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America's Worry List
HOLLYWOOD's favorite ''roast'' comedian shouts gleefully, ''Is there anyone here I haven't insulted?'' If you peruse Michael Lind's column on Page 18 (''Six New Policies for America in the '90s'') or read his stimulating new book, you may feel that's his missing punch line.Skip to next paragraph
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
Liberals, conservatives, UN backers, free traders, McGovern, Reagan, Clinton, affirmative actionists, immigration backers - all have their policies castigated by provocateur Lind.
We print his manifesto criticizing the liberal social engineering of the 1970s and the conservative supply-side growth of the 1980s precisely because it is provocative, and because it advocates policies responding to six major concerns of millions of average Americans.
The six - likely to loom large in the US presidential campaign - are:
* Colorblind racial policy (a.k.a. ending affirmative action).
* Immigration restriction.
* Law and order (more police).
* Economic nationalism (restricting free trade).
* Foreign policy realism (deserting international bodies like the UN and making new alliances of self interest).
* Political reform.
It's important, for America's future, to tackle these voter concerns.
Let's set aside, for a moment, the three purely domestic issues and examine first the interwoven trade, immigration, and foreign policy issues.
It's apparent that some new tightening of immigration restrictions is coming in the US, as it is in many European nations. (And maybe in Asia if India and China don't match economic growth to population growth.)
Current immigration limits are as much sieve as fence, when some 18 percent of the 22.6 million externally born American residents are here illegally, with a million-plus added yearly.
But when Mr. Lind's version of Fortress America Lite adds trade restraints and confrontational foreign alliances to his mix, that mix becomes explosive. Some 90 percent of the children born in the coming decade will arrive in the poorer nations of the world, as the modern industrial nations continue their ''graying.'' This presents several alternatives:
1. Subcontract out more manufacturing to developing nations. That's happening throughout Latin America and Asia today. But it does not pass muster with Lind, since it could threaten some American jobs. Some jobs, yes. But it creates other jobs, as developing lands import US machinery, technology, consumer goods, food, and entertainment.
2. Allow more immigration. Verboten in Lind's '90s. But Canada, Australia, and other nations have dealt with reality by seeking immigrants with needed skills (and sometimes capital), as well as unskilled workers for specific low-end jobs native-born citizens refuse.
3. Stimulate international trade to provide jobs in both the third world and the developed nations.
Point No. 3 is the real answer to both Lind's semi-Fortress America and Pat Buchanan's medieval Fortress America. Many billions of dollars worth of new income (and quality consumer goods to buy with it) have been added to the American economy in the past decade because of expanding world trade. Jobs are a more complex matter. Job creation by new entrepreneurial firms did run to the millions in the 1980s. Job losses and jobs with fewer fringe benefits are a feature of 1990s downsizing. The job picture is neither as rosy as that painted by supply-siders nor as gloomy as that penned by Lind and economist Paul Krugman.
Now to foreign policy. Frustrations with the UN, International Monetary Fund, and world trade organizations old and new are endemic. But, as Churchill might observe, the alternative of not having these international debating grounds and regulators is worse. Readers steeped in history should applaud Lind's call for policies based on national self-interest - and alliances to fit it. But any reading of the past two centuries makes clear that self-interest and use of international organizations are not mutually exclusive. The Lind doctrine would place the United States in the strange position of simultaneously confronting both China and Japan, with Vietnam as an ally. It's more sensible to deal hardheadedly but calmly with the next generation of Chinese leaders, as well as longtime allies in Europe and Pacific Asia.
In recent editorials, the Monitor has dealt at length with affirmative action, law and order, and political financial reform. Here, let us just say that we join Michael Lind in heading toward Martin Luther King's goal of a colorblind America. We note the recent decline of major crime in American cities where cops on the beat are again becoming part of many neighborhoods' fabric. And we favor prompt reform of the system that allows thinly disguised buying of votes by industries, labor unions, and assorted lobbying associations.
Despite our quarrel with parts of the Lind doctrine, we salute its author for seeking answers to what many in America are worrying about.
Many billions in new income (and quality consumer goods) are added to the US economy by expanding trade.
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The Andy Griffith Show
|The Andy Griffith Show|
Opening sequence including
"The Fishin' Hole"
|Created by||Arthur Stander (uncredited)1|
|Theme music composer||Earle Hagen and Herbert W. Spencer|
|Opening theme||"The Fishin' Hole"|
|Country of origin||United States|
|No. of seasons||8|
|No. of episodes||249 (List of episodes)|
|Executive producer(s)||Sheldon Leonard
|Location(s)||Desilu Culver (1960–67)
Paramount Studios (1967–68)
|Running time||25–26 minutes|
|Distributor||CBS Television Distribution|
|Picture format||Black-and-white (1960–65)
|Original run||October 3, 1960– April 1, 1968|
|Followed by||Mayberry R.F.D.|
|Related shows||The Danny Thomas Show
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised on CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays the widowed sheriff of the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept, but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife (Don Knotts), a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier), and a precocious young son, Opie (Ron Howard). Local ne'er-do-wells, bumbling pals, and temperamental girlfriends further complicate his life. Andy Griffith stated in a Today Show interview, with respect to the time period of the show: "Well, though we never said it, and though it was shot in the '60s, it had a feeling of the '30s. It was when we were doing it, of a time gone by."
The series never placed lower than seventh in the Nielsen ratings and ended its final season at number one. It has been ranked by TV Guide as the 9th-best show in American television history. Though neither Griffith nor the show won awards during its eight-season run, series co-stars Knotts and Bavier accumulated a combined total of six Emmy Awards. The show, a semi-spin-off from an episode of The Danny Thomas Show titled "Danny Meets Andy Griffith", spawned its own spin-off series, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (1964), a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D. (1968), and a reunion telemovie, Return to Mayberry (1986). The show's enduring popularity has generated a good deal of show-related merchandise. Reruns currently air on TV Land, and the complete series is available on DVD. All eight seasons are also now available by streaming video services such as Netflix.
Sheldon Leonard, producer of The Danny Thomas Show, and Danny Thomas hired veteran comedy writer Arthur Stander (who had written many of the "Danny Thomas" episodes) to create a pilot show for Andy Griffith, featuring him as justice of the peace and newspaper editor in a small town. At the time, Broadway, film, and radio star Griffith was interested in attempting a television role, and the William Morris Agency told Leonard that Griffith's rural background and previous rustic characterizations were suited to the part. After conferences between Leonard and Griffith in New York, Griffith flew to Los Angeles and filmed the episode. On February 15, 1960, The Danny Thomas Show episode "Danny Meets Andy Griffith" aired. In the episode, Griffith played fictional Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry, North Carolina, who arrests Danny Williams (Thomas's character) for running a stop sign. Future players in The Andy Griffith Show, Frances Bavier and Ron Howard, appeared in the episode as townspeople Henrietta Perkins and Opie Taylor (the sheriff's son). General Foods, sponsor of The Danny Thomas Show, had first access to the spinoff and committed to it immediately. On October 3, 1960 at 9:30 pm, The Andy Griffith Show made its debut.
Production notes
The show's production team included producers Aaron Ruben (1960–1965) and Bob Ross (1965–1968). First-season writers (many of whom worked in pairs) included Jack Elinson, Charles Stewart, Arthur Stander and Frank Tarloff (as "David Adler"), Benedict Freedman and John Fenton Murray, Leo Solomon and Ben Gershman, and Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum. During season six, Greenbaum and Fritzell left the show and Ruben departed for Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., a show which he owned in part. Writer Harvey Bullock left after season six. Bob Sweeney directed the first three seasons save the premiere.
Don Knotts, who knew Griffith professionally and had seen The Danny Thomas Show episode, called Griffith during the developmental stages of the show and suggested the Sheriff character needed a deputy. Griffith agreed. Knotts auditioned for the show's creator and executive producer, Sheldon Leonard, and was offered a five-year contract playing Barney Fife.
The show's theme music, "The Fishin' Hole", was composed by Earle Hagen and Herbert Spencer, with lyrics written by Everett Sloane, who also guest starred as Jubal Foster in the episode, The Keeper of the Flame (1962). Whistling in the opening sequence, as well as the closing credits sequence, was performed by Earle Hagen. One of the show's tunes, "The Mayberry March", was reworked a number of times in different tempo, styles and orchestrations as background music.
Plot and characters
The series plot revolves around Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) and his life in sleepy, slow-paced fictional Mayberry, North Carolina. Sheriff Taylor's level-headed approach to law enforcement makes him the scourge of local moonshiners and out-of-town criminals, while his abilities to settle community problems with common-sense advice, mediation and conciliation make him popular with his fellow citizens. His professional life, however, is complicated by the gaffes of his inept deputy, Barney Fife (Don Knotts). Barney is portrayed as Andy's cousin in the first, second, and sixth episodes, but is never again referenced as such. Andy socializes with male friends in the Main Street barber shop and dates various ladies until a schoolteacher becomes his steady interest in season three. At home, Andy enjoys fishing trips with his son, Opie (Ronny Howard), and quiet evenings on the front porch with his maiden aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier). Opie tests his father's parenting skills season after season, and Aunt Bee's ill-considered romances and adventures cause her nephew concern.
Andy's friends and neighbors include barber Floyd Lawson (Howard McNear), service station attendants and cousins Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors) and Goober Pyle (George Lindsey), and local drunkard Otis Campbell (Hal Smith). On the distaff side, townswoman Clara Edwards (Hope Summers), Barney's sweetheart Thelma Lou (Betty Lynn) and Andy's schoolteacher sweetheart Helen Crump (Aneta Corsaut) become semi-regulars. Ellie Walker (Elinor Donahue) is Andy's first girlfriend in the series. In the color seasons, County Clerk Howard Sprague (Jack Dodson) and handyman Emmett Clark (Paul Hartman) appear regularly, while Barney's replacement deputy Warren Ferguson (Jack Burns) appears in season six. Unseen characters such as telephone operator Sarah, and Barney's love interest, local diner waitress Juanita Beasley, as mentioned in the first season, are often referenced. In the series' last few episodes, farmer Sam Jones (Ken Berry) debuts, and later becomes the lead of the show's sequel, Mayberry R.F.D..
Griffith's development of Andy Taylor
Initially, Griffith played Taylor as a heavy-handed country bumpkin, grinning from ear to ear and speaking in a hesitant, frantic manner. The style recalled that used in the delivery of his popular monologues such as "What it Was, Was Football". He gradually abandoned the 'rustic Taylor' and developed a serious and thoughtful characterization. Producer Aaron Ruben recalled:
"He was being that marvelously funny character from No Time for Sergeants, Will Stockdale [a role Griffith played on stage and in film]...One day he said, 'My God, I just realized that I'm the straight man. I'm playing straight to all these kooks around me.' He didn't like himself [in first year reruns]...and in the next season he changed, becoming this Lincolnesque character."
As Griffith stopped portraying some of the sheriff's more unsophisticated character traits and mannerisms, it was impossible for him to create his own problems and troubles in the manner of other central sitcom characters such as Lucy in I Love Lucy or Archie Bunker in All in the Family, whose problems were the result of their temperaments, philosophies and attitudes. Consequently, the characters around Taylor were employed to create the problems and troubles, with rock-solid Taylor stepping in as problem solver, mediator, advisor, disciplinarian and counselor. Aunt Bee, for example, was given several wayward romances requiring Andy's intervention, Opie suffered childhood missteps that needed a father's counsel and discipline, and Barney engaged in ill-considered acts on the job that required Sheriff Taylor's professional oversight and reprimand.
Andy Griffith has also said that he realized during the earlier episodes of the program that it was much funnier for him to play the straight man to Knotts' "Barney," rather than his being the originator of the comedic scenes between them.
The show comprises 8 full seasons and 249 episodes — 159 episodes in black and white (seasons 1–5) and 90 in color (seasons 6–8). Griffith appears in all 249 episodes with Howard coming in second at 209. Only Griffith, Howard, Bavier, Knotts, and Hope Summers appeared in all eight seasons.
Knotts left the show at the end of season five to pursue a career in films (on the show it is told that he takes a job as a detective in Raleigh) but returned to make five guest appearances as Barney in seasons six through eight. His last appearance in the final season in a story about a summit meeting with Russian dignitaries "ranked eleventh among single comedy programs most watched in television between 1960 to , with an audience of thirty-three and a half million."
The color episodes of the show in its later years are markedly different from the black-and-white episodes of the first five seasons. New writers took over the scriptwriting for the post-Knotts color seasons, and they generally abandoned the character-based sitcom format in favor of dry humor revolving around rather mundane aspects of life in a small town.
Reruns, spinoffs, and reunions
In 1964, daytime reruns began airing and the show was retitled Andy of Mayberry to distinguish the repeat episodes from the new episodes airing in prime time; this alternate title has continued to turn up in some syndication prints. As of 2011, the show has been seen in syndication for 48 years. Most off-network series, in comparison, do not last longer than ten years in syndication.
At the end of season four (May 1964), the backdoor pilot "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." aired, and, the following September, the spin-off series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. debuted with Jim Nabors in the role of Gomer and Frank Sutton as drill instructor Sergeant Vince Carter.
In the last episodes of the series, the character Sam Jones, played by Ken Berry, was introduced, and a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D., was fashioned around him for the fall of 1968 (in essence replacing The Andy Griffith Show). Several performers reprised their original roles in the sequel, with Bavier becoming Sam's housekeeper. To create a smooth transition from the original series to RFD, Andy and Helen were married in the first episode, remained for a few additional episodes, and then left the show, with a move to Raleigh effectively ending their appearances. After RFD's cancellation in 1971, George Lindsey played a Goober-like character for a number of years on the popular variety show Hee Haw.
In 1986, the reunion telemovie Return to Mayberry was broadcast with several cast members reprising their original roles. Absent, however, was Frances Bavier. She was living in Siler City, North Carolina in ill health, and declined to participate. In the TV movie, Aunt Bee is portrayed as deceased (and in fact Bavier did die three years later), with Andy visiting her grave.
Two cast reunions of the show were subsequently filmed and aired on CBS in 1993 and 2003.
Merchandise and pop culture
Dell Comics published two The Andy Griffith Show comic books during the show's first run. In 2004, copies in near-mint condition were priced in excess of $500 each. The show's enduring popularity has spawned considerable merchandise since its first run, including board games, bobblehead dolls, kitchenware, books, and other items. In 2007, a line of canned foods inspired by the series was made available in grocery stores across America. Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy, North Carolina annually hosts a week-long "Mayberry Days" celebration featuring concerts, parades, and appearances by the show's players.
In 1997, the episode "Opie the Birdman" was ranked No. 24 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. In 2009, TV Guide ranked The Andy Griffith Show ninth on its list of the 50 Best Shows of All Time. Bravo ranked Andy Taylor 63rd on their list of the 100 greatest TV characters.
The Taylor Home Inn in Clear Lake, Wisconsin, is a bed-and-breakfast modeled after the Taylor Home.
Video releases
In the late 1980s, Premier Promotions released various episodes on VHS. Most tapes had either two or four episodes. In the early to mid-1990s, United American Video released VHS tapes of various episodes. They either had two or three episodes.
Between 2004 and 2006, Paramount Home Entertainment and later in 2006, CBS DVD released all eight seasons as single-season packages on Region 1 DVD. The complete series was released as a boxed set in 2007 (ISBN141573159) and includes the pilot from The Danny Thomas Show, the telemovie Return to Mayberry, and an episode from Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. featuring Ron Howard. Sixteen episodes from the season three (in public domain) are available on discount DVDs.
|DVD Name||Ep#||Release Date|
|The First Season||32||November 16, 2004|
|The Second Season||31||May 24, 2005|
|The Third Season||32||August 16, 2005|
|The Fourth Season||32||November 22, 2005|
|The Fifth Season||32||February 14, 2006|
|The Sixth Season||30||May 9, 2006|
|The Seventh Season||30||August 29, 2006|
|The Final Season||30||December 12, 2006|
|The Complete Series||249||May 29, 2007|
Note: The Region 1 release of The Third Season contains two episodes edited for syndication: "The Darlings Are Coming", which had several scenes cut, and "Barney Mends a Broken Heart", which had its epilogue cut.
The Andy Griffith Show consistently placed in the top ten during its run.
Note: The highest average rating for the series is in bold text.
A Nielsen study conducted during the show's final season (1967) indicated the show ranked No. 1 among blue collar workers followed by The Lucy Show and Gunsmoke. Among white collar workers, the show ranked No. 3 following Saturday Movies and The Dean Martin Show. The show is one of only three shows to have its final season be the number one ranked show on television, the other two being I Love Lucy and Seinfeld. In 1998, more than 5 million people a day watched the show's re-runs on 120 stations.
Awards and nominations
- Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actor or Actress in a Series: Don Knotts – Won
- Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Humor – Nominated (Winner: The Jack Benny Program)
- Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actor: Don Knotts – Won
- Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Humor – Nominated (Winner: The Bob Newhart Show)
- Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actor: Don Knotts – Won
- Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy: Don Knotts for "The Return of Barney Fife" – Won
- Outstanding Comedy Series – Nominated (Winner: The Monkees)
- Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy: Don Knotts for "Barney Comes to Mayberry" – Won
- Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy: Frances Bavier – Won
TV Land Awards
- Favorite Second Banana: Don Knotts – Won (2003)
- Single Dad of the Year: Andy Griffith – Won (2003)
- Legend Award – Won (2004)
- "Andy Griffith & Don Knotts on The Today Show". NBC Today Show. 03/04/1996. Retrieved 09/10/2012.
- "TV Guide Names Top 50 Shows". Associated Press. February 11, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
- Kelly, Richard. The Andy Griffith Show. Blair, 1981.
- Beck, Ken, and Jim Clark. The Andy Griffith Show Book. St. Martin's Griffin, 1995.
- Terrace, Vincent (2009). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 Through 2007. McFarland. p. 66. ISBN 0-7864-3305-1.
- Overstreet, Robert M.. Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. 34th edition. House of Collectibles, Random House Information Group, May 2004.
- "Special Collector's Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time". TV Guide (June 28-July 4). 1997.
- "The 100 Greatest TV Characters". Bravo. Archived from the original on 2007-10-15. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
- "A little touch of Mayberry: B&B recreates Andy Griffith's TV show home". Associated Press. July 27, 2006. Retrieved September 7, 2012.
- "Classic TV Hits: TV Ratings".
- Ted Rueter (1998-01-22). "What Andy, Opie, and Barney Fife Mean to Americans". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
Further reading
- Beck, Ken; Clark, Jim (1985). The Andy Griffith Show Book (trade paperbackISBN 0-312-03654-X.). New York: St. Martin's Press.
- Beck, Ken, and Clark, Jim. Mayberry Memories. Rutledge Hill Press, 2000.
- Fann, Joey. The Way Back to Mayberry. Broadman and Holman, 2001. ISBN 0-8054-2420-2.
- Vaughn, Don Rodney (November 1, 2004). "Why "The Andy Griffith Show" is Important to Popular Culture". Journal of Popular Culture.
- Kelly, Richard. The Andy Griffith Show. John F. Blair, 1981. ISBN 0-89587-043-6.
- The Andy Griffith Show. CBS Television Network, 1960–1968. Syndicated distribution: CBS Paramount Television.
- The Andy Griffith Show: Complete Series Collection. Paramount, 2007. (ISBN 1415731594).
|Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Andy Griffith Show|
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:The Andy Griffith Show|
- The Andy Griffith Show at TV.com
- The Andy Griffith Show at TVGuide.com
- Watch full episodes of The Andy Griffith Show on TVLand.com
- Public domain episodes of The Andy Griffith Show
- The Andy Griffith Show at the Internet Movie Database
- The Andy Griffith Show at epguides.com
- Behind The Scenes of The Andy Griffith Show
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When [Steve] saw that we requested reader’s solutions to storing hundreds of different components, he had to send in his solution to storing bunches of ICs, resistors, transistors, and other components.
Like most of the suggestions we’ve seen, [Steve]‘s solution relies on #10 envelopes stored in boxes specifically designed for holding envelopes. While there’s nothing new about storing handfuls of ICs in envelopes, we really like [Steve]‘s method of organization.
On the top of each envelope, [Steve] printed a bunch of very useful information including the type and kind of part, the tolerance, speed, voltage, and package information. Also included are the manufacturer and vendor part numbers, making reordering a breeze.
Of course printing out hundreds or thousands of envelopes with this information would be a pain. [Steve] got around that by automating the process with iWork, typing in the values for each field in a spreadsheet app and using Mail Merge to print them all on envelopes.
It’s a very neat system that forced [Steve] to have all his parts on a spreadsheet, inching ever closer to a complete inventory management system. He’s thinking about adding QR codes to the envelopes to make reordering parts trivial, but after figuring out how to send hundreds of envelopes through a printer, we can understand if [Steve] wants to be a little lazy from here on out.
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Two more Google engineers took the stand in the Oracle v. Google trial today, offering detailed testimony about how Android's Dalvik "virtual machine" works, while a parallel battle over what to do about the muddled first phase of the trial took place outside the jury's view.
A Pyrrhic copyright victory for Oracle?
Judge William Alsup kicked off the day with comments indicating that Oracle's win in the copyright phase might not amount to much. The jury's verdict was that Google did infringe Oracle's copyright, but it was split on Google's fair use defense.
Today, Alsup suggested that Oracle wouldn't be able to get anything for that beyond the statutory damages set by Congress for copyright infringement. Those damages max out at $150,000 per infringed work, a tiny fragment of what Oracle's legal fees must be in this case, which surely stretch into the millions of dollars.
Both sides have filed motions arguing what should be done about the muddled copyright outcome. Google has asked for an entirely new trial on the allegations of copyright infringement, saying that the jury's findings must be thrown out because it couldn't agree about fair use. Oracle's brief, filed this morning, argues that its copyright infringement win should be preserved, and if a new jury trial is needed, it should focus solely on the issue of fair use.
"Oracle has already painstakingly presented its case to the jury, which deliberated for a week before unanimously finding that Google infringed the SSO of the 37 Java API packages," Oracle lawyers wrote in a motion (PDF) filed this morning. "As the Seventh Amendment recognizes, the Court should not undo these diligent efforts."
Oracle has suggested that it should be entitled to some of Android's profits because of the one point on which it had a clear win—Google's copying of a nine-line function called
rangeCheck(). Alsup, however, was dismissive of that proposal when Oracle's attorney brought it up in court, and the motion Oracle filed on Tuesday making the same argument seems like a long shot.
Meanwhile, Judge Alsup has continued to delay ruling on arguably the most important point—whether APIs can be copyrighted at all. If Google were to win that point, the arguments over what to do next will become mostly a moot point
Jurors hear nuts-and-bolts testimony on Dalvik
Two Google engineers who already testified during the copyright phase were called back to the stand today. One was Dan Bornstein, the technical lead on the five-person team that created the Dalvik virtual machine. Bornstein, wearing clear-framed glasses and a green Android lapel pin, testified about the tools he built to turn Java bytecode into code that could be read by Dalvik. (Bytecode is a type of "intermediate" code used by both Java and Android.)
Much of the testimony today was feuding over tedious details about wording, such as whether particular elements of programming involved "symbolic references" or "numeric references."
Even though independent invention isn't a defense in patent cases, Google's lawyers did take the time to highlight the originality of the Android creators.
"Was Dalvik built from open source [code]?" asked Google's lawyer.
"The main Dalvik code base was written from scratch," said Bornstein. "It was really Google engineers working on it."
Bornstein—who posted a photo of himself on Google+ with his process server when he received a subpoena last week—also explained to the jury how he named Dalvik after a town in Iceland. "I had just finished reading a book of Icelandic fiction, and I guess I had Iceland in the back of my head," he said.
Another engineer heavily involved in Dalvik, Andy McFadden, also testified today about the inner workings of how Dalvik operated.
By the end of the day, even Alsup seemed to tire of the detailed technical testimony. "Tell us where we're going to wind up on this long, tortuous road," he asked Google attorney Matthias Kamber.
"We're trying to illustrate the process of field resolution," answered Kamber.
"How long is this going to take?" Alsup asked.
"I was going to suggest we break here," Kamber said.
"Well I think that's a grand idea," Alsup said, to light laughter on all sides.
McFadden will retake the stand tomorrow morning.
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This morning I drove to Bamboo Sourcery in Sebastopol, CA to pick up six bamboos I had ordered. I couldn’t help but feel sad knowing that in all likelihood this would be my last visit. In September, Bamboo Sourcery announced that they would cease operations in November (they recently extended this deadline by a couple of weeks). I don’t know what the reasons are, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the economy. They must have been affected by the dramatic downturn of the housing market in California and the attendant decrease in landscaping business.
What makes the closure of Bamboo Sourcery even more poignant is the fact that this isn’t just a backyard business with limited stock. Bamboo Sourcery was a major player in the industry, offering as many as 300 varieties, including many obscure ones that few other nurseries carried. Their 8-acre facility in the hills on the western edge of Sebastopol, about 20 minutes from the coast, comprises the nursery and sales operations, several houses as well as demonstration gardens with mature specimens of many running and clumping species, all clearly labeled. Walking through the clumping bamboo garden this morning, all I could hear was the rustle of leaves—no cars, no people, no man-made sounds. I kept wondering what will happen to this magical place with its thousands of bamboos. I don’t know if they will find a buyer for the nursery, or whether a shroud of benign neglect will settle on this hilly property. It would be a shame to lose this unique resource. Maybe it can be turned into a non-profit botanical garden?
|Entrance to Bamboo Sourcery, with a beautiful specimen of Fargesia nitida 'Nymphenburg' (commonly known as “fountain bamboo”)|
|Office trailer, surrounded by mature bamboos|
|Planting next to the office; Otatea acuminata aztecorum on the left and Sasa palmata 'Nebulosa' on the right|
|Plants waiting for customer pickup|
|Row of 25-gallon containers|
|Phyllostachys viridis ‘Robert Young’ (yellow) with one culm of Phyllostachys nigra (black)|
|Mature specimen of Himalayacalamus asper, a tightly clumping mountain bamboo from Tibet. Not very cold-hardy |
(rated to 15°F) and not very tolerant of high summer temperatures either. Appears to do really well in coastal locations.
|Another clump of Himalayacalamus asper on the right, with Phyllostachys angusta (stone bamboo) on the left)|
|Trail through the clumping bamboo garden|
|Gate to the lower propagation area|
|My haul, to be planted in the stock tanks and containers in our back yard|
Bamboo Sourcery appears to be sold out of the most popular varieties in 1- and 5-gallon sizes, but they still have lots of 15- and 25-gallon plants—these are impressive plants for instant effect. Varieties less in demand are still available in smaller sizes. The price list on their web site is updated daily so check there if you’re looking for something specific.
If you live in Northern California and want a great deal on bamboos, you have until December 18th to make the drive to Sebastopol in Sonoma County, about an hour north of San Francisco. Unfortunately November 29th was the last day for shipping so no more mail orders. Contact information and driving directions are on their web site.
UPDATE 4/13/11: Bamboo Sourcery re-opened for business on March 15, 2011. For more details, visit their web site.
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President Mahuad is in hiding. Mid level colonels have taken over the government in Ecuador and the country is in political chaos.
Starvation and unemployment created by too many foreign loans, caused inflation presently running at 60%.
The IMF bonebreakers have been insisting interest be paid on the loans and forced inflation and austerity measures.
Poor people in crowds were jubilant in the Carondelet Palace.
No violence yet, but a few bonfires on street corners in Quito the capital and the coastal port of Guayaquil. The leader of the coup is Col. Lucio Gutierrez. He has formed a junta with a Supreme Court magistrate Carlos Solorzano and Antonio Vargas leader of the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nations of Indians of Ecuador.
The group say that the democracy of Ecuador based on the Spanish colonial model is a SHAM! It is manipulated by wealthy business owners and riddled by corruption.
The armed forces are divided at this point in time. Mid-level officers against senior officers.
The USA aid, Inter-American Bank and World Bank loans will be cut off to the country says the USA.
The old president Bucaram living in exile in Panama used to be friends with Colonel Gutierrez, but he was deposed three years ago, in a coup by wealthy groups in Quito and Guayaquil and thrown out of office by a corrupt Congress controlled by the wealthy families.
About 3000 indians broke through police barricades to storm the empty congress building and the mid level army officers supported them.
Gildardo Esquivel said " the corrupt politicians who put this president in power aren't saying anything. They are silent with their overseas bank accounts."
"Only the 200 richest Ecuadoreans, those who have always impoverished the nation will be against this. They are already getting their air tickets to leave the country," said Jose Maria Cabazcango an Indian leader.
Belize has been studying the effects of too much foreign loans and methods of achieving democracy that is more participatory than either the Latin Spanish colonial centralized political party controlled models and the U.K. British Empire colonial model which is similar. Attempting to achieve self-sufficiency and cut back on foreign debt and work within a balanced budget is also a problem in Belize, much like Ecuador. Ecuador is ahead of the curve, but Belize is not far behind in the same sort of eventual troubles under the current political constitution.
Indigenous leaders sounded almost gleeful in Ecuador, as they observed the sudden vacuum of power and the collapse of the political parties. Inflation is more damaging to a country than a war.
Belizeans concerned about central political party control of government and a rising billion dollar debt are watching the events in Ecuador closely, to see if what and any lessons can be learned from the events in Ecuador.
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A lady in the neighbourhood of that old town, much celebrated for her charities, died, and great sorrow was felt for her loss. Many masses were celebrated, and many prayers offered up for the repose of her soul, and there was a moral certainty of her salvation among her acquaintance. One evening, after the family had retired to rest, a servant girl in the house, a great favourite with her late mistress, was sitting beside the fire, enjoying the dreamy comfort of a hard-worked person after the day's fatigues, and just before the utter forgetfulness of sleep. Her mind was wandering to her late loved mistress, when she was startled by a sensation in her instep, as if it were trodden upon. "Bad manners to. you for a dog," said she, suspecting the "coley" of the house to be the offender. But to her great terror, when she looked down and round the hearth, she could see no living thing. "Who's that?" she cried out, with the teeth chattering in her head. "It is I," was the answer, and the dead lady became visible to her. "Oh, mistress darling!" said she, "What is disturbing you, and can I do anything for you?" "You can do a little," said the spirit, "and fhat is the reason I have appeared to you. Every day and every hour some one of my friends are lamenting me, and speaking of my goodness, and that is tormenting me in the other world. All my charities were done only for the pleasure of having myself spoken well of, and they are now prolonging my punishment. The only real good I ever did was to give, once, half-a crown to a poor scholar that was studying to be a priest, and charging him to say nothing about it. That was the only good act that followed me into the other world. And now you must tell my husband and my children to speak well of my past life no more, or I will' haunt you night after night." The appearance, the next moment, was no longer there, and the poor girl fainted the moment it vanished. When she recovered, she hastened into her settle-bed, and covered herself up, head and all, and cried and sobbed till morning.
Every one wondered the next day to see such a troubled countenance. But she went through her business one way or other, though she could not make up her mind to tell her master what she had seen and heard. She dreaded the quiet hour of rest; and well she might, for the displeased lady visited her again at the same hour, and reproached her for her neglect. Three times she endured the dread visits before she made the required revelation.
Some readers will give us no thanks for the next two sketches; of course we feel all suitable sorrow.
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Modiin to Challenge ‘Mistaken’ EU Decision
Modiin Mayor Chaim Bibas said Tuesday that European Union officials are mistaken in refusing to label his city as part of Israel.
“This decision is a mistake that does not correlate with the facts on the ground,” he declared. “Modiin-Maccabim-Reut is an indivisible part of the state of Israel.”
“More than 80,000 people live here, and it is considered one of the most quickly developing, and leading, cities in Israel,” he added.
Bibas extended an invitation to EU representatives to visit the city “and to understand their mistake.”
EU officials decided not to include Modiin on a list of cities considered to be part of Israel for the purposes of a 1995 trade agreement. Instead, the city has been included with the Golan, eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria (Shomron) as an area not considered part of the country.
Unlike the other regions on the list, Modiin was not under Syrian or Jordanian control following the 1948 War of Independence. EU officials argued that the land the city is on was considered “no-man’s land” from 1948 to 1967, which, they said, makes it not truly a part of Israel.
Bibas said he has spoken to senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, about the “unfortunate” decision. “The matter is being dealt with at the highest levels,” he said.
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Navigating the New Market
Click here to read more articles about Hot Water
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2012
issue of Home Energy Magazine.
July 01, 2012
An Overview of High-Efficiency Natural-Gas and Electric Water Heaters
On a routine service call, you find that your client’s water heater is over ten years old and nearing the end of its service life. Your client is looking to lower her utility bill but is unsure what kind of water heater will best suit her family’s needs. The last time her water heater failed, she just bought the latest version of the existing water heater. More recently, she has heard about some of the new products on the market, such as tankless and heat pump water heaters. As her trusted advisor, you have the job of selecting the best water heater for your client. Understanding the benefits and shortcomings of each type of water heater—from the standpoint of energy savings as well as amenities—will help you to choose the right model. This article examines the new market for whole-house gas- and electric-fueled water heaters. An article in a future issue of Home Energy will explore alternative water-heating strategies, including solar-thermal and geothermal water heating.
To read complete online articles, you need to sign up for an Online Subscription.
Once an order has been placed there is an automatic $10 processing fee that will be deducted with any cancellation.
The Home Energy Online articles are for personal use only and may not be printed for distribution. For permission to reprint, please send an e-mail to email@example.com.
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Prevented plant policiesBISMARCK, N.D. — Today’s column takes a lead from Jonathan Knutson’s April 18 Agweek column.
By: Derrick Braaten, Special to Agweek
BISMARCK, N.D. — Today’s column takes a lead from Jonathan Knutson’s April 18 Agweek column. Among the most frequently asked questions to Jonathan was: “What’s the biggest issue in area agriculture right now?” His answer was, “Getting in the crop. Most of the Northern Plains is wet, which will delay planting. The delays could be so severe and widespread that a lot of acres might not get planted.”
If you are prevented from planting this spring, there are a few things that lawyers in my firm have learned through the years by representing farmers with prevented plant claims.
To collect under your policy, you need to show that you were unable to plant because of an insured cause of loss that also prevented others in the area from planting acres with similar characteristics.
To prove this, we recommend you keep a detailed farm journal showing your fall preparations field by field and the weather (temperature, snowfall, rain) at your farm. And it is helpful if you take photos or videos that show the field conditions during the planting period for the crop you intended to plant.
If you can afford it (and it may pay for itself), buy a digital camera that will record the GPS coordinates where the photo was taken as well as the date of the photo. A dated photo with GPS coordinates for the particular field is much more persuasive than a standard photo of a generic wet field.
Because the success of a prevented plant claim also depends on when other farmers in your area were able to plant, talk to your neighbors and, if they are agreeable, use your fancy camera to show that surrounding fields similar to yours also could not be planted before the final planting date.
You also must prove that you had the inputs available to plant and produce the crop. Keep good records on your readiness to plant, such as contracts to buy seed and fertilizer, having adequate machinery and so on.
Call an agent
Be sure to promptly report your difficulty in planting to your agent. Don’t forget also to report the same information to the Farm Service Agency office in case there is a later crop disaster program. Work with your agent if you have questions.
Finally, don’t be in a panic to accept an insurance company offer that you think is based on inaccurate conclusions. The policy provides one year within which you can demand arbitration if you dispute the company’s factual findings. I strongly recommend that you use a lawyer as soon as possible if you need to go for arbitration.
On that note, I’d like to make a personal announcement. I started to practice law in 1970. It has been a wonderful career, especially working with family farmers and ranchers, but now I would like to have more time for family, fun (I am signed up for the National Senior Olympics triathlon this June.) and travel.
I will keep practicing “good guy” law in Bismarck, N.D., (I only represent the good guys) but less intensely. My partners, Beth Baumstark and Derrick Braaten, (with whom I still will be associated) will shortly be making a major announcement, so stay tuned. As part of the transition, Derrick Braaten, — my brilliant, hard-working, and energetic law partner who is as devoted to working for family farmers as I am — is taking over this Ag-vocate column. So, this is my farewell column — unless Derrick gives me an occasional guest spot. Stay in touch, please.
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Recently, I learned that inmates at the Butler County Prison sometimes consider the food there inedible. “Mystery” meat and gravies, and many times scarce portions of anything recognizable, are just a few complaints.
I contacted county health department officials. To my surprise, I was informed that the department does not oversee prison food; it is in fact the county Department of Corrections’ responsibility.
I then contacted the state Office of County Inspection and Services director and was told federal guidelines under Title 37 require that “written local policy must specify that each inmate be provided a daily diet that is nutritionally adequate for the maintenance of good health.”
Also, I learned how prison inspections are handled. The Butler County Prison is notified in advance as to the date and time an inspection will be conducted. If the prison passes that inspection, another inspection is not conducted the following year.
That means two years elapse between inspections.
The OCIS director‘s website says: “Corrective action, if any, is solely the decision of the warden and the county administrator/prison board of that facility.”
While the OCIS has inspection oversight responsibility of county correctional facilities, the oversight is specific to Title 37 issues; the office does not have daily operational and investigative responsibilities. Any concern regarding a county facility should be directed to the warden of the facility.
I contacted prison officials and met with the warden and two deputy wardens. I was informed that the food served in our local prison is based on caloric count (3,000 per day), not nutritional value.
I was assured that the food served to inmates meets federal guidelines as outlined in Title 37, which states: “Regular and alternative menus shall be approved and signed by a registered dietician or licensed physician, or both, and the prison administrator on an as-needed basis, but no less than on an annual basis.” I was told that the dietician who works at Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center signs off on the prison food to deem it nutritionally adequate.
I called to verify this with the said dietician and was informed that the prison menus have not been reviewed for nutritional value for the last five years.
The current prison board members are Judge William Shaffer, District Attorney Richard Goldinger, Sheriff Mike Slupe and the three county commissioners. I would encourage all concerned family members of prisoners to attend the next prison board meeting at 8:45 a.m. March 26 to express their concerns.
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Posted by: Kathleen Cantrell
Time: 9:45 AM
I would call myself a ‘light’ shade of green. I am the kind of mom who wants life made easier for herself and her family. At times being ‘green’ requires work that I simply don’t have time for, but since April is earth month, I thought I would attempt to make a few small steps to be more aware of my environment. My first step was a trip to the book store; every good ‘greenie’ needs to do their research.
The book that I choose was Green goes with Everything, by Sloan Barnett. It was an easy read and well organized. After reading the book, I must admit that I was a bit disturbed by all of the chemicals I was using inside my own home. I was making my home a toxic landfill of sorts. Geez, no wonder my asthma was getting worse with all of my spring cleaning. So, I decided to do a little test. I clipped coupons online, went to the store and bought all organic cleaners with ingredients I could actually pronounce. After a week of using these products, I can truly breathe easier. My little one can even help me as I clean, whereas before I was so worried about her inhaling fumes. My husband even noticed and mentioned that he felt as though his asthma subsided. Instead of using sprays to freshen the room, I open the windows to let the real ‘fresh air’ in. If I desire a scent within the room, I’ll simply light a soy scented candle.
This month I learned that regardless what shade of green we are, we can all do something for the environment. Quite often, what we decide to do improves our well being just as much as it helps the environment. I am even teaching my little one about cleaning, and we can actually breathe while we clean! I can teach my little one that the way we clean impacts everyone on the planet; we are truly learning about being little citizens of the world.
Below are two green recipes that my friend Amy gave me. I hope they assist you on your venture towards becoming a ‘greenie’ regardless what shade you intend to be!
The Green Germ Killer
2 cups rubbing alcohol
12 drops of a scented oil of your choice (I prefer ylang ylang oil)
Wood Floor Cleaner
(And it leaves no sticky residue!)
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup hot water
10 drops sweet orange oil (or essential oil of your choice)
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“Your father had returned from Paris, and my
guardian was keeping me in close confinement. I was impatient, however, to
know the issue of his journey. I bribed one of my keepers, and contrived to
send the following letter to Jacobus: --
“’ Full of socotrine aloe and touch-me-not,
I must have, cost what it may, an Indian cane. My guardian assures me that
you have given me over to the wind-flower. But I have hawthorn that his is a
shameful bugloss. Ah! How much have I endured since our Virginian jessamine!
Your presence will restore my buck-bean. No clematis shall again disturb our
large broom-tape,. I shall expect you in the ruins of the old castle, at
yellow goats-beard precisely.’
“What I meant was this: --
“’I am full of grief and
impatience. I must have an interview with you, cost what it may. My guardian
assures me that you have deserted me. I hope that this is an infamous
falsehood. How much have I suffered since we were separated! But your
presence will restore my tranquility. No artifice shall hereafter disturb
our union. I shall expect you in the ruins of the old castle, at precisely
“I shall remember this all my life. It was
a cypress of black hellebore, -- or on a Friday in the month of January.
“I set out for the old ruined castle, and
reached it just before yellow goats-beard, that is, before two had struck on
the steeple-clock. I waited one hour – two hours, -- three hours, -- but no
one came. I called Jacobus, and echo alone answered by call. Seeing that
night was at hand, I returned to my guardian, believing myself deserted, and
resolved not to survive it. I accused your father of being unfaithful,
Jacobus, when, in fact, the only one guilty was myself, or rather, the
language of flowers.
“As I had not by me a poison sufficiently
active, I put off my suicide till the morrow. Fortunate thought! The next
day I was informed, that, at early dawn, the shepherds of the valley had
found a man frozen, in the ruins of the old castle. This man was your
“Instead of writing to him, -- ‘I shall
expect you at mouse-ear hawkweed,’ which means two o’clock in the afternoon,
I had appointed the meeting at ‘yellow goats-beard,’ which means two o’clock
in the morning.
“The flower-language had nearly caused the
death of your father and your mother. You see to what the study of the
languages may lead us. You see, too, how it was that your father bore all
his life the mark of a frostbitten nose. And yet this did not prevent us
from being happy, or from having a son.”
Jacobus the son threw himself, weeping,
into his mother’s arms.
“And now, as I have shown you that I know
more than she does,” said the good dame, with a threatening look at the
Pansy, “let me get my broom, that I may drive this poor wretch out of
But the Pansy did not await the old woman’s
return. She had already departed in consternation, at having learned that
her origin was merely the Panosée.
Instead of representing the most exalted of
human faculties, the poor flower was but the symbol of a vain and worthless
beauty. It was enough to make one even less refined than the Pansy,
disgusted with the world.
Jacobus had an attack of jaundice in
consequence of the hoax which had thus been put upon him. He is yet in
pursuit of that brilliant idea which is to make him cabinet-minister, or
first valet de chamber to the king. France, which has so long been expecting
an epic poem, must still rest satisfied with the Henriade.
The reader will find in the course of this
work, the elements of that flower-language which is spoken at the present
day by men of fancy, like Jacobus.
|
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THIS YEAR'S ELECTION-NIGHT hot spot was the fourth floor of the Westin Hotel, where a ballroom full of Democrats awaited the arrival of a victorious Patty Murray.
Nursing their $4 Cokes and hovering around a buffet table containing various permutations of chips and dip, the Democratic faithful celebrated the party's retaking of the state Senate and loudly cheered Murray and a host of party leaders during their turns at the podium.
Nationally, the Democrats won big by winning small. Although the election didn't change the numbers in the US Senate and saw the Democrats pick up just five House seats, this was the first time since 1934 that the incumbent president's party actually gained seats in Congress.
In Washington state, the Democrats just plain won big, sweeping the key races needed to take control of the state Senate and earning a narrow majority in the House—a result that is expected to make state Rep. Frank Chopp (D-43rd) the first Speaker of the House from Seattle in more than three decades.
Seattle election-party hoppers needed running shoes, as early celebrations were the theme for the night. Murray finished the evening with the same 58 percent of the vote she started with, and the medical marijuana initiative (I-692) was up by 10 points early. Democrats also took—and kept—leads in the state's two close US House races: Jay Inslee won in the 1st District; Brian Baird in southwest Washington's 3rd.
The scarce Republican wins were equally emphatic; anti-affirmative-action Initiative 200 and the Republican-backed transportation bond issue, Referendum 49, both led by 20 points early and won by slightly smaller margins. (On the other hand, I-694—the partial-birth abortion ban—lost by 16 points.)
How'd the Dems do it? It appears that an election that spurred unprecedented levels of television advertising was won with the ground game. Democrats and their allies—especially organized labor—sunk their resources into a get-out-the-vote drive. "The Democrats, for the first time, had what I would call a very grown-up, coordinated campaign," says Seattle political consultant Cathy Allen.
POST-ELECTION ANALYSIS stressed the word "moderation" to sum up the election—although a better word might be "dull." With the national economy doing well, the budget more or less balanced, and Republican congressional leaders at least as unpopular as President Bill Clinton, political operatives faced what US Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) characterized as "an issueless race." So the two parties ran with traditional themes ("Those Democrats just want to raise taxes"; "Those Republicans pretend to be your friends, but they're really out to help rich people"). They poured money into television ads. They commissioned numerous polls. The wallets of political consultants grew fatter. Then the voters returned fire with a few strong statements of their own, to wit:
* Abortion is dead as a statewide issue. Washington voters legalized abortion in 1970, upheld abortion funding for low-income women in 1984, and brought state laws into line with the federal Roe v. Wade decision in 1991. But the last two wins were by small margins; in notable contrast, 57 percent of state voters opposed I-694. "I think [abortion] is pretty much a settled issue in this state," says Marilyn Knight, press coordinator for the No on 694 campaign. The Republicans' loss of the state Senate should also cool efforts to erode abortion rights through new restrictions. Even pro-life Republican consultant Brett Bader says, "For those who have been telling us we have to lead with that issue, they're dead wrong."
*State voters don't see racial preferences as a right. Painful as this message was to liberal King County (which rejected I-200 by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin), the state electorate enthusiastically embraced the anti-affirmative-action initiative. A last-minute swing against 200 detected by pollsters failed to materialize at the ballot box. "Affirmative action is one of those things that people keep very close to their vest how they feel," says Seattle City Council member Nick Licata. "In the privacy of the voting booth, I think a lot of true feelings came out. Which is a sad commentary, because it shows how deep the racial divisions are in this state." Bader says the numbers were close at various points in the campaign, but I-200's television spots reversed the trend, and the large Democratic turnout actually boosted the initiative's winning margin.
*The Republican Party lacks candidates of statewide stature. Linda Smith drew just 42 percent at the top of the Republican ticket, roughly what fellow Christian conservative Ellen Craswell managed in the 1996 governor's race. "In the last two years, the Republican Party managed to nominate two women for statewide office who scare women voters to death—and that's just ludicrous," says Bader. In King County, which has a fairly close balance between Republicans and Democrats, Smith got a stunningly low 31 percent. The key for Republicans is to get their two most popular US House reps, Bellevue's Jennifer Dunn and Spokane's George Nethercutt, to consider statewide runs. Bader puts legislator and party chair Dale Foreman at that same level, but admits, "We don't have a deep bench beyond that."
*Seattle voters are willing to raise their property taxes for essential services. The library bond issue's astounding 72 percent approval rate echoed the similar margin last year for the Seattle Schools operating levy and a companion technology proposal. Supporters point to the lengthy public process used in drafting the library plan. "I think the victory is largely due to [new city librarian] Deborah Jacobs," says Licata. "She listened and acted, and that's not that common for public officials."
The group that most needs to catch the moderation theme is the state GOP. Perhaps the lesson of Craswell and Smith will convince state Republicans to unite behind moderate primary candidates. "Linda Smith did worse than Ellen Craswell against a weaker opponent in a stronger year," says Bader. "We cannot expect our candidates to run 20 points ahead of the top of the ticket to win."
Despite depressed numbers throughout the region, the Republicans only lost a pair of Republican legislative seats on the Eastside, and those belonged to two of their most right-wing officeholders: Mike Sherstad (1st District) and Bill Backlund (45th District). Although Democrats see this as a positive development, nobody thinks the Republicans' "Fortress Eastside" will be seriously breached anytime soon. Both losers were mediocre legislators with strong opposition, and the 1st has become a legitimate swing district, capable of electing candidates from either party.
Seattle liberals enraged by the Democratic Party's journey to the middle of the political road better get used to the trend. Allen says the party victory "was led by [Gov.] Gary Locke and his new definition of Democrat. We stole that big tent that the Republicans are always talking about."
And while Locke and the Democrats are tiptoeing around the issue of their new, majority-party legislative program (the governor has already announced that he does not plan to seek a gas tax increase next session), the faithful don't expect the party to squander its dominant status. Licata wants to see the city of Seattle put new emphasis on its legislative wish list. "If there's ever a chance to get urban-friendly legislation passed," he says, "it's going to be now."
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It still amazes Jessica when colleagues ask her for advice about healthy food choices, exercises or Texas Health Resources' BeHealthy wellness program. That's because five years ago, Jessica took daily blood pressure medication and weighed 103 pounds more than she does today.
"People ask my advice. They email me. They share their struggles and say I'm an inspiration," says Jessica, operations manager for Texas Health HEB's laboratory. "It's a great feeling to be a role model. I never thought that would happen."
Almost 14 years ago, she collapsed and was rushed to the Emergency Department at Texas Health HEB, where she was already working. Doctors determined that she had a heart murmur and high blood pressure.
"My father had open heart surgery when I was in my 20s. I almost lost him," said Jessica, who is now 30. "After seeing what he went through and after having my daughter in 2008, I decided I had to make a change."
In 2008, Jessica joined Weight Watchers @ Work, offered through BeHealthy. At that time, she weighed 265 pounds and committed to a starting weight loss goal of five pounds.
Her weight loss was dramatic the first year as she made healthy eating choices and started an exercise regime. She credits the structure and accountability of the Weight Watchers program for helping keep her on-track.
Now, five years later and more than 100 pounds lighter, Jessica no longer needs blood pressure medication. She brings her lunch every day and enjoys cooking meals at home. Her favorite recipe to make is Weight Watchers' taco soup.
Jessica's exercise program includes 60 to 90 minutes of cardio in the gym five to six times a week. She's also mapped out a one-mile walking trail around Texas Health HEB.
"I enjoy doing a combined high-speed and high-incline walk on the stair machine, treadmill or elliptical. It really makes me feel like I'm challenging myself," Jessica said. "I also enjoy weight training, and now I can say with no shame I love getting into my swimsuit and going swimming! I have reprogrammed myself to live a healthy lifestyle and enjoy doing it."
Jessica has even registered to run in her first marathon in February. And, even though she's lost 103 pounds, Jessica's goal is to shed 21 more pounds by this August.
"I have lots of accountability," she said. "We have a weigh in every Thursday and now that people know my story, they watch me! I have to do what's right. It's for me but also for them. I don't want to let them down."
The American Heart Association recently commended Jessica's journey and success. She received the organization's Fit-Friendly Recognition Award from the Dallas chapter.
"Jessica has made great strides in health improvement and lifestyle change. We are very proud of the progress she has made," said Kami Gilbert, a Texas Health Wellness Administrator, who nominated her. "It is exciting to see our employees embrace wellness and make lasting lifestyle changes to improve their health."
Jessica's advice to anyone who wants to make a lifestyle change is to be structured and disciplined.
"It's never too late to start. It's never too hard. Just take baby steps and have a strong will," she said. "If your will doesn't match your desire, you'll never make your goal."
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Tempe, AZ -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/23/2012 -- Phone Services, a website that provides information on the country’s Lifeline Assistance program, recently launched its user-friendly and easy-to-navigate site with the aim of spreading the word about government assisted cell phone service and destroying public misconceptions about this helpful service.
The new website, www.phoneservices.us, is devoted to helping cash-strapped Americans learn more about free government cell phones and the programs that make them possible: the Lifeline Assistance and Link Up government mandated programs. These free cell phone programs can be play a vital role in getting out of work Americans the jobs they so desperately need, states the Phone Services website.
As the economy continues to struggle and the unemployment rate remains high, millions of Americans are still out of work. Times are tough for many families, and most have had to cut back on necessities in order to make ends meet. But as anybody who has ever been stranded on the side of the road with car trouble, missed a call from their child’s school telling them their son or daughter was ill, or was unable to connect with a potential employer to get a new job, in this day and age cell phones are not just a “luxury”—they are definitely a “necessity.”
Thanks to the federally mandated Lifeline Assistance and Link Up programs, people who participate in a qualifying government assistance program or live below the poverty line can now have access to a free basic cell phone and up to 250 free cell phone minutes a month.
As an article on the newly launched Phone Services website explained, while the idea of getting a free cell phone may seem too good to be true, it is a reality for the millions of low income and unemployed Americans people struggling to make ends meet. The website is devoted to getting the word out about this amazing program.
“On the Phone Services website visitors can find comprehensive information on the many free cell phone carriers operating in the United States,” an article on the website notes, adding that the Phone Services website also provides details on the best regional free cell phone providers and eligibility criteria for each free cell phone carrier.
“If you want to find out if free cell phone service is available in your state, we have a list of states where free cell phone service is available and step by step instructions for qualifying for service in your state. This really takes the guess work out of choosing the best carrier in your state and qualifying for service.”
The four largest free government cell phone providers currently involved in the helpful Lifeline Assistance program include Assurance Wireless, Budget Wireless, Reachout Wireless and Safelink Wireless. Phone Services has a complete write up on each carrier and detailed instructions for qualifying for service for each one.
Before people apply for free cell phone service, it is advised that visitors take the time to browse through the many helpful articles on the Phone Services website to determine which free cell phone service will meet their needs the best. Depending on which state an applicant resides in, he or she may have one or more options that are available. In these cases, it is best to know the options ahead of time. Not all carriers offer the same services and depending on the person’s phone usage, one carrier may be better than others.
About Phone Services
Phone Services was launched in 2012 with the goal of providing the most detailed information about the nation’s Lifeline Assistance program. The Lifeline Assistance program is a valuable service that can help struggling families make ends meet. For more information, please visit http://www.phoneservices.us
Copyright © 2005-2013 - SBWire, The Small Business Newswire - All Rights Reserved - Important Disclaimer
Contact Us: 888-4-SBWIRE (US) - 920-321-1250 (International)
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ConocoPhillips explores for, produces, transports and markets crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids, liquefied natural gas and bitumen on a worldwide basis. The portfolio includes assets in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia; growing North American shale and oil sands businesses; a number of international development projects, and a global exploration program. As of December 31, 2011, it conducted exploration activities in 19 countries and produced hydrocarbons in 13 countries, with proved reserves located in 15 countries. Its production averaged 1.57 million billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day for the nine months ended September 30, 2012. The Company�s proved reserves were 8.4 BOE as of December 31, 2011. On May 1, 2012, the Company spun off the downstream portion of its operations to Phillips 66. In August 2012, it closed a transaction with LUKOIL for the sale of ConocoPhillips� indirect 30% interest in NaryanMarNefteGaz (NMNG) and certain related assets.
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Not a single life should have been lost in this week's mass murder at Virginia Tech.
For Columbia County and Lakeside High School, the loss of one particular life leaves a much bigger void than the rest.
Just a month away from graduation with a 4.0 average and three majors, 2002 Lakeside grad Ryan "Stack" Clark, 22, lost his life for doing his job.
Authorities say Clark, a resident assistant in a Virginia Tech dorm, was investigating a disturbance between the shooter, 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui and a girl. An autopsy Thursday shows Clark was shot once in the head from close range and died instantly.
Sports pages casually call athletes "heroes" for their exploits, to the point that watering-down the term has caused a backlash: Many of us are sticklers for applying the word only to people such as police officers, firefighters or soldiers.
What those people have in common is that their job involves self-sacrifice, sometimes of their own lives.
Ryan Clark was a resident assistant, which means much of his work was spent with such mundane things as asking other students to turn down their stereos. But that position also would have made him a peer counselor, and in Monday's shooting, a protector.
Clark died in what by all accounts was an effort to protect a young woman. He walked into a situation that cost him his life.
Ryan Clark died a hero. The painful truth for our community is that he shouldn't have died at all.
Please: Though it's been said elsewhere, it bears repeating. Keep his family in your prayers, along with the families of all the other Virginia Tech victims - and yes, that includes the grieving family of the warped young man responsible for all 33 deaths.
And Clark's family, which includes his twin brother, Bryan, also a 2002 LHS grad, could use your help, too. Donations to Ryan Clark's Memorial Fund are accepted at any Georgia Bank and Trust branch.
May a good young man, gone far too soon, rest in peace.
Bill shot down
The Virginia Tech shooting has, of course, been analyzed every way possible, from those blaming firearms to those wondering why more guns weren't there to deter the murderer.
One side-effect of the shooting was to help eliminate the passage of an ill-advised bill in the Georgia Legislature that would have prohibited employers from preventing their employees from bringing weapons in their vehicles onto company parking lots.
