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The cause of this extraordi nary drive has been the medio cre showing of the Soviet econ omy in 1969. Despite a widely heralded economic reform in itiated in 1965, the Soviet Union's industrial and agricul tural sectors performed poorly. |
The rate of growth in indus try was 7 per cent, compared with 8.1 per cent in 1968 and 10 per cent in 1967, and Soviet agriculture recorded an actual decline from 1968 in the pro duction of almost all the ma jor farm commodities. |
Soviet leaders have indicated that they hope the present cam paign will rejuvenate and in still a sense of dynamism into the sluggish economy, and gen erate popular support among the masses for the economic and political programs of the Soviet Communist party and the Government. |
The party leader, Leonid I. Brezhnev, who launched the campaign with a still unpub lished speech to the Central Committee last December, has called for “a new approach” to the perennial Soviet problems of low labor productivity, strained manpower and mater ial resources, unpredictable agricultural production, and a lag... |
But ironically, in his quest for new ideas, Mr. Brezhnev has apparently dropped his ear lier support for the innovative ideas put forward by some lib eral economists when the re form was first announced. These plans called for the economy to be based, more closely on profit incentives and away from the central planning... |
Instead, he seems to have given approval for the cam paign to be based on the tradi tional Soviet practice of exhor tation and discipline. |
At least in their public state ments, the Soviet leaders still indicate support for the reform even though some of its more controversial aspects appear to have been de‐emphasized, par ticularly the stress formerly given to prodding the worker through extra rubles in his pocket. |
Because economy and politics are so intertwined in Soviet so ciety, Western diplomats have scrutinized the record to see whether the campaign is related to any imminent change in the power structure. |
Mr. Brezhnev, who for the last few years has evidently been “first among equals” in the collective leadership, ap pears to have increased his personal prestige in the course of the campaign. He played an active role in meeting with agri cultural ministers and, as rep resenting the Politburo at re cent military maneuver... |
Premier Aleksei N. Kosygin, who at one time was ap parently given authority over the implementation of the eco nomic reform, has not played an active public role in the cam paign, although he seems to be carrying out his normal Politburo and Government func tions. |
For those looking for antago nistic relationships in the Krem lin, the campaign may seem as implicit criticism of the way Mr. Kosygin has been running the economy. |
But despite occasional ru mors from abroad of power struggles in the Kremlin, West ers experts here see no evidence at this time that Mr. Brezhnev lacks the full support of his Politburo colleagues. |
Like many Soviet campaigns, this one, too, seems to have gone off in various directions. As part of the drive for more labor discipline, a campaign against drunkenness was begun. Writers are being urged to write more about the achieve ments of the workers, and theo retical articles praising the working class abound. |
Of more lasting importance, perhaps, fias been a setback suffered by the liberal econo mists who won party support nearly five years ago for a re form based largely on profit motivation and increased ini tiative by local establishments and less reliance on central di rection. |
The reform, which never re ceived the freedom of action for market forces that its sup porters said was necessary, suffered a setback in 1968 when its critics pointed to similari ties in the economic reforms in Czechoslovakia, but the poor showing of the Soviet economy last year apparently was de cisive in bringing on ... |
Mr. Brezhnev, if his party's recent proclamations are judged correctly, decided that the em phasis on profits and rr.oney incentives was resulting in lack of enthusiasm among the masses, a falling away from ideological orthodoxy. The cam paign emphasizes what ideolo gists call “moral incentives,” sense of patriotism an... |
Workers are being exhorted to be economical in the use of materials and supplies, not to miss a minute of working time, and not to change jobs too often. New laws are being drafted to penalize shirkers and other malcontents. |
The apparent shift of empha sis from material to moral in centives has given added pres tige to the powerful State Plan ning Committee, the economic planning agency, which has been uneasy about giving more power to local managers. |
He said the next five‐year plan, to be made public later this year, will give priority to tighter planning and more cen tralization, not less as reformers originally envisaged when Pre mier Kosygin made the reform public in late 1965. |
