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BatzB - Poplar Grove �
The Battle of Poplar Grove, South Africa, 7 March 1900, Contents
Topic: BatzB - Poplar Grove
The Battle of Poplar Grove
South Africa, 7 March 1900
The Battle of Poplar Grove, South Africa, 7 March 1900, Roll of Honour
The Battle of Poplar Grove, South Africa, 7 March 1900
Boer War, 1899 - 1902
Citation: The Battle of Poplar Grove, South Africa, 7 March 1900, Contents
Updated: Thursday, 7 April 2011 12:50 PM EADT
The Battle of Poplar Grove, South Africa, 7 March 1900, Outline
Poplar Grove, a minor action of the Second South African War, fought on 7 March 1900 during the British advance on Bloomfontein following the capture of Cronje's force of Boers at Paardeberg (q.v.) a week earlier. In an effort to delay the progress of Field Marshal Lord Roberts' large army, 7,000 burghers under General Christiaan De Wet prepared to make a stand on ridges near a drift (ford) over the Modder River some 90 kilometres west-north-west of the Orange Free State capital. Although occupying strong ground on both sides of the river, the enemy were dispirited by their recent defeat. By 7.30 a.m., and before the British artillery could be brought into action, the Boers began abandoning their positions. They had seen Lieut.-General Sir John French's cavalry division embarking on a wide flanking movement to their left and panicked at the idea of being cut off.
During the battle the New South Wales Mounted Rifles and Queensland Mounted Infantry were attached to the 14th Infantry Brigade, which was assigned the role of harassing the enemy on the south bank of the river and diverting attention from the main attack being delivered by French. Although the British infantry was soon in possession of the enemy's prepared trenches, some of which would have proved almost impregnable if defended, the cavalry's flanking move had been too slow to catch the better-mounted Boers. Losses on the British side amounted to no more than 50 casualties, including five men killed. De Wet's forces remained intact to mount a renewed defensive effort.
Extracted from the book produced by Chris Coulthard-Clark, Where Australians Fought - The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1998, p. 70.
Citation: The Battle of Poplar Grove, South Africa, 7 March 1900, Outline
The Roll of Honour contains the names of all the Allied forces known to have served and lost their lives during the Battle of Poplar Grove, South Africa, 7 March 1900.
Citation: The Battle of Poplar Grove, South Africa, 7 March 1900, Roll of Honour
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Songs to fuck by
Used to be there was a time when a person couldn’t figure out which song on a Janet Jackson album wouldn’t become a hit single.
Of the nine tracks on Control, only three weren’t played to death on radio.
But sometime in the early 1990s, Janet discovered her body, and her music turned seductive, risqué and, sadly enough, somewhat predictable.
Her exploration of sex continues on All For You, and nowadays, it’s hard to figure out which songs are singles, because most of them sound like filler.
The album starts off well enough with the insanely catchy title track and the equally rump-shaking “Come On Get Up.” After that, All for You starts to crash, moving from one lush, sexy ballad to another.
Janet’s endeavor is clear: put this music on and screw like rabbits.
But don’t to put this album on for long commutes or for casual listening.
When Janet decides to pick up the pace, she missteps with “Son of a Gun”, a reworking of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” that doesn’t really go anywhere, or with sampling the Ventures on “Someone to Call My Lover”, an action that speaks for itself.
There are some interesting moments on the disc. The mistitled “China Love” centers around a nice Indonesian gamelan sample. And “Would You” features the best fake orgasm since that infamous scene in the deli in When Harry Met Sally.
(The embarrassment factor of “Would You” decreases with each subsequent listen.)
Toward the end of the album, Janet regains the momentum established by the first few tracks of the album, but as a purely listening experience, the gesture is too little, too late.
In context of fuck music, however, a rousing finish makes for good post-coital mix.
Hmmm. Maybe I’m wrong about this album. Maybe All for You follows the arc of seduction — partying, pairing off, fucking, then small talk while waiting for the other person to get the hell out.
If that’s the case, then All for You is genius. But if it’s not, get this album only for those occassions when you’re digging into someone else’s pants.
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Fact EarthHour 2013
Sri Lankan youths hold up torches to mark Earth Hour in Colombo March 23, 2013. EarthHour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher action to confront climate change. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)
People hold candles during an event attempting to establish a Guinness World of Record for “Blowing out the most number of candles simultaneously” during Earth Hour in Shanghai March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher action to confront climate change. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)
Students gather around candles during Earth Hour in Hanoi March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher action to confront climate change. (Photo by Kham/Reuters)
Singer Tung Duong (C) performs with children during Earth Hour in front of the Opera House in Hanoi, Vietnam, on March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher action to confront climate change. (Photo by Kham/Reuters)
A fruit seller works in candlelight to mark Earth Hour in a shopping district of Bangalore, India, Saturday, March 23, 2013. Earth Hour was marked worldwide at 8.30 p.m. local time and is a global call to turn off lights for 60 minutes in a bid to highlight the global climate change. (Photo by Aijaz Rahi/AP Photo)
People light candles to mark Earth Hour at the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh, March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off the lights for an hour from 8.30pm local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher actions to combat climate change. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)
Emiratis light candles to mark Earth Hour near Burj Khalifa in Dubai, March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off the lights for an hour from 8.30pm local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher actions to combat climate change. (Photo by Jumana El Heloueh/Reuters)
A combination photo shows the castle of Thun before (top) and during Earth Hour in the city of Thun near Bern March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off the lights for an hour from 8.30 pm local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher actions to combat climate change. (Photo by Ruben Sprich/Reuters)
A combination of pictures shows the medieval Charles Bridge in Prague before (top) and during Earth Hour March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher action to confront climate change. (Photo by Petr Josek/Reuters)
People hold candles during Earth Hour after the lights were turned off in central Amman March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher actions to confront climate change. Picture taken with long exposure. (Photo by Ali Jarekji/Reuters)
A combination photo shows a view of St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square and the Kremlin before (top) and during Earth Hour in Moscow March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off the lights for an hour from 8.30pm local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher actions to combat climate change. (Photo by Mikhail Voskresensky/Reuters)
A combination picture shows the city hall in the evening of March 21, 2013 (top) and during Earth Hour in Vienna March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off the lights for an hour from 8.30 pm local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher actions to combat climate change. (Photo by Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters)
A woman ignites candles during Earth Hour in the city centre of Frankfurt March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time, is meant as a show of support for action to confront climate change. (Photo by Lisi Niesner/Reuters)
A combination picture shows Hofburg Palace before (top) and during Earth Hour in Vienna March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off the lights for an hour from 8.30 pm local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher actions to combat climate change. (Photo by Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters)
Children hold candles during Earth Hour after the lights were turned off in central Amman March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher actions to confront climate change. (Photo by Ali Jarekji/Reuters)
A two photo combination showing the Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben at the Houses of Parliament in London, illuminated, left, and then in darkness as the lights were turned off to mark Earth Hour 2013, Saturday March 23, 2013. Earth Hour was marked worldwide at 8.30 p.m. local time and is a global call to turn off lights for 60 minutes in a bid to highlight the global climate change. (Photo by Lewis Whyld/AP Photo/PA)
A combination photo shows the old opera and the opera tower during (top) Earth Hour, and after Earth Hour in Frankfurt March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time, is meant as a show of support for action to confront climate change. (Photo by Lisi Niesner/Reuters)
The Singapore city-skyline is seen in darkness against the lit highway as lights in major buildings around the financial district are switched off for a whole hour on Saturday, March 23, 2013 in Singapore. More than 100 buildings, locations and organizations in Singapore switched off their lights as part of the global Earth Hour initiative by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) along with other national monuments around the world. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)
The Parthenon temple stands atop the Acropolis hill after turning off the lights to mark the annual Earth Hour in Athens, on Saturday March 23, 2013. In Greece, floodlights in several monuments and public buildings were switched off for one hour at 8:30 p.m. local time. Thousands of businesses and municipalities also dimmed their lights. (Photo by Kostas Tsironis/AP Photo)
A combination picture shows the financial Central District of Hong Kong (top) before Earth Hour, and during Earth Hour March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher action to confront climate change. (Photo by Bobby Yip/Reuters)
The Taipei 101 Building is seen darkened during the Earth Hour in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, March 23, 2013. Organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature, earth hour is observed every year to create awareness about conservation of energy and climate change. Around the world, people and organisations will be turning their lights off from 8:30 to 9:30 pm local time. (Photo by Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo)
Muslim women light candles during the “EarthHour” in Jakarta, Indonesia, on March 23, 2013. Hundreds of people observed the global event that encourages people to turn off their lights for 60 minutes. (Photo by Dita Alangkara/Associated Press)
A combination picture shows the central business district (CBD) of Sydney on March 21, 2013 (top) before Earth Hour, and during Earth Hour March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher action to confront climate change. (Photo by Daniel Munoz/Reuters)
Children hold candles while participating in a candlelight vigil to mark Earth Hour in Mumbai March 23, 2013. Earth Hour, when everyone around the world is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time, is meant as a show of support for tougher actions to confront climate change. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)
Onlookers watch Taipei 101 building as it turns its lights off to observe international “Earth Hour” in Taiwan, on March 23, 2013. Around 100 people gathered outside the skyscraper Saturday, using energy saving LED lights to observe the global event that encourages people to turn off their lights for an hour. (Photo by Wally Santana/Associated Press)
In this composite image the Opera House is seen before on March 21 (top) and after the lights were powered by “GreenPower” and glowed dark green to recognize Earth Hour on March 23, 2013 in Sydney, Australia. Businesses and households around the world will turn their lights off for on hour at 20:30 local time today, to celebrate Earth Hour, raise awareness about climate change and to show support for the use of renewable energy. Earth hour began in Sydney in 2007 and is now celebrated in over 150 countries around the world. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams)
In this composite image the Sydney Harbour Bridge is seen before on March 21 (top) and after the lights were switched off to recognize Earth Hour on March 23, 2013 in Sydney, Australia. Businesses and households around the world will turn their lights off for one hour at 20:30 local time today, to celebrate Earth Hour, raise awareness about climate change and to show support for the use of renewable energy. Earth hour began in Sydney in 2007 and is now celebrated in over 150 countries around the world. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams)
This photo combo shows the landmark Seoul City Hall illuminated (top) and with lights turned off (bottom) during the 7th annual Earth Hour global warming campaign in Seoul on March 23, 2013. One minute brightly lit, the next plunged into darkness – iconic landmarks around the world will cut their lights on March 23 for the “Earth Hour” campaign against climate change. (Photo by Kim Jae-Hwan/AFP Photo)
This combo of pictures shows the National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest with the lights on (top) and with the lights off (bottom) during the annual Earth Hour event in Beijing on March 23, 2013. Millions of people were expected to switch off their lights for Earth Hour on March 23 in a global effort to raise awareness about climate change that was even to be monitored from space. (Photo by Wang Zhao/AFP Photo)
The Singapore city skyline is seen before (top) and after the lights were switched off to recognize Earth Hour on March 23, 2013 in Singapore, Singapore. Businesses and households around the world switch their lights off for an hour at 20:30 local time on March 23, to celebrate Earth Hour and raise awareness about climate change and renewable energy. Earth hour began in Australia in 2007 and is now celebrated in over 150 countries around the world. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah)
This composite photograph shows a huge LED sky screen before and during the Earth Hour 2013 power switch off at the Central Business District on March 23, 2013 in Beijing, China. Earth Hour, launched in 2007 in Australia by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), a global conservation group, calls on people, organizations and cities to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour starting at 8:30 p.m. local time. (Photo by Feng Li)
In this combination photo the China National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, with lights on (top) and off, is seen during the Earth Hour in Beijing on March 23,2013. Iconic landmarks and skylines were plunged into darkness on Saturday as the “Earth Hour” switch-off of lights around the world got under way to raise awareness of climate change. (Photo by Wang Zhao/AFP Photo)
This combo shows the lighted National Monument at left and the dome of Istiqlal mosque at right in the Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta with lights in the top photograph taken on March 22, 2013 and the bottom photograph taken during “Earth Hour” event on March 23, 2013 with the National Monument lights switched off. Iconic landmarks and skylines were plunged into darkness on Saturday as the “Earth Hour” switch-off of lights around the world got under way to raise awareness of climate change. While more than 150 countries took part in last year's event, the movement has spread even further afield this year, with Palestine, Tunisia, Suriname and Rwanda among a host of newcomers pledging to take part. (Photo by Romeo Gacad/AFP Photo)
This two combo photograph shows the lighted Welcome Monument located in central Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta with lights on in the top photograph and bottom photograph taken during “Earth Hour” event on March 23, 2013 with the monument's lights switched off. Iconic landmarks and skylines were plunged into darkness on Saturday as the “Earth Hour” switch-off of lights around the world got under way to raise awareness of climate change. While more than 150 countries took part in last year's event, the movement has spread even further afield this year, with Palestine, Tunisia, Suriname and Rwanda among a host of newcomers pledging to take part. (Photo by Romeo Gacad/AFP Photo)
Combination photo shows The Eiffel Tower submerging into darkness at 8:30 pm (local time) as part of the Earth Hour switch-off on March 23, 2013 in Paris. Organisers expect hundreds of millions of people across more than 150 countries to turn off their lights for 60 minutes on Saturday night – at 8:30 pm local time – in a symbolic show of support for the planet. While more than 150 countries joined in last year's event, the movement has spread even further afield this year, with Palestine, Tunisia, Suriname and Rwanda among a host of newcomers pledging to take part. (Photo by Bertrand Langlois/AFP Photo)
In this combo photo shows the 100-foot LAX Gateway pylons at Los Angeles International Airport are lit green (top) for an hour on March 23, 2013 in Los Angeles, California, before being turned off (bottom) and going dark for the following hour to commemorate Earth Hour 2013, with the annual global campaign engaging more than 150 nations to voluntarily participate in the no-lights show this year. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP Photo)
In this composite image, The Bank of China Tower, Cheung Kong Centre, HSBC building and Standard Charter Bank Building are seen before (top) and after the lights were switched off to recognize Earth Hour on on March 23, 2013 in Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Businesses and households around the world will turn their lights off for on hour at 20:30 local time today, to celebrate Earth Hour, raise awareness about climate change and to show support for the use of renewable energy. Earth hour began in Australia in 2007 and is now celebrated in over 150 countries around the world. (Photo by Jessica Hromas)
In this combo photo shows the Monumento a la Revolucion with color lights on (top) and lights were turned off (bottom) to mark “Earth Hour” in Republica Square in Mexico City on March 23, 2013. Millions of people were expected to switch off their lights for Earth Hour in a global effort to raise awareness about climate change. (Photo by Alfredo Estrella/AFP Photo)
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Date of Birth 17-June-1943
Place of Birth Williamsburg
(New York metropolitan area, New York City, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Community District 1, New York)
Nationality United States of America
Also know as Барри Манилоу, Barry Manillow, Barry Alan Pincus, Barry Alan Pincus, Barry Manilow
Profession Conductor, Singer-songwriter, Record producer, Musician, Pianist, Theatrical producer, Actor, Composer, Film Score Composer, Screenwriter, Film Producer
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter and producer. He is best known for such recordings as "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana". In 1978, five of his albums were on the best-seller charts simultaneously, a feat equalled only by Herb Alpert, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Mathis. He has recorded a string of Billboard hit singles and multi-platinum albums that have resulted in his being named Radio & Records' No. 1 adult contemporary artist, and winning three straight American Music Awards for favorite pop/rock male artist. Between 1974 and 1983 Manilow had three No. 1 singles and 25 that reached the top 40. Although not a favorite of music critics, several well-known entertainers have praised Manilow, including Sinatra, who was quoted in the 1970s saying, "He's next." In 1988, Bob Dylan stopped Manilow at a party, hugged him and said, "Don't stop what you're doing, man. We're all inspired by you." As well as producing and arranging albums for other artists, including Bette Midler and Dionne Warwick, Manilow has written songs for musicals, films, and commercials. From February 2005 to December 30, 2009, he was the headliner at the Las Vegas Hilton, performing hundreds of shows before ending his relationship with the hotel. Since March 2010, he has headlined at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas. He has sold more than 80 million records worldwide. On July 4, 2013, he performed live on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol as part of A Capitol Fourth on PBS.
Awards by Barry Manilow
Check all the awards nominated and won by Barry Manilow.
Nominations 2010 »
Award Nominated
Nominated Work
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album The Greatest Love Songs of All Time
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album In the Swing of Christmas
Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance - Variety Or Music Program
Honored for : Manilow: Music & Passion
Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance - Variety Or Music Program Manilow: Music & Passion
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Manilow Sings Sinatra
Razzie Award for Worst Original Song
Honored for : Thumbelina
(For the song Marry The Mole!.)
Razzie Award for Worst Original Song Thumbelina
For the song \"Marry The Mole!\".
Brit Award for Best International Solo Artist
People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Artist
American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist
Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
Honored for : Copacabana (At the Copa)
(Artist)
Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Copacabana (At the Copa)
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special - Comedy-Variety Or Music The Second Barry Manilow Special
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy, Variety, or Music Special The Second Barry Manilow Special
Special Tony Award
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special - Comedy-Variety Or Music
Honored for : The Barry Manilow Special
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special - Comedy-Variety Or Music The Barry Manilow Special
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy, Variety, or Music Special The Barry Manilow Special
Grammy Award for Record of the Year I Write the Songs
Grammy Award for Record of the Year Mandy
Track from: Barry Manilow II
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One Year Ago Today, Hurricane Irma Makes Landfall in the Florida Keys
Sept. 10, 2017. Hurricane Irma has made landfall on Cudjoe Key in the lower Florida Keys.Sep 9, 2017 Hurricane Irma makes landfall at Cudjoe Key in the lower Florida Keys as a Category 4 storm with 130 mph sustained winds. A 106 mph gust was reported at National Key Deer Refuge in Big Pine Key. The storm headed north-by-northwest at 8 mph.
Sept. 10 by 2 p.m. Irma weakens to Category 3 storm with 120 mph winds. But a life-threatening surge of 10 to 15 feet of water was forecast, with residents of Naples and Marco Island told to move away from the water. Sept. 10 at 3:35 p.m. Irma makes landfall again in Florida on Marco Island as a Category 3 storm with 115 mph wind. A 130 mph wind gust was reported by the Marco Island Police Department.
Sept. 10 by 6 p.m. Irma winds down to a Category 2 storm with sustained winds of 110 mph. But a gust of 142 mph was reported at Naples Municipal Airport. A tide gauge measured a water 2.2 feet above mean higher high water, which represented a 7-foot increase in the previous hour and a half, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
One Year Ago Today, Hurricane Irma Makes Landfall ...
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Top 50 Albums of 2014 (10)
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Interns Brianna Mendes & Amon Wedderburn
Hamilton Re today announced their 2019 summer interns as Bermuda High School [BHS] alumna Brianna Mendes and Berkeley Institute alumnus Amon Wedderburn.
These young people will spend eight to ten weeks learning about Hamilton Re’s various departments, including: catastrophe modelling, actuarial science, business intelligence, and direct and facultative reinsurance. The aim is to expose students to a multitude of career options available in the insurance and reinsurance sector and to increase the pool of qualified Bermudians entering the industry.
Ms Mendes and Mr Wedderburn share about the internship at Hamilton experience so far…
Amon Wedderburn and Brianna Mendes, photo by Ann Spurling
Brianna Mendes Spotlight
Local student Brianna Mendes always understood the important role reinsurance played in the Bermuda economy.
And while she had heard job titles like ‘actuary’ and ‘underwriter’ tossed about, she wasn’t sure what these roles would entail.
Fast-forward to today, the university student is now one of two interns at Hamilton Re, whom have been given the opportunity to get knowledge and first-hand experience in a variety of insurance and reinsurance-based careers. Over the next few weeks, Ms Mendes will work in a variety of departments at Hamilton Re – learning about aspects of the industry like catastrophe modelling, underwriting, legal, claims, operations, IT and finance, as well as actuarial and data science.
The 20-year-old admits the internship has been extremely eye-opening so far.
“Right now, I’m studying Commerce and Math at McGill University in Montreal,” Ms Mendes explained. “I don’t know exactly what career I want to get into, which is part of the reason I wanted to do this internship at Hamilton Re. It’s rotational so I get to see a variety of different career options. This is providing a lot of clarity for me in terms of which professional direction I should take.”
The former Bermuda High School [BHS] student is no stranger to Hamilton Re. She first came into contact with the company in 2017, after winning a contest designed to raise local students’ awareness and interest in insurance and reinsurance-based careers.
In total, 19 students from public and private high schools around the Island, were chosen by Hamilton Re to spend an afternoon in their Pitts Bay Road offices, in honour of Insurance Careers Month. Following a tour of Hamilton Re’s space, the young people were given an engaging presentation by Kelli Nusum, Hamilton’s Assistant Vice President of Operations.
Ms Mendes said at that time it was “interesting to hear all the different skill sets utilized and the options within the sector”.
Growing up, she enjoyed studying STEM subjects, just as much as she did the arts, humanities and social sciences. Math, however, was something she especially excelled at. “I really enjoy problem-solving, which is why a career in reinsurance is so appealing to me,” she said.
“What I’ve liked most about my time interning at Hamilton Re so far, is how comfortable they make you feel in asking questions and learning about reinsurance at your own pace. It is very helpful when you are learning something new for the first time.”
Amon Wedderburn Spotlight
It was three years ago that Amon Wedderburn first began to consider a career in the reinsurance industry.
Fresh out of high school at the time, he tagged along with older sister, Assata, to her job in AON’s Risk Services Department to get a better understanding of the field.
“It was intriguing,” the 20-year-old said. “I got to witness my sister working with people from around the world and meeting with lots of different clients, which looked fun. The work wasn’t always the same every day, which meant it was a good challenge. Plus, there would always be new things to learn and ways to develop.”
Mr Wedderburn has been working towards a career in the sector ever since.
Currently studying toward an undergraduate degree in risk management and insurance at St John’s University in New York, he’s looking forward to graduating in the spring of 2020. This summer, to increase his chances of getting a job after university, he’s interning for a second year in a row with Hamilton Re.
“Interning with Hamilton last year I learned so much,” he said, “and when talking to my peers who were working at other companies it became evident, I was getting more practical, hand-on experience than they were. Hamilton’s internship is extremely competitive and they have dozens of applicants each year. What I like about this programme is that the team is very accommodating and don’t expect you to know everything from Day One. They explain things clearly and give you a chance to go off and practice it for yourself.”
Mr Wedderburn has found he learns better this way.
Thanks to the positive and collaborative work environment at Hamilton Re, he’s confident he’ll leave university a few steps ahead of many of his classmates.
“Getting this level of hands on experience in the reinsurance industry as an intern is really rare,” he said. “Thanks to two summers at Hamilton and some time over the Christmas break, I have a thorough understanding of the industry and all of its many working parts. To me, it’s almost like a puzzle and each department is linked in a unique way to the other.”
Setting his sights on becoming an underwriter, Mr Wedderburn is looking forward to using his communications and analytical skills to set himself up for success in the industry. “As an underwriter you have a lot of interaction with the client as you work to assess whether an applicant should be approved and determine the coverage amounts and premium,” he said. “I’m excited to see how far I can go in reinsurance and hope other young Bermudians will consider a career in this fast-paced industry as well.”
Ciara Burrows Awarded Hamilton Scholarship
Hamilton Insurance Support Youth Digital Literacy
Hamilton Re Hosts Students During Open House
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Renewable energy resources exist over wide geographical areas, in contrast to other energy sources, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries. Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency is resulting in significant energy security, climate change mitigation, and economic benefits.[8] The results of a recent review of the literature[9] concluded that as greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters begin to be held liable for damages resulting from GHG emissions resulting in climate change, a high value for liability mitigation would provide powerful incentives for deployment of renewable energy technologies. In international public opinion surveys there is strong support for promoting renewable sources such as solar power and wind power.[10] At the national level, at least 30 nations around the world already have renewable energy contributing more than 20 percent of energy supply. National renewable energy markets are projected to continue to grow strongly in the coming decade and beyond.[11] Some places and at least two countries, Iceland and Norway generate all their electricity using renewable energy already, and many other countries have the set a goal to reach 100% renewable energy in the future. For example, in Denmark the government decided to switch the total energy supply (electricity, mobility and heating/cooling) to 100% renewable energy by 2050.[12]
Renewable energy (and energy efficiency) are no longer niche sectors that are promoted only by governments and environmentalists. The increased levels of investment and the fact that much of the capital is coming from more conventional financial actors suggest that sustainable energy options are now becoming mainstream.[63] An example of this would be The Alliance to Save Energy's Project with Stahl Consolidated Manufacturing, (Huntsville, Alabama, USA) (StahlCon 7), a patented generator shaft designed to reduce emissions within existing power generating systems, granted publishing rights to the Alliance in 2007.
Most small wind turbines do not perform quite as well as their manufacturers want you to believe. That should come as no surprise at this point. What may be surprising is that even the turbines of the more honourable manufacturers that are honest about performance fall short, more often than not. The likely cause is turbulence and improper site selection.
Most horizontal axis turbines have their rotors upwind of its supporting tower. Downwind machines have been built, because they don't need an additional mechanism for keeping them in line with the wind. In high winds, the blades can also be allowed to bend which reduces their swept area and thus their wind resistance. Despite these advantages, upwind designs are preferred, because the change in loading from the wind as each blade passes behind the supporting tower can cause damage to the turbine.
A subtype of Darrieus turbine with straight, as opposed to curved, blades. The cycloturbine variety has variable pitch to reduce the torque pulsation and is self-starting.[33] The advantages of variable pitch are: high starting torque; a wide, relatively flat torque curve; a higher coefficient of performance; more efficient operation in turbulent winds; and a lower blade speed ratio which lowers blade bending stresses. Straight, V, or curved blades may be used.[34]
Between maintenance and repairs, it would greatly help and keep your cost down if you can do some of the work yourself: Being able to safely tilt the turbine tower up or down will save you money. Understanding how the turbine works, how to stop it safely, how to trouble-shoot at least the minor issues can keep you in the black. We understand that installing a wind turbine is not for everyone. In fact, towers are dangerous, and for a good installation the devil is in the details. An experienced installer can make a real difference in putting up a turbine that will work better, and be more reliable over time. We really encourage you to have a professional installer to do the initial installation. However, throwing up your hands and calling your installer for routine maintenance, or every time there is a minor issue, will likely make you an unhappy wind turbine owner (even if it is your installer’s dream).
In 2011 Mark Z. Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, and Mark Delucchi published a study on 100% renewable global energy supply in the journal Energy Policy. They found producing all new energy with wind power, solar power, and hydropower by 2030 is feasible and existing energy supply arrangements could be replaced by 2050. Barriers to implementing the renewable energy plan are seen to be "primarily social and political, not technological or economic". They also found that energy costs with a wind, solar, water system should be similar to today's energy costs.[153]
Wind turbines need wind. Not just any wind, but the nicely flowing, smooth, laminar kind. That cannot be found at 30 feet height. It can usually not be found at 60 feet. Sometimes you find it at 80 feet. More often than not it takes 100 feet of tower to get there. Those towers cost as much or more, installed, as the turbine itself. How much tower you need for a wind turbine to live up to its potential depends on your particular site; on the trees and structures around it etc. Close to the ground the wind is turbulent, and makes a poor fuel for a small wind turbine.
United Nations' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that renewable energy has the ability to lift the poorest nations to new levels of prosperity.[14] In October 2011, he "announced the creation of a high-level group to drum up support for energy access, energy efficiency and greater use of renewable energy. The group is to be co-chaired by Kandeh Yumkella, the chair of UN Energy and director general of the UN Industrial Development Organisation, and Charles Holliday, chairman of Bank of America".[147]
Green energy is commonly thought of in the context of electricity, mechanical power, heating and cogeneration. Consumers, businesses, and organizations may purchase green energy in order to support further development, help reduce the environmental impacts of conventional electricity generation, and increase their nation’s energy independence. Renewable energy certificates (green certificates or green tags) have been one way for consumers and businesses to support green energy.
Today that initiative, the Green Climate Fund, is an “empty shell,” Mr. Ban said in a recent phone interview. The lifelong diplomat — who recently assumed the presidency of the Global Green Growth Institute, an international organization based in Seoul, South Korea, that focuses on clean energy development — said he hoped to use the next chapter of his career to help poor countries meet their goals under the Paris agreement on climate change.
Coal is our dirtiest source of energy. It releases more harmful pollutants into the atmosphere than any other energy source and produces a quarter of the nation’s global warming emissions. If we are going to effectively reduce air pollution and address global warming, we need to shut down the oldest, dirtiest coal plants—and not build new ones to replace them.
This wind generator makes a nice addition to a solar panel system with a small battery bank (my bank is 12vdc with 500 amp hours). The wind generator averages anywhere from 2 to 10 amps on most occasions here in northern Indiana. I have seen the wind generator put out as much as 25 amps during heavy wind conditions (i.e. storms). If you plan to run a large battery bank system then you may want to look into some of the larger KW wind generators or build a solar panel system. I do love the sound of this thing. I would not call it whisper, but it has a nice whirl sound to it when it is charging that puts me to sleep at night. By the way, know your math and do things right. You will find yourself installing some heavy gauge wiring to lower voltage drops that can be a bear to work with.
Green energy, however, utilizes energy sources that are readily available all over the world, including in rural and remote areas that don't otherwise have access to electricity. Advances in renewable energy technologies have lowered the cost of solar panels, wind turbines and other sources of green energy, placing the ability to produce electricity in the hands of the people rather than those of oil, gas, coal and utility companies.
There are numerous organizations within the academic, federal, and commercial sectors conducting large scale advanced research in the field of sustainable energy. This research spans several areas of focus across the sustainable energy spectrum. Most of the research is targeted at improving efficiency and increasing overall energy yields.[94] Multiple federally supported research organizations have focused on sustainable energy in recent years. Two of the most prominent of these labs are Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), both of which are funded by the United States Department of Energy and supported by various corporate partners.[95] Sandia has a total budget of $2.4 billion [96] while NREL has a budget of $375 million.[97]
Besides getting a working product, the one measure you are after as a small wind turbine owner is how much electrical energy it will produce for your location. Hopefully by now you know the annual average wind speed for the height that you are planning to put your turbine at, and you have selected a site with little turbulence. Forget about the manufacturer’s claims; it turns out that the best predictors for turbine energy production are the diameter and average wind speed. Here is an equation that will calculate approximate annual average energy production for a grid-tie horizontal axis turbine of reasonable efficiency:
Single small turbines below 100 kilowatts are used for homes, telecommunications dishes, or water pumping. Small turbines are sometimes used in connection with diesel generators, batteries, and photovoltaic systems. These systems are called hybrid wind systems and are typically used in remote, off-grid locations where a connection to the utility grid is not available.
Airflows can be used to run wind turbines. Modern utility-scale wind turbines range from around 600 kW to 5 MW of rated power, although turbines with rated output of 1.5–3 MW have become the most common for commercial use. The largest generator capacity of a single installed onshore wind turbine reached 7.5 MW in 2015. The power available from the wind is a function of the cube of the wind speed, so as wind speed increases, power output increases up to the maximum output for the particular turbine.[42] Areas where winds are stronger and more constant, such as offshore and high altitude sites, are preferred locations for wind farms. Typically full load hours of wind turbines vary between 16 and 57 percent annually, but might be higher in particularly favorable offshore sites.[43]
Other renewable energy technologies are still under development, and include cellulosic ethanol, hot-dry-rock geothermal power, and marine energy.[156] These technologies are not yet widely demonstrated or have limited commercialization. Many are on the horizon and may have potential comparable to other renewable energy technologies, but still depend on attracting sufficient attention and research, development and demonstration (RD&D) funding.[156]
Over $1 billion of federal money has been spent on the research and development of hydrogen and a medium for energy storage in the United States.[150] Both the National Renewable Energy Laboratory[151] and Sandia National Laboratories[152] have departments dedicated to hydrogen research. Hydrogen is useful for energy storage, and for use in airplanes and ships, but is not practical for automobile use, as it is not very efficient, compared to using a battery — for the same cost a person can travel three times as far using a battery electric vehicle.[153]
Turbines used in residential applications can range in size from 400 Watts to 100 kW (100 kW for very large loads), depending on the amount of electricity you want to generate. For residential applications, you should establish an energy budget and see whether financial incentives are available. This information will help determine the turbine size you will need. Because energy efficiency is usually less expensive than energy production, making your house more energy efficient will probably be more cost effective and will reduce the size of the wind turbine you need (see How Can I Make My Home More Energy Efficient?). Wind turbine manufacturers, dealers, and installers can help you size your system based on your electricity needs and the specifics of your local wind resource and micro-siting.
A recent UK Government document states that "projects are generally more likely to succeed if they have broad public support and the consent of local communities. This means giving communities both a say and a stake".[194] In countries such as Germany and Denmark many renewable projects are owned by communities, particularly through cooperative structures, and contribute significantly to overall levels of renewable energy deployment.[195][196]
In 2011, the International Energy Agency said that "the development of affordable, inexhaustible and clean solar energy technologies will have huge longer-term benefits. It will increase countries' energy security through reliance on an indigenous, inexhaustible and mostly import-independent resource, enhance sustainability, reduce pollution, lower the costs of mitigating climate change, and keep fossil fuel prices lower than otherwise. These advantages are global. Hence the additional costs of the incentives for early deployment should be considered learning investments; they must be wisely spent and need to be widely shared".[49] Italy has the largest proportion of solar electricity in the world, in 2015 solar supplied 7.8% of electricity demand in Italy.[54] In 2016, after another year of rapid growth, solar generated 1.3% of global power.[55]
In the United States, one of the main problems with purchasing green energy through the electrical grid is the current centralized infrastructure that supplies the consumer’s electricity. This infrastructure has led to increasingly frequent brown outs and black outs, high CO2 emissions, higher energy costs, and power quality issues.[89] An additional $450 billion will be invested to expand this fledgling system over the next 20 years to meet increasing demand.[90] In addition, this centralized system is now being further overtaxed with the incorporation of renewable energies such as wind, solar, and geothermal energies. Renewable resources, due to the amount of space they require, are often located in remote areas where there is a lower energy demand. The current infrastructure would make transporting this energy to high demand areas, such as urban centers, highly inefficient and in some cases impossible. In addition, despite the amount of renewable energy produced or the economic viability of such technologies only about 20 percent will be able to be incorporated into the grid. To have a more sustainable energy profile, the United States must move towards implementing changes to the electrical grid that will accommodate a mixed-fuel economy.[91]
At the end of 2014, worldwide PV capacity reached at least 177,000 megawatts. Photovoltaics grew fastest in China, followed by Japan and the United States, while Germany remains the world's largest overall producer of photovoltaic power, contributing about 7.0 percent to the overall electricity generation. Italy meets 7.9 percent of its electricity demands with photovoltaic power—the highest share worldwide.[119] For 2015, global cumulative capacity is forecasted to increase by more than 50 gigawatts (GW). By 2018, worldwide capacity is projected to reach as much as 430 gigawatts. This corresponds to a tripling within five years.[120] Solar power is forecasted to become the world's largest source of electricity by 2050, with solar photovoltaics and concentrated solar power contributing 16% and 11%, respectively. This requires an increase of installed PV capacity to 4,600 GW, of which more than half is expected to be deployed in China and India.[121]
Green marketing is the sale of green power in competitive markets, where consumers have the option to choose from a variety of suppliers and service offerings, much like they can choose between long-distance telephone carriers. The key difference between green marketing and green pricing is that with green marketing, you are actually switching electricity providers.
You have read this far, and still want to install a wind turbine? Then it is time for a reality check: Most (some would say all) installed small wind turbines do abysmally poor in comparison with their energy production numbers as calculated above. That is the message from a number of studies, usually on behalf of governments that subsidize wind turbines. Do not just take our word for this, read it for yourself:
The market for renewable energy technologies has continued to grow. Climate change concerns and increasing in green jobs, coupled with high oil prices, peak oil, oil wars, oil spills, promotion of electric vehicles and renewable electricity, nuclear disasters and increasing government support, are driving increasing renewable energy legislation, incentives and commercialization.[10] New government spending, regulation and policies helped the industry weather the 2009 economic crisis better than many other sectors.[24][197]
Low Temperature Geothermal[29] refers to the use of the outer crust of the earth as a Thermal Battery to facilitate Renewable thermal energy for heating and cooling buildings, and other refrigeration and industrial uses. In this form of Geothermal, a Geothermal Heat Pump and Ground-coupled heat exchanger are used together to move heat energy into the earth (for cooling) and out of the earth (for heating) on a varying seasonal basis. Low temperature Geothermal (generally referred to as "GHP") is an increasingly important renewable technology because it both reduces total annual energy loads associated with heating and cooling, and it also flattens the electric demand curve eliminating the extreme summer and winter peak electric supply requirements. Thus Low Temperature Geothermal/GHP is becoming an increasing national priority with multiple tax credit support[60] and focus as part of the ongoing movement toward Net Zero Energy.[61][30] New York City has even just passed a law[62] to require GHP anytime is shown to be economical with 20 year financing including the Socialized Cost of Carbon.[63][64]
Technology advances are opening up a huge new market for solar power: the approximately 1.3 billion people around the world who don't have access to grid electricity. Even though they are typically very poor, these people have to pay far more for lighting than people in rich countries because they use inefficient kerosene lamps. Solar power costs half as much as lighting with kerosene.[136] As of 2010, an estimated 3 million households get power from small solar PV systems.[137] Kenya is the world leader in the number of solar power systems installed per capita. More than 30,000 very small solar panels, each producing 1[138]2 to 30 watts, are sold in Kenya annually. Some Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are also turning to solar power to reduce their costs and increase their sustainability.
Our latest innovation in the Industrial Internet era, The Digital Wind Farm, is making our turbines smarter and more connected than ever before. A dynamic, connected and adaptable wind energy ecosystem, the Digital Wind Farm pairs our newest turbines with a digital infrastructure, allowing customers to connect, monitor, predict and optimize unit and site performance.
Usually however, renewable energy is derived from the mains electricity grid. This means that energy storage is mostly not used, as the mains electricity grid is organised to produce the exact amount of energy being consumed at that particular moment. Energy production on the mains electricity grid is always set up as a combination of (large-scale) renewable energy plants, as well as other power plants as fossil-fuel power plants and nuclear power. This combination however, which is essential for this type of energy supply (as e.g. wind turbines, solar power plants etc.) can only produce when the wind blows and the sun shines. This is also one of the main drawbacks of the system as fossil fuel powerplants are polluting and are a main cause of global warming (nuclear power being an exception). Although fossil fuel power plants too can be made emissionless (through carbon capture and storage), as well as renewable (if the plants are converted to e.g. biomass) the best solution is still to phase out the latter power plants over time. Nuclear power plants too can be more or less eliminated from their problem of nuclear waste through the use of nuclear reprocessing and newer plants as fast breeder and nuclear fusion plants.
It is possible to use any type of solar thermal panel (sheet and tubes, roll-bond, heat pipe, thermal plates) or hybrid (mono/polycrystalline, thin film) in combination with the heat pump. The use of a hybrid panel is preferable because it allows covering a part of the electricity demand of the heat pump and reduce the power consumption and consequently the variable costs of the system.
The Stirling solar dish combines a parabolic concentrating dish with a Stirling engine which normally drives an electric generator. The advantages of Stirling solar over photovoltaic cells are higher efficiency of converting sunlight into electricity and longer lifetime. Parabolic dish systems give the highest efficiency among CSP technologies.[18] The 50 kW Big Dish in Canberra, Australia is an example of this technology.[14]
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Vitamin Supplement Successfully Prevents Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
As someone that has been around high pitched whining dental handpieces for more than half my life, I'm starting to feel like my high end hearing is starting to fade a bit. It might be all of that loud music in my youth too, but on second thought... probably not.
Anyway, there is good news for all of us who either *are* experiencing hearing loss or will at some point in our lives. It seems researchers have discovered a way to both prevent it *and* help restore it.
Read this press release for all the info:
NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO—December 2, 2014—Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College and the Gladstone Institutes have found a way to prevent noise-induced hearing loss in a mouse using a simple chemical compound that is a precursor to vitamin B3. This discovery has important implications not only for preventing hearing loss, but also potentially for treating some aging-related conditions that are linked to the same protein.
The researchers set about trying to prevent this nerve damage by giving mice NR before or after exposing them to loud noises. NR was successful at preventing damage to the synaptic connections, avoiding both short-term and long-term hearing loss. What’s more, NR was equally effective regardless of whether it was given before or after the noise exposure.Published today in Cell Metabolism, the researchers used the chemicalnicotinamide riboside (NR) to protect the nerves that innervate the cochlea. The cochlea transmits sound information through these nerves to the spiral ganglion, which then passes along those messages to the brain. Exposure to loud noises damages the synapses connecting the nerves and the hair cells in the cochlea, resulting in noise-induced hearing loss.
"One of the major limitations in managing disorders of the inner ear, including hearing loss, is there are a very limited number of treatments options. This discovery identifies a unique pathway and a potential drug therapy to treat noise-induced hearing loss," says Dr. Kevin Brown, an associate professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and first author on the paper. Dr. Brown conducted the research while at Weill Cornell.
The researchers chose NR because it is a precursor to the chemical compound nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), which had previously been shown by Dr. Brown and co-senior author Dr. Samie Jaffrey to protect cochlea nerve cells from injury. However, NAD+ is an unstable compound, calling into question whether it could be used out of the petri dish and in a live animal. That led the scientists to use NR instead.
Methods for synthesizing NR were recently developed by Dr. Anthony Sauve, a professor of pharmacology at Weill Cornell and co-author of the study. This resulted in quantities of NR that were sufficient to test in animals.
"NR gets into cells very readily and can be absorbed when you take it orally. It has all the properties that you would expect in a medicine that could be administered to people,” said Dr. Jaffrey, a professor of pharmacology at Weill Cornell.
Beyond just preventing hearing loss, the researchers think the results may have broader applications because of the underlying way NR protects nerve cells. The scientists showed that NR and NAD+ prevent hearing loss by increasing the activity of the protein sirtuin 3 (SIRT3), which is critically involved in the function of mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell.
The researchers hypothesized that it was this enhancement of SIRT3 that was behind the protective properties of NR. To test this, they manipulated SIRT3 levels independently of NR to see if they could still prevent noise-induced hearing loss by administering NR. Sure enough, deleting the SIRT3 gene in mice abolished any of the protective properties of NR. The researchers also showed that a new strain of mice, generated in the lab of co-senior author Dr. Eric Verdin at the Gladstone Institutes and engineered to express high levels of SIRT3, were inherently resistant to noise-induced hearing loss, even without administration of NR.
SIRT3 decreases naturally as we age, which could partially explain aging-related hearing loss. Additionally, some individuals carry different versions of the SIRT3 genes that result in reduced enzyme activity, which may make them more susceptible to noise-induced hearing loss.
Dr. Verdin, an investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, says, "The success of this study suggests that targeting SIRT3 using NR could be a viable target for treating all sorts of aging-related disorders—not only hearing loss but also metabolic syndromes like obesity, pulmonary hypertension, and even diabetes."
Other scientists who participated in this research include Sadia Maqsood, William Harkcom, Dr. Wei Li, and Dr. Sauve from Weill Cornell, and Jing-Yi Huang and Dr. Yong Pan from the Gladstone Institutes. Funding was provided by Weill Cornell, the NYS DOH Spinal Cord Injury Fund, the Gladstone Institutes, and the National Institutes of Health.
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The Many Programs of Go Nagai
August 24, 2013 posted by
BOOK REVIEW: “The Noble Approach”
We have here a strong candidate for ‘Animation Book of the Year’.
I just received a copy of Tod Polson’s long awaited book on his mentor – animation layout master Maurice Noble. Boy oh boy, is this a great read – and a visual delight. It is a 176 page “coffee table” art book about Noble’s life and his philosophy about his art. The full title and credits on the cover say it all: The Noble Approach: Maurice Noble and The Zen of Animation Design by Tod Polson based on the notes of Maurice Noble. Preface by Chuck Jones (from a 1987 Asifa-Hollywood Awards presentation), Foreword by Maurice Noble.
Polson trained under Noble and compiled his notes, and material prepared by Noble for a potential book, mixing this together with eye-popping visuals of Noble’s lifetime of layouts and backgrounds (mainly from Warner Bros. cartoons), rare photographs, and personal work from throughout his career. It’s quite a presentation.
The first chapter goes over Noble’s career, with images from his work at Disney including Snow White, The Old Mill, Dumbo and Bambi; the war years with art from Private Snafu and then Warner Bros. in its golden years. It follows Noble’s story through his freelance work at John Sutherland and later Chuck Jones productions at MGM and beyond. Maurice ended up at Warner Bros. (Tiny Toon Adventures) and with Chuck on his final shorts. It’s all here.
The following chapters recount Noble’s approach to designing an animated film with sections devoted to story, design, color, layout, inspiration and research. It’s how they made Looney Tunes, meticulously described by one who was there. Polson takes us behind the scenes with loving care. It’s one thing to fall in love with Noble’s work on screen behind the antics of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck; it’s quite another to experience Noble’s work laid bare in this book, in all their full frame glory.
I’ve used the term “must-have” before – but I compel every one of you reading this site and this review to order this book immediately. You will not regret it.
Chuck JonesMaurice Noble
Fred Patten
August 24, 2013 1:22:35 am
My review copy of this arrived from Chronicle Books yesterday, and I have not had time to read it yet, but I am really excited about it! It looks like a visual treat; it’s encouraging to know that it is a solid factual treat as well.
Hmmm. Look at the cover pictures on Amazon.com; the basic book entry and the “Look Inside” entry, and see the appearing and disappearing “the” in the book’s title. I wonder why the variation?
DougD
“The Zen of Animation Design” is certainly an apt subtitle. Noble was a great, and creative, artist.
Thad Komorowski
August 24, 2013 10:53:03 am
In spite of it being narrowly focused on a single artist and unit, it may be the best book out there on the making of the Warner Bros. cartoons, period.
This looks great! I’d love to see his work from “Dumbo.” I might ask for this for Christmas!
Ian Neumann
Now we just need a books for designs from Tom O’Loughlin, Richard H. Thomas, Hawley Pratt, Phillip DeGuard, William Butler. 🙂
EDITOR: JERRY BECK
Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and blu-ray compilations and has lent his expertise to dozens of bonus documentaries and audio commentaries on such. Beck is currently on the faculty of Cal Arts in Valencia – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [Click Here]
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Pope Francis names Bishop Burns of Juneau to head Dallas Diocese
Bishop Edward J. Burns (CNS photo/Carol Glatz)
By Catholic News Service • Posted December 13, 2016
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Francis has named Bishop Edward J. Burns of Juneau, Alaska, to be bishop of Dallas, succeeding now-Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, who headed the Dallas Diocese until he was named in August to be the first prefect of the new Vatican office for laity, family and life.
Bishop Burns, 59, has headed the Diocese of Juneau since 2009. A priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, he is a former rector of St. Paul’s Seminary in Pittsburgh and former director of the U.S. bishops’ national offices dealing with clergy, vocations and priestly formation.
The appointment was announced Dec. 13 in Washington by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Bishop Burns will be installed as the eighth bishop of Dallas Feb. 9.
In a statement, he said he is “humbled and grateful” for his new appointment and “at the same time, this announcement fills my heart with gratitude for the privilege and honor of serving the priests, deacons, religious and faithful of the Diocese of Juneau.”
“I am profoundly grateful for my experience in southeast Alaska and I pray for God’s grace as I take on my new duties as chief shepherd of the Diocese of Dallas,” Bishop Burns said.
Bishop Burns is the current chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People. He also is a member of the bishops’ Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions and has been a member of their Administrative Committee.
He was named bishop of Juneau by Pope Benedict XVI Jan. 19, 2009, and ordained a bishop March 3, 2009, at St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh, his home diocese. His installation was April 2, 2009.
The 37,600-square-mile Diocese of Juneau is considered one of the U.S. church’s home mission dioceses. Out of a total population of 75,000, it has 10,000 Catholics.
In a recent interview with Catholic News Service in Juneau, Bishop Burns said that when he became diocesan bishop there, he learned that 10 percent of its population was Catholic and 60 percent didn’t identify with any religion.
“I thought to myself, ‘What a wonderful challenge this is going to be,'” he said. “It’s an opportunity for us to engage in the new evangelization, because it’s not like these people have never heard of Jesus Christ, or the Gospel message, or that they’ve never been in contact with the church. It’s just that they choose to be secularists. They have chosen to step aside from their religion or faith.
“For us, it’s a wonderful challenge,” Bishop Burns said, “to awaken in them a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
The son of Geraldine Little Burns and the late Donald P. Burns, Edward J. Burns was born Oct. 7, 1957, and raised in the Pittsburgh area. After high school, he attended St. Paul Seminary/Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy and sociology. He then attended Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, graduating in 1983 with a master of divinity degree and a master’s degree in theology. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Pittsburgh June 25, 1983.
After ordination, then-Father Burns served in parish ministry, diocesan administration, and in vocation and seminary work. He was the director of clergy personnel for the Pittsburgh Diocese when then-Bishop Donald W. Wuerl of Pittsburgh released him to serve at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington.
On the national level he was executive director of the USCCB’s Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation from 1999 to 2008. Pope Benedict named him a monsignor in 2006. Msgr. Burns returned to Pittsburgh in August 2008 as rector of St. Paul’s Seminary and director of the diocesan preordination formation department and office for vocations.
Now-Cardinal Wuerl, who is archbishop of Washington, issued a statement on Bishop Burns’ new appointment, calling it “a joy to hear” that Pope Francis “has entrusted” the Dallas Diocese to him.
In the bishop’s years of ministry as a diocesan priest, at the USCCB and in Alaska, “I have seen the great pastoral care and spiritual leadership with which Bishop Burns has faithfully served the church,” Cardinal Wuerl said Dec. 13. “The Diocese of Dallas is blessed to be gaining an extraordinary shepherd, and he brings with him our prayers for his pastoral ministry.”
Pittsburgh Bishop David A. Zubik said Bishop Burns’ home diocese was elated about his new appointment.
Bishop Burns’ ministry “has been marked by great joy, pastoral sensitivity and a zeal for evangelization,” he said in a statement.
“Here in his home diocese, we honor him as our beloved brother. He is a gift to the church and first a gift to the Church of Pittsburgh,” Bishop Zubik added. “For me personally, he is a good friend of whom I am so proud. I know you share that pride with me. We rejoice with and for the people of Dallas. For them now, he is both a gift and a blessing.
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A Bunch of Apocrites
An unidentified male of Megalyridae, a family of 'evaniomorphs' parasitic on wood-boring beetles, from here.
During the late nineteenth century, many women attempted to achieve a 'wasp waist', using corsets to tighten their waist to as narrow a diameter as possible. The style was so-called, of course, because of its resemblance to the body of a wasp, with a sharp constriction dividing the body. However, this feature is not universal among wasps: rather, it characterises a distinct clade within the wasps, the Apocrita.
Basal members of the Hymenoptera possess a broad junction between thorax and abdomen like that seen in other insects. In apocritan wasps, the first segment of the abdomen became incorporated into the body of the thorax (where it is referred to as the propodeum) and the characteristic wasp waist developed at the front of the second abdominal segment. Because the major divisions of the body in Apocrita therefore do not correspond directly to the thorax and abdomen of other insects, workers on Apocrita instead refer to the mesosoma and metasoma (or 'altitrunk' and 'gaster'). So narrow is the connection between mesosoma and metasoma, in fact, that members of the Apocrita are incapable of taking solid food: only liquids can pass through the waist. This limitation is believed to have later been significant in the development of the social wasps and ants: because mature ants cannot themselves eat solids, they must feed any solid food they collect to their larvae. The larvae then regurgitate the semi-digested food in a liquid form that the adults can handle. This dependance on their larvae induced the formation of stable colonies. Mature wasps that do not form colonies feed on naturally-occurring liquids such as nectar.
An unidentified wasp of the Stephanidae ovipositing, from Singapore Nature.
Ancestrally, the Apocrita are a lineage of larval parasites, and the majority of species remain so today. The wide distribution of parasites of wood-boring beetles among basal apocritans, and in their sister group the Orussidae among the non-waisted wasps, suggests that this was probably the original lifestyle for the apocritans (Grimaldi & Engel 2005). Living Apocrita can be divided between five main groups: the Stephanidae, the Aculeata (stinging wasps, including all the social forms such as ants and bees), the Ichneumonoidea (ichneumons and braconids), the Proctotrupomorpha, and the Evaniomorpha (though the monophyly of the latter group is debatable). The Stephanidae are a family of long slender beetle parasites that are most diverse in tropical parts of the world.