The debate was between private property rights of the employers vs. the gun rights of the employees, and the National Rifle Association pushed the bill to such obnoxious, threatening excess that some of their strongest supporters got squeamish.
The Virginia Tech shooting says a lot more about mental health than it does guns. But in its aftermath, just about anyone would be squeamish about pushing gun legislation.
In a week of horrendous losses, one that just about went unnoticed was the death of Bobby Plymale.
Of course, just about no one outside his family knew Dick Shannon by his real name. And few of them had ever seen Plymale until his photo ran with his obituary.
If not for that picture, most fans would think of him as larger than life. That's the effect of the famed DJ's time on air during the golden age of WBBQ, and later with oldies station WGOR.
He once joked to me that a few too many doughnuts led to his heart trouble. His loss leaves too many broken hearts.
Enjoy your permanent weekend, pal.
Barry L. Paschal is publisher of The Columbia County News-Times. E-mail comments to barry.paschal at newstimesonline.com.
The Columbia County News-Times ©2013. All Rights Reserved.
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For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
May 21, 2002
Mrs. Bush's Remarks to Roundtable Discussion at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Prague, Czech Republic
10:47 A.M. (L)
MRS. BUSH: Thank you so much, Tom. Thank you very much for inviting me today. And I'm looking forward to listening to each of you and hearing what you all have to say. But first, I can't resist applauding the important work that you and other organizations that you represent are doing in Afghanistan and many other places throughout the world.
Organizations including People-In-Need, Caritas, International Organization for Migration, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are delivering supplies, information and economic assistance to people who desperately need them. By doing so, you're delivering help and hope for a better life, one person at a time. You know better than anyone that the need is great. Thanks to you, the people of Afghanistan are learning that the world's concern for them is also great. The people of Afghanistan -- to the people of Afghanistan, you offer the outstretched hand of the world.
I'm meeting with you today not only to get an update and commend your work in Afghanistan, but also to focus on the critical importance of nongovernmental organizations, NGOs, in fostering a civil society, a society where freedom and democracy can flourish.
More than 25 American NGOs are currently working in Afghanistan. Together to other international organizations, they'll help rebuild the education system, integrate women back into society, and jumpstart small businesses through training and micro-lending programs. I don't think it's an overstatement to say that the work of NGOs formulates the glue that helps hold a civil society together.
The United States of America puts a lot of money into starting and strengthening NGOs, because they meet needs and foster communities in a way that government often cannot. Government can build schools and pay teachers, but it took the PTA to organize parental involvement and community investment in those schools. Government can provide money, as it did in setting up an American enterprise fund in the early days of democracy here in the Czech Republic. Yet it was the American Chamber of Commerce that helped identify emerging corporations and linked available money with aspiring people in a way to improve and invigorate the entire economy.
Also here in the Czech Republic, the Association for Education for Citizenship and Democracy has developed civic education curricula and trained teachers to help teach democratic values to the nation's young people. The Environmental Partnership Foundation has matched American environmental experts with local Czech leaders, resulting in many land stewardship and community development projects. The Broumov Center has sponsored community and cultural events to encourage tolerance, fight racism and promote cross-border cooperation with Poland and Germany. In all these examples, the United States government supports and helps fund the important work of nongovernmental organizations, because they strengthen the foundation of democracy.
Nongovernmental organizations are made up of highly motivated, caring people. They frequently do what government cannot do, providing humanitarian relief in places where local parties or ethnic groups are suspicious of government. They sometimes do what government will not do. NGOs helped deliver food to starving people in Afghanistan, even when the Taliban tried to block these deliveries.
Because they work at the local level, close to the people, NGOs generate new ideas to solve old problems. And always, they focus on individual human beings that we are trying to help. Our government works with NGOs around the world in much the same way that my husband wants our government to work with faith-based and community groups into our own country. His faith-based initiative recognizes what NGOs prove every day, that people who are motivated by their faith or by good will for their fellow man, people who have a passion to make a difference, are often far more effective at delivering help to people in need than government ever could be.
United States of America believes the work of NGOs is so important that our government will spend close to $1 billion worldwide this year on programs that help foster democracy and the civil society upon which it depends. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a great example. Radio Free Europe is a non-profit, private entity that is funded through a federal grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. By bringing news to people who need it, this radio service is widely credited with helping to end communism in Eastern and Central Europe. Polish leader Lech Walesa said its role was comparable to the one the sun plays to the earth.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty defines its fundamental mission as helping people create the conditions of freedom in which they can make decisions for themselves and for their countries. One of those conditions is information. Some of Radio Free Afghanistan's most important work right now is informing citizens about the Loya Jirga and what it means to their lives.
Another condition of freedom is freedom of association, an individual's ability to join with others of common interest and common concern. Freedom of association is often denied in the world's most repressive societies, as it was in Afghanistan when women were isolated and treated as virtual prisoners in their homes. Some of the most important work that NGOs will do in Afghanistan is helping women integrate back into society. After years of isolation, many women who are joyful about their new freedom are also understandably apprehensive and uncertain about how to take their place in society. NGOs can help bridge that gap with training, education and moral support, providing opportunities to bring together like-minded individuals and help them find a comfortable place.
All of you are here because you are committed to making a difference. On behalf of the American people, I thank you for the important work that you are doing. As you and your organizations work in Afghanistan and around the world, you're providing resources, training, education and a powerful example, an example of the best that a civil society has to offer.
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.
END 10:55 A.M. (L)
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Chief executive, Turning Point
Providing good services for the most vulnerable people is the first thing a new government must do. The economic crisis and need to cut public debt should not be an excuse to abandon the poor. Those who need help the most are often the least likely to have access to it, but a one-size-fits-all approach does not work for those with complex needs. This isn't just a moral argument, but also an economic one. Poverty costs a great deal in lost opportunity, social unease and the inevitable need to spend far more in the long term, putting right what negligence and the rush to satisfy political expediency has got wrong. Continuing to change how we commission public services will enhance provision. It needs to go beyond simple procurement and be able to cut across the current "silos" of public spending. We also need public service reform to be flexible and to support the integration of health, social care and housing services. This must be receptive to the value of third-sector organisations providing value for money. We cannot afford to stifle new ways of thinking that are flexible, innovative and efficient. And as with any change of provision, a new government must make working capital more available to help organisations scale up their activities to a national level.
Professor of social work, University of Nottingham
I'd like a government that rethinks and renews its relationship to agencies and professionals who work with need and risk. The response to disclosures of failures to protect children from extreme violence has been well-intentioned, but its intensity is driven by defences against anxiety and a governmental strategy of command and control of workers and management at the expense of promoting thoughtfulness and policy and practice based on an acceptance of risk and respect for expertise. Obsessive audit, inspection and micro-management of practice has created a system dominated by bureaucratic imperatives, time-wasting at computers and a blame culture that has seriously damaged the capacity of social workers and other professionals to prevent harm and provide therapeutic experiences and healing for service users. The next government has to listen to, and act on the expertise of professionals such as social workers, who need to be given space to breathe and think, and the opportunity to experience their professional integrity and worth. This in turn will provide social care with the huge challenge of rediscovering its own voice and capacity to act independently. This all needs to be embedded within an ideology of welfare and policies based on equality, redistribution of wealth, proper provision of universal services such as health visiting, securely funded therapy services and so on. It will take maturity, wisdom and political courage to do all of this, as well as intellectual vision. Let's hope we can soon make a start.
Director, the Nuffield Trust
We need to see a fundamental change in the way patient care is delivered. Too many people are admitted to hospital when their ill health could have been prevented by better GP care, managing their own conditions or through greater social care support. It often costs more than £2,000 every time a patient ends up in hospital – this is wasteful. The NHS has lost 30% of hospital beds in 30 years, and this will accelerate. Fewer hospitals will be better for us all. This will make life uncomfortable for politicians and policy-makers, but hospitals must downsize. To achieve this change, care must be more integrated across GP, community and social care services. It must revolve around the needs of patients – there must be far bigger rewards than now for keeping people healthy. This can't all be done using targets. The local NHS has to find its way ahead, nudged by the right incentives.
Chief executive, National Council for Voluntary Organisations
Our sector acts as a safety net for vulnerable people, so we need voluntary and community organisations to be properly valued and supported to help these individuals and build stronger communities. Politicians of all parties must respect our campaigning and advocacy role to ensure disadvantaged or marginalised people have their needs addressed. We want the next government to encourage people to be more active in their communities by giving all workers the right to at least five days' paid leave for volunteering, to seriously consider our campaign for a Community Day bank holiday and to ensure that local volunteer centres are adequately resourced. We also want a living wage, not just a minimum wage, and for everyone to have access to basic banking services and financial security. And we are proud to be a part of the Robin Hood Tax campaign, calling for a tiny levy on financial transactions to raise billions for vulnerable communities.
Chair, Local Government Association
Latest analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has revealed that those government departments whose funding will not be protected could see a 25% real-terms cut in the lifetime of the next parliament. To help ensure frontline services are protected, there needs to be a bonfire of the bureaucracy that all too often strangles local innovation, a radical scaling back of the quango state and devolution from the centre to the people that know their area best.
General secretary, Unison
We want a new commitment to local services that includes secure and stable funding, financial reform that allows councils to raise the resources they need, and an end to the breakneck privatisation that is tearing up our social care system and surrendering key functions to ever more powerful multinational companies. Real efficiency, improvement and innovation will mean engaging with, and investing in, the staff who deliver local services.
Chief executive, British Association of Social Workers
We want a Social Work Act to ensure that the profession has an effective statutory role through the College of Social Work. We also want protection of social work services, which are just as important to millions of people as those provided by health, education and the police; and a fair system that funds all forms of care through national insurance or general taxation. The protection of adults and children is of fundamental importance. We must have an amendment to the law to allow social workers to prevent hospital discharges for one week if arrangements are unsafe. We fear and dread a return to the neglect of our profession by any political party just as we are beginning to emerge into greater public recognition.
Charity director, Age UK
Social care for older people is starved of funding, the quality of the services is patchy and availability is limited. A comprehensive reform is urgently needed. With 2 million pensioners living on the breadline, the next government will also need to tackle poverty in old age. Re-linking pensions to earnings and working on a more automatic system to pay benefits should be top priorities. At the same time, to unlock older people's potential as consumers, workers and volunteers, age-based barriers such as forced retirement, upper age limits on insurance products and ageism in all its forms must be rooted out. Fast-tracking the planned increase to state pension age or cutting entitlements such as winter fuel payments may appear superficially attractive but in reality would unfairly penalise many of the poorest among workers and pensioners.
Chief executive, Counsel and Care
First and foremost, the next government must implement the recent white paper to create the national care service and deliver free care for all who need it. This historic reform to the current unfair and unsustainable care system is long overdue and must be taken forward urgently. All eyes will be on the national care commission (to be established after the election) to determine the best way to pay for the national care service. What can't be escaped is that we will all have to pay more for better care. We need a fair, simple and sustainable way to do so that shares the risks and costs of care collectively. In the meantime, access to good information and advice will help older people, their families and carers get the best support.
Enabling older people to play a full part in our society is central to changing attitudes and tackling ageism. Valuing older people and their many contributions is a key step towards valuing care for older people and those who provide it. We must look beyond health and social care to creating an age-friendly society where lifetime homes and lifetime neighbourhoods become the norm.
Acting chief executive, King's Fund
Our analysis shows that, by 2013-14, current spending plans will leave a £21bn gap between the most reliable estimates of NHS funding needs and the money likely to be available. To meet the increased demand from an ageing population, growing public health challenges and higher public expectations, the NHS will have to do much more with the same money. As the population ages, more people will be living longer with conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and dementia. These demand a fundamental shift in how care is delivered. In order to reduce inappropriate stays in hospital, more care must be delivered closer to where people live, including in their homes.
Although successive governments have understood the importance of preventing illness, there are still significant and growing public health challenges, including alcohol misuse and obesity. These will need action from government as well as the NHS and local authorities. Public health has been a soft target for spending cuts in the past. In a challenging economic climate, incoming ministers will need to hold their nerve and resist the temptation to sacrifice long-term gains in favour of policies that deliver short-term political dividends.
Finally, we must not let the momentum for reform of the social care system slow. The incoming government must make social care reform an early priority and build a cross-party consensus on the key elements of a new settlement that will stand the test of time. The prize for doing so – a fair and affordable care system that provides older people with independence, dignity and security – is a significant one.
Chief executive, Scope
Our priority for the next government is to tackle the crisis in social care and to ensure that the vision for personalised, user-controlled services and support is delivered in practice. This requires the development of local brokerage, quality information and advice services; the removal of legal and administrative barriers to developing more diverse, customer-driven, services; and a fair funding settlement for social care that can meet the costs of support for all disabled people who need it. Our fears are that public sector cuts will affect disabled people disproportionately, further rationing vital services and leaving many disabled people with inadequate support or reliant on charities where public services fail. We also want reassurances that further devolving decision-making to a local level will not mean disabled people lose out because their needs are not considered a priority.
Chief executive, United Response
How to respond to the increasing number of older and disabled people who rely on social care is a major challenge that can only be tackled through a smart, long-term approach to funding, with a focus on forward-thinking services that meet people's needs early and prevent their physical or mental health deteriorating – therefore requiring more costly care in the future. We must all work hard to enhance individuals' independence and ensure that potentially vulnerable people are able to remain active contributors in their local communities for as long as possible, receiving support as and when they need it. Already, too many of the 1.5 million people with learning disabilities in this country are not receiving services because their needs are not considered "critical". Further cuts will mean many more will lose the support they rely on to live meaningful lives and risk turning the clock back on the major progress of the last few decades. It would be a tragedy if this were allowed to happen.
Chief executive, Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations
In recent months we've been working closely with members to cement our sector's offering to the future government. We can deliver public services that not only better serve the needs of citizens and communities, but also bring savings to the public purse. It's an offer that, unsurprisingly, all three parties have gladly accepted. But will a new government put this into practice? We are going to need government to believe in the social and economic power of our third sector. We will need it to commit to developing a thriving social investment market based on a powerful social investment bank. Whoever is in government must push forward its development without delay and commit all the unclaimed assets to it.
Chief executive, Refugee Council
We work on a daily basis with people who have fled unimaginable acts of war, torture and persecution and who need protection in the UK. We will therefore be calling on whoever is elected to provide safety to refugees and to demonstrate strong political leadership on asylum. For too long, public debate has failed to differentiate between immigration and asylum. A new government must take a fresh approach, ensuring those fleeing persecution are protected and not embroiled in debates on economic migration. Instead of focusing on reducing numbers, the emphasis should be on creating a fair, humane and effective system that meets asylum seekers' needs – a system where decisions on asylum claims are correct first time and where asylum seekers are not forced into destitution but allowed to work. There is also an urgent need to abolish the deeply damaging and hugely costly practice of detention.
Chief executive, Shelter
With housing so inextricably linked to other social issues such as education and health, tackling our escalating housing crisis must be its urgent priority. Over the past few years, it has become harder for people to secure one of the most basic human needs: a decent and affordable home. This has a knock-on effect on all areas of life. For example, thousands of children perform badly at school because they lack security and a place to study, and more and more people become stressed and depressed as they struggle to keep a roof over their head.
First, the new government must focus on increasing the supply of desperately needed affordable homes. Second, it must take swift action to drive up standards and professionalism within the private rented sector. Last, it must ensure effective lifelines are in place for those at risk of losing their home in the recession – homeowners and renters alike – and make sure no one falls through the net.
Chief executive, Chartered Institute of Housing
The next government must prioritise housing or our wider recovery will take longer and be more painful. In 2008-09, we built 118,000 homes in England – half the number needed. The missing 100,000 homes mean that the average age of first-time buyers is 37 and the average deposit is more than £30,000. Waiting lists are heading towards 2 million. Half a million people are living in overcrowded conditions. Additional homes are key to recovery. Over the next parliament, it would mean almost half a million jobs, close to £6bn in tax, and a sizable impact on benefits. It could reduce government debt by more than £20bn. Spending our way out of trouble isn't an option, but three simple steps would make a difference.
First, move public housing funding to the European system of classification so that councils could borrow money to invest in social housing without it counting as public borrowing. This would mean tens of thousands of additional homes every year. Second, enable local authority planning and housing professionals to bring forward land for housing at speed. Third, make rental tenures more attractive for both consumers and investors.
Reforms in both private and social rented housing are long overdue. Failure to act will mean that our current dire situation will only get worse.
Chief executive, Citizens Advice
New ministers should start by looking at the £16.5bn of means-tested benefits and tax credits left unclaimed and set demanding targets to improve their take-up. They could then turn their attention to the new Employment and Support Allowance, which incorrectly assesses seriously ill and disabled people as "fit for work". Greater protection is also needed for vulnerable people. Aggressive repossession by lenders who leave families homeless must be tackled, as must creditors who are still unwilling to accept reasonable repayment offers from debtors. Scammers who prey on people with fake employment opportunities need to be taken to task. This isn't simply a question of justice and decency. It is about ensuring that economic recovery – when it comes – helps everybody, not just the lucky few.
Director, Howard League for Penal Reform
The need to reduce public spending over the coming years brings with it an opportunity to reverse the trend of ever-increasing prison populations that has characterised the last decade and a half. The criminal justice system needs to concentrate on building public confidence at a time of falling crime, by shrinking the prison estate and embracing justice reinvestment. This would mean shifting the zeitgeist towards local autonomy by investing in the communities where crime happens and looking for solutions beyond the confines of the criminal justice system. It would mean more local initiatives that divert people away from crime and making full use of community sentencing that can challenge and change individuals for the better. There will be difficult choices along the way and politicians should be frank with the public. Cuts in services can help frame the debate in a way that focuses our attention on what's really at stake: do we want more prisoners or more nurses and teachers?
Chief executive, Rethink
The next government has to accept – and act on – the fact that one in four people are affected by mental health problems. A shocking nine out of 10 people affected by mental illness say they have been the subject of discrimination. They may have been picked on at work, ostracised from their family, or spat at in the street. Such a stigma must be stopped in its tracks and outlawed in the same way as abuse on the grounds of gender, race, and sexuality. We want a government that will protect mental health services, support the most vulnerable and treat carers with the respect they deserve. But we also want a government that isn't afraid to make changes for the better. Too many people affected by mental illness end up in prison when a network of community based treatment services would not only be more effective but also more appropriate.
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The Evolution Deceit
Another report in daily Le Monde, by the paper’s Istanbul correspondent Guillaume Perrier, appeared on 8 February, 2007. The report contained an interview with officials from Global Publishing, which publishes the works of Harun Yahya:
CREATIONIST THESES ARE GAINING GROUND IN TURKEY
The spotlessly clean offices of Global Publishing in a popular district of Istanbul provide clear information about their activities. There is a large, red, illustrated book at one end of the conference table. This is the impressive “The Atlas of Creation” by Harun Yahya, sent to the French media, schools and universities at the end of January.
Founded in 2001, Global Publishing employs 92 people and publishes only works by Harun Yahya (consisting of books, films and Internet sites), who has produced a large number of works.
. . . The 50-year-old Harun Yahya (real name Adnan Oktar) is an author who has been publishing books about creation and faith for the last 20 years.
. . . In 2006, fossils proving that Darwin was in error were exhibited 350 times in Istanbul alone. Books written specially for children were distributed free of charge. Creationism is gradually taking root in Turkey.
Aykut Kence of the Middle EastTechnicalUniversity says: “Their theses have been appearing in schoolbooks since 1985. Nowadays it is impossible even to find the idea of evolution in primary schools. Many of the instructors produced in the last ten years have reverted to creationism. According to a survey by the Academy of Sciences, 75% of high school students in the country do not believe in evolution.”
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Pinnacle Psychotherapy London CBT therapy and counselling services UK
Helping you manage your life by managing your emotions
We all live increasingly stressful lives. And we all react to life’s stresses differently.
Some might turn in on themselves, sinking into depression, or turn to props such as drugs, alcohol or smoking to keep going. Others might try to stay in control by controlling other aspects of their lives — such as eating and weight or exercise routines.
Often people under stress or pressure, or with emotional or traumatic experiences to manage, develop anxiety, fears, phobias or habits. They might be less able to manage their anger, or suffer from insomnia or erratic sleep patterns.
Others might be under pressure to achieve — at work or as a partner, a parent or child — or feel stuck on a treadmill going nowhere. People not in work are under pressure to find jobs, or may be struggling to keep it all together without work. Some might have concerns about their identity or their relationships with family, friends, colleagues, the world. A few might face short term, demanding pressures, in sports performances or corporate events for example, and need to bolster themselves and boost their performance.
Relationships may be strained or broken, finances might be tight or dependent on debt, expectations could be high or non-existent, challenges might be impossible to face. Self-esteem could plummet, affecting performance or driving people into isolation.
If you are finding it difficult to cope with your life, psychotherapy and counselling can help.
Our approach to psychotherapy and counselling
We take an holistic approach to therapy - often blending therapies (such as psychotherapy and CBT, or cognitive behavioural therapy) together – so that each client receives the counselling services best for them – depending on what they are experiencing.
We know you may be delving deep into feelings and emotions which have been hidden, suppressed, denied, unrecognised, unacknowledged and that they need to be brought out and managed with sensitivity and respect. Whichever form of psychotherapy and counselling therapy you have, we will ensure you feel able to express your private thoughts and experiences in a safe, confidential environment.
If you want help with managing your emotions, so you can manage your life, and would like to consider psychotherapy and counselling services in London and Twickenham, do get in touch.
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Weather systems continue to churn away in the Atlantic, with Tropical Storm Kirk being upgraded to a hurricane, and Tropical Storm Leslie forming behind Kirk. The Bermuda Weather Service [BWS] has said that neither are a threat to Bermuda at this time, however Leslie could come near the island by the middle of next week.
Tropical Storm Leslie’s closest point of approach to Bermuda within 72 hrs is forecast to be 582 nm to the SSE at 6am on Monday [Sept 3], while Hurricane Kirk’s closest within 72 hrs is forecast to be 708 nm to the east at 3pm today [Aug 31].
In the forecast discussion BWS meteorologist James Dodgson said: “Hurricane Kirk (well to the ESE of Bermuda and not considered a threat) is now beginning to move N and is then expected to move rapidly NE as it gets caught in the upper westerlies. It is eventually expected to be absorbed by a mid-latitude front.
“Of more concern is TS Leslie, which is expected to come near to the Island by the middle of next week. Model consensus take the storm to our E, keeping us out of the worst winds. However, there is still a chance of TS force winds to affect the Island, and high surf/heavy swells are also expected, perhaps giving some significant beach erosion.”
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said that Tropical Storm Leslie — the 12th named storm of the season — is expected to strengthen, and could become a hurricane later today.
- City of Hamilton Hurricane Preparations
- Minister Perinchief: “Bermuda Has Been Blessed”
- EMO Statement: Airport, Roads, Schools & More
- Tropical Storm Warning Issued, Leslie Approaching
- A.S. Cooper’s Will Be Open On Saturday
- Gibbons Company: Open For Business On Saturday
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eso0745 — Organisation Release
A Colossus Gets its Name
ALMA Antenna Transporter Presentation
5 October 2007
Today, the first of the two ALMA antenna transporters was given its name at a ceremony on the compounds of the manufacturer, the heavy-vehicle specialist Scheuerle Fahrzeugfabrik GmbH, in Baden-Württemberg. The colossus, 10 metres wide, 20 metres long and 6 metres high, will be shipped to Chile by the end of the month. The second one will follow in a few weeks.
The transporter was named 'Otto' in honour of Otto Rettenmaier, the owner of the Scheuerle company. "The rather unusual move to name a vehicle is a recognition of the remarkable achievement these unique machines represent," said Hans Rykaczewski, the European ALMA Project Manager. "Their sizes alone would justify using superlatives to describe them. But they are also outstanding as they will operate at 5000 metres altitude, where the air is rare, and they have to be able to place 115-ton antennas with a precision of a few millimetres," he added.
"The ALMA antenna transporters are the proof of the excellence of our staff and of our ability to build heavy vehicles that are at the limits of the possible," said Otto Rettenmaier. "Never in the history of our company have we had to comply with such exceptional requirements on material and techniques as we had to do with these machines. We are proud as a company to have been able to contribute with such an exceptional piece of technology for astronomical research."
The ALMA Project, in which ESO leads the construction and the operations on behalf of Europe, is a giant, international observatory currently in construction on the high-altitude Chajnantor site in Chile, which will be composed initially of 66 high-precision telescopes, operating at wavelengths of 0.3 to 9.6 mm. The ALMA antennas will be electronically combined and provide astronomical observations which are equivalent to a single large telescope of tremendous size and resolution.
The 66 antennas of the array can be placed on 192 different pads, covering antenna configurations as compact as 150 metres to as wide as 15 kilometres. Changing the relative positions of the antennas and thus also the configuration of the array allows for different observing modes, comparable to using a zoom lens on a camera.
Given their important functions, both for the scientific work and in transporting high-tech antennas with the required care, the vehicles must live up to very demanding operational requirements. To address these, Scheuerle has developed and built two very special transporters. Building heavy vehicles able to transport with great precision 115-ton antennas is not a problem per se for this company, which specialises in building huge transporters. The problem however was to produce a vehicle able to operate at such a high altitude, where the two engines will lose about half of their power (compared to sea level) because of the reduced oxygen content of the air. With their two 500 kW diesel engines (nearly as much as two Formula 1 engines), the ALMA transporters will be able to move at the speed of 20 km/h when empty and 12 km/h when loaded with an antenna.
Notwithstanding its impressive dimensions, the transporter can be manoeuvred by a single operator, the precise positioning being made possible by a hydrostatic system while the electronic 28-wheel drive allows very precise motions.
"When completed in 2012, ALMA will be the largest and most capable imaging array of telescopes in the world," said Massimo Tarenghi, the ALMA Director. "The ALMA antenna transporters, which are unique technological jewels, beautifully illustrate how we are actively progressing towards this goal."
ALMA will be able to probe the Universe at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution, with an accuracy up to ten times better than the Hubble Space Telescope, and complementing images made with ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer.
ALMA will be the forefront instrument for studying the cool universe - the relic radiation of the Big Bang, and the molecular gas and dust that constitute the very building blocks of stars, planetary systems, galaxies, and life itself.
Because ALMA will observe in the millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths the atmosphere above the telescope must be transparent. This requires a site that is high and dry. ALMA will thus be installed at the 5000m high plateau of Chajnantor in the Atacama Desert of Chile, the world's driest area - the next best location to outer space for these high-accuracy astronomical observations.
The ALMA project is a partnership between Europe, East Asia and North America in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by ESO, in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica in Taiwan and in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada. ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc.
About the Release
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This post was written before the UCF game but due to scheduling SFN decided it best to move the publish date to September 20. Enjoy.
During the course of the UNC fiasco, it’s been asked by NC State fans and Carolina fans alike why Wolfpackers are concerning themselves with the Tar Heels’ problems. So far, either we haven’t been dignifying the nay-sayers with a response or we simply don’t have a firm handle on it ourselves. Either way, as football season kicks up, NC State has more to talk about than just a powder-puff opponent (like WCU last week), and questions still arise as to why NC State is pursuing the allegations over the hill so aggressively, it’s time to look back on why the Wolfpack even cares about Carolina.
We all know about the Jimmy Valvano “scandal” (you know… the one where Valvano was found not to be guilty of his most serious allegations and he got boned anyway) and how the media immediately jumped on the coach during the onset of the investigation. But I think it’s important for State fans and Tar Heel fans alike to understand that this isn’t only a 20 year grudge (even though for many that is a big part of it).
Like it or not, whether Carolina wants to admit it or not, University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University have been rivals ever since the North Carolina General Assembly, composed of a large number of UNC-CH alumni, refused to give any money to the new Land Grant college as many other states did to their respective Land Grant institutions. It’s also worth mentioning that Land Grant funding was originally being given to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but somehow disappeared once it came time to establish a “partner” institution. The rivalry between the Tar Heels and Wolfpack isn’t just athletics, it’s foundational to who we are.
Athletically, this rivalry has gone back since our first UNC-NC State football game on October 12, 1894 and our first basketball game in the 1910’s (compared to the UNC-DUKE rivalry that started in the mid-1920’s in both sports). It’s difficult to read too much into the series history between NC State and UNC (142-75 UNC in basketball and 63-30-6 UNC in football) since Carolina has had a longer established tradition athletically than NC State and since the nature of athletics was completely different prior to the establishment of conferences (the Southern Conference starting in 1921), but one thing can’t be denied: in the lifetime of the newest generation of Pack fans, UNC has enjoyed the reputation of “the more successful school” for most of the last 20 years.
Actually, there is only a short period of time from around 2000-01 – 2003-04 that NC State was generally more “successful” than UNC in both football and basketball. No wonder many of the (a) younger and (b) dumber Carolina fans don’t recognize NC State as their rivals. During this time span, NC State split 4-4 with UNC in basketball and dominated Carolina 3-1 in football. In other words, during Carolina’s worst basketball performance (thank you Doherty), we still only split with UNC. Much of this is agreeably due to the Jimmy Valvano fiasco, but at the end of the day, the record doesn’t care why someone lost… only that they lost.
So why does NC State care about Carolina and their troubles? Aside from the already discussed massive recruiting/performance implications the fall-out in Chapel Hill could produce for the Wolfpack, it’s also about the same thing every rivalry is about: bragging rights. What NC State has experienced in the past 20 years has been two decades (spare a few years) of bragging by Carolina on how superior their teams and athletic program are to NC State. The past 100 years we have dealt with piss-poor treatment from UNC Chapel Hill as an institution. Why does this matter to NC State fans? If you speak to the student/alumni, it’s institutional payback and a ‘settling of the score’ for watching Carolina treat NC State like the ‘lesser hick school in west Raleigh’. If you speak to the sports fan, it is payback for the arrogant chest-beating that Tar Heels have thrown in State fans’ faces since the downfall of our basketball program and resulting downfall of our athletic program in general.
Bottom line: this isn’t about gloating or being “mean”. It’s definitely not about any kind of ill-conceived notion of “Carolina Envy”. This is about poetic justice, the disrespect Carolina has treated NC State with over the years, and showing Carolina how it feels to be treated like NC State. Personally, I fully intend on being generous enough to give Carolina all of the “NC State experience” they deserve.
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Saturday, 19 February 2011
Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds at Tate Modern: poetry from art for kids
Last Monday I gave a talk to ninety 11-12 year olds at Lingfield Notre Dame School in Sussex, preparing them for their visit to Tate Modern the next day, when they were to write poems from art. While I was making a slideshow for them and researching for my workshop I fell in love with Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds. I'm not sure what else to call it, but it does mean that I'm working on a poem about them, which is fun to do, even if it's no good.
I spent a day at the Tate, walking around the perimeters of the installation, looking down on them from the bridge, and watching the film of how he got a whole town in China to hand-paint a hundred million of the porcelain seeds in their husks. And wishing I'd seen the installation while you could still walk over or even bury yourself in them. En route to Sussex I hoped to find some sunflowers but it was Valentine's Day so the only flowers at the station were roses. But I did bring in a 800G bag of Dakota striped sunflower seeds, bought at my local Turkish international supermarket. The real seeds are huge, but Ai's are bigger than life and in the Turbine Hall they have an electrifying presence.
I passed the seeds around and told the kids the story of how everyone in the town of Jingdezhen (which once made porcelain for imperial China) made the 100 million seeds over a period of two years. Also, how Ai had said that "In China, when we grew up, we had nothing...But for even the poorest people, the treat or the treasure we'd have would be the sunflower seeds in everyone's pockets." I asked them to keep a few of the seeds in their pockets.
They were a lively, excitable group, and in the space of one and a half hours, they all wrote three poems each, in response to various artworks at Tate. We started by playing the game of Surreal Definitions which creates instant surrealism, and instant metaphors, such as "a mirror is a pool of silver light", "the sun is something delicious in your mouth", some of them believable, some crazy, and some very funny. One boy's ended up as "a boyfriend is where most women keep their money". His neighbour had defined "a purse" then passed his definition on, so that the definition of "where most women keep their money" got joined to the noun "a boyfriend". And so on.
Another big hit was using Moniza Alvi's poem 'I Would Like to be a Dot in a Painting by Miro' as a template for their poems when I projected Miro paintings for them to pretend to be a shape in. They had very spirited responses to this, and saw all kinds of shapes – boomerangs, arrows, hexagons, and told imaginative stories about their relationship to other shapes in the paintings.
In one week my next Poetry from Art course (for adults) will start at Tate Modern, with two sessions in the wonderful Gabriel Orozco (see a previous post), then one in Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds. Poems from the course will be published on the Tate Modern website in April. The art and English teachers of Lingfield school also hope to eventually publish a book of poems and drawings from the schoolkids' visit to the Tate and I'm looking forward to getting my copy. Meanwhile, here are some images of the sunflower seeds, fake and real, and a sunflower with the seeds packed in golden Fibonacci spirals.
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There are numerous training opportunities offered during the calendar year. Courses range from basic leader orientations to how to camp with numerous Scouts and their families in a Pack setting to advanced leadership training for adults, Wood Badge. Training is available to assit you as you provide a quality program for the youth.
In 2007 the Executive Board of the Connecticut Yankee Council adopted a policy on Required Training for all direct contact leaders. We believe that in order to best serve the youth in our communities the leadership must be trained. We owe it to the youth to ensure that the volunteers providing the program are trained in appropriate program delivery. Additional information on the Required Training Policy can be found through the links provided on the menu portion of this page.
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France blames Spanghero bosses as Britain probes horse meat warning
PARIS (REUTERS) - France said on Sunday managers at French firm Spanghero were responsible for passing off horse meat as beef, while Britain said it would investigate claims that warnings about horse meat entering the food chain were raised in 2011 but ignored.
Revelations that some beef dishes actually contained horse meat have caused a scandal across Europe, leading to products being removed from sale and police investigations. It has also cast a spotlight on food labelling and the complex supply chain across the European Union, damaging Europeans' confidence in the food on their plate and putting pressure on governments to explain lapses in quality control.
An investigation into activities at meat-processing firm Spanghero has revealed "serious, specific and coherent" reasons to suspect it knowingly defrauded customers and consumers by selling them horse meat labelled as beef, the government said.
However, the firm's 330 workers were not to blame and would meet with Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll on Monday to determine how they would be paid until the plant, whose sanitary licence has been revoked temporarily, could reopen.
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As Valentine's Day nears, it gives us pause to take stock of all that we love...all of the tech we love, that is. Of course it's easy to love the shiny and new, but there's always going to be old devices and accessories that prove difficult to part ways with. We explore why we just can't seem to let go of our old tech, even if it means our stuff just sits rotting away in a storage closet somewhere taking up space.
So why do we have so much trouble parting with old technology we've accumulated over the years? Whether it's an old television set or computer monitor, random cable, or camera, we always seem to store things away, shoving things into our ever-bulging closets. So why do we have so much trouble letting go?
Maybe it's because like keeping a set of "skinny clothes", we're holding onto these items imagining the chance maybe someday we'll find ourselves needing their use again. So we find ourselves hanging onto every little adapter or cable or bolt and bracket that we've ever come across.
Sometime it's because we spent so much damn money on a particular tech device or accessory, even though it's now worthless, we just can't bear to toss it out with the trash or let it go for pennies on the dollar. That old $4,000 rear projection screen TV that would cost $500 to repair? That $1,500 23" Apple Cinema Display with the acrylic case that's starting to crack and requires a brick of an adapter for its ADC connection type while you can get just about any old 23" monitor for $200. That $3,000 video camera that your smartphone outperforms and is always in your pocket. It's insane how much money we've sunk into tech and now we should just get rid of it like it didn't cost us a fortune before and is now worthless to us?
Or perhaps we're just lazy. Maybe there's personal content on a smart phone or hard drive that we just need to clear out before we get rid of it. We could be just waiting to take a picture of it before listing it on Craigslist. Or maybe we promised it to our nephew but we keep forgetting to bring it with us whenever we see him. It might be that yard sale you keep talking about having and keep holding on to things for.
And then there's sentimental value. How can we possibly let go of something we worked extra hours over the summer to afford? It was so beautiful that we went out and got it and we've kept it in such great condition over all these years and it still looks so pretty, just sitting there lonely and forlorn. There's no resale value but we can't bear to just toss it out with the trash.
Whether it's hoarding or love or obsession or whatever reason you can justify to yourself, share with us your old loves, and tell us why you just can't let go.
RECYCLE, SELL & DONATE TECH ON APARTMENT THERAPY
• Confessions of a Tech Hoarder: Love It or Leave It
• Using Social Networking to Recycle, Sell, & Donate Tech
• Our Favorite Ways To Reuse & Recycle Old Tech
• Time to Declutter: Smart Things To Do with Old Cables & Chargers
• Responsible Ways To Recycle Your Old Tech
• Declutter For a Good Cause: Recycle/Donate Your Old Tech
• When Re-Gifting Is Good: Where to Recycle and Donate Tech
• What To Do With Your Old iPhone? (Or Other Smartphone)
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It is highly likely that you will change your career several times before you get too old to work. The last university orientation session that I volunteered at claimed that you will have 3-5 totally different careers during your working life. Rather than obsess about "what degree is best", the question becomes more along the lines of "what degree path will help me learn the best set of tools to help me keep learning as I get older". My first bachelors degree is in electrical engineering. My next degree will be in accounting (the CPA credential requires enough courses in accounting that you will get an accounting degree, and soon, the requirements will change so that you'll need not just an undergraduate degree in accounting, but an advanced one as well just to sit for the CPA exam).
That being said, there are a few reasons for getting degrees:
networking. This is one of the major reasons for MBAs.
occupational credential/license. Several professions, such as law, patent agent, accounting and engineering require certain degrees in order to be able to do them.
learn stuff. In my opinion, this is the most important reason.
have fun. I've done this.
to get out of the parents' house. In my opinion, this is the worst reason to get one.
Many companies require applicants to have a bachelors degree. Some are specific in what they want. Some are specific in what university yours is from. Some couldn't care less what the degree is, or from whom it comes - just that you have one.
There are a number of fields that relate to what you mention an interest in: computational biology, chemistry and physics. For example, many of the researchers in string matching got recruited into "bioinformatics" during the human genome project, as the techniques of matching strings is very applicable to gene sequencing. Earlier this year, I was employed at one of the national research labs, working on energy usage in buildings. That was mostly applying mechanical engineering and simulating the results. Other national labs worked with other fascinating areas, including (trying to) making fusion practical as well as keep our nuclear stockpile ready.
what Science degree can benefit me the most in a career as a programmer
I'm going to turn that idea on its head and suggest that you won't be a programmer all of your life. While I've been a programmer most of your lifetime, and my first degree was before you were born, you'll do a lot of different things. There are a number of courses that you'll probably think are fluffy useless things, but based on past experience, they've been useful in a working career: at least one course in public speaking, at least one course in accounting, at least one course in business. You will get up in front of your peers and give presentations, or at least argue why position A is better than position B.
I'm not really gonna use the material that is taught in this class...
Everyone thinks this thought about every course they take in university. Some of the most memorable lectures were at the end of the semester where the instructor was flipping through slides going "remember that nasty equation we spent x weeks on? Here's what that equation is used for..." If they had flipped that around to be one of the opening lectures, everyone would have been energized and excited enough that everyone would have gotten an A in the course.
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Russia has financial reasons for saving Syrian regime
By Matthew RJ Brodsky
WASHINGTON, D.C. — While Western and Arab countries struggle to find a way to assist the Syrian people, Moscow is continuing to do all it can to save the Assad regime of Syria. Speaking on a trip to Azerbaijan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Syrian opposition wouldn’t be able to overwhelm government forces even if it was supplied with weapons from abroad. He warned that a foreign military intervention would lead to even more disastrous consequences for Syria and further urged other nations not to arm the Syrian opposition. Lavrov’s statements came just days after Russia and China boycotted the latest “Friends of Syria” gathering in Istanbul — a weak diplomatic effort aimed at assisting the Syrian opposition.
That the U.S. and most Western nations are at odds with Russian policy should not come as a surprise. Nevertheless, the manner in which Moscow is shamelessly pushing its case demonstrates the seriousness with which they view the Syrian issue. Take, for instance, the Capitol Hill briefing on Tuesday afternoon held by the Russian embassy and hosted by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL). Led by embassy officials Anton Vushkarnik and Sergey Kuznetsov, they refused to even acknowledge that Bashar al-Assad was killing his own people. They brazenly defended their ongoing sale of arms to the Assad regime by citing that there was no international law that prevents such sales — even though it was Russia and China that vetoed the very UN Security Council resolution that would have put the ban in place. In pressing their point, the Russian officials even dusted off the tired old canard and drew an equivalency between the killing of civilians in Syria and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
But Russia isn’t merely using words to assist Assad or providing diplomatic cover as it wields its Security Council veto powers. They have sent Special Forces to Syria to conduct “anti-terrorism” missions and Russian military advisers are training the Syrian army. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly explained, “When we supply the weapons, we have to provide the training.” Then there is the deployment of a third Russian warship to the region — a guided-missile destroyer named the smetlivy, which is scheduled to dock at the Syrian port of Tartus in the coming days. Two other Russian warships arrived at the Russian naval base on March 19, joining up with a Russian naval reconnaissance and surveillance ship already anchored in Tartus. All of which follows the Russian ship that carried tons of munitions to Syria in January.
So much for the Russian “reset” President Obama has been doggedly pursuing since coming to office. In fact, Russian policy vis-à-vis Syria provides yet another stark example of Team Obama’s inability to anticipate the diplomatic gridlock that was bound to arise. A year of moribund diplomacy with Russia was wasted on the Syrian file because the Obama administration was unable to accurately assess Russian interests.
First, there are economic interests. Russia’s longstanding ties to Syria generate billions of dollars in arms sales. Moscow is the number one arms supplier in the Middle East, the world’s second largest arms exporter, and it continues to supply Damascus with advanced missile systems. To put it in perspective, Russian arms sales to Syria and Algeria alone account for one-eighth of its portfolio of worldwide arms sales, which totals $48 billion a year. In fact, according to the independent Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade, Syria is Russia’s seventh-largest customer with sales amounting to 10 percent of Russia’s total weapons exports. UN sanctions against Syria could cost Moscow $5 billion in arms sales on top of the $4 billion of contracts lost when the UN placed an arms embargo on Libya last year. In addition to that, the only Russian naval base in the Middle East, Tartus, lies in Syria and Moscow has been restoring the base since 2008. Russia has also demonstrated a willingness to pay $2 billion to upgrade its aging Soviet weapons as well as sell Syria new ones. In 2005, Russia forgave 73 percent of Syria’s $13.4 billion debt. New Russian-Syrian arms deals are predicated on Damascus not repaying its old Soviet-area debt in return for Syria’s continued purchase of Russian weapons. Damascus has proven to be Moscow’s loyal customer.
Then there is the geopolitical dimension. The year of Arab upheaval has damaged Russia’s interests as regimes friendly towards Moscow have fallen. It sees the future options of either the rise of Islamist governments or the establishment of Arab democracies aligned with the West as troubling developments. Therefore, Syria and Iran represent the stopgap for Russian interests in the Middle East.
Moscow has an overriding interest to fashion itself as an influential power in the Middle East that competes with the West. That is why Iran and Syria are the two keys to Russia’s regional relevance. And in the same manner that Syria defined its role in the Middle East as being the regional spoiler, so too has Russia defined itself as the country that can prevent the kind of progress Washington would like to see. Moscow’s power initiative in the region is to make itself the mediator — and that makes Syria central to that strategy. Russian President Vladimir Putin understands that his relationship with Syria gives Moscow a seat at the table for any Middle East peace initiatives, guaranteeing that he will be able to punch far beyond his diplomatic weight.
Since the outbreak of the Syrian protests last March, Russia has undermined every possibility of external intervention. The fact that Russia is continuing to arm the Assad regime makes the Kremlin complicit in the growing list of Syrian government atrocities. Instead of wasting resources trying to convince Moscow to abandon its Middle East interests in order to press ahead with more UN resolutions, Washington would do well to assert its role as world leader and work with those countries that have a common interest in Syria.
Kofi Annan’s plan and the “Friends of Syria” meetings are a slow start — coming as they did over a year since the protests began — but they are not enough. At the “Friends of Syria” gathering, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton reiterated that “the world will not waiver, Assad must go, and the Syrian people must be free to choose their own path forward.” But non-lethal support and financial sanctions will not bring down the Assad regime. Absent the desire for a more kinetic military approach, the best option Washington has is to sidestep the Russian roadblock and begin training and arming the Free Syrian Army.
Brodsky is director of policy for the Jewish Policy Center. Preceding appeared previously in the Huffington Post
Short URL: http://www.sdjewishworld.com/?p=26448
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Hamas Commander on Choosing “Martyrs” and Targets
(May 29, 2002)
On July 23, 2002, Israeli forces killed Salah Shehade, commander of the operational wing of the terrorist organization Hamas. Following are portions of an interview conducted with Shehade two months earlier.
How to Choose a Martyr
Q: "How do you choose who will carry out a martyrdom operation?"
Shehade: "The choice is made according to four criteria: First, devout religious observance. Second, we verify that the young man complies with his parents' wishes and is loved by his family, and that his martyrdom will not [adversely] affect family life -- that is, he is not the head of the family and he has siblings, as we will not take an only child. Third, his ability to carry out the task assigned [to] him, and to understand its gravity; and fourth, his martyrdom should encourage others to carry out martyrdom operations and encourage Jihad in the hearts of people. We always prefer unmarried [men] ."
Seeking Martyrdom Shows Mental Health
Q: "How do you account for the stream of youths [coming] to join the ranks of perpetrators of martyrdom operations? And does this attest to [mental] health or to escape from the frustration and disappointment among the Palestinians?"
Shehade: "The stream of youths [who seek to] attain martyrdom shows [mental] health and the awareness of Palestinian society, and is not a mistake or an escape from a situation of despair or frustration. Many people come to Jihad, and they are willing to lay down their souls -- which is the most precious thing a man has. There is a vast difference between someone who sacrifices money or an offering and someone who sacrifices his soul for the sake of Allah to bring happiness to the nation, and to remove its torment and distress. Nevertheless, we cannot provide everyone with a martyrdom operation because the targets are limited and the enemy positions we want to reach are highly fortified. If some of the youths do not follow the military apparatus's instructions, and [set out on operations on their own] without being linked officially to this apparatus, this proves that the [entire] nation has become a nation of Jihad on the threshold of liberation, and that it rejects humiliation and submission."
How to Choose a Target
Q: "How does the military apparatus choose a target?"
Shehade: "We have surveillance groups whose role is to monitor Israeli and settler patrols and the movement of the enemy on the border. We utilize every breach we find in the enemy's security fence. Afterwards we define the target and the nature of the assault on it, whether it is a settlement, a military post, a military vehicle, or anything else. The target is filmed, and then [the video] is shown to a committee appointed by the General Staff of the Military Operations. After the target is approved, the martyrdom operation's perpetrator is trained... Then the operation is ready to go, after a group of experts approves the plan and determines the factors for its success or failure."
If We Kill an Israeli Child It Is Not Intentional
Q: "What about killing Israeli citizens?"
Shehade: "We do not target children, the elderly, and places of worship, although these places of worship incite to murdering Muslims. Similarly, we have not targeted schools, because we do not give orders to kill children. The same goes for hospitals, although this is easy for us, and attainable. We act according to the principles of Jihad to which we adhere. Our motto is: 'We are not fighting the Jews because they are Jews, but because they occupy our land. We are not fighting them because of their religion but because they have usurped our land. If we kill a child it is not intentional...'"
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self soothing method?
Our baby slept great from 3 to 8 months however she is now waking up 2-4 times a night. My pediatrician suggested we try the ferber method. My question is when we go in to reassure her do we leave the room while she is still crying or do we wait until she stops crying to leave the room?
Posted: 11/08/2007 by okeefem
Sort by: best answers | most recent answers
1 - 1 of 1 answers
Is your baby displaying signs of separation anxiety during the day? I have read that sometimes babies who used to sleep well start waking at night to "check" on their parents when separation anxiety hits. If you think that is the case, then Ferber may not be a good idea. But the answer to your original question is that according to Ferber, you can stay with her for 1-2 minutes but then you leave even if she is still crying.posted 11/30/2007 by debit72
Answer this question
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In answer to Greg Brush’s question, “Are our Kenai kings done?” published in the Peninsula Clarion on Aug. 4, no, Kenai kings are not done, but the big Kenai kings might be, and, as I see it, it is the guides and sport fishery in general who are to blame.
What rancher in his right mind continually, year after year, kills off and harasses the biggest and best of his herd and expects anything but ruination?
Moreover, I believe that the great, unacknowledged villain decimating the big kings is catch and release, which, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game mortality studies, kills outright one of every 12 kings subjected to catch and release. Additionally, either God or nature has programmed those fish entering the river to spawn with enough vigor to accomplish that goal. How many times must a big king be caught, played with, and released before its spawning vigor is compromised, before it no longer retains enough vitality to dig a redd and spawn?
The sport fishery is reaping what it has sowed, and the proof of that fact is the first run of Kenai kings, which is not subjected to gill-nets at all yet. It too is being decimated by sport anglers.
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The consequences of Rowan Williams' campaign to appease his enemies will be felt primarily by Williams himself, and by others charged with speaking on behalf of the Church. They will find that while the faithful at home may find ways to accommodate themselves to legislation they oppose, the wider public will be less willing to take moral instruction from a church that embraces double standards in its treatment of women and makes common cause with African prelates who do not believe that the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights should pertain to gay people.
It isn't clear that Williams or other Church leaders understand how thoroughly this undermines their credibility nationally and internationally, or how wide a gulf it opens between themselves and the English public. It isn't evident that they grasp the impossibility of speaking truth to power when one has so clearly capitulated to the power one's self.
In the struggle over female bishops and same-sex relationships, Williams and the bishops who are loyal to him have cast their lot not simply with high profile African church leaders, but with the reactionary American culture warriors who finance their activities. This latter group is composed of men whose politics Williams purports to abhor. Yet within the Anglican Communion, the former self-described "hairy lefty" makes common cause with the Institute for Religion and Democracy, an organization founded to oppose the spread of liberation theology and give religious cover to Ronald Reagan's proxy wars in Central America. The scholar who tours the world lecturing on interfaith understanding is an ally in Communion politics with virulent anti-Islamic firebrands affiliated with the North American branch of the Church of Nigeria. The prophet of the sustainable economy cooperates with men who deny that human activity contributes to climate change to deny gays, lesbians and women their full Christian dignity.
One can just barely imagine a case in which an individual sacrifices all other principles for the sake of a single transcendent cause. Rowan Williams is sacrificing his ability to speak on the most urgent issues of our day in order to create a church within a church for people who don't think women should be priests, and a means by which the most regressive leaders in the Anglican Communion can punish their counterparts for repenting of historic sins.
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Saturday, February 2, 2008
ABA to Set New Bar Passage Standards for Accreditation:
National Law Journal
In general, the change would create a quantitative rule requiring law schools to demonstrate that 75% of their graduates passed the bar exam or to show that their pass rates were within a certain range compared with other law schools in the same jurisdiction. The change is technically a new interpretation of an existing accreditation standard. Almost all states require law students to graduate from an ABA-accredited law school in order to obtain a license to practice.... At a hearing last month before the Accreditation Standards Review Committee about the change, several prominent lawyers and scholars expressed their disapproval. Among them was General Motors North America Vice President and General Counsel E. Christopher Johnson, who argued that a bright-line rule would hurt minority enrollment because it would deter law schools from accepting applicants with lower scores on the Law School Admission Test.
Johnson is probably right, though another possibility is that pressure would come to bear on state bars to make their bar exams easier (which, as someone who doesn't believe in bar exams to begin with, I think would be a good thing). Meanwhile, one can question whether schools whose minority students pass the bar at rates well below 75% are doing those students much of a favor by accepting them despite low LSAT scores that predict future bar passage issues, taking their tuition money, and then leaving half or more of them without a career as an attorney.
Thanks to Paul Caron at TaxProf for the pointer.
Spell-Checking "Obama" into "Osama":
Benjamin Zimmer (Language Log) reports on this, and a quick experiment confirmed it. (Of course, as ABC News points out, it's not that someone at Microsoft is somehow deliberately anti-Obama; it's just that Obama wasn't in the dictionary -- that makes sense -- but Osama was, so the spell-checker suggested it.)
As the ABC story puts it, "When Fast Isn't Fast Enough, Spell-Checker Isn't Always Your Friend."
Political Ignorance and Belief in Conspiracy Theory:
Cass Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule have posted an excellent new paper on belief in conspiracy theory. As they point out, belief in highly dubious conspiracy theories about key political events is widespread. For example, they cite survey data showing that some one third of Americans believe that federal government officials either carried out the 9/11 attacks themselves or deliberately allowed them to happen. Large numbers of people also believe that John F. Kennedy's assassination was the result of a wideranging conspiracy in the government, that the AIDS virus was secretly produced in a government laboratory for the purpose of infecting blacks, and that the government is covering up evidence of alien visitation of Earth.
Why are such irrational beliefs so widespread in an open society where information refuting them is easily accessible? Sunstein and Vermeule present some possible answers. But they fail to consider a crucial question: Why is belief in bogus political conspiracies so much more widespread than comparably irrational beliefs about conspiracies in our daily lives? Far more people believe that the CIA killed Kennedy or engineered the 9/11 attacks than believe that a dark conspiracy is out to get them personally or that their associates and co-workers are plotting against them. Millions of people who embrace absurd conspiracy theories about political events are generally rational in their everyday lives.
In my view, the disjunction has to do with the rationality of political ignorance. As I describe in more detail in several of my works (e.g. - here and here), it is perfectly rational for most people to know very little about politics and public policy - and indeed most people are quite ignorant about even basic aspects of these subjects. Because the chance of your vote influencing the outcome of an election is infinitesmally small, there is little payoff to becoming informed about politics if your only reason for doing so is to be a better voter. By contrast, there are very strong incentives to be well-informed about issues in our personal and professional lives, where our choices are likely to be individually decisive. The person who (falsely) believes that a dark conspiracy is out to get him will impose tremendous costs on himself if he bases his decisions on that assumption; he's likely to end up a paranoid recluse like Bobby Fischer (who, of course, embraced political conspiracy theories as well).
In the political realm, on the other hand, widespread rational ignorance helps to spread conspiracy theory in two ways. First, the more ignorant you are about politics and economics, the more plausible simple conspiracy theory explanations of events are likely to seem. If you don't understand basic economics, you are more likely to believe that rising oil prices are caused by a conspiracy among oil companies or that the subprime crisis was caused by a conspiracy among banks. If you don't understand the basic workings of our political system, you are more likely to swallow the idea that the federal government could carry out something like the 9/11 attack and then (falsely) blame it on Osama Bin Laden without the truth being quickly exposed through leaks and hostile media coverage.
Second, the rationality of political ignorance implies that even people who do have considerable knowledge are likely to be more susceptible to conspiracy theories about political events than in their personal lives. As I explain in this paper (see also Bryan Caplan's excellent book), the rationality of political ignorance not only reduces people's incentives to acquire political information, it also undercuts incentives to rationally evaluate the information they do learn. As a result, we are more likely to be highly biased in the way we evaluate political information than information about most other subjects. Many people embrace political conspiracy theories because they are more entertaining and emotionally satisfying than alternative, more prosaic explanations of events. Unlike in our nonpolitical lives, most people have little incentive to critically evaluate their political beliefs in order to weed out biases and and ensure their truth.
That is not to say that people are uniformly rational in their nonpolitical decisions. Far from it. But they are likely to be a great deal less irrational than they are about politics.
Obama vs. Hillary on Subprime Mortgages:
There was an interesting exchange on subprime mortgages between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during their last debate. Hillary argued for a mortgage freeze (hat tip: Instapundit):
I think it’s imperative that we approach this mortgage crisis with the seriousness that it is presenting. There are 95,000 homes in foreclosure in California right now. I want a moratorium on foreclosures for 90 days so we can try to work out keeping people in their homes instead of having them lose their homes, and I want to freeze interest rates for five years.
Obama pointed out a serious flaw in her proposal:
On the mortgage crisis, again, we both believe that this is a critical problem. It’s a huge problem in California and all across the country. And we agree that we have to keep people in their homes.
I have put forward a $10 billion home foreclosure prevention fund that would help to bridge the lender and the borrower so that people can stay in their homes.
I have not signed on to the notion of an interest rates freeze, and the reason is not because we need to protect the banks. The problem is, is that if we have such a freeze, mortgage interest rates will go up across the board and you will have a lot of people who are currently trying to get mortgages who will actually have more of a difficult time.
