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Arun Singh
Photo: Emily Dahl/MITEI
Seeking to inform India’s climate policy choices
Tata Center graduate fellow Arun Singh shares energy-economic modeling research at UN Climate Change Conference.
Emily Dahl | MIT Energy Initiative
Emily Dahl
Email: edahl@mit.edu
The MIT Energy Initiative is sharing reports from the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Marrakech, Morocco, where MIT community members are observing the climate negotiations and speaking at auxiliary events.
At a side event of COP22, the 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Marrakech, Morocco, researchers and nongovernmental leaders from around the world discussed policy research that can support implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise. Among the nine panelists was a sole graduate student: MIT’s Arun Singh.
On the panel, “New Directions in Climate Change Research and Implications for Policy,” Singh and fellow representatives of the COP22 Research and Independent Nongovernmental Organizations (RINGO) constituency gave brief overviews of their research in various areas, from agro-industrial development policies to green social work.
Singh shared his research on clean development pathways for India, which applies an energy-economic model he is developing with advisors Valerie Karplus and Niven Winchester. The model simulates policy and technology choices India could make to fulfill its intended, nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement — and how each of those choices could impact emissions, energy use, and the country’s economy.
“For example,” says Singh, “how would India’s ambitious solar targets compare with, say, a price on carbon to achieve similar levels of emissions reductions? Who wins and loses under alternate policy choices? Those are the types of questions we’re looking to answer.”
In the global effort to address climate change, India’s role as a major player is indisputable. The country is the third largest emitter of global greenhouse gas emissions, behind China and the U.S., yet nearly 19 percent of India’s population, most of which lives in rural areas, still lacks reliable access to electricity — and the population is still growing rapidly.
“India is in a situation where it has to balance tradeoffs between increasing energy output and ensuring that additional generation does not add significantly to the country’s carbon emissions,” Singh explains. To make these tradeoffs, policymakers and regulators would benefit from having access to quantitative analysis of policy impacts, which Singh and his team hope to provide.
“Arun’s work stands out because it combines modeling of policies at the country level with an assessment of financial and operational barriers to clean energy investment at the micro level,” says Karplus, an assistant professor of global economics and management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, who is also a faculty affiliate of the MIT Energy Initiative and the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. “We hope to work with policymakers in India to identify strategies that are cost effective and politically workable. To do that, we need to analyze proposals in terms of both the cost and the distribution of impacts.”
For Singh, researching solutions to climate and energy issues is personal: Having grown up in Ayodhya, India, he experienced the challenges firsthand. “Frequent power cuts were a norm while I was growing up. In peak summer months, we would not get power for eight to 10 hours a day. And this was still in a town,” he says.
Following his undergraduate studies at India Institute of Technology Roorkee, Singh became more interested in understanding energy and environmental policymaking, while working at a petroleum refinery. Then, as a research associate at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) South Asia office in Mumbai, he worked on environmental regulation reform projects in India, including a pilot emissions trading scheme for industrial particulate matter emissions, conducted with India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests. At J-PAL, he also carried out an impact evaluation of public disclosure of industrial air pollution ratings, for which he analyzed emissions data from more than 5,000 firms and worked closely with his team and with regulators to secure approval for a new disclosure program.
As he made field visits to some of the most polluted industrial clusters in India, he learned how nuanced the issues can be. “In India it is common to hold strong positions favoring or opposing development. But that’s not helpful, as it’s not an either-or question,” he says. “Smart policies can be designed that encourage growth while limiting the impact on natural environment and climate. And India already has several forward-looking policies in place.”
His work motivated him to come to MIT, where he arrived with a desire to focus on climate and energy policy research for developing countries, but he was not yet sure exactly where his studies would take him.
He started in 2015 as a graduate student in the Technology and Policy Program — which is now part of the Institute for Data Systems and Society — working with Karplus to study policies and regulation in the electricity sector in India, with funding from the MIT Energy Initiative. Then, an opportunity arose to help Karplus and Winchester develop the energy-economic model he now works on as a fellow of the Tata Center for Technology and Design and research assistant in the MIT Joint Program.
When Karplus learned of a call for researchers to present at COP22 with the RINGO constituency, she alerted Singh, who applied and was selected to present.
In Marrakech, Singh shared preliminary findings from his model, which offer initial insights into how carbon pricing and renewable energy support policies compare in terms of their impact on carbon dioxide emissions, the energy system, and the economy. To finalize his research, he plans to expand the model’s specifications to reflect policy priorities and physical constraints, especially on details in technology choices. He is also investigating the political and economic factors that drive these choices, and viable design options for increasing the political feasibility of cost-effective policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
While at COP22, Singh also had the opportunity to interview developers, investors, and aid organizations that are involved in the expansion of renewable energy in Morocco, supporting Karplus as she contributes to an upcoming book on the commercialization of renewable energy in several African countries.
“I am so pleased and proud that Arun had the opportunity to represent our group in Marrakech. By interacting with diverse stakeholders at the COP, Arun has been able to share his research on India with the world, and compare and contrast its insights with experiences in other countries,” Karplus says.
At MIT, Singh co-leads a student group, Energy for Human Development (e4Dev), with fellow graduate student Turner Cotterman, bringing together members of the MIT community to advance understanding of issues facing the developing world, with guest lectures from notable experts, outreach programs, and educational opportunities. He plans to share his COP22 experience with the group.
Singh’s first experience with UN climate negotiations has been “overwhelming,” he says, from the efforts that go into organizing the COP to how the complex negotiation process functions.
“It’s very encouraging to see enthusiastic participation of all countries and the near unanimous recognition of climate change as a problem requiring strong collective efforts,” he says. “There’s no room for skepticism or delaying action.”
Singh looks forward to continuing to play a role in informing energy and climate solutions for India with his research, as part of the MIT community dedicated to making a better world.
Topics: Research, Climate, India, Energy, Policy, Carbon, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), Alternative energy, Climate change, Development, Economics, Global Warming, Greenhouse gases, MIT Energy Initiative, Renewable energy, Graduate, postdoctoral, 3-D printing, Tata Center, IDSS, SHASS, School of Engineering, Sloan School of Management
Tata Center for Technology and Design
Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
Energy for Human Development
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
MIT Sloan School of Management
Government of India taps MIT expertise for energy solutions
Air quality sensors track pollution
Going off grid: Tata researchers tackle rural electrification
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Matthew Wilson and former postdocs Zhe "Sage" Chen and Fabian Kloosterman have been working for a decade on systems to decode neural signals.
Photo courtesy of the Picower Institute
Real-time readouts of thinking in rats
New open-source system provides fast, accurate neural decoding and real-time readouts of where rats think they are. Watch Video
David Orenstein | Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
David Orenstein
Email: davidjo@mit.edu
Picower Institute
The rat in a maze may be one of the most classic research motifs in brain science, but a new innovation described in Cell Reports by an international collaboration of scientists shows just how far such experiments are still pushing the cutting edge of technology and neuroscience alike.
In recent years, scientists have shown that by recording the electrical activity of groups of neurons in key areas of the brain they could read a rat’s thoughts of where it was, both after it actually ran the maze and also later when it would dream of running the maze in its sleep — a key process in consolidating its memory. In the new study, several of the scientists involved in pioneering such mind-reading methods now report they can read out those signals in real-time as the rat runs the maze, with a high degree of accuracy and the ability to account for the statistical relevance of the readings almost instantly after they are made.
The ability to so robustly track the rat’s spatial representations in real-time opens the door to a whole new class of experiments, the researchers said. They predict these experiments will produce new insights into learning, memory, navigation and cognition by allowing them to not only decode rat thinking as it happens, but also to instantaneously intervene and study the effects of those perturbations.
“The use of real-time decoding and closed-loop control of neural activity will fundamentally transform our studies of the brain,” says study co-author Matthew Wilson, the Sherman Fairchild Professor in Neurobiology at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.
In a video accompanying a new paper in Cell Reports, a system developed by neuroscientists at NYU, KU Leuven and MIT employes the readout from 36 electrode channels in the hippocampus of a rat to track animal’s actual measured position in open space and provides real-time estimates of the decoded position from brain activity. Only occasionally and briefly do the trajectories diverge by much.
Video: Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
The collaboration behind the new paper began in Wilson’s lab at MIT almost 10 years ago. At that time, corresponding authors Zhe (Sage) Chen, now an associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience and physiology at New York University, and Fabian Kloosterman, now a principal investigator at Neuro-Electronics Research Flanders and a professor at KU Leuven in Belgium, were both postdocs at MIT.
After demonstrating how neural decoding can be used to read out what places are covertly replayed in the brain, the team began a series of technical innovations that progressively improved the field’s ability to accurately decode how the brain represents place both during navigation and in sleep or rest. They reached a first milestone in 2013 when the team published their novel decoding approach in a paper in the Journal of Neurophysiology. The new approach allows researchers to directly decipher hippocampal spatiotemporal patterns detected from tetrode recordings without the need for spike sorting, a computational process that is time-consuming and error prone.
In the new study, the team shows that by implementing their neural decoding software on a graphical processing unit (GPU) chip, the same kind of highly parallel processing hardware favored by video gamers, they were able to achieve unprecedented increases in decoding and analysis speed. In the study, the team shows that the GPU-based system was 20-50 times faster than ones using conventional multi-core CPU chips.
They also show that the system remains rapid and accurate even when handling more than 1,000 input channels. This is important because it extends the real-time decoding approach to new high-density brain recording devices, such as the Neuropixels probe co-developed by imec, HHMI and other institutions — think of a many electrodes recording from many hundreds of cells — that promise to measure cellular brain activity at larger scales and in more detail.
In addition, the new study reports the ability for the software to provide a rapid statistical assessment of whether a set of reactivated neural spatiotemporal activity patterns truly pertains to the task, or is perhaps unrelated.
“We are proposing an elegant solution using GPU computing to not only decode information on the fly but also to evaluate the significance of the information on the fly,” says Chen, whose graduate student, Sile Hu, is the new paper’s lead author.
Hu tested a wide range of neural recordings in brain areas such as the hippocampus, the thalamus and cortex in multiple rats as they ran a variety of mazes ranging from simple tracks to a wide-open space. In a video accompanying the paper, the system’s readout from 36 electrode channels in the hippocampus tracks the rat’s actual measured position in open space and provides real-time estimates of the decoded position from brain activity. Only occasionally and briefly do the trajectories diverge by much.
The software of the system is open source and available for fellow neuroscientists to download and use freely, Chen and Wilson say.
Prior experiments recording neural representations of place have helped to show that animals replay their spatial experiences during sleep and have allowed researchers to understand more about how animals rely on memory when making decisions about how to navigate — for instance to maximize the rewards they can find along the way. Traditionally, though, the brain readings have been analyzed offline (after the fact. More recently, scientists have begun to perform real-time analyses but these have been limited both in the detail of the content and also in the ability to understand whether the readings are statistically significant and therefore relevant.
In a recent major step forward, Kloosterman and two other co-authors of the new study, graduate students Davide Ciliberti and Frédéric Michon, published a paper in eLife on a real-time, closed-loop read-out of hippocampal memory replay as rats navigated a three-arm maze. That system used multi-core CPUs.
“The new GPU system will bring the field even closer to having a detailed, real-time and highly scalable read-out of the brain’s internal deliberations,” says Kloosterman, “That will be necessary to increase our understanding of how these replay events drive memory formation and behavior.”
By combining these capabilities with optogenetics — a technology that makes neurons controllable with flashes of light — the researchers could conduct what they call “closed-loop” studies in which they could use their instantaneous readout of spatial thinking to trigger experimental manipulations. For example, they could see what happens to navigational performance the day after they interfered with replay during sleep, or they could determine what temporarily disrupting communication between the cortex and hippocampus might do when a rat faces a key decision about which direction to go.
Hu is also affiliated with Zhejiang University in China. In addition to Hu, Wilson, Chen, Kloosterman, Ciliberti, and Michon, the paper’s other authors are Andres Grosmark of Columbia University, Daoyun Ji of Baylor College of Medicine, Hector Penagos of MIT’s Picower Institute, and György Buzsáki of NYU.
Funding for the study came from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, MIT’s NSF-funded Center for Brains Minds and Machines, Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO), the National Science Foundation of China, and the Simons Foundation.
Topics: School of Science, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Brain and cognitive sciences, Biology, Memory, Sleep, Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, Research
Paper: "Real-Time Readout of Large-Scale Unsorted Neural Ensemble Place Codes"
Video: "Open field location decoding"
Matthew Wilson
Wilson Lab
Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Mapping the brain, cell by cell
How returning to a prior context aids memory recall
Dopamine primes the brain for enhanced vigilance
Antidepressant restores youthful flexibility to aging inhibitory neurons
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| 0.498254
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UNM Newsroom / News / New UNM study aims to learn why particular treatments work for alcohol use disorders
New UNM study aims to learn why particular treatments work for alcohol use disorders
Cognitive Behavioral and Mindfulness Based Treatments focus of research
Categories: Front Page Faculty News Psychology Research
In 2015 approximately 16 million people in the United States had an Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), including 15.1 million adults and about 625,000 adolescents ages 12–17. About twice as many men as women have an AUD. There are numerous approaches to treatment for AUD that are effective in reducing alcohol use during treatment, leaving clinicians, researchers and others in the field wondering why treatments are effective and which treatments may be most effective for specific individuals.
Now, a new study by researchers at The University of New Mexico and the Mind Research Network (MRN) to identify neurocognitive and neurobehavioral mechanisms of behavior change (MOBCs) in alcohol treatment has the potential to build a database of knowledge about the processes by which treatments work.
The study, “Neurocognitive and Neurobehavioral Mechanisms of Change following Psychological Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorder,” is led by Distinguished Professor of Psychology Barbara McCrady from UNM’s Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions (CASAA), and Eric Claus, associate professor at MRN. Katie Witkiewitz, Regents Professor of Psychology and CASAA is a co-investigator on the study.
“As AUD develops, certain regions of the brain that control reactivity to alcohol, emotion regulation, and behavioral control are 'high-jacked,' but we know little about how these same regions recover or change after treatment." — Distinguished Professor of Psychology Barbara McCrady
The goal of the study is to better understand why and how particular treatments work, and the mechanisms by which treatments lead to changes in drinking. The study, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) through a five-year, $2.9 million grant, will examine how the brain, behavior, and emotions change after alcohol treatment and may also lead to the development of new treatments or modifications to existing treatments to target empirically supported mechanisms found to lead to change.
“As AUD develops, certain regions of the brain that control reactivity to alcohol, emotion regulation, and behavioral control are 'high-jacked,' but we know little about how these same regions recover or change after treatment, and whether changes in these region reflect key mechanisms that drive and support successful behavior change. Existing research assessing changes in these constructs typically has used self-report measures; there is a noticeable paucity of studies that examine these mechanisms from a neurocognitive perspective,” said McCrady.
To address this gap in knowledge, the researchers will examine potential mechanisms of behavior changes (MOBCs) at multiple levels of measurement, including self-report questionnaires, performance on behavioral performance tasks, and the engagement of specific neural networks, with a focus on the functioning of the lateral and medial frontal control networks, striatal based reward networks, and amygdala networks underlying emotional reactivity.
“We're going to provide two different AUD treatments that are effective - cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness-based treatment,” said McCrady. “What we want to see is whether or not different parts of the brain recover at different rates with different treatments, or whether the brain responds differently depending on the type of treatment.”
As part of the study, researchers currently are recruiting 140 treatment-seeking individuals with an AUD. The participants will be randomized to receive either eight weeks of Cognitive Behavioral Treatment (CBT) or Mindfulness Based Treatment (MBT) after receiving two to four weeks of a platform treatment that focuses on enhancing motivation to change. All the treatment sessions are conducted at CASAA.
To establish the temporal relationship between changes in drinking and changes in these MOBCs, patients will be assessed with self-report measures and behavioral tasks at various stages including a baseline before starting treatment, four and eight weeks into treatment, immediately after treatment, and nine and 15 months after the original baseline assessment. An fMRI will be collected at baseline, and at three and nine months after baseline at MRN.
Through the identification of MOBCs of CBT or MBT that differentially contribute to changes in drinking, the project will not only yield a deeper understanding of successful behavior change, but may also inform the development of new treatments for AUD. In addition, by identifying neurocognitive factors predictive of successful change, it may be possible to use these factors in a personalized medicine approach. Ultimately, it may be possible for a clinician to administer short questionnaires that measure neurocognitive processes, and decide what kind of treatment might be most useful based on the results.
Volunteer recruitment
The researchers currently are looking for additional volunteers to participate in the study. Volunteers should be ages 22 to 55 and want to change their drinking with a non-medication based treatment.
Interested participants should contact ABQ Treat at (505) 633-8861.
Volunteers who qualify and decide to join the study will be asked to complete surveys and brain imaging and attend 12 weekly one hour treatment sessions. Volunteers could be compensated up to $440 for 20-21 hours of research time and will receive up to 12 sessions of treatment at no cost to them, for a total commitment of 32-33 hours of their time.
“We're hoping this study will give us a much better understanding of how the brain recovers from a drinking problem and help us to be better able to identify what is most effective for individuals with AUD whose drinking has affected their brains in different ways,” said McCrady.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, contact ABQ Treat at (505) 633-8861 or email, AbqTreat@mrn.org.
Tags: research
Steve Carr
Manager, Communications
scarr@unm.edu
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FDA FOOD “SAFETY” BILL POISED FOR SENATE VOTE THIS WEEK
By Sarah Foster
Posted 1:00 AM Eastern
© 2010 NewsWithViews.com
Take a look at that picture with all kinds of good stuff – fruits, veggies, nuts, milk, and yogurt. Now imagine it with one of those red circles over it, the kind with a line through to indicate everything therein is banned or off-limits.
Hold that image in your mind because it’s what you can expect if the much-vaunted FDA Food Safety bill – now on the floor of the Senate -- is passed into law. The wipe-out won’t happen right away, but it will happen – gradually, over the next few years.
Congress is back in session for mopping-up exercises following the elections, and it’s expected that the long-delayed Senate floor fight over the controversial measure will take place some time this week. That is, unless Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid postpones debate and the vote until later in the “lame-duck” session.
If the bill does become law you can say goodbye to farmers markets, organically grown produce, raw milk – the kinds of food increasing numbers of Americans have been producing and seeking out.
Think I’m exaggerating? Here’s what attorney Pete Kennedy has to say about it. Kennedy is president of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, a D.C.-based advocacy group that defends raw milk producers, organic food co-ops, organic growers, and family farms against overbearing governmental intrusions. Having spent countless hours pouring over the bill and its earlier versions, he knows its every phrase, every shaded meaning, as well as the statutes already on the books. His conclusions:
“The federal government will be imposing on the states its pro-pasteurization, pro-irradiation, pro-GMO version of safe food; in its view, the only good bacteria is dead bacteria,” Kennedy warns. “This is not about food safety; it’s about federal control over the food supply.”
S. 510: the "FDA Food Safety Modernization Act,” which Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) dropped it in the hopper in March last year, is the companion bill to H.R. 2749: the "Food Safety Enhancement Act,” introduced by Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., in June 2009. The House version was anything but popular and all kinds of shenanigans on the part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. (head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee) were needed for passage. But despite a huge opposition, within the Capital and beyond the Beltway, H.R. 2749 was passed July 30, less than two months after its introduction. The vote was 283-142, thanks to over 50 Republicans who voted yes.
The grassroots uproar and bruising floor fight over the measure may have been why Reid opted to keep S. 510 on the back burner so long. But it was not forgotten. Like ObamaCare and Cap-and-Trade, this is a priority item on the administration’s wish list. The title suggests it’s not a “food safety” bill so much as an FDA-empowerment measure.
An e-mail alert sent by Downsize DC last week sums up in a nutshell what the battle over S. 510 is about and offers hope for defeating it in the Senate.
“S. 510 will make your food more expensive and less safe. It will drive many small farms out of business. The leaders of the ‘lame duck’ Congress want to pass this falsely named ‘food safety’ bill [THIS] WEEK, but they'll need 60 votes to break Sen. Coburn's ‘hold’ on the bill. That means we can defeat S. 510 with just 40 votes, but we must apply the pressure now!” (Emphasis mine)
Supporters of S. 510 and H.R. 2749 would challenge every claim in that e-mail, except the statement that Sen. Tom Coburn placed a hold on S. 510. Indeed he did, and as long as the Oklahoma Republican keeps that hold in place it will take 60 votes to move the bill forward. On Sept. 29 Reid filed a motion to proceed to a floor debate. Consumer groups and their allies recently reminded Reid of his motion and asked him to call for a vote Nov. 17 to invoke cloture.
Coburn has written a superb analysis of S. 510 and posted it on his website. His concerns include not only the costs but the gift of enormous power that would be given to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). When you talk about food safety, bear in mind that the senator is a medical doctor, a family physician. He’s seen firsthand the effect of food-borne illnesses and understands the importance of real food safety.
Back to the e-mail…
As indicated, opponents need only 40 votes to keep the hold in place, but Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, claims to have lined up a whopping 90 votes for passage – way more than needed to invoke cloture and cut off a filibuster. Harkin chairs the Help, Energy, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) where the bill was heard and amended. It has 20 co-sponsors – 8 of them Republicans. Most signed on in 2009 at the time the bill was introduced, but Rep. Vitter of Louisiana added his name just this past May 5. Louisiana tea partiers may want to ask him why.
Questions from concerned constituents could also be directed to co-sponsors Lamar Alexander, Tenn.; Richard Burr, N.C.; Judd Gregg, N.H.; John Isakson, Ga.; and Orin Hatch, Utah. Also to Mike Enzi of Wyoming – his support is puzzling since Enzi is reckoned a stalwart conservative. Like the others he’s on the HELP Committee, in fact he’s the ranking member. And like Vitter, he signed up long after S. 510 was introduced (on Nov. 30, 2009).
S. 510 was marked up in the HELP Committee, and the manager’s package, a revised version of the “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, was released Aug. 12. It’s now 225 pages long -- 77 pages longer than the version of S 510 that passed out of the HELP Committee last November.
If the revised S. 510 makes it through the Senate, it will be merged with H.R 2479 in a conference committee, and the final version must be voted up or down by both houses.
“A Major Threat to the Local Food Movement”
What about Downsize DC’s claim that S. 510 would “make food more expensive, less safe and drive many small farmers out of business”?
Attorney Pete Kennedy would certainly agree. He’s done point-by-point comparisons of the various incarnations of the “Farm Safety” bills as they’ve moved through Congress. He knows them inside-out and doesn’t mince words when describing the damage they could do if enacted into law.
Here are some observations from a Sept. 23 article he wrote -- S 510: FDA Coming to a Farm Near You – in which he described how the bill would expand federal jurisdiction, in particular the FDA, over small farms; how it would diminish state regulatory authority; and how it would benefit food imports. (all emphasis and underscoring is Kennedy’s)
As Kennedy sees it: “More than ever S. 510 represents a major threat to the local food movement, states’ autonomy to regulate food, and the country’s ability to become self-sufficient in food production. … Passage of the revised version into law will enable FDA potentially to regulate all farms marketing food products direct to consumers even if the farms engage only in intrastate commerce.”
“S 510 is not about protecting the public health but rather about increasing federal control over food and transferring market share from the local food system to the industrial food system. The bill grants broad rulemaking power to FDA, a grant not merited by the agency’s track record. Its passage will cripple local food over time.”
I flagged several points in Kennedy’s that caught my attention: the FDA’s chilling assertion in an ongoing legal case regarding fundamental rights; the elevation of the Department of Homeland Security as a major player in the food safety effort; and the role of the salmonella scare last summer.
FDA’s Views on Food Freedom of Choice
“S 510 would give FDA significantly more power to regulate food, particularly food in intrastate commerce,” says Kennedy. “For those who think it’s a good idea to give FDA more power, here are the agency’s views on your freedom to obtain the foods of your choice; these are direct quotations from the agency’s response to a lawsuit the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund filed earlier this year challenging the interstate ban on raw milk for human consumption:
• "There is no absolute right to consume or feed children any particular food." [A--p. 25]
• "There is no 'deeply rooted' historical tradition of unfettered access to foods of all kinds." [A--p. 26]
• "Plaintiffs' assertion of a 'fundamental right to their own bodily and physical health, which includes what foods they do and do not choose to consume for themselves and their families' is similarly unavailing because plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish." [A--p. 26]
• "There is no fundamental right to freedom of contract." [A--p. 27]
That’s really stark, and presumably reflects the beliefs of officials at an agency that would like to be entrusted with supervising the production and distribution of our food from farm to fork. You can’t say we weren’t warned.
A “National Security State”
Then there’s the matter of Dept. of Homeland Security involvement in food regulation. Is this something Americans want?
“In addition to increasing FDA's power, S. 510 would increase involvement in food regulation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), further integrating food and agriculture into the ‘national security state.’ The bill would implement Homeland Security Presidential Directive 9, a 2004 executive order which appointed the DHS Secretary as "principal Federal official to lead, integrate, and coordinate" among federal, state, local and private sector elements [E--p. 13].
“DHS is a monolithic, disjointed bureaucracy whose employees have little experience in food regulation. The department has enough problems coordinating internally on food regulation let alone coordinating with FDA, USDA and other federal and state agencies to provide food defense [E—p.18]. The best defense for this country would be the decentralization and localization of food production. Putting into motion the “national agriculture and food defense strategy” that is called for in section 108 of S. 510 would likely place our food regulatory system on more of a permanent crisis-mode footing, increasing the chance of a government overreaction to a food-related problem, such as occurred in Britain in 2002 during the hoof-in-mouth outbreak when thousands of livestock were needlessly slaughtered.”
Last Summer’s Egg Fiasco
According to Kennedy: “The push to pass S. 510 is currently being driven by an outbreak of foodborne illness sickening over 1,500 people that has been linked to salmonella-tainted eggs produced by Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, two of the ten largest egg producers in the country. What the mainstream media is ignoring in covering the story is that FDA’s current powers to regulate food were more than enough to put a stop to the problems caused by the egg producers.” (Emphasis mine)
It’s not as though the FDA were powerless. The agency already has jurisdiction over shell eggs and the power to inspect farms of egg producers engaged in interstate commerce. It could have carried out inspections and demanded records from the company. Instead, it waited until the situation was basically out of control and the only recourse was to recall and destroy millions upon millions of eggs.
I find the following particularly troubling:
“According to media reports, the problems with Wright County Egg were discovered back in May but only came to national attention in August (the voluntary recall of the eggs by Wright was announced on August13 – not coincidentally, the day after the manager’s package for S. 510 was released); even if Wright had refused to issue a voluntary recall, FDA still had the power under existing law to get the Wright eggs off the market in a shorter timeframe.”
How very convenient for S. 510 promoters, some of who have apparently taken to heart Rahm Emanuel’s advise to “never let a serious crisis go to waste.” Like the peanut scare that spurred the passage of H.R. 2749 by the House, the salmonella outbreak came at just the right time. It’s interesting that Wright County Egg is in Iowa, Sen. Harkin’s bailiwick. The USDA is reported to have visited the egg factory in May and had presumably spotted the filthy conditions that allowed the disease to flourish and spread. Did USDA tell FDA? If not, why not? Was the senator informed?
Where was the senator during the early days of the outbreak? Was news of the crisis kept under wraps until the summer recess when the senator would be in the state? Just asking. There are a lot of questions that should be asked and answered, but I’m not holding my breath.
However, I am hoping Congress will hold back and not give the FDA any more powers until these questions are answered and the agency has shown itself capable of properly exercising those it already has.
If you’re concerned about this, now’s the time to do something. Here’s a link to Downsize DC that provides a way that you can contact your senators and a petition from the Food-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.
Please send a letter right now telling your Senators to oppose S. 510.
Sign the petition to Reject S.510
To phone your senators, go to www.Senate.gov for their contact information or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
1- Sarah Foster: House Set to Vote on Fast-Tracked "Food Safety" Bill: July 30, 2009
2- Sarah Foster: Will Congress Wipe Out Home Gardens, Growers Markets? Mar. 23, 2009
3- Doreen Hannes: Cheese Factory, FDA and Corruption: Nov. 13, 2010
1- Pete Kennedy: Revised S. 510: Coming to a Farm Near You: Sept. 23, 2010
2- Pete Kennedy: The Worst of Both Bills: Analysis of H.R. 2749 and S. 510: May 6, 2010 (12 pages)
3- Food safety bills in Congress
4- Doreen Hannes: Food Safety Bills are Going to Bury Our Farmers in Paperwork: Sept. 7, 2009
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Sarah Foster is a political researcher and freelance writer in Sacramento, Calif. She holds a B.A. in anthropology from U.C., Berkeley and an M. A. in folklore and mythology from UCLA. A regular contributor to NewsWithViews.com, her writings have also appeared in WorldNetDaily, Reason Magazine, Orange County Register, and other libertarian/conservative publications.
Sarah can be reached at: sarahfoster7433@att.net
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Giorgio Moroder Collected interviews and features
Originally written for Clash in May 2016. Read the original article here.
Whether it’s making his definitive stamp on disco through his work with Donna Summer, scoring the likes of Midnight Express and Scarface or collaborating with David Bowie, Blondie and Daft Punk – Giorgio Moroder’s extensive body of work is the stuff of legend.
With the imminent release of the soundtrack for video game Tron RUN/r – a collaboration with fellow composer Raney Shockne, which comes complete with remixes from the likes of Autechre, Bibio, Plaid and Rusko – the duo sat down for a brief chat with Paul Weedon to reflect on scoring the latest chapter in the cult franchise.
Tron has extraordinary pedigree when it comes to its music. Wendy Carlos’ score has attained an iconic status all of its own and Daft Punk’s Tron Legacy score obviously built on her work and very much became its own thing. How did you go about crafting a sound that was distinctly ‘Tron-esque’, but ultimately had an identity all of its own?
Shockne: The Tron universe is such a vital landscape for inspiration in synthesized music. We tried to come at it from a perspective that was unique and more based in Giorgio’s past than that of Tron’s past. We tried not to listen to any of the previous work while constructing these scores. In our initial creative conversation with Gwen Riley (music supervisor at Disney) and (executive producer) Christopher Nicholls, they told us to “reinvent the future” and then they turned to Giorgio and said, “just like you did in the past”.
Moroder: That is exactly what they said, so that is what we did. There were so many visuals and story lines to inspire us. Raney and I went into the studio and just created what we thought would work. And it worked!
Giorgio, the transition from making records to composing is one that many musicians make with varying levels of success. Looking back at when you first started out scoring films, what were some the biggest challenges you faced and how did that process compare to scoring a project today?
Moroder: Well, at the end of the day, the task is the same – to create music that makes people feel beyond just what they are seeing on the screen. Technology-wise, it is very different. A game like Tron has so many digitally stimulating visuals, and the studio process is technically different.
With that in mind, EDM has evolved so much over the past six decades and you’ve been at the forefront of its evolution along the way. Artists continue to pay homage to you by reworking your material. As a musician and a DJ, how vital has that collaboration with other electronic artists been for you as part of the genre’s evolution?
Moroder: From the beginning, this has been a partnership. Raney approached me to collaborate with him on the project and I thought it was a fantastic idea. His ability to be on the forefront of the newest technology, as well as being a cutting edge composer, was the perfect match to score this with me.
And is hearing an artist like Autechre or Rusko re-working your music something you find particularly exciting? Is it something you find you’re able to listen to objectively?
Moroder: Well, as far as the remixes go, it is always interesting to hear how other people interpret sounds and feelings. I am just as inspired by the younger producers as they are by me! They make such amazing sounds these days… always on the computer.
Looking back, I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the significance of some of your other work. There’s an interview with David Bowie where he recalls Brian Eno playing ‘I Feel Love’ to him and declaring that it was “going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years”. Reflecting on the influence of that song now, does it seem odd, or perhaps gratifying to some extent, that that song has become something of a cultural signifier for the era?
Moroder: It’s hard for me to quantify significance per say. Every time I meet someone who was impacted by a song, or someone says they started to make music, or listen to music because of me, or my work, that is what makes change. If there is more music in the world, or music can evoke a feeling of another time or night, then it does its job.
Raney, I’m guessing you were quite heavily influenced by Giorgio’s work yourself?
Shockne: Well, I was born right at the end of the ‘disco sucks’ era. My electronic era was marked by bands like New Order, Joy Division, Berlin, Eurythmics, then Ministry, Rammstein, and Nine Inch Nails, which was a more apathetic electro-landscape. This blend really served us well when creating music for Tron.
On that note, how marginalized did you feel during the ‘Disco Sucks’ era, Giorgio? I know you’re on record as having said that disco basically killed itself because it saturated the market.
Moroder: What disco sucks era?
May 18, 2016 in Interviews
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(1837-1911) Born in Philadelphia, Pa., he moved to Canton, Ohio, in 1856, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1859, and commenced practice in Canton. Manderson was elected captain of the 19th Ohio Infantry, on May 30, 1861. He was promoted to major, April 7, 1862; lieutenant colonel, February 28, 1863; colonel, April 14, 1863; he was wounded in action during the Atlanta campaign on September 2, 1864, at Lovejoy Station, Georgia; and was promoted to brevet brigadier general, March 13, 1865, for gallantry, and faithful and meritorious service during the Civil War. After the war he continued with his law practice in Canton, and then moved to Omaha, Nebraska in 1869, where he continued to practice law in that city. Served as a member of the State Constitutional Conventions in 1871 and 1875. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1883 serving until 1895. He was President pro tempore of the Senate during the 51st, 52nd and 53rd Congresses. Was Chairman of the Committee on Printing. Appointed general solicitor of the Burlington system of railroads west of the Missouri River. Served as Vice President of the American Bar Association in 1899, and President in 1900.
Signature: 5 1/4 x 5/8, in ink, Chas. F. Manderson. Light staining spot at right. Cut slightly irregular at the top edge which does not affect any of the handwriting.
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Anjum Hasan and the Indian Shakespeare
This essay appeared earlier this month in the literary magazine Pratilipi. I linked to it then, so if you have already read it you might want to scroll down to my list of links to great essays on Shakespeare, a blog-only section as long as the essay itself.
In a beautiful section midway through Anjum Hasan’s novel Lunatic In My Head (Penguin/Zubaan, 2007) – in my estimation one of the best scenes in the history of the Indian novel – we see the middle-aged college lecturer in English literature Firdaus Ansari, one of Hasan’s three protagonists in the book, going to class in Shillong to teach William Shakespeare’s As You Like It to her students.
Firdaus, we know by this point, is still a spinster, lives with her grandfather, feels herself slightly over the hill, has a much younger Manipuri boyfriend called Ibomcha, is still a virgin and slightly squeamish about sex, and has been struggling for several years to complete her M.Phil on marriage in the novels of Jane Austen. She feels profoundly alienated from her life circumstances: at the beginning of the chapter we find her looking at herself in the mirror and thinking that “There was no connection between her and her image; if she got up and walked away, this woman whose eyes were boring into hers would remain.”
Firdaus is not looking forward to teaching As You Like It to a bunch of uncomprehending and disinterested students. And, even though she has some ancient notes on the play, handed down from teacher to teacher over the years, she trembles before the immense authority of Shakespeare, the demands he makes on those who serve as mediators and interpreters for him. The double-edged words of Jacques the fool, we are told, “could still jangle Firdaus’s nerves”.
We see Firdaus begin to read out a passage from the play to her class “of whispering backbenchers, cautiously gum-chewing middle-benchers, and girls with looks of blank sincerity up front”:
“He that a fool doth very wisely hit, Doth very foolishly, although he smart, Not to seem senseless of the bob: if not, The wise man’s folly is anatomised, Even by the squandering glances of the fool,” she read out [...].
She began to haltingly explain Jacques’ twisted lines. “The idea here, girls, is that Jaques feels that by being a fool, being given the charter, the freedom to be foolish, is liberating. Why is it liberating?...Any ideas?”
No one responds, so:
Firdaus read out impatiently from her fading notes. “Jacques says to Duke Senior that his only suit or requirement is that he be allowed to wear a motley coat, one that will signal to the world that he is a fool. In addition, that is withal, he must have freedom as large as the wind to quote blow on whom I please unquote, that is, direct his foolish wit or witty folly towards whomever he chooses. Those who are most provoked by his folly, Jacques goes on to say, are those who must laugh the hardest. Why is this so...? That’s what I was asking you,” she broke off to say, “...if you have any clue about this, but you obviously don’t. Anyway...why is this so?” She continued reading. “Jacques explains that this should be obvious to people, as obvious to them as the way to the church is. The fact is that the person who hits a fool, which can be taken to mean hit not in a literal sense, but figuratively, that is he who criticises or berates a fool, might appear smart but is actually very foolish. [...] For if he criticises a fool he exposes himself. He exposes himself and his folly is laid bare within brackets anatomised. Even the squandering glances, that is, the casual fun that a fool might poke at a man...”
It is by any standard an incoherent, fumbling explanation: there is much dross amidst scraps of sense. But just as Jacques’s chatter is wise foolishness, so Hasan’s portrayal of her protagonist is one of clarity routed through incoherence. By not punctuating Firdaus’s talk as Firdaus herself directs it (“...quote blow on whom I please unquote”, “...which can be taken to mean hit not in a literal sense, but figuratively”), Hasan gives us a sense of how Firdaus’s students are hearing her lecture, and how puzzling it must seem to them.
And by showing how Firdaus, while feeling frustration at the sluggishness of her students, is herself not willing to walk with Shakespeare without the crutch of her notes, Hasan has the courage and the confidence to present us with a fairly damning indictment of her protagonist, whose reproaches to her students mask the fact that she, too, is – to borrow a phrase from Othello – “perplex’d in the extreme. The most meaningful words in Hasan’s passage are not those that make some sense of what Jacques is saying, but precisely the most superfluous ones: phrases like “In addition, that is withal” and “within brackets anatomised”, which show that Firdaus is actually on the same side of the fence as her students. It is a genuinely novelistic passage, teeming with crisscrossing meanings: as a result of the author’s artful layering, the words point out towards Shakespeare and back towards Firdaus at the same time, and we understand not just the place of the fool in Shakespearean comedy but the feelings of inadequacy felt by Firdaus.
Firdaus knows that her students must grapple with Shakespeare “simply because he was standing in the way, he was unavoidable”. She is quite right: in the castle of English literature, the biggest suite of rooms belongs to Shakespeare. But why? For what reason? Firdaus’s reverence for Shakespeare, and the incongruity of this fairly representative classroom scene narrated by Hasan, help crystallise a peculiarly Indian attitude towards Shakespeare, which is to see him as the gold standard of sophisticated “high” English, as a dealer in proverbs and precepts, and, finally, as some kind of transcendent genius, a god who never put a foot wrong. Shakespeare is standing in the way, and we bow before him: we have not broken free of a colonized relationship with him.
Even when we do not comprehend Shakespeare, or faintly comprehend him, we are sure that he was great: the very fact that we do not understand what he is saying proves it, and just to say his name is to bask in reflected glory. Shakespeare is supposed to be good for us, as green vegetables are. I remember how, in school, my seventh standard textbook had a passage from Hamlet which excerpted Polonius’s immensely tedious words of advice to his departing son Laertes. The councillors of education who chose it presumably thought that it was an edifying passage that would be good for students, and by presenting Polonius’s speech out of context, chose to totally ignore the fact that we are at some point supposed to laugh at Polonius’s longwindedness. The dramatic situation counts for nothing; the highflown words for everything.
This Bardolatry, perversely, has the effect of diminishing our enjoyment and appreciation of Shakespeare, because it defines, a priori, the terms of our engagement with him, instead of giving us the chance to apply our all faculties on Shakespeare’s enormously knotty and complicated language in an open field, as it were. Shakespeare’s language is certainly extraordinary, but what is extraordinary about it is that it is not necessarily “good”, or grammatically correct, or coherent in its syntax: it is a language of both beauty and craziness, of thrilling energy but also grinding stasis.
Indeed, I have on occasion heard some grizzled Indian Shakespeareans declare that they cannot bear to read anything but Shakespeare (there used to be a figure like this in many English departments in India, and their eclipse is in its own way rather sad, because in many cases they have been replaced by figures who, waving the flags of new critical theories, are convinced that Shakespeare’s reputation is a conspiracy of British imperialism, or that he represents not artistic genius but a coalescence and personification of the social and ideological energies of his time) – they cannot bear to read anything but Shakespeare because the language of “modern literature”, with its slang and its cuss words, seems debased by comparision. But actually Shakespeare himself is full of curses, scurrility, ribaldry, and slang, now given a patina of respectability by the passage of four centuries.
Shakespeare (but not the Indian Shakespeare) is as rude as anybody in the canon, for the exigencies of his dramatic and intensely practical art, which thrived or withered according to gate receipts, required that he write for groundlings as much as sophisticates. A line like “Now is he total gules” (Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2, meaning “now he is totally red with blood”) sits uneasily with our view of Shakespeare as representative of high culture: it could belong just as easily to a rap song.
In fact, it is imperative that we read Shakespeare without rose-tinted glasses, and note (alongside his wondrous density and compression of sense; his startling nominalizations and verbalizations, compound words and neologisms; the knotty texture of his thought; the marvellous and supple rhythms of his lines) his often gratuitous wordplay, his shambling and over-long metaphors, his immense sententiousness, and his tendency to say in ten lines what he might have done in two. As Frank Kermode writes in an essay called “Writing About Shakespeare”, “There is a way of treating Shakespeare...as a very good but sometimes not so good poet, as sometimes but not always clearly a writer of genius – as always, indeed, a writer and to be considered as such.”
Just as Firdaus is all the more sympathetic for her weakness, so too the richest Shakespeare, the most intriguing Shakespeare, is one whom we discern as being both grand and grandiloquent, both untouchable and fallible, a wizard with words whose trade also forced him into hackwork, and whom we might imagine sitting in his room after a long day at the playhouse, sometimes short of inspiration, and saying to himself, like Richard II, “I cannot do it; yet I’ll hammer it out”.
At the close of that passage in Lunatic In My Head, we see Firdaus back home after an eventful day. Once again the ghost of Shakespeare insinuates itself into her consciousness, stands in the way:
In bed at night, listening to her grandfather coughing his chronic cough, Firdaus, still in complete possession of her new-found clarity, realised – with the shock one might feel when an old ache suddenly vanishes – that all self-confidence was connected to language. If she could clearly articulate what she felt, if she could find the right words, if she could speak them forcefully into the world, she would be able to make an impress on reality. [...]
She felt calm and drowsy. Her nose hurt less now. At the very border of sleep, Jacques’ lines came back to her: ‘Invest me in my motley; give me leave to speak my mind, and I will through and through cleanse the foul body of the infected world’, and she knew that in some roundabout way he was speaking about the power of language too, about the power of the tongue, its wit and cunning, its ability to make men reveal their deepest selves.
“Invest me in my motley; give me leave to speak my mind, and I will through and through cleanse the foul body of the infected world” – these ringing words might be read as Shakespeare’s coded appeal to his audience, and indeed as the imprecation of every writer to his or her imagined reader.
And here are links to some essays on Shakespeare which I have enjoyed most over the years. Some of these provide an perspective, from a point of view roughly corresponding to my own though infinitely more subtle, on the main currents in Shakespeare criticism in the last twenty-five years; others directly address questions of language and performance:
“The Case for Bardolatry” by William Kerrigan – one of the most thrilling essays I’ve read in a decade of reading Shakespeare criticism (“Bloom’s literary constructionism is no less extravagant–and no more subject to proof–than the New Historicists’ social constructionism. It is probably wise not to enter into the ultimately empty arguments supporting these two contrasting claims. They can instead be regarded as antagonistic Weltanschauungs of late-twentieth-century literary intellectuals–a particularly clear instance of the ongoing battle between those inclined to see literature largely in terms of society or politics and those inclined to see society or politics largely in terms of literature”);
“The One and Only” by the great Shakespeare scholar Anne Barton, with whom I had the good fortune of studying (“Most biographies, John Updike has observed, ‘are really just novels with indexes.’ That seems especially true with lives of Shakespeare.”);
“Blueprints for Performance” by the theatre director Richard Eyre (“He chose to write in a form in which narrative and character are revealed in words and actions rather than description, and which uses time, space, gesture, movement, speech, colour, costume, light and music, and aims to be truthful while always being unreal. It thrives on metaphor: a room becomes a world, a group of characters a whole society”);
“A Man For All Ages” by Jonathan Bate, co-editor of the recently released Complete Works based on the First Folio and author of the brilliant book The Genius of Shakespeare (“Shakespeare's enduring appeal cannot, however, be said to rest solely on his linguistic virtuosity, nor on the proposition – favoured by some of today's politically minded critics – that he achieved world domination simply because of the power of the British empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. At one level, he is ‘not of an age, but for all time’. He works with archetypal characters, core plots and perennial conflicts, as he dramatises the competing demands of the living and the dead, the old and the young, men and women, self and society, integrity and role-play, insiders and outsiders. He grasps the structural conflicts shared by all societies: religious against secular vision, country against city, birth against education, strong leadership against the people's voice, the code of honour against the energies of erotic desire”);
“Stages of Thought” by the philosopher Martha Nussbaum (“To write philosophically about Shakespeare, or any other great author or artist, one needs not so much philosophical learning, or even philosophical argument, but a genuinely philosophical temperament, puzzled and even humble before life's complexities, and willing to put one's sense of life on the line in the process of reading a text. As Plato rightly said, it is no chance matter that we are discussing, but how one should live. The philosopher needs to turn to literature because literature gets at depths of human experience, tragic or comic, that philosophical prose does not reach; but then the philosopher will need to show the imprint of that complexity, to reveal something of the pain or the joy that the work evokes from his or her own character”);
The first chapter from Shakespeare's Language by Frank Kermode, and an excerpt from Kermode's The Age of Shakespeare (“The commercial development of [Elizabethan] drama was one more sign that the world as regulated by liturgy was being supplanted by a world more concerned with capital and labor – a world in which time itself had a different quality”)
“Whose Bard?” by Thomas Jeffers (“And the Russians? Alexander Pushkin, Ivan Turgenev, and Fyodor Dostoevsky had some wise, and Leo Tolstoy some foolish, things to say about Shakespeare, but the one who did the most for him—translating the plays, prompting their production, and recreating the Elizabethan world—was Boris Pasternak. Gross gives him four entries, including this about the atmosphere of Romeo and Juliet, well caught in Franco Zeffirelli’s film version (1968): ‘Outside the windows ring the daggers of the quarreling clans, the blood of Capulets and Montagues streams in the streets, while in the kitchens, cooks’ knives clatter and scullions squabble over the endless dinners. And under the hubbub of cooking and carnage, as under the thumping beat of a noisy band, the tragedy of hushed feelings is played out in silent, conspiratorial whispers.’”);
“Translating Shakespeare”, an interview with the French poet Yves Bonnefoy (“The stage offered Shakespeare all the possibilities of the spoken word, characters in whose speech the stereotypical thinking of a society, its sexism for instance, would flourish and abound, but in which more lucid intuitions and even remarks of a subversive nature could also be heard, giving the author a chance to deepen his relation to life, to death, and to aspects of existence that are authentically real. And all along, through the fiction that structures the plays, there are situations, events, and figures that can be presented in such a way as to reflect symbolically or emblematically the playwright's thinking about poetry and poetics”);
An excerpt from Playing Shakespeare, an invaluable handbook of advice for actors by the legendary director of Shakespeare plays John Barton ("I may be cynical but I don't believe most people really listen to Shakespeare in the theater unless the actors make them do so. I certainly don't. I know that it's too easy for me to get the general gist and feeling of a speech, but just because I get the gist I often don't listen to the lines in detail. Not unless the actors make me. What I want to explore are the ways in which they can achieve that.");
“The Kingmakers” by the British director and actor Michael Pennington, on the great Shakespearean actors Lawrence Olivier and John Gielgud (“Olivier had a gift for play – for believing that he could become anything he wanted - and an ability to spring any number of physical surprises. In comparison, John Gielgud, who transformed himself brilliantly elsewhere, in Pinter and Chekhov particularly, played Shakespeare as if in unending rapturous tribute, the language harrowing him like fire”);
“The Shakespeared Brain”, a marvellous essay by Philip Davis, author of the recently published and widely praised book Shakespeare Thinking (“In particular I mentioned to him the linguistic phenomenon in Shakespeare which is known as ‘functional shift’ or ‘word class conversion’. It refers to the way that Shakespeare will often use one part of speech – a noun or an adjective, say—to serve as another, often a verb, shifting its grammatical nature with minimal alteration to its shape. Thus in Lear for example, Edgar comparing himself to the king: "He childed as I fathered" (nouns shifted to verbs); in Troilus and Cressida, ‘Kingdomed Achilles in commotion rages’ (noun converted to adjective); Othello, ‘To lip a wanton in a secure couch/And to suppose her chaste!’ (noun ‘lip’ to verb; adjective ‘wanton’ to noun). The effect is often electric I think, like a lightning-flash in the mind: for this is an economically compressed form of speech.... Could we make an experiment out of it?”)
“Reviving Ann Hathaway” by Eric Ormsby (“There remains the matter of the notorious ‘second-best bed’ which Shakespeare left to Ann in his will. This bequest seems grudging at best, contemptuous at worst. But as Ms. Greer notes, a bed represented a substantial legacy at the time: A modest bed had the same value as a cow, a sumptuous bed was worth as much as a cottage. Furthermore, Shakespeare doesn’t seem to have been lavish in the other provisions of his will; even his more substantial bequest to his daughter Judith is hedged about with niggling restrictions. ‘The most eloquent Englishman who ever lived,’ as Ms. Greer rightly describes him, seems to have been something of a Scrooge at the end. But to read contempt into his bequest to Ann of the ‘second-best bed’ (the best was reserved for guests) may be unwarranted. It could have been a legacy of affection as well, the coded bequest which only a loving wife would understand, the solid symbol of a lasting bond”);
“The death of Kings”, a symposium of Shakespeare actors, directors and scholars each listig his or her favourite play from the histories (Simon Schama: “ Henry IV, Part II is better called a memory play than a history; it is the most lyrical Shakespeare ever wrote. And it needs the most delicate touch in its direction and acting to draw out the autumnal pathos. The most heartbreakingly vivid scenes come from the mouths of the old as they spirit themselves back beyond the ache of their brittle bones to the lusty lads and lasses they still feel themselves to be. Whatever else ails them, their memories are as bright as gems”);
“100+ of the best books on Shakespeare”, again by Jonathan Bate (with selections like“Richard A. Lanham, The Motives of Eloquence: Literary Rhetoric in the Renaissance (1976) – dazzling study of Renaissance rhetorical formations of the self, which deserves to be, but is not, as well known as the work of Greenblatt and others” and “Peter Hall, Hamlet's Advice to the Players (2003) – prescriptions of the RSC founder and self-confessed ‘iambic fundamentalist’”);
“Can You Stage A War? What Shakespeare Knew” by the theatre critic John Heilpern (“There’s one thing –and one thing alone – that Shakespeare couldn’t do. He couldn’t show wars onstage.... Far from telling us how battle scenes should be staged, Shakespeare takes great care to instruct us not to stage them. The prologue to Henry V is an inspired, ironic apology: ‘O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend / The brightest heaven of invention! / A kingdom for a stage, princes to act / And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!’”);
And finally, “Everything and Nothing”, a captivating little fable by Jorge Luis Borges (“The story goes that, before or after he died, he found himself before God and he said: ‘I, who have been so many men in vain, want to be one man: myself.’ The voice of God replied from a whirlwind: ‘Neither am I one self; I dreamed the world as you dreamed your work, my Shakespeare, and among the shapes of my dream are you, who, like me, are many persons—and none.’”)
Posted by Chandrahas at 6:24 AM 6 comments:
Labels: essays on Indian fiction, Shakespeare
On Vaclav Havel's To The Castle and Back
In one of a series of grand revolutions that swept over Europe in 1989, the Czech playwright Václav Havel, then the most prominent dissident in his country and indeed one of the cogent critics of totalitarianism in the world, was swept into Prague Castle on the wings of what came to be called the Velvet Revolution. It was a fairytale conclusion to a lifetime of difficult and often lonely political opposition that had included several years in prison.
But if that moment was romantic, the years that followed, and which are described in Havel's new memoir To The Castle and Back – one short term as president of Czechoslovakia, and the two full terms at the helm of the Czech Republic – were mostly prosaic. The man who previously had followed the path of his conscience and had freely spoken his mind now entered, half-willingly, the world of bureaucracy, diplomacy, suits and neckties, compromise, caution, acronyms, and rhetoric – entered the massive precincts of Prague Castle, one of the oldest and largest seats of a head of state in the world, "almost literally a city within a city" – a site whose architecture seemed designed specifically for murky and furtive conduct. "Just think of those long corridors! They actually seduce one into a kind of life in the corridors of power, invite one to invent and spread rumors, to weave intrigues." To The Castle And Back might be read as an account of idealism in politics as tempered by the push and pull of worldly forces: of the castle of the self in the castle of power.
Havel’s book is actually a tripartite collaboration between himself, his long-time friend and translator Paul Wilson, and the respected Czech journalist Karel Hvizdala. The work is not one continuous narrative, but a selection by Havel of notes, memos to Castle staff, and diary entries between 1993 and 2005, interspersed with long, thoughtful answers to probing questions by Hvizdala.
This makes for a highly appealing structure in which, as in politics, profound and mundane concerns are thrown at each other. Here the President can be heard making a grand point about democracy as “a relationship to the world and to society, a way of thinking” or voicing fears that the Czech Republic "would forever remain in a sphere of dubious quasi-democracies, teeming with populists and nationalists"; there he is found arriving to the conclusion that “We need a longer hose for watering”, or asking “In the closet where the vacuum cleaner is kept, there also lives a bat. How to get rid of it?”, or stating, "I'm sending a percel of shirts for Mrs. Ouskova." Havel’s memos to the staff emphasise the quotidian and practical aspects of politics, and his replies to Hvizdala the larger shape of his thought and the range of his concerns.
Here, by way of illustration, is a question by Hvizdala about the European Union, which was established in 1993 and which the Czech Republic joined in 2004, alongside other formerly Communist states who had existed for several decades behind the Iron Curtain of USSR-led communism:
Hvizdala: The old member states have contributed significantly to the development of the new members who are all less evolved because of long years of communist rule. Do you think that we can ever pay them back? What do you say when you are reminded of this subsidization?
Havel: I think that we have an opportunity to pay them back in a certain way already, and one can even see situations in which we are already doing this. I'm thinking about our political voice. The European Union occasionally still suffers from the old European disease, which is the tendency to make compromises with evil, to close one's eyes to dictatorship, to practice a politics of appeasement or even of accommodation, vis-à-vis totalitarian systems, that is determined by economic interests. Some politicians, those who have not experienced fascism or communism, are incorrigible in this regard. I think that the new members of the European Union, who have a relatively recent experience of totalitarianism, are perhaps duty-bound to take a more principled position – should it occasionally be necessary – and to monitor the European Union in this regard, or educate it. It's in everyone's interest. Accommodating evil has, so far, never forced evil to retreat, or to become more humane; on the contrary, it has always made life easier for it. In the end, when confrontation came, the price that everyone had to pay was infinitely higher than the cost of a firm stance.
Unsurprisingly, one of the main themes of To The Castle and Back is man's struggle with language, and also a writer's love of ordered and precise language – indeed the durability of language in a world of transient things. Caught up in the drudgery of statecraft, he muses, "How wonderful it is, by comparison, to be a writer! You write something in a couple of weeks, and it's here for the ages. What will remain when presidents and prime ministers are gone? Some references to them in textbooks, mostly likely inaccurate."
Among the tasks that Havel is seen taking most seriously is his speechwriting: a recurring issue of these pages is the pressure of composing speeches for all kinds of occasions. “For many years now, my weekends have more or less all been occupied with the writing of speeches," he is found complaining in 1998. "It's awful." Elsewhere, he reveals why the composition of speeches take so much out of him: "I try to write speeches as if they were short poems. They have to have a beginning, a structure, an end, their own melody, energy, and drama. Otherwise it’s impossible.” And at the close of the book we find this beautiful meditation on language:
The beauty of language is that it can never capture precisely what it wants. Language is disconnected, hard, digital as it were, and for that reason, but not only for that reason, it can never completely capture something as connected as reality, experience, or our souls. This opens the door to the magnificent battle for expression and self-expression that has accompanied man down through history. It is a battle without end, and thanks to it, everything that is human is constantly being elucidated, each time somewhat differently. Moreover, it is in this battle that man in fact becomes himself. As an individual, and as a species. He simply tries to capture the world the world and himself more and more exactly through words, images, or actions, and the more he succeeds, the more aware he is that he can never completely capture either the world or himself, nor any part of the world. [...] It's a Sisypean fate. But it can't be helped: man will carry the complete truth about himself to the grave, though someone, in the end, will know that truth after all: if not the Lord God, then at least the great memory of Being.
"I think that the moral order stands above the legal, political and economic orders, and that these latter orders should derive from the former, and not be techniques for getting around its imperatives. And I believe that the moral order has a metaphysical anchoring in the infinite and the eternal." These words late in the book contain the essence of Havel's thought, and if Indian readers find them familiar, it may be because they so closely resemble the thought of Gandhi, who, like Havel, sought to restore the spiritual and ethical dimension in politics, and whose thought, like that of Havel, achieved an extraordinary balance of idealism and realism. Havel, like Gandhi, insists that external change is meaningless without a change within; his observation, in his book Letters To Olga, that
The importance of the notion of human responsibility has grown in my meditations. It has begun to appear, with increasing clarity, as that fundamental point from which all identity grows and by which it stands or falls; it is the foundation, the root, the center of gravity, the constructional principle or axis of identity. . . . It is the mortar binding it together, and when the mortar dries out, identity too begins irreversibly to crumble and fall apart
would have been unquivocally endorsed by Gandhi.
Havel’s place in history, grand themes, distinctive organization of his material, fidelity to language, powers of self-scrutiny, and commitment to "living in truth" make for a work that should become a classic of political literature.
And here are links to enough essays by or on Havel to keep you going for a couple of days: "Kicking The Door", an essay published in 1979 ("The strange thing happened then: I became suddenly furious..."); "On The Temptations of Political Power", a speech given in 1991; "A Word About Words" ("thanks to the miracle of speech, we know, probably better than the other animals, that we actually know very little, in other words, we are conscious of the existence of mystery"); "The Need for Transcendence in the Postmodern World"; "A Farewell to Politics"; "Stories and Totalitarianism"; "Politics and Theatre" ("A friend once said that politics is 'the sum of all things concentrated.' It encompasses law, economy, philosophy, and psychology. Inevitably, politics is theatre as well...In a theatre, our consciences are touched but responsibility ends when the curtain drops. The theatre of politics makes permanent demands on us all, as dramatists, actors, and audience") "Civil Society and Its New Enemies" ("Human beings are not only manufacturers, profit makers or consumers. They are also – and this may be their innermost quality – creatures who want to be with others, who yearn for various forms of coexistence and cooperation, who want to influence what happens around them")"Edvard Beneš: Dilemmas of a European Politician"; "Redefining The West"; "The Intellectual and Politics"; "The Spires of Renewal"; "Politics and Conscience"; "What Communism Still Teaches Us", and lastly, perhaps Havel's most famous essay "The Power of the Powerless".
And here is an old interview with Havel conducted by Michael Bongiovanni "in semi-clandestine conditions at Vaclav Havel's home" in June 1989, shortly before the Velvet Revolution ("What we want, here and now, are simple, elementary things. Without reference to any ideological framework, beyond all ideology. We aspire to a share in the basic values of life, those which simple common sense and elementary human dignity demand we should be entitled to."), and another interview from 1993 published in the literary magazine Artful Dodge. Also, here is an essay called "Exit Havel", written by David Remnick on the occasion of Havel's departure from office in 2003. The philosopher Michael Hodges and the political scientist Jean Bethke Elshtain usefully discuss Havel as a "performer of political thought" here.
And some old posts on books by or about politicians: Rajmohan Gandhi's biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope; Jawaharlal Nehru as a writer of English prose, and the memoirs of General Pervez Musharraf.
Posted by Chandrahas at 8:09 AM No comments:
Labels: democracy, politics
On Steve Coll's The Bin Ladens
Since the day nineteen hijackers owing allegiance to Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the name “Bin Laden” has reverberated around the world as shorthand for a benighted medievalism, an intransigent anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, and a murderous hatred of the West, of secularism, and of “infidels” – the obverse, in short, of civilization as much of the world knows it.
But, as the New Yorker staff writer Steve Coll shows in his new book The Bin Ladens, Osama’s background is far more complex than what he himself portrays it to be. His break in the early nineties from his massive family – for long the biggest business group in Saudi Arabia – and from all that they stood for (persistent modernization, business ties with America, fealty to the corrupt ruling dynasty of Saudi Arabia, a love of material and secular pleasures) occurred very slowly and tentatively. Coll’s book is simultaneously the biography of a terrorist and that of a great business house. Indeed, Osama only makes his first appearance a quarter of the way into The Bin Ladens.
Coll’s story begins in the 1930s with Mohamed Bin Laden, an impoverished but enterprising Yemeni national who came to Jeddah in search of work and set up as a contractor in construction. Mohamed’s trade gradually flourished, and he came close to the court of the Al-Saud, the ruling dynasty of newly formed Saudi Arabia. Mohamed’s links with the court would set his own dynasty firmly in step with that of the Al-Saud for decades to come.
Mohamed was a much-married man – he sired 54 children from several wives, and Osama was one of seven children born in the same year. A construction contract funded with American money in January 1951 – half a century before 9/11 – marks the first appearance of the name “Bin Laden” on an American state document.
Private jets were a luxury enjoyed by many Saudi notables, and Mohamed had his own jet, manned by an American pilot who took him from site to site. Mohamed’s death in a plane crash in 1967 would be the first eerie episode of a long list of links between members of the Bin Laden family and plane crashes. Most of Bin Laden business was divided up, as per Islamic law, between the many children, but the burden of running it till many of the children became majors rested upon Salem, Mohamed’s eldest son and Osama’s eldest brother.
Coll’s extended portrait of Salem, an energetic, garrulous bon vivant who loved to live on the edge, makes for the most pleasurable section of his massive narrative. Salem extended his father’s system of patronage, forging links with many members of the next generation of the Al-Saud. He drank wine and ate pork without inhibition, and inherited his father’s love of flying, buying himself several jets and acquiring considerable proficiency in flying them. He flew frequently to America, where he invested copiously in businesses and real estate, and supported several girlfriends all around the world. As the oil boom of the seventies made the Saudi kingdom flush with money, the Bin Laden family rose higher than ever before. But Salem himself died tragically in a plane crash.
All this while Osama, whose mother had remarried after being divorced by Mohamed, was acquiring an education at an expensive private school in Jeddah. This was where he came into first contact with radical religious rhetoric, through a teacher who owed allegiance to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Osama’s devotion to the word of God and his fastidious observance of rules – he would avert his eyes while speaking to women outside the family – was not seen as unusual by his family in a country where, as Coll remarks, “religion was like gravity” – everpresent – and the influence of the austere Wahhabi school was strong.
After attaining maturity Osama worked with the Bin Laden group as a junior executive, while enjoying a life much higher than his position because of his stake in the family business. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 would be the making of Osama. He moved to Pakistan to work as a fundraiser for the cause of the mujahideen, the Arab militia who had arrived to join the Afghan resistance, and his profile rose within his country and within his own family. In Pakistan, Osama came into contact with several radical preachers (Abdullah Azzam, Ayman al-Zawahiri) who taught him the lines of his polemic – Christians and Jews want to take over the world; the West is tempting the Muslim world with lowly material and carnal pleasures; it is the duty of every Muslim to wage jihad against these forces – while exploiting his access to wealth.
It is worth noting that Osama’s current face – that of a rootless, transnational holy warrior, a voice speaking to the world from an abyss, plotting its doom – was only consolidated after his family broke off all ties with him in 1994, followed shortly afterward by the Saudi government’s cancellation of his citizenship. Left without the consolations of family or motherland, Osama was now on his own – Osama first, and Bin Laden second. He lived for a while in Sudan, and then, under pressure from the Sudanese government, moved to Afghanistan in 1996.
In his speeches and essays (his skillful use of new media like satellite television and the Internet is totally at odds with his hatred of modernity) he now railed against the Al-Saud dynasty and its defenders; against practices like usury, which he had formerly endorsed; and most relentlessly against the United States. In exile he became something of a "global news junkie" trawling the internet and magazines for material he could use. In his library in Afghanistan, books about American foreign policy and anti-Semitic screeds lay alongside "traditional Koranic texts, faxed essays from radical Islamic scholars in Saudi Arabia, and bits and pieces from Western media reports".
Coll's close analysis of the moods and rhythms of Osama's speeches over the years (collected recently as Messages to the World, a volume edited by Bruce Lawrence and published by Verso) shows how, immediately after September 11, Osama's morale took a dip, as the American invasion of Afghanistan he had anticipated bowled over the Taliban instead of meeting with the resistance that the Soviets once had. Heavy bombing around him led to Osama believing that his death was imminent, and in December of 2001 he composed a mournful will and testament. "[N]ever before had a document attributed to him conveyed such despair and exhaustion", writes Coll.
But the long winter passed, Osama found himself safe, and he returned to a life of incitement and provocation via videos and speeches broadcast over the Internet. His spirits were lifted once again after the Iraq war, which he saw as a chance to mobilise the potential of the entire ummah. in 2008, nearly seven years after he shook the world, he remains at large, a spectre who looms in every discussion of world politics. But Coll’s brilliant book, with its emphasis on “the universal grammar of families”, shows us an Osama Bin Laden more contradictory, more fragile, and more vulnerable than the Osama we know.
"Young Osama", an essay by Coll on Osama's youth, can be found here, and the first chapter of The Bin Ladens is here. A good long interview with Coll in a recent issue of Der Spiegel is here.
And some other pieces of interest: Samuel Huntington in conversation with Nathan Gardels on Bin Laden; "The Hunt for Bin Laden" by Declan Walsh; and "What Were The Causes of 9/11?" by Peter Bergen, who has written a widely praised book called The Osama Bin Laden I Know; "Terrorism's CEO", an interview with Bergen; and, most recently, "The Jihadist Revolt Against Bin Laden", a piece by Bergen and Paul Cruikshank just published in the New Republic.
Lastly, Osama has a very funny walk-on part as "OBL" in Mohammed Hanif's charming new novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes, about which I will have a post soon.
A shorter version of this piece appeared recently in Mint.
Posted by Chandrahas at 11:07 AM 4 comments:
In Pratilipi
My long essay "Anjum Hasan and the Indian Shakespeare" appears this month in the second issue of the bilingual (English-Hindi) and bimonthly literary magazine Pratilipi. The essay reads some passages from Hasan's splendid novel Lunatic in my Head (Penguin/Zubaan, 2007) through the prism of Indian attitudes towards Shakespeare. The essay will be on the Middle Stage next week, along with a set of links to great essays on Shakespeare.
Hasan's novel is also among the six Indian novels shortlisted for the Crossword Book Awards 2007. Among the English novels shortlisted for the award, my reviews of Lunatic in my Head and Amitava Kumar's Home Products, which I also liked very much, are here and here. Among the shortlisted non-fiction books, my review of Rajmohan Gandhi's biography of Mahatma Gandhi is here, and I have a long interview with Ramachandra Guha, the author of India After Gandhi, here. I noted with some regret that I had not read or written about a single one of the shortlisted novels in translation from other Indian languages.
And here are some selections from the new issue of Pratilipi:
"Exiled From Poetry and Country" by Uday Prakash; "Eating The Breeze" by Samurna Chattarji; "January 4, 1960", five poems in Hindi and in English translations by Udayan Vajpeyi; "No Book To Blow The Mind" by Vivek Narayanan; "Translating Ann Jäderlund on the Ghats of the Narmada" by Teji Grover; "The Missing", three poems in Hindi and in English translations by Mangalesh Dabral; "Death and the Self" by Rustam Singh; "The Role of Dalits in the 1857 Revolt" by Badri Narayan; "Wilderness", a story by Sara Rai, and "Between the Pink", six ghazals in Kannada and in English translation by HS Shiva Prakash.
I will have an essay in each new issue of Pratilipi for at least the next year. Each essay will be devoted to a close reading of a work of Indian fiction.
Posted by Chandrahas at 10:48 AM 12 comments:
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SWAT EXPO
The International Tactical Officers Training Association (ITOTA) is proud and excited to partner with ADS and host the 2008 SWAT Evolution Expo to be held at the Meadowlands Exposition Center located in Newark, New Jersey. The SWAT Evolution Expois scheduled for October 29th and 30th, 2008, and will be a first-class production with all levels of the law enforcement and military special operations community in attendance.
The ITOTA is an association designed to bring the international tactical community closer together through training and information sharing by focusing on the wealth of knowledge, experience and technology that exists in the global tactical community today. Our association scrupulously seeks out ways to meet the needs of our community and is ecstatic to partner with ADS. We are more than confident that this event will surpass our expectations in providing the most up-to-date, tactical, academic training and product showcase available today.
The SWAT Evolution Expo is based on the concept of how “fifth” generation warfare has pushed Tactical Operations and training into a new evolution bringing the civilian Law Enforcement and Military Special Operations communities closer together—SWAT Evolution. Military and Law Enforcement tactical concepts are advancing and merging together by utilizing the best from both worlds. This is happening as a result of the War on Terrorism and direct urban conflict.
The SWAT Evolution Expo was developed to provide a “main stream,” educational and interesting platform that meshes tactical skills, training and knowledge of both law enforcement and military special operations. You will hear from some of ITOTA’s finest international speakers and partners; from top U.S, Canadian and German Tactical Law Enforcement to U.S. Army, Navy and British Military Counter Terrorist Units. We are posed to provide the most innovative and main stream training and equipment solutions available.
The courses scheduled for the academic portion of the SWAT Evolution Expo are designed to show how tactics are evolving to generate enhanced results for the operator utilizing them. It’s about providing options and securing the homeland from within and abroad.
http://www.adstactical.com/lawenforcement/swat_evo_expo.htm
Labels: law enforcement, military, newark, swat, tactical, technology, terrorism
Indy Motor Speedway Salutes New Recruits
By Samantha L. Quigley
May 18, 2008 - While race car drivers sped around the track trying to bump slower competitors out of next week's 92nd Indianapolis 500 lineup, 55 military recruits took a step to shift their lives into high gear. Coinciding with "Bump Day," the last day of timed driver qualifications, the track hosted its Armed Forces Day celebration. The day included a military band, an F-16 flyover by the 122nd Fighter Wing of the Indiana Air National Guard and the annual trackside enlistment ceremony.
"Our armed forces have the ... ability to make a supreme difference," said U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, who administered the oath of enlistment. "I thank these young people for their service every day."
Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense for internal communication and public liaison, offered her thanks and encouragement as well.
"At no time in our nation's history have we seen more support for our men and women in the military than we do today," she told the recruits and their families and friends. "That's a good news story for all of us."
Barber went on to tell the recruits about a friend who originally enlisted in the Army with thoughts of serving for just a few years. Just last week that friend was promoted to the rank of general.
"She's an example of what Abraham Lincoln meant when he said, 'Whatever you are, be a good one,'" Barber said. "Whether you're joining for a few years or if you're going to stay to be a general, I ask you to be a good one."
Mindy Andrews said she's joining the Navy to be a better mom to her 17-month-old daughter.
"I'm a single mom," the 26-year-old from Shelbyville, Ind., said. "I have a little girl [and] I want her to have a real positive, strong, female role model."
Other recruits said they realized the military was the right choice for them and now was the right time to enlist.
"Things at home were kind of slowing down," said Jerad Maxwell, who chose to join the Coast Guard. "I'm not really getting anywhere with school or my job, so I figured I better go in the military."
The Fort Wayne, Ind., volunteer firefighter enjoys responding to emergency situations and staying in the country was important to him. "So I kind of figured the Coast Guard was for me," he said.
One recruit in particular said had always known he wanted to enlist in the Army. He just had to wait until he was old enough.
"I've always wanted to be in the Army, ever since I was in first grade with my friend ... We'd play Army in the backyard," said Devon Pollard, an Army National Guard enlistee from Indianapolis. "It's something I've always wanted to do."
Pollard, who enlisted through the Delayed Entry Program, will spend the summer before his high school senior year in basic training at Fort Benning, Ga.
He's not bemoaning the fact, though. In fact, Pollard was so enthusiastic about the enlistment ceremony that he had trouble finding words to express himself. "I'm honored. I'm actually speechless," he said. "I don't know what else to say."
Nickolas Stafford of Martinsville, Ind., who enlisted in the Marine Corps today, didn't have that problem.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I couldn't pass it up," he said, adding that the ceremony was his first trip to the Indianapolis track. "It's really quite awesome."
Today's ceremony concluded with a medley of the service anthems before cars reemerged on the track to continue their dizzying laps.
Labels: army, coast guard, firefighter, indianapolis, marine corps, military, navy
Commander’s Handbook for Unit Leader Development
Leaders develop from a combination of new challenges and experiences, new knowledge, and time for reflection. Leader development in the Army is a deliberate, continuous, sequential, and progressive process, grounded in Army values (FM 7-0). The result is Soldiers and civilians who are competent and confident leaders capable of decisive action.
The operational (unit) assignment is the most effective setting for leader development. In a 2006 leader development survey, captains and majors ranked leading a unit along with personal examples and mentoring as the three most effective ways their leadership qualities are developed. The consensus among private sector leader development professionals is that a full 70 percent of leader development occurs on the job, 20 percent from other people (leaders, mentors), and 10 percent from training courses.
The organization and content of this handbook provide you with key principles, TTPs, and applications to implement the most effective methods of leader development.
First – Set conditions for leader development. Personally model behaviors that encourage leader development, create an environment that encourages on-the-job learning, and get to know the leaders within your command.
Second – Provide feedback on a leader’s actions. Immediate, short bursts of feedback on actual leadership actions enhance leader development in operational assignments.
Third – Integrate Learning. Leverage leaders who are role models in your unit. Encourage mentoring, training, reflection, and study. Learning from other leaders is one of the most effective and efficient methods of development.
Fourth – Create a legacy. Modify job assignments to challenge leaders. Be deliberate about the selection and succession of leaders. Integrate leader development across day-to-day unit activities. Evaluate its effectiveness.
http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/Repository/Materials/CAL_CommandersHandbook.pdf
Labels: army, leader, leaders, leadership
Colonel Chamberlain at Gettysburg
In late June 1863 General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia passed through western Maryland and invaded Pennsylvania. For five days, the Army of the Potomac hurried to get between the Confederates and the national capital. On 1 July 1863, the 20th Maine received word to press on to Gettysburg. The Union Army had engaged the Confederates there, and Union commanders were hurrying all available forces to the hills south of the little town.
The 20th Maine arrived at Gettysburg near midday on 2 July, after marching more than one hundred miles in five days. They had had only two hours sleep and no hot food during the previous 24 hours.
The regiment was preparing to go into a defensive position as part of the brigade commanded by COL Strong Vincent when a staff officer rode up to COL Vincent and began gesturing towards a little hill at the extreme southern end of the Union line. The hill, Little Round Top, dominated the Union position and, at that moment, was unoccupied. If the Confederates placed artillery on it, they could force the entire Union Army to withdraw. The hill had been left unprotected through a series of mistakes—wrong assumptions, the failure to communicate clearly, and the failure to check. The situation was critical.
http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/CAL/lessons_in_leadership/Chamberlain_at_Gettysburg.doc
Labels: army, maryland, pennsylvania
Mission First—Never Quit!
When SGT Leigh Ann Hester and members of the 617th Military Police Company, Kentucky National Guard set out for a routine convoy escort mission in March 2005, she never knew what challenges awaited her and her team.
SGT Hester was the vehicle commander riding in the second HMMWV behind a convoy of 26 supply vehicles when her squad leader, SSG Timothy Nein, observed the convoy under attack and moved to contact.
http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/CAL/lessons_in_leadership/Mission_first_never_quit.doc
Labels: leader, military, police
A Fearless Leader-Twice a Hero
One of the “young Soldiers” who fought with LTC Harold Moore at the well-known battle of Ia Drang in late 1965 was a lieutenant named Cyril Richard “Rick” Rescorla. He was British, the epitome of the young warriors that country had bred for centuries, already battle-hardened by time spent in Cyprus and Rhodesia at the age of 24. Rescorla came to America to join the fight in Vietnam.
LTC Moore called him the best platoon leader he ever saw. His troops loved him for his spirit and fearlessness. The night after an entire company of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry was virtually wiped out at Landing Zone (LZ) X-Ray, Rescorla’s company was ordered to replace them on the perimeter at the foot of the Chu Pong mountain ridge.
http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/CAL/lessons_in_leadership/Fearless_leader.doc
Labels: leader
Army Leadership
As the keystone leadership manual for the United States Army, FM 6-22 establishes leadership doctrine, the fundamental principles by which Army leaders act to accomplish their mission and care for their people. FM 6-22 applies to officers, warrant officers, noncommissioned officers, and enlisted Soldiers of all Army components, and to Army civilians.
From Soldiers in basic training to newly commissioned officers, new leaders learn how to lead with this manual as a basis. FM 6-22 is prepared under the direction of the Army Chief of Staff. It defines leadership, leadership roles and requirements, and how to develop leadership within the Army. It outlines the levels of leadership as direct, organizational, and strategic, and describes how to lead successfully at each level. It establishes and describes the core leader competencies that facilitate focused feedback, education, training, and development across all leadership levels.
It reiterates the Army Values. FM 6-22 defines how the Warrior Ethos is an integral part of every Soldier’s life. It incorporates the leadership qualities of self-awareness and adaptability and describes their critical impact on acquiring additional knowledge and improving in the core leader competencies while operating in constantly changing operational environments.
In line with evolving Army doctrine, FM 6-22 directly supports the Army’s capstone manuals, FM 1 and FM 3-0, as well as keystone manuals such as FM 5-0, FM 6-0, and FM 7-0. FM 6-22 connects Army doctrine to joint doctrine as expressed in the relevant joint doctrinal publications, JP 1 and JP 3-0. As outlined in FM 1, the Army uses the shorthand expression of BE-KNOW-DO to concentrate on key factors of leadership.
What leaders DO emerges from who they are (BE) and what they KNOW. Leaders are prepared throughout their lifetimes with respect to BE-KNOW-DO so they will be able to act at a moment’s notice and provide leadership for whatever challenge they may face.
FM 6-22 expands on the principles in FM 1 and describes the character attributes and core competencies required of contemporary leaders. Character is based on the attributes central to a leader’s make-up, and competence comes from how character combines with knowledge, skills, and behaviors to result in leadership.
Inextricably linked to the inherent qualities of the Army leader, the concept of BE-KNOW-DO represents specified elements of character, knowledge, and behavior described here in FM 6-22.
http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/repository/materials/fm6-22.pdf
Labels: army, leaders, leadership, united states army
Air Show Celebrates Berlin Airlift Anniversary
By Fred W. Baker III
May 17, 2008 - The historic humanitarian efforts of the Berlin Airlift 60 years ago demonstrated to U.S. allies and enemies alike that the country would not be deterred from its commitments, the Air Force secretary said today. "It displayed a U.S. dedication to a stable and prosperous rule of law and international system. It demonstrated truly the ingenuity of America's military to create sovereign options ... in response to a changing national security environment," said Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, speaking at the opening ceremonies of the Joint Service Open House at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.
This year's open house coincided with the 60th anniversary of the airlift, the largest humanitarian mission in Air Force history. Officially named "Operation Vittles," but known as the Berlin Airlift, the U.S. and its allies delivered more than 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and other supplies to residents of the German capital. The Soviet Union had blocked them from receiving supplies by ground transportation.
For almost a year starting in June 1948, the U.S. and allies launched 750,000 flights to the beleaguered population. The flights delivered food for the starving, but also the parts to build an entire power plant.
Wynne likened the airlift to the humanitarian efforts the U.S. is providing in Burma and China today as the result of natural disasters in those regions. The airlift confirmed, he said, "the absolute criticality of strategic airlift to the nation."
"It demonstrated that our national leaders require an entire range of options to both, defend the United States and extend its vital interests, and provide that international security environment we all seek," Wynne said.
Klaus Scharioth, German ambassador to the United States, said freedom was at stake 60 years ago and called the airlift "one of the greatest humanitarian efforts of all times."
"I stand in awe (of) what these Americans did for my country," he said.
Scharioth said the airlift accomplished the impossible. "It was a truly heroic effort inspired by the will to preserve freedom. The common effort made allies and friends of former enemies that had fought each other in World War Two," he said.
"By keeping alive the hopes of the people of Berlin, the airlift laid the foundation of friendship."
Scharioth said the airlift demonstrates what it takes to change the course of history. "It takes your hand -- hard work and ingenuity -- and it takes your heart, sacrifice and perseverance, the will to be free and stand together as friends," he said.
The airlift inspired his generation and demonstrated that the United States stood for freedom and democracy and also forgiveness and generosity, the ambassador said.
"America's helping hands and humane hearts changed the course of history for my country. The Germans will always be grateful," he said.
Scharioth said the efforts and results of the airlift should inspire future generations as they deal with the new challenges of international terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, ensuring energy security and preserving the planet.
"Just as Germany and the United States stood together on the freedom's front line 60 years ago ... we will confront these challenges together," he said.
"The men and women of the airlift left us with a legacy of friendship. They tell us our friendship is based on shared fundamental interest and values," he said. "We will face the challenges of the future together."
Labels: air force, air force history, leaders, military, terrorism, world war two
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MILITARY CONTRACTS June 12, 2009
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded on Jun. 8, 2009 a $60,434,958 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of four UH-60L aircraft uniquely configured of the Brazilian Air Force (FMS Case BR-B-UTZ). Work is to be performed in Stratford, Conn., with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2012. One bid solicited with one bid received. Aviation & Missile Command Contracting Center, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (DAAH23-02-C-0006).
Taos Industries Inc., Huntsville, Ala., was awarded on Jun. 08, 2009 a $30,161,952 firm-fixed-price contract for a Foreign Military Sales requirement. This award will result in a firm-fixed-price contract for 33,400,938 rounds of various non standard ammunition for the republic of Iraq. Work is to be performed in Huntsville, Ala., with an estimated date of Oct. 29, 2010. Bids were solicited on the World Wide Web with three bids received. Rock Island Contracting Center, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-09-C-0026).
IAP Worldwide Services, Irmo, S.C., was awarded on Jun. 8, 2009 a $21,276,221 service, firm-fixed-price contract to provide electrical power distribution service to Forward Operating Base Leatherneck in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The service is required to distribute power from a leased power plant in order to maintain the life support of the camp. Work is to be performed in Helmand Province, Afghanistan with an estimated completion date of Jun 07, 2010. Seven bids were solicited with four bids received. Kandahar Air Field Regional Contracting Center, Afghanistan is the contracting activity (W91B4L-09-C-0045).
Avon Protection Systems, Inc., Cadillac, Mi., was awarded on Jun. 9, 2009 a $20,710,568 cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price contract to procure 726,834 Chemical B canister for the Joint Service General Purpose Mask Program. Work is to be performed in Cadillac, Mich., with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2010. One bid solicited with one bid received. U.S. Army Research and Development Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., is the contracting activity (W911SR-05-D-0011).
The Korte Co., Saint Louis, Mo., was awarded on Jun. 9, 2009 a $14,496,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the design and construction of an Army Forces Reserve Center. Work is to be performed in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico with an estimated completion date of Apr. 3, 2011. Forty-six bids were solicited with 24 bids received. Corp of Engineers, Louisville, Ky., is the contracting activity (W912QR-09-C-0031).
Boeing Satellite Systems, Inc., El Segundo, Calif., was awarded on Jun. 10, 2009 a $13,790,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The primary objective of the program is to carry our Phase 2 of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Fast Access Spacecraft Testbed (FAST) program. The objective of the FAST program is the development and demonstration of a high power generation subsystem that, when combined with state-of-the-art electric propulsion systems, would form the technological basis for a light weight, high power, highly mobile spacecraft platform, generating as much as 50-80 kw for operational users, but at high specific power levels (130 W/kg or better). Work is to be performed in El Segundo, Calif., (69.53 percent), San Diego, Calif., (17.14 precent), Albuquerque, N.M., (5.59 precent), Carpentaria, Calif., (3.38 precent), Foothills, Calif., (2.77 precent), West Hills, Calif., (0.89 precent), and College Station, Texas, (0.25 precent) with an estimated completion date of Sept. 1, 2010. Two bids solicited with two bids received. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity (HR0011-08-C-0086).
Optimetrics, Inc., Ann Arbor, Mich., was awarded on Jun. 9, 2009 a $9,787,433 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the research and development services entitled "Applied Simulation and Analysis for CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear)". Work is to be performed in Ann Arbor, Mich., with an estimated completion date of Jun. 30, 2012. One bid solicited with one bid received. U.S. Army Research and Development Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., is the contracting activity (W911SR-09-C-0022).
DRS Defense Solutions, LLC., Bethesda, Md., was awarded on Jun. 9, 2009 a $5,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the proposal that was submitted in response to the Topographic Engineering Center (TEC) Broad Agency Announcement Topics, TEC-33 imagery exploitation and TEC-34 surveillance. The contractor shall demonstrate and deliver an airborne hyperspectral imaging system capable of detecting/locating improvised explosive devices. Work is to be performed in Merrimack N.H., with an estimated completion date of Jun. 09, 2010. Bids were solicited using the Broad Agency Announcement with one bid received. Engineer Research and Development Center, Contracting Office, Contracting Office, Major Systems Branch, Alexandria, Va., is the contracting activity (W9132V-09-C-0008).
Armtec Countermeasures Co., Coachella, Calif., is being awarded a $46,540,500 five-year firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the manufacture of RR-196/AL NSN 5865-01-553-7532 and RR-196/AL (T-1) chaff cartridges, NSN 5865-01-553-1536. The cartridges are used on the attack fighter (F/A) aircraft (ACFT) to defeat or launched threats targeting radar signature and emissions. Work will be performed in Lillington, N.C., and work will be completed Dec. 15, 2014. Contract funds will not expire before the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Inventory Control Point in Mechanicsburg, Pa., is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin Services, Inc., Greenville, S.C., is being awarded a $49,595,204 modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contract (N00019-05-D-0013) for P-3C sustainment, modification and installation program to provide for special structural inspection kit installation. Work will be performed in Greenville, S.C., and is expected to be completed in Jul. 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin Services, Inc., Greenville, S.C., is being awarded a $20,985,539 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contract (N00019-05-D-0013) for additional lower wing Zone 5 material structures replacement on five P-3C aircraft. Work will be performed in Greenville, S.C., and is expected to be completed in Mar. 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, is being awarded a $10,883,701 cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery requirements contract (N00019-09-D-0008) to provide joint performance based logistics Phase 1.5 integrated logistics support to improve component reliability of the Marine Corps (MV-22) and Air Force (CV-22) tilt rotor aircraft during the production and deployment phase of the V-22 program. Work will be performed in Ft. Worth, Texas, (72 percent) and Philadelphia, Pa., (28 percent) and is expected to be completed in May 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy, ($9,883,701; 91 percent) and the U.S. Air Force, ($1,000,000; 9 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
Northrop Grumman Information Technology, McLean, Va., was awarded a $6,312,945 hybrid firm-fixed-price/cost/cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order (NS09) under a previously awarded contract (FA8771-04-D-0004) on Jun. 9, 2009, for delivery and installation of tactical switching increment II spiral B1 equipment, including program management; configuration management; logistics; hardware and software updates; configuration management support; testing support; and on-site technical support. NGIT will enhance the enterprise network management system capabilities located at the two Regional Network Operations and Security Centers (RNOSCs) to remotely monitor, manage and control more of the systems and networks within the areas of responsibility of each RNOSC. This contract includes no options. Work will be performed in various locations, including San Diego, Calif., (10 percent); Portsmouth, Va., (10 percent); Wahiawa, Hawaii, (25 percent); Naples, Italy, (10 percent); Bahrain, (10 percent) and Norfolk, Va., (35 percent), and is expected to be completed by Mar. 15, 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This delivery order has an exception to the fair opportunity process pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 2304c (b)(3), as implemented by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(iii) and DFARS PGI 216.505-70(2). The Space and Nav! al Warfa re Systems Command, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command awarded this delivery order on behalf of its organizational partner, the Navy's Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communication, Computers and Intelligence.
The Air Force is awarding an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to the following contractors: McDonnell Douglas Corp., of Saint Louis, Miss., Lockheed Martin-Systems Integration of Owego, N.Y., and Northrop Grumman Technical Services, Inc., of Herndon, Va. This contract provides a multiple-award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract vehicle to sustain and modernize all A-10 weapon system configuration. At this time, $1,718,529 has been obligated. 538 ACSG/PK, Hill Air Force Base, Utah is the contracting activity (FA8202-09-D-0001, FA8202-09-D-0001, FA8202-09-D-0003).
The Air Force is awarding a firm fixed price contract to the following contractors: Lockheed Martin Corp., of Moorestown, N.J., Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., of Linthicum, Miss., and Raytheon Co., of Sudbury, Mass., for $30,000,000 each of three awards. This contract action will provide for Space Fence Phase A system design review, plans trades analysis and data, systems engineering planning; architecture planning; prototyping, modeling and simulation systems trades and analyses; risk management life cycle cost estimate and technical data. At this time, the entire amount has been obligated. 784 CBSG/PK, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8213-09-C-0051).
The Air Force is modifying a firm fixed price contract with Lockheed Martin Corp., of Orlando, Fla., for $14,811,316. This action will provide C-130J aircrew training system program contractor logistics support for various training devices including database generation, engineering support, courseware development and instruction. At this time the entire amount has been obligated. 558 ACSG/PK, Hill Air Force Base, Utah is the contracting activity (F42630-99-C-0095, P00252).
The Air Force is awarding a cost plus fixed fee contract to Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., of Herndon, Va., for $14,384,117. This contract action will provide maritime security analysis and capability assessments to the Chief of Naval Operations Plans, Policy, and Operations. At this time, $652,174 has been obligated. 55 CONS/LGCD, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., is the contracting activity (SP0700-03-D-1380).
The Air Force is awarding a firm fixed price contract to Goldbelt Falcon, LLC of Newport News, Va. This action will provide 25 transportable field calibration units Series II, Data 25, with five year extended warranties. At this time, $8,320,000 has been obligated. 526 CSG, Heath, Ohio is the contracting activity (FY2333-09-D-0001).
The Air Force is awarding a cost plus award fee contract to Raytheon Co., of Marlborough, Mass. This action will provide the Minuteman MEECN program terminal upgrade and ECP by the Raytheon Co., will be procured which will result in the contractor obtaining a NSA Type 1 certification in software upgrades including design documentation to show UIC security compliance and related boundary activities. At this time, $2,000,000 has been obligated. 653 SNNG/PK, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is the contracting activity (FA8726-08-C-0004, P00012).
Posted by Criminal Justice News at 1:21 PM
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AliceC_2013_06_23
Alice gives us hope that it can be done, and that one can stay abstinent no matter what. She shares her experience, strength, and hope and takes us way back...
Direct download: AliceC_2013_06_23.mp3
AnnetteL_2013_06_16
Raised in a Catholic church, Annette shares with us how she did not believe in a god for the better part of her life because if there was one, he would have made her thin like she prayed for time & again. She emphasizes that she is brought up by a “pack of wolves”. During the course of her eating career, she goes to Winchell’s and orders from a staff that does not even speak English, but still is able to get across to them that she needs enough doughnuts for a work party, when it is really just for her consumption and she would have it devoured within two days. She comes to OA in 1985, mainly because it is free and her mother always had to pay lots of money for weight loss programs. She takes on service commitments early on in her recovery. She discusses her unmanageability with smoking cigarettes and how her doc diagnoses her with emphysema and chronic bronchitis at thirty years old. Annette talks about what she has to go through to become abstinent from them, and how it leads her back to consuming sugary snacks, and furthermore, to a new acting out behavior of binging & purging. She almost dies from this newfound hobby. Ultimately, she comes to believe in a God of her understanding, and that this Power is truly in control. If this Power could help her to stop smoking, then it can help her become abstinent from compulsive overeating. Having seventeen years of abstinence currently, she has maintained a ninety-five pound weight loss coming from a top weight of 250 pounds. Join us on the journey that is the experience, strength, and hope of Annette L…
Direct download: Annette_L_2013_06_16.mp3
Sun, 9 June 2013
NancyB_2013_06_09
Nancy B’s story is that of a woman who has gone to the bitter ends with her compulsive overeating habits. She is captivating as she shares her experiences of what it was like for her within the depths of this cunning & baffling disease. She tells of how she wouldn’t shower for weeks at a time as a consequence of it, and paints a clear picture of the demoralizing nature of the disease for us. She reveals how she is physically & sexually abused as a kid, and exposes some of the pain & suffering that would lead up to her ultimate acting out behavior involving food. Nothing seems to work for her—not food, not romantic relationships, not drugs. In the end, the one thing that has proven to do good in her life is the fellowship of OA, and she powerfully conveys the ways in which it does…
Direct download: NancyB_2013_06_09.mp3
MichaelN_2013_06_02
You will be inspired by Michael N.’s story of how he lost 400 pounds over 12 years in OA. He tells how he first was exposed to OA in high school, but didn’t get serious about dealing with his compulsive eating until he reached a point of desperation and the feeling of being isolated from everyone else, at which time he was reintroduced to OA when he called in to live radio program! The producer told him that he never had to suffer alone again when he was a member of the OA family. This turned out to be very true, because Michael was warmly welcomed in the OA. His sponsor, who had also lost 400 pounds, helped him reach a spiritual solution to deal with his eating obsession. Michael talks about how he learned that pain is an opportunity for spiritual growth. Today, Michael is now able to help OA people with spiritual issues. An important message he has is to keep coming back.
Direct download: MichaelN_2013_06_02.mp3
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Published on Wednesday, 20 March 2013 08:59
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An Interview with Michael Moorcock
Below you can read an interview I did with one of the greatest fantasy writers today. I hope you will enjoy reading it, and if not yet, read Michael Moorcock's books.
Q: You first became an editor at the age of 16 with Tarzan Adventures and recently with the online Fantastic Metropolis. How would you compare your experiences doing that and what influence, if any, did your editorial work have on your approach toward writing?
A: Not a lot of difference, really. Generally speaking, my editing work has involved some kind of enthusiasm. I got the Tarzan job because people there liked what I did in my fanzine Burroughsiana. I got my next job, on Sexton Blake, because the editor liked what I'd said in another fanzine (Book Collectors News). I learned a lot at every job and I was involved with making changes on Tarzan, Sexton Blake and New Worlds. I was able to promote a kind of fiction I liked through all these jobs and that's what I was able to do on Fantastic Metropolis, promoting authors like Zoran Zivkovic, Alan Wall and Steve Ayelet. I think my approach to writing had something to do with my editorial work. Editing, at least the way I did it, is a bit like being a teacher, a bit like being a therapist, a bit like being a theatrical promotor. As with my reviewing, I only involve myself with people I feel enthusiastic about. They are not necessarily writers who write like me -- in fact I tend to admire writers who can do things I can't do. And they're a pretty varied lot, though they do tend to share a visionary aspect.
About my only editing jobs which didn't involve much enthusiasm were editing for the Liberal Party policy magazing Current Topics and Golden Nugget, a 'men's' magazine, both in the 60s.
Q: Jeff VanderMeer and R. Scott Bakker recently had articles on the relationship between politics and fantasy published in Cheryl Morgan's Emerald City. What are your thoughts about the relationship between our political (or perhaps social will work just as fine here) world and the telling of a fantasy or SF story? Can one ever remain apolitical in writing, or does 'politics' involve something intrinsic to human life and understanding?
A: It depends on the nature of the story. None of the Jerry Cornelius stories are apolitical, of course. I've written some intensely political fiction, including my non-fantasy novel King of the City. The Pyat books are political, though ironic. Some forms are better for dealing with politics than others. Classic sf can do it very well, of course. But classic sf tends to generalise, which is why I came up with Jerry Cornelius, who could deal with specifics, including contemporary political figures. I found that generic fantasy is the same, you can at best generalise about politics (in the Hawkmoon stories I did some satire, reflecting the politics of the day and in the current Elric stories I do my best to make them as relevant to modern times as possible) but ultimately the medium is the message and you can't do that much with genre. You have to create your own forms to suit your own attitudes. I've worked for political parties and have been closely involved with politics most of my life. I still write some political journalism. Genre, sadly, will always involve a fair amount of generalisation.
Q: Your work has, at various times, been labeled as "New Wave" or "New Weird." What are your thoughts about these labels and how would you sum up in a concise fashion what you write for those people who are unfamiliar with your work?
A: I've always loathed labels. When we were doing New Worlds I studiously refused to let anyone call us a movement, though many tried. All that is literary politics, which I've never wanted to play (though some politics is always involved in promoting new writers). I was amazed when Mike Harrison, who had always shared my dislike of labels, suddenly started promoting the 'New Weird' label. It's not like him to play politics. But I suppose we can all get stuck for a definition sometimes. They can help us move forward but the problem is that definitions/labels then have to be defended and debated. I saw enough crap when people were discussing what was and what wasn't sf to prefer not to label what I do or, indeed, label what I believe. My own politics is a mix. I'm a person of the left who writes mostly, at the moment, for right-wing journals and newspapers like The Spectator and The Telegraph. I'm an anarcho-syndicalist who believes in keeping the British House of Lords (unelected upper house) unreformed. What label exists for that mix? Movements always go backwards and forwards, even when they are pretending just to go forwards. 'New' ? 'Old' ?
What are you doing when you're creating a new form on one hand and going back to a pre-modern form, as it were, on the other? Labels simply add to the confusion.
Q: Do you hold to the adage that if one wants to understand a society, she or he ought to look at the literature being produced by that society? And if you do believe this, what do you think would be revealed to a hypothetical future reader reading through 20th century works from the US and the UK respectively?
A: I am inclined to agree with that. Indeed, I moved to Texas because I didn't want to live in a familiar environment. There's not much difference between NE USA and Britain or France. Texas, as they say, is a different country. The literature produced in Texas certainly helps me understand her better. We used to write in NW fiction which we assumed demonstrated our culture to the future. We also tried to write fiction which demonstrated the future we were trying to describe. My fiction will reveal to the future reader probably much that I am unconscious of, which is why I'm inclined to trust instinct rather than any tendency to rational speculation. I dumped rationalisations from much of the fiction I wrote and published precisely because I knew those rationalisations were the least revealing aspect of visionary work. I don't know -- what does Blake reveal to us, other than that he was the greatest visionary of his time. We can argue with his rationalisations, such as they were, but we can't 'argue' with his vision. Does that make sense?
Q: You moved to Texas in the 1990s. What, if anything, about American/Southern society did you learn while living there that you did not know before? What were your general and specific impressions of the people there? Is 'the future' (socially, politically) on display in the US, or is it to be found elsewhere now?
A: I think I had to learn about the roots of American politics by moving to Texas, which was what I'd hoped to do. I know I understand more about the nature of both right and left libertarianism than I did, how the Constitution creates more fundamentalists than the Bible (thank God). I've learned not to judge people as 'backward' because they live according to the Old Testament, as most Europeans do. I understand more about the nature of American radicalism and its rejection of European radicalism (increasingly, these days). I think American radicalism was held back by its adoption of European models. I'm not sure 'the future' isn't anywhere you decide to look. I once thought I'd found it in Los Angeles. At another time I found it in London. Currently, I think I've found it in Paris. 'The future' is as complex and as varied as he present, in other words. We find metaphores which do the best job possible. A good image, in other words, is worth any amount of speculation. People find my 60s fiction 'relevant' to the present, just as we find much of Dick's fiction relevant to our present. Again, Dick was far more accurate about the future than most of the writers telling us how the future would be in Analog, say. Indeed, all the Galaxy writers (if you can make a group of people like Bester and Pohl who didn't usually publish with Campbell) who concentrated more on modern social issues seem to have been a lot more accurate about our present. Is that a fair answer? I was romantic about Texas and I suppose part of its attraction was that I saw a certain aspect of the future -- a multicultural future -- here, when I stood behind a bunch of kids at Astroworld and heard them talking in a mixture of black, Spanish and regular American. It was that language which brought me here and which I sought to reproduce in a form and a music of my own in Blood, Michael Moorcock's Multiverse (DC comic) and The War Amongst the Angels. Musical subtleties...
Q: To what degree would you say risk goes with being a writer, both in the professional and personal sense?
A: You have to take all the risks you can, both with your lifestyle and with your work, to be the best writer you can be. Writers can easily rationalise their need for security and build themselves a coffin. If you get too secure, it's time to move on.
Sometimes life does it for you. Sometimes you have to take a conscious risk. I try to take risks in my life and work. They usually improve the work if not my finances.
Q: In recent years, there have been many stories, both in print magazines and on online journals, extolling the 'resurgence' of fantasy. What do you think accounts for this belief and is it necessarily a 'good' or 'bad' thing?
A: You'll probably have guessed my answer to this one by now. It's both good and bad. And it isn't either. It's the zeitgeist, innit? People used to find their romance (many still do) in historical fiction. Increasingly, they've found it in fantasy. Scott wrote fantasy which pretended to be about a past reality. It's good escapism. Tolkien wrote fantasy which was frankly invented. It might say something for our development that we are prepared to accept frank invention over pretended authenticity. It's all part of what we sometimes call the post-modernist sensibility.
A knowingness which also gives us metafiction and its associated forms.
A resurgence? Maybe. What did we have instead of 'fantasy' in, say, the 15th century? And how wholly did we believe in, say, the Gods of Olympus when their stories were the latest being told? I must say the insistence of religious fundamentalists in modern times suggests that people are having to try harder than ever before to believe in the supernatural. Whether escapist fantasy is 'good' or 'bad' depends on the main uses to which it's being put by the individual. Another thing we were fond of saying at NW was 'context defines'...
Q: Do you think that fantasy books must deal with some theme to truly be great? Should there be themes at all, and if so, what themes would you say you tried to convey with his works?
A: Ultimately it's the author's talent which defines greatness. What would be trivial in some hands can be great in others. Frequently the author has no clear idea of their own talents. Great themes can become trivial in the wrong hands. Triviality can become great in the hands, say, of a Proust.
Q: An oft-overlooked dimension about fantasy is the addressing of gender issues. To what degree would you say fantasy works reflect prevailing social attitudes about gender? Also, is there any truth, in your opinion, to the notion that while female authors can write convincing male characters, male authors have a much more difficult time in writing a convincing female character?
A: Well, of course, as a supporter of feminism and a convinced 'Dworkinista', I'd like to see more work dealing with gender issues. Again, it depends on the talent of the individual author. Flaubert wasn't too bad at writing a convincing female characters. It depends on the form, too. Leigh Brackett, working in a genre she loved, tended to produce strong males and stereotypical strong females, rather the same as the male writers she was most influenced by. I would reckon if we read mostly Jane Austen, we'll be inclined to write good female characters. If we read mostly Robert E. Howard, we would be good at writing adolescent male characters. Temperament must surely have a great deal to do with it. My favourite writers when I was a small child were Louisa May Alcott and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Another favourite was Richmal Crompton, a woman, who wrote about a 'bad' small boy called William, with whom I identified. These days, although I'm currently reading a lot of Balzac, as well as Dumas and Scott, I always 'default' to Elizabeth Bowen, though I've never knowlingly read any of her supernatural fiction. It's her social fiction which I love. I'm as convinced by her men as I am by Angus Wilson's women.
Q: What are some of the projects that you have on tap?
A: I seem to be writing a comedy provisionally called The Sedentary Jew, about a man who's cursed to remain in the same city for eternity (London, of course). I'm doing text for a bunch of Mervyn Peake drawings previously unpublished, a mixture of little stories and nonsense verse, which will first be published in French in Paris. I'm writing a memoir of the Peakes, whom I knew from a boy. I'm doing a bunch of miscellaneous novellas and short stories.
Q: Is it likely that we will see you working with some other authors? If it is, who with?
A: The only collaborations I have in mind at the moment are with artists (such as Walter Simonson on the Elric graphic novel). I collaborated with Storm
Constantine on Silverheart and she's doing a new one Dragonskin, which is mostly her. The title's mine... No other collaborations, except with artists, on the books.
Q: Who are some of the writers that you are reading today?
A: Alan Wall. Iain Sinclair. Steve Beard. Apart from some of those already mentioned.
I'm reading Proust for the second time. Reading off and on Balzac's A Harlot High and Low, which I'm not enjoying much, though I love Balzac. I just finished a Simenon Maigret novel. Much enjoyed Walter Mosley's sf novel The Wave and today bought his new 'straight' novel Fortunate Son, which I haven't started yet. Reading Adam Gopnik's autobiographical Paris to the Moon. Steve Beard's Meat Puppet Cabaret (his best so far). Bought Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris today.
Q: What do you believe are the major influences for this thing we call 'Fantasy' today?
A: Well, Monkeybrain recently reprinted my revised book on the subject, Wizardry and Wild Romance. I take it back to Amadis of Gaul, I suppose. Walter Scott.
The Gothic writers. Frank Baum. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Lord Dunsany. Cabell. Weird Tales writers. I've argued that Tolkien borrowed American models as much as English (or 'Nordic') which could explain the popularity of that sequence in the USA. In an interview he did in NW, he was worrying about whether or not he should join the SFWA... I don't like the way we these days separate 'literary' (British) imaginative fiction from 'pulp' (American) imaginative fiction.
There are as many examples of both in both literatures. Tolkien, of course, has had a huge influence on modern generic fantasy, though not much on me. I liked Poul Anderson's Broken Sword a lot more. These days, we're talking about probably the most successful single genre in the bookstores. Must be huge variety of influences on those.
Q: If you were to own several monkeys and/or midgets, how many would you own, and what would you name them?
A: Well, it's not legal to own midgets, so it would have to be monkeys. And they're hard to housetrain. I guess it would be one monkey, as long as he didn't annoy my cats, and I guess I'd have to call him Mikey...
Thank you again for this interview you did for wotmania.com. We all wish you success with your work.
Posted by Lotesse at 1:25 PM
Labels: Interviews, Michael Moorcock
An Interview with Sebastian Peake
The 50 Book Challenge Met
Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey
An Interview with Martin Springett
A personal Top 50 list
Una breve reseña sobre la traducción al español de...
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New Mexico’s Senators Propose A National Mounument Near The Border
By Mónica Ortiz Uribe for Fronteras
Southern New Mexicans are caught in a debate over preserving a stretch of borderland as a national monument. The state’s two Senators and a Representative are pushing separate bills that set different boundaries for the monument. One of the issues at stake is border security.
The land that stretches south from Interstate 10 outside the city of Las Cruces is a desolate expanse of desert that from a distance looks unremarkable. But those who know the land also know its hidden treasures.
“It seems every time we come we find either a new petroglyph or a new ceramic tide or a cool new arrowhead,” said Angel Peña, a graduate student at New Mexico State University.
On a recent afternoon Peña prances across a mini rock mountain known as Providence Cone. He comes here often to do research for his master’s thesis, a study of the ancient pottery typical of this region.
Providence Cone is littered with chiseled images of lizards, snakes and four-legged fish. It was the site of a settlement dating back some 1,400 years.
“In the morning right when the sun isn’t directly over here, these petroglyphs shine like they’re brand new, like they were carved yesterday,” Peña said.
This site is within the boundaries of a proposed national monument that would be called Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks. It would include four separate chunks of land within Doña Ana County that together total 500,000 acres. Part of the land reaches down to the Mexican border. The details are outlined in a bill co-sponsored by Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich.
“You have these incredible landscapes and mountains…that have some really important wildlife habitat for southern New Mexico as well as a cultural tapestry, a story of who we are as a country,” said Heinrich.
The most identifiable landmark is the craggy Organ Mountain range, which towers above the city of Las Cruces like the pipes of its namesake instrument. West of those mountains, across the Rio Grande River, are sections of land that travel across time. There are volcanic craters and ancient animal tracks. There are battle scars from Apache raids and World War II aerial target sites.
“One of the great things about New Mexico is we have this incredible history of conservation,” Heinrich said. “We have 68,000 New Mexico jobs that are directly tied to public lands, from outfitter guides to jobs in tourism and many other facets.”
But those jobs mean little to local rancher Dudley Williams. He lives within the proposed monument boundaries north of the border where he leases federal land for his cattle. When he first moved to New Mexico, he was blunt with his real estate agent.
“I said, ‘I don’t want any rivers, I don’t want any trees and I don’t want any scenic boulders. I want cattle grazing land,'” Williams said.
Over the years Williams said he’s seen evidence of illegal smuggling on his land, including bundles of drugs. He fears a national monument designation would attract more illicit traffic.
“I don’t go out of the house without a pistol, even to go over to feed the horses or walk the dog,” he said.
Even so, U.S. Border Patrol statistics show that in recent years New Mexico has among the lowest apprehension rates in the southern border.
But that’s of no comfort to local law enforcement. They fear national monument status may reduce their access to the area.
“The types of crimes that we’ve see were homicide victims to stolen vehicles, narcotics smuggling, human smuggling, weapons smuggling,” said Capt. Manion Long of the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Department. “Our concern is if we’re not allowed to provide that basic type of patrol then these instances will become more frequent.”
As written, the Senate bill specifically states law enforcement will have access inside the monument, even within designated wilderness areas. But Long remains wary of those promises. The sheriff’s department supports an alternative bill filed by New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce which excludes borderlands from the proposed monument.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, in neighboring Arizona, is an existing park located along the Mexican border. Parts of it are closed due to the amount of illegal traffic that comes through. Visitors can still request to tour the closed sections, but must be accompanied by law enforcement.
Sue Walter, public information officer at the park, said both Border Patrol and local law enforcement have full access to the monument land.
“There have been no negative encounters between visitors and the illegal traffic,” she said. “We are slowly opening the closed sections back up again.”
Back in Las Cruces, at a local coffee shop, engineer David Soules sat sipping his favorite brew. He’s been a lifelong hiker and hunter in Southern New Mexico and supports including the borderlands in a national monument proposal. He said it’s area rich with wildlife and history.
“When I joined the Boy Scouts, the first camping that I did was in these areas,” Soules said. “Now I’ll do some star gazing and take a telescope and maybe see the moons of Jupiter the rings of Saturn.”
Soules said the beauty and character of the Southwest is inextricably tied to these wide open spaces.
Letter to Obama Asking for Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument
BLM to Prepare Management Plan for Río Grande del Norte National Monument
Local Veterans and Senators Support Proposed Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument
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The Russians get on board
Russia is going to ratify Kyoto. The Russian cabinet has approved the decision and sent it to the Duma for formal ratification. If they approve it (and there aren't expected to be any problems - the Duma is pretty much a rubber stamp in Putin's Russia), it will finally allow the protocol to enter into force, despite the USA. There's a quid-pro-quo, of course - the EU will be supporting Russia into the WTO - but I don't see any real problems with that.
As for the consequences for New Zealand, it means that in all likelihood we will be getting a carbon tax in 2007. In the long term, if we want to meet our emissions targets (which are expected to get tougher), we will need to do some combination of a) making a substantial shift away from burning fossil fuels for electricity; b) finding a way of making cows burp less; and/or c) planting a lot more trees. A carbon tax should provide some incentive for the market to work towards the first, but we'll need to do a lot of work on the other two.
Posted by Idiot/Savant at 9/30/2004 11:24:00 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Climate Change
"A pale shadow of what I said at Orewa"
Don Brash's words (quoted in the Herald) pretty much sum up NZFirst's new Treaty of Waitangi policy. With his promises to disband the Waitangi Tribunal and remove "Treaty clauses" from legislation, it's clear that Winston is trying hard to recapture the redneck vote. At the same time, closer examination of the actual policies shows that there's more than a trace of rhetoric involved - his "disbanding" of the Tribunal amounts to little more than a name change, and much of the rest is minor administrative tweaking. And there's even some good in it - increasing funding to both the Tribunal and the Office of Treaty Settlements to allow claims to be processed faster (something that was strangely left out of the policy announcement). However, the whole policy is tarred by Winston's desire to remove any legislative reference to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi (or indeed to the Treaty itself) and impose a deadline for filing historical claims. I've argued here that "Treaty clauses" are essentially the sole way of giving the Treaty any legal force, and an important mechanism for preventing future breaches. While they may need to be reworded and refined, removing them would send us back to the days when the Treaty was "a simple nullity", and Maori rights were dependent on "the conscience of the Crown". As for a deadline, as I've said before, having a goal is good, but having an arbitrary date for the express purpose of refusing claims is fundamentally incompatible with justice. And that's what the settlement of historical claims is supposed to be all about. We should do what we can to speed up the process (though the biggest bottleneck seems to be the government's Orewa-induced reluctance to spend too much money on it), but we absolutely should not impose a cutoff.
But what's most disturbing is the sheer amount of historical revisionism which pervades and underpins Winston's policies in this area. "The treaty was not about property rights ... it was about citizenship"? Only if you ignore Article Two. The principles of the Treaty are not and cannot be defined? They've been defined by the courts (notably in NZ Maori Council v Attorney-General (1987)), by the government (in its 1989 Principles for Crown Action on the Treaty of Waitangi), and by the Waitangi Tribunal (who are legally the definitive source, having "exclusive authority to determine the meaning and effect of the Treaty"). The latter body has a useful summary here. They were not inserted at the request of Maori? The original Treaty clause in the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986 was inserted at the last minute precisely because Maori feared the effects of corporatisation and privatisation on Treaty claims. Treaty clauses have not tangibly benefitted Maori? I think Ngai Tahu and those iwi whose former lands were under threat from privatisation would beg to differ.
When a political party deliberately sets out to lie about history in this manner, you have to seriously question their fitness to govern or influence policy.
By Toutatis!
The sky isn't falling on our heads, but it's getting close. Toutatis - a 5km long asteroid - missed the earth by a mere 1.6 million km today. It's orbit is well known, and this is the closest it will come for at least 500 years, but it is a reminder that there are plenty of similar-sized rocks out there whose orbit is not known, and which could pose a danger even in the near future. While a rock the size of Toutatis doesn't pose a threat to the existence of humanity (we and our technological infrastructure are too widely dispersed to be taken out in one hit), it could make things very difficult for quite some time.
Lembit Opik takes the opportunity to call for an early-warnng system to track asteroids and warn us of any danger.
I've just been glued to Fox News (!) watching the takeoff of Spaceship One for its attempt on the X-prize. The actual aerial launch should be in about 30 - 40 minutes. I guess it's going to be a late night...
Posted by Idiot/Savant at 9/30/2004 02:21:00 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Torture by proxy
From Obsidian Wings: under the guise of implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 commission, the US House of Representatives is moving to legalise the practice of extraordinary rendition, thus allowing terrorist suspects (or anybody else) to be sent to foreign countries specifically for the purpose of being tortured:
The provision would require the Secretary of Homeland Security to issue new regulations to exclude from the protection of the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, any suspected terrorist - thereby allowing them to be deported or transferred to a country that may engage in torture. The provision would put the burden of proof on the person being deported or rendered to establish "by clear and convincing evidence that he or she would be tortured," would bar the courts from having jurisdiction to review the Secretary's regulations, and would free the Secretary to deport or remove terrorist suspects to any country in the world at will - even countries other than the person's home country or the country in which they were born. The provision would also apply retroactively.
(Original emphasis).
It's actually worse than it sounds there. In the comments section, the post's author, having read the text of the bill, notes that
terrorism suspects seem to be excluded from the deportation provisions of the Convention Against Torture entirely, even if they could do the impossible and prove by clear and convincing evidence that they would face torture.
Article 3 of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment specifically bars this practice:
No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.
While the US has entered a reservation on how this article will be interpreted (interpreting "substantial grounds for belief" as "more likely than not"), the above still clearly violates even their lax interpretation - thus necessitating the (constitutionally questionable) bar on judicial oversight.
I am simply sickened by this. The US is supposed to be a beacon of human rights and freedom, and here it is adopting a "nudge nudge wink wink say no more" attitude towards the worst possible violation of its ideals. If you are an American, please contact your representative and tell them you will not stand for this.
Labels: Torture
Stupid, stupid, stupid
What sort of democracy does Bush want in Iraq? The same sort there is in Florida! After months of talking about how Iraq would have free and democratic elections, he ordered the CIA to begin a covert operation to support pro-US candidates. Yeah, that's going to give Iraqis faith in the process and help them see the resulting government as legitimate...
Juan Cole has more...
For those who continue to be in denial and claim that Iraq's problems are all the fault of "foreign fighters": the US military thinks that the insurgency is homegrown and that most militants are Iraqis:
Foreign militants such as Jordanian-born Abu Musab Zarqawi are believed responsible for carrying out videotaped beheadings, suicide car bombings and other high-profile attacks. But U.S. military officials said Iraqi officials tended to exaggerate the number of foreign fighters in Iraq to obscure the fact that large numbers of their countrymen have taken up arms against U.S. troops and the American-backed interim Iraqi government.
"They say these guys are flowing across [the border] and fomenting all this violence. We don't think so," said a senior military official in Baghdad. "What's the main threat? It's internal."
But of course US politicians and the Iraqi regime can never, ever admit that.
I like New Zealand
Jews and Muslims denounce hate mail campaign
Leaders of Wellington's Muslim and Jewish communities have joined forces to denounce the racial hatred that has surfaced in the city.
The community leaders issued a joint statement yesterday saying Muslims and Jews were "People of the Book" and had lived together in peace for hundreds of years in many communities throughout the world, including Wellington.
"Together, we denounce all acts inciting hatred as they are contrary to our religious, ethical, and civic beliefs. Let us work together, with all of New Zealand, to build a healthy society where everyone respects each others' beliefs ... ," the statement said.
I guess they'll be marching together against the National Front on Labour Weekend then...
Bush was warned
The Bush admininstration's foreign-policy can be summed up as "faith-based". They set their minds on a particular view of reality (for example, that Saddam has a vast array of WMD, or that Iraqis would greet invaders with flowers and rosewater), and act on that view, regardless of the facts on the ground or any evidence to the contrary. So it's really no surprise to learn that Bush was warned that Iraq would go to hell in a handbasket and that the only winners would be Al-Qaeda, but ignored that warning and invaded anyway:
The same intelligence unit that produced a gloomy report in July about the prospect of growing instability in Iraq warned the Bush administration about the potential costly consequences of an American-led invasion two months before the war began, government officials said Monday.
The estimate came in two classified reports prepared for President Bush in January 2003 by the National Intelligence Council, an independent group that advises the director of central intelligence. The assessments predicted that an American-led invasion of Iraq would increase support for political Islam and would result in a deeply divided Iraqi society prone to violent internal conflict.
One of the reports also warned of a possible insurgency against the new Iraqi government or American-led forces, saying that rogue elements from Saddam Hussein's government could work with existing terrorist groups or act independently to wage guerrilla warfare, the officials said. The assessments also said a war would increase sympathy across the Islamic world for some terrorist objectives, at least in the short run, the officials said.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Nameless horrors
Crooked Timber blogs about Charles Stross' "A Colder War". I read this a few years ago when it featured in a Dozois Year's Best anthology, and it grabbed me immediately. It starts out ordinarily enough - just a soulless CIA analyst looking at some files - and then before you know it you're down the rabbit hole and reading about shoggoth gaps and an exchange of weakly godlike entities. It has everything - Auschwitz, Chernobyl, Oliver North and Stephen J Gould; a fantastic cross between the Mythos and the Cold War.
Like many, I was struck by the similarities between Stross' vision and Delta Green - except that it seems too overt. The world of Delta Green is supposed to be indistinguishable from our own; the horror is hidden behind the curtain, glimpsed out of the corner of the eye (or, if you're unlucky enough, it swallows you whole in the middle of the night). Having shoggoths paraded through Red Square like SS-20s, or nameless horrors imprisoned under the Pentagon as a final deterrent (a more insane form of MAD) would spoil that aspect. Besides, no-one in Delta Green would be mad enough to see the Mythos as a weapon... would they?
Labels: Cthulhu
North Korea says it has the bomb
In a speech to the UN General Assembly, the North Korean Vice Foreign Minister said that they had reprocessed all their spent nuclear fuel into nuclear weapons to provide a deterrent against the US.
"We have already made clear that we have already reprocessed 8,000 wasted fuel rods and transformed them into arms," he said.
Asked if the fuel had been turned into actual weapons, he replied "We declared that we weaponised this."
Yet another example of how Iraq was an enormous foreign-policy mis-step for America.
Jam tomorrow
After yesterday's marathon effort on fascism, it occured to me that I'd just written as many words as I need to complete the latest piece of non-blog writing which is gnawing on my conscience. So, no posts today - I'm writing other things.
The Whig disapproves of my calling the Allawi regime "unelected torturers". But this isn't chutzpah, and it isn't morally bankrupt - it is a simple statement of the truth. The Allawi regime is indeed unelected, and they are indeed torturers. I cannot in good conscience support any government that uses such tactics. I didn't support Saddam, I don't support Mugabe, and I'll be fucked before I support Allawi. The fact that The Whig feels that I should speaks volumes about his attitude towards fundamental human rights. He is nothing more than an apologist for torture.
I look forward to the elections, and hope that Iraq gets a better government out of the process - one that shows respect for human rights rather than resurrecting Saddam's tactics. But until then, the Allawi regime is not worthy of my or anybody else's support.
The bar is now closed
Billmon has closed the Whiskey Bar. So, let's raise a glass to the memory of his informed cynicism, bitterness, and cold fury at the state of the world.
Fascism: left or right?
Genius NZ asks "what is Fascism?" and attempts to debunk the "illusion" that fascism is a right-wing ideology. In the process he reaches the fashionable right-wing conclusion that fascists were socialists. Since I've been reading Kevin Passmore's Fascism: A Short Introduction recently, I thought I'd throw in my two cents.
Firstly, definitions of fascism vary. Traditional Marxist definitions see fascism solely in terms of class. An example of this can be seen in Reading the Maps' recent post on whether Destiny Church are fascists:
Fascism occurs when a capitalist class, or a section of the capitalist class, is unable to control an insurgent section of the working class using the normal insitutions [sic] of the state. Fascist leaders often come from the petty bourgeoisie or military, and they are called in because they can mobilise a section of the petty bourgeoisie and/or working class to smash organised labour and the left.
Fascist leaders also destroy bourgeois democracy (ie multi-party parliamentary democracy), because it is a luxury capitalism cannot afford in a revolutionary crisis. Fascist leaders also frequently rein in the 'free' market, using a 'corporate state' state to commandeer economic resources and to force puppet unions and a cowed bourgeoisie to cooperate 'in the national interest'.
The problem with this approach is that it puts too much weight on what is almost certainly a matter of historical accident. There's no question that early twentieth-century fascist movements rose to power with the collusion of wealthy conservative factions who feared the influence of communists. German conservatives made Hitler Chancellor in 1933 and helped pass the Enabling Act; Italian conservatives responded to the March on Rome by handing Mussolini the reins of power. But what about our own National Front? They're a group of criminal losers without any wealthy backing, but at the same time they're fairly clearly fascists. It also makes it difficult to distinguish between fascism and a standard right-authoritarian dictatorship (like that of Pinochet in Chile), and indeed difficult to distinguish what a fascist actually is (other than a pawn of capitalism). What it is good for is talking about causes (fascism does seem to be a response to crisis), and for placing fascism in its historical context.
A second approach is that adopted by anti-Marxist American scholars after WWII. Being anti-Marxist, they couldn't talk about class, and in any case their intent was to discredit communism by linking it with fascism, so they defined fascism as a form of totalitarianism. A checklist definition was provided by C. J. Friedrich (as quoted in Passmore):
A single mass party, led by one man, which forms the hardcore of the regime and which is typically superior to or intertwined with the governmental bureaucracy.
A system of terror by the police and secret police which is directed against the real and imagined enemies of the regime.
A monopolistic control of the mass media.
A near monopoly of weapons.
Central control of the economy.
An elaborate ideology which covers all aspects of man's existence and which contains a powerful chiliastic [messianic or religious] moment.
On this analysis, fascism is distinguished from communism by the ideology - fascists pursue an extreme form of nationalism which suborns all other interests to "the nation". Fascism is therefore the totalitarian pursuit of a nationalist utopia. There's some advantage here in that firmly fingers extreme nationalism - the belief that all interests must be suborned to that of the "nation" (usually defined in exclusivist and racial terms) - as being the core of fascism. It also points at the radical aspect of fascism - fascists seek to remake society and sweep away the old, corrupt one. But there's a danger of overstating the case. Fascists seem to be quite comfortable with existing structures and interests if they are not perceived as being incompatible with nationalism. There's also the weakness, shared with the Marxist analysis, of trying to push all enemies into the same box.
A third definition is that given by Umberto Eco in his essay Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt (itself part of a larger essay entitled "Ur-Fascism"). This identifies fascism as an irrationalist, ultra-traditionalist movement characterised by action for action's sake, a fear of difference, and contempt for the weak, born of a sense of frustration, humiliation, and feelings of being beseiged by a vast conspiracy (traits some may notice in a few of our local right-wing bloggers). It's an excellent picture of the psychology of fascism, but puts too much emphasis on the traditionalist aspects and not enough on the revolutionary ones.
Finally, there's Passmore's definition, which draws on some of the above. He identifies fascism as being essentially about ultranationalism, and the core goal as creating a "mobilized national community". He identifies it as reactionary - anti-socialist and anti-feminist - because those "isms" put class or gender above the nation, and as being of the extreme right, chiefly because of its extreme hostility to the traditional left. He also stresses fascism's radicalism, as it seeks to overthrow and replace existing elites who are perceived as having betrayed the nation, and because it will override traditional conservative and right-wing interests (such as private property) in pursuit of this goal. Finally, it is characterised by paramilitarism and a willingness to use violence, thuggery, and intimidation in pursuit of its goals.
Is this "socialist"? No. The hard core of fascism is nationalism - something traditionally associated with the traditional right - and this trumps any conceptions of class. Socialist-style policies may be pursued insofar as workers are identified as important to (or even defining) the nation, but they are not the goal, and woebetide any workers who put their own interests above the perceived interests of the nation (by e.g. striking for higher wages). While some historical fascists started out as socialists (notably Mussolini), this ultimately gave way to nationalist concerns (Mussolini ditched the socialists in 1915, and his movement waged a paramilitary war against them). Genius NZ is correct to say that fascism is not "a classic right of the political spectrum position in the modern sense", because the right is traditionally conservative, while fascism is radical and revolutionary. But it is of the right nonetheless. There are a great many similarities between fascist regimes and Stalinist ones, but that is due to the authoritarian nature of fascism - not because it is of the left.
As for US Republicans, there are some disturbing similarities which become apparent on reading the Eco piece, and they score a couple of ticks on Friedrich's definition. Worse is the growing influence of extreme right-wing elements. Orcinus has spent a great deal of bandwidth on the way that the Republicans' reaching out to gun-nuts and extreme fundamentalist Christians over the last decade has fed those extremist's memes back into the mainstream of the party, notably in his Rush, Newspeak and Fascism. And there's certainly a great deal of fascist-style psychology in the "conservative movement" at the moment. But they're not fascists - yet. What's scary is that they could quite easily go that way. One of my great fears over Iraq is what happens when the Americans lose. Because they're going to lose if they keep doing what they're doing - you simply cannot defeat that sort of popular insurgency with the current tactics - and then they will have a toxic combination of wounded pride, embittered veterans, and serious economic troubles. The parallel with post-Versailles Germany and Italy is striking, and some in America are already complaining of a liberal Dolchstoss (as they did after losing Vietnam). So while the Republican party isn't fascist yet, a loss in Iraq could tip some parts of them over. And then we should all be very, very afraid.
More liberal internationalism
The Sock Thief replies to JustLeft's post on Dichotomies, accusing him of conflating two points when he characterises the underlying dispute as a question of whether the western way of life should be imposed by force. He begins by pointing out that
there probably are those that want the West to "dominate" but they are a very small minority
They may well be, but unfortunately they include some of the world's most powerful people - such as the current President of the United States and his closest advisors. The chief exhibit of this is the US National Security Council's September, 2002 National Security Strategy, which opened with the bold statement that there was
a single sustainable model for national success: freedom, democracy and free enterprise.
It goes on to advocate for the imposition of this model around the world - for the US to use its "position of unparalleled military strength and great economic and political influence" to
extend the benefits of freedom across the globe.We will actively work to bring the hope of democracy, development, free markets, and free trade to every corner of the world.
In other words, an explicitly Rousseauean project of "forcing people to be free", with a peculiarly American definition of "freedom". That isn't democratic by any stretch of the imagination, and it sure as hell isn't liberal.
The problem is that these people have been able to wrap their undemocratic and illiberal goals in the cloak of humanitarianism, democracy and liberalism - at least with regards to Iraq. As for real humanitarian crises, like Darfur, they don't give a shit.
Sock Thief's second point is to make a lot of noise about humanitarian intervention, but this is missing the point. There is widespread agreement on the left as to the desirability of democracy and freedom, and that military intervention can sometimes be justified in pursuit of these goods. What's in dispute is whether it was justified in the case of Iraq, and what else comes along for the ride. Intervening to help people is unquestionably a Good Thing; intervening to help people and totally remake their society without any pretence of their consent is another question entirely.
Finally, as a way of moving things forward (and in response to a Nick Cohen article in the Observer), JustLeft suggests that:
[i]n the current situation, the left should be engaged in a debate about when and how intervention should be done, to protect people's human rights from totalitarian governments. Once a clear position is worked out, it should apply that analysis wherever it is relevant.
I think that Human Rights Watch have given us exactly the sort of clear analysis that is needed, and I've been using it as the basis for my thinking on the matter.
Labels: Darfur
Whitewashing war-crimes
A while ago I blogged about the difference between British and American attitudes towards crimes committed by soldiers. The British prosecute in open court whereever possible, pour encourager les autres; the Americans seem happy to give their criminals a slap on the wrist - even for torture. Today there's more startling evidence of this disparity. While there are honourable exceptions,
by more than a 2-to-1 ratio, military officials have handed down administrative discipline rather than pursue criminal punishments for service members accused of prisoner abuse or sexual-assault crimes in war zones, according to records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and a Pentagon source.
"Administrative discipline" means
reprimands, fines, rank reductions, bars on Internet use and "Chapter 10" agreements, which allow some soldiers who admit guilt to leave the military under less-than-honorable conditions but without being prosecuted.
The examples quoted in the story should give an idea of the ludicrous injustice of this approach. Murder a prisoner? Resign. Rape a fellow soldier? Resign. Beat and abuse POWs, resulting in broken bones? Resign. Oversee that as an officer? Resign. This isn't justice. These people should be facing trial and imprisonment, not a plane-ticket home to civilian life.
As for those who want to continue to claim that this is "just a few bad apples", this sick parody of justice is condoned at the highest levels of the US military. Local commanders cover up for their men by declining to prosecute, and their superiors rubber-stamp the decisions - all the way up to General-officer level. And the incentives it sets? Abuse or kill Iraqis, and you get to go home. Now that's a discouragement.
This process simply has no credibility, and it will not have any until the decision on whether to prosecute is placed in completely independent hands. Until then, the US military can rightly be accused of protecting its own, and of whitewashing war-crimes.
Labels: Iraq, War Crimes
Dramatic plea from al-Qa’ida suspect
The Sunday Star-Times has as interview with Iraqi PM Iyad Allawi today (sadly not online), in which he doesn't come across too well. But more interesting is his comment quoted in the story about the safe return of the New Zealand engineers from Basra:
Meanwhile, Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, has called on New Zealand to do more to help his country fight terrorism.
In an interview with the Sunday Star-Times, Allawi said Iraq was now the centre of an international war.
"Frankly, here (in Iraq) we are defending you in New Zealand . . . They (the insurgents in Iraq) will go back to New York, they'll go to London, they'll go to New Zealand. . . they'll go everywhere."
This is simply Tui-able; the primary motivation for the insurgants in Iraq is nationalism - kicking the Americans out. They are overwhelmingly locals fighting for a local cause. While we may have a preference as to who wins, there's simply no way that it can be construed as defending New Zealand.
And OTOH, can we really blame a guy who was put in power by the Americans and who is utterly dependent on outside assistance from trying to get others to help keep him in power and prop up his regime of unelected torturers?
Thugs seek legitimacy
The National Front wants to start "security patrols" in low income neighbourhoods. To "protect the elderly", of course - it's nothing to do with them looking for people to beat up and intimidate while cloaked in authority, oh no.
Those who pay attention to my CBIP will have noticed that I'm reading Kevin Passmore's Fascism: A Very Short Introduction at the moment. According to Passmore, one of the defining characteristics of fascism is that it embraces paramilitary violence and vigilantism in pursuit of its objectives. Historically, fascist parties have sought to legitimise this by having their paramilitary wings (such as the SA, SS and Blackshirts) take over some or all of the functions of the police. Our own National Front seems to be no different.
Zaoui update
Zaoui's lawyers are taking his bid for bail to the Supreme Court. It certainly raises some important constitutional issues relating to how long the government can keep people in prison without charging them, but I'm not sure about their chances of success. A number of Habeas cases were appealed to the Supreme Court early on, but none were granted leave.
The worse the situation in Iraq, the bigger the lies that Tony Blair tells us
Indisriminate slaughter
When a car-bomb goes off in Iraq, US officials are quick to condemn the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent civilians. Unfortunately, it seems that US forces are killing twice as many of those civilians as the resistance...
Liberal internationalism
JustLeft has an excellent post on the growing ideological rigidity surrounding the war in Iraq, in which he identifies the "unspoken core of the debate" as two dichotomous worldviews:
Should the West dominate the world, and seek to make it over in its own image? Or are other ways of life - economic, social, political, religious - allowed to coexist with capitalist liberal democracy?
Like Jordan, I am in the second camp - there's more than one way to run an acceptable society. While I generally approve of "the western model" (give or take a few questions about distributive justice) as generally delivering a high level of freedom and wellbeing to (most of) its inhabitants, there are other ways to pursue those goods, and how a society is run should be decided by its members and not by faraway people motivated by profit or ideology.
This raises the obvious question of what we should do when a society fails to meet minimum standards of acceptability; when it starves, tortures, murders or just generally oppresses its members. What should liberal internationalists do about the Iraqs, the Zimbabwes, the Uzbekistans and the Sudans? Or about the shitty, undemocratic, and oppressive, but perhaps not quite so terrible regimes like Saudi Arabia, China, Belarus or Iran?
The answer is that of course we should help - we should try and give people the four freedoms Roosevelt identified as necessary for human flourishing, as well as the freedom to determine the structure of their own society. But we should generally avoid trying to deliver those freedoms at the barrel of a gun. Timothy Garton Ash summed it up well in his article Beyond the West:
both in principle and in practice, it's better that people find their own path to freedom, in their own countries, in their own time and, wherever possible, peacefully. But should we help these people as they fight freedom's battle? Most emphatically we should, by every non-violent means at our disposal.
(My emphasis). This means linking trade and investment to respect for human rights, it means applying sanctions and international pressure to abusive regimes, and it means providing support and the benefit of our experience to those countries which are working towards freedom. But what it does not mean is using force. Military intervention can sometimes be justified, but only in the most extreme cases (e.g. ongoing genocide). Iraq failed to meet that standard. A much stronger case can be made for intervention in Darfur, but the more I read about it, the more I despair that it would actually do any good. So when we do consider force, it must be with a sense of realism about our chances of success, with humility, and in the knowledge that often the "cure" is worse than the disease - rather than swaggering arrogance and a belief that bombing children will make things better.
Don Brash's moral bankruptcy
Fighting Talk's Lyndon Hood has a throwaway paragraph which exposes Don Brash's moral bankruptcy over human rights:
And while there’s a lull in proceedings I’d like to mention that Dr Don Brash helped set up the Freedom Foundation, a group of New Zealand business types supporting Amnesty International (its other patron is the deputy chairman of Transpower). Recently in question time this same Don Brash was taunting the Government for not immediately taking up his offer to help remove prisoners’ entitlement to compensation for human rights abuses.
Is there any belief that Brash won't sell out for political advantage?
How bad is Iraq?
Daily Kos has posted a daily security bulletin (distributed to civilians, not military) which paints a pretty scary picture. One of his commentators likens it to "the weather report for Hell and its suburbs"...
And for more scariness, check out this map (courtesy of Juan Cole):
The red areas are those where the US is completely unable to provide any sort of security. The purple areas are those where there has been recent heavy fighting. The white areas are "peaceful" - though given that Baghdad is classified as such, it's a rather generous definition of "peace".
Half the country is effectively in rebel hands. And the US think they can win this?
National has reacted to the larger than expected budget surplus by (of course) calling for tax cuts. Can anybody say "broken record"...?
Meanwhile, JustLeft has an excellent post on how big a surplus we should be running, informed by considerations of intergenerational equity regarding capital expenditure. It's unfair that today's taxpayers pay the full cost of things like roads that will be used by future generations, and funding through debt seems justified in order to fairly allocate the cost. Looked at this way, we should be running a much smaller surplus - about half the current size, in fact.
Like National, JustLeft sees the surplus as an opportunity. But rather than being an opportunity to redistribute wealth to the already rich, he sees it as an opportunity to restore and rebuild public services to ensure greater equity today. His picks? Student loans, the working for families package, and health. I favour the latter myself: despite the intergenerational atrocity of the student loan system, slashing waiting lists and rolling back usage charges on primary health care so that people can actually see a doctor when they're sick (rather than showing up at A&E later needing a hospital bed) seems to be the priority. Health has a tremendous impact on people's ability to fully participate in society and on life satisfaction; guaranteeing it (or rather guaranteeing rapid treatment) is one of the foundations of a decent society and a core duty of any government.
Abu Ghraib: The Hidden Story, by Mark Danner.
While in the guise of a review of the two recently released reports into Abu Ghraib (the Schlesinger and Fay reports), this is really a detailed and perceptive exploration of what went wrong and why. I'm still working through it, but it looks very good so far.
Labels: Abu Ghraib
Breaching the Electoral Act
The anonymous anti-Hubbard hatchet job flyers currently being distributed in Auckland in breach of the Local Electoral Act 2001 have reminded me that some of my posts (and some of my plans for the next general election) may fall foul of our electoral regulations.
S. 113 of the Local Electoral Act restricts the publication of "any advertisement that is used or appears to be used to promote or procure the election of a candidate" to either that authorised by the candidate or that from ratepayers or residents groups. In either case, you have to stick your full name and address somewhere on it (note that ordinary citizens need not apply; local government is a one-way democracy). S. 221 of the Electoral Act has similar language for general elections. While both Acts have a provision allowing "news or comments" (the more recent one even mentions the internet), endorsements of specific candidates or parties could be considered illegal (it may not be; I should stress that I do not know the case law on this).
Not that this is going to affect my behaviour in any way whatsoever, but it's nice to know what laws I may be skirting.
Southland local body elections just became important
Solid Energy is working on plans to build a coal-fired power plant in Southland. It would burn locally mined lignite coal - the dirtiest, filthiest sort, with the lowest energy content, producing particulate pollution, sulphur dioxide, and acid rain. While it doesn't have to be dirty - gasification allows for cleaner burning and for gases to be seperated out at source - burning it cleanly is more expensive. If we want to ensure that business takes a cleaner route, rather than dumping their costs on us as lung cancer and acid rain, we need to subject them to suitably tough resource consents. And this means electing people to Environment Southland who will set sufficiently tough air-quality standards and not simply rubber stamp whatever proposal is eventually put forward.
Queue jumpers
The government is offering to review the immigration status of the over 2000 Zimbabweans who have fled their country for New Zealand. Those who can will be given permanent residency under existing rules; others will be given special dispensation.
Despite the title, I actually think this is a Good Thing. It's a great example of us doing our bit for people in need, many of whom have used their temporary refuge to start rebuilding their lives. But at the same time there's no question that these people are getting special treatment and "jumping the queue". Other refugees fleeing similarly shitty regimes and whose need is no less are not given this sort of red-carpet treatment; they are denounced as "queue jumpers" and treated as criminals. What is the reason for the difference in treatment? Simply that refugees from Zimbabwe are overwhelmingly white. Suddenly, this isn't looking like something we should be particularly proud of after all...
Yaser Hamdi, a US citizen classified as an "enemy combatant" and held without charge after being captured in Afghanistan, is to be set free - on the condition that he relinquishes his US citizenship and accepts deportation to Saudi Arabia.
This is simply monstrous. Hamdi is as American as President Bush - he was born in Baton Rouge, Lousiana. He has not been convicted of any crime. He has not even been charged. Yet the government, having arbitrarily detained him for two years, is coercing him into giving up his citizenship by the threat of further arbitrary detention. That's not even a pretence of justice - it's extortion, pure and simple.
This is precisely why we have limits on government action - why we have courts, lawyers, appeals, and public oversight. But the Bush administration has managed to evade or neuter all those limits, and is now exiling one of its own.
America's status as a "beacon of freedom", already flickering, has just grown a little bit dimmer.
Labels: Human Rights, USA
Charge them or release them
The US government's response to the Supreme Court ruling three months ago that Guantanamo detainees had recourse to US courts has been to drag their feet. Unfortunately, it seems the courts are losing their patience. A US federal judge has ordered the US government to justify why it is continuing to hold prisoners in Guantanamo and to explain for each one why they should not be released. While it's not made explicit in the article, if the government fails to convince the court, a writ of Habeas Corpus will almost certainly follow.
The message to the US government is clear: they must either charge the detainees or release them.
Putting Iraq in perspective
Juan Cole has a scary post which puts the carnage in Iraq into perspective by asking the simple question of "if America were Iraq, what would it be like?". The answer isn't very pleasant:
Thus, violence killed 300 Iraqis last week, the equivalent proportionately of 3,300 Americans. What if 3,300 Americans had died in car bombings, grenade and rocket attacks, machine gun spray, and aerial bombardment in the last week? That is a number greater than the deaths on September 11, and if America were Iraq, it would be an ongoing, weekly or monthly toll.
That's just the beginning, and it's bad enough. But there's a lot more there, and putting it all in one place and putting it in a US context makes it possible to truly grasp the scale of what is going on in Iraq. The situation is simply terrible, it is not improving, and the US seems powerless to do anything about it. They can kill more people, of course, raze neighbourhoods or even whole cities, but that doesn't actualy resolve the problem - it simply results in more recruits for the resistance.
Clausewitz said that "war is merely the continuation of policy by other means", by which he meant that military force is used to achieve political objectives. But it's hard to see what objectives are now being pursued in Iraq. The US cannot create the necessary stability for democratic government to emerge, it cannot protect the current unelected regime or its staff, and it cannot even keep the electricity and water (let alone the oil) flowing. All of the US's stated objectives are now unachievable, and have been for quite some time; all they seem to be fighting for now is to avoid "appearing weak" by admitting defeat. But is that really worth 1200 dead Iraqis and around 60 dead US soldiers every month?
New kiwi blog
Generation Y not?
Inherit the media?
Bloggreen Aotearoa looks at the current influence of the blogosphere in US politics, and speculates that bloggers will inherit the media in New Zealand:
But what I'm looking forward to seeing is the local analysis of us political bloggers on the New Zealand political scene. There are a number of MPs who I know are regular readers of some blogs and a number of parliamentary staff or former staff members are running high profile blogs. It's also funny to see that a trend in Question Time is to table printed out copies of articles on Russel Brown's Hard News as a way of demonstrating 'coolness'.
I think the next election will be quite telling in terms of the influence of the blogosphere. If more and more people are turning to independent commentators for their political information, how much do we as bloggers have influence on a) general public opinion and b) politicians impressions of public opinion. It makes you think ;) or write more...