An evaniid of the genus Hyptia, from Kurt Schaefer.
The evaniomorphs have been suggested to form a group on the basis of the form of the inner articulation of the coxa (the basal segment) of the middle pair of legs, but the polarity of this feature is debatable (Ronquist 1999). The type superfamily, the Evanioidea, includes a group of families characterised by having the articulation of the metasoma to the mesosoma positioned high up on the propodeum rather than low down as in most other wasps. The hatchet wasps of the Evaniidae have a particularly distinctive body form: the mesosoma is boxy, often almost square in side view; the first segment of the metasoma is developed into a long and narrow petiole; and the remainder of the metasoma is relatively small and hangs off the petiole like the head of the eponymous hatchet. Evaniids are parasites of cockroaches, laying their eggs on the cockroaches' egg cases.
Female trigonalyid of the genus Trigonalys, photographed by Simon van Noort. Note the hooked end to the metasoma; when ovipositing, the female will stand on one side of a leaf and hook her metasoma around to lay her eggs on the other side of the leaf.
Females of another evaniomorph family, the Trigonalyidae, lay large numbers of eggs inserted into incisions on a plant leaf. When a piece of leaf containing a trigonalyid egg is eaten by a caterpillar, the egg hatches out and the trigonalyid larva emerges, then burrows into the body of the caterpillar. However, the larva's target is not the caterpillar itself. Instead, the trigonalyid is looking for the parasitic larva of another wasp that may be inside the caterpillar: it is what is called a hyperparasite (that is, a parasite of a parasite). Trigonalyids are also known as parasites of the larvae of social wasps: when the social wasp feeds its larvae on a caterpillar containing a trigonalyid, the trigonalyid may infect the larva to which it is fed (Grimaldi & Engel 2005).
Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press.
Ronquist, F. 1999. Evolution of the Hymenoptera (Insecta): the state of the art. Zoologica Scripta 28: 3-11.
Labels: Apocrita, Holometabola, Hymenoptera, Pterygota, Siricomorpha
The Athyrididae: Spiralia and Lamellae
The Saga of Forsteropsalis fabulosa
Life Among a Shrimp's Gills
Brown Ticks
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Journal of Dairy Research (3)
Genetics Research (1)
In trans variant calling reveals enrichment for compound heterozygous variants in genes involved in neuronal development and growth.
Allison J. Cox, Fillan Grady, Gabriel Velez, Vinit B. Mahajan, Polly J. Ferguson, Andrew Kitchen, Benjamin W. Darbro, Alexander G. Bassuk
Journal: Genetics Research / Volume 101 / 2019
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 June 2019, e8
Compound heterozygotes occur when different variants at the same locus on both maternal and paternal chromosomes produce a recessive trait. Here we present the tool VarCount for the quantification of variants at the individual level. We used VarCount to characterize compound heterozygous coding variants in patients with epileptic encephalopathy and in the 1000 Genomes Project participants. The Epi4k data contains variants identified by whole exome sequencing in patients with either Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) or infantile spasms (IS), as well as their parents. We queried the Epi4k dataset (264 trios) and the phased 1000 Genomes Project data (2504 participants) for recessive variants. To assess enrichment, transcript counts were compared between the Epi4k and 1000 Genomes Project participants using minor allele frequency (MAF) cutoffs of 0.5 and 1.0%, and including all ancestries or only probands of European ancestry. In the Epi4k participants, we found enrichment for rare, compound heterozygous variants in six genes, including three involved in neuronal growth and development – PRTG (p = 0.00086, 1% MAF, combined ancestries), TNC (p = 0.022, 1% MAF, combined ancestries) and MACF1 (p = 0.0245, 0.5% MAF, EU ancestry). Due to the total number of transcripts considered in these analyses, the enrichment detected was not significant after correction for multiple testing and higher powered or prospective studies are necessary to validate the candidacy of these genes. However, PRTG, TNC and MACF1 are potential novel recessive epilepsy genes and our results highlight that compound heterozygous variants should be considered in sporadic epilepsy.
The association between personality disorder and an act of deliberate self harm in the older person
C. W. Ritchie, M. B. King, F. Nolan, S. O'Connor, M. Evans, N. Toms, G. Kitchen, S. Evans, C. Bielawski, D. Lee, M. Blanchard
Journal: International Psychogeriatrics / Volume 23 / Issue 2 / March 2011
Background: Suicide rates are higher in the over 65s than in younger adults and there is a strong link between deliberate self harm (DSH) and suicide in older people. The association between personality disorder (PD) and DSH in older adults remains uncertain. Our objective was to describe this association.
Methods: A case control study was conducted in which participants were: (i) those who had undertaken an act of DSH and (ii) a hospital-based control group drawn from a geographical contiguous population. PD was assessed using the Standardised Assessment of Personality (SAP)
Results: Seventy-seven cases of DSH were identified; 61 (79.2%) of these participants were interviewed. There were 171 potential controls identified of whom 140 (81.9%) were included. An SAP was completed in 45/61 (73.8%) of cases and 100/140 (71.4%) of controls. The mean age was 79.8 years (SD = 9, range 65–103). The crude odds ratio for the association between PD and DSH was 5.91 [(95% CI 2.3, 14.9) p<0.0001]. There was a strong interaction with age stratified at 80 years. There was no association between PD and DSH after age 80. The adjusted odds ratio for PD in the group <80 years was 20.5 [(95% CI 3, 141) p = 0.002]. Borderline and impulsive PD traits tended to be associated with an episode of DSH more than other personality types.
Conclusions: PD appears to be a strong and independent risk for an act of DSH in people aged between 65 and 80 years and should be looked for as part of any risk assessment in this population. Access to specialist services may be required to optimally manage this problem and reduce the subsequent risk of suicide.
Mood switch in bipolar depression: comparison of adjunctive venlafaxine, bupropion and sertraline
R. M. Post, L. L. Altshuler, G. S. Leverich, M. A. Frye, W A. Nolen, R. W. Kupka, T. Suppes, S. McElroy, P. E. Keck, K. D. Denicoff, H. Grunze, J. Walden, C. M. R. Kitchen, J. Mintz
Journal: The British Journal of Psychiatry / Volume 189 / Issue 2 / August 2006
Few studies have examined the relative risks of switching into hypomania or mania associated with second-generation antidepressant drugs in bipolar depression.
To examine the relative acute effects of bupropion, sertraline and venlafaxine as adjuncts to mood stabilisers.
In a 10-week trial, participants receiving out-patient treatment for bipolar disorder (stratified for rapid cycling) were randomly treated with a flexible dose of one of the antidepressants, or their respective matching placebos, as adjuncts to mood stabilisers.
A total of 174 adults with bipolar disorder I, II or not otherwise specified, currently in the depressed phase, were included. All three antidepressants were associated with a similar range of acute response (49–53%) and remission (34–41%). There was a significantly increased risk of switches into hypomania or mania in participants treated with venlafaxine compared with bupropion or sertraline.
More caution appears indicated in the use of venlafaxine rather than bupropion or sertraline in the adjunctive treatment of bipolar depression, especially if there is a prior history of rapid cycling.
Accessibility of health and social services to immigrant elders: the Islington Study
G. Livingston, G. Leavey, G. Kitchen, M. Manela, S. Sembhi, C. Katona
Journal: The British Journal of Psychiatry / Volume 180 / Issue 4 / April 2002
Numbers of immigrant elders are increasing and it is unclear whether they can access services.
To examine service utilisation of older immigrants compared with their UK-born counterparts and relate it to health difficulties.
Cross-sectional study in inner London measuring service use, mental health and disability.
A total of 1085 people aged ⩾65 years were interviewed. Independent predictors of contact with a general practitioner included being born in Cyprus. Cypriots were the only immigrant population to report significantly more somatic symptoms than those born in the UK (P=0.005). Africans and Caribbeans used daycare and other social services most frequently.
Immigrants could access services. Africans and Caribbeans appear to have poorer physical health and thus have greater contact with services. Cypriots who experience depression may present with prominent somatic symptoms. This is likely to be due to a different idiom of distress.
Mental health of migrant elders – the Islington study
Journal: The British Journal of Psychiatry / Volume 179 / Issue 4 / October 2001
In the UK, 6% of those aged 65 years and over were born abroad, most of whom now live in inner-city areas. It has been suggested that ethnic elders are particularly vulnerable to mental illness.
To compare the prevalence of dementia and depression in older migrants with those born in the UK.
A cross-sectional community study of 1085 people aged 65 years or older in an inner-London borough.
Compared with those born in the UK, the prevalence of dementia was raised in African–Caribbeans (17.3%, relative risk=1.72, Cl=1.06–2.81) and lower for the Irish-born (3.6%, relative risk=0.36, Cl=0.17–0.87). All those of African–Caribbean country of birth were significantly younger (P=0.000) but no more likely to be taking antihypertensive drugs. They were no more likely to report having cardiovascular problems but had increased rates of diabetes (P < 0.0000). The overall prevalence of depression was 18.3% (95% Cl=16.1–20.7). The highest prevalence rate was found among those born in Greece and Turkey (27.2%, Cl=179–39.6). Migration per se does not appear to be a risk for depression and dementia in this population.
The excess of dementia may be of vascular aetiology. There is the potential for primary or secondary prevention.
10 - Wisdom and Reflective Judgment: knowing in the face of uncertainty
By Karen Strohm Kitchener, University of Denver, Helene G. Brenner, University of Denver
Edited by Robert J. Sternberg, Yale University, Connecticut
Book: Wisdom
Published online: 05 June 2012
View extract
In youth and beauty wisdom is rare.
– Chinese fortune cookie, 1988
This book attests to the fact that the concept of wisdom has received renewed attention in the legitimate literature of psychology after a long hiatus of being dismissed as an unscientific folk construct. Similarly, after years of neglect, investigators have been exploring the area of adult cognitive development, attempting to describe qualitative differences in the thinking of adults and adolescents or children and to trace and understand their genesis. Researchers such as Fischer and Kenny (1986), Kitchener and King (1981, in press), and Basseches (1986), to name a few, have suggested that the cognitive structures of adults continue to develop and differentiate beyond adolescence in critical ways.
It is the thesis of this chapter that the research on one model of adult cognitive development, the Reflective Judgment model, illuminates the development of many attributes associated with wisdom as well as the relationship between wisdom and intelligence. The model (Kitchener & King, 1981, in press) describes the development of epistemic cognition (Kitchener, 1983), or an individual's knowledge about the limits of knowing, the certainty of knowing, and the criteria for knowing. Further, it describes the developmental relationship between epistemic cognition and good judgment in the face of uncertainty. In other words, the model explicates how individuals move beyond understanding issues that can be known with certainty through the process of logical or formal reasoning to understanding issues of knowing in the face of uncertainty.
Bovine milk N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase and its significance in the detection of abnormal udder secretions
B. J. Kitchen, G. Middleton, M. Salmon
Journal: Journal of Dairy Research / Volume 45 / Issue 1 / February 1978
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2009, pp. 15-20
A new spectrofluorimetric assay procedure for bovine milk N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAGase) is described for use as a routine screening test for the detection of abnormal uddersecretions. This procedure uses 4-methylumbel-liferyl-N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminide as substrate. On the basis of the greater sample throughput, increased product sensitivity detection of NAGase and the absence of turbidity problems, it is considered to be superior to a previously reported spectrophotometric procedure (Kitchen, 1976). The correlation coefficient between the somatic cell count and the fluorimetric procedure using 243 quarter fore-milk samples was 0·86. Distribution studies on bovine milk and mammary gland homogenates indicated that this enzyme activity was located predominantly in the soluble whey protein fraction and the post-microsomal supernatant. Mammary gland secretory cells contained high levels of NAGase and appeared to be the major source of the enzyme in milk whilst NAGase from other sources (white blood cells, blood serum) contributed only a minor proportion (5–15%) of the total activity in milk. The implications of these findings on the value of the NAGase test as a means of mastitis diagnosis are discussed.
Enzymic methods for the estimation of the somatic cell count in bovine milk: II. N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase test for routine estimation of the somatic cell count in milk
B. J. Kitchen, G. Middleton
Journal: Journal of Dairy Research / Volume 43 / Issue 3 / October 1976
Milk enzymes—their distribution and activity
B. J. Kitchen, G. C. Taylor, I. C. White
Journal: Journal of Dairy Research / Volume 37 / Issue 2 / June 1970
The distribution and activity of alkaline phosphatase (E.C. 3.1.3.1), acid phosphatase (E.C. 3.1.3.2), catalase (E.C. 1.11.1.6), xanthine oxidase (E.C. 1.2.3.2), aldolase (E.C. 4.1.2.7 and 4.1.2.13), ribonuclease (E.C. 2.7.7.16) and carbonic anhydrase (E.C. 4.2.1.1) were studied in the major components of bovine milk. Fractionation was accomplished by centrifugation of milk, skim-milk and buttermilk, and ammonium sulphate precipitation of skim-milk serum. The range of activities found for the enzymes studied are tabulated together with the activities of some of the enzymes in mastitic milk, and the significance of the results obtained is discussed. No carbonic anhydrase activity was detected in any of the samples tested. The other enzymes studied were found to have a greater proportion of their total activity located in the skim-milk fraction. However, all of these enzymes except ribonuclease had a higher specific activity in the fat fraction.
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You've searched: Electronic Honors Theses
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Positive Individualism
I will present and defend the notion of what I call Positive Individualism. Its purpose is to set forth a standard by which people are to treat others and themselves. I consider a common conception of individualism, its flaws, and a process of...
The Death Penalty Debate: A Critical Examination of the Moral Justifications for Capital Punishment
Capital punishment is a forceful moral issue that is frequently overlooked. This is possibly due to the reverence many have toward the rule of law or a passive acceptance of the status quo. In this thesis I will begin with a discussion of context...
Controlling Randomness: Using Procedural Generation to Influence Player Uncertainty in Video Games
As video games increase in complexity and length, the use of automatic, or procedural, content generation has become a popular way to reduce the stress on game designers. However, the usage of procedural generation has certain consequences; in many...
Between Psyche and Reality: An Investigation of Contemporary Landscape
This body of work explores the emotional aspects of my life through the metaphor of landscape. It is a contemplation of the genre of landscape in the contemporary art dialog. By exploring the materiality of paint and the physicality of working...
Lost Voices of Ancient Israel Reclaiming Eden: An Ecocritical Exegesis
This work addresses the historically-read despotism Genesis 1.28 has often received in its subordination of nature for the interests of human enterprise and counters the notion of reading the entire Bible as an anti-environmental, anthropocentric...
The Repressive Role of Technology in American and British Dystopian Novels of the Cold War
The Cold War was a time of extreme conformity, with an equally extreme reaction against forced conformity. Representations of such reactions were not to be omitted in the literature of the time. Throughout the novels, the characters and society...
The Third Island: A Novella
The Third Island is a novella about a Puerto Rican woman of Spanish descent who faces her biggest fear—death. Death comes in many forms and for Laura Maria De La Esperanza Castel, it comes in the form of a man with whom she thinks she is in love....
The Roman Conquest of Britain
In 43 CE, Britain became part of the Roman Empire and was systematically conquered for nearly half a century. The province had valuable natural resources to plunder, but the decision to invade was based upon more than its material wealth. Prestige...
A Diplomat's Portrait: The United States Department of State's View on French Imperial Policy Regarding Syrian Religious Minorities of 1918-1922
This thesis examines documents from the US department of State relating to the Internal Affairs of Turkey in the years of 1918-1922, to answer questions pertaining to French imperial policy directed toward minority groups in French Mandate Syria,...
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A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania - 24
1 2016-08-19T12:59:43-07:00 Will Fenton 9e3bf7727b68fc64e416bcd18efaefb81d06944c 7200 1 A brief state of the province of Pennsylvania, : in which the conduct of their assemblies for several years past is impartially examined, and the true cause of the continual encroachments of the French displayed, more especially the secret design of their late unwarrantable invasion and settlement upon the river Ohio. To which is annexed, an easy plan for restoring quiet in the public measures of that province, and defeating the ambitious views of the French in time to come. In a letter from a gentleman who has resided many years in Pennsylvania to his friends in London. 2016-08-19T12:59:43-07:00 Smith, William, 1727-1803. LCP Am 1755 Smi 112519.O London [England]: : Printed for R. Griffiths at the Dunciad, in Paternoster-Row., 1755. With a half-title. By William Smith. "Price one shilling."--half-title. Signatures: [A]_ B-F? G_ (G2 verso blank). [2], 45, [1] p. ; 23 cm (8vo) English short title catalogue (ESTC), T68506; Sabin 84589; Howes, W. U.S.iana (2nd ed.), S686; Smith, J. Anti-Quakeriana, p. 420 46 24 Will Fenton 9e3bf7727b68fc64e416bcd18efaefb81d06944c
1 2016-08-19T17:46:32-07:00 Will Fenton 9e3bf7727b68fc64e416bcd18efaefb81d06944c A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania Will Fenton 2 A brief state of the province of Pennsylvania, : in which the conduct of their assemblies for several years past is impartially examined, and the true cause of the continual encroachments of the French displayed, more especially the secret design of their late unwarrantable invasion and settlement upon the river Ohio. To which is annexed, an easy plan for restoring quiet in the public measures of that province, and defeating the ambitious views of the French in time to come. In a letter from a gentleman who has resided many years in Pennsylvania to his friends in London. gallery 2018-02-12T02:57:52-08:00 London [England]: : Printed for R. Griffiths at the Dunciad, in Paternoster-Row., 1755. Smith, William, 1727-1803. Call Number: Am 1755 Smi 112519.O With a half-title. By William Smith. "Price one shilling."--half-title. Signatures: [A]-B-F? G (G2 verso blank). English short title catalogue (ESTC), T68506; Sabin 84589; Howes, W. U.S.iana (2nd ed.), S686; Smith, J. Anti-Quakeriana, p. 405. Library Company of Philadelphia. Will Fenton 9e3bf7727b68fc64e416bcd18efaefb81d06944c
1 2016-08-19T13:00:35-07:00 A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania - Title Page 1 A brief state of the province of Pennsylvania, : in which the conduct of their assemblies for several years past is impartially examined, and the true cause of the continual encroachments of the French displayed, more especially the secret design of their late unwarrantable invasion and settlement upon the river Ohio. To which is annexed, an easy plan for restoring quiet in the public measures of that province, and defeating the ambitious views of the French in time to come. In a letter from a gentleman who has resided many years in Pennsylvania to his friends in London. 2016-08-19T13:00:35-07:00 Smith, William, 1727-1803. LCP Am 1755 Smi 112519.O London [England]: : Printed for R. Griffiths at the Dunciad, in Paternoster-Row., 1755. With a half-title. By William Smith. "Price one shilling."--half-title. Signatures: [A]_ B-F? G_ (G2 verso blank). [2], 45, [1] p. ; 23 cm (8vo) English short title catalogue (ESTC), T68506; Sabin 84589; Howes, W. U.S.iana (2nd ed.), S686; Smith, J. Anti-Quakeriana, p. 405 46 Title Page
1 2016-08-19T12:59:46-07:00 A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania - Front Matter 1 A brief state of the province of Pennsylvania, : in which the conduct of their assemblies for several years past is impartially examined, and the true cause of the continual encroachments of the French displayed, more especially the secret design of their late unwarrantable invasion and settlement upon the river Ohio. To which is annexed, an easy plan for restoring quiet in the public measures of that province, and defeating the ambitious views of the French in time to come. In a letter from a gentleman who has resided many years in Pennsylvania to his friends in London. 2016-08-19T12:59:46-07:00 Smith, William, 1727-1803. LCP Am 1755 Smi 112519.O London [England]: : Printed for R. Griffiths at the Dunciad, in Paternoster-Row., 1755. With a half-title. By William Smith. "Price one shilling."--half-title. Signatures: [A]_ B-F? G_ (G2 verso blank). [2], 45, [1] p. ; 23 cm (8vo) English short title catalogue (ESTC), T68506; Sabin 84589; Howes, W. U.S.iana (2nd ed.), S686; Smith, J. Anti-Quakeriana, p. 450 46 Front Matter
1 2016-08-19T12:59:43-07:00 A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania - 3 1 A brief state of the province of Pennsylvania, : in which the conduct of their assemblies for several years past is impartially examined, and the true cause of the continual encroachments of the French displayed, more especially the secret design of their late unwarrantable invasion and settlement upon the river Ohio. To which is annexed, an easy plan for restoring quiet in the public measures of that province, and defeating the ambitious views of the French in time to come. In a letter from a gentleman who has resided many years in Pennsylvania to his friends in London. 2016-08-19T12:59:43-07:00 Smith, William, 1727-1803. LCP Am 1755 Smi 112519.O London [England]: : Printed for R. Griffiths at the Dunciad, in Paternoster-Row., 1755. With a half-title. By William Smith. "Price one shilling."--half-title. Signatures: [A]_ B-F? G_ (G2 verso blank). [2], 45, [1] p. ; 23 cm (8vo) English short title catalogue (ESTC), T68506; Sabin 84589; Howes, W. U.S.iana (2nd ed.), S686; Smith, J. Anti-Quakeriana, p. 426 46 3
1 2016-08-19T12:59:42-07:00 A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania - 10 1 A brief state of the province of Pennsylvania, : in which the conduct of their assemblies for several years past is impartially examined, and the true cause of the continual encroachments of the French displayed, more especially the secret design of their late unwarrantable invasion and settlement upon the river Ohio. To which is annexed, an easy plan for restoring quiet in the public measures of that province, and defeating the ambitious views of the French in time to come. In a letter from a gentleman who has resided many years in Pennsylvania to his friends in London. 2016-08-19T12:59:42-07:00 Smith, William, 1727-1803. LCP Am 1755 Smi 112519.O London [England]: : Printed for R. Griffiths at the Dunciad, in Paternoster-Row., 1755. With a half-title. By William Smith. "Price one shilling."--half-title. Signatures: [A]_ B-F? G_ (G2 verso blank). [2], 45, [1] p. ; 23 cm (8vo) English short title catalogue (ESTC), T68506; Sabin 84589; Howes, W. U.S.iana (2nd ed.), S686; Smith, J. Anti-Quakeriana, p. 406 46 10
1 2016-08-19T13:00:37-07:00 A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania - Book Plate 1 A brief state of the province of Pennsylvania, : in which the conduct of their assemblies for several years past is impartially examined, and the true cause of the continual encroachments of the French displayed, more especially the secret design of their late unwarrantable invasion and settlement upon the river Ohio. To which is annexed, an easy plan for restoring quiet in the public measures of that province, and defeating the ambitious views of the French in time to come. In a letter from a gentleman who has resided many years in Pennsylvania to his friends in London. 2016-08-19T13:00:37-07:00 Smith, William, 1727-1803. LCP Am 1755 Smi 112519.O London [England]: : Printed for R. Griffiths at the Dunciad, in Paternoster-Row., 1755. With a half-title. By William Smith. "Price one shilling."--half-title. Signatures: [A]_ B-F? G_ (G2 verso blank). [2], 45, [1] p. ; 23 cm (8vo) English short title catalogue (ESTC), T68506; Sabin 84589; Howes, W. U.S.iana (2nd ed.), S686; Smith, J. Anti-Quakeriana, p. 449 46 Book Plate
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Disney's women: changes in depictions of femininity in Walt Disney's animated feature films, 1937-1999.
Davis, AM; (2001) Disney's women: changes in depictions of femininity in Walt Disney's animated feature films, 1937-1999. Doctoral thesis , University of London.
The animated films of Walt Disney have played an important role in American culture. Most Americans, either during childhood or adulthood, have been exposed to at least some of them. The films themselves have, in some respects, reflected American society and culture. They may also, at least to some extent, have influenced them. As academic scholarship on the history of Hollywood film has grown, various aspects of Disney's influence and cultural position have likewise come to be the focus of study. In recent decades, also, there has been a continually greater interest in the role of women in American society and how that role is constructed. Uniting both these scholarly interests, this thesis analyses how Disney films depict femininity, and the ways in which such depictions correspond with those in the larger arena of Hollywood film. To make these issues more comprehensible, it describes the beginnings of animated film in the United States, together with the early career and works of Walt Disney. In order to cast light on the manner in which such portrayals have changed over time, the films examined are analysed in relation to three particular time periods: 193 7-67, 1967-89, and 1989-99. By examining the depictions to be found within individual films, and comparing these depictions both with one another and with selected live-action, mainstream Hollywood films of the same eras, a better understanding of the make-up of the Disney films as a body of work is achieved, and a corrective offered to some of the misconceptions of Disney to be found within American society in general.
Thesis digitised by British Library EThOS.
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of SandHS > Dept of History
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Tiananmen Square at 25: Remembering the Democracy Movement and the Crackdown
“This is for the lost souls of June 4th.” - Liu Xiaobo, 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Lecture
The Goddess of Democracy erected on May 30 was torn down during the crackdown
Around the world actions are being organized to remember the 25th anniversary of the Chinese Pro-Democracy Movement and the crackdown and massacre that began on the night of June 3, 1989 and continued through the day of June 4, 1989. Chinese dissidents have been and continue to be rounded up in a preemptive manner to silence them in what Human Rights in China has described as an "Enforced Amnesia" and others have described as a cover up or a blackout. Below is my small contribution in remembrance of the courageous students who perished or were imprisoned on that day.
In June 1989, the Chinese novelist Ma Jian was among the million freedom protesters who gathered in Tiananmen Square and survived to give his testimony.
On 4 June 1989, when the Chinese Communist party (CCP) sent 200,000 soldiers in armoured tanks to suppress the peaceful pro-democracy protest in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, causing hundreds if not thousands of fatalities, it was unimaginable to me and most of my compatriots that, 25 years later, this barbaric regime would still be in power, and the massacre would be rendered a taboo. But despite the party's most ardent efforts to wipe the episode from history, memories of the massacre refuse to be crushed. On the milestone 25th anniversary, Tiananmen is more important than ever.
Tiananmen revealed the true face not only of the Chinese people, but of the CCP as well, which was exposed as a regime prepared to massacre its own unarmed citizens in order to maintain its power. It is both mistaken and morally repugnant to argue that the deaths were necessary to "re-establish order" and guarantee future growth. Taiwan is clear proof that the Chinese can successfully combine democracy with capitalism. China's rapid economic rise over the past 25 years is thanks in most part not to the Communist party but to non-unionised Chinese workers prepared to labour in poor conditions for low wages. An accountable, democratic government would have no doubt achieved a less frenzied, more sustainable economic rise, with less corruption and environmental devastation. Until now, the only apparent victor of Tiananmen has been the CCP. The massacre destroyed its moral legitimacy, but like a resilient virus, it has mutated in unforeseen ways to ensure its survival.
Hard to believe that 25 years have passed since hundreds of thousands led by Chinese students gathered in Tiananmen Square beginning in April demanding an end to corruption and democratic reforms only to be massacred by the Chinese regime beginning on the evening of June 3, 1989 continuing into June 4, 1989. Estimates of the number killed ranges into the thousands. The Chinese Red Cross had initially reported 2,600 but then quickly retracted the number under intense pressure of the government.
Chinese students in Miami march in support of democracy in 1989
At the time I was a student at Florida International University and seeing Chinese students taking to the street in Miami to march in solidarity with their counterparts back in China, inspired me and I joined with them. Reading the account of what transpired during the Chinese democracy movement protests by Kate Phillips, an American teacher living in China at the time, brought back the memory of those days for me.
Saddened and outraged at the time by the U.S. policy of collaboration with the Chinese communist regime that had been formalized with the normalization of relations in 1979 and secret visits to China following the June 1989 massacre to assure that business would continue as usual only increased my sense of shame with U.S. foreign policy and its moral implications.
As a Cuban American it is doubly painful to know that the regime in Cuba was one of the few voices around the world to publicly praise the massacre of Chinese students in 1989 and has been a permanent voice advocating harsher treatment for human rights defenders in China.
Join now in demonstrating your solidarity with China's democrats
Tiananmen Mothers, a group of family members of some of those killed during the violent crackdown on the 1989 Democracy Movement produced a short documentary: "Portraits of Loss and the Quest for Justice"in which the stories of six victims are told by their family members, and two survivors provide their own testimony. It can be viewed online here.
On June 4, 2014 Pray for China
Initiatives for China has proclaimed June 4, 2014 as a Global Prayer Day for China and have obtained the support of Arch-Bishop Desmond Tutu and Former Taiwanese President Lee Tenghui. The prayer is available online here.
Please share this post with others and do your part in resisting censorship by remembering the victims and their sacrifice for freedom.
Labels: China, Democracy Movement, human rights, Liu Xiaobo, Tiananmen, Tiananmen Massacre, Tiananmen Mothers, Tiananmen Square
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Six World Indoor Championships medals to be reallocated in Birmingham
Six World Indoor Championships medals will be reallocated during ceremonies at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018 on Friday and Saturday 2-3 March. These upgrades follow the disqualification of the results of the original medallists after their sanction for anti-doping rule violations.
Among those receiving their reallocated medals is Tianna Bartoletta of the USA, who was promoted to gold in the long jump for the 2006 World Indoor Championships in Moscow. Her ceremony, which will include a flag raising and national anthem, will take place in Arena Birmingham at the start of the evening session on Saturday 3 March.
In total, six athletes from across five events at three previous editions of the IAAF World Indoor Championships have accepted invitations to receive their reallocated medals in Birmingham.
“After the very positive feedback at the beginning of the new reallocation process last August in London, we are delighted to continue to honour the athletes for their achievements,” said IAAF President Sebastian Coe. “And what better way than in front of full arena of passionate athletics fans at a major championships.”
IAAF World Indoor Championships medal reallocation ceremonies in Birmingham:
Friday 2 March
Shot put men - Moscow 2006
- Joachim Olsen, DEN, promoted from bronze to silver
Time slot: 17:44
Shot put men - Doha 2010
- Ralf Bartels, GER, promoted from bronze to silver
Saturday 3 March
Long jump women - Moscow 2006
- Tianna Bartoletta, USA, promoted from silver to gold
- Concepcion Montaner, ESP, promoted from fourth to bronze
Triple jump women - Valencia 2008
- Marija Šestak, SLO, promoted from bronze to silver
Time slot 17:36
Pentathlon women - Doha 2010
- Hyleas Fountain, USA, promoted from fourth to bronze
Naide Gomes (POR), who was promoted to silver in the long jump in 2006, Li Meiju (CHN) and Misleydis Gonzalez (CUB), who were promoted to silver and bronze in the shot put in 2008, Olga Rypakova (KAZ), promoted to bronze in the triple jump for 2008, Valerie Adams (NZL) and Nadine Kleinert (GER), who were promoted to gold and bronze in the shot put in 2010, and Michelle Carter (USA), who was promoted to silver in the shot put for 2012, are unable to attend. The IAAF is in contact with their national federations to find other occasions to present them with their medals.
The Czech Republic women's team that was promoted to bronze in the 4x400m relay in 2010 will receive their medals at the IAAF Continental Cup in September in Ostrava.
Published in Sports
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Is the Richard Kirkland Story True?
Published: December 22, 2009 103 comments
The following guest post by Michael Schaffner examines the wartime evidence for the Kirkland story. It is a thoroughly researched essay and is well worth your time. I should point out that Mr. Schaffner did not set out to write a piece debunking this particular story. Like many of us he was curious about the origin and veracity of Civil War stories.
In 1965, a group comprising among others the states of South Carolina and Virginia, Collateral Descendents of Richard Kirkland, and the Richard Rowland Kirkland Memorial Foundation, erected a statue at Fredericksburg to the memory of Sergeant Kirkland of the Second South Carolina Volunteers. The inscription reads, “At the risk of his life, this American soldier of sublime compassion, brought water to his wounded foes at Fredericksburg. The fighting men on both sides of the line called him ‘The Angel of Marye’s Heights.’”
The exact deed for which Kirkland received this accolade was first and most extensively described by J. B. Kershaw, commander of the brigade in which Kirkland served, in a letter to the Charleston News and Courier dated January 2, 1880.
In brief (see Appendix A for the entire letter), after providing some background on Kirkland’s family, Kershaw describes the scene on December 14 at his head quarters in the Stevens’ house by the sunken road and stone wall at the foot of Marye’s Heights. The previous day, a series of failed Union assaults had left thousands of casualties. As Kershaw surveys the carnage he is interrupted by a sergeant in his brigade, who asks permission to carry water to the wounded Union soldiers, whose cries have moved him since the previous evening. Due to the danger from a day-long “murderous skirmish” with Syke’s regulars, Kershaw only reluctantly approves the young man’s request. Even then he refuses Kirkland permission to show a white flag or handkerchief to lessen the danger. Despite this, Kirkland goes over the wall and gives water to the nearest wounded Yankee, pillows his head on his knapsack, spreads his overcoat over him, replaces his empty canteen with a full one, and goes on to the next. The firing ceases as his purpose becomes clear. Other wounded soldiers cry out to him and for “an hour and a half” Kirkland continues “until he relieved all the wounded on that part of the field.”
It is a moving account and well portrayed in the statue. Yet contemporary references to the act prove difficult to come by. A review of on-line periodical and book collections, including the Official Records, as well as an examination of Kershaw’s original account, all raise questions about the story behind the monument. For example, an examination of the Cornell University “Making of America” website, which provides a wide range of books and periodicals published in the United States between 1815 and 1926, uncovers no versions of the story.
A search through Google Books produces a few accounts, including the original Kershaw letter, as well as an appearance of the same letter, unchanged, in the works The Camp-fires of General Lee, by Edward S. Ellis, published in 1886, and Christ in the Camp: Or, Religion in Lee’s Army by John William Jones, published in 1887. The story also appears in The Army of Northern Virginia in 1862 by William Allen (p. 514), published in 1892, in almost identical language, but with the additional details that Kershaw refused the white handkerchief lest it be interpreted as a flag of truce, that Kirkland collected canteens from his comrades before going over the wall, and that a similar act was performed by artillerymen of Jordan’s battery that evening. But the author gives no sources for these added facts.
An interesting variation on the story appears in Augustus Dickert’s 1899 History of Kershaw’s Brigade. This work, written by a veteran company officer of the Third South Carolina, makes no mention of Kirkland’s act, giving instead a first hand description of a somewhat different scenario (p. 193):
The next day [December 14], as if by mutual consent, was a day of rest. The wounded were gathered in as far as we were able to reach them. The enemy’s wounded lay within one hundred yards of the stone wall for two days and nights, and their piteous calls for help and water were simply heart-rending. Whenever one of our soldiers attempted to relieve the enemy lying close under our wall, he would be fired upon by the pickets and guards in the house tops.
Despite this, Dickert reports one soldier as taking relief work into his own hands (pp. 196-197):
In one of the first charges made during the day a Federal had fallen, and to protect himself as much as possible from the bullets of his enemies, he had by sheer force of will pulled his body along until he had neared the wall. Then he failed through pure exhaustion. From loss of blood and the exposure of the sun’s rays, he called loudly for water…. To go to his rescue was to court certain death… But one brave soldier from Georgia dared all, and during the lull in the firing leaped the walls, rushed to the wounded soldier, and raising his head in his arms, gave him a drink of water, then made his way back and over the wall amid a hail of bullets knocking the dirt up all around him.
There is something compelling about this account, as an act of individual initiative as well as mercy, but it involves no ministering to the mass of casualties, no cease-fire, and, apparently, no Kirkland.
But another easily accessible source exists that should enable us to verify the story of Sergeant Kirkland. His actions occurred at a known time at a known place, within view of trained observers required to file reports on the incidents of the day. We can find these reports in The War of the Rebellion, the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies, published by the War Department between 1880 and 1891. Specifically Series I, Volume 21 (published in 1881) presents accounts of the battle of Fredericksburg prepared by commanders in the field within days of the action. While we might expect the charitable actions of one noncommissioned officer to escape notice, a key portion of Kershaw’s account – the 90 minutes during which no one fires at Kirkland – must have attracted the attention of one of the officers commanding on the field.
Brigadier General George Sykes commanded the Second Division of the Fifth Corps opposite Kershaw’s Brigade on December 14th, the day after the charge, on the afternoon of which Kershaw has Kirkland tending the wounded. According to General Sykes (p. 415):
At 11 p.m. [night of the 13th] these troops [First and Second Regular brigades] relieved the troops in advance (General Howard’s), and held their ground until the same hour the following night. The position assigned these troops was one of extreme peril – in an open field, within 100 yards of the enemy, who was securely sheltered behind stone walls and rifle-pits. They remained under constant fire for twelve hours, and could offer in resistance only the moral effect of that hardihood and bravery which would not yield one foot of the line they were required to protect.
Possibly Sykes did not see actual conditions on the line. One level down the chain of command, Lt. Col. Robert C. Buchanan commanding the First Brigade reports (p. 418):
At daylight firing commenced between the pickets, and it was soon found that my position was completely commanded, so that if an individual showed his head above the crest of the hill he was picked off by the enemy’s sharpshooters immediately…
Buchanan ordered his men not to return the shots, but notes no general cessation of Confederate fire. In fact (p. 419):
The enemy shot my men after they were wounded, and also the hospital attendants as they were conveying the wounded off the ground, in violation of every law of civilized warfare.
Captain John Wilkins, commanding the Fifth Infantry notes (p. 420), “At daybreak I found the pickets entirely unprotected, and exposed to a murderous fire from the enemy’s rifle-pits…” Captain Hiram Dryer, commanding the Fourth Infantry, stated that daylight found his men within 100 yards of the Confederate position, and under continuous fire until they occupied a brick tannery, from which they “succeeded in keeping the enemy’s fire under until midnight, when we were relieved…” (p. 422).
Captain Matthew Blunt, commanding the Twelfth Infantry reports his men taking position within 200 feet of the enemy and receiving “a continued fire” (p. 423) until relieved Sunday night. Captain John O’Connell, Fourteenth U. S. Infantry, reports holding a position that Sunday about 150 yards from the enemy “under almost continuous fire of musketry from the enemy’s rifle-pits, with occasional shots from heavy guns during the daylight…” (p. 424).
The Second Brigade had it no easier. Its commander, Major George Andrews, reported of that Sunday (p. 426):
Our line was now about 80 yards in front of a stone wall, behind which the enemy was posted in great numbers… To move even was sure to draw the fire of the enemy’s sharpshooters, who were posted in the adjacent houses and in tree-tops, and whose fire we were unable to return. Thus the troops remained for twelve long hours, unable to eat, drink, or attend to the calls of nature, for so relentless were the enemy that not even a wounded man or our stretcher-carriers were exempted from their fire.
Captain Salem Marsh, commanding a battalion of the First and Second U. S., reports the fire on the 14th as “terrific” and “passing not more than a foot over the ground.” He also notes that “The firing of the enemy ceased at dark.” (p. 427) Captain Henry Maynadier, commanding a battalion of the Tenth Infantry, reports “a continuous fire” (p. 428); Captain Charles Russell of the Eleventh Infantry similarly states that the enemy “continued the fire all day” (p. 429).
In summary, the relevant Union after action reports not only fail to confirm Kershaw’s story, but describe conditions that make it unlikely.
Confederate reports provide another perspective.
Colonel Kennedy of the Second South Carolina (Kirkland’s regiment) mentions fifteen officers and two orderlies by name for meritorious conduct, but Kirkland is not among them (p. 593). Colonel James Nance of the Third South Carolina similarly ends his account on the 13th, when he was wounded. Captain John Nance takes up the story, having taken command after two more senior officers were struck down, but tells only of the relief of the regiment on the evening of the 13th and notes nothing further until the regiment returned to camp on the 15th (p. 596).
Lieutenant Colonel Elbert Bland of the Seventh South Carolina describes the battle, and then tells of his regiment relieving Philips’ Legion on the stone wall: “We held this position with the wings doubled, occasionally exchanging shots with the enemy, until Tuesday morning (16th)…” (p. 597). Captain Stackhouse of the Eighth South Carolina states, “On the 14th, we confined our fire to select parties of the enemy” (p. 598), but makes no note of a general cease fire, or of Kirkland.
Colonel De Saussure of the Fifteenth South Carolina reports that his regiment moved on the evening of the 13th to support the Second South Carolina at the wall, “and there remained until the evacuation of the city…” (p. 599). He makes no mention of Kirkland, but does commend his surgeon, assistant surgeon, and chaplain for their attention to the wounded. Colonel Robert McMillan of the Twenty-fourth Georgia took over the command of Cobb’s brigade when General Cobb received a mortal wound during the Union assaults of the 13th. Of the 14th he reports, “We rested on our arms that night, and throughout the next day {Sunday, the 14th} a close, heavy, and continuous skirmish fire was kept up.”
As for Kershaw himself, his own after action report (presented entire in Appendix B) spends but one short paragraph on Sunday the 14th:
At daylight in the morning the enemy was in position, lying behind the first declivity in front, but the operations on both sides were confined to skirmishing of sharpshooters. We lost but 1 man during the day, but it is reported that we inflicted a loss upon the enemy (Sykes’ division) of 150.
He mentions eight officers as having distinguished themselves, as well as Captain Cuthbert’s company and Captain Read’s battery, but makes no mention of Kirkland.
In short, Kershaw’s 1880 letter to the editor receives no support from contemporary after action reports, including Kershaw’s own.
Kershaw had another opportunity to insert Kirkland into the official record, or something like it, when he wrote the editors of the Century Magazine for their “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War” series, on December 6th, 1887. But here he confined himself to technical corrections of General Ransom’s letter concerning Fredericksburg, and fails to note anything of interest occurring on December 14th.
A story in the Richmond Daily Dispatch of January 12, 1863, provides another contemporary view, titled “The Carnage at Fredericksburg – Graphic Account From a Yankee Soldier.” In this an unnamed Union soldier writes to a friend in Baltimore, describing the battle and aftermath. He notes that the main attack “was fought on a remarkable small space of ground,” that each wave was virtually annihilated, that a slight rise within 150 yards of the stone wall gave some shelter, that a “criminally negligent” ambulance corps did not carry off the wounded till after midnight, and that the troops laid out all the next day expecting the attack to be renewed. But he did not see Kirkland.
At this point it seems worth noting that the Kirkland story also does not appear in some of the better known histories of the war. Douglas Southall Freeman makes no mention of the Sergeant, and of the scene on December 14th writes (Robert E. Lee, Vol. II, Chapter 31, p. 469):
Union troops were burying the dead within their lines and were carrying off such of the wounded as they could reach. Now and again the skirmishers engaged in angry exchanges, and the Federal batteries fired a few half-hearted rounds. That was all.
His picture of the following day provides a marked contrast with the acts of mercy ascribed to Kirkland (p. 470):
On the morning of the 15th, with his own line still further strengthened, Lee observed that the enemy had dug rifle pits and had thrown up fortifications on the outskirts of the town, as if to repel attacks. He saw a ghastly sight besides: The Federal dead that still remained between the lines had changed color. They no longer were blue, but naked and discolored. During the night, they had been stripped by shivering Confederates, many of whom now boasted overcoats, boots, and jackets for which the people of the North had paid. It was ghoulish business, reprobated by the enemy but excused by the beneficiaries, who asked whether it was better for them to freeze or to take clothing the former owners would not miss.
Shelby Foote, who might fairly be said to have never met an anecdote he didn’t like, similarly omits Kirkland, repeating Freeman’s account of southern soldiers treating the Federal casualties as a source of winter clothing. One popular historian who does mention Kirkland legend is Francis O’Reilly, but even he in the end hedges a bit (The Fredericksburg Campaign, 2006, p. 439):
Whether Kirkland acted alone, or pioneered a host of encounters and somehow became a composite for all of the works of mercy, is hard to determine….
Not all recollections of Fredericksburg leave out the Sergeant. T. Rembert of Company E, a comrade of Kirkland’s, left a tribute to him in the form of a letter to The Confederate Veteran, in 1903. However, his story repeats the highlights of Kershaw’s 1880 letter, with no details that would distinguish his as an original account. Given the paucity of corroboration, it seems appropriate to reexamine the story as Kershaw told it, and see how key elements accord with other accounts of the battle, and the logic of the situation. We start with the setting itself:
The ground between the lines was bridged with the wounded, dead, and dying Federals, victims of the many desperate and gallant assaults…
A field carpeted with wounded provides the essential setting for the tale of Kirkland’s charity, but where were the wounded, and how many were still there?
General McLaws, commanding the Confederate division along the wall, stated that “The body of one man, believed to be an officer, was found within about 30 yards of the stone wall, and other single bodies were scattered at increased distances until the main mass of the dead lay thickly strewn over the ground at something over 100 yards off…” (OR, Series I, Volume 21, p. 581).
That is, the mass of Federal casualties lay within what would soon become, according to the after action reports, the picket lines of Sykes’ Regulars. Though their officers withdrew these men to less exposed positions during the day, such wounded as remained would still lie much closer to the Federal than Confederate lines.
But in any case the Federals did not simply abandon those wounded in the assaults of the 13th. Private William McCarter (My Life in the Irish Brigade, pp. 190-194) describes small parties of soldiers, backed up by ambulances, searching for wounded between the lines on that night, as well as his own efforts to drag himself back. Brigadier-General Humphreys, commanding the third division of the Fifth Corps, which made the final charge against the wall, reported on his own efforts (OR, Series I, Volume 21, p. 433), stating “The wounded were nearly all brought in before daylight, and some of the dead, but many of the latter were left upon the field.” The unnamed Union private quoted in the Daily Dispatch expresses bitterness at the ambulance corps for not coming till after midnight, but they came.
Altogether, between the efforts of the walking wounded and ambulance parties, and considering the effect of lying through a winter’s night and day in the field, there seems considerable reason to doubt that many wounded remained to “bridge” the space between Sykes’ and Kershaw’s lines on the 14th.
…the General sat in the north room, up stairs … when Kirkland came up …
Kirkland, a sergeant in a company in one of several regiments under the command of General Kershaw, passes by or through his company commander, his regimental commander, and the general’s staff, to make a personal appeal to relieve the Federal wounded, while his unit is engaged with the enemy or awaiting an attack. It seems equally difficult to see him leaving the ranks without their knowledge or to imagine him going through each link in his chain of command, as each refers him to the next until finally the general himself tells the young sergeant to go ahead and risk his life.
“General, can I show a white handkerchief?” … “No, Kirkland…”
This exchange has the effect of accentuating the danger Kirkland encounters – apparently Kershaw sees himself as having no authority to call for a truce, however limited. Yet he has already allowed an enlisted man to undertake an action forbidden to the rest of the army.
Unharmed, he reached the nearest sufferer…
Fortunately for Kirkland, Sykes’ division has been ordered not to fire, though Dryer’s men in the tannery may have come into action by this time.
This done, he laid him tenderly down, placed his knapsack under his head…
Most accounts of the Federal assault on the wall mention the dropping of knapsacks before going into action. McCarter left his on the other side of the Rappahannock, others removed them in town. Humphrey’s division even dispensed with their haversacks and blankets before making the attack.
…spread his overcoat over him…
The wounded Federal had either cast his overcoat aside, or Kirkland must have wrestled it off him. In any event, based on Freeman’s account, it will soon find its way to the Confederate lines.
…replaced his empty canteen with a full one, and turned to another sufferer…
Kershaw doesn’t tell us that Kirkland takes several canteens, but he must have either done that or traveled repeatedly back to his own lines for more water, or both. It is only at this point, however, that the danger from the enemy has passed:
By this time his purpose was well understood on both sides, and all danger was over. From all parts of the field arose fresh cries of “Water, water…”
For an hour and a half did this ministering angel pursue his labor of mercy…
At this point the story goes beyond merely raising a few questions to presenting several seeming improbabilities.
A general cease-fire has broken out, involving troops for a hundred yards or more in each direction – otherwise “all danger” would not yet have passed. As remarkable as this seems, it would be even more remarkable had troops continued to shoot each other while leaving Kirkland to go about his labors unmolested – so remarkable that, by this point, we could expect Kershaw to mention it.
Even more remarkably, although the wounded cry from all over the field, only Kirkland attends them, and only with water. For the next ninety minutes no medical personnel on either side – not the Confederate surgeons and chaplain praised by De Sausseur, nor the Union hospital attendants that Buchanan reports as having been fired upon – take advantage of the lull to perform their duties. Nor does the Georgia soldier reported by Dickert; nor does any other soldier. Everyone in view seems paralyzed by Kirkland’s act. They neither remove nor treat any of the casualties “bridging” the positions; the best the wounded can hope for is a drink of water.
Not only do the observers fail equally to fire on or assist Kirkland, but within days, when writing up their after action reports or letters to friends in Baltimore, or years later, composing their memoirs, they make no mention of the incident. This despite the fact that the deed occurs on an afternoon when the sun will set, according to McCarter, at 4:30, so that the halt in the firing and the public act of mercy occupies a significant portion of the day, on an open field in view of thousands on both sides.
Interestingly, all of this makes Dickert’s story of the nameless Georgian that much more compelling. Here a single soldier, seeing a suffering foe who has been fortunate enough to drag himself near the wall, on his own initiative leaps over, gives the man a drink, and leaps back under fire. It has a ring of truth, and it does not in any way contradict the after action reports or other accounts of the battle.
It also raises the possibility that this might be the real Kirkland story. When it went into action at the wall, Dickert’s regiment took position on the left of the Twenty-fourth Georgia, Cobb’s Legion. Colonel Kennedy of the Second South Carolina notes that when his regiment took its position, “three companies and a half” fell in “in rear of the Twenty-fourth Georgia Regiment.” (OR, Series I, Vol. XXI, p. 592) With the Confederate troops formed in four ranks behind the wall, a soldier of the Second South Carolina crossing over the wall to aid a wounded Federal might very easily be assumed to be a “Georgian” by the troops to their left in the Third South Carolina. This does not substantiate the legend, but it at least provides some hint of a likely origin.
With all this, several questions remain – what did Sergeant Kirkland actually do at Fredericksburg? If he didn’t do precisely what Kershaw said he did, why would Kershaw say that? And what can it matter now?
We cannot answer the first question. Unless Kirkland was Dickert’s “Georgian” the record that fails to corroborate Kershaw’s story also fails to replace it. Kirkland himself was killed in action at Chickamauga less than a year later, reportedly as a Lieutenant. But we do not even know that Kirkland held that rank, or even that of Sergeant – Dickert’s history, which includes a muster roll, lists him only as “Kirkland, R. R.” among the privates of companies E and G, and notes that gaps in the records make it impossible to reflect every change in the ranks.
It seems reasonable to assume that Kirkland was a gallant young man – he gave his life in the war, and attracted the admiration of his General. Perhaps Kershaw never really meant us to take his story literally, but rather intended to convey a deeper meaning.
It seems notable that Kershaw not only left Kirkland out of the after action report, but also left him out of the “Battles and Leaders” account of Fredericksburg written eight years after his letter to the editor. Kershaw may have seen a difference between a human interest story told to a local paper at a time when papers published lyric poetry and lurid scandals and everything between, and the actual historical record.
There is a certain logic in reserving for the latter the literal truth while offering to the former the sort of tale that perhaps ought to have been true – the kind of civic parable that Plato in The Republic recommends that the elite tell to commoners, the kind of story incorporated in inspirational messages in sermons. In that context, the literal truth would matter less than the spiritual truth of the noble youth who confronts the brutality of the battlefield with an act of Christian charity and later dies heroically for his country.
Several elements in the telling of Kershaw’s story make this a more plausible than speculative interpretation. The idea that he wrote a parable rather than a history shows up in the literary flourishes in the letter, including the passage in which Kirkland, having received permission to proceed, “ran down [the stairs] with a bright smile on his handsome countenance.” Literally, of course, Kershaw would have no way of seeing Kirkland’s bright smile as the sergeant ran down the stairs away from him, but it adds to the tone of the tale. Similarly the conclusion of the letter hints at a purpose other than a strict historical account: he has bequeathed to the American youth — yea, to the world — an example which dignifies our common humanity. It was not an example noted at the time, but the letter published 17 years later, and the statue erected in 1965, have made up for it.
The final question remains. Does it matter whether Kershaw’s account of Sergeant Kirkland’s deed is literally true?
From one perspective, we can say that it does not. We do not need a real action to praise the virtue of aiding a wounded foe. Yet another view might hold that when we memorialize an act of such singularity and uncertain provenance to the exclusion of a greater reality, we lose the concrete to the fanciful. Hundreds of American soldiers died defending the wall at Fredericksburg, holding their ground though it seemed that the whole enemy army was coming their way. More than a thousand other American soldiers died before that wall in an attack that quickly became equally famous for futility and heroism. The men in the first Federal assault wave saw a situation that seemed, but had not yet proven to be, hopeless. The ensuing attacks were certainly so, and yet men went forward anyway, into the fire.