Obama is right to point out that Hillary's proposed mortgage freeze would create perverse incentives. But his own proposal for a bailout has a similar weakness. If the government bails out subprime borrowers and lenders who made bad decisions, that will create incentives for future borrowers and lenders to take unjustified risks of their own. The end result will be a serious moral hazard that leads to overinvestment in overvalued real estate - drawing funds away from potentially more productive uses elsewhere. Both borrowers and lenders will expect the government to bail them out if future risky morgages go into default.
In addition, as I emphasize in this post, a bailout would impose large costs on innocent third parties: the taxpayers. If we genuinely want to prevent unwise mortgage borrowing while simultaneously protecting the interests of future homebuyers and innocent third parties, the right strategy may well be for government to do little or nothing. If both lenders and borrowers have to pay the price for their mistakes, they will be less likely to repeat them.
Enzyte a Fraud -- Who Knew?!
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that a former executive for the company that sold the Enzyte "male enhancement" pill admitted in court that the company's claims were completely made up.
James Teegarden Jr., the former vice president of operations at Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, explained Tuesday in U.S. District Court how he and others at the company made up much of the content that appeared in Enzyte ads.
He said employees of the Forest Park company created fictitious doctors to endorse the pills, fabricated a customer satisfaction survey and made up numbers to back up claims about Enzyte’s effectiveness.
“So all this is a fiction?” Judge S. Arthur Spiegel asked about some of the claims.
“That’s correct, your honor,” Teegarden said.
Teegarden’s testimony is key to the case federal prosecutors are making against Berkeley and its founder, Steve Warshak, who is accused of orchestrating a $100 million conspiracy to defraud thousands of customers.
Warshak faces up to 20 years in prison and millions of dollars in penalties if his trial ends with a conviction.
AOL - Time Warner to merge!
Oh wait, I mean Microsoft and Yahoo! ... which does smell, to me, a lot like the AOL-Time catastrophe of just a few years past. The aging giant of days of yore (that would be Microsoft) looking for a way to get hip (that would be Yahoo!) and BIG in a hurry. But (you heard it here first) it will end in tears. Dust off those stories about how the two cultures don't merge, and about how the "expected synergies" never seemed to materialize. You have to be big to beat google at its game, but you can't buy your way big. I'm gonna short this deal, for sure.
Today's WSJ has an interesting story about Fox's effort to reinvent -- and reinvigorate -- its hit series, "24".
Against the real-life backdrop of global terrorist attacks, "24" at its peak fulfilled the fantasies of an insecure nation. It became one of the most important franchises for News Corp.'s Fox Broadcasting Co., with 17 million viewers tuning in some weeks and millions returning to watch on DVD. . . .
But those who ride the tide of the times can also get upended by them. As public opinion about the Iraq War turned south, the show's depiction of torture came to be seen as glorifying the practice in the wake of real-world reports of waterboarding and other interrogation techniques used on detainees.
Ratings dropped by a third over the course of last year's sixth season. Producers would later experience trouble casting roles, once some of the most desirable in television, because the actors disapproved of the show's depiction of torture. "The fear and wish-fulfillment the show represented after 9/11 ended up boomeranging against us," says the show's head writer, Howard Gordon. "We were suddenly facing a blowback from current events."
Last spring, Fox executives asked producers to come up with a plan for what to do with their onetime crown jewel. The producers decided to take the radical -- and rarely attempted -- step of reinventing the show. While some fans complained "24" had grown too formulaic, the producers also grudgingly saw the importance of wrestling the show from its ties to an unpopular conflict.
The result: "24" is nowhere to be found on the TV schedule. For weeks the show's producers tried to reconcile the show's premise with the new public mood. Should Jack atone for his sins? Is Jack bad? The script rewrites and philosophical crises left the show so far behind schedule that when the Hollywood writers went on strike in November, Fox had no choice but to delay its premiere date. The show could premiere this summer, next fall or as late as January 2009.
Climate Change, Cumulative Evidence, and Ideology:
Almost every time I post something on climate change policy, the comment thread quickly devolves into a debate over the existence of antrhopogenic global warming at all. (See, for instance, this post on "conservative" approaches to climate change policy.) I have largely refused to engage in these discussions because I find them quite unproductive. The same arguments are repeated ad nauseum, and no one is convinced (if anyone even listens to what the other side is saying). I have also seen nothing in these exchanges that would alter my current assessment of the scientific evidence.
Given my strong libertarian leanings, it would certainly be ideologically convenient if the evidence for a human contribution to climate change were less strong. Alas, I believe the preponderance of evidence strongly supports the claim that anthropogenic emissions are having an effect on the global climate, and that effect will increase as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere. While I reject most apocalyptic scenarios as unfounded or unduly speculative, I am convinced that the human contribution to climate change will cause or exacerbate significant problems in at least some parts of the world. For instance, even a relatively modest warming over the coming decades is very likely to have a meaningful effect on the timing and distribution of precipitation and evaporation rates, which will, in turn, have a substantial impact on freshwater supplies. That we do not know with any precision the when, where, and how much does not change the fact that we are quite certain that such changes will occur.
So-called climate "skeptics" make many valid points about the weakness or unreliability of many individual arguments and studies on climate. They also point out how policy advocates routinely exaggerate the implications of various studies or the likely consequences of even the most robust climate predictions. Economists and others have also done important work questioning whether climate risks justify extreme mitigation measures. But none of this changes the fact that the cumulative evidence for a human contribution to present and future climate changes, when taken as a whole, is quite strong. In this regard, I think it is worth quoting something Ilya wrote below about the nature of evidence in his post about 12 Angry Men":
People often dismiss individual arguments and evidence against their preferred position without considering the cumulative weight of the other side's points. It's a very easy fallacy to fall into. But the beginning of wisdom is to at least be aware of the problem.
The "divide and conquer" strategy of dissecting each piece of evidence independently can make for effective advocacy, but it is not a good way to find the truth.
Don't get me wrong. I believe that there is room to question the global warming "consensus," particularly as represented by activist groups and some in the media, and to challenge various climate scenarios and their policy implications. I am unpersuaded that climate change threatens civilization or justifies truly draconian measures. Nevertheless, I believe climate change is a serious concern. And as much as I wish it were not the case, I believe the threat of climate change justifies some measures that the libertarian in me does not much like. But that's the way it is.
Predictocracy vs. Futarchy:
In describing normative markets in my book, I outline the possibility of prediction market-based legislative, judicial, and even executive power, but only for heuristic value. Nonetheless, it is fun to indulge in political science fiction and imagine a government run by prediction markets. I hope that this exercise can convince people that prediction markets are a powerful and flexible tool that may be useful in more modest but still exciting ways.
A predictocracy, then, is a government in which normative markets make the full range of government decisions, except when the prediction market mechanism results in a decision to delegate a decision to some other mechanism (whether traditional or using prediction markets in some other way).
I am not the first to imagine prediction markets serving at the center of government. Robin Hanson has previously defended a form of government that he calls "futarchy." His vision is that the legislature would be limited to defining some objective function (a GDP+ that includes GDP, but also anything else of value). Only policies that conditional markets predict would increase GDP+ would be enacted.
The slight disagreement between Hanson and me may sound to skeptics and even many prediction market enthusiasts like an argument between religious fanatics who have already disengaged from reality. But in Predictocracy, I explain why I prefer predictocracy to futarchy, and Hanson has now respectfully joined the argument.
My principal reasons for preferring predictocracy stem from the caveats that I previously offered about conditional markets. I worry that there will be too much noise in estimating GDP+ to make reliance on the difference between two conditional markets reliable (except for monumentally large decisions), and also that any prediction market subsidies in futarchy won't be well targeted.
Hanson points out that futarchy could authorize predictocracy-like decision making for particular decisions, and vice versa, and so he argues that we should pick the system that would make better decisions on the largest issues. But I worry that the caveats about conditional markets suggest that futarchy might not be the best vehicle for determining whether predictocracy should be used for particular realms of decision making. It would work only if large enough realms were being carved out to make a meaningful impact on GDP+.
Hanson makes some strong points in favor of futarchy. "Democracy today suffers from enormous errors regarding estimates of policy consequences, i.e., of passing particular bills," he points out. Predictocracy reduces the effects of the errors, since evaluations can be made years after a policy is enacted, but ex post evaluators in predictocracy might make some systematic errors that prediction market traders in futarchy would fix.
Futarchy, however, introduces another type of error, the danger that the legislature will not do a good job of defining GDP+, as Hanson acknowledges. It's not a priori clear which would be worse -- errors by the legislature in developing a formula for GDP+, or errors by ex post evaluators in determining whether a particular policy has increased or decreased general welfare. It probably depends to some extent on the quality of our legislature and the quality of our average ex post judges.
Ultimately, the question reduces to this: Suppose all you knew about a policy was that (a) one prediction market forecast that it would increase a measure of GDP+ devised by the legislature; and (b) another prediction market forecast that people some years later would conclude that this policy was a bad idea.
I would tentatively suppose that the participants in market (b) recognized some limitation of GDP+ that would be apparent after enactment of the policy. Robin would guess that the participants in market (b) anticipated that the ex post evaluators would fail to identify some actual policy consequence of the policy.
Given my views on this question, and the challenges of using futarchy for relatively small decisions, I would prefer predictocracy. Most readers who have followed the argument so far probably prefer traditional forms of republican government -- and I do too, because of transition problems and uncertaintty.
Ultimately, I believe that both markets forecasting particular consequences of potential government decisions and normative markets forecasting ex post assessments of policies could be useful tools within traditional republican governance.
Friday, February 1, 2008
It's not just the time, it's also the movie Ilya and David blog about below (and one of my favorites). Ilya considers
whether the defendant in 12 Angry Men
was really guilty. I think the author, Reginald Rose, deliberately leaves that unclear. The audience never even hears any testimony, and what we hear second-hand from the jurors is conflicting. It's conflicting for a reason, I think; the idea is to make the audience dwell on the difference between guilt and the absence of reasonable doubt of guilt. David suggests
that Henry Fonda asks a lot of questions that should have been asked by the defense attorney. I would put this a bit differently: I think Henry Fonda is
the defense attorney. Rose's clever move is to take a criminal case -- government witnesses, followed by cross examination, closing, and then jury deliberations -- and to present them all as all just part of the jury deliberations. As I see it, the jurors who think the case is easy present the government's case; Fonda's questions are the cross examination and closing argument; and the hostile reaction by jurors who object to Fonda's inquiries are the testimony of the goverment's witnesses under cross examination. This device lets Rose tell the story of an entire criminal trial under the guise of the screenplay being just about jury deliberations. Great stuff.
Goldstein v. Pataki and the Shortcomings of Kelo:
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently decided Goldstein v. Pataki, a case challenging the condemnation of homes and other property in Brooklyn for the purpose of transferring them to developer Bruce Ratner, owner of the New Jersey Nets. Ratner plans to use the land to build a new stadium for the Nets, as well as other facilities, including some 2250 new housing units.
Not surprisingly, the Second Circuit upheld the condemnations. Under Kelo v. City of New London, they had very little choice. As I discuss in great detail in this article, Kelo mandates very broad judicial deference to the government in determining whether a condemnation is a genuine "public use" under the Fifth Amendment. Any potential benefit to the general public is sufficient, even if it is greatly outweighed by the project's cost.
The case nonetheless reveals some of the serious shortcomings of Kelo and related precedents. Goldstein v. Pataki is a correct application of Kelo; it is also an example of the sort of abuse that more robust judicial protection of property rights could prevent.
First, the fact that much of the condemned land is to be used to build a sports stadium raises serious red flags about the true likelihood that the general public will benefit from the condemnation. Numerous studies by economists show that public subsidies for stadium construction create no economic benefits for the general public (see, e.g, this book published by the liberal Brookings Institution).
Second, the court claims that the creation of "affordable housing" for the poor is one of the public benefits to be expected from the project. The project will indeed create some new housing units (in addition to the stadium). However, as the Second Circuit opinion concedes (pg. 15), almost 70% of the new housing units will be "luxury" units for the wealthy, and the remainder is mostly not guaranteed to be ever built and is still intended for the "middle class" rather than the poor. Like the stadium, the housing portion of the project seems likely to be a straight redistribution of wealth from the current residents of the area to the very wealthy Mr. Ratner and the types of wealthy people who will be able to afford to buy the luxury housing he intends to build. To say the least, it is hard to discern any genuine public benefit here.
The Second Circuit also justifies the takings on the basis that they will serve to alleviate "blight." New York City has indeed designated much of the area condemned area as blighted. However, the validity of this designation is debatable at best (the plaintiffs pointed out that much of the land in the area is among the most valuable in Brooklyn). As I discuss in this article, New York is one of many states with a definition of "blight" so broad that it can encompass virtually any property. Even if the area really is "blighted," it doesn't necessarily follow that the current owners and residents should be expelled and their land transferred to a politically powerful developer. Cities have many other options for alleviating genuine blight that do not infringe so greatly on property rights. At the very least, there is no good reason to condemn the 50% of the project area that even the city acknowledges to be free of blight (see pg. 14).
In this case, as in Kelo itself, the court took account of the claimed benefits to the general public, but explicitly refused to consider the massive costs (pp. 13-15). Ignoring cost is a requirement under Kelo. But it is not a good way of determining whether a planned condemnation is actually likely to serve a "public use" - even if "public use" is defined broadly to include indirect public "benefits." Like those in Kelo, the Goldstein takings seem highly likely to create more costs than benefits for the general public. Ignoring costs is a blank check for local governments to undertake condemnations that benefit politically powerful interests while imposing the costs on taxpayers and the politically weak.
Finally, the Second Circuit notes that "Ratner was the impetus behind the [condemnation] Project, i.e., that he, not a state agency, first conceived of developing Atlantic Yards, that the Ratner Group proposed the geographic boundaries of the Project, and that it was his plan for the Project that the ESDC [government agency undertaking the condemnations] eventually adopted without significant modification." The court is probably right to conclude that this is not enough to prove that the taking was a "pretextual" one under Kelo. At the very least, however, such a pattern of events should trigger heightened judicial scrutiny of the government's true purposes in undertaking the condemnation. The fact that this kind of special interest-driven project receives only the most cursory possible judicial scrutiny is one of Kelo's many shortcomings.
Twelve Angry Men and the Cumulative Weight of Evidence:
Twelve Angry Men, the classic movie discussed in David's post was a great film. But I've always thought that the defendant Henry Fonda's character persuades the jury to acquit was actually guilty. There were four or five separate pieces of evidence pointing to the defendant's guilt, including two separate eyewitnesses. Fonda's character does a good job of showing that no one piece of evidence was enough to prove the accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by itself. But he and the other jurors ignore the possibility that guilt might be established by the cumulative weight of multiple pieces of evidence that are individually insufficient. For example, let's assume that the defendant has five pieces of evidence against him and each of them individually shows that there is only a 70% chance of his being guilty. The combined probability of his guilt based on all five items is about 99.8%, more than enough to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. By focusing on each piece of evidence individually, Fonda's character obscures this fact and persuades the jury to let a guilty man go. Obviously, this interpretation of the movie is not the one that the filmmakers wanted the audience to come away with. But I think it fits the evidence nonetheless.
In real life, this "divide and conquer" strategy was effectively used by O.J. Simpson's defense lawyers, who raised doubts about some of the individual items of evidence against their client, but successfully avoided confronting the fact that he was almost certainly guilty based on the cumulative weight of many different items of evidence. Former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi discusses this in his excellent book on the Simpson case.
The point is applicable to issues beyond criminal law. People often dismiss individual arguments and evidence against their preferred position without considering the cumulative weight of the other side's points. It's a very easy fallacy to fall into. But the beginning of wisdom is to at least be aware of the problem.
UPDATE: My analysis assumes that the five pieces of evidence were conditionally independent of each other (i.e. - that the discrediting of one does not affect the odds of the others being valid). That, I think, is an accurate representation of the evidence in the movie, which consistent of several independent items: two separate eyewitness accounts, some items of physical evidence, and flaws in the defendant's alibi.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Twelve Angry Men and the Cumulative Weight of Evidence:
- A Debate on "Twelve Angry Men":
Massachusetts Trial Court Decision Rejecting Wiretapping / Disturbing the Peace Charges
against Simon Glik, who recorded a police arrest, is here; thanks to Harvey Silverglate for the pointer.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Massachusetts Trial Court Decision Rejecting Wiretapping / Disturbing the Peace Charges
- The Dark Side of "Privacy Protections," Continued:
A Debate on "Twelve Angry Men":
Via Overlawyered, you can find a harsh critique of the classic jury deliberation movie here, and a vigorous defense here.
I saw the movie many years ago, but I remember that my reaction was that Henry Fonda raised many questions that should have been asked by the defense lawyer (e.g., maybe an eyewitness wasn't wearing her eyeglasses), raising two possibilities: (1) that the defense lawyer was incompetent; or (2) that the defense lawyer knew that the answers wouldn't have helped his client. This raised, to me, a broader issue: to meet his burden of proof, does a prosecutor need to anticipate and rebut all possible objections, even those not actually raised by the defense attorney, or is it enough for the jury to determine that if one accepts the evidence placed before them by the two sides, the prosecutor has the overwhelmingly stronger case?
Correlation Between Grades and Essay Answer Length:
Last semester, I for the first time recorded in my exam scoring spreadsheet the length of each answer. This let me figure out the correlation between the length and the grade.
Note that my exam had 13 multiple choice questions (which amounted to 1/3 of the grade) and one long essay (which amounted to 2/3 of the grade, and for which the median answer was about 3750 words). The students had four hours to do the exam, and the exam was open book and open notes.
The correlation coefficient of the total score (which combined the essay score and the multiple choice score) and the essay word count was 0.60, which is huge as correlations go. So longer is better, by a lot, right? The correlation between the total score and the word count for exams longer than the median exam was basically zero.
In fact, I sorted the spreadsheet by word count, and then added a column for each exam that measured the correlation between total score and essay word count for all exams this exam and longer (the Excel formula for the 5th shortest exam of the 81 total, for instance, was =CORREL(B5:B$81,K5:K$81), where column B was the total score and column K was the essay length). The column started at 0.60, got steadily smaller until the median, and then immediately past the median exam the column fell to basically 0 (-0.01, to be precise) and pretty much stayed that way as the exams got longer.
I also did the same with the correlation between the essay score and the word count. For that, the inflection point didn't appear until exam 50 out of 81, rather than 42 out of 81. That makes sense: Time spent on the essay is time not spent on the multiple choice, so there's some tendency for the longer essays (past a certain length) to have slightly smaller multiple choice scores.
Likewise, the correlation between essay word length and multiple choice score was mildly positive if we looked at all exams (0.12), but fell to basically 0 once one set aside the 17 shortest exams -- and once one set aside the 35 shortest exams, the correlation between essay word length and multiple choice score got to be -0.10 and stayed pretty much there (with some fluctuations).
Is this of any use to students? I highly doubt it -- it's hard to act on the advice, "write at least as many words as your median classmate," and in any event simply trying to make your exam longer is unlikely to make it better (even if longer is usually better, up to a point). Still, it struck me as an interesting data point; and perhaps some students might be happy to know that, past a certain level, quantity and quality aren't even correlated.
In any case, this is just one set of data; in past years, I didn't include the word counts in my spreadsheets, so I couldn't do the same analysis. But I'd love to see what other law professors find.
American Muslims' Demands for Religious Exemptions:
My post on the Muslim soldier's religious exemption demand reminded me of a point I made several months ago:
Recent years have seen a set of requests by Muslims for exemptions from generally applicable laws and work rules. A Muslim policewoman in Philadelphia, for instance, asked for an exemption from police-uniform rules so that she could wear a Muslim headdress. A few years ago, a Muslim woman in Florida asked that she be allowed to wear a veil in a driver’s license photo. Last year, a Muslim woman in Michigan asked that she be allowed to testify veiled in a small-claims case that she brought.
All these claims were rejected by courts, and likely correctly, though the arguments for the rejection are not open-and-shut. But some of the public reaction I’ve seen to the claims suggests that people are seeing such claims as some sort of special demands by Muslims for special treatment beyond what is given Christians, Jews, and others. And that turns out not to be quite so: While the claims are for religious exemptions for Muslims, they are brought under general religious-exemption statutes that were designed for all religions and that have historically benefited mostly Christians (since there are so many Christians in America).
The Muslim exemption claims are plausible attempts to invoke established American religious-exemption law, and they deserve to be treated as such -- even if there are good reasons for rejecting them, as American religious-exemption law recognizes. Let us briefly review this law, so that this becomes clearer.... [Go here to keep reading.]
This is an excellent example. People of many religious groups have demanded exemptions from military service. In some measure, American law has chosen to expressly accommodate them, for instance through the conscientious objector exemption for people who oppose all wars (which especially benefits Quakers and other pacifist groups). Some members of other religious groups have also demanded exemptions, for instance when they believed that as Catholics they had a religious obligation not to fight in wars they believed to be unjust. Their claims were considered and rejected, using the then-standard constitutional approach for considering religious exemption demands (which has now been reinstated as a federal statutory approach).
The Muslims are just the latest group to do so. Their objections may be somewhat different from the Catholics', in that to some Muslims they may turn on the religious identity of the people on the other side. But other Muslims' objections appear to be very similar to some more familiar religious objections; for instance, in the case I discuss below, one of the quoted Muslim scholarly opinions suggested a just/unjust war distinction that in principle sounds much like the rule asserted by the Catholic objector in Gillette v. U.S.. And more broadly, Muslims are simply taking advantage of a longstanding American tradition -- the tradition of often (though not always) accommodating people's religious objections to generally applicable laws.
Sometimes the Muslim objector's demands should be rejected and sometimes they should be accepted. But they shouldn't be seen as some striking innovation brought here by some foreign interlopers. One commenter to an earlier post about accommodation of Muslim female athletes complained that, when Muslims "come here, we're expected to conform to their rules, not the other way around." Yet that misses the point: One of our rules, which we've followed for centuries, is precisely that sincere religious objections -- whether brought by familiar religions or recently imported ones -- should often (not always, but often) be accommodated.
Muslim Soldier's Religiously Motivated Refusal to Deploy to Iraq:
The Army Court of Criminal Appeals just handed down an opinion on this a few days ago, rejecting the claim, asserted by Sgt. Abdullah Webster as a defense to charges of "missing movement by design and disobeying a superior commissioned officer." A few highlights:
1. "Appellate defense counsel now assert the military judge erred in accepting
appellant's plea because he 'did not freely plead guilty' and appellant's 'guilty plea
was irregular and not freely given because the Islamic scholars ... forbade [defendant] from deploying to Iraq [and] doing so would condemn [appellant] to hell." The court says no: "It is irrelevant that appellant missed movement or failed to obey the orders of
his superior commissioned officers based on religious motives."
2. Defendant also argues that the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act provides a defense, presumably because of his view that
Based upon the advice given to me by Islamic Scholars ... the conclusions were: 1. Consensus was that this [sic] no Muslims are permitted. 2. Muslims are not allowed to kill another Muslim except under three conditions . . . . Given the religious ruling, any combatant role I undertake would jeopardize my belief and place me in an unfavorable position on the Day of Judgment.
RFRA provides that, when the federal government substantially burdens a person's religious practice -- for instance, by requiring him to do something that his religion forbids -- the person is entitled to an exemption (even when the law is generally applicable, and doesn't single out religious people for special burden) unless the government shows that applying the law to the person is the least restrictive means to serve a compelling government interest.
The court says no: Even if the order burdened defendant's religious practice (which the court assumes for the sake of argument),
The Army has a compelling interest in requiring soldiers to deploy with their units. As the Supreme Court has said, “[i]t is ‘obvious and unarguable’ that no governmental interest is more compelling than the security of the Nation.” The Army’s primary mission is to maintain national security by fighting and winning our nation’s wars. The Army cannot accomplish this primary mission if it cannot deploy, in a state of military readiness, the various units into which it is organized. Giving soldiers the option to decide selectively whether they wish to participate in particular military operations would undermine the readiness of all units to deploy, and thus compromise the Army’s mission and national security.
In this case, the Army furthered its compelling interest in the least restrictive manner possible. Although the Army required appellant to deploy with his unit, the Army made numerous allowances for him. The Army afforded him the opportunity to request relief as a conscientious objector. The Army gave him the right to request reasonable accommodation of his religious practices. Finally, although apparently not required to do so by any regulation, appellant’s commander generously allowed appellant to deploy with his unit in a non-combatant role....
As the Supreme Court has stated, “to accomplish its mission the military must
foster instinctive obedience, unity, commitment, and esprit de corps.” ... “The inescapable demands of military discipline and obedience to orders cannot be taught on battlefields; the habit of immediate compliance with military procedures and orders must be virtually reflex with no time for debate or reflection.”
Sounds quite right to me. I should also add that the Supreme Court held in Gillete v. U.S. (1971) that people weren't entitled to a religious exemption from the duty to serve in the military, beyond what was provided by the limited conscientious objector exception (which applies only to those who object to all military service, rather than to those who refuse to fight in what they see as "unjust" wars). Gillette was decided during the era when the Court viewed the Free Exercise Clause as providing a presumptive right to religious exemptions; the Court later reversed that position, but the Religious Freedom Restoration Act basically reinstated the Gillette-era religious exemption doctrine as to the federal government, so Gillette would still be good precedent as to RFRA cases (though for some reason the Army Court of Criminal Appeals didn't cite it).
Why Normative Markets?
In my last post, I described and gave a general argument for normative prediction markets. If a prediction market forecasts an evaluation by someone to be selected randomly from a body of very educated people (somewhat analogous to the federal judiciary, though perhaps selected in a way that makes it more representative), it will be an informed forecast of an informed decision, and the uncertainty about who the eventual decision maker will be provides for a kind of virtual representativeness.
Now, I'll describe several advantages of normative markets that follow:
(1) More consistent, predictable decision making. The virtual representativeness reduces the danger of idiosyncratic decision making. Of course, there will be some decisions that fall close to the line, but we avoid some situations where it's clear that 2/3 of decision makers would make one decision, but it happens to be someone in the 1/3 of decision makers who gets the final call.
If we can have more consistent, predictable decision making, we also may see a general shift from legal rules to standards. A powerful argument for rules over standards is that only rules can produce consistent and predictable decision making. With normative markets deciding whether legal provisions are followed, standards become relatively more attractive.
(2) More principled decisions. Suppose there is some higher order principle X that the group has precommitted to in advance. Now, we have to make a decision about whether something that the group has decided to do, Y, would be consistent with that high-level principle.
With conventional decision making, the decision maker may well sacrifice X for Y. X may be more important to a decision maker than Y, but a disingenuous argument that Y is consistent with X makes it only slightly less likely that X will be followed in the future. Those who have read Mistretta v. United States should understand what I am talking about.
This is less likely with normative markets, because the evaluation of whether Y is consistent with X will not actually affect whether the group can do Y. That decision has already been made. So, a precommitment to using normative markets can help improve the chance that the group will follow through on its substantive precommitments.
(3) More insulated decisions. It should be harder for a special interest group to influence decision making with normative markets. (Assume for the sake of argument that special interests make decision making worse rather than better.) The judiciary is relatively immune from special interests, and so too could be the pool of ex post evaluators.
A special interest group could try to affect the pool of ex post evaluators, but with many evaluators, each making only a small number of randomly selected decisions on a large number of potential topics, this won't be easy. Moreover, bribing the ex post evaluator would not be enough; the special interest group would have to commit credibly to bribing the evaluator, because the actual ex post decision would not matter.
(4) More scalable decisions. We can easily change the probability that a case is submitted to an ex post evaluator. More decisions would require more subsidies, but we don't have to hire and select more decision makers. Market participation should grow in proportion to subsidies.
Consider, for example, immigration review. From one perspective, this might seem to be one of the worst contexts for prediction markets, because they seem impersonal. But our current system of immigration may be inhumane and capricious. Normative markets could at least eliminate backlogs, in addition to providing more consistent decision making.
Nineteenth-century prediction markets:
Those who are interested in Mike Abramowicz's prediction markets posts may also be interested in this new NBER working paper I just saw on SSRN:
Historians have long wondered whether the Southern Confederacy had a realistic chance at winning the American Civil War. We provide some quantitative evidence on this question by introducing a new methodology for estimating the probability of winning a civil war or revolution based on decisions in financial markets. Using a unique dataset of Confederate gold bonds in Amsterdam, we apply this methodology to estimate the probability of a Southern victory from the summer of 1863 until the end of the war.
Our results suggest that European investors gave the Confederacy approximately a 42 percent chance of victory prior to the battle of Gettysburg/Vicksburg. News of the severity of the two rebel defeats led to a sell-off in Confederate bonds. By the end of 1863, the probability of a Southern victory fell to about 15 percent. Confederate victory prospects generally decreased for the remainder of the war.
The analysis also suggests that McClellan's possible election as U.S. President on a peace party platform as well as Confederate military victories in 1864 did little to reverse the market's assessment that the South would probably lose the Civil War.
This paper is also available directly on the NBER site, though I'm not sure whether the general public has free access to it.
Assessing the Economic Impact of Banning Economic Development Takings:
The Institute for Justice (the libertarian public interest law firm that represented the property owners in Kelo v. City of New London) has an interesting study assessing the economic impact of post-Kelo reform laws that ban Kelo-style economic development takings.
Contrary to the "doomsday" predictions of planners and local government officials who claimed that eliminating economic development takings would drastically stifle development, the study finds that states with strong post-Kelo reform laws have not suffered any reduction in growth and development relative to preexisting trends or in comparison with states that passed ineffective reforms or none at all.
I tend to agree with the study's conclusion that takings for economic development aren't actually necessary to increase employment or promote local economic growth. For reasons I outlined in this article, economic development takings are likely to do more harm than good for local economies.
At the same time, I think that the IJ study is not yet a definitive assessment of the economic impact of post-Kelo reform laws. All but one of the laws considered in the study have been in force for less than two and one half years (Utah, which enacted its reform law a few months before Kelo came down on June 23, 2005, is the exception). It is probably too early to fully assess their longterm impact. In addition, while the study controls for preexisting economic trends, it doesn't take account of intervening events other than post-Kelo reform laws that might affect economic development in different regions of the country.
The IJ study is a compelling refutation of the more extreme doom and gloom predictions of Kelo defenders. In my view, time will show that banning economic development takings is a boon for local economies, not a detriment. A few state Supreme Courts, such as Washington's (1959) and Kentucky's (1979), banned economic development takings under state constitutions many years before Kelo; there is no evidence that their actions undermined their states' economies in any way. Development economists have long argued that protecting property rights is a good way to promote growth. If landowners' rights are protected, they are more likely to invest in their properties and establish enterprises that stimulate local economies.
However, it will probably take several years for us to accumulate more definitive data on the impact of post-Kelo reform laws. In the meantime, the IJ study, combined with other available evidence, has shifted the burden of proof to those who argue that economic development takings are an essential tool for promoting local economic growth. It is up to them to show that forcibly displacing homeowners and businesses for the benefit of other private interests really is a good way to promote economic growth.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST WATCH: As longtime VC readers know, I have done considerable pro bono work for IJ, including writing several amicus briefs on their behalf.
Normative Prediction Markets:
Suppose that you are a member of a large group that has a large number of decisions to make. It might seem that you have two basic choices.
First, allow everyone to vote on every decision. This approach produces high representativeness (at least if everyone votes), but the votes will be based on little information. Second, allow a subset of the group to make each decision. This approach reduces representativeness, but allows for more informed decision makers.
Democratic institutions combine these two basic approaches in elaborate ways to overcome the trade-off between unrepresentative and uninformed decision making. All enfranchised citizens select a few citizens to serve as legislators, for example, and legislators divide into committees. For different types of decisions, we accept different trade-offs. Three-judge panels are unrepresentative but informed, so in theory we allow them to resolve legal questions but not to change national policy.
None of these solutions is perfect, and we face the usual perils of republican decision making: ignorant voters, special interests, legislative inertia, activist judges, and executive policies highly sensitive to the quadrennial preferences of a small number of voters in places like Florida and Ohio. But we may well structure voting regimes reasonably efficiently given the fundamental trade-off.
There is, however, a way of overcoming this basic trade-off using prediction markets rather than votes. We can commit to selecting someone at random from our group, or from a subset of it, to say what the decision should be. We will require this person to listen to detailed arguments and to produce a detailed explanation. But this will not be our decision. Instead, our decision will be based on the forecast generated by a “normative prediction market” predicting what this person will conclude is best.
Moreover, we don’t even need to have someone conduct this evaluation for every decision. We can use a pseudo-random number generator to pick only, say, one-tenth of the decisions for ex post evaluation. Before we make the random selection, we run a conditional normative market, where the condition is that the decision is selected for ex post evaluation. But every time, it is the market’s prediction that we will use as the decision.
A summary of the steps: (1) Subsidized conditional market predicts decision. (2) This prediction determines the group’s actual decision. (3) Random number from 0 to 1 is drawn; if it’s greater than 0.10, all money from market is returned. (4) Person is picked at random from group, and must eventually announce what he or she would have decided. (5) This evaluation is used to determine payouts in the conditional market.
This is a radically new way of making decisions, and I emphasize in the book that there are strong reasons not to transform radically our democratic institutions. I use dramatic examples (e.g., prediction market legislatures, trial by market) to illustrate the approach colorfully, but I don’t believe we should rewrite the Constitution. Normative markets could serve as useful inputs into more traditional decision making (change step 2 above to “This prediction provides a recommended decision.”), or be used in private settings.
All I want to show here is that this approach, which could also be used in private settings, helps overcome the trade-off between unrepresentative and uninformed decision making.
If the prediction market is sufficiently subsidized, then the prediction can be highly informed. Since we only have a few decisions that need ex post evaluation, and only one decision maker per decision, we can demand a lot of the ex post decision maker, who will then become informed too. Picking a random citizen might not be the best strategy, since an informed dolt is still a dolt, so we might have the ex post evaluator randomly drawn from a body akin to a judiciary (experts selected by indirectly elected representatives).
Meanwhile, the system provides a virtual representativeness. Traders don’t know who the actual ex post decision maker would be, so they will average the anticipated decisions of a broad ideological range of potential decision makers. We may be able to increase representativeness still further by delaying decisions a decade or so, so it won’t matter if we happen to have an unbalanced set of ex post decision makers at any one time.
Critically, it doesn’t matter if the actual ex post decision maker makes a foolish or unrepresentative decision. What matters is the average expected decision, because it is only the prediction of the ex post evaluation that determines policy.
Of course, my claims here depend on my earlier claims that prediction markets will be sufficiently accurate and deliberative.
Federalist Society Panel on Executive Power:
The Federalist Society has posted a video
of the January 3 faculty conference panel on executive power, featuring Harvey Mansfield, John McGinnis, Neomi Rao, and our own Ilya Somin. (Sandy Levinson was also scheduled to be on the panel; to everyone's disappointment, he did not make it.) Although Ilya and I have stark disagreements
about the proper role of the courts, we're mostly on the same page here.
If hearing from only one VC blogger isn't enough for you, check out the Q&A. I ask the first question at the 34-minute mark; co-blogger David Bernstein asks the second question at the 39-minute mark; and fellow co-blogger Randy Barnett asks a question at the 60-minute mark.
Supreme Court Stays Eleventh Circuit Execution:
Lyle Denniston has the background here
, and the stay order here
. The obvious question is, does this tell us anything about what the Court might be doing with Baze v. Rees
? I think the answer is "no." There are a bunch of reasons for this, but the biggest is a practical one: Even if the Court is likely to rule for Kentucky in the Baze
case, denying the application for a stay in this case would leave the lower courts hopelessly confused as to whether executions will be allowed (and in what circumstances) before Baze
is handed down. The whole point of taking Baze
was to end lower court confusion and settle this issue clearly. So no matter how the initial conference vote went in the case, the sensible course is to stay all executions while the case is still pending.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
A Working Definition of Terrorism.
My colleague at the University of Utah College of Law, Amos Guiora, has just posted this very interesting paper on the appropriate definition of "terrorism." Here's the main point:
"The recommended definition captures the core elements of terrorism in clear and concise language. In reviewing scholarship and terrorists' writings, the overwhelming impression is that causing harm (physical or psychological) to the innocent civilian population is the central characteristic of terrorist action. The available literature articulates that harming civilians is the most effective manner from the terrorist mindset to effectuate their goals."
Guiora goes on to argue that, without a clear definition of terrorism, we won't take appropriate countermeasures. In particular, we need to understand that terrorism intends to disrupt daily life, and that effective counterterrorism measures will have to be based on that fact.
John McCain and the Judiciary:
Much controversy has centered recently around John McCain's possible judicial nominees should he become president. In my view, a President McCain would face a difficult tradeoff between the goal of appointing conservative jurists and the goal of saving the McCain-Feingold law from invalidation by the Court.
John McCain may well be sincere in claiming that he wants to appoint conservative justices. However, he is undoubtedly even more sincere in his support of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, his proudest achievement as a legislator. The narrow conservative majority on the Supreme Court is not fond of McCain-Feingold and has already significantly narrowed its scope in the Wisconsin Right to Life case. The five conservatives most likely believe that McCain-Feingold is unconstitutional; that applies also to swing voter Anthony Kennedy, who voted to strike down most of McCain-Feingold in McConnell v. FEC, the 2003 decision that narrowly upheld the law by a 5-4 margin (here is Kennedy's strong dissent in that case).
If he wants to have any chance at all of saving McCain-Feingold, a President McCain will have to appoint justices committed to upholding it. As a practical matter, however, there are few if any conservative jurists who are both 1) qualified to sit on the Court, and 2) likely to vote McCain's way on campaign finance issues; I can't think of even one offhand. Almost any well-known jurist likely to vote the conservative way on federalism, property rights, abortion, and other major constitutional issues is also likely to be just as committed to striking down McCain-Feingold as the conservatives currently on the Court. Thus, McCain will be strongly tempted to appointmoderate to liberal justices or a "stealth" candidate like Justice Souter with no clear judicial philosophy. The stealth approach failed for George W. Bush when the Harriet Miers nomination blew up in his face. However, McCain might do better with it, since he would be facing a Democratic-controlled Senate rather than a Republican one.
I honestly don't know whether McCain - should he be elected - would put his desire to uphold McCain-Feingold above his campaign promises to appoint conservative justices. However, the possibility that he might appoint an analogue to Justice Souter or Harriet Miers in order to save McCain-Feingold is a very real one. This concern is only slightly assuaged by recent endorsements of McCain by conservative legal luminaries such as Ted Olson and Miguel Estrada. Perhaps they know something about McCain's plans that I don't. However, it will take a lot more evidence to convince me that McCain is genuinely willing to set his commitment to McCain-Feingold aside in making Supreme Court appointments.
Supreme Court appointments are not the only issue in the presidential election and probably not the most important. However, conservatives and libertarians who care about legal issues should be aware of the possibility that a President McCain might end up appointing justices likely to vote against their positions on most major constitutional issues before the Court. The above is not an endorsement of Mitt Romney, who has his own shortcomings. Nor is it a comprehensive rejection of McCain, whose positions on some issues I very much agree with. It does, however, flag an important concern about McCain's potential judicial appointments.
James Risen Subpoenaed:
The New York Times reports on an interesting development in the investigation of leaks concerning classified counter-terrorism programs.
A federal grand jury has issued a subpoena to a reporter of The New York Times, apparently to try to force him to reveal his confidential sources for a 2006 book on the Central Intelligence Agency, one of the reporter’s lawyers said Thursday. . . .
Mr. Risen’s lawyer, David N. Kelley, who was the United States attorney in Manhattan early in the Bush administration, said in an interview that the subpoena sought the source of information for a specific chapter of the book “State of War.”
The chapter asserted that the C.I.A. had unsuccessfully tried, beginning in the Clinton administration, to infiltrate Iran’s nuclear program. None of the material in that chapter appeared in The New York Times. . . .
Mr. Risen, who is based in Washington and specializes in intelligence issues, is the latest of several reporters to face subpoenas in leak investigations overseen by the Justice Department. . . .
Ms. Mathis would not say why the material about the C.I.A. program involving Iran appeared in Mr. Risen’s book but not in pages of The Times. “We don’t discuss matters not published in The Times,” she said.
The Justice Department would not comment on the work of the grand jury that issued the subpoena to Mr. Risen. “The department does not comment on pending investigations,” said Peter Carr, a spokesman.
Crime Victims' Right to Object to a Plea Agreement:
I'm working on an interesting pro bono case involving the crime victims' right to object to a plea agreement in federal court under the Crime Victims Rights Act. It arises out the Texas City Refinery explosion in March 2005, which left 15 dead, hundreds injured, and untold property damage.
Recently the responsible corporation -- BP Products North America -- agreed to pled guilty to a criminal violation of the Clean Air Act. But the plea agreement is a "binding" plea agreement -- that is, the judge would have no discretion in sentencing. The plea agreement obligates BP Products North America to pay a $50 million fine and do essentially nothing more to ensure plant safety than abide by previous agreements with federal and state regulators.
Along with other pro bono lawyers in Texas, I represent some of the victims of the explosion. They would like the judge to reject the plea and send the parties back to the drawing board to negotiate more safety measures and a more appropriate -- and tougher -- penalty.
Today the other lawyers and I filed pleadings in the federal district court in Texas. Our pleadings argue the court should reject the plea because the proposed plea blocks the court from appointing its own independent safety monitor to supervise BP Products' environmental compliance. The pleadings also argue that since the statutory maximum fine in this case (based on the gain to the company or loss to the victims) is more than $2 billion, a substantially larger fine is appropriate.
The larger issue here is what role the fedeal courts will give crime victims in these kidns of issues. Under the new Crime Victims Rights Act, crime victims have the right to "heard" on any proposed plea. On Monday, I will be in Houston helping victims exercise that right.
Miguel Estrada Supports John McCain, Too:
Again from Jennifer Rubin (Commentary): "Conservative lawyer, former Assistant to the Solicitor General and filibustered federal appellate court nominee Miguel Estrada says 'McCain' as well." For those who don't know, Miguel is both brilliant and solidly conservative.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Miguel Estrada Supports John McCain, Too:
- Ted Olson Endorses John McCain:
Symposium at Catholic University (in D.C.) on Justice O'Connor's Jurisprudence Related to Race and Education:
Looks like a very interesting program, and a quick glance suggests it's a pretty balanced lineup. It will be happening on Friday, February 22.
Responding to Shellenberger & Nordhaus on Climate:
On Monday, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, authors of Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility, challenged conservatives on global warming in an essay on TNR Online. While some conservatives (including yours truly) have acknowledged the threat of climate change, Shellenberger and Nordhaus wrote, few (if any) had followed through with tangible proposals for meaningful action.
Newt Gingrich and Terry Maple, authors of the conservative environmental manifesto, A Contract with the Earth, responded on Tuesday, arguing for a market-based approach of sorts, based on "bold government incentives," to the threat of climate change. Shellenberger and Nordhaus were not convinced by the Gingrich-Maple argument, and suggested Gingrich and Maple are trying to address climate change "on the cheap," and that won't do.
I contributed to the exchange today, suggesting that Nordhaus and Shellenberger are too wedded to centralized, top-down strategies.
even though Shellenberger and Nordhaus recognize the difference between a politics of limits and one of possibility, they do not seem to comprehend the problems common to all centralized, top-down policy initiatives--regulatory and subsidy-driven alike. In their book and essays, Shellenberger and Nordhaus correctly observe that regulatory approaches to climate change are "economically insufficient to accelerate the transition to clean energy." Yet the "investment-centered" approach they prefer still suffers from substantial limits, not least their preference for a centrally directed system of subsidies. Rather than grapple with the limits of top-down direction of investment and economic activity, they present a false dichotomy between laissez faire absolutism and government direction of investments. . . .
There is certainly a need for conservatives and others to "back up words with action," but not just any action will do. We need innovation-spurring, forward-looking environmental policies, not a repackaging of the centralized mandates and economic controls that have dominated environmental policy for the past three decades. Shellenberger and Nordhaus have helped to initiate this dialogue, but their policy recommendations should not be the last word.
The essay fleshes out some of what I have in mind in greater detail.
My prior posts on Nordhaus and Shellenberger, and their provocative book, are here and here. Meanwhile, while we're on the subject of conservatives and climate change, David Roberts rounds up the latest comments from the GOP presidential candidates on global warming policy.
Ted Olson Endorses John McCain:
From Jennifer Rubin at Commentary: "Ted Olson, fomer U.S. Solicitor General and conservative legal icon, has just informed me that he is endorsing John McCain."
Novak on McCain & Judicial Nominations:
Today's Robert Novak column supports John Fund's claim that Sen. McCain has made comments suggesting he would be unlikely to nominate someone like Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Specifically, Novak reports the following:
Fund wrote that McCain "has told conservatives he would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito because 'he wore his conservatism on his sleeve.' " In a conference call with bloggers that day, McCain said, "I don't recall a conversation where I would have said that." He was "astonished" by the Alito quote, he said, and he repeatedly says at town meetings, "We're going to have justices like Roberts and Alito."
I found what McCain could not remember: a private, informal chat with conservative Republican lawyers shortly after he announced his candidacy in April 2007. I talked to two lawyers who were present whom I have known for years and who have never misled me. One is neutral in the presidential race, and the other recently endorsed Mitt Romney. Both said they were not Fund's source, and neither knew I was talking to the other. They gave me nearly identical accounts, as follows:
"Wouldn't it be great if you get a chance to name somebody like Roberts and Alito?" one lawyer commented. McCain replied, "Well, certainly Roberts." Jaws were described as dropping. My sources cannot remember exactly what McCain said next, but their recollection is that he described Alito as too conservative.
Predicting Decisions and Their Effects:
So far, my posts have implicitly assumed independence between forecasts and decisions. Now, let’s consider some ways in which we might structure prediction markets to forecast the decisions themselves and their consequences, so that the forecasts might influence the decisions.
(1) Markets predicting decisions. A market that predicts a decision might end up affecting the decision. Suppose that Eugene is elected dictator, but because of his blogging responsibilities, His Tremendousness must make many decisions. So, he establishes prediction markets forecasting what decisions he will make.
Now, Eugene is presented with a decision to make, and he quickly analyzes the problem and leans toward Decision A. But then he checks the market and sees that it forecasts that he will make Decision B. He wonders, why is that? He looks more carefully and realizes that he has missed some aspects of the problem.
Some of the dynamics of the deliberative market are present here. A trader predicting a decision can profit by developing arguments that will persuade the decision maker. For example, the trader can write an argument for Decision A and bet on Decision A just before releasing the argument. Eugene might thus create a market predicting his decisions as a way of generating research and arguments relevant to those decisions.
(2) Conditional markets. A conditional market predicts some variable contingent on a condition. A simple way to run such a market is to stipulate that all money spent on the prediction market will be refunded if the condition does not occur. For example, one market could predict a corporation’s stock price if a corporation decides to build a factory, and a separate market could predict the stock price if it doesn’t build the factory. The corporation can compare the forecasts to assess the market’s perception of the effect of building the factory on stock price.
These are a useful tool, but there are important caveats. First, small deviations between two markets can’t be taken too seriously. If Market A predicts a stock price of $30.00 and Market B predicts a stock price of $30.01, the difference could just be noise. Relatedly, if the condition will have little effect on the stock price, even subsidized prediction markets will give people little incentive to study the effect of the condition. Instead, the subsidy will just give general incentives to study all factors that might affect future stock price.
Second, traders will recognize that information unknown to them may affect the decision. For example, last May, Hillary Clinton’s chance of winning the Presidency conditional on being nominated was estimated based on prediction markets at over 70%. That could indicate that Clinton was a strong candidate. It also could mean that the Democrats would stick with a weak candidate like Clinton only if other factors, like the economy, were pointing so strongly in the Democrats’ direction that Democratic primary voters did not care about electability.
In our next installment, I’ll show that “normative markets” combine the two market approaches considered above.
If I Were a Senator or Governor Who's Also a Presidential Candidate,
I'd file an amicus brief in the Supreme Court's Second Amendment case supporting the individual right to bear arms (but with room for an unspecified range of "reasonable restrictions"). I'd then tout my position, and question the views of those of my rivals who didn't file such a brief.
Not that I'd expect the brief to matter much to the Court -- but I'd think it would be pretty good for my campaign, certainly if I'm a Republican but maybe even if I'm a Democrat who wants to appeal to the many pro-gun-rights Democrats and independents. Or am I mistaken?
Why Check With People Before Responding to Their Off-Hand Remarks?
Earlier this morning, I wrote:
It's true that blog posts are often less thought-through than articles or op-eds.... It therefore makes sense to check with the author before citing the post, in case the author wants to elaborate on it, or even recant it in some measure -- it's not necessary, but it can be helpful.
Tim Sandefur responded:
I must say I really disagree with the "check with the author" thing. Why? I never check with the author of a law review article or a book when I cite them. I can see that in some cases it might be helpful if you think the author could expand on some point, but that would probably be best done in a new post by that blogger.
When I cite a blog it is very often because I am citing someone whose views are contrary to mine, and if there were any point of etiquette that counsels me to ask permission or anything, that person would then refuse (or alter the blog post) and deprive me of a helpful reference. The fact that people can retroactively alter their blog posts makes it especially likely that a person who made a comment that later proves embarrassing will then try to weasel out of it when he's called on it in the form of a law review citation.
In my view, there's no more reason to request permission before citing in a law review than there is to request permission before linking to it from my own blog and criticizing it. If the person then chooses to alter the blog post or elaborate or whatever, that's fine, but why should I give him a chance to cover up his tracks before I criticize him?
Now, obviously blogs are, as you say, off-the-cuff, and they should be cited with that in mind (and if cited, should be read with that in mind). And you do say that there's no "rule" here, but I still don't think there's any reason to set out some guideline of etiquette that counsels any obligation on the part of a reader or writer to ask permission before citing a blog post. And I think there is an obvious downside in a bloggers' ability to go back and change his statements.
Here's my thinking: None of this is a matter of needing "permission" -- but it is a matter of making sure that debates are based on real disagreements, and not on misunderstandings, silly mistakes, or qualifiers that are omitted in the course of a casual conversation.
Say you say in a quick blog post, "Content-based speech restrictions are unconstitutional," and I have a paragraph in your article saying, "Some scholars argue that content-based speech restrictions are unconstitutional, but they're wrong -- after all, libel law, obscenity law, and many other constitutionally permissible laws are content-based." But you didn't really mean to argue that content-based speech restrictions are unconstitutional; you just omitted a "generally," or some other qualifier. What's the point of the back and forth? How does it help the reader, or the state of professional knowledge?
Or say you accidentally omit a "not" or an "un-," or make a similar typing error (not uncommon in quickly written prose). And say you don't notice this and your readers don't tell you (maybe you don't have a lot of readers who help you by sending corrections, or maybe they just weren't paying attention to this post). I then write "X says that content-based speech restrictions are constitutional, which shows what a minimalist he is when it comes to free speech" -- but it turns out I'm arguing not with your sincere beliefs or your edited prose, but with your slip of the finger. What's the point?
Nor is there much reason to worry, I think, about the person "covering his tracks" by modifying the post. If the original post is somehow especially telling, you can always cite the original (just save a copy of the original version, and note in your footnote that you're citing to the original version and not the updated one). Thus, for instance, if you think the original post really reflects the speaker's true views, and the revision is an attempt to disingenuously hide the beliefs that slipped out in a rare moment of candor, go ahead and cite to the original.
But if the person e-mails back sincerely saying, "Thanks -- I misspoke, and I've corrected the post to more accurately reflect my views [or the state of the law]," then what have you lost? At most the opportunity to engage in a debate with a view that might not actually be held by anyone, or to represent the post as your target's true views when it's actually just an error. Pat yourself on the back for being nice, and, more importantly, for sparing your readers a pointless debate against a view that even your target doesn't actually hold.
Now some of this is specific to law review articles that cite blog posts. If you're citing an article, you can be more confident that the author really means what he says there, because the author has likely reread the article several times, and confirmed that he didn't just misspeak. If you're writing a blog post that cites another blog post, you might not want the delay that often accompanies such queries. But if you're writing a law review article, you have the time to check things, and good reason to avoid needless debates.
Community Morality and Zoning Restrictions on Adult Businesses and Military Recruiting Stations:
In addition to the measures against military recruiters described in Eugene's recent posts, Berkeley is also considering enacting a zoning ordinance to restrict their location in much the same way as other cities use zoning to restrict or ban businesses selling pornography:
If passed by a majority of Berkeley voters, a proposed initiative would require military recruiting offices and private military companies in Berkeley to first acquire a special use permit....
If the initiative passes, recruitment offices could not be opened within 600 feet of residential districts, public parks, public health clinics, public libraries, schools or churches...
The author of the initiative, Berkeley-based lawyer Sharon Adams, modeled the initiative after current zoning law that restricts the location of adult-oriented businesses.
"In the same way that many communities limit the location of pornographic stores, that's the same way we feel about the military recruiting stations," said Phoebe Sorgen, an initiative proponent and a member of the city's Peace and Justice Commission. "Teenagers that really want to find them will be able to seek them out and find them, but we don't want them in our face."
Conservatives are justifiably outraged by the proposed Berkeley measure. I share their indignation. However, it is striking that advocates of the Berkeley measure use most of the same arguments for it as many conservatives use to justify zoning out adult businesses and other enterprises they disapprove of.
For example, the Berkeleyites claim that the measure is justified on the basis of community morality in Berkeley, where much of the very left-wing population finds military recruiters offensive. As Berkeley Councilmember Dona Spring puts it, "I do want to do something, whatever we can do, to shut down an agency that offends our public standards." Conservatives similarly argue that local communities that find adult businesses offensive should be able to ban them for that reason. If conservative local majorities should be able to use zoning law to enforce their moral values, why shouldn't the left-wing local majority in Berkeley be able to do the same thing?
Similarly, both groups cite the need to protect the young. As Sharon Adams, author of the proposed Berkeley law explained, "We feel that as a community we need to protect the youth" from military recruiters. Similarly, conservatives seek to use zoning to protect the young from the supposedly corrupting influences of porn. In (very limited) defense of the Berkeley activists, it seems likely that joining the military (at least in a combat role) is a far more dangerous activity for the young than consuming porn.
Finally, both groups justify zoning restrictions on the grounds that the enterprises they oppose cause harmful "secondary effects" on the community. Conservatives claim that adult businesses cause crime and disorder. The Berkeley leftists argue that military recruiting stations promote violence, militarism, and discrimination against gays and lesbians. I think that the Berkeley secondary effects arguments are extremely implausible. But social science research suggests that the conservative ones aren't much better. For a good summary of the data, see Bryant Paul, et al., Government Regulation of “Adult Businesses” Through Zoning and Anti-Nudity Ordinances: Debunking the Legal Myth of Negative Secondary Effects,6 Communication Law & Policy 355 (2001). See also this more recent study.
To be clear, I don't believe that local governments should use zoning restrictions to target either recruiting stations or adult businesses. Those individuals who have a strong desire to isolate themselves from either one have many options for doing so. They can use restrictive covenants, live in a private planned community (as over 50 million Americans do already), or move to a neighborhood where there is little potential market for whatever type of business they disapprove of. However, they should not use the heavy hand of government to force out enterprises merely because they find them offensive. Zoning might be able to play a valuable role in providing certain local public goods and in restricting businesses that cause genuinely severe harm to their neighbors. But mere community disapproval - whether by the right or the left - should not be enough to justify such restrictions.
Conspiracy Theory -- Pass It On:
Berkeley's and the far Left's latest bout of self-marginalization was cunningly planted by Karl Rove, and of course the neocons. On top of the lovely, pointless self-parody from the Berkeley City Council, check out this item, from the same news story:
Code Pink on Wednesday started circulating petitions to put a measure on the November ballot in Berkeley that would make it more difficult to open military recruiting offices near homes, parks, schools, churches libraries or health clinics. The group needs 5,000 signatures to make the ballot.
I mean, that wouldn't be even remotely effective, even if it were enacted and upheld against a preemption challenge -- it's just an attempt to insult the Marines. Karl and the neocons say, "Bwahahaha! Everything is going just as we planned."
You're Only Supposed to Go to a City with the City Council's Invitation? Who Knew?
The Contra Costa Times reports:
[T]he Berkeley City Council ... voted 8-1 Tuesday night to tell the U.S. Marines that its Shattuck Avenue recruiting station "is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders."
In addition, the council voted to explore enforcing its law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation against the Marines because of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. And it officially encouraged the women's peace group Code Pink to impede the work of the Marines in the city by protesting in front of the station.