While it may be tempting to adopt a triumphalist tone ("history is on our side", and all that), realisticly I don't think we're a significant influence on general public opinion. Our combined readership is simply too small. From half-remembered stats published in stories about the kiwi blogosphere, Hard News gets around 15000 visitors a month. NZPundit I think claimed 50000 - but only about 20% of them are actually New Zealanders. I get 4000 going on 5, and from looking at those sites that make their stats public, most kiwi political blogs are smaller. Turning these monthly stats into daily figures (dividing by 25 should get an average weekday total), and we're talking daily readerships in the hundreds. And many of them will be regulars, or junkies who read more than one blog. The upshot is that the total number of eyeballs looking at the NZ political blogosphere is truly tiny - a few thousand people at most - so we're certainly not directly influencing the general public.
What about indirect influence? What gives the US political blogs their teeth are reliable transmission mechanisms to funnel stories to the general media. Journalists and political operatives watch the biggest sites, and are quick to propagate any interesting material. So wingnuttery about typewriters goes from PowerLine to Drudge to the mainstream media, and pointyness about "you bought it, you own it" goes from diaries on Kos to John Kerry's speeches. But apart from some bagging of Ticketek, I don't see a lot of that happening here. Partly that's because our news media doesn't suffer from ADD and isn't so driven to scoop the competition (because there really isn't much competition), but mostly it's because NZ political bloggers (and political bloggers in general) aren't exactly fountains of originality. Most of what we say is entirely predictable and fairly banal - the usual hype, namecalling, and "is not"/"is too" of everyday politics. There's plenty of sources for this, and the media don't need to turn to the net to find it. What gets picked up in the US is original material - the research that undercuts some claim, the devastating point that no-one else has noticed, the close reading of official reports which reveals some lie - or specialist knowledge. We don't really do very much of either.
Where I think we may have some influence is in politician's impressions of public opinion - blogs are like letters to the editor in tracking the public's reaction to political events, only faster. On the other hand, I'm sure that our politicians - or their advisors - know exactly how tiny we are (and if they didn't, they do now).
Overall, claims that NZ bloggers are going to "inherit the media" are almost certainly overstated. If we want influence, we're going to have to earn it. Producing better material that it is actually worth pillaging would be a good start.
Homeland Security jumps the shark
Really, is there any other way to describe their diverting a plane 1000km because former musician Cat Stevens was on board?
Democracy and national sovereignty
Here's something Maverick Philosopher would definately regard as a reductio of the democratic ideal: Jonathan Freedland, writing in the Guardian, suggests that we should all have a say in the US elections. And he makes a very good case: America's hegemonic power is so great that their decisions affect everybody on the planet. But by the very principles their revolution was founded on - people having a say in the decisions which govern their lives - non-Americans should now have a say in their "internal" elections.
No-one for a moment expects this to happen. But it's a nice idea how the ideals behind democracy - of everyone's interests counting equally, and having to be taken into account in any decision which affects them - undermine the Westphalian doctrine of national sovereignty.
Labels: Democracy, USA
Fionnaigh has an excellent post on the National Front and what they stand for.
Local body roundup
Several blogs have posted guides to their local body elections, so here's a list of links all in one place:
Auckland:
Christchurch:
Metcalph on Christchurch City Council & Banks Peninsula District Council, Environment Canterbury and Canterbury DHB, the Christchurch mayoralty, and more on the Canterbury DHB.
Wellington:
David Farrar on Wellington City Council, Wellington Regional Council, and Capital Coast Health)
BlogGreen
Palmerston North:
Obviously, evey single one of us has our own political views, and the guides should be read with our particular biases in mind.
If anybody else has any other contributions, let me know and I'll add them in.
Labels: Local Government
Goff at the UN
Phil Goff's speech to the UN General Assembly is here. Nothing groundbreaking - just the usual appeals for reform of the Security Council, the elimination of agricultural subsidies, support for international action on Darfur and for the ICC as a means of bringing errant governments to justice, and for a just solution in Palestine.
The fly in the ointment is an announcement of support for the Interim Iraqi Authority. Yes, we've gone on the record as supporting a regime which uses torture. We shouldn't be doing that; we should be pointing out that their human rights record isn't a great improvement on Saddam's, and hoping that the upcoming elections (if they happen) will see them replaced with a better regime. Undiplomatic, but someone needs to be saying it.
Harpers magazine has an interesting article this month on the rise of the right-wing spin machine in America. The "mighty wurlitzer" of right-wing think-tanks and media outlets didn't come from nowhere, and it didn't evolve from grassroots pressure to represent popular interests. Instead, it was created by some very wealthy conservative Americans with the explicit purpose of manipulating public opinion.
Not that I'm saying that there's anything wrong with this. All's fair in love and politics, and vigorously waging memetic warfare is simply good tactics. But it's interesting nonetheless, for two reasons: firstly, the American left was left behind by this strategy, and has not managed to restore the balance of power; and secondly, it's been happening here - witness the Business Roundtable, Maxim Institute, and all their single-purpose glove-puppet spinoffs like the Education Forum and Local Government Forum. The lesson the for the New Zealand left is clear: we need to create our own think-tanks to provide memetic ammunition, otherwise, in the long-term, we will be outgunned.
The Everlasting Man (hat tip: Big News)
Britain has released a prisoner from it's "mini-Guantanamo". While it's great that he's been released - imprisonment without charge cannot be justified - it also underlines the essentially arbitrary nature of the internment process:
D was among the first foreigners to be held under the emergency measures passed within weeks of the 11 September atrocities, and has been in prison since 17 December 2001. Just 11 weeks ago D was being described by an independent commission as a terrorist supporter and a threat to national security, yet the Home Office was unable to reveal why he was now a free man.
What changed? The government will not say. But this refusal taints the entire process, leading to either a suspicion that they have unjustifiably imprisoned an innocent man for the past three years on dubious secret evidence, or that they have released a still-dangerous terrorist. This underscores the need for open justice. Suspected terrorists must be charged, rather than simply imprisoned, and tried in ordinary courts under ordinary standards of evidence. Otherwise, we can have no faith in the verdict.
Democracy and stupidity II
The Maverick Philosopher responds to my post on democracy and stupidity. His chief criticism?
If all interests must be counted equally, then I wonder if this doesn't entail that voting privileges must be extended to all mentally competent people who can read and write.
This would entail extending the vote to children and criminals, something he regards as a reductio ad absurdum. While I agree that it creates pressure for the widest possible franchise, I don't think that it necessarily requires giving children the vote, and I have no problem with inserting a tacit arbitrary restriction to adults if it makes him happy.
(At the same time, the inability of modern democratic systems to properly represent the interests of children and young people is a well-known flaw. Because they cannot vote, they have no effective voice, and it is particularly easy for their elders to pursue policies which unfairly impose costs on them. Running deficits, using finite resources, and allowing pollution are three general examples. More specifically, there's the American policy of conscription during the Vietnam War (which targetted people who could not then vote), and New Zealand's own student loan scheme, which imposed costs on future tertiary students so that their parents could enjoy lower taxes. Recognition of this fact has led to a general downward trend in the voting age, and it looks to go even lower in the future...)
As for criminals, there's nothing at all absurd about them voting - as Maverick points out, they have just as much a stake in society as anybody else. Civilised societies recognise this. Sadly, the United States does not.
Reading on, Maverick shares the same concern as Philosophy et cetera - that people may not necessarily know their own best interests, and that
injudicious and misinformed people could easily vote against their own best interests.
Indeed they might - but that is no reason to deny the validity of their choice. Fallibility is a part of being human, and people's mistakes are theirs to make. Denying this and arrogating to yourself the right to second-guess people's choices on the grounds that they may make a mistake not only strips their lives of meaning, but it invites us to supplant their interests with our own. More importantly, it is the first step on the road to the gulag and the re-education center. "People don't know what's best for them" is the underlying justification of every totalitarian government.
Finally, Maverick raises the idea of the "common interest". This is ontologically dubious - all interests are ultimately personal - and inasmuch as people vote against it, it cannot truly be said to be "common". But even if it were, it would still be no reason to limit political choice. As Mill said,
if all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.
This goes for voting as much as speech.
Labels: Democracy, Equality
Wasteland?
The Dominion-Post has been running a series of feature articles (sadly not online) on the theme of "are we in a moral wasteland?" The first article looks at the the changes in New Zealand society over the past thirty years and suggests that our recognition of personal freedom has resulted in a less moral society. I vehmently disagree. We live in a far more moral society than we did in 1971, and it is precisely because we have recognised individual rights and freedom and substantially eliminated discrimination.
To see just how crazy this idea of a "moral decline" is, let's look at what we've "declined" from. In the New Zealand of 1971:
it wasn't just legal to pay a woman less than a man for the same work - it was mandatory under most national awards
it was legal for shopkeepers to refuse to serve Maori or Catholics - and many did
beating your wife and kids was socially acceptable, and police would simply walk away from a "domestic"
there was "spousal immunity" for rape
homsexuality wasn't just illegal; juries would refuse to convict those who murdered gays (plus ca change...)
Compare this to New Zealand today: we don't allow discrimination, we protect women and children from abuse, "no" means "no", and the state does not care what happens in the bedrooms of consenting adults. That's not a "decline" - it's real moral progress. Those who do see it as a decline are either viewing the past though very thick rose-tinted glasses, or have a twisted sense of morality.
The second article in the series looks at the role of Parliament in bringing about that moral progress - and in particular at the 1986 homosexual law reform. Along the way there's the following interesting snippet:
If there was ever a moral dimension to the argument about gay sex, it was over what kind of society New Zealand would become if the Homosexual Law Reform Bill had failed, [Fran] Wilde says.
"It became increasingly clear we had to get it through because this hostility had been unleashed, this dark side of society, that, in fact, if they had triumphed would have been a huge setback for New Zealand. In the end it didn't end up being a debate about homosexuality being legalised, it was a debate about the sort of society we wanted in New Zealand. Did we want tolerance and acceptance of diversity. Or did we want an intolerant, legislative regime that reflected the bigotry of religious zealots?"
It draws the obvious parallel - we are facing exactly that sort of choice again today: between an open, tolerant and inclusive New Zealand, or one dominated by bigoted theocrats. Which New Zealand would you rather live in?
Labels: Equality, Left, Liberalism
The Guardian is carrying the story of Huda Alazawi, a woman who was imprisoned for eight months in Abu Ghraib after refusing to be blackmailed by an informer. One of her brothers was sexually assaulted, another was beaten to death during his interrogation, and she had her shoulder broken by a US guard. And that's before she even reached the infamous prison. And the effects of this?
As Iraq lurches from disaster to disaster, from kidnapping to suicide bombing, from insurgency towards civil war, from death to death, what does she think of the Americans now? "I hate them," she says.
Can you really blame her?
Since everyone else is posting about local body elections, I thought I'd throw my oar in. Unfortunately, I live in a boring place: Palmerston North. Our mayor is most famous for loaning his car to the Mongrel Mob and for a past appearance on "Fair Go" over dodgy fertiliser. Our city council are the usual bunch of petty-minded small businessmen, trying to use the city council to cut their rates while boosting the value of their property investments. And then there's the pervasive feelings of small-town inadequacy which drives them to pursue ludicrous schemes to "put Palmerston on the map"... schemes like selling the council building at a loss so it can be turned into a casino (fortunately this fell through), building a recreational lake (because nobody else has one of those), or trying to wheedle the government into giving them Ohakea to use as a "regional transport hub". This doesn't exactly convince me of their sanity...
We'll start with who not to vote for. The resident's association has been running ads against mayor Mark Bell-Booth and his "team" of Gordon Cruden, Jim Jeffries, Jono Naylor, John Hornblow, Vaughan Dennison, David Ireland, Alison Wall, and Anne Podd. These are the people who voted for the council/IRD building fiasco, to cut down all the trees in the Square, and to rezone one of the city's parks and sell it to The Warehouse. They all need to go. As for positive recommendations, read on. Note that Palmerston North still uses FPP for local body elections, so I'm simply recommending boxes to tick rather than preference lists.
Heather Tanguay all the way. She's left-leaning, has opposed the above projects, and has stood up for council services (especially pensioner housing). Of the others, Mark Bell-Booth is on the "forbidden list", Michael Feyen seems to have stolen his election material from United Future (full of "common sense"), Arshad Chatha has been arrested on fraud charges and is consequently telling people not to vote for him, and Michael Freeman is a joke candidate. Marilyn Craig will be dealt with below.
(Tanguay is the current frontrunner according to a recent poll, but that could change).
Ashhurst ward (1)
The incumbent, Marilyn Craig, has also come in for criticism from the resident's association, but a far better reason for not voting for her is that she runs a sweatshop - sorry, "human resources management company" - which provides casual outsourced labour to the local call-centres under fairly exploitative conditions. I don't think I want someone like that on the council, let alone as mayor. Of the other candidates, Lance Craig is her son, so is probably tarred by association - which leaves Tawhiri Te Awe Awe as the last man standing.
Awapuni ward (3)
No strong opinions either way here, though both incumbents (Peter Claridge and Pat Kelly) have avoided inclusion on the shitlist. Adrian Broad and Jenny Edwards are also good possibilities, being from Labour and the AUS respectively.
Fitzherbet ward (1)
Donald Kerr, the local Forest & Bird chairperson, is the obvious choice - he's an environmentalist with a good grasp of the RMA and strong ties to Massey and UCOL.
Hokowhitu ward (3)
All three sitting councillors are on the shitlist, so it's simply a matter of picking three from Julie Catchpole, Don Esslemont, Jonathan Godfrey and Chris Teo-Sherrell. I think the latter two are the best picks - Godfrey has an amusing wesbite setting out his views, and Teo-Sherrell seems to be a good left / green candidate. Neither supports the Square redevelopment.
Papaioea ward (4)
Phil Etheridge is an environmentalist candidate, Evan Nattrass is explicitly backing Tanguay for mayor, and (of course) Tanguay herself is standing in case she fails to gain the top job.
Takaro ward (3)
Again, no strong opinions here, other than not voting for either Vaughan Dennison, David Ireland, or Alison Wall.
Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Council (3)
Matthew Hodgetts looks good - another environmentalist, interested in democracy and sustainability. The fact that he's under 50 also helps. The other three candidates are all incumbents, and all focusing on flood protection. Roni Fitzmaurice might be worth voting for; as for the other two, flip a coin.
Midcentral DHB (7)
This is done by STV, but there's a large number of candidates none of whom seem to leap out. My advice is to give high rankings to those from the medical profession or associated health industries, and avoid anyone who looks like a bean-counter.
Labels: Elections, Local Government
Zaoui bail decision
Media reports of the Court of Appeal's decision to deny Ahmed Zaoui bail or Habeas Corpus has focused on Justice McGrath's implication that immigration regulations should be changed to allow it. In the process they've missed the real significance of the decision. Reading through the rulings, all judges agreed that Zaoui's detention was initially lawful. One - McGrath - said that it was lawful no matter what, and that there was no right to bail or Habeas Corpus. One - Hammond - blasted the government, saying that the detention had already gone on far too long and had become arbitrary. The "swing voter" - O'Reagan - agreed that the detention was lawful for the time being, but
would expressly leave open a possibility that a grant of bail could be an available remedy if the review process is not able to be brought to a reasonably swift conclusion.
He didn't lay down a deadline, but the implication is clear: the Court's patience with the government is wearing thin, and if Zaoui goes back to court in six months time, he may very well be released.
Labels: Ahmed Zaoui, Detention Without Trial, Human Rights, Justice
Iraq had no WMD: the final verdict
Hell no, they won't go
In the wake of last month's open warfare in Najaf, the US wants to transfer its troops out and replace them with Poles and Bulgarians. But understandably, the designated cannon-fodder aren't so keen...
New Kiwi blogs
ObservatioNZ
Genius NZ
Temper Mental (Public Address's Che Tibby?)
Blasphemy and sedition
Generally I think of New Zealand as an overwhelmingly secular and liberal democracy. So I was shocked when a press release from the NZ Association of Rationalists and Humanists pointed out that blasphemy is still a crime here.
"Blasphemy" is speaking of god irreverently or "impiously". It is banned by section 123 of the Crimes Act 1961, which provides for a penalty of up to one year's imprisonment for anyone who publishes "any blasphemous libel". While it has a "good faith" defence, and requires the leave of the Attorney-General in order to prosecute, it still fundamentally seeks to punish people for expressing views on the subject of religion which offend or do not meet with the approval of self-appointed "religious authorities" (such as John Banks, for example).
This is an archaic law, which has absolutely no place in a modern, secular, liberal democracy. It is almost certainly inconsistent with sections 13 - 15 of the Bill of Rights, which guarantee freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, freedom of expression (the right to "seek, receive, and impart information and opinions of any kind in any form"), and manifestation of religion and belief. While it has only been used once (in 1921), and is unlikely to be used again (unless United Future becomes the government), its mere presence on our books is repugnant. It should be repealed immediately.
And while I'm on the subject of stupid, archaic laws which have no place in our modern, secular, liberal democratic state, check out sections 81 - 85, which define the "crimes" of "seditious conspiracy", "seditious statements", "publication of seditious documents" and "use of apparatus for making seditious documents or statements". These are all focused around criminalising speech which might
bring into hatred or contempt, or to excite disaffection against, Her Majesty, or the Government of New Zealand, or the administration of justice.
or which incites or encourages "violence, lawlessness, or disorder" (among other things). While there is again a "good faith" defence, the whole purpose of the law is repugnant. It is not about criminal acts, but about criminalising speech. Unless that speech is akin to crying "fire" in a crowded theatre, such laws cannot be justified. Our laws against sedition should join that against blasphemy in the dustbin of history, where they belong.
Labels: Blasphemous Libel, Sedition
Democracy and stupidity
The Maverick Philosopher considers the democratic principle of "one man, one vote" to be "highly dubious":
Suppose you have two people, A and B. A is intelligent, well-informed, and serious. He does his level best to form correct opinions about the issues of the day. He is an independent thinker, and his thinking is based in broad experience of life. B, however, makes no attempt to become informed, or to think for himself. He votes as his union boss tells him to vote. Why should B’s vote have the same weight as A’s? It is self-evident that B’s vote should not count as much as A’s.
Philosophy, et cetera agrees, arguing that "democracy is only valuable to the extent that it tends to produce and preserve a liberal society" and that
in an ideal system, the opinions of those who are more intelligent and well-informed would count for more than those who haven't got a clue.
The problem here is that both are fundamentally mistaken about the purpose of democracy. Democracy is not about making good decisions - it's about making our decisions. It is not a system for aggregating information and reaching a rational decision about what we should do - it is a system for moderating conflicting interests.
Any moral justification for democracy rests on two assumptions: firstly, that people have interests, and secondly, that no-one's interest counts for more than anybody else's. The first is simply a recognition of fact. The second is a statement of fundamental moral equality, and can be taken as axiomatic or justified on the basis of consistency (if I want my interests to count, then I must agree that everyone else's do as well). Note that there's nothing in here about whether you are intelligent, rational, or well-informed - all that is important is that you have interests (and bother to express them). So "one man, one vote" is justified regardless of intelligence or ability on the basis that stupid people have interests too.
Those interests may be ill-informed, based on shoddy reasoning or false axioms, but none of that matters. An interest is an interest is an interest, and if we're committed to moral equality, then all must be counted.
(There's also a pragmatic justification for democracy, resting on purely Hobbesean assumptions that people have interests and are sufficiently equal in physical ability to make counting heads a quick and painless way of determining who will win should things come to blows. On this account, stupid people get to vote because otherwise they may try and kill us. This has nothing to do with morality or rationality, of course - it's all about power and force and violence - but as someone who seeks ultimately to ground political theory in facts about the world, it has a certain appeal).
While I'm not sure about Maverick Philosopher, judging from his suggestions regarding competency tests, Philosophy, et cetera's underlying concern seems to that stupid people may not know what their interests are or how best to advance them. There's a name for this - "false consciousness" - and it's extremely surprising to see a self-professed liberal espousing it. A core tenet of liberalism is that people are the best judges of their own interests, and this rules out any second-guessing.
If we are concerned about voter ignorance, then the answer is to educate them, both through public information campaigns (and vigorous media debate) at election time, and by using universal public education to give people better bullshit detectors and make them better judges of their own interests in the first place. But as liberals, the last thing we should do is try to look inside people's heads or presume to make their choices for them.
Liberalism, "false consciousness" and deception
Why not Kant?
I'm have other stuff to write today, some of which should eventually end up here, so to fill in here's something I wrote several months ago in response to Philosophy, et cetera and then never got round to posting.
Aquaculture and Treaty settlements
In response to my aquaculture post, Philosophy, et cetera reels out the list of standard responses to any sort of restorative justice for past wrongs. Since we've been seeing a lot of this sort of thing recently, and it's all in one spot, I thought I might as well do a detailed response.
1) Individuals are not morally responsible for the actions of their ancestors. "We" didn't steal anything.
Of course not. But no-one is accusing any living individual over past land seizures - they're accusing the Crown. Our government. Which has maintained a continuous legal existence for the entire period, and can certainly be held responsible for its past actions.
Now, ultimately the cost of any compensation paid will be borne by people who were not responsible in any way for those past wrongs, and had no say over them - but that's hardly unusual. Some of the tax I pay is going towards paying off debt that was run up before I could vote, but I don't see anyone screaming about principles there. And you cannot argue that the settlement program represents a crippling burden on current taxpayers - Treaty settlements accounted for only 0.109 percent of government spending in the lat five years.
2) I have a general distaste for legalistic obsession with 'property rights'. There exists no 'natural law' which gives first occupants an enduring metaphysical right to their land. It's irritating when libertarians get hung up over this, and no less so with lefty anti-colonialists who hijack these right-wing ideals. There are other considerations besides history.
You don't have to be a propertarian absolutist to recognise that the Crown has a moral burden here - not least because of their specific agreement in the Treaty to respect the "lands and estates, forests, fisheries and other properties" of the other partner.
Propertarian absolutists would demand the return of everything that was stolen - every square metre of land, every branch of every tree - and financial compensation for everything that had been destroyed. Plus over a hundred years of accrued interest, at market rates, of course. The government is doing nothing of the sort. For a start, privately-owned land is completely off the table, no matter how significant it is. The government may buy if it finds a willing seller, but it will not forcibly return your backyard to the local iwi. Secondly, the amount of land and compensation paid does not even begin to approach the value of what was stolen; Tainui received $170 million, which I suspect is substantially less than the real estate value of the entire Waikato. The settlements are mostly symbolic, but the symbolism (and the Crown acknowledgment of its past wrongdoing) is extremely potent.
Dubious use of corporate entities [...]
Or, as Margaret Thatcher put it, "society does not exist". Of course all references to groups are ultimately references to distinct individuals. It was distinct individuals who were harmed, and it will ultimately be distinct individuals who benefit from compensation (through the intermediary of some legal corporate body). This does not mean that we cannot generalise where appropriate.
4) Due to generations of interbreeding, there is no longer a clear-cut distinction between Pakeha and Maori. All Maori now have at least some European blood in them. [...]
Or, as they put it in talkback-land, "there aren't any real Maoris left anyway". But even if it were true (and its not), it simply doesn't matter.
What happens to your property when you die? It passes to your heirs and assignees. If you've got a will, then it goes to the people in it. If you don't, then there's a default setting. But regardless, property passes by inheritance, from you to (usually) your descendents.
Treaty settlements are the same. If property had not been seized by the Crown, it would have passed to the heirs and assignees of the original owners. And since land ownership was generally communal, this means from the past members of the iwi to the present ones. Some of those present members may not have very much Maori blood in them, but that doesn't matter - any more than the fact that you only have 1/8th of your great-grandfather's DNA matters when it comes to inheriting his pocketwatch.
5) Why favour the tribal elite, rather than urban Maori?
This is the part that I like the least. But the fact is that the Treaty was signed with iwi, as represented by their chiefs. It was iwi who were disposessed of their communally-owned land. It is therefore iwi who need justice and compensation for those wrongs.
Finally, I think it needs to be pointed out that Treaty settlements, such as the aquaculture settlement, are not any form of "affirmative action". They're not (primarily) about advancing disadvantaged Maori by granting them "special rights". They're about justice, about making some recompense for a past wrong so that we can move on.
Twisted wingnut logic
Two points for NZPundit.
one post pointing out that those making much of the typography don't know as much as they think they know is hardly "arguing for days".
Knox's claim is not that they must be forgeries because she didn't type them; it's that they are forgeries because she typed documents with the same content and the CBS memos are not those documents.
NZPundit's reaction to this is a perfect example of twisted wingnut logic. If Knox had only said "I was his secretary and I don't remember typing them", he would be screaming it to the high heavens and proclaiming it as proof positive that the documents were forged. But since she's said other things which cast Bush in a bad light, everything she says must be false, and anyone with the intellectual honesty to accept her statements because she was in a position to know must be derided.
We know the name of every victim of September 11th. We know the name of every US soldier who has died in Iraq. Both lists are regularly publicised in order to put a human face to events. But America's victims in Iraq, the civilian "collatoral damage" killed by American bombs, American bullets, or American neglect, have remained nameless. Until now.
Iraq Body Count, using information gathered from press reports and by the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, has compiled a list naming 3,029 of the approximately 14,000 Iraqis dead due to "Operation Iraqi Freedom". As IBC member Scott Lipscomb said,
every one of some 15,000 Iraqi civilians killed was a loved human being, whose loss creates heartbreak and bitterness among the bereaved families and communities.
This is the same reason we remember the names of Americans. But if they deserve to be remembered, then so do Iraqis.
You can read the full list here (warning: large).
And on a final note, the Pentagon's excuse for not making any effort to track civilian casualties is that they're "not fighting civilians". You could've fooled me.
Exactly what you'd expect them to say
America's allies in Iraq have reacted strongly to Kofi Annan's comments, calling them "outrageous" and defending the legality of their actions. Which is exactly what you'd expect them to say. After all, they can hardly admit that the war was illegal - that would be confessing their own guilt and exposing them to charges of waging a war of aggression.
Saying what we all knew all along
The war in Iraq was illegal and contravened the UN charter, according to Kofi Annan.
It's good to see him say it, but it would have been better if he had said it at the time.
The New Zealand engineers in Basra are finally preparing for their withdrawl from Iraq. Good. With the mess the Americans have made, and the nature of the regime we are supporting, we should have got out long ago.
If we want to support Iraq, we should do it by funding Iraqi NGOs promoting human rights and democracy - not by supporting a corrupt government which tortures its own people.
Forgeries
The Killian memos have been proven to be forgeries - not by the partisan wingnuts who think that their ignorance of 1970's office technology is a virtue, but by Killian's secretary. The story is registration-required, so if you can't be bothered poisoning their database yourself, use "idiot@mailinator.com" and "foobar".
Marian Carr Knox, who worked from 1957 to 1979 at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston, said that she prided herself on meticulous typing and that the memos first disclosed by CBS News last week were not her work.
"These are not real," she told The Dallas Morning News after examining copies of the disputed memos for the first time. "They're not what I typed, and I would have typed them for him."
Mrs. Knox said she did all of Col. Killian's typing, including memos for a personal "cover his back" file he kept in a locked drawer of his desk.
Fair enough. As I said, the fact that they could have been produced on a 1970's typewriter does not mean that they are authentic. If Killian's secretary says she didn't type them, she didn't type them. At the same time, she raises some puzzling questions:
She said that although she did not recall typing the memos reported by CBS News, they accurately reflect the viewpoints of Col. Killian and documents that would have been in the personal file. Also, she said she didn't know whether the CBS documents corresponded memo for memo with that file.
"The information in here was correct, but it was picked up from the real ones," she said. "I probably typed the information and somebody picked up the information some way or another."
If we accept her credibility in saying that the documents themselves are forgeries, we should also accept her credibility in saying that the content is authentic. So who reconstructed it, and why weren't the original documents containing the information released in the White House's "full dump"?
CBS could resolve these questions simply by naming their source. Hopefully they'll have the honesty to do it.
More on US murder in Iraq
The Guardian's Ghaith Abdul-Ahad was there, and he tells his story. Thumbnails of his photographs of the incident are available here.
Ariel Sharon has announced what we've all known all along: that he no longer intends to honour the "road map" peace plan. Which means that the killing in Israel and Palestine is just going to go on, and on, and on...
I don't like it at all
KiwiPundit is getting a little hysterical about Helen Clark here, but his basic point is sound. David Irving is being denied entry to the country on the basis of his views. While his deportation from Canada is the pretext, it is ultimately based on his conviction for Holocaust-denial in Germany. Our refusing entry on the basis of that deportation is an implicit endorsement of Germany's restrictions on free speech. That's not something a country which claims to take human rights and freedom of speech seriously should be doing.
It would help if Irving wasn't a Holocaust-denier, and it would help if he wasn't such a self-important arsehole who likes to play silly-buggers with immigration authorities (as he did in Canada, and as he seems to be trying to do here), but there's an important principle at stake. Freedom of speech is not there to protect popular people or views. If we take it seriously, we should ignore Irving's deportation as being based on a violation of his human rights, and allow him to enter. Then, we should take the opportunity to let him and the world know exactly how much we disagree with his views.
Labels: Freedom of Speech
Human rights lawyer Tony Ellis has filed claims on behalf of another 18 prisoners who were subjected to the Department of Corrections unlawful and inhumane Behaviour Management Regime, and is seeking leave to represent up to 200 others in a class action. If successful, the claims could cost Corrections $4.5 million plus court costs.
No wonder the government wants to legislate to discourage claims from prisoners...
Tony Blair and climate change
So, Tony Blair has given a major speech on climate change, and said that he is "shocked" by the scientific evidence. So am I. A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to reading the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2001 Synthesis Report, and was, like Blair, shocked - shocked at how bad the future looked, shocked at how anybody could continue to deny the reality of climate change in the face of this evidence (which has only grown stronger in the past three years), and shocked that the governments of certain major industrial powers were continuing their policy of denial.
The short version of the IPCC report is that if we continue to do what we're doing, we're fucked. Blair was more polite, saying that
global warming... is simply unsustainable in the long-term. And by long-term I do not mean centuries ahead. I mean within the lifetime of my children certainly; and possibly within my own. And by unsustainable, I do not mean a phenomenon causing problems of adjustment. I mean a challenge so far-reaching in its impact and irreversible in its destructive power, that it alters radically human existence.
Climate change isn't a threat to the survival of humanity as a species, but it does threaten to make things uncomfortable for many of us for a good long time. And there's no question that it is happening. The global climate has warmed noticeably since the pre-industrial era, and according to the best models available, we are responsible (see fig SPM-2 in the synthesis report for the graphic version). The concentrations of major greenhouse gases have all increased over the last 200 - 250 years - CO2 by 50%, methane by 150%, and nitrous oxide by 17%. The increase in CO2 is highly correlated with the increased use of fossil fuels; the increase in the latter two gases is due to changes in land use and the dramatic growth of agricultural activity (they're also worse than CO2, by 23 and 296 times respectively, and comprise around 50% of New Zealand's equivalent greenhouse gas emissions).
The precise effects of global warming are uncertain, and depend greatly on what assumptions are made about continuing emissions and the level at which the concentrations of greenhouse gases will stabilise. The IPCC estimates, for various scenarios, an increase in global mean temperature of between 0.4 and 1.1 degrees by 2025, 0.8 to 2.6 degrees by 2050, and 1.4 to 5.8 degrees by 2100. This is expected to lead to significant climate change, resulting in decreased crop yields as agriculture struggles to adapt, threats to low-lying islands from increased sea-levels and storm surges, an increase in extreme weather events such as hurricanes and droughts, and an overall detrimental effect on human health due to poorer nutrition and increased incidence of tropical diseases such as Malaria. There is also some possibility of what they call "large-scale, high-impact, non-linear and potentially abrupt changes in physical and biological systems" - melting ice-caps or a shut-down in ocean convection - which would have an even worse impact. However, one thing the IPCC is certain of is that:
the projected rate and magnitude of warming and sea-level rise can be lessened by reducing greenhouse gas emissions... The greater the reductions in emissions and the earlier they are introduced, the smaller and slower the projected warming and the rise in sea levels.
We can reduce the effects, if we have the global political will to do so - and that's where Tony Blair comes in. He has promised to make climate change the centerpiece of his presidency of the G8, and to use the position to secure a new agreement on the basic science and the existence of the threat. He'll also be pushing other G8 members (notably Russia and the USA) to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on cutting emissions. I'm doubtful that he'll succeed with the US - Bush is implacably opposed to any limitation on American's god-given right to drive big cars with shitty gas mileage, and doesn't do quid pro quo (so no payback for being a good little poodle over Iraq) - but at least Blair will be making the effort.
More importantly, he's also talking about the long-term. Kyoto is only the beginning, and the initial cutbacks it requires are insufficient. Worse, it doesn't include China and India, whose emissions are increasing as they industrialise and adopt a more western standard of living for an increasing number of their people. Dealing with climate change means bringing these two countries into the Kyoto system, and getting an agreement to lower their emissions path (meaning that they do not pollute as much as they otherwise would), with the eventual aim of a cap. This raises significant global equity issues (why should Indians and Chinese be made to walk while Americans continue to drive SUVs?), but it is conceivably achievable if linked to technology transfers and increased assistance for clean development (in other words, if the west pays part of the bill).
Blair also puts his finger on the real long-term solution to the problem of global warming. Deniers seem to think that the only solution lies in significant reductions in our material standard of living (based in part on the statements of those green factions that advocate a romanticised peasant existence as the only sustainable way of life). This is simply false - technology provides us with another way out. It's therefore refreshing to see Blair demanding a "new green industrial revolution" to develop environmentally sustainable technologies and make them ubiquitous. We already seem to be in the beginnings of this - hybrid cars, wind turbines, cheap solar panels and energy efficient homes all offer some hope - but its currently in the bootstrap phase. But if we use government to push this trend - by funding research, tightening regulations, and creating a market through government procurement - then there's every possibility that we can reach a (far more) sustainable future.
Labels: Climate Change, Tony Blair
The Sunday Star-Times has as interview with Ir...
Southland local body elections just became importa...
Fionnaigh has an excellent post on the National Fr...
More US torture
What upset Gerry?
Not serious
Murderers
Moving mountains
Sensible, my arse!
The Sunday Star-Times has an excellent article abo...
Justice and terrorism
Test?
Taking their responsibilities seriously
Forgeries?
Labour and income inequality
How the world feels about Bush
Tali Fahima and imprisonment without trial
The new style of terrorism
Bring 'em on
Clear and present danger?
Misinterpreting the Bill of Rights Act
Blogging the foreshore
Public servants and politicians
Punishment and sackings
Staggered
Ploughing on regardless
National has become the National Front
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Oh dear. First, John Key is forced to pay Bradley Ambrose for defaming him. And now, he can't rip off the taxpayer to do it:
The Prime Minister's Office has issued a statement saying it will not use the Parliamentary Service leader's fund to pay for the out-of-court cash settlement of Bradley Ambrose's defamation claim.
"The costs involved in the settlement with Mr Ambrose will not be met by the taxpayer. Funds will be raised via the National Party or by private contributions for this purpose," the statement says.
The taxpayer will still pay Mr Key's legal fees, but the cash settlement will be paid by the National party or through private means.
Which naturally raises the question of why he doesn't just pay it himself. I mean, he's worth $50 million; its not as if he can't afford it. But I guess it just shows that you don't get to be rich by paying your own bills...
Labels: John Key
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Follow Northvolt
team 2 press release 2 blog post 2 lansering 1 management 1 site-selection 1
Siemens and Northvolt partner in next generation lithium-ion battery cell production
News • May 25, 2018 12:00 CEST
Siemens and Northvolt today announced a partnership for the development of best-in-class technology to produce high-quality, green lithium-ion batteries. The partnership, which will be supported by Siemens through an investment of EUR 10 million, also includes the supply of lithium-ion batteries.
Skellefteå Kraft and Northvolt in strategic partnership to develop sustainable energy solutions
Skellefteå Kraft has partnered with Northvolt to develop sustainable solutions for energy storage and district heating.
EU to support Northvolt’s European battery project with InnovFin backing
News • Feb 12, 2018 20:48 CET
The Board of Directors of the European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved a loan request from Northvolt AB. The financing, a facility of up to EUR 52.5 million, is projected to be supported by InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators’s Energy Demonstration Projects facility, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments.
The Swedish Energy Agency supports the establishment of Northvolt Labs
The Swedish Energy Agency today announced it will support the establishment of Northvolt’s demonstration line, Northvolt Labs, in Västerås, Sweden, with a grant up to SEK 146 million.
Vestas and Northvolt partner on battery storage for wind energy to support the further integration of renewables
News • Dec 15, 2017 11:01 CET
Sustainable energy leader Vestas and battery manufacturer Northvolt today announced a technology collaboration on the development of a lithium-ion battery platform for Vestas power plants. As an initial phase of the partnership, Vestas is investing EUR 10 million.
ABB and Northvolt partner for Europe’s largest battery factory
News • Sep 26, 2017 08:30 CEST
ABB and Northvolt have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a wide-ranging supply and technology partnership, including products and services for Northvolt’s state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery factory and close collaboration on development of battery solutions and R&D activities. ABB Technology Ventures (ATV) will support the initial phase of this project through an early investment.
Northvolt proceeds with Västerås and Skellefteå in the site selection process of establishing a large-scale battery factory in Europe
News • Jul 04, 2017 07:35 CEST
Today, Northvolt took the next step towards establishing a large-scale battery factory in Europe. During the coming fall, public consultations for the establishment of a large-scale production of lithium-ion batteries will be undertaken in the two Swedish municipalities Skellefteå and Västerås.
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PWD's Country Corner
History, reviews, and more
FORGOTTEN ARTIST – WYNN STEWART
FORGOTTEN ARTIST – JEANNIE C RILEY
JOHNNY CASH – AN APPRECIATION
managament consulting on COUNTRY HERITAGE – DAVID ROGERS
employee evaluations on Country Heritage: Gary Stewart – A Short Life Of Trouble (1944-2003)
Paul Dennis on Country Heritage – Johnny Darrell
Selma on Country Heritage – Johnny Darrell
Paul Dennis on Curious Case of The Groovy Grubworm 1
Chartology
Country Heritage
Country Heritage – Johnny Darrell
For a few years during the late 1960s, Johnny Darrell was my favorite country artist. His career didn’t endure but he provided some great songs with great performances. His phrasing on songs such as “With Pen In Hand”, a song recorded by dozens of artists, set him apart from other artists.
One of life’s biggest mysteries (or at least one of country music’s biggest mysteries) is why Johnny Darrell (1940-1997) never became a star. Arguably country music’s first “outlaw,” Darrell recorded for United Artists, a major label, from 1965 to about 1973, but United was only a bit player in country music, and so Darrell’s records didn’t get the major promotional effort they deserved. Moreover, Darrell had the reputation of being difficult and somewhat unreliable because of his drinking.
Darrell had a clear, strong, and masculine voice – somewhere between tenor and baritone, but his true strength was in identifying great songs and great songwriters. Among the songs he was the first to record were (with subsequent cover artist in parenthesis):
• “Green Green Grass of Home” #12 CB (Porter Wagoner, Tom Jones)
• “Ruby Don’t Take Your Love to Town” #7 CB / 9 BB (Kenny Rogers)
• “Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp” #14 CB / 22 BB (O.C. Smith)
• “With Pen in Hand” #3 BB / 4 CB (Billy Vera, Vikki Carr)
Darrell’s biggest hit was “With Pen In Hand,” which rose to #3 on the country charts. A much inferior cover by Billy Vera was simultaneously a hit on the pop charts, and if United Artists had done a decent job of promoting and distributing Darrell’s version – which was nearly impossible to find for purchase in many parts of the country – it almost surely would have crossed over and taken the place of Vera’s.
Darrell’s most remembered record today is his rocking version of “Why You Been Gone So Long,” written by Mickey Newbury, which rose to #17 BB/20 CB with a smattering of pop airplay as well.
All told, United Artists issued seven albums on Darrell, plus a handful of budget reissues on its Sunset label:
• As Long As The Winds Blow (1966, United Artists)
• Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town (1967, United Artists)
• The Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp (1968, United Artists)
• With Pen in Hand (1968, United Artists)
• Why You Been Gone So Long (1969, United Artists)
• California Stop-Over (1970, United Artists)
• The Best Of Johnny Darrell (1970, United Artists)
His first five albums followed the usual pattern for country albums: one or two singles, a few covers, and some filler. Where Darrell’s albums differed from the norm, however, was in the fact that the filler wasn’t really filler at all, and that the covers were sometimes of lesser hits. His first album featured an early Kris Kristofferson song, “Don’t Tell My Little Girl,” as well as a Bobby Bare composition, “Passin’ Through,” and his second, Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town, featured a June Carter/Johnny Cash composition, “She’s Mighty Gone.”
The majority of Darrell’s catalogue was recorded in Nashville, but due to his inability to score the big country hit, United Artists tried recording his later work in California. It was there that Johnny uncovered gems by then-largely unknown songwriters such as Mickey Newbury, Lowell George, Jackson Browne and Ronnie Self. Unfortunately, the album California Stop-Over again failed to produce hits, but did eventually become a collector’s item, especially among fans of The Byrds, due to Clarence White’s guitar work on the album.
After the relative commercial failure of California Stop-Over, United Artists and Darrell parted company, largely marking the end of his career, but for only a few more singles and one more album of new material (Water Glass Full of Whiskey, Capricorn, 1975).
After a lengthy hiatus, Johnny Darrell returned to performing and songwriting during the late 1980s but after that he was generally out of sight and out of mind for the last decade of his life. Given how little recognition he got during his peak years, this didn’t represent much of a change for him. Among the few accolades he received were Cashbox Magazine’s “Most Promising Male Artist” for 1966, and selection, after his death, as an Achiever to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
Darrell struggled with a deadly combination of alcohol and diabetes, leading to his untimely death at age 57. Unfortunately, very little of the singer’s material is now commercially available – the Australian label Raven issued a CD combining his greatest hits with California Stop-Over in 1999 (Singin’ It Lonesome — The Very Best… 1965-1970), a collection currently available from the Ernest Tubb Record Shop and well worth acquiring. More readily available is The Complete Gusto/Starday Recordings, an album of remakes which find Darrell in typically strong voice, although they lack the sparkle of the original recordings.
For collector of vinyl http://www.musicstack.com/ is a good clearinghouse for hundreds of record dealers. I have purchased records through them in the past with quite satisfactory results.
Posted on April 15, 2015 July 19, 2015 Author Paul DennisCategories Country Heritage
3 thoughts on “Country Heritage – Johnny Darrell”
Johnny Darrell has always been a favorite of mine too. I agree that his voice and phrasing set him apart from other country artists of that era. Two of my favorites were “Come And See What’s Left Of Your Man” for it’s clever lyrics and “Why You Been Gone So Long” for the infectious twangy guitar riff that punctuates each line. Brilliant arrangement. Anyone not familiar with Darrell’s United Artists work should check it out. Well worth your time.
My major disappointment with the Raven CD was solely from a technical standpoint. Though the track selection was superb mono versions were used for some songs that were recorded in the wide stereo mix that predominated in the 1960’s. Stereo mixes offer a wider frequency range and provide more clarity to individual instruments. Also the excellent “California Stop-Over” album was remastered out-of-phase giving an echoey, hollow sound to tracks. Listening on mono headphones or speakers causes the vocal to disappear. Even if the master tape was flawed it could have and should have been easily fixed by the mastering engineer.
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Louise Aubrie
Posted on June 3, 2013 by Marina Radovanovic // 0 Comments
A great talent coming directly from London, England, made her way to New York City, and is delighting music aficionados with her indie music. Aubrie’s post-punk roots are interspersed with pop and rock rhythms that bring the best of both worlds.
Recording her first song at the famous Mill Hill Music Complex in North London, the singer/songwriter/instrumentalist found herself surrounded by some great musicians in NYC, and is working on developing her own special “signature sound”.
Louise Aubrie’s debut album Fingers Crossed was released in 2010 and gained favourable critical acclaim in the U.K. and the U.S., receiving national radio airplay. Her recently released album, Time Honoured Alibi, features the lead track ‘Where Are You and is in the Top 100 mainstream chart and No. 30 on the National Digital Indie Airplay charts. The CD release party took place on May 1, 2013 at the Bitter End, in NYC.
Aubrie’s first album, Fingers Crossed, was in collaboration with one of the pioneers of the British Rockabilly Movement – Mr. Boorer, who co-wrote ad musically directed for Morrissey. Mr. Boorer worked with Aubrie on her newly released album Time Honoured Alibi.
Her strong vocals and touching words are heightened by the melodies that capture attention from rock and pop fans internationally! Aubrie’s songs are definitely entertaining!
Let’s hear it for this rising Indie star! Check out her website: www.louiseaubrie.com to learn more!
Music with a Sense of Humour
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“Wouldn’t Del be proud!” An ongoing legacy of support
“Wouldn’t Del be proud!” An…
Photo of Del Bell courtesy of Margaret Bell and George Hutchison.
By Jaclyn Mika (RSJ ’08)
Delmar (Del) Bell knew just how hard it could be to budget as a first-year, Ryerson journalism student.
“To support himself, he looked after six children under 10 years of age after school. Somehow, he managed to finish his first year of Ryerson,” Margaret Bell, his wife, said.
During his summer break after that first year, Del made deliveries for Coca Cola during the day. At night, he worked painting street lines. He often slept on the bags of sugar in the Coca Cola warehouse.
“When he returned to Ryerson in September he was surprised with the offer of either $500 or free accommodation, with no strings attached, in the home of a generous couple,” Margaret said. “He, of course, snatched the latter.”
It made perfect sense that an award in his memory would go to a first-year student.
The Del Bell Memorial Award was established when Del died 11 months after returning to work in journalism as an associate editor of the Toronto Sun after a stint as Communications Director for the Ministry of Colleges and Universities. It is given annually to a first-year student with a demonstrated flair for news and feature writing and demonstrated financial need.
“Del drew great pride from the fact he took to babysitting to help cover his tuition costs at Ryerson,” said George Hutchison, his friend and former colleague from the London Free Press. “But he also carried a lingering memory of the hardship of a tight budget.”
“The fact that it continues to recognize the promise of young journalists, especially when print journalism is under such a technological and shoddy political assault, gives the family and Del’s former colleagues great satisfaction,” said Hutchison.
Before getting into journalism, Del worked making collections for a finance company in Windsor. After they met, he told Margaret over and over that he wished he had gone into journalism instead.
Margaret heard the complaint once too often and finally told him: “Do it! Apply to Ryerson. Sell your car and use the money to pay for your tuition.”
To her surprise, he did. After that tough, first-year summer, he landed a job with the Windsor Star, who would often send him to cover its small, out-of-town bureaus. In the autumn of 1959, he applied to the London Free Press.
He stayed for 27 years.
“He fell in love with the business, the staff, the camaraderie and newspaper life,” Margaret said.
Bosses and colleagues from the Free Press described him as “the stuff of which newspaper legends are made” and “one of the outstanding newspaper characters in the country.”
“I remember a city editor of the day said never in all his years had he met a more gung-ho newsman,” Hutchison said. “He was driven to seek out the truth and place it before the public in his inimitable style. He was a force within the Free Press newsroom and the community at large. In these days, such models are sorely needed.”
Del won numerous Western Ontario Newspaper Awards and a 1973 National Newspaper Award for feature writing. He covered Queen’s Park for the Free Press for two years and when he returned to the London office, he began writing a thrice-weekly column.
“Del gained a lot of attention as a reporter who constantly broke the news. He had a beautiful way with words that shaped his many feature articles,” Hutchison said. “But I think he was at the top of his game when he was given a daily column under the gawdawful title of Del Bell’s Pealings. He effectively became a celebrity and he loved it.”
Margaret and their children, often the subject of his column, were not always as enthused as his readers. The Free Press gave at least one of them the chance to even the score. Allen Bell, Del’s son, shared this story:
“My Dad was a political ‘geek’ all his life. He loved politics – municipal, provincial and federal, and he covered elections with the gusto of a dog with a juicy bone. My father also dearly loved his family and my brothers and I were often the subject of our dad’s weekly column, Del Bell’s Pealings. (Still, love that title!) Our angst, shenanigans, adolescent woes – were all fair game in Dad’s books and readers loved it! Not so much my brothers and me. It was entirely humiliating. Until one day when Mom and Dad went off on a jolly holiday to England and I received a request from the London Free Press to write a ‘guest column’ in Dad’s place. (I think this may have been Mom’s idea, but who knows?!) They even slipped in a picture of me instead of Dad and, I I believe, the caption read something like: Take that Dad! Mom was with Dad when he eagerly bought a copy of his beloved paper on the way home from the airport. The results were, apparently, unprintable! My brothers and I were thrilled. Gotcha Dad!”
Many of his readers and colleagues donated to the award when plans for it were announced. It is one of the longest-running awards at the Ryerson School of Journalism and has benefitted at least 27 students since it was created.
Margaret Bell with 2016 Del Bell Memorial Award winner Declan Keogh.
“The Del Bell Memorial Award was the first award I won at Ryerson. Before that, I’d never been to an award ceremony in my life, much less received one,” said Declan Keogh, who won the award in 2016 and this year won the Ryerson Gold Medal during convocation.
“Meeting the Bell family was definitely not what I expected. The crew came, Margaret, his wife, and Cassie and Douglas, his kids. Their grandchildren also came. It was a humbling and wholesome experience––they definitely made me feel good about coming to Ryerson and the work I’ve done,” Keogh said. “I’ve been to a few award ceremonies since and the Bell family is always there, smiling and making the next generation of journalists feel supported and valuable.”
Subhanghi Anandarajah, who won the award in 2017, said that she when she started at Ryerson, she was surprised by how many of her fellow students shared her fears about whether they could succeed in journalism. For her, winning the Del Bell Memorial Award boosted her confidence.
Margaret Bell with winner 2017 Dell Bell Memorial Award winner Subhanghi Anandarajah.
“When I found out I won the Del Bell Memorial Award, my self-esteem improved, and I became confident that I could also become a successful graduate and reporter. It reinforced my determination to become a journalist who motivates people,” Anandarajah said. “For first-year students who are transitioning into post-secondary and learning more about their program and possible career choices, such awards offer them hope that they are able to have an incredible impact through their work if they have the passion and perseverance.”
Seeing the Bell family at the annual RSJ awards ceremony has become a welcome tradition for RSJ staff and faculty as well.
“We look forward to seeing them every year,” said Janice Neil, RSJ Chair. “We’ve gotten to see their grandchildren grow up. They’ve given students a wonderful legacy of support.”
“Seeing the enthusiasm in these young people can only make us hope that Del’s story will be an inspiration to them and show them that hard work, dedication and passion will fuel their success,” said Margaret. “Each year we get a thank-you note from the recipient, many saying that the bursary will make it possible for them to pursue their dream. Wouldn’t Del be proud!”
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Obama administration proposes $2.5b in aid to Afghanistan
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The Obama administration proposed $2.5 billion in financial assistance to Afghanistan on Tuesday when Secretary of State, John Kerry said the aid would reinforce the country’s security and development.
“Our proposal requests $2.5 billion for programmes that reinforce Afghanistan's security and development by maintaining the gains of the last decade, supporting military training and assistance…” Kerry said in his proposal to the Congress. He added the proposed assistance would help the Afghan government tackle corruption, counter the influence of extremists and terrorists, strengthen civil society and promote health, education, economic growth and good governance. Earlier in the day, President Barack Obama sent his last annual budget to the Congress, reaffirming America’s long term commitment to Afghanistan. “The budget continues to support long-term national security and economic interests in Afghanistan and helps sustain political, economic, and security gains in the country as the US draws down its forces and assistance levels gradually decline,” Obama said. It also includes resources to reinforce Afghanistan’s security and development by supporting military training as well as health, education, justice, economic growth, governance, and other civilian assistance programmess necessary to promote stability and strengthen diplomatic ties, said the White House. The State Department said the 2017 Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO) of $672.1 million request continued transitioning to a more self-sustaining diplomatic mission, focused on diplomatic engagement, public outreach, and empowering the Government of Afghanistan in its ongoing efforts toward self-sustainment. Maintaining the development gains made over the last 13 years in health, education, and gender remained a priority, it said, pledging to partner with Afghanistan in its ongoing efforts to bolster economic growth, strengthen the rule of law and fight corruption. Proposing $1.027 billion for Afghanistan under OCO’s Economic Support Fund, the State Department said this prioritised areas critical to sustaining gains of the last decade and objectives of the government while continuing to lay the foundation for sustained economic, political, and social sector development. Civilian assistance programmes would focus increasingly on long-term development and the critical task of making Afghanistan more self-reliant and sustainable, it said. “Support from the United States will remain critical, as Afghanistan will continue to be tested by economic and governance challenges as well as threats to stability posed by violent extremism,” the State Department said, proposing $185 million for meeting the narcotics challenge. “Funding will continue to promote Afghan ownership by increasing the percentage of Afghans employed by our justice, corrections and counternarcotics programmes,” it concluded.
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Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Institute of Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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The 60th anniversary of the Institute of Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was celebrated, today afternoon, with the presence of the Afghan Foreign Minister Mr. Salahuddin Rabbani, Deputy Foreign Ministers Mr. Hekmat Khalil Karzai, Mr. Naseer Ahmad Andisha, and Mrs. Adela Raz, former Foreign Minister Dr. Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, former Deputy Foreign Ministers Dr. Haidar Reza and Mr. Mohammad Kabir Farahi, Ambassadors from friend countries in Kabul, former and current Directors and employees of the Ministry.
At the outset, Director of Institute of Diplomacy, Dr. Muhebburrahman Speenghar welcomed the participants and shed light on the past and current operations of the institute. Later on, Foreign Minister Rabbani besides expressing delight for this occasion, stated that understanding the principles and fundamentals of politics is significant for pursuing national goals and interests, and while mentioning the efforts of the current leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this regard “I emphasize as Foreign Minister that, as promised, I will not hesitate in turning the diplomatic apparatus cadres into academic and getting out of the routine and passive mode, as we compiled the Political Principles and Goals of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for the transformation decade by an elite team, we will finalize the compilation of the policies of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Foreign Policy for a 4 year period.” said Mr. Rabbani.
The former Foreign Minister Mr. Spanta stated that selecting the best to serve in the diplomatic apparatus of the country is significant and training experienced and knowledgeable diplomats is a necessity and important for now and country’s future, and while remembering and appreciating the efforts put by the founder and pioneers of the foreign relations of Afghanistan such as; Mr. Mahmood Tarzi, Mr. Mohammad Wali Khan Darwazi, Mr. Musa Shafiq, Mr. Abdurrahman Pajhwak, Mr. Rawan Farhadi and others, counted them as the foreign relations thinkers of the country; and stated that he believes that the current Afghan Foreign Minister and his young team will put effort in carrying out Afghanistan’s Foreign Policy and protecting national interests, and the Afghan people expects the very same from them as well.
The Institute of Diplomacy was inaugurated in 1334, when Mr. Sardar Mohammad Naim Khan was the foreign minister, with the purpose of capacity development of the employees of the Ministry. Since its inauguration, diplomats and employees have graduated in 22 terms and have served in the diplomatic apparatus. For the first time in 1393, the Master’s program was introduced for the young diplomats, with the cooperation of the Kabul University, through which 11 diplomats from MoFA successfully completed the master’s program.
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PEOPLE'S NATIONAL MOVEMENT
Building a Nation Together
Political Leader - Dr. Keith Rowley
CABINET MINISTERS 2015
PNM candidates elected to the House of Representatives
2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS CANDIDATES
Founding Father - Dr. Eric Eustace Williams (1956-1981)
George Michael Chambers (1928-1997)
Patrick Manning (1991 -1995, 2001- May 2010)
Pre 1956 Political Landscape
Emergence of a new Political Party
The Formative Years of the PNM
Major dates in the history of the PNM
Join The PNM
Women's League Prayer
PNM Manifesto 2015
Draft PNM Policy
Ten Point Crime Plan
Youth and Sport Policy
A Reason To Remember
People's Education Movement
of the Teachers’ Economic and Cultural Association Ltd.
On the very day Dr. Williams received notice of his dismissal by the Caribbean Commission, he held his first discussion about the formation of a political party in Trinidad and Tobago. It was decided that he would give a public lecture in Woodford Square on his relationship with the Caribbean Commission. Dr. Williams contacted two “teacher friends,” John Shelford Donaldson and Donald Granado, who agreed to hold the meeting under the auspices of the People’s Education Movement of the Teachers’ Economic and Cultural Association.The meeting was carded for the evening of the 22nd of June, 1955.The basic strategy, pending the discussions and organisations of a political party, was to reach out to the masses. The crowd that turned up to hear the lecture was estimated at about 10,000 persons.
Dr. Williams, in his fifty-one page lecture, had the “rapt attention” of the audience. Two highlights of his speech were the following statements made by him:-
“I stand before you tonight, and therefore, before the people of the British West Indies, the representative of a principle, a cause, and a defeat. The principle is the principle of intellectual freedom. The cause is the cause of the West Indian people. The defeat is the defeat of the policy of appointing local men to high office.”
Towards the “grand finale” of his lecture he concluded to thunderous roars of approval:-
“I was born here, and here I stay, with the people of Trinidad and Tobago, who educated me free of charge for nine years at Queen’s Royal College and for five years at Oxford, who have made me whatever I am, and who have been or might be at any time the victims of the very pressures which I have been fighting against for twelve years. . . . I am going to let down my bucket where I am, right here with you in the British West Indies.”
His speech was the beginning of great accomplishments for the masses, who already could feel the winds of change, realising that a government was on its way out and a new order was soon to come.
The lecture was repeated at the Harris Promenade, in San Fernando, one week later, to just as large a gathering of the masses - in their several thousands - listening in the rain as Dr. Williams spoke.
This was the first in a series of seven public lectures with the following topics discussed that were launched in the University of Woodford Square and further repeated throughout Trinidad:-
Lecture #2: Economic Problems on Trinidad & Tobago, 5th July; 1955;
Lecture #3: Constitution Reform in Trinidad & Tobago, 19th July 1955;
Lecture #4: The Historical Background of Race Relations in the Caribbean, 16th August;
Lecture #5: The Case for Party Politics in Trinidad & Tobago, 13th September, 1955;
Lecture #6: The Pros and Cons of Federation, 5th January, 1956;
Lecture #7: Further Thoughts on Federation, 17th January, 1956.
Prior to his dismissal, Dr. Williams sensed something was wrong with his career and began privately contemplating the formation of a political party. He tried again and again to convince Dr. Patrick Solomon to re-enter into politics, but Dr. Solomon initially refused, until Dr. Williams’ persistent and continuous attempts to convince Dr. Solomon to do so. So all this time Dr. Williams was privately trying to put matters in perspective to form a political party. He got to know a very close friend of Dr. Solomon, one Eustace Piggott, who was a member of Solomon’s Caribbean Socialist Party, and who Dr. Williams initially met at Solomon’s home in Bossiere Village. Piggott was the outward going type of person, somewhat fronting, as we would say. He used to go to look for Dr. Williams, and a friendship was soon struck up.
Get Social with PNM
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PS 01825.025: Michigan
TN 111 (05-18)
PS 01825.025 Michigan
A. PS 17-145 SSI — Updated Six State Survey on “Dry” or “Empty” Trusts within Region V
A. PS 18-063 Review of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Trust
1. Syllabus
This Regional Chief Counsel (RCC) opinion examines whether a child’s interest in the Grand Traverse Band (GTB) Trust (an Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, or IGRA, trust) is a countable resource for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) purposes. The RCC explains that for IGRA trusts, the Indian tribe must be the grantor of the trust in order for assets to be excepted from SSI resource counting, and that POMS SI 01120.195F outlines the requirements that must be met for us to consider the Indian tribe as trust grantor. In this case, the RCC concludes that the trust agreement does not meet three of the nine requirements. Therefore, we must consider the child to be the grantor of the IGRA trust, and any trust assets are a countable resource for SSI purposes.
2. Opinion
S~ applied for SSI benefits on August XX, 2016. Pursuant to POMS SI 01120.195I, you asked whether S~’s interest in the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Trust is a countable resource for SSI purposes. For the reasons discussed below, we believe that S~’s assets in her trust are a countable resource.
S~ was born on November XX, 2003, and is currently 14 years old. She is a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB). The GTB distributes a portion of the profits from its gaming enterprises to all qualified tribal members in the form of per capita payments. Payments to minor children and incompetent adults are placed in separate trusts first established by the GTB in December 1994. Accordingly, a trust was established for S~.
The allocation of available net revenues from the GTB’s gaming enterprises is governed by its Revenue Allocation Ordinance (RAO), codified at 18 GTB Code § 1601 et seq. (available at: http://www.narf.org/nill/codes/grand_traverse/Title_18.pdf). In particular, § 1605(e) pertains to the per capita payments deposited into trusts for minors. In addition, the trusts are administered pursuant to the terms of the Complete Amendment to Trust Agreement of Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Creating Separate Trusts, dated February 18, 1998 (amended March 16, 2005).1 Section 1.05 of the trust agreement states that the separate trusts are irrevocable.
Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), 25 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq., an Indian tribe can issue a portion of its gaming revenues to individual tribal members in the form of per capita payments. See 25 U.S.C. § 2710(b)(3). The IGRA also requires a tribe to protect and preserve the interests of minor children and incompetent adults who are entitled to receive any of the per capita payments by disbursing the payments to the parents or legal guardians of such individuals. See id. § 2710(b)(3)(C); 25 C.F.R. § 290.12(b)(3). As a result of the IGRA, some tribes have established trusts for their tribal members who are minor children and incompetent adults.
When a tribal member who has an IGRA trust files for SSI, the agency must determine how to count assets held in the IGRA trust under our resource counting rules. POMS SI 01120.195 provides instructions for evaluating IGRA trusts. Part of those instructions require us to determine whether the tribe or the member is the grantor of the trust. The procedures for determining who is the grantor of an IGRA trust are based, in significant part, on Internal Revenue Service guidelines for analyzing IGRA trusts for income tax purposes. See POMS SI 01120.195B.
The agency will treat the Indian tribe as the grantor of an IGRA trust, for resource counting purposes, if all of the requirements in POMS SI 01120.195F are met:
* The Indian tribe establishes the trust for the benefit of tribe members who are minors and legally incompetent adults and it funds the trust using only per capita payments from gaming revenues.
* The trust beneficiary is a minor or legally incompetent adult at the time the trust (or trust account) is established.
* The trust only allows contributions while the beneficiary is still a minor or legally incompetent.
* The trust instrument states that it is a grantor trust and the Indian tribe is the grantor of the trust, and grants to the Indian tribe a power or interest in the trust assets, such as the ability to vote any shares held in trust.
* The Indian tribe is the owner of the trust for tax purposes and all the trust assets and the trust principal and income are subject to claims of general creditors of the Indian tribe under applicable federal, state, local, and tribal law.
* At all times while the trust is in effect, the principal and income of the trust must be subject to claims of general creditors under applicable law. In addition, the trust documents must require the trustee to cease payments to or for the benefit of the beneficiary, and must require that the trustee hold trust assets for the benefit of the Indian tribe’s general creditors throughout any period during which the trustee believes or has reason to believe that the Indian tribe is unable to pay its debts as they become due, or is subject to a pending insolvency or bankruptcy proceeding.
* The trust beneficiary does not have any preferred claim or beneficial ownership interest in any assets of the trust, and any rights created under the trust documents must be unsecured rights. In addition, amounts payable to, or for his or her benefit, cannot be anticipated, assigned (either at law or at equity), alienated, pledged, encumbered or subjected to garnishment, levy, or other legal or equitable process.
* Trust assets are not available to or for the benefit of the beneficiary until the beneficiary ceases to be a minor or legal incompetent, except for the distributions for the beneficiary’s health, education, or welfare made at the discretion of the trustee and pursuant to the trust instrument.
* Upon the beneficiary’s death, the beneficiary’s share must be paid to the Indian tribe, unless the trust document provides for payment either:
* to persons who may inherit from the beneficiary under applicable state or tribal inheritance laws; or
* based on the terms of a valid will or trust of the beneficiary.
Here, it does not appear that S~’s trust meets all of the requirements of POMS SI 01120.195F. In particular, the trust agreement does not state that all the trust assets and the trust principal and income are subject to claims of general creditors of the Indian tribe under applicable federal, state, local, and tribal law, as required by SI 01120.195F.5. Rather, Section 3.01 of the trust agreement states that “[n]either trust income nor principal nor any beneficiary’s interest therein shall be subject to . . . any other claims of any creditor.” See Agreement § 3.01.
In addition, the trust agreement fails to comply with SI 01120.195F.6 because it does not contain statements that the principal and income of the trust are subject to claims of general creditors under applicable law, and that the trustee must cease payments to or for the benefit of the beneficiary and hold trust assets for the benefit of the Indian tribe’s general creditors throughout any period during which the trustee believes or has reason to believe that the Indian tribe either is unable to pay its debts as they become due or is subject to a pending insolvency or bankruptcy proceeding. Finally, the trust agreement fails to comply with SI 01120.195F.7 because it does not state that the trust beneficiary does not have any preferred claim or beneficial ownership interest in any assets of the trust, and any rights created under the trust documents must be unsecured rights.
In sum, the trust agreement does not meet all of the requirements of POMS SI 01120.195F, and S~ is considered the grantor of the trust. Therefore, the agency must evaluate the trust agreement under the statutory resource rules. Section 1613(e) of the Social Security Act (the Act) provides generally that, with respect to trusts established on or after January 1, 2000, an individual’s assets will be considered resources for SSI purposes even if the trusts are irrevocable. See 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e); POMS SI 01120.201. Accordingly, the trust is considered a resource unless an exception applies. See POMS SI 01120.201D.2.a.
One exception is for special needs trusts established under section 1917(d)(4)(A) of the Act. See 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A); POMS SI 01120.203B.1. Another exception is for pooled trusts that are established under section 1917(d)(4)(C) of the Act. See 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(C); POMS SI 01120.203B.2. Both exceptions require that, upon the death of the individual, all amounts remaining in a special needs trust or any amounts remaining in the beneficiary’s account that are not retained by a pooled trust be paid to the State up to an amount equal to the total medical assistance paid on behalf of the individual under a State Medicaid plan. Here, the GTB Trust does not have a Medicaid payback provision and thus does not meet either exception. Therefore, we believe that S~’s trust is a countable resource for SSI purposes.
To the extent the agency determines that S~’s trust is a resource, disbursements from the trust to or for the benefit of S~ would not be income, but conversion of a resource. See POMS SI 01120.201I.2.a.2 In addition, once S~ reaches age 18, assuming she is not adjudicated as legally incompetent, the GTB’s per capita payments will no longer be placed into her trust but will instead be issued directly to her. See 18 GTB Code § 1605(e)(7). These payments would be considered unearned income in the month of receipt and a countable resource in subsequent months if they are retained. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1102, 416.1120-1123, 416.1201; POMS SI 00810.030, 01110.600.
For the reasons discussed above, we believe that the assets held in S~’s trust account could be considered a countable resource to her for purposes of SSI eligibility. As such, any distributions from the trust would not be income but conversion of a resource. Per capita payments made directly to S~ after attaining age 18 would constitute unearned income.
B. PS 17-145 SSI — Updated Six State Survey on “Dry” or “Empty” Trusts within Region V
NOTE: This opinion supersedes PS 05-038.
We are replacing our 2004 memorandum (found in POMS sections PS 01205.016, PS 01205.017, PS 01205.025, PS 01205.026, PS 01205.039, and PS 01205.055 (A. PS 05-038)) with this updated opinion. However, we are placing the new six state survey in POMS subchapter PS 01825.000 Trusts.
The Regional Chief Counsel (RCC) examined whether a “dry” or “empty” trust is a valid legal entity for purposes of determining eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in the six States of Region V. The RCC concluded that a dry trust is only a valid legal entity in Wisconsin because the state adopted a statute that permits dry trusts. It is not a valid legal entity in Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, or Ohio because they do not have statutes that permit dry trusts.
You have asked for an update on whether a “dry” or “empty” trust is a valid legal entity for purposes of determining eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in the six States of Region V. As discussed below, we conclude that a dry trust is only a valid legal entity in Wisconsin. It is not a valid legal entity in Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, or Ohio.
On November 30, 2004, we provided advice on whether a “dry” or “empty” trust—a trust without any property as of the inception of the trust—is a valid legal entity for purposes of determining eligibility for SSI in the six States of Region V. Our 2004 memorandum concluded that a dry trust was not a valid legal entity in any of the States in our region, based on the applicable State statutory and case law. However, many of the States in Region V have since updated their trust laws.
For SSI purposes, a trust established with the assets of an individual on or after January 1, 2000, will generally be considered a resource even if the trust is irrevocable. 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e)(3); POMS SI 1120.201(D). There are, however, Medicaid trust exceptions to these resource counting provisions. In particular, under the special needs trust exception, a trust established before December 13, 2016, is not subject to the resource counting provisions where it: (1) contains the assets of an individual under age 65 who is disabled; (2) is established for the benefit of such individual through the actions of a parent, grandparent, legal guardian or a court; and (3) provides that, on the death of the individual, any funds remaining in the trust will be used to reimburse the State(s) for medical assistance paid on behalf of the individual under a State Medicaid plan. See 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A) (2016); POMS SI 01120.203(B)(1). Effective with trusts established on or after December 13, 2016, the special needs trust exception has been expanded to include a trust established through the actions of the individual himself or herself. See 21st Century Cures Act, Pub. L. No. 114-255, § 5007(a), 130 Stat. 1197 (2016) (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A)); POMS EM-16053.
A parent or grandparent who creates a trust with a legally competent, disabled adult’s funds may satisfy 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A) using two methods: (1) the parent or grandparent can establish a “seed trust” using a nominal amount of his or her own money prior to transferring the individual’s funds to the trust, or (2) the State must allow a “dry” or “empty” trust. See POMS SI 01120.203(B)(1)(f).
In 2004, we concluded that none of the States in our region recognized the existence of a dry trust. Since we prepared our 2004 memorandum, one State has changed its position on dry trusts. Effective July 1, 2014, the Wisconsin Trust Code allows for the creation of dry trusts. Wis. Stat. § 701.0401(2) allows the creation of a trust by a “declaration by any person who intends to create a trust with the expectation that property of the person or others will be transferred to the trust.” Therefore, Wisconsin does not require property to exist at the inception of the trust. Rather, Wisconsin requires only an expectation that property will be transferred to the trust.
The remaining States in Region V have either passed laws that are incompatible with dry trusts or have not changed their trust laws since 2004. Three States—Michigan, Ohio, and Minnesota—have adopted § 401 of the Uniform Trust Code (UTC), which states in relevant part that a trust may be created by “declaration by the owner of property that the owner holds identifiable property as trustee.” Unif. Trust Code § 401(2) (2000); Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.7401(b) (effective December 28, 2012); Ohio Rev. Code § 5804.01(B) (effective January 1, 2007); Minn. Stat. § 501C.0401 (effective January 1, 2016). The comments to § 401 of the UTC indicate that “a trust is not created until it receives property.” Therefore, each of these States requires a trust to contain identifiable property. Similar to § 401 of the UTC, the Restatement (Third) of Trusts (2003) provides that “[a] trust cannot be created unless there is a trust property in existence and ascertainable at the time of the creation of the trust.” Id. at § 2 cmt. i.
Illinois and Indiana have not updated their relevant trust statutes, which do not recognize dry trusts. Indiana’s statute requires that a trust have property. See Ind. Code § 30-4-1-1. Although Illinois’s statute[1 1] does not set forth the elements of a trust, 760 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/2, case law suggests that property is an essential element of a trust. See Eychaner v. Gross, 779 N.E.2d 1115, 1131 (Ill. 2002).
In summary, only one jurisdiction within Region V (Wisconsin) has adopted a statute that permits dry trusts. Three of the jurisdictions within Region V (Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota) have adopted the UTC provision requiring identifiable trust property, thus prohibiting dry trusts. The two jurisdictions (Indiana, Illinois) that have not yet adopted the UTC provision do not have statutes that permit dry trusts. Therefore, we conclude that a dry trust only exists as a valid legal entity in Wisconsin; it does not exist as a valid legal entity in any of the remaining States of our region.
B. PS 17-098 Review of the Michigan Charities Pooled Trust Master Trust Agreement and Joinder for SSI
C. PS 17-098 Review of the Michigan Charities Pooled Trust Master Trust Agreement and Joinder for SSI
The Regional Chief Counsel (RCC) Opinion asked whether a sub-account in the Michigan Charities Pooled Trust constitutes a resource for purposes of determining a beneficiary’s eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The RCC concluded that a sub-account in the Michigan Charities Pooled Trust is excepted from resource counting under Social Security Act § 1917(d)(4)(C), 42 U.S.C. §1396p(d)(4)(C), and the agency should not count it as a resource for purposes of determining a beneficiary’s eligibility for SSI.
You asked whether a sub-account in the Michigan Charities Pooled Trust constitutes a resource for purposes of determining a beneficiary’s eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
We conclude that a sub-account in the Michigan Charities Pooled Trust is excepted from resource counting under Social Security Act § 1917(d)(4)(C), 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(C), and the agency should not count it as a resource for purposes of determining a beneficiary’s eligibility for SSI.
CPT, a Florida non-profit corporation, proposes to establish the Michigan Charities Pooled Trust (“Pooled Trust”) through the Declaration of Trust for the Michigan Charities Pooled Trust (“Master Trust Agreement” or “MTA”). See MTA, §§ 1.2, 2.1 The purpose of the Pooled Trust is to establish and manage trust accounts for the benefit of persons with disabilities in compliance with Social Security Act § 1917(d)(4)(C), 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(C). See MTA, §§ 1.2, 1.5. The Pooled Trust’s intent is to supplement, not displace, government assistance otherwise available to trust beneficiaries. See MTA, § 3.2.
The Master Trust Agreement provides that a trust beneficiary, or his or her parent, grandparent, legal guardian, or a court, may establish a trust account on the beneficiary’s behalf. See MTA, § 2.3 Once established, an individual beneficiary’s trust account is irrevocable. See MTA, § 1.3. The Trustee shall establish a separate account for each trust beneficiary, but may pool account funds for purposes of investment and management. See MTA, §§ 4.1, 9.1.
During the beneficiary’s lifetime, the Trustee has sole and absolute discretion to make discretionary payments from the trust account to enhance the beneficiary’s safety, comfort, enjoyment, or otherwise enhance the beneficiary’s quality of life. See MTA, § 6.1. Pursuant to the Master Trust Agreement, the Trustee has power to transfer a beneficiary’s account to another qualifying pooled trust. See MTA, § 6.5. In the event of such transfer, the Master Trust Agreement prohibits any disbursements other than to the recipient pooled trust. See id.
Upon the beneficiary’s death, his or her trust account terminates. See MTA, § 7.1. Following such termination, the Trustee must first determine the Pooled Trust’s remainder share (“Trust Remainder Share”). See MTA, § 7.2. If the amount owed to the State(s) in reimbursement for medical assistance paid on the beneficiary’s behalf under a State Medicaid plan(s) is greater than the amount of funds remaining in the beneficiary’s account, the Trustee shall retain 50% of the remaining funds as the Trust Remainder Share. See id. If the amount owed to the State(s) for Medicaid reimbursement is less than the amount of funds remaining in the beneficiary’s account, then the Trustee shall retain 5% as the Trust Remainder Share. See id. Thereafter, the Trustee shall first use remaining assets in the trust account to reimburse the State(s) for medical assistance paid on the beneficiary’s behalf under a State Medicaid plan(s), and then distribute the remaining account assets pursuant to section 7.5. See id.
Prior to reimbursing the State(s) for medical assistance provided under State Medicaid plan(s), the Trustee may pay certain administrative expenses, including State and Federal taxes arising due to the beneficiary’s death, and reasonable fees and costs for administering the beneficiary’s estate. See MTA, § 7.4. The Master Trust Agreement prohibits the payment of administrative expenses not allowed under the Social Security Administration’s Program Operations Manual System (POMS) prior to State Medicaid reimbursement. See id. Specifically, the Trustee may not pay inheritance taxes, debts owed to third parties, funeral expenses, or payments to residual beneficiaries. See id.
After State Medicaid reimbursement, the Trustee may make distributions for funeral expenses and third party debts. See MTA, § 7.5. After such distributions, the Trustee shall distribute the remaining trust account assets to the remainder beneficiaries according to the Joinder Agreement. See id. The Joinder Agreement permits a trust account beneficiary to designate residual beneficiaries to receive the remaining trust assets upon his or her death. See Joinder Agreement. If the beneficiary does not make such a designation, the Trustee will distribute the remaining trust assets to the beneficiary’s “heirs at law,” as designated by State law. See id.
The Master Trust Agreement provides that in the event of early termination, i.e., termination during the beneficiary’s lifetime, the State(s) would receive reimbursement equal to the amount of medical assistance paid on behalf of the beneficiary under the State Medicaid plan(s). See MTA, § 8.1. Following reimbursement to the State(s), the Trustee would distribute all remaining trust account assets to the trust beneficiary. See id.
The Mater Trust Agreement contains a spendthrift provision, providing that no part of a beneficiary’s trust account shall be subject to voluntary or involuntary assignment, attachment, or compelled distribution. See MTA, § 9.9.
The Master Trust Agreement provides that Michigan law governs the Pooled Trust. See MTA, § 13.1.
Generally, a trust established after January 1, 2000, with the assets of an individual will be a resource countable to that individual for purposes of determining SSI eligibility. See Social Security Act §§ 1613(e), 1917(d); 42 U.S.C. §§ 1382b(e), 1396p(d); Program Operations Manual System SI 01120.201.A. However, a trust established with the assets of a disabled individual that is part of a pooled trust may be excepted under certain circumstances. Social Security Act §§ 1613(e)(5), 1917(d)(4)(C); 42 U.S.C. §§ 1382b(e)(5), 1396p(d)(4)(C); POMS SI 01120.203.B.2.
To meet this pooled trust exception:
(1) the trust must be managed by a non-profit association;
(2) a separate account must be maintained for each beneficiary of the trust; (3) the beneficiary’s account must be established for his or her sole benefit by a parent, grandparent, legal guardian, by the beneficiary, or by a court; and (4) upon the beneficiary’s death, to the extent that amounts remaining in the beneficiary’s account are not retained by the trust, the trust must pay the State(s) the amount remaining in the account up to the total amount of medical assistance paid on behalf of the beneficiary under State Medicaid plan(s). Social Security Act § 1917(d)(4)(C), 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(C); POMS SI 01120.203.B.2.a.
Here, as discussed in greater detail below, the Pooled Trust satisfies the requirements of Social Security Act § 1917(d)(4)(C), 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(C). Accordingly, an account in the Pooled Trust is excepted from resource counting.
1. Managed by a Non-Profit Association
To satisfy the pooled trust exception, the trust must be established and managed by a non-profit association. Social Security Act § 1917(d)(4)(C)(i), 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(C)(i); POMS SI 01120.203.B.2.c. A non-profit entity may employ the services of a for-profit entity, but the non-profit entity must maintain ultimate managerial control over the trust. POMS SI 01120.225.D. The for-profit entity may handle certain trust functions on behalf of the non-profit association; however, the use of a for-profit entity must always be subordinate to the non-profit managers of a pooled trust. Id.
CPT, a non-profit corporation, is responsible for establishing and managing the Pooled Trust. See MTA, §§ 1.2, 2.1. The Master Trust Agreement permits CPT to retain an investment advisor to be responsible for the custody of assets, risk assessment for each trust beneficiary, investment, and asset allocation selection and management. See MTA, § 2.5. However, this provision does appear to cede CPT’s ultimate power and control over the Pooled Trust. See MTA, § 2.5 (CPT reserves the right to remove any investment advisor). Accordingly, the Master Trust Agreement satisfies the requirement that a non-profit association establish and manage the Pooled Trust.
2. Maintenance of Separate Accounts for Each Trust Beneficiary
To satisfy the pooled trust exception, the pooled trust must maintain a separate account for each trust beneficiary, although it is acceptable under POMS for individual accounts to be pooled for investment and management purposes. Social Security Act § 1917(d)(4)(C)(ii), 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(C)(ii); POMS SI 01120.203.B.2.d.
The Master Trust Agreement provides that although the Trustee may pool funds from various accounts for purposes of investment and management, the Trustee will maintain separate accounts for each beneficiary, and maintain records of each account. See MTA, §§ 4.1, 9.1. Accordingly, the Master Trust Agreement satisfies the requirement that the Pooled Trust maintain a separate account for each trust beneficiary.
3. Established for the Beneficiary’s Sole Benefit by the Beneficiary, a Parent, Grandparent, Legal Guardian, or a Court
To satisfy the third requirement of the pooled trust exception, the trust sub-account must be established by the sub-account beneficiary, his or her parent, grandparent, legal guardian, or a court. Social Security Act § 1917(d)(4)(C)(iii), 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(C)(iii); POMS SI 01120.203.B.2.f. The Master Trust Agreement provides that a beneficiary’s parent, grandparent, or legal guardian, or the beneficiary himself or herself, or a court, may establish an account for the beneficiary in the Pooled Trust. See MTA, § 2.3.
Additionally, section 1917(d)(4)(C)(iii) of the Social Security Act requires that the trust account be for the sole benefit of the disabled individual. Social Security Act § 1917(d)(4)(C)(iii), 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(C)(iii); POMS SI 01120.203.B.2.e. A trust subaccount will not meet the “sole benefit” requirement if the trustee has power to terminate the trust prior to the beneficiary’s death, unless the early termination clause provides that, upon termination of the trust: (1) the State receives all amounts remaining in the trust up to an amount equal to the amount of medical assistance paid on behalf of the individual, and (2) after payment of allowable administrative expenses and reimbursement to the State, all remaining funds are distributed to the beneficiary, and (3) the beneficiary does not have power to terminate the trust. POMS SI 01120.199.F.1; see also POMS SI 01120.203.B.2.e (the pooled trust exception does not apply if the trust account “allows for termination of the trust account prior to the individual's death and payment of the corpus to another individual or entity”).
An early termination provision need not meet the forgoing criteria if the clause solely allows for a transfer of the beneficiary’s assets from one section 1917(d)(4)(C) qualifying pooled trust to another section 1917(d)(4)(C) qualifying pooled trust. See POMS SI 01120.199.F.2. In such event, the early termination clause “must contain specific limiting language that precludes the early termination from resulting in disbursements other than to the secondary section 1917(d)(4)(C) trust,” with the exception of allowable administrative expenses. Id.
Here, the Master Trust Agreement does not provide for early termination of a trust account. See MTA, § 8.1. Nevertheless, the Master Trust Agreement provides that, in the event of early termination, the Trustee shall first reimburse the State(s) for medical assistance paid on the beneficiary’s behalf under a State Medicaid plan(s), and then the Trustee shall distribute all remaining account assets the trust account beneficiary. See MTA, § 8.1. Because the early termination ensures Medicaid reimbursement to the State(s) and distribution of any remainder to the Trust beneficiary, the early termination provision satisfies the “sole benefit” requirement of section 1917(d)(4)(C) of the Act. See POMS SI 01120.199.F.1.
The Master Trust Agreement also permits transfer of a beneficiary’s trust account to another qualifying pooled trust during the beneficiary’s lifetime. See MTA, § 6.5. The provision is permissible because it contains specific language that precludes the early termination from resulting in disbursements other than to the secondary qualifying pooled trust. See id.
4. Reimbursement to the State(s) Upon the Beneficiary’s Death
To satisfy the fourth requirement of the pooled trust exception, the trust must ensure that upon a beneficiary’s death, to the extent amounts remain in the beneficiary’s account not retained by the trust, the State(s) are reimbursed equal to the total amount of medical assistance paid on behalf of the deceased beneficiary during his or her lifetime. Social Security Act §§ 1917(d)(4)(C)(iv), 42 U.S.C. § 1917(d)(4)(c)(iv); POMS SI 01120.203.B.2.g. The State(s) must be listed as the first payee(s) and have priority over payment of other debts and administrative expenses. Id. The trust must provide payback for any State(s) that may have provided medical assistance under the State Medicaid plan(s) and not be limited to any particular State(s). Id.
The Master Trust Agreement provides that the Trust’s Remainder Share shall be 5% or 50% of the assets remaining in the beneficiary’s trust account upon his or her death. See MTA, § 7.2. After the Pooled Trust retains this share, the Trustee may pay certain administrative expenses permissible under POMS SI 01120.B.3, including State and Federal taxes due because of the beneficiary’s death, as well as reasonable fees for administration of the beneficiary’s estate. See MTA, § 7.4. Other than retention of the Trust’s Remainder Share and the payment of allowable administrative expenses, the Master Trust Agreement provides that the State(s) shall receive priority reimbursement for medical assistance paid on the beneficiary’s behalf under a State Medicaid plan(s). See id. The Master Trust Agreement does not limit such reimbursement to any particular state. See id. Because the Master Trust Agreement prioritizes Medicaid reimbursement to the State(s), the Pooled Trust meets the final criterion for an exception to resource counting under section 1917(d)(4)(C) of the Act.
APPLICATION OF REGULAR RESOURCE RULES
The Pooled Trust meets the requirements for an exception to resource counting under section 1917(d)(4)(C) of the Act. Nevertheless, even if a tust meets an exception to resource counting, it is still subject to the regular resource counting rules. See POMS SI 01120.203.B.1.a.
Pursuant to POMS SI 01120.200.D.1.a, trust principal is a resource if the beneficiary has the legal authority to revoke or terminate the trust and then use the funds to meet his food or shelter needs, or if the beneficiary can direct use of the trust principal for his or her support and maintenance under the terms of the trust. See POMS SI 01120.200.D.1.a. Moreover, if the beneficiary can sell his or her beneficial interst in the trust, that interest is a resource. Id.
Here, the Master Trust Agreement provides that a beneficiary’s trust account is not subject to voluntary or involuntary assignment, attachment, or compelled distribution. See MTA, § 9.9. Additionally, the beneficiary does not have power to direct use of trust funds for his or her support and maintenance; rather, the Trustee has sole and absolute discretion to distribute funds during the beneficiary’s lifetime. See MTA, § 6.1.
Finally, the Master Trust Agreement provides that deposits into a trust account are non-refundable and irrevocable, and the trust account is irrevocable once established. See MTA, §§ 1.3, 3.3. However, under Michigan law, when a grantor is the sole beneficiary of a trust, the trust is deemed to be revocable even if the trust document states it is irrevocable. See POMS SI CHI01120.200.C; Rest. (2d) of Trusts § 339; Hein v. Hein, 543 N.W.2d 19, 358-59 (Mich. Ct. App. 1995): (holding that, consistent with the law in most jurisdictions and Restatement (2d) of Trusts § 338, a settlor and all beneficiaries consent they can modify or terminate an irrevocable trust).2
The Joinder Agreement gives the settlor of each trust account the opportunity to identify residual beneficiaries in the event there remain funds for distribution upon the beneficiary’s death. See Joinder Agreement. Where the settlor fails to make such a designation, the Trustee will distribute the remaining trust assets to the beneficiary’s “heirs at law,” as designated by State law. See Joinder Agreement.3
Furthermore, the Pooled Trust maintains a contingent residual interest in each account. See MTA, § 7.2. Accordingly, an otherwise irrevocable self-settled account in the Pooled Trust is not revocable by operation of Michigan law due to a lack of residual beneficiaries.
In sum, an account in the Pooled Trust does not constitute a resource under regular resource counting rules.
The Pooled Trust meets the requirements for an exception to resource counting under section 1917(d)(4)(C) of the Social Security Act. Furthermore, because a beneficiary of the Pooled Trust does not have power to revoke or terminate his or her trust account, or direct use of the account principal for his or her support or maintenance, the trust account would not constitute a resource under regular resource counting rules.
C. PS 17-064 Review of Springhill First Party Pooled Trust
D. PS 17-064 Review of Springhill First Party Pooled Trust
The Regional Chief Counsel (RCC) Opinion examines whether the Springhill First-Party Pooled Trust (the “Trust”) is in compliance with the procedures governing the Agency’s pooled trust policy. The RCC concluded that the sub-accounts in the Springhill First-Party Pooled Trust would not be considered resources and that the Trust meets the criteria for the pooled trust exception.
You asked whether the Springhill First-Party Pooled Trust (the “Trust”) is in compliance with the procedures governing the Agency’s pooled trust policy. For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that the sub-accounts in the Springhill First-Party Pooled Trust would not be considered resources and that the Trust meets the criteria for the pooled trust exception. BACKGROUND
Springhill Housing Corporation, Inc. (“Springhill”), a non-profit corporation, established and manages the Springhill First-Party Pooled Trust (the “Trust”), serving as both the Settlor and Trustee. See Fourth Restatement & Decl. of Trust for Springhill First-Party Pooled Trust (“Fourth Restatement”), Art. One, Sect. 1.01. Springhill first established the Trust on May XX, 1997. Id.; see also Fourth Rest., p.1. The Fourth Restatement was executed on August XX, 2016, after Springhill, acting as Trustee, nominated M~ to act as Trust Protector. See Fourth Rest., p. 1.
The Trust consists of pooled individual sub-accounts that are established and managed for the sole benefit of the specified beneficiary. Fourth Rest., Art. Three, Sect. 3.01; Art. Thirteen, Sect. 13.17. Under the Trust, a “beneficiary” is a disabled person, as defined in 42 U.S.C. § 1382c(a)(3), who is the sole recipient of services and benefits of his Trust sub-account created by a “Grantor.” Fourth Rest., Art. Thirteen, Sect. 13.02. The Grantor, in turn, is defined by the Fourth Restatement as a parent, grandparent, agent acting for the beneficiary under a power of attorney, guardian, the beneficiary himself, or any person or entity acting pursuant to a court order, who establishes a sub-account through the execution of an Irrevocable Joinder Agreement for the beneficiary and funds the sub-account with the beneficiary’s assets. Fourth Rest., Art. Thirteen, Sect. 13.05.
The primary purpose of Trust II is to supplement available government benefits to ensure the beneficiary’s comfort and happiness during his or her lifetime. MTA, Art. VII(B). Payments from Trust II are made on behalf of the beneficiary from Trust II assets at the sole discretion of the Trust II Trustee. MTA, Art. VII(A). The MTA specifies that Trust II is established for the sole benefit of each individual beneficiary and that it is an irrevocable trust. Id.; MTA, Art. X; Instrument of Adoption, Art. I.
Each sub-account is funded with assets from the sub-account beneficiary and solely benefits the individual beneficiary. Fourth Rest., Art. One, Sects. 1.01 & 1.05.
The Trust is intended to be a pooled trust established pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(C) and the sub-accounts of the Trust are intended to serve as supplemental and emergency funds for the beneficiaries. Fourth Rest., Art. One, Sect. 1.04; Art. Two, Sect. 2.01. Because of their supplemental nature, distributions from the Trust should not be made to, or for the benefit of, a beneficiary if the effect of such a distribution would be to supplant, replace, or disqualify a beneficiary from receiving government assistance. Fourth Rest., Art. Four, Sect. 4.02. Thus, generally distributions are not made by the Trustee on behalf of a beneficiary in excess of any applicable resource or income limitations of any public benefit program to which the beneficiary is entitled. Id. Distributions from any of the individual Trust sub-accounts are made subject to “the Trustee’s sole and absolute discretion.” Fourth Rest., Art. Four, p.4 & Sect. 4.01 & 4.04. The Fourth Restatement specifies that “[u]nder no circumstance can the Beneficiary compel a distribution from the trust for any purpose” nor can the beneficiary transfer any interest in the irrevocable trust. Fourth Rest., Art. Four, Sect. 4.04.
Regarding the management of the Trust, while Springhill serves as the Trustee, Springhill may appoint a Trust Administrator to perform the ministerial administration functions associated with the Trust operations on behalf of the Trustee. Fourth Rest., Art. Thirteen, Sect. 13.16. The Fourth Restatement gives Springhill the power to designate Co-Trustees to assist with the management, administration, allocation, and disbursement of Trust assets and property, as well. Fourth Rest., Art. Nine, Sect. 9.02; Art. Thirteen, Sect. 13.03. The Trustee may also employ or seek the advice or assistance of other persons or entities such as attorneys, accountants, managers, and financial institutions. Fourth Rest., Art. Nine, Sect. 9.01. Still, the Fourth Restatement notes at several points that the Trustee maintains sole and absolute discretion over decisions made regarding the distributions from sub-accounts. Fourth Rest., Art. Four, p. 2 & Sects. 4.01 & 4.04. The Trustee is obligated under the Fourth Restatement to provide regular accountings—at least annually—to the beneficiary or his legal representative. Fourth Rest., Art. Three, Sect. 3.02.
Springhill has asked the Agency to review their Fourth Restatement for the Trust, executed on August 22, 2016, to determine if it complies with the Agency’s policies regarding pooled trusts.
I. Self-Funded Individual Sub-Accounts in Springhill First-Party Pooled Trust
Under the Social Security Act (“Act”), a trust created on or after January 1, 2000, from the assets of an individual generally will be considered a resource to the extent that the trust is revocable or, in the case of an irrevocable trust, to the extent that any payments could be made from the trust to or for the benefit of the individual. See 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e); POMS SI 01120.201(D). However, if a trust meets the criteria of either an individual special needs trust under 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A) or a pooled trust under § 1396p(d)(4)(C), the trust is excluded from this rule. See POMS SI 01120.203.
We must first determine the revocability of the self-funded trust shares in the Springhill Trust. Here, the express terms of the Fourth Restatement confirm that the individual sub-accounts are irrevocable. Fourth Rest., Art. One, Sect. 1.03; Art. Two, Sect. 2.02. Notwithstanding these provisions, the sub-accounts would be still be considered revocable if the grantor is also the sole beneficiary. See POMS SI CHI01120.200(C). In this case, however, the grantor would not be the sole beneficiary. Rather, the Trust creates a contingent remainder interest in the Trustee, Springhill Housing Corporation. Fourth Rest., Art. Eight, Sects. 8.03, 8.04, 8.05, 8.08 & 8.09. Further, the self-funded sub-accounts in the Trust create contingent remainder interests in the remaindermen designated by the beneficiary or the Grantor pursuant to the instructions in the Irrevocable Joinder Agreement. Fourth Rest., Art. Eight, Sect. 8.06. Because there are residual beneficiaries, the beneficiary (or grantor) could not revoke his trust share unilaterally, but would need the consent of the remaindermen. See POMS SI CHI01120.200(C) (“[I]f the trust names a residual beneficiary to receive the benefit of the trust interest after a specific event, usually the death of the primary beneficiary, the trust is irrevocable. The primary beneficiary cannot unilaterally revoke the trust; he needs the consent of the residual beneficiary.”). Michigan law, which governs the Fourth Restatement according to Article One, Section 1.02, also prohibits a primary beneficiary from unilaterally revoking a trust. See Mich. Stat. § 700.7411. Specifically, Michigan law provides that a noncharitable irrevocable trust can only be modified in one of three ways:
(1) by a court upon the consent of a trustee and the qualified trust beneficiaries, if the court concludes that the modification or termination of the trust is consistent with the material purposes of the trust or that continuance is not necessary to achieve any material purpose;
(2) upon the consent of the qualified trust beneficiaries and a trust protector who is given power under the terms of the trust to grant, veto, or withhold approval of termination or modification; or
(3) by a trustee or trust protector to whom a power to direct the termination or modification of the trust has been given by the terms of a trust. Id. Because a beneficiary (or grantor) cannot unilaterally revoke his trust under the law or pursuant to the terms in the Fourth Restatement of the Trust, we consider self-funded sub-accounts in the Trust to be irrevocable.
As stated above, an irrevocable trust generally will be considered a resource to the extent that any payments could be made from the trust to or for the benefit of the individual. Here, the Trustee of the Springhill Trust has the sole discretion to use the income and the principal in the individual sub-accounts for the sole benefit of the beneficiary for whom the trust sub-account was established. Fourth Rest., Art. Four, p. 2 & Sects. 4.01 & 4.04. Thus, self-funded sub-accounts in the Trust would be resources under these provisions, unless an exception applies.
II. Springhill First-Party Pooled Trust: Pooled Trust Exception
In order to qualify for the pooled trust exception, the Trust must contain the assets belonging to a disabled individual and satisfy the following conditions:
1. The trust is established and managed by a nonprofit association.
2. The trust maintains a separate account for each beneficiary, but pools these accounts for purposes of investment and management of funds.
3. Accounts in the trust are established solely for the benefit of the disabled individual by the individual, parent, grandparent, legal guardian, or court.
4. To the extent that amounts remaining in the beneficiary’s account upon the death of the beneficiary are not retained by the trust, the trust will pay to the state(s) from such remaining amounts in the account an amount equal to the total amount of medical assistance paid on behalf of the beneficiary under the State Medicaid plan.
See 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(C); POMS SI 01120.203(B)(2).
Here, the Springhill Trust appears to meet all the conditions of the pooled trust exception.
First, the Springhill Trust was established and is managed by the Springhill Housing Corporation, Inc., a non-profit association. Fourth Rest., p.1. Pursuant to the Fourth Restatement, Springhill acts as both Trustee and Settlor of the Trust. Id. While the Fourth Restatement grants Springhill the power to designate Co-Trustees, a Trust Administrator, and a Trust Protector, and to employ the services of agents, attorneys, advisors, and others to assist or advise in the administration of the Trust, Springhill retains ultimate managerial authority over the Trust. Fourth Rest., Art. Four, p. 2 & Sects. 4.01 & 4.04; Art. Nine, Sects. 9.01-9.03; see also POMS SI 01120.225(D) & (E).
While Agency policy allows a non-profit pooled trust manager to employ the services of a for-profit entity, the policy dictates that the non-profit association must maintain ultimate managerial control over the trust. See POMS SI 01120.225(D). This means that, among other things, Springhill must maintain ultimate control over determining the amount of the trust corpus to invest and making the day-to-day decisions regarding the health and well-being of the pooled trust beneficiaries. Id. The use of a for-profit entity must always be subordinate to the non-profit manager. Id.
Here, we note that there is some language in the Fourth Restatement that could be drafted more clearly and seems, in some sections, to grant coextensive authority to the Trustee and to any Co-Trustees and/or the Trust Administrator. For example, under Article Four, Section 4.01, it states that “[t]he Trustee and/or Trust Administrator may in their sole and absolute discretion distribute any or all of the corpus of the Trust sub-account for the purposes stated herein” and that “[t]he Trustee and/or Trust Administrator shall possess and exercise the authority to allocate all distributions between principal and income as they determine in their sole and absolute discretion.” However, this provision comes under the umbrella qualification for all of Article Four that “[s]ubject to the Trustee’s sole and absolute discretion, distributions from any of the individual Trust sub-accounts may be made as follows . . .” Fourth Rest., p.4. Because of this umbrella statement, and when read in combination with other provisions in the Fourth Restatement echoing this point, we believe that this is sufficient to show that the non-profit Springhill Housing Corporation retains ultimate managerial authority over the Trust to meet the first condition of the exception. In addition, although not identified in the Fourth Restatement, it appears that the Trust Administrator for the Springhill Trust is the Community Housing Network, Inc. (“CHN”). See https://springhillpooledtrust.org/. According to CHN’s website, it is also a non-profit organization that provides homes for people in need and assists people with disabilities. See https://communityhousingnetwork.org/about-us/. Thus, we believe that even to the extent that the Trust Administrator is involved in decisions regarding distributions from the Trust and day-to-day management activities, this would not run afoul of first criteria for meeting the pooled trust exception.
Second, the Trust maintains separate sub-accounts for each beneficiary, but pools the trust sub-accounts for purposes of investment and management. Fourth Rest., Art. Three, Sect. 3.01.
As for the third condition of the exception, the Fourth Restatement specifies that individual Trust sub-accounts are established and maintained for the sole benefit of the individual beneficiaries. Fourth Rest., Art. Three, Sect. 3.01; see also Art. Two, Sect. 2.01; Art. Thirteen, Sect. 13.02. Each sub-account is established by the individual beneficiary or his parent, grandparent, agent acting for the beneficiary under a power of attorney, legal guardian, or any person or entity acting pursuant to a court order on behalf of the beneficiary (the “Grantor”). Fourth Rest., Art. Thirteen, Sect. 13.05; see also Art. 1, Sect. 1.05; Art. Two, Sect. 2.01. Although the Trust contains early termination provisions, the provisions comply with the requirements of POMS SI 01120.199(F)(2) because they solely allow for a transfer of the beneficiary’s assets from one § 1396p(d)(4)(C) trust to another such trust. Fourth Rest., Art. Eight, p.9 & Sect. 8.03.
Finally, the Springhill Trust meets the last condition of the pooled trust exception because it provides for the repayment of medical assistance under any State(s) Medicaid plans upon the death of the beneficiary. Fourth Rest., Art. Eight, Sect. 8.04. Specifically, the Fourth Restatement provides that, upon the death of a beneficiary, the Trustee shall retain 20% or $10,000.00 (whichever is greater) and, after this initial retention of funds, the Trust “has an automatic duty to repay to the State(s) in an amount equal to the total amount of medical assistance paid on behalf of the individual under the State(s) Medicaid plan(s) in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 1396(a).” Id. As acknowledged by the Fourth Restatement in Article Eight, Section 8.04, to the extent the Trust does not retain the funds in the account, the State(s) in which the beneficiary received Medicaid Assistance shall be the first payee(s) and have priority over payment of other debts and administrative expenses, except as those listed in POMS SI 01120.203(B)(3). Under Section 8.05, prior to repaying the medical assistance to the State(s), the Trust may pay taxes due from the Trust because of the death of the beneficiary and reasonable fees for administration of the trust estate associated with the termination of the trust. Fourth Rest., Art. Eight, Sect. 8.05.
III. The Springhill First-Party Pooled Trust Would Not Be Considered A Countable Resource
Having determined that the Springhill Trust self-funded sub-accounts would satisfy the pooled trust exception, the regular resource rules in POMS SI 01120.200 apply to determine whether a sub-account would be considered a resource. See POMS SI 01120.203(B)(2)(a). Under Agency rules, the trust principal will be a resource if the individual can (1) revoke or terminate the trust and use the assets to meet his needs for food or shelter, or (2) direct the use of the trust principal for his support and maintenance under the terms of the trust. POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1)(a). In addition, the individual’s beneficial interest in the trust is a resource if it can be sold. Id.
As discussed above, the sub-account, a grantor trust, would be considered irrevocable because the beneficiary cannot revoke it without the consent of Springhill or any other residual beneficiaries identified in the Irrevocable Joinder Agreement used to establish the sub-account. Fourth Rest., Art. Eight, Sects. 8.03, 8.04, 8.05, 8.06, 8.08 & 8.09; see also POMS SI CHI01120.200(C), (D); Mich. Stat. § 700.7411. In addition, the beneficiary can neither demand payments nor expect to receive mandatory disbursements, as Springhill, acting as Trustee, has “sole and absolute discretion” in making all distributions. Fourth Rest., Art. Four, p.4 & Sects. 4.01-4.04. Therefore, the sub-account principal would not be considered a resource.
Further, the Fourth Restatement of the Trust contains a spendthrift clause prohibiting the sale of a beneficiary’s interest and providing that no beneficiary’s interest in principal or income shall be subject to voluntary or involuntary alienation. Fourth Rest., Art. Four, Sect. 4.03. Generally, states that allow spendthrift trusts do not allow a grantor to establish a spendthrift trust for his own benefit. See POMS SI 01120.200(B)(16). However, it appears that Michigan does allow spendthrift trust provisions. See Mich. Stat. § 700.7502(1) (“A spendthrift provision is valid and enforceable.”). Accordingly, the beneficiary’s interest in the Trust should not be considered a resource.
For the reasons discussed above, we conclude that the self-funded sub-accounts in the Springhill First-Party Pooled Trust would not be considered resources under the Act as it meets the pooled trust exception.
D. PS 17-003 SSI—Regional Survey on Revocability of Grantor Trusts
E. PS 17-003 SSI—Regional Survey on Revocability of Grantor Trusts
This Regional Chief Counsel (RCC) opinion provides a survey of state law in Region V concerning the revocability of grantor trusts. Specifically, examining whether a distribution to the grantor’s estate creates a residual beneficiary interest such that the grantor is not the sole beneficiary. The opinion reexamines each state’s law on a grantor’s ability to unilaterally modify or revoke a self-settled trust.
You asked whether the A~ Irrevocable Trust (the Trust) is excepted as a special needs trust under section 1917(d)(4)(A) of the Social Security Act (the Act). Additionally, even should the agency determine that the exception applies, you asked if the Trust is a countable resource for purposes of determining A~’s eligibility for supplemental security income (SSI).
The Trust is not excepted from resource counting under section 1917(d)(4)(A) of the Act because it contains an improper early termination provision. Furthermore, even if the Trust met the special needs trust exception it still constitutes a countable resource because, as the settlor and sole beneficiary, A~ has power to revoke the Trust and use the Trust assets to meet her basic needs.
R~, A~’s mother and guardian, executed the Trust on A~’s behalf on July XX, 2005, pursuant to order of the Marion County Superior Court. A~’s settlement from medical malpractice litigation funded the Trust.
Article Three of the Trust provides that the Trust is irrevocable, except a court may amend or revoke the Trust in order to accomplish its stated purpose. Article Four of the Trust gives the trustee sole discretion to spend or retain the Trust income or principal for A~’s benefit.
Article Five provides that, upon the A~’s death, any remaining balance in the Trust will be used to reimburse Indiana and other applicable state(s) for Medicaid assistance paid on the A~’s behalf, with any remainder paid to “the Personal Representative of the Beneficiary’s probate estate.”
Article Seven provides that, should the trustee determine that the Trust is not economical or if it is in A~’s best interest to receive services through the Arc Pooled Trust, then the trustee may distribute the entire trust principal and undistributed trust income to the Arc Pooled Trust for A~’s benefit, enrolling her in that pooled trust.
Article Ten provides that Indiana law shall govern the Trust.
Generally, a trust established after January 1, 2000, with the assets of an individual will be a countable resource to that individual for purposes of determining his or her SSI eligibility. See Social Security Act § 1613(e), 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e); POMS SI 01120.201.A. However, pursuant to section 1917(d)(4)(A) of the Act, commonly referred to as the Special Needs Trust exception, a trust will be excepted as a resource if:
* It contains the assets of a disabled individual under the age 65;
* It is established for the individual’s benefit by the individual’s parent, grandparent, legal guardian, or a court; and
* It contains language that the State(s) will receive all amounts remaining in the trust upon the death of such individual up to an amount equal to the total medical assistance paid on behalf of the individual under a State plan.
Social Security Act § 1917(d)(4)(A), 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A); POMS SI 01120.203.B.1. The agency has interpreted section 1917(d)(4)(A)(ii) to require that the trust be for the sole benefit of the individual. POMS SI 01120.203.B.1.e. The trust will not be for the individual’s sole benefit if it (1) provides benefits to other individuals or entities during the disabled individual’s lifetime, or (2) allows for termination of the trust prior to the individual’s death and payment of the trust corpus to another individual or entity (other than the State(s) for reimbursement of medical assistance). Id.
Accordingly, if a trust contains an early termination clause, it will only meet the requirements of section 1917(d)(4)(A)(ii) of the Act if: (1) the State is designated to receive all amounts remaining in the trust at the time of termination up to the total amount of medical services paid on behalf of the beneficiary by the State, (2) after reimbursement to the State, all remaining funds are to be distributed to the beneficiary with the exception of certain specified expenses, and (3) the beneficiary does not have the power to terminate the trust. POMS SI 01120.199.F.1.
Article Seven of the A~ Trust violates the sole benefit requirement of section 1917(d)(4)(A) of the Act. Specifically, Article Seven provides that, should the trustee determine that the Trust is not economical or if it is in A~’s best interest to receive services through the Arc Pooled Trust,4 then the trustee may distribute the entire trust principal and undistributed trust income to the Arc Pooled Trust for A~’s benefit, enrolling her in that pooled trust. Article Seven, therefore, allows termination of the Trust during A~’s lifetime and distribution of the Trust corpus without reimbursement to the State(s) for medical services paid on A~’s behalf. Such a provision is in direct violation of POMS SI 01120.199.F.1, which requires that any early termination and distribution to or for the beneficiary may occur only after the State(s) receive reimbursement.5
Agency policy provides a 90-day period during which an SSI recipient may have his or her trust amended without the agency counting the trust as a resource. This 90-day period applies where the agency previously determined that a trust was an excepted resource under 1917(d)(4)(A) or (C), and the trust is currently non-compliant because of an invalid early termination clause. See POMS SI 01120.199.A.
This 90-day amendment period shall begin upon the SSI recipient receiving notice that the trust is non-compliant with the criteria for a special needs trust. Id. If the trust still fails to meet the special needs trust requirements upon expiration of the 90-day period, the agency will begin counting the trust as a resource. Id. Each previously excepted trust is permitted only one 90-day amendment period. Id.
Here, the agency previously determined that the Trust was not a countable resource when A~ applied for SSI as a minor. The agency later determined that the Trust was not excepted under section 1917(d)(4)(A) of the Act due to an improper early termination provision. However, A~ is not entitled to a 90-day amendment period to remove the improper early termination provision because the Trust is otherwise a countable resource, as explained below.
Even if a trust is excepted under section 1917(d)(4)(A) of the Act, it is still subject to regular resource counting rules. See POMS SI 01120.203.B.1.a (“A trust which meets the exception to counting the trust under the SSI statutory trust provisions of Section 1613(e) must still be evaluated under the instructions in SI 01120.200, to determine if it is a countable resource”).
Under the regular resource counting rules, trust property is a resource for SSI purposes if the individual (1) has the authority to revoke the trust and then use the funds to meet his or her basic needs for food or shelter; or (2) can direct the use of the trust principal for his or her support and maintenance. See POMS SI 01120.200.D.1.a. Additionally, if the individual can sell his or her beneficial interest in the trust, that interest is a resource. See id.
Whether a trust can be revoked or terminated depends on the terms of the trust and applicable State law. See POMS SI 01120.201.D.3. Here, Article Three provides that the Trust is irrevocable, except that a court may order revocation or amendment of the trust terms in order to accomplish the trust’s stated purpose. To the extent a trust purports to be irrevocable, most states follow the general principle of trust law that if a grantor is also the sole beneficiary of the trust, the trust is revocable regardless of language in the trust to the contrary. See POMS SI 01120.200.D.3; SI CHI01120.200.C; Rest. (Second) of Trusts § 339 (“If the settlor is the sole beneficiary of a trust and is not under an incapacity, he can compel the termination of the trust, although the purposes of the trust have not been accomplished”); Bogert's The Law of Trusts and Trustees, § 1004 (“Numerous courts have found a trust to be terminated or terminable at the instance of the settlor who is also the sole beneficiary”).
Here, Indiana law governs the Trust. Neither Indiana statute nor case law addresses the revocability of self-settled trusts where the settlor is the sole beneficiary. However, Indiana courts have followed the Restatement (Second) of Trusts, particularly concerning a settlor’s powers of revocation. See Breeze v. Breeze, 428 N.E.2d 286 (Ind. Ct. App. 1981) (finding opinion consistent with Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 330 regarding a settlor’s mode of revocation); Hinds v. McNair, 413 N.E.2d 586, 594 (Ind. Ct. App. 1980) (citing Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 330 on for general principal related to a settlor’s power to amend or revoke an irrevocable trust); see also Zoeller v. East Chicago Second Century, Inc., 904 N.E.2d 213, 221 (Ind. 2009) (following general notion of a constructive trust as outlined in Restatement (Second) of Trusts); Kesling v. Kesling, 967 N.E.2d 66, 81-82 (Ind. Ct. App. 2012) (citing to Restatement (Second) of Trusts and Restatement (Third) of Trusts for evolving legal status of trusts). Likewise, Indiana’s legislature has followed the Restatement (Second) of Trusts in drafting several sections of Indiana’s Trust Code. See e.g., Ind. Code Ann. §§ 30-4-3-2, 30-4-3-7, 30-4-3-10, 30-4-3-11, 30-4-3-26. It follows that, should the scenario arise, an Indiana court would adopt the general trust principle that a settlor could revoke a trust for which he or she is the sole beneficiary regardless of any terms in the trust to the contrary. See POMS SI CHI01120.200.C.
Thus, the only remaining question is whether the Trust contained any identifiable residual beneficiaries. Article Five provides that, upon the beneficiary’s death, any remaining balance in the Trust will be used to reimburse Indiana and other applicable state(s) for Medicaid assistance paid on the beneficiary’s behalf, and then pay any remaining amount to “the Personal Representative of the Beneficiary’s probate estate.”
Under the common law doctrine of worthier title, when a settlor designated his children, issue, heirs, or next of kin as remainder beneficiaries, such successors of the settlor’s estate were regarded as taking through the settlor and not as remaindermen; thus, the settlor was treated as the sole owner of the equitable interest in the trust. See Bogert's The Law of Trusts and Trustees, § 1004. Indiana has followed the modern view, and abolished the doctrine of worthier title. Ind. Code Ann. § 30-4-2-7; see also POMS SI 01120.200.D.3 (“Under the modern view, residual beneficiaries are assumed to be created, absent evidence of a contrary intent, when a grantor names heirs, next of kin, or similar groups to receive the remaining assets in the trust upon the grantor's death.”). However, even with the abolishment of the doctrine of worthier title, designating the settlor’s estate as recipient of a remainder share of the trust corpus does not create an identifiable residual beneficiary. See POMS SI CHI01120.200.D.2 (“Where the trust states only that the grantor’s own estate will receive any remaining trust assets on the grantor’s death, and names no other beneficiaries to the trust, the trust should be considered revocable.”). Here, an Indiana court would likely construe any conveyance to A~’s estate as no more than her retention of a future reversionary interest.
As there are no identifiable remainder beneficiaries, A~ is the sole beneficiary of the Trust. As such, under Indiana law, A~ has power to terminate the Trust and use the Trust funds to meet her basic needs. The Trust, therefore, is a countable resource. See POMS SI 01120.200.D.1.a.
The Trust is not excepted from resource counting under section 1917(d)(4)(A) of the Act because it contains an improper early termination provision. Additionally, modification of the Trust to meet the foregoing exception would not result in an exclusion from resource counting. As settlor and sole beneficiary, A~ has power to revoke the Trust and use the Trust assets to meet her basic needs. Therefore, even with removal of the improper early termination provision, the Trust is a countable resource.
E. PS 09-104 SSI - Request for Six State Legal Opinion on Spendthrift Clauses
F. PS 09-104 SSI - Request for Six State Legal Opinion on Spendthrift Clauses
This opinion addresses whether spendthrift clauses are recognized in the six states that compose the Chicago region and whether these states allow for a settler to establish a spendthrift trust for his or her own benefit. A spendthrift clause prohibits both involuntary and voluntary transfers of the beneficiary's interest in the trust income or principle. All states in the Chicago region recognize a spendthrift provision in a third-party trust. Likewise, all states in the Chicago region recognize that a beneficial interest in a self-settled discretionary trust would typically not be a countable resource as it would have little, if any, market value. In Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, the beneficiary of a self-settled trust can sell the right to future mandatory disbursements, regardless of whether the trust has a spendthrift provision. Due to a lack of precedent, self-settled trusts with a spendthrift provision in Indiana or Ohio should be submitted to the Regional Chief Counsel's office for evaluation.
You have asked whether spendthrift clauses are recognized in the six states in the Chicago Region and, if so, whether these states allow for a settlor to establish a spendthrift trust for his or her own benefit. Each of the six states in Region V recognizes spendthrift clauses as valid when they are established by a settlor for a third party. Therefore, the beneficiary of a third party trust could not sell the beneficial interest in that trust if it has a spendthrift provision. The validity and effect of a spendthrift provision in a self-settled trust varies somewhat from state to state. However, in all six states, the settlor's interest in a discretionary trust would not be a countable resource, regardless of any spendthrift provision, because in the laws of those states, even if the settlor can sell the interest, it would have no significant market value, since the transferee could not demand any payments. In Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the settlor could sell the right to receive future mandatory disbursements, even if the trust includes a spendthrift clause, and the current market value of those disbursements would be a resource. In Indiana and Ohio, it appears that a spendthrift clause may effectively prevent a settlor from selling future mandatory disbursements such that the right to those future disbursements would not be a resource. However, since the law has not yet been interpreted clearly, we recommend that you send any self-settled trusts with mandatory disbursements and spendthrift provisions to our office for evaluation if they are governed by Indiana or Ohio law.
A spendthrift clause prohibits both involuntary and voluntary transfers of the beneficiary's interest in the trust income or principal. POMS SI 01120.200(B)(16). If a state recognizes the validity of a spendthrift clause, the beneficial interest in the trust, or the right to payments as a beneficiary, is not a countable resource because the beneficiary may not sell his or her beneficial interest in the trust. 1 Id. In the Chicago Region, all of the states recognize the validity of a spendthrift clause where the trust is established by a settlor for a third party.
However, if a settlor creates a trust for the settlor's own benefit and inserts a spendthrift clause, the spendthrift clause may be considered invalid. All of the states in the Chicago Region view such self-settled spendthrift trusts to be invalid with respect to creditors. However, in determining whether an interest in a trust is a resource, the focus is on whether the individual can sell his or her beneficial interest in the trust. The states vary with respect to whether a spendthrift clause would prevent a settlor from selling his or her beneficial interest in the trust. The majority of states in the region, namely Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, are likely to follow the Restatement (Third) of Trusts, which indicates that a spendthrift clause in a self-settled trust is invalid with respect to any interest retained by the settlor. RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TRUSTS § 58, cmt. e. Under the Restatement, the spendthrift clause would not prevent the settlor's interest from being reached by the creditors or from being sold. Id. However, the most a transferee could receive are the rights the settlor has under the trust. See RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TRUSTS § 60, cmts. b, f. Therefore, we would typically not consider a discretionary interest in a self-settled spendthrift trust to be a countable resource, since such an interest would have little, if any, market value. However, the right to receive mandatory disbursements from such trusts would generally be considered a resource, since the spendthrift clause would not prevent the individual from selling the interest and that interest would generally have market value.
In contrast, Indiana and Ohio law could be read to view self-settled spendthrift clauses to be invalid only with respect to the rights of creditors. Therefore, a spendthrift clause governed by the laws of those states may effectively prevent a settlor from selling his or her interest in the trust. If that is the case, then the right to both mandatory and discretionary disbursements from such trusts may not be considered a resource for SSI purposes in those states. However, we have not encountered any cases actually interpreting these provisions to prevent a settlor from selling the right to mandatory disbursements from a trust. Therefore, we recommend that self-settled trusts with spendthrift provisions that are governed by the law of Indiana and Ohio be referred for an opinion at least where the settlor has a right to mandatory disbursements.
In Illinois, a spendthrift clause in a trust established by a third party will effectively prevent the beneficiary from selling his or her beneficial interest. 2 See Danning v. Lederer, 232 F.2d 610, 612 (7th Cir. 1956); Hopkinson v. Swaim, 119 N.E. 985, 990 (Ill. 1918). However, a settlor may not establish a spendthrift trust for his or her own benefit. In re Marriage of C~, 297 Ill. App. 3d 611 (Ill. App. 1998). Therefore, in a self-settled trust, the settlor could sell the right to mandatory future disbursements for their current market value, despite any spendthrift provision. However, the settlor's beneficial interest in a discretionary trust would not be a countable resource, even though the spendthrift clause would not prevent the settlor from selling the interest because the right to receive discretionary disbursements would have no significant market value. Although we were unable to find any case law which directly addressed this issue, we found that the Illinois courts have relied upon the Restatement (Third) of Trusts as persuasive authority in interpreting trusts. See In Re Estate of F~, 891 N.E.2d 549 (Ill. App. 2008) (generally recognizing Restatement (Third) of Trusts as persuasive authority). Therefore, we believe that Illinois would adopt the Restatement (Third) approach --that a transferee would receive only the rights the settlor had under the trust, i.e., to receive mandatory or discretionary disbursements when the trust is self-settled and contains a spendthrift provision. See RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TRUSTS § 58(2), cmt. e. Therefore, the right to receive discretionary disbursements would not be considered a countable resource, as it is unlikely the right to discretionary disbursements would have any significant market value.
Indiana law recognizes spendthrift trusts as generally valid against both voluntary and involuntary transfers. Ind. Code § 30-4-3-2(a). When the settlor is also the beneficiary of the trust, Indiana law recognizes an exception to this rule with respect to the rights of creditors. Ind. Code § 30-4-3-2; see also Matter of C~, 43 B.R. 996 (N.D. Ind. 1984) (recognizing that if a settlor is also the beneficiary of the spendthrift trust, creditors may reach the trust corpus). Because Indiana law expressly addresses only the validity of a spendthrift clause in a self-settled trust with regard to creditors' rights, it is possible that Indiana would recognize a spendthrift provision to be valid to the extent that it would prevent the settlor from selling his beneficial interest in a self-settled trust. See POMS PS 01825.01 (PS 09-015 SSI - Review of the Trust and Annuity for Savanna ) (concluding that even if the settlor could sell the interest, it would have no value because the trust was discretionary). However, the comments to the section state that it follows the rule in the Restatement (Second) of Trusts section 156, which states that a self-settled spendthrift clause is ineffective against both creditors and transferees. See Ind. Code § 30-4-3-2(b); see also RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TRUSTS § 156(2). If you encounter a self-settled trust governed by Indiana law with a spendthrift provision and with the right to future mandatory disbursements, we recommend that you refer the case to our office for a legal opinion, since the law is not clear at this time.
Michigan recognizes the validity of spendthrift trusts, in general, by statute and common law. Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 700.2902(2); Matter of Estate of E~, 389 N.W.2d 696 (Mich. 1986). However, under Michigan law, a person cannot create a true spendthrift trust for himself. See In re Hertsberg Intervivos Trust, 578 N.W.2d 289, 291 (Mich. 1998) (adopting RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TRUSTS § 156). In Hertsberg Intervivos Trust, the Michigan Supreme Court adopted Restatement (Second) of Trusts section 156, which states that a creditor or transferee could reach the entire amount of the trust that the trustee could, in his or her discretion, pay to or for the benefit of the settlor of the trust. See id. at 291. However, that case involved only the rights of a creditor, and we have previously advised that we think it likely that Michigan would adopt the Restatement (Third) approach--that a transferee, unlike a creditor, would receive only the rights the settlor had under the trust, i.e., mandatory or discretionary disbursements. See POMS PS 01825.025 (PS 09-062 Michigan - SSI-Review of the Annuity and Special Needs Trust for Jeri ) (citing RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TRUSTS § 60 and cmts. e, f (2003)). Therefore, the right to future mandatory disbursements from a self-settled trust would be considered a resource despite any spendthrift clause; however, the right to discretionary disbursements would not be considered a resource as it is unlikely the right to discretionary disbursements would have any market value.
Minnesota recognizes the validity of spendthrift trusts though common law; there is no Minnesota statute which expressly deals with spendthrift provisions. See Morrison v. Doyle, 582 N.W.2d 237, 240 (Minn. 1998); In re Mack, 269 B.R. 392 (D. Minn. 2001). Under Minnesota law, cases involving enforcement of spendthrift provisions have always involved protection of the interest of a beneficiary who is not the settlor of the trust; therefore, in Minnesota, it appears that a spendthrift clause in a self-settled trust would likely be considered void and unenforceable. In re M~, 269 B.R. at 399 (citing Simmonds v. Larison, (B.A.P. 8th Cir. 1999)). In reaching its holding in M~, the court looked to the Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 156. 3 While there is no Minnesota case specifically adopting the Restatement (Third) of Trusts on this issue, we believe it is likely that a Minnesota court would follow the Restatement (Third) approach in determining the extent to which the settlor's interest can be transferred. See Norwest Bank Minnesota North, N.A. v. Beckler, 663 N.W.2d 571 (Minn. Ct. App. 2003) (relying upon Restatement (Third) of Trusts in determining the role of a trustee); compare In re Syverson Trust, 2003 WL 22016795 (Minn. Ct. App. 2003) (unpublished) (declining to adopt the Restatement (Third) of Trusts where doing so would change existing law in Minnesota, noting such change was reserved for the Minnesota Supreme Court or the legislature). Therefore, the settlor's right to mandatory disbursements would be considered a resource; however, the right to discretionary disbursements would not be considered a resource as it is unlikely the discretionary disbursements would have any significant market value. See RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TRUSTS § 58(2), cmt. e.
Ohio recognizes the validity of a spendthrift clause through statute and case law. See Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 5805.01; see also Scott v. Bank One Trust, 577 N.E.2d 1077 (Ohio 1991). Ohio adopted the Uniform Trust Code in 2007, and the controlling provisions are applicable to spendthrift trusts created before and after 2007. See Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §§ 5805.01(A), 5805.06(A)(2), and 5811.03(A)(1). Ohio law recognizes the validity of spendthrift provisions in general, and states that "[a] beneficiary may not transfer an interest in a trust in violation of a valid spendthrift provision and, except as otherwise provided in this chapter and in section 5810.04 of the Revised Code, a creditor or assignee of the beneficiary may not reach the interest or a distribution by the trustee before its receipt by the beneficiary." Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 5801.01(C). This suggests that, even in a self-settled trust, a spendthrift provision will prevent the settler from transferring his or her interest in the trust. The only exceptions to the effectiveness of a spendthrift provision relate to when a creditor or assignee of the beneficiary can reach an interest in or a distribution from the trust. Ohio law further states that whether or not a trust contains a spendthrift provision, the settlor's creditor or assignee may reach the maximum amount that can be distributed to or for the settlor's benefit. See Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §§ 5805.06(A)(2), 5811.03(A)(1). Indeed, the official comment notes, "[W]hether the trust contains a spendthrift provision or not, a creditor of the settlor may reach the maximum amount that the trustee could have paid to the settlor-beneficiary. If the trustee has discretion to distribute the entire income and principal to the settlor, the effect of this subsection is to place the settlor's creditors in the same position as if the trust had not been created." Id. Because Ohio law allows such liberal access to the trust assets by "assignees," section 5805.06 could be read to suggest that the beneficiary of a self-settled trust could sell his beneficial interest in the trust and the purchaser could obtain the maximum amount that the trustee could distribute to or for the settlor's benefit. However, the Office of General Counsel has determined that the better reading of this provision presumes that only an assignee who is a creditor, not a purchaser for value, could reach the maximum amount the trustee could distribute for the settlor's benefit. See POMS 01825.039 Ohio (PS 08-159 SSI Review of the Trust and Annuity for Dustin). Therefore, it appears that spendthrift provisions in self-settled trusts governed by Ohio law may be fully valid with respect to the limitation on selling the settlor's beneficial interest in the trust. This interpretation of Ohio law would not have a significant impact where a trust is wholly discretionary. Even if the settlor could sell that interest, it would have no significant value. However, this interpretation would also mean that even the right to future mandatory disbursements could not be sold and therefore would not be a resource. This would be a significant departure from the Restatement (Third) of Trusts, as well as the Restatement (Second) of Trusts, both of which state that a spendthrift provision restraining the voluntary and involuntary alienation of the settlor's interest in the trust is invalid. See RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TRUSTS § 156(1), RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TRUSTS § 58(2). In fact, Ohio adopted the comment to Uniform Trust Code provision, which specifically cites to the Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 58(2) and states that "[a] spendthrift provision is ineffective against a beneficial interest retained by the settler." Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 5805.01, cmt.; Unif. Trust Code § 502, cmt. It would seem odd, therefore, if the Ohio code (and the uniform code) intended to deviate from the Restatement in this important way. Since the law is not entirely clear, and since there are not yet any cases interpreting the Ohio provisions, we recommend that you refer to our office any self-settled trust governed by Ohio with a spendthrift provision and provisions for mandatory disbursements.
Wisconsin recognizes spendthrift trusts as valid and not subject to voluntary or involuntary alienation only where the beneficiary is a person other than the settlor. Wisc. Stat. Ann. § 701.06(1)-(2). Therefore, it appears that a spendthrift provision would not prevent a settlor from selling his beneficial interest in the trust when he is also the settlor of the trust. Wisc. Stat. Ann. § 701.06(1)-(2). 4 However, we believe that Wisconsin would likely follow the Restatement (Third) approach--that a transferee would receive only the rights the settlor had under the trust, i.e., mandatory or discretionary disbursements. See In re W~ Family Trust, 685 N.W.2d 172 (Wis. Ct. App. 2004) (unpublished) (parties recognizing Restatement (Third) of Trusts as controlling law); see also POMS PS 01825.055 (PS 08-156 - Wisconsin - Review of the Trust for Brian) (citing to Restatement (Third) of Trusts as controlling authority in Wisconsin)). Therefore, the right to future mandatory disbursements from a self-settled trust would be considered a resource; however, the right to discretionary disbursements would not be considered a resource, as it is unlikely the right would be of any significant market value.
In sum:
* All states in the Chicago region would recognize the validity of a spendthrift provision in a third party trust.
* In all states in the Chicago Region, the beneficial interest in a self-settled discretionary trust would not be a countable resource because even if the individual can sell the interest, it would have no significant market value.
* In Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, the beneficiary of a self-settled trust can sell the right to future mandatory disbursement, regardless of whether the trust has a spendthrift provision.
* Trusts governed by Indiana or Ohio law should be referred for a legal opinion if the trust is self-settled and provides for mandatory disbursements and has a spendthrift clause.
F. PS 09-062 SSI-Review of the Annuity and Special Needs Trust for Jeri, SSN~
G. PS 09-062 SSI-Review of the Annuity and Special Needs Trust for Jeri, SSN~
This opinion examines whether or not a trust established with the assets of an individual is a resource for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) purposes. This opinion also examines whether or not the annuity payments assigned to the trust are income for SSI purposes. The trust in this case satisfies all of the criteria needed to be excluded under the special needs trust exception, however, the trust must still be evaluated under the regular resource rules. The trust is not a resource under regular resource rules because it is irrevocable under State law and the claimant is unable to direct the use of the trust assets for her support and maintenance. With respect to the annuity payments, the payments were irrevocably assigned to the trust by the court and thus are not income to the claimant. Finally, certain distributions from the trust may be income if they result in the claimant receiving food or shelter.
You asked us whether the Irrevocable Special Needs Trust for Jeri is a resource for SSI purposes. You also asked whether annuity payments made to the trust are income. For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that the trust is not a resource, but that certain distributions from the trust may be income. Also, the annuity payments made to the trust are not income.
On February 28, 2007, the Irrevocable Special Needs Trust for Jeri was created by order of the Oakland County, Michigan Probate Court. The trust agreement states that it is intended to be a special needs trust under 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A). The trust was created with the proceeds of a wrongful death settlement, part of which included a lump sum of $200,234.
The claimant's wrongful death settlement also included a structured settlement to be purchased by one of the defendants. That defendant's insurer purchased annuity policies from Aviva London Assignment Corporation ("Aviva") and Pacific Life and Annuity Services, Inc. ("Pacific Life"). The order of the Emmet County, Michigan Circuit Court, which approved the settlement, mandated that the annuity payments from Aviva and Pacific Life be paid directly to the trust. Both policies name Citizens Insurance Company of America as the assignor; Aviva and Pacific Life, respectively, as the owners; the claimant as the annuitant or measuring life; and LaSalle Bank (the Trustee of the trust) as the payee. Both policies give only the owners of the annuities the right to change the payee, which must be done in writing. Beginning January 10, 2007, the combined monthly annuity payments of $1,820 have been deposited into the trust, and are to continue throughout the claimant's lifetime, with at least 20 years guaranteed.
The trust states that is irrevocable. Art. 3.
The trust names LaSalle Bank, N.A., as the initial Trustee. Art. 8. It appears, however, that around October 2007, Huntington National Bank succeeded LaSalle Bank as Trustee. The trust states that the Trustee has sole discretion to deal with the funds of the trust. Art. 4(A), 4(B)(2), 9. The claimant does not have the power or authority to demand any distribution or loan from the Trustee. Art. 4(A)(3). The Trustee may also withhold distributions to the claimant in its sole discretion. Id.
The trust contains a spendthrift provision, which states that no beneficial interest is subject to anticipation, assignment, pledge, sale, or transfer in any manner, and no beneficiary may anticipate, encumber, or charge such interest. Art. 7.
The trust terminates upon the claimant's death. Art. 4(B)(4). At that time, the Trustee shall distribute the remaining trust assets to any state providing medical assistance paid on the claimant's behalf an amount equal to the previously unreimbursed medical assistance provided under the state's Medicaid plan. Id. The balance of the trust shall then be distributed in the following order: (1) according to the terms of the claimant's will, if any, or (2) if none, to her spouse, if any, in such percentages as determined under Michigan's intestacy laws, and (3) if no spouse, or for such amounts beyond that which her spouse would receive, then in equal shares to her descendants, per stirpes, if any, or (4) if none, then to her surviving parent(s) in equal shares, or (5) if none, then to the claimant's heirs-at-law. Id.
The trust agreement is governed by Michigan state law. Art. 11(B).
The trust has been paying all of the claimant's household expenses, except rent. The trust also paid off all of her personal loans and credit cards. In January 2008, the trust purchased a house for the claimant for $109,000.
I. The Trust is not a Resource
Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e), the principal of a trust created on or after January 1, 2000, with the assets of an individual will be considered a resource to the extent that the trust is revocable or, in the case of an irrevocable trust, to the extent that any payments from the trust could be made to or for the benefit of the individual (or the individual's spouse), with certain exceptions. See also POMS SI 01120.201(D)(1)-(2).
Whether a trust can be revoked or terminated depends on the terms of the trust and/or the applicable state law. See POMS SI 01120.200(D)(2). Here, the trust agreement states that it is irrevocable. Art. 3. But a trust is revocable, notwithstanding any contrary language, where a grantor of the trust is also the sole beneficiary. See POMS SI 01120.200(B)(2), SI 01120.200(D)(3), SI CHI01120.200(C). In this case, the claimant is the grantor of the trust, since the trust was established with her funds. However, she is not the sole beneficiary, as the trust names specific residual beneficiaries who will receive the remaining assets in the trust upon her death if she does not name anyone in her will to receive the funds, i.e., (1) her spouse, if any, or (2) her descendants, per stirpes, if any, or (3) her surviving parent(s), or (4) her heirs-at-law. See Art. 4(B)(4); POMS SI CHI01120.200(C) ("[I]f the trust names a residual beneficiary to receive the benefit of the trust interest after a specific event, usually the death of the primary beneficiary, the trust is irrevocable. The primary beneficiary cannot unilaterally revoke the trust; he needs the consent of the residual beneficiary."), (D) (specifically named categories such as parents, siblings, children, issues, or descendants, are considered residual beneficiaries). Accordingly, the trust is irrevocable.
In addition, the trust was established in February 2007, and payments from the trust could be made to or for the benefit of the claimant, since she is the sole beneficiary during her lifetime. Thus, the entire trust would be considered a resource under 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e)(3)(B). The trust, however, appears to fall under one of the exceptions to the general rule of § 1382b(e)(3)(B).
The exception under 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A), commonly known as the special needs trust exception, applies to a trust which: (1) contains the assets of an individual under age 65 who is disabled; (2) is established for the benefit of such individual through the actions of a parent, grandparent, legal guardian, or a court; and (3) provides that the state(s) will receive all amounts remaining in the trust upon the death of the individual up to an amount equal to the total medical assistance paid on behalf of the individual under a state Medicaid plan. See also 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e)(5); POMS SI 01120.203(B)(1).
These elements seem to be satisfied here. First, the claimant is under age 65 and is presumably disabled. Second, the trust was established for the claimant's benefit by a court order. Third, the trust agreement includes a provision which states that, upon the claimant's death, the Trustee shall distribute the remaining trust assets to any state providing medical assistance paid on the claimant's behalf an amount equal to the previously unreimbursed medical assistance provided under the state's Medicaid plan. See Art. 4(B)(4). Thus, since the trust meets the requirements of the exception under 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A), it is not considered a resource under 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e).
The Agency, however, must still apply the regular resource rules set forth in POMS SI 01120.200 to determine whether the trust is a resource. See 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e)(1); POMS SI 01120.203(B)(1)(a). Under the regular resource rules, the trust principal will be a resource if the individual can:
(1) revoke or terminate the trust and use the assets to meet her needs for food or shelter; or
(2) direct the use of the trust principal for her support and maintenance under the terms of the trust. See POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1)(a). In addition, if the individual can sell her beneficial interest in the trust, that interest is a resource. See id.
Here, as explained above, the claimant cannot revoke the trust. The trust agreement also states repeatedly that the Trustee has absolute discretion to make distributions, and that the claimant has no right to compel the Trustee to make a distribution of principal to her or for her benefit. Art. 4(A), 4(B)(2), 9. Therefore, the trust principal is not a resource.
With respect to the claimant's ability to sell her beneficial interest in the trust, the trust agreement contains a spendthrift provision which states that no beneficial interest is subject to anticipation, assignment, pledge, sale, or transfer in any manner, and that no beneficiary may anticipate, encumber, or charge such interest. Art. 7. However, such provisions are generally not valid with respect to the grantor of the trust. See In re Hertsberg Intervivos Trust, 578 N.W.2d 289, 291 (Mich. 1998); Restatement (Third) of Trusts § 58(2) & cmt. e (2003) (stating general trust principal that a grantor is not permitted to create a spendthrift trust for her own benefit); POMS SI 01120.200(B)(16). But even if the claimant could sell her beneficial interest in the trust, that interest would likely have no significant market value because we believe that, under Michigan law, the transferee would receive only the interest the claimant had--to receive payment only at the Trustee's discretion. See Restatement (Third) of Trusts § 60 and cmt. e, f (2003). Thus, the claimant's beneficial interest in the trust is not a resource.
II. Certain Distributions from the Trust are Income
You also indicated that the trust has been paying all of the claimant's household expenses, except rent, and that the trust purchased a house for the claimant in January 2008. Any disbursements made to a third party resulting in the claimant's receipt of food or shelter are income in the form of in-kind support and maintenance (ISM) and are valued under the presumed maximum value (PMV) rule. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1102, 416.1130, 416.1140; POMS SI 00835.300, SI 01120.200(E)(1)(b).
Here, it appears that the trust purchased the house outright, and that the claimant lives in the house as her primary residence. In that case, the trust holds legal title to the home for the benefit of the claimant, who has an equitable ownership interest, and the claimant is considered to be living in her own home. See POMS SI 00835.110, SI 01110.515(C)(2), SI 01120.200(F)(1). The purchase of the home outright by the trust results in income in the form of ISM in the month of purchase--January 2008--valued at no more than the PMV. See POMS SI 00835.400, SI 01120.200(F)(3)(a). However, the home is an excluded resource in subsequent months. See 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(a)(1); POMS SI 01130.100.
In addition, to the extent that the Trustee pays for the claimant's additional shelter expenses including property taxes, heating fuel, gas, electricity, water, sewer, and garbage removal, such expenses would be considered income in the form of ISM in the month the claimant has use of the item (but the total ISM will not be more than the PMV). See 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1130(b), 416.1140; POMS SI 00835.350, SI 00835.465(D), SI 01120.200(F)(3)(c).
III. The Annuity Payments are not Income
Under the income rules, a legally assignable payment that is assigned to a trust that is not a resource is income, unless the assignment is irrevocable. See POMS SI 01120.201(J)(1)(d). Here, the court order approving the settlement of the wrongful death claim mandated that the annuity payments from Aviva and Pacific Life be paid directly to the trust. In addition, both annuity contracts name LaSalle Bank, the Trustee of the trust, as the payee. Furthermore, both annuity contracts give only the owners of the annuities (i.e., Aviva and Pacific Life) the right to change the payee. Thus, the annuity payments have been irrevocably assigned to the trust, and they are not income to the claimant.
For the reasons discussed above, we conclude that the Irrevocable Special Needs Trust for Jeri is not a resource (although certain distributions from the trust may be income), and that the annuity payments made to the trust are not income.
G. PS 07-190 SSI-Michigan-Review of the Cheryl Irrevocable Special Needs Trust
H. PS 07-190 SSI-Michigan-Review of the Cheryl Irrevocable Special Needs Trust
This decision emphasizes a more direct approach in defining the requirements of a Special Needs Trust. Although several provisions of the Trust appear ambiguous specific language, taken almost directly from the POMS, leaves no doubt that Medicaid reimbursement is the first priority. The possibility that another party could profit from the Trust during the recipient's lifetime through a partial termination of stock was also addressed and the Regional Counsel makes clear that any distribution could only be made to the recipient. If a distribution was made it would be counted as income.
You asked whether the Cheryl Irrevocable Special Needs Trust is a resource for purposes of determining eligibility for SSI. After reviewing the trust and relevant laws and regulations, we have concluded that the trust should not be considered a resource.
On May 29, 2007, a Michigan probate judge ordered the establishment of an OBRA '93 Disability Payback Trust for the benefit of Cheryl, who was identified as a person in need of protection. Pursuant to that order, the Cheryl ~ Irrevocable Special Needs trust was created with Cheryl's assets. See Trust Art. I(B). The trust states that it is for Cheryl's sole benefit during her lifetime to supplement any government benefits or assistance she receives. See Trust Art. I(A)-(B), Art. II(B). The trustee has full discretion to determine whether and how the assets in the trust are to be used to meet Cheryl's special needs. See Trust Art. II(A). Generally, the trustee should not disburse trust funds directly to Cheryl in an amount that would disqualify her from any government benefits. Trust. Art. (H)(1). Under one provision, however, the trustee has discretion to distribute stock in an S corporation directly "to the beneficiaries as if the trust had terminated while continuing to hold any other property in such trust." Trust Art. VI(D)(15).
The trust provides that there is an automatic duty to repay Medicaid or any successor program for all benefits received by Cheryl during her lifetime, but only upon her death. Trust Art. I(C), Art. II(D)(7), (F), (G). Under the terms of the trust, the "duty to repay Medicaid has higher priority over all debts and expenses except those given higher priority by law." See Trust Art. III(D)(7), Art. IV(A). The trust is to terminate on Cheryl's death, and at that time, the trustee may pay for Cheryl's last illness, funeral, and burial expenses. However, the trust also specifies that payments of debts owed to third parties, funeral expenses, and payments to residual beneficiaries are prohibited and cannot be paid prior to reimbursing the State for any and all medical assistance. Trust Art. IV. If any funds remain in the trust after all of these payments, the funds are to be distributed as Cheryl directs in her will, or, if she does not appoint anyone to receive the trust property in her will, then to her spouse and then her dependants or to her heirs at law. Trust Art. IV.
Generally, a trust established with the assets of the individual is considered a resource for SSI purposes under the statute, even if the trust is irrevocable, unless the trust meets one of the Medicaid payback exceptions under 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A). See 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e); POMS SI 01120.201, 01120.203. For the exception to apply to an individual trust like this one, the trust must:
(1) be established with the assets of a disabled individual under age 65;
(2) be established for the sole benefit of the individual by a parent, grandparent, legal guardian, or court; and
(3) provide that the state will receive all amounts remaining in the trust upon the death of the individual up to an amount equal to the total medical assistance paid on behalf of the individual under a state Medicaid plan.
42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A); POMS SI 01120.203(B)(1)(a). Although some of the language in this trust document is confusing, we believe that the trust should be read consistently with these requirements.
You noted that the trust contains language that the "duty to repay Medicaid has higher priority over all debts and expenses except those given higher priority by law." See Trust Art. III(D)(7), Art. IV(A). This language could be problematic if State or local laws were used to circumvent the duty to repay Medicaid. However, it appears that this language was included in the trust because the Michigan Department of Human Services, which administers the Medicaid program in that State, requires that the trust "provide that repaying Medicaid has priority over all debts and expenses except those given higher priority by law." Program Eligibility Manual 401, at 6 (available at http://www.mfia.state.mi.us/olmweb/ex/pem/401.pdf). The language in the trust appears to be included to track that apparently required language. In fact, the trust incorporates by reference, "the specific regulations promulgated by the Michigan Department of Human Services." Trust Art. I(A).
