, at times, pressed into service as interpreters.
Even time and directions had their own language. Since few black sharecroppers used clocks or calendars, time was told by the sun (a few hours before sunrise, stop at midsun) or events (the day the candyman came, cotton choppin' week, the Sunday the Preacher came to town); directions depended upon nature (turn left at the big oak, then down a piece to the three cows and there would be three cows!); and appointments were made by the week (Will you be in your office next week? Good, I'll be by).
Culture-shocked while adjusting to the sharecropper, the Northern newcomer simultaneously encountered the world of the civil rights worker, a separate society with its own culture and rules for every moment of the day. Emulating the sharecropper, the civil rights workers dressed in overalls, workshirts and boots, and spoke a bastardized Negro language, saying things like, "The Peoples have a right to reddish to vote." Every black was referred to by the honorific "Mr." or "Mrs.", while civil rights workers, no matter what age, were called by their first names; the Southern white tradition of humiliating a black by calling him "boy" or by his first name (which had the same connotation), led civil rights workers to reverse the tradition in the extreme. And there was always the dilemma of how to refer to the former slaves: to the local whites the term was "Nigger," or, if they were progressive, "Nigra"; to the subjects themselves it was "Colored"; and to civil rights workers it was "Negro," with "Black" yet to come.
And how was one to deal with the exasperatingly endless acronyms of civil rights organizations: COFO, CORE, MFDP, NAACP, SNCC? Many a prosecutor regretted asking my clients, merely attempting to establish the outsider as a civil rights worker: "Aren't you with the N double A CP?" A wrinkle would creep up the brow of the witness as he began to explain that he had come down with COFO, joined SNCC, is at times attached to MFDP, but mostly just "works for the Peoples."
Distinguishing the civil rights workers from any other group of Americans was the need for rules to stay alive. Because civil rights was warfare, a breach could mean death for the rule-breaker, death for those nearby, and a whipping up of the bloodlust of racist whites. Even the savage Klan, the Movement believed, found it difficult to kill in cold blood. They needed craved! provocation; the Movement's avoidance of that provocation was credited with the relatively few civil rights deaths in a society where whites could kill with virtual impunity. To avoid provocation, there were the rules of nonviolence (If cursed, do not curse back; if pushed, do not push back; if struck, do not strike back) and the rules of behavior and dress (Avoid bizarre or controversial behavior. No face hair. Be neat). To remain alive in communities where the mere presence of the civil rights worker was a provocation, one had to follow the rules of survival:
--and many more rules.
Bruce: You know, to this day I still disable the dome light on every car I drive so it doesn't light up when I open the door.
Don: The death toll was kept low by following these rules. When a civil rights worker was killed, injured or placed in danger, it was often because he or she had broken a rule.
I learned most of the rules from one civil rights worker including the rule that saved my life:
BE CAPABLE OF DRIVING AT 50 TO 60 MPH ON WINDING DIRT ROADS WHILE JIGGLING THE WHEEL TO CREATE A DUST CURTAIN BEHIND
Shelby, 25, a black native of Mississippi and a veteran civil rights worker, taught me how to drive Movement-style. Each morning at 5 am, he would conduct classes.
"Remember," he would instruct, "these are dirt roads which the Man rarely uses. He don't know them. You will. There is more traction on them, and you can make sharper turns than you or he would imagine." Then he would execute a screeching turn as I alternately cursed and prayed.
"Now you do it!" he would say. "DON'T GRIP THE WHEEL, no, faster! turn on two wheels, turn, TURN! O.K. Enough for today."
I would be shaking. Shaking but pleased that I could execute a turn at 45 mph, and excited that Shelby thought I would ever need this dubious skill.
When I broke one of the rules
and took a shortcut to save time, driving Movement-style saved my life. Within moments of driving my vehicle through the off-limits community, I was spotted by three whites who immediately jumped into a pickup truck, with rifles in racks across the rear window. The chase began . . . Bruce, I'll discuss this later, in context.
The worlds of the black sharecropper and the civil rights worker would fuse in the year-long drives for voter registration, school integration and other civil rights goals. Organizing would be done in the open, sometimes in the Plantation Owner's cotton fields, other times at public church meetings, often on public roads and, in small rural communities, everyone knew everything that occurred. The sharecropper who listened, who gave a civil rights worker a bed to sleep in and/or food to eat, would be known to the merchant, the police chief and the Klan. The price was high and those who crossed that line could never return. Never have I known such courage.
Finally boarding a Delta flight to the capital city of Jackson, I remember my image that I would step off the plane into swamp. Also, in those days I was suffering from back problems and I wore a back girdle. I strapped it extra tight. You know, protection when they hit me. Then the plane landed.
A civil rights worker spotted me at the airport and said, "Are you Jelinek?" I said, "Who are y'all?" Trying to protect myself. He laughed, thinking I was just kidding. He drove me to North Farish Street and took me up to the ACLU office. And by this time, I was really glad I came. Really enjoying it.
I loved Steven's Kitchen across the street, where civil rights workers ate, related their experiences and relaxed together. At this point, I am not sure I had ever heard of SNCC, or knew that it was a separate organization: I thought there was Dr. King and that was it. Then I met the SNCC people and really liked them. So while the lawyers would hang out together, I would hang out with SNCC and attracted negative notice among the lawyers, who started telling me that "You really don't want to spend too much time with them. They are impossible, just lawbreakers, and they thrive on it. No discipline, all us lawyers forever wasting time getting them out of trouble, when we have bigger things, integration things, to be doing." I didn't stop "hangin" with SNCC but I was more discreet about it.
And then a case came my way: a young civil rights woman with a community group picketing "Piggly Wiggly" a grocery chain. While some white guys were hassling them, one pushed her and she lost her balance and brushed against him with a sign. So they arrested her for assault. That was my case.
Bruce: And this is in Jackson.
Don: Right, this is a baby case, a case only worthy for somebody as new as I am.
Bruce: Right, a short timer.
Don: We had the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which took mostly matters that had momentous consequences. Then there was the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, known as the "President's Committee?" Formed by President Kennedy because of embarrassment about Southern racism, seen by the emerging African nations. A high prestige group, they primarily represent civil rights leaders, Ministers, and other higher ups. Then there is us, the Lawyer Constitutional Defense Committee (LCDC) of the ACLU. ACLU's role was to take care of the "little people," such as this community organization, so they give me the case. The difference between me and most of the others in ACLU was that I was coming from a high-powered law firm in New York. The others had been mostly operating small offices, like I have now.
Bruce: I thought LCDC was independent. I thought ACLU was different.
Don: No, no, LCDC was ACLU's civil rights wing.
Bruce: So LCDC was a subset of ACLU.
Don: Yes. Its formal name was the Lawyer's Constitutional Defense Committee of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Bruce: And the LCRC, the Lawyer's Constitutional Right's Committee, was the one Kennedy set up.
Don: Lawyer's Committee for Civil Right's Under Law.
Bruce: Okay, alright. You know back in the day, you needed a f****** program for the acronyms.
Don: You sure did. So, back to the case. There were 20 demonstrators on the line.
Bruce: On the picket line?
Don: On the picket line. So I bring all 20 to the office. I am getting straightened out who was standing where, who saw what doing this whole Wall Street-type exhaustive preparation. But the ACLU lawyers are really annoyed, in part because ACLU doesn't have that much space in their offices, plus the noise, but mostly it was what they called "the silliness of it, since you can't win anyhow." They are really heckling me though I keep on doing the interviews but they are annoying me so much that I stop working out of the office. SNCC has a place and we work there and get it down nice and pat, until we are ready. Comes the day of trial, I started going up . . . You've seen the courthouse?
Bruce: No, I was never at the Jackson Courthouse. I never spent much time in Jackson.
Don: Well, it is a really massive, beautiful, beautiful, courthouse. Many, many, steps. So there I am with my young group. I am 31; they are all late teens, or early twenties.
Bruce: They were probably from the North Jackson NAACP youth group. Is that who they were?
Don: I don't think I ever knew. We start walking up the steps of the courthouse and we see police with rifles running up the steps ahead of us and one state trooper, his rifle held with military precision across his chest, standing directly in our path. My client frantically whispered to me that this had never before happened on the way to court. Mustering my deepest voice to mask my fear, the state trooper now a mere five paces ahead of me, I demanded to know why he was blocking a lawyer entering a courthouse in the United States of America.
Bruce: They had rifles, not clubs?
Don: The people who do courts use rifles. I'm trying to do my New York macho thing. But it appeared the trooper in front of us was frightened also; he is very young, very nervous. He says, "You can go, sir, but we don't want these demonstrators . . . " "They are not demonstrators," I said. "They are my witnesses." He says, "Really?" I said, "Really." Remembering this great respect for lawyers, I say, "I guarantee it. Everyone of them is going to testify. They are witnesses." The Troopers have a conference and decide it's okay.
Well, I made a big hit with my group, having gotten past this first obstacle. And so we go into the courtroom and see the judge already on the bench, seated between flags of the State of Mississippi and the Confederacy. If there was a United States flag, I didn't see it. They call our case and the "victim-thug" testifies about how he was struck by her. And then she testifies that he pushed her, and so on. Next I start calling the first of the 19 witnesses. The judge looks at the size of the group and he says, "Are they all going to testify to the same thing this girl did?" I say, "Yes, your honor." The Judge grunts, "Very well, Not Guilty. Pick up your bail money at the clerk's office. Next case."
In hindsight, I believe he did it because the case was going to take so long or perhaps to reward the naive lawyer who took his court seriously enough to bring 20 witnesses to a Southern civil rights trial. The client and witnesses are awed. You don't win cases here.
Bruce: Not in Jackson in '65.
Don: I don't think I won one for a year after that. So my witnesses leave and do the civil rights troubadour thing, telling everyone what happened. As they go to trumpet the result, while the client goes with me to the ACLU office.
The lawyers start to heckle me immediately, which is really getting on my nerves. And they say, "Well, congratulations, nice to see she is not in jail." I get really annoyed and I say, "Oh, yes, she's free," as I pull out the bail money in $10's and $20's, thumbing through them like a Las Vegas teller and ask innocently, "What do I do with the bail money?"
"What do mean 'What do you do with the bail money?'" someone says. The client says, "I was dismissed." I say, "No, the case was dismissed, you were acquitted." And they say, "Acquitted? That never happens."
Then they start a discussion about the significance of the acquittal ignoring my role and what it might mean about new Southern attitudes. So I leave and go outside. From this case, I develop some minor stature and, you know, SNCC is an organization which is really an "us" and "them." And "them" are the ones who aren't staying long in the South. But I kind of got a little closer because of the victory. And so now I am invited to parties, and I'm spending even more time with SNCC; at the same time they are saying nice things about me, which is spreading up to the Boss of Mississippi ACLU
Bruce: Uh oh.
Don: The Boss is really not feeling good about me and I even overheard him asking somebody how much longer I was going to be there. He calls for me and says. "I got a case for you in Holly Springs," which is about as far from Jackson as you can get . . .
Bruce: . . . without leaving Mississippi.
Don: That's right. And that will take care of the week I have left. So, I say goodbye to the SNCC people, figuring I won't be seeing them again. Somebody says we got somebody going up in that area. He's a divinity student. "Could you give him a lift?" I said, "Sure."
A guy named Peter came by the next morning and we drove up, having a grand time talking. Finally he says, "Alright, turn off here." That day I learned "Colored Geography." When the pavement ends, the colored man's dirt road and world begin. As my car hit the soil for the first time, the red dust splattered over everything from shoes to nostrils. Even closed car windows couldn't keep it out.
I asked, "Exactly where are we going?" He says, "I know where it is but I always get the name wrong: 'Okahola' or 'Okalona,' one of those Indian names." The names sounded familiar. Is one of them off limits? Where nobody goes anymore. Probably the other one.
We drive in and he introduces me to the workers. Now these are not SNCC workers, this is a Christian something or other, made up of very dedicated people. And they are all excited to see me because I am a lawyer. And they say, we never get lawyers up here, because and they name my Boss and then they stop in the middle of the sentence. Yes, this is probably the county he talked about. But what's the difference. I'm just dropping Peter off.
Then one of the Christians tells me, "We have a case coming up in a few days involving the black sharecropper leader." I said "It doesn't matter, because I got this case in the Holly Springs, very important. I haven't got the time." And mostly I want to get out of there. They say, "Well, at least you should meet him [the leader]." A trick I now know but didn't know then. The thing never to do.
Bruce: Yeah, definitely.
Don: So I go to his place and he is the first sharecropper I've met. This is first cotton I have seen. I hadn't been out of Jackson.
Bruce: You're in the Delta now.
Don: I am overwhelmed by the poverty I had not seen in the capital city of Jackson. I view a shack with no running water (just a pump), not even an outhouse (discreet bushes 50 yards away), no electricity, holes in cardboard-thin walls, a pot-belly stove for heat and cooking, and a large porcelain basin to squat in for bathing.
Then I see the children and hold back tears: open scabs and sores, flies sucking at the wounds, the children too listless to interfere, with distended stomachs I had only seen in newsreels of the starving youth of underdeveloped nations.
I shake hands with the local leader, he invites me in and feeds me. He never says a word about his case. Not a word. Just talking about me, life in New York, and what not. And then I say, "I'll represent you." He never even asked. I said, "I'll come back on the way from Holly Springs." I found out when the case is and I say the Boss must never find out. Everybody agrees.
I double back to the highway, then head north, then west a short way. I am driving through Oxford, home of writer William Faulkner and the seat of the University of Mississippi, which a few years earlier had been integrated by a black student, James Meredith, with the assistance of the federalized National Guard and the U.S. Army. Resisting the temptation to sightsee, I continue due north to my destination: Holly Springs, a sleepy Southern community where blacks work the Man's place on shares, and maybe earn a bit off season in nearby Memphis, Tennessee. Holly Springs is also headquarters for the North Mississippi Civil Rights Movement.
Late because of Peter, I meet Aviva Futorian for the first time. She is sitting on the porch of the Freedom House; atop its second floor I see a huge poster of black and white hands united across signs proclaiming "SNCC" and "MFDP." She's angry at me. She coolly explains that one of the reasons punctuality rules existed was to spare those waiting the need to wonder if you were dead. I apologized. Aviva then relaxed, asked about my background, and, of course, how long I was staying.
Next I met Rita and Sid Walker, who are just wonderful and they invite me to stay in the Freedom House that night. Rita was a gracious, lovely person and made me feel very much at home. She and Sid made sure I was introduced to everybody. Treated me, just treated me real well. And, I liked Sid, I liked all of them.
The next morning I stoutly demand: "Give me a large breakfast so I'll have enough energy for my one line in court today." Everyone laughed. This was a famous case. The local Movement newspaper, the Benton County Freedom Train, had called the black principal an "Uncle Tom." And he sued for libel. Of course, the famous Times v. Sullivan case [no libel against a public figure without malice] was already in effect but that didn't stop the jury which awarded a great deal of money against Aviva and 10 local black leaders. And a few of them, particularly leader Henry Reeves, had something to lose.
Bruce: As did Aviva's parents.
Don: The case would eventually be won. A talented Harvard professor had tried the case and laid the groundwork for a successful appeal. But under Mississippi law and many other places in order to appeal you have to first move for a new trial. And the reason you do that is so the judge could theoretically decide he was wrong. I was there to simply say "We move for a new trial!" The judge will say "denied" and then we win on appeal.
That morning in court, after graciously welcoming me, the Judge fired his first volley: "I fear, Mr. Jelinek, that I am not permitted to allow you to appear before me in this case no matter how much I would like to. You see, we allowed Mr. Bronstein and a distinguished gentleman from Harvard to defend this case without a license to practice law in our state, and we extend the same courtesy to you. But, only they are the lawyers in this case, and only they can participate unless you have their written authorization."
I had no written authorization, no one had thought of it, nor had such authorization ever been requested before. One civil rights lawyer replaced another all the time. Although the Judge was technically right, it was a technicality only applied to a civil rights advocate.
Don: "Could Mr. Bronstein authorize me by phone?" I asked, without hope. "No," said the Judge, mock apologetically. Fearing he wouldn't recognize Mr. Bronstein's voice, the Judge noted, (to the delight of the other lawyers) his problem distinguishing Northern voices. "You can have until the end of the court day" (three more hours and it was a four-hour drive from Jackson), the Judge offered, "to do something, or I fear I cannot hear or allow the Motion for a New Trial." With that disallowal would go the chance to appeal the verdict and save someone's tractor, someone else's cows, and the Benton County Movement. Panicking, I thanked the Judge for the three hours and stumbled out of the courtroom.
Some of the clients assumed the problem was my fault; a more experienced lawyer wouldn't have allowed this mess. I call the Boss and he seems to blame me also. He is really upset. This is terrible. He talks about chartering a plane, but the clock is ticking. And sitting outside on a bench, all the sharecroppers are facing me, looking at me. They don't totally understand what is happening but they know it's something bad. I am trying to calm myself down. I'm also very upset.
I start to think about lawyering in New York. The law, I had learned in the Big City, was a game in which you fudged a bit, sometimes stretched a point, or even cheated a little. The other side did the same and the smarter one triumphed. Today I was the smarter one. As I smiled to myself, I must have looked like a cartoon strip character with the light bulb going on over his head. Lunging for my briefcase and then walking quickly to where my clients huddled, I pulled out the legal papers with the title of the case (which named each client) and began calling roll. Each litigant answered "Here," none daring to defy the crazy lawyer who seemed to know what he was doing. "Ah hah! Everyone's here!" I exclaimed, and then laughed again; a few weakly laughed with me.
"Since you are all here," I now explain, "all you have to do is fire the other lawyers and switch me as your lawyer. Then I'll file the motion in my name." With a roar of approval from the clients, we storm into the courtroom.
As the judge saw me, he knew I had figured out a way to undo the problem. He could tell. I told him what we planned to do and he told me it wasn't necessary to fire the other lawyers; as a courtesy, he would allow me to appear and speak my magic words. I do and the day is saved. So now I tell Aviva to call my Boss and tell him the problem is over. She says, "Why aren't you calling him?" I say, "Well, I am stopping off somewhere along the way and I don't want to have to discuss it with him. So you call and say I just drove off."
"You sort of like this civil rights stuff, don't you?" she said. I nodded. "Not just the lawyer part," she added. And I say, "Yeah, I really do." "When you finish your time at ACLU," she says, "why don't you come back and stay a week? Work with us as a real civil rights worker."
Bruce: Wily woman, she.
Don: "Replace your suit with overalls," she says. "See what it is really like." And then she adds the clincher; I'm easy to read: "Of course, it's more dangerous then when you are a lawyer wearing a suit." She knew she had me and I said, "I'll think about it."
So I drive south to my next stop, still hearing the praise of Benton County in my mind. I get there after dark. The problem is they don't have any numbers on the doors. There are also no street lights, although I could have sworn there was a street light when I was last here. So I drive around to three or four potentials. It's very hot and I got the windows open. I pull into a makeshift driveway, tap the horn lightly and slide down into my seat to wait.
"DON'T MOVE!" a voice commands, as rifles are thrust through the side windows of my car. I don't move but whisper, "It's me, Jelinek?" my voice rises in a singsong, "the lawyer?"
A pause, then nervous laughter. "Sorry, Mr. Jerinekel, we didn't recognize you in the dark. You do have (snicker) very short hair (and a round Southern-type face, they gallantly left out) and we're expecting some trouble. C'mon in, we'll hide your car."
While they all laugh, my heart's pumping like crazy. And they say, "There's been a bit of a problem. They (the terrifying 'they') shot out the mercury light," the street light I was looking for. I ask, "Who is 'they' and why'd they shoot it out?" "It's the Klan and they shot it out because they found out that a civil rights lawyer is coming to court tomorrow."
I could guess some big mouth in this room showed off and alerted them. "They said they are coming back tonight. We tried to call you in Holly Springs to tell you not to come in till morning. But now you are safer here than leaving. We are going to put you in a back house. Sort of a wrecked house that nobody ever uses and they won't even know you are there . . . if they come; then if anything happens to us, you'll still be okay." I am thinking to myself, Yeah, right, you'll all be killed and I'll just drive in by myself tomorrow for the case. Yeah, right, great plan, but actually being hidden in the back house didn't make me feel so bad. So, I am in the back house, and I am remembering that I heard in Jackson from the lawyers that "civil rights workers are always buckling on their armor, always talking a good war, making most of it up."
Bruce: Wait, wait a minute, you said that to them?
Don Jelinek No, no. It was the lawyers in Jackson who said to me that you can't take them seriously; they are always bragging about danger.
Don: And just about the moment I had that thought, a ritualistic gun duel begins. Shots ring out and I can tell the shots are coming at the house in the front and from the house. At least it sounded that way to me. (Later I learned both sides were shooting high.)
It goes on for seconds, or minutes, I don't know. But, I am terrified. And then the shooting stops. The Christians could all be dead and now the Klan is coming for me. They have seen the extra car. They are coming around. Then I am hearing things, freaking out. I look out the window and I see white sheets: it's either laundry or the Klan. There is a broomstick in the room, and I am holding it as my weapon. I lie down on the bed springs, no mattress, as quietly as I can, about as frightened as I have ever been. I began what became my danger-mantra: If I survive tonight, I am going to drive right to the Memphis Airport sorry guys, I got work to do in New York. This is crazy. Why am I doing this to myself? I think I then blacked out. You know, hyper-ventilating.
And the next thing I know it's the morning and one of the Christians is waking me up and . . . and I felt so good. Even though no one had shot at me, I felt heroic. I just felt wonderful embarrassingly wonderful.
So I go inside with the Christians, have breakfast and we drive into town. I learn that the entire case involves my client purchasing something defective from a merchant. And my client wants to return it and get his money back. No black has ever challenged anyone before in this town. Even without a lawyer, he was going to do it himself, I mean, amazingly daring. And so we drive into town and I look for a courthouse. But what I see are a bunch of people on a porch.
I stop near the porch and somebody points out the judge. Of course, the judge is the town used-car salesman, because the circuit riding (real) judges only come every so often; in the interim, a non-lawyer, Justice of the Peace handles minor matters. The judge asks if I am ready. "Yes, I am, sir." And he says, "I hope you don't mind if we have the trial out of doors because it's very hot inside, not fancy like in your New York." (I used to wonder how they all knew I was from New York, but eventually I realized they just assumed everybody was from New York.) I respond, ingratiatingly, "New York is very stuffy, the courthouses are terrible there, it's much nicer here out in the air."
"Where will we hold the trial?" My question sets off some snickering among the deputies until one, with apoplectic laughter, manages to sputter: "We . . . usually use the space under that tree . . . over there . . . in case there be a hangin'." At this all the deputies explode with laughter. I inform the "judge" that the tree would be fine with me.
Although to say the least I'm apprehensive, I say, "Who is the merchant?" They point him out and I walk over to him and say, "This product (whatever it was) doesn't work, I'm sure you don't want to sell things that don't work." I am ignoring the civil rights aspect of all this. "Why don't you give him a new one or take 75 cents off?" or something like that. In no time at all he gives a discount. There is great surprise. The case is over and most depart.
The merchant, now the Southern gentleman, invites Peter and I to his store "for a cold bottle of pop to get the dust out of your throats." This was exactly the brotherhood that divinity student Peter was waiting for, so he accepts for us and I follow behind. As soon as we enter the store, which is directly opposite the "courthouse," the merchant's mood transforms into fierce belligerence. "Why didn't you stay and work in Watts and Harlem," he bellows. "How would you like your daughter to marry one? What about the Communists behind all of this?" His face is crimson as he challenges us.
Outside the window, I can see white toughs surrounding my car. In a day of folly, I had hit my peak. I turn to the merchant, not having answered any of his rhetorical questions, thank him for the pop and say I'd like to continue our conversation. Would he walk us to the car so we could exchange a few more words? He garbled something and walked out the door with us while I kept up a harmless Watts-Harlem discussion. As I hoped, the sea of toughs parted on the driver's side as he walked with us. Peter and I both enter the car. Promising to visit him again, we drive off.
Bruce: Now the divinity student is with you?
Don: Yes, and, in fact, he entered the car through the driver's side, because you don't want to walk around the other side where those guys are. We drive off to Jackson, where the Boss finds out and roars at me: "You've been nothing but a problem since you got here, just leave!" I tell him, "I am leaving Jackson, but to become a civil rights worker in Holly Springs." He says "No, you're not!" I respond, "I'm sorry, but I don't work for you any more. I can do what I want with my time." And he says, "That's not true," as he calms down a little bit. He adds, "Anything that happens to you, such as getting arrested, could jeopardize the fragile relationships between civil rights lawyers and the Southern Bar." I scoff at the prospect of being arrested. Then he offers a compromise: I can spend my week with Aviva if I wear a suit and tie the whole time. The Boss' intuition never ceased to amaze me. Realizing that I wanted to play civil rights worker, he knew that wearing my suit would keep me a lawyer and block my entry to the jean-clad army. I gave my word.
Later that day, as I telephone Aviva to say I'm coming, I imagine the Boss telephoning ACLU in New York, yelling: ". . . and don't ever send that schmuck to Mississippi again!" As I picture him in his animated monologue, I picture myself putting on coveralls and joining the Movement.
A SNCC guy who was going up to Holly Springs took me along, acting as both my guide and historian, as he told me about his years in the Movement. We found Aviva and she took me in her car, as I become a civil rights worker at least for one week.
Bruce: Now this is in Benton County or Holly Springs?
Don: In Benton County. I'm not used to anybody knowing Benton County, so I always call it "Holly Springs," the famous city, part of Marshall County, and next door to little Benton County. Aviva got me a nice place to stay, where the people had better accommodations than most, though not running water. Then she started introducing me around. Now, she tells me that my main job is to get 20 signatures for the Voting Rights Act. And I thought that should be easy.
Bruce: What do you mean?
Don: Under the Voting Rights Act (passed that year), when a community has a high population of blacks with few allowed to register to vote, when they get 20 signatures asking that the voting rights registrar be sent to that community . . .
Bruce: Right, then the federal registrar is sent. So, by now, this has got to be August . . .
Don: September. And apparently Registrars hadn't been sent hardly anywhere yet, because the Act was so new.
Bruce: We never had it in Crenshaw County when I was there. We didn't even know about that 20 signatures thing.
Don: Well, Aviva knew her stuff. And so I start doing it. I'm amazed at how long it takes to get a signature, because everybody wants to talk. And so do I. I meet my first family, which is the Steward's. So there's the Steward's, their kids and the grandmother. We talked for a number of hours. That's the first day I was picking cotton. I'm wearing my suit, as I've just driven up . . .
Bruce: You were picking cotton in your suit?
Don: No, no, no, no, no. I'm meeting them in my suit. And one of the kids asks me to pick cotton with them. And the grandma says, "How can he pick cotton wearing a suit?" And I said, "I have my work clothes in my briefcase." They thought that was very funny. So I put on my work clothes and spend the rest of the morning picking cotton with them, although most of what I claimed to have picked was put in my sack by the children. But my back was hurting real bad and I thought I would pass out from the sun.
"Hot 'nuf for you?" I was constantly asked with sly grins. Periodically, the grandmother answered for me that this 110 degree torture "could singe the eyebrows offa yuh." I agreed. After two hours I was almost faint, but I kept working, now sitting on the ground, with limited access to the plant. When they stopped after three-and-a-half hours, my sack contained enough to earn me about $1.25.
Finally, we go in for lunch. I sit down in a rocking chair and the next thing I know it's dark. They're back from the field. I hadn't eaten. I just fell asleep in the chair, fortuitously, having missed the second round in the cotton fields. So by now it's getting late, Aviva hasn't shown up, so I stay over, and Aviva picks me up the next morning. She says at this rate, I'll never finish. "But, at least you got three signatures," she says. "Oops," I say, "I forgot to ask them to sign."
Well, later that week there is a church meeting, and Aviva asks me to speak. I paraphrase something from the Bible which is rather well received. And I am just loving everybody. And it's really getting under my skin now. I hadn't wanted to come South, now I don't want to leave. But I have to.
Bruce: Why do you have to leave?
Don: Because I'm a professional, I work on Wall Street, I have a career, money to earn, you know, a life.
And so, as the week comes to an end, Aviva says to me, "Are you really going to leave without having gotten the 20 signatures?" Of course not being totally stupid I'm starting to realize that Aviva could have gotten the 20 signatures in about an hour. I'd already sent one telegram to Wall Street about finishing up an important case, and now I send the second one that I'm still in this big case, but I'll definitely be back by the end of this week. The second week was a continuation of the first, except something really dramatic happens. The "Uncle Tom" libel case struck again.
I'm visiting Henry Reeves, which is something we all did very often because we really liked and admired him . . . and he had one of the only showers in the county. I'm in the shower when his son, Sonny, runs to me and says, "Come quick, quick, the sheriff is here." So I pull on my clothing and run outside. The Sheriff tells me that something wasn't done in the "Uncle Tom" case, that as a result, they have the right to enforce their judgment, and so they're literally taking away his cows and everything he has.
Mustering my New York lawyer bravado, I look him in the eye and say, with the wrath of the righteous: "Listen carefully to me, Sheriff. Remove the stuff then, but take good care of it because you'll be bringing it back by the end of the week." The sheriff smiled, loaded the cows into his van, attached the tractor to the rear and drove off as Mr. Reeves joined the poor of Benton County.
Aviva told me that was one of the best things that I did up there, just standing up to him with those words.
I quickly called Jackson, the Boss was appalled, but it was a small problem an appeal bond due on a Saturday when the courts are closed, was filed on a Monday when the courts were open an issue quickly resolved in our favor. In a couple days the cows are back, and most erroneously assume that it's because of me.
Finally I got my 20th signature and the federal man will one day be coming to register the blacks of Benton County. While I was searching for Aviva to tell her my good news, she was waiting for me, to tell me her bad news: Aviva, who had been in Mississippi for over two years, had decided to leave and return home.
Leaving the Deep South for veteran civil rights workers ranked with the death of a loved one as one of life's most grievous moments. Yet the time came for almost everyone in the Movement when the urge to return to normalcy rendered civil rights work unpalatable, and the impulse to leave, uncontrollable.
Such was the state of Aviva the day I received my last signature. "I must leave. I have friends and relatives to be with," said a teary Aviva. "And I want to go to graduate school, maybe get married. I need . . . I need to live a normal life."
My mind was racing. It was not empathy for Aviva but fear that with the departure of my mentor I too would have to leave, although ostensibly I was leaving in a few days anyhow.
"I feel terrible," said Aviva. "I love them all and I won't be here when the schools integrate, I won't be here when the federal registrar comes, but I have to go and . . ."
She paused and stared at me. Here it comes, I feared . . . "and you have to leave with me!" ". . . and I want you to replace me," she said, instead.
The momentary joy that I could stay vanished instantly, replaced by momentary terror. Stay alone? Though I inwardly balked at first, in the next instant I was cautiously euphoric.
"I accept, but," I emphasized the escape clause I was about to propound, "but only on a week-to-week basis. Meaning (the lawyer added a definition clause) I might quit after the first week."
Bruce: Now you're going to be alone?
Don: Yes. Real scary. So I asked about all the training that I haven't had. She says "I've discussed it with everyone, everyone's in agreement." I go to Henry Reeves I told Aviva I've got to clear it with him because he is the ostensible leader of the county and I tell him about my obvious shortcomings, this isn't lawyering and I don't know anything about being a civil rights worker. He says, "Think of it this way, Don. Do you see anybody else applying for the job?" I shake my head no. And then he, of course, adds, "I think you'll do just fine." So I sent my third telegram to Wall Street, and they fired me within a day, which was a relief.
When the local folks in the county found out, I believe they were convinced that Aviva would never have left if I hadn't been there to replace her, and so they blamed me for her leaving. For a time I became the wicked stepmother.
And so Aviva leaves, and now I'm the civil rights leader in charge of little Benton County. In this moment, Aviva has changed my life forever. I am no longer employed as a Wall Street lawyer, though I am still paying my rent on my rent-controlled apartment in New York, which I did for six months, since I was never going to stay more than a few weeks.
I started off thinking I knew better than everyone else what should be done; I created the equivalent of a human telephone tree, a verbal tree, where I would be the pivot of a pyramid communications structure.
Bruce: Yeah, we tried that too.
Don: No kidding. I thought this was my original idea. Everybody just looked at me, and tried to go through with it out of deference to me, but they hated it, and in no time I gave it up.
Bruce: It was totally unnecessary.
Don: They managed all these years without us.
Bruce: Yeah. We tried that in Selma, I forget whose idea it was.
Don: And so I started doing more of the basic work. I made sure the Movement newspaper came out. I had this little office where I did my work, a sort of shack.
Also, to protect myself and others, I got a rifle. (I'm a crack shot, I don't know if you knew that. My father was a National Guard champion rifleman; he received the President's Medal as one of the 100 best shots in the United States and took me shooting most weekends. Later on with SNCC, they weren't unfriendly but they were razzing this freshmen. And they say, "This is a rifle. The bullet comes out of here. This is the trigger," etc. And I said, "Maybe we could cut this a little short. You got a bullet in the rifle I assume? Throw a walnut up in the air." And I shot it in the air.) So that's why I feel good having a rifle. Also, my sense of drama sets in, like in all the movies I've seen.
I get an extra mattress and place it on the floor, so that I can roll right off the bed and come up with my rifle. I was very proud of this, although most thought I was crazy. One night, a week or two later, the Klan attempted to firebomb my little office, but they didn't get the wick in tight enough, so it burst into flames and just singed the building. Someone saw a deputy sheriff driving away from the scene.
A teenager was sent to tell me what's happened. Bruce, I assume you had similar rules, that you never run into someone's house without identifying yourself first. Nobody is supposed to just barge in. I'm sleeping and I hear footsteps running towards my room and the sound is not stopping. I do my roll off to the mattress, get ready, and I decide I'm going to take them with me if they're coming to kill me. The boy bursts through the door, running in to tell me about the firebombing, and I have my rifle aimed at the door, ready to fire. I see him and yank the rifle up in the air before I fire. I was panic stricken; the boy saw the rifle and started crying. I realized how foolish this whole rifle episode had been. I said to the boy, "I'm sure you don't want to be embarrassed by people knowing you barged in, so why don't we just keep this to ourselves?" I got rid of the rifle after that; he didn't tell anybody and I didn't have to answer for myself.
I contacted the FBI for the first time, introduced myself and told them about the firebomb; they advised me to notify the local authorities.
Don: A lot happened after Aviva left. The voting rights registrar came down, one of the first in the South, along with the school integrating.
So here comes the federal registrar to Benton County, Mississippi. This was thrilling, although I understood it was because we were one of the smallest civil rights counties in the South, which meant that they could start small and work out the kinks.
On September 25, 1965, the Benton County Freedom Train issued a FLASH that the federal man was coming to town:
All you have to do to register is to come down and sign your name or make your mark. Everyone should be prepared to come down and register even if you have to leave your cotton-picking. This is a big day for Benton County.
We quickly learned that the county refused to make any building available for the Feds, so they used the Post Office building. The first day when I came by to meet the guy, a Southerner, he was shooting the breeze with the white power structure.
Bruce: The federal registrar?
Don: Yeah. And I was very angry at that. And I said that, "It seems to me that nobody should be in this room except people registering, and that includes me and everyone else," looking at the others, "because there's an intimidation factor and I think your credibility would be higher if you operated the office alone." He agreed to that, but he actually told me, "This is not the most enjoyable job that I could have asked for."
Bruce: Did he say why?
Don: No, but it seemed pretty clear; with the vote, blacks would take over part of the South. Now comes the organizing effort, and the Holly Springs SNCC workers join in to recruit the people and get them to be willing to do it.
Bruce: "Do it," being . . .?
Don: . . . come to town and register. A lot of people were understandingly afraid in the beginning. First, only the old ladies came, but little by little, people came out of the fields and it was really something. There was the usual price to pay: harassment, an occasional burning cross, threats of being thrown off their land, loss of credit but this wasn't the worst county in the South and things weren't as bad as they were in other places. And one day . . .
Bruce: You're talking September 1965. Nine months later we were in Grenada, which is about an hour's drive south of there, sort of over towards the Delta. A team of federal registrars came. And they set up in the Post Office, which was downtown. And at the end of the week they had registered five people. The reason was everybody was afraid to go downtown because of the Klan mob and all of that. So we eventually got them to move the registrars into the black community and to a black cafe called the "Chat and Chew." Then, of course, they got thousands of people.
Don: I asked that also, but it wasn't terribly practical in Benton County because it was so tiny. But it didn't take more than three or four days before we started having a decent number of people. It got to a point where we were doing it on arrangement, each group had a certain day, and I would tell the Fed how many and what hours, so he didn't have to wait around all day. He did his job quite well.
One day we were going to have a big group, and one of the SNCC guys from Holly Springs is driving everybody in an old school bus. But as soon as he gets out of the vehicle, some policeman tells him, "You're under arrest for driving without a bus license," which was true. It's amazing how they knew everything about everybody.
I'm standing a couple hundred yards away on the Post Office property, and I say, "Run over here. This is federal territory and they can't make an arrest here." Sanctuary, like in the "Hunchback of Notre Dame." And so he runs over and stands behind me. I say to the police, "This is federal property." The cop just swats me across the chest, knocks me down and arrests the driver. Later I found out they were right. The building was rented, it wasn't federal land at all.
Bruce: Well, it wouldn't have made any difference to them if it was.
Don: Yes, but we would have had a better case, because we challenged all these things.
Don: By now voter registration is going very well, but in the middle of this, all of a sudden, the appeals of an NAACP Legal Defense Fund lawsuit finally finish, and school desegregation is ready to be implemented in Benton County. Well, it couldn't have come at a worse time; now both projects were happening at once. The NAACP never participated in the on-the-ground work. So it was again all on our shoulders, and I knew nothing about how to do this or what you should do, and neither did the guys in Holly Springs, so we had to work it out ourselves.
Bruce: You mean Benton County, not actually Holly Springs?
Don: The school integration was happening in Benton County with great aid from Holly Springs. There was to be just one boy and one girl, to do it slow. The whites got really riled up. The Klan using the term "Klan" loosely. While there were some Klansmen, most of them were town hoodlums but you couldn't tell the difference. Two things happening at one time was just too much for the Klan; race mixing of their children was very serious to them, even though, in the long run, voting was more pivotal. The two students were nine, ten or eleven, like that. She was beautiful, I remember the little girl. And he was a great athlete.
And so the first day, the angry white parents and everybody else is following the integrated school bus, and we're following behind. I had arranged with the Justice Department to seal the exit after the bus went in, so nobody would be allowed in. And they did that, everyone was a good distance away, and the bus went in. And I remember feeling horror in the pit of my stomach. What's happening to them? We don't know.
Our kids come out later that day, and report back that he got pushed around a little bit, and got called "nigger"; she, all the white boys fell in love with. Then the boy complained, "We don't understand what they're teaching, we don't know these subjects at all." I hadn't even thought of that really. Obviously they were decent students, but being a decent student didn't mean much given what a bad education they had come from.
Gunnar Myrdal, in his classic work, "An American Dilemma," described white-dominated black education in the South in 1942:
The segregaged black schools were overcrowded, dilapidated shacks which, in one room, contained "the whole range of elementary grades taught by a single black teacher." The teacher, herself poorly educated, "poorly trained and poorly paid," burdened by a "grave lack" of basic school equipment (including books) performed janitorial duties in addition to teaching the entire 8 grade curriculum. And she was intimidated by "unusual outside [white] pressures" which defined the curriculum to be "industrial" as opposed to "classical" (bookish) education. Because Negroes, the whites insisted, were "servants, farm laborers, and industrial workers, their education should be commensurate with humble status, daily duties, and the building up of character" in other words, learning the relative distance between two rows of cotton, not the distance between two planets.
Little had changed 23 years later. In the time of the Civil Rights Movement, it was generally agreed that only by sitting alongside white students could blacks obtain an equal education.
Bruce: Because school budgets and curricula were controlled by the all-white state government and all-white local school boards. Public education in the deep south was woefully underfunded for all schools, but schools with white children were given much larger budgets than Black-only schools, and most white schools did make an effort to teach academic subjects. So the only hope a Black child had of attending a school with minimally adequate facilities and an academic focus was through school integration.
As it turned out, many white parents refused to send their children to an integrated school. Private, white-only "academies" sprung up across the South to handle the flood of white students being pulled out of public education by their parents. As the number of white students in public school declined, funding for education was cut even further. Today, in many southern counties with significant Black populations, the "integrated" public-schools are now almost all Black with budgets that are far below even the minimum needed for adequate education.]
Don: So we called for help. Holly Springs had a professor and we called through the state to get people to come up for a day. I even made phone calls into the North and a good bunch came down, delighted to help. But we really needed grammar school teachers, and we finally got a couple who stuck around for a while. While we didn't teach our kids enough to really make a difference, we gave them confidence, and they felt a lot better. He told me that the white kids stopped bothering him; actually, as soon as they had physical activities, the other kids were impressed with what a good athlete he was, and he was on all the teams.
One day, I would always be there when they got out of school, along with everybody else . . .
Bruce: What do you mean, "Along with everybody else?"
Don: All the whites and all the blacks, I mean, everybody is standing at this gate to see the school bus go by and the like.
Bruce: Were the whites jeering or angry?
Don: The parents? Yes. The children were delightful. And one day, this day when they go to get on the bus, a white boy is holding the hand of the black boy. They're actually holding hands.
Bruce: Oh Lord.
Don: And his parents, they've just seething, they're screaming. The white boy dropped the black boy's hand as if it was burning hot. He was going to get hell at home. It was revealing though, how little it took for the children to adapt. It got very good after that, except for the school bureaucracy, which started internal segregation: trips to the bathroom by race, never enough school books for us, and we sat in the back of the school bus, you know. All those little things going on. I would call the NAACP, which would go back to court. It was like a hydra. As fast as we got rid of one, two popped up. But while that went on for a while, it wasn't serious . . . and soon came to an end.
Don: My presence was unique in that while I looked at myself as just another SNCC field secretary for a little county, other civil rights workers took note that a civil rights lawyer was close by; usually the nearest lawyer was four hours away in Jackson. So I got a lot of calls via Holly Springs.
Bruce: Why would they go through Holly Springs?
Don: Telephones, they had telephones.
Bruce: You didn't have a phone in Benton County?
Don: There was a phone or two in the county but there were very few phones, and not much electricity.
Bruce: You know, few people realize that in those rural counties, most of the homes we were in did not have electricity, plumbing and certainly not phones.
Don: And no light to read at night and no refrigerator.
Bruce: A lot of them had kerosene lamps.
Don: Not easy to read by, and not even outhouses in many of them. When I talk about those times, I see the shack in my mind but often I neglect to describe it. I grew so used to it that it doesn't jump out of me.
So we didn't have the phones. So somebody, Sid Walker, would drive over and tell me something's going on, and I'd drive over to Holly Springs, call back and ask what it is and get the timing of it. Then I'd arrange to go. And I'd get the lawyer suit out and I'd go to wherever I was needed, and handle the problems they had. And it wasn't that hard, usually a one shot case to work something out, to get the bail, get dismissals, probation. It was rather easy to do.
Bruce: Now would these be Movement-related cases, or would these be cases of just people caught up in the system?
Don: Well, it's a difficult line, because you can be arrested for, let's say, drunk and disorderly that others were doing, but our people would be arrested if not [ostensibly] for civil rights. The arrest was Movement-connected.
Bruce: The presumption was you weren't there to provide legal help unless they had some sort of Movement connection?
Don: That's right, usually, and these were the Movement activists, occasionally there were SNCC workers arrested but more often it was the local people. And then I'd arrange for Sid to keep an eye on Benton County as if they needed me, to make me feel they needed me. Wherever I had travelled, I'd stay a couple days, stay over with some sharecroppers. I never stayed in the Freedom House except in Holly Springs, I always stayed with the people. And whatever SNCC was engaged in, I would join them, and then I'd come back.
Don: The only time I was shot at the entire time I was in the South occurred when I was staying over out of town. This was a double. I was staying in a place that had invited me, and from there I had gone to another place that needed a lawyer.
Bruce: Do you want to name these places?
Don: I'd be happy to but I can't. I traveled so much, I have no idea. I know it's Northern Mississippi, and I know it's all within an hour, an hour and a half, of Holly Springs, but I have no memory of the names. Or they'd blur, I can't remember one from the other. So I'm at this second place, and I'd done a relatively minor thing, but it took a long time. The drive was long, and so I'm coming back to the people at the first place. They had warned me that driving through town was real bad, but nobody ever told me quite not to do it; however, there was a long way around to avoid going through town, like an hour and a half, as opposed to like fifteen minutes straight through.
Bruce: You mean going through a particular town?
Don: That's right, it was their town, the white town nearest to where I was staying. I really took these things seriously, but this day I was very tired, very lonely, very hungry I couldn't eat another Oreo cookie and I was looking forward to a hot meal and companionship . . . so I cut through the town. I mean just the edge of town. But then I look in the rear view mirror and I see people jumping into a red pick-up. And there's one guy standing in the back, what do you call that, the bed of the truck? And there's another guy in the passenger seat, and they have shotguns, or rifles, I didn't know at that moment.
Somebody named Shelby had previously taught me how to drive on these dirt roads. I had felt he did it to be dramatic, kind of like James Bond, you know, to make these hair turns, and most of the jiggling and dust, and the whole time he told me this will save my life one day. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I thought. I always felt he was showing off, but I did it.
Well, now this had become vital information. But I still don't really believe that this is anything more than them an attempt to scare me which is succeeding. Then suddenly the back window of my car just blows out; I touch my head and I'm bleeding profusely. I assume I've been shot in the head and maybe I'm about to die. But I keep driving . . . And then there are shots, which don't hit, some hit the bottom rear of the car. Now I'm jiggling the wheels, which means they have to brake because they can't see the road.
Bruce: You were swerving to throw up dust?
Don: That's right. They're slowing down and I'm able to make faster turns. I'm getting reasonably ahead, but they're still shooting: shooting into the dust; they can't see me. Then I see a break in the brush to my right I'm actually too frightened to keep driving much longer and so I pull into the brush. My greatest fear is that there will be something, an obstruction, and I wouldn't get the car all the way in and it will stick out, but I went in all the way. And then they kept going straight ahead, shooting, continually shooting, into the dust.
While waiting, I realized the blood on my head was not from being shot but from glass that splattered over me. I stayed there for about four hours. I didn't want to go out, but I knew I wasn't very far from my destination. I waited until it got real dark and then I drove without headlights and made it there. Then I got out of a car that looks like something out of a bad movie, with bullet holes all throughout the rear of the car. No, it wasn't bullets, it was shotgun pellets . . . and, of course, the blown-out window. It hit the back window, went straight through.
At my destination, the lady I'm staying with, this wonderful big-boosomed lady, rushes over to me, pulls out a blanket, places it and me on the ground and then puts me into her arms against her bosom like a baby, and she sings to me, and rocks me, while the others are pulling out the glass and pouring peroxide and whatever else over me. That's the last thing I remember, I fell asleep in her arms and I woke up the next day in bed.
Bruce: This was after the Selma march? So '65, and you're in Benton County . . .
Don: I'm in Benton County for about three months and this happens somewhere between September and December.
Bruce: So Fall. It couldn't be too late in the Fall because you had dust on the roads rather than mud.
Don: It was very warm. Probably within a month of my getting there.
Bruce: I don't know if you read my interview, but we had a big car chase too.
Don: Yes, I did read it. Real scary. This was the only shooting at me, the only time I was ever shot at. So I'm back in Benton County. Then I'd be away doing legal work, and then I'd be away doing civil rights work. Back in Benton County it was the same: civil rights work there, legal work (and fun) in Holly Springs.
Don: A strange thing was happening. I became a local lawyer. The other civil rights lawyers never stayed in one community, they moved all over the state. But suddenly I'm the regular lawyer, I know everybody. I know Judge Sam ("call me Sam") Coopwood and I know the prosecutor. I know the bailiff, I know the Sheriff, the Chief of Police, and I know them well because I'm there so regularly. I'm only a few months out of New York, and that camaraderie of the bar thing is still instinctual to me. So, to some extent, on some level, I become part of the white power structure, which is good and bad, certainly bad if anybody sees it and is aware of it. I was careful about that.
Bruce: "Anybody" meaning?
Don: Anybody in the Movement or local. And I even told the local lawyers a couple times that I won't exchange any familiarities or shake hands or anything while the folks were there. And once they tried to embarrass me, called me "Don" loud, and I said "one more of these and I'm a stranger to you." After that they didn't do it. But, because I knew them, I got good dispositions.
Bruce: You got people out of jail?
Don: Got them out of jail at least, I even could work it out on the phone. The lawyering went real well. But I didn't stay to be a lawyer; I wanted to do civil rights work. So I now was handling one demonstration.
Bruce: What do you mean "handling?"
Don: You know, If there's going to be a sit-in or a desegregation, someone's going to be in charge of it and make all the...
Bruce: Oh, you mean, like picket tactics?
Don: That's right. There was only one movie theater, and so there was a regular integration that went on at least some of the weeks. And I figured that would be an easy one.
Bruce: People weren't getting arrested back then because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had passed?
Don: Yeah, but you got beer cans thrown at you, you got threatened. You got a lot of shit, but we were legal. So this one Friday night I even remember the film, it was "Harem Scarem," this terrible Elvis Presley film, really terrible.
Bruce: Well, he was very popular in Northern Mississippi, he came from there.
Don: I'm about to tell you why I remember the film so well. I knew the theater owner because I had been there a couple of times when there were problems but, nevertheless, because I was the respectable one, I would chat with him afterwards. I was running very confusing dual relationships. He took it in his stride; he understood this goes with the territory.
And so this night, where I'm very visibly the leader, sort of showing off about it, we go in, and then the whites throw beer cans and what not at us. Then they all leave and get their money back. As I'm leaving, I see the theater owner, and he is red in the face. And he'd been through a couple of these, so I don't see why he's so upset. I walk over to him and say, "What's wrong?" He glares and yells at me: "You did this on purpose, because you know my biggest money maker is the opening night of an Elvis Presley film; you chose this night to hurt me financially." He's screaming at me. And I tell him I didn't even know what was playing, but he says, "You'll regret this."
Next night I'm in the Holly Springs Freedom House, we're out of whiskey and everyone's complaining. You know that Mississippi was then (theoretically) a dry state. And suddenly the Sheriff comes through the front door, not even pretending to have a warrant, and somebody comes in through the back door with a jug of whiskey that they'd just "found." They arrested Sid for illegal possession of alcohol, because it was his house. The next day we're in court.
Bruce: This incident took place...
Don: In Holly Springs, still in the Benton County period. I had finished my three weeks with ACLU and now I work for SNCC. So, I'm in the courthouse for Sid's hearing, and I brought all the witnesses there; we have a really legitimate defense: there was no whiskey in the whole place; I know because we wanted whiskey and searched for it. Not that it was going to do us any good, but at least we were righteous about our position. And suddenly the Chief of Police comes over, turns to one of the women and says, "I'd like your account of what happened last night." I say, "You can't do that, we're about to have a trial, these are my witnesses. Besides, they were all there and they can take the 5th Amendment if need be." [ie., not testify against themselves]
Then he takes out a piece of paper and reads: "Are you instructing these people to resist lawful enforcement of the laws by a peace officer in the course of his investigation?" He had all this written out. "Uh oh, it's a set up." I say hold on, and I go to the phone and call the ACLU Boss. Well, he is pissed off because, as he says "I told you this would happen." I change the subject and ask: "He doesn't have any right to do this, does he?" He says "No, but you're going to be in jail within five minutes, anyhow. He's going to arrest you unless you direct your witnesses to cooperate with him and I know you're not going to do that. And then we're going to have all kinds of shit to deal with." So I said, "Well, thanks for the support."
So I go back, he asks her again, and I say, "I instruct all of you not to answer any questions put to you by the Chief." He says to me, "All right, you are under arrest," and handcuffs me.
Bruce: Just to clarify this, you meant they were not to answer any questions until such time as they're on the stand under oath?
Bruce: It's not the "you have the right to remain silent" . . .
Don: . . . we didn't need Miranda [requirement that police read you your rights]; we knew our rights and that included not speaking to him on the basis of the 5th Amendment. So a couple of deputies come out, take me to the jail, and then as they ask each one of the people, five or six or seven, they all refuse and they're all arrested. So when Sid's case comes on, he's out of his cell and we're in the cell. They tell him what happened: that the lawyer's in jail, the witnesses are in jail. He says, "Well, I'm not going to proceed without my lawyer." So they bring him back, and now we're all in the same cell. The Boss then removes the cases to the Federal Court, you know about that, right?
Bruce: That was under what law?
Don: Under a Civil War Reconstruction statute [Title 28 USC 1441 et seq]. As Northerners or Yankees were coming into the South after the Civil War, they'd be arrested, possibly killed, and there was no way to get a Judge's signature in time. So Congress passed a law that allows a lawyer to have the power without a judge's signature. There's nothing else in the law that a lawyer can do by himself to effect a result, except Removal. The lawyer's signature removes the case to federal court, nothing else like it.
Bruce: Does that law still exist?
Don: Yeah, yeah. In fact, I advised Ruchell Magee, one of the survivors when George Jackson's brother was killed in a California Courthouse shootout to free Jackson. Magee was using Removal and I was advising him how to do it.
Now what Removal meant in Mississippi, as a practical matter, is that you didn't leave the jail. There was no federal jail to go to, but the cell became a federal cell, and anything that happened to you would subject them to federal law. So the case was Removed and the Boss is howling at me, "When are you going to leave the South?" I say, "Soon, soon."
So when I get out, I go to the prosecutor, who I was friendly with. I say, "What's happening?" And he says, "You shouldn't fuck with a man's livelihood." I say, "You mean the movie, the Elvis thing?" He says, "Yes. He is convinced you did it on purpose." I asked, "Can you intercede and tell him that I swear to God I did not know what was playing and I wouldn't have done it to hurt him financially. That wasn't the goal at all." He agrees to try.
During the next two or three days, many SNCC workers were arrested one guy who hadn't renewed his driver's license, or was using his out-of-state license after 30 days just all kinds of chicken-shit arrests. Then it died down. I ended up apologizing again to the theater owner and this time he accepted my apology. Which did teach me something: that race separation was not as important as the economics.
Bruce: At least for many of them, not for all of them.
Don: Bruce, you've talked about non-violence, and/or conversely the danger of violence or not being non-violent. Well, the lawyer version of being violent is a humiliating cross examination. It was understood that I wouldn't do that because it would hurt my clients, but once I got carried away. The case was strange in that everybody was a witness: me, the judge, we were all there. It was a total civil rights (drunk & disorderly) harassment: a nice young black couple who I knew very well, ate in their home, slept over, played with their kids. Now they are both in jail and I'm angry and there was a problem caring for the children. I lost that detachment that's needed for the job; I also lost track of how to help then. My goal was to injure the bad guys and humiliate the structure. I came in loaded for bear.
The judge says, "All right Don, are you ready to start?" I say "Yes. My first order of business is to ask you to remove yourself from the bench, because you were an eyewitness and we are going to call you to testify in this case." That was taken very badly. For one thing, to find another judge creates all kinds of commotion. Then I started cross-examining the cops. I said do you have a...
Bruce: Wait a minute, didn't the trial stop at that point?
Don: Oh yeah, until they got a new judge.
Bruce: Well, could you have allowed him to testify without removing himself from the case?
Don: No. Nobody can testify, be cross-examined and then be an impartial judge. But I didn't need him as a witness. That was just to do a number on him. First I cross examined the cops. I say, "Did you give a sobriety test?" And they didn't know the word "sobriety." And then I explained what the word meant and I asked, "Did you do this test? "Did you do that test," and "Did you ever have any training in any of these tests?" I went on and on, and then I put the judge on. I said, "You saw what was happening?" He said, "I heard somebody yell 'motherfucker.'" I said, "But you don't know who yelled it." He says, "It could have been you." He was really pissed. So the result is they get convicted, with a heavy sentence. And when I walk out of court, I realized that my affection for them hurt them.
The next day I'm in the same court, waiting for my turn, when the judge calls for the prosecutor, who is not available. Judge Sam looks my way and calls me up to the bench. He says: The prosecutor's unavailable and I'm appointing you as substitute prosecutor for these purposes," which any judge can do.
Bruce: In the case that you were also the defense attorney?
Don: No, this was the case before me.
Bruce: An unrelated case?
Don: Yes. And I look around and see the defendant is the mother of one of the civil rights workers, who I know very well. I say, "I can't do it because I know her," and what not. He says: "Now looky here, I'm giving you all the courtesies as if you were a Mississippi lawyer, and if you want these courtesies, you're going to have to follow my instructions and do what I tell you to do. You have to earn your keep here." Of course, he knows that this is going to put me in a very embarrassing situation because of who the defendant is. But the mother comes up to me and says, "Do it, we can't afford to lose you as our lawyer." And so I quickly get one of my clients in the next case to run out and tell the son, so he won't find out second-hand, and then I plead her out for a suspended sentence.
Afterwards, the judge invites me into his chambers and now he feels kind of better, because he got one on me. I say, "I'm sorry about yesterday. I was out of control. Would you lower the sentences to probation?" He says, "All right." I really was part of the white Southern power structure, with my own duties and obligations. It was very tricky.
(A year later, I'm in Alabama, and the Beatles are coming to Memphis, which is 30 miles from Holly Springs but a long way from Selma. And I have a girlfriend who is flying in to go with me. So I call up Judge Sam Coopwood and I say, "Sam, you know the case I got coming on in a month or two, one of the old cases that I'm still handling? Would you advance that to this Friday?" And he says, "Is this some civil rights trick?" I said "No, actually I want to trick the ACLU into paying my air fare to get me from Selma to Holly Springs, so I can drive to Memphis to see the Beatles. I'll have my girlfriend with me.")
Bruce: And you were in Alabama when you made this call?
Don: Yes. And he laughs. The thought of . . .
Bruce: Tricking the ACLU. . .
Don: Yes. So he agrees and moves the case up: I introduce my girlfriend to him and he tells her what a rascal I am. And to make an impression, he gave me an acquittal. He gave me a win to let me make an impact on my girlfriend. It was all very bizarre.
As December of '65 rolled around, I began to see the pitfall of what I had considered a powerful combination for the clients: the suit and the coveralls.
As a lawyer I was compromised. On one extreme, my strong personal feelings for my clients: for example, the black couple blinded me in court and actually hurt them (though I undid it, this time); on the other end, I had friendly feelings for their worst enemies, which could inhibit me so subtly I might not even recognize it.
As a civil rights worker I compromised my community. Even with the Voting Rights Registrar and the School Integration, had the SNCC leader not also been credited/blamed for all the accomplishments, there might not have been a firebomb, less shootings at lights, and a lot less tension. I was told by a local confidant that the people those I thought I was helping wished I was gone. They feared something worse may yet happen. No one asked me to leave but I now could see I had overstayed my welcome.
So I decided it's time for me to leave, go back to my normal life.
Not surprising, there was little protest. The black community balanced the many advantages of having a live-in civil rights lawyer with the increased violence brought about, it was believed, by the presence of that same lawyer. The verdict was against me. While the sharecroppers were not prepared to ask me to leave, my departure was not resisted.
But I was also popular in black Benton County, my arrest, because I was a lawyer, having eliminated any doubts of my commitment. So, with ambivalence, I was given a Church farewell evening with laudatory speeches about my accomplishments, most of them exaggerated, some even the achievements of others. Many sharecroppers told anecdotes about how they had watched me driving about lost in the county, my failures at cotton-picking and my (I thought disguised) abhorrence of the vegetables they served me nightly. Some praised me as an educated white man who lived with and treated them as equals. One recalled the violence during this period, as if to remind the congregation not to overdo the praise for fear I might change my mind and stay.
Not without ambivalent feelings myself, I rose to speak. I told them my life's adventure was over and that I would always remember them. Then, in a deliberate change of pace, I ended on a self-deprecating note of much truth:
I have given you something that not even Aviva ever gave you. Because I was so incompetent, you now know you no longer need an outsider to lead your Movement.
Amidst laughter, one ingrate loudly mouthed: "Amen!"
On my last full day, I visited Holly Springs to say goodbye to the SNCC workers who threw me a grand, drunken party. Here there was no ambivalence. They liked me and the excitement I generated. Besides, they expected everyone to leave sooner or later . . . and a lawyer, all the sooner. After also bidding farewell to Judge Sam and the prosecutor (continuing the camaraderie that had compromised my work), I was driven to the Memphis airport for my flight to New York and my resumption of a normal life.
Bruce: When did you leave?
Don: Shortly before Christmas of '65. Although I was very sad to leave, the other side of me said, "Well, now you've done it. In New York, you can live on these memories forever. It's absurd being down here instead of advancing your career."
Bruce: So you lived basically in Mississippi for about four months?
Don: That's right. So I go home and all the friends greet me, they're excited about me . . . but quickly they become uncomfortable with me. My very best friend actually said it: "You've become the kind of person that we used to go together to hear people like you." He's saying, in effect, we're no longer peers. That was pretty shocking, we had gone together to high school, college, worked summers together everything.
Bruce: He thought that you were somebody he would go to hear at a lecture, in other words, you were above him?
Don: Yes. That's how he felt. My lawyer friends thought I was a freak for giving up the Wall Street job and doing this bizarre stuff. I didn't want to do any more corporate work. I would have liked to go back to ACLU but they were furious with me. So I used an "in" I had with a Justice Department lawyer and tried for a job with their civil rights division in D.C. I sat for the interview, my friend praised me (which in court always means you're about to lose), and then he sits me down with somebody who has the interview sheets. He starts off: "Let me ask you a question, Don. If you saw a crowd of Klansmen beating up Sid Walker, what would you do?" "I would break it up, of course." He says, "You understand now why you can't be in the Justice Department? Because we're not allowed to do that. We can't physically interfere." Which is true: they investigate but don't intervene.
Bruce: That's their rules?
Don: Yeah, that was their instructions. And he said, "You would never be happy with us." And I said, "Yeah, I guess that's so." Maybe he let me off easy instead of being rejected. I went back to New York and I knew it was a waste of time to call ACLU because the Boss was furious at me for everything that had gone on: the hanging tree thing, getting arrested in Holly Springs, not leaving so I called the New York ACLU guy, Henry Schwartzchild the boss of my boss. I asked him, "Is there is any chance?" He said, "They'd never take you." And I said, "I assumed so."
Bruce: Was your boss only for Mississippi or for the whole Southern region?
Don: He was the whole Southern region because ACLU worked in only one Southern state.
Bruce: He covered all the Southern states?