Some Western diplomats who watch the economy closely be lieve that the Soviet leaders have shifted the emphasis away from material incentives be cause they probably realize that the consumer goods situa tion is so bad that for most people it does not matter whether they receive a dozen extra rubles in a pay period. |
The average Russian, with 117 rubles ($130) a month, earns enough to pay for his necessities and leave something over. It is virtually impossible for him to get the expensive items that many want, such as cars, cooperative apartments with many rooms, attractive furniture, pianos and imported clothing of high quality. |
In the last year there have been unusual shortages of such “necessities” as matches and teapots, as well as long periods without meat or fresh vege tables. This has led to grum bling and thousands of letters to newspapers. |
An article in Izvestia, the Gov ernment newspaper, said a farm woman had been asked why she did not grow more produce on her private plot since she could get a good price in the open market. |
The other day Gennady I. Voronov, a Politburo member and Premier of the Russian Republic, spoke to a group of agricultural workers on the need to increase productivity. |
In his speech, as printed to day, he said he had recently spoken to some pig farmers. |
Diplomats have been sur prised that the nation's prob lems are being publicized just before the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth April 22, and with the. 24th party congress expected to be held in October. Usually these are times for publicizing achievements. |
But apparently the leaders were forced to the conclusion that unless something was done about the situation the economy might get even worse. |
MAHONING TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The McConnell family of Ulster has been staying at the Ronald McDonald House of Danville for more than two months. Earlier this year, they found out 5-year-old Aria has stage three brain cancer. |
"She's up here getting her radiation and chemo treatments," Nancy McConnel said. |
A shed outside the Ronald McDonald House is filled with food as well as cooking and cleaning supplies. It comes in handy for the people staying there. |
"It's just great here. You can come down, eat whenever you need to, whatever you want, the people are just beautiful down here," Rodney McConnel said. |
"I don't have to worry about food. I don't have to worry about a place to sleep. I don't have to worry about the girls. It's been wonderful," Nancy said. |
The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is celebrating 21 years of donating to the Ronald McDonald House. Farm bureaus from 12 counties collected money and donations and raised $21,000 for the facility. |
And it's not just money. Around $16,000 of that donation is in the form of food and paper products, which helps keep the Ronald McDonald house going. |
"Their shelves are pretty bare right now, and we are involved to help. We stock them," Kathy Yoachim said. |
The farmers say they are happy to help. |
"It's a very important mission, and we're very happy and proud to do this for the house," Barbara Warburton said. |
The people staying there are grateful for the help from the farmers. |
"Without people like that, people like us wouldn't have a place to stay that wasn't going to cost us an arm and a leg," Nancy said. |
Over the last 21 years, the farm bureau has donated more than $1 million to Pennsylvania's Ronald McDonald Houses. |
The Amazing Race eliminated Lisa Thomson and Michelle Thomson during Friday night's premiere broadcast of the CBS reality competition's 25th season. |
The "Realtor Sisters" from Miami, FL, became the first team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's first Pit Stop at a "robust fortress" called Fort Christian in St. Thomas in last place. |
Lisa and Michelle lost by merely seconds to "Firefighters" Michael Ward and Scott Strazzullo and "Engaged Couple" Keith Tollefson and Whitney Duncan after all three teams rushed to the Pit Stop and received a four-hour time penalty for failing to finish the Roadblock task. |
In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World, Lisa and Michelle talked about their The Amazing Race experience and early ouster from the show. Below is the first half of their interview. Check back with us soon for the concluding portion. |
Reality TV World: Could you believe you girls were the first team to get eliminated and how did you feel walking away from that experience? |
Lisa Thomson: It was tough to be the first team eliminated but all the teams were very strong, so, we're glad everyone did well. |
Reality TV World: Night fell and you guys were still digging at that treasure-chest task. Do you have any idea how far behind the pack you guys finally finished the leg alongside Michael and Scott as well as Keith and Whitney? |
Lisa Thomson: I would say approximately maybe an hour. |
Reality TV World: What exactly would you say led to your demise in this leg? What would you attribute your elimination to? Was it getting on that second flight to St. Thomas or just the fact that digging treasure-chest task took so long or maybe even some bad luck? |