In a separate item, the council voted 8-1 to give Code Pink a designated parking space in front of the recruiting station once a week for six months and a free sound permit for protesting once a week from noon to 4 p.m....
"I believe in the Code Pink cause. The Marines don't belong here, they shouldn't have come here, and they should leave," said Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates after votes were cast....
Oddly enough, in pretty much every city I've lived, I've been "uninvited" by the city council or any other organization representing the city. Nor would I have felt I was doing something rude or otherwise bad if the city council has announced that I was "unwelcome."
On the other hand, being labeled as "intruder" would have troubled me, because it seems to assert some sort of property rights on the city council's part. If a host declares me an intruder in his house, or a business on its property, I would have to leave. But here the Marines, I take it, are on private property that the commercial landlord has voluntarily rented to them. A little arrogant for the city council to decide who's an intruder as to all the private property in the city, no? (The same would go as to government-owned parcels of property or easements that are by law open to the whole public, such as roads or sidewalks.) Especially when it's quite likely that many Berkeleyans, even if only a minority, take a different view, and are entitled to themselves invite the Marines onto the property if they so choose?
Thanks to InstaPundit for the pointer.
Citing Blogs in Legal Scholarship:
People sometime ask whether it's proper to cite blogs in a law review article. A few thoughts:
1. Crediting Ideas, Big or Small: Not only is it proper to cite blogs to credit them for their ideas -- it's mandatory, if an observation in your article was borrowed from someone else's blog post, or even just if the blogger had the original observation first. That's the same rule as when you borrow from a law review article, an op-ed, or even a personal conversation.
2. But Check with the Author: It's true that blog posts are often less thought-through than articles or op-eds. (They're also unedited, but many op-eds aren't substantially edited by editors, and certainly not by editors who have knowledge of the law; yet op-eds are certainly citable.) It therefore makes sense to check with the author before citing the post, in case the author wants to elaborate on it, or even recant it in some measure -- it's not necessary, but it can be helpful.
3. Supporting Authority: If, however, you're making an assertion that you want to rely on without proving yourself, and therefore want to cite supporting authority for it -- as opposed to giving credit to the originator of an idea, or referring to a particular counterargument that was seems to be present only in a blog post -- then you should cite a law review article or a book. Those are the sources that are more likely to be the more thought-through and detailed expositions of the argument.
4. Factual Assertions: Finally, you should not cite blog posts for specific facts quoted or paraphrased by those blog posts, whether they are facts about cases, statutes, social science data, or whatever else. Find, read, quote, and cite the original source instead. But of course that's true not just as to blog posts but also as to articles, books, and other sources -- if they are quoting or paraphrasing another source, you should go to the original. Don't let the intermediate source's errors and oversimplifications become your errors and oversimplifications.
Deliberating with Prediction Markets:
Prediction markets may seem inadequately deliberative. On the election markets, for example, participants trade, but do not ordinarily explain their trades. Decision makers in deliberative bodies, in contrast, seek to persuade one another.
Group deliberation, however, has its own perils, including the danger that polarization will move a group to extremes, as Cass Sunstein has shown. Sunstein argues in Infotopia that prediction markets might therefore be superior in some contexts to deliberation. A recent study shows better forecasts with prediction markets than with group deliberation.
In some contexts, though, prediction markets might be more useful yet if individual participants explained their forecasts. I’ve proposed a type of prediction market called a deliberative market that can increase incentives that participants have to release information supporting their views. In the deliberative market (see my original paper here and this section of my book), a participant’s profit or loss is determined by the market forecast some time after the participant’s initial prediction, so a participant can earn money only to the extent that others are persuaded in that time frame.
In a post yesterday on the Overcoming Bias blog, Robin Hanson criticizes my argument for not including a robust enough economic model and for allegedly making unrealistic assumptions. In a reply, I maintain that the point is pretty simple, and the math I used was ample to make it. In the comments to my reply, Robin and I come closer to agreeing about the underlying issue of whether the deliberative market increases incentives for information release.
Chris Hibbert, who has developed the robust Zocalo open source prediction market software, meanwhile, makes the sound point that a possible disadvantage of the deliberative approach is that it may stop individuals who are confident of their views but don’t think they can persuade others in the time frame from participating in the market. Sometimes, it might be useful to have both a standard and a deliberative prediction market for the same forecasting problem.
There may be other ways of making prediction markets more transparent. An admittedly more speculative section of the book imagines the “market web,” which can be used to break down problems. For example, an election market might include a node forecasting the possibility of a recession. Changes in this node’s value would automatically affect the value of other nodes, including ultimately the probability that particular candidates would win the election. Such a web could become complicated very quickly, but it could allow a group to produce a consensus model of a complex phenomenon.
Volokh Conspiracy Citations in the Westlaw JLR Database:
By year: 2004, 14 citations. 2005, 22 citations. 2006, 69 citations. 2007, 43 citations. Note that the high number of citations in 2006 resulted in part from the publication of papers from conferences about law blogs, and that the number of citations for 2007 will likely increase in the future because not all journals have posted their final 2007 issues to the database. (Methodology: JLR database queries for "volokh conspiracy" limited to each year.)
UPDATE: Eugene, commenter Larry the Librarian
, and David Zaring
all point out that my methodology may undercount cites slightly for various reasons.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The Dark Side of "Privacy Protections," Continued:
Last month, I linked to a story about someone who was "convicted of violating state wiretapping laws" for "conceal[ing] a camera to videotape a Boston University police sergeant ... during a 2006 political protest." I wrote that this was outrageous, but entirely consistent with a 2001 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision in Commonwealth v. Hyde, which is based on Massachusetts' extremely broad privacy law. The court there upheld a conviction of a person who had "secretly tape recording statements made by police officers during a routine traffic stop" of himself. This, I argued, was the dark side of "privacy" — a law aimed at protecting privacy ends up wrongly restricting people's liberty, and people's ability to protect themselves against police misconduct. Here's part of the court's rationale:
We reject the defendant's argument that the statute is not applicable because the police officers were performing their public duties, and, therefore, had no reasonable expectation of privacy in their words. The statute's preamble expresses the Legislature's general concern that "the uncontrolled development and unrestricted use of modern electronic surveillance devices pose[d] grave dangers to the privacy of all citizens of the commonwealth" and this concern was relied on to justify the ban on the public's clandestine use of such devices.
And this protection of "privacy" extends not just to allegedly misbehaving cops but even to kidnappers calling in ransom requests: "In Commonwealth v. Jackson, this court rejected the argument that, because a kidnapper has no legitimate privacy interest in telephone calls made for ransom purposes, the secret electronic recording of that conversation by the victim's brother would not be prohibited ...."
These incidents aren't necessarily an indictment of all such laws. Perhaps such a law could be properly drafted to exclude audiotaping of conversations with the police, or of conversations with people who one reasonably believes are trying to extort something from you or threaten you. But the incidents are a warning that not all laws proposed in the name of "privacy" are good, especially when they try to protect one person's privacy by constraining another's liberty to record conversations to which one is lawfully a party.
Now there's another such incident in the news; the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reports:
[Simon Glik] will stand trial on Jan. 29 in Boston Municipal Court on charges of wiretapping, aiding an escape and disturbing the peace for allegedly using his cell phone to record the arrest of a 16-year-old juvenile in a drug case....
Officer Peter Savalis alleges that attorney Simon Glik was walking in the Boston Common at 5:30 p.m. when he used his phone’s camera to videotape him and two other officers investigating a teen.
“[He] reached out and placed his arm into the officer’s way and held out a phone,” according to Savalis’ police report -— an accusation that Glik denies.
The report then states that [Glik] walked around the officers and continued recording the scene.
When one of the officers asked if he was using audio and video on the phone, Glik reportedly said: “I sure am using audio.” ...
I can't speak to whether Glik got close enough to the scene that he was physically interfering with the arrest of the suspect. But it shouldn't be illegal for him to audiotape the police officers (the subject of a separate charge, of which he could be convicted even if the jury finds he didn't physically interfere with the arrest). Yet under Massachusetts law, he may well be guilty, so long as the jury concludes that at least part of the tape recording happened before the officers realized that they were being recorded. Pretty bad.
Thanks to Harvey Silverglate for the pointer.
Irresponsible Charges by Ha'aretz of "Racist" Attacks by "Jewish Spokesmen":
Ha'aretz, an Israeli newspaper whose English Internet edition is widely read in the U.S.,
has an editorial today that states: "While Obama was taking advantage of Martin Luther King Day to speak out against anti-Semitism among blacks, Jewish spokesmen were using racist language against him, solely because his father was Muslim."
I looked in vain in the rest of the editorial for any evidence that anyone who can reasonably be described as a "Jewish spokesman" had said anything remotely racist about Obama. As far as I can tell, Ha'aretz's main complaint is that Jews with right-wing views on Israel are suspicious of Obama because they see him as a "leftist". Ha'aretz's editorialists seem to agree that he's a leftist (in Israeli terms, this means something more like "liberal" in American vernacular), but thinks that's cause for celebration, not criticism. I don't get the concept that when a right-winger is hostile to someone both they and his defenders consider a "leftist", this is an issue of racism; do right-wingers tend to support white Protestant leftists?
It's true, as Ha'aretz points out, that there has been a virulent, dishonest email campaign against Obama, based on his being some sort of Muslim Manchurian candidate. I've received one such email from a casual acquaintance (see below). The one I received struck me as targeted to religious Christians, though the emails have been sent to Jews as well. But be that as it may, this email campaign has not, to my knowledge, been traced to any prominent individual Jewish activist or Jewish organization, and indeed was formally condemned by a group of "Jewish spokesmen," representing a broad spectrum of religious, fraternal, civil rights, and anti-defamation organizations.
Unless Ha'aretz can come up with a reasonable example of "Jewish spokesmen" using "racist language" regarding Obama, I hope the newspaper will withdraw this accusation and run a correction. But I suspect that Ha'aretz is less concerned with Obama per se, and more with trying to discredit the America "right-wing Jews" (a very broad category for Ha'aretz; consider, as an analogy, who the editors of The Nation would consider right-wing) it holds in contempt.
UPDATE: For those unfamiliar with Ha'aretz's editor's politics, note that recently Ha'aretz editor David Landau reportedly "implored [Condoleeza] Rice to intervene, asserting that the Israeli government wanted 'to be raped' and that it would be like a 'wet dream' for him to see this happen." In other words, Ha'aretz would like policies supported by the Israeli left but opposed by most Israelis to be imposed on Israel by the U.S.
ADDENDUM: Here's the email a casual acquaintance sent me:
Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black MUSLIM from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white ATHIEST from
Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii. When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya. His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a RADICAL Muslim from Indonesia. When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia. Obama atended a MUSLIM school in Jakarta. He also spent two years in a Catholic school.
Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, "He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school."
Obama's political handlers are attempting to make it appear that that he is not a radical and that Obama's introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son's education.
Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta. Wahabism is the RADICAL teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world. Since it is politically expedient to be a CHRISTIAN when seeking major public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background.
ALSO, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Koran. Barack Hussein Obama will NOT recite the Pledge of Allegience [sic] nor
will he show any reverence for our flag. While others place their hands over their hearts, Obama turns his back to the flag and slouches.
The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the US from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level - through the President of the United States, one of their own!!!!
Note that there is nothing specifically of Jewish interest in this email, and several indications that it's intended for Christians, e.g., the reference to the "Holy Bible."
The First Amendment and Information Gathering:
Prof. Mark Kleiman (The Reality-Based Community) and Prof. Michael Froomkin (Discourse.net) rightly condemn this move by some New York officials:
Richard Falkenrath, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for counterterrorism, ... and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have asked the City Council to pass a law requiring anyone who wants to own [machines that detect traces of biological, chemical, and radiological weapons] to get a permit from the police first. And it's not just devices to detect weaponized anthrax that they want the power to control, but those that detect everything from industrial pollutants to asbestos in shoddy apartments. Want to test for pollution in low-income neighborhoods with high rates of childhood asthma? Gotta ask the cops for permission. Why? So you "will not lead to excessive false alarms and unwarranted anxiety," the first draft of the law states.
Last week, Falkenrath made his case for the new law before the City Council's Public Safety Committee, where Councilman Peter Vallone introduced the bill and chaired the hearing. Dozens of university researchers, public-health professionals, and environmental lawyers sat in the crowd, horrified by the prospect that if this law passes, their work detecting and warning the public about airborne pollutants will become next to impossible. But Falkenrath pressed on, saying that unless the police can determine who gets to look for nasty stuff floating in the air, the city would be paralyzed by fear.
"There are currently no guidelines regulating the private acquisition of biological, chemical, and radiological detectors," warned Falkenrath, adding that this law was suggested by officials within the Department of Homeland Security. "There are no consistent standards for the type of detectors used, no requirement that they be reported to the police department—or anyone else, for that matter—and no mechanism for coordinating these devices.... Our mutual goal is to prevent false alarms ... by making sure we know where these detectors are located, and that they conform to standards of quality and reliability." ...
As the opposition mounted, Vallone pulled the proposed legislation just before the meeting's end and agreed to give it a second look.... He and his colleagues will try to accommodate all the concerns when they redraft the bill, he said, but one way or another, the cops are going to have this new power....
This is the very model of government paternalism, and likely counterproductive government paternalism at that. But Mark asks: Does it violate the First Amendment, because it deliberately interferes with information gathering?
I think the answer has to be: Nobody knows. The Supreme Court has said surprisingly little about restrictions on information gathering (as opposed to restrictions on information dissemination, which is what most of the Court's Free Speech/Press Clause caselaw is about).
We do know that generally speaking there's no First-Amendment-based information gathering defense to generally applicable laws, such as bans on travel to Cuba and the like. We also know that there's generally no First Amendment right of access to information that's in the government hands (except for a historically sanctioned presumptive right of access to criminal trials, which lower courts have reasonably extended to civil trials and to most court filings in civil and criminal cases).
But here the government is proposing the licensing of certain products precisely because of a fear that the products will be used to gather information, and then to disseminate the information in ways that the government claims might be misleading. That sure sounds bad, because the government's rationale is frankly concerned with the communicative impact of the speech that will eventually flow from use of the devices.
Moreover, the fear isn't just that the devices and the speech they facilitate will infringe privacy (a rationale for banning certain forms of information gathering, such as unauthorized recording of conversations, and potentially even the distribution of certain kinds of eavesdropping restrictions). Rather, it's that it will lead to speech that will mislead and frighten the citizenry into doing foolish things — a classically disfavored rationale in First Amendment law.
So I think there's a perfectly credible First Amendment argument against any such ban — as well as lots of first-rate policy arguments (for some plausible-seeming examples, see this American Industrial Hygiene Association letter). But there's no Supreme Court caselaw squarely confronting this subject, so predictions are hard to make (though if anyone can point me to some useful lower court caselaw on the subject, I'd love to read it).
UPDATE: Thanks to John Wilson from the UCLA Law Library, I now have the text of the proposed amendment:
Proposed Int. No. 650-A
By Council Members Vallone Jr., Addabbo Jr., Comrie, Fidler, Gentile, Nelson, Recchia Jr., Stewart and White Jr. (by request of the Mayor)
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to permits for biological, chemical and radiological detectors.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Legislative purposes. The Council recognizes the need to protect the citizens of New York City from possible terrorist attacks involving chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear devices or weapons. As part of this effort, the Council understands the importance of the deployment of certain instruments designed to detect the presence of certain chemicals, biological agents, and radiation in the environment. While the proliferation of these capabilities may represent a positive development in furthering public safety, such instruments should be deployed and operated only with the knowledge of the Police Department and other appropriate City agencies. Moreover, the City has an interest in the reliability and effectiveness of these instruments so that their deployment will not cause excessive false alarms and unwarranted anxiety that a large-scale public emergency is occurring. Therefore, the Council finds that, to further the public safety, the possession and deployment of biological, chemical and radiological detectors should be regulated by the issuance of permits and the promulgation of standards for such detectors and their use, and that alarms triggered by such detectors should be immediately reported according to prescribed procedures.
§ 2. Title 10 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new chapter 8 to read as follows: ...
§ 10-801 Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings.
a. The term “alarm” shall mean any alarm or other indication of a biological, chemical or radiological detector that indicates the presence of a biological agent, chemical agent, radiation or radioactive substance at the level or levels prescribed pursuant to section 10-807 of this chapter.
b. The term “biological agent” shall mean any micro-organism, including bacteria and viruses, or structural components or products of such micro-organisms, including toxins, whether engineered or naturally-occurring, that are capable of causing death, disease or other biological malfunction in a living organism, deterioration or poisoning of food or water, or deleterious alteration of the environment.
c. The term “biological detector” shall mean an instrument used for the purpose of monitoring the release or presence of one or more biological agents, including an instrument which samples the atmosphere for such purpose.
d. The term “chemical agent” shall mean a chemical which through its chemical action on life processes can cause death, serious physical injury or permanent harm to humans or animals and shall include but not be limited to toxic industrial chemicals and chemical warfare agents as identified by the commissioner.
e. The term “chemical detector” shall mean an instrument used for the purpose of monitoring the release or presence of one or more chemical agents, including an instrument which samples the atmosphere for such purpose.
f. The term “commissioner” shall mean the police commissioner of the city of New York or his or her designee.
g. The term “deploy” shall mean use or operate a biological, chemical and radiological detector, and “deployment” shall mean the use or operation of such a detector.
h. The term “permit” shall mean the permit issued by the commissioner for possession or deployment of a biological, chemical or radiological detector.
i. The term “radioactive substance” shall mean a substance that emits ionizing radiation including alpha, beta, gamma or neutron radiation.
j. The term “radiological detector” shall mean an instrument used for the purpose of monitoring the release or presence of radiation or a radioactive substance.
§ 10-802 Permits for possession or deployment of biological, chemical and radiological detectors.
a. It shall be unlawful for any person to possess or deploy a biological, chemical or radiological detector in the city of New York unless such person holds a valid permit therefor, provided that the commissioner in his or her discretion may exclude by rule any class or type of biological, chemical or radiological detector that shall not require such permit because requiring a permit therefor would not further the purposes of this chapter.
b. This section shall not apply to biological, chemical and radiological detectors:
(1) possessed or deployed by the department of health and mental hygiene, the fire department, or any other city agency authorized by the commissioner to possess or deploy a biological, chemical or radiological detector without a permit; or
(2) possessed by any person, without deployment, for the sole purpose of (i) selling such detector to another person for deployment by another person or (ii) transporting such detector from one location to another.
§ 10-803 Application for permit.
a. Application for a permit to possess or deploy a biological, chemical or radiological detector, or for renewal of such permit, shall be made to the commissioner upon such form as the commissioner shall prescribe and shall contain such information as the commissioner may require, including but not limited to a detailed description of the biological, chemical or radiological detector to be possessed or deployed, the manner in which such detector will be installed and maintained, the manner by which such detector will indicate or transmit an alarm, and the proposed emergency action plan to be implemented in the event of an alarm. Applicants shall affirm the truth of the contents of the application under penalty of perjury.
b. There shall be no fee required for processing such application.
c. The commissioner shall review the application and investigate the information contained therein, requesting and receiving from the applicant any further information as may be necessary for his or her determination. The commissioner may consult as appropriate with other city agencies with respect to such application or investigation, including but not limited to the department of health and mental hygiene, the fire department and the department of environmental protection.
d. Applicants also may be required to meet with the police department and other appropriate city agencies in order to coordinate potential emergency responses to an alarm indicated or transmitted by a biological, chemical or radiological detector.
e. An application for a permit or for renewal thereof will be approved and a permit will be issued by the commissioner if he or she determines that the application and the biological, chemical or radiological detector to be possessed or deployed meet the requirements of this chapter and any rules promulgated hereunder. Such permit shall be issued upon such terms and conditions the commissioner may prescribe, including but not limited to the requirements set forth in section 10-807 of this chapter. If the application is disapproved, the commissioner shall so notify the applicant, including any reasons for the disapproval.
§ 10-804 Permit term. A permit issued pursuant to this chapter shall expire on the last day of the fifth December after the date of issue and may be renewed for five-year terms thereafter by submission of an application for renewal as described in section 10-803 of this title.
§ 10-805 Notifications. a. Following issuance of the permit, the permit holder shall immediately notify the commissioner of any material change in the information contained in the application or of other relevant circumstances established by rule of the commissioner, including but not limited to the acquisition of a biological, chemical or radiological detector different from the detector for which the permit was issued. Upon notification of such change, the commissioner may suspend, revoke or amend the permit and/or direct that the holder submit an application for a new permit.
b. Any person deploying a biological, chemical or radiological detector shall immediately notify the police department if such detector indicates an alarm, notwithstanding whether the person holds a permit for such detector, by following such procedures as are prescribed by rule of the commissioner and/or are included as a term of the permit itself....
§ 10-807 Rules. a. The commissioner is authorized to promulgate such rules as he or she deems necessary to implement the provisions of this chapter.
b. To promote the legislative purposes of this chapter, such rules may include but are not limited to:
(1) minimum technical standards and capabilities that must be met by biological, chemical and radiological detectors, as determined in consultation with other appropriate city agencies, including but not limited to the department of health and mental hygiene and department of environmental protection;
(2) requirements relating to the manner in which such detectors will indicate or transmit an alarm;
(3) the thresholds of an indicated biological agent, chemical agent, radiation or radioactive substance, as determined in consultation with the department of health and mental hygiene and the department of environmental protection, at which the police department must be notified by the permit holder or other action by such permit holder must be taken;
(4) requirements relating to the installation and maintenance of such detectors;
(5) requirements relating to the means by which the police department will be notified in the event of an alarm;
(6) emergency response protocols and any other requirements for the emergency action plan to be implemented in the event of an alarm, including a requirement that permit holders comply with the instructions of police department personnel and cooperate in any investigation resulting from such alarm;
(7) requirements relating to the character and fitness of applicants to possess or deploy such detectors;
(8) requirements relating to the responsibility of applicants and permit holders to provide additional information upon material change to information contained in the permit application or circumstances affecting the permit;
(9) circumstances under which the commissioner may direct those possessing or deploying a biological, chemical or radiological detector to surrender possession and/or discontinue deployment of such detector; and
(10) the grounds for the refusal to issue, revocation or suspension of a permit and the procedures to be followed in the event of such refusal to issue, revocation or suspension.
§ 10-808 Penalties.
a. Any person who violates subdivision a of section 10-802 or section 10-805 of this chapter or any rule promulgated pursuant to section 10-807 of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
b. The commissioner may suspend or revoke a permit upon his or her determination that: (1) an application contains a material false statement; (2) the permit holder or his or her authorized employees or agents have failed to comply with this chapter, the rules promulgated hereunder, or the terms and conditions of a permit; (3) the biological, chemical or radiological detector for which a permit was issued has failed to be in compliance with such chapter, rules or permit; or (4) the permit holder or his or her authorized employees or agents have failed to comply with the instructions of the police department or cooperate in any investigation relating to the permit or to the biological, chemical or radiological detector for which a permit was issued....
Law Schools that Offer Courses in Computer Crime Law:
I'm trying to put together a list of law schools that offer courses in Computer Crime Law. I'm interested either in schools that offer the course every year or schools that have offered it in the last year or two, either as a seminar or a class. Here's a list of schools that I'm pretty sure are on the list, together with links to the course descriptions where I could find them:
Georgetown (2 courses)
University of Washington
University of Chicago
University of Mississippi
University of Oregon
University of Dayton
University of Pennsylvania
University of Detroit - Mercy
Lewis & Clark
Widener - Wilmington
I'm hoping readers who know of such classes (or even took or taught them) but are not on this list can fill in other schools that offer the course in the comment thread or else send me an e-mail with the information.
I should add that there are several other law schools that have offered the course within the last five years or so, including Harvard, Columbia, and NYU; several schools that teach courses that are similar but not quite the same (like Mason
's class on cyberterrorism); and several institutions other than law schools that offer the course. However, I'm trying to stick to law schools that have offered the class in the last two years (or will offer it soon, if there are schools that recently added the class to the curriculum). Thanks!
Not the Best Name for a Law:
The Libel Terrorism Protection Act. I take it that they're trying to protect against something they label "libel terrorism" (which is itself something of a misuse of "terrorism," it seems to me, even if it's understood as a play on "libel tourism"). But in any case, the name sounds at first like they're trying to protect terrorism, or libel, or libel terrorism, not protect against it.
The proposal itself -- providing that New York state courts need not enforce foreign libel judgments, if the foreign law provided less free speech protection than did U.S. law, and giving New York courts jurisdiction to issue declaratory judgments to this effect -- strikes me as sound. For more on why a nonenforcement policy is sound, see the Maryland high court's 1997 decision in Telnikoff v. Matusevitch. (We Russkies are a bunch of troublemakers.) But Libel Terrorism Protection Act is a funny name for the proposal.
Levy on McCain and Judges:
The WSJ's Collin Levy weighs in on Senator John McCain and the issue of judicial nominations.
While Mr. McCain has listed the names of justices he admires on the trail before, he has generally steered clear of the courts as a major topic.
In states like South Carolina, he preferred to invoke his pro-life voting record -- and the tactic seems to have paid off. He won the state with around 27% support from evangelical voters, according to CNN exit polling. In Florida, he won endorsements from a coalition of pro-life and value voters, and campaigned hard in evangelical strongholds near the Georgia and Alabama borders.
The problem for Sen. McCain is that the justice train runs straight through the middle of McCain-Feingold, a sore point for many judicial conservatives. The landmark campaign finance law, officially known as Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, is one of the Arizona senator's proudest achievements, one he would presumably seek to protect if it was within his power. But the namesake law, which aimed to take the money out of politics, has created restrictions on political speech that most conservatives -- and conservative judges -- find unconstitutional. . . .
[This is] a salient question for "values" voters, not because of McCain-Feingold itself, but because of its potential role as a litmus test. Few "strict constructionist" judges would vote to uphold it, so evangelicals who may like Mr. McCain's legislative record on abortion worry nonetheless that his attachment to campaign finance regulation may get in the way of nominating properly conservative judges.
But Ms. Levy is not simply piling on Senator McCain. She notes there are questions about Governor Mitt Romney's record on judges too.
Aside from his mid-term conversion on the abortion issue, he faces his own little-explored set of obstacles stemming from his judicial record in Massachusetts. His appointments as governor, for instance, have yet to get an airing. In 2005, the Boston Globe noted that Mr. Romney had a habit of passing over conservative lawyers for his appointments of judges or clerk magistrates. Of the 36 people he elevated, more than half of them were either Democrats or independents with a habit of donating to Democratic candidates.
Asked about those numbers at the time, Mr. Romney said: "People on both sides of the aisle want to put the bad guys away." Fair enough. The criteria for lower court judges can be different than the higher courts, where Mr. Romney has said he would be committed to strict constructionists. But Mr. Romney's tendency to swap principles when politically convenient will leave some judicial conservatives unreassured.
Lack of Ethics in Government?
Today's Washington Post reports on a survey of government employees:
The study, released yesterday by the nonprofit Ethics Resource Center, found that nearly 60 percent of government employees at all levels -- federal, state and local -- had witnessed violations of ethical standards, policy or laws in their workplaces within the last year.
Observed misconduct was lowest at the federal level, with 52 percent of federal workers surveyed saying they had witnessed problems such as conflicts of interest, abusive behavior, alterations of documents and financial records and lying to employees, vendors or the public within the last year. . . .
he group analyzed data taken from a telephone survey conducted last summer that included 3,452 employees in the business, government and nonprofit sectors. Analysts culled responses from 774 government employees but did not identify participants by agency. The survey's margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percent.
Among the findings:
- Thirty percent of federal workers and 14 percent of state and local government workers believe their organizations have well-implemented ethics and compliance programs;
- The misconduct most frequently observed by federal employees was abusive behavior (witnessed by 23 percent), safety violations (21 percent), lying to employees (20 percent) and putting one's own interests ahead of the organization's ( 20 percent);
- Fifty-eight percent of all government workers who saw misconduct did not report it because they did not believe managers would take action, and 30 percent of all workers feared they would face retaliation if they reported what they saw. One percent used anonymous hotlines.
Not all of the survey findings were discouraging.
The group found that, compared with a previous survey in 2000, there were declines in several overtly illegal types of misconduct, including stealing, bribes, sexual harassment and discrimination. Moreover, the survey found that in government organizations with well-implemented ethics programs and strong ethical culture, misconduct fell by 60 percent, and the reporting of bad behavior increased by 40 percent.
But the data showed that fraud occurred as frequently in government as in the private sector, with comparable rates of alteration of documents, misreporting of hours worked and lying to customers, the public and workers.
There is no reason any of these results should be surprising, but they are worth noting nonetheless. Cheating, fraud, and other unethical behavior is certainly a problem in the private sector, but if such problems are equally prevalent within the government it would suggest that government intervention is not always an effective way to police private sector misconduct.
Undivided Sixth Circuit Habeas Decision:
A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected the habeas appeal of Kentucky death-row inmate Gregory Wilson. Wilson, who has already received two stays of execution in the past ten years, raised twenty-four claims in his habeas petition, nine of which were considered on appeal. In a thorough opinion by Chief Judge Boggs, joined by Judges Gibbons and Cook, the court rejected each of Wilson's claims, including his contention that his waiver of his right to counsel was invalid, that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, and that he was denied a fair trial because his co-defendant had a sexual relationship with a judge (but not the judge who presided at his trial).
Given the pattern of division within the Sixth Circuit in habeas cases, it is worth considering whether Wilson v. Parker would have come out differently, or at least produced a dissent, had the composition of the panel been different. Judges Boggs, Gibbons and Cook are all fairly conservative judges who tend to be less sympathetic to prisoners' habeas claims than, say, Judges Moore or Martin. This is particularly so when the death penalty is on the table. While a majority of the Sixth Circuit reviews death row inmates' habeas appeals narrowly, a minority on the court is very sympathetic to habeas petitioners, sometimes appearing to search for grounds to reverse capital sentences.
My current assessment of the Sixth Circuit's divide in habeas cases is largely impressionistic. To see if these divisions can be quantified, I'm in the process of collecting data with a colleague and some students on Sixth Circuit habeas appeals. I hope we'll have results we can share later this year.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Undivided Sixth Circuit Habeas Decision:
- A Day of Divisions on the Sixth Circuit:
Manipulation of Prediction Markets:
The most important objection to governmental use of prediction markets is the danger that third parties might manipulate them. If officials deciding whether to expand a highway use a prediction market to forecast traffic in 20 years, road builders might be willing to lose money on the market if in doing so they can change the forecast and influence the public policy debate.
A partial answer is that the stakes of prediction markets (even the heavily subsidized ones I fantasize about) are sufficiently low that transparent attempts at manipulation are unlikely to have much effect. If George Soros announced that he would be willing to risk up to $1 billion to prop up the share of the Democratic candidate on Intrade, hedge funds would gladly take the other side of unjustifiable offers. Maybe arbitrage can't pop a widely recognized stock market or housing bubble, but arbitrage should succeed in individual prediction markets.
The bigger problem is the possibility of hidden attempts at manipulation. If X is bidding up the traffic forecast contract, this may reflect a genuine subjective probability estimate. If so, everyone else should rationally adjust their estimates in the direction of X's trading, especially since X appears confident. Traders will assign some weight to this possibility, and so will not try to move prices all the way back. If X really is manipulating, X will be at least partly successful.
Note, though, that the reason for X's success is that disinterested traders find trades generally to be informative. If I am playing poker, and think that another player has a tell, I might rationally take this into account. Sometimes, the tell is a fake, but I'm better off looking for tells and taking them into account than wearing a blindfold.
Similarly, given a choice of restricting a prediction market to trusted non-manipulators(e.g., government officials), and leaving it open to all, the open market will tend to produce better information, even though manipulation will sometimes be successful. We can improve performance by identifying traders, especially if some earn reputations for accuracy over time.
Nonetheless, if you're unconvinced, or if you think that manipulation might undermine confidence in government, that's no reason to abandon prediction markets altogether. Instead, one can still use them with a small group of trusted players (whether with real or play money). This is still likely to be better than letting just one of these people make a forecast or averaging all of these officials' forecasts.
For a more complete discussion of this issue in Predictocracy, see here. Also, see this article on a model and this article on an experiment showing that manipulators can increase price accuracy by providing extra market liquidity.
Richard D. Cudahy Writing Competition:
Via Bill Henderson at the Empirical Legal Studies blog comes news of the American Constitution Society's Richard D. Cudahy Writing Competition on Regulatory and Administrative Law. The contest is open to lawyers, academics, and students alike, and has a $3,000 prize. Full details here.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Call for Affirmative Action in Free Speech Rights:
The Archbishop of Canterbury's speech contains a passage that I thought worth quoting separately from my broader discussion below:
The grounds for legal restraint in respect of language and behaviour offensive to religious believers are pretty clear: the intention to limit or damage a believer's freedom to be visible and audible in the public life of a society is plainly an invasion of what a liberal society ought to be guaranteeing; and the obvious corollary is that the creation of an offence of incitement to religious hatred is a way of avoiding the civil disorder that threatens when a group comes to feel that it has been unjustly excluded. Since the old offence of blasphemy -– as we have seen -– no longer works effectively to do this, there is no real case for its retention. How adequately the new laws will meet the case remains to be seen; I should only want to suggest that the relative power and political access of a group or person laying charges under this legislation might well be a factor in determining what is rightly actionable.
Later on, the Archbishop echoes this legal point (though in a passage that chiefly focuses on moral questions):
The assumption of the naturalness of one's own position is regularly associated with an experience of untroubled or uninterrupted access to the dominant discourse and means of communication in one's society. If I can say what I like, that is because I have the power and status to do so. But that ought to impose the clear duty of considering, when I engage in any kind of debate, the relative position of my opponent or target in terms of their access to this dominant means and style of communication –- the duty which the history of anti-Semitism so clearly shows European Christians neglecting over the centuries. I have intimated that I think the law could and should take this into consideration where 'incitement to hatred' is concerned; but it is again primarily a moral question, the requirement in a just society that all should have the same means to speak for themselves.
Lovely: First, "language and behaviour offensive to religious believers" should be suppressed when they are "inten[ded] to limit or damage a believer's freedom to be visible and audible in the public life of a society" -- and of course the "limit or damage" stems from the message the speech communicates, not just (say) the physical noise created by the speech (which may physically keep people from being "audible"). But, beyond this, whether such "language" is to be punished should turn on "the relative position" of the offended religious believers, presumably relative to the speaker.
So I take it, in a magnanimous gesture, the Bishop of Canterbury would offer himself and his Established church less protection when it criticizes (if it ever does) Islam than Muslims would get when they criticize Anglicanism. But what if a Muslim apostate criticizes or insults (or both) extremist Muslims, or for that matter mainstream conservative Muslims? What if a Muslim criticizes Jews? What if an atheist criticizes Muslims, or vice versa?
And of course, as we know, different groups have different "relative power and political access" in different contexts. In much of America, atheists and even, more broadly, secularists have less power and political access than Christians generally or even conservative evangelical Christians in particular. But in some towns and on many college campuses, the matter might be different. I imagine there are similar differences within England. I take it then that an atheist's "language and behaviour offensive to [conservative evangelical Christians]" would be protected against criminal punishment under the Archbishop's proposed blasphemy law in most places, but not on college campuses where the "relative position[s]" are reversed.
What about "relative power" that stems not from political or financial influence, but from a willingness to use violence? If many critics of Islam are intimidated by the risk of violence from Muslim extremists, does that mean that a Christian's criticism of Islam would be protected because Muslims have more "power" to intimidate stemming from some Muslims' willingness to use violence -- or unprotected because the Muslims have less "political access" than the Christians?
Finally, the Archbishop's proposal gives supposedly low-power groups a quite remarkable sort of power -- the power to use government machinery to suppress "language and behavior offensive" to them, while their adversaries lack this power. How does that change the balance?
A pretty poor proposal, it seems to me, on many levels. But unfortunately it's the sort of poor proposal that many groups find appealing, in particular out of a misguided sympathy for the supposed underdog that leads them to undermine both liberty and equality.
How Do Libertarians Vote?:
Although written from a very specific perspective, this October 2006 study
on how libertarians vote contains some pretty interesting polling numbers.
Democratic Presidential Candidates Promise to Enforce the Solomon Amendment:
Few noticed last week when, during the Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, the three leading candidates bolted from left-liberal orthodoxy with a pledge to enforce the Solomon Amendment.
"There's a federal statute on the books which says that, if a college or university does not provide space for military recruiters or provide a ROTC program for its students, it can lose its federal funding," explained NBC's Tim Russert as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards listened. "Will you vigorously enforce that statute?" Mr. Russert didn't mention "Don't ask, don't tell" (the chief reason the Solomon Amendment exists) or campus nondiscrimination policies.
Incredibly, all three candidates said they would enforce the Solomon Amendment.
I've noted previously how unseemly it is that law schools that banned military recruiters for following a federal law invite and honor politicians who voted for that law, executive branch officials who enforce it, and judges who uphold it. [I wrote, after earlier noting that I'm not a supporter of the Solomon Amendment: "I very much respect the opposition to 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' but don't understand why it's okay to honor the likes of [a Senator invited to be a commencement speaker who voted for the Solomon Amendment] but not okay to even tolerate military recruiters" obeying that law while two shooting wars are going on.] It suggests either an anti-military bias, or, perhaps, an unwillingness to stand up for principle when something important (e.g., federal aid via a local Congressman, the prestige of having a senator speak at graduation) to the law school is at stake, [or maybe the perspective that politicians should be held to a lesser standard, especially if they are generally "progressive," as with the man who signed DADT into law, Bill Clinton]. I don't think Clinton and Obama are going to lose any invitations to law schools over this.
UPDATE: Having some read initial comments, let me note that at least some law school faculties and administrations did not claim to be simply and neutrally enforcing their nondiscrimination policies, but to be staking out a moral position in opposing DADT, and putting the onus for it solely on the military. Here's Yale Law Dean Harold Koh: "Our faculty recently affirmed that we unanimously believe the government policy is not necessary, not wise and not legal." After the Solomon Amendment was upheldDean Koh invited military recruiters to defend DADT: "[The panel] will be a good occasion to return to the core issue in the case, which is why the military chooses to exclude openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual men and women from serving their country, particularly when they have not explained what national interest that policy serves." Well, at this point it's a federal law, and thus a question more validly put to visiting Senators, etc. Unlike a senator, a JAG recruiter has exactly zero input or discretion over the law.
I don't mean to pick on Koh and Yale, as their sentiments simply reflect sentiments at other law schools. It's fine to treat military recruitment on campus as an extremely important civil rights issue, so important as to vigorously oppose military recruitment at one's school by all means at one's disposal, even as two shooting wars continue. But if so, I still hold it unseemly to focus as an institution solely on the military's role in enforcing the policy and not on those in government who are in fact ultimately responsible for the Solomon Amendment, and, in some cases, for making DADT into federal law.
McCain Wins Florida; Giuliani to Drop Out and Endorse McCain:
Big night for John McCain. First, he won the Florida primary
. Second, the press is reporting
that Rudy Giuliani will drop out of the race tomorrow and will endorse McCain. When you combine Giuliani's endorsement with Dale's
, McCain begins to look like the clear frontrunner in the GOP race.
Let's Ban "Thoughtless and Cruel" Criticism of Religions:
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams gave a lecture about criticism of religion (thanks to commenter gs for the pointer, which let me revise the post to quote the original lecture, rather than the Times of London excerpts). Parts of the lecture that dealt with nonlegal questions were quite interesting and plausible; parts I couldn't fully assess, because they referred to other works that I haven't read, or details of various controversies (such as the English reaction to the original Salman Rushdie fatwa) that I hadn't followed carefully.
But the legal parts were quite striking, and in my view strikingly wrong. Williams was accepting the need to revise the existing English blasphemy laws, but gave the following thoughts about what should replace them:
The grounds for legal restraint in respect of language and behaviour offensive to religious believers are pretty clear: the intention to limit or damage a believer's freedom to be visible and audible in the public life of a society is plainly an invasion of what a liberal society ought to be guaranteeing; and the obvious corollary is that the creation of an offence of incitement to religious hatred is a way of avoiding the civil disorder that threatens when a group comes to feel that it has been unjustly excluded....
The law cannot and should not prohibit argument, which involves criticism, and even, as I noted earlier, angry criticism at times; but it can in some settings send a signal about what is generally proper in a viable society by stigmatising and punishing extreme behaviours that have the effect of silencing argument. Rather than assuming that it is therefore only a few designated kinds of extreme behaviour that are unacceptable and that everything else is fair game, the legal provision should keep before our eyes the general risks of debasing public controversy by thoughtless and (even if unintentionally) cruel styles of speaking and acting....
An appalling proposal, though I expect that many others would agree with it. Thanks to InstaPundit for the pointer.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Call for Affirmative Action in Free Speech Rights:
- Let's Ban "Thoughtless and Cruel" Criticism of Religions:
Better Not Denigrate Religions / Disabilities / Veteran Status / Sexual Orientation / Etc. at Your University:
I just looked at Brandeis's "harassment"-based speech code, which is available at the FIRE site; here's what it threatens to punish students (not just teachers) for saying (I excerpt the most troubling parts) -- and unfortunately such broad codes, drawn from hostile work environment law, are present at many universities:
[V]iolations of this policy will not be tolerated and may result in corrective actions up to and including dismissal from school ....
This policy applies to all Brandeis students, faculty and staff....
Harassment, whether sexual or based on an individual’s protected class status (of race, color, ancestry, religious creed, gender identity and expression, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, disability, Vietnam Era veteran, qualified special, disabled veteran or other eligible veteran status or any other category protected by law) is a form of discrimination and will not be tolerated. It is regarded as harassment when conduct: has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with a person's education or work performance by creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment in which to work, study or live ....
Harassment may occur between supervisor/supervisee, faculty/student, within peer groups, or with third parties.
Examples Of Harassment
Depending on the circumstances, conduct which may constitute sexual harassment includes but is not limited to: ...
• ... [D]isplaying of sexually suggestive objects, pictures, cartoons or posters, suggestive or obscene letters or emails, notes, invitations or gifts;
• Making or using derogatory comments, epithets, slurs or jokes with a sexual content; ...
• Displaying, sending, forwarding, downloading or otherwise distributing sexual materials via the internet, computer or email ...
Examples of Other Forms of Harassment/Discrimination
There are other forms of harassment/discrimination as well that create a hostile educational or work environment on the basis of race, color, ancestry, religious creed, gender identity and expression, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual
orientation, age, genetic information, disability, Vietnam Era veteran, qualified special, disabled veteran or other eligible veteran status or any other category protected by federal or state law (together, “protected class status”).
Depending on the circumstances, the following are examples of behaviors that may constitute harassment/discrimination under this policy. This is not an exhaustive list:
• Jokes, comments or innuendoes that make fun of, denigrate or are based on an individual’s or group’s protected class status;
• Epithets or slurs based on an individual’s or group’s protected class status;
• Objects, posters, cartoons or pictures which make fun of, denigrate or are based on an individual’s or group’s protected class status whether directed to an individual, placed on University premises or displayed or circulated on campus;
• Displaying, sending, forwarding, downloading or otherwise distributing materials via the internet, computer, or email that make fun of, denigrate or are based on protected class status;
• Other verbal or physical conduct that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion towards an individual or group based on protected class status....
The University may take action on conduct that it deems to be inappropriate, regardless of whether it rises to the level of a violation of law.
These are not limited to statements said to a particular offended person. (In fact, one provision that I don't include above covers "Unwelcome sexual conduct toward an individual, including offensive comments, touching or sexual propositions"; no such limitation appears in the items I quote above.) Nor is there any exception for statements that are part of political, social, or religious debate, or for that matter of friendly conversation that happens to be overheard by others.
So if you distribute materials that make fun of Scientologists (which are based on "a protected class status," namely religion), and this is found to "unreasonably interfer[e] with a person's education ... by creating ... [an] offensive environment in which to work, study or live"), you're guilty. Likewise if you denigrate or show hostility towards fundamentalist Christians, or extremist Muslims, or veterans, or gays, or people who have certain disabilities (or for that matter certain "genetic information").
Likewise if someone concludes that your "sexually suggestive" objects, pictures, or cartoons "unreasonably interfer[e] with [their] education" (for instance, because they are very offended by sexual content, and see it in the dorms often, whether on people's T-shirts or doors). Likewise if people feel such "unreasonabl[e] interfer[ence]" because they overhear people's "jokes with a sexual content" (or should that be limited just to "derogatory jokes with a sexual content").
What constitutes an "abusive or offensive" environment? When does political or religious commentary "unreasonably interfer[e] with [people's] education"? Say that someone feels genuinely upset by the fact that others have the temerity to harshly condemn fundamentalist Christianity or extremist Islam or who knows what else, whether in student newspaper articles, at demonstrations, or in overheard conversations, and finds it hard to be excited about school as a result. Does that qualify?
Of course, I quite doubt that the policy is enforced often, or evenhandedly. But it's out there whenever someone (a student, a student group, or the administration) wants to make trouble for others who express certain kinds of views. Not what we ought to have at universities that try to take free speech and academic freedom, it seems to me. But inevitable once one asserts a supposed civil right to be free from "harassment," defined to include speech (including speech not directed at the offended person) that might offend based on race, religion, sex, and the like.
Talk on Slippery Slopes at the University of Florida College of Law (in Gainesville):
I'll be giving it next Monday, February 4, at noon in room HOL 360. It's open to the public, so if you're in town and want to stop by, please do. (I mention this because one of the readers asked about this in the Gainesville restaurant thread.)
A Quick-and-Dirty Empirical Defense of Prediction Markets:
From the comments, it seems that some readers would find empirical evidence more persuasive than theoretical arguments. Consider the figure below. It aggregates a total of 145,388 trades on Major League Baseball games in 2005. Each contract would pay off $10.00 if the specified team won the game.
The x-axis represents different transaction prices, and the y-axis shows, for all trades at that price or up to 10 cents higher, the probability that the team in fact won the game. Note that the points conform fairly closely to a 45-degree line.
This doesn't prove that prediction markets are perfect predictors. Maybe some other prediction mechanism could be calibrated in this way yet have more predictions toward the ends of the probability continuum. A savvy trader might still be able to profit by running statistical tests to find systematic biases in prices.
And of course, we can't necessarily extrapolate from baseball to other types of forecasting environments. Some organizations (like insurance companies) may already have very sophisticated procedures for developing probabilistic forecasts, and this doesn't prove that prediction markets would enhance those.
Nonetheless, they ought to be good enough for government work. And most corporate work too.
Calling Brandeis Professors and Students:
If any of you are Brandeis professors or students, and thus have a special perspective on the Hindley controversy -- for instance, know something about the facts that the posts haven't discussed, or know something about public reaction to the question -- could you please post it in the comments below? Likewise, if you know some Brandeis professors and students, and can get something from them that you can post, then please do post it here. I'd love to know more than what is said the reports I've read.
If you do not have any special Brandeis-specific knowledge on this, and just want to speak to the merits of the question, please post your comments at the other post on the subject. Thanks!
Widow(er) Obligated To Let Deceased Spouse's Parents Have Visitation With Child?
When may state law allow grandparents to have visitation with their grandchildren, over the parents' objections?
Let's set aside cases where the parents' parental rights can generally be terminated, because they're found unfit. Let's also set aside the rare cases where the grandparents could be found to be "psychological parents" because (to oversimplify) they've taken a parental role, with the parents' consent, for instance by raising the children to for several years while the parents have been absent. And of course let's also set aside the situation where the parents are just delighted by maintaining a relationship between their children and their parents, plus don't much object to the free babysitting (Mom, Dad, if you're reading this, that means you!). Let's just take a situation where state law allows the grandparents some visitation rights, so long as such visitation is seen as in the child's "best interests," and the parents (or parent, if only one is in the picture) object.
In Troxel v. Granville (2000), the Supreme Court held that such visitation may impose an unconstitutional burden on the parents' rights, but didn't resolve exactly when this would be so. Rather, the Court stressed that the particular statute in that case -- which "permits '[a]ny person' to petition a superior court for visitation rights 'at any time,' and authorizes that court to grant such visitation rights whenever 'visitation may serve the best interest of the child'" -- was so broad that it was clearly unconstitutional. And, the plurality said, "Because we rest our decision on the sweeping breadth of §26.10.160(3) and the application of that broad, unlimited power in this case, we do not ... whether the Due Process Clause requires all nonparental visitation statutes to include a showing of harm or potential harm to the child as a condition precedent to granting visitation."
I haven't followed all the post-Troxel cases from the state courts, but my sense is that most of them have generally held that a parent has a constitutional right to deny grandparents visitation, at least unless there's a showing that lack of visitation will substantially "harm" the child (and not just be against the child's "best interests"). The South Carolina Supreme Court, however, has just taken a different view (Marquez v. Caudill, decided Jan. 22), in cases where the grandparents are the parents of a deceased parent.
The court held that the father (technically, the stepfather, but the court said that he was properly treated as the father) was a fit parent. And it held, citing an earlier South Carolina case that relied on Troxel v. Granville, "Before visitation may be awarded over a parents objection, one of two evidentiary hurdles must be met: the parent must be shown to be unfit by clear and convincing evidence, or there must be evidence of compelling circumstances to overcome the presumption that the parental decision is in the child's best interest."
But in then went on to say:
We hold that a biological parent's death and an attempt to maintain ties with that deceased parent's family may be compelling circumstances justifying ordering visitation over a fit parent's objection. We find visitation here is in the children's best interest to further the relationship between the children and the mother's family. We further find the visitation ordered by the family court would not excessively interfere in Stepfathers relationship with the children. Therefore, the family court did not err by awarding Grandmother visitation.
A pretty substantial limit on parental rights, it seems to me. Perhaps it's justifiable; while I on balance favor parental rights, both the libertarian and the constitutional case for strong judicial protection of parental rights is complicated and, in my view, far from open-and-shut. But right or wrong, it seems quite noteworthy.
Saying "Jehovah" at Brandeis?
Let's briefly recap the situation: A professor is found guilty of "racial harassment," apparently because he mentioned the term "wetback" in class. He says he wasn't trying to be offensive towards Mexicans or Mexican-Americans (illegal immigrant, legal immigrant, or otherwise), but was merely discussing and condemning some people's attitudes towards them. The student who apparently complained hasn't been quoted as squarely disagreeing with him, but perhaps she does.
The university refuses to publicly say what it thinks the professor said. Is it missing the use/mention distinction? Is it imitating Monty Python? Does it take the view that both using (in the sense of endorsing the message of) and mentioning (in the sense of quoting or describing) the word "wetback" is racial harassment? Does it conclude, as a factual matter, that the professor actually used the term, rather than just mentioning it? Even if he did use it, is he found guilty of racial harassment because he expressed an idea using epithets, or because the idea he expressed — and is Brandeis's view that the racially harassing and therefore prohibited idea is hostility to Mexican-Americans, hostility to Mexican immigrants, or hostility to Mexican illegal immigrants?
No-one knows. No-one knows what is and is not allowed for Brandeis professors who teach controversial subjects. No-one can sensibly evaluate the merits of Brandeis's professor speech code. That's what critics of Brandeis have been saying.
Now here's the response from Brandeis's Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs:
7:51 a.m. January 29, 2008
Dear Faculty Colleagues,
I am well aware that many of you are concerned about the investigatory process and outcome following a complaint by a student last semester against a member of our faculty. As a member of the faculty and as an administrator, I share with all of you the goal and expectation that our university policies reflect our core values of academic freedom, the right of our students to a learning environment that is free of harassment, and the right to privacy in personnel matters.
As you know, the University is legally required to have a non-discrimination and harassment policy. Our policy and investigatory procedures were substantially revised in 2006, following extensive discussions with the Faculty Senate. These procedures instructed the investigation conducted last semester and that case is now considered closed. Because of our obligation to ensure confidentiality, I have been unwilling to comment publicly about this case, despite the misrepresentations of the investigatory process and outcomes that are now widely circulated in the media.
Some of you have expressed confusion concerning what constitutes racially harassing speech and how the University conducts a legally required investigation. As a community, we can all agree that this confusion is not healthy and that we must work together to understand both our legal and academic responsibilities. I have been and will continue to work with the Faculty Senate Council regarding programs for the faculty that increase our internal capacity for understanding diversity issues.
I am saddened by the pain that our community has experienced recently and I want to open up channels for constructive dialogue. The spirit and specifics of our current policy reflects thoughtful discussions between the faculty and university administrators. I expect that such conversations will continue to inform this and other university policies in the future.
Marty Wyngaarden Krauss
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Ah, you'll surely say — now everything is fine! The confusion is unhealthy, and the community's pain is saddening, but the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs will work with the faculty regarding programs that increase everyone's internal capacity for understanding diversity issues. Not only that, but she'll open up channels for constructive dialogue (though apparently not about this incident, since this case is now considered closed).
Look: This is an issue that goes to the heart of Brandeis's role as a center for learning and teaching, and its credibility as a center for learning and teaching. And the University's response is that the "case is now considered closed," and no further information is forthcoming (except perhaps through future "programs that increase our internal capacity for understanding diversity issues"). Nor is the confidentiality argument plausible — the question is what the university thinks the professor (who has spoken publicly on the matter) said in class in front of many students.
Is it really so much to ask the university to reveal this one simple factual finding? Or is the university worried about what this factual finding will say about it and the rules that it is actually applying?
Name That Judge:
A federal court of appeals recently decided an employee benefits case. The majority affirmed the denial of disability benefits to a recovering drug addict. One judge dissented, and the dissent included the following passage:
My inquiry thus far has been an inquiry of law, for I think the moral opprobrium that underlies the special exclusion for drug addicts is not grounded in the language of the Plan or the evidence in this case. But if we do take up the moral issue, I believe my colleagues mistake the moral balance. [The appellant] is not currently taking drugs; he is trying to cease taking drugs. We should give people like him a chance to get back on their feet. To put him to the cruel choice of losing his disability benefits or returning to the environment that impelled his addiction is not right. Judge-made exceptions are often assumed to be humane, while law is thought to be a cold, hard thing. But equity here is a sword that strikes against the needy but unfavored. Law would be kinder.
The question is, who is the dissenting judge? Here are your choices:
1. Alex Kozinski
2. Diane Wood
3. Stephen Reinhardt
4. Rosemary Barkett
5. Harvie Wilkinson
Prediction Markets vs. Conventional Wisdom:
I promised to start by addressing some common criticisms of prediction markets. What better way to start than by attacking my friend, GW colleague, and now co-conspirator Orin Kerr? Orin has at least twice (in 2005, and earlier this month) endorsed the criticism that the election markets don't seem to do much more than track the conventional wisdom. Orin is in good if unfamiliar company; Paul Krugman recently made a similar criticism.
Unfortunately for my attack, I don't entirely disagree. On issues for which there is likely to be lots of public information but little private information, prediction markets reflect what highly informed people believe. No better, but no worse. If you want to know what the probability is that X will be President, you probably won't be surprised by the prediction markets, but on average over many independent events the market's predictions will probably be at least slightly better than the ones you would make on your own.
A stronger version of this criticism insists that the markets are worse than the highly informed conventional wisdom. Critics will say that the markets put too much weight on the pro-Obama pre-New Hampshire polls or the pro-Kerry 2004 exit polls. I'm skeptical of this criticism. At any time, the markets may be slightly off, but if they have obvious, large imperfections, people will trade back to more sensible values.
Usually, such criticisms are made after the fact, and they often reflect hindsight bias. It seems obvious now that election observers put too much weight on the pro-Kerry and pro-Obama polls. But even the most sophisticated analysts may have trouble afterward figuring out why (see here on 2004 and here on 2008).
The real problem is that our models of voter behavior aren't as good as we'd like to think. No one cries foul because Tradesports.com gave the Giants a 1% chance in early October of winning the Super Bowl. Football is full of surprises. But whenever something unexpected happens in an election, we feel that we should have expected it all along.
Some might still object that if prediction markets do no more than reflect the fallible informed conventional wisdom, they aren't worth much. And indeed, election markets may do little but save some of us the time of reading the election news. But in a world of ideology, special interests, and agency costs, institutions could do a lot worse than rely on prediction markets in their decision making. The central argument for prediction markets for me is not that they are magically accurate, but that they are fairly objective.
But there is one other final point, hearkening back to yesterday's post: Many prediction markets that would be useful to institutions are on topics on which there may be little public or private information. It is especially important to constrain opportunistic decisionmakers when they are making claims that few if any people have the information to assess. With subsidies and automated market makers, these markets will not merely reflect existing conventional wisdom, but give incentives to a few individuals to do research and make disinterested forecasts.