Don: Yes and no. There was that image, but we didn't then have resources to do more than Mississippi. The only place we every traveled to out of state was to the Fifth Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
So about another week goes by, and suddenly Schwartzchild calls me; he says, "Somebody who was supposed to stay in Mississippi during the Christmas holidays can't do it now, there is nobody to do it and everyone's vacation is going to be destroyed . . . unless you would be interested in coming down for a couple of weeks, temporarily, just for a few weeks." I said, "And that's OK with the Boss?" He says, "He'd be very grateful if you came; he's divorced and was looking forward to seeing his children. Everybody would be very grateful." And I said, "You're going to pay my air fare and some salary?" I was broke by this point. "Yes," he said.
Don: So I go down and the Boss is very happy to see me, tells me I'm in charge, "but don't worry because nothing happens during the holidays." I decide that this is my chance to make an impression on him as to how good a lawyer I am, get rid of my "wild man" image. Then he might change his mind about me. So I start upgrading all of his legal work: lawsuits, forms, notices, lists everything they did, I redid: Wall Street style. Good stuff.
After a couple of days, it's Christmas Eve, and those in the Movement who had stayed in Jackson which was mostly those that didn't have any money to go anywhere were preparing a big party, to which I was invited.
At 6 pm on Christmas Eve, while I was in my office anticipating the party and wrapping up the day's activities, I receive a phone call: Mass arrests have begun in Canton!
The Boss had told me of the "Black Christmas" boycott against white merchants in Canton, a city about 20 miles northeast of Jackson. Though there were as many blacks as whites there for lack of registered voters, Canton was controlled by the whites. The control was economic as well, and blacks, long relegated to menial work, were now boycotting for responsible positions. Black children would face empty stockings on Christmas morning but the white merchants would face insolvency. The picketers were at their posts outside the shops, neither side had yielded, and the white reaction was now beginning.
Bruce: This was the CORE project, right?
Don: No, it was SNCC. They arrested the whole picket line, and as more people came out to replace them, they also were arrested. On Christmas eve, they called ACLU and I called the people from the party to say, "I'm afraid the party's off, we're going to have to work through the night doing Removals." In the 1960's, we only had slow mimeograph machines and there are going to be over 100 petitions to prepare. And so I'm getting all kinds of reserves, and then...
Bruce: Getting all kinds of reserves?
Don: Reserves, people that are going to type through the night, bring in typewriters, do it all night. These were mostly SNCC workers who didn't usually do legal work.
Then I went down to Canton to talk to the folks and look over the scene. I told them the legal work is under control though I wondered. While I was there, I met the local SNCC leader and then went back to Jackson, after also recruiting some of them to help. We worked literally through the night. (We got them out in a few days.)
Worrying about the safety of those arrested, I invoked a Movement stratagem: "The Walter Cronkite ploy!" It was the Movement's premise that the glare of public attention often neutralized even the most violent antagonists. Telephoning the jail, I affected a TV commentator's non-accent and, purporting to be the world-famous TV anchorman, Walter Cronkite, inquired about the Christmas Eve arrests which "the whole country is aroused about." As Cronkite, I was told that everyone was safe, received a complete list of those arrested and learned the general nature of the charges and bail. The deputy told me that he watched my show as often as he could, that coverage of the South did not tell the whole story and that I (Cronkite) should visit myself to see what is really happening. I told him that I would.
There were additional phone calls to make: to apprise the real media, to reassure the families of those in jail but not to call the Boss. I was determined to show him I could handle a crisis on my own.
So the case is coming on quick; they do it real quick in the South, within five days or something like that. I go back to Canton and get the basic information. They're being held under an anti-boycott law, which actually were anti-union laws.
Bruce: Yeah, I remember.
Don: I went to one of the deputy sheriffs, and I asked for bail, a delay, and some documents; the guy was just livid. "Do you realize how many children (he meant white children) are not going to have toys because of this boycott? And how rough life is for these (white) merchants because of this boycott."
Now, all I had to do was prove my clients could not obtain a fair trial in a Canton court. Easy to prove in conversation on North Farish Street, but not under stringent rules of evidence in federal court: a single set of arrests is not sufficient proof of a pattern of racism. I had to show more.
Initially my plan had been to exhibit a racial pattern by showing that racism had also occurred the previous year. But as I interviewed blacks in Canton and found them referring to incidents years, and at times decades back. (In one interview, a 90-year-old man told me of incidents in the l9th century.) I considered tracing racism in this one city all the way back to the end of the Civil War, if possible. My proposal involved a massive task that would require interviewing virtually every black family in Canton, investigating almost a hundred years of court records, and requiring the support of the entire black community and almost every SNCC worker.
I worried about the demonstrators but I recognized an opportunity for myself. This was my best chance to remain in the South. The Removal Hearing offered me the chance to impress the Boss into hiring me. Maybe, I thought, there was a role for me beyond being a civil rights lawyer who moonlights as a civil rights worker. I had seen the problem of me being in charge of a community; I had seen the problem of getting too close to my clients and too close to the court personnel.
But what if instead of lawyer alternating as a civil rights worker, it was one lawyer combined with a civil rights worker me using both skills at one time. A legal-political approach to win in court while using the case to help organize communities.
The civil rights worker in me saw implications in this lawsuit larger than merely acquitting the defendants. Here was a political issue that could further embolden the black community, get media attention and educate Northern supporters and place significant pressure on the federal government to intervene in matters like Canton: a legal-political approach.
I conferred with the SNCC workers, who agreed along with the local folks to the Canton experiment and began a door-to-door oral history of Canton, while I subpoenaed virtually every book, record and public official in that city. Excitement spread as memories led to memories, and documents were found behind newspapers covering holes in walls and ceilings.
Bruce: To block the chinks in the wall so the wind doesn't blow in.
Don Jelinek. Right. While shuttling back and forth between Canton and the Jackson office, I coordinated this effort. I also prepared legal papers to attempt to convince the federal courts not to Remand (return) the Canton cases back to the state courts.
The key to success was not to have the burden of proof. If the evidence is equal, the loser is the one with the burden of proof. The burden of proof is not reasonable doubt, it's just more likely than not. But if they had the burden that would be different. So, to the language of a 1962 court decision which held that "the State of Mississippi has a steel-hard, inflexible, undeviating official policy of segregation," I added a legal maxim I had often used in New York: "A state of facts once found to exist is presumed to exist until proven otherwise." The burden, I would argue, rests on Canton whites to show no discrimination, while we offered our evidence to the contrary. The hearing was to be in Vicksburg, the scene of a major Southern defeat in the Civil War.
Bruce: And this doctrine had been concluded in a case?
Don: Yeah, in a case about the entire state of Mississippi, not just one place. It was probably a Justice Department case. And people asked why does that matter? I said because the burden shifts, the crackers would have to show no discrimination while we showed actual discrimination, which would be impossible for either side to prove. And I said...
Bruce: Why would it be impossible for you to prove discrimination?
Don: Because they'd just have people say the opposite.
Bruce: They would just lie.
Don: Yes. This could actually be a major case if we pull up a history of discrimination in Canton and use it as a springboard for that presumption, that would get a lot of publicity, the boycott was difficult, and the Movement needed a boost.
Bruce: So if you establish the presumption of a history of discrimination, that would invalidate the arrests or it would justify the boycott?
Don: No, neither. But it would keep the case in the federal court, where some federal trial judges were good and, if an appeal was necessary, there was our wonderful, pro-civil rights, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. At this point, I subpoena all the officials, especially the sheriff.
Bruce: If you're talking about Madison County, which I believe you are, his reputation, he was a notoriously bad sheriff is what I remember. He was one of the famous ones but I can't remember his name.
Don: I visited his office and it was clear that there was no way to hand him the subpoena. SNCC had an idea. They got a local guy in town, dressed him up as bad as they possibly could, and sent him in to the sheriff's office. He says, "I want to file a complaint because one of the deputies called me a nigger." And they all laughed and said, "All right, sit down." So then I come back with my pretend-subpoena and say, "I am here to subpoena the sheriff, I demand he come out." They say, "He's not even in town," and what not. And so I walk out, and as soon as I walk out, the sheriff comes out and they are all laughing; our guy gets up and hands him the subpoena with the money for fees. And do you know what the reaction was? "Who would think they'd trust a nigger with five dollars?" That was their reaction. Now the sheriff was forced to come to court.
All of Canton would be there to see if Vicksburg history would repeat itself: local blacks in rented buses and community-organized car pools, white city officials under subpoena, and, of course, the accuseds.
Bruce: The bus was for bringing your witnesses?
Don: No, mostly spectators. We had done the TV thing, Stokely had taken care of that.
Bruce: Meaning getting press?
Don: Yeah, and the media were there because it was a whole town and news is slow during Christmas. I've been staying in Canton and suddenly the Boss appears. He's back, he's seen the work I've laid out for him, and everyone is talking about Canton. So he came out to see what's happening. And since I'm trying to get this job, I say, "Why don't you do the honors and I'll be your second chair (assistant)." And he thought that would be fine. So, he's talking to the cameras and giving statements.
When the case is called, I rise to speak but the District Attorney cuts me off. "With all due deference to this court," he began in a slow, deferential drawl, "I am obliged to inform you that the People of the City of Canton have dismissed all the indictments and there are no criminal cases for review by this court."
I was overjoyed that my clients were all free of these charges but also disheartened that the evidence would not come out in this trial. The Canton folks were heavily discouraged, so I made a little speech to get people to feel better. I said, "Look at the victory," and little by little the awareness of their victory and the impact it would have on their lives in the future took hold. Meanwhile, the Boss was giving statements to the press. And I go out and . . .
Bruce: Wait a minute. Did they drop it because they knew that you were going to win?
Don: Oh yeah. As you know there're no secrets in the South the subpoena on the sheriff made it very clear, but also I'm sure there were black people in town who told them what we were doing. So I went out for lunch with the leader in town, Stokely and some others.
I said, "I made a decision. If I can get a job with ACLU, I would like to do variations on "Canton" again. But if I don't get the job, I would like to be full time with SNCC."
Stokley and the others agreed.
That night the Boss invited me to celebrate with dinner at his home, and announced that he had directed Schwarzchild to find the money to hire me as a staff attorney. He then formally offered and I formally accepted the job.
A few days later, I flew back to New York to give up my rent-controlled apartment and deal with my belongings. For reasons not clear to me even now, I rid myself of most of my material possessions in order to be safer in Mississippi, as if I could run faster and duck quicker if I did not have a sectional sofa, three lamps and pounds of books waiting for me in New York.
Then, ending a career of upward economic mobility, I return to Mississippi to stay as a full time, minimally paid, staff lawyer for ACLU, working on mass integration suits and criminal defense . . . and for SNCC, whenever I am on the road. Since I still get all the Holly Springs area cases because I know everyone. I am always moving around the state.
Don: One horribly hot day in Jackson, I'm with a SNCC guy named Mike Higson and my dog. We recklessly decide to go to the Ross Barnett Reservoir (named for the ex-Mississippi governor, who, in 1962, touched off a riot when he defied a federal court order and refused to admit black student, James Meredith, to the all-white University of Mississippi). The Reservoir was off-limits to civil rights workers because hostile white gangs gathered there. But since there was no other beach nearby, needing to cool off, we foolishly decided to take our chances. So we are on the beach, and my dog runs off to play with another dog.
When the owners of the other dog walk to us innocently to talk dog-talk, they take a look at us, especially Mike who has a beard. I don't know why I didn't focus on his beard. They say, "You're nigger-loving Yankees," and you're this and that. Mike is British and using his accent, says, "No, I'm a tourist seeing your wonderful state . . . ." The biggest of them turns to me and gruffly says, "What about you?" I hadn't spoken yet. I say, "I'm a civil rights worker." To this day, I can't imagine why I said that. And the guy punched me in the jaw, knocking me unconscious, standing up. I didn't fall but I was unconscious. How do I know? Because I had bruises all over my upper torso that I had no memory getting, Mike told me they punched me in the chest. But I was just unconscious on my feet, and they apparently pounded away at both of us and we were really bloody.
Finally, our tormentors finished with us and ordered us off their beach; we hobbled off, not running in order to maintain some dignity. Once in the car, we checked each other's injuries and then drove to Mike's girlfriend for peroxide, sympathy . . . and condemnation for visiting the Reservoir (a refrain I would hear for many weeks afterward). Mike, in the midst of telling her the story, all at once remembered my "confession." In a hysterical manner, laughing, then choking, then aching at pains made worse by the laughing, Mike roared, "Why did you say we were civil rights workers?" His woman, not sure which of us was the craziest, shook her head in disbelief.
Bruce: Sometimes you know, you just...
Don: Can you figure it out?
Bruce: You don't always act from logic, I mean, I remember one time in Selma early on, I had only been in the South a few days, I moved from CORE to SCLC. I was walking with this guy, maybe a SNCC worker, I don't know who, but an old hand. A white guy comes out, points a shotgun down at us, and starts going into the "I'm going to kill you," routine, and the guy I was with says, "Motherfucker, if you're going to shoot, go ahead and shoot, I don't give a fuck. Go ahead and shoot." He's taunting him, "Shoot! shoot!" And the guy didn't shoot. See, that's the thing about both the South and nonviolence: In the South everything was much more personal as opposed to institutional, so often you were dealing with the enemy as individual people, as opposed to when they were all lined up in their swarms, like the police phalanxes.
Don: That's very profound.
Bruce: So it's much more personal than any of the confrontations in the North. In the South, the people even some of the bad ones react as human beings rather than as units of a military entity.
Don: I remember while they were beating us up, one of them said to the other, "Should we kill them? The sheriff said that we can do anything we want and we wouldn't get in trouble." And the other said "Nah, just beat them up some more." Now they were probably just talking. But there was a lot of truth to what was said.
Bruce: Lot of truth.
Don: So anyway, soon afterwards I get a major case from the Holly Springs area: not allowing people on the ballot in the primary unless they take the pledge.
Bruce: What pledge?
Don: Oh, hating the civil rights laws, etc.
Bruce: The pledge for segregation.
Don: I thought you'd want to hear it, verbatim:
I pledge condemnation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, I favor separation of the races and I declare that integration is a direct threat to Southern womanhood, children, and all that is right, good and true.
Bruce: Now this is summer of '66?
Don: No, spring of '66.
Bruce: This story about the reservoir, when was that?
Don: Just before.
Bruce: You came down first in the summer of '65, so now this is early in '66 with this Pledge? I don't know about Mississippi, but Alabama had local elections in May of '66, so maybe they were on the same schedule. So this was preparations for the local elections?
Don: Yes. Anyway, so Bill Kunstler has a case to stop the elections from taking place, altogether, on the grounds that the Voting Rights Act hasn't had time to take effect. The Boss had the feeling that Kunstler's case was so bizarre that it would have a negative effect on ours, and I agreed with the Boss. So I called Kunstler, who I'd never met, but I had been to his speeches in New York. I told him our basic feelings. Although, he needed us to find test case plaintiffs for him, and I felt bad, it seemed like the right thing to do.
Kunstler is so charming, he said, "Not a problem, but it's a pleasure talking with you, I've heard such wonderful things about you," and he's telling me how terrific I am, and what not, and how he'll make it somehow. Seduced, I wilted and said, "Well, maybe we could figure out some other way. Such as we could disassociate ourself from your case. So we'll have companion cases." We agree to that. I get my case ready but it's always my fate that they drop my best cases. As I begin, the lawyer for the State of Mississippi interrupts me and says they're not going to use the pledge. And the judge promises me if they change their mind, he'll issue the injunction I requested.
Now Kunstler starts his case. Where my papers had been logical and precise, he was dramatic and emotional, crying for justice and compassion, recalling centuries of slavery and the need for amends. His witnesses were heart-rending, his final statement, sprinkled with biblical and classical references, so persuasive I found myself wondering why I had opposed his lawsuit.
Of course he lost! But he was just magnificent. As I told him how impressed I was, he said, "I think we will win on appeal, don't you?" I said, "No, it can't win on appeal, and that would be a terrible precedent." And he said, "Oh, I'll consider that." But he and his colleagues always went straight ahead. It was the first time I'd seen the powerful emotional approach, which really antagonizes, especially in the South. But he reaches the audience and even the judges. He was wonderful.
Bruce: Was it sustained on appeal?
Don: Oh no. It was bizarre to think that the federal system would enjoin state elections from taking place. It was absolutely outlandish. But very wonderful, and for every ten such cases, they'd win one or two, and really change the law.
No society was so damned by sex as the South primarily flamed by a worshipping of the Southern White Woman: that paragon of virtue,
the lily-pure maid, the South's Palladium . . . the shield-bearing Athena gleaming whitely in the clouds, the standard for its rallying, the mystic symbol of its nationality in the face of the foe . . . .
The White Man worshipped his "paragon," but lusted for the black female slave and took her at his pleasure and, for over 300 years, impregnated her with abandon. The foreseeable result: mulatto babies, raised by their black mothers on the same plantations as their white stepbrothers and stepsisters, and tolerated by white society, even Southern wives, if discretion was observed.
And what of the black male slave? Often he was both a cotton picker and a stud for "nigger-breeding" according to Southern folklore, an irresistible super male, endowed with a colossal sexual organ . . . and the cause of great concern to the protectors of White Woman chastity.
I have always understood that a Negro who touches a white woman must die. It is something we learn in the South without knowing how or when or where. (A White Southern Man, in 1934.)
For a black man, or a 14 year-old boy (such as Emmett Till), to be charged with alleged sexually provocative behavior with a white woman: flirting (real or imagined); touching, even accidentally; whistling; sensuous smiling or "lascivious looking" could lead to a court-imposed execution or mob-imposed lynching.
I encountered this pathology in the case of State of Mississippi v. Alfred Windom. A note handed by a frightened black woman to a SNCC worker, who then passed it on to me, brought the first word of a black man's plight: "Al Windom didn't do nothin' but he in prison cause a white woman say he rape her."
"Be careful," I was warned. "It happened just north of Pearl River County Mack Parker's county. You know, where he was lynched." A call to the court clerk confirmed that an "Alfred Windom" had in fact been sentenced to life imprisonment after confessing to attempted rape of a white woman.
It was a full two months before I met Alfred Windom, born in Mississippi, raised in Chicago and street-wise enough not to be awed by this white lawyer or awed by a white woman either, which was why he was chopping cotton in prison for life.
After a few pleasantries, I asked him to tell me about the rape charge.
"Nothing happened," he said in response. I gave him my best "Don't- bullshit-me-Man" look. "Nothing happened!" he repeated indignantly. "OK," I said, half-heartedly. "Tell me why they charged you."
"You see," he began, "I'd been working for Mrs. "Margie Moore," the wife of a Plantation Owner, and one day, when I was drinking, I went over to her and said: 'I'd like to be with you.'"
"You actually said that?" I winced in fear, as if the lynch mob would come for him now, even here in prison. "Yes," he answered, blushing. "And . . .?" "That's it. She said, 'Don't be silly, Alfred. Go home and sleep it off.'"
"And then what happened?" I asked. "That's all!" "No touching, tearing clothes, threatening? That's all?" "That's all!" he said. "So why . . .?" He didn't wait for me to finish. "They said confess or you'll get what Parker got. Mack had been my friend. I 'confessed.'"
I told Windom we'd do something. When I returned to Jackson, I headed down North Farish Street to the offices of Jess Brown, one of the few black lawyers in Mississippi, one of the most fearless people I've known and the former lawyer for Mack Parker.
"He was innocent," Brown began, responding to my request to hear the story again, "but they murdered him." Mack Charles Parker, he told me, was a black man falsely charged with sexually assaulting a white woman. Although both lawyer and client knew the accused would never be acquitted by an all-white Pearl River County jury, they hoped that by holding a trial, the record would reveal his innocence and Parker would later obtain a reversal.
One evening, after preparing for trial all day, Jess Brown was asked by the judge if he was staying in town overnight. A strange question, Brown thought in hindsight. "I usually did," Brown recalled, "but that night I had to go back to Jackson. I told the judge I would return in the morning."
That same night, Parker was taken from his cell. Local blacks still tell the story of seeing his "head clanking down the long stone steps of the Pearl River County Jail while he was dragged away by a lynch mob. Although he pleaded his innocence, his body was riddled with bullets." The next day Brown's client was dead, the lawyer alive only because other business had required his departure the night before.
When I told Jess Brown about Windom, he cautioned, "Don't handle it alone. Get your friend, Bruce Rogow, to work with you."
Agreeing, I walked to the ACLU office, obtained Bruce's agreement to work alongside me, and began preparing for the hearing. Windom's defense would not be innocence. How could we prove it? And who would we convince if we did prove it? Rather, the issue would be racism in the court system, the exclusion of blacks from all county juries and, as concerned Windom, the Grand Jury that indicted him.
Needed were local blacks to review the lists of names on jury rolls and tell us what we already knew but had to prove: that the names were of whites only! Arriving in the county a few days early for that purpose, we solicited aid from the black community. But so pervasive was fear in this county that no one would help us, not even Windom's family.
So we were forced to change our strategy, overnight. Somehow we would have to show instead that he didn't do it, because it didn't happen. With only minimal preparation for our new defense, on a torrid, shirt- drenching morning, Bruce and I drove into white downtown and parked in front of the courthouse. As we walked up the stairs, we were greeted by angry white citizens with cries of "Nigger-lovers!" and "Commies!" As we entered the court room we were introduced to Judge Sebe Dale and two prosecutors: Maurice Dantin, the county District Attorney, and an elderly gentleman, a personal lawyer for the victim, there to protect her from Yankee lawyers.
As if to justify their concern, I called the "victim," Mrs. Margie Moore, as our first witness. The Grande Dame of the county's largest plantation, a handsome woman, probably in her 40's, walked from the spectator's bench, as everyone, even the judge, rose in deference to her prominence, her whiteness . . . and her shame. As she walked past Windom to the witness stand, there was an intake of breath from the audience, as if she might be raped all over again. Raising her right hand and reciting the oath, she was almost drowned out by cries of indignation that the wife of the county's leading citizen should be forced into the court room by a "nigger," especially the man who did her in; that she should be forced to describe his black penis invading her white privates.
Mrs. Moore was attractive as a witness, neither hostile nor tense. I began by asking her what preceded the "incident." Alfred, she said, ordinarily a good worker, was doing his chores that morning, when he suddenly approached her under the carport.
"He said, 'Mrs. Moore, I want to be with you.'"
The audience sucked in its breath at this outrage. This was crime enough for the spectators.
She continued, "Then I said, 'Alfred, you're drunk, go home.'"
I had been letting her just talk on but now she stopped. Here it comes, I thought. She'll say he refused to leave and attacked her. "And then?" I ventured.
"Then he left and I went inside," she said calmly.
"That night I told my husband."
I held my breath, Bruce was pale. Mrs. Moore had repeated Windom's version. She was not accusing him of a crime. I looked to Bruce for advice. He shrugged his shoulders implying, "It's up to you."
I decided to continue.
"Mrs. Moore, I apologize in advance for these questions, but I have to ask them. Did Alfred (I violated serious civil rights protocol by referring to him by his first name to ease the strain) touch you at all?" No. ". . .above the waist?" No. ". . .below the waist?" "No." ". . . attack you in any way?" No. " . . .rape you?" No. " . . .do anything but say those words, 'I want to be with you'?" No.
I looked at Bruce, who motioned me to stop.
"Thank you, Mrs. Moore. No further questions."
I looked at Windom, who showed no emotion. I looked at District Attorney Dantin, who was visibly surprised and wildly whispering to Mrs. Moore's private lawyer. I looked at the sheriff, who seemed equally surprised. No one had known the truth, I later surmised, except Mrs. Moore and her powerful Plantation Owner husband. With a confession and a plea of guilty, there had been no trial, no evidence, and no need for Mrs. Moore to testify.
"I have no questions for the witness," said an uncomfortable District Attorney.
Addressing the judge, I moved to dismiss the charges "because the victim says no crime was committed."
"Denied," shouted Judge Sebe Dale, who, although also surprised, had heard a description of a crime as serious as rape.
The Prosecutor then proceeded to introduce his evidence: Windom's confession. I jumped up and protested: "This is a confession to an act the victim admits never occurred!" But the judge accepted the confession as evidence of the attempted rape that never occurred.
During this Alice-in-Wonderland proceeding, Bruce had slipped out of the court room and called ACLU in Jackson to narrate a capsule version of what had happened, and to relay our fears that with what we presently knew, we might not leave here alive. Now that he had returned, I decided to take the offensive to protect ourselves and our client.
The D.A. was about to introduce some additional evidence when I interrupted. Feigning more confidence than I felt, I warned the Judge that a full report had just been made by phone to the FBI (he glared at Bruce), and that any injury to Windom (I left us out why give anyone ideas?) would result in the prosecution of the Judge in a federal court of law. I demanded that the Judge assume personal responsibility for the safe return of Windom to prison after the hearing, so that he would not "become another Mack Parker." I also demanded that the Judge secure the stenographer's record, guaranteeing that no one tamper with it.
All this was more than Judge Sebe Dale could stand. Over the advice and strong objection of his prosecutor, he insisted on recounting what he called "the true story" of this case, and how justice works in the South. Before I could totally grasp what was happening, Judge Dale walked down from the bench (leaving it unattended), and took the oath! to testify! in a case he was judging! He then began, as recorded by the official county court reporter:
As the presiding judge in this case on the day that this defendant was brought into court [for the original trial] he was treated with the utmost kindness, and caution and care as any human being can be given and when he came into court he made the statement that he wanted to plead guilty.
* * * * *
He was advised then that he could not be sent to the penitentiary until some ten days after court was adjourned. He insisted that he wanted to go [to prison immediately. This was true, Windom feared a lynching after the sentence] and only one thing did he request and that was that he be permitted to see his family and we thereupon made arrangements for him to see his family, and talked to him as kindly and gently as any human being has ever been talked to. Not one single time was he ever referred to as a negro or his color ever mentioned. . . . It was as quiet, and orderly and a decent proceeding as has ever been held in any man's court whether the Civil Rights outfit and the Civil Liberties Union likes it or not or believes it or not.
* * * * *
Of course what happened outside of the court room I have no knowledge [referring to the threatened lynching] and I don't intend to say what happened but I do know what happened in the court room and I don't intend, regardless of what any court does about it, to be insulted about being that kind of crook and criminal to let a District Attorney tell a man "We are going to send you to the penitentiary, negro, and that is it." It just didn't happen and it has never happened in my court room and it has never happened in any courtroom that I have ever been in, in my life. It just doesn't happen down south regardless of what they say about it.
"Now," looking at me, the Judge challenged, "do you want to examine me about any of it?"
While I had been listening in awe to him, I had wondered whether he would consider himself a witness and subject himself to my questions after he concluded his self-serving oration. To my delight, he was offering me the chance to cross examine him. In so doing, he provided me with the opportunity to obtain, as I could in no other way, the evidence that no blacks ever sat on juries in this county.
After preliminary questions about his background, I hurried to the no-blacks-on-the- jury question before the prosecutor convinced the judge to return to the bench. Judge Sebe Dale answered directly and arrogantly:
" . . . no negro has ever served on any jury in this county since I began practicing law in 1924!"
That statement guaranteed us victory on appeal. And with Mrs. Moore's testimony, we could, theoretically, acquit Windom in a new trial. But I didn't stop. This opportunity would never repeat itself.
I asked the witness if he would have dismissed the case if Mrs. Moore had told the trial jury the facts as related here.
"No, I don't think so," he said. "I think I would have let it gone to the jury."
Then, suddenly, he seemed to anticipate my next question an attack on the "confession" and thereby his old friend, the prosecutor, to whom Windom had admitted a crime which had not occurred. Impulsively, the Judge began a rambling testimonial to the former District Attorney:
He and I rode to the criminal courts in this district for twelve years together. . . . he is a high tone Christian gentleman and he accepted his duties and responsibilities as district attorney as a public trust. . . . I just can't conceive of any officer in any of these counties doing the things he [Windom] says has been done.
"Do you think," I asked, playing with the Judge's sensitivity for his friend's reputation, "the officers in Pearl River County [where Mack Parker was lynched] are as high quality as [the former D.A.]?"
The prosecutor objected: "This is not Pearl River County."
Ignoring him, I continued: "Has it been your honor's observation that negroes in the south charged with crime involving white people, particularly white women, have not received as fair a trial as white people under similar circumstances?"
"I think they get just as fair a trial," the judge said. "I think a negro can get as fair a trial in Mississippi . . . as he can anywhere in the world. And I think another thing, one negro is not going to let another negro sit on the jury to try him. If you want to know the truth about it, we are having that experience because they know they can good time a white fellow a lot quicker than they can one of their own color."
"Do you think," I persisted, "that a negro can get as fair a trial as a white man without any negroes on the jury?" Yes. "Do you think negroes in your circuit have been intimidated to say the least by what happened to Mack Charles Parker?" No. No, I don't. "Do you think," I raised my voice, "a negro arrested for a crime involving a white woman would not be in any way influenced by what happened to Mack Charles Parker?" No, he would not, flared the Judge, angry at the repetition of Parker's name.
The prosecutor tried to stop the testimony: "Your honor, this is all outside and is going into the record."
Judge Dale now turned his wrath on his own District Attorney.
"It is all outside, but I would just like for the Supreme Court of the United States to know something about the truth about what is going on down here."
Then turning back to me:
The crime rate is no worse in this state and the criminal condition is no worse in this state than it is [in] your state or any other state in the union the Supreme Court and [U.S. Attorney General Nicholas] Katzenbach [sic] notwithstanding.
* * * * *
Anytime a circuit judge, or a presiding judge, gets so doggone scared of the Supreme Court ruling that he is going to cowtow [sic] to them then he ought not to be circuit judge . . . I started out [ruled] on five cases [during] one court [session] and the Supreme Court reversed me five times in a row and when the sixth one came up I held the same thing and they affirmed it. Sometime maybe they will come to their senses.
"Are you ready for me to rule?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
"I don't believe that any human being in the history of this County has ever been dealt with any more fairly and kindly than this defendant has and it was all done in open court and open and above board and nothing hid from the public anymore than this hearing right now is being hid from the public
merit and I am, therefore, going to deny it."
Judge Dale then proceeded to resentence Windom to life imprisonment for a crime the "victim" said never happened.
Bruce and I wished our client good luck and reluctantly left him in a jail not unlike that from which his friend had been dragged and lynched. For our own safety, we drove swiftly out of town and later that night learned that Windom was safely back in prison.
Over a year later, the federal courts finally freed him.
Bruce: You told me about a girlfriend and racial problems. . .
Don: Yes, but ironically, it was a white civil rights worker who I fell for.
I was returning home from a never-ending junket between Holly Springs and Jackson. While in Holly Springs, the Boss called to ask me to respond to a message from a civil rights worker. Using the WATTS line (the unlimited telephone call linkage from the rurals to Jackson), Molly had called ACLU for lawyer help. "Agricultural discrimination," she had said, and though no one knew what she meant, I was assigned to offer encouragement but to emphasize there was little we could do in matters outside traditional civil rights channels.
Once in her county, driving first on concrete, then asphalt, and finally on dirt roads, I pulled up in front of a tiny cabin, so small from the outside, it seemed you'd have to walk sideways once inside. In front, wearing the traditional civil rights uniform of blue jeans and workshirt, yet looking more a Southern Belle than a civil rights worker, stood Molly, a fair skinned blonde in her twenties.
"I'm Don . . ."
"Yes, I know," she interrupted. "I'm Molly. I was told you were on your way. You're from New York and you got beat up at the Reservoir." She caught her breath and laughed at my obvious surprise that she knew so much about me. "I'm from California," she raced on, "and I came down for the Mississippi Summer . . . and I guess (she laughed heartily) I just stayed on."
Her father, fighting for the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War, had been hit by shrapnel and eventually lost a lung. Though Molly was raised to concern herself with the plight of others less fortunate, when she decided to Go South in 1964, her father, bitter over his debilitating injury, urged her not to repeat his involvement in other people's causes. Nevertheless, as a MFDP/COFO volunteer, she went . . . and stayed. Now, two years later, she had trouble defining her status: she was no longer a part of MFDP, and COFO barely existed. Like many of her counterparts, she was an unpaid staff member of a county-created freedom group, spending her time on such projects as voter registration and integrated schools, while the farmers toiled in the fields and joined her when their work was done. Rallying behind her as their contact with the outside world, the sharecroppers believed that somehow this lovely young woman with blonde silken hair could deliver them to a better life.
Less than a half hour had passed since I had driven up but I, and seemingly she also, were already in love though, in hindsight, perhaps more in love with what the other represented than with the individual. Molly was starved for the familiar fast exchange of words, middle-class education, discussion of books and ideas, even whiteness; I hungered for the innocence of the "Molly's" of the Civil Rights Movement, the brave, dedicated idealists I wanted to hold and protect, and to live with happily ever after, while fighting for a noble cause.
We were interrupted by two black women and a black man; they were Molly's age and members of her local Movement. They walked over, ignored me and said hello to Molly. We were all introduced but my greeting was responded to with coolness. I hoped that if they knew more about me, knew that I was a full-time civil rights lawyer, the trio would accept me and become friendlier. So I dropped some names and events, but to no avail until I mentioned my beating at the Reservoir. Only then did I get a reaction: contempt and laughter! Oh yes, they knew about that. "Boy, were you dumb," one of the black women said, looking at the others instead of me as she spoke. Molly was speechless so I tried a different line of conversation: "Did you all come down, like Molly, for the Mississippi Summer?" The Wrong Question!
"No, Man," the black male scowled at me, the first official notice of my presence. "We were always here. We sent for you whites. That was our mistake." (He rushed on as if I had insulted his ancestry.) "We needed more civil rights workers, but mainly white workers . . . to die! We knew you Yankees (as he pronounced "Yankees," his sharecropper dialect faded, replaced by an accent that marked him as a Northerner, probably a New Yorker) would care only if your own children 'children of privilege,' he added with scorn "were beaten and killed . . . like us."
"And that's exactly what happened," one of the black women burst in. "Two white boys died (she left out the local black who died with them, to better exaggerate her premise) and 'Oh, My,'" she mimicked, "did the liberals ever get upset. And then it came to pass (now she parodied a biblical story) that much money poured into the evil State of Mississippi . . . and civil rights laws were passed . . . and federal G-men appeared . . . and more white civil rights workers appeared, all because two white boys got hurt. As if we hadn't been killed and murdered for centuries!" she near screamed at me. Backing up involuntarily as if I was about to be struck, I wondered what I had done to bring on such bitterness.
Molly finally chimed in, but in defense of herself, not me: "Many of us," she said plaintively, "came because we believed in your cause, not for kicks or out of guilt . . . and we worked and still work very hard."
"Yes, child," the black woman responded, as if she were an ancient sharecropper instead of Molly's age. "Some of you did good work. Hear? I don't deny it. But if you cared so much for our cause, and not yourselves, why, when we asked y'all to leave after the Summer, did you refuse?
Many had in fact refused to leave.
According to a civil rights worker-leader: "[We] made a cardinal mistake, a disastrous miscalculation. We did not anticipate that the volunteers would either want to stay or that they would stay . . . ." Nor was it anticipated that even when asked to leave, the whites would refuse. 150 whites like Molly, entrenched in small Mississippi and Alabama communities, barely subsidized by grateful local blacks, remained. And worse, they brought down even more white volunteers by inviting their friends and recruiting on campuses (and by soliciting those on hand such as a white civil rights lawyer).
By 1965, only one year after the Freedom Summer, white faces could be found in major Movement communities, white civil rights workers: many untrained by the early black Movement, many unwanted by the black Movement, all shielded by the usually passive black sharecropper, the "People" of the civil rights adage: "Let The People Decide!" who decided that their white friends should remain. The black civil rights workers backed down, although with bitterness. In the aftermath of the Summer of 1964, the lingering resentment was painstakingly ignored by the whites who revered the Movement while defying it.
As Molly was about to answer the question about refusing to leave, the black woman who asked the question shifted gears: "But we like you Molly," she said, "except (here she paused until she found a big smile) when you try to steal our boyfriends."
The two black women laughed heartily. The black man, suddenly very uncomfortable, changed the subject by asking me for gossip about friends in Holly Springs and Jackson. After listening to my half-hearted token answers, the three departed without the traditional invitation for me to return.
Molly, upset and embarrassed, apologized for her friends. "They're not usually like that," she assured me, as she watched them walk away. "All three were in Alabama recently with Stokley Carmichael and they came back crazy. Everything 'white-this,' 'white-that,' 'honkey' even. Has anything like this ever happened to you here?"
"No," I told her, but I could not expend too much energy on the three that had just departed; I was too smitten with the one that remained. But how to cross that line from civil rights co-workers to romance and what to do about my special problem?
"Why don't you come into the house?" Molly suggested. "I have gonorrhea," I blurted out. She might have said indignantly: "I didn't ask you to sleep with me!" but instead Molly said sweetly: "Come in, anyhow." "Actually, I'm all better," I added, making things worse. "All I have to do is visit Dr. Poussaint once more to be sure."
When she didn't renew her offer, I asked if I could still come in. At this she burst out laughing, "Yes, come in," she said, "but don't touch anything."
This time I laughed also and I walked into her little house, so small that there was no place to sit except the bed. "Sit down," she invited me nervously. As we sat as far from each other as the short bed would allow, Molly broke the silence by asking, "Are you living with someone?" "No," I answered, "but I was spending a lot of time with someone until recently. That's how . . . " "I know how you get gonorrhea," she interrupted, with a mock look of exasperation. "Anyhow, I'm not seeing anyone now," I said. But I'd like to be seeing you now, I thought but didn't say. "How about you? Are you seeing anyone?" I felt I had a right to ask, given the drift of this conversation.
"No, it's too risky," she responded, explaining that the only available men in this community were black. But when a man showed any interest in her, the black women got angry, even if they were not interested in him themselves. So she just gave up.
"How about your girlfriend?" Molly inquired. "Was she . . .?" This was the first time in the South that I had discussed the problems of white people in the Movement with a white civil rights worker though I didn't appreciate the significance at the time. "Yes, she's Negro," I answered the question before it was completed. "But we never had any problems. She and I went to Movement parties all the time, went out to 'black' theaters, ate in 'black' restaurants . . ."
"Probably because you're a lawyer," she interrupted. "You get special treatment because you're so needed, but not me. There are more than enough white civil rights workers to go around."
At that I smiled, and she asked why I was smiling.
"Maybe you could make everyone around here happy if you went with a white man." "Maybe," she grinned. "Do you know anyone?" Nope," I countered. "Just being theoretical." Seated on her bed, I pulled her to me and kissed her. "How about your gonorrhea?" she chided me. "Don't laugh," I growled, annoyed at life's little joke. "Well, get better soon," she teased. "I will," I assured her.
I drove away, imagining when I might see her again . . . after I saw my doctor.
Dr. Alvin Poussaint, 32, a black psychiatrist from Harvard, was the resident sawbones, shrink and father-confessor to civil rights workers. In his role as Southern Field Director for the Medical Committee for Human Rights, a civil rights doctors' organization, he provided free medical and psychiatric care for all civil rights workers in Mississippi, maintained a medical presence at demonstrations (bringing in doctor-volunteers as needed), desegregated health facilities in the South by filing complaints under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and, in his spare time, set up community-run, lay health care systems in the counties. Also, he sent battle-fatigued civil rights workers out of the South, often to be the house guest of a friendly doctor, who would both minister to the civil rights worker and provide him or her with a safe, friendly home to recuperate in.
Licensed by the State of Mississippi (which hesitated at first but then capitulated), Dr. Poussaint also ran his own pharmacy, providing medicine and filling other doctors' prescriptions without cost. The black doctor was well known in the Movement for treating venereal disease with his "one-shot-penicillin," ("More was better but one would do!"), which he would administer anywhere, even behind a bush during a demonstration.
Dr. Poussaint was treating me for my problem: I hoped I would be pronounced cured on this visit.
As he was examining me, I asked if there some recent racial conflict between blacks and whites in the Movement?"
"You're right as to the conflict," he looked up, suddenly serious, "but you're wrong if you think it's recent. It's been going on since the first whites appeared in large numbers in 1964." (Dr. Poussaint later wrote two provocative papers on the subject, each highly controversial within the Movement, in no small part for their titles: "Black Power: A Failure for Racial Integration Within the Civil Rights Movement" (co-written) and "The Stresses of the White Female Worker in the South," which I will freely quote here.)
The problem, Dr. Poussaint explained to me, was one of duality, of love and hate. The young civil right workers were the first whites the local blacks had ever socialized with, ate with, much less lived with. At first the whites were adored for having come South. But in time the good feelings lessened as blacks began to whisper about the whites' lack of commitment: that white civil rights workers could always leave and go home to the relative safety and security of the North; that the whites could take chances because if things got hot they had a place to go to. Not so the blacks.
And after still more time, anger consumed the blacks as the white civil rights workers were seen as the children of those who had jailed them, murdered them and enslaved them over centuries.
Even the skills of the whites were viewed with disfavor. The paper-wise, detail-wise, office-wise whites acted, or were perceived as acting, "superior," accused of becoming instant, self-appointed experts and authorities on all matters concerning the Negro and civil rights.
They did most of the talking and very little listening to the local black people. They were said to be impatient and to begin quickly to direct programs and run the project office, thus taking over from black people. They were accused of being paternalistic and condescending in their relations with blacks, and of acting as if they felt Negroes had little intelligence or capability.
The whites couldn't win. If a white man taught a black man to use the typewriter, he was the teacher, flaunting his education and superior abilities; when a crisis occurred, if the white (who typed at least twice as fast) took over the typewriter, he was accused of "taking over" from the blacks.
The white civil rights workers accepted the abuse heaped upon them, but they admitted their unhappiness to Dr. Poussaint. What can we do, they lamented, when some Negroes ask us to do their civil rights work, especially office work, and "abdicate leadership to us?" There was nothing they could do. As time went on, Dr. Poussaint concluded, "when white students were around, [black] civil righters seemed to do less and the whites to do more."
The anger of the blacks was further fueled by a handful of reckless whites (many of whom felt guilty for their privileged "white" lives), who caused breaches of security that threatened the safety of both themselves and the black community.
For instance, a few seemed to wish to be beaten or jailed as a badge of prestige and movement membership. Sometimes, in flaunting their new-found sense of racial brotherhood, white workers endangered entire communities. For instance, a white girl worker while walking down a Mississippi dirt road might reach out and affectionately take the hand of a Negro male worker in front of a Mississippi Highway patrolman or local white toughs or both. In Mississippi this may well be considered a "suicidal gesture" on the part of the girl. It could also in effect be unconsciously a "homicidal gesture" toward the Negro man who might easily be lynched under the circumstances. When, for example, such a pair was stopped riding in a car by local officials, the Negro fellow would receive a severe beating, but the white girl would escape with an admonishment and an epithet. This disregard by whites and also blacks for basic safety and security measures frequently angered Negro workers and was interpreted again as a lack of caring and respect for the black community.
But most problems paled in comparison with the most explosive issue of all: the white woman civil rights worker herself. Black female workers were becoming more and more angry, in spite of the fact that this was the way the world was supposed to be: integrated! black men and women with white men and women. But the black women hadn't expected to be rejected by their men for the white woman.
The Negro girls were often resentful and jealous of the attention which Negro men showed to the white girls, and vice versa. The black girls were sometimes frantically jealous of the white girls and in a state of panic because they feared that they would lose their boyfriends to white girls. (During the summer a number of local Negro female workers came to see [Dr. Poussaint] acutely depressed because they were jealous of their boyfriends' attention to white girls. These young ladies were extremely bitter and hostile toward white girls and frequently attacked them verbally.)
* * * * *
The black men seemed totally preoccupied with their relations with white female workers. They were acutely aware of the fact that by associating with white women they were violating the most sacred Southern taboos. Therefore, in nearly all sexual situations with white women, they were constantly plagued by ambivalence as well as a mixture of feelings of fear, hate, suspicion, and adoration for the white girls. (One young Negro fellow blurted out to [Dr. Poussaint], whenever I'm around one of these white girls, I don't know whether I feel like kissing her or punching her in the mouth!]
The black men joined in the attacks on white civil rights women, albeit often halfheartedly. Black leaders with white girl friends were embarrassed, felt guilty and were accused of selling out; their white girlfriends accused of manipulating them, conducting "bedroom politics." Even Dr. Poussaint himself was at times labelled an enemy of black people because he, by his medical care, helped whites remain in the Movement.
Anguished by what I was hearing, I related the incident about Molly's friends, concluding with Molly's remark that as a lawyer, I was immune to the problems and didn't see it. He agreed that as a lawyer I had been given special treatment . . . but that I shouldn't expect it to last. "Look out," he warned. "There is a love/hate relationship with civil rights lawyers also. It's out there but rarely expressed because lawyers are vital to the Movement. Remember," he told me, "almost all civil rights lawyers are white, obviously highly educated and capable of earning sizable incomes. . . . The poor and uneducated blacks are grateful to you, but angry also at lawyers: at the white Southern lawyers who have used the laws to cripple them."
"The tide is turning," he told me. "Anyhow, you're cured but watch out for those interracial relations."
The day to drive upstate finally came. For once I did not begrudge the early-rising, long, tedious drive to Holly Springs, because halfway I would detour to see Molly. In record time, I arrived at her little cabin, beside myself with joy when I spied her seated out in front.
Walking into her cabin, closing the door behind us to keep out the sun, we sat down once again on the little bed. Uncomfortable and struggling for conversation, Molly asked me what was new. In response I launched into a recitation of my three days away, leaving out the Dr. Poussaint discussion: a minor trial, a vigorous telephone argument with a Klan lawyer, a decision in the mail announcing victory in a major voter discrimination case. I was acting out a fantasy, coming home to the little woman who asks what heroic deed I've lately performed, the dragons I've slain. Now, more confident, I began to gently pull her down on the bed, when suddenly my eye was struck by a ray of light, then a second beam, then a third. The beams were coming from the door, or rather through it.
"What are those holes?" I asked, but she didn't answer.
I got up and walked to the door. I stared at chest-high holes that hadn't been there during my first visit. Then I stared at Molly, her eyes filling with tears, suddenly sobbing as she told me what had happened only a few hours after my departure. She had heard a car approaching the shack and had walked to the door thinking it might be me, having turned back. Then she heard the first shot. Averting death by seconds and inches, she dropped to the floor as bullets sprayed the door.
"That's the whole story," she said. "They drove off without ever stopping."
Returning to the small bed in the little shack, I held her tightly, the rays of light as a reminder of how I might never have seen her again, or, had I remained that afternoon, died with her (or perhaps even died alone, since my reflexes would have been a lot slower than hers).
We didn't speak again of the shooting until dinner that night at a nearby Holiday Inn restaurant, my idea of celebrating Molly's survival. Seeking a total release, we consumed the "New Orleans" cuisine, overdid the alcohol and concluded with an extravagant dessert. Bloated, we retired to a poolside table where the waiter brought us a pot of coffee, and we sat, holding hands, watching guests swimming and splashing. But I couldn't blot from my mind the thought that I might have driven here, only to learn from one of her harsh friends that Molly was dead, slain at the hands of white men.
"Why," I blurted out, breaking the festive mood, "why you? They don't usually go after white women."
Bruce: This was after Viola Liuzzo had been killed during the Selma March?
Don: Yes, terribly tragic, a brave woman but she wasn't a civil rights worker, living in a community. That was mass murder. I never heard them go after any woman in the Movement, the staff Movement, ever.
After Molly calmed down, I asked, "Tell me what you have been doing lately that's different?"
"I really don't know," she answered solemnly, "but it could be the 'agriculture thing' I first asked you to come up about. You see," she continued, "some of the sharecroppers are entitled to money, allotments, from the agriculture office as payments for planting less than they could, or something like that. Anyhow, one farmer complained to me about not receiving any money and I went to the office to write up a formal complaint for him." For her efforts, Molly received a more hostile reception than any she had encountered before, even from voter registrars. "Anyhow, I thought it strange . . . and excessive," she added. "So I called ACLU."
Listening carefully, envisioning the bullet holes in her door, I couldn't imagine the significance of some pittance paid for leaving an acre or so unplanted, but I assured her I would investigate.
Serious discussion ended, arms around each other, we walked about the motel grounds, looking at the moon and mumbling to each other. I stayed over and the next day we ate again at the Holiday Inn, this time a Southern-style breakfast: heaping portions of tasteless grits, seemingly alive and threatening to overpower the eggs and bacon it surrounded; on the side of each plate, corn muffins shaped like lizards. We laughed and loved the meal. Dreading leaving her, I suggested:
"Could you find time to come with me to Holly Springs while I handle a case, and you could meet my friends at the same time." Before she could answer, I sweetened the pot: "Only for two days and I'll bring you right back."
She smiled. "No, I don't have the time . . . but, Yes, I'd love to come."
Molly told her co-workers that she'd be away a few days and we drove to Holly Springs and had a magnificent time, but when we returned to her county, a contingency of her black co-workers, gathered in front of her home. Without preface, the black male I had met on my first visit fired the opening guns. Molly was told she was a dilettante who dabbled with the poor by day and lived the good life at night . . . and the next morning; that she deliberately excluded her friends by picking eating places which were either unsafe for them, or beyond their budget (they had learned of our Holiday Inn excursions); and that she was a racist for preferring a white professional over a black man.
The black woman who had "joked" about boyfriends, returned to that theme: "First you try to steal our boyfriends," she screamed at Molly, "then when that don't work, you pick a fancy white man to show you're better than us . . . or so you think." "And now," another black woman piped in, "I assume you'll leave us for him, just as you gave up your work to take a joyride with him."
Neither Molly nor I spoke. She cried and the black civil rights workers turned their backs on us and walked away.
The illogical mixture of anger and dependency rendered me speechless. It was obvious now that I shouldn't have flaunted my money and my whiteness by taking her to eat in the Holiday Inn. Dr. Poussaint had mentioned that discussions and quarrels over black-white relations consumed so much time that, in some places, all work was stopped and many projects dissolved. Was that happening here? But I'm white, she's white. This is not the Poussaint thesis.
Sixteen years later, on a visit to Dr. Poussaint in Boston, he explained the phenomenon that had bewildered me in the intervening years. He told me that the white civil rights worker, especially the white female civil rights worker, couldn't win! If she was romanced by a black male, she slighted her black female co-workers. If she rejected him, it was because he wasn't white. ("You'd sleep with me if I wasn't a Negro.") If she chose a white man, she was reverting to her superior class and wealth and of course color. Whites couldn't do enough to prove their loyalty; the black was always waiting for a sign of the inevitable betrayal, especially the ultimate disloyalty: abandoning them by leaving.
Dr. Poussaint said it over and over again, shaking his head in sadness, remembering the pity he felt in those days: "The white woman couldn't win, she just couldn't win."
As for Molly and me, the new lovers, everything had gone bad. There was nothing to say at that moment, so we said nothing for the better part of an hour. Then I left for Jackson, not staying the night as I had planned.
We never got back together.
Don: Arriving back in Jackson, I was only one step inside the door when I was advised that Henry Schwarzchild wanted to talk with me, immediately. I immediately called the New York ACLU administrator and agreed to meet him for dinner at a nearby motel restaurant. There I learned that ACLU had obtained additional funding which would allow them to spread across the South. For now, two new offices: one in New Orleans, Louisiana, for which a high level corporation lawyer from Washington, D.C. had already been hired; and one in Selma, Alabama . . . for me to head, if I was willing.
Bruce: When was this?
Don: This is now definitely May-June of 1966.
Bruce: Just before the Meredith March?
Don: That's right.
Bruce: They haven't had an office in Selma all during the height of the Selma Movement? They didn't have anybody?
Don: Nothing, nowhere. Schwartzchild told me that a main reason for choosing me was that I could get along with the dominant movement presence, the SNCC people SCLC having come and gone.
While I was absorbing the message, he added: "You will be in charge of the whole State of Alabama, with your own staff . . . and your own budget but the Boss will still be in charge overall, as chief of the whole operation. Well?"
U.S. Highway 51 running from north to south, cuts Mississippi in two. In June of 1996, Highway 51 also cut the civil rights movement in two: the old integrationist movement, and the new Black Power Era of Stokely Carmichael. Almost symbolically, that same date, I was driving against that thrust, as I proceeded from west to east across that very same highway.
At the same time on the same day, Carmichael, the new head of SNCC, was marching down the Highway 51, leading the Meredith March.
Bruce: From SNCC's point of view, Stokely was leading the march. But that view was not necessarily shared by the SCLC and CORE people who were also on the march.
Don:In the midst of that March occurred an explosion that drew a line through race relations in America. Stokely, who had been plucked from the March by a deputy sheriff, placed behind bars and only just released, proclaimed:
"This is the twenty-seventh time I've been arrested and I ain't goin' to jail no more! The only way we gonna stop them white men from whuppin' us is to take over. We been saying "Freedom" for six years and we ain't got nothin'. What we gonna start saying now is "Black Power!"
"BLACK POWER!" the civil crowd roared in unison.
"What do you want? "
"WHAT do you want? "
"WHAT DO YOU WANT? "
"BLACK POWER!!" "BLACK POWER!!!" "BLACK POWER!!!!"
But unaware of any of this, I drove over the infamous Selma Bridge where Sheriff Jim Clark brutalized nuns, priests, local people and civil rights workers and galvanized Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Further east was Montgomery where Rosa Park would not move to the back of the bus and where Dr. King's prominence was launched with the Bus Boycott and where the Civil Rights Movement began; north was Birmingham where State Troopers attacked demonstrators with police dogs and fire hoses and where four black children were bombed to death in their Sunday School; northeast was Anniston where a Freedom Bus had been torched.
Crossing the Selma Bridge, a five-block drive led to the Civic Square of Selma, wherein labored the civil rights combatants: on one side of the street, the offices of Sheriff Clark, his jail, the police department and City Hall; on the other side of the street, a three-story building: on its top floor the Alabama headquarters of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), on its bottom floor, Miller's Funeral Parlor. Sandwiched between was my ACLU office-to-be, the former SCLC office.
Bruce: Oh, yeah, the old SCLC office.
Don: And I was now moving in. I bounded up the stairs to a stark office, and said "Hi ya" to a small greeting committee of black sharecroppers, one of whom said: "You the lawyer? Call Mr Schwazman in N'York."
"Don't even unpack!" Henry Schwartzchild ordered. "Not until we find out what Stokley Carmichael has in mind." He then briefed me about reports from the March that "Black Power" meant that whites would no longer be allowed in the Movement, and, he guessed, likely not in the SNCC headquarters building. "Just wait," Schwartzchild advised me, "until the dust settles. We may pull you back to Mississippi."
What do I do while I'm waiting? I asked, but Schwartzchild had no ideas. So I sat down in one of those high-back, judge-type swivel chairs and swiveled in a slow circle, smiling nervously at the black sharecroppers who looked no different to me than their counterparts in Mississippi . . . and seemingly untouched by the New Order. They smiled back in return, signalling their willingness to wait until I was ready to work for them. A further swivel positioned me to stare out the window at the sheriff's office and finally to the cluster of my office supplies strewn on the floor.
In the midst of my swivels, through my office door came Charles, a black SNCC civil rights worker I knew from his visits to Holly Springs. "Hi, D__," he blurted out, caught himself and literally ran out the door, back upstairs to Black Power country. I sighed, depressed that Henry Schwartzchild might be right.
Charles returned 15 minutes later, now without enthusiasm, and sat down next to me. "You heard about it?" he whispered, as if the words "Black Power" should not be uttered in my presence.
"Yes, but what does it mean?" I asked, also afraid to use the word but hoping for some interpretation that would allow me to stay.
"I'm not sure," he responded "but it doesn't seem to mean," he cracked a weak smile, "just 'power for black people'."
He paused and I knew he was about to tell me why he had returned to my office after his hasty retreat.
"There's, uh, a sign going up, uh, outside your door . . . at the stairway to our floor . . . and I told the folks upstairs that we should tell you about it first."
I couldn't guess what the sign would say but I knew it wasn't "Welcome Don."
"It says," he continued, now staring out the window, "NO WHITES ALLOWED UPSTAIRS WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL!"
He swallowed hard and I gasped. "Oh," I mumbled, looking away. The black sharecroppers sat at the rear of the office, still waiting for the lawyer to help them, looking at my face and knowing something bad was happening but not understanding what it was.
"Can I talk to them?" indicating the sharecroppers.
"I don't know," he answered in despair. "No one likes this happening, especially to you, but until Stokley comes back from the March . . ." He stopped and burst out: "I'm going crazy. The press is calling non-stop: 'What does Black Power mean?' 'Are whites excluded?' and I don't know what to say." Then like Henry Schwartzchild, he warned me to stay out of trouble and he'd try to keep me posted.
I smiled, grateful to hear a black utter a friendly word. Deciding that it was best not to talk to the sharecroppers, I muttered a few words to them about how it's too soon to start lawyering, that I had unpacking and such to do first. Then I left the office and drove to my newly-rented ACLU residence, plopped down onto a newly purchased, second-hand sofa to watch my future on the used 12-inch, black and white TV set I had also purchased.
The Meredith March was the story on Southern TV, seemingly played over and over again with new analyses, updated analyses, inside analyses: What did Black Power mean? they all asked.
The story that was shown and discussed on TV began 11 days ago on June 5, 1966 when James Meredith began what he described as his "March Against Fear" down the heart of Mississippi to dramatize what he called "that all-pervasive and overriding fear that dominates the day-to-day life of the Negro in the United States, especially in the South and particularly in Mississippi." Meredith was well aware of Fear in Mississippi. His integration of the University of Mississippi three-and-a-half years earlier had been accomplished over the resistance of the Mississippi Governor and a lynch mob; his own survival (two died and 160 were wounded) had rested with a few hundred U.S. marshals and 20,000 federal troops.
Now, accompanied by a dozen friends, he set out to march down Highway 51. The next day, barely 10 miles into Mississippi, a white man stepped out of the roadside underbrush with a shotgun and fired 75 pellets at Meredith. Initially reported dead, he soon was recovering in a Memphis hospital as civil rights leaders rushed to his side and then took up the March at the spot where Meredith had been shot.
Figures from the past of the Civil Rights Movement led an assembly that at times numbered 1,500 There was Roy Wilkins, Executive Secretary of the NAACP, victor of the triumphant Brown v Board of Education, which was the beginning of the end of legalized segregation. Marching alongside was James Farmer, former head of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), which braintrusted the Freedom Rides. The presence of John Lewis, former SNCC leader, represented the sit-ins and the heroic efforts within Mississippi to create a movement of black sharecroppers. Of course, Dr. King was there, bringing with him the prestige of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Birmingham mass demonstrations, his "I Have A Dream" speech to a crowd of 200,000, a Nobel Peace Prize, and, most recently, the Selma March.
There was one new face, new at least to the media and the nation: Stokely Carmichael, who, on May 15, 1966, had seized control of SNCC in a virtual coup d'etat that was a catalyst for a new militancy.
A few weeks later Carmichael was marching down Highway 51 on the Meredith March, only to be arrested without genuine cause as he prepared to settle down for the night with the other marchers. In anger, almost 3,000 black farmers, having waited for his release from jail, cheered as Stokely, six years of the civil rights struggle pouring out of him, raised his arm, clenched his fist and roared "Black Power!"
As the Montgomery Bus Boycott had transformed Dr. King into the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, so the Meredith March catapulted Stokely Carmichael to the role of national leader of the Black Power phase of the Movement. TV journalists, long accustomed to the Negro as victim, now met the black as militant. To Southerners, it was as if Nat Turner's slave revolt and John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry were happening now! to them! To liberals and editorial writers, it was "black racism" and "Negro Bigotry"; to NAACP leader Roy Wilkins, it was "separatism . . . wicked fanaticism . . . ranging race against race . . . in the end only black death."
Soon an impressive array of civil rights leaders placed an ad in the N.Y. Times, declaring: "We repudiate any strategies of violence, reprisal or vigilantism, and we condemn both rioting and the demagoguery that feeds it." Other black leaders mockingly asked for "Green Power" as money and support for the Black Power advocates would soon be cut off. Although Dr. King opposed the violent leanings of Black Power, he refused to join SNCC's detractors.
By the time I had watched the news two or three times, I decided to distract myself with TV movies, falling into a fitful nap to the soothing voice of Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon.
The next morning I drove to my still-virgin office, glanced again at the "No Whites" sign, checked with Schwartzchild for news (none) . . . and returned to the TV.
The next day was the same; no news.
But the following day, SNCC made contact through Charles, who came to the rented ACLU house to tell me that H. Rap Brown, an important SNCC worker, was in jail and needed my help. Which I refused to give. In the preceding days I had thought about what I would do if I was allowed to stay, deciding that I could not work under these humiliating circumstances: If I wasn't run out, I would work for other groups, such as Dr King's SCLC but not SNCC. With great fervor whenever I mentioned the sign, I related all this to Charles, who was unprepared for my reaction.
"What if Rap is killed in jail?"
"So be it," I pronounced, less sure than I sounded.
Charles left as I wondered what would happen to me if Rap died in a Southern jail.
An hour later, Charles returned to tell me that Stokley Carmichael would call me from the March in Mississippi . . . in my office . . . tonight . . . at 8 pm. "Would I take the call?" I was asked. "Of course," I replied.
Stokely Carmichael, 24, a native of Trinidad, had been educated at New York City's Bronx High School of Science (as had I, a decade before him), and then at Howard University, was on one of the first Freedom Rides to Jackson, Mississippi in the spring of 1961 and was sentenced to the infamous Parchman Prison.
From Parchman to the Meredith March, Stokely's career matched that of SNCC, with one major difference: his nonviolence was contained rage ready to burst. He was part of the advance party sent to bring voter registration to Mississippi. He was there for the Mississippi Summer of l964. And he was in Atlantic City for the "great liberal betrayal" at the Democratic Party National Convention two months later where promises to back a mostly black slate as delegates, evaporated.
After the Convention, vowing he would never again engage in coalition politics, Stokley, in early 1965, began working in evil Lowndes County (near Selma), where blacks constituted 80 percent of the county's residents but zero percent of the vote, while whites represented 118 percent (the Graveyard Vote) of the registered voters. Lowndes was perhaps the most dangerous county in the South. This time an independent party the Lowndes County Freedom Organization was formed to oppose the local racist Democratic Party. As the first all-black political party with its emblem of a crouching black panther, it earned its nickname, "The Black Panther Party."
An hour later than scheduled Stokley Carmichael telephoned me at my office. I had carefully prepared what I would say but when the phone rang I could only mutter, "Hello?"
"Hi, Don," boomed the charismatic Stokley. "We haven't talked since your great work in the Canton case. I'm also still hearing many fine things about you from Holly Springs, both as a lawyer and as a civil rights worker."
"Thank you," I whispered.