Kirkland himself fell to the fire less than a year later. In celebrating an action that may not actually have occurred (and that Kershaw himself apparently never tried to place in the historical record), the statue fictionalizes one man’s courage even as it overshadows that of thousands of others. In effect, the real soldiers – including Kirkland himself – have no statue. In its place stands a monument to a myth.
103 comments… add one
Tim Abbott Dec 22, 2009 @ 14:54
Compellingly and perceptively written.
I couldn't agree more. It should be written up for one of the Civil War magazines. It would make for an excellent article.
jfe Dec 22, 2009 @ 15:20
It would make a fine article, I agree, but there would be many who would not like seeing another myth punctured.
Mac Wyckoff Dec 22, 2009 @ 23:17
While the author of this article did a very good job consulting sources aviable on-line, he missed much information about Kirkland and the incident that is not on line. I have studied this incident for twenty-five years. It appears that the author of this article did not consult my book on the 2nd South Carolina which details the Kirkland innocent and there will be even more detail in my upcoming greatly reviased and expanded second edition. Nor did the author of this article consult the huge file on Kirkland at the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center. It would seem to me that anyone serious about this incident would have started at the battlefield where the incent occured instead of relying on-line sources. The file at the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center contains my research into why Kershaw wrote the newspaper article. He was asked in a newspaper article about the incident a week before to provide more details and the name of the soldier who performed the humanitarian act. That was his motive. It is important to note that as the story grew in popularity, no one disputed Kershaw's story or that Kirkland was the one who did it. In fact, after Kershaw's wrote his account, several members of the 2nd South Carolina came forward confirming Kershaw's account and naming Kirkland as the humanitarian. If the author had checked the Compiled Service Record of Richard Kirkland or consulted the roster of my book he would find that Kirkland was a sergeant at the time of the incident and the time of his death.
Incidents like this were usually not mentioned in the Official Records so the author's arguments that since they don't mention the incident means it did not happen don't hold up. It also could be that humanitarian incdients like this were not that common and so not worth mentioning at the time. With the passage of time, an incident like this may have grown in importance and eventually took on a life of its own. While there is no contemporary evidence that Kirkland perfromed this act, there is not evidence that he did not. There are eye witnesses who wrote later of the incident and no eye witnesses challenged Kersahw's story or that Kirkland performed it.
Anyone wishing to learn more about the Kirkland incident should consult the extensive f ile at the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center.
Mac Wyckoff
Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. You are absolutely correct in pointing out that anyone interested in the Kirkland will have to take a trip to FSNMP to consult the files. I published the account with full understanding that it covered only sources available Online and that it does a pretty good job of critiquing those sources, your concerns nothwithstanding.
Perhaps you can clarify something for me about the large file on Kirkland that is located at the FSNMP. I assume I am reading their bibliographies incorrectly, but where in their books do Rable and O'Reilly cite a Kirkland collection? So, I assume that the file includes wartime accounts of Kirkland's actions. If so, than why did neither of these authors cite those accounts? Thanks again for taking the time to write. It's a fascinating story that seems to bridge the divide between history and collective memory.
Michael Schaffner Dec 23, 2009 @ 15:09
“While there is no contemporary evidence that Kirkland performed this act, there is not evidence that he did not.”
I think that kind of sums up the actual historical case for Kirkland, except that I also think that the after-action reports of the commanders of Sykes' regulars and Kershaw’s brigade provide compelling documentation that the story told by Kershaw could not have happened. After-action reports often vary in details, and can lend a kind of Rashomon-like quality to the story of a battle – in the case of Fredericksburg, for example, the reports I cited vary in the intensity of firing described, with those receiving generally reporting more than those giving. But they all agree in the absence of the hour and a half long cease-fire claimed by Kershaw in his later account (though not in his AAR), as well as in the absence of angels. Moreover, McLaws’ statement about the distance of Federal bodies from the wall supports Humphrey’s account of the removal of his wounded, which receives further support from McCarter and other casualties who survived. So contemporaries not only fail to mention Kirkland’s deed, but they describe a situation in which it simply could not occur as Kershaw tells it.
A reading of Dickert's history of Kershaw’s brigade (written by an officer in that brigade who served at Fredericksburg) tells me that some who didn't object to Kershaw's story about Kirkland had simply never heard it. Indeed, if Kirkland was widely known as the “Angel of Marye’s Heights” at any time in the 35 years following the war, we would expect a comrade of his, writing for other comrades of his in the same brigade, to have showcased the story in a book published in 1899.
Mr. Wyckoff seems dismissive of “on-line sources” but I want to point out to those readers who might not have seen them that the Official Records first appeared on paper in the years 1880 through 1901. The ORs include just about every report and piece of correspondence that the War Department could lay their hands on and are even more valuable to us now that they can be searched electronically. Those interested can take a look at them here: http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/moa_browse.html
Some of the sources I consulted were available only on paper at the time I first wrote the article (2007), but have since found their way on-line, typically through Google Books. I don’t think they lost historical value in the scanning process.
I’d like to turn this question about the ORs around and ask, if twenty-five years of research have failed to uncover “contemporary evidence that Kirkland performed this act,” why hasn’t Mr. Wyckoff turned to contemporary sources such as the Official Records and Dickert’s history for possible alternative explanations? To say “Incidents like this were usually not mentioned in the Official Records” sells that source pretty short. I’ve found everything in the Official Records from battlefield correspondence to studies of knapsack weight, ammunition production statistics, inventories of captured materiel, and reports on the durability of sewed vs. pegged brogans. The only incidents consistently not mentioned in the Official Records are incidents that did not occur.
But my search didn’t start with the computer; it did in fact begin on the battlefield. I have gone to Fredericksburg many times, both as a tourist and as a reenactor. I have several times marched along the route traveled by the Irish Brigade in living histories narrated by Mr. Wyckoff’s NPS colleague Frank O’Reilly. It was at the end of one of those, facing the statue of Kirkland before the fateful wall, that my questions about the sergeant began. I wanted to know more about the story from the men who had seen it happen. I first looked for leads in my personal library, particularly Foote and McCarter’s books. I was surprised that Shelby Foote didn’t cover Kirkland, since he so obviously loved a good story. Once I got to the Official Records and other original sources, I found an explanation for the omission – no one can reconcile the story as Kershaw told it with the contemporary accounts of the battle by the men who fought it.
I should also mention that I found some of Mr. Wyckoff’s writings on-line, but while dramatic and well-written they did not refer to original sources that independently verified the story. When I first drafted my Kirkland article I sent copies both to Mr. O’Reilly (who worked at the Park with Mr. Wyckoff) and to the e-mail address of the Kirkland museum, in each case asking the recipients if they had any information that contradicted my findings, or indeed anything about Kirkland’s alleged act written earlier than Kershaw’s account. I never heard back. The existence of a “huge file” at the Park was thus something I did not know about, but as I was interested in contemporary accounts corroborating the story – material that, according to Mr. Wyckoff’s statement above, does not exist – I am not sure what anyone is supposed to find there.
I am glad to receive Mr. Wyckoff’s clarification of Kirkland’s rank – that he was a sergeant at Fredericksburg and died a sergeant at Chickamauga. Kershaw’s original letter states that the young man was promoted to lieutenant after Gettysburg, but this now seems the least of the general’s exaggerations on Kirkland’s behalf.
Cynic Feb 15, 2010 @ 18:04
A wonderful piece of scholarship.
I'd like to add, if I may, to your discussion of Kershaw's motives in embellishing or inventing the story in 1880. By the time he wrote his letter, the Civil War was being reimagined amid a national focus on reunion. Nina Silber termed it the Culture of Conciliation, which is as good a label as any. David Blight has focused on the particular subject of soldiers' accounts of their wartime experiences. And other scholarship abounds. It all points in the in the same direction. By the 1880s, a new tone was ascendant in accounts of the war. It became important to Americans to reconstruct the war as a defining and shared national experience. Veterans groups – blue and gray – began meeting together. National groups, particularly fraternal orders, made a point of spanning the Mason-Dixon line. Among the most popular tropes of the era was the notion that all veterans were members of a common fraternity. And stories like that of Kirkland were seized upon as evidence, popularized to illustrate the way they wished the war had been fought. The key feature of the story is that Kirkland's sympathy for the wounded trumped even his concern with his own life – and that his act won the admiration of both sides, to the point that they ceased firing. An act of true fraternal love, in other words, was powerful enough to silence the guns.
Small acts of mercy were common amidst the horror of war. But bilateral, spontaneous, sustained cease-fires were not. The former might well have been omitted from official accounts; the latter would almost certainly have been reflected in some form. So why did Kershaw need to exaggerate the drama of the moment? The key to the power of the story, particularly to his audience at the time, was the fact that all the participants on both sides were prepared to set aside their differences. If Kirkland had moved about the battlefield under sporadic fire for ninety minutes, for example, it would have heightened his own heroism, but diminished the intended import. Similarly, if the surgeons and ambulances were portrayed as following Kirkland's example, they would merely have been fulfilling their duties. It was Kirkland's willingness to act as an individual that is key to the tale.
And, in fact, Kershaw confirms this himself, concluding his account by writing that Kirkland stands as “an example which dignifies our common humanity.” That's a very interesting phrase. Not a confirmation of Christian mercy. Not a heroic figure, distinguished precisely because of his divergence from the norm. Not even a tribute to Southern manhood, or to the nobility of the Lost Cause. No, Kirkland “dignifies our common humanity.” He acted because he saw no difference, amid the suffering, between gray and blue. And both armies, moved by his example, ceased their fire.
It's a powerful fable. And, in some ways, it makes me glad that the statue was erected. It's a concrete embodiment of something very important – the collective Gilded Age desire to reassert our commonality. So long as we don't mistake it for history, it conveys an equally important lesson.
Michael Schaffner Feb 17, 2010 @ 3:10
Thanks very much for the compliment. Really — the whole thing's been a bit awkward for me.
I'm still not sure about the motive behind the story. Possibly it had a complex of purposes. Beyond the reassertion of common humanity, one can also see the assertion of a ripping good yarn and the deliberate change of the Fredericksburg narrative from gallant-Irish-assault-against-all-odds to Christlike-Confederate-compassion-even-against-dastardly-yankees. Either way of course it would sell papers. And that in itself could have been the point. I recently discovered that the Charleston News and Courier published whole books of this sort of thing in the 1880s. If you like Kirkland you can also read, for example, Our Women in the War — http://books.google.com/books?id=GsoksxMSO58C&d… — a whole compendium of tales about gallant southern belles and the hardships of the southland. It seems enough of a genre that I begin to wonder whether Kershaw even wrote that letter himself or simply allowed his name to be attached to something ghost-written for the edification of the masses.
It's not as if much of our popular view of the war isn't more or less legend anyway. Kirkland has plenty of company in the miracle bullet of Raymond, the heroics of vivandiere Annie Etheridge, the Confederate composition of Taps, legions of “Black Confederates,” and other myths.
And even the conventional history of the battle of Fredericksburg seems a little mythic when you delve into the official records and first person accounts like McCarter's and Armstrong's. Each wave of the gallant attack fell apart pretty much within yards of the real jump off point, and Burnside's supposed stupidity looks more or less understandable given the communications of the day and the word he was receiving from the front.
And yet that's all more or less besides the point when it comes to the Kirkland Memorial. I think I would mind it less if it had nearby its own historical marker — one explaining why it had much more to do with 1965 than 1862. Without such an explanation I can't help but see it as less uplifting than septic.
Thanks for the comment. I tend to agree with you, though I think the idea of Kirkland having penned the piece himself goes a bit too far. That said, I do agree that the monument tells us much more about 1965 than it does 1862. I've been reading quite a bit about the monument in publications of the 1960s and it really does fit neatly into the push to see the war along consensus lines at the height of the Cold War. Glad to see that you are still following the blog.
michaelschaffner Feb 17, 2010 @ 15:07
Sorry for the confusion — I didn't mean that I thought that Kirkland himself wrote the piece. I believe Kirkland died in the war. But given that the Kershaw letter wasn't unique — that the News and Courier published many similar stories, enough to fill at least one book — some other ghost writer wouldn't surprise me. But I don't want go any further down that path than simply observing that the original letter looks more like pulp folklore than history.
Just drawing on my own memory of the time, the civil rights movement gives us another context for a statue of a noble, Christian Confederate soldier in 1965. It's a nice counterweight to the Pettus Bridge.
Yes, I still drop in from time to time. About time I registered full time, eh?
By the way, good luck with the “black Confederate” crowd.
Duh…I've had so much on my mind that I overlooked that important fact. Yes, it would have been quite a stunt for Kirkland to have composed the letter.
Craig Dec 24, 2009 @ 20:48
The real gist of your case seems to be the limited number of first hand accounts from witnesses to Kirkland's actions. While I would agree, if we were to present this to a court of law, the weight should be upon eyewitness accounts. But I would ask if Kirkland's actions, or alleged actions if you wish, were something which the officers might normally include in reports. We often cite the ORs as if these were some magic documents encompassing all that occurred on the battlefield. As if the writers were required to provide detailed essays of their perceptions, sensations, and impressions. Not at all. These were simply military after action reports detailing the actions of the units as recalled by the commanders. I would argue then Kirkland's act of mercy, if it occurred or not, was not something normally included in a battalion, regimental, brigade, or division report. That Kershaw never “debunked,” and in fact added to the Kirkland story post war is actually far more telling than his lack of inclusion within reports written at the time of the event, all things considered.
As as second point, I would also wonder how unique or extraordinary Kirkland's actions were. At the very heart of the somewhat contradictory notion of civilized warfare lodged in the Western mindset. Not just soldiers, but throughout society, is ingrained the respect for white flags, dignified treatment of prisoners, care for wounded, and indeed the concept of “non-combatant.” Taking such moral and ethical cornerstones as a base, there should have been dozens if not hundreds of “Kirklands” rendering assistance through the course of the war. Maybe there was more than one “Kirkland” with canteen in hand on Marye's Heights (the evidence presented in your post indicates at least one existed). And who is going to stop and record names for posterity in a situation as played out at Fredericksburg? More to my first point above, are there any mention of Kirkland-like acts from any official reports from other battles (I can think of blue-to-blue or gray-to-gray acts of mercy, but not many gray-blue exchanges)? Or were such acts commonplace enough to go without mention?
As for fictionalizing one man's courage while overshadowing others, well that's the normal state of affairs in this world (think about the Iwo Jima memorial for instance). Some of the bravest men and women I've ever met will never get a statue on even the smallest town square. Some won't even gain recognition in the form of noted awards. Guess I can provide many more appropriate examples from which to make the stand against the inequities of these public displays and the faulty collective memory. I seriously doubt anyone is rolling over in their grave at the attention given Richard Rowland Kirkland. And if the premise is Kirkland's memorial somehow slights other more deserving individuals, then I'll start on my rant about the Dante Alighieri statue in Meridian Hill Park, Washington, D.C. while William Shakespeare goes unrecognized.
Michael Schaffner Dec 25, 2009 @ 4:58
The real import of the after action reports is that they not only fail to mention Kirkland, but that they contradict — without any ulterior motive or reference to the legend to follow — the circumstances underlying Kershaw's account, especially the truce and the ground carpeted with wounded within easy canteen-hauling distance of the Confederate lines.
Of course the other critical fact about the after action reports is that they exist, and that they were written a short time after the battle when memories were fresh, and that both sides agree on the essentials. To discount these reports — Union and Confederate alike — while priviledging a letter to the editor written nearly twenty years after the fact, seems a bit unbalanced to me. It seems bizarre, in fact. If we didn't so much want the story to be true, we would never stretch so far in favor of one much later source against a dozen written at the time.
But don't stop at trying to discount the after-action reports. I would like to hear the explanation for why we have no mention of the incident in any of the newspaper reports of the battle (tell me that editors at Harpers or the Brooklyn Eagle or the Richmond Daily Dispatch wouldn't have given their right arms for a story like this!), nor any of the letters from the soldiers on either side at the time (wasn't even one of Kirkland's beneficiaries grateful enough to write home about it?), nor any contemporary journal entries –it's not just absent from the AARs, but apparently from all other records.
But even those aren't the only problems I have with the account, now that I've taken the time to check it out and consider it. Not only does the Kirkland legend stretch the normal standards of historical research, it seems to me to risk prettifying and trivializing the very real horror of the actual battle. By focusing on the “Christ-like” Kirkland — moving among the grateful wounded while the two great armies sit, jaws-agape, in admiration — we pass by the Regulars lying under fire unable to “attend to the calls of nature” (or, more likely, attending to them in their clothes where they lay); we praise the figure who is not shot at while poor Lt. Col. Buchanan's wounded are wounded again and even the stretcher bearers attempting to reach them are shot. In crediting the legend of Kirkland, we credit Kershaw's 1880 letter while ignoring his own report after the battle, in which he proudly reports inflicting 150 further casualities on his enemy and hasn't a word for his charitable sergeant.
And not only do we praise the water-bearer above his suffering foemen, but by fetishizing Kirkland's alleged act of kindness we ignore the reality of the Confederate position on that day. The Confederate soldiers in the ranks didn't know whether or not they would get hit again, and they didn't know whether or not they might be ordered to counterattack — to cross the same ground that had seen the ruin of many Federal attacks the day before. The Kirkland story obscures both the real suffering and the real heroism of both sides on that battlefield.
And, so attractive has the story of the soldier giving water to the wounded enemy become, that we don't even begin to think about what even that simple act might really have meant. The story is so much about what we'd like to believe that it seduces us away from any critical reading at all. But if you think about it, and have read anything about military medicine at the time, the worst thing you can do for a gut-shot soldier (not an unlikely condition for someone disabled and lingering on the battlefield) is to give him water. For others, exsanguination causes such thirst that a few drops or swallows would be another kind of torture — McCarter emptied two canteens when he finally reached a party of his comrades from the Irish brigade. In fact, the kindest thing to do for the wounded is what the armies actually did: try to get them back to the professional medical staffs, even if in a few cases that means waiting another day for the cease fire. The story not only trivializes the situation of the armies on the day it supposedly occurred, it trivializes the condition of the wounded who were supposedly helped.
I don't want you to stop believing this story if it makes you feel better about humanity and warfare. But the more I consider the legend and compare it to the reality of the battle as reported by participants at the time, the more I think that Kirkland himself would be rolling over in his grave to hear it.
While I usually utilize the Chancellorsville battlefield for my school trips, on a few occasions I have taken my students to Fredericksburg. Inevitably we come across the Kirkland statue, but I've never made too much of it in my tours; in fact, I typically talk about the setting in which it was dedicated in 1965 rather than as a significant point of reflection on the battle itself for some of the reasons you mention here. In short, it seems to me that this story overshadows and distorts what happened on the site.
Your students are truly fortunate to have an instructor who understands that memorials often tell us more about the people who raised them, and the time in which they were raised, than the people or events they memorialize.
Thanks for the kind words. I am lucky enough to be able to teach an entire class on these issues. My students are getting ready to go on a field trip to Monument Avenue and Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond to explore issues of historical memory and public history.
Michael, I am not discounting the after action reports at all. Just pointing out the nature of the vessel.
Two things that are very often misunderstood about the AAR. First these were supposed to be very stoic, unemotional, professional documents written in order to convey a strict understanding of the military situation. At its base, the AAR is the response from subordinate to superior offering proof one followed orders. The documents were not written for the benefit of historians, but rather to support the next higher HQ's presentation of the events. Reports were consolidated in order to ensure accuracy of the details (again military maneuvers, logistics, etc, but not someone's impressions or emotional reactions).
Second is the timeliness. Often times the reports were written, submitted, rejected, resubmitted. In the case of Kershaw's report from Fredericksburg, it was only submitted on the day after Christmas that year, and after all his subordinate units had submitted their reports. If you bounce it off the regimental returns, you see a classic AAR report rollup. But this meant delays up the chain. General Lee's official summary report of the battle was not submitted until April 10, 1863, for instance. I am always suspect of “freshness of memory” with a battle report until I can draw a chain of events pertaining to the creation of said report. In other words, how long DID the author have to contemplate the events and what other accounts did they refer to while composing the report?
All I'm saying is, given the style, format, and processing of the reports, it is expected that no mention of Kirkland's actions or lack thereof would be found in the official reports. And as I alluded to before, if Kirkland-like actions were not uncommon (as I would contend), then why would a reporter or diarist consider them in isolation? Particularly within the context of a great battle with so many observations to consider.
Guess my point about Kirkland is even if the man from S.C. didn't perform the acts attributed to him, someone did. And similar acts occurred throughout the war. It is, as I pointed out before, part of the Western view of how war should retain some degree of civility. (And I can say with great personal reflection that civility is all to often dropped when one perceives a lack of reciprocal civility.) How many “Kirklands” carried water that day in December? Or on other fields during the war? Sometimes we have to look to other disciplines to gain context and comprehension of the historical events. I'd submit this is one such case.
On the other had, since it seems from the tone you are looking for examples of the cold hard realities of war, I would direct you to the writings of E.P. Alexander and his descriptions of artillery employment. At about the same time Kirkland would have been offering canteens, the Confederate artillerist was employing guns to fire upon the pinned down Union troops. This was done more to demonstrate the effectiveness of the particular weapon, less so for military necessity.
If Kirkland didn't carry canteens, then I'll just summarize my response as “meh.”
Thank you for your response. I respect your continued belief in Kershaw's moving tribute to man's humanity under awful circumstances. It may be my loss, but I will probably continue to rely on more prosaic sources, including the AARs and other first hand accounts of the battle. These sources I have already presented and discussed as well as I can, and at this point I fear that in any further discussion I would only repeat myself, and possibly inject an emotion entirely inappropriate to the subject and the day. With all sincerity, I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas.
Craig Dec 26, 2009 @ 1:42
Michael, I'll accept your sincerity. And certainly if you cannot avoid the injection of inappropriate discussions it is time to move on. But let me make one point perfectly clear. I never said I reject AARs. I said I place them in context. That, sir, is key to understanding the events.
Eric Schafer Mar 9, 2012 @ 9:51
I read your interesting article but not only found it a typical case of revisionist history – “I couldn’t find it, so it didn’t happen” – but you also deliberately deceived the reader concerning a great historian. You state that “Douglas Southall Freeman makes no mention of the Sergeant [Kirkland]” but this is a falsehood. While Freeman does not mention Kirkland in his biography of Robert E. Lee, he devotes no less than two full pages to Kirkland’s act in “Lee’s Lieutenants” Volume 2, middle page 378-middle page 380.
A true historian – like Freeman – researches all the facts, sifts, and reports when he feels sure is the truth. If Freeman says it…I believe it. You deliberately withheld Freeman’s account because it did not jibe with your attempt to discredit Kirkland.
Shame on you.
Eric Schafer
Tony Ziebol Mar 27, 2010 @ 0:06
All of you have brought up interesting points, but I’ve been researching the Kirkland story for 8+ years and I believe Kershaw was telling the truth. In fact, the Camden, SC chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans named the camp after Kirkland, despite six generals being from the town. And this was approved by the generals and soldiers that were still living. Contempory accounts are sketchy, in this I agree, but there are so many mentions of Kirkland in speeches and memoirs from soldiers that fought with him, that I find it extremely hard to believe that the story was made up. If you read the accounts of the reburial of Kirkland, you have to come to the conclusion that this was someone who was venerated at the highest level by all who knew him. I’ve just returned from South Carolina and Kirkland’s descendants may soon put all questions to rest. I’ll know more soon!
Kevin Levin Mar 27, 2010 @ 1:04
Tony,
Thanks for taking the time to write. It’s a fascinating story and one that is worth serious research. First, I don’t think the fact that the SCV chapter was named after Kirkland over six generals is significant. After all, many of the chapters around the country are named after popular figures from the war. There are indeed many mentions of Kirkland, but we don’t see that until after the war. This is also the case for countless postwar stories that we now know are not true. Best of luck with your research.
wade Jun 13, 2010 @ 9:34
This is bullcrap. Richard Rowland Kirkland is my great x4 uncle. My family knows for a fact that he was a Lieutenant before he was killed. And these are eye-witness accounts from the 13th and 14th regiments, when Kirkland was in the 2nd regiment. This guy has no idea what he is talking about.
Kevin Levin Jun 13, 2010 @ 10:36
Wade,
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I guess I understand your disappointment, but it would be a mistake to describe this guest post as “bullcrap.” It’s an honest attempt to come to terms with a popular story based on a selection of the available evidence. It sounds like you have a additional sources to share on this story. We would love to have references to these accounts. Are they original letters, wartime or postwar publications? Thanks for your assistance.
Andy Hall Jun 13, 2010 @ 12:13
I don’t know if you have a copy of Kirkland’s service record, but it’s available here (12 pages, 9.3MB PDF). It shows his rank at the time of his death as First Sergeant. It’s possible that these records (like any other) are in error, but that seems unlikely. I have a similar situation in my own family, an uncle that my family all “knew for a fact” had been an officer. He wasn’t; hell, he wasn’t even a non-com. He was a buck private the entire war. But decades later, the local UDC chapter bestowed the honorary rank of colonel on him. He apparently used the title frequently, so by the time he died, everyone in town (and the family) knew him as “old Colonel Daffan,” and no one thought to question it. It was accepted as fact.
I’ve found a good bit of that in doing my own research — much of what I “knew” was simply wrong.
Thanks for providing the link.
Tony Ziebol Jul 12, 2010 @ 8:41
Hi Wade, I’d like a chance to speak to the Kirkland family for a book I’m writing. If you read this, please contact me at ziebolaj@hotmail.com
Dick Stanley Aug 14, 2010 @ 14:13
I’m glad I don’t have a dog in this fight (I don’t care whether the Kirkland story is true or not), but I must agree with the commenter who says the official reports aren’t always reliable. The old master Sheby Foote wrote something silly years ago when he said of the stuff in the O.R. “there you hear the real men speak.”
What you actually “hear” is the way the real men were taught to write, with all the expected formalities and omissions. Few were the officers on either side who were brave enough to contradict their commanders or write things he wouldn’t approve—not more than once. And so much of the Confederate material was lost, who could know what of what remains is reliable and what isn’t?
I also would quarrel with the idea of relying only on what’s available on the Web. Much primary material in state archives and university libraries (not to mention county historical societies) has yet to be digitized.
Kevin Levin Aug 14, 2010 @ 14:18
I don’t think anyone who has a serious interest in historical research would disagree with your final point. The author of the article in question also concedes the point. That said, however we proceed the fundamental problem is that the earliest account of Kirkland was written in 1880. I also don’t really care whether the standard story of Kirkland is true because that question doesn’t really explain why it continues to have such a profound hold on so many people.
Lawrence Kirkland Apr 17, 2012 @ 18:43
I would really like more information on this if you have it.
Michael Deschain Jul 10, 2015 @ 13:58
I am also a descendant of Kirkland as well as a few other Confederate soldiers from the (now) Kershaw S.C area. I too have read the story of Kirkland, although in our family history books (McGill and Samuel Jones) written by Hazel Parker Jones. Well, nice talking to you, five years after the fact. If you do get see this comment, awesome, I’td be great to know i reached another of the jones McGill line.
Fr. Jack Kirkland Bradberry Aug 15, 2010 @ 19:05
Years ago, while living in North Carolina I journeyed to Camden to learn about Richard Rowland Kirkland. The librarian there gave me a copy of a poem, “The Angel of Mary’es Heights” about the exploits of Sgt. Kirkland. She told me at that time that there was a time in the south when every child in school had to recite the poem. I lost my copy, but did visit his grave. There is no doubt in my mind that the story is exact and true. Just want to comment.
Kevin Levin Aug 16, 2010 @ 1:53
Thanks for taking the time to comment. You said: “There is no doubt in my mind that the story is exact and true.” Do you care to provide an interpretation of the available evidence that would justify such a conclusion?
In the meantime, don’t miss the movie that enshrines the myth: http://www.theangelmovie.com/
Paul Thornton May 19, 2011 @ 5:25
I note from the essay the following;
In 1965, a group comprising among others the states of South Carolina and Virginia, Collateral Descendents of Richard Kirkland, and the Richard Rowland Kirkland Memorial Foundation, erected a statue at Fredericksburg to the memory of Sergeant Kirkland of the Second South Carolina Volunteers.
Do we know if any plans are underway for something similar, perhaps much smaller, during the sesquicentennial in Fredericksburg also? Any help would be much appreciated.
Kevin Levin May 19, 2011 @ 5:30
I do not know of any plans to dedicate a new statue at Fredericksburg.
stephen finch Apr 13, 2012 @ 13:24
Wouldn’t General Kershaw have, at the very least, jeopardized his reputation for sound, dispassionate judgment had he early on acknowledged his decision to allow Sergeant Kirkland to go over the wall? That may well explain why he waited 18 years to publicize Kirkland’s deed. In so doing he avoided creating an impression of sentimentality and weakness on the battlefield.
Eric Schafer Apr 18, 2012 @ 3:38
The Kirkland incident is true. Douglas Southall Freeman spends a great deal of time on it in “Lee’s Lieutenants” Volume 2, middle page 378-middle page 380. If Freeman said it happened, it happened.
Kevin Levin Apr 18, 2012 @ 3:40
If Freeman said it happened, it happened.
What is it about Freeman that makes him omnipotent?
His immaculate research and unstinting integrity. The man won two Pulitzers and deserved a third.
I don’t think anyone will deny Freeman’s talents as a historian or his integrity, but no one deserves to be given a free pass in the way you suggest. I am currently reading a wonderful intellectual biography of Freeman by Keith Dickson, which I highly recommend
It’s not so much a free pass as this: If Freeman failed to find credible evidence, he would not have included it, especially giving it two full pages. Had he found evidence discrediting it, he would have either simply not mentioned it, or spent a single line dismissing it. Thus his account is trustworthy. Shaffner’s post, as well, is full of conjecture and rationalization, which, in the end, he uses to convince even himself. At the worst, it must be accepted that Kirkland’s act was of a type which undoubtedly was repeated often during the war. It is often present as something extraordinary – it was – and unique – which it wasn’t.
I don’t deny that Freeman believed himself to have found “credible evidence” for a whole host of claims. That’s what historians do. However, it doesn’t follow that the evidence and the interpretation of that evidence is somehow beyond question. We are constantly challenging/questioning evidence and developing new interpretation.
But that’s just the point between every day people – who are almost always convinced they hold the truth about something, and careful historians who are relentless in sifting, sorting and making decisions. “Lee’s Lieutenants” has something like 9.600 footnotes and Freeman is endlessly using them to explain how he sorted through multiple sources to draw a scene, and which are reliable and for what reasons, which are unreliable and for what reasons, and what can never be proven beyond doubt. And in the 70 years since the appearance of this collection, few if any have challenged his conclusions. Had anything rung false about this incident, he undoubtedly would have not included it. I find Shaffner’s post to be essentially amongst the latter style of Civil War “historians,” the movement of “Well, let’s see; let’s take something and discount it, even though we have no evidence to discount it, because taking the negative side gives me something to write about.” Much like the revisionist histories of Lee; they’re written not because new evidence has come to light, but because people decided, “Damn, it couldn’t have been THAT good, so let’s just say he was bad without any evidence.” Gettysburg is a perfect example. Of course Lee made errors, but to champion Longstreet as possessing better ideas at this battle would be a gross error. He failed Lee half a dozen times in two days…then laid the blame on Lee. His complete failure to understand and bring about Lee’s request for a “feu d’enfer” on July 3 is why Pickett’s Charge failed, not because it was a bad idea.
You are more than welcome to challenge Schaffner’s post, but if you hope to convince anyone here you are going to have to deal directly with specific claims rather than broad generalizations that have little to do with his actual argument.
As for Freeman you say:
And in the 70 years since the appearance of this collection, few if any have challenged his conclusions.
You are apparently not familiar with the relevant historiography. I recommend starting with Gary Gallagher’s edited collection Lee: The Soldier, Peter Carmichael’s edited collection Audacity Personified, and Elizabeth Brown Pryor’s Reading the Man.
I don’t think that’s a challenge. If anyone took this article seriously it would become well known. Not only does Shaffner pass off conjecture as fact, he even lies: he claims “Douglas Southall Freeman makes no mention of the Sergeant [Kirkland]” but this is a falsehood. While Freeman does not mention Kirkland in his biography of Robert E. Lee, he devotes no less than two full pages to Kirkland’s act in “Lee’s Lieutenants” Volume 2, middle page 378-middle page 380. Any falsehood like this immediately disqualifies the writer as a real historian.
Oh, I’m familiar with all those books. As I stated, we are currently mired in “revisionist history” which basically is: “All these other folks wrote books saying how great these guys were, and I don’t have any new material, so I’m just going to write a book saying how bad those guys were.” You see it in all areas; in music for example, there is now a movement claiming Robert Johnson was not a great blues guitarist. Why? They have nothing else to write, so they’re writing the opposite of what’s been written for 50 years.
Closer to home, any close study of what really happened in the Civil War will undoubtedly lead right back to what people said during and immediately after the war: Lee was a genius, head and shoulders above everyone else. Because Grant was in charge of the Union Armies at the end of the war, he’s constantly referred to today as “brilliant” and even “a genius” but my careful studies of his career never reveal this. Grant was an unimaginative plodder who beat Lee only because he had endless supplies of men. Had their resources been switched, Lee would have crushed Grant and won the war.
Pryor’s book is not a very good one, despite her exhaustive research. Bottom line: she actually used very few letters to write her book. Basically, she wrote what she wanted about Lee, and her conclusions are ill-founded. She makes the great error of asserting that Lee “fought for slavery” which he most certainly did not; and when she writes about Civil War battles she’s in way over her head – it’s clear that she has no grasp of military matters. Thus what could have been an interesting book comes off as shallow and of little value.
As I stated, we are currently mired in “revisionist history” which basically is: “All these other folks wrote books saying how great these guys were, and I don’t have any new material, so I’m just going to write a book saying how bad those guys were.”
This is just silly given the extent to which Freeman viewed his own work as “revisionist”. Your reading of Pryor is much too simplistic. Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment. I don’t know whether the Kirkland story is true or not, but nothing you’ve said pushes me in one direction or another.
In a sense, any new history is “revisionist” and Freeman undoubtedly viewed his work as such. But that is in the context of true historians re-examining the work of other true historians. But my use of “revisionist” is that in which people who want something to be different just say it’s different because they want it to be different, not because they have new evidence or anything of value to say.
ut that is in the context of true historians re-examining the work of other true historians.
I don’t know what a “true historian” is. I know how to evaluate the work of those who consider themselves to be historians or present their work as history. In that sense there is good and bad history based on the quality of the interpretation itself rather than who they are or based on assumptions of motivation. I leave that to others.
Lawrence Kirkland Apr 18, 2012 @ 4:58
I don’t understand all this. Because Richard Kirkland was mentioned in one account and not somewhere else..!!! How did Richard Kirkland’s name get involved…?? If it was just a STORY..why not a Sgt. John Smith or some other soldier. This is stupid. It happened, there are accounts and the name of the soldier that did it..Enough..LOL
It’s just like these people who are desperately trying to get English Lit PhD’s or make a name for themselves, and they claim that when Huck and Jim are naked on the raft it’s because they’ve just had homosexual relations. No…the storm blew away all their clothes. Or the one who claimed that Jay Gatsby was black. No, he was white, and the evidence for such is all through the book. And so on…
You’ve missed the point. I didn’t say that just because Freeman said it, it’s true; I said that because Freeman was a true historian and all the evidence shows he did a marvelous job of sorting fact from fiction, if he discerned the Kirkland story was true, it’s true.
Besides, you admitted you don’t know what a true historian is, so I don’t think you can argue any of these points creditably.
Like I said, I appreciate you taking the time to comment.
Ken Noe Apr 18, 2012 @ 6:40
I admire Freeman’s work as well, but we’ve known for years that he suppressed a Lee letter because he (wrongly) believed that it revealed Lee’s murder of a settler early in his career, and he wanted to protect Lee’s reputation. Likewise, at the end of his life Lee admitted in a private letter that he had been unfair to Longstreet and hoped to rectify it. The man was a fine scholar, but he wasn’t perfect.
Thanks for reminding me of this. There are also plenty of legitimate questions that can be asked about specific points of interpretation in his Lee biography that can be made. The one that stands out for me is his insistence that resigning from the U.S. army was the “decision he was born to make.” It ignores the fact that Lee’s own family was split on secession and that any number of his West Point colleagues from the South chose not to resign. The only way Freeman could make such a claim is if he ignored Southern Unionists and even fellow Virginians such as George Thomas.
Ken Noe Apr 18, 2012 @ 14:42
Oops, I meant to say that Freeman “admitted in a private letter that he had been unfair to Longstreet and hoped to rectify it.” Sorry.
Andy Hall Apr 18, 2012 @ 4:24
Pffft. You need to get out more, friend. Douglas Freeman trembles in awe at the research brought to the Kirkland story by Mac Wyckoff over at Mysteries and Conundrums:
http://npsfrsp.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/a-guest-post-from-mac-wyckoff-what-we-really-know-about-richard-kirkland-the-angel-of-maryes-heights-part-1-origins/
http://npsfrsp.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/from-mac-wyckoff-richard-kirkland-part-2-other-evidence/
http://npsfrsp.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/kirkland-a-hero-or-bandwagon-evidence-memory-and-public-history/
Mac Wyckoff’s piece is far more reasonable and better written than Shaffner’s yet is based on the same premise: “I want this story to not be true, so I’m going to say it’s not true” – it does not present factual evidence discounting it. If a man leaves Spotsylvania riding a horse, claiming he’s going to ride to Richmond, and his friends see him ride into Richmond on the same horse, we can take for reasonable certainty he rode from Spotsylvania to Richmond on a horse. If someone else wants to claim, “No, he went by car” yet has no witnesses, photographs or other evidence to show he went by car…we cannot then deduce that he went by car.
As I noted, one thing to remember is that Kirkland’s act was undoubtedly repeated a thousand times before and a thousand times after the battle of Fredericksburg; such things are mentioned briefly by soldiers in letters and diaries, and by historians. But because Kirkland’s act gains the most attention, revisionist history wants so desperately for it not to have happened. Next thing they’ll be telling us is that Elvis didn’t lay down all those vocals and Scotty didn’t lay down all those guitar solos – it was session musicians did it! Can’t name ’em, don’t have any photos or records to prove it…but it must be so because Elvis and Scotty couldn’t have been that good because…because…we aren’t that good, so we don’t want anybody else to be that good…
Mac Wyckoff’s piece is far more reasonable and better written than Shaffner’s yet is based on the same premise: “I want this story to not be true, so I’m going to say it’s not true”[.]
But because Kirkland’s act gains the most attention, revisionist history wants so desperately for it not to have happened.
You need to spend less time on assuming what motivates others and more time on dealing with the actual arguments. What’s to stop me from dismissing you along the same lines or anyone else for that matter? This is a non-starter.
I’ve been a journalist for over 30 years and have seen the changes in what motivates people – and how this appears in journalism and new histories – very well, especially over the past 20 years. And what generates a lot of this stuff these days is, “They say this guy did this; I’m going to say he didn’t.” “They say Lee was so great; I’m going to say he wasn’t.” A perfect example is how Shaffner deliberately deceives his readers when he states that Freeman didn’t write about Kirkland, so it couldn’t have happened. This is a lie; he tells us Freeman didn’t write about Kirkland in “Lee” but never states that Freeman devotes two pages to Kirkland in “Lee’s Lieutenants.”
In fact, Shaffner disproves his own argument. To whit, he states, “Freeman didn’t say it happened, so it didn’t,” which means, “If Freeman said it happened, it did.” And because Freeman said it happened in “Lee’s Lieutenants,” Shaffner has just stated that, in fact, it did happen.
You are still no closer to making your case for the Kirkland story than you were in your last comment. Again, what is to stop me from applying your own approach to critiquing to you? Could it be that you just want the story to be true? And around we go.
Mac Wyckoff’s piece is far more reasonable and better written than Shaffner’s yet is based on the same premise: “I want this story to not be true, so I’m going to say it’s not true” – it does not present factual evidence discounting it.
Um, maybe you oughter go back and read Wyckoff’s essays, because he presents substantial evidence supporting the claims made about Kirkland, either specifically about him or about similar acts by others. My point being this: if you’re going to argue that the Kirkland story is factually true — and I have no trouble acknowledging that, in substance, it likely is — then you can do a whole lot better than saying, “it’s true because Douglas Freeman says so.”
A true historian is one who is educated and trained in the proper methods of research, authentication, verification and who is also so deeply versed in their subject matter that they are judged highly reliable in discerning what is fact or fiction; and they are also able to unearth or judge new material creditably. Just because someone writes a book about history or a historical figure does not make them a true historian – even if they do extensive research. Pryor is a perfect example. I mean, she wrote a book about a man who was a soldier and who was anti-slavery, yet her writing demonstrates she cannot comprehend military matters, and she claims Lee fought for slavery. To make such gross errors disqualifies her as a Lee historian. Incidentally, I’m not surprised she claimed Lee fought for slavery. In our hyper-sensitive, “racism” sensitive, revisionist society, if she claimed Lee didn’t fight for slavery, she’d’ve been run out of town on a rail by the folks who have no idea what they’re talking about, yet are convinced they are right – and anyone who disagrees is evil.
You are no closer to making your case for the Kirkland story than you were in your last comment.
Oh, the point was made long ago; you’re just not getting it. They do not present factual evidence discounting the act. For example, claiming, “It wasn’t in the official reports, so it didn’t happen” is not credible. Do you know anything of military matters? Officers never put incidents like Kirkland’s act into military reports…because his act had nothing to do with the battle or how the regiment fought. One’s superiors – military and political – have no interest in one soldier succoring enemies with canteens of water; they want to know what happened in the battle. If I were Kershaw’s superior and he wrote of the Kirkland incident in his battle report I would have it stricken from the record as being inconsequential and irrelevant.
Yes, I am aware of this. In fact, I believe Mac Wycoff made that very point. My suggestion is that you write something up that addresses the specific points made by Schaffner. Please don’t make the mistake in assuming that I agree with everything in his guest post. This is not a peer reviewed journal. It’s a blog. At the time I believed it was worth posting to generate a discussion and I still believe this to be the case. Your claims about Freeman’s infallibility as well as the tired and I suspect that your references to “revisionist history” have won you few supporters here.
Jerry McKenzie Dec 15, 2018 @ 20:55
How was Lee anti-slavery? You lost me on this one. He inherited slaves he was to free and worked them relentlessly for his benefit.
Andy Hall Dec 16, 2018 @ 11:31
In fact, Lee saw the institution of slavery as being God’s will and a positive benefit to those enslaved. Lee disliked having to deal with the practice personally, and kept it at arm’s length as much as he could, but he wasn’t “anti-slavery” in any meaningful sense.
Also remember that Lee himself owned slaves for most of his adult life, entirely apart from those that were part of his father-in-law’s estate.
J.W.Nation Nov 28, 2012 @ 14:56
Trying to belittle Richard Kirkland anywhere around Camden, SC, is akin to starting the war again. His decendants have too many letters from this gentleman. Some are in the Kershaw County Archives, others still in family possession.You can believe your tale, we know ours.
Jack Warren Jan 2, 2013 @ 20:12
I have read the argument and the extensive dialogue, which is all very interesting. There’s a significant critical perspective missing, both from Mr. Levin’s post and the commentary: an examination of Kershaw’s credibility as a witness. Mr. Levin’s argument can be summarized, without injustice I hope, in simple terms. General Kershaw’s report of the event, he contends, is the only one we have. He has looked in vain for a supporting account in all of the sources he could think of. Finding none, he concludes that the story is a myth.
That conclusion leaves unanswered — or at least unanswered in any sort of persuasive manner — why J.B. Kershaw would have made up such a story. Mr. Levin says the story should be read as a “parable.” He suggests Kershaw “never really meant us to take his story literally.” That’s an interesting suggestion, because it contradicts, utterly, what Kershaw said he was offering. Kershaw claimed to be giving us “the rigid simplicity of actual truth.”
Mr. Levin dangles the conventional impeachment of post-war memory, pointing out that seventeen years had passed between the alleged events and the publication of the story. Forgive a middle aged historian for not thinking Kershaw’s memory of the Battle of Fredericksburg was likely to have dimmed much in that short time. He certainly had no difficulty remembering Kirkland — a very real person about whom Kershaw remembered significant details.
I see no evidence that Kershaw was creating a parable, one he didn’t expect us to take seriously. Nor do I see any evidence that Kershaw’s memory was clouded. Mr. Levin respects evidence, so he will recognize that he doesn’t offer any evidence to support either of these suggestions.
So was J.B. Kershaw a liar? A spinner of tall tales? A romantic? I don’t know. I haven’t done the work. To address these questions, we have to leave the Kirkland story and examine the rest of Kershaw’s writings. Was he a generally reliable witness, or a fictionalizer?
Historians look for supporting testimony, but they often rely on the testimony of a single credible witness. Skepticism about the Kirkland story is reasonable. It does make sense that someone else would have commented on the extraordinary event Kershaw described. But before dismissing Kershaw’s account as a “myth,” Mr. Levin needs to persuade us that Kershaw is an unreliable witness.
Kevin Levin Jan 3, 2013 @ 2:49
Thanks for the lengthy reply, but please keep in mind that this was a guest post. I did not write it.
michaelschaffner Jan 3, 2013 @ 7:26
I regret that I missed the comments made nine months ago and just now have taken another look at this thread. To the accusation of being a “liar” I plead not guilty, though I certainly am guilty of not looking further in D.S. Freeman before writing that he didn’t credit the Kirkland story.
When I do another revision of the article I’ll correct that and perhaps remove the reference to Shelby Foote as well. The view of any secondary sources is less important than the validity, or existence, of primary ones.
The other item worth commenting on is the latest, the question of Kershaw’s credibility. In my original article I speculated that Kershaw saw a difference between the formal history of after action reports and “Battles and Leaders” on one hand, and popular history on the other. But in revising it a year ago I took a closer look at the particular popular outlet involved and refined the conclusion. The story isn’t simply some kind of Lost Cause fairy tale — though it serves that purpose well enough — but has a role specific to the time and place in which it was written.
With that in mind, here are a few paragraphs from the latest version, from about a year ago. This is sort of a hobby with me, so I don’t think I’ll ever be quite finished with it. I welcome any further comments people may have. I think the real story of Sergeant Kirkland lies somewhere in South Carolina and has yet to be fully told:
“…So we need to choose which Kershaw to believe— the Kershaw who wrote an after-action report to his superiors subject to punishment for falsification, and a note to amend the historical record subject to the criticism of his peers in “Battles and Leaders,” or the Kershaw who wrote, not in an official or historical capacity, but for the popular audience of the News and Courier.
“The Context of Kershaw’s Story
“It helps greatly in answering this question that Mr. Wyckoff’s research has led to his
finding and publishing the letter that inspired Kershaw’s account. In this earlier version published by the Charleston News and Courier the sergeant sets off as Kershaw states but
receives a serious wound before the Yankees cease fire, whereupon several other
rebel soldiers take up canteens, which results in a small flock of “angels” on
Marye’s Heights. The subject of this version later dies in the Wilderness attempting to repeat his kindness. Unfortunately the real Kirkland fell at Chickamauga a half a year before the overland campaign, and the author does not claim to have witnessed either incident himself, only to have heard the story from an unnamed informant.
“Who wrote this earlier version? It carries the byline “C. McK.” Thanks to fellow
enthusiast Robert Mosher we know that this was almost certainly Carlyle McKinley. A Confederate veteran, poet, and author, McKinley was also a correspondent for the very same News and Courier. Somewhat unreconstructed in his political beliefs, he would go on to write the book An Appeal to Pharoah (1889), which proposes a “radical solution” to the “Negro problem” via the mass deportation of black Americans to Africa.
“The News and Courier itself published in addition to journalism such works as the
human-interest collection Our Women in the War (1885). This documents the heroism and strength of southern womanhood in language fully as colorful as that in either of the
versions of the Kirkland story it published. But in the early 1880s an audience existed for such: reconstruction had ended in 1877 and Kershaw belonged to a group of politically strong conservatives known as “Bourbons” who, under the leadership of Wade Hampton, focused on “ousting the carpetbaggers and undoing as much of Reconstruction as they could” while intending “to re-create as much as possible the world of antebellum South
Carolina, a world in which they and their kind held sway” (Walter B. Edgar, South
Carolina: a History, p. 407).
“This leads us to one last look at “Kershaw’s” letter. I put the General’s name in quotes because I now question whether he even wrote the account himself. After all, he only signed his name to the introduction; the rest of the letter tells the story in the third person – it has no “I,” only “the General,” and the language bears far less resemblance to that of Kershaw’s original after action report or subsequent article in “Battles and Leaders” than it does to the more florid prose of a Carlyle McKinley.
“The story did, nonetheless, serve a cause of more immediate interest to Kershaw and like-minded “Bourbons” at the time. It limns the portrait of a noble representative of southern manhood who, in the aftermath of the Confederacy’s defeat, devastation, and “reconstruction,” rises from the ashes to bequeath “to the American youth — yea, to the world — an example which dignifies our common humanity.”
“In addition to the cultural imperatives of the “Bourbons.” the story serves a useful
purpose for “Lost Causers” and southern partisans generally. It changes the fundamental narrative of the battle of Fredericksburg from one of heroic and hopeless self-sacrifice on the part of northern soldiers, to one of southern chivalry and charity. On the field of mythos, the green flag of Erin and the Irish brigade with boxwood in its hats fall not to a stone wall
lined with muskets but a noble young man burdened with canteens.
“But the popularity of the story goes even further than that. The story of the “Angel” and his “Christ-like” mercy offers those of us who read military history for its questionable pleasures – and those of us whose votes may lead to future wars – a kind of solace, and an
absolution. On this battlefield, humanity stays the hand of the grim-faced sharpshooter and acts of mercy go forward without impediment. No one shoots Lt. Col. Buchanan’s wounded or guns down his ambulance attendants. Major Andrews’ men need not go twelve hours
without a drink of water, nor relieve themselves in the mud where they lie under fire the entire day. From this battlefield, we need remember only one man with a canteen in his hand, not the more than 18,000 with lead in other parts of their bodies. Here, war is evil in the abstract but noble in its particulars.
“The legend of Sergeant Kirkland remains as good a story as ever. But in the end it tells us considerably less about the actual battle of Fredericksburg than the cultural and political milieu in which it first appeared, and our continuing need to avoid confronting the reality of war.”
Steve Morin May 26, 2013 @ 4:35
I’m sorry I do not have specific historical value to add, just my gut feelings.
I am no historian, merely a long time military history buff (brigade level down preferred) . I only recently joined a CW reenactment unit.
No disrespect to the descendants.
In reading the thread in its entirety I agree that the evidence for total truth falls short. I fall in with the possibility that it is exaggerated somehow. I am glad I took the time to read because I am much more educated on this important subject from all perspectives.
Mr Levin I commend on putting this forth for discussion knowing it’s sensitivity.
Ron Krandle Sep 23, 2013 @ 17:41
I’m neither a historian or a journalist. I’m just a regular guy who enjoys history and reading up on the Civil War. It would seem to me, using some logic and common sense, and mind you this is only my opinion for what it’s worth, that for something to be “debunked” you’d have to provide conclusive proof showing that the circumstances were impossible for it to have happened the way it’s been presented. An example would be if someone were to show that Kirkland couldn’t possible have even fought at here because he was proven to be somewhere else at the time. Does that mean I’m saying it can’t be called into question? Of course not. But to say it’s been “debunked” simply isn’t so at this point.
Sam Vanderburg Nov 30, 2013 @ 21:28
True? Myth? It still plays it’s role as a myth – encouraging humane treatment and courage in the face of danger. To solve with certainty perhaps will never be settled to many, but often the base of a myth is found in truth, or so my literary teachers have shared with me.
Sam Vanderburg
Mike K. Apr 27, 2014 @ 13:25
Mr. Schafer has been quite effective in making his point (despite the repeated, ineffectual “You are no closer to making your point…” retorts), and all of his remarks concerning “revisionist history” are spot on. The letter from Kershaw (who would gain nothing by fabricating anything), a strong oral tradition, and just plain ol’ common knowledge – as perpetuated by a bunch of guys who were actually there – is more than ample evidence supporting the Kirkland story. And, there is the mention in Freeman. As Schafer and others point out, the fact that ten different generals from both sides failed to write detailed accounts of Kirkland’s actions doesn’t mean that those actions didn’t occur.