The Social Security POMS also recognizes that certain payments may be made from the trust prior to reimbursing Medicaid. Specifically, the trustee may pay taxes due from the trust because of the death of the beneficiary and reasonable fees for administration of the trust, such as an accounting of the trust to a court, completion and filing of documents, or other required actions associated with terminating and wrapping up of the trust. POMS SI 01120.203(B)(3)(a). The POMS also lists examples of payments that may not be made prior to reimbursing Medicaid, including payment of debts owed to third parties, funeral expenses, and payments to residual beneficiaries. POMS SI 01120.203(B)(3)(b).
In this trust, immediately after language stating that expenses "given higher priority by law" may be paid prior to Medicaid, the trust states (in bolded type):
So that there is no misunderstanding, it shall be understood that the State is the first payee and has priority under this Trust over payment of all other debts and administrative expenses, except as permitted by law, such as taxes, reasonable administrative expenses, fees for maintaining the Trust, court costs, or other required actions associated with the termination or disposition of the trust. Payments of debts owed to third parties, funeral expenses and payments to residual beneficiaries are considered Prohibited Expenses and Payments and cannot be paid prior to reimbursing the State for any and all medical assistance.
Trust Art. IV (emphasis in original). This language fairly closely tracks the language in the POMS.
This situation is different from the situation we found in some other trusts that used broad language that would allow payments prior to reimbursing Medicaid if the payment was permitted under any statute or regulation now in existence or hereafter enacted or issued. Compare POMS PS 01825.016 (MM. PS 00259) (Illinois). The language in this trust seems to limit payments "permitted by law" to those that would fit within the language of SSA's POMS provisions. It appears that the trust was drafted with an intent to meet the criteria for both the Michigan Medicaid program and the Social Security program and to limit any payments made prior to reimbursing the State for Medicaid payments to those payments that are permitted to be paid first under both of those programs. Indeed, the trust states that "[a]ll terms of this trust, wherever they may appear, shall be interpreted to conform to this primary goal, namely that the governmental financial assistance, which would otherwise be available to the beneficiary if this trust and/or trust corpus did not exist, will in no way be reduced, diminished, or denied." Trust Art. II(A).
We believe that the language in this trust should be interpreted to meet the requirements of the statute and the POMS, because, to the extent the trust allows payments "given higher priority by law," (1) the trust closely tracks language from the POMS regarding permissible and prohibited expenses that may be paid prior to reimbursing Medicaid, and payments "given higher priority by law" appear to be limited to those that would be permissible under the POMS; (2) the trust appears to include language about making payments "given higher priority by law" because this language seems to be required by the Michigan Medicaid program; and (3) the stated intent of the trust is that the State Medicaid payback trust requirements be incorporated into the trust and that the trust be interpreted consistently with the primary goal that the trust not prevent Cheryl from being eligible for governmental financial assistance.
We also carefully examined the trust provision that allows for partial termination of the trust in certain situations when the trust holds stock in an S corporation. Initially, we were concerned that this provision might result in someone benefiting from the trust, besides Cheryl, during her lifetime. The trust provision states that, in some circumstances, the trustee would have discretion to distribute the stock in such a corporation outright to the trust "beneficiaries as if the trust had terminated while continuing to hold any other property in such trust." Trust Art. VI(D)(15). However, it appears that any such distribution would be made only to Cheryl during her lifetime. The trust provides for distributions to other beneficiaries after Cheryl's death, but there are no provisions that would allow payment to any other beneficiaries if the trust is terminated or partially terminated during Cheryl's lifetime. In fact, the trust was intended to be solely for Cheryl's benefit. See Trust (introductory paragraphs). Under Michigan law (which controls this trust), when a trust is terminated and there are no provisions stating to whom the property would pass on termination, the property reverts back to the original owner. See Thompson v. Stehle, 116 N.W.2d 900, 905-06 (Mich. 1962). Here, if the partial termination occurred while Cheryl was living, the trust property would revert back to Cheryl, and she would be the only beneficiary entitled to such a distribution. Therefore, this trust provision does not create a beneficial interest in anyone other than Cheryl during her lifetime. If and when the trustee were to make such a distribution, however, that distribution would be income to Cheryl.
Since the trust appears to meet the Medicaid payback exception to counting the trust as a resource under the statute, we also considered whether the trust would be a resource under the regular resource rules. See POMS SI 011020.200. We concluded that the trust would not be a resource under those rules since Cheryl cannot revoke the trust without the consent of the contingent residual beneficiaries; she cannot compel the trustee to provide for her support and maintenance; and she is not entitled to mandatory disbursements under the trust which she might be able to sell. See POMS SI 011020.200(D)(1)(a).
For these reasons, we believe the trust should not be considered a resource under the statutory or regular resource rules.
H. PS 07- 179 SSI-Michigan - Review of Peggy Special Needs Trust and Pension Benefits
I. PS 07- 179 SSI-Michigan - Review of Peggy Special Needs Trust and Pension Benefits
This precedent involves a non-countable trust funded by countable income. The trust meets all the requirements for exception as a Special Needs Trust. However, the funds that are received by the claimant are considered income because the benefits are non-assignable. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) makes clear that certain types of income are not assignable. The attorney for our claimant used two arguments to assert that the income should not be countable. First, he indicated his claimant was not the individual who earned the pension and second, that it was a state court that awarded her the benefits from her spouse's retirement funds. The Regional Counsel determined that ERISA states that an individual named as alternate payee, as our claimant was, has a right under Federal law to receive payments and these payments cannot be assigned. This Federal act preempts state law. The Trust is not countable but the income is countable.
You asked us to review a trust agreement created by the Saginaw County Probate Court for the benefit of Peggy to determine whether, for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) purposes, the funds placed in the trust constitute a resource to Peggy and whether the pension payments awarded to Peggy as a result of an Amended Judgment of Divorce by the Saginaw County Circuit Court constitute income to Peggy. For the reasons set forth below, we believe that the trust meets the requirements of the Medicaid Trust exception and is not a resource. However, we also believe that the monthly annuity payments into the trust constitute income for SSI purposes.
On December 12, 2005, the Saginaw County Circuit Court entered an Amended Judgment of Divorce awarding Peggy 50% of her ex-husband's General Motors Pension Benefits, including post-retirement surviving spouse benefits. As part of its Amended Judgment, the court ordered that Peggy's portion of the Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) concerning the General Motors Pension Benefits be paid to a special needs trust based on agreement of the parties.
On May 17, 2006, the Saginaw County Probate Court entered an order establishing the "Peggy Discretionary Trust" (hereinafter "the Trust"). In establishing the Trust, the court found clear and convincing evidence that Peggy is an adult who is unable to manage her property and business affairs due to her physical and mental disabilities and is dependent in need of support, care, and welfare which is necessary and desirable for her to obtain. The court ordered that the property and benefits Peggy is entitled to receive as part of the QDRO entered by the Saginaw County Circuit Court be irrevocably transferred to the Trust.
The Trust states that it is established pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1396p(D)(4)(A). The express intent of the Trust is to be a Medicaid payback trust. Trust 1.3. The Trust names Nancy, Peggy's guardian, as grantor and trustee. Trust, page 1. Under the terms of the Trust, the trustee has full authority and power to manage the funds of the Trust at her discretion. Trust 1.4(B). The trustee shall pay for Peggy's special needs at the trustee's discretion. Trust 2.1(a). The Trust defines "special needs" as including expenses for: medical and dental needs; housing; transportation; companionship; education; entertainment; travel; and quality of life items. Trust 2.1(b). The Trust contains a spendthrift clause, prohibiting any of the principal or income of the estate or any interest therein from being anticipated, assigned, encumbered by any beneficiary. Trust 5.5. The Trust states that it is irrevocable. Trust 1.2. Peggy has no right or power, whether alone or in conjunction with others to alter, amend, revoke or terminate the Trust or to designate persons who shall posses or enjoy the Trust estate. Trust 1.2.
The Trust provides that it will terminate upon Peggy's death, unless it terminates sooner by exhaustion of the corpus. Trust 3.1. Upon Peggy's death, the trustee shall distribute to the State of Michigan and any other state which has provided medical assistance Trust property up to an amount equal to the total medical assistance paid on behalf of Peggy by the State. Trust 3.1(a). The trustee shall have authority to pay administrative expenses, legally enforceable debts, last illness and funeral expenses, and any inheritance, state and succession taxes. Trust 3.1(b). Any undistributed income of the Trust shall be distributed equally to the living children of Peggy and their descendents. Trust 3.1(c).
The Social Security Act was amended in 1999 to explain when some trusts would be considered resources for purposes of SSI eligibility. Pursuant to the new rules for determining SSI eligibility, a trust established on or after January 1, 2000, counts as a resource if it is a revocable trust established by an individual. See 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e)(3)(A). Irrevocable trusts established by an individual on or after January 1, 2000, count as a resource to the extent that payments from the trust could be made to or for the benefit of the individual or his/her spouse. See 42 U.S.C. § 1382(e)(3)(B). However, these rules do not apply where (1) the Commissioner determines that such rules would work an undue hardship on an individual or (2) the trust is a Medicaid payback trust as described in 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A) or (C). See 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e)(4)-(5); POMS SI 01120.203. If a trust meets the definition of a Medicaid payback trust, the regular resource rules still apply, and the trust will be a resource if: (1) it is revocable; (2) the claimant can compel the trustee to use the funds for her support and maintenance; or (3) the claimant can sell her beneficial interest in the trust. POMS SI 01120.203(B)(1)(a); 01120.200.
The Medicaid payback trust exception for individual trusts applies where a trust created on or after January 1, 2000, (1) is established with the assets of a disabled individual under age 65; (2) is established for the benefit of such individual by a parent, grandparent, legal guardian, or a court; and (3) expressly provides that any amounts remaining in the trust upon the death of the individual will be distributed first to the state, up to an amount equal to the total medical assistance paid on behalf of the individual under a State Medicaid plan. See POMS 01120.203(B)(1). The "Peggy Discretionary Trust" appears to meet these criteria.
First, the protective order authorizing the establishment of the Trust indicates that Peggy is under age 65. POMS 01120.203(B)(1)(b). The protective order also indicates that Peggy is disabled. POMS 01120.203(B)(1)(c). Further, it appears that the Trust currently consists of Peggy J.'s assets-in particular, assets derived from the December 2005 Amended Judgment of Divorce, including monthly payments from the General Motors pension benefits. Second, the Trust was established by a court and provides that it is for the benefit of Peggy POMS 01120.203(B)(1)(d)-(e). Third, on the death of Peggy, any remaining funds in the Trust will first be used to reimburse all states where Peggy received medical assistance payments. POMS 01120.203(B)(1)(f). Because the Trust satisfies the Medicaid Trust exception requirements, the Trust is not a countable resource under the statute. Therefore, the regular resource rules apply.
Under these rules, the Trust would not be a resource. Peggy could not revoke the Trust unilaterally because she is not the sole beneficiary of the Trust. See Restatement (Second) of Trusts, § 339 (1959) ("If the settlor is the sole beneficiary of a trust and is not under an incapacity, he can compel the termination of the trust...."); Henderson v. Sherman, 11 N.W. 153, 156 (Mich. 1882). The Trust provides that, if Peggy does not exercise her limited power of appointment, any remaining residue from the Trust upon Peggy's death after the state is reimbursed and her last expenses are paid, shall be distributed to a limited class of beneficiaries-specifically, to Peggy's children. See POMS SI CHI01120.200(D)(3) (remainder of trust assets paid to "heirs at law" presumed, under Michigan law, to create residual beneficiaries). Because the Trust creates a contingent interest in Peggy's children, Peggy is not the sole beneficiary of the Trust and therefore cannot terminate the Trust unilaterally. Secondly, Peggy cannot compel the trustee to use the Trust funds for her support and maintenance. See POMS SI CHI01120.200(D)(2) ("If an individual does not have the legal authority to revoke the trust or direct the use of the trust assets . . . the trust principal is not the individual's resource for SSI purposes."). Finally, Peggy could not sell her interest in the Trust, as it would have no market value because the trustee is not obligated to make any payments. See Restatement (Third) of Trusts, § 60 and comments c, f.
The next issue is whether the pension benefits from Peggy's ex-husband constitute income for SSI purposes. Under the Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) entered August 8, 2006, 50% of Peggy's ex-husband's retirement benefits were awarded to Peggy, named as the alternate payee on the retirement plan. Under a severable provision of the QDRO, Peggy's share of the retirement benefits are to be paid to the Trustee of Peggy's special needs trust and not directly to Peggy. However, if the terms of the severable provision are deemed to be in violation of federal or state law, the severable provision shall be deemed null and void, such that Peggy would again be eligible to receive her portion of the retirement benefits directly.
Under the POMS, retirement benefits are not assignable by law, and therefore are to be considered income. See POMS SI 01120.201(J)(1)(c) (Certain payments are not assignable by law and, therefore, are income to the individual entitled to receive the payment under regular income rules. Examples of such non-assignable payments include private pensions under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)). The ERISA statute dictates that benefits under the plan may not be assigned or alienated. 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(1). There is only one express exception to this anti-assignment provision: assignment of benefits by a QDRO. See 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(3)(A).
Peggy's attorney concedes that retirement benefits received by Peggy's husband, as the plan's beneficiary, would constitute income under the SSI rules. However, he argues that the anti-assignment provision of ERISA does not apply to Peggy because she was not the actual employee. Peggy's position is not supported by the ERISA statute or federal case law. Under the ERISA statute, a person who is an alternate payee under a QDRO shall be considered a beneficiary under a retirement plan and, therefore, is subject to the same anti-assignment provision as her husband. See 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(3)(J). As a beneficiary, Peggy is precluded from assigning her benefits to anyone other than persons specifically defined in the ERISA statute as "alternate payee." The term "alternate payee" is limited to any spouse, former spouse, child or other dependent of a participant who is recognized by a domestic relations order as having a right to receive all, or a portion of the benefits payable under a plan with respect to such a participant. See 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(3)(K). There is no provision in ERISA allowing a beneficiary to assign her benefits to a special needs trust, and the Supreme Court has made clear that the QDRO exception to section 1056(d)(1) is to be narrowly construed and is "not subject to judicial expansion." See Boggs v. Boggs, 520 U.S. 833 (1997). Although Plaintiff's attorney has argued that the retirement benefits are construed under Michigan state law as an asset of the marriage, ERISA broadly preempts "any and all State laws insofar as they may now or hereafter relate to any employee benefit plan." 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a). Therefore, the pension benefits paid to Peggy constitute income to Peggy POMS SI 00830.160, 01120.020; see also POMS SI CHI 01140.215(B)(3).
For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the Trust is not a resource to Peggy, but that the pension payments into the Trust are income to Peggy.
I. PS 07-166 SSI-Review of the Sub-Account of Ricky, in the Synod Pooled Disability Trust
J. PS 07-166 SSI-Review of the Sub-Account of Ricky, in the Synod Pooled Disability Trust
This opinion addresses whether or not the Synod Pooled Disability trust is a resource for SSI purposes. In order to meet the special needs pooled trust exception, a trust must satisfy several criteria. One of those criteria is that the individual trust account be established for the sole benefit of the disabled individual. In this case, there are circumstances where the trustee, during the disabled individual's lifetime, may terminate the trust account and distribute the assets as if the disabled individual had died. This early termination provision violates the requirement that the trust account be established for the sole benefit of the disabled individual. However, the trust contains a savings clause that renders the early termination provision ineffective. For this reason, the trust satisfies all of the special needs exception criteria and is not a countable resource for SSI purposes.
You asked whether Ricky's sub-account in the Synod Pooled Disability Trust is a resource for purposes of eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). We have concluded that the trust is not a resource. However, Ricky and the trustee should be advised that we consider certain trust provisions, which could benefit other individuals during Ricky's lifetime, to be void.
Synod Residential Services, Inc., which is apparently a non-profit corporation, established the Synod Residential Services Disability Pooled Trust. The trust was intended to be established consistent with 42 U.S.C. § 1396p as a supplemental needs trust. Pooled Trust Agreement § 3.2. The trustee has discretion to expend trust funds for each beneficiary's supplemental needs and has no obligation to provide for any beneficiary's basic support and maintenance. Pooled Trust Agreement Art. III; Joinder Agreement § 1.2.
A sub-account is created in the pooled trust when an individual signs a joinder agreement and contributes funds. Ricky signed an agreement and established a sub-account with his own funds.
Contributions to the trust are irrevocable. Pooled Trust Agreement § 5.1; Joinder Agreement §§ 1.1, 5.4(e). Only the trustee can amend the trust, primarily to ensure that the trust is consistent with the requirements of 42 U.S.C. § 1396p.
The trust recognizes that, if a sub-account in the pooled trust is funded with a beneficiary's own money, federal law requires that, unless the pooled trust retains the funds, any unspent amounts remaining in the sub-account on the death of that beneficiary must be used to reimburse the State for medical services received. Pooled Trust Agreement § 12.2; Joinder Agreement § 3.7. The trust provides that, if the sub-account is funded by the beneficiary, on his or her death, all amounts remaining in the sub-account shall be retained by the pooled trust to benefit other indigent disabled persons. Pooled Trust Agreement § 12.2(b); Joinder Agreement § 3.7.
If the assets in a sub-account are or will become liable for basic maintenance, support, or care that has been provided by a government or agency, the trustee may terminate the sub-account and distribute the assets as if the individual had died. See Pooled Trust Agreement § 12.1(a). Under some circumstances the trustee also has discretion to terminate the trust and to distribute any funds contributed by the beneficiary back to the beneficiary. Pooled Trust Agreement § 12.3.
The tryst states that, notwithstanding the discretionary payments allowable under the trust, trust assets shall not be used in any way that would result in a manner that would result in the reduction or denial of government benefits. Pooled Trust Agreement § 3.5(a). The Joinder Agreement further provides that the trust is "governed by the laws of Michigan, in conformity with the provisions of 42 U.S.C. § 1396p" and that "[t]o the extent there is a conflict between the terms of this Trust and the governing law, the law and regulations shall control." Joinder Agreement § 5.3. The trust provides that if any portion of the trust is held invalid, other provisions of the trust will remain valid and enforceable. Pooled Trust Agreement § 15.2.
Under the Social Security Act, a trust established for the benefit of an individual with the assets of that individual on or after January 1, 2000 generally is a resource to the individual, even if the trust is irrevocable, unless a statutory exception applies. 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e); POMS SI 01120.201(D). There is an exception for pooled trusts, like this one, if certain criteria are met. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 1382(b)(e), 1396p(d)(4)(C). However, even if the trust meets an exception to counting it as a resource under the statute, it will still be a resource under the regular resource rules if it is revocable; if the individual can compel the trustee to provide for his support and maintenance; or if there are mandatory disbursements and the individual could sell his beneficial interest in the trust. See POMS SI 01120.200(A), (D). Here, the pooled trust meets the pooled trust exception to counting it under the statute, but only because it has a savings clause that renders ineffective any provision that is inconsistent with the statute. The trust is not a resource under the regular resource rules.
To meet the pooled trust exception to counting a trust account under the statute for a disabled person the following conditions must be met:
* The trust must be established and maintained by a non-profit association;
* The trust must have separate accounts for each beneficiary, although assets may be pooled for investing and management purposes;
* The sub-account must be established solely for the benefit of the disabled individual;
* The sub-account must be established by the individual, a parent, grandparent, legal guardian or a court; and
* The trust must provide that, on the death of the beneficiary, any funds not retained by the trust must be used to reimburse any state for Medicaid payments made for the benefit of the beneficiary during his lifetime.
42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(C); POMS SI 01120.203(B)(2). Here the only potential problem with the trust appears to be with the third requirement, in that there are some circumstances under which funds in a sub-account could be used other than for the sole benefit of the disabled individual during his lifetime. Specifically, under some circumstances the trustee may, during the disabled individual's lifetime, terminate a sub-account and distribute the assets as if the disabled individual had died. See Pooled Trust Agreement § 12.1. In that case, all amounts remaining in the sub-account would be retained by the pooled trust to benefit other indigent disabled persons. Pooled Trust Agreement § 12.2(b); see also Joinder Agreement § 3.7. We have previously advised that this type of provision is inconsistent with the requirement that the pooled trust account be established solely for the benefit of the disabled individual during that individual's lifetime. See POMS PS 01825.039 Ohio (L) (PS 04-003 SSI-Ohio-Review of the Sub-Account of Mary, in the Community Fund Management Foundation Pooled Medicaid Payback Trust Your Reference: S2D5G6 OH) (Sept. 23, 2003).
However, the trust also provides that it is governed by the laws of Michigan in conformity with the provisions of 42 U.S.C. § 1396p, and that to the extent that there is a conflict between the terms of the trust and the governing law, the law and regulations shall control. Joinder Agreement at § 5.3; see generally Pooled Trust Agreement § 3.5(a). We have previously advised that this type of provision, if valid under State law, essentially voids any provisions in the trust that are inconsistent with the statutory requirements of 42 U.S.C. § 1396p. See POMS PS 01825.016(E) Illinois (PS 05-225 SSI Review of the Sub-Account of Jesus in the Illinois Disability Pooled Trust). We have also advised that nothing in Michigan law appears to prohibit this type of provision. See Memorandum from Reg. Chief Counsel, Chicago, to Ass't Reg. Comm.-MOS, Chicago, SSI-Michigan-Review of the Sub-Account of Michael, ~, in the Elder Law of Michigan, Inc., Pooled Account Trust (Jan. 31, 2007); see also In re Estate of Butter F v. Page, 341 N.W.2d 453, 259-60 (Mich. 1983) (courts look to the trust instrument to determine intent regarding the purpose and operation of the trust); RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TRUSTS § 4, comment d (2003) (settlor can incorporate terms of statute in a trust). We found no new developments in Michigan law that suggest otherwise. In this case, the trust also provides that, to the extent any provisions are held void, the remainder of the trust provisions will remain valid and enforceable. Pooled Trust Agreement § 15.2. This provides further support for our conclusion that certain trust provisions may be considered void, and that the trust will, nevertheless, continue to operate. Therefore, we can reasonably assume that the termination provision in § 12.1(a) of the trust is void, such that the trust meets the exception to counting it under the statute.
The trust also is not a resource under the regular resource rules. The trust states that it is irrevocable, and there are other remainder beneficiaries to the trust (i.e., the pooled trust beneficiaries) whose consent would be required to revoke the trust. Furthermore, the trustee cannot be compelled to provide for Ricky's support and maintenance, and there are no mandatory disbursements under the trust.
For these reasons, we conclude that Ricky's trust account is not a resource under the regular resource rules, and that the trust meets the pooled trust exception to counting it under the statute because the early termination clause, which might otherwise permit other pooled trust beneficiaries to benefit from the funds in his trust during his lifetime, should be considered void. We recommend, however, that you advise Ricky and the trustee that the Agency considers Section 12.1(a) of the pooled trust agreement to be void.
J. PS 07-135 SSI-Michigan-Review of the Trust Agreement for the Benefit of Elaine
K. PS 07-135 SSI-Michigan-Review of the Trust Agreement for the Benefit of Elaine
This precedent is included because of the changes made in Michigan law in 1998 and effective in 04/2000. The change in Michigan's law retroactively opens the door for creating a contingent remainder in an individual's estate and, therefore, the individual is no longer the sole beneficiary of the trust. This specific Trust was created in 1993 with only references to distributions upon death to "those persons entitled to a share in her estate" the new Michigan law "expressly abolished the doctrine of worthier title, both as a rule of law and as a rule of construction." Hence, this Trust is considered irrevocable and meeting all other criteria it is not a countable resource.
You have request an opinion whether a Trust Agreement is a resource of Elaine for purposes of determining her SSI eligibility. We have reviewed the documents that you provided and concluded that, for the reasons stated below, the Trust Agreement is not a resource of Elaine.
According to the Declaration of Trust and Trust Agreement ("Trust Agreement"), Elaine attorney and another attorney made the trust agreement on December 7, 1993, and named themselves as Trustees. Trust Agreement, p.1. Funds belonging to Elaine from the settlement of a lawsuit established the trust. Trust Agreement, p. 1. The Trust Agreement states that because the trust is intended for the primary benefit of Elaine, it is only incidentally for the benefit of those to receive the balance of the trust upon her death. Trust Agreement, Art. Five, A(3), p. 5.
The trust declaration provides that its express intention is to provide benefits to supplement those which may otherwise be available to Elaine form various sources, including insurance benefits and governmentally sponsored programs. Trust Agreement, p. 2. It further states that it is intended to benefit Elaine by providing for her extra and supplemental needs, over and above benefits which she may otherwise be entitled to receive from any governmental or private programs as a result of her disabilities. Trust Agreement, Art. Five, A, p. 4. The trust document provides that, during Elaine lifetime, any portion of the net income or principal of the Trust may, at the sole discretion of the Trustee, be paid for her benefit, or for the benefit of her issue, if any, and any and all discretionary distributions shall be based primarily upon the needs of Elaine. Trust Agreement, Art. Five, p. 4. The trust provides that no trust income or principal shall be paid or expended if the Trustee determines there are sufficient resources available to her for her care, comfort, and welfare from any governmental or private programs. Trust Agreement, Art. Five, A(2), p. 5. The Trust Agreement states that, under no circumstances, shall Elaine have the power or authority to demand any distribution from the Trustee, who is under no obligation, implied or otherwise, to make any distributions to her. Trust Agreement, Art. Five, C(2), p. 6. The trust declaration contains a spendthrift provision that protects the trust assets from claims by a beneficiary's creditors and forbids any beneficiary from selling or in any other manner disposing of her interest in the trust principal or income. Trust Agreement, Art. Seven, p. 10-11.
The Trust Agreement provides that, during Elaine lifetime, the trust may be amended, provided that any modification shall always be in Elaine best interest and subject to the prior approval of the probate court having jurisdiction over her estate. Trust Agreement, Art. Three, p.3.
At Elaine death, if funds remain in the trust, the Trustee is authorized, but not required, to pay all estate, inheritance or other similar taxes which may be imposed on Elaine estate, together with the expenses of her last illness, funeral and burial costs, enforceable debts and reasonable administrative expenses. Trust Agreement, Art. Six, A, p. 9-10. The trust further provides that all of the rest of the trust estate shall be distributed to the estate of Elaine, deceased, and distributed to those persons who are determined to be entitled to share in her estate by the court having jurisdiction over her estate. Trust Agreement, Art. Six, B, p. 10.
The pertinent SSI regulations provide at 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201 that:
resources means cash or other liquid assets or any real or personal property that an individual (or spouse, if any) owns and could convert to cash to be used for his or her support and maintenance.
(1) If the individual has the right, authority or power to liquidate the property or his or her share of the property, it is considered a resource. . . .
Therefore, if an individual is able to obtain funds or convert property to cash to be used for her support and maintenance, such funds or property are to be included as resources for purposes of SSI eligibility determinations. Trust assets are a resource to the individual if he or she can revoke the trust and use the assets to meet his or her needs for food, clothing, and shelter or if the individual can direct the use of the trust principle for his or her support and maintenance under the terms of the trust or sell her beneficial interest in the trust. See POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1)(a).
The spendthrift provision would not prevent Elaine from selling her beneficial interest in the Trust since she is the Grantor of the Trust. See Restatement (Third) of Trusts § 58(2). However, her interest in the Trust would have no market value, since it is a discretionary trust for her benefit. Under the terms of the Trust, Elaine also does not have any authority to direct the payment of Trust principal for her support and maintenance. Rather, the Trustee has the discretion to make payments from the Trust and Elaine does not have the power or authority to demand any distribution from the Trustee. See Trust Agreement, Art. Five, p. 4; Art. Five, C, p. 6. Further, the Trust Agreement explicitly precludes the Trustee from using any of the trust funds for Elainebasic support, which would otherwise be provided for at public expense. See Trust Agreement, Art. Five, A(2), C(2)-(3), p. 6-7. Elaine does not have any power to direct payment from the Trust, and the Trustee cannot use funds for Elaine basic support. Therefore, the Trust should not be considered a countable resource for this reason. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201; POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1)(a).
As stated above, the Trust may also be considered a resource if Elaine can revoke it and use the funds for her support and maintenance. The Trust does not provide whether it is revocable, but states that it may be amended, provided that any modification shall always be in Elaine best interest and subject to the prior approval of the probate court having jurisdiction over her estate. See Trust Agreement, Art. Three, p. 3. Therefore, while it might appear that Elaine has the power to amend the Trust, she cannot do so unilaterally, and the probate court would approve a request for amendment only if it concluded it was in her best interest. In determining Elaine best interests, the court might consider the intent and purpose of the Trust to protect her eligibility for benefits.
Nor is the Trust otherwise revocable. Because the Trust was funded with the proceeds of a lawsuit settlement brought on Elaine behalf, she is the Grantor. See Memorandum from Reg. Chief Counsel, Chicago to Ass't Reg. Comm.-MOS, Chicago, Review of Trust for Stephanie E~ (9/27/99) ("E~ Review"); In re J~ Trust, 479 N.W. 2d 25, 30 (Mich. App. 1991). In general, where a grantor is also the sole beneficiary of the trust, she can revoke or compel termination of the trust. See Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 339, comment a (1959); POMS SI 01120.200(D)(3). The issue then becomes whether Elaine is the sole beneficiary of the trust. If a grantor who is also a beneficiary manifests an intention to create a vested or contingent interest in someone other than herself, she is not the sole beneficiary. See Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 339, comment b. Where a grantor is not the sole beneficiary, she cannot revoke the trust without the consent of other beneficiaries. We have previously advised that these general trust principles apply in Michigan. See Memorandum from Reg. Chief Counsel, Chicago to Ass't Reg. Comm. - MOS, Chicago, Six State Synopsis of Trust Laws (2/26/92); E~ Review; H~ v. H~, 543 N.W.2d 19, 20 (Mich. App. 1995) (even irrevocable trust may be terminated with consent of grantor and all beneficiaries).
In the past, the law has presumed that no additional beneficiaries were intended when a grantor transfers property in trust to himself for life and, upon her death, to her heirs or next of kin (doctrine of worthier title). See Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 127, comment b (1959). However, in 1998, the Michigan legislature expressly abolished the doctrine of worthier title, both as a rule of law and as a rule of construction. Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.2719 (2000); Uniform Probate Code § 2-710. Michigan law now provides that language in a governing instrument describing the beneficiaries of a disposition as the transferor's "'heirs', 'heirs at law', 'next of kin', 'distributees', 'relatives', or 'family' or language of similar import, does not create or presumptively create a reversionary interest in the transferor." Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.2719 (2000). These provisions took effect on April 1, 2000, but the effective date provision states, "a rule of construction or presumption provided in this act applies to a governing instrument executed before that date unless there is a clear indication of a contrary intent." Id. at § 700.8101(e). We have found no reported case law interpreting these provisions. While this is a close case, we believe that under this rule of construction, a court would likely find that the Trust creates a contingent remainder in the distributees of Elaine estate. Elaine, therefore, is not the sole beneficiary of the trust. Therefore, she alone cannot revoke the trust.
Under current Michigan law, Elaine would not be considered the sole beneficiary of the Trust. Therefore, she does not have the power to revoke the Trust. While it might appear that Elaine has the power to amend the Trust, it does not seem that she would be able to amend it unilaterally. Finally, Elaine does not have any power to compel the Trustee to use Trust principal or income for her support and maintenance and her beneficial interest in the trust would not have any marketable value. Therefore, the Trust is not a countable resource for SSI purposes. Distributions to Elaine or for her benefit, however, may constitute unearned income in the month in which they are received, see 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1121-416.1124, or cause the "presumed value rule" or "one-third reduction rule" to reduce Elaine benefits. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1130-1141; see also POMS SI 01120.200.
K. PS 06-142 SSI - Michigan - Review of the Life Insurance Funded Burial Trust for Barbara
L. PS 06-142 SSI - Michigan - Review of the Life Insurance Funded Burial Trust for Barbara
This opinion evaluates whether a life insurance funded burial trust is a countable resource to an SSI beneficiary. In January, 2005 the beneficiary purchased a single premium life insurance policy that was subsequently assigned to a funeral home and transferred to a burial trust by the funeral home. A burial trust is not considered to be a countable resource if an individual irrevocably contracts with a provider of funeral services, funds the contract by prepaying for the goods and services, and the funeral provider places the funds in trust. The transaction ultimately resulting in formation of the trust is deemed to be a purchase of goods and services in those instances. In the case evaluated in this opinion the contract between the beneficiary and the funeral home fails to satisfy three of the Michigan state statutory requirements. As such, a Michigan court would likely find the assignment of proceeds is void. In the absence of a valid contract between the beneficiary and the funeral home, none of the burial trust exceptions can apply and the trust is determined to be a countable resource.
You have asked whether the above-captioned, life insurance funded burial trust is a resource to Marilyn V~ D~ for SSI purposes. We have concluded that the burial trust would be considered a resource.
The National Guardian Life (“NGL”) Insurance Policy (“policy”), purchased on January 21, 2005, identifies Barbara J. V~ D~ as the insured and Virginia as the owner. The “Statement of Insured's Incapacity,” signed by Virginia (Ms. V~ D~'s sister), informs that Ms. V~ D~ is not capable of signing the application for insurance due to mental incompetence and that Virginia has full authority to use the funds tendered as a premium for the policy. The policy has a single premium of $6,653.00 and does not state the minimum death benefit.
In the “Revocable Assignment of Life Insurance Policy and Death Benefit Proceeds,” (“Assignment”) executed on the same day, Virginia assigned the proceeds of the life insurance policy to the Matthysse-Kuiper-DeGraaf Funeral Directors (Grandeville) to be used to pay for funeral goods and services upon the death of the insured, Ms. V~ D~. The Assignment specified that Virginia could “cancel this assignment by writing to the Insurer any time before the funeral merchandise and services are provided by the Funeral Provider.” Virginia also entered into a funeral arrangement agreement with the funeral home.
Also on January 21, 2005, Virginia signed an “Irrevocable Transfer of Ownership.” In this document, Virginia “transfer[red] ownership” of the life insurance policy to the funeral home “in return for the promise to deliver funeral services and merchandise,” and for the promise “to immediately transfer ownership of the policy to the [National Guardian Life] American Trust.” The document specified that Virginia waived “all rights under the policy to surrender it for cash and to obtain a loan against the policy,” and that the change in ownership was “permanent.”
Under the Trust provisions, Virginia, as owner, retains the right to change the funeral provider before the funeral provider delivers the funeral services or merchandise. The Trust clarifies that this right should not be construed as meaning that the owner may regain ownership of the Policy's cash value or to permit the owner to transfer ownership of the Policy from the Trust (See 7).
As an initial matter, we note that Virginia appears to be acting under a power of attorney on behalf of Ms. V~ D~. Therefore, any actions that Virginia took with respect to the matter at hand should be attributed to Ms. V~ D~.
A life insurance policy can be a resource if the individual can surrender it for cash or recover the premiums paid. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1230. Michigan law provides that all life insurance policies must contain notice that the policyholder may cancel the policy and receive prompt refund of any premiums paid during a period of not less than ten days after the date the policyholder receives the policy. Mich. Comp. Laws 500.4015. As part of her application for the policy, Virginia executed a “Notice of Cancellation” which provides that she may cancel the transaction within three business days after the date of the transaction. The statue, however, probably trumps the contrary policy language, and thus, pursuant to state law, the policy should be considered a resource for the first 10 days.
Next, we must determine whether the trust to which the policy was assigned was a resource after the initial, 10-day cancellation period. A trust established by an individual on or after January 1, 2000, as this one was, will be considered a resource, under federal law, if it is revocable, or even if it is irrevocable, to the extent that payments from the trust could be made to or for the benefit of the individual unless certain exceptions are satisfied. 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e)(3)(B); POMS SI 01120.201(D)(1)-(2). This rule applies if payments can be made for the benefit of the individual “under any circumstance, no matter how unlikely or distant in the future.” POMS SI 011020.201(D)(2)(b).
But these provisions do not apply to burial trusts where the individual irrevocably contracts with a provider of funeral goods and services and the individual funds the contract by prepaying for the goods and services, and either (1) the funeral provider subsequently places the funds in a trust, or (2) the individual establishes an irrevocable trust, naming the funeral provider as the beneficiary. POMS SI 01120.201(H)(1). The POMS explains that such a transaction is a “purchase of goods and services by the individual” and that the funeral home is considered to have established the trust. Id.
In addition, recent guidance from the Office of Income Security Program (OISP) indicates that when an individual irrevocably assigns ownership of a life insurance policy to purchase a revocable burial contract from a funeral provider and the provider places the policy in trust, the transaction constitutes a purchase of goods and services by the individual and not the establishment of a trust by the individual. See POMS SI 01120.201(H)(2) (third category of cases where “an individual enters into a revocable funeral contract with a funeral provider, even if the funeral provider places the money in a trust”). The subsequent trust created by the funeral provider is considered to be established by the funeral provider and not the individual, and the trust would then fall under the exceptions of POMS SI 01120.201(H)(1).
Significantly, for purposes of assessing Ms. V~ D~'s burial trust, each of these burial-trust exceptions requires that a valid contract exist between the individual and a funeral home. In this case, however, it appears that the Ms. V~ D~'s pre-need funeral arrangement does not meet all the state statutory criteria for a valid “pre-death assignment of the proceeds of a life insurance policy or annuity contract as payment for cemetery or funeral services or goods.” Under Michigan law, each requirement must be met or the assignment will be deemed “void.” Mich. Comp. Law 500.2080(6). The assignment here does not meet the following three conditions under Mich. Comp. Law 500.2080(6): the assignment does not contain the bold-faced language described in subsection (6)(d); the assignment does not describe the dispute resolution rights required by subsection 6(h); and the assignment does not contain certification that the insured has not contracted with any other funeral home for funeral goods or services, as required by subsection 6(l). See Mich. Comp. Law 500.2080(6)(d), (h), (l).
Because these statutory criteria are not met, a Michigan court would almost certainly find the assignment of insurance proceeds was void and, in the absence of an assignment of proceeds, the funeral home could never be paid for any services. Thus, there is no contractual relationship between Ms. V~ D~ and the funeral home. Without a valid contract between Ms. V~ D~ and the funeral home, the burial trust does not meet any of the statutory exceptions in POMS SI 01120.201(H)(1). As such, the statutory trust resource rules apply and the burial trust would be considered a resource to Ms. V~ D~ under 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e)(3)(B).
We advise that the burial trust would be considered a resource to Ms. V~ D~ for SSI purposes. Under Michigan statutory law, an assignment of insurance proceeds as payment for cemetery or funeral services or goods is void unless a variety of criteria are met. In this case, because the funeral contract fails to satisfy three of the statutory requirements, a Michigan court would likely find the assignment of proceeds void. Because the funeral home could never be paid under such an arrangement, there is no valid contract between Ms. V~ D~ and the funeral home. In the absence of a valid contract, the trust cannot meet any of the burial-trust exceptions outlined in POMS SI 01120.201(H)(1). As such, the trust is a resource to Ms. V~ D~ under the statutory trust resource rules. POMS SI 01120.201(D)(2)(a).
L. PS 06-060 SSI-Michigan-Review of Irrevocable Trust Agreement and Assignment of Annuity for Julia
M. PS 06-060 SSI-Michigan-Review of Irrevocable Trust Agreement and Assignment of Annuity for Julia
A trust was established on 2/16/05 as a result of a personal injury settlement received by an SSI beneficiary. The settlement resulted in an annuity being purchased from an insurance company and the subsequent annuity payments being irrevocably assigned to the court-ordered trust. The trust language provides that the SSI beneficiary has no access to the trust and cannot direct use of the funds found therein. Language found in the trust dictates that, upon the beneficiary's death, any funds remaining in the trust will be distributed to applicable State Medicaid agencies for reimbursement prior to any payments to the SSI beneficiary's “heirs at law”. A change in Michigan state law effective 4/1/00 establishes that “heirs at law” or similar language constitutes creation of a beneficial, or remainder, interest. Thus, the trust is irrevocable and meets the Medicaid Trust Exception. As such, the trust itself is excluded from countable resources, and the annuity payments irrevocably assigned to the trust are excluded from countable income.
You asked whether the Julia Trust, dated February 16, 2005, is a resource to Julia and whether her annuity payments have been irrevocably assigned to the Trust (and thus would not be income) for purposes of determining eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). We conclude that the trust is not a resource and that the annuity payments have been irrevocably assigned for purposes of SSI eligibility.
On November 9, 2004, a settlement was reached in a certain personal injury lawsuit filed on behalf of Julia by her mother and plenary guardian of the person, Della . To effect the settlement agreement, an annuity was purchased from an insurance company providing for a monthly life annuity for Julia in the amount of $637.61 per month, commencing on January 1, 2005. The payee for the annuity is listed as the “Julia Irrevocable Trust.”
After a hearing on February 16, 2005, a Michigan probate court, upon the request of Della, entered an order on March 9, 2005, calling for the establishment of the Julia Irrevocable Trust, and further ordering that Della, as guardian, should execute the trust for and on behalf of the court. The court also ordered that the net proceeds from a certain personal injury lawsuit filed by Julia, including all future annuity payments, should be paid over to the trust. The court indicated that its order was made after hearing testimony and after reviewing a favorable report from a guardian at litem.
On February 16, 2005, Della, as grantor and trustee, executed the “Irrevocable Declaration of Trust and Trust Agreement for the benefit of Julia .” The Trust provides that the trustee, in her sole and uncontrolled discretion, may make payments for Julia's benefit during Julia's lifetime. Article V. Julia has no power to demand distributions. Article V(B)(2). Upon Julia's death, the Trustee will first reimburse all states where Julia has received medical assistance payments for their proportionate share of Medicaid benefits, and will then make certain other payments for taxes, funeral expenses and other debts. Article VI(A). After that, the trustee will pay the residue as Julia appoints in her will, and in default of such an appointment, to Julia's heirs at law.
The Trust Is Not a Resource.
Generally, a grantor of a trust (and Julia should be considered the true grantor since she provided the funds for the Trust) can revoke her contributions to the trust if she is also the sole beneficiary of the trust, even if the trust purports to be irrevocable. See POMS SI 01120.200(B)(2), 01120.200(D)(3), 01120.201(B)(7), CHI01120.200; RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TRUSTS § 65 & comment a & Reporter's Note (2003). In this case, however, Julia is not the sole beneficiary of the Trust, and she could not unilaterally revoke her contributions to the Trust and recover those assets to use for her support and maintenance. Specifically, the Trust indicates that Julia can appoint the Trust residue by will, and that, in default, the residue goes to her heirs at law. Although it is unclear whether the power of appointment creates a beneficial trust interest, RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TRUSTS §§ 44, 46 (2003), the designation of heirs at law clearly does, POMS SI CHI01120.200(D)(3). Accordingly the Trust is irrevocable.
Pursuant to POMS SI 01120.201(D)(2), the principal of an irrevocable trust established with the assets of an individual (on or after January 1, 2000) is a resource if payments from the trust principal could be made to or for the benefit of the individual or the individual's spouse (which is the case here, since Julia is the sole beneficiary during her lifetime), unless one of the exceptions in POMS SI 01120.203 applies.
Here, the exception in POMS SI 01120.203(B)(1) (Section 1917(d)(4)(A) of the Act) applies. This exception requires (1) that the trust be established with the assets of an individual under age 65 who is disabled; (2) that the trust be established for the benefit of such individual by a parent, grandparent, legal guardian or a court; and (3) that the trust provides that, on the death of the individual, any funds remaining in the trust will be used to reimburse the state for Medicaid payments made on behalf of the individual. These elements are satisfied since Julia is under age 65 and disabled; the Trust was established for her benefit by a court; and the Trust provides for reimbursement to Medicaid. We note that the Trust was actually established prior to entry of the court's order, but it was clearly established pursuant to the court's oral directive (on February 15, 2005), which was later memorialized in the March 2005 written order. And, state law permits a probate court to direct the creation of a trust, so long as certain preliminary findings are made, which we assume was the case here even though the probate court order did not explicitly articulate the findings (e.g., the Trust preamble indicates that the court determined the Trust to be in Julia's best interests). See MICH. COMP. LAWS ANN. §§ 700.5401(3), 700.5407(2)(c)(v), 700.5408(2) (West 2006) (requiring finding that individual is unable to manage property effectively and that trust is in individual's best interests).
However, even if a trust is not a resource under POMS SI 01120.201(D)(2), the Agency applies regular resource counting rules to determine if it is a resource. POMS SI 01120.200, SI 01120.203(B)(1). Under the ordinary resource rules, the trust principal will be a resource if (1) the claimant can revoke the trust and use the assets for her support and maintenance, or (2) the claimant can direct the trustee to pay her the funds or use the funds for his support and maintenance. POMS SI 01120.200(D). In addition, the claimant's interest in the Trust is a resource if it can be sold. POMS SI 01120.200(D).
As we have indicated, the Trust is not revocable. Nor does Julia have the power or authority to direct the use of the Trust property for her support and maintenance. Under the terms of the Trust, the Trustee has sole discretion to determine when payments will be made for her benefit. Finally, even if Julia could sell her beneficial interest in the Trust, that interest would have little or no value because the trustee is not required to make any payments for her benefit. See RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TRUSTS § 60 & comments e, f. Thus, the Trust is also not a resource under the regular resource rules.
B. The Annuity Payments Paid Directly to the Trust Pursuant to the Court Order Are Not Income to Julia.
Because the Trust is not a resource, the annuity payments made to the trust are not income to Julia if she has irrevocably assigned them to the Trust. POMS SI 01120.200(G)(1)(d). Although the court order states that the annuity payments will be made directly to Della, as trustee, if Julia could ask the court to modify the order so that the payments would be made directly to her, the annuity payments should be considered income to her. See Memorandum from Reg. Chief Counsel, Chicago, to Ass't Reg. Comm.-MOS, Chicago, Review of the Marital Settlement Agreement for Patricia and Floyd and the Patricia Special Needs Trust, at 3-4 (Dec. 4, 2003).
It appears, however, that, as with the creation of the Trust, the court's order with respect to the annuity would have to be based on a finding that, among other things, the annuity assignment was in the best interests of Julia. MICH. COMP. LAWS ANN. § 700.5408(2) (West 2006) (probate court may direct transaction related to protected individual's property and business affairs only if court determines that transaction is in individual's best interests). Indeed, the court appointed a guardian ad litem for Julia, and indicated that it had reviewed the guardian's favorable report before issuing its order (thus indicating careful consideration of Julia's best interests). Accordingly, for Julia to convince the court to redirect the annuity payments to her, she (or Della, her guardian) would have to show that such a change was in her best interests. Id. This, however, is unlikely since we are not aware of any change of circumstance since the probate court hearing that would cause the court to reconsider its finding that assigning the annuity payments to the Trust is in Julia's best interests. Therefore, the annuity payments are, at this time, irrevocably assigned to the trust, and thus are not income under POMS SI 01120.200(G)(1).
For these reasons, we conclude that the trust is not a resource, and the annuity payments are not income.
M. PS 04-186 Michigan Life Insurance Funded Burial Trust for Patricia
N. PS 04-186 Michigan Life Insurance Funded Burial Trust for Patricia
The opinion in this case addresses two issues: 1) Is the SSI recipient’s life insurance funded burial trust agreement valid under Michigan law? 2) Is the cash surrender value of the life insurance policy a countable resource? Under Michigan law, a person entering into an irrevocable prearranged funeral contract reserves the right to change funeral providers, although not the right to terminate the underlying services to be rendered. In this case, the trust agreement makes clear that the trust is irrevocable and that the SSI recipient retains the right to change funeral providers but cannot surrender the policy for cash or obtain a loan against it. Consequently, under Michigan law, the life insurance funded burial trust is valid. With regard to whether or not the cash surrender value of the life insurance policy is a countable resource, the SSI recipient no longer owns the policy or has the ability to use it for support and maintenance thus it is not a countable resource for SSI purposes.
This is in reply to your September 23, 1996 inquiry concerning whether the life insurance funded burial trust agreement for Patricia , an SSI recipient, was valid under Michigan law. For the following reasons, we conclude that the trust agreement is valid, and the cash surrender value of the life insurance policy is not a countable resource.
On May 23, 1996, Patricia redeemed $4,396.80 in savings bonds. On May 25, 1996, she purchased $4,298.88 in funeral merchandise and services from funeral provider, G~-R~ Company. Specifically, Patricia purchased a $2,000 irrevocable trust, a guaranteed trust in the amount of $1060.00, and a life insurance policy with a face value of $1,424.00.
Services such as embalming, and “basic services of the funeral director and staff” were funded by the irrevocable trust. The casket and outer burial container were funded by the guaranteed trust. Items including unspecified “professional services,” memorial cards, and death certificates were funded by the life insurance policy.
The life insurance policy was transferred to the funeral provider, and then to an trust. This trust purports to be irrevocable but allows Patricia the option to obtain the contracted for funeral services with a different funeral provider if she so desires. You asked whether, under these facts, the life insurance funded trust agreement was valid.
A life insurance funded burial contract involves an individual purchasing a life insurance policy in his name and then assigning, revocably or irrevocably, either the proceeds or ownership of the policy to a third party, generally a funeral provider. The purpose of the assignment is to fund a pre-arranged burial contract. See Program Operating Manual System (POMS) § SI 01130.425(A)(2). Here, ownership of Patricia's life insurance policy was transferred to the funeral provider, and then to an irrevocable trust. Since the policy was placed in trust, the resource value of the trust must be evaluated according to the rules governing trust funds in order to determine whether it is a countable resource for SSI purposes. POMS §§ SI 01130.425(A)(2), SI 01120.200(E).
The “Irrevocable Transfer of Ownership” trust agreement in this case provides that Patricia waived all rights under the insurance policy to surrender it for cash or to obtain a loan against it. Because this transfer is permissible under state law, the trust is irrevocable. The agreement also provided that Patricia “reserves the right to revoke any assignment of benefits and to change the designated Funeral Provider” named in the insurance policy. So the question becomes whether a revocably assigned life insurance policy placed in an irrevocable trust is a countable resource.
A resource, for SSI purposes, is defined as property that the SSI beneficiary owns and can convert to cash, or property or over which the beneficiary has the right, authority, or power to liquidate. 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201. In applying this definition to trusts, the POMS states that if the claimant neither owns nor has the legal right to direct the use of trust assets to meet his support or maintenance needs, and state law allows a revocably assigned life insurance policy that funds a funeral contact to be placed irrevocably in trust, the policy's cash surrender value is not a resource for SSI purposes. SI 01130.425(E)(1).
In 1986, the state of Michigan enacted the Prepaid Funeral Contact Funding Act (PFCFA), which applies to all agreements entered into after March 31, 1987, and makes such agreements generally revocable. See MCL §§ 328.204, 328.223. See OGC V (L~) to ARC-POS (M~) “SSI Regional Transmittal Concerning Michigan Burial Contracts” (May 20, 1996 (approx.)) However, the PFCFA exempts from revocability certain contracts approved by the Michigan Department of Social Services. Id.; see also MCL § 328.228(2). Patricia apparently applied to have the irrevocable funeral contract certified by the Michigan Department of Social Services. The pertinent section indicates that a person entering into an irrevocable prearranged funeral contract reserves the right to change funeral providers, although not the right to terminate the underlying services to be rendered. That is, an irrevocable prearranged funeral contract “shall permit the depositor of the funds in the account to alter the agreement to provide for a different party to provide the [funeral services], but in any event the funds in the account shall be used only to provide [funeral services].” See M.L.A. § 328.202(3); see also M.L.A. § 328.229(2) (1992). Here, the trust agreement makes clear that the trust itself is irrevocable and that Patricia simply retains the right to change funeral providers, not that she is able to surrender the policy for cash or to obtain a loan against it. Consequently, pursuant to Michigan law, the life insurance trust in this case is valid.
The insurance policy has been transferred to a valid irrevocable trust, and Patricia no longer owns the policy or has the power to use it for her support and maintenance. The cash surrender value of Patricia's life insurance is therefore not a countable resource for SSI purposes. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a); POMS SI 01130.425(E).
We conclude that Patricia's irrevocable life insurance funded burial trust agreement is valid under Michigan law, despite her retained ability to change funeral providers. Additionally, the cash surrender value of the life insurance policy is not a countable resource for SSI purposes.
N. PS 04-172 SSI-Michigan-Review of a Trust for Michael
O. PS 04-172 SSI-Michigan-Review of a Trust for Michael
This 1999 opinion concerns a Michigan trust and concludes that the trust is a countable resource for SSI purposes because it is a support trust. In general, a support trust imposes on the trustee the obligation to provide funds for the support of the beneficiary. In this case, the trust imposes such an obligation which gives the beneficiary a judicially enforceable right to receive support.
You asked us to review a trust dated August 11, 1994, to determine whether the funds placed in trust would be a countable resource to Michael, a minor recipient of Supplemental Security Income payments. For the following reasons, we believe that the money in trust is available for use for Michael's support and maintenance. Therefore, it is a countable resource to him.
We base our opinion on the following facts that have been provided to us. According to a Report of Contact dated April 27, 1998, the trust includes $12,000 from a Z~ retroactive benefit award. Michael, the grantor, is the SSI beneficiary and is a minor. His mother, Pamela, is his representative payee and is named as trustee.
The trust document is not wholly clear. It is dated August 11, 1994 “between” Michael, as “Trustor,” and Pamela, as “Trustee.” Article 1 of the trust purports to transfer funds held in the “Putnam Investment Fund” irrevocably to the trustee to hold and administer. Article 2 or the trust sets out that the trustee will “receive and hold” the investment “for the use and benefit of” Michael. Apparently inconsistently, Article 2 continues and states that “I hold . . . said securities . . . IN TRUST to the following named beneficiary: Thomas -my father.” Later, in Article 4, the trust states that it is “my intention to make to the beneficiary named herein an absolute gift of the asset described” in Article 1.
The trust document presented here raises numerous questions concerning its validity and terms. We will not attempt to address all of these possible issues, however, because the trust does provide that the funds in question were given to the trustee “for the use and benefit of” Michael, the SSI recipient. Because the trust allows the use of the funds for his support and maintenance, the amounts in trust are a countable resource to him.
An asset is a resource to an individual if it is cash or if the individual can convert it to cash and use it for his or her support and maintenance. 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a) (1999).
If the individual has the right, authority, or power to liquidate the property or his or her share of the property, it is considered a resource.
20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a)(1). Property held in trust for an individual is a resource if (1) the individual can direct the trustee to use the property for his or her support and maintenance; (2) the individual can revoke or terminate the trust and gain access to the trust property and use it for his or her support and maintenance; or (3) the individual can transfer his or her interest in the trust and use the proceeds for support and maintenance. See POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1). Here, the trust document is unclear. It is possible that the trust is either invalid or revocable. (If the trust is invalid or revocable, it is a resource to Michael.) Regardless, the trust expressly allows the trustee, Michael's mother, to access the trust property and use it for his support and maintenance. Therefore, the property in trust is Michael's resource.
The declaration of trust states that “[t]he Trustee shall receive and hold said investment in Trust for the use and benefit of: Michael Trustor.” This language suggests what Michigan courts refer to as a “support trust.” See Miller v. Dep't of Mental Health, 442 N.W.2d 617, 618 (Mich. 1989) (there are three types of trusts: trusts giving the right to receive some portion of the income or principal; support trusts; and discretionary trusts). A support trust is one that provides that the trustee shall pay so much of the income or principal as necessary for the education or support of the beneficiary. Id.; see also 1 Restatement of Trusts (Second) § 154. Here, the trust document requires the trustee to use the trust property “for the use and benefit of Michael” and does not provide any standards by which the trustee should exercise discretion in the use of the property. Because the trust document imposes on the trustee the duty to use the funds for Michael's “use and benefit,” it is a “support trust.” A support trust imposes on the trustee the obligation to provide funds for the support of the beneficiary. Here, the support trust imposes on his mother as trustee the duty to provide funds for the support of Michael, and, as a result, it gives Michael the entitlement to enforce payment of such amount. See M~, 442 N.W.2d at 619-20 (support trust gives beneficiary a judicially enforceable right to receive support).
Because under Michigan law this trust is a support trust, Michael has the right to enforce payment of his support by the trustee. Id. Consequently, the funds in the trust are available to be used for Michael's support and maintenance. The funds in trust are a countable resource.
For the foregoing reasons, we believe that the property in trust in this matter should be considered a resource to Michael. The trust appears to be a support trust, and Michael would have a judicially enforceable right to command the trustee to provide necessary support payments from the trust.
O. PS 03-103 SSI-Michigan-Review of the Transfer of Life Insurance Proceeds to the Pre-Thana Trust for Previsteria
P. PS 03-103 SSI-Michigan-Review of the Transfer of Life Insurance Proceeds to the Pre-Thana Trust for Previsteria
In this opinion, OGC found that an insurance policy assigned to a trust was a resource for SSI purposes because the owner retained the power to revoke the agreement and could convert the policy to cash which she could use for her support and maintenance. While the trust established by the funeral provider was irrevocable, the assignment of the insurance proceeds was revocable. Once the 10-day cancellation period under the policy lapsed, the cash surrender value of the insurance policy, i.e., the value of the trust, became a countable resource to the owner. Further, OGC concluded that the undue hardship provision explained at SI 01120.203E. need not be considered in this case because the trust was revocable.
You asked whether the subject life insurance funded burial trust is a countable resource for Previsteria for purposes of SSI eligibility. We conclude that the trust is a resource under federal law. Furthermore, the undue hardship exception would not appear to apply in this case because the trust is likely revocable.
On November 19, 2002, Previsteria purchased a life insurance policy with a single premium of $3,000. The minimum death benefit amount is not stated in the policy application. Also on November 19, 2002, Previsteria signed a “Revocable Assignment of Life Insurance Proceeds,” in which she assigned the proceeds of her life insurance policy with Fortis Benefits Insurance Company to the Bagnasco & Calcaterra Funeral Home to be used to pay for funeral goods and services upon her death. The Assignment specified that it could “be revoked by the assignor or assignor's successor. . . or by the representative of the insured's estate before the rendering of the funeral services or goods.” That same day, Previsteria also signed a “Change of Ownership to Funeral Firm and Pre-Thana Trust.” The state purpose of the “Change of Ownership” agreement was to “transfer ownership” of the life insurance policy to the funeral home in return for the promise to deliver funeral services and goods, and “for the promise of the Funeral Firm to immediately transfer ownership of the policy to the Pre-Thana trust” on Previsteria's behalf. The “Change of Ownership” agreement specified that the change of ownership was “permanent” and that Previsteria renounced her power to control the policy, and that she waived “all rights under the policy to surrender it for cash and to obtain a loan against the policy.” Under the trust provisions, Previsteria (or her representative) retaines the right to purchase funeral services or merchandise from another vendor and change the designated Funeral Firm under the Pre-Thana trust.
However, statutory provisions at 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e)(3)(B) will apply where an individual establishes a burial trust with his or her own assets but does not enter into a pre-need funeral contract with a funeral provider; or the individual enters into an irrevocable funeral contract with a funeral provider, but establishes a revocable trust to fund the contract; or the individual enters into a revocable funeral contract with a funeral provider, even if the funeral provider places the money in a trust. POMS SI 01120.201H.2. In these circumstances, the individual, rather than the funeral home, is considered, for federal law purposes, to have established the trust.
Here, Previsteria's assignment of life insurance proceeds to the funeral home is, by its very terms, revocable. The first numbered paragraph of the agreement expressly states that the assignment can be revoked “by the assignor or assignor's successor” or by the representative of the insured's estate after her death at any time before the rendering of funeral goods and services. Therefore, even if the trust is irrevocable, as it purports to be, and even if the insurance policy has been irrevocably assigned to trust, the trust (and therefore the policy held in trust) is a resource to Previsteria under federal law. POMS SI 01120.201.H.1. - 2. The value of the trust, after any cancellation period under the policy, is the cash surrender value of the lift insurance policy. 20 C.F.R. § 416.1230.
SSA may waive application of the statutory trust counting provisions if the individual is ineligible for benefits by virtue of counting an irrevocable trust as a resource and if the individual meets the criteria for undue hardship. See 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e)(4); POMS SI 01120.203C.2.a.; Exclusion of Certain Burial Trusts from Section 206 of Public Law Number (Pub. L. No.) 106-169, Associate General Counsel Office of Program Law to Associate Commissioner for Legislative Development (Aug. 29, 2000). When evaluating whether the individual has established undue hardship, the Agency would not consider the assets in an irrevocable trust to be available funds. Id. Here, however, it appears that the Pre-Thana trust is revocable.
The documents submitted suggest that the parties intended the trust to be irrevocable. However, the trust must be evaluated under Michigan law to determine whether the trust may be revoked under state law. In general, where a grantor is also the sole beneficiary of the trust, he or she can revoke or compel termination of the trust, even when the trust declaration states that the trust is irrevocable. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 339, cmt. a (1959); POMS SI 01120.200D.3. The issue then becomes whether Previsteria is the sole beneficiary of the trust. If a grantor who is also a beneficiary manifests an intention to create a vested or contingent interest in someone other than herself, she is not the sole beneficiary. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 339, comment b. Where a grantor is not the sole beneficiary, she cannot revoke the trust without the consent of the other beneficiaries. We have previously advised that these general trust principals apply in Michigan. See Memorandum from Reg. Chief Counsel, Chicago to Ass't Reg. Comm. - MOS, Chicago, Six State Synopsis of Trust Laws (10/16/02); Hein v. Hein, 543 N.W.2d 19, 20 (Mich. App. 1995) (even irrevocable trust may be terminated with consent of grantor and all beneficiaries).
Here, Previsteria is the sole beneficiary of the trust because the trust proceeds are intended to provide funeral goods and services to her upon her death and she did not manifest an intention to create a vested or contingent interest in someone other than herself. Although her daughter is the named beneficiary of the life insurance policy, there is no evidence that she was an irrevocable beneficiary of that policy or the trust and no evidence that her consent was necessary in order for Previsteria to assign the policy to a third party. In addition, it is not necessary to determine whether the funeral home is an intended beneficiary of the trust because Previsteria's assignment of her life insurance policy to the funeral home is clearly revocable. Therefore, Previsteria is the grantor and sole beneficiary of the trust and the trust is revocable under Michigan law. As such, the Agency cannot waive application of the statutory trust counting provisions even if Previsteria could meet the undue hardship criteria. See 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e)(4); POMS SI 01120.203C.2.a.
We conclude that the Pre-Thana trust and, thus the insurance policy assigned to the trust, is a resource for SSI purposes because Previsteria has the power to revoke the agreement and convert the policy to cash, which could be used for her support and maintenance. The value of the life insurance policy during any cancellation period, which should have been at least ten days (and should be evidence from looking at the policy), is the premiums that had been paid as of that time. After the cancellation period, the value is the cash surrender value of the policy. The undue hardship exception to counting the trust likely need not be considered since the trust appears to be revocable because Previsteria appears to be the sole beneficiary of the trust.
P. PS 01-232 SSI-Michigan-Reconsideration of the Sylvia Civil Service Pension Trust, SSN ~
Q. PS 01-232 SSI-Michigan-Reconsideration of the Sylvia Civil Service Pension Trust, SSN ~
Federal law prohibits the assignment of a Civil Service Pension annuity to a trust. Therefore, for the purposes of SSI eligibility, the Civil Service Pension Trust assets are a countable resource and the annuity payments are unearned income when received.
On January 10, 2001, we advised the Agency that a Civil Service Pension Trust established for Sylvia , the developmentally disabled daughter of a retired civil servant, constituted a countable resource for purposes of determining her SSI eligibility. We explained that federal law prohibits the assignment of the Civil Service Pension annuity to a trust and, therefore, the "trust" assets should be considered a resource, and the annuity payments should be considered unearned income for purposes of SSI eligibility. You have asked us to address Sylvia request for reconsideration of our earlier decision. We have considered each of Sylvia arguments, but still conclude that the pension was not assignable to trust.
As the developmentally disabled daughter of a retired civil servant, Sylvia is eligible for a Civil Service Pension Annuity through her father, Guido . Upon his death, Guido directed that his daughter's United States Civil Service Annuity be placed into trust. See First Codicil to Will and Testament, Paragraph I. In accordance with Guido wishes, the Wayne County Probate Court ordered that all money received from Sylvia Civil Service Survivor Annuity be placed into a trust. See Order of Wayne County Probate Court. The Court further ordered that all trust assets be expended only in accordance with the terms of Guido will and codicil. Id. Guido will appointed Sylvia siblings as co-trustees and stated that the trust assets should not be used for his daughter's "basic day to day care for food, shelter and clothing, but only for extraordinary care or needs." See Will, § VI, Paragraph 2.
Sylvia has made several arguments in support of her claim that the annuity payments assigned to the trust are not a resource to her. We do not believe that any of her arguments are convincing, and that the Agency properly found the assets are a resource. We address each of her arguments in turn below.
(1) The assignment to trust was invalid under federal law.
Sylvia argues that the Trust assets are not her resource because the Trust is overseen by the Wayne County Probate Court and there are restrictions on the use of and access to the Trust monies. See June 4, 2001 letter. However, as we previously stated, we are doubtful that Sylvia father had the power or authority after his death to assign the assets on her behalf in his will. Even if he had the power or authority to act on her behalf when he was living, this power would terminate upon his death. Furthermore, if Sylvia was the beneficiary of the pensions funds, the funds passed to her upon her father's death, and not to her father's estate.
In any event, even if Sylvia father had the power or authority to assign Sylvia assets after his death, federal law prohibits the assignment into trust of a Civil Service Pension Annuity. See 5 U.S.C. § 8346(a). Because this type of annuity is non-assignable by law, it may not be paid directly into a trust to avoid SSI eligibility. See POMS SI 01120.200G.1c. Therefore, the father's assignment of Sylvia annuity into trust was invalid.
Because the assignment of Sylvia annuity payments into trust was invalid under federal law, the provisions of Guido will cannot govern Sylvia use of those annuity payments. Instead, we must look to federal law governing pension annuity expenditures. 5 U.S.C. § 8345(e) expressly states that civil service retirement annuity payments to which a minor child or legally disabled individual is entitled may be paid to a guardian or representative payee “legally vested with the care of the claimant.” Consequently, Sylvia annuity was paid to Dottie (Sylvia’s sister and legal guardian) as a representative payee, not as trustee. Thus, the Agency should reject Sylvia argument (3(e) in the June 4, 2001 letter) that the CSRS statute, 5 U.S.C. § 8345(e), allows for payment of the CSRS funds to trustees, since the trustees are “fiduciaries” of a mentally incompetent person or person under other legal disability.
In order to meet her obligations as representative payee, it will be necessary for Sylvia to make the annuity available for use in meeting the ordinary and necessary expenses related to Sylvia care. Because Ms. S~, the representative payee of the annuity, is required to use the annuity for Sylviaordinary care, the annuity payments made to her for Sylvia benefit were and are income to Sylvia, and any funds held in the invalid “trust” were and are a resource to her, under section 1612(a)(2)(B) of the Act, and 20 C.F.R. § 416.1121.
(2) The Agency is not required to ignore Sylvia resource simply because it previously found that the annuity payments were not a resource.
In August 1993, the Agency determined that Sylvia annuity payments paid to and held in “trust” were not income or resources for purposes of SSI eligibility. That determination became final and binding. Continuing resource and income determinations in SSI cases are made each month after the claimant begins receiving benefits. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1123(a), 416.1207. Each such determination is deemed an “initial determination.” See POMS SI 04070.015 thru SI 04070.030(A)(1).
The regulations allow the Agency to reopen SSI determinations within one year of an initial determination for any reason and within two years of an initial determination for good cause shown. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1488. Good cause for reopening is shown where it is clear on the face of the evidence that an error was made in making the determination. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1489. There is an error on the face of the evidence in the determination that Sylvia annuity payments were paid to and held in “trust,” and therefore were not income or resources to her. Therefore, the Agency may reopen the deemed initial determination on eligibility for each month dating back two years.
Furthermore, it is well settled that the Government cannot be stopped on the same terms as any other litigant or party. See Heckler v. Community Health Services of Crawford County, 467 U.S. 51, 60 (1984). When the Government is unable to enforce the law because the conduct of its agents has given rise to an stopped, the interest of the citizenry as a whole in obedience to the rule of law is undermined. Id. Therefore, the Agency should also reject Sylvia argument that it must be bound by its previous incorrect determination.
(3) Sylvia has provided insufficient evidence that OPM consented to the assignment or that she meets any of the other exceptions under 5 U.S.C. §§ 8346(h) or (j).
In part (a) of her third argument, Sylvia alleges that, before he died, her father wrote to the U.S. Civil Service Commission and asked whether the annuity payments could be paid to the co-trustees of the trust he established in his will. Sylvia alleges that the response indicated that “[t]he person or institution having care and custody of your daughter can arrange for payments to go into an established trust.” This alleged response from OPM is essentially consistent with the Agency's conclusions. OPM's alleged response confirms that the annuity payments could not be assigned directly into trust, but that, after they are received, the payee may have some discretion about how to spend the funds for the care and maintenance of Sylvia.
In any event, Sylvia interpretation of OPM's response is entirely inconsistent with OPM's express action in similar cases. OPM has consistently acknowledged that federal law prohibits the direct assignment into trust of CSRS payments, and that funds from the CSRS must be used by the representative payee for the care and maintenance of the annuitant. See Office of Personnel Management letter, attached.
In parts (b) and (d) of her third argument, Sylvia argues that we should infer that CSRS's legal department decided that it was permissible for the payments to be assigned into trust, since all of the payments have been made to the trust and not to Sylvia directly. Sylvia relies on a statutory provision that allows individuals to make allotments or assignments of amounts from the annuity “for such purposes as the Office of Personnel Management in its sole discretion considers appropriate.” 5 U.S.C. § 8345(h). However, the mere fact that OPM might be making the payments directly to the trustees or the trust itself is not conclusive evidence that OPM affirmatively exercised its discretion to find that the assignment into trust was permissible. In fact, OPM has expressly limited its discretionary exception to the rule against assignment to situations involving allotments to organizations. See 5 C.F.R. § 831.1511; Neikirk v. Massanari, No. 00-1459, 2001 WL 776812, at *3 (10th Cir. July 11, 2001); SSA Baltimore Federal Credit Union v. Bizon, 52 B.R. 338, 345 (D. Md. 1984)(“the regulations issued by [OPM] indicate that [the right of assignment in § 8345(h) is severely restricted.”). The Agency's position is also consistent with the legislative history of 5 U.S.C. § 8345(h)(originally § 8345(g)), which indicates that this provision was enacted to give Federal annuitants the same rights as Federal employees, who were permitted “to make allotments or assignments from their pay for purposes prescribed by regulations of the Civil Service Commission [now OPM]. Such purposes [included] charitable contributions, dues to labor organizations, family support and savings.” See S. Rep. No. 537, at 1 (1975), reprinted in 1975 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2064, 2065.
As previously noted, OPM has expressly stated that it does not approve of the assignment of CSRS annuity payments into trust. See OPM letter, attached (discussing a case factually similar to this one).
(4) Federal law provides that CSRS annuity payments are not subject to legal process.
Finally, in part (d) of her third argument, Sylvia argues that her father's will constitutes a “legal process,” which falls within the category of exceptions in § 8346(h). Contrary to Sylvia assertions, federal law provides that CSRS payments are not subject to legal process. 5 U.S.C. § 8346(a) (“The money...is not assignable...or subject to execution, levy, attachment, garnishment or other legal process...”)(emphasis added). Thus, the probate court was without authority to assign the CSRS payments to trust.
None of Sylvia arguments change our earlier determination that Sylvia annuity payments could not be assigned to a trust. Therefore, the annuity payments should have been considered income when received and a resource when held in the invalid “trust.”
Q. PS 01-227 SSI-Michigan-Review of the Ashlee Trust
R. PS 01-227 SSI-Michigan-Review of the Ashlee Trust
The issue concerns whether or not the funds held in the irrevocable trust are countable resources for SSI purposes. Under Michigan Law, the recipient is not considered the sole beneficiary of the trust, and cannot unilaterally revoke the trust. Moreover, the recipient cannot direct use of the assets for maintenance and support under the terms of the trust or sell the interest in the trust and use the proceeds for support and maintenance. Recognizing these facts, the trust assets are not considered resources for SSI purposes. However, although the trust principal is not a countable resource, disbursements from the trust, under certain circumstances, would be countable income for determining SSI eligibility and level of benefits.
You asked us to review a trust agreement created by the St. Clair Circuit Court for the benefit of Ashlee to determine whether the funds placed in the trust constitute a countable resource for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) purposes. For the reasons set forth below, our opinion is that the trust is not a countable resource. However, any distributions or in-kind payments from the trust that are used for the support and maintenance of Ashlee and any cash distributions paid directly to Ashlee would be countable income for SSI purposes.
On September 3, 1998, the St. Clair Circuit Court entered an order establishing the “Ashlee Irrevocable Trust.” The trust agreement provides that the trust is established for the benefit of Ashlee, who has multiple physical and developmental disabilities arising from birth trauma. The trust is funded from proceeds resulting from the settlement of litigation associated with the birth trauma. The trust agreement names Michelle (Ashlee's mother) and Comerica Bank as the trustees. The trust states that it is established pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A).
The trust provides that, during Ashlee's lifetime, any person may transfer property to the Trustee for the trust. Article Two. The trust states that it is irrevocable. Article Three. The trust states that trust shall not be construed as a support trust and is established as a purely discretionary trust. Article Five, para. B, section 2. The trustee has sole and uncontrolled discretion to pay to Ashlee or for her benefit any portion of the income or principal of the trust. Article Five. The primary purpose of the trust is to provide for the “greatest degree of security” for Ashlee, who has multiple disabilities. Article Five, para. A. The trust is intended to benefit Ashlee by providing for her extra and supplemental items over and above the benefits she may be entitled to receive from any governmental or private programs as a result of her special needs. Article Five, para. B, section 1.
Distributions from the trust are at the complete discretion of the trustee and may include, but are not limited to, payments for medical and dental expenses, rehabilitative training, adaptive equipment and therapy, tutoring expenses, entertainment and recreation, funeral and burial arrangements, advocacy on her behalf, and a home or a vehicle. Article Five, para. D, section 1. The trust states that Ashlee has no power or authority to compel the trustee to make distributions to her. Article Five, para. D, section 2.
The trust document contains a spendthrift provision that purports to protect the trust assets from any claims by a beneficiary's creditors and forbids any beneficiary from selling or in any manner disposing of his or her interest in the trust or the income it generates. Article Seven.
Ashlee is the sole beneficiary of the trust during her lifetime, and the trust states that it is primarily for her benefit and only “incidentally” for the benefit of those who would receive the balance of the trust upon her death. Article Five, para. B, section 4.
The trust provides that it will continue until Ashlee's death or until all trust funds are expended on her behalf. Article Six. If assets remain at the time of Ashlee's death, the trustee shall first reimburse all states where Ashlee received medical assistance payments. Article Six, para. A. The trustee shall then pay all estate, inheritance or other similar taxes, including funeral and reasonable administration expenses. Article Six, para. A. The residue and remainder of the trust shall be distributed in equal shares to Ashlee's surviving issue, by right of representation. Article Six, para. B. If Ashlee leaves no surviving issue at her death, the residue is distributed to her heirs at law, with distributions made as though she had died intestate under the laws of Michigan in effect at the time of her death. Article Six, para. B. The trust document states that, as of the date on which the trust was established (September 3, 1998), Ashlee's heirs would be her mother and her father (or the survivor of them), and thereafter, her younger sister. Article Six, para. B.
Trust assets are resources if the SSI recipient can: terminate the trust and use the assets for food, clothing, and shelter; direct the use of the assets for personal maintenance and support under the terms of the trust; or, sell the interest in the trust and use the proceeds for support and maintenance. 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a); POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1)(a). We conclude that the trust is not a resource under any of these tests.
A. Can Ashlee terminate the trust?
In general, where a grantor is also the sole beneficiary of a trust, he or she can revoke or compel termination of the trust, even when the trust declaration states that the trust is irrevocable. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 339, comment a (1959); POMS SI 01120.200(D)(3). Because this trust was funded with the proceeds of a personal injury suit brought on Ashlee's behalf, she is the grantor. See Memorandum from Reg. Chief Counsel, Chicago to Ass't. Reg. Comm.-MOS, Chicago, Review of a Trust for Anthony (6/29/01) (hereinafter Anthony Review); In re J~ Trust, 479 N.W. 2d 25, 30 (Mich. App. 1991).
The issue then becomes whether Ashlee is the sole beneficiary of the trust. If a grantor who is also a beneficiary manifests an intention to create a vested or contingent interest in someone other than herself, she is not the sole beneficiary. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 339, comment b (1959). Here, the trust provides that any remaining residue from the trust upon Ashlee's death after the state is reimbursed and her last expenses are paid, shall be distributed to Ashlee's issue, or if there are no surviving issue, then to Ashlee's heirs at law. Previously, OGC advised that a grantor trust, created under Michigan law, which names only “heirs at law” as residual beneficiaries, is revocable and therefore, would be countable as a resource. See C~ Review; Memorandum from Reg. Chief Counsel, Chicago to Ass't Reg. Comm.-MOS, Chicago, Michigan Trust for Arthur (7/15/97). However, there has been a recent change in Michigan law. Effective April 1, 2000, the new law states that language in a governing instrument describing the beneficiaries of a disposition as the transferor's “'heirs' [or] 'heirs at law' . . . does not create or presumptively create a reversionary interest in the transferor." Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.2719 (West 2000). The law provides that, absent evidence to the contrary, this language manifests an intent to create a beneficial interest in a particular class of people. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.2719. Here, Ashlee appears to have intended just that, since she specifically names certain individuals. The new Michigan law applies to trusts created before April 1, 2001, as it appears Ashlee's trust was. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.8101. In any event, the naming of Ashlee's issue probably would be sufficient to create additional beneficiaries even under prior law. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 127, comment b.
We believe that the provisions in the trust must be read as creating a contingent interest in Ashlee's issue and heirs. She is therefore not the sole beneficiary of the trust, and cannot unilaterally revoke the trust.
B. Can Ashlee direct the trustees to use the trust for her support and maintenance or sell her interest in the trust?
Ashlee also could not direct the use of the assets for her maintenance and support under the terms of the trust or sell the interest in the trust and use the proceeds for support and maintenance. The trust states that the trustee has sole and uncontrolled discretion to pay to Ashlee or for her benefit any portion of the income or principal of the trust and that under no circumstances shall Ashlee serve as trustee or have any power or authority to compel the trustee to make distributions to her. Articles Four, para. A, and Five. Given that the trustees have full discretion as to whether or not to make payments from the trust, Ashlee could not direct the use of assets, and we assume that her beneficial interest in the trust would have no significant fair market value, even if it is sellable. See Memorandum from Reg. Chief Counsel, Chicago to Ass't Reg. Comm.-MOS, Chicago; Review of Supplemental Needs Trust for Christopher (9/21/01); Restatement (Third) of Trusts § 60 and comment f (Tentative Draft No. 2, Mar. 10, 1999).
C. How do we treat disbursements from the trust?
Although the trust principal is not a countable resource, disbursements from the trust, under certain circumstances, would be countable income for determining Ashlee's SSI eligibility and level of benefits. See POMS SI 01120.201(I)(1). If the trustee were to authorize disbursements from the trust consisting of cash paid directly to Ashlee or payments to a third party for any food, clothing, or shelter received by Ashlee, such disbursements or in-kind payments would constitute income for SSI purposes. See POMS SI 01120.200(E)(1)(a)-(b). Trust disbursements resulting in Ashlee's receipt of goods or services other than food, clothing, or shelter—such as medical care— would not constitute countable income for SSI purposes. See POMS SI 01120.200(E)(1)(c).
For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the trust assets are not a resource to Ashlee, but that trust disbursements may, under some circumstances, constitute income to her.
R. PS 01-183 SSI-Michigan—Review of a Trust for Anthony
S. PS 01-183 SSI-Michigan—Review of a Trust for Anthony
This trust is not a resource for SSI because the beneficiary cannot revoke the trust, direct the use of the funds for his support and maintenance or sell his beneficial interest. However, disbursements from the trust may be income to the beneficiary.
Because of a change in the Social Security Act, this precedent may only be applicable to a trust established by an individual before 1/1/00.
You have requested an opinion on whether the assets of the “Anthony Irrevocable Trust” count as a resource of Anthony for purposes of determining his SSI eligibility and whether a change in Michigan law creates an exception to OGC's previous opinions. For the reasons discussed below, our opinion is that the trust is not a countable resource.
On May 4, 1994, the Oakland County Probate Court of the State of Michigan entered an Order Appointing Trustee and Establishing Trust Agreement. That Order states that “all payments from the 1982 settlement” shall be received into the Trust. A report of contact verified that the money in the trust came from the settlement of a malpractice suit brought on Anthony's behalf as an infant. The Order appoints Richard and Mary C~ as trustees.
The trust declaration provides that its primary purpose is to “provide for the greatest degree of security” for Anthony, who has developmental disabilities, and that the trustees are authorized to pay any portion of the income or principle of the trust for the benefit of Anthony “or his issue.” Trust Declaration, Article Five. It also states, “[b]ecause this trust is intended for the primary benefit of Anthony , it is only incidentally for the benefit of those named to receive the balance of the trust, if any, upon his death.” Trust Declaration, Article Five, B.4. The trust document states that it should be “administered and managed so as to maximize and protect any insurance and public assistance benefits for which Tony is or may be eligible for.” Trust Declaration, Article Five, A. Distributions are in the discretion of the trustee, and the trust states it shall not be construed as a support trust. Trust Declaration, Article Five, B. Distributions are to be made only to supplement any public or private benefits to which Anthony is entitled for support and maintenance. Trust Declaration, Article Five, D.3. The trustee also has the discretion not to make distributions and Tony has no power or authority to demand any distributions. Trust Declaration, Article Five, C, D. The trust declaration contains a spendthrift provision that protects the trust assets from any claims by a beneficiary's creditors and forbids any beneficiary from selling or in any other manner disposing of his or her interest in the trust principal or income. Trust Declaration, Article Seven.
Regarding revocation or amendment, article three of the trust states, “[d]uring Tony's lifetime, this trust shall not be amended or revoked unless a court of competent jurisdiction determines any modification is in the best interest of Anthony.” If a court or other competent authority determines that the trust renders Anthony ineligible for government benefits, then the trustee has the discretion to terminate the trust and distribute the principle to Anthony's heirs at law or under a court approved alternate distribution plan. Trust Declaration, Article Six, B, Article Ten, B.
At Anthony's death, the trust is authorized to pay all taxes, the expenses of his last illness, funeral and burial costs, enforceable debts, and any State claim for Medicaid benefits. Trust Declaration, Article Six, A. The remainder of the trust is to be “distributed to those persons who are determined to be Anthony's heirs at law, with distributions in the manner provided as though Anthony died intestate under the laws of the State of Michigan in effect at that time” Trust Declaration, Article Six, B. The trust declaration further states that, “[n]otwithstanding these directives, a court of competent jurisdiction may approve an alternate distribution plan for the remainder of the trust property if it determines the plan to be in the best interests of” Anthony. Trust Declaration, Article Six, B. Anthony does not have any power of appointment by will.
Trust assets are resources if the SSI recipient can: terminate the trust and use the assets for food, clothing, and shelter; direct the use of the assets for personal maintenance and support under the terms of the trust; or sell the interest in the trust and use the proceeds for support and maintenance. 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a); POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1)(a). Memorandum from Reg. Chief Counsel, Chicago to Ass't Reg. Comm. - MOS, Chicago, Clarification of Regional Program Circular 94-05—Question from LitchF D.O. Concerning Trust with Multiple Grantors (December 17, 1999).
Can Anthony terminate the trust?
The trust declaration provides that the trust cannot be revoked or amended, except with court approval, and only if it is in Anthony's best interest. Trust Declaration, Article Three. Because the trust was funded with the proceeds of a personal injury suit brought on Anthony's behalf, he is the grantor. See Memorandum from Reg. Chief Counsel, Chicago to Ass't Reg. Comm.- MOS, Chicago, Review of Trust for Stephanie (9/27/99) (hereinafter “Stephanie Review”); In re J~ Trust, 479 NW 2d 25, 30 (Mich. App. 1991). Therefore, we must consider whether the grantor trust rule makes this trust revocable.
In general, where a grantor is also the sole beneficiary of the trust, he or she can revoke or compel termination of the trust, even when the trust declaration states that the trust is irrevocable. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 339, cmt. a (1959); POMS SI 01120.200(D)(3). The issue then becomes whether Anthony is the sole beneficiary of the trust. If a grantor who is also a beneficiary manifests an intention to create a vested or contingent interest in someone other than himself, he is not the sole beneficiary. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 339, comment b. Where a grantor is not the sole beneficiary, he cannot revoke the trust without the consent of the other beneficiaries. We have previously advised that these general trust principals apply in Michigan. See Memorandum from Reg. Chief Counsel, Chicago to Ass't Reg. Comm. - MOS, Chicago, Six State Synopsis of Trust Laws (2/26/92); E~ Review; H~ v. H~, 543 N.W.2d 19, 20 (Mich. App. 1995)(even irrevocable trust may be terminated with consent of grantor and all beneficiaries).
Generally, the law has presumed that no additional beneficiaries were intended when a grantor transfers property in trust to himself for life and, upon his death, to his heirs or next of kin. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 127, cmt. b (1959). In the past, OGC has advised that a grantor trust, created under Michigan law, which names only “heirs at law” as residual beneficiaries is revocable and, therefore, would be a countable resource. See e.g., Memorandum from Reg. Chief Counsel, Chicago to Ass't Reg. Comm. - MOS, Chicago, Michigan Trust for Arthur (July 15, 1997) (hereinafter “Arthur Trust”). Anthony's attorney suggests that a change in Michigan probate law, repealing the “Doctrine of Worthier Title,” would make the trust irrevocable and, thus, not a countable resource. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.2719 (West 2000). Under the Doctrine of Worthier Title, the owner of property could not, during his life, create a remainder interest in his heirs and, if he purported to do so, he instead created a reversionary interest in himself. During the grantor's life, the heirs were deemed to hold no interest at all. See generally David, Anglo-American Land Law: Diverging Developments From A Shared History Part II: How Anglo-American Land Law Diverged After American Colonization and Independence, 34 REAL PROP. PROB. & TR. J. 295, 306-07 (1999); 56 N.Y. JUR. 2d Estates, Powers, and Restraints on Alienation § 170 (1986 & Supp. 2001). The Restatement (Second) of Trusts explains that this common law rule no longer exists, but “the question of construction” persists and, in the absence of evidence of contrary intent, there is no intent by an owner to create a remainder interest in his heirs. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 127, cmt. b (1959). The doctrine has been unevenly applied as a rule of construction. See e.g., H~ v. R National Bank, 361 F.2d 559 (D.C. Cir. 1966)(criticizing application of doctrine of worthier title as a rule of construction; ruling that doctrine has no applicability in District of Columbia; ruling that settlor's heirs must give consent before settlor may revoke trust).
We have advised in the past that Restatement (Second) of Trusts, § 127 applies in Michigan. In 1998, however, the Michigan legislature adopted the provisions of the 1990 version of the Uniform Probate Code which abolish the doctrine of worthier title, both as a rule of law and as a rule of construction. Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.2719 (West 2000); Unif. Probate Code § 2-710. Michigan law now provides that language in a governing instrument describing the beneficiaries of a disposition as the transferor's “'heirs' [or] 'heirs at law' . . .does not create or presumptively create a reversionary interest in the transferor.” Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.2719 (West 2000). The legislature further defined how the terms “heirs” or “heirs at law” would be interpreted. Id. at §700.2720. These provisions took effect on April 1, 2000, and the effective date provision states, “a rule of construction or presumption provided in this act applies to a governing instrument executed before that date unless there is a clear indication of a contrary intent.” Id. at § 700.8101. We have found no reported case law interpreting these new provisions. We believe that we must read these provisions as creating a contingent remainder in Anthony's heirs.
Because we believe that the trust declaration creates an interest in Anthony's heirs, we believe that Anthony is not the sole beneficiary of the trust. Therefore, he cannot revoke the trust alone.
Can Anthony direct the trustees to use the trust for his support and maintenance?
The trust declaration explicitly provides that distributions of income or principal are to be made in the sole discretion of the trustees and only to supplement benefits from governmental or private programs. Trust Declaration, Article Five. The trust declaration also states, “Under no circumstances shall Tony have the power or authority to demand any distribution from the Trustee, who is under no obligation, implied or otherwise, to make any distributions to him.” Trust Declaration, Article Five, D2. In addition, the spendthrift provision protects the trust principal and income from the claims of Anthony's creditors. Trust Declaration, Article Seven. Anthony, thus, cannot compel the trustees to use any portion of the trust for his support and maintenance.
Can Anthony sell his interest in the trust?
The trust declaration explicitly provides that no beneficiary “shall have any power to sell, assign, transfer, encumber or in any other manner anticipate or dispose of his or her interest in this trust or the income it generates.” Trust Declaration, Article Seven. Thus, Anthony cannot sell his interest in the trust. Even if Anthony had the power to sell his beneficial interest in the trust, his interest would presumably have no value on the open market because the trustees, having full discretion as to whether or not to make payments from the trust, cannot be compelled to make any distributions.
Under current Michigan law, Anthony would not be considered the sole beneficiary of the trust. Therefore, he does not have the power to revoke the trust. Nor does Anthony have any power to sell his beneficial interest in the trust or to compel the trustees to use trust principal or income for his support and maintenance. Therefore, the trust is not a countable resource for SSI purposes. Distributions to Anthony or for his benefit, however, may constitute countable unearned income in the month in which they are received, see 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1121- 416.1124, or cause the “presumed value rule” or “one-third reduction rule” to reduce Anthony's benefits. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1130-1141 (1999); see also POMS SI 01120.200.
S. PS 01-112 SSI-Michigan-Review of Richard O~ American Century Giftrust, SSN: ~
T. PS 01-112 SSI-Michigan-Review of Richard O~ American Century Giftrust, SSN: ~
This opinion concerns a “Giftrust” in the State of Michigan. The trust was established by a father (the grantor) for his son (the beneficiary) and will mature in February 2021. The beneficiary cannot revoke the trust, cannot direct the use of the trust assets, and cannot sell his beneficial interest due to a spendthrift clause. Therefore, the trust is not a resource for SSI purposes. In 2021, the funds will be released to the beneficiary and will be considered income.
You have asked whether the assets of a trust established by Richard , for his son Richard, should be considered a countable resource for purposes of determining the son's eligibility for SSI. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that the assets in the trust should not be considered a countable resource.
On February 19, 1991, Richard D. O~ entered into a Trust Agreement and established a “Giftrust” for “Richard E. O~.” The Giftrust agreement named Richard D. O~ as the creator or grantor of the Giftrust, and Richard E. O~ as the sole beneficiary. The directors of the Giftrust fund appointed the trustee. Richard D. O~ initially funded the trust with $250.00, which the fund invested. The Giftrust agreement provides that the trust was established as an irrevocable trust for the benefit of Richard E. O~, from his father, with a maturity date of February 5, 2021. During the period of the trust agreement, the Giftrust provides that the trustee will reinvest any dividends earned on the principal. As of March 31, 2000, the Giftrust was worth $2,870.29. On the maturity date of February 5, 2021, the Giftrust will terminate and the accumulated trust assets will be distributed to Richard E. O~ “to use as you please.”
The Giftrust agreement provides that if Richard E. O~, the beneficiary, dies before the maturity date, the trust shall terminate and the trustee shall distribute the remaining trust property to the designated alternate beneficiary. Page 3 of American Century Giftrust, “What Happens When the Giftrust Matures?”
The Giftrust agreement does not allow the grantor, the beneficiary or any other person to revoke or terminate the trust or to redeem any portion of the trust principal or dividends until the maturity date of the trust. See February 13, 1991 letter from Nancy D. S~, Registered Agent, Twentieth Century Investors; see also Giftrust Agreement, paragraph 4. Nor can the beneficiary of the trust sell his beneficial interest at any time before the maturity date of February 5, 2021. Id.
A countable resource is defined as cash or other liquid assets, or any real or personal property that an individual owns and could convert to cash to use for his support and maintenance. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a); Program Operations Manual System (“POMS”) SI 01110.100(B)(1). If the individual has the right, authority, or power to liquidate the property or his share of the property, it is considered a resource. See 20 C.F.R.. § 416.1201(a)(1); POMS SI 01110.100(B)(1). Trust assets are a resource if (i) the individual can revoke or terminate the trust and obtain unrestricted access to the trust assets; (ii) the individual has access to the trust assets and can direct the use of the trust assets to meet his need for food, clothing, and shelter; or (iii) the individual can sell his beneficial interest in the trust. See POMS SI 01120.105(A)(1), 01120.200(D)(1)-(3).
Whether the claimant can revoke or terminate the trust or direct use of the trust assets depends upon the terms of the trust agreement and applicable state law. See id. SI 01120.200(D)(2). We have reviewed the documents you provided, as well as the actual trust terms (which we requested from the creators of the trust fund), and conclude that the trust principal and accumulated dividend income are not currently countable resources to Richard E. O~, because he does not have the right, under the terms of the Giftrust agreement or Michigan state law, to revoke or terminate the trust before its maturity date of February 5, 2021. Furthermore, until February 5, 2021, Richard E. O~ does not have any access to the trust assets and cannot direct the use of the trust assets to meet his needs for food, clothing, and shelter. Nor can he sell his beneficial interest in the trust before the maturity date.
A. Beneficiary Does Not Have the Right to Revoke or Terminate the Trust Before February 5, 2021.
Whether a trust is revocable or terminable depends on the terms of the trust and applicable state law. See POMS SI 01120.200(D)(2). Here, Richard E. O~ does not have the right to terminate the trust under its own terms or Michigan state law.
Here, the father of Richard E. O~ was expressly named as the creator or grantor of the Giftrust agreement, and there is no indication that anyone other than the father provided the consideration for the trust. The terms of the Giftrust agreement itself do not give Richard E. O~ or anyone else the right to terminate or modify the trust. There is no indication that the grantor of the trust intended that his son could terminate the trust and obtain the assets. Nothing in state law would give the beneficiary of a trust the right to terminate a trust and obtain the assets where the grantor of the trust did not so provide. As of February 5, 2021, however, the trust will terminate, and Richard E. O~ will be entitled to access the entire balance of the trust at that time.
B. Beneficiary Does Not Have the Right to Direct Use of the Trust's Assets Before Maturity Date of February 5, 2021.
Although Richard E. O~ does not have the legal authority to terminate the trust, the trust may still be counted as a resource in determining SSI eligibility if he has the ability to direct the use of the trust principal. See POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1)(a).
Such authority may be included specifically in a trust provision allowing the beneficiary to act on his own or in a provision allowing him to order actions by the trustee. See id. SI 01120.200(D)(1)(b). Here, the trust agreement includes no such provisions, and only allows the trust assets to be distributed on the date of the Giftrust's maturity, which is February 5, 2021. The Giftrust agreement gives the trustee the discretion to reinvest the trust dividends, but does not allow Richard E. O~ the right to unilaterally direct use of the trust's assets until after the maturity date.
C. Beneficiary Cannot Sell His Beneficial Interest in the Trust Before February 5, 2021.
A trust can also be a resource if the individual can sell his beneficial interest in the trust. Here, however, the Giftrust agreement contains a spendthrift clause that prevents Richard E. O~ from assigning or otherwise transferring his rights in the trust. See Giftrust Agreement, paragraph 4 (copy attached).
D. Dividend Payments Are Reinvested In The Giftrust, And Therefore Are Not Currently Income.
Lastly, the Giftrust does not provide for any disbursements of income from the trust, and in fact, provides that any dividend income be reinvested in the trust until the maturity date. Thus, under these circumstances, the trust dividends would not be income, during the term of the trust, for determining Richard E. O~'s SSI eligibility and level of benefits. The Giftrust does not provide for any payment of the trust assets, including the reinvested dividends, until the maturity date in February 2021.
Based on the documents provided to us, it is our opinion that the trust established for the benefit of Richard E. O~ is not currently a countable resource for purposes of determining his eligibility for SSI. Prior to the date of the trust's maturity in February 2021, Richard E. O~ does not have the right to revoke the trust; direct the use of its assets to meet his needs for food, clothing, and shelter; or sell his beneficial interest in the trust. In February 2021, the funds will be released to him and will constitute income.
T. PS 01-098 SSI-Michigan-Review of the Sylvia Civil Service Pension Trust, SSN~
U. PS 01-098 SSI-Michigan-Review of the Sylvia Civil Service Pension Trust, SSN~
Federal law prohibits the assignment of a Civil Service Pension annuity to a trust and, therefore, the “trust” assets should be considered a resource and any annuity payments should be considered unearned income for purposes of SSI eligibility.
You asked whether a Civil Service Pension Trust established for Sylvia , the developmentally disabled daughter of a retired civil servant, constitutes a countable resource for purposes of determining her SSI eligibility. We conclude that federal law prohibits the assignment of the Civil Service Pension annuity to a trust and, therefore, the “trust” assets should be considered a resource and the annuity payments should be considered unearned income for purposes of SSI eligibility.
You also asked us when Sylvia could be charged with the income and resource, should we determine that the assignment to the trust was invalid. We conclude that the Agency can reopen the case (based on good cause) and suspend her benefits (if appropriate) effective up to two years ago.
As the developmentally disabled daughter of a retired civil servant, Sylvia is eligible for a Civil Service Pension Annuity through her father, Guido . Upon his death, Guido directed that his daughter's United States Civil Service Annuity be placed into trust. See First Codicil to Will and Testament, Paragraph I. In accordance with Guido's wishes, the Wayne County Probate Court ordered that all money received from Sylvia 's Civil Service Survivor Annuity be placed into a trust. See Order of Wayne County Probate Court. The Court further ordered that all trust assets be expended only in accordance with the terms of Guido's will and codicil. Id. Guido's will appointed Sylvia 's siblings as co-trustees and stated that the trust assets should not be used for his daughter's “basic day to day care for food, shelter and clothing, but only for extraordinary care or needs.” See Guido’s Will, § VI, Paragraph 2.
Trust assets are a resource for SSI purposes if the individual owns them and can convert them to cash to be used for her support and maintenance. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a). If the individual has the right, authority, or power to liquidate the property, it is a resource. Id. Trust assets are a resource if the individual can revoke the trust and use the assets to meet his needs for food, clothing, and shelter, or if the individual can direct the use of the trust assets to be used for her support and maintenance, or sell her beneficial interest in the trust. See POMS SI 01120.200(D).
Although Guido's will expressly states that the trust assets should not be used for Sylvia 's care and maintenance for food, clothing, and shelter, we must first determine whether the trust is valid. If the trust is invalid, the annuity payments would be unearned income and would affect Sylvia 's eligibility for SSI. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1121(a)(annuities are unearned income for purposes of SSI eligibility).
1. Federal Law Prohibits the Assignment of a Civil Service Pension Annuity.
As the developmentally disabled daughter of a retired civil servant, Sylvia is entitled to Civil Service Pension Annuity payments. Sylvia 's father attempted to assign her annuity payments into a trust, but federal law prohibits the assignment of a Civil Service Pension Annuity. See 5 U.S.C. § 8346(a). Because this type of annuity is non-assignable by law it may not be paid directly into a trust to avoid SSI eligibility. See POMS SI 01120.200G.1c. Therefore, the father's assignment of Sylvia 's annuity into trust was invalid.
It is also doubtful that Guido had the power or authority to assign the assets to trust after he died. Even if he had the power and authority to assign his daughter's assets on her behalf while he was living, this power and authority presumably would terminate upon his death.
2. Civil Service Annuity Payments were (and are) Unearned Income When Received, and Resources When Held.
Because the assignment of Sylvia 's annuity payments into trust was invalid under federal law, the provisions of Guido's will cannot govern Sylvia's use of those annuity payments. Instead, we must look to federal law governing pension annuity expenditures. 5 U.S.C. § 8345(e) expressly states that civil service retirement annuity payments to which a minor child or legally disabled individual is entitled may be paid to a guardian or representative payee “legally vested with the care of the claimant.” Consequently, Sylvia 's annuity was paid to Dottie (Sylvia 's sister and legal guardian) as a representative payee, not as trustee.
In order to meet her obligations as representative payee, it will be necessary for Dottie to make the annuity available for use in meeting the ordinary and necessary expenses related to Sylvia 's care. Because Dottie, the representative payee of the annuity, is required to use the annuity for Sylvia 's ordinary care, the annuity payments made to her for Sylvia 's benefit were and are income to Sylvia , and any funds held in the invalid “trust” were and are a resource to her, under section 1612(a)(2)(B) of the Act, and 20 C.F.R. § 416.1121.
3. Sylvia's Claim Can Be Reopened For Up to Two Years Prior Based on Good Cause, and Benefits Should Be Suspended Effective With the First Month in the Past Two Years When Her Income and Resources Exceeded the Eligibility Limitations.
Because Sylvia 's annuity payments should have been considered income and resources to her, we must determine the extent to which Sylvia 's SSI eligibility is affected. In August 1993, we made a reconsideration determination that Sylvia 's annuity payments paid to and held in “trust” were not income or resources for purposes of SSI eligibility. That determination became final and binding. However, continuing resource and income determinations in SSI cases are made each month after the claimant begins receiving benefits. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1123(a), 416.1207. Each such determination is deemed an “initial determination.” See POMS SI 04070.015 thru SI 04070.030(A)(1).
The regulations allow the Agency to reopen SSI determinations within one year of an initial determination for any reason and within two years of an initial determination for good cause shown. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1488. Good cause for reopening is shown where it is clear on the face of the evidence that an error was made in making the determination. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1489. There is an error on the face of the evidence in the determination that Sylvia 's annuity payments were paid to and held in “trust,” and therefore were not income or resources to her. Therefore, the Agency may reopen the deemed initial determination on eligibility dating back two years.
Benefits should be suspended effective with the first month, within that two year period, when Sylvia 's income or resources (including income and resources resulting from the annuity payments), exceeded applicable limits. 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1123(a), 416.1323.
In summary, we conclude that Sylvia 's annuity payments could not be assigned to a trust. Therefore, the annuity payments should have been considered income when received and a resource when held in the invalid “trust.” The Agency should determine whether this income or resource would have rendered Sylvia ineligible for SSI within the last two years. If so, the Agency should reopen her case (based on good cause) and suspend her benefits effective wit the first month within the last two years when her income or resources (including that resulting from the annuity payments) rendered her ineligible for SSI. The income and resources from the annuity payments also should be considered when determining any future eligibility.
U. PS 01-092 SSI-Michigan-Review of a Trust for Vanessa B~, ~; Your ref: S2D5G3
V. PS 01-092 SSI-Michigan-Review of a Trust for Vanessa B~, ~; Your ref: S2D5G3
This trust, which was created in July 2000, satisfies the requirements of the Medicaid Trust exception (SI 01120.203). Therefore, the trust principal is not a countable resource. However, even though the principal is not a resource, any income distributions from the trust could be income and should be developed under the SSI income rules. For example, any cash disbursements made to the SSI beneficiary would be considered unearned income.
You asked us to review a trust agreement created by the Wayne County Probate Court for the benefit of Vanessa to determine whether the funds placed in the trust constitutes a countable resource for Social Security Income (SSI) purposes. For the reasons set forth below, we believe that the trust meets the requirements of the Medicaid Trust and the trust principal is not a countable resource to Vanessa. Some distributions may, however, constitute unearned income.
Following settlement of a medical malpractice claim initiated on behalf of Vanessa, the settlement funds were transferred into a trust for the benefit of Vanessa. The trust was created in July 2000, by the Wayne County Probate Court, naming Vanessa, a minor, the sole beneficiary of the trust. Trust Declarations, Article One § 1.2.
The trust agreement states that the “Trust is intended to be a special needs trust for the benefit of a person with a disability under the age of sixty-five (65) under 42 U.S.C. Section 1396p(d)(4)(A).” Trust, Declarations. The trust purports to be a “nonsupport, supplemental needs trust.” Trust Article One § 1.2. Pursuant to the trust agreement, neither the income nor the principal of the trust is to be used for Vanessa's support, including her food clothing and shelter needs. Trust Article Five § 5.4. The trustee is authorized to make payments for goods and services, including uninsured medial or dental treatments, rehabilitative or educational training, entertainment, recreation, travel, vacations, funeral and burial expenses and other amenities not available from public assistance. Trust Article Five § 5.2. Vanessa has no power or authority to demand distributions from the trustee. Trust Article Five § 5.3. In addition, the trustee is not permitted to make payments of income or principal, other than small amounts of money advanced for incidentals, directly to Vanessa. Trust Article Five § 5.3.
Vanessa's attorney and conservator submitted a statement indicating that the state court authorized creation of the trust on or about August 31, 2000. The agreement provides upon Vanessa's death, the trust will terminate and the trustee will repay the State of Michigan for any Medicaid assistance received by Vanessa. Trust Article Seven § 7.1. Likewise, if Vanessa lives in any other state the trust will repay that state for any Medicaid Vanessa received. Trust Article Seven § 7.1.
Under the regulations, “resources” are “[c]ash or other liquid assets or any other real or personal property that an individual (or spouse, if any) owns and could convert to cash to be used for his or her support and maintenance.” 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a). If an individual has the right, authority or power to liquidate the property it is considered a resource. 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a)(1). Certain trusts are considered countable resources to individuals who created them. 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e)(3). However, trust assets are not considered a countable resource if the trust was created in compliance with 42 U.S.C. section 1396p(d)(4)(A) after January 1, 2000. See 42 U.S.C. §1382b(e)(5). Under this provision a trust created after January 1, 2000 will not be considered a resource if the following four elements are met: (1) the trust was established for the benefit of a disabled individual under the age of 65; (2) the assets contained in the trust are the individual's; (3) the trust was established by the individual's parent, grandparent, legal guardian or the court; and (4) upon the individual's death the State will be reimbursed for any medical assistance paid on the individual's behalf. 42 U.S.C. §§ 1382b(e)(5), 1396p(d)(4)(A); POMS EM 00067(D).
This trust expressly states that it was intended to be a special needs trust under 42 U.S.C. section 1396p(d)(4)(A) and it appears to meet the criteria of this section. The state court authorized and established the trust in August 2000. See, File 28. Vanessa is apparently disabled for SSI purposes and is under the age of sixty-five. Trust Agreement, Declarations, 1.2.
Because the trust principal consists of funds Vanessa received as settlement of a medical malpractice claim, the assets deposited in the trust are Vanessa's. POMS EM 00067(B)(2)(b). Finally, upon Vanessa's death, the trustee is required to repay the State of Michigan any Medicaid assistance Vanessa received during her lifetime. Trust Article Seven, § 7.1. Therefore, the trust satisfies the requirements of the Medicaid Trust exception and the trust principal is not a countable resource for SSI purposes. 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(e)(5); POMS EM 00067(D),(I).
Although the trust principal is not considered a countable resource, certain distributions may be considered income. POMS EM 00067(E). For example, any disbursements of cash made directly to Vanessa are considered unearned income. POMS SI 01120.200(E)(1)(a). The trustee is permitted to advance small amounts of cash to Vanessa for incidentals. Trust Article Five § 5.3. These advancements would be considered income. POMS SI 01120.200(E)(1)(a). In addition, any disbursements made to a third party which result in Vanessa receiving food, clothing or shelter would be considered income in the form of “in-kind support.” POMS SI 01120.200(1)(b). Thus, if despite provision 5.4, which prohibits the trustee from distributing trust income or principal for Vanessa's support, the trustee authorized payments to a third party for any food, shelter or clothing received by Vanessa, these disbursements would be considered income for SSI purposes.
The trust principal is not a countable resource for Vanessa. Under some circumstances, distributions from the trust may be considered an applicable resource.
V. PS 01-001 Review of the Scott Trust, SSN ~
W. PS 01-001 Review of the Scott Trust, SSN ~
The issue concerns a discretionary trust where the individual does not have a judicially enforceable right to command the trustee to make disbursements from the trust. Furthermore, he cannot unilaterally revoke the trust or transfer his interest in the trust, and thereby gain access to trust assets. Thus, the trust assets are not a countable resource for SSI purposes. However, since the individual does have limited withdrawal rights in contributions made to the trust, those contributions may be considered income when received and a resource for a brief period thereafter.
CAUTION: Because of a change in the Social Security Act, this precedent may only be applicable to trusts established before 1/1/00.
You asked us to review a trust dated February 4, 1999, to determine whether the assets placed in trust would be a countable resource to Scott, an SSI claimant. For the following reasons, we believe that the assets in trust are not available for use for Scott support and maintenance. Therefore, the assets in trust are not a countable resource to him.
We base our opinion on our review of the trust instrument you provided to us, as well as information provided by the attorney who drafted the trust, Dirk. The trust was established by Scott’s grandmother, Helen , on February 4, 1999. Jean, Helen's daughter and Scott's mother, was named as trustee. The trust instrument does not indicate how the trust was funded, but Dirk advised us that the trust was initially funded with approximately $5000 (cash). The trust indicates that assets of any type may be added to the trust, either by the settlor, Helen, or by others (art. 1.2). According to Dirk, Helen made an additional contribution of approximately $5000 in the Spring of 2000.
Article Two provides that Scott has certain withdrawal rights. In particular, it provides that whenever a contribution is made to the trust prior to Helen's death, the trustee must notify Scott in writing within 15 days of the contribution that he has the right to withdraw the amount of the contribution, subject to certain limitations (art. 2.1, 2.2). The amount of the withdrawal is limited to $20,000 if the donor is married and $10,000 if the donor is unmarried (art. 2.7). Scott's withdrawal rights expire 30 days after the date of the contribution (art. 2.3).
Article Three provides that the trustee “may distribute any portion or all of the income and principal of the Trust for Scott's benefit if, in the exercise of its sole discretion, the Trustee deems it appropriate for any purpose whatsoever to supplement other income and resources available to him” (art. 3.1). It further provides that “no distribution shall be made for Scott's benefit ... that would reduce any aid otherwise available for his maintenance, health care, education, or general welfare” (art. 3.1).
Scott is the sole current beneficiary of the trust. If Scott dies before complete distribution of the trust assets, the remaining assets will be distributed to his estate provided he exercises his general power appointment in his last will and testament (art. 3.2(a)). However, if Scott fails effectively to exercise his general power of appointment, the trust assets will be distributed to the issue then living of Jean (art. 3.2(b)). If there is no taker under that provision, then the trust assets will be distributed to the settlor's issue then living, by right of representation (art. 3.2(c)). Thus, in addition to Scott's current beneficial interest, two additional classes of individuals have contingent future interests in the trust property.
Property held in trust for an individual is a resource under 20 C.F.R. 416.1201 if: (1) the individual has legal authority to revoke the trust and gain access to the trust property and use it for his or her support and maintenance; (2) the individual can direct the trustee to use the property for his or her support and maintenance under the terms of the trust; or (3) the individual can transfer his or her interest in the trust and use the proceeds for support and maintenance. See POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1)(a); 20 C.F.R. 416.1201(a)(1) (1999) (“If the individual has the right, authority, or power to liquidate the property or his or her share of the property, it is considered a resource.”). We have reviewed the Scott Trust and conclude that the trust assets are not a countable resource for purposes of determining Scott's SSI eligibility.
Because Scott did not create the trust and the trust creates future interests in addition to Scott's current beneficial interest, the trust is not revocable by Scott alone, and it does not appear that Scott has the legal authority to revoke the trust and use the assets for his support and maintenance. Further, the trust provides that the trustee may at her discretion distribute “any portion” of the trust assets for “any purpose whatsoever” (art. 3.1). Because the trustee has unfettered discretion as to whether and when distributions may be made for Scott's benefit, the trust appears to be a discretionary trust. See 1 Restatement of Trusts (Second) 155; see also Miller v. Dep't of Mental Health, 442 N.W.2d 617, 618 (Mich. 1989) (distinguishing discretionary trusts and support trusts). The trustee is not required to distribute any of the assets, and the trust does not create any asset or income rights in the beneficiary. See generally Lawrence A. F~, Discretionary Trusts for a Disabled Beneficiary: A Solution or Trap for the Unwary, 46 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 335, 341-42 (1985). Therefore, Scott does not have a judicially enforceable right to direct distribution of trust property for his support and maintenance. See M~, 442 N.W.2d at 619 (providing that because the beneficiary's receipt of any amount depends on the trustee's discretion, the beneficiary does not have an ascertainable interest in the assets of a discretionary trust); 1 Restatement of Trusts (Second) 187 (“Where discretion is conferred upon the trustee with respect to the exercise of a power, its exercise is not subject to control by the court....”). Scott thus does not have the power to direct distribution of trust assets.
However, Scott does have certain withdrawal rights. In particular, within the first 30 days after a contribution to the trust, Scott has the right to withdraw the contribution, subject to the limitations provided Articles 2.6 and 2.7. Accordingly, contributions to the trust should be considered income to Scott on the date of the contribution. See 20 C.F.R. 416.1121(g), 416.1207(a). (The contribution should be considered income, however, only to the extent of any withdrawal limits set forth by the donor, as provided in Article 2.6, or to the extent of the withdrawal ceiling outlined in Article 2.7.) If Scott does not exercise his withdrawal rights by the first day of the subsequent month, and the 30-day period has not expired, then the amount of the contribution (subject again to any limits imposed by Articles 2.6 and 2.7) should be considered a resource to him for that subsequent month. See 20 C.F.R. 416.1207(d). Since Scott's withdrawal rights expire 30 days from the date of the contribution, and thus cannot extend beyond the following calendar month, the contribution will be a resource to him only for this one month. The trust specifically provides that the withdrawal rights are not cumulative and will lapse if not exercised (art. 2.3).
We note two reservations regarding the analysis outlined above. First, Scott's withdrawal rights apply only to contributions made to the trust prior to Helen's death (she is currently in her nineties) (art. 2.1). After her death, Scott has no right of withdrawal. Second, the trust provides that Scott must be notified of his withdrawal rights within 15 days after each contribution (art. 2.2). If he is not notified as required by the terms of the trust, he may have a legal cause of action against the trustee for breach of trust. We assume for purposes of our analysis that the trustee, where necessary, has complied with (and will in the future comply with) the notification provision as outlined in Article 2.2.
Finally, the trust contains a spendthrift provision which provides that no principal or income payable may be assigned by its beneficiary or be reached by any creditor (art. 6.7). Thus, it does not appear that Dirk has any power to transfer his interest in the trust and use those proceeds for support and maintenance. In sum, Dirk does not have the legal authority to revoke the trust, direct the use of the trust assets for his own support and maintenance, or transfer his interest in the trust, and the trust assets are not a countable resource for SSI purposes.
For the foregoing reasons, we believe that the trust assets should not be considered a countable resource to Scott. The trust appears to be a discretionary trust, and Dirk does not have a judicially enforceable right to command the trustee to make disbursements from the trust. Furthermore, he cannot unilaterally revoke the trust, or transfer his interest in the trust, and thereby gain access to trust assets. However, Scott does have limited withdrawal rights in contributions made to the trust, and those contributions may be considered income when received and a resource for a brief period thereafter, as discussed above.
W. PS 00-601 State Law on A Trust Agreement for Brian
X. PS 00-601 State Law on A Trust Agreement for Brian
The trust was established in the State of Michigan. It is not a countable resource for the following reasons:
The SSI applicant is not the settlor or the sole beneficiary. He does not have direct use of the assets for his support and maintenance, and, He cannot sell his interest in the trust.
NOTE: Because of a change in the Social Security Act, this precedent may only apply to trusts established before 1/1/00.
You have asked whether the assets of a trust established by John should be considered a countable resource for purposes of determining the eligibility of one of his children, Brian, for SSI. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that the assets in the trust should not be considered a countable resource.
On or about June 1, 1997, John entered into a Trust Agreement and established the “John FBO Brian Irrevocable Trust.” The Trust Agreement named John as settlor and John,Jr. and Mark as co-trustees. John apparently funded the trust with certain life insurance policies and property identified in a Schedule of Insurance and a Schedule of Property, copies of which were not provided to this office. The Trust Agreement provides that the trust was established for the benefit of John's family and so that all assets of the trust could be excluded from his gross estate for federal estate tax purposes.
The Trust Agreement provides that the trustee may, in his or her discretion, pay to Brian or use for his benefit so much as or all of the net income and principal as the trustee determines to be required or desirable for his health, care, support, emergencies, education, the maintenance of his accustomed standard of living, establishing or purchasing a business or profession, purchasing a residence, providing for all expenses of a first wedding, or for any special purpose that the trustee may determine to be in his best interest. Trust Agreement, Article 3(A)(1). The Trust Agreement provides that if Brian dies before the complete distribution of the trust, the trust shall terminate and the trustee shall distribute the remaining trust property to or for the benefit of Brian's children. Trust Agreement, Article 3(A)(2). If Brian does not have any children at the time of his death, the Trust Agreement provides that the trustee shall distribute the remaining trust property to the settlor's then living children and then the children of any deceased child. Trust Agreement, Article 3(A)(2).
The Trust Agreement further provides that a beneficiary shall have the right to demand that a portion of the trust income and principal be distributed to himself or herself under certain circumstances. Trust Agreement, Article 4. Specifically, any beneficiary shall have the right to immediate distribution from the income and principal of the trust where the settlor or any other donor makes a contribution to the trust and provides written notice to the trustee that such contribution is subject to withdrawal by a beneficiary. Trust Agreement, Article 4(A). Under these circumstances, the immediate distribution from the income and principal cannot exceed the amount of the contribution. Trust Agreement, Article 4(A). If the beneficiary is under a legal disability, a legal guardian can exercise this right to demand on behalf of the beneficiary. Trust Agreement, Article 4(B)(2). The demand must be made within thirty of the contribution. Trust Agreement, Article 4(B)(4).
The Trust Agreement provides that the settlor waives all right, power, and authority to amend or revoke the trust. Trust Agreement, Article 12.
A countable resource is defined as cash or other liquid assets, or any real or personal property that an individual owns and could convert to cash to use for his support and maintenance.
See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a); Program Operations Manual System (“POMS”) SI 01110.100(B)(1). If the individual has the right, authority, or power to liquidate the property or his share of the property, it is considered a resource. See 20 C.F.R.. § 416.1201(a)(1); POMS SI 01110.100(B)(1). Trust assets are a resource if (i) the individual can revoke or terminate the trust and obtain unrestricted access to the trust assets; (ii) the individual has access to the trust assets and can direct the use of the trust assets to meet his need for food, clothing, and shelter; (iii) or the individual can sell his beneficial interest in the trust. See POMS SI 01120.105(A)(1), 01120.200(D)(1)-(3).
Whether the claimant can revoke or terminate the trust or direct use of the trust assets depends upon the terms of the trust agreement and applicable state law. See id. SI 01120.200(D)(2). We have reviewed the documents you provided and conclude that the trust principal and accumulated income are not countable resources to Brian. Brian does not have the right, under the terms of the Trust Agreement or Michigan state law, to revoke or terminate the trust and thereafter obtain unrestricted access to the trusts assets or to direct use of the trust's assets to meet his need for food, clothing, and shelter. Nor can he sell his beneficial interest in the trust.
Brian Does Not Have the Right to Revoke or Terminate the Trust
Whether a trust is revocable or terminable depends on the terms of the trust and applicable state law. See POMS SI 01120.200(D)(2). Here, Brian does not have the right to revoke or terminate the trust under its own terms or Michigan state law.
First, the terms of the Trust Agreement itself do not give Brian or anyone else the right to revoke or modify the trust. To the contrary, the Trust Agreement is titled as an irrevocable trust agreement and provides that the settlor has waived his right to amend or revoke the agreement. Trust Agreement, Article 12. There is no other indication that the settlor of the trust intended the trust to be revocable. See Fornell v. Fornell Equipment, Inc., 213 N.W.2d 172, 176 (Mich. Ct. App. 1973) (“Ordinarily, revocability is a question of the intention of the settlor . . . .”).
Second, Brian does not have the right to revoke the Trust Agreement or otherwise modify it in order to gain access to the principal under Michigan law. In the absence of express language providing a right of revocation or termination, a trust cannot be revoked or modified unless the grantor or settlor and all of the beneficiaries agree. See Hein v. Hein, 543 N.W.2d 19, 20 (Mich. Ct. App. 1995) (citing RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TRUSTS § 338(1)). Thus, Brian would only be capable of revoking the Trust Agreement if he were the sole beneficiary as well as grantor or settlor of the trust. See RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TRUSTS § 339 & comment a (1959) (grantor or settlor of trust can compel termination of trust irrevocable by its terms if she is the sole beneficiary).
There is no evidence in the documentation provided to us that Brian was the actual settlor of the trust. The settlor of a trust is generally the person who provides the consideration for the trust, even if another entity nominally creates the trust. See Ronney v. Department of Social Services, 532 N.W.2d 910, 913 (Mich. App. 1995); 76 Am. Jur. 2d § 55. Here, John was expressly named as the settlor in the Trust Agreement and there is no indication that anyone other than John provided the consideration for the trust.
Moreover, regardless of whether Brian is or is not the settlor, he is not the sole beneficiary. The Trust Agreement provides that the trustee shall make discretionary payments to Brian during his lifetime and, upon Brian's death, shall terminate the trust and distribute the remaining trust property to Brian's children. Trust Agreement, Article 3(A)(2). Under such circumstances, Brian's children are considered to be beneficiaries of the trust, even if Brian does not currently have any children, regardless of whether Brian is or is not the settlor of the trust. See RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TRUSTS § 127, comment b ("[I]f the beneficial interest is limited to the settlor for life and on his death the property is to be conveyed to his children, or issue, or descendants, he is not the sole beneficiary of the trust, but an interest in remainder is created in his children, issue or descendants."); RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TRUSTS § 127, comment c ("[I]f a beneficial interest is limited to a person other than the settlor for life and the remainder on his death is limited to his heirs or next of kin, his heirs or next of kin as well as the person himself are beneficiaries of the trust in the absence of a manifestation by the settlor of an intention to give the whole beneficial interest to him."). Brian, therefore, cannot unilaterally revoke the trust in order to use the principal for food, clothing, or shelter.
Brian Does Not Have the Right to Direct Use of the Trust's Assets
Although Brian does not have the legal authority to revoke the trust, the trust may still be counted as a resource in determining SSI eligibility if Brian has the ability to direct the use of the trust principal. See POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1)(a).
Such authority may be included specifically in a trust provision allowing the beneficiary to act on his own or in a provision allowing him to order actions by the trustee. See id. SI 01120.200(D)(1)(b). Here, the trust agreement includes no such provisions.
Instead, the Trust Agreement gives the trustee discretion to apply to or expend trust assets and income for the benefit Brian.
Trust Agreement, Article 3(A)(1). Although Brian does have the right to demand a portion of any contribution made to the trust, this is only applicable if the settlor or donor who made the contribution specifically informs the trustee that the contribution is subject to withdrawal. Trust Agreement, Article 4(A). Thus, Brian does not have the right to unilaterally direct use of the trust's assets to meet his need for food, clothing, or shelter.
Brian's Interest in the Trust Has No Marketable Value
A trust can also be a resource if the individual can sell his beneficial interest in the trust. Here, however, the Trust Agreement contains a spendthrift clause that prevents Brian from assigning or otherwise transferring his rights in the trust. Trust Agreement, Article 5. Moreover, even if the Trust Agreement did not contain a spendthrift clause, the trust would still not have any marketable value. Under the terms of the Trust Agreement, Brian only has the right to receive payments at the discretion of the trustee. Thus, Brian could only sell the right to receive or have distributions made on his behalf in the sole discretion of the trustee. We assume this would have no significant value. See Z~ Trust as an SSI Resource - Wisconsin Bernard W~, OGC-V (M~) to John , ARC (February 23, 1993) at 4-6.
Payments Made from the Trust May be Income
Lastly, although the trust principal is not a countable resource, disbursements from the trust under certain circumstances would be countable income for determining Brian's SSI eligibility and level of benefits. If the trustee were to authorize disbursements from the trust consisting of cash paid directly to Brian, or payments to a third party for any food, clothing, or shelter received by Brian, such disbursements or in-kind payments would constitute income for SSI purposes. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1102; POMS SI 01120.200(E)(1)(a), (b).
Based on the documents provided to us, it is our opinion that the trust established for the benefit of Brian is not a countable resource for purposes of determining his eligibility for SSI. Brian does not have the right to revoke the trust; direct the use of its assets to meet his need for food, clothing, and shelter; or sell his beneficial interest in the trust.
X. PS 00-497 SSI-Review of the Joshua Irrevocable Special Needs Trust
Y. PS 00-497 SSI-Review of the Joshua Irrevocable Special Needs Trust
A supplemental needs trust is not a resource when the grantor (the SSI recipient) cannot direct the assets for his/her food, clothing, or shelter needs, cannot terminate or revoke the trust and gain access to the trust property, and cannot sell his/her beneficial interest in the trust.
You asked for our assistance in determining whether the trust agreement in question is a resource to Joshua, a Supplemental Security Income ("SSI") claimant. For the following reasons, it is our opinion that the trust is not a countable resource for Joshua.
The Joshua Special Needs Trust appears to have been executed in 1994. Art I § 1. The trust agreement names Joshua as sole lifetime beneficiary, Tracey (apparently Joshua's mother) as settlor, and Tracey and Mark (apparently Joshua's parents) as trustees. Id. It states that it is being funded with the proceeds of a personal injury settlement and that Joshua is the beneficial owner of these funds. It states that it is irrevocable. Art. I, sec. 4.
The trust allows the trustee almost total discretion concerning the use of the trust assets. Art. II, secs. 1, 2. The trust, however, expresses the general intent that the trust assets be used for the Joshua's "supplemental needs." Art. II, sec. 1. The trust further makes clear the intention that the trustees should attempt to use trust assets to benefit Joshua in ways that do not affect his eligibility for public or private assistance, including SSI. Art. II, sec. 1. The trust also includes a spendthrift clause. Art. II, sec. 5.
Upon Joshua's death, the trust allows Joshua the right to exercise a general power of appointment by will. Art. III, sec. 1. If Joshua does not exercise this power of appointment, the trust provides for distribution of the remaining trust property to Joshua's parents, or to his siblings. Art. III, sec. 2.
Under the applicable regulation, "resources" are cash or other liquid assets or any real or personal property that an individual (or spouse, if any) owns and could convert to cash to be used for his or her support and maintenance. If the individual has the right, authority, or power to liquidate the property or his or her share of the property, it is considered a resource. 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a) (1999). Therefore, if an individual is able to obtain funds or convert property to cash to be used towards his or her support and maintenance, such funds or property is resources for purposes of determining SSI eligibility. Trust assets are a resource if (1) the individual has access to the trust assets and can direct the use of the assets to meet his or her need for food, clothing, and shelter; (2) if he or she can revoke or terminate the trust and obtain unrestricted access to the trust assets; or (3) if beneficial interest in the trust can be sold. See POMS SI 01120.200(D).
Based on the documents you provided, we conclude that the assets held in trust should not be considered a countable resource under 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201.
2. Joshua does not have authority to direct the use of the trust assets.
The trust agreement expressly provides that the trustee (Joshua's parents) have "sole discretion" to direct the use of the assets for the satisfaction of Joshua's supplemental needs. Art II, sec. 2. Thus, Joshua cannot "direct the use of the assets." See POMS SI01120.200(D)(1)(a), (b).
3. Joshua cannot revoke or terminate the trust.
Joshua is the grantor and the primary beneficiary of this trust. The grantor or settlor of a trust is generally the person who provides the consideration for the trust, even if another entity nominally creates the trust. 76 Am. Jur. 2d § 55; see In re J~ Trust, 479 N.W. 2d 25, 29 (Mich. App. 1991). We generally regard trusts that have been established from personal injury settlements as being established by the person who received the awards. POMS SI 01120.200(B)(2). Hence, although Tracy L. Y~, Joshua's mother (his conservator), is named as the grantor in the trust agreement, Joshua is, in fact, the grantor of the trust, since it is his personal injury settlement award that comprises the trust fund. The trust, itself, acknowledges that Joshua is the beneficial owner of the assets that were initially placed in the trust. Art. 1, sec. 2.
Although Joshua is the grantor, he cannot revoke or terminate the trust and obtain unrestricted access to the trust assets because the trust is irrevocable on its face. Art I, sec. 4. Although the general law of trusts recognizes an exception to the irrevocability of a trust where the grantor is also the sole beneficiary, Joshua is not the sole beneficiary of the trust assets. Upon Joshua's death, the trust agreement provides for distribution of the remaining trust principal and trust estate to his parents or to his siblings. Art III § 1-2. Thus, the he cannot revoke or terminate the trust without the consent of the other beneficiaries, and we do not assume that he can obtain their consent.
4. Joshua cannot sell his beneficial interest in the trust.
The trust could be resource if Joshua could sell his beneficial interest in the trust. See POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1)(b). Here, the trust is discretionary; therefore, the trustee has no obligation to make any payments to Joshua. Additionally, the trust includes a spendthrift provision, Art. II, sec, 5, which prohibits makes the trust not subject to assignment. Therefore, Joshua cannot sell his interest in trust payments.
The trust includes assets set aside for Joshua's supplemental needs. Joshua cannot direct the use of the assets for his food, clothing, or shelter needs. He cannot terminate or revoke the trust and gain access to the trust property. And he cannot sell his beneficial interest in the trust. Therefore, the property held in the trust is not a countable resource for SSI purposes.
Y. PS 00-433 (Michigan) Michigan Trust for Karmone
Z. PS 00-433 (Michigan) Michigan Trust for Karmone
A trust was established for an SSI beneficiary in 1996 based on a personal injury settlement. The corpus of the trust was funded with the distribution from the settlement. Trust language indicated that upon the SSI beneficiary's death, remaining funds would be distributed to pay expenses and then to persons determined to be the beneficiary's "heirs at law." However, trust language indicating a remainder interest for unspecified persons determined to be "heirs at law" does not create additional beneficiaries. The trust agreement also names the SSI beneficiary's guardian as the grantor, however, trusts funded with personal injury awards are generally regarded as established by the recipient of the award. Even though the trust is described as irrevocable, when a grantor of a trust is also the sole beneficiary the trust is deemed revocable despite language to the contrary. Since the SSI beneficiary is the grantor and also the sole beneficiary, the trust is determined revocable and, thus, a countable resource for SSI purposes.
You have asked for our assistance in determining whether assets of the trust in question are a resource to Karmone, a Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claimant. For the following reasons, it is our opinion that Karmone is the grantor of the trust, the trust agreement is revocable, and the assets in the trust can be considered a countable resource.
On October 2, 1996, a Michigan circuit court authorized settlement of a personal injury suit involving Karmone, a disabled child. The court ordered that settlement proceeds of $224,959.46 be deposited in a trust established for the benefit of Karmone. The trust agreement names Joseph, Karmone's guardian ad litem, as the grantor and Michelle, Karmone's mother, and Pamela as the co-trustees. Trust Declaration at 1. By its terms, the trust agreement is to be irrevocable during Karmone's life time. Trust Declaration Article 3. However, the trust also provides that it can be amended or modified if a "court of competent jurisdiction" determines that a change would be in Karmone's "best interests". Id. In addition, the trust allows the trustees "administer the trust so as to...address the change" if Karmone has a "material change of circumstances" Trust Dec. Art. 5, Paragraph F.
The trust agreement directs the trustee on Karmone's death to pay expenses such as state inheritance taxes, or other similar taxes, any expenses associated with his last illness, funeral and burial costs, and reasonable administration expenses. Trust Dec. Article 6(A). Finally, the agreement provides that any remaining residue of the trust should be distributed to persons determined to be Karmone's "heirs at law." Id at 6(B).
Resources are cash or other liquid assets, or any real or personal property that an individual owns and could convert to cash to be used for his or her support or maintenance. 20 CFR § 416.1201 (a)(1997). If the individual has the right, authority, or power to liquidate the property or his share of the property, it is considered a resource. 20 CFR § 416.1201 (a)(1)(1997); see also Program Operations Manual System (POM) SI 01110.100(B).
Therefore, if an individual is able to obtain funds or convert property to cash to be used towards his support and maintenance, such funds or property are resources for purposes of determining SSI eligibility. 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a) (1997). Trust assets are a resource if the individual has access to the trust assets, and can direct the use of the assets to meet his need for food, clothing, and shelter, or if he can revoke the trust and obtain unrestricted access to the trust assets. See POMS SI 01120.105 (A)(1), 01120.200(D)(1)-(3).
According to the express language of the agreement, the trust in this case is irrevocable. Trust Decl. at Article 3. Under general trust law, however, where the grantor or settler of a trust is also the sole beneficiary of the trust, he can compel termination of the trust, even where the trust, by its terms, is irrevocable. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 339 and comment a (1959). We have reviewed the documents you have provided and, for the following reasons, we conclude that the assets subject to the trust agreement should be considered a countable resource under 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(1997).
The trust agreement establishes a grantor trust because Karmone is the legal grantor and is also the sole beneficiary. The grantor or settler of a trust is generally the person who provides the consideration for the trust, even if another entity nominally creates the trust. We generally regard trusts that have been established from personal injury settlements as being established by the person who received the awards. POMS SI 01120.200(J)(3). Hence, although Joseph is named as the grantor in the trust agreement, Karmone is in fact the grantor of the trust, since it is his personal injury settlement award that comprises the trust fund.
The trust agreement's language that the remainder of the trust's assets are to be distributed to "those persons who are determined to be Karmone's heirs at law," does not create any additional beneficiaries. As a general rule, when a trust purports to create an interest in favor of the grantor's heirs at law, the grantor is considered the sole beneficiary of the trust. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 127 comment b (1959); Clarification of Regional SSA Program Circular 94-05 Concerning Trusts, OGC-V (K~) to L~, Acting ARC, at 3-5 (5/24/95); Michigan Trust for Harley L~, OGC-V (M~) to Gloria, ARC-MOS, at 5 (6/27/97). Thus, Karmone is the sole beneficiary of the trust. Because Karmone is the sole beneficiary as well as the grantor of the trust, he can compel termination of the trust, even though it is irrevocable on its face. See Hein v. Hein, 543 N.W. 2d 19, 20 (Mich. Ct. App. 1995) ("irrevocable" trust may be terminated with consent of the settlor and all beneficiaries); Ronney v. Dept. Of Social Servs., 532 N.W. 2d 910, 913-14 (Mich. Ct. App. 1995) ("irrevocable" trust could be revoked because settlor was also sole beneficiary). Because Karmone can revoke the trust, he has access to the trust assets. Those assets are his resources for purposes of determining SSI disability.
Since Karmone as both grantor and sole beneficiary, can "revoke the trust and obtain unrestricted access to the trust assets," the trust is a countable resource.
Z. PS 00-378 Michigan Trust - Countable Resource - Nathan
AA. PS 00-378 Michigan Trust - Countable Resource - Nathan
If an SSI recipient is a beneficiary of a trust but his/her access to the trust is restricted, the trust funds are not a resource to the recipient. If the SSI recipient is the trustee and has the right to revoke the trust, the trust funds are a resource to that individual.
This is with reference to your memorandum inquiring whether the trust created by Karen is a countable resource to Nathan , an SSI recipient and whether the trust is a countable resource to Karen, also an SSI recipient. We conclude that this trust is not a countable resource to Nathan but is a countable resource to Karen under 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201 (1993).
The facts may be briefly summarized: On September 16, 1992, Karen , as grantor, created a Discretionary Revocable Trust Agreement. Karen appointed herself as trustee and she deposited $2,000 into the trust account. Janice was appointed as the successor trustee. The Agreement stated in relevant part:
(1) The trustee is authorized to hold, manage, pledge, invest and reinvest said funds in his sole discretion; (2) The undersigned grantor reserves the right to revoke said trust in part or in full at any time and any partial or complete withdrawal by the original trustee if he is the grantor shall be a revocation by the grantor to the extent of such withdrawal. . .
According to the terms of the trust, Nathan's access to the trust funds were restricted until he reached his 21st birthday.
The primary issue to be resolved here is whether either Nathan or Karen, both SSI recipients, has any access to the trust funds. If either has access, then the trust is considered as a countable resource to that individual. A resource, for the purpose of this opinion, is defined as property that the SSI recipient owns and could convert to cash, or property over which the recipient has the right, authority, or power to liquidate. 42 U.S.C. § 1382b; 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201 (1993). In applying this definition to trusts, the Program Operation Manual System ("POMS") states that if the recipient is a beneficiary of a trust but has his access to the trust funds restricted, then the funds are not a resource for the claimant. POMS § 01120.105(A)(2). As we explain below, Nathan currently has no access to the trust funds, and they, as a result, cannot be counted as a countable resource to him. The POMS explains further, however, that if the recipient is the trustee and has the right to revoke the trust, the funds are a resource to that individual. POMS § 01120.105(A)(1). As we shall explain, Karen's access to the trust funds, is unrestricted, and, as a result, the funds are a countable resource to her.
It is clear from the terms of the trust agreement that Nathan has no right to access the trust funds until he reaches 21. As a result, the trust is not a countable resource to him. It is equally clear, however, that Karen, as grantor and trustee of the trust, has unfettered access to the trust funds. The trust grants her the right to manage, hold, and invest the trust funds. Moreover, she has the right to revoke the trust at any time. Accordingly, the trust funds are a countable resource to Karen.
AA. PS 00-367 Supplemental Security Income - Michigan Trust - Brian
BB. PS 00-367 Supplemental Security Income - Michigan Trust - Brian
The source of the funds in a trust is important in determining if the trust is revocable. An otherwise irrevocable trust is considered to be revocable if the grantor is also the sole beneficiary.
You inquired whether the funds held pursuant to the terms of a trust agreement should be treated as a countable resource for purposes of SSI eligibility for Brian, the beneficiary of the trust.
The pertinent SSI regulations provide at 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a) that:
(1) If the individual has the right, authority or power to liquidate the property or his or her share of the property, it is considered a resource....
Thus, if an individual is able to obtain funds or convert property to cash to be used toward his support and maintenance, such funds or property are to be included as resources for purposes of determining SSI eligibility. Trust assets are a resource to the individual if he can revoke the trust and use the assets to meet his needs for food, clothing, and shelter. See POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1)-(3).
We have reviewed the documents provided to us. If the funds held in the shared savings account (which constitutes the trust principal) belonged to or were attributable to Brain prior to the creation of the trust, then those funds would constitute a countable resource for Brian under 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201. If, however, the funds were not Brian's, then the trust would not be a resource. Further factual development, therefore, is necessary to determine the outcome.
The trust agreement provides that Roger and Rhonda, the settlors, transfer and assign to themselves, as co-trustees, the trust principal for the benefit of Brian, the beneficiary. By its terms, the trust is irrevocable. The trust is to terminate either upon the death of the beneficiary, with the remaining principal and interest being distributed to the heirs at law of Brian, or the trust terminates in the event that judicial proceedings and or governmental administrative action is commenced to reach funds in the Trust, "which in the sole opinion of the Trustee is likely to result in a loss or reduction of benefits or eligibility of the beneficiary." Trust Agreement, Paras. 12, 13. The trust principal consists of $ 10,267.43 held in a shared savings account by the co-trustees. We do not know the source of these funds.
Although the trust agreement at issue is by its terms irrevocable, the presence of an express irrevocability clause is not determinative. The general trust principle is that, where a grantor or settlor is the sole beneficiary of the trust and is not under an incapacity, he can compel termination of the trust, although the purposes of the trust have not been accomplished. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 339 (1959); 76 Am. Jur. 2d § 96 (1992). We have previously advised that absent any statute or case law in Michigan prohibiting the revocability of a grantor trust in which the grantor is the sole beneficiary, this general trust principle applies in Michigan. See Six State Synopsis of Trust Laws, OGC-V (P~) to Panama, ARC, POS SSA-V (2/26/92) at 4; see generally Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. Ch. 555 (West 1988 & Supp. 1998) and § 700.801 et seq. (West 1995 & Supp. 1998).
The information we have been provided does not indicate whether the funds held in the shared savings account (which constitutes the trust principal) belonged to or were attributable to Brain prior to the creation of the trust. That is significant because it determines whether he is the grantor or settlor of the trust. The grantor or settlor of a trust is the person who provides the consideration for the trust, even if another entity nominally creates the trust. 76 Am. Jur. 2d § 55 (1992); In re J~ Trust, 479 N.W.2d 25, 29 (Mich. App. 1991). The money held in the shared savings account would still be considered to have come from Brian if it was money derived through the settlement of a claim belonging to or attributable to him. See POMS SI 01120.200(J)(3) (grantor trust created where recipient's mother, as his legal guardian, established the trust with a monetary judgment received by recipient as a result of a car accident because the funds belonged to the recipient and mother's actions were imputed to the recipient); Michigan Trust for Nibras , OGC-V (M~) to K~, Director, POS-RSI/SSIB, SSA-V (4/14/97) at 2 (grantor trust created where claimant's conservator established the trust with personal injury settlement proceeds belonging to the claimant/beneficiary although paid to the conservator on behalf of the claimant). Brian would properly be characterized as the settlor of the trust if he contributed the assets to the trust.
Brian is the sole, identifiable beneficiary of the trust.
To revoke a trust, it is required that the settlor and all beneficiaries consent to the revocation, 76 Am. Jur. 2d § 94 (1992), and a contingent beneficiary appears to be considered a beneficiary for that purpose. See Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 127 cmt. b, § 339 cmt. b (1959); 76 Am. Jur. 2d § 95 (1992) ("a trust cannot be terminated by the consent or acts of beneficiaries where there are contingent interests in the trust which cannot be determined until the happening of certain events"). Brian is the only beneficiary of the trust during his lifetime. The only other possible beneficiaries are his heirs at law who, on the event of his death, appear to take any remaining assets after reimbursement (due to 42 U.S.C. § 1396) of any State medical assistance provided on his behalf. See Trust Agreement, paras. 13, 16. But the Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 127 cmt. b (1959) supports an inference that, if the only other beneficiaries are Brian's "heirs at law," he is the sole beneficiary of the trust.
As stated above, the general rule is that where the settlor is the sole beneficiary of the trust, he "can compel termination of the trust, although the purposes of the trust have not been accomplished." Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 339 (1959); see also 76 Am. Jur. 2d § 96 (1992). If Brian provided the assets of the trust, he is the grantor or settlor. Because he also appears to be the sole beneficiary of the trust, Brian could revoke the trust, have unrestricted access to the trust principal, and use the principal for his support and maintenance.
But, if further factual development reveals that the funds were not Brian P~'s, then he would not be the grantor or settlor of the trust, and the trust would not be a resource.
In sum, we conclude that if further factual development confirms that funds held in the shared savings account belonged to or were attributable to Brian before the creation of the trust, those funds constitute a countable resource for determining Brian's SSI eligibility.
BB. PS 00-310 Supplemental Security Income - Michigan Trust - Carl , SSN ~, Your Reference: S2D5G3
CC. PS 00-310 Supplemental Security Income - Michigan Trust - Carl , SSN ~, Your Reference: S2D5G3
This opinion concerns a discretionary trust in Michigan. The trust is countable as a resource for SSI purposes because the individual can revoke the trust and use the assets for his own support and maintenance. The trust was established with the individual's own funds which makes him the grantor under Michigan law. And the individual is the sole beneficiary of the trust because the trust does not establish a residual beneficiary. CAUTION: Because of a change in the Social Security Act, this precedent may only be applicable to trusts established before 1/1/00.