"Sorry about the sign," he got right to the point. "In three days we'll be in Philadelphia [Mississippi], where, as I know you well know, three of our civil rights workers were murdered. Two were white. Whatever Black Power will eventually stand for, it does not stand for a plan to oust our white allies. As a lawyer-SNCC worker combined, you are essential to us and I hope you will continue to be one of us and work with us."
"I'm sorry about Rap in jail . . ." I blurted out, racked with guilt.
"No," Stokley laughed. "Probably, we needed a jolt to make us think out our priorities. No apologies needed, perhaps we should apologize to you . . . and ask you to help Rap as soon as you are willing."
"Tonight," I promised.
"Thank you," said Stokley Carmichael. "There will be no more signs and no more SNCC problems for you," he promised. "But I'll expect you to call me if there are ever any problems."
"I will," I assured him.
"Wait 10 minutes and then please go upstairs."
"Thank you," I said again.
"Give 'em hell," he said, instead of goodbye and hung up, leaving me to wonder if the "hell" was for the enemy or for SNCC upstairs.
I waited 15 minutes during which time I assumed he was calling upstairs and walked into the hall just as Charles was taking down the sign. Then we both went upstairs to a tense reunion, few in SNCC totally sure what was happening or expected of them but relieved to have made peace with their lawyer-friend.
The SNCC chairman was often chastised from within and from the media for having a white lawyer. His justification eventually made its way into a book, appropriately titled, "Black Power," co-written by Stokely:
It is our position that black organizations should be black-led and essentially black-staffed, with policy being made by black people. White people can and do play very important supportive roles in those organizations. Where they come with specific skills and techniques, they will be evaluated in those terms [such as] white lawyers who defend black civil rights workers in court . . . .
Stokley threw a mantle of protection over me and my new office which lasted so long as I remained in Alabama . . . except once.
When in Selma and not working at the office, I could return to our home, the ACLU house, a mile away. It was not much to look at on the outside nor, for that matter, on the inside: a plywood, broken down, two- story, former whorehouse but, because of its earlier function, it had lots of bedrooms for my staff and volunteers.
The house was soon the civil rights center of Selma, as it filled up with me and my staff, all the outside agitators working in or visiting Selma . . . and to the surprise of some, SNCC workers, even Stokely on occasion. The SNCC presence caused the FBI, always eager to assume that whites were in control of the Movement, to erroneously note in my FBI file:
[INFORMER] stated that SNCC has no organization operating at Selma, Alabama, and it appears the only contacts they have in the area are with JELINEK.
By the end of the week my white middle-aged secretary was in place, as was a white volunteer lawyer from Toledo, Ohio, as were two white law students from Harvard and the University of Illinois. Sharing space in the ACLU office was Shirley Mesher also white a former SCLC aide, who was now a power in her own right among the grass roots blacks of Selma.
The work at first was the same as in Mississippi: defense of criminal arrests (Rap Brown was easily freed with a forceful phone call and a drive to the jail), integration actions, monitoring the various Civil Rights Acts and bringing brutality suits.
For the next year I worked for blacks to share what whites had, while SNCC and Stokley were urging blacks to separate from the white world. At least, until, as Stokley told me months later, Black Power overcame the psychic oppression of 300 years of state-sanctioned discrimination, till blacks were no longer ashamed of their physical characteristics: skin color, hair texture, large lips; or their jargon, their clothes or anything else about themselves. It was a new black value system geared to the unique black experience in this country. The values permitted replacing the word "Negro" with "black," for many years a base term that connoted the savages of a Tarzan film. Now roots in Africa were to be prized.
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was right when he labelled Stokely a potential "'messiah' who could unify and electrify the militant black nationalist movement," and was thereby a threat to the national security.
Although Stokley had told me that Black Power was "not . . . to oust our white allies," that's exactly what happened. In December of 1966, six months after my conversation with the Black Power leader, at a retreat in upstate New York, SNCC the color-blind Movement, with its emblem of a black and white hand clasped in brotherhood, its national anthem "Black and white together, we shall overcome" voted to expel whites from its ranks. (Not to close the door completely, SNCC provided for some to work on a "volunteer contractual basis" in white communities. Others could "organize the white community around black needs, around black history, the relative importance of blackness in the world today." Little came of this.
Nor did my protection extend to Black Power militants who disavowed Stokley as not militant enough.
Bruce: We in SCLC heard about the anti-white, separatist direction in SNCC, but there was none of it in SCLC which continued to advocate integration, black-and-white together, and the "beloved community." And, of course, non-violence, at least as a tactic if not necessarily a way of life.
In large part, that was because of the kind of man Dr. King was, his compassion and love for all people of all colors was as real in his day-to-day working life as in his great speeches. He practiced what he preached. And unlike SNCC which was egalitarian, SCLC was hierarchical, and it may be that the highly-educated ministers (other than Dr. King) who led SCLC saw their future as men of prestige and power in society as a whole. Andy Young (U.N Ambassador & Atlanta Mayor) being the exemplar of that.
There was never any question or issue of white field secretaries like me in any way being any kind of leadership competition for SCLC executives. In Dr. King's "freedom army" we knew we were the corporals and sargents, not the generals, and that was fine by us.
After the Meredith March I was assigned to Grenada Mississippi where I worked until February of 1967. In July, immediately after the March, SNCC had a couple of organizers in Grenada who were putting forward the anti-white, Black-separatist version of Black Power. That approach found no support among the local people in Grenada who voted overwhelmingly in a mass meeting at Bellflower Church to affiliate their new movement with SCLC. After a couple of weeks, we heard that the SNCC workers had left.
And in talking with local Blacks in other communities, I never saw much support for Black-separatism. They had grown up under racial segregation and they hated it, and they wanted to end it, not recreate it. From what I could see, it was mostly college-educated Black activists and intellectuals who advocated separatism, not the people in communities. And even in Lowndes County there were whites participating in the movement one of whom was murdered and another maimed for life and they were welcomed by the local people.
Don: Bruce, I never thought it was anti-white, any more than it was anti-Jewish. A new period was beginning, there was not only ill-will brewing (stealing my boyfriend, etc) but with my own eyes I saw that local folks took on more responsibility when the administrative-experienced whites were gone.
What Black Power accomplished was to add black pride to integration. To paraphrase Stokley, only when blacks beleive in themselves will they be ready to truly participate in integration. Calling it "separtist" is accurate, but the word is uusually used in a pejoritive sense, not necessarily by you, Bruce.
Bruce: Right, I'm using "separatist" in a pejoritive sense to distinguish it from Black pride which as far as SCLC was concerned did not have to mean separatism, or anti-integration, or all-whites-are-enemies. Certainly Black SCLC leaders and field workers supported, endorsed, and practiced Black pride, but did so without linking it to separatism. And, from what I saw, you're right that local folks took on more responsibility when the administrative-experienced whites were gone, but it's also true that they also took on more responsibility when college-educated, administrative-experienced Blacks left as well. What I'm saying is that the separatist analysis looked only at race, but class factored in as well.
Don: We will continue to disagree about the wisdom/morality of expelling whites from SNCC but I think you overstate it by calling it "all-whites-are-enemies." That was not SNCC philosophy. The civil rights laws had passed; now Southern blacks needed to feel equal. Having a college educated black around was a role model; a white in the same circumstances was business as usual. (A disclosure: since I was not forced to leave, I'm not in a position to be objective about expelling whites.)
Don: I had a case to handle, a throw-away case that was bound to be successful. The National Guard was not making their Armory accessible for black people to have meetings; I knew I merely had to show up and some General would say it was all a mistake and would not happen again. As often when I was travelling, I drove a SNCC worker who was going in the same direction. He directed me into a long driveway.
Bruce: Where was this?
Don: I don't remember. As we are driving in, he says, "Oh, my God, you shouldn't be here with me." And suddenly a couple of people come to my car and they start berating him for having a "honky" with him. I hadn't experienced anything like this before. "We don't need anything from them," [meaning whites], ignoring me completely. And then he turns to me and says, "Get out!"
I drive out, mildly annoyed and headed for the sharecropper home where I was going to stay the night before the Armory meeting the next day. That night I sat, ate and talked with the local folks, a wonderful evening.
Then a car drives by and somebody from the car who I recognize from the driveway says "Get that honky off the porch and out of town." My host starts arguing with them. He says, "Don is our friend and is here to help us. We have asked him to be here." He is told: "He has no place here. No white man does. There is nothing we need from them." My host continues arguing back and I am feeling real bad; I don't want him to be under this pressure. So thinking they probably don't know who I am, I leave the porch and go to the front of the car, to the driver, the one who was doing all the yelling. I look across and see who is in the passenger seat. It's "Bill."
So, I say, "Hello, my name is . . . " He just looks the other way. The guy behind the driver's seat says, "We want you out of here, now." I say, "My name is Don Jelinek and. . . ." The guy in the back seat says, "We know who you are, everything you have done, we know why you are here, we know about the Armory. The whole business. We don't want any part of you. We want you to leave and don't come back to any black people in the South."
At this point, I said, "I am not taking this shit from you! I got a job to do! They have invited me to be here!" As I am crouching to talk to him, all of a sudden he pulls a pistol and sticks it on my forehead.
Bruce: This is the driver?
Don: No, the passenger behind the driver, the one I was talking to at that moment. I am in this crouched position and say, "Look, if I don't show up tomorrow . . . " He says, "This is not a joke. You are about to be a dead man. I am going to count to three and then I am going to kill you."
"Bill" is there the whole time, not saying a word. Certainly he is not discouraging their conduct. I keep on talking, and the guy with the gun says, "One," waits plenty of time, talking a little more, and then he says "Two" and he cocks the pistol. He says "Leave or you die."
I wanted to leave but I couldn't get myself to move. Couldn't get the legs to move, to straighten out, I was paralyzed. I don't even know if I could walk. One of the women on the porch is screaming throughout all of this. Then my host yells from the porch, "Don, I want you leave now! I want you to get in your car and leave now!" He keeps saying "Leave now" over and over again. Kind of giving me a face saving way out. I say, "If this is your wish, then I will."
I got in my car. I was shaking and drove a few miles. Then I pulled over and started sobbing, really sobbing. And then I checked into a motel and called Stokely. He had told me the first day I arrived in Selma, anytime any of this anti-white stuff happens, I should tell him. And so I called him, told him what had happened and he asked who was there; he was surprised that "Bill" was actually in the car. And he then told me about the "Atlanta faction."
Bruce: The Atlanta Organizing Project?
Don: I don't think I even knew about this. He said, "Well, this is over."
Bruce: What is over?
Don: I didn't know or ask but it seemed like he was saying that SNCC's connection with them was over. Within a few weeks, or the end of the month, they were out of SNCC.
Bruce: So that's what happened. In the books, they say that SNCC terminated, expelled, the Atlanta Project from SNCC for it is not really clear why there was some issue with a car, or embezzlement, or something, but the way they write it is pretty obvious that, you know, nobody is saying why this really was.
Don: Yeah. You can imagine how many people knew what had happened once I told Stokely.
Bruce: Stokely, was still Chair?
Don: Yes. Then, I made a mistake. I called the New York head of ACLU.
My ostensible reason was that he should warn the lawyer groups about this and because of me showing up the next day at the Armory. It was a very foolish thing to do but I did . . .
Bruce: Wait a minute, you did not show up at the Armory?
Don: Of course I showed up and planned to. But I felt I should discuss this with him. But that's why it was very foolish, because, of course, he told me not to go, and I defied him and I went. So I don't know why I was calling him. But I did show up at the Armory. The faction, the Atlanta group, they didn't come. The locals were there, very upset and embarrassed and quite solicitous, touching me the whole time. I said, "Look, this has nothing to do with you. You didn't cause this. Please don't feel bad." But we all felt real bad.
The National Guard guy showed up and, of course, he said, "Well this must be a mistake because . . . ." It was over in five minutes. I drove back to Selma and everybody knew. Everybody knew. And, we had some meetings since my whole staff worked in the rurals, especially in one Wilcox county (south of Dallas County).
Don: Especially Wilcox, many of my people were virtually living in Wilcox. So we talked and I told everybody, "You have to make your own decision. This could happen again." But nobody backed off; I said, "Frankly, I don't think it is as likely to happen to you as to me. I am a larger profile. I don't think it will happen. But you ought to tell some people there discreetly to be aware of what could happen."
Then I got a call from a reporter from the "New Republic" who I was very, very friendly with. He was in Selma a lot and did fine reporting about what was going on. He had heard what happened and he asked me about it. I said, "I don't know where you got your information. Nothing like that happened." He knew I was lying and never forgave me. He told me that we could never be friends again and he never spoke to me again. He felt that I should trust him, that he wouldn't print something harmful. I should have faith in him.
Bruce: Did you ever run into "Bill" again ever, and, if so, did either of you ever make any reference or discuss this issue?
Don: I ran into him two or three times after that, mostly in Steven's Kitchen.
Bruce: The restaurant in Jackson?
Don: Yeah. The first time there were no whites at this table he was sitting at and somebody invited me to sit down; he got up and moved to another table. But two other times, things were somewhat normal; he said "hello," even exchanged a little bit of gossip. The gun incident was never discussed, like it never happened.
Bruce: How do you feel about it now?
Don: Give me some choices. Am I angry? Of course . . . but what am I angry at? You see, it all depends upon whether I believe they were ready to pull the trigger. I would feel less angry if I thought it was a bluff to scare me away, but I'm not sure. So I guess I am mostly angry that they were pulling me away from something that I had to do, that was denying the needs of the local people. And I also resent that they were humiliating me which always ranks high with me. And then still again, were they were ready to kill me? I can't tell you what would have happened if the sharecropper hadn't yelled to me to leave, because I was frozen. I couldn't get myself to move.
Bruce: Had they actually pulled the trigger and killed you, it would have been devastating. To you personally obviously but to the Movement as a whole. It would have been a catastrophe. It would have been like, what was that woman's name, Amy Biel? in South Africa.
Don: It would have been just terrible.
Bruce: And yet "Bill" didn't say anything while they held the gun on you. I mean, how do you feel about that?.
Don: I never for a moment thought that he wasn't running the show; the fact that he was in the commanding seat told me that. He was totally silent the whole time.
Bruce: What do you think about the politics behind that? Behind the incident?
Don: Politics? This was the politics of revolutionary black nationalism.
Bruce: Separatism. Or is there a difference between nationalism and separatism?
Don: I think they called themselves "nationalists." I think maybe "revolutionary" would cover the nationalist part, but they thought theirs was a major revolution and it was necessary to get all the enemies out of the way, including whites in the Movement.
Bruce: I'm reminded of some so-called revolutionaries I encountered later in my life, who considered themselves such great revolutionaries, they studied Mao Tse Tung and all that. Yet Mao's dictum was to unite all who could be united against the main enemy at the moment. And here they were doing the exact opposite.
Don: They were following what they considered a broader principle.
Bruce: Which was..?
Don: Which was that they needed to get rid of the "Stokelys," the "John Lewises," certainly the "Dr. Kings," plus those white people like me who had been allowed to be part of this.
Bruce: And why did they need to get rid of everyone from Stokely to King to white civil rights workers?
Don: Because they considered them (us) nonviolent counter-revolutionaries.
Bruce: Who do you think they were?
Don: Well, they were identified. The Atlanta faction.
Bruce: The Atlanta Project?
Don: Yeah, it was known who they were, and I knew a few of them before they turned anti-us. They were people who had formed this somewhat breakaway group; for a while they tried to remain within SNCC and still function.
Bruce: According to Clay's book [In Struggle, SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960's] they were expelled from SNCC.
Don: My information is that it was because of the gun incident. And why not? Not because of me, but because of what it could have done to the Movement. Devastating.
Bruce: Does "Bill" still retain that ideology to any degree?
Don: I don't know. I never saw him after those few meetings at Steven's Kitchen.
Don: I had been warned by ACLU not to get involved in the electoral machinations in Selma, the disharmony between grassroots and middle class blacks and I did not intend to. I was directed, above all, to meet Mrs. Amelia Boynton early on and win her good will.
Thus, my first stop, on my first normal work day after the telephone conversation with Stokley, was to walk a few doors down from the-now SNCC-ACLU-Funeral Parlor building to the Real Estate Offices of Amelia Boynton, which, in the back, also contained the law offices of her son, Bruce Boynton. The Boynton's were well-to-do and prominent: Mrs. Boynton, a heroine of the Selma March, was almost martyred by a Trooper who clubbed her into unconsciousness; Bruce, though a lawyer, was better known as a test-case Plaintiff in a lawsuit (not brought by him) that established the right to integrated interstate bus terminals which became the basis for the Freedom Rides. He was also the one I hoped would be my sponsor for practicing in the Alabama courts, as Jess Brown had done for me and others in Mississippi.
Walking in with good will, I introduced myself to a matronly well-groomed black woman. "Happy to meet you," responded Mrs Boynton, unconvincingly. After a few words of ritual weather talk, she asked if what she heard was true: that Shirley Mesher was sharing space in my office. Mrs. Boynton knew the answer but paused for my affirmation before launching into a denouncement of my non-paying, office-mate tenant for quitting Dr. King, embarrassing the Negro community by running a "virtually illiterate Negro" for Sheriff, and thus compromising her efforts to succeed with a third candidate against Sheriff Jim Clark.
The Selma civil rights antagonists were in two camps, each camp made up of very strange bedfellows. The militant wing for the elections was led by Shirley Mesher and her low-income black allies. Shirley, a formidable white woman in her early thirties, had come to Selma from Seattle for the demonstrations after Bloody Sunday. Because of her public relations talents, she had been drafted out of the ranks to join the planning committee and then went on to become a $25 per week SCLC "subsistence worker." Sometime after the March, she was assigned as Project Director for Selma.
Bruce: I think we called ourselves "field secretaries" (ala SNCC) rather than "subsistence workers."
But Shirley was discontented. She felt that "most people went home with the television cameras" and she resented what she called a lack of dedication she included SCLC itself in her scorn. However, she noticed a positive result from this exodus. With the removal of the superstructure and with her assistance a grass roots organization began to emerge, assume leadership and threaten the traditional dominance of the middle-class blacks who had invited SCLC to Selma in the first place.
Shirley was Dr. King's maverick: he couldn't discharge her because of her grass roots popularity, but he couldn't support her due to her antagonism with the middle-class leadership. Though Shirley cut herself off from SCLC, she retained her formal position, and sustained herself with food and donations from her new community. Shirley helped form the grass roots, black-dominated Dallas County Independent Free Voters Organization, which supported a black independent slate, including a black for sheriff.
The opposition were the middle-class black Dallas County Voters League, which, in their attempt to defeat incumbent sheriff Jim Clark, were backing white moderate Wilson Baker. However, to do so, the Voters League felt it necessary to support the entire Democratic Party slate which, embarrassingly, included Lurleen Wallace (a stand-in for husband, George, who, by law, could not succeed himself).
Why? Because the black elite concluded that poor blacks with limited education weren't sophisticated enough to vote a split ticket that is, to vote for Baker on the Democratic Party line and then cross over to the Free Voters line to vote for black candidates for the other positions. They predicted that this would cause a three-way split for sheriff and Clark's re-election. They also resented less educated blacks running for public office, "after all we went through to get to this point."
Bruce: Without defending the elite's attitude which I strongly disagree with in fairness I should mention that Alabama ballots were designed to encourage party-line votes by marking your "X" in the big circle immediately under the party's symbol, and doing nothing else. That's what years of election campaigns had trained voters (and those who couldn't yet vote) to do. If, out of habit, you marked the ballot for a party such as the Free Voters, and then for an individual candidate such as Baker, your ballot would be invalid. (I was in Mississippi at that time so I wasn't involved in the Selma election.)
Don: You mention the "big circle" inviting an "X" for the whole ballot, as what voters were accustomed to. But most blacks were not accustomed to voting at all. Yes, it can be difficult to split a ballot but the people who stood up to voting registrars could have handled it had the divisions between blacks not demoralized the grass roots.
By the time I was receiving my SNCC clearance to remain, a scorecard was needed to line up the opposition(s); Black vs Black, White vs White, Black vs White, and Sheriff Jim Clark's people against just about everyone.
Mrs. Boynton continued, during that first visit: Shirley continually insulted her by referring to her as "bourgeois" and her son Bruce as a "no account, sell-out lawyer." She produced a leaflet put out for the black candidates calling the Boynton group those who "are trying to mis-lead Negroes and S E L L - O U T for personal gain. They have SOLD THEIR SOULS . . .YOU need not sell yours. . . . DON'T BE TRICKED BACK INTO SLAVERY. DON'T BE FOOLED!"
Before I could respond, she finished by explaining that I was empowering Shirley by allowing her to use my offices to sabotage the work of the true Negro leadership in Dallas County. I was given an ultimatum in the form of a question: "Do you plan to allow her to remain?" Though Shirley at this time was of little consequence to me, I handled ultimatums badly; I simply said, "Absolutely," and earned the ire of Mrs. Boynton, her son Bruce, and most of the Ministers and middle-class blacks in Selma. All in about five minutes.
I walked back to my office and was told I had a call. It was from the only friendly white church in town inviting me to lunch. I drove a mile to the Church and Rectory of the Father's of St Edmund, Roman Catholic's from Vermont, who ministered to Selma blacks. My immediate hosts were Mary and Bill Good, a young white couple whose name was almost an allegory for their Christian missionary zeal, which sent them from their Northern home to Selma. Bill served as a "civilian" employee of the church, teaching "Phys Ed" to the black students, Mary cared for their young children. They were delightful, unassuming, and, unlike most in the Movement, family-oriented. They told me to consider their home my home; for almost two years I did just that with meals, TV watching and lots of talking.
And now come the elections. Bruce, you disagreed with me that those were the first black elections.
Bruce: Which elections are . . . ?
Don: The Selma election were in November of 66, but you told me it happened earlier elsewhere.
Bruce: Right, there were local elections in Alabama for local county officers such as sheriff. And that was in the Spring, April or May, maybe the vote was early in May, with the campaigning in April.
Don: Oh, was there a Voting Rights Act presence already?
Bruce: Well, the Voting Rights Act had passed the previous August. I don't know about other counties, I only know about Hale County were I was assigned. I think there were one or two Federal "observers" in Hale, but I don't recall any voter registrars. In anycase, that election was stolen in traditional Southern style, with a large "tombstone" vote for the white candidates, massive intimidation of Black voters, tricks and stolen ballots, and so on. And the Feds did nothing.
Don: A SNCC sound truck canvassed the black neighborhoods exhorting black citizens to vote for the grass-roots slate and against Mrs. George Wallace and the blacks who supported her/him. The spoken message was similar to the leaflet Mrs Boynton had shown me. Then the speaker would add, "Vote the Free Voters Organization!"
From my window I could see, across the street, the heads of white officials from the jail, police department, fire station and City Hall white officials disturbed by militant blacks in their community and the impending black vote (which this very police department was accused by Southern whites of bringing about by their excesses at the Bridge.)
Driving the sound truck was Thomas Taylor, a black militant from Pennsylvania who had come to Selma for the elections as a volunteer for SNCC. Wearing a Muslim cap, beads and jeans, the tall and lanky militant was a formidable presence. He double-parked the truck on our side of the street in the virtually deserted six-lane roadway and planned to run upstairs to the SNCC office for further instructions.
As an animal in the jungle learns to listen to sound and silence, so did I and others react to the turning off of the sound truck amplifier. I ran to my window and saw a city policeman approach the driver's side of the soundtruck. That was enough for me as I ran for the staircase, colliding into Stokely, who had heard and felt the same tension.
Taylor was told he was "blocking traffic" and ordered to move the truck, but before he could do so, a "policeman struck him through the open window." Taylor rolled up his window as his attacker "ran to his police car across the street and returned to the sound truck with a shotgun which he aimed" at Taylor and then "struck the closed window . . . with the butt of his shotgun and ordered [Taylor] from the truck at shotgun point."
The SNCC volunteer "was struck in the back and the groin with the muzzle of the shotgun" and then "further assaulted by City Policemen and Firemen" as he was taken to the jail through an alley across the street.
Stokely and I hit the street as Taylor was being led away. Two police on motorcycles roared across the street to get in the act, joining the officer with the shotgun who was menacing onlookers with his weapon. It was Saturday, shopping day, and many black farmers were in town. The local folk, long used to subservience, were cowed as they watched silently. The only sound, if it could be heard at all, were photographers SNCC volunteers in town for the election filming every moment.
Although Stokely was chairman of SNCC, Selma was Stu House's territory and it was he who was called upon to act. He urged the crowd to vote next Tuesday for the grassroots candidates to end such police abuse. Onto the scene came Chief Lt. Robert "Cotton" Nichols, top aide to Public Safety Director Wilson Baker, whose effort to replace Jim Clark as Sheriff was threatened by the grass-roots slate. Nichols demanded Stu House cease orating "because it might cause a riot." House responded that the people were orderly "as always" and it was "only the City Police which continuously rioted." House was given one more chance. He continued to speak to the crowd and was arrested for Inciting to Riot. SNCC photographers captured the commotion by police and the continuing docile nature of the audience, which I incorporated in court papers later on. (The quotes are from that document.)
Before anyone could move, the police, ever the ones to up the ante, announced they were seizing our much-needed sound truck. If ever there was a word needed from the lawyer, it was now, but no words came. Stokely found the words I had lost. He began to confront the enemy, but he did not yell "BLACK POWER!" denounce the police, or cry police brutality. Instead he spoke softly, timidly even.
"I'll drive the truck away, Sir," he said, "so it won't block traffic." Without waiting for an answer, he walked to the truck. The police looked at each other, but his logic and calm rendered them impotent. Before a breath was exhaled, Stokely had climbed into the driver's seat (later, he told me, he blessed the appearance of the keys still in the ignition, and not in Taylor's pocket at the jail) and drove slowly away down the street.
It's over, I thought, a bad blow to our posture of courage and fearlessness; a bad blow to our message to black voters that things had changed, and that it was safe to vote.
Suddenly, the static of the speaker system broke the silence. "BLACK POWER!" boomed Stokely. "BLACK POWER!!" again roared Stokely as the crowd came to life, first with sly smiles, than a roar of approval at the outrageousness of the man. "Now you know," Stokely continued, "why you must vote for your black brothers and sisters." He whizzed around the corner and parked the truck. The police still hadn't moved as Stokely walked back, and called for a picket line around the jail. No matter what happened in the Election, this day was ours. In Selma, the story would survive Stokely.
The rest was routine. The picketers were warned they would be arrested shortly if they didn't cease. Stokely asked his supporters to permit him to picket alone, which he did, until stopped at the steps of City Hall by the Mayor and Chief of Police who blocked his path. When he refused to cease, he was also arrested for Inciting to Riot. Once again, the crowd was captured in photographs, quiet and watching. Few locals had even picketed.
The Police Report was relatively accurate:
CARMICHAEL, STOKELY, RACE C . . . MADE REMARK IN FRONT OF CITY BUILDING ABOUT BLACK POWER MADE PROVOCATIVE MOVE TOWARD POLICE ALSO WAS ON LOUD SPEAKER URGING A LARGE GROUP OF NEGROES TO GO TO THE JAIL AND SEE ABOUT THEIR BROTHERS ALSO YELLING BLACK POWER. NOV. 5, 1966 3:30 PM
Other than the false "provocative move" remark, the report candidly expressed a fear as old as slavery: that blacks would one day rise up and revolt. The cry for "Black Power" reinforced those fears and seemed like a crime to Southern police.
Very late that night, I visited the jail with Brother Sullivan of the friendly Catholic Church, who had enough muscle and courage to get in and notarize Stokely's legal papers. The SNCC Chairman was relaxed and joked that I could use a night in jail myself to get some rest as he observed my strain and fatigue. A good-bye embrace gave me the energy burst I needed to finish my work that night.
The local Court set his trial (could you believe it?) for Election Day, but even Selma could not pull that one off and a later date was scheduled. I filed the "Stokley" legal papers for Federal Court the day before the Election and then waited out the election results . . . which were very disheartening. The victors were Mrs. Wallace for Governor, and the moderate Wilson Baker, who edged out Jim Clark for Sheriff.
In Lowndes County, the whites used every weapon of coercion in their arsenal to defeat the Black Panther Party: ballot boxes were stuffed; blacks were forced to use ballots that had already been marked for white candidates; blacks who couldn't read (and some who could) were "helped" to cast their vote by their Plantation Owner; truckloads of blacks were driven in from the fields by their landlords and told who to vote for; and many SNCC workers were barred from the polls.
There was also a more subtle problem, and one I hadn't thought of there were some blacks, even in Lowndes County, who didn't think blacks should hold high office, especially that of Sheriff. The result in Lowndes: every black candidate was defeated. We won in subsequent years but Year One was disheartening.
Don: My work reflected the civil rights split: one day, a black militant; the next, a Christian volunteer. The first time I had visited the friendly Selma church, I met Paul and Pat Bokulich, a religious white couple in their twenties, who had come South from Detroit to join Dr. King's 1965 summer program in Alabama. They had remained and moved to Greene County, Alabama a black majority county where the black potential vote still had little potency.
The Bolulichs were the poorest folk in their county, their shack the worst in town, their diet worse than that of the poorest sharecropper their limited income derived in part from an acre of land they tilled with a borrowed mule. They bathed by standing in a large basin, water heated on a wood stove, was poured by one over the other. They shocked local blacks who could not fathom why anyone, especially whites, would choose to live in such squalor, but they were loved all the more for it. It was said, with only a little exaggeration, that if Paul and Pat left before the next census, the economic level in Greene County would rise significantly, but some white civil rights workers also felt that it was unfair for the pregnant Pat to raise a newborn under these conditions.
Paul told me he had led an almost-successful campaign to unseat the incumbent Sheriff, William Lee, in the May, 1966 primary. I repeated information about myself and soon we were talking about the multitude of civil rights workers and who worked for who. . . and that the Bokulich's were attached to SCLC. I told them about my Black Power experiences in those first days; Paul said he got along great with everyone and expected no Black Power problems . . . and besides he worked for Dr King, not SNCC.
Pat wanted to know if I worked only for SNCC, or could they call on me for help. I explained that I worked for all civil rights groups. "Good," she said, "'cause the word is they are after Paul now that Sheriff Lee kept his job." Paul snorted his skepticism.
Within a few days after meeting them, I got a call that "Paul's in jail"; that a sharecropper he was most friendly with had signed a complaint charging him with stealing money (pennies) from his home. From the black sharecropper, from his home.
I drove down to the jail and asked for bail. The judge said, No bail. I said, "With capital offenses, sometimes there's no bail, but petty theft always carries bail." He repeated, No bail. I decided I'd been in Selma less than a week and I'd like to make my mark early. I remembered a plan where you could go through the entire court circuits in a given day. I was already turned down by the lowest court at 9 a.m., I could be turned down by the middle court by 11 a.m., and the Alabama Supreme Court by 1 p.m. I could then make the U.S. District Court by 3 p.m. and, if unsuccessful, with a some lucky timing, the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans by 5 p.m., or the next morning. I expected to lose all the way to New Orleans.
Bruce: When you say the entire circuits, what do you mean?
Don: I had already been to the lowest judge and he said, "No," then I went to the middle court, and some lady very nicely said she'll present it before the judge, and I said, "Thank you, but I need a decision right now." And she said, "Well, if you need one right now, then it's denied." And I said, "Thank you very much."
I walked out and headed for the Supreme Court, the State Supreme Court. Next, I had an appointment already with U.S. District Court Judge Frank Johnson, right after I would be turned down in the Supreme Court. And I had a flight to New Orleans for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where I had an appointment, if Johnson turned me down. The idea was to go through all the courts quickly, to get to New Orleans, where we were usually most successful.
So I go to the Supreme Court and tell the clerk, "I'd like to present this Writ of Habeas Corpus to the Justices," and she says lawyers are always shocked to hear this she says, "Very well, I'll go in and tell them you're here." I'd never met a Supreme Court justice in my whole career, I'd never even seen one.
Bruce: This is the State Supreme Court?
Don: Yes. Apparently, they had been all sitting around the table, probably shooting the breeze. and now, I assumed, they are quickly putting on their robes. When I'm told to come in, I introduce myself and tell them about my status: that I'm from New York (before they tell me) and I said, "You may have trouble believing this, but a local judge is denying bail in a petty theft case." But no one even cracks a smile.
Bruce: That's Alabama.
Don: I say, "I have a Writ of Habeas Corpus for you to sign if you would be willing." One of them picks it up I'll never forget this and he says, "Do you know that our paper for a Writ is one-and-a-half times the size of your Writ paper, has a red margin, and three holes punched in it and that is the only paper that is accepted before the Alabama Supreme Court?" Which I learned is true. I say, politely, "No, I didn't know."
"Well, that's the trouble when you're a Yankee, not a member of the bar here, and you don't likely connect with anybody." I said "Well, I just been here a couple of days and this bail denial just happened." No one spoke and, assuming I'm going to lose anyhow I said, "I'm not a big student of history, but it is my understanding that if I wrote a Writ of Habeas Corpus on a napkin, you would be required to honor it. There can't be any procedural problem with a Writ of Habeas Corpus . . ."
The Chief Judge interrupted me, but I could see he was smiling at my answer. He asked a political question: "Are you trying to make civil rights points: we turn you down and you get some publicity or do you really want to get your man out?" I say, "I want to get my man out, I'm ready to go to the other courts, but I don't see this is as a civil rights issue. I just want to get him out."
He asked me to step outside. I'm really stunned because this is supposed to be a "kangeroo court," a way station on my way to my next court.
Bruce: Which would be New Orleans?
Don: No, it would be Judge Johnson down the street. I had thought this was just a matter of an hour with a sure turndown, and I'm concerned I will be late for my next stop.
Then I'm asked to come back in. The Chief Justice says to me, "We're not going to sign the Writ. However, we've had an informal telephone conversation with the [lower court] judge, and he decided he would like to have a bail hearing tomorrow morning at 9 am. So it's now up to you." Stunned, I thanked the Supreme Court and left.
Well, you can imagine the terror on that judge who denied bail, when he got that phone call, the same day. The next day, I go to the hearing, and there is this poor little black sharecropper. Oh, my God. They have mentally tortured him to sign this thing. I ask Paul, "Do you have an alibi for the time period of the alleged crime?" "Yes," he says, "I was in Atlanta at an SCLC meeting and I was even on TV." I say, "Great, except for one problem, you know most of the local folks can't tell you one day from the next there is no need for calendars here. We got to pin him down to the date." So I said, "Was anything special about that date?" He says "No . . . wait. Yes. That's when the candy man came." I'd never heard about that before. Local blacks buying candies, like on consignment, from a central candy man and then go door to door selling the candy. And that's the candy man, and so it's a big event, the kids are all waiting for him.
So we go into the court and the judge asks if I have any proposal for bail? I say, "Yes, $2,000 and we have a property bond ready (from a homeowner). "Sounds just fine," says the Judge, "but, of course, we'll have to have a hearing to make it official." I said I understand. And he says, "I assume you don't have any witnesses?"
But I do. I call the sharecropper to the stand. After a few questions, I ask him to tell me what happened. He tells the same terrible story: that Paul was in his house and he saw him taking some coins out of his little can of savings. I say, "What day was that?" He says, "I don't know." I say, "Was it the day the candy man came?" "Oh, yes, yes. It was the day the candy man comes, yes. I bought lots and then sold it." "Not the day before?" "No." "Not the day after?" "No. I bought my candy that day. I remember that day very clearly."
I then moved on in a way that would never be tolerated in the North. "You've known Paul and Pat and their baby a long time." He nods. "They work really hard for you and your people, don't they?" He nods again. "Do you really want to see Paul go to prison over your testimony? Did he really steal money from you?" The poor black sharecropper looks terrified. He stares at me, at Paul, at the sheriff . . . and he passes out on the stand. He literally faints on the stand. The Sheriff takes him out of the courtroom into a private room; when he comes back out, he testifies against Paul.
Bruce: They must have had something really bad on him.
Don: Oh no, just fear. They didn't have to have anything. After this day in court, Paul was indicted and I jumped into the grand jury world.
Bruce: He was out on bail and the grand jury indicted him on the basis of this guy's testimony?
Don: Right. Now I must go after the grand jury. Since 1880, it has been unconstitutional to systematically exclude blacks from juries, and though ignored, it is a strong point to raise on appeal after conviction in a federal court.
I had an edge. A jury challenge had been brought in this very county in 1964 but had ended merely with stern admonitions (which had been ignored), plus a slap on the wrist. Could I convince the federal court to intervene to enforce their own earlier order?
I drove to Birmingham to see U.S. District Judge H.H. Grooms who had issued the 1964 order. He was cordial, even stimulated by the concept, but he was not one to break new ground. He refused. I then flew to New Orleans to the 5th Circuit of Appeals, which said "No, but ..." and issued a one-week injunction with a hint to Grooms to allow time for me to go back to Grooms. With the encouragement from the Appellate Court, he signed an unprecedented injunction that lasted almost two years, during which time the Greene County Grand Jury and that of nearby counties ground to a halt. Paul, of course, could not be indicted until the federal court reviewed the system.
More than a year later (I am jumping ahead), the Federal Court in Birmingham heard evidence that the Greene County Grand Jury had discriminated against blacks since Reconstruction, not to mention since the 1964 federal court order.
I had to demonstrate how the Jury System was supposed to operate and how, in fact, it did. The Greene County Jury System was an example of discretionary segregation a microcosm of all southern jury systems and southern institutions in general, which managed to keep down black majorities.
One of the most important examples of this surreptitious segregation was eligibility for juries, which Alabama restricted to those
esteemed in the community for their integrity, good character and sound judgment.
The politics of jury exclusion was clear. No murderer of a civil rights worker would ever be convicted and no civil rights worker would ever be acquitted.
First, a racist governor (then, George Wallace) appoints only whites as jury commissioners to run the system. They, in turn, choose a clerk whose job is to prepare in a "well-bound book" a list of every potentially eligible juror in the county, obtained by scanning voter registration lists, tax assessor lists, city directories and telephone directories, and by visiting each precinct at least once a year for names not covered by those lists. The jury commissioners make lists also. Later, from all the lists, those "generally reputed . . . " are made eligible for the jury rolls. We knew that among whites, blacks were "generally reputed" to be just the opposite, or not reputed at all.
At the federal hearing, in response to my questions, the clerk of the jury commission even surprised cynics like me. She admitted that she did not obtain the names of the potentially eligible black jurors, at all. In fact, she didn't even know it was required by law, nor did she know how it could be done if she wanted to. She admitted not using the tax assessor's list and barely used the telephone directory.
Although she testified that she faithfully visited each precinct once a year, she spoke only with persons she knew, who she admitted were white. She said she knew few Negroes living in the city, did not know blacks outside the city, except those who have been "in trouble." She knew no Negro ministers and sought no names from black churches or organizations.
Bruce: In Greene County, which I recall was as around 80% black.
Don: Correct. Having no list of blacks to work from, nor any means of judging those "generally reputed," the jury commissioner simply took the previous year's list.
The state protested that "younger and better educated Negroes" migrated North for job opportunities, leaving only the poorly reputed. Anticipating this approach, my chief assistant, Kathy Veit, had spent the previous six months conducting her own survey of the black community, asking jury eligibility questions of every household. Aided by SNCC workers and unhampered by local police, who never guessed the purpose of the seemingly innocuous survey, she compiled a list showing that approximately 1600 jury-eligible blacks had been ignored which was very persuasive.
Our next attack was on the manner in which Governor George Wallace chose the Jury Commissioners, what blacks he had interviewed or consulted to make his choices. We obtained a subpoena and delivered it to an old-time Southern U.S. Marshall who advised us it was served on the Governor. But the next day, Wallace's lawyer appeared in court to "quash" (throw out) the subpoena because it had been served on an aide, not personally served on Wallace. The Marshall acknowledged he had offered it to the Governor who said, "Hand it to so-and-so instead."
The court correctly ruled this was not proper service. The same U.S. Marshall was again dispatched to serve the Governor. Again Wallace's lawyer appeared to quash the new subpoena because the few-dollar witness fee had not been given to the Governor. I exploded in court, demanded the Marshall take the stand, and got his admission that he had been serving subpoenas for years and knew all about the fees. I yelled at him, demanding he be held in contempt and then began yelling at the judges when they refused. One judge snidely noted: "You're lucky the old fox [Wallace] isn't on the stand making a fool of you."
Chief Judge Godbold warned me to calm down. Kathy was pulling my sleeve trying to get me to sit and quiet down, but I was out of control. When the court refused me another try at the Governor, I accused them of rigging the hearing for the Governor. At this point Godbold warned me, "One more word . . . " Kathy pulled me down and whispered, "We're going to win the main case, don't blow it on the Wallace part, which was always an extra."
I stood, chalk-faced, biting my lip till blood oozed out of my mouth. Godbold saw my struggle and called a recess asking me to calm down. I ran to the bathroom, and punched a tile wall I fantasized as George Wallace and the courts combined. Finally I calmed down, returned to the court, apologized and conceded that without Wallace, I could not prove that part of my case. The court held that part failed "for want of proof."
We then rested the case and waited for a decision that was delayed for another nine months. The court ruled unanimously that the jury commissioner had followed "a course of conduct which results in discrimination in the selection of jurors on racial grounds," enjoined such further discrimination, and ordered a 60-day report on progress to obtain a new list in conformity with the laws of Alabama and the U.S. Constitution. The court softened the blow by saying that the result applied whether the reasons were conscious, intentional, evil, or just innocent failure.
Bruce: True, but how often does a grand jury really need to meet in Greene County?
Don: Intermittently, as needed. But you can imagine how they felt about it, what a humiliation it was. And it really is humiliating not to be able to function.
Bruce: That must have been a huge issue in that whole Black Belt region of Alabama Greene County, Hale, Sumter, Marengo, Choctaw . . .
The term "Black Belt" has different but related connotations. Geographically, there is a band of dark soil usually black or red that is particularly suited for large- scale plantation-style cotton farming and which stretches in a long arc from Virginia, down through the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and into Mississippi. This band (along with the Mississippi Delta region) was where the pre-Civil War cotton plantations were concentrated, with huge numbers of slaves. And to this day, the Black Belt region contains a high ratio of Blacks to whites. In the 1960s, most Black Belt counties were either majority Black or close to it, and some like Lowndes, Greene, and Wilcox were 75% or more Black. So another meaning of "Black Belt" was "Black majority." In Alabama, the term "Black Belt" also referred to a specific group of counties within the larger South-wide Black Belt. These Alabama "Black Belt" counties all with Black majorities stretched across the state with the main towns being Tuskegee, Montgomery, and Selma. These Black Belt counties were the focus of SNCC and SCLC activity.]
Don: We lost our attack to abolish the "good character" law itself. On appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court noted:
This is the first case to reach the Court in which an attack upon alleged racial discrimination in choosing juries has been made by plaintiffs seeking affirmative relief [before conviction], rather than by defendants challenging judgments of criminal convictions . . . [i.e., after conviction by an illegal jury] . . . In sum, we cannot conclude, even on so compelling a record as that before us, that the guarantees of the Constitution can be secured only by the total invalidation . . .[of the law].
There was one dissenter . . .
Bruce: . . . Justice William Douglas?
Don: You guessed it. By then the conscience of the Court, Douglas abandoned legal niceties and addressed himself to the practicalities of an all-white jury commission using the "good character" law:
There comes a time when an organ or agency of state law has proved itself to have such a racist mission that it should not survive a constitutional challenge. . . . In the Kingdom of Heaven, an all-white or an all-black commission could be expected to do equal justice to all races ...
but not, he concluded, in the State of Alabama. He called for a required bi-racial jury commission.
Don: There was one unfinished piece of business from Mississippi. After I arrived in Selma, I started investigating what had happened to my ex-girlfriend, Molly why they shot into her house after she visited the "agriculture people." I went into town to the State Agriculture Office.
Bruce: This is back in her county?
Don: No, no, but it was her county that first alerted me. I investigated it in Selma, assuming I could at least start here and not have to travel back to Mississippi.
Bruce: So in Selma you go to the State or Federal Ag Department?
Don: State, because I didn't know better. I drove to the county agriculture office in town. "I'd like to talk to someone about allotments," I said to an elderly Southern lady sitting behind a desk, a Confederate flag behind her. "Well, then," she slyly smiled, "I suggest y'all walk down the street a piece, and on your right will be the U. S. (sing-songing the two letters) Department of Agriculture. They can tell you all about the Yankee program." She smiled again and dropped her eyes, indicating I was dismissed.
Fifteen minutes later, I approached a small storefront office with an American flag on the wall. (Here, you noticed such things.) A gracious Southern gentleman greeted me. (The fact that the office was federal didn't change the cast of characters, always Southerners.) He explained the program to me in simple terms: This was one of President Franklin Roosevelt's original innovations, he said, created when farmers were going bankrupt . . . to keep excess cotton and other crops off the market and thereby raise prices. This was accomplished, he told me, by providing government aid to those farmers who agreed to not plant a certain part of their acreage and to "plow under" some part of the already planted crops awaiting harvest.
"Is a lot of money involved?" I asked, remembering the commotion caused when I cost the Holly Springs movie theater owner his night's receipts for the new Elvis film.
"I suppose it's in the billions," said the official, "but it's paid to farmers all over the country even in your New York," he chuckled. (I again wondered how everyone knew I was from New York, again forgetting that most Southerners assumed all civil righters were from New York.) "It's not just paid here in the South," he assured me, with a wink.
Is enough paid here in the South to justify trying to murder Molly for just asking about it? I wondered but did not ask.
I realized I had to learn the history, which I started that night by reading Schlesinger's, The Age of Roosevelt.
The Great Depression of the 1930's combined with a drastic drop in world cotton prices, created even more severe hardships, and necessitated the proud Southerner to call for help from the Yankees. The New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt legislated federal controls, restricting the amount of land in production of cotton and other crops, and designed to achieve a better balance between supply and demand: money for not planting: subsidies and price supports, mandatory emergency soil conservation practices, and crop diversification. In effect, the cotton growers would be paid for not growing cotton, and be paid even more money for saving the soil they had depleted over the years.
The laws guaranteed an income for cotton producers and essentially subsidized the cotton industry. The sole condition was an agreement to plant only that cotton acreage that was allotted the Cotton Allotment. Over the years, because of a deteriorating world market, even more drastically reduced cotton planting was ordered. Yet, dominated by Southern representatives in Congress (many of whom were large plantation owners), the farm producers were paid even more for non-production and for using the land for other crops and soil conservation.
But there were also civil rights provisions in the Agriculture programs, thanks to FDR's lefty Vice-President [Henry Wallace], who had been the New Deal's U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Tenant farmers, who paid a flat rate after the crop, as well as sharecroppers, who received a percentage of the crop, (both called here, "Sharecroppers") were being thrown off the land. With less land to cultivate, Plantation Owners were paid for letting their land sit idle and without much need for sharecroppers. So, the new law also provided for the sharecropper to receive that amount of all the benefits of the subsidy proportionate to that part of the land he would have worked had the land been planted. If the plantation owner deprived the farmer of these benefits, the USDA could theoretically withhold the plantation owner's share of the benefits.
How did it come to pass that the South, the Civil War losers, ended up in control of that which concerned them the most: the Agriculture Committees of the U.S. Congress, and great influence over the USDA? The South lost the War, but won the Congress by becoming a one-party region: the then Democratic Party, the party not of Republican, Abe Lincoln. Without two-party contests, the white Democrats Southern Congressmen and Senators because of seniority rule, became chairmen or occupied strategic places on Congressional committees that were most important to them.
The manipulation of the agriculture monies was effortless. The amount of land allotted blacks for planting was less than for whites and less than strict formulas required. The subsidy payments for blacks wasn't paid at all, or was underpaid, or paid directly to the county store for the plantation owner to "adjust their account." The net result was that a white farmer and a black farmer could own or farm (or not farm) equal amounts of equal quality adjacent land, but the white would prosper while the black went bankrupt or ended up working for the white: collusion between Plantation Owners and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Bruce, did you knew anything about the Agriculture stuff before you went South?
Bruce: No. Not before I went South. But it was a big deal in all the rural counties I worked once I was there, it was one of the major issues. It was Alabama SCLC leader Al Turner, himself a farmer, who taught me about it, and the ASCS (Agriculture Stabilization & Conservation Service) elections that controlled the whole process at the county level.
Don: Well, it initially got past me. And, I learned there was more USDA problems: the FHA, no loans; and the Extension Service, no information.
Bruce: Right, and no ag training either for Blacks.
Don: And there's the food (to be discussed later) which comes via the USDA also: free surplus commodities, which was taken away from active civil rights counties, and substituted with food stamps, or no program at all.
Bruce: No program at all was more common.
Don: Yes, but very often food stamps, because people couldn't afford them.
The deeper I plunged into the agriculture programs, the more insight I gained into the South, apart from segregation and brutality and the more I was forced to re-evaluate the work I was doing. The Negro that the civil rights movement was all about was a farmer. Before we began, he was poor, lived in shacks without heat or toilets, had no medical facilities, and feared losing even that. Also, he couldn't vote for President, Governor, or Sheriff. Now, after two Civil Rights Acts, immeasurable registration drives, legislative and court victories, he was still poor, lived in shacks without heat or toilets, and had no medical facilities but now he could vote (though he could not yet elect a black).
But the vote that would do him the most good would be to elect the head of the county ASCS, which made "delicate decisions affecting the size of a farmer's allotment, on adjustments of program benefits between landlord and tenant, and on the appeals of farmers objecting to cuts in allotments."
Blacks on paper (that is, by U.S. statutes) were eligible to vote in the "Cotton Elections," which chose the panel which determined cotton subsidy payments. The federal law allowed every sharecropper and every tenant-farmer (as well as landlords) who had a share in the crop allotment to vote for the ASCS County Committee. The ASCS, whose programs and payments "as measured in dollar expenditures or impact on residents or both" dwarfed the regular county government operations, was an elected body.
No wonder a black farmer later told me he'd "Rather elect a black head of the county ASCS than a black sheriff or Governor." But the vote the "cotton-vote" was taken away in much the same manner as the vote for public officials. Like every other power structure in the South, and despite the right of blacks to vote, even in counties with numerical black majorities exceeding 80 percent, the Southern ASCS structure was totally white. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture appointed the State ASCS, but through 1964 had never appointed a black in the South. Nor had a black ever been elected to a County ASCS, where all the power resided.
1966 was to be the big civil rights cotton year. The growing agricultural sophistication of the Movement was now enhanced by working with old civil rights agriculture pros like the National Sharecroppers Fund (NSF) for a major campaign in the forthcoming September agriculture elections. The summer volunteers would have two summer months to canvass. There was money to correct voter lists, obtain ballots and file appeals when necessary. The black farmers would be ready before September rolled around.
But, suddenly, on July 10, 1966, the Alabama State ASCS announced the elections would be held 30 days earlier than usual, on August 16, 1966. (From 1960 to 1964 the elections in had been held in the fall.)
A few days later, a delegation headed by Jac Wassermann, the Southern head of the Sharecropper Fund, were sitting in my bedroom asking me to delay the ASCS elections. Still believing the problem was Southerners Southern federal employees I naively telephoned Washington. The phone call produced a lowly bureaucrat who only half-heartedly agreed to look into the problem.
I decided on a Kunstler-style course of action to attract attention by the USDA to the manipulations of the corrupt Southern federal employees. I would file a "political" lawsuit, to obtain a political goal instead of a judicial decision. The traditional lawyers approach, I had become aware, did not work, at least in the short run, and the short run was the only running I had learned to believe in. I decided to package a lawsuit that would attract national attention and gain the ear of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.
The litigation could have been filed in Montgomery, Alabama (where everything had taken place) but because the USDA was both local and national, the suit could also be filed in the nation's capitol. And it was.
I knew I would find the necessary black farmers to sign up for the ASCS election suit, I knew Stokely and SNCC would join, but the key to success in this civil rights venture was still the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. It was for an audience with him that I drove to his headquarters.
Bruce: You know, I tried to get SCLC to take this up, after Selma, when most of SCLC attention was focused on Chicago. I was proposing that SCLC start organizing around this whole ASCS issue. I wasn't even thinking about the food stamps commodities and extension service, but as I recall, each county would elect an ASCS board of five people. But I never could get SCLC interested in doing it, except Al Turner and Shirley Mesher. Well, go ahead and continue, because by this time I was in Mississippi.
In June of 1966, Dr. King had marched down the heart of Mississippi alongside Stokely Carmichael, when the chant "Black Power" began. Two months after the Meredith March, I drove into Atlanta, Georgia, near the place of his birth and where his father still preached at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. I had met Dr. King casually, but had never spoken seriously with him. I had dealt with SCLC in Mississippi, and much more since I arrived in Alabama. Paul Bokulich was a favorite SCLC worker, and I worked in the Alabama counties most important to SCLC: Dallas (Selma), Greene, and Montgomery.
Dorothy Cotton, a longtime (and only female) SCLC Executive Staff member, who had marched with him in the most perilous times, set up our meeting. It began in SCLC's Atlanta office, a storefront shambles in the poor black section of town. I expected a paragon of order to match Dr. King's calm, neat appearance, but chaos and anarchy were all I saw. The various phones were ringing and only occasionally answered. Mail was strewn over desks and overlapping to the floor. (I picked up an envelope from the U.S. Attorney General himself, and placed it on a desk.) Everyone seemed to be yelling at the small, stocky, light-skinned black man in an open-collared white shirt and smart grey slacks, distinguishing him from most others who were wearing workshirts and jeans. Dr. King, then 38, caught all the conversations on the wing.
"Can you speak at such and such college next month?
"On the 16th?"
"I think so."
"Will you endorse so and so for election?"
"I try not to endorse anyone, see if its necessary."
"How about dinner tonight with Rev. Somebody?"
"Will you do a guest sermon at ..., appear at a fund raising dinner . . ., meet so and so?"
Bruce: Was this during a board meeting?
Don: I don't know which is a board meeting, everybody was there.
Bruce: Oh, an executive staff meeting. Were there 30 or 40 people or five or ten?
Don: 30 or 40.
Bruce: All right, sounds like an SCLC board meeting then.
Don: OK. Actually, more than 30 or 40.
All this was going on while I was ignored, except for a "Hiya" from a few staffers I knew. But I can't get any attention or get noticed. And then Dorothy just starts yelling: "Martin, I told you he was coming, and you agreed." It doesn't work, so she says, "Don was Paul Bokulich's lawyer." (Paul was in Greene County, an SCLC favorite, and the one that I got freed in that Alabama Supreme Court phenomenon.)
When she said I'm Paul's lawyer, people applauded. I really got some notice. And so at this point, I start describing what I came for but I got out three words when his staff begins pulling at him again.
I looked helplessly at Dorothy who, as a SCLC veteran, could yell at him, "Martin! Donald, Paul Bokulich's lawyer, has come all the way from Selma (the magic words) and you should talk to him in quiet."
"Okay," he yelled back over the roar, "Andy [Young], Ralph [Abernathy]," and he named a few others, "Come across the street to the cafe, I want you to hear something." Calm reigned in a quiet black cafe as we sat at the rear table, set aside for private SCLC conferences. Coffee and doughnuts were quickly placed and the waitress absented herself. No introductions. I was asked to make a presentation, but after a few sentences the leader interrupted, "Why Washington? Why bring the farmers? What are the logistics: cars, funds, food, sleeping accommodations, bail, if needed?" I had never thought about those issues and I was impressed by his humanity and political acumen in dealing with basic needs.
I had no refined plans yet, not even farmers signed up, just a format for direct action. I admitted the lack of logistical planning and began the laborious explanation of the cotton programs. I was just in the middle of the subsidy part when Dr. King abruptly asked to borrow my N.Y Times and got up, apparently to go to the men's room. I again looked helplessly at Dorothy who urged me to continue. Feeling quite discouraged, I resumed. Fifteen minutes later, Dr. King returned, motioned me to continue while Abernathy whispered in his ear, presumably a summary of what he had missed.
I had waited for Dr. King to return and I said, "Dr. King, the farmers will tell you they'd rather get one of their own elected to the Cotton Board than elected as Sheriff or Governor . . . " Because it's more important to them."
Bruce: Absolutely true, yeah.
Don: That clicked. And I said, "This is not an exaggeration, I could bring you the people. Let's face it," I said, "our constituency are farmers." I stopped, realizing how presumptuous is was to be saying this to Dr. King. I mildly continued that integration is very important, but the farmers can't afford to eat or sleep in the Holiday Inn, or do most of the things that we've gotten them access to. Voting, of course, is critical, but they need money, they need to live, and this money is being stolen from them by the Feds, courtesy of Orville Freeman, the liberal head of the USDA. From the top, they are allowing the stealing of the cotton money.
Bruce: It was the local boards that were doing this to them.
Don: Yeah, but only with USDA acquiescence. Dr. King was now carefully listening to me. I told what I knew about the history of Southern control of the USDA. Then I concluded, "This is real important. I would really appreciate if SCLC would come into the case as a named plaintiff, allow me to represent you, and allow me to put your name on press releases. You see, we're going to DC as a first step in a campaign against the USDA next comes the food programs." I said, "We're not looking to make big strides in this one, we're going to make a slight dent to show the Plantation Owners that we can get control in this area."
"What about SNCC and your friend Stokley?" Dr. King asked, referring to tensions over him halting the middle Selma March [AKA Turn Around Tuesday"].
Bruce: He knew you were a friend of Stokely?
Don: . . . or Dorothy had told him.
"Stokely knows I'm here (as if that was an answer)," I replied. "SNCC, like your people, have worked on the ASCS problems and will be present. Stokely hopes," I exaggerated, "that you'll join him in Washington, D.C. for the hearing." Dr. King gave me a smile of appreciation for my diplomacy.
I believe they had decided before I arrived, and that the meeting was to size me up. I apparently passed because after a few nods, Dr. King announced approval. I could use their name and Dr. King would appear "If possible and appropriate."
I thanked everyone, smiled at Dorothy and left for SNCC in Atlanta to keep my neutrality intact.
Time was against us. Within days we needed a technical lawsuit to explain the cotton program and its abuses . . . and the need to postpone the elections, now a few weeks away. And to find farmer-plaintiffs, explain the lawsuit to them, reassure or acknowledge their fears, sign them up, convince them to come to D.C. and interview them for their evidence about the programs. The final lawsuit was H. O. William et al. v. Orville L. Freeman et al., (D.C., 1966)), with 36 farmer-Plaintiffs from 23 cities in 11 Alabama counties each, a "Negro, poor, a sharecropper or tenant farmer or small farm owner and dependent on cotton farming for a livelihood." Each depended on the ASCS, which cheated them out of their rights, including the right to serve on the ASCS itself.
Kennedy liberal, Orville L. Freeman, as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was the major defendant. We filed our lawsuit in D.C. to compel the USDA to restrain their Alabama affiliate from advancing the date of the premature elections. A hearing was set for August 9, 1966, one week before the new date for the elections.
In the interim, a USDA official leaked to Jac Wassermann of NSF (who gave it to me), a leaked secret report of the USDA which was withheld from President Lyndon Johnson amazing, secret even from the President of the United States. The cover page read as follows:
January 21, 1966
To: The Secretary [of Agriculture]
From: William M. Seaborn, Assistant to the Secretary
Attached is the year-end report on civil rights activities in the Department in 1965. If you wish to transmit this report to the White House, you may wish to omit the sections entitled Evaluation /s/ Wm. M. Seaborn" (my emphasis)
Not tell the President! I was staggered. The report contained massive confessions of USDA discrimination not to be seen by President Lyndon Johnson. The evaluations had, in fact, been omitted from the Presidential copy. In some undefined way, I eliminated Secretary Freeman from responsibility for holding back this information, perhaps he hadn't even seen the report.
The report was filled with statements of success, interwoven with "Evaluations" which contradicted the success. It admitted how racially unfairly the programs were administered and acknowledged many of the charges in our lawsuit.
I wrote a letter to Secretary Freeman outlining the proof we would offer, excerpted quotes from the secret report, and flew to D.C. in advance of the farmers.
As I had hoped, U.S. District Judge Howard Corcoran, in a pre-hearing conference, voiced hope that since we were all on the same side, a conference between both sides might resolve the issue with a compromise: a civil rights plea-bargain. As I had written to the Secretary, "... the real 'bad guys' are the Southern racists hiding behind Federal badges [and Federal payroll]. ... This should not be an adversary proceeding."
On the eve of the hearing, 18 top officials of the USDA sat at a table long enough for all 18 to face us directly. "Us" was me, two local D.C. counsel, and a black USDA "Civil Rights" official, who uncomfortably sat on our side of the table. I wasn't yet politically sophisticated enough to realize the positive impact the meeting would have had with some farmers present, plus Stokely and Dr. King. I was still at a point where I felt more could be achieved if we "professionals" could talk alone. The Missionary-Bwana in me was much alive. However, I did have everyone's statements and affidavits: documentation of discrimination and brutality "caused" by USDA local employees.
An undersecretary, gracious and smiling, urged me to open the meeting. I welcomed the opportunity, addressing each of the 18 personally and formally, introduced my colleagues. I spoke for three-and-one-half hours as I rattled off specific events, names, dates, produced documents, and quoted the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. I hinted at, but avoided mentioning, the secret report. I was hoarse and choked up as I saw my goal in sight: I had brought the message to the center of power, the belly of the government, where action is accomplished by lifting a telephone . . . and all we asked was the delaying of a date.
"Well, that's all I have to say," I said, as I looked down at my mass of papers strewn over the table. There was an appreciative pause. I accepted the congratulations of my co-counsel and the embarrassed "Civil Rights" Agriculture man. I felt lightheaded as I waited for a response from the 18 who exchanged glances waiting for the designated speaker to begin.
A USDA official also congratulated me for my presentation and described me as "the type of young man we need, who keeps us on our toes." He smiled at me as he juxtaposed a few more cliches, "Rome wasn't built in a day" and "All will come to those who wait." (I hoped we had waited long enough and that was his point; we were ready for the reward.)
There is a very delicate balance between the relationship of the federal government and the Southern states. If we are ever going to bring about a change down there, we have to go very slowly and very cautiously. . . . We know all of what you've said . . . and more. We've had our office of the Inspector General investigating all of these incidents you've described."
He nodded to the Inspector General who grunted affirmation of his thoroughness by the stacks of neatly piled looseleafs in front of him. Now the speaker changed his tone.
Great changes have been accomplished, but you people can never have enough. Look how far we've gone. We must learn to live with the Alabama whites or else we can never deal with them. What does a year mean to wait for the 1967 ASCS election when it can be done right? Under no circumstances will the USDA overrule a decision of a state ASCS, and we doubt a court can, or would, order us to do so. I'm sorry."