Michelle Thomson: I think it was a little bit of [bad] luck, I don't know. We had a tough time at the beginning of the day trying to get some luck and then we got in the cab and that's the way it played out. |
Reality TV World: When you girls were heading to the airport in New York at the very beginning of the leg, you obviously weren't one of the first five teams to get there. Did anything happen there that viewers didn't get to see or did you just naturally get to the airport later than other teams? |
Lisa Thomson: Our cab, you know, everyone found the location pretty fast, so it was whoever's cab driver got there first -- made it to the airport first -- and we were on the second flight. We were the first team off the second flight, but you know, we were in the slowest cab and we didn't find the treasure and then we... |
Reality TV World: Michelle, what was going through your mind the whole time Lisa was digging? Did you feel defeated or did you remain optimistic? |
Michelle Thomson: I'm a pretty optimistic person. I always like to keep a positive view. When you lose daylight on a task like that, it gets to the point where it's like, "Alright, we've got to do something else. Everyone can't dig if it gets dark. That's a little nuts." So, if that didn't happen I don't think we ever ... |
Reality TV World: Lisa, how long did you dig for? |
Lisa Thomson: I think about four hours. |
Reality TV World: Michelle, do you think you could've done any better with that task or no? |
Michelle Thomson: Well there's no way -- no one other than the guy with the compass on his watch [Jim Raman], who knew, right off the bat, how to work that compass. Everyone struggled with it. No one got it easy. |
I mean, if I did it, I would've struggled with it the same way. I don't think I could've done a better job. I think Lisa's endurance for four hours, digging in the freaking sand and sun and dirt -- I thought that was pretty tough of her. I don't know if I would've been as mentally tough as her. I mean, she never gave u... |
Reality TV World: You girls basically said you thought your looks could help you during the Race or at least provide you with an advantage of some kind as it does in your professional careers. Based upon your experience in the first leg, looking back, do you still believe that? |
Michelle Thomson: Looks had nothing to do with the Race. I mean, we're obviously blonde girls so people are going to talk about that, but our looks have nothing to do with it. |
Our looks had nothing to do with digging, our looks have nothing to do with our business. We couldn't find the treasure; Two guys couldn't find the treasure either. We're blonde so we get the [brunt] of it. But, you know, three people couldn't find the treasure. |
Lisa Thomson: Yeah, the pen! If you watch it, we were there first before them. They took -- they grabbed the pen and I took the pen out of his hand because I was there first. If you watch it, that's not how it was portrayed. I was at the board first before the firefighters. |
Michelle Thomson: I think a lot of viewers, if you watch it, they're going to take it as, like, "Oh, maybe it was a rude move or something." But, you know what? Everyone that got to the board was fighting over pens. No one wants to be on the last flight either. It is what it is. |
Reality TV World: It seemed like the firefighters wanted to run a gentlemanly Race until you two crossed them at that sign-in board. Had that incident never have happened in their minds, do you think they would've let you share that taxi with them or do you think it wouldn't have made a difference? |
Lisa Thomson: Whoever was in the very last cab would've been the ones who lost. |
Lisa Thomson: They would've never let us in that cab. |
Michelle Thomson: And we never would've let them in our cab either. So that's just the way it would've been. |
Reality TV World: When you and the other two teams determined you should take the four-hour time penalty after digging for those treasure chests, you admitted you were worried about beating Keith and Whitney to the finish but you seemed pretty confident you could beat Michael and Scott. Why was that? What did you think... |
Michelle Thomson: Because we thought it was going to be a foot race. We could definitely outrun them. I mean, we're runners. That's what we do. We work out a lot, so we're confident in our endurance and we're confident. But maybe [someone] might be faster, but endurance-wise, we could kill anyone basically. |
Reality TV World: So could you elaborate more then on why you felt threatened by Keith and Whitney? |
Lisa Thomson: Well, Keith is like 6'8" or something. His legs are really long. I didn't know if he was a runner or he wasn't a runner, but I knew he was really tall and thin. |
Michelle Thomson: Whitney's a runner too. |
Lisa Thomson: Yeah. We just thought we could probably beat the firemen because we're pretty fast. We train every day. |