You asked that we review the "L~ Family Discretionary Trust" to determine whether it is a countable resource for Carl (Carl), a Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipient. For the reasons stated below, we conclude that the funds in the trust should be considered a resource to Carl.
This trust was established by Carl's mother, Millie (Millie) as Carl's guardian, and it appears to be funded with a personal injury settlement payment of $240,000 related to injuries received by Carl. Prior to this financial settlement, Millie was appointed guardian over Carl's person and estate by the Tribal Court of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians because he was not capable of caring for himself, including his financial affairs. The trust names Millie as settlor or grantor, and Millie and Calvin as trustees. Under this trust, the trustees may in their discretion distribute any part of the net income or principal in the best interest or benefit of Carl as the trustees determine to be for the greatest degree of "security" for Carl. Carl's "security" shall include consideration of his overall circumstances and maximization of his personal, spiritual, social, and financial well-being. The trust provides that Carl does not have the power or authority to demand any distribution of the trust estate from the Trustee.
The trust also provides that on Carl's death, the trustees shall pay debts, taxes, and expenses imposed on Carl's estate, and then pay state claims where Carl received medical assistance payments. After satisfaction of these provisions, the remainder of the trust estate shall be distributed to classes of beneficiaries identified by Carl consisting of his immediate family, relatives by blood, marriage, or adoption, or to those charities designated by Carl under his Last Will and Testament. If Carl does not exercise this power of appointment, the Trustee shall distribute the trust estate to Carl's heirs at law as though he died intestate under the laws of the State of Michigan.
To qualify for SSI benefits, a claimant must show that his or her resources are below a statutory maximum. 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.202, 416.1205; 42 U.S.C. § 1382(a). Under the applicable regulation, "resources" are defined as:
cash or other liquid assets or any real or personal property that an individual (or spouse, if any) owns and could convert to cash to be used for his or her support and maintenance.
20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a).
If the individual has the right, authority or power to liquidate the property or his or her share of the property, it is considered a resource.
20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a)(1).
A trust can be a resource. The Program Operations Manual System (POMS) specifies that if an individual has the authority to revoke the trust and use the trust assets for his support and maintenance, the trust assets are a resource to the individual. POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1). In this case, the trust is a countable resource for determining Carl's SSI eligibility because he can revoke the trust and use the assets for his support and maintenance under the terms of the trust. POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1)(a).
In general, and under Michigan law, the grantor of a trust is the person who provides the consideration for the trust. 76 Am. Jur. 2d § 55; POMS SI 01120.200(B)(2); see In re J~ Trust, 479 N.W.2d 25, 29 (Mich. App. 1991). When a trust is funded with proceeds from the settlement of a personal injury claim brought by the guardian on behalf of the ward, the ward is the individual who established the trust and is considered the true grantor of the trust. POMS SI 01120.200(J)(3)(A); see Ronney v. Department of Social Services, 532 N.W.2d 910, 913 (Mich. App 1995). In this case, although Millie created the trust and was named as settlor in the trust agreement, she established the trust using assets Carl received from a personal injury settlement. Therefore, Carl is the legal grantor of the trust.
Carl is also the sole beneficiary of the trust. If the grantor of the trust estate has the power to appoint the residue of the trust estate by will alone, and in default of appointment the property is to be distributed to his heirs at law who would be entitled as though he had died intestate, he intended to be the sole beneficiary of the trust. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 127, cmt. b (1959). The terms of the trust instrument provide that on Carl's death, the Trustee shall pay all taxes, debts, and expenses and costs imposed on Carl's estate, and then pay state claims where Carl received medical assistance payments,
Finally, after satisfaction of these provisions, the remainder or residue of the trust estate shall be distributed to classes of beneficiaries identified by Carl consisting of his immediate family, relatives by blood, marriage, or adoption, or to those charities designated by Carl under his Last Will and Testament.
Carl's power of appointment to distribute the residue of the trust estate by will is limited to these beneficiaries. However, Carl may default in appointing the trust property by not executing a will, and in the event he does execute a will, he has the power to change the beneficiaries at any time prior to his death. Because of these two possibilities, none of the beneficiaries has any interest in the residue of the trust estate. If Carl does not exercise this power of appointment, the trust contains explicit instructions that the Trustee shall distribute the trust estate to Carl's heirs at law as though he died intestate under the laws of the State of Michigan. Even though upon Carl's death the residue of his estate is to be distributed by will or upon default of such appointment to his heirs at law as if he died intestate, he is still considered the sole beneficiary of the trust.
Because Carl is the grantor and the sole beneficiary of the trust, he can revoke or compel termination of the trust. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 339, cmt. a (1959); POMS SI 01120.200(D)(3). We have previously advised that this general trust principal applies in Michigan. See Six State Synopsis of Trust Laws, OGC-V (P~) to P~-W~, ARC, SSA-V (2/26/92); R~, 532 N.W.2d at 911-13. Because Carl is the grantor and the sole beneficiary of the trust, he can revoke the trust and use the funds for his benefit and security. The trust, therefore, is a resource.
Thus, we conclude that the trust property at issue should be considered a resource to Carl for SSI purposes because as grantor and sole beneficiary of the trust, he can revoke the trust and use the trust income and principal for his best interest and security.
CC. PS 00-294 Review of the Scott Trust
DD. PS 00-294 Review of the Scott Trust
The trust addressed in this opinion is generally a standard irrevocable trust established by a third party. The opinion provides an analysis of a provision whereby the trust beneficiary has a limited right to withdraw certain additions to the trust for 30 days after the addition is deposited. NOTE: This limited right of withdrawal confers certain gift tax rights on the donor.
You asked us to review a trust dated February 4, 1999, to determine whether the assets placed in trust would be a countable resource to Scott ~ , an SSI claimant. For the following reasons, we believe that the assets in trust are not available for use for Mr. ~ support and maintenance. Therefore, the assets in trust are not a countable resource to him.
We base our opinion on our review of the trust instrument you provided to us, as well as information provided by the attorney who drafted the trust, Dirk ~. The trust was established by Scott’s grandmother, Helen , on February 4, 1999. Jean , Ms. ~ daughter and Scott's mother, was named as trustee. The trust instrument does not indicate how the trust was funded, but Mr. ~ advised us that the trust was initially funded with approximately $5000 (cash). The trust indicates that assets of any type may be added to the trust, either by the settlor, Ms. ~ , or by others (art. 1.2). According to Mr. ~ , Ms. ~ made an additional contribution of approximately $5000 in the Spring of 2000.
Article Two provides that Scott has certain withdrawal rights. In particular, it provides that whenever a contribution is made to the trust prior to Ms. ~ death, the trustee must notify Scott in writing within 15 days of the contribution that he has the right to withdraw the amount of the contribution, subject to certain limitations (art. 2.1, 2.2). The amount of the withdrawal is limited to $20,000 if the donor is married and $10,000 if the donor is unmarried (art. 2.7). Scott's withdrawal rights expire 30 days after the date of the contribution (art. 2.3).
Article Three provides that the trustee "may distribute any portion or all of the income and principal of the Trust for Scott's benefit if, in the exercise of its sole discretion, the Trustee deems it appropriate for any purpose whatsoever to supplement other income and resources available to him" (art. 3.1). It further provides that "no distribution shall be made for Scott's benefit that would reduce any aid otherwise available for his maintenance, health care, education, or general welfare" (art. 3.1).
Property held in trust for an individual is a resource under 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201 if: (1) the individual has legal authority to revoke the trust and gain access to the trust property and use it for his or her support and maintenance; (2) the individual can direct the trustee to use the property for his or her support and maintenance under the terms of the trust; or (3) the individual can transfer his or her interest in the trust and use the proceeds for support and maintenance. See POMS SI 01120.200(D)(1)(a); 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a)(1) (1999) ("If the individual has the right, authority, or power to liquidate the property or his or her share of the property, it is considered a resource."). We have reviewed the Scott Trust and conclude that the trust assets are not a countable resource for purposes of determining Scott's SSI eligibility.
Because Scott did not create the trust and the trust creates future interests in addition to Scott's current beneficial interest, the trust is not revocable by Scott alone, and it does not appear that Scott has the legal authority to revoke the trust and use the assets for his support and maintenance. Further, the trust provides that the trustee may at her discretion distribute "any portion" of the trust assets for "any purpose whatsoever" (art. 3.1). Because the trustee has unfettered discretion as to whether and when distributions may be made for Scott's benefit, the trust appears to be a discretionary trust. See 1 Restatement of Trusts (Second) § 155; see also Miller v. Dep't of Mental Health, 442 N.W.2d 617, 618 (Mich. 1989) (distinguishing discretionary trusts and support trusts). The trustee is not required to distribute any of the assets, and the trust does not create any asset or income rights in the beneficiary. See generally Lawrence A. F~, Discretionary Trusts for a Disabled Beneficiary: A Solution or Trap for the Unwary, 46 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 335, 341-42 (1985). Therefore, Scott does not have a judicially enforceable right to direct distribution of trust property for his support and maintenance. See Miller, 442 N.W.2d at 619 (providing that because the beneficiary's receipt of any amount depends on the trustee's discretion, the beneficiary does not have an ascertainable interest in the assets of a discretionary trust); 1 Restatement of Trusts (Second) § 187 ("Where discretion is conferred upon the trustee with respect to the exercise of a power, its exercise is not subject to control by the court ."). Scott thus does not have the power to direct distribution of trust assets.
However, Scott does have certain withdrawal rights. In particular, within the first 30 days after a contribution to the trust, Scott has the right to withdraw the contribution, subject to the limitations provided Articles 2.6 and 2.7. Accordingly, contributions to the trust should be considered income to Scott on the date of the contribution. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1121(g), 416.1207(a). (The contribution should be considered income, however, only to the extent of any withdrawal limits set forth by the donor, as provided in Article 2.6, or to the extent of the withdrawal ceiling outlined in Article 2.7.) If Scott does not exercise his withdrawal rights by the first day of the subsequent month, and the 30-day period has not expired, then the amount of the contribution (subject again to any limits imposed by Articles 2.6 and 2.7) should be considered a resource to him for that subsequent month. See 20 C.F.R. 416.1207(d). Since Scott's withdrawal rights expire 30 days from the date of the contribution, and thus cannot extend beyond the following calendar month, the contribution will be a resource to him only for this one month. The trust specifically provides that the withdrawal rights are not cumulative and will lapse if not exercised (art. 2.3).
We note two reservations regarding the analysis outlined above. First, Scott's withdrawal rights apply only to contributions made to the trust prior to Ms. ~ death (she is currently in her nineties) (art. 2.1). After her death, Scott has no right of withdrawal. Second, the trust provides that Scott must be notified of his withdrawal rights within 15 days after each contribution (art. 2.2). If he is not notified as required by the terms of the trust, he may have a legal cause of action against the trustee for breach of trust. We assume for purposes of our analysis that the trustee, where necessary, has complied with (and will in the future comply with) the notification provision as outlined in Article 2.2.
Finally, the trust contains a spendthrift provision which provides that no principal or income payable may be assigned by its beneficiary or be reached by any creditor (art. 6.7). Thus, it does not appear that Mr. ~ has any power to transfer his interest in the trust and use those proceeds for support and maintenance. In sum, Mr. ~ does not have the legal authority to revoke the trust, direct the use of the trust assets for his own support and maintenance, or transfer his interest in the trust, and the trust assets are not a countable resource for SSI purposes.
For the foregoing reasons, we believe that the trust assets should not be considered a countable resource to Scott. The trust appears to be a discretionary trust, and Mr. ~ does not have a judicially enforceable right to command the trustee to make disbursements from the trust. Furthermore, he cannot unilaterally revoke the trust, or transfer his interest in the trust, and thereby gain access to trust assets. However, Scott does have limited withdrawal rights in contributions made to the trust, and those contributions may be considered income when received and a resource for a brief period thereafter, as discussed above.
DD. PS 00-239 Conservatorship/Blocked Account for Melanie G~; your reference S2D5B51
EE. PS 00-239 Conservatorship/Blocked Account for Melanie G~; your reference S2D5B51
The issue concerns whether funds held by a conservator as fiduciary for a minor SSI beneficiary are countable resources for SSI purposes. Generally, under Michigan law, such funds are presumed to be available for support and maintenance. However, if a court restricts use of the funds to certain medical expenses and precludes use of the funds for everyday support of the child, the funds are not resources of the beneficiary for SSI purposes.
This is with reference to your May 13, 1993 inquiry concerning whether funds held by a conservator as fiduciary for a minor SSI beneficiary, Melanie , would constitute countable resources for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) purposes. We conclude that, although generally such funds are presumed to be available for support and maintenance under Michigan law, in this particular case a court order restricts use of the funds to certain medical expenses and precludes use of the funds for everyday support of the child. The funds, therefore, are not resources of the beneficiary for SSI purposes.
Melanie apparently had claims for personal injuries she sustained as a result of an automobile accident. On May 29, 1990, a Michigan court entered an order authorizing Melanie' conservator to settle an uninsured motorist claim on Melanie' behalf in the amount of $20,000, out of which $6,809.77 in attorney's fees and costs was to be paid. The net recovery was to be placed in a joint account that would require two signatures for withdrawal -- that of her conservator, and that of the court. The funds were not to be distributed except for payment of bond premiums unless ordered by the court. On November 26, 1991, the court entered a second order authorizing Melanie' conservator to settle all the minor's claims against Mason County Central Schools for the amount of $7,500, out of which $2,499.75 in attorney's fees was to be paid. The net recovery was to be placed in a joint account that would require both the conservator's and the court's signatures. On April 16, 1993, the court entered a third order "to emphasize the necessity of maintaining the restricted withdrawal of these accounts as ordered by the Court on May 29, 1990." The court restricted the funds to be used only in a medical emergency for medical expenses related to the accident. The court explicitly precluded use of the funds for the everyday support of the child. The court indicated that the funds are intended to be released when Melanie reaches the age of eighteen. The order applied retroactively.
It is not entirely clear whether the April 16, 1993 order emphasizing the restriction applies to the account created by the November 26, 1991 order, as the April 1993 order mentions only the May 29, 1990 order specifically./ The April 1993 order, however, refers in the first paragraph to "these accounts," which suggests that the order applies to the accounts created by both the May 29, 1990 and November 26, 1991 orders. Also, all of the orders were issued by the same judge under the same case caption, and the judge used the same language in both the May 1990 and November 1991 orders regarding the deposit of the funds into joint accounts that would require the signature of both the conservator and the court. The April 16, 1993 order, therefore, likely applies to both the May 1990 and the November 1991 orders. You may wish to ask for clarification, however, as to which accounts are specifically covered by the April 1993 order. Any accounts determined to be covered by the April 16, 1993 order would not be countable resources for SSI purposes for the reasons explained below.
A resource, for SSI purposes, includes assets that the individual owns and could convert to cash to be used for his or her support and maintenance. 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a) (1992). When a fiduciary (such as a conservator) manages and controls funds owned by an SSI recipient, those funds are considered to be available to the recipient for the recipient's support and maintenance, absent a legal restriction on the use of or access to the funds. See POMS SI 01120.010.C (Feb. 1992); POMS SI 01120.110.C (Mar. 1988). The funds in this case are held in a "blocked" account, in that the conservator may access funds held on behalf of Melanie only with the permission of the court. We have previously advised that funds held in a blocked account under Michigan law are presumed to be available to beneficiaries for their support and maintenance, absent a legal restriction on the conservator's use of or access to the funds. See Blocked Account in Michigan as SSI Resource: Richard B~, ~, OGC-V (M~) to SSA-V, ARC-POS (P~ W~) (Dec. 4, 1990) [hereinafter B~ Memorandum]; Blocked Accounts as SSI Resources — ACTION, OGC-V (L~) to SSA-V, ARC-POS (W~) (Aug. 3, 1989), at 1 [hereinafter Blocked Accounts Memorandum]; see also POMS SI 01140.215.B.1 (Mar. 1992); see also POMS SI 01120.010.C.3 (Feb. 1992); POMS SI R01120.010 (May 1991) (regional instructions—Michigan); Mich. Stat. Ann. § 700.485(1)(b) (West 1980).
We have also advised, however, that certain circumstances may nullify the presumption of availability of such funds. See B~ Memorandum, supra, at 2; Blocked Accounts Memorandum, supra, at 2. The POMS explains that the presumption of availability can be overcome by "restrictive language in the court order that established the account or in a subsequent court order." POMS SI 01140.215.B.2 (Mar. 1992); see also B~F Memorandum, supra (conservatorship funds that could not be withdrawn until recipient reached age eighteen or until further order of the court were not a resource). The POMS also indicates that when the court or state law restricts the use of a damage award from a personal injury action to be paid only for medical expenses related to the accident, the funds are not considered resources, as they are not available for food, clothing, or shelter. See POMS SI 01140.215D.2 (Mar. 1992) (if state law restricts use of personal injury funds held in conservatorship accounts to use for medical expenses only, funds are not resources); POMS SI 01120.010D.5 (Feb. 1992) (if court orders the damage award in automobile accident case to be used solely for medical expenses related to the accident, the funds are not a resource). Here, the court order specifically restricted use of the funds received for settlement of the personal injury claims to pay for medical expenses related to the accident; the order explicitly precludes use of the funds for the child's food, clothing, or shelter. The order, therefore, nullifies the presumption of availability of the funds in the affected accounts. The funds are not countable resources for SSI purposes.
EE. PS 00-233 Michigan Forethought Life Insurance-Funded Burial Agreements: Ora
FF. PS 00-233 Michigan Forethought Life Insurance-Funded Burial Agreements: Ora
This 1992 opinion explains why the cash surrender value of the Forethought life insurance-funded burial agreement was not a resource at that time.
However, Section 205 of the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 changes how certain trusts are evaluated under SSI resource counting rules. Therefore, adjudicators should be aware that trusts established after 1/1/00 must be evaluated under the revised rules.
On December 4, 1991, you asked us to review under Michigan law a Forethought life insurance-funded burial agreement for Ora , an SSI applicant. On December 10, 1991, you asked us to review under Michigan law a Forethought life insurance-funded burial agreement for Minnie, another SSI applicant. We are providing you one answer that responds to both inquiries.
The Forethought life insurance-funded burial agreement package marketed in Michigan consists of: (1) a Forethought life insurance policy purchased by the SSI applicant; (2) irrevocable transfer of ownership of the life insurance policy to the Forethought Trust in Batesville, Indiana; (3) a Funeral Planning Agreement between the insured individual and a particular funeral home; and (4) revocable assignment of the proceeds of the life insurance policy to the funeral home.
We have specifically considered if irrevocable assignment of ownership of Forethought life insurance policies was consistent with the state law requirement that assignment of the policy's proceeds to a funeral home be revocable.
In our opinion, the Forethought life insurance-funded burial agreement packages marketed in Michigan are valid under Michigan law. In a practice that is not prohibited by Michigan law, the purchasers irrevocably transfer ownership of the life insurance policy to a trust and neither own nor have the legal right to direct the use of trust assets to meet their support and maintenance needs. Therefore, the cash surrender values (CSVs) of the policies are not resource of the purchasers for SSI purposes. This is true even though, as required by Michigan law, the purchasers (and their representatives and survivors) retain the right to change the funeral firm that will provide the burial goods and services.
You also notified us that Forethought's attorney asked Regional Commissioner Paul on December 27, 1991 to confirm that the Michigan Forethought policies that have been irrevocably assigned to the Forethought Trust are not resources of the purchasers for SSI purposes. At that time, Forethought was advised that state law aspects of the matter were still pending in our office. The Regional Commissioner will now wish to respond to Forethought's inquiry. To that end, we are attaching hereto a draft response.
At M.C.L.A. 500.2080(6), created by P.A. 1986, No. 318, § 1, effective June 1, 1987, Michigan law permits a life insurer to "write a life insurance policy ... which is subject to an assignment of the proceeds of the insurance policy ... as payment for cemetery services or goods or funeral services or goods" if certain conditions regarding the pre-death assignment of the proceeds of the life insurance policy are met. The assignment must be in writing on a form approved by the commissioner of insurance; the assignment must be an inseparable part of the contract for funeral services for which the assigned proceeds serve as payment; the assignment must be revocable; if the assignment is revoked funeral services may be obtained from any other funeral establishment; the revocability of the assignment must be disclosed in boldfaced type; and several other conditions described in the statute must also be met.
The Michigan Commissioner of Insurance has approved the form used by Forethought for assignment of the life insurance proceeds to the funeral home. It also appears to us that the Forethought documents meet all the requirements of M.C.L.A. 500.2080(6). Therefore, under Michigan law Forethought has created a valid, but revocable, assignment of life insurance proceeds.
Under SSI policy, such a life insurance policy must meet two additional conditions under state law in order to not constitute resources of the insured individual. In response to an inquiry on behalf of Forethought, SSA Commissioner Gwendolyn summarized SSI's policy in a July 8, 1991 letter to Congressman Andy, Jr. She stated that revocably assigned policies could be placed in trust to avoid having them count as resources in determining eligibility for SSI if: (1) the state allows insurance policies funding a funeral arrangement to be placed irrevocably in trust; and (2) if such a policy is placed in trust, the individual must have no access to it. On August 8, 1991, Associate Commissioner for SSI Rhoda gave Mark, counsel for Forethought, essentially the same opinion. She stated:
If an individual irrevocably transfers ownership of a life insurance policy to a trust and neither owns nor has the legal right to direct the use of trust assets to meet his or her support and maintenance needs, the cash surrender value (CSV) of the policy is not a resource for SSI purposes. The provisions of the document titled "Change of Ownership to the Forethought Trust" meets these requirements. Under the terms of the document, the CSV is not a resource even though the individual retains the right to change the funeral firm that will provide the burial goods and services.
We agree that a revocably assigned policy placed in an irrevocable life insurance trust will be treated exactly the same as an irrevocably assigned life insurance policy. In both cases, the CSV of the policy is not a resource for SSI purposes since the individual neither owns nor can legally use the CSV for support and maintenance. With respect to a life insurance-funded burial arrangement, State law must permit a policy which funds such an arrangement to be placed irrevocably in trust in order for the policy's CSV not to be considered a resource.
A POMS clarification, teletype No. 52-91 dated August 30, 1991 (with a destruction date of December 31, 1991) states the same thing. We are advised that POMS instructions that will replace the teletype are imminent. We have seen a draft, and they essentially repeat the language of the teletype.
Thus, the determinative questions that must next be answered are: Does Michigan law allow a revocably assigned life insurance policy that funds a funeral contract to be placed irrevocably in trust? And, if so, have the Forethought purchasers irrevocably assigned ownership of the life insurance policies in trust so that they neither own nor have the legal right to direct the use of trust assets to meet their support and maintenance needs?
Forethought has advised you that the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulation, Insurance Bureau, has approved both the process and the forms used to effect the irrevocable assignment of the Forethought life insurance policy to the Forethought Trust. Forethought stated that the Department of Insurance does not issue formal approval letters, but instead uses a procedure whereby Forethought's letter submitting a form for approval is stamped as approved if the form is authorized. Forethought submitted stamped approvals of two versions of the form it uses to both transfer ownership of the policy to the Forethought Trust and at the same time to preserve the right of the purchaser to change the designated funeral establishment under the trust. We contacted John E~ of Michigan's Department of Licensing and Regulation's Insurance Bureau, and also talked to a lawyer and program personnel from the Michigan Department of Social Services. All recalled a meeting that had included representatives from their offices as well as from the Michigan Attorney General's Office at which the process and the forms were discussed. The requirements of M.C.L.A. 500.2080(6) that the purchaser retain the right to revoke the assignment of the policy's proceeds was not found to be inconsistent with the purchaser's simultaneously irrevocably assigning ownership of the policy to the Forethought Trust. The approval process was as Forethought had described it, and Forethought's forms are in fact approved for use in Michigan.
The transfer of ownership form states that the owner transfers ownership of the life insurance policy to the Forethought Trust, that the owner understands that the transfer is permanent, that the owner renounces his or her power to control ownership of the policy, and that the owner waives all rights under the policy to surrender it for cash and to obtain a loan against the policy. At the same time, the owner states, as required by the Michigan statute described above, that the change of ownership does not restrict the purchaser (or his or her representative or family) from revoking the assignment of the proceeds of the policy to the designated funeral establishment at any time prior to the funeral.
For the foregoing reasons, in our opinion Michigan law does not prohibit a revocably assigned life insurance policy that funds a funeral contract to be placed irrevocably in trust. In addition, the Forethought purchasers have irrevocably assigned ownership of the life insurance policies to the Forethought Trust so that they neither own nor have the legal right to direct the use of trust assets to meet their support and maintenance needs. Therefore, the cash surrender values (CSVs) of the policies are not a resource for SSI purposes.
For the foregoing reasons, in our opinion the Forethought life insurance-funded burial agreement plan is valid under Michigan law. Nothing in Michigan law prohibits irrevocably assigning to a trust ownership of a life insurance policy whose proceeds have been revocably assigned to fund a funeral contract, and such a practice has in fact been approved by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulation's Bureau of Insurance after consultation with the Attorney General's Office. Even though the Forethought purchasers retain the right to revoke the assignment of the life insurance proceeds to the funeral home, they have irrevocably assigned ownership of the life insurance policies to the Forethought Trust so that they neither own nor have the legal right to direct the use of trust assets to meet their support and maintenance needs. We therefore conclude that the cash surrender values (CSVs) of the policies are not a resource for SSI purposes.
FF. PS 00-154 Review of a Trust for Cynthia
GG. PS 00-154 Review of a Trust for Cynthia
This case concerns whether or not a "Special Needs" Trust is considered a countable resource and whether alimony payments placed in the trust from the beneficiary's former spouse are countable as income for SSI eligibility.
A general rule of trust law asserts that even if a trust purports to be irrevocable, it nevertheless may be revoked if the individual is both the settler and the sole beneficiary of the trust. The addition of residual beneficiaries makes the trust irrevocable because these beneficiaries' consent would be required to revoke the trust. Consequently the trust property is not a resource for SSI purposes.
The corpus of the trust is the alimony that the court ordered to be paid to the beneficiary. The alimony payments are first received by the beneficiary's trustee on her behalf, rather than paid directly into the trust, thus the alimony constitutes income when received. Moreover, the inclusion of the alimony payments in a trust which expressly precludes using the trust assets for the beneficiary's support is improper under Michigan law.
You asked whether the Cynthia "Special Needs" Trust constitutes a countable resource for purposes of SSI eligibility.
You also asked us to consider whether the alimony payments from the SSI beneficiary's former husband are countable as income for SSI purposes.
We conclude that the trust assets would not be a resource, because the SSI beneficiary ("Cynthia") could not direct that the trustee use the trust assets for Cynthia's support and maintenance; sell or otherwise transfer her interest in the trust; or revoke or terminate the trust to obtain the assets.
We conclude that the alimony payments cannot be properly paid into a supplemental needs trust under Michigan law. The alimony payments, when made to Cynthia's conservator on her behalf, are countable income for SSI purposes.
Cynthia is a legally incapacitated adult who receives SSI and Medicaid. By order of the Kent County Circuit Court, dated November 30, 1998, Cynthia was awarded weekly alimony payments in the amount of $200 and weekly payments of $50 for arrearages, from her former husband, David. On January 8, 1999, the Kent County Probate Court entered an order that directed and authorized her conservator, Daniel , to deposit all alimony (including arrearage) payments into a Special Needs Trust created pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A). The trust was intended to create a "safe harbor" for Cynthia, whose receipt of alimony and arrearage payments would otherwise render her ineligible for SSI and Medicaid.
The trust agreement was entered into on February 12, 1999. The Kent County Probate Court was named as settlor (grantor), and Daniel, Cynthia's court-appointed conservator, was named as trustee. The stated purpose of the trust is to provide for Cynthia's "special needs and is not intended to take the place of federal, state, or local governmental benefits, including but not limited to Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income, or other sources of support which may otherwise be available to beneficiary through any governmental agency, office or department, non-profit organization or other public or private source." Art. IV.B. Distributions to provide support and maintenance can be made only to supplement benefits available through government or private programs. Id. Distributions shall not be used to pay for Cynthia's basic food, clothing, or shelter costs, or for any other forms of primary support for Cynthia. Art. IV.B, Art. IV.D.
The trust states that it is irrevocable and that the trust is interpreted under Michigan law. Art. II, Art. VII.G. No income or principal may be used for anyone else during Cynthia's lifetime. Art. IV. The trust states that it is created pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A). This statute exempts certain types of trusts from being considered as countable resources for purposes of determining Medicaid eligibility.
Neither Cynthia nor any trustee shall have the right or power to alter, amend, revoke, or terminate the Trust, in whole or in part. Art. II. Upon Cynthia's death, the remaining assets of the trust will be used to reimburse the appropriate State agencies, as reimbursement for any amount expended by the state for the Cynthia's medical assistance. Art. IV.F.1. Any remaining balance is to be distributed to Cynthia's children, Michelle and Michael. Art. IV.F.2. If either of these children is not then living, his or her share shall pass to Cynthia's surviving child. Id.
On March 3, 1999, the Kent County Probate Court approved the Cynthia Trust. The probate court also appointed Daniel as trustee, and authorized him to deposit all alimony (including arrearage) payments received from the Kent County Friend of the Court, or directly from Cynthia's former husband, into the trust.
1. The trust is irrevocable
As we previously advised, the rules governing when trust assets affect eligibility for Medicaid are different from the SSI rules for determining when assets are a countable resource. Even if a trust is consistent with the provisions of the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1993, it still may be a countable resource for SSI purposes.
See States Named as Beneficiary to a Trust, OGC-V (D~) to Gloria , ARC-MOS (June 24, 1997), at 2.
Assets are a resource for SSI purposes if the individual owns them and can convert them to cash to be used for his support and maintenance. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1201(a). If the individual has the right, authority, or power to liquidate the property, it is a resource. Id. Trust assets are a resource if the individual can revoke the trust and use the assets to meet his needs for food, clothing, and shelter, or if the individual can direct the use of the trust assets to be used for his support and maintenance. See POMS SI 01120.200(D). An individual's beneficial interest in a trust may also be a resource if the individual can sell that interest. See SSI-Illinois- Trust for Heather , SSN ~, OGC-V (P~) to Donna, ARC-MOS (April 9, 1999), at 3.
The trust agreement in this case explicitly states that the trust is irrevocable. However, as we previously advised, even if a trust purports to be irrevocable, it nevertheless may be revoked if the individual is both the settlor and sole beneficiary of the trust. See Supplemental Security Income-Ohio-Medicaid Trust for Silas, ~, OGC-V (C~) to Donna, ARC-MOS (July 13, 1998) at 3; see also Hein v. Hein, 543 N.W. 2d 19 (Mich. App. 1995). Since the corpus of the trust in this case is the alimony that the court ordered to be paid to Cynthia, it would appear that Cynthia is the settlor of the trust. See Michigan Trust for Arthur J. F~F, ~, OGC-V (F~) to Gloria, ARC-MOS (July 15, 1997), at 3. This is the case, even though the Kent County Probate Court was named settlor. Here, however, Cynthia cannot revoke the trust, because she is not its sole beneficiary.
The addition of residual beneficiaries makes the trust irrevocable because these beneficiaries' consent would be required to revoke the trust. See Restatement (Second) of Trusts, § 127, comment b. While the language of the trust makes it clear that Cynthia is intended to be the sole beneficiary while she is alive, the amount left in the trust upon Cynthia's death is to be distributed to her children, Michelle and Matthew. Therefore, Cynthia does not possess the sole interest in the trust, and she would not be entitled to revoke the trust without their consent.
Additionally, the language of the trust does not reserve any power to Cynthia to direct how the income or principal are to be expended. Rather, the trustee appears to have the absolute discretion to distribute the net income or principal for Cynthia's benefit, and then, only to purchase assets exempt from consideration for Medicaid or SSI purposes, to provide for Cynthia's extra and supplemental needs. Art. IV.B. It is also significant that the trust provides that no distributions may be made which would in any way disqualify, frustrate, or reduce any governmental financial assistance which would be available to Cynthia. Art. IV.B.
2. The alimony payments are income
While we conclude that, based on the considerations addressed above, the trust established for Cynthia is irrevocable, we also conclude that the alimony constitutes countable income for SSI purposes. As an initial matter, the Kent County Probate Court's March 3, 1999 Order authorizes the trustee to deposit "all alimony payments, including arrearage payments received from the Kent County Friend of the Court or directly from [Cynthia's] ex-husband into the Cynthia Trust." Since the alimony payments are first received by Cynthia's trustee on her behalf, rather than paid directly into the trust, the alimony would appear to constitute income when received. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1102; see also POMS SI 00810.030.
Additionally, the inclusion of alimony payments in a trust which expressly precludes using the trust assets for Cynthia's primary support is improper under Michigan law. Michigan law provides that "[i]n every action for divorce . . . either party may be required to pay alimony for the suitable support and maintenance of the adverse party." MCL 552.13 § 13(1). Michigan courts consider eleven factors when determining alimony/spousal support, including the ability of the parties to work, the present situation of the parties, the needs of the parties, and the health of the parties. These cumulative factors indicate that alimony, under Michigan law, is intended to serve as a source of primary support for the recipient spouse.
Here, effectuation of the trust's stated purpose — to supplement, but not supplant, any government benefits to which Cynthia is entitled — precludes use of the trust assets for Cynthia's primary support needs. Yet, as discussed above, in Michigan, alimony payments are intended to serve as funds for the recipient spouse's primary needs. Consequently, we conclude that inclusion of David's alimony payments in the special needs trust is improper under Michigan law, and that the alimony is not sheltered from being countable income to Cynthia. Cf. Illinois Trust for Krystal , ~, OGC-V (B~), to Donna, ARC-MOS (July 10, 1998), at 4 (payment of child support into trust directly at odds with Illinois Law and trust declaration that specifically prohibited use of trust assets for beneficiary's basic support).
In summary, we conclude that the Cynthia Trust should not be considered a resource to the Cynthia, but that the alimony (and amount in arrears) may not be properly paid into the trust under Michigan law, and that the alimony constitutes countable income for SSI purposes.
The trust may still be a resource for other reasons.
In Matter of P~, 902 F.2d 1254 (7th Cir.1990), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals noted the following considerations in determining whether a trust under Illinois law qualifies as a spendthrift trust: "(1) whether the trust restricts the beneficiary's ability to alienate and the beneficiary's creditors' ability to attach the trust corpus; (2) whether the beneficiary settled and retained the right to revoke the trust, and (3) whether the beneficiary has exclusive and effective dominion and control over the trust corpus, distribution of the trust corpus and termination of the trust." See, e.g., In re S~, 96 B.R. 859, 864 (C.D.Ill.1989). The degree of control which a beneficiary exercises over the trust corpus is the principal consideration under Illinois law.
This provision states:(1) Where a person creates for his own benefit a trust with a provision restraining the voluntary or involuntary transfer of his interest, his transferee or creditors can reach his interest. (2) Where a person creates for his own benefit a trust for support or a discretionary trust, his transferee or creditors can reach the maximum amount which the trustee under the terms of the trust could pay to him or apply for his benefit.
Wisconsin law indicates that where a settlor is a beneficiary of a trust regardless of whether it has a spendthrift provision, a creditor may, at the discretion of the court, receive payments from the income or principal of the trust to satisfy a judgment. Wisc. Stat. Ann. 701.06(6)(a).
. . [1] There is currently proposed legislation in the Illinois General Assembly which would create a new Illinois Trust Code, effective January 1, 2018. See H.B. 2526, 100th Gen. Assemb., 1st Reg. Sess. (Ill. 2017). This legislation contains a provision that would adopt § 401 of the UTC. See id. § 401.
. The Agreement states that it supercedes the original trust agreement dated December 28, 1994, in its entirety. See § 1.01.
. . . The Master Trust Agreement provides that Michigan law governs the Trust. See MTA, § 13.1.
. There is some inconsistency in the submitted materials regarding final distributions of a minor beneficiary’s trust assets. The trust agreement provides that final distributions are made at ages 21, 22, 23, and 24, see Agreement § 2.02, whereas the RAO provides for final distributions at ages 19, 20, and 21. See 18 GTB Code § 1605(e)(3).
. . . Michigan law recognizes that a conveyance to a beneficiary’s “heirs” creates a future interest in the heirs, not a reversionary interest for the settlor. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.2719.
. . . . [1] There is currently proposed legislation in the Illinois General Assembly which would create a new Illinois Trust Code, effective January 1, 2018. See H.B. 2526, 100th Gen. Assemb., 1st Reg. Sess. (Ill. 2017). This legislation contains a provision that would adopt § 401 of the UTC. See id. § 401.
. . . According to the introductory paragraph to Article Seven, the Arc of Indiana is an organization that provides services to developmentally disabled individuals.
. . . . . The Master Trust Agreement provides that Michigan law governs the Trust. See MTA, § 13.1.
. . . POMS SI 01120.199.F.2 permits an exception for transfer of a beneficiary’s trust account from one pooled trust to another. See POMS SI 01120.199.F.2 (the trust need not meet the above criteria to be excepted as a resource if the early termination clause (1) “solely allows for transfer of the beneficiary’s assets from one [pooled] trust to another [pooled] trust,” and (2) contains specific language precluding disbursements other than to the secondary trust (or for the payment of taxes or reasonable administrative expenses). Under this exception, the State(s) need not receive reimbursement prior to transfer of the beneficiary’s trust account. See id. However, no such exception exists for the transfer of a beneficiary’s trust corpus from a special needs trust to a qualifying pooled trust. See id.
. . . . . Michigan law recognizes that a conveyance to a beneficiary’s “heirs” creates a future interest in the heirs, not a reversionary interest for the settlor. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.2719.
. . . . . According to the introductory paragraph to Article Seven, the Arc of Indiana is an organization that provides services to developmentally disabled individuals.
. . . . . POMS SI 01120.199.F.2 permits an exception for transfer of a beneficiary’s trust account from one pooled trust to another. See POMS SI 01120.199.F.2 (the trust need not meet the above criteria to be excepted as a resource if the early termination clause (1) “solely allows for transfer of the beneficiary’s assets from one [pooled] trust to another [pooled] trust,” and (2) contains specific language precluding disbursements other than to the secondary trust (or for the payment of taxes or reasonable administrative expenses). Under this exception, the State(s) need not receive reimbursement prior to transfer of the beneficiary’s trust account. See id. However, no such exception exists for the transfer of a beneficiary’s trust corpus from a special needs trust to a qualifying pooled trust. See id.
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Senate Week in Review: September 29 – October 3, 2014
Governor Pat Quinn’s scandal-plagued Neighborhood Recovery Initiative is poised to once again take center stage as federal prosecutors cleared the way for the bipartisan Legislative Audit Commission to resume their investigation of the program.
In advance of an October 8 Audit Commission hearing, recently uncovered reports show that Governor Quinn has shuffled millions of dollars into a re-branded version of his failed Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (NRI) and appears to be accelerating the pace of handouts as the election nears.
State spending records reveal $5 million in funds that were supposed to have gone statewide to help at-risk youth have been shifted to programs in Chicago that are virtual clones of the NRI, including several to the same contractors whose misuse of funds from the previous program sparked multiple criminal investigations.
U.S. Attorney gives audit commission green light
The Legislative Audit Commission is set to resume its investigation October 8-9 of the original NRI program. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois recently informed the co-chairs of the bipartisan commission that he does not object to the Audit Commission continuing to hold public hearings on the NRI.
In August, U.S. Attorney James Lewis had requested that the commission delay its investigation for 90 days so as not to interfere with federal investigators.
One of the witnesses subpoenaed by the Audit Commission has also said she will testify. Barbara Shaw, the former director of the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority has informed the audit commission that she will comply with a subpoena issued before the hearings were placed on hold. She is considered to be a key witness and has firsthand knowledge of the preparation and roll-out of the $54.5 million grant program that is now under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in Springfield and Chicago.
The Legislative Audit Commission has scheduled hearings for October 8-9, at the Bilandic State Office Building in Chicago. The October 8 hearing is set to begin at 10 a.m. in room Room C-600, and to continue the next day beginning at 9:00 a.m.
Quinn shifting money to NRI Clone—Suburban/downstate programs lose under Quinn shuffle
News that the Quinn Administration has been quietly shifting money to NRI-like programs in Chicago drew especially sharp criticism because the money is being taken from a statewide program targeted to at-risk youth across the state. That program, Comprehensive Community-Based Youth Services (CCBYS), awards grants in an open, competitive process.
However, the Quinn Administration has shifted $5 million out of this fund into Quinn’s re-branded NRI program—a much less transparent program where Governor Quinn can access that money at any time, for whatever purpose he chooses. In fact, Quinn has continued to spend the funds on many of the same providers who are under investigation for the botched Neighborhood Recovery Initiative.
The shift in taxpayer funds has occurred despite repeated assurances from Quinn that he shut down the NRI program in 2012. During a one-week period in September, Quinn pumped an additional $400,000 into just one entity – the Chicago Area Project. The Chicago Area Project is already under investigation for its hiring of the husband of Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown. The $400,000 brought the total handed to the group to over $1 million, less than six weeks before the election.
Suburban schools raise concerns about fund shift
In an unrelated development, suburban school districts are honing in on legislation that would strip them of most of their state funding through a massive rewrite of the state’s education funding formula.
The measure, Senate Bill 16, has raised eyebrows among suburban school districts and taxpayers who are concerned that many districts would lose 80% or more of their state support. Concerns have also been raised that the proposal, while claiming to offer a more equitable system of funding schools in Illinois, contains a number of special exemptions that will channel more money to the Chicago Public Schools than they would receive if treated like other school districts.
Ostensibly an outgrowth of a bipartisan Education Funding Advisory Committee’s hearings, the legislation was actually drafted in secret without Republican participation after the advisory committee concluded its hearings. More recently, it has been revealed that Illinois House Democrats are holding closed door meetings on the legislation.
Past statements from House Speaker Michael Madigan indicate he believes suburban and downstate schools receive a “free lunch” for teacher pension contributions. This raises concerns that the legislation will be used as a “cost shift” to move state support away from schools that already receive little from the state, and channel more money to Chicago schools.
Opponents point out that the legislation does not provide any new funds to schools in Illinois and that Governor Quinn has cut funding to education in Illinois, despite raising taxes by 67%.
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Hipparcos
Hipparcos science home page
INFO 04-1997: ESA's Hipparcos satellite revises the scale of the cosmos
The observable Universe may be about 10 per cent larger than astronomers have supposed, according to early results from the European Space Agency's Hipparcos mission. Investigators claim that the measuring ruler used since 1912 to gauge distances in the cosmos was wrongly marked.
This ruler relies on the brightnesses of winking stars called Cepheids, but the distances of the nearest examples, which calibrate the ruler, could only be estimated. Direct measurements by Hipparcos imply that the Cepheids are more luminous and more distant than previously imagined.
The brightnesses of Cepheids seen in other galaxies are used as a guide to their distances. All of these galaxies may now be judged to lie farther away. At the same time the Hipparcos Cepheid scale drastically reduces the ages of the oldest stars, to about 11 billion years. By a tentative interpretation the Universe is perhaps 12 billion years old.
Michael Feast from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, announces his conclusion about the Cepheids at a meeting devoted to Hipparcos at the Royal Astronomical Society in London today (14 February 1997). It will provoke much comment and controversy, because the scale and age of the Universe is the touchiest issue in cosmology.
The best hope for confirming or modifying the result now rests with studies using Hipparcos data on other kinds of variable stars. An investigation of the variables called Miras, by Floor van Leeuwen of Royal Greenwich Observatory, Cambridge, and his colleagues, is described at the same London meeting. Full scientific reports on both the Cepheids and Miras have been accepted for publication in a leading journal, the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
European teams of scientists and engineers conceived and launched the unique Hipparcos satellite, which operated from 1989 to 1993. Hipparcos fixed precise positions in the sky of 120 000 stars (Hipparcos Catalogue) and logged a million more with a little less accuracy (Tycho Catalogue). Since 1993 the largest computations in the history of astronomy have reconciled the observations, to achieve a hundredfold improvement in the accuracy of star positions compared with previous surveys.
Slight seasonal shifts in stellar positions as the Earth orbits the Sun, called parallaxes, give the first direct measurements of the distances of large numbers of stars. With the overall calculations completed, the harvest of scientific discoveries has begun. Among those delighted with the immediate irruption into cosmology, from this spacecraft made in Europe, is ESA's director of science, Roger Bonnet.
"When supporters of the Hipparcos project argued their case," Bonnet recalls, "they were competing with astrophysical missions with more obvious glamour. But they promised remarkable consequences for all branches of astronomy. And already we see that even the teams using the Hubble Space Telescope will benefit from a verdict from Hipparcos on the distance scale that underpins all their reckonings of the expansion of the Universe."
The pulse-rates of the stars
Cepheid stars alternately squeeze themselves and relax, like a beating heart. They wax and wane rhythmically in brightness, every few days or weeks, at a rate that depends on their luminosity. Henrietta Leavitt at the Harvard College Observatory discovered in the early years of this century that bigger and more brilliant Cepheids vary with a longer period, according to a strict rule. It allows astronomers to gauge relative distances simply by taking the pulse-rates of the Cepheids and measuring their apparent brightnesses.
Nearby Cepheids are typically 1000-2000 light-years away. They are too far for even Hipparcos to obtain very exact distance measurements, but by taking twenty-six examples and comparing them, Michael Feast and his colleague Robin Catchpole of RGO Cambridge arrive at consistent statistics. These define the relationship between the period and the luminosity, needed to judge the distances of Cepheids. The zero point is for an imaginary Cepheid pulsating once a day. This would be a star 300 times more luminous than the Sun, according to the Hipparcos data. The slowest Cepheid in the sample, l Carinae, has a period of 36 days and is equivalent to 18 000 suns.
Applied to existing data on Cepheids seen in nearby galaxies, the Hipparcos result increases their distances. It pushes the Large Magellanic Cloud away, from 163 000 light-years, the previously accepted value, to 179 000 light-years with the Hipparcos Cepheid corrections, an increase of 10 per cent. Feast and Catchpole feed this result back to our own Milky Way Galaxy, and into calculations of the age of globular clusters, which harbour some of the oldest stars of the Universe. The reckoning involves another kind of variable star, the RR Lyraes, and the Hipparcos investigators arrive at an age of 11 billion years for the oldest stars. Other estimates of the oldest stars assigned to them an age of 14.6 billion years. This seemed, absurdly, to leave them older than the Universe. A team of astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope recently declared the Universe to be only 9-12 billion years old. The Hipparcos Cepheid result increases that Hubble-inferred cosmic lifespan to 10-13 billion years.
"I hope we've cured a nonsensical contradiction that was a headache for cosmologists," Michael Feast says, "We judge the Universe to be a little bigger and therefore a little older, by about a billion years. The oldest stars seem to be much younger than supposed, by about 4 billion years. If we can settle on an age of the Universe at, say, 12 billion years then everything will fit nicely."
Feast and Catchpole have also cleared up a mystery about the nearest and most familiar Cepheid variable. This is Polaris, the Pole Star. Imperceptibly to the human eye, its brightness varies at a relatively high rate, every 3 days. That should make it, by the Cepheid rule, a feebler star than it appears to be.
Hipparcos fixes the distance of Polaris at 430 light-years, and the researchers conclude that Polaris pulsates with an overtone, at a rate 40 per cent faster than expected for a Cepheid of its size and luminosity. Several other Cepheids gauged by Hipparcos also exhibit overtones. Were these not recognized as fast pulsators they would give false impressions in the Cepheid distance scale.
The Miraculous Stars
Another famous variable star pulsates at more than twice the frequency that theorists would expect. This is Mira, the prototype of the class of stars investigated by Floor van Leeuwen and his colleagues, using the Hipparcos data. To an unaided eye, Omicron Ceti appears and disappears in a cycle of 11 months. In the 17th Century astronomers named it Mira, the miraculous star. Astrophysicists today interpret Mira as a senile star slightly more massive than the Sun. It has swollen into a red giant and started oscillating, as a prelude to greater instabilities that will in due course fling the outer layers of the star into space.
Hipparcos fixes Mira's distance at 420 light-years. Other astronomers have gauged the apparent width of the star, as seen from the ground, so the Hipparcos team can compute the diameter of Mira as 650 million kilometres - somewhat wider than the orbit of Mars. If the Sun were in Mira's state it would swallow up the Earth and all of the inner planets.
Astronomers knew that Mira was big, but the Hipparcos result confirms that it is too large to be oscillating in a simple fashion. Again its variation is an overtone, and the same is true of some other variable stars of the same type, known collectively as the Miras.
The sixteen Miras in the survey are mostly 300-1000 light-years away, at distances more comfortably within the grasp of Hipparcos parallaxes. Before Hipparcos, there was only one fairly good measurement of a Mira distance, for the star R Leonis. Even in that case, Hipparcos adjusts the distance from 390 to 330 light-years.
Patricia Whitelock of the South African Astronomical Observatory played a prominent part in the Mira study. In preparation for the Hipparcos data, observations of selected Miras from South Africa and Russia, with infrared instruments, assessed the extent to which they are dimmed by dust. Taking this effect into account, as well as the occurrence of overtones, the team arrives at a cosmic distance scale. As with the Cepheids, they can deduce distances by comparing the brightness of a Mira with its period of variation.
Applied to the Large Magellanic Cloud, where Miras have been detected, the Hipparcos Mira scale puts the galaxy at 166 000 or 171 000 light-years, depending on the method of calculation preferred. This result is intermediate between the commonly accepted distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud and the new result from the Hipparcos Cepheid scale.
"Frankly the Cepheids are at the limit of the useful range of Hipparcos, for distance measurements," comments Floor van Leeuwen, "And as for the Miras, ours is the very first attempt to gauge the absolute distance to another galaxy via parallax measurements on this type of star. So I think we should be grateful to Hipparcos, that our earliest answers are in the right ballpark and in fairly good agreement, without being hasty in drawing cosmological conclusions."
Michael Perryman, ESA's project scientist for Hipparcos, anticipates a warm debate among astronomers. Should the Hipparcos Cepheid results be taken at face value, with all their implications for the size and age of the Universe? He remains confident that the issue will be settled by other results quarried from the Hipparcos data.
Further Hipparcos studies of variable stars, including the RR Lyraes, are in progress. Also relevant to the distance scale are differing quantities of heavy elements present in stars of different ages, which can affect their luminosities. Any remaining confusion on this point will be dispelled by mainstream Hipparcos research devoted to the basic astrophysics of stars of different ages of origin, and at different stages of their life cycles.
"Until Hipparcos, the cosmic distance scale rested on well-informed guesses," Michael Perryman says, "The distances we now have, for stars of many kinds, provide for the very first time a firm foundation from which to gauge the distances of galaxies. The work has only just begun. If it should turn out that the Cepheids have given the final answer straight away, that might be surprising. But there will be no reason for astonishment when Hipparcos's direct measurements of stellar distances lead to a revised scale for the Universe."
The Hipparcos Cepheid scale is due to be debated in London today and in Seattle on 17 February, when Michael Feast will speak at the annual meeting the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It will also be one of the hot topics at ESA's Hipparcos Symposium in Venice, 13-16 May.
The Venice meeting will celebrate the release of the Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues to the world-wide astronomical community. It will also offer the first overview of results obtained by the groups who have had early access to the data, by virtue of their contributions to the Hipparcos mission. The subjects range from the Solar System and the Sun's neighbours among the stars, through special stars and the shape and behaviour of the Milky Way Galaxy, to the link between the starry sky of Hipparcos and the wide Universe of galaxies and quasars.
Last Update: 03 October 2008
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In Defense of Agents and "Bad" Literature
I don't know, rejecter, the problem with so many agents and publishers is that you're interested in selling self-consuming artifacts (you went to Brown, you'll recognize that _expression) with a brief shelf-life. You equate sales with success. Stephen King had good commercial success with his early novels -- does anyone read them now? Buy them now? How about John Grisham? How about Wallerstein and Bridges Over Madison County (god what an awful book).
I read an interview that Andrew Wylie gave with La Monde where he described his method as trying to bring literature to the fore. He said that he pretty much despised Dan Brown and didn't care that 70% of the publishing world wanted more Dan Browns. There's an agent I'd give my left nut to have represent me, someone actually interested in literature and the contribution it can make to the culture, not only now but years from now.
First of all, Stephen King has had a lot of commercial success recently with both his fantasy Dark Tower series and his new horror/sci-fi novel Cell. He also writes regular columns for Entertainment Weekly. John Grisham's book The Innocent Man is currently #2 on the Amazon.com website in bestselling books. I can't remember off the top of my head if Wallerstein has written anything recently, but every writer has dry years and bad books. Some writers only have a certain number of books in them and either start producing crap or just stop writing pretty much altogether (J. D. Salinger, America's favorite non-writing writer)
In terms of equating sales with success, that's true and not true. The publishing industry is so tough that if you want to be a multiple-book writer, you have to have a significant early success, because you will be judged on the sale of your earlier material. If your first book is a flop, or doesn't do well enough to recoup publishing costs, your career with that publishing company is probably dead and the agent will have to take your future books to other companies, who will know that. For people who just wanted to write one great novel and get it published, that's not really an issue, but an agency can't have a giant list of one-book authors. It needs a stable of authors who regularly produce publishable material.
Most agencies have a varied book list. While the agent loves every book on that list, the public might not, and the agent is aware on this. A good agency (financially) will have a stable (and we do use this term) of authors who, like I said, regularly produce books (about every 1-3 years) that sell for significant advances (over $20,000). The stable will probably be relatively small, depending on how successful those authors are. One author can carry an entire agency for years. Then there's the others on the list, who aren't commercially successful, or are first-book authors who got a first-book advance (around $5000-7000), of which the agency got 15%. They get to stay on the list because the agency is floated by the stable authors, and the agent can afford to take on a new author who might have terrific material that just won't reach a huge audience.
For all of the criticism of agents representing what some people consider bad literature, nobody has bothered to inquire what other books Dan Brown's agent (if he has one) is representing.
Sub Rights
My first novel is in print and will remain in print with a small publisher who uses print-on-demand through Booksurge. Distribution has been limited to Amazon and my publisher’s website. My publisher retains first rights and has not pursued the sale of subsidiary rights but has encouraged me to contact agencies to see if I can find an agent who’d sell subsidiary rights. The agents I’ve contacted so far have stated simply that they don’t represent books already in print with a publisher. I’ve been advised to try to sell first rights to a larger publisher, but they’re not mine to sell. Any suggestions? My novel explores a timely topic (interracial families) with which I have personal experience. It’s received good reviews, including one from Girl on Demand at POD-dy Mouth. Thanks for any insights you can offer.
This isn't my area of expertise, but the response you've gotten from agents isn't surprising. Nobody wants to pay a POD publisher rights to a book they're bothering to represent/republish. The big publishing companies won't bite, so there won't be decent money involved.
Look carefully at your contract with the POD publisher and see when their hold on first rights expires. It may be as short as a year. For suggestions on how to get out of a contract with a POD publisher, I would talk to Miss Snark.
Posted by The Rejecter at 10:48 PM 2 comments:
My Anti-MFA Rant
Your MFA class anecdote was very interesting - and also tends to weaken your contention to some extent, as I'm guessing some of these MFA students will end up in the publishing side of the business.
So I'm in my second year as an MFA student and people ask me all the time, "What do you guys do with your degree when you graduate?" Well, I'm halfway through the program and I haven't figured that out. Some go on to be college professors of creative writing, which is what the degree qualifies you for. Some had their fun and go on with their normal lives. Some actually write.
In general, high level and mid-level MFA programs, not lesser ones from an online school, promote a type of writing known as "literary fiction." In the publishing world, this is known as "unsellable." Most of my professors have written books I've never heard of and went out of print years ago on whatever small press they were printed on. You've got the occasional Pulitzer Prize winner, but chances are you've only got a few of those in the entire history of the program and yet these programs are churning out more and more writers each year, most of whom will not go on to any real commercial success.
There is a significant difference from what most people read and what is supposedly "great literature." Most of the fiction that has been successful in the last 30 years falls rather neatly into a genre. There is high-end fiction available on the front shelves at Barnes and Noble - Lovely Bones and The Color of Water and the like - but there's also a lot of Dan Brown. This isn't because people are stupid. This is because people want to enjoy the books they read and for the most part, people don't want to read heavily-worded 400 page rants about how miserable the author's life is.
When I was an undergrad at Brown taking creative writing workshops, I was usually one of two people who wasn't writing about a college student who was gay and smoked and described their house a lot. There'd usually be one other person in the class who would try something different, but that was about it. The main comments I got were, "Well, I actually enjoyed reading this, but it's not, like, really good stuff." I don't know. If you enjoyed it, I think I succeeded as a writer.
Once, just to piss off a professor, I wrote a story about gay vampires who smoked and had a torrid love affair beyond the other vampires' backs. I wrote this thing as a joke, but the professor got really into it, and so did the class. I couldn't figure it out, but it was really funny. Oh man, I'm still laughing about that.
What I'm getting at after rambling for a while is that the "literary world" - populated by unpublished MFA students and professors who were published once in the 1970's - is a different world from the publishing one. When the two meet and you get something that's high end and you want to read, you get a Pulitzer Prize winner. They like that sort of thing. One of my MFA professors is on the Pulitzer board. But the two do not meet very often.
(I'm a little temperamental about this because my professors often yell at me for writing stuff that's "too commercial" or "too genre-y" and then I have to take time away from my actual manuscript to write a rambling story about myself. Unfortunately I don't smoke nor am I gay or even having regular sex, so it's really hard)
Science-based Fiction and What's Publishable
On the fiction side of things, is the goal of writing "publishable" fiction to produce something that will please agents and editors, or something that the public will find worthwhile? I'm not entirely convinced these are always the same thing.
An agent's job is to sell the manuscript to a publisher who is enthusiastic about it and will put time and money into promoting it as much as possible. The editor's job is to make sure it's something the public will want. (Often this involves editing) The publishing company then has the job of marketing the book correctly to get it in bookstores and publicize it so the public knows it exists and buys it. The job of every person in the publishing industry is to make sure books sell. We do it because we care about the books. (We certainly don't do it for the money. It's a particularly low-paying industry) We want to put books out that are good and people will enjoy.
There have been a couple scattered cases where a book was great but not publishable. Someone along the line will probably recognize this and kill the project (usually the head of editorial department, who has the most to lose by having a book fail). In these rare cases, it's usually because that particular market isn't doing well. After Katrina, we were pretty much rejecting everything related to New Orleans, hurricanes, or Katrina. The timing wasn't right. But it's hard to say to an author, "Look, this is just the right novel at the wrong time." At the end of the day, publishing houses have to make money to pay the salaries of their employees - and pay you, the author. They can't do that if they go under because none of their books sold more than the cost of overhead for putting out the book.
Then there's the cases of books that we just miss the boat on. There's that famous story of how John Grisham got rejected everywhere and self-published his first novel or something and it became a huge hit, so some company picked it up. Stephen King tells young authors that he still has a giant stack of rejections sitting in a drawer in his office. But, usually, these authors succeed eventually (as the case with John Grisham and Stephen King).
You don't survive in the publishing industry unless you know what you're doing. For the most part our judgment of whether a book is good or bad is probably right.
I keep encountering agent and editor blogs and interviews where they state they personally have to fall in love with a book to pursue publishing it. There's only a few hundred people in these positions and I suspect they generally share the same educational and cultural backgrounds and interests.
It is true that an agent feels like they have to love the book to take it on. Honestly, you don't want an agent who doesn't love your material. They won't care. They'll shelve it. They won't sit down with the big editors for 3-hour lunches to pitch it, they won't try to get a bidding war going between publishers for it (which is good for you in terms of $), and they won't worry about how the publishing company is promoting it. You want to be the agent's numero uno priority.
It is NOT true that agents share the same educational and cultural backgrounds and interests. You can't be an agent unless you're fairly widely read in just about every genre, because you have to know books and markets. Agents are male or female, black and/or white. Some own dogs and some own cats and some own poodles that pee all over the shared carpet. (Not Miss Snark, if that's what you're thinking) Agents follow their interests based on the paragraph above, because they do have to love the manuscript, but they know all about the market and what's going on in just about every market. YA is very hot right now. Everyone predicts that Westerns will come back but they never do. Everyone's chilling off on thrillers related to the Vatican. Things like that are things agents pay close attention to.
But in the end, it just comes down to the agent loving your manuscript and wanting to see you in print.
More discussion and examples, if you wish:
One example is the integration of science within fiction (not SF). There's very little of it. (Basically, just Michael Crichton). This is despite the fact that a lot of key issues right now (global warming, genetics, pollution, etc.) are steeped in science - and fiction is a wonderful way to gain understanding and perspective. I'm curious if the strong literary background one is likely to have in fiction publishing (which makes sense) might also mean that science and techology isn't much of an interest for the agent and/or editor. And does this in turn mean that a query for fiction incorporating science is less likely to pass muster, even if on an important topic?
Michael Crichton is an interesting case. He actually went for a master's in English, and dropped out, saying his class was "filled with aspiring English teachers." He wanted to write, which was different, and MFA programs did not proliferate at the time, so he went to school to learn about what he wanted to write about, which was medicine. So he went to medical school. That was a very unconventional thing for him to do, but he was always essentially a writer. He was just doing research. Not all of his books are science-based - Rising Sun is a good example of that. It's a book about Japanese culture in America during a time when the Japanese had a very successful economy and were buying up companies in the States. It has almost nothing to do with science at all. Or The Great Train Robbery, which is about a train robbery. Science is not really involved beyond what's necessary for robbing a train.
He's a writer, pure and simple. A really terrific writer - and you can debate for yourself whether he is or isn't one - can write about anything. It just might require research.
Science is a tough topic to fictionalize because it's not something non-scientists encounter on a regular basis after leaving high school. Chances are they'll have to deal with accountants, lawyers, truck drivers, whoever - but chances are, your average Joe does not encounter very hard science a lot except when there's a hot issue connected to it (like the environment, which is why Al Gore's book An Inconvenient Truth is a bestseller. It's also a good book) And there are very few scientists who are writers. The scientific field does not train you to be a fiction writer. It's something you have to learn on your own. If you have a degree in a scientific field, you've written some papers and maybe defended a thesis, but that doesn't mean it was a page-turner.
Most scientists or people who know a lot about science go into science fiction because science is essentially about discovering things, and new possiblities are what fiction is all about, so people like William Gibson and Neal Stephenson go nuts describing all of the crazy cybornetic possibilities of the future. It may or may not happen, but it's an interesting read.
As for math, the only interesting math book I've ever read was Flatland, which was a truly bizarre experiment in fiction that worked.
Here's a question for illustration: If presented with two roughly equal query letters about a thriller - one dealing with a stolen rare book and taking place in an upscale NY suburb, and a second dealing with water rights and taking place near Phoenix, Arizona - is one query more likely than the other to pass through the gate?
No. We don't care where it takes place. We care that it's an interesting book. If it uses the place setting to its advantage, great. Otherwise, it doesn't show up on our radar. A lot of fiction seems to take place in New York because a lot of writers live in New York, and because New York is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in America and a lot happens here to write about. But to be perfectly honest, we're all a little sick of New York-based fiction. Or at least I am, because I'm in an MFA program where everyone writes about living in New York. I once wrote a short story that took place in Victorian England and people just didn't get it. It was like a foreign concept to them. It was one of my more frustrating fiction-workshop moments.
Write about whatever you want to write about. Put your heart and soul into it, and make it shine. If you succeed, we'll love it. Otherwise, we won't, and that's the bottom line.
My Favorite Things #1
I'd like to start with my favorite of all: people who use "lesbian" as an adjective.
Let's be clear about this. I have no problem with gay-themed fiction or non-fiction. In fact, I read a lot of it in the fan fiction world. What I am referring to the case where the protagonist is something else, and the male author (because the author is always, always male in this case) feels the need to add that she is lesbian. There is the lesbian militant. The lesbian detective. The lesbian vampire. The lesbian psychic. The lesbian psychic detective. (I've seen it) Man, those lesbians are out there, doin' things, probably having sex at least once in the book I'm guessing, as we never request this kind of material. I'm sure there's a shower scene that wasn't totally necessary to the plot. Thanks, male author!
The greatest query letter ever would be about a militant lesbian psychic vampire who solves crimes. And by "greatest" I mean "worst."
Surprise! We make mistakes.
(This) happened to me several months ago, when an assistant and I traded emails at a NY literary agency. They loved the query; "send us your first chapter." They loved the first chapter or so I was told; "send us your full." The next day, I received an email, "Sorry, but we found the writing confusing, best wishes, etc." I was printing the last section of the full manuscript at that moment. Really can't describe the haze of the next five minutes, but I remember some use of colorful language was involved.
This is one of the few cases where I would actually recommend contacting the agency to ask what happened, because this sounds like a case of miscommunication.
For the most part, assistants do not request partials. Agents do. I can only remember one or two instances where I nudged an agent into requesting a partial when he/she didn't want to, and it ended ultimately in rejection for that person.
My guess here - and this is a real guess - is that the second email was a mistake email. We try not to do it, but it happens. Envelopes get stuffed with rejection letters when they shouldn't, SASEs get lost, the agent hits the auto-reject reply button on her mail program to the wrong email. I always double-check that the name on the query matches the name on the envelope of the person I'm rejecting, but I'm human. In our office there's a stack of mysterious SASEs that don't seem to have matched any query letter we had. Everyone screws up at their job once in a while, including agents and their assistants.
If you queried multiple agents with a good letter, you should get more than one positive reply, so it shouldn't be a huge worry. If you tell me you queried 100 agents and this was the only positive, I would say something's wrong with your material. So one screw up at one agency is not going to mean that you will never get published. And if you have reason to believe there was a mistake made because something just doesn't make sense, feel free to email the agency. We're incredibly apologetic about these sorts of things because we feel bad about them.
Posted by The Rejecter at 3:36 PM No comments:
What are your chances, really?
I have a question about standard business practice at agencies. Is it common for someone in your position to put something in the "maybe" pile and then have the agent reject it outright? Have you read any great submissions that your boss then rejected?
Actually, most of the maybe pile is fairly immediately rejected. I would say about 95% of the letters are initially rejected by me. The other five percent are passed on to my boss, who then rejects most of them immediately, leaving about 1% that she actually makes requests for partials from. Of those partials, most are rejected.
A good agency will only take on a couple new clients a year. If you read Jeff Herman's Guide to Literary Agents, his listings indicate that most agencies say they accept 1% of their submissions. Actually the number much lower, but it's rather hard to calculate because it varies widely year-to-year.
Even the best agencies have good years and then dry spells. A good year is when at least one person on the client list has hit the NY Times bestseller list and/or gotten a large advance, large enough to pay out for the agent, who only gets 15%. A dry year is when the agent's "stable" of clients are not turning in new material that's publishable or going for big money. It's usually during a dry year that the agent freaks out and takes on a bunch of new clients in hopes that at least one them will take off.
None of this affects you in a way you can predict. The best thing to do is write a good novel and cast a wide net. If your material is publishable, you will get some bites.
The Basics, Continued
It sounds like you immediately toss the query if it doesn't follow the described format.
I don't, actually. If you wrote a complete novel, took the time to write up a query letter to a professional literary agency, and paid for the postage, I feel soundly that the whole letter should be read. (Plus, it doesn't take me a long time to read a 1 page letter)
If you have a sound manuscript and are capable of conveying that somewhere in the letter, I'm willing to forgive a few spelling, grammatical, or formatting errors. Nobody's perfect, or maybe the author didn't really do much research on how to write a query letter and spent more time focusing on perfecting their novel - a better idea in the long run. Or, there's the occasional abomindable query letter with excellent credentials that just goes into the maybe pile immediately. ("I won the Booker Prize for Short Fiction, had my previous book turned into a movie, and my previous agent was at William Morris but died recently and I need a new one.")
My job is to sniff out quality material. Sometimes the query letter isn't perfect but the concept is interesting enough for me to pass it on and my boss to request it. However, it's best to give yourself every possible advantage by polishing your query letter, because many agencies will NOT give you the time of day if you even call your manuscript a "fiction novel." Many assistants and agents are looking for a reason to reject and will take any. In short, try not to screw up, but if you have a great book, you will probably get some offers even if there's a spelling mistake somewhere.
If the format is followed, what part of the letter convices you to put it in the maybe pile?
Jon Piper
I get this question a lot, and the answer is always, "It sounds like a really good book." Since there's no one right way to write a great book, I can't really tell you that way. I can only tell you the wrong way to present it. Sorry.
Posted by The Rejecter at 10:42 PM No comments:
What do you look for in a query letter? What causes you to request an ms?
Let's go over the basics once and for all.
The query letter is actually a fairly simple letter of introduction that is so stylized that you only have to worry about the first 1-2 paragraphs. It's when people vary from the norm that gets them in trouble, though having a bad novel idea helps too. The letter should look like this:
Dear [Mr./Ms.][Agent's Last Name],
[1-3 Paragraphs introducing your manuscript. It's not so much a summary as an enticement to read the material. Imagine that you are writing a book jacket that is meant to entice potential readers to spend up to $20 on your book. It should hit key plot points, but should not be a summary of what happens. This section of the query should be the best material you've ever written in your life, because it is basically what we judge your work by. Fortunately, if you are a terrific writer with a terrific novel, it shouldn't be hard. The problem is that most people aren't terrific writers. Oh, and don't make it more than 3 paragraphs, quote the text, or list characters unnecessarily]
[1 paragraph containing these these VERY important items:
Title of manuscript (Having only a working title or no title is the sign that you haven't thought out your manuscript)
Word count (page numbers mean nothing to us)
Genre (Don't lie. Your sci-fi novel is not contemporary fiction. And don't include multiple genres to try to make it seem like it will be a crossover hit. I've done that in my own queries and it looks stupid)
Significant Writing Credentials (And writing a column in your town's newspaper about the annual street fair doesn't count, even if it is technically published. If you don't have any, just ignore #4 and move on)
Referral Info (If you're querying because you were told to by the agent themself or a client of the agent, you could mention it here or on the first line of your query, your choice)
Biographical Information Immediately Pertaining to Your Manuscript (Important ONLY for non-fiction. Includes: professional research done for material or things in your personal life that led you to write it. Let me repeat: This is only important for non-fiction.)
Some last line about "thanks for reading" and that your completed manuscript is ready for submission. ]
[Signature, with full contact information, including email if you have it]
...And there you have it. Don't make it longer than one page and/or four paragraphs. We bore easily.
For more on query formatting, check out AgentQuery's site, or numerous others on the internet. Don't spend money on a book just on query letters. I have a couple, and they're all pretty bad and expensive.
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Book Titles
Dear Ms Rejector
Do you have any insights on book titles, and if they affect the way you respond to a query?
The answer to your second question is no, they do not affect the way we respond to a query. We'll probably only notice the title if it's especially cool. Most of times it's just a regular title or an especially bad one, but that doesn't bother us. The title can be changed throughout most of the book-publication process. I'm not particularly sure if the right title has to go on the contract or if it can be changed later, but I think it can be changed as late as final editorial.
Titles are also deceptively hard to come up with unless you're writing a thriller. We don't expect you to nail it the first time.
E-Books! Did I do this already?
So, two people emailed me with questions about e-Books. Generally I trim long emails, but I'm going into ultra-pruning mode for the sake of time.
You should sell an e-book. Figure a five percent sell-through and 98 percent profit. If you get 500 visits per day and you're making $4.80 per unit, it works out to about $3,600 a month, possibly enough to rent a dumpster behind the Port Authority.
No, I wouldn't. Even if I sold 500 books per day, which bestsellers don't even do, Amazon would take 55% of my profits - or more. I'm not sure what their commission rate is for e-Books. I imagine it's high because they (and B&N.com, to be fair) are the only real vendor.
[Deleted section: This guy likes reading e-Books] Every-now and again though, for the same reasons I went to used bookstores and bought the most random title i could find, I nab stuff that is e-book only. Like before, most of it is pretty horrible and a few of them are worthwhile reads. One in particular was the best read I've had this year(since then its being picked up for print, which makes me very happy). Anyway, my question is this, where in the world are the reviews for this part of the industry?
Don't get me wrong - I'm a technocrat. My teenage years were spent on ultra-slow Prodigy Online and then on slightly faster local network. I shamelessly download an entire TV series that's either too expensive or not available for retail in this country (I like Japanese feudal dramas). That said, I hate reading books online. I'm willing to read fanfic because it's free and I already know the characters, so I'm more likely to like it, but I can't remember the last time I read an e-Book, even for free, that had no relation to some fandom. Why? Because most people feel that reading a book on a computer screen sucks. And most people make up most of the consumer market (though it's all right to feel special).
When hand-held devices that you could actually read on came out, there was a whole lot of press about how it would change publishing industry and we would all be switching to reading off our tiny, poorly-lit Palm Pilot screen like the guys in Prelude to Foundation. Remember when Stephen King did that chapter-by-chapter/pay-as-you-go posting of a novel? Or I took that course on hypertext fiction? (No, you don't because you weren't there. Well, I did. I needed more time to spend with my Playstation so I opted out of another history course.)
Even some ten years later, industry professionals are scratching their heads, trying to make a way to make e-Books profitable. As the person in charge of the digital division at I think it was HarperCollins explained to me this summer, "e-Books and internet files are being published by the major companies, but it's still basically R&D." (research and development) And she was a person willing to read a novel on her little novel-reading device, but she admitted no one understood her, even her co-workers.
As with any new thing that comes along unexpectedly and alternately revolutionizes/threatens your entire industry, it takes time to figure out how it's going to work. With the internet it's especially hard because things are constantly changing, as are the devices we buy to keep us hooked to that digital IV while we're away from the computer. What publishers have discovered, for the most part, is that e-Books are unprofitable. You put it up for $5.95 (dumb companies charge more), Amazon takes half, and then the author gets a cut. Also, people don't buy it, especially if it's a new author and/or it's also available in print form. In the end the result is easily less than $50 a month - for the company.
Not that the industry has given up. They have figured out that it costs almost nothing to create an e-Book other than editorial, especially if you've signed the author for a print run and you're doing the editorial anyway, so they don't really lose money; they just don't make money. The advantage is in time: it takes a book a year, at absolute best, to go to press, between the contract signing and the day the books appear on shelves. e-Books can go up whenever the editorial is done and someone's put some cover art together. Some companies are using the e-Book as a promotional tool while they're waiting for the book to come out, and even then, that's promotion restricted to people who spend a lot of time on Amazon. I do, but a lot of people don't. The point is that it's free promotion, and promotion is rarely free, so that's why you're seeing e-Books.
(Also you're seeing them because some people like them, but those people remain in the minority until our computer screens don't make our eyes want to bleed after a 12-hour session)
Posted by The Rejecter at 12:41 AM 27 comments:
Rejection Timeline
Hi Rejecter-
Here's my question: sometimes query replies (in my case rejections so far) come like lightening, and other times it takes several weeks. What I guess I'm wondering is, if it a case of "the longer it's out, the better your chances are" because it's actually being considered, or does the fact that the query is still out just mean it's in a pile somewhere? Is this a total toss-up or is there a "usually" answer?
There are very few hard truths in this industry, and this is definitely an area in which a million things could be going on in the other side. I can tell you this:
(1) The "pile" (referring to the snail mail pile) stacks up based on how often the agent checks it, or if the assistant is in charge of that and if so, how often they come in. Sometimes I only come in once a week and do the whole pile. I used to work three days a week, so the pile didn't build up as much, except over the weekend. We do not go through it in any kind of order based on how much you spent on postage, so don't waste your money. What I do - and it's not always done this way - is go through the whole thing to make sure nothing's a bill or a royalty check or a bank statement, then stack it back up from largest to smallest envelope because it stacks better on the table. Then I do the whole stack.
(2) It's true that we reject instantaneously while we might take more time to think about a maybe query, but this by no means universally true. Generally I make a pile of maybes, and my boss looks at them, picks up the one she likes, and sets them aside. Then when she gets a chance, she emails the person. It's probably within the day because she's polite, but that's not true of everyone. They might let it sit on their shelf for a couple weeks (even a letter) if they are extremely busy. Agenting stuff like contract negotiations, publisher-set submission deadlines of final manuscripts, proof approval, and any kind of conference to get ready for (like the BEA or Frankfurt) are really more demanding and is what the agent does all day. In fact, hope that they do, because it means they're working hard for their clients, and if you become one, you'll want the same treatment.
(3) Partials and fulls can take a long time. This is true. I have had agents get back to me really quickly, generally with a rejection. Or if it's a partial, the agent can take a quick look and say, "Eh... I'm not sure. Need to see the whole thing" and request a full very quickly as well. If you have a full or a partial and it's been 6 months, give them an email. If something comes up, like an offer from that publishing house you sent into a year ago, call them and tell them. They will drop everything and read the manuscript. If they don't, they're definitely not the right agent for you.
(4) Some agents do not feel the need to respond to email queries if it's a rejection. I think this is rude and I'm glad my boss takes the time to reply to her emails, but that's the way some people feel. It's slowly changing as e-queries become more common, but some agents still just ignore it if they don't like it. The paper query with the SASE is a little harder to toss in the trash. There's some guilt factor there.
Beyond that, I can't say. Every agent works differently, and they work differently from week to week depending on what's going on that week. If they're busy badgering an author to get the final manuscript copy into the publisher by the deadline because it's tomorrow, then they won't be reading partials.
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Characters, Sex, and the Characters They Have Sex With
I'm in the early stages of my first novel and I think that sex is almost needed. Writing about attraction and sexual impulses is just about the only aspect of writing that makes me uncomfortable to me. I don't want it to sounds awkward, out of place, or at all trashy. This fear is especially amplified by the fact that the first part of my novel takes place in a very conservative setting where sex means breeding, not sex. Do you have any advice concerning how I should approach "romance" portions? When do sex scenes make an auto-reject? Could you give source materials of novels that do sex well?
Oh, and do mainstream publishers care about homosexual relationships and sex scenes? I fear my chances of being published might be hindered because the plot currently involves a gay lead character.
I feel concerned about another aspect of the novel. It basically describes the ride and fall of this religion. Parts of the religion are hidden in books that the main character finds and reads. The character knows it's coming, but is it okay that I put what is contained in the book in a chapter placed before he starts reading it and when he is done? How often do you get this? Should I move these sections to the end of the novel?
So I'm going to try to answer this from the perspective of a potential publisher as opposed to the perspective of a writer. I think that would be more helpful to you.
1. As you no doubt have noticed, many many adult (and young adult, really) fiction that is not romance, erotica, or smut often contains sex. If this is a huge shock to you, go read more fiction. Any thriller with a male protagonist who has a sexy woman helping him should do. Publishers are not afraid of sex. The issue is how descriptive the sex is. Does it describe body parts using their proper medical names and in graphic detail, or is the entirety of the scene "he bent over to kiss her as he turned off the light"? Probably somewhere in between. Like in movies, how much sex is too much is generally something that's a judgment call for the editor, not because the editor thinks kids will be exposed to naughty bits (as concerns the movie councils) but because the editor might feel it distracts from the story.
2. No. The answer to your second question is no, we're not against gay protagonists for mainstream fiction. We just don't see a lot of it, because 90% of the country is straight, and straight people tend to write straight characters or disturbing mpreg slash fan fiction. There are a lot of great gay writers, some of whom don't write about being gay necessarily, or don't make it the central focus of the story but one of the plot points. Somewhere on my bookshelf is a set of lesbian detective stories, legitimate ones written by an actual lesbian who wanted to write queer thrillers. But we don't see a lot of these submissions, partially because there are just less gay writers than straight writers, and because it can be a smaller market depending on how central the homosexuality is to the story. I say, if you want to write it, totally go for it. I've had enough of smart academics solving mysteries, aided by sexy female lab assistants. There's no reason not to have sexy male lab assistants helping smart academics solving mysteries - and then, presumably, falling in love because of the intense experience they shared in that chase scene in the ancient Mayan ruins.
3. I didn't entirely follow your third question, but I think you have two potential situations: a situation where the reader knows the same amount as the character and a situation where the reader knows more than the character. (You can also have the character know more than the reader, a nifty dramatic device that can be annoying when done wrong) Whether you want to go in one direction or not is a question of suspense. If the reader knowing more than the character makes the character fall flat, then the reader will be annoyed and just start flipping through. If the reader's knowledge helps us understand the character's quest as they experience it better, go for it.
Posted by The Rejecter at 10:28 PM 19 comments:
Holiday Reminder
I probably should have done this last week, but if you want to get something for your agent for Christmas/New Year/Misc, which is not expected or required but a nice thing to do, do not send them perishables, like a fruit basket or something. they may not be around to receive it and it will spoil or they may not be able to to eat the food and have to give it away in the office.
I give my agent a gift card to Barnes and Noble. A present is not expected, but if you do decide to do that for your severely unpaid agent, a gift card to a store he/she'll almost definitely be at is a good idea.
The Long Email
Usually I get emails with very specific questions. Sometimes I get these.
I have some getting-published questions for you, but I feel like you need to understand where I am in order to answer. Thank you for taking your time to read this. I appreciate any guidance you can give me.
I'm working on my first novel. I have about 35k words and an outline I feel very good about for the remainder; probably 100k to 120k words. I have no agent, nor have I ever had contact with a publisher. My only publications are a handful of heavily edited nonfiction business articles--my name is on them but the results do not represent me writing style any more.
Okay, first thing: The novel's not done yet. Go finish it. I mean, take the time to finish reading this post, but seriously, go finish your novel before you start thinking publication.
I'm having a hard time categorizing this novel. It is somewhere near Animal Farm and Gulliver's Travels. Philosophy, philosophy of religion, romance, comedy, tragedy, etc... Most of the conflict is verbal. The little bits of violence are not described graphically. No eroticism. I think that my target audience is High School English Literature classes.
Man, I wish my book was picked for a high school English class. Not because it was a classic of literature (it's not) but because it would mean an insane amount of people would have to buy it every year. Ka-ching!
As you've just put yourself in every genre but not told me anything about the plot, I'm going to say "general fiction unless there's fantasy or sci-fi, in which case, sci-fi/fantasy."
I have 18 other novels in various stages of planning, from 2 to 30 pages. These stories span many different genres: hard sci-fi, historical fiction, mystery, fantasy, and romance. 5 of these are hard sci-fi in a related series. Some of these contain significant sexuality or violence. After collecting ideas for years I decided to focus and try to finish one, and I picked this one to finish because the plot was the most mature.
Deciding to start one at a time instead of 18 a time is probably the smartest move you've made so far.
Writing progress is slow due to other time commitments. I have to take vacation time from the office and hide at the library in order to write. I desperately want to reach a critical mass with writing (read: reliable income) so I can retire from my day job and focus on writing full time.
I hear this a lot, in query letters and from my writer friends. I also say it a lot. Man, I would love to live off my writing. I would also like to win the lottery. The writing's a safer bet, but that's because I don't actually buy lottery tickets.
All of my novels center around moral dilemmas first. I want to challenge how people look at themselves and their place in the world. I want to inspire people to improve themselves and the people around them.
I said that, too. None of the novels I wrote dealing with that stuff got published. The historical romance did. How low I've sunk.
Having said all of that, I'm starting to think about the process of getting published. I understand that I have to get the first novel "done" before I can take the next step. What should the next step be?
Finishing a publishable manuscript. It will probably not be the first manuscript you write.
Should I search out an agent first? Or should I query publishers directly first?
Agents first, though there's no reason not to hit up the few publishers who take unsolicited manuscripts on the odd chance you'll hear back from one in the next century.
I had considered printing a small run on Lulu and giving them out to friends and family to get critical feedback before I approach an agent or publisher. Would this pollute the book--having been printed in any form? Or should I stick with Kinkos? Besides the possible improvements to the quality of the work, would going through this exercise impress a potential agent or publisher?
If you're doing it to get your friends and relatives to read it (none of whom will likely give you a meaningful opinion on it), it depends on how much money you want to plunk down. You can have them print and bound at Kinko's pretty cheap, but Lulu makes THEM pay instead of you. Depending on if they're willing to pay. So, your call. Also: friends and relatives will not be honest with you, and even if they are, they do not work in publishing and probably have little to say that can help you. Or even then, they still might lie. This is why I stopped asking my friends to read my work when I was in high school. It puts both of us in an awkward position.
When querying an agent, do I focus on just the first novel or do I share my larger plans and ideas with them?
First novel.
When querying a publisher, do I focus on just the first novel or do I share my larger plans and ideas with them?
How do I find an agent?
Agentquery.com
Do people really send query letters to addresses in Writers Market and sign contracts with people they have never met--or spoken to only over the phone? Would a potential agent be alienated if I wanted to fly out to meet them before signing a contract? Can I ask to see their office and meet their staff?
A lot of people have not met their agents. I live in New York, my agent (not my boss, my agent agent) lives in New York, and we only met once. Everything else has been phone/email/snail mail. Also, agents don't generally have staffs, nor do they have particularly spectacular offices if they don't work out of their home, so if you do meet them, it will probably be in a restaurant.
What is the process for checking a potential agent's references?
Is the agent a member of the AAR? Good, you're done. No? Check Preditors and Editors.
Do I need to pick a single genre to describe my first novel while I talk with potential agents and publishers, even if it is not very accurate? Or should I discuss the genre problem openly?
Yes, sort of, but it can be very, very broad like "fiction" or "fantasy." The most important thing is to distinguish between fiction/non-fiction, because some people leave that line blurry and we find that annoying, trying to figure out if the person wrote a memoir or made the story up.
What am I missing in the process?
The SASE.
The State of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Market
Anyways, my question: What is your impression of the strength of the sci-fi/fantasy genre? With sci-fi in particuliar, which I think has a more male readership than female, has the readership base been in decline? Sometimes I get the impression that science fiction in a literary form has trouble competing with video games and movies. Maybe I'm totally wrong in thinking this way or maybe this isn't a question you can answer. But if you can, I'd love to hear your thoughts about it.
While this isn't a question I could give you a solid answer to, that won't stop me from posting about it.
Sci-fi/fantasy was my first great love, and still pretty much is, though I mainly read non-fiction these days for work-related reasons. In terms of the literary world, the only world where I can speak with some imagined authority I don't actually have, I would say the state of the current market is as strong as any other market: doing okay considering the economy and YA is really hot, but not as hot as people think it is, everyone stop thinking you can write YA and submit it and it'll be more likely to get published, I'm really sick of it. Sci-fi/fantasy - particularly fantasy - has been trending mainstream for a decade now, though one could easily make the argument that there were other decades in the 20th century where it was so mainstream it didn't have its own section in the bookstore. All I know is, when I was growing up in the 80's and 90's, if you read Lord of the Rings, you were a nerd. Nowadays you barely qualify unless you name your third external hard drive after a Silmarillion character. So, no weeping about the state of sci-fi/fantasy from me.
The market is very tight in this genre, and always has been. There's some argument that it's gotten too conventional. My agent shopped a post-Apocalyptic novel to sci-fi publishers last spring and it didn't sell. We got some very nice letters back about how it was very wild, interesting, etc, but they weren't sure "how it would do in the market." In other words, "We can't predict whether it will sell and therefore can't invest the money in a new author with a risky book; go write a vampire story." I imagine it's worse now than it was in May, but that won't stop sci-fi fans from submitting their crappy fantasy novels to my boss even though she doesn't handle fantasy, and they won't all be exactly the same. In fact, I'm pretty sure nothing could stop the flow of unpublishable fantasy novels into the sludge piles of publishing, and then the one you find per year that's actually great.
So, if you want to write, write. If you want to try to get published, submit and cross your fingers. If you want instant gratification and a genuine, pre-built fanbase that will totally leave you nice comments that will make your day, write fan fiction.
Harcourt and Submissions
I’ve been reading your blog on and off (congrats on becoming a Real (Published) Writer!) and I am looking at what’s going down in the publishing biz these last few months (never mind the implosion at Houghton Mifflin) and I’m wondering if I should even bother submitting a first-time novel anywhere right now? I mean, are things just too crazy what with a financial meltdown, dropping consumer sales, a lame-duck President who’s more than happy to turn over most of his duties to the current President-Elect, and no one knows if the Boy Wonder will really pull off the miracle everyone’s hoping after the takes office in January? Is any agent (and by extension, editor) going to take a chance on an untried first-time novelist rather than tried-and-true names? Or should I just say fudge it and start submitting?
So before I get to the Houghton Mifflin issue, let me answer the question.
The answer is yes. You should submit your work when it is done and polished and you think it's ready for publication. Agents are always looking for new work unless their website specifically says otherwise. Yes, it's true, it's a time of lower advances and fewer buys, but agents make their living selling manuscripts, and they can't make much of a living if they stop doing that, especially if their big earners decide not to write or write something crappy and the publishers don't buy. If you submit over the holidays, expect a longer response than usual, but the query will be looked at the same way as it would have six months ago.
Now, onto the explosion over at Harcourt Houghton Mifflin. And yes, announcing you are no longer acquiring new books does qualify as an explosion. I don't care how great their backlist is (and it is GREAT), but they are in some serious shit to stop acquiring books. Their Fall 2009 line-up is probably set, but Spring 2009, they're going to be presenting a smaller list. And there's the question of what's going to happen to books currently in the process of being bought (nothing, they said, but nobody's sure) and the senior VP of trade publishing quitting. Nobody knows the whole story, but seems the Irish company that owns them is in debt thanks to poor financial planning. Acquisitions and editorial are huge costs, in manpower and actual physical production, so if you knew nothing about publishing and were looking to shave off some costs, you might suggest halting that part of the process and living off backlist proceeds for awhile, which is a bit like living off army rations. You can do it, but it's a bad long-term plan.
It is usual in hard economic times for publishers to openly or secretly decrease acquisitions, which enables them to fire a ton of people who work on new material. Remember backlist - old material - doesn't have to be edited, copy-edited it, checked for copyright violations in references, or even redesigned in layout. Every once in a while they change the cover art, which is in the design department, but it's easy to hire someone fresh out of school for graphic design with a good knowledge of photoshop and that Mac program they all use (InDesign?) for bottom-level salary. To completely stop acquiring books is short-sited and unheard of.
You should be concerned if you work at Harcourt, in terms of job security, but I would assume if you work at Harcourt and are reading this you know more about it than I do.
Side note: I was reading the Brooklyn Daily Eagle for April 1888 for a research project in the microfilm library today, and saw an ad for a new book, I forget what it was about, published by Houghton Mifflin. The company's got history.
Submitting Short Stories and Poetry
Here's a question: how do these rules differ for SHORT STORY manuscripts? I heard that magazines still want the older style (Courier, underlines, title near the text not at top of page, etc). And how about POETRY? Scant little current info online about these things.
There are two ways for me to answer your question:
1) If you are submitting your short story or poetry to a magazine, which would be the most appropriate venue for it, carefully read their submission guidelines. If you can't find them, email them and ask for their submission guidelines.
2) If you are submitting a short story collection or poetry collection to a literary agent, don't. Unless you're really sure they accept that. As in, they specifically mention of their website or on agentquery.com that they're looking for short story collections or poetry. In which case, regular manuscript format with the different selections as characters is a pretty good way to go.
Posted by The Rejecter at 3:56 PM 1 comment:
Manuscript Format Questions and Answers
Rejecter,
If you want the best chances as a submitter (and you want to be judged only on your writing, and not the way you're presenting it), you ought to make sure your submission is in standard manuscript format. Sure, that's the rules. But lately I've seen a lot of conflicting ideas (from supposed "authorities") about exactly what constitues this Standard Manuscript Format.
The irony of standard manuscript format is that nobody really agrees on it anyway.
Naturally, these conflicts cause paranoia, because hey -- I want to get it right. I don't want to look like an outsider because of the way I format my chapter headers or whatnot. Could you please clarify these deviations in standard format?
FONT: I know you prefer TNR over Courier, but I'm of the understanding that both are perfectly acceptible and "standard" (or technically, all four variations: Times, Times New Roman, Courier, and Courier New.) I can find examples of agents and editors who prefer one over the other, but I'm of the understanding that both are "standard." Has this changed? Are both still all right?
Both TNR and Courier are acceptable. Fonts that are similar to those but have some extremely minor different are probably acceptable. Other fonts, which are harder to read (arguably) are not acceptable. Arial is generally not acceptable.
ITALICS: I've always seen them underlined in book and short story manuscripts. Some claim that they must actually be italicized now, but the editor in me says, "No way, it'd be too hard to edit the ms."
I very rarely see a manuscript these days that has words underlined instead of italics. If I did it would be annoying because if we accepted the manuscript, the author would have to go back and change all the words.
HEADERS: I've always formatted them as LastName/TITLE/PageNo and set them flush right, for either book or short story manuscripts. Some sources
are saying that they should be flush LEFT, while others say the surname goes left, the title in the middle and the page number on the right. Is there a standard way?
I've always done it TITLE - Page# - SURNAME flushed left in my manuscripts. If you flush it right, or center it, or put your whole name instead of your surname, or flip the order around, it's not a big deal and you shouldn't think your manuscript was rejected because of that. The whole purpose of the header is to tell us what page we're on and what manuscript it is if the manuscripts get thrown in a pile and mixed up.
Also, don't put your phone number in the header. It looks silly.
SECTION BREAKS: I've always denoted breaks with a centered "#" on a line by itself; the end of the manuscript is indicated by "THE END" (or "# # #" if it's a short story). But now some people are claiming that section breaks should be denoted just with a blank line. As a former editor and proofreader, I know that's just bad form.
I've heard this # thing too, but for a manuscript I generally see more regular "extra space before the scene change" that I see in books. I use the #s only when I'm doing short story submissions. I don't think there's a hard-and-fast rule on this one because it doesn't affect the way we read the manuscript unless you give no indication that the scene changed at all.
CHAPTER HEADS: I've always skipped 12 lines, given the chapter name in upper-case, and then skipped a line and started the chapter. Now I'm seeing some people recommend the upper-case chapter name at the top of the page, then 12 lines skipped and the beginning of the chapter. Which way's it done?
The way I've always been told to do it is to start each new chapter 7 lines down with the chapter title after the dash for the name of the chapter. Years back, I was told this was so that editors could have a space to make chapter notes. In other words, leave some space before the start of each chapter on the first page of that chapter. We do not count how many lines you give us.
TYPESET QUERIES: While my manuscripts go out in 12-point Courier, I consider that an "editing" font, as something for manuscripts. I'd never send a letter in such a monospaced naked typeface unless I were doing a telegram. So for my query (and all other materials, such as the synopsis), I typeset the contents in the standard roman font. The query goes out on good letterhead (which is Copperplate Gothic, natch). Some people have said that your query must be typeset exactly like the manuscript. That doesn't make sense to me. Why should a letter look like the page of a manuscript?
"Some people" are not necessarily right. Generally the query is good as long as it's clear and readable.
Are the patients now running the asylum?
No, but I hear they have a controlling share in the company.
Thx,
A Conscientious Submitter
NP,
Posted by The Rejecter at 9:11 AM 19 comments:
Update on Censorship on Amazon
So I all know you want me to stop posting about this, which is why it's not my only post today, but I got an email early this morning from Amazon.com, which briefly said it had copies of The Complex and would send my order when it was ready.
We are sorry to report that we will not be able to obtain the following item(s) from your order:
John Duignan, et al "The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert
World of the Church of Scientology"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1903582849
Though we had expected to be able to send this item to you, we've since found that it is not available from any of our sources at this time. We realize this is disappointing news to hear, and we apologize for the inconvenience we have caused you.
We have cancelled this item from your order.
While this item is not available directly from Amazon.com, you may be able to purchase it from one of the many other sellers with product listings on Amazon.com. Please click on the link above to visit the product detail page. If the item is available from a third-party seller, you will see a "Used & new" link on the product detail page that will provide a list of merchants currently selling the item.
In other words: "The big bad cult told us there was something libelous in it, and rather than check or even wonder why we, as the bookstore and not the author, have a reason to care, we're pulling the concept of selling it." All the major bookstores in England have also pulled it. It is still available at Eason.ie.
The publisher of the book, Merlin, released a statement.
Stop making me angry, you censoring cult!
Believe it or not, I opened an unsolicited manuscript from a Scientologist today. It didn't say it outright, but I became suspicious when he referred to psychiatric drugs as "toxins" and the use of them on children a crime performed because the parents were "stupid." That was the thesis of his book - children are diagnosed with bogus psychiatric problems - everything from ADD to autism to pyromania - because their parents had bad marriages.
I checked his biography. He was a psychologist (not a psychiatrist) with no clinical experience and had won the Citizien's Commission for Human Rights Award in 2008. Bingo. The CCHR is that Scientology front group dedicated to discrediting psychiatry, lobbying for less screening for emotional problems in schools, and funding bogus studies to present psychiatric drugs as unsafe. Taking my compazine for nausea? NOT a human right.
(Compazine is an anti-psychotic that, in low doses, can treat severe nausea. It's also a drug Scientology spends millions to get proven unsafe even though it's been on the market for years)
I did not write anything in the rejection commenting on this. I made that mistake once for someone's incredibly racist book about Muslims and he called the BBB on my boss. Never making that mistake again.
In an update on the Complex book situation, what apparently happened was Scientology's corporate offices sent "legal letters" to all the major booksellers in the UK, who promptly pulled the book for fear of lawsuit. Whether there's any legal grounds for a lawsuit is completely unknown. Merlin, the publisher, had no idea this was going to happen (the author did, and said he's not surprised). Merlin doesn't do books internationally on its own, and is now trying to sell foreign English-language rights to places like America, where we have free speech. Just not on Amazon, where it's suspiciously completely out of stock and has been since the day it was posted.
I ordered the book from Eason, and they charged my credit card and said they shipped it. EDIT: Apparently you can still find it on their website. They're an Irish store, not UK, so who knows how long they'll have it up, but here's to the Republic of Ireland!
A Moment for Grandstanding
I buy a lot of books from Amazon. I'm gonna say, 100 a year. That's a safe estimate. I do a lot of historical research and they sell used history books for sometimes 10% of the cover price. Short of hanging around in libraries a lot (not so good with my super-late schedule and the fact that I'm no longer a college student), this is my option. When the "Amazon is the big bad thing that is going to kill publishing as we know it" articles come out (they're very similar to the ones about 10 years ago about Barnes and Noble), I'm generally in the Amazon camp. So, with all the money I give them, it disgusts me when they do something like this.
About two weeks ago, I read an article on the Times Online about a book called The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology. As it looked interesting, I decided to buy it. Amazon.com didn't offer it yet, so I bought it from Amazon.co.uk. A few days later I received this email:
We are contacting you regarding your Amazon.co.uk order which included the following:
'The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology' (Asin 1903582849)
This item has been removed from sale for legal reasons. We have cancelled your order for this item and can confirm that you have not been charged for it.
This is not the first time publishing has had trouble with Scientology, or Amazon specifically. Andrew Norton's unauthorized biography of Tom Cruise was not published in Norton's native UK by its publisher, St. Martin's Press, because the UK has stronger libel laws than we have in America, and to be honest, it was a pretty libel-y book. In fact, you could make a semi-decent profit for awhile on eBay selling the book to international buyers who couldn't buy it in Britain.
Then sometime in March, there was a bit of a scandal about how all negative reviews of the Scientology bible, Dianetics, were mysteriously disappearing from Amazon's website. When some friends of mine who were users who posted negative comments asked why, Amazon told them their reviews "did not meet the review guidelines set by Amazon.com." They reposted their reviews to more specifically meet the guidelines (only discuss the book and the author, not Scientology in general), and the reviews were posted and then deleted again. Eventually some press got wind of this, and Amazon had to repost all of the negative reviews. Score one for free speech.
The Norton thing wasn't Amazon's fault; the Dianetics thing was. Anyway, I haven't read the The Complex. It's on the way from an independent British bookseller. When the publishing company (Merlin) is an Irish company that when contacted, did not know their book had been pulled from Amazon.co.uk (which no longer LISTS the book, much less claims it's out of stock as Amazon.com does). By all accounts the book isn't libelous - it's just one person's story of his time in Scientology. And it says really, really bad things about Scientology because the guy saw and did really bad things when he was in Scientology. That's not slander; that's an autobiography.
So Tom Cruise suddenly shows up at an Amazon all-hands meeting in Seattle? Does he need to promote Valkyrie to Amazon executives that badly? Is he looking for an internship for a relative? Or is it directly related to them pulling that book by that guy who said he was programmed to kill for Tom?
As if I had another reason to be angry with Scientology, which is currently campaigning to take my live-saving drugs off the market via lobbying in state legislatures through its anti-drug front group, the Citizen's Commission for Human Rights. And now you mess with the BOOK INDUSTRY!?!?
Argh. Rejector SMASH.
Response Times Based on Length
I sent out queries to 5 agencies on 10/10. I got a request for a full MS on 10/20 (which I was able to email the next day). How long does it usually take to get a response, either positive or negative? I write middle grade fiction and it was approximately 43,000 words long - so a relatively quick read for an adult.
I realize that even requested material has to stand in line & the agent probably has dozens upon dozens of other manuscripts to look through, but I thought that you folks could make a pretty quick negative decision based on the first few pages.
Should I take it as a good sign that I haven't yet received a rejection? Or, should I send an email to the assistant who requested my manuscript and ask how things are going & whether or not they've had a chance to look over my MS?
I think most people would agree that you probably have solid material there for such a high hit rate and you should not be worried. Nervous, but not worried. Sounds like you're going to get an agent unless your query was horribly misleading.
As to response times, they vary not based on the length of the book but when we get around to reading partials. Yes, we can sometimes reject after 5 pages, but most of the time a partial was requested for a reason and unless the prose is absolutely hideous, we will read until we see a reason to stop (or if you're paid hourly, you will read the whole thing). So if there's been no response, it's because the agent hasn't gotten to it yet. Length is not a huge issue, unless it was 700 pages. Then they might put it off until all the minor stuff was done.
More on Bad Companies
Follow-up question to previous post:
Along the same lines of the question you answered in today's post, what's the best way to unearth information about any given publisher's history with regard to their treatment of authors, how faithfully they honor contracts, how spotty their promotional record is, etc.? I can certainly look them up and ask around, but I suspect many authors are afraid to speak up when they feel mistreated, out of fear that their name will be mud in the larger industry. Are there resources, online or otherwise, that you can suggest? :)
Most major companies - certainly all of the big 5 and most of the larger independents - will be serious about honoring contracts, protecting their/your copyright, and sending you reminders that you've earned no royalties this term with a balance sheet to prove it. They don't want the lawyer hassle of an author suing them any more than the author wants the hassle of hiring a lawyer. The contract is a legally binding document, so they have to obey it. How precisely they stick to every last detail (delivery dates, etc) can vary in the smaller companies, not necessarily because they're unscrupulous but because they're small and know you'll understand and you probably will (I'm talking about companies with three people on the payroll).
There are two things I left out of the above paragraph in answer to your question: promotion and editing.
(1) Editing. What's generally stipulated in the contract is that you and the publishing company both agree on the final text of the book, the one that goes to press. Failure to do - i.e. a major disagreement - usually means a breaking of the contract. This is very rare and mostly for books that might cause the publishing company to be sued, like books on scandals and celebrities. However, to GET to that final project requires editing, and how much the company is going to take the time to do is really up to them, and you're left finish the odds-and-ends. While it's in their best interest to produce a finished work without a ton of typos, misspellings, and inconsistencies, it doesn't always happen. All houses have a final round of editing that's done strictly to get rid of typos and grammatical errors, not address plot problems and factual errors. Those have to be done earlier, and how much is done by you and how much done by your editor depends on how dedicated the editor and/or their assistant is to the book. If you write a book on kingship in the Post-Classic Mayan Period, your editor might not be as much of an expert on kingship in the Post-Classic Mayan Period as you are and if you got some dates wrong, they're probably going to stay wrong.
Funny story: So there was a joke I made in my first book that had the word "Jew" in it. It wasn't an anti-Semitic joke at all, but my editor insisted that I pull it and since no harm was really done to the manuscript if I did, I decided to not argue the point and I rewrote the two lines required to remove it. You have to pick your battles with your editor. For some reason, because she's either disorganized or just a human being, she never implemented the changes into whatever master file she had open in front of her that day, and the joke made it into the published book.
(2) Promotion - This will vary hugely from house to house and book to book. Obviously, you go with one of the major houses, your book will be able to be promoted in ways smaller publishers can only dream of. On the other hand, the major house might not do much promotion, especially for a new author without too much commercial promise. You can easily fall between the cracks at the promotion department of a major house and get next to nothing done on your behalf, or you could go with an independent press that really, really wants to do more promotion but doesn't have the resources to do it. A lot of it's luck. Be very, very nice to your publicist from day 1. Trust me, this will pay off.
To finally answer your question, while you're always safer at a major house, terrible things can still happen to you at any house if someone important in the company doesn't care about your book. As to what companies you can rely on, there's not really a guide, especially with so many imprints and so many editors always moving around. This is the job of an agent - to know where to submit and, if you get multiple offers, where to accept. My boss recently advised her client to take a lower offer (not significantly lower) on the advance of a book because she felt strongly that the editor at the lower offer's house cared about the book more and the book would be treated better and look better on their list. The agent's responsibility is to know what editors are looking for what and when - that's part of where they earn their 15%. They earn 15% on royalties, too, so they want the book to succeed, and if they think it will succeed wildly at a smaller house, they'll advise you to take it there.
There's not really a website that tracks any of this. With all the movement constantly going on in the publishing industry, it would be difficult to have one even if everyone gave it a concentrated effort, and nobody's giving it a concentrated effort. But for plain ol' bad business practices, there's always Preditors and Editors.
Bad Publishing Companies and Bad Contracts
So I'm not doing NaNoWriMo this year. For the second year in a row, it's because I'm in the middle of other projects. Book #2 is under contract and due, Book 10 has to actually be finished, book 3 needs revision for the end of the year, and after that I've got a novel in another genre to revise for my agent to shop around.
I know, you're all playing the world's tiniest violin. Still, there is a singular frustration of not being able to write whatever I want because I have to revise what I've already written and am now sick of. I've always found revision harder than writing. I'm sure a lot of writers, published and unpublished, feel the same way. On to the questions!
Sorry for hitting you with an email, but challenged as I am, couldn't figure out how to ask the question on your blog spot. Very helpful blog, by the way, so thanks.
My first novel was published by a small company is 2007. They did pretty much nothing in the way of editing, promotion, etc., and I have received one royalty statement since May, 2007. My second book, due out this year, is also signed with them. I have been considering legal action to regain the rights to both books, but I have heard this might be wasted money, as many publishers won't touch previously published books. Is this consistent with your experience?
There seem to be a couple questions buried in this, so let me address them:
(1) They are obligated to provide you with royalties as often as your contract designates. If you don't earn any money, they are still obligated to provide statements proving you made no money. Failing to do so can void your contract with them. If you are having problems getting royalties, get an agent. Start emailing around with your problem (published author needs to re-negotiate contract) and I'm sure at least 10 people will jump up to take the free-meal deal there.
(2) If the second book is due but not gone to press (meaning, they haven't started printing copies of the book for sale yet), you can back out of your contract under certain conditions. "Not paying royalties on previous book" is probably one of them. Breaking a contract means you forfeit the advance, if you had one to begin with. Get an agent.
(3) I don't know how "small" this company is or what kind of deal they actually did in promoting your book. Most books barely break even for the company anyway, and very often new authors get lost at big companies and have similar complaints. Let's assume for the sake of argument that they did screw you, and you feel that a better company could do a better job. Well, you're not in a great spot here. Big publishers do love to buy the rights to books from little publishers and are willing to shell out money to do it, on the condition that the book was doing well for the small house and the large house wants to republish it and reap the rewards on owning the rights to an already-edited novel they don't have to work very hard on. Your book didn't do well, so that's not going to happen. My advice, in terms of your writing career, is to write a third book and try to sell it another house. If you really feel compelled to get out of your previous contracts, get an agent, who may then want to edit and re-market the book to bigger companies and might have the capabilities to do that. It's not unheard of. Either way, don't bank on the first two books being the start of your career. Write another one to start your career with.
Wannabes Talk About Craft. Writers Talk About Money.
Seeing a lot of queries of novels and biographies set in Alaska right now. You can probably guess why that is.
So it seems that if you want a lot of free books, all you have to do is set up a blog saying you're going to review books and people will send you books. You can even specify genres. Then you don't even have to review the books, or just claim you're really busy and have a long list and the publisher will act all not surprised.
My publicist and I have been working together to send more and more copies to more and more blogs. Sometimes this involves me sending the book myself so it's signed, and then the publisher reimbursing me with new books (but not cash for having spent money on postage, of course). Trying to get paid is like trying to get blood from a stone - that is, if you're not Penn and Teller. Even though my second book is due on the 15th of November and the third due Jan 1st, neither have a signed contract (just a draft of one). If we signed, they would have to pay. I expect they'll drag it out until I threaten not to submit the book or something. I also found out that they pay royalties twice a year, so I won't be seeing my royalties from my first book (which have no exceeded my advance several times over, something I would be more proud of if my advance wasn't tiny) until April 2009.
I'm not whining - I love being published - but it's something you can expect when you're published. Like that famous New York Times Book Review article, "Publish or Perish." Someone in my grad program had it on her office door. Anyone have a scan of that hilarious article?
At least it's not a feel-good Oprah book. Though it seems like she likes books about incest.
Hi Rejecter,
So glad you're back. Congrats on the book doing so well!
So, I'm pitching a memoir, and in my first-draft letter, I say, "this is not some feel-good Oprah book; it's more like [name of snarky, popular author this agent represented]." Is it okay to say your work is like someone else's, or is that amateurish, or a potential set-up for failure? (ie, I say I'm like Author X, agent reads my first chapter, and thinks I'm nothing like Author X.) Should I just leave out references/comparisons to other writers altogether?
I'm not going to say, "No, never mention another author and compare yourself to them." There's very few "nevers" in publishing. That said, it's not a good idea. I know a lot of sites and books recommend it and I don't know why they do that, because it always looks tacky to us. If we work in that genre, we're probably already familiar with bestselling authors in said genre anyway, and can make the comparisons ourselves if we want. Let your summation of the book in the query speak for itself.
P.S. I'm logging off tonight for Shemini Atzeret/Simfas Torah, so don't expect your comments to be approved until Wednesday night.
Back! And On How to Write Real Good
So a combination moving/writing/Jewish Holidays/family emergencies have kept me away, but not for long! Time to answer some old and undoubtedly outdated emails!
I'm a "wannabe" working on his first novel (sci-fi if that matters).
To the point - is it all right/common to start a story with someone other than the main character?
My story starts with a woman (prostitute actually) just learning she's pregnant (doesn't know who the father is yet). Bottom line - the baby is the main character. The pregnancy won't just be backstory. The mother will learn who the father is and go on the run. My original idea was to have her attacked just before the baby is born (mugging). She dies, but the baby is saved and adopted by childless couple who [obviously] have no clue the baggage that will come with this baby.
One member of my critique group says you should always start a story with the main character and that my proposed first chapter should be skipped or a prologue.
The other dilema is that another member of the group suggested that by the end of the first chapter readers will have an investment in the woman and killing her would be a mistake.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
There is no "right" way to write a novel, though there are plenty of wrong ways. As writers, we all have to learn an important lesson: When you are a writer, people will give you blanket advice about writing and insist you take it as gospel. It will take a long time to figure out their advice was really dumb. I will now proceed to give you blanket advice:
There is nothing wrong with any way you want to write a novel as long as you do it well.
Yes, there are some things to stay away from - bad grammar, bad spelling, plot inconsistencies, having the whole thing be one long run-on sentence, and using multiple 1st-person POVs. That said, there's undoubtedly at least one award-winning example out there of a novel that broke one of those rules. On the other hand, you are probably not going to write one of those rare award-winning novels that break all the rules. Stick to them.
I've read plenty of novels - most of them suspense or mystery - where the character introduced in the first chapter was either a side character, a character who was about to meet the main character, or whom didn't survive to see chapter 2. It was never a problem, except in one case where I found it annoying. There was one urban fantasy author - I forget his name - who would introduce murder victims by spending an entire chapter on an intricate backstory for them, only to have them fairly randomly offed by the magical serial killer at the end of their segment. He would do it at least twice a novel and it was a whole series so by the end I was pretty sick of that little trick, but I knew other people liked it. Also I bought all of his books, so he "won" in that sense.
The people in your crit group are not authorities on writing. If they were, they would be busy rolling around in dollar bills from all the money they made writing that authoritative book on writing, not hanging around in a crit group. Take their advice with a grain of salt.
Stacking Books
Moving is hell, but it's a lot worse when you have a lot of books.
After I'm settled in my new, cheaper apartment, I will be back to a regular posting schedule. Until then, I'm going to have to figure out what to do with all these books. My mother spent some time berating me today about how difficult the move was because I seemed to have about 20 boxes of books alone, and reminding me of how nice it was to move my brother, who is less of a reader and more of a "TV'er" so his life, moving-wise, is less complicated. When you read a lot, you collect a lot of books. When you work in publishing, you collect a lot of books. If you like buying books randomly on the street because they peaked your interest and they were a dollar, you collect a lot of books. All of this is great if you own a house and never plan on moving. Not so good when you move around every 1-2 years from tiny Manhattan apartment to tiny Manhattan apartment. Today I was deciding between a bookcase and a kitchen table. There wasn't really a decision to be made - the books couldn't sit on the table - so I'll be eating in my lap until I figure something out.
My books fall into these categories:
(1) History (research for my writing)
(2) History (general interest)
(3) History (gimmick)
(4) Judaica (Mishnah, Talmud, Mishnah Brurah, Sefer Yetzirah, etc)
(5) General fiction I bought with the intention to read
(6) General fiction I was given and told to read, probably by my father
(7) Books I got at a publishing fair, like the BEA, where they hand out a lot of free books
(8) Books I got during my publishing seminar
(9) Books I got at work because extra copies were lying around, filling up the office
(10) Books I bought because I thought I could sell them but I couldn't
(11) Books about writing/publishing
(12) Books about writing/publishing (gimmick)
In other words, I really need to learn to say no to, "Would you like a free book?"
Stocking Books
So it's been awhile, much longer than I would have liked, since I've made a post. Without going all livejournal-ly on you, my life has been crazy, between trying to find a new apartment, health, my two jobs, and my book coming out.
My book did come out (no, I won't tell you what it is). And it did well. Went to second printing in the first week of publication. It's not gonna be on a bestseller list, but nobody's really on a bestseller list. But, healthy sales, beyond expectations, and books 2 and 3 in the series are in contract negotiations.
One of the little-known facets of publishing houses is that nobody actually knows what they're doing. A lot of guesswork is involved in every stop in the process. In my case, the publishing house (no, I won't tell you which one) had a good idea that my book would do better than the others on its list in that genre coming out at the same time, but still underestimated the demand, as did the buyers at B&N and Borders and whatnot. Some of this is the company's fault, for not pushing the book enough at the buying meeting. Some of it is the buyer's fault, but buyers have a really hard job and I'm a first-time author, so I'm surprised they bought as many as they did.
Unlike magazine publishing, where they'll happily print 1000 extra copies than lose a single sale, bookstores don't really like to be overstocked. The books take up space and cost money to ship back to the publishing houses when they don't sell. So it's a guesstimate. The problem is, when the book sells out and they put in for reorder (or they get low and put in for reorder), the order takes a good week to fill at best. Books take awhile to be printed, so if the publisher is clean out, you know, whoops. Which means a lost sale, because people are less likely to buy if it has to be ordered for them, and of course casual browsers aren't going to see it if it's not on the shelf in the first place.
Technically there is a policy that bookstores aren't supposed to stock the book until the actual publication date, which was never a solid date but at some point was September 1st and at another point was September 8th. Only the local bookstore in my hometown, which ordered a whole ONE copy, had it in stock but was unwilling to admit it until my mom told them I was the author, and then they were unwilling to sell it to her because it was August 29th at the time. The reason she'd gone there, other than out of interest, was that it HAD been in the closest Barnes and Noble and all 8 copies sold within a few days, so she didn't have a copy of her daughter's book.
What actually happened was the publishing house shipped the books out in a "staggered" form mid-August, and B&N, Borders, and Amazon decided to just start sellin' and filling orders. No reason to waste space in the storage room. I actually found out my book was on-sale around August 20th because someone emailed me to say they had gotten an email that their Amazon pre-order had shipped early (mine hadn't). So I went to the local B&N and damn, there it was. I have to say, I was very composed. The shouting for joy was minimal. I blame my heavy medication. Stupid dampening of emotions to prevent severe depression.
An amusing thing happened, which was suddenly the publishing thought it might be a good idea to do some publicity for the book, seeing as how it was doing so well within its little niche genre, or at least better than the other books on their list. So they called me up and were like,"So do you want to do a book signing?"
"Have you ever tried to schedule a book signing in Manhattan?"
"No." (this particular publicist hadn't)
"Well, I'm not a former President or Richard Dawkins, so good luck."
The blog tour thing is going very well, though. Basically we sent review copies to a bunch of bloggers who review books, and some of them offered to interview me, and I wrote answers to their questions. It's a bit difficult after the 5th interview or so to keep the material fresh, because there's only so many ways to answer the question, "So why did you decide to write about ___?" But since it's the internet, I figure some people are going to be surfing around and reading multiple websites, so I ought to say something different if I can. I came THIS close to talking about my sword collection. THIS CLOSE. What stopped me is that it's not a very impressive collection. Only one is folded steel and it's only apprentice quality.
I will be back to answering questions soon, as this apartment search thing clears up for me. That or my head will explode from the state of the New York real estate market, and I won't be answering questions.
Vampires Who Fight Crime > Vampires Who Don't
I'm on a brief Forever Knight-fanfic-reading hiatus. Don't ask.
Well, from what I hear, 90% of these old, poorly-archived stories are better and more complex than Breaking Dawn. Publisher's Weekly had an article about people asking for their money back. Why are there so many "Well, I never!" comments in the publishing industry, like books aren't sometimes treated the same way as other products people buy with hard-earned money? I mean if I bought a TV and it didn't work I would return it, and if a book was so terrible I didn't even want it around I would sell it or donate it. Should we, a publishing industry, be surprised when people who don't like our products question our return policy?
Still approving comments. Go ahead.
Metered Mail
So we had two cases today where people had sent large reply envelopes to send back their unrequested partials using metered mail. This means that after they found out the weight and price of shipping the partial at the post office, they either had the post office stand the SASE before it went into the main envelope or they had one of those machines in their office that did it for them with red ink on the envelope based on the weight of the package.
The problem with this is, with metered mail you can't send it from a wildly different zip code than the one you metered it at. And because it was over 14 ounces, my boss took it to the post office to mail it, only to be told she couldn't, because it was metered in another zip code.
Long story short, if you're one of those people with a machine that weights and then applies a stamp via a meter and a red stamp thing, don't do it on your SASE. Find out the cost and put that much in stamps on the SASE so we can mail it back to you.
Some agencies don't make the trip to the post office or have an office person who does it for them, and just toss the returns envelopes that would require a trip to a post office because our country doesn't understand how actual postal security should work. So if you send an unrequested partial and it's heavy, don't expect it back, even if you send enough stamps to do so. Not everyone will send it.
Working Experience and Vanity Presses
I recently sent off a few agent queries for my romance novel that contained the following biographical paragraph:
"[Cut for privacy by the Rejector, but basically she says she was an editorial assistant at a small press and goes into what she did there]."
Now I'm wondering if "vanity press" is really the right term to use in this case. Vanity presses are demonized by bloggers, but the company I worked for was perfectly harmless. We didn't swindle writers. In fact, we didn't accept any outside manuscript submissions at all -- we developed everything in-house with the help of the artist we were devoted to promoting. At the time that I worked there, we understood ourselves to be a vanity press in the most pure sense: a press devoted to one person's vanity.
Would you mind taking a look at [the company's] web site and letting me know what you think? I'm afraid that in misusing a common publishing term, I have shown myself to be an idiot. If [this press] isn't a vanity press, then what is it?
A side issue is whether or not my experience in publishing is even worth mentioning at all. I have no idea, and I'm almost afraid to ask.
So there are two issues I see here:
(1) You are wondering if you worked for a vanity press. Well, you didn't work for Vanity Press, which was actually the name of a major self-publishing company before the word "self-publishing" existed. When I was 14, I submitted a manuscript to them, not knowing any better, and lo-and-behold, they accepted me. I was on top of the world. Then my mom looked at the fine print and said, "I'm not paying for this" and that was the end of that.
The term has come to main places that make you pay up front for copies printed, as opposed to POD presses where there's a more complex financial arrangement that requires only a set-up fee or no set-up fee at all but takes a larger chunk from each copy and prices the copies very high. POD only exists because the technology to print books quickly exists, and it didn't when I was 14.
Looking at the website, I honestly can't tell for sure, but if I had to guess I would err on the side of "oh look, a small press" and not discriminate. A lot of small, specialized presses like this one have different financial structures (for everyone else, this is a press for books about glassmaking).
(2) I think it's OK to mention you worked for a press unless it was one of those huge, corrupt vanity presses or POD scams like PublishAmerica or Authorhouse. Saying you edited for PublishAmerica is like saying "I have NEGATIVE editing experience, less than people who've never edited." We know those houses exist to make a profit and don't edit their work. If you did legitimate work at a legitimate press, don't worry about the structure and mention it.
That said, the paragraph you sent me that you put in your query was fairly long, and I would cut it down to two lines, max. Editorial experience doesn't make you a good writer; it makes you a good editor. Editing is a useful skill for writing, but it's part of the writing tool set, not the whole of it. In other words, your book might still suck even if you were the CEO of Random House after working your way up from the mail room and through every editorial station before moving to executive positions. So give it a line or two because it shows you know how to edit (and would thus be capable of doing so if we asked) and focus on your novel.
Amazon Rankings and Ice Fishing
OK, it's time to get something out in the open.
I've noticed that all the pod-caster novelists and POD-ers have this obsession with Amazon rankings, which I can understand. That's why they all encourage people to buy the book on opening day, so it skyrockets the rankings to the top 10, if even for 1/10 of a second, but still, from then on in the promo materials you can say, "the top 10 Amazon hit..."
But does this really work? Do publishers care about gimmicky marketing tactics like this? Can you show me a case where it backfired?
I have to admit that this approach looks more respectable than begging for some 'agent' who may or may not even respond to you to take 15% of whatever you may or may not make. Seems like the new breed of action adventure authors (and it does seems to be mostly in those genres), are eschewing agents altogether, or at least until the asgents solicit them.
First I will point out that mainstream authors can be as obsessed with their Amazon rankings as POD authors. I know I am, checking it whenever I can while my book is in preorder because I know a spike equals a sale and I get all excited. POD people have even more reason to be obsessed because they are, for the most part, not in stores and rely on Amazon to sell their book.
People used to be more dismissive of Amazon. As of 2007, someone told me all internet sales were only 7% of the book market, not that big. Then in early 2008 I heard 17% from someone else, then 23%. The point is, the internet sales are climbing in proportion to stores going down, and while they won't replace stores, they can no longer be dismissed. So if your book is selling well on Amazon, good for you. Be happy about it. It's no small thing anymore.
As for the rankings system, I've been messing with it a bit myself as of late so I can talk about it a little. There have been waves of people trying to analyze the ranking system and figure out Amazon's algorithm, which is a closely-guarded secret. The reason for the waves is that Amazon occasionally changes the algorithm based on people trying to manipulate it or for it to more efficiently reflect sales. In 2005, someone wrote that she got her book into the Top 25 list by buying a book an hour (it is recalculated every hour for high-ranked books, and mostly once a day for above 100,000 numbered books). I tried that, and it didn't work. She wrote that she only bought one copy because she read somewhere else that for an individual buyer, multiple copies are reduced to one for the purposes of ranking to prevent the manipulation of rank by authors. Come to think of it, I don't know why Amazon would care - they just want to sell books, and they're selling books to you, and they're ranking the books by what's sold, so who buys them shouldn't be a huge issue, be it one person buying 100 or 100 people buying one. On the other hand, 100 people buying one indicates popularity over numbers, so again, it's complicated.
I experimented a little (and got flagged by Amazon, who called me and asked me if I wanted a corporate account, as I seemed to be buying so many books that if I had any intention of actually buying them and not canceling my pre-orders, it would be financially cost-efficient to have a corporate account and not just an Amazon credit card like I do) and here's what I found:
(1) Numbers do matter. Buying 100 copies over buying 1 multiple times over a long period of time will artificially raise your rank faster and higher.
(2) Amazon does calculate the ranks about once an hour, but it puts the calculations in effect on about the 40 minute part of the hour. I don't know when it actually does the calculations, but all I know is that the spike would always be around :35 or :40. Otherwise, my book would just slowly depreciate.
(3) Massive canceling of massive orders will result in the rank going back down (meaning, the ranking system takes cancellations into account and doesn't just track orders. It tracks sales)
(4) It is ridiculously, stupidly hard to get your book above 2000. There are 4 million books listed on Amazon, so that shouldn't be a surprise, but it seems to cap at 2000 for some reason. Despite massive orders in a short span of a few hours, I could not get my rank to reflect that.
(5) Manipulating your rank is probably a little unethical, though it's a victim-less crime.
To answer your questions specifically, I have seen ads for marketing, but and I gave them some thought but decided against them. If you have a ton of friends, you can get them to buy the book all at the same time, but it won't do as much to your rank as the ads promise. Also some people are big on "email blasts" where you email people you barely know or random people you got from a list you paid for to buy your book. Having never bought a book from an email blast (and I get a few of them every couple months at my Rejector email), I cannot say this is an effective measure except if you've written a specific book for a specific community, in which case I would just call that marketing and be done with it.
I confess I have paid a service $3/month to track my sales based on my rank, because I am curious, and also because I think it has access to Bookscan and can actually look up sales once the book goes on sale and tell me how many sold. The rank itself does not totally reflect sales - it reflects your rank relative to the other 4 million books on Amazon, so if other books aren't doing as well, your rank will not depreciate as slowly.
As for the agent thing, that's another discussion entirely, but I think that anyone with more than one book should immediately get an agent even if they already have a book contract. That 15% is well-earned, and I say that not just because I work for an agent but also because I have my own agent for my books, and she is severely underpaid for all the work she does for me in my opinion. If you have one book and have an offer, get an agent. She'll take her 15% percent for looking over the contract, but she's not there for that. She's there to sell your second, third, and fourth books, and so on.
Lastly, some people have begun to mention in query letters that they were "an Amazon bestseller." We don't pay any attention to this. It could mean they manipulated their rank to be a bestseller, and it could mean they were a bestseller in a specific category. I imagine it's not all that hard to be a bestseller in the Books ‹Outdoors & Nature ‹Hunting & Fishing ‹Fishing ‹Ice Fishing category. Or maybe I'm just underestimating the number of books about ice fishing.
I know you've posted before your feelings about publishing on demand novels. What is your feeling about novels that the author has decided to self-publish in audio form as a series of podcasts? I'm referring to works available at www.podiobooks.com and author Web sites. A few authors (Scott Sigler and J.C. Hutchins, to name two) have landed publishing deals for their books after they gave them away as free podcasts. In your opinion, does podcasting a work before getting a publisher help or hurt the author's chances of getting published in print? Would you or your boss consider taking on a work with such a history?
Hmm. You know, I've never listened to a podcast. Just never been my thing. My boss has listened to them, when her authors were interviewed and turned it into a podcast, but those were books she already bought.
While I can't directly answer your question with a yes/no, I will say that having your book online is not a writing credential, and that those guys who got deals are probably extreme exceptions to the rules. That and that they also have really good voices and maybe some background in voicework, choral, or radio.
However, it wouldn't HURT your chances of getting into print (though be careful after you sign the contract, because the contract will include audio rights).
...Speaking of Academic Protagonists
My boss and I have noticed a wave of queries and partials that mention the words "Dan Brown" at some point. We had a break from them for awhile, but now they seem to be back. I wonder what's up with that. Are all of the people who write academic-based thrillers submitting now because they're on summer break from their university?
Fiction by Academics
The ground is thick with rumors that literary agents HATE novels by academics, and automatically throw queries from such creatures in the reject pile. Any wise advice to aspiring novelists inhabiting the ivy-covered groves?
I can't think of why we would have anything against a good novel written by an academic. In fact, if the subject manner is similar to your academic studies, then it's a boost.
It's true that work by academics can naturally be very dry, because that's the way papers and articles are written, and it's the way we're taught to write. I once was graded down on a history paper for being "too exciting" in college, which was part of my decision not to pursue a PhD in history and instead go into writing. However, this is certainly not true of all academics, and many who write well have sold extremely well, as the non-fiction market is very strong.
Blogs and Book Tours
Slow on the posting lately, mainly because I've been caught up in two different writing projects on top of work, and my writing comes before my blogging. So, no apologies.
If you have guest blogged for a well known publisher/ editor/ writing celeb or other notable, is it ok to include that under your writing experience?
...Not really? I would say you're grasping at straws here. Unless it's directly related to the manuscript, don't include it in the query.
On the further subject of blogs, I was compelled to start an author blog by the company publishing my first book (no, I won't tell you where the blog is). So far I've used it to post reviews as they start to come in and really nothing else. The publicity assistant also talked about a "blog tour" as opposed to a book tour, which benefits the company because it doesn't cost money, and benefits the author in that it doesn't take as much time.
This is not to dismiss the traditional book tour, though publishers are increasingly turning against them. The reasons are obvious: they're costly, they're inconvenient, and the book store has to order in the copies themselves sometimes and if they don't sell the bookstore gets mad at the publisher (which is never good for the publisher, which needs the bookstore to buy the books to sell them in the first place). Most of all, unless the author is a celebrity, people don't go to the readings and not only does it not sell books but it can turn into a very depressing experience for the author. Rarely do publishing companies make a huge effort to shield their authors from psychological trauma (especially as mild as facing an uncomfortable amount of empty chairs), so it's nice to hear them being altruistic like that.
In the movie Capote, Truman (Hoffman) gives a reading of his then-unfinished manuscript of In Cold Blood to a packed theater of New York Literati. It does make for a lot of nostalgia, and I just found it funny because he's reading from an unfinished manuscript, and later has problems finishing it, so I thought the reading was a bit premature, even for those days. But anyway, nice scene. Slow movie.
The truth is that the art of the book reading, while not dead, is certainly in some kind of state where IV fluids might be required. The only readings I've ever been to were ones I was dragged to in college or grad school because my professor knew the writer, plus one reading because it was between me and the history section at the Union Square Barnes and Noble and Jimmy Carter was the speaker so the Secret Service guys wouldn't let me through. And I didn't stay for the whole reading. Oh, and once in high school because I had nothing better to do.
It was actually a great presentation. Anne Rice was speaking the following week at the same Borders (I believe The Red Violin was coming out), and this author was a run-of-the-mill fantasy author who had written a Forever Knight franchise novel. For those of you who don't remember or never knew because you have a life, Forever Knight was a show about a vampire who was a cop and the whole show was ruined by its really, really terrible ending. Possibly the worst ending for a series ever if not for Sopranos. Anyway, this author realized there was no reason to talk about the book, as we were either going to buy it because we liked the show and showed up or we were there because that's where all the chairs were, so instead she gave about an hour presentation on the history of the vampire myth, and how it entered pop culture. It was one of the most interesting explanations of how we went from burying comatose people at crossroads to Count von Count. I was so impressed by her sheer historical knowledge that I bought the book to compliment her. I never read it. I don't even really remember why I was there in the first place; maybe we just went to the bookstore to kill time before a movie or something.
The point is, if you're a first-time author, or even just an author who is not a former President, you're probably not going to draw a crowd. I like George R. Martin but it doesn't mean I necessarily want to listen to him read a Sansa chapter. People go for autographs, but the modern autograph market has kinda bottomed out thanks to eBay. So, not going on a book tour is probably not just the publicity market being cheap (though they are undoubtedly doing that) but saving you from hassle and time that you could be spending writing your next book.
The Grumpy Dragon vs. The Rejecter
I finished my first novel over a year ago. I've spent time sending queries to agents with no result. By chance last week, a friend of a friend, referred me to a small, brand new publisher, who wants to read my book. My question is, do you think going with a small, new publisher is a good idea?
Before I address the name she actually sent me, which is kind of hilarious, I will address the question at hand.
So I work for an agent, which means by all rights I should say no immediately. Agents don't like small presses. Their advances are minuscule or non-existent, and their profits are in the crazy land of "don't check the mail for a check anytime soon." Agents don't make money because authors don't make money. Also your book doesn't get a lot of distribution, meaning it has next to no chance of earning back the non-advance on royalties or becoming a bestseller. Ultimately, it's better for your career and your wallet to be with a major press.
On the other hand, maybe what you've written is very experimental, or isn't so great, or is great in a way no one can appreciate (meaning it's very experimental), or you just want to get published, damnit, and you don't want to self-publish. And small presses are legitimate courses to take at this point if you've failed to get an agent. It will count on your publication record more than a POD book. It's not the best of stepping stones but it is one.
Now the press she mentioned was The Grumpy Dragon, which has a worse page layout than the small press I started last year to republish one book, which means the layout is really, really terrible because I started the bar pretty low. I'm not great at .html at like, advanced levels. G-d, I think I even used the same color for the background. Still, I didn't have an MS Paint logo, and I had frames, so I'm up on these people in the realm of creating web pages meant for 1998. They also have an amusing "Where does the money go?" .pdf, which is more basic than anything needs to be. My first "this is sketchy, even for a small press" alarm that hadn't gone off based on the web page design went off in their royalty section. The royalties are way too high. From the looks of it, they seem to be about 35% but vary based on the sale price, which they shouldn't.
The way it works in a major publisher, your royalty rate is a set figure (usually between 7.5-10%) based on a set retail price. Whatever price they choose to set the actual price of the book at - whether it's in the discount bin or it's in pre-order or they're spending $4000 a week to put copies on the front tables at Barnes & Noble - your royalties per book remain the same. The time your royalties change, which will be carefully stipulated in the contract, is when the book starts selling in higher numbers, at which point there will be what's called an "escalation." That means the company has made back it's initial investment and at some pre-set number, usually 10 or 20 thousand copies or so, the royalty rate will jump from 10% to 20%. Other editions - audio, digital, etc - will have different rates entirely.
Without looking at my contract, I'm gonna estimate that for the first 30,000 copies of my book (if it were to ever sell that much) I'll make about $1 a book after I earn back my advance. I think my escalation was at 30k; not 100% sure, just remember it was bad because the press was an independent (but huge) publisher and cried poverty despite all those nice articles in PW about how well they're doing.
ANYWAY. The last, and more terrifying alarm was that there's one book out by the company and it's out through Lulu. Meaning, they didn't actually publish it. They might have looked it over and edited it (I suspect they did), but they didn't publish it. The real work of putting together a bound book and distributing it was done by another company, so going through Grumpy Dragon means you really should have just done it yourself and gone through Lulu yourself unless you are really a horrible editor and want Grumpy Dragon to edit you. Hopefully they won't do your cover art in MS Paint.
(This little tangent was for the general public, not the person with the question, who had a legitimate question and yes, it can be a difficult decision)
More on Writers and Blogs
So tonight I'll be signing off until Tuesday night for the holiday of Shavout, where we study all night long and eat cheesecake and I try to go through Mishnah in its entirety. Don't expect your comments to be approved between tonight and Tuesday night.
Looking for clarification...
I understand that an author's website should never be provided in lieu of a good query--but would it necessarily hurt the author to include it?
I am building a site for my unpub. novel, because I am a designer and it is fun/easy for me. My hope is--if an agent likes my query and wants to see more, they can do so instantly.
But, is it insulting to even mention it when youre using it as a tool totally independent from your already fantastic query? I don't want it to seem like I'm giving the agent a job to do, but I want to give them instant access if they're interested.
You can include your website address under your name and other information. Directing us to the website, however relevant it is to the book, is irritating. In publishing, time = money and because it's in NY, time = not enough money to pay the rent, so the fact that we're taking some to read the letter and whatever else you sent in the envelope means we're spending money that we're not likely to get back (there's about a .05% chance). So cruising author's websites is not something we do and we don't like being asked to do it.
Aren't we seeing more and more fiction writers who do have platforms, and Mark Sarvas now being another? Aren't publishers operating out of fear and greed desperate for any promotional leg up?
Publishers realize that blog does not equal immediate and/or substantial leg up, unless your blog was already insanely popular for other things. People like to cite the very, very rare examples of people who got a book deal because they had a blog, like Diablo Cody, whose screenplay was largely unrelated to her hooker blog and whose column in EW I don't care for on a writing level, but these people are exceptions to the rule. Do not expect to be an exception to the rule.
Women's Fiction and Writing Blogs
So apparently blogger decided not to mail me my new "You have a comment to approve" emails for a few days, and I logged in for something and had 12 comments to approve. Apologies. Continue your conversations.
As to the whole "should writers keep a blog thing" I will make my own comment: I've been slow to update this blog in the last two weeks because I've just been insane with job stuff, graduation ceremony stuff, apartment lease stuff, and finally, writing stuff. The blog is really the last on the list behind "Did I get a chapter done tonight?" I feel that it's important to post regularly but I can't let it consume my writing energy, which foremost goes to my fiction and notes for my non-fiction stuff I'm working on. A lot of writers have blogs for similar reason to why anyone else does - because they want to - but since a blog requires writing, if you only have a certain number of words in you per day, don't spend them recounting the jazz festival you went to last night. Unless you want to.
I've been working on a query letter and having people in a writing forum critique it. One critic told me that chick lit was over, and to make my story look like more than just a romantic comedy. I think that women will always be interested in romance and funny stories. I planned on just calling my story "commercial fiction." What's your take on this?
"Women's fiction" is always a good way to go if the main character is a woman and it's not specifically another genre. A lot of agents like "women's fiction" because women in general are huge readers, in comparison to men and children who aren't being forced by some assignment (Not to insult the male literati here). Plus a lot of agents are women.
Sending Unrequested Fulls
We don't get unrequested fulls that often, and I would say we get them less often than we used to. The reason is obvious: the cost of mail, especially media mail, has gone up considerably. Yet some dorks remain who think sending their entire 600-page manuscript overnight (with return postage) is going to impress us somehow and not be a massive waste of money.
I don't know why this is, but unrequested manuscripts are almost universally awful. It doesn't make any statistical sense, but I can't think of one that I even considered putting in the maybe pile. One arrived today. To cut down on expenses, perhaps, the author printed out the manuscript single-space and in 8-point font, only to up the weight by putting it in a really big, nice binder (which we kept because there was no return postage and she said we could keep it). The writing was terrible - just terrible. You know it's bad when a chapter is 3 paragraphs long and two of those paragraphs are single lines of dialogue.
Maybe it's a jinx or something. I don't know.
▼ Dec 28 - Jan 4 (1)
Characters, Sex, and the Characters They Have Sex ...
Wannabes Talk About Craft. Writers Talk About Mone...
At least it's not a feel-good Oprah book. Though i...
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Chronicling Resistance
Amplifying 300+ years of resistance in the archives, preserving records of today's acts of resistance
Listening Sessions and Events
PACSCL Homepage
Sankofa Closing Celebration Recap
Panoramic view of Chronicling Resistance pop-up exhibit, the barn at Bartram’s Garden, May 7, 2019. Photo Credit: Ilhan Citak
The first phase of “Chronicling Resistance” held its last major event on May 7 at Bartram’s Garden and Sankofa Farm, with 27 people in attendance. The event began in the Barn with a pop-up exhibit featuring enlarged copies of resistance-related historical materials from local libraries and archives. Attendees had the opportunity to engage with these materials before hearing the program.
The formal portion of the event began with a welcome and introduction to “Chronicling Resistance” from project director Mariam Williams. Williams discussed several of the documents in the exhibit, noting that they show the risks people took, conflicts within movements, and connections to the space where we were, as several were directly connected to Southwest Philadelphia.
Chronicling Resistance pop-up exhibit at the barn, Bartram’s Garden, May 7, 2019. Photo credit: Ilhan Citak
Williams described some of the work of the project, including the questions that have been asked throughout the project, some of the listening sessions we have held, and a preliminary look at findings. These included the importance of feeling placed and rooted through history, how programming and art can help people to establish meaningful connections with the past, and how lack of knowledge about what is available is a barrier in connecting many people to archives. Williams closed with a vision for future “Chronicling Resistance” work, which includes striking “enabling” from the formal title and replacing it with “affirming.”
The evening then transitioned to a conversation among Williams, Shani Akilah, one of the founders of the Black and Brown Worker’s Cooperative (BBWC), and Sade Black, a youth worker at Sankofa Farm, about the theme of Sankofa. “Sankofa” is a word in the Twi language which signifies that there is nothing wrong with going back to pick up something you have forgotten. The term connects with the work of “Chronicling Resistance” because it helps to remind us that remembering is something we must practice, and that remembering is especially difficult for people whose histories have been erased. Remembering gives context and provides roots; it is an act of resistance to say “we were here, we are here” and to preserve what is actively being erased.
The conversation opened with discussions about the work each is doing. Black described her work learning about African culture, cooking African food and foods from the African diaspora, teaching new students to farm and cook, and the deep connections of food to history. Sankofa Farm provides opportunities to learn things she doesn’t learn in school, such as how African women preserved crops to save their culture and heritage when they were enslaved in the Americas. Akilah began with their family history; as a descendent of Jamaican Maroons and Haitians, they carry their history of freedom and rebellion with them, and this has informed what they believe is possible. BBWC works for an expansion of democracy and an acknowledgement that black and brown workers do much of the front-line work in social justice movements but still suffer under white supremacy.
Shani Akilah (L) and Sade Black presenting at “Chronicling Resistance Presents: Sankofa,” Bartram’s Garden, May 7, 2019. Photo credit: Ilhan Citak
For both Sade and Shani, their activism and work is a way to reach back and remember. Black noted that farming was not part of the community she grew up in, but that a connection to the land is part of her culture, although one that is not widely recognized in among African American youth in Philadelphia. Getting an education, and in turn educating others, is itself an act of resistance. Akilah emphasized the importance of moving beyond incremental change in becoming the dreams of our ancestors; they are inspired by slave rebellions, Harriet Tubman, Toussaint L’Ouverture, and other people who have been criminalized for what they know. Remembering the truth is the deepest work we can do, because society functions on falsehood and false projects, and we must get at the truth.
Both Akilah and Black spoke about the importance of lifting up the work of black women, who are often erased from the work that they do; this is part of a commitment to collective liberation. Akilah noted the contributions of Ella Baker to the Civil Rights movement, although she is not familiar to many; Black noted the inspiration she derives from Harriet Tubman, who went back many times to save her own people.
In discussing how people should learn about stories in the future, and how their work should be remembered, Akilah noted that one should always ask “is this the moment I should be speaking?” before doing so, and recognize when to allow other voices to be heard; things are missed when people tell stories for others rather than allowing them to speak. Black emphasized the importance of not waiting for other people or school to tell you about history, but to seek it out and to use your voice, not allowing yourself to be silenced. Akilah also noted the importance of oral tradition.
After the conclusion of this conversation, attendees took a tour of Sankofa Farm with Chris Bolden-Newsome, one of its co-directors. Bolden-Newsome described the goals of the farm, including reconnecting African-Americans to the land, as the culture has all but abandoned the value Africans traditionally place on spending time in nature, and farming is often seen as connected to slavery, when black people were forced to labor on the land in bondage. Sankofa Farm is rooted in the community of Southwest Philadelphia, and is sacred ground where all the plants that are grown have historical and cultural meaning, in addition to providing nutrition. Bolden-Newsome prefers to talk about resilience rather than resistance, because he sees this as a better description of how people can live their lives.