Monday, January 28, 2008
A Final Response To Ilya:
At bottom, it seems that Ilya and I diverge based on our comfort with democracy. I am very comfortable with it. Ilya is not. It certainly makes sense that our views of the proper judicial role would diverge based on that question. Finally, I would ask that readers who want to understand my view will focus on my posts rather than Ilya's characterizations of them. I don't want to waste everyone's time with long explanations of additional misunderstandings, but I do think the two are quite different. And with that, let's move on.
Marking The Launch of Our Odyssey:
Over at Appellate Law & Policy
, "S. Cotus" gets out his Selya-to-English dictionary.
Gainesville, Florida Restaurants?
Any recommendations for restaurants in Gainesville, Florida? If it's the sort of thing that's delicious but that I'm unlikely to get often in L.A., that would be especially good, but just plain delicious will do, too. Thanks!
Political Ignorance and Post-Kelo Eminent Domain Reform:
When the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of condemnnations for "economic development" in Kelo v. City of New London, it ignited a firestorm of political outrage greater than any other Supreme Court decision in decades. As I document in Part I of my updated paper on post-Kelo reform, 80-90% of the public disagreed with the decision, as did political leaders and activists from across the political spectrum. Forty-two states and the federal government enacted new legislation intended to curb eminent domain - a greater legislative response than that generated by any other Supreme Court decision in history. However, as Part III of my paper explains, the majority of these laws fail to impose any meaningful constraints on economic development takings, usually allowing them to continue under other names (typically, as "blight" condemnations).
Why have so many post-Kelo reform laws been ineffective? Recent public opinion data that I have collected through the Saint Consulting Group's Saint Index survey support my conjecture that political ignorance plays an important role. In the SCG's 2007 Saint Index survey, conducted last August, only 21% of Americans could correctly answer a question about whether or not their states had enacted post-Kelo eminent domain reform, and only 13% could both correctly answer that question and a follow-up question about whether or not their state's reform law was likely to be effective in curbing economic development takings. Public ignorance about post-Kelo reform - like opposition to Kelo itself - cuts across racial, ethnic, gender, ideological, and partisan lines. Moreover, the figures given above probably overstate the true level of public knowledge about post-Kelo reform; some significant number of respondents probably got the "correct" answers by guessing rather than because they actually knew. The survey data is presented and analyzed in detail on pp. 42-49 of my paper.
If most voters know little or nothing post-Kelo reform in their state or its likely effectiveness, it should be easy for politicians to pass off cosmetic "reforms" as genuine bans on Kelo-style takings. As I explain in the paper, this is a more compelling explanation for the relative paucity of effective reforms than the usual claim that reform has been stymied by developers and other powerful interest groups. In the absence of political ignorance, state legislators would not be able to benefit politically from sacrificing the desires of the vast majority of the public to the needs of small interest groups. After all, some 81% of Americans say they oppose the Kelo decision (63% "strongly"), and 71% say they support state legislation to ban economic development takings (43% "strongly") (see pp. 7-8 of the paper for cites). If even a fraction of those who strongly oppose Kelo were well-informed about post-Kelo reform, they could easily form a voting bloc large enough to outweigh the electoral influence of pro-condemnation interest groups.
The machinations of interest groups are certainly a part of the post-Kelo story. But those machinations would probably have been much less effective in the absence of widespread public ignorance. Ignorance about public policy is generally rational and is not a sign of "stupidity." But that doesn't prevent it from causing serious harm.
UPDATE: I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Saint Consulting Group for allowing me to insert two questions about public knowledge of post-Kelo eminent domain reform into their annual Saint Index survey. Obviously, the SCG is not responsible for conclusions I have drawn from the data they collected.
Limited Government, Politics, and Judicial Review:
Orin's latest post raises broad issues about the relationship between limited government and judicial review that can't possibly be dealt with in a blog post. Nonetheless, let me address a couple of points.
First, Orin distinguishes between his position based on notions of "legitimacy" and the "consent of the governed" and mine, which he describes as simply seeking to use the judiciary to promote libertarianism, thereby just being "politics by other means." I think this is a false dichotomy. Any theory of judicial review must be based in part on deeper political principles.
His particular notion of legitimacy and consent is no less a contested political proposition than my support for limits on government power. Orin's approach assumes that his interpretation of legitimacy and consent should take precedence over other values, such as individual freedom and happiness. That is no less "political" than the alternatives. Moreover, if we accept Orin's theory of legitimacy, then not just libertarianism but any approach that calls for invalidation of politically popular laws would be undercut. To my mind, the entire notion of a written Constitution enforcible by judicial review is based on the premise that there are certain areas where elected officials cannot be trusted and their power should be constrained.
Second, Orin claims to base his position on the Declaration of Independence, which states that governments "deriv[e] their just powers from the consent of the governed." I think Orin's argument overlooks the little part that says that all people have the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and that the legitimate function of government is limited to "secur[ing] these rights." I also think Orin is wrong to assume that the Declaration's notion of "consent" is reducible to acceptance of whatever elected legislatures happen to enact.
Third, Orin asks what we should do if the public does not approve of libertarianism. Here, he seems to assume that I want judges to "force" libertarianism on an unwilling populace. I don't think that judges can or should create a completely libertarian society. I do, however, believe that judges can play a valuable role in imposing stricter limits on government power than would emerge from the political process by itself. They can do so by strictly enforcing the text and original meaning of the Constitution.
Neither do I believe - as Orin implies I do - that the voters would fully embrace libertarianism were they better informed. It is likely that most would not, though research by political scientist Scott Althaus shows that, controlling for other variables, increasing knowledge does tend to make voters more socially liberal and fiscally conservative (i.e. - more libertarian) than they would be otherwise. However, I do think that political ignorance reduces the quality of government decisionmaking relative to that of the private sector and provides a strong rationale for limiting the power of elected officials. I sketch out that argument in more detail here and here.
Finally, if we truly want a government that has the "consent" of the majority of the public - which seems to be Orin's objective - aggressive judicial review might well further that goal. In the status quo, legislative power is so broad that most voters have little or no knowledge of most of the legislation that is passed; there is just too much of it for rationally ignorant voters to keep track of. Limiting legislative authority - in part through judicial review - can help reduce the knowledge burden on voters and thus ensure that a higher percentage of legislation genuinely enjoys the informed consent of the majority.
Ultimately, my view is that the fact that the legislature enacts a law is a very weak reason for supposing that it is constitutional and that the judiciary should leave it alone. The fact that the majority of a rationally ignorant public approves of it (when it does) is an only slightly stronger reason. A society that promotes "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is an objective that should take precedence over the particular notion of legitimacy advanced by Orin. Strong judicial review can't achieve the former goal by itself or even come close to it. But it can help move us in the right direction.
UPDATE: Various commenters take me to task for breaking my commitment to let Orin have the last word. In my judgment, Orin's latest post opens up a new front in our debate rather than simply continuing the old one. Further he himself invites me to correct any inadvertent misrepresentations he made of my position (which he indeed did make, though primarily because I summarized that position in a very quick and non-nuanced way). Be that as it may, I agree that this debate is reaching the realm of diminishing returns. And Orin can still have the last word if he so chooses.
What if The Public Doesn't Like Limited Government? A Response to Ilya:
A paragraph in Ilya's last comment
brings out the real difference between our positions, in a way that he hasn't stated before. Ilya writes:
I want to emphasize that I do not myself believe that the justification of judicial review rests on "legitimacy," as Orin defines it. In my view, it rests on a more general need to enforce a written Constitution against a legislature and executive with very strong tendencies to increase their power beyond justifiable bounds. It rests, also, on my view of the shortcomings of the democratic process; the quality of the latter is often undermined by widespread political ignorance and interest group power. Judges, of course, have their own significant shortcomings. That is why the power of judicial review should, in my view, be limited to negating the actions of other branches of government, thereby leaving greater scope for individual freedom and the private sector. I am much more skeptical of the kind of assertions of judicial power where judges themselves take over and run complex institutions such as prisons and schools, though I recognize that the latter may be justified in extreme cases (notably the Jim Crow-era South).
Now we're on to something important; this is truly a stark difference between us. As I have stated, my ultimate concern is the legitimacy of political power, independently of my personal policy preferences. I believe, as the Declaration of Independence
put it, that "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Judges should be modest because it is too easy for them to substitute their will for the will of the people.
Ilya's ultimate concern is very different. If I understand his position correctly, Ilya's goal is to further libertarian principles by limiting the power of the State. Thus he proposes what appears to be a one-way ratchet, in which the judicial role should depend on which approach furthers limited government. If the public prefers no action, then judges should be modest and generally (but not always) defer to that judgment. On the other hand, if one of the elected branches acts, then judges should feel emboldened to block that action. The end result is a theory of the judicial role designed to minimize government, "thereby leaving greater scope for individual freedom and the private sector."
Here's the problem: What if The People want big government? That is, what if we fail to persuade the citizenry that limited government is desirable, and instead they decide that they really want government to be big and active? If I understand Ilya's approach, he believes that judges should try to force libertarianism upon them. Such an approach would be a good thing, because, well, I suppose because libertarianism is a good thing. If voters do not realize that, it is only because they are ignorant.
I'm concerned that I may misunderstand Ilya's position, so I will be delighted to post a correction immediately if I am mistaken. But if I'm right about Ilya's view, it does strike me as simply politics by other means.
Summarizing Our Debate Over Judicial Review:
I don't know if it's desirable to continue my debate with Orin over judicial power much further. In this post, I will simply summarize some key themes and leave Orin the last word, if he wants it.
As I see it, the main issue under dispute is how much judges should defer to the legislature in cases where they believe that a law it has passed is unconstitutional. In my judgment, no special deference is due. Judges should not give legislatively enacted laws any particular deference and should vote to strike them down in most, if not all, cases where they believe those laws to be in violation of the Constitution. Orin, by contrast, believes that judges should give legislation a strong presumption of constitutionality and only strike it down if its unconstitutionality is overwhelmingly clear; and perhaps only on the basis of theories of interpretation that aren't too controversial.
In our initial exchange, Orin argued that his position is justified on the basis of human fallibility and bias. He claimed that such fallibility cuts against theories of interpretation that would lead courts to strike down "lots of laws." In response I pointed out that fallibility and bias apply just as much to the legislature as they do to judges. Therefore, general flaws of human nature can't justify judicial deference to the legislature, which is also run by fallible humans. In later posts, Orin instead sought to justify his position on the grounds that legislation enjoys superior "legitimacy" because it has the "consent" of the people. Legitimacy, as defined by Orin, has therefore become the crux of the debate. In my view (elaborated most fully in this post), there are three crucial flaws in Orin's legitimacy argument:
1. Widespread political ignorance ensures that most legislatively laws don't actually enjoy any meaningful "consent" from the majority of the people.
2. The majority of the people actually approve of the Court's role in invalidating what it sees as unconstitutional legislation. Indeed, the Court enjoys much higher approval ratings than Congress.
3. Judicial invalidation of legislation does not merely represent the unsupported opinion of a handful of judges, at least not to the extent that Orin assumes.
Orin's latest rebuttals focused on Point 2 above (which is not to say that he agrees with 1 and 3). He argued that the Court is popular primarily because it has not acted to strike down popular legislation very often and that its high approval ratings are largely due to this fact. If it were to play the more aggressive role I envision, its popularity with the public would decline. My answer is that this argument rebuts Point 2 only with respect to rare, highly popular legislation. The vast majority of legislation does not fall into this category. Thus, the logic of Orin's answer is that Point 2 does rebut his conjectures about the Court's legitimacy with respect to the vast majority of laws that don't enjoy any great degree of popularity. Indeed, the majority of the public probably has not even heard of most of those laws.
This is where, Orin claims, I misunderstood his argument. Perhaps I should have made clear that, even though Orin subjectively may stick to his original view that nearly all legislation deserves a high degree of judicial deference, the logic of his latest response gives away a large portion of the game. That is what I meant when I wrote that it is an important "Modification" or "clarification" of his theory; but I admit I should have made my point clearer. My bottom line on this issue is that the Court can indeed strike down "lots of laws" without impairing its "legitimacy" as Orin defines that concept.
In closing, I want to emphasize that I do not myself believe that the justification of judicial review rests on "legitimacy," as Orin defines it. In my view, it rests on a more general need to enforce a written Constitution against a legislature and executive with very strong tendencies to increase their power beyond justifiable bounds. It rests, also, on my view of the shortcomings of the democratic process; the quality of the latter is often undermined by widespread political ignorance and interest group power.Judges, of course, have their own significant shortcomings. That is why the power of judicial review should, in my view, be limited to negating the actions of other branches of government, thereby leaving greater scope for individual freedom and the private sector. I am much more skeptical of the kind of assertions of judicial power where judges themselves take over and run complex institutions such as prisons and schools, though I recognize that the latter may be justified in extreme cases (notably the Jim Crow-era South).
I recognize, of course, that the last paragraph is very general and fails to address a host of details and possible counterarguments. In this debate, I have mostly focused on criticizing Orin's position on internal grounds. Perhaps I erred in not doing more to advance my own approach to judicial review. That, however, will have to wait for another time.
UPDATE: I should take note of one other point Orin made in his last post. He claims that public approval of the Supreme Court doesn't necessarily reflect support for its decisions because:
[V]ery few people have any idea of what the Supreme Court does. And among that small group, only a very tiny minority has any understanding of why it does it. Given that, approval ratings will tend to reflect a lot of stuff beyond whether the public agrees with the Court's decisions as matter of personal preference.
I agree that very few people actually know much about what the Court does. But the same can be said for legislatures. However, my point was that these approval ratings and other survey results do show that the vast majority of the public approves of the Court's institutional role in invalidating legislation it believes to be unconstitutional, even if it doesn't know much about the specifics of individual decisions. The majority of the public does not seem to endorse Orin's highly deferential view of judicial power. Perhaps they would agree with him more if they knew more about the Court. But if popular "consent" only matters in Orin's theory if it is backed by extensive knowledge, he would have to accept my point that widespread political ignorance ensures that most legislatively enacted laws also lack such consent.
UPDATE #2: I probably should have paid greater attention to Orin's statement in his last post that he "do[es] not think a legal institution's popularity reflects whether its decisions are consistent with the consent of the governed." I would think that an institution's popularity is at least to a large extent based on whether people agree with its decisions or not, or at least with its role in the decisionmaking process. Perhaps I erred in assuming that Orin's emphasis on "consent" implies a need for actual agreement by the majority of the public with an institution's decisions, or at least acceptance of its institutional role. If Orin has some completely different and more idiosyncratic definition of consent in mind - one that has no connection to agreement - he may have to explain it and also explain why it is that the legislature embodies it more than the courts.
Copyright Law and Cease-and-Desist Letters:
Five readers e-mailed me about the court decision saying that cease-and-desist letters are protected by copyright. Does this mean that sites that get such letters -- usually saying "your post violates my client's [libel / privacy / copyright / etc.] rights, so take it down immediately or else" -- are violating copyright law when they post the letters (usually in the context of criticizing the letters)?
Probably not, though it's not obvious. The magistrate judge's report, which was adopted by the district court, is here, and a careful read makes things clearer. But first, let's go over two basic copyright law principles (which I necessarily oversimplify):
1. Copyright law presumptively protects pretty much any written (or otherwise recorded) work, whether or not the work is commercially valuable, highly creative, or decorated with a copyright notice. That includes this post, nearly any letter, and nearly any e-mail, except those that are very short or that almost entirely consist of copies of someone else's work.
2. But this presumption can be rebutted if the person copying the work shows (among other things) that his use is a "fair use" of the work.
The court decision in this case simply reaffirmed item 1, and thus isn't terribly noteworthy. And it only had occasion to consider item 1 because it did not decide that posting a cease-and-desist letter is copyright infringement (which would have required considering the fair use defense). Rather, the court was only asked to decide whether the plantiff could use a subpoena (under 17 U.S.C. § 512(h)) to discover the identity of the poster. The court concluded that for this, the potential plaintiff only had to show that copyright law presumptively protected his work (which it does); the fair use inquiry would then take place when the merits of the case are litigated, at trial or on a pretrial motion.
One can argue that this was mistaken, that anonymous speakers should have more protection against litigation that seems likely to be groundless, and that a subpoena shouldn't issue if there's reason to think that an affirmative defense (such as fair use) should prevail; I take no position on this question. But the important thing is that the court held that the "copyright law protects a lawyer demand letter posted online by the recipient" (to quote the press release of the lawyer for the potential plaintiff) only in the sense that copyright law does presumptively cover such letters; as an interpretation of existing law, that's quite uncontroversial. The court did not hold that the letter was protected by copyright on the sense that a lawsuit over the posting of such a letter is likely to succeed.
What then about question 2, which wasn't decided in this case but might be litigated in the future? This is unfortunately a tough question, because "fair use" requires the application of a notoriously mushy balancing test. Here's a quick run-through of the four fair use factors:
1a. The purpose of the use -- criticism of the original, which cuts in favor of fair use; the more detailed the criticism, the better for the user.
1b. The purpose of the use -- if the site makes some money (e.g., through advertising), then this cuts in some measure against fair use. But it doesn't cut that much against the fair use when the use is critical, since criticism even in commercially distributed works (such as newspapers or books) is generally a favored use.
2a. The nature of the copied work -- primarily not creative (the way a work of fiction might be creative), which cuts in favor of fair use.
2b. The nature of the copied work -- unpublished by the author, which cuts against fair use.
3. The amount of the work taken -- the entire work, which may cut against fair use, but the court may conclude that the critical nature of the posting requires copying the entire work (so that the reader can evaluate the criticism based on all the facts), in which case this factor may be neutral.
4. The effect on the market for the work -- cuts in favor of fair use, since there is generally no market as such for cease-and-desist letters, and it's unlikely that there'd be a licensing market for the letters (since few people would license the use of the letter to a critic). Any harm to the copyright owner stems from the critical nature of the posting, and not from the poster's competing with the author in the nastygram market.
If it weren't for the unpublished nature of the letter, the Supreme Court's Campbell v. Acuff-Rose decision, on which I rely in my quick analysis above, would make this an almost open-and-shut fair use case. The unpublished nature of the work undermines that in some measure (see, e.g., Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises); but I still think the copier's fair use case is quite strong.
By the way, I couldn't find the allegedly infringing post containing the cease-and-desist letter. If you can find it and send it to me, I'd love to see it, and post it if I think it merits criticism.
Correcting Ilya's Misimpression:
In his latest contribution
to our exchange, my co-blogger Ilya credits me with creating a novel new theory of judicial review, and after so crediting me, concludes that my new theory is interesting but inconsistent with my prior posts. However, I am afraid he misunderstood my last post; I did not mean to suggest such a position. In this post I want to clarify my views just to make sure there is no misunderstanding.
First, let me back up to make sure we're all on the same basic track. I believe the basic question in our exchange boils down to how eager courts should be to invalidate legislation. Ilya and I both agree with the sound principle of judicial review: If a law is contrary to the Constitution, then it is is void. The question is how judges should approach the question of determining whether a law is unconstitutional. On my end, I argue that judges should approach this question with humility. They should presume that properly enacted laws are constitutional, and they should not strike down laws unless it is clear that the law crosses the line and is unconstitutional. If I understand Ilya correctly, he believes that judges should be bold in striking down legislation. They should not presume laws are constitutional, and they shouldn't hesitate to strike down laws if they have a theory, personally persuasive to them even if not widely held, that the law is unconstitutional.
In our series of posts, Ilya and I rooted our approaches in different views of legitimacy. I argued that judges should approach their role with modesty because constitutional theory is too often cover for political views: Libertarians have libertarian theories, progressives have progressive theories, etc. No one can agree on the right theory, and everyone seems to have a theory that matches up very nicely with their political views. In light of this, an aggressive judicial role based on controversial theories would often end up imposing the judge's policy preferences over that of the people. Ilya countered by pointing to the Supreme Court's relatively high popularity ratings. To be candid, I'm not entirely sure of why Ilya considers the Supreme Court's approval ratings to be relevant. But as best I can tell, the idea is that If the Supreme Court is more popular than the elective branches then it must mean that "the people" actually like its decisions and want it to take an aggressive role.
In my last post, I pointed out what I think is a pretty basic error with Ilya's reliance on the Supreme Court's approval rating in his argument: The Supreme Court we have is not the Supreme Court that Ilya wants. That is, my understanding is that Ilya wants the Supreme Court to change course. He wants the Court to start to take on an aggressive judicial role, rather than have the generally deferential and majoritarian approach it usually employs now. If that's right, then I don't know why the Supreme Court's current approval rating is supposed to support Ilya's claim of public support for the role he would like them to take. To the extent the Court's approval ratings reflect agreement with the Court's decisions as policy — which I think is true only modestly, for reasons suggested below — the Court's approval ratings presumably reflect in part its majoritarian role. If you change that role, as Ilya would like, then the Court's approval ratings would presumably change.
Just to be extra clear, though, I didn't mean to suggest that I agree with Ilya's notion that approval ratings are sign of whether a legal institution reflects the consent of the governed. I made the narrow point I did in my last post to point out that even if you accept Ilya's assumptions that this is true, reliance on the Court's current approval ratings can't make the point Ilya wants. Unfortunately, I must have made this point poorly, because Ilya read this as an acceptance of his assumptions and then the creation of a novel new theory in which state and federal laws should receive different degrees of deference. To the contrary: I do not think a legal institution's popularity reflects whether its decisions are consistent with the consent of the governed.
In the case of the Supreme Court, for example, very few people have any idea of what the Supreme Court does. And among that small group, only a very tiny minority has any understanding of why it does it. Given that, approval ratings will tend to reflect a lot of stuff beyond whether the public agrees with the Court's decisions as matter of personal preference. There is presumably some connection between the Court's popularity and public agreement or disagreement with its decisions. If the Court started striking down a lot of popular laws, then I would expect its popularity to drop. But that connection is indirect at best. And more broadly, as I suggested in my last post, there are lots of ways that the Supreme Court can thwart preferences of minorities while being popular with the majority.
In any event, I don't know how many readers are particularly interested in this thread, but I did want to correct Ilya's misimpression about the point I was making. And I hope Ilya will correct me if I am misinterpreting his.
When Matter and Anti-Matter Collide:
On the three-judge panel for GW Law School's
Moot Court final to be held this Thursday: Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the Ninth Circuit and Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the DC Circuit. That
should be interesting. (The third judge is Randall Rader of the Federal Circuit, GW Law Class of 1978.)
An Intro to Prediction Markets and the Liquidity Problem:
Thanks, Eugene! I am pleased to be a guest conspirator, and I’m looking forward to writing about Predictocracy. I imagine most readers here are familiar with prediction markets, so I’ll start with only a brief explanation of how prediction markets usually work (a longer explanation from my book is here).
In a prediction market, traders can buy and sell contracts that will pay off should a particular event occur. For example, as of this writing, on Intrade.com, you can buy for approximately 58 cents on the dollar a contract that will pay off should Sen. John McCain win the Republican nomination. The current prices at which people are willing to buy and sell McCain shares translate into an estimate that McCain has approximately a 58% chance of being the nominee.
Most of the markets that the book imagines, however, differ in a fundamental way from the Intrade markets. While Intrade charges for its services, the markets that Predictocracy envisions would generally be subsidized by institutions (such as businesses or governments) willing to pay for the estimates that prediction markets produce.
Appropriately administered subsidies would respond to a common criticism of prediction markets: that on non-sexy topics, prediction markets have too little liquidity to be of much use. Even some Intrade markets attract too little attention, at least some of the time, to be useful; consider the current estimate that Imran Kahn has somewhere between a 10% and a 90% chance of being elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.
A subsidy can solve this problem by rewarding individuals who place aggressive offers to buy and sell contracts. This approach, which I describe here, helps reduce the “bid-ask spread,” and thus indirectly increases the incentives of people to develop information and analysis that they might then be able to trade on. An alternative approach, such as Robin Hanson’s “market scoring rule,” is to create an automated market maker that is willing to buy or sell shares at prices based on the current prediction.
McCain & Judicial Nominations:
Most discussion and debate over Sen. John McCain's record on judicial nominations has focused on his role in the "Gang of 14." See, for example, this defense of his record by Adam White and Kevin White, and this response by Andrew McCarthy and Mark Levin at NRO.
For those (like myself) who follow these issues closely, John Fund presents an interesting McCain tidbit in a column discussing how McCain could mend fences with conservatives:
Then there is the issue of judicial nominations, a top priority with conservatives. Nothing would improve Mr. McCain's standing with conservatives more than a forthright restatement of his previously stated view that "one of our greatest problems in America today is justices that legislate from the bench." Mr. McCain bruised his standing with conservatives on the issue when in 2005 he became a key player in the so-called gang of 14, which derailed an effort to end Democratic filibusters of Bush judicial nominees. More recently, Mr. McCain has told conservatives he would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito, because "he wore his conservatism on his sleeve."
So if Justice Alito was too openly conservative for McCain, what sort of justice would he appoint? Who, if not Alito, would qualify as a nominee like John Roberts?
UPDATE: NRO's Byron York got the chance to ask McCain about the quote. He reports:
I got a moment with John McCain, after an airport rally here in Orlando, to ask him about a report today by John Fund quoting some unnamed conservatives quoting McCain to the effect that, in Fund's words, "[McCain] would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito, because 'he wore his conservatism on his sleeve.'"
"Let me just look you in the eye," McCain told me. "I've said a thousand times on this campaign trail, I've said as often as I can, that I want to find clones of Alito and Roberts. I worked as hard as anybody to get them confirmed. I look you in the eye and tell you I've said a thousand times that I wanted Alito and Roberts. I have told anybody who will listen. I flat-out tell you I will have people as close to Roberts and Alito [as possible], and I am proud of my record of working to get them confirmed, and people who worked to get them confirmed will tell you how hard I worked."
"I don't get it," McCain continued. "I have a clear record of that. All I can tell you is my record is clear: I've supported these guys. I went to the floor of the Senate and spoke in favor of them. It's in the record, saying, 'You've got to confirm these people.'"
I asked whether McCain had ever drawn any distinction between Roberts and Alito. "No, no, of course not," McCain said.
I asked about the "wore his conservatism on his sleeve" line. "I'm proud of people who wear their conservatism on their sleeves, because they have to have a clear record of strict adherence to the Constitution," McCain told me. "Remember, in all my remarks, I've said, look, we're not going to take somebody's word for it. You have to have a clear record of adherence to the Constitution, a strict interpretation of the Constitution. I have said that time after time after time."
"And maybe as an aside, why would I say anything derogatory about somebody like that? What would be the point, after working so hard to get not only those two confirmed, but the Gang of 14 which I know is controversial but our record of getting those judges confirmed that the president nominated, I'm still proud of."
This would seem to be a complete disavowal of the substance of John Fund's report. It is also consistent with other remarks McCain has made, as Ramesh Ponnuru notes here
[and a commenter notes below].
One very minor caveat: In his exchange with York McCain further claims that he "continued to fight for" confirmation of the Bush nominees who the Gang of 14 did not agree to support. This statement is harder to credit. It has been widely reported that Senator McCain opposed the confirmation of one nominee, Michael Haynes, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. McCain objected to Haynes' role in the development of military policies on enemy combatants and interrogation methods. This is wholly understandable given McCain's strong position on the subject, and I doubt it would dissuade anyone who is otherwise considering throwing their support behind McCain.
Meanwhile, John Fund is reportedly standing by his story.
SECOND UPDATE: More from Professor Bainbridge here.
Congressional Carbon Credits:
Last year the U.S. House of Representatives purchased carbon offsets in an effort to make the legislative body "carbon neutral." Yet as the Washington Post reports, it is not clear the purchases did much of anything to offset Congressional emissions.
In November, the Democratic-led House spent about $89,000 on so-called carbon offsets. This purchase was supposed to cancel out greenhouse-gas emissions from House buildings -- including half of the U.S. Capitol -- by triggering an equal reduction in emissions elsewhere.
Some of the money went to farmers in North Dakota, for tilling practices that keep carbon buried in the soil. But some farmers were already doing this, for other reasons, before the House paid a cent.
Other funds went to Iowa, where a power plant had been temporarily rejiggered to burn more cleanly. But that test project had ended more than a year before the money arrived. . . .
The House bought its offsets through the Chicago Climate Exchange, a five-year-old commodities market where greenhouse-gas credits are traded like pork bellies.
This month, officials at the exchange vigorously defended the sale, saying the House's purchase had done a great deal of good by funneling money to those who were helping to combat climate change.
"It basically rewards people for having done things that had environmental good in the past and incentivizes people to do things that have environmental good in the future," said Richard Sandor, the exchange's chairman and chief executive.
He rejected the argument that the exchange shouldn't sell offsets until it can prove that the pollution reductions wouldn't have happened if the money wasn't paid. "We can't, as an exchange, trade hypothetical things," Sandor said.
There is a silver lining to the story, however. Apparently the House purchased the credits in a way to prevent interference from earmark-happy legislators.
Daniel P. Beard, the House's chief administrative officer, said he asked the Chicago exchange for offsets based only on U.S. projects. But, he said, he asked not to be told where the projects were, so representatives could not buttonhole him about projects in their districts.
At least that's something.
Michael Abramowicz, Guest-Blogging:
I'm delighted to welcome George Washington Prof. Michael Abramowicz, who will be guest-blogging about his new book Predictocracy: Market Mechanisms for Private and Public Decision Making, being released this week by the Yale University Press. (Michael and I were briefly colleagues, when he was a lawprof at George Mason, and I was visiting there for a semester.)
Michael's book argues that prediction markets should be widely employed in decision making, because -- when properly designed -- they tend to provide a good algorithm for aggregating different points of view into a single forecast. A decisionmaking institution would be better off using this algorithm than relying on individual decisionmakers to develop their own forecasts, whether explicitly or implicitly.
At its most ambitious, the book defends what Michael calls "normative markets," in which the forecast is of a normative assessment by a decision maker to be randomly selected from a group. Sometimes, he argues, it might be better to rely on a forecast of the decision of a single randomly selected member of a group, rather than on an actual decision of all or a subset of the group members.
Michael will start by addressing some common objections to prediction markets and by outlining their institutional advantages. He'll then offer some of his ideas both for innovative designs and applications of prediction markets. And, finally, he'll explain and defend the broader theory behind normative markets. I'm very much looking forward to seeing Michael's posts.
Standing and Separation of Powers in Massachusetts and Hein:
The Supreme Court decided two important standing cases during OT2006: Massachusetts v. EPA and Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation. Both cases are significant, but for quite different reasons -- one for what it did, the other for what it did not do. Massachusetts is important for how it departed from, and modified, existing standing doctrine in holding that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts had standing to sue the EPA for failing to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Hein, on the other hand, is important because the Court stubbornly refused to depart from existing, and arguably quite unworkable, precedent regarding taxpayer standing to sue the federal government under the Establishment Clause.
Late last year I delivered the keynote address at a standing symposium, "Justiciability After Hein and Massachusetts: Where is the Court Standing?" sponsored by the Regent Law Review, in which I addressed the two cases. In addition to noting the cases' handling of prior precedent, I argued that the Court's holdings embody contrasting -- and arguably quite conflicting -- conceptions of the role of the judiciary in the separation of powers.
In both cases, the Court confronted the question of when to allow suits challenging executive conduct that caused rather generalized harms to the public -- the misuse of taxpayer dollars in Hein, the failure to regulate vehicular contributions to glboal climate change in Massachusetts. Given the lack of a traditional concrete and particularized injury in these cases, one underlying question is whether standing is necessary or desirable so as to facilitate judicial oversight of potential executive branch misconduct. Such judicial oversight may be desirable insofar as the legislature cannot be relied upon to police executive behavior. But if this is the rationale for allowing standing despite the lack of a traditionally recognized injury, the Court gets the two cases wrong.
It seems to me the risk of executive misconduct is greater in the Establishment Clause context, where the executive must comply with a constitutional rule designed to protect minority interests from majoritarian religious preferences, than in the environmental context where the executive is tasked with implementing a federal statute. Congress is fully capable of policing executive compliance with statutory mandates (if it chooses to do so), but Congress is very unlikely to police Executive compliance with the Establishment Clause, particularly where the executive acts to "establish" majoritarian religious preferences. Thus the Court has a greater "countermajoritarian" role to play in Establishment Clause cases. Yet Hein effectively forecloses taxpayer suits against executive actions that allegedly violate the Establishment Clause, and Massachusetts opens the door to greater litigation against executive actions that allegedly violate federal environmental laws. If the Court was only to find standing in one of the two cases (and I would not have found standing in either), I think Hein was a better candidate than Massachusetts.
I've turned my symposium remarks into a short paper, "God, Gaia, the Taxpayer, and the Lorax: Standing, Justiciability, and Separation of Powers after Massachusetts and Hein." It's a quick read that fleshes out the argument in a little more detail. A copy of the paper on SSRN here.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Supreme Court Approval Ratings and the Legitimacy of Judicial Power Revisited:
In his latest post, Orin argues that the Supreme Court's high approval ratings don't have much relevance to our debate over the legitimacy of judicial review because the Court rarely strikes down popular laws and in particular rarely strikes down federal laws. Therefore, he claims:
If a law is very popular in one state or region but unpopular nationwide, striking down the law will both thwart state and local preferences and be popular in national polls. To my mind, this doesn't show that "the people" effectively "consented" to their law being struck down. Rather, it mostly shows that in a federal system, state and national opinion can and often do diverge.
To my mind, this is a significant revision, or at least clarification, of the position Orin staked out earlier in our debate. At that time, he argued that legislative enactments in general - not just federal laws - deserve heavy deference from judges because they have a special "legitimacy" derived from having a "closer connection to the consent of the governed." For this reason, among others, he argued that we must reject theories of constitutional interpretation that would lead judges to invalidate "lots of laws."
Now, Orin seems to be arguing that only federal laws, and perhaps only popular federal laws, deserve such deference. Thus, at least in so far as "legitimacy" is concerned, he should not object to the judiciary striking down "lots of laws" so long as those laws are either state laws or federal laws that lack strong majority support. This is an extremely important point. As I explain in this article, widespread political ignorance ensures that the majority of the public doesn't even know about most of the laws that legislatures pass, much less strongly support them. Orin may well be right to argue that the Court's popularity would decline if it started striking down very popular federal laws. However, the vast majority of legislation doesn't fall into that category. Orin's latest post thus implies that there is no harm to democratic legitimacy from striking down the vast majority of laws (though such invalidation might, of course, still be undesirable on other grounds).
I also disagree with Orin's implication in the latest post that striking down federal laws (as opposed to state laws) will necessarily undermine the Court's perceived legitimacy. The Court's approval ratings have not declined significantly over the last 15 years, despite the fact that the Court struck down many more federal laws during this period than did its immediate predecessors. With the exception of a few extremely important statutes, the majority of the public is unlikely to care much more about the invalidation of federal laws most of them have never heard of.
Supreme Court Approval Ratings and Judicial Review:
In his post below
, my co-blogger Ilya writes:
[F]or those who do believe that the legitimacy of judicial review depends at least in large part on the degree to which it has majoritarian support, the Court's very high approval ratings relative to those of the president and Congress are not easy to dismiss. As I argued in my earlier post, they undercut arguments such as Orin's, which hold that judicial review must be strictly limited because legislative enactments have a degree of popular "consent" that the courts lack.
Well, I wouldn't want to "dismiss" any arguments, but I do disagree with Ilya about the relevance of the Supreme Court's current approval ratings to the debate he and I have been having.
The key problem is that modern U.S. Supreme Court has acted as a highly majoritarian institution. No matter what power the Supreme Court has in theory
, it has very rarely invalidated politically popular laws. This was particularly true in the last decade, when Justice O'Connor was the "swing vote" in most cases. As my colleague Jeffrey Rosen has pointed out, Justice O'Connor's approach was very majoritarian: for the most part she kept the Court's decisions exactly on track with American public opinion. When the Supreme Court effectively "follows the election returns," it is bound to be pretty popular.
"But wait," you're thinking, "how can the Supreme Court strike down laws and yet also be popular if the people aren't somehow 'consenting' to their laws being invalidated?" There are several reasons, but one is that public opinion polls are national whereas most laws struck down by the Supreme Court are (and traditionally have been) state or local. If a law is very popular in one state or region but unpopular nationwide, striking down the law will both thwart state and local preferences and be popular in national polls. To my mind, this doesn't show that "the people" effectively "consented" to their law being struck down. Rather, it mostly shows that in a federal system, state and national opinion can and often do diverge.
A Day of Divisions on the Sixth Circuit:
Last Friday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued published opinions in three cases, each of which featured a dissent. All three were criminal cases, and two involved habeas petitions, a regular source of division on the Sixth Circuit.
In Ross v. Petro, a divided panel reversed the district court's grant a habeas petition to Denny Ross, who sought pretrial habeas relief from being reprosecuted for kidnapping, rape, and murder of a young woman. In an opinion by Judge McKeague, joined by Judge Rogers, the Court held Ross failed to establish that retrial would constitute double jeopardy. Judge Guy dissented.
In Fautenberry v. Mitchell, a divided panel rejected a death row inmate's appeal of a district court's denial of his habeas petition. Judge Batchelder wrote the majority opinion. joined by Judge Gilman, finding all eight of John Fautenberry's arguments unavailaing. Judge Moore dissented, arguing Fautenberry received ineffective assistance of counsel during the penalty phase of his trial.
Finally, in United States v. Madden, a divided panel rejected two criminal defendants' challenges to their sentences. Judge Gilman wrote the majority, joined by Judge Siler. Judge Moore dissented in part, on the grounds that the sentence one defendant received was unreasonable.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Undivided Sixth Circuit Habeas Decision:
- A Day of Divisions on the Sixth Circuit:
"Victims" of Subprime Mortgages and Victims of Eminent Domain:
Steven Geoffrey Gieseler of the Pacific Legal Foundation makes an excellent point in decrying the great amount of attention paid to homeowner victims of subprime mortgages in the current presidential campaign relative to those who have lost their homes to eminent domain (hat tip: Tim Sandefur of PLF on Eminent Domain):
As the campaign for the presidency unfolds, candidates from both parties are squabbling over who can bail out defaulting homeowners first, and most. The mortgage crisis has become a central issue of the Democratic and Republican primaries. "Saving homes" is now a necessary mantra for everyone seeking the White House. Problem is, they're all trying to save the wrong homes....
As stressful as losing a home to foreclosure may be, most such homeowners at a minimum share in the blame for their predicaments. After all, many agreed to loan terms that amounted to little more than gambles that, it turns out, haven't paid off.
In contrast, those who lose their homes to their federal, state, or local governments via eminent domain for private purposes are victims in the truest sense of the word. These people have done nothing wrong other than live on plots of land that more politically connected parties, and the politicians they're connected to, have decided the owners are no longer worthy of keeping.
I would add one more point to Gieseler's compelling argument. Even if you do believe that those defaulting on subprime mortgages are innocent victims, any government bailout for them is likely to create innocent victims of its own: The taxpayers who will be forced to pay for it. This is doubly unfair to recent homebuyers who stayed within their means, and may now be punished for their financial rectitude by being taxed to bail out those who were more reckless. If you want banks and other lenders to pay for the bailout, that too will generate innocent victims. If lenders are forced to bail out defaulting homebuyers, they are likely to tighten up credit requirements for future buyers, thereby making homeownership less accessible to the poor and lower middle class.
On the other hand, we can help the victims of Kelo-style "economic development" takings with little or no collateral damage to innocent third parties. Not only are such condemnations damaging to property owners, they also tend to harm the general public by spending public funds on projects that usually provide less in the way of economic growth than would have occurred if the previous owners had been left alone by the government. I discuss the reasons why in great detail in this article. Banning economic development takings is a win-win for both threatened property owners and the general public. The same can't be said for proposals to bail out subprime borrowers.
More Homeowners Who Know Their House is Worth More than Buyers Want to Pay:
Daytona Beach News-Journal:
Local residents Arline and Richard Pendl have been trying to sell their home in Sunrise Oaks for nearly a year. But no serious takers have surfaced for the four-bedroom, 2,600-square-foot home with a double garage.... So while they wait, the Pendls have dug in their heels and dropped their asking price to $369,000. They dropped it twice before, she said. 'My husband and I agree that we are not going to give this house away,' she said.
The Pendls paid $322,500 for the house in June 2005, very close to the peak of the bubble. In 2002, the previous owner paid $205,000 for the house. Apparently, "not giving the house away" means asking for 15% more than it sold for at the top of a bubble market, and 80% more than it sold for 6 years ago. It shouldn't be a great surprise that "no serious takers have surfaced," should it?
On a related note, I've seen several stories about townhouse owners who want to move to a larger, single-family, home, but want to wait until the market recovers so they don't take a loss. The stories suggest that these homeowners could take a loss and still be okay financially, they just don't want to. This is puzzling, because "move-up" sellers are obviously better off selling when prices are down than waiting for a recovery. For example, if owners paid 300K for a townhouse, and prices have dropped 10%, they should also be able to get what was a 600K SFH for $540,000, thus saving 30K. If they wait until prices rise 30%, they will get 81K more for their townhouse, but pay $162K more for the house they move to.
The State of Post-Kelo Eminent Domain Reform:
For months, the legal world has held its breath in anticipation of the long-awaited revised version of my paper on post-Kelo eminent domain reform - the first comprehensive analysis of the over forty state and federal eminent domain reform laws spawned by the political backlash stimulated by Kelo v. City of New London. OK, maybe not.... But the revised paper is ready anyway, and now available on SSRN.
Over the next couple days, I will be blogging about some of the new evidence I have gathered, especially new public opinion data showing that - despite the strong public sentiment against Kelo and economic development takings - the overwhelming majority of Americans are unaware of the state of post-Kelo reform in their states. The data is analyzed in detail on pp. 42-49 of the paper.
The Supreme Court's Approval Ratings and the Legitimacy of Judicial Review:
In one of the posts in my debate over judicial review with Orin Kerr, I made the point that the Supreme Court's approval ratings are consistently much higher than those of Congress; I also noted that majority public opinion is strongly supportive of the Court's role in invalidating congressional legislation that the justices believe to be unconstitutional. To the extent that the legitimacy of judicial review depends on public approval, that is important evidence in favor of judicial power.
However, University of San Diego law professor Michael Rappaport responds to part of my argument by suggesting that the Court's relatively high approval ratings may be due to the fact that it gets less public criticism than do other branches of government. As he puts it, "criticism of the Court before the public is generally muted by comparison with criticism of politicians." There is something to this point, but not as much as Michael suggests. The Supreme Court has gotten a great deal of public criticism in recent decades. Since at least 1968, conservatives have routinely made the Court's real and imagined liberal "judicial activism" an electoral issue. In more recent years, the Democrats have often attacked it for supposed conservative activism. Judicial nominations have of course been a highly controversial issue since at least the 1980s.
In one sense, the attacks on the Court have been even more thoroughgoing than those on Congress and the presidency. Many conservative and some liberals have argued that the Court's power as such is illegitimate and should be reduced. By contrast, attacks on Congress and the president usually focus on the supposed sins of incumbents, with less effort to claim that the powers of the institution as such should be reduced (the recent debate over George W. Bush's use of executive power may be a partial exception).
Michael is right to point out that the justices are rarely subjected to the kinds of personal attacks as individuals that elected officials face. However, public hostility to an institution can often arise even if the voters know little or nothing about the individuals who work there. Witness Congress' extremely low approval ratings, despite the fact that most Americans can't name their own congressman and know little or nothing about Nancy Pelosi and other top congressional leaders.
To reiterate, I don't believe that strong judicial review of statutes can be justified merely on the grounds that it is popular with the public. Neither do I believe that judicial review becomes illegitimate if the laws it invalidates have strong public support. However, for those who do believe that the legitimacy of judicial review depends at least in large part on the degree to which it has majoritarian support, the Court's very high approval ratings relative to those of the president and Congress are not easy to dismiss. As I argued in my earlier post, they undercut arguments such as Orin's, which hold that judicial review must be strictly limited because legislative enactments have a degree of popular "consent" that the courts lack.
How the U.S. Will Follow the Bali Roadmap:
In yesterday's Wall Street Journal, Bush Administration officials James Connaughton and Daniel Price outline the Bush Administration's approach to climate change policy and how it measures up to the "Bali Roadmap."
The U.S. is committed to working with other nations to agree on a global outcome that is environmentally effective and economically sustainable. That is the only kind of agreement that can win public support.
To be environmentally effective, a new approach must involve measurable actions by the world's largest producers of greenhouse-gas emissions. Without substantial participation by developing economies, greenhouse-gas emissions will continue to rise rapidly over the next 50 years even if the U.S. and other developed economies cut emissions to zero.
To be economically sustainable, our actions must uphold the hopes of people everywhere for economic growth, energy security and improved quality of life. Lowering the cost of emissions reductions requires speeding up the development and deployment of technologies that will fundamentally improve the way we produce and consume energy. This includes the capture and storage of carbon emitted from coal-power plants. . . .
The major economies plan to meet again at the end of January to discuss a work program that contributes to the Bali Roadmap. Such a program should include discussion of a long-term, global emissions-reduction goal as well as national plans with mid-term goals — backed by a nationally appropriate mix of regulations, incentives and public-private partnerships. It would also include cooperative technology strategies and other actions in key sectors, especially fossil-power generation, personal transportation and sustainable forest management.
The program should cover innovative financing mechanisms and the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers for clean energy goods and services, improved emissions-accounting systems, and ways to help countries adapt to climate change and gain access to technology. It would be useful to discuss how to structure a post-2012 arrangement that would incorporate positive, not punitive, ways to ensure accountability and encourage participation by all major economies — developed and developing alike. We hope these discussions can produce tangible outcomes that can be endorsed at a major economies leaders meeting later this year.
Sunday Song Lyric:
I participated in the Case Western Reserve Law Review symposium on "Corporations and Their Communities"
this weekend. Specifically, I moderated a panel on "Community Efforts to Attract and Retain Corporations: Legal and Policy Implications of State and Local Tax Incentives and Eminent Domain" (the same panel Ilya mentioned here
). For northeast Ohio, the panel was quite timely. Deindustrialization has hit this part of the state hard. Ohio policymakers have sought to use selective tax incentives and eminent domain to revitalize struggling communities, with mixed results. DaimlerChrysler v. Cuno
, for example, arose from efforts to encourage Chrysler to expand an Ohio jeep facility.
The discussion of Ohio's economic woes brought to mind "My City Was Gone" by The Pretenders. And that's not just my opinion. Minnesota's Morgan Holcomb incorporated the song into her presentation on how the dormant commerce clause limits the use of selective tax incentives for corporations. The song may be 25 years old, but it is still eerily appropriate. What Chrissie Hynde wrote about her native Akron is can still be said about many northeast Ohio communities. Here is how the song begins:
I went back to Ohio
But my city was gone
There was no train station
There was no downtown
South Howard had disappeared
aAll my favorite places
My city had pulled down
Reduced to parking spaces
A, O, way to go Ohio
The full lyrics are here
. Here is one live performance
, and here is another
from the Pretenders their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
The FCC's Linguistic Incompetence:
Bill Poser at Language Log has looked at the FCC's ruling that ABC violated decency standards by briefly showing a woman's naked buttocks, and finds it wanting. In particular Poser critiques the FCC's claim that buttocks are a "sexual organ," legally or otherwise.
The buttocks are not used for sexual reproduction so they are not a sexual organ. Indeed, they are not an organ of any sort, which is defined by Wordnet as: "a fully differentiated structural and functional unit in an animal that is specialized for some particular function". Unlike the heart or the kidneys, the buttocks are not "specialized for some particular function". . . .
The problem for the FCC is that it wants to enforce a broad notion of indecency that includes display of the buttocks but that its own regulations contain a narrower definition. Both in its ruling generally and in its mis-citation of the case law in footnote 23, the FCC appears to believe that it can expand the definition of indecency from what it is to what it would like it to be by fiat.
Related Posts (on one page):
- The FCC's Linguistic Incompetence:
- NYPD Blue's Expensive Rear View:
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Page:La Fontaine - The Original Fables Of, 1913.djvu/77
Hippocrates, though he had little faith in these people, went nevertheless. Now mark, I beg of you, what strange meetings fate may bring about in this life! Hippocrates arrived just at the time when this man, who was supposed to have neither sense nor reason, happened to be searching into a question as to whether this very reason was seated in the heart or in the head of men and beasts.
Sitting in leafy shade, beside a brook, and with many a volume at his feet, he was occupied wholly with a study of the convolutions of the brain; and thus absorbed, as his manner was, he scarcely noticed the advance of his friend the learned physician. Their greeting was soon over as you may imagine, for the sage is at all times chary of time and speech. So having put aside mere trifles of conversation, they reasoned upon man and his mind, and next fell to talking upon ethics.
It is not necessary that I should here enlarge upon what each had to say to the other on these matters.
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An article in the January 21 2012 edition of The Economist vividly describes Ulaanbaatar and Oyu Tolgoi in the winter of 2012. The story that some have been telling for some years, “Mongolia is the next Eldorado” is repeated here with only some cautionary notes on Dutch disease, inflation and the like.
Some of the usual suspects when it comes to foreign views of Mongolian development, turn up in this article, like Munhkbayar of the Ongi River Movement and the Hon. Oyun. Ms Oyun especially is a wonderful interlocutor when it comes to understanding contemporary Mongolia, of course.
What I find missing in the article is the extent to which the promise of a mining boom is skewing and distorting all aspects of Mongolian development – economic, political and social.
This is the point I made when I presented at a symposium at Hokkaido University yesterday.
Take the political populism that the Economist article refers to. This is a product – in my mind – of the on-going discussion about what to do with coming mining riches in the 2000s. While political development was focused on democratization and the construction of the attendant institutions in the 1990s, the 2000s were the decade where patronage politics established itself as a product of politicians desire to join in the decision-making (and, apparently, spoils) about mining policy. Rewards for supporters and clinging to power (note the long duration of the grand DP and MPP coalition) have become the political modus operandi.
The Economist article is quite right to ask whether Mongolia will be able to “handle” the revenue streams that will be growing steadily, especially with the beginning of production at Oyu Tolgoi. Elsewhere, I’ve written and spoken about the long-term stability of democracy in Mongolia. One of the main concerns beyond Dutch disease and related macroeconomic threats is rising inequality. Currently, while the poor are not getting poorer, they are also not getting significantly less poor through the increased economic activity related to mining. Ultimately, even in a small population, not everyone will be able to work at OT, TT or any other large and small projects that might still develop. So far, the Mongolian government has primarily headed for an emphasis on transfer payments (to children, to the old, etc.) and financial stakes in mining projects (whether that is the government stake in OT or the stakes in TT that are to be distributed). Whether that will be a successful strategy in the long term to avoid unrest and to begin to think about a diversification of the Mongolian economy will remain to be seen.
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James Swafford received his B.A. from the University of Kansas, his M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University. A member of the English faculty at Ithaca College since 1984, he has taught a wide range of courses at all levels, including Introduction to Poetry, Approaches to Literary Study, Ancient Literature, several seminars in the Honors Program (Into the Wild, Science in Poetry, Modern Myth, and Helen of Troy and Elsewhere), and a graduate course on the child in world literatures. His primary interest, however, is in 19th-century British poetry, especially the continuities from the Romantic poets (Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats) through the writers of the Victorian era. Among the special courses he has offered in this field are
- Visionaries and Dreamers,
- The Aesthetic Movement in England,
- Darwinian Affinities,
- The Dramatic Monologue,
- Faith and Loss in 19th-century British Literature, and
- Oscar Wilde.
Professor Swafford has taught in the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar Program for school teachers. He has received both a Dana Teaching Award and an Excellence in Teaching Award from Ithaca College. He also directed the Honors Program at Ithaca from 2001 to 2007.
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Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly declared that "a world without America is not only desirable, it is achievable." While that sentiment won't be embraced in President Obama's inaugural address next week, all other things being equal, it seems likely to be the practical effect of his second term.
Of course, Iran's regime seeks a world literally without America. More to the point, Ahmadinejad and the mullahs in Tehran are working tirelessly to secure the means by which to accomplish that goal. Specifically, they have or are developing the ability to engage in devastating electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks, biological warfare and other asymmetric terrorist strikes.
For his part, Barack Obama seems to have in mind bringing about a world without America in a geo-strategic sense. As Mark Steyn notes in a characteristically brilliant essay in National Review Online National Review Online, that would be "Obamacare's other shoe." It would amount to a "fundamental transformation" of America's place in the world, evidently intended to be the President's second-act counterpart to the socialist transformation of this country that dominated his first term.
That agenda is strongly evident in Mr. Obama's choices for key national security cabinet positions: John Kerry at the State Department, Chuck Hagel at Defense and John Brennan at the CIA. The three are, like the President, imbued with a post-American, post-sovereignty, post-constitutional, transnationalist outlook. In his administration, it would appear that their mission would be, as the American Enterprise Institute's Danielle Pletka puts it, to manage the United States' decline.
Having addressed previously in this space the serious problems with the judgment, records and policy proclivities of Messrs. Hagel and Kerry, let's consider those of John Brennan to further illustrate the syndrome.
Brennan is a textbook example of a U.S. official who has "gone native." He speaks Arabic and was formerly the top CIA officer in Saudi Arabia. He has shown himself to be deeply sympathetic to Islamists -- for example, excusing and dissembling about their commitment to jihad and the necessity of not offending them.
Frank Gaffney Jr. is the founder and president of the Center for Security Policy and author of War Footing: 10 Steps America Must Take to Prevail in the War for the Free World .
TOWNHALL DAILY: Be the first to read Frank Gaffney's column. Sign up today and receive Townhall.com daily lineup delivered each morning to your inbox.
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Lessons in being silly
In songs, stories Gill teaches kids, parents without them realizing it
White Oak Elementary School’s gymnasium was transformed into a swimming pool, trampoline and dance hall to accommodate children’s author Jim Gill’s visit on Friday.
Children in the Grundy County Preschool Program, which includes students from Morris Elementary, Saratoga and Nettle Creek school districts, were treated to a concert by Gill himself at the school. The popular author’s visit was made possible through the state grant that pays for the Grundy County Preschool Program.
The children pretended to swim, jump on a trampoline and perform many other actions as they acted out the lyrics of Gill’s interactive songs.
Gill is a musician and author who is also a child development specialist. His music and books emphasize playful interaction between children and their parents and other adults, according to his website jimgill.com.
The “I took a bath in a washing machine” song had the kids jumping and laughing with their moms and dads and anxious for the next line. “Here’s the big silly finish,” said Gill to the kids before singing the last funny line. “I hope my mom doesn’t put me in the dryer.”
Followed was the kids’ time to shine — the silly dance contest, where Gill told them to dance any way they liked, but when he said “freeze,” they had to hold their silliest pose for Gill to see.
Four-year-old Margot Offermann and 3-year-old Bryanna Enerson decided to do their silly dancing together, holding hands and spinning around as their parents watched and laughed.
“It’s excellent. My daughter loves it. When she comes home after school, she comes in singing,” said Offermann’s mom, Krista Offermann.
The kids have been learning Gill’s songs and reading his books for weeks, said Amy Jankowski of the Grundy County Preschool Program.
“Oh my gosh, they’ve been talking about him, rhyming about him, and writing about him. They made thank you cards for him, and they know how to write his name. They knew it was going to be a special day,” she said.
“The kids absolutely love him. Obviously this is his gift and we just love him,” Jankowski continued.
Four-year-old Savannah Taylor loves spinning to Gill’s songs, but loves his singing most.
“Because we can do it too,” she said.
Gill’s work is unique because he’s teaching the children and the parents without them even knowing it, said Chris Davis, early childhood teacher at White Oak.
“He really gets the parents involved in playing with their kids,” she said.
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I've got Beach Music on the brain today. If you weren't lucky enough to grow up in a beach town in the Carolinas, Virginia or Georgia like I did, Beach Music is a regional genre that developed in the late 1940s and combined Rhythm and Blues, Big Band Swing, Country Blues and a whole bunch of other stuff to create the perfect music for dancing the Shag (also called the Carolina Shag). Sort of kind of like the Jitterbug, but not. I’ve never claimed to be a dancer but I can do pretty mean shag (I can tap dance too, but that’s another post for another day). Beach Music is not to be confused with the Beach Boys; they’re great but another coast entirely. It’s the music of summer and just hearing it makes you feel like dancing. So turn your speakers up, kick off your shoes and go for it!
If you want more beach music tunes you can click here for the top 100 Beach Music songs. I can’t say that it’s the definitive list, but it’ll definitely get you started.
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Is your credit card or debit card starting to feel the burn from all your shopping over the weekend? Are you still going strong today on Cyber Monday? Do you even know which card it makes the most sense to use? Guest author Micah Moon has a few tips to help you figure out how to maximize the results you can get while fueling the economy today!