Two primary factors are at play here. First is the ever-growing trend to try to make a name for oneself by “debunking” events that are seemingly easy pickings – since there isn’t a video of said event on YouTube, the story is obviously “made up”. And second, in our age of PC-gone-wild, is the passing of judgment on people who were born nearly two hundred years ago, into a vastly different reality than what we now know. I’m speaking, of course, of the disturbing tendency among the general public to equate the antebellum American South with Nazi Germany. Anything that can be seen as even remotely connected to slavery MUST be reviled. Therefore, no man from South Carolina could ever have been capable of performing such a selfless, humane act. Had an incident occurred under the same circumstances in another battle – except with a sergeant from New York aiding wounded Confederates – one has trouble imagining that the the story would ever be questioned. Just my opinion.
From Pat Leonard’s article in the New York Times, December 2012 (which cites Shaffner as a source):
“So, is the Richard Kirkland story true? Looking at the available evidence, it’s almost certain that a Confederate did risk his life to bring water to at least one wounded federal soldier, and if that “angel of mercy” must be identified, odds are probably better than even that it was indeed Kirkland. While Kershaw likely embellished his recollections of the incident for his letter to the News and Courier, it’s just as likely that he named Kirkland as “The Angel of Marye’s Heights” for no other reason than that he believed it himself.”
And Kershaw, it bears repeating, was actually there that day.
One last comment from yours truly – in reading about Kirkland, it’s interesting to find so many people dismiss the account of his actions at Fredericksburg as “Lost Cause mythology”. Kind of goes along with what I wrote, above.
Stu Jul 9, 2014 @ 8:44
Having served in the military I can honestly say actions of the enlisted members are often overlooked. Givin the attitudes of the day I seriously doubt Kirkland would have been mentioned. It makes the officers look like cowards. The last thing they want is for a lowly enlisted man to seem more gentlemanly then the officer corp. As for his cohorts in the trenches not writing of his adventures I think you should remember the ability to read and write was not common in those days.
Sean McCormack Sep 15, 2014 @ 15:41
The Kirkland story added a touching memory to my visit to Fredericksburg. I believe!
Bill Trav Jun 5, 2015 @ 12:27
I don’t know if this story is true or false, but I wonder if this had been a Northern soldier who had performed an act of mercy, would Northern historians be so determined to discredit him. I get the feeling they cannot stand to recognize a Southern hero.
Kevin Levin Jun 5, 2015 @ 12:31
Are you suggesting that only Northern historians have challenged this story? If so, you are mistaken.
Bill Trav Jun 7, 2015 @ 5:52
I don’t know about this particular incident. What I am saying is that there are no nationally recognized Southern hero’s that I am aware of. England no longer hates America for becoming an independent country, however, Northerners still call Southerners traitors.
Andy Hall Jun 7, 2015 @ 14:13
Typical “heritage” navel-gazing. You’re less interested in knowing the factual truth of the Kirkland story than you are in nurturing your feelings of being abused by “Northern historians.” Do your research, find out what’s true and what’s not, and move on.
Mr. Trav, you are free to post a comment about the subject under consideration, but I have little patience for such a vague tangent. There are plenty of other websites that will be more than happy to entertain your thoughts.
billtrav@hotmail.com Jun 8, 2015 @ 3:08
Thank you, Mr. Hall. That’s good advice.
billtrav@hotmail.com Jun 7, 2015 @ 18:17
That works for me.
Vince Sep 17, 2015 @ 7:11
I’m less interested in the veracity of this story than I am in the fact that we choose to commemorate it at all. Every time I visit the Kirkland monument, I get the feeling that this story acts as a sort of pressure valve that allows us to come away from the experience feeling good about humanity. In a similar way, the focus on the Irish Brigade gives us something ennobling to celebrate in spite of the carnage. There’s the compelling and sentimental storyline of Irishmen mowing down their countrymen (ostensibly weeping, could it be that some of them were happy to do so? Didn’t the whole war involve compatriots killing each other, sometimes reluctantly, sometimes gladly?). I often get this feeling when visiting NPS sites, or indeed when reading chronicles of the war. There’s a morsel or two presented, for each battle, aside from the main narrative. A gallant deed, an act of battlefield compassion. Something for a descendant of a soldier on either side to lament, and something to feel good about. For me the power of the Civil War war narrative lies in staring at the horror of it all, and still coming away feeling that the end result was worth the sacrifice. I feel like this story lets us of the hook.
Not only former countrymen mowing one another down, but cousins close and distant.
kbrown2225 Sep 21, 2017 @ 17:07
Hmm, despite all of the untrue and unfair things he said about James Longstreet?
Freeman was a fine historian for his age, but hardly an unbiased one, and a strict adherent to the Lost Cause narrative. Far too often Freeman only found the “truth” than he wanted to find.
Interestingly enough, Freeman himself warned historians against accepting the credibility of the testimony of those writing years after the war, stating:
“It is a very grave mistake to give the same measure of acceptation to the late witness that is given to the early witness.” Douglas Southall Freeman, “An Address.” Civil War History 1, no. 1 (March 1955): 7-15.
It is funny, of course, that Freeman would make such a statement, since all of Freeman’s negative observations regarding Longstreet came from the Southern Historical Society Papers, a politically motivated “late source,” but one that Freeman accepted as gospel.
The lies of the SHSP served the storyline Freeman desired to write, so instead of questioning the dubious sources the SHSP provided, he accepted them without question because they served his purpose.
Sorry, I did not mean to go into a tangent on Freeman’s mistreatment of Longstreet, but when someone makes the sort of statement quoted above about Freeman I cannot help but think of the massive historical injustice that Freeman did to James Longstreet.
In any event, Freeman was a great, but flawed historian, but even he said to beware of “late witness” claims like Kershaw’s.
John Speight Jun 16, 2018 @ 20:45
What bothers me most about this whole discussion is the incivility that is manifest. The barely masked arrogance and anger that some on both sides display towards another individuals comments. Does it truly matter whether Richard Kirkland, or some other anonymous, person performed this act of mercy? Both sides on that day, those who died and those who killed, were Americans! I am a southerner, (and yes I lost an ancestor in the war) but I refuse to refer to this conflict as the War Between the States or any other euphemism employed by either side. It was a civil war! One with all the inherent horrors that comes with a war of that kind. One that almost destroyed our beloved county and almost prevented America from taking her place as the greatest nation in the world. At the local Civil War reenactments that I attend, I mourn for all those who died, regardless of whether their uniform was blue or gray. The Civil War ended in 1865. We have more pressing problems in 2018 that require our attention. Problems that need cool heads and not insults to resolve. “Make you sons Americans” Robert E. Lee and God Save America!
Barry Borchers Feb 11, 2019 @ 18:34
I have read this article and the comments with great interest. I would like to thank the writer and the comments herein. Much of our history is being rewritten these days. I must say that I am very skeptical of most of the revisionist history. Stories seem to come out of thin air daily today. I see that many people have done much research on this story. I applaud them. Every notable event in America’s history seems to be under some sort of scrutiny today. Most especially anything to do with the Confederacy. Many want to demonize anyone or anything to do with it. Believe me, this will not stop with the Civil War. The “re-writers” are just getting started.
Thanks for the comment. History is always being re-written based on new questions that are asked, new evidence that emerges, and different analytical approaches applied. It should always be welcome and scrutinized.
Thank you for you reply. I’m not so sure about the “different analytical approaches applied” portion. We must remember that the ones before us lived in a different world altogether than we do. We are constantly second guessing their meanings in word and deed to a number of things, good or bad, that were commonplace and acceptable in their times. Today people are quick to give judgement when they have no comprehension of those times. On the subject of “new evidence”, I have to wonder how much of this is fabricated to justify the usually slanted version that someone wishes to promote. Generally, the “new evidence” will be in the spotlight. But, if it is later debunked, little is heard. As a youngster I heard a story of Rebs and Yanks pausing their fight in order to perform Masonic funeral rites. I was told this by an old relative whose Grandfather supposedly witnessed it. Who knows?
Douglas Gray Jun 21, 2019 @ 17:39
It is interesting that in modern physics, we have concepts such as the “Uncertainty Principle, and “Probability Densities” which imply that it is sometime difficult to have the kind of deterministic certainty we feel comfortable with. It may be that with these sorts of historical events, there will not be enough evidence to make a determination of what really took place.
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The Law Office, Commercial Burglary and "Misdemeanor Shoplifting"
This post examines an opinion from the California Court ofAppeal – Second District: People v. Thomas, 2017 WL 527379 (2017). The court begins the opinion by explaining that in
November 2012, appellant was charged with seven counts of commercial burglary (§ 459), committed on separate occasions against separate businesses. There were additional charges of grand theft, attempted grand theft, and petty theft with priors, all stemming from the alleged burglaries. A number of prior felony convictions, including a prior strike conviction, also were alleged.
Appellant pled no contest to count 1, burglary of the Law Offices of Gennady Lebedev, admitted a prior strike conviction, and was sentenced to six years in prison. The court dismissed the remaining counts after appellant gave a Harvey waiver, allowing for victim restitution on the dismissed counts. In March 2013, the court ordered restitution in stipulated amounts: $1,500 to Justin Trugman, $4,133.35 to Wild Woods, Inc., and $3,104.98 to Matthew Hebard.
In November 2014, appellant petitioned for resentencing under Proposition 47. In considering whether appellant's conviction on count 1 satisfied the elements of section 459.5, the court reasoned that a law office offers services for sale. It assumed that the office had been open for business, based on the representation of appellant's Proposition 47 counsel, who had spoken to appellant's counsel in the underlying case. The court found that the value of the property taken from the law office exceeded $950, citing `the stipulation to the amount of damage to that one count.’ Because it believed itself bound by appellant's stipulation to the amount of loss on count 1, the court declined to consider his argument that there was conflicting evidence of the value of the lost property: the probation report listed the value of the computer taken from the law office at $1,500, but the victim signed a restitution request for $500.
This appeal followed the denial of appellant's petition.
People v. Thomas, supra. The court appended a footnote after the reference to the $1,500 value of the computer in which it explained that
[i]n addition to the computer valued at $1,500, the probation report lists the law office property loss as including a camera valued at $200, a briefcase valued at $50, a USB drive valued at $30, and an iPod valued at $40. Appellant relied on records turned over to him by his attorney in the underlying case. Those records were not received by the court, and are not part of the record on appeal.
People v. Thomas, supra.
The Court of Appeals began its analysis of Thomas’ arguments on appeal by explaining that
[e]ntry into an uninhabited building with intent to commit larceny or another felony is second-degree burglary, a wobbler offense that may be punished as either a felony or a misdemeanor (§§ 459, 460, 461.) Section 459.5, added by Proposition 47, creates the misdemeanor crime of shoplifting, which it defines as `entering a commercial establishment with intent to commit larceny while that establishment is open during regular business hours, where the value of the property that is taken or intended to be taken does not exceed nine hundred fifty dollars ($950).’ (§ 459.5, subd. (a).) Proposition 47 also added section 1170.18, which allows persons previously convicted of felonies that would be misdemeanors under the voter initiative to petition for resentencing. (People v. Sherow (2015) 239 Cal.App.4th 875, 878–879.)
Respondent argues that burglarizing a law office is not shoplifting because a law office, unlike a bank, is not a commercial establishment. We do not agree.
The court went on to explain that
[i]n interpreting a voter initiative, `we apply the same principles that govern statutory construction.’ [Citation.] (People v. Rizo (2000) 22 Cal.4th 681, 685.) We construe the language in the context of the overall statutory scheme. (Ibid.) Words are given their ordinary meanings unless special definitions are provided. (People v. Love (2008) 166 Cal.App.4th 1292, 1297.) If the language is ambiguous, we may consult ballot materials to aid us in determining the voters' intent. (People v. Superior Court (Pearson) (2010) 48 Cal.4th 564, 571.)
The court goes on to explain that
[w]hile shoplifting is ordinarily understood to mean theft of merchandise from a store (In re J.L. (2015) 242 Cal.App.4th 1108, 1115), section 459.9 provides its own special definition of that term, using the words `commercial establishment’ and `property.’ The phrase `commercial establishment’ is undefined, but courts consistently have recognized that it ordinarily means an establishment `that is primarily engaged in commerce, that is, the buying and selling of goods or services.’ (In re J.L., at p. 1114 [school is not commercial establishment]; People v. Stylz (2016) 2 Cal.App.5th 530, 534 [locked storage unit is not commercial establishment]; compare People v. Franske (2016) 6 Cal.App.5th 1057, 1060 [motor home sales office is commercial establishment]; People v. Holm (2016) 3 Cal.App.5th 141, 147 [golf and country club is commercial establishment]; People v. Hudson (2016) 2 Cal.App.5th 575, 581–582, review granted October 26, 2016, S237340 [bank is commercial establishment]; People v. Abarca (2016) 2 Cal.App.5th 475, 481–482, review granted October 19, 2016, S237106 [same]; People v. Smith (2016) 1 Cal.App.5th 266, 273, review granted September 14, 2016, S236112 [check cashing business is commercial establishment].)
The Court of Appeal went on to explain that Thomas
argues that a law office is not primarily engaged in commerce, but in securing its clients' legal rights, and that the confidential fiduciary nature of the attorney-client relationship distinguishes a law office from a bank that offers financial services or a club that offers recreational services. But even the rules of professional conduct, on which respondent relies, recognize that lawyers generally provide legal services for a fee. (See e.g. Lee v. Hanley 2015) 61 Cal.4th 1225, 1240, citing Cal. Rules of Prof. Conduct, rule 3–700 [fee refund upon termination of employment]; Margolin v. Shemaria (2000) 85 Cal.App.4th 891, 894, citing rule 2-200 [fee sharing].) Exchanging legal services for a fee qualifies as selling those services. Nor is respondent correct in suggesting that financial transactions do not implicate the right to privacy and confidentiality. (Fortunato v. Superior Court (2003) 114 Cal.App.4th 475, 481 [right to privacy embraces `confidential financial information in whatever =form it takes, whether that form be tax returns, checks, statements, or other account information’].)
Respondent also argues that Proposition 47 does not apply to the theft of items not offered for sale, such as a lawyer's computer containing confidential information. As many courts have recognized, on its face, the definition of shoplifting in section 459.5 is not limited to taking merchandise offered for sale. (See e.g. People v. Franske, supra, 6 Cal.App.5th at p. 1060; People v. Hallam (2016) 3 Cal.App.5th 905, 912; People v. Holm, supra, 3 Cal.App.5th at p. 147; People v. Hudson, supra, 2 Cal.App.5th at p. 582; People v. Fusting (2016) 1 Cal.App.5th 404, 411; but see People v. Colbert (2016) 5 Cal.App.5th 385, 391.)
The court then explained that
[t]he problem with reclassifying theft offenses as misdemeanors where private information is stolen is not limited to cases implicating attorney-client confidentiality, contrary to what respondent appears to suggest. The issue is currently pending before the California Supreme Court in cases involving financial transactions. (See e.g. People v. Gonzales (2015) 242 Cal.App.4th 35, review granted Feb. 17, 2016, S231171 [whether entering bank to cash forged checks is shoplifting]; People v. Cuen (2015) 241 Cal.App.4th 1227, review granted Jan. 20, 2016, S231107 [whether conviction for possession of access card account information under § 484e, subd. (d) is eligible for section 1170.18 resentencing]; People v. Romanowski (2015) 242 Cal.App.4th 151, review granted Jan. 20, 2016, S231405 [same].) Thus, respondent's premise that the burglary of a law office raises fundamentally different confidentiality concerns than the burglary of a financial institution is flawed.
Even assuming that the definition of shoplifting in section 459.5 lends itself to the narrower construction advocated by respondent, that would only render it ambiguous. The ballot materials do not support such a construction as they direct that the act be construed `broadly . . . to accomplish its purposes.’ (Cal. Voter Information Pamp., Gen. Elec. (Nov. 4, 2014) text of Prop. 47, p. 74, § 15; see also id. at p. 74, § 18 [act shall be `liberally construed to effectuate its purposes’].) The voters intended `nonserious, nonviolent crimes like petty theft and drug possession’ to be `misdemeanors instead of felonies.’ (Id. at p. 70, § 3, subds. (3) & (4).)
We see no indication that the voters intended the theft of personal property that incidentally contained private confidential information to fall outside the scope of Proposition 47. For example, the initiative made check forgery a misdemeanor where the value of the check does not exceed $950, unless the defendant is convicted of forgery and identity theft, as defined in section 530.5. (§ 473.) If the potential for identity theft, without an actual conviction, is insufficient to preclude reclassifying check forgery as a misdemeanor, then stealing a lawyer's computer that happens to contain confidential client information should not preclude reclassification either.
The court concluded this section of its opinion by explaining that, “[w]e are not convinced that burglary of a law office that involves taking a computer which happens to contain confidential information is outside the scope of Proposition 47.” People v. Thomas, supra.
The Court of Appeals then took up the next, and final, issue in the case:
Section 459.5, subdivision (a) also requires that (1) the burglarized commercial establishment be `open during regular business hours,’ and (2) the value of the property taken or intended to be taken not exceed $950.
The trial court assumed appellant entered the law office during regular business hours based on the following statement by appellant's Proposition 47 counsel: `From speaking to [appellant's counsel in the underlying case], she indicated to me that the—Well, there was various offices in—that were involved in the case originally and in the original counts. I think all of them were open for business. I don't think they were involved in the sales of anything, but they were all open for business.’ Appellant argues that respondent forfeited the challenge that his counsel's representation was not evidence by failing to object. But the contention that a judgment or order is not supported by evidence generally does not require an objection in the trial court. (See People v. Butler (2003) 31 Cal.4th 1119, 1126.)
As to the second requirement, respondent concedes the trial court mistakenly believed that, in the underlying case, appellant had stipulated to the value of the property taken in count 1. The record on appeal does not show a stipulation as to that count. At the hearing on his Proposition 47 petition, appellant brought the court's attention to discrepancies in the valuations of that property in the probation report and in a victim's request for reimbursement. The court rejected appellant's argument on the mistaken belief that appellant had stipulated to the value of the loss in count 1 and did not consider the evidence on which appellant relied.
The court concluded the opinion with certain directions to the trial court judge:
The trial court must make factual findings about appellant's eligibility for resentencing in the first instance. (People v. Contreras (2015) 237 Cal.App.4th 868, 892.) The court's findings that appellant entered the law office during business hours and that he stipulated that the value of the property he took exceeded $950 are unsupported by the record on appeal. Representations made by appellant and his counsel at the hearing indicate that the factual record may be developed further. The trial court has `substantial flexibility to devise practical procedures to implement Proposition 47, so long as those procedures are consistent with the proposition and any applicable statutory or constitutional requirements. [Citation.]’ (People v. Fedalizo (2016) 246 Cal.App.4th 98, 108.) On remand, the court may exercise its discretion whether determining appellant's eligibility requires augmentation of the factual record either by allowing the parties to submit additional evidence or by holding a hearing.
The Court of Appeal appended a footnote to the last sentence above, in which it explained that
[w]e do not accept appellant's alternative argument that he is eligible for resentencing under section 490.2, which increased the value requirement for petty theft to $950. Appellant was convicted of burglary, not grand theft. Section 459.5, subdivision (a) specifically provides that an entry into a commercial establishment with intent to commit larceny that does not satisfy the definition of shoplifting is burglary. Reading section 490.2 as implicitly amending the definition of burglary in section 459 would render section 459.5 superfluous because it would reduce any burglary conviction based on theft not exceeding $950 to a misdemeanor, regardless of the type of building entered. We do not construe Proposition 47 in a manner that would render an entire statutory provision superfluous. (See People v. Hall (2016) 247 Cal.App.4th 1255, 1266.)
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The First Republican Woman White House Press Secretary.
Dana Perino is a Fox News contributor and co-host of one of the most popular shows on cable television, The Five. Perino was the first Republican woman to serve as the White House press secretary, and served for over seven years in the administration of President George W. Bush, including at the Department of Justice after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Dana lives in Manhattan with her husband, Peter McMahon, and of course, their dog, Jasper.
If you want to be inspired by a successful woman who goes from ranching in the West, to the White House, to helping in Africa, to a fine marriage and a loving dog, you will find it in this book.
You will also find the kind of honest advice about life, politics and the Presidency that makes you feel good. Now there's a rarity. - Marlin Fitzwater, former White House Press Secretary to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, on AND THE GOOD NEWS IS...
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WELL, HELLO!
Heaven knows why you’ve stumbled upon this site. For reasons enumerated here, I’m not really updating it anymore. Nevertheless, I’m glad you’ve sought this place out, and welcome.
I am fortunate enough to make a living as a writer, mostly if not exclusively for magazines. Here are some of the people and things I’ve written about:
Johnny Cash.
Sly Stone.
A fallen tree.
John Hughes.
Kerry Washington.
The future of Miami Beach vis-à-vis climate change.
Randy Newman.
Lucian Freud.
The British Invasion bands of the 1960s.
The black players who integrated the NBA in the 1950s.
The Whisky à Go Go.
Martin Short.
Whether or not Diamond Jim Brady really ate that much.
John Lennon.
February 21, 2016 Link General Posts
THE TIME I TRIED TO RIG METROPOLITAN DIARY
Twenty-five years ago, when I was a cub editorial assistant at Spy magazine, I was obsessed with the Metropolitan Diary feature that ran every Wednesday in the New York Times. (It now runs in the Times on Mondays.) Obsessed in a love-hate way. Metropolitan Diary was, and is, an assemblage of reader-submitted vignettes about life in the big city, and I liked its fundamentally upbeat tenor—a welcome respite from the grimmer stuff in the hard-news sections of the paper. It helped, too, that in those days, the Times sent a bottle of Champagne to every reader whose submission was printed; a charming touch.
Yet I was also driven mad by Metropolitan Diary’s sameyness: how, the more you read the section, the more you realized that the contents of one Diary were nearly identical to that of all the others, with only minor details changing from week to week. I eventually concluded that all printed Metropolitan Diary submissions fell into one of six categories:
1. Codgerly reminiscences of New York City as it was
2. The awful poetry of the bourgeoisie
3. Stories in which New Yorkers are nicer than expected
4. Stories involving a “well-dressed woman” or a “woman of a certain age”
5. The awkward and/or misspelled signage of immigrant shopkeepers
6. Out of the mouths of precocious New York babes (amusing kid stories)
Metropolitan Diary was so formulaic that I thought it would be funny if I wrote a total of 36 Metropolitan Diary submissions—six in each category—and had other members of the Spy staff rewrite these submissions in their own hand, and then mail them to the Times over a three-day period, thereby flooding the submission pool. My goal: for the Times to run a Metropolitan Diary written entirely by me, though the paper would be none the wiser.
My bosses, Kurt Andersen and Graydon Carter, signed off on the idea, and I executed it as described above. I remember that I had Martin Kihn, a young fact-checker at the magazine and now a successful writer whose book House of Lies is the basis for the Showtime TV series of the same title, submit under his name a story about how he, a putatively old man, was one of the few New Yorkers who could remember when figgy pudding was a readily available foodstuff, and not just a line in the song “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” I remember that I had my friend Henry Alford submit an “awful” poem because he and I were mutually fascinated by a poem that had run in Metropolitan Diary by an older gent who became melancholy drinking coffee from a ceramic mug that had been made in grade school by one of his now-grown children. The poet referred to the vessel as his “morning mug of memories.”
I further remember that I had a sunny colleague named Gina Duclayan submit a story in which she, a newcomer to the city, was riding on the subway when her train screeched to a halt between stations. The wait in the dark seemed interminable until Gina and the friend she was with (in my story) started singing, tentatively at first, their own rendition of Bobby McFerrin’s then-current song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” Slowly, the hardened faces of exasperated commuters softened, until, by the time the song neared its end, just about everyone in Gina’s subway car was singing along boisterously. But then! The train suddenly lurched forward and resumed its trip—at which point all the commuters resumed poker faces, as if nothing had happened.
I was naïve in thinking that my rig-the-Diary scheme would work. The Times, it turns out, receives hundreds and sometimes even thousands of submissions to Metropolitan Diary each week; my 36 submissions were a mere drop in the bucket.
I managed to get precisely one of my submissions printed, on December 13, 1989, as sent in by my colleague Monica Mahoney, now a clothing designer. It was one of those awkward-signage bits:
“Hand-printed sign, spotted by Monica Mahoney in the window of a deli on upper Broadway: WE HAVE CROISSANTS, PASTA SALAD, BRAN MUFFINS, EVERY KIND OF YUPPIE FOOD—YOU NAME IT!”
In the years since, I have become an occasional contributor to the Times, legitimately rather than under mischievous pretenses, and Henry has become a regular contributor to the paper’s Styles section. It’s a better way to get published, if less subversive.
One last thing: My failed scheme’s finest moment, in my opinion, did not involve my words’ being published. A few days after she submitted her story about singing in the subway car, Gina received a lovely personal note from Ron Alexander, the gentlemanly fellow at the Times who edited Metropolitan Diary. He welcomed Gina to New York and told her he was enchanted by her story—but that it couldn’t run, alas, on the grounds that it was too similar to Diary pieces that had already been published.
March 2, 2014 Link General Posts
JIMMY CRACKED WISE, AND I WAS THERE
February 17 will herald the return of NBC’s Tonight Show to New York, a scenario I’ve harbored fantasies about since I was a Carson-loving kid. It always smarted that I came of age in a wounded era when New York City had lost both Johnny and the Dodgers to what my great uncle called the Golden West. I was delighted to be asked by Vanity Fair to profile the gifted gentleman who’s bringing Tonight home, Jimmy Fallon, for the cover story of the new issue. A teaser for the story can be found here.
This Fallon piece is the third I’ve done in a relatively short time about a funny person I admire. I’ve also been fortunate to immerse myself in the peculiar worlds of Steve Coogan and Martin Short, should you need further light reading in these dark, wintry weeks.
January 8, 2014 Link General Posts
THE BALLAD OF NEWTOWN
How to do an article pegged to the first anniversary of the Newtown shootings that is respectful yet not dreary, that reminds us not to become inured to 12/14’s horrors yet is not grisly or strident? I’m still not sure if I have the answer, but I wrote an article for Vanity Fair’s December 2013 issue (out now) that approaches Newtown in a different way—by focusing on the lives of some of its residents as they were lived in the 24-hour period before the tragedy occurred.
I’ll let the editor of the magazine preview the piece rather than blather on further. But I do hope you’ll give the story a look.
UPDATE: The story is now live here on Vanity Fair’s Web site.
November 9, 2013 Link General Posts
RETURN OF THE SNOB’S DICTIONARY
In the early aughts, I came up with the idea for a Vanity Fair feature called “The Rock Snob’s Dictionary,” a sort of deadpan reference guide to such people and things as Nick Drake, the Stooges, Rickenbacker guitars, and the Ibanez Tube Screamer FX pedal—stuff that Rock Snobs hold dear. So dear, in fact, that they are affronted if you profess to be more knowledgeable about this stuff than they are. For help, I enlisted two friends, Steven Daly, a writer and former rock musician, and Bob Mack, an old Spy magazine compadre who later fell into the Beastie Boys’ orbit. Steven and Bob were precisely the sorts of ornery human beings with whom I would engage in argumentative, showoffy discussions about the holy scripture of rock.
Well, that “Rock Snob’s Dictionary” feature became a book (co-written with Steven), and that book begat a series of “Snob’s Dictionary” humor books and a Web site that hasn’t been updated in years but remains rich with fun, inconsequential material. And now, all these years later, the new entertainment wing of Vanity Fair’s parent company, Condé Nast, has worked with me to build a “Snob’s Dictionary” series of Web videos based on the rock-, film-, and food-related dictionaries I’ve co-authored. I asked if we could get the actor and comedian Judah Friedlander, best known as Frank from 30 Rock, to be our narrator, because Judah can do just the sort of strident, grad-studentish tone—arrogant but self-aware and maybe just the slightest bit kindhearted in his bid to educate—that I heard in my head. Thankfully, Judah was game.
Two videos are up so far: this one, about American International Pictures (for Film Snobs), and this one, about the aforementioned Nick Drake (for Rock Snobs). Eight more Snob’s Dictionary videos are en route in the next couple of months, with further batches likely to follow.
A note on Nick Drake, by the way: I love his music; Steven doesn’t. I tended to write my dictionary entries from a perspective of self-mockery, making fun of my own precious tastes, while Steven wrote from a place of roiling Glaswegian anger. (And, in the early days, Bob Mack was the angriest of all; it was he who coined the phrase “trustafarian pretty-boy” to describe Gram Parsons, and who once graffito’d a Village Voice ad I’d clipped for a Richard Thompson concert with the words NO! BAN THE ROCK-CRIT ESTABLISHMENT!) The books’ sense of conversation is why the whole thing works, and why I always bring in collaborators on Snob projects. In the spirit of cultural snobbery, I invite you to suggest further topics for Snob video shorts. Try to be less strident than us.
August 7, 2013 Link General Posts
“THE PRODUCERS,” VERITÉ VERSION
For Vanity Fair’s June issue, I did this plot-dense piece about why Rebecca, The Musical, an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s novel for the stage, has not yet made it to Broadway. The article defies tidy explanation, so my best advice is to just set aside some time and read it. Maybe I’ll do some Web updates if and when its various storylines resolve.
May 25, 2013 Link General Posts
CHARLES RAMSEY AND THE NEW, WEIRD AMERICA
(The man of the hour)
So we’ve just witnessed Charles Ramsey’s transformation from, in short order, anonymous dishwasher to TV-news hero to Auto-Tuned internet meme. It’s been both fun and discomfiting. Fun because the guy’s a natural raconteur (even to the 911 operator: “Hey, check this out. I just came from McDonald’s, right? So I’m on my porch eatin’ my little food, right?”) and discomfiting because A) his fame has come via the revelation of a horrific scene of captivity; and B) because the attention he’s commanded has run the gamut from admiration to ridicule.
Like Sweet Brown (“Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That”), Antoine Dodson (“Bed Intruder”), and Michelle Clark (“Kabooya”), Ramsey is a lower-income African-American whose camera time came as a result of tragedy. (Brown’s apartment complex caught on fire, Dodson’s sister survived a rape attempt, and Clark’s community was ravaged by a violent hailstorm.) If the people who leave comments on YouTube are anything to go by, a lot of viewers regard these individuals purely as figures of fun: found objects repurposed in the service of a new digital minstrelsy. And that’s reprehensible.
But YouTube commenters don’t necessarily represent the greater part of YouTube viewers—a lot of the former are ignorant kids and unevolved doofuses—and I think there’s a more charitable and uplifting way to look at the fascination with Ramsey et al. These endlessly replayed local-news clips are, in a way, like the field recordings made by the father-and-son folklorists and ethnomusicologists John Lomax and Alan Lomax in neglected pockets of America during the Depression years and beyond. These mini-monologues appeal because they capture authentic, idiomatic, unmediated American voices that are more alive to us than the glib, slick patter that usually comes through the speakers of our TVs and laptops.
In his book Invisible Republic, Greil Marcus coined the term “the old, weird America” to describe the Delta and backwoods milieux where the Lomaxes’ finds sang their songs, and where the archivist Harry Smith’s favorite balladeers and bluesmen came from. The inference was that America is no longer weird—that its old variety of strange ethnic, regional, and racial subcultures was snuffed out by suburbanization, prosperity, and cultural homogeneity.
But Charles Ramsey reminds us that the weirdness is still with us. It’s just been updated and accelerated. Whereas, in the old days, sixty-two years would pass between when John Lomax recorded Vera Hall of Alabama singing “Trouble So Hard” a cappella and when Moby sampled Hall for his song “Natural Blues” (from the album Play, the soundtrack to many a bourgeois dinner party in the early Aughts), now all it takes is a day for some clever white twerps to transmute a field recording into a thumpin’ hit.
Yes, there’s an uncomfortable sense of patronization that goes with all this—the celebration and embrace of heretofore marginalized black individuals for their “realness.” But in Charles Ramsey’s case, at least, the net result is positive. When we as a nation are able to find a silver lining to that otherwise unspeakable crime story in Cleveland, that’s a dead giveaway that we’re responding, first and foremost, to Ramsey’s humanity, not to how funny he is.
TEENYPOSTING ANEW
Heaven help me, I’m giving Twitter another try. About four years ago I set up an account and teenyposted steadily for a while, but I simply never mastered the form—basically because I was putting too much thought into it, doing misguidedly ambitious things like writing young-adult vampire novels as a series of tweets. Also, Twitter, to this day, upsets my acute, Des Esseintes-like aesthetic sensitivity. I find its feeds visually noisy, what with all the hashtags and ampersets and bit.ly and pic.twitter cmprssns of wrds.
But, in the interests of “branding,” “professionalism,” and “not sliding out of view and thereby spending my remaining days penniless in a rented room where a bare, solitary bulb hangs listlessly from the ceiling,” I am re-embracing the medium! Follow me or give me a howdy at @MrKamp.
April 29, 2013 Link General Posts
YOUR OWN PRIVATE EGYPT
Last month’s Vanity Fair, the one with Taylor Swift on the cover, included a long article I wrote revisiting the mania surrounding the “Treasures of Tutankhamun” exhibition that toured the U.S. in the late 1970s, as well as the political and cultural forces that conspired to make the tour happen. I had fun doing the article and put a lot of work into it, but, based on the crickets-chirping non-response it elicited, hardly anyone read it. (Perhaps you will, now that it’s online?) Ah, well. This is much less of a crisis than the one Egypt’s tourism industry is currently suffering because of post-Arab Spring political instability in the Morsi era.
My Egyptophile sources tell me that, if you can summon the bravery and funds to get over to Egypt right now, it’s a great time to visit the pyramids, Luxor, and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, because hardly anyone else is visiting and the lines of years past are nonexistent. The Egyptian Museum is where the King Tut relics from the ’70s tour are currently housed, and all indications are that, tales of looting aside, the Tut stuff is intact and okay. (It’s my understanding that the Egyptians will never again let Tut’s famous gold mask travel, so Cairo is now the only place you can get to see it.)
Lots of eccentric plotlines and sub-plotlines of my V.F. story wound up on the cutting-room floor, among them the fact that singer Pearl Bailey, an ardent Richard Nixon supporter, muscled her way onto Nixon’s June ’74 tour of Egypt and the Mideast—his final overseas trip before he resigned—as the president’s so-called “Ambassador of Love,” performing for the president and his Egyptian counterpart, Anwar Sadat. A year later, when Sadat paid his first state visit to the U.S., hosted by Gerald Ford, Bailey subbed for an ill Johnny Cash—one of Sadat’s faves—as the entertainment, pulling Sadat out of his chair for a dance (he blushed), mugging in reading glasses borrowed from Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, and in general acting genially bonkers.
The most poignant bit cut from the V.F. story is how Tut-mania represented a sort of high-water mark for U.S.-Egypt relations—or at least the hope for sustained, stable, mutually beneficial U.S.-Egypt relations. The Tut show was the first gesture of diplomatic goodwill that Sadat granted the U.S. after switching allegiances from the Soviet Union to America, and it’s not overstating things to say that the positive feelings this gesture engendered played a part in the lead-up to the historic Camp David Accords signed by Sadat and Israel’s Menachim Begin in 1978, on Jimmy Carter’s watch. (Personal note: It was at this point in my schoolboy life that everyone began addressing me as “Kamp David.”)
Sadat is to Egyptians a little bit like Mikhail Gorbachev is to Russians—an overseas rock star who doesn’t get much love at home. (A much bigger cult of nostalgia surrounds his nationalist predecessor, Gamal Abdel Nasser.) Yet he was was precisely the kind of strong, West-friendly leader that the U.S. State Department can only dream of Egypt’s having now. His assassination in 1981 was a violent bookend to the period of genuine U.S.-Egypt love that began with Nixon’s 1974 trip and crested with Camp David and Steve Martin.
April 3, 2013 Link General Posts
“YEAH, WELL I HEAR HE’S BAD...”
(Shadow Morton, before the Ba-CAH-di took its toll.)
“Little nose and big hair. Very strong hair. I think he’s very talented, and very bizarre.” That’s how Jeff Barry, the great Brill Building songwriter behind such hits as “Be My Baby” and “Da Doo Ron Ron,” described Shadow Morton to me. Morton, like Barry a songwriter but otherwise utterly unlike Barry or any other songwriter, died of cancer on Valentine’s Day at the age of 71. The New York Times obit of him quotes extensively from the oral history of the Brill Building that I wrote in 2001 for Vanity Fair.
Morton was a degenerate punk with just enough front and talent to make an indelible stamp upon pop music. He was from Long Island and was the driving creative force behind the tough-chick Queens girl group the Shangri-Las, writing or co-writing such amazing songs as “Remember (Walking in the Sand),” “The Leader of the Pack,” and “Give Him a Great Big Kiss.” You can get a fuller sense of what he was like in the V.F. piece, but, briefly: In 1964, Morton hustled his way into the office of Barry and Barry’s then wife and songwriting partner, Ellie Greenwich. Then he hustled himself into believing he could write a song, “Remember.” Then, when that song became a hit, he hustled Barry and Greenwich’s bosses, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, into making them believe he had a follow-up at the ready... about, you know, some guy with a motorcycle who falls in love with a girl. Leiber wasn’t impressed. Morton, extemporizing, told Leiber, “It gets better.” Leiber asked “How does it get better?” Morton, now really sweating it out, said, “He... dies.” The song that Morton subsequently wrote to fulfill this wholly B.S.’d scenario was “The Leader of the Pack.” Polished by Barry and Greenwich, it became the Shangri-Las’ signature tune, Morton’s biggest annuity, and a cultural touchstone. (Joe Jackson’s “Is She Really Going Out with Him?” took its title from the song’s spoken opening line.)
Thirty-odd years after Morton’s heyday, I met him for an interview at Joe Allen, a New York theater-district hangout where he was a regular. (I think he lived on the block, possibly above the restaurant.) He had the hunched shoulders and tinted shades of a horse-playing hoodlum—an aged version of Boogie, Mickey Rourke’s character in Diner. But he still had the little nose and big hair—was still handsome in a dessicated way. The removal of his shades revealed one eyelid to have a droop. From a fight? A neurological condition? I don’t know. He was a sobered-up alcoholic, and, like many in such circumstances, he was ashamed of his past behavior under the influence yet eager to talk about it. He kept talking about “the Ba-CAH-di” that did him in: “It wasn’t me mouthin’ off to Leiber, it was the Ba-CAH-di”; “I got too caught up in the Ba-CAH-di to care when the next hit was gonna come.” Shadow (his real name was George; Barry assigned him the nickname to describe his penchant for unreliability and abrupt disappearances) seemed especially remorseful about his behavior towards Mary Weiss, the striking lead singer of the Shangri-Las; he said the Ba-CAH-di had made him do some things to her so terrible that he didn’t want to go into them.
Still, Morton retained the mischievous air of a hustler. He brought an attractive young woman along for company, their connection ambiguous besides her evident obligation to giggle at his wisecracks and absorb his occasional nudges. I asked him if the the dreamboat tough guy that Weiss sings about in “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” (“Big wavy hair, a little too long”) was, in fact, him.
“Yeah,” he said, smiling like Jack Nicholson, “you picked up on that, good for you!” One of the wonderful things about Morton’s songs is their structural irregularity—since he was musically untrained (and, for that matter, behaviorally untrained), his Shangri-Las hits include all sorts of strange atmospheric shifts and spoken-word passages that “proper” songwriters would have never essayed. “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” has a dialogue exchange in which the other girls say, “Yeah, well I hear he’s bad!,” to which Weiss thoughtfully replies, “Mmm, he’s good-bad, but he’s not evil.”
“Good-bad,” Morton said. “That was me. That’s how I saw myself.”
MY MATE MIKE AND HIS MIGHTY MEMOIR
(Michael Hainey, king of the investigative memoir.)
More than twenty years ago, as we were ratifying a new friendship over drinks, my pal Michael Hainey, then a fellow member of Spy magazine’s junior varsity and a recent arrival from Chicago, told me about his father. Bob Hainey died abruptly in 1970, when Michael was only six years old. The elder Hainey was a newspaper man, an editor at the Sun-Times. “It’s never added up to me,” Mike said. “He worked on the South Side, but his body was found on the North Side. What was he doing there? I’d love to, like, do a real investigation of it some day.”
This desire never strayed from Michael’s thoughts, and now, years in the making, comes his wondrous new book, After Visiting Friends (Scribner, out officially on Feb. 19). Let me be clear: My recommendation of this book is not forced gush on behalf of a friend. Mike’s quest for the truth about his father, and his telling of it, makes for one of the best reading experiences I’ve had in ages. In fact, a part of me wishes I didn’t know Michael because then I could have approached the story the best way one can as a reader: having no idea what lies in store.
Briefly: It’s a detective story, a hard-times story, a Chicago story, a family-sticking-together story, a glimpse of an old-time milieu of whiskey-splotched newsprint journos with an iffy code of ethics, a boom-chicka-boom evocation of the Nebraska railroad heartland of Bob’s youth, a memory exercise refracted through a poetic sensibility (Mike writes poetry, too), and, most movingly, just... a plunge into the past colored by the melancholic realization that the past is ultimately irretrievable.
Here’s a lovely little bit that’s characteristic but doesn’t give the plot away:
Life in the shadow of O’Hare. ORD—what this land was before the airport was: Orchards. Men took it for the airport’s original name: Orchard Field. The origin of ORD. Acres and acres of apple trees. As a boy, I rode my bike to O’Hare, circumnavigated its fenced-in perimeter. That’s how I found the forgotten orchards. A patch of the past. In the fall, their apples rot unwanted. All that remains.
I urge you to read on. It’s worth it.
ED KOCH’S EXTRA 23 YEARS
I thought Ed Koch was going to die in 1990. I thought he would be like Bear Bryant, the legendary Alabama football coach, or my old boss at GQ magazine, Art Cooper, both of whose identities were so caught up in what they did for a living that neither man lasted more than a few weeks beyond retirement. When David Dinkins was inaugurated on New Year’s Day in ’90, I assumed that Ed Koch, without the NYC mayoralty, would cease to be.
I was wrong, to Koch’s credit. Simply being a New Yorker, as opposed to the king of New York, was more than enough to sustain him. He was a neighbor and I saw a lot of him, both in person, eating the salty food he wasn’t supposed to eat (at Minetta Tavern, or in line at Balducci’s before it became Citarella) and in The Villager, the homely neighborhood weekly of Greenwich Village, where he reviewed movies. (He hated Avatar, which was “hyped beyond the point of forgiveness,” and remarked of Walk the Line, “I sing better in the shower than Joaquin Phoenix.”) And he was always popping up on NY1, the endearingly shabby, spiritually pre-Bloombergian local-news channel that comes with your cable box in the big city.
There was plenty not to love about Koch, such as his callousness towards his black constituents and his not-good-for-the-Jews stridency in purporting to represent what all Jews think about Israel, Jesse Jackson, and, well, everything. But I retained affection for the guy and am stricken by his passing. That it occured just a day short of the fifth anniversary of my father’s death is resonant, too. As charismatic old Jews go, my dad was an altogether warmer, gentler force than Koch, but he grew up in the same Ashkenazic milieu of bagels, salt-cured fish, Depression-era penury, unquestioned duty to country, astounding work ethic, and recreational kvetching. With Koch down, I feel like we’ve lost another of Dad’s cohort, and not just in the ethno-gastric sense. Like my father, Koch was a product of a time that celebrated the “common man,” when leading a middle-class life was a good thing, a desired path rather than a sad consolation prize for the un-entrepreneurial and unbeautiful. New York City used to be a place where you could be this nice sort of middle-class. But it isn’t anymore. Ed Koch, over these last 23 years, was a vestige of that place, as much so as Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop and Kossar’s Bialys.
February 1, 2013 Link General Posts
PEACE OUT
Yauch hit the hardest somehow. For deeply evocative twinges of distant childhood, Jon Lord. Also, no fooling, Phyllis Diller.
Was privileged to actually know:
David Rakoff
Mark O’Donnell
December 22, 2012 Link General Posts
SHORT NOTICE
For Vanity Fair’s new comedy issue, I wrote a profile of perhaps my favo(u)rite of all the funny Canadians, Martin Short. The piece is now online here, and, as it happens, Short is hosting this weekend’s Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live.
One note: In my kicker, I mention, in talk-show plugeroo style, that Marty will be appearing at a theater in Birmingham, Alabama, on December 14. That appearance has actually been cancelled because of S.N.L. preparations. But the Yellowhammer state’s loss is the nation’s gain.
MY CHARLIE WATTS MORNING
Since the Rolling Stones are in town for their abbreviated 50th-anniversary tour, I thought I’d share a memory of my one extended encounter with a Stone. It was with Charlie Watts. This was 1996. I was assigned to do a one-page thingy on him for Vanity Fair, on the occasion of a new album he was putting out with his swing band. I’ve always been enervated by those who say “Charlie Watts looks so old!” or “Charlie Watts is a corpse!,” because Watts is about as perfect-looking as a man can look. He is white-haired, slim, and 71—and becomingly all of those things. He was only in his mid-fifties when I met him, but he has not changed much since. I took the assignment to look at him as much as to talk with him. I can’t find the article but I remember that I led with, “Are there others out there for whom Charlie Watts is the focal point of the Rolling Stones?”
We met at the Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where he was staying. He had an elaborately furnished suite whose skyline beauty he did not take for granted. “I mean, look around here,” he said, motioning his arm panoramically. “It’s like bloody Cary Grant, innit?”
I recently heard it said somewhere—perhaps by Keith Richards himself—that whereas most bands are anchored by the drummer, with the bass and guitar following, the Stones are anchored by Richards, the senior guitarist, with Watts, the drummer, hanging a half-beat behind him: one of the secrets to the Stones’s sound, their distinctive controlled sloppiness. This would have been useful knowledge for me the day I met Watts. It took about ten minutes for me to figure out, but he was hanging behind the beat even in conversation. It sounds cute, like exaggeration for the good of a story, but it’s true: Every time I asked a question, he answered the question before last. We fell into a sort of conversational fugue, wherein his answers overlaid my questions, which I adjusted on the fly to be belated follow-ups to his belated answers. Strangely, it worked: What was meant to be a perfunctory, transactional half-hour appointment became a two-hour talk, and Watts, to my delight, was in no hurry to be rid of me.
But I should add that what made this episode stranger, and perhaps contributed to the peculiarly laggy rhythm of the talk, was that this was my first time out of the house since the birth of my first child. My daughter had been born only three days earlier, and my wife and I were still consumed by the joy and terror of not quite knowing how to live in this state: with a baby. Severely sleep-deprived, I’d shaved for the first time in days and put on my nicest clothes, knowing that Charlie was himself quite the clotheshorse. Near the end of the interview, after I’d become perhaps too comfortable in Watts’s presence, my fuzzy-headedness got the best of me. I unleashed upon him a question that I’d always wanted to ask a Stone or ex-Beatle: What is it like to live a life where you’ve nothing left to prove, nothing necessarily to motivate you artistically, but still plenty of life ahead of you?
Except I asked this question in the most sloppy, logorrheic way possible, with some mortifying addendum along the lines of, “I always imagine that for someone like you, life must be something like a perpetual Sunday brunch, where you’re always sitting on the veranda with people bringing you mimosas and café au lait, with a wedge of cantaloupe and a tray of croissants in front of you, and no set plan for the day.”
The fugue stopped. There was silence. Watts stared at me stonily for what felt like half an hour but was probably thirty seconds.
Then, finally, he looked down, looked up, and said to me, “Cantaloupe melon? Bloody ’ell, I’ve never ’eard that one before.”
December 7, 2012 Link General Posts
WHERE I BEEN
This site was launched in 2006, in what we can retrospectively call the autumn of blogging: when it was still exhilarating that individuals were able take their words, whimsies, and ventings of spleen directly to the reading audience with no middleman, but also when blogger glut and blogger fatigue were already setting in. In other words, my site came along at a time when a writer like me could still be excited to have, you know, this unfiltered outlet, man, yet this excitement was quickly snuffed out by A) the realization that I was joining the party too late to attract an audience just because I was a professional writer with a site; B) the realization that blogging is just not my métier, though I admire those for whom it is; C) the advent of Facebook and Twitter, which is where people would increasingly choose to spend their internet time, rendering the already-theoretical audience for an author site even more theoretical; and D) my tendency to bring the spontaneity of any blog post to a halt with a tedious, alphabetized list.
All of this is a long way of explaining why, if you’re still reading, I post so infrequently on this site. That said, I felt bad for the ol’ gal that is davidkamp.com (and, yes, I’ve anthopomorphized this site into a wizened lady who was Bryn Mawr class of ’33, a Carole Lombard-like beauty in her day who now bides her time at the assisted-living facility, living for her grandchildren’s infrequent visits, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door). So I thought I’d at least post some links to some Vanity Fair stuff I’ve written, since V.F.’s site has been good about posting my work.
Here is a story I wrote for the December issue about Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey, whose return is nearly upon us.
Here is a big piece I wrote for the October issue about the birth of the James Bond movie franchise, now riding high again with Skyfall.
Here and here are the first in what I hope to be many installments of a revival of an old V.F. feature from the 1920s, the Impossible Interview—in which two people unlikely to meet in this life on this earth are thrown together for a dialogue captured in a bright, grabby illo by a gifted artist. (In the old days, the Impossible Interviews were illustrated by none other than the great Miguel Covarrubias. Now the illustrations are done by the magnificent Mr. André Carrilho of Portugal.)
Finally, just because V.F. has started putting up more archival stuff on the Web, here is a piece I resented getting assigned to me 15 years ago: a cover story on a young actor of whom, in 1997, no one outside of Hollywood had ever heard—Matt Damon. He and this pal of his, Ben Affleck, were getting heavily hyped for this movie they had co-written and were now about to star in, Good Will Hunting, and it fell to me to hold up V.F.’s end of the hypeage deal. My aggrievedness is evident in the story’s lede, though I’m not proud of the tone that my younger self took; that kid (me, not Damon) should have been damn well pleased to be writing for a national magazine, period. Anyway, I spent a night watching Monday Night Football with Damon and Affleck in Matt’s hotel room in the Peninsula Hotel in Manhattan. The boys were still unused to such settings, psyched that Harvey Weinstein was putting them up in a five-star hotel with unlimited domain over the room-service menu and the minibar. They turned out to be welcoming, funny, and thoughtful guys—Damon, a product of a liberal Cambridge, Mass., household, ambivalent about his pending stardom and wealth, Affleck trying to make sense of the fact that his next movie was a zillion-budget Michael Bay epic called Armageddon. (He kept bellowing the title aloud, jokingly, like an irony-attuned WWE announcer.) I also admired the candor with which Damon’s mother, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, expressed to me her concerns about the whole exercise we were undertaking. “What happens in a consumer society is that people become objects of attention in a way that doesn’t seem healthy to society,” she said. “I’m happy that Matt is happy in his work, but I’m not convinced he has to be on the cover of a magazine about it. It’s a little hard for me to accept. It’s all so out of the ordinary that I worry he might not grow as I want him to.”
The good thing is, Matt and Ben turned out all right.
November 30, 2012 Link General Posts
THE BLACK UNICORN
Last year’s NFL lockout prevented me from enjoying one of my favorite August rituals: visiting the New York Giants’ training camp in Albany, New York. But this year, the Giants returned to Albany, and thus, I did, too, with my son and my friend Peter Richmond in tow. Peter and I, who co-host a “miserabilist” Giants-fan radio show that now has its own Facebook page, are always on the lookout for a training-camp character to become enamored of. Three years ago we found one in a personable fringe prospect with the awesome name Leger Douzable. (Douzable, a defensive tackle, has since bounced around the NFL, getting a few starts with the Jacksonville Jaguars; he is currently a Tennessee Titan.)
This year “our guy” turned out to be a non-fringe guy: Martellus Bennett, who may very well begin this season as the Giants’ starting tight end. Bennett was signed as a free agent after playing four years in the shadow of the Dallas Cowboys’ star tight end, Jason Witten. In Dallas, where he was a second-round pick, he is considered something of a bust, more of a talker than a producer. But Bennett, who has exhibited his art and is married to a fashion-blogging Sarah Lawrence grad, is already worth his roster spot as a fine run-blocker, and, more importantly for our purposes, as a Darryl Dawkins-style quote machine. Early in camp, he talked up his physical condition by saying, “I’m stronger than I’ve ever been, I’m faster than I’ve ever been. I could run all day. I’m kind of like a black unicorn out there. It’s amazing to watch.”