Following the farm tour, attendees were invited to an outdoor picnic dinner catered by Atiya Ola’s Spirit First Foods, an African-American family-owned restaurant that deeply connects spiritual and nutritional nourishment.
Final Chronicling Resistance Thinking Partners Meeting
Members of the Chronicling Resistance steering committee and thinking partners met April 9, 2019. This was the last formal event for thinking partners in Phase I of the project. Discussion topics at the meeting included where the project was and what it had accomplished, potential next steps, and best practices for future work.
Those in attendance agreed that the project had learned much about what the barriers are to people using traditional library/archive reading rooms and about the collections in PACSCL institutions which relate to resistance. We have also learned that thinking about resistance is often very local: in talking about resistance heros and what resistance means to them, attendees at our listening sessions often mentioned someone in their family or community elders. These outcomes will inform our future development of the project, which includes a grant application in concert with the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Further discussion focused on best practices for reaching out to communities and making archives and libraries more open. We discussed the possibility of developing training for PACSCL library staff on implicit bias and anti-oppression work. We also discussed what it might mean to provide support for activists in archives who may encounter traumatic material. The issue of encouraging more students from a variety of backgrounds to explore libraries and archives as a potential career was raised.
We also discussed issues of preservation and access to collections in both institutional and non-institutional settings. Many communities don’t want their materials to go to a university or historical society, but prefer to preserve them within the community which created the materials. If we put together kits for groups to use in preserving their archives, will they want these and no further contact, or should there be a continued relationship? What might both these options look like?
The meeting closed with conversation about the news from the previous day that the Historical Society of Pennsylvania was laying off 30% of its staff. While not directly related to the project, HSP is a PACSCL member, and everyone at the meeting expressed sadness at the news. Many people around the table also stated that such news forces us to consider how Philadelphia values, preserves, and thinks about its cultural heritage — one of the very questions being explored in Chronicling Resistance.
Resistance Collections PACSCL Member Event
Resistance Collections
An Event for PACSCL Library Staff
22 people attended a Chronicling Resistance event for staff from PACSCL member libraries. The goals of the event were to inform PACSCL member staff about the project and its findings, and to learn more about resistance-related collections in the collections of PACSCL institutions.
The event opened with everyone sharing something that was going on at their own institution, either that they were particularly excited about or that they had been focusing on. Project director Mariam Williams outlined the events we hosted, questions that were asked of attendees, and some early findings. She also asked several people in the room to share their experiences of attending or hosting listening sessions.
One attendee noted that the listening session he attended gave him further motivation and a framework for the work he wanted to do in thinking about his institution’s demographic boundaries. He was also especially influenced by speaker comments on how ownership of narratives is critical. A staff member at an institution which hosted a listening session noted that having the session there connected her with people who had been involved with the history of her institution, and brought out stories she had not heard before. Other attendees noted that sessions gave them a lot to think about and found them productive.
Mariam then reviewed discoveries from our process, and rounded up some other projects we have thought about, used as inspiration, and been in conversation with. Major points included that the public connects the past and the present, but doesn’t necessarily see a connection of the past to archives and special collections. One major barrier to this is not knowing what materials are available or if they are available to everyone.
The conversation then transitioned to the website we are creating that will include information about resistance related materials found in PACSCL collections, which attempts to address in some way the findings above. We discussed the audience for the website and its goals, as well as how materials could be added and what information we are hoping to collect. Guidelines written by project staff were passed around, designed to help people think about language and types of description.
The event closed with general social and networking time, so that attendees could talk more informally about the work they are doing.
From Housewifery to Coalition Building to Holding Office
Editor’s Note: Housed at Lehigh University, the Nancy Shukaitis papers provide insight into the roles of women and indigenous peoples in the Philadelphia area conservation and environmental movements. A housewife catalyzed by federal threats to raze her home, Shukaitis found herself linked to Native Americans’ long history of displacement. How are some of the least-expected populations moved to resistance and to building coalitions? What are the issues that link people of different backgrounds?
Nancy Shukaitis: The Unexpected Activist
By Rachael Bucci and Berto Sicard, Lehigh University
Collage of materials relating to the opposition of Nancy Michael Shukaitis to the Tocks Island Dam. Lehigh University Library.
In the 1960s, the United States federal government planned the construction of the Tocks Island Dam. The construction plan aimed to build a 37-mile barrier beyond the shores of the Delaware River to be utilized for drinking water, hydroelectricity, and flood protection. Congress and the four governors of the states belonging to the Delaware River Basin Commission — Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York — made up part of the large support network for the dam proposal. Despite the dam’s numerous projected benefits, it posed serious issues for many people. To construct the dam, the government planned to use eminent domain to acquire the property of approximately 1,200 people living in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Nancy Shukaitis was among the people who lost her land, but she refused to fade into the background while the government displaced people from their homes. Instead, she dedicated her time and efforts to fighting the Tocks Island Dam project as well as opposing industrial and commercial development initiatives of the natural land.
Shukaitis did not evoke the typical image of resistance in the 1960s. When the government developed the Tocks proposal, Shukaitis was a housewife. Her empathy and investment in the community sparked an activist’s spirit, despite it not being a traditional role for married white women with young families at that time. She began organizing by informing the public of the controversial nature of the project and promoting water conservation. She raised awareness through various platforms: corresponding with local, state, and federal political officials, holding public meetings to spread the word, and writing to newspapers. As she became more invested, Shukaitis worked in several environmental protection groups such as the Delaware Valley Conservation Association, Save the Delaware Coalition, and Lenni Lenape League to further raise awareness surrounding the Tocks Island Dam and water conservation.
Environmental impacts of the dam were nebulous at best. Several locations along the Delaware River were considered for construction, yet serious problems arose at each point. Because of unideal geological formations for hydroelectricity, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned to destroy large scenic mountains in the Delaware Water Gap. Sediment accumulation threatened larger floods at the site of the dam. There was no guarantee water purity would be maintained, despite a prime incentive of building the dam being the exportation of water to Philadelphia and New York. Moreover, a large portion of the land to be flooded was home to priceless Native American artifacts.
The dam’s threat to destroy Native American artifacts motivated Native Americans to build coalitions with Shukaitis. The Lenape, also called the Delaware People, were indigenous to the proposed area. They protested the construction of the dam for over three decades to preserve their land and artifacts. Born in Smithfield, PA, in an area called “Shawnee on the Delaware,” and as a member of the Lenni Lenape League, Shukaitis’s local identity gave her another angle from which to combat the proposed construction. She joined the efforts of the Lenape Indians to protect the land and objects belonging to their ancestral roots.
Many asked Shukaitis why she had not stepped aside and let her husband take over the project. That option had never crossed her mind. Shukaitis and her activist colleagues gave testimony to the U.S. Congress in 1965 and succeeded in preventing development of 70,000 acres. On September 1, 1965, Congress established the land as the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area to manage lands surrounding the proposed Tocks Island Dam. Nonetheless, for several decades, various interest groups continued efforts to claim the land. As the first woman elected commissioner of Monroe County in 1967, Shukaitis was able to stop the construction of a luxury hotel soon after the land was protected. In 1978, Congress established the Middle Delaware National Scenic River, which blocked the construction of future dams.
Congress formally de-authorized the Tocks Island proposal in 1992, but threats to the land continued. In 2011, PPL Corporation proposed a $1.2 billion power line project through the park. Long retired from politics, Shukaitis helped citizens sue to protect the land and succeeded in preventing the project.
Nancy Shukaitis’s acts of resistance protected a scenic landmark from destruction, and her efforts can be appreciated more today than ever before. In the middle of the twentieth century, the impact of dams was not completely understood. Today, time and research have enabled society to understand that dams can irreversibly alter ecosystems and wipe out local species. Thus, while Shukaitis protected land that formerly belonged to her, she also helped maintain the harmony and ecosystem of the area in general for decades to come. Her persistence in activism on behalf of her community has inspired several generations, and she is still honored by local environmental and political foundations.
Sisters in Freedom Screening at Paschalville Library Recap
Seven people, all women of color, joined us for another screening of Sisters in Freedom on Tuesday, March 19, 2019. The post-film discussion went quickly to resistance after one viewer remarked that women are still out knocking on doors and getting petitions signed.
A few of the women had canvassed for political campaigns and all said they were informed voters. They lamented the apathy they perceive among most people today. From their perspective, Philadelphia’s racial inequality persists in education, income, wealth, and housing, but they don’t see anyone in younger generations resisting these challenges. They cited the threat to raze Bartram Village, a housing project in Southwest Philadelphia, as an example. According to the viewers, residents of the projects and of Southwest Philadelphia have accepted that Bartram Village’s demolition is inevitable and that poor people will be displaced from their homes.
The amoebic discussion centered around the erosion of community structures that in the past kept people informed and able to form a more united activist front. Housing integration led to white flight and middle-class black flight. People used to learn about political issues at churches, but church attendance has declined. Parents on the block knew one another because their children played together, and mothers watched each other’s children; now children go to daycare and don’t play with their neighbors. Incarceration has taken away too many fathers. High property taxes, imminent domain, and gentrification have pushed longtime residents out of their homes in South, Southwest, and Kensington. The women noted that their neighborhood library is the closest thing they have to a community gathering space and is where they’re most likely to learn about social issues.
The women noted that the female abolitionists had rallied across racial lines for a common cause. They thought similar alliances would be formed today, if women could find a common cause. They felt this was unlikely, however, as everyone seems to have a different issue that’s important to them. Some care about the environment, some education, some wage equality. Viewers saw how some of these causes could be linked. They believed, for example, that if the minimum wage were raised so high that public assistance was eliminated, more people would demand accountability for how their taxes are spent, particularly in education.
“Who Tells Your Story?” LGBTQ Community Archives Forum Recap
Elise Chenier leading activity at “Who Tells Your Story?” Photo Credit: John Andries.
The following recap was composed from notes taken by Michael Caroll during a breakout session discussion following “Who Tells Your Story? An LGBTQ Community ArchivES Forum” at William Way LGBT Center, Wednesday, March 13, 2019. The forum opened with panelists Elise Chenier (Director, Archives of Lesbian Oral Testimony), Steven Fullwood (independent archivist and founder, In the Life Archive, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture), and Che Gossett (archivist, Barnard Center for Research on Women) discussing their work on collecting and preserving the histories of lesbians, queer African Americans LGBTQ, and transgender persons. After the forum, attendees discussed the representation and role of resistance in the archives.
Attendees defined resistance much the same way audience members at other listening sessions have: as both everyday practice and as archival material. For individuals in communities where oppression presents challenges on multiple levels or makes life particularly difficult, joy, turning to the mundane, or refusing to be invisible can be forms of resistance.
Resistance can be found in materials or information that haven’t been filtered through the mainstream. Though archivists are trained in verification methods that can privilege men and heteronormativity, they must be sensitive to the original context of materials collected by the LGBTQ community. The archivist can practice resistance by carving out space for materials removed from mainstream methodology. Archivists also can support community resistance by being more directly integrated into these efforts. They can, for example, actively document ongoing resistance or facilitate intergenerational conversations. In general, participants viewed archives much like they do libraries: as informational outlets with valuable documents. Archives are institutions to glean knowledge from, but not necessarily add knowledge to.
While participants expressed a desire for their stories to be preserved in traditional institutions, they also acknowledge a need for archivists to find ways to help people collect and preserve their histories/experiences in a safe way that does not incriminate them. People who identify as LGBTQ sometimes need to remain “closeted.” Archives can achieve this balance and ultimately enrich their collections with more diverse stories by building trust and relationships with the communities they serve. When community members feel free to participate, then they are more willing to engage.
Steven Fullwood presenting at William Way LGBT Community Center. Topic: Who Tells Your Story? An LGBTQ Community Archives Forum. Photo Credit: Johnnie Ray Kornegay III
Posted on March 8, 2019 March 25, 2019
“Sisters in Freedom” Screening Summary
This event was held in collaboration with History Making Productions, which produced the film “Sisters in Freedom”. The event began with an introduction to the film and to the Chronicling Resistance project and its aims. Six attendees then watched the film, which is about the advocacy of black and white women in Philadelphia for the abolition of slavery and the ways in which they worked together. Stories include those of Ona Judge, Lucretia Mott, and Sarah Mapps Douglass.
Discussion after the film centered on the importance of untold stories, things that are not taught in school, and how much Philadelphia history is unknown to many. Attendees noted that in school slavery is often presented as something that happened only in the South, while the film made clear it was also an issue in Philadelphia. Most people in the room had not heard the story of Pennsylvania Hall, built by abolitionists and destroyed by those in favor of slavery and colonization soon after its opening; this story is part of the climax of the film, and emphasized how unknown important stories of Philadelphia’s history are not necessarily widely known.
Community Day Recap
Project director Mariam Williams (front, center) facilitates discussion with participants at Free Library of Philadelphia’s Community Day, 16 Feb 2019.
Chronicling Resistance, Enabling Resistance participated in Community Day at the Free Library of Philadelphia. The event began with the talk/exhibit tour “Philadelphia’s Seventh Ward in a Changing City” given by by Kalela Williams, Director of Neighborhood Library Enrichment for the Free Library of Philadelphia. The talk was presented in conjunction with the exhibit “At These Crossroads: The Legacies of Frederick Douglass and W. E. B. Du Bois,” which Williams co-curated. In her talk, Williams discussed significant people and places in the Seventh Ward, and DuBois’s study of the Ward in The Philadelphia Negro, published in 1899. Williams also talked about some of the primary sources she consulted while working on the exhibit, including diaries of an African-American woman in Philadelphia during the Civil War (held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania), and several African-American girls’ friendship albums (held at the Library Company of Philadelphia).
Following the talk, 20 people participated in a listening session over pizza and snacks. Discussion centered on how people were thinking about preserving their own and their families histories, and how materials end up in archives. The audience raised important questions about how you can know whether something you have is of interest to an institution (either in general, or what the right institution to contact might be), whether the fact that so much is digital makes it easier or harder to preserve and share materials, and how to decide whether or not to save something when you are cleaning the attic or tidying up. Participants also were interested in what archival institutions exist in Philadelphia and expressed surprise that PACSCL has 40 member institutions.
Thinking Partners Retreat Recap
Members of the Chronicling Resistance thinking partners and steering committee met January 18 for a half-day retreat. Major topics of discussion included where the project is now, what the main goals are for the second part of this phase, and the possibilities for future phases. Themes of the discussion included how best to activate materials and the importance of stories. We also identified two distinct strands of the project: one is about accessing collections, letting people know about materials, interpreting those materials, and deepening engagement with them; the other is about collecting materials and documenting stories. We need to figure out how/when/if to bring these things together, and what that might look like.
We have been using cards to gather information on how people think about resistance and the history of resistance. This lead to a discussion about whether we could do this work in another format; e.g., encouraging people to do a short video essay in answer to these questions, and posting it online. This might be especially attractive to a 9-12/education population. There are some privacy concerns, but this is something we might look into for the future.
One thing that we have learned from our listening sessions is that lots of people don’t see libraries as their spaces. One of the reasons that sessions have been successful to date is because we drew on the networks of the people involved in those sessions, particularly the speakers, but also the venues. If we are doing events without speakers, or at public libraries, how can we continue to engage with people who don’t see libraries as their spaces? We discussed strategies, and acknowledged the fact that tension in these areas is okay; if there isn’t any tension, this project is not going well, as tension is one way of knowing that we are getting to the heart of issues.
It also seemed that the “chronicling” part of our work has been less of a focus than “resistance” so far. We discussed various methods of making sure that this is part of the conversation at events, including having materials (or facsimiles) available in the space to spark thoughts in this area, framing opening questions to encourage discussion of experiences with archives and libraries, and asking people about what stories they want to hear and do not, and what do they find off-putting about libraries.
Stories were once again a major feature of the discussion, particularly how we can (or cannot) tell stories with documents and objects, the ways in which stories allow for engagement, and creating authentic excitement about history. Connections, and the lack thereof, between communities and collections were also an important topic of conversation. A long-term goal of the project is to lessen the power dynamics between communities and archives.
In thinking about next steps for the project, thinking partners were very interested in how PACSCL members might demonstrate commitment and use their power. There were discussions about whether future grants could include money to bring communities to work with collections, to purchase new resistance materials, to work with communities to preserve collections, or to bring in artists to make work inspired by materials. Such collection-development related activities are not new work for institutions, although this is a different way of seeing them. Although Chronicling Resistance is a PACSCL project, to do this kind of work we will need investment from individual institutions; more interaction between member institutions and communities could have beneficial outcomes for both groups.
One key component of any next steps should be to activate materials and collections; part of what has been inspiring about previous listening sessions has been when people talked about their own work.
Indigenous People in Their Own Words Part II: Redrawing History
By Mariam Williams
Artist Weshoyot Alvitre (L) and author Lee Francis stand beside the historical marker commemorating what was Conestoga Indian Town during a research trip in August, 2018. Photo courtesy Library Company of Philadelphia.
I ended part I of this two-part blog series with the question, ““[I]n 25 to 100 years, what will hold more weight to people looking back at this moment—viral, instantaneous postings, the next-day regrets of experienced journalists, or Nathan Phillips, an indigenous man, in his own words?” I wondered this because as I saw the confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial unfolding last month and thinking about how the acts of resistance and counter-resistance would be preserved and remembered, I was also thinking about Digital Paxton.
Launched in 2017, Digital Paxton is an online collection of nearly 20 institutions’ materials related to the massacre of the Conestoga Native American tribe in Lancaster, Pa., in December 1763. A mob of white settlers who came to be known as the “Paxton Boys” descended upon the Conestoga and murdered 20 unarmed Susquehannock Indians.
Though Digital Paxton boasts nearly 3,000 documents, “materials that give voice to Conestoga, Lenape, or Moravian Indians … are almost always mediated through colonial sources,” said Will Fenton, Director of Scholarly Innovation at Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) and founder of Digital Paxton. For example, the Quakers often quote Lenape leaders verbatim in their minutes from conferences with the tribe.
We live in a time when historians understand representation matters to people of color, social studies teachers know the point-of-view of the winner isn’t an accurate overview of history, and when the most marginalized groups in U.S. history are exerting more control over the telling of their own stories. But how do Native peoples relay that history if the kind of primary sources archivists have put a premium on weren’t written by Native Americans?
Redrawing History: Indigenous Perspectives on Colonial America attempts to step into that gap. Managed by LCP and funded by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Redrawing History is a collaboration among scholars, artists, and tribal leaders that reinterprets the story of the Paxton massacre from the perspective of Native peoples and spreads the knowledge of it to a wider audience.
Cover, “Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers: Volume One.”
The project’s main method of sharing will be a graphic novel written by Lee Francis and illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre, both of whom are Native American artists who have worked together previously on historicized fiction projects, such as Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers, a graphic novel that received the American Indian Library Association’s (AILA) 2018 American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Middle Grade Book. Lee’s publishing company, Native Realities, published Mighty Code Talkers. He is also the founder of Indigenous Comic Con and owner of Red Planet Books and Comics.
The process of creating a graphic novel that’s also historicized fiction can be summed up this way: research, write, draw, revise, print. But the research step is complex, important, and detailed.
“I’m working with tribes that aren’t my own tribe,” said Weshoyot (pronounced Weh-shoy-o). Weshoyot is a member of the Tongva tribe, a nation whose land base was the greater Los Angeles area. She lives in California. Lee is Pueblo of Laguna and lives near Albuquerque, NM. Weshoyot feels some additional pressure to accurately represent the story of another nation, though she and Lee see parallels with many Native tribes’ respective histories.
Lee pointed to the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado in 1864, when the U.S. Army killed 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians along Sand Creek. The Tongva, Weshoyot’s tribe, is not federally recognized, but was also the victim of genocide—initially by Spanish colonists (the land was part of Mexico until the Mexican-American War) and then by white settlers pushing into the West. The Tongva’s population dropped exponentially from an estimated 5,000-10,000 people in the late 1400s to 700 at the turn of the twentieth century.
“I think this [history of genocide] gives me a level playing field for handling [another tribe’s history] respectfully but also doing it with a backbone, giving a a voice that hasn’t been presented before,” said Weshoyot.
Genocide, however, is not the end of the indigenous American story. Weshoyot and Lee want to show a story of survival.
“Despite the massacres that tried to eliminate us, we still exist,” said Lee.
Creative director Will Fenton curates historical materials at LancasterHistory.org during a research trip in August 2018. Photo courtesy Library Company of Philadelphia.
After Will Fenton reached out to Weshoyot and Lee, he connected them withmembers of the Native community in Lancaster and the Circle Legacy Center, a Native American nonprofit organization there. Redrawing History’s advisory board also includes prominent scholars (Daniel Richter at Penn), curatorial experts (e.g. Vilma Ortiz-Sanchez at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian), and indigenous ambassadors (Curtis Zunigha, co-director of the Lenape Center and member of the Delaware Tribe in Oklahoma).
With the input of the local indigenous community, historians of the Paxton massacre, and people whose ancestors survived it, Lee and Weshoyot “have worked backwards from the sense that Native people still exist. These were people who had agency, who stood up, who were heroes in their own right,” said Lee.
The murdered Conestoga men and women were also human. “The extent of their representation has been their names in history books, but I really want to flesh that out a little more,” said Weshoyot.
To reconstruct the humanity of the characters she’s drawing, Weshoyot reads and studies material culture “to find out what stresses people were under in colonialism. There’s a lot of psychological work, too, forensic work to flesh out who these people could have been. Their personalities, stresses in their lives with a culture coming in and pushing them out of their homeland, colonists coming in and building surrounding their hunting grounds.”
Screen shot of Weshoyot Alvitre’s Instagram page, taken 21 Feb 2019.
She’s also deep into research of Lancaster’s natural and physical environments so she can represent them correctly. “The trees are sky high—so different from what we have here,” she said, referring to the area of California where she resides. “I research how buildings are made architecturally, because I need to draw those in a 3-D environment. I have to tie in types of doors they would have used. There’s also the Native housing.”
In addition to setting, Weshoyot is considering costumes, props, clothing colors, prints on the fabric, and more. “It’s as detailed as making a film,” she said. “You may see one tenth of the research I’m putting into this right now.”
The details help solidify the fact that Native people had established a way of life prior to colonizers arriving—-a way that continues to be challenged today in situations like the fight over the Dakota Pipeline, when Native land is within the path of economic development.
In the jailhouse where the massacre occurred, Weshoyot sees a striking metaphor for colonization and continued environmental threats. “In Native cultures, rocks and land are just as important as people are,” but “a foreign entity came in and drilled out the [existing] stone to make it a jailhouse,” an act that represents how society is broken apart and put back together for something else, Weshoyot said. Today, the building is, somewhat ironically, a theater. Weshoyot pointed out that something dramatic continues to happen there, but the history of the building and the previous importance of the stone is disconnected from the rest of the land and from the people.
For Weshoyot, the construction of the jailhouse has helped her emphasize Native folks’ humanity.
“I try to imagine myself in the space. If you slow down time and put yourself in the perspective of anyone in this situation—it was in the wintertime. It was cold, it was snowing. They were already traumatized and were huddled together into the basement of a jail made of stone,” she said.
“I think the brilliance of what we can do with [a graphic novel] is to reconstruct how people would have reacted in those circumstances. … They died standing up. They faced their attackers eye to eye. That’s one of the things we can show with a little bit of historical amalgamation,” said Lee.
With regard to portraying a historical event in a fictive space, the Redrawing History team is inspired by Saidiya Hartman’s work on critical fabulation “as a means to creatively imagine what might have happened, ‘to imagine what cannot be verified … to reckon with the precarious lives which are visible only in the moment of their disappearance.’” For Lee, this means maintaining “a good, noble balance, a beautiful conflict to make sure we are telling the stories in a way that do honor [to those who were massacred] but project something positive into the world.” He and Weshoyot are also grateful to Will, LCP, and Pew for seeking out trends in Native pop and visual culture and for being open to finding new ways to represent Native voices.
An eighteenth-century political cartoon available on Digital Paxton, the inspiration for and basis of the graphic novel. Image courtesy Library Company of Philadelphia.
While the vast majority of materials in Digital Paxton are written from the perspective of whites who were either allies or Paxton sympathizers, Lee has preserved the Lenape language in the script whenever possible and also has quoted lines directly from some of the political cartoons in the collection. He noted that Native people likely saw themselves represented in mass media and spoke out about how they were portrayed. In the media, Lee said, Native people were used as props.
“We wanted to place Native people at the center, to show their agency and that they were still people. A group of people were used as political cartoons, props, propaganda. We want to focus on the experience, and that has resounding current-day parallels,” said Lee. He compared the way Native people were depicted in the 1870s with how refugees from Syria or asylum-seekers from Central America are being portrayed today. They’ve become political tools, “but what about the people who are actually there, the people who have the agency because they choose to walk, even though they are herded into a place and facing their extermination?” he said.
Author Lee Francis looks out at what was the site of Conestoga Indian Town during a research trip in August 2018. Photo courtesy Library Company of Philadelphia.
Lee sees agency and heroism in many of the same ways we’ve heard listening session participants express it—“not chiefs or plains riders,” but in people the media didn’t cover at Standing Rock, like “our grandmothers, people who were cleaning latrines, cooking every day.”
When people finish reading the graphic novel, Lee said he wants them to understand three main points: 1) that the Paxton mob failed in its attempt to wipe out the Conestoga people; 2) that “there is a lived truth to the Native existence and identity in colonial America that is not based on war but on survival” and that “allows for agency of the people who were exterminated but have a voice in the present; and 3) “that we tell the story of a people you may not have heard about.”
For all the tragedy and sorrow in the American empire, America is a tapestry that is incredible in its depth, and that needs to be noticed and reconciled. … It’s truth and reconciliation that I can do in the way that I know how as an indigenous writer—through a comic book,” said Lee.
Remembering Resistance, Chronicling Community Recap
Thirteen people braved the cold to participate in “Remembering Resistance, Chronicling Community” at Girard College on the evening of January 31. The event was held in connection with the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of Girard College. Attendees were able to tour the historic spaces of Girard’s main building and see artifacts from its history, including materials related to desegregation.
Afterwards, attendees enjoyed dinner and participated in story circles in small groups. Everyone had been invited to bring an object, image, or other material as a way of sharing a brief story of their own experience with resistance. Some attendees shared experiences about acts of resistance they had participated in, such as the protests to integrate Girard College or exposing the history of environmental racism and health threats in their neighborhood through research and blogging. Others in attendance talked about other people in their families who demonstrated resistance and how that inspires the work they do now. Attendees also responded to the resistance stories they heard.
Themes which emerged from the circles and conversations included:
Mothers as models of resistance
How civil rights era assassinations catalyzed individuals
How easy it is for stories to be lost
The desire for stories to be passed down
How resistance can be inspired by the acts of others.
Indigenous People in Their Own Words, Part I: The Rarity
By now, you’ve probably seen at least one video of a confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial Friday, Jan. 18, between white male high school students and an indigenous elder. As mea culpas continue from journalists and other media personalities who accused the boys of racism and bigotry before videos taken from other angles appeared online, I find myself examining whose version is being accepted as the truth and wondering whose perspective will be preserved as such.
I hadn’t checked Twitter in a few days when a friend alerted me via text that Covington Catholic, a school between my hometown (Louisville, Ky.) and my friend’s (Cincinnati, Oh.), was trending. The first video I saw explaining why it was trending showed in its foreground a Native elder and a white boy face to face, probably no more than a foot away from each other. The elder was drumming and singing. The boy, wearing a MAGA hat, looked the man in his eyes and smirked. Boys in the middle- and background, all of them white and several also wearing MAGA hats, laughed, gawked, cheered, and raised their cell phones. One boy clapped along with the drum. (The Black Hebrew Israelites do not appear in the video at all.)
The first words I heard about the incident from a direct participant were those of Nathan Phillips, the Omaha Nation man in the video playing the drum and singing. Intermittently wiping away tears he recalled hearing the teens chant, “Build that wall!” He said, “This is indigenous land. We’re not supposed to have walls here. We never did. For millennium, before anyone else came here, we never had walls. We never had a prison. We always took care of our elders, took care of our children. We always provided for them. We taught them right from wrong. I wish I could see that energy of the young men … put that energy into making this country really, really great.”
Thank you to @VinceSchilling of @IndianCountry and many others who identified the proud Native man who is being harassed. He is Mr. Nathan Phillips. I’m reposting this video from “ka_ya11” on IG. This man’s words pierce my heart. The grace. The wisdom. The hope. pic.twitter.com/BKOA40SVq5
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) January 19, 2019
My initial reaction was threefold: unsurprised at the behavior of the teens, moved by Phillips’ tears, and smugly satisfied that a Native American elder gave a first-person account and that his account was the one the media ran with. His voice was the voice of the incident, and his voice was heard all over Twitter. He owned the story.
Then came Monday.
There were new videos from new angles and different timeframes. Then came the relief that this young group of Trump supporters couldn’t possibly have been disrespectful (at best) and were, in fact, the victims of overzealous retweeters—relief masked as retractions and analysis that the scene was more complicated than originally understood. Then came the Today show interviewing Nick Sandmann, the smirking teen, Wednesday morning. Thursday morning, nearly one week after the confrontation, Today returned to Phillips.
But I want to stay on Saturday for a minute, because in the historical record, in the pamphlets, newspapers, broadsides, and political cartoons preserved from the Colonial, Revolutionary, and post-Revolutionary eras, it is extremely rare for an indigenous person’s perspective to be the first or main story the broader public hears, and rarer still for that voice not to be filtered through whites—whether they were combatants or allies.
Nathan Phillips got the chance on Friday and Saturday to tell what happened, but he wasn’t reduced to a narrator of the viral footage. He was an elder, an activist, and someone who felt led to use prayer and a blessing song to navigate the racial tension he observed between groups of black and white males at the Lincoln Memorial. His humanity remained intact. A full picture of Native folks’ humanity, too, is rare to find when looking for Native voices in the historical record.
So much of what historians depend on to research and understand the past was written, and as Black Futures Lab co-founder Rasheeda Phillips said at one of our listening sessions, remembering persons and events in writing hasn’t always been the tradition of communities of color. Even when historians want the perspectives of people whose lives haven’t traditionally been preserved in the archives, this methodological difference poses a challenge.
In a digital age, however, a conversation, story, or family history that ordinarily may have been passed down orally might appear on Twitter or Instagram as video. (Quick sleuthing suggests the video I saw in director Ava DuVernay’s feed was reposted from Instagram user ka_ya11, a user who identifies as a member of the Dakota nation. Notably, social media platforms often are the way people of color amplify one another’s work and perspectives.) These digital platforms are their own archive, and traditional news platforms turn to them to find and substantiate news and opinions.
Monday through Wednesday of this past week, news outlets returned to privileging voices, experiences, and accounts that were white, male, and—given that the students involved attend a private school—wealthy. Did the media simply give a more balanced view by giving Sandmann a chance to share his side of the story? In a world where colonialism, genocide of Native peoples, and their imprisonment in religious schools never happened, yes. In the world we live in, the world where it did, the media simply rushed to absolve young white men (and their chaperones) of collective responsibility and individual malice. From an archival perspective, they repeated mistakes of collectors of the past, even when they didn’t have to. That is how ingrained within America’s DNA white supremacy is.
But in 25 to 100 years, what will hold more weight to people looking back at this moment—viral, instantaneous postings, the next-day regrets of experienced journalists, or Nathan Phillips, an indigenous man, in his own words?
Martyr for Gay Rights was Little-Known Prison Reformer
Editor’s Note: The recent bestselling novel by Jessmyn Ward, Sing, Unburied, Sing, investigates the generational trauma of a racist prison system and this year is the Free Library of Philadelphia’s “One Book, One Philadelphia.” Philadelphians are encouraged to read it together, accompanied by workshops and public programs connected to the novel’s themes. The prison system has been dehumanizing incarcerated persons throughout modern history, but prison reform has been a location of resistance for as long as prisons have existed. In this post, we want to highlight a record of resistance held in the Free Library of Philadelphia Rare Books Department.
Oscar Wilde as Inmate and Subversive
By Caitlin Goodman
In 1895, the writer Oscar Wilde was at the height of his fame. But the debut of his newest play, The Importance of Being Earnest, only narrowly avoided a tabloid scene: the Marquess of Queensbury was planning to throw a “bouquet” of rotting vegetables at Wilde. His vendetta was instigated by the romantic relationship between Wilde and the Marquess’s son, Lord Alfred Douglas. Gay sexual relationships were illegal in England at the time, and Wilde sued the Marquess for libel after being called a sodomite. But Wilde did have sexual relationships with men, and many were willing to testify to it. Wilde dropped his libel suit, but was immediately charged with sodomy and gross indecency. The first trial ended with a hung jury, but a second trial found him guilty. Wilde spent two years in prison, mostly at Reading Gaol.
Typescript of the redacted and previously unpublished portion of De Profundis discussing Wilde’s relationship with Douglas. It was read into public record in open court during Lord Alfred Douglas’s libel suit against Oscar Wilde’s biographer, Arthur Ransome. 1913.
In Wilde’s time in prison he was denied books, and only permitted reading and writing materials after the direct intervention of a politician. (A resonance with the present day: the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections recently reversed a much-criticized ban on donating books to incarcerated people.) Once able to write, Wilde spent his time on a long letter to Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde gave the letter to his friend and former lover Robbie Ross with the instruction that Ross type up two copies and send the original on to Douglas. Ross (rightly!) feared that Douglas would destroy the manuscript, and instead sent only a typed copy, which Douglas did promptly burn. Wilde died a few years after his release from prison and Ross heavily redacted Wilde’s letter and published it posthumously as De Profundis, a meditation on the spiritual and emotional cruelties of prison.
Oscar Wilde’s handwritten draft of “The Ballad of Reading Gaol,” a fragment of Canto III. 1897.
Wilde today is perhaps best remembered as a wit and a martyr for gay rights but the last piece he published is instead a powerful critique of the prison system. After leaving prison, Wilde also left England, never to return. He spent the summer with Robbie Ross, where he wrote “The Ballad of Reading Gaol.” In contrast to much of Wilde’s earlier work, the poem adapted the English folk tradition of ballad recitation. It was first published anonymously in early 1898 credited to “C.3.3.” – Wilde’s cell location in Reading Gaol. It was over a year until Wilde’s authorship was widely known, after the poem had already found widespread and immediate success.
Final page of the first American edition of The Ballad of Reading Gaol, crediting the poem to C.3.3. 1899.
Sites of Resistance: White Clay Creek
By Timothy Murray
Bumper sticker produced for the campaign to save the White Clay Creek Preserve
In the 1950s, the DuPont Company, concerned about water supply issues in New Castle County, began looking for alternative solutions to supply water for its Newport and Edge Moor Plants. DuPont did a study concerning the feasibility of a reservoir on the White Clay Creek and began to encourage local governments to plan for it and build it. In 1956, DuPont purchased the Pennsylvania Railroad Company’s land, as well as other properties along the creek in order to prevent residential development from interfering with these plans. The White Clay Creek Dam, located at Wedgewood Road in Newark, would have flooded 1,160 acres and supplied 71 million gallons of water a day. In 1984, when DuPont realized the reservoir plans would never come to fruition, and at the suggestion of the National Park Services, the company donated land to the states of Delaware and Pennsylvania to establish a joint park: White Clay Creek Preserve.
Dorothy Miller (center) hiking with friends in the White Clay Creek Preserve
Dorothy Miller (1931-2016) was a principal actor in thwarting DuPont’s plans. Miller was born in Windber, Pennsylvania in 1931 and received her BS in chemistry from Pennsylvania State University before going on to be an analytical chemist at DuPont. While employed at DuPont, she became vocal against the company’s acquisition of White Clay Creek land for the intent of building a dam. An avid birder, Miller used her love and knowledge of the area’s flora and fauna and consolidated the field notes of a number of Delawarean naturaliststo produce a report detailing the proposed dam’s effect on wildlife. Miller believed that the best way to protect water resourceswas by protecting the land around them. It was this belief that influenced her civic involvement in water resource management and other development projects.
Miller joined forces withDon Sharpe of the United Auto Workers and Dennis Neuzil of the Delaware Sierra Club, as well as 22 other organizations to fight to preserve White Clay Creek. Miller also served as a leader in new umbrella organizations, the Coalition for Natural Stream Valleys and the Citizens for White Clay Creek, and was an active member in several of the other groups.
In 1988, the heirs of S. Hallock du Pont announced plans to sell off 850 of the family’s 2,000 acre estate, which had been held in trust for future generations. Seeking to limit the loss of open space, Governor Michael Castle began the purchase of 321 acres of the land which would connect Walter Carpenter State Park and the White Clay Creek Preserve to the Middle Run Valley Natural Area, a New Castle County-run park. The purchase was completed in the early 1990s, and in 1995, Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. State Park, the Delaware portion of the White Clay Creek Preserve, and the du Pont estate lands were joined together and renamed White Clay Creek State Park.
In 2000, Congress designated the entirety of White Clay Creek watershed as a national Wild and Scenic River, making it the first complete watershed in the nation to receive that designation.
Miller passed away in 2016 at the age of 84.
Posted on January 5, 2019 February 21, 2019
Before you throw that out …
Screenshot of Netflix series “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”
It’s January, and some of us made decluttering one of our new year’s resolutions. We’re making space in our closets, in our children’s toy boxes, in our kitchen cabinets, on our bookshelves, on our phone and computer hard drives, and in our Dropbox, Google Drive, or other cloud-based storage. We’re following tidy-up guidelines based on variations of the quote, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful,” attributed to William Morris, an English textile designer associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. Most tips for decluttering have to do with getting rid of the old, unused, or worthless to make space for the new, useful, and desired. They’re about living in the now.
Tossing seemingly useless objects and documents out is practical for my daily life, but frightening when it comes to my work on an archives project. I imagine someone in need of physical, mental, or emotional space and who doesn’t know how their photos, ticket stubs, journals, or books a used bookstore didn’t give them enough money for could ever be useful to anyone, throwing them away. I want to yell, “Stop!” and snatch their hands from the drawstring of the trash bag. A bit overdramatic perhaps, but when historians, students, journalists, and other researchers put together narratives of lived experience from the previous generation or century, they find material in the everyday things that, if we kept them, might make us seem like hoarders, not archivists.
This is true even when it comes to records of resistance. We’ve been asking the public to define resistance and tell us who their Philadelphia resistance heroes are. So far, not one person has defined resistance as a public protest or participation in other mass action. So far, most of the people named as heroes are anonymous or are known in select communities. They are family members, community elders, artists, poets, self–names unlikely to make it into a K-12 or college textbook but imperative to our existence now, important for personal or community self-determination in the future, and a career highlight to historians who know how challenging it is to find voices of “everyday people” in the historical record.
So before you toss that embarrassing box of notes you passed to and received from your friends in fourth grade, rethink how useful, beautiful, and valuable your history is.
And if you just don’t want the stuff in your house, perhaps you can learn from Democratic political strategist and author Donna Brazile’s decluttering experience.
Posted on December 19, 2018 February 21, 2019
Uncovering Women of Color in Time, Place, and History Recap
From left: Karina Puente, Mariam Williams, Rasheedah Phillips, Yolanda Wisher. Photo courtesy Rasheedah Phillips.
The session “Uncovering Women of Color in Time, Place, and History” was held December 12, 2018, at the Education Center of Uncle Bobbie’s Books and Café. 44 people attended a discussion with Rasheedah Phillips (Managing Attorney of the Landlord-Tenant Housing Unit at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, Black Quantum Futurism Collective), Yolanda Wisher (poet, singer, educator, curator), and Karina Puente (artist).
In a wide-ranging discussion, Phillips, Wisher, and Puente reflected on questions including the definition of resistance, how resistance is part of the work they do, the kinds of historical stories they include, and what it means to center women of color in their work.
All the panelists emphasized the inspiration which they find in history and historical narratives. Wisher and Phillips both emphasized how hidden some of these stories are — for instance, Ona Judge, about whom there is only one book, and Rev. Leon Sullivan, whose story is not known in much of Philadelphia. Puente spoke about the importance of anchoring her work in a Latin American folk art tradition of papel picado (cut paper), and the history of that work.
Phillips and Wisher discussed differing experiences of historical research. Phillips is a Temple graduate and while she had heard of the Blockson Collection while she was a student, she didn’t know it what it was or how to access it. (The Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection is an archive with more than 500,000 items pertaining to the global black experience.) Phillips’ perception at Temple was that the Blockson Collection was a resource that wasn’t really available to her. Wisher described her first visit to the Schomburg Center as a pilgrimage, and the importance for her of doing at least some research in a physical space.
Much of the work of all the panelists combines the past, present, and future. Puente views her work in a traditional folk art medium as a way of conjuring the past and connecting to others who do or did similar work. Her current project, “#SisterlyHistory,” which is co-producing with Wisher, is designed to help women of color engaged in arts, cultural organizing, or entrepreneurship remember why they are doing it. Wisher talked about using her family stories in her work, and how the future in her work is in many ways about the past, as well. Phillips exhorted attendees to stop thinking of time as linear and progressive but to explore quantum physics, which sees time as moving in many directions, an idea which resonates with precolonial African practices. She also challenged attendees to question what values spur the desire to document (in writing), preserve, and institutionalize history. Are these values Eurocentric and capitalist? History among many precolonial indigenous populations was oral and was passed down; could archives be passed down the same way?
Phillips discussed her work in Sharswood, a community in North Philly, which is undergoing rapid gentrification, and where the city demolished low-income housing using eminent domain. She had represented people as part of her work as attorney, but also felt compelled to do more. To bring an Afrofuturist lens to the work, she opened up a pop-up store front, and did oral-futurist interviews, sign making, and art. This was designed to push back against the narrative coming from the city and others about the neighborhood, and allow those living there to tell their story of their community.
All emphasized the centrality of women of color in their work, and that they do not see this as a choice.
Following the discussion, audience members filled out response cards. Then there was a question and comment session with attendees. Elements of the discussion included how to stay community focused, that the process of looking for a story is also a story, the importance of community control over both collections and where they are, and the contrast between the often metaphysical process of the creation of art and the order and process of archives. Wisher suggested art within the archives could be a bridge between the different processes, as art and artifacts connect with ancestry and add an element of the living within the institutional space.
Archiving Our Own Recap
The session “Archiving Our Own” was held November 28, 2018 at the Library Company of Philadelphia. 26 people attended presentations by Sofiya Ballin and Samip Mallick and then discussed their thoughts about resistance and archives.
The event was designed as a conversation among project director Mariam Williams, Ballin, and Mallick. The wide-ranging discussion covered a variety of topics including definitions of resistance, how the presenters’ projects affect people in Philadelphia, the relationship between resistance and archives, and the speakers’ connections to the historical record.
Both Ballin and Mallick emphasized the importance of seeing your stories and the stories of your community represented in the historical record and in the narratives told about history. In discussing why she started her project Black History Untold, Ballin talked about wanting to move beyond the “traditional” profiles of black heroes she was asked to produce as a journalist and to show examples of Black success. Mallick reflected on how he felt displaced and left out of United States history when he was learning it in school, and how transformative learning about South Asian American history was for him. The South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) was an attempt to rectify this, and to make sure other people did not have the same experience.
Both panelists emphasized that they see the work they are doing as corrective and restorative, and that saying “we are here, we have stories” can be a form of resistance. While both Mallick and Ballin carry deeply personal experiences of isolation and ostracization into their work, each also attested to the collective effect omission and sometimes physical separation from archival records has had South Asian and Black diasporic populations.
Mallick noted that SAADA tries to highlight stories of marginalized voices within the South Asian American community, such as those from the Caribbean or undocumented immigrants. Ballin emphasized the importance of allowing black people to tell their own stories, which can be seen as threatening, as a way to take back some of what was stripped away during the slave trade. While both speakers emphasized the importance of resistance, they also cautioned that everyone thinks they are resisting, even if they are in a position of power, and that it is important to examine the term and its uses critically.
In thinking about the relationship of archives and resistance, Mallick reflected that the act of remembering can itself be an act of resistance, or an inspiration for resistance. Ballin remarked that the current technological moment has allowed more people to tell their own stories, rather than just the victors, which is the narrative more traditionally found in records. However, the independent projects that allow this are difficult to sustain over a long period of time. (SAADA is in its tenth year while Black History Untold will enter its fourth anniversary in February 2019.)
Following this discussion, attendees reflected on the questions: What does resistance mean to you? How do you see yourself in Philadelphia’s resistance history? Who are your Philadelphia resistance heroes? and discussed them in groups. (Group members have been kept anonymous, and the discussions are not transcribed.) Some prominent themes to emerge from the groups were the inherent violence of omission, the ways that things like racist or colonial art on the walls of institutions may deter the public from using the archives, the importance of knowing your own history, and how the preservation of history from non-dominant groups can be difficult in a multiplicity of spaces.
Sofiya Ballin is an award-winning journalist, writer, curator, and storyteller forging new roads in digital journalism. Creator of the Black History Untold project, the Philly-based and New York-born writer has a magnetic personality and natural charisma that’s evident in her work and online presence, bringing new energy to the field.
Ballin aims to humanize all walks of life through mentorship and her work that included being Features Reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her written work has also been featured on Huffington Post, Okay Player and FADER. Her dedication to the craft has led her to honors that include being named the 2017 PABJ Journalist of the Year and a Caribbean American Thirty under 30 Emerging Leader by the Institute of Caribbean Studies. In 2018, she was given a citation by the city of Philadelphia recognizing her “journalism in music, advocacy and creativity, a most welcome and wonderful addition to the cultural landscape in Philadelphia and beyond.”
“All my life, I’ve learned that there were stories untold and that not every legend was etched into bronze, my goal is to tell their stories,” Ballin said.
Her allegiance to those untold stories has led to some of the most poignant work in her career so far. Ballin’s series #BlackHistoryUntold was birthed from this idea and led to her identity series that explores the importance of a comprehensive Black History education through an array of powerful essays. Winning the National Association of Black Journalist (NABJ) Award for Best Feature: Series in 2017, the project served as an opportunity to work on something bigger than herself and has included Jesse Williams, Marc Lamont Hill, Cory Booker, Black Thought and Jazmine Sullivan, among others.
Ballin is dedicated to the work of telling the stories of others, that might otherwise be overlooked, in the midst writing her own.
Samip Mallick is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA), the only organization that digitally documents, preserves, and shares stories of South Asian Americans. Working at the intersection of technology and storytelling, Mallick has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Illinois. He was previously the Director of the Ranganathan Center for Digital Information at the University of Chicago Library.
Posted on November 22, 2018 January 22, 2019
Sites of Resistance: The Kinzua Dam
By Sarah Horowitz
The Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River in Western Pennsylvania was formally dedicated in September, 1966. Intended for flood control and power generation, the dam and the reservoir it created led to the displacement of 160 Seneca families from their ancestral lands and the condemnation of 10,000 acres of land on the Allegheny Reservation. The United States recognized these lands as part of the Seneca Nation through the signing of the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, or the Pickering Treaty. The Kinzua Dam was a direct violation of this treaty.
Advocates of Native rights, environmentalists, and social activists banded together to oppose the Kinzua Dam, or to promote alternative strategies and locations such as the Conewango-Cattaraugus project. Quaker & Special Collections at Haverford College has extensive documentation of this activism and protest in the papers of Theodore Hetzel, a Quaker involved with the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Indian Committee. Philadelphia Quakers had a long relationship with the Seneca dating to the 18th century, and were present at the signing of the Pickering Treaty. During the fight against the Kinzua Dam, Philadelphia Quakers lobbied representatives in Washington, worked with Native leaders, and helped to publicize the issues surrounding the dam.
Courtesy Haverford College Libraries
Although many of the materials in Hetzel’s papers come from and represent the voices of the Quaker community, there are also materials which document Seneca voices. These include letters from Seneca leaders, newsletters published by the Seneca Nation, and news stories which include Native voices. Other materials include photographs, letters from politicians, news reports and letters to the editor, and documentation of actions carried out by Quakers. While the efforts to stop the Kinzua Dam were ultimately unsuccessful, they provide important documentation of a struggle which is not obvious to those familiar only with the dam itself, and not its history.
Choosing lots of new houses for those displaced by the dam at the Seneca Nation offices. Those pictured include Jessie Snow, Dorothy Jimerson, Bob Haines, George Heron, Kenneth Snow, and Walt Taylor. Courtesy Haverford College Libraries.
Thinking Partners Meeting 11.14.2018
Members of our thinking partners and steering committee met in-person and via Zoom at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia for the second in a series of conversations. Conversation focused on valuing the contributions of those involved in Chronicling Resistance and similar projects, and how communities can learn about historical material.
It is important that this project not disempower people, and that it not perpetuate issues it is trying, in some small way, to resolve. We must value people’s time and contributions, as communities often feel that they are asked to donate their intellectual and cultural labor behind the scenes of a project and left behind after a project is completed; we must think about what is left for them after the project is done. Compensation and agency are important parts of this conversation. People’s work must be acknowledged (and compensated), but agency is a deeper and more difficult concern. We will think about ways to keep in touch with those who attend listening sessions, letting them know what is happening with the project.
It is also important to be upfront and transparent in order to manage expectations. To that end, being clear with partners about how much funding is available, what the timeline is, and what the goals of the project are is critical.
In discussing our goal of having people and communities make more meaningful use of archives, the question of how people can learn about what is held in collections was raised. Traditional description does not focus on things like neighborhoods, ethnicities, or resistance movements, and other ways people might define themselves. The steering committee will take up this question.
Resistance always means being against something, and it is important to acknowledge these systems of oppression even while celebrating resistance. Both these things should be marked. We must also keep in mind that stories of resistance can be sites of trauma, and think about how we can keep people safe during our sessions.
In thinking about next steps, we discussed defining resistance, the importance of attainable goals, and meeting people where they are.
Ladies Resist, Counter-resist, and Complicate
Editor’s Note: How will women vote? The question has been on the minds of politicians and pundits since before the ratification of the nineteenth amendment. Women’s potential votes carried power on major questions such as citizenship, the rights of enslaved (and later, formerly-enslaved) blacks, and temperance. The country could change in women’s hands.
But women — including white women, the focus of much polling and hand-wringing this midterm season — have never been a monolith. If women today who believed Dr. Christine Blasey Ford allegations of attempted sexual assault against now Justice Brett Kavanaugh had lived in the 1800s, they would have found ample support for their resistance to the status quo. So would women who now want to protect men against false allegations or who offer other challenges to what many people see as progress.
In the latter group–at least, sort of–was Sarah Josepha Hale, who used her editorial position at the magazine, Godey’s Lady Book, to speak against suffrage and to take other controversial stances. The Athenaeum of Philadelphia houses a file of Hale’s correspondence, along with one of the country’s most complete collections of Godey’s Lady’s Book.Below, Peter Conn, Executive Director of the Athenaeum, offers more about Hale and her print media as a tool of resistance.
Sarah Josepha Hale
By Peter Conn
Little known today, Sarah Josepha Hale (1788–1879) could claim several significant accomplishments in her long and eventful life. She played a major role in the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument and the preservation of George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon. She lobbied successfully for the establishment of Thanksgiving as a national holiday (Abraham Lincoln issued the requisite proclamation).
Her second volume of poetry, Poems for Our Children(1830) included one of the most familiar bits of verse in the English language, “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” originally called “Mary’s Lamb.” (In 1877 Thomas Edison recited the opening lines of “Mary’s Lamb” as the first speech to be recorded on his newly invented phonograph.)Hale was also the author of several novels, to a couple of which I will return.
However, it was Hale’s forty-year tenure as the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, beginning in 1837, that placed her among the most influential women of her time. The magazine’s circulation reached 160,000 by 1860, making it the most widely circulated women’s journal of the nineteenth century. Along with poetry and short stories, and advice on child rearing and home furnishing, the magazine’s attractions included beautifully colored illustrations of current female fashions.
Courtesy The Atheneum of Philadelphia
The essays that she wrote for the magazine, along with the work that she commissioned and published, reveal a complex and indeed divided set of political and cultural commitments.
On the one hand, through her own professional accomplishment – a widowed mother of five children supervising every detail of a major magazine – Hale exemplified a high level of independent financial and managerial skill. And in her essays and speeches, she argued strenuously in favor of expanding educational opportunities for girls and women. She also wrote in favor of conferring property rights on married women, the subject of vigorous and sometimes rancorous debate through much of the nineteenth century.
On the other hand, Hale argued with equal energy against female suffrage and embraced a quite traditional role for women: as homemakers and as fit mothers of future American patriots. In her view, “to induce women to think they have a just right to participate in the public duties of government [would be] injurious to their best interests and derogatory to their character.”
Courtesy The Athenaeum of Philadelphia
A similar division marked Hale’s attitude toward slavery. Her first novel, Northwood; A Tale of New England (1827), contained among its subjects one of the earliest representations of slavery in American fiction. However, while she called slavery “a stain on our national character,” she opposed abolition, instead supporting the relocation of the nation’s slaves to Liberia. She endorsed the work of the Ladies Liberia School Association, which raised money to found schools and underwrite teachers in that country. And her novel, Liberia, takes as its theme “the advantages Liberia offers to the African, who among us has no home, no position, and no future.”
In short, in the landscape of nineteenth century resistance, on the great issues of women’s rights and slavery, Hale is to be found in divergent and often contrary locations: opposing both slavery and abolition, supporting both women’s education and a traditional commitment to women’s domestic roles.
Current Resistance Movements
Listening Session Recaps
Looking Forward to History
Voting and Politics
What We've Learned
The forty member libraries and archives of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL) collect, care for, and share with a world-wide audience collections that comprise an internationally important body of unique materials for students, scholars and lifelong learners at any level. PACSCL promotes both a supportive special collections community and opportunities for members to leverage the power of collaborative work. It also encourages scholars, educators, and other diverse audiences to explore and engage with member institutions’ uniquely rich holdings.
Support for the research and development of “Chronicling Resistance, Enabling Resistance” has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
Stay in the loop on project events and updates!
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Journalism I'm not thankful for
Is it surprising that the Atlantic's December cover story -- "Did Christianity Cause the Crash?" by Hanna Rosin -- is an unfocused, badly argued, cheaply provocative mess? Perhaps not, if you've spent a lot of time reading general-interest magazine articles about "religion"... or recent issues of The Atlantic... or pretty much anything by Hanna Rosin. But it didn't have to be this bad! I took it apart in some detail over at dotCommonweal.
Posted by Mollie at 9:14 AM No comments: Links to this post
Things that made me laugh today
I share this list with you at the risk of revealing just how much time I spend screwing around on the Internet when I should be getting work done. Seriously, though, today was a good day for LOL-ing, if that's your kind of thing.
First up: this Wonkette post about Saxby Chambliss's hilariously bad drawing of Georgia. To be fair, I'm no geography star, and I couldn't draw an accurate outline of Georgia either. Nor could I draw New York, come to think of it. But I can definitely do Pennsylvania, should it ever come to that. In fact -- and I was just complaining about this the other day; ask the husband if you don't believe me -- I'm deeply annoyed by how stumpy and jagged Pennsylvania looks on NY1's weather map. It's a little bit like Saxby's Georgia, but not as funny. (Chambliss and all the other senators who agreed to do this for National Geographic got their butts kicked by Al Franken, obviously.)
Here's another winner from Wonkette today -- by far the best thing to come out of "bow-gate." (Don't know what that is? Bless you. Don't ever change.)
If you're headed to The Game this weekend, how about a little Yale-vs.-Harvard humor to get you in the spirit? My friend Mike Sloan wrote a very funny piece on that topic for the Yale Daily News.
In family news: my godson is a married man at the tender age of five. You have to read the Mother Load account of how this went down: part one and part two. (Why didn't I know it could be this easy?!)
You knew there had to be Palin-related stuff in this list, and I won't disappoint. First, at Slate, Christopher Beam's index to Going Rogue has the distinction of being both hilarious and potentially useful. I think my favorite entry is this one:
________skeptical views of, 217
________________use of word "Neanderthal" despite, 30, 172
And this Daily Show segment, in which John Oliver covers the "Palin-mania" at a NYC bookstore, is pretty good, but it's the last part, where he's reading to the kids, that you really want to watch. I love the little guy with the glasses: "Everyone here thinks that's boring!!"
I'm no Alan Greenspan
"When I bought The Fountainhead, I remember being impressed by how light — literally lightweight — the book was, despite its tremendous thickness. If I were a character in an Ayn Rand novel, that impression would have been symbolic. But since I’m not, I’m forced to admit that the book sucked me in...."
Read all about my not-quite-full-blown Ayn Rand phase at dotCommonweal, along with a roundup of excellent review-essays in response to the two newly published biographies of Ms. Rand.
Brighton Gone Dark
I have mixed feelings about the suprise commercial flop of "The Neil Simon Plays" -- despite the critical success of Brighton Beach Memoirs. On the one hand, it means the words "Neil Simon" -- even coupled with the word "revival" -- are not enough to sell tickets these days. I think that's a good thing, generally, for Broadway. On the other hand: this was an exceptionally good revival, and it's not so great for Broadway when excellent work goes unrewarded.
The major reviews I read got things pretty much right. Michael Feingold was the most insightful, as usual, and came closest to expressing my overall reaction -- this was so well directed that it made Simon's script feel less like an expert collection of one-liners and more like, good heavens, a play. I kept comparing it mentally to The Last Night of Ballyhoo, another play I saw on Broadway about the American Jewish experience on the verge of the Second World War. (The presence in both casts of Jessica Hecht also inspired the comparison.) The production here -- the acting, sets, costumes -- achieved a similar kind of nostalgic realism, comfortable but never treacly. I still have more respect for Alfred Uhry's achievement as a playwright -- he managed to get laughs and tug heartstrings without a single character who talks directly to the audience! -- but, as I said, in this outing Brighton Beach Memoirs really felt like a play.
The hero of all this, and rightly so, is director David Cromer. I'll be looking for the next thing he does. But a lot of credit has to go to the cast. Noah Robbins, who played Eugene, is a born star and will be back again for sure. Laurie Metcalf was a terrific choice for Mama Jerome; she brought a comedian's skill to the part but grounded everything in legitimate character work. And although Feingold faulted Jessica Hecht for "pushing her character to the edge of grotesquerie," I thought she was particularly good. Every actor in the cast landed their punch lines with skill, and without mugging, but Hecht drew laughs in places where there were no jokes, just by bringing Blanche to life.
Since it's too late to save the show now, let's talk about something I didn't see much discussed in the reviews: all that "sexual content." I'd forgotten how much innuendo Simon squeezes into his plays, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. At first, when Eugene starts describing the forms his adolescent lust takes, it's jarring. Then, once you get past that, it's sort of refreshing -- a good antidote to all the improbably chaste representations of the good old days. It seems to inject an honest edge into our cultural memories of the knickers-and-stickball era of American life: teenagers were sex-obsessed then too. But -- and I wonder, is this just me? -- after a while all the talk about breasts and legs and masturbation and "the golden palace of the Himalayas" just makes me uncomfortable. It's a little creepy, really, especially coming from a character who's so aggressively autobiographical. (Characters who want to be writers is right up there with characters who talk directly to the audience on my list of "writing crutches to be avoided when possible." But I have to admit, Simon really makes it work.)
I'm disappointed I won't get to see Broadway Bound, not because I can't wait to spend another night with the Jeromes, but because this group of artists worked so well together, and I was looking forward to seeing whether they could work their magic twice.
Posted by Mollie at 8:33 PM 2 comments: Links to this post
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Back to the 2014 Results
2014 Parent Child
Team_Name
135 Ric Hovsepian 01:07:38 57 00:16:16 00:04:49 00:20:23 00:04:31 00:21:39
282 Matthew Carralejo 01:22:18 32 00:13:15 00:04:44 00:39:09 00:03:22 00:21:48
505 Scott Ehnadlien 01:04:19 50 00:12:56 00:03:42 00:26:07 00:02:57 00:18:37
839 2 Dudes Tri-ing Jackson Harris 01:17:46 11 00:13:58 00:05:47 00:31:54 00:02:51 00:23:16
840 2 Dudes Tri-ing Steve Harris 01:17:46 41 00:13:58 00:05:45 00:31:55 00:02:52 00:23:16
841 A Thankful Team David Gillentine 01:30:48 10 00:15:48 00:08:35 00:31:08 00:03:58 00:31:19
842 A Thankful Team James Gillentine 01:30:48 42 00:15:49 00:08:36 00:31:08 00:03:56 00:31:19
843 ABBY Abby Garcia 01:23:59 10 00:19:51 00:04:48 00:35:40 00:02:49 00:20:51
844 ABBY Walter Garcia 01:23:59 30 00:19:50 00:04:50 00:35:40 00:02:48 00:20:51
845 Another Team Bordofsky Carmen Bordofsky 01:06:23 12 00:10:23 00:04:47 00:25:35 00:02:39 00:22:59
846 Another Team Bordofsky Thaddeus Bordofsky 01:06:24 45 00:10:36 00:04:32 00:25:40 00:02:36 00:23:00
848 Buzz Squad Logan Castallo 01:16:11 10 00:16:38 00:05:36 00:31:05 00:02:29 00:20:23
849 Buzz Squad Chris Castallo 01:16:11 41 00:16:37 00:07:49 00:28:52 00:03:14 00:19:39
850 Chasing Rainbows Samantha Jorgesen 01:31:22 10 00:16:16 00:07:49 00:29:49 00:04:41 00:32:47
851 Chasing Rainbows Nancy Jorgesen 01:30:59 47 00:16:15 00:07:51 00:29:49 00:04:40 00:32:24
852 Conejo Cool Guys Jackson Burrows 01:11:22 11 00:16:04 00:06:47 00:27:35 00:02:53 00:18:03
853 Conejo Cool Guys Lyle Greenberg 01:11:22 58 00:16:03 00:06:46 00:27:37 00:02:52 00:18:04
855 dogtown Shannon Skillern 01:21:14 34 00:16:14 00:06:28 00:30:53 00:03:30 00:24:09
856 Girls Inc Emma Emma Grabenstetter 01:05:53 11 00:11:10 00:04:17 00:28:49 00:02:16 00:19:21
857 Girls Inc Emma Tracy Jenkins 01:05:53 51 00:12:11 00:03:17 00:28:51 00:02:14 00:19:20
858 Girls Inc Indiya Indiya Zubiate 01:22:56 9 00:16:29 00:02:56 00:33:29 00:02:17 00:27:45
859 Girls Inc Indiya Angela Miller 01:22:56 29 00:16:29 00:02:56 00:33:29 00:02:16 00:27:46
860 Girls Inc. Libby Libby Li 02:07:15 9 00:26:26 00:06:50 00:47:56 00:04:24 00:41:39
861 Girls Inc. Libby Natalie Musick 02:07:15 18 00:26:26 00:06:49 00:47:56 00:04:24 00:41:40
862 Girls Inc. Noa Noa Margalith 02:21:47 8 00:26:28 00:06:30 00:59:02 00:05:27 00:44:20
863 Girls Inc. Noa Layne Francis 02:21:48 21 00:26:28 00:06:29 00:59:02 00:05:28 00:44:21
864 Girls Inc.Hannah Hannah McIver 01:10:12 11 00:10:36 00:04:56 00:28:35 00:02:16 00:23:49
865 Girls Inc.Hannah Sarah Owens 01:10:15 19 00:10:36 00:04:57 00:28:35 00:02:15 00:23:52
866 Girls Inc.Kaelani Kaelani Buttler 01:35:08 10 00:16:28 00:05:39 00:39:42 00:02:56 00:30:23
867 Girls Inc.Kaelani Madeline Owens 01:35:08 19 00:16:27 00:05:42 00:39:41 00:02:49 00:30:29
868 Girls Rule! Katie Furlong 01:24:17 10 00:20:22 00:06:49 00:32:31 00:02:18 00:22:17
869 Girls Rule! Aaron Furlong 01:24:18 47 00:20:23 00:06:49 00:32:31 00:02:18 00:22:17
870 Goff Boys Jonathan Goff 01:03:59 15 00:12:50 00:05:26 00:20:17 00:04:53 00:20:33
871 Goff Boys Daniel Goff 01:04:12 49 00:12:51 00:05:28 00:20:14 00:04:53 00:20:46
872 Gowen Sophie Gowen 01:06:38 11 00:09:23 00:02:39 00:30:09 00:03:42 00:20:45
873 Gowen Simon Gowen 01:06:39 47 00:09:24 00:02:37 00:30:11 00:03:41 00:20:46
877 Ladies of Sunukjia Leah Sunukjian 01:22:16 10 00:20:03 00:05:35 00:30:51 00:04:08 00:21:39
878 Ladies of Sunukjia Melanie Sunukjian 01:23:29 40 00:20:03 00:05:35 00:30:50 00:04:13 00:22:48
879 Locher Family Madeleine Locher 00:53:02 12 00:09:41 00:03:00 00:23:06 00:01:59 00:15:16
880 Locher Family James Locher 00:53:02 45 00:09:52 00:02:50 00:23:04 00:01:59 00:15:17
881 Magna Ayva Magna 01:17:41 11 00:12:18 00:05:51 00:29:43 00:03:10 00:26:39
882 Magna Mark Magna 01:17:42 39 00:12:17 00:06:00 00:29:32 00:03:11 00:26:42
883 Martznado Colin Martz 01:11:10 11 00:17:52 00:03:22 00:26:44 00:02:01 00:21:11
884 Martznado Michael Martz 01:11:10 44 00:17:46 00:03:27 00:26:44 00:02:02 00:21:11
885 Medina Family Adriana Medina 01:28:29 9 00:13:30 00:05:03 00:34:13 00:04:25 00:31:18
886 Medina Family Marisa Medina 01:28:29 37 00:13:30 00:05:02 00:34:14 00:04:26 00:31:17
887 Medina Family Oscar Medina 01:28:30 43 00:13:31 00:05:04 00:34:14 00:04:23 00:31:18
888 Mighty Commandos Hiroshi Matsune 01:37:22 9 00:19:40 00:08:21 00:42:52 00:03:35 00:22:54
889 Mighty Commandos Dean Matsune 01:37:23 53 00:19:39 00:08:23 00:42:50 00:03:36 00:22:55
890 Millers Maddi Miller 01:29:19 11 00:19:11 00:06:17 00:33:32 00:02:56 00:27:23
891 Millers Kristi Miller 01:29:19 39 00:19:15 00:06:10 00:33:39 00:02:49 00:27:26
892 Mishler Family Hank Mishler 01:41:32 10 00:32:32 00:06:31 00:35:48 00:02:42 00:23:59
893 Mishler Family Madeleine Mishler 01:17:47 13 00:13:53 00:06:20 00:31:45 00:03:31 00:22:18
894 Mishler Family Tanya Mishler 01:41:33 43 00:32:32 00:06:31 00:35:49 00:02:42 00:23:59
895 Mom & I & I Ian Connolly 01:35:00 12 00:15:38 00:08:12 00:36:32 00:05:19 00:29:19
896 Mom & I & I Iris Connolly 01:22:13 14 00:13:22 00:05:17 00:29:14 00:03:16 00:31:04
897 Mom & I & I Jennifer Hill 01:34:59 43 00:15:30 00:08:43 00:36:03 00:05:24 00:29:19
898 P & M Matthew Ring 01:11:54 11 00:15:03 00:04:43 00:28:32 00:02:05 00:21:31
899 P & M Lisa Ring 01:14:20 43 00:16:53 00:04:56 00:31:48 00:03:52 00:16:51
900 P & M Paul Ring 01:14:20 43 00:15:04 00:04:43 00:28:33 00:02:03 00:23:57
901 Paulina's Team! Jayden Estrada 02:33:23 12 00:17:06 00:07:10 01:10:05 00:04:19 00:54:43
902 Paulina's Team! Paulina Salinas Ruiz 02:33:23 23 00:17:06 00:07:12 01:10:02 00:04:20 00:54:43
905 Purple Monkeys Elijah Sanchez 01:14:24 11 00:16:34 00:06:36 00:27:50 00:02:33 00:20:51
906 Purple Monkeys Lee Ann Sanchez 01:14:42 41 00:17:43 00:05:28 00:27:48 00:02:34 00:21:09
907 Racing Pronghorns Zach Noah 01:14:26 11 00:16:35 00:06:41 00:27:51 00:02:36 00:20:43
908 Racing Pronghorns Cammy Noah 01:14:42 45 00:17:44 00:05:31 00:27:53 00:02:35 00:20:59
909 Rapid Rollers Kaiden Krenek 00:59:43 11 00:12:44 00:02:47 00:23:54 00:02:19 00:17:59
910 Rapid Rollers Kevin Krenek 01:01:07 44 00:12:44 00:03:06 00:23:32 00:02:35 00:19:10
911 San Diego Wild Flowers Julia Krenek 01:16:23 8 00:16:09 00:04:06 00:29:34 00:02:25 00:24:09
912 San Diego Wild Flowers Kimberly Krenek 01:16:24 44 00:16:10 00:04:07 00:29:55 00:02:30 00:23:42
915 Stubblefield Bailey Stubblefield 01:16:55 13 00:10:29 00:07:52 00:30:48 00:02:39 00:25:07
916 Stubblefield Bob Stubblefield 01:16:56 46 00:13:20 00:05:03 00:30:45 00:02:39 00:25:09
917 Swift Smiths Logan Smith 01:15:04 11 00:14:20 00:04:59 00:30:03 00:03:10 00:22:32
918 Swift Smiths Brenda Smith 01:15:04 43 00:14:27 00:04:56 00:30:02 00:03:07 00:22:32
919 Team Aaronson Olivia Aaronson 01:33:43 11 00:20:37 00:05:05 00:33:48 00:02:22 00:31:51
920 Team Aaronson Becky Green Aaronson 01:33:43 48 00:20:38 00:05:05 00:33:51 00:02:23 00:31:46
921 Team AJ Allison Bartholomew 01:15:00 10 00:12:33 00:05:11 00:30:17 00:02:16 00:24:43
922 Team AJ Chris Bartholomew 01:14:59 17 00:12:31 00:05:27 00:30:01 00:02:14 00:24:46
923 Team AJ Jane Bartholomew 01:15:00 47 00:12:59 00:04:39 00:30:22 00:02:15 00:24:45
924 Team Awesome! Luna Kirsch 01:23:25 10 00:16:25 00:04:10 00:32:51 00:03:22 00:26:37
925 Team Awesome! Markus Kirsch 01:23:25 37 00:16:26 00:04:00 00:32:59 00:03:23 00:26:37
926 Team Drown-Wobble-Crawl Erin Mongan 01:20:15 12 00:15:41 00:04:23 00:31:12 00:02:25 00:26:34
927 Team Drown-Wobble-Crawl Ryan Mongan 01:20:16 48 00:15:41 00:04:22 00:31:12 00:02:25 00:26:36
928 Team Fields Antonia Fields 01:15:52 13 00:14:36 00:06:38 00:28:39 00:03:27 00:22:32
929 Team Fields Rowan Fields 01:08:34 11 00:12:39 00:05:26 00:29:57 00:03:06 00:17:26
930 Team Fields Elise Fields 01:15:52 45 00:14:54 00:06:18 00:28:42 00:03:26 00:22:32
931 Team Fisher Sarah Fisher 01:14:13 11 00:15:11 00:04:04 00:29:51 00:02:36 00:22:31
932 Team Fisher Fred Fisher 01:14:13 44 00:15:11 00:04:32 00:29:22 00:02:36 00:22:32
933 Team Kleinman Jack Kleinman 01:27:41 9 00:19:03 00:06:56 00:27:15 00:04:16 00:30:11
934 Team Kleinman Ronen Kleinman 01:27:44 39 00:19:03 00:06:58 00:27:11 00:04:17 00:30:15
935 Team Mansbach Joe Mansbach 01:11:25 8 00:15:30 00:04:42 00:29:18 00:02:19 00:19:36
936 Team Mansbach River Nguyen-Duy 01:32:52 10 00:17:55 00:04:49 00:35:45 00:02:41 00:31:42
938 Team Perez Danny Perez 01:10:00 12 00:12:16 00:05:01 00:28:22 00:03:30 00:20:51
939 Team Perez Gus Perez 01:10:01 44 00:12:17 00:05:00 00:28:22 00:03:31 00:20:51
942 Team Rogers Micah Rogers 01:04:09 11 00:10:03 00:04:56 00:26:46 00:02:29 00:19:55
943 Team Rogers Nate Rogers 01:04:08 42 00:11:35 00:03:26 00:26:44 00:02:29 00:19:54
944 Team Sanchez Alana Sanchez 01:29:23 10 00:17:39 00:05:42 00:34:07 00:05:46 00:26:09
945 Team Sanchez Christina Sanchez 01:29:35 45 00:17:43 00:05:43 00:34:01 00:05:47 00:26:21
946 Team Sanchez Eric Sanchez 01:29:35 44 00:19:24 00:04:01 00:34:36 00:05:13 00:26:21
947 Team Shakespeare Colin Shakespeare 00:55:50 10 00:09:31 00:02:38 00:24:40 00:01:53 00:17:08
948 Team Shakespeare Justin Shakespeare 00:55:52 42 00:09:30 00:02:40 00:24:39 00:01:59 00:17:04
949 Team Stumptown Sofia Higgins 01:32:04 12 00:16:14 00:05:51 00:35:25 00:05:15 00:29:19
950 Team Stumptown Scott Higgins 01:32:04 49 00:16:14 00:05:52 00:35:24 00:05:15 00:29:19
951 Team Wass Emmett Ehrnstein 01:04:18 15 00:12:56 00:03:01 00:26:58 00:02:01 00:19:22
952 Team Wass Michael Wasserman 01:04:18 52 00:12:23 00:04:13 00:26:06 00:03:00 00:18:36
953 TEAMWT Gwen Tormey 01:23:33 12 00:13:53 00:04:44 00:34:03 00:02:50 00:28:03
954 TEAMWT Vanessa Wilett 01:23:33 42 00:13:54 00:04:44 00:34:02 00:02:50 00:28:03
959 The Great Apes Gillian Denham 01:10:28 12 00:13:54 00:06:00 00:29:22 00:02:54 00:18:18
960 The Great Apes Jeffrey Denham 01:10:28 44 00:13:55 00:06:01 00:29:24 00:02:50 00:18:18
961 The MooHas & BooHas Maddy Kiely 01:50:50 15 00:21:36 00:10:43 00:39:34 00:06:43 00:32:14
962 The MooHas & BooHas Molly McGee 01:50:57 44 00:21:36 00:10:39 00:39:35 00:06:45 00:32:22
963 The Tiger Sharks Tyler Matthews 01:14:24 10 00:15:37 00:04:33 00:28:05 00:02:49 00:23:20
964 The Tiger Sharks Shane Matthews 01:14:29 42 00:15:38 00:04:31 00:28:07 00:02:50 00:23:23
965 Tough Girls Dana Weatherby 00:57:57 11 00:10:38 00:03:32 00:23:22 00:02:35 00:17:50
966 Tough Girls Brenda Weatherby 00:57:57 37 00:10:38 00:03:33 00:23:19 00:02:36 00:17:51
967 Tri Nutters Joshua Burrows 01:24:55 7 00:16:41 00:09:26 00:34:18 00:02:39 00:21:51
968 Tri Nutters Jason Burrows 01:24:55 44 00:16:41 00:09:26 00:34:18 00:02:39 00:21:51
969 Two Terrific Cooks Parker Cook 01:50:56 10 00:19:18 00:07:11 00:36:30 00:04:38 00:43:19
970 Two Terrific Cooks Mikko Cook 01:50:56 43 00:19:17 00:07:19 00:36:21 00:04:40 00:43:19
971 Westlake Tri Ponies Vivian Burrows 01:24:24 9 00:16:30 00:06:49 00:32:04 00:03:48 00:25:13
972 Westlake Tri Ponies Linda Burrows 01:24:25 43 00:16:30 00:06:49 00:32:06 00:03:46 00:25:14
975 Whyte Katelyn Whyte 01:22:52 10 00:17:14 00:06:15 00:31:48 00:03:55 00:23:40
976 Whyte Todd Whyte 01:22:55 42 00:17:13 00:06:20 00:31:45 00:03:54 00:23:43
977 Zizzo's Nicolas McDonald 00:56:41 11 00:09:22 00:03:17 00:22:22 00:02:05 00:19:35
978 Zizzo's Suzanne McDonald 00:56:42 51 00:12:22 00:02:29 00:20:12 00:02:19 00:19:20
984 Jack Lydon 01:14:18 11 00:13:53 00:05:10 00:32:01 00:03:12 00:20:02
985 Michael Lydon 01:14:23 45 00:13:55 00:05:12 00:31:58 00:03:26 00:19:52
986 The Kellys Mark Kelly 01:23:26 47 00:17:59 00:07:41 00:29:54 00:03:32 00:24:20
987 The Kellys Jackson Kelly 01:23:26 11 00:17:46 00:07:47 00:30:01 00:03:33 00:24:19
991 Ceasars Anabel Ceasar 01:21:32 13 00:11:38 00:09:28 00:32:21 00:03:24 00:24:41
992 Ceasars Gary Ceasar 01:21:33 44 00:16:11 00:05:07 00:32:22 00:03:12 00:24:41
993 Ceasars Kaed Ceasar 01:21:33 10 00:16:11 00:05:04 00:32:48 00:02:56 00:24:34
Bib Team_Name First Name Last Name Total Time AGE SWIM T1 Bike T2 Run
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Home | About | Meetings | Links
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Welcome to Smithfield Township
Smithfield Township was officially established in 1809, and taken from Ulster Township. The Township was again divided in 1813, to create both Columbia and Springfield Townships. The Township was named after David Smith who purchased the property from the Connecticut Title, yet never lived there. In 1792, Isaiah Grover was the first settler in Smithfield. The first framed house was built by Reuben Mitchell, which was constructed in 1803. In 1806, Ephriam Gerould taught the first school. By 1887, census records reveal a total population of 1,826 persons living in the Township.
Smithfield Township is located north central of Bradford County, the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania, not far from the New York State border. The Township has noticed a recent growth in natural gas manufacturing. Our annual - Fourth of July and Christmas on the Green celebrations are enjoyed by thousands yearly!
Smithfield Township of Bradford County Pa
smithfieldtownshipbc.org
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Home Shaw Laureates 2007 Life Science and Medicine Autobiography
Autobiography of Robert Lefkowitz
I was born in 1943, the only child of Max and Rose Lefkowitz, in the Bronx, New York City. My grandparents had immigrated to the United States from Poland in the earliest years of the Twentieth Century. My mother, an elementary school teacher, and my father, an accountant, stressed the importance of learning, and I remember reading voraciously even in elementary school. Some days I would feign illness (usually a stomach ache), to stay at home and read the many books which my parents owned. I particularly enjoyed adventure tales with a strong hero.
A strong formative influence was my family physician, who made house calls when anyone in the family was ill. He became my hero and role model, and I decided by the third grade that I wanted to be a physician like him. I attended public schools, including the well known Bronx High School of Science. Admission was by competitive examination, and the curriculum stressed mathematics and the sciences, but not to the exclusion of literature and history. I received my bachelor's degree from Columbia University, and in 1962 entered the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. I loved clinical medicine and had no aspirations to become a scientist. Upon graduation, in 1966, I did a medical internship and one year of medical residency at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. My goal was to become an academic physician and teach clinical medicine.
After medical residency, in 1968, I entered the United States Public Health Service and was assigned to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland for two years. Here, under the direction of Jesse Roth and Ira Pastan, I began my research career. During the first year, failure was my constant companion, a new experience for me. Frustrated, I made arrangements to continue my clinical training at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. However, during my second year my experiments began to work and I had my first taste of success. I developed a means of studying receptors for a peptide hormone called adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), and published my first papers.
In July of 1970 I moved to Boston to continue my residency training. However, I missed the creative challenges that the laboratory provided. So, I resumed research activities in the laboratory of Dr. Edgar Haber, while simultaneously doing a two-year cardiology fellowship, a choice that was influenced by the strong history of heart disease in my family. During this research I decided to study the "adrenergic receptors", the cellular receptors for adrenaline and noradrenaline. At the time, there was great skepticism as to whether such specific cellular binding sites for hormones and drugs even existed. I was convinced that they must, and set out to prove it.
In 1973 I joined the faculty at Duke University Medical School in Durham, North Carolina. My research program grew rapidly but I continued to spend a significant part of my time doing clinical work. However, I was drawn more and more deeply into my research and spent progressively more time in the laboratory. In 1976, I became an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a position I retain to this day.
The work went well and we achieved a number of significant breakthroughs. We developed the first means of studying the receptors by using radioactively tagged "beta blockers", and succeeded in purifying them away from all other molecules in the cell. An enormous job, this occupied more than a decade of work by dozens of devoted students and fellows. By the early 1980s we had purified all four known types of adrenergic receptors.
A major breakthrough came in 1986 when, in collaboration with a team at Merck, we succeeded in cloning the gene for the β2-adrenergic receptor. Surprisingly, this revealed that the receptor bore a marked resemblance to another protein called rhodopsin, the visual pigment which enables us to perceive light. Both proteins have a characteristic arrangement in which the polypeptide chain of the receptor weaves across the plasma membrane seven times. Since these two proteins are known to transmit signals through an intermediate protein known as a G protein, they are referred to as G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Immediately, we conceived the possibility that all of the dozens of GPCRs might bear a similar structure, and be members of the same gene family. We confirmed this by cloning the genes for several other adrenergic receptors and a receptor for serotonin.
Based on our early work, numerous other labs were then able to clone genes for many other GPCRs which mediate virtually all physiological responses. These seven transmembrane receptors represent the largest family of cellular receptors and the commonest target of therapeutic drugs. The elucidation of their structure facilitated the design and development of diverse classes of drugs such as adrenergic receptor blockers, antihistamines, psychotropic drugs, opioids, and many others.
I have also studied how the receptors are regulated. Continuous stimulation of GPCRs rapidly results in their "desensitization", a waning response to the stimulus. We discovered the molecular mechanisms involved and two novel classes of proteins which mediate the desensitization. These molecules are also involved in mediating some forms of signaling by the receptors. Currently, I am trying to leverage this new information to develop novel classes of pharmaceutical agents.
My research experiences are inextricably bound up with the mentoring of my students and fellows, more than 200 of whom have trained in my laboratory. Many have gone on to distinguished careers in academia and the pharmaceutical industry. My family is a source of great satisfaction and comfort. My wife, Lynn, accompanies me on many of my trips to interesting places around the world. I have five grown children and four grandchildren.
11 September 2007, Hong Kong
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This story is about Mavericks Headlines
Published Dec. 2016
Townsend: How Mavericks' DeShawn Stevenson went from troublemaker to 'perfect' life
Mavericks Headlines
Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer
Editor's note: ESPN is reporting that former Maverick DeShawn Stevenson, who was part of the Mavericks' championship team is retiring.
The report says he "wants to focus on his kids and his Orlando-area Barbershop businesses."
To mark his retirement, we're re-sharing this feature Staff Writer Brad Townsend wrote about Stephenson in June 2011.
Hopelessly, Mavericks guard DeShawn Stevenson searches his memory of the only time he saw his father’s face.
Stevenson was only 12, but he’s pretty sure the mug shot was shown on America’s Most Wanted. His mother, Genice Popps, recalls that it was on the Fresno, Calif., local news.
Genice called her son into the living room because he always wondered what his father looked like. DeShawn didn’t hear the TV anchor describe how Darryl C. Stevenson killed his mother, DeShawn’s grandmother.
“I remember coming in and looking at the TV,” DeShawn says. “But I can’t remember the picture, or his face. It’s crazy. I still don’t know how he looks.”
Most of the time, it’s unimportant. At the moment, Stevenson is focused on helping the Mavs bounce back from their NBA Finals Game 1 loss to Miami.
In Game 2 Thursday night, he will alternate guarding LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. He relishes the challenge, just like his second-round playoff matchup with the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and his Western Conference finals assignment, Russell Westbrook.
During last week’s series-clinching win over Oklahoma City, ESPN announcer and former teammate Mark Jackson told viewers he was proud of Stevenson for turning his life around.
Jackson didn’t elaborate, so as the camera homed in for a close-up of the heavily tattooed Stevenson, the audience was left trying to recall Stevenson’s early career missteps, on and off the court.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle says he believes Stevenson’s difficult past is “one of the reasons he plays with such an edge.”
Then, Carlisle smiles.
“The interesting thing about DeShawn is that, as competitive as he is and as tough as he is and as tough as he looks, he’s one of the greatest guys you could ever spend time with.”
Stevenson’s mother wishes more people could see that side. She frets that they won’t look past DeShawn’s head-to-toe tattoos, especially “all that crap on his face.”
Thank goodness, she says, he shaved the thick beard he sported when the Mavericks acquired him in February 2010, a throw-in to the trade that netted Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood from Washington.
Perhaps that has enabled a few more fans to look past the Abraham Lincoln tattoo that dwarfs Stevenson’s Adam’s apple. And the fracture tattoo he added near his hairline because “people always try to break me, but I don’t crack.”
During the Western Conference finals, a fan told Genice how impressed he was after meeting her son at a restaurant.
“Thank you,” Genice responded. “Because of all that stuff on his face, people tend to judge him because of that.”
A rough start
Some fans have vague recall of the younger Stevenson — the one who sometimes courted trouble, but other times it found him.
In 2000, he was one of the nation’s most sought-after college recruits, signing with Kansas. But instead of enrolling in college, he became an example of why some high schoolers shouldn’t jump to the NBA.
As a senior at Fresno’s Washington Union High, he averaged 30.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game and won the McDonald’s All-American dunk contest. The following season, he totaled 89 points as a Utah Jazz rookie.
At 20, he pleaded no contest to a charge of statutory rape for having consensual sex with a 14-year-old Fresno girl. He said he was unaware of the girl’s age and, once he found out and before he was arrested, apologized to the girl’s mother.
The charge ultimately was reduced to a misdemeanor, without jail time.
Still, the original charge stained the early part of his NBA career. It didn’t help that he butted heads with Utah coach Jerry Sloan, who suspended him during the 2003 playoffs after they got into a cursing match. Jackson was a Jazz veteran who tried to mentor Stevenson that season.
“I got into a fast life too soon,” Stevenson says. “Now, I pretty much don’t let anything faze me.”
When Utah traded him to Orlando in 2004, he fortunately took with him a Sloan-instilled defensive mind-set.
It kept him in the league when 2006 arthroscopic knee surgery, followed three years later by surgery for a herniated disk, chipped away at his athleticism.
This NBA Finals matchup with Miami’s James has rekindled memories from the 2008 playoffs, when James played for Cleveland.
Stevenson had called James “overrated” during the regular season. In the first-round playoff series, Stevenson knocked off James’ headband with a hard foul and was fined $25,000 by the NBA for making “menacing gestures.”
No wonder his arrival in Dallas was greeted with more raised eyebrows than open arms. Plus, fans didn’t know what to make of his appearance.
He recalls getting his first tattoo at 18, behind his mother’s back. He says he now has more than 100, but in the tattoo world he’s considered to have only one because his upper body is covered with a blend of many.
“After stuff started happening, I was on a down period, I didn’t know what was going on in my life,” he says. “I just think the tattoos kept me happy.
“In the NBA, you have an image. I wouldn’t say my image was gone, but I had a perception. After that, I just kept going with the tattoos.”
He shaved the beard during last year’s first-round playoff series loss to San Antonio, hoping to change the Mavericks’ luck.
Entering this season, the last on his contract, it seemed his Dallas and perhaps NBA days were numbered.
Roddy Beaubois was the Mavericks’ shooting guard of the future. Stevenson says he appreciated that Carlisle called him into his office after training camp and told him that if he wanted to extend his NBA career, he had to improve his 3-point shooting.
Carlisle also took time to work with Stevenson on his shot.
“But he put in the work,” Carlisle says. “And he believed in what we were doing.”
Even with Beaubois sidelined with a left foot fracture, Stevenson didn’t enter the starting lineup until Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry suggested the move to Carlisle six games into the season. Dallas won 21 of its next 24 games.
Stevenson didn’t complain when Beaubois returned in February, as the starter, though he admits that “the old DeShawn probably would have said something like, ‘Get me out of here.’”
Stevenson was stunned when, before the regular-season finale against New Orleans, Carlisle informed him he was again the starter. He didn’t know Nowitzki and Kidd had again lobbied the coach. That night, Beaubois sprained his left foot and has been inactive most of the playoffs.
“Right now, it’s like everything in my life is perfect,” Stevenson says. “A year ago, I felt like everything was probably coming down.
“Never would I have thought I’d be starting in the NBA Finals. I think God puts people through certain things for the bigger picture.”
Faded memory
Darryl C. Stevenson, a standout high school athlete, was out of the picture soon after 19-year-old Genice gave birth to Darryl DeShawn Stevenson on April 3, 1981.
Genice says he had beaten her one time too many.
In 1983, Darryl was institutionalized and found to have paranoid schizophrenia. Between psychiatric unit stays, he helped rob a gas station in 1984 and in ’85 kidnapped a woman, earning prison time.
Upon his 1992 release, he was picked up by his mother, Clara. Only months earlier, Genice had consented to Clara meeting DeShawn.
When news broke that Darryl strangled Clara on July 3, 1993, supposedly during a money dispute, Genice called DeShawn into the living room. It was only later that he learned why his father was on TV.
DeShawn says he was fortunate that by then he had an attentive stepfather, Terry Popps.
“I think any kid wants to know who they look like,” Genice says. “People say DeShawn looks like me, but I think he wanted to know for himself. I didn’t have any pictures.”
DeShawn peered at the TV screen, but the mug shot quickly disappeared.
Now a father of three, with another on the way, DeShawn says he believes his past has made him a more attentive father.
Darryl Stevenson died of lung cancer in Corcoran State Prison in 1999. His son was surprised to learn that “DeShawn” was tattooed on Darryl’s chest.
Recently, DeShawn and his wife, Brandi, paid a fee on the Corcoran prison website to get Darryl’s prison photo. Nothing came.
“So I stopped trying,” DeShawn says. “I figured it’s not to be.”
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Queen’s Honors for Emma Thompson, Kazuo Ishiguro, More
British film stars Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley and Tom Hardy and Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro are among those receiving honors in the name of Britain’s monarch.
The list published late Friday by Britain’s Cabinet Office includes many receiving honors for merit, service and bravery. The awards will be given out by Queen Elizabeth II or a senior royal acting in her place during investitures at Buckingham Palace.
The list often includes prominent figures — like Thompson, the Oscar-winning actress who has been in the public eye for decades — as well as people who have labored behind the scenes or in academic or charity positions.
The 59-year-old Thompson will become Dame Emma, a high honor that is the female equivalent of becoming a knight. The citation calls her one of Britain’s “most versatile and celebrated actresses.”
Her long list of film roles includes favorites like “The Remains of the Day” — which was written by Ishiguro — “Love Actually” and “Nanny McPhee.” She received the Academy Award for Best Actress for “Howards End” and, as a writer, the Oscar for the best adapted screenplay for “Sense and Sensibility.”
The Queen’s Birthday List, Elizabeth’s official birthday is Saturday and will be marked with the Trooping the Color parade, bestows a knighthood on Mark Rowley for his service while heading the Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism squad during a series of lethal attacks last year. When he retired in March after more than three decades on the force, Prime Minister Theresa May praised Rowley’s dedication to protecting the public.
Ishiguro, who was born in Japan, received a knighthood for his services to literature. He said he was “deeply touched to receive this honor from the nation that welcomed me as a small foreign boy.”
Former Liverpool player and manager Kenny Dalglish, 67, was also knighted for his services to soccer, charity and the city of Liverpool.
Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
The youngest winner was 20-year-old visually impaired alpine skier Menna Fitzpatrick, who was Britain’s most successful competitor in the 2018 Winter Paralympics. The oldest winner was former World War II nurse Rosemary Powell, 103, who was honored for 97 years of charity work.
Both received MBE awards, making them members of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
Rapper and singer Ms. Dynamite also received the same honor under her real name, Niomi McLean-Daley.
Knightley, known for “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Pride and Prejudice,” and other movies, received an OBE award, so she will become an “officer” of the British empire, a slightly higher ranking.
Hardy, star of “Inception” and other movies, received a CBE award, designating him a “commander” of the empire, a still higher designation.
The list also honors the queen’s eye surgeon, Jonathan Jagger, who was made a commander of the Royal Victorian Order. He is a specialist in cataract surgery, but officials have not said if he performed the cataract surgery the queen had done in May.
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Tag-arkiv: TFG government
My visit to Somalia happened at a time, when the country was entering one of its most challenging but also most promising periods. During the six days I spent there, I learned what was at stake for the people of Somalia.
Renewed hope for Mogadishu
Aunt Sacdiya is the youngest out of my late father’s ten siblings. Her physical resemblance to my father was striking. Her fresh-faced son Mohamed was dressed in a Real Madrid t-shirt and jeans, and I undeniably felt a strong bond with both of them.
One day after the first visit, Mohamed came back to accompany me to our late grandfather’s property in uptown Mogadishu. Sacdiya and her five children moved to district Waberi roughly one year ago after having spent five years in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The family ventured back to Somalia upon hearing about the restored order and peace in Mogadishu, after AMISOM and government troops successfully had driven al-Shabaab out of their strongholds in the capital.
Back on my grandfather’s rooftop
Waberi’s roads were paved and packed with new cars. Here, you would find banks, computer schools and restaurants with out-door-serving. The cost of rent in this part of town had skyrocketed in the past year, which allowed Sacdiya to earn money on renting out one of the rooms in the property to a private company.
One of my childhood memories is of visiting my grandfather at his house, where we would sit up on the rooftop as the dark set in. I hoped to recognize something, but nothing looked familiar. Nevertheless, I could not help, but feel a great sense of belonging to the place.
I discovered, that my other aunt, Hawa, lived nearby – the eldest of the bunch. I visited her multicolored, tidy and posh house, where both her children and grandchildren lived. All of my aunts’ children went to private schools, so I could tell that they were better off than my relatives in Shibis, who begged me to take their eldest daughter with me to Europe, so she could get an education.
Fear of arrests and kidnapping
My uncle Osman stated that now was not the time to be in Mogadishu. He would like nothing more than to show me the whole of the city, but he was afraid of robbers, policemen and soldiers.
Now, my aunts and their children confirmed the state of lawlessness in Mogadishu. They told me about random arrests and persecution of young men, whose only crime was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Still my cousins and I were able to walk down Makkah al Mukaramah (the main road to the airport) after dark sipping on guava juice.
Both Mohamed and his brother had been arrested by the local police, and released only after the family had paid a large sum of money. Without the payment, their lives would have been at risk. Six months ago, Mohamed’s 14-year-old brother was allegedly kidnapped by al-Shabaab. The family has not heard or seen anything from him in six months. They believe that he is now a child soldier.
The relentless targeting of terrorists and non-Muslims
The police arrests those, who they suspect are affiliated with al-Shabaab and therefore terrorists. While al-Shabaab target those, who they suspect are pro-government, and by their logic non-Muslims.
The Somali people are caught in the middle of this conflict. If you work for the government as a policeman or a soldier, al-Shabaab persecutes you. If you sympathize with al-Shabaab, the government persecutes you. The only “neutral” public workplace is Mogadishu airport, Mohamed’s sister reasoned.
Because of the insecure prospects, Mohamed and his family decided that he should try his luck at finding a job in Nairobi, Kenya. In East Leigh, a predominantly Somali neighborhood, Mohamed would be able to earn a living meanwhile practicing his English. At least this is what he envisioned.
White sand beaches and warm shallow waters
The next day, two days before my departure, Mohamed and a friend of the family accompanied me to the beach at the old seaport. Since my arrival, I had only smelled and viewed the sea from afar. It was a revelation to see the white sand beach that I remember from my childhood.
Mohamed quickly stripped down to his underwear and jumped into the wave foam. I was not wearing the proper attire for women, so I merely dipped my feet and legs in the warm shallow waters.
As a Somali woman, you are always under scrutiny. If your feet or your arms are showing, or even the slightest hair creeps out of your hijab, you will be told to cover up – even by strangers on the street. But then again, Osman’s wife, Nadia, was ordered to remove her niqab by a policeman on the street.
Before I parted with Mohamed I promised to meet with him in Nairobi. He was to leave for Kenya the following day, and I was to spend a few days there, before I left for Denmark.
Dette indlæg blev udgivet i About Somalia, Present og tagget Al Shabaab, Beach, Family visit, Mogadishu, Somalia, TFG government, Waberi den 7. september 2012 af Nasrin Billie.
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Manfred Gerstenfeld
Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld: Sweden’s ugly Ultraliberalism and the Jews…….
Manfred Gerstenfeld Sweden
By KGSaccess_time7 months agochat_bubble_outlineLeave a comment
We knew where all of this was heading…
Freedom House’s rankings have been highly suspect for a long while now. The rubric used in gauging what states have a free media/society has gaping holes as Dr.Gerstenfeld points out. To those of us who follow Sweden on a regular basis, we know that it’s a poster child of how close a Western state can be to totalitarianism. Swedish society has built-in mechanisms to control the flow of information, what kind of information is acceptable and what is not.
I think of the same when following present-day US social/political issues as well. The same kind of forced uniformity/conformity is present there even in spite of the once solid freedom of speech culture. So how much more likely is it in Sweden that has no 1st amendment, where holding ‘wrong opinions’ can cause the victim irreparable damage, both economically and socially. The media are for the most part caretakers of the state’s policies regarding migration, freedom of speech and other social and Israel related issues.
If not for the constant bombardment of anti-Israel indoctrination through the country’s academy which trickles down to the media and political circles, everyday life for Jews in Sweden wouldn’t be such a struggle. Couple that with Sweden’s open door policies that allowed (still are) hundreds of thousands of Muslims from Jew-hating Arab states, and you have a highly toxic environment for Jews who have to face not only traditional Swedish/Christian antisemitism but the newly imported Muslim/Middle Eastern variant that supercharges the former.
This article by Dr.Gerstenfeld was first published in BESA, and republished here with the author’s consent.
Sweden’s ugly Ultraliberalism and the Jews
Jews in Sweden account for less than 0.2% of the population. Issues concerning them which become known outside the country usually vary between negative and highly negative. The naive observer may wonder about that as Sweden’s image is that of a liberal democracy as perfect as these can get.
If one starts to list major events concerning Jews one gets a very different picture of Sweden. In this century only one Jewish community in Western Europe decided to dissolve itself because of ongoing neo-Nazi threats: the one in the town of Umea in North Eastern Sweden.1
Other major antisemitic threats come out of parts of the Muslim community. In 2017, a movie was shown on Bavarian television about the visit to Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city, by the German Jewish author Henryk Broder and the Egyptian writer Hamad Abdel Samad. They met several local Jews among which the town’s American Rabbi. He told them that the shrinking community had inserted bullet proof windows at the synagogue. Even this didn’t help. A bomb went off in front of the synagogue and another bomb was thrown into the chapel of the Jewish cemetery which was totally destroyed. The rabbi is regularly harassed when walking on the street. Objects thrown at him included an apple, a lighter, a glass and a bottle.2 A record number of complaints about hate crimes in the city in 2010 and 2011 did not lead to any convictions.3
In December 2017, three Muslim perpetrators threw a Molotov cocktail at a synagogue in Sweden’s second largest city, Gothenburg. Some twenty youngsters, who met in the building took shelter in its cellar during the attack.4 A Swedish appeals court overturned a criminal tribunal ruling which had decided that one of the perpetrators, a Gaza-born Palestinian, would be deported at the end of his two-year prison term. The court said that he should not be deported because the antisemitic nature of this attack could put him in danger from Israel.5 The court apparently preferred the imagined interests of the perpetrator over those of his victims. It seemed to matter less to the judges that if he stayed in Sweden he might commit other crimes.
In recent years Sweden has taken in the highest number of refugees In Western Europe as a percentage of its population. Most immigrants come from Muslim countries where societies are permeated by extreme antisemitic opinions. The authorities there promote Jew-hatred as part of their policies. Sweden can be characterized as a major importer of antisemites out of humanitarian motives.
Antisemitism in Sweden is not limited to Muslims and neo-Nazis. A recent scandal concerns the highly reputable hospital of the Karolinska University near Stockholm. This institution awards annually the Nobel Prize in medicine. The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) has written a complaint to the hospital’s dean as it became known that the open antisemitism by a senior physician, was ignored by the hospital’s management for almost a year.6
Two Jewish employees had already quit for this reason. Management finally acted only after Sweden’s largest paper Aftonbladet reported on the hatemongering. Thereafter the physician in question left. He had also posted antisemitic comments on Facebook.7
Also in anti-Israelism Sweden has been for a long time in the forefront of Western Europe. The country’s best known postwar Prime Minister Olof Palme, a social democrat, was one of the very rare leaders of a democratic country who compared Israel’s acts to those of the Nazis.8 The current Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström, also a social democrat, has asked for an investigation into the killing of terrorists by Israel. She hasn’t made such requests from other democratic countries where terrorists have been killed after attacks. According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition by singling out Israel, Wallström committed an anti-Semitic act.9
The above is a tiny selection to illustrate the falseness of Sweden’s image as a near perfect liberal democracy. For whoever wants to see rapidly how ugly ultraliberalism can get Sweden is the ideal place to study.
This party promotes the prohibition of circumcision introducing a new antisemitic element in Sweden even if it is main aim is against Muslims which outnumber Jews tens of times.
When Broder came to Malmö, he was told not to open his windows when driving through a Muslim neighborhood. Before travelling to Sweden, Sylvi Listhaug, at the time the Norwegian Integration and Immigration Minister had said that there were sixty ‘no-go’ areas due to immigrants in Sweden. Thereupon, Swedish migration minister cancelled her meeting with Listhaug.10 Listhaug’s claim however, was most probably true.
Freedom House, according to its website is an “independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world.”11 Sweden by now has become a model for how ugly ultra-liberalism can get. Yet Freedom House, a ranking organization for nations gives Sweden a hundred point ranking for freedom – the highest in the world. Based on political rights, civil liberties, pluralism, the functioning of the government, supposed freedom of the media and so on.
This leads to two conclusions; one is that if one is fully free according to Freedom House, it may cover up a range of major ugly phenomena.
Secondly, / Finally, the attitude toward Jews in the country may be a better indicator of its democratic character than full freedom according to Freedom House.
1 www.jta.org/2018/07/10/news-opinion/caught-between-jihadists-and-neo-nazis-swedish-jews-fear-for-their-future
2 www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/21242
3 www.jta.org/2013/01/09/news-opinion/world/in-malmo-record-number-of-hate-crimes-complaints-but-no-convictions
4 www.thelocal.se/20180625/three-men-sentenced-over-attack-on-gothenburg-synagogue
5 www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/15/sweden-refuses-deport-palestinian-firebombed-synagogue-fear/
6 www.jta.org/2018/11/01/news-opinion/swedish-surgeon-accused-bullying-jewish-employees
7 www.timesofisrael.com/swedish-hospital-official-quits-over-alleged-anti-semitic-bullying-by-surgeon/
8 Per Ahlmark, “Palme’s Legacy 15 Years On,” Project Syndicate, February 2001
9 www.timesofisrael.com/israel-to-boycott-swedish-fm-on-her-visit-to-region/
10 //sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=6765864
11 //freedomhouse.org/
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Home News Featured Stories Stewart sought for string of burglaries
Stewart sought for string of burglaries
By Alton Mitchell
Authorities in neighboring Lee County have secured arrest warrants for a 44-year-old Phenix City man in connection to several burglaries and thefts that occurred in the Old West Point Road area of Lee County. That road is located near the Lee-Chambers County line close to Lake Harding.
Lee County investigators have obtained arrest warrants for 44-year-old Michael Coleman Stewart of Phenix City. According to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office warrants have been obtained for charges to include robbery, burglary, and theft of property. Additional charges are also pending in neighboring Harris County, Georgia on charges of burglary and theft.
Lee County investigators suspect Stewart is the person responsible for several criminal acts that occurred in the Lee Road 344 area. The road is also known as Old West Point Road. Investigators state the crime spree took place on March 13, 2018.
Stewart is presently being detained at the Etowah County Jail in north Alabama. Etowah County officials arrested Stewart on March 17th on charges or theft, burglary, and attempting to elude. He has bonds of $7,000 in Etowah County, but has no bond on charges that require him to be detained for Lee County and an out of state agency.
There has been no reports yet to indicate that Stewart was engaged in any criminal activity in Chambers County, but the Lee County Sheriff’s Office has indicated that additional charges are expected in Lee County and other jurisdictions as the investigation is still ongoing.
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Crowds clamor on LaFayette’s big day
Swanson, Billingslley elected Mr. & Miss LHS
Primping for the Prom
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You are currently viewing: MOVIES
Escape from Planet Earth – Movie Review
Posted by The Scene on Feb 26, 2013 in Movie Reviews, MOVIES | 1 comment
Escape from Planet Earth – Movie Review By: Stefan Ellison
Rating: D (Very Bad)
I believe we are in a current golden age of animation, where almost all of the animated features that come out manage to hit the mark. Now, more than in past decades, filmmakers like Rich Moore and Chris Sanders are continually trying to push the artform. This makes the appearance of a poorly done animated film all the more disappointing. Escape from Planet Earth is the first major feature film from Vancouver-based Rainmaker Entertainment, who jumped onto the scene with the first computer-generated animated series ReBoot. While their animation quality has improved since that era, their story-telling skills and attempt at comedy have not. In the midst of a production that has been fraught with bitter firings and lawsuits, the final result is a bad attempt at entering the market dominated by the Pixar and DreamWorks heavyweights.
The first problem with Escape from Planet Earth is its piecing together of clichés. The screenplay (credited to Bob Barlen and director Cal Brunker) lacks any creativity or originality and its attempts at being clever come across as silly. An example of this is found in the subplot where aliens at Area 51 reveal that they are responsible for some of the world’s biggest technological innovations. The film uses this as an excuse to namedrop Google and Apple, forgetting that simply making a reference does not constitute a joke. One not-so-subtle reference to Pixar is so poorly constructed, it is uncertain whether the filmmakers are attempting to poke fun at or pay tribute to the computer animation giant. The only remotely humourous bit in the screenplay is a knock at televised “doctors” and their lack of credentials. This joke works, not only because it doesn’t feel done before like everything else in the screenplay, but because they do not beat you over the head to try and make the audience laugh.
The popular-culture references are the biggest jokes that land with a thud, causing more groans than even half-grins. In the first minute, one character does a take on James Bonds’ signature introductory line and it makes one wonder whether Barlen and Brunker simply settled on their first draft. One tired running gag has the Area 51 guards given the names of famous film directors. In a move probably approved by the film’s distributor, the main musical theme from The Artist randomly starts playing at one point, likely because The Weinstein Company paid the bills on this film. That is the caliber of humour to be found in Escape from Planet Earth.
Story-wise, the film does little to make us care about the characters or even inject them with full personalities. Gary is a dull lead and his dimwitted brother Scorch is like they took out what made the deluded Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story so fun. Most of the characters are practically superfluous in the grand scheme of things. Gary’s son is given the most clichéd dialogue you can give to a child protagonist with his subplot being the most dull and time-wasting in the whole film. When I’m aching to return to the Area 51 scenes, there’s a problem. The villains lack little motivation, with one’s revelation coming a mile away and comes off more odd than humourous. This unimaginative set of characters is not helped by the lazy casting choices. It is expected that celebrities make up the core ensemble in an animated feature these days, but this is a rare case, where not a single performance actually resembles interest in the material they’re reading. The worst of the lot are Sarah Jessica Parker and Jessica Alba, who could have switched roles in the middle of the film and I would not have noticed. When talented and professionally trained voice actors like Billy West and Tara Strong are being neglected major roles in Hollywood animated features, casting two generic-sounding actresses in Escape from Planet Earth makes one sympathise with them even more. Ricky Gervais is probably the most wasted voice in this, playing a computer and literally phoning it in.
To Rainmaker’s credit, their crew of animators do a decent job in making this a colourful world and for a forty-million dollar budget, the rendering and movement is solid. There is some strong elastic acting from the animation and the set design is probably the most creative element found in Escape from Planet Earth. The character design is not as strong, ranging from generic for the lead aliens to flat-out ugly on the humans. However, the only distracting element to be found in the animation is in the poorly placed product placement. In addition to a 7-Eleven convenience store playing a pivotal role in a few scenes, the appearance of Pop-Chips in those moments also distracts. Product placement is not normally seen in animated features, but when companies do throw some in there, it is very obvious. Wreck-It Ralph succeeded in making their products part of the film’s humour, while Escape from Planet Earth simply makes one not want to enter a 7-Eleven ever again. The audio aspects of the film don’t improve matters much, as a dull and cloying score tries to bring sympathy to a story that has little heart underneath the surface.
For a film that has been in production since 2006, Escape from Planet Earth ended up with a very unremarkable and clichéd story. While Disney and Pixar continue to re-invent and push the artform, this film is like a time machine to back when everybody was trying to copy the old Shrek formula of spouting out cultural references and throwing pop tunes on the soundtrack. The filmmakers even revert back to the tired ending with all of the characters dancing to a chart-topping hit. It always pains me to give a negative review to an animated film, considering all of the hard work and man-hours that animators and artists put into these productions. Rainmaker Entertainment has some serious potential down the road, as not every studio gets a good feature film right off the bat. However, they need to put more thought into their joke telling abilities and attempt characters who most of the audience will remember down the road. While they were never my cup of tea, many people have nostalgic memories of ReBoot and Beast Wars. I don’t see Escape from Planet Earth having the same impact on today’s youth.
By: Stefan Ellison
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Forgot Password? / Help
The Sync Book \ What is Sync?
What is "Sync"?
This four-letter word is hard to pin down.
It's become a catchall,
somewhat similar to "Meta",
but "Sync" usually denotes an interconnectedness,
a correspondence or co-occurrence,
often between inner mental states
and outer waking life.
Perhaps it is the very indefinable/unexplainable nature of Sync that keeps us continually exploring its strange and beautiful mysteries.
Our focus is on Synchronicity
with offshoot topics, such as:
Esoterica, High-Weirdness, Art, Philosophy, Science, Politics, and Spirituality.
"meaningful coincidence"
"Carl Jung coined the term synchronicity; this is his definition: 'Synchronicity is the coming together of inner and outer events in a way that cannot be explained by cause and effect and that is meaningful to the observer.' A shorter definition would be a meaningful coincidence. Shorter still would be to just say pay attention. The shortest definition of synchronicity is magic."
—Mike Clelland, Sync Book Vol.2
"Synchronicities are expressions of the dreamlike nature of reality.
Just like with our dreams at night, our inner process is given shape through the seemingly outer world.
There is an instantaneous correspondence between the inner and outer worlds,
not because they are two separate dimensions that are communicating faster than the speed of light,
but because they are inseparably united as one seamless, already unified, whole continuum."
—Paul Levy, Sync Book Vol.2
Synchronicity, as "meaningful coincidence",
is a fascinating phenomenon by itself.
And yet, the additional
metaphysical/psychological implications
caused by examining the word "meaning",
particularly within the context of
non-linear phenomena that already have us
questioning the nature of reality,
serve to open a few more rabbit holes.
"The research being done by those of us in The Sync Books and a much larger online field, deals not only with synchronicity, but also a number of related topics —such as comparative mythology & mythological archetypes, symbology & iconography (often focusing on esoteric symbolism), media analysis, trend recognition & forecasting, consciousness, dreaming and the nature of reality . . . Ours is a study that combines all of these into a kaleidoscope lens with which to view the world —essentially an applied study of synchronicity— achieved by developing an understanding of, and relationship with, the syncs. While some of us tend to think of it as a science, others as an emerging art form, and others still as a spiritual tool, most of us agree that it is probably a mix of all three."
—Alan Abbadessa-Green, Suicide Kings
Myths and Archetypes
"Even before the break with Freud, Jung's readings in mythology had turned his center of concern from the daylight world of time, space, and personalities to a timeless eviternity of satyrs, nyphs, centaurs, and dragons to be slain . . . It was this radical shift of ground from a subjective and personalistic, essentially biographical approach to the reading of the symbolism of the psyche, to a larger, culture-historical, mythological orientation, that then became the characteristic of Jung's psychology. He asked himself, 'What is the myth you are living?' and found that he did not know. 'So, in the most natural way, I took it upon myself to get to know my myth, and I regarded this as the task of tasks.'"
"The psyche is not of today; its ancestry goes back millions of years. Individual consciousness is only the flower and the fruit of a season, sprung from the perennial rhizome beneath the earth; and it would find itself in better accord with the truth if it took the existence of the rhizome into its calculations.
For the root matter is the mother of all things."
"It seems to me their origin [i.e. archetypes] can only be explained by assuming them to be
deposits of the constantly repeated experiences of humanity."
Joseph Campbell's "Monomyth" or "the Hero's Journey"
Magic(k) and Correspondences
Crowley defined Magick as "the Science and Art of
causing Change to occur in conformity with Will".
Carl Jung defined synchronicity as a mirroring of the
outer world with inner mental processes.
Clearly these two are relating to similar phenomena,
though one is attributing it to unconscious expression
and the other is doing it consciously, willfully.
"Ah! Well the thing about magic that appeals to me is its difference to religion. The two words are very different. Religion is from the Greek or Latin root religari, which is the same root as ligamenta and ligature, and so it means bound together in one space. Now that always feels a bit unnatural to me. It seems very unlikely that any two human beings on the face of the planet would believe, be bound together, in exactly the same thing. So, alright, magic is a language but perhaps a better analogy is to say: Each religion is a language, and magic is linguistics. In the sense that, if you are a linguist, there's no such thing as a false language. It's not like, Oh yeah French is real, but Russian is not a real language. So if you're a magician, you have to accept ALL of those religions as being, they're all true languages! So, you get a different array of concepts, a different worldview in each of the religions. To some degree I take the quantum position that ALL of them are right, in a sense. In order to see truth, you have to consider a lot of different possible positions and hold them all to be true in some mysterious way. Magic, in this sense, is moving between those different positions, studying them, seeing what information there is to be gleaned from each of them, seeing how they connect up. How, for example, a story in the New Testament of the Bible seems to connect up with an ancient Egyptian legend from the Parari Anu. And how this in turn relates to one of the Tarot cards. Which gives it a certain position on the Tree of Life in the Kabbalah. And you follow through these chains of ideas. You do that long enough, you start to get a different set of synaptic connections in your brain, different pathways. And you start to see things in a different way. You start to put things together differently."
"Well, whatever else it is, from my viewpoint as an artist it is a method of multiple vision. To take an example from Sir John's story, I.N.R.I., analyzed Cabalistically, no longer has simply a Christian meaning, but a Greek mythological meaning, an Egyptian meaning, an Alchemical meaning, a meaning within the symbolism of the Tarot cards, and so forth. These correspondences are not illogical but analogical. The Cabalist sees each symbol—Christ, Dionysus, Osiris, the Tarot cards and the rest—as meaningful in its own mythic context, just as Professor Einstein's theory sees each measurement as true within its own coordinate system. And the Cabalist seeks, behind these diverse and contradictory symbols, the archetypal meaning which is in human psychology itself, as Dr. Jung has recently reminded us. Just as Professor Einstein looks beyond the diverse and contradictory instrument readings for the abstract mathematical relationships that translate one coordinate system into another."
—Robert Anton Wilson, Masks of the Illuminati
Media and Symbolism
"The moment one gives close attention to anything,
even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome,
indescribably magnificent world in itself."
"The movie never changes. It can't change. But every time you see it, it seems different because you're different. You see different things."
—James Cole (Bruce Willis), 12 Monkeys
Jake Kotze pioneered an artform
with his "synchromystic" videos.
So much more than mashups,
they explore an interconnected web
running through our pop-culture.
This artform has grown to include styles ranging from narrated documentaries to movie/album syncs,
like "Wizard of Oz" meets "Dark Side of the Moon".
Visit Sync Media Research to watch some of them
Mindscapes:
Beyond the Infinite
"By documenting the interconnected patterns we observe, I believe we have become fractal cartographers—mapping the invisible landscapes of a quantum and/or holographic universe. Synchronicity serves as the compass; the treasure is finding the macrocosm in the microcosm and vice versa. As Above, So Below—and everything in between."
"Scholars of the psychedelics have frequently commented on the synchronicity of Hofmann's discoveries with the discovery and propagation of nuclear weapons. The effect of LSD was discovered just six months after the atom was split. Huxley might have been the first to call LSD the atom bomb of the soul, and Frank Barron wondered if nature was keeping itself in balance by slipping these sacraments into society at the time they were most needed."
—Robert Forte
"A few years back, while preparing to speak on a panel with members of M.A.P.S. (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), I met a man involved with the organization, Robert Forte, who had lived with Albert Hofmann in Switzerland for a number of years and had the pleasure of discussing some key points of interest with him. What blew my mind was when he told me that it was Albert's personal feeling that he had not actually 'discovered' anything in any real sense of the word, but rather that he considered L.S.D. to be more of an 'intelligence,' if you will, and that he had felt that it was actually our new found ability to split the atom that called this intelligence to be born into existence. Robert later expressed in an email, "it was unusual for Albert to describe L.S.D. like that, as an 'intelligence.' He became much more a mystic in his later years, having been shy about making such statements among his scientific colleagues for most of his life." So, it was the belief of the man who first synthesized the substance of substances that aided the counter-culture in a Dionysian direction, that this happening was the direct counter-balance to the most devastating display of authority to ever rear its terrifying face in the history of planet earth. It was the same month and year Hofmann took his first 'trip' that Oppenheimer brought to Los Alamos the initial group of scientists who would help build the first atomic bomb."
—David Plate, Sync Book Vol.2
To dive deeper into sync and all these subjects,
continue to explore the contents of this site.
"Take what you have gathered from coincidence."
—Bob Dylan, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Website design by Justin Gray Morgan and Alan Green
Webmaster Guillaume Samard
Copyright Sync Book Press 2011-2018
Contact Us | FAQ | Support | Member Log-In
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JUST IN: 39 DEAD ON NEW YEARS
The world needs to end this ruthless madness and carnage — Islamic terrorists must be brought to heel.
Thirty-nine people, including many foreigners, were killed when a gunman reportedly dressed as Santa Claus stormed an Istanbul nightclub as revellers were celebrating the New Year, the latest carnage to rock Turkey after a bloody 2016.
The assailant shot dead a policeman and a civilian at the entrance to the Reina club, one of the city’s most exclusive nightspots, and then went on a shooting rampage inside, Turkish officials said.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the attacker escaped and was now the target of a major manhunt, expressing hope the suspect “would be captured soon”.
Soylu said in televised comments that of 21 victims who have been identified so far, 16 are foreigners and five are Turks. Another 69 people are being treated in hospital.
SHARE on Facebook and Twitter if you’re tired of the sickening terrorist attacks!
http://www.wedgies.com/question/should-donald-trump-get-a-special-prosecutor-to-go-after-hillary-pkaqxxn5zc
Related Topics:Donald TrumpNew YearsSantaTerroristsTurkey
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Mission Statement/ Origin
Criteria/ Qualifications
Testimonial Quotes
2020 Tower Family Foundation Golf Event
Tower Family Foundation Golf Sponsorships
Tower Family Foundation Golf Registration
Criteria/Qualifications
Tower Family Foundation PowerPoint
Cliff Barbieri is the owner and founder of Advanced Tower Services, Inc. which is based in New Mexico. He began his career in the wireless industry in 1978, as an employee for Motorola. In 1994, Cliff started his own two-way and tower service company and has been active in the tower industry ever since.
Greg Burbage, P.E., is a founding principal of 4SE, Inc., a structural engineering firm which is located in historic Charleston, South Carolina. Greg has over 26 years of experience in project management and coordination of tower projects in many parts of the U.S. He is a registered engineer in 29 states and his tower experience includes design, structural evaluations, quality control, review of designs for compliance, tower inspections and tower mapping for purposes of obtaining information for analyses. Prior to 4SE, Greg was employed by Shoolbred Engineers, where he was responsible for numerous tower projects. Greg is currently on the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) TR-14 Committee which develops standards for communication and small wind turbine support structures. Greg received a B.S. in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in structural engineering from Clemson University.
Victor Drouin is the President of Green Mountain Communications, Inc., located in Pembroke, New Hampshire. He began his telecommunications career in 1981 and has owned and operated Green Mountain for over 20 years. Green Mountain’s experienced team has been assessing the challenges faced by businesses and delivering communication solutions that integrate the most advanced technologies. They currently employ approximately 70 industry professionals and primarily service the Northeast Region.
Karen Kyman serves as President of Precision Communications, Inc. (PCI), which provides tower services ranging from maintenance to turn key installations, focusing on the TV broadcast industry. She was a co-founder of the company in 1993 and served as Vice-President for 20 years. Karen has spearheaded many safety initiatives within PCI and is interested in sharing her experience with others and remains committed to the safety of tower climbers throughout our industry.
Todd Schlekeway serves as the Executive Director of the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE). He works in unison with the Chair, Board of Directors and Chief Operating Officer to provide leadership, vision and direction for the Association. Prior to joining NATE, Todd served in the South Dakota Legislature and also worked for seven years as the founder and principal of a public affairs and communications firm.
John D. Talley was born in Evanston, Illinois and grew up in the Midwest. He attended Indiana University and ultimately moved west and graduated from California State University, Long Beach. John has played a key role in the growth of his family’s business, Talley, Inc., which was founded in 1983 to serve the needs of wireless communications professionals in a wide range of industries — from local public safety to nationwide cellular and everything in-between. Today, Talley is one of the nation’s largest distributors of wireless infrastructure, communications and mobile products. Talley currently has 10 Distribution Centers throughout the United States servicing the Wireless Infrastructure Industry. John now resides in Northern California and just celebrated Talley, Inc’s 30 years in business.
Paul Foster currently serves as co-owner and CEO of Vinculums Services, a leading regional telecom infrastructure service provider specializing in transport, site development, and small cell solutions for all major telecom carriers in the west and south regions of the U.S. After earning a B.S. in Information Systems Management from the University of California at Santa Cruz, Paul served on the product development team of a Silicon Valley start-up. He was also a project manager in the information systems department for a global investment firm.As a trusted adviser and business partner to industry leaders and “next generation” telecom professionals, Paul conveys a depth of industry knowledge and expertise in strategic planning, executive management, and relationship development. Under Paul’s leadership, Vinculums has developed a philosophy that inspires the Vinculums team to perform at their best: happy people who are fully engaged produce quality solutions that drives growth and opportunity, or simply People, Quality, Growth. Paul believes that “the Vinculums family supports our shared philosophy resulting in the industry’s best-in-class execution and service.”Paul is married to Sabrina, and has two sons, Paul Jr. and Charlie. The family is active in youth sports and their local community.
Special Counsel to Advisory Committee
Don Evans, a member of the firm of Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth, has practiced communications law for more than 30 years in the Washington, D.C. area. He assists broadcast and CMRS clients in the FCC licensing process, compliance with FCC regulations, spectrum auctions, and spectrum purchases and sales.
© 2019 TOWER FAMILY FOUNDATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | 1-888-882-5865 | help@towerfamilyfoundation.org | 8 SECOND STREET SE. • WATERTOWN, SD 57201-3624
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VOL. 42 | NO. 40 | Friday, October 5, 2018
Amazon's $15 an hour a win? Not so, some veteran workers say
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon's announcement that it would raise its hourly minimum wage to $15 has been seen as a win for workers. But some longtime employees say they are losing out.
Those who already made $15 will get an extra dollar an hour when the change is made next month, but they will also lose two benefits they relied on: monthly bonuses that could top hundreds of dollars and a chance to own Amazon's sky-rocketing stock, currently worth nearly $2,000 a share.
At least four longtime workers, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear they would be fired, said the $1 an hour raise would not make up for the lost benefits. The employees, all of whom work in different warehouses around the country, said the $15 minimum wage was great for new workers, but the math didn't work out for those who have worked at Amazon's warehouses for a few years.
"I feel hugely disrespected," said a worker at a warehouse in North East, Maryland. "The ones who are loyal should be rewarded for loyalty, not smacked in the face."
According to Amazon, the wage increase will benefit more than 350,000 workers, including full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal positions, as well as those at its grocery chain Whole Foods. Economists said the move could put pressure on other large employers to raise wages.
Amazon said in a statement that the changes mean "compensation will be more immediate and predictable." The Seattle company, which has more than 100 warehouses around the country, said "the significant increase in hourly cash wages more than compensates" the benefits that will be phased out.
But others dispute that.
"They must have a different kind of calculator than us," said an employee at a Pennsylvania warehouse, who estimated she'll lose out on about $3,000 a year.
From January to September, she made about $150 a month in bonuses, which were tied to her attendance and productivity goals for the entire warehouse. But she earned an extra $400 a month in October, November and December, during the busy holiday shopping season when Amazon doubles the bonuses to motivate workers to show up on time and churn out packages quicker.
"They took away all the incentives to work super hard," she said, estimating that the $1 raise will give her about $160 extra a month.
Amazon said its stock program, which typically gave workers one or two Amazon shares when they first started and then one a year, will be replaced with a method for workers to buy stock next year, but the company didn't provide details. Workers said managers at the warehouse also didn't know how it would work.
"Who that's making $16.25 an hour is going to have $2,000 to buy a stock?" said the person who works at the North East, Maryland, facility.
Thomas Kochan, a professor at MIT's Sloan Institute for Work and Employment Research, said taking away benefits from longtime workers can lead to higher turnover. He said Amazon needs to communicate to workers better if overall compensation is higher "or you're going to have morale problems."
Workers said warehouse managers who were tasked with telling them about the changes didn't seem to know the answer to some questions. Those that called an employee hotline seeking answers heard a prerecorded message: the employee resource center "does not have any additional information we can share with you at this time."
Instead, many workers called Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' office, who had been critical of Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos for paying what he described as low wages but praised the company when it raised the hourly minimum wage.
In a statement, the independent senator said, "Our understanding is that the vast majority of Amazon workers are going to see wage increases. I would hope that as a result of Amazon's new policy, no worker, especially long-time employees, sees a reduction in total compensation. Amazon can afford to make all workers whole and should do that."
One person, who has worked at a warehouse in Phoenix for several years, said the lost benefits means working at Amazon is now "like any other warehouse" job.
"I'm updating my resume," he said.
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Aerospace Factory Worker
Massive public works program at union wages to rebuild the infrastructure and put people to work.
Immediate end to the embargo against Cuba. U.S. out of Guantanamo. All U.S. troops out of the Middle East.
Organize workers to build a movement to fight for political power. Replace the capitalist government with a workers and farmers government.
Eleanor García, 63, an aerospace worker at Triumph Vought Aerostructures in Hawthorne, outside Los Angeles, was born in Phoenix. Her father was a fireman and her mother, after she raised her children, a production-line worker at Revlon and member of the United Auto Workers union. Her grandfather, an underground copper miner in the Inspiration Consolidated Copper mine in Miami, Arizona, was crushed by a mine car and killed at work.
In high school García was inspired by the successful fight to overthrow Jim Crow segregation in the South and by farmworkers fighting to win representation by the United Farm Workers union. Public schools in Arizona mining towns were segregated for Mexicans and Native Americans.
Cesar Chavez, leader of the UFW, held a 24-day fast in Phoenix in 1972 to protest an Arizona bill restricting the union and outlawing strikes and boycotts. García was part of the security team to defend Chavez and meetings organized to support the fight.
She became an organizer for the UFW and the Arizona Farm Workers Union in the 1970s, helping workers win union contracts in vegetable fields and citrus orchards.
García joined the SWP in 1977. In the 1980s she lived in Minneapolis and joined protests by family farmers who faced foreclosure in a debt crisis that swept the region and were being driven off their land. She supported the fight of Native Americans for land and water treaty rights on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota.
García is a longtime supporter of women’s right to choose abortion and has defended clinics against right-wing attacks. As SWP candidate for governor of Utah she helped organize protests against the cops when a teenage cousin of one of her co-workers at Kennecott Copper was shot. Family, friends and supporters of the youth used García’s campaign statement to build support for a march and rally in the copper-mining town of Magna.
She helped organize activities to tell the truth about the Cuban Revolution. She was part of the international movement that won freedom for the Cuban Five, five revolutionaries unjustly imprisoned in the U.S. for the “crime” of defending their country’s socialist revolution.
In addition to the Steelworkers, García has been a member of the United Transportation Union, United Food and Commercial Workers and United Auto Workers union. She has worked in rail, garment and in a smelter.
Workers on strike at Verizon need your support and solidarity. In a multimillion-dollar ad campaign run daily since the strike began, Verizon bosses want you to turn your back on the workers. Verizon claims they get “outstanding compensation,” “exceptional retirement benefits” “very reasonable” health insurance and “numerous perks.” And that the company has “put a fair offer on the table.” Don’t fall for it!
Verizon bosses say they want a deal that “positions our wireline business for success in the digital world” and that makes “changes to legacy constraints in our contracts.” Translation: Verizon wants to keep speeding up the work pace, disregard job safety, reduce health care benefits, cut wages by using more contractors to increase their profit rates and fill the owners’ bank accounts.
This is not just a fight for union workers at Verizon. The strikers are fighting for all of us. If Verizon gets away with this it will encourage other bosses to do the same. Workers across the country have a vested interest in mobilizing the broadest solidarity possible. The fight by construction workers for job safety in the face of increasing numbers of deaths on the job will gain strength if Verizon strikers, who face similar conditions, can push their bosses back.
Fast food and Walmart workers fighting for $15 an hour and a union also have a stake in this fight. Every blow the bosses deal to our fellow workers is a blow against us. Every victory by our brothers and sisters puts us in a better position to move forward and would boost the fight to organize the unorganized.
Other unionists face concession demands from their bosses, who seek to make us pay for the deepening crisis of capitalist production and trade. Members of the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2 at Con Edison in New York just voted to authorize a strike in the face of that company’s attempts to push through further cutbacks. Their contract expires June 25.
We call on our fellow workers: Join the Verizon workers’ picket lines and demonstrations. Take up collections for their strike funds. Invite strikers to speak to your union meetings or to your neighborhood association and other community groups. The Verizon strike shows both the power of working people in action and that our struggles would be even more powerful if we had our own party, a labor party based on our unions, instead of relying on bourgeois politicians who claim to be “friends of labor.” An injury to one is an injury to all! Solidarity with the striking workers at Verizon!
Website: themilitant.com
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Stanislaus County Republican Party
Central Committee, District 1
Measure F
Proposition 50 — Suspension of Legislators Legislatively Referred Constitutional Amendment - Majority Approval Required
To learn more about measures, follow the links for each tab in this section. For most screenreaders, you can hit Return or Enter to enter a tab and read the content within.
5,468,515 votes yes (75.5%)
1,775,327 votes no (24.5%)
100% of precincts reporting (22,356/22,356).
Suspension of Legislators
— undefined
This measure amends the State Constitution to add new provisions regarding the suspension of legislators.
What is this proposal?
Easy Voter Guide — Summary for new and busy voters
Information provided by The League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
The way it is now
In 2014, three California state Senators were accused of felonies and their fellow state Senators voted to suspend them. The state Constitution has rules for how to remove (expel) state lawmakers for wrongdoing but no rules to suspend them for a limited period of time. The accused lawmakers were not allowed to vote on laws, but still received their salaries and benefits.
What if it passes?
Add rules to the state Constitution about how to suspend state lawmakers, not just how to expel them. Suspension would require a 2/3 vote of fellow lawmakers, and the suspended lawmaker’s salary and benefits could be taken away during the period of the suspension.
Budget effect
Suspension is not expected to happen very often, so in most years there would be no effect on the budget. If there is a suspension in the future, the state could save a small amount of money.
People FOR say
Accused lawmakers should not be expelled until proven guilty. But it does make sense to suspend them with the option of taking away their salary and benefits.
People AGAINST say
When lawmakers are suspended, they are not able to do their job for the people they represent. Accused lawmakers should be expelled instead of suspended.
Pros & Cons — Unbiased explanation with arguments for and against
Should the state Constitution be amended to authorize the Legislature to suspend its members, with or without salary and benefits?
The state Legislature consists of two houses: the Senate and the Assembly. The state Constitution provides that each house of the Legislature may expel one of its members who is accused of wrongdoing by a 2/3 vote of that house’s membership. The Constitution does not provide for suspension; however, each house of the Legislature may, by majority vote, suspend one of its members. In 2014, three Senators were accused of felonies, and the Senate voted to suspend them. Under this suspension, they were not allowed to vote on bills or take other legislative actions, but continued to receive their salaries and benefits while suspended, because there was no mechanism to prevent this.
The Constitution would be amended to authorize the suspension of a member of a house of the Legislature, with or without salary and benefits, by a 2/3 vote of the members of that house. The reasons for the suspension and rules for when the suspension would end would have to be set forth. The rules would require that either the suspension end on a specific date, or that a vote be taken in the future to end it.
Fiscal effect
Because suspension of legislators is so rare, in most years Prop. 50 would have no effect on state or local finances. In the event of any future suspension, there could be minor savings to the state.
Supporters say
There should be a mechanism short of expulsion for suspending members without pay who have been accused of wrongdoing.
Prop. 50 sets a high bar to prevent lawmakers from unjustly punishing each other.
Opponents say
Expulsion is the correct punishment for members accused of wrongdoing. Suspending a member leaves his or her constituents without representation.
Under Prop. 50, members of the Legislature could vote to suspend a member who supports unpopular issues.
Measure Details — Official information about this measure
YES vote means
A YES vote on this measure means: The State Constitution would be amended to require a two-thirds vote of the Senate or Assembly in order to suspend a state legislator. The Senate or Assembly could eliminate that legislator’s salary and benefits during the suspension.
NO vote means
A NO vote on this measure means: The Senate or Assembly could still suspend a legislator with a majority vote. The suspended legislator, however, would continue to receive a state salary and benefits.
California Attorney General
Authorizes each house of Legislature to suspend one of its Members by two-thirds vote, and to require Member to forfeit salary and benefits while suspended.
Prohibits suspended Member from exercising rights, privileges, duties, or powers of office, or using any legislative resources.
Provides suspension may end on specified date, or upon two-thirds vote of Member’s house.
Summary of Legislative Analyst’s Estimate of Net State And Local Government Fiscal Impact:
No effect on state spending in most years. Minor state savings in some years.
Legislative Analyst's Office
The California Legislature. Each year the Legislature votes to approve or reject proposed laws and passes a state budget. Voters elect 120 members to the two houses of the Legislature: 40 Senators and 80 Assembly Members. An independent commission—not the Legislature—sets salaries and benefits for legislators. Currently, the state pays most legislators a salary of about $100,000 each year. Legislators also receive health, dental, and vision benefits. They do not receive state retirement benefits.
Disciplining Legislators. When legislators are accused of wrongdoing, there are several ways that they can be disciplined. For example, they can be prosecuted and sentenced by a court if they violate criminal laws, or voters can attempt to remove them from office through a recall process. In addition, each house of the Legislature traditionally has had the ability to discipline its own members. Except for expulsion (described below), a majority vote of the house is required to take disciplinary actions. These disciplinary actions include the following:
Expulsion. Expelling a legislator—ending his or her term of office—is the most severe disciplinary action available to the Assembly or Senate. The last time this happened was in 1905, when four Senators were found by the Senate to be taking bribes. After a legislator is expelled, he or she is no longer a Senator or Assembly Member. His or her state salary and benefits stop. Under the State Constitution, two-thirds of the Assembly or Senate must vote to expel one of its members. This is the only disciplinary action specifically mentioned in the State Constitution.
Suspension. Each house of the Legislature can also suspend one of its members. For example, in 2014 three Senators were accused of felonies and the Senate subsequently voted to suspend them. During the time they were suspended, the three Senators did not vote on bills or take other legislative actions. They remained in office, however, and kept receiving state salaries and benefits until they left the Senate. (Later in 2014, each of the three either resigned or left the Legislature at the scheduled end of their Senate terms.) This was the first time in history that California legislators had been suspended.
Other Disciplinary Actions. In addition to expulsion and suspension, each house of the Legislature can take other, less severe disciplinary actions. These include censure (publicly criticizing a legislator).
Impartial analysis / Proposal
This measure amends the State Constitution to add new provisions regarding the suspension of legislators. The provisions address the following issues:
Higher Vote Requirement to Suspend Legislators. Currently, the Assembly or Senate can suspend one of its members with a majority vote. This measure requires a two-thirds vote of the Assembly or Senate in order to suspend one of its members.
Allows Suspending Legislators Without Pay and Benefits. Currently, a suspended legislator keeps receiving a state salary and benefits. This measure allows the Assembly or Senate to stop a legislator’s pay and benefits during all or part of a suspension.
Other Requirements for Suspending Legislators. This measure also (1) prohibits a suspended legislator from voting on laws or taking other actions as a legislator during a suspension, (2) requires the house to describe the reasons for a suspension, and (3) sets rules for when a suspension would end (either on a specific date set by the Assembly or Senate or after two-thirds of the Assembly or Senate votes to end the suspension).
Financial effect
Only in rare cases have California legislators been expelled or suspended. If such disciplinary penalties against legislators continue to be rare, this measure would have no effect on state or local finances in most years. In any future year when the Senate or Assembly suspended a legislator, this measure could lower the Legislature’s compensation costs, resulting in minor state savings.
Published Arguments — Arguments for and against the ballot measure
Arguments FOR
VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 50—ALLOW THE LEGISLATURE TO SUSPEND MEMBERS WITHOUT PAY
Proposition 50 would amend the state Constitution to give the California Legislature clear authority to suspend members of the Senate or the Assembly without pay.
The measure is a simple and straightforward way for lawmakers to hold their own colleagues accountable for breaching the public’s trust.
Currently, the California Constitution does not make it clear that the Legislature can suspend its members without pay. This issue came to light in 2014 when three state senators—all charged with criminal offenses—were suspended by a resolution of the Senate.
But those members continued to receive their salaries—more than $95,000 a year—because it was not clear that the Senate had the authority to suspend their pay as well.
The incident frustrated lawmakers who wanted to hold their own members accountable, and angered the public, which saw it as another example of how lawmakers are shielded from the consequences of their own actions and play by a different set of rules than everyone else.
“It’s an aggravating situation that allows full pay for no work,” opined the San Francisco Chronicle, urging lawmakers to fix the loophole.
The Legislature took it upon themselves to do just that. Lawmakers wrote and passed—overwhelmingly and with
strong bipartisan support—this constitutional amendment and placed it before voters for their approval.
The constitutional amendment would require the Assembly or the Senate to pass a resolution declaring why the member is being suspended. And to guard against political misuse, the resolution would require the higher threshold of a two-thirds vote for approval.
The National Conference of State Legislatures believes the power to discipline and expel members is inherent to a legislative body. That power has long been a staple of American democracy. It is common practice in most states.
The California Legislature has the power to expel members, and it should have the authority to suspend them without pay should the circumstances warrant.
Californians want and deserve a government that is worthy of their trust. Voters have passed many political reforms in the last decade to improve the governance in California, but more needs to be done to restore the public trust.
Proposition 50 is a commonsense step that would give lawmakers the authority to police their own, which is the right next step to holding all lawmakers accountable for serving the public interest. That’s why fair-minded Californians support Proposition 5O.
HELEN HUTCHISON, President, League of Women Voters of California
JAMES P. MAYER, President/CEO, California Forward
— California Secretary of State
Arguments AGAINST
Proposition 50 is a scam brought to you by those that would turn a blind eye to a culture of corruption in our State Capitol! Voters should oppose this measure because:
It perpetuates a culture of corruption in the State Capitol
It creates taxation without representation
Capitol insiders can use it to stifle political opposition
PERPETUATES A CULTURE OF CORRUPTION IN THE STATE CAPITOL
In 2014 when this measure was put on the ballot, nearly one of every ten California State Senators were either convicted or under indictment on multiple felony criminal counts including perjury, bribery and even gun-running. While this was going on, the author of Proposition 50, then the President Pro-Tem of the State Senate, refused to consider expelling these scoundrels from their offices of public trust—even after one of them was convicted by a jury!
Headlines in the news included:
“Attempt to Expel Convicted State Senator Derailed”—Capital Public Radio, 2/27/14
“Wright Sentencing Delayed; Senators Refuse to Expel Convicted Democrat”—Breitbart News Network, 7/8/14
Prop. 50 is designed to make you feel like the Sacramento political class actually wants to take a tough position to root out corruption. What they are really doing is hiding from you the fact that they would not make the tough decision to expel a convicted felon—their buddy.
Prop. 50 also denies millions of Californians their basic rights. It imposes taxation without representation. When a legislator is “suspended” instead of expelled, that means that the citizens in that district has no one representing their interests in the State Legislature. It means no election can take place to replace that bad actor, because he or she still “occupies” the office.
CAPITOL INSIDERS CAN USE PROP. 50 TO STIFLE POLITICAL OPPOSITION
Perhaps the most disturbing part of this measure is that it places into the state constitution a permanent means by which the majority can stifle minority opinion in the legislature. It is not hard to see where if you are a vocal member of the Senate or Assembly, on an issue that is not popular with your colleagues that you could have to face the reality that they could vote to suspend—to take away your voice and your vote in the legislature!
VOTE NO ON PROP. 50!
Visit: Stopprop50.com
JOEL ANDERSON, Senator, 38th District
BRIAN JONES, Assembly Member, 71st District
Replies to Arguments FOR
Why did the legislature vote to add Prop. 50 to the ballot? Because Prop. 50 gives legislative leadership options NOT TO EXPEL fellow Assembly members and Senators who have been indicted or convicted of felony charges.
Prop. 50 isn’t necessary because the Constitution already allows Assembly members and Senators who have been indicted or convicted of felony charges to be removed from office by expelling them.
Instead, Prop. 50 allows those in the legislature who have been indicted or convicted to be suspended WITH or without pay and it robs constituents of their representation. For many Californians, politicians are already allowed to serve in office for too long. Allowing them to continue in office after criminal behavior under Prop. 50 is wrong!
If you believe that Assembly members and Senators should not be above the law, please vote NO and send the clear message: No more special privileges for Assembly members and Senators indicted or convicted of felonies.
Californians deserve honest representatives serving them—NOT indicted or convicted legislators who have been suspended from their duties yet remain in office, which Prop. 50 allows.
Vote No on Prop. 50—Stop the corruption!
JON FLEISCHMAN, President, California Term Limits
RUTH WEISS, San Diego County Coordinator, California Election Integrity Project
Replies to Arguments AGAINST
This measure would give lawmakers the authority needed to discipline fellow Assembly Members and Senators—taking into consideration the nature of the allegation and other circumstances.
In severe cases, the Assembly and Senate already have the authority to expel a member. But expulsion is not always the just response. Even when a lawmaker is accused of a crime, given the presumption of innocence, it may not be appropriate to expel that person until all the facts are known and the case resolved.
In many such instances, lawmakers need the authority to respond in a reasonable and measured way—to do something short of expelling the member from the Legislature and something more than allowing that member to sit home and collect a taxpayer-funded paycheck.
Prop. 50 gives the Assembly or Senate the ability to suspend a member—and suspend the member’s pay.
The proposition sets a high bar to prevent lawmakers from unjustly punishing each other. It requires the house to publicly declare the reason for its action, and the resolution must be approved by a two-thirds vote—never easy and almost always requiring bipartisan support.
The measure does not inoculate the Legislature or lawmakers from corrupting influences, and more needs to be done to encourage ethical behavior, increase transparency, investigate complaints and enforce the law.
Prop. 50 gives lawmakers one more way to respond to ethical breaches by making it clear that when the circumstances warrant, lawmakers can be suspended without pay.