The Great Holiday Shopping Debate: Credit vs. Debit Cards
Whether you plan to get a head start on your holiday shopping or end up waiting until the last minute, consider establishing a budget ahead of time. Even if you are one of the many who start your shopping before Thanksgiving, it may be wise to consider how you are planning to pay for the many items on your gift-giving list. As you consider how to budget for your gifts, it is also important to understand the advantages of using either a credit card or a debit card. To decide which one is the right one for you, assess your holiday needs and goals by asking yourself one important question, “Do I have the necessary cash on-hand to buy this year’s gifts?” If the answer is no, then using a credit card may be your only choice. However, if you do have the money available to make your immediate holiday purchases, then use the following tips to help you decide whether to use your debit card or credit card when doing your holiday shopping.
Credit vs. Debit Cards – Which is right for you? There are a few key differences to consider when deciding between using your debit card and your credit card for the bulk of your holiday spending.
Rewards – Credit cards, like many debit cards, offer an array of rewards from which to choose. While some companies offer points and frequent flyer miles for the purchases you make using your credit card, others like Nationwide Bank, feature attractive cash back rewards. Rewards can be a great incentive to use your credit card to do holiday shopping. Whether you have cash available for all of your seasonal purchases or not, in order to make the smartest choice for your situation, you should consider all of your payment options before you start this year’s shopping.
Interest – Debit cards don’t charge you interest each month, since the money is immediately withdrawn from your available funds. However, you may be able to avoid accruing additional interest and finance charges on your credit card if you pay off the balance in full each month. If you are concerned that you may be unable to pay off your balance, you may want to reconsider using your credit card when doing your holiday shopping.
Payments – If you don’t want the hassle of regular payments, then a debit card may be the right payment alternative for you. However, if you are confident that you can make timely payments each month, a credit card may be the right choice for your individual situation. Once you find the solution that works for your budget and your lifestyle, you’ll be on your way to enjoying financial flexibility all year long.
Consumer Protection – Debit cards offer consumer protection to a point. Banks often ask that you fill out paperwork when you think the safety of your checking account has been breached. Sometimes restoring missing funds can take weeks in order for the bank to research the fraudulent activity, often leaving you low on cash until everything is settled. Most credit card companies, however, offer fraud protection and immediate refunds. If you find suspicious or fraudulent charges on your account, simply contact the credit card company and they will likely reverse the charge immediately. This way, you always have available funds when doing your holiday shopping.
There are many reasons you may be debating between credit vs. debit cards for all of your holiday shopping needs. Although debit cards may seem like a hassle-free choice, you may want to consider using your credit card to do most of your gift buying. Benefits such as cash-back rewards make using credit cards an attractive decision. Also, if you do decide to use a credit card this holiday season, consider a Nationwide Bank credit card. This convenient Visa cash back card offers a 0% introductory APR for six billing cycles, no annual fee, 1% cash-back rebates and more. Complete your online credit card application in as little as 15 minutes, and get ready to enjoy this holiday season of gift-giving and generosity.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.
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Most Viewed Stories
Christians celebrate Easter with sunrise services
The Bible, in the Gospel of Luke, says that even Jesus's disciples were surprised when they learned of his resurrection.
They, too, had to be convinced.
Centuries later, and with the symbolic image of the sun rising in the east, several dozen Christians gathered at the river park in Colusa to celebrate the foundation of their faith.
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, yet shall he live." (John 11:25).
The sunrise service has become an annual event in Colusa.
A sunrise service also was held inside the clubhouse of the Arbuckle Golf Club, and the sermon of Christ's gift to the world was extolled in Christian churches everywhere.
Millions of Christians around the world celebrated the message on Sunday.
A day earlier, Easter belonged to the children.
They gathered at a park in Williams, at the fairgrounds in Colusa and in backyards all over the county.
Their quarry were brightly colored eggs.
Their weaponry, baskets and grasping hands.
Their strategy, unbridled enthusiasm, energy and the occasional forearm shiver to move a competitor away from the prize.
Family barbecues and other events also have become part of the Easter tradition.
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In the long run, the issue of same sex marriage may be decided not on the basis of emotions but, rather, using the colder logic of the Constitution.
Television cameras could appear in a federal trial court in San Francisco for the first time as early as this week, in a pretrial hearing on a lawsuit challenging California's same-sex marriage ban.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in an order issued last Wednesday said he is considering allowing recording or webcasting of a Jan. 6 hearing on an experimental basis.
Walker wrote that a review of the video would "be helpful to the court in deciding whether to permit recording or broadcasting of the trial proceedings," which are due to begin Jan. 11.
Ten media organizations, including NBC Bay Area, have told the judge they would like to provide gavel-to-gavel broadcast and webcast coverage of the trial, with pool coverage handled by In Session, formerly known as Court TV.
In the trial, expected to last two to three weeks, Walker will rule without a jury on two same-sex couples' claim that the marriage ban violates their federal constitutional rights.
The measure was enacted by state voters in 2008 as Proposition 8.
Consideration of trial broadcasting was made possible when the Judicial Council of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced Dec. 17 that it had approved a pilot program allowing some televising of civil non-jury trials in nine western states.
If the Proposition 8 trial is televised, it would be the first federal trial to be broadcast in the West, and one of the first in the nation.
Cameras have previously been allowed in some federal appeals court hearings as well as in California's state court system.
Walker gave lawyers on both sides of the Proposition 8 case until Jan. 4 to say whether they object to the limited recording of the Jan. 6 hearing.
Charles Cooper, a lawyer for the sponsors of the measure, told Walker in filings earlier this week that his clients oppose televising the trial.
He said the Proposition 8 sponsors are concerned about possible intimidation or harassment of witnesses. Some witnesses have said "they will not be willing to testify at all if the trial is televised or webcast," Cooper wrote.
But Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for the same-sex couples, told the judge that his clients "strongly support televising the trial in order to afford the public meaningful access in this exceptionally important case."
The purpose of the Jan. 6 hearing is to resolve last-minute evidence disputes before the trial.
Bay City News
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Farmland Values Rise in First Quarter
May 17, 2010
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City issued their quarterly report on agricultural credit conditions for the first quarter of 2010. They indicated farmland values rose due to strong demand and the rebound in livestock prices. Both farmer and non-farm demand appears to be very good. Looking ahead, they expect farmland values to hold steady.
However, most district bankers reported that farm income fell slightly in the first quarter, however, they expect higher levels in the second quarter with the year being steady.
Farmland values for the quarter rose about 2% with Nebraska having the highest gains of about 6%, however, Oklahoma and the mountain states were lower for the quarter. This was the strongest gain in over a year primarily due to the livestock rebound. Interest rates edged down slightly, averaging 6.6 percent.
In reviewing the long-term chart shown in the report, there have only been 3 quarters that have been negative since 1990. Two quarters were in late 1990 when the Internet bubble was at its highest and one quarter last year. Owning farmland has been a very good investment over the last 20 years. We all hope the trend continues for the next 20 years.
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Maine Health Information Exchange Adds Medical Images
HealthInfoNet, Maine's health information exchange, becomes first in the nation to support statewide sharing of X-rays, CT scans, and other medical images.
HealthInfoNet, which went live in 2009 and currently supports the exchange of health records for 1 million of the 1.3 million people who live in the state, this week will begin a pilot to make patients' medical images accessible to the state's healthcare providers.
More Healthcare Insights
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- Research: Healthcare CIO 25: The Leaders Behind the Healthcare IT Revolution
- Electronic Health Records: Time to Get Onboard
Until now, HealthInfoNet provided access to medical image reports, but now physicians will also have instant access to the actual images themselves, rather than waiting for image copies to be sent (for example) on disks, said Jerry Edson, a consultant on the HealthInfoNet medical imaging project, and former CIO of Maine Medical Center.
"We had the image reports in the HIE, but people want the images," he said. That's particularly the case for rural Maine physicians who don't have access to picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) but want to view in a timely manner patients' medical images, for example, to compare the progression of a disease or injury against previous image studies, he said.
[ Some hospitals and clinicians are fighting quick patient access to medical records. See Compromise On Health Data Access May Be Ugly. ]
HealthInfoNet will be able to link each image with a single patient identifier through its HIE Master Person Index, allowing clinicians to search for all a patient's prior images to track changes over time.
The HealthInfoNet medical image archive is supported through a cloud-based architecture and services provided by Dell, which in December 2010 acquired medical image archiving vendor InSite One, said Jim Champagne, executive director of Dell services industry sector, and former CEO of InSite One.
Currently, for healthcare clients, including HealthInfoNet, Dell (via its Unified Clinical Archive technology and services) manages approximately 71 million clinical image studies comprised of more than 5 billion images from over 800 clinical imaging centers, said Champagne.
The HealthInfoNet archive includes five years of previous images studies and is expected to generate about 1.8 million new medical images containing more than 45 terabytes of data annually. HealthInfoNet also estimates that by consolidating medical images onto a single archive, Maine healthcare providers will save a total of $6 million over seven years through a reduction of distributed image storage and transport costs.
HealthInfoNet, Dell, and the pilot group of Maine health care organizations will work together over the summer to confirm the system design and integrate the service with existing PACS systems and the HIE. HealthInfoNet expects to end the pilot phase in the fall and expand the service statewide by 2013.
There will be 52 imaging centers in Maine participating in the medical image archive, which represents about 80% of all medical images generated in the state. Other providers are expected to join HealthInfoNet in the meantime, as well.
As part of its medical imaging offerings, Dell provides more than 10,000 interfaces to PACS so that those systems can connect to its cloud-based archives.
HealthInfoNet, an independent, non-profit organization, currently has 34 of Maine's 39 hospitals contracted to participate in its HIE, and 25 of them are already connected. There are also 182 physicians groups in Maine currently participating in the HIE, and 25 behavioral health centers will also be connected by year end. In addition, long-term care facilities and home nursing providers are also signing up. Healthcare providers pay a subscription fee to participate in the HIE.
In addition to the latest medical imaging services being offered by HealthInfoNet, the HIE also supports the exchange of patient clinical data including hospital discharge summaries, medication histories and e-prescribing info, lab results, diagnoses, problem lists, allergies, and claims information.
Get the new, all-digital Healthcare CIO 25 issue of InformationWeek Healthcare. It's our second annual honor roll of the health IT leaders driving healthcare's transformation. (Free registration required.)
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Still, many larger cities such as New York use government money, which authorities say also may be gaining traction.
In Los Angeles this week, officials moved up their annual Mother's Day buyback program due to the Sandy Hook shooting, netting more than 2,000 weapons, including two rocket launchers.
And yet gun sales have surged nationally as enthusiasts rush to purchase weapons out of concern of possibly tighter regulations ahead.
The FBI has recorded 16.8 million instant background checks so far this year. In 2011 -- a record year -- the FBI conducted nearly 400,000 fewer.
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University of Missouri professor-emeritus in economics Dr. John Ikerd spoke at OSU this afternoon with a good group there to here him, including some of the leaders in the state’s sustainable agriculture movement, including Dr. Jim Horne of the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Rita Scott of the Oklahoma Farm and Food Alliance, Jane Talkington of OSU (who is working on an exciting new project to build an ecovillage on 100 acres of OSU property next to the main campus), Harlan Hentges, the “organic lawyer”, also Nancy Osborn, long-time Oklahoma Food Coop member and co-owner of Cordero Farms. The University of Missouri at Columbia is something of a hotbed for the academic study and research of sustainable agriculture. Besides Dr. Ikerd in the Economics Department, the school’s School of Rural Sociology was greatly influenced by its long-time chair (now retired) Dr. Bill Heffernen, known as a “populist pragmatist” who with his wife became founders of what became known as the Missouri School which has focused on structural arrangements and power relationships in agriculture and its associated economics, and students such as Dr. Mary Hendrickson who now are faculty at the school.
The rest of this blog entry consists of notes I took during his presentation, which was titled:
Essentials of Economic Sustainability: Implications for Farm Management
Sustainability: Meeting the needs of the present without diminishing opportunities for the future.
Now is a time of great transition. The next 50 years will see greater changes here at home and throughout the world than we saw in the past 50 years.
The future our young people experience will be very different from our present now.
The 2008 recession continues. It is a blessing in disguise, since it wakes people up. It has also significantly reduced confidence in the prevailing system and increased our understanding of unsustainability. It has made obvious a salient fact our politicians like to deny: our present economy does not meet the needs of everybody.
All economic value comes from nature via society. There are no other possible sources of wealth. Nature is the sole source. In nature, there is no waste. Everything is food for something.
The economy creates nothing without nature. It facilitates productive work but creates nothing that does not have its origin in nature.
One reason our economy is in such trouble, is because we are degrading the productivity of nature by destruction, pollution, etc. As we degrade nature, we degrade the capacity of our money economy.
Most classical economists say that “we only need to get the prices right” for everything to work. This has never happened in history.
The ecological worldview consists of three concentric circles (he had these drawn on a powerpoint slide): the outer ring, encompassing the other two, is nature. The middle ring is society. The inner ring, the donut hole, is the economy.
This is the hierarchy of sustainability. Nature encompasses everything including society and the economy. We are not separate from nature. Society contains within it the economy. Classical economists would relabel these so that the outer ring was economics.
It is a hierarchy because purpose is defined at the higher level. Thus, nature gives purpose to society which gives purpose to the economy.
Some things have no economic value but are absolutely essential for sustainability.
To fix our broken economy, we need to work on our principles.
Ecological Principles — holism (something is greater than the sum of its parts), diversity, interdependence.
Social Principles — trust, kindness, courage
Economic Principles — scarcity, efficiency, sovereignity (freedom to choose, absence of coercion)
It takes moral courage to live sustainably. We can violate these principles but there are always consequences that cannot be evaded or escaped.
Economic values: these are individual, instrumental (always expecting something in return), and impersonal
Social values: these are interpersonal, instrumental, and personal.
Ethical values: these are communal, non-instrumental, impersonal.
(Bob note: you’ll have to read his book, The Essentials of Economic Sustainability, for the economic, social, and ethical values to make sense since he was talking so fast I barely got the points written down and he was on to the next. lol)
Economic sustainability requires non-economic investments to ensure economic sustainability. Our problem is that our present economics is inherently short term. No economic investment that pays off after you are dead makes sense to our present system of economics. If you make an investment that will pay off for your children, you are adding a non-economic value — your love for your children — to the economic equation. Thus our need for non-economic investments to ensure economic sustainability that lasts for generations.
The Hierarchy of Intentionality governs what we can do as individuals and when we act as governments. It consists of ethical, social, and individual values.
The essential characteristics of economic sustainability:
Characteristics of economics — resourceful, regenerative, resilient
Essential function of markets: establish value, ration, reward, allocate
Essential functions of governments in economics are to ensure autonomy and equity — economic, social, and intergenerational.
The hierarchy of economic sustainability is the hierarchy of human happiness.
There has been no increase overall in human well being in the developed countries since the 1950s. Once basic needs are met, it is the quality of relationships that are critical to happiness. People must have some sense of meaning and purpose.
SUSTAINABLE FARM MANAGEMENT
Sustainable farm management asks how farmers should relate to nature and each other.
Farms and farmers have purpose beyond making income or wealth. Farmers accept responsibility for the well-being of society and the future of humanity.
Sustainable farming respects the basic principles and laws of nature.
- Managed as wholes,
- Value diversity,
- Interdependent relationships
- Mutual benefits
- Trusting relationships
- Caring relationships
- Moral courage to be trusting and kind,
- Produce economic value
- Uses resources wisely and efficiently,
- Free to make choices (sovereign)
Managing Farms for Sustainability
Farmers must respect the purpose, principles, and priorities of nature and align their actions with the hierarchies of sustainability and intentionality.
Sustainable farming is a way of life, not just a business. It involves, ethics, society, as well as economics.
Sustainable agriculture must provide the basis for a sustainable human society.
Managing for sustainability is a better way to farm and live and leads to happiness.
We are biological beings as dependent upon nature as our hunter gatherer ancestors.
Life is too precious to live without hope. While I know things look grim, there have never been so many people who know the way we are going is wrong. Some estimate that 1/3 of the population is actively engaged in some kind of sustainability activity. We know we need values. Adam Smith could not imagine economics without social and ethical values
Dr. Ikerd says he is an “ordained economist,” which is a bit of a play on words. All economists have certain assumptions on which they base their theories. Modern classical economics is based on assumptions like “wants are insatiable,” and “creative people can find a solution to anything, we can always find a resource to substitute for a resource that is exhausted. Human creativity is capable of solving all problems.”
Economists present these as facts, but they are not facts like “the earth orbits around the sun” is a fact. Moreover, these rosy assumptions of economists are contradicted by the Laws of Thermodynamics, which are physical laws that constrain all human activity. The laws can be summarized as — you can’t win, you can’t break even, you can’t get out of the game. The 2nd law in particular is problematic for economists. Every time you do something useful, you lose some of it, every time, without any exception whatsoever.
US ethanol policy is insane. Why, during a drought, are we burning up 40% of our scarce corn crop as corn ethanol?
Question from the floor (from a farmer): How can a farmer transition to this kind of agriculture.
Answer: The first thing that has to happen is that the farmer has to change his head and unlearn the lies he or she has been taught. Farmers must learn how to farm using solar energy. While corn ethanol makes no sense for cars, FARM BASED ETHANOL makes major sense, as does pyrolisis of waste materials (wood chips, crop residues, etc) to make fuel and growing oil crops to make biodiesel (Bob note: see http://www.energyconservationinfo.org/compendium.htm#2.2%20Biogas.) Farmers and the food production system are using 10 calories of fossil fuels to make 1 calorie of food. Farmers should forage-feed their animals. As far as marketing is concerned, if sustainable farmers try to deal with the conventional ag marketing system, they will be perpetually at a disadvantage. The sustainable farmer must create a new food chain, like CSAs and customer-producer ownder cooperatives. What motivates ecological farming? Stewardship.
Government is a reflection of the people.
There are more hungry people in the US now than there were in 1960s. And those who have enough to eat, aren’t very healthy. So how is it that we brag about our food system as if we were doing somethig right?
Afterwards, in a conversation with Jim Horne of the Kerr Center, he told me about a project they funded to test growing sunflowers for on-farm biodiesel. See
Homegrown Horsepower: Thad Doye’s Sunflower Biodiesel
http://www.kerrcenter.com/nwsltr/2006/summer/summer2006.pdf scroll to page 4
Crushing Seeds and Crunching Numbers: Sunflower Biodiesel
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04/01/2010This film is part of a series of four reports (Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark, Finland) produced within the framework of launching the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea. They present projects co-funded by the European Commission under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Samsø island, which enjoys 100% energy autonomy, today expects to become a source of inspiration for other regions. This determination is epitomised notably by its energy academy, which opened in summer 2006. With ERDF support, the academy aims to demonstrate that it is possible to ally new energy practices and economic viability. The academy is working to raise public awareness while also encouraging scientific research in the field of new sources of energy.
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Have you ever fought with a loved one because she doesn't seem to understand the scope of a problem or the impact her words or actions have on you and your feelings? Spending hours, days and even years trying to "get through" to someone can be exhausting, and Dr. Robin says sometimes it's just not worth your time. "Not only do they not get it, but sometimes they don't want to get it," she says. "Let it go, accept it for what it is. If you've made a good attempt, you've been respectful and responsible and you've tried, accept that they just don't get it."
Dr. Robin says you should focus on yourself and make sure that you "get it" and that you're living your life with clarity, truth and honesty. "Once you get the truth … you can make an informed, empowered and impassioned decision about what it is you need to do to change and transform your life," she says.
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August 28, 2009
Catholic Health’s Community Education Department is sponsoring a series of health education programs during the month of September covering a variety of healthcare topics. All programs are free and held at the Catholic Health Education Center, located at the Appletree Business Park, Suite 8A, 2875 Union Road in Cheektowaga.
On Tuesday, September 8, at 6:30 p.m., Paul Anain, M.D., will present an “Update on Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD).” PAD affects approximately 8 million Americans, but many people are unaware they have the disease because they have few, if any, symptoms. Dr. Anain will discuss the signs and symptoms of PAD, along with risk factors, medical management, and traditional and non-invasive treatment options.
On Tuesday, September 8, at 7 p.m., Catholic Health Partners In Rehab and AthletiCare will present “Is Total Knee or Hip Replacement in Your Future?” According to the National Institute of Health, arthritis is responsible for more trouble walking and climbing stairs, and is the most common indicator for joint replacement surgery. This program will cover everything you always wanted to know about total knee or hip replacement surgery, what to expect during the recovery phase, and the rehabilitation process.
On Monday, September 14 at 6:30 p.m., Dorothy Levitt, with the Erie County Department of Senior Services, will present “Sharing Your Wishes About Health Decisions.” If you are unable, even temporarily, to make healthcare decisions, someone else must decide for you. Learn why it is important to appoint someone to make these decisions and how you can ensure your wishes are followed by using advance directives for healthcare, including a living will, healthcare power of attorney, medical orders for life sustaining treatment (MOLST), and healthcare proxy.
On Wednesday, September 16, at 7 p.m., Daniel Patterson, M.D., will present, “Colorectal Cancer Awareness.” During the program, Dr. Patterson will discuss signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer, diagnosis and treatment options, and the importance of early detection and screening programs.
All programs are free and open to all. Registration is required. For registration information, call Catholic Health's HealthConnection at 706-2112.
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For all of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley’s claim that his party has a “galaxy” of leaders, it has had to fall back on an old and controversial warhorse, Rajnath Singh, for the second time to be the party chief.
What this means is that, in reality, the BJP’s cupboard is bare so far as members of leadership potential are concerned. Moreover, the potential embraces a whole gamut of complicating factors.
As a result, there is no easy ascent to the top. The BJP’s greasy pole, therefore, which is the phrase denoting upward mobility, is greasier than in most parties.
Nothing demonstrated the conflicting ingredients of the leadership battle than the rise and fall of Nitin Gadkari. If, in the Congress, the scions of the Nehru-Gandhi family parachute down to the top of the party pyramid, in the BJP, it is the patriarchs of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who determine who will descend from above to take charge of the party.
The starkness of this choreographed procedure has been highlighted twice in Singh’s case. The first time was in 2006, when the then party president, L.K. Advani, was ousted by the RSS for committing the unpardonable sin — in the saffron brotherhood’s eyes — of praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah on a visit to Pakistan in 2005.
Even at the time, the choice raised eyebrows because Singh was — and still is — regarded as a “provincial”, the unflattering word used by Jaswant Singh when he was dismissed from the BJP for repeating Advani’s folly of lauding Jinnah in a book.
However, provincials are apparently the kind preferred by the RSS because they lack the faint traces of cosmopolitanism, which includes fluency in English, which the BJP leaders based in Delhi tend to acquire.
So, when Singh’s term ended in 2009, the RSS turned to another provincial in a state which is farther away from the national capital than Uttar Pradesh, which is Singh’s home province.
However, in choosing the little-known Marathi, the RSS had not considered how his business ventures would come to haunt him. The praise which a saffron scribe heaped on Gadkari’s business acumen when he became president is unlikely to be repeated now.
Even if there are leaders in the BJP who consider themselves capable of being the chief, the special predilections of the RSS keep a lid on their aspirations. So, it is not only the absence of secular credentials — which is a hindrance to someone like Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial hopes — but the penchant of the RSS for the less sophisticated which constitutes a roadblock before the party’s smooth functioning.
Gadkari’s involvement in a scam also undermines the party’s offensive against the Congress on the issue of corruption. Throughout the period when civil society activists were agitating on the subject, the BJP had to remain in the background because of the scandals surrounding its chief minister in Karnataka at the time, B.S. Yeddyurappa. Now, Yeddyurappa’s exit from the BJP will not help the party much.
The BJP’s hope, therefore, that its return to power will be facilitated by the Congress’ decline under the weight of corruption and policy paralysis may not be fulfilled. Not only has the party failed to fill its leadership vacuum caused by Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s retirement, it has also been unable to firm up its economic policies as in Vajpayee’s time.
As much is evident from the role of a spoiler which it plays in the context of the government’s economic initiatives. As the BJP’s opposition to foreign investment in the retail sector, and earlier to the Indo-US nuclear deal, shows, it has opportunistically forsaken its traditional rightwing image and taken a leftward turn in the belief that “socialism” still has a future in the country.
However, the leadership wrangles, the taint of corruption and absence of clarity on economic issues are blocking the party’s forward movement. Whatever impetus the party had acquired from the Ramjanmabhoomi agitation has long been dissipated.
Although the recent upsurge among its cadres helped bolster several leaders in the states — Modi in Gujarat, Shivraj Singh Chauhan in Madhya Pradesh, Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh — they cannot move to the national level for various reasons, of which Modi’s disadvantage is well known.
The others cannot be elevated for two reasons. One is that it will create a vacuum in the states and the other is that their ascent will be resisted by the ambitious Delhi-based leaders — Advani, Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and others. In a way, therefore, Jaitley’s boast about a “galaxy” of leaders is true, but it is a liability rather than an asset.
Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst.
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Sugar and corn syrup makers in bitter clash
This file photo taken Aug. 30, 2011, in Central Illinois shows farmer Jason Podany using a combine to harvest corn near Farmingdale, Ill. A bitter battle over whether high fructose corn syrup should simply be called "corn sugar" is headed for a federal courtroom in Los Angeles. A U.S. District Court judge on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011, is set to weigh a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the sugar industry which is upset that manufactures of high fructose corn syrup want to rebrand the product. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)
(AP) -- The setting sun splashes warm hues across a ripening cornfield as a man and his daughter wander through rows of towering plants.
Like any parent, the dad says in the television commercial, he was concerned about high fructose corn syrup. But medical and nutrition experts reassured him that in essence, it's the same as cane sugar.
"Your body can't tell the difference," he says. "Sugar is sugar."
That key claim, made last year by the corn industry as it tries to rebrand high fructose corn syrup as simply "corn sugar," was weighed for the first time by a federal judge Tuesday after a group of sugar farmers and refiners sued corn processors and a lobbying group.
Their lawsuit alleges the father-in-the-cornfield advertisement and other national television, print and online commercials from the corn industry amount to false advertising because sugar is not the same as high fructose corn syrup, the sweetening agent now found in the bulk of sodas and many processed foods.
Sugar makers say there are numerous differences between the white, granular product and the sticky liquid that is high fructose corn syrup. Attorney Adam Fox claimed the syrup industry has even acknowledged as much in the past.
At a hearing on the corn industry's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Fox showed U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall the papers from a case in Mexico filed by the Corn Refiners Association that carefully outlined how sugar and high fructose corn syrup are different. That case in 1997 was related to the export of high fructose corn syrup to Mexico.
"Like the horse and the automobile, sugar and (high fructose corn syrup) are two different products in terms of their physical and functional characteristics, as well as in their production process, distribution and commercial application," corn industry expert Peter Buzzanell stated in an affidavit at the time.
Corn industry lawyers counter that Fox was taking such statements out of context because the Mexico case dealt merely with the physical properties of high fructose corn syrup and never addressed the manner in which the body processes it.
"Sugar and high fructose corn syrup are equivalent as far as how they are metabolized by the body," attorney Dan Webb said.
Webb and other lawyers had filed a motion to dismiss the sugar makers' lawsuit on the grounds that the advertising campaign is protected speech because it forms part of a national conversation about the merits and pitfalls of high fructose corn syrup and sugar in general.
"At the core of this case is clearly a lawsuit filed by the other side that is attempting to stifle debate," Webb said.
He also argued that because the Corn Refiners Association is an industry group and does not directly sell any products, it cannot be sued for false advertising.
Without providing a timeline, the judge said she would issue a ruling on the dismissal motion.
High fructose corn syrup's image has suffered in recent years after public awareness of its widespread use increased and some studies suggested a link to rising obesity levels. Americans increasingly blame the syrup for a range of health problems, and first lady Michelle Obama has said she does not want her daughters eating it.
The American Medical Association has said there's not enough evidence to restrict the use of high fructose corn syrup, although it wants more research.
A year ago, the Corn Refiners Association asked the Food and Drug Administration if it could start using the term "corn sugar" as an alternative to high fructose corn syrup. It could take another year for the FDA to decide on the name, but the corn industry didn't wait before it started using it in advertisements.
Sugar industry lawyers claim corn refiners have already spent $50 million trying to persuade the public to accept corn sugar as a name.
It would not be the first time a food has been rebranded. In 1988, for instance, low erucic acid rapeseed oil became much more popular after it was renamed "canola oil."
More than 100 citizens and consumer groups have written to the FDA as it weighs the name change, many of them slamming the rebranding as a cynical attempt to confuse customers who may be wary of high fructose corn syrup.
"Given the current controversy, consumers who look to avoid (corn syrup) should be able to easily differentiate among products that do and don't use (it)," the Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports, wrote to the FDA.
Expert opinion was divided on high fructose corn syrup. Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, has said that there was no evidence that the sweetener is any worse for the body than sugar.
Michael Goran, a professor of preventive medicine and director of the Childhood Obesity Center at the University of Southern California, said he does not give his kids products containing high fructose corn syrup because it contains high levels of fructose, which can be stored in the liver as fat and trigger gout and hypertension problems.
"As a father and as a consumer, I like to know what I am eating," he said. "The industry has done a very good job trying convince people it's sugar from corn. It's not ... it's manufactured from corn by a highly industrialized process."
Goran and other professionals say the healthiest option is consume smaller amounts of all sugar.
"The U.S is the highest consumer of sugar in the world," Goran said. "To prevent obesity and diabetes, we should be consuming less sugar in general."
©2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
- Pure fructose frequently confused with high fructose corn syrup Mar 04, 2009 | not rated yet | 0
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Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011 I'd like to open a discussion thread for version 2 of the draft of my book ''Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras'', available online at http://lanl.arxiv.org/abs/0810.1019 , and for the...
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T&T at 50: London
Trinidad and Tobago gave London the roots of its Notting Hill Carnival.
The countdown to T&T's 50th Independence celebrations on 31 August started earlier in the month, including a Cultural Village which showcased the entire mix of Trinidad cultural contribution to the outside world.
The Village included calypso lessons, steelpan, talk tent events and the celebration of a Hindu Maticoor night. It also extended to Trinidadian opera singers and poets who have made their mark beyond Trinidad's well-known cultural offerings of calypso, soca and steelpan (although that was also on show).
Guests at a pre-Independence reception at the Village, hosted by High Commissioner Garvin Nicholas, included novelist Earl Lovelace and well-known Trinidadian actor Rudoplh Walker.
And, of course, on Carnival Sunday and Monday, Notting Hill Carnival - now Europe's biggest street party - also took place with some people making sure they carried their Trini flags to show ownership of what has become Europe's biggest street festival.
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I’ve been reading the biographies of two men who are pure geniuses. In the past, my non-fiction reading was usually limited to cookbooks and how-to guides, but lately I find myself drawn more and more to true stories about real people’s lives. As a matter of fact, both of these books were recommended to me by my husband, who read them first (and who is also a genius in my opinion). So I guess I have him to thank for my newfound love of biographies.
by Kevin Mitnick
I just finished listening to this fascinating audiobook. As the subtitle says, it’s the tale of Mitnick’s “adventures as the world’s most wanted hacker.” (Whenever I hear the word hacker, that brilliant Weird Al song, “It’s All About the Pentiums,” starts playing in my head: “What’cha wanna do? Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers, wasting time with all the chatroom yackers, nine to five chillin’ at Hewlett-Packard!” But I digress.)
Without question, Mitnick possesses uncanny problem-solving and social engineering skills. His story is almost unbelievable, describing one expertly executed exploit after another. What amazes me most is that, after being chased by the FBI and spending time in prison for his crimes, he now has a successful career in security consulting, i.e., companies now pay him to hack into their systems to reveal their weaknesses. Who would have thought! It sounds like the perfect job for him.
Now I can’t wait to read The Art of Deception, his first book in which he basically tells people how to avoid falling for scams like the ones he pulled off.
by Walter Isaacson
I’m still working my way through this tome. Actually, I’m reading the Kindle edition (on my iPhone, of course), so it’s not as physically heavy as the 656-page hardcover edition. One might find the sheer length intimidating, but let me assure you that the text itself is very readable and engaging, almost like reading a novel, except the characters and events are all real.
Our home and daily life is literally pervaded by Apple devices (iPhones, iPads, computers, and an Apple TV), so make no mistake, we hold Steve Jobs in high regard around here. With all due respect to Jobs’ memory, my husband and I both marvelled at some of the crazy things he did in his lifetime. Although it certainly didn’t make him an easy person to live or work with, it was probably because of, not in spite of, that craziness, or should I say intense perfectionism, that he was able to accomplish all he did.
Next, I’m thinking perhaps I should read his Apple cofounder’s biography, iWoz. (Steve Wozniak, by the way, wrote the forward for Kevin Mitnick’s book.)
Just because it’s too cold to grill outside (plus our propane tank is empty and we won’t refill it until next spring) doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy dishes like this one, with flavours that remind us of warmer climates. The chicken is marinaded in a lime and curry mixture, then broiled and served with a creamy Thai peanut sauce, which gets its kick from sriracha.
Traditionally, the chicken pieces are threaded onto skewers for grilling. I decided to do without them this time for convenience’s sake.
Oven Broiled Chicken Satay with Creamy Thai Peanut Sauce
3 tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp. curry powder
2 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. salt
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
Crushed peanuts (optional)
2/3 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. sriracha hot pepper sauce
Mix lime juice, curry powder, honey, coriander, cumin, salt, and garlic in a resealable plastic bag or shallow dish with a lid. Add chicken and stir to coat with lime juice mixture. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Whisk together peanut sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Warm on low heat while you broil the chicken.
Set oven control to broil. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Spread chicken pieces in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet, and brush generously with the marinade. Discard any remaining marinade. Broil about 3 inches from heat for 10-20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink in centre. Serve chicken with peanut sauce, additional sriracha, and crushed peanuts if desired. Goes well with noodles or rice.
Canadians are giving thanks this weekend. In honour of the occasion, I ceremoniously picked the first ripe pumpkin from my garden and cooked it like I always do. Time to dig out Mom’s old pumpkin pie recipe and roast some pumpkin seeds!
Mom’s Pumpkin Pie
Pastry for 9″ pie
1 cup milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
(preferably fresh, but canned will do)
1/2 cup sugar
1 heaping tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
Additional nutmeg for garnish
Whipped cream (optional)
Combine all ingredients in blender and process until smooth. Pour into pie crust and sprinkle with additional nutmeg. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour. Cool completely and serve with whipped cream if desired.
Sweet and Salty Pumpkin Seeds
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (about what you get from 1 small pie pumpkin)
1 tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 drop hot pepper sauce (more if you like it spicier)
Preheat oven to 300 F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Remove large chunks of pumpkin flesh from the seeds. Leaving small traces of pumpkin is ok; it adds flavour to the seeds. In a small bowl, combine pumpkin seeds and melted butter. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
Spread seeds evenly over the foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 mins. until crispy. Watch them carefully so the seeds don’t burn. You’ll know they are done when the sugary mixture on the foil turns brown. If it turns black, you’ve baked them too long.
Remove from oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet (if you can resist eating them all when they’re warm and crunchy from the oven). Savour the sweet and salty flavours—the perfect balance. Then say to yourself, “See, this is why you were wise to choose a real pumpkin for your pie this year, instead of that canned nonsense.”
In the unlikely event of leftovers, store roasted completely cooled pumpkin seeds in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
Come, Thou Tortoise
by Jessica Grant
Have you ever wondered what goes through your pet’s mind? I know I have. What initially drew me to this book was the fact that it features a tortoise as one of the narrators. Yes, you read that right: A tortoise—as in, the hard-shelled land-dwelling reptile–narrates several chapters of this book.
The other chapters are narrated by Audrey Flowers, or as her Uncle Thoby calls her, Oddly. The nickname suits her well, because odd is exactly what she is. But in a very lovable way.
The story is told with a unique combination of quiet sadness and comic relief—but mostly comic relief. I laughed at Audrey’s adorable quirks, cried for her losses, and was completely blindsided by her final discovery. Perhaps other readers saw it coming, but for me it was totally unexpected. Lest I spoil it for anyone, I will leave my comments at that. If you get to the end of the book you’ll understand.
Three Bags Full
by Leonie Swann
A co-worker recommended this book, and I was immediately intrigued by the notion of a sheep detective story. I’m currently on the fourth chapter. Whenever I tell people that I’m reading a book about a flock of sheep who are trying to solve the mystery of their shepherd’s murder, I usually have to clarify that it is actually not a children’s book. Not that I don’t enjoy a good children’s book every now and then. In fact, it’s probably my love for children’s books, combined with my love for animals, that makes me appreciate whimsical, imaginative stories like this one. I’m looking forward to seeing how it unfolds.
I’ve heard of adding chocolate chips or nuts to banana bread… but blueberries? I had two mushy bananas sitting on my counter and decided I had to do something with them. Since I happened to have a bag of blueberries in my freezer, I threw them in on a whim.
The verdict: I’d definitely make this again. The blueberries add sweetness and moisture to the bread, which smells heavenly while it’s baking. Blueberries, bananas, vanilla, and nutmeg all have pleasing aromas on their own; put them together, and you have a delightful combination.
If your home is air-conditioned and you are able to turn on the oven during the summer, this bread would be a great way to use freshly picked blueberries. Otherwise, you can use frozen blueberries any time of year.
Blueberry Banana Bread
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup white sugar
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 or 3)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating until smooth. Add banana and vanilla; mix well.
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Add to banana mixture, stirring just to moisten. Fold in blueberries.
Transfer to a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Let stand 10 mins. before removing from pan to cool.
I like this summery salad for several reasons: the crunchy toasted almonds, the juicy sweet mandarin orange segments, the colourful appearance of all the ingredients tossed together. I also love the fact that since it’s so easy to make, it allows me to spend more time relaxing on the deck with the people I care about. It’s the perfect accompaniment to any summer BBQ menu.
Mandarin Orange Salad
3/4 cup slivered almonds
1 package romaine hearts
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 bottle Kraft mandarin orange with sesame dressing
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spread almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 5-6 minutes, stirring halfway through baking time. Allow toasted almonds to cool to room temperature.
Wash and dry the romaine; tear into bite-sized pieces. Place in a large serving bowl and top with oranges and toasted almonds. Serve immediately with orange sesame dressing.
Perfect for a rainy Saturday morning! I intend to make some as soon as I’m finished writing this.
Strawberry Mango Smoothies
5 large fresh or individually frozen strawberries, not thawed (approx. 1 cup)
1 cup fresh or frozen mango chunks, not thawed
1/4 cup plain yogurt (I like to use Astro Balkan Style)
3-4 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)
Place first 5 ingredients in a blender. Add milk to the 0.5-litre line. Process on the smoothie setting (high), adding more milk if necessary, to desired consistency. Pour into 2 tall glasses and serve.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
No, this is not a sci-fi novel. And you will have to read the book to find out which character said those words and in what context. (It has nothing to do with aliens.) It happens to be one of my favourite parts of the story, involving one of my favourite characters—a very courageous and intelligent woman. There are, in fact, several courageous, intelligent women in this novel. I think that’s what makes it such a compelling read.
The women in The Help are actually writing a book, a collection of their own personal stories about what it’s like being a southern black woman working for white people in the 1960′s. You’re a free woman, not a slave, but certainly not treated as an equal by your white employers and their friends. You can’t even use the same bathroom as white people.
I was surprised by how much I could identify with the black maids in this story. Like Minny, I take great pleasure in expressing myself through the art of cooking. (After reading about Minny’s famous caramel cake, I was thrilled to find the recipe for her special icing on the author’s website.) Like Aibileen, I love taking care of other people’s children and finding creative ways to teach them. I even used to write my prayers down on paper like she does. (When I read that, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start doing it again.) They tell their stories with humour and wisdom, and I loved how their voices, with their Mississippi accents, can be heard loud and clear. Aibileen’s voice drew me in from the very first chapter.
I could also identify with some of the white female characters: Miss Skeeter, the writer, and Miss Celia, the… um, young naïve housewife? Let’s be honest—she’s a floozy. But oh Miss Celia, my heart breaks for you! You’ve faced one of the hardest, saddest things a woman could ever face, I think. (Again, you’ll have to read the book to find out what happened to poor Miss Celia.)
This wasn’t one of those books that I left sitting in the pile on my nightstand. No, I lugged this heavy hardcover around with me, reading a few paragraphs, pages, or chapters every chance I got—while waiting in the car for my husband to leave work at the end of the day, while waiting for the teakettle to boil, while eating my soup. And yes, of course, I read some more before falling asleep.
Now that I’m done reading The Help, I miss the voices of those characters. I wonder if the upcoming movie will do them justice. I’m also eager to see whether Stockett will write a second novel (this was her first). It was one of those books that I was almost sorry to finish. But I’m glad I read it.
I love my job!! Yesterday while I was unpacking some boxes of new books for the library, I came across three shiny new recipe books. Talk about perfect timing: they were all slow cooker recipe books! Must be a trend. Anyway, I couldn’t wait to bring them home and devour them.
Slow Cooker Revolution
by the Editors at America’s Test Kitchen
“One test kitchen. 30 slow cookers. 200 amazing recipes.”
That lasagna on the cover sure looks tempting. There are some intriguing recipes inside too, like Loaded Baked Potato Soup, Lamb Vindaloo for you Indian food lovers like me, and even some jam and marmalade recipes. Not to mention some yummy desserts and fondues.
Slow-Cooker Quick Fixes
by the Editors of Southern Living Magazine
“15 minutes, ready to cook”—so the cover of this colourful, eye-appealing volume claims. I love the Slow-Cooker Secrets that are sprinkled throughout the pages—handy little tips like: don’t add dairy products till near the end of the cooking time, or else they will curdle. And did you know that browning ribs in the oven first will help make your sauce thicker? That’s news to me! I’ll have to keep that in mind the next time I make ribs in the slow cooker.
More Make It Fast, Cook It Slow
by Stephanie O’Dea
I enjoyed Stephanie O’Dea’s first slow cooker recipe book, Make It Fast, Cook It Slow. I loved the conversational way she described her recipes and her family’s reactions to them. At work, we have little coloured stickers for the staff to stick on our favourite books, so library patrons will know what we’ve enjoyed reading. Mine are purple and say, “Leanne’s Picks.” Well, let’s just say that Make It Fast, Cook It Slow got a purple sticker on its cover! I’m sure this second volume will deserve one too.
Planning your Easter menu? If you want to serve the traditional ham and scalloped potatoes (I shared my recipe in a previous post), here’s a simple and delicious version. It gets its great flavour from the juicy sweet pineapple chunks and Dijon mustard glaze. Enjoy some quality time with your family while it simmers on your countertop. And feel free to serve it any time of year, not just on Easter.
Slow Cooked Ham With Pineapple
1 ham (approx. 1 kg / 2 lbs.)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 can pineapple chunks with juice
Grease the inside of the crockpot or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Place ham inside.
Combine brown sugar, honey, and mustard in a small bowl; spread over ham. Add pineapple with juice. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours. (Ham is done when its internal temperature reaches at least 160 F.) Slice the ham and serve hot with the pineapple and the liquid from the slow cooker as a sauce.
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About Learning Carpets
Learning Carpets allow children to discover their own creativity, individuality and power of imagination, while having lots of fun.
For nearly two decades Learning Carpets has held itself to
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with their highest awards and now consider Learning Carpets
among the leaders in early childhood carpets & cut pile rugs.
By combining education and play value in all of their products, Learning
Carpets has been able to create a superb line of quality, educational play
carpets & children's rugs. Their products are great learning tools for use as
daycare rugs & classroom rugs. Their carpets & cut pile rugs are designed with
the help of therapists and parents. Each carpet comes with clear
instructions in its own attractive retail package, ready to
Learning Carpets are Superior in Quality
Learning Carpets has distinguished itself as a company that combines incredibly detailed designs with extreme durability and unrivaled safety standards.
- Commercial grade nylon in their carpets prevents unraveling
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The introduction of their cut pile rug line continued that
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and non-allergenic and are Class 1 flammability rated.
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Multiple Meanings Category
What do you see? Is it a profile of a young and beautiful lady, or do you see an old wich with huge and ugly nose? I usually focus more on the young ladies ;)
An Ambigram is a sentance or a single word that is written in such way, that it becomes readable even if you rotate it. John Langdon is a father of ambigrams. In 19070s, trying to do with words what Escher does with images, he invented what came to be known as “ambigrams”. He did work [...]
Do you share my opinnion that the rose is one of the nature’s most amazing creations? I really liked this image the first second I glazed my eyes on it. Not that I knew what wonderfull secret it hides. Can you spot another amazing creature of nature hidden in this picture? Can you find it? [...]
Mira foundation tries to bring greater autonomy to handicapped people and facilitate their social integration by providing them with dogs that are fully trained to meet their needs. Mira recently published a set of optical illusionary posters that show you two dogs, or a blind person, depending on way you perceive the image. I really [...]
Just like we had Transparent Desktops, Freaky Optical Illusion, Transparent Dorm Doors… now we also have Transparent Magazines. These magazines were printed in a way, that when you place them infront of yourself correctly, they appear transparent, and show part of your figure perfectly. For more of these funny pictures, jump inside this article.
This face of Björn Borg appears convex, but infact it is concave. I would never believe so if I haven’t already watched “Einstein Holllow Face Illusion”.
When you look at this image you will easily see hundreds of dices placed one next to the other. But if you step away from this image, and move your head away from your monitor, you will see something that resembles a face or even a skull. If you move your head even further from [...]
If you observe the image below, you will notice that the zigzag inlays on this Taj Mahal column, makes the flat surfaces look concave! It fooled me at least. Also visit previous Taj Mahal Illusion.
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Bill Maisey wrote:At the risk of being labelled an armchair, can anyone explain why the guinea pig's boat couldn't be towed (with the tidal flow)towards the guinea pig rather than the hideous looking, weather shore rock landing from hell ..?
Chris Bolton wrote:This question also ocurred to me, having once been involved in an incident where a decision was taken to split swimmer and boat. I didn't post the question as I've seen how easy it is for questions, genuinely seeking to understand what happened, to be taken as criticism.
Kayaks'N'Beer wrote:1) For me this scenario becomes interesting at the point you mentioned the casualty, paddling a swamped boat. Standard practice (I think) would be removing the water from the boat before breaking the raft. What factors prevented this?
2) The swimmers boat was towed away from the victim. Was this before or after the two paddlers had committed to following him? At which point was it decided that either the two rescuers could not get the swimmer back to the boat and, that the remaining party should put in rather than follow the swimmer and rescuers. What were the factors that led to both these decisions. What was the dialog, etc?
I did start a possible explanation for this even before you guys asked it, but then I realised it was pure speculation so deleted it. As an exercise in highlighting possibilities, not speculating what actually happened:
We know conditions were at least a bit choppy and there was a tide race involved. In many threads the usefulness of pumps that require the deck to removed or waggling a handle in front or behind you in such conditions has been questioned. We don't know if there were any pumps available, but assuming there were, it might have been the classical conditions the naysayers have always said a pump couldn't effectively be used in? Maybe the casualty's spraydeck was damaged during the first rescue?
We also have had a lot of discussions about the practicality of towing in such conditions, yet I can't actually recall any of the towing threads considering the towing of an empty swamped kayak.
I have done this on whitewater in the past, the most memorable time was on the Lochy (to Fort William) where I towed a boat for several miles after someone swam on the Loy (it went a long way because we got the swimmer first and there was a long delay before we decided we should continue to the Lochy and look for the boat). The Lochy is relatively easy, but was in spate and the only rapids on it have big waves and boils (not unlike the run outs to GC rapids Chris!), to say that towing a swamped boat in these conditions is difficult is only the half of it, I was eaten by a boil and had to roll! I did not find the time under water to feel around for my quick release, I just rolled, grabbed the towed boat for stability and unwrapped myself from the rope.
Attached to a swamped sea kayak in exciting conditions with the prospect of running a tide race ahead of me, well can you work out where I would have gone?
Rule No.1 In trying to help a casualty, be careful not to get yourself into a situation where you also become a casualty, that helps no-one.
I don't know what happened, I can see that a situation could unfold where the rescue of the swimmer ended up in the main race where the group rescuing the boat could not reasonably have followed.
One of the problems with the real world is, that it never pans out quite the same as the forum discussion did... :-)
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Old car parts often get little to no respect…but furniture designer Ronen Wasserman, is out to change all of that with his incredible furniture fashioned out of reclaimed car parts. Saving vintage automotive culture from their an unfortunate encounter with the compactor or land-fill, Wasserman gives these throw-away items a new lease on life by making them into functional works of art.
[Gallery not found]
You can say Tinman has his feet in two worlds – the past and the future. He’s very interested in preserving the dents, the trademarks, the hood ornaments, the scars, and essentially the stories found in old car parts. But as he is very much aware of our limited pool of raw materials and the importance of reusing, recycling and repurposing existing resources, he is also very interested in creating a sustainable future. And to that end, he combines these two passions – preserving the past and creating a sustainable future – by making high-end, functional art out of old car parts.
Tinman finds beauty in the aspects of car parts that most people ignore – the markings, the folds, the warping. Through his pieces, he makes sure that he squeezes every ounce of potential from each car part he encounters. He sources his materials from various junk yards and claims to know what each part wants to be the moment he sees it. The actual process from finding the part to the final product can take up to a few months.
Tinman’s background in mechanical engineering gives him a unique understanding of how old car parts work, and is invaluable to being able to repurpose them into new and functional furniture pieces.
Besides his obsession with the stories embedded in these car parts, Tinman is also concerned with the embedded energy in them. “So many resources are invested in creating these parts – I’m convinced that they can be reused instead of constantly finding new raw materials to work with,” he says.
And so he takes dented, rusty car parts that might otherwise waste away in a junkyard or end up in the landfill and gives them a second life by turning them into beautiful boutique-worthy furniture.
Follow Down Shift Magazine 's Social Media Feeds:
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Storytelling Competition - (click for the map) | (printer friendly version)
If you have any questions about the competition then read our awesome FAQ!
||You are on Week 333
Every week we will be starting a new Story Telling competition - with great prizes! The current prize is 2000 NP, plus a rare item!!! This is how it works...
We start a story and you have to write the next few paragraphs. We will select the best submissions every day and put it on the site, and then you have to write the next one, all the way until the story finishes. Got it? Well, submit your paragraphs below!
Story Three Hundred Thirty Three Ends August 17
For what felt like the millionth time that day, Tegustus polished his shield. The round shield was already as clean as it could be, the burnished gold emblem in the middle shining like the sun it represented, but he kept rubbing at it with a cloth out of habit. He couldn't stop himself from fidgeting otherwise.
Finally, the Lupe forced himself to put the shield aside and began pacing instead. Outside, he could hear the muffled roar of the crowd over the trumpet fanfare. Nervously, he bent down and adjusted his greaves.
"Listen up, now!" the Skeith general shouted at his company. Tegustus instinctively straightened up and listened carefully. "King Altador is out there, so let's give His Majesty a good impression when we march out, all right, soldiers? The gate opens in three minutes."
"Three minutes," Tegustus whispered feverishly to himself, as he felt his heart pound even faster. This was it. King Altador had been his hero since he was a young boy; the King was the entire reason the Lupe had become a warrior. And now the King was sitting right outside those doors, and Tegustus’s sovereign would be looking right at him...
Before he could think any further, the gate in front of him began to creak open, revealing the sprawling Altador Colosseum...
Date: Aug 10th
...Tegustus was flooded with nervousness as he and the rest of the company marched in perfect formation out into the Colosseum. Cheering and clapping greeted them as they trooped out. The Lupe tried to keep his face neutral; he tried to ignore the thudding of his heart against his chest.
He marched with the rest of them until they were centered before King Altador's elevated seat where he peered down at them. His gaze was neutral, if still appraising. "They look quite able-bodied, general." The Skeith bowed quite low at the compliment. King Altador was not finished, however: "But I would like to see a demonstration of their skills."
From the deafening crescendo of the crowd, Tegustus knew this was what they had come for all along. For that matter, almost everyone had realized that this would happen. Their general reacted calmly.
"As you wish, Your Majesty," he said smoothly. Taking a step forward, he turned completely around to address his troops. "Men!" he barked. "Battle positions! Give it all you've got."
In one fluid movement, Tegustus and his companions had unsheathed their choice weapons and brandished them in such a way that would serve appropriate for both a quick attack or defense depending on what the situation called for.
King Altador looked at them for a moment, seemed to feel this was up to his standards, and gave a flick of his wrist. With that signal, the opposite gate began to slide open. Tegustus gripped at his sword and waited for the challenge to begin...
Date: Aug 13th
...Creaking, the massive gates opened, and Tegustus's heart was caught in his chest. Bathed in the evening light was one, simple scared-looking Zafara. Did this mean the... they had to kill it?
"Your challenge," King Altador's smooth voice said, "is to capture her."
The thirty men in the company looked uneasy and glanced at each other with questioning looks. What type of challenge was this?
Tegustus was the first to react: with his sword drawn he crossed the floor of the Colosseum to the Zafara, who backed herself into a corner.
"Come here," he said, paw held out. The Zafara looked terrified.
"Help me," she whispered. Tegustus looked into her pale-blue eyes.
Something clicked in Tegustus's mind; he had a strong inclination to help her for some reason. Why was King Altador asking them to do this, anyways? She hadn't done anything wrong -- to his knowledge. And the King, while he valued bravery and heroism in battle, would never knowingly let harm befall one of his subjects, soldier or civilian.
Meanwhile, the other guards started towards them with swords drawn. "Help me escape!" her frantic voice said. "King Altador... isn't King Altador!"...
Date: Aug 13th
..."What?!" Tegustus gaped at the Zafara. He must have heard wrong. He must have.
She pointed desperately up at where the king sat. He noticed that she was trembling, her fur standing on end. Her entire body was rigid with terror. "That's not the king," she hissed. "You've got to believe me!"
Something in her eyes made her plea seem more earnest. She was not lying. Or at least, she did not think she was lying, he mentally corrected. Keeping his head deceptively still, Tegustus frantically swept his gaze over King Altador. His majesty seemed at ease, calmly watching his warriors rush toward the Zafara. His hand was splayed comfortably over one knee, tapping in rhythm to a music only he could hear. A soft, triumphant smile quirked the edges of the king's mouth.
He was watching as one of his helpless citizens was about to be captured -- on his orders. And he was smiling about it!
Tegustus heard footsteps behind him. He didn't hesitate. With one swift, fluid, movement he swung his shield around and slammed it into the oncoming horde. The first three warriors staggered back, knocking into those behind them and crashing to the ground in a crumpled, struggling heap. The first warrior to untangle himself leapt up, disbelief written all over his face.
"Tegustus," he snapped. "What are you doing?"
Tegustus took a tighter grip on his sword. "Serving my king," he said, his voice breathless with tension. Then he put all his weight into one vicious blow. The other warrior blocked it with his own shield, but the force behind it was enough to send him sprawling. Tegustus was stronger than his slim frame seemed.
He whirled back to the Zafara, to tell her that everything was going to be all right. But her eyes were wide, focused on something behind him. He flung his head around.
King Altador had risen to his feet, his eyes flashing. "Well, well, well," his lips formed the word soundlessly. His smile at once seemed more menacing...
Date: Aug 14th
...“So,” boomed King Altador, his voice laced with uncharacteristic menace. “We have a second traitor. Seize them both!”
The oncoming horde of warriors brandishing swords and shields polished to the same high gleam as Tegustus’s hesitated for just a moment. Tegustus knew exactly why -- they were wondering how he could be a traitor, thinking of the hours spent together in lessons and training, their lives in the barracks and the rich camaraderie that existed between them.
Seizing his mere second of protection, Tegustus grabbed hold of the Zafara’s wrist and clutched it with all the strength of a truly skilled warrior. Yanking her around, he sprinted away, gaining speed and skirting around the edge of the Colosseum towards the wooden gates, their only chance of escape. The world had become a blur, consisting only of the roar of the crowd, the cries of instruction from he who claimed to be King Altador, and the persistent thud of paws and hooves charging after him. He was no longer part of the company of warriors, he knew. Aside from that first moment of disbelief, he would be shown no mercy. He was a traitor. There could be no turning back, not until the truth came out.
If the Zafara’s truth was the truth after all.
Banishing the thought, Tegustus saw the gates loom up in front of him. The mysterious Zafara’s arm was still caught in his grip, though she was keeping pace with him. Desperation had given them both strength, and slowly they were building a tiny lead on the advancing guards.