I was numb as each of the 18, rising to announce the conclusion of the meeting and their compliance with the judge's request, came to our side of the table and shook hands and made some reassuring remarks. I shook hands with each of them.
We left and I thanked my two co-counsel who, either more corrupt or less naive than I, were not especially surprised or upset. I went to my room and poured out the story on the phone to Stokely. It's not the Southerners or federal bureaucratic incompetence. Stokely gave me the we've-been-telling-you- this-for-years" snort, but he sounded more surprised than he wanted to admit. Dr. King made no comment when I called him, except to thank me for the immediate information.
Later than night I called UPI and related the story of the secret report. Despite my intemperate language about "crackers in federal uniforms," UPI released the story across the country of a "super-secret Agriculture Department self-appraisal of its shortcomings in racial matters [being used] in a ground breaking federal suit." The article forced a direct response from Secretary Freeman that a delay in the ASCS elections "would disrupt efforts already made to run the elections fairly." The ASCS was breaking out of the darkness. On the very day of the hearings, the Alabama State ASCS announced their decision to have "a member of its civil rights advisory committee sit in on all future meetings."
The hearing began in the morning of August 9, 1966 with the black farmers, dressed in their Sunday best, seated in a federal courtroom in the nation's capital, joined by a dark-suited Stokely Carmichael. Backing them up were the various Agriculture civil rights organizations, including Jac Wasserman and his National Sharecroppers Fund.
I opened for our side by reciting the previous night's presentation, accompanied by a soft chorus of amens and ah hahs, so soft that the judge could not get himself to silence them. Judge Corcoran was disturbed by the failure of the negotiations (though the USDA had taken responsibility by reiterating to him that they "would not interfere" with the state system). He also begrudged the clogging of his already overbooked court calendar and he was uncomfortable with the presence of the farmers, as if it were a deliberate attempt to pressure him which, of course, it was. At one point he chastised me for keeping my clients from their crops.
"Let's try to hurry things along so all these people can go home." The judge looked disapprovingly in the direction of Stokely Carmichael, and couldn't help noticing the large number of press. He further noted the significance of one of our first offers of evidence, a U.S. Civil Rights Commission report on discrimination in federal agriculture programs. (I privately damned that austere body for refusing to testify about their own report until I forcibly subpoenaed them: "We're not supposed to take sides," they had angrily explained to me.) Then I read selected portions of the "secret report" and then slowly read the cover page. I was pleased to see the Judge sneaking a look at his copy of that first page to see if I had exaggerated the deceive-the-President language.
Still, there was an air of detachment and unreality about the proceeding, until I called my first witness, a slight, 50-year-old black Alabama farmer who had tried to run in the ASCS elections. Peter Agee of Magnolia, Alabama, who had never been a state away from his lifetime home, swore to tell the whole truth in a D.C. court. He told how Frank Shields, the white County ASCS man ("He been knowing me all his days. We were raised up together"), had attempted to bribe him not to come and threatened him if he did. Shields had come to see him when he wasn't home.
Agee: "If he comes back" Agee told his sister, "tell him I ain't here."
. . . "I came back later that day and there he sat on [my] porch. I dodged him [I went around through a corn field]. I stood and looked at him, but he didn't see me."
* * * * *
Q: "Why were you dodging him?"
A: " ... when you see a white man sitting on your porch and you have signed something like what I have signed [candidacy for the ASCS] . . . I didn't know what he had in mind."
Then Agee told of a later conversation with ASCS Official Shields.
"Peter, I will give you 10 acres of the best farming land and I will show you how to get loans for cows ... if you just come out of it . . . out of this election.
' . . . I said, "I am going to hold on [even though] I may have to leave here . . .'
* * * * *
"[Shields replied]: 'You are not going to get rich off it [being on the ASCS], you only get $8 [for a meeting], three times a year and that is not very much. And I am getting mad at these lawyers coming down South and leading you wrong; you don't know what you are doing."
[Government lawyer]: "Are you saying he told you this?"
A: "You asked me to tell you."
* * * * *
[Jelinek]: "Did you have a conversation . . . about your coming to this court . . .?"
A: " . . . they asked me not to go to Washington even if you stay on the ballot. And I came anyway. I don't know what will be the results when I get back."
[The Court]: "Who asked you not to come to Washington?"
A: "That was this committeeman, Mr. Frank Shields. ...'no harm is going to come to you [he said], but yet don't go to Washington.' [Still later] 'Understand now, there is no harm, there is no harm'--"
The judge heard all this and appeared to feel the testimony somewhat melodramatic. But not the sharecroppers in the audience who understood the threatening meaning of "no harm, no harm"; each wondered what they would face when they returned.
Agee told the judge that he was afraid of Shields, "a little afraid and shaking just like I am now" but he remained as a candidate and came to Washington to testify.
The first witness, much quoted in the nation's press, had accused a federally paid USDA official of bribery and intimidation; the secret report was in evidence and 28 more witnesses were ready to tell their stories, to try to explain in the stylized Question and Answer form of courtroom ritual, the real world of white power and black fear.
By the time the second witness took the stand, the Government capitulated. They offered to overrule the Alabama ASCS and extend the election for an additional month (a few days less than originally scheduled). The farmers' appeal was "deemed reasonable," though Secretary Freeman was reported to have told Senator Robert Kennedy, "They had no case at all. We only agreed to the postponement because of the Department's image."
But would my clients agree to one month in lieu of the sweeping reforms also demanded in the lawsuit? I had learned enough not to make decisions for my clients, though I recommended the settlement. A victory against the USDA, I believed, was more important than the details. As they caucused for what seemed an indeterminable amount of time in the federal hallway, some asked Stokely what to do. He would only comment, "It's up to you but I know you will be sure that there'll be no more Atlantic City's," referring to the National Democratic Convention of 1964, where big shots made promises to the black delegation and then reneged. The Judge chided me: "What's the matter? Don't your clients trust you?"
"No, they don't." I answered polemically, "They've been betrayed by too many white men who professed to have their best interests in mind."
The Judge, preferring to wait rather than hear two dozen more witnesses, fumed until a spokesman accepted the offer.
Such a minor victory. And so few results. With the extra time, all the enthusiasm and spirit of the victorious farmers and the Movement, with a special grant for voter instruction, with a USDA truck speeding to Alabama with box after box of blue pamphlets explaining the election but with Lowndes County landlords collecting the ballots to save the tenants the "trouble" of mailing them we lost, badly. Not one black elected to a county committee. Yet we felt a symbolic victory; we could overpower the USDA under controlled circumstances . . . and we had a bit more muscle back home in Alabama.
One farmer, unaware of the hearing, told a reporter there were some improvements in getting information and help from the ASCS. "Something done shook 'em up. I don't know what, but something sure shook 'em up."
To the Southerners, our victory was enormous. They knew a month wouldn't change the results of elections controlled by many pressures. The importance to them lie in a federal court with the acquiescence of the federal Agriculture Department interfering with the local ASCS, and, by inference, with the multi-billion dollar subsidy program. A high ASCS official in D.C., visibly anxious about the reaction in Alabama, remarked, "After all, we've got to work with those fellows down there." Other observers believed the effect of the case was to force USDA to play its hand a little more aggressively. A North Carolina Congressman was said to have met secretly with the Southern members of the Agriculture Committee and told them: "You're turning your back on your own people."
Repercussions should have been expected. Agee had been threatened, my own civil rights colleagues had warned me of dire consequences to all of us if I "won" such a case. So why were we all so surprised when a few days after the court's decisions, the counterattack began?
Agee had returned home and was working in the family store when some white men came in and told him, "Peter Agee will not be able to live in Magnolia after the lies he told in Washington." A few hours later, a group of white men drove by and fired shots in the air. When civil rights worker, Dick Reavis, called for the police, they instead arrested three blacks in the vicinity and Reavis himself, for objecting to their search of the victim's store without a warrant.
Agee knew his county even if the Judge hadn't believed him; he knew the meaning of "no harm, no harm." Agee realized he must leave his lifelong home; he fled to Memphis a few hours before some white men told his sister to look behind the store, there was a body and "it might be your brother."
I whipped off a letter to Judge Corcoran with a news clipping of what happened, and wrote about the "fate of a witness before your honor who dared tell the truth about bribery and intimidation."
There was more. Three-quarters of the members of the Washington delegation were evicted from the plantations they had lived on for as long as four generations, evicted from the soil of their birth, with no other work, no other place to go, and no other means even to earn money for food. They were cut loose. I would be next.
Don: When I came back, the white reaction was menacing.
Bruce: Back to Selma?
Don: Back to Selma. It was a very tough period for 4 1/2 months..
Bruce: Was this the time when the judge set you up?
Don: Yes. And more. Everything happened.
Bruce: Everything happened. You f*** with the money, yeah. I'm sure that's why Molly's place was shot at, she was threatening the money.
Don: A week after the ASCS case, I'm before the judge who was "reversed" by the Alabama Supreme Court in the Bokulich case but I'm before him on another case. Ironically, I have become relatively friendly with him despite the first days we met.
Bruce: This is in Selma?
Don: No, this is in Greene County, City of Eutaw. And I'm just getting my papers together and talking to my client, when I see a guy wearing a dark suit and nobody (but me in the first few weeks) ever wore a dark suit to court, and certainly not in the rural areas. He was obviously an important Southerner, whispering to the judge; I felt apprehensive. Then dark suit leaves. The judge addresses me and tells me that man who just left is a member of the Bar Association and "he has advised me, shown me official papers, that you're not licensed in the state of Alabama, nor do you have an introducer with you."
From the very day full-time civil rights lawyering in the South began, long before me, there was an agreement made between the civil rights bar and the Southern bar. The Southerners did not want their local lawyers to have to try these civil rights cases, but they would be stuck with them because of the constitutional requirement of counsel.
Bruce: Wait a minute, the civil rights section or division of the Alabama Bar Association is what you're referring to?
Don: No, no, the Bar, the Alabama Bar Association itself is dealing with groups such as ACLU and the President's Committee.
Bruce: Yeah, but some department of the Bar, or some body of the Bar.
Don: No, they're too small, it's just the Bar. And they very quickly came to an agreement that out-of-state lawyers would be allowed to handle civil rights cases in their courtrooms and the Southerners would be relieved of such duties.
Bruce: Because otherwise if somebody asked for a lawyer and they didn't have money, they would assign a white Southern lawyer to do a civil rights case, which would destroy the white Southern lawyer's practice?
Don: Not quite but the civil rights work would take his time, cost him money and he didn't want to be involved with our people anyhow.
Bruce: So Atticus Finch ["To Kill A Mocking Bird": a Southern good guy lawyer, played in the movie by Gregory Peck] would be the exception to that.
Don: That's right, but you wouldn't find more than one or two. Most were not Atticus Finch and they were quite satisfied passing this duty on to our lawyers, although not licensed in Mississippi or Alabama. The concept of an "introducer" is still done in every state. I can go to Omaha and try one case with an introducer, who acknowledges that I'm licensed in New York and a worthy guy. This was expanding it to more than one case: staying and trying cases indefinitely.
Bruce: So the introducer would say, "This is Don Jelinek, it's OK, he's a real lawyer, let him practice?"
Don: Yes, and he would add: "I am overseeing or supervising, or taking some responsibility." My introducer was Bruce Boynton, for whom ACLU was paying handsomely.
Bruce: Now this is like spring or summer of 66 we're talking about?
Don: I first arrived in Alabama in June of 66. This is after the case in Washington, so this is more like the fall.
Bruce: OK, but you have been already practicing in Alabama courts for several months then?
Don: Yes, after I practiced in Mississippi for a year.
Bruce: Right, but in terms of admitted to the Bar of Alabama?
Don: Not "admitted" but "permitted," yeah. And, of course, I'm certified to practice in most of the federal courts. But Bruce Boynton has ceased showing up; on the other hand, most of them don't show up anyhow, because after a while the judges know who you are, who your local lawyer is and they don't want to waste time. But today Boynton's not there, and the judge says, "You won't be allowed to practice in this court any longer, including the case today."
Then he goes off the record and calls me up to the bench. I ask him, "What's this all about? I've been in your court alone dozens of times." He says, "I hear you did real well in Washington." Then he says, "Y'all watch yourself." So I race to Boynton's office, get past Mama, and I tell him that from here on in he has to be there with me. He says, "I'm no longer your introducer." Whew!
Bruce: He didn't want to be your introducer?
Don: Right, no reason.
Bruce: [Laughing] You f*** with these people's money, man, I'm telling you...
Don: Yeah, but a part of it is that I also f***** with Mama's political slate. I call up the Boss, I say this is really serious, you know, they're obviously targeting me. "Bruce [Boynton] has dumped me and we haven't got anybody else." I've tried and couldn't get anyone else.
Bruce: What about Fred Gray?
Don: Fred Gray wouldn't go near me from day one. His excuse was that he does NAACP cases only. So I'm talking to the Boss and I say, "Wait a second, what about Chuck Morgan?"
Charles Morgan was a legend, a young Birmingham lawyer, who, in 1963 at the time of the bombing of the four children in their Sunday School made a public statement printed all over, like "Life Magazine," that the murderers of these children "are all of us [Southerners]. We sat back and let it happen." He was virtually run out of the state, set up in Atlanta, and joined my ACLU Board of Directors, specifically the lawyer part, the LCDC of ACLU. And so I said to the Boss, "He's on our Board and he's still licensed in Alabama." The Boss says, "It's a great idea, I'm going to call him now to accept your call and then you call him."
Bruce: But wouldn't he have to drive over from Atlanta every time you had a case?
Don: Not quite. The reality is that it just takes one or two times, but anytime you're in trouble, yes, then he might have to. In Mississippi, I had Jess Brown, and he came only once or twice the whole time I was there. So I call Morgan and tell him the whole story of what's going on, and he says, "I don't think I can help you." Somewhat hysterical, I said, "What do you mean? This is critical, I'm about to be wiped out in the cause that made you famous." He says, "I think the repercussions for me would be more serious than for you." (Later on I found out he had ambitions to run for Governor of Alabama, and a whole bunch of other things.) I was very disappointed . . . and nervous . . . and angry but the next day I exploded when I got a "confirming" letter from him: that I asked him to "sponsor" me and he refused.
Bruce: He wanted that in the record?
Don: Right, the son-of-a-bitch. That did it. I wrote a letter to the entire ACLU community and charged cowardice. I called him a self-absorbed coward, and I attached his letter to show what he did. That caused a big commotion internally. Morgan had nothing he could say in his own defense, but, on the other hand, it wasn't a very popular thing for me to do, given how heroic a figure he is.
So now I'm moving on to the Dick Reavis' case.
Bruce: Well, before we move on, let's go back to Eutaw. So the judge says you can't practice, what happened to the case?
Don: That's a good question. In their world, they just put it on hold. These were minor harassment cases. They just tucked it away because they didn't know what they were going to do yet.
Bruce: So it was just put in legal limbo?
Don: Yes. The lawyer is not available, the case is continued for three months, four months.
Bruce: OK. Now when this kind of thing would happen to you, how did the people you were representing react to that? Did they say, "Hey, we were counting on this lawyer and now he can't do it, he's messed up or, did they see it as they and you were all part of the Movement, that this kind of harassment was the enemy attacking the Movement and it was all part of the same war?
Don: Great question. The latter. 100%.
Bruce: So the clients never got mad at you?
Don: Never. As a matter of fact, they all worried about me, that something was obviously about to happen to me. In fact, they were more on top of it than I was. So now, this is after Boynton's dropped me, and Morgan won't step in; my next case is in Marengo County.
Bruce: Oh God, Marengo County. Demopolis [the main town].
Don: Right. And Dick Reavis, a white Texan who I love, is the guy who stepped in to protect Peter Agee of Magnolia, Alabama, when he came back from the ASCS case. Dick was always getting arrested. And this day it was him and Charles Salisbury, a local black man. The case is called, I step up, and the only difference from the last time is this is Judge Hildreth. And he was the most pissed over the Bokulich injunction.
Bruce: Why was that?
Don: 'Cause he couldn't convene his own grand jury. The judge in Greene County, who was actually the trigger of it by not granting bail to Paul Bokulich took it in stride. Judge Hildreth took it very hard. And he pulls out those same papers, and he says, "Mr. Jelinek, it has come to my attention that you're not a member of the Alabama Bar." And I said, "So what fooled you all these months I've been before you: my Southern accent?" He says, "It's not a laughing matter. Apparently you're practicing law without a license, which is a crime in this state."
A recess is called and Dick Reavis says to me in the hallway, "They're going to arrest you." I scoff, "They wouldn't have the nerve to arrest me. I'm a civil rights lawyer, they'd never arrest me." And, as I'm saying this, a deputy comes along with the handcuffs, and arrests me on the spot. Reavis and Salisbury go back into the courtroom and the judge is not giving them any continuance. He says, "You brought an illegal lawyer, you knew he wasn't licensed here. It's your problem." And they said "Well, we refuse to participate."
Bruce: That's the right thing to do.
Don: Yeah, and so they're convicted. Meanwhile, I was brought upstairs to a cell, where there are two white guys, really just the scariest looking white guys imaginable. I was sure they're directed to beat me up and then say they were drunk. I'm shoved in by my jailer and they say, "You must be Dickie's lawyer, he said you'd be joining us." They were very nice to me, did everything they could to calm me down. I guess I was frightened because, like the Boss, I had thought my suit was a protective shield. Then Reavis comes back of course, Charlie's in a segregated cell and we spend the evening together. They made this concoction of toilet water, Kool-Aid and opened Contac cold capsules and stirred it up. My God, I was stoned in moments.Bruce: And the white guys [in the cell] were cool?
Don: They were great people. And they talked about their cases, admitting they were guilty. I stayed in a couple of days and the jailers kind of threw me out. You never know how that works exactly, but suddenly you're out the door. I visited my former white cellmates a couple of times afterwards and brought them things. . .
Bruce: Before we leave the Demopolis jail, Demopolis was infamous within the Movement as one of the real hell holes. One of the stories I heard this was probably around February or March of '65, at the height of the big Selma uprising was about two of the most fascinating characters that came through Selma. I'm going to tell my story and just insert it here, if you don't mind.
Don: Speak on, Bruce.
Bruce: Two of the most fascinating characters were Nanny Washburn and her son, whose name escapes me. You ever meet her?
Bruce: Nanny Washburn looked like she was 90, but she was probably only 70, a white woman from Appalachia, a Southernish accent but not an Alabama accent, not a deep Mississippi accent. You know, a hill accent from white Appalachia. (To us northerners, most Southern accents sound more or less alike, but to Southerners there are distinct and important differences.)
I think she had gotten radicalized back in the '30s in either the union struggles or the tenant farmer movement or something like that, and she and her son had come to Selma to support what was going on. As I said, she's 70, he's 45 or 50 and totally blind. He cannot see anything. So between Bloody Sunday and the march to Montgomery, SCLC was organizing marches and demonstrations in all the surrounding counties except Lowndes. And Marengo County was one of them. And so there was a march in Demopolis which was tear gassed, and attacked, and there were brutal beatings, and all that kind of shit.
Nanny and her son were arrested, along with lot of local people. Well, the story we heard and I absolutely believe it's true is that the cops in the Demopolis jail took particular fury against the son, a white Southern man. And they would do things like he's blind they would sneak up on him all quite and hit him with a club, or he'd be sitting in a cell and they'd take their shoes off, and in their socks, tip toe into the cell and then spray him with tear gas. So he would never, ever know when he would be attacked. They'd march him from one cell to another, leave him standing not knowing where he was, and then slam the steel-bar door against him. Never safe, and never could relax for an instant. And they did this for days. That's the Demopolis jail. Every time I hear of Demopolis I think of that story.
Don: That is horrible. I can't imagine a mental torture worse than that. Yeah, it's the same jail.
Don: So, then I get word that the Selma Grand Jury a special wing of it has been convened to investigate the illegal practice of law in Alabama.
Bruce: Just a general subject [grin].
Don: [Laughing] It just came up. That crime called for six months in jail. And then about the same time, I get a notice of eviction from my office.
Bruce: This is the one over the funeral parlor?
Don: No, by this time we had moved many blocks up the street. We had a single family house, very nice, nice office. So we got a notice of eviction there.
Don: At about the same time I was being evicted, I had to go to Mobile to ask for a stay of Stokely's trial. I never had a case like this. We had photographs of every minute of the alleged crime. All of SNCC was there for that day, every SNCC photographer imaginable and I had all the photos for the trial and I turned it into a litigation-history.
Bruce: I thought the trial was in Selma? You said Mobile.
Don: Yes, Mobile was where the federal judge was.
Bruce: OK, so he'd been tried and convicted in Selma and you were appealing to federal court?
Don: No, he was yet to stand trial, and I was attempting to stop the trial, with very solid federal grounds. Six days after my arrest, Stokely and his co-defendants faced trial in Selma on the Inciting To Riot charges. The day before the trial, having failed with other methods, I headed to Mobile to see Judge Daniel Thomas (who was later scheduled to judge my case). I had notified Stokely that he must prepare to return to Alabama, in case . . . .
That was a definite possibility. Although I was never knowledgeable about judges, everyone knew that Thomas was so "bad" on civil rights that a special law, requiring three judges instead of one to hear certain type of civil rights cases, was dubbed: "the Thomas Amendment" designed to allow two other judges to outvote him.
Even before I arrived to see him, he had tried to stop me from appearing before him. A courageous black Mobile attorney, Vernon Crawford, was to "recommend" me to practice before this court. Thomas asked Crawford not to recommend me, but he refused. I later learned that Crawford suffered business reverses from former law partners of the Judge.
After I was "admitted," I was told to wait in court until my case was called. It was late morning and Stokely's trial was the next day. I cooled my heels in that courtroom for five hours as the Judge ignored me and did not call the case. I rose a few times, but was ordered to be silent. At the end of the day, he told me, "I'll give you an answer in the morning. Be in my chambers before court opens." I pointed out that the trial was 2 pm the next day: he walked away.
The next morning I sat in the Judge's anteroom, Thomas walked in, I stood up, but he walked right past me into his chambers. When he emerged 20 minutes later, I politely asked for his decision. He ignored me and headed for the door to the courtroom. My nerves, temper and patience all burst at once. I jumped into his path, blocked the door and demanded, "You promised me a decision this morning, the trial is this afternoon." In the majesty of his black robes, he scowled at me with contempt. "You are the worst enemy the Negro people have. You represent those who do violence to harmonious relations between Negroes and Whites in the South. I don't sign injunctions for Stokely Carmichael!" He then pushed me aside and walked to his courtroom as all rose in respect to the court.
After calling Stokley, I ran to a cab, raced to a plane and arrived at the Montgomery airport in time to meet Stokely arriving from a short (shorter because of me) vacation. I almost missed him. He looked like a Green Beret, dressed in an army field jacket, olive drab fatigue pants and boots. We barely exchanged hellos and jumped into my car, which had been left at the airport, for the 5O-mile ride along Highway 80 to Selma. We retraced in reverse the route of the Selma March, past a large billboard portraying a menacing Black Panther and the message, "Pull the Lever for the Black Panther and Go On Home," past Lowndes County where Stokely's major organizing took place, past the ditch where Mrs. Liuzzo was shot to death after the March.
We were both depressed. Stokely and the others would be convicted in the Selma Recorders Court, sentenced and locked upstairs in the jail. I would then bail them out, file appeals to the higher court where, if convicted again, they could go to prison. But we all knew those risks, that wasn't the reason for the depression. The despair was personal. I was traumatized from the encounter with Thomas, sleep-deprived and moving too fast. I was also frightened that we might be the target of snipers. Stokely and I in one car might be considered a very good target and, thanks to the Avis Rent-a-Car spy at her booth at the small Montgomery airport, everyone knew we were now on the road. Stokely was depressed about losing his vacation, depressed that he had met a woman and didn't have much time to be with her, and because he didn't feel like going back to jail again.
We talked at each other in counterpoint, complaining of our plights, discouraged and tired. I asked Stokely, as I would many times, if he was scared. He admitted that he worried about a sniper's bullet and reached into his coat jacket as if to fondle a pistol. I never learned nor asked if he was armed. As we crossed the bridge into Selma, a police car was immediately on our tail.
Then we saw the national press. Of course they would be there to witness the latest trial of the notorious Black Power advocate. I parked a few blocks away from the Court to avoid them, but they came running toward us. Stokely came alive, as he had in the sound truck on the eve of the First Black Elections.
A big grin spread over his face. He bounded out of the car while I was sagging, dreading the press and the questions. Stokely took one look at me and punched me, hard, in the shoulder. I was stunned, wondering why he hit me. Then he was laughing, raucous laughter, and making jokes about the Mayor and the Judge. I found myself giving him a friendly shove and, when the press came, we were two adolescents, laughing and shoving each other. The press asked Stokely what his chances were. He said, "Ask my lawyer." I laughed as I produced three bailbonds dated that day for convictions that had not yet taken place. Stokely sobered up and made a serious statement about Black Power, just short enough to fit uncut into the evening news. We then walked to the court to join the other defendants.
I was barred from many state courts by now, including Selma, and thus, my clients presented their own evidence while I "prepped" them, careful not to give too much away before the federal trial which still lay ahead and where I could still practice law. There were no surprises as Judge E. P. Russel convicted all three. Soon they were back in jail and soon I had them bailed out. I both appealed the conviction to the higher state court and filed the more important federal action for a three-Judge court, invoking the Thomas Amendment, with Thomas as one of the Judges.(2) Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr.: The North's Great White Southern Hope takes Action Against Militants and their Lawyer
My first case before Judge Johnson involved a revered SNCC leader. In 1961, James Forman, possessed of the stature and disposition of a bear, so impressed SNCC leaders by his mind and organizational ability, that he was offered the role of Executive Secretary to coordinate the SNCC operation, out of Atlanta. This was a special honor because Forman was 33 in an organization that prized youth; he was my age but ten years older than most SNCC'rs. He accepted the $60 per week offer. From that day forward, he created a semblance of order in the anarchy that was SNCC.
The case in which I was to defend him and others had a long and complicated history, involving federal Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., Dr. King, SNCC and the Selma March.
Judge Johnson had grown up in Winston County in Northern Alabama where the infertile soil eliminated any use for slaves. The county opposed secession from the Union; when the Civil War began, Winston seceded from Alabama. Many of the residents, including Johnson's forbearers, fought for the Union army. The county later became a Lincoln Republican outpost in an otherwise all Democratic Party South. (Johnson's father, at one time, was the only Republican in the Alabama legislature.) After a combat command in World War II, Frank Johnson, active in support of the successful Eisenhower presidency bid, was appointed U.S. Attorney in Birmingham. On November 7, 1955, he became the youngest Federal District Judge in the United States. He was 37, his court was in Montgomery and the Rosa Parks ~ Dr.King Montgomery Bus Boycott would begin a month later.
Johnson became the most prominent desegregationist Judge in the land. He was one of a three-judge panel that, on the authority of Brown v. Board of Education, declared Montgomery bus segregation unconstitutional; when the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, the bus boycott came to an end. For the next two decades, either solely, or in combination with other judges, he desegregated 107 school systems, buses, bus terminals, parks, museums, mental institutions, jails and prisons, airports, libraries, and just about everything in sight.
He paid a personal price for his unpopular decisions, including the bombing of his mother's home, innumerable death threats, crosses burned on his lawn and the need for an around-the-clock federal bodyguard. More personally, he and his wife were socially ostracized and rarely invited to community gatherings. Johnson gave up teaching Sunday School when no one attended, and finally dropped church altogether when parishioners started moving to different pews when he sat down. His son, harassed by classmates and teachers, also received death threats; in 1975, the son committed suicide. The Judge told a friend, "How would you like to grow up with a father as controversial as Frank Johnson?"
Johnson believed that all Americans deserved equality, but he frowned on civil disobedience (even if non-violent) and/or militant efforts to obtain that equality . . . even if equality could be obtained in no other way. Johnson was a tough law-and-order man, meaning his sentences were higher than average. He was also an autocrat, described on the bench as "peering down from Olympus," so savage in his demeanor that a Justice Department lawyer once fainted while appearing before him.
The Judge was a man who wanted the law to change slowly, step by step, as responsible civil rights organizations, such as the Legal Defense Fund, came before him for careful deliberation and received as a reward their bounty: desegregation. He loathed those who chose extra-legal process to obtain the same results.
Thus, the father of American Ghandiism and the Great Desegregator began in the same city; their eventual clash over the Selma March gravely weakened Dr. King's influence within the Movement and was a factor in the beginnings of Black Power a force that Johnson despised as much as the Ku Klux Klan.
SNCC the poster boy/girl of civil rights militancy, the epitome of everything Johnson despised had been in Selma since 1962, struggling at first with only a husband-wife team and a local priest. A year later SNCC expanded its forces and, with an aroused populace, began persistent attempts at voter registration in Selma, mixed with civil disobedience. SNCC kept at it, despite beatings, jailings and brushes with death. In 1965, Dr. King was invited into this SNCC territory by the Boynton crowd.
Following the SCLC leader was a massive press corps, which soon reported jails filled with protestors, including Dr, King, who commented that, "The King of Norway surely did not think that fewer than 60 days after I received the Nobel Peace Prize, I would be in a Southern jail." Students marched and school teachers marched. Soon almost all of black Selma was in the streets. After a black male died from being shot point blank in the stomach, a memorial march was planned from Selma to the state's capital in Montgomery which became the Selma March.
On "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965, 600 protestors, including many clergy, marched through town to the Selma bridge that connected the city with the road to Montgomery. On the other side of the bridge stood Sheriff Jim Clark's posse and state troopers, on horseback and shoulder to shoulder, waiting with their billy clubs, rubber hoses, gas masks and other weapons. Amidst tear gas, the troopers advanced on the unresisting marchers, clubbing and beating them as whites on the sidelines cheered.
The posse attacked on horse-back with bullwhips, ropes and lengths of rubber tubing wrapped with barbed wire. "Get those goddamned niggers!" shouted Jim Clark, "And get those goddamned white niggers!" The protestors ran choking and crying, with the horsemen in angry pursuit. The pursuit and beatings continued all through the downtown area until a rage-emboldened black drove his car in front of the horsemen, just long enough to give the victims time to get back to the black part of town. Even there they were not safe. Tear gas was thrown into homes; a black inside his church was thrown through a stained glass window. More than 50 were hospitalized, but none died that day.
Judge Johnson dishonored Dr. King in the eyes of the more radical civil rights groups by issuing an injunction after "Bloody Sunday" forbidding a follow-up Tuesday Selma March the "Middle March." Johnson created Dr. King's most famous dilemma: a trap from which Dr. King had no escape: If he obeyed Johnson, the magnitude and intensity of the throngs assembled in Selma would be dissipated and the power of the follow-up March would suffer immeasurably. He also had to contend with SNCC, which might march no matter what he decided.
On the other hand, if he disobeyed Johnson, he would be defying the federal government and the most renowned civil rights Judge in the nation. Dr. King, whose successes had been based on nonviolent resistance, both legal and illegal, succumbed to the reputation of Judge Frank Johnson; he would not overtly defy him. A compromise was reached that split the movement. Dr. King led the march to the scene of the Sunday carnage, but, at that spot, turned the marchers back. Only a handful of close intimates knew what was planned.
Later, when Dr. King was brought up before Johnson on contempt charges (which Johnson could have avoided if he chose) for leading that second march, Dr. King intimated strongly that he had acted according to a secret agreement. Johnson's finding Dr. King innocent of contempt was a guilty verdict to the Movement. Johnson had succeeded where most every sheriff, legislator and Southern Governor had failed; he had beaten and disgraced Dr. King.
But James Forman, my future client, refused the compromise. "Johnson's injunction," he declared publicly, "is legal blackmail. So many times in the past we have seen movements killed by placing the question in the courts, waiting for weeks or months to get an injunction or just a hearing on one." Forman demanded the March resume. The next day, Forman's people marched in Montgomery, in defiance of Johnson personally and Johnson's injunction.
Later, the petition to Remove those arrested from the state system came before Johnson. He should have disqualified himself but instead took the case. He ignored SNCC evidence that in addition to rioting white civilians,
County police charged into our small group on horseback: hoofs trampling, the cops whooping people not with the usual billy clubs, but with long sticks." [Johnson found that] "these governmental officials were discharging their duty and responsibility to keep the sidewalks open and reasonably available for normal use.
Johnson then explained his doctrine of law as concerns civil rights:
The philosophy that a person may if his cause is labeled 'civil rights' or 'states rights' (an equation of SNCC with the Klan) determine for himself what laws and court decisions are morally right or wrong and either obey or refuse to obey them according to his own determination, is a philosophy that is foreign to our 'rule-of-law' theory of government.
(Reading these lines no one could guess that this was the week of "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, or that SNCC had been beaten in the streets of Montgomery over pedestrian traffic offenses.)
Johnson then summed up:
These petitioners and others so inclined must come to recognize that (only) judicial processes are available for the purposes of protecting their constitutional rights in this district.
Johnson ordered the Forman cases remanded back to the Montgomery courts for a "fair trial"; a year and a half later the appeal of Johnson's ruling having failed the cases fell into my lap. The first criminal trial was scheduled for the coming election day, November 8. (It was remarkable how the Southerners chose to commemorate the First Black Elections by bringing civil rights leaders to trial on the very day they would otherwise be electioneering. It would have been my busiest day in three years: Stokely on the Riot charge in the morning, the draft trial of SNCC activist, Simuel Schultz, during lunch, and the Forman group by 2 p.m. I was able to get all postponed eventually by threatening a federal suit.)
"One hundred sixty-seven defendants!" I mock-moaned to Bill Kuntsler, who had asked me to handle the cases, "and me barely allowed in the state courts." My theory to work our way back to the federal courts without Removals was based upon a 1886 case, Yick Wo v. Hopkins, one of the two or three decisions in American jurisprudence that I most admire. Yick Wo involved enforcing a housing ordinance only against Chinese laundries; the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such selective prosecution of one group and not another is a total defense to the prosecuted group, even if they are guilty.
... though the law itself be fair on its face and impartial in its appearance, yet [it may not be] applied and administered by public authority with an evil eye and an unequal hand ... .
The injunction suit presented the full picture of this aftermath of "Bloody Sunday": During the time of (the accuseds') arrest, local whites in Montgomery ran wildly through the streets, screaming obscenities and racial epithets, assaulting, threatening and intimidating the peacefully demonstrating plaintiffs and, in certain instances, attempting to run down the demonstrators when they crossed the streets. Although flagrantly guilty of all the crimes for which (the accuseds) were charged and many others, these local whites were ignored by local law enforcement officers who made no attempt to deter, arrest or prevent this unlawful conduct.
We also charged that the laws used to arrest the demonstrators were unconstitutional and asked that the trials be enjoined.
On the eve of the Forman cases, one-and-a-half years after the Selma March, two days after Stokely's Inciting to Riot arrest in Selma, and the day after the First Black Elections, here I was asking federal Judge Frank Johnson to again intervene in the Forman cases. This was to be my first conversation with Johnson. Despite the enormous contempt SNCC, and especially Forman, felt for him, I admired the Judge and looked forward to meeting one of the few "good" jurists in the South. I brought my new local lawyer, Charles (Chuck) Conley, with me for our appointment to see Johnson. ACLU had "overpaid" Chuck Conley to work with me.
Bruce: I don't understand what you meant. Who paid? Chuck Conley was a black lawyer, who paid him?
Don: ACLU. They gave him far more money than was given to Boynton more than he could resist.
We met Johnson in his chambers, which had a regal look, walnut-paneled awesome, with his desk (possibly my imagination) exceptionally high off the ground, giving the impression that he was looking down on lawyers pleading before him. He was tall, stooped with half-moon glasses on the bridge of his nose; his tone was stern, his handshake aloof: barely touching flesh. This was far different from the Southern style of excessive civility; he brusquely asked our business, though he knew what case we were bringing before him.
But first I had to get admitted to his court, a pro forma process, given my background. So there was Conley and he introduces me formally. Johnson asks him about my credentials verbally and it's a long list: law school, work record, and my admission to the state and federal courts in New York, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the federal court in N. Mississippi, and, most important, the Birmingham federal court in this very state. The main business in Conley's mind is to get me admitted in my own name so that he will not have to put his name on a SNCC case, the Forman case. (The SNCC connection had already soured our embryonic association.)
I also wanted independence from Conley and had brought two last pages for the lawsuit: one with and one without my co-counsel's name on it. Johnson accepted my credentials and admitted me to practice in his court under my own name; I then produced the duplicate back page without Conley's name. Because we were in chambers, there was no court reporter and no record of what had transpired a lack I would soon regret.
We proceeded to the merits of the Forman case per my request for a temporary injunction as I presumptuously "reminded" the Judge of the facts as applied to our new lawsuit. "This is the same case I already ruled on!" Johnson interrupts me with barely controlled anger; he jerked his head so vigorously that I expected the half-moons on his nose to fall to the floor. I was as off balance as his glasses, sitting in the chambers of the most pro-civil rights Judge in the South, but the atmosphere is as bad as I had faced with the most hostile of state judges. Johnson adds that my version of the facts is "dubious," and my lawsuit is designed to slip the same case back into the federal system. I argued Yick Wo and other differences, but he wouldn't listen; the next day, he entered an order refusing to stop the trials. We appealed. While an appeal to stop the trials was pending, the trials started.
On Friday, November 11, 1966, the first trials began: The City of Montgomery v. James Forman, el al. The "et al" included Stu House, SNCC leader for Alabama (arrested with Stokely in Selma two days earlier) and five other SNCC leaders. I rose and said about two words when I was unceremoniously barred from participating and ordered to remain silent. The new wrinkle was that as an out-of-state lawyer, I had to be recommended by an officer of the Alabama Bar Association, not just a licensed Alabama lawyer. Conley was then called upon to defend the SNCC leaders, but he refused stating that, "I do not feel I could represent these people without compensation." The Court would not pay him and so he left the defendants without counsel . . . except for me.
I said that the defendants needed a lawyer and I was the only one available to defend them; the Judge again ordered me silenced and the trial proceeded. Forman and I had anticipated this turn of events and our not-very-impressive plan went into effect: I sat in the front row of the spectator section while the arraignment of the accuseds began. As each SNCC defendant was asked to plead "guilty or not guilty," he would walk over to me, and with mock gravity, ask me for advice. After the third repeat of this ritual, state Judge Eugene Loe exploded and shouted at me, "You are impeding and harassing this court and I'll not stand it any longer."
I explained that I was now acting as a friend to the defendants, granting them needed advice, needed all the more since the City of Montgomery had two highly trained prosecutors conducting the trial. Forman was next. He walked over to me and, in a loud stage whisper, asked: "Don, could you explain what 'Disorderly Conduct' means so I'll know if I'm guilty or not."
I answered, equally loud and in dialect, "It's doin' what the MAN don' like."
"That does it!" the Judge roared. "You are in contempt!" A bailiff came running over to me and dragged me to a "holding cell" connected to the courtroom and slammed the cell door. I remained for about ten minutes listening to the proceedings. Then, observing that the door had not been adequately shut, I opened it suddenly and made some dramatic remarks about how I would not be kept out of this mockery of justice trial. The Judge re-incarcerated me, this time ordering that the cell door be securely locked.
Twenty minutes later, he sent for me and said I could sit in the audience to prepare for the appeal (he forgot to add . . . "if they are convicted") if, he emphasized the word, I remained quiet. Apparently to mollify me, he added that I was no longer cited for contempt. I told him I could not possibly remain quiet under these circumstances. I was escorted out of the courtroom and told to leave the premises. Instead, I listened by an open door.
I heard a rare performance as Forman, for an hour-and-a-half, spoke extemporaneously of his own history in this city and state and vigorously denounced the courts, segregation and racial violence in Alabama. When the prosecutor interrupted him to note that it was past the lunch hour and he was hungry, Forman pounded the table, "I'm hungry for more than food," he roared, "I'm hungry for Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!"
There was no surprise ending. The defendants were all convicted and given suspended sentences of 30 days in jail, plus a $100 fine which they would not pay. When the Judge learned I was still on the premises, he sent for me again, chastised me for my outbursts, and forgetting my contempt had been withdrawn, suspended a sentence he hadn't imposed upon me. (I asked Kunstler to appeal my contempt charge, but he said I wasn't held in contempt or sentenced, so I had nothing to appeal.) Instead, I obtained bail for the others and had them out late that night.
I dreaded the next Tuesday when 80 more defendants were to be tried, but hours before, the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the revered and rarely-reversed Johnson. The higher court ordered Judge Johnson to take seriously the new allegations, asserting that the issues are "not identical" with those earlier ruled upon by Johnson. The trials were "stayed" and the case sent back to Johnson to reconsider his ruling and, I now believe, reconsider admitting me to his court.
Two or three days later, Tony Amsterdam filed a test case lawsuit to allow me the right to practice law in the South, without a license the theory was that only lawyers like me can provide justice under these circumstances. Tony felt it was a very strong case.
Bruce: Who was he?
Don: Tony Amsterdam is and was the lawyer-genius of the civil rights movement. We had a lot of wonderful, brilliant lawyers, such as Arthur Kinoy, but Tony Amsterdam was incredible.
The most famous story about Tony I wasn't there, but everybody I know was occurred at the U.S. Supreme Court. To everyone's amazement, he uses no notes; he spoke before the Justices with not a piece of paper in front of him. In this one matter, a Justice said to Tony that he cited a case that the Justice would like to see again. He called out the volume number written in Tony's brief and asked a clerk to get the book. When the book arrived, the Justice turns to the appropriate page you know that law books have volume numbers on the outside and he says to Tony, "I think your citation is wrong, the case is not on that page in this volume." Tony, without hesitation, responded, "Well, your honor, the volume must have been bound wrong." (That is, with the wrong volume number placed on the front.) Now this is incredible, that one could have such confidence; of course, Tony was right.
He used to drive to Mississippi from Pennsylvania, set up at the ACLU office, and meet lawyers lined up at the door to ask him questions and seek advice.
Bruce: He was an ACLU attorney?
Don: No. He was a University of Pennsylvania law professor, and free lanced for almost every civil rights organization.
Bruce: So he was based in Philly, I guess?
Don: Philadelphia, yeah.
Bruce: So he has filed a suit around this business that started in Greene County that because you didn't have someone to introduce you . . .
Don: And then I'm jailed.
Bruce: And then you were jailed, right, which you wanted to not happen again.
Don: And the grand jury was investigating me.
Bruce: And the grand jury, OK.
Don: On November 26, 1966, three days after Stokely's trial, 15 days after Forman's trial, two weeks after I reversed Johnson in the Forman cases and two days after my own test case was filed, Conley frantically telephoned me. "We" were in trouble," he told me. "Judge Johnson has checked with the U.S. Supreme Court and learned you are not admitted to practice there." I had no idea what Conley was talking about, but I knew, whatever it was, if it involved Johnson accusing me of something, I was in trouble and it would be serious trouble.
I immediately drove to Conley's offices in Montgomery. He told me Johnson had called him at home that morning directing him to appear at the Judge's chambers. Once there, Johnson had shown Conley a letter from the Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court to the effect that my name did not appear among the lawyers admitted to practice in that high court. I sat still, wondering why he was writing to the Supreme Court; I had never bothered with the formality of being admitted to practice before the high court and paying the required $5, or whatever the fee was then.
... and Johnson then said you misrepresented yourself by remaining silent when I stated you were admitted, and ...
I burst in at this point, "Of course, you told him that the U.S. Supreme Court was never mentioned when you introduced me."
I looked Conley in the eye, but he avoided mine, as he said, "I'm not quite sure what happened in there since there was no court reporter to take it down, but I have a vague recollection that I mentioned you were admitted to practice before the U.S, Supreme Court and that you had once told me so." I sputtered and swore but Conley would not back down. He would not contradict the powerful Judge Johnson.
I called the Boss and accepted his suggestion that I see the Judge and straighten it out myself, by some act of phony contrition. It was Friday when I called and made an appointment for the following Monday. After a sleepless weekend, during which I foolishly told no one of my predicament, I drove to Montgomery for my appointment with the famous civil rights judge. I still believed in Johnson despite the recent Forman litigation, and tried to convince myself that he would realize by sheer logic that his memory must be faulty. As I drove, I rehearsed how I would explain all this:
When I found myself in the very chambers where I was charged with the lie, I mumbled through the presentation that had sounded so impressive in the car. I added to Johnson, "And I'm not a liar ... especially to a Judge I greatly respect." (I'm not sure this was still true, or intended as flattery, but it was a form of begging.)
Johnson was unmoved. His only comment was: "What does Conley say?" Of course, he knew my answer, "Conley backs you up." Johnson stared down through his half-moon glasses at me as the acid in my stomach shot a stream of pain. By now I was practically grovelling, "I'll withdraw from your court if you wish." He dismissed me with, "I'll let you know."
In the days following, I was in bad shape, physically and emotionally. I was fighting with my staff, with my girlfriend and I was waking up at night screaming about a client suffering because I was late with papers. When my hands started shaking, a civil rights worker-member of the Medical Committee For Human Rights "grounded" me to Miami to rest in the sun with Bruce Rogow, my old ACLU lawyer buddy from Mississippi, who had tried the rape-that-never-happened case with me. On the flight to Miami, I tried to concentrate on the Johnson crisis, but I couldn't keep my mind on it. I still hadn't told anyone except the Boss; I never told Bruce [Rogow] anything.
Bruce: Alabama will do that to you.
Don: Well, this wasn't the kind of trouble I had expected. Shot at? Maybe but not going after me as a lawyer. They say everyone has their price; my price may have been not losing the right to be a lawyer.
Bruce: Why did Conley betray you?
Don: Oh, I assume Johnson put pressure on him. He would simply say, "I (Johnson) have a recollection of him saying 'U.S. Supreme Court,' and I would like to hear what you remember." This would be before I got there. If Conley hesitated at all, Johnson would say, "Well?" and Conley would fold.
Bruce: Conley was no great shakes as a lawyer?
Don: No, and he could be intimidated (as here) or bought (as by ACLU).
Bruce: Do you think that the root cause of all this was the ASCS, even for Johnson?
Bruce: You think Johnson was doing this to you because he hated "militancy?"
Don: Correct. By his own standards, he was a man of honor. He would not wilfully commit a fraud; he'd have to convince himself first. But do I believe he remembered what he wanted to remember? Yes! He learned I was not admitted to the Supreme Court by reading my test case papers filed by Tony only a few days earlier, and, of course, there was no mention of the Supreme Court since I would never have told that to Tony.
Judges rarely read new lawsuits that aren't before them, but Johnson was obviously looking for something; when he saw no reference to the Supreme Court, he suddenly "remembered" a conversation that had never taken place. And this was at the time that Southern judges had started calling me a liar for "pretending" I was an Alabama lawyer. Even though he knew better than most about the agreement with the Southern Bar . . . and he's met me and knows no one would mistake me for a local lawyer.
This is all conjecture; how do I know what he was thinking but I know he knew I was both a lawyer for SNCC and a worker for SNCC, an organization he despised. He knew it because (1) the day I met him was in support of Jim Forman, a SNCC leader; (2) Johnson denied the requested relief and then I reversed him in the court above him; and (3) Conley would have told him that I bragged about being also a SNCC worker. And if you are part of a law-breaking group as he saw SNCC you would be the kind of person who would lie to judges.
I am not a conspiracy nut who believes every bad thing that happens is part of a plot.
All I know is that I win the ASCS case, am barred from State courts, a Grand Jury starts investigating me, I'm evicted from my office, I reverse the hardly-ever-reversed Frank Johnson over SNCC, and then Johnson accuses me of lying about the Supreme Court to be admitted to Johnson's court, which a Judge of Johnson's experience would know is irrelevant to being admitted to any federal court. So you figure out what happened. (Added to the mix, coming later, is that when I agreed to leave Alabama, Johnson exonerated me.)
As to the connection to the ASCS victory: I do not believe that Johnson acted because of ASCS but I do believe that ASCS triggered the action on Johnson's part: the accusation of lying in state court created a bandwagon that Johnson's "memory" jumped on.
Bruce: That's why I was asking, because I could understand why the Alabama courts and prosecutors and so on would be highly motivated to go after you because of the ASCS, but for Johnson there would be no reason for him, because he's not up for election, he's appointed by the federal government.
Don: So "trigger" is the word. But do I know the why? No, nor will I ever know.
Meanwhile, while Johnson is determining my fate, I am in Florida with Bruce Rogow. He could see I was withering and sent me to his doctor who recommended a steady dose of tranquilizers, plus retirement from the front lines. I told him that I couldn't leave, but that life was horrible. I told him how we lost day after day, how we had to keep everyone else strong with false optimism, and then if we won something (like Bokulich or ASCS), they hit us harder and we lost even more after that. The doctor said, "And you wonder why you're depressed." He prescribed extra sedatives.
The Florida sun was glorious, I was feeling a bit better and considerably high from all the medication when my office called to alert me that Johnson wanted me to withdraw from his court immediately.
That same day, Conley had written to Johnson:
I have informed Mr. Donald A. Jelinek (he hadn't) of Selma, Alabama that I would move to withdraw my recommendation to have him admitted in the Middle District (Johnson's court) in view of the misunderstanding with respect to his admission to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. . . . I prefer to postpone any recommendation pending further advice in this matter from you.
It was my word against that of the great man, plus my black associate. I felt that I didn't have a chance, that no one was on my side. I had created that situation by telling none of my supporters. I could fight other people's battles, but I was impotent when it came to fighting for myself. I surrendered. I sent a telegram to "withdraw my application for membership" in Johnson's court; he wasted no time preparing an order:
Upon the motion of Donald A. Jelinek, presented to this court this day by telegram, it is ORDERED that the name of said Donald A. Jelinek be and it is hereby removed from the roll of attorneys admitted to practice before this court.
A week later, I finally called Tony Amsterdam, who was very upset that I had never discussed it with him. He told me that I am screwed and this could be real bad. "You're accused of fraud before a federal judge who can certainly bar you from his court, which can result in you being barred from all the other courts in the South state and federal and possibly even get disbarred in New York." This is very scary, very scary.
Tony comes down to meet with me and says, "The lawsuit concerning your right to practice here is dead. You can't be the test case Plaintiff because we named Judge Johnson's court as one of the courts you're admitted to. You would have to ask them to remove it, the whole story will come out and you'll have no credibility at all. And it's too important a case. I'd recommend against it."
Bruce: Recommend against...
Don: Against going ahead with it . . . with me. And Tony says he has another recommendation that I'm not going to like: "I think you ought to leave the South, because you may be heading to prison. You can't take on Johnson, who just got his face on the cover of Time Magazine as the best civil rights judge in the South. They got you on all sides and there's no telling what's coming out of the water next." And I said, "No, no, I can't."
But I was considering leaving; first, however, I had to deal with two execution cases.
Don: On the eve of first meeting Judge Johnson, LeRoy Taylor, a 20-year old black laborer had 72 hours to live and, although I didn't know it, I had two months left as an ACLU civil rights lawyer.
Taylor was charged with "Pushing and holding the face of a 7-year old black girl] under water, whereby she was drowned. He had a 7th grade education and was engaged, off and on, in pulpwood work. He had no criminal record except two misdemeanor offenses for public drunkenness. After the drowning (which he did do), Taylor was assaulted by two brothers of the now deceased girl who suspected that Taylor had killed their sister earlier that day."
After the beating, the accused slipped away and went to his uncle who brought him to the police and then left him there. This was before the days when police were required to advise a suspect of his right to counsel the police advised him of nothing, provided no counsel, and proceeded to interrogate him. The next day, still without counsel, confronted by two witnesses who saw him with the girl (but did not see any foul play), Taylor made a full confession. Speedy justice then commenced: crime, confession, indictment, arraignment, examination by three mental illness experts, trial, verdict and sentenced to death all in 41 days.
Judge Johnson had this case on federal "appeal." He found that the confession "was made freely and voluntarily," and not as a result of police pressures. Johnson dismissed Taylor's petition and remanded him to the State of Alabama for execution in the electric chair.
Right before the first Johnson-Jelinek-Conley meeting, a member of Taylor's family approached me to try to save his life. I met with my client on November 9 to get his signature on papers for a stay of execution on the grounds of that old standby: no blacks on the juries. A few hours later I was in Conley's office explaining why he should sign these papers even though this was not, strictly speaking, a civil rights case. Then we went to the federal court to get Johnson's OK for me to practice in his court ... and for the alleged Supreme Court "admission" discussion. (One can only wonder if Johnson knew at the time that I was again meddling in one of his cases.)
To my untrained mind, the Taylor I saw in Montgomery's Kilby Prison was loony. He had no explanation for the heinous crime he had committed, and gave me little to work with. Afterwards I began a series of intense telephone conversations with the sentencing judge.
"When is all this to end?" the State judge complained. "He's already been to your Judge Johnson, what more do you want?" What I wanted was a stay of execution and a new hearing. After many days of conferences and warnings [by me] that I could get to the U.S. Supreme Court in hours, if necessary (quite a bluff), the Judge agreed to stop the execution if the papers were delivered to him that night: a three-hour drive.
The only person on my staff available for the drive was a woman with faulty night vision . . . and it was a stormy night. In response to her fears, I brusquely advised her that we were here to die if necessary, and if the price was too high for her, she should pack now. She delivered the papers and few on my staff talked to me for a week. (After the papers were signed, I had nightmares like I had had earlier this time involving Taylor that he would die because I forgot to get the papers signed.)
A stay of execution was signed that night, 72 hours before the scheduled execution. A new trial hearing was set for December 13 and the new execution date for a month later.
But on December 12, the day before the hearing and a week after I resigned from Johnson's court Conley wanted no part of me; he refused to appear the next day for the life-or-death hearing. He called the local judge for a postponement (for me to obtain new counsel) but the judge, quite appropriately, refused because I had subpoenaed many witnesses, mostly jury commissioners, who all "disrupted their schedule for this hearing." Conley hung up and said he wouldn't go. I yelled, "You have to go and that's all there is to it. Just walk through the door with me and then leave, but if you're not there, I'll be challenged and our client will die." I thought Conley had reluctantly agreed.
On the morning of the next day, I arose at 5 a.m. to be at Conley's office by 7 to have time to drive to Talladega by 10 a.m. But Conley refused to go, and no amount of my begging and threatening could move him. Instead, he sent a telegram to the judge that
BECAUSE PHYSICAL EXHAUSTION AND PRESSURE OF WORK PENDING SEVERAL MONTHS IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO BE IN TALLEDEGA TODAY ...
To the press he later added, "I was not aware I had to go up ... this was not on my schedule."
After hours of a heated argument and by the time it was too late to get there on time I telephoned the judge, apologized in cryptic terms for Conley's absence and begged him not to send a man to his death because of these logistical problems. The judge informed me that he himself had gotten out of a sick bed to come to court and he would not postpone the hearing. In my absence, he dismissed our petition as "groundless and baseless and ... not made in good faith." As further grounds, Taylor was brought in to testify that he didn't know the contents of his own petition. Execution was confirmed for a month away; newspaper headlines read "Attorneys Miss Death Hearing!"
Bruce: That's pretty outrageous, I mean, Fred Gray wouldn't do it? I know, he was Mr. NAACP but . . .
Don: Before this time, SNCC was already attacking the black lawyers in Alabama. And, I must admit, so was I. I had no friends among them, and nobody would work with me. I even told them, "Look, he can fire me from the case? I don't have to be his lawyer." "No," I was told, "it's your case." Nobody would help him . . . or me.
Rejecting the option of killing Conley, I tongue-lashed him and then began the search for another lawyer, no small problem with my reputation and status in Alabama. Then, I remembered a letter I had received from Erskine Smith, the white chairman of the Alabama State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, thanking me for testifying about ASCS at one of his hearings. I assumed it would be futile to ask a white Birmingham lawyer for help; if Chuck Morgan was frightened, why should this actively practicing Alabama lawyer be willing to help? But what could I lose? So I asked him to return the favor (of my testifying at his Committee) by associating with me for this one case. To my amazement and relief, he accepted.
With less than a month to go, having lost the no-blacks issue by default, I scrambled for another theory. Although I was looking for a civil rights theory,I kept coming back to the fact that I knew Taylor was crazy, despite the three mental health professionals who found him sane. I re-read for the tenth time the judge's appointment of three Talladega doctors, each expert "in mental and nervous disorders." This time I read it out loud to my secretary; she casually remarked, "Who would imagine they even had three shrinks in a small Alabama county." I looked up suddenly, as did she, in a chorus of, "Oh, no, you don't imagine ..."
We had imagined exactly right: the three doctors were neither psychiatrists, nor psychologists, nor anything but M.D.'s who had taken a required course in "mental and nervous disorders" in medical school. Further, we learned that each had spent no more than 15 minutes for their entire examination of Taylor. An insane man was being railroaded to the electric chair. Within hours, I had the finest psychiatrist/neurologists in the country flying to Kilby Prison to examine Taylor. The doctor found his patient to have been in an "acute psychotic episode at the time of the acts charged against him (and that) he lacked understanding of the nature and quality of said acts." Further, he found that Taylor was also probably incompetent to stand trial.
I prepared a series of appeals up to and including Judge Johnson: I then left the case with lawyer Smith with little more than a note from me as compensation:
I am sure by now you are neglecting the work that supports your wife and children for a case no one else wanted to bother with, for which you probably will receive gratitude only from this grateful writer.
Bruce: Taylor really wasn't a civil rights case, it was basically a murder case.
Don: Yeah, these are cases I wasn't supposed to handle, but, on the other hand, you know if you're helping organize people, you do what people need. Then there's a second execution case. Did you know that in Alabama robbery warrants the death penalty?
Bruce: I remember that there were some kinds of robberies that could get the death penalty.
Don: He had a weapon, but a weapon is not needed to be sentenced to death. This is a constitutional issue, cruel and inhuman treatment a big story in the papers every day. Again, this is pre-Johnson and my "Supreme Court Status." People are asking me if I am going to get involved because the guy is black. I say, "This is so high profile, the big guys will come in for sure." And then it's three days to go, then two days, and I call an NAACP lawyer. I said, "This is your kind of case, the type you're working on right now: death cases. Aren't you interested?" And he said, "Yes, we are interested, but, unlike some, we don't solicit cases when we're not asked, no ambulance chasing here."
Bruce: Unlike some. [Grin]
Don: Yeah, nobody asked them to take the case. So I make the rounds of all the organizations, I call the President's Committee and get the same answer. I go to everybody. "How could you resist a case like this?" They could resist it. It turns out no one is going to represent him except a long-time ambulance chaser. So I go to Kilby Prison, pretending the visit is to see LeRoy Taylor. I tell a guard, who I've gotten to know, "I got another client here, and I'd like to see him too. Maybe first, since it will be short."
So they bring out Edward Boykin, Jr., a black man, who robbed a drugstore at gunpoint. In an apparent attempt to frighten those being robbed, Boykin fired a shot into the floor which ricocheted into a little girl's leg.
Boykin is a garden variety criminal. I say to him, "I'm a civil rights lawyer, and I can save your life, just sign here." And he signs, making me his lawyer.
Boykin had pled guilty the evidence was overwhelming and, to everyone's astonishment was sentenced to death. The death penalty sets in motion an automatic appeal to the Supreme Court of Alabama. But no attorney was appointed or volunteered to prepare the appeal. (At a later stage in the case, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Potter Stewart asked Boykin's then-lawyer why the appeal stage lapsed; the answer was "... the State had refused to let a Civil Liberties Union attorney argue the appeal, apparently because he was not a member of the Alabama Bar.")
The local courts barred me again, and again I went searching for a local lawyer. Through a recommendation from Erskine Smith, I located another brave, white Alabama lawyer, Graham Gibbons from Mobile, and together we stopped the execution. On his own, Gibbons went on to win a landmark victory in the U.S. Supreme Court. Henceforth, "Boykin" would become a lawyer's household word for the proposition that the record must indicate that an accused had intelligently and knowingly pleaded guilty with full knowledge of the consequences. In other words, you have to know that there was a death penalty, which nobody had mentioned to him. And so it's a very famous case. I cited it myself when I relocated to California.
Bruce: You know what you ought to do, we could put it on the website. In your spare time, because I know that you just lay around drinking mint juleps all the time, [grin] somebody should put together a list of all of the cases that grew out of the civil rights movement that either made law or are still cited as important precedent today. In other words, that helped shaped the body of law that we live under today. There's probably a dozen or more cases that shaped the legal world we live in that grew directly out of the civil rights movement like the Boykin case. That would be interesting to have on the website.
Don: OK. I promise to do it in my spare time. [laughing]
Don: I was summoned to Mississippi for a January 2, 1967 conference, which I suspected was to reassert the Boss' control and to praise me for my accomplishments of recent months. The Boss and our New York head, Henry Schwartzchild, were waiting for me in the main office. I became apprehensive when I was asked to close the door. My concern was heightened when the Boss began a flattering evaluation of my six-month stint as head of the Alabama office. Then he came right to the point: "I have no choice but to remove you from your post, but," he halfheartedly added, "you can work for me here in Jackson, if you wish." He asked if I wanted to know the reasons for my discharge; in a dazed state, I assented, writing down outline notes as if I were back in law school.
The overview was that I was a "gangrenous arm" jeopardizing civil rights lawyers in the South; that I must be excised for the greater good. Specifically, (1) because of my SNCC connections, including giving SNCC-like statements to the press and allowing SNCC leaders to use ACLU resources, the office and living quarters; (2) because ACLU is dramatically losing money, and it's all connected to me . . .
Don: Most immediately, because of my high profile in Stokley's case in Selma. Stokely, by now, is the Malcolm X of the civil rights movement; at this time, he actually has a higher profile than Dr. King, because of Black Power. Every time he and I come out of the courthouse, national TV is there, and every night I'm on national TV while Stokley is asked about Black Power and Israel and ACLU loses contributions;
(3) that I've become a "wild man": irrational, unprofessional and excessive; (4) because I have been jailed in the Forman trial and during the Dick Reavis case; (5) that I was unreliable in my representation of my Alabama clients, especially LeRoy Taylor, who I "left to die by missing a court appearance"; (6) that my credibility was suspect over what happened in Judge Frank Johnson's chambers; and (7) finally, that I had compromised my effectiveness by alienating almost every civil rights person of consequence in the South: Chuck Morgan, the middle-class black leadership, Bruce Boynton, Chuck Conley, Judge Johnson, Judge Thomas, and the Alabama Bar Association.
The Boss added that he had been negotiating for the charges against me to be dropped if I "agree to leave Alabama."
I attempted to answer the accusations, but other than the LeRoy Taylor accusation, I felt guilty as charged.
"How long do I have? I asked. "A month," they both responded in chorus. I walked out and walked down N. Farish Street for the last time . . . at least as an ACLU lawyer. I met old friends, but suffering from that liberal disease the "greater good" I didn't tell anyone in Mississippi what had happened. I wouldn't hurt the ACLU Southern operation by attacks on them.