Read the proposed legislation
Read the proposed legislation (links outside of votersedge.org)
Who supports or opposes this measure?
Yes on Proposition 50
California Forward Action Fund
(see endorsement)
The League of Women Voters of California
Elected & Appointed Officials (0)
No on Proposition 50
Senator Joel Anderson, California's 38th District
Punishing wayward lawmakers — May 29, 2016 San Diego Union-Tribune
Proposition 50: Should Legislature Be Able To Suspend Lawmakers Without Pay? — May 23, 2016 Capital Public Radio
Corruption scandals spawn ballot measure that would let lawmakers suspend colleagues without pay — May 13, 2016 Los Angeles Times
Measure would allow lawmakers to dock pay for suspensions — May 8, 2016 San Diego Union-Tribune
Prop. 50 would let legislators harshly punish errant colleagues — March 31, 2016 The San Francisco Chronicle
Introducing Prop 50, California's Lone June Statewide Ballot Measure — February 1, 2016 Capital Public Radio
Opinions & Analysis (1)
Editorial - Punishing corrupt politicians is important, but Prop. 50 isn't the way to do it. - The Los Angeles Times , Editorial Board April 20, 2016
More Nonpartisan Resources
Pros & Cons — The League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
A nonpartisan explanation of state propositions, with supporting and opposing arguments.
California Forward
Vote No on Prop. 50—Stop the Corruption
Save my choice:
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Get the Easy Voter Guide for this measure in these languages
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Sacramento County Board of Education
San Joaquin Delta Community College District
River Delta Unified School District
Trustee, Area 2
Folsom Cordova Unified School District
San Juan Unified School District
Natomas Unified School District
Galt Joint Union High School District
City of Elk Grove
City of Folsom
City of Galt
City of Isleton
City of Citrus Heights
City of Rancho Cordova
Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District
Board Member, Division 1
Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Director, Ward 4
Cosumnes Community Services District
Rancho Murieta Community Services District
Fair Oaks Water District
Cordova Recreation and Park District
Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District
Southgate Recreation and Park District
Del Paso Manor Water District
Robla School District
State of CaliforniaCandidate for Controller
Betty T. Yee
California State Controller
Maintain high levels of accountability and oversight of the state's finances.
Address the changing nature of work with the growth of the gig economy and its impacts on state revenues.
Address the effects of global climate change with respect to the risks and the opportunities they pose for California's economy.
Profession:Chief Financial Officer
Controller, State of California — Elected position (2015–current)
Member, California State Board of Equalization, First District — Elected position (2007–2014)
Acting Member, California State Board of Equalization, First District — Appointed position (2004–2006)
Chief Deputy Director for Budget, California Department of Finance — Appointed position (1999–2003)
Golden Gate University, San Francisco — Master's Degree, Public Administration (1981)
University of California, Berkeley — Bachelor of Arts, Sociology (1979)
Board Member, Ceres (2017–current)
With 35 years of state and local finance experience and tax policy, I serve as California’s Controller, the chief fiscal officer of the six largest global economy. As Controller, I have expertly managed the State’s cash, diligently served as California’s independent auditor of public funds, timely completed California’s financial statements that have earned numerous awards, and consistently improved state and local financial reporting. Since assuming office as Controller in January 2015, my audit team has uncovered about $4 billion in public funds directed to unallowed and wasteful uses. Additionally, with the careful work of my cash management team, California has not had to rely on any external borrowing to pay its bills.
As Controller, I serve on 70 boards and commissions, where I have led most notably in protecting retirement security for our educators and public sector workers first and foremost by putting risk mitigation strategies in place in my role as a fiduciary on the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers' Retirement System boards; addressing climate change as a business risk and leading a global engagement strategy along with other institutional investors with the top 100 emitters around the world (Climate Action 100+); and decommissioning the last nuclear power plant in California as well as the last state oil platform in the Santa Barbara Channel, protecting public access to public trust lands and beaches, and working with our ports on issues of air quality and sea level rise in my role as a member and rotating chair of the State Lands Commission.
Responsible for one of the State's largest consumer protection programs, the Unclaimed Property Program, I have improved electronic claiming of properties by their rightful owners and successfully compelled life insurance companies to hand over just under $400 million in dealth benefits to my office to return to loved ones of deceased policy holders.
Prior to my election to the office of Controller, I served on the California State Board of Equalization from 2004 through 2014, representing the First Equalization District comprised of 9 million Californians along the northern and central coast including the entire San Francisco Bay Area. In 2017, I led the successful enactment of reforms to the State Board of Equalization to improve upholding taxpayers' rights and to ensure taxpayers statewide are treated equally and fairly . Preceding my election to the State Board of Equalization, I served as the Chief Deputy Director for Budget with the California Department of Finance, where I led the development of the Governor’s Budget, negotiations with key budget stakeholders, and analyses of legislation on behalf of the Administration. I also served as senior staff on several fiscal and policy committees in both houses of the California State Legislature.
I have served on numerous nonprofit boards, including those of California Women Lead, the Equality California Institute, and the Cal Alumni Association at the University of California, Berkeley. I also co-founded the Asian Pacific Youth Leadership Project, which exposes high school students to the public policy, political, and public service arenas. I currently serve on the board of Ceres, a national nonprofit organization focused on sustainability issues, working with investors and companies.
A native of San Francisco, I earned a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. I hold a master’s degree in public administration from Golden Gate University, San Francisco, where in 2017 I was conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. The second oldest of six children born to immigrant parents, I along with my siblings grew up working in the family laundry and dry cleaning business where I handled the financia transactions for my parents. Just as I minded the store for my parents' small business, I now have the privilege of minding the store for the state of California.
California Labor Federation
California League of Conservation Voters
EMILY's List
San Francisco Bay Guardian
California Nurses Association
Sierra Club (California)
California State University Employees Union
The Orange County Register
United States Senator Kamala Harris
Total money raised: $1,845,774
California Association of Realtors
California Faculty Association
SEIU California
SEIU Local 1000
UA Local 467 Plumbers, Steamfitters, and Refrigeration Fitters
District of Columbia 2.39%
Connecticut 1.21%
From organizations (75.10%)
My political philosophy is rooted in a deep appreciation for democracy and its foundations of equality and justice for all, beginning with the ability of each to fully participate in our democracy. As an elected official, I view my power coming from being informed and understanding the array of perspectives relating to specific issues and concerns. I welcome engagement, participation and debate.
However, the public needs to be informed and understand its responsibility in a democracy. This is why I am an advocate for equal access to high quality, public education as well as for voting rights. Amidst great cynicism about whether one's vote really matters especially with the influence of money in politics and the array of opinions disseminated by media in all forms , I believe voting does matter. As the suffragists and civil rights leaders who fought to win the right to vote understood, voting is the most important right because it is the right by which we protect all other rights. One person, one vote --- a level playing field at the ballot box --- is where change begins.
As an elected official in our diverse state of California, I believe political labels have created division rather than deepen understanding of one's political philosophy. I also believe platitudes by candidates need to be supported by specific intentions and actions to galvanize engagement and participation. The public's trust and confidence in their institutions of government is key to a healthy democracy, and after the financial crisis of the late 2000s that left many questioning their own economic security, there is much trust and confidence for public officials to rebuild.
So while one may tout California's economy to be a prominent one globally, ranking as the sixth largest, this is meaningless for many Californians who confront the high costs of living in California, the home therefore of the highest rate of poverty among the 50 states. With this political philosophy, I as a political leader must do my part to, for example, give voice and address the risks and opportunities for Californians to two urgent economic disruptors: the changing nature of work and global climate change, both of which have the potential of exacerbating inequality if we do not focus on a just transition towards a growing gig/platform-based economy and a renewable and clean energy sector and water sector that protects workers.
2018 State Democratic Convention Speech — April 15, 2018 California Democratic Party
My narrative of the experiences of Californians that I encounter on my campaign.
Website: bettyyee.com
Email - info@bettyyee.com
Konstantinos Roditis
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The Jewish State, by Theodor Herzl
by admin » Thu Apr 12, 2018 8:50 pm
The Jewish State (Der Judenstaat)
by Theodor Herzl
[This Dover edition, first published in 1988, is an unabridged, unaltered republication of the work originally published in 1946 by the American Zionist Emergency Council, New York, based on a revised translation published by the Scopus Publishing Company, New York, 1943, which was, in turn, based on the first English-language edition, A Jewish State, translated by Sylvie d'Avigdor, and published by Nutt, London, England, 1896. The Herzl text was originally published under the title Der Judenstaat in Vienna, 1896.]
"THE JEWISH STATE" is published by the American Zionist Emergency Council for its constituent organizations on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the publication of "DER JUDENSTAAT" in Vienna, February 14, 1896.
The translation of "THE JEWISH STATE" based on a revised translation published by the Scopus Publishing Company was further revised by Jacob M. Alkow, editor of this book. The biography was condensed from Alex Bein's Theodor Herzl, published by the Jewish Publication Society of America. The bibliography and the chronology were prepared by the Zionist Archives and Library. To Mr. Louis Lipsky and to all of the above mentioned contributors, the American Zionist Emergency Council is deeply indebted.
Introduction—Louis Lipsky
Biography—Alex Bein
The Jewish State—Theodor Herzl
II. The Jewish Question
III. The Jewish Company
IV. Local Groups
V. Society of Jews and Jewish State
VI. Conclusion
Re: The Jewish State, by Theodor Herzl
by Louis Lipsky
Theodore Herzl was the first Jew who projected the Jewish question as an international problem. "The Jewish State," written fifty years ago, was the first public expression, in a modern language, by a modern Jew, of a dynamic conception of how the solution of the problem could be accelerated and the ancient Jewish hope, slumbering in Jewish memory for two thousand years, could be fulfilled.
In 1882, Leo Pinsker, a Jewish physician of Odessa, disturbed by the pogroms of 1881, made a keen analysis of the position of the Jews, declared that anti-Semitism was a psychosis and incurable, that the cause of it was the abnormal condition of Jewish life, and that the only remedy for it was the removal of the cause through self-help and self-liberation. The Jewish people must become an independent nation, settled on the soil of their own land and leading the life of a normal people. Moses Hess in his "Rome and Jerusalem" classified the Jewish question as one of the nationalist struggles inspired by the French Revolution. Perez Smolenskin and E. Ben-Yehuda urged the revival of Hebrew and the resettlement of Palestine as the foundation for the rebirth of the Jewish people. Herzl was unaware of the existence of these works. His eyes were not directed to the problem in the same manner. When he wrote "The Jewish State" he was a journalist, living in Paris, sending his letters to the leading newspaper of Vienna, the Neue Freie Presse, and writing on a great variety of subjects. He was led to see Jewish life as a phenomenon in a changing world. He had adapted himself to a worldly outlook on all life. Through his efforts, the Jewish problem was raised to the higher [12]level of an international question which, in his judgment, should be given consideration by enlightened statesmanship. He was inspired to give his pamphlet a title that arrested attention.
He wrote "The Jewish State" in a mood of restless agitation. His ideas were thrown pell-mell into the white heat of a spontaneous revelation. What was revealed dazzled and blinded him. Alex Bein, in his excellent biography, gives an intriguing description, drawn from Herzl's "Diaries," of how "The Jewish State" was born. It was the revelation of a mystic vision with flashes and overtones of prophecy. This is what Bein says:
"Then suddenly the storm breaks upon him. The clouds open. The thunder rolls. The lightning flashes about him. A thousand impressions beat upon him at the same time—a gigantic vision. He cannot think; he is unable to move; he can only write; breathless, unreflecting, unable to control himself or to exercise his critical faculties lest he dam the eruption, he dashes down his thoughts on scraps of paper—walking, standing, lying down, on the street, at the table, in the night—as if under unceasing command. So furiously did the cataract of his thoughts rush through him, that he thought he was going out of his mind. He was not working out the idea. The idea was working him out. It would have been an hallucination had it not been so informed by reason from first to last."
Not only did the Magic Title evoke a widespread interest among the intellectuals of the day, but it brought Jews out [13]of the ghettos and made them conscious of their origin and destiny. It made them feel that there was a world that might be won for their cause, hitherto never communicated to strangers. Through Herzl, Jews were taught not to fear the consequences of an international movement to demand their national freedom. Thereafter, with freedom, they were to speak of a Zionist Congress, of national funds, of national schools, of a flag and a national anthem, and the redemption of their land. Their spirits were liberated and in thought they no longer lived in ghettos. Herzl taught them not to hide in corners. At the First Congress he said, "We have nothing to do with conspiracy, secret intervention or indirect methods. We wish to put the question in the arena and under the control of free public opinion." The Jews were to be active factors in their emancipation and, if they wished it, what was described in "The Jewish State" would not be a dream but a reality.
The beginnings of the Jewish renaissance preceded the appearance of "The Jewish State" by several decades. In every section of Russian Jewry and extending to wherever the Jews clung to their Hebraic heritage, there was an active Zionist life. The reborn Hebrew was becoming an all-pervading influence. There were scores of Hebrew schools and academies. Hebrew journals of superior quality had a wide circulation. Ever since the pogroms of 1881, the ideas of Pinsker and Smolenskin and Gordon were discussed with great interest and deep understanding. There were many Zionist societies in Russia, in Poland, in Rumania, in Galicia and even in the United States. In "The Jewish State" Herzl alludes to the language of The Jewish State and passes Hebrew by as a manifestation of no great significance. He has a poorer opinion of Yiddish, the common language of [14]Jews, which he regards as "the furtive language of prisoners." This was obviously an oversight. With the advent of Herzl, however, Zionism was no more a matter of domestic concern only. It was no longer internal Jewish problem only, not a theme for discussion only at Zionist meetings, not a problem to heat the spirits of Jewish writers. The problem of Jewish exile now occupied a place on the agenda of international affairs.
Herzl was not so distant from his people as many of the Russian Zionists at first surmised. He was familiar with the social anti-Semitism of Austria and Germany. He knew of the disabilities of the Jews in Russia. There are many references in his feuilletons to matters of Jewish interest. He had read an anti-Semitic book written by Eugen Dühring called "The Jewish Problem as a Problem of Race, Morals and Culture." One of his closest friends had gone to Brazil for a Jewish committee to investigate the possibility of settling Jews in that part of South America. In 1892 he wrote an article on French anti-Semitism in which he considered the solution of a return to Zion and seemed to reject it. He wrote "The New Ghetto" two years before "The Jewish State" appeared. He was present at the trial of Alfred Dreyfus in December, 1894. He witnessed the degradation of Dreyfus and heard the cries of "Down with the Jews" in the streets of Paris. He read Edouard Drumont's anti-Semitic journal "La France Juive" and said, "I have to thank Drumont for much of the freedom of my present conception of the Jewish problem." While he was in Paris he was stirred as never before by the feeling that the plight of the Jews was a problem which would have to have the cooperation of enlightened statesmanship. What excited him in the [15]strangest way was the unaccountable indifference of Jews themselves to what seemed to him the menace of the existing situation. He saw the Jews in every land encircled by enemies, hostility to them growing with the increase of their numbers. In his excitement he thought first of Jewish philanthropists. He sought an interview with Baron Maurice de Hirsch in May, 1895. He planned an address to the Rothschilds. He talked of his ideas to friends in literary circles. His mind was obsessed by a gigantic problem which gave him no rest. He was struggling to pierce the veils of revelation. He saw a world in which the Jewish people lacked a fulcrum for national action and therefore had to seek to create it through beneficence. He had a remarkably resourceful and agile imagination. He weighed ideas, balanced them, discarded them, reflected, reconsidered, tried to reconcile contradictions, and finally came to what seemed to him at the moment the synthesis of the issue which seemed acceptable to reason and sentiment.
Obviously, "The Jewish State" was not a dogmatic finality. Most of the plans for settlement and migration are improvisations. The pamphlet was not a rigid plan or a blueprint. It was not a description of a Utopia, although some parts of it give that impression. It had an indicated destiny but was not bound by a rigid line. It was the illumination of a dynamic thought and followed the light with the hope that it might lead to fulfillment. There was room for detours and variations. It was to be rewritten, as he knew, not by its author but by the Jewish people on their way to freedom.
In fact, it was revised from the moment the Zionist [16]movement was organized on an international basis. The "Society of Jews" became the Zionist Organization, with its statutes, its procedures, its public excitement and controversies. "The Jewish Company" became the Bank; then more specifically, the Jewish Colonial Trust and later the Anglo-Palestine Bank. The description of the Gestor, which appears in the final chapter of the pamphlet, was never referred to again, but in effect it was incorporated in the idea of a state in-the-process-of-becoming. Its legitimate successor is the Jewish Agency referred to in the Mandate for Palestine. He was first led by the idea that the way to the charter was through the Sultan and that the Sultan would be influenced by Kaiser Wilhelm. But both princes failing him, he turned to England and Joseph Chamberlain, and came to the Uganda proposal. This was Herzl's one political success although the project was, in effect, rejected by the Zionist Congress. But this encounter with England was a precedent which led to much speculation in Zionist circles and gave a turn to Zionist thought away from Germany and Turkey. It served to inspire Dr. Chaim Weizman to make his home in England with the express purpose of seeking English sympathy for the Zionist ideal. The successor of Joseph Chamberlain was Arthur James Balfour. When Herzl opened Chamberlain's door, Zionism had an easier access to the England of Balfour.
When Herzl first appeared on the political scene, he thought of courtiers and statesmen, of princes and kings. He found that they could not be relied upon for truth or stability. They were encircled by favorites and mercenaries. Enormous responsibilities rested upon their shoulders but they seemed to behave with regard to these responsibilities as if they were gamblers or amateurs. Herzl soon realized that these were frail reeds that would break under the slightest pressure. He came to put his trust in the Jewish people, [17]the only real source of strength for the purpose of redemption. Confidence in themselves would give them power to breach their prison walls. His aristocratic republic had to become a movement of democracy. Only in "The Jewish State" will you find reference to a movement based upon Jews who endorse a "fixed program," and then become members under the "discipline" of leadership. When Herzl faced the First Congress, he saw that this conception of Zionism was foreign to the nature and character of the Jewish people. The shekel was the registry of a name. It led the way to the elevation of the individual in Zionist affairs, first as a member of a democratic army "willing" the fulfillment, and then settling in Palestine to become the hands that built the Homeland.
Arrayed in the armor of democracy, the Zionist movement made the self-emancipation ideal of Pinsker live in the soul of Herzl. At a number of Congresses, in his articles in Die Welt, Herzl showed how that idea had become an integral part of his life, although his first thoughts ran in quite another direction.
But his analysis of anti-Semitism and how to approach the problem remains true today after Hitler, as it was true then after Dreyfus. This was the authentic revelation that in his last days was fixed in his mind. The homelessness of the Jewish people must come to an end. That tragedy is a world problem. It is to be solved by world statesmanship in cooperation with the reawakened Jewish people. It is to be solved by the establishment of a free Jewish State in their historic Homeland. Herzl manifested his utter identification with the destiny of his own people at the Uganda Congress when he faced the rebellious Russian Zionists, spoke words of consolation to them and gave them assurances of his fealty to Zion. He died a few months later.
[18]"The Jewish State" was not regarded by Herzl as a piece of literature. It was a political document. It was to serve as the introduction to political action. It was to lead to the conversion of leaders in political life. It was to win converts to the idea of a Jewish State. Although a shy man at first, he did not hesitate to make his way through the corridors of the great and suffer the humiliations of the suppliant. Through that remarkable friend and Christian, the Reverend William H. Hechler, he met the Grand Duke of Baden; he made the rounds of German statesmen, Count zu Eulenburg, Foreign Minister, Von Buelow and Reichschancellor Hohenlohe; then he met the favorites who encircled Sultan Abdul Hamid and the Sultan himself. He placed the dramatic personae of his drama on the stage. The plan involved the Turkish debt, the German interest in the Orient. It involved stimulating the Russians and visiting the Pope. At first his political activities were conducted as the author of a startling pamphlet, then as the leader of his people. He became conscious of his leadership, and played his part with superb dignity. He had ease of manner and correct form. He created the impression of a regal personality; his noble appearance hid his hesitations and fears. With the Sultan he played the most remarkable game of diplomacy. He believed that once a mutual interest could be arrived at, he would be able to secure the funds, although at the time of speaking he had no funds at all. Adjusting himself to the wily Turk, he had to change and diminish his demands and finally, when he was dangerously near a disclosure, he was saved by the Sultan's transferring his interest to the French and obtaining his funds from them. With Kaiser Wilhelm, he soon appreciated the fact that he had to deal with a great theatrical personality who spoke of plans and purpose with great fire, but had no [19]courage and whose convictions melted away in the face of obstacles.
The world Herzl dealt with has passed away. The Turkish Empire now occupies a small part of the Near East. Its former provinces have now become "sovereign" states struggling to establish harmony between themselves and feeding on their animus towards the Jewish people returning home. The methods of diplomacy have changed. Loudness of speech is no longer out of order. Frankness and brutality may be expected at any international gathering. It is now felt as never before that behind political leaders, rulers, princes, statesmen, the people are advancing and soon will be able to push aside those who make of the relations of peoples a game and a gamble, a struggle for power, which, when achieved, dissolves into the nothingness of vanity.
"The Jewish State" should be regarded as one of a series of books, variations on the same theme, composed by the same author. The first was "The New Ghetto" (1894). That was a play which dealt with the social life of the upper class of Jews in Vienna. Then came the "Address to the Rothschilds." That was a memorandum which contained a proposal to Jewish philanthropists. "The Jewish State" was the third effort of an agitated mind, wavering between the projection of a Utopia or a thesis, and containing the political solution of the Jewish problem. The final variant of the original theme was the novel "Altneuland." Here he pictured the Promised Land as it might become twenty years after the beginning of the Zionist movement. In the interims, he played on the exciting stage of the Zionist Congresses. He paid court to princes and their satellites. He led in the organization of the Jewish Colonial Trust and the Jewish National [20]Fund. He delivered political addresses and engaged in political controversy. He began the writing of his "Diaries" after he had written "The Jewish State." His whole personality is reflected in that remarkable book. There you see his ideas in the process of becoming clear. There you see his sharp reactions; the reflection of his hopes, his disappointments, his shifts from untenable positions to positions possible after defeat. There you read his penetrating analysis of the figures on the Zionist stage upon whom he had to rely. There you are made to feel his doubts, his dread of death. In the midst of life he felt himself encircled by the Shadow of Death. There you found the explanation of his great haste, why he was so anxious to bring a measure of practical reality to the Jewish people even if it necessitated a detour from the land which was becoming more and more a part of his hopes and desires. The "Diaries" are unrestrained and unstudied. They were written hurriedly in the heat of the moment. They reveal the making of the great personality who gave only a glimpse of himself in "The Jewish State." They show the writer evolving as the hero of a great and lasting legend. The pamphlet is one of the chapters in the story of his struggle to achieve in eight years what his people had not been able to achieve in two thousand years. He gave his life to write it.
Theodor Herzl: A BIOGRAPHY
based on the work of Alex Bein
Theodor Herzl was born on Wednesday, May 2, 1860, in the city of Budapest.
Almost next door to his father's house was the liberal-reform temple. To this house of worship the little boy went regularly with his father on Sabbaths and Holy Days. At home, too, the essentials of the ritual were observed. One ceremony which Theodor learned in childhood remained with him; before every important event and decision he sought the blessing of his parents.
Even stronger than these impressions, however, was the influence of his mother. Her education had been German through and through; there was not a day on which she did not slip into German literature, especially the classics.
The Jewish world, not alien to her, did not find expression through her; her conscious efforts were all directed toward implanting the German cultural heritage in her children. Of even deeper significance was her sympathetic attitude toward the pride which showed early in her son, and her skill in transferring to him her sense of form, of bearing, of tactfulness and of simple grace.
At about the age of twelve he read in a German book about the Messiah-King whom many Jews still awaited and who would come riding, like the poorest of the poor on an ass. The history of the Exodus and the legend of the liberation by the King-Messiah ran together in the boy's mind, inspiring in him the theme of a wonderful story which he sought in vain to put into literary form.
A little while thereafter Herzl had the following dream: "The King-Messiah came, a glorious and majestic old man, took me in his arms, and swept off with me on the [24]wings of the wind. On one of the iridescent clouds we encountered the figure of Moses. The features were those familiar to me out of my childhood in the statue by Michelangelo. The Messiah called to Moses: It is for this child that I have prayed. But to me he said: Go, declare to the Jews that I shall come soon and perform great wonders and great deeds for my people and for the whole world."
It may be to this period (of his Bar Mitzvah) of reawakened Jewish sensitivity, of heightened responsiveness to the expectations of his elders, of resurgent interest in Jewish historical studies—it may be to this period that the dream of a dedicated life belonged. It is almost certain, too, that for the great event of the Bar Mitzvah the old grandfather of Semlin came to Pest. About this time, again, Alkalai, that early, all-but-forgotten Zionist, passed through Vienna and Budapest on his final journey to Palestine. Whether or not each one of these circumstances had a direct effect on the boy, the whole complex surrounds his Bar Mitzvah with the suggestion of the mission of his life, and, certainly, occasion was given for the awakening in him of the feeling of dedication to a great enterprise.
The attention, energy and time which Herzl devoted to literature, at fifteen, his absorption in himself, his activity in the school literary society meant of course so much less given to his school work. He found no time at all for science; Jewish questions likewise disappeared from his interests; he was completely absorbed by German literary culture. This is all the more astonishing when we reflect that anti-Semitism continued to increase steadily. As a grown man Herzl could recall that one of his teachers, in defining the word "heathen," had said, "such as idolators, Mohammedans and Jews." Whether it was this incident,—as the memory of [25]the grown man always insisted—which enraged him beyond endurance, or the increasingly bad school reports, or both circumstances together, the fact remains that on February 4, 1875 Herzl left the Technical School.
At sixteen to eighteen in High School, he struggled to define the basic principles of various literary art forms in order that he might see more clearly what he himself wanted to say. He took an active and eager part in the work of the "German Self-Education Society" created by the students of his school. The Jewish world, whose inferior position always wounded his pride, and whose obstinate separatism seemed to him utterly meaningless, drifted further and further out of his mind.
At eighteen, after the sudden death of his only sister, the family moved to Vienna where Herzl entered the University as a law student. Herzl, who accounted himself a liberal and an Austrian patriot, plunged eagerly into the activities of a large student Cultural Association, attended its discussions and directed its literary evenings. He had occasion, there, to deride certain Jewish fellow members who, in his view, displayed an excessive eagerness in their loyalty to various movements.
This was the extent to which, in these days, he occupied himself with the Jewish question—at least externally. He concerned himself little or not at all with the official Jewish world which was seeking to submerge itself in the surrounding world. He seldom visited the synagogue.
He was an omnivorous reader. His extraordinary knowledge of books was evident in his conversation, for he liked to adorn his speech with quotations, which came readily to his memory. Herzl read Eugen Dühring's book The Jewish-Problem as a Problem of Race, Morals and Culture—the first and most important effort to find a "scientific," [26]philosophic, biologic and historical basis for the anti-Semitism which was sweeping through Europe in those days (1881). Dühring saw the Jewish question as a purely racial question, and for him the Jewish race was without any worth whatsoever. Those peoples which, out of a false sentiment of humanity, had permitted the Jews to live among them with equal and sometimes even with superior rights, had to be liberated from the harmful intruder, had to be de-Judaized.
The reading of this book had the effect upon him of a blow between the eyes. The observations set down in his diary burn with indignation: "An infamous book.... If Dühring, who unites so much undeniable intelligence with so much universality of knowledge, can write like this, what are we to expect from the ignorant masses?"
This passionate reaction to Dühring's book shows us how deeply he had been moved, and how fearfully he had been shaken in his belief that the Jewish question was on the point of disappearing. We shall find echoes of this experience in the pages of the Judenstaat. For the time being, however, he shrank from the logical consequences of his reactions. His inner pride began to build itself up.
The more immediate reaction was undoubtedly a sharpened perception and evaluation of his fellow-members in the Fraternity. Herzl had joined and been active in a duelling Fraternity. Here, too, anti-Semitism was breaking through; student after student expressed himself favorably toward the Jew-baiting speeches of Schoenerer, who was making a special effort to win over the universities. In the Fraternity debates Herzl expressed himself sharply against any open or covert manifestation of such sympathy. But he was already known for the sharpness of his tongue and the individuality of his views. Thus he won to himself neither the few [27]co-religionists who belonged to the Fraternity nor the mass of the Germanic students.
He had learned from newspaper reports that the Wagner Memorial meeting, in which his Fraternity had taken a part, had been transformed into an anti-Semitic demonstration. His Fraternity had, therefore, identified itself with a movement which he, as a believer in liberty, was bound to condemn, even if he had not been a Jew. "It is pretty clear that, handicapped as I am by my Semitism (the word was not yet known at the time of my entry), I would today refrain from seeking a membership which would, indeed, probably be refused me; it must also be clear to every decent person that under these circumstances I cannot wish to retain my membership." Herzl withdrew from the organization.
On July 30, 1884, Herzl was admitted to the bar in Vienna. His student days were over. A new era opened for him, with its challenge to prove whether or not there was something in him to establish and proclaim to the world.
In August, he entered on his law practice in the service of the state and was soon transferred to the court of Salzburg. Though he may at that time have been so far from Judaism that only pride and a decent respect for the feelings of his parents stood between him and baptism, he could not help perceiving that as a Jew he would find the higher levels of the civil service hierarchy closed to him. On August 5, 1885, he withdrew from the service, determined to seek fame and fortune as a writer.
Brimming with hope, he set out on a journey which was to be the introduction to his literary life. He visited Belgium and Holland and in Berlin made valuable connections and became a regular contributor to several important newspapers. Thus the range of his connections and relationships [28]widened from year to year, and when he travelled again it was an ever-widening audience that waited for his impressions and observations.
In a book of reprinted feuilletons of Herzl which appeared in the first years of his success as a journalist a total of seven or eight lines is devoted to Jews. His impressions of the Ghetto in Rome. "What a steaming in the air, what a street! Countless open doors and windows thronged with innumerable pallid and worn-out faces. The ghetto! With what base and persistent hatred these unfortunates have been persecuted for the sole crime of faithfulness to their religion. We've travelled a long way since those times: nowadays the Jew is despised only for having a crooked nose, or for being a plutocrat even when he happens to be a pauper." Pity and bitterness abound in these lines, but they are written by a detached spectator. He did not know how much of the Jew there was in him even in this feeling of remoteness from a world which offered him not living reality but folly.
By 1892, Herzl had achieved great success as a dramatist and as a journalist; his plays had been performed on the stage of the leading theatre of Vienna and, to cap the climax, came an appointment to the staff of the Neue Freie Presse, one of the most distinguished papers on the continent.
Early in October he received a telegram from the Neue Freie Presse asking whether he would accept the post of Paris correspondent. He replied at once in the affirmative, and proceeded to the French capital at the end of the same month. He wrote to his parents: "The position of Paris correspondent is the springboard to great things, and I shall achieve them, to your great joy, my dear beloved parents."
Herzl sustained successfully the comparison with his great models and predecessors. In style as well as in substance his [29]reports and articles were masterpieces of their kind. He came to his task with the equipment of a perfect feuilletonist; his style was polished and musical; he possessed in an exceptional degree the capacity to describe natural scenery in a few fine clear strokes and of hinting at, rather than of reproducing, a mood with a minimum of language. Everything was there, background, mood and development of action in plastic balance. It was only now, when a great opportunity provoked him to the highest effort, that all the lessons of the years of his apprenticeship built up a many-sided perfection.
He threw himself seriously and diligently into the journalistic craft. He observed with close attention all that went on about him, and listened with sharpened ears. But the moment had not yet come for the unveiling of a mission within him. He was on the way; the process of preparation had begun.
How, in this mood of his, could he possibly have avoided clashing with the Jewish question? As far back as the time of his Spanish journey, when he had sought healing from his domestic and spiritual torments, the question had presented itself to him and had cried for artistic expression. His call to Paris had been a welcome pretext, perhaps, putting off the writing of his Jewish novel—the more so as he probably was not ripe enough for such an undertaking. Now that he was in Paris, where his eyes were opened to the full range of the social process, he began to draw nearer in spirit to his fellow-Jews, and to look upon them more warmly and with less inhibition. He found them as difficult aesthetically as before, but he tried hard to grasp the essence of their character and substance, and to judge them without prejudice.
When Herzl arrived in Paris anti-Semitism, had [30]not—in spite of Drumont's exertions, and in spite of his paper, la Libre Parole, founded in 1892—achieved the dimensions of a genuine movement, nor was it destined to become one in the German sense. But it served as the focus for all kinds of discontents and resentments; it attracted certain serious critical spirits, too; its influence grew from day to day, and the position of the Jews became increasingly uncomfortable.
Herzl's contact with anti-Semitism dated back to his student days, when it had first taken on the form of a social political movement. He had been aware of it as a writer, though the contact had never ripened into a serious inner struggle or compelled him to give utterance to it.
Now he read Drumont, as he had read Dühring. The impression was again a profound one. What moved him most in the work was the totality of a world picture based on a considered hostility to the Jews.
A ritual-murder trial was in progress in the town of Xanten, in the Rhineland. On August 31, 1892, Herzl, dealing with this subject as with all other subjects of public interest, summed up the general situation in a long report entitled "French anti-Semitism."
By now Herzl was no longer content with a simple acceptance of the facts; he was looking for the deeper significance of the universal enmity directed against the Jews. For the world it is a lightning conductor. But so far it was only a flash of insight which ended in nothing more than a literary paradox. However, from now on it gave him no peace.
At the turn of the year 1892-93 there came a sharp clarification in his ideas. He had followed closely the evasive debates in the Austrian Reichstag—debates which forever dodged the reality by turning the question into one [31]of religion. "It is no longer—and it has not been for a long time—a theological matter. It has nothing whatsoever to do with religion and conscience," declared Herzl. "What is more, everyone knows it. The Jewish question is neither nationalistic nor religious. It is a social question."
Then came the summer, 1894, and at its close Herzl took a much needed vacation. He spent the month of September in Baden, near Vienna, in the company of his fellow-feuilletonist on the Neue Freie Presse, Ludwig Speidel. Herzl has left a record of their conversation. What he gave Speidel was more or less what he had felt, many years before, after his reading of Dühring. He admitted the substance of the anti-Semitic accusation which linked the Jew with money; he defended the Jew as the victim of a long historic process for which the Jew was not responsible. "It is not our fault, not the fault of the Jews, that we find ourselves forced into the role of alien bodies in the midst of various nations. The ghetto, which was not of our making, bred in us certain anti-social qualities.... Our original character cannot have been other than magnificent and proud; we were men who knew how to face war and how to defend the state; had we not started out with such gifts, how could we have survived two thousand years of unrelenting persecution?"
At that time Herzl came across the Zionist solution, and definitely rejected it. Discussing the novel Femme de Claude, by Dumas the younger, he says of one of its characters: "The good Jew Daniel wants to rediscover the homeland of his race and gather his scattered brothers into it. But a man like Daniel would surely know that the historic homeland of the Jews no longer has any value for them. It is childish to go in search of the geographic location of this homeland. And if the Jews really 'returned home' one [32]day, they would discover on the next day that they do not belong together. For centuries they have been rooted in diverse nationalisms; they differ from each other, group by group; the only thing they have in common is the pressure which holds them together. All humiliated peoples have Jewish characteristics, and as soon as the pressure is removed they react like liberated men."
The inner apotheosis was drawing nearer and nearer for Herzl. In October, 1894, Herzl was in the studio of the sculptor, Samuel Friedrich Beer, who was making a bust of him. The conversation turned to the Jewish question and to the growth of the anti-Semitic movement in Vienna, the hometown of both Herzl and Beer. It was useless for the Jew to turn artist and to dissociate himself from money, said Herzl. "The blot sticks. We can't break away from the ghetto." A great excitement seized Herzl, and he left the atelier, and on the way home the inspiration came on him like a hammerblow. What was it? The complete outline of a play, "like a block of basalt."
With this play Herzl completed his inner return to his people. Until then, with all his emotional involvement in the question, he had stood outside it as the observer, the student, the clarifier, or even the defender. He had provided the world-historic background for the problem, he had diagnosed it and given the prognosis for the future. Now he was immersed in it and identified with it.
He had become its spokesman and attorney, as he was spokesman and attorney for other victims of injustice. It was no accident that the hero of the play was a lawyer by vocation and avocation. For the hero was Herzl himself, and the transformation which unfolded in Dr. Jacob Samuel was the transformation which was unfolding in Theodore Herzl.
[33]He belongs utterly to the Jews; it is for them that he fights, and, dying, he still sees himself as the fighter for their future. What future Jacob Samuel foresaw for the Jews in his dying moments remained unclear. It would appear that Herzl himself still believed that a deepening of mutual understanding between Jews and non-Jews might bring the solution.
But Herzl had travelled so much further by this time that he could not have in mind the "reconciliation" which would come by the capitulation of baptism. Indeed, the play emphasizes as a first prerequisite in human relations the element of self-respect. "If you become untrue to yourself," says the clever mother to the son, in the play, "you musn't complain if others become untrue to you." It was like a fresh wind blowing suddenly through the choking atmosphere of a lightless room. It was a new attitude: decent pride!
It called for a frightful effort to descend from the intoxicating heights of creativity to the ordinary round of work. For weeks now his regular employment had filled Herzl with revulsion. The first reports of the Dreyfus trial, which appeared while he was working on his New Ghetto, therefore made no particular impression on him. It looked like a sordid espionage affair in which a foreign power—before long it was revealed that the foreign power was Germany, acting through Major von Schwartzkoppen—had been buying up through its agent secret documents of the French general staff. An officer by the name of Alfred Dreyfus was named as the culprit, and no one had reason to doubt that he was guilty, even though Drumont's Libre Parole was exploiting the fact that the man was a Jew.
But, after the degradation of Dreyfus, Herzl became more and more convinced of his innocence. "A Jew who, as an officer on the general staff, has before him an honorable [34]career, cannot commit such a crime.... The Jews, who have so long been condemned to a state of civic dishonor, have, as a result, developed an almost pathological hunger for honor, and a Jewish officer is in this respect specifically Jewish."
"The Dreyfus case," he wrote in 1899, "embodies more than a judicial error; it embodies the desire of the vast majority of the French to condemn a Jew, and to condemn all Jews in this one Jew. Death to the Jews! howled the mob, as the decorations were being ripped from the captain's coat.... Where? In France. In republican, modern, civilized France, a hundred years after the Declaration of the Rights of Man. The French people, or at any rate the greater part of the French people, does not want to extend the rights of man to Jews. The edict of the great Revolution had been revoked."
Illumined thus in retrospect, the "curious excitement" which gripped Herzl on that occasion takes on a special significance. "Until that time most of us believed that the solution of the Jewish question was to be patiently waited for as part of the general development of mankind. But when a people which in every other respect is so progressive and so highly civilized can take such a turn, what are we to expect from other peoples, which have not even attained the level which France attained a hundred years ago?"
In that fateful moment, when he heard the howling of the mob outside the gates of the Ecole Militaire, the realization flashed upon Herzl that anti-Semitism was deep-rooted in the heart of the people—so deep, indeed, that it was impossible to hope for its disappearance within a measurable period of time. Precisely because he was so sensitive to his honor as a Jew, precisely because he had proclaimed, in the New Ghetto, the ideal of human reconciliation, and [35]had taken the ultimate decision to stand by his Jewishness, the ghastly spectacle of that winter morning must have shaken him to the depths of his being. It was as if the ground had been cut away from under his feet. In this sense Herzl could say later that the Dreyfus affair had made him a Zionist.
He saw all about him the ever fiercer light of a blazing anti-Semitism. In the French Chamber of Deputies the deputy Denis made an interpellation on the influence of the Jews in the political administration of the country. In Vienna a Jewish member of the Reichstag rose to speak and was howled down. On April 2, 1895, were held the municipal elections of Vienna, and there was an enormous increase in the number of anti-Semitic aldermen. Changing plans passed tumultuously through his mind. He wanted to write a book on "The Condition of the Jews," consisting of reports on all the important Jewish colonization enterprises in Russia, Galicia, Hungary, Bohemia, the Orient, and those more recently founded in Palestine, about which he had heard from a relative. Alphonse Daudet, the famous French author with whom he had discussed the whole matter, felt that Herzl ought to write a novel; it would carry further than a play. "Look at Uncle Tom's Cabin."
He returned to his former plan of a Jewish novel which he had abandoned when he was called to his assignment on the Neue Freie Presse in Paris. His friend Kana, the suicide, was no longer to be the central figure. He was instead to be "the weaker one, the beloved friend of the hero," and would take his own life after a series of misfortunes, while the Promised Land was being discovered or rather founded. When the hero aboard the ship which was taking him to the Promised Land would receive the moving farewell letter of his friend, his first reaction after his horror [36]would be one of rage: "Idiot! Fool! Miserable hopeless weakling! A life lost which belonged to us!"
We can see the Zionist idea arising. Its outlines are still indefinite, but the decisive idea is clearly visible; only by migration can this upright human type be given its chance to emerge. In The New Ghetto Jacob Samuel is a hero because he knows how to choose an honorable death. Now the death of a useful man is criminally wasteful. For there are great tasks to be undertaken.
In essence it is the Act and not the Word that confronts us. What last impulse it was that actually carried Herzl from the Word to the Act it will be difficult to tell—he himself could not have given the answer. Little things may play a dramatic role not less effectively than great ones when a man is so charged with purpose as Herzl then was.
In the early days of May, Herzl addressed to Baron de Hirsch (the sponsor of Jewish colonization in Argentina), the letter which opens his Jewish political career. His request for an interview was granted. Herzl prepared an outline of his position in notes, lest he omit something important during their conversation.
In these notes he writes: "If the Jews are to be transformed into men of character in a reasonable period of time, say ten or twenty years, or even forty—the interval needed by Moses—it cannot be done without migration. Who is going to decide whether conditions are bad enough today to warrant our migration? And whether the situation is hopeless? And the Congress which you (i.e. Hirsch) have convened for the first of August in a hotel in Switzerland? You will preside over this Congress of notables. Your call will be heard and answered in every part of the world.
"And what will be the message given to the men assembled 'You are pariahs! You must forever tremble at [37]the thought that you are about to be deprived of your rights and stripped of your possessions. You will be insulted when you walk in the street. If you are poor, you suffer doubly. If you are rich, you must conceal the fact. You are not admitted to any honorable calling, and if you deal in money you are made the special focus of contempt.... The situation will not change for the better, but rather for the worse.... There is only way out: into the Promised Land.'"
Where the Promised Land was to be located, how it was to be acquired, is not yet mentioned. Herzl does not seem to have thought this question of decisive significance; it was a scientific matter. It was the organization of the migration which held his attention, the political preparations among the Powers, the preliminary changes to be brought about among the masses by training, by "tremendous propaganda, the popularization of the idea through newspapers, books, pamphlets, lectures, pictures, songs."
On the day of his conversation with Baron de Hirsch, Herzl wrote him a long letter in which he sought to supplement the information and impressions which had been the result of the meeting. "Please believe me, the political life of an entire people—particularly when that people is scattered throughout the entire world—can be set in motion only with imponderables floating high in the air. Do you know what the German Reich sprang from? From dreams, songs, fantasies, and gold-black bands worn by students. And that in a brief period of time. What? You do not understand imponderables? And what is religion? Bethink yourself what the Jews have endured for two thousand years for the sake of this fantasy....
"The exodus to the Promised Land presents itself as a tremendous enterprise in transportation, unparalleled in the modern world. What transportation? It is a complex of [38]all human enterprises which we shall fit Into each other like cog-wheels. And in the very first stages of the enterprise we shall find employment for the ambitious younger masses of our people: all the engineers, architects, technologists, chemists, doctors, and lawyers, those who have emerged in the last thirty years from the ghetto and who have been moved by the faith that they can win their bread and a little honor outside the framework of our Jewish business futilities. Today they must be filled with despair, they constitute the foundation of a frightful over-educated proletariat. But it is to these that all my love belongs, and I am just as set on increasing their number as you are set on diminishing it. It is in them that I perceive the latent power of the Jewish people. In brief, my kind."
In this letter of June 3, 1895, Herzl for the first time imparted his new Jewish policy to a stranger. The writing down of his views, as well as his conversation on the subject, had had a stronger effect on himself than on Hirsch. He had obtained a clear vision of the new and revolutionary character of his proposals. On the same day or shortly thereafter he began a diary under the title of The Jewish Question.
"For some time now, I have been engaged upon a work of indescribable greatness. I do not know yet whether I shall carry it through. It has assumed the aspect of some mighty dream. But days and weeks have passed since it has filled me utterly, it has overflown into my unconscious self, it accompanies me wherever I go, it broods above all my commonplace conversation, it peeps over my shoulder at the comical little journalistic work which I must carry out. It disturbs and intoxicates me."
Then suddenly the storm breaks upon him. The clouds open, the thunder rolls and the lightning flashes about him. [39]A thousand impressions beat upon him simultaneously, a gigantic vision. He cannot think, he cannot act, he can only write; breathless, unreflecting, unable to control himself, unable to exercise the critical faculty lest he dam the eruption, he dashes down his thoughts on scraps of paper—"Walking, standing, lying down, in the street, at table, in the night," as if under unceasing command.
And then doubts rise up from the depths. He dines with well-to-do, educated, oppressed people who confront the question of anti-Semitism in a state of complete helplessness: "They do not suspect it, but they are ghetto-natures, quiet, decent, timid. That is what most of us are. Will they understand the call to freedom and to manhood? When I left them my spirits were very low. Again, my plan appeared to me to be crazy." Then at once he comes to "Today I am again as firm as steel." He notes the next morning. "The flabbiness of the people I met yesterday gives me all the more grounds for action."
Clearer and clearer becomes the picture which he has of himself and of his task in the history of his people. "I picked up once again the torn thread of the tradition of our people. I lead it into the Promised Land."
"The Promised Land, where we can have hooked noses, black or red beards, and bow legs, without being despised for it; where we can live at last as free men on our own soil, and where we can die peacefully in our own fatherland. There we can expect the award of honor for great deeds, so that the offensive cry of 'Jew!' may become an honorable appellation, like German, Englishman, Frenchman—in brief, like all civilized peoples; so that we may be able to form our state to educate our people for the tasks which at present still lie beyond our vision. For surely God would not have kept us alive so long if there were not assigned [40]to us a specific role in the history of mankind." He adds: "The Jewish state is a world need." He draws the logical consequence for himself: "I believe that for me life has ended and world history begun."
He let the first storm pass over him, yielding to its imperious will, making no effort to stem its fury lest he interrupt the inspiration. When it had had its way with him, he took hold of himself again, and gathered up his energies for the effort to reconstruct everything logically and in ordered fashion. He was afraid that death might come upon him before he had succeeded in reducing to transferable form his historic vision. Thus, in the course of five days, he added to his diary a sixty-five page pamphlet—in effect the outline of Der Judenstaat—which he called: Address to the Rothschilds.
In the address he writes, "I have the solution to the Jewish question. I know it sounds mad; and at the beginning I shall be called mad more than once—until the truth of what I am saying is recognized in all its shattering force."
He wrote to Bismarck asking for an interview in order to submit his plan for a solution to the Jewish problem but he received no reply.
He wrote to Rabbi Gudemann, Chief Rabbi of Vienna, the occasion being the anti-Jewish excesses which had occurred in Vienna. "This plan ... is a reserve against more evil days."
Herzl, in his first visit to England, met and talked with Israel Zangwill, the novelist, whom he impressed without quite winning him over. But Zangwill made it possible for him to meet more than a few prominent, influential Jews of whom he made immediate converts. None of them wanted to know anything about the Argentine, and on this point the practical men were united with the dreamers: Palestine alone [41]came into the picture for a national concentration of the Jews.
After his experiences in England, Herzl resolved to present his plan to the public at large. The Address to the Rothschilds which was the first complete writing of his plan, forged in the heat of inspiration was thoroughly reworked and emerged as his great book Der Judenstaat. Its title was: The Jewish State: An Attempt at a Modern Solution of the Jewish Problem. Der Judenstaat may properly be called Herzl's life work; his philosophy of the world, his views on the state, on the Jewish people, on science and technology, as we have seen them developing to this, his thirty-fifth year are concentrated in the book.
The "Jewish State" was published in an edition of three thousand. It was read by small circles in various European capitals. It was sent to leading personalities in the press and political circles. It was soon translated into several languages. Herzl received many letters from authors and statesmen in which the work was praised. But the general German press, especially the Jewish-controlled press, took a negative attitude. A number of journalists alluded to the adventurer who would like to become Prime Minister or King of the Jews. No mention of the "Jewish State" appeared in the Neue Freie Presse, then or ever. The Algemeine Zeitung of Vienna said that Zionism was a madness born of despair, The Algemeine Zeitung of Munich described it as a fantastic dream of a feuilletonist whose mind had been unhinged by Jewish enthusiasm.
It was upon the Jewish masses that Herzl made a tremendous impression. He dawned upon Jews of Eastern Europe as a mystic figure rising out of the past. Little was known of his pamphlet, for it was kept out of the country by censorship in Russia. Only its title got their attention [42]and the stories told of Herzl—the Western Jew returning to his people—gripped their hearts and stirred their imagination. He was greeted by one of the Galician Zionist societies as the leader who, like Moses, had returned from Midian to liberate the Jews. Max Nordau, that devastating critic of art and literature, was swept off his feet and described the pamphlet as a revelation, Richard Beer Hoffman, the poet, wrote to Herzl saying "At last there comes again a man, who does not carry his Judaism with resignation as if it were a burden or a misfortune, but is proud to be the legal heir of an immemorial culture."
It became clear to Herzl that he would have to take an active part in the task he had set forth in "The Jewish State." He no longer felt that he stood alone. He was not inclined to appear on a public platform. He had the shyness of the man who had always written what he had to say. He also felt that it would do more harm than good if his ideas were to be obscured by his personal presence. Through correspondence he set in motion Zionist activities—in London, in Paris, in Berlin, in the United States. The amount of letter-writing he developed was enormous.
He decided that there were three tasks to be undertaken at once. The first was the organization of the Society of Jews. The second was to continue diplomatic work in Constantinople and among interested Powers. The third was the creation of a press to influence public opinion and to prepare the Jewish masses for the great migration.
Through the Rev. Hechler, a chaplain of the British Embassy in Vienna, who believed in the Jewish return to the Holy Land, Herzl was introduced to the Grand Duke of Baden, a Christian of great piety and influence in political circles.
Herzl intended to use the influence of the Germans to [43]affect the Sultan and make him more sympathetic to Zionist proposals. Herzl told the Grand Duke that he would like to have Zionism included within the cultural sphere of German interests. The Grand Duke said that the Kaiser seemed inclined to take Jewish migration under German protection. The great powers were interested in maintaining certain extra territorial rights within the Turkish Empire. If they had nationals in any part of the Empire, they claimed the right to protect them over and above Turkish law. It was, therefore, not the Kaiser's interest in the Jews, but in extending German jurisdiction within the Turkish Empire that persuaded him to suggest the adoption of Jews in Palestine for that purpose. Germany had a special relationship to Turkey. Most of the western powers were openly discussing the impending partition of the Turkish Empire, but Germany was opposed to it.
Herzl was told that the Kaiser was prepared to see him at the head of a delegation when he visited Palestine, but Herzl was anxious to see the Kaiser without delay. He suggested an audience before the trip to Palestine in order that the Kaiser might be in a position to discuss the Jewish question with the Sultan. The Grand Duke advised Herzl to see Count Philip Zu Eulenberg, the German Ambassador at Vienna. Herzl was given an opportunity to see Count Eulenberg in Vienna. Herzl told him that he wanted His Imperial Majesty to persuade the Sultan to open negotiations with the Jews.
The Count passed Herzl over to the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Von Buelow, who happened to be in Vienna at the same time. Van Buelow knew a great deal about the Zionist movement. He said that the difficulty lay in persuading the Sultan to deal with the Jews. He felt certain that the Sultan could be impressed if he was properly [44]advised by the Kaiser. A week later Herzl was informed of the Kaiser's inclination to take the Jews of Palestine under his protection, and repeated that he would like to see Herzl at the head of a delegation in Jerusalem, later on.
Herzl was afraid of going further in this direction without having in existence the financial instrument without which neither negotiations nor colonization could be carried on. Herzl urged David Wolffsohn and Jacobus Kahn to proceed with the utmost speed to incorporate the Jewish Colonial Trust. He foresaw the possibility that a demand might be made at any time to show the color of his money. Although the affairs of the Bank were in the hands of Wolffsohn and Kahn, Herzl himself worried over every detail, urging and driving and complaining about the slowness of the action. On March 28, 1899 the subscription lists were opened. Herzl's expectations were not fulfilled. Only about 200,000 shares had been sold, three-quarters of them in Russia. The Bank could not be opened until it had at least 250,000 paid-up shares. After a great deal of effort, the minimum was finally obtained and the Trust was officially opened in time for the opening of the third Congress in August, 1899.
Herzl addressed a mass meeting in London in October, 1899, under Dr. Gastner's chairmanship. In his address at this meeting, Herzl said that he believed the time was not far off when the Jewish people would be set in motion. He asked the audience to accept his word even if he could not speak more definitely. "When I return to you again," he said, "we shall, I hope, be still further on our path." At this meeting Father Ignatius, a Catholic believer in Zionism, referred to Herzl "as a new Joshua who had come to fulfill the words of the Prophet Ezekiel." The effect produced upon the audience was not useful to Herzl's purposes at that [45]time. He had always tried to discourage the impression of himself as a Messianic figure. The meeting in London was the only occasion where he lost his self-mastery in public.
When Herzl met the Foreign Minister, Von Buelow, again, it was in the presence of the Reich Chancellor, Hohenlohe. At once he perceived a different nuance in the conversation and a dissonance in comparison with the conversation he had had with Count Eulenberg. He thought that the Chancellor and the Foreign Minister were not in agreement with the Kaiser and did not dare to say it openly; or, on the other hand, they might be favorably inclined but would not be willing to say it to him.
Finally, Herzl saw the Kaiser in Constantinople. After Herzl had introduced the subject of his visit, the Kaiser broke in and explained why the Zionist movement attracted him.
"There are among your people," said the Kaiser, "certain elements whom it would be a good thing to move to Palestine."
He asked Herzl to submit, in advance, the address he intended to present to him in Jerusalem. When he was asked what the Kaiser should place before the Sultan as the gist of the Jewish proposals, Herzl replied "a chartered company under German protection."
Herzl met the Kaiser, as arranged, in Palestine. Herzl arrived in Jaffa on October 6, 1898. On a Friday morning, he awaited the coming of the Kaiser and his entourage on the road that ran by the Colony of Mikveh Israel. The Kaiser recognized him from a distance. He said a few words about the weather, about the lack of water in Palestine, and that it was a land that had a future.
In the petition Herzl later submitted to the Kaiser, many of the pregnant passages were deleted by the Kaiser's [46]advisers. All passages that referred specifically to the aims of the Zionist movement, to the desperate need of the Jewish people and asking for the Kaiser's protection of a projected Jewish land company for Syria and Palestine, had been removed. The audience with the Kaiser took place on Monday, November 2nd. The Kaiser thanked Herzl for the address which, he said, had interested him extremely. It was the Kaiser's opinion that the soil was cultivable. What the land lacked was water and shade.
"That we can supply," said Herzl. "It would cost billions, but it will bring in billions too."
"Well, you certainly have enough money, more than all of us," said the Kaiser.
It was a brief interview. It was vague and seemed to lead nowhere. Herzl was under the impression that certain influences had been exerted between the interview in Constantinople and the audience in Jerusalem.
When the official German communique was issued, the encounter with Herzl was hid in a closing paragraph and deprived of all significance. This is how it read:
"Later the Kaiser received the French Consul, also a Jewish deputation which presented him with an album of pictures of the Jewish colonies in Palestine. In reply to an address by the leader of the deputation, His Majesty remarked he viewed with benevolent interest all efforts directed to the improvement of agriculture in Palestine as long as these accorded with the welfare of the Turkish Empire and were conducted in a spirit of complete respect for the sovereignty of the Sultan."
It was a sudden descent from hope into a closed road. Herzl refused to be discouraged. It was hard for him to realize that the Kaiser's enthusiasm in Constantinople could have cooled off so quickly in Jerusalem, but it seemed that [47]there was no way to continue contact with the people he had interested in Germany. He tried to pick up the broken threads, but, once broken, they could not be revived. The Grand Duke of Baden remained ever constant and loyal, but he could do nothing. Herzl never saw the Kaiser again. In a letter to the Grand Duke, closing this chapter of Zionist history, Herzl said:
"I can only assume that a hope especially dear to me has faded away and that we shall not achieve our Zionist goal under a German protectorate."
At about the same time, Herzl met Philip Michael Von Nevlinski, a descendant of a long line of Polish noblemen who had entered the diplomatic service and became a diplomatic agent-at-large and a French journalist. In the first stages, Nevlinski guided Herzl in all the work he did in Constantinople. When Herzl came to Constantinople in June, 1896 he was under the impression that Nevlinski had already arranged an audience with the Sultan. It was not so easy, however. But whether such an audience had been arranged or not, Herzl was able to meet, a number of highly-placed Turkish officials, including the Grand Vizier. At first, the line of action was not clear, but by now Herzl had formulated his proposals to the Sultan.
Ever since the middle of the nineteenth century, Turkish finances had been in a shocking condition. The Empire was being badly managed. The Sultan was regarded as "the sick man of Europe." In 1891 the total external debt, including unpaid interest, reached the figure of two hundred and fifty-three million pounds sterling. In 1881 there was a consolidation of the debt. It was reduced to one hundred and six million pounds, but the finances of Turkey were placed under the control of a committee representing the creditors, to whom was transferred certain domestic Turkish [48]monopolies and the collection of several categories of taxes. This enabled the European powers to intervene in the affairs of Turkey. Only by the removal of this foreign tutelage could Turkey hope to regain its independence. It was to achieve this end, Herzl thought, that the Jews, and the Jews alone, could be useful. For this service, he intended to ask for a Jewish State in Palestine. Herzl followed this line until finally the need for refunding the Turkish debt disappeared.
But at this time Herzl was not able to obtain an audience with the Sultan. Nevlinski reported that such an audience had been refused because the Sultan declined to discuss sovereignty over Palestine. Doubt was expressed as to the accuracy of the report. Whatever the fact may be, the first venture of Herzl in Constantinople was not successful.
Herzl moved along the lines that led to Constantinople and Berlin, but he did not overlook the importance of maintaining contact with Jewish philanthropies. A letter sent to the Baron de Hirsch came a day after his death.
Herzl went to London where matters had been arranged for him to meet the leaders of British Jewry. He met Claude Montefiore and Frederick Mocatte, representatives of the Anglo-Jewish Association. They were not sympathetic. Herzl fared no better at a banquet given to him by the Maccabbeans. The personal impression Herzl made was profound. But there was no practical issue nor did he make any progress during the time he spent in England. He got Sir Samuel Montagu and Colonel Goldsmith to agree to cooperate with him in an endeavor to establish a vassal Jewish State under the sovereignty of Turkey if the Powers would agree; provided, the Baron de Hirsch Fund placed £10,000,000 at his disposal for the plan; and Baron Edmund de Rothschild became a member of the Executive Committee [49]of the proposed Society of Jews. These conditions were fantastic at that time and Herzl could not meet them.
He went to Paris and had a talk with Baron Edmund. Baron Edmund was older than Herzl and felt ill at ease in the presence of a calm critic of all he had done for Jewish colonization in Palestine. Herzl made the impression on him of an undisciplined enthusiast. Baron Edmund did not believe it possible to create political conditions favorable for a mass immigration of Jews. Even if that could be done, an uncontrolled mass immigration into Palestine would have the effect of landing tens of thousands of Jews to be fed and looked after by the small Jewish community in Palestine. He clung to his idea of slow colonization attracting no attention and careful not to provoke hostility. Every reply of Herzl fell upon a closed mind. Baron Edmund's refusal to cooperate was decisive.
This was a decision of historic significance. It turned Herzl away from the thought that the Zionist movement should be built upon the support of Jewish philanthropy. All his hopes in this connection were dissolved by the contacts he had made in London and in Paris. Baron Edmund's refusal to cooperate carried with it the refusal of the Baron de Hirsch Fund and of the circle of leading Jews in London.
Reluctantly, Herzl came to the conclusion that there was only one reply to this situation. The Jewish masses must be organized for the support of the Zionist movement.
The organization he had in mind was not a popular democratic organization. What he meant was to assemble the upper "cadres" to take charge of the organization of the masses for the great migration. At the same time, he wanted to prove to the philanthropists that a popular organization was possible. He felt that they would be greatly influenced by the development of a widespread popular movement. [50]Whatever his thoughts were at that time, his decision to turn to the Jewish masses, to abandon reliance upon the wealthy led to the organization of the modern Zionist movement.
He organized his followers in Vienna. He was the center of a circle in which were included the men who later became the members of the first Zionist Actions Committee. In November 1896 he, for the first time, addressed a public meeting in Vienna. In this address he did not use the term "The Jewish State," nor did he use it in most of his public utterances at that time. He had become cautious. He did not want to prejudice his political work in Constantinople.
He was still thinking of issuing a newspaper, but there were no funds for that purpose. The report that he intended to issue a newspaper drew the attention of a number of personalities and groups in Berlin. There were the Russian Jewish students, led by Leo Motzkin, and a group called "Young Israel," headed by Reinrich Loewe. A conference was held on March 6 and 7, 1897, called by Dr. Osias Thon Willy Bambus and Nathan Birnbaum. They had come together to talk about a newspaper but the First Zionist Congress was launched at this meeting Herzl's proposal for the calling of a General Zionist Conference in Munich was agreed to. In the preliminary announcement of the calling of this Conference or Congress, Herzl said:
"The Jewish question must be removed from the control of the benevolent individual. There must be created a forum before which everyone acting for the Jewish people should appear and to which he should be responsible."
Every one of Herzl's ideas was met by protests and public excitement. The protests were usually launched by Jews. The calling of the Congress aroused a great deal of indignation in conservative circles. The Rabbis of Germany [51]protested not only to the holding of the Congress but also the choice of Munich.
The Congress controversy persuaded Herzl to begin the publication of the weekly Die Welt. The first issue appeared on June 4, 1897, Herzl provided the funds. The journal was something new in Jewish life. It was, in fact, the organ of the Congress. Throughout Herzl's life, Die Welt served as the exponent of his ideas. At first, Herzl contributed numerous articles. He sent in a regular weekly review of all activities connected with the movement. He was responsible for many unsigned articles and notices. He directed the paper in all its details, although he refused to figure as its official editor and publisher. The amount of work he did during the months preceding the Congress was amazing. He was completely absorbed in every aspect of the Congress. The man of the pen revealed himself as a first-class man of action.
On August 29, 1897, the First Zionist Congress was assembled, not in Munich but in Basle, Switzerland. The majority of the delegates to the First Zionist Congress, drawn to Basle from all parts of the world, saw Herzl for the first time. The total number of delegates at the first session was 197.
The first act of the Congress was the adoption of a resolution of thanks to the Sultan of Turkey. Then Herzl rose and walked over to the pulpit. It was no longer the elegant Dr. Herzl of Vienna, it was no longer the easy-going literary man, the critic, the feuilletonist. As one reporter said: "It was a scion of the House of David, risen from among the dead, clothed in legend and fantasy and beauty." The first words uttered by Herzl were: "We are here to lay the foundation stone of the house which is to shelter the Jewish nation." "We Zionists," he stressed, "seek for the solution of the Jewish question, not an international society, but an [52]international discussion.... We have nothing to do with conspiracy, secret intervention or indirect methods. We wish to place the question under the control of free public opinion."
His First Congress address contained the ideas which he had already expressed in previous speeches and articles, but there was a great difference between the views in "The Jewish State" and the address delivered at the first session of the Zionist Congress. The latter is the carefully considered public statement of one who knew he represented tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of followers. His words were not those of a seer, but of a statesman. Almost as profound was the effect produced. It was at this Congress that the Basle Program was adopted.... "Zionism seeks to secure for the Jewish people a publicly recognized, legally secured home (or homeland) in Palestine."
The second important task of the First Congress was the creation of an organization. The Congress was declared to be "the chief organ of the Zionist movement." The basis of electoral right was to be the payment of a shekel, which at that time was equivalent to twenty-five cents. There was to be an Executive Committee with its permanent seat in Vienna. Everything which was to unfold later in Zionism, both in the way of affirmative forces and inner contradictions, was already visible or latent in the first Congress. There was discussion of a bank, of a land redemption fund to be called The National Fund, the creation of a Hebrew University, and the clashes between practical and political Zionism.
On his return to Vienna, Herzl made the following entry in his diary: "If I were to sum up the Basle Congress in a single phrase I would say: In Basle I created the Jewish [53]State. Were I to say this aloud I would be greeted by universal laughter. But perhaps five years hence, in any case, certainly fifty years hence, everyone will perceive it. The state exists as essence in the will-to-the-state of a people, yes, even in that will in a single powerful person.... The territory is only the concrete basis, and the state itself, with a territory beneath it, is still in the nature of an abstract thing ... In Basle I created the abstraction which, as such, is invisible to the great majority."
All that Herzl did in the political field—his conversations in Constantinople, his interview with the Grand Duke of Baden in advance of the holding of the First Congress, was undertaken as author of a political pamphlet. He was now aware of the fact that he was called upon to act as President of the World Zionist Organization. It was difficult to draw a line between the movement and its leader. Herzl insisted that his leadership in the movement was impersonal and that now its direction was vested in its instruments—the Congress and the Actions Committee. But he had all the authority of an accepted leader.
The evolution of Herzl's conception of the Jewish problem since he saw the degradation of Dreyfus can be measured by a study of the articles he wrote after the First Congress. He himself was quite aware of the transformation. He had seen the Jewish people face to face. "Brothers have found each other again," he said. He wrote with great appreciation of the quality of the Russian delegates. He said, "They possess that inner unity which has disappeared from among the westerners. They are steeped in Jewish national sentiment without betraying any national narrowness and intolerance. They are not tortured by the idea of assimilation. They do not assimilate into other nations, but exert themselves to learn the best in other peoples. In this way they [54]manage to remain erect and genuine. Looking on them, we understood where our forefathers got the strength to endure through the bitterest times."
Immediately after the First Congress, Herzl grappled with his second task, the creation of the Jewish Colonial Bank. He wrote of the bank in Die Welt in November, 1898, "The task of the Colonial Bank is to eliminate philanthropy. The settler on the land who increases its value by his labor merits more than a gift. He is entitled to credit. The prospective bank could therefore begin by extending the needed credits to the colonists; later it would expand into the instrument for the bringing in of Jews and would supply credits for transportation, agriculture, commerce and construction."
The seat of the bank was to be London. There were to be two billion shares at £1 each. The bank was to be directed by men acquainted with banking affairs, but the movement would be placed in a position to control its policy. The hopes of Herzl grew from week to week. As he approached the practical situation he became less and less confident of the cooperation of men of wealth. Differences arose in the preliminary discussions as to the scope of the bank. In the first draft of the Articles of Incorporation the Orient alone was named as the area of work for the bank. Menachem Ussishkin insisted that the words "Syria and Palestine" should be substituted. After a great deal of discussion, the proposals for the formation of the bank were brought to the second Zionist Congress and the Articles of Incorporation, as amended, were adopted by acclamation.
Herzl clung to the idea which had come to him when he was thinking of the Jewish State as a pamphlet, that it might be better for him to write a novel. The impulse to write such a novel became irresistible after his visit to [55]Palestine. It was to be called "Altneuland." He began to write it in 1899. It was completed in April 1902, and published six months later. It is remarkable that he could write such a novel while engaged in varied political activities in Constantinople, in London and in Berlin; and while he had to deal with the many troublesome internal Zionist problems.
"Altneuland" was a novel with a purpose. It described the Palestine of the near future as it would develop through the Zionist Movement. It had the weaknesses of every propaganda novel. The entire work has something of the state about it and proceeds in the form of scenes rather than by way of narrative. Each type has a specific outlook. Most of the characters are portraits of living personalities. It was his purpose to memorialize his friends and his opponents.
"Altneuland" tells of a Jew who visits Palestine in 1898 and then comes again in 1923 when he finds the Promised Land developed under Jewish influence. Its territory lies East and West of the Jordan. The dead land of 1898 is now thoroughly alive. Its real creators were the irrigation engineers. Technology had given a new form to labor, a new social and economic system had been created which is described as "mutualistic," a huge cooperative, a mediate form between individualism and collectivism. Haifa had become a world city. Around the Holy City of Jerusalem, modern suburbs had arisen, shaded boulevards and parks, institutes of learning, places of amusement, markets—"a world city in the spirit of the twentieth century." In this new land, the Arabs live side by side in friendship with the Jews.
"Altneuland" did not produce the effect Herzl had expected. Within the Zionist Movement it did more harm than good. Many of Herzl's friends were disappointed that the novel should have so little of the Jewish spirit. It ignored the [56]Hebraic renaissance. The novel evoked the sharpest criticism from Achad Haam.
While Herzl was immersed in political action, visiting European capitals, carrying on correspondence with leading persons whose interest in Zionism he had engaged, and submitting reports to the Zionist Congress or to the Actions Committee, often facing critical situations in his struggle with growing Zionist parties, the Zionist Organization was gradually becoming an accepted institution in Jewish life. It was the international sounding board for the discussion of the Jewish question. The Jewish National Fund was founded at the Fourth Congress held in London in 1900. The Jewish Colonial Trust was finally established with headquarters in London.
The first Zionist party in the Congress was the Democratic faction led by Leo Motzkin, but soon there were added the Mizrachi party and the beginnings of a labor party. Not only Dr. Nordau's stirring addresses, but many controversies "made" Congresses. The cultural issue was a Congress perennial. Many discussions also took place around what was called the issue of "practical" and "political" Zionism. The Russians, under the leadership of Ussishkin, were all heartily against the "charter" emphasis and drove with maddening persistence for immediate work in Palestine. In the course of these debates, continued over the years, the Congress became a forum for the discussion of international Jewish problems and developed speakers and theorists of varying degrees of talent. It also produced men with hobbies. The Jewish National Fund and the Hebrew University was the hobby of Dr. Herman Schapiro. Colonization in Cyprus was the hobby of Davis Trietsch, who [57]created many scenes on the floor of the Congress. Dr. Chaim Weizmann was not only a leader of the Democratic faction, crossing swords time and again with Herzl, but devoted much time and thought to the idea of a Hebrew University. The procedure of the Congress, based on Continental models, was gradually worked out and became fixed, and many of the delegates were adepts in the art of procedural sparring. The language in Congresses used during Herzl's life was German, but gradually the imperfect use of German by East European Zionists led to the development of what was called "Congress German." This was a form of German that was easy to use, because respect for grammar and pronunciation was not required.
During the Congresses Herzl maintained throughout the role of leader and moderator. His manner was gracious and he never lost his sense of dignity. He was capable of sharp retort, but always bore in mind that it was high duty to hold a balance and to seek compromise rather than sharp division. He developed it in a most remarkable way on the platform. His appearances were dramatic. His interventions were arresting. The man of the writing desk developed as one of the ablest in the parliamentary arts. After some of the Congresses he had to retire to a health resort, having exhausted his strength and bringing on a recurrence of his heart trouble. On a number of occasions his close friends feared for his life. But after a few weeks of rest he usually returned stronger than before and with greater determination to pursue his course, regardless of the consequences to himself.
At this point it is important to refer to his family life. He had married Julie Naschauer on July 25, 1889. She was [58]the daughter of wealthy parents and grew up in a conventional social circle. When she married Herzl he was already a rising young author who was highly regarded among those with whom she associated. He was attractive, aristocratic in bearing, a keen conversationalist and had all the qualities of being a conventional partner of a conventional wife. But Herzl threw himself into Zionist affairs with such tremendous dynamic activity and was so completely absorbed in the idea which his thinking had given birth to, that except for occasional interim periods, his family played a secondary part in his life ever after he had taken up the Jewish problems his special task in life. Julie Herzl also suffered by reason of Herzl's devotion to his own mother. Herzl never rid himself of his filial dependence which made it very hard for his wife to understand. They had three children. In 1890 a daughter was born and named Paula or Pauline. In 1891 his son, Hans, was born, whose life after his father's death became a serious problem. There was a third child, a daughter Margaret, known as Trude, who was born in May 1893. During this period there were many separations from his family. There were disagreements and reconciliations, but the cup of unhappiness for Julie Herzl overflowed when Herzl became the official leader of a public movement. From that time on her home was constantly overrun with unwelcome visitors. Not only did Herzl give his life to the movement in the literal sense, but he gave his reserve of funds and sacrificed the welfare of his family for the sake of the movement he had brought to life. His domestic affairs as well as his failing heart, made all the years of Herzl's brief Zionist life pain and struggle.
The tragic position of Jews in various parts of Europe, greatly agitated Herzl during the time he was carrying on negotiations with the Kaiser and the Sultan. He was [59]constantly being led to the thought that it would become necessary to find a temporary haven of refuge for Jews. In 1899 a series of pogroms broke out in Galicia. In his diary at the time, he had references to England and Cyprus, "we may even have to consider South Africa or America." But he banished these thoughts from his mind because he knew that the Zionists would place serious obstacles in the way of considering any project other than Palestine. When his hopes with regard to Germany had collapsed, however, he thought of these alternative proposals again.
On October 22, 1902 a Conference between Joseph Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary, and Herzl took place. Chamberlain had been in the Colonial Office since 1895. He held an influential position in the councils of the British Government. He was a man of strong will and political integrity. Herzl submitted his plan for the colonization of Cyprus and the Sinai Peninsula, which included El Arish—"Jewish settlers under a Jewish administration."
Chamberlain said that he could speak definitely only about Cyprus. The Sinai Peninsula came under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Office. As far as Cyprus was concerned, he believed that it was not promising because the Greeks and Moslems would object, and it would be his official duty to side with them. He took a more favorable view, however, of El Arish. In that connection, it was necessary for Herzl to talk to Lord Lansdowne of the Foreign Office. A great deal would depend upon the good-will of Lord Cromer, the British Consul General in Egypt, and actually the Vice Regent of that country. Through the good offices of Chamberlain, it became possible for Herzl to meet Lord [60]Lansdowne a few days later. He was well received and was listened to with a great deal of attention.
Herzl was asked to submit a written expose. Then he asked for permission to have Leopold J. Greenberg go to Egypt and confer with Lord Cromer. Lord Lansdowne said that he would arrange for such a meeting. Greenberg discussed the matter with Lord Cromer in Cairo. There were objections raised by both Lord Cromer and the Egyptian Prime Minister on the ground that an attempted Jewish economy, undertaken in 1891-2 in the region of ancient Midian, had been a pitiful failure. There had been political complications and border disputes with Turkey.
A definitive reply was received by Herzl on December 18, 1902 written on behalf of Lord Lansdowne by Sir T.H. Sanderson, permanent Undersecretary. Lord Lansdowne had heard from Lord Cromer, who favored the sending of a small commission to the Sinai Peninsula to report on conditions and prospects, but Lord Cromer feared that no sanguine hopes of success should be entertained, but if the report of the Commission turned out favorable, the Egyptian Government would certainly offer liberal terms for Jewish colonization.
On the other hand, however, the Zionists should understand that they would be expected to meet the cost of a defense corps and to guarantee the administration. In Lord Cromer's opinion, the most important question was that of the rights which Herzl expected for the projected settlement. He wrote: "In your letter of the 12th ult. you remark that you will become great and promising by the granting of this right of colonization. Your letter does not make clear what is to be understood by these words, and what kind of rights the colonists will expect."
Lord Lansdowne also touched on the question of the new [61]citizenship of the settlers. Herzl had believed that he would have only Englishmen to deal with, since England had become more and more the master of Egypt. It was apparent, however, that the Egyptian Government also played an important part in the discussions.
Lord Cromer confirmed that the Egyptian Government would make it an essential condition that the new settlers become Turkish subjects bound by Egyptian law, but while the British occupation continued the settlers would always be certain of fair treatment.
Herzl was satisfied with this letter and described it as a historic document. The British Government had recognized Herzl as the Zionist leader, and the movement represented by him as a negotiating party. He already saw the "Egyptian province of Judea" under a Jewish Governor, with its own defense corps under Anglo-Egyptian officers.
As a result of the English negotiations, Lord Rothschild seemed to be won over by Herzl. The old banker, who had refused two years before to meet the Zionist leader, now visited him in his hotel. The next task before Herzl was the organization of the Commission. The Commission was composed of the South African engineer, Kessler; the Chief Inspector of the Egyptian Survey Department, Humphreys; Col. Goldsmith was to report on the land; and Dr. Soskin was to study agricultural possibilities. Oscar Marmorek was to investigate building and housing problems and act as General Secretary. Dr. Hillel Jaffe of the Jaffe Hospital was to deal with the problems of climate and hygiene.
The Commission met with great difficulties. There was opposition by the Turks. There was misunderstandings between Herzl and Greenberg. Herzl himself went to Egypt in order to bring the negotiations to a conclusion and to straighten out difficulties. His intervention in no way [62]improved the situation. Lord Cromer had become very cool toward him. He received the general report of the Commission, which observed that "under existing conditions the land is quite unsuitable for settlers from European countries, but if sufficient irrigation were introduced, the agricultural, hygienic and climatic conditions are such that part of the land, which is at present wilderness, could support a considerable population."
An application for the concession was made by Herzl on the advice of Lord Cromer, having as his legal representative a Belgian lawyer of high standing. The Egyptian Government did not receive with favor the outline of the concession. Herzl was received on April 23rd by Chamberlain, who had just returned from his African journey. Chamberlain listened to the report given by Herzl on the work of the Commission. Both regarded the report as unfavorable. Then Chamberlain made this remark:
"On my travels I saw a country for you, Uganda. On the coast it is hot, but in the interior the climate is excellent for Europeans. You can plant cotton and sugar. I thought to myself, that is just the country for Dr. Herzl. But he must have Palestine, and will move only into its vicinity."
This was the first reference to Uganda which became the center of attention in Zionist circles.
Herzl was told that the Egyptian Government would reject the plan. It was found that the area would require five times as much water as had been first estimated. The Egyptian Government could not permit the diversion of such a quantity of water from the Nile.
An attempt to have Chamberlain intervene with Egypt was not successful. "That being the case," said Chamberlain, "What about Uganda?" Self-administration would be accorded. The Governor could definitely be a Jew. Although [63]the matter belonged to the Foreign Office, he would have it transferred under his jurisdiction in the colonial office. The territory would be the permanent property of a colonization company created for the purpose. After five years, the settlers would be given complete autonomy. The name of the settlement was to be "New Palestine."
Herzl pressed for a reply from the government in order that the project might be presented to the Zionist Congress on August 14, 1903. The official proposal came from Sir Clement Hill, permanent head of the Foreign Office. In this letter it was stated that Lord Landsdowne had studied the question with the interest which His Majesty's Government always felt bound to take in every serious plan destined to better the condition of the Jewish race. The time had been too short for a closer examination of the plan and for its submission to the British representative for the East African (Uganda) Protectorate. "Lord Landsdowne assumes," the letter continues, "that the Bank desires to send a number of gentlemen to the East African Protectorate to establish whether there is in that territory land suitable for the purpose in view; should this prove to be the case, he will be happy to give them every assistance in bringing them together with His Majesty's Congress, the conditions under which the settlement could be carried out. Should an area be found which the bank and His Majesty's representative consider suitable, and His Majesty's government consider desirable, Lord Lansdowne will be glad to consider favorably proposals for the creation of a Jewish colony or settlement under such conditions as will seem to the members to guarantee the retention of their national customs...."
The document went on with an offer—subject to the consent of the relevant officials—of a Jewish governorship and internal autonomy.
[64]This was the first official proposal in connection with the Zionist movement which Herzl was able to submit to a Zionist Congress. When the letter of Sir Clement Hill was submitted to the Sixth Zionist Congress in 1903, it split the Zionist movement wide open. It arrayed the overwhelming majority of Zionists in Russia against Herzl and he was called upon to defend himself against a general attack which preceded the convening of the Congress. When the Congress was convened in an atmosphere of great excitement and partisan controversy, the Uganda project was submitted in the form of an official resolution calling for the appointment of a commission of nine to be sent to investigate conditions in East Africa. The final decision on the report of the investigating committee was to be left to a special Congress. Although the vote showed a majority in favor of the official resolution—the tally was 295 for, 177 against, and 100 absentees—the debate on the resolution revealed an overwhelming opposition to the project. It was regarded as an abandonment of Palestine in favor of a diversion. After the vote, the Russian delegates left the Congress in a body. All the opposition delegates left with them and met in conference to discuss the situation. When Herzl heard of the deep feeling that prevailed in the conference, he asked for the privilege of speaking to the opposition. He gave them his solemn assurance that the Basle Program would be unaffected by the resolution. He swore fealty to the Basle Program, to Zion and Jerusalem. His speech revealed the great transformation that had taken place in Herzl's organic relation to the Zionist movement. The opposition delegates felt that in spite of Herzl's seeking alternately one or another substitute for Palestine, his heart responded without reserve to the appeal of Zion. The opposition reappeared in the Congress the following day. [65]They exacted assurances that the funds of the Jewish Colonial Trust, of the Jewish National Fund and the Shekel Income, should not be used for the commission investigating East Africa, and that the commission should report to the Greater Actions Committee before it appeared to submit its report to the Congress.
Herzl's experience at what is called the "Uganda Congress" drew him nearer to the older Zionists. He realized now that the ultimate goal could not be reached within the near future, that Uganda was merely a compromise achievement, providing the field of preparation for a second attempt to reach Zion. The Congress of 1903 was the climax of Herzl's career. It was, in effect, the end of his quest.
Later, the East African project became a matter of lesser importance in the eyes of the English. The English colonists in East Africa declared their opposition to a Jewish settlement. A Zionist opposition was organized, led by Menahem Ussishkin, who was not present at the Uganda Congress. The Charkov Conference of Russian Zionists was called. Herzl was charged with having violated the Basle Program. The Charkov Conference disclaimed responsibility for all actions in the direction of East Africa. It appointed a committee of three to communicate their demands to Herzl. They asked that he promise that he would not place before the Congress any territorial projects other than those connected with Palestine or Syria, and that he would take East Africa off the agenda. By now Herzl would have been pleased to let the East African project disappear from the agenda; it was clear that the English government was not greatly interested and was seeking a way out; but the devious route of political action, once started, could not so easily be halted; Herzl found himself chained to a political reality.
Throughout his Zionist life, Herzl suffered from a heart [66]ailment which became more and more acute as he was taken up by the excitements and activities of the Movement. He became aware of his illness soon after he had written "The Jewish State." He had premonitions of the fatal consequences but persisted in carrying the burden of the Movement himself, consuming all his strength in the process. At intervals he was forced to take rest cures. On a number of occasions it was thought that he had reached the end of his strength. When he was grappling with the Uganda project, York-Steiner, an intimate friend, wrote of his appearance: "The imposing figure is now stooped, the face sallow, the eyes—the mirrors of a fine soul—were darkened, the mouth was drawn in pain and marked by passion."
He was almost at the brink of the grave. In May, an alarming change for the worse occurred in the condition of his heart muscles. He was ordered to Franzienbad for six weeks, but the rest did him no good. On June 3, he left with his wife and several friends for Edlach in Semmering. He knew that this was his last journey. Then there was a slight improvement and he returned to his desk. But he rapidly grew worse. To the faithful Hechler he said, "Give them all my greetings and tell them that I have given my heart's blood for my people." On July 3, pneumonia set in and there were signs of approaching exhaustion. His mother arrived, then his two younger children, Hans and Trude. At five in the afternoon, his physician who had taken his eyes off the patient for a moment, heard a deep sigh. When he turned, he saw Herzl's head sunk on his breast.
In his will Herzl asked that his body be buried next to his father, "to remain there until the Jewish people will carry my remains to Palestine." When the Russians entered Vienna in 1945 the remains of Herzl were still there.
The idea which I have developed in this pamphlet is a very old one: it is the restoration of the Jewish State.
The world resounds with outcries against the Jews, and these outcries have awakened the slumbering idea.
I wish it to be clearly understood from the outset that no portion of my argument is based on a new discovery. I have discovered neither the historic condition of the Jews nor the means to improve it. In fact, every man will see for himself that the materials of the structure I am designing are not only in existence, but actually already in hand. If, therefore, this attempt to solve the Jewish Question is to be designated by a single word, let it be said to be the result of an inescapable conclusion rather than that of a flighty imagination.
I must, in the first place, guard my scheme from being treated as Utopian by superficial critics who might commit this error of judgment if I did not warn them. I should obviously have done nothing to be ashamed of if I had described a Utopia on philanthropic lines; and I should also, in all probability, have obtained literary success more easily if I had set forth my plan in the irresponsible guise of a romantic tale. But this Utopia is far less attractive than any one of those portrayed by Sir Thomas More and his numerous forerunners and successors. And I believe that the situation of the Jews in many countries is grave enough to make such preliminary trifling superfluous.
An interesting book, "Freiland," by Dr. Theodor Hertzka, which appeared a few years ago, may serve to mark the distinction I draw between my conception and [70]a Utopia. His is the ingenious invention of a modern mind thoroughly schooled in the principles of political economy, it is as remote from actuality as the Equatorial mountain on which his dream State lies. "Freiland" is a complicated piece of mechanism with numerous cogged wheels fitting into each other; but there is nothing to prove that they can be set in motion. Even supposing "Freiland societies" were to come into existence, I should look on the whole thing as a joke.
The present scheme, on the other hand, includes the employment of an existent propelling force. In consideration of my own inadequacy, I shall content myself with indicating the cogs and wheels of the machine to be constructed, and I shall rely on more skilled mechanicians than myself to put them together.
Everything depends on our propelling force. And what is that force? The misery of the Jews.
Who would venture to deny its existence? We shall discuss it fully in the chapter on the causes of Anti-Semitism.
Everybody is familiar with the phenomenon of steam-power, generated by boiling water, which lifts the kettle-lid. Such tea-kettle phenomena are the attempts of Zionist and kindred associations to check Anti-Semitism.
I believe that this power, if rightly employed, is powerful enough to propel a large engine and to move passengers and goods: the engine having whatever form men may choose to give it.
I am absolutely convinced that I am right, though I doubt whether I shall live to see myself proved to be so. Those who are the first to inaugurate this movement will scarcely live to see its glorious close. But the inauguration [71]of it is enough to give them a feeling of pride and the joy of spiritual freedom.
I shall not be lavish in artistically elaborated descriptions of my project, for fear of incurring the suspicion of painting a Utopia. I anticipate, in any case, that thoughtless scoffers will caricature my sketch and thus try to weaken its effect. A Jew, intelligent in other respects, to whom I explained my plan, was of the opinion that "a Utopia was a project whose future details were represented as already extant." This is a fallacy. Every Chancellor of the Exchequer calculates in his Budget estimates with assumed figures, and not only with such as are based on the average returns of past years, or on previous revenues in other States, but sometimes with figures for which there is no precedent whatever; as for example, in instituting a new tax. Everybody who studies a Budget knows that this is the case. But even if it were known that the estimates would not be rigidly adhered to, would such a financial draft be considered Utopian?
But I am expecting more of my readers. I ask the cultivated men whom I am addressing to set many preconceived ideas entirely aside. I shall even go so far as to ask those Jews who have most earnestly tried to solve the Jewish Question to look upon their previous attempts as mistaken and futile.
I must guard against a danger in setting forth my idea. If I describe future circumstances with too much caution I shall appear to doubt their possibility. If, on the other hand, I announce their realization with too much assurance I shall appear to be describing a chimera.
I shall therefore clearly and emphatically state that I believe in the practical outcome of my scheme, though without professing to have discovered the shape it may [72]ultimately take. The Jewish State is essential to the world; it will therefore be created.
The plan would, of course, seem absurd if a single individual attempted to do it; but if worked by a number of Jews in co-operation it would appear perfectly rational, and its accomplishment would present no difficulties worth mentioning. The idea depends only on the number of its supporters. Perhaps our ambitious young men, to whom every road of progress is now closed, seeing in this Jewish State a bright prospect of freedom, happiness and honors opening to them, will ensure the propagation of the idea.
I feel that with the publication of this pamphlet my task is done. I shall not again take up the pen, unless the attacks of noteworthy antagonists drive me to do so, or it becomes necessary to meet unforeseen objections and to remove errors.
Am I stating what is not yet the case? Am I before my time? Are the sufferings of the Jews not yet grave enough? We shall see.
It depends on the Jews themselves whether this political pamphlet remains for the present a political romance. If the present generation is too dull to understand it rightly, a future, finer and a better generation will arise to understand it. The Jews who wish for a State shall have it, and they will deserve to have it.
Chapter I. Introduction
It is astonishing how little insight into the science of economics many of the men who move in the midst of active life possess. Hence it is that even Jews faithfully repeat the cry of the Anti-Semites: "We depend for sustenance on the nations who are our hosts, and if we had no hosts to support us we should die of starvation." This is a point that shows how unjust accusations may weaken our self-knowledge. But what are the true grounds for this statement concerning the nations that act as "hosts"? Where it is not based on limited physiocratic views it is founded on the childish error that commodities pass from hand to hand in continuous rotation. We need not wake from long slumber, like Rip van Winkle, to realize that the world is considerably altered by the production of new commodities. The technical progress made during this wonderful era enables even a man of most limited intelligence to note with his short-sighted eyes the appearance of new commodities all around him. The spirit of enterprise has created them.
Labor without enterprise is the stationary labor of ancient days; and typical of it is the work of the husbandman, who stands now just where his progenitors stood a thousand years ago. All our material welfare has been brought about by men of enterprise. I feel almost ashamed of writing down so trite a remark. Even if we were a nation of entrepreneurs—such as absurdly exaggerated accounts make us out to be—we should not require another nation to live on. We do not depend on the circulation of old commodities, because we produce new ones.
[74]The world possesses slaves of extraordinary capacity for work, whose appearance has been fatal to the production of handmade goods: these slaves are the machines. It is true that workmen are required to set machinery in motion; but for this we have men in plenty, in super-abundance. Only those who are ignorant of the conditions of Jews in many countries of Eastern Europe would venture to assert that Jews are either unfit or unwilling to perform manual labor.
But I do not wish to take up the cudgels for the Jews in this pamphlet. It would be useless. Everything rational and everything sentimental that can possibly be said in their defence has been said already. If one's hearers are incapable of comprehending them, one is a preacher in a desert. And if one's hearers are broad and high-minded enough to have grasped them already, then the sermon is superfluous. I believe in the ascent of man to higher and yet higher grades of civilization; but I consider this ascent to be desperately slow. Were we to wait till average humanity had become as charitably inclined as was Lessing when he wrote "Nathan the Wise," we should wait beyond our day, beyond the days of our children, of our grandchildren, and of our great-grandchildren. But the world's spirit comes to our aid in another way.
This century has given the world a wonderful renaissance by means of its technical achievements; but at the same time its miraculous improvements have not been employed in the service of humanity. Distance has ceased to be an obstacle, yet we complain of insufficient space. Our great steamships carry us swiftly and surely over hitherto unvisited seas. Our railways carry us safely into a mountain-world hitherto tremblingly scaled on foot. Events occurring in countries undiscovered when Europe [75]confined the Jews in Ghettos are known to us in the course of an hour. Hence the misery of the Jews is an anachronism—not because there was a period of enlightenment one hundred years ago, for that enlightenment reached in reality only the choicest spirits.
I believe that electric light was not invented for the purpose of illuminating the drawing-rooms of a few snobs, but rather for the purpose of throwing light on some of the dark problems of humanity. One of these problems, and not the least of them, is the Jewish question. In solving it we are working not only for ourselves, but also for many other over-burdened and oppressed beings.
The Jewish question still exists. It would be foolish to deny it. It is a remnant of the Middle Ages, which civilized nations do not even yet seem able to shake off, try as they will. They certainly showed a generous desire to do so when they emancipated us. The Jewish question exists wherever Jews live in perceptible numbers. Where it does not exist, it is carried by Jews in the course of their migrations. We naturally move to those places where we are not persecuted, and there our presence produces persecution. This is the case in every country, and will remain so, even in those highly civilized—for instance, France—until the Jewish question finds a solution on a political basis. The unfortunate Jews are now carrying the seeds of Anti-Semitism into England; they have already introduced it into America.
I believe that I understand Anti-Semitism, which is really a highly complex movement. I consider it from a Jewish standpoint, yet without fear or hatred. I believe that I can see what elements there are in it of vulgar sport, of common trade jealousy, of inherited prejudice, of religious intolerance, and also of pretended self-defence. I think the Jewish [76]question is no more a social than a religious one, notwithstanding that it sometimes takes these and other forms. It is a national question, which can only be solved by making it a political world-question to be discussed and settled by the civilized nations of the world in council.
We are a people—one people.
We have honestly endeavored everywhere to merge ourselves in the social life of surrounding communities and to preserve the faith of our fathers. We are not permitted to do so. In vain are we loyal patriots, our loyalty in some places running to extremes; in vain do we make the same sacrifices of life and property as our fellow-citizens; in vain do we strive to increase the fame of our native land in science and art, or her wealth by trade and commerce. In countries where we have lived for centuries we are still cried down as strangers, and often by those whose ancestors were not yet domiciled in the land where Jews had already had experience of suffering. The majority may decide which are the strangers; for this, as indeed every point which arises in the relations between nations, is a question of might. I do not here surrender any portion of our prescriptive right, when I make this statement merely in my own name as an individual. In the world as it now is and for an indefinite period will probably remain, might precedes right. It is useless, therefore, for us to be loyal patriots, as were the Huguenots who were forced to emigrate. If we could only be left in peace....
But I think we shall not be left in peace.
Oppression and persecution cannot exterminate us. No nation on earth has survived such struggles and sufferings as we have gone through. Jew-baiting has merely stripped off our weaklings; the strong among us were invariably [77]true to their race when persecution broke out against them. This attitude was most clearly apparent in the period immediately following the emancipation of the Jews. Those Jews who were advanced intellectually and materially entirely lost the feeling of belonging to their race. Wherever our political well-being has lasted for any length of time, we have assimilated with our surroundings. I think this is not discreditable. Hence, the statesman who would wish to see a Jewish strain in his nation would have to provide for the duration of our political well-being; and even a Bismarck could not do that.
For old prejudices against us still lie deep in the hearts of the people. He who would have proofs of this need only listen to the people where they speak with frankness and simplicity: proverb and fairy-tale are both Anti-Semitic. A nation is everywhere a great child, which can certainly be educated; but its education would, even in most favorable circumstances, occupy such a vast amount of time that we could, as already mentioned, remove our own difficulties by other means long before the process was accomplished.
Assimilation, by which I understood not only external conformity in dress, habits, customs, and language, but also identity of feeling and manner—assimilation of Jews could be effected only by intermarriage. But the need for mixed marriages would have to be felt by the majority; their mere recognition by law would certainly not suffice.
The Hungarian Liberals, who have just given legal sanction to mixed marriages, have made a remarkable mistake which one of the earliest cases clearly illustrates; a baptized Jew married a Jewess. At the same time the struggle to obtain the present form of marriage accentuated distinctions between Jews and Christians, thus hindering [78]rather than aiding the fusion of races.
Those who really wished to see the Jews disappear through intermixture with other nations, can only hope to see it come about in one way. The Jews must previously acquire economic power sufficiently great to overcome the old social prejudice against them. The aristocracy may serve as an example of this, for in its ranks occur the proportionately largest numbers of mixed marriages. The Jewish families which regild the old nobility with their money become gradually absorbed. But what form would this phenomenon assume in the middle classes, where (the Jews being a bourgeois people) the Jewish question is mainly concentrated? A previous acquisition of power could be synonymous with that economic supremacy which Jews are already erroneously declared to possess. And if the power they now possess creates rage and indignation among the Anti-Semites, what outbreaks would such an increase of power create? Hence the first step towards absorption will never be taken, because this step would involve the subjection of the majority to a hitherto scorned minority, possessing neither military nor administrative power of its own. I think, therefore, that the absorption of Jews by means of their prosperity is unlikely to occur. In countries which now are Anti-Semitic my view will be approved. In others, where Jews now feel comfortable, it will probably be violently disputed by them. My happier co-religionists will not believe me till Jew-baiting teaches them the truth; for the longer Anti-Semitism lies in abeyance the more fiercely will it break out. The infiltration of immigrating Jews, attracted to a land by apparent security, and the ascent in the social scale of native Jews, combine powerfully to bring about a revolution. Nothing is plainer than this rational conclusion.
[79]Because I have drawn this conclusion with complete indifference to everything but the quest of truth, I shall probably be contradicted and opposed by Jews who are in easy circumstances. Insofar as private interests alone are held by their anxious or timid possessors to be in danger, they can safely be ignored, for the concerns of the poor and oppressed are of greater importance than theirs. But I wish from the outset to prevent any misconception from arising, particularly the mistaken notion that my project, if realized, would in the least degree injure property now held by Jews. I shall therefore explain everything connected with rights of property very fully. Whereas, if my plan never becomes anything more than a piece of literature, things will merely remain as they are. It might more reasonably be objected that I am giving a handle to Anti-Semitism when I say we are a people—one people; that I am hindering the assimilation of Jews where it is about to be consummated, and endangering it where it is an accomplished fact, insofar as it is possible for a solitary writer to hinder or endanger anything.
This objection will be especially brought forward in France. It will probably also be made in other countries, but I shall answer only the French Jews beforehand, because these afford the most striking example of my point.
However much I may worship personality—powerful individual personality in statesmen, inventors, artists, philosophers, or leaders, as well as the collective personality of a historic group of human beings, which we call a nation—however much I may worship personality, I do not regret its disappearance. Whoever can, will, and must perish, let him perish. But the distinctive nationality of Jews neither can, will, nor must be destroyed. It cannot be destroyed, because external enemies consolidate it. It [80]will not be destroyed; this is shown during two thousand years of appalling suffering. It must not be destroyed, and that, as a descendant of numberless Jews who refused to despair, I am trying once more to prove in this pamphlet. Whole branches of Judaism may wither and fall, but the trunk will remain.
Hence, if all or any of the French Jews protest against this scheme on account of their own "assimilation," my answer is simple: The whole thing does not concern them at all. They are Jewish Frenchmen, well and good! This is a private affair for the Jews alone.
The movement towards the organization of the State I am proposing would, of course, harm Jewish Frenchmen no more than it would harm the "assimilated" of other countries. It would, on the contrary, be distinctly to their advantage. For they would no longer be disturbed in their "chromatic function," as Darwin puts it, but would be able to assimilate in peace, because the present Anti-Semitism would have been stopped for ever. They would certainly be credited with being assimilated to the very depths of their souls, if they stayed where they were after the new Jewish State, with its superior institutions, had become a reality.
The "assimilated" would profit even more than Christian citizens by the departure of faithful Jews; for they would be rid of the disquieting, incalculable, and unavoidable rivalry of a Jewish proletariat, driven by poverty and political pressure from place to place, from land to land. This floating proletariat would become stationary. Many Christian citizens—whom we call Anti-Semites—can now offer determined resistance to the immigration of foreign Jews. Jewish citizens cannot do this, although it affects them far more directly; for on them they feel first of all [81]the keen competition of individuals carrying on similar branches of industry, who, in addition, either introduce Anti-Semitism where it does not exist, or intensify it where it does. The "assimilated" give expression to this secret grievance in "philanthropic" undertakings. They organize emigration societies for wandering Jews. There is a reverse to the picture which would be comic, if it did not deal with human beings. For some of these charitable institutions are created not for, but against, persecuted Jews; they are created to despatch these poor creatures just as fast and far as possible. And thus, many an apparent friend of the Jews turns out, on careful inspection, to be nothing more than an Anti-Semite of Jewish origin, disguised as a philanthropist.
But the attempts at colonization made even by really benevolent men, interesting attempts though they were, have so far been unsuccessful. I do not think that this or that man took up the matter merely as an amusement, that they engaged in the emigration of poor Jews as one indulges in the racing of horses. The matter was too grave and tragic for such treatment. These attempts were interesting, in that they represented on a small scale the practical fore-runners of the idea of a Jewish State. They were even useful, for out of their mistakes may be gathered experience for carrying the idea out successfully on a larger scale. They have, of course, done harm also. The transportation of Anti-Semitism to new districts, which is the inevitable consequence of such artificial infiltration, seems to me to be the least of these evils. Far worse is the circumstance that unsatisfactory results tend to cast doubts on intelligent men. What is impractical or impossible to simple argument will remove this doubt from the minds of intelligent men. What is unpractical or impossible to [82]accomplish on a small scale, need not necessarily be so on a larger one. A small enterprise may result in loss under the same conditions which would make a large one pay. A rivulet cannot even be navigated by boats, the river into which it flows carries stately iron vessels.
No human being is wealthy or powerful enough to transplant a nation from one habitation to another. An idea alone can achieve that and this idea of a State may have the requisite power to do so. The Jews have dreamt this kingly dream all through the long nights of their history. "Next year in Jerusalem" is our old phrase. It is now a question of showing that the dream can be converted into a living reality.
For this, many old, outgrown, confused and limited notions must first be entirely erased from the minds of men. Dull brains might, for instance, imagine that this exodus would be from civilized regions into the desert. That is not the case. It will be carried out in the midst of civilization. We shall not revert to a lower stage, we shall rise to a higher one. We shall not dwell in mud huts; we shall build new more beautiful and more modern houses, and possess them in safety. We shall not lose our acquired possessions; we shall realize them. We shall surrender our well earned rights only for better ones. We shall not sacrifice our beloved customs; we shall find them again. We shall not leave our old home before the new one is prepared for us. Those only will depart who are sure thereby to improve their position; those who are now desperate will go first, after them the poor; next the prosperous, and, last of all, the wealthy. Those who go in advance will raise themselves to a higher grade, equal to those whose representatives will shortly follow. Thus the exodus will be at the same time an ascent of the class.
[83]The departure of the Jews will involve no economic disturbances, no crises, no persecutions; in fact, the countries they abandon will revive to a new period of prosperity. There will be an inner migration of Christian citizens into the positions evacuated by Jews. The outgoing current will be gradual, without any disturbance, and its initial movement will put an end to Anti-Semitism. The Jews will leave as honored friends, and if some of them return, they will receive the same favorable welcome and treatment at the hands of civilized nations as is accorded to all foreign visitors. Their exodus will have no resemblance to a flight, for it will be a well-regulated movement under control of public opinion. The movement will not only be inaugurated with absolute conformity to law, but it cannot even be carried out without the friendly cooperation of interested Governments, who would derive considerable benefits from it.
Security for the integrity of the idea and the vigor of its execution will be found in the creation of a body corporate, or corporation. This corporation will be called "The Society of Jews." In addition to it there will be a Jewish company, an economically productive body.
An individual who attempted even to undertake this huge task alone would be either an impostor or a madman. The personal character of the members of the corporation will guarantee its integrity, and the adequate capital of the Company will prove its stability.
These prefatory remarks are merely intended as a hasty reply to the mass of objections which the very words "Jewish State" are certain to arouse. Henceforth we shall proceed more slowly to meet further objections and to explain in detail what has been as yet only indicated; and we shall try in the interests of this pamphlet to avoid [84]making it a dull exposition. Short aphoristic chapters will therefore best answer the purpose.
If I wish to substitute a new building for an old one, I must demolish before I construct. I shall therefore keep to this natural sequence. In the first and general part I shall explain my ideas, remove all prejudices, determine essential political and economic conditions, and develop the plan.
In the special part, which is divided into three principal sections, I shall describe its execution. These three sections are: The Jewish Company, Local Groups, and the Society of Jews. The Society is to be created first, the Company last; but in this exposition the reverse order is preferable, because it is the financial soundness of the enterprise which will chiefly be called into question, and doubts on this score must be removed first.
In the conclusion, I shall try to meet every further objection that could possibly be made. My Jewish readers will, I hope, follow me patiently to the end. Some will naturally make their objections in an order of succession other than that chosen for their refutation. But whoever finds his doubts dispelled should give allegiance to the cause.
Although I speak of reason, I am fully aware that reason alone will not suffice. Old prisoners do not willingly leave their cells. We shall see whether the youth whom we need are at our command—the youth, who irresistibly draw on the old, carry them forward on strong arms, and transform rational motives into enthusiasm.
II. The Jewish Question
No one can deny the gravity of the situation of the Jews. Wherever they live in perceptible numbers, they are more or less persecuted. Their equality before the law, granted by statute, has become practically a dead letter. They are debarred from filling even moderately high positions, either in the army, or in any public or private capacity. And attempts are made to thrust them out of business also: "Don't buy from Jews!"
Attacks in Parliaments, in assemblies, in the press, in the pulpit, in the street, on journeys—for example, their exclusion from certain hotels—even in places of recreation, become daily more numerous. The forms of persecutions varying according to the countries and social circles in which they occur. In Russia, imposts are levied on Jewish villages; in Rumania, a few persons are put to death; in Germany, they get a good beating occasionally; in Austria, Anti-Semites exercise terrorism over all public life; in Algeria, there are travelling agitators; in Paris, the Jews are shut out of the so-called best social circles and excluded from clubs. Shades of anti-Jewish feeling are innumerable. But this is not to be an attempt to make out a doleful category of Jewish hardships.
I do not intend to arouse sympathetic emotions on our behalf. That would be foolish, futile, and undignified proceeding. I shall content myself with putting the following questions to the Jews: Is it not true that, in countries where we live in perceptible numbers, the position of Jewish lawyers, doctors, technicians, teachers, and employees of all descriptions becomes daily more intolerable? Is it not true, [86]that the Jewish middle classes are seriously threatened? Is it not true, that the passions of the mob are incited against our wealthy people? Is it not true, that our poor endure greater sufferings than any other proletariat? I think that this external pressure makes itself felt everywhere. In our economically upper classes it causes discomfort, in our middle classes continual and grave anxieties, in our lower classes absolute despair.
Everything tends, in fact, to one and the same conclusion, which is clearly enunciated in that classic Berlin phrase: "Juden Raus!" (Out with the Jews!)
I shall now put the Question in the briefest possible form: Are we to "get out" now and where to?
Or, may we yet remain? And, how long?
Let us first settle the point of staying where we are. Can we hope for better days, can we possess our souls in patience, can we wait in pious resignation till the princes and peoples of this earth are more mercifully disposed towards us? I say that we cannot hope for a change in the current of feeling. And why not? Even if we were as near to the hearts of princes as are their other subjects, they could not protect us. They would only feel popular hatred by showing us too much favor. By "too much," I really mean less than is claimed as a right by every ordinary citizen, or by every race. The nations in whose midst Jews live are all either covertly or openly Anti-Semitic.
The common people have not, and indeed cannot have, any historic comprehension. They do not know that the sins of the Middle Ages are now being visited on the nations of Europe. We are what the Ghetto made us. We have attained pre-eminence in finance, because mediaeval conditions drove us to it. The same process is now [87]being repeated. We are again being forced into finance, now it is the stock exchange, by being kept out of other branches of economic activity. Being on the stock exchange, we are consequently exposed afresh to contempt. At the same time we continue to produce an abundance of mediocre intellects who find no outlet, and this endangers our social position as much as does our increasing wealth. Educated Jews without means are now rapidly becoming Socialists. Hence we are certain to suffer very severely in the struggle between classes, because we stand in the most exposed position in the camps of both Socialists and capitalists.
PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS AT A SOLUTION
The artificial means heretofore employed to overcome the troubles of Jews have been either too petty—such as attempts at colonization—or attempts to convert the Jews into peasants in their present homes.
What is achieved by transporting a few thousand Jews to another country? Either they come to grief at once, or prosper, and then their prosperity creates Anti-Semitism. We have already discussed these attempts to divert poor Jews to fresh districts. This diversion is clearly inadequate and futile, if it does not actually defeat its own ends; for it merely protracts and postpones a solution, and perhaps even aggravates difficulties.
Whoever would attempt to convert the Jew into a husbandman would be making an extraordinary mistake. For a peasant is in a historical category, as proved by his costume which in some countries he has worn for centuries; and by his tools, which are identical with those used by his earliest forefathers. His plough is unchanged; he carries the seed in his apron; mows with the historical [88]scythe, and threshes with the time-honored flail. But we know that all this can be done by machinery. The agrarian question is only a question of machinery. America must conquer Europe, in the same way as large landed possessions absorb small ones. The peasant is consequently a type which is in course of extinction. Whenever he is artificially preserved, it is done on account of the political interests which he is intended to serve. It is absurd, and indeed impossible, to make modern peasants on the old pattern. No one is wealthy or powerful enough to make civilization take a single retrograde step. The mere preservation of obsolete institutions is a task severe enough to require the enforcement of all the despotic measures of an autocratically governed State.
Are we, therefore, to credit Jews who are intelligent with a desire to become peasants of the old type? One might just as well say to them: "Here is a cross-bow: now go to war!" What? With a cross-bow, while the others have rifles and long range guns? Under these circumstances the Jews are perfectly justified in refusing to stir when people try to make peasants of them. A cross-bow is a beautiful weapon, which inspires me with mournful feelings when I have time to devote to them. But it belongs by rights to a museum.
Now, there certainly are districts to which desperate Jews go out, or at any rate, are willing to go out and till the soil. And a little observation shows that these districts—such as the enclave of Hesse in Germany, and some provinces in Russia—these very districts are the principal seats of Anti-Semitism.
For the world's reformers, who send the Jews to the plough, forget a very important person, who has a great deal to say on the matter. This person is the agriculturist, [89]and the agriculturist is also perfectly justified. For the tax on land, the risks attached to crops, the pressure of large proprietors who cheapen labor, and American competition in particular, combine to make his life hard enough. Besides, the duties on corn cannot go on increasing indefinitely. Nor can the manufacturer be allowed to starve; his political influence is, in fact, in the ascendant, and he must therefore be treated with additional consideration.
All these difficulties are well known, therefore I refer to them only cursorily. I merely wanted to indicate clearly how futile had been past attempts—most of them well intentioned—to solve the Jewish Question. Neither a diversion of the stream, nor an artificial depression of the intellectual level of our proletariat, will overcome the difficulty. The supposed infallible expedient of assimilation has already been dealt with.
We cannot get the better of Anti-Semitism by any of these methods. It cannot die out so long as its causes are not removed. Are they removable?
CAUSES OF ANTI-SEMITISM
We shall not again touch on those causes which are a result of temperament, prejudice and narrow views, but shall here restrict ourselves to political and economical causes alone. Modern Anti-Semitism is not to be confounded with the religious persecution of the Jews of former times. It does occasionally take a religious bias in some countries, but the main current of the aggressive movement has now changed. In the principal countries where Anti-Semitism prevails, it does so as a result of the emancipation of the Jews. When civilized nations awoke to the inhumanity of discriminatory legislation and [90]enfranchised us, our enfranchisement came too late. It was no longer possible to remove our disabilities in our old homes. For we had, curiously enough, developed while in the Ghetto into a bourgeois people, and we stepped out of it only to enter into fierce competition with the middle classes. Hence, our emancipation set us suddenly within this middle-class circle, where we have a double pressure to sustain, from within and from without. The Christian bourgeoisie would not be unwilling to cast us as a sacrifice to Socialism, though that would not greatly improve matters.
At the same time, the equal rights of Jews before the law cannot be withdrawn where they have once been conceded. Not only because their withdrawal would be opposed to the spirit of our age, but also because it would immediately drive all Jews, rich and poor alike, into the ranks of subversive parties. Nothing effectual can really be done to our injury. In olden days our jewels were seized. How is our movable property to be got hold of now? It consists of printed papers which are locked up somewhere or other in the world, perhaps in the coffers of Christians. It is, of course, possible to get at shares and debentures in railways, banks and industrial undertakings of all descriptions by taxation, and where the progressive income-tax is in force all our movable property can eventually be laid hold of. But all these efforts cannot be directed against Jews alone, and wherever they might nevertheless be made, severe economic crises would be their immediate consequences, which would be by no means confined to the Jews who would be the first affected. The very impossibility of getting at the Jews nourishes and embitters hatred of them. Anti-Semitism increases day by day and hour by hour among the nations; indeed, it is bound to increase, because the causes of its growth [91]continue to exist and cannot be removed. Its remote cause is our loss of the power of assimilation during the Middle Ages; its immediate cause is our excessive production of mediocre intellects, who cannot find an outlet downwards or upwards—that is to say, no wholesome outlet in either direction. When we sink, we become a revolutionary proletariat, the subordinate officers of all revolutionary parties; and at the same time, when we rise, there rises also our terrible power of the purse.
EFFECTS OF ANTI-SEMITISM
The oppression we endure does not improve us, for we are not a whit better than ordinary people. It is true that we do not love our enemies; but he alone who can conquer himself dare reproach us with that fault. Oppression naturally creates hostility against oppressors, and our hostility aggravates the pressure. It is impossible to escape from this eternal circle.
"No!" Some soft-hearted visionaries will say: "No, it is possible! Possible by means of the ultimate perfection of humanity."
Is it necessary to point to the sentimental folly of this view? He who would found his hope for improved conditions on the ultimate perfection of humanity would indeed be relying upon a Utopia!
I referred previously to our "assimilation". I do not for a moment wish to imply that I desire such an end. Our national character is too historically famous, and, in spite of every degradation, too fine to make its annihilation desirable. We might perhaps be able to merge ourselves entirely into surrounding races, if these were to leave us in peace for a period of two generations. But they will not [92]leave us in peace. For a little period they manage to tolerate us, and then their hostility breaks out again and again. The world is provoked somehow by our prosperity, because it has for many centuries been accustomed to consider us as the most contemptible among the poverty-stricken. In its ignorance and narrowness of heart, it fails to observe that prosperity weakens our Judaism and extinguishes our peculiarities. It is only pressure that forces us back to the parent stem; it is only hatred encompassing us that makes us strangers once more.
Thus, whether we like it or not, we are now, and shall henceforth remain, a historic group with unmistakable characteristics common to us all.
We are one people—our enemies have made us one without our consent, as repeatedly happens in history. Distress binds us together, and, thus united, we suddenly discover our strength. Yes, we are strong enough to form a State, and, indeed, a model State. We possess all human and material resources necessary for the purpose.
This is therefore the appropriate place to give an account of what has been somewhat roughly termed our "human material." But it would not be appreciated till the broad lines of the plan, on which everything depends, has first been marked out.
The whole plan is in its essence perfectly simple, as it must necessarily be if it is to come within the comprehension of all.
Let the sovereignty be granted us over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation; the rest we shall manage for ourselves.
The creation of a new State is neither ridiculous nor [93]impossible. We have in our day witnessed the process in connection with nations which were not largely members of the middle class, but poorer, less educated, and consequently weaker than ourselves. The Governments of all countries scourged by Anti-Semitism will be keenly interested in assisting us to obtain the sovereignty we want.
The plan, simple in design, but complicated in execution, will be carried out by two agencies: The Society of Jews and the Jewish Company.
The Society of Jews will do the preparatory work in the domains of science and politics, which the Jewish Company will afterwards apply practically.
The Jewish Company will be the liquidating agent of the business interests of departing Jews, and will organize commerce and trade in the new country.
We must not imagine the departure of the Jews to be a sudden one. It will be gradual, continuous, and will cover many decades. The poorest will go first to cultivate the soil. In accordance with a preconceived plan, they will construct roads, bridges, railways and telegraph installations; regulate rivers; and build their own dwellings; their labor will create trade, trade will create markets and markets will attract new settlers, for every man will go voluntarily, at his own expense and his own risk. The labor expended on the land will enhance its value, and the Jews will soon perceive that a new and permanent sphere of operation is opening here for that spirit of enterprise which has heretofore met only with hatred and obloquy.
If we wish to found a State today, we shall not do it in the way which would have been the only possible one a thousand years ago. It is foolish to revert to old stages of civilization, as many Zionists would like to do. Supposing, for example, we were obliged to clear a country of [94]wild beasts, we should not set about the task in the fashion of Europeans of the fifth century. We should not take spear and lance and go out singly in pursuit of bears; we would organize a large and active hunting party, drive the animals together, and throw a melinite bomb into their midst.
If we wish to conduct building operations, we shall not plant a mass of stakes and piles on the shore of a lake, but we shall build as men build now. Indeed, we shall build in a bolder and more stately style than was ever adopted before, for we now possess means which men never yet possessed.
The emigrants standing lowest in the economic scale will be slowly followed by those of a higher grade. Those who at this moment are living in despair will go first. They will be led by the mediocre intellects which we produce so superabundantly and which are persecuted everywhere.
This pamphlet will open a general discussion on the Jewish Question, but that does not mean that there will be any voting on it. Such a result would ruin the cause from the outset, and dissidents must remember that allegiance or opposition is entirely voluntary. He who will not come with us should remain behind.
Let all who are willing to join us, fall in behind our banner and fight for our cause with voice and pen and deed.
Those Jews who agree with our idea of a State will attach themselves to the Society, which will thereby be authorized to confer and treat with Governments in the name of our people. The Society will thus be acknowledged in its relations with Governments as a State-creating power. This acknowledgment will practically create the State.
[95]Should the Powers declare themselves willing to admit our sovereignty over a neutral piece of land, then the Society will enter into negotiations for the possession of this land. Here two territories come under consideration, Palestine and Argentine. In both countries important experiments in colonization have been made, though on the mistaken principle of a gradual infiltration of Jews. An infiltration is bound to end badly. It continues till the inevitable moment when the native population feels itself threatened, and forces the Government to stop a further influx of Jews. Immigration is consequently futile unless we have the sovereign right to continue such immigration.
The Society of Jews will treat with the present masters of the land, putting itself under the protectorate of the European Powers, if they prove friendly to the plan. We could offer the present possessors of the land enormous advantages, assume part of the public debt, build new roads for traffic, which our presence in the country would render necessary, and do many other things. The creation of our State would be beneficial to adjacent countries, because the cultivation of a strip of land increases the value of its surrounding districts in innumerable ways.
PALESTINE OR ARGENTINE?
Shall we choose Palestine or Argentine? We shall take what is given us, and what is selected by Jewish public opinion. The Society will determine both these points.
Argentine is one of the most fertile countries in the world, extends over a vast area, has a sparse population and a mild climate. The Argentine Republic would derive considerable profit from the cession of a portion of its territory to us. The present infiltration of Jews has [96]certainly produced some discontent, and it would be necessary to enlighten the Republic on the intrinsic difference of our new movement.
Palestine is our ever-memorable historic home. The very name of Palestine would attract our people with a force of marvellous potency. If His Majesty the Sultan were to give us Palestine, we could in return undertake to regulate the whole finances of Turkey. We should there form a portion of a rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilization as opposed to barbarism. We should as a neutral State remain in contact with all Europe, which would have to guarantee our existence. The sanctuaries of Christendom would be safeguarded by assigning to them an extra-territorial status such as is well-known to the law of nations. We should form a guard of honor about these sanctuaries, answering for the fulfilment of this duty with our existence. This guard of honor would be the great symbol of the solution of the Jewish Question after eighteen centuries of Jewish suffering.
DEMAND, MEDIUM, TRADE
I said in the last chapter, "The Jewish Company will organize trade and commerce in the new country." I shall here insert a few remarks on that point.
A scheme such as mine is gravely imperilled if it is opposed by "practical" people. Now "practical" people are as a rule nothing more than men sunk into the groove of daily routine, unable to emerge from a narrow circle of antiquated ideas. At the same time, their adverse opinion carries great weight, and can do considerable harm to a new project, at any rate until this new thing is sufficiently strong to throw the "practical" people and their mouldy notions to the winds.
[97]In the earliest period of European railway construction some "practical" people were of the opinion that it was foolish to build certain lines "because there were not even sufficient passengers to fill the mail-coaches." They did not realize the truth—which now seems obvious to us—that travellers do not produce railways, but, conversely, railways produce travellers, the latent demand, of course, is taken for granted.
The impossibility of comprehending how trade and commerce are to be created in a new country which has yet to be acquired and cultivated, may be classed with those doubts of "practical" persons concerning the need of railways. A "practical" person would express himself somewhat in this fashion:
"Granted that the present situation of the Jews is in many places unendurable, and aggravated day by day; granted that there exists a desire to emigrate; granted even that the Jews do emigrate to the new country; how will they earn their living there, and what will they earn? What are they to live on when there? The business of many people cannot be artificially organized in a day."
To this I should reply: We have not the slightest intention of organizing trade artificially, and we should certainly not attempt to do it in a day. But, though the organization of it may be impossible, the promotion of it is not. And how is commerce to be encouraged? Through the medium of a demand. The demand recognized, the medium created, it will establish itself.
If there is a real earnest demand among Jews for an improvement of their status; if the medium to be created—the Jewish Company—is sufficiently powerful, then commerce will extend itself freely in the new country.
III. The Jewish Company
OUTLINES
The Jewish Company is partly modelled on the lines of a great land-acquisition company. It might be called a Jewish Chartered Company, though it cannot exercise sovereign power, and has other than purely colonial tasks.
The Jewish Company will be founded as a joint stock company subject to English jurisdiction, framed according to English laws, and under the protection of England. Its principal center will be London. I cannot tell yet how large the Company's capital should be; I shall leave that calculation to our numerous financiers. But to avoid ambiguity, I shall put it at a thousand million marks (about £50,000,000 or $200,000,000); it may be either more or less than that sum. The form of subscription, which will be further elucidated, will determine what fraction of the whole amount must be paid in at once.
The Jewish Company is an organization with a transitional character. It is strictly a business undertaking, and must be carefully distinguished from the Society of Jews.
The Jewish Company will first of all convert into cash all vested interests left by departing Jews. The method adopted will prevent the occurrences of crises, secure every man's property, and facilitate that inner migration of Christian citizens which has already been indicated.
NON-TRANSFERABLE GOODS
The non-transferable goods which come under consideration are buildings, land, and local business connections. [99]The Jewish Company will at first take upon itself no more than the necessary negotiations for effecting the sale of these goods. These Jewish sales will take place freely and without any serious fall in prices. The Company's branch establishments in various towns will become the central offices for the sale of Jewish estates, and will charge only so much commission on transactions as will ensure their financial stability.
The development of this movement may cause a considerable fall in the prices of landed property, and may eventually make it impossible to find a market for it. At this juncture the Company will enter upon another branch of its functions. It will take over the management of abandoned estates till such time as it can dispose of them to the greatest advantage. It will collect house rents, let out land on lease, and install business managers—these, on account of the required supervision, being, if possible, tenants also. The Company will endeavor everywhere to facilitate the acquisition of land by its tenants, who are Christians. It will, indeed, gradually replace its own officials in the European branches by Christian substitutes (lawyers, etc.); and these are not by any means to become servants of the Jews; they are intended to be free agents to the Christian population, so that everything may be carried through in equity, fairness and justice, and without imperilling the internal welfare of the people.
At the same time the Company will sell estates, or, rather, exchange them. For a house it will offer a house in the new country; and for land, land in the new country; everything being, if possible, transferred to the new soil in the same state as it was in the old. And this transfer will be a great and recognized source of profit to the Company. "Over there" the houses offered in exchange will [100]be newer, more beautiful, and more comfortably fitted, and the landed estates of greater value than those abandoned; but they will cost the Company comparatively little, because it will have bought the ground very cheaply.
The land which the Society of Jews will have secured by international law must, of course, be privately acquired.
Provisions made by individuals for their own settlement do not come within the province of this general account. But the Company will require large areas for its own needs and ours, and these it must secure by centralized purchase. It will negotiate principally for the acquisition of fiscal domains, with the great object of taking possession of this land "over there" without paying a price too high, in the same way as it sells here without accepting one too low. A forcing of prices is not to be considered, because the value of the land will be created by the Company through its organizing the settlement in conjunction with the supervising Society of Jews. The latter will see to it that the enterprise does not become a Panama, but a Suez.
The Company will sell building sites at reasonable rates to its officials, and will allow them to mortgage these for the building of their homes, deducting the amount due from their salaries, or putting it down to their account as increased emolument. This will, in addition to the honors they expect, will be additional pay for their services.
All the immense profits of this speculation in land will go to the Company, which is bound to receive this indefinite premium in return for having borne the risk of the undertaking. When the undertaking involves any risk, the profits must be freely given to those who have borne it. But under no other circumstances will profits be [101]permitted. Financial morality consists in the correlation of risk and profit.
The Company will thus barter houses and estates. It must be plain to any one who has observed the rise in the value of land through its cultivation that the Company will be bound to gain on its landed property. This can best be seen in the case of enclosed pieces of land in town and country. Areas not built over increase in value through surrounding cultivation. The men who carried out the extension of Paris made a successful speculation in land which was ingenious in its simplicity; instead of erecting new buildings in the immediate vicinity of the last houses of the town, they bought up adjacent pieces of land, and began to build on the outskirts of these. This inverse order of construction raised the value of building sites with extraordinary rapidity, and, after having completed the outer ring, they built in the middle of the town on these highly valuable sites, instead of continually erecting houses at the extremity.
Will the Company do its own building, or employ independent architects? It can, and will, do both. It has, as will be shown shortly, an immense reserve of working power, which will not be sweated by the Company, but, transported into brighter and happier conditions of life, will nevertheless not be expensive. Our geologists will have looked to the provision of building materials when they selected the sites of the towns.
What is to be the principle of construction?
WORKMEN'S DWELLINGS
The workmen's dwellings (which include the dwellings [102]of all operatives) will be erected at the Company's own risk and expense. They will resemble neither those melancholy workmen's barracks of European towns, not those miserable rows of shanties which surround factories; they will certainly present a uniform appearance, because the Company must build cheaply where it provides the building materials to a great extent; but the detached houses in little gardens will be united into attractive groups in each locality. The natural conformation of the land will rouse the ingenuity of our young architects, whose ideas have not yet been cramped by routine; and even if the people do not grasp the whole import of the plan, they will at any rate feel at ease in their loose clusters. The Temple will be visible from long distances, for it is only our ancient faith that has kept us together. There will be light, attractive, healthy schools for children, conducted on the most approved modern systems. There will be continuation-schools for workmen, which will educate them in greater technical knowledge and enable them to become intimate with the working of machinery. There will be places of amusement for the proper conduct of which the Society of Jews will be responsible.
We are, however, speaking merely of the buildings at present, and not of what may take place inside of them.
I said that the Company would build workmen's dwellings cheaply. And cheaply, not only because of the proximity of abundant building materials, not only because of the Company's proprietorship of the sites, but also because of the non-payment of workmen.
American farmers work on the system of mutual assistance in the construction of houses. This childishly amicable system, which is as clumsy as the block-houses erected, can be developed on much finer lines.
UNSKILLED LABORERS
Our unskilled laborers, who will come at first from the great reservoirs of Russia and Rumania, must, of course, render each other assistance, in the construction of houses. They will be obliged to build with wood in the beginning, because iron will not be immediately available. Later on the original, inadequate, makeshift buildings will be replaced by superior dwellings.
Our unskilled laborers will first mutually erect these shelters; and then they will earn their houses as permanent possessions by means of their work—not immediately, but after three years of good conduct. In this way we shall secure energetic and able men, and these men will be practically trained for life by three years of labor under good discipline.
I said before that the Company would not have to pay these unskilled laborers. What will they live on?
On the whole, I am opposed to the Truck system,[A] but it will have to be applied in the case of these first settlers. The Company provides for them in so many ways, that it may take charge of their maintenance. In any case the Truck system will be enforced only during the first few years, and it will benefit the workmen by preventing their being exploited by small traders, landlords, etc. The Company will thus make it impossible from the outset for those of our people, who are perforce hawkers and peddlers here, to reestablish themselves in the same trades over there. And the Company will also keep back drunkards and dissolute men. Then will there be no payment of wages at all during the first period of settlement. Certainly, there will be wages for overtime.
THE SEVEN-HOUR DAY
The seven-hour day is the regular working day.
This does not imply that wood-cutting, digging, stone-breaking, and a hundred other daily tasks should only be performed during seven hours. Indeed not. There will be fourteen hours of labor, work being done in shifts of three and a half hours. The organization of all this will be military in character; there will be commands, promotions and pensions, the means by which these pensions are provided being explained further on.
A sound man can do a great deal of concentrated work in three and a half hours. After an interval of the same length of time—which he will devote to rest, to his family, and to his education under guidance—he will be quite fresh for work again. Such labor can do wonders.
The seven-hour day thus implies fourteen hours of joint labor—more than that cannot be put into a day.
I am convinced that it is quite possible to introduce this seven-hour day with success. The attempts to do so in Belgium and England are well known. Some advanced political economists who have studied the subject, declare that a five-hour day would suffice. The Society of Jews and the Jewish Company will, in any case, make new and extensive experiments which will benefit the other nations of the world; and if the seven-hour day proves itself practicable, it will be introduced in our future State as the legal and regular working day.
Meantime, the Company will always allow its employees the seven-hour day; and it will always be in a position to do so.
The seven-hour day will be the call to summon our people in every part of the world. All must come voluntarily, for ours must indeed be the Promised Land....
[105]Whoever works longer than seven hours receives his additional pay for overtime in cash. Seeing that all his needs are supplied, and that those members of his family who are unable to work are provided for by transplanted and centralized philanthropic institutions, he can save a little money. Thrift, which is already a characteristic of our people, should be greatly encouraged, because it will, in the first place, facilitate the rise of individuals to higher grades; and secondly, the money saved will provide an immense reserve fund for future loans. Overtime will only be permitted on a doctor's certificate, and must not exceed three hours. For our men will crowd to work in the new country, and the world will see then what an industrious people we are.
I shall not describe the mode of carrying out the Truck system, nor, in fact, the innumerable details of any process, for fear of confusing my readers. Women will not be allowed to perform any arduous labor, nor to work overtime.
Pregnant women will be relieved of all work, and will be supplied with nourishing food by the Truck. We want our future generations to be strong men and women.
We shall educate children as we wish from the commencement; but this I shall not elaborate either.
My remarks on workmen's dwellings, and on unskilled laborers and their mode of life, are no more Utopian than the rest of my scheme. Everything I have spoken of is already being put into practice, only on an utterly small scale, neither noticed nor understood. The "Assistance par le Travail," which I learned to know and understand in Paris, was of great service to me in the solution of the Jewish question.
RELIEF BY LABOR
The system of relief by labor which, is now applied in Paris, in many other French towns, in England, in Switzerland, and in America, is a very small thing, but capable of the greatest expansion.
What is the principle of relief by labor?
The principle is: to furnish every needy man with easy, unskilled work, such as chopping wood, or cutting faggots used for lighting stoves in Paris households. This is a kind of prison-work before the crime, done without loss of character. It is meant to prevent men from taking to crime out of want, by providing them with work and testing their willingness to do it. Starvation must never be allowed to drive men to suicide; for such suicides are the deepest disgrace to a civilization which allows rich men to throw tid-bits to their dogs.
Relief by labor thus provides every one with work. But the system has a great defect; there is not a sufficiently large demand for the production of the unskilled workers employed, hence there is a loss to those who employ them; though it is true that the organization is philanthropic, and therefore prepared for loss. But here the benefaction lies only in the difference between the price paid for the work and its actual value. Instead of giving the beggar two sous, the institution supplies him with work on which it loses two sous. But at the same time it converts the good-for-nothing beggar into an honest breadwinner, who has earned perhaps 1 franc 50 centimes. 150 centimes for 10! That is to say, the receiver of a benefaction in which there is nothing humiliating has increased it fifteenfold! That is to say, fifteen thousand millions for one thousand millions!
The institution certainly loses 10 centimes. But the Jewish Company will not lose one thousand millions; it will draw [107]enormous profits from this expenditure.
There is a moral side also. The small system of relief by labor which exists now preserves rectitude through industry till such time as the man who is out of work finds a post suitable to his capacities, either in his old calling or in a new one. He is allowed a few hours daily for the purpose of looking for a place, in which task the institutions assist him.
The defect of these small organizations, so far, has been that they have been prohibited from entering into competition with timber merchants, etc. Timber merchants are electors; they would protest, and would be justified in protesting. Competition with State prison-labor has also been forbidden, for the State must occupy and feed its criminals.
In fact, there is very little room in an old-established society for the successful application of the system of "Assistance par le Travail."
But there is room in a new society.
For, above all, we require enormous numbers of unskilled laborers to do the first rough work of settlement, to lay down roads, plant trees, level the ground, construct railroads, telegraph installations, etc. All this will be carried out in accordance with a large and previously settled plan.
The labor carried to the new country will naturally create trade. The first markets will supply only the absolute necessities of life; cattle, grain, working clothes, tools, arms—to mention just a few things. These we shall be obliged at first to procure from neighboring States, or from Europe; but we shall make ourselves independent as soon [108]as possible. The Jewish entrepreneurs will soon realize the business prospects that the new country offers.
The army of the Company's officials will gradually introduce more refined requirements of life. (Officials include officers of our defensive forces, who will always form about a tenth part of our male colonists. They will be sufficiently numerous to quell mutinies, for the majority of our colonists will be peaceably inclined.)
The refined requirements of life introduced by our officials in good positions will create a correspondingly improved market, which will continue to better itself. The married man will send for wife and children, and the single for parents and relatives, as soon as a new home is established "over there." The Jews who emigrate to the United States always proceed in this fashion. As soon as one of them has daily bread and a roof over his head, he sends for his people; for family ties are strong among us. The Society of Jews and the Jewish Company will unite in caring for and strengthening the family still more, not only morally, but materially also. The officials will receive additional pay on marriage and on the birth of children, for we need all who are there, and all who will follow.
OTHER CLASSES OF DWELLINGS
I described before only workmen's dwellings built by themselves, and omitted all mention of other classes of dwellings. These I shall now touch upon. The Company's architects will build for the poorer classes of citizens also, being paid in kind or cash; about a hundred different types of houses will be erected, and, of course, repeated. These beautiful types will form part of our propaganda. The soundness of their construction will be guaranteed by the Company, which will, indeed, gain nothing by selling [109]them to settlers at a fixed sum. And where will these houses be situated? That will be shown in the section dealing with Local Groups.
Seeing that the Company does not wish to earn anything on the building works but only on the land, it will desire as many architects as possible to build by private contract. This system will increase the value of landed property, and it will introduce luxury, which serves many purposes. Luxury encourages arts and industries, paving the way to a future subdivision of large properties.
Rich Jews who are now obliged carefully to secrete their valuables, and to hold their dreary banquets behind lowered curtains, will be able to enjoy their possessions in peace, "over there." If they cooperate in carrying out this emigration scheme, their capital will be rehabilitated and will have served to promote an unexampled undertaking. If in the new settlement rich Jews begin to rebuild their mansions which are stared at in Europe with such envious eyes, it will soon become fashionable to live over there in beautiful modern houses.
SOME FORMS OF LIQUIDATION
The Jewish Company is intended to be the receiver and administrator of the non-transferable goods of the Jews.
Its methods of procedure can be easily imagined in the case of houses and estates, but what methods will it adopt in the transfer of businesses?
Here numberless processes may be found practicable, which cannot all be enlarged on in this outline. But none of them will present any great difficulties, for in each case the business proprietor, when he voluntarily decides to emigrate, will settle with the Company's officers in his district on the most advantageous form of liquidation.
[110]This will most easily be arranged in the case of small employers, in whose trades the personal activity of the proprietor is of chief importance, while goods and organization are a secondary consideration. The Company will provide a certain field of operation for the emigrant's personal activity, and will substitute a piece of ground, with loan of machinery, for his goods. Jews are known to adapt themselves with remarkable ease to any form of earning a livelihood, and they will quickly learn to carry on a new industry. In this way a number of small traders will become small landholders. The Company will, in fact, be prepared to sustain what appears to be a loss in taking over the non-transferable property of the poorest emigrants; for it will thereby induce the free cultivation of tracts of land, which raises the value of adjacent tracts.
In medium-sized businesses, where goods and organization equal, or even exceed, in importance, the personal activity of the manager, whose larger connection is also non-transferable, various forms of liquidation are possible. Here comes an opportunity for that inner migration of Christian citizens into positions evacuated by Jews. The departing Jew will not lose his personal business credit, but will carry it with him, and make good use of it in a new country to establish himself. The Jewish Company will open a current bank account for him. And he can sell the goodwill of his original business, or hand it over to the control of managers under supervision of the Company's officials. The managers may rent the business or buy it, paying for it by instalments. But the Company acts temporarily as curator for the emigrants, in superintending, through its officers and lawyers, the administration of their affairs, and seeing to the proper collection of all payments.
[111]If a Jew cannot sell his business, or entrust it to a proxy or wish to give up its personal management, he may stay where he is. The Jews who stay will be none the worse off, for they will be relieved of the competition of those who leave, and will no longer hear the Anti-Semitic cry: "Don't buy from Jews!"
If the emigrating business proprietor wishes to carry on his old business in the new country, he can make his arrangements for it from the very commencement. An example will best illustrate my meaning. The firm X carries on a large business in dry goods. The head of the firm wishes to emigrate. He begins by setting up a branch establishment in his future place of residence, and sending out samples of his stock. The first poor settlers will be his first customers; these will be followed by emigrants of a higher class, who require superior goods. X then sends out newer goods, and eventually ships his newest. The branch establishment begins to pay while the principal one is still in existence, so that X ends by having two paying business-houses. He sells his original business or hands it over to his Christian representative to manage, and goes off to take charge of the new one.
Another and greater example: Y and Son are large coal-traders, with mines and factories of their own. How is so huge and complex a property to be liquidated? The mines and everything connected with them might, in the first place, be bought up by the State, in which they are situated. In the second place, the Jewish Company might take them over, paying for them partly in land, partly in cash. A third method might be the conversion of "Y and Son" into a limited company. A fourth method might be the continued working of the business under the original proprietors, who would return at intervals to inspect their property, [112]as foreigners, and as such, under the protection of law in every civilized State. All these suggestions are carried out daily. A fifth and excellent method, and one which might be particularly profitable, I shall merely indicate, because the existing examples of its working are at present few, however ready the modern consciousness may be to adopt them. Y and Son might sell their enterprise to the collective body of their employees, who would form a cooperative society, with limited liability, and might perhaps pay the requisite sum with the help of the State Treasury, which does not charge high interest.
The employees would then gradually pay off the loan, which either the Government or the Jewish Company, or even Y and Son, would have advanced to them.
The Jewish Company will be prepared to conduct the transfer of the smallest affairs equally with the largest. And whilst the Jews quietly emigrate and establish their new homes, the Company acts as the great controlling body, which organizes the departure, takes charge of deserted possessions, guarantees the proper conduct of the movement with its own visible and tangible property, and provides permanent security for those who have already settled.
SECURITIES OF THE COMPANY
What assurance will the Company offer that the abandonment of countries will not cause their impoverishment and produce economic crises?
I have already mentioned that honest Anti-Semites, whilst preserving their independence, will combine with our officials in controlling the transfer of our estates.
But the State revenues might suffer by the loss of a body of taxpayers, who, though little appreciated as citizens, are [113]highly valued in finance. The State should, therefore, receive compensation for this loss. This we offer indirectly by leaving in the country businesses which we have built up by means of Jewish acumen and Jewish industry, by letting our Christian fellow-citizens move into our evacuated positions, and by this facilitating the rise of numbers of people to greater prosperity so peaceably and in so unparallelled a manner. The French Revolution had a somewhat similar result, on a small scale, but it was brought about by bloodshed on the guillotine in every province of France, and on the battlefields of Europe. Moreover, inherited and acquired rights were destroyed, and only cunning buyers enriched themselves by the purchase of State properties.
The Jewish Company will offer to the States that come within its sphere of activity direct as well as indirect advantages. It will give Governments the first offer of abandoned Jewish property, and allow buyers most favorable conditions. Governments, again, will be able to make use of this friendly appropriation of land for the purpose of certain social improvements.
The Jewish Company will give every assistance to Governments and Parliaments in their efforts to direct the inner migration of Christian citizens.
The Jewish Company will also pay heavy taxes. Its central office will be in London, so as to be under the legal protection of a power which is not at present Anti-Semitic. But the Company, if it is supported officially and semi-officially, will everywhere provide a broad basis of taxation. To this end, it will establish taxable branch offices everywhere. Further, it will pay double duties on the two-fold transfer of goods which it accomplishes. Even in transactions where the Company is really nothing more than [114]a real estate agency, it will temporarily appear as a purchaser, and will be set down as the momentary possessor in the register of landed property.
These are, of course, purely calculable matters. It will have to be considered and decided in each place how far the Company can go without running any risks of failure. And the Company itself will confer freely with Finance Ministers on the various points at issue. Ministers will recognize the friendly spirit of our enterprise, and will consequently offer every facility in their power necessary for the successful achievement of the great undertaking.
Further and direct profit will accrue to Governments from the transport of passengers and goods, and where railways are State property the returns will be immediately recognizable. Where they are held by private companies, the Jewish Company will receive favorable terms for transport, in the same way as does every transmitter of goods on a large scale. Freight and carriage must be made as cheap as possible for our people, because every traveller will pay his own expenses. The middle classes will travel with Cook's tickets, the poorer classes in emigrant trains. The Company might make a good deal by reductions on passengers and goods; but here, as elsewhere, it must adhere to its principle of not trying to raise its receipts to a greater sum than will cover its working expenses.
In many places Jews have control of the transport; and the transport businesses will be the first needed by the Company and the first to be liquidated by it. The original owners of these concerns will either enter the Company's service, or establish themselves independently "over there." The new arrivals will certainly require their assistance, and theirs being a paying profession, which they may and [115]indeed must exercise there to earn a living, numbers of these enterprising spirits will depart. It is unnecessary to describe all the business details of this monster expedition. They must be judiciously evolved out of the original plan by many able men, who must apply their minds to achieving the best system.
SOME OF THE COMPANY'S ACTIVITIES
Many activities will be interconnected. For example: the Company will gradually introduce the manufacture of goods into the settlements which will, of course, be extremely primitive at their inception. Clothing, linens, and shoes will first of all be manufactured for our own poor emigrants, who will be provided with new suits of clothing at the various European emigration centers. They will not receive these clothes as alms, which might hurt their pride, but in exchange for old garments: any loss the Company sustains by this transaction will be booked as a business loss. Those who are absolutely without means will pay off their debt to the Company by working overtime at a fair rate of wage.
Existing emigration societies will be able to give valuable assistance here, for they will do for the Company's colonists what they did before for departing Jews. The forms of such cooperation will easily be found.
Even the new clothing of the poor settlers will have the symbolic meaning. "You are now entering on a new life." The Society of Jews will see to it that long before the departure and also during the journey a serious yet festive spirit is fostered by means of prayers, popular lectures, instruction on the object of the expedition, instruction on hygienic matters for their new places of residence, and guidance in regard to their future work. For the [116]Promised Land is the land of work. On their arrival, the emigrants will be welcomed by our chief officials with due solemnity, but without foolish exultation, for the Promised Land will not yet have been conquered. But these poor people should already see that they are at home.
The clothing industries of the Company will, of course, not produce their goods without proper organization. The Society of Jews will obtain from the local branches information about the number, requirements and date of arrival of the settlers, and will communicate all such information in good time to the Jewish Company. In this way it will be possible to provide for them with every precaution.
PROMOTION OF INDUSTRIES
The duties of the Jewish Company and the Society of Jews cannot be kept strictly apart in this outline. These two great bodies will have to work constantly in unison, the Company depending on the moral authority and support of the Society, just as the Society cannot dispense with the material assistance of the Company. For example, in the organizing of the clothing industry, the quantity produced will at first be kept down so as to preserve an equilibrium between supply and demand; and wherever the Company undertakes the organization of new industries the same precaution must be exercised.