With relief they burst through the still open gates and into a dusty courtyard beyond. Heaving for breath, Tegustus continued to run, leading the Zafara. Suddenly they were into the cobbled streets, a periwinkle sea shining in the distance; the perfect postcard picture of Altador. Tegustus’s heart wrenched at the sight as it flashed past him. Was he right to be doing this, perhaps betraying his kingdom?
As they rounded a corner, everything whirled and Tegustus felt a breath of wind stir his fir. He felt himself rise upwards and land abruptly with a thud. Dizzy and disorientated, Tegustus leapt up, searching for the cause of this unexpected motion, but realised that the Zafara had launched them upwards with a powerful jump. They were on a clay-tiled rooftop in the middle of the city just behind the cover of a large decorative statue perched on top of the reddish-brown tiles. He could hear the powerful surge of his fellow warriors rush along the road they had just vacated.
A surge of elation filled him and he grinned -- they had escaped the guards. But his grin was extinguished almost instantaneously as the full gravity of his plight fell upon him like a lead weight.
“So tell me,” he whispered, still breathing heavily, “before we go any further- who are you, what's going on, and why should I believe you?”...
Date: Aug 14th
..."My name is Laixa," the Zafara wheezed, completely winded from the impressive leap she'd made. She wasn't nearly as athletic as Tegustus, or at least, she didn't have the same stamina as a warrior who spent every day training.
"Lye-chah," the Lupe repeated phonetically, interested by her foreign name. "I'm Tegustus."
But -- if she was from a different land, perhaps she was some sort of spy... He shook his head quickly, dispelling the thought. He had put his blind faith in her; he needed to listen to what she had to say... after all, Laixa was now the only Neopet in Altador, maybe in the world, who would trust him... Tegustus the Traitor...
"I was born in Shenkuu, and I served as a maid in the Lunar Palace. It was a fair life -- I had a roof to live under, clothes, and food, although nothing as extravagant as the royal family..."
Laixa paused to catch her breath, pale blue eyes fluttering from exhaustion. Today had not been easy for her.
"...King Altador came to visit, accompanied by a huge royal escort. It was a diplomatic gesture, to establish trade between our prosperous merchants, and their traditional craftspeople. The elders of our land took to those from Altador, and good relations were established. However..."
She frowned, a disturbed expression crossing her face. Tegustus silently watched her, waiting for the Zafara to continue.
"There was one who disapproved of this treatise, as he disapproves of all change. He is the medicine man, the powerful wizard steeped in the magic of our people. When he found that he was out-voted, he grew angry and retreated to the mountains. The noble King Altador, believing in the power of his own negotiating skills and love of peace, chose to follow the sorcerer -- alone..."
Tegustus inhaled sharply. "That's a terrible tactical error," he murmured, brows furrowed sharply. "His Majesty should have at least taken a guard for protection, rather than pursue a powerful wizard onto unfamiliar territory! What in Neopia happened to him, Laixa?"
"...No one knows for sure. That night, the king returned to his party, instructing them to make sail and return home. He seemed... different. I knew it, as soon as I saw him -- the sorcerer, Crane, is masquerading as him! I stowed away in order to warn those of you in Altador, but Crane recognized me. Crane, he... he's trying to ruin Altador, to ensure that Shenkuu remains untouched by your ways...!"
The Zafara grasped Tegustus's paw, concern and fear etched across her countenance. With a start, he realized his paws were empty -- somehow in the chase, he'd discarded his sword and shield... He was an unarmed fugitive, now in the company of a runaway spy...
"But... what can I do? What's our plan, Laixa?" Tegustus asked softly, disheartened. He believed her, but since both of them were on the lam, they had no way of convincing anyone else...
"And... where is the real King Altador?"...
Date: Aug 15th
...Laixa glanced down at the tiled roof. “King Altador,” she said softly, “is in here.”
Tegustus stared at her, confused. “But didn’t you say that no one knew where he was?” A terrible suspicion was growing inside him. “How did you-?”
“No, I said no one knew what happened to him,” the Zafara said wearily. “While I was stowed away on Crane’s ship, I heard him talking with one of the Altador guards -- perhaps one easily enough convinced to trade his loyalty for gold -- about keeping the King ‘well-fed, because it would be a pity if he died, wouldn’t it?’ which made me think that the real Altador was imprisoned somewhere onboard. When we docked, I followed the soldier and Crane, and they carried a crate to here and put it inside. And in that crate was King Altador.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Tegustus said flatly. “An Altadorian soldier would never trade his loyalty to our land away like that...”
Tegustus gaped at her. “But -- that was different,” he faltered, “wasn’t it?”
“Yes, but all the same...” She sighed and shook her head. “What are we to do now?”
“Rescue the King, of course. What else?”
Laixa looked at him sadly. He returned her gaze with alarm. “What is it? Laixa, tell me!”
“King Altador... is much changed,” she said softly...
Date: Aug 15th
..."And that's supposed to mean what?" Tegustus demanded. "Come on, we've got to do something! If someone is in danger, and we can help, well... isn't it our duty to help them? No matter what."
Laixa shook her head. "That's not what I mean," she said. "King Altador has changed. He's not King Altador anymore."
"You aren't helping!" Tegustus shrieked as loudly as he dared. He flapped his arms in a rough imitation of an irritated Lenny, lacking a sword to wave about his head.
"Neither are you," Laixa pointed out, irritable as well. "If you would just shut up for one moment, maybe I could explain, okay?"
"Shut up. Thank you."
Tegustus mouthed several words to her, gawping like a fish out of water.
"Tegustus, King Altador is under a spell. Big time, top-degree, major-scale spell. I've seen him with my own two eyes, and--"
"Cut to the chase already," Tegustus muttered.
Laixa shot him a pointed glare, but complied anyway. "Point is, King Altador is a statue. Happy?"
Tegustus frowned at this new piece of information. "How do you feed a statue? I mean, come on -- rocks don't eat!"
"It's all part of the spell, you dolt. And besides, rocks DO eat. I happen to have one, and it eats everything from my slipper to the silverware," Laixa snapped back. "Now come on: like you said, we've got a king to save! A spell to undo!"
Tegustus had just opened his mouth in an attempt to argue -- or at least to reply -- but Laixa had already leapt down from the roof, only to land in front of the glaring figure of...
Date: Aug 16th
...a very ruffled and upset Finneus. The archivist jumped and nearly dropped the pile of books he had been carrying as the Zafara dropped in front of him, but he recovered his wit and his balance quickly, giving Laixa a glare. "And who are you?" asked the Lenny. "What are you doing, jumping around on someone's roof?"
Tegustus decided it would be best to remain hidden; his name and description had probably spread throughout the whole city by this time.
"My name is Laixa," said the Zafara quickly; she had obviously not been expecting to nearly land on top of someone, let alone a prominent Altadorian. "And I was--"
"Nevermind," said Finneus, attempting to wave her away with his wing but only succeeding in shifting his pile of books off balance once more. With a shriek, he tried to readjust, but the books got the best of him and toppled to the ground.
The Lenny let out a heavy sigh and bent over to gather his books. From the roof, Tegustus could see several titles of the scattered books, and one caught his eye: History of Spellwork. The Lupe decided to take a chance. "Here, let me help you," said Tegustus, sliding off the roof and dropping to the street next to the archivist.
Finneus suppressed another shriek, but his eyes widened in surprise as he dropped one of the books he had been bending over to grab. "What's going on here?" he asked angrily, glancing from Laixa to Tegustus. "Am I to expect Neopets dropping from the sky at every turn?"
"No," said Tegustus, "there's just the two of us." He leaned to gather some of the archivist's dropped books, but as he did he couldn't help but recognize a running theme in their names. "But I do have a question for you."
"And what," sighed Finneus, trying to stack the books into a pile once more, "is that?"
"Why are you carrying a stack of spellbooks?" The archivist narrowed his eyes, and Tegustus took a bold chance. "Does it have to do with King Altador?"
The gamble worked. Finneus, who had been bending to try to lift his pile of books, straightened and looked Tegustus in the eye. The Lenny stared deep into the Lupe's eyes, but Tegustus returned the gaze with confidence. Finneus nodded slightly, seemingly in approval, and turned to Laixa. "Yes," he said. "I assume you know the truth then." The Zafara nodded. "Good," continued the archivist, "because I need your help..."
Date: Aug 16th
...Before he could say "Yooyuball", Tegustus found himself and Laixa seated in the west wing of the Altadorian Library. Finneus scuttled about, dumping stacks of dusty books on the table before them, scattering piles of papers, and making what appeared to be a humongous mess.
Laixa shot the Lupe a confused glance, obviously wondering why he had put his implicit trust in this eccentric Lenny. Tegustus shrugged helplessly, not wanting to explain aloud how prominent Finneus was. He'd known about the enthusiastic archivist for almost as long as he'd known King Altador himself!
"Here we are, that's finally all the materials," Finneus announced in his reedy voice, collapsing into his cushy leather chair with a relieved squawk. "Now allow me to explain why I am beseeching your aid, dear roof-jumping children. Those tomes you saw me transporting are not mine. No, no, no, that's not at all right -- they certainly WERE mine, but they were requisitioned recently, and I needed to -"
"Cut to the chase already," grumbled Laixa. Tegustus grinned at her -- she'd beat him to it.
Finneus frowned, ruffling his feathers in a disgruntled manner. "Young people," he muttered in disapproval, but continued his monologue in a more timely fashion, lowering his voice to a conspirator's whisper.
"Recently, books have been disappearing from my archives. When I began to notice, and cross-reference where they came from, I noticed they were all relating to spellwork and magic. It was more than just some curious child or petty thief -- this was a methodical large-scale cover up. Someone didn't want a spell to be noticed or counteracted. Realizing this, I began to question the latest actions of our monarch, and put two and two together. I found the stolen books in crates in that red-tiled building... I was frightened by your appearance because I thought for sure you were guards of some sort. What are you two, anyway? You're more astute than the average Neopets your age, and you're very well-informed..."
"Um... a former soldier and an ex-maid," Tegustus replied vaguely, waving his paw airily. "Go on, continue."
Finneus sighed. "Well, I have no choice but to trust you anyway... I know that King Altador is an impostor, under what appears to be a Lunar charm of transformation. Shenkuu Lunar magic waxes and wanes with the moon itself, and tonight is the new moon, when it will be weakest. This means that now is the best time for any action, because this imposter's spells will break at midnight. He will have to re-cast them after that point, meaning if you can free the real King Altador at midnight..."
"We can expose Crane!" Laixa exclaimed, pale eyes bright with excitement.
"And save His Majesty's kingdom!" Tegustus cried with gusto, slamming his fist onto the table enthusiastically. Papers and dust flew up in a cloud around him.
"Careful!" squealed Finneus, gathering all the disrupted documents before gingerly placing them back. Tegustus cringed before the Lenny's hurt glare.
"Well, that settles it in my mind. Tegustus the former soldier, you are in charge of rescuing King Altador. That's an action-based job for you, since there will be at least one guard in that red-roofed building. Laixa, you will help me read through all of these relevant passages in the two hours we have before midnight, searching for a way to combat this Crane fellow's magic. Now hurry -- we haven't much time, but now we've got a chance!"
* * * * *
Crane reclined comfortably in his throne room, toying with his flowing white beard. "I may grow one of these myself," he remarked with a cruel smile, admiring his stolen body. The door creaked open slowly, casting a faint light into the dark room. Crane's eyes narrowed -- he had ordered his guards to allow no man through tonight! It was dangerously close to midnight, and if anyone saw his transformation reverse, his charade would end in ruin!
"Who goes there?" he barked, paws tightly gripping the arms of the throne.
A thin young servant girl curtsied, bowing her Zafara head respectfully.
"Not to worry, your Majesty, it is simply the maid. I was ordered by the head cook to bring you this," she murmured, pale eyes staring at the tiled floor. She bore a tray with a single glass, a drink of some sort.
"It is a foreign delicacy, from the land of Shenkuu. Chef says it brings great success if it's drank at midnight on a new moon, or so legend dictates..."
"Bring it here, and then leave," Crane growled in King Altador's borrowed voice. If it was from his beloved Shenkuu, he'd be happy to try it. He was sick of this heavy Altadorian fare. And if it really brought success...
Laixa curtsied again, settling the tray on the arm of Crane's chair. Years of being a maid had taught her how to be ignored by those in power. But her heart was beating so hard in her chest -- Crane had recognized and captured her once before. If he did so again, all would be lost -- he would never partake in the potion she and Finneus had concocted...
Crane watched the subservient Zafara scuttle from the room, head bowed. She looked familiar... But no, worry about that in the morning. Now was the time to drink to success. He smiled, watching the inky night sky for a few moments more. Then it was midnight, and he felt his disguise melting away. "To Shenkuu, and the power it deserves!" he whispered in his real, quavering voice, and downed the glass.
* * * * *
Finneus and Laixa had succeeded in creating their "anti-Crane" drink. The moment the potion touched his lips, Crane's lunar power was restricted to the level it was at when he drank it -- which was, of course, zero. He was unable to conceal his true appearance -- that of a wizened old Techo, bent double from the weight of his years.
Tegustus used his bravery and skill to defeat the guards surrounding King Altador's statue, where he waited diligently beside it until the stroke of midnight. He watched in disbelief as the stone melted back into fur, revealing his childhood hero. The King was shaken, but alright, and -- having been conscious throughout his petrification -- was perfectly willing to follow his fellow Lupe to the palace.
After being exposed for treason and malicious acts against the crown, Crane was arrested -- but after fierce debate, was allowed to return to his beloved homeland of Shenkuu. The Techo was banned from Altador as well as the Council of Elders, and retreated to his home in disgrace.
King Altador listened to Tegustus and Laixa's tale in full, and after his reinstation as ruler, pulled some strings for them. Tegustus was allowed to return to the King's Army -- not as a member of his company, but as a commanding officer. He was now happily in charge of his training mates, who were glad to have him back. They never could believe that he betrayed them, and agreed that he made a better leader than the Skeith...
Laixa the Zafara never went back to Shenkuu. Instead, she was instated as Finneus's apprentice, discovering that she enjoyed archiving a lot more than being a palace maid. Plus, her pet rock could take care of any book discards or stray papers.
So in the end, peace was restored to Altador, and everyone to their rightful places. Laixa and Tegustus had found where they belonged -- but despite living in what seemed like different worlds, the two continued to visit each other. They had become steadfast friends after all.
Date: Aug 17th
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Sunroom Designs & Decorating Tips
Easily confused with enclosed patios, sunrooms are additions to a home that allow you to enjoy the beauty and serenity of the surrounding landscape without actually being exposed to the weather conditions outside like strong winds, high humidity and rain showers. Sunrooms are typically attached to the side, or the rear of a home, and they mainly consist of transparent walls and roofing, allowing for a great deal of sunlight to pour into the room.
The main purpose of a sunroom is to allow inhabitants to enjoy the outdoors, without actually having to be outdoors. To accomplish this, sunrooms are typically designed with a multitude of windows, or transparent walls, doors and roofing. Common sunroom designs include:
- Curved roof sunrooms
- Straight roof sunrooms
- Cathedral roof sunrooms
- Conservatory style sunrooms
Sunrooms are commonly perceived as outdoor rooms, so most homeowners tend to separate them from the rest of the home's interior. It's common to see a sliding door or French doors separating the sunroom from the rest of the home. This is due to the thin, transparent structure of sunrooms that do not offer much insulation or shelter when dealing with inclement weather. However, it is possible to integrate a sunroom with another portion of the home, like the living room, to allow for more natural lighting to enter the room. This also creates a nice little nook where you can enjoy the sunlight.
Sunrooms can be purchased as prefabricated structures made to your specifications and installed to your home, or they can be constructed on site. The sunroom walls, doors, roof and eaves are typically made of:
- Vinyl clad aluminum
While a glass roof is quite common to allow for sunlight to enter the room at all angles, some people might prefer a solid roof to allow for a more enclosed feeling. Wood construction will allow for a nice transition between the indoors and the landscape outside the home, while white aluminum or vinyl cladding allow for a bright, vibrant feeling to match the natural light pouring into the room.
Types of Flooring
Although a sunroom is still considered indoor space, its flooring needs to be able to endure outdoor weather conditions like rain, dirt and constant exposure to the sunlight. While carpet is still a possibility, more durable flooring is recommended like:
- Ceramic tile
- Marble tile
- Porcelain tile
- Wood laminate
- Stamped concrete
- Wicker sofas, chairs and ottomans
- Pronged tables
- Wood benches and chairs
- Wooden picnic tables
- Glass coffee tables
The most common furniture you would see in a sunroom would be garden or patio type furniture. Wicker and wood designs are the most prevalent, because they draw in the beauty of the landscape, while giving one the feeling they are immersed in nature and the outdoors. However, don't feel limited to this type of furniture.
It is not out of the ordinary to use a sunroom as another room for the home's interior, or an extension of a living room or bedroom. If you wish to have a leather couch and a TV in you sunroom, so be it. Make it your own design, and fill your sunroom with any furniture of your choosing. Just remember, it's called a sunroom for a reason. Overexposure to the sun's rays is not only bad for your skin, it's also bad for the skin of that leather couch.
Sunroom Decorating Tips
- Think of colors and décor that transition well between the interior and the exterior of the home. Bright colors and floral décor can complement the garden and landscape outside of the sunroom.
- Plants make great decorations in a sunroom because they bring out a natural effect, and will get plenty of much needed sunlight.
- Area rugs work well in a sunroom that usually has a harder, more durable flooring surface like tile or wood. Place a rug under your sofa and other seating for added indoor comfort.
- A ceiling fan with a built in light can be used to allow for proper ventilation and air circulation, while providing some extra lighting, just in case the natural lighting is insufficient.
- Portable heaters and air-conditioning are quite useful in sunrooms, which typically lack proper insulation.
- Think of installing blinds for those times when you want a little privacy or you might want a little more shade from the sun. Wooden, or bamboo blinds work well in sunrooms because of the natural feel as opposed to fabric window treatments that are better suited for interior rooms.
Other Sunroom Ideas
- Create a children's play area by installing an indoor jungle gym. That way, your kids can still enjoy some outdoor play, even when it's raining outside.
- Install an indoor pool or spa, or both, if you'd like! A sunroom will allow you and your family to enjoy some water recreation and leisure, no matter what the weather is outside.
- A sunroom is the perfect place to setup an indoor garden. Your plants will get adequate sunlight from the sunroom's design, and you will be able to enjoy doing some gardening indoors.
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Anytime you apply for a new position or job in the US the ultimate activity will be to have you put on drug testing for pre employment. Pre-employment employee drug screens can be frightening if you had not been straight over the past few days with either smoking or binging on some drugs. Employees are ready to pay the costs of employee drug test kits because it saves them from a whole bunch of costly hiring mistakes. Hiring the right kind of people is pretty much a big deal in almost all businesses and it is very true in some of the volatile businesses that are short lived, but can help the owner make enough money with a good work force.
According to reports from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, those employees who do drugs bring almost all their problems with them to the work place in the form of reduced productivity, increased abstinence from work and decreasing the turnover of the company, increased the health care costs that should be sponsored by the employer, and slowly leading to higher occurrence of workplace robbery and brutality. Those that do drugs are likely to be involved in a workplace accident and they are multiple times more vulnerable to file workers’ compensation claims.
The awareness of such alarming information has caused organizations to implement policies that require drug tests on employees and job applicants. The need to deny employment to any candidates whose test results come back positive is pretty much practical and grace and mercy is never good in such cases, because the business might be under stakes if abusers are given mercy to be continuing to work; however, before instituting such policies, the employers must be aware of how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) view employee drug test.
The ADA prohibits private employers that have 15 or more employees from discerning against qualified individuals with inabilities, it firmly limits an employer’s right to put forward job applicants to medical examinations. In the pre-employment context, this prohibition against pre-employment medical examinations is made to ensure that an applicant’s probable hidden disability, which may be revealed by medical examinations, might not be considered prior to the employer evaluating the applicant’s non-medical qualifications.
The ADA’s exclusion against pre-employment medical examinations is relaxed after an offer of employment or a “conditional job offer” is made. The employer can submit the conditional employee to a medical examination for drug testing, but only if the testing be being done for all employees entering that job category; however, if after the conditional offer it they test positive on drug tests the employer has the right to deny the job offer.
Call toll free 1-888-237-3445 or write to firstname.lastname@example.org for details regarding employee drug test methods, both regulated and non-regulated.
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Michael Thurmond "authored major legislation that has provided more than $250 million in tax relief to Georgia’s senior citizens and working families."
Michael Thurmond on Friday, April 30th, 2010 in his campaign website
Thurmond claims legislation helped low-income Georgians
Michael Thurmond, Georgia's outgoing labor commissioner, calls it the most important legislation he has written.
Back in 1990, when Thurmond was a state representative, he proposed a bill to give a tax credit to Georgians with annual incomes of less than $20,000. Then-Gov. Zell Miller announced his support for the idea a year later, and it became Georgia law shortly thereafter.
Thurmond, the Democratic Party's nominee for the U.S. Senate in the Nov. 2 general election, boasted about the bill's impact on his campaign website. He is running against incumbent Johnny Isakson, a Republican, and Libertarian Party candidate Chuck Donovan.
"Thurmond authored major legislation that has provided more than $250 million in tax relief to Georgia’s senior citizens and working families," his campaign bio says.
But is that true? Did Thurmond write the legislation, and did it save Georgians that much money?
AJC PolitiFact Georgia was curious. We first called Thurmond, who was eager to talk about the statement.
Thurmond said his legislation was written to help offset the sales taxes low-income Georgians pay for groceries. Miller was part of a push in the late 1980s to remove groceries from Georgia's 4 percent sales tax. Thurmond offered his suggestion as a compromise. Miller initially opposed Thurmond's idea. But Miller eventually endorsed the plan after being told his idea was not financially viable, particularly since state finances were struggling.
Miller said he was "swallowing his pride of authorship."
The refunds in question were relatively small -- they ranged between $5 and $26. Thurmond said the refunds may seem puny to some, but he argued they were a big help to many recipients.
"For a senior citizen, that might be dinner for a week," Thurmond said of $26.
Thurmond's desire to discuss the claim stems from a successful effort earlier this year to repeal the key portion of his legislation.
State lawmakers added language to a bill on the next to last day of this year's session that ends the refunds. Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the bill on June 4.
Thurmond argues his legislation has helped senior citizens and low-income Georgians. He equates ending the refunds to a tax increase.
"I just don't believe we need to be raising taxes in the midst of a recession, particularly on low-income people," Thurmond said in an interview.
State Rep. David Knight, R-Griffin, was the lead sponsor of the effort to repeal the refunds.
"People who have paid in no income tax and have zero tax liability are in essence getting a check back," Knight told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in April about the current system. "If you pay no income taxes, how can you get a refund? How can you justify someone getting a check back from the state? That is, in its purest form, taking away from the taxpayer and giving to someone who has no tax liability. [It's] a redistribution of wealth."
Thurmond argues the sales tax has a greater proportional impact on the wallets of low-income Georgians. Sarah Beth Guhl, deputy director of the liberal-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, explained Thurmond's point in an e-mail.
"Low-income families consume more of their income, and thus pay the sales tax on a larger portion of their earnings," said Guhl, who agreed with Thurmond that a sales tax is regressive on low-income Georgians.
Thurmond admitted an error in his statement the first time we talked to him. The legislation provided about $300.3 million in tax relief over the span of 13 years, according to the most recent Georgia Department of Revenue data available. Thurmond sold himself short by about $50 million.
"It lacks the truth in a positive direction," Thurmond said in a telephone interview.
The Thurmond campaign came to the $250 million total using data available on the Revenue Department's website. The data comes from the department's annual statistical reports. The reports on the Revenue Department's Web site, however, only go back to 2000. The Revenue Department has reports that date to 1997 with annual low-income credit figures in its north DeKalb County offices.
But Thurmond's website gives him some serious wiggle room by saying "more than $250 million in tax relief." We rate his statement as True.
Published: Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 at 6:00 a.m.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Miller gives up on food exemption; Citing poor economy, governor opts for low-income tax credit," Feb. 26, 1991
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Senate passes measure killing refund part of low-income tax credit," April 24, 2010
E-mail and telephone interview with Georgia Budget and Policy Institute deputy director Sarah Beth Guhl, Aug. 27, 2010
Georgia Department of Revenue publications
Georgia House of Representatives, House Bill 1069
Mike Thurmond for U.S. Senate bio
Telephone interview with Mike Thurmond, Aug. 23, 2010
We want to hear your suggestions and comments. Email the Georgia Truth-O-Meter with feedback and with claims you'd like to see checked. If you send us a comment, we'll assume you don't mind us publishing it unless you tell us otherwise.
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In Their Own Words – Autism Remission?
I breathe autism.
I eat autism.
I drink autism.
I live to fight it and to win the battle.
So why am I so speechless? I should be celebrating today’s news and jumping up and down with joy. Why do I feel so confused when we’ve kicked autism in the butt so early in the game?
Today, May 19, 2010, marks the end for us of two long years of early intervention under the guidance of the University of Washington Autism Center. We moved across the country in 2007 so we could get on a waiting list to obtain an early diagnosis for our son, Frankie, and to learn the next step for this lifelong journey. Today, we got more than what we had been hoping for; besides a tentative label for his forehead reading: PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified) we also got the news that he was no longer considered autistic, per se. In order to explain this better, we were told that if our kid had cancer, he would now be in remission – so, we needed to watch it, keep it in check, be aware there could be a regression if a big crisis would arise, if stressful situations involving big changes or social challenges ever took place. But for now, it’s all good … it’s all too good.
So, if this analogy is right, does that make Frankie an autism survivor?
Personally, this information creates a big paradigm shift for me. I have spent the past 30 months learning to accept the reality of Frankie’s autism and brainwashing myself to deal with it for life. Ever since we contemplated the possibility that our youngest son had autism, I was scared of the unknown. I made it a point to know. I promised myself that if I knew enough, or in my case, more than enough, I wouldn’t be scared to take on the fight. I’ve always believed that ignorance holds you back and that knowledge is power – so that’s what I did: I learned. Autism became my thing – I learned to listen, I learned to process, I learned to research and I became a pro at it. Name the website of the month, I knew it. Name the event of the week, I knew it. I was informed and on top of it. I gave the early intervention of my child the highest priority in this family. Our lives revolved around the parent training sessions, the intervention schedules, the evaluations – everybody was on board and there was no other way. No long vacations were allowed; we had sessions in the middle of snowstorms, hail and rain – not a minute went to waste. The efforts paid off but the reward was more than we bargained for.
Then, why on Earth am I so shocked at what I heard today?
Perhaps I’m shocked because I never really expected to win the battle?
Perhaps because now I’m left without a purpose, without a mission?
Maybe because at one point this became more about me than about Frankie?
Is it because I feel that we belong in the autism community and we will have no identity left once we are out?
I’m not sure of the reasons of why I feel so surprised at what the future holds for Frankie. The truth is that I just wished for him to survive and now I’m told that he can thrive and this is hard to process. I am, once again, scared, but this time I’m scared to take on this new reality and truly enjoy it because it seems so unreal. Could it be really happening? How did it happen? What did we do differently? Why can’t this be the outcome of every family living with autism? What is that magic ingredient we found without knowing?
So many questions are dancing in my head and are making me dizzy but one thing remains very clear to me; the sky is the limit when you reach for it and there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Our tunnel was shorter than other families’ tunnels but it was indeed a tunnel and it was very dark. But the light at the end is so bright, I might need to wear my shades all day long!
“In Their Own Words” is a series within the Autism Speaks blog which shares the voices of people who have autism, as well as their loved ones. If you have a story you wish to share about your personal experience with autism, please send it to firstname.lastname@example.org. Autism Speaks reserves the right to edit contributions for space, style and content. Because of the volume of submissions, not all can be published on the site.
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Police seek help identifying drugged drivers
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – The federal government should help police departments nationwide obtain the tools and training needed to attack a rising scourge of driving under the influence, two U.S. senators said Sunday.
Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Mark Pryor of Arkansas proposed that federal funding in a pending transportation funding bill be used for research and to train police. They said police have no equipment and few have training in identifying drugged drivers, who don't show the same outward signs of intoxication as drunken drivers do, such as slurred speech.
"Cops need a Breathalyzer-like technology that works to identify drug-impaired drivers on-the-spot — before they cause irreparable harm," Schumer said. "With the explosive growth of prescription drug abuse it's vital that local law enforcement have the tools and training they need to identify those driving under the influence of narcotics to get them off the road."
Schumer says drugged driving arrests rose 35% in New York since 2001, but he says that's a fraction of the cases.
The Democrats cited a 2009 federal report in which 10.5 million Americans acknowledged that they had driven under the influence of drugs. Schumer said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that in a 2007 roadside survey, more than 16% of weekend and night-time drivers tested positive for illegal prescription drugs or over-the-counter drugs. Eleven percent of them were found to have taken illegal drugs.
The administration also found that a third of 12,055 drivers tested who died in car crashes in 2009 had used drugs.
Yet police have no approved equipment to help identify drugged drivers, though saliva tests are being researched.
Pryor wants to create federal grants so police can participate in programs that require up to 200 hours of instruction to detect drugged driving as well as to better detect drunken driving.
Schumer said the effort is prompted in part by two fatal December crashes in the New York City area in which two boys — one 5 years old and the other, 4 — died. Prescription drug abuse is being investigated in both cases.
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There’s a bit of urgency now when we speak about the First Time Buyer Tax Credit. Mostly because it will be over by the end of November. Secondly, the Federal Reserve has given some indication, according to economist, that it may raise the prime lending rate at the end of September. If the prime lending rate increases, it could signal an increase in home lending rates as well (even before the deadline to purchase).
It can take 30 to 45 days to close a loan, so to take advantage of the tax credit most people will need to have their property under contract by the middle of October.
There is no doubt that the first time home buyer tax credit is a great thing but there are a few things to know before you assume that you qualify for the full $8,000. The tax credit breaks down as follows:
Who qualifies? First time home buyers and people (or spouses) who have not owned a home for the previous 3 years. You must purchase your home between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009.
- What qualifies for the first time home buyer’s tax credit? Only a primary house qualifies. It does not matter if it is a single family home, duplex, townhome, condo, apartment or co-op, if it is a primary residence it will apply.
- What is the amount of the first time home buyer’s tax credit? $8,000 is the maximum amount of the credit. There are 2 factors at play when it comes to getting the credit: The cost of the home and the income of the person or married couple purchasing the home. The credit can be 10% of the closing price up to $8,000 or a person making $75,000 or less or a married couple making $150,000 or less are eligible for the full $8,000.
- Do you qualify for the first time home buyer’s tax credit if your income is higher? Yes and no. If you make more than the $75,000/$150,000 limit you get less of a credit. The maximum income is $95,000 for singles or $170,000 for couples. If you make more than the maximum income you are not eligible for the tax credit.
The tax credit is a real boon for first time home buyers and does not have to be repaid. If you qualify for the tax credit and have been considering purchasing a new home there could not be a better time. Low interest rates, low home values and the first time home buyer tax credit all add up to the right time to call your experienced Century 21 Four Seasons Realtor.
Resource and for more information: Realtor
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Facebook’s geo-locational service Facebook Places is now working in the United Kingdom. I just got out of a press conferenvce which was a essentially a re-run of the US launch. It would appear that little is different about the operation of Facebook Places in the UK compared to the US launch other than the geo data itself of course.
Facebook Places product manager Michael Sharon walked British media through the service. As expected, British media started asking questions about privacy and the protection of minors, so expect them to hone in on those aspects.
But outside of the shrill cries about how people will suddenly start to stalk you, I was quite interested in why Facebook even allows minors to share their location in the first place.
The grown-up answer is that many young people do anyway already, so it’s really the controls you give them that matter. Here’s Facebook’s response:
“Our minors are teenagers aged 13-17 and we expect that this group will want to use location-based services. We believe that it is sensible to make available to them a safe service with appropriate protections like ours rather than deny them access altogether.
For most content teenagers under 18 are restricted to posting only to friends of friends. For location content we have gone one stage further and made this friends only recognising the additional sensitivity around this data.”
In other words, assuming a Facebook profile has the correct age in it, that minor will have extra levels of protection abou their location compared to adults.
And as tech journ LJ Rich pointed out at the conference, there nothing to stop adults adjusting their age on Facebook to get the same protection as a minor.
This is Facebook Places’ first full on launch in a European country after having launched in Japan last week. Users have previously reporting the ability to check in from places like Canada and even Paris due to a wifi glitch.
Notably, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg left a trail of Facebook Places check-ins on a recent trip to London.
Additional reporting by Alexia Tsotsis
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The demise of the Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority is getting closer and closer. It is not too late for a rescue, but we've already reached the last minute.
What will happen to the riders if the agency is allowed to shut down June 30 for lack of funding?
Layoff notices went out last week to all RBA employees, giving them notice that unless someone comes to the agency's rescue, their jobs will disappear by June 30. The loss of those jobs is bad enough. But the loss of the service would be devastating for the riders.
Not providing bus service — either fixed-route, paratransit or demand response — to the RBA's riders means cutting them off from shopping, medical and dental services, and employment opportunities. That would harm not only those individuals' prospects for the future, but the region's economic recovery as well.
It also means the dream of uniting the region in support of a basic government service — transportation for people who either cannot or should not or choose not to drive their own vehicle — will suffer immensely. The dream of unity might not die, but it would most definitely be on life support.
When The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority was created, among its responsibilities was to foster consolidation of bus service within the region. But the RDA is not a permanent funding source for the RBA; the RDA is supposed to help with start-up costs. It's up to officials in Lake and, ultimately, Porter counties to provide the wherewithal to fund a truly regional system.
Before the balkanization that has plagued the region for decades claims yet another victim, there's one last cause for hope, however slim. The RBA's Save Our Buses campaign will take public transit supporters by bus from the Dan Rabin Travel Plaza in Gary to the Lake County Council's meeting at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Lake County Government Complex in Crown Point.
If the Lake County Council won't commit to providing a permanent funding source for the RBA and its efforts, it will be a dark day for the region.
It's important that a funding solution be found to continue providing fixed-route, paratransit and demand response bus operations well into the future.
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I sometimes wonder if people realize that a slight comment can cause so much pain. Why is it that just because your plight is well-known, people assume they can ask you anything about it, in public? Couples who are childless, people who are sick or disfigured, someone who is having business trouble or going through a divorce; the list goes on.
Being single in a marriage-minded world is my public experience of pain.
I cringe at the thought of so many people being aware of my challenge (in the community I live in, being single is viewed as a major life challenge). I’m forced to speak about very private things and answer questions I would never ask someone else. The ease with which people talk to me about dating and my private life is so hurtful and throws me off guard.
I have started grading painful words on a scale of 1 to 10; it makes me feel better and helps me reframe people’s idiocy into “what were they thinking?” so I can have a laugh. Yes, everyone means well, but if I hear another one of these expressions again any time soon…
- Each date is bringing you closer to the right one.
- This will be the year.
- I just don't know anyone good enough for you.
At a Shabbos table, small children look up at me and ask if I have a husband and why not. Last week in the kosher grocery store I was cornered by a loud busy body who heard there was a guy in my age range in town. I was going to ask her if he had a pulse or should I just jump at it because in this market a gal shouldn't be picky.
“What should we say?” The answer is most often, “Nothing.”
Words are powerful. People don't mean to throw stones and cause pain; they may really be concerned and caring. People want to know, “What should we say?” and the answer is most often, “Nothing.” The key is to think before you speak. Evaluate if it could possibly cause any pain. If the answer is yes, then don't say it.
We like to know all the news and be involved, but it shouldn’t be at someone else’s expense. If a painful topic comes up perhaps recognizing that you don’t have anything to say and admitting it is a show of support. You don’t have to have all of the answers.
No one means to say things that break your heart. They just don't realize that when you say goodbye to them you want to lie in bed and cry. I have spent a lot of time wondering why I was the recipient of so many of these “concerned comments.” I really believe God is teaching me to be more sensitive. When I see someone in a situation I don‘t understand or cannot relate to, I have to stop myself before I speak. I don't know how they feel. I don’t know what will make them cringe and want to hide. Maybe what I am about to say will really hurt them.
Perhaps God has made me the receiver of so many "sticks and stones" so I could be more careful with others. When I want to ask an inappropriate question with no real reason I think twice. Sensitivity seems to be a real exercise which requires lots of training. God gave me the opportunity to have a lot of training, and if it means I can prevent someone else from hurting, doesn’t that make it a blessing?
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Diagnostic Medical Sonography
Our Program is well-known for its emphasis not only on the didactic aspect but also on the practical (hands-on) and clinical aspect. Consequently, it is imperative that our facilities are up-to-date and are equipped with the necessary equipment and this is highly reflected in our continued efforts and investment in obtaining state-of-the-arts equipment. We are very proud of our state-of-the-art Ultrasound Scanning Suite. This Scanning Suite offers our students the opportunity to apply their theoretical understanding of the fundamentals covered in lecture as well as enhance their ultrasound skills and techniques. This Scanning Suite is operated and run by well-qualified, motivated and helpful faculty members who provide superior and clinically relevant education and hands-on experience to our students prior to their clinical internships.
Our commitment to the high-quality preparation and training of our students has led us to equip the Scanning Suite with a state-of-the-art OB/GYN simulator that is capable of providing full computer-interfaced ultrasound images of the human reproductive system in various states of health, pregnancy and disease and which was later named Fiona by the students. This system which can only be found at very few facilities across the world closely parallels scanning on real people. This simulator allows our students to experience the OB/GYN portion of the Program in a controlled setting without outside pressures and expose them to the OB/GYN world way before they get out to hospitals and clinics where they begin working with real patients.
Our Scanning Suite is located in the Center for Bioscience Education and Technology (Bldg. 75). The Scanning Suite houses a variety of ultrasound equipment with several ultrasound examination capabilities.
The Ultrasound Scanning Suite is made available to our students in a variety of ways:
- During scheduled labs, the student has access to the lab and equipment. He/she is provided with assistance and instruction by one or more faculty member(s). These faculty members also observe demonstrations of assigned lab work and provide technical assistance.
- Students have unlimited card-swipe access to the lab.
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- Posted January 24, 2013 by
This iReport is part of an assignment:
Making it in America: Mompreneurs
How a Mummy can make money online at home
I am going to start a new page on my The Last Degree Blog to track how I make money online at home, while I am asleep or wherever I am during the day. I have been online now since 2008 but only been seriously researching and testing new concepts and strategies on how to make money online for the past 2 years. No I can’t quit my job yet and live my dream of travelling, buying a house of my dreams and spend my time pursuing whatever creative endeavour I want but I am getting there. Unfortunately there are children to raise, a fortnightly job commitment to keep and other life responsibilities that plug into most of my days but with consistent motivation and learning I am starting to see some dividends for my effort which I would like to share with you.
But every dream starts with a goal
Making Money GoalI recently posted on Facebook, “What would an additional $100 a week mean to you?” and the results were not surprising. An additional $100 could mean some help with the grocery bill, petrol in the car or a loan repayment. It might not seem a lot but an consistent extra $100 in your account every week would be a well received payrise. When the twins were formula fed and double the nappies I used to hate the fact my grocery bills increased by $100 each week so if you have young children I know where the $100 would most likely go. So before you embark on your strategy and education on how to earn money online just write down your goal on a Post IT Note next to your monitor. There are lovely books to write your goals which I recommend too but unless you can see your goals they can be forgotten easily.
I once read a story of a guy who did just that. He had a newborn baby and wife to support and was recently made redundant and needed to work out how to make money online at home. Everyday as he got up and turned on his computer he had a daily reminder Post IT note of WHY (reminder the baby girl upstairs) he was doing this. His strategy was to develop a new App and within 6 months of consistent market research and learning he created something, which meant he didn’t have to work for a very long long. I can’t promise you that and also note I said 6 months and not 6 days. There is no quick rich scheme here. If anything you see looks like “junk marketing” the type where your head spins with all the garbage testimonials but you don’t actually know how they are making the money. Just close the page and move on. There are lots of support and reasons for writing down your goals but to kick start – just grab a Post IT note. Write them down and stick it on your computer for a daily reminder.
So for next matter of time I will periodically post about 4 different alternate make money online strategies that I am currently using. These are:
Product Sales, and
So my posts will be raw and warts and I will test out my video skills too. No use pretending here and telling you I am earning hundreds and thousands of dollars because so far I am not. However I am happy that some of these are starting to work and cash has started to trickle in my paypal account. Earning money yes even when I sleep.
So tell me your goals and over the next few weeks I will look forward in sharing everything I know with you on how a mummy (or a daddy) can make money online at home.
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Green Planet Reports Continued Orders from Dallas County Schools
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Feb. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Green Planet Group, Inc. (OTCPink: GNPG) announces today that it has received additional orders for its XenTx (pronounced "zen-tex") diesel fuel savings and clean emissions additive from the Dallas County School System in Texas.
Dallas County Schools (DCS) has a transportation team of over 2,000 professionals who strive daily to serve Dallas County's 14 independent school districts. DCS has the 3rd largest pupil transportation fleet in the United States operating approximately 1,900 buses which consume 2 million gallons of diesel fuel per year and that transports approximately 71,000 students to and from school safely each day.
DCS has stated, "Working with Green Planet Group and using their XenTx fuel additive has proven to be a great solution for our school system and will provide an estimated $600,000 in fuel savings and maintenance costs during the first year of use. This is a perfect fit with our initiative to reduce both costs and emissions while improving the air quality for our student population."
Edmond L. Lonergan, President & CEO of Green Planet Group stated, "Dallas County Schools is one of the largest in the nation and we are very proud to be able to provide them a viable green solution that saves them money and reduces harmful emissions. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to work with a group like DCS and look forward to finding new and exciting ways to create additional cost savings that benefit our environment and our nation's students."
Green Planet Group's XenTx fuel savings and clean emissions additive improves fuel mileage and reduce emissions in many types of vehicles. In addition, added benefits in using XenTx show reduced maintenance costs, and reduced failure of certain engine parts such as fuel injectors, differentials, and carburetors.
About Green Planet Group
Green Planet Group, Inc. (OTCPink:GNPG) is based in Scottsdale, Arizona and engages in ongoing research and development to create Greentech and Cleantech products and services that enhance our environment and reduce pollution.
The Company's revenues are currently derived from the production and distribution of fuel-based energy conservation and clean-air products. For additional information, please visit www.greenplanetgroup.com. Kindly note that we have recently changed our office phone number to: 480-998-2400.
For more information on the Dallas County Schools, please go to www.dcschools.com
SAFE HARBOR: Certain information included herein may contain statements that are forward looking, such as statements relating to plans for future expansion and other business development activities. Such forward-looking information is subject to changes and variations which are not reasonably predictable and which could significantly affect future results.
Investor Relations Contact:
TEN Associates, LLC
Tom Nelson, Managing Director
Phone: (480) 232-5469
SOURCE Green Planet Group
Browse our custom packages or build your own to meet your unique communications needs.
Learn about PR Newswire services
Request more information about PR Newswire products and services or call us at (888) 776-0942.
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Like so many elements of her life, the glitzy, bumblebee-shaped ring that covers more than half of Brenda Palms Barber's finger has greater significance than a mere accessory.
"The bumblebee is not supposed to be able to fly — it's against all odds," Barber said at an intimate gathering of Metropolitan State College of Denver faculty and community members Tuesday.
Barber, Metro State's 2012 Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professor, was brought to Denver for her success as chief executive of the Chicago-area nonprofit North Lawndale Employment Network and her job-creation business, Sweet Beginnings.
"People are working who hadn't been working before. It's about jobs," Barber said.
More precisely, formerly incarcerated individuals in the Chicago area are now beekeepers, making skin-care products from honey.
This seemingly bizarre business model was formed because of a huge employment disparity in her community of North Lawndale. When Barber began as the CEO of the nonprofit, she was befuddled by the staggering unemployment rates — which were three times higher than the rest of Chicago — that her organization was supposed to combat.
"People would say, 'My son is coming back and can't find a job' but would never finish the sentence," Barber said. "I realized that 'coming back' meant coming back from prison."
"This was not a community that lacked a desire to work; there was just such a stigma with anyone who had been involved with the criminal-justice system," Barber said.
She spent countless hours racking her brain for a sustainable business model with large enough profit margins to self-sustain.
One day a friend — a "hug-a-tree, save-a-will type of gal" — suggested beekeeping.
"People thought I had lost it," Barber said. "But I needed something that would connect people without excluding."
Sweet Beginnings started selling raw honey in local farmers markets in 2005, and by 2007 it was selling honey-based beauty products in Whole Foods Markets throughout Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Missouri.
Having passed Whole Foods' rigorous standards, the company quickly gained strong local credibility.
"It wasn't really about beekeeping; it was about creating a work experience for ex-offenders to prove their work capabilities," Barber said.
The employees are allowed to remain in the company for only 90 days, and then the nonprofit, NLEN, helps them find job placement elsewhere.
"Now that we as a business are being recognized and respected, employers see that on their résumé and recognize that," Barber said.
Through partnerships at Metro State and now with the mayor's office, local community members hope to replicate the model in Denver.
"(Denver) is actually our most viable option for a successful replication because the mayor's office wanting to work with us," Barber said. "Our big goal is to pollinate across the country."
Kristen Leigh Painter: 303-954-1638 or firstname.lastname@example.org
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Class of 2005
Since she graduated from Franciscan University, Maggie Mosher has become an award-winning special education teacher at St. Agnes Catholic School in Roeland Park, Kansas. Her extensive work with students with disabilities has earned her second place at the International Science and Engineering Fair and a seat on the new technology panel for the American Academy of Achievement. She has given seminars for the Austria Dyslexia Association in Vienna.
Yet the most rewarding part of her job, Maggie says, is “the communication of love” with her students and making a difference in their lives—a lesson she learned firsthand from Professor Jane Stoner, who inspired her to switch from pre-med to education. Maggie believes her professors and experiences at Franciscan University paved her way to success and helped her earn the Kansas Horizon Award during her first year of teaching.
“We have professors with such various backgrounds and different techniques,” she says. “I don’t think there was a single class where we were not required to be in a classroom with kids.”As student vice president of Franciscan’s Missions of Peace, Maggie also learned about many different cultures, which prepared her to relate better with students in her multi-cultural classroom. Through Works of Mercy outreach, Maggie developed two Special Ed programs for the inner-city schools of Steubenville.
Remembering the days when she was torn between Yale, Christendom, and Franciscan University, Maggie now proudly testifies on behalf of her alma mater, “The experiences Franciscan opens up for you will be different than any other university.”
Read More Employee Profiles
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In Spanish slang, “mola” means “cool”. This is also the name of a startup accelerator based in Palma de Mallorca which has been quietly working with 30 companies for the last ten months and now plans to expand to Silicon Valley and Sao Paulo. So what is Mola and what does it do?
Behind Mola, Enrique Dubois
Enrique Dubois is one of the best known Spanish serial entrepreneurs. Although he’s not even thirty years old, he’s been creating companies for the past decade. Before founding Mola, which he describes as the project of his life, he launched ventures such as Bingos.com, MediaGambling and the social network Wamba.
Unlike many other Spanish entrepreneurs, he resisted the siren’s call of Silicon Valley and has been living on the island of Mallorca since he was four. It’s also there that his latest venture Mola has been based since January.
If you’re familiar with the “accelerator” concept, you don’t need too many details to understand what Mola does, which is to support early stage startups by offering them seed capital, mentoring and other tailored help depending on their needs.
At the moment, Mola has a staff of 40, of which 40% are programmers., who work together with the 30 accelerated companies in Mola’s Palma offices. Here’s an intro video about Mola:
30 startups and counting
Mola is currently working with 30 Internet-related startups, in which it invested 3m euros (around US$4m). According to Dubois, some companies such as WorkMeter, Destinity, Portbookerand PriceBets have already raised financing rounds thanks to Mola’s support and Rolodex. Besides its network of experienced mentors, Mola is also well connected to Spanish and foreign investors, Dubois explains.
While Mola hasn’t raised capital yet, it is now in the process of doing so to finance its expansion – according to Dubois, Mola wishes to select an additional 20 companies, and invest more in accelerated projects that have proven to be successful.
Although Mola’s portfolio also includes a few British and American founders, most of the startups it’s working with are Spanish. Indeed, Dubois and his partners are convinced there is a gap for early stage funding in the country, as most investors are interested in “faultless” projects” and only invest further down the line.
However, Dubois also noticed that things are changing, and welcomes other early-stage funding initiatives such as Telefonica’s Wayra, of which he’s a mentor (see our previous post). He also supports the Startup Spain Manifesto, of which he hopes that the next Spanish government will adopt several measures.
More generally, his impression is that the Spanish culture has become more favorable to entrepreneurship over the last three to five years, putting an end to one century of hostility towards entrepreneurs perceived as mere opportunists.
From Spain to the US and Brazil
Still, the main reason Mola and other dot-coms are based in Palma de Mallorca is quality of life. As a market, Dubois acknowledges, Spain can’t compete with the US and Latin America. This is the reason why Mola plans to open offices in Silicon Valley and Sao Paulo and support its companies’ expansion to these regions, their natural markets.
Dubois is convinced that technology will drive Spain’s and Latin America’s growth. For Spanish Internet startups such as the ones Mola is working with, Latin America is a very attractive market. Internet connectivity is growing fast across the region, which shares a linguistic and cultural proximity with Spain, Dubois reminds.
However, Mola isn’t looking at Latin America only as a market; the accelerator is also interested in working with local startups from its upcoming Sao Paulo office.
The thirty-one years old Uruguayan entrepreneur Maximiliano de Muro is in charge of Mola’s business development across Latin America. Like Dubois, Maximiliano is a serial entrepreneur; besides helping Mola to expand, he’s also responsible for two projects Mola is currently accelerating, Mediterranean Gaming and Salud.es.
As a Latin American entrepreneur who has lived in Europe, he’s interested in building bridges between the two regions, and is also helping the entrepreneur community Iniciador to keep on expanding beyond Spain.
With Mola, Maximiliano hopes to source two or three Latin American startups to be accelerated during the first semester of 2012. The selection process will follow the same flexible approach as in Spain and there won’t be any established deadlines. However, he encourages local startups interested in Mola to get in touch during Red Innova‘s conference in Sao Paulo at the end of the month (see our post about Red Innova).
What do you think of the boom of accelerators in Latin America? Let us know in the comments.
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London may not strike you as a particularly cyclist-friendly city at first glance, but if you look again, you might find that for a metropolis of its size, London is surprisingly easy to navigate by bike. Ever growing numbers of cyclists in London testify to this. And of course this equation also works the other way round: the more cyclists there are the more cyclist-friendly London will become, as the city administration will be forced to take cyclists into consideration when planning new infrastructure projects. So if you live in London and like cycling, don’t let the traffic scare you off: Get yourself a bike and let’s go!
Cycling around town
First of all, there’s no better way to explore the city! Cycling around town and enjoying the sights is not just for tourists. London is such an immense and ever-changing city that even if you live in London for many years, you will still discover something new every time you venture out of your home or work place. So make the most of it! On the next sunny weekend coming up (yes, they do exist), get on your bike and explore a new part of town. You can map out your route beforehand using the online Cycle Journey Planner or the free maps and cycle guides provided by Transport for London: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/11598.aspx. You’ll be surprised to see how many designated cycle routes there are in London. You can get almost anywhere without having to go on one of the big roads!
There are of course also routes leading out of the city, ideal for a family day out on the bike. One obvious option is cycling along London’s many waterways. London has many canals with cycle and foot paths running along the side and no cars to be seen. Alternatively, you could cycle up the Thames towards Richmond and beyond, or explore the Lee River Valley, a large natural park stretching 26 miles from East London through Essex to Hertfordshire.
Many people who live in London use their bicycle for a very practical purpose: it gets them to work and back every day. If you feel confident enough cycling in London, it’s definitely an option worth considering. After all, it has many advantages: It’s a great way to avoid the throngs of people on public transport every morning and every evening, coughing and sneezing into your face, ramming their elbows into your rips and forcing you to listen to the music on their iPods. Instead, it helps you keep fit and saves you money – not only money for public transport, but also money you might otherwise spend on a gym membership.
Cycle and Socialise
As with many sports and activities, cycling in London is also a great way to meet others when you’ve come to live in London and don’t know many people yet. London offers a vast number of cycling clubs for all ages and fitness levels. Cycling events and rallies take place on a regular basis, ranging from rather eccentric activities such as bike polo and naked bike rides to simple cycle training events or social rides in and out of London. On the last Friday of every month, the Critical Mass London organizes an open ride through town to raise awareness of cyclists – a great opportunity to meet people. If you live in London as an expat, check out InterNations, a worldwide network for expats that organizes events and activities around town. You may well find other cycling enthusiast there, or a cycling group you can join.
Last but not least, a word of warning: Bicycle theft is a real plague in London. Make sure to always lock your bike to something. If there is no bicycle parking available, lock it to a tree or a steel railing. Never leave your bike out in a slightly dodgy area over night. Many bicycle thieves operate professionally, using special tools and vans to transport the stolen bikes.
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SLR McLaren Powertrain Details
Engine and transmission: A V8 powerplant with motor racing in its genes
An abundance of power and high-tech features from the world of motorsport - these are the defining characteristics of the V8 engine in the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster, with its 5.5-litre displacement, a cylinder angle of 90 degrees, screw-type supercharger and a crankshaft supported by five bearings. Which all means that the V8 power unit developed by Mercedes-AMG fits perfectly into the high-performance concept of the new open-top Gran Turismo.
The key data at a glance:
From a mere 1500 rpm, the SLR powerplant delivers in excess of 440 lb-ft of torque, rising to over 515 by 2000 rpm. The maximum of 575 is available from 3250 rpm and remains constant over a broad rev range up to 5000 rpm. The sublime torque delivery is coupled to the agile responsiveness of a sporty engine whose high-performance character is never in any doubt: a peak output of 626 HP says it all. The SLR is thereby endowed with what is currently one of the most powerful engines to be found in a series-produced sports car, and achieves class-beating performance figures as a result.
Power from screw-type supercharger
To ensure good cylinder charging, the engine has a belt-driven supercharger between the two banks of cylinders featuring two screw-shaped aluminum rotors that are Teflon-coated to keep friction losses to a minimum. Its innovative technology allows a significantly higher charge pressure than conventional belt-driven chargers because the two rotors can attain a top speed of around 23,000 revs per minute, forcing air into the intake system of the 5.5-litre powerplant at a maximum overpressure of 0.9 bar. This means that they compress around 1850 kilograms of air into the eight combustion chambers every hour - which is as much as 30 per cent more than the figure achieved by rival charging systems.
In order to maintain the greatest possible efficiency at all times, the AMG engineers created an intelligent engine management system which regulates the operation of the screw-type supercharger according to engine speed and load. Consequently, the charger is only called into action when it is really needed. Nevertheless, the system ensures that maximum power is available the instant it is summoned by a squeeze of the accelerator. This prompts the electronics of the engine management system to trigger an electromagnetic coupling, which immediately activates the supercharger that is driven by a separate poly-V-belt. Because the charger delivers its output in fractions of a second, even the most perceptive driver will not notice the non-supercharged phases. The charger system's air recirculation flap is opened under partial throttle conditions to help reduce fuel consumption.
Two intercoolers with separate water circuit
In addition to the supercharger, the electronics also monitor all other variables relevant to the engine - including both the powertrain management for the pedal-sensitive drive characteristics and the implementation of spontaneous interventions by the transmission or ESP®. The electronics also ensure optimum control of the water circuit for the intercooling system, as efficient intercooling is essential for maximizing output. This is because cold air is denser than warm air and therefore contains significantly more oxygen for combustion. In the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster's V8 engine, two separate intercoolers are responsible for this key task - one for each bank of cylinders. This ensures that loss of pressure is very low.
The engine-mounted intercoolers operate on the highly efficient principle of an air-to-water heat exchanger: after being compressed and hence heated by the supercharger, the air is cooled down via the system's own, separate water circuit - making the process independent of the ambient temperature. This enables the V8 to deliver its maximum output and torque spontaneously at any time.
However, the tremendous output of the 8-cylinder engine in the new SLR Roadster not only demands effective cooling of the combustion air, it also results in an overall increase in engine cooling requirements. The engineers made allowance for this by incorporating generously proportioned cooling air inlets and outlets as well as a powerful 850-Watt suction fan.
Crankcase with dry-sump lubrication
The Mercedes-AMG GmbH engineers also applied their extensive experience in the world of motorsport and in the design of high-performance engines to other details of the SLR powerplant. The entire engine housing, for example, and the enclosed bottom section of the crankcase are cast in aluminum. Each crankshaft is finely balanced and is supported by five bearings made from a high-endurance material for lasting transfer of the immense forces generated by the supercharged engine.