The “black unicorn” comment has inspired fan art and gotten a lot of play in the press. It also prompted me to seek out Bennett at camp. On the practice field, he did indeed stand out: at a rangy, powerful-looking 6' 6”, he looked, if not like a mythical hornëd creature, then at least like the sort of big, power-forward-style tight end that the New Orleans Saints have in Jimmy Graham. Off the field, he was the only Giant to proceed past us in non-athletic gear, in his stylin’ t-shirt (a leopard-print bomb?) and straw hat. Bennett happily posed for a photo with my half-his-size son (see photo above). I asked him, “Did you really call yourself a ‘black unicorn’?”
“Yeah!” he said. “That’s pretty good, don’t you think?”
August 16, 2012 Link General Posts
“WHO WAS THE JACKIE ROBINSON OF THE NBA?”
My son posed the above question to me recently, wondering why the most African-American-identified sport in the U.S. doesn’t have one single transformative historical figure the way baseball has Robinson. By a stroke of good fortune, GQ has just re-posted in its archives an article I wrote in 2001 addressing this very question.
The first men, plural, to break the color barrier in the NBA were a low-key group, in part because the NBA was still a low-key league, barely on its feet, when integration happened in 1950. Also, the integration of the NBA was less momentous than baseball’s because blacks and whites had already played basketball with and against one another at the college level. I’ll never forget how Earl Lloyd, the first black man to log minutes in an NBA game, framed this for me: “Most of the people who played baseball at that time were from below the Mason-Dixon Line, and most of ’em never seen a college. I mean, you got some guys from down south—hell, their first pair of shoes were baseball shoes! But my teammates were very intelligent, man.”
Nevertheless, for the NBA’s black pioneers, there was still struggle, tension, and the constant potential for slights and humiliations. Not always the stuff of happy reading, but I’m at least happy that, for once, I can answer one of my son’s questions with more than the usual distracted “Uh, we’ll look it up.”
TED KAMP’S INADVERTENT MUSEUM OF THE NINETEEN-SEVENTIES
A Tour with Photographs by the Docent, Mr. Kamp’s Younger Brother, David
In 1981, Ted Kamp left central New Jersey for the wider world, unaware at the time that he was a curator. He was simply a young man beginning the journey into adulthood, which would take him first to the campus of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY—its non-coeducational past still sufficiently recent for his father’s more paleolithic friends to remark with lewd grins, “Isn’t that a girlie school?”—and then to Chicago, and then to the greater Los Angeles area, where he resides today.
What Ted Kamp did not yet know was that his mother was possessed of a sufficiently strong sentimental streak that she would leave his oblong attic bedroom more or less unchanged in terms of décor as the years, and then the decades, flew by. Some furniture would be shuffled and rearranged, some closet contents would be hauled off, but the walls—ah, those goldenrod walls would remain exactly as they were left in 1981, which is to say, as they had remained for the better part of the 1970s, since Ted Kamp seldom edited, “redid,” or subtracted from his wall décor; rather, ke kept making incremental additions to his thumbtacked collage of American sports and cultural ephemera. By dint of this cumulative approach to decorating, and his mother’s subsequent willful resistance to making over his room, even after he no longer occupied it, Ted Kamp created an Inadvertent Museum of the Seventies. Come have a look.
The oldest piece in the collection is most likely the NEW YORK KNICKS WORLD CHAMPIONS poster (Fig. 1). It gives every indication of dating from 1970, the first of the Knicks’ two championship years in the seventies, featuring as it does not only the stalwarts Willis Reed (No. 19), Walt Frazier (No. 10), Bill Bradley (No. 24), Dave DeBusschere (No. 22), and Dick Barnett (No. 12), but also Cazzie Russell (No. 33), who was swapped for Jerry Lucas of the San Francisco Warriors at the end of the ’70-’71 season, and Mike Riordan (No. 6) and Dave Stallworth (No. 9), who, together, were sent later that same year to the Baltimore Bullets in return for the great (and conspicuously absent from this poster) Earl Monroe, a cornerstone of the Knicks’ 1973 championship team.
Your docent’s efforts to date this poster were initially thrown off by the presence of Phil Jackson (No. 18, the “1” on his uniform obscured in the photo). Jackson, though a Knick since being drafted out of the University of North Dakota in 1967, missed the entire 1969-70 season as he recuperated from spinal-fusion surgery. Yet he is shown in game action, reaching for a rebound. This is what crossed up your docent, who vividly remembers Jackson playing a crucial if graceless and hirsute reserve role on the ’73 championship squad.*
The suspicions of ’73 provenance were compounded by the fact that Ted Kamp did not ascend to his attic lair until some point in the mid-seventies. It is the hoariest of exercises to trot out a Brady Bunch reference when discussing things seventies-related, but it is nevertheless apt to note that it was on March 23, 1973—mere weeks before the Knicks clinched their second title—that ABC aired “A Room at the Top,” the Brady Bunch episode in which Greg Brady claimed the attic as his own baroquely decorated, single-occupancy bedroom. Precisely when Ted Kamp moved to his new custom-modified attic bedroom is lost to the ages, but it was certainly some time after “A Room at the Top” had aired, and it is not a stretch to imagine that Ted Kamp and his parents were at least partly inspired by the episode to imagine that their modest three-bedroom home’s large attic, if tidied up and retrofitted with electric baseboard heaters and nautically-themed curtains, would be a better place for Ted Kamp to spend his time than the small second-floor room he had shared with his older sister, by then pubescent and very irritable, since 1966.
One can only conclude that the makers of the NEW YORK KNICKS WORLD CHAMPIONS poster generously chose to include Jackson despite his inactive status during the ’69-’70 season, and that the poster sat idly, rolled up somewhere, until Ted Kamp’s attic room and future Inadvertent Museum of the Seventies came to be.
* It’s hard to articulate, given his silken Zenmaster demeanor now, how awkward, shaggy, and perspiratory Jackson’s style of play was: all elbows and flashes of armpit hair, every move to screen his man maximally effortful, every joule of energy expended.
We’ll move on more quickly from here, as I can see that I’ve already exhausted you with my explication of the NEW YORK KNICKS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP poster. The central feature of the next image (Fig. 2) is a cardboard promotional doohickey for the eight-track-tape edition of Cat Stevens’ Greatest Hits album. Ted Kamp had no great love for Cat Stevens, but, in those faraway days of unprofligate, unspoiled childhoods, with the Great Depression a living memory in the minds of most parents, you took what you could get, wall-stuff-wise.* This might also explain the somewhat discordant movie stills to the left, depicting, respectively, Bogie and Kate in The African Queen and Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik.
Ted Kamp did not own an eight-track-tape player, though his father for several years had such a player in his cars. Cars, plural, rather than car, singular, because Ted Kamp’s father, for most of the seventies, was the sales manager of DeAngelis Buick in New Brunswick, NJ, and therefore always drove a dealer-demo vehicle of the latest model year. (You can see one of DeAngelis Buick’s fender stickers carelessly sprawled across Willis Reed’s pelvis in Fig. 1.) Each dealer-demo Buick came with its own complimentary eight-track cassette—essentially a General Motors executive mixtape—that drivers could use to test out the car’s eight-track player. Your docent remembers these G.M. tapes featuring lots of “countrypolitan” balladry and middle-aged soft pop, e.g. Charlie Rich’s “The Most Beautiful Girl” and the 1973 version of Teresa Brewer’s “Music Music Music.”
* Your docent, though a diehard New York Giants fan from birth, never had a Giants poster on his wall. Somehow, at some point, through a work associate of his father’s or something, he received a poster of Brian Sipe, the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback. He duly placed it on his wall; it was thrill enough just to put up a poster of an actual NFL player, any halfway decent player.
These next two images (Figs. 3 and 4) depict the small closet door next to Ted Kamp’s bed. Fig. 3 shows a mini-collage composed of a small poster of WPLJ’s Top 95 Albums of 1976; a smaller, more graphically mundane poster of WPLJ’s Top 95 Albums of 1977; a typewritten mailer listing the 40 Best Albums of 1978 as chosen by the listeners of WNEW, then a hipper FM station than WPLJ; and a small poster advertising the Cosmos, New York’s team in the North American Soccer League*. Fig. 4 is a close-up view of the WPLJ Top 95 of 1976 list.
WPLJ was a New York-based FM station whose frequency was 95.5 (hence the “Top 95” formulation) and whose programming maestro, Allen Shaw, more or less invented AOR: album-oriented rock, featuring “deeper” cuts and hairier, heavier rock than the Top 40 pop that the AM stations played. Still, the selection and order of the station’s Top 95 of 1976, as arrayed in a grid in Fig. 4—a grid that your docent stared at glazedly for hours on end between 1977 and 1980—seem based on sales rather than exquisite programming taste. Yes, Stevie Wonder is there, as is Joni Mitchell, as are Mick and Keith, as is Bowie in his Thin White Duke phase, but so, too, are the Bay City Rollers, Barry Manilow, and, disco-portending their way into the final slot—uh-huh, uh-huh—K.C. and the Sunshine Band. It is to Ted Kamp’s credit as a teen with small-c catholic musical tastes that he owned about half of the albums pictured. Your docent was mightily impressed as a pre-teen by the perfectly realized “guitar face” that Robin Trower is pulling on the cover of Robin Trower Live (fifth row from bottom, all the way to the right), though, to this day, he has never actually heard the album.
* With his father and your docent, Ted Kamp attended a number of Cosmos games in the mid-to-late seventies, the peak of the team’s and the North American Soccer League’s success. Ted Kamp and your docent can even be said to have been devoted Cosmos fans, faithfully memorizing the team’s roster, which consisted of such past-their-prime international all-stars as Pele, Giorgio Chinaglia, and Franz Beckenbauer, as well as such lesser known but still exotically named players as Santiago Formoso, Erol Yasin, Andranik Eskandarian, and David Brcic. Soccer seemed to be a sport ascendant in America in the late seventies, and Ted Kamp took it up dutifully, if middlingly, as his high school team’s goalie. Still, it was a romance not to last; the Cosmos and the NASL faltered in the eighties, and Ted Kamp, his father, and your docent realized that they were kidding themselves about being soccer zealots. Realistically, they had attended so many Cosmos games simply for the pleasure, then novel, of watching a winning team play in Giants Stadium.
The next image (Fig. 5) features a small poster of Pele, rendered in the totalitarian-state-godhead style of portraiture that the soccer great inspired in the mid-seventies. (Was every Brazilian home required to have a framed version of this poster hanging over the hearth?) Though Ted Kamp’s family was too common and unconnected to “score” choice seats to prime events, it did somehow manage to get upper-tier seats to Pele’s final game, which took place on October 1, 1977, in Giants Stadium. Pele played the first half for his former team, Santos of Brazil, and the second half for the Cosmos, who won, 2-1. Your docent remembers that the scoreboard flashed the names of famous people in attendance, and that MICK AND BIANCA JAGGER were among the names flashed. Your docent further remembers that Pele, in his pregame address to the crowd, commanded us all to recite the word “love” three times in a row, which we did, like Moonies at a Unification Church mass wedding. The solemnity of the Pele poster is undercut by the JESUS SAVES—BUT MOSES INVESTS bumper sticker below it. One is tempted to read some mischief into this juxtaposition, ascribing to the teenaged Ted Kamp an intent to comment wryly on the messiahs that humankind creates and prostrates itself before. But, more likely, Ted Kamp probably just picked up the bumper sticker at Spencer Gifts and tacked it up because he thought it was good Jew humor.*
* Spencer Gifts, a novelty-store chain that opened its first retail outlet in 1963 in the Cherry Hill Mall, roughly sixty miles from the future Inadverent Museum of the Seventies, specialized in novelty items with a frisson of naughtiness, if not sexual explicitness, to them. Ted Kamp further procured from Spencer Gifts a bumper sticker bearing the words START A MOVEMENT—EAT A PRUNE and a t-shirt bearing the word BULLSHIRT. In the seventies, Spencer’s—which, astonishingly, still exists as a going concern—also did a vigorous business in bulb-based entertainment: black lights, black-light posters, lava lamps, plug-in 7 Up cans with flicker-flame bulbs protruding out of them, and so on.
Further along, we come to the cross-temporal wall collage of Figs. 6 and 7. The colorful hodgepodge of Fig. 6 includes a mini-poster distributed in Baskin-Robbins ice-cream shops in 1976 to commemorate the chain’s “31-Derful Years” in business: a play on the company’s claim that its shops always sold 31 flavors of ice cream. Yes, that is O.J. Simpson in the illustration for 1974’s representative flavor, Hold That Lime—an unappetizing notion for an ice-cream flavor irrespective of Simpson’s later infamy. The Alfred E. Neuman posterette below the Baskin-Robbins promo poster bespeaks a preadolescent phase of Ted Kamp’s life (note the sloppily inked TEDDY KAMP stamp near top left), while the loom-woven craftsy yarn hanging to Neuman’s left evokes still-earlier days—of an Earth Day ’70 ethos, and, perhaps, of a dexterous sister who might have made a gift of said crafts project. Meanwhile, the small Peugot and Adidas objets point the way forward to 1979, when Eurosportiness went semi-mainstream with Peter Yates’s cult film hit about cycling, Breaking Away, starring Dennis Christopher.
As the collage continues in Fig. 7, we see mid-adolescence asserting itself in the menacing glares of the Eagles circa Hotel California* and the cockeyed gaze of John Belushi as Bluto in Animal House. (The poster’s caption, obscured in the photograph, reads “U.S. SENATOR BLUTARSKY,” an allusion to the movie’s clever “Where are they now?” epilogue.) No longer the innocent who derived easy thrills of transgression from reading Mad magazine, the Ted Kamp of this part of the wall collage is feeling himself out as a subversive, a jaded post-Watergate cynic. Yet, as Ted Kamp would discover, cynicism was not tantamount to nihilism. If it was, he wouldn’t have collected that handsome bronze plaque commemorating his completion of Tufts University’s summertime sailing program in 1977, nor would he have tacked up a photograph of a smiling James Taylor from 1979’s socially conscious No Nukes concert and concert film.
* Your docent was terrified of the Eagles as they appeared in this giveaway poster, which came tucked inside of Hotel California’s sleeve. Don Felder (second from left) looked like a nefarious pimp, Glenn Frey (center) like a short-fused barroom brawler, and Joe Walsh (far left) like a dissolute version of the fellow on the Quaker Oats canister.
The closet-door collage of Fig. 8 is similarly transitional. To the left is a poster for a film rooted in the seventies but actually released in 1980, Where the Buffalo Roam, Art Linson’s unwatchable quasi-adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s “gonzo” dispatches in Rolling Stone magazine. Despite an appealing performance by a game Bill Murray in the lead, Ralph Steadman’s awesome poster remains the best thing about the film. To its right is another black-and-white still from the No Nukes concert film (recorded in ’79 but released in ’80), with James Taylor sharing a mic at left with former Orleans frontman and future New York State congressman John Hall, and, at right, Taylor’s future former wife, Carly Simon, sharing a mic with Graham Nash and Jackson Browne. Below the No Nukes still is another album-insert giveaway poster, the reunion shot of Jethro Tull’s second and third lineups that came with 1976’s M.U. — The Best of Jethro Tull.*
Beards, gonzo journalism, singer-songwriters—from the look of this display, along with the rest of the Inadvertent Museum of the Seventies, you would think that Ted Kamp was a quintessentially denimy, hempy, goofball specimen of seventies male teendom. You would never know that he was, in fact, a remarkably progressive and forward-looking figure, cottoning early to Talking Heads, Blondie, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, the Specials, and Elvis Costello. You would never know that, in his final years of full-time residence in this room, he was sufficiently “arty” in appeal to have dated both a swan-like Rutgers University faculty brat who would later star in Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan and a stock-serious ballet dancer who, in a high-school talent show, would perform an avant-garde solo dance piece that she herself had choreographed to the instrumental title track of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s Architecture & Morality. You would never know that, by 1978 or so, most of the vinyl spun on Ted Kamp’s Technics turntable featured the bleats, boops, and skronk of post-punk and New Wave bands—that is, when Ted Kamp wasn’t being more adventursome still, spinning spoken-word albums by the Jamaican dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson or Moanin’ by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.
How curious that so little of this Ted Kamp is evident in the décor of the Inadvertent Museum of the Seventies. How odd that this side of him found so little expression on those goldenrod walls.
* For a full exegesis from your docent on this Tull poster, please go here.
But we are afforded a tantalizing glimpse into this questing, intellectual part of Ted Kamp’s teenaged being, in the form of his collection of Playbill and stagebill covers (Figs. 9 and 10). Even the partial view of his collection as shown in these photographs illustrates how voracious and broad-minded a theatergoer he was in his teens, taking in fare as mainstream as Sweeney Todd, The Wiz, and The King & I, and as challenging as Whose Life Is It Anyway? (starring Tom Conti as a quadriplegic who wishes to be euthanized), Wings (starring the early screen star Constance Cummings as a stroke victim), and Bent (starring Richard Gere as a gay prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp).
That these Playbill covers can coexist with one another on the same wall, much less with the vast variety of sports, music, film, personal, and commercial ephemera that comprise the Inadvertent Museum of the Seventies, is testament to how rich in experience the youth of Ted Kamp was—and, indeed, how rich the seventies themselves were.
Docent out!
FM HERO PETE FORNATALE
The WNEW on-air staff circa 1977, with Pete Fornatale second from left.
For a disc jockey, Pete Fornatale had a nerdy voice. But it was soothingly nerdy—imagine the friendly, reedy bleat of Ned Flanders of The Simpsons, only tamped down by Jackson Browne instead of hopped-up on Gospel.
Fornatale, who passed away on Thursday at the age of 66, was the beau idéal of the FM D.J., and I was lucky, in my youth, to happen upon him in his 1970s heyday at the New York station WNEW. In 1977, I was a pre-teen growing wary of the Top 40 AM station that I listened to regularly, WABC: the rote playlists, the noisy commercials, and the unctuous baritones that all their D.J.’s seemed to have, the aural equivalent of pompadours and bad dye jobs. What broke my faith in WABC for good was a family car ride on August 16 of that year, when we heard the station jock on duty announce, in the same brassy, hustling tones with which he’d earlier introduced Leo Sayer’s “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,” “Elvis Presley diiiiiiiied today!” Good god, did these men not have souls?
My older siblings were already listening to WNEW, where Fornatale had worked since 1969, and I followed them there. WNEW had what would prove, in retrospect, to be an all-star stable of free-form FM pioneers, among them Scott Muni, Vin Scelsa, Alison Steele, and Dennis Elsas, but Fornatale was the one who spoke to me, literally and spiritually. That voice, which to my AM-trained juvenile ears sounded so wrong for radio, made him seem like an underdog, a dork among the cool kids, which suited my own self-perception. And the eclecticism of his shows was liberating. It wasn’t hip to like the Beach Boys at that time, but I loved them and Pete played them, and he was unafraid to intermarble the strange, twitchy new music of the nascent New Wave (e.g., the B-52s’ “Rock Lobster” and Talking Heads’ “Pulled Up”) with the denimy, singer-songwriterly sounds of Browne, James Taylor, and Joni Mitchell.
My brother was on WNEW’s mailing list and late in ’77 received a giant wall poster (above) featuring all of the station’s D.J.’s peering through the windows of an old train car, its exterior graffitied (suitably for the period) with the slogan BUILT ON SOLID ROCK. It was gratifying to discover that Fornatale looked exactly as I expected him to: skinny, bespectacled, and bearded—your kindly adjunct professor of rock studies.
In the 1980s, I fell out of love with radio, and so, it seems, did Fornatale, who felt increasingly marginalized by formatting strictures and the rise of shock-talk. But the streaming-and-podcast era brought me back into the fold, with one station in particular, WFUV-FM, which broadcasts from the campus of Fordham University in the Bronx, enchanting me with its remarkably vintage-WNEW-like spirit. How apt, then, that this station turned out to be not only the very place where Fornatale got his start as a college sophomore in 1964, but also the place where he finally found a proper home again in his later years. (Scelsa and Elsas have also found safe haven at FUV.) Fornatale hosted a Saturday program called “Mixed Bag,” each week devoted to a specific theme; as recently as two weeks ago he was on the air, commemorating the centennial of the Titanic’s sinking with a characteristically all-over-the-place playlist.
The big WNEW poster still hangs upon a wall of my brother’s old bedroom, which my septuagenarian mother has never bothered to redecorate, rendering it an unwitting shrine to the FM era. Pete and his colleagues smile out at a poster on the opposite wall of the Willis Reed-era Knicks, and a few feet away from a tacked-up still of James and Carly from the No Nukes concert film, and near a novelty bumper sticker that reads JESUS SAVES—BUT MOSES INVESTS! It’s precisely the kind of mixed bag that would have made for a great Pete Fornatale show.
Listen here for an amazing 1977 in-studio appearance by an uncommonly chipper Brian Wilson on Pete Fornatale’s WNEW show.
About Arugula
Dept. of Corrections
Named one of The New York Times’s 100 Notable Books of 2006
Visit Snobsite for David Kamp’s sillier books
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20th Century Fox, A Simple Favor, angelina jolie, Anna Kendrick, blake lively, Bridesmaids, Conjuring, Crazy Rich Asians, Death Wish, FBI informant, films, God Bless the Broken Road, Gods Not Dead: A Light in Darkness, It, Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Lawrence, John Cho, Lionsgate Entertainment, Matthew McConaughey, Mission: Impossible II, Mission: Impossible-Fallout, movies, New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, Paul Feig, peppermint, Predators, Pure Flix, Red Sparrow, Richard Wershe Jr., Richie Merritt, Screen Gems, Searching, sex offender, Snowden, Sony Pictures, Spy, Steven Wilder Striegel, Studio 8, STX Entertainment, The Age of Adeline, The Meg, The Mummy Shane Black, The Nun, The Predator, theaters, Unbroken, Unbroken: Path to Redemption, Warner Bros. Pictures, weekend box office, White Boy Rick
Predator Leads Despite Poor Performance With $24.63 million, 20th Century Fox’s The Predator took the top spot at the box office last weekend (Sept. 14-16), but it has little to celebrate. Debuting in 4,037 theaters, the film’s opening is the worst for a live-action film opening
20th Century Fox, 3D, And-Man, Andrew Garfield, Anna Kendrick, Benedict Cumberbatch, Boo! A Madea Halloween, Doctor Strange, DreamWorks, Fury, Hacksaw Ridge, IMAX, Inferno, James Bond, Justin Timberlake, Lionsgate, Marvel Comics, Mel Gibson, Moana, Rachel McAdams, RealD, Spectre, Suicide Squad, superhero, The Angry Birds Movie, The Life of Pets, The Peanuts Movie, Thor: The Dark World, Trolls, Twentieth Century Fox, Unbroken, Walt Disney Studios, weekend box office, World War II, X-Men: Apocalypse
The Doctor Is In: Doctor Strange Tops Sales Walt Disney Studios’ superhero film Doctor Strange continued Marvel’s winning streak with an $85.06 million debut over the weekend (Nov. 4-6). Twentieth Century Fox and DreamWorks’ Trolls opened strong with $46.58 million, the best
20th Century Fox, American Sniper, angelina jolie, Ava DuVernay, Cloverfield, Disney Entertainment, Into the Woods, Lam Neeson, Lee Daniel's The Butler, Meryl Streep, Paramount Pictures, Peter Jackson, Ride Along, Rob Marshall, Selma, Taken 2, Taken 3, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit:The Battle of the Five Armies, The Imitation Game, The Weinstein Co., Twentieth Century Fox, Unbroken, Warner Bros., weekend box office
Taken 3 Takes Over Top of the Box Office Twentieth Century Fox’s Taken 3 led the box office with ease last weekend with a $39.20 million debut. The third installment of the Liam Neeson led franchise outpaced pre-release expectations; marking the third time that the Taken
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Cash Buyers in Nashville Are Seeing a Positive Impact Due to Higher Interest Rates
July 12, 2019 - /PressAdvantage/ -
Dependable Homebuyers in Nashville, TN is predicting that the high-interest rate environment will have quite an impact on real estate investors making cash purchases. This increase provides a great opportunity for cash investors to get great deals on real estate purchases.
Typically, a very small percentage of purchases are done with cash in the real estate market. However, making cash purchases is becoming much more popular in the real estate market. This can be attributed to the higher interest rate environment.
Back in December of 2018, the Federal Reserve increased interest rates. They also made note that two more increases are expected to occur in 2019. These increases are going to provide some great opportunities for cash buyers. The higher interest rates are going to force a lot of investors to pull out of the real estate market in the Nashville area. This is going to open the door for cash investors to step in and get some really great deals. On the flip side, the increases and investors pulling out is going to force homeowners to accept lower offers than they had originally been asking for. The result of that will end up being a competition between homeowners to see who can afford to lower their asking price the most to lure in potential buyers.
When an investor uses cash to make a purchase, they are able to avoid paying high-interest rates. This also provides sellers with the opportunity to avoid having to have an appraisal done.
The way Dependable Homebuyers works is actually quite simple. When a homeowner reaches out, an appointment is set up to have a representative come and take a look at the potential property. The appointment is very simple and does not place the homeowner under any obligation at all. WIthin 24 hours of the appointment, a reasonable offer is presented to the homeowner. All homeowners are encouraged to take their time and make sure accepting the offer is right for them. Should they decide to accept, closing takes place within 7 days.
Throughout the years, Dependable Homebuyers has helped hundreds of homeowners sell their homes despite the higher interest rate environments. There are never any hidden fees, closing costs, or commissions associated when dealing with Dependable Homebuyers. This provides a great opportunity for homeowners who have been on the fence about selling their home. Read the recent press release they published at https://www.pressadvantage.com/story/29066-dependable-homebuyers-has-liquidation-solution-when-relocating-in-nashville.
Dependable Homebuyers has built a reputation in the Nashville area as being a go-to company for homeowners who are faced with difficult circumstances when it comes to selling their home. They have perfected the selling process making it straightforward and free of stress for homeowners. This reputation is something they stand behind as well as something that pulls in new clients, offering them the security of knowing they are working with a company who will put their best foot forward for them in getting the offer they deserve for their home.
Those interested in learning more about the company and how the process works are encouraged to take a look at their website where more information can be found.
For more information about Dependable Homebuyers Nashville, contact the company here:
Dependable Homebuyers Nashville
Evan Roberts
info@dependablehomebuyers.com
182 Millwood Dr, Nashville, TN 37217
ReleaseID: 60029472
Australian PM: WTO needs mending to keep up with the times
SINGAPORE — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that the World Trade Organization needs mending to keep up with the times. Morrison said many leaders attending the Group of 20 summit in Osaka later this month share the view. "There is a strong consensus about the need to modernize the WTO and its rules," he said. "We need to mend it, we don't need to break it, and mending it requires a lot of partnership," he added. "Just now it's the technical practical things that need to get done." Morrison, who spoke at a lunch organized by the Australian...
Asian stocks mixed after Trump threatens Mexico tariffs
SINGAPORE — Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday as traders kept a close watch on impending U.S. tariffs on Mexico while trade talks with Beijing remained at a standstill. Japan's Nikkei 225 index added 0.3% to 20,832.46 while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.5% to 2,848.34. The benchmark in Shenzhen, a smaller, more domestic-oriented market, tumbled 1.5% to 1,471.73. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.3% to 26,965.76 and Australia's S&P ASX 200 advanced 0.5% to 6,392.20. Shares fell in Taiwan and Singapore but rose in the Philippines. South Korean markets were closed for a holiday. American and Mexican officials said...
China vows military action if Taiwan, sea claims opposed
SINGAPORE — China's defense minister warned Sunday that its military will "resolutely take action" to defend Beijing's claims over self-ruled Taiwan and disputed South China Sea waters. Speaking at an annual security conference in Singapore, Gen. Wei Fenghe did not direct the threat at the U.S. but loaded his address with criticism of activities by Washington, including support for Taiwan and leading so-called "freedom of navigation" operations in the strategic waterways that China virtually claims as its own. Wei said the People's Liberation Army would not "yield a single inch of the country's sacred land." China's ruling Communist Party maintains...
S&P upgrades Indonesia credit after Widodo election win
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Ratings agency Standard & Poor's said Friday it has upgraded Indonesia's sovereign credit rating following the election of Joko Widodo to a second term as president. The organization said the upgrade reflects Indonesia's strong economic growth prospects, which "we expect to remain following the reelection of Joko Widodo recently." The long-term rating was increased to BBB from BBB minus and potentially makes it easier for the government to borrow abroad and at lower interest rates. Official results last week confirmed Widodo won 55.5% of the vote in the April 17 election. His opponent Prabowo Subianto has alleged...
Challenge to Indonesia vote makes big claims, weak on proof
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The court challenge to Indonesia's presidential election from the losing candidate claims that the police, intelligence agency and other state institutions were biased in favor of the incumbent, but its evidence for "massive" fraud is mainly printouts of news articles. Former General Prabowo Subianto has refused to accept the results of the April 17 election and instead declared himself the winner. Seven people died in what police say was orchestrated rioting in the capital last week after official election results confirmed President Joko Widodo had won a second term with 55.5% of the vote. Subianto's legal challenge...
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Home / Events / Inaugural Robert Morrell Memorial Lecture in Asian Religions: "Gratitude and Treasuring Lives: Eating Animals in Contemporary Japanese Buddhism"
Inaugural Robert Morrell Memorial Lecture in Asian Religions: "Gratitude and Treasuring Lives: Eating Animals in Contemporary Japanese Buddhism"
Barbara R. Ambros, Professor in East Asian Religions, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Women's Building Formal Lounge
The department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the program in Religious Studies announce the Inaugural Robert Morrell Memorial Lecture in Asian Religions.
Named after the late Professor Emeritus Robert E. Morrell, this annual series commemorates his life work by bringing distinguished scholars of Asian religions to campus. Dr. Robert Morrell taught Japanese literature and Buddhism, and was the first to teach courses on Buddhism at Washington University. For more on his life see his obituary.
"Gratitude and Treasuring Lives: Eating Animals in Contemporary Japanese Buddhism"
Over the past ten years, an increasing number of Buddhist publications and public events in Japan have drawn attention to the fact that humans must rely on animal lives for food. The moral principle at the center of this discourse is gratitude. While the connection between animals and gratitude has a long history in Buddhism, in modern Japan the meaning of repaying a debt of gratitude has shifted from an emphasis on liberating animals to consuming animals with gratitude. In other words, as meat eating has become normative in modern Japan, even among the Buddhist clergy, a sacrificial rationale that relies on ex post facto devices has replaced anti-meat-eating discourses that have remained central features of a Buddhist identity in other parts of East Asia. The contemporary Japanese Buddhist discourse of gratitude envisions an interconnected chain of becoming that is sustained by animal lives and culminates in human lives. As animal bodies are consumed and transformed into human bodies, humans have the moral obligation to face this reality and express their gratitude.
A reception will follow the lecture.
Bio: Barbara Rossetti Ambros is a professor in East Asian Religions in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research on Japanese Religions has focused on issues in gender studies; human-animal relationships; place and space; and pilgrimage. She is the author of Women in Japanese Religions (New York University Press, 2015), Bones of Contention: Animals and Religion in Contemporary Japan (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2012), and Emplacing a Pilgrimage: The Early Modern Ōyama Cult and Regional Religion (Harvard University Asia Center, 2008). She has been serving as co-chair of the Animals and Religion Group of the American Academy of Religions since 2014.
Please click here for a campus map marked with the lecture location and parking. All parking on campus requires a permit. Visitors should display a daily parking pass if not parking in metered parking. Additional information on visitor parking can be found on the university's parking website.
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PCI Bolsters Washington Operations in Recruiting Two Insurance Policy Leaders to its Ranks and Promoting a Washington Veteran
PCI hires Glassic as VP, Policy and Government Relations, Austin as Chief Republican House Lobbyist, Gray as Federal Government Relations Director
WASHINGTON – The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) today announced the addition of three new hires. Tom Glassic will join the association as vice president, policy and government relations, Nicole Austin will join the association as assistant vice president, federal government relations, and Ann Gray will be promoted to director, federal government relations.
“We are pleased to announce that Tom Glassic will join PCI as vice president, policy and government relations, Nicole Austin will join PCI as assistant vice president, federal government relations, and Ann Gray will be promoted to Director, Federal Government Relations,” said David A. Sampson, PCI’s president and CEO. “These additions to our Washington office will significantly enhance PCI’s influence and reputation as a leading voice for the P&C industry at the federal level. The deep policy knowledge, longstanding relationships and rich experiences of these individuals will augment our Federal Government Relations Office and Policy Shop at a time when critically important issues to the P&C industry are under consideration in Washington. Tom, Nicole, and Ann will be valuable additions to PCI’s Washington office as we work to identify and address threats which affect our members.”
“Tom is one of the most experienced and respected people in the insurance industry. His wealth of experience in insurance as a policy maker, regulator and industry adviser will benefit our Federal Government Relations and Policy Departments. Tom’s advice on international, federal, and state insurance legislative and regulatory developments will be instrumental as we advance PCI’s mission to promote and protect the viability of a competitive private insurance market for the benefit of consumers and insurers,” said Robert Gordon, PCI’s senior vice president, policy development and research.
“We are very pleased to welcome Nicole to PCI. Nicole brings experience on many of the key federal issues that are top priorities for PCI, including Biggert-Waters and the Dodd-Frank Act. She will be a valuable addition to PCI’s federal government relations team as we work to advance our federal advocacy agenda,” said Nat Wienecke, PCI’s senior vice president, federal government relations.
“Ann’s experience and vast knowledge of PCI operations are well respected amongst her colleagues and we are pleased that she will join PCI’s federal government relations team,” said Wienecke.
Previously, Glassic was of counsel at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, where he advised insurance clients on application of all insurance-related Dodd-Frank Act provisions, including those pertinent to the Federal Insurance Office, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) and the designation and ultimate supervision of systemically significant non-bank financial institutions. Immediately before returning to private practice, Glassic was the general counsel of the District of Columbia Department of Insurance, Securities & Banking. Prior to that, he served as senior counsel to Chairman Barney Frank, at the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services where he was the leading legal adviser on all insurance issues in the Dodd-Frank Act, including insurance industry ramifications of FSOC designation and the creation of the Federal Insurance Office. Glassic drafted or reviewed all insurance-related legislation before the Committee during his tenure, including legislation concerning the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program and the National Flood Insurance Program. Glassic holds a Juris Doctor, with honors, from the George Washington University Law School and a Bachelor of Arts, with honors, from the College of William & Mary.
With 12 years of experience in federal government activity, Austin most recently served as policy advisor in the Treasury Department’s Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, where she was responsible for advising on federal financial services policy, research, reports, and recommendations. In Congress, she served as Republican professional staff on the House Committee on Financial Services, staff director for the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity, and in the office of U.S. Representative Judy Biggert. She drafted, guided and managed legislation, including the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 and insurance provisions within the Dodd-Frank Act including the creation of the Federal Insurance Office. For the House Financial Services Committee, she arranged Congressional hearings on issues ranging from the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program to international insurance matters. Austin also served as a senior Republican advisor for Members of significant House leadership teams, including the Dodd-Frank Act conference committee. Austin holds a Bachelor of Arts from Hamilton College.
Gray, who has been serving as PCI’s Assistant to the President and Director of Washington, D.C. Operations for the past six years, will be promoted and transition to the team as Director, Federal Government Relations. Ann brings over 20 years of experience in executive operations at the highest levels of the U.S. government including the U.S. Department of Commerce, The White House, and office of U.S. Representative Spencer Bachus. Gray holds a Bachelor of Arts from Saint Mary’s College. She is also a candidate for Master of Business Administration from University of Virginia Darden School of Business.
These changes come on the heels of PCI’s expansion of its political engagement activities last year where PCI created its new Political Engagement Department that brought together PCI’s state and federal PAC, political engagement initiatives, compliance, and grassroots functions. “PCI is building a team of the best and brightest talent to reinforce our position as the leading P&C advocacy team to advance our federal agenda,” concluded Wienecke.
PCI is composed of more than 1,000 member companies, representing the broadest cross-section of insurers of any national trade association. PCI members write over $195 billion in annual premium, 39 percent of the nation’s property casualty insurance. Member companies write 46 percent of the U.S. automobile insurance market, 32 percent of the homeowners market, 37 percent of the commercial property and liability market, and 41 percent of the private workers compensation market.
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The original film This is England came out in 2006. I was 25; it was not long after I had moved to Brighton. I saw it as soon as it came out, being a Shane Meadows fan after watching A Room For Romeo Brass (brilliant) and Dead Man’s Shoes (terrifying).
I loved it, but I’m sure I had no idea how attached to these characters I would become. When the TV spin-off started a few years later – that’s when I fell truly in love.
By this point, like so many of us do, I feel as though those characters are my friends. Nearly 10 years have passed. They have grown up as I have. We’ve all been through a lot (admittedly, I have not been through anything quite as traumatic as some of the characters have – thank gxx).
It sounds frivolous, but it’s funny how we can measure our own lives compared to those of fictional characters. I remember so clearly what was going on in my life and who I was with when every new instalment of the series came out.
This Sunday night is the last ever instalment, apparently. I hope it isn’t. I want it to go on forever.
Last week, seeing Lol and Woody together after so much has happened, I cried and cried and cried. ‘Christ, I love you; it’s ridiculous,’ he said. After everything. They look older, different. I think of the ways I do, too.
I can’t wait for Sunday night. I also kind of want it never to come. I want them all to be OK; I don’t know if they will be.
Jackie Collins will always be one of those writers who has a special place in my heart, because I discovered her at exactly the right age.
I read Chances (stolen from my mother’s bookshelf, of course – like me, she has a particular fondness for a well-executed potboiler) when I was about 13 and reading ‘adult’ books for the first time. Among my favourites were Jilly Cooper, JD Salinger, John Wyndham and, um, Bret Easton-Ellis (I had somehow procured a copy of Less Than Zero under false pretences). Chances quickly joined my list of favourites.
It was unimaginably exciting.
I’m not saying she was Tolstoy, but I think Jackie Collins was a very misunderstood writer. Even the articles in the wake of her death have been saying things like ‘a sad loss to the romance novel world’. Jackie Collins never wrote a romance novel in her life. I like to think she would be appalled by the very suggestion.
There was sex, but there was mostly crime, intrigue, glamour and ridiculous drama. Her greatest inspiration was The Godfather, and it shows. Chances is basically a gangster novel with a bit of extra sex and glamour (which makes it extra fun).
Honestly, if you love a classic gangster novel, read the Santangelo series. Starting with Chances, then Lucky, and then Lady Boss and beyond. The Santangelos are one of the great crime families and Lucky is one of my all-time favourite heroines. She’s ‘kickass’, as Jackie herself was wont to say.
In small tribute to kickass Jackie, I will be re-reading the Santangelo series in its entirety, for the first time since my teenage years.
I was genuinely sad to hear of her death. She wasn’t that old, at 77 – but because she looked so bloody great for her age, it felt like the death of someone much younger. Of course, we are all so familiar with her family that I immediately thought ‘oh, poor Joan’, as if I actually knew them. There was something admirably old-school about the way she kept her illness quiet, completing her book tour and all media commitments only days before she died.
She was one of those women who seemed so indestructible. She was staunch. Women like her seem as if they will go on forever. I wish they could.
So, a few days after my bag was stolen (or I was 'a victim of crime' as the email from the police said), I received an email from a nice man called Josh.
He had found my bag dumped by the side of Waterloo bridge and picked it up. My email address was written in the front of my diary.
I was SO happy to hear this. It not only restored a little bit of faith in the kindness of strangers (it would be much easier to leave a dumped handbag if you spot it than to pick it up and contact its owner, right?) but I must say I was delighted to get the bag back. It was my mum's, bought in California in the early 90s, and has many stories behind it.
Nearly all of my things were still in it (minus card holder, phone, Kindle - and, weirdly, a cheap pair of sunglasses and a couple of bits of make-up, which I can only think must have fallen out at some point).
It made me wonder (and cringe slightly) what the assorted contents of my handbag would say about me to a stranger. I don't keep a diary, as such, but in there was a tiny Moleskin notebook containing a few very overwrought passages from last year, plus a bigger notebook containing some inexplicable novel-writing notes. My Mooncup probably marks me out as a hippie; the detritus of old tissues, receipts and leaky biros and such as a bit of a mess.
I didn't get to meet Josh - he even went to the trouble of cycling to my office and dropping it off, but I wasn't there at the time. Still I will be eternally grateful for this lovely little bit of London kindness.
Libellés : Living
Instagrammatical
So... Following the Handbag Theft of Doom, I now have an iPhone (my mum's old one). This means I now also have Instagram (finally)!
I'm on there as @eleanorclairewood
Please tell me if there is anyone I should be following on there, as I am currently clueless.
Oh, and I haven't *actually* posted any pictures yet, but of course I am now legally required to take photographs of all of my meals, right?
Libellés : Geekery
But it was once so easy.
I wasn't expecting an emotional moment in the kitchen at 10 o'clock this morning, while making tea and scrambled eggs. I certainly wasn't expecting it to be due to Radio 2, playing absent-mindedly in the background - Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs, FFS. Surely nobody expects this. I mean, maybe all those people who write in saying things like "I want to say thank you to my husband Geoff - we've been together since 1978 and he's my best friend" or "please say congratulations to our daughter Laura, who is marrying the love of her life this weekend" - maybe they're regularly having Radio 2-based emotional epiphanies on a Sunday morning, but somehow I doubt it.*
Anyway. I was making scrambled eggs when I heard a song I haven't heard in at least 25 years, since I was a tiny child. It was 'On My Own' by Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald. I have a weird love for Michael McDonald because my parents were both big fans of his during my 80s childhood. The internet tells me that this song came out in 1986, when I was 5. I probably haven't heard it again since the 80s, but I was surprised to find that I still knew every word. And now I was an adult, the words made me cry.
It was the strangest combination, suddenly, out of nowhere. Childhood memories of innocently singing along in the back seat of my parents' car, while they played this on the tape deck. So many divorces and break-ups in my family in the intervening years... And now the words hit me as an adult, more pertinent now than ever: 'now we're up to talking divorce, and we weren't even married... no one said it was easy, but it was once so easy... this wasn't how it was supposed to end, I wish that we could do it all again...'
It felt like a very private moment, all mine. I pulled myself together. I brought my boyfriend tea and scrambled eggs in bed, where he said: 'God, I haven't heard that song in years... it actually made me a bit teary'.
So I suppose it's just that a good song will do that to us all.
(I have since discovered today that the video contains some amazing acting and an even more amazing red jumpsuit that I really wish I owned.)
*If you have not heard this show, I promise you it is truly terrible. But I really like a slushy power ballad on a Sunday morning (of which there are many, interspersed with messages from callers dedicating said slushy power ballads to their loved ones). Although I listen to it whilst making breakfast every Sunday morning, I do not in any way recommend it.
Saturday song
A song that I will always love, which will make me smile and dance and sing along, no matter what. Saturday joy.
My handbag was stolen on Friday night (boo). I was having a glass of wine at the BFI with my lovely cousin and her lovely husband after work, and it was taken from under the table (by real pros, according to the security guards who saw it all on CCTV - which made me feel slightly better about the whole thing, but not much).
It's particularly annoying as there was really nothing in there of much value to anyone else (I am hoping the thieving baddies will be gutted to have found no cash and discovered that I am pretty much the only person left who doesn't have an iPhone), but of course of much value to me. I expect it all just got chucked in the river. And yet I spent the entire weekend sorting out the ensuing hassle of lost things.
Here's what the bastards did get:
1 x brown Coach handbag that belonged to my mum in the 90s (and was very beloved).
1 x card holder (a present) containing debit card (which nobody had attempted to use before I cancelled it), a couple of cards kept from restaurants just for the memories, Foyles loyalty card that had AT LEAST £3 on it.
Keys - to my house, office and mum's house; keyrings from Istanbul, Marrakech and Paris.
Diary (so they will know that I ran 5K three times last week, started my period last Monday and am due to have dinner with my friend Deborah on Wednesday - truly fascinating stuff).
1 x ancient Blackberry phone.
1 x monthly rail ticket between Brighton and London, which has ended up causing the most hassle and expense of all, and caused me to sit and weep at Brighton railway station on Saturday afternoon.
1 x Kindle, which I guess isn't worth a lot (it's the most basic model) but obviously had a lot of great books on it.
1 x hairbrush.
3 x eyeliners (one fat, one thin, one pen).
2 x Chanel lipsticks (one now discontinued); 1 x Nars lipstick; 2 x Topshop lipsticks; 1 x Revlon Cherries in the Snow.
1 x Bare Minerals face powder.
1 x Nars blusher in 'Orgasm'.
1 x Batiste for dark hair.
1 x small Moleskine notebook that was a present.
1 x notebook that was also a present and had many ideas scribbled in it.
1 x crystal bought in Dungeness.
1 x angel good luck charm given to me as a present.
Various soggy tissues, powdery chewing gums, capless Biros, etc etc...
Publié par ECW à 11:34 1 commentaire:
It can't be that bad.
I heard this song at the weekend for the first time in years, and was reminded how much I actually like Sheryl Crow. This is a really, really good song. It makes me want to drink whisky and do karaoke (that sounds great right now, in fact). She looks amazing in the video, too.
I was also reminded how much I love getting pissed at lunchtime and doing stupid dances with my mum.
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First ISO 10018 Convener Believes Time is Right for a Certification
It took years for the creators of ISO 9001 to understand the importance of culture and people, and several to create the ISO 10018 People Involvement and Competence standard for the ISO 10018 Quality People Management certification being launched at the ISO 10018: Enterprise Engagement in Action conference, Dec. 7-8, at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX.
People Are Important. Now What?
The Shift to People
Quality People Will Get It
Almost six years have passed since the ISO 10018 People Involvement and Competence guidelines were created, so why has it taken this long for someone to create a formal certification? After all, the standard addresses one of the clauses required of companies seeking to comply with ISO 9001 - clause 7.1.2.: People. To find the answer, ESM recently contacted Peter Merrill, who was convener of the original Working Group that created ISO 10018. Merrill is currently a speaker and consultant on innovation: See Petermerrill.com.
“The standard hasn’t caught on because nobody knows about it," he explains. "ISO doesn't publicize its works. No one has picked up and run with it. There were a few articles in ISO magazine, and I did an interview with a U.S. human resources magazine, and that was about it." One of the difficulties in ISO, Merrill says, is that many people think their job is just to write standards - "that if they build it, people will come.”
Although it took five years for ISO 10018 to go from concept to publication, and another six years before the first formal certification process was launched by the International Center for Enterprise Engagement, Merrill believes the Quality Management and related Innovation field have a growing respect for the role of people and culture and will be receptive to an accredited certification.
“I think that there’s an understanding after all these years of the importance of people involvement and culture. If you look at 9001-2015, there's the clause 7.1.2. that says 'people' but provides little other guidance," says Merrill. ISO 10018, he adds, is specifically designed to fill in those gaps. “We reviewed the requirements of the 9001 standard line by line to determine what gets in the way of getting the people involved with achieving the requirements of this standard. That took a lot of time. We went through every requirement. Once we understood the obstacles, we systematically looked for the solutions by gathering the practical experience of the people in the working group to list potential actions that people take. We tried to leave enough room in the standards to provide organizations with flexibility.”
These various actions include the concept of linking customers, employees, distribution partners, employees and communities, as well as processes related to culture and brand, leadership, assessment, communications, learning, innovation and collaboration, rewards and recognition and analytics that are the foundation of the Enterprise Engagement framework.
Merrill points out that quality pioneers understood the people factor all along, but many of the ISO 9000 committee members came at quality from a technical standpoint. "Quality pioneer Philip Crosby in particular placed a lot of emphasis on creating a culture of quality. The American Society of Quality (ASQ) now emphasizes the importance of culture. When 9001 came out originally in 1987, it was very much a technical and purchasing standard, until 1994 when the word customer was included for the first time. Originally, it was based on a purchasing standard from the military. Also, during the 1990s, a period of rapid economic growth, it became apparent there was no quality standard for a non-manufacturing company, which in developed countries make up the majority of organizations.”
In the early 2000s, Technical Committee (TC) 176 introduced eight principles, three of which involved people. Merrill, who served on the strategic advisory group at the time, says he pointed out that “we’ve got these eight principles but three of them address people aspects, not just people involvement but leadership and also the customer. All these are human issues we didn’t address in the standard.” There was a lot of discussion at the time, he says, but it took a couple years to come to a consensus that a standard on people involvement was required, and then another five before the actual guidelines were published in 2012.
“That is an inordinate amount of time, even for ISO," Merrill says. "In the early days, we suffered from shortage of head count in the working group, but also fundamental disagreements from different countries related to the scope of the standard, since some already had standards in place they felt could be used instead. But once we got past that and produced our preliminary documents, people saw what we were doing and we experienced tremendous engagement and enthusiasm. We received lots of content and valuable input, with exceptional contributions from Canada, Brazil, South Africa and New Zealand among others. Once we went beyond the working draft, the standard moved forward very well. We achieved the broad consensus that is the great power of ISO.”
So what difference does Merrill believe ISO 10018 can make for an organization? “What we've learned from IS0 9001 is that there's a benefit to having a system. The internal and external audit functions, if they're done properly, can instill system thinking. The way they do that is not just auditing a system, but encouraging people to think of a system as a set of inter-related and interacting elements. Success depends on processes, people and technology. Good auditors will look at how the elements are inter-related. In ISO 9001, most companies have their individual processes for each element of the audit down pat, and now they've stalled in terms of performance improvement. The next phase is to understand the integration of these elements. I ask my clients, ‘are you looking at the linkages?’”
Merrill, who is no longer on the ISO 10018 Technical Committee and who says his main professional focus now is specifically on innovation, notes that “The best ideas come from inside the company, when most companies think they come from universities and consultants. They come from your own people engaging with customers and suppliers.”
The ISO 10018 certification has potential, he believes, “because the broad audience of quality management understands the important role of people, and there's a growing audience for a systematic approach to human resources. There's no question that the human issue is unfamiliar to some people in the quality management field more focused on the process compliance issues of 9001, but there's a significant audience outside the purely technical people focused on process compliance that totally understands the importance of culture. No, I don’t think this people issue is going to be an obstacle.” Merrill points to the field of performance assessment as an example. “There was almost no understanding about how to measure performance assessment a dozen or so years ago, and now there are established HR methods.”
His major concern about an ISO 10018 certification: “You have to be careful about rogue certifiers who claim to offer certifications for ISO guidelines. You have to make sure the certifiers are in turn certified by their national certification authorities.” Editor’s note: As part of the Healthcare Management Institute of the University of Texas Medical Branch, ICEE is accredited by the American National Standards Institute to create certifications for ISO standards and guidelines.
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VITTORIO DE SICA
THE BICYCLE THIEF
12:302:254:206:1510:15
NEW RESTORATION
Ladri di biciclette (1948, De Sica) In a devastated postwar Italy, even a job posting bills for a Rita Hayworth movie looks good to unemployed Lamberto Maggiorani, but when his bike is suddenly stolen, it’s time for him and his little son Enzo Staiola to take a desperate odyssey through Rome’s looming streets. Attacked in Italy as being too negative, but still winner of the Italian Best Picture equivalent, New York Film Critics’ prize, and Best Foreign Film Oscar. Approx. 93 mins. DCP.
“PERHAPS THE QUINTESSENTIAL WORK OF ITALIAN NEOREALISM. Revealing the catastrophic impact of seemingly minor events on people who are struggling to subsist, De Sica endows slender side business and incidental pictorial details with high suspense and tragic grandeur. He transforms the sheer scale of the city and the vast number of residents in similarly desperate straits into A SYMPHONIC LAMENT FOR THE HUMAN CONDITION.”
– Richard Brody, New Yorker
“One of art film's most powerful gateway drugs, still haunting in its painful simplicity, laced with the unforgettable behavioral moments that may be De Sica's greatest claim to posterity.”
– Michael Atkinson, Village Voice
“The Bicycle Thief [aka Bicycle Thieves] is so well entrenched as an official masterpiece that it is startling to visit it again after many years and realize that it is still alive and has strength and freshness. Given an honorary Oscar for 1949, routinely voted one of the greatest films of all time, revered as one of the foundation stones of Italian neorealism, it is a simple, powerful film… When the British film magazine Sight & Sound held its first international poll of filmmakers and critics in 1952, it was voted the greatest film of all time. The poll is held every ten years; by 1962, it was down to a tie for sixth, and then it dropped off the list. The restored print [allows] a new generation to see how simple, direct, and true it is – ‘what was so special about it.’”