But individual enterprise must never be checked by the Company with its superior force. We shall only work collectively when the immense difficulties of the task demand common action; we shall, wherever possible, scrupulously respect the rights of the individual. Private property, which is the economic basis of independence, shall be developed freely and be respected by us. Our first unskilled [117]laborers will at once have the opportunity to work their way up to private proprietorship.
The spirit of enterprise must, indeed, be encouraged in every possible way. Organization of industries will be promoted by a judicious system of duties, by the employment of cheap raw material, and by the institution of a board to collect and publish industrial statistics.
But this spirit of enterprise must be wisely encouraged, and risky speculation must be avoided. Every new industry must be advertised for a long period before establishment, so as to prevent failure on the part of those who might wish to start a similar business six months later. Whenever a new industrial establishment is founded, the Company should be informed, so that all those interested may obtain information from it.
Industrialists will be able to make use of centralized labor agencies, which will only receive a commission large enough to ensure their continuance. The industrialists might, for example, telegraph for 500 unskilled laborers for three days, three weeks, or three months. The labor agency would then collect these 500 unskilled laborers from every possible source, and despatch them at once to carry out the agricultural or industrial enterprise. Parties of workmen will thus be systematically drafted from place to place like a body of troops. These men will, of course, not be sweated, but will work only a seven-hour day; and, in spite of their change of locality, they will preserve their organization, work out their term of service, and receive commands, promotions, and pensions. Some establishments may, of course, be able to obtain their workmen from other sources, if they wish, but they will not find it easy to do so. The Society will be able to prevent the introduction of non-Jewish work-slaves by boycotting obstinate [118]employers, by obstructing traffic, and by various other methods. The seven-hour workers will therefore have to be taken, and we shall thus bring our people gradually, and without coercion, to adopt the normal seven-hour day.
SETTLEMENT OF SKILLED LABORERS
It is clear that what can be done for unskilled workers can be even more easily done for skilled laborers. These will work under similar regulations in the factories, and the central labor agency will provide them when required.
Independent operatives and small employers, must be carefully taught on account of the rapid progress of scientific improvements, must acquire technical knowledge even if no longer very young men, must study the power of water, and appreciate the forces of electricity. Independent workers must also be discovered and supplied by the Society's agency. The local branch will apply, for example, to the central office: "We want so many carpenters, locksmiths, glaziers, etc." The central office will publish this demand, and the proper men will apply there for the work. These would then travel with their families to the place where they were wanted, and would remain there without feeling the pressure of undue competition. A permanent and comfortable home would thus be provided for them.
METHOD OF RAISING CAPITAL
The capital required for establishing the Company was previously put at what seemed an absurdly high figure. The amount actually necessary will be fixed by financiers, and will in any case be a very considerable sum. There are three ways of raising this sum, all of which the Society will take under consideration. This Society, the great [119]"Gestor" of the Jews, will be formed by our best and most upright men, who must not derive any material advantage from their membership. Although the Society cannot at the outset possess any but moral authority, this authority will suffice to establish the credit of the Jewish Company in the nation's eyes. The Jewish Company will be unable to succeed in its enterprise unless it has received the Society's sanction; it will thus not be formed of any mere indiscriminate group of financiers. For the Society will weigh, select and decide, and will not give its approbation till it is sure of the existence of a sound basis for the conscientious carrying out of the scheme. It will not permit experiments with insufficient means, for this undertaking must succeed at the first attempt. Any initial failure would compromise the whole idea for many decades to come, or might even make its realization permanently impossible.
The three methods of raising capital are: (1) Through big banks; (2) Through small and private banks; (3) Through public subscription.
The first method of raising capital is: Through big banks. The required sum could then be raised in the shortest possible time among the large financial groups, after they had discussed the advisability of the course. The great advantage of this method would be that it would avoid the necessity of paying in the thousand millions (to keep to the original figure), immediately in its entirety. A further advantage would be that the credit of these powerful financiers would also be of service to the enterprise. Many latent political forces lie in our financial power, that power which our enemies assert to be so effective. It might be so, but actually it is not. Poor Jews feel only the hatred which this financial power provokes; its use [120]in alleviating their lot as a body, they have not yet felt. The credit of our great Jewish financiers would have to be placed at the service of the National Idea. But should these gentlemen, who are quite satisfied with their lot, feel indisposed to do anything for their fellow-Jews who are unjustly held responsible for the large possessions of certain individuals, then the realization of this plan will afford an opportunity for drawing a clear line of distinction between them and the rest of Jewry.
The great financiers, moreover, will certainly not be asked to raise an amount so enormous out of pure philanthropic motives; that would be expecting too much. The promoters and stock holders of the Jewish Company are, on the contrary, expected to do a good piece of business, and they will be able to calculate beforehand what their chances of success are likely to be. For the Society of Jews will be in possession of all documents and references which may serve to define the prospects of the Jewish Company. The Society will in particular have investigated with exactitude the extent of the new Jewish movement, so as to provide the Company promoters with thoroughly reliable information on the amount of support they may expect. The Society will also supply the Jewish Company with comprehensive modern Jewish statistics, thus doing the work of what is called in France a "societé d'études," which undertakes all preliminary research previous to the financing of a great undertaking. Even so, the enterprise may not receive the valuable assistance of our moneyed magnates. These might, perhaps, even try to oppose the Jewish movement by means of their secret agents. Such opposition we shall meet with relentless determination.
Supposing that these magnates are content simply to turn this scheme down with a smile:
Is it, therefore, done for?
For then the money will be raised in another way—by an appeal to moderately rich Jews. The smaller Jewish banks would have to be united in the name of the National Idea against the big banks till they were gathered into a second and formidable financial force. But, unfortunately, this would require a great deal of financing at first—for the £50,000,000 would have to be subscribed in full before starting work; and, as this sum could only be raised very slowly, all sorts of banking business would have to be done and loans made during the first few years. It might even occur that, in the course of all these transactions, their original object would be forgotten; the moderately rich Jews would have created a new and large business, and Jewish emigration would be forgotten.
The notion of raising money in this way is not by any means impracticable. The experiment of collecting Christian money to form an opposing force to the big banks has already been tried; that one could also oppose them with Jewish money has not been thought of until now.
But these financial conflicts would bring about all sorts of crises; the countries in which they occurred would suffer, and Anti-Semitism would become rampant.
This method is therefore not to be recommended. I have merely suggested it, because it comes up in the course of the logical development of the idea.
I also do not know whether smaller private banks would be willing to adopt it.
In any case, even the refusal of moderately rich Jews would not put an end to the scheme. On the contrary, it would then have to be taken up in real earnest.
The Society of Jews, whose members are not business [122]men, might try to found the Company on a national subscription.
The Company's capital might be raised, without the intermediary of a syndicate, by means of direct subscription on the part of the public. Not only poor Jews, but also Christians who wanted to get rid of them, would subscribe a small amount to this fund. A new and peculiar form of the plebiscite would thus be established, whereby each man who voted for this solution of the Jewish Question would express his opinion by subscribing a stipulated amount. This stipulation would produce security. The funds subscribed would only be paid in if their sum total reached the required amount, otherwise the initial payments would be returned.
But if the whole of the required sum is raised by popular subscription, then each little amount would be secured by the great numbers of other small amounts.
All this would, of course, need the express and definite assistance of interested Governments.
[A] The practice of paying the workman's wages in goods instead of money.
IV. Local Groups
OUR TRANSMIGRATION
Previous chapters explained only how the emigration scheme might be carried out without creating any economic disturbance. But so great a movement cannot take place without inevitably rousing many deep and powerful feelings. There are old customs, old memories that attach us to our homes. We have cradles, we have graves, and we alone know how Jewish hearts cling to the graves. Our cradles we shall carry with us—they hold our future, rosy and smiling. Our beloved graves we must abandon—and I think this abandonment will cost us more than any other sacrifice. But it must be so.
Economic distress, political pressure, and social obloquy have already driven us from our homes and from our graves. We Jews are even now constantly shifting from place to place, a strong current actually carrying us westward over the sea to the United States, where our presence is also not desired. And where will our presence be desired, so long as we are a homeless nation?
But we shall give a home to our people. And we shall give it, not by dragging them ruthlessly out of their sustaining soil, but rather by transplanting them carefully to a better ground. Just as we wish to create new political and economic relations, so we shall preserve as sacred all of the past that is dear to our people's hearts.
Hence a few suggestions must suffice, as this part of my scheme will most probably be condemned as visionary. Yet even this is possible and real, though it now appears [124]to be something vague and aimless. Organization will make of it something rational.
EMIGRATION IN GROUPS
Our people should emigrate in groups of families and friends. But no man will be forced to join the particular group belonging to his former place of residence. Each will be able to journey in his chosen fashion as soon as he has settled his affairs. Seeing that each man will pay his own expenses by rail and boat, he will naturally travel by whatever class suits him best. Possibly there will even be no subdivision for classes on board train and boat, so as to avoid making the poor feel their position too keenly during their long journey. Though we are not exactly organizing a pleasure trip, it is as well to keep them in good humor on the way.
None will travel in penury; on the other hand, all who desire to travel in luxurious ease will be able to follow their bent. Even under favorable circumstances, the movement may not touch certain classes of Jews for several years to come; the intervening period can therefore be employed in selecting the best modes of organizing the journeys. Those who are well off can travel in parties if they wish, taking their personal friends and connections with them. Jews, with the exception of the richest, have, after all, very little intercourse with Christians. In some countries their acquaintance with them is confined to a few spongers, borrowers, and dependents; of a better class of Christian they know nothing. The Ghetto continues though its walls are broken down.
The middle classes will therefore make elaborate and careful preparations for departure. A group of travellers will be formed in each locality, large towns being divided [125]into districts with a group in each district, who will communicate by means of representatives elected for the purpose. This division into districts need not be strictly adhered to; it is merely intended to alleviate the discomfort and home-sickness of the poor during their journey outwards. Everybody is free to travel either alone or attached to any local group he prefers. The conditions of travel—regulated according to classes—will apply to all alike. Any sufficiently numerous travelling party can charter a special train and special boat from the Company.
The Company's housing agency will provide quarters for the poorest on their arrival. Later on, when more prosperous emigrants follow, their obvious need for lodgings on first landing will have to be supplied by hotels built by private enterprise. Some of these more prosperous colonists will, indeed, have built their houses before becoming permanent settlers, so that they will merely move from an old home into a new one.
It would be an affront to our intelligent elements to point out everything that they have to do. Every man who attaches himself to the National Idea will know how to spread it, and how to make it real within his sphere of influence. We shall first of all ask for the cooperation of our Rabbis.
Every group will have its Rabbi, travelling with his congregation. Local groups will afterwards form voluntarily about their Rabbi, and each locality will have its spiritual leader. Our Rabbis, on whom we especially call, will devote their energies to the service of our idea, and will inspire their congregations by preaching it from the pulpit. They will not need to address special meetings for the [126]purpose; an appeal such as this may be uttered in the synagogue. And thus it must be done. For we feel our historic affinity only through the faith of our fathers as we have long ago absorbed the languages of different nations to an ineradicable degree.
The Rabbis will receive communications regularly from both Society and Company, and will announce and explain these to their congregations. Israel will pray for us and for itself.
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE LOCAL GROUPS
The local groups will appoint small committees of representative men under the Rabbi's presidency, for discussion and settlement of local affairs.
Philanthropic institutions will be transferred by their local groups, each institution remaining "over there" the property of the same set of people for whom it was originally founded. I think the old buildings should not be sold, but rather devoted to the assistance of indigent Christians in the forsaken towns. The local groups will receive compensation by obtaining free building sites and every facility for reconstruction in the new country.
This transfer of philanthropic institutions will give another of those opportunities, which occur at different points of my scheme, for making an experiment in the service of humanity. Our present unsystematic private philanthropy does little good in proportion to the great expenditure it involves. But these institutions can and must form part of a system by which they will eventually supplement one another. In a new society these organizations can be evolved out of our modern consciousness, and may be based on all previous social experiments. This matter is of great importance to us, on account of our large number of paupers. [127]The weaker characters among us, discouraged by external pressure, spoilt by the soft-hearted charity of our rich men, easily sink until they take to begging.
The Society, supported by the local groups, will give greatest attention to popular education with regard to this particular. It will create a fruitful soil for many powers which now wither uselessly away. Whoever shows a genuine desire to work will be suitably employed. Beggars will not be endured. Whoever refuses to do anything as a free man will be sent to the workhouse.
On the other hand, we shall not relegate the old to an almshouse. An almshouse is one of the cruelest charities which our stupid good nature ever invented. There our old people die out of pure shame and mortification. There they are already buried. But we will leave even to those who stand on the lowest grade of intelligence the consoling illusion of their utility in the world. We will provide easy tasks for those who are incapable of physical labor; for we must allow for diminished vitality in the poor of an already enfeebled generation. But future generations shall be dealt with otherwise; they shall be brought up in liberty for a life of liberty.
We will seek to bestow the moral salvation of work on men of every age and of every class; and thus our people will find their strength again in the land of the seven-hour day.
PLANS OF THE TOWNS
The local groups will delegate their authorized representatives to select sites for towns. In the distribution of land every precaution will be taken to effect a careful transfer with due consideration for acquired rights.
The local groups will have plans of the towns, so that [128]our people may know beforehand where they are to go, in which towns and in which houses they are to live. Comprehensive drafts of the building plans previously referred to will be distributed among the local groups.
The principle of our administration will be strict centralization of our local groups' autonomy. In this way the transfer will be accomplished with the minimum of pain.
I do not imagine all this to be easier than it actually is; on the other hand, people must not imagine it to be more difficult than it is in reality.
THE DEPARTURE OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES
The middle classes will involuntarily be drawn into the outgoing current, for their sons will be officials of the Society or employees of the Company "over there." Lawyers, doctors, technicians of every description, young business people—in fact, all Jews who are in search of opportunities, who now escape from oppression in their native country to earn a living in foreign lands—will assemble on a soil so full of fair promise. The daughters of the middle classes will marry these ambitious men. One of them will send for his wife or fiancee to come out to him, another for his parents, brothers and sisters. Members of a new civilization marry young. This will promote general morality and ensure sturdiness in the new generation; and thus we shall have no delicate offspring of late marriages, children of fathers who spent their strength in the struggle for life.
Every middle-class emigrant will draw more of his kind after him.
The bravest will naturally get the best out of the new world.
But there we seem undoubtedly to have touched on the crucial difficulty of my plan.
Even if we succeeded in opening a world discussion on the Jewish Question in a serious manner—
Even if this debate led us to a positive conclusion that the Jewish State were necessary to the world—
Even if the Powers assisted us in acquiring the sovereignty over a strip of territory—
How are we to transport masses of Jews without undue compulsion from their present homes to this new country?
Their emigration is surely intended to be voluntary.
THE PHENOMENON OF MULTITUDES
Great exertions will hardly be necessary to spur on the movement. Anti-Semites provide the requisite impetus. They need only do what they did before, and then they will create a desire to emigrate where it did not previously exist, and strengthen it where it existed before. Jews who now remain in Anti-Semitic countries do so chiefly because even those among them who are most ignorant of history know that numerous changes of residence in bygone centuries never brought them any permanent good. Any land which welcomed the Jews today, and offered them even fewer advantages than that which the Jewish State would guarantee them, would immediately attract a great influx of our people. The poorest, who have nothing to lose would drag themselves there. But I maintain, and every man may ask himself whether I am not right, that the pressure weighing on us arouses a desire to emigrate even among prosperous strata of society. Now our poorest strata alone would suffice to found a State; these form the strongest human material for acquiring a land, because a little despair is indispensable to the formation of a great undertaking.
But when our "desperados" increase the value of the land by their presence and by the labor they expend on it, they make it at the same time increasingly attractive as a place of settlement to people who are better off.
Higher and yet higher strata will feel tempted to go over. The expedition of the first and poorest settlers will be conducted by Company and Society conjointly, and will probably be additionally supported by existing emigration and Zionist societies.
How may a number of people be directed to a particular spot without being given express orders to go there? There are certain Jewish benefactors on a large scale who try to alleviate the sufferings of the Jews by Zionist experiments. To them this problem also presented itself, and they thought to solve it by giving the emigrants money or means of employment. Thus the philanthropists said: "We pay these people to go there."
Such a procedure is utterly wrong, and all the money in the world will not achieve its purpose.
On the other hand, the Company will say: "We shall not pay them, we shall let them pay us. We shall merely offer them some inducements to go."
A fanciful illustration will make my meaning more explicit: One of those philanthropists (whom we will call "The Baron") and myself both wish to get a crowd of people on to the plain of Longchamps near Paris, on a hot Sunday afternoon. The Baron, by promising them 10 francs each, will, for 200,000 francs, bring out 20,000 perspiring and miserable people, who will curse him for having given them so much annoyance. Whereas I will offer these 200,000 francs as a prize for the swiftest racehorse—and then I shall have to put up barriers to keep the people off Longchamps. They will pay to go in: 1 franc, 5 francs, 20 francs.
The consequence will be that I shall get the half-a-million of people out there; the President of the Republic will drive up "a la Daumont"; and the crowds will enjoy and amuse themselves. Most of them will think it an agreeable walk in the open air in spite of heat and dust; and I shall have made by my 200,000 francs about a million in entrance money and taxes on gaming. I shall get the same people out there whenever I like but the Baron will not—not on any account.
I will give a more serious illustration of the phenomenon of multitudes where they are earning a livelihood. Let any man attempt to cry through the streets of a town: "Whoever is willing to stand all day long through a winter's terrible cold, through a summer's tormenting heat, in an iron hall exposed on all sides, there to address every passer-by, and to offer him fancy wares, or fish, or fruit, will receive two florins, or four francs or something similar."
How many people would go to the hall? How many days would they hold out when hunger drove them there? And if they held out, what energy would they display in trying to persuade passers-by to buy fish, fruit and fancy wares?
We shall set about it in a different way. In places where trade is active, and these places we shall the more easily discover, since we ourselves direct trade withersoever we wish, in these places we shall build large halls, and call them markets. These halls might be worse built and more unwholesome than those above mentioned, and yet people would stream towards them. But we shall use our best efforts, and we shall build them better, and make them more beautiful than the first. And the people, to whom we had promised nothing, because we cannot promise anything without deceiving them, these excellent, keen business men will gaily create most active commercial intercourse. They will harangue the buyers unweariedly; they will stand on their feet, [132]and scarcely think of fatigue. They will hurry off at dawn, so as to be first on the spot; they will form unions, cartels, anything to continue bread-winning undisturbed. And if they find at the end of the day that all their hard work has produced only 1 florin, 50 kreutzer, or 3 francs, or something similar, they will yet look forward hopefully to the next day, which may, perhaps, bring them better luck.
We have given them hope.
Would any one ask whence the demand comes which creates the market? Is it really necessary to tell them again?
I pointed out that by means of the system "Assistance par le Travail" the return could be increased fifteenfold. One million would produce fifteen millions; and one thousand millions, fifteen thousand millions.
This may be the case on a small scale; is it so on a large one? Capital surely yields a return diminishing in inverse ratio to its own growth. Inactive and inert capital yields this diminishing return, but active capital brings in a marvellously increasing return. Herein lies the social question.
Am I stating a fact? I call on the richest Jews as witnesses of my veracity. Why do they carry on so many different industries? Why do they send men to work underground and to raise coal amid terrible dangers for meagre pay? I cannot imagine this to be pleasant, even for the owners of the mines. For I do not believe that capitalists are heartless, and I do not pretend that I believe it. My desire is not to accentuate, but to smooth differences.
Is it necessary to illustrate the phenomenon of multitudes, and their concentration on a particular spot by references to pious pilgrimages?
I do not want to hurt anyone's religious sensibility by words which might be wrongly interpreted.
I shall merely refer quite briefly to the Mohammedan [133]pilgrimages to Mecca, the Catholic pilgrimages to Lourdes, and to many other spots whence men return comforted by their faith, and to the holy Hock at Trier. Thus we shall also create a center for the deep religious needs of our people. Our ministers will understand us first, and will be with us in this.
We shall let every man find salvation "over there" in his own particular way. Above and before all we shall make room for the immortal band of our Freethinkers, who are continually making new conquests for humanity.
No more force will be exercised on any one than is necessary for the preservation of the State and order; and the requisite force will not be arbitrarily defined by one or more shifting authorities; it will be fixed by iron laws.
Now, if the illustrations I gave make people draw the inference that a multitude can be only temporarily attracted to centers of faith, of business, or of amusement, the reply to their objection is simple. Whereas one of these objects by itself would certainly only attract the masses, all these centers of attraction combined would be calculated permanently to hold and satisfy them. For all these centers together form a single, great, long-sought object, which our people has always longed to attain, for which it has kept itself alive, for which it has been kept alive by external pressure—a free home! When the movement commences, we shall draw some men after us and let others follow; others again will be swept into the current, and the last will be thrust after us.
These last hesitating settlers will be the worst off, both here and there.
But the first, who go over with faith, enthusiasm, and courage will have the best positions.
OUR HUMAN MATERIAL
There are more mistaken notions abroad concerning Jews than concerning any other people. And we have become so depressed and discouraged by our historic sufferings that we ourselves repeat and believe these mistakes. One of these is that we have an immoderate love of business. Now it is well known that wherever we are permitted to take part in the rising of classes, we give up our business as soon as possible. The great majority of Jewish business men give their sons a superior education. Hence, the so-called "Judaizing" of all intellectual professions. But even in economically feebler grades of society, our love of trade is not so predominant as is generally supposed. In the Eastern countries of Europe there are great numbers of Jews who are not traders, and who are not afraid of hard work either. The Society of Jews will be in a position to prepare scientifically accurate statistics of our human forces. The new tasks and prospects that await our people in the new country will satisfy our present handicraftsmen, and will transform many present small traders into manual workers.
A peddler who travels about the country with a heavy pack on his back is not so contented as his persecutors imagine. The seven-hour day will convert all of his kind into workmen. They are good, misunderstood people, who now suffer perhaps more severely than any others. The Society of Jews will, moreover, busy itself from the outset with their training as artisans. Their love of gain will be encouraged in a healthy manner. Jews are of a thrifty and adaptable disposition, and are qualified for any means of earning a living, and it will therefore suffice to make small trading unremunerative, to cause even present peddlers to give it up altogether. This could be brought about, [135]for example, by encouraging large department stores which provide all necessaries of life. These general stores are already crushing small trading in large cities. In a land of new civilization they will absolutely prevent its existence. The establishment of these stores is further advantageous, because it makes the country immediately habitable for people who require more refined necessaries of life.
Is a reference to the little habits and comforts of the ordinary man in keeping with the serious nature of this pamphlet?
I think it is in keeping, and, moreover, very important. For these little habits are the thousand and one fine delicate threads which together go to make up an unbreakable rope.
Here certain limited notions must be set aside. Whoever has seen anything of the world knows that just these little daily customs can easily be transplanted everywhere. The technical contrivances of our day, which this scheme intends to employ in the service of humanity, have heretofore been principally used for our little habits. There are English hotels in Egypt and on the mountain-crest in Switzerland, Vienna cafes in South Africa, French theatres in Russia, German operas in America, and best Bavarian beer in Paris.
When we journey out of Egypt again we shall not leave the fleshpots behind.
Every man will find his customs again in the local groups, but they will be better, more beautiful, and more agreeable than before.
V. Society of Jews and Jewish State
NEGOTIORUM GESTIO
This pamphlet is not intended for lawyers. I can therefore touch only cursorily, as on so many other things, upon my theory of the legal basis of a State.
I must, nevertheless, lay some stress on my new theory, which could be maintained, I believe, even in discussion with men well versed in jurisprudence.
According to Rousseau's now antiquated view, a State is formed by a social contract. Rousseau held that: "The conditions of this contract are so precisely defined by the nature of the agreement that the slightest alteration would make them null and void. The consequence is that, even where they are not expressly stated, they are everywhere identical, and everywhere tacitly accepted and recognized," etc.
A logical and historic refutation of Rousseau's theory was never, nor is now, difficult, however terrible and far-reaching its effects may have been. The question whether a social contract with "conditions not expressly stated, yet unalterable," existed before the framing of a constitution, is of no practical interest to States under modern forms of government. The legal relationship between government and citizen is in any case clearly established now.
But previous to the framing of a constitution, and during the creation of a new State, these principles assume great practical importance. We know and see for ourselves that States still continue to be created. Colonies secede from the mother country. Vassals fall away from [137]their suzerain; newly opened territories are immediately formed into free States. It is true that the Jewish State is conceived as a peculiarly modern structure on unspecified territory. But a State is formed, not by pieces of land, but rather by a number of men united under sovereign rule.
The people is the subjective, land the objective foundation of a State, and the subjective basis is the more important of the two. One sovereignty, for example, which has no objective basis at all, is perhaps the most respected one in the world. I refer to the sovereignty of the Pope.
The theory of rationality is the one at present accepted in political science. This theory suffices to justify the creation of a State, and cannot be historically refuted in the same way as the theory of a contract. Insofar as I am concerned only with the creation of a Jewish State, I am well within the limits of the theory of rationality. But when I touch upon the legal basis of the State, I have exceeded them. The theories of a divine institution, or of superior power, or of a contract, and the patriarchal and patrimonial theories do not accord with modern views. The legal basis of a State is sought either too much within men (patriarchal theory, and theories of superior force and contract), or too far above them (divine institution), or too far below them (objective patrimonial theory). The theory of rationality leaves this question conveniently and carefully unanswered. But a question which has seriously occupied doctors of jurisprudence in every age cannot be an absolutely idle one. As a matter of fact, a mixture of human and superhuman goes to the making of a State. Some legal basis is indispensable to explain the somewhat oppressive relationship in which subjects occasionally stand to rulers. I believe it is to be found [138]in the negotiorum gestio, wherein the body of citizens represents the dominus negotiorum, and the government represents the gestor.
The Romans, with their marvellous sense of justice, produced that noble masterpiece, the negotiorum gestio. When the property of an oppressed person is in danger, any man may step forward to save it. This man is the gestor, the director of affairs not strictly his own. He has received no warrant—that is, no human warrant; higher obligations authorize him to act. The higher obligations may be formulated in different ways for the State, and so as to respond to individual degrees of culture attained by a growing general power of comprehension. The gestio is intended to work for the good of the dominus—the people, to whom the gestor himself belongs.
The gestor administers property of which he is joint-owner. His joint proprietorship teaches him what urgency would warrant his intervention, and would demand his leadership in peace or war; but under no circumstances is his authority valid qua joint proprietorship. The consent of the numerous joint-owners is even under most favorable conditions a matter of conjecture.
A State is created by a nation's struggle for existence. In any such struggle it is impossible to obtain proper authority in circumstantial fashion beforehand. In fact, any previous attempt to obtain a regular decision from the majority would probably ruin the undertaking from the outset. For internal schisms would make the people defenceless against external dangers. We cannot all be of one mind; the gestor will therefore simply take the leadership into his hands and march in the van.
The action of the gestor of the State is sufficiently warranted if the common cause is in danger, and the dominus [139]is prevented, either by want of will or by some other reason, from helping itself.
But the gestor becomes similar to the dominus by his intervention, and is bound by the agreement quasi ex contractu. This is the legal relationship existing before, or, more correctly, created simultaneously with the State.
The gestor thus becomes answerable for every form of negligence, even for the failure of business undertakings, and the neglect of such affairs as are intimately connected with them, etc. I shall not further enlarge on the negotiorum gestio, but rather leave it to the State, else it would take us too far from the main subject. One remark only: "Business management, if it is approved by the owner, is just as effectual as if it had originally been carried on by his authority."
And how does all this affect our case?
The Jewish people are at present prevented by the Diaspora from conducting their political affairs themselves. Besides, they are in a condition of more or less severe distress in many parts of the world. They need, above all things a gestor. This gestor cannot, of course, be a single individual. Such a one would either make himself ridiculous, or—seeing that he would appear to be working for his own interests—contemptible.
The gestor of the Jews must therefore be a body corporate.
And that is the Society of Jews.
THE GESTOR OF THE JEWS
This organ of the national movement, the nature and functions of which we are at last dealing with, will, in fact, be created before everything else. Its formation is perfectly simple. It will take shape among those energetic Jews to [140]whom I imparted my scheme in London.
The Society will have scientific and political tasks, for the founding of a Jewish State, as I conceive it, presupposes the application of scientific methods. We cannot journey out of Egypt today in the primitive fashion of ancient times. We shall previously obtain an accurate account of our number and strength. The undertaking of that great and ancient gestor of the Jews in primitive days bears much the same relation to ours that some wonderful melody bears to a modern opera. We are playing the same melody with many more violins, flutes, harps, violoncellos, and bass viols; with electric light, decorations, choirs, beautiful costumes, and with the first singers of their day.
This pamphlet is intended to open a general discussion on the Jewish Question. Friends and foes will take part in it; but it will no longer, I hope, take the form of violent abuse or of sentimental vindication, but of a debate, practical, large, earnest, and political.
The Society of Jews will gather all available declarations of statesmen, parliaments, Jewish communities, societies, whether expressed in speeches or writings, in meetings, newspapers or books.
Thus the Society will find out for the first time whether the Jews really wish to go to the Promised Land, and whether they must go there. Every Jewish community in the world will send contributions to the Society towards a comprehensive collection of Jewish statistics.
Further tasks, such as investigation by experts of the new country and its natural resources, the uniform planning of migration and settlement, preliminary work for [141]legislation and administration, etc., must be rationally evolved out of the original scheme.
Externally, the Society will attempt, as I explained before in the general part, to be acknowledged as a State-forming power. The free assent of many Jews will confer on it the requisite authority in its relations with Governments.
Internally, that is to say, in its relation with the Jewish people, the Society will create all the first indispensable institutions; it will be the nucleus out of which the public institutions of the Jewish State will later on be developed.
Our first object is, as I said before, supremacy, assured to us by international law, over a portion of the globe sufficiently large to satisfy our just requirements.
What is the next step?
THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND
When nations wandered in historic times, they let chance carry them, draw them, fling them hither and thither, and like swarms of locusts they settled down indifferently anywhere. For in historic times the earth was not known to man. But this modern Jewish migration must proceed in accordance with scientific principles.
Not more than forty years ago gold-digging was carried on in an extraordinarily primitive fashion. What adventurous days were those in California! A report brought desperados together from every quarter of the earth; they stole pieces of land, robbed each other of gold, and finally gambled it away, as robbers do.
But today! What is gold-digging like in the Transvaal today? Adventurous vagabonds are not there; sedate geologists and engineers alone are on the spot to regulate its gold industry, and to employ ingenious machinery in [142]separating the ore from surrounding rock. Little is left to chance now.
Thus we must investigate and take possession of the new Jewish country by means of every modern expedient.
As soon as we have secured the land, we shall send over a ship, having on board the representatives of the Society, of the Company, and of the local groups, who will enter into possession at once.
These men will have three tasks to perform: (1) An accurate, scientific investigation of all natural resources of the country; (2) the organization of a strictly centralized administration; (3) the distribution of land. These tasks intersect one another, and will all be carried out in conformity with the now familiar object in view.
One thing remains to be explained—namely, how the occupation of land according to local groups is to take place.
In America the occupation of newly opened territory is set about in naive fashion. The settlers assemble on the frontier, and at the appointed time make a simultaneous and violent rush for their portions.
We shall not proceed thus to the new land of the Jews. The lots in provinces and towns will be sold by auction, and paid for, not in money, but in work. The general plan will have settled on streets, bridges, waterworks, etc., necessary for traffic. These will be united into provinces. Within these provinces sites for towns will be similarly sold by auction. The local groups will pledge themselves to carry the business property through, and will cover the cost by means of self-imposed assessments. The Society will be in a position to judge whether the local groups are not venturing on sacrifices too great for their means. The large communities will receive large sites for their activity. Great [143]sacrifices will thus be rewarded by the establishment of universities, technical schools, academies, research institutes, etc., and these Government institutes, which do not have to be concentrated in the capital, will be distributed over the country.
The personal interest of the buyers, and, if necessary, the local assessment, will guarantee the proper working of what has been taken over. In the same way, as we cannot, and indeed do not wish to obliterate distinctions between single individuals, so the differences between local groups will also continue. Everything will shape itself quite naturally. All acquired rights will be protected, and every new development will be given sufficient scope.
Our people will be made thoroughly acquainted with all these matters.
We shall not take others unawares or mislead them, any more than we shall deceive ourselves.
Everything must be systematically settled beforehand. I merely indicate this scheme: our keenest thinkers will combine in elaborating it. Every social and technical achievement of our age and of the more advanced age which will be reached before the slow execution of my plan is accomplished must be employed for this object. Every valuable invention which exists now, or lies in the future, must be used. By these means a country can be occupied and a State founded in a manner as yet unknown to history, and with possibilities of success such, as never occurred before.
One of the great commissions which the Society will have to appoint will be the council of State jurists. These must formulate the best, that is, the best modern [144]constitution possible. I believe that a good constitution should be of moderately elastic nature. In another work I have explained in detail what forms of government I hold to be the best. I think a democratic monarchy and an aristocratic republic are the finest forms of a State, because in them the form of State and the principle of government are opposed to each other, and thus preserve a true balance of power. I am a staunch supporter of monarchial institutions, because these allow of a continuous policy, and represent the interests of a historically famous family born and educated to rule, whose desires are bound up with the preservation of the State. But our history has been too long interrupted for us to attempt direct continuity of ancient constitutional forms, without exposing ourselves to the charge of absurdity.
A democracy without a sovereign's useful counterpoise is extreme in appreciation and condemnation, tends to idle discussion in Parliaments, and produces that objectionable class of men—professional politicians. Nations are also really not fit for unlimited democracy at present, and will become less and less fitted for it in the future. For a pure democracy presupposes a predominance of simple customs, and our customs become daily more complex with the growth of commerce and increase of culture. "Le ressort d'une democratic est la vertu," said wise Montesquieu. And where is this virtue, that is to say, this political virtue, to be met with? I do not believe in our political virtue; first, because we are no better than the rest of modern humanity; and, secondly, because freedom will make us show our fighting qualities at first. I also hold a settling of questions by the referendum to be an unsatisfactory procedure, because there are no simple political questions which can be answered merely by Yes and No. The masses [145]are also more prone even than Parliaments to be led away by heterodox opinions, and to be swayed by vigorous ranting. It is impossible to formulate a wise internal or external policy in a popular assembly.
Politics must take shape in the upper strata and work downwards. But no member of the Jewish State will be oppressed, every man will be able and will wish to rise in it. Thus a great upward tendency will pass through our people; every individual by trying to raise himself, raising also the whole body of citizens. The ascent will take a normal form, useful to the State and serviceable to the National Idea.
Hence I incline to an aristocratic republic. This would satisfy the ambitious spirit in our people, which has now degenerated into petty vanity. Many of the institutions of Venice pass through my mind; but all that which caused the ruin of Venice must be carefully avoided. We shall learn from the historic mistakes of others, in the same way as we learn from our own; for we are a modern nation, and wish to be the most modern in the world. Our people, who are receiving the new country from the Society, will also thankfully accept the new constitution it offers them. Should any opposition manifest itself, the Society will suppress it. The Society cannot permit the exercise of its functions to be interpreted by short-sighted or ill-disposed individuals.
It might be suggested that our want of a common current language would present difficulties. We cannot converse with one another in Hebrew. Who amongst us has a sufficient acquaintance with Hebrew to ask for a railway ticket in that language? Such a thing cannot be done. [146]Yet the difficulty is very easily circumvented. Every man can preserve the language in which his thoughts are at home. Switzerland affords a conclusive proof of the possibility of a federation of tongues. We shall remain in the new country what we now are here, and we shall never cease to cherish with sadness the memory of the native land out of which we have been driven.
We shall give up using those miserable stunted jargons, those Ghetto languages which we still employ, for these were the stealthy tongues of prisoners. Our national teachers will give due attention to this matter; and the language which proves itself to be of greatest utility for general intercourse will be adopted without compulsion as our national tongue. Our community of race is peculiar and unique, for we are bound together only by the faith of our fathers.
Shall we end by having a theocracy? No, indeed. Faith unites us, knowledge gives us freedom. We shall therefore prevent any theocratic tendencies from coming to the fore on the part of our priesthood. We shall keep our priests within the confines of their temples in the same way as we shall keep our professional army within the confines of their barracks. Army and priesthood shall receive honors high as their valuable functions deserve. But they must not interfere in the administration of the State which confers distinction upon them, else they will conjure up difficulties without and within.
Every man will be as free and undisturbed in his faith or his disbelief as he is in his nationality. And if it should occur that men of other creeds and different nationalities come to live amongst us, we should accord them honorable protection and equality before the law. We have learnt [147]toleration in Europe. This is not sarcastically said; for the Anti-Semitism of today could only in a very few places be taken for old religious intolerance. It is for the most part a movement among civilized nations by which they try to chase away the spectres of their own past.
When the idea of a State begins to approach realization, the Society of Jews will appoint a council of jurists to do the preparatory work of legislation. During the transition period these must act on the principle that every emigrant Jew is to be judged according to the laws of the country which he has left. But they must try to bring about a unification of these various laws to form a modern system of legislation based on the best portions of previous systems. This might become a typical codification, embodying all the just social claims of the present day.
The Jewish State is conceived as a neutral one. It will therefore require only a professional army, equipped, of course, with every requisite of modern warfare, to preserve order internally and externally.
THE FLAG
We have no flag, and we need one. If we desire to lead many men, we must raise a symbol above their heads.
I would suggest a white flag, with seven golden stars. The white field symbolizes our pure new life; the stars are the seven golden hours of our working-day. For we shall march into the Promised Land carrying the badge of honor.
RECIPROCITY AND EXTRADITION TREATIES
The new Jewish State must be properly founded, with due regard to our future honorable position in the world. Therefore every obligation in the old country must be scrupulously fulfilled before leaving. The Society of Jews and the Jewish Company will grant cheap passage and certain advantages in settlement to those only who can present an official testimonial from the local authorities, certifying that they have left their affairs in good order.
Every just private claim originating in the abandoned countries will be heard more readily in the Jewish State than anywhere else. We shall not wait for reciprocity; we shall act purely for the sake of our own honor. We shall thus perhaps find, later on, that law courts will be more willing to hear our claims than now seems to be the case in some places.
It will be inferred, as a matter of course, from previous remarks, that we shall deliver up Jewish criminals more readily than any other State would do, till the time comes when we can enforce our penal code on the same principles as every other civilized nation does. There will therefore be a period of transition, during which we shall receive our criminals only after they have suffered due penalties. But, having made amends, they will be received without any restrictions whatever, for our criminals also must enter upon a new life.
Thus emigration may become to many Jews a crisis with a happy issue. Bad external circumstances, which ruin many a character, will be removed, and this change may mean salvation to many who are lost.
Here I should like briefly to relate a story I came across in an account of the gold mines of Witwatersrand. One day a man came to the Rand, settled there, tried his hand [149]at various things, with the exception of gold mining, till he founded an ice factory, which did well. He soon won universal esteem by his respectability, but after some years he was suddenly arrested. He had committed some defalcations as banker in Frankfort, had fled from there, and had begun a new life under an assumed name. But when he was led away as prisoner, the most respected people in the place appeared at the station, bade him a cordial farewell and au revoir—for he was certain to return.
How much this story reveals! A new life can regenerate even criminals, and we have a proportionately small number of these. Some interesting statistics on this point are worth reading, entitled "The Criminality of Jews in Germany," by Dr. P. Nathan, of Berlin, who was commissioned by the "Society for Defense against Anti-Semitism" to make a collection of statistics based on official returns. It is true that this pamphlet, which teems with figures, has been prompted, as many another "defence," by the error that Anti-Semitism can be refuted by reasonable arguments. We are probably disliked as much for our gifts as we are for our faults.
BENEFITS OF THE EMIGRATION OF THE JEWS
I imagine that Governments will, either voluntarily or under pressure from the Anti-Semites, pay certain attention to this scheme, and they may perhaps actually receive it here and there with a sympathy which they will also show to the Society of Jews.
For the emigration which I suggest will not create any economic crises. Such crises as would follow everywhere in consequence of Jew-baiting would rather be prevented by the carrying out of my plan. A great period of prosperity would commence in countries which are now [150]Anti-Semitic. For there will be, as I have repeatedly said, an internal migration of Christian citizens into the positions slowly and systematically evacuated by the Jews. If we are not merely suffered, but actually assisted to do this, the movement will have a generally beneficial effect. That is a narrow view, from which one should free oneself, which sees in the departure of many Jews a consequent impoverishment of countries. It is different from a departure which is a result of persecution, for then property is indeed destroyed, as it is ruined in the confusion of war. Different again is the peaceable voluntary departure of colonists, wherein everything is carried out with due consideration for acquired rights, and with absolute conformity to law, openly and by light of day, under the eyes of the authorities and the control of public opinion. The emigration of Christian proletarians to different parts of the world would be brought to a standstill by the Jewish movement.
The States would have a further advantage in the enormous increase of their export trade; for, since the emigrant Jews "over there" would depend for a long time to come on European productions, they would necessarily have to import them. The local groups would keep up a just balance, and the customary needs would have to be supplied for a long time at the accustomed places.
Another, and perhaps one of the greatest advantages, would be the ensuing social relief. Social dissatisfaction would be appeased during the twenty or more years which the emigration of the Jews would occupy, and would in any case be set at rest during the whole transition period.
The shape which the social question may take depends entirely on the development of our technical resources. Steampower concentrated men in factories about [151]machinery where they were overcrowded, and where they made one another miserable by overcrowding. Our present enormous, injudicious, and unsystematic rate of production is the cause of continual severe crises which ruin both employers and employees. Steam crowded men together; electricity will probably scatter them again, and may perhaps bring about a more prosperous condition of the labor market. In any case our technical inventors, who are the true benefactors of humanity, will continue their labors after the commencement of the emigration of the Jews, and they will discover things as marvellous as those we have already seen, or indeed more wonderful even than these.
The word "impossible" has ceased to exist in the vocabulary of technical science. Were a man who lived in the last century to return to the earth, he would find the life of today full of incomprehensible magic. Wherever the moderns appear with our inventions, we transform the desert into a garden. To build a city takes in our time as many years as it formerly required centuries; America offers endless examples of this. Distance has ceased to be an obstacle. The spirit of our age has gathered fabulous treasures into its storehouse. Every day this wealth increases. A hundred thousand heads are occupied with speculations and research at every point of the globe, and what any one discovers belongs the next moment to the whole world. We ourselves will use and carry on every new attempt in our Jewish land; and just as we shall introduce the seven-hour day as an experiment for the good of humanity, so we shall proceed in everything else in the same humane spirit, making of the new land a land of experiments and a model State.
After the departure of the Jews the undertakings which they have created will remain where they originally were [152]found. And the Jewish spirit of enterprise will not even fail where people welcome it. For Jewish capitalists will be glad to invest their funds where they are familiar with surrounding conditions. And whereas Jewish money is now sent out of countries on account of existing persecutions, and is sunk in most distant foreign undertakings, it will flow back again in consequence of this peaceable solution, and will contribute to the further progress of the countries which the Jews have left.
[B] Dr. Herzl addressed a meeting of the Maccabean Club, at which Israel Zangwill presided, on November 24th, 1895.
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VideosSeptember 20, 2018
20th Annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree
The 20th Annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree happens Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 20-22, at the Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., where the world’s elite Modified and B-Mod drivers will be racing for three nights and more than $150,000 in prize money. At this year’s undisputed heavyweight champion of dirt modified shows, race fans will witness a complete program all three nights, with $5,000 going to the Modified winner on the first two nights while Saturday’s winner will pocket $10,000. Thirty cars will start the main event each night. Thursday’s Non-Qualifiers Race will pay $700 to win and a minimum of $100 for each of the 24 starters. Saturday’s Mon-Qualifiers Race will pay $2,000 to win and a minimum $250 for each of the 30 starters. Saturday’s championship main event will start three-wide. Thursday is the final points race in the USMTS Hunt for the Casey’s Cup powered by Summit. On Friday and Saturday, the Modifieds will be co-sanctioned by the USMTS and USRA with drivers earning Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series national points. There will be a complete show each night. The top 15 in heat race passing points are locked into “A” Main each night with the top 8 redrawing for the first eight starting positions. An additional 15 drivers will advance from the “B” Mains. B-Mods will battle for $750 to win and $75 to start on Thursday, $1,000 to win and $100 to start on Friday, and $1,200 to win and $150 to start on Saturday. Points will be awarded in the Iron Man Challenge for Out-Pace USRA B-Mods and Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series national points all three nights. TICKETS & TIMES: Wednesday – An open practice is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 19. The pit gate opens at 12 p.m. with a drivers meeting at 5:30 at the USMTS trailer followed by practice from 6-9 p.m. Admission to the grandstands is free. Thursday – Tickets are $25 or $10 for kids ages 12 and under. A three-day reserved ticket is $80 or $30 for kids. The pit gate opens at 3 p.m., driver sign-in at the USMTS trailer begins at 4 p.m., grandstand gates open at 5 p.m., the drivers meeting will be held under the hospitality tent in the pit area at 6 p.m., opening ceremonies begin at 6:45 and racing gets underway at 7 p.m. There will be a DJ and karaoke in the hospitality area behind the grandstands after the races. Friday – Tickets are $25 or $10 for kids ages 12 and under. The pit gate opens at 3 p.m., driver sign-in at the USMTS trailer begins at 4 p.m., grandstand gates open at 5 p.m., the drivers meeting will be held under the hospitality tent in the pit area at 6 p.m., opening ceremonies begin at 6:45 and racing gets underway at 7 p.m. The Dweebs will perform live in hospitality area behind the grandstands following the races with a Halloween Costume Contest during the live concert. Saturday – Tickets are $30 or $10 for kids ages 12 and under. The pit gate opens at 2 p.m., driver sign-in at the USMTS trailer begins at 3 p.m., grandstand gates open at 4 p.m., the drivers meeting will be held under the hospitality tent in the pit area at 5 p.m., opening ceremonies begin at 5:45 and racing gets underway at 6 p.m. For fans unable to attend in person, all three nights of the 20th Annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree will be broadcast live at www.RacinDirt.com. To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit www.usmts.com online or call 515-832-7944. You can also like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usmts, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usmts and Instagram at www.instagram.com/usmts or subscribe to our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/usmtstv. Keep up to speed with everything USMTS by joining our email list at www.usmts.com/subscribe. To learn more about the USRA, visit www.usraracing.com or call (515) 832-6000. You can also like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usraracing, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usraracing and check out our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/usratv. Keep up to speed with everything USRA by joining our email list at www.usraracing.com/subscribe.
Ride along with Hunter Marriott as Jason Hughes and eventual heat race winner Rodney Sanders attempt to chase down 'The Hustler' during Simpson Performance Products Heat Race #1 during …
The mammoth USMTS motorheads embark on a five-race excursion through the Lone Star State featuring the Summit USMTS Southern Series powered by MSD, Tuesday-Saturday, June 4-8, 2019. …
Take a ride with Ryan "The Reaper" Gustin during Heat Race #4 at the Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minnesota, during the 17th Annual Crenlo USMTS Southern MN Spring presented by…
Hot Rocket: Rodney Sanders USMTS in-car from Mississippi Thunder Speedway
Take a ride in the cockpit with Rodney Sanders during Simpson Race Products Heat Race #1 at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wisconsin, on Friday, May 24, during the 1…
The State of Nebraska restarted work on Nebraska Highway 63 just south of Interstate 80 at exit 420 on March 19, 2018. The [project was supposed to have Highway 63 closed south of Church Road to Alvo until this past fall, but the project is running behind schedule and is now estimated to be completed this September. Drivers and fans should find alternate routes. Alternate routes include coming
USMTS “X Series” Stitched Hat
2019 USMTS Signature Collection: Custom design and superior quality. Limited quantities and sizes while supplies last.
USMTS “Flag Waving Mad” Shirt
USMTS “Green Envy” Shirt
USMTS “Fluorescent Fast” Shirt
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Frampton-Donaire final press conference quotes
Showtime to stream the fight live on YouTube and Facebook.
Photo: Frank Warren Promotions
Nonito Donaire and Carl Frampton met in Belfast, Ireland earlier today to speak to the media during their final press conference before their April 21 clash.
“I’m really excited about this fight and I have been since it was announced. To have a guy like Nonito Donaire coming to Belfast to fight me almost feels like a bit of an honor. It’s a quality fight,” said Frampton.
“It’s a cliché when fighters talk about how good their camp has been, but I genuinely believe that the camp that I’ve had has been the best camp because it’s been my smartest camp. I’ve had a completely different approach to training. I don’t remember having a bad day in training or sparring. I feel like everything is coming together and I’m ready to put on a big performance in front of my home crowd.
“I had a lot of respect for Donaire back when he was a champion and I still do. He’s a quality fighter. In terms of accolades, he’s accomplished more than any other fighter that I’ve ever fought. He’s a future Hall of Famer. Hopefully, I can put myself in that bracket one day. He is the best fighter that I will have ever fought. That includes Leo Santa Cruz and [Scott] Quigg and everyone else. Donaire has accomplished more than anyone. It’s going to be big for me to get a result here on Saturday night.
“I think it’s been a bit disrespectful just talking about his left hook. It takes more than a left hook to become a Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year or five-time world champion. He has a brilliant slip right hand. I know a lot about Nonito Donaire and to say all he has is a left hook is a bit disrespectful. He’s a brilliant fighter and he can do a bit of everything. I’ll need to be ready for different situations and I feel like I’ve covered all the bases in training camp.
“Some people want the easiest fights possible but that’s not me. I don’t think that’s Nonito either. I want to be in fights that people talk about and are interested in. This is a fight that puts the winner in position to fight Oscar Valdez for a chance to be a world champion again. When I’m in that position to fight for a world title, it’s fights like this one that are preparing me to go and win it.”
Donaire for his part discussed how he has changed as a fighter over the last few years.
“I believe that I am gifted with great genes. I’m a late bloomer. I feel like I’m starting to get into my peak shape and that’s because of my mentality. Our physical shape can only be as strong as our minds inside that ring. The strength of our mental fortitude has allowed us to be confident here in Belfast where we will be fighting one of the best fighters in the world,” said Donaire.
“I think I’m a smarter fighter than I was in 2012. With the ups and downs that I’ve experienced in my career, I’ve learned what I’m capable of and where my mind is. We’re very confident going into this fight.
“The key factor in this fight is that my wife and I feel that we’re married to Carl because we wake up, we see Carl; we sleep, we see Carl; everything we do we see Carl, so that’s pretty much what it’s all about. I have to say, Carl is an amazing fighter. I have to give it to the guy. For a long time, he was the boogeyman in boxing. He has chosen this fight because it inspires him and I came to Belfast because it inspires me.”
Showtime will air the fight live via its Facebook and YouTube pages beginning at 5:15 p.m. ET / 2:15 p.m. PT.
Related TopicsCarl FramptonNonito Donaire
Golovkin to face Martirosyan on May 5 in Carson
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Jacobs, Miller confident of victory on April 28
Photo: Matchroom Boxing
On April 28, Daniel Jacobs (33-2, 29 KOs) takes Maciej Sulecki (26-0, 10 KOs) in the main event of HBO World Championship Boxing from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, while Jarrell Miller (20-0-1, 18 KOs) faces off against Johann Duhaupas (37-4, 24 KOs) in the co-feature.
Both Jacobs and Miller took part in a media day workout on Friday to share their thoughts on the upcoming fights.
“I’m very aware of how tough Maciej Sulecki is but I do see myself being victorious. Whether it’s by knockout or decision my goal is to win.”
“I’m just staying focused on my fight and not paying too much attention to the Golovkin and Canelo situations. I know I’ll be the mandatory for the WBA if I win this fight and that’s what I’m focused on.
“I’ve watched Sulecki’s fights, he’s entertaining and with our styles, the fans will see a terrific fight on April 28 at Barclays and on HBO. I’m looking forward to having someone truly bring it and bring out the best in me.”
Miller, for his part, is aiming to put on a show.
“I’m coming at Duhaupus like a tornado. I’m not going to compare my performance against Duhaupas against anything Deontay Wilder did in their fight, I know what I’m going to do and that’s to look spectacular.”
“It’s lights out time on April 28, plain and simple.”
“I’m ranked #3 by the WBA, WBO and IBF so I’m not on a particular track other than to fight for a world title as soon as possible, whether that’s Anthony Joshua or someone else.
Related TopicsDaniel JacobsHBO World Championship BoxingJohann MillerMaciej Sulecki
Murata set for title defense on Sunday in Japan
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You are here: Home / International / The U.N. Human Rights Council whitewashes brutality
The U.N. Human Rights Council whitewashes brutality
Washington Post Op-Ed by Niki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The president of Venezuela, whose government shoots protesters in the street, recently thanked the international community for its “universal vote of confidence” in that country’s commitment to human rights.
The Cuban deputy foreign minister, whose government imprisons thousands of political opponents, once said Cuba has historic prestige “in the promotion and protection of all human rights.
How can these people get away with saying such things? Because they have been elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council, whose members are — on paper — charged with “upholding the highest standards” of human rights.
Last month, a U.S. Senate subcommittee met to consider whether the United States should remain a part of the council. Expert witnesses shared their viewpoints, not on the question of whether America supports human rights — of course we do, and very strongly. The question was whether the Human Rights Council actually supports human rights or is merely a showcase for dictatorships that use their membership to whitewash brutality.
When the council focuses on human rights instead of politics, it advances important causes. In North Korea, its attention has led to action on human rights abuses. In Syria, it has established a commission on the atrocities of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
All too often, however, the victims of the world’s most egregious human rights violations are ignored by the very organization that is supposed to protect them.
Venezuela is a member of the council despite the systematic destruction of civil society by the government of Nicolás Maduro through arbitrary detention, torture and blatant violations of freedom of the press and expression. Mothers are forced to dig through trash cans to feed their children. This is a crisis that has been 18 years in the making. And yet, not once has the Human Rights Council seen fit to condemn Venezuela.
Cuba’s government strictly controls the media and severely restricts the Cuban people’s access to the Internet. Thousands are arbitrarily detained each year, with some political prisoners serving long sentences. Yet Cuba has never been condemned by the council; it, too, is a member.
In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine and took over Crimea. This illegal occupation resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and injuries, as well as arbitrary detentions. No special meeting of the Human Rights Council was called, and the abuses continue to mount.
The council has been given a great responsibility. It has been charged with using the moral power of universal human rights to be the world’s advocate for the most vulnerable among us. The United Nations must reclaim the legitimacy of this organization.
For all of us, this is an urgent task. Human rights are central to the mission of the United Nations. Not only are they the right thing to promote, they are also the smart thing to promote. In April, I dedicated the U.S. presidency of the U.N. Security Council to making the connection between human rights and peace and security.
Next week, I will travel to Geneva to address the Human Rights Council about the United States’ concerns.
I will outline changes that must be made. Among other things, membership on the council must be determined through competitive voting to keep the worst human rights abusers from obtaining seats. As it stands, regional blocs nominate candidates that are uncontested. Competition would force a candidate’s human rights record to be considered before votes were cast. The council must also end its practice of wrongly singling out Israel for criticism. When the council passes more than 70 resolutions against Israel, a country with a strong human rights record, and just seven resolutions against Iran, a country with an abysmal human rights record, you know something is seriously wrong.
The presence of multiple human rights-violating countries on the Human Rights Council has damaged both the reputation of the council and the cause of human rights. When the world’s preeminent human rights body is turned into a haven for dictators, the idea of international cooperation in support of human dignity is discredited. Cynicism grows. There is already more than enough cynicism to go around these days.
I believe the vision of the Human Rights Council is still achievable, but not without change. It is the responsibility of the United Nations to reclaim this vision and to restore the legitimacy of universal human rights.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-un-human-rights-council-whitewashes-brutality/2017/06/02/c3757c2a-46e6-11e7-a196-a1bb629f64cb_story.html?utm_term=.af68787a806c
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In memory of our beloved Sister Louise Akers
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Follow-on programmes
Achieve Group Home
Linda Blum
Linda is a Director at Achieve Group. She specialises in leadership and management development, team building and coaching. She has been in business as a consultant since 1985, including a number of years as co-owner and Director at Navigate International and Achieve Group. She has managed teams in the state and private sectors and through her committee work.
Linda has over 30 years of experience in designing and delivering training and development solutions, including the design and facilitation of hundreds of different programmes across over 80 organisations in the public and private sectors.
She is a Certified Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and is accredited in a wide range of management, team, interpersonal and career tools and diagnostics. She has also completed thousands of hours of training internationally in group dynamics. In her capacity as a coach, Linda has worked with over 2000 managers and staff and is accredited with the LDC.
Before setting up in business, Linda held roles as a secondary teacher, vocational guidance counsellor and as Assistant Chief Vocational Guidance Counsellor (Training and Development) within the Labour Department.
She holds a BA from Victoria University, a Teaching Diploma (Distinction), a post-graduate Diploma in Education from Canterbury University and a Certificate in Action Methods from the Wasley Institute in Perth.
Gavin Lockwood
Gavin is an independent consultant, facilitator and coach. Since 2011 he has worked with individuals and teams from around 30 organisations.
Gavin has an excellent understanding of the opportunities and challenges that face leaders in the public sector. He worked in a range of senior roles over 15 years in Treasury, the Ministry of Fisheries, and through the merger of the Ministries of Agriculture & Forestry and Fisheries. That included roles at the Deputy Chief Executive level. Prior to that, he worked at the Prime Minister's Department in Canberra.
Gavin is experienced in strategy development, turning strategy into action, and leading substantial change in organisations. He understands what it takes to achieve the behavioural and cultural changes that make a tangible difference to performance, and is skilled in the real-world application of a wide range of relevant frameworks and models.
Gavin is an accredited coach, through the NeuroLeadership Group, and accredited in a range of diagnostic tools. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) and Master of Arts from the University of Melbourne, and has undertaken a wide range of training related to leadership and organisation development, including Stanford University's Executive Programme in Strategy and Organisation.
© 2019 Achieve Group and Lockwood Consulting
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AWARENESS FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
SA adventurers tackle volcano to raise awareness for early childhood education
Tags: south africa, early childhood development, children, future
A group of six South African adventurers is planning to summit the world’s highest active volcano to raise awareness for The Unlimited Child, a skills development non-profit organisation focussed on improving access to early childhood development in marginalised communities throughout South Africa.
The expedition to Ojos del Salado on the border between Argentina and Chile in South America will see the courageous explorers attempting the peak of 6893 meters in the harshest conditions imaginable in an effort to call attention to the plight of early childhood education in this country. The hardship facing the team during this ambitious challenge pale in comparison with the struggle faced by millions of pre-school children in South Africa on a daily basis.
Recent statistics show that over 1 million South African children under the age of 5 do not have access to early childhood services, which are critical during a child’s formative years. According to Candice Potgieter, CEO of The Unlimited Child, this lack of opportunity to receive a strong foundation for growth and development before the age of six has a crucial impact on a child’s school readiness. “Investments into creating access to quality early childhood development services levels the playing field for our children, ensuring that they are not only school ready but life ready too,” says Potgieter.
The Unlimited Child aims to create impact through the support of 5 000 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres by 2021, which will mean that more than 600 000 children will have access to a high quality early learning programme. “The Ojos campaign and similar initiatives will help us to reach this goal. It is our hope that through awareness raised by the expedition, the need for ECD will resonate with corporate and private donors and inspire them to change the future of South Africa through investments into this sector,” Potgieter explains.
The importance of intervention in the current status of early childhood education was recently highlighted by a literacy survey, which revealed that 80% of South African Grade 4 pupils fall below the lowest internationally-recognised level of reading literacy in their language of learning. The fact that South Africa was ranked at the bottom of the list of 50 participating countries made national headlines and underscored the severity of the early childhood education problem and its long term implications.
The Unlimited Child currently supports over 1200 ECD centres with a footprint that extends across seven provinces. The organisation provides skills development training to teachers at each of the ECD centres – ensuring the deliver a quality early childhood education programme; together with the educational toy resource kits to support transformation of classrooms into stimulating learning environments.
The Unlimited Child Ojos expedition will begin their ascent on 12 February 2018 and the team is expected to reach the summit 11 days later on 24 February. Expedition member Wallis Watt, the only woman amongst the six-man team, hopes that their journey will put the spotlight on the incredible work being done by The Unlimited Child. "During our summit attempt, we will be pushed to the limits in extreme conditions and an unforgiving environment, which will definitely challenge our physical and mental fitness. But we are committed to this campaign to focus attention on the cause and to ensure that the children of South Africa receive the educational and developmental resources that will enable them to reach their full potential.”
Follow their progress and support their fundraising efforts on www.makethenumberscount.co.za
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CPC under pressure to raise fuel rates
Sri Lanka’s state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corp (CPC) is under pressure to raise fuel prices as the refiner incurred huge losses this year, cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said on Wednesday.
The CPC incurred a loss of 9.9 billion rupees ($63.5 million) in the first two months of the year, a government document showed.
“It (CPC) is under pressure to raise prices because of such losses,” Senaratne told Reuters after the weekly cabinet press briefing, adding it is not a “good time” to raise fuel rates ahead of the traditional Sinhala-Tamil New Year, which is celebrated by 90 percent of the 21-million population.
Lanka IOC Plc, the only other local fuel retailer and a subsidiary of Indian Oil Corp, had raised retail prices for gasoline and diesel on March 24, after the government failed to implement a pricing formula.
This has put the government under scrutiny to raise prices at fuel stations, which are normally decided during talks between the government and retailers. Lanka IOC, however, is allowed to set fuel prices at its own will.
The fuel pricing formula is under consideration and a final decision is yet to be taken, Senaratne added.
Despite several measures to reduce rates of essential goods, the public is still wary of higher food prices amid new income tax slabs.
The new taxes will hardly affect the lower-income group, President Maithripala Sirisena’s coalition government said.
A price hike could make the coalition government more unpopular among the voters ahead of the potential provincial council elections this year, analysts said.
Under pressure from the International Monetary Fund to boost the island nation’s revenue, the government had increased the excise duty on diesel to 13 rupees per litre in August last year, but had asked fuel retailers to retain the old rates.
-Agencies
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« (Music) Crayon – Unusual | (Audio/Video) Vector – The Man With A Gun »
Photos Show Moment Huge Python Swallowed A Crocodile
Photos showing the moment an olive python (Liasis olivaceus) swallowed an Australian freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus johnstoni) have emerged.
The photos demonstrate that in the battle between pythons and crocodiles in the wild, the pythons are kings.
According to livescience.com, the photos come courtesy GG Wildlife Rescue Inc., a nonprofit in Australia, which shared them on its Facebook page on May 31. The images were taken near Mount Isa, Queensland, by kayaker Martin Muller.
We can not resist also sharing with you to ponder for the weekend about the pecking order in the wild.
Pythons are known for their dietary ambition. The large snakes have been found with the remains of everything — from deer larger than themselves and impalas to prickly porcupines — in their bellies. These snakes also happily eat one another, as witnessed in May in Western Australia. On very rare occasions, some python species will even attack and eat humans.
Pythons also have been known to go head-to-head with crocodiles and alligators. In an infamous case in 2005, a Burmese python in Florida’s Everglades National Park was found burst open and dead with an American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) sticking out of its gut. Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus), which can grow as large as 18.8 feet (5.74 meters) long, are an invasive species in Florida.
The olive python, on the other hand, is native to Australia and is found only there. This species can grow to up to 13 feet (4 m) long. Clashes with Australia’s “freshies” (the local nickname for freshwater crocodiles) are common. In 2014, an olive python was video-recorded killing and eating a freshwater crocodile at Lake Moondarra, which is near Mount Isa. In that case, it took five hours for the snake to slowly stretch its jaws around the constricted croc.
Pythons are able to perform amazing feats of swallowing thanks to their elastic jaws. The snakes’ lower jawbones are divided into two parts, connected by an elastic ligament, which allows the bones to spread apart. When a python has a prey animal subdued, the snake first “walks” over it, a process called the pterygoid walk. Then, the snake uses its jaw to hang onto the prey while compressing its muscles and slithering around the subdued animal until the meal is engulfed.
Pythons also have a number of genetic adaptations that help them to digest huge meals all at once. Research published in 2013 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that Burmese pythons rapidly alter their metabolism after they eat, and even increase the size of their internal organs (including the intestines, pancreas, heart and kidneys) to handle the influx of calories.
Tags: Photos Show Moment Huge Python Swallowed A Crocodile
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The environment is often cited as an important factor influencing the health status of individuals. This includes characteristics of the natural environment, the built environment and the social environment. Factors such as clean water and air, adequate housing, and safe communities and roads all have been found to contribute to good health, especially to the health of infants and children.[18][29] Some studies have shown that a lack of neighborhood recreational spaces including natural environment leads to lower levels of personal satisfaction and higher levels of obesity, linked to lower overall health and well being.[30] This suggests that the positive health benefits of natural space in urban neighborhoods should be taken into account in public policy and land use.
Jain yoga has been a central practice in Jainism. Jain spirituality is based on a strict code of nonviolence or ahimsa (which includes vegetarianism), almsgiving (dana), right faith in the three jewels, the practice of austerities (tapas) such as fasting, and yogic practices.[249][250] Jain yoga aims at the liberation and purification of the self (atma) or soul (jiva) from the forces of karma, which keep all souls bound to the cycle of transmigration. Like Yoga and Sankhya, Jainism believes in a multiplicity of individual souls which bound by their individual karma.[251] Only through the reduction of karmic influxes and the exhaustion of one's collected karma can a soul become purified and released, at which point one becomes an omniscient being who has reaches "absolute knowledge" (kevala jnana).[252]
An increasing number of studies and reports from different organizations and contexts examine the linkages between health and different factors, including lifestyles, environments, health care organization and health policy, one specific health policy brought into many countries in recent years was the introduction of the sugar tax. Beverage taxes came into light with increasing concerns about obesity, particularly among youth. Sugar-sweetened beverages have become a target of anti-obesity initiatives with increasing evidence of their link to obesity.[21]– such as the 1974 Lalonde report from Canada;[20] the Alameda County Study in California;[22] and the series of World Health Reports of the World Health Organization, which focuses on global health issues including access to health care and improving public health outcomes, especially in developing countries.[23]
We seek to assist each soul to connect to their inner guide, and encourage trust and personal growth on their journey, as they discover their own authentic self. We endeavor to create space for all, as they set forth to embrace and live their own greatest human potential. Our intention is to help those seeking to experience the quintessential freedom to exemplify the person they were born to be. By reaching out with acceptance to all, we dedicate our lives to healing humanity as a whole. We understand each human has their own story and walks through their own unique life.
Malaysia's top Islamic body in 2008 passed a fatwa, prohibiting Muslims from practicing yoga, saying it had elements of Hinduism and that its practice was blasphemy, therefore haraam.[297] Some Muslims in Malaysia who had been practicing yoga for years, criticized the decision as "insulting."[298] Sisters in Islam, a women's rights group in Malaysia, also expressed disappointment and said yoga was just a form of exercise.[299] This fatwa is legally enforceable.[300] However, Malaysia's prime minister clarified that yoga as physical exercise is permissible, but the chanting of religious mantras is prohibited.[301]
Health.com is part of the Meredith Health Group. ©, Copyright 2019 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved. The material in this site is intended to be of general informational use and is not intended to constitute medical advice, probable diagnosis, or recommended treatments. All products and services featured are selected by our editors. Health.com may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. See the Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab and Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab (Your California Rightsthis link opens in a new tab)for more information. Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab | EU Data Subject Requeststhis link opens in a new tab
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POLITICS 47 Pedro Sanchez and Quim Torra to meet, after Torra requests audience with the King
June 21, 2018 Spanish News 2539 Views
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced that he will hold meetings with Catalan regional leader Quim Torra on the 9th July.
The meeting will take place as part of a series of discussions with all the autonomous regions presidents.
It’s understood the pair will meet at the Moncloa after discussions by phone with him shortly after coming to power.
The meeting was announced just hours after Mr. Torra sent a letter to King Felipe asking for a meeting to discuss the situation in the north-eastern region.
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Turkish marble used worldwide, including NYC subway
Marble mined in central Turkey is being used in 20 countries all around the world, including Saudi Arabia and in the famed New York City subway system, a marble producer said on Tuesday.
"Selçuklu Marble, founded 13 years ago, exports 90 percent of its all marble production," Nuh Gun, the company's chair, told Anadolu Agency.
The company's marble products are being used in significant projects in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, the company's largest markets, he stressed.
Gun said that the company also exports marble to European countries, Australia, China, India, and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
"We send raw materials for the New York City Subway's restoration, they use our products," he underlined, saying this is a mark of its quality.
He said the company employees 95 personnel, including nearly 40 women.
"Our aim is to be among the top 10 in the sector, and we attend fairs, upgrade our technology, and step up marketing for this target," Gun stressed.
Last year exports of natural Turkish stone -- including processed and uncut marble, granite, travertine, and slate -- totaled 7.94 million tons or $2.05 billion, according to Istanbul Mineral Exporters' Association data. Turkey is also the world's top marble exporter, followed by Italy and Greece.
Turkey backs nearly half million businesses since 2017
Turkish Central Bank's simplification move welcomed by markets, restores confidence as lira surges
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Shaky Ground by Elizabeth Marlowe
Our understanding of the most important aspects of Roman art suffers from a lack of context.
Shaky Ground: Context, Connoisseurship and the History of Roman Art
by Elizabeth Marlowe
2013 (hardback), 2015 (paperback), Bloomsbury
Elizabeth Marlowe’s Shaky Ground is everything I want in an academic book. It is well written, engaging, takes on a unique topic from a position of expertise, and it is short. Short is good. It’s a clear and concise read. You can take on the whole book in one long sitting. Also now that it is out in paperback, Shaky Ground is extremely affordable, a rare quality in an academic book. The low price point means it is an easy and worthwhile purchase, certainly for academics will no doubt want to cite it, for students, and I think even for the interested but non-specialist public.
This is a very readable academic work about the dangerous influence unprovenanced Roman artefacts have on our understanding of the past.
I dig the terminology in this book. I might adopt it. Marlowe uses the terms “grounded” and “ungrounded” to describe artefacts that were excavated archaeologically and those that were not, and I love it. Much more so than more familiar terms like “unprovenanced” or “contextless” etc, “ungrounded” emphases distance from the earth and distance from humanity’s remains. A grounded object is anchored in space and time. An ungrounded object is unconstrained, floating around like a balloon filled with hot air. One provides a solid foundation to build cultural analysis on. The other very clearly does not.
But ungrounded objects fill Roman art books and are, as the author argues, often uncritically at the centre of serious academic work, even when grounded works which display the same artistic qualities are available. Why? Because the ungrounded artefacts have now trickled into accessible big-name museums. The collections of small archaeological site museums along the far-flung edges of Rome’s ancient influence are not easy research locations for students and scholars. Also, perhaps more importantly, the Roman art scene doesn’t name and shame the scholars who use ungrounded works, even when publishing such shaky pieces actively works against what could be seen as proper, solid, ‘grounded’ scholarship.
Marlowe does call her fellow Roman art scholars out, and not for the most predictable sin, namely the destruction of archaeological sites. While she does acknowledge the heritage destruction inherent in the looting of Roman artefacts, that isn’t the focus of her book. Rather Marlowe casts the uncritical study of ungrounded Roman objects as a threat to the very purpose of her profession. A threat to scholarship which scholars are ignoring because to tackle it head-on might force a re-write of Roman art history.
The core of Marlowe’s argument is that nearly all scholarship and understanding of Roman Art is built upon an unstable foundation, a “Shaky Ground”, and that we need to reevaluate how we talk about Roman art, what Roman art we use in analysis and publication, and how we display Roman art in museums. Marlowe says that since the very beginning of the study of ancient Rome, expert opinion has been valued above real analysis; connoisseurship has been valued over context. Thus scholarly work tends to focus on Roman artefacts as art objects and scholars study the artefacts’ merits as they relate to their creator, rather than the long life of the objects within the cultural experience of the Romans.
Looted Roman artefacts enter the canon, distorting our view of their use. Fakes abound, but we lack the ability to dismiss them. It’s a mess.
I admit that especially in the final bits of the book, I don’t feel that Marlowe fully engaged with the massive amount of very useful and relevant literature on the topic of illicit antiquities. Her bibliography, in that respect, is about a decade out of date and she is missing some critical texts that would have enriched her argument and, perhaps, clarified some assertions that I don’t think are supportable. Yet this doesn’t detract from the merit of the book at all. Read my (one day) book for that stuff, and hers for a valuable and unique argument for the primacy of archaeological context as well as numerous relevant case studies from the Roman art world.
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← TechCrunch: NRA Is ‘Right’ About Smart Guns
These Republicans Won’t Support Trump… Some Say They Will Vote for Hillary →
The Watch: 240 Years of U.S. Naval Excellence, Celebrating the U.S. Navy’s Birthday
Posted on July 2, 2016 by EditorBB
October 13, 2015 is the 240th anniversary of the United States Navy.
The unofficial motto of the U.S. Navy is “Non sibi sed patriae” (Not for self but for country).
At the beginning of the Revolutionary War the new Continental Congress had little financial resources and was divided over strategy. General George Washington left Congressional debate and acted. He chartered a fishing schooner, named Hannah, and began raiding British ships to obtain military supplies.
Hannah was the first of eleven vessels Washington chartered to fight the British, which became known as “Washington’s Navy.” Over a six-month period alone, Washington’s Navy captured roughly fifty-five ships, which furnished supplies to the troops and boosted morale.
Washington said,
To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.”
Washington’s naval successes since April 1775 also gave the Continental Congress the push it needed to authorize a national naval force.
On October 13, 1775 the Continental Congress resolved to procure two armed ships to fight the British. A few days later, Congress established a Naval Committee tasked with purchasing, outfitting, manning, and operating its new Navy’s ships. Later on the Committee drafted naval legislation, rules and regulations to govern its new Naval fleet and administration.
Philadelphia was the port where the first four vessels of the new Continental Navy were readied for battle.
In The Federalist No. 24, Alexander Hamilton asserted without a “federal navy . . . of respectable weight . . . the genius of American Merchants and Navigators would be stifled and lost.”
By September 7, 1776, designs for a new invention, the submarine, were unveiled.
Washington later wrote Lafayette in 1781:
Without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, And with it, everything honourable and glorious.”
240 years later, despite recent actions to gut the U.S. military, the U.S. Navy today comprises a fleet of 271 deployable ships, more than 3,700 operational aircraft, 328,000 active duty sailors, and 110,000 reserve sailors, and also employs nearly 200,000 civilians.
To learn more about Naval history and its birthday and Navy Day, visit Naval History and Heritage Command and military.com.
Thank active duty sailors and seamen and veterans for their service to their country.
This entry was posted in Rescuing the Republic and tagged Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, U.S. Navy birthday, United States Navy. Bookmark the permalink.
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Mother of Mercy Convent, Gadenahalli, Hassan – Estd 20 May 1950
24 May 1950, the feast of Mary Help of Christians, was the day of great rejoicing and gladness for the people of Gadenahalli. The Founder, together with the pioneers, Sr Philomen, Sr Lucretia, Sr Philomelle and Pullu Bai -Â a helper, boarded the bus in Mangalore at 4.45 am and arrived at Hassan via Sakleshpur. The villagers were waiting for them with two bullock carts at Hassan bus stand. As there was no means of transport they travelled a distance of 17 km from Hassan to Gadenahalli by bullock cart (Ethina Gadi).
A warm welcome awaited them from the parish priest Fr. PS Fernandes, and the people of the village. The foundation stone for the new convent building was blessed and laid by Fr Patrick Saldanha in March 1957. The convent was constructed with the help of the Bishop of Mysore and the coffee planters of Chikkamagalur. The blessing and inauguration of the newly constructed convent, chapel and dispensary was held on 11 October 1960. The foundation stone for the primary and high school building was blessed and laid on 23 December 1986.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”
– Luke 6:31
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Tag: iBookstore
Why Amazon Released a New Web-Based Reading App
August 10, 2011 August 10, 2011 meandmykindle Leave a comment
It seemed like a big announcement. “For over two years, Amazon has been offering a wide selection of free Kindle reading apps that enable customers to ‘Buy Once, Read Everywhere’…” Amazon explained in a press release. “Today, Amazon.com announced Kindle Cloud Reader, its latest Kindle reading application that…enables customers to read Kindle books instantly using only their web browser – online or offline – with no downloading or installation required!”
But I discovered a big surprise when I tried to download it — I couldn’t! “Your web browser isn’t supported yet,” read a warning at read.amazon.com. I was using the Firefox web browser, but I got the same message when I tried accessing the page using Internet Explorer. “Download Chrome or Safari below,” Amazon’s web page suggested. And that’s when I realized exactly what Amazon was up to…
Their new application only works with three browsers — Apple’s Safari browser for the iPad, and Apple’s Safari browser for the Mac (and PC), plus the Chrome browser from Google, which works with both Mac and PC systems (and Linux and Chromebook). And as Amazon points out on the web site for their new “cloud reader,” the Safari browser is even built into the iPad’s operating system already!
It’s a way to sell ebooks directly to iPad owners, instead of having them make their purchases from Apple’s iBookstore. “Kindle Cloud Reader will be available on additional web browsers,” Amazon promised in their announcement today, “including Internet Explorer, Firefox, the BlackBerry PlayBook browser, and other mobile browsers, in the coming months.” But there’s obviously a good reason why Amazon started with the Apple products first.
“Apple wants companies to sell their content through its iTunes system, where it gets a 30 percent cut,” reports an article at ABC News. So new services like the Kindle Cloud Reader let Amazon sell directly to iPad owners. PC World called it an “uprising” against the Apple App Store, and it turns out Amazon’s not the only company using this tactic. “Other developers and publishers, such as The Financial Times, have chosen to abandon (or at least cripple) their iOS apps in order to keep more money from their sales and not split it with Apple.”
It’s easier to offer a web-based alternative when you’re a big retailer with lots of customers who’ve already given you their credit card information. For example, Wal-Mart wanted to offer online movies through a web site named Vudu, but they also discovered taht they weren’t able to send them to the iPad. The movies were being sent in the Flash format, which isn’t supported by Apple’s iPad. So today, like Amazon, Wal-Mart unveiled their own web-based application…for watching movies!
I loaded up Amazon’s cloud reader so I could take a screenshot, and it does look like it offers a nice reading experience.
Amazon claims the book-purchasing capability in their new cloud reader is “To make it easy and seamless to discover new books.” But of course, it also makes it easier to buy those books, which is what Amazon’s really interested in!
eBook War: Amazon vs. Apple's iBookstore
October 19, 2010 October 19, 2010 meandmykindle Leave a comment
I’m fascinated by the Kindle’s competition with the iPad — and Apple’s rival approach to the marketing of ebooks. For example, yesterday Apple released a quarterly report showing they’d set new records. Over 92 days, they sold 14.1 million iPhones, 9.05 million iPods, 3.89 million Mac computers, and 4.19 million iPads. Their stock hit an all-time high, giving them a market capitalization of nearly $300 billion. And yet even some of Apple biggest fans still seem disappointed by Apple’s effort to sell ebooks.
One site had even stronger words, calling Apple’s iBookstore “one big failure”. David Winograd has both a PhD and an MBA, and he writes for “The Unofficial Apple Weblog,” where he analyzed the surprisingly small selection of ebooks in Apple’s store. “At launch, it was reported that the iBookstore contained somewhere between 46,000 and 60,000 titles, 30,000 of which came from the Project Gutenberg library of free out-of-copyright books.” Eliminating those “brings the number of titles at launch…to a generous 30,000.” Amazon, meanwhile, boasts that its Kindle bookstore has “over 700,000 ebooks, newspapers, magazines and blogs” — so it seems safe to assume that counting ebooks alone would still give Amazon close to half a million choices.
I’m always curious how Amazon’s Kindle Store would compare to other online bookstores, but David Winograd actually performed some real-world research. “I did a search of the New York Times Best Seller List from last Sunday and found that three of the hardcover fiction titles and three non-fiction titles were missing from the iBookstore. Amazon had all of them except for [Jon Stewart’s] Earth (The Book), which has no electronic version…” And there was another big problem with the iBookstore. “Sometimes Apple came out more expensive while Amazon never did.”
This disparity leads the unofficial Apple blogger to his biggest complaint: “The iBookstore is full of holes.” He’d initially been excited about buying ebooks from Apple’s iBookstore, “but I became disappointed at the lack of availability and prices of what I wanted to read… unless Apple takes some giant steps to fix the things that are broken with the iBookstore, it will continue to be a dismal failure.” In August, one author even reported that he’d been selling 6,000 ebooks a month in Amazon’s Kindle store, versus just 100 per month in Apple’s iBookstore.
But to be fair, the iPad is changing reading in other ways — and it won at least one match-up against the Kindle in a small town of 60,000 people. In Northern California, their city council will vote today on whether to replace their bulky agenda packets with digital versions on an iPad! Yuba City “prints 20 full agenda packets for each meeting, creating an average of 68,000 pages per year,” according to a local newspaper. “Five electronic devices for council members, two for the city manager’s office and one for the city clerk would cost $5,240 with an expected annual savings of $2,200 in printing costs!”
They’d also considered delivering the council minutes to a Kindle, but felt it didn’t score as highly in usability, readability, and “available applications.” But it probably would still score higher in its selection of ebooks.
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Conroy chooses Flames over coaching gig
By Vicki Hall, Postmedia News June 20, 2011
Craig Conroy turned down an offer to coach at his alma mater, Clarkson University, and instead signed a four-year contract extension to remain a special assistant to Calgary Flames general manager Jay Feaster. File photo.
Photograph by: Stuart Gradon , Calgary Herald
CALGARY — Craig Conroy admits to feeling the tug of sentiment when the phone rang with a job offer as head coach of the men’s hockey team at his alma mater, Clarkson University.
His dad played at Clarkson. So did two of his uncles. The school is in his hometown of Potsdam, New York.
Regardless, Conroy turned down the coaching gig and signed a four-year contract extension as the special assistant to general manager Jay Feaster for the Calgary Flames.
“I was thinking about it,” said Conroy, 39. “It wasn’t an easy decision. That was a great opportunity, too.
“But in the end, my heart is in the NHL.”
With good reason. Conroy logged 1,009 games in the National Hockey League before retiring this winter to move up to the manager’s box. The father of three is one of the most popular players in franchise history for the Flames.
He is also following a path blazed by Joe Nieuwendyk and Steve Yzerman before him. In any business, an apprenticeship is great way to get on-the-job experience.
Nieuwendyk served as the special assistant to the general manager in Florida and Toronto before moving into the head job in Dallas. Yzerman worked as a vice-president in Detroit before jumping to executive director of the Canadian men’s hockey team at the Vancouver Olympics and ultimately his new role as Tampa Bay’s general manager.
Yzerman just turned 46. Nieuwendyk is 44.
“This is a great opportunity for me,” Conroy said. “I get to learn and see host things work. I got to see how things worked at the trade deadline. I saw that whole part of it. Now I’m going to see the draft and training camp and the whole process.
“Jay has been unbelievable. He’s helping me out. Grooming me along.”
Conroy takes no offence to the notion of Feaster hiring an experienced assistant general manager. Seasoned executives Michel Goulet and Bill Barber are prime candidates.
“That’s all right,” Conroy said. “I’m still in the learning stages. I’ll be the third guy. I’m trying to figure it all out.
“I want to grow with the job. It’s better to sit back and take your time instead of rush into something and be over your head.”
Feaster said Conroy is not ready for the job as assistant general manager — yet.
“I am very, very fortunate to have a good hockey person as a special assistant,” Feaster said. “If this were a couple of years down the road or if Connie had retired a couple of years earlier, he would be the guy handling that role.
“There is no doubt in my mind that is the progression path that Craig is on.”
vhall@calgaryherald.com
Feaster has ‘interim’ tag lifted as Flames’ GM
Flames lock up Glencross with $10.2M extension
Photograph by: Stuart Gradon, Calgary Herald
Craig Conroy
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Deplatforming and disinformation will degrade our democracy
January 15, 2019 , Leave a Comment , admin
We spent much of the last two decades talking about ways to expand access to information — boosting broadband speeds, extending mobile coverage, building Wikipedia and Google and Github. But now that the exafloods have washed over us, with more waves on the way, many of our new challenges are the result of information overload.
In a world of digital overabundance, how do we protect our privacy and our children’s innocence? How do we highlight the important stuff and block the nonsense? How do we filter, sort, safeguard, and verify?
Information is the currency of a culture and the basis of learning and growth. The information explosion has enriched us innumerably. But if we don’t successfully grapple with some of the downsides, we will forfeit this amazing gift.
Two of today’s biggest threats are disinformation (the spreading of false or misleading content) and deplatforming (blocking access to or manipulating some information hub). Neither is entirely new. But in our networked world, both effects are supercharged, and they strike at the heart of our society’s ability to process information effectively.
The founders thought our democratic experiment required an educated and informed citizenry. The growth of our experiment, likewise, requires the ability to generate new knowledge, which, in turn, requires disagreement, debate, and creativity. Without a grasp of reality and good faith efforts to generate new knowledge, however, the system can founder.
Over the last two years, we heard much about foreign disinformation campaigns targeting the 2016 election. But we’ve now learned that many of these alarmist charges were themselves elaborate disinformation campaigns. Fraudulent documents were pumped into our law enforcement agencies and sprinkled across the government and media. The social media tools used in modest, mostly ineffective ways by Russian trolls were then repurposed in the 2017 and 2018 elections by American political groups posing as anti-disinformation scientists. The self-described investigators of disinformation have in fact become the purveyors of disinformation.
A rational response to spam, vice, disinformation, or mere poor quality is to filter, sort, and prioritize. Thus institutions of all kinds make legitimate decisions to carry or disallow content or activity on their platforms.
Apple, for example, keeps drugs, gambling, and sex, among other vices, off of its App Store. That’s a perfectly good strategy for Apple, its customers, and society. Platforms have the right to develop their own product and culture. Some form of gatekeeping or prioritization at some nodes of our shifting networks will always be necessary.
Our sense of fairness, however, is offended when a supposedly open platform makes arbitrary or outright discriminatory decisions. If, for example, a platform doesn’t want to host political or scientific discussions, fine. But when a platform pretends to host broad ranges of content, including political, social, and scientific debate, then we expect some measure of neutrality.
In the last few years, however, these hubs have increasingly been captured by political activists, their own internal ideologies, or go-with-the-flow fads. Social networks, content repositories, and now even payment networks are deplatforming content and people deemed socially unacceptable. Many of those kicked off the platforms are thoroughly despicable characters, for sure. But mainstream activists, academics, thinkers, and even rival platforms are increasingly getting blocked, shadow banned, or otherwise suppressed by, for example, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Patreon, and PayPal. In fact, disinformation campaigns are a common way that rival activists get the hubs to deplatform enemies.
These tactics aren’t unique to the internet, of course. Disinformation is as old as time, or at least human warfare. And deplatforming is an unsavory trend on university campuses and academic journals, which are information hubs of a sort. Networks, however, amplify the power of these tactics. And so the new strategy of ideological badgering can also be found, and is especially potent, at large network nodes. Thus BlackRock, the $6-trillion family of index funds, which owns large percentages of all publicly traded companies, has become one of the activists’ juiciest targets. Instead of heckling every public firm or pension fund to do their political bidding, the activists successfully lobbied BlackRock to establish a “Stewardship Committee” to enforce their views, thus gaining some measure of control over all public firms without ownership of the firms.
The most astonishing current case is perhaps the most dangerous. It involves the apparent abuse of the government’s most powerful and sensitive surveillance tools and databases – the ultimate information platform — by political actors for political ends.
One structural solution to the politicization of centralized incumbents is to build rival institutions and decentralized platforms. arXiv is an alternative to traditional academic publishing, for example, and alternative news outlets continue to proliferate. Crypto- or blockchain-based peer-to-peer systems may be another way of disempowering the politicized platforms.
The current digital platforms might still regain some measure of public trust by recommitting to political and scientific neutrality (and to privacy, etc.). If they don’t, however, rival platforms will only grow faster. Washington, meanwhile, will be even more tempted to step in to regulate who can speak, what they can say, when, where, and how. In a misguided effort to bolster outcast speakers, free speech, a foundation of our system and our nation, will in fact likely suffer.
Some information platforms, such as law enforcement and intelligence, however, will inevitably remain unrivaled and centralized. And here we need a recommitment to professionalism, nonpartisanship, adult judgment, and farsighted citizenship.
Instead, our leadership class over the last many years has been a profound embarrassment. Perhaps poisoned by information overdose, government officials, public intellectuals, and journalists in their 50s, 60s, and 70s have behaved like the worst combination of toddlers and teenagers, gullible and paranoid, narrow-minded and spiteful. Supposedly educated and civilized men and women go on years-long rants on cable TV, while straight news has descended to its least accurate point ever. The commoditization of “the facts” has paradoxically expanded the field for factless nonsense.
What’s worse, closing off the spaces for rational inquiry will only deepen the social vertigo and prevent the course corrections needed to regain our individual and social balance. Despite all the real technological solutions to the challenge of information overload, human leadership and loftier social expectations may prove most important. To regain our balance, we desperately need our powers of science and civic discussion. Hold the current bad actors accountable, yes. But then we need to deescalate. Be skeptical — and invite skepticism of ourselves. Curate platforms for quality, but do not spitefully or ideologically discriminate. Be tough but generous and open.
The country needs robust information tools to defend itself and promote freedom across the globe. By information tools, I mean not just our military and intelligence capabilities. I refer also to free speech, science, and our open society. We cannot survive if these awesome powers are politicized and polluted.
This post originally appeared at AEIdeas – https://www.aei.org/publication/deplatforming-and-disinformation-will-degrade-our-democracy/
5G wireless, fact and fiction
November 12, 2018 , Leave a Comment , admin
New wireless technologies, including 5G, are poised to expand the reach and robustness of mobile connectivity and boost broadband choices for tens of millions of consumers across the country. We’ve been talking about the potential of 5G the last few years, and now we are starting to see the reality. In a number of cities, thousands of small cells are going up on lampposts, utility poles, and building tops. I’ve discussed our own progress here in Indiana.
The project will take many years, but it’s happening. And the Federal Communications Commission just gave this massive infrastructure effort a lift by streamlining the rules for deploying these small cells. Because of the number of small cells to be deployed – many hundreds of thousands across the country – it would be counterproductive to treat each one of them as a new large structure, such as a building or hundred-foot cell tower. The new rules thus encourage fast deployment by smoothing the permitting process and making sure cities and states don’t charge excessive fees. The point is faster deployment of powerful new wireless networks, which will not only supercharge your smartphone but also provide a competitive alternative to traditional wired broadband.
Given this background, I found last week’s editorial by the mayor of San Jose, California, quite odd. Writing in the New York Times, Mayor Sam Liccardo argued that the new FCC rules to encourage faster deployment are an industry effort to “usurp control over these coveted public assets and utilize publicly owned streetlight poles for their own profit, not the public benefit.”
But the new streamlining rules do no such thing. Public rights of way will still be public. Cities and states will still have the same access as private firms, just as they had before. And who will benefit by the private investment of some $275 billion dollars in new wireless networks? That’s right – the public.
If cities and states wish to erect new Wi-Fi networks, as Mayor Liccardo did in San Jose, they can still do so.
I think the real complaint from some mayors is that the new FCC rules will limit their ability to extort wildly excessive fees and other payments from firms who want to bring these new wireless technologies to consumers. Too often, cities are blocking access to these rights of way, unless firms pay up. These government games are the very obstacles to deployment that the FCC rule is meant to fix.
Fewer obstacles, faster deployment. And accelerated deployment of the new 5G networks will mean broader coverage, faster speeds, and more broadband competition, which, crucially, will put downward pressure on connectivity prices, boosting broadband availability and affordability.
Mayor Liccardo emphasizes the challenges of low-income neighborhoods. But there are much better ways to help targeted communities than by trying to micromanage – and thus delay – network deployment. One better way, for example, might be to issue broadband vouchers or to encourage local non-profits to help pay for access.
This isn’t an either-or problem. Cities still maintain access to public rights of way. But one thing’s for sure. Private firms will be the primary builders of next generation networks. Overwhelmingly so. And faster deployment of wireless networks is good for the public.
This year’s Nobel for economics is a technology prize!
October 12, 2018 , Leave a Comment , admin
On Tuesday, the Royal Swedish Academy awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in economic sciences to two American economists, William Nordhaus of Yale University and Paul Romer of New York University’s Stern School of Business. Romer is well-known for his work on innovation, and although the committee focused on Nordhaus’ research on climate change, this year’s prize is really all about technology and its central role in economic growth.
Paul Romer, who with William Nordhaus received the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economics, speaks at the New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business in New York City, October 8, 2018 – via REUTERS
Romer’s 1990 paper “Endogenous technological change” is one of the most famous and cited of the past several decades. Until then, the foundational theory of economic growth was Robert Solow’s model. It said growth was the result of varied quantities of capital and labor, which we could control, and a vague factor known as the Residual, which included scientific knowledge and technology. The Residual exposed a big limitation of the Solow model. Capital and labor were supposedly the heart of the model, and yet technology accounted for the vast bulk of growth — something like 85 percent, compared to the relatively small contributions of capital and labor. Furthermore, technology was an “exogenous” factor (outside our control) which didn’t seem to explain the real world. If technology was a free-floating ever-present factor, equally available across the world, why did some nations or regions do far better or worse than others? (more…)
Indiana, center of the 5G wireless world (at least for today)
September 4, 2018 , Leave a Comment , admin
About 18 months ago, wireless small cells started popping up all around Indianapolis. The one pictured above is about a half-mile from my house. In addition to these suburban versions, built by one large mobile carrier, a different mobile carrier built a network of 83 small cells in downtown Indy. These small cells are a key architectural facet of the next generation of wireless broadband, known as 5G, and over the next few years we’ll build hundreds of thousands of them across the country. This “densification” of mobile networks will expand coverage and massively boost speeds, responsiveness, and reliability. Our smartphones will of course benefit, but so will a whole range of other new devices and applications.
Building hundreds of thousands of these cells, however, will require lots of investment. A common estimate is $275 billion for the U.S. It will also require the cooperation of states and localities to speed the permitting to place these cells on lampposts, buildings, utility poles, and other rights of way. And this is where Indiana has led the way, with a decade’s worth of pro-broadband policy and, more recently, legislation that’s already encouraged the deployment of more than 1,000 small cells across the state.
Today, Brendan Carr, one of five commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission, visited Indiana to highlight our state’s early successes – and to lay out the next steps in the FCC’s program to expand 5G as quickly as possible. Carr described the key components of his plan, to be voted on at the Commission’s September 25 meeting. The prospective Order:
Implements long-standing federal law that bars municipal rules that have the effect of prohibiting deployment of wireless service
Allows municipalities to charge fees for reviewing small cell deployments when such fees are limited to recovering the municipalities’ costs, and provides guidance on specific fee levels that would comply with this standard
Requires municipalities to approve or disapprove applications to attach small cells to existing structures within 60 days and applications to build new small cell poles within 90 days
Places modest guardrails on other municipal rules that may prohibit service while reaffirming localities’ traditional roles in, for example, reasonable aesthetic reviews
Carr emphasized that this new framework, which will bar excessive fees, will help small towns and communities better compete for infrastructure and capital. We know that wireless firms have to build networks in large “must have” markets such as New York and San Francisco, where millions of Americans live and work. High fees and onerous permitting obstacles, however, are particularly hard on smaller communities – often discouraging investment in these non-urban geographies. This new framework, therefore, is yet another important component of closing the “digital divide.”
Here’s video of Carr’s talk at the Statehouse.
Energy Market of 2030: The End of Carbon Fuels?
June 1, 2018 , Leave a Comment , admin
See our contribution, with 15 others, to an International Economy symposium looking ahead to the energy market of 2030: The End of Carbon Fuels? Here was our contribution:
The dramatic reduction in U.S. carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions over the last decade is, paradoxically, the result of the massively increased use of a fossil fuel—natural gas. The shale technology revolution produced so much low-cost natural gas, and replaced so much coal, that U.S. emissions from electricity generation have fallen to levels not seen since the late 1980s.
Over time, electric vehicles—and later, autonomous ones—could reduce the need for oil. But natural gas will only rise in importance as the chief generator of inexpensive and reliable electricity.
The Energy Information Administration projects that fossil fuels will still represent 81 percent of total energy consumption in 2030. Natural gas, EIA estimates, will be the largest source of electricity, generating between 50 percent and 100 percent more than renewables.
Sure, but don’t technology revolutions often surprise even the smartest prognosticators? Renewables have indeed been growing from a tiny base, and some believe solar power is poised for miraculous gains.
Despite real advances in solar power and battery storage, however, these technologies don’t follow a Moore’s law path. Solar will grow, but we won’t solve solar’s (nor wind’s) fundamental intermittency and thus unreliability challenges by 2030. Nor can we avoid their voracious appetite for the earth’s surface, a fundamental scarcity which environmentalists and conservationists of all stripes should hope to preserve. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos even dreams of a day when we move much heavy industry into space to preserve the earth’s surface for human enjoyment.
But shouldn’t we pay extra in land area (and dollars) today to avoid CO2’s climate effects tomorrow? Fear not. The latest estimates of the climate’s CO2 sensitivity suggest any warming over the next century will be just half of previous estimates and, therefore, a net benefit to humanity and the earth. Satellites show us that CO2 greens the planet.
Economic growth is the most humane policy today, and it opens up frontiers of innovation, including new energy technologies. Premature anti-CO2 policies can actually boost CO2 emissions, as happened in Germany, where ill-advised wind and solar mandates (and also nuclear decommissionings) so decimated the energy grid that the nation had to quickly build new coal plants. New nuclear technologies are technologically superior to solar and wind but remain irrationally unpopular politically. Emitting more CO2 today may thus accelerate the date when economical, non-CO2 emitting technologies generate most of our power.
What a coincidence! Maybe better policy can lead to faster growth.
It’s fascinating to see those commentators and economists, who insisted for nearly a decade that 2% was the best the U.S. could do, grapple with the apparent uptick in economic growth and improving labor markets. Secular stagnation, technological stagnation, financial recessions are different, better get used to the “new normal” – these were the explanations (excuses?) for the failure of the economy to recover from the Panic of 2008. Millions of Americans had permanently dropped out of the labor market, robots were taking their jobs, or (paradoxically) technology was impotent, an aging population meant the U.S. would never grow faster than 2% again, and a global dearth of demand meant the economy would be stuck for many years to come. Wages for most workers weren’t growing, and inequality increased because of monopolies or greed or . . . whatever – anything but a failure of policy to encourage growth. Only bigger government could restart the stagnating secular engine, but even then, don’t expect too much.
All of the sudden, however, we’re hearing stories of tight labor markets, and 2017 will likely exhibit the fastest growth for a calendar year since 2006. We think there are three key reasons for the 2017 uptick: (1) an abrupt cessation of the anti-growth policy avalanche; (2) dramatic policy improvements, such as wide-ranging regulatory reforms and a major tax overhaul; and (3) the beginnings of a tech-led productivity freshening.
As Adam Ozimek (@ModeledBehavior) writes:
This story is both very happy but also does make me mad, because I think there hasn’t been a reckoning. This mistake was in a sense bigger than failing to predict the Great Recession, because it was more of an unforced error. And there is no similar push for economist rethinking
— Adam Ozimek (@ModeledBehavior) January 14, 2018
It’s refreshing to hear a mainstream economist call out the massive failure of the last decade – a devastating “growth gap” that we’ve been railing against for many years (also, e.g., Beyond the New Normal; Technology and the Growth Imperative; Uncage the Economy; etc.). It’s more than a little odd, however, that Ozimek singles out for criticism several economists who were arguing that the economy could have been growing much faster, if we’d let it, and were suggesting policies that could help boost employment. Shouldn’t he specifically call out the stagnation apologists instead? Isn’t the “giant mistake,” as Ozimek calls it, the insistence the economy was growing as fast as possible and the arguments that diverted attention from bad policy, unnecessarily slow growth, stagnating wages, and a huge drop in employment?
Many stagnationists are now searching for possible explanations for the nascent uptick. Some are looking toward a possible resurgence of technology and the idea that productivity growth might improve from its decade-long drop. Larry Summers says the apparent uptick is merely a “sugar high” that won’t last. But you can see many of the stagnationists labor to avoid any acknowledgement that better policy might be at the heart of economic improvement. (By the way, I’m thrilled that our tech-led “Productivity Boom” thesis is getting this attention. The recent converts, however, seem to say that a new tech-boom is now inevitable, when just months or weeks ago they said tech was over. I think the policy improvements of 2017 will accelerate technological innovation in many lagging sectors.)
It’s too early to know whether these encouraging signs are the beginning of a long-term growth acceleration. But it’s good to see lots of people finally acknowledge the depth of the growth gap and the higher innovative potential of the American economy.
Posted in: Economic growth, financial crisis, Taxes
Tax reform can boost technology, productivity . . . and pay
December 16, 2017 , Leave a Comment , admin
Our take, in The Hill, on the prospects for tax reform and its effects on investment, productivity, and wages.
Tax reform can boost technology, productivity and, yes, your wage
by Bret Swanson | The Hill | December 14, 2017
What’s the link between robots, artificial intelligence and tax reform? We’ve been debating whether new technologies can ignite a productivity resurgence or whether tech has lost its potency; whether increased productivity will benefit workers or eliminate jobs altogether.
Understanding these relationships can help show why tax reform might boost all three — technology, productivity, and pay.
One of the most serious anti-tax reform claims is that it won’t help the average worker. Investment, productivity and growth, this argument says, are accruing mostly to the fortunate few. So, even if we could boost those top-line metrics, we may not be doing much for the typical American. (more…)
Posted in: Economic growth, Taxes
Statement on “Restoring Internet Freedom”
Lots of people are asking what I think about today’s FCC vote to roll back the 2015 Title telephone regulations for the Internet, and restore the Internet as an “information service.” So here’s a summary of my view:
“Net Neutrality and Antitrust,” a House committee hearing
November 6, 2017 , Leave a Comment , admin
On Wednesday, a House Judiciary subcommittee heard testimony on the potential for existing general-purpose antitrust, competition, and consumer protection laws to police the Internet. Until the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued its 2015 Title II Order, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) oversaw these functions. The 2015 rule upended decades worth of successful policy, but now that the new FCC is likely to return the Internet to its original status as a Title I information service, Title II advocates are warning that general purpose law and the FTC are not equipped to deal with the Internet. They’re also hoping that individual states enter the Internet regulation game. I think they are wrong on both counts.
In fact, it’s more important than ever that we govern the sprawling Internet with general purpose laws and economic principles, not the outdated, narrow, vertical silos of a 1934 monopoly telephone law. And certainly not a patchwork of conflicting state laws. The Internet is not just “modernized telephone wires.” It is a broad and deep ecosystem of communications and computing infrastructure; vast, nested layers of software, applications, and content; and increasingly varied services connecting increasingly diverse end-points and industries. General purpose rules are far better suited to this environment than the 80-year old law written to govern one network, built and operated by one company, to deliver one service.
Over the previous two decades of successful operation under Title I, telecom, cable, and mobile firms in the U.S. invested a total of $1.5 trillion in wired and wireless broadband networks. But over the last two years, since the Title II Order, the rate of investment has slowed. In 2014, the year before the Title II Order, U.S. broadband investment was $78.4 billion, but in 2016 that number had dropped by around 3%, to $76 billion. In the past, annual broadband investment had only dropped during recessions.
This is a concern because massive new investments are needed to fuel the next waves of Internet innovation. If we want to quickly and fully deploy new 5G wireless networks over the coming 15 years, for example, we need to extend fiber optic networks deeper into neighborhoods and more broadly across the nation in order to connect millions of new “small cells” that will not only deliver ever more video to our smartphones but also enable autonomous vehicles and the Internet of Things. It’s a project that may cost $250-300 billion, but it would happen far more slowly under Title II, and many marginal investments in marginal geographies might never happen at all.
At the hearing, FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny defended the 2015 Title II order, which poached many oversight functions from her own agency. Her reasoning was odd, however. She said that we needed to radically change policy in order to preserve the healthy results of previously successful policy. She said the Internet’s success depended on its openness, and we could sustain that openness only by applying the old telephone regulations, for the first time, to the Internet.
This gets things backwards. In our system, we usually intervene in markets and industries only if we demonstrate both serious and widespread market failures and if we think a policy can deliver clear improvements compared to its possible downside. In other words, the burden is on the government to prove harm and that it can better manage an industry. The demonstrable success of the Internet made this a tough task for the FCC. In the end, the FCC didn’t perform a market analysis, didn’t show market failures or consumer harm, didn’t show market power, and didn’t perform a cost-benefit analysis of its aggressive new policy. It simply asserted that it knew better how to manage the technology and business of the Internet, compared to engineers and entrepreneurs who had already created one of history’s biggest economic and technical successes.
Commissioner McSweeny also disavowed what had been one of the FTC’s most important new-economy functions and one in which it had developed a good bit of expertise – digital privacy. Under the Title II Order, the FCC snatched from the FTC the power to regulate Internet service providers (ISPs) on matters of digital privacy. Now that the FCC looks to be returning that power to the FTC, however, some states are attempting to regulate Internet privacy themselves. This summer, for example, California legislators tried to impose the Title II Order’s privacy rules on ISPs. Although that bill didn’t pass, you can bet California and other states will be back.
It’s important, therefore, that the FCC reaffirm longstanding U.S. policy – that the Internet is the ultimate form of interstate commerce. Here’s the way we put it in a recent post:
The internet blew apart the old ways of doing things. Internet access and applications are inherently nonlocal services. In this sense, the “cloud” analogy is useful. Telephones used to be registered to a physical street address. Today’s mobile devices go everywhere. Data, services, and apps are hosted in the cloud at multiple locations and serve end users who could be anywhere — likewise for peer-to-peer applications, which connect individual users who are mobile. Along most parameters, it makes no sense to govern the internet locally. Can you imagine 50 different laws governing digital privacy or net neutrality? It would be confusing at best, but more likely debilitating.
The Democratic FCC Chairman Bill Kennard weighed in on this matter in the late 1990s. He was in the middle of the original debate over broadband and argued firmly that high-speed cable modems were subject to a national policy of “unregulation” and should not be swept into the morass of legacy regulation.
In a 1999 speech, he admonished those who would seek to regulate broadband at the local or state level:
“Unfortunately, a number of local franchising authorities have decided not to follow this de-regulatory, pro-competitive approach. Instead, they have begun imposing their own local open access provisions. As I’ve said before, it is in the national interest that we have a national broadband policy. The FCC has the authority to set one, and we have. We have taken a de-regulatory approach, an approach that will let this nascent industry flourish. Disturbed by the effect that the actions of local franchising authorities could have on this policy and on the deployment of broadband, I have asked our general counsel to prepare a brief to be filed in the pending Ninth Circuit case so we can explain to the court why it’s important that we have a national policy.”
In the coming months, the FCC will likely reclassify the internet as a Title I information service. In addition to freeing broadband and mobile from the regulatory straitjacket of the 2015 Title II Order, this will also return oversight responsibility for digital privacy to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), its natural home. The FTC has spent the last decade developing rules governing this important and growing arena and has enforced those rules to protect consumers. States’ efforts to impose their own layer of possibly contradictory rules would only confuse consumers and discourage upstart innovators.
As the internet becomes an ever more important component of all that we do, as its complexity spreads, and as it touches more parts of the economy, this principle will only become more important. Yes, there will be legitimate debates over just where to draw the boundaries. As the internet seeps further into every economic and social act, this does not mean that states will lose all power to govern. But to the extent that Congress, the FCC, and the FTC have the authority to protect the free flow of internet activity against state-based obstacles and fragmentation, they should do so. In its coming order, the FCC should reaffirm the interstate nature of these services.
A return to the Internet’s original status as a Title I information service, protected from state-based fragmentation, merely extends and strengthens the foundation upon which the U.S. invented and built the modern information economy.
Posted in: Internet, Net Neutrality
The $12-million iPhone
August 6, 2017 , Leave a Comment , admin
Several years ago, I had a bit of fun estimating how much an iPhone would have cost to make in the 1990s. The impetus was a story making the rounds on the web. A journalist had found a full-page newspaper ad from RadioShack dating back to 1991. He was rightly amazed that all 13 of the advertised electronic gadgets — computer, camcorder, answering machine, cordless phone, etc. — were now integrated into a single iPhone. The cost of those 13 gadgets, moreover, summed to more than $3,000. Wow, he enthused, most of us now hold $3,000 worth of electronics in the palm of our hand.
I saluted the writer’s general thrust but noted that he had wildly underestimated the true worth of our modern handheld computers. In fact, the computing power, data storage capacity, and communications bandwidth of an iPhone in 2014 would have cost at least $3 million back in 1991. He had underestimated the pace of advance by three orders of magnitude (or a factor of 1,000).
Well, in a recent podcast, our old friend Richard Bennett of High Tech Forum brought up the $3 million iPhone 5 from 2014, so I decided to update the estimate. For the new analysis, I applied the same method to my own iPhone 7, purchased in the fall of 2016 — 25 years after the 1991 RadioShack ad. continue reading . . .
Why productivity slowed . . . and why it’s about to soar.
June 22, 2017 , Leave a Comment , admin
I enjoyed discussing technology’s impact on growth and employment with David Beckworth and Michael Mandel on David’s Macro Musings podcast.
Full speed ahead on the internet
May 18, 2017 , Leave a Comment , admin
Here’s a brief statement on today’s action at the Federal Communications Commission, where the agency will begin a rule-making to reverse Title II regulation of the Internet and ask how best to protect its freedom and openness.
The Internet has always been open and free, and the successful results were clear for all to see. The imposition of Title II regulation on the Internet in 2015 was unnecessary, illegal, and foolish. Title II was a speed bump that, if allowed to remain, could have grown into a giant road-block to Internet innovation. Fortunately, Chairman Ajit Pai and the FCC today begin the process of returning to the simple rules that for decades fostered Internet investment and entrepreneurship and led to the historically successful digital economy.
The next waves of Internet innovation will bring the amazing power of the digital economy to the physical economy, promising widespread economic benefits. If we want to take the next step, to encourage infrastructure investment and innovation for decades to come, Congress could codify a pro-innovation, pro-consumer approach that would keep the Internet free and open without harmful bureaucratic control.
– Bret Swanson
Robots on TV
Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com
See brief interview on Fox Business this morning discussing our “Robots Will Save the Economy” op-ed from The Wall Street Journal.
Robots (and all kinds of info-tech) Will Save the Economy
See our commentary, with Michael Mandel, in today’s Wall Street Journal: Robots Will Save the Economy.
Ajit Pai’s Welcome Return to Internet Innovation
April 27, 2017 , Leave a Comment , admin
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai gives speech announcing new approach to Internet regulation, in Washington, D.C., April 26, 2017.
Here’s our latest in Forbes . . . Ajit Pai’s Welcome Return to Internet Innovation:
“Yesterday, Ajit Pai, the new Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, announced a roll back of the Obama administration’s aggressive regulatory approach to the Internet, adopted in early 2015. This afternoon, Pai will release the text of the proposed rule-making, which will launch several months of public comment.
“In yesterday’s speech, Pai emphasized the Internet’s historic success, based on a bipartisan approach adopted in the Clinton administration, which elevated innovation over regulation by consciously rejecting the old telephone rules for the emerging digital economy:
Under this framework, a free and open Internet flourished. Under this framework, America’s Internet economy produced the world’s most successful online companies: Google, Facebook, and Netflix, just to name a few. Under this framework, the private sector invested about $1.5 trillion to build the networks that gave people high-speed access to the Internet. And under this framework, consumers benefited from unparalleled innovation. But two years ago, the federal government’s approach suddenly changed.
continue reading . . .
Dawn? Or doom? I vote dawn.
Here is video of a presentation from last October’s Dawn or Doom technology conference at Purdue University, where I previewed the Coming Productivity Boom research.
The Coming Productivity Boom: Transforming the Physical Economy with Information
March 28, 2017 , Leave a Comment , admin
We’re excited to share this new research, conducted with Michael Mandel, and commissioned by the Technology CEO Council. Here’s the Executive Summary:
The Information Age is not over. It has barely begun.
● The diffusion of information technology into the physical industries is poised to revive the economy, create jobs, and boost incomes. Far from nearing its end, the Information Age may give us its most powerful and widespread economic benefits in the years ahead. Aided by improved public policy focused on innovation, we project a significant acceleration of productivity across a wide array of industries, leading to more broad-based economic growth.
● The 10-year productivity drought is almost over. The next waves of the information revolution—where we connect the physical world and infuse it with intelligence—are beginning to emerge. Increased use of mobile technologies, cloud services, artificial intelligence, big data, inexpensive and ubiquitous sensors, computer vision, virtual reality, robotics, 3D additive manufacturing, and a new generation of 5G wireless are on the verge of transforming the traditional physical industries—healthcare, transportation, energy, education, manufacturing, agriculture, retail, and urban travel services.
● At 2.7%, productivity growth in the digital industries over the last 15 years has been strong.
● On the other hand, productivity in the physical industries grew just 0.7% annually, leading to anemic economic growth over the last decade.
● The digital industries, which account for around 25% of U S private-sector employment and 30% of private-sector GDP, make 70% of all private-sector investments in information technology. The physical industries, which are 75% of private-sector employment and 70% of private-sector GDP, make just 30% of the investments in information technology.
● This “information gap” is a key source of recent economic stagnation and the productivity paradox, where many workers seem not to have benefited from apparent rapid technological advances. Three-quarters of the private sector—the physical economy—is operating well below its potential, dragging down growth and capping living standards.
● In particular, the crucial manufacturing sector, outside the computer and electronics industry, has barely boosted its capital stock of IT equipment and software over the past 15 years. Not surprisingly, productivity growth in manufacturing has slowed to a crawl in recent years.
● Information technologies make existing processes more efficient. More importantly, however, creative deployment of IT empowers entirely new business models and processes, new products, services, and platforms. It promotes more competitive differentiation. The digital industries have embraced and benefited from scalable platforms, such as the Web and the smartphone, which sparked additional entrepreneurial explosions of variety and experimentation. The physical industries, by and large, have not. They have deployed comparatively little IT, and where they have done so, it has been focused on efficiency, not innovation and new scalable platforms. That’s about to change.
● Healthcare, energy, and transportation, for example, are evolving into information industries Smartphones and wearable devices will make healthcare delivery and data collection more effective and personal, while computational bioscience and customized molecular medicine will radically improve drug discovery and effectiveness. Artificial intelligence will assist doctors, and robots will increasingly be used for surgery and eldercare. The boom in American shale petroleum is largely an information technology phenomenon, and it’s just the beginning. Autonomous vehicles and smart traffic systems, meanwhile, will radically improve personal, public, and freight transportation in terms of both efficiency and safety, but they also will create new platforms upon which entirely new economic goods can be created.
● Manufacturing may be on the cusp of transformation—not just by robotics and 3D printing, but by the emergence of smart manufacturing more broadly: a fundamental rethinking of the production and design processes that substantially boost productivity and demand. That, in turn, could create a new set of manufacturing-related jobs and allow American factories to compete more effectively against low-wage rivals.
● Far from a jobless future, a more productive physical economy will make American workers more valuable and employable. It also will free up resources to spend on new types of goods and services. Artificial intelligence and robots will not only perform many unpleasant and super-human tasks but also will complement our most human capabilities and make workers more productive than ever. Humans equipped with boundless information, machine intelligence, and robot strength will create many new types of jobs.
● Employment growth in the digital sector has modestly outpaced employment growth in the physical sector, despite the big edge in productivity growth for digital industries. This suggests that we can both achieve higher living standards and create good new jobs. The notion that automation is the key enemy of jobs is wrong. Over the medium and long terms, productivity is good for employment.
● How much could these IT-related investments add to economic growth? Our assessment, based on an analysis of recent history, suggests this transformation could boost annual economic growth by 0.7 percentage points over the next 15 years. That may not sound like much, but it would add $2.7 trillion to annual U.S. economic output by 2031, in 2016 dollars. Wages and salary payments to workers would increase by a cumulative $8.6 trillion over the next 15 years. Federal revenues over the period would grow by a cumulative $3.9 trillion, helping to pay for Social Security and Medicare. State and local revenues would rise by a cumulative $1.9 trillion, all without increasing the tax share of GDP.
● Expanding the information revolution to the physical industries will require an entrepreneurial mindset—in industry and in government—to deploy information technology in new ways and reorganize firms and sectors to exploit the power of IT. Some of these technological transformations are already underway. Public policy, however, will either retard or accelerate the diffusion of information into the physical industries. Better or worse policy will, in significant part, determine the rate at which more people enjoy the miraculous benefits of rapid innovation, both as workers and consumers.
● Better tax policy, for example, can encourage domestic investment and the allocation of capital into more cutting-edge projects and firms. Closing the information gap also will demand the ability of regulators in the physical industries—from the Food and Drug Administration to the Department of Transportation, and every agency in between—to embrace innovation and technological change. Mobilizing information to dramatically improve education and training is imperative if we want our citizens to fully leverage and benefit from these emerging opportunities. Encouraging investment in communications networks, which are the foundation of most of these new capabilities, is also a crucial priority. The free flow of capital, goods, services, and data around the world is as essential as ever to innovation and productivity.
● Launching this new productivity boom thus demands a new, pro-innovation focus of public policy.
Read the entire report.
Samsung seeks another patent victory at Supreme Court vs. Apple
After several decades when patents were handed out like candy, leading to a litigious free-for-all, the courts and Congress over the past few years have begun tightening the reins. This is important if we want intellectual property to promote real technological innovation, rather than frivolous legal entrepreneurship.
Among the signs of progress, the Supreme Court in December 2016 ruled 8-0 for Samsung, reversing a large $300 million award to Apple. In my view, the Court made the right call that the 19th century law governing design patents, which concern the look and feel of products, was being misapplied in a modern smartphone world.
On the heels of its victory, Samsung is now asking the Supreme Court to look at another patent squabble with Apple. This case concerns substantive questions of patent validity and infringement and also an unusual procedural question – both of which could have important implications for IP law.
In this case, Apple initially prevailed 2-1 in its charge that Samsung infringed three patents, which we’ll call:
a 1996 “quick links” patent with “analyzer server” (‘647);
a “slide to unlock” patent (‘721); and
an “autocorrect” patent (‘172)
Upon appeal, however, the Federal Circuit ruled 3-0 for Samsung – finding that patent 1. was not in fact infringed and that patents 2. and 3. are invalid because they are obvious.
Apple requested en banc review by the entire court, but the parties did not hear from the court for six months. Until, suddenly, an en banc order was issued overturning the 3-0 ruling, without any hearing, briefs, or notice. Normally, a court will first announce it has taken a case en banc (or not), and later issue an opinion. In patent cases especially, there is usually further briefing and often a hearing. Court watchers were thus surprised by the unusual procedure (or lack thereof). All three judges from the 3-0 decision dissented with gusto, questioning the en banc review’s substance and procedural irregularities.
Samsung is thus returning to the Supreme Court, petitioning for cert on March 10. Getting the High Court to hear your case is always hard. They only take a small minority of those who ask. And the Court just decided a case with the same two litigants in December. On the other hand, the Court has been keen to reform patent law over the past few years, and its 8-0 decision in December reveals a likeness of mind to further the “patent reformation,” as I’ve called it. The High Court may want to clarify some of these utility patent questions like it did for design patents in the last case, as well as resolve the highly unusual en banc behavior, lest that court make it a habit. The strength of the three dissents by the 3-0 panel also makes it somewhat more likely they’ll take it.
In fact, FOSS Patents argues that
What’s ambitious about Samsung’s petition is that it raises three questions for review, covering the big three patent litigation questions:
· validity (here, obviousness),
· remedies (here, injunctive relief, which is always a more important issue than damages unless damages would really be devastating), and
· infringement (here, whether all elements of the relevant “quick links” claim were infringed).
If the Supreme Court granted all three, it would be the most comprehensive patent case ever before the top U.S. court, and the implications of a decision could, collectively, go beyond Alice.
Thus, if the High Court really wants to extend its recent efforts to improve patent law, this might be the case to do it.
Posted in: Intellectual Property
Can Indiana lead in the 5G economy?
“A revival of economic growth in the U.S. and around the world will, to a not insignificant degree, depend on the successful deployment of the next generation of wireless technology.
“The Internet’s first few chapters transformed entertainment, news, telephony, and finance — in other words, the existing electronic industries. Going forward, however, the wireless Internet will increasingly reach out to the rest of the economy and transform every industry, from transportation to education to health care.
“To drive and accommodate this cascading wireless boom, we will need wireless connections that are faster, greater in number, and more robust, widespread, diverse, and flexible. We will need a new fifth generation, or 5G, wireless infrastructure. 5G will be the foundation of not just the digital economy but increasingly of the physical economy as well.”
That’s how I began a recent column summarizing my research on the potential for technology to drive economic growth. 5G networks will not only provide an additional residential broadband option. 5G will also be the basis for the Internet of Things (IoT), connected cars and trucks, mobile and personalized digital health care, and next generation educational content and tools. The good news is that Indiana is already poised to lead in 5G. AT&T, for example, has announced that Indianapolis is one of two sites nationwide that will get a major 5G trial. And Verizon is already deploying “small cells” – a key component of 5G networks – across the metro area, including in my hometown of Zionsville (see photo).
Small cell lamppost in Zionsville, Indiana.
If Indiana is to truly lead in 5G, and all the next generation services, however, it will need to take the next step. That means modest legislation that makes it as easy as possible to deploy these networks. Streamlining the permitting process for small cells will not only encourage investment and construction jobs as we string fiber optics and erect small cells. It will also mean Indiana will be among the first to enjoy the fast and ubiquitous connectivity that will be the foundation of nearly every industry going forward. In many ways, 5G is the economic development opportunity of the next decade.
There is legislation currently moving in the Indiana General Assembly that could propel Indiana along its already favorable 5G path. Sponsored by Sen. Brandt Hershman, SB 213 is a common sense and simple way to encourage investment in these networks, and the multitude of services that will follow.
The great news is that 5G is one of the few economic and Internet policy issues that enjoys widespread bipartisan support. The current FCC chairman Ajit Pai supports these streamlining polices, but so did the former Democratic chairman Tom Wheeler:
The nature of 5G technology doesn’t just mean more antenna sites, it also means that without such sites the benefits of 5G may be sharply diminished. In the pre-5G world, fending off sites from the immediate neighborhood didn’t necessarily mean sacrificing the advantages of obtaining service from a distant cell site. With the anticipated 5G architecture, that would appear to be less feasible, perhaps much less feasible.
I have no doubt other states will copy Indiana, once they see what we’ve done – or leap ahead of us, if we don’t embrace this opportunity.
Here are a few of our reports, articles, and podcasts on 5G:
Imagining the 5G Wireless Future: Apps, Devices, Networks, Spectrum – Entropy Economics report, November 2016
5G Wireless Is a Platform for Economic Revival – summary of report in The Hill, November 2016
5G and the Internet of Everything – podcast with TechFreedom, December 2016
Opening the 5G Wireless Frontier – article in Computerworld, July 2016
Posted in: bandwidth, Broadband, Economic growth, Mobile
How the Internet Will Become the ‘Exanet’
March 1, 2017 , Leave a Comment , admin
See our latest at Forbes: How the Internet Will Become the ‘Exanet’
Today’s Internet has transformed media and delivered prodigious value to consumers, in entertainment, ecommerce, and personal productivity.
Yet the next waves of the Internet will extend to new industries in the physical world, delivering a far greater variety of services and requiring connectivity that is even faster, more ubiquitous, and more robust than today. To drive and accommodate this information embrace by the real economy, we’ll need something bigger and better than the Internet. We’ll need the “exanet.”
In 2016, global Internet traffic likely topped 1,000 exabytes. A thousand exabytes equals one zettabyte (ZB), or a billion trillion (1021) bytes, which is roughly 114 million years of high-definition video. Over the last 20 years, since the dawn of the dot-com era in 1996, monthly Internet traffic has grown around 90 million-fold. continue reading . . .
Bret Swanson
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LIGO Observes Gravitational Waves From Second Pair Of Colliding Black Holes
This illustration shows the merger of two black holes and the gravitational waves that ripple outward as the black holes spiral toward each other. The black holes – which represent those detected by LIGO on December 26, 2015 – were 14 and 8 times the mass of the sun, until they merged, forming a single black hole 21 times the mass of the son. Image Credit: LIGO/T. Pyle
June 15, 2016 – On December 26, 2015, at 03:38:53 UTC, scientists observed gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of spacetime — for the second time.
Both of the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors — located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington — detected the gravitational wave event, named GW151226. The LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) and the Virgo Collaboration used data from the twin LIGO detectors to make the discovery, which is accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Gravitational waves carry information about their origins and about the nature of gravity that cannot otherwise be obtained. Physicists on the LIGO and Virgo teams concluded that the final moments of a black hole merger produced the gravitational waves observed on December 26, 2015.
LIGO’s historic first detection on September 14, 2015, resulted from a merger of two black holes 36 and 29 times the mass of the Sun. In contrast, the black holes that created the second event were relative flyweights, tipping the scales at 14 and eight times the mass of the Sun. Their merger produced a single, more massive spinning black hole that is 21 times the mass of the Sun, and transformed an additional Sun’s worth of mass into gravitational energy.
The images have been scaled to show the difference in black hole masses. In the GW150914 event, the black holes were 29 and 36 times that of our Sun, while in GW151226, the two black holes weighed in at 14 and 8 solar masses. Image credit: LIGO/A. Simonnet
“It’s fabulous that our waveform models have pulled out from the noise such a weak but incredibly valuable gravitational wave signal,” said Alessandra Buonanno, a UMD College Park Professor of Physics and LSC principal investigator who also has an appointment as Director at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany. Buonanno has led the effort to develop highly accurate models of gravitational waves that black holes would generate in the final process of orbiting and colliding with each other.
“GW151226 perfectly matches our theoretical predictions for how two black holes move around each other for several tens of orbits and ultimately merge,” Buonanno added. “Remarkably, we could also infer that at least one of the two black holes in the binary was spinning.”
The merger occurred approximately 1.4 billion years ago. The detected signal comes from the last 27 orbits of the black holes before their merger. Based on the arrival time of the signals — the Livingston detector measured the waves 1.1 milliseconds before the Hanford detector — researchers can roughly determine the position of the source in the sky.
“It is very significant that these black holes were much less massive than those observed in the first detection,” said Gabriela Gonzalez, LSC spokesperson and professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University. “Because of their lighter masses compared to the first detection, they spent more time — about one second — in the sensitive band of the detectors. It is a promising start to mapping the populations of black holes in our universe.”
The first detection of gravitational waves, announced on February 11, 2016, was a milestone in physics and astronomy. It confirmed a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity and marked the beginning of the new field of gravitational wave astronomy.
“We could tell within minutes that GW151226 was very likely a real event. We all just marveled at it for a while,” said Peter Shawhan, an associate professor of physics at UMD and an LSC principal investigator. “By December we were sure that the first event was genuine and we had a fairly mature draft of that paper, which finally came out in February. But it was very satisfying to know, even then, that we already had a second event on our hands.”
The second discovery “has truly put the ‘O’ for Observatory in LIGO,” said Albert Lazzarini, deputy director of the LIGO Laboratory at Caltech. “With detections of two strong events in the four months of our first observing run, we can begin to make predictions about how often we might be hearing gravitational waves in the future. LIGO is bringing us a new way to observe some of the darkest yet most energetic events in our universe.”
Both discoveries resulted from the enhanced capabilities of Advanced LIGO, a major upgrade that increased the sensitivity of the instruments and the volume of the universe probed compared with the first-generation LIGO detectors.
Advanced LIGO’s next data-taking run will begin this fall. By then, scientists expect further improvements in detector sensitivity could allow LIGO to reach as much as 1.5 to two times more of the volume of the universe compared with the first run, which has already resulted in two major findings.
The Virgo detector, a third interferometer located near Pisa, Italy, with a design similar to the twin LIGO detectors, is expected to come online during the latter half of LIGO’s upcoming observation run. Virgo will improve physicists’ ability to locate the source of each new event, by comparing millisecond-scale differences in the arrival time of incoming gravitational wave signals.
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+30 2810 224644 +30 2810 234074 info@cretanthematicpark.com
Cretan Thematic Park Info
Anadromes Live
Minoan Civilization
Cretan Myths
Pre-palace Period
The Old Palace Period
The New Palace Period
How to visit us
Dance Theatre Performance "Minoan Feast of Wine Harvest"
3D Film "Knossos - A journey in time"
Minoan Meal
Dance Drama
Minoan Menu
Minoan architecture, as known from the new palaces, megara and villas, exhibits a number of general principles:
A tendency towards mobility, the graphic, and variety and charm, aided by the different planes of the horizontal and vertical surfaces.
Centripetal and centrifugal movement within the buildings.
Peripheral movement, used to create an impression.
The alternation of light and dark, through the use of lightwells and courtyards.
The extensive use of bright colours on external wall surfaces, which were white washed or painted an ochre colour, and on wooden structural features, such as columns and beams.
The decoration of interior surfaces with white or bright colours, achieved by the use of marble revetment, paving, floor plaster, and paintings on the walls and ceilings. It is difficult today to reconstruct the world in which the Minoans moved. It is fairly certain, however, that man, with his filial relation to deified nature, was the ‘measure of all things’. Palaces and houses intruded into dense groves of trees, which in turn intruded into the palace courtyards (Zakros, Knossos, Phaistos, etc.). Architectural designs served this principle, and exhibited rare originality. The palaces and megara of Minoan Crete are without doubt the earliest, pioneering creations of the ‘Greek’ spirit in the spheres of the environment, regional and urban design, town planning, and architecture. The legend of the Labyrinth is associated with the idea of the ‘house of the double axe’ (labrys), and also has reference to the complex layout of the palace rooms. Externally, Minoan architecture was influenced to some extent by the corresponding architecture of Mesopotamia (Mari), Syria (Alalak), Phoenicia (Ugarit) and Asia Minor (Beytse Sultan). The internal principles informing Minoan buildings were different, however.
Dr Andonis Vasilakis
Palaces and Palace Buildings
The new Minoan palaces were erected on the same sites as the old and, like them, to designs drawn up by capable architects who were implementing a comprehensive building programme. The main aims of the architect were to lay out the necessary rooms in such a way as to serve the predetermined needs of the palace.
This is evident from the technical specifications of the palaces:
Area: Knossos 2.2 hectares, Malia and Phaistos 0.9, Zakros, together with what are thought to be its annexes 0.8 (palace proper only 0.4), Ayia Triada 0.6, and Galatas 0.45. The palace at Archanes is reckoned to have covered 1 hectare, while that at Kydonia has not been fully revealed.
All the palaces had from two to at most five storeys, through the latter figure, for Knossos, is undoubtedly exaggerated.
All the palaces followed the same basic principles of construction and architecture. A fundamental feature shared by all is the central courtyard, on all four sides of which the building complexes were laid out. The central courtyard acted as the lungs and main ligthwell of the densely occupied buildings, for which it provided ventilation and light.
The palaces were generally oriented north-south and the most fully developed wings were on the west and east.
The surfaces of the facades were broken up in all the palaces, and the play of light and shade, along with the colour used for the structural elements, gave a multi-coloured effect. The picturesque variety was further enhanced by the different heights of the various quarters.
In addition to the central court, there were other open courtyards of varying size. Of these, the west court had an important function, since it formed the main, official access to the palace. Official rituals and festivals also took place here, and it was crossed by processional ways that were used during these ceremonies.
The palaces had entrances facing in all directions to serve their needs for communication with the surrounding areas. The west (Phaistos, Knossos), north (Malia, Knossos), and south (Malia) entrances usually had an official character, as did the entrance at which the road from the sea ended (Malia, Zakros, and Ayia Triada), while the others were of secondary importance.
The location of the various quarters within the palace was determined on the basis of local conditions and needs. The shrines, for example, were in the west wing (Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, and Zakros), while the royal quarters occupied the best position in terms of view and communications, normally with the north (Phaistos, Malia, and Ayia Triada) or east (Knossos, Zakros).
The layout of the storerooms depended on their purpose: the larger ones, which were under the protection of the sanctuary, were mainly located in the west wing near the shrines, and there were others near the royal quarters or the various workshops.
Despite these general observations and the features common to the palaces, it cannot be claimed that they were all built alike. Each preserved its own distinctive character, depending on its purpose and the local needs.
Small Palaces, Megara and Villas
These terms are usually applied to buildings greater in size than an ordinary house but which were significantly smaller than the large palaces, which they imitated in many architectural details. The distinction between small palace, megaron, and villa is not always a clear one. The megara are the largest and most luxurious of the three and are normally located in towns or near major palaces (e.g. the Little Palace at Knossos, House E at Malia), or are thought to have been the seats of local governors (Myrtos, Pyrgos, Plati). Cretan megara are large residences, and bear no relation to the architectural form known by this name in mainland Greece; they are usually thought to have been luxury residences for wealthy individuals and officials within the settlements (Nirou, Tylisos).
Villas and country villas are large, luxurious buildings usually found in isolation, and are more numerous (Vathypetro, Gortyn, Pitsidia, Pano Zakros and a series of villas in the region of Siteia, Sklavokampos, Nerokourou, etc.).
The majority of the monuments in these categories have basic feature found only in palaces: shrines, storerooms, workshops, lightwells, baths, porticoes, porches with columns pavements, wall-paintings, drainage pipes, cisterns, and courtyards. The existence of these structures is a fundamental feature of the period when Minoan civilization was at its height.
Our knowledge of the towns and settlements of New Place Crete is based on about a dozen excavated examples.
The settlements suffered the same fate as the palaces and were destroyed by earthquake and fire in 1450 BC.
Some were completely or partially rebuilt in the following period. The following centres have been excavated to a significant extent: Malia, Knossos, Zakros, Gournia, Palaikastro, Pseira, Kommos, Ayia Triada, and Phaistos. All the towns, townships or settlements are divided into building blocks or neighbourhoods, with wide paved main streets and narrower side streets, and small paved squares.
The large square at Gournia lies in front of the small palace. The megara around the palaces (Knossos, Malia) were normally the residences of officials or members of the priesthood.
Burial Buildings and Burial Customs
In the early New Palace period, the old burial places and practices continued in use: interments were in small depressions and large or small artificial burial caves cut into the rock; these, the precursors of the rock-cut chamber tombs of the following phases, were cut into the hillsides around the towns and settlements (Poros Herakleiou). Bodies were sometimes buried on beaches (Pachia Ammos). Both group and individual burials are known. The dead were placed in inverted pithoi or in oval or cist-shaped larnakes, and were sometimes buried in wooden coffins or on biers. In the following phases of the period, burials were made in tholos tombs and rock-cut chamber tombs. The tholos tombs of the New Palace period represent an improved, more advanced form of the old type of Cretan tholos tomb found in the Pre-Palace and Old Palace periods. They were now more monumental and imposing. Some were circular in plan and had a dome (tholos) or roof (Kamilari at Phaistos and Kephala at Knossos), while others were square or rectangular in plan and had a saddle or barrel-vaulted roof (Royal Tomb at Isopata near Knossos, which was destroyed during the German Occupation). They have jointed masonry, an antechamber, side niches, burial pits and a deep entrance.
The South Royal Temple Tomb at Gypsades near Knossos has a unique form. It was a two-storey structure with courtyard, portico, entrance, antechamber, chamber with square pillars, and a burial chamber with a pillar, revetted with large gypsum slabs. The structure recalls the mythological tomb of Minos in Sicily. Unfortunately, both the royal tombs in Crete had been robbed when they were found. The latest burials in both took place in the Post palace period.
The chamber tombs had a circular, horseshoe-shaped, oval, square, or polygonal chamber, a long, cut dromos, and a dressed entrance with doorjambs and a threshold. The entrance was sealed by a single large slab or by stones. Many tombs of this type have been excavated at Knossos and Phaistos, where they are found in groups.
Pottery and Vase-painting
Stone-engraving and miniature art
Metal-working and Jewellery
Seal-Engraving
Cult Places
Cult Objects
Types of Workship
The New Palace Minoan Linear a Script
It is the largest and most luxurious hall of events in Crete.
Dance Theatre
It is accompanied by the sounds of the Minoan music
It was built on a new pattern, since the top of the hill.
Our aim is to offer you delicious dishes of the Minoan civilization
Kato Archanes (Anadromes Live),
70100, Heraklion Crete
Tel. +30 2810 224644 - +30 2810 234074
e-mail: info@cretanthematicpark.com
Anadromes
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Dave Splash Dot Com
Why I Love SNL
Posted by Dave Splash
Labels: Barack Obama, Humor, Republican
J. Marquis said...
That is hilarious. I didn't realize they'd started already...
Snave said...
Thanks, that was pretty hilarious!
T. Paine said...
I REALLY hate to admit it, but that was pretty funny!
Dave Splash said...
I like the part where they are looking for someone to play Obama, and Fred Armisen (playing Eric Cantor) sheepishly says "I can do an Obama."
Tweets by @davesplash
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Rep. John Lewis Condemns Trump’s Tweets on House Floor: ‘I Know Racism When I See It’
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Shut Fox News Down
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Bank of Russia Today
Banknotes and Coins
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The Bank of Russia compiles and publishes statistical data in accordance with Article 4 of Federal Law of 10 July 2002 No. 86-FZ “On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia)” (as amended) and Federal Law of 29 November 2007 No. 282-FZ “On the Official Statistical Accounting and State Statistics System in the Russian Federation” (as amended).
Publication of statistical data by the Bank of Russia is aimed at providing a wide range of users with credible, timely, consistent, publicly accessible information which underlies the Bank of Russia’s decisions on the monetary policy, the development and strengthening of the banking system, the development and promotion of stability of the financial market and the national payment system while being useful to economic agents at the time of decision making.
The Section contains the Bank of Russia’s statistical data which comprehensively characterize relations between the residents of the country and non-residents, the role of the banking sector and non-bank financial institutions in the Russian economy, the status of the financial market and that of the national payment system, monetary operations and the methodology for their development. The information is represented on a nationwide scale and when applicable by federal district and constituent territory of the Russian Federation.
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Aerosmith Cancels Rest of Summer Tour
Aerosmith has canceled the remainder of its summer tour.
The band's publicist, MSO, issued a statement late last night saying "it is with great regret" that the band is canceling the rest of its tour. Singer Steven Tyler broke his left shoulder and needed 20 stitches in his head when he fell off the stage during an Aug. 5 performance in South Dakota.
Doctors have advised Steven to take the time to properly recuperate from his injuries.
"Words can't express the sadness I feel for having to cancel this tour," guitarist Joe Perry said in the statement. He also said they'll "get the Aerosmith machine up and running again as soon as possible."
"I just want to say that I'm plain grateful that I didn't break my neck," Steven said in a statement earlier yesterday. "In truth, after thousands of live shows, falling off the edge four times ain't too bad."
Ticket refunds for the remaining tour dates will be available at the place of purchase.
Labels: Aerosmith, music
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Q and A: Week of Jan. 21
Q: I heard that Luke Perry and Jennie Garth are planning to do a project together soon. Is that true? — Dahlia A., via e-mail
A: When I spoke with Luke recently, he was mum on the subject of Jennie, but he WAS eager to tell me about his latest Hallmark Movie Channel movie: “Goodnight for Justice: Queen of Hearts,” which premieres Saturday, Jan. 26, and re-airs throughout the week. (Check local listings.)
On his love for his “Goodnight” series, and Westerns in general, Luke told me: “I don’t need any aliens with my cowboys. I’ll just take my cowboys straight up if that’s OK with everybody else. We all talk about Westerns. There were some great ones made.
“What I love about (the ‘Goodnight’) movies is that you know what you’re going to get going in, which makes it like the old Western serials that would play before the movies. There’s a bit of a cliffhanger element, and the guy rides off in the end. But if he comes back the next time, you know there’ll be some more shooting and some girls and some action, and another little bit of the story will get told. That’s what I wanna do. I’ve never felt really compelled to do the bigger, better, more bang, more stuff. You can still make a good Western.”
Check back later this week for my entire interview with Luke. You don't want to miss it!
Q: Has “Body of Proof” been renewed for another season? — George T., via e-mail
A: The Dana Delany-starring medical drama will return to ABC for its third season on Feb. 5 at 10/9c with a two-part season premiere (with the conclusion airing the following Tuesday). This season, Dr. Megan Hunt tackles the biggest case of her career, and her biggest personal mystery life: Did her father really commit suicide, or was he murdered?
Q: I love this season of “The Biggest Loser,” but I wondered if they are nervous about including kids this time around? — Harriet W., Owings Mills, Md.
A: I spoke with host Alison Sweeney and asked her just that. Being a mom herself, she told me that the show plans to help these kids in the best way possible, and won’t make them submit to the grueling programs that the adults go through.
“The first thing we did was to take into consideration the age of the contestants, and how we could best help and guide them,” she said. “They don’t live on the ranch; they are not going to be competing. We encourage the families to also change their nutrition choices, and get them out there and exercising. This is all done in a kid-friendly way.”
Q: Can you tell me when Charlie Sheen’s “Anger Management” returns for a new season? — John R., via e-mail
A: The FX comedy — whose series premiere was the most watched cable-sitcom premiere in history — returned on Jan. 17. The network has ordered 90 new episodes, which will be produced over the next two years.
Labels: Alison Sweeney, Body of Proof, Charlie Sheen, Goodnight for Justice, Hallmark Movie Channel, Luke Perry, Q-and-A, The Biggest Loser
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Future Ready Index
Facilities and Building Usage
Central Valley Middle School
Todd Lane Elementary School
Center Grange Primary School
OER Initiative
1:1 Program
Federal Programs - Title 1
School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
About the Superintendent
Dr. Nicholas Perry began leading the Central Valley School District in July 2013.
Dr. Perry began his tenure in the District with the then, Center Area School District in 2006 where he served the community as Assistant Superintendent. Dr. Perry holds an Ed.D from Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He went on to attend Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania where he obtained his Teaching Certification in Secondary Social Studies. Dr. Perry has a Principal Certification, Master’s Degree of Science in Education, Superintendent’s Letter of Eligibility and finally his Doctorate in Education.
Dr. Perry has a diverse background and educational experience. He has served as President of the Pennsylvania Middle School Association both as a Regional and State President. Prior to Central Valley, he taught and was an Assistant Principal in the Ambridge Area School District and Middle School Principal in the Neshannock Township School District. Dr. Perry and his wife, Sherry, have three children; Tyler, Nicholas, and Spencer.
Dr. Perry, “Proud to be a Warrior!”
Dr. Nicholas Perry
Office: 724-775-5600 x 11022
Ms. Colleen Kearns
Secretary to the Superintendent and School Board Secretary
District Office:
160 Baker Road Extension
Monaca, Pennsylvania 15061
School District Links:
© 2019. Central Valley School District - All Rights Reserved. School CMS Created by eSchoolView
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Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship felicitates young entrepreneurs
January 8, 2019 admin Business, Youth Development 0
The National Entrepreneurship Awards is a platform focused on driving innovation and ushering in a positive change for youth in entrepreneurship across all the industries.
New Delhi: The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) hosted the third edition of the National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) in New Delhi on January 4, 2019, at Dr Ambedkar International Centre, Janpath, New Delhi.