When I returned to Selma, I told my Alabama staff and the SNCC workers, all gathered in my office, that, "I've been fired." Every sound stopped in the building as civil rights workers poured into my personal office and listened to the details. SNCC would begin picket lines outside the Mississippi, Louisiana, and New York offices of ACLU, and would refuse to use their legal help, lawsuits and more . . . and spread it to non- SNCC'rs.
Bruce: Why did they want to picket and protest?
Don: Because I am being tossed out.
Bruce: As a protest for firing you?
Don: Yes. They knew it had a lot to do with them . . . if not almost everything.
Bruce: Wait a minute, I thought at this time SNCC didn't like you because you were white.
Don: No! No! No! That had passed on that first day in Alabama and it was barely so then.
Bruce: What about the gun to your head?
Don: Most of the Atlanta Faction did not represent the ideals of SNCC they were a fringe group of SNCC, many of whom were thrown out soon afterwards. I stayed at SNCC offices whenever I was in Atlanta, ate there with them, socialized with them everything I did was with SNCC. I spent every day with SNCC people.
Bruce: So you're saying that the gun incident was really with these crazies from the Atlanta Project, who were then later expelled from SNCC?
Don: The greatest reaction against the gun episode came from SNCC, far greater than anybody else that I spoke to.
Bruce: Was Rap in your corner?
Don: Of course. Rap was never anti-white. All through this Black Power period he was always part of integrated groups.
Bruce: So anyway, SNCC wants to picket ACLU for firing you.
Don: Yes, and I asked them not to and, as they so rarely did, they accepted my bad advice: for the "greater good." SNCC had the power and the moral force to reinstate me; I lacked the fight to cooperate.
I made a telephone appointment with a psychiatrist I had seen in New York. I told him what was happening and he said, "Of course you should leave. You may be going to prison and/or be disbarred. Are you crazy?" he said, as we both started laughing at his inappropriate language.
Tony Amsterdam came down no, actually he paid for me to fly up to Pennsylvania and spend a couple days with him. He said again, "You really should leave the South. You're in too deep now and you're not going to survive this. Also you have no money to do any work."
It was in this period then, following the two execution cases, that I came close to a nervous breakdown. I had ulcer pains, my whole body was sick. I was irritable, I was fighting with my own sweet staff I was in terrible shape. I was like someone with Parkinson's Disease. I couldn't hold a knife or fork without dropping it. And everybody, especially the Medical Committee people, were saying, "You got to do something, you got to do something." And finally, desperate to escape from all this, I asked Tony what kind of deal I can get. Tony says to me, "You can get everything."
By January, 1967, I signed a stipulation which dropped the test case, represented that I was leaving the employ of ACLU, and leaving Alabama "at this time," that I would not practice law "illegally" in the state courts of Alabama, and that all charges against me would be dropped. I insisted on a qualifier letter that nothing in the stipulation prevented me from practicing in the federal courts of Alabama. There were other more private rewards for me. I received a writing from Judge Johnson that:
. . . there was a general misunderstanding and so far as he is concerned, Attorney Jelinek was never a member of the Middle District of Alabama and was never disbarred . . . . In the event the Bar Association of California or any other state were to inquire of him (Judge Johnson) concerning this matter, he would be happy to explain the same."
Bruce: All the problems gone? The charges for illegally practicing law in Alabama? And the grand jury? And Frank Johnson will sign a paper repudiating that you have done anything wrong. . . .
Don: That's right. I say, "OK, I'm leaving."
I still had to face my clients, who weren't surprised that I would protect myself when necessary and were generous to me in their goodbyes. SNCC bitterly blamed it all on ACLU, but Shirley Mesher cursed me for selling out.
On February 27, 1967, after two months of barely functioning, I left Alabama for a new life in California where I had chosen to relocate. Six days earlier, the ACLU Louisiana head was arrested for the unauthorized practice of law. The "gangrenous arm" had spread, or perhaps our timidity encouraged the Louisiana Bar Association. The Boss insisted that ACLU would return to Alabama, but ACLU never did.
The final word was that of District Attorney Boggs, who had arrested me in the Reavis case. My FBI file quoted his answer to the question why he dropped the charges against me:
"... the main thing we wanted to do was to get rid of him and we did."
I had two very close friends in San Francisco, but I didn't want to go there directly, in a way because that was my final destination where I was never going to come back to the South. And so I stopped off in New Mexico where I had many former-lawyer volunteers, and I kind of worked my way across the country, volunteer by volunteer, telling everybody what happened. They kind of stroked me and helped me. When I got to San Francisco, I spent a lot of time in the sun, just calming down and eating well.
Within about three weeks, my strength returned and I decide I'm going back. At this point, I made contact with Victor Rabinowitz, a New York attorney and one of Fidel Castro's lawyers. I told him everything that had happened to me and that I need some seed money to get re-started in Selma. He provided the money. Then I called Tony, who had signed all these papers about me leaving. "I'm coming back." Tony says, "Holy shit, I can't even guess what the ramifications will be. What are you planning to do?" I said, "I don't know, but I'm coming back. Will you represent me when things come crashing down?" He agreed. I could always count on Tony.
Also, I had earlier spoken at a National Lawyers Guild Convention in New York, before the lefty lawyers, like Kunstler. Rabinowitz' wife, Joanne Grant, liked my speech and added it to her book, Black Protest. (I love the book jacket because it say's "included are the writings or speeches of W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey . . . Martin Luther King . . . and others." Now I was an "other" behind this esteemed group.) But the significance was that I had a larger group that I could call upon for money and help.
So I come back, but first I contact Stokely. I told him that I made a mistake when I called off the SNCC protest the last time. "Your case is coming on," I said to him, "and I think ACLU should pay my expenses to come back, the costs of the trial, and pay me some money now and through the trial, which was beginning in a month.
SNCC pressed it and ACLU agreed. Then to my delight, Stokley's case was postponed for three or four months. So I'm on payroll all this time while I'm getting re-started.
I began the Southern Rural Research Project (SRRP) in April of '67, with Kathy Veit, who, besides being just a magnificent human being, was/is very beautiful. She had worked for me as a volunteer when I was with Selma ACLU and I had appointed her to be in charge of the Bokulich, "responsible" black jurors survey. Once Kathy was on board and I don't know how I could have functioned without her we were off and running.
I went to the people in Atlanta that I had worked with on the ASCS case, particularly Jac Wasserman of the National Sharecroppers Fund, an old white-bearded 1930's radical from the thirties. I told him I plan to gather evidence about ASCS, plus other government programs, and I need help. Jac was elated, complemented me for past successes and said, "With you now doing this full time, there's no limit to what we can accomplish."
I was distressed because I was deceiving him. All I wanted was to finance an outpost in Selma without ACLU that would allow me to continue my work with SNCC, now stepping with more than one toe into perilous Black Power, anti-Israel militancy. But I would come up with something so that Jac would not be too disappointed.
He took me in hand and said, "The first thing you need is a name for an organization." I tried a few, but they all sounded like communist front groups one even had the initials COUP and he says, "No, I'm going to give you the most boring name imaginable." A few days later we met and he lived up to his threat. The new organization would be called: "The Southern Rural Research Project (SRRP, pronounced Surp)." After I protested and he finished laughing, he announced, "Now we're going to get everybody on your Board." And he did: Vernon Jordan of the Southern Regional Council, the National Urban League, the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), Dorothy Cotton of SCLC, of course, SNCC and others.
I met with Stokely and SNCC friends and I told them my plan: to begin a series of "Canton-type" cases in the area surrounding Selma and use a political-legal approach to organize the people, while getting results in court. And that I'll have money again to help out. They all were enthused.
I became Director of SRRP, Kathy Veit was Associate Director. Our logo was a black farmer with a hoe, looking up into a yellow sun. (That sun required two colors and an extra expensive printing run, which we could little afford, but I decided the gamble was worth it.) Our mission was stated as:
SRRP is not fighting for the right to vote, the right to go to the 'white' school, restaurant or motel, nor for the right of civil rights workers to demonstrate, SRRP IS FIGHTING ONLY FOR PEOPLE TO HAVE A LITTLE FOOD, MEDICAL HELP AND OTHER BASIC ESSENTIALS OF LIFE.
The FBI wrote us up as the "most recent organization which has come into prominence . . . the Southern Rural Research Project."
Bruce: Well, whatever you did was "in prominence."
Don Jelinek. Then, the FBI added us to SNCC and SCLC as . . .
ORGANIZATIONS THAT APPEAR TO BE OF A POTENTIAL [SIC] DANGEROUS NATURE ...
Don: Kathy and I agreed that we needed bodies, a summer program. So we put ads in the "Village Voice" (of Greenwich Village) and similar media. About 20, 25 people came down, and we screened them carefully. . . and accepted them all. Then we had an orientation with Wasserman and Rap and Stokely, Vernon Jordan, Dorothy Cotton, everybody came to it.
Bruce: And they were coming to just work on your normal legal cases, or was there actually a research aspect?
Don: Yes and No. It started as a shill research project. Having done this stuff already (the Bokulich "reputable" jurors survey), we decided to expand it to many areas of concern: health, food, federal agriculture programs, and much more.
Now my whole idea was that I would have these volunteers go out and spend their time doing this, I'd take in money and then do the stuff I wanted to do and meanwhile turn out something of interest. I never dreamt that we were creating something rather important; it never entered my mind that this was real. To make the survey look legitimate once we had all the questions down, which were hundreds and hundreds of questions, by all these special interest groups: civil rights nonprofits I went to Tuskegee University, where it was turned into a professional questionnaire. They worked it down and down and down until it was, I think I mentioned, it could be asked in about five or ten minutes.
Bruce: Now, you were interviewing only black, or black and white?
Don: Only black. We eventually interviewed a large number: 1800 heads of black households.
Bruce: That's a big sample. Only in Alabama?
Don: Only in Alabama, in a big circle . . .
Bruce: Around Selma?
Don: Yes, a circle around Selma.
Bruce: Yeah, the Black Belt counties around Selma.
Don: That's right.
Bruce: And they could answer hundreds of questions in five minutes?
Don: Yes, well, it would still be over a half hour since you had to eat and chat and answer questions about the Movement. But it was 5-10 minutes of answers, because by then it wasn't hundreds of questions; it had been stripped down, and most of the answers were "No," to so many things. Do you have this? No, do you have that? No, have you ever been . . . ? No.
Don: As we started, a strange thing began happening from a SNCC perspective; SNCC's organizing broadened out to people we could never reach before. The reason was SNCC agreed we were now talking about matters that were of more immediate interest to them. Not just integration, but food stamps, farm programs, health, food, and the fact that we knew the "agriculture" language made them think even better of us. SNCC was doing very well and we were signing up people for various things.
Bruce: There's an old-school technique of organizing that starts with that kind of survey Alinsky used it often it's a known thing.
Don: Really. We went the other way, of course the whole Movement started...
Bruce: Yeah, the other way.
Don: By this time, SRRP was also doing lawyer things, but I was getting very strong feelings, as the results were coming in, that we were sitting on top of a keg of dynamite. The answers were astonishing: no fresh meat - 25%; no fresh milk 30%; no fruit - half. 18.5% never ate eggs at all; 12.7% of the women had a pregnancy in the past five years without prenatal care; 20.4% of rural Negro babies received no medical attention whatsoever.
And, of course, 95% never got loans from the USDA Farmers Home Administration, 75% never got information from the USDA Extension Service, and three-quarters had never even been visited by the home demonstration lady of the USDA. As to USDA cotton allotments, if any money was received at all, the payments were much lower than white farmers with comparable acreage . . . and two-thirds entered the 1967 farm year in debt from the previous year.
This is happening at the same time that Bobby Kennedy has gone to Mississippi to see the extent of poverty, and the same time that Robert Coles and his group of doctors have gone to the South doing medical and psychological examinations.
Bruce: And Harrington's "Other America" had been published, which basically covered the same territory.
Don: That had been published during Kennedy's lifetime, so it was by 1963.
Bruce: When you say "Kennedy" do you mean Jack Kennedy or Bobby?
Don: I meant Jack Kennedy. Bobby Kennedy had come down to Mississippi; Jack Kennedy had read Harrington and spoke about it often when he was still alive so I can fix it [publication of "The Other America"] at 1963 or earlier.
Bruce: Right, so your survey is confirming that the situation Harrington reported is still the same?
Don: That's right. What was different was that Harrington didn't limit it to one racial group. His book is immortal.
We interviewed 1800 heads of households, a significant sample representing more than 10,000 persons. Tuskeegee determined that the "data was sound" and chose 898 cases from four Alabama counties for analysis. Nothing prepared me and other veterans for the results of the survey. I had lived here almost three years, I spent a lot of time with sharecroppers, lived with them, ate with them but I never saw or looked hard enough to see what our survey showed. In hindsight, we didn't have much dealings with the poorest, who stayed away from us, not able to handle the repercussions.
It was the largest in-depth study of black poverty and deprivation in Deep South history. The survey showed:
A typical home is an unpainted three-room wood frame shack housing 3-5 adults and 8-12 children all of whom sleep in three or four double beds. The floors and ceilings remain in disrepair along with loosely fitting wood shutters for the windows, all of which accounts for continual dampness during the rainy season and severe cold during the winter. Cooking and very limited heat are provided by a small wood-burning pot belly stove or open fire place.
Black farm families are hungry. The vast majority of black farmers, whose limited income is used up before winter, are typically forced to eat in a day the following: Morning Grits. Biscuits & Coffee; Noon Meal Vegetables, Kool-Aid, Cornbread (Usually no noon meal after the harvest season); Evening Meal Vegetables (sometimes with pork parts mixed in), Cornbread, Kool-Aid.
Free Surplus Commodities, when available, provide a limited supplement to the few vegetables grown in the family garden, but when free food in a county is replaced by food stamps, many of the poorest families cannot afford to buy the food stamps and are left with no government help for food. Even those who have borrowing power fall into further debt in order to purchase the benefits of the food stamp program.
Nearly 25 percent of the black farm families interviewed ate no fresh meat of any kind. Another 25 percent ate meat only once a week.
Fresh milk was not used at all by 30 percent of the households that were interviewed.
Fresh fruit never appeared in the diet of nearly half the black farm families interviewed.
18.5 percent never ate eggs.
12.7 percent of the women questioned who had/had a pregnancy over the past 5 years had received no prenatal care. Two-thirds of the rural Negro babies were born at home with the aid of a midwife.
During the first year of life 20.4 percent of rural Negro babies received no medical attention whatsoever.
The vast majority of black farmers fear the employees of the Federal farm programs, a situation which results in a low level of eligible black participants. The black farmer, conditioned by years of experience, views the farm program employee as the Southerner who calls him "Nigger" "Boy" and "Uncle." The black farmer knows that if he goes to one of the agency offices, he will have to wait on a long line and watch while the white man is attended to as soon as he enters; the black often leaves with no help. He also knows that if he angers the local agent with his persistence, his credit with local merchants may be cancelled.
The ASCS cotton allotments and subsidy checks for blacks are lower than those for whites or there is none at all. FHA loans for the purchase of land, equipment and the improvement of farm buildings are virtually unavailable for blacks, and the rejections are rarely recorded. The county agent of the Extension Service, whose job it is to pass on information acquired at the federally supported Land Grant Colleges, rarely does so for black farmers.
Two thirds of the black farmers interviewed ended the 1967 farm year in debt. 95 percent of the farmers never received any help or advice from the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) County Committee. Over 95 percent of the farmers had never received any help or advice from any member of the Farmers Home Administration (FHA) about loans they might apply for. Three quarters of the black farm households had never been visited by the home demonstration lady.
This data, when digested, would dominate the balance of my work in the South and eclipse all the work I had done to date.
Don: I grew up in the Bronx, in New York City, hating and at war most of the time with the Irish Catholics up the hill; they felt the same way about the Jews down hill usually they won the fist fights.
I never expected that one day I would be living in an Irish-Catholic Rectory with almost a dozen Priests, who I think of today as the finest men I ever met. And living next door to the many nuns the Sisters who I thought of as my own beloved sisters. This was among the most extraordinary experiences I had in the South. It began with a tip about an assassination plot against Stokley and I, and the Church invited us for the night, as "sanctuary." I stayed a year.
These unsung heroes of the Selma March were the Fathers of St. Edmund, Roman Catholic priests from Vermont who provided the only integrated Catholic church in Selma, and perhaps in the entire rural Deep South. They also provided the Selma Civil Rights Underground a little- known command post for the Selma March.
The Society of St. Edmund was founded in France in 1843 in an effort to reassert the religious faith of the French people in the years following the French Revolution. The Society took its name from a 13th Century scholarly English priest, whose ideals left him destitute because he gave all his worldly possessions to the sick and the poor. His actions earned him the position of Archbishop of Canterbury; his demands for justice, including the rights guaranteed by the recently re-issued Magna Carta, led to his fall from political grace and voluntary exile. Six years after his death, the Pope canonized him as a Saint. Six centuries later, the Society of St. Edmund was formed in France, where he was buried.
In 1901, after many years of anti-clericalism, the French government enacted the "Laws of Association," which required government approval of all religious communities wishing to remain in France. The Edmunites refused to recognize the government's authority over them and fled to Montreal, then northern Vermont. The Society established schools and hospitals, while serving as peacemakers and befrienders of the poor.
In the 1930's, Pope Pius XI urged religious orders "to work among the colored"; Archbishop Thomas J. Toolen of Mobile, Alabama invited the Society to come to Alabama for that purpose. On January 22, 1937, the Society agreed to "establish a colored mission among the colored population in Selma [who are] among the most abandoned population in the country . . . ."
Archbishop Toolen genuinely wished for a better life for the Colored in his state, but he could only imagine a more desirable segregated life. To the Archbishop, "saving the Negroes" had referred mainly to their souls, but when the Fathers saw the separate but very unequal schools, the lack of medical facilities and generally total neglect, they became very practical. They called for other Edmunites to come down, they invited the Sisters of St. Joseph from Rochester, New York to join them, and set in motion a church, school and hospital for the blacks. Not unlike the Archbishop, they did not set out to tear down the fabric of segregated society; in fact, all the facilities they set up were segregated as required by state law. But as they served the black community, they achieved an affection and a trust which would be called upon when the civil rights days began ... but that was three decades away.
The Fathers, merely by their presence within the black community, became the enemies of the white community. Fearing for their own safety, a knock on the door of their home would be answered by one priest holding the leash of a german shepherd and the other with a loaded shotgun. The Archbishop had warned them of danger, and related the story of an Alabama priest performing the marriage of a Catholic with a Protestant; the latter's father shot and killed the priest . . . and was later acquitted.
Keeping as low a profile as possible, the Edmunites lured the Baptist blacks to their Catholic church, though a number of priests told me that the significant size of their flock reflected an appreciation of the works of the Society more than a belief in the Holy Trinity. But that situation was acceptable to the Fathers themselves, whose purpose was more to help than to convert. As one priest confided to me: "We were somewhat short on prayer and contemplation, long on active involvement in human affairs."
For 26 years, the Fathers endured the hated Jim Crow system, the lynchings, the nightriding KKK, the humiliation of their flock and the occasional threats to themselves. They were also aware that the Archbishop could banish them as easily as he invited them; they suffered "a great human hurt" when their first black priest was excluded from a national Edmunite convention in Birmingham because Police Chief "Bull" Connor warned that the "nigger" would be arrested on sight.
In 1960, Father Maurice Ouellet (pronounced, Wah-let) was assigned as Pastor of the Edmunite church in Selma, working in the tradition of his predecessors. In 1962, he met Bernard Lafayette, a SNCC worker, quietly attempting to establish a base in Selma.
Bruce: The Church and Bernard met before the Selma March?
Don: Correct. You're surprised. There was a major connection with Bernard, who, according to Father Ouelette, radicalized his church, which then provided enormous resources and invaluable introductions to Bernard.
Father Ouellet told me the story in 1977:
I met Bernard outside the church one morning. He told me that our young people had told him that I might help him, that he was with SNCC (though I didn't know what that meant at the time). I invited him inside and we talked for many hours and then for many days. He taught me that we should meet the needs of our parish, that we could spend all our time supplying bandaids, but if we didn't get to fundamental rights, we really weren't helping. He asked for a location for Voter Registration training; I gave him our facilities.
I was called before the [Selma] City Council, accused of organizing . . . and asked to leave the city. "If you don't leave," he was told, "someone is going to shoot you and there will be nothing we can do about it." Afterwards, I was called before the Grand Jury, called a Communist and told that I was using the church to prepare people to fight violently.
Around the fall of 1964, when Dr. King was brought to Selma, SCLC had their own organization and usually met at [the black Baptist] Brown's Chapel. Our church was the meeting place for SNCC and the U.S. government [separately]. I didn't trust the FBI, but I was very impressed with the Justice Department man, John Doar.
Father John Crowley, 38, arrived in Selma a half year before the March. Crowley was "worldly" before he took his vows, had spent two years in the Navy and traveled overseas to see the world and study philosophy.
Two nights after arriving in Selma, Crowley watched Sheriff Jim Clark arrest a woman outside his church and saw black teenagers from the church dance come out to protest. "Before you knew what was happening," Crowley told me, "Clark sent out an emergency call and soon the whole church block was surrounded by his posse. The Sheriff asked me to close down the dance and started to chase the kids. I told him, 'They're only children,' Clark wasn't deterred but calmer heads prevailed and Clark backed off. That was my initiation to Selma."
The momentum that would lead to the Selma March was beginning as Crowley arrived. A local state judge had issued an injunction forbidding civil rights groups from gathering publicly in groups of more than three. Besides blocking the voter registration drive the intent of the injunction! the court action led to arrests and defiance of local authority. This was the event that spurred Mrs. Amelia Boynton and others to ask Dr. King to bring his forces to Selma, to take on the volatile Jim Clark and expose Selma to the world.
The first major protest took place in January of 1965 with 67 violent arrests. Hundreds more followed. In the midst of this crisis, Father Ouellet required kidney surgery and, while recuperating out of town, Father Crowley filled the vacuum. To Southerners, the Edmunites even in the presence of Dr. King remained the symbol of all that had befallen them. Hate calls and death threats were rampant; one Selma resident told the local paper that because his name looked and sounded like "Ouellet," he was being "plagued with phone calls by anonymous callers who blare out profanity at me and my family ... I have nothing to do with his activities."
A few weeks later, Dr. King was behind bars. When he was released, Father Crowley arranged for Dr. King to visit the Edmunite hospital, attend a testimonial luncheon in his honor and receive a plaque for his contribution to the rights of Negroes. But Crowley was disturbed that the whole nation was watching Selma, but there was no local Catholic voice speaking out; the Archbishop was silent and all the other Catholic churches in the state were segregated.
Crowley made a decision that eventually committed the country's Catholic establishment. He purchased a $400, full-page advertisement in the Selma press. The statement was calm and dispassionate, every fiery word excised in anticipation of an eventual showdown with the Archbishop, who was not shown a copy in advance.
The February 7, 1965 ad, "The Path To Peace in Selma," proclaimed that the Edmunites' support of the black struggle was consistent with and essential to Christian principles: Jesus Christ clearly points it out to us. He tells us that
. . . on the last day . . . He will turn to those on His left and say 'I was hungry and you gave Me not to eat. I was thirsty and you gave Me not to drink. I was in jail and you visited me not.' And they will say to Him: 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, in jail? If it had been You, surely we would have helped you.' And He will answer them saying, 'when you refuse it to the least of my brethren, you refuse it to Me'."
Six days after the ad appeared, Jimmie Lee Jackson, a local black, was shot point blank in the stomach by an Alabama State Trooper during a peaceful demonstration. He was rushed to the Edmunite hospital in Selma where he died. The slaying triggered off greater demands, which ended in plans to march from Selma to Montgomery, to carry the message of integration to the Governor.
Ouellet recalled: "When the March was imminent, word came from Archbishop Toolen forbidding clergy to participate in any demonstrations. I never disobeyed him, I never took part in a single demonstration. . . . I was encouraging my Parish to participate but I couldn't be there. . . . Once as I was starting to march, people told me not to. 'We don't want to lose you, don't jeopardize your presence here.'"
One Northern minister explained emotionally: "I heard that Dr. Martin Luther King was calling for white ministers to come and march, and I am a white minister. You can say I heard the Macedonian call. We heard the call of God from Selma and we came."
In the midst of the religious [pilgrimage] to Selma, Cardinal Richard O'Boyle one of the most powerful and liberal Catholics in the United States was approached by two of his priests, who asked for permission to answer Dr. King's call. Succumbing to the emotion of the moment, O'Boyle agreed, but after the two priests left, the Cardinal realized he had broken hitherto sacrosanct church custom, the crossing of diocesan lines without the Archbishop's permission. Worse even, Archbishop Toolen had already forbidden his own priests to participate in the March, no Catholic priests were to march in Selma.
O'Boyle attempted to cancel his permission, but the two priests could not be located deliberately, some believed. But word of O'Boyle's original permission spread instantly. Word reached the head of the National Catholic Interracial Councils, who was, at the time, residing in the Edmunite Church in Selma. He then called every major Catholic clergyman in the country and said, in effect, "O'Boyle says it's okay, how about your diocese?" The response was overwhelming: a defiance of the Archbishop and the sanctity of the diocesan lines.
Catholic priests and nuns from all over the country joined their counterparts of other religions as they poured into the Selma Edmunite Church, which had become the "staging area for an assault on the entire structure of ecclesiastical opposition and resistance to involvement of Catholic clergy.'' None asked permission of Toolen.
The Edmunite church and hospital were made available to those who could march. The Clergy slept on mattresses laid on the floor of the Edmunite Hospital. Being obedient to a Bishop and at the same time trying to be faithful to their social conscience was a conflict few of the Catholics present had ever before experienced. By the time they left Selma, religious disobedience was added to the philosophy of civil disobedience. (Some became famous as the "Catholic Left.")
Three months after the march, Archbishop Toolen banished the Edmunite Pastor from Alabama because of Father Ouellet's civil rights activities. No further explanation was ever given. Toolen merely said, "I don't have to give any reason, I just want him to leave."
But Ouellet understood. He told me, "The Bishop received a lot of flak over me, State Troopers were always following me with cameras recording wherever I went, but more significantly, he felt I was destroying his life's work, to establish a true separate-but-equal life for the Negro. Toolen told me, "You are going to get killed if you stay and I don't want a dead priest in the Diocese." The Society considered a mass exodus from Alabama in protest, but realized that their parishioners would be the major losers, so they stayed. Father Ouellet was appointed novice master in recognition of his good works.
Father Ouellet believed the Church had forever changed. Vatican II, [in 1962] had opened the door for social change for the church, but Selma was different. It was real life, not philosophy. Clergy began speaking up for what they believed, dealing with their own conscience, saying what they were thinking. The church was at its best in Selma.
Two years after the March, Father Crowley offered Stokely and I sanctuary in the Church.
Bruce: Did they know you were Jewish?
Don: Not only did they know, but Father Crowley remarked that with a black priest and me, they now achieved the civil rights Holy Trinity: blacks, Jews and Catholics: the Klan's three most hated groups. We talked a lot about Jewishness and Catholicism, why they went into the priesthood, their lives in the Church . . . and my early experiences with Irish-Catholics. And they provided SRRP the resources we needed.
Bruce: . . . and you lived there for a year?
Don: Yes. I stayed on, like the "Man Who Came to Dinner." Father Crowley kept telling me there was "no rush" for me to leave and the other priests gave me an "Amen." By staying there, I obtained a different form of sanctuary than the kind I was originally offered: rest and contemplation. Once entering the Rectory each evening, I was cut off from staff, clients, SNCC and girlfriends. They could theoretically call or visit, but it was an intimidating place to just drop in. So I had time to think, read, make plans, and simply relax. Dr. King believed that all in the Movement should spend some contemplative time in jail; I would add that living in a Rectory can serve the same purpose . . . but jail is usually easier to arrange. [Grin]
After about a year at the Rectory, I met Estelle, my wife-to-be, and mentioned to Father Crowley that I didn't suppose they could handle my living there out-of-wedlock with a Jewish divorcee. Crowley confirmed my suspicions. So with great regrets and wonderful memories, I moved a mile away, still visiting and dining with the Edmunites so long as I remained in the South.
Don: On the eve of the first Black Elections in November, 1966, Stokely had been charged with "Inciting To Riot" for his Black Power soundtrack speech and one-man picket line. Now, in June, 1967, the federal hearing to stop the state trial was to begin. On the morning of the day before the hearing, a friendly Justice Department attorney telephoned me to say that Carmichael and I are marked for assassination, possibly that night, but probably the next morning as we walked up the steps of the federal courthouse in Selma.
This is when the Fathers of St. Edmund offered Stokely and I sanctuary in their church. Like the Three Little Pigs: our home was made of wood, theirs of stone.
I had had a number of threats before, so I asked the JD man how reliable was the information. "Very," he assured me, "This is inside information." Then he asked if I could call off the trial until the recently-heightened enmity (brought on by my subpoenaing Selma's leading officials to the trial) died down. I found myself paraphrasing Dr. King: "If we ever show fear," I said, "we'll be threatened every time we schedule a court hearing and never be able to attend a trial again."
I alerted Stokely, who called Atlanta for SNCC "action," the details of which I was never told. The next morning I left the Church, grateful to be alive. Stokley never showed up that night, so I met him at my office.
At my request, to make a good impression on the three-judge panel he and I were always fighting over dress for court he agreed to wear a suit. Stokley always wanted to come in jeans, SNCC garb; I always wanted him to wear a jacket. We had the same fight time and time again. I'd point out that he wears a suit or a sports jacket to church on Sundays, he'd say it was out of respect for the church, so anyway . . .
Bruce: When he gave speeches he often wore a suit.
Don: Yes. But he was saying I have no respect for the court. And I said well, that's fine, but this time, I added: "They're planning to kill us. Think of all the money you'll save your family and friends on the funeral. They won't have to put a suit on you, you'll already have one on. How about this one time? I'm a nervous wreck already about the threat. Please wear a suit this time."
He said, "All right, I'll come formal" and he did, but it was a suit (in those days) seen only at African conference tables: a Dashiki with a cap [photo]. (I would have to fight all day for his right to wear that cap in court for "religious" reasons.) It was his show of bravado in anticipation of the walk up the steps where we were to be shot; we decided to walk together. I had never seen African clothing except in the movies. My recollection is that dashikis were not then popular, I had never seen an American in a dashiki.
Walking to the steps, I told Stokley, "I got this feeling like there's a bulls eye on the back of my head that's sizzling, I can feel the circles burning into my head. This is so bizarre, I actually can feel the bulls eye." I once again asked Stokely if he was as frightened as I was. I could tell he was but he gave me his big grin, glancing up at the tall buildings overlooking the courthouse. If this was an implication of SNCC riflemen on the rooftops, I didn't want to know. I was too busy waiting for a Klan sniper to blast my head to bits. But nothing happened and in moments we were safely inside the courthouse. You can't imagine how good it feels being alive when you thought life was over. I took a deep breath and announced, "Ready for the Plaintiffs."
I reminded the court that we were charging deliberate harassment in the midst of a political campaign, harassment that violated our client's and the people's rights under the Constitution and the new Voting Rights Act. I then calling as witnesses local officials who were not accustomed to a real court, not controlled by local politicians. Even federal Judge Thomas, who considered Stokely and I a menace to his world, kept reasonably quiet while the other two moderate judges attempted to hold me down as I ripped apart the pretenses of the arrests.
The trial had a dual purpose: to win, of course but also, to hold each Selma official up to ridicule in the eyes of those who had been terrorized by them for generations.
The policeman with the too-ready shotgun was certain he hadn't pointed the weapon at the crowd to intimidate them but then he sat speechless as Kathy unveiled a poster-size photo of him in flagrante delicto, pointing his shotgun. He sat in the witness chair frozen as I asked over and over again, "How do you explain this photo? HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THIS PHOTO? HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THIS PHOTO?" Finally one of the judges, showing mercy on perjurers, suggested I move on to another issue. The audience, menaced by this man for many years, roared with laughter. From this moment on, neither he nor any of the witnesses who followed him were certain which photos we did have, and virtually the entire true story came out of the mouths of the accused policemen.
The next witnesses were city engineers and my own staff with their tape measures and charts to demonstrate the great size of the street in question, and how one sound truck could not possibly block traffic the initial charge. An exasperated judge We get it, We get it, his face said indicated that I had made my point.
Finally, the Mayor of Selma was forced to take the stand. In an incoherent manner, he explained how a one-man picket line incited a riot that never occurred, how he learned of a planned riot while at a gas station but didn't call the chief of police because he was off fishing. The audience was convulsed with laughter, "The Mayor's a clown," one stage whispered.
If it was a prize fight, the referee would have thrown in the towel, but since it was a lawsuit, the judges could only hurry me and resent me for the magnitude of the humiliation I was inflicting on respected public officials. As Judge Thomas snarled, Stokely passed me a flattering note comparing me favorably to the best of his nationwide attorneys; I glowed with pride.
I concluded with a fiery speech as the case ended.
[The decision would come four years later; almost a record for delay. The court waited until SNCC and virtually the entire civil rights movement had left the South before they ruled that Stokely could not be tried in this frame up, because, as we insisted, the law under which the SNCC defendants were charged, was unconstitutional. Alabama's Anti-Riot Act which provided for prosecution of acts
calculated to . . . outrage the sense of decency and morals or . . . violate or transgress the customs, patterns of life and habits of the people of Alabama" could never be used again.
Bruce: The statute that they invalidated had that line in it?
Don: That's right, and they'd been using that law forever. But interestingly, Stokely's actions of yelling "Black Power" exactly does fit that definition: It did "outrage [their] sense of decency [and] transgress the customs." No wonder they felt he was guilty.
Bruce: Very true.
Don: I can only guess that it took some judicial politicking to convince Judge Thomas to participate in a unanimous ruling for Stokely Carmichael. The tradeoff may have been the unexplained removing of Stokely as the lead plaintiff, thus changing the name of the case to Taylor v. City of Selma. Despite the lack of a riot, much less the incitement of one, the court gratuitously added a postscript, "Freedom of Speech does not give license to incitement of riot."]
Bruce: Had you solved your problem about working in the Alabama court?
Don: No, but I was already admitted in this federal court. Of course, they could pull that plug at any time except that Frank Johnson said I'd done nothing wrong but apparently they were so surprised that I'd come back, and with my new respectable persona, they didn't take me on . . . until Prattville.
By July of 1965, as the War in Vietnam was escalating, a black soldier, who had been active in McComb, Mississippi in the early voter registration days, was slain in Vietnam. The McComb freedom movement issued an anti-war statement that set off shockwaves in the U.S. Congress. It said, "Negroes should not be in any war fighting for America . . . until all the Negro people are free in Mississippi."
Six months later, SNCC formally opposed the War in Vietnam. As soon as the word hit the streets, massive attacks from the U.S. Congress, right-wing organizations and other civil rights organization began while contributions tapered off. Eventually, a constitutional crisis erupted as ex-SNCC member Julian Bond was denied his seat in the Georgia legislature for supporting the SNCC position. (The U.S. Supreme Court later reinstated him.) The impact of the anti-Vietnam statement, later endorsed by Dr. King, caused multiple problems for SNCC, but had a positive impact on the anti-war movement in the North.
Then came an anti-Israel position. For me, as a Jew, the first hint of it began a month earlier while Stokely was being tried, as Israel stood poised for what-became the Six Day War. During lunch recess during the trial, I discussed the Middle East with Stokely, Rap and others from SNCC. I was expecting them to share my enthusiasm (and fears) for Israel. I thought the Jewish nation was very much like SNCC: young, arrogant, uncompromising and out-numbered. I had never heard an anti-semitic word (even from the southern whites) since I'd been South. That was especially significant because most of the [white] civil rights workers were Jewish and most of the money was Jewish. In the Northern press were accounts of urban black charges that "Jew" slumlords and merchants in Harlem and other black ghettos were oppressing blacks, but I never heard a word of this in the South.
So it was a shock to me when my SNCC friends mildly indicated support for the Arabs. "But they may wipe out and destroy Israel," I protested. Stokely, the defendant on trial, cut the debate by mock-moaning, "Don't we have enough problems of our own here in Selma?" We all laughed and walked back to the courtroom.
I was walking alongside Rap Brown, when he suddenly began softly singing to himself, "Arms for the Arabs, sneakers for the Jews." "What's that?" I asked him. Rap was startled and owned that he was mouthing a ditty he used to sing-song as a student in Bogolusa, Louisiana. He was embarrassed: the ditty implied that Jews needed sneakers to run from armed Arabs. Rap apologized, but I assured him my school day ditties were none better and recited, "Eennie, Meanie, Minie, Mo, Catch . . . ." We all laughed it off and forgot about overseas as the trial resumed.
We won the trial and Israel won the Six Day War. . . and much changed. SNCC felt a sense of identity with the "black" humiliated Arabs and began to look seriously upon Israel as the enemy of black people.
SNCC formalized its position in the June-July, 1967 issue of the SNCC Newsletter. In an article entitled "The Palestine Problem," SNCC charged that Zionist imperialists were responsible for the permanent state of war between the Arab nations and Israel, that the U.S. Government staunchly supported Zionism for neo-colonial reasons because Israel served as a stepping stone for the U.S. into black Africa.
During my next trip to SNCC in Atlanta, I was shown a preview of the forthcoming anti-Israel position. I mildly asked if it was absolutely necessary because it did not involve local civil rights. Neither did the anti-Vietnam position, so my argument was futile. My SNCC friends empathized with my discomfort and assured me it was neither personal nor anti-semitic, though we all knew that such subtlety would be lost in the headlines. And it was.
Bruce: My recollection is different. The June-July, 1967 issue of the newsletter was the second anti-Israel article. I don't have a copy of first article in the previous issue, but my memory is that the article was accompanied by a cartoon depicting Israel as a pig with swastikas, $ signs, and stars of david on its flank. In my opinion as a Jew that cartoon was flat-out anti-semitism, and to any religiously observant Jew (which I am not) using a pig to represent Israel was particularly offensive, as were the swastikas. It may well be that the article itself was not anti-semitic, but the first thing people saw before reading the article was the anti-semitic cartoon.
The second, June-July, article which I do have a copy of was also accompanied by an anti-semitic cartoon showing a white hand labeled with a star of david and a $ sign. The hand holds two lynch ropes. One rope lynching an American Black and the other an Arab. An arm holding a sword labeled "Third World Liberation Movement" is poised to cut the two lynch ropes. The three-page article restated as true fact every allegation and assertion of the Palestine Liberation Organization against Israel with no indication that Israel and Jews might have some points to make in opposition.
I do agree that many northern Jews who had previously given financial support to SNCC over-reacted. But I also don't agree with the implication that the SNCC articles were completely free of anti-semitism and that the Jewish reaction to that anti-semitism was groundless and without any basis in fact.
And I think that I should add that many of the Jews who stopped contributing to SNCC continued giving money to the Civil Rights Movement in the form of contributions to SCLC, NAACP, SCEF, ACLU, and other organizations.
Don: I saw the anti-Israel text in advance, I never saw the graphics you describe (until you showed it to me in 2005). Had I seen it I would have been appalled. But even had I seen it, I would not have left SNCC. I was living in Alabama, in SNCC-country and I never had an anti-semitic moment with a SNCC member. My first-hand experience was disagreeing with the written political position about the Middle East, which I debated regularly with Stokley, Rap and many others. But most important, SNCC still had a major role to play in the South which, is in part, why Dr. King never condemned SNCC: not after Black Power and not after the anti-Israel statement and SCLC lost funds when it did not join the big anti-Black Power ad in the NY Times.
So, I'm sure you would agree that one who disagrees with SNCC about Israel should not leave and walk away from local blacks who had jeopardized themselves over SNCC campaigns in the past. Though as we both know, some Jews felt to the contrary.
From the day the story was released, I never held a serious discussion outside the South without having to explain SNCC's position and why as a white man and a Jew I did not refuse to cease aiding the anti-white, anti-Jew organization. Publicly, I supported SNCC's right to their political position (adding that I disagreed), but the result for SNCC and SRRP was a further diminishing of the small trickle of money we were receiving for our work.
For me, it hit closer to home. I was called a Judas by the few New York friends I still maintained and my parents reminded me that "THEY [Negroes] have always hated Jews." When I visited my parents, they arranged to not have me around when others were present. I was now in the unenviable position of being the civil rights white to justify Black Power, and the civil rights Jew to justify the anti-Israel stand.
Across the country, the SNCC message lit a fire under the exiled white (mostly Jewish) civil rights workers who still remained loyal to SNCC. Having returned to their urban areas, they had faced the "honky" issue as they tried to relate to the new militant blacks. When the Israel issue emerged, many young white radicals "proved themselves" by "sacrificing" their heritage where they could not sacrifice their whiteness or middle-class advantages. Soon white militants were leading the anti-Israel campaign, a situation that exists to this day among many on the left.
As to local blacks in the South, they were neither anti-white nor anti-Israel. Nothing changed among the sharecroppers, but it was not so in the black urban areas. By 1968, the right-wing, Jewish Defense League would assemble outside New York's Temple Emanuel to battle with SNCC leader James Forman, who threatened to disrupt the services to demand reparations for blacks from Jews.
Eventually, a friendly judge in New York wrote me to say that I was burning my bridges back home, that I would not be able to practice law in New York if I did not walk away from SNCC. Perhaps I could survive Black Power, he wrote, but not an attack on Israel. I wrote back, sincerely thanked him for his concern but said I could not leave. (When I finally left the South I heeded his warning and relocated to the West Coast to practice law.)
In late May of 1967, Stokely decided not to run again for chairman of SNCC, and was succeeded by Rap Brown. A few weeks later, on June 11, 1967, Kathy and I were visiting a professor couple at Tuskegee, who had worked on our survey, when a call came for me. It was Lowndes County SNCC leader Johnny Jackson.
"Don, we're trapped in Dan Houser's home in Prattville, a whole army's outside shooting at us," he yelled into the phone. I could hear gunshots in the background. "We're all going to be killed, Atlanta says you're the nearest. Don, try . . . "
The phone went dead. I quickly turned on the radio and heard a bulletin that martial law had been declared in Prattville, near Lowndes County, and that Stokely Carmichael had triggered off a riot. The phone rang again. Johnny told me that he could call out, but no calls could come in and his phone has been cutting off suddenly. He repeated that the house was surrounded and that I should do something. I said I would try.
I immediately called Atlanta SNCC and was told that carloads of blacks were leaving from five different points, but it would be hours before the first group arrived. Then a second call came in that I thought would be Johnny. At that point, I talked to a civil rights leader I will call "Richard." [For various reasons I am using pseudonyms for certain people.] And he starts to tell me the basic information that Johnny had told me. "Richard" sounded frantic and says although they are doing things, they are too far away, that nobody is closer than I am. He says that the place is surrounded on all sides by the National Guard; while others do the shooting, the Guard is keeping everyone out.
Bruce: The Guard was a circle and inside their circle were the shooters and in the center is the house?
Don: That's exactly right. Richard wants me to drive there and deliver a message to the National Guard Commander which I'll get to later. I said to him, "I won't have much of a chance of surviving if I do that." He replied: "No one there has any chance if you don't." I said, "I'll leave right away." Richard wished me good luck. I told the three, the Professor couple and Kathy, what was happening and what I had to do. I told Kathy I didn't want her to come with me to Prattville, but she insisted on going to my relief. I was very frightened and wanted her company, but I didn't tell her about the message I was to deliver.
Bruce: That's about an hour's drive, right?
Don: Yeah, right, but the way we drove in those days: 45 minutes.
I later learned the details of what had led up to the siege; the source was the written decision of who else? Judge Johnson from his court action concerning these events:
At 3 pm on Sunday, June 11, 1967, Stokley arrived in Autauga County to speak at a Prattville churchyard assembly of close to 100 black members of the local County Improvement Association. One of the major grievances of the community was the death of a local black, shot in the back, allegedly attempting to escape from the city jail. Prattville Policeman Kenneth Hill had fired the fatal shots.
At the Assembly, there was some singing, some short talks and then Stokely began to speak. The following notes from a reporter who was there accepted as accurate by Judge Johnson show an angry Stokely, talking of yet another murdered black man, no longer comfortable in a non-violent role:
"Stokely Carmichael (speaking to crowd): We advocate that all black people get some guns and learn to use them. The only way to get Kennedy [sic] Hill off force is to organize the black power in this area and use your guns. (Troopers drive by.) Black Power. (The Troopers are three in one car.) Black Power. (The driver passes, turns around and drives by again) Black Power (The driver reverses the car.) Black Power [Stokely sees the shooter, who killed the black man, is in the car.]
Kennedy [sic] Hill: (Pointing his finger at Carmichael as he hopped out of the car.) Listen you. You don't go 'round shouting and going on, hear?
Carmichael: Would you like to speak to me? I'm Mr. Carmichael.
K. Hill: I don't give a damn who you are! You've got no business shouting like that.
Carmichael (to crowd): You know, the only time black people are allowed to meet without interference is to pray and to dance. Whenever black people get together for any other reasons, the hunkies [sic] get scared and come out to beat and kill us.
K. Hill: Shut up, boy, cause I'm the law around here.
Carmichael: Take off that tin badge and drop your gun. I'll show you something, hunkie.
Hill: You're threatening me?
Carmichael: Do you want to arrest me?
Hill: No, we don't want to arrest you. Our job is to protect the people.
Carmichael: Just drop your tin badge and that gun, hunkie. (Then to crowd) These hunkies want to send us to Vietnam to fight the Viet Cong . . . . Our war is right here in the United States of America, black people!
(More policemen came. One of the first policemen radioed for more)
Carmichael: From now on, its going to be an eye for an eye, a toot[h] for a toot[h], and a hunkie for every black man killed!
Hill: You're under arrest!
What happened next is taken from the testimony of a 16-year old black girl, whose testimony was also accepted as accurate by Judge Johnson:
At this point Carmichael was placed in a police car. When a local woman spoke up for him, Stokely said, "Well, that's right, Baby," and Hill struck Stokely, while he was in the police car. Hill then grabbed a camera from the reporter and a tape recorder from a radio announcer, roughed them up, destroyed their equipment and proclaimed, "No publicity!" Stokely was then taken to the jail, which was the site of the killing of the local black.
Approximately 30-45 persons headed for Prattville leader Dan Houser's home to discuss the arrest and plan a response. Then there were shots, which "came toward Mr. Houser's house, and we ran into the house and laid on the floor."
According to Johnson's evaluation of the evidence,
From this point on [4:20 pm] until about 2:00 a.m. on Monday, June 12 [the next morning], Prattville, Alabama, literally became an armed camp. . . . Numerous members of the Alabama State Troopers arrived; all available deputies and special deputies for Autauga County were called into active duty, and in the early part of the evening of June 11, Sheriff Philip Wood, through the Governor of the State of Alabama, had a contingent of the Alabama National Guard sent to the Prattville area.
Kathy and I stopped for gas, about a half hour from Prattville, when a news flash came across the radio: "Stokely Carmichael has been lynched in Prattville!" I ran to the men's room, vomited and then ran the water as loud as I could to drown out the sounds of my sobbing. Gaining control, I walked out, paid for the gas; as I drove towards Prattville, I told a red-eyed Kathy, "I think I'm going to get killed tonight." Then, suddenly calm, I gave her instructions about how to continue the work, how to use my death as a weapon against the USDA and for fund raising purposes adding, pettily, for her to be sure that ACLU didn't make money over my dead body.
I drove as we talked and saw the traditional, bullet-ridden, city limits sign, used by passing motorists for target practice. Then we saw the roadblock, a wooden barricade manned by two National Guardsmen, looking as young and innocent as I did when I served in the Guard. One pointed his rifle at us while the other flashed his flashlight into the car. Identification was demanded. Instead I bellowed at them, "I'm Stokely Carmichael's lawyer and, if he's dead, you're in serious trouble. I demand to see your Commander immediately!"
They were momentarily confused by my apparent authority, and while they lost the momentum, I slowly opened the car door, keeping my arms visible, and stepped out, while telling Kathy not to move a muscle. The Guardsmen said nothing as I exited, but when I stepped on the ground, my knee buckled and I fell. The one with the rifle cocked it, apparently believing my fall was a maneuver for me to open fire at them. I immediately reassured them that I had fallen over a rock and rose very slowly, hoping they would not guess that fear had buckled my knee. Again I demanded their Commander. When I got up, they patted me down and one said: "What do you want from him?" I gave Kathy the nod and she took the wheel and drove off.
I said, "I have a message for your commander" and I gave his name: Lt. Colonel, whatever.
Bruce: How did you know the name?
Don: I had gotten the information from "Richard." And I said to them, "It concerns the safety of the Colonel's wife and two children." The guardsman hesitated and I said, "I think that if you don't call him and something happens to his wife and children, he will take it very badly that you didn't give him this information." He departed, leaving his buddy in charge of me.
In a short time, the Commander, in military green, approached me, glaring; I said, "I have a message I am to deliver to you from" and I named "Richard" by his real name. I gave his real name to the Colonel and a phone number where he can call him and verify what I am saying. I said "Richard's" message is this: Your wife is named such and such. You live at such and such address. Your children are named such and such. (I had this all written out.) They go to the following schools and they are in the following grades.
At this point I paused, almost unable or unwilling to finish my message: "Your wife and children will be killed if Stokley or any of our people die tonight!" Goodbye, life, I thought. And then, in a pathetic attempt to stay alive, I added, "This is not my message." I said this is not my message, to emphasize I am just the messenger (Don't Shoot The Messenger!), that this is not really me saying this.
He stares at me and says, "How do I know any of this is true?" And I say, "Well, I've given you his phone number. Call him and hear it directly from the person who gave me the message. Or, do you want to just wait and see how it plays out? Or do you want to do what know you are lawfully bound to do anyhow: let our people out of that house"
He says the blacks are doing the shooting. I say I will go to the house. He says, "No, we won't let you go to the house." Then just tell them I'm here, I said, and I'm sure they won't "shoot" anymore. "You got to let them out. And you got to take them to the jail. Everybody has to be put in the jail. Nobody is to go free."
Bruce, you know, of course, that civil rights workers have been killed when left out in the open after an incident . . . or even upon leaving jail. "Everyone goes to the jail, and if Stokely is truly dead, as I heard on the radio, then it won't make any difference what you do." (This was a stupid thing to say; if Stokley was dead, why should he bother to let me live and let the others out.) He says, "He is not dead. I don't know where that story came from. He is not dead!" So he leaves me and tells the two Guardsmen to keep me there.
Later that night, according to the Johnson decision, the Sheriff, on a loudspeaker, promised safety to the group if they left the house. In a few moments, I heard the shooting stop and I heard someone yell out something with my name.
Bruce: The Guard was not shooting. It was the police?
Don: Yes, the police. Ten to twelve blacks were arrested and all but Dan Houser were taken to the county jail; Houser was brought to the City Jail where "he was severely beaten about the face, head and body, either by Prattville police officers" or with their knowledge and consent. Johnson noted that a "large group of hostile white people" were allowed to congregate night and morning near the jail.
Then the Colonel comes back and says, "What now?" I tell him that I want to see Stokely. He says, "Not possible." I don't want to push it too much, so I say, "Alright, then I need to talk to him on the phone, to verify that he is alive." (Nowadays, this is called "proof of life.") And Stokely eventually is on his phone, this walkie-talkie, the old kind of cell phone, and I say, "Stokely, you okay?" He said, "Yeah, why?" He had no idea any of this was going on. I told him this is not the time to talk. "I will talk to you at some other point" and he says all right. I tell the Commander that I am going to drive away now, but in about half an hour, I will call the jail and I will expect to speak to Johnny Jackson and he will tell me everybody is there, safely. Well, one of them wasn't OK.
Bruce: Wait a minute, you mean after they came out of the house they beat him?
Don: No. I call the number they had given me to call. I speak to Johnny Jackson and he tells me everybody is alright except Dan Hauser, who was severely beaten in the jail and might lose the use of one eye.
Kathy and I returned from Prattville to Selma and joined with a SNCC contingent to hear that the last of the group were safely out of the house. We all embraced at the successful culmination of this very tense evening. The next morning I was in the City Jail hugging a very alive Stokely, who now was aware of the news of his death.
The injured Houser was released without charges. When Stokely appeared in court to answer charges of Disorderly Conduct, I was sitting next to him at the counsel table. But thanks to Amelia Boynton, her son Bruce and Chuck Conley, I was now barred from all the state courts. Everyone in the courtroom knew of my pledge to not appear as a lawyer in state courts, but I sat down at the counsel table with Stokely anyhow. He says, "Don't speak. It is good that you are here. You are making a statement. But don't speak and give them grounds to arrest you." Then Stokley told me to whisper in his ear, pretending I am giving him advice as if he doesn't know what to do. So I followed his lead.
Bruce: What do you mean pretending? You were, weren't you?
Don: No. There was no advice needed. You plead not guilty and ask for bail. There is really nothing to do. He didn't need a lawyer, that's what I meant. He got out on bail the next day. After that, life went back to what-we-called normal. And that was . . .
Bruce: . . . a day in life of a civil rights lawyer.
Don: Really, it wasn't much lawyering.
Bruce: Yeah, well, civil rights lawyers were asked to do lots of interesting things that didn't take place in the courtroom.
Don: The Bar Association quickly called my ex-Boss to ascertain if it was all beginning again and he immediately checked with me. I assured him that this was a one-shot matter that would not happen again. I never stepped foot in an Alabama state court again. Word came from Atlanta that many on the SRRP board were considering resigning: I repeated the message that I had given to the Boss. No one resigned.
Judge Johnson, on the facts of the siege, despite the almost mass lynching, the beating of Houser, the assault on press people and no evidence of a single black committing an illegal act, Johnson concluded: "the fault lies on both sides." Johnson elaborated:
This court unequivocally and emphatically condemns any advocacy of violence or the use of violence at any time, and particularly in connection with activities that are ostensibly designed to secure full rights of citizenship to members of the minority race.
Then and only then, Johnson equally condemned
. . . the excessive use of force or power, or any brutality, on the part of police officials. Even though the use of the term "black power" offends the sensibilities of many citizens, both white and Negro, it cannot justify the action by and the conduct of the several members of the Prattville Police Force on June 11, 1967.
Without evidence of any kind, the Judge judged that:
. . . this Court is convinced that, after the meeting had been disturbed by the officers without sufficient justification and had been removed to Dan Houser's residence, after the initial shots were fired and in response to the illegal and 'high-handed' conduct of the city officers, some of the Negro citizens who were there in attendance armed themselves with shotguns, rocks and other weapons for the purpose of harassing, and did harass, on the night of June 11, the police officers . . . ."
Then following the precedent he set for the Selma March enjoining and restraining the Marcher-victims Johnson enjoined both sides from engaging in illegal conduct.
Bruce: I had not heard that story about the house, and the surrounding and the shooting. I have to tell you that I think you did great. But the whole reason we use non-violence as a tactic was to avoid those kinds of situations. Trying to pick a fight with the cop, leads directly to these kind of things. You know me, I have been an advocate of nonviolent tactics.
Don: Yes, but things were really out of control at that point. If the cop himself who shot the unarmed black in the back had not shown up, it would have been different. He deliberately provoked it.
Bruce: A provocation, yes, exactly.
Don: Yes, putting Stokely beyond his limits.
Bruce: But the whole point of nonviolent tactics is not doing what they want us to do. When they provoke us, if we do what they are trying to provoke us to do, we play into their hands. We play their game, by their rules, where they hold all the cards. We win by doing what they don't want us to do.
Don: I don't agree in this instance. Also, this was the beginning of a new era; this is when Rap takes over and nonviolent "tactics" are going out the window.
Bruce: That's right, which is a decision I still disagree with.
Don: I don't think Stokely was where Rap was; he just lost it that night and within two days Rap was calling for violence.
Bruce: Right, which I think was a big mistake. But what was the court decision about?
Don: Those in the house sued the police for an injunction and damages.
Bruce: So, the court records you talk about are the records from that case.
Don: That's right.
Don: Rap became Chairman of SNCC in May of 1967, a month before Prattville. Prior to that, he was the kind of guy who was always in trouble. He had a girlfriend who called the police because he was berating her, carrying on in the house. The Selma police called me and asked me to intervene. They didn't want to get involved in this. And so I went over there and dragged him out to our house.
We each had a dog. His was named Sapphire (after the wife in Amos and Andy, the popular show taken off the air because some said it belittled blacks); mine was named Bokulich.
Bruce: Your dog was named Bokulich, the same as Paul Bokulich, your client?
Don: Except as Christians the Bokulich's were furious, it was sort of sacrilegious. And I said . . .
Bruce: To name a dog after them?
Don: Yeah, it's kind of like worshiping idols, I guess. And I said no, because he's named after the Bokulich case, not named after you at all.
Bruce: Oh, you sly lawyer you. [Grin]
Don: So Rap and I were always competing with the dogs: Could Sapphire jump, fetch, return, race as fast as my Bokulich? Almost never, so Rap would wrestle me to the ground for Sapphire's honor, usually emerging victorious, and then the dogs would jump on top of us. We had a lot of fun.
I never took Rap seriously as a "heavy," and when he was made Chair of SNCC, I was startled. I didn't see him that way. It was like Truman following Roosevelt. It didn't seem like he had the gravitas, as they say these days. I think that's how one feels when a peer rises above you.
I was very wrong: The new Rap Brown was a deadly serious urban black who was coming into his own and would soon overshadow Stokely as the torch bearer of Black Power for militants all over the nation. The famous Rap Brown emerged in Newark, New Jersey on July 20, 1967 at a National Conference on Black Power. He was only one of many firebrands, but from there he drove to Cambridge, Maryland where he told blacks, "If America don't come around, we're going to burn America down, brother." Rap was shot by a deputy sheriff; later the black section of town was in ruins. Brown was charged with Inciting to Riot.
This began a series of speeches and arrests until he was charged 14 times in 14 parts of the country. His was not the intellectual appeal of Stokely Carmichael, who had the wit of a young Malcolm X. Brown spoke to the ghettos and raised the fears of a young Malcolm X, when he famously proclaimed: "Violence is as American as cherry pie!"
Rap struck a raw American nerve, and ghetto dwellers listened to this new leader who took the early days of civil rights, the nonviolence of Dr. King, the Black Power of Stokely Carmichael, and moved the Movement to a place it had never been. The impatience of the ghetto provided him with receptive audiences.
I hadn't seen Rap for six months during the time he had become the nation's new bogeyman . . . except briefly, when he would visit me to comply with his bail restrictions not to leave New York "except to consult with his attorneys." In this manner, he was able to "consult" and travel all over the country.
Now he asked to see me in Atlanta. We met in a black restaurant. Rap rose to embrace me and then introduced me to two black FBI agents: "Meet my escorts," Rap told me, and we all four laughed. He introduced them to me by name and said, "They're great guys who are stuck with this assignment. They follow me everywhere, but it's not their fault." I shook hands with them, as they stood up to greet me.
Bruce: They must have been some of the first blacks hired. It was only a couple years earlier there had been no black agents, only Hoover's chauffeur and butler.
Don: Yes. They had to be real new ones. Rap told them, "Don and I are going to talk for a while, so you can order a full meal. We won't be running out." They thanked Rap for telling them. And he said, "After that, I'm going to go [here and there]."
Bruce: So these guys were ostensibly following Rap, he wasn't traveling with him as guards to ensure he returned for trial?
Don: No, they were following him, and accounting for his whereabouts. It's known as an "open tail." So we sit down, we reminisce, talk about the dogs and everything. Rap finally says, "The reason I asked you here is that I will not be able to see you again. Unlike Stokely, I'm traveling in a different circle now, and I can't have any contact with whites. And so I wanted to say goodbye and thank you for everything," and that was that.
Bruce: That was very courteous of him.
Don: It certainly was and very gracious. Ironically, I could have seen him again, because he was at Attica when I was handling the Attica cases.
Bruce: He was serving a sentence at Attica?
Don: Yes, for robbing a liquor store, which ostensibly was a vigilante operation against drug dealers in Harlem. Kunstler represented him. He was convicted and was doing time in Attica while I was defending the prisoners at Attica.
Bruce: This was after the Attica Uprising in 1971?
Don: Yes. My clients had all been moved to another prison, nearby at Auburn, but I was forever visiting Attica to look over this and that, and I could have seen him easily. But I kept thinking that I got my duties to the prisoners and to put anything else in their path Rap's reputation was more obstacles. In hindsight, I was wrong, I've always felt very bad about that.
Bruce: But you think he would have been willing to see you after he asked you not to?
Don: Things were different at that point, I have no doubt I would have been welcome.
Don: By 1968, the Southern Rural Research Project had turned into a vigorous, working, functioning organization with Kathy overseeing a staff of four permanent. There were money troubles, notoriety, including headline trials involving Stokely Carmichael and Paul Bokulich, agriculture litigation, SNCC meetings and arrests which I could no longer handle if they involved the state courts consulting with a farmer's cooperative (SWAFCA), speeches to write and deliver, and overseeing the results of weekly visits to local agriculture and food stamp offices to register complaints and maintain our presence.
The FBI reported that:
WORKERS IN THIS ORGANIZATION [SRRP] APPEAR TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH SNCC [and ordered an investigation into SRRP's] SOURCES OF FUNDS.
I believe that they couldn't imagine how we accomplished so much with so little money, and they assumed that there were large sums of money . . .
Bruce: Oh, yeah, the proverbial gold bars delivered by submarine from Moscow . . . [Grin]
Don: Our not-so-secret sources of money were intermittent trips to Atlanta, from which we came back with buckets of money.
Bruce: Give a dollar amount to "buckets of money".
Don: $5,000 dollars. After a year, we had raised $16,500 to support 23 full-time and part-time workers (SRRP staff, SNCC members and weekly volunteers), cars, gasoline, an office and supplies. I was the highest paid at $20 per week.
Once I walked into our offices and found Kathy in tears. She wanted a new pair of shoes, she "needed" a new pair of shoes. She got her shoes (courtesy of a cash gift from the Church), but it was only a symptom of middle class deprivation suffered by expatriate middle class folks. I suffered least because I lived in the Church. Our economic highs came when the media or Northern supporters visited and dined us royally.
As the results of the survey were tabulated, I spent more and more time considering what we could do about starvation (technically, near fatal malnutrition). Every plan I came up with had serious flaws or, we could not finance it.