The pistons are forged and are therefore only manufactured in very small numbers. Like the forged lightweight connecting rods, they are precision gauged and weighed then allocated to the individual engines in such a way as to produce minimal mass balancing tolerances. The pistons slide in extremely durable, wear-resistant and friction-optimized barrels made from a special compound which is otherwise only used in motor racing. Dual oil injection ensures efficient piston cooling.
The design of the powerplant's oil cooling system also draws on the experience gathered at the race track: a sophisticated dry-sump lubrication system with an oil capacity of around eleven liters combines with a five-speed oil suction pump and a two-speed oil pressure pump to maintain reliable lubrication under the full spectrum of driving conditions. An important secondary effect of the dry-sump lubrication technology, which is usually only found in racing cars, is that it reduces the engine's overall height, allowing it to be installed lower down and producing a low centre of gravity that favors dynamic handling.
In line with the customary practice at Mercedes-AMG, each SLR engine is manufactured by hand. In order to attain the very highest quality, the principle of 'One man, one engine' is applied. This means that each powerplant is the responsibility of one AMG engineer, who carries out the entire engine assembly process – from installing the crankshaft in the engine block and assembling the camshafts and the supercharger, right through to the cabling.
Powerful high-pressure pumps in the tanks
The SLR's high-performance engine draws its fuel from two interconnected aluminum tanks. In order to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible in the interests of exceptional handling dynamics, the tanks are installed low down on the left and right in front of the rear axle. The tanks, which have a total capacity of 97 liters (of which twelve liters form the reserve), are equipped with two integral high-pressure fuel pumps. These are controlled by the engine management system and ensure that the fuel supply matches the engine speed and load. Here once again, a highly effective solution was developed that is specific to the SLR: one pump operates constantly while the second only cuts in as required.
Four metal catalytic converters for efficient emissions control
Secondary air injection and dual ignition give the engine the prerequisites required for low exhaust emissions. A sophisticated exhaust system complements these measures: the cascade-design two-pipe system consists on both sides of a close-coupled firewall catalytic converter plus, in the same housing, a main catalytic converter with a special precious-metal coating. The state-of-the-art metal design allows extremely thin walls, resulting in a very low exhaust backpressure. Thanks to its cutting-edge engine management and emission control technology, the V8 engine in the new SLR meets the stringent EU4 emissions limits as well as the current limits.
On each side of the vehicle, the catalytic converter housing opens into a rear silencer which flows into two stainless-steel tailpipes with a diameter of 60 millimeters just behind the front wheels. These side pipes - a further reminder of the 1950s SLR racers - pave the way for a smooth-surfaced underbody, which is instrumental in giving the new Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster its first-rate aerodynamic properties. The silencers are folded several times into precisely calculated acoustic sections which produce the Roadster's distinctive thrilling engine sound. The volume of each silencer is 19.6 liters.
Manual transmission program for shift times worthy of a racing car
Likewise designed for high performance, the five-speed automatic transmission was developed by Mercedes-Benz and has been used successfully in several exceptionally powerful models. It has been specially optimized for very high torque and also offers the driver the option of choosing between different shift characteristics. The transmission transmits the engine's power via a finely balanced aluminum and steel powertrain to the differential and the rear axle.
It includes the Speedshift system that was developed by Mercedes-AMG for particularly sporty motoring and also offers a wide range of functions in the new SLR Roadster. Drivers can decide, for example, whether to leave the gearshift work to the automatic transmission or to shift gears manually. They are also able to select the shift speed, which determines how sporty the gearshifts are. A rotary switch in the centre console offers a choice of three program settings: "Manual", "Comfort" and "Sport". The activated program is indicated in the instrument cluster display by the letters "M", "C" or "S".
"Comfort" and "Sport" are automatic shift programs which, as the names indicate, place the emphasis either on comfort or on a more sporty drive. In "Manual" mode, on the other hand, the driver can select the five gears either using the shift paddles on the steering wheel or the selector lever's Touchshift function. When "Manual" is selected, there is also the option of choosing between three shift-speed levels for fine-tuning a sporty driving style:
The higher the level, the shorter the shift and response times inside the automatic transmission, and hence the shorter the gearshifts themselves.
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"When pegged about bringing board games to the modern game player, many designers will work straight to the tablet/PC port. Sometimes it works well (Neuroshima Hex!), but a lot of the time the port misses the point of it's original game, the tangible obligation."It turns out Disney are going to be the force that breaks into this playspace in a significant way with AppMATes. These "Mobile Application Toys" are figurines that interact with an iPad app that Disney will release. The iPad will essentially become a digital play area that is manipulated by the physical toy.
A video with Disney Mobile's Bart Decrem shows how the toys and app will work.
Admittedly this is focused on toys and singular play. However the technology could certainly be abstracted away from the Christmas-retail focus that we'll undoubtedly see, and into more meaningful social play.
Imagine an Ogre Tactics style strategy game, with physical pieces and cards that manipulate the digital environment. A Civilization or Catan spin-off with digital calculators that respond to the movements of your meeples. Some of these broad ideas could easily be integrated to an established platform, like Disney already have with the iPad.
(Hello significant removal of development overheads!)
It will take pioneers of game design to move into this territory, lest the playspace become inundated with flashy gimmicks with no meaningful context.
Designers who value meta-data and automation to free up player intentions.
And layered user interface that is prohibitive to print, but intuitive to touch.
And juicy, juicy polish that can bring a stationary figurine to life.
I have a dream of these mash-up digital/physical playspaces, and they look fun.
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|by Sean O'Neill||Italy, Florence||16|
We've been asking top guidebook writers for their tips on alternatives to well known tourist attractions. Today's expert is Robert Landon, author of Lonely Planet Florence Encounter, 1st edition.
In Florence, Italy, the dome of the Duomo (or Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore) is a wonder to behold, but the interior may not be worth the wait, since the art inside has been largely stripped away and stored in the adjacent museum. Instead, head to the recently refurbished Santa Maria Novella, which sums up three centuries of Florentine art, such as Gothic frescoes, Giotto's rather gruesome imagining of the crucifix, the revolutionary, early Renaissance facade by Alberti, and the spectacular High Renaissance cycle of frescoes by Ghirlandaio documenting the life of the Virgin Mary as if she were a Renaissance patrician. (For hours, visit the official Santa Maria Novella website.)
The benefit? Real art in its real setting with a much lower entrance fee (about $8 for Santa Maria Novella, versus about $11 to climb the Duomo plus about $5.60 (€4) to tour its Baptistery and about $8.50 to enter its museum where most of the artwork now resides). Both churches are free to visit for worship, of course.
Tip: Visit Santa Maria Novella's cloisters museum early in the morning, and you may just have the precious, early Renaissance frescoes of Paolo Uccello in the Green Cloister all to yourself. The cloister gets its name from Uccello's earthy green tones. His seething version of Noah and the Flood remains both beautiful and disturbing after nearly six centuries. You'll find the entrance tucked away on a small courtyard to the left as you are facing the church's main facade. Pay €5 for this perk. Have your hotel call in advance to check if reservations are necessary, given the church's shifting schedule of activities.
Now don't get us wrong. Neither Robert Landon nor Lonely Planet are dismissing any attraction that's rightfully famous. Everyone agrees you can have fantastic experiences at well known attractions. All we're trying to do here is recognize that—under some circumstances and for certain types of travelers—lesser known attractions may have their own appeal, offering comparable experiences.
For example, Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is an architectural wonder, given that is has the largest masonry (brick) dome ever built. (The story of its construction is fascinatingly recounted in Brunelleschi's Dome.) Florence's cathedral for centuries, this was also the burial ground for many famous local citizens. A garish new facade was added to the building in the 1800s. Its Baptistery is an artistic treasure, worth a look, too. If you decide not to pay the high fees to see these sites, you may want to tour the museum dedicated to them both (and containing many of the works that used to hang in them): Museo dell' Opera del Duomo for tickets of about $8.40 (€6). Among its key exhibits: Ghiberti's original panels for the door of the Baptistery and a Pietà by Michelangelo.
What do you think? Sound off below.
(Thanks to Jason and Kate for catching an editing error regarding the photo used in the original version.)
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JOE SIMPSON is renowned for “Touching the Void”, the astonishing tale of his six-mile solo descent, with broken legs, from a mountain in Peru. Published in 1988, the story has become an adventure classic for all time, while the fine writing established Mr Simpson's literary credentials. He has since shown an enviable knack for both surviving and brilliantly describing his countless epic scrapes in the mountains.
In “The Beckoning Silence” he reflects on turning 40, on the arthritic creak of battered bones and on the loss of climbing colleagues in accidents—noting dryly that “if you keep putting your head in a lion's mouth, one day he's going to shut it”. As he tells of his escapades in Peru, Colorado and the Alps, he admits that the mountaineering bug has, for him, begun to pall. Yet he can't quite resist the endorphin surges from fear (or its conquest) and the more aesthetic allure of rocks, snow and ice. Plus he still has some “unfinished business”: the Eiger. “Just the word got my heart pounding.”
In recent years Everest has become the site of grotesque existentialist consumerism, with clients with little or no climbing experience paying $64,000 to be cocooned by Sherpas and eased up the slopes. The north face of the Eiger, by contrast, is still reckoned a serious mountaineer's graduation piece—13,025 feet of climbing, almost two miles uphill, over some of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet. More than 60 people have died in the attempt since the 1930s. Even in Switzerland, where mobile phones can summon rescue helicopters in minutes, where tourists crowd hotel terraces and peer through telescopes at the life-and-death struggles enacted on the great wall above them, no guides venture up the Eiger with unseasoned clients. It remains the pre-eminent Alpine route.
Mr Simpson is a born storyteller. The account of his final retreat off the face after a flash storm in which three climbers died (caught on film by a British documentary crew from the hotel below) will have any reader, even the most experienced climber, on the edge of his seat.
There is a universal appeal in the quality of Mr Simpson's writing, his self-deprecating candour and his compulsive urge to “play games with eternity”. He mentions that he plans to start writing novels, but it is unclear how he could surpass in fiction what he here relates as fact.
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So long as you did not know that swallowing this food breaks the fast, then you do not have to make up those days, because ignorance of things that break the fast is a valid excuse, according to the correct view.
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Things that break the fast and that may be done voluntarily, do not break a person's fast unless three conditions are met:
The first condition is that he is aware, and the opposite of awareness is ignorance.
So if a person eats something and he is ignorant, then he does not have to make up that day. Ignorance is of two types:
(i) Ignorance of the ruling, such as if a person vomits deliberately but he is not aware that vomiting breaks the fast. In this case he does not have to make up the fast because he is ignorant. The evidence that the one who is ignorant of the ruling does not break his fast is the report that is proven in al-Saheehayn from the hadeeth of Adiyy ibn Haatim (may Allaah be pleased with him), who said that he put two ropes - one black and one white - beneath his pillow. These were ropes of the type used to hobble camels. He started looking at them, and when he could distinguish between the white rope and the black one, he stopped eating and drinking. The next day he went to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and told him about that. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to him: Your pillow must be very wide, if the white thread and the black thread are beneath your pillow. Rather that is the blackness of the night and the whiteness of the day But the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not tell him to make that day up, because he had been unaware of the meaning of the verse.
(ii) Ignorance of the time. For example, if a person thinks that dawn has not yet broken, then he finds out that it had broken. He does not have to make up that day. Similarly if a person breaks the fast at the end of the day thinking that the sun has set, then he finds out that it had not set, he does not have to make up that day either. The evidence for that is the report narrated by al-Bukhaari from Asma' bint Abi Bakr (may Allaah be pleased with her) who said: We broke our fast on a cloudy day at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), then the sun came out. The point here is that if the fast was invalidated, it would have been obligatory to make it up, and if it had been obligatory to make it up, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) would have commanded them to do that. If he had ordered them to make it up, this would have reached us because it is part of preserving sharee'ah. As there is no report that says that the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told them to do that, and as he did not tell them to do that, it is known that the fast was not invalidated, so it does not have to be made up in this case. But as soon as a person realizes what the situation is, he must stop eating and drinking, so that even if there is a morsel in his mouth, he has to spit it out. End quote from Majmoo' Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (19/116).
Then he mentioned the second and third conditions, which are that he should be aware of the situation and observing the fast willingly.
Thus it is known that you do not have to make up these fasts.
And Allaah knows best.
Reproduced from Islam QA
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By Chadwick R. Gore
CSCE Staff Advisor
The Helsinki Commission held a briefing on March 26 regarding possible outcomes of ongoing direct talks between Republic of Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash. The two leaders have been central figures in developments on the divided island nation for over a quarter century. Panelist Ian Lesser said the time is ripe for the two sides to settle this conflict.
Lesser, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, attributed the resumption of talks last December to the force of European Union membership. “The issue about European membership for Cyprus, but also in the broader sense European prospects for Turkey and the Europeanization of Greek policy over the last decade…has proved a key context for this [round of talks] to move forward,” Lesser stated.
Panelist Doug Bandow, Senior Fellow at the CATO Institute, agreed with Lesser and laid out another catalyst for the talks. “I think what spurs the [talks] today certainly is the issue of the EU and whether or not Cyprus goes in; and in many ways, the Turkish threat, which they haven’t repeated recently but nevertheless hangs over the proceedings, of whether or not to annex the section of the island which the troops occupy,” Bandow said.
Central issues which Clerides and Denktash will have to resolve during these talks come from both sides of the Green Line, the dividing line agreed to under the terms of the current United Nations-monitored cease fire. Turkish Cypriots are concerned for their safety on an island that is overwhelmingly Greek. The status of Turkish immigrants under a new form of government is an issue in which both sides take interest. According to Bandow, the citizens of the Republic of Cyprus, mainly of Greek ethnicity, are primarily concerned with “reimbursement for lost property, the right to travel throughout the island, the ability to go back to historic homelands, the notion of having a unified island again; where, in fact, Cyprus exists as a nation in which people are free within that island.”
If indeed an agreement is reached between the two parties, the positive outcomes would extend beyond the island’s borders. Colonel Stephen R. Norton (U.S. Army, Ret.), a senior Policy Advisor at the Western Policy Center, expounded on the benefits of a solution. “First, it reduces the potential for conflict in the region. It strengthens NATO’s southern flank at a time when the alliance is deeply engaged in Balkan peacekeeping and the war on terrorism. It improves bilateral relations between NATO allies, Greece and Turkey. It enhances Turkey’s reputation with the European community and helps with its EU accession process – a very important item. It decreases long standing anti-Americanism in Greece. And, finally, it serves as an example where you have Christian and Muslim populations working out their problems together.”
Asked how the United States, specifically, can deter another conflict on Cyprus, panelist Philip H. Gordon of the Brookings Institute and the Center on the United States and France, answered, “…every single party involved in this – Turkish Cypriots, Greek Cypriots, Greece, Turkey, EU and us – are worse off if this is not resolved by December and there’s a crisis.” If the solution is to be long lasting, the Cypriots must reach it themselves, Bandow concluded.
Despite positive remarks about the situation, none of the four panelists were overly optimistic about the outcome of the current round of talks. Hesitant to set a deadline for an agreement, Gordon editorialized his thoughts, saying, “I think we need to be absolutely prepared for breakdowns in the talks, continued haggling between the two sides, literally up to the last minute, which is probably the EU’s Copenhagen Summit in December.”
An un-official transcript of the briefing is available on the Commission’s web site.
The Helsinki Commission also held a briefing on Tuesday, December 4, 2001 to explore the renewal of talks on Cyprus between Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash. The briefing featured United States Special Coordinator for Cyprus Ambassador Thomas G. Weston.
A transcript of the December 4, 2001 briefing is also available on the Commission’s web site.
The United States Helsinki Commission, an independent federal agency, by law monitors and encourages progress in implementing provisions of the Helsinki Accords. The Commission, created in 1976, is composed of nine Senators, nine Representatives and one official each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.
Helsinki Commission intern Kari Watson contributed to this article.
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Breaking Dawn Attack: What You Need to Know to Avoid Getting Bit
A new attack is spreading its way across Facebook, targeting fans of the epic vampire series Twilight. The clickjacking scam demonstrates just how easy it is to spread malware socially--especially if the bait is a phenomenon like Twilight that has such a devoted fanbase.
The next movie in the Twilight series--Twilight: Breaking Dawn--is due in theaters this November for the Thanksgiving kickoff to the holiday movie season. According to the Naked Security blog from Sophos, the new Facebook scam appears to be a link to a game pretending to promote the upcoming Twilight saga movie.
Amol Sarwate, vulnerabilities lab manager at Qualys, explains that the concept of clickjacking is not new, and has quickly been established as a staple of social engineering attacks. Essentially, the user is somehow tricked into clicking on something which leads to a variety of unintended--typically malicious or at least mischievous--actions being executed on behalf of the user without the user's knowledge.
"Sophisticated threat agents are now monitoring Twitter feeds to discover the subjects that are most likely to grab your interest so they can use spear phishing techniques or approach you indirectly through social networks," according to CTO of nCircle, Tim 'TK' Keanini.
Vikram Thakur, Principle Security Response Manager for Symantec, describes how an attack like this gets started in the first place. Symantec believes that attackers were able to used stolen or hacked account credentials to log in to Facebook accounts in order to upload images and tag them with friends of the compromised Facebook account. The tagging leads to the image being shared throughout the social network down to one or two degrees of separation from the hacked account and results in the attack being spread with each new click of the image.
In the case of the Breaking Dawn attack, the attackers would add the malicious app to the compromised Facebook profile rather than uploading an image, then 'Like' it and share it with the friends of the hacked Facebook account so those users will click on it and propagate the attack throughout Facebook.
Andrew Storms, Director of Security Operations for nCircle, told me that social media malware campaigns such as this are difficult to defend against. The tagged image or Breaking Dawn app are tempting because they appear to come from a trusted friend within the social network. Storms cautions users to slow down and think twice before jumping (or clicking) on the bandwagon when something seems to be spreading quickly through a network of friends.
It is not that difficult to avoid becoming a victim of a clickjacking attack--even a socially engineered one targeting a popular theme like the Twilight saga. The main thing to remember is to always exercise a healthy dose of cautious skepticism with messages on social networks just as you would (or at least should) if a friend were to send you an email with a link or file attachment. If you think you may have already been compromised by the Breaking Dawn attack, you should go into your Facebook account settings and remove the app.
Randy Abrams, Director of Technical Education at ESET, sums it up. "There is a class of user who cannot be protected from themselves. Many users can learn from the mistakes of others, especially when the material is presented well. For the avid, rabid fan, sometimes the only way they will learn is to get bit a few times."
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I’m going way out on a limb here: Delivering a “Heil Hitler” salute after scoring a game-winning soccer goal is never a good idea. In fact, it’s a horrible idea, so horrible that on Sunday Greece booted the offending 20-year-old Giorgos Katidis from ever again playing on its national team.
Ever. In a world of maybes, such certitude is welcome.
Katidis is a reflection of a troubling global trend: the rise of neo-fascist politics amid the economic tumult in Europe. Fortunately, the Greek national soccer team’s response shows what social institutions can do to fight back against extremism, even when governments fail in their own responsibilities.
The austerity measures enacted in response to the Greek economic crisis have propelled the rise of right-wing politics; nationalist groups are gaining footholds throughout the country. One far-right party, Golden Dawn, has embraced the language and ideology of German fascism, focusing its ire on immigrants. Greece sits at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and Asia, and shares a porous border with Turkey. The mass migration of refugees from Africa and the Middle East, in particular Syria with its 1 million displaced citizens, has led to increased violence against real and perceived outsiders in Greece.
While political distress causes people to leave their homelands, economic distress causes them to turn their frustration on their newest neighbors. Greece is now wrestling with this problem, and extreme anti-immigrant parties are also rising in France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Hungary.
Neo-Nazi elements have made inroads into soccer teams throughout the continent: Fascism appeals to the competitive nature in too many athletes.
These nations are trying to steady their fiscal hands, well aware that economic desperation historically has led to scapegoating of minorities. The far-right parties prey (as they always do) on young people, unemployed and energetic, who are convinced that their societies are collapsing at just the moment that they themselves are reaching maturity. Neo-Nazi elements have made inroads into soccer teams throughout the continent: Fascism appeals to the competitive nature in too many athletes.
Economists tend to view Europe’s woes solely in fiscal terms, which means they too easily ignore the social impact of austerity measures. And nothing is more social than sports. Unable to nip fascism at the voting booth, Greece’s leaders are trying to silence it whenever it raises its ugly head. Katidis’s salute was a “deep insult to all victims of Nazi brutality,” Greece’s soccer federation declared in announcing the end of his career. Less than a year earlier, Greece’s Olympic committee punished athlete Voula Papachristou for her racist and anti-immigrant tweets by sending her home from London’s summer games.
Katidis now claims that he is just a stupid kid and that he had no idea what, in fact, he was doing. He might have wondered why, in video footage, his teammates look at him in horror as he, shirtless and covered in tattoos, delivers the fascist salute while an older gentleman tries to bring his hand down. Even if he had known little about World War II, Katidis certainly was aware of Golden Dawn’s appropriation of Nazi imagery.
Back in 2005, an Italian player was banned for only one game after delivering a similar salute. But the decision by Greece’s national league to come down so hard on Katidis reflects a growing awareness of the dangers of far-right politics in sports.
The traditional notion of sports as a safe haven for people of all backgrounds, a level playing field, is lost if there is any institutional tolerance of racism. In addition to political extremism, European soccer leagues are contending with fan violence, hooliganism, and an ongoing investigation that is looking into the possible fixing of as many as 680 matches between 2008 and 2011. The most recognized game in the world is struggling under a corrosive narrative.
Greece’s national league is trying to change that. It may not be able to solve austerity or immigrant bashing. It can’t stop the Syrian civil war or Africa’s poverty. But in one swift and conclusive move, it took a stand against glorifying the worst of mankind. It may not be much, but, in the process, the league elevated the rest of us.
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Pampered pony gets rescued by three dozen firefighters1/29/2013
Nova the pony may be the luckiest pony on Earth -- because he had the good fortune to fall down a well in 21st-century Somerset, England, and not, say, the fictional medieval landscape of "Game of Thrones," where he would have been used as (a) food or (b) target practice. Nearly three dozen rescue personnel and two fire trucks responded to the call to rescue Nova, who was stuck eight feet down and up to his chest in water. Luckily, he'd fallen on his feet, rather than on his back -- so the unflappable pony was retrieved with specialized lifting equipment and returned to the surface, uninjured. [Source]
Click to see more on msnNOW.com, updated 24 hours a day.
What's your favorite rescue story?
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Ford has been doing a lot of things pretty well since Mulally steered the company out of bankruptcy in the early 2000s, but the one front that they've been consistiently weak on is the hybrid market. Both their cars and trucks, while efficient, lack to the gas-sipping advantages that foreign brands offer. No more.
According to Wards Auto, Ford has forged a partnership with Hybrid powerhouse Toyota with the ultimate goal of producing a hybrid F-150. Ideally the tech would also be applicable to Ford's Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator, but the difficulty lies in mating hybrid tech with the power and towing requirements of a truck. It's not impossible: GM's Yukon hybrid manages to mate hybrid power to a full size SUV. Admittedly, in that case the gains are pretty marginal (a bump of 5 mpg/city) for a hefty premium ($50,000).
Should the partnership work out, the result would be an even more efficient F-150 in the future. Also worth remembering is that Ford has plans to put the F-150 on a serious aluminum diet, dropping the weight by 700 lbs. Ultimately the end result should be truck better suited to be both a commuter and a work-horse. The real enemy here in all of this is price. Hybrid technology makes things more expensive as a rule, as does aluminum. Hopefully the F-150 won't lose it's low price appeal by trying to be everything for everyone.
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Get involved: Send pictures, video, news and views - text NEWS SHOPPER to 80360 or email us
News Shopper celebrates publishing 2,500th edition of newspaper
10:55am Wednesday 20th February 2013 in Bromley
THIS is a momentous day in News Shopper’s history as we publish our 2,500th edition.
As London’s oldest free newspaper we printed our first edition and delivered it through your letterbox way back in 1965. Some of you may be able to remember that day, but others will not have been born.
To help celebrate this remarkable milestone we are recalling the middle year of the swinging sixties.
So whether you were born or not, sit back and enjoy a stroll down memory lane to the day News Shopper was born.
Andrew Parkes, editor, News Shopper
Back to 1965
Historian BOB OGLEY looks back at the events of 1965, the year NEWS SHOPPER was born.
News Shopper was born in 1965 in the middle of a ‘youth revolution’, an economic boom and the start of what most people hoped would become a classless society.
The slums of south London were giving way to high rise, affordable homes and a new authority was about to bully its way onto the administrative stage.
The year began with a knighthood for Stanley Matthews, the first footballer to be so honoured, and the death of Sir Winston Churchill, whose lying in state in Westminster Hall prompted British Rail to lay on hundreds of extra trains as people flocked to pay their respects.
Stan Laurel also died in January.
Known among his friends in south London as Stanley Jefferson and by the rest of the world as the comic partner of Oliver Hardy, he had earned thousands from his many films.
But not as much as actor Roger Moore, who lived for many years at The Mount, Bexleyheath, with his wife, Dorothy Squires.
In 1965 he was reported to be earning an astronomical £2,000 a week.
On April 1, the newly-formed and controversial Greater London Council came officially into being.
Not only had it taken over such historic towns as Bromley, Greenwich and Bexley but it had also extended its greedy fingers into the real countryside to gather in the idyllic villages of Knockholt, Downe and Farnborough.
Readers of the newly-published News Shopper had much to say about this and, in particular, how ‘Little Bromley’ had merged with Beckenham, Orpington, Chislehurst, Sidcup and Penge to become ‘Big Bromley’ with 39,266 acres — the largest of the 32 boroughs in the new authority.
A jury at the Old Bailey cleared Ronnie and Reggie Kray of running a protection racket in the East End to the great surprise of the criminal fraternity of south London.
But for them there was better news coming from Westminster, where the House of Lords approved the bill to abolish hanging.
In the summer of 1965, the many publicans in our London boroughs had a great deal to say (much of it unprintable) about a new law for motorists who enjoyed a drink, as the government introduced a legal blood alcohol limit for motorists.
However, there was good news for Bexley, with the appointment of their shoulder-shaking MP as leader of the Conservative party.
Ted Heath, 49, and the youngest leader for 100 years, beat Reginald Maudling and Enoch Powell in a poll and said his first task was to restore party morale.
Figures released that year showed Coronation Street was still the most popular TV series, while fellow ITV programme Ready Steady Go was the most influential live music show.
The Beatles were as popular as ever and so was a rock group called the Rolling Stones, formed three years earlier by Dartford-born Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, along with Brian Jones.
Other groups topping the hit parade in 1965 included the Moody Blues, Righteous Brothers and The Kinks.
Other successful films on the south London Odeon circuit were The Carpetbaggers and How The West Was Won.
It was a busy year for estate agents with homes changing hands frequently.
An imposing four-bedroom detached family residence in Chislehurst, complete with central heating, a tennis court and one acre of garden, sold for £12,250.
Detached bungalows with four bedrooms were on sale for £7,975 and a semi-detached close to the shops in Bromley was on the market for £3,750.
Chiesmans of Lewisham was advertising Caprice three-piece suites for 78 guineas and a Harris Tweed sports jacket for 29s 11d.
Those who could afford such luxury items could possibly also manage to buy a 1962 Jaguar 3.5 automatic with radio and safety belts for a mere £875, while a new Morris 1100 was on sale for just £585.
l If you have a story, photograph, letter or an anecdote to pass on, write to me at Bob Ogley, News Shopper, Mega House. Crest View Drive, Petts Wood, Kent BR5 1BT or email email@example.com
You can also visit frogletspublications.co.uk
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Move over, off-peak dining—there may be a surprising new way to earn a discount on your next restaurant meal.
The Huffington Post reports that Los Angeles-based Eva Restaurant is offering a 5% discount to all diners who voluntarily hand in their phones after being seated.
Want More?12 Tips to Save on Restaurants and Food
Surprisingly enough, owner Mark Gold told KPCC radio that the policy was designed in order to create a more intimate environment for diners, rather than to avoid annoying patrons chatting too loudly on their phones.
In fact, a Pew study found that fewer people regularly encounter strangers having irritatingly loud conversations on their phones in public spaces (39%, compared to 50% in 2006). This is likely due to the fact that more people are texting, rather than calling, says the study’s author.
While we doubt that this unique restaurant policy will become a nationwide dining trend, Gold does have one thing right: cell phones do decrease the quality of interaction between dining companions. A study from the UK’s Essex University found that the simple presence of a cell phone caused people to feel less positively toward each other.
What do you think—would you hand in your cell phone for a discount? Or is the urge to check email and text (not to mention Instagram photos of your meal) too great to overcome?
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For the Fourth of July, Maria Kalman’s sketchblog on Thomas Jefferson, a brilliant and flawed man. If you want to understand this country and its people and what it means to be optimistic and complex and tragic and wrong and courageous, you need to go to [Jefferson's] home in Virginia. Monticello. This does not absolve [...]
Tag Archives: architecture
Rohit Khare peels back the layers at LAX’s Terminal Three. Like most things in Southern California, a human structure has to be driven, never walked. It reveals too many of the seams of history to savor things on foot.
I haven’t had a chance to dig into this site, but the American Institute of Architects is sponsoring research on livable communnities. The AIA defines those as offering: choices in housing, shopping, recreation, and job opportunities; transportation alternatives, interweaving spaces for pedestrians, bicycles, buses, trains, and cars; a variety of open spaces and places for [...]
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Oil industry lobbyists are working hard to soften the blow they know will be coming amid hearings in Congress and as oil continues to spill into the Gulf of Mexico.
Democrats on Capitol Hill cast the situation in black and white.
"Whose side are you on? Are you on the side of the taxpayers or multibillion-dollar oil companies?" Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) asked May 13.
Menendez proposed a bill to lift the $75 million cap on corporate liability for economic damages from oil spills. But Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was ready, and blocked the bill -- at least for now.
The drive for legislation and the maneuver to block it are likely to play out many more times this summer -- and fall -- as the oil industry braces for an onslaught of legislation. Democrats want to pass a bill that will raise the liability limit to $10 billion.
"The oil industry, to read the newspaper, you would think is the most powerful lobbying group in the Congress," said lobbyist J. Bennett Johnston, a former Democratic senator from Louisiana. "And the fact of the matter is, it is so far down the list you almost can't find it."
It's true that oil doesn't have as many powerful allies as it used to -- like Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson in the 1950s or Vice President Dick Cheney or Bennett Johnston himself, who in the 1980s and '90s chaired both of the Senate panels overseeing the oil industry.
But the industry has made about $13 million in campaign contributions for the upcoming midterm elections. Last year, it spent $39 million on lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Now, Democratic leaders are weighing all sorts of legislation: tougher safety regulations, more environmental protection and new taxes on the industry.
The April 20 explosion on the drilling rig owned by Transocean Ltd. and operated by energy giant BP killed 11 people.
BP, which is responsible for the spill, has hired the Brunswick Group, a crisis-management firm with deep ties to the Democratic establishment. Transocean retained former Republican Rep. Bill Brewster as a lobbyist.
No Unified Response
It's clear the industry won't be speaking with a single voice.
For example, the drilling companies that work in shallow water are trying to distance themselves from the deep-water operations where the blowout occurred.
More specifically, they want to be exempted from the Obama administration's moratorium on new drilling permits. They have hired lobbyist Robert Livingston, a former Republican congressman from Louisiana.
Livingston argues that the shallow drillers will be unfairly hurt by the moratorium because they don't work a well for months and months the way the deep-water rigs do.
Livingston says his clients use old, proven technology -- not as risky as the deep-water wells.
"That is technology that's only been developed in the last 10 or 15 years, and obviously it has its drawbacks," he said. "To equate all offshore drilling with that process, it would be unfair and unwise."
Tyson Slocum, the energy policy program director of the progressive group Public Citizen, says he isn't counting the oil industry out.
"Big Oil's legislative agenda is still able to function, even after a devastating event like we've got going on in the Gulf of Mexico right now," Slocum said.
An industry lawyer was more direct. Speaking on background, after his boss told him not to, he said: "Never, ever, ever, ever underestimate the influence of the oil industry in Congress."
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Artist's Choice: Trisha Donnelly
The Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Painting and Sculpture Galleries, fourth floor
Trisha Donnelly (American, b. 1974) is the tenth artist to participate in the Artist's Choice series, for which contemporary artists are invited to organize an exhibition drawn entirely from MoMA's collection. Donnelly is an artist whose oeuvre takes on many different forms, and she intentionally complicates the way we typically apprehend and classify a work of art, not to confuse, but to change and fundamentally enhance the ways in which we experience it. For this exhibition, on view in three of The Alfred H. Barr Painting and Sculpture Galleries on the fourth and fifth floors, she has selected rarely seen 20th-century photographs, films, design items, architectural renderings, prints, drawings, paintings, and sculptures, organizing them into three discrete presentations that together create fresh portals through which to discover MoMA’s collection.
Organized by Trisha Donnelly with Laura Hoptman, Curator, and Cara Manes, Collection Specialist, Department of Painting and Sculpture.
Major support for the exhibition is provided by MoMA’s Wallis Annenberg Fund for Innovation in Contemporary Art through the Annenberg Foundation.
The Artist's Choice exhibition series is made possible through The Agnes Gund Artist's Choice Fund endowed by Iara Lee and George Gund III, Lulie and Gordon Gund, Ann and Graham Gund, and Sarah and Geoffrey Gund.
Image: Eliot Porter. Blue-throated Hummingbird, Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, May 1959 [Lampornis clemenciae]. 1959. Dye transfer print, 9 5/16 x 7 3/4" (23.7 x 19.6 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of David H. McAlpin. © 1990 Amon Carter Museum of American Art
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By Ashley Lutz
NEW YORK - Retail sales at stores open more than a year may have gained as much as 4.5 percent in December, more than previously estimated, as U.S. shoppers pursued holiday discounts, a trade group said.
Same-store sales in December were earlier projected to have advanced as much as 4 percent, the International Council of Shopping Centers said in a statement Wednesday. Sales at retail chains last week rose 5.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the New York-based researcher.
Sales in the last two weeks of December increased from a year earlier as retailers extended hours and benefited from Christmas Eve falling on a Saturday, providing a strong end to a holiday season that already had exceeded some forecasts. Macy’s Inc., Gap Inc. and Target Corp. also offered discounts on already marked-down merchandise in the week after Christmas.
“The last few weeks of December helped to lift the full-month performance above our earlier expectation,” Michael Niemira, chief economist at the ICSC, said in the statement.
The National Retail Federation last month raised its forecast for the holiday shopping season after steeper discounts and earlier opening hours contributed to a record $52.4 billion in sales during the Thanksgiving weekend. The Washington-based group said sales may increase 3.8 percent to a record $469.1 billion in November and December, up from a previous projection for a 2.8 percent gain.
The increase would be higher than the 10-year average of 2.6 percent growth and slower and than last year’s 5.2 percent increase.
Store and online sales on Dec. 26 soared to an estimated $29 billion from $20 billion last year, said Craig Johnson, president of consulting firm Customer Growth Partners.
“There was a level of pent-up demand, and people decided the deals were worth taking,” Johnson said in a telephone interview from New Canaan, Conn., before Wednesday's results were announced.
Sales for the week ending Dec. 24 increased 4.5 percent from a year earlier, the ICSC said Dec. 28. Unemployment at the lowest in more than two years boosted consumer confidence to an eight-month high in December.
The ICSC’s numbers are based on the ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index.
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New York state has a very powerful tide to counter as it battles for competitive prosperity.
It has more and higher taxes and fees than any state, we are told again and again, so how do you persuade a company to come here when the company realizes its profits will be seized by the government trying to win its heart?
You could argue over whether all of these taxes and fees are necessary. But, even if you’re inclined to defend our tax structure, sometimes an antiquated law comes to the public’s attention that seems completely irrational.
Here’s one: New York Labor Law sections 240 and 241, commonly called the Scaffold Law, hold employers, contractors and property owners liable for all “elevation-related” injuries. Contractors, employers and property owners are automatically fully liable for all workers’ injuries, even if a worker’s own negligence caused the injury. Or if the worker was intoxicated and got injured as a result.
The law was originally put into the books in 1885. Apparently, there was a need for it then, though what that need would have been remains elusive.
Between then and 1995, every state erased that errant piece of legislation, except Illinois and, of course, New York. That year, Illinois came to its senses, leaving New York as the lone holdout.
The result is higher costs for liability insurance and another economic disincentive for investment and job growth in New York. These costs further weigh down the state as it tries to help businesses achieve a healthy bottom line and give companies another reason to establish a presence here.
By all means, make contractors responsible for doing everything reasonable to provide a safe working climate for their employees. But, when the employees defy good sense and common practice, resulting in costly injury or even death, why should the employer be held liable?
As the Scaffold Law stands at this moment, in a lawsuit, the contractor, employer or property owner is automatically fully at fault, even if the worker was grossly negligent. Ignoring every fundamental of justice, the defendants have virtually no opportunity to defend themselves in court.
New legislation would adopt a comparative negligence standard, giving employers equal access to the courts and reducing costs to small businesses, farms, manufacturers, municipalities, school districts and, significantly, taxpayers. Insurance costs would immediately go down, say proponents of the change.
The bills are No. 6861 in the Senate and No. 2835 in the Assembly.
Tell your representatives you want to see this archaic provision stricken from the Scaffold Law at once.
New York has a hard enough time overcoming its mountainous tax structure. It doesn’t need to compound that with pure stupidity.
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OCTOBER 31, 1940
WATERVILLE, Maine, Wednesday—I did not have space to tell you yesterday that after I arrived in New York City Monday afternoon, I went over to the Preview Theatre to see a short film dedicated to the activities of the National Youth Administration. I hope it will be run by every motion picture theatre in this country, for it has a deeply moving story to tell. The story is that of our young boys and girls who are grown to maturity and find no outlet for their energies, no work, no experience, no chance for a start. Then a series of pictures show the projects started during the past few years by the NYA.
It is a picture which will make you feel proud of our young people and what they can do when they are given a chance. But I doubt if any one of us can feel very satisfied with the world we have created. We know that even with this program, only one out of every seven of the young people in our communities who need training or work, is getting it.
Here, before our eyes, we see the proof that we have learned how to give these youngsters training, how to give them a chance at real work on a production basis; so that they need not answer the question: "What experience have you?" with that hopeless "none" which means no job. Yet, we have only developed this program for a limited number. The CCC and NYA should cover every boy and girl coming out of school who is not able to obtain work in private industry, or who is not called to service under the selective draft.
Our drive up into Maine yesterday was very lovely. Maine is full of little blue lakes and big green pines around them have a delicious fragrance. The rest of the trees are rather dwarfed and stunted and the land is certainly rocky and none too productive. However, out of it a good many people seem to have wrung a fair living. There are many good sized farm houses. The older ones are built in a characteristic way for our cold states, with the barn tacked right on to the house so that the men do not have to go out in winter when they feed the stock.
Mr. and Mrs. John Cutter's house is way off the main road over a good dirt road which is rather narrow and winding. We were well content we did not meet any other car as we came along. When we drove in the gate, all the dogs set up a tremendous barking, for they evidently do not like intruders. Mr. Cutter came to greet us and to say that his wife was still at cooking school, but would be back shortly.
It seemed almost too good to be true that Greece could really hold her own. One cannot help hoping that this little country may have a chance to preserve its independence.
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TrendingParis Air Show 2013 | Housing market | Keystone | Stephen Poloz | Apple | Extreme Saving | Wireless contracts | E3 2013 | Gold | Telus, Mobilicity deal | Xbox One | REITs | Telus-Mobilicity | CMHC | BlackBerry | Earnings | Loblaw's Joe Fresh | BCE-Astral hearings | Poll: Do you like the new $5 and $10 bills? | Air Canada | RBC | Samsung Galaxy S4 | Target Canada
For decades, Canada has been one of the growing forces in global energy production. Try to quantify that position in any meaningful way, however, and the United States government will likely be the one providing the figures. “Right now the U.S. EIA [Energy Information Agency] is doing a lot of our work for us, not all of it, but certainly a big chunk,” laments Michal Moore, an energy economics professor at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy and author of a recent proposal to create a pan-Canadian Energy Information Organization (CEIO). “A nationally recognized authority on the Canadian energy sector is long overdue,” Moore wrote in the introduction to the proposal published in early April.
Canada’s constitution makes natural resources a federal responsibility, but the provinces maintain dominion over energy resources. The resulting overlap has spread responsibility for tracking growth patterns in the production of Canada’s widespread energy resources — from crude oil and natural gas to hydroelectricity and wind power — across as many as 100 public and private organizations. Each employs “variable techniques, standards, definitions, concepts and time frames where the quality can vary significantly,” reads an excerpt from Moore’s report. “In the end, we lack a single official set of Canada-centric energy data resources that can be the basis for uniform and potentially collaborative energy policies.”
The idea of a national energy plan has been an ongoing public policy discussion for years and, last July, punctuated the meeting of energy ministers from across Canada in Kananaskis, Alta., co-chaired by federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver. Centralizing industry analysis would surely be a key — and more palatable — part of that plan, but it would likely be just the first of many steps.
“This is all just about information and having a one-stop shop for clear, unbiased and I have to stress independent energy analysis for the whole country,” Moore says.
The importance of establishing a CEIO as Canada’s global energy clout grows should not be understated.
“The risk of not having a fuller debate that is fostered by good data is we may make poor policy decisions, poor investments which could translate directly to lower quality of life in the material, social and environmental senses,” says Joseph Doucet, a professor at the University of Alberta’s centre for applied business research in energy and the environment, and interim dean of the Alberta School of Business. “So the stakes are high.”
Industry players already have all the information they need to make responsible investment decisions, asserts Travis Davies, a spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). “But you need the expertise to know where to go,” he says. “As we move forward and as the public gets more engaged on issues of energy production — and I’m not talking about oil and gas, I’m talking hydro and wind and solar — obviously that is not something one set of industry organizations can handle.”
Davies says the CEIO would need to have “total transparency” along with expertise, a budget and credibility. Generally speaking, those features should not be difficult to achieve, except that they require direct governmental oversight and financial support.
Moore’s proposal calls for Ottawa to cover half of a $5-million annual bill for a 35-person agency and offers a formula to determine how much each province would kick in for the other half based on the relative size of their industries. Public funding would help provide legitimacy to the CEIO that support from industry participants themselves would not, though commitments of taxpayer cash do not appear to be immediately forthcoming.
“We look forward to reviewing their proposal,” minister Oliver said in a statement released more than a week after the proposal was published, noting his department continues to “work collaboratively with our provincial counterparts to strengthen Canada’s energy sector,” but forgoing any comment on whether he would support creating a new analytical government agency.
Alberta’s own energy ministry, which originally requested the proposal be prepared, also remains uncommitted. “We aren’t really at the point where we are agreeing or disagreeing with it,” says Alberta Energy spokesperson Karen Karbashewski. “We just asked for an independent analysis of what a national organization could look like.”
Now that they know, it’s up to Canada’s elected energy officials to decide at their upcoming September meeting in Charlottetown whether they like what they see enough to put more resources into resource analysis.
“To get to the next step, there has to be recognition on the part of all players that we are better and stronger when we are presenting a unified and collaborative picture of how we use resources in Canada,” Moore says. “I think it is time. The argument has some resonance now [and] my guess is there will be a fair amount of frustration coming if we don’t start to unite behind something like this.”
Topics: Financial Post Magazineblog comments powered by Disqus
A joint venture with KPMG
Chinese companies are increasingly looking to Canada to grow and expand their enterprises.
India’s government approved new regulations in September, allowing 51 percent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail and 100 percent in single-brand retail, with some restrictions
Within a generation, the middle class in China will be roughly four times the size of America’s middle class.
Posting strong GDP growth rates that are quickly outstripping those of developed nations, emerging markets are growing faster than they can keep up.
The FP500 issue will be released Tuesday, June 18, inside the National Post and as an iPad app.
Content from Twitter
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Unacceptable behaviour on American Idol
American Idol bosses issued an apology due to new judge Steven Tyler’s insulting remarks to one of the contestants.
by Rune H. RasmussenThis week’s American Idol began with a black screen and the following message: “American Idol would like to apologise for last week’s outrageous behaviour by Steven Tyler. Mr Tyler has been warned and assures us it will never happen again.”
The behaviour in question was aired on last week’s show, when a contestant named Jake Muck walked onto the audition stage in Austin, Texas. Tyler insulted the contestant by pointing out what his last name rhymed with – it was not “duck”, as the contestant himself suggested.
The producers chose to omit the footage from the edited show.
Unacceptable behaviour from an adult
International Director of Kids and Media, Oystein Samnoen, defines such comments as completely unacceptable, and as a dark side of the TV talent show genre:
“Members of panels of judges at TV shows like American Idol have a tremendous impact on children and teenagers. Rude comments like the one Steven Tyler gave on American Idol are undermining the trust and respect of adults for millions of children and teenagers all over the world. Judges sets standards for acceptable and expected use of language. It was indeed appropriate with an excuse from the producers, and I strongly suggest producers in general to remove judges that are unwilling or unable to behave with decency. That would set a true example for children and teenagers all over the world.”
American Idol bosses apologise for Steve Tyler's 'outrageous behaviour'
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1. WHEN man comprehended the earth he looked upward; and Jehovih saw him and knew the desires of his soul. So Jehovih sent his son Uz, and Uz spake, saying:
2. Hear me, O man; the mysteries of heaven and earth will I clear up before thy judgment. Thou art the highest, and comest to the chiefest of all kingdoms; from Great Jehovih shalt thou learn wisdom, and none shall gainsay thee.
3. Bethink thee, O man, of the magnitude of Thy Father's kingdoms and His places in the firmament. Save I take thee up to the heaven, thou canst not comprehend the places thereof.
4. Man then rose up in spirit and ascended into the firmament, for his spirit had crystallized into separateness; and Uz and Es ascended with him, speaking in the voice of the Father. And man beheld that each and everything in the firmament was orderly, and still each to itself located. Then spake Es, saying:
5. Behold, O man! As a farmer soweth corn in one place, and wheat in another, and roots in another, and flax--everything in a separate place; even so doth Jehovih store the ingredients of which worlds are made--everything in its place--the substance of the iron in one place, the substance of the stones in another, the substance of the vegetable kingdom in another, and even so of the substance of the animal kingdom; and the oils and sand; for He hath places in the firmament of heaven for all of them. These that thou sawest are the a'ji and the ji'ay and the nebulæ; and amidst them in places there is se'mu also. Let no man say: Yonder is hydrogen only, and yonder oxygen only. The divisions of the substances of His creations are not as man would make them. All the elements are to be found not only in places near at hand, but in distant places also.
6. When the Father driveth forth His worlds in the heavens, they gather a sufficiency of all things. So also cometh it to pass that when a corporeal world is yet new and young it is carried forth, not by random, but purposely, in the regions suited to it. Hence there is a time for se'mu, a time for falling nebulæ, to bury deep the forests and se'muan beds, to provide coal and manure for a time thereafter. So is there a time when the earth passeth a region in the firmament when sand and oil are rained upon it and covered up, and gases bound and sealed up for the coming generations of men.
7. And man said: I am ashamed in Thy sight, O Jehovih! I looked upward and said, Behold the sky, it is nothing! Then I said: It is true, the corporeal worlds are made of condensed nebulæ; but I saw not the wisdom and glory of Thy works. I locked Thee up in coincidences and happenings. Thy unseen world hath become seen; the unreal hath become the real.
8. O that I had been mindful of Thee! O that I had not put Thee afar, nor imagined laws and decrees. Teach Thou me, O Jehovih! How was the beginning of man? How was it with the first of the living that Thou broughtest forth?
9. Jehovih said: Have I not declared Myself in the past; in My works have I not provided thousands of years in advance? As I have shown system in the corporeal worlds, know thou, O man, that system prevaileth in the firmament.
10. To the tree I gave life; to man I gave life and spirit also. And the spirit I made was separate from the corporeal life.
11. Out of se'mu I made man, and man was but as a tree, but dwelling in ha'k; and I called him Asu (Adam).
12. I looked over the wide heavens that I had made, and I saw countless millions of spirits of the dead that had lived and died on other corporeal worlds before the earth was made.
13. I spake in the firmament, and My voice reached to the uttermost places. And there came in answer to the sounds of My voice, myriads of angels from the roadway in heaven, where the earth traveleth. I said to them, Behold! A new world have I created; come ye and enjoy it. Yea, ye shall learn from it how it was with other worlds in ages past.
14. There alighted upon the new earth millions of angels from heaven; but many of them had never fulfilled a corporeal life, having died in infancy, and these angels comprehended not procreation nor corporeal life.
15. And I said, go and deliver Asu from darkness, for he shall also rise in spirit to inherit my etherean worlds.
16. And now was the earth in the latter days of se'mu, and the angels p. 11 could readily take on corporeal bodies for themselves; out of the elements of the earth clothed they themselves, by force of their wills, with flesh and bones. By the side of the Asuans took they on corporeal forms.
17. And I said: Go ye forth and partake of all that is on the earth; but partake ye not of the tree of life, lest in that labor ye become procreators and as if dead to the heavens whence ye came.
18. But those who had never learned corporeal things, being imperfect in wisdom, comprehended not Jehovih's words, and they dwelt with the Asuans, and were tempted, and partook of the fruit of the tree of life; and lo and behold they saw their own nakedness. And there was born of the first race (Asu) a new race called man; and Jehovih took the earth out of the travail of se'mu and the angels gave up their corporeal bodies.
19. Jehovih said: Because ye have raised up those that shall be joint heirs in heaven, ye shall tread the earth with your feet, and walk by the sides of the new born, being guardian angels over them, for they are of your own flesh and kin.
20. Fruit of your seed have I quickened with my spirit, and man shall come forth with a birth-right to My etherean worlds.
21. As I have quickened the seed of the first born, so will I quicken all seed to the end of the earth. And each and every man-child and woman-child born into life will I quicken with a new spirit, which shall proceed out of Me at the time of conception. Neither will I give to any spirit of the higher or lower heaven power to enter a womb, or a fetus of a womb, and be born again.
22. As the corporeal earth passeth away, so shall pass away the first race Asu; but as I pass not away, so shall not pass away the spirit of man.
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The opposition to California's Proposition 37, for the labeling of GMO products and genetically engineered ingredients, is being bankrolled by foreign and out-of-state companies.
Digital Journal has reported on the many millions being pumped into the "No on 37" campaign, in opposition to labeling of genetically engineered food. There has also been much reporting on the way that the opposition is spending these millions on blanketing California with misleading and even fraudulent advertising, to confuse voters. Criminal investigations have even been called for by the "Yes on 37" campaign.
The latest scandal is the fact that foreign and out-of-state companies are now bankrolling the "No on 37" campaign against GMO labeling.
Of the top ten donors to No on 37:Four are subsidiaries of foreign companies (BASF, Bayer, Syngenta, Nestle).
Nine are out-of-state companies. Only one – Nestle USA – is based in California, but it is a subsidiary of Nestle S.A., which is based in Switzerland.
Three are subsidiaries of foreign pesticide companies (BASF, Bayer, Syngenta) that are not allowed to grow genetically engineered crops in their own countries for health and environmental reasons.
Six are pesticide companies not based in California, which together have given $20 million to oppose Californians right to know about genetically engineered food.
Stacy Malkan, media director for the Yes on Proposition 37, California Right to Know campaign says, “Foreign and non-California companies are trying to buy this election, and keep California mothers and fathers from finding out what’s really in their children’s food.”
“It’s especially stunning that the opposition is being bankrolled to such a large extent by foreign pesticide companies that are using California families as guinea pigs for their genetically engineered crops that are shunned back at home,” Malkan said.
Swiss company, Syngenta, along with German-based BASF and Bayer, have spent $2 million each to oppose Proposition 37.
However, since 2005, Switzerland has banned the growing of genetically engineered crops.
Germany severely restricts genetically engineered crops and as at 2012, there are none being planted in that country.
“These foreign companies are subverting our elections with a massive propaganda campaign of lies and deception,” Malkan said.
Latest campaign contributions as at Friday, October 19 including an additional $5.2 million to the "No on 37" campaign, from food and consumer products companies. Of the 35 contributors to the "No on 37" campaign, only two are actually based in California, Nestle (who are actually a subsidiary of Swiss-based Nestle SA) and Clorox.
“The vote on Proposition 37 will come down to a question of whom should we trust. Should we trust the world’s largest pesticide and junk food companies to make the choices about what’s in our food, or do we want to make those decisions ourselves?”
Ca Right to Know
Up to today's date, opponents of Proposition 37 have raised a grand total of $40.7 million.
The "Yes on 37" California Right to Know campaign has raised $5.3 million, largely from natural and organic food companies, and from more than 10,000 individual donors. The campaign is backed by more than 2,000 health, labor, faith and consumer groups, which include American Public Health Association, California Nurses Association, California Council of Churches, California Labor Federation, Consumers Union, Public Citizen, United Farm Workers, the United Food and Commercial Workers and many more.
The full list of endorsers can be viewed here: http://www.carighttoknow.org/endorsementsThe following is a list of donations to the "No on 37" campaign, against labeling of GMOs:
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Timber Boss Evades Jail, Court Fiasco Illustrates Urgent Need for Reform in Indonesian
The controversial acquittal of fugitive timber boss Adelin Lis is symptomatic of corruption in the criminal justice system and serious flaws in Indonesia's forest laws, bringing into question the government's approach to tackling illegal logging, environmental groups warned today.
In light of the judges' verdict in Medan, North Sumatra, on 5th November, Telapak and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) are urging the Indonesian government to immediately enact a recently agreed standard for verifying the legality of timber and to conduct a high-level review of the Presidential Instruction issued in April 2005 to combat illegal logging.
Lis in one of the most high profile illegal logging suspects to be brought before the courts, and faced charges carrying a jail sentence of up to ten years.
His acquittal marks a serious setback in Indonesia's efforts to tackle illegal logging, and revealed utter confusion between key ministries as to whether the offence was criminal or administrative.
The current legal framework governing forestry in Indonesia is riddled with over-lapping rules, contrary regulations and grey areas.
This legal confusion, coupled with rampant corruption, has played a significant role in ensuring that Indonesia, despite reams of forestry rules, has one of the world's worst rates of deforestation and a massive illegal logging problem.
Efforts have been made to fix the problem through the drafting of a new Timber Legality Assurance System (TLAS), which would bring much needed clarity to the forestry sector.
Despite four years of work drawing up the standard and broad agreement on the substance, it has languished in the Ministry of Forestry since January awaiting final approval.
Mardi Minangsari, Senior Forest Campaigner at Telapak, said: "The current way of managing forestry in Indonesia is clearly not fit for purpose. Criminals profit from legal uncertainty and grey areas, while deforestation continues. We urge the government to adopt the new legality standard as a matter of urgency to sort out the confusion."
The acquittal of Lis is the latest in a long line of questionable verdicts in major illegal logging trials. Despite Indonesia's much-vaunted clampdown on illegal logging, virtually no significant timber criminals have been found guilty by the courts. In March EIA/Telapak released a report entitled "The Thousand Headed Snake", revealing the utter failure of the Indonesian authorities to bring the main timber barons to justice. For instance, none of the ringleaders among 173 suspects identified during an unprecedented crackdown in Papua in 2005 have been successfully prosecuted.
In 2005 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued an instruction compelling 18 government agencies to work together to tackle illegal logging. Yet recent disagreements between the police and the Ministry of Forestry, and the failure of the Attorney General's Office to successfully prosecute illegal logging cases show that the effectiveness of the "inpres" needs to be urgently reviewed, with EIA/Telapak advocating the setting up of a strike force to handle high profile cases.
Julian Newman, Head of EIA's Forest Campaign, said: "The Lis case shows it is business as usual in Indonesia's courts. The evidence of illegal logging is clear to see across Indonesia - decimated forests and impoverished communities - yet the influential timber criminals who have robbed Indonesia of billions of dollars of timber always escape justice."
As the pivotal Bali talks on climate change approach, Indonesia's woeful record of forest mismanagement will be under the spotlight.
The country is also in the midst of important timber trade negotiations with the European Union to curb wood smuggling. Approving the new legality standard and establishing a powerful strike force to tackle illegal logging would go some way to show the international community that Indonesia is serious about protecting its remaining forests.
For more information, contact EIA at +44 (0)20 7354 7960 (UK) or +1 202 483 6621 (U.S.).
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