An important step taken by MSDE to catalyse a cultural shift in youth for entrepreneurship, it has instituted the National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) to recognize and honour outstanding young first generation entrepreneurs and their Ecosystem Builders for their outstanding contribution in entrepreneurship development. The awards recognise and honour outstanding young first-generation entrepreneurs and those who have contributed immensely to building the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
The awards were conferred in the presence of Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation; Anantkumar Hegde, Minister of State for Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; and Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship at a high profile award ceremony.
A total of 43 awards were given this year including 39 awards for Young Entrepreneurs in different sectors and four awards for Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Builders.
The winners received a trophy, certificate, and cash prizes of Rs 5 lakh [enterprises/ individual and 10 lakhs (organizations/ institutes)]. There were also special awards for women, persons with disability, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and entrepreneurs from areas with limited opportunities.
Speaking on the occasion Suresh Prabhu said the government will provide full support to the young entrepreneurs to enhance their business. The government is focusing on ease of doing business in every district. The Commerce Minister said that government will provide a market through Government eMarketplace, GEM for their product.
Anantkumar Hegde said National Entrepreneurship Awards is recognition of immense talent that our youth has. “Our country’s strength is its human resource. The government is committed to supporting everyone – across the small, medium, or large categories of entrepreneurs, to create market linkages for all. No entrepreneur is different from another as each has to invest the same amount of passion, grit, and commitment in their venture.”
He also urged youths to work hard, take risks, and write their own destiny.
Dharmendra Pradhan, in his speech, highlighted the role of entrepreneurship in making India a leading economy globally.
He said, “Adopting an inclusive approach, this year new categories were introduced for grassroots entrepreneurs with a special focus on women, persons with disabilities, SC/STs, and entrepreneurs from difficult areas.”
The function witnessed attendance from senior officials of the ministry, corporate leaders, and budding entrepreneurs among others.
Source: The Statesman
Anantkumar Hegde
eMarketplace
National Entrepreneurship Award
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Has Germany's migrant influx fuelled crime?
By AFP Sep 3, 2018 in World
Germany's emboldened far right has seized on a number of high-profile crimes allegedly committed by migrants to excoriate Chancellor Angela Merkel's liberal border policy.
Most recently, right-wing extremists have rallied over a knife attack last month in the eastern city of Chemnitz in which a German man was killed and an Iraqi asylum seeker is the prime suspect.
Police statistics indicate that crime in Germany has seen a steady decline in recent years. However, violent acts committed by foreign nationals have risen since the height of the refugee influx in 2015.
- Official figures -
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, a vocal critic of Merkel's decision to let in more than one million asylum seekers over the last three years, issued a report in May showing that the number of crimes committed against persons or property in Germany fell to "the lowest level since 1992".
In 2017, police recorded 5,761,984 criminal acts, marking a 5.1-percent drop on the previous year.
- Link between migrant influx and criminality? -
In 2014, the year before the "migrant crisis", there were 6,082,064 crimes registered in Germany -- more than in 2017.
However, the ratio of foreigners among criminal suspects has climbed, from 28.7 percent in 2014 to 40.4 percent in 2016 before declining again in 2017 to 35 percent, the study presented by Seehofer in May showed.
The following month, US President Donald Trump falsely asserted that immigration is driving up crime in Germany
"Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!" he tweeted.
A report completed by the BKA federal police force for daily Die Welt published at the weekend showed that crimes committed by foreigners (the large majority of them asylum seekers) fell last year by 2.7 percent on the previous year.
- The most violent crimes -
However, the most violent crimes including homicides show an increase among foreign offenders, according to the Welt report.
The number of German citizens killed by foreign assailants in the last three years rose steadily to 83 (out of a total of 731), from 62 and 52 the previous two years.
In one such lightning-rod case, a German court Monday jailed a failed asylum seeker claiming to be from Afghanistan for stabbing his 15-year-old ex-girlfriend to death.
Although there were doubts about his age -- he claimed he was also 15 at the time of the attack -- he was tried as a minor and sentenced to eight and a half years in jail.
Such crimes have been widely publicised on social media by the far right, which has held a series of rallies marked by xenophobic slogans and violence in Chemnitz in recent days.
More about Europe, Migrants, Germany, Crime, Politics
Europe Migrants Germany Crime Politics
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NHL Trade Rumors: Alex Ovechkin to Winnipeg Jets?
By Larry Seely May 19, 2016 in Sports
Winnipeg - After cruising through the NHL regular season with 120 points, the Washington Capitals and their fans are shocked as their team has been knocked out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and scratching their heads on just what went wrong.
After being second in the league in goals scored, the team managed just 15 in their six-game series loss to Pittsburgh and that has led to rumors of several potential moves over the off-season, including the possibility of trading star winger Alex Ovechkin.
The veteran is owed over $9 million on his contract next season and finding a team that will take on such a big money deal, but also have the resources to make such a trade, would be difficult.
One team that fits this scenario is Winnipeg as the Jets have plenty of space under the salary cap, have a big need for additional scoring, and have a number of young prospects, including the second overall pick in this summers NHL Draft, all good reasons to speculate on this franchise being the one to pull off a blockbuster deal.
ESPN initially reported on this move with Rob Vollman believing the time is now for Ovechkin to finish his career with another franchise. The potential trade would help alleviate some big money from the teams salary structure, plus adding some young talent would help with future success.
The Jets on the other hand need some star power. Adding the 30-year-old would be great publicity for the team and the league as the teams in Canada struggled this season.
Ovechkin has nearly 1,000 points in his career, which spans 11 years in Washington and that type of production would but fans in the seats and create a buzz in the city.
Of course all this is just speculation and it would take a big offer to pry the veteran winger from the Capitals, but the second overall pick in June, along with another two or three players, might be just whats needed for this to become factual.
More about nhl trade rumors, nhl rumors, winnipeg jets rumors, Alex ovechkin, nhl draft rumors
nhl trade rumors nhl rumors winnipeg jets rumors Alex ovechkin nhl draft rumors
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Last.fm founders debut web discovery tool based on browser history
The founders of music discovery site last.FM are launching a new online content aggregator based around a user’s web history.
The site, Lumi.do., works as a browser plugin for Chrome and Firefox, and uses the browsing history to suggest related content including news, arts, sport and entertainment.
Felix Miller and Martin Stiksel sold Last FM for £140m to the American media company CBS in 2007.
The pair are keen to show the service will anonomise data to protect privacy.
Lumi doesn't collect user data but presents different suggestions based on their local browsing history, so results improve and update as the user keeps browsing. A side menu offers more tailored options for certain subjects.
“The browsing history is owned by the user and securely put onto our platform, only the user has access to it,” Stiksel insisted. “We are not interested in the data from a commercial point of view.”
“It’s time to re-evaluate the relationship between companies that collect a lot of data and users,” he said. “We are saying to the user you own the data but there’s a lot of stuff you can do with it, we are trying to give you a platform where you can put this data to use.”
The pair, who are German but live in England, claim their aggregated site will be easier to use and more personalised than social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter . “We want to create effortless discovery where the user comes whenever they feel like it and every time they do they have a great experience which is responsive to their tastes, rather than them having to tweak it all the time and make sure everything is up to date,” said Martin.
The two claimed that by basing themselves in Hackney, east London, they were able to offer a real alternative to the “soup of technology start-ups” in California. “It allowed us to come up with a new spin,” said Martin.
For the small team of nine, the focus is to build the service out beyond the trial user base of 10,000 people. The next challenge will be to build for mobile devices, where most data is inaccessible and couldn't be used to customise Lumi's results.
After that, there's even scope for a smart TV app, said Miller.
Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Firefox Google Chrome Last fm media music
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Overwatch’s next map hitting the PTR
Nick Plessas
ON Apr 19, 2018 @ 1:30PM
Overwatch PC players will want to keep an eye out for the game’s new Rialto map, as it is finally being added to the game’s public test region later today, April 19th. Hey, depending on when you’re reading this, it could already be out.
Rialto was first announced as part of the game’s new Archives event. While the map has started as the home of the event’s Retribution cooperative game mode, Blizzard promised it would be added to the game as a competitive map sometime soon. Well, today apparently counts as “sometime soon.”
Rialto will be a pure Payload map, aka Escort, set in Venice, Italy. The competitive version of Rialto will take place during the day, as fans can see in the image above, instead of the cooperative mode’s night setting. Considering the map’s layout in the Retribution mode, it won’t be able to translate point-for-point to a competitive Payload map, as there are areas that wouldn’t allow a Payload to pass through. It’ll be interesting to see how the map is adjusted to accommodate the competitive mode.
No word yet on when to expect the map in the full game, but as new content is generally tested on the PTR for two to three weeks, all players should expect to be playing it sometime in early May. Ideally, the map will launch alongside the Hanzo changes that are planned to hit the test server soon.
In other Retribution news, the mode was recently updated to prevent clueless players from failing the mission for their team by letting the mode’s end-mission dropship leave their incapacitated butts behind.
hero-shooter
Overwatch: Archives
About Nick Plessas
Nick didn’t start gaming until mid-2006. Once his parents finally allowed a console into the house, it was all uphill from there. Starting out with a PS2, he grew an affinity for Sony consoles and moved on to the PS3, and now the PS4. He keeps his gaming palette wide, but, gun to his head, he’d have to say shooters are his genre of choice. Find him on Twitter @idole808
Rialto may even be playable by the time you read this.
By Nick Plessas | 04/19/2018 01:30 PM PT
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Saturday's World Cup round-up
Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez has rivalled Eric Cantona in the oddest football soundbite stakes with a beauty about maintaining the balance between attack and defence.
Ahead of his side's last-16 match with South Korea, he said: "There's a saying among coaches that football is like a short blanket: it covers your head or it covers your feet, and if it covers your head, your toes are in the air."
France striker Thierry Henry has hinted he feels karma may have had a role in his country's disastrous World Cup campaign.
Henry helped secure France's place in the tournament when his handball went unpunished and led to the goal that beat the Republic of Ireland in a play-off.
But after France finished bottom of their group in South Africa, with only one point from three games, Henry said: "They always say you get what you deserve."
United States coach Bob Bradley believes his side can capitalise on finishing top of their group, ahead of England, by reaching the final.
Bradley's side take on Ghana in the round of 16, with the winner facing either Uruguay or South Korea in the quarter-finals.
"If we continue to build on the successes so far we can go to the end," Bradley said.
"We try hard not to get ahead of ourselves but at the same time everybody has this idea that if everybody gives their best effort, if everybody puts everything they have into it and if things go our way then we can travel far."
www.bbc.co.uk
Posted Dusko Saturday, 26 June 2010 at 11:03 Labels Bob Bradley, Eric Cantona, France, Ghana, Oscar Tabarez, South Africa, Thierry Henry, United States, Uruguay, World Cup
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You are here: Home Blog Concerts
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DAY6 Announces Dates for their GRAVITY World Tour
Popular K-Pop band DAY6 have just announced the dates for their upcoming GRAVITY World Tour. The quintet from Seoul will kick things off in its native city on September 9, 2019 before playing shows in Daegu and Busan. They will then make their way over to the United States where they are scheduled to perform… View Article
The 5 Most Sought After Concert Tickets For The Month of May 2019
2019 is already off to a great start for the music fans as a lot of prominent stars from the industry have announced tours. So if you want to know who you would be seeing on the road this summer then here is a list of the 5 most sought after concert tickets for the… View Article
How to Find the Best Seats for a Concert
Whenever you plan to go to a concert, one of the most important considerations is choosing the right seats for yourself and your friends/family. Irrespective of whether it is an indoor or an outdoor show, there can be hundreds or even thousands of seats at a concert venue which makes it somewhat challenging to pick… View Article
Andrea Bocelli Extends 2019 Tour Dates
Superstar Italian musician Andrea Bocelli has announced some more dates for his 2019 World Tour that gets underway later this month. After performances in South Africa, the UAE and multiple locations all around Europe during April and May, the celebrated artist will cross the Atlantic to begin part one of the tour’s North American leg…. View Article
Adam Sandler Announces 100% Fresher Stand-Up Tour Dates
Adam Sandler, one of the most famous comedians in the world today, is all set to hit the road now. Titled, “100% Fresher,” the road trip will see him perform in multiple cities around North America. Sandler has been busy recently. In fact, to say he is making a bit of a comeback would not… View Article
Metallica Announce Concert With San Francisco Symphony
Legendary heavy metal band Metallica has announced that the quartet will be teaming up with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra to mark 20 years since the release of their collaborative LP “S&M” in 1999. The one-off S&M2: 20th Anniversary Concert will take place on September 6, 2019 at the new Chase Center. It will be… View Article
6 Most Popular Festivals and Concerts for Summer 2019
It is that time of the year again when temperatures begin to rise with each passing day and the pleasant spring season starts to give way to the impending summer. For music enthusiasts in particular, the arrival of summer means that it is time to party and have lots of fun. There is, of course,… View Article
Tool Have Just Announced Tour Dates Around their May 2019 Festival Shows
Tool have recently announced a bunch of tour dates around their schedule of festival shows during May 2019. The three-time Grammy winners will be playing a total of 14 shows in a short span of 10 days. With the widely anticipated release of the group’s new album on the cards, Tool will be kicking things… View Article
What to Do and Not to Do In a Concert Stampede
We all love watching high-class performances on stage from our favorite artists. For many of us, attending a concert is probably one of the best ways to have a good time. Being able to cheer on the singers and musicians you’ve grown up idolizing as they rock the stage before your very eyes is one… View Article
Alice Cooper is Bringing a New Show Called “Ol’ Black Eyes Is Back” to the US
Two heavyweight rock acts, Alice Cooper and Halestorm, will be joining forces this year for a co-headlining tour around North America. The dates have just been announced and the party will hit amphitheaters around the country come summer time. Motionless in White are slated to perform as the opening act for the length of the… View Article
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New Delhi Pictures - Discover India
New Delhi Pictures
New Delhi pronunciation, an urban area within the metropolis of Delhi, is the capital city of the Republic of India and the seat of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Delhi is a spacious, open city that houses many government buildings and embassies, apart from places of historical interest. Notable attractions in New Delhi include the Rashtrapati Bhawan, the official residence of the President of India, the India Gate, a memorial raised in honour of the Indian soldiers martyred during the Afghan Wars and World War I, the Laxminarayan Temple, one of the most visited Vaishnavite temples, the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple, the Humayun's Tomb, the Purana Quila, built by Humayun, with later-day modifications by Sher Shah Suri, the Tughlaqabad fort, a 14th century fort on the outskirts of the city, the Qutab Minar, built by Qutb-ud-din Aybak of the Slave Dynasty and the lotus-shaped Bahá'í House of Worship.
Lotus Temple Delhi
Qutub Minar
Rajpath
Tughlaqabad Fort
Humayuns Tomb
Raj Ghat - Mahatma Gandhi Samadhi
Shantivan - Nehru Samadhi
Horror Movies Make Up Pictures
Top 10 tallest buildings in Dubai
Himalayan Beauty - Information and Pictures
Autumn in Switzerland
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Karen Martinez
Head Coach-Women
Thiago Lins
Head Coach-Men
Yuly Guerrero
Mobile (830) 822-1057
Email kmartinez@cumberland.edu
Karen Martinez joined the Cumberland staff as head coach for men's and women's tennis on June 30, 2016.
Martinez has served one year as head coach for men's and women's tennis at Central Christian College in McPherson, Kan. The Tigers participate as an independent athletic program in the NAIA and also in the National Christian College Athletic Association.
She spent one year as an assistant coach at NCAA Division II Emporia State in Kansas, planning road trips and scheduling matches while also handling most of the international recruiting process for student-athletes to the program.
Martinez also spent one season as an assistant coach at NCAA Division III Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga., overseeing the program's strength and conditioning program, running practices and scheduling matches.
She is a native of Bogota, Colombia, where she was ranked in the Top 5 nationally throughout her junior career. Martinez started her collegiate career at Bethel University in McKenzie, Tenn., advancing to the NAIA Championships in 2009, and played her junior and senior seasons at NCAA Division I USC Upstate.
While finishing her degree and for a year after graduation, she worked as the Junior Tennis Director at The Westside Club in Spartanburg, S.C., before spending almost a year as the Head Tennis Pro at Medlock Bridge Tennis Center in Johns Creek, Ga. She served as an assistant coach at Agnes Scott while also working at Medlock.
Martinez also spent 18 months as the Junior Program Director at Tennis Stage Colombia in Bogota before returning to the states and taking the position at Emporia State.
She earned her bachelor's in Physical Education with a concentration in Exercise and Sports Science from USC Upstate in 2012 and completed her master's in Business Administration from Kansas Wesleyan in May 2017.
Martinez is married to Thiago Lins and the couple is expecting their first child in June 2017.
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Israel - Article
Article: Israel
Due to previous vandalism, editing of this article by anonymous or newly registered users is disabled (see semi-protection policy). Such users may discuss changes, request unprotection, or create an account.
×ž×“×™× ×ª ישר×ל
MedÄ«nat YisrÄ'el
دولة إسرائيل
Dawlat IsrÄ'Ä«l
State of Israel
Motto: none
Anthem: Hatikvah
Capital Jerusalem[1]
31°47′N 35°13′E
Largest city Jerusalem
Official language(s) Hebrew, Arabic
Government Parliamentary democracy
- President Moshe Katsav
- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Independence From the UK
- Declaration 14 May 1948 (05 Iyar 5708)
- Total 22,145 km² (149th)
8,019 sq mi
- Water (%) ~2%
- May 2006 est. 7,026,0001 (99th)
- 1995 census 5,548,523
- Density 304/km² (40th)
787/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2005 estimate
- Total $163.45 billion (53rd)
- Per capita $23,416 (28th)
HDI (2003) 0.915 (23rd) – high
Currency New Israeli sheqel (₪) (ILS)
Time zone IST (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST) (UTC+3)
Internet TLD .il
Calling code +972
1Includes Israeli population living in the West Bank
For other meanings of the name, see Israel (disambiguation).
The State of Israel (Hebrew: ×žÖ°×“Ö´×™× Ö·×ª יִשְׂרָ×ֵל (help·info); Medinat Yisra'el; Arabic: دَوْلَةْ Ø¥ÙسْرَائÙيل‎, Dawlat IsrÄ'Ä«l) is a country in Western Asia on the southeastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a parliamentary democracy and the world's only Jewish state.
The name "Israel" is rooted in the Hebrew Bible, where Jacob is renamed Israel after wrestling with a mysterious adversary.[2] The biblical nation fathered by Jacob was then called "The Children of Israel" or the "Israelites". Citizens of the modern State of Israel are referred to, in English, as "Israelis".
In an interlinear, literal translation of Genesis 32:28, the first mention of the word "Israel" in the Bible reads as follows: "And-he-is-saying not Jacob he-shall-be-said further name-of-you but rather Israel that you-are-upright with Elohim and with mortals and-you-are-prevailing."[3] Thus one literal translation of ישר×ל, Israel, is "Upright (with) God" (ישר-×ל; Ishr-al).
Main article: History of Israel
Historical roots
See also: Kingdom of Israel
The earliest known mention of the name 'Israel', probably referring to a group of people rather than to a place, is the Egyptian Merneptah Stele dated to about 1211 BCE. [4] For over 3,000 years, Jews have regarded the Land of Israel as their homeland, both as a Holy Land and as a Promised land. The land of Israel holds a special place in Jewish religious obligations, encompassing Judaism's most important sites — including the remains of the First and Second Temples, as well as the rites concerning those temples. [5] Starting around 1200 BCE, a series of Jewish kingdoms and states existed intermittently in the region for more than a millennium.
Under Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and (briefly) Sassanian rule, Jewish presence in the province dwindled due to mass expulsions. In particular, the failure of the Bar Kochba Revolt against the Roman Empire in 132 CE resulted in the large-scale expulsion of Jews. It was during this time that the Romans gave the name Syria Palaestina to the geographic area, in an attempt to erase Jewish ties to the land.[6] The Mishnah and Jerusalem Talmud, two of Judaism's most important religious texts, were composed in the region during this period. The Muslims conquered the land from the Byzantine Empire in 638 CE. The area was ruled by various Muslim states (interrupted by the rule of the Crusaders) before becoming part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517.
Zionism and Aliyah
Main articles: Zionism and Aliyah
The first wave of modern immigration to Israel, or Aliyah (עלייה) started in 1881 as Jews fled persecution, or followed the Socialist Zionist ideas of Moses Hess and others of "redemption of the soil". Jews bought land from Ottoman and individual Arab landholders. After Jews established agricultural settlements, tensions erupted between the Jews and Arabs.
Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), an Austrian Jew, founded the Zionist movement. In 1896, he published Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), in which he called for the establishment of a national Jewish state. The following year he helped convene the first World Zionist Congress.
The establishment of Zionism led to the Second Aliyah (1904–1914) with the influx of around 40,000 Jews. In 1917, the British Foreign Secretary Arthur J. Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration that "view[ed] with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". In 1920, Palestine became a League of Nations mandate administered by Britain.
Jewish immigration resumed in third (1919–1923) and fourth (1924–1929) waves after World War I. Arab riots in Palestine of 1929 killed 133 Jews, including 67 in Hebron.
The rise of Nazism in 1933 led to a fifth wave of Aliyah. The Jews in the region increased from 11% of the population in 1922 to 30% by 1940. 28% of the land was already bought and owned by Zionist organizations plus additional private land owned by Jews. The southern half of the country is the barren and mostly empty Negev desert.The subsequent Holocaust in Europe led to additional immigration from other parts of Europe. By the end of World War II, the number of Jews in Palestine was approximately 600,000.
In 1939, the British introduced a White Paper of 1939, which limited Jewish immigration over the course of the war to 75,000 and restricted purchase of land by Jews, perhaps in response to the Great Arab Uprising (1936-1939). The White Paper was seen as a betrayal by the Jewish community and Zionists, who perceived it as being in conflict with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The Arabs were not entirely satisfied either, as they wanted Jewish immigration halted completely. However, the White Paper guided British policy until the end of the term of their Mandate. As a result, many Jews fleeing to Palestine to avoid Nazi persecution and the Holocaust were intercepted and returned to Europe. Two specific examples of this policy involved the ships Struma and Exodus. [1] These attempts by Jews to circumvent the blockade and flee Europe became known as Aliya Beth.
See also: Jewish refugees and 1922 Text: League of Nations Palestine Mandate
Jewish Underground groups
Main article: British Mandate of Palestine
As tensions grew between the Jewish and Arab populations, and with little apparent support from the British Mandate authorities, the Jewish community began to rely on itself for defense.
Arab nationalists, opposed to the Balfour declaration, the mandate, and the Jewish National Home, instigated riots and pogroms against Jews in Jerusalem, Hebron, Jaffa, and Haifa. As a result of the 1921 Arab attacks, the Haganah was formed to protect Jewish settlements. The Haganah was mostly defensive in nature, which among other things caused several members to split off and form the militant group Irgun (initially known as Hagana Bet) in 1931. The Irgun adhered to a much more active approach, which included attacks and initiation of armed actions against the British, the most notorious being the King David Hotel bombing, which killed 91 people. Haganah on the other hand often preferred restraint. A further split occurred when Avraham Stern left the Irgun to form Lehi, (also known as the Stern Gang) which was much more extreme in its methods. Unlike the Irgun, they refused any co-operation with the British during World War II and even attempted to work with the Nazis to secure European Jewry's immigration to Israel.
These groups had an enormous impact on events and procedures in the period preceding the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, such as Aliya Beth-the clandestine immigration from Europe, the forming of the Israel Defense Forces, and the withdrawal of the British, as well as to a great degree forming the foundation of the political parties which exist in Israel today.
Establishment of the State
Ben Gurion pronounces the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 in Tel Aviv.
Main article: Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel
In 1947, following increasing levels of violence together with unsuccessful efforts to reconcile the Jewish and Arab populations, the British government decided to withdraw from the Palestine Mandate. The UN General Assembly approved the 1947 UN Partition Plan dividing the territory into two states, with the Jewish area consisting of roughly 55% of the land, and the Arab area roughly 45%. Jerusalem was planned to be an international region administered by the UN to avoid conflict over its status.
Immediately following the adoption of the Partition Plan by the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947, David Ben-Gurion tentatively accepted the partition, while the Arab League rejected it. Attacks on civilians chiefly by Arabs but also by Israelis soon turned into widespread fighting between Arabs and Jews, this civil war being the first "phase" of the 1948 War of Independence.
The State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14, 1948, one day before the expiry of the Palestine Mandate.
War of Independence and migration
Main article: 1948 Arab-Israeli War
See also: Jewish refugees, Palestinian refugee, Palestinian exodus, and Arab-Israeli conflict
Following the State of Israel's establishment, the armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq joined the fighting and began the second phase of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. From the north, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, were all but stopped relatively close to the borders. Jordanian forces, invading from the east, captured East Jerusalem and laid siege on the city's west. However, forces of the Haganah successfully stopped most invading forces, and Irgun forces halted Egyptian encroachment from the south. At the beginning of June, the UN declared a one-month cease fire during which the Israel Defense Forces were officially formed. After numerous months of war, a cease fire was declared in 1949 and temporary borders, known as the Green Line, were instituted. Israel had gained an additional 26% of the Mandate territory west of the Jordan River. Jordan, for its part, held the large mountainous areas of Judea and Samaria, which became known as the West Bank. Egypt took control of a small strip of land along the coast, which became known as the Gaza Strip.
During and after the war, then Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion set about establishing order by dismantling the Palmach and underground organizations like the Irgun and Lehi. Those two groups were classified as terror organizations after the murder of a Swedish diplomat.
Large numbers of the Arab population fled or were driven out of the newly-created Jewish State. (Estimates of the final refugee count range from 600,000 to 900,000 with the official United Nations count at 711,000.[7]) The continuing conflict between Israel and the Arab world resulted in a lasting displacement that persists to this day.
Immigration of Holocaust survivors and Jewish refugees from Arab lands doubled Israel's population within a year of independence. Over the following decade approximately 600,000 Mizrahi Jews, who fled or were expelled from surrounding Arab countries and Iran, migrated to Israel.
Between 1954 and 1955, under Moshe Sharett as prime minister, the Lavon Affair, a failed attempt to bomb targets in Egypt, caused political disgrace in Israel. Compounding this, in 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, much to the chagrin of the United Kingdom and France. Following this and a series of Fedayeen attacks, Israel created a secret military alliance with those two European powers and declared war on Egypt. After the Suez Crisis, the three collaborators faced international condemnation, and Israel was forced to withdraw its forces from the Sinai Peninsula.
In 1955, Ben-Gurion once again became prime minister and served as such until his final resignation in 1963. After Ben-Gurion's resignation, Levi Eshkol was appointed to the post.
In 1961, the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who had been largely responsible for the Final Solution, was captured and brought to trial in Israel. Eichmann became the only person ever sentenced to death by the Israeli courts.
On the political field, tensions once again arose between Israel and her neighbors in May 1967. Syria, Jordan, and Egypt had been hinting at war, and Egypt expelled UN Peacekeeping Forces from the Gaza Strip. When Egypt closed the strategic Straits of Tiran to Israeli vessels, Israel deemed it a casus belli for pre-emptively attacking Egypt on June 5. After the ensuing Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the Jewish State emerged triumphant. Israel had defeated the armies of three large Arab states and decimated their air forces. Territorially, Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, and Golan Heights. The Green Line of 1949 became the administrative boundary between Israel and her Occupied Territories, also called Disputed Territories. However, Israel has spread its administrative domain to East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The Sinai was later returned to Egypt following the signing of a peace treaty.
In 1967 Israeli aircraft attacked the USS Liberty, killing 34 American servicemen. American and Israeli investigations into the incident concluded that the attack was a tragic accident involving confusion over the identity of the Liberty.
In 1969 Golda Meir, Israel's first and to date only female prime minister was elected.
See also: Positions on Jerusalem, Jerusalem Law, Golan Heights, and Israeli-occupied territories
Between 1968 and 1972, a period known as the War of Attrition, numerous scuffles erupted along the border between Israel and Syria and Egypt. Furthermore, in the early-1970s, Palestinian terror groups embarked on an unprecedented wave of attacks against Israel and Jewish targets in other countries. The climax of this wave occurred at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, when, in the Munich massacre, Palestinian terrorists held hostage and killed members of the Israeli delegation. Israel responded with Operation Wrath of God, in which agents of Mossad assassinated most of those who were involved in the massacre.
Finally, on October 6, 1973, on the Jewish fast day of Yom Kippur, the Egyptian and Syrian armies launched a surprise attack against Israel. However, despite early successes against an unprepared Israeli army, Egypt and Syria failed to accomplish their goal of regaining the territories lost in 1967. Yet after the war, a number of years of relative calm ensued, which fostered the environment in which Israel and Egypt could make peace.
In 1974, Yitzhak Rabin, with Meir's resignation, became Israel's fifth prime minister. Then, in the 1977 Knesset elections, the Ma'arach, the ruling party since 1948, created a storm by leaving the government. The new Likud party, led by Menachem Begin, became the new ruling party.
Then, in November of that year, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, making a historic visit to the Jewish State, spoke before the Knesset — the first recognition of Israel by its Arab neighbors. Following the visit, the two nations conducted negotiations which led to the signing of the Camp David Accords. In March 1979, Begin and Sadat signed the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, DC. As laid out in the treaty, Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and evacuated the settlements established there during the 1970s. It was also agreed to lend autonomy to Palestinians across the Green Line.
See also: War of Attrition, Munich Massacre, Yom Kippur War, Anwar Sadat, and Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty
On July 7, 1981, the Israeli Air Force bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osiraq in an attempt to foil Iraqi efforts at producing an atomic bomb.
In 1982, Israel launched an attack against Lebanon, which had been embroiled in the Lebanese Civil War since 1975. The official reason for the attack was to defend Israel's northernmost settlements from terrorist attacks, which had been occurring frequently. However, after establishing a forty-kilometer barrier zone, the IDF continued northward and even captured the capital, Beirut. Israeli forces expelled Palestinian Liberation Organization forces from the country, forcing the organization to relocate to Tunis. Unable to deal with the stress of the ongoing war, Prime Minister Begin resigned from his post in 1983 and was replaced by Yitzhak Shamir. Though Israel withdrew from most of Lebanon in 1986, a buffer zone was maintained until May 2000 when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon.
The rest of the 1980s were spent constantly shifting from the right, led by Yitzhak Shamir, to the left under Shimon Peres. Peres, for example, was prime minister from 1984, but handed the position over to Shamir in 1986. The First Intifadah then broke out in 1987 and was accompanied by waves of violence in the Occupied Territories. Following the outbreak, Shamir once again was elected prime minister, in 1988.
See also: 1982 Lebanon War, Lebanese Civil War, and PLO
During the Gulf War, Israel was hit by a number of Iraqi missiles, which killed two Israeli citizens, even though Israel was not a member of the coalition and was not involved in the fighting.
The early 1990s were marked by a beginning of a massive immigration of Soviet Jews, who, according to the Law of Return, were entitled to become Israeli citizens upon arrival. About 380,000 arrived in 1990-91 alone. Although initially favouring the right, the new immigrants became the target of an aggressive election campaign by Labor, which blamed their employment and housing problems on the ruling Likud. As a result, in the 1992 elections the immigrants voted en masse for Labor, letting the left achieve a 61:59 majority in the 1992 Knesset elections.
Following the elections, Yitzhak Rabin became prime minister, forming a left-wing government coalition. During the election campaign his Labor party promised Israelis a significant improvement in personal security and achievement of a comprehensive peace with the Arabs "within 6 to 9 months" after the elections. By the end of 1993 the government abandoned the framework of Madrid and signed the Oslo Accords with the PLO. In 1994, Jordan became the second of Israel's neighbours to make peace with it.
The initial wide public support for the Oslo Accords began to wane as Israel was struck by an unprecedented wave of terrorist attacks supported by the militant Hamas group, which opposed the accords. Public support slipped even further. On November 4, 1995, a Jewish nationalist militant named Yigal Amir assassinated Rabin.
Public dismay with the assassination created a backlash against Oslo opponents and significantly boosted the chances of Shimon Peres, Rabin's successor and Oslo architect, to win the upcoming 1996 elections. However, a new wave of suicide bombings combined with Arafat's statements extolling the terrorist mastermind Yahya Ayyash, made the public mood swing once again and in May 1996 Peres narrowly lost to his challenger from Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Although seen as a hardliner opposing the Oslo Accords, Netanyahu withdrew from Hebron and signed the Wye River Memorandum giving wider control to the Palestinian National Authority. During Netanyahu's tenure, Israel experienced a lull in terrorist activity, but his government fell in 1999. Labor's Ehud Barak beat Netanyahu by a wide margin in the 1999 elections and succeeded him as prime minister.
This section documents a current event.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.
Barak initiated a unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. This process was intended to frustrate Hezbollah attacks on Israel by forcing them to cross Israel's border. The Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Yassir Arafat once again conducted negotiations with President Clinton at the July 2000 Camp David summit. However, the talks failed. Barak offered to form a Palestinian State initially on 73% of the West Bank and 100% of the Gaza Strip. In 10 to 25 years the West Bank area would expand to 90% (94% excluding greater Jerusalem). [2] [3]
After the collapse of the talks, Palestinian officials began a second uprising, known as the Al-Aqsa Intifadah just after the leader of the opposition Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The failure of the talks and the outbreak of a new war caused many Israelis on both the right and left to turn away from Barak and also discredited the peace movement.
Ariel Sharon became the new prime minister in March 2001 and was consequently re-elected, along with his Likud in the Knesset elections of 2003. Sharon initiated a plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip. This disengagement was executed between August and September 2005.
Israel also is building a West Bank Barrier to defend the country from terror attacks. The barrier, which is planned to measure 681 kilometers, meanders past the Green Line and effectively annexes 9.5% of the West Bank.[8] The barrier has been met with some criticism from the international community and numerous protest demonstrations by the Israeli left, though due to its importance for national security, it continues to be supported by a majority of the Israeli public.
After Ariel Sharon suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke, the powers of the office were passed to Ehud Olmert, who was designated the "Acting" Prime Minister. On April 14, 2006, Olmert was elected Prime Minister after his party, Kadima, Hebrew for "forward," won the most seats in the 2006 legislative elections.
On June 28, 2006, after Hamas militants crossed the border from the Gaza Strip and captured an Israeli soldier, Israel began Operation Summer Rains which consisted of heavy bombardment of Hamas targets as well as bridges, roads and the only power station in Gaza. Israel has also deployed troops into the territory. Israel’s critics have accused it of disproportionate use of force and collective punishment of innocent civilians and not giving diplomacy a chance. Israel argues that they have no other option to get their soldier back and put an end to the rocket attacks into Israel.
On July 12, Hezbollah militants captured 2 Israeli soldiers, sparking the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. Hezbollah has since declared "open war" on Israel. As a result Israel has exercised a strong retaliatory front including strikes on Lebanese bridges, power plants, and army bases. Hundreds of civilians have died from Israeli shelling and airstrikes in Lebanon, while a smaller number of Israeli civilians have been killed in Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have stated that they will only release the soldiers in a prisoner exchange with Israel; however, Israel has said that they will not engage in any prisoner exchanges and will only end the conflicts if they agree to suspend all rocket attacks into Israel and unconditionally release the soldiers.
Relief map of Israel
Beach of Tel Aviv at sundown
Main article: Geography of Israel
Israel is bordered by Lebanon in the north, Syria and Jordan in the east, and Egypt in the south-west. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean in the west and the Gulf of Eilat (also known as the Gulf of Aqaba) in the south.
During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel captured the West Bank from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, Gaza Strip (which was under Egyptian occupation), and Sinai from Egypt. It withdrew all troops and settlers from Sinai by 1982 and from the Gaza Strip by September 12, 2005. The future status of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights remains to be determined.
The total area of the sovereign territory of Israel — excluding all territories captured by Israel in 1967 — is 20,770 km² or 8,019 mi²; (1% water). The total area under Israeli law — including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights — is 22,145 km² or 8,550 mi²; with a little less than one per cent being water. The total area under Israeli control — including the military-controlled and Palestinian-governed territory of the West Bank — is 28,023 km² or 10,820 mi² (~1% water).
See also: Districts of Israel and List of cities in Israel
As of 2004, The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics defines three metropolitan areas: Tel Aviv (population 2,933,300), Haifa (population 980,600) and Jerusalem (population 706,368).
More information on politics and government of Israel can be found at the Politics and government of Israel series.
Israel is a democratic republic with universal suffrage that operates under the parliamentary system.
The Knesset building, Israel's parliament
Israel's unicameral legislative branch is a 120-member parliament known as the Knesset. Membership in the Knesset is allocated to parties based on their proportion of the vote, via a proportional representation voting system. Elections to the Knesset are normally held every four years, but the Knesset can decide to dissolve itself ahead of time by a simple majority, known as a vote of no-confidence. Twelve parties currently hold seats.
See also: List of political parties in Israel
The President of Israel is Head of State, serving as a largely ceremonial figurehead. The President selects the leader of the majority party or ruling coalition in the Knesset as the Prime Minister, who serves as head of government.[9]
Constitution and legal system
Israel has not completed a written constitution. Its government functions according to the laws of the Knesset, especially the "Basic Laws of Israel" (currently there are 14). These are slated to become the foundation of a future official constitution. In mid-2003, the Knesset's Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee began drafting an official constitution. The effort is still underway as of early 2006. [10]
Israel's legal system mixes influences from Anglo-American, Continental and Jewish law, as well as the declaration of the State of Israel.
As in Anglo-American law, the Israeli legal system is based on the principle of stare decisis (precedent). It is an adversarial system, not an inquisitorial one, in the sense that the parties (for example, plaintiff and defendant) are the ones that bring the evidence before the court. The court does not conduct any independent investigation on the case.
As in Continental legal systems, the jury system was not adopted in Israel. Court cases are decided by professional judges. Additional Continental Law influences can be found in the fact that several major Israeli statutes (such as the Contract Law) are based on Civil Law principles. Israeli statute body is not comprised of Codes, but of individual statutes. However, a Civil Code draft has been completed recently, and is planned to become a bill.
Religious tribunals (Jewish, Sharia'a, Druze and Christian) have exclusive jurisdiction on annulment of marriages.
Frontal view of The Supreme Court building
Israel's Judiciary branch is made of a three-tier system of courts. At the lowest level are Magistrate Courts, situated in most cities. Above them are District Courts, serving both as appellate courts and as courts of first instance, situated in five cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Be'er Sheva and Nazareth.
At the top of the judicial pyramid is the Supreme Court of Israel seated in Jerusalem. The current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is Aharon Barak. The Supreme Court serves a dual role as the highest court of appeals and as the body for a separate institution known as the High Court of Justice (HCOJ). The HCOJ has the unique responsibility of addressing petitions presented to the Court by individual citizens. The respondents to these petitions are usually governmental agencies (including the Israel Defense Forces). The result of such petitions, which are decided by the HCOJ, may be an instruction by the HCOJ to the relevant Governmental agency to act in a manner prescribed by the HCOJ.
A committee composed of Knesset members, Supreme Court Justices, and Israeli Bar members carries out the election of judges. The Courts Law requires judges to retire at the age of seventy. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, with the approval of the Minister of Justice, appoints registrars to all courts.
Main article: Israeli Security Forces
Israel's military consists of a unified Israel Defense Forces (IDF), known in Hebrew by the acronym Tzahal (צה"ל). Historically, there have been no separate Israeli military services. The Navy and Air Force are subordinate to the Army. There are other paramilitary agencies that deal with different aspects of Israel's security (such as Magav and Shin Bet). The IDF was based on paramilitary underground armies, chiefly Haganah.
The IDF is one of the best funded military forces in the Middle East and ranks among the most battle-trained armed forces in the world, having been involved in five major wars and numerous border conflicts. In terms of personnel, the IDF's main resource is the training quality of its soldiers and expert institutions, rather than sheer numbers of soldiers. It also relies heavily on high-tech weapons systems, some developed and manufactured in Israel for its specific needs, and others imported (largely from the United States).
Most Israelis (males and females) are drafted into the military at age 18. Exceptions are Israeli Arabs, those who cannot serve due to injury or disability, women who declare themselves married, or those who are religiously observant. Compulsory service is three years for men, and 2 years for women. Circassians and Bedouin also actively enlist in the IDF. Since 1956, Druze men have been conscripted in the same way as Jewish men, at the request of the Druze community. Men studying full-time in religious institutions can get a deferment from conscription. Most Haredi Jews extend these deferments until they are too old to be conscripted, a practice that has fueled much controversy in Israel.
Following compulsory service, Israeli men become part of the IDF reserve forces, and are usually required to serve several weeks every year as reservists until their 40s.
The International Atomic Energy Agency believes Israel to be a state possessing nuclear weapons. The government has never confirmed nor denied this assertion. Israel has not ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and is not a signatory to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC).
See also: Israel and weapons of mass destruction
The following text needs to be harmonized with text in the article Economy of Israel.
(See e.g. Wikipedia:Summary style.)
Main article: Economy of Israel
Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial government participation. It depends on imports of fossil fuels (crude oil, natural gas, and coal), grains, beef, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Israel is largely self-sufficient in food production except for grains and beef. Diamonds, high technology, military equipment, software, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, and agricultural products (fruits, vegetables and flowers) are leading exports. Israel usually posts sizable current account deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans (although some economists would say the deficit is a sign of Israel's advancing markets). Israel possesses extensive facilities for oil refining, diamond polishing, and semiconductor fabrication.
Roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the United States, which is its major source of economic and military aid. A relatively large fraction of Israel's external debt is held by individual investors, via the Israel Bonds program. The combination of American loan guarantees and direct sales to individual investors, allow the state to borrow at competitive and sometimes below-market rates.
The influx of Jewish immigrants from the former USSR topped 750,000 during the period 1989–1999, bringing the population of Israel from the former Soviet Union to one million, one-sixth of the total population, and adding scientific and professional expertise of substantial value for the economy's future. The influx, coupled with the opening of new markets at the end of the Cold War, energized Israel's economy, which grew rapidly in the early 1990s. But growth began slowing in 1996 when the government imposed tighter fiscal and monetary policies and the immigration bonus petered out. Those policies brought inflation down to record low levels in 1999.
High technology industries have taken a pre-eminent role in the economy, particularly in the last decade. Israel’s limited natural resources and strong emphasis on education have also played key roles in directing industry towards high technology fields. As a result of the country’s success in developing cutting edge technologies in software, communications and the life sciences, Israel is frequently referred to as a second Silicon Valley. Israel (as of 2004) receives more venture capital investment than any country of Europe, and has the largest VC/GDP rate in the world, seven times that of the United States. Outside the U.S. and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies.
Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation - 109 per 10,000 people.[11] It also boasts one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed. Twenty-four percent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees - ranking third in the industrialized world, after the U.S. and Netherlands - and 12 percent hold advanced degrees.[12]
Another leading industry is tourism, which benefits from the plethora of important historical sites for Judaism and Christianity and from Israel’s warm climate and access to water resources. The important diamond industry has been affected by changing industry conditions and shifts of certain industry activities to the Far East.
As Israel has liberalized its economy and reduced taxes and spending, the gap between the rich and poor has grown. As of 2005, 20.5% of Israeli families (and 34% of Israeli children) are living below the poverty line, though around 40% of those are lifted above the poverty line through transfer payments.[citation needed]
Israel's GDP per capita, as of 28 July 2005, was $20,551.20 per person (42nd in the world). Israel's overall productivity was $54,510.40, and the amount of patents granted was 74/1,000,000 people.
Israeli Bedouin soldiers chat with Arab civilians in Galilee, 1978
Main articles: Demographics of Israel and Languages of Israel
According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, as of May 2006, of Israel's 7 million people, 77% were Jews, 18.5% Arabs, and 4.3% "others".[13] Among Jews, 68% were Sabras (Israeli-born), mostly second- or third-generation Israelis, and the rest are olim — 22% from Europe and the Americas, and 10% from Asia and Africa, including the Arab countries. [14]
Israel has two official languages; Hebrew and Arabic. Hebrew is the major and primary language of the state and is spoken by the majority of the population. Arabic is spoken by the Arab minority and by some members of the Mizrahi Jewish community. English is studied in school and is spoken by the majority of the population as a second language. Other languages spoken in Israel include Russian, Yiddish, Ladino, Amharic, Romanian, Polish and French. American and European popular television shows are commonly presented. Newspapers can be found in all languages listed above as well as others, such as Persian.
As of 2004, 224,200 Israeli citizens lived in the West Bank in numerous Israeli settlements, (including towns such as Ma'ale Adummim and Ariel, and a handful of communities that were present long before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and were re-established after the Six-Day War such as Hebron and Gush Etzion). Around 180,000 Israelis lived in East Jerusalem, [15] which came under Israeli law following its capture from Jordan during the Six-Day War. About 8,500 Israelis lived in settlements built in the Gaza Strip, prior to their forcible removal by the government in the summer of 2005 as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan.
Culture of Israel
Main article: Culture of Israel
This section is a stub. You can help by adding to it.
The first stamps, designed before the new state adopted its name, featured ancient Jewish coins and the text "Hebrew mail" in Hebrew and Arabic languages
Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem are cultural centers, known for art museums, and many towns and kibbutzim have smaller high-quality museums. Israeli music is very versatile and combines elements of both western and eastern music. It tends to be very eclectic and contains a wide variety of influences from the Diaspora and more modern cultural importation: Hassidic songs, Asian and Arab pop, especially by Yemenite singers, and israeli hip hop or heavy metal. Folk dancing, which draws upon the cultural heritage of many immigrant groups, is popular. There is also flourishing modern dance.
See also: Archaeology of Israel, Israel Antiquities Authority, Music of Israel, List of Israeli musical artists, Science and technology in Israel, Hatikvah, and Kibbutz
Religion in Israel
Main article: Religion in Israel
Young Haredi men on Purim in Jerusalem.
According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2004, 76.2% of Israelis were Jews by religion (Judaism), 16.1% were Muslims, 2.1% Christian, 1.6% Druze and the remaining 3.9% (including Russian immigrants and some ethnic Jews) were not classified by religion. [13]
Roughly 12% of Israeli Jews defined as haredim (ultra-orthodox religious); an additional 9% are "religious"; 35% consider themselves "traditionalists" (not strictly adhering to Jewish Halakha); and 43% are "secular" (termed "hiloni"). Among the seculars, 53% believe in God. However, 78% of all Israelis participate in a Passover seder. [16]
Israelis tend not to align themselves with a movement of Judaism (such as Reform Judaism or Conservative Judaism) but instead tend to define their religious affiliation by degree of their religious practice.
Among Arab Israelis, 82.6% were Muslim, 8.8% were Christian and 8.4% were Druze. [13]
See also: Holidays and events in Israel
The Baha'i world centre, which includes the Universal House of Justice, in Haifa attracts pilgrimage from all over the world. [17] Apart from a few hundred staff, Baha'is do not live in Israel.
Israel Information
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Personal - income tax thresholds to rise
Home›Resources›Tax›Budgets and Statements archive›Budget 2018› Personal - income tax thresholds to rise
The personal allowance increases from £11,850 to £12,500 from 6 April 2019. The allowance will also remain at this level for the 2020/21 tax year.
Basic-rate band
The basic-rate limit increases from £34,500 to £37,500 from 6 April 2019.
Consequently, this will increase the higher-rate tax threshold from £46,350 to £50,000. This limit will remain in place for the 2020/21 tax year.
Starting-rate band
The starting rate band for savings will remain at £5,000 for the 2019/20 tax year.
Future increases to the personal allowance and basic-rate band
From 2021/22, the personal allowance and the basic-rate limit will be indexed with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Company car benefit
The car fuel benefit multiplier increases from £23,400 to £24,100 from 6 April 2019.
Van benefit
From 6 April 2019, the flat-rate van benefit charge increases from £3,350 to £3,430, and the flat-rate van fuel benefit increases from £633 to £655.
The adult ISA annual subscription limit remains at £20,000 for 2019/20.
The junior ISA annual subscription limit and the child trust fund annual subscription limit both increase from £4,260 to £4,368 with effect from 6 April 2019.
Lifetime allowance for pensions
The lifetime allowance for pension savings increases for 2019/20 from £1.030 million to £1.055m.
The limit of individual donations made under the gift aid small donations scheme has increased from £20 to £30. Under this scheme, donations are made in cash or by contactless payment.
The measure takes effect from 6 April 2019.
National living wage
The national living wage increases 4.9% from £7.83 an hour to £8.21 an hour from 6 April 2019.
Voluntary tax returns
Due to recent legal challenges regarding the validity of voluntary tax returns, legislation is being introduced to ensure returns will be accepted as valid returns on a statutory basis.
Social security payments
The Government confirmed the tax-exempt treatment of four existing social security benefits:
discretionary support scheme
council tax reduction scheme
flexible support fund.
The Scottish Government is introducing five social security payments. Four of these shall be legislated as tax-exempt:
young carer grant
funeral expense assistance
discretionary housing payments.
A fifth, carer’s allowance supplement, shall be a taxable payment.
This measure takes effect on the date of Royal Assent of the Finance Bill 2018/19.
Capital gains tax annual allowance
The capital gains tax (CGT) annual exempt amount for individuals rises from £11,700 to £12,000 from 6 April 2019.
The Government has increased the minimum period to which certain conditions must be met in order for entrepreneurs’ relief (ER) to be available from one year to two years. This measure will take effect for disposals made on or after 6 April 2019.
The one-year qualifying period will continue to apply for business disposals made on or after 6 April 2019, provided that trade had ceased before 29 October 2018.
The Government also announced two new tests to the definition of a ‘personal company’ in relation to the qualifying criteria for ER to be available.
For disposals on or after 29 October 2018, all claimants must possess a 5% interest in both the distributable profits and the net assets of the company in order to be eligible to claim.
These tests must be met for the specified period for relief to be obtainable.
Lettings relief
From April 2020, lettings relief will only be available in circumstances where the owner of the property is in shared occupancy with the tenant.
Private residence relief
The final period of exemption will be reduced from 18 months to nine months with effect from April 2020.
Capital gains tax for non-UK residents
From 6 April 2019, all non-UK resident persons disposing of UK immovable property will be liable to CGT on gains arising from interests in any type of UK land.
In addition, all non-UK resident persons disposing of shareholdings in an entity that derives 75% or more of its gross asset value from UK land shall be taxed on any gains arising.
Residence nil-rate band
The residence nil-rate band (RNRB) increases from £125,000 to £150,000 from 6 April 2019 and to £175,000 from 6 April 2020.
For estates with a net value of more than £2m, the withdrawal rate is tapered by £1 for every £2 over the £2m threshold.
Any unused RNRB can be transferred to a surviving spouse or civil partner.
Minor technical changes relating to the downsizing provisions and the definition of ‘inherited’ for RNRB purposes have also been made.
VAT - VAT-registration threshold to hold firm until 2022
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A dish of crystal shrimp from Royal China restaurant in Dallas on Dec. 17.
Ben Torres/Special Contributor
Evan Grant Staff Writer
@Evan_P_Grant
egrant@dallasnews.com
The chosen restaurant: Why Royal China is packed with people not celebrating Christmas
Dec. 23, 2018 4:40pm
With Evan Grant
Want to land one of the toughest tables in town? Forget the French Room on Valentine's Day. Or the Mansion for your anniversary. Or Town Hearth on a Saturday night.
Try walking into the venerable North Dallas domain of lo mein, Royal China, on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
You don't have to be Jewish, but it helps.
On a Sunday in mid-December, Royal China in Dallas was busy, sure. But Dec. 24 will be one of its busiest days of the year.
Royal China, the stalwart of the ever-evolving Preston Royal shopping center, has been dishing out moo shu, General's chicken and other old-school Chinese-American staples since 1974. There is no busier day of the year for second-generation owner Kai-Chi "George" Kao than Christmas Eve, when almost all of his 90 to 100 covers are Jewish families who first came from the neighborhood and then from all over Dallas. He takes reservations more than a month in advance. He also saves some tables just in case somebody gets a last-minute yearning for kung pao. Just be prepared to wait up to 90 minutes. And takeout? Not your best call. There often comes a point where they just have to shut it down.
In the middle of it all is Kao, 65, who came from Taiwan to work in his dad's restaurant 40 years ago and now is often seen kibitzing with his Christmas Eve fressers in Yiddish. If that's not the Christmas spirit, then I don't know what is.
"It's been part of the tradition for the community," Kao said after I downed a hot bowl of the city's best hot and sour soup and ate some handmade dumplings from the in-house dumpling and noodle bar.
"Eat Chinese food. Go watch a movie. I love it. It feels really good to have the whole neighborhood in here. Everybody knows each other."
And, truly, most of the crowd may be Jewish, but the warmth spans religions.
Cumin lamb with onions, bell peppers seasoned with soy sauce and cumin, from Royal China in Dallas
Shane Keller of Dallas has been a Royal China regular for years but went one Christmas at the suggestion of Dallas Morning News columnist Robert Wilonsky. Now, Keller makes reservations a regular part of his Christmas shopping list.
"It's the anchor to our Christmas," he said. "It's probably the nicest holiday tradition we have. Nobody cares about the length of the wait. Everybody is just happy to see one another."
In my house, we celebrate Christmas. And Hanukkah. (I endorse all holidays in which I may end up getting a gift.) The first year I was with my wife, we tried to imitate the Italian-Catholic side of her family and prepared the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Don't know about you, but I run out of creativity -- and the ability to properly man the stove -- at about four fishes. It was a fun night, but the feasting was a bit more like fasting. The next year, I suggested my people's tradition: Chinese food.
First, she laughed.
These days, when we embark on a vacation over Christmas, she's searching for the best Chinese options for Christmas dinner. It just goes together.
There is no real explanation for why Jews and Chinese food go together so well. But they do and always have. In L.A., there is a Chinese restaurant called Genghis Cohen. Regular stop. Best egg rolls you will ever have.
According to documentary co-producer Jennifer 8. Lee in The Search for General Tso, much of the reason is convenience. In New York's Lower East Side, around the turn of the 20th century, the two biggest non-Christian immigrant groups were Eastern European Jews and Chinese. Chinese restaurants were open on Sunday; it wasn't the Jews' sabbath.
This dumpling sampler of pork, chicken, shrimp and vegetables, from Royal China, isn't kosher. But many of the Jewish patrons on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day can either decide to eat a non-pork dish or bend the rules a bit.
Others suggest it was easier for observant Jews who strictly keep kosher. My dad, not terribly observant but proud of his heritage and from a family with strong Jewish traditions, wouldn't allow even a slice of bacon in the house. But every time we went to our neighborhood spot, he'd order a plate of spare ribs.
Similarly, Royal China isn't a kosher restaurant. It seems all the Jews who eat there are comfortable with that.
I have one other theory on the bond between our cultures: Jewish food is often salty, which is a product of the koshering process and heavy-handed grandmas using the only spice they could afford. There is no shortage of sodium in Chinese food.
10 movies to catch before the end of 2017
So, as these two groups of immigrants became assimilated and moved West and South, their bond traveled with them. And on a Christmas Eve night or on Christmas Day, there is no better place for them to share fellowship than at places like Royal China, Plano's Yao Fuzi and the trio of Howard Wang's China Grills.
"What I love about it is that you can feel the people and you can feel the energy," Kao said. "It's a really warm feeling. In the restaurant business, you want to serve your community and your neighborhood, and on nights like that, you really get to do that."
I take one last bite of the moo shu pork and say goodbye to Kao after our visit.
"Zei gezunt," he says with hearty voice.
It's not a dish on the menu. It's Yiddish for "to your good health."
Original story written Dec. 21, 2017 and brought back on Dec. 23, 2018, just in time for Christmas Eve.
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Home > 2018 > Board Meeting Update #151: January 29, 2018
Board Meeting Update #151: January 29, 2018
January 29, 2018—This update provides a summary of the public meeting of Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board held Monday, January 29, 2018 at the Education Centre. It is an unofficial summary of the meeting; official minutes will be approved at the next meeting in February 2018.
Each Board meeting opens with a Character Moment of Reflection. At Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board, Growing with Character is our intentional focus on creating safe, caring, respectful and inclusive learning environments where students develop the foundation for good character. Growing with Character is the foundation of the school board strategic plan. Through Growing with Character, we model, teach and expect demonstrations of our eight character traits which are: caring, cooperation, honesty, humour, integrity, respect, responsibility and trustworthiness.
This evening Dave Patterson, Vice-chair of the Board, asked all to reflect on cooperation: We work as a team for a common goal. We value the opinions of others and show a willingness to work together towards a common goal.
A new broadband Internet innovation centre is being constructed in HPEDSB, one of only six centres across the province. Through this Ministry of Education-funded project, all HPEDSB schools will have high-speed Internet access.
Broadband Internet Innovation Centre
Kelvin MacQuarrie, Senior ITS Officer, provided background on a Ministry of Education-funded initiative to provide high-speed Internet access to all schools throughout HPEDSB. Steve Payne, ITS Analyst, presented a visual presentation describing the changes that are taking place to make this happen. The new model removes the dependency of a single building to host Internet. Multiple types of connectivity will be available, including fibre-optic. Broadband Internet innovation centres are located in North Bay, Guelph, Thunder Bay, St. Catharines, Toronto and Belleville to allow safe connectivity.
A new front entrance was built at Marmora Public School. An addition was constructed and renovation were done. The school will consolidate students from Earl Prentice Public School and (the former) Marmora Senior Public School this spring.
Addition and renovations at Marmora Public School
Kim Horrigan, Manager of Planning, presented a visual experience of the addition and renovations at Marmora Public School. They include two new full-day Kindergarten classrooms, three new Primary classrooms, addition of a 4,000 square foot gym, turning the old gym into a learning commons, reconfiguring the lobby and and main office, and new parking areas.
The school will consolidate two elementary schools: Earl Prentice Public School and Marmora Senior Public School this spring.
Agreement to purchase College Street Public School
Relocation of Prince Charles School Grade 7 and 8 students
Board members approved the relocation of all Grade 7 and 8 students from Prince Charles School (Belleville) to Centennial Secondary School for September 2018.
Prince Charles School (Belleville) requires additional space to accommodate the needs of students and to address programming. Relocating all Grade 7 and 8 students to another site, will free up space within the school to allow focus on providing programs and services to help each student achieve success.
It is proposed that approximately 60 students will be relocated to Centennial Secondary School, resulting in a total of five classes of Grade 7 and 8 students. This transition will also create synergy among the Grade 7 and 8 students already at Centennial Secondary School.
Transportation requirements for this potential change have been discussed with Tri-Board Student Transportation Services and a transition plan will be put in place.
Policies are reviewed every three years to ensure they are still relevant and have been implemented effectively. Changes to legislation and new guidelines also necessitate updates to current policy.
Board members approved a review of the following policies:
Policy 3-C: Student Representation on Board
Policy 3-G: Hospitality
Policy 11-A: Committee of the Whole Board
Policy 11-G: Student Education Advisory Committee
Policy 11-J: Accessibility Advisory Committee
Policy 11-K: Parent Involvement Committee
Policy 18: Learning Foundation
Updates will be presented in the spring.
A number of district and school events (Pdf) are scheduled for the remainder of January and for February 2018.
February 8: Learning and Leadership Meeting at Susanna Moodie Elementary School
February 12 – 16: Random Acts of Kindness Week, events/activities at various schools
February 14: Dance Your Heart Out fundraiser for the Student Emergency Fund at Harmony Public School and Prince Charles Public School (Trenton)
February 19: Family Skate Day at Trenton Community Gardens
Planning for the 2018-2019 school year is underway: French programming; open houses at secondary schools to plan for Grade 9; Kindergarten registration will begin on February 5, 2018.
Naloxone kits for secondary schools as a proactive measure in partnership with Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
presentation by the Sophiasburgh Community Hub Committee
update on the consolidation of Queen Elizabeth School (Picton) and Prince Edward Collegiate Institute
Report from Operations and Finance Committee
report about the Adult Education program
report on the History curriculum
Indigenous Studies update
partnership between HPEDSB and Children’s Mental Health
proposed school year calendar for 2018-2019
phase 2 building renewal projects totalling $9.2 million
trustee honoraria
Auditor General report
2017 Director’s Annual Report
Mandy Savery-Whiteway, Director of Education and Kerry Donnell, Communications Officer, presented this document for information. It showcases and celebrates student and employee learning during the 2017 calendar year, while also describing progress made in the areas of equity and the strategic plan.
Revised estimates
School board budgets, referred to as “estimates,” are required to be submitted to the Ministry of Education by June 30 of each year. In late fall, school boards are required to update key data included in the estimates and submit the revised information to the Ministry of Education. Revisions normally incorporate updated information regarding enrolments, prior year actual results and any other known changes since the budget was completed in June.
Various adjustments to the budget approved in June 2017 result in an increase in revenue of $1.0 million and an increase in expenses of about $1.2 million. It should be noted that the budget included a $0.5 million contingency
The revised estimates show an in-year deficit of $224,229 which will decrease the HPEDSB accumulated surplus for compliance purposes of $1,470,919. The original estimates submitted to the Ministry of Education at the end of June projected a balanced budget with a small in-year surplus of $3,065. Senior staff are working on means to reduce the deficit.
Monday, February 5: Executive Committee, 11:00 a.m.
Monday, February 12:
Student Enrolment/School Capacity Committee, 3:30 p.m.
Program and Human Resources Committee, 5:30 p.m.
Operations and Finance Committee, 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 22:
Special Education Advisory Committee, 5:00 p.m.
Parent Involvement Committee, 6:00 p.m.
Monday, February 26: Public Board Meeting
Last updated: January 30, 2018 at 8:44 am
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Love In Design
By Mara Oudenes-Cruz Ramos
Romance | Paperback, eBook
Mara Oudenes-Cruz Ramos
The Image Factory, a graphic design studio owned between three high-strung designers and best friends, has always been a dynamic, but enjoyable work environment. The arrival of a new web designer with a family secret, will soon turn life in the studio upside down. The personal stories of all the team members will begin to blend, and their deepest secrets will get revealed. All of it while working on a project that could make or break them: can the team handle it… and each other?
Mara Oudenes-Cruz Ramos is an indie romance writer, illustrator and graphic designer. She was born and brought up in Puerto Rico, where its surfing culture inspired her first romance novel "Tides". Her experiences as a visual arts student and designer, are the base for her second romance novel "Love In Design". Her novels feature mainly the points of view of the male characters, and a recurring theme is the importance and support of all types of family. Mara received the Portico Medal to Leadership, one of the highest distinctions by the University of the Sacred Heart, for her article collaborations and work on the establishment of the students' newspaper. Mara lives in Heerhugowaard, The Netherlands and enjoys spending time with her husband and their little daughter. She likes attending craft workshops, reading chick lit and romance novels, and traveling with her whole family.
Mara Oudenes-Cruz Ramos is an indie romance writer, illustrator and graphic designer. She was born and brought up in Puerto Rico, where its surfing culture inspired her first romance novel "Tides". Her experiences as a visual arts student and designer, are the base for her second romance novel "Love In Design". Her novels feature mainly the points of view of the male characters, and a recurring th...
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MainAll NewsDefense/SecurityIsraeli Official: Sudan is a 'Terrorist State'
Israeli Official: Sudan is a 'Terrorist State'
A top Israeli defense official said that Sudan was a terrorist state, and that its accusations against Israel could not be taken seriously.
David Lev, 25/10/12 11:02
Amos Gilad
Israel news photo: Flash 90
Israel hit back at Sudan Thursday, after Khartoum on Wednesday accused Israel of attacking a military installation in the country. A top Israeli defense official told Army Radio that Sudan was a terrorist state, and that its accusations that Israel engaged in terrorism against that country could not be taken seriously.
“Sudan is a dangerous terrorist state. To know exactly what happened (there), it will take some time to understand," said Amos Gilad, director of policy and political-military affairs at the Defense Ministry. "There are different versions of the Sudanese side, so there is no reason to go into details," Gilad responded to questions of Israeli involvement in the attack.
Sudan says it has evidence that Israeli warplanes carried out the attack, although it has so far failed to present that evidence. Sudan claimed that four Israeli aircraft fired missiles that hit a military factory and killed two people in Khartoum. The explosion at the military factory in Sudan's capital before dawn Wednesday sent detonating ammunition flying through the air, causing panic among residents, the official news agency and local media reports said. Sudan has demanded that the UN Security Council condemn Israel for the raid. A Sudanese official, Bilal Osman, said that a response by Sudan for the attack would be forthcoming, although “we reserve the right to react at a place and time we choose."
Israeli officials have long been following the situation in Sudan, which security officials said was a major source of weapons for Gaza Arab terrorists. Gangs of terrorists trained and set up areas of influence in the remote parts of the country, with large weapons warehouses. According to security officials, Sudan is a major hub on the route of smugglers moving weapons from Iran and Syria to terror groups in Gaza, Lebanon, and elsewhere. Several months ago, a car carrying several weapons smugglers and a large amount of weapons exploded at Port Sudan. Sudan accused Israel of involvement in that attack as well.
Meanwhile, a report in Arab media Thursday said that the U.S. had closed its embassy in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, on Tuesday – just before the attack took place, as if the U.S. had advanced knowledge of the attack. Hundreds of Sudanese gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum calling for “death to Israel” and “death to America,” as they burned American and Israeli flags.
Tags:attack, Sudan, Amos Gilad
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Sunday Dec. 12, 2010 5:36 PM (EST+7)
Rough road ahead for new U.S. Mideast peace push
Read more: Israel, diplomacy, United States, Benjamin Netenyahu, Hillary Clinton, Hamas
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec 12 (Tom Perry/Reuters) - Neither Israeli nor Palestinian officials showed any enthusiasm on Sunday for a U.S. proposal of a return to indirect peace talks after the swift collapse of face-to-face negotiations.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, looking ahead to Washington's next steps in the troubled peace process, said in a speech on Friday the United States would push for the resolution of the core issues of the six-decade-old conflict.
But, on the eve of the return of U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell for a round of shuttle diplomacy, a Palestinian negotiator described Clinton's proposal as full of loopholes and Israel's defence chief said no new ground had been broken.
I didn't find something new that will encourage us to see a new, more serious approach, the negotiator, Yasser Abed Rabbo, told Reuters.
The United States said last week it had abandoned efforts to persuade Israel to halt Jewish settlement building on the land where the Palestinians aim to found a state -- something the Palestinians had demanded before any more direct talks.
Instead, Clinton said, Washington would push both sides in the indirect talks to lay out their positions on the core issues with the aim of making real progress in the next few months towards a framework peace deal.
Palestinians want to focus on issues they see as vital, such as the borders of the state they want to found in the Gaza Strip -- territory now controlled by Hamas Islamists opposed to the U.S. peace effort -- and in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
There are so many loopholes in what (Clinton) said that will allow Israel to undermine everything, Abed Rabbo said, referring to Palestinian concerns over an agenda for talks.
The Israelis will raise other issues, which means everything will be there and nothing will be there at the same time, he said. We've seen this movie so many times before.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, commenting on Clinton's speech at a Brookings Institution event in Washington which he also addressed, told Israel Radio she had spoken of matters that were self-evident.
Clinton, he said, made clear the United States could not impose a solution and peace depended on the willingness of the parties themselves to achieve it.
In a sign of division within the Israeli cabinet over one key issue -- the future of Jerusalem -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu distanced himself on Sunday from remarks Barak made in the United States on Friday on dividing the holy city.
The defence minister presented his plan as head of the Labour Party. These things do not reflect government policy, Netanyahu told members of his right-wing Likud party, a source in the prime minister's bureau said.
Barak said a peace deal would likely leave Western Jerusalem and the Jewish suburbs for us, the heavily populated Arab neighbourhoods for them (the Palestinians) and include an agreed upon solution in the 'Holy Basin' of religious sites in the walled Old City.
Those lines were laid out in an initiative presented by former U.S. President Bill Clinton in talks 10 years ago.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and considers all of Jerusalem its capital, a claim that is not recognised internationally. Mitchell is expected to bring details of the U.S. proposals to Abbas on Tuesday, Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said.
An Arab League committee which deals with the peace process will then convene on Wednesday in Cairo. The Palestinians have yet to decide on their next step, Abu Rdainah said. (Writing by Tom Perry and Jeffrey Heller, Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem, editing by Tim Pearce)
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All That Fits
Mid-America Regional Council Honors Grandview Main Street
by Mary Wilson, mwilson@jcadvocate.com
As crews put the finishing touches on the fourth phase of Grandview’s Main Street renovation, the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) notified the City of Grandview that the project is among the honorees as a 2016 Sustainable Success Story.
Grandview’s $6.1 million, four-phase Main Street Improvement Project is an example of a complete street design, incorporating a road diet to minimize the width of the street, widened sidewalks, and pocket parks along the six-tenths mile stretch into the heart of Downtown Grandview. The Main Street Improvement Project is often seen as the catalyst for recent growth in Grandview, including a redeveloped Truman’s Marketplace shopping center, and construction of Gateway Village, a $300 million stay-and-play development of soccer fields, hotels, restaurants, retail and residential components.
“With its unique style, native landscaping, special architectural features and design, and pedestrian-friendly feel, Public Works Director Dennis Randolph and our design consultants BHC Rhodes have created a whole new Main Street Corridor that should stand the test of time for our city’s residents for many years to come,” said City Administrator Cory Smith.
Grandview presented its Main Street Improvement Project at MARC’s Sustainable Success Stories program, alongside other innovative projects like the KC Streetcar, at the Kauffman Foundation. MARC’s Sustainable Success Stories competition encourages local organizations to submit projects focusing on sustainable development in the Greater Kansas City region, with an emphasis on green and complete street policies, projects and initiatives.
Receiving over 20 submissions each year, MARC’s Assistant Director for Transportation and Land Use Martin Rivarola said that they chose Grandview in order to highlight a completed project that included a long-range transportation plan to improve and enhance the community.
“These changes can be challenging along existing corridors, impacting surrounding businesses and other pains as projects are improving the area,” said Rivarola. “What we saw in the project from Grandview as a good amount of effort given to implementing the street elements we were looking for, including streetscaping, as well as solid demonstration of innovative stormwater management, in conjunction with other economic development efforts currently taking place in the city.”
Rivarola added that MARC saw a need to showcase successful implementations of complete projects to replicate elsewhere in the region.
MARC’s Sustainable Success Stories is part of an ongoing community dialogue focused on building a better understanding of sustainable practices that have the potential to transform the entire community into “America’s Green Region.” By sharing local successes and challenges, MARC can enable community partners to learn about and replicate locally-tailored, high-impact sustainability practices.
Posted by JCAdvocate at 10:15 AM No comments:
A Bulldog's Christmas Wish
All Stanley wants for Christmas is to walk on all four legs. A two-year-old English bulldog, Stanley has spent his entire life overcoming obstacles. Born with a bilateral cleft lip, he underwent correctional surgery in March of 2015. He also had deformities in the bones in his legs, and his family was originally told there was no way to fix them. However, despite the initial setback, in July of this year, one of his hind legs was operated on to fix the disability that prevented him from walking. A few weeks ago, the other leg was corrected with another surgery.
“He was born with his hind legs tucked under him,” said Stanley’s mom, Deborah Pack. “So, with these surgeries, he’s learning to straighten his legs out and build the strength to stand and walk.”
Pack hopes that Stanley can be an inspiration to children with disabilities. Currently an ambassador for the Smile Train organization, Stanley helps to raise funds for children across the world to receive cleft palate surgeries.
“We want to show that Stanley is working hard, doing these exercises to build his strength,” said Pack.
Stanley visits the Animal Rehabilitation Center (ARC) in Grandview weekly to go through exercises and be monitored by Grandview Animal Hospital veterinarians. At the ARC, he also receives acupuncture and laser therapies. He’s undergoing therapy to ensure equal weight distribution on the corrected legs.
“When he first came to us, he was not wanting to put any weight on his back legs at all,” said Dr. Jill Clark, of Grandview Animal Hospital. “He is doing significantly better from where he was. We move at the pace of the dog, and each rehabilitation schedule is tailored to the individual.”
Before the corrective procedures, Stanley worked with what he had. He ate, with the help of his brother, and he got around in whatever way he could manage. During his recent surgeries, it was discovered that Stanley also has a curve in his spine, and he’s working on different methods to compensate for that disability, as well.
“That’s how children are, they work with what they have,” said Pack. “So, when they find out they have a friend who actually knows what they go through, it can help encourage them. It’s important for children to understand they’re not alone.”
Armed with a Santa hat, Stanley feels confident to get through his different therapies put before him during each visit to the ARC.
“The hat encourages him, in a way,” said Pack.
Whether it’s a hat, food, or another type of motivation, Stanley is encouraging to watch. Working three times each day at home, his family is pushing him to reach the goal of walking by Christmas.
The Animal Rehabilitation Center provides care in weight loss, family walks, playing fetch, post-operative exercise or making the most out of the time families have with their pets. Located at 1012 Main Street, Suite B, in Grandview, they can be reached by calling 816-492-6061.
“It’s a very unique thing they do here (at ARC) and we were very blessed to find them,” said Pack. “He’s worked really hard, and we think he can be an inspiration to others. While he’s not to that point yet, he’s trying.”
Like most two-year-olds, after his therapy sessions, Stanley has half of a McDonald’s cheeseburger. According to Dr. Clark, Stanley is not the only ARC patient that leaves and goes to get a cheeseburger. He also enjoys seeing Christmas lights, and when it’s nicer out, he likes watching boats and birds. You can follow Stanley’s story on Facebook, and cheer him on along his journey to walking by Christmas, under Stanley The English Bulldog Puppy fan-page.
Plumber's pipe dream made reality in Haiti
Timing is everything. In life, we make time to do the things we love, when we can. For Jeff Morgan, taking the trip of his dreams just took a little patience, and time. Earlier this year, Morgan stepped away from his successful plumbing business and entered into retirement. But, he’s not the kind of guy to just sit around waste away the minutes, days or weeks he’s been afforded.
Morgan believes that if you have a dream, and you say it out loud, you can make it happen. That’s exactly what he did. A few years ago, Morgan voiced his desire to travel to a third-world country to make what little bit of difference he could in a different part of the world. Being a social-media guru (he has been to “Facebookland,” as he calls it, and worked with their small business professionals), he saw a post from the Plumbers Without Borders organization.
“They shared a Build Health International (BHI) post about what they were doing in Haiti,” said Morgan. “I thought, ‘well, that would be really neat.’ So, I got on BHI’s website, filled out some paperwork, but I didn’t turn it in. It was all filled out; I just had to push one more button.”
While Morgan felt compelled to do it, he said he also felt a little scared. In February of this year, as he was leaving the office for the last time, a coworker told him he should go ahead and volunteer.
“He said, ‘why don’t you just go ahead and go to Haiti and do that work like you talked about,’” said Morgan. “So, after he left the office and I was boxing away the rest of my stuff, I pushed the button.”
Morgan put the thought in the back of his mind. It wasn’t until 6-8 weeks after he sent in his paperwork that he received an email. He then went through an interview-type process, where he spoke with folks from every spectrum of the BHI organization. The executive director of the organization owned a mechanical company, sold it, and took the proceeds to start BHI.
“Our stories were so similar,” said Morgan. “We had something in common.”
Having not worked with his hands in over a decade, and not worked any new construction for quite some time, Morgan was a little surprised to discover BHI thought he was a good match for their organization.
“I couldn’t even tell you how long it’s been since I’ve done that stuff,” said Morgan. “But, I can direct, and lead, and teach. So, that’s what I thought they would have me do.”
He scheduled an appointment to get current on all of his shots, and once those were complete, BHI started throwing some dates out to him.
“The very week that I was supposed to go, the hurricane came,” said Morgan. “I didn’t know how soon they would reschedule me, or how that even worked. But just before Halloween, they wrote me back and said they were ready.”
The timing worked for Morgan, and he flew to Miami where he met a representative from BHI whom he would travel with to Haiti.
“I was, literally, the last person on the plane to Haiti,” said Morgan. “I was charging my phone until the last possible minute. I wanted to make sure I was at 100%; I didn’t know what it was going to be like when I got there, you know?”
Once they landed in Haiti, Morgan was instructed to “do what I do” from his guide.
“It was absolutely berserk,” said Morgan. “There were animals everywhere. It was like nothing I had ever seen before.”
Hearing people speaking in Creole, Morgan said he definitely felt as though he was in a foreign land. With barbed-wire surrounding the first jobsite (a security measure), Morgan was escorted through and saw a security guard with a sawed-off shotgun.
“I respected him right away,” said Morgan. “That’s when it got a little bit scary. Not of getting shot or anything like that, I was scared because I knew that I couldn’t turn the channel.”
He then felt this new strength and armored himself with a shell to somewhat compartmentalize what he had stepped into.
“Something just came over me,” said Morgan. “You’re here; you have to get through this. That’s what I kept telling myself. Enjoy it. Do what you’re supposed to do; be what you’re supposed to be.”
Some equipment came to take back with them. Throwing the tailgate down on a truck, Morgan immediately started hauling the tools onto the bed. It was then that he said the others could tell he was there to work.
“And, man, they tested that,” said Morgan. “I dug a ditch. I did gas piping. I had to get all the equipment myself, having to go find it and work with whatever I found.”
While in Haiti, he felt a sense of overwhelming pride and humility. Many towns don’t have electricity, and some only have it during certain times. With no running water, the Haitians get their water from wells. Orphans earn their keep as indentured servants.
Morgan got back to his plumbing roots while he was in Haiti. The first week, he did a job that took up most of a day (which, he said he would expect his guys back home to finish before lunchtime). The second week, armed with a pick and a shovel, two apprentices and Morgan dug a ditch for a water line.
“This kid dug this ditch, 85 feet long, 2 feet deep, all day long, with flip flops on,” said Morgan. “I was just in admiration of the kid.”
He bonded with the boys. Later that week, the one in flip flops had gotten a pair of tennis shoes. At the end of the week, right before his return home, Morgan knew the bigger of the two would fit into his boots.
“I gave him my boots. I gave him my pants and a couple shirts,” said Morgan. “The other one wouldn’t have fit into any of my stuff; he was kind of little. The company, Morgan Miller Plumbing, had given me a care package. It was all wrapped a bandana. That thing was my savior while I was there, it was the best tool I had. So, on the last day, I gave the smaller of the two boys my bandana.”
On his way out of Haiti, Morgan’s transportation returned to the jobsite for gas and oil. He noticed that all the young men were lined up waiting for their job assignments for the day. Rolling down his window, Morgan looked to see if he could spot the two boys, thinking they’d be in line and he’d see his bandana.
“There he was. He’s got my freaking bandana on his head,” said Morgan. He raised his fist out the window. The boy spotted him, and raised his fist in the air as the car drove out of sight. “It was awesome. I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again.”
Coming home after his two-week adventure, Morgan knew he was forever changed.
“All I could think about the whole way home was, ‘who am I going to be?’ I can’t complain about anything ever again,” said Morgan. “I don’t know what to do with this knowledge. I’m still, a month later, walking around in a daze. I’m not the same, I’m just not. And it’s a magical feeling.”
The impact the trip made on Morgan’s life is profound. He’s unsure of what the future holds, though it seems as though the inherent need he has to lend a hand may lead him to other parts of the world and other people who are struggling.
“Facebook does this; it takes you all around the world and leads you to all kinds of paths that you would have never gone down otherwise,” said Morgan. “I’ve got the time. I’ve got the energy. Why not help where I can and when I can? That’s what it’s all about.”
Posted by JCAdvocate at 9:28 AM No comments:
Grandview’s only provisionally-accredited school feels sense of urgency
by Mary Wilson, Editor
mwilson@jcadvocate.com
As part of the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP), the Grandview C-4 School District is required to develop an ongoing, written Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP), which directs the overall improvement of its education programs and services. The CSIP includes goals and strategies that direct the improvement efforts of the district for at least a five-year period.
One of the focus areas in the district’s CSIP is student achievement, including processes to develop and enhance quality educational/instructional programs to improve performance and enable students to meet their personal academic and career goals. In accordance with this focus area, one of the action items states that each school site will utilize the School Improvement Process during teacher collaboration to identify goals, focus on adult learning to improve instruction, and monitor student achievement progress to inform instruction.
These plans have been developed by the school leadership teams and have incorporated feedback from site-based stakeholder groups. On Thursday, November 17, Grandview Middle School presented their School Improvement Plan to the Board of Education. With the final Annual Performance Reports released last month, the district learned that GMS fell below the fully-accredited range (70% or higher), garnering 63.6% of possible points. In 2014, the school was considered accredited with distinction, with 94.3% of possible points earned.
“We are sticking out like a sore thumb as a provisionally-accredited school,” said Grandview Middle School Principal Jacqueline Spencer. “That is not who we want to be and we do have a sense of urgency with where we are right now.”
This year, GMS is focusing on culture, professional learning community processes, and reading and writing in all content areas.
“The numbers that we are seeing just do not reflect our students,” said Spencer. “Nor do they reflect our staff. We have a lot of work to do. It’s not our story, but these are the numbers that we have.”
The first goal is to increase achievement in English Language Arts (ELA) for all GMS students. An emphasis will be put on various writing types as well as increasing reading comprehension through close reading strategies and the implementation of a building incentive program.
“Our target this year is to have 50% of our students proficient (in ELA),” said Spencer. “That will mean moving approximately 22 additional students to the proficiency level. We think that we will be able to do that.”
The second goal is to increase GMS student achievement in math. This will include teaching multi-step problem solving, algebraic expression and fractions at the middle school level. Each area will be assessed through the district’s benchmarking process. While the school did see an increase in algebra scores, it does not reflect on GMS’s overall points because algebra is scored at the high school level.
“We have to help at least 65 more eighth-grade students become proficient math students,” said Spencer. “With two math classes, that is 32 students per teacher, or seven students per class. Drilling it down that far shows the teachers that we can do this, this is feasible.”
Spencer and her team have also broken down student achievement levels in math for seventh and sixth grade students. In seventh grade, at least 40 additional students will need to score proficient.
The third goal is to increase student achievement in science, emphasizing earth and space, physical, life, engineering, technology and application of science. GMS plans to increase the number of students scoring proficient and advanced by 5% or more and decrease the number of students scoring basic and below basic by 5% or more.
“Our target goal for this year is 50% of our students scoring proficient in science,” said Spencer. “With 28% proficient last year, this would mean that we need to increase by 45 students.”
A focus will be on the number of students in remediation, or those students who simply don’t understand the concepts, as well as the number of students who are in mastery-level on testing.
“Once we have that picture, we can then drill-down on what the students need individually,” said Spencer. “We will now focus on how we get our instructional strategies so aligned to either accelerate our students or enrich our students. For those students that are in remediation, we’ll have to fill in the gaps.”
Reading, writing and vocabulary continue to remain at the forefront of instruction. Spencer and her administrative team will also work to increase attendance and decrease the number of discipline referrals by creating a positive school culture and climate and provide a safe learning environment where respect and responsibility are hallmarks of character.
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Being in charge of security for anything is a lose-lose proposition
John Cummings / October 2, 2014
The resignation of Secret Service Director Julia Pierson prompted a discussion between a friend and I about jobs that focus on being in charge of the security of something. For the purpose of our discussion, the something didn’t have to be the President of the United States. It can be the security of a campus network, a physical structure, or something as large and complex as the Department of Homeland Security.
The four links included above are a very small sampling of fairly recent examples of the head of some sort of security being forced or voluntarily resigning their duties in the face of security breaches and the ensuing backlash.
Unfortunately, in most of these cases, the person charged with directing security was fighting a losing battle from the outset. Taking on a role as the head of security for anything means that you’re saying essentially “I believe that with limited resources, and finite time, I can protect against a variety of threats that have nearly unlimited resources and infinite time.” It’s crazy to believe that’s possible.
I personally don’t believe that Julia Pierson got in to the position of leading the United States Secret Service while simultaneously not understanding how locks on doors work, as Congressman Darrell Issa seems like he’d like me to believe by asking Ms. Pierson ‘$800 million a year, millions of dollars or more during your tenure, each year, than the president’s request, and that door was unlocked with no one standing at it when Mr. Gonzales came through?‘
Unfortunately the reality is that providing security is really mostly about preventing exposure of easy areas of vulnerability, and making whatever it is you’re charged with protecting a *slightly* less attractive target that the next thing that might attract the attention of attackers.
When security incidents ultimately do occur, someone has to take the fall, and in almost every case, it’s going to be the person charged with leading the security effort. This despite the fact that if someone stays in a security related position long enough, it’s nearly inevitable that some sort of incident will occur that draws criticism from those outside looking in, wondering how the person in charge could have let this happen.
Success as the head of a security operation seems to me to be largely dependent on your timing. Joseph Clancy, the man who has been named as interim Director of the Secret Service to replace Pierson, is a good example of timing working in your favor. Clancy retired from the Secret Service in 2011 after heading security at Comcast. After his departure from Comcast, there were several security incidents, but since Joseph Clancy departed before the breaches actually occurred, he gets to reap the benefits of a successful security tenure there, and now moves back to the Secret Service to take over for the departing Pierson, who’s timing wasn’t so lucky.
That’s not to suggest that Clancy is a poor choice, or unqualified for his role, it’s just a reminder that being successful as the head of security for anything is really as much about your timing as it is your skill and experience in the security world.
It’s also a not-so-gentle reminder that when it comes to personal security, both in the physical world and online, it’s unwise to depend on anyone regardless of their credentials or history, to do all of the work for you. Be smart, and help make yourself a less attractive target. It’s also wise to consider whether you think your timing is good enough to allow you to be successful leading any security effort.
Blog post of extremely limited usefulness – ColdFusion 11, Mac OS X and MAMP
The Zen of Forty
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Faculty/Staff Spotlight Highlights
Rodriguez, Kern new faces in UVa-Wise language department
Posted By: Hannah Mullins 798 Views 0 Comment
UVa-Wise’s language department welcomed two new professors last semester. Veronica Rodriguez and Joseph Kern are experiencing the dynamic of UVa-Wise for their first time this year and both have had a positive experience thus far.
Veronica Rodriguez and Joseph Kern
Rodriguez went to college in Mexico at a state university in Puebla where she received a bachelor’s in teaching foreign languages. She earned her master’s degree in teaching foreign languages at the University of Delaware. She then decided to attend University of Maryland and got a master’s degree in Latin American literature there. She received her Ph.D from the University of Wisconsin Madison where she specialized in colonial studies. She now teaches Spanish here at the college.
“All of my family is in Mexico,” Rodroguez said. “I am the only one who is here.” She says that they come to visit often and she enjoys getting to spend time with them. Rodriguez says that southwest Virginia is “different.” She says, “I really like the mountains and people have been very nice. I wasn’t expecting that.” She also found the people here to be very welcome despite the isolation.
“I like students here a lot.” She studies indigenous cultures and lan- guages for her research, and her goal is to “get a fellowship at a major library and do something with the manuscripts they have there” Rodriguez says. When she’s not teaching, Rodriguez likes to work out and read all different genres of literature.
Joseph Kern completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Louisville and also completed a year studying abroad in Spain. From there, Kern attended the University of Arizona to earn his masters and doctoral degrees. He now also teaches Spanish here at the college alongside Rodriguez. Kern is very close to his family who still reside in Louisville, and they try to see each other every month or so. “The biggest change is that it’s rural,” Kern said of his new home. “ I am very familiar with this part of the country growing up in Louisville, so it felt like coming home.”
Kern says that so far his first year has been “really great” and he has been “really happy” here. He also sings in all three choirs on cam- pus this year and is going to Carnagie Hall with the choir soon.
Both professors encourage students to take at least one Spanish class before their college career ends.
Thefts at Arts, Science centers still under investigation
From the HC Tom Brady Fan Club
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Wild 2009-10 NCAA prospects update
By Shane Goudie
The Minnesota Wild has a trio of defensemen polishing their game at the NCAA level this season. They range from first rounder Nick Leddy to long shot prospects Kyle Medvec and Sean Lorenz.
Kyle Medvec, D, 1988-06-16
Now in his third season at the University of Vermont, Medvec is currently playing the best hockey of his NCAA career. The business administration major is on pace to set personal highs in goals and assists. He currently has 10 points through his first 20 games of the season. Notably, Medvec put up three points in a January 16th rout of rival Northwestern. He was an impressive +5 during that game and the mini outburst helped him retake the scoring lead among Catamounts defensemen. More important than his offensive output has been Medvec’s solid defensive play this season. He has been reliable and is learning to use his dominating size to shut down opponents. Although Medvec remains a long-term project for the Minnesota Wild, the progress he has shown this season is a very positive sign and shows that the Minnesota native is on the right track.
Sean Lorenz, D, 1990-03-10
University of Notre Dame defenseman Sean Lorenz’s play so far this season appears to a mirroring of his teams as a whole. He has been inconsistent and uncharacteristically unsteady thus far. Some of Lorenz’s struggles this season can be chalked up the absence of Washington Capitals prospect Teddy Ruth, who was out of action with an injury for several weeks. The injury forced Lorenz into playing heavy minutes for the Irish, something he may not be ready for in his sophomore season at the NCAA level. He has also been battling a leg injury which forced him out of the lineup in December. Lorenz still has several seasons of hockey to improve upon his game before turning pro.
Nick Leddy, D, 1991-03-20
After being drafted by the Wild 16th overall in the summer, the start of the 2009-10 season marked a new step in the Eden Prairie product’s career. So far in his rookie season with the University of Minnesota, Leddy has not fully adapted to the NCAA level.
One of the biggest differences that Leddy is dealing with this season is ice time. Unlike playing high school hockey where he was often the best player on the ice, he finds himself behind several key Gopher veterans, David Fischer perhaps being the most notable. As a consequence, Leddy’s offensive output has been limited. He has one goal and two assists through 15 games this season. Another factor in his lack of scoring this season was a broken jaw and concussion sustained early November as a result of a questionable hit from the University of Alaska-Anchorage forward Jade Portwood. The injury kept Leddy out of the lineup for a month and although wasn’t overly serious, it was a momentum killer for the rookie. The injury also threw a wrench into his hopes to participate in this year’s World Junior Tournament in which his USA countrymen took home a gold medal.
Leddy hasn’t let his lack of scoring hold back his defensive game, however. His decision-making hasn’t been an issue this season and actually has been one of the more steady blueliners on the Gophers team.
All things considered, there is much to be optimistic about Leddy. He will continue to develop with the University of Minnesota for the next few years and should eventually be an important part of future Wild teams.
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THE MULE – HARD EARNED ADVICE FROM CLINT EASTWOOD
AUDIO PODCAST OPTION OF THE MULE REVIEW
http://www.homeschoolmommoviemavin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2019_02_10_12_56_38.mp3
SHORT TAKE:
Rough but insightful view of the true story of an 88 year old man’s experiences as a mule for a drug cartel, with some autobiographical overtones for Eastwood in the foolish sacrifice the main character makes of his family in preference for his business life.
Adults only for language, topics, and environments which include wild parties, drugs and scantily clad prostitutes.
I admire those who make movies that are completely politically incorrect. It takes great big brass bowling, base, golf, and basket ones to do so in this day and age. And that’s what I love about Clint Eastwood – and he must have a large collection of sports equipment. At the age of 88, with a repertoire of films including cultish Spaghetti Westerns like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, action icons like Dirty Harry, directorial accomplishments like American Sniper, even comedies like Paint Your Wagon (did you know before The Mule he could sing…well carry a tune) and masterpieces which he has directed and starred in like Gran Torino and Unforgiven, I do not think Clint Eastwood has anyone to prove himself to or fear but God.
There is a wise saying: If you can’t be a good example, be a horrible warning, and Eastwood’s main character, Earl, is that person who, by his own warning, is not someone whose behavior you would want to adhere.
The Mule is about an elderly man, Earl Stone who, at the end of his rope financially and anxious to make amends with his estranged family, becomes a transport for a cartel of drug dealers. Earl has spent his love and devotion on an ultimately unsuccessful day lily nursery instead of his family. With this in mind, the movie becomes a horrible warning against living a misdirected life with the day lily as a wonderful symbol of the brevity of our time on Earth which, like our lives, blooms for a day then fades.
While Earl’s motives in the movie may be noble and the money he earns is spent on worthwhile events: his daughter’s wedding and the renovation of the local Veterans Lodge, it does not excuse his participation as one of the links in the drug trade which destroyed so many other people’s lives, even as he was reinvigorating his own. The story is based upon the real life Leo Sharp, featured in a New York Times article by Sam Dolnick.
I heard it speculated that there was an element of autobiography for Eastwood in this story. Not that Mr. Eastwood has ever conveyed illegal pharmaceuticals for Mexican drug lords, but that Eastwood, much like the character he portrays, in his pursuit for fame, financial security and business success may have felt he traded his family life for an ambitious career. It is a fine line to walk, between working hard to care for your family and to trade your family for your work.
Eastwood is a fine character actor, who has made a career of portraying the same interesting, likeable character in a wide variety of movies. There’s little difference among the likes of the cheroot chewing Blondie in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, looking down the barrel of the very big gun of Inspector Calahan in the Dirty Harry franchise, the singing Pardner in Paint Your Wagon, the scheming eponymous character in Kelly’s Heroes, the stubborn but surprisingly kind Walt Kowalsski in Grand Torino or Earl in The Mule. All of them face the world with the same gritty, teeth grinding, begrudgingly amused side long view. All of them are tough guys who mean well at their core even when doing something they know is wrong. All are portrayed with the gravel-voiced determination of a man with whom you do not want to cross swords.
But in The Mule, Eastwood is willing to openly show the fragility of his old age which, even so, does not stop either Earl, the Mule or Eastwood, the director, from soldiering on in this slice of life movie.
The acting is wonderful. Dianne Wiest portrays his wife, Mary, with all the intimacy of betrayal in a failed marriage between two people who have loved each other for decades. Bradley Cooper plays the determined DEA agent who pursues Earl to the exclusion of family events, and in this way discovering, perhaps in time, he has much to learn from the misaligned Earl. And Andy Garcia portrays the deceptively likeable drug lord Laton.
If this happens to be the last movie the aging Eastwood is in, it would be a fitting denouement and ties in some of his most recent accomplishments. For example, Cooper, who plays the DEA agent in pursuit of Earl, and Eastwood, worked together before on American Sniper. Eastwood had once offered to direct Cooper again in Cooper’s then planned remake of A Star is Born, but Cooper wasn’t ready for the role. Eastwood later encouraged Cooper to direct A Star is Born himself and history was made with that interesting film, which I reviewed here.
In another tie-in with old friends, the credit’s song, Don’t Let the Old Man In, was written expressly for this movie by Eastwood’s friend and golf buddy Toby Keith, inspired by a comment Eastwood made to Keith about how to keep going despite age. Keith wrote and sang the tune as a demo and sent Eastwood a copy. So anxious was Keith to have Eastwood hear it that Keith sang it while struggling with a bad cold. Eastwood loved the rough, dark, weary feel of it and used it exactly as Keith had recorded it for the movie.
And most touching, Eastwood’s own real life daughter Alison came out of acting retirement at the behest of her Dad to play Iris, Earl’s estranged daughter. Alison commented in one interview that the most difficult part of playing Iris was pretending to be estranged from the man who played her character’s father, her own Dad.
Filmed with a certain fatalistic feel, knowing this can not end well, we ride along and are seduced into empathizing with the amoral Earl as he bounces from attending his granddaughter’s wedding to a multi-hooker party at his cartel boss’ mansion.
Other reviewers have noted that Eastwood, with Mule, is signaling his bestowal upon Bradley Cooper of his outre mantle, a blessing of sorts to Cooper, the accomplished and busy actor and director who still finds the time, energy and whimsical playfulness to bring Rocket’s voice from Guardians of the Galaxy to life.
In medical school there is a name given to the prize for the student who made the top grade in Anatomy – “The Ball and Chain”. The implication being that you have set yourself up for a high bar to continue to have to leap over. In The Mule there is a telling and touching scene where Earl, the mule which Cooper’s character, Colin Bates, has been doggedly pursuing, sits down next to Colin in a diner. Colin has no idea who Earl is, so underestimated is Earl for the better part of 10 years of drug running because of his age and otherwise clean record. Earl knows who Colin is and proceeds to give what appears to be off hand advice about not committing himself to his career to the exclusion of his family. In retrospect was this Earl to Colin or Clint to Bradley…or both?
I find it courageous that Eastwood not only exposes his own human aged physical frailty to an audience which has grown up and grown old watching him move from an action hero to an increasingly fragile man, but makes himself vulnerable to inquiries about his own interpersonal failures. Much like most in Hollywood he has had his share of failed relationships and left a trail of at least 7 children. And it takes a measure of brave self-perception to admit, even if only tangentially, that you may have failed to do your best to put your familial ties ahead of your own ambitions.
While not for a younger crowd due to topics, language, and sexuality, for the adult crowd it is a fascinating examination of how easy it is, one daily mistake at a time, to lead your life down a long wrong path in a way that can do permanent and irreparable damage to those you might find too late you love most.
Kudos to Mr. Eastwood. And while I hope this is not his last film, if it is, it is not a bad bookend to his cinematic legacy, and a fitting epitaph to a man whose devotion to and accomplishments for the cinematic world, have been remarkable, even if it may have come at great personal sacrifice.
Posted on January 28, 2019 February 10, 2019 Tags Alision Eastwood, American Sniper, Andy Garcia, Audio, Bradley Cooper, business, cinema legend, Clint Eastwood, cocaine, daughter, DEA, Dianne Wiest, director, Dirty Harry, Don't Let the Old Man in, drug cartel, Earl Stone, elderly, family, good, Gran Torino, Guardians of the Galaxy, Josey Wales, Keyy's Heroes, Leo Sharp, old age, Paint Your Wagon, Pardner, podcast, real story, recording, regret, Rocket, Sam Dolnick, the Bad and The Ugly, The Mule, Toby Keith, UnforgiveLeave a comment on THE MULE – HARD EARNED ADVICE FROM CLINT EASTWOOD
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Educator & Performer
Vocalist and educator Ilah Raleigh is thrilled to join the Music Faculty of Perpich Arts High School in Golden Valley, MN, a competitive arts-focused high school for talented juniors and seniors. At Perpich, Ilah teaches courses in music theory, composition, voice and piano, serves as music director of student-created musicals, and coaches students in preparation for auditions, competitions and performances. She serves as the Performing Arts Departments' representative of the Instructional Leadership Team at Perpich.
Ilah is receiving recognition for her work as a scholar and a social justice advocate. She was recently selected to present her research paper “I Do Want to Know: Case Studies of Effective Teachers of Students of Color" at the 31st Annual Ethnographic & Qualitative Research Conference (EQRC) in Las Vegas, NV in February 2019. This Fall, Education Minnesota selected Ilah to join their second Racial Equity Advocate cohort of the Minnesota Educator Academy's FIRE program. Ilah is currently a student in the Educational Leadership and Learning doctoral program at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. She is simultaneously completing coursework for the K-12 Principal licensure.
Ilah delights in sharing her passions for music, performance, and accessible arts education with students and audiences alike. She has performed in varied opera venues: from the Kennedy Center to the Minnesota's Ordway Center, and even a haunted theater in Florida's "Emerald Coast." During a two-year stay in Milan, she became fluent in Italian while studying with celebrated classical mezzo-soprano, Giulietta Simionato. Ilah earned a Master of Music, Vocal Performance from the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in Italian Studies (BA) from the University of Minnesota. She is a member of Education Minnesota and the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).
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Home » Islam » Islamic Laws » The Islamic System of Judiciary in the Holy Qur'an
The Islamic System of Judiciary in the Holy Qur'an
Jawadi Amuli
There are a number of noble Qur'anic verses which deal comprehensively with the `system of the judiciary', and which we must examine closely. In the following sections, these verses will be studied and the results sought for derived from them:
1. The need for the judiciary (al-qada'), which is indispensable for the life of human society.
2. The criterion for judiciary.
3. The rules of conduct for the judge, his qualities, rights, and particular duties.
4. The duty of the litigants in observing the criteria specified by none other than revelation and in refraining from opposition to and questioning what has originated from the Source of the judiciary.
5. Matters concerning judiciary, such as testimony and the duties of the witness.
We will discuss these important issues, and study the Qur'anic view of them.
1. The Need for Judiciary:
Man is a social creature. He is unable to dissociate himself completely from others and live in isolation and seclusion. He is also unable to live in complete harmony with others, since each person has his own particular ideas, qualities, and conduct. to which his nature inclines, which characterize him without anyone else sharing them either partly or wholly. If man is unable to live alone and remain in absolute solitariness, nor able to live in complete harmony with others, then differences will undoubtedly appear between individuals and groups. There will be strife between them and disputes will take place about particular interests, with each one having an eye out for his own interests. If there were no general rules to which people could take recourse, and no criteria by which truth could be distinguished from falsehood, social order would be disrupted, human society would break down, and public affairs would be in disarray. The noble Qur'anic verses testify to this. As regards the first point, i.e., man's nature as a social creature, it is indicated by the statement of God, the Exalted:
O mankind, We have created you male and female, and appointed you races and tribes, that you may know one another. (49:13)
If man was not social by nature and individuals were able to live by themselves, there would be no need of races and tribes, since they would not require the mutual acquaintance (al-ta`aruf) which depends on social ties.
Regarding the second point, i.e., the inevitability of conflict, God, the Exalted, says: Had thy Lord willed, He would have made mankind one nation; but they continue in their differences, excepting those on whom Thy Lord has mercy. (11:118-119)
God's responsibility is to show the way; and some do swerve from it. If He willed, He would have guided you all together. (16:9)
It is not correct to make them `one nation', because that compulsion would be inconsistent with human responsibility and would also be inconsistent with voluntary growth and development. In fact, it would be inconsistent with wisdom as well, since differences on the whole are beneficial, sacred and commendable. What is reprehensible is the difference that arises even after distinguishing of rectitude from error and the clarification of truth. These two types of differences have been indicated by God, the Exalted: The people were one nation; then God sent forth the prophets, good tidings to bear and warning, and He sent down with them the Book with the truth, that He might decide between the people touching their differences; and only those who had been given it were at variance upon it after the clear signs had come to them, being insolent one to another; then God guided those who believed to the truth, touching which they were at variance, by His leave; and God guides whomsoever He will to a straight path. (2:213)
It is inferred from the first part of the verse that primitive man was simple in his beliefs, with a sound natural disposition (fitrah) and far from deviation and desire (haws), even though he would differ from others of his kind on certain matters. Differences in matters such as these were inevitable in his life's course since man had been created for perfection, and these formed part of - the stages of his growth. In order to settle these differences and elucidate the truth during conflict, Allah, the Exalted, revealed the Book accompanied by the truth, which moved along with it. On the elucidation and clarification of the truth, the people were divided into two groups-some of them believed and followed what the Book had brought, and others did not believe through insolence and hostility. This is the disagreement concerning faith and conviction, and it is a reprehensible disagreement. Regarding the third point the necessity of determining the general rule to resolve disagreements-that is indicated by the statement of God, the Exalted:
Nay, but they cried lies to the truth when it came to them, and so they are in a matter perplexing. (50:5)
Almighty censures them for the disorder of their state. They have fallen into confusion by their denial of the truth, and He enjoins them to resort to the truth, avoid creating confusion, and maintain the correct order. Islam has been concerned with removing these differences through training, educating, discipline, and purification. It has urged adherence to `the strong rope' of Allah and abstention from conflict which would result in social discord. It has brought about brotherhood '- among the believers, and made them "merciful one to another" even though they are "hard against the unbelievers" (48:29). It has described the believers as being "a building well-compacted" (61:4) in confrontation with untruth, and as "friends one of the other; they bid to honour and forbid dishonour" (9:71). It has called them to "enter the peace, all of you" (2:208), and not to be separated from the circle of Islam even by an inch, since "one isolated from the community is, for Satan, as the isolated sheep is for the wolf." It has praised those who ask the forgiveness of Allah, the Exalted, for themselves and their brothers who had preceded them in the faith, and told them to call on God, the Exalted, not to put into their hearts "any rancour towards those who believe" (59:10). Apart from these, there are other lofty qualities necessary for removing differences and for preventing their development in the hearts, or their becoming apparent in their behaviour, since people have been taught that Allah knows what they hide in themselves and what they disclose through their conduct.
In order to preserve the social order and safeguard social unity, disagreements are to be removed by referring them to the judgement of Allah and His Messenger, by appointing Him as arbitrator in their disputes, and by not turning away from Him to another, since His judgement is the sole legal recourse to settle disputes and solve differences, and no one has a choice in what Allah and His Messenger have ruled. The judiciary is the guarantee for applying a just system of regulations and preventing disarray in social affairs. It requires the establishment of everything in its proper place, the returning of every right to its owner, and everyone obtaining his due. That is why the "proposition" is termed "qadiyyah"; because as along as the predicate and its judgement as regards the subject has not been ascertained and the subject's judgement has not been determined in relation to the predicate, either negatively or positively, one is hesitant and uncertain until rightness is distinguished from error and the sound from the unsound. When the intellect judges a particular matter and gives a specific verdict, then the peace of mind is achieved and doubts end. Thereat the matter with regard to its conceived terms is described as qadiyyah, and the mental form with regard to its conceived terms is called judgement (tasdiq).
2. The Criterion for the Judiciary:
It has been explained in the previous section that judiciary is necessary for safeguarding social system and to curb unruly behaviour. In this section we will discuss its criterion. It may appear at first that the human intellect can independently discover these rules and that its range covers what the thinking man attains through his judgement without resorting to heavenly scriptures and, in fact, without needing them at all. However, a deep study of the evidence for the necessity of judiciary shows that the human intellect is insufficient for it and is incapable of determining the criterion for judiciary and defining its scope. This is because the views of one person-as has been mentioned are not all in agreement with those of other people. Each person considers his ideas to be right and regards other people's ideas as misconceptions. He imagines that hg views are appropriate and would benefit mankind, while the ideas of others are inadequate and harmful. Thus ensue the intellectual arguments and the academic debates and discussions.
In addition to this, everyone is naturally disposed to put one's interests and those of one's group and family above those of others, regarding them to be better entitled than others. This would have great consequences for the method of laying down and applying the law.
The following conclusions can be derived from the above discussion.
The need to remove disagreements and solve disputes makes the existence of a judiciary necessary. The human intellect is not adequate to provide felicity to human society on its own. On the contrary, it is the light that illuminates the way-the way indicated by divine revelation-and guides those who follow it to the desired goal. If the human mind-because of its intellectual inadequacy and its being infested by questionable motives-is inadequate in determining the criterion for judiciary, then an inquiry should be made into what the perfect standard for judgement between people should be. This may be done by looking at two points: Firstly, the inability of human thought and its failure to offer the judicial standard. Secondly, the genius of divine revelation and its competence in determining the judicial system, since it has been derived from the Unseen and transcends the natural laws, as we will see, God willing.
The first point is indicated by the statement of God; the Exalted: ...Messengers bearing good tidings, and warning, so that mankind might have no argument against God, after the Messengers; God is All-mighty, All-wise. (4:165)
This indicates that the intellect on its own is inadequate for attaining perfection and guidance to the most correct path. For were it sufficient, the argument for the adequacy of the intellect and reliance on its guidance would be justified. If people committed sins and per. formed offences, the argument of Allah against them would be established (for the intellect which had been given them had forbidden them from it, so why did they not follow it but go against it?) It would then be right for them to be punished for their sins and evil deeds. However, the noble Qur'an does not support or sanction punishment before sending Messengers. God, the Exalted, has said: We never chastise until We send forth a Messenger. (17:15)
Had we destroyed them with a chastisement aforetime, they would have said, `Our Lord, why didst Thou not send us a Messenger, so that we might have followed Thy signs before we were humiliated and degraded?' (20:134)
This proves that it is not God's practice to chastise His creatures before dispatching Messengers, nor to humiliate, disgrace, and destroy through punishment a people before sending prophets to them. Were it not so, these creatures would protest to God that the punishment was carried out before the proof was completed. The weakness of human thought and the fact that man is not aware of all beneficial and harmful consequences of his acts, even in matters closest to him, is pointed out in the statement of God, the Exalted, when explaining the distribution of inheritance and appointing specific shares to each heir: You know not which out of them is nearer in profit to you. (4:11)
When explaining the necessity of belief in revelation and the impermissibility of turning away from it, God, the Exalted, says: So when their Messengers brought them the clear signs, they rejoiced in what knowledge they had, and were encompassed by what they mocked at. (40:83)
This indicates that man's knowledge does not guarantee him happiness, otherwise it would not be wrong on his part to be content with it. However, it is not so because he is incapable of attaining through it what he needs. Thus it is reprehensible for man to confine himself to his own knowledge and turn away from what the prophets have brought. In the following statement, God, the Exalted, indicates that man is unable to establish justice and determine the rules of a just judiciary with the sole means of the intellect that has been given him: Indeed we sent Our Messengers with the clear signs, and We sent down with them the Book and the Balance so that men might uphold justice. And We sent down iron, wherein is great might, and many uses for men, and so that God might know who helps Him, and His Messengers, in the Unseen. Surely God is All-Strong, All-Mighty. (57:25)
This indicates that the aim of sending the Messengers with clear signs and sending the scriptures with them was that the people should uphold justice. If man were able to achieve justice through his intellect and without the need for revelation, there would have been no need for it. The reason for man's being unable to define the standard for the judiciary is that there lie before him various worlds and higher and lower levels and degrees of existence. He moves from one world to another and from one level to another and he is immortal and imperishable. Since he moves from one abode to another, he must seek perfection through a power that does not cease or perish, and which does not harm his world or his Hereafter. Obviously, determining such a power requires a comprehensive knowledge of the true nature of man and what makes him ascend to the highest stages or brings him down to the lowest levels. How does that knowledge compare with the little knowledge that has been given man, who does not have much understanding of what will benefit or harm him?
The second point-the capacity of divine revelation in explaining the judicial system-is indicated by several Qur'anic verses.
Whoso judges not according to what God has sent down-they are the unbelievers. (5:44)
Whoso judges not according to what God has sent down-they are the evildoers. (5:45)
Whosoever judges not according to what God has sent down-they are the ungodly. (5:47)
The difference between unbelief (kufr) and the other contingent evils, as regards the judiciary, will be explained. Among them is the statement of God, the Exalted: Is it the judgement of pagandom then that they are seeking? Yet who is fairer in judgement than God, for a people having conviction? (5:50)
These verses suggest that judgement is either the judgement of Allah, determined by revelation, or the judgement of pagandom (jahiliyyah). The latter includes every judgement and law followed by men, whether it is described as civilized or not and whether it is accepted or rejected by all people or some of them. This is because there is nothing after truth except falsehood, and following that which is not from Allah, the Exalted, necessitates moving away from the straight path which leads to paradise. There are only two paths, whatever they may be called, and no third one: the path of Allah, guiding to the straightway, and the path of the false god (taghut) leading down into the deep abyss of perdition. Furthermore, God, the Exalted, says: And whatever you are at variance on, the judgement thereof belongs to God. That then is God, my Lord; in Him I have put my trust, and to Him I turn penitent. (42:10)
The verse indicates that the sole recourse for settling differences is judgement of Allah, and no other, whether these differences concern rights, property or some other matter. God, the Exalted, says: So judge between them according to what God has sent down, and do not follow their inclinations to forsake the truth that has come to thee. (5:48)
This judgement is none other than that which has been revealed by Allah. There are other verses which restrict the criterion for judiciary to divine revelation, indicating that everything besides that is ignorance and error, that anything other than the law (Din) of Allah is not acceptable and that any other path will not lead to the pleasure of Allah and paradise. On the contrary, it will lead to Allah's displeasure and "the abode of ruin-Gehenna, wherein they are roasted; an evil establishment!" (14:28-9), for it is not a path which guides to the right goal. That is why the Mighty and Sublime has addressed those who have turned away from the revelation and from the Messenger, saying: Where then are you going? It is naught but a Reminder unto all beings. (81:26-27)
The meaning of the term knowledge (`ilm) becomes clear when God the Exalted, urges that we should not say what we do not know and that we should not deny what we do not know. He emphasizes that affirmation and denial must be through knowledge, and confirmation and rejection through understanding. He says of those who disbelieve without knowledge: No; but they cried lies to that whereof they comprehended not the knowledge, and whose interpretation had not yet come to them. (10:39)
Has not the compact of the Book been taken touching them, that they should say concerning God nothing but the truth? (7:169)
This verse urges one to restrict oneself to speaking only through knowledge and affirming only through understanding. Similarly, God, the Exalted, also says: And pursue not that thou hast no knowledge of; the hearing, the sight, the heart-all of those shall be questioned of (17: 36)
The knowledge mentioned in these and other similar verses refers to that which relates to happiness and a good life and is in keeping with the revelation of God, the Exalted, to His Messenger. It is immune from the evils of ignorance, forgetfulness; and tyranny, and it is rightly the object of hope and the sole basis for judiciary. As for the intellect, it is independent in matters of doctrine (usul al-Din) and its guidance makes possible a knowledge of Allah, the Exalted, and faith in Him. Similarly, it facilitates a knowledge of the Messenger and the necessity of his infallibility and freedom from sin and error in delivering the message, and a knowledge of the doctrine of the Hereafter and man's resurrection with his soul and body for the Judgement. Despite this, however, the intellect is incapable of grasping many matters relating to these important principles, and is also incapable of understanding the benefits and harms latent in actions, laws, and customs. Therefore, it is always in need of the guidance of revelation in circumstances that come upon it and in need of its instructions on what it cannot attain by itself. God, the Exalted, says: ...and to teach you that you knew not. (2:151)
To conclude, the criterion of the judiciary is the criterion which Allah has sent down through revelation and laid down for the people in order that they may establish justice and equity amongst themselves.
3. The Rules of Conduct for the Judge:
It has been made clear that the judiciary is necessary to protect human society and that its criterion is nothing other than revelation. In this section, we wish to discuss its external realization and how it can exist in the desirable form that will afford the application of divine justice derived from revelation. The administration of justice in human society is possible through a judge who has knowledge of the divine criterion for judiciary and who believes in it and acts in conformity with it. If knowledge, faith, and action did not exist together, the criterion itself would not have any effect, for it would be like a lamp in the hand of a blind person who can neither benefit from it himself nor benefit others. He would not be safe from stumbling and the lamp would either break or be extinguished. Thus, the practising judge has to be a just scholar (`alim `adil).
Man is controlled by three important faculties from which springs felicity or misery. They are: his intellect (`aql), through which he grasps matters; his Desire (shahwah), through which he seeks things and wants them for himself; and his Anger (ghadab), through which he repels from himself what he dislikes. Knowledge and justice must inform these three faculties, so that the judge may not deviate in judgement or depart from the path of truth. His intellect should be directed towards acquiring and teaching that which has been brought by the prophets, so that desires (ahwd') do not affect him. There is no room for personal judgement (ray) in' religion, and whoever rules through his personal judgement perishes. He who abandons the Book of Allah, the Exalted, and the Sunnah of His Prophet, has disbelieved; he who relies on himself when faced with a problem is led astray and he who relies on his judgement in ambiguous matters is as one who has made himself his own leader (imam).
Justice should inform his Desire, and he should not rule out of a liking for a particular matter or a specific person. Nor should he rule out of a desire for wealth, status, or position, or for other reasons springing from vain urges. His Anger should be temperate, and he should not rule out of hatred for a matter or hostility to a person, or out of fear of a threat or intimidation, or for any other reason related to anger, hatred, and the like. The person who is balanced in his intellect through the teaching of the divine revelation and his faith in it, and is balanced in his. Desire and Anger-since his love and hatred are in the way of Allah, the Exalted-such a person is suitable for judgement between people.
Concerning self-discipline, particularly in relation to judiciary, the Noble Qur'an deals with the regulation of the three above-mentioned faculties.
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Learn Certification
Chartered Financial Analyst Level 1 ( CFA 1 )
Components Of Interest Rates
Time Value Of Money Calculations
Time Value Of Money Applications
NPV vs IRR
Money Vs Time-Weighted Return
Calculating Yield
Statistical Concepts And Market Returns
Statistical Calculations
Skew And Kurtosis
Basic Concepts of Probability
Joint Probability
Probability Concepts
Common Probability Distributions
Common Probability Distribution Calculations
Discrete Uniform Random Variable
Binomial Probability Distribution
Common Probability Distribution Properties
Discrete and Continuous Compounding
Sampling and Estimation
Sampling Considerations
Calculating Confidence Intervals
Correlation and Regression
A confidence interval (CI) is a measure of the reliability of an estimate. It is a type of interval estimate of a population parameter. It is an observed interval (i.e. it is calculated from the observations), in principle different from sample to sample, that frequently includes the parameter of interest if the experiment is repeated. How frequently the observed interval contains the parameter is determined by the confidence level or confidence coefficient. More specifically, the meaning of the term "confidence level" is that, if confidence intervals are constructed across many separate data analyses of repeated experiments, the proportion of such intervals that contain the true value of the parameter will match the confidence level; this is guaranteed by the reasoning underlying the construction of confidence intervals.Whereas two-sided confidence limits form a confidence interval, their one-sided counterparts are referred to as lower or upper confidence bounds.
Confidence intervals consist of a range of values that act as good estimates of the unknown population parameter. However, in infrequent cases, none of these values may cover the value of the parameter. The level of confidence of the confidence interval would indicate the probability that the confidence range captures this true population parameter given a distribution of samples. It does not describe any single sample. This value is represented by a percentage, so when we say, "we are 99% confident that the true value of the parameter is in our confidence interval", we express that 99% of the observed confidence intervals will hold the true value of the parameter. After a sample is taken, the population parameter is either in the interval made or not; it is not a matter of chance. The desired level of confidence is set by the researcher . If a corresponding hypothesis test is performed, the confidence level is the complement of respective level of significance, i.e. a 95% confidence interval reflects a significance level of 0.05.The confidence interval contains the parameter values that, when tested, should not be rejected with the same sample. Greater levels of variance yield larger confidence intervals, and hence less precise estimates of the parameter. Confidence intervals of difference parameters not containing 0 imply that there is a statistically significant difference between the populations.
In applied practice, confidence intervals are typically stated at the 95% confidence level.However, when presented graphically, confidence intervals can be shown at several confidence levels, for example 50%, 95% and 99%.
Certain factors may affect the confidence interval size including size of sample, level of confidence, and population variability. A larger sample size normally will lead to a better estimate of the population parameter.
A confidence interval does not predict that the true value of the parameter has a particular probability of being in the confidence interval given the data actually obtained. Intervals with this property, called credible intervals, exist only in the paradigm of Bayesian statistics, as they require postulation of a prior distribution for the parameter of interest.
Shortfall
Expected shortfall (ES) is a risk measure, a concept used in finance (and more specifically in the field of financial risk measurement) to evaluate the market risk or credit risk of a portfolio. It is an alternative to value at risk that is more sensitive to the shape of the loss distribution in the tail of the distribution. The "expected shortfall at q% level" is the expected return on the portfolio in the worst q% of the cases.
Expected shortfall is also called conditional value at risk (CVaR), average value at risk (AVaR), and expected tail loss (ETL).
ES evaluates the value (or risk) of an investment in a conservative way, focusing on the less profitable outcomes. For high values of q it ignores the most profitable but unlikely possibilities, for small values of q it focuses on the worst losses. On the other hand, unlike the discounted maximum loss even for lower values of q expected shortfall does not consider only the single most catastrophic outcome. A value of q often used in practice is 5%.[citation needed]
Expected shortfall is a coherent, and moreover a spectral, measure of financial portfolio risk. It requires a quantile-level q, and is defined to be the expected loss of portfolio value given that a loss is occurring at or below the q-quantile.
Roy's Safety-First Ratio
An optimal portfolio is one that minimizes the probability that the portfolio's return will fall below a threshold level. In probability notation, if RP is the return on the portfolio, and RL is the threshold (the minimum acceptable return), then the portfolio for which P(RP < RL) is minimized will be the optimal portfolio according to Roy's safety-first criterion. The safety-first ratio helps compute this level by giving the number of standard deviations between the expected level and the minimum acceptable level, with the higher number considered safer.
SFRatio = (E(RP) - RL)/ σP
Example: Roy's Safety First Ratio
Let's say our minimum threshold is -2%, and we have the following expectations for portfolios A and B:
Portfolio A Portfolio B
Expected Annual Return 8% 12%
Standard Deviation 10% 16%
The SFRatio for portfolio A is (8 - (-2))/10 = 1.0
The SFRatio for portfolio B is (12 - (-2))/16 = 0.875
In other words, the minimum threshold is one standard deviation away in Portfolio A, and just 0.875 away in Portfolio B, so by safety-first rules we opt for Portfolio A.
Log-normal distribution
log-normal (or lognormal) distribution is a continuous probability distribution of a random variable whose logarithm is normally distributed. Thus, if the random variable X is log-normally distributed, then Y = \log(X) has a normal distribution. Likewise, if Y has a normal distribution, then X = \exp(Y) has a log-normal distribution. A random variable which is log-normally distributed takes only positive real values.
The distribution is occasionally referred to as the Galton distribution or Galton's distribution, after Francis Galton. The log-normal distribution also has been associated with other names, such as McAlister, Gibrat and Cobb–Douglas.
A variable might be modeled as log-normal if it can be thought of as the multiplicative product of many independent random variables each of which is positive. (This is justified by considering the central limit theorem in the log-domain.) For example, in finance, the variable could represent the compound return from a sequence of many trades (each expressed as its return + 1); or a long-term discount factor can be derived from the product of short-term discount factors. In wireless communication, the delay caused by shadowing or slow fading from random objects is often assumed to be log-normally distributed: see log-distance path loss model
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ARTHUR LUCAS LLB MBA CPA
Arthur graduated from the University of Melbourne Law School (Bachelor of Laws) and Melbourne Business School (MBA). He holds a Certificate of membership from the Australian Society of Accounts (CPA).
Arthur was a member of the former Company Directors’ Association (Diploma in Company Directors). Following the merger of the Company Directors’ Association with the Institute of Company Directors, for a period of time, Arthur served as a board member of the Institute.
Arthur Lucas brings more than 40 years of experience in most aspects of the Law.
In his spare time, Arthur mentors and supports young lawyers and students.
Arthur is currently a member of the Law Institute of Victoria, the Eastern Suburbs Law Society and Waverley Financial Planning Group.
ELAINE LUCAS
Elaine has had extensive experience with Wills, Powers of Attorneys and Administration of Estates. She was also a Law Clerk with Slater and Gordon.
Elaine holds a Bachelor of Education degree from Monash University.
She has worked extensively as an educator and teacher.
SARAH HODGSON
GRADUATE LAWYER
Liability Limited by a Scheme approved under the Professional Standards Legislation
AIF Lucas & Co. © 2015
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EDISON, N.J., October 14, 2009 – Pre-heat the oven and have the icing close at hand as Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL), an innovative provider of video games for the mass market, and Sandlot Games Corporation, creator of the Cake Mania franchise and the world’s leading developer and publisher of casual games, today announced that Cake Mania 3 for Nintendo DS has shipped to retailers nationwide. With more than 100 million PC downloads and 650,000 units sold worldwide of the handheld versions, the Cake Mania series has proven to be a fan favorite that keeps the bakery chaos fresh in each iteration.
In Cake Mania 3, disaster strikes baker Jill Evans as she prepares for her wedding day. A mysterious “time bender” has crashed into the bakery and caused her loved ones to disappear. To rescue them in time for her ceremony, Jill must travel through time and use her cake-making magic on everyone that she encounters — or risk losing her friends and family forever!
Cake Mania 3 puts players in Jill’s shoes as they serve 30 hilarious new customers, including Medieval Wizards, Ancient Egyptian Mummies and more. The game’s 84 levels of baking bedlam stretch through six different themed environments that each includes its own unique cake style. In addition, players can customize Jill’s kitchen with 50 unique upgrades including new appliances like the Fridge and Hot Drink Machine. For the first time in the series, Cake Mania 3 also includes three new mini games that will further challenge a baker’s speed and accuracy.
Developed by Digital Embryo, Cake Mania 3 is rated E for Everyone and will be in stores this week for the suggested retail price of $19.99. For more information about Majesco’s games, please visit the official site at www.majescoentertainment.com.
About Sandlot Games
Sandlot Games Corporation, headquartered in Bothell, Washington, is the world’s premier developer and publisher of casual and family-friendly games. It boasts a captivating portfolio of popular game titles and franchises including Cake Mania®, Super Granny®, Snail Mail®, Tradewinds® and Westward®. Sandlot Games reaches millions of game players worldwide through a variety of distribution channels including online, PCs, mobile phones and videogame consoles. Since 2002, over 200 million games have been downloaded by its loyal fan base. For more information about Sandlot Games, visit http://www.sandlotgames.com/ or twitter us at @SandlotGames.
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EJN Report on Challenges for Journalism in the Post-truth Era
The Ethical Journalism Network (EJN) launched its new report on ethical challenges for media and journalists around the world. Ethics in the News gives journalists some key tips on ethical survival techniques, tips on how to stick to the facts, protect sources, report fairly on migration, identify hate speech, block fake news and guard against war-mongering and propaganda.
In Europe and America the report looks at how media covered the UK vote to leave the European Union and the Trump election which intensified concerns about the revival of racism, extremism and political propaganda across the western world. Ethics in the News analyses fake news and how journalism with a public purpose can be overwhelmed in a do-it-yourself world of communications that has led to a so-called post-truth movement in which facts and expert opinion are left on the sidelines of public discourse.
But this is no “western media” crisis. Elsewhere, the question is equally relevant, says EJN. Turkey, for instance, is on the frontline of a catastrophic and on-going assault on free expression and the year ended with a full-scale information war between India and Pakistan. The EJN report also examines the continuing global rise of hate speech, particularly in Asia, where there are increasing regional tensions around China and Japan, not least because of territorial disputes and increasing nationalism. Ethics in the News shows how a glossary for hate in Hong Kong might help take the sting out of some of the media’s bad language.
In Africa, media struggle to rise above conflicts in central and eastern regions covering Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Kenya and South Sudan. The report highlights the efforts of journalists to cool things down through the EJN’s ‘Turning the Page of Hate campaign’.
Beyond politics the report examines how media covers the plight of women who are victimised by repressive social and cultural attitudes that continue to dominate media coverage of the shockingly misnamed “honour killings” in Pakistan.
Despite the grim news agenda, it was not all bad news for journalism in 2016. Perhaps the biggest single, corruption-busting story of the decade came from an unprecedented piece of investigative journalism carried out by 400 journalists in 80 countries – the Panama Papers.
The report highlights two areas of particular ethical practice that make journalism a cornerstone of reliability and trust: firstly, a tribute to all the whistle-blowers and sources who make public interest journalism possible through the eyes of the reporter who helped Edward Snowden reveal the secrets of United States’ global surveillance and snooping; and, second, a thoughtful examination of how we use images to tell stories, focused on migration.
The EJN report notes a growing movement to strengthen the craft of journalism and how, in every part of the world, even where megaphone politics is in power, journalists committed to the values of accuracy, humanity and transparency are doing good work and connecting with audiences.
But more needs to be done to support media. The EJN report calls for action to strengthen media professionalism and for new directions in public policy.
Read the full EJN report:
Ethics in the News.pdf
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The Mermaid Trio
Chamber Music for Voice, Clarinet and Piano
Biogs
Jennifer Brown – Clarinet
Jennifer Brown, grew up in Helensburgh in the west of Scotland. She studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and at the Indiana University School of Music with James Campbell.
She was Principal Clarinettist with the Orquestra do Algarve, Portugal, for four years, before returning to Scotland in 2006. She has freelanced with orchestras including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. As soloist with the Orquestra do Algarve Jennifer has performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, both Krommer Concertos for two clarinets, and the Mercadante Concerto for clarinet, bassoon and flute. She has performed the Strauss Duet-Concertino for clarinet and bassoon with the Helensburgh Orchestral Society.
As a chamber musician Jennifer has performed at the Algarve International Festival, at the Aldeburgh Festival, in St-Martin-In-the-Fields Church, and has broadcast on BBC Radio 3. With Trio Ecossaise she has given numerous concerts for music societies across Scotland including a tour of venues across Argyll and Bute and performances at Glasgow University and at the Jacqueline du Pre Concert Hall in Oxford.
Jennifer has a strong interest in music education and community music projects. She has performed for Live Music Now!, an organisation set up by Yehudi Menuhin to bring music to venues and people who do not have easy access to concerts, and has recently been involved in training musicians on the LMN! scheme. She also works for Music in Hospitals and trains school teachers
Elena Xanthoudakis – Soprano
Greek-Australian Soprano, Elena Xanthoudakis has been based in Scotland for nearly a decade, coming back to her family roots in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Elena has performed for prestigious operatic companies such as ENO, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival, Scottish Opera, Opera North and the BBC Proms and sung with many orchestras including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, RSNO, OAE, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Melbourne Symphony and the London Philharmonica. A versatile artist, Elena is also at home on the recital platform and is passionate about bringing chamber works written for Piano, Voice and Clarinet to new audiences.
After studying in Melbourne and Florence, Elena completed her Master of Music with Distinction at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and has won over 80 first prizes in singing compeitions in both Australia and Internationally including the Maria Callas International Grand Prix (Oratorio – Lied), and the Salzburg International Mozart Competition.
Claire Haslin – Piano
Claire Haslin comes from Glasgow, where she studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama with Jean Hutchison. There she won prizes for Solo and Chamber music, including the Peter Morrison Prize for All Round Excellence and represented the Academy in recital tours of Iceland and Russia. Claire then completed the Advanced Solo Studies course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying with Paul Roberts, and whilst there was chosen to represent the college in the Paxos Chamber Music Festival. In 1997 she won the prestigious Sir Henry Richardson Award for piano accompaniment, and she has subsequently performed throughout Britain and Europe, including at the Purcell Room (London), the Edinburgh Festival, the Montalcino Festival in Italy and the Queen’s Hall (Edinburgh).
Claire is very active both as an instrumental and song accompanist encompassing a wide variety of music, from accompanying Ann Murray at the Vivartes Festival in Surrey and Christine Cairns at an Opera Gala in Ayr, to touring Switzerland with a group of cabaret singers and playing chamber music recitals for music societies throughout Scotland. She is a staff repetiteur at Scottish Opera, a Crear Scholar, and holds accompaniment and teaching posts at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow University music department, and the music school of Douglas Academy, as well as accompanying the NYCoS Training Choir.
Enterprise Music Scotland
Copyright © 2019 The Mermaid Trio.
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Home >> May 2008 Edition >> PRIORITY BRIEFING - General Michael Hamel
PRIORITY BRIEFING - General Michael Hamel
Commander, Space & Missile Command, Los Angeles AFB, El Segundo, CA
MilsatMagazine
General Hamel, your career in the U.S. Air Force has been an exemplary example of leadership and innovation. As you approach your retirement, would you care to pass along to our readers some of the history of those watershed events for which you have become so well known? What do you consider to be the missions with the most impact within the U.S. Air Force during your career in milsatcom?
General Hamel
During my 36 years in the United State Air Force, I have had the very good fortune to work on a fascinating array of military space programs and duties; from development, to launch, to on-orbit operations, to intelligence, to command and national policy levels. In each job, Ive had the opportunity to work on leading edge efforts in; the National Reconnaissance Office, integrating and launching DoD (Department of Defense) payloads on the Space Shuttle, building capabilities critical to preserving peace and winning our nations wars. I commanded the Air Forces Space Operations after 9/11, and now lead Air Force Space Development as we deliver the next generation of space capabilities that will shape our military operations and national security for decades to come.
Your work at SMC has lead to an amazing record of successful launches. Would you highlight the events you feel are the most significant, in as far as being true assets to our warfighters?
Air Force Space Command and SMC are proud of our record of 58 consecutive successful major operational launches. To select which of those launches are the most significant is difficult, as each one was extremely important, and all are contributing every day to our warfighters.
Ushering in the EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) families of Atlas V and Delta IV has been a major accomplishment. The vehicles are proving to be a reliable means in which to ensure the United States access to space in the future, and, in turn, will guarantee our warfighters have the space assets on orbit they have come to depend upon to accomplish their mission. Without Atlas V and Delta IV, our countrys access to space would be limited, and potentially dependent, upon other nations to launch some of our critical space assets.
Your commands budget is most impressive, and the number of military and civilian personnel you manage is a staggering number. How do you handle the scope of your position, as far as command is concerned? What are the lessons you have learned and wish to pass along to your successor in regard to being successful in this critical endeavor?
This may sound cliché, but I have to give a great deal of credit to the men and women as well as the leadership team of the Space & Missile Systems Center. The space professionals under my command amaze me everyday with their dedication and devotion to their mission to develop, acquire, field, and sustain the worlds best space and missile capabilities for the joint warfighter and the nation. Further, the role the Aerospace Corporation plays in providing technical and engineering support to the center is indispensable. I rely on every one of them to be able to do my job.
Would you be kind enough to offer us a look at your history in the U.S. Air Force?
I was commissioned a Second Lieutenant through the U.S. Air Force Academy in June 1972, where I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering. After attaining my degree, I was sent off to be a Staff Development Planner at the then Los Angeles Air Force Station, the first of my many assignments here.
My career includes responsibilities in a variety of command, acquisition, operations, and policy positions involving space, system development, intelligence, space operations, and launch. I have served in senior staff positions at Headquarters U.S. Air Force and Air Force Space Command, and was Vice President Gores military adviser on defense, nonproliferation, and space policy.
Prior to my current position, I commanded the 14th Air Force Flying Tigers, and was responsible for all U.S. Air Force space forces and operations, as well as the execution of assigned U.S. Strategic Commands space operations.
The latest Global Positioning System IIR-19(M) was recently launched... what are the advantages of the new system over its predecessor, and how will the new GPS system perform in relation to the Russian, Indian, and European navigation systems? Was the inclusion of the civilian component planned from the start? How will the process work?
The Block IIR(M) modernized GPS satellites offer advantages over previous Block IIA/IIR satellites in terms of new signals and improved accuracy. In addition to the Block IIA/IIR civil signal (L1 C/A) and military signals (L1 P(Y) & L2 P(Y)), each of the eight Block IIR(M) modernized GPS satellites will broadcast a second civil signal (L2C) and two additional military signals (L1M & L2M). GPS receivers that process dual frequency signals, whether civil or military, gain a significant accuracy improvement by removing the ionospheric error that results as satellite signals pass through the ionosphere. New military signals are less vulnerable than P(Y). All receivers will benefit from superior clock performance associated with the newer satellites.
GPS technical experts have worked with the U.S. Department of State to proactively engage other global satellite navigation system (GNSS) designers to ensure their radio frequency compatibility and interoperability with GPS. As a result, GPS and Galileo will have a high level of interoperability with the new GPS L1C civil signal that will be broadcast from GPS Block III satellites. Thanks to a common design effort, the GPS L1C signal has an identical frequency spectrum with that of the Galileo E1 open service (E1OS) signal. As a result, a common GPS-Galileo signal will be broadcast from both constellations. GPS experts have also worked with Japans Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) to achieve a high level of interoperability such that QZSS will broadcast GPS-compatible signals (L1C, L2C, and L5). Likewise, GPS has worked diligently with other GNSS developers to obtain similar levels of compatibility and interoperability.
Yes, GPS has planned to broadcast the L2C civil signal ever since the Block IIR modernization contract was awarded in August 2000.
What are your thoughts regarding the civilian sector, rather than the U.S. Air Force, now being the driver of government policy when it comes to the joint military and civilian control of GPS, as seems to be indicated within a new Department of Defense (DoD) directive? The new and firmer voice in such dealings appears to be the Department of Transportation in the February 19th published PNT directive. The directive seems to indicate that the U.S.A.F. has given up whatever control they may have possessed within this arena, but we do not know what they may have acquired by surrendering such control in a balance of power exchange. How do you see this change?
The new Department of Defense Directive on Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) (i.e., DoDD 4650.05, dated 19 Feb 08) is a straightforward update of the previous DoDD 4650.5, dated 2 Jun 03. The new DoDD 4650.05 incorporates national-level changes over the past five years related to PNT policy and governance. Most notably, the previous Presidential Decision Directive (PDD/NSTC-6) on U.S. Global Positioning System Policy, dated 28 Mar 96, was updated with the new National Security Policy Directive (NSPD) on U.S. Space Based PNT Policy, dated 8 Dec 04. Moreover, NSPD replaced the previous governance structure, the Interagency GPS Executive Board (IGEB), with the new National Space-Based PNT Executive Committee (NPEC).
The DoD PNT directive reaffirms that the U.S. Air Force will continue to lead GPS development, acquisition, and operations. Indeed, the DoD PNT directive makes no major changes related to GPS acquisition and operations. The GPS Wing at Los Angles AFB will continue to acquire and modernize GPS satellites, the ground control system, and military user equipment for U.S. and allied forces. The 50th Space Wing at Schriever AFB will continue to operate the GPS constellation and deliver unrivaled GPS service.
Both GPS performance standards (i.e., the Standard Positioning Service PS dated 4 Oct 01 and the Precise Positioning Service PS dated 23 Feb 07) were developed by the U.S. Air Force and approved/published by the Assistant Secretary of Defense (ASD) office responsible for GPS. In addition, the U.S. Air Force leads GPS radio frequency compatibility and interoperability with other Radio-navigation Satellite Systems. In addition, the U.S. Air Force defends GPS spectrum at the International Telecommunications Union. In line with this new PNT DoD directive, the U.S. Air Force takes great pride in developing and delivering the worlds best PNT services and equipment.
Things have not changed in actual operation as much as media reports tend to indicate. There has been civil presence at the GPS Wing, AFSPC and 2SOPS for a very long time. The civil agencies have, for a long time, cooperated on GPS capabilities and operation. The civil presence has brought additional direct contact of many users to the program for the benefit of those and other civil users, which has also provided benefit to the military. The civil agencies and the commercial manufacturers/users help build that cooperation that has made GPS a uniquely significant part of the economic engine delivered by the US Government.
The future remains a tenuous proposition. Do you feel confident in our nations ability to counter those who would harm us with our technologies? What do you see as critical for the protection of our nation and to our warfighters, the primary responsibility of a nation to its citizenry? What projects do you foresee as having enormous impact on our security and on our future?
I believe that with the Chinese ASAT demonstration, proliferation of GPS and satellite communications jammers, and other anti-satellite technology readily available around the world, our nations space capabilities face an increasing threat and could be attacked, or disrupted, by those who want to do us harm. A robust and comprehensive Space Situational Awareness capability is critical to protecting our military, civil, and commercial space systems to insure the security and well being of our nation and our friends.
With your well-deserved retirement just around the corner, were you able to assist in the selection of a successor at SMC? If so, who might that be and what can we expect from the new commander?
Lt. Gen. (select) Tom Sheridan, currently the Deputy Director of the National Reconnaissance Office and Program Executive Officer and System Program Director for Space Radar, has been named as my successor at SMC. He has an extensive career in space development and operations, and has been a personal friend and colleague for some 25 years. He is the perfect choice to assume command of this extraordinary organization and its critical mission.
We hear a great deal about new programs... would you please tell us a little bit about each of these systems? Which ones are on track for on-time completion and which are the critical systems you feel we simply cannot do without? Would you please tell us a little bit about each of these systems?
TSAT is the Transformational Satellite Communications System and will provide worldwide, secure, survivable satellite communications to U.S. strategic and tactical forces during all levels of conflict. It is the future of the Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) architecture and will provide a magnitude of increased capability across the spectrum of mission areas, to include land, air, and naval warfare; special operations; strategic nuclear operations; strategic defense; homeland security; theater operations; and space operations and intelligence. TSAT will provide Internet-like capability and extend the DoD Global Information GIG to deployed users.
TSAT will deliver huge improvements in connectivity, capacity, interoperability, availability, security, and speed. TSAT will provide increased connectivity for protected communications (low probability of detection, low probability of intercept and jam resistance) to users on the move with small antennas. Additionally, TSAT will enable real-time and persistent worldwide connectivity to Air and Space Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (AISR/SISR) assets, thereby providing increased situational awareness and targeting information to the warfighter. TSATs total worldwide capacity will be 36 Gbps, and will support a broad range of users across ground, air and space from the foot solder to the Network Command Authorities.
Is TSAT on track for on-time completion?
The Department of Defense is reassessing the optimal strategy for satisfying future satellite communication requirements in light of economic realities, program interrelationships, and user demand for these services. The Department remains committed to delivering the transformational communications capabilities envisioned for TSAT. However, until this assessment is complete, the long term TSAT program schedule remains to be determined.
The Transformational Satellite Communications System Mission Operations System will provide network management for the TSAT system, providing network-centric interoperability between TSAT and the Department of Defenses Global Information Grid. For the joint warfighter and deployed worldwide users, this means they are one step closer to obtaining network-centric warfare.
Is the TSAT system critical and do you feel we simply cannot do without?
Yes. There are validated warfighter requirements for assured, global, network-centric, high-capacity communications. User needs cannot be met with more of our current systems, or solely by ground, aerial, or commercial SATCOM systems. TSAT is the nations only protected net-centric MILSATCOM program that will provide survivable and endurable communications crucial to joint warfighting.
TSAT supports the Armys Future Combat System (FCS) program by enabling Communications On The Move (COTM) to users with small terminals. TSAT will also collect information from protected Airborne and Spaceborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (AISR, SISR) assets to enhance situational awareness.
And AEHF?
The Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system will consist of four satellites in geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) that provides 10 times the capacity of the 1990s-era Milstar satellites. AEHF will provide continuous 24-hour coverage between 65 degrees north and 65 degrees south latitude. The AEHF system is composed of three segments: space (the satellites), ground (mission operations and mission planning) and terminals (the users). The system will provide communications in data rates from 75 bps to approximately 8 Mbps. The space segment consists of a cross-linked constellation of four satellites. The mission control segment controls satellites on orbit, monitors satellite health and provides communications system planning and monitoring. This segment is highly survivable, with both fixed and mobile control stations. System uplinks and crosslinks will operate in the extremely high frequency (EHF) range and downlinks in the super high frequency (SHF) range. The terminal segment includes; fixed and ground mobile terminals; ship and submarine terminals; and airborne terminals used by all of the Services and international partners (Canada, Netherlands and UK). MCSW is responsible for acquisition of the space and ground segments, as well as the Air Force terminal segments. The Army and Navy will acquire their own terminals.
AEHF is essential, as its the follow-on system to Milstar. It will provide the protected satcom capability to the highest priority users in the nation, even including the President. Protected, survivable strategic communications is the foundation of our nations communications capability. With the AEHF system, it will assure continuity, and will deliver an order of magnitude of improvement in capacity. AEHF is currently on track for the inaugural launch of Space Vehicle (SV)-1 in the First Quarter of 2009.
SBSS?
The Space Based Space Surveillance System (SBSS) is a space situational awareness system, comprised of space, ground, and launch segments. The SBSS mission is to provide timely detection, collection, identification, and tracking of man-made space objects from deep space to low earth orbits.
The first SBSS satellite, designated Block 10, is a single Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite. The satellite is comprised of a space vehicle bus with a visible optical payload and associated command, control, communications, and computer (C4) equipment. It is on schedule to be launched from Vandenberg AFB in early 2009 on a Minotaur IV space launch vehicle. The ground segment provides satellite control, mission operations, and interfaces to users and the command structure from a new Space Operations Center, located at Schriever AFB, CO.
The SBSS system is a critical system that will operate in conjunction with the Space Surveillance Network (SSN) to support spaceflight safety, ensure space catalogue completeness, warn of on-orbit separations and maneuvers, and provide indications and warnings in space.
Thank you, General Hamel, for this interview. We also wish to express our gratitude to you for your selfless and dedicated service to our country and our citizens. We wish you well in your new careerwell-deserved retirement.
Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel officially retires from his posting as the Commander of SMC on July 1, 2008. He has received the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Air Force Organizational Excellence Award with three oak leaf clusters, and the global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
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