“ONE OF THE GREATEST FILMS OF ALL TIME”
“MORE RELEVANT, MORE POWERFUL, MAYBE MORE REAL THAN EVER”
– A.O. Scott
“A POWERFUL”
– Kenneth Turan
“A MASTERPIECE”
– J. Hoberman
“The lessons of Bicycle Thieves stayed with me.”
– Satyajit Ray
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The FORTAC Way
FORTAC
The FORTAC logo is composed of four icons, each with a different meaning. A lot of time and thought went into the logo; we wanted it to be something more than just a brand. It represents who we are, where we came from, what we do, and where we’re going.
Clockwise from the 12 o’clock, the Compass Rose hearkens back to a time honored Infantry skill set, land navigation. It represents finding one’s way, staying the course, putting in the work, and covering ground, hardships be damned: This is the FORTAC Way of Life.
Moving clockwise, we come the the Ace of Clubs, at the three o’clock. The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) has long held a tradition of marking helmets with unique insignia (primarily playing card suits), since WWII; the Ace of Clubs is the symbol representing various elements of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). FORTAC was founded by a group of Grunts and Medics, a family, that served together in this unit on multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. This icon is included not only to refer back to our roots, but also to remind us of the ones who lived well, and died proudly doing their duty, may they never be forgotten.
At the six o’clock, we find a rifle projectile, symbolic of the combative nature and training provided by FORTAC, as well as of the Infantry background that forged it. We understand that violence is a reality, and in accepting that take a path that prepares us for it.
Lastly, at the nine o’clock, is an icon that serves to balance the violence that we train ourselves to understand. The Cross represents the importance of medical knowledge, the responsibility we have to care for our loved ones, and symbolizes those of us that come from the medical side of the house.
Our logo isn’t just a branding tool; it means more to us than that. It’s a collection of our memories. It holds within it our stories, our collective history, our best times and our worst, our triumphs and failures. It is who we are, a visual representation of the FORTAC Way of Life.
Our motto is, “Live Well, Die Proud.”
© 2016 Fortitude Tactical Group
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Castrillo
Valore:Castro is one of the most famous of all surnames, perhaps not surprisingly as it describes one who lived in a castle. It is found in various spellings in every European country, and has particularly aristocratic associations in Spain, Portugal and Southern France, where the nameholders held claims to be known as the 'Kings of Lyon'. The original spellings were as 'de Castro', and coats of arms were granted to nameholders in almost every country. The derivation is from the ancient Latin word 'castrum' which strictly translates as 'The legionnaires camp', various places being called 'Castro' in Southern Europe. The varied forms of the surname include the Italian Castri and De Castri, and the Spanish Castrillo, a diminutive meaning 'the son of Castro' or possibly 'relative of Castro'. The name was early into the USA Macario Castro and his wife the former Maria Potenciana Ramierez being recorded at Santa Barbara, California, on February 17th 1784. Early European church recordings include Antonia Sancta Castro of Valladolid, Spain, on December 12th 1588, and Augustin de Castro, who married Lucia Fernandez at San Pelago, Spain, on February 12th 1810, and during the Peninsula War of 1807 - 1813. The earliest coat of arms granted to 'Castro de Aragon' has the blazon of six gold bezants on a red field, similar arms were also granted to 'Castro de Castille, being six blue plates on a silver field. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Andreas Medina de Castro, which was dated December 13th 1556, Nuestra Senora La Antigua, Valladolid, Spain, during the reign of King Charles 1 of Spain, 1519 - 1556. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to 'develop' often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
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Zika Virus outbreak in Puerto Rico
Filed under: Articles with broken source templates,Disease,Pages with categorizable local links,Pages with defaulting non-local links,Puerto Rico,Review,United States — admin @ 5:00 am
Zika Virus outbreak in Puerto Rico – Wikinews, the free news source
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4244006Article last amended: Aug 26 at 18:20:26 UTC (history)
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Other stories from Puerto Rico
17 July 2016: On the campaign trail in the USA, June 2016
1 October 2013: Sallie Mae leads Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaints about student loans
21 September 2013: Bolivian president announces legal action over Obama’s ‘crimes against humanity’
8 November 2012: Puerto Rican voters support US statehood
30 August 2012: Micronesia left behind by the Paralympic movement
Location of Puerto Rico
To write, edit, start or view other articles on Puerto Rico, see the Puerto Rico Portal
A woman from South Dakota in the U.S. has contracted the Zika virus according to the Sioux Falls Health Department, and confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She had travelled to the Caribbean, where the situation is serious with the virus being spread by mosquitoes, according to a statement on Monday from the Department of Health.
This week there have been reports the mosquito borne virus has made it’s way to the U.S. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) the virus has been recorded in Miami where the Zika is being spread my mosquitoes not humans who have already contracted the virus. This means there are mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus in Miami. The CDC are urging pregnant women who have been recently or live in Miami to get tested.
The CDC in Puerto Rico reports 5,582 people, including 672 pregnant women, diagnosed with the mosquito-borne Zika Virus and these numbers are on the rise. The percentage of people infected rose from 14 percent in February to 64 percent in June.
A U.S. surgeon general visited Puerto Rico and told the press he believes 25 percent of the population in Puerto Rico will have contacted the Zika virus by the end of 2016. With a population of 3.5 million, that’s one in every four people.
One of the symptoms caused by the Zika Virus is a rare muscle disorder called Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), which can cause muscle weakness and paralysis for a few weeks to several months. Among the people contracting the Zika Virus, only a small percentage develop GBS.
Puerto Rican Officials reported 30 people have been hospitalised and diagnosed with the short term paralysis disorder this year.
Approximately 80 percent of people that are infected with Zika do not have symptoms, and the CDC reported the number of people infected would be much higher, but people do not know they have it so they don’t seek medical help.
The World Health Organization had declared the Zika Virus a global health emergency earlier this year, but the beginning of the Puerto Rico summer brought a spike in the number of people being effected on the island.
Sources[]
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “[{{{url}}} Areas with Zika]” — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, August 22, 2016
Danielle Ferguson and Katie Nelson. “South Dakota reports first case of Zika Virus” — Argus Leader, August 22, 2016
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Zika infections increasing rapidly in Puerto Rico” — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, August 19, 2016
Charlotte England. “A Quarter Of Puerto Rico’s Population Expected To Contract Zika Virus” — August 18, 2016, August 19, 2016
World Health Organization. “Zika virus” — June 2, 2016, August 19, 2016
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Zika Virus in Puerto Rico” — August 5, 2016, August 19, 2016
Maggie Fox and Erika Angulo. “Rare Zika Complication Hits 30 in Puerto Rico; CDC Expects More” — August 18, 2016, August 19, 2016
James Call. “Specter of Zika epidemic looms over a skeptical Puerto Rico” — August 17, 2016, August 19, 2016
Comments Off on Zika Virus outbreak in Puerto Rico
On the campaign trail in the USA, June 2016
Filed under: 2016 United States presidential election,American Independent Party,Barack Obama,Bernie Sanders,Boris Johnson,California,David Cameron,Democratic Party (United States),Donald Trump,Europe,European Union,Florida,Gary Johnson,Hillary Clinton,Libertarian Party (United States),London,North America,Original reporting,Pages with categorizable local links,Pages with defaulting non-local links,Pages with forced foreign links,Politics and conflicts,Puerto Rico,Republican Party (United States),United Kingdom,United States,Washington, D.C. — admin @ 5:00 am
3 July 2016: FBI interviews Hillary Clinton over emails
23 June 2016: On the campaign trail in the USA, May 2016
31 March 2016: Wikinews interviews Rocky De La Fuente, U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate
13 March 2016: Wikinews interviews three figures from Donald Trump’s political past
The following is the second edition of a monthly series chronicling the U.S. 2016 presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after an overview of the month’s biggest stories.
In this month’s edition on the campaign trail: the effect of the Brexit vote on the US presidential election is examined; a well known businessman and sports team owner pitches his candidacy for vice president; and Wikinews interviews the winner of the American Independent Party California primary.
2 Brexit’s impact on the US presidential election
3 Cuban makes vice presidential pitch
4 California American Independent Party primary winner speaks to Wikinews
Summary[]
As June began, national opinion polls showed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with a slight lead over presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Despite being mathematically eliminated, Senator Bernie Sanders remained in the Democratic race. He still held close in head-to-head match ups against Clinton in delegate-rich California ahead of that state’s June 7 primary. Clinton, who won the June 4 Virgin Islands caucuses, focused her energies on Trump, delivering a speech criticizing his candidacy. Trump responded, saying the country “is gonna die” were Clinton elected president. Trump secured the holdout endorsement of House Speaker Paul Ryan and threats of a Republican establishment revolt subsided when National Review writer David A. French, the preferred presidential choice of Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, announced he would not run. However, Trump came under intense criticism, largely from fellow Republicans, when he accused the judge hearing a lawsuit over his venture Trump University, Gonzalo Curiel, of bias due to the judge’s Mexican heritage. Ryan called the comments “racist.” Trump’s former rivals John Kasich, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Scott Walker all denounced the comments. Lindsey Graham labeled Trump’s remark “the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy.” Senator Mark Kirk renounced his endorsement of Trump. And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an early Trump supporter and potential running mate, called Trump’s statement “inexcusable” and “one of the worst mistakes Trump has made.” Trump described Gingrich’s criticism as “inappropriate.” Shortly thereafter, Gingrich argued that Trump’s concerns were “valid and reflect a growing pattern of politicized justice.” Trump said the media and others “misconstrued” his words. Clinton speculated that Trump was using the attack to divert attention from the Trump University case.
Clinton speaks at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund on June 10.
Image: Lorie Shaull.
On the eve of the California primary, Clinton won Puerto Rico. With the delegates gained from her victory as well as a few additional superdelegates, Clinton surpassed the 2,383 delegate threshold to secure the Democratic nomination. The Associated Press, NBC, and ABC all declared Clinton as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. The next day, Clinton won the California primary and also those held in New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota. Sanders won the Montana primary and North Dakota caucus. Sanders remained in the race but reportedly planned to cut his campaign staff by half. He announced plans to continue his campaign through the June 14 District of Columbia primary. On the Republican side, during what was the final night for GOP primaries, Trump swept all the June 7 contests in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota. In the end, Trump received a record total of 13.2 million votes in the GOP primaries. Still, his Super PAC reserved only $1.2 million in television advertisements, compared to the $108 million Clinton’s Super PAC reserved. In addition, Trump stepped back from his previous fundraising goal of $1 billion, insisting he only needed half that amount. In terms of running mates, Gingrich denied having any interest on the GOP side. For Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid backed away from his initial reluctance and endorsed the idea of Senator Elizabeth Warren filling the role. Warren took to the stump, endorsing Clinton and condemning Trump as “a loud, nasty, thin-skinned, fraud” and “wannabe tyrant.” In response, Trump tweeted his desire for “goofy” Warren to receive the vice presidential nomination and accused her of having a “nasty mouth” and “one of the least productive” records in the Senate. Other Democrats also gave their support to Clinton. President Barack Obama endorsed her candidacy as did former presidential rival Martin O’Malley. Sanders stopped short of supporting Clinton, but said he would “do everything in [his] power” to defeat Trump. On the other hand, several Republicans distanced themselves from Trump. GOP booster and Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman hinted she would endorse Clinton, and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said he was leaning toward backing Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson. Romney said he could not back Trump because of Trump’s “racism … bigotry … [and] misogyny.” Trump responded that he was “the least racist person that you’ve ever encountered” and attacked Romney as “absolutely pathetic,” saying Romney “choked like a dog” during his loss to President Obama in the 2012 presidential election. Polls from June 10 showed Clinton leading Trump nationwide with leads ranging from three to eleven percentage points.
Trump speaks at an Arizona rally on June 18.
Image: Gage Skidmore.
The campaign took a new turn on June 12 when a shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida left 49 dead. The shooter expressed allegiance to ISIS. In the aftermath, Trump tweeted appreciation for those congratulating him for “being right on radical Islamic terrorism” but said he did not want the congratulations, preferring “toughness and vigilance” instead. He attacked President Obama as someone who “doesn’t get it, or he gets it better than anybody understands.” The Washington Post published an article interpreting the comment as suggesting Obama was “complicit” in the shooting. In response, Trump revoked the press credentials of the Post. On the day following the shooting, Trump delivered a speech condemning it as “an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want and express their identity”. He criticized Clinton’s immigration policies as opening the door for Islamic radicals espousing anti-LGBT views and said he would be a better protector of LGBT rights than Clinton. In addition, he slammed Clinton and Obama for not using the term “radical Islamic terrorism.” Clinton, who denounced the shooting as an “act of terror” and “an act of hate,” said she was comfortable using the term “radical Islamism.” This prompted Trump to declare he had “shamed” Clinton into using the term. Furthermore, Clinton touted her support for a ban on assault rifles and gun ownership for those on the no fly list. Trump agreed on the last point and said he would attempt to convince the National Rifle Association, which had endorsed him, to support such a measure. With the shooting dominating news coverage, the final Democratic primary was held on June 14 in Washington, D.C. Clinton handily defeated Sanders. A Bloomberg poll of Sanders supporters showed 22% planned to vote for Trump, 15% for Gary Johnson, and 55% for Clinton. The same poll showed a 12 point advantage for Clinton over Trump, 49% to 37% with 9% for Johnson. A CBS poll showed a tighter race with Clinton leading Trump 39% to 32% with Johnson at 11%. Clinton and Trump shared high unfavorable ratings in an ABC/Washington Post poll with 55% of respondents having a negative opinion of Clinton and 70% having a negative opinion of Trump.
Dissension within the Democratic Party appeared to crest in mid-June. Sanders finally admitted “it doesn’t appear that I’m going to be the nominee” and said he planned to vote for Clinton in the general election. This came even as reports showed Sanders was not being considered for the vice presidential nomination. According to The Wall Street Journal the individuals being vetted for the position were Senator Warren, Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Senators Tim Kaine, Sherrod Brown, and Cory Booker, as well as Congressmen Tim Ryan and Xavier Becerra. Meanwhile, Trump’s June struggles continued as the DNC opposition research file on him was hacked, reportedly by the Russian government, then leaked and published on Gawker. Trump accused the DNC of orchestrating the hack itself to publicize “misleading and/or entirely inaccurate” information. Next, a number of prominent Republicans endorsed Clinton, including former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, both members of the George W. Bush administration. Congressman Mike Simpson claimed there were many other Republicans who would privately vote for Clinton over Trump without saying so publicly. Reports of an anti-Trump delegate coup at the Republican National Convention were published in The Washington Post. Trump denied this as a media-crafted hoax. Additionally, Federal Election Commission reports showed the Trump campaign short on cash with only $1,289,507 available. Citing need for a change, Trump fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski replacing him with Paul Manafort. Combating the dissension within the party, national co-chairman Sam Clovis went on CNN, demanding Republicans “to get behind the presumptive nominee …[or] just shut the hell up.” The outlook for the Trump campaign improved with the vote in the United Kingdom to exit from the European Union. Trump publicly backed the exit, which was hailed as a populist reaction similar to the movement behind Trump. Trump, who was in Scotland at the time opening a golf course, explained the vote as the UK taking “back their country. That’s a great thing.” At the end of June, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Trump trailing Clinton by only one point nationwide, 39% to 38%, with Johnson at 10% and presumptive Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein at 6%. By June 30, a Rasmussen Reports poll showed Trump with a four point lead over Clinton, 43% to 39%. In the Real Clear Politics average at the close of June, Clinton led Trump 44.6% to 39.8%.
Brexit’s impact on the US presidential election[]
In June, the United Kingdom voted to exit from the European Union, resulting in the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron. This historic turn of events, termed the Brexit, had ramifications of international import. Particularly, the moment became one of political significance in the United States due to the involvement of both President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Comparisons of the anti-establishment Brexit movement were made with the anti-establishment campaign of Trump. Seeking professional analysis, Wikinews looked to political science to better understand the potential impact of the Brexit vote on the 2016 US presidential election.
Last April, President Obama inserted himself into the politics of Brexit, urging Britain to remain in the European Union. He wrote an editorial for The Telegraph and held a press conference with Prime Minister Cameron in which he warned that if Britain divorced itself from the EU, it would go “to the back of the queue” in terms of a trade agreement with the United States. In contrast, Donald Trump argued in favor of Brexit, connecting it to the larger issue of immigration. Commentators noted the goals of the Brexit movement aligned with Trump’s protectionist views on trade and support for immigration restriction. Former London Mayor Boris Johnson, a leading proponent of Brexit, was himself compared to Trump.
Anti-Brexit street art of Donald Trump embracing Boris Johnson.
Image: Matt Brown.
The most immediate impact of Brexit on the United States came just after reports of the 52 percent to 48 percent vote, when stocks tanked. Markets rebounded somewhat since, though uncertainty remains. Hillary Clinton attacked Trump for the consequence. Her foreign policy advisor Jake Sullivan argued that “Trump actively rooted for this outcome and the economic turmoil in its wake”. Clinton ran an ad in which she accused Trump of benefiting financially from a market downturn. Trump labeled the ad “disgraceful” and claimed she was “trying to wash away her bad judgment call on BREXIT with big dollar ads.”
Trump’s head-to-head polling numbers against Clinton increased somewhat after the June 23 vote. Trump rose in the Rasmussen Reports survey from a five point deficit before to a four point lead after. In Gravis, Trump cut Clinton’s four point lead in half. However, deficits for Trump remained unchanged for the Economist/YouGov and the Reuters/Ipsos polls.
Pollster John Zogby of Zogby Analytics expects Trump’s position to improve as a result of Brexit. He tells Wikinews, the vote “strengthens populism and gives Trump supporters some wind at their back.” As for Clinton, he foresees difficulties due to the closeness of the race and the perception of Clinton as “the rep of the elites at a bad time to be so.”
Political scientist John McCormick, a professor of European Union politics at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, mostly agrees. Though the Brexit impact is difficult to predict, McCormick explains to Wikinews that “some of the forces that led to Brexit are also behind the popularity of Donald Trump, and in that sense Brexit has opened the door a little wider to the possibility of a Trump presidency.”
“A lot of people voted for Brexit because they resented the manner in which they thought establishment politicians had ignored their needs, or were fearful of more emigration, or disliked the effects of globalization, or had bought into populist warnings about the growing domestic threats of Islamist extremist terrorism”, says McCormick, “So people here are going to be voting for Trump for many of the same reasons they voted for Brexit in the UK, and in that sense the vote will have an effect on the November election.”
McCormick also believes further economic disturbance could result from Brexit, which could itself have an effect on the election as US voters head to the polls.
Amid talk of secession in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and London, the UK Conservative Party was to select a new Prime Minister to oversee Brexit and attempt to unify the kingdom. The selection was thought likely to be made in October, just a month ahead of the US presidential election.
Cuban makes vice presidential pitch[]
With the National Basketball Association concluding its season in June, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has a new sport to follow. As he revealed last August in a chat on his social media app Cyber Dust, “5 weeks till training camp […] [b]ut until then Donald Trump watching is a sport.” Though Cuban, a fellow businessman and billionaire, then praised Trump’s unconventional candidacy as “probably the best thing to happen to politics in a long, long time”, and even offered himself as a possible running mate, he has since grown critical of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, questioning his wealth, temperament, and business acumen. The marked change has led to speculation about Cuban’s own political aspirations. In May, members of the #NeverTrump movement approached him about running for president as an independent, which he rejected. He did, however, open himself to running as the running mate for presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, punctuating that possibility with a statement that he is leaning toward voting for her over Trump in November. As the 2016 Democratic National Convention approaches, Cuban has continued to express his interest in the position.
Cuban in 2005.
Image: James Duncan Davidson/O’Reilly Media, Inc.
Cuban addressed the vice presidency on the May 22 edition of Meet the Press, proclaiming that, if offered, he would join Clinton’s ticket on the condition she “go more to the center” politically. He explained, “I like the fact that Senator Clinton has thought-out proposals.” Nevertheless, he has criticized Clinton for having “no personality”, “no charisma”, and for making “horrible mistakes” as Secretary of State, mentioning the 2012 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Nevertheless, Cuban says he is willing to look past all that, believing the main issue is “whether or not I can add value and whether or not I can impact any perspective and hopefully have a positive impact on the country”.
James Pethokoukis, writing for The Week, explains how Cuban can add value to a Democratic ticket. Describing Cuban as charismatic and well spoken, Pethokoukis says Cuban would neutralize Trump’s appeal as an outsider candidate while making the Democratic ticket “more palatable” to disaffected Republicans. Though the nomination of a centrist businessman could upset progressives, Pethokoukis feels Cuban’s middle-class Pennsylvania background could provide a compelling story for the majority of the electorate.
“Basically, Cuban is Trump”, writes Pethokoukis, “without all the bigotry … and without the insane policies … and with probably more dough.”
Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia Center for Politics disagrees with Pethokoukis’s premise. “To me, the first rule of vice presidential selection is ‘first, do no harm'”, he explains to Wikinews, “Cuban would be a risky choice for Clinton that does not provide an obvious benefit[…] One of Clinton’s benefits in this election is that, compared to Trump, she seems qualified for the job and serious enough for the job. Picking Cuban doesn’t really help her make that argument.”
Dan Judy of North Star Opinion Research agrees, commenting to Wikinews that Cuban has “virtually no chance” of becoming Clinton’s running mate because, “he’s a political novice who doesn’t bring much to the table in terms of shoring up Hillary’s left flank, appealing to independents, or being a governing partner. Cuban’s a colorful, outspoken guy, and I think he’s just having fun. I don’t think he has any real political ambitions.”
Clinton insiders also say Cuban has no chance. However, Clinton herself is appreciative of Cuban’s “openness,” announcing on Meet the Press that she is “very interested” in considering “successful businesspeople” who have not held elected office.
Still, Cuban has continued to make media appearances touting himself as a potential vice presidential candidate. He even went on the attack against a front-runner for the position, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, arguing she is too far left and that if she were selected, he would probably vote for Trump. In addition, Cuban recently boasted to TMZ that Clinton “needs me” for the position.
At the end of June, Cuban met with former President Bill Clinton, husband of Hillary, at a casual dinner party where politics were discussed.
Clinton is expected to choose a running mate before the July 25 National Convention commences in Philadelphia. Senators Warren, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro are among the favorites to receive the vice presidential nomination.
California American Independent Party primary winner speaks to Wikinews[]
Though most of the media attention of the June 7 California primary focused on the Democratic and Republican races, with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump winning each, respectively, the Peace and Freedom Party, the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and the American Independent Party (AIP) all held primaries as well, owing to the fact that each has attained the status of political party in the state; a designation reserved for parties that can show they have registered members totaling greater than 0.33% of registered voters in the state, and maintained with either keeping registered voters at that percentage or holding 0.067% of registered voters while winning at least two percent of the vote in a statewide election. The largest of these third parties, the AIP, had seven participants in its primary. Wikinews reached out to the victor, Alan Spears, an attorney from Cedar Glen, California.
██ Alan Spears
██ Arthur Harris
██ Robert Ornelas
██ Wiley Drake
██ J.R. Myers
██ James Hedges
██ Tom Hoefling
The AIP is a paleoconservative group formerly affiliated with the Constitution Party. It opposes same-sex marriage, abortion, and supports the construction of a fence along the US–Mexico border. Though the party has an estimated half million registered members, three percent of all registered voters in California, a Los Angeles Times poll shows 73% mistakenly joined the party believing they were registering as Independent. As a result, these voters could only vote in the American Independent Party primary.
According to the latest count, 42,241 voted for the candidates on the ballot in the primary. Ballot Access News speculated Donald Trump won the primary since more than two thirds of voters wrote-in candidates, the majority believed to have been for Trump, but these votes were not counted. Of the candidates on the ballot, Spears won with 8,103 votes (19.2%). Former Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineering technician Arthur Harris came in second with 7,216 (17.1%). 2012 AIP vice presidential nominee and hip hop artist Robert Ornelas finished third with 7,164 (17%). Fourth place Wiley Drake, a pastor and TV host, edged fifth place J.R. Myers, chairman of the Alaska Constitution Party, by one vote, 5,476 to 5,475 (roughly 13% apiece). Prohibition Party presidential nominee James Hedges came in sixth with 4,462 (10.6%). Surprisingly, the AIP’s 2012 presidential nominee Tom Hoefling came in last place with 4,345 votes (10.3%). The results of the primary are nonbinding. The AIP is to nominate its 2016 presidential ticket at its convention August 13–14.
Spears, who uses the slogan “Let’s Restore America’s Greatness,” proclaims on his candidate statement provided to the California Secretary of State, “[w]e [Americans] are at war with Islam!” He focuses his presidential campaign on the issue of Islamic terrorism, advocating the use of “overwhelming force” to combat it. Additionally, he believes the US government “must deal with anarchists hiding behind the First Amendment who seek to destroy our institutions,” and supports an eradication of the “Deep Dark Web.”
With Wikinews, Spears discusses his primary victory, the AIP nomination, ballot access, and what he hopes to accomplish with his campaign.
WSS What is your reaction to winning the California American Independent Party presidential primary in June? Do you believe this victory will help you secure the AIP presidential nomination?
Spears: I was shocked and pleasantly surprised I won the AIP’s California June 7th Primary. It wasn’t by much of a margin, and the totality of the Party’s votes were minuscule, but I feel I did make a VERY conservative statement. I pray that it will [help secure the nomination]!
WSS Are you attempting to appear on the ballot in other states? If so, where? If not, why?
Spears: I haven’t a clue how to get on the primary ballots in other states, and I believe it is too late at this juncture.
WSS What do you hope to accomplish by running for president?
Spears: My ultra-conservative politics are essential to the survival of the Republic. Trump spews rhetoric, but until quite recently his words lack meaning. He has little insight into foreign policy and military matters. God, how I wish I could trade positions with him! I am “on record” The Voter’s Self Defense System with policy positions, have spewed much ultra-conservative drivel at www.Facebook.com/aesracingltd, and try to find time to blog to my website at Home – Alan E. Spears, Esq – Independent Presidential Candidate You may vet me at www.Alan Spears.com.
Related articles[]
“Britain votes to leave the European Union” — Wikinews, June 25, 2016
“On the campaign trail in the USA, May 2016” — Wikinews, June 13, 2016
“At least 50 dead in shooting at Florida nightclub” — Wikinews, June 12, 2016
“On the campaign trail, June 2012” — Wikinews, July 5, 2012
This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.
“Home” — The Wiley Drake Show, July 9, 2016 (accessed)
“President American Independent – Statewide Results” — Secretary of State of California, July 9, 2016 (accessed)
“Political Party Qualification” — Secretary of State of California, July 9, 2016 (accessed)
“Dr. Robert Ornelas (resume)” — Google Drive, July 9, 2016 (accessed)
“American Independent Party” — Secretary of State of California, July 9, 2016 (accessed)
“About the Candidate” — Arthur M. Harris for President of the United States, July 9, 2016 (accessed)
“Politics1 News Updates” — Politics1, July 8, 2016 (accessed)
“General Election: Trump vs. Clinton” — RealClearPolitics, July 8, 2016 (accessed)
Richard Winger. “Donald Trump Probably Won American Independent Party Presidential Primary” — Ballot Access News, July 8, 2016
“2016 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions Chronologically” — The Green Papers, July 8, 2016 (accessed)
“Stocks snap 4-session rally as Brexit jitters resurface” — MarketWatch, July 5, 2016
Amy Chozick. “Bill Clinton and Mark Cuban Talk at a Casual Dinner Party” — The New York Times, June 29, 2016
Richard Winger. “American Independent Party Will Choose a Presidential Nominee on August 13-14” — Ballot Access News, June 29, 2016
Rich Barbieri. “U.S. stocks: Uncertainty after Brexit” — CNN Money, June 27, 2016
Ben Brody. “Clinton Hammers Trump Over Brexit Response in Ad, Decries ‘Bombast’” — Bloomberg News, June 26, 2016
Holly Baxter. “It’s time for London to leave the UK and stay in the EU” — The Independent, June 24, 2016
Khaleda Rahman and Nick Enoch. “‘Brexit is proof that Trump will be the next president’: ‘Anti-immigration’ message and shift to the Right that led to UK’s seismic break with Europe draws parallels with rise of The Donald” — Daily Mail, June 24, 2016
“Donald Trump in Scotland: ‘Brexit a great thing’” — BBC News, June 24, 2016
Nick Gass and Daniel Strauss. “Clinton campaign blasts Trump’s ‘reckless, egomaniac’ Brexit response” — Politico, June 24, 2016
Stephen Collinson. “Brexit: The UK’s Donald Trump moment” — CNN, June 24, 2016
Emily Flitter and Emily Stephenson. “Trump fires campaign manager in shakeup for election push” — Reuters, June 21, 2016
Sarah Field. “‘Shark Tank’ Star Mark Cuban Says Donald Trump Has ‘No Sense of Humility or Honor’” — Inquisitr, June 19, 2016
Faith Karimi and Catherine E. Shoichet. “High-school grad, dancer, accountant among Orlando shooting victims” — CNN, June 16, 2016
“Mark Cuban Hillary Needs Me as VP” — TMZ, June 10, 2016
Jesse Byrnes. “Mark Cuban: ‘Good chance’ I’ll vote Trump if Clinton picks Warren as VP” — The Hill (newspaper), June 10, 2016
Deirdre Walsh and Manu Raju. “Paul Ryan rips Donald Trump remarks as ‘textbook definition of a racist comment’” — CNN, June 7, 2016
Carrie Dann. “Clinton Hits ‘Magic Number’ of Delegates to Clinch Nomination” — NBC News, June 6, 2016
Paola Chavez and Veronica Stracqualursi. “Mark Cuban’s Unorthodox Vice Presidential Pitch” — ABC News (US), June 3, 2016
Benjamin Snyder. “Mark Cuban Just Attacked Donald Trump’s Businesses” — Fortune (magazine), June 2, 2016
Ben White. “A billionaire of her own?” — Politico, June 2, 2016
Jacob Pramuk. “Mark Cuban: We don’t really know if Trump’s a billionaire” — CNBC, June 1, 2016
James Pethokoukis. “Why Mark Cuban is the perfect VP pick for Hillary Clinton” — The Week, May 25, 2016
Abby Phillip. “What Hillary Clinton thinks about Mark Cuban’s interest in talking about the vice presidency” — The Washington Post, May 22, 2016
Sally Bronston. “Mark Cuban Open to Being Trump’s (Or Clinton’s) VP” — NBC News, May 22, 2016
Katie Reilly. “Mark Cuban Would ‘Absolutely’ Consider Being Hillary Clinton’s Running Mate” — Time Magazine, May 21, 2016
Sarah Field. “Why Hillary Clinton Will ‘Probably’ Get Mark Cuban’s Vote” — Inquisitr, May 19, 2016
Tierney Sneed. “Never Trump-ers Attempted To Recruit Mark Cuban For Third Party Bid” — Talking Points Memo, May 14, 2016
Jeremy Quittner. “What Mark Cuban Really Thinks About Donald Trump” — Inc. (magazine), May 13, 2016
Harper Neidig. “Trump says UK should leave EU” — The Hill (newspaper), May 5, 2016
Gabriel Debenedetti. “It’s mathematically impossible for Bernie to win with pledged delegates” — Politico, May 3, 2016
Barack Obama. “Barack Obama: As your friend, let me say that the EU makes Britain even greater” — The Daily Telegraph, April 23, 2016
Krishnadev Calamur. “Obama’s ‘Brexit’ Plea” — The Atlantic, April 22, 2016
John Myers, Christine Mai-Duc and Ben Welsh. “Are you an independent voter? You aren’t if you checked this box” — Los Angeles Times, April 17, 2016
“Bio” — J.R. Myers For President 2016, April 7, 2016 (archive.org)
Joshua Friemel. “Mark Cuban on how Donald Trump ‘fashioned himself a Killer of political correctness;’ how to understand the politician” — The Dallas Morning News, August 23, 2015
Richard Winger. “Prohibition Party Nominates National Ticket” — Ballot Access News, July 31, 2015
Eli Langer. “Mark Cuban says Donald Trump has ‘changed the game’ of politics” — CNBC, July 28, 2015
Richard Winger. “American Independent Party Picks Tom Hoefling for President” — Ballot Access News, August 11, 2012
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Sallie Mae leads Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaints about student loans
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22 April 2015: Student kills teacher in Barcelona
4 March 2015: Beverly Hall, indicted public school superintendent, dies aged 68
6 February 2015: Scottish university football club under investigation over ‘blackface’ event
18 December 2014: Nation mourns, world condemns Taliban attack on Pakistan army school
13 November 2014: Two-time plane crash survivor, Austin Hatch, scores first goal in college sports
File photo of Sallie Mae’s headquarters in 2007
Image: Joshua Davis.
A review this week by Wikinews of US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) complaints about student loans in the United States shows Sallie Mae leads all lending institutions in complaints. Of the 4,851 complaints dating back to March 2012 when the CFPB first began collecting student loan data, 2,262 or 46.6% of all complaints were about the lender. US Federal Reserve data from 2010/2011 shows Sallie Mae is the nation’s largest student loan lender, responsible for 25% of the market
The other major lenders in this space include Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, PNC, and Discover. In complaints, AES/PHEAA came in second with 546, or 11.3% of all complaints. Wells Fargo, Citibank and JPMorgan Chase each had between 5% and 7.5% of all complaints, totaling 918 complaints between them. 78 other lending institutions round out the list of organizations with complaints filed against them for student loans.
Few of the complaints originate from people with problems with federal student loans. Less than 1%, 35 total, are for these types of loans, with Sallie Mae accounting for the bulk of complaints with 17 total. 14 other lending institutions have 3 or fewer complaints. For non-federal student loans, Sallie Mae is still the leader for complaints, with 2245 or 46.6% of all non-federal student loan complaints.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sorts complaints into three issues: Problems when you are unable to pay, Repaying your loan, and Getting a loan. None of the federal loans had complaints about getting a loan. For non-federal loans, 65.5% of the 4,816 complaints related to loan repayment. Sallie Mae led in total complaints in this category with 1467. They were followed by AES/PHEAA with 356, Wells Fargo with 231, Citibank with 201, Discover with 158, JPMorgan Chase with 154, ACS Education Services with 143, and KeyBank NA with 116. CFPB says loan repayment issues include a basket of claim types including “fees, billing, deferment, forbearance, fraud, and credit reporting.” Problems when you are unable pay accounts for 30.8% of the complaints. Sallie Mae had 698 complaints. They were followed by AES/PHEAA with 181, JPMorgan Chase with 106, Wells Fargo with 104, Citibank with 70, and KeyBank NA with 58. Many of the complaints are, according to the CFPB, because borrowers have difficulty getting deferrments on loan repayment as a result of being unable to find employment.
Month by month complaints against major lenders
Image: Laura Hale.
The total complaints against Sallie Mae for September of this year is 2 fewer than the same time last year. The company’s performance this year compared to last year has been mixed. March and June numbers were down over 150 complaints from the same month a year before. April, May, July and August all saw increases of 17–43. Of the top six lenders by volume of complaints, only AES/PHEAA and Citibank saw drops every month between March and September from the total volume in the previous year. Wells Fargo had a gain of 1 in August and 6 in May from the previous year. JPMorgan Chase had a difference of 0 from the same month last year for April, 3 more this year for May, and 4 more for August. Discover saw an increase every month from the same period last year except for September. When the total complaints differences from year to year for March to September are counted, this year has 571 fewer complaints against the top six lenders.
Closure reason percentage for student loan complaints by lender
Most, 1470, of the complaints against Sallie Mae were closed with explanations. 10.2% were closed with monetary relief. 7.7% were closed with non-monetary relief. 2.1% were closed with relief and 12.1% were closed without relief. AES/PHEAA’s complaint closure picture was much different. 40.1% of AES/PHEAA’s 546 complaints were closed with non-monetary relief, 35.3% were closed with explanations and 21.2% were closed without relief. Of the eight lending institutions with 100 or more complaints filed against them, Discover was the institution most likely to result in a closure with monetary relief with 12.9% of all their closures ending this way. Citibank was the institution with the highest percentage of closures ending with no relief at 26.0%.
Geographic distribution of student loan complaints
Complaints over student loan lenders were geographically distributed, coming from 3,447 different zip codes. The largest cluster of complaints is for 20001, a Washington D.C. zip code with 10 complaints originating from there. 07950, the zip code for Morris Plains, New Jersey, and 37013, the zip code for Antioch, Tennessee, each had 8 complaints originating from them. Zip codes for Patchogue, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington D.C.; and Arlington, Virginia each had 7 complaints originating from them. By volume of complaints by state, New York led with 497, with California second with 467, Pennsylvania third with 303, Florida fourth with 288 and Ohio fifth with 219 complaints. US Territories largely occupied the bottom spots. The Northern Marianas Islands, with a population of around 50,000, had 1 complaint. The U.S. Armed Forces – Pacific had 3. North Dakota and U.S. Armed Forces – Europe had 5 complaints each. South Dakota had 7. Wyoming had 8. Puerto Rico and Alaska had 9 each. Rounding out the bottom five states by volume of complaints, Mississippi had 11.
With the possibility of a United States government federal shutdown looming on October 1, student loans may be impacted because of potential for an automatic increase in interest rates.
“Consumer Complaints” — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, September 29, 2013 (date of access)
Raju Chebium. “Question and answers about government shutdown” — USA Today, September 28, 2013
“Consumer Response: A Snapshot of Complaints Received” — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, July 31, 2013
“Meeting Between Federal Reserve Board Staff and Representatives of Sallie Mae, Inc. (SLM) April 5, 2011” — Federal Reserve Board, April 5, 2011
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Bolivian president announces legal action over Obama\’s \’crimes against humanity\’
Filed under: Archived,Barack Obama,Bolivia,Corrected articles,Crime and law,Edward Snowden,Evo Morales,North America,Pages with categorizable local links,Pages with defaulting non-local links,Politics and conflicts,Puerto Rico,South America,United Nations,United States,Venezuela — admin @ 5:00 am
Bolivian president announces legal action over Obama’s ‘crimes against humanity’
Correction — October 4, 2013
The last paragraph of this article should say “President Maduro” rather than “President Morales”. We apologize for the error.
The Bolivian President Evo Morales announced Thursday he will file legal charges against the United States President Barack Obama for crimes against humanity. President Morales announced he was preparing litigation after Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro‘s plane was allegedly denied entry into U.S. airspace over Puerto Rico.
File photo of Evo Morales.
Image: Agência Brasil.
Official portrait of Barack Obama.
Image: Pete Souza.
President Morales called Obama a “criminal” violating international law. Morales called an emergency meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), made up of 33 member states including Argentina, Mexico and Chile, and encouraged member states to remove their ambassadors from the U.S. to show their solidarity. He asked Bolivarian Alliance member states to boycott the next United Nations meeting, to be held in New York on September 24. He also said the U.S. had pursued a policy of “intimidation” and have a history of blockading presidential flights.
In July this year, the Bolivian presidential aircraft was prevented from landing in Portugal to refuel, allegedly at the request of the U.S. administration. After Italy, Spain and France each banned the aircraft from entering their airspace, it was ultimately forced to land in Austria. Here, the plane was boarded as part of the search for U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden. Several Latin American heads of state promptly condemned the actions.
President Evo Morales is in his second presidential term after first being elected in 2005. He campaigned on the promise of alleviating Bolivia’s crippling poverty — Bolivia was Latin America’s poorest nation at the time he was elected — and is Bolivia’s first indigenous leader. He became internationally recognisable for the striped jumper he wore while meeting with high level dignitaries, including kings and presidents, around the world. His actions as President have included halving his own salary and those of his ministers, seizing Bolivia’s gas and oil reserves, and redistributing the nation’s unused countryside to the poor.
President Morales had been bound for bilateral talks in China. He maintains he will not be prevented from attending them.
“Bolivia plans legal action against Obama over ‘crimes against humanity’” — Press TV, September 20, 2013
“Bolivian president to sue US govt for crimes against humanity” — RT (TV network), September 20, 2013
“Venezuela accuses US of closing airspace for presidential plane” — RIA Novosti, September 20, 2013
“Bolivia angered as president’s plane diverted over suspicions Edward Snowden was on board” — ABC News (Australia), July 4, 2013
Catherine Shoichet. “Bolivia: Presidential plane forced to land after false rumors of Snowden onboard” — CNN, July 3, 2013
Monte Reel. “Morales sets his sights on Bolivia’s idle farmland” — The Guardian, June 2, 2006
Jeremy McDermott. “Deputies follow where Morales led” — The Sydney Morning Herald, February 7, 2006
Dan Glaister. “Nice sweater. Here’s one just like it. Only £4.40” — The Guardian, January 20, 2006
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Puerto Rican voters support US statehood
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Flag of Puerto Rico.
Image: Alex Barth.
For the first time in the US territory’s history, voters in Puerto Rico apparently supported statehood in a non-binding referendum on Tuesday. The outcome, however, remains uncertain as various politicians interpret the referendum results differently.
Puerto Ricans were previously asked to vote on their political status in 1967, 1993, and 1998. Supporters of statehood did not win a majority in any of those votes. Spain ceded control over the territory to the United States in 1898 following the Spanish-American War. Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship in 1917, but residents cannot vote in presidential or Senate elections. They have only limited representation in the House of Representatives. Since 1952 the island has been a commonwealth, a self-governing unincorporated territory. Puerto Ricans currently do not pay federal income tax, but they are charged payments to Social Security and are eligible for federal welfare benefits.
Kenneth McClintock, Puerto Rico’s Secretary of State, said economic factors and a declining population contributed to the push for statehood. The federal government currently sends millions of dollars per year to Puerto Rico in social aid, where income per person is only half that of any state. Puerto Ricans have been moving from the island to the mainland United States, where 58 percent of Puerto Ricans now reside. “I think people just came to realize that the current relationship simply does not create the number of jobs that we need,” said McClintock.
The ballot measure, which coincided with the general election held throughout the United States, was split into two parts. The first question asked whether the voters preferred to maintain the current political status of Puerto Rico. 54 percent — over 900,000 people — voted against the current commonwealth status.
Independent of the first question, voters were then asked to choose from three options: statehood, independence, or semi-autonomous “sovereign free association”. Of those who made a choice, 61 percent supported statehood, 33 percent supported “sovereign free association”, and 6 percent supported independence.
Nearly 500,000 people, or a third of those voting, declined to answer this second question, making it difficult to interpret the results. Moreover, the pro-statehood governor — one of the most prominent advocates for statehood — lost his bid for reelection. Governor-elect Garcia Padilla, in favor of maintaining the current commonwealth status, pledged to convene a constitutional assembly to address the matter in 2014. Another referendum would follow with support from the US Congress, whose approval is needed for Puerto Rico to become a state.
Reuters. “Puerto Rico voters signal desire for statehood” — Daily News (New York), November 7, 2012
EFE. “Puerto Ricans support U.S. statehood for first time” — Fox News, November 7, 2012
Mariano Castillo. “Puerto Ricans favor statehood for first time” — CNN, November 7, 2012
AP. “Puerto Rico’s voters endorse seeking US statehood but ballot results raise questions” — Fox News, November 7, 2012
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Micronesia left behind by the Paralympic movement
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Newest 2012 Paralympic stories
29 June 2014: Medal-seeking Spanish men arrive at 2014 Goalball World Championships
26 June 2014: Belgian men’s goalball team departs for Finland for World Championships
3 January 2014: Wikinews interviews Australian wheelchair basketball player Tina McKenzie
15 August 2013: Wikinews interviews Spanish Paralympic swimmer Deborah Font
11 August 2013: Wikinews interviews Spanish Paralympic swimmer Marta Gómez
Sir Philip Craven at the International Paralympic Committee press conference
London, England — At the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) press conference Monday, Sir Philip Craven indicated the goal of the IPC is to grow disability sport globally. At the same time, according to Paul Bird of the Oceania Paralympic Committee, the Micronesian of Oceania has been left completely behind by the Paralympic movement.
According to a member of the Oceania Paralympic Committee, the IPC recognizes fewer countries than the International Olympic Committee, with IPC rules prohibiting countries from becoming full members of the organization if their independence is not clear. This rule dates back to the organization’s founding and no serious attempts have been made to change it since.
As many Micronesian countries are not viewed as independent countries, they cannot join. This includes Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The only eligibility route for elite athletes with disabilities in these countries to the Paralympic Games is through their home country, which for most of the Micronesian region is the United States; they have to compete against better-funded and better-supported competitors to earn national team selection. No disability sport competitors from Micronesia were chosen to represent the United States at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
This problem is not unique to Micronesia, with the United States territories of Puerto Rico and United States Virgin Islands not being represented as members of the United States team in 2012.
“Wikinews interviews Oceania Paralympic Commitee President Paul Bird” — Wikinews, August 30, 2012
“International Paralympic Committee holds first press conference” — Wikinews, August 28, 2012
Sister links
United States at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
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Wikinews interviews Fred Karger, U.S. Republican Party presidential candidate
Filed under: 2012 United States presidential election,Archived,California,Fred Karger,Gary Johnson,Interview,LGBT,Mormonism,North America,Original reporting,Pages with categorizable local links,Pages with defaulting non-local links,Politics and conflicts,Proposition 8,Puerto Rico,Republican Party (United States),Same-sex marriage,United States,Utah — admin @ 5:00 am
2012 U.S. Presidential Election stories
7 November 2012: World leaders react to Obama win
7 November 2012: United States re-elects Barack Obama
7 November 2012: Australian Broadcasting Corporation plans to call California for Obama before polls close
5 November 2012: Wikinews interviews former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party
5 November 2012: On the campaign trail, October 2012
Fred Karger in 2010.
Image: IowaPolitics.com.
United States political consultant and gay rights (LGBT) activist Fred Karger of California took some time to discuss his Republican Party presidential campaign with Wikinews reporter William Saturn. Karger holds the distinction as the first openly gay person to seek the presidential nomination of a major U.S. political party.
Before entering electoral politics, Karger worked as an adviser for such prominent Republicans and former U.S. Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Since retiring as an adviser in 2004, he has been involved in LGBT issues: opposing California Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state; and leading investigations of such same-sex marriage opponents as the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (The Mormon Church).
In 2010, Karger first announced his intentions to seek the Republican presidential nomination, but did not officially announce until March 2011. One of his early campaign goals was to participate in a GOP presidential debate, but was never invited due to polling thresholds. However, Karger argued that he did meet the requirement for an August debate, but was still excluded after the organizers deemed polls he cited as inadequate.
So far, Karger has appeared on four Republican primary ballots including Puerto Rico, where he was able to top Congressman Ron Paul, who, at the time was one of the four major candidates in the race. Karger will next appear on the ballots in California on June 5, and in Utah on June 26.
Karger brands himself as “a different kind of Republican” that wants to open the party to outsiders. He backs gay marriage, is pro-choice on abortion, and wants to lower the voting age. However, he also holds some traditional Republican views: he favors a strengthening of the private sector and believes the U.S. should be steadfast in its support for the nation of Israel.
In talking to Wikinews, Karger discusses his personal political background and activism, the 2012 presidential election and his GOP campaign, as well as his political views on both domestic and foreign affairs.
2 2012 presidential campaign
William S. Saturn I’m going to start with the background. What are some of your proudest accomplishments?
Karger with former President George H. W. Bush in 2006.
Image: Fred Karger.
Fred Karger: Well, I have been involved in politics for 55 years. I am very proud that I first began working on campaigns, and then evolved into a profession. I got to work with some of the great leaders in the country: George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan. I got to involve myself in a lot of the issues of the time; involved in initiatives, elections all over the country; and then, most recently was a direct activist in discovering a lot of illicit activities by the Mormon Church, involving itself in many of the anti-Gay marriage campaigns from 1995 in Hawaii to our current election going on now; and then also taking on the National Organization for Marriage, and then investigated in Maine, which resulted in a treasure trove of documents disclosing their illicit activities. So I would think those are certainly some of my highlights in my 62 years, but I got all the fight left in me.
WSS What did you learn from Ronald Reagan?
Fred Karger: Well, I learned about his great optimism and his ability to get along with Democrats and Republicans, conservatives [and] liberals. He had an innate ability to work with people of all stripes and get along with them. Good with speaking the language of the time, building alliances to get a lot of things done in the best interest of the country, unlike President Obama and the Congress today. Ronald Reagan never took himself too seriously…
WSS I read on your Facebook profile that you supported Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton during the 2008 primaries. Why did you support her?
Fred Karger: The Republican Party has moved too far to the right for my liking. And that was not the Republican Party that I grew up with. I think there’s room in the party for a broad coalition of thought…
I was very disenchanted with the Republicans running four years ago, and I liked Hillary Clinton. I liked her husband. I thought he was a good centrist and a good president. And I wanted to help out and support her. I didn’t work for her, but I did max out. I gave $2300 over a period of time in 2008 to her. And I just thought she would have been a very good president.
WSS Who did you support during the general election?
Fred Karger: During the general in 2008, I didn’t support either candidate. I had helped George W. Bush in 2000. We were working an independent expenditure committee that I helped with a gentleman named Charles Francis that was a Gay-Straight alliance that supported George W. Bush, but then he let us down with his vocal support for a federal Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and other anti-gay activities that campaign and he were involved with in 2004. So I did not help him. I did not vote for him in 2004. I voted for a third party candidate because then I was not too convinced that Barack Obama was the right man for the job. So I was a Ralph Nader voter. I didn’t do anything with his campaign or more, but I did end up voting for him.
The public doesn’t know enough about the Mormon Church, so I wanted to help make them aware because there are some very interesting parts of that religion that I think it’s certainly open for discussion with Mitt Romney as the likely Republican nominee
WSS You have been very critical of the Mormon Church for its support of Proposition 8, and you created a website titled, “the Top Ten Craziest Mormon beliefs”. Some of your followers on Facebook wrote comments that this went too far. What is your response to them?
Fred Karger: Well, the Mormon Church as I discovered by documents that were given to me, official Mormon Chuch documents going back to 1995, has led the way on all the anti-Gay initiatives, constitutional amendments in the country. All thirty one that have been successful, the Mormon Church was instrumental in efforts. So I have announced. I don’t do things secretly like they do. I’ve been very up front about it. I signed my name to everything.
And I am determined to try and get them to reconsider their vehement opposition, not just to gay marriage, but the way they treat gay and lesbian members of the Mormon faith. And there’s a wonderful new video out with a dozen students from BYU talking about that and how difficult it is to be gay and Mormon. And this church, which is on the cusp of having a President of the United States, is cruel [through] activities that have been done to LGBT members and followers and as well as all of us non-members, who have been critical of their activism.
I think it is the wrong direction and I will continue to shadow that and keep them honest in politics, which they have not been as we found in California. And I think as their public affairs director had invited, which is why I put that website up, the public doesn’t know enough about the Mormon Church, so I wanted to help make them aware because there are some very interesting parts of that religion that I think it’s certainly open for discussion with Mitt Romney as the likely Republican nominee.
WSS Let’s talk about the campaign. I’ve seen from your photos that while campaigning, you’ve encountered such candidates as Jon Huntsman, Jr. and Michele Bachmann. Do they recognize you and/or acknowledge the historical significance of your campaign?
Fred Karger: I’ve met every single candidate running and have general pictures with all. The only one [exception] I think is Ron Paul, who I did meet with in his office in Washington. He was the one, who actually set up a formal meeting with me in January of 2011. We had a wonderful meeting. He had not made up his mind yet.
Karger with Jon Huntsman, Jr. in 2011.
But yes, Rick Santorum knew me well. We would run in to each other all the time. Everyone was very courteous to me. Some I became more friendly with: Gary Johnson or Jon Huntsman, very, very cordial to me. I would actually say that Gary Johnson and me became friends. We would see each other all the time, went to meals together.
So I had asked all the Republican candidates running to have lunch, dinner, coffee with me. I thought it would be a good opportunity for the other Republicans running, and in a friendly manner to meet, to get to know an openly gay candidate for president, which no one has done before. But I think it was just my olive branch. As I was saying earlier, what Ronald Reagan did and what he taught me, which was to reach out to everybody. And certainly there’s some Republicans, who have said some very bad things about my community and I want to help them based on that and come up with the areas we have in common as opposed to the areas where we disagree.
WSS You previously said that one of your goals in your campaign was to participate in a GOP presidential debate, now that no more debates have been scheduled, what are you hoping to achieve by continuing your campaign?
Fred Karger: Well that had been my primary goal to get in a presidential debate. A big feat for someone who has never run for office before and doesn’t have tens of millions of dollars to spend on his campaign. I came very close. I did qualify. I met the criteria for the Fox News debate last August in Ames, Iowa, but they changed the rules and prohibited me from participating. So I am holding out hope that there still may be another debate. There’s talk of a Texas debate. Governor Romney might not do anymore but there may be a situation where there’s just a handful of candidates. There’s only four of us now that are still actively running that are on state ballots like California and Utah. So I still have hope that there might be a debate. But short of that I will be campaigning vigorously in California. That’s the next ballot I am on.