I decided to take a few days off and visit the Bokulich's pathetic one acre of land which I pretended to help cultivate. As usual, the mule showed his contempt for me by either refusing to move, or, when he did, shifting to one side so my plow would dig up the row I had just planted. In his spare time, the mule would also try to kick my dog, who was snapping at his heels to encourage more mule power for the project. By nightfall I was exhausted and took my shower standing in a little washbasin while Paul poured boiling water over me and Pat laughed.
Then we talked awhile and I settled down to read an article Paul offered me: "Food Stamps and Hunger in America" by Howard Thorkelson, a lawyer who had been one of my best volunteers. Thorkelson had been there when Stokely was arrested in Selma, had worked with me for 36 straight hours to prepare a brief in the ASCS case and now provided backup for us from his poverty law job at Columbia University. The thesis of his article was that the prime cause of hunger in the South (and elsewhere) could be ended by an honest implementation of USDA food programs. He placed the responsibility on the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, who, Thorkelson maintained, could bring about a change if he declared the existence of a "national or other disaster" which apparently, to him, did not include "mass hunger and slow starvation."
Suddenly I had a plan. I threw the magazine up in the air and yelled to Paul, "I must talk to Howard now." Paul, exhausted, pleaded "It's after 10 p.m., it's almost midnight in New York, and the nearest phone is miles away." But I insisted, "I must talk to Howard now." Reluctantly, Paul drove me to a phone, where I called him, collect, waking him up and yelling, "Howard, your article is great. We're going to do it . . . you and I . . . in Washington, D.C. and do it BIG! Are you in?" Though he barely knew what I was talking about, he was in. The ideas were forming as I ranted: "Food Stamp counties, Surplus Commodity counties, No Food Program counties. We'll do it all, a full frontal attack, no holds barred. Start thinking and drafting."
Howard warned that his legal theories have never been tested. I said I took that for granted. This has to be legal-political, meaning we march through the front door, not tip toe through the back door and we get to do it first-class. With enough people making noise in the provide-food-direction, we could bring starvation into national focus.
So I quickly signed up SNCC, made a list of ideal test case plaintiffs throughout Alabama, and then I made another appointment to see Dr. King. And again, like the last time, in the what-did-you-call it, what kind of meeting?
Bruce: A Board meeting. Now this is late '67 we're talking about?
Don: No, we're in '68 now. Early '68.
Bruce: So it must be shortly before he was killed?
Don: Yes. As a matter of fact, the hearing on the case in Washington would occur on March 25th.
Bruce: And he was killed April 4th, right.
Don: Right. The next week I was in Atlanta at Dr. King's weekly staff meeting, the last time I would see him alive. Sitting in the same cafe as the previous meeting, I told him the plan, this time with specifics: I told him I had already met with Cesar Chavez, labor leader of the Mexican Farm Workers Movement, who was very interested; I planned to get test-case plaintiffs from the entire South, then Appalachia, then the West, American Indians, and so on; I would work with poverty program lawyers throughout the United States, while Dr. King, I hoped, would coordinate the political part. Like the last time, we would file in D. C. but this time we would stay. With housing set up that replicated sharecropper shacks, the poor would eat their usual food, and we would have renowned doctors examine them. The lawsuit would be the excuse, the real action would go on outside of Congress, with demonstrations and marches and speeches.
Bruce: You need to explain this because I'm not following it.
Don: I'm sorry. I'm getting excited as if it's happening now. This was to be a lawsuit to (1) force the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide free and healthy! surplus commodities; (2) require a means test for the price of food stamps and (3) force USDA to order counties which refused to accept food stamps and surplus commodities (at no cost to them) to bring in the food programs.
Bruce: So you're addressing three issues. That many Southern counties refuse to allow food stamps or commodities programs as a way of retaliating against blacks, but that even in the places where the county was allowing the services in, the commodities were unhealthy and the price of food stamps was prohibitive to provide good nutrition.
Bruce: And all this in Washington?
Don: That's right. I told Dr. King that the lawsuit is not likely to win legally as opposed to politically; he quickly confronted me: "Have you told this to the people who you're planning to bring?" I said, "I've told some, and no one will be signed up until I personally explain this to every one of them." Then I added, "This fight is as basic as it comes, easier than cotton subsidies, which is so hard to understand. We expect to bring a woman whose baby died in her arms for lack of food. This is a very powerful case."
Dr. King said, "I like it." He wanted to hear a lot more, and he always did this and I really admired it he asked logistical questions about toilets, bail bonds, weather, money. I answered adequately, having learned my lesson from him the last time with the ASCS case. He said again that he likes it, asked me to talk with Andy Young that night, and give him a report in the morning.
I asked for a moment to discuss something personal with him; he agreed. I said, "In my opinion the rural work is ending, and I'd like to work with you here in Atlanta when this is all over." He said, "That is a fine idea; we should talk about details soon."
I met Andy for dinner and it was a disaster. He had already spoken to others in SCLC and they believed that the suit/protest can't only be for food; it has to include also welfare, medical care, jobs, housing, land, and more.
Bruce: The whole poor people's campaign.
Don: I said, "That will kill it. You got different agencies and different needs. One issue can actually succeed, but not with a potpourri of causes. I'm just vehemently against it; It will destroy the whole concept. If we ask for the world, we lose," I said to him.
"It must be all," Andy said. "Then I'll have to go it alone," I challenged. "We'll do it anyhow, it's a fine idea," he concluded.
I slept over at his home and the next morning we shook hands, but our positions were frozen in stone. My plan now would have to be scaled down to SRRP proportions while SCLC enlarged my plan into the "Poor Peoples Campaign." Their target date became early May, so I planned to get to D.C. first so as not to be overwhelmed by their grandiosity. (Andy Young later asked me to join the Campaign because, he told Kathy, I had originated the idea. I was convinced it would fail and I didn't join.)
Breaking with Dr. King on this issue and taking an independent path was not to my liking. When I saw Dr. King the next day, I said, "We couldn't agree on a plan," as if he didn't know all that had been discussed. I repeated that, "I thought the SCLC plan would fail." I added immodestly that SRRP can accomplish more by itself than "you'll accomplish in this whole operation; you didn't go over the Selma bridge asking also for better housing in Selma. It's just a mistake."
Gracious always, Dr. King offered his hand and wished me the best of luck.
Now SNCC and SRRP volunteers went through a large area with Selma as the hub, and signed up 32 heads of households comprising 258 people, including: the mother whose baby died from malnutrition, families who had to borrow the 50 cents to purchase food stamps, those who couldn't even borrow the 50 cents, families needing food because they earned so little living in counties providing the unhealthy surplus commodities, and counties that refused to allow any food programs at all. It took over a month to find them, explain what was going on, explain the dangers, document the extensive details of their poverty and then sign them up. We looked for a first name for the plaintiffs, like "Brown."
Don: Did you think it was a coincidence that the most famous desegregation case was Brown v Board of Education it's a lawyer's flourish to have the lead name tell part of the story. I found a farmer named "Orwitt Peoples," with an "s," the way our clients said "People," as in "The Peoples want freedom." And so the case became Peoples v. USDA.
The next obstacle was raising money. The problem was not because of Dr. King's non-involvement, but because of U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy. "Bobby," as we all referred to him, had been very moved by what he saw in the South, and he had put together a food bill that was locked up in Congress thanks to the Southern committee chairmen. He wasn't yet able to get it through but was hoping to get it passed soon. He spread the word that he felt that what I was planning would destroy his chances the "wild man" concern because there would be some kind of riot or uncontrolled demonstration, or something else that would interfere with his ability to get his food bill.
He asked us not directly but second hand not to file the case, or, at least, to stay out of DC. Bring it in an Alabama court. Senator George McGovern joined Bobby's request. Soon the civil rights hierarchy was making the same "request" directly to me. Even my own Board, my own Board in Atlanta (et tu Brute?) said to me: "Bobby Kennedy asks you not to do it, so why are you doing it?" My wife-to-be said to me, "Bobby Kennedy thinks you're wrong, George McGovern thinks you're wrong, how come you always think you're right? How come you're so much smarter than everyone else?"
I was weakening under the pressure of the big names many who I greatly admired. Now I was opposing them as I had just recently opposed Dr. King. Was I just ego-mad? I had this long-time friend, Betsy Sanders from New York City: a former girlfriend now, a best friend. I called her and told her my dilemma; she says: "I don't know why there's such a problem. You are the one in the South, not them; you know every person involved, not them; no one else even knows their names. If you believe you're right, follow your instincts. Your opinion is better than all the rest. Just do it!"
Well, she really gave me the push I needed. I announced we were going, no matter what and somehow we'll get the money, or the people will go in their unsafe, dilapidated cars . . . and try to make it. Winifred Green, a member of our Board, staff with the Quakers, the American Friends Service Committee, and a good friend, was one of those hedging on the money. She finally said, "I'm not convinced but I'll bet on you." With her help, and my threat to have the people travel to their death? in their broken-down cars, if necessary, we raised the money one day before the due date to pay $3,600 for the busses. And that was nothing compared to what it would cost once we got there.
But once Winifred agreed, the others started giving trickles of money, and we got the money. I had read an article, "It Ain't True That Nobody Starves In America" and noted that four doctors had examined the Southern poor and filed a report. I recruited three of them to come to Washington with us.
The lawsuit proclaimed a Constitutional "right to live" in three parts, representing the three problems: Unhealthy Surplus Commodities, too expensive Food Stamps, and no food programs at all.
The Surplus Commodity (Free Food) Program, as the Government would always maintain, was an agriculture program, not a feed-poor-people program. Its purpose was to keep prices high by the Feds purchasing commodities not saleable at a decent price; an incidental effect was to offer these purchases to feed needy people. The Free Food was made up of starchy, non-nutritional foods: mostly beans, meal, grits, lard, flour and rice. Our suit maintained that our clients in the Free Food counties were starving to death, existing mainly on these inadequate starches.
We demanded that the Surplus Commodities paid for at federal expense consist of a nutritional diet pursuant to USDA's own nutritional standards. The eight plaintiffs in these counties averaged households of nine, each with income of approximately $110 per month. A typical day's diet for this group was bread and butter, coffee or water, rice, vegetables for breakfast; nothing for the noon meal; and corn, corn bread, greens and milk for the Evening Meal.
The Food-Stamp counties were theoretically in better shape because the people could purchase food of their choice for a reduced amount of money. This was a feed-poor-people program, designed to "raise the levels of nutrition among low-income households." However, the majority of black Alabamians could not afford the minimum purchase price of the stamps, and received no benefits. Many who did purchase the stamps did so with money reserved for doctors and medicines. We demanded free Food Stamps for the very poor, reduced (means test) rates for those that had to borrow to obtain the stamps, and free food to be brought into the Food Stamp counties as a supplement (which was allowed by law because of the emergency situation in existence at that time).
The sixteen plaintiffs in these counties averaged households of eight with an average income of $138 per month. Many of this group never saw a dollar bill or handled a coin. They existed on credit from their Plantation Owner which could not be used to buy stamps. One pathetically poor plaintiff lived with her six children in a frame wooden shack on $150 per month. She could not raise the $60 needed to buy the equivalent of $100 worth of food stamps due to high medical expenses. Her child, 6-week-old Chester, had died from the effects of cold and malnutrition. Her family's typical diet was: peas, rice, cabbage, greens, cornbread, water, and, at times, some pork parts.
The No Food Program Counties were un-masked evil. The food programs were free to the counties, but to punish blacks in civil rights areas, four Alabama counties refused to allow any food programs. We demanded that the USDA exercise their power to force the programs into these counties; the government maintained they lacked the power.
We signed up three representatives from one of those counties, Elmore. Those families averaged nine persons. One had no cash income, one had $50 per year, and the third existed only on Social Security. These were the "walking dead," as the doctors would testify.
I was now ready for D.C. The buses would leave in a week and I would fly four days earlier to get organized. As expected the massive publicity brought counter-reactions: evictions, threats to the plaintiffs, threats to the bus company, and even a direction from the federal Judge not to bring the farmers, because he would not allow them to testify as witnesses. He couldn't stop them from coming as spectators at a public trial, so I ignored him.
Before we left, my dog was murdered. A neighbor later told me he saw a car drive by and someone threw an object at little Bokulich. The dog jumped up for it and caught it in his mouth. It was a ball of hamburger meat laced with strychnine. Later that night I drove to a meeting with Bokulich in the back making strange noises and movements. I ignored him, even yelled that he should stop carrying on. He stayed outside the church-meeting, but after 30 minutes, he walked through the open door, walked towards me and then turned rigid, peed on the floor and collapsed, spread eagle. A woman screamed.
I raced to a phone but I was so hysterical, I couldn't dial. Someone phoned for me to a white Selma Veterinarian the only Vet around who was an open Klansman. I woke him up and told him what had happened. He said, "Meet me at my office." I drove there and he worked on Bokulich all night. In the wee hours of the morning he was still working on him. At one point I heard jingling and I thought, my God, he saved him but he was bringing me his collar.
Bruce: Why did you go to him if he was in the Klan?
Don: There was nobody else to go to, he was the only Vet.
Bruce: And he was willing to do it, even though the Klan . . .
Don: More than willing. He told me afterwards that a Klansman did this and he'll never harm another animal. He said, you can count on that.
Bruce: So it's OK to kill black people but you shouldn't mess with a man's dog. Well, that's so ...
Don: What can I say? To this day I'm grateful for what he did. He could have just hung up on me.
Bruce: That's the Southern...
Don: He made it plain how he felt about me, but the dog didn't do anything wrong, by his standards. I'm sure they killed the dog-killer afterwards. Well, with Bolulich dead, I became despondent, out of control. The dog was usually with me 24 hours a day, except in the church where I slept. He wasn't allowed inside, so he'd sit outside on the stoop until the morning.
And I just got distraught. Like I said, he was with me all day, everybody knew him, and I found I couldn't work. But I've got all this stuff to do on the eve of going to DC and I'm just dysfunctional. I'm crying all day long, I keep hearing the collar jingling and imagine that he didn't die and that he's coming. The Fathers are all very nice to me, trying to counsel me, but I'm in bed most of the time, just absolutely distraught.
One night, a priest knocks on my door and says, "He is on the phone" "he," of course, would mean Dr. King. When I spoke to him, he offered condolences for the death of Bokulich, that he knew the dog (he was with me at my meetings with Dr. King) and that the dog was a martyr. He told me that he and Coretta are praying for him and he hoped I'll feel better. I never forgot that. How he would find the time to do something like that?
Bruce: And his organization is opposing what you're doing.
Bruce: He was such a humanist.
Don: Just amazing, I never forgot it. I sobbed more that night after talking with him, but the next day I was all right. I was able to function.
Don: So I flew to DC, creating much interest with the FBI, which reported, obviously with information from someone in our midst, informing them. Their report said:
[Deleted] advised that the group was bringing suit against the United States Department of Agriculture in an attempt to obtain free food stamps of negligible cost, for surplus food for the poverty stricken. The proceedings began on the morning of March 25, 1968 in the United States District Court, Washington, D.C. The group was represented by Donald Jelinek, Attorney from Selma, Alabama. According to [deleted], the group planned to sit in the courtroom as witnesses and did not plan to demonstrate, picket, or visit the Department of Agriculture. [Deleted] indicated that the group might depart Washington, D.C. on March 26, 1968 for the return trip home.
The next day, The Washington Post reported on their front page:
"Food Stamp Program is Protested," that "one hundred thirty poor Negro families from six Alabama Black Belt counties, boarded three buses in Selma, Alabama on Saturday, March 23, 1968 for a trip to Washington, D.C., which was organized by Donald A. Jelinek, a New York-born lawyer, who has worked closely with the Student Nonviolent Co-Ordinating Committee in the South, and who is director of the Southern Rural Research Project."
It was the job of my wife-to-be, Estelle, to house and feed the 130, with a 72-hour deadline; with miraculous talent and dedication, she succeeded overcoming my insensitive admonition to her: "Don't fail!" When the group arrived in the three chartered buses the blacks ranging in age from 6 weeks to 75 years, one mother with her 14 children they were all provided for. An Edmunite Priest rode the bus with them, a local church provided a clubhouse for them, another parish provided cots, a college the blankets, a supermarket provided reduced food purchased by a poverty group, others provided towels and soap. The blacks had never before taken showers, only baths, and admitted they were afraid at first.
Church women helped cook, school children pooled their spending money and purchased candy which they wrapped in pretty boxes with fancy bows of silk ribbons for the visiting children, private individuals in a steady stream brought used clothing and children's shoes. The first night, a girls' glee club entertained them with a songfest. Less enjoyable were the medical exams each took administered by doctors from the Medical Committee for Human Rights, who would testify as to the devastating health conditions revealed.
As we walked into the courthouse, some black jurors from another case collected $30 for the group to do some touring of the Capital. When we entered the courtroom, 130 strong, U.S. District Judge George L. Hart, Jr. was already fuming. He rebuked me for "traipsing" the plaintiffs "for what I suspect to be purely political purposes rather than to seek quick justice." He added, "I believe you have done this as a publicity stunt and I can tell you that it leaves a bad taste in the court's mouth." I replied that, "I don't believe I can get justice anywhere but in the Capital of the United States." I didn't add that he was mostly right: the justice I sought was not from the court's hand, but by the political pressures that the appearance of my clients would cause.
I began by explaining the lack of medical help available in Alabama as one of the reasons why we had come to D.C. "If that is true," said the Judge, "that's about as heavy an indictment of the medical profession as I have ever heard. Don't white doctors in Alabama take the Hippocratic Oath?"
"Yes," I replied, "but it's a segregated Hippocratic oath."
By now the commotion died down and Hart announced that he would not permit any live testimony. He would not hear one of the 130 blacks, not one of the doctors who had toured the South, not one of the doctors who had examined the plaintiffs. So . . .
Bruce: I don't understand. How can the judge say you can't put on your case by having witnesses?
Don: Because it's a preliminary injunction hearing and the judge is not required to hear witnesses they can rely on affidavits.
Bruce: So you were asking for a preliminary injunction to force the USDA to do something.
Don: Right, and it doesn't require witnesses. But they couldn't stop me from making an "offer of proof," a summarization of what the testimony would have been, if allowed. This was my moment and I spoke for what seemed like an hour. I told of the SRRP report about the lack of food, the doctors' report, and the specifics in our lawsuit. I told in detail of the woman with the dead baby, the threats, the courage to come here, what had happened to Peter Agee after the last suit.
I then got to the programs. I started saying how even with Food Stamps as low as 50 cents, many can't pay it and thereby receive no food stamps.
"In other words, Judge Hart," I became sarcastic, "if you have no money, it costs you 50 cents for the stamps." Judge Hart scoffed at this and looked to the USDA lawyers for rebuttal, but they just lowered their heads. He mumbled, "You mean it's true?"
Hart started to mellow as I continued describing the horror, in the presence of those who would back my charges if permitted. I would constantly ask him if he would like to hear from the experts or the farmers and he would decline.
Finally, the Judge made a decision. He agreed that the food programs were inadequate based upon what he had heard, that he would accept as true that Alabama's poor people were starving, that there was not sufficient food and that there was an improperly balanced diet that did irreparable injury to the persons involved. (I had quoted one doctor that early lack of protein can cause irreversible brain damage.) But, he concluded, the courts cannot do anything about the problem.
Bruce: To say nothing of pellagra, rickets . . .
Don: Right, but he concluded correctly that the courts cannot do anything about the problem because most of the food laws specifically state that the benefits to the poor and undernourished are an incidental objective for the removal of agricultural surpluses, not for the people. So it's not for the courts to interfere with. But then his final sentence was:
"The remedy I believe is with the Congress, and the sooner the better."
Outside the courtroom I spoke with my clients, who understood we had won because of the Judge's compassionate comments about them. I explained to them, within earshot of the press, that the lawsuit had been filed to try to stop the Secretary of Agriculture from forcing you to leave the South for Detroit and other Northern cities. (Right) President Kennedy promised that poor people would get free food stamps, but Secretary Freeman won't do it. Why? Because he is controlled by Congressman Jamie Whitten of Mississippi who controls the money for the USDA and Freeman is afraid of him. (That's right.) And why does Whitten not want free Food Stamps? Because he wants Negroes out of the South now and if you can't get them out any other way, he can starve you out. (That's right, that's right, But we won't go').
For the clients, it was now tourist time. Bottles of whole fresh milk were brought for the youngsters, but not accustomed to such rich fare, they could not drink it. They did eat bologna sandwiches and then got on the buses to see the Capital. For them it was a "memory forever." President Kennedy's grave and the Lincoln Memorial competed for honors. Some of those who could write, copied parts of Lincoln's Inaugural Address to read to folks back home. Many had never heard the words before. Then they got back on the chartered buses for the long ride home.
I knew we had won even before the story hit the United States and foreign press, but I was amazed at the coverage we received. The N.Y. Times ran a front page article about a Judge who had rejected a demand for free food for families "that doctors had testified were 'starving'." The Times also ran a lead editorial calling for prompt Congressional action. This coverage in the newspaper of record set the tone for the nation's press, mostly front-page stories.
As SNCC and Dr. King had forced the nation to see Southern violence, SRRP had forced Southern starvation into prominence. The issue could not be ignored. By that night I received word that Bobby Kennedy, relieved that I had lived up to my word of no demonstrations, congratulated the effort, as did Dr. King in a telephone conversation, the last time I would ever speak to him he was assassinated little over a week later. Only the South, with its traditional myopic vision, assumed we had lost. In an especially vitriolic editorial, the Montgomery Advertiser gloated:
Probably the most surprised person in U.S. District Judge George Hart's Washington courtroom Monday was Donald Jelinek, lately of Selma. . . . What Jelinek was trying to do was to get the Judge to force the Agriculture Department to give away Food Stamps, rather than requiring some recipient participation. The way the program operates, it requires some initiative. . . . From the ham-handed manner that Jelinek went about it, he doesn't want it that way. Furthermore, it would appear that he actually cares little for the lot of the poor in the Black Belt, since he has done them considerable harm by helping to sway public opinion against them. . . . Jelinek obviously doesn't know what to do and hasn't helped by taking his ducks to the wrong market.
Within three days, Elmore County, one of the non-free food counties was declared a starvation emergency area. In Elmore and elsewhere, the USDA announced its new policy to bypass county control; by July 1, to extend food programs in 165 reluctant counties throughout the country, thus feeding tens of thousands. The USDA agreed to our request to fortify the surplus commodities with vitamins. Organizations were formed all over the country to begin full time litigation to continue the case in every single county. In November, Congress passed Bobby Kennedy's food bill and everybody had a program. This was one of the proudest moments of my life.
Bruce: Deservedly so, well done.
Don: Thank you. I really appreciate that coming from you, with your civil rights background. The case could not be won in court, but the exposure in a court of law topped any court ruling we could possibly get.
After that, within a matter of days, Dr. King was assassinated and I called his long time friend, Dorothy Cotton, and we connected by holding an open line for half an hour, barely speaking. And, of course, then came the death of Bobby Kennedy. I had become lethargic and mournful. My dreams were nightmarish montages of Dr. King, Bobby Kennedy and my dog. I missed Stokely and Rap. Paul and Pat Bokulich had left by now. My work had become very bureaucratic and was meant for someone more disciplined than me. I still loved the people, but I had lost my spirit, and more important, I had lost my instinct for what had to be done.
I stayed two more weeks to work out a smooth transition of leadership to SRRP staff: Dondra Simmons and U.Z. Nunnely, Kathy having left already. For the first time, SRRP would be headed by blacks.
I wrote a farewell to all my friends:
Some of you . . . went with me to various courts and because you stood up for what you believed in, you were shot at, evicted from your homes, or had vital credit cut off. I hope you are not sorry, but feel there has been some success for all the sacrifices.
I pray that we shall live to see a time when you all have enough food to eat, decent homes to live in, doctors to take care of you and your children, and jobs which will take you off the welfare.
I shall always remember you all.
The Edmunites gave me a "last supper" and presented me with a scroll from the book of psalms about freeing the poor.
On September 14, 1968, my future wife, Estelle, and I, drove to the airport and said goodbye to my successors. Ironically that day's newspapers contained headlines that the Bokulich case had officially been won, the Jury Commission was ordered to create an honest jury system. We flew to San Francisco to relocate, for me to take the California Bar exam, to begin a normal life, to surface into the urban Sixties.
And then the pain began. I felt I had betrayed the people I had left, that nothing else would ever satisfy me, that I would never have such close friends again. Like many others who left the South, I stayed away from civil rights veterans for almost 30 years unwilling to accept the pain that would come from reminiscences.
I took a job with American Indian Legal Services, which was in the federal courts where I could practice without a California license. I passed the bar exam but then received a letter that said, in effect: "You're smart enough but not moral enough." Based on my multitude of arrests in the South as a lawyer, they emphasized they rejected me. A year later they gave up and licensed me; I opened my own office, which has been going for more than 30 years now.
The work with the Indians led to my becoming their lawyer when they seized Alcatraz Island in the waters off San Francisco. I lived with them for much of the 19 months they were there. Back on the mainland, I became heavily involved with draft resisters and GI's attempting to avoid Vietnam. And, to my utter delight, I got the opportunity to meet U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Douglas. When the high court's out of session, you have to go to the individual Justice, to sign papers. Only Douglas lived in a place without telephones.
Bruce: That was up in Washington state somewhere?
Don: Gooseprarie, Washington.
Bruce: Yeah, I remember they used to have to send helicopters . . .
Don: The Committee for Conscious Objectors met me at the Seattle airport, drove me to the area: no motels, no hotels, no restaurants. They had sleeping bags and we slept out in the grass. I knew already from their warnings that I had to look like a lawyer, so I shaved in a lake, put on my suit and then went to his door. I told him about the case and he granted the injunction. And to do so, he had to climb to this forest ranger platform to get where they did Morse code, and send it to DC.
Bruce: He was a character.
Don: We stopped a boat load of GI's from shipping out to Vietnam. That was a great case.
In 1973 I became the Legal Coordinator for the 62 prisoners charged with 1300 felonies in connection with the 1971 Attica Uprising in upstate New York.
Bruce: Why were you the one? You're in California, it's a New York case, why were you . . .
Don: Two reasons. They wanted somebody who knew how to handle mass criminal cases only civil rights lawyers knew that. The few who were asked and who were eligible couldn't make the commitment at that time, and I had a New York license, which was a major factor.
Bruce: But you would think Kunstler . . .
Don: Bill Kunstler, who is my hero, never settled down anywhere. He moved from place to place, performing miracles. He wouldn't settle down for a couple years in one spot.
Bruce: And it would take that long to do this case?
Don: To do any major case. It was always his style and he did it magnificently. He tried hundreds and hundreds of cases because he kept moving. After Attica I resumed earning a living. I was successful in a popular local action to bar our subway system (BART) from evicting flea market vendors who used their parking lot (originally, with their consent) on weekends. This propelled me into local politics. I was elected to three terms on the Berkeley City Council and I thought the South was perilous. Later I barely lost an election for Mayor.
In 1984 I was lucky enough to marry Jane Scherr, every Berkelyian's favorite photographer. In 2006 we remain happily married, with two great grandchildren. There's much more, but I will end by quoting a conversation I had with Jane. We were discussing those brief profiles from families of the 9/11 victims that the N.Y. Times was publishing. I told her that if I had been one of them, I would want her to write:
"He had people who he loved and who loved him . . . and he was part of SNCC."
Bruce: Again, well done.
Don: Thank you, Bruce.
© Donald A. Jelinek, All rights reserved
Copyright © 2005-2006
Copyright to this web page, as a web page, belongs to this web site. Copyright to the information and stories contained in the interview belongs to Don Jelinek.
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By Paul Taylor
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Three years into the euro zone's debt crisis, Germany's finance minister hinted tantalisingly last week at a potential breakthrough.
Behind closed doors at a meeting in Paris of a small group of senior policymakers, Wolfgang Schaeuble indicated that Berlin could eventually agree to write off some of the money it has lent Greece, in order to make its debt sustainable.
Three people present or briefed on the talks said Schaeuble had suggested there could be some kind of "conditional debt relief" for Athens if it sticks to tough economic reforms.
But Schaeuble backtracked within 24 hours.
The idea, aired publicly this month by German central bank chief Jens Weidmann, could be a game-changer in the currency area's crisis since it offers for the first time the prospect of sharing out losses to make the debt-crippled state viable in the long run.
But it is politically explosive in Germany, where many lawmakers, jurists and commentators fiercely oppose any idea of a "transfer union" in which wealthier northern EU states would subsidize or underwrite weaker southern partners.
Schaeuble told his peers from France, Spain and Italy and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde that Berlin would be willing to consider a Greek debt write-down, not now but at a later stage, the sources said.
That pointed to a possible review of Greece's debt outlook sometime after next year's German general election, and before a second Greek bailout program expires in 2016.
The next day, Schaeuble ruled out any debt forgiveness at a wider meeting of euro zone finance ministers, leaving some of his interlocutors baffled. In public he said an official debt write-off would be illegal, and Germany would no longer be able to lend money to Greece.
The IMF, some senior European Central Bank policymakers and many economists argue that a "haircut" for Greece's official lenders is inevitable because its debt ratio continues to mount despite a big write-down this year by private creditors.
An unpublished analysis prepared for the finance ministers showed Greek debt would peak at 190 percent of gross domestic product next year and fall to 144 percent in 2020, far above the 120 percent target set by the IMF and European lenders.
Euro zone ministers are considering lending Greece more money to buy back its own debt at a discount, reducing interest rates on official loans and extending their maturities, granting an interest repayment holiday, and passing profits on ECB purchases of Greek bonds back to Athens.
The moribund market in Greek government bonds has twitched back into life at the prospect, with prices rising to about 35 cents on the euro in anticipation of a possible buy-back.
But EU officials say all these measures taken together would not be enough to meet the debt sustainability target.
Lagarde has said she wants "a real fix, not a quick fix" to Greece's debt problem and has held back the release of the next urgently needed 31 billion euro loan tranche for Athens to force the Europeans to address a lasting solution.
She rejected letting the target date slide by two years to 2022. Diplomats involved in the negotiations said Lagarde was looking for some sort of signal from Germany.
Schaueble's closed-door comment may have been that signal. But it is not clear whether he had Chancellor Angela Merkel's agreement to indicate a willingness to consider debt relief in the longer term, or whether he exceeded his authority and was pulled back into line.
"It turns out that Schaeuble may have exceeded his mandate from the Chancellery, if he had one," an EU official briefed on the meeting said. "Anyway the idea of OSI (Official Sector Involvement) is now in the room."
Apart from the political sensitivity of losing taxpayers' money in Greece, Merkel sees three objections to a debt writedown - legality, precedent and investor confidence.
A legal opinion ordered by the German government suggests a "haircut" would breach both the "no-bailout" clause in European Union treaty and the German budget law, which bars lending to a country that may be unable to pay back the debt.
Any writedown would likely be challenged in the German Constitutional Court, which has already clipped Berlin's wings in the crisis, and perhaps in the European Court of Justice.
Forgiving Greek debt could draw copycat requests from states such as Portugal and Ireland which are implementing similar bailout programs with less kicking and screaming.
Merkel is also concerned that investors such as the Chinese, who felt betrayed when euro zone leaders forced a "haircut" on private bondholders of Greece, would be even more alarmed if they saw a second write-down of European sovereign debt.
But the Bundesbank's Weidmann said that a "haircut" on government loans to Greece could make sense as a reward for completing economic reforms and to help Athens regain capital market access.
The risk is that it would be so hard for Germany and other northern European creditor states to get a debt write-down through their parliaments that the scale of relief might be too small to give Greece a real boost.
One source in the thick of euro zone crisis management said it would make sense to "bite the bullet" and cut Greece's debt by a substantial amount. But political constraints made it more likely that any relief would be "bite-sized" to bring the debt level down to around 100-110 percent of GDP by the target date.
(Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Sophie Walker) | <urn:uuid:aee08165-55da-4ca4-898e-36bb28d94976> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wnflam.com/news/articles/2012/nov/26/analysis-german-hint-of-greek-debt-relief-raises-euro-hopes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961331 | 1,138 | 1.578125 | 2 |
In order to effectively measure the impact of the 'What’s On Your Mind?' campaign we really would appreciate any feedback you can offer us.
The self evaluation form has been created for young people to fill out as part of a class/session using the 'What’s On Your Mind?' resource pack. The self evaluation form should be filled out before and after the class. It is intended to be printed out double-sided. The front is to be filled out before watching the film/starting an activity, and the back page is to be filled out afterwards. This way we can measure whether young people’s attitudes and predicted behaviour have changed as a result of the pack. We have designed this evaluation form for your perusal. However, if you can share the results with us we would be extremely grateful.
Please send any results/completed forms you would be willing to share with us to Mandi.Cliff@seemescotland.org or post to:
'see me' Scotland
1/3 Great Michael House,
14 Links Place,
A feedback survey has been created for teachers and leaders to provide us with feedback on the resource pack. Please feedback to us by clicking the link below. Thank you. | <urn:uuid:4318db3d-61a5-41f9-8353-1a39ad18f7c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seemescotland.org/whatsonyourmind/content/evaluation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945237 | 256 | 1.742188 | 2 |
In the good old days last century, global sponsorship was the preserve of a select number of companies. Only a handful of sponsorship properties could be considered to have global reach (The Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, Formula One Racing). A similarly small number of brands were big enough to pay the premium for gaining mass market brand exposure at a fraction of the cost of a global advertising campaign.
But technology has changed all that. Exponential growth in computing power, the internet and mobile has created a new environment. Brands are now able to reach customers with individual conversations pretty much anywhere in the world.
So why is it that brands continue to invest sometimes seemingly ridiculous sums in sponsorship platforms? The Rugby World Cup is currently enjoying the patronage of Mastercard, Heineken and DHL, amongst others, even though it is being hosted in a time zone that makes for late nights or early starts for the majority of rugby playing nations.
Next summer sees the ultimate sponsorfest in London with the Olympic and Paralympic Games coming to town. The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) recently announced it had achieved revenues of over £700m ( that’s over 1 billion US Dollars) from its domestic sponsor programme. At a quoted £40-80 million for a Tier 1 sponsor, and something in the region of £15-25m for a Tier 2, which must then be at least doubled cover sponsorship activation, what is motivating brands to make these sorts of investments when more direct, cheaper conversations are possible?
The answer lies in objectives. Sponsors have woken up to the fact that sponsorship has the potential to deliver so much more than mere brand exposure. The European Sponsorship Association has identified three clusters of objectives: brand building, commercial gains and stakeholder engagement.
Given that, as a clean stadia event, the Olympics offers no old-style brand exposure, Games sponsors must have other targets in mind when contemplating an Olympics investment.
Some are focused on sales. Coca Cola reportedly sees a global sales uplift of 40% around a Summer Games. Similarly, GE reported sales exceeding $700m from their Beijing sponsorship prior to the 2008 Games beginning.
Others have employee engagement as a priority. Lloyds TSB is one company using employee engagement to deliver brand and sales growth through its London 2012 sponsorship. Inspiring staff to be better than their best is a key pillar of Cisco’s activation programme as it re-energises its team to focus on core business.
But what binds proficient sponsors together is an understanding of how a sponsorship platform enables them to leverage fans’ interest to create brand engagement, whether that’s B2B, B2C, B2E or other stakeholders. Their business cases are predicated on hard numbers –affinity, sales, churn, share price – that makes a global sponsorship investment a business imperative. So sponsorship is no longer merely the Chairman’s whim. It is a finely honed tool in a marketer’s arsenal and, at the investment levels these global platforms are commanding, not one to be treated frivolously. | <urn:uuid:26cbebac-bc0d-4474-a689-ab366b7b6676> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.cisco.com/truthmarketing/sponsorship-%E2%80%93-past-its-%E2%80%98sell-by%E2%80%99-date/?wpmp_switcher=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951905 | 635 | 1.523438 | 2 |
B.C. Author/Playwright Tracy Krauss and JAC Publishing Release a New Spin on an Old Tale to Support Anti-Bullying
“Little Red in the Hood” is Krauss’ second release with this publisher, her first being a Wizard of Oz- based full-length play called “Dorothy’s Road Trip.” Tracy Krauss is also the author of 'edgy inspirational' fiction - stories from a Christian worldview that also strive for realism and authenticity. Published works include Wind Over Marshdale, And the Beat Goes On, My Mother the Man-Eater, and Play it Again.
Tracy Krauss is an author, playwright, artist, director, and teacher. She grew up in small town Saskatchewan and received her Bachelor of Education Degree in Saskatoon with majors in Art, English and History. She has lived in many interesting places in northern Canada, many of them north of the 60th parallel. She is currently a full time High School teacher of Art, Drama, English and History. She is currently working on several novels and stage plays. For information about Krauss or “Little Red in the Hood,” please visit JAC Publishing online at www.jacpub.com, call (781) 272-2066, or email firstname.lastname@example.org.
JAC Publishing was established in 2004 to support local playwrights by helping to get quality theatrical works and information in the public’s eye. Their span is now international with a library of over 200 plays and books. JAC also owns and operates New England Entertainment Digest, a regional entertainment news publication established in 1979, transformed into a full-time website (jacneed.com) in 2008. | <urn:uuid:9ddef7e0-dd96-4b10-8bbb-116de2e85d3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tracykraussexpressionexpress.com/2012/09/anti-bullying-play-little-red-in-hood.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962493 | 360 | 1.609375 | 2 |
The White House and the Pentagon remain reluctant to get involved in Syria’s civil strife, but senior defense officials revealed Wednesday they are mulling military strike plans.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Obama administration will continue its policy of invoking “diplomatic and political approaches rather than a military intervention.” Panetta announced Washington is ready to provide $10 million in humanitarian aid to the Syrian people.
Still, the defense chief revealed for the first time that U.S. officials are “reviewing all possible additional steps...including potential military options.”
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey is detailing potential options. It turns out there are lots of things we can do: “One option is a no-fly zone over Syria, Dempsey said. Another is an operation designed to get humanitarian supplies to besieged civilians. The Joint Chiefs chairman also said officials have examined a mission featuring ‘limited air strikes’ against regime targets, as well as a ‘maritime interdiction’ — presumably to intercept ships carrying weapons and other supplies meant for Assad’s forces.”
If this sounds familiar, it is. The White House, whether on Guantanamo or military trials for enemy combatants, crippling Iran sanctions or Libya, has brushed off conservative critics and resisted calls for more robust U.S. action against our foes. It as taken the pseudo-moral high-ground, dubbing its critics constitutional ignoramuses or warmongers. But then, after months of delay and sometimes thousands of lost lives, it has often meandered back to a position that isn’t all that different from the stance its political opponents have been arguing about for months (e.g. Gitmo is open; the administration is making use of military tribunals; President Obama used military force in Libya; and the president, kicking and screaming, signed onto the Menendez-Kirk Iran sanctions amendment).
On Syria, the administration dismissed Sen. John McCain’s call for military force just a few days ago. At the time, Jamie Fly of the Foreign Policy Initiative e-mailed me: “As the death toll mounts and the Assad regime shows no sign of giving up power, the humanitarian case for intervention grows. The Obama administration appears intent on outsourcing our Syria policy to others, but only American leadership, including on the question of military intervention, will ensure that additional bloodshed is kept to a minimum and that our interest in seeing a democratic post-Assad regime emerge is fulfilled.” Now maybe there’s something to the use of military force after all.
But, of course, conservatives have been railing against Obama’s inaction for a very long time. Just a couple of days ago Mark Palmer and Paul Wolfowitz were urging we arm the Syrian opposition.
In February, a distinguished list of conservative foreign policy experts including Liz Cheney, Cliff May and Max Boot wrote to Obama, warning: “Unless the United States takes the lead and acts, either individually or in concert with like-minded nations, thousands of additional Syrian civilians will likely die, and the emerging civil war in Syria will likely ignite wider instability in the Middle East. Given American interests in the Middle East, as well as the implications for those seeking freedom in other repressive societies, it is imperative that the United States and its allies not remove any option from consideration, including military intervention.”
In November, Rachel Abrams, co-founder of the Emergency Committee for Israel, was warning:“If the Arab League’s sanctions have the sharpest sting—and the greatest shock value — for Assad, they nevertheless share one thing with censures by the U.S., Europe, and the UN — they’re gestures only; they do no more than demand an end to his barbarity.” She, too, advised that military action was the only appropriate response.
In September, Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz wrote in The Post: “The arguments for supporting Syrian protesters are easily as strong as those mustered to save the people of Benghazi. After months facing the regime snipers’ machine guns, tanks and torture, demonstrators are openly calling for foreign intervention. And the regime’s strategic sins against the United States are far greater than those committed by the Libyan Nero. Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah — the two terrorist powerhouses of the Middle East — are Damascus’s closest friends. Almost every Arab terrorist group, spawned in the hothouses of Islamic militancy and Arab nationalism, has had a presence in Damascus.”
So how long — and how many dead Syrians will it take — before Obama adopts the McCain-Palmer-Wolfowitz-Cheney-May-Boot-Abrams-Gerecht-Dubowitz position on Syria? The longer he delays, the more suffering will occur and the more certain the mullahs in Iran will become that this president wants to avoid conflict at all costs. | <urn:uuid:e9775ee4-cf8c-46de-9e5c-f630cf24e499> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/conservatives-lead-from-the-front-but-will-obama-follow/2012/03/08/gIQAn4P20R_blog.html | 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 | 0.947217 | 1,016 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Disaster relief agencies were struggling Thursday to reach remote tsunami-hit villages in the Solomon Islands, and warned the death toll following a powerful 8.0-magnitude quake is likely to rise.
At least six people were confirmed dead after Wednesday's quake generated a wave
that swamped coastal communities on Ndende island in the eastern Solomons and triggered warnings of a more widespread tsunami that was later lifted.
Aid agency World Vision said the force of the surging water shunted some houses 10 metres (33 feet) back from the coast in the Ndende town of Venga and almost all the homes in Nela village were washed away.
"I'm currently walking through one community and I'm knee-deep in water," World Vision emergency coordinator Jeremiah Tabua said. "I can see a number of houses that have been swept away by the surge."
Unconfirmed reports said nine were killed and the national disaster management office said it had no clear picture of the scale of destruction on the isolated island, more than 600 kilometres (370 miles) from the capital Honiara.
"Some of the remote communities we haven't heard back from yet, it's very difficult to get information," office spokesman Sipulu Rove told AFP.
He said local officials were trying to check on the villages but the process could take days, as roads had been blocked by landslides and telecommunications was poor or non-existent.
The stricken island's airstrip was also closed because of debris on the runway, preventing planes carrying relief supplies from landing and thwarting plans to send reconnaissance flights over the disaster zone.
Officials said about 460 houses had been destroyed leaving some 3,000 people homeless, with many villagers fleeing for higher ground.
Red Cross disaster manager Cameron Vudi said the death toll was likely to rise as reports filtered in from isolated communities.
"We're expecting changes. There are signs that there might be increases in the number of casualties," he told AFP.
"There are still reports coming in. Most of the reports are confined to areas that are accessible by road but there are a lot more communities that have been damaged."
Rove said the airstrip was expected to reopen on Friday and the Solomons government had asked the Royal Australian Air Force to send a plane to survey damage.
Boats carrying medical teams and emergency supplies such as tarpaulins, fresh water, food and clothing were set to depart Honiara for Ndende on Thursday but are not expected to reach the island until the weekend.
Both Australia and New Zealand said they were ready to provide assistance to their northern neighbour, with Wellington pledging an immediate NZ$200,000 ($167,000) for humanitarian supplies.
The US Geological Survey said Wednesday's quake struck at 0112 GMT Wednesday beneath the sea about 76 kilometres west of Lata, Ndende's main town, at a depth of 28.7 kilometres.
It was followed by dozens of strong aftershocks of up to 7.0 magnitude. The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center put several island nations on alert for two-and-a-half hours before declaring the threat had passed.
In 2007 a tsunami following an 8.0-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless. The quake lifted an entire island and pushed out its shoreline by dozens of metres.
The Solomons are part of the "Ring of Fire", a zone of tectonic activity around the Pacific that is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
In December 2004, a 9.3-magnitude quake off Indonesia triggered a catastrophic tsunami that killed 226,000 people around the Indian Ocean.
© Copyright © 2013 HT Media Limited. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:9846a910-4858-4156-afe5-7bf09125376d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/1007989.aspx | 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 | 0.976613 | 773 | 1.640625 | 2 |
The History of It Is Written
Fifty-five years ago, the world was a very different place. Disneyland had just opened its doors to the public, Elvis appeared on the entertainment scene and immediately captured national interest, and Warner Brothers unveiled its first television studio in Burbank. Although these are often noted as the great developments of that time, perhaps someday we will discover that one of the most significant contributions began with much less fanfare. It all started in the heart of a man who strongly believed that a new technology—television—could be used to powerfully proclaim the Good News of Christ's love to the world.
That man, Pastor George Vandeman, saw his plans come to fruition when It Is Written, the first Christian television program to broadcast in color, hit the airwaves on 13 stations in the spring of 1956.
Over the next half-century, It Is Written grew exponentially. Today, more than 55 years later, bold plans for evangelism and fervent prayer continue to drive the ministry. Under Speaker/Director John Bradshaw It Is Written is blazing a trail in four primary areas of evangelism: television, public evangelism, spiritual resources and the Internet.
Although many social changes have taken place since Pastor Vandeman first appeared on television, It Is Written's message of hope through Jesus has remained the same.
Sharing Hope Around the Globe
Under Pastor Vandeman's direction, It Is Written entered many new evangelism arenas. His live "Revelation Seminars" attracted tens of thousands of eager visitors, and the telecast entered millions of homes in numerous countries.
In 1991, Pastor Vandeman retired and Pastor Mark Finley accepted the position as the ministry's new speaker/director. He also shared Pastor Vandeman's vision for evangelism, and in 1995 made history with a satellite evangelistic series called NET '95.
NET '96 followed one year later, and whereas NET '95 had targeted North America, NET '96 reached the world with messages in 13 languages. It is estimated that 2,200 churches from 45 countries participated in at least one of the NETs, and more than 30,000 people were baptized at the conclusion of the meetings.
The next major It Is Written satellite effort took place from 1999 through 2001 with ACTS 2000, when the ministry covered the entire globe with multiple satellite meetings. Pastor Finley conducted a total of 10 series to a combined audience of 3 million people.
By this time, the telecast's reach had expanded by leaps and bounds. Although hundreds of other Christian broadcasts had flooded the airwaves, It Is Written maintained its rank as one of the top 10 religious programs in North America, and received more than 30 awards for excellence in programming. Today, the weekly broadcast is produced in a total of 12 languages, and can be seen in nearly every country of the world.
It Is Written entered a new era in January 2005 as Pastor Shawn Boonstra became the third speaker/director in the ministry's 50-year history. Finley, who is now a general vice president for the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, passed the mantle to Boonstra with his blessing.
Pastor Boonstra came to the It Is Written headquarters from It Is Written Canada, where he had served as speaker/director for four years. As someone who joined the Adventist Church after attending an It Is Written evangelistic series, Pastor Boonstra passionately believes in the mission of the ministry.
2005 - 2010
These years were a whirlwind of outreach via technology and public evangelism. Pastor Boonstra's Revelation Speaks Peace evangelistic series in cities like Phoenix, Portland, Los Angeles, India and Rome energized attendees and church members alike with the hope in Christ that is revealed through the final book of the Bible.
Short satellite series such as The Appearing, The Presence, Out of Thin Air, and NET 2006 (Revelation Speaks Peace: Unlocking the Signs) explored the topics of the Second Coming, the Sanctuary, the Creation/Evolution debate and Bible prophecy. Thousands of churches participated in these events.
It Is Written's full-message telecast—the longest continuously running religious telecast in the world—expanded even further around the world. Since its recent debut in Australia, It has become the #1 religious program in that country.
The crowd in India
The ministry's overseas projects have taken the Gospel to some of the most remote places on Earth. In recent years, the team has traveled to:
• The Arctic—to deliver Inuktituk Bibles to Inuit tribes
• The Kalahari Desert—to deliver and install solar-powered water wells and solar-powered audio Bibles to the San tribes (Bushmen)
• The Democratic Republic of Congo—to work among the Pygmies
• Vanuatu—to provide mosquito nets for children living in malaria-plagued villages
...just to name a few!
In January 2011, Pastor John Bradshaw was named new speaker/director for It Is Written.
In May 2011, Bradshaw conducted a short series live from Las Vegas called Babylon Rising. This effort was broadcast worldwide via satellite and the Internet. In January 2012, Bradshaw followed up this series with a month-long event from Las Vegas titled Revelation Today. Again, thousands around the world participated in this event via the Internet and satellite. Major series in Paris, France and Dayton, Ohio followed that same year. In 2013, he will preach in Southern Mexico, Costa Rica, Prague and New York City, as well as a month-long, internationally-broadcast series from Charlotte, North Carolina, in October.
Other ongoing projects include Escrito Está, It Is Written's worldwide Spanish-language outreach; the weekly It Is Written television program, seen in more than 143 countries and now available on the Discovery Channel in the United States (Sundays at 7 a.m. Pacific and Eastern); John's weekly From the Bible radio broadcast; the My Place With Jesus Bible study website for kids; and the Eyes for India humanitarian project.
Please keep checking this website for the latest news about future projects. We praise the Lord for these opportunities, and invite you to partner with us in continuing to reach the world for Christ. Thank you for your support and prayers! | <urn:uuid:588a3b34-defe-45d8-ae00-4376d85eaa8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itiswritten.com/ministry-history | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954721 | 1,291 | 1.796875 | 2 |
News from the open access movementJump to navigation
Daniel Zimmel, Wissenschaftliche Informationsversorgung im Umbruch, Stuttgart, October 2002. Sorry for not discovering this sooner. From the English-language abstract: "The image of the library as the primary place for information supply seems to stagger for a fairly long time. With the burden of considerable pricing pressure from commercial publishers, libraries incrementally have to forgo essential literature while weakening their position in the information chain. With the increasing cross-linkage of electronic information resources and an improved acceptance of open formats like XML or the Open Archives Protocol scholarly publishing has unfolded a new dynamics in parallel with the traditional journal system. These new publication models generally rest upon electronic content. A general description of the current serials crisis and an introduction on the fundamentals of the scholarly communication process are given; likewise this paper povides a short exploration into the interrelationship between publisher and library. The second part deals with the most important initiatives about alternative publication schemes. Therein enclosed postulations will be reinforced by mentioning and commenting on chosen implementations. This implies a closer look at the distinct role of the library in an increasing access-based information economy." In Section 5, Zimmer discusses my newsletter and blog, PLoS, SPARC, BOAI, and DINI. (Thanks to Klaus Graf.)
The appropriations bill adopted by the House yesterday (H.R. 2660) contained the following paragraph in the section on the National Library of Medicine: "Restrictions on access to research data. --The Committee is concerned by reports that there has been a significant change in the availability of research data internationally and a dramatic rise in medical research data subscription costs. NLM is encouraged to examine how the consolidation of for-profit biomedical research publishers, with their increased subscription charges, has restricted access to vital research information to not-for-profit libraries. The Committee would like a report by March 1, 2004, about potential remedies to ensure that taxpayer-funded research remains in the public domain and steps that can be taken to alleviate this restrictive trend in information technology."
Frank Tipler, Refereed Journals: Do They Insure Quality or Enforce Orthodoxy? ISCID Archive, June 30, 2003. A common question, whose importance is not diminished by the fact that more cranks take it seriously than serious scientists. It has an uneasy relationship to open access. On the one hand, BOAI, PLoS, BMC, and other leading open-access initiatives emphatically and unambiguously support peer review. On the other hand, the same organizations endorse open-access archives that accept unrefereed preprints, and these are sometimes seen (not by the same organizations) as liberating ways to escape the ideological filters of a corrupt system of peer review. Frank Tipler takes this view: "The unknown patent office clerk has a problem. For him the physics community has the lanl database [better known as arXiv] which is the modern equivalent of the early 20th century Zeitschrift für Physik. Anyone can place a paper on the lanl database. There is no referee to stand in the author’s way. Of course, a great deal of nonsense is placed on the lanl database, but in my own field of general relativity it seems no worse then the huge amount of nonsense that appears in the leading refereed journals, including Physical Review Letters." But this connection notwithstanding, no one should mistake the open-access movement for a movement to bypass or even reform peer review. It's compatible with the existing system of peer review and with nearly every proposal for reforming peer review. Apart from advocating open access to peer-reviewed journals and unrefereed preprints, the movement is neutral in this debate. (Thanks to LIS News.)
The July 4 issue of El.pub was probably its last. El.pub was a weekly newsletter on electronic publishing, sponsored by the INFORM project of the EC's IST Programme of FP5. Funding for the INFORM project has come to an end. El.pub published for seven years and hopes to maintain its archive of back issues. El.pub was a regular source for my blog and newsletter, and I'll miss it. Ogranizations willing to support its continued publication should contact David Hitchcock or Geoffrey Stephenson.
The Grey Literature Network Service, aka GreyNet, has relaunched. Quoting the web site: "GreyNet will again facilitate dialog and communication between persons and organisations in the field of grey literature. GreyNet will further seek to identify and distribute information on and about grey literature in networked environments." GreyNet defines grey literature as "networked information produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in electronic or print formats not controlled by commercial publishing." (Thanks to LIS News.)
The midsummer issue of Walt Crawford's Cites & Insights is entirely given over to one essay, Coping with CIPA: A Censorware Special.
The EFF and the OPG have just published a report, Internet Blocking in Public Schools: A Study on Internet Access in Educational Institutions. The three major conclusions, from the abstract:
The Google cache provides free access to a huge part of the historical internet, including back issues of newspapers and other periodicals for which publishers would now like to charge access tolls. I first wrote about the potential for copyright conflicts in FOSN for 11/9/01. Now Stefanie Olsen writes that many publishers are awakening to the power of the Google cache to undermine their business models. Search engine guru Danny Sullivan predicts that the permissibility of the Google cache will eventually be tested in court. (PS: When it is, I hope the court understands that the Google crawler politely respects all robot.txt requests to exclude the site. In this sense, all cached sites are consenting or incompetent.)
More on the Michael Held editorial against the Sabo bill....The senior editors of the Public Library of Science --Philip Bernstein, Barbara Cohen, Hemai Parthasarathy, Mark Patterson, and Vivian Siegel-- have written a response and posted it to the SSP list. Excerpt: "Where we disagree with Mr. Held is that, in our view, this concerted effort by funding agencies, a diverse group of publishers, librarians, and different governments to provide free and unrestricted access to the biomedical literature is a highly responsible act that reflects the common interests of the public and the scientific research community. Cooperation will be necessary for this new publishing model to succeed. We hope to work with other responsible publishers -- such as the Rockefeller University Press -- scientific societies, public advocacy groups, funding agencies, and the public to find ways in which we can make open access an immediate success. We appreciate the thoughtfulness and concerns expressed by Michael Held and look forward to the opportunity of working together to overcome potential barriers to the goals that we share."
ALPSP has just published a report by John and Laura Cox, Scholarly Publishing Practice: The ALPSP report on academic journal publishers’ policies and practices in online publishing. Only the executive summary is free online. The report is based on a survevy of 275 journal publishers, which included members and non-members of ALPSP. While these are not open-access journals, many of the survey questions raised open-access issues, such as free access to back issues, free access to developing countries, and policies requiring authors to transfer copyright. (Thanks to ResourceShelf.)
More on the public letter to WIPO on open access and related issues....WIPO has accepted the letter's suggestion to host a meeting in 2004 to discuss economic sectors where intellectual property rules tend to thwart rather than stimulate innovation. The statement was published in the July 10 issue of Nature (accessible only to subscribers). Quoting WIPO Assistant Director General and Legal Counsel Francis Gurry: "The use of open and collaborative development models for research and innovation is a very important and interesting development, especially in areas where technology approaches the domain of basic science and scientific discovery. The Director General of WIPO looks forward with enthusiam to taking up the invitation to organise a conference to explore the scope and application of these models as vehicles for encouraging innovation." (PS: Again, we owe many thanks to Jamie Love of the CPT for drafting the letter, recruiting the signatories, and laying the groundwork for this encouraging response from WIPO.)
More on PLoS and the Sabo bill....Kevin Diaz tells the basic story in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune. This is one of the first news stories showing the bill's backers trying to limit its application to publications, perhaps to avoid a conflict with Bayh-Dole over patentable discoveries. Quoting Mike Eisen of Berkeley and PLoS: "We're not saying companies can't patent their intellectual property. We're just talking about free access to the words they put on paper." (PS: I argued for this limitation in SOAN for 7/4/03.) Another Eisen quotation: "It's a bill about taxpayer rights." (Thanks to ResourceShelf.)
In May, the Information Access Alliance publicized its complaint to the Justice Department about the merger of BertelsmannSpringer and Kluwer Academic Publishers. But at the time, IAA didn't have its own web site. Now it does. The site is still minimalist, and you'll have to read one of its press releases to learn that IAA is a coalition of six major library associations: the American Association of Law Libraries, the American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, the Medical Library Association, and SPARC.
I've written a Draft Model Open-Access Policy for Foundation Research Grants that I just put online. For several months it has circulated among friends and colleagues for comment and now seems ripe. If anyone can persuade a public or private funding agency to adopt it or anything like it, please try. If anyone can use any of its language or ideas for another purpose, please feel free. It remains open to comment and further revision.
Announcement from the July 7 BioMed Central Update: "BioMed Central's open access research is the perfect raw material for data mining research, since it is freely redistributable and consists of highly structured XML. To make life easier for data mining researchers, we have made the entirety of BioMed Central's open access research article corpus (2400+ articles) available for download via ftp as a single ZIP file. This file is updated with newly published articles every night. For details on downloading the BioMed Central corpus, and further information about using it for data mining research, see our data mining information page."
More on the Sabo bill....Michael Held has an editorial on the bill in the July 3 issue of The Journal of Cell Biology. Excerpt: "The mission of [Rockefeller University Press, publisher of the JCB] includes the dissemination of scientific information to as broad an audience as possible as quickly as possible, so I am certainly not opposed to much of what the PLoS advocates. We at RUP welcome another player in the publishing field, and wish them well in their mission of providing free content by relying on upfront fees and charitable contributions. However, to attempt to legislate the demise of the time-honored subscription-based business model, prior to proving that another model works, does not seem wise....Those of us in the nonprofit sector are the natural allies of 'open access.' This is especially true for the large cadre of scientists who have for years donated extraordinary amounts of their expertise, time, and dedication to advancing the essential cause of free and open scientific communication, and done so long before PLoS appeared on the scene. The current effort, instigated by a small group and funded privately, is already having the effect of splitting the community. Their actions, embodied by the Sabo legislation, would appear to have a self-interested purpose of increasing the success of their own philosophy and business model, to the possible detriment of all others. There are many other options to be explored, and indeed that already exist, to ensure 'open access.'"
More on the Sabo bill....Miriam Drake reports on the bill in the July 7 Information Today. She does a good job quoting from older articles and public statements to recap some of the major arguments for and against open access. Her conclusion: "History reveals that easy access to information makes a difference. Open and free access to basic knowledge results in the creation of useful knowledge that contributes to international health and wealth. New models of communication will require collaboration among universities, publishers, professional societies, and government. While Congress is not likely to see the value of open access and sharing, many feel that the concept will succeed because the time is right."
A group of activists for an information commons and open access have sent a public letter to Dr. Kamil Idris, Director General of WIPO, asking WIPO to convene a meeting on "open and collaborative projects to create public goods". The appendix to the letter lists seven areas where innovation can occur without intellectual property protection or even where IP protection hampers innovation. The sixth area on the list is "Open Academic and Scientific Journals". Here's the full text of the letter, minus signatures and appendix:
Dear Dr. Idris: In recent years there has been an explosion of open and collaborative projects to create public goods. These projects are extremely important, and they raise profound questions regarding appropriate intellectual property policies. They also provide evidence that one can achieve a high level of innovation in some areas of the modern economy without intellectual property protection, and indeed excessive, unbalanced, or poorly designed intellectual property protections may be counter-productive. We ask that the World Intellectual Property Organization convene a meeting in calendar year 2004 to examine these new open collaborative development models, and to discuss their relevance for public policy.
We all have Jamie Love to thank for drafting the letter, collecting the signatures, and laying the groundwork for its reception at WIPO. Jamie is the Director of the Consumer Project on Technology. (Disclosure: I am a signatory.)
I just corrected a harmful and embarrassing mistake on the SPARC page for the Open Access Newsletter and Forum and my own page of the same information. On each page, I correctly listed the email address for posting messages to the SPARC Open Access Forum. But the mailto: link for that email address was for unsubscribing from the list. I thank Seth Johnson for pointing this out.
The June issue of the INASP Newsletter is now online. Here are the articles relevant to open access.
The new issue of Library Hi Tech is devoted to the Open Archives Initiative Metadata Harvesting. The guest editor Timothy W. Cole. Only abstracts are free online. Here's the TOC.
Hugo Alrøe, a scientist at the Danish Research Centre for Organic Farming and administrator of the open-access Organic Eprints Archive, also maintains a web page listing the policies of various scientific publishers on allowing authors to self-archive their articles. He knows that the RoMEO Project is already collecting this information and has a large headstart. The difference seems to be that the Project RoMEO listings are based on published policies and copyright transfer agreements while his own are based on specific replies to a letter of inquiry.
More recent coverage of the Sabo bill.
The June 25 issue of the Environment News Service reports on the open-access literature provided by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) of the US Department of Energy (DOE). This takes the form of an open-access repository for gray literature, one for preprints, one for journal articles, and a new cross-archive search engine for the many DOE and OSTI collections. | <urn:uuid:afe5c583-de7a-4ae8-87d5-12cb1693b48d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2003_07_06_fosblogarchive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931407 | 3,234 | 1.570313 | 2 |
I have been trying to pass a string from form2 to form1. form1 then displays the string.
I have a button on form1 that creats an instance of form2. form2 asks for the user input and sends it back to form1. However i am not sure how to pass from form2 back to form1. Tried using public variables but that did not work. Any suggestions or online tutorials would help. Thanks | <urn:uuid:b398b119-09be-4592-9a27-e8a3bd954b21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cboard.cprogramming.com/windows-programming/64969-using-mcplusplus-how-do-you-pass-string-between-forms.html | 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 | 0.943786 | 90 | 1.632813 | 2 |
That's how this Chinese microblog post, which has gone viral on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter, started. The anonymous post painted Americans as foolish, primitive and naive - but before you get offended, read it in its entirety to find who's really being criticized.
Tea Leaf Nation has the English translation:
Don’t Go to the U.S., A Foolish and Backward Nation
I’ve already been in the U.S. for a long time. I regret that choice. We’ve been [fooled] by Western media the whole time, making us think that the U.S. is a modernized country. Harboring hopes of studying American modern science in order to serve my motherland, I moved heaven and earth in order to make it over to this “superpower.” But the result has been very disappointing!