Reality TV World: Did you know who Keith and Whitney were at the start of the Race, that they had appeared on Survivor together? |
Michelle Thomson: We had no idea. |
Reality TV World: So considering that fact now, do you think that presented them with an advantage because of their reality TV experience or a disadvantage because maybe it will paint a target on their backs going forward? |
Lisa Thomson: I don't think they had a target on their backs. They're really likeable people. We made friends with them on the second flight. We liked them right off the bat. They're really nice people. |
Michelle Thomson: And we liked the firefighters too! We never did not like them. But, you know, when you race the Race, you're in it to win it. You're not going to let someone beat you. |
Above is the first half of Michelle and Lisa's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Check back with us soon for the concluding portion. |
Many tribes resort to ancient practice of kidnappings to settle disputes. |
The government of Yemen has had to deal with years of severe internal conflicts in the north and south, crippling it from implementing an effective legal system throughout the country. |
As a result, the people of Yemen have developed the practice of taking the law into their own hands. |
For numerous tribes - the ancient old method of abduction - especially of children - continues to be a common way to settle disputes among one another. |
Some Yemenis even accuse the government of being guilty of the same practice. |
Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall reports from San'aa. |
After weeks of hard work, cheering at local games and preparation of a routine that needs to be perfectly delivered in under three minutes the Douglas Tiger Cheerleaders had their moment to compete against teams from all over Sagebrush on Nov. 6. The volume of the event was to such an extent that even with earplugs not... |
Both the Junior Pee Wee and Varsity cheer teams are now preparing for competition at the Pacific Northwest Regional Cheer competition this Saturday at San Jose State University as well as beginning to raise funds for a possible trip to Disney World for Pop Warner's national cheer competition. |
The Douglas Junior Pee Wee cheerleaders competed against the Carson City Senators and Reno Panthers and won the Sagebrush League championship for their medium sized cheer team division. Coach Kelly White had the following to say about the team "This has been an amazing season of building friendships, team unity and har... |
The Varsity cheerleaders also were victorious in their competition as they competed against the Sparks Wolf Pack and were able to take away the championship for their division. Coach Tasha Hamilton said: "I, myself, could not be prouder of the accomplishments this team has made this year. I do believe that keeping with... |
The Tiny Mites showed their Tiger Pride as they performed with amazing spirit full of excitement, smiles and positive memories that will be remembered for a lifetime. Coach Kristen Connolly said: "We are so proud of all of our Tiny Mite cheerleaders. They learned so much this year and it showed on the mat on Sunday. Th... |
Douglas Pop Warner offers full contact football and cheerleading for boys and girls ages 5 to 14. |
Welcome to 19113 Howe Rd.! This 3 bed, 1.5 bath ranch sits on three quarters of an acre, and has been owned, cared for and maintained by the same family for over four decades! Major updates include newer roof, vinyl siding, freshly painted throughout '19, windows throughout '19, two glass sliding doors '19, and electri... |
(CNN) -- Beneath an Antarctic glacier in a cold, airless pool that never sees the sun seems like an unusual place to search for life. |
Scientists find surprising evidence of bacterial life beneath the Antarctic ice near Blood Falls, seen here. |
But under the Taylor Glacier on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, near a place called Blood Falls, scientists have discovered a time capsule of bacterial activity. |
At chilling temperatures, with no oxygen or sunlight, these newly found microbes have survived for the past 1.5 million years using an "iron-breathing" technique, which may show how life could exist on other planets. |
For years the reddish waterfall-like feature on the side of Taylor Glacier captured the attention of explorers and scientists. Earlier research indicates the color of Blood Falls is due to oxidized iron, but how the iron got to the surface of the glacier remained a mystery. |
Anderson Cooper & Dr. Sanjay Gupta take you to the frontlines of the ultimate battle over our natural resources. |
Scientists found these isolated microorganisms use iron leached from the glacial bedrock in a series of energy-producing metabolic reactions. With the help of sulfate, the iron is transformed and eventually deposited on the surface of the glacier. Air oxidizes the iron, giving Blood Falls its redish hue. |
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