The numbers obviously don’t add up for me to be the nominee, but I can certainly be a factor and that is one of my goals.
We are shooting our first California commercial on Saturday. It’s an elaborate production, and I’m hoping we’ll be running it on television in California. Hopefully it will catch on in a viral manner like some of our commercials have and maybe be kind of an introduction to California about my campaign years. So I’m going to be spending the next almost eight weeks all up and down my home state. I’m the only Californian on the ballot. And on our California ballot, it doesn’t list occupation. It just lists hometown and state. So I will have Laguna Beach, California as my ballot designation, which none of the other three remaining candidates, of course, are from here. So that’s an advantage. And we’ve got a lot of volunteers. A lot up and down the state. And I hope to register here. I’m going to be targeting three congressional districts, because the delegates are awarded by congressional district here. So I’m hopeful that I can pull out some delegates and be more of a factor in this race. The numbers obviously don’t add up for me to be the nominee, but I can certainly be a factor and that is one of my goals.
WSS As you’ve said, it seems very likely that Mitt Romney will win the Republican nomination. Might you support him in the general election?
Fred Karger: Well, I said that I’m very uncomfortable with anyone who signed this marriage pledge of the National Organization for Marriage. I asked him specifically to disavow that pledge. They just endorsed his candidacy yesterday. This is a very shady organization that is under investigation for money laundering in Maine. It has just been revealed by four unsealed documents by a federal judge that were subpoenaed from NOM of their devious and illegal activities. We now know that there have been illegal activities that have taken place by them. And I am uncomfortable with Mitt Romney as long as he is willing to connect with this very very questionable organization. And so I’m going to weigh the field. I am not going to make any decisions if he were to be our nominee as the Republican Party. I liked his dad a lot. I’m not quite there with Mitt Romney, but I’ll have to wait and see how things develop.
WSS Your best showing in the Republican primaries so far came in Puerto Rico last month. In terms of campaigning, what did you learn from that experience?
Fred Karger: Well, Puerto Rico has an open primary as did Michigan. I tend to do better in states with an open primary because Republicans that are voting in a primary tend to be far more conservative. So if they have heard of me and know that I’m an openly gay candidate that of course could eliminate a potential vote. So I like that. I like the fact that I got an enormous amount of attention down there.
Karger campaigning in Puerto Rico in March.
The [Puerto Rican] media was very interested. I was endorsed by the number one radio talk show host in San Juan, Carmen Jovet, who had interviewed me on her show.
Puerto Rico is way behind the states in its support for gay civil rights. There’s a gay and lesbian center that’s only been open for one year, as opposed to the states where gay centers have been open for 25 or 30 years or more. So they are very much behind the times. But they are coming around. They are very grateful for my presence there. I got a lot of speaking engagements. The media was very interested. I was endorsed by the number one radio talk show host in San Juan, Carmen Jovet, who had interviewed me on her show. And she’s a very prominent media personality. And when there was a hurricane there, they got her to chair the foundation. We just spoke, having fun with it. I didn’t know that after that she would endorse me and that had a lot to do with it.
And we did things in Puerto Rico well: we campaigned in the big towns that were competitive right before the election; did a lot of speaking; a lot of meeting the voters; colleges that we’d go to all over. So we did a blitz there in six days that was successful and I was proud to beat Ron Paul. And of course, what Romney did, and what Santorum didn’t do was to listen to the voters and listen to the citizens of Puerto Rico, which you have to have respect for their heritage. And to come in and say this whole territory must learn English in order to be eligible for statehood is just not smart, spin politics. So I listened. I do. And I respect their heritage especially years of Spanish speaking that can’t expect to transform that as a bargain, a negotiating bargain for statehood. So I just had regard for the culture and the people, and responded to what I think was a good fit for Puerto Rico. But I also, along with statehood, which is still a mixed issue down there, a lot of the younger people want independence than even want statehood, but I’m open to whatever that would be and to whatever the Puerto Ricans really would like to be for themselves.
WSS Let’s get into policy. You proposed that the voting age be reduced. How might you convince Republicans to support this when polls suggest that the youth generally support Democrats?
Fred Karger: Well, it’s something that I’ve not advocated as a particular constitutional amendment. I suggested that we should hold a discussion for lowering the voting age to 16 or 17. And that’s one of the things I’ve been doing for our campaign. And in regards to your question, the Republican Party is doing everything it can to drive away this younger generation. Candidates like Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, or Mitt Romney are doing and saying things that are so anathema to younger voters. Ron Paul is doing the opposite. That’s why he gets 6400 people at UCLA. He gets thousands of students coming out. And I applaud him because he’s the only one who has the foresight to realize there’s a future to this Republican Party beyond November.
Karger speaking with youth in Puerto Rico.
So one of the things I’ve tried to do, I’ve tried to reach out to students in high school and college. I’ve spoken at a lot of high schools. There are 18 year old voters there. And I’m looking to the future of the Republican Party. And I think we need to do and say things and put the policies that will appeal to young voters. Currently jobs is the number one issue and I talk about that. That’s a concern of younger voters in high school, college, wherever they are. So we just need to be a little more aware of that generation, so if there are 16 or 17 year old voters someday, they will be split, and that we will have welcomed them as Ronald Reagan did. There’s a 70 year old man that just completely brought back a younger generation to the Republican Party that they had been driven away by Watergate. I know because I was a younger voter then who was working with then-Republicans to bring younger voters into the Republican Party. And if they think it’s tough now, it was ten times tougher then.
We need to be much more aware. Think out all of the ways to do it: to speak the language; to offer them the opportunity to participate; to teach them voting at a younger age in high school so that they get in more of a habit once out of high school and off to college or in workforce, and are less likely to become advantageous voters. I think we need to teach voting in high school. Bring candidates like myself, Congressional candidates, their own candidates from city race, into the high school and I think that’ll help people become better voters. And I also think it’ll also help a certain percentage stay in high school that may not ordinarily, cause we’re of course, losing a million high school students a year dropping out, and the 2 or 3 percent love politics and they’re learning from politicians. They may be less likely to drop out. It’s helping to then lessen that crisis.
WSS Considering the Tenth amendment, should same sex marriage be a state issue?
Fred Karger: I am a strong advocate of states’ rights, but not on a civil rights issue like gay marriage. And had we left interracial marriage to the states, we know that would have been a long time and coming, and the Supreme Court interceded and made that the law of the land. And I think on this issue that the court will ultimately decide that this issue should not be left to the voters. That is a gigantic mistake. A legislature are better. Some have more courage. But it’s too hot a political issue. It should be a legal issue. And I’m looking forward to the Nevada case for that to work its way up to federal courts and then for the California Perry case. I think those two will be very important in making all the different people equal.
WSS How can high energy costs be reduced?
Karger during the 2012 presidential election.
Theodore Roosevelt during the 1912 presidential election.
Fred Karger: Well, that’s a very complex issue. Talking about certainly making America energy independent is number one. Conservation, which no one else is talking about, and that I am beating my chest about is so important. There’s so much energy that is wasted in this country. Not just driving, but in our public buildings and homes, where you go into a movie theater in the summer and it’s freezing or the airports. There’s so many public places where we should not have government mandates, but certainly building owners and managers to take responsibility to really make it comfortable, and to set thermostats at a comfortable temperature. And personal responsibility, there’s so many light-timers that go all night. I grew up with parents who were children of the depression and World War II. So I couldn’t leave my room without turning the light off. And I think we need to instill those values. We got to stop releasing so much energy. That will be a big contribution toward keeping costs down.
I’m more like a Theodore Roosevelt, who took on a lot of corporations and was controversial at those acts he did
But the oil companies need, and I know there’s many factors in the high gas prices, but it’s no coincidence that ExxonMobil makes record profits when gas prices at the pump go up. You can parallel those two. I’ve taking on ExxonMobil. I’m not afraid to do that. I’m more like a Theodore Roosevelt, who took on a lot of corporations and was controversial at those acts he did, very different of course a hundred years ago, monopolies and things like that. But I have no problems with going after big oil, and fine companies that have made a trillion dollars of profit off of the consumers, who are struggling right now with of course the trickle effect of high gasoline prices [which] affects the entire economy, not just at the pump. So there’s a lot of ways. I’ve got some on my website, the issues tab. I talk about ways to bring this down. But those are two areas certainly where we need to pick it up: conservation and making America energy independent.
WSS This is my last question. On your website you say that “Israel must be defended at all costs.” Does this apply to other nations as well, and if not, why should one nation be given preferential treatment over others?
Fred Karger: Well, Israel is our number one ally. Israel’s enemies are our enemies. We have Syria and Iran, and Palestinians for now, Hezbollah. We have a common way of government. We should defend them. They’re a smaller country that’s in a very unstable part of the world. Our mutual interests are at stake. But all of our great allies, most of which are stronger because they’ve been around longer, but when we have friends, just as we do in life, you look out for your friends and you defend your friends and help your friends out. And we have members all over the world and I think we need to always look out for those allies. Israel just happens to be in a more dangerous spot than Australia or Great Britain, or the other allies we have of like minded democracies around the world.
“On the campaign trail, November 2011” — Wikinews, December 2, 2011
“U.S. Presidential candidate Fred Karger denied place at Fox News debate” — Wikinews, August 9, 2011
This exclusive interview features first-hand journalism by a Wikinews reporter. See the collaboration page for more details.
“Issues/Jobs Now! Plan” — Fred Karger for President, April 22, 2012 (date of access)
David Taffet. “Karger tops Paul in Puerto Rico primary” — The Dallas Voice, March 19, 2012
“Fred Karger to be First to File for President With the Federal Election Commission” — Fred Karger for President (Press Release), March 21, 2011
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On the campaign trail, March 2012
Filed under: 2012 United States presidential election,Archived,Barack Obama,Bob Ely,Darcy Richardson,Democratic Party (United States),Georgetown University,John Wolfe, Jr.,Louisiana,Marco Rubio,Newt Gingrich,North America,Oklahoma,Original reporting,Pages with categorizable local links,Pages with defaulting non-local links,Paul Ryan,Politics and conflicts,Puerto Rico,Republican Party (United States),Rick Santorum,Sandra Fluke,United States — admin @ 5:00 am
On the campaign trail, March 2012 – Wikinews, the free news source
The following is the fifth in a monthly series chronicling the U.S. 2012 presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after a brief mention of some of the month’s biggest stories.
In this month’s edition on the campaign trail, a politician from outside the fifty states receives significant mention as a potential Republican Party vice presidential nominee, Wikinews gets the reaction of three Democratic Party candidates after the party strips delegates from two of their fellow challengers, and a minor third party removes its presidential nominee for fraud.
2 Might the GOP VP nominee come from Puerto Rico?
3 Democratic Party strips delegates
4 Party removes presidential nominee
March 2012 opened with the unexpected death of citizen journalist Andrew Breitbart at the age of 43. Before he died, Breitbart had claimed to possess a video of President Barack Obama that would change the course of the election. The video, which was released shortly after Breitbart’s death, showed Obama as a law student at Harvard University speaking in favor of Derrick Bell, a controversial professor who had accused the American system of being racist. The video disappointed commentators such as Juan Williams, who expected a “smoking gun” from Breitbart.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney cemented his status as the Republican Party frontrunner with victories in Washington, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Wyoming, the US Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Illinois, and six of the ten Super Tuesday states including Alaska, Idaho, Massachusetts, Ohio, Vermont, and Virginia. He also won the endorsements of former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, and Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Despite the successes, the specter of a brokered convention remained as Romney failed to win enough delegates to secure the nomination.
President Barack Obama discusses alternative energy in March 2012.
Image: Daniel Borman.
Romney’s closest rival, former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, won Kansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and three of the Super Tuesday states including North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. However, he suffered some missteps that cost his campaign: he called for English to be adopted as the official language in Puerto Rico as a condition of statehood, and later remarked that if Romney won the nomination and moved to the political center, “we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk of what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate for the future.” Santorum was alluding to comments from a Romney adviser that compared the campaign to an Etch A Sketch in that “[we] shake it up and we start all over again” for the general election. However, Santorum’s comments were interpreted as a suggestion that voters should favor the Democrat Obama over Romney, which Santorum later denied.
Meanwhile, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Congressman Ron Paul continued their campaigns for the GOP nomination. Paul finished second in Washington, North Dakota, Vermont, and Virginia, and won the popular vote, but not the majority of delegates, in the Virgin Islands. Gingrich focused his energies on the southern states. He won his home state of Georgia on Super Tuesday, and came in second place in Alabama and Mississippi. Most notably during March, Gingrich proclaimed he could reduce gas prices in the United States to $2.50 a gallon through increased oil drilling. President Obama used this statement to attack the GOP, arguing that they were playing political games. On energy, Obama called for further development of alternative fuels. Polls showed that high energy prices were negatively affecting his popularity.
Additionally, the Obama campaign attacked the GOP for the February comments of radio personality Rush Limbaugh that referred to Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke as a “slut” and “prostitute” after she testified about contraceptive coverage before a congressional hearing. The campaign alleged that the GOP was waging a “war on women” for its opposition to the mandate that contraceptives be included on the insurance plans of organizations regardless of their religious views.
Foreign affairs and missile defense also became an election topic after an open-microphone during a forum in South Korea captured President Obama tell Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, “[O]n all these issues, but particularly missile defense… This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.” Medvedev replied that he would “transmit this information to Vladimir [Putin]“. Romney criticized the comments, arguing “I think it’s very alarming for the President of the United States to suggest to Russia that he has a different agenda that he’s going to work out with the Russians after the elections”. He then labeled Russia as “without question, our number one geopolitical foe.” In response, Medvedev referenced the Cold War and advised the Romney campaign “to check their watches from time to time: it is 2012, not the mid-1970s.”
Might the GOP VP nominee come from Puerto Rico?
As Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney campaigned in Puerto Rico ahead of that territory’s March 18 Republican presidential primary, at his side was Puerto Rican governor Luis Fortuño. Fortuño had endorsed Romney for president, and has received mention as a potential vice presidential nominee. Commentators argue his presence on a ticket could draw Hispanic support to the GOP.
Fortuño was elected in 2008 as the first Republican governor in the territory since 1969. As governor, he sought government cuts and low corporate and individual tax rates in an attempt to improve economic conditions. Newsmax referred to his governorship as the “Puerto Rico Miracle” and labeled Fortuño a “Reaganite” whose “example should be followed in the United States”. Political analyst Larry Sabato proclaimed Fortuño “a godsend to the GOP”.
Luis Fortuño at a Florida CPAC event in September 2011.
Significant talk about Fortuño and the vice presidency started last year. A Wall Street Journal editorial labeled Fortuño a “fine choice for Vice President” and GOP operative Roger Stone also endorsed the idea, saying the selection of Fortuño would “bring charisma, star power and excitement to the campaign.”
Such speculation heightened as the 2012 presidential race shifted to Puerto Rico in March. Fortuño campaigned with Romney, leading both CNN and Real Clear Politics to label him as a potential running mate. Fortuño did not comment much on the speculation, but preferred to discuss Romney, saying he believed that as president, Romney would push for Puerto Rican statehood. With Fortuño’s assistance, Romney was able to win the Puerto Rican contest with 83 percent of the vote. In his victory speech, Romney commented, “I intend to become our nominee and I intend to get Latino voters to vote for a Republican.” According to Fortuño himself, one way to accomplish this would be to select an Hispanic as a running mate.
Political consultant Dan Judy of North Star Opinion Research agrees. He tells Wikinews, “I don’t think there’s any one silver bullet that will bring a majority Hispanic voters to the Republican side, but I think the selection of Governor Fortuno would help, particularly among Puerto Rican voters living on the mainland.” According to a Fox News poll from March, Romney receives only 14 percent of the Hispanic vote in a matchup with President Obama, and Judy says that Puerto Ricans vote Democratic at an even higher rate than other Hispanic nationalities. He explains, “a Puerto Rican on the ticket would at least cause them to take a closer look at the GOP candidate.”
However, Judy warns that Fortuño’s eligibility may be questioned since Puerto Rico is not a state. Because of this, he says more attention is given to other Hispanic GOP politicians such as Nevada governor Brian Sandoval, New Mexico governor Susana Martinez and Senator Marco Rubio. Nevertheless, Sandoval is pro-choice on abortion, Martinez may conjure memories of 2008 VP nominee Sarah Palin, and Rubio is Cuban American, a group that largely already supports the GOP.
Constitutional scholar Dr. Ronald Rotunda of Chapman University tells Wikinews that eligibility might not be a concern after all. “In 1917, Congress provided, by statute that people born in Puerto Rico are citizens of the United States” says Rotunda, “while we have no case directly on point, it is probable that a person born in Puerto Rico is eligible to become President or Vice President.”
Democratic Party strips delegates
In the Oklahoma presidential primary, President Obama won the counties above in black while Randall Terry won the counties in gold and Jim Rogers won the counties in red.
Image: William S. Saturn.
Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry qualified for delegates in Oklahoma after winning 18 percent of the vote in the state’s Democratic primary against President Obama on Super Tuesday. However, the Democratic Party has decided to remove the delegates from Terry because of his failure to file a delegate slate and for not being a bona fide Democratic presidential candidate. Former U.S. Senate nominee Jim Rogers, who also qualified for delegates in the primary after winning over 15 percent in some congressional districts, was similarly stripped for failing to file.
In a letter to Terry, the Oklahoma Democratic Party detailed its decision, describing a bona fide presidential candidate as a “Democrat whose record of public service, accomplishment, public writings and/or public statements affirmatively demonstrates that he or she is faithful to the interests, welfare, and success of the Democratic Party of the United States and will participate in the Convention in good faith.” It concludes that Terry did not fit this description because he was recently a member of the Republican Party.
At the March 24 Louisiana Primary, attorney John Wolfe, Jr. qualified for delegates after receiving over 15 percent in some congressional districts of the state. It is not known at this time whether these delegates will be seated at the Democratic National Convention in August, or if he will be subject to the same decision as Terry and Rogers.
Wikinews contacted Wolfe and fellow Democratic Party candidates Bob Ely and Darcy Richardson to ask whether they were concerned the Democratic Party leadership would strip delegates from them if they qualified, and award them to President Obama. All three candidates appeared on the Louisiana primary ballot and will appear with Obama on the Texas ballot in May. Only Ely and Richardson appeared with Obama, Terry, and Rogers on the Oklahoma ballot.
John Wolfe, Jr.: “The rules are the rules, and like it or not, the delegates are mine. I am an attorney well schooled in many Constitutional Law issues and will make sure that the right thing is done. But, I expect that they will do the right thing and let me have the delegates I have earned. I understand that the good folks at the top of the Louisiana party were surprised at the insurgency ( what with a number of Cajuns howlin’ for the Bayou Wolf), but even when there is an overwhelming incumbent in the Presidency, the duty of party officials is to remain neutral and enforce the wishes that the Democratic Primary voters have expressed through the ballot box. Anything else would be a travesty of justice, especially considering the incumbent’s huge advantage in every respect.”
Bob Ely: “The system is stacked against interlopers. For example, the only thing on which there is complete agreement amongst both parties is that there is no need for a serious third party. So, concerned? Yes. Surprised? Not at all. Indeed, I would be surprised if Randall Terry were surprised.”
Darcy Richardson: “I’m not too worried about it. In the unlikely event that I win any delegates in the remaining Democratic primaries, my campaign — unlike those of single-issue interloper Randall Terry and the grossly incompetent Jim Rogers of Oklahoma — would file the necessary qualifying paperwork for my delegates within the time prescribed by party rules or statute. There’s no reason either of them shouldn’t have submitted the appropriate district delegate paperwork by Oklahoma’s March 15th deadline. I have no reason to believe that I wouldn’t be treated fairly by the Democratic Party. Moreover, I wholeheartedly agree with the DNC’s contention that Randall Terry, a lifelong Republican, isn’t a “bona-fide” candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. He’s an embryo-obsessing publicity seeker and showboat who has publicly stated on more than one occasion that he intends to run as an independent candidate in several battleground states this autumn with the sole purpose of trying to siphon enough traditionally Democratic Catholic votes from President Obama to throw those states to whichever one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse happens to win the Republican nomination. From Mitt Romney, a pump-and-dump takeover financier to Ron Paul’s failed Austrian economics and his call for a trillion dollars in spending cuts in the first year of his administration, it’s a scary lot…each determined to impose draconian austerity measures on the 99% while securing even greater tax cuts for those at the top.”
Randall Terry
Image: Marc Nozell.
(image missing)
Image: Bob Ely.
Image: Darcy Richardson.
Party removes presidential nominee
The membership of the Boston Tea Party (BTP) removed Tiffany Briscoe as the party’s presidential nominee after it was discovered that she misrepresented herself as a graduate and member of the Board of Trustees of Howard Community College. Briscoe is actually just a student at the school.
Following her nomination, Briscoe spoke with Wikinews and said she would “probably be able to appear on [the ballots of] 14 to 15 states throughout the country”. After the removal, she has not responded to inquiries about the future of her campaign. Wikinews was able to contact parliamentary activist and Libertarian Party (LP) presidential candidate James Ogle, who is listed as Briscoe’s running mate on her website. As reported last month, Ogle won a majority of the votes over uncommitted at the Missouri Libertarian presidential primary. He says he is in the process of securing a spot for himself and Briscoe as a write-in ticket on the Texas general election ballot. Ogle also plans to be the running mate for five other women candidates including comedienne Roseanne Barr of the Green Party.
As for the BTP, a new nominee is expected to be announced shortly. Chairman Darryl Perry says the party may be approaching “the brink of death” but he remains optimistic. Though he makes no firm predictions about ballot access, Perry expects “voters in more than a dozen States” to be able to vote for the BTP nominee, including through write-in eligibility. He argues that the BTP can move beyond the setback and become a major third party if members increase their activity and “the LP allows itself to be taken over by those who would redefine ‘libertarian’.”
The BTP was founded in 2006 as an alternative to the LP. According to its platform, it “supports reducing the size, scope and power of government at all levels and on all issues, and opposes increasing the size, scope and power of government at any level, for any purpose.” In 2008, the party nominated boxing manager Charles Jay, who appeared on three state ballots and won a total of 2,422 votes.
“U.S. Senator Marco Rubio endorses Mitt Romney for president” — Wikinews, March 30, 2012
“Rick Santorum gains traction by winning Louisiana vote” — Wikinews, March 25, 2012
“Former Florida governor Jeb Bush endorses Romney” — Wikinews, March 22, 2012
“Sandra Fluke insists she will not be silenced” — Wikinews, March 14, 2012
“Super Tuesday 2012: President Obama loses a delegate to Randall Terry” — Wikinews, March 10, 2012
“Super Tuesday 2012: Mitt Romney wins six of ten GOP contests” — Wikinews, March 8, 2012
“On the campaign trail, February 2012” — Wikinews, March 3, 2012
“On the campaign trail, December 2011” — Wikinews, January 1, 2012
“Oklahoma Democratic Delegation 2012” — The Green Papers, April 3, 2012 (date of access)
“Louisiana Democratic Delegation 2012” — The Green Papers, April 3, 2012 (date of access)
“Texas Democratic Delegation 2012” — The Green Papers, April 3, 2012 (date of access)
“Meet the Ticket – Briscoe/Ogle” — Weebly, April 3, 2012 (date of access)
Carl M. Cannon. “Romney Needs a Latino Running Mate — But Who?” — RealClearPolitics, March 31, 2012
Jeff Poor. “Paul Ryan Endorses Mitt Romney” — The Daily Caller, March 30, 2012
William E. Gibson. “Rubio gives Romney a tea party boost” — Orlando Sentinel, March 30, 2012
Neil Munro. “Romney uses Medvedev statement to smack Obama” — The Daily Caller, March 28, 2012
Karl Rove. “Why Obama’s open mic slip could seriously hurt his reelection hopes” — Fox News, March 27, 2012
Jonathan Tilove. “Louisiana primary makes its mark” — The Times-Picayune, March 26, 2012
“Santorum wins Louisiana, next matchup Wisconsin” — Fox News, March 25, 2012
Jeff Poor. “Santorum: ‘I would never vote for President Obama. Are you kidding me?’” — The Daily Caller, March 23, 2012
“Santorum: Might As Well Have Obama Over Romney” — CBS News, March 22, 2012
“Puerto Rico Primary Gives A Push To Luis Fortuno’s Statehood Bid” — Fox News, March 19, 2012
Chris Casteel. “Two Democratic presidential candidates won’t get Oklahoma delegates to national convention” — The Oklahoman, March 17, 2012
Trip Gabriel. “Gingrich Tangles With Obama on Gas Prices” — The New York Times, March 15, 2012
Ginger Gibson. “Alabama, Mississippi primary results: Losing big, Newt Gingrich vows to stay in” — Politico, March 14, 2012
AP. “Mitt Romney wins Hawaii GOP presidential caucuses” — Politico, March 14, 2012
“Luis Fortuno on being a potential VP candidate: “Wolf I love my job”” — CNN, March 13, 2012
Larry Kane. “Poll: High Gas Prices A Burn On Obama’s Approval Rating” — CBS News, March 13, 2012
Steven Nelson. “Ron Paul quietly scores first popular vote victory” — The Daily Caller, March 12, 2012
AP. “Santorum takes Kansas, Romney counters in Wyoming” — Yahoo! News, March 11, 2012
Erica Ritz. “Romney Wins Caucuses in Wyoming, Virgin Islands, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands” — The Blaze (web site), March 10, 2012
“BTP Removes Tiffany Briscoe as Presidential Nominee” — Independent Political Report, March 9, 2012
Sally Quinn. “Limbaugh, Fluke and the GOP’s ‘war on women’” — The Washington Post, March 8, 2012
Aliyah Shahid. “Breitbart ‘bombshell’ video from Obama’s college days released, falls flat” — Daily News (New York), March 8, 2012
Rachel La Corte. “Romney wins Washington GOP caucus straw poll” — The Seattle Times, March 4, 2012
Susanne Ramirez de Arellano. “Puerto Rico Gov. Says Latino VP Would Help GOP Win Latino Vote” — Fox News, February 21, 2012
Roger Stone. “The GOP’s Hispanic Secret Weapon” — The Stone Zone, December 21, 2011
Christopher Ruddy. “Fortuno’s Puerto Rico Miracle” — Newsmax, April 7, 2010
Tom Squitieri. “‘A Godsend to the GOP’” — Newsmax, March 2010
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Earthquakes hit Dominican Republic, Ryukyu Islands and Tonga
Filed under: Archived,Diego Grez (Wikinewsie),Disasters and accidents,Dominican Republic,Earthquakes,Japan,Puerto Rico,Tonga,Writing contest 2010 — admin @ 5:00 am
Dominican Republic earthquake location.
Image: USGS.
USGS reported that an earthquake struck the Dominican Republic region with a magnitude of 8.0. It was registered on last Friday at 01:38:55 a.m. (05:38:55 UTC) at the epicenter, which was located 102 km from Higüey, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic. However, it was later reported as a magnitude 3.4 earthquake by the Puerto Rico Seismic Network. The report caught the attention of the news media until the USGS reported it was 3.2.
The depth of the aftershock was located 89.8 km (55.8 mi), and no damage or injuries were reported. It has been reported as a Haiti aftershock.
The Haiti earthquake reached magnitude 7.0 Mw, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, almost 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. More than 100 aftershocks have been registered since that earthquake. The United Nations reported that the earthquake has caused more than 225,000 deaths, a number which is expected to rise.
Another earthquake of magnitude 5.3 hit the Kermadec Islands region. The epicenter was located 1,138 kilometers from Nuku’alofa, Tonga and had a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). It took place at 13:35:34 (01:35:34 UTC) at the epicenter. No tsunami warnings have been issued by NOAA for this earthquake.
A Japan earthquake took place in the Ryukyu Islands at 11:19:58 at epicenter (02:19:58 UTC). It reached a magnitude of 5.1, had a depth of 35 kilometers and the epicenter was located 80 kilometers from Naha, Okinawa.
“3.2 Dominican Republic Region” — USGS, April 3, 2010
“Northern Puerto Rico” — Puerto Rico Seismic Network, April 3, 2010
“5.3 Kermadec Islands Region” — USGS, April 3, 2010
“5.1 Ryukyu Islands” — USGS, April 3, 2010
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Hurricane Bill gains strength over Atlantic, moves toward Bermuda
Filed under: Bermuda,Puerto Rico,United States — admin @ 5:00 am
Tropical cyclones – 2009
Hurricane Guillermo forms in Pacific Ocean
Remnants of Hurricane Felicia affect Hawaii
600 people missing after typhoon hits Taiwan
Typhoon prompts massive evacuations in China
External/Inter-wiki links
2009 hurricane season
List of notable tropical cyclones
Wikipedia’s entry on Tropical cyclones
Wikitionary’s definition of a Tropical cyclone
Hurricane Bill, 2009
Image: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Hurricane Bill, the first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic storm season, recently formed over the ocean.
The storm is expected to gain strength over the next few days, with maximum wind speeds reaching 90 miles per hour, and sustained winds up to 75 mph. Bill is expected to reach the third category on the Safif-Simpson hurricane intensity scale.
As of 11.00 EDT, Bill was centered approximately 1,080 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, heading east-northeast at about 16 miles per hour. Forecasts suggest the storm may pass northeast of Puerto Rico and advance toward Bermuda.
US National Hurricane Center specialist Daniel Brown said that “we do believe [the storm] could become a major hurricane during the next couple of days.”
Bill may also impact the U.S. East Coast by next weekend. All interests potentially in the path of the storm are advised to track its progress over coming days.
Melissa Nelson “Hurricane Bill revs up at sea on path to Bermuda“. Associated Press, August 17, 2009
“Bill is now a hurricane; Claudette comes ashore“. The Baltimore Sun, August 17, 2009
“Hurricane Bill Potential Scenarios“. Accuweather, August 17, 2009
Hurricane Bill Public Advisory – US National Weather Service
Categories: August 17, 2009 | | | | | |
This text comes from Wikinews. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. For a complete list of contributors for this article, visit the corresponding history entry on Wikinews.
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HOME >> PREMIER >> NEWS
Joint News Release on the Second ‘1+6’ Roundtable
Updated: Sep 12,2017 9:28 PM english.gov.cn
Premier Li Keqiang, together with World Bank Group (WBG) President Jim Yong Kim, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde, World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevêdo, International Labor Organization (ILO) Director-General Guy Ryder, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Secretary-General Angel Gurría and Financial Stability Board (FSB) Chairman Mark Carney held the “1+6” Roundtable Meeting under the theme of “Promoting an Open, Invigorated and Inclusive World Economy” in Beijing, Sept 12, 2017. Chinese government and international organizations participating in the Roundtable (hereinafter referred to as “we”) reached the following consensus:
1. Macroeconomic Developments and Policies
While the world economy is picking up steam, we recognize that there are deep-seated problems, many uncertainties and destabilizing factors. Countries need to continue to use all policy tools — monetary, fiscal and structural reform policies to achieve strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. Monetary policy will continue to support economic activity and ensure price stability, consistent with central banks’ mandates. Fiscal policy will be used flexibly and be growth-friendly while ensuring debt as a share of GDP is on a sustainable path. Structural reform policies will be tailored, prioritized and sequenced based on country circumstances, with special focuses on boosting infrastructure investment, inclusiveness, innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation, so as to lift productivity and potential growth, while enhance resilience. Countries need to enhance communication and coordination in macroeconomic policies, further strengthen growth and safeguard against downside pressures.
China remains committed to the underlying principle of making progress while keeping performance stable, firmly implementing new development concepts, adapting to and steering the economic “New Normal”, and focuses on supply-side structural reforms, while moderately increasing aggregate demand and improving the expectation management. China has further implemented the innovation-driven strategy, boosted market vitality and social creativity by streamlining administration, delegating powers, strengthening regulation and improving services, and facilitated the transition to new growth engines from traditional ones by promoting mass entrepreneurship and innovation. With these efforts, China has achieved a steady and improved growth, which was not easy. In the first half of 2017, China’s GDP grew at 6.9 percent, which was within a reasonable range, major indicators outperformed forecasts, including faster growth in fiscal revenue, enterprise profits and household income, and the renminbi exchange rate maintained at a stable level. The economic structure further adjusted and improved, as manifested through greater contribution by consumption to the growth, rapid adjustment of industrial structure, ongoing and orderly reduction of excess and backward capacity. As many as 16,000 new enterprises were registered on an average day, over 13 million new urban jobs were generated annually in the past few years. The threshold for foreign investment has been reduced further, and the investment and market environment has been improved. We believe that with the supply-side structural reforms further deepened and more policy measures implemented, the Chinese economy is on track to achieve a higher quality, more efficient, more equitable, and more sustainable growth, and will continue to contribute to the global economic growth.
2. Economic Globalization
Globalization has provided a strong momentum to world economic growth, promoted capital and commodity flows, advanced development of technology and civilization, and built a closer tie between people worldwide. Facing both challenges and opportunities, we need to guide the direction of economic globalization and make it more invigorated, inclusive, and sustainable. In order to release greater positive effects of economic globalization, all economies need to proactively advance economic reforms, innovate the growth model, and focus on inclusiveness of development, at the mean time, to strengthen international cooperation, avoid inward-looking policies, and fight against all kinds of protectionism, so as to promote an open world economy.
China successfully hosted the Belt and Road forum for International Cooperation in Beijing this past May. Based on the principle of extensive consultation, joint efforts and shared benefits, the forum achieved fruitful results on policy consultation, infrastructure connectivity, trade promotion, financial cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, and injected new momentum to promote interconnected growth and facilitate common prosperity. The international organizations participating in the Roundtable welcome and support the Belt and Road Initiative which could help promote economic globalization, strengthen regional interconnection and deepen international cooperation, and are willing to join together with China and countries involved in the Belt and Road to push the initiative.
3. Sustainable Development
Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development must be both inclusive and environmentally sound to reduce poverty and build shared prosperity today and for generations to come. The three pillars of sustainable development — economic, environmental, and social — carry across all sectors of development, from cities facing rapid urbanization to agriculture, infrastructure, energy development and use, water availability, and transportation. Being a shared responsibility of the international community, countries should work together to address mounting global challenges — including major infectious diseases, refugee crises, climate change and natural disasters — and provide support to developing countries.
Increasing investment in infrastructure is critical to integrate global economies, which will drive growth and help to achieve the sustainable development goals. The need for infrastructure is enormous and pressing and it will continue to grow. Filling the huge gap in infrastructure financing will require public and private financing as well as technologies and operational efficiencies. Project preparation is also critical to ensure optimal use of resources and technical soundness, as well as compliance to the appropriate social, governance and environmental protection standards. Given the importance of private financing, we welcome the MDBs’ Joint Principles and Ambitions on Crowding-In Private Finance endorsed by the G20 at the Hamburg Summit. We support the Global Infrastructure Connectivity Alliance and Global Infrastructure Facility to play their full role in enhancing infrastructure investment and experience sharing, and in jointly promoting global connectivity and economic integration.
Innovation, new technologies and the digital transformation are critical new sources of growth. We welcome the continuation of work under the G20, supported by the OECD, that takes forward the G20 Blueprint on Innovative Growth and seeks to harness the potential of digitalization and innovation for inclusive growth and employment. OECD’s extensive work on analyzing and monitoring innovation policies, as reflected in the G20 Innovation Report 2016, shows that there is scope for countries to strengthen their innovation performance. Our economies and societies today are being reshaped by emerging technologies, especially those forming part of the so-called Next Production Revolution (NPR), which combines digitalization, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, bio- and nano-technologies, 3D printing and new materials’ development and application as discussed by the OECD in its report, The Next Production Revolution — A Report for G20. The NPR has the potential to transform wide segments of industry and improve overall well-being. However, these benefits go hand-in-hand with potential challenges to existing jobs and skills and the related education and training systems, as the NPR spurs structural changes in the economy. They may also test existing policy approaches to entrepreneurship and business dynamics. To harness the opportunities brought by the NPR, policymakers must support the industrial restructuring process and foster technological progress and competitiveness in industry, but also proactively facilitate social adjustment and ensure inclusion.
5. Structural Reform
Recognizing the essential role of structural reforms in boosting productivity and potential output as well as in promoting innovative and inclusive growth, we will promote structural reforms globally in broad areas, including removing barriers to competitive and open markets, improving tax and benefit systems including social security, implementing proactive labor market policy and boosting strategic investments in education, skills, innovation and infrastructure. G20 economies need to actively implement the G20 Enhanced Structural Reform Agenda endorsed at the G20 Hangzhou Summit. G20 members shall use the priority areas and the set of guiding principles identified in the Agenda to guide their structural reforms as well as use the set of agreed indicators to help monitor and assess progress. As noted by the OECD Technical Report on Progress on Structural Reform under the G20 Enhanced Structural Reform Agenda, the G20 has made real but still insufficient progress in structural reforms, and more efforts are warranted. In recent years, China has made good progress in facilitating rapid development of new industries, new forms of business and new models and in fastening the replacement of new growth drivers to old ones through implementation of reform measures including streamlining administration, delegating powers and improving regulation and services, starting businesses and making innovation, and structural tax reductions.
6. Trade and Investment
Trade and investment are important engines for global economic growth. Promoting further liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment globally will help respond to the development challenges faced by all, and will contribute to achieving balanced and sustainable development. The rules-based multilateral trading system represented by WTO is an integral part of global economic governance, providing an institutional framework within which its members formulate multilateral trade rules, monitor trade policy implementation and resolve trade disputes. The multilateral trading system serves as the main channel for liberalization and facilitation of global trade and investment. Regional, bilateral and plurilateral trade agreements should complement rather than substitute the multilateral trading system. Efforts should be made to ensure that such agreements are open, transparent and inclusive.
The challenges arising from trade protectionism remain a concern against the backdrop of slow global growth and the slow recovery of the world economy in recent years. We will continue to fight against all forms of protectionist measures, with a view to building a favorable environment for trade and investment among all economies. The core value and basic principle of the multilateral trading system should be strengthened. We welcome the support for the multilateral trading system by the leaders who have attended the Roundtable of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, as well as the consensus reached by BRICS countries on promoting trade and development, increasing cooperation on investment facilitation and supporting the multilateral trading system, and we also welcome China to hold International Import Expo in 2018. We call upon WTO members to accelerate their implementation of outcomes of WTO ministerial meetings in Bali and Nairobi, to advance negotiations on the remaining Doha issues, and to start the discussion in the WTO on new issues including e-commerce and investment facilitation. We support all WTO members to achieve positive outcomes at the WTO’s forthcoming 11th Ministerial Conference (MC11) in Buenos Aires.
7. Labor and Employment
A wide range of global trends including technological revolution, economic globalization, industrial restructuring and demographic shifts, especially an aging population, have had profound impacts on the world of work. These trends are creating new opportunities and challenges, and the future of work will be shaped by our coordinated well-informed policy actions. It should also be noted that poverty and unemployment remain a great challenge for the international community. Greater efforts are needed to achieve full and productive employment and inclusive growth, including gender equality. In so doing, it is essential to create more job opportunities, match labor market supply to demand, improve labor’s skills and strengthen social protection for equity and sustainability. These are key policy elements in achieving decent work, reducing poverty and inequality, and providing a better future of work for all.
The Chinese government has been implementing the Employment First Strategy and a more active employment policy, while continuing its efforts to achieve universal coverage of social insurance of its population and improving the social protection system in order to be more equitable and sustainable, and gradually establishing a reasonable income growth mechanism. With these efforts, overall employment situation in China has remained stable. Together with its social partners, the Chinese Government will continue to strengthen cooperation with the international community including the ILO, and will contribute actively to the ILO’s centenary initiative on the Future of Work.
8. Financial Regulatory Reform
Despite the improved resilience of the global financial system as a result of post-crisis financial reforms, vulnerabilities still remain, and may negatively impact the strength and sustainability of global growth. China applauds and supports the FSB’s work in building a safer, simpler, fairer financial system and improving the financial regulation coordination framework. We emphasize the considerable progress made towards transforming shadow banking into resilient market based finance since the financial crisis and welcome the FSB assessment of the monitoring and policy tools available to address risks from shadow banking. We call for full, consistent and timely implementation of agreed reforms, and finalizing Basel III and other unfinished parts of the reform agenda soon, so as to foster a robust and open global financial system supporting investment, trade and growth.
Meanwhile, we must remain alert to and appropriately address new risks. Notwithstanding its great potential to facilitate financial inclusion, green finance, productivity, international integration and growth, the rapid growth of Fintech merits attention from a financial stability perspective. We fully support FSB’s efforts in identifying emerging risks and promoting international cooperation so as to unleash the potential of technological innovation in a stable and flexible way. Chinese government stands ready to strengthen cooperation with the international community including FSB, and will play a greater role in the application of digital economy and the promotion of financial inclusion and green finance.
9. Global Economic Governance
We reiterate our commitment to a strong, quota-based, and adequately resourced IMF to preserve its role at the center of the Global Financial Safety Net. We support the work of the IMF to strengthen its cooperation with regional financing arrangements, and its ongoing work to further enhance the effectiveness of its lending tool kit. We look forward to the completion of the 15th General Review of IMF Quotas, including a new quota formula, by the Spring Meetings 2019 and no later than the Annual Meetings 2019. We welcome the establishment of the Joint China-IMF Capacity Development Center, and look forward to further cooperation in this area. We support the continued examination of the broader use of the SDR as a way to enhance the resilience of the international monetary system. We support the IMF’s ongoing work on improving the analysis and monitoring of capital flows and the management of related risks, including the role of macro-prudential policy.
We reiterate our commitment to a strong WBG, adequately resourced to pursue its mission to eliminate extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity in partnership with others. In this context, we support the implementation of the WBG’s shareholding review and look forward to its timely conclusion. Building on the strong shareholder confidence expressed via the record IDA18 replenishment, we also support capital increase at IBRD and IFC, aiming to enhance the financial capacities of the WBG’s public and private sector arms. This will allow the WBG to better assist countries achieve their development goals, including by helping them to maximize development resources in a responsible way, and to promote global growth, stability and security.
We agreed that this meeting was productive and sends a positive signal of jointly addressing challenges, developing a more inclusive and mutually-beneficial economic globalization, and promoting an open world economy. We look forward to holding the next roundtable meeting at an appropriate time and place next year.
Premier to talk with intl financial chiefs
Integration into the global economy
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Location: Main Index
Welcome them to our community!
DrBernie
forums.animecons.com
Most of Vic Mignogna's Convention Appearances Cancelled
Posted on: 02-19-19 09:58 PM
Posted by: PatrickD
In light of multiple recent allegations of "unwanted physical advances", "rude behavior", and "unsolicited physical affection", almost all convention appearances for Vic Mignogna were cancelled.
Mignogna, best known as the voice of Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist, has made more convention guest appearances than anyone else currently in the FanCons.com guest database. In 2018, he was a guest at 34 conventions. He had made two guest appearances in 2019 before the allegations were brought into the spotlight by an article on Anime News Network.
Days after his appearance at a number of future conventions had been cancelled, Mignogna made an appearance at Bak-Anime where he offered an apology in a panel which was recorded by fans. Following that convention appearance, several additional allegations came forward. It was announced by both Rooster Teeth and Funimation that Mignogna would not be cast in any future roles. His number of guest cancellations currently totals thirteen conventions. Only four conventions still have Mignogna on their guest list.
Tupelo Con, one of the remaining four, has stated, "We are currently reviewing the allegations and talking to fans through our page so that we can make the best decision for our fans and event. We will be making a final decision soon based on the information we have seen so far, and the fan base. We should have an announcement within the next couple of days regarding our findings and decision."
Anime Matsuri is the only remaining anime convention to list Vic Mignogna as a guest. The convention has been the subject of sexual harassment allegations itself (for which the convention organizer, John Leigh, has apologized). On Twitter, the convention posted several odd replies that imply they have no plans to cancel Mignogna's appearance.
The other two remaining conventions on Mignogna's schedule, Central PA Comic Con and Savannah Mega Comic Con, did not reply to our inquiries. Both conventions also appear to be deleting all inquiries related to Vic Mignogna which have been posted on their Facebook pages.
A-Kon Announces Convention Is Sold and Will Be Changing Dates and Venue
A-Kon, the longest-running anime convention in North America, announced today that the convention, previously organized by Phoenix Entertainment, will be run by a new, unnamed owner starting in 2019. The convention, previously scheduled for June 6-9 in Forth Worth, Texas, will now be held June 27-30 at an unnamed venue in Dallas Texas.
In addition to the ownership, date, and venue change, A-Kon announced that it will start mailing badges, but only for "A-Kon+" VIP badges. Anyone pre-registered before January 15, 2019 will received a complimentary upgrade to A-Kon+.
The announcement states that anyone who had previously made hotel reservations through Hotels for Hope will have their reservations transferred to "one of our host hotels for 2019." Hotels for Hope will contact those with reservations to confirm the location, rates, and details. There will be a cost difference, but A-Kon says, "this should help save a little money." Anyone who has reserved a room on their own and not using Hotels for Hope will be on their own to cancel their existing reservation and obtain a new one.
A-Kon says that they will be "rebooting" their web site soon and will disable room booking until it's updated to match the new location.
The announcement also references a price increase, but says that they have "decided to postpone any price changes while we complete our reboot and catch up on announcements."
We have no additional information about the new owners or new venue at this time. On A-Kon's Facebook page, attendees are not reacting well to the news. Many are questioning the move just five months before the event, the web site not being updated with the announcement, and the name of the venue or new owners not being mentioned at all. Some are pointing out that the date change also impacts those that have already booked airline travel that cannot change their dates without expensive change fees. Any questions being answered are mostly being answered by A-Kon with referrals to Hotels for Hope or quoted text from the announcement and no new information being offered.
Amazing Comic Con Aloha Cancelled Due to Hurricane
Amazing Comic Con Aloha announced at 9:44am HST today, what would have been the first day of the convention, that it would be rescheduled due to Hurricane Lane.
The announcement by Jimmy Jay, founder of Amazing Comic Con states, "We watched the weather closely and as hurricane lane weakened we made a decision to utilize the vendors, talent and media that had made it to Hawaii to still move forward with our show but due to circumstances beyond Amazing Comic Conventions Control the convention center became unavailable for use. The safety of our attendees and guests is paramount to us."
In response to those who have asked about refunds after flying in for the convention, they have been told, "Thank you for reaching out, I completely understand your concerns and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. We are currently working with the convention center to see what our options are with regards to the future of the event. As soon as we have a full assessment of what the situation is, we will be in contact with our attendees ASAP when more information becomes available. If you have additional concerns or questions please feel free to send us a message or email."
There has been no new date for the convention announced, but that doesn't help those who had already flown in for the convention who are upset that they likely won't be able to fly back for the re-scheduled convention due to travel costs. Had the convention, Hawai'i Convention Center, or Hawai'i Tourism Authority decided to cancel sooner, perhaps on Wednesday when a hurricane warning was issued, travelers who had not arrived would very likely have been able to reschedule or cancel flights with their airlines for no fee.
Izumicon Looks Like It's Cancelled...But They Haven't Said So
Posted on: 08-15-18 12:18 AM
For more than 24 hours, rumors have been circulating about Izumicon which is scheduled for August 31st through September 2nd in Midwest City, Oklahoma. It has all the appearances of a cancelled convention without anyone from staff specifically saying if it has been cancelled or not.
Sometime in the last week, the convention's web site had been modified to make every page look like the home page. The convention's Eventbrite page was also modified to no longer sell tickets even though it had previously stated an August 31st deadline. Nothing has been posted on Izumicon's Twitter since August 6th and there have been no staff posts on their Facebook page since an August 7th post encouraging people to book their hotel rooms by August 10th.
On an unofficial Izumicon Facebook group, there are multiple screenshots claiming that all the convention's directors have resigned. In the day since these first appeared, there have been no posts by staff members to dispute these claims or to communicate anything at all.
Guests are cancelling. Jād Saxton posted on Twitter that she would not be attending "because of some recent issues". Daman Mills had also tweeted he would have to cancel "due to some recent issues that are unfortunately out of my control". (Morgan Berry and J. Michael Tatum had previously cancelled, but were still listed on some pages of the Izumicon site.)
With no official word from staff yet, there is also no word on refunds if the convention is in fact cancelled. According to the Sheraton Midwest City Hotel's web site, cancellations of prepaid room reservations cannot be refunded but rooms that were not prepaid can be fully refunded if cancelled more than two days in advance.
Izumicon was founded in 2007. The convention name was sold to a new organizer for 2018. The previous organizers have no affiliation with the current convention.
We reached out to Izumicon staff for comment, but did not hear back. We will post an update if we do.
Otakon 2018 Attendance Numbers Rise Again
Washington, D.C. (August 12, 2018) - The official attendance for Otakon 2018 has bounced back up from a slower year, Otakorp Inc. has announced. The final number, including all departments, is 29,293.
The number is up roughly 5,000 from the 2017 final number of 24,894. The final attendance number includes total memberships/attendees, both pre-registered and at door, as well as staff, dealers, artists, industry, contractors, guests, and members of the registered press.
Significantly, the total number of paid registrations -- 26,590 -- exceeds last year's total attendance numbers, according to convention president Andrew Zerrlaut.
Zerrlaut said, "Thank you to everyone who attended or supported Otakon 2018! We are thrilled to be back in Washington, D.C. and are looking forward to next year. We are already hard at work planning the next, best Otakon yet. Please save the dates for July 26-28, 2019."
This was the second year the convention was held in Washington, D.C.
Otakon 2019 will be held from July 26 to 28 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C.
ABOUT OTAKON AND OTAKORP, INC.: Now entering its twenty-sixth year, Otakon is an annual celebration of Japanese and East Asian popular culture, and also one of the largest gatherings of fans in the United States. Otakon celebrates popular culture as a gateway to deeper understanding of Asian culture, and has grown along with the enthusiasm for anime, manga, video games, and music from the Far East. Historically, Otakon has drawn up to 34,000 people for three days each year (for a paid attendance of over 100,000 turnstile attendees). Otakon is a membership-based convention sponsored by Otakorp Inc., a Pennsylvania-based, 501(c)3 educational non-profit whose mission is to promote the appreciation of Asian culture, primarily through its media and entertainment. Otakorp, Inc. is directed by an all-volunteer, unpaid staff - we are run by fans, for fans.
For more information about Otakorp, Inc., see: http://www.otakorp.org/
For more information and the latest news on Otakon 2019, see http://www.otakon.com/
Current Quote
"You haven't really been to a con until you've paid too much for food you really don't want, but feel compelled to eat so you don't die."
~ Wil Wheaton
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SF State merger condenses eight colleges into six
Published on : August 23, 2011 Published by : Gil Riego Jr.
The ongoing budget crisis has now officially changed the academic landscape of SF State, as the University merges eight colleges into six in an effort to cut costs and hopefully save $2 million annually.
Students in the former College of Humanities and the College of Creative Arts are returning to find themselves now under the banner of the College of Arts and Humanities. Students from the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences returned to find that their college no longer exists and their departments have been absorbed into other existing entities.
While colleges may not be physically moved, as most classes and departments are expected to remain in their current locations on campus, the effects may be felt on other levels.
Paul Sherwin, the dean of the newly formed College of Arts and Humanities, considers this the largest task for him professionally to date.
“We have more than doubled in departments this year,” Sherwin said. “There’s going to be a sense of apprehension between all the departments. There will be obvious concern on how they will function.”
Sherwin also acknowledges that the fear of the unknown will also be an obstacle when it comes to coping with the new college structure.
“Change is frightening for a lot of people,” Sherwin said. “It’s something we have to live with for a year before we’ll be able to get a handle of it. I don’t want to make changes until I learn more things about all the departments. I will have to adjust to them.”
The merger, which was announced as official July 1, was recommended by the University Planning Advisory Council, formed in December 2009, which was designed to find solutions to some of the fiscal challenges that faced the school.
Shawn Whalen, former chair of UPAC, said in an email “(The transition) is underway but it will be an ongoing set of tasks, especially in those units that are most effected by the changes.”
While functioning in these departments, Sherwin believes that this can streamline the effectiveness of smaller departments that usually worked in conjunction with others.
In terms of the number of classes, Sherwin said that they are the same in the college he oversees. While departments may shift availability of courses, the only immediate impact will be larger class sizes.
For students left wondering what it will say on their degrees, Sherwin asserts that there is nothing to be worried about.