(1) The U.S. is actually a giant, undeveloped farming village. In middle school, teachers teach students that the more developed industry gets, the greater harm the natural environment suffers. For example, in an industrial city you should find chimneys everywhere, large factories everywhere, dust everywhere. That’s the symbol of industrialization! But the U.S.? You hardly ever see chimneys, occasionally you’ll see a few small ones but they’re just decorations for houses. Instead there are clear rivers and lakes everywhere, and there aren’t even paper factories or steel smelters by the riverbanks. The clean and fresh air is a symbol of primitive society. There’s not even a trace of industrialization! | <urn:uuid:ffafd229-02a3-4f83-90ed-ae87ee19df82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.neatorama.com/2012/09/05/Dont-Go-to-the-USA-A-Foolish-and-Backward-Nation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940875 | 340 | 1.75 | 2 |
Peace to you all who continue to check up on this blog! I am happy to resume writing, as things have somewhat returned to 'normal'. In addition to our construction, we have had to spend time assisting our Br. Augustine, who has been hospitalized for the past 18 days with a variety of ailments. He will undergo his fourth operation today as a precaution against pneumonia, but there is talk of him being strong enough to leave intensive care this weekend.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Today's reading from the Rule of Saint Benedict urges brothers to come forward when they make a mistake of some kind or otherwise commit a fault. At first glance, this chapter, as well as the entire 'disciplinary code' of the Rule, has the appearance of strictness, and perhaps strikes us as being overly authoritarian and suspicious of the possibility of monks achieving personal maturity, needing overseers and Correctors for all the details of life.
If we take it this way, I suggest that this reveals about ourselves an anthropology that is not entirely compatible with that of the Early Church, and possibly with Biblical Christianity as a whole. As I never tire of pointing out, our anthropology takes its default stance in line with modern thinkers like Rousseau, who believed that children are faultless and it is society that corrupts them. The ancient anthropology, and I believe the better one, holds that children, while morally not culpable, are in fact very much in need of socialization in order to become mature adults. Left on their own, children will not develop past self-centeredness and an infantile need to have all desires met.
What this means is that all of us need help from others to discover our faults and weaknesses. If we do not discover them, we will make decisions based on hidden agendas and undisciplined desires. Perhaps worse is the common situation where we excuse our faults and assume that others should just put up with them because "that's who we are." Of course, part of the atmosphere that allows us to confront personal faults is the sense of love and acceptance, that invites us to correction rather than threatens us. I believe that this is the atmosphere presumed by Saint Benedict to be in the monastery.
Thus the invitation to admit faults, to apologize forthrightly and seek advice for correction, is an invitation to maturity and freedom. If we excuse our faults on the premise that others should leave us alone, we more or less admit that we are in thralldom to said faults. On the other hand, frank admission of our failures manifests a desire to be free of the control of our desires and hidden agendas. When I firmly admit that losing my temper is wrong, I can begin to ask what it is about myself in certain circumstances that brings anger out of me. Then I can ask whether I want to be that sort of person and, with the help of others who love me even if conversion is slow, or even proves to be ultimately impossible in this life, I can begin to reclaim true freedom to act in accord with reason and charity, and to counteract selfishness and blind passion.
This blog is published with ecclesiastical approval.
Origen of Alexandria
If I, who seem to be your right hand and am called Presbyter and seem to
preach the Word of God, If I do something against the discipline of the Church
and the Rule of the Gospel so that I become a scandal to you, The Church, then
may the whole Church, in unanimous resolve, cut me, its right hand, off, and
throw me away.
Origen of Alexandria | <urn:uuid:ec5fa567-da65-4b6f-9581-89e2a925a9d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chicagomonk.blogspot.jp/2008/11/forthrightness-as-condition-of-personal.html?showComment=1227666480000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963992 | 726 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Eddy Gilmore: A harvest of a different sortWhat special skills do your neighbors possess?
By: Eddy Gilmore, Budgeteer News
Being rather lean on ideas this week, I asked my 4-year-old daughter what I should write about. Without skipping a beat she replied: “Chickens, and us, and hay.” Then her side kick, Polar Bear, chimed in that I should draw pictures on the back of the column along with jokes about reindeer.
Here’s my best effort to meet this tall order:
These bitterly cold days provide daily challenges for the chickens and our family (though the line between chicken and family is often blurred). I typically wait until well after 10 a.m., when the sun is high enough to shine directly on their coop and run, to let them out of their small dwelling.
Henrietta and Bernice are typically the first to trundle down the ramp to explore mounds of beautiful nutrient-filled hay and peck scratch that I’ve broadcasted liberally throughout their stomping grounds. The hay, like many of us, is beautiful on the inside, but rather moldy on the outside of the bale since I picked it up free along the road after someone’s Halloween display was dismantled.
I have four full bales; this is the key to getting a flock of hens through the winter in Duluth. It’s imperative for their health and sanity to get them outside in the fresh air, and warm hay with its treasures is the only way I know to keep them thriving this time of year.
In return they bless us with about five eggs per day, and the visual pleasure of seeing busy multi-colored chickens out pecking and scratching among the dried green grasses of this past summer’s harvest. What a nice break in the day it is to check on them. Since I work from home, I’m able to attend to their needs during breaks and lunch.
This brings me to my long-held dream of the entire family being involved in an economic activity run out of our home — as in the old days. We’ve started a small little business for the kids, Coop d’Etat’s Best, so they can learn about money by selling a few eggs to friends and neighbors. Hopefully through this we can impart traditional values such as hard work, thrift, saving and being generous through giving. It’s critical that these lessons be started in the early years.
(Shameless plug: My wife has also been cultivating her talent for visual art, and has her first solo show since college at the Duluth Teachers Credit Union up in Kenwood currently. Her moderately priced work will be on display there till the end of February.)
Another source of “hay” for our family is to engage in what I call harvesting the talents of our neighbors: There are some seriously talented people in our neighborhood, and there are in yours as well. To name a few, we have a biologist who will soon break out her fancy microscope so we may see the creepy crawlies that reside in the compost of my worm bin. There’s also a carpenter (who’s an even better stay-at-home dad) who was on the crew that built the “Extreme Makeover” home; someone who’s a leader in the local arts community; and a woman who can regale you with wacky stories of her life in Duluth and on a commune (among other things). You also can’t forget the senior solid waste operator, retired railroader, forestry expert, fish hatchery guy, more teachers than you can shake a stick at — and even a former Olympic skier.
I find these folks are passionate about their skills and hobbies, and are eager to share them with others. My life is increasingly enriched as I harvest their talents, knowledge and life experience for my own enjoyment. I’m the guy who’s been stuck in the basement all day who is eager to rub shoulders with others at the end of the day, and find myself door knocking. I suppose it’s out of a desire to restore the old village concept when there was a broad diversity of skills in the community out of necessity, and also a recapturing of the old art of “visiting.” I’m probably a pest from time to time, but you’ve just got to be proactive against the shut-in mentality that is so prevalent when we’re at a mere nine hours or so of light per day.
Oh, and, lest I forget ... why did Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer cross the road? Because he was tied to a chicken!
Monthly Budgeteer columnist Eddy Gilmore is a freelance writer, father of twins and husband of one. Contact him at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:d1dbef2c-9155-4117-ba4b-b088b4aa3b52> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agweek.com/event/article/id/156878/publisher_ID/36/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965255 | 1,030 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Treating Trigger Points
By Bryan Fass
It’s been a long 24-hour shift and your neck and shoulders are really tense. On that last call, you noticed that your lower back was stiff and sore. In the back of your mind, you are hoping that old nagging injury is not going to rear its ugly head again.
Responders, we have all seen what the statistics show — our chosen career is hazardous to our bodies. Assuming that you have been following my articles for the past year, a basic understanding of postural distortions and their effects on your body should be in place; if not, you’ve got some reading to do! Over time, as we are exposed to poor postural positions, repetitive strain movements, faulty mechanics, stress, and improper exercise, our muscles begin to change. The negative stress placed upon us causes some protective but eventually deleterious changes. We have all felt these changes in the form of stiff and sore muscles, achy joints, and pain. Yet for many of us there is no memory of a specific injury that occurred; we just started to hurt.
Trigger points (TPs) are described as hyperirritable spots in skeletal muscle associated with palpable nodules in taut bands of muscle fibers. Compression of a trigger point may elicit local tenderness, referred pain, or a local twitch response. The problem with TPs is that you cannot stretch them (because they are too fibrotic) and if they cannot be stretched, they tend to cause pain and restrict movement, making it necessary to eliminate them. One of the tenets of the 'Fit Responder' program and book is the notion that without an understanding of your body and how it moves, you will not be able to feel or understand when it is not working properly. Self-massage is a simple and excellent way to both treat and prevent the development of new TPs, and all you need is a tennis ball and a wall. A tennis ball is a great tool and serves a variety of purposes. First, it can be self-diagnostic, allowing you to find your own trigger points to assess where the dysfunction lies. Second, it plays a valuable role in self-treatment by enabling you to massage and release the TPs to restore your range of motion and decrease pain. Lastly, a tennis ball makes a good exercise tool to play wall ball or engage in some reaction drills.
With the use of a self-massage ball, you can break up these adhesions as well as stimulate the muscles to relax, allowing increased elongation of soft tissue. This is a very effective form of flexibility training that, when performed consistently and correctly, can have lasting effects. All responders are familiar with the aches, pain, and stiffness that occur with prolonged sitting, making the massage ball the perfect answer. The ball takes up almost no space in your bag and can be employed to relieve stress and strain of all kinds.
Self-massage techniques can be painful over some areas of the body, especially the outer thighs and lats. Always use caution to not apply too much pressure, and avoid direct pressure over joints and bony prominences. This technique should allow you to identify and address areas of the body that cause discomfort and limit performance. Focus on controlled breathing and allow the trigger points to slowly release before moving on to the next point. This process takes time, so be patient. Performing a self-massage routine prior to a workout is a great way to loosen up the muscles and get them prepared to work. | <urn:uuid:90c76c6b-0fe9-4dda-93d4-d818158ba01e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ems1.com/ems-products/fitness-health/articles/506415-Treating-Trigger-Points/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953048 | 728 | 1.671875 | 2 |
US magazine Rolling Stone has condemned the Ugandan newspaper of the same name for calling for gays to be executed.
The US title said it had demanded that the African publication cease using its name.
Ugandan Rolling Stone, a new weekly newspaper, published a list of 100 gay men and lesbians with their photos and addresses.
It called for them to be hanged and accused of them of “recruiting” children to homosexuality.
US Rolling Stone’s editors said the issue was “one of the most vile and hateful anti-gay screeds we have ever read”.
They added: “Not only are we not affiliated in any way with the Ugandan paper, we have demanded they cease using our name as a title.
“But there is a larger issue at stake: Homosexuality is still a crime in much of Africa, often punishable by life in prison.”
Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and a bill introduced in the country last year called for life imprisonment and even execution for gay men and lesbians.
The current status of the bill is unclear. Reports said it had been quietly shelved, although other sources say it remains in the committee stage.
Giles Muhame, the managing editor of Ugandan Rolling Stone, defended his story, saying it was his duty as a journalist to “expose the evil in our society”.
“Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda but nobody is taking action against these people,” he told the Guardian.
“They are recruiting new members among our kids, and destroying the moral fabric of our country.”
Human rights activist Julian Onziema told Associated Press yesterday that at least four people on the list had been attacked since it was published, while others are in hiding. | <urn:uuid:436540ac-901a-4511-93d5-8bd1579dff4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/10/21/rolling-stone-condemns-anti-gay-ugandan-newspaper/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976537 | 374 | 1.5 | 2 |
9th - 10th February
Tibetan Calligraphy Workshop
with Tashi Mannox
Perfect for beginners,
and those that wish to polish their skills...
Places available, Book Now
Suitable for complete beginners in Tibetan calligraphy and also for those wishing to polish and develop their skills. During the course, Tashi Mannox will explain the proportionate construction of the Tibetan Uchen script which is essential as a foundation to create competent letter form for beautiful calligraphy. For those that already know the alphabet, there will be a chance to refine skills and develop your repertoire.
Location: Haverstock School, Room B213, 24 Haverstock Hill, Chalk Farm, London NW3 2BQ
(concessions available for Students / Low Income & Dzogchen Community members)
Schedule: 10am - 5pm, Sat. 9th - Sun 10th February
Tashi was born in England in the year of the Water Tiger. For the past 30 years he has studied an eclectic range of artistic disciplines within both the Eastern and Western traditions in his journey as a painter and calligrapher.
Shortly after gaining a BA [Hons] degree in Fine Art, he became a Buddhist monk of the Tibetan Kagyu order and at the tender age of 22 was given the name Tsering Tashi. For seventeen-years he apprenticed under the direction of a master of the Karma Gardri Tibetan art tradition, Sherab Palden Beru, studying the Tibetan language and traditional temple decoration which coincided with the timely building of the Temple at the Samye Ling Tibetan centre in Scotland.
During this period Tashi studied under many Tibetan Lamas, including the artistic guidance from H.E Situ Rinpoche and inspiration from the calligraphy works of Chogyam Trungpa. However the foundation of Tashi’s training is set by the high standards and clarity of his spiritual father Akong Tulku Rinpoche.
Part of Tashi’s monastic training was in 1988 to enter a closed four year Buddhist retreat, which also gave a sensitive environment to meticulously copy ancient Tibetan texts, furthering his training as a scribe in the highly disciplined, and multiple forms of Tibetan calligraphy.
In 2000 Tashi Travelled to India, where in Dharamsala he was privileged to study under a master of ancient Sanskrit: Lama Pema Lodrup, These artistic forms of Sanskrit called Lanza and Wartu, are preserved by only a handful of practitioners in the world today.
Since laying down his monastic robes in 2000, Tashi has built on his disciplined training and meditative awareness, formed through years of practising the Tibetan Buddhist Tantras and philosophy - to produce a collection of iconographic masterpieces that reveal powerful, spiritual themes through the majestic images of Tibetan Buddhist calligraphy and iconography.
Supporting the Shang Shung Institute in the UK
The Shang Shung Institute UK is a non profit organisation that relies on your generosity in order to continue its work for the support and continuing study of Tibetan Heritage and Culture. Please give generously!!
One of the best ways to support the Institute is to give a regular monthly donation of as little as £2. | <urn:uuid:76e6c435-9522-4118-b3d1-5e98fbcbee18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shangshunguk.org/v1/index.php?option=com_jevents&task=icalrepeat.detail&evid=79&Itemid=166&year=2013&month=02&day=09&title=tibetan-calligraphy-workshop-with-tashi-mannox&uid=7ad747c278da7a205f86c9a1f5d28812 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951689 | 670 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Grand Teton In Winter
The regal peaks in Grand Teton National Park are spectacular during winter, when they are enshrouded by deep snow and ice. Impressive views can be seen from automobiles driving plowed roads and from cross country ski and snowshoe trails.
Wildlife can be seen inside the park and in adjacent areas. Seeing wildlife in its natural habitat adds to the enjoyment of a visit to Grand Teton.
Popular Winter Activities
- Auto touring
- Cross country skiing
- Wildlife watching
Average Winter Temperatures F°
Snow comes early here and lingers long into spring. Highways US 89/191 and US 26/287, the main travel routes in the park, are plowed and open in winter from the town of Jackson to Flagg Ranch, just south of Yellowstone National Park. They offer outstanding mountain vistas and wildlife viewing opportunities. These roads are often snow-covered and icy so be prepared for winter driving conditions. Always carry emergency supplies in your vehicle.
Most of the Teton Park Road (also called the Inner Park Road) is closed to vehicles during winter. The section of the road from Taggart Lake parking area to Signal Mountain Lodge is not plowed. That section covers a distance of 15 miles and is is open to travel using cross country skis and snowshoes. A variety of other routes and trails in the park offer outstanding opportunities for ski and snowshoe adventures.
Ranger-Guided Snowshoe Walks
Park naturalists offer guided snowshoe walks on a scheduled basis throughout the winter. The walks are a great way to learn about the park and its unique ecology while enjoying safe adventure.
Inquire at the Craig Thomas Discovery & Visitor Center for information about the walks. The center is open year-round. Winter hours are 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
The National Elk Refuge, located just south of the park, is one of the best places in the world to observe elk, bison and other wild animals. During winter, sleigh rides are offered to allow visitors to see and photograph animals. Sometimes the sleighs get quite close and provide the opportunity for outstanding photos.
Wildlife can often be seen as you drive Hwy 191 through the park and into the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway.
Many animals spend the winter in the Snake River bottomland. The highway follows the river in some areas and wildlife can often be viewed from the road. Much of the bottomland is closed during the winter to protect the animals. You can view them from the roadway and from designated turnouts, but you cannot leave the highway.
Regardless of where you are, remember that harassing wildlife is prohibited. Winter conditions stress animals. Approaching too closely increases stress and may reduce their chance of surviving the harsh winter weather. For closeup views and photographs use binoculars and telephoto lenses.
In Grand Teton National Park, snowmobiling is allowed only on the frozen surface of Jackson Lake to best available technology (BAT) snowmobiles to provide access for ice fishing.
In the adjacent John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway, the Grassy Lake Road is open to any snowmobile. BAT is not required.
Guides are not required on either Jackson Lake or the Grassy Lake Road.
Snowmobiling is popular on many trails just outside of the park. Guided trips and rentals are offered by many local businesses.
|Back to top||Print this page||E-mail this page| | <urn:uuid:311b4706-cad1-428f-aefe-2c6b41ef4c03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://utah.com/nationalparks/grandtetons/grandteton-winter.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935974 | 731 | 1.84375 | 2 |
|The Main Reasons For Vagina White Discharge|
|Written by Egypt Eve|
|Saturday, 14 January 2012 11:37|
Even though it is normal to have a clear discharge from time to time. If you are having a white vaginal discharge then you have an infection.
A clear discharge helps to clean, lubricate and keep the vagina free of germs. Most often this will happen before and after your menstrual period.
A normal clear discharge may change in consistency and appearance for certain reasons. It could be that you are ovulating, pregnant, or breastfeeding. The ph level in your vagina could be upset also causing a normal discharge to appear different. This could result from deodorant soaps, douching, or perfume body sprays.
A white vaginal discharge is most commonly associated with symptoms of a yeast infection. This can be different consistency for everybody from very thin to extremely thick. However a light yellow to dark yellow almost brown discharge means you most likely have a bacterial infection.
Usually the severity of the infection will determine the depth and texture of the white vaginal discharge. A thin discharge is probably a mild infection with a major infection having the Constancy of cottage cheese. A mild infection may clear up extremely easy but a heavy white vaginal discharge could mean your dealing with a major candida overgrowth.
Sometimes if the infection is very severe, you may even experience a thick white discharge with blue specks in it. This type of discharge almost looks like crumbled blue cheese. I know, gross right? After all, yeast is a mold or fungus!
This is definitely symptoms of a yeast infection that needs immediate attention. A good way to tell if a male may have an infection (even if no symptoms) is in his semen. Normally it is thin and clear, but if it is thick and white, this may be an indication that he may be carrying the germ. It is always a good idea to have your spouse treated at the same time, even if they're showing no symptoms. Usually a male does not show symptoms unless their immune system is compromised. Otherwise they carry the germ and think that they are OK.
Sometimes it can be hard to determine which type of discharge you have. Discharge can be normal and abnormal, and the discharge of a yeast infection may mimic bacterial infection symptoms.
Really the best thing to do is just examine the discharge to tell you which one without a doubt. If it is a all white vaginal discharge that may smell a little yeasty to no smell at all, then it's defiantly a yeast infection. If your discharge has a yellow to brownish color with a bad odor, then you are dealing with a bacterial infection. And finally if it is clear to slightly cloudy and thin, then this is probably perfectly normal and have nothing to worry about.
You can reduce the intensity of your normal discharge by remembering to always wipe form front to back to prevent the spread of bacteria and to wear loose clothing with cotton underwear.
These are some tips in preventing abnormal discharge-change out of wet clothes or swimsuits as soon as possible, bath before and after sexual intercourse or a vigorous workout, and keep the moisture level down as much as possible.
If you find this article is useful be positive and share it with your friends for help them to know and any questions i will be glad for answer
|Last Updated on Monday, 16 April 2012 23:42| | <urn:uuid:a8f8894a-0c07-427b-92b3-19ff54be8641> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.egeve.com/en/haircare/256.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945219 | 696 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Babson Professor William Johnston, Case Director
Dan O'Heilly, Case Writer
Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship
© Babson College, 1998.
Two college friends return to Nantucket Island, where they had worked during college summers, to start a business so they can live permanently on the Island. They create a unique juice blend made out of nectars and other ingredients and initially sell it only on the Island –where demand was high. They are convinced that the product will work on the mainland as well but their distributors don't seem to be pushing the product as much as they could. The partners debate whether to distribute the product themselves in Boston and Washington, D.C. or continue to use distributors. They target large public events and engage in guerrilla marketing by dressing up in grape suits and giving out free samples during traffic jams. Their competitors take notice of their popularity and Ocean Spray eventually buys them. Primary teaching focus is in the selection of distribution channels and low cost promotion.
Location of the company: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Years spanned by the case: 1992-99
Industry segments: beverage producers
Stage of the company: early growth
Age of the entrepreneurs: mid-30's
Key Words: entrepreneurship, distribution, marketing, guerrilla marketing, partnership
A 79-minute DVD is available for this case. Both of the principals from the case answer questions in a Babson class. Please place video orders through ecch.
A six page case teaching package, written by William Johnston, is available for this case. The teaching package includes strategies for case presentation, key concepts, some solutions to the assignment questions in the case as appropriate, and suggestions for the most effective ways to work this case into a course. | <urn:uuid:bd331c46-ad0e-4805-a0b0-9ba774ef508e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.babson.edu/faculty/teaching-learning/research-publications/cases/Pages/nantucket-nectars.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942606 | 357 | 1.757813 | 2 |
By Brendan Conway
You can’t say Ned Davis Research strategists John LaForge and Warren Pies are sticking with the Wall Street consensus.
The pair argue in a note this week that oil will hit record highs during 2013 — a time when more than a few strategists see oil’s price bobbing around more or less where it is today, in the $90-$100 range.
Key to this call: Today’s prices aren’t that far off in the first place. Not if we’re viewing it on an inflation-adjusted basis, and not if we’re looking at pricier Brent crude — which the strategists note happens to correlate more closely with U.S. gas prices than the West Texas Intermediate crude that’s used in this country.
Last year’s average Brent oil price of $113.63 per barrel was already the second-highest on record by this measure — second only to 1864, a time when oil production was only around two million barrels a year, they write. That’s worth pausing over. One hundred fifty-ish years ago, when the United States was not quite through with the U.S. Civil War, the inflation-adjusted cost of oil was $115.45.
Phooey with the rise in U.S. oil output, and even more phooey to the talk of energy independence, say LaForge and Pies. What the U.S. is gaining in production since 2006, the rest of the developed world has lost. The top three producers, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Russia, as a group, are only somewhat bigger producers over the last decade.
China and Canada, numbers four and five, meanwhile, are increasing output, but their on-and-off competitors Norway and Mexico “have dropped off the production map.”
Now step back for a moment to see that world GDP is rising faster that world out production. This, too, would seem to leave prices under upward pressure.
Emerging-markets such as China and Brazil are becoming the real drivers of global demand. This is happening at the same time that those countries are consuming more of their own oil. I.E., they’re not producing more to flood global markets. They’re seeking to fill their own economy’s needs.
“If we are right about China, oil has a good chance of breaking to highs last seen in 1864,” LaForge and Pies write.
There’s more to the argument, and we’ll be following up. Crude prices are down slightly on Friday after Nymex crude for March delivery settled up by 4.5% on the year on Thursday, rising in five of the last six sessions.
The United States Oil Fund (USO) is down by 0.3% in late morning trading, while the United States 12 Month Oil Fund (USL) is up 0.2% and the United States Brent Oil Fund (BNO) is down 0.1%. The leveraged ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Crude Oil (UCO) is down 0.4%. The broader commodity tracker Powershares DB Commodity Index Fund (DBC) is down by 0.3%. | <urn:uuid:e103a9b1-90c3-49a5-a143-952a637fdf46> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.barrons.com/focusonfunds/2013/01/25/why-two-analysts-think-oil-could-hit-a-151-year-high/?mod=BOLBlog?mod=BOL_article_snippet_blog_etf | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94823 | 686 | 1.65625 | 2 |
"The issue here is not gonna be a list of accomplishments. As you said yourself, Steve, you know, I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president — with the possible exceptions of Johnson, F.D.R., and Lincoln." -- Barack Obama
As future generations of Americans look back at the Obama years, perhaps as they search for some sort of explanation for why so many of them are living in huts and paying a 70% income tax rate when the country used to be so rich, they'll be looking for some key dates and facts. So, in an effort to help future generations, here is a straightforward, entirely factual account of some of the most important moments of the Obama years.
1) Barack Obama Inaugurated (January 20, 2009): Oh, it was such a hopeful, glorious, unified moment. Cats and dogs, Fox and MSNBC, Republicans and Democrats -- we were all in it together and rooting Obama on towards victory……….which brings up some obvious questions like: How did Barack Obama squander so much goodwill and what did he do to make so many Americans hate him?
2) Barack Obama throws out the first pitch at the All-Star game (July 14, 2009): On this date, the hippest man ever to occupy the White House revolutionized fashion in America at Major League Baseball's All-Star game. Ever heard of mom jeans? Well, Barack Obama wore them to the All-Star game and that, combined with his girlish throwing motion, caused moms across America to copy the mom-in-chief – and that is how Barack Obama created mom jeans!
3) Obamacare passes (March 21, 2010): In one fell swoop, Barack Obama managed to cripple American healthcare, put the medical insurance industry on suicide watch, stall the economy, and empower the IRS and unelected death panels to get involved in your health care. If you were looking for comparable bad decisions from other world leaders, you'd probably need to go back to Napoleon's decision to invade Russia during the winter or Nero's decision to play the lyre on his balcony while Rome was burning instead of organizing a fire brigade. (In all fairness to Nero, that may be a rumor. For any future generations that are wondering what went so wrong with healthcare, contrary to what your liberal schoolteachers are telling you, George W. Bush was not responsible for "Obamacare." It really was Obama.)
Katrina vanden Heuvel: "MS, WI, TX, ND, AR, Have Become States of Misogyny of Bigotry" | Greg Hengler
Report: Boehner Won't Bring Immigration Bill to the Floor Without Majority of Republicans On Board | Guy Benson | <urn:uuid:e71dd1f4-40f3-4d0f-9d76-4c338884664e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2012/10/09/10_dates_to_remember_from_barack_obamas_amazing_first_term | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961103 | 560 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Inside, the scene was truly nightmarish: Shoppers at the “live market” selected the individual animals who they wanted butchered. In such markets, animals may be slaughtered in full view of one another, with little concern for humane treatment or sanitary practice. The combination of animals confined to filthy, crowded cages and the unsanitary slaughter floor conditions created a breeding ground of disease and bacteria at Astoria. Live chickens were kept without food and water and were made to sit in excrement-covered cages among the bodies of their dead friends, who had succumbed to a strain of avian flu the type lethal to birds-not humans.
Many animals knew their last, torturous moments in this hellish place. But one fortuitous day in August, a cow we later came to know as Queenie would not go the way of countless others before her. Driven by the fear of the canes, sticks and electric prods, which are commonplace in live markets and stockyards, Queenie made the choice any animal would if given the chance. Strong, powerful, and rightly distrusting of humans, she shook her oppressor’s grasp and ran for her life.
Alone in a world completely alien to her, amid strange sights and blaring sounds, she sprinted for blocks, attracting the attention of surprised and jeering onlookers as she dodged traffic, pedestrians and eventually police cars on the busy New York streets. Her flight to freedom was finally brought to a halt when police shot her with a tranquilizer gun.
Queenie’s getaway, though cut short, did not go unnoticed; her story attracted national media attention and won her the support of thousands who were inspired by her resilience and bravery. Calls from individuals concerned with Queenie’s fate flooded both the Center for Animal Care and Control and Astoria Live Poultry.
When we were alerted to her plight by Farm Sanctuary members, we immediately contacted the animal control agency and offered to provide Queenie a safe, permanent home at our New York shelter. We anxiously waited for hours before the slaughterhouse owner finally decided to relinquish custody of Queenie to the city.
Queenie arrived at the shelter to a hero’s welcome: As she jumped from the trailer, she was met with cheers from the sanctuary staff and loud “moos” from the cows in her new herd. And Queenie certainly was a hero: Her escape resulted in fines for Astoria Live Poultry and fueled the public outcry that ultimately led to an investigation and the subsequent closing of the market. Queenie’s act of rebellion won not only her own freedom but also that of 150 neglected chickens, who were surrendered to Farm Sanctuary after the market closed its doors.
On Thursday, August 18, it was the 11th anniversary of Queenie’s arrival at our New York Shelter. After all these years, she is still a plucky lady. Her wariness towards humans is what saved her life, and she hasn’t forgotten the cruelties that befell her and the other live market animals at the hands of humans. For this reason, she doesn’t take kindly to everyone she meets. Since Queenie and I came to Farm Sanctuary at the same time, however, I think we have a bond, a kind of mutual respect for one another. I can bring any visitor into the main herd, and she will accept them.
Queenie is highly alert and very aware of her surroundings; she is certainly one of the most intelligent cows I’ve met. She displays her incredible problem-solving ability by figuring out ways to avoid hoof trimming (she actually manages to squeeze out of the trimmer’s chute) and fly spraying -- which, though both procedures are necessary for her health and comfort, are two of her least favorite things. However, she loves her herd, her best friends (fellow escapees Maxine and Annie Dodge), and her permanent home, a place she will never want to run away from.
It is amazing that, knowing only fear, pain, and cruelty, Queenie still had the drive to run free. But when I look back at her story, I am reminded of the sad truth that the only difference between Queenie and the animals who were killed that day at the market, and every day in slaughterhouses around the world, was attitude and luck. She had no more a will to live than any animal, human or nonhuman. When we read about the individual who manages to escape a nightmarish fate, we must remember that the animal whose survival we are rooting for is no different in her desire to live from the millions behind the slaughterhouse walls. As we see every day here at the sanctuary, each and every animal is an individual with a unique personality and a deep emotional life. Queenie is a face for the billions of faceless animals who won’t get a lucky break but are no less unique, special, and deserving of love.
Photos by Derek Goodwin and Blanche J. Baransky | <urn:uuid:975b3f2f-6da4-4469-9e64-f48a1e33a80d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://farmsanctuary.typepad.com/sanctuary_tails/2011/08/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97247 | 1,041 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Three miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School, a white Colonial-style building stands about 50 feet back from the road, an unassuming presence in a town that never got much attention until now. On a recent day, a security guard got out of a parked car at the end of the driveway and said he’d received instructions to turn away anyone who didn’t work in the building. It wasn't hard to see why his employers might have hired him. In what appears to be a bizarre coincidence, the people working inside were among the country's most adamant champions of the kinds of weapons and ammunition that Adam Lanza used to kill 26 children and adults just down the road last week.
The Newtown-based National Shooting Sports Foundation, or NSSF, is the nation's premier gun manufacturers trade association, and in recent years the group has concentrated on marketing military-style assault weapons of the kind used by Lanza, James Holmes and other mass murderers. In the last decade, as the national interest in hunting has declined, gun manufacturers have increasingly relied on the sale of high-powered rifles, capable of killing many people in seconds. Behind the scenes, the NSSF has done much of the work of pitching those products to politicians, the media and gun buyers.
Doug Painter, a former NSSF president, delivered a pitch characteristic of the NSSF’s folksy approach in a video released by the group in 2009, a year when many gun-owners were worried that the newly Democratic White House would try to take away their weapons.
Holding up the same kind of rifle that Adam Lanza would eventually use to commit mass murder, Painter asked the camera, “Am I gonna trade in Ol’ Betsy for one of these?” He answered himself, “Maybe not. But there’s a more important point to consider. Anti-gun folks insist on labeling these rifles as ‘bad guns,’ as opposed to more traditional-looking ‘good guns.’ How can any inanimate object be considered ‘good’ or ‘bad’?”
keyboard shortcuts: V vote up article J next comment K previous comment | <urn:uuid:cf03d685-8fba-49aa-bc69-3e44a7506ae0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://proglib.newsvine.com/_news/2012/12/22/16094792-national-shooting-sports-foundation-newtown-gun-lobby-keeps-military-style-guns-legal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972293 | 450 | 1.625 | 2 |
I would like to get help from an expert or anyone who knows about this. As a beginner in SPSS, I've googled the steps to do multinomial regression. I've decide to use multinomial because from what I googled and understood, binomial is for situations that only have 2 categories like yes or no, which you could code 0 for yes and 1 for no. This is what I understand if you choose to use binomial.
My situation is I have a set of questionnaires that use more than 2 answers. For example,
level of income: 1. $2000, 2. $3000, 3. $4000, 4. $5000. That is the kind of question I have. So, obviously I choose to use multinomial regression.
My IV's are 1) social capital, 2) training, 3) credit/loan; and my DV is effectiveness which can be measured by 1) income, 2) saving, 3) repayment rate.
In my questionnaire, I only have two kind of question which "yes or no" and choose answer like above mention "1 or 2 or 3 or 4." So my questions are:
- Did I choose the right regression to use, that is multinomial, or do I have to use binomial?
- If it's multinomial, I need help with the steps like do I have to calculate all my DV questions and transform them into one, which will make new "item" in SPSS columns, then put it in the dependent column of multinomial regression? Because I have approximately 15 questions to measure my DV. Then in the factors columns what did I put? Every question of my IV's (like 30 questions separately) or just the total of the 30 questions? And what should I put on covariates?
above is my questionaire sample link. income level, savings and repayment is to measure my dv ~ effectiveness of microfinance. other is my iv, that is credit/capital , training and social capital. feel free to improve my questionaire if you like. | <urn:uuid:c2547894-a73c-4ba4-97ec-144fac0ce3fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/28807/multinomial-logistic-regression | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947197 | 434 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
The Last Four String Quartets
String Quartet No.20 in D, K499 (‘Hoffmeister’) (1786) [29:23]
String Quartet No.21 in D, K575 (‘Prussian’ No.1) (1789) [23:39]
String Quartet No.22 in B-flat, K589 (‘Prussian’ No.2) (1789/90) [23:12]
String Quartet No.23 in F, K590 (‘Prussian’ No.3) (1789/90) [27:40]
The Juilliard String Quartet (Robert Mann (violin), Earl Carlyss (violin), Samuel Rhodes (viola), Joel Krosnick (cello))
rec. 21 November, 1974, Columbia Studio, 30th Street, New York. ADD.
ARKIVMUSIC SONY 77114 [54:38 + 51:26]
Though CBS in its latter days of independence reissued the Juilliard Quartet’s recordings of the last Schubert String Quartets on a mid-price 2-CD set, re-reissued by Sony on SB2K89978 – see review – neither they nor their present owners Sony/BMG ever released these Mozart recordings on CD, to the best of my knowledge, perhaps because there is such strong competition in the Mozart, not least from the Quartetto Italiano and Amadeus Quartet in recordings of much the same vintage. With those stylish Italian recordings currently unavailable, however, either as part of their 8-CD collection of all the Mozart Quartets, singly, or on Philips Duo, except as downloads or from ArkivMusic, and the Amadeus as a box set only, it makes excellent sense to reissue the Juilliard recordings.
There are, however, plenty of alternatives, which means that I must apologise for making a large number of comparisons. If you prefer to cut to the chase, skip to the end of the review.
Passionato.com have the 8-CD Quartetto Italiano set here for £27.99 and Amazon.co.uk have Nos.20-23, the same programme of four quartets as on the Arkiv/Sony reissue, here for £11.99. The Passionato download of the Quartetto’s complete set of Mozart Quartets and Quintets to which I referred in my November 2010 Download Roundup, 464 8302, has now reverted to £34.99 in mp3 and £40.99 in lossless format - here. ArkivMusic can also supply that 8-CD set for $87.99, plus packing outside the USA and Canada – here.
These four last quartets – the ‘Hoffmeister’ standing alone, while the other three form part of a set dedicated to the King of Prussia, hence the prominent cello part – are less popular than the preceding ‘Haydn’ Quartets, though their comparative neglect is undeserved. Of versions currently available, the Chilingirian Quartet on CRD in all four (CRD3427/3428), the Quatuor Mosaïques on Naïve (Nos. 20 and 22, E8834; Nos. 21 and 23 E8888), and the Amadeus Quartet as part of a complete set in a 6-CD DG Collectors Box at budget price (477 8680 – or download from passionato.com here) deserve special mention alongside the download of the Quartetto Italiano.
I must also mention a 3-CD Nimbus set on which the American Quartet couple the Third ‘Prussian’ Quartet, K590, with a selection of quartets from throughout his composing career (NI2533-5), which I reviewed some time ago – here. This forms a complete et when added to the first volume which Dominy Clements had earlier recommended (NI2508-10 - here). As DC wrote, if you are looking for a beautifully recorded set of Mozart string quartets played with an almost complete absence of flaws or intrusive ‘interpretation’ then these recordings by the American Quartet will be right up your street. Both sets can be ordered direct from the Musicweb International site at a very competitive price. (See below). If something of this quality at this very reasonable price had been around when I was discovering Mozart’s chamber music fifty years ago, I’d have been over the moon. Despite the lack of space in my CD collection, I have retained my review copy of Volume 2.
Not having heard the Mosaïques versions of these quartets, despite all that I had read in their praise, I streamed them from the Naxos Music Library to use as my principal benchmarks. I also listened to the American String Quartet in No.20, K499, downloaded from eMusic, the Amadeus Quartets, courtesy of passionato.com, and to the Salomon Quartet on an inexpensive Hyperion CD. The first thing to note is that the Mosaïques and the Salomons, both employing period instruments, observe all the repeats in the outer movements of these quartets, thereby extending the playing time of these movements of K499 very considerably, as is apparent from this table:
1st movement 2nd movement 3rd movement 4th movement Juilliard 9:34 3:17 9:58 6:34 Amadeus 7:17 3:11 8:43 4:55 American 7:05 3:09 8:44 4:52 Chilingirian 10:03 3:00 8:48 5:04 Jerusalem* 9:12 2:58 8:19 4:53 Italian 10:08 3:03 9:08 7:07 Mosaïques 14:46 3:39 7:37 10:01 Salomon 14:00 3:32 8:10 9:08
* Free mp3 download from Jerusalem Music Centre (128 kb/s only, but acceptable) here.
The observation of repeats is something of a vexed question, but it is arguable that their omission here distorts the shape of the quartet as a whole. That being so, since I tend to prefer period instruments, without wishing to be dogmatic on the subject – and since neither of the period-instrument groups in question plays in such a way as to suggest that they are dogmatic either – my firm recommendation must be for one of these and, since the Salomon Quartet are available at budget price on the Hyperion Helios label, coupled with No.22, K589, I plump for them. (CDH55094, around £6, also available as an mp3 or lossless download here.)
Despite my overall recommendation of the American String Quartet’s two volumes, their polishing off of the outer movements of this work in record time does seem to me one of their less recommendable features. Similarly, despite the fact that there is absolutely nothing ‘wrong’ with the performances by the other modern-instrument quartets, even the Amadeus Quartet, who are close runners-up to the Americans in terms of timing, the first movement simply doesn’t receive its proper weight at just over 7 minutes, when it never seems to outstay its welcome at twice that length. I had fewer similar problems, however, with the American Quartet’s account of No.23, K590 (see below).
The Juilliards and Italians make fewer omissions, but still offer only two thirds of what we hear from the Mosaïques and Salomons.
ArkivMusic offer excerpts from the second movement Andante of No.21, K575, and the Allegro assai finale of No.22, K589, on their website. In No.21 my chief comparison has been with the Chilingirian Quartet, a performance which deserves all the accolades which it has received and which is coupled with No.20 for £3.36 or less from eMusic in decent 256kb/s mp3 sound. In all four movements the tempi of the Chilingirians and the Juilliards are within a whisker of each other. This is the first of the quartets which Mozart wrote in the hope of attracting the patronage of the cellist King of Prussia, hence the prominent part for that instrument. Both of these modern-instrument performances offer affective accounts of the Andante, with suitably prominent – but not over-prominent – participation from the cello. The technical assurance of both performances can be taken for granted and both are very effective, but I detect a small but significant extra degree of sentiment – not sentimentality – in the Chilingirian version and, for that reason, I identified just a shade more with their performance. It’s almost as if the Juilliards are searching for the emotional heart of the music and mostly finding it, whereas the Chilingirians are finding it spontaneously. Just occasionally the boot is on the other foot, which means that neither will truly disappoint the listener.
Though the Quatuor Mosaïques take a few seconds less for this movement and, therefore, may seem on paper in danger of missing its emotional heart, in reality nothing could be further from the truth: they actually sound more measured than their rivals and they certainly don’t miss any of the Empfindsamkeit. Even heard at a low bit-rate from the Naxos Music Library, the sound is clearer and the balance more natural than the Sony or CRD recordings.
In the finale of No.22 I started by listening to the Mosaïques, whose comparatively leisurely pace seems to ignore the assai part of the marking allegro assai. The Salomon Quartet are a shade faster, at 3:44 falling between the timings of the Mosaïques and the Juilliards, but sounding much brisker than – and, I think, preferable to – their period-instrument rivals.
The Chilingirian Quartet are slower than either of the period performances and considerably slower than the Juilliards. If the Mosaïques’ allegro is not sufficiently assai, the Chilingirians are even less so and, it seems to me, this is one of the least recommendable movements in a generally recommendable pair of CDs. This, too, can be obtained as a download at a considerable saving from eMusic and also as an mp3 or lossless download from passionato.com. The lossless download sounds very well, but, at £8.99, is only pence less expensive than the parent CD.
The Juilliard version of this movement is by some margin the lightest and fleetest of those which I compared. If this movement represents the Chilingirians at their least attractive, it shows the Juilliards at their not inconsiderable best – and it also serves to illustrate the fact that the recording is by no means dated.
The Lotus Quartet on Warner’s least expensive label, also offer a fine light-footed account of this movement. If you are looking for just Nos.21, K575, and 22, K589, well performed and recorded, this is a most recommendable purchase for around £5 in the UK. (0927495752 – rec. 1997 DDD). Why have we not heard more of this fine group?
The American String Quartet’s version of No.23, K590, included on the 3-CD Nimbus set (NI2533-5, see above), is excellent. The restrained opening sets the tone for an unassertive but satisfying account of the first movement, observing both halves of the allegro moderato direction. There are no problems here with repeats, either – if there are any omissions, they are minimal and I didn’t notice them – and their overall timing of 8:42 strikes me as about right: just a few seconds faster than the Mosaïques and the Juilliard Quartet. They do, however, considerably shorten the slow movement and allegro finale, as do the Amadeus Quartet. The Juilliard and Chilingirian Quartets also omit repeats in these movements, though not quite so drastically. Though this worried me less than in the case of K499, I’d still turn to the Quatuor Mosaïques for the full picture in K590. If you can live with the omissions, however – you may well think that enough is enough – the Juilliards offer a fine performance of this work: a trifle more assertive than the Americans in the opening movement, where the music can take it, and equally enjoyable in the other movements. As in the other quartets, the recording sounds fine for its age: I found the difference between the Sony ADD and the Nimbus DDD recordings to be minimal.
In summary, then, of the performances on modern instruments there is very little to choose among the versions by the Juilliard Quartet, Amadeus Quartet, Quartetto Italiano and the Chilingirian Quartet. All have their virtues, but for overall high quality of performance and recording the Chilingirians would be hard to beat: they are generally available from dealers on two single CDs at less than full price or in a 5-CD set of the last ten quartets (CRD5005, around £28).
The Amadeus and Italian recordings are currently available only as box sets – the latter in download form only or from ArkivMusic (see above). If you are looking for high-quality performances of the complete Mozart Quartets on modern instruments which still sound well, despite having been recorded some time ago, either of these will serve your purpose well – but be aware that they contain a fair amount of juvenilia.
The same is true of the two sets of performances from the American Quartet on Nimbus – early and late works are deliberately offered side-by-side on both albums. Despite my reservations about outer-movement repeats in K499 – and, indeed, elsewhere – the two sets are well worth having, especially as they are available at a reasonable price. (£16 each, post free, from Musicweb International – click the Nimbus link on the right of the web page.)
If you are looking for a 2-CD set of the last four quartets, the ArkivMusik reissue of the Juilliards makes an obvious recommendation. There’s a detailed booklet with some useful analyses of the music and the recording has worn well. I found them a touch lacking in emotional identification with the music at times by comparison with their competitors, but not sufficiently for me to deny an overall recommendation, though at $37.99 they are by no means the least expensive, when the 5-CD CRD set costs around the same – more music for your money – and the two Nimbus sets together cost little more.
My first choice, however, must reside with the period-instrument versions. Since both the Mosaïques on Naïve and the Salomons on Hyperion couple Nos.20 and 22, my overall recommendation would be to go for the less expensive Salomon recording of these (CDH55094) and supplement that with the Mosaïque Quartet’s recording of Nos.21 and 23 (E8888).
Classic accounts, well worth considering, but there are less expensive rivals, some on period instruments. | <urn:uuid:dde41a65-aed2-4771-b0e1-c1a78d037ed0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Feb11/Mozart_qts_77114p.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945927 | 3,279 | 1.609375 | 2 |
kjv@Mark:5:27 @ When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
kjv@Mark:5:28 @ For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
kjv@Mark:5:29 @ And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
kjv@Mark:5:30 @ And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
kjv@Mark:5:31 @ And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
kjv@Mark:5:32 @ And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
kjv@Mark:5:33 @ But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
kjv@Mark:5:34 @ And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
bible Mark:5:27-34 -
Mark:5:27-34 Discussion Board:
Discuss this passage:
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A national poll suggests that three-quarters of the public thinks President-elect Barack Obama is a strong and decisive leader, the highest marks for a president-elect on that characteristic in nearly three decades.
A new poll shows that President-elect Barack Obama is viewed as a strong, confident leader.
Seventy-six percent of Americans questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Wednesday said Obama is a strong and decisive leader.
"That's the best number an incoming president has gotten on that dimension since Ronald Reagan took office in 1981," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. "The public's rating of his leadership skills is already as high as George W. Bush's was after 9/11 and easily beats the numbers that both Bush and Bill Clinton got at the start of their first terms in office."
Just six in 10 felt that Bush was a strong leader when he took office in 2001. After the attacks of September 11, that number rose to three in four. Sixty-seven percent thought Bill Clinton was a strong leader when he took office in January 1993. Watch how Obama compares with his predecessors »
Eight in ten Americans said Obama inspires confidence, can get things done and is tough enough to be president, three characteristics Americans look for in a leader and the three qualities on which Obama got his highest scores.
He also gets higher marks than Bush did in 2001 on honesty, values, issues, management abilities and compassion.
The 67 percent of those polled who say they admire Obama -- his worst score -- is roughly the same as the highest that Bush got on a similar battery of questions just after he took office in 2001.
"But it is Obama's ability to inspire confidence and the perception that he is tough enough for the job that may be most important for him as the country faces fresh challenges abroad and a historically harsh economic downturn," Holland said.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey was conducted December 19-21, with 1,013 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
But while Bush enjoyed high approval ratings in his first term, things dramatically changed over his eight years in office.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released December 26 showed that 75 percent of those surveyed were happy to see Bush leave office.
"Earlier this year, Bush scored some of the lowest presidential approval ratings we've seen in half a century, so it's understandable that the public is eager for a new president to step in," Holland said.
CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider added, "As President Bush prepares to leave office, the American public has a parting thought: Good riddance. At least that's the way three-quarters feel." Watch how Bush's farewell polls compare »
The portion who say they won't miss Bush is 24 percentage points higher than the 51 percent who said they wouldn't miss Bill Clinton when he left office in January 2001. Forty-five percent of those questioned at that time said they would miss Clinton.
The poll indicated that Bush compares poorly with his presidential predecessors, with 28 percent saying he's the worst ever. Forty percent rate Bush's presidency as poor, and 31 percent say he's been a good president.
Only a third of those polled said they want Bush to remain active in public life after he leaves the White House. That 33 percent figure is 22 points lower than those in 2001 who wanted Clinton to retain a public role.
"It's been like a failed marriage," Schneider said.
The December 26 poll was conducted December 19-21, with 1,013 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
CNN's Ed Hornick contributed to this report.
|Most Viewed||Most Emailed||Top Searches| | <urn:uuid:991d276d-75be-4fab-a612-01c50bf1e341> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://us.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/31/obama.leadership.poll/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975261 | 789 | 1.8125 | 2 |
I don't think exactly think so.
It's just information to show the mail (and the links inside it) in the receivers Outlook the same as in the senders Outlook, as I understand it.
Images which embedded in a Word document are embedded inside the Word document, and not sent separately, and are immediately visible and printable if you open the Word document, which will be fairly big.
However, your friend can have chosen not to embed the images in the document, but to insert links to separate files (one file for each image) on his hard disk instead (Word lets you choose from these alternatives). The Word document is fairly small than, but to read it on another computer, you have to copy all those image files to that other computer also, AND (most important) have all the files on exactly the same location (say, My Documents\My short stories\A midsummer night\Pictures) or the links on the receiving computer will point to a location that doesn't exist, so the pictures won't show up.
A CD-burner nowadays is rather cheap. Things might be easier for you and your friend if he bought one. He might have more personal files he likes to backup than just this one story and its images?
Was this reply helpful? (0) (0) | <urn:uuid:2b46cfd3-d495-4cfa-8e10-67a3f7479a7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6129_102-12465/what-are-oledata-mso-files/?messageId=3339234 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958534 | 270 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Laura Gipson does her best to stay active and socialize with her neighbors in her building's community room, where she often goes to eat lunch or play bingo with other residents.
But Ms. Gipson, 88, had a nasty shock after a recent Saturday afternoon bingo session. When her game ended around 5 p.m., she discovered her building's elevator wasn't working, and she was unable to get from the first floor to her second-floor apartment. She had to wait until 11 that evening until someone could be called who could operate the elevator.
“I was scared,” she said, recalling the situation. “I didn't know what I was going to do.”
Ms. Gipson, like many residents in her building — Alpha Towers, 525 East Woodruff Ave. in central Toledo — uses a motorized wheelchair and can’t climb stairs.
Residents at the nine-story, 165-unit complex complain that the elevators in the building haven't worked correctly for some time. They say they are fed up. The building has hire part-time temporary employees to manually operate one of two elevators that are still functioning.
“We’ve asked about it,” said Jeffrey Fisher, 62, president of the building's residents' association. “We [haven’t gotten] answers.”
The apartment is a project-based Section 8 complex, meaning it is privately owned but receives a subsidy from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for providing low-income housing. HUD records show the complex is owned by Maryland-based New Alpha Housing Limited Partnership and is managed by the Donaldson Group LLC, also based in Maryland. The complex’s management did not respond to messages from The Blade.
The maximum monthly rent the building's owners can receive from HUD is $115,788.
Elevators in Ohio are inspected by the state’s Department of Commerce. Inspection records state both elevators were installed in 1976. Their most recent inspections were in September; minor violations were noted in both elevators. Every passenger elevator in the state is inspected twice annually, according to the department.
Norman Martin, the state’s chief elevator inspector, said the working elevator in the building is safe, as it has a certificate of operation.
Resident Redie Peterson, 72, said she often must walk up eight flights of stairs to reach her apartment. “This is my third defibrillator in my heart,” she said, gesturing to her chest. “I’m not supposed to come up the stairs. I had chest pains.”
William Craig, 78, who also uses a motorized wheelchair, has been wary of the elevators since an incident about two years ago.
After getting onto the elevator from the eighth floor, he said, “ heard something go ‘boom,’ like an explosion. I felt like I was going 100 miles an hour. I said, ‘Oh, Lord.’ ” Mr. Craig said the elevator stopped between the fourth and fifth floors, where he was able to call for help.
Added Donetta Hayes, another resident, “I feel sorry for the older people in here. Shouldn’t nobody have to go through this. Everybody pays rent.”
Contact Kate Giammarise at: email@example.com or 419-724-6091, or on Twitter @KateGiammarise. | <urn:uuid:d82b2345-2527-42ad-82bf-f1f0b8e81f74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2012/11/17/Alpha-Towers-residents-complain-about-elevators-say-they-have-been-stranded.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 | 0.980628 | 739 | 1.648438 | 2 |
This is the kind of bilge guys like Don McLeroy and Ken Mercer would like to see taught in science classes here in Texas, and no mistake. One loses count of the scientifically illiterate creationist poltroons who have claimed to have disproved Darwin over the years, only to faceplant into a briar patch of epic fail. But that hasn't daunted the intrepid folks at San Antonio's Vision Forum Ministries, who have created a 12-episode radio series called Jonathan Park and the Journey Never Taken, spreading, one presumes, the usual McDonald's menu of tepid, reheated anti-science lies. Let's see how they do in their "disproofs"...
“While Darwinism’s impact remains far-reaching, its clutch on the culture is beginning to slip,” concluded [Vision Forum Ministries president Doug] Phillips. “Programs like Jonathan Park illustrate the growing number of people who reject the notion that the world came to be through random chance and chaos, recognizing instead that the creation speaks forth of a Creator.”
Annnnd...FAIL! Let's count the errors, shall we? First, Darwin's theory is not a theory regarding how the "world came to be," and second, nowhere does any model of evolution supported by science make the claim that it is a process of "random chance and chaos". So, wow, right there in an introductory web post, Phillips reveals his utter ignorance of the science he claims his stupid little program disproves. One can only imagine how bad the actual shows are.
Such a sad, dark little life of ignorance fundamentalism requires you to lead. I recently read Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, and it has to be the ultimate in travel writing. Imagine if Darwin had had his own blog during the seminal travels of his life, and you'll get an idea of what's it's like. And if it reveals one thing more clearly than anything else, it's that Charles Darwin possessed a sense of wonder and sheer unbridled awe about the beauty and majesty of life and the world we live in immeasurably greater than any felt by the pitiful creationists at Vision Forum Ministries — or any other creationist institution dedicated to the desperate clinging to the skirts of Bronze Age mythology instead of the real wonders that science and knowledge reveal to us.
They're gearing this crap towards children, in the hopes their natural wonder about the world and hunger for learning will be stifled before it has a chance to form. And all in the interests of maintaining ancient beliefs and the ministries that sell them. This is why we fight. Minds are at stake. Somewhere in the world is a student who will go on to cure AIDS, extend human life expectancy, and solve other ills that befall us, and that student will have to understand evolution. Creationists fear this, and want this destroyed at all costs. Religion doesn't care what destruction it leaves in its wake, as long as it comes out on top in the end.
Addendum: It didn't take long for Pat Roy, writer of the radio show in question, to turn up in the comments to defend his efforts. Game of Pat to show up and comment. I'm replying here as Blogger limits the character length of comments, and my rebuttal goes on at length.
Pat writes, after quoting some writing of Erasmus' Darwin's:
Notice how [Erasmus] mentions the formation of the earth from chaos. And we can show that Charles accepted most of his father’s [sic] ideas. Do these statements specifically address biological evolution? No. And that may be your point. However, I believe Mr. Phillip’s statements were referring to the theory of “evolution” as many do -- from Big Bang to complex humans – which we see very clearly in Erasmus’ quote (and many others). So you are wrong on your post, many evolutionists do attempt to explain the formation of the world from chaos.
"Many" at least among scientists and the scientifically literate do not in fact conflate such cosmological theories as the Big Bang with biological evolution, and if your radio show says they do, it is lying. It is the case that scientists who accept evolution also tend to accept such theories as the Big Bang, but to say that they refer to every field of study regarding origins under the all-purpose umbrella of "evolution" is deceptive. It's precisely the kind of little deception that creationists engage in as a matter of course; the idea being that many little deceptions add to a student's mistrust of the reliability of science and the scientific method, until, crack, the proverbial camel's back proverbially breaks.
Can you in fact name these "many evolutionists" who "attempt to explain the formation of the world from chaos"? (Apart from Chuck D.'s grandad, that is? Science has progressed on the question somewhat since his day, you understand.) Because, from the studying I've done, scientists explain the formation of the world as following from known laws of physics. That an accretion disc of dust and nebular materials condensed around a young hot star and formed our solar system using such tried-and-true methods as gravity, and electrostatic and centrifugal forces. Sure, prior to all this going on, the original solar nebula may have been a somewhat chaotic glob of matter. But we wouldn't have gotten a solar system out of it had physics not taken a role. That's not simple chaos, and no respectable scientist would describe it so.
So, I'm sorry, your response so far does not leave me with much confidence in your presenting accurate science to your young audience.
Next, Doug Phillips and a team from Vision Forum have just returned from an amazing trip to from the Galapagos. I read the men’s’ accounts on their own voyage to these islands. They too, were filled with the awe and diversity of the animals there. They were inspired by the wonder, beauty, and sense of wonder at the islands. As a matter of fact, the VF team marveled at the incredible design of each animal – appreciating the very ingenuity that went into each one -- whereas Charles Darwin attributed the beauty to non-intelligent processes. To say Darwin could appreciate the beauty and purpose more than a creationist isn’t based on anything other than an emotional response!
Phillips and his team went to the Galapagos and returned with more awe of their God. Darwin found awe in nature, without needing any recourse to the supernatural. This is the distinction I meant. Darwin went to the Galapagos and found himself learning new things and formulating original ideas. Your boys went there pretending to be open-minded admirers of science, all the while simply looking to shore up beliefs they already held.
The "design" evident in the animals of the Galapagos, and the whole world, results from an understood process: that of evolution by natural selection, sometimes called descent with modification. That this process is not "intelligent," not teleological, does not invalidate it. Indeed, there are many problems that begin to crop up in our understanding of biology, and of all the sciences, the minute one tries to shoehorn a magical, all-powerful God into the equation. One is now obliged to explain how and why this God has created things the way he did. One is obliged to reconcile very clear instances of bad "design" in human beings, for instance, our spines curve in such a way as to risk very bad back problems late in life, our knees bend the wrong way for maximal locomotion, and a woman's birth canal is not large enough to admit a baby's head without severe agony and possibly life-threatening consequences for the mother on the part of this supposedly all-knowing and all-powerful creator. Tellingly, the only way creationists and religionists can reconcile these problems is through recourse to myths that, by their very nature, cannot be examined or confirmed: women's birth pains are explained as a consequnce of Eve's "fall," for instance.
To put it politely, this isn't science. Nor is wandering around the Galapagos going, "Wow, look at that tortoise, isn't God a great designer!"
As far as stifling children… I can say that I have had email after email from children (for many years) that have gotten excited about science and discovering the world around them as a direct result of the production. As a matter of fact, we end each episode with the tag-line, “This is our Father’s world. God created it. We can explore it. Now live the adventure.” Does that sound like we’re “stifling” children, or encouraging them to explore?
It sounds like you're stifling them without understanding how you're doing it. Real science, real learning, is done by withholding conclusions about your findings until you've seen where the evidence leads. Based on your comments here, it sounds like your entire presentation in these shows follows the creationist playbook: Present kids with nature; offer the false choice between "unintelligent, chaotic processes" and "intelligent design"; cast the choice in terms of a "Duh!" moment (after all, who could believe that all this amazing design in nature could possibly be the result of random chance?!!?1!); and voila teh God!
Do you truly, accurately present the evidence for evolution in your series? Do you allow pro-evolution scientists who also happen to be Christians Kenneth Miller, Francisco Alaya, among others to make guest appearances on the show to explain what the evidence actually tells us? I don't for an instant believe you do. And that's not an emotional response. It's rooted in a long history of dealing with creationists and their dishonesty. What actual, scientifically falsifiable evidence do you present to support the claims "This is our Father’s world. God created it" (in the way science education provides falsifiable evidence for evolution, I mean)? Or are you just telling kids this? If the latter, then, once more with feeling: That isn't science, Pat, it's simply religion looking for intellectual cred by donning a lab coat.
I don't doubt you've gotten praiseworthy emails from kids, Pat. But that doesn't confirm the content of what you teach is true, only that kids with no prior knowledge of science and no way to verify or disconfirm what you taught them enjoyed the experience. I will admit, in fairness, that you may inadvertently have done some of these kids some good. Some of them may well have gone on to study science as they got further along in their educations. And then they'd have discovered that the actual evidence doesn't quite support what you taught them. Then, some of them may thank you again if for a very different reason.
Here is the biggest problem with your statement: most of the founding fathers of science were creationists. So to say that creation stifles scientific discovery is just untrue -- as proven by history.
Well of course, Pat! Science is about discovery, and developing new theories to supplant old ones when the evidence calls for it. Are you really trying to offer me "Scientists long before Darwin believed in creation" as if it were an argument that validated creation? I mean, you could just as easily say that, because most early doctors were Galenists who believed in the four "humors," this in no way stifles medical discovery.
Of course early scientists were creationists, because, until Darwin, no one had established a theory of evolution with a solid body of evidence behind it. Early scientists can hardly be expected to have held an idea that did not yet exist, let alone have a strong, evidence-backed theory behind it.
When medicine began to be informed by such things as the germ theory of disease, archaic notions like the humors were discarded as no longer useful or factual. If any doctors today still held to Galenism and the humors, they wouldn't be good doctors. By the same token, evolution has been confirmed by such a vast body of evidence, and continues to be confirmed by new discoveries all the time. To hang onto an old idea that denies evolution, despite the evidence, is not good science. Creationists who reject evolution in this day and age are like doctors who are still Galenists, holding onto an outmoded idea and bizarrely defending it by pointing out that this is how people long ago thought!
So, thanks for the friendly response. But I'm afraid I've found nothing in it to think your program is going to be any less rubbish than all the other creationist efforts I've encountered. And if you think my critique was a little on the harsh side, I'd advise you to strap on the Kevlar once actual biologists hear what you're filling impressionable little minds with. | <urn:uuid:e43a923f-e169-4234-9c2c-baf80b91741c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://atheistexperience.blogspot.com/2009/06/jonathan-park-and-mind-pathetically.html?showComment=1246332445935 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965654 | 2,689 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Return to Transcripts main page
THE SITUATION ROOM
Pope Benedict XVI Resigns; New Details Emerge About Osama bin Laden's Death; Process of Choosing a New Pop; Pop Benedict XVI Resigns; No Loss of Life as Tornado Rips Through Mississippi Town; Fire Strands Cruise Ship Passengers; Mistakes Abound on Credit Reports
Aired February 11, 2013 - 17:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, the Pope shocks the world. He's resigning. Stunning revelations from the Navy SEAL who reportedly killed Osama bin Laden. A fugitive ex-police officer, a new video providing new clues? A tornado carves a 75-mile path of destruction. And a fire leaves a cruise ship full of passengers adrift at sea.
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
For the first time in almost 600 years, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church is resigning. Pope Benedict XVI made the stunning announcement today, saying he's stepping down at the end of the month because of his age and his health. The news caught everyone off guard, including the men who helped select the next pope.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick is outside St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.
Deb, what kind of reaction are you hearing there?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's so fascinating. I just asked one man about the resignation, which some people are now calling an abdication. And he said, no, I don't see it as a resignation or an abdication, I see it as an early retirement. And he was very sympathetic to the pope's plight and the amount of thinking he probably did in order to make this happen at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have been blessed with almost eight years of his pontificate, and we pray for him and we pray for the church.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Without any warning, cardinals in New York, Washington, and across the United States received word virtually the same time as everyone else, getting calls from the Vatican that Pope Benedict XVI had resigned.
CARDINAL DONALD WUERL, ARCHBISHOP OF WASHINGTON: I was in my office at my residence at 5:00 this morning when I got the news. Actually, I was working on some -- some reflections for Lent because Wednesday is Ash Wednesday.
FEYERICK: Both the announcement and timing just before the start of the holy weeks leading to Easter took everyone by surprise.
ARCHBISHOP TIMOTHY DOLAN, ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK: It's like watching your own dad get old and admit that he's not up to all the duties that being the head of a family involves. And there's a somberness there. There's a sadness there.
FEYERICK: The 85-year-old German-born pope said he no longer had the strength, mental or physical -- quote -- "I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me."
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, head of the New York Archdiocese and possible contender to fill the job, will also be among the nearly 120 cardinals to choose the new pope.
DOLAN: I myself am waiting for information, for instructions as to what we would do now as the College of Cardinals.
FEYERICK: The pope's reign has been tarnished by a child sex abuse scandal and the leaking of his private papers by a former butler. The resignation fueled speculation as to whether health was the only motivating factor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just a little bit skeptical, given all that's gone on with the Catholic Church.
FEYERICK: Others speculated on how a new pope might benefit the church.
KALEIGH FORST, STUDENT: I know my grandparents and stuff, I feel like think of the whole church a little bit differently than my generation does, and I feel like we could use somebody maybe a little more younger that has a -- the generation of a new perspective.
FEYERICK: Now, one cardinal noted that, yes, while this is unprecedented in modern history, choosing a pope is a 2,000-year-old tradition, and it is a tradition that will happen again in the coming months -- Wolf.
BLITZER: The next few weeks will be very, very important, Deb. Thank you.
Pope Benedict XVI was born Joseph Ratzinger in 1927 in Germany. He became a cardinal in 1977 and was chief theological adviser to Pope John Paul II. Following the death of John Paul he was elected pope back in 2005. He was 78, the oldest person to become pope in almost 300 years.
Little has been said publicly about his health, which made his resignation even more surprising since he said his strength has deteriorated recently.
Let's get some more now on the pope's health.
Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is joining us. Sanjay, what do we know about the pope's health as of late?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, not much that's new here, Wolf. And I think that's part of the reason this came as a surprise to so many people.
Certainly, we know his age, 85 years old, and as a physician there's all sorts of different things that you certainly worry about. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke. He had a hemorrhage in his brain they think back in 1991 that may have been due to a stroke, but a long time ago, and there was no evidence of anything recently along those lines. He had a fall where he broke his wrist in 2009.
And there's been pictures of him where he seems to maybe more increasingly use a cane, which the concern about arthritis and just difficulty getting around. But, you know, Wolf, it's interesting because a came as such a surprise even to people who are closer to him. It doesn't seem like there was any specific health event that happened recently or even things that progressed to the point where it suddenly became obvious.
This seems like more of a threshold just in terms of fatigue both -- as he put it, both physically and mentally, Wolf.
BLITZER: There's no doubt, Sanjay, that being the pope, the leader of, what, a billion Catholics around the world, it includes a lot of traveling, a lot of speaking. It's a very, very arduous job. Do you think that could have an impact on his health?
GUPTA: Yes. I think there's no doubt.
I mean, that kind of travel, just mass several times a week, traveling just even within Italy, let alone outside the country so many times, that takes a toll no matter what kind of resources you have. And as you get older, it just becomes increasingly difficult. You know, we talk about things that are problematic with travel, your increased propensity to develop blood clots, the increased stress, the weakened immune system as a result.
So even, you know, more innocuous problems or problems that don't seem as magnified can become worse as a result of that travel, also just the cognitive abilities. Again, there's been no suggestion other than what you have read that he wrote himself about his cognitive, you know, abilities, whether or not they have declined. But it becomes hard. Again, as a result of all that travel.
You know, he had a moving platform, for example. To even walk the 100 feet, for example, was becoming increasingly difficult. So I think that that, you know, certainly it plays a role and as you get older it plays a bigger role. Wolf, after the age of 45, you lose about a percent of your muscle mass every year after the age of 45. He's 85.
So 40 years, you know, he's been losing muscle mass about a percent a year. So it just is harder to get around.
BLITZER: He's almost 86. In April, he will be 86 years old. And you speak about stress and the impact that could have on someone's health. As Deb Feyerick pointed out, there have been some scandals, there have been some issues, serious issues that have plagued the Vatican over these past few years that he's been the pope. How much of an impact could stress have on his physical health?
GUPTA: You know, Wolf, it's interesting. I wanted to give you a very concise answer to that question. I was talking to some folks who are specialists in this area who focus on longevity and specifically study these issues in people who are in their eighth and ninth decades of life, and the answer is a little bit more complicated.
It basically is that everyone deals with it a little bit differently. So the impact on your physical health, on your physical life is just -- really truly is going to vary person to person. And I don't want to sort of give you a roundabout answer, but there are some people who deal with extraordinary amounts of stress, even thrive on it as they get older. And they're doing more than ever, whereas some people, as you're saying, Wolf, or alluding to, it could have an impact not only on their cognitive health, their ability to remember and recall things, but their physical health as well, their immune system.
They're more likely to get illnesses as a result of that stress. So it just varies. And again, you read the letter that he wrote. You can read between the lines of some of that. It sounds like it has all reached a threshold, as best I could describe it from reading that, Wolf.
BLITZER: It certainly does. We wish obviously the pope only the best. And good luck to him down the road. Appreciate you too as well, Sanjay Gupta.
GUPTA: You got it.
BLITZER: Later this hour, I'm going to be speaking with Cardinal Theodore McCarrick about -- he's in Rome right now. We will get his thoughts on this stunning development today.
A former member of the U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six is now breaking his silence about that May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden. And what he's revealing about who fired the shots that killed the al Qaeda leader is, simply put, stunning.
Our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence, has been following this story for us.
Update our viewers, Chris. What's going on?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Beyond the who, Wolf, he's talking about the fact that they used hand signals communicating, hardly talked at all on the raid, that the military dog who was with them was not a German shepherd, but a Belgian Malinois who had been shot in the chest on a previous mission and survived. So if you think that you have heard everything about those last crucial seconds leading into bin Laden's death, think again.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Who shot Osama bin Laden? And how did he die? We thought we knew from accounts of the real raid.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden.
LAWRENCE: To the Hollywood movie. But an "Esquire" magazine interview with a member of the SEAL team is raising new questions about what happened on that third floor of bin Laden's compound.
"Esquire" simply calls him the shooter and says he fired the shots that killed bin Laden.
PHIL BRONSTEIN, "ESQUIRE": He was very unused to this idea of shooting up. So he wasn't prepared for somebody quite as tall as -- bin Laden was much taller than he expected. So he talks about having to aim his gun up.
LAWRENCE: The shooter says after his point man shot and missed from the second level, both men climbed the stairs to bin Laden's bedroom. As the point man peeled off in the hallway to subdue two of bin Laden's screaming wives, the shooter entered the room.
"There was bin Laden standing there. He had his hands on a woman's shoulders, pushing her ahead, not exactly toward me, but by me, maybe as a shield. I don't know. He's got a gun on a shelf right there, the short AK he's famous for."
BRONSTEIN: And he shot him once in the forehead and another time in the forehead as he was going down and then a third time in the forehead when he was at the foot of his bed, obviously probably already dead.
LAWRENCE: But that account conflicts with another SEAL on the raid, who spoke with "60 Minutes" last year.
QUESTION: So you're right behind the point man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And I kind of tried to look around him, hear him take a couple shots, kind of see ahead, somebody disappear back into the room.
LAWRENCE: In his book, Matt Bissonnette says when they entered the bedroom bin Laden was down on the floor, already dead -- quote -- "The point man's shots had entered the right side of his head."
CNN can't verify either story. But our sources say the shooter's account is more credible in that bin Laden was alive and standing when the SEALs entered the room. So why come forward now? Because President Obama got accolades for authorizing the mission. Bissonnette's book hit the bestseller list and "Zero Dark Thirty" raked in millions and awards.
But the shooter himself, he's out of the Navy and struggling to file a disability claim.
BRONSTEIN: He gets no pension, zero pension.
LAWRENCE: So the shooter is looking for a job with a feeling of why is everyone else profiting off this kill? But he volunteered for SEAL training. He chose that risk. And every man and woman coming into the military knows that unless you get a serious injury on the job, a career is defined as 20 years. You have to do the 20 minimum to get the pension.
BLITZER: It's a riveting article in the new issue of "Esquire" magazine by Phil Bronstein. I couldn't put it down. Thanks very much, Chris Lawrence, for that report.
Possible clues left behind by that fugitive ex-cop wanted for murder. Was he captured by a surveillance camera? Stand by.
BLITZER: The fired Los Angeles police officer who's the subject of that massive manhunt in Southern California has now been formally charged with murder. Christopher Dorner faces four counts in the shooting death of a police officer in Riverside, and he's suspected in two other killings, believed to be part of a vendetta against law enforcement.
CNN's Miguel Marquez is in Los Angeles. He's joining us now.
What's the latest, Miguel, that you're hearing out there?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Los Angeles police, Wolf, say that there are now 700 clues that have been called in from people across the area, the region out here with regard to Mr. Dorner, as fear grips Southern California.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Nervous students return. Schools finally reopened in Big Bear.
JONAH DELACHICA, STUDENT: There's a bad guy on the loose and we don't want to get shot by him.
MARQUEZ: Today, it's security, along with students.
LILIAN AYALA, GRANDMOTHER: Today, we feel much better. There's a lot of -- you can see a lot of police presence out here.
MARQUEZ: It's the Southern California new normal, life on high alert. ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA (D), MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES: We will not tolerate this reign of terror that has robbed us of the peace of mind that residents of Southern California deserve.
MARQUEZ: The search for Dorner stretching from Nevada to the Mexican border and now a warning from TSA to regional airports and airplane owners, Dorner has some flying experience, authorities concerned about an escape attempt or threat from the air.
Los Angeles police headquarters and its stations across the city remain under guard, the homes of more than 50 LAPD families threatened in Dorner's manifesto protected by police 24 hours a day, no end until the alleged killer is found.
CHARLIE BECK, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, POLICE CHIEF: We will capture Dorner. We will bring him to justice.
MARQUEZ: Investigators say the axle on Dorner's truck broke. He left weapons and camping gear behind, torching it all, perhaps a sign his plans went awry, forced to change course. In the mountains east of Los Angeles, some 600 cabins searched, that trail now cold.
Dorner sightings pouring in. A Los Angeles Lowe's home store was emptied Sunday after a false alarm. Shoppers forced out single file. Heavy police response. No Dorner, but plenty of frayed nerves.
MARQUEZ: One thing police are saying out here, Wolf, is that if someone does see Mr. Dorner immediately right now to call 911, don't call their tip line. But they really don't at the moment have anything to tell people who are just worried and concerned across Southern California. They're basically just asking the public, hoping the public can help them catch this guy -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And they're doing everything they possibly can. It doesn't seem to me, and I spoke to the mayor of Los Angeles in the last hour, that they are -- they're on anybody's hot trail right now as they say, that they got a lot of tips, they got a lot of clues. But it doesn't look like anything necessarily is panning out.
MARQUEZ: Yes. That's the sense in talking to investigators right now. Sometimes, they're just keeping everything very close to the vest. That is not my sense at the moment. It seems that they have a lot of information they're sifting through, but they don't have any of those really hot leads that they might be tracking down.
Certainly, if there was something a brew, there are so many reporters and so many people out there watching this, we would know pretty quickly, Wolf.
BLITZER: Miguel Marquez in L.A. working the story, thank you.
One clue found in an alley behind an auto parts store near San Diego. CNN has obtained this exclusive video that shows a man fitting Dorner's description dropping something in a dumpster. And listen to what a store employee found inside.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJID YAHYAI, PLATINUM AUTO SPORTS: One of the employees, he came back with a clip, like a magazine full of bullets, a belt, a military belt and a helmet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Investigators now have those items and they have the surveillance tape as well. We will update you on new information as it comes into THE SITUATION ROOM.
Three people are dead following a wild gun battle inside a courthouse. We have new details on that when we come back.
BLITZER: All right, so all eyes are on the Vatican right now. In the coming weeks, they will be looking for the smoke that will signal the selection of a new pope. We have details of the secretive process. That's next.
BLITZER: The surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI sets an ancient and secretive process into motion. Cardinals from around the world will come to Rome soon. One of them will be chosen to be the next pope.
CNN's Tom Foreman is here with a closer look at how all of this will unfold.
It's sort of complicated, Tom. So walk us through what we know.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's complicated and it's a procedure that many of us will only get to see a time or two in our lives because these popes can be in for a very, very long time.
The beginning of the process, 120 cardinals from more than 50 countries all around the globe will come together for a conclave in the Sistine Chapel. This word is the appropriate word because it means with a key in Latin. And, essentially, they're going to be locked in until they can come up with a new leader, a new leader for the more than one billion Catholics all around the planet.
The cardinals are sworn to secrecy about this vote. And they will not have any real contact with the outside world while they deliberate who's going to get the job and exactly what issues he will probably face. Two-thirds vote plus one is necessary for an election, two-thirds majority plus one.
They will have four votes per day. They start with one single vote, but after that, two votes in the morning, two in the afternoon. And they have to produce this advantage. However, however, if this goes on for 12 or 13 days, they can decide to reduce it to a simple majority vote.
Beyond that, how does the vote itself proceed? Well, what they do is they each receive a piece of paper on the top of which is written "eligo in summum pontificem." That's Latin for "I elect a supreme pontiff." And then they have a blank and each person will write a name there, each cardinal. Then he will fold it and carry that piece of paper forward to the altar, holding it up. He will drop it onto a plate, which in turn is used to tip it into a chalice. That way everyone can see one vote per person.
Then they have a committee of the cardinals who have the job of counting these votes. They are called the scrutineers. They're selected randomly each day. And what they have to do is count all the ballots to make sure there's the same number of ballots as cardinals in the room so everyone knows it's a fair vote. Second, then they have to go through them, and each one reads to ascertain which names were written.
As each ballot is recorded -- this is fascinating to me -- they take a piece of thread with a needle, and they stick it through the ballot and they thread each one of these ballots. So they can see this one has now been threaded. It cannot be accidentally counted again or dropped or anything else. And they go through until they're all done, and then they knot that to produce one record of the vote. And the results are announced to the room.
If they have not produced a pontiff or if they have, they burn the ballots either way. The bottom line is, if they have not selected a pope, they add a chemical or wet straw to the ballots as they burn them, and dark smoke comes out of the chimney up here so people can know they have not reached a result.
But if they have selected a new pope, they add nothing. They simply burn the ballots, and white smoke comes out, and the world knows that a new pope has been chosen -- Wolf.
BLITZER: A lot of tradition. A lot of precise tradition in that whole process. Tom, thanks very much.
Even inside the Vatican itself there was shock at the news of the pope's resignation, including at the highest levels of the church leadership.
BLITZER: And Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is joining us now from Rome. He's the former cardinal, the archbishop of Washington, D.C. He's the archbishop emeritus right now.
Your Eminence, thank you so much for joining us on this day. How surprised were you when you -- when you heard the news about Pope Benedict XVI?
CARDINAL THEODORE MCCARRICK, ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS, WASHINGTON D.C.: Well, I think we all were very surprised. We had no -- we had no prior -- at least I had no prior warning. I -- I was in Rome by accident. The Catholic Conference of the United States is beginning to do some more work to help the church in Africa, and that's what I was here, trying to set this up in Rome.
But I turned on the -- the radio, and I didn't hear anything. And then I got a phone call saying, "Turn on the television." And then we heard it. Extraordinary news. Startling and historic.
BLITZER: Very historic indeed. Tell us what you can about the pope's health. What do we know about that?
MCCARRICK: Well, I probably know less than you do. But as far as I know, he has looked -- he has looked tired sometimes, more often in the last few times I've seen him on television. But he always speaks well. He's -- what he says makes a lot of sense. And he's very, very thoughtful and seems fine.
He does appear tired, though, now. And I guess that is -- that's a sign of age and a sign of the fact that he's worked so hard over the years, that he's -- he's now maybe needing to have some time to rest, some time to pray more.
I think also that it's a possibility that he would want to give everything he had, and he would want to be able to do everything that the church wanted him to do. And so I think if he felt -- I believe he said once or twice if he felt he could no longer serve, then he probably would step down. And I think this is probably his own -- his own decision after a long prayerful study of it. He wants what's best for the church.
And at this point I guess he feels that he is not able to do all the things that he feels the church needs in today's difficult and challenging world.
BLITZER: He is 85, almost 86 years old. He'll be 86 in April. What's been the reaction amongst your peers, amongst your colleagues there in -- at the Vatican?
MCCARRICK: Well, I've been -- it was a rainy day today. It was not a day to go out and chat among the brothers. So I don't have any -- any other information than you do, probably. I've been listening to the television and hearing some remarks by some of the cardinals, and I think they are as surprised as I am.
And I think the feeling, generally, is that this has been an extraordinary man who's been our pope for the last almost eight years. A holy man, a humble man, a man who is a great theologian. Perhaps one of the finest theologians in hundreds of years that have sat on the throne of Peter.
And so I think he -- he has done so many great things in the era of faith that we're in today. He was the brainchild of -- the prayer child of his holiness. So that a lot of -- a lot of good things have come from the Holy Father over the last eight years. And I guess he -- maybe he feels that now he's not able to do that as much as he could in the past. And so he doesn't want to stand in the way of church's moving forward, as I said before, in a very challenging time, in a much more challenging world that we've ever had before, I think.
BLITZER: Cardinal McCarrick, thank you so much, Your Eminence, for joining us. We really appreciated this. And I hope we'll be able to stay in close touch over the next several weeks. If not, we'll see you definitely back here in Washington. Thank you.
MCCARRICK: I'm certainly looking forward to talking to you more. Let's pray for the Holy Father and for the future of the church.
BLITZER: By the way, I had a chance to meet with Pope Benedict XVI when he visited the Catholic University of America back in 2008. Here's a picture of when I met with Pope Benedict. That was then the president of Catholic University in between us, Father David O'Connell, who's now a bishop in Trenton, the archdiocese in Trenton. It was a very, very exciting moment to meet with Pope Benedict XVI at Catholic University in 2008.
And let me take this opportunity to wish him only, only the best in these coming weeks, months, and years, especially now that he's announced he's retiring because of his health and his age.
Coming up, a vacation at sea ruined when a cruise ship catches fire, leaving thousands trapped at sea living like, quote, "a bunch of savages."
And check out this incredible video of a huge tornado as it slams into a populated Mississippi town. What happens next? We'll share with you.
BLITZER: We're just getting this into THE SITUATION ROOM. The former vice president, Dick Cheney, has some pretty harsh assessments of President Obama's defense secretary nominee, Chuck Hagel. Listen to what he told CBS News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With respect to Chuck Hagel and Brennan, defense and CIA, just in the last week, their performance in front of the committees that have to confirm them has been pretty poor. And that's, you know, not my judgment. That's the judgment, as well, of senators on both sides of the aisle.
My guess is, if you look at what the president's motives are for picking Chuck Hagel, I think he wants a Republican to go be the foil, if you will, for what he wants to do to the Defense Department, which is to do serious, serious damage to our military capabilities. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Strong words from the former vice president. The Senate Armed Services Committee, by the way, will vote on Hagel's nomination tomorrow.
All right. Take a look at this tornado ripping through Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The National Weather Service has just rated this an EF-4 on a scale of 5, with winds up to 170 miles an hour.
CNN's David Mattingly is there. He's got the latest on the fallout.
Pretty awful what we're seeing, David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. The National Weather Service just upgrading that storm just within the last hour. The damage you see behind me is just a fraction of what that tornado did here in this city. But the headline out of Mississippi tonight is remarkable. No loss of life.
MATTINGLY: Are you all right?
JOAN STEVENS, TORNADO SURVIVOR: They're just trees. You've got to be careful.
MATTINGLY: OK. There you go.
(voice-over): Joan Stevens and her husband, Ray, survived the tornado that blackened the skies over Hattiesburg, caught on amateur video. The funnel was one of several tornadoes to batter this part of Mississippi. The Stevens' house is in pieces, but they made it out without a scratch.
(on camera): The two of you were just...
J. STEVENS: Right here. And Aggie was right here, our dog.
RAY STEVENS, TORNADO SURVIVOR: And I just got her under me and I was laying on her.
J. STEVENS: And we were just literally all right here on the floor and just covered up on each other.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): It could have been so much worse for so many. Two hundred houses and 100 apartments were damaged or destroyed. But in the immediate aftermath there were no deaths. Only two were seriously injured. The Stevens credit warning sirens the city installed just two years ago.
J. STEVENS: We had been watching television since we got home from church.
MATTINGLY (on camera): So you were ready for this? J. STEVENS: We were ready as ready could be.
MATTINGLY: The Stevens say they had just a matter of minutes from the time they first heard the alarm to when the storm actually hit. Afterward, when they came out and saw all of this damage, they realized that that warning was just enough for people to take cover, because when they started checking on their neighbors, no one on this street, in spite of all this damage, was hurt.
(voice-over): The National Weather Service says parts of Hattiesburg had up to 30 minutes' warning before the tornado touched down. City officials also say the timing of the storm was fortunate.
On a Sunday afternoon the local high school was almost empty when it hit, and the University of Southern Mississippi, one historic building badly damaged, had fewer than usual students on campus because of a Mardi Gras holiday.
Still, all across the tornado's path there were countless close calls. Hattiesburg's mayor was one of them.
(on camera): This was all going on in a matter of seconds.
JOHNNY DUPREE, MAYOR: Oh, this is seconds.
MATTINGLY: You were running for your life.
DUPREE: Literally for my life.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Mayor Johnny Dupree managed to get inside his house just in time. The 100-year-old home and the neighborhood took a beating.
(on camera): Looking at all the damage, is there one thing that really, really hurts today?
MATTINGLY: Here, in your house.
DUPREE: No. Because we're going to replace all this. I mean, nothing hurts. I mean, not here.
I'm relishing the fact that nobody in Hattiesburg was killed. No fatalities. The rest of this can be replaced.
MATTINGLY: But they're not quite out of the woods yet here, because the rain hasn't stopped. We're looking at possibly hours more of rain. Some possible flash flooding here. But the goal right now is to get all of the roads cleared and get the power restored to at least about 4,000 people, Wolf, who still do not have electricity right now.
BLITZER: Yes. As you point out, it could have been so much worse. David, thank you.
It's bad enough to lose power and water when you're at home. But when you're stranded at sea with 4,000 other people, things can get pretty ugly. CNN's Sandra Endo reports.
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Snapshots of a ruined vacation. This Carnival cruise ship adrift at sea, stuck in the Gulf of Mexico.
BRETT NUTT, HUSBAND OF CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER (via phone): It's a big mess. I mean, there's no power. There's no toilets. There's no food. It's like a bunch of savages on there.
ENDO: That's how one husband says his wife described the situation when she called to tell him a fire knocked out the engine on board Sunday about 150 miles off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.
The fire broke out as the "Triumph" was heading back to Galveston, Texas, after a four-day voyage to Cozumel. Carnival Cruises says the emergency generator kicked on once the fire occurred, but half the ship's toilets and some elevators weren't working.
NUTT: She was crying and all and everything, and she just wants off the ship. And I mean, it's horrible. They're having to use the restroom in buckets and bags.
ENDO: Two sister ships restocked the Triumph with extra food and drinks. Carnival says there's limited hot food and coffee for guests. A Coast Guard cutter and two tug boats met the ship Monday so the vessel could be towed to the nearest port, Progreso, Mexico.
GREGORY MAGEE JR., COMMANDER, USCG CUTTER VIGOROUS (via phone): Right now we believe everything here is safe and secure. The communications with the master has been open and honest.
ENDO: A similar engine failure happened just two years ago when Carnival Splendor lost power and was adrift for days off the coast of Mexico. One passenger reflects on his experience.
MARQUIS HORACE, PASSENGER ON SPLENDOR, NOVEMBER 2010: Since it was a vacation, I feel like it was a waste of my time pretty much and money to save up for it and then actually go on a trip. I think that the worst part about this experience for me was the food was starting to spoil and it was just god-awful smells coming from their kitchen areas. God-awful smells coming from the bathrooms. Overflowing toilets.
BLITZER: A report from Sandra Endo.
The Triumph, by the way, is expected to make it to shore by Wednesday. Those on board will be flown back to their respective home towns or wherever. They'll get full credit for their travel expenses. So millions are plagued by errors on credit reports. Why they could be so costly, and why they could be so hard to fix.
BLITZER: The federal government says as many as 42 million people have errors on their credit records, errors that can cost them a loan or even a job. CNN personal finance correspondent, Zain Asher, is joining us with details.
Zain, this is a pretty serious report.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi, Wolf. This is certainly pretty troubling for anyone looking to do something like get a mortgage or lock in a row interest rate or get a loan. A mistake on your report can really hurt your score.
Now, the good news, if you can call it that, is that not all errors will affect somebody's ability to get credit, and only about 2 percent of the reports had mistakes that were serious enough to lower people's credit scores or increase the interest rate they were quoted.
But, you know, that still works out to roughly 10 million Americans being denied loans or getting stuck with high rates, thanks to errors on their reports.
Now Equifax, Experion, Transunion are the three main credit bureaus here in the U.S. And most credit-card accounts, car loans, personal loans, and mortgages are approved based on data from them. So, you know, if there's a mistake, it can have pretty serious consequences.
Most mistakes, by the way, I have to say, are pretty immaterial. I mean, it's things like -- I don't know -- a misspelled street name or a wrong middle name. But other mistakes can be pretty serious. They can be things as bad as a bad debt that belongs to someone else or a missed payment that you actually did pay on time.
The FTC report showed that many consumers had a tough time getting the more serious errors fixed, with 42 percent saying their reports had been modified, but in actual fact, errors did still remain -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Zain, so what do consumers need to know if they want to get their reports fixed?
ASHER: Well, first of all, I really can't check this enough. I mean, it's so important to look at your credit score from all three bureaus and make sure line by line that everything is correct.
Now, every American is actually entitled to a free credit report. But guess what? Only one in five consumers actually do this. You can get your free credit report by going to AnnualCreditReport.com. I'm going to say that again, AnnualCreditReport.com.
If there is an error, you should dispute it with both the credit bureau and the source that provided the information, i.e. the lender. So if you see a mistake on your Experion report related to, I don't know, a Macy's account or a Bloomingdale's account, reach out to both places. Tell them what's wrong and why. Show them any supporting documents. Just know in advance there's no guarantee of a quick fix. Both sides have to look thoroughly into the dispute. And you know what? That can take time -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Good advice. Zain, thanks very much for sharing it with our viewers.
CNN's Erin Burnett is going "OUTFRONT" tonight on the manhunt down in Southern California. Erin joining us now with details.
Erin, give us a preview.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you know, Wolf, it's been pretty amazing what you've been hearing on talk radio, some talk radio in Los Angeles. Some incredibly angry words, and some of them on behalf of the alleged shooter, Christopher Dorner.
And today, the LAPD chief -- LAPD chief weighing in, saying -- I'm going to quote him here -- "The ghosts of the past of the LAPD." He hears that people think there could be something to the allegations that Dorner has put forth about racism and bias in the LAPD, and the LAPD is looking into it. We have a special report tonight on the LAPD.
And we're also going to talking to Jay Paterno, of course, the son of Joe Paterno. He has come out with a report saying that his father was blameless in the Jerry Sandusky child rape case.
That is coming up at the top of the hour. Back to you.
BLITZER: We'll see you then. Thank you. By the way, the L.A. Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa was here in the last hour. Here's what he had to say directly to Christopher Dorner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES: Christopher, turn yourself in. You've caused a lot of pain and anguish to too many families. You've got to turn yourself in. If you really are someone who was innocently accused in the way that you say you were, then please, you've done enough harm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: There's now a $1 million reward for information leading to Dorner.
When we come back, a very different subject, a big event that dogs New York this time each year.
BLITZER: So, New York is going to the dogs. Here's Jeanne Moos. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Who hasn't had an important occasion when you want to look your very best, and you venture outside only to discover it's a dreaded bad hair day?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, it is. It was. We had to buy an umbrella and a poncho outside of the hotel to get him here.
MOOS (on camera): You put the poncho on him or you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Him.
MOOS (voice-over): Day one of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York was rainy, foggy, slushy, enough to curl even a show dog's hair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can curl, they can go frizzy on you, just like you ladies that can have a bad hair day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And his hair is going "chhhh," and soaking this up.
MOOS: Rain left this long-haired Dachshund with ridges. They blow-dried him, then used a special comb to try and smooth him out.
(on camera): Whose hair got it worse? His or yours?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mine doesn't count.
MOOS (voice-over): Sure, there are worse things that can happen than getting rained on. Your dog carrier could crash. But rainy weather is a big deal to a dog with dreadlocks.
(on camera): So they're naturally occurring dreadlocks?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
MOOS (voice-over): Or a bearded collie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look good coming out of the shower, then come out of the shower, but if you don't, then dry your hair.
MOOS: Denny, the cavalier King Charles Spaniel, required flat irons.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything wants to go the wrong direction.
MOOS (on camera): I just came from makeup, and they just did that to me.
(voice-over): But if rain makes for a bad dog hair day, this looks counterintuitive.
(on camera): What is this thing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's actually a fog machine, but it gets them soaking wet. Sorry.
MOOS (voice-over): First, she soaked Beowulf, then she blow- dried and fluffed him to give him more volume.
Then there are dogs like Violet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A curling iron...
MOOS (on camera): The rain didn't do this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
MOOS (voice-over): Violet never left the indoors.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's having a good hair day.
MOOS: Sure, the dog show pales next to world events.
(on camera): You ever met any dogs named Benedict or Pope?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not yet.
MOOS: But news of the pope's retirement penetrated Westminster.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's going to the old folks' home.
MOOS: And just as his aides hold an umbrella to shield the pope, Rudy the English sheep dog got the same treatment on his way to the dog show.
When it's a bad dog hair day, you can always get rid of the bad hair.
(on camera): Can I have it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, you may.
MOOS (voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN...
MOOS: ... New York.
BLITZER: Jeanne loves those stories about the dogs in New York.
That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now. | <urn:uuid:e150b968-681d-422e-8522-88ea96452faf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1302/11/sitroom.03.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974477 | 9,874 | 1.554688 | 2 |
When a dog owner is seen to have an injury an observer assumes it is a bite. The truth is different.
I met a lady owner recently who had her finger bandaged and explained to me that “the dog had done it”. It turned out that what had happened was she was putting a lead on the dog and was holding the hasp on the collar which is intended as the fastening for the lead. She had her finger in the hasp when the dog jumped away and her finger suffered with a severe sprain. It is not the first time I have heard of this happening.
A few weeks ago a similar more serious accident occurred. The owner held his dog by the actual collar when the dog decided to turn and run, excited at the prospect of a walk. All fine and understandable as far as the dog was concerned but not for the owner whose wrist was broken and had his wrist in plaster for a few weeks.
It seems like injuries are in vogue for I had a letter from an owner whose dog had tugged her against a wall corner and the rough surface had scraped her face so she had a mark which she hoped would not leave a scar.
It may appear somewhat callous to say this but the real fault lies not with the dog but with the owner. It is all a matter of control. I have frequently sung the mantra of the four Ts. Take the time and trouble to train. It is always something which you always intend to do: ”I must get AROUND TUIT". There seems to be an acute shortage of Twits as few seem to have them.
Of course the dog is excited at the prospect of going out but he or she should be trained to sit still and have the lead fitted. Once fitted the rule is NO PULLING. You are the boss and you make the rules for your own sake as well as the dog.
I was impressed recently when we stayed with son Neil and his lady partner in New Zealand. He had only just acquired a new dog from a rescue centre. Sassie, in three weeks, had learned not to jump around, definitely not permitted to leave the car without Neil’s call and generally to behave. Break the rules and the walk or car trip is immediately off and back to the house she went. All their dogs have been trained in this way and they are incredibly happy dogs.
When you consider the four Ts consider this. It is one thing if you suffer injury but if a passer by is injured you can be in for an expensive claim. You, as owner, are responsible. | <urn:uuid:c5651fcb-b64c-4284-a5f4-3a4ab5e69e10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.surinenglish.com/20090803/othersections/petcare/always-bite-200908031933.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.993343 | 532 | 1.632813 | 2 |
‘They say prayers with their friends and socialize with them’
They eagerly come to learn and share --- the moms, dads and grandparents with small children in tow, attending weekday parent education classes at St. Bede the Venerable in La Cañada. From one class begun in the spring of 2010, the program has blossomed into three classes this fall with a Kinder Prep planned for early next year.
The rapid success of the “side-by-side” learning environment for parents and their preschool age children with an emphasis on faith and values has amazed even its director/instructor, Jo Ann Gantus, a mother of four grown children, certified life coach, retired kindergarten teacher, founder of the parenting program for the Pregnancy Help Center in Temple City, and former 15-year parent education teacher for Glendale College.
“Wonderful things are happening here; I believe it was a divine inspiration,” said Gantus, who had several St. Bede parents in her GCC parent education classes. “I sat up in bed one morning in August and I remember thinking, this program should be in the Catholic Church at St. Bede.” She notes that some preschooler graduates of the St. Bede’s parent education classes have “spring-boarded” into the parish school kindergarten.
“I love preparing children for kindergarten and having their mothers watch me do that,” said Gantus. “I always say the parent is the student and the child is the lab.” The adults participate with their child in many activities, including prayer, art, music, storytelling, social skills and school readiness.
They take turns watching the children during free play after outdoor snack time, when the majority of the mothers go into a separate classroom for the parenting discussion group led by Gantus, who opens the meeting by inviting moms to share prayer requests.
“We do a lot of praying here,” said Gantus. “Our moms need a lot of encouragement and support, and they need to know that God is always right there, you just need to call on him.” Discussions explore Catholic Christian issues, including age-related stages of development, family values, moral development, discipline and “nurturing ourselves as parents.”
During “rug time” when the parents are together with their children, Gantus leads them all in the Sign of the Cross and prayers like the “Our Father.” Recently, Msgr. Antonio Cacciapuoti, pastor, paid a visit and “you could have heard a pin drop” because of everybody’s rapt attention, said Gantus.
“I like that we’re able to pray and we’re able to have Msgr. Antonio come into the class,” said Gina Lindberg, who attends with her two-year-old son, Joseph. “I think it’s amazing to get that moral aspect. I love it.”
MaryEllen Sather, who recently celebrated a year in the program with her three-year-old daughter Claire, said she feels lucky to have had the program recommended to her when she moved into the parish since she plans on a Catholic education for her children “all the way through.”
“The parent education part is invaluable [with] all these wonderful topics about how to build community in your family and cooperation,” said Sather. Her daughter, she adds, was well-prepared for preschool, which she attends a couple of days a week.
“Claire didn’t have separation anxiety and was already used to rug time. She had a great transition into preschool,” said Sather.
Cambria Nakane-Sankey, who attends with her son, Tristan, and previously brought her now-kindergarten-enrolled daughter, says she looks forward to coming every week. “I love how Miss Jo Ann merges the spiritual side and the family side with parenting values and I like how she demonstrates hands-on how to work with the children,” said Nakane-Sankey.
“I come because I love the discussion with the other ladies,” said Christi Matarese, who attends the Wednesday multi-age class with her sons Charlie, 3, and Luca, 17 months. “I get such good ideas, but I especially love it for the kids, because she has things for kids of all ages. There’s so much with the crafts, stories and singing and the interaction with the other children. We love that it’s prayer-based and that they say prayers with their friends and socialize with them.”
Peter Santana, attending along with his wife and son, Adrian, says it’s a great program for moms and dads. “I’ve learned to do a bit of extra babysitting with all the other kids, because I help out outside in the yard [during the discussion time]. It’s a lot of fun,” said Santana. “If there’s more parents out there who can get their kids involved, it would be very helpful for them.” | <urn:uuid:6e3dd0b8-074a-49f6-a8df-e44e0d2c80ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.the-tidings.com/index.php/features/san-fernando/2385-they-say-prayers-with-their-friends-and-socialize-with-them?FontSize=font-small | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968804 | 1,105 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Monday, March 28, 2011
The Disability Enhancement Program at SC State University will conduct a “Lunch and Learn” Training Session at noon on Monday, March 28, 2011. The session will be held in the Staley Hall Auditorium on the campus of SC State University.
The “Lunch and Learn” Training Session is designed to increase the awareness and support for faculty, staff and administrators as they meet the academic needs of students with disabilities. The program assists with the development, training and technical assistance of students, along with providing valuable and resourceful teaching methods to enhance student achievement.
SC State alumnus and vocational rehabilitation counselor with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Chaddrick Middleton, ‘91, will serve as guest facilitator of the training session. Middleton’s topic will be: “Assisting Veterans in the Post Secondary Educational Setting.”
Prior to serving in his current role as vocational rehabilitation counselor, Middleton worked with the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department in Columbia, S.C., serving in various capacities to include disability examiner, vocational evaluator and vocational rehabilitation counselor.
Middleton obtained his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and his master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from SC State University. He is certified as a rehabilitation counselor and vocational evaluator with the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification Board (CRCC).
Middleton serves on the advisory board for rehabilitation counseling programs at SC State University and the University of South Carolina (USC) in Columbia, S.C.
Middleton is a married father of three and devotes most of his spare time teaching Sunday school and coaching his kids’ basketball team.
For more information on the “Lunch and Learn” Training Session, contact Simeon Moultrie, program coordinator, at 803-516-4553 or email email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:9b1d3aea-3039-4055-af4d-b21ef698bff7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scsu.edu/event_details.aspx?event_id=728 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954058 | 402 | 1.5 | 2 |
A private foundation is raising $100 million to build clinics at Fort Bragg and other installations to help the military treat and research the psychological wounds of war.
The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund's planned clinic would be the latest in a flurry of local projects that leaders in the Army and the Department of Veterans Affairs hope will make it easier to meet the growing demand for mental health care.
New buildings have been rising across the region to better serve an increasing number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who return with physical and mental wounds. The Army has committed more than $116 million at Fort Bragg since 2009 to build or remodel facilities to treat wounded and mentally injured soldiers.
Womack Army Medical Center opened the Army's first clinic to treat mild to moderate traumatic brain injuries in 2007.
Its $88 million Warrior in Transition Complex, which opened this year on Fort Bragg, includes barracks and mental health facilities for wounded soldiers. Off post, Womack has opened clinics in Fayetteville and Hope Mills that enable a psychologist to work alongside primary-care doctors.
The VA is expanding, too. A $120 million outpatient center is scheduled to open on Raeford Road near the Hoke County line in 2014.
A $2.5 million overhaul of the Ramsey Street campus will create space for the VA to hire 23 new mental health specialists. Other VA renovations - part of an $11.6 million project - include a new mental health unit on its fifth floor.
Other new VA health facilities, which will include mental health services, are planned or under construction in Wilmington, Goldsboro, Jacksonville and Brunswick and Lee counties. The Fayetteville VA serves more than 150,000 veterans in 21 North Carolina and South Carolina counties. It has 6,038 veterans on its rolls who have been diagnosed with PTSD.
The community clinics all include mental health specialists, making it easier for people in rural areas far from the main Fayetteville VA hospital to get help. Counseling by telephone and online video technology is also available.
The VA has increased its national mental health budget from about $3 billion in 2003 to more than $6 billion next year, with the money going to hire more mental health providers and building more treatment facilities.
Dr. Anna Teague, chief of staff at the Fayetteville VA, said those mental health specialists are being trained in therapy that has been proven effective for PTSD. Teague said the new VA clinics ought to meet demand for several years.
But the biggest challenge, Teague said, is getting veterans to start receiving treatment. Young war veterans often don't want to admit something is wrong. The VA has three new liaisons that work at Womack Army Medical Center to identify soldiers with mental health problems who may soon leave the Army. The liaisons help those soldiers schedule an appointment at the VA.
Teague said placing mental health workers near primary care doctors accomplishes two things: Soldiers don't have to go far to get treatment for mental health problems, and it makes doctors more likely to ask questions about emotional problems that can make physical pain worse.
"My concept is treat the veteran as a whole," Teague said. "We build a clinic thinking mental health is going to be a part of it."
The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund has already built a Center for Excellence in Bethesda, Md., and construction has started at Fort Belvoir, Va., and Camp Lejeune.
The clinics will treat soldiers and send data to a research hub to allow for studies of what treatments work best.
The group has raised $26 million. The timing of the next set of clinics depends on the pace of the fundraising, said David Winters, president of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. Winters said the organization can raise money and build faster than the government could. The clinics, once built, will be handed over to the military to operate.
Winters said he doesn't want to imply that the government isn't doing enough.
Instances of PTSD and TBI became the signature wounds of this generation of war veterans as insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan turned to the homemade bomb as their weapon of choice.
"They can injure soldiers in ways that a bullet or shrapnel do not," Winters said. "These injuries are hard to see, they're hard to diagnose and they're hard to treat." | <urn:uuid:cd8f3c76-3b22-4d77-a141-d84232d530a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2012/09/26/1202395?sac=fo.military | 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 | 0.960849 | 892 | 1.679688 | 2 |
“People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.” ~ Brian Tracy
Seeking out a mentor has been one of the most important things I could have done for my successes and my businesses. However, it wasn’t an easy choice for me. I was very skeptical about someone having an enormous amount of success in their chosen profession. You’re probably asking why? I believe, subliminally it was inbreeded into me from an early age that I was supposed to be mediocre, average blue collar, middle class American. Don’t get me wrong. The middle class is what drives our country; however my point is that I wasn’t taught how to succeed. If I wanted to succeed, I had to invest in myself. I believe that 95% of Americans are brought up by their families stressing get a good education, find a secure, decant paying job with a health benefits and retirement plan. This is what I was taught. If I wanted to be more, have more, achieve more I had to learn how to do so on my own.
I can remember being around 10 years old walking around my small town pushing a lawn mower. Offering to cut anyone’s grass for pennies. In the winter time, I walked around with a snow shovel offering to shovel their snow for pennies. I always had a strong work ethic. Hard work never scared me. My mother was and is to this day a strong, hard worker and I believe I inherited this trait from her.
When I left the rotating-shift working world, I made it a goal of mine to never work for anyone else again. My goal was to become a successful entrepreneur, to work for myself, to create my own wealth, create my own destiny, and build my own empire. I was always so passionate about people and in helping others that I wanted to do something where I could serve others that was beneficial to me and the people I would serve. Something called a “win-win” mentality. Not do as I say because I have the authority to say so. This type of mentality changed my thinking forever.
Becoming an entrepreneur wasn’t very hard for me. While in the working world, I always was busting my tail after hours or on my days off, whether it be landscaping, doing odd jobs around someone’s house or snow plowing. The reason entrepreneurship became a goal of mine was because I was tired of working for people that were bosses, not coaches. Bosses that didn’t deserve to be in a position they were in. Bosses that reached their position not because of merit but because of politics.
One day, I can remember looking into a magazine and seeing an article of a real estate agent that was selling over 500 homes a year making well over 3 Million Dollars a year. I read this article over and over again, saying to myself, “What does he know that I don’t?”, “What is he doing that I’m not”, “If he can do this, so can I”.
The article was inviting real estate agents to attend his seminar in Dallas, TX. I called the phone number listed in the article to learn more. I remember speaking to a very nice young lady about this seminar. I told her that I was very skeptical and if this was the real deal. After several conversations over the course of the week, I decided to pull the trigger and sign up for this seminar. I had no idea how I was going to pay for it, where I was going to stay, who I was going to meet. I hated to travel. I didn’t like being away from home and my daughter. I was pure green to all of this. What you are about to hear next, changed my life forever.
I arrived in Dallas, TX. and stayed at the hotel where the event was being held. I didn’t know anyone. I was on my own. The following day I can remember entering the seminar room and seeing about two thousands chairs behind tables. The room was enormous. Once the room filled up and the seminar began, I knew I had found a mentor to take myself, my life and my business to a whole new level.
My advice to anyone wanting to achieve greatness in their life is to not re-invent the wheel. Everything that we go through in business and in our lives, someone has already been there, done that and has conquered and found their way. You need to follow and model after someone, not just anyone that is doing what you want to do. Follow and model after someone that has learned from all their mistakes. If you can cut your learning curve in half, it will be all worth it in the end. What took someone 20 years, may only take you 5 yrs. if you do exactly what they teach you.
Below are some tips on choosing the right mentor for you. There are so many accounts that should be taken into consideration before hiring or choosing a mentor. I want you to know that the word mentor is not taken lightly with me. This is one word that I cherish, respect and admire too much to throw it around loosely.
Before you seek out a mentor, check out these tips:
1. Why do you want or need a mentor? You must be clear on this because hiring the wrong mentor could cost you money and more importantly valuable time you will never get back. Are you looking for someone to offer specific guidance and/or advice? Have you done your research? Is he or she the best in your chosen profession or industry? Do you just need a sounding board? These are all important factors that must be thought out strategically.
2. Define your personality and communication style. What kind of mentor would best complement you? You may choose someone who’s your opposite (an extrovert to your introvert, for example) or someone in whom you see yourself (and vice versa).
3. When asking someone or hiring someone to be your mentor, explain why you’re asking and what you’d expect out of the relationship (see No. 1). Name your reasons for approaching this particular person. Don’t be afraid to be flattering (e.g. “I’m asking you because you are the most successful person I know”).
4. A mentor is a powerful role model. Look for someone who has the kind of life and work you’d like to have. Choose a mentor you truly respect, admire and look up to for what they have accomplished. Don’t just go for the biggest name you can find. You must be the right fit.
5. Before asking someone to be your mentor, first consider asking for input on a single specific topic. How did that go? Was it good advice? Did the advice feel right to you? Was it delivered in a way that made sense to you? Did it fill you with confidence and energy? Ask to speak with others that are or have been mentored by them in the past. What were their thoughts? What were their successes and failures?
6. Show gratitude. Never let your mentors feel taken for granted! Also, supply feedback. If your mentor suggested something that really worked out for you, report back. People love hearing about their part in a success story.
7. When looking for a mentor, think beyond former bosses and professors. Look to older family members or friends, neighbors, spiritual leaders, community leaders, the networks of your friends and colleagues, or officials of professional or trade associations you belong to. Ask someone that you respect and admire for referrals?
8. Keep in mind that mentoring can be in many forms. It can be a monthly lunch or call, a quarterly lunch or call, a weekly mastermind session, or merely a steady E-mail correspondence. Your mentor does not even have to live in your city or region.
9. Many mentors derive pleasure from “molding” someone in their own images—great for them and great for you if you want to be molded. But beware of mentors who are too bossy, controlling, or judgmental. This is your path, not theirs.
10. Don’t become too dependent on your mentor. The idea is that one day you will take what you have learned and eventually be able to fly on your own. In fact, you may not take every bit of advice your mentor offers. Continue to think for yourself. Continue to research on your own learn from others. Keep an open mind. Don’t fall into the trap that your mentor is the only one you can learn from.
11. You’re allowed to have more than one mentor. In fact, you can have a whole committee if you want, and call it your Board of Directors. Choose different mentors for different facets of your professional and even your personal life.
12. Finally, if you ask someone to be your mentor and that person refuses, don’t be hurt or offended. Don’t take this personal. It may also be something that was meant to be. Maybe they wouldn’t have been a good fit after all. Things happen for a reason. You must believe this. Great mentors are very busy people. Thank him or her for the consideration and ask them to guide you in the right direction.
If you study the path of successful people, you’ll see that most, if not all of them had a mentor along their way. A mentor can change your course of direction both personally and professionally. Don’t deprive yourself of modeling after someone that has been there done that. If you truly want to achieve greatness in your life, go out and get a mentor of your own. You’ll be so glad you did.
About the Author
John R. Salkowski is the Founder of AchieveSuccessAcademy.com™, Retired Cop, Survivor of PTSD stemming from a shoot and kill robbery incident that eventually ended a successful 15yr career. He is an expert on Leadership, Success, PTSD & Overcoming Adversity. John is a successful Entrepreneur, Speaker, Author of 3 books; Leadership in The Line of Duty™: 50 Leadership Lessons for Making Split-Second Decisions from a Cop Who Has Been in Life and Death Situations, Leadership in The Line of Duty™: Success Thoughts and Quotes for Leaders and Amazon.com Best-Seller, Nothing But Net: Top Secrets to increase your bottom line, Health, Wealth & Success.
To have John speak at your next event, email his office at John@JohnSalkowski.com.
Copyright © 2012 Achieve Success Academy™. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:0b19c5e6-d07d-47d7-b8a1-b45c1da30e57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://achievesuccessacademy.com/tag/police/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977255 | 2,234 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Volunteer Protective Payee
(IM) Tell the protective payee that they will receive Notice of Benefit Direct Deposit (Form 3159A) each time a check is deposited into their account.
Explain to the protective payee that accurate records must be kept. Tell them that they need to keep track of how the money is spent.
Inform the protective payee that they may use their own method of record keeping. Show and explain use of Volunteer Protective Payee Ledger (Form 1547B). Tell them that use of Form 1547B is voluntary.
Advise the protective payee that their records will be reviewed at least once every 12 months. If necessary, conduct the review more often. | <urn:uuid:7a1960b8-5667-40b1-9a84-9be4da409210> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=16714 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949565 | 146 | 1.632813 | 2 |
August 19-- Kansas now has a larger list of schools whose children failed to make adequate progress on state-wide tests.
A revised list from the Department of Education shows that 21 schools and seven districts with large populations of poor children failed to make progress last term.
Such schools and districts must notify parents and give them the option of transferring to another school.
The new list includes information about Wichita schools. The preliminary list was issued last week, but the Wichita data was incomplete.
Further review shows that six Wichita schools-Curtis, Hamilton, Marshall, Mead and Pleasant Valley Middle Schools, along with Caldwell Elementary, failed to make adequate progress, compared to four schools the previous year. Anderson Elementary made enough progress to drop off the list.
State officials will release another list of schools in October.
Designed by Gray Digital Media | <urn:uuid:765cdeb1-03ec-48bb-be6b-17121a6cfa02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kake.com/schools/headlines/940512.html?site=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966617 | 170 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Through the Boys & Girls Club of Venice Fine Arts program, Club members take away creative skills that help them in standardized test-taking, in their school work, as well as in providing a foundation for further art study should they choose to pursue it, through the experience of making art and being mentored by an adult who is a working art professional. Drawing, sketching, clay, crayon, watercolor, oil pastel, collage, diorama, pen and ink, and mixed media are covered during the year. Exhibitions are mounted quarterly and parents and community members attend.
Eduardo “Lalo” Marquez, our Art Director, is the primary mentor to many of our at risk young people. He is passionate about teaching how to use art as a means of expression as well as fostering the talent of those who have the ability to make visual arts a career.
Since working at the Boys & Girls Clubs, Lalo achieved a reputation for earning national honors. In the past 10 years, under his guidance, 14 members have earned top honors and national recognition in the Fine Arts Competition, sponsored by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He is able to teach young learners to express themselves through canvas, mixed-mediums, photography, poetry, spoken word and instruments. Lalo, an honest, energetic and passionate advocate for the arts, motivates and supports young people to reach their artistic potential.
The artwork, along with other winners will be viewed by hundreds of conference delegates throughout the year. In addition, the image will be placed on www.bgca.org in our virtual gallery for future viewing. | <urn:uuid:2610c059-76ce-47c7-9f5a-6d910cc770d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bgcv.org/arts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973858 | 335 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Aug 25 2011
|more articles from|
Even as hopes arise of a quick resumption of Libyan oil, a whole host of new supply-side worries will ensure that crude production remains tight.
The resumption of Libyan oil will not dent oil prices as supply constraints continue to add up.
While the world searches for Moamer Gaddafi, oil traders are already factoring in the return of Libyan oil supplies to the market. Goldman Sachs expects Libyan oil production to come on line sooner than earlier estimated given the rapid progress made by Libyan rebels in taking over key strategic spots, including oil fields and export facilities.
Goldman says Libyan oil production could quickly be ramped up to 585,000 barrels per day, more than double the previous estimate of 250,000 barrels.
"Any increase in supply over the coming weeks is limited to our production forecast and bound to the eastern production that has been long under opposition control," Goldman analysts said in a report. "It will be challenging to bring the shut-in production back online. Even should political and security conditions allow it, Libyan oil exports would likely be limited to at most 600,000 barrels a day in the short to medium term."
Barclays Capital, which expects Brent to remain above $115 a barrel in the fourth quarter, disagrees. "We do not expect a swift return of Libyan volumes into the market and even if prices soften in the short term, they are likely to rebound on later realisation of this fact. Indeed, Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO) stated yesterday that there is no timeframe for Libyan oil output to resume, and it could very well take months. It also added that about 700 Libyan oil wells need workovers once security is restored."
Forgotten in the euphoria of Libyan oil returning to the market is the disruption in Nigerian oil. Royal Dutch Shell was forced to declare force majeure on its Nigerian Bonny Light crude exports from Nigeria to repair pipeline damage caused by a recent spate of hacksaw attacks. The force majeure was declared on Shell's Bonny Light exports until October, just six weeks after its export was normalised following a recent repair work to the pipeline damage caused by a similar attack in June.
This is not the extent of supply-side woes. Non-Opec suppliers have been hit by a series of catastrophes. The North Sea output has been poor, there are technical problems in Russia and China and Yemen's oil production has stalled due to continued unrest in the country.
"As recently as May, the IEA were projecting growth in non-OPEC oil this year of 750,000 bpd, but that has been slashed to just 400,000 bpd in its latest report," says BarCap.
A large part of the problem is that in many non-OPEC areas oil reserves are ageing and require high levels of investment and maintenance just to sustain output at current levels.
"These issues will not be resolved overnight, and we would not rule out further significant downgrades to consensus views of non-OPEC supply in Q3 and Q4,: says BarCap.
Littlte Wiggle Room
More worryingly for oil producers, prices are at levels at which the global economy cannot cope.
"Oil prices have once again become an economic liability, but it is not clear how much room there is for them to fall, given the rising demands of oil?producing nations," says Centre for Global Energy Studies (CGES) in its report.
"Attempts to avert the spread of popular unrest that has swept neighbouring countries have led oil-producing countries to pour billions of additional dollars into social spending, raising the oil price that they need to cover this expenditure. The OPEC Basket price needed by Saudi Arabia to cover its planned expenditure in 2011 is calculated by the CGES to be around $90/bbl; other OPEC member?countries need even higher prices."
In 2008, when Opec prices averaged $94 per barrel, Saudi Arabia's breakeven price was $59 barrel - now it stands at $90, according to CGES estimates.
"The revenue needs of OPEC producers are now pushing oil costs to levels that the global economy cannot tolerate. Either producers need to reduce their break-even prices, or consumers need to move rapidly to curtail their oil use. The alternative is a global economy that will continue to lurch from crisis to crisis," says CGES.
Further supply risks will keep oil prices relatively high for sometime, even if there are intermittent price reliefs. The market has already lost about 1.7mb/d of Libyan crude, and it is unknown whether the Arab Spring will leave the region more democratic, stable and prosperous.
"The risk of further supply outages remains high, especially in Iraq where rising violence and the impending withdrawal of US troops is imperilling recent security gains."
All combined, Opec's spare capacity stands at 3% of global demand, which leaves little room for oil traders to be pessimistic about crude prices at a time when lethargic global economies are pointing towards a slowdown in crude demand.
No wonder Opec is keen to stay put and not cut production despite statistics showing curtailed oil demand. They are in the oil price sweetspot of $90-100 a barrel.
© Copyright Zawya. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:313c950c-920e-4b14-a484-c320f21b7e3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zawya.com/story/Oil_Constraints-ZAWYA20110825030854/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960925 | 1,090 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Birds of Prey Center soars to new heights before SEWE appearance
By David Quick | Thursday, February 7, 2013
If you go
What: Birds of Prey Flight Demonstration
When: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday
Where: Marion Square downtown
Price: Included under general admission tickets; $20 Friday and Saturday, $10 Sunday, $40 for a three-day pass
more info: www.sewe.com
Jim Elliott remembers one moment during a Southeastern Wildlife Exposition in the mid-1990s that made him realize the importance of the mission of the Awendaw-based Center for Birds of Prey.
It was back when the center just had a display and brought demonstration birds, which cannot be released into the wild and are used for education reasons, to the event.
“I had a broad-winged hawk on my fist and handed the bird off to someone else,” recalls Elliott. “I remember standing back and looking at this huddle of people around us drawn to these beautiful animals. It looked like a Norman Rockwell painting in all its diversity — young and old, big and little. It was the total cross-section of everybody we hoped to reach. They were there, enthralled and engaged, asking about this bird.
“I won’t ever forget that. What it told me was that there is an appeal or resonance with everyone we talk to. Somewhere there’s a connection with what we were doing.”
Those were the early days of the center, back when it was called the Charleston Raptor Center, back when Elliott, two or three staffers and dozens of volunteers worked out of his 5-acre residence in the middle of Francis Marion National Forest.
Much has changed since then.
The gift of a 150-acre property, closer to Charleston but still in Awendaw, has allowed the Center for Birds of Prey to soar to new heights.
Now, instead of relying entirely on taking the birds to the public for educational reasons, the center invites the public inside its facility for regular demonstrations Thursdays through Sundays.
The larger space also has allowed it to pursue initiatives that previously were next to impossible.
In the past year, the center marked three milestones.
The first was treating its 6,000th bird, which took place in December, since the center’s founding in 1991.
Besides the satisfaction of returning those birds to the wild, Elliott said that number has another meaning to him. “The total number of birds is what it is, but it’s also an experience for us,” he said. “The experience we’ve gained from those birds is so valuable for the next 6,000. It tells us a little bit about the universe out there and our impact on it.”
Another milestone was adding its 50th species of bird, a short-tailed hawk, to its educational program, which was a goal set for 2015.
The importance of have different birds, both native and non-native, is to tell a deeper story about each one’s struggle with habitat loss and other challenges, as well as draw attention to the center’s mission.
“We don’t want to be a roadside zoo, but from an organizational standpoint, we’re making some headway into being more visible,” Elliott said of the center drawing visitors to hear the message of conservation.
“It’s so much a part of what we need to be doing. One of our founding objectives is to reach as many people as we can to help. We know the more informed we are, the more environmentally responsible we are.”
The third milestone was more technical.
For years, the Birds of Prey Center monitored bird migration Sept. 15-Nov. 30 every year. Last year, it has added a radar system sensitive enough to pick up even songbirds and give them another ability they didn’t have before: counting birds at night.
In addition to those milestones, the center also reached some other impressive numbers and added programming.
Assisting its paid staff of 12, three of whom are part time, are dozens of volunteers who logged a whopping 12,000 volunteer hours in 2012. Elliott said that equates to six full-time staff members.
That level of volunteer support played a role in luring the center’s current medical clinic director, Debbie Mauney, whose husband works with the red wolf restoration program in Alligator River, N.C.
“I love the volunteer aspect of this, too, because of all the different backgrounds of these people who would otherwise never meet or hang out,” Mauney said. “Everybody just seems to come together. It doesn’t matter what your income level is, everyone is here for the birds. And I love that atmosphere.”
And besides the obvious efforts to help injured and orphaned birds of prey and educate the public of the importance of the birds, the center is involved in research efforts, has a successful captive breeding program and is trained and prepared for oil spill response along the South Carolina coast.
With all those pots on the stove, the 24/7/365 center’s staff veers off-course only once a year: for SEWE.
“To be honest, it’s a stressful event for both the staff and the birds. For us, it’s a lot of effort to move them. We can’t leave the birds downtown. We move this cadre of birds, they work all day, as do the staff. Three days in a row,” Elliott said.
“But people expect us to be there. They would miss us. We would be conspicuously absent if we weren’t there, and the audience has grown. We’ve got 40,000 people over that weekend, and the majority of them see us at one point or another, and that’s a good thing.” | <urn:uuid:7095d551-f563-472d-80b5-0609bbd5e867> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.charlestonscene.com/article/20130207/CS/130209409/1052/birds-of-prey-center-soars-to-new-heights-before-sewe-appearance&source=RSS | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971111 | 1,273 | 1.5625 | 2 |
In some ways, walking down the streets of Tashkent, Shymkent or Bishkek doesn’t feel all that different from a stroll through the center of any city in the United States or Europe. You pass a variety of stores, restaurants, government buildings and shopping malls. The people around you are likely headed to work or to school, or just running daily errands. The faces may look different, but life kind of feels the same.
Then you head to the bazaar.
And you enter a completely different world.
The bazaar is the cornerstone of Central Asian life – the beating heart of any town or city. Often a maze of narrow alleys and crowded stalls, it overwhelms the senses and reeks of chaos. It is where centuries-old traditions come to life.
Farmers come from miles around to hawk their fruits or vegetables – apples, grapes, cherries, melons, peppers, carrots, potatoes – you name it, you can probably find it at the bazaar.
The aroma of spices floats far and wide.
Butchers show off fresh meat – perhaps a little too fresh for the squeamish.
As a sign of the times, today’s vendors also stock beauty products, school supplies and even electronic goods and SIM cards.
And enterprising men and women provide almost any service imaginable.
Need a dentist? Go to the bazaar.
Need a pharmacist? Go to the bazaar.
Need a manicure, pedicure or haircut? Go to the bazaar, of course.
(and yes, I did get a fabulous $3 haircut at the Osh Bazaar in Bishkek – thanks to Brooke Schoenman for giving me the idea!)
More than anything, want to get a feel for a way of life that has persisted for hundreds of years? Want to see the day-to-day lives of the locals? Want to try your hand at haggling and chatting up friendly vendors?
Go to the bazaar. | <urn:uuid:0237d54d-3c99-469a-911f-31e70921c734> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://katieaune.com/bazaar-life/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931034 | 421 | 1.523438 | 2 |
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