“Their degrees will still be from the department they are from,” Sherwin said. “They will be degrees in American history or museum studies— not from Arts and Humanities.”
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Men's cross country focuses on improvement, unity for next season
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Disputed: Hagler vs. Leonard
An oral history of the 1987 middleweight championship fight between “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler and “Sugar” Ray Leonard.
by Eric Raskin on October 4, 2011
The 1980s were a golden age for the welterweight and middleweight divisions of boxing. The era was headlined by four all-time greats: Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, and Roberto Duran. Between 1980 and 1985, each of them fought all the others, except for Hagler and Leonard. When they finally clashed in 1987, it was the climax of that extraordinary series — not literally the last fight among the foursome, but the last one that mattered. Hagler, the middleweight champion making his 13th defense, and Leonard, the former welterweight champ who was coming off a three-year retirement, were fighting for bragging rights over all their rivals. Who could have guessed that they would still be fighting over those bragging rights more than two decades later?
Editor’s note: Former Boston Herald columnist George Kimball died in July. When the author requested an interview with him for this oral history, he declined due to health concerns but granted permission to use his book, Four Kings, which focuses on the careers of Hagler, Leonard, Hearns, and Duran. His quotes here are taken directly from that work.
The interview subjects in this story are identified with the roles they held at the time of the fight.
“Sugar” Ray Leonard: Someone comes up to me and says, “The Hagler fight. Great fight, man, great fight.” I hear it every day of my life. And every now and then, I hear, “Ray, you know, you didn’t win that fight, man.”
“Marvelous” Marvin Hagler: I’ve been talking about this fight over and over for almost 25 years. It’s like we just can’t get away from it.
I. “Marvin was a boxer-businessman. Ray was a businessman-boxer.”
Stephen Wainwright (Hagler’s attorney, 1977-1984): Every time Ray Leonard fought on television, the housewives turned it on. The advertisers understood that Ray was somebody the housewives enjoyed watching, so he became a big draw. He got endorsements because of his performance in the ’76 Olympics, which is where he got his fame. Marvin had no Olympics. Marvin had no fame. He had to make it all himself.
Hagler: I wasn’t that marketable as a fighter. I had to knock the other guy out.
Roger “Pit” Perron (Hagler’s assistant trainer): Marvin won the national amateur title in ’73, and he didn’t want to wait three years to try to win a gold medal. He wanted to turn pro right away because money was on his mind. He turned pro in ’73 and fought somebody up in Brockton [Mass.] for 40 bucks. In 1977, after Leonard come out of the Olympics, he turned pro on ABC Wide World of Sports on a Saturday afternoon for $40,000.
Larry Merchant (HBO analyst): Ray Leonard faced the same challenge Muhammad Ali did early in his career. The hardcore boxing world was always suspicious of a good-looking guy who the women loved. They thought he wasn’t serious. He wasn’t taken seriously as a fighter until he lost to Roberto Duran in 1980. Before that, there were questions about whether he was just a telegenic fighter with a top-flight amateur career who wasn’t tough enough to be an elite professional fighter. But the way he fought against Duran, being willing to mix it up and fight Duran’s fight, resonated in the boxing world. And even though he lost a close decision, he actually finished stronger than Duran, which I don’t think anyone had ever done before.
Hagler: I didn’t resent Leonard when we were both coming up. As a matter of fact, when Leonard was an amateur, I kinda liked him. I’d been following him since the Olympics, like everybody else.
Leonard: I was not necessarily following Marvin’s career closely. But you couldn’t help but hear about him, some of his dramatic fights. He was old-school to me.
Bernard Hopkins (middleweight champion, 1995-2005; current WBC and The Ring magazine light heavyweight champion): I always was a Hagler fan. I identified with him. Bald head, black guy, never really smiled. I don’t want to compare color — obviously, Leonard was black, too. But Leonard had an Oscar De La Hoya type of presence when it comes to marketing. Leonard had the smile; he had the charisma. Hagler, no disrespect to anyone, but he had the D-block look, like he was out of Rahway State prison. It was a hard look. It was his look. That drew me to him, and later I identified with the hard way he came up through boxing.
Perron: In between 1976 and ’87, Marvin never lost a fight. Eleven years without losing a fight. He beat everybody. Four guys in Philadelphia, all ranked in the top 10: Bennie Briscoe, Boogaloo Watts, Willie Monroe, and Eugene Hart. He was getting to the point where nobody wants to fight him. So [Hagler’s trainers] Pat and Goody [Petronelli] decided they’re going to hook up with [promoter] Bob Arum and Top Rank, and that’s when good things started happening. It wasn’t long after that, in ’79, he got the title fight with Vito Antuofermo, which was a disgrace. Marvin probably won 11 of the 15 rounds and he got a draw.
Leonard: When I fought Wilfred Benitez — my first title fight — Hagler fought Antuofermo on the undercard. We watched it from the dressing room, and when the fight was over, we all said, “Hagler’s champion now.” And they called it a draw. I kind of felt a little empty for him, but I moved on very quickly because I was next. I knocked out Benitez in the 15th round and won the title, and my career started moving. I think, subconsciously, having seen Hagler get robbed, it hit home that I had to finish strong. I didn’t want to let it go to a decision.
Vito Antuofermo (middleweight champion, 1979-1980): Leonard made a million dollars to challenge Benitez. On the same card, I made $150,000 and Hagler made $40,000. We were all jealous. Leonard was only a challenger — even though he was a great fighter, he was only a challenger. When I fought for the title against Hugo Corro as the challenger, I made $40,000. And in my very first defense, they made me fight Hagler. That’s a tough first defense. Nobody wanted to fight him. Hagler was the best I ever fought. He’s a southpaw who does everything so naturally both ways. He switches stances back and forth, and that gets a guy really mixed up. You can’t get comfortable. Most of the time it would take me a couple of rounds to figure a guy out, and then I’d take over. But with him I was never able to do that.
Barry Tompkins (HBO blow-by-blow commentator): I called fights with Ray as my partner for many years, but I also called a few fights with Marvin. Ray and Marvin, I don’t know how many people know this, but they always had a relationship. And it was not necessarily a hostile relationship. I think there was respect on both sides. I think both had this appreciation for one another’s boxing ability.
Perron: Marvin hated Ray Leonard. He hated him!
Tompkins: It was a white-collar guy and a blue-collar guy. Ray was the white-collar guy; he just knew how to work a room. He was always that way. He had a demeanor that just said, “I’m somebody important.” Marvin was an everyman — no pretention at all. I remember when he was champion, one year he and his wife took a Winnebago and went to campgrounds all over the country. I think they took a month, driving around from campground to campground, pressing the flesh with people, barbecuing hamburgers. I really wish more people would have seen that side of him.
Seth Abraham (president, HBO Sports): Marvin was more a traditionalist and a purist. The money was great, but he didn’t fight for the money. For Marvin, the belts came first, the history came first, the legacy came first. He was a boxer-businessman. Ray was a businessman-boxer.
Wainwright: It was always tricky for Marvin, even as champion, to get both money and exposure. Sometimes he fought on national television on Wide World of Sports for less money to get recognition. Then he fought on HBO for more money without getting the same kind of exposure he would get on network television. He ultimately decided that fighting on HBO was better than fighting on ABC. He sacrificed the exposure. But he needed the exposure.
II. “I was stoned. … Who knows what I was going to say?”
Merchant: In 1980, 1981, it didn’t seem to me that Hagler-Leonard was a fight that fans were really clamoring for. Ray Leonard fought Duran twice, fought Hearns — there seemed to be enough guys out there to fight.
Leonard: I was at 147 pounds, and I didn’t have a problem making weight. So I thought fighting Hagler at 160 was too far off. Hagler did not really come into play until I moved up another weight division, to 154, and fought Ayub Kalule in June 1981. That’s when I first thought, I could really do this. Then I went back to 147 for the Hearns fight that September, and after that I really started seeing Hagler as a fight that could happen. I didn’t publicly say I wanted to fight Hagler. But I thought about it.
J.D. Brown (matchmaker for Leonard’s Victory Promotions): Nobody really knew if Ray wanted to fight Hagler. Ray Leonard is a rare breed; he wouldn’t let you know what he’s thinking. He would say things to indicate that he was interested in going one way, but not show his hand to let people know.
Perron: One afternoon, I seen a whole bunch of limousines pull up in front of the Petronelli Brothers Gym [in Brockton, Mass.], and it was Ray Leonard. He had his crew with him, sparring partners, and the whole entourage, and he went up to the gym. And I don’t even think Marvin knew he was coming, but somebody put a phone call in and Marvin showed up. And I can remember him saying, “Come on, Ray, come on Ray, give me a fight!” And Leonard would say, “Marvin, you’re too big for me! Look at you! You’re 160, I’m 147. That’s not going to happen. It ain’t never gonna happen.”
George Kimball (Boston Herald boxing writer): After defeating Hearns, Leonard made just one defense of the undisputed welterweight title, a third-round TKO of Bruce Finch in Reno in February 1982. He was to have met Roger Stafford in Buffalo that May, but a routine prefight physical revealed a detached retina in his left eye. The Stafford fight was canceled, and Leonard underwent surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Charlie Brotman (Leonard’s publicist): Ray had suffered a detached retina, and nobody knew if he would fight again or retire. It was the fall of 1982, and Ray told me he wanted to announce a decision. I decided I wanted to create the largest news conference that’s ever been staged. We reserved the Baltimore Civic Center, which is where he made his pro debut. He wanted a news conference, and I just went hog wild and got about 10,000 people there.
Leonard: I didn’t know what I was going to say. The majority of my mind was saying “retirement.” But the Sugar Ray guy in my head was saying, “Bring Hagler in, bring all the guys in, make this thing a huge event.” I was thinking more like a publicist.
Brotman: Nobody knew what Ray was going to do. I thought that maybe he was going to announce that he was going to fight Hagler. We invited Hagler, and Hagler came. He thought the announcement was going to take place. Ray got on stage and said, “It would be one terrific fight … but it’ll never happen.”
Leonard: I was stoned. I took a few hits of cocaine before I went out, and I was concerned that I would be talking too fast. I was a nervous wreck. I kind of thought I knew what I was going to say, but I wasn’t 100 percent sure. There was a small chance I was going to say I wanted to fight Hagler — I don’t know. I was under the influence, so who knows what I was going to say?
Hagler: He’s looking right at me, and then that’s when he came out with that, “It will never happen.” I was like, Who does this guy think he is? He always had to act like a superstar.
Wainwright: I was there, along with Marvin, Goody, and Pat. Privately, we believed that the reason we were invited was so he could issue the champ a challenge. There was no other reason why he would invite us other than to challenge us.
Kimball: They had flown to Baltimore to be used as stage props in another Sugar Ray Leonard moment.
Wainwright: When we sat there and listened to the performance, we were waiting to be challenged. We were surprised and disappointed when he said what he said, because we had not expected it at all. It seemed pointless to invite us down there to announce that he had nothing to announce. He’s a showboat. He just wanted to get some attention, satisfy his ego.
Brotman: Everybody seemed to enjoy it — except Hagler!
Leonard: Looking back, in retrospect, that was not right. I regret the way I strung him along.
Brotman: I wouldn’t have advised Ray to do it that way. It was mean-spirited. His reputation was that of a choirboy — so sweet, good-looking, nice personality, gregarious. Why would you want to tear down the personality that you have put together over these years? We could have rephrased it. We could have done other things. Nobody benefited from the way he did it. If you’re going to have a news conference and sell something, the idea is for somebody to purchase what you’re selling. Well, there was no product, no service. There was no winner.
Hagler: Even that night, when he was done talking, I told myself: Oh yeah, one day, it’s gonna happen. If you keep knocking everyone out, they’re going to have to come to you. Look, I believe a true champion stays in his own category. I controlled the middleweight division. I owned it. I didn’t want to go up or down in weight. I just wanted to defend my title. I believed if I waited, the big names would come to me at middleweight. And I always said that the only way they’re going to beat me is [to] knock me out. And if they’re going to knock me out, they better hit me with that ring post, because I ain’t going nowhere. So the Roberto Durans, the Leonards, the Tommy Hearnses, these guys were like vultures, sitting on the fence, waiting for somebody to beat me so it would make it that much easier for them to come in and take my title. And I said, “No-no-no-no.”
Wainwright: I didn’t give up on the fight after that. I talked to Leonard’s manager, Mike Trainer, about it, but they were taking the position that Leonard was the draw and therefore Leonard was entitled to a king’s ransom. That never sat well with the Petronellis or Marvin.
Merchant: There was no reason to think that it was going to happen. Ray had the problem with his eye, and so it was out of sight — so to speak — and out of mind. At that time, the problem that he had with his eyes usually ended careers. It didn’t seem like he was coming back for anybody.
Leonard: Pat Petronelli claims that I told him after one of Marvin’s fights that I wanted to make the fight. I’m sure I did tell him that. But that was probably after my third tequila.
III. “What Ray wanted in those days, Ray got.”
Leonard: When I first retired [at the press conference] in ’82, that’s when I started to feel something missing from my legacy. It was Hagler. Being retired, having suffered a partial detached retina, that’s when I really thought about him. I saw my career coming to an end, and that realization made me want the fight to come to fruition more than ever.
Abraham: Boxing was what Ray loved to do. He loved the smell of the sport. He loved the dollars of the sport. And Ray was always looking for challenges. It was going to be hard for him to stay retired.
Leonard: I had fought Hearns and Duran already. Then, during those years, Hagler fought Duran, and Hearns fought Duran, and Hagler fought Hearns. Me versus Hagler was the only one that hadn’t happened. I didn’t lose sleep, but it stayed with me. Also, I was doing Hagler fights on HBO, and I interviewed Hagler at his home for one of the shows. I’m sitting there, asking Hagler how did he feel, what’s next, what’s your future, and everything. And I was like, Whoa, this is really strange.
Ollie Dunlap (Leonard’s assistant): I recall in San Remo, Italy, when Hagler fought Fulgencio Obelmejias, there was a black Italian kid that was on the card, and he rode up in the elevator with Ray to get a picture. In his broken English, he was saying that, “You can beat Marvin. You have speed.” Over the next few years, Ray would hear that from different people.
Tompkins: I know exactly when Ray decided that he could beat Hagler. Ray and I were doing the Hagler-Duran fight in 1983. Hagler won, but it went the distance and it wasn’t easy. And you have to understand, Ray and Roberto had a relationship. They had great respect for each other. At the end of the fight, Duran came to where we were sitting at ringside and stuck his head between the ropes right after the decision had been announced, and he said to Ray, “You can beat this guy.” About six months later, Ray and I were in Florida for a fight, and the day before, he called me. “You want to know how to beat Marvin Hagler?” he said. “You gotta fight three times each round. For 15 seconds at a time, just don’t stop throwing punches, and then get out. You’ve gotta do it at the beginning of the round, once in the middle of the round, and you’ve gotta finish the round. And that way you steal the fight.”
Dunlap: I remember there were a few celebrities at the Hagler-Mugabi fight in 1986. Michael J. Fox was right next to Ray. And at the end of the fight, Ray kind of motioned for me to come up. He had an aisle seat, and I was kneeling down, and he turned to me and said, “I can beat him.”
Leonard: I was sitting there with Michael, and I’m watching Hagler get outboxed by a guy who is known as a slugger, John “The Beast” Mugabi. I said, “Michael, I can beat Hagler.” He said, “Yeah, Ray, yeah.” Everyone thought I was being a smart-ass. But I really saw a sign [in that fight]. I mean, I always felt I could outbox Hagler. If Mugabi can do that, I can do an even better job. That had the most bearing on my decision to go ahead with a Hagler fight. I felt he was at a point that he didn’t have that same fire in his body or in his heart. He wasn’t the same guy.
Dunlap: That evening, we were in Michael J. Fox’s room at Caesars. Whoopi Goldberg, Ray Leonard, and myself. The suite was crowded, so we ended up sitting in the bathroom — somebody was sitting on the toilet, [a] couple people on the side of the bathtub. Ray said to me, “Call Mike [Trainer].” I looked at my watch and said, “You know, it’s three hours’ difference. It’s the wee hours in D.C.” He said, “Call Mike. Tell Mike I want to fight Hagler.” And we all kind of laughed. Whoopi and Michael J. Fox, they’re like, “Yeah, Ray. Sure.” The next day this conversation comes up again. Ray is talking about, “Yeah, I can beat Marvin, because I can do this and he’s doing that.” And everybody’s like, “Yeah, Ray. What’s the population of your world?” You have to remember, Ray’s social life after the surgery was kind of wild. You didn’t take his comeback talk serious. He had some hard recreational bad habits. I never thought he would fight again, especially not against Marvin.
Wainwright: A boxer is only entitled to so many beatings, then he slows down. Marvin had never suffered a beating before. That’s the first time I ever saw Marvin suffer a beating, the Mugabi fight.
Antuofermo: At his best, Marvin wouldn’t let Mugabi hang around that long. He wouldn’t get hit that much.
Hagler: Anyone who says I was slowing down from the Hearns fight and the Mugabi fight — no, I wasn’t. But maybe I wanted them to think I was? If I looked good out there, Leonard would never come. Everybody’s looking [for] a possibility. [If] I’m vulnerable, they could win. For me, I could have retired after Mugabi. But there was one more guy that I wanted to fight.
Al Bernstein (ESPN boxing analyst): I did the Hagler-Mugabi fight, and I didn’t think Hagler was slowing down. I thought Mugabi fought a terrific fight, and I thought Hagler was winning that fight by more than the judges were giving him credit for. I don’t think he was slowing down appreciably. But you know, Marvin Hagler and Kenny Norton were probably the two boxers who made the biggest mystery of their ages, so we’ll never know how well into his 30s Hagler was. And he’d had a very long career. So he should have been, maybe, a little less than he was before.
Angie Carlino (Hagler’s personal photographer): Hagler, I think, fudged his age a little bit. He was going to get old before Ray. I remember his birth certificate read 1952, and then all of a sudden it became ’54. When he fought Ray, he might have been about to turn 35, even though officially he was two years younger than that. He was closer to the end than people realized.
Leonard: I’ve heard this theory that I ducked the fight until I saw Marvin slowing down. That’s bullshit. As he gets older, I get older, too! And I’m out of the ring! When I hear these things, I laugh. I’m a smaller guy, and I’ve had one fight in five years and a detached retina. If I did wait until I saw him slowing down, don’t I slow down, too?
Bruce Trampler (Top Rank matchmaker): After the Mugabi fight Marvin didn’t want to fight anymore. He couldn’t quite formulate a response to the writers after the Mugabi fight. They were saying, “Are you going to retire? You going to fight?” And he couldn’t answer them. I think we all knew what the answer was. He knew he was near the end. He particularly didn’t relish the training camps. He would isolate himself. And it was a miserable existence because he had a family back home. A segment of his life was devoted to being a hermit, and he didn’t enjoy that anymore. But he got goaded into [the fight] by Ray, who is kind of a needler, a witty guy. And what Ray wanted in those days, Ray got.
Nigel Collins (The Ring magazine editor-in-chief): One key event was a supposedly innocent dinner between the two at Leonard’s Bethesda, Md., restaurant. With Sugar Ray involved, you have to wonder exactly how innocent it really was. The way things turned out, he was probably setting a trap.
Leonard: The way Marvin thinks, if you’re not a threat, Marvin’s cool with you. So we sat there at Jameson’s, my restaurant, had a few glasses of champagne, and he just started telling me things. He said, “I’m not motivated, I cut easy.” He was telling me things that normally a fighter wouldn’t [say], because I’m retired. He felt like I felt when I was retired. You don’t have that same commitment in your heart, or that edge that we had from day one. I think you become civilized. You’re not the fighter you used to be because now you’re flying in private planes, you’re staying in suites, girls tell you how cute you are. That’s not conducive to being a great fighter. He had one foot out the door, I think, after the Mugabi fight. He had all the fame he wanted, he’d made a substantial amount of money. There’s not as much reason to keep fighting.
Kimball: Hagler was torn. Leonard was the one fight he’d always coveted, but four years later he still resented the way Ray played him at that Baltimore retirement ceremony. How could he be sure this wasn’t just another ruse?
Hagler: I might have retired if not for Leonard wanting to fight me. But I guess you want to prove to yourself that you’re the best out there. I didn’t want guys to say, “You know what? Hagler never gave me the opportunity to fight him. I would have beat him.”
Merchant: The fight was coming together, and my recollection is that the narrative was, “Is Sugar Ray Leonard crazy?”
Ray Leonard Jr.: I had to deal with all the kids at school saying, “Hagler’s going to knock your dad out.” My dad was going through a really rough time with the drugs and everything, and there was a lot of infighting within our family, so I was actually kind of happy that he was going back into the ring. My mother and everyone else said, “Why are you doing it?” For me, it just gave me a sense of peace.
William Nack (Sports Illustrated boxing writer): A great boxing observer, Barney Nagler, always called it “the great delusion.” When Ray decided finally to fight Hagler, people were wondering [if] he was a victim of the great delusion — he thinks he can do it again?
Wainwright: There were three things that ultimately were of importance to negotiations for the Leonard-Hagler fight: the number of rounds, the size of the ring, and the size of the gloves. The people negotiating for Marvin allowed Mike Trainer to dictate the terms because they were so confident that Marvin was going to walk right through Ray Leonard. So they gave up on the gloves, they gave up on the number of rounds, and they gave up on the size of the ring. Leonard got a huge ring with huge gloves and 12 rounds instead of 15.
Angelo Dundee (Leonard’s head trainer): Whenever I had a fight with Ray Leonard, it was in the contract it had to be a 20-foot ring. I didn’t want a bandbox or a telephone booth. My fighters knew how to move.
Tony Petronelli (Hagler’s assistant trainer and Pat Petronelli’s son): What you have to understand is we all thought Marvin was going to beat him. You could have given them the whole parking lot to fight in. I just thought Marvin was too much for him, you know?
Perron: Leonard had a lot of demands. Money wasn’t one of them. Leonard already had a couple hundred million in the bank, but Marvin had about $20 million. And the concession was that it doesn’t matter which kind of gloves they used, it doesn’t matter if he went from an 18-foot ring to a 20-foot ring, it doesn’t matter if he went from 15 rounds to 12 rounds. Marvin conceded all that in exchange for the pay-per-view revenue from the whole country. The only two states Leonard had were Maryland, where he lived, and Washington, D.C. And that’s why Marvin made $21 million and Leonard made $13 million. The base pay was like $12 million for Marvin and $11 million for Leonard. Leonard didn’t care about the money — he already made his millions.
Lee Samuels (Top Rank publicist): Hagler hadn’t lost in 10 years. When you have a fighter who hasn’t lost in 10 years, losing doesn’t cross your mind. Nobody at Top Rank expected him to lose.
Trampler: I always felt Trainer was fucking with Marvin. Once he sensed that Marvin did want the fight, he was going to make him pay for it. The gloves, the ring, everything. I always felt that he was doing it just to get Hagler’s goat, to upset Hagler. But virtually every request that the Leonard camp made was granted, and it was pretty clear that the reluctant Hagler was now into it, like, “Give ’em whatever they want, I don’t care. I just want to destroy the guy.”
Nack: Mike said, “I was willing to give them the things they wanted: for the fight to be in Vegas, for Arum to be the lead promoter, and for Hagler to get more money. And with that money, I bought three rounds.”
IV. “My face was not used to getting hit. It was used to having makeup put on it.”
Leonard: My game plan on the media tour was to make Hagler think people don’t appreciate his boxing ability. I said, “Do you think Hagler’s going to run at me, fight me toe-to-toe? That’s an insult to his intelligence.” I never said anything that was derogatory, because I didn’t want to feed that anger and aggression that he normally has when he goes to camp. I said, “This man’s a great man, he’s a great family man, he’s a legend,” I just said everything so when he got to the podium, he couldn’t say, “Ray’s an asshole.” I didn’t give him the chance to get angry.
Brown: Mike Trainer decided that after not fighting since 1984, Ray needed to have a couple fights before Hagler. So we did simulated fights. We brought in guys from around the country that were in the top 20, and Ray had four fights. He was 4-0 with two knockouts. The other guys had headgear on with small gloves, and Ray had no headgear with bigger gloves because he wanted to get used to getting hit. They were 10-round fights, and the guys got paid good money. No outsiders came in, the gym was closed down completely, nobody knew what was going on.
Leonard: The first few weeks in training camp were just monstrous. These young sparring partners were kicking my butt. My face was not used to getting hit. It was used to having makeup put on it. My cardiovascular was not great. I don’t want to train this day. I don’t want to train the next day. You know what? I want to go home. The first time I thought about packing it in, I went home and [my wife] Juanita said, “You wish you hadn’t said yes to fight Hagler.” I got very defensive. She said, “Ray, it’s OK.” And I looked at her, I said, “Yeah, you’re right. I just had a bad day.” Then I remembered: I want this.
Dundee: Ray had a lot of time off, but the big key is that Ray was an athlete. While he wasn’t fighting, he was doing roadwork, going to the gym, doing something. The time off made no difference. He was in shape.
Tompkins: I visited Ray early in his training, and it was a completely different Ray Leonard than I’d ever seen. His personality was different. He had this edge I’d never seen before.
Carlino: I went out to Palm Springs for Marvin’s training camp, and I could tell he was slowing down a little bit. But you didn’t want to say that to anybody.
Brown: One night I got a call from Mike. He told me to come to Ray’s room, and they told me they wanted me to go spy on Hagler for a couple days. I disguised myself — my hair was black, so I dyed it gray. I put these horn-rimmed glasses on. And I went and sat in the back and watched him train for three days. I picked up a few things. He wanted to be in the center of the ring for all the sparring sessions; when a round would start and the guy would come out of the other corner, he’d be standing in the middle, waiting for him. And he got mad at his sparring partners, the Weaver triplets, because they weren’t fighting him. They were boxing him. They were hitting him, moving, and he’s like, “Come on, stop moving. Fight me, you little bitch!”
Samuels: The Weaver triplets had a lot of energy. That’s why they were brought in, to get Marvin ready to deal with Leonard. And they did pose some problems. That’s what they were supposed to do.
Carlino: I remember when J.D. Brown showed up. He was roaming around and I recognized him, but the Petronellis didn’t know who he was. I didn’t say anything to anyone because I didn’t think it mattered. I figured there wasn’t anything he could learn from watching public workouts.
Leonard: I said to J.D., “You show me that you were there by taking a picture with him to document it.”
Brown: At the end of his training sessions, Hagler would sign autographs and take pictures. So I took a little camera up there, I put my arm around him, somebody took the picture, and I left. I came back and reported what I saw to Ray, and he put it to good use.
Nack: Ray was going to lose this fight until about six weeks before the fight. Even his handlers were demoralized. It was like he wasn’t taking it seriously. He was getting in the ring with a murderer, in the boxing sense: a hard-hitting middleweight legend. And even though he might not be the same Hagler he was five years before, he still punched tremendously hard. And Ray was just saying, “It’ll be OK, it’ll be OK.” Well, it wasn’t going to be OK. Mike Trainer kept saying to him, “Ray, you’ve got to suck it up and train like you’ve never trained in your life.” Some people don’t know this, but Angie Dundee was never there for Ray’s whole training camp. Angie usually came in two to three weeks before a fight. But Mike called him six weeks before and said, “Angie, you’ve got to come now. Please come now, the kid needs help. He’s taking things too easy.” And Angie came in. Every day, they plotted strategy and tactics. Every day, they sat and talked about what he’d have to do to win. They put him in the ring with bangers, hard-hitting guys. Some of the rounds he fought in sparring were seven minutes! That’s a long time to have your hands up in front of your face. But that’s what Ray started doing.
Brown: I brought in Quincy Taylor to be a sparring partner. He was 3-0 at the time, a young hotshot. I thought he would be good because he fought from both sides, like Hagler. And he could punch.
Leonard: The fight was getting close, and I’d gotten so strong that I was breaking these sparring partners down. I was feeling so strong; I was going to fight Hagler toe-to-toe. I was sharp. And then, five days before the fight I was sparring Quincy Taylor, and I fell asleep for just a second and he hit me with a shot.
Brown: Quincy landed a punch that rocked his kinfolks. Ray was out on his feet. They were over near the corner where I was standing when Quincy hit him, and Quincy kind of realized he hurt him, and I said, “Go to the body! Go to the body!” Ray laid on the ropes like Ali and wiggled, but he was hurt. I think Janks Morton was the person who hollered, “Time!” There was still another minute to go, but if Janks let it go any further, the fight might have gotten canceled. Ray might have gotten knocked out if Quincy landed one more big shot.
Leonard: Quincy Taylor hit me so hard. I was out. Quincy realized that I was hurt, [so] he kind of pitty-patted with me. I’ve never seen the expressions of my entire camp change as fast as they did. The place got like a funeral, and the ride home was even worse. They were all like, Oh shit. Ray’s going to get knocked out.
Brown: The van ride back to the hotel, nobody said anything. Everybody was kind of like, If Quincy Taylor did this to Ray Leonard, what would Marvin Hagler do? I remember — it was almost midnight that night — Ray called me on the phone from his room. He said, “You know what? People think that I’m going to lose this fight. But Hagler can’t beat me. He can’t beat me.” He kept saying it over and over: “He can’t beat me. I’ve got a strategy for him.”
Leonard: It changed my strategy. In the first months of training, my whole game plan was box, box, box. That’s the logical thing to do against Hagler. But I kind of settled into being a middleweight. I was hitting guys to the body, hurting guys. I felt so strong. I became this beast who was going to beat Hagler up, open up the scar tissue over his eyes, cut him up. What a mistake that would have been. Thank god for Quincy Taylor. I should have paid him more. Best punch I ever took!
V. “It was like being at the center of the universe. It was like the normal stuff of life and death were temporarily unimportant.”
Kimball: A poll in one Las Vegas newspaper found that 60 of 67 journalists covering the fight favored Hagler. One of them was Leonard’s longtime HBO broadcast colleague Larry Merchant, who picked Hagler in nine.
Merchant: There was a personal element for me, because Ray had worked with me at HBO as an analyst. When we had our customary fighter meetings on the day before the fight, Ray asked what I thought, and I said, “Well, I have to pick Hagler.” And I could see that he was disappointed — that he thought I had to be not just smarter, but more loyal. And, as he quotes me in his new book, when I left I said, “I’ll be happy if you make me a liar.”
Perron: Marvin gets a little touchy. He was the touchiest guy in the world when a fight would approach. I can remember the day before the fight, getting on the elevator with him at Caesars Palace. We went up 12 floors and he never said one word to me. It was like he never saw me before, [like] he didn’t know who I was. And I didn’t dare open my mouth. The fight was fast approaching, and he was gettin’ mean.
Marc Ratner (chief inspector in Leonard’s corner): The dressing rooms were in the old Caesars Pavilion, and there were two rooms adjacent to each other, one for Ray and one for Hagler. What I vividly remember was Angelo pounding on the wall, which was probably plasterboard, yelling, “We’re gonna get you!” I don’t remember hearing any sound from the other side, but there was a lot of commotion on my side.
Richard Steele (referee): When I was giving the instructions in the dressing rooms, I really saw something different about Hagler. He just wasn’t himself. He had done something to his demeanor and something to the way he carried himself. I couldn’t put a finger on it at the time, but during the fight I began to realize that he was trying to play a boxer instead of the fighter he really was. His “destruct and destroy” mindset, that’s what got him to be the great fighter he was, that’s what got him to be the champion he was. But Leonard had won that mental fight, getting [Hagler] to change his style.
Leonard: I know what people thought going in. I know I was a big underdog. I’m sure the general consensus felt I’d be around for three or four rounds, maybe.
Hopkins: I thought Hagler was going to walk right through him. Sugar Ray had been off for a while, and I believed [Hagler] was going to walk him down and wear him down and get him late.
Nack: The first piece I wrote was a lead-up to the fight. My editors at SI asked me to me to pick a winner. So I actually had a whole paragraph about why Ray was going to win. The fight in Las Vegas when Duran almost beat Hagler convinced me Leonard could win. There were moments in that fight that Duran made Hagler look foolish. And when I saw that fight, I thought, Jesus, Leonard could beat this guy.
Trampler: What made it a great fight is you could make a case for either side. With Hagler and Leonard, we didn’t know what Marvin had left. We knew he was in decline. Ray was an unknown, and Marvin was a fading star.
Collins: Being ringside that night, it was like being at the center of the universe. It was like the normal stuff of life and death were temporarily unimportant. Nothing mattered except for the fight.
Bernstein: There was great energy in that arena. There’s something about outdoors at Caesars that was just special. It was in a parking lot when you get down to it, but it just felt special. And the build-up to this fight was unbelievable. It was the quintessential promotion of that time.
Tompkins: I’ve never been around an event that even approaches that, where there’s all that buildup, and then there’s the first sign of the fighters, and that sound from the crowd, you could really feel it. Here was the culmination — where the talk stops and the event really starts. It’s the most remarkable feeling I’ve had in 40-some years of broadcasting.
VI . “Slow down, you little bitch. Fight me like a man.”
Leonard: The bell rang. I saw Hagler in an orthodox stance. I wanted to say, “Hold on. Stop this fight. You’re not doing the right thing!” It was that blatant. I was like, What are you doing? Then I thought, Well, shit, this is great! I had all this nervous energy, but when he did that, it settled me down. It occurred to me that he was a little bit more in awe of the moment than I was, and he was just as concerned as I was. That showed me a vulnerability that Marvin shows no one. When Hagler walks into that ring, he’s a beast. But against me, he was more like a little lamb.
Hagler: A lot of people think I made a mistake by fighting him right-handed. But you know, the strategy was that I know he fought another southpaw — I can’t remember his name, but [Leonard] looked good that fight. I knew that he knew how to fight southpaws, so you don’t want to give him that look.
Brown: I wasn’t surprised Hagler came out orthodox. When I spied on him, that’s what he was doing. He was boxing guys on the right-hand side — that was his power side. You go back and look — when he fought Tommy Hearns, he knocked him out with a right. So when he came out like that, Ray was prepared because of what I saw in training camp.
Petronelli: That was Marvin’s idea. My uncle Goody kept yelling at him, saying when he was fighting southpaw he was doing better. He was yelling, “Stay southpaw!” But Marvin got in his head that Leonard was expecting a southpaw.
Kenny Bayless (chief inspector in Hagler’s corner): In the corner between rounds, the Petronellis were so calm. I felt they should have been in Marvin’s face, yelling and screaming and saying, “What are you doing? You need to do this!” I thought that Marvin was giving up the early rounds. But they were calm. They were giving instructions. Everything was very professional. I just don’t recollect them getting nervous or saying, “Hey, you’re losing these early rounds, you need to pick the pace up” or anything like that.
Wainwright: Ray fought Ray’s fight. Marvin didn’t fight Marvin’s fight. When Marvin fought Vito Antuofermo on November 30, 1979, for the title, they called that fight a draw. And the one thing that Antuofermo did in that fight was push Marvin. And as a result of that fight, people decided that the way to beat Marvin Hagler was to push him. But not Ray Leonard. Ray Leonard had seen all those fights and seen how effective Marvin was with anybody who wanted to go toe-to-toe with him, and said, “This is not for me — except the last 30 seconds of the round, then I’ll do a little dance and throw a bunch of punches.”
Leonard: At the start of the fourth round, I rushed right to the center of the ring. I did that in a lot of rounds. J.D. had come back from Palm Springs and said, “Ray, one thing about Hagler, he feels that the first person to the center of the ring wins the fight.” So that’s why I would do it. It’s just the little things that I did to play with his head. Anything to prevent him from doing what he wanted. This was a small thing, but it was big for him. And later in the fourth round I landed that bolo punch to the body. It didn’t hurt him, but it hurt his pride.
Merchant: All of a sudden the perception of the fight was completely different. Ray Leonard, the underdog, was winning. He was winning the drama of the fight as well as the fight itself. That builds a certain kind of emotional force and momentum, and maybe it influences some judges in close rounds. It was clear that, as the fight went on, Hagler understood he had to dig himself out of a hole that he himself had dug.
Hagler: I still came on, fighting him on the inside, even trying to beat him with his own speed. Everybody was looking for me to knock him out, but you know what? I just wanted to beat him.
Leonard: He buckled me in the fifth round with an uppercut. That was the only blow that hurt me. But when I use the word “buckled,” I mean I was knocked off balance, stunned, but I wasn’t in trouble. It was nowhere near like how I felt after the Quincy Taylor shot.
Tompkins: Instead of taking a step back — it happened at close quarters — he got into Marvin and tried to body punch him. Something inside him said, “If I take a step back, I’ll get knocked out.” So instead, almost instinctively, he stepped forward and threw punches. He said Marvin never knew he hurt him.
Perron: There were a couple times where I jumped up and said, “I think we got him!” Marvin landed his best shot on Leonard’s chin, and I saw Leonard was hurt. I was like, “Marvin, you got him hurt, finish him.” But somehow Leonard wormed his way out of it. Marvin started winning a lot of the rounds from that point on, but Marvin never got to put the finishing touch on him. Marvin was a great finisher. He got all these knockouts not by being a one-punch knockout guy, but he’d wear you down when he got you hurt. It never happened in the Leonard fight. One of the low points of my life, I tell you.
Leonard: He shoved me when the bell rang to end the fifth. He was getting frustrated. I don’t know what prompted that push, specifically. Maybe I looked at him a certain way, but it bothered him.
Hagler: People say his movement gave me problems. Movement? You mean running? The way the public looks at it, they say that was his strategy. I don’t think that was strategy. I think he was fighting to survive. He tried to steal the last part of every round — that’s amateur. Professional, you got to win the whole round, not 30 seconds.
Leonard: A couple days before the fight, I told Ollie Dunlap to tell me when there’s 30 seconds left in each round, so I’d know to throw those combinations and impress the judges. It’s not a bad thing! I wasn’t really “stealing” rounds. I was keeping the round close, then winning the final 30 seconds. That was the plan.
Bayless: I remember being all the way on the opposite side of the ring of Sugar Ray Leonard, I could hear Ollie Dunlap yelling out, “30 seconds!”
Tompkins: If a judge is sitting there, thinking, This round could go either way, then at the end of the round somebody has a big flurry, that becomes the deciding factor.
Dave Moretti (official ringside judge): I gave Leonard, like, five out of the first six rounds, and when you do that, the guy’s only gotta win two more rounds to pull it off. I just felt that he hit him at will the first four or five rounds. He was fast, he made Hagler miss, he did what he wanted to. He dominated the first half of the fight.
Hagler: He’s running, [doing] that pitty-patty thing. He didn’t hurt me. It’s just me waiting for him to slow down or stop.
Leonard: He kept saying, “Slow down, you little bitch. Fight me like a man.”
Steele: That was part of Leonard’s plan. When you’re talking trash, you ain’t punching. I’d say, “Cut it out guys, let’s fight,” but he had Hagler’s mind all messed up. If Hagler was talking, that meant it was going Leonard’s way. Leonard needed that rest. Leonard needed him talking trash instead of punching.
Hagler: I give so much credit to the guys like Roberto Duran and Tommy Hearns and Mugabi. Even guys before that, Mustafa Hamsho, even the second fight with Antuofermo, these guys came to take my title. This guy only came to survive.
Leonard: He wanted me to fight him the same way Hearns fought him. He says, “Ray wasn’t fighting, he was running. I respect guys like Hearns and Duran.” He beat those guys! Why would I stand there and fight him?
Perron: I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We knew Leonard was going to run. That’s why he wanted a 20-foot ring. But we thought somewhere along the line Marvin’s gonna catch him.
Steele: At the end of every round, I would say to myself, Well, I guess Marvin’s gonna start the next round. We had conditioned ourselves that Marvin was going to just eat this guy up. But then it was too late.
Dunlap: Ray won the fight, in my opinion, in the ninth round. Marvin had him on the ropes, and Ray backed him off. And at that point, I felt like people were watching Ray rather than watching the fight. He backed up the beast. To me, that’s when the fight turned. Marvin was getting back into the fight. He was making it close on the scorecards, and all of a sudden Ray took it away from him.
Merchant: As Hagler tried to catch up coming down the championship rounds, it created a melodrama. Was Ray going to hang on? Who was actually winning? Was Hagler going to be able to get him?
Tompkins: I think at the beginning of the fight, the crowd might have been pro-Hagler. There were a lot of Leonard haters at that time because he was a pretty boy. I’d say the crowd was about 55/45 in Hagler’s favor. But Ray works a crowd. There were a couple of rounds where he was waving his gloves, sticking his head out, sticking his tongue out. Ray is a showman, and he won over the crowd that night, especially by the late rounds.
Hagler: They said maybe I lost the first three rounds. But it’s not how many rounds that you win — it’s how you finish the fight. This is a 12-round fight; you can lose three rounds and make up the difference by the end. I think I did that. In the last two rounds, I really had him going. I had him hurt in the 11th and the 12th.
Dundee: In the corner, between rounds, I’m yelling, “Six minutes left!” Then, “Three minutes for the title!”
Leonard: To be honest, I was exhausted. I was exhausted in the fifth round, sixth round. I was dead. I couldn’t have won without Angelo. He said the right things, just what I needed to hear. That’s the value of Angelo. He does the right thing at the right moment. Like with Ali, cutting the gloves against Henry Cooper.1 Angelo’s so cool under pressure. That’s his magic.
In 1963, a 21-year-old Ali got knocked down by Cooper in the fourth round and was badly hurt, and Dundee bought him time by cutting a hole in his glove between rounds, forcing a delay while a new glove was put on. Ali stopped Cooper on cuts in the next round, and won the heavyweight championship from Sonny Liston in his next fight.
Dundee: The guy who helped the most in that fight was the referee. Before the 12th round, he says, “Last round! 12th round!” I says, “Next champ!” Ray jumped up, put his arms up. You utilize every little thing you can get.
Nack: What I recall of that last round was Hagler getting desperate, trying to knock him out. He threw everything he had at him. He got him in a corner and was wailing away at him, and I thought to myself, Uh-oh, this is it. This is it for Leonard. He’s had it. He’s going to get hit on the button two or three times and he’s going to go down and that’ll be the end of it. It was like Hagler throwing punches at Hearns, that same kind of abandon, that same kind of ferocity — punches up, punches down, lefts, rights. Ray was covering up, and all of a sudden Ray threw a combination of punches that whipped Hagler’s face left-right-left-right. And the crowd, 15,000 people, came roaring to their feet. All of the reporters came to our feet. It was unbelievable. It was like he’d come back from the dead. And then he spun away, and Hagler chased him, and by this time you could hear people chanting, “Su-gar Ray! Su-gar Ray! Su-gar Ray!” People realized that they were witnessing something extraordinary in the history of the sport.
Steele: Leonard was through after 12 rounds. It took everything that Angelo had to push him through. If he’d had to go three more, he wouldn’t have been there.
Leonard: If it had been scheduled for 15, I would have trained for 15. Marvin was tired, too!
Tompkins: At the final bell, I made the call, “How do you like it?!” As a broadcaster, you never know what you’re going to say in those situations. You hope you can say something that encapsulates what you’ve just seen, and I guess that had two meanings. It was like, “That was really something!” But also, because it was a close fight and how you scored it might have depended on which style you liked, I guess you could take it literally, “How do you like it?” Somewhere in the bowels of my mind, I probably meant it both ways, but I never thought, “What am I going to say when this fight’s over?”
VII. “When we heard, ‘We have a split decision,’ I said, ‘Uh-oh.'”
Hagler: I was bouncing around the ring, and I’m all happy and everything, because he knew it and I knew it — that I won the fight.
Leonard: He did things that were totally uncharacteristic of him. At the end of the fight, before the decision was announced, he was dancing! Hagler never does that crap. He knew … he knew.
Hagler: As a matter of fact, he even told me himself. He said, “You beat me, babe.” That was in the ring, right after the fight. He’s now denying that he said that. Maybe he can’t remember, but I remember because you whispered it in my ear. And between two people, you know. If you beat me, I would tell the world, “Hey, I lost the fight.” There’s nothing to be ashamed about. But you can’t go around knowing that you did not win the fight and still say you did. After enough time, I guess you start believing it yourself.
Leonard: First of all, even if I felt he did win, I wouldn’t tell him that. No fighter would say, “Oh man, he kicked my ass!” All the way back to Jack Johnson, a fighter never says, “I lost the fight; you won the fight.” I didn’t say that to him. I said, “Marvin, you’re still a champion to me.” And I kissed him on his cheek. He misinterpreted what I said, and now it’s out there. Some people believe it, some people don’t.
Perron: When Chuck Hull, the ring announcer, grabbed the microphone, I said, “I’m worried, I’m worried.” And sure enough, when we heard, “We have a split decision,” I said, “Uh-oh.”
Leonard: I wasn’t sure which way it was going to go. They say you gotta take the belt from the champion. I felt that I did enough. He was missing more than he was hitting me.
Nack: People were on the edge of their seats. And when it was announced it was a split decision, people in the audience booed. I think they figured that Leonard had won. I thought Leonard won clearly, but when I look at it on tape, it’s closer than I thought. Anyway, what I remember is when the announcer said, “The winner … and the …” then he said “new,” and the place went nuts, “… middleweight champion of the world, Sugar Ray Leonard!” Hagler was furious.
Moretti: I don’t believe it was that hard to score. I had it 115-113 for Leonard. For some reason I was just locked in that night. After the fight I told Lou Filippo, who had it 115-113 for Hagler, “I can’t find a problem with your score.” Lou was the type who preferred harder punches. Well, they might have been harder, but they just weren’t enough — in my opinion, anyway. Lou said he didn’t have a problem with my score either. As for Jo Jo Guerra’s card, I believe he had it 118-110 for Leonard — that’s the way he seen it, and I respect him as a judge. I don’t find fault in anybody’s score. Where I was sitting, I didn’t see that, obviously. But believe me, there’s been fights where I looked at my score and then I watched it on TV, and then I wanted to change my score a little bit. It’s a possibility that you don’t see the same thing in these rounds where one punch or two punches make a difference. If the referee blocks you at a key moment, that can change your view of the round. This one, I’ve re-watched it several times, but never changed my score. I was locked in, and what I seen that night, that’s pretty much what I see each time I watch it.
Dundee: I thought Ray outhustled Hagler. I thought he fought the better fight, but hey, it’s in the eyes of the beholder.
Wainwright: I did not score the fight round by round, but I absolutely feel Marvin deserved it. He was the one who took the fight to Leonard. Leonard never took the fight to Hagler. But Ray was too elusive. And that’s what he planned on being — elusive for 2½ minutes, then performing in the last 30 seconds.
Merchant: I scored it a draw. I thought Hagler did enough to hold on to his title. But Leonard was able, as I said at the time, to steal the fight fair and square. As an underdog, he won the drama and looked like he was able to impose his boxing style on Hagler. If you go back in history, there were other examples of this, where the great fighter got the decision because he was the fighter that the public loved. I think this was a very close fight, but I also think Ray pulled off a historic con job to get the decision — and I think he earned that.
Tompkins: Marvin just seemed a step slow. He wasn’t as busy. In my opinion, he let Ray steal the fight. I scored it for Ray, by a point or two. And believe me, I wasn’t partial, because I liked both guys.
Bernstein: I thought that the right scorecard was Lou Filippo’s, a two-point win for Hagler. While Ray surely won his share of rounds, I thought Hagler won more — simple as that. I would point to the CompuBox statistics as a very good reason why Hagler won that fight. He landed more jabs than Leonard. How is the boxer not going to land more jabs than the puncher? If Hagler outjabbed him, how did he lose the fight? I believe that the main reason Hagler ended up losing this is that people were amazed that Leonard was able to fight on equal terms with him. I’ve watched the fight eight or nine times, and I just don’t see how Hagler didn’t win by two points.
Trampler: This is going to sound like the all-time hedge, but I still have my scorecard somewhere, and I had it 6-6. Arum, to this day, he goes crazy: “Marvin won the fight.” I never watched it again, to be honest, but there was nothing corrupt or sinister about it. It was just one of those fights.
Abraham: I had it 7-5 for Ray. He knew how to steal the last 15 seconds of every round. Ray admits he never hurt Marvin, but he ended eight of the 12 rounds with just beautiful, beautiful artistry.
Hopkins: I think Hagler won the fight. I think he did enough. He was the champion, so by Leonard basically throwing punches that [weren’t] effective, Ray wasn’t handing Hagler his head. That shouldn’t be enough to beat the champion. There’s times in history where boxing is looking for the next guy. Not that Ray Leonard was a young guy, but he was younger than Hagler, and he was Ray Leonard. Leonard was the guy that was accepted in a way that Hagler wasn’t. All of that plays a role with what the outcome’s going to be.
Antuofermo: Leonard deserved to win. Plain English, he bullshitted Hagler. Running here, running there. Hagler should have gone right after him like he did everybody else, but Hagler didn’t have it anymore. Leonard was able to hit him and jump in and out. Hagler couldn’t get started. He didn’t look mentally like he was into it. I think he just went through the motions.
Perron: It’s almost an unwritten rule: You want to take the champion’s title away from him. You gotta go out and get it — beat him up. Leonard didn’t do that. If it was anybody else in that corner except Ray Leonard that night, Marvin would have got that decision. But when Ray Leonard would fight in Vegas, the hotels would fill up in a hurry [and] the casinos were busy, busy, busy. Las Vegas did not want Ray Leonard to lose. You know, the second Leonard-Hearns fight, Hearns almost killed him. He had him down twice, he beat him up bad, and he got a draw. They just didn’t want Ray Leonard to lose, and that was the story with Leonard-Hagler. Jo Jo Guerra, one of the judges, had it 118-110, which was ridiculous. He gave Marvin two rounds out of 12. I still got the scoring in my car. I kept it. I got all three judges and what they scored round by round. It’s in the trunk of my car. I never threw it away.
Collins: While I scored the fight much closer than Guerra did, I feel Guerra was unfairly defamed. It was a very difficult fight to score. Many rounds were extremely close, and who won them is largely a matter of interpretation. Those who enjoy slick boxing and punches by the bunches probably scored the close rounds for Leonard, while those who prefer aggression and hard punching gave many of the same rounds to Hagler.
Perron: Pat Petronelli had vicious words with Jo Jo Guerra after the fight: “You’ll never judge another fight as long as you live!” You know what the irony of it all was? There were four judges there to judge the fight. Each camp has the option of challenging somebody off there, and Pat thought that [with] Harry Gibbs being from London and with Marvin beating Alan Minter for the middleweight title in London in 1980, he probably would have not favored Marvin too much. So Pat challenged Harry Gibbs off and put Jo Jo Guerra on. From what I hear, Gibbs went home after he was told he wasn’t going to judge the fight. Somebody from the press called and asked if he saw the fight. He said, “Yeah.” They asked him, “Did you score it?” He said, “Yeah.” They said, “Well, how’d you have it?” “I had Hagler winning, 115-113.”
Hagler: Real boxing people, they know I won. And I just wait for the day — one day, Leonard’s gonna tell the truth. He’s starting to tell a lot of truth about a lot of things,2 so if he wants to tell the truth about this, I’m open.
This is a reference to Leonard’s 2011 autobiography, The Big Fight, in which he revealed for the first time that he was sexually abused as a teen by an amateur boxing coach.
Leonard: The second Hearns fight, when we got a draw, Hearns should have gotten the decision. I admit that. So don’t you think if I thought Marvin beat me, I’d admit that, too? Look, I won the fight — whether I got the decision or not. I came from a five-year hiatus with one fight under my belt, fought the toughest guy in the world, [and] went the distance. I was a winner anyway, no matter what the decision was.
Hagler: I don’t have anything personal about it. It wasn’t Leonard’s fault. It was left in the hands of the judges. I think what happened is that they wanted me out of the game. At that time, they wanted to split up all the titles. They don’t like me having all the belts. We can’t knock him out. We can’t beat him. So we gotta steal it. That’s exactly what they did.
Brown: I don’t think Marvin really comprehended how Ray won the drama of the fight. Marvin was just looking at the amount of punches he threw and landed, but you had judges that were just as much in awe of the event as the rest of the people in the crowd.
Steele: Leonard and Muhammad Ali, whatever they did, the crowd was with them. Whether their punches were scoring or not, the crowd was in an uproar. Everything Leonard did, whether it was effective or not, the crowd was applauding him much more than Hagler. But you shouldn’t let that affect your scorecard. So I take myself out, I take away the crowd, and I sit myself down and I say, “Let me look at this fight.” Every time I look at it, it gets closer and closer. Maybe the time before, I thought Ray Leonard won this round, but now I sit down, no distractions, no sound, I said, “Damn, he didn’t win that round.”
Tompkins: I was trying to think back to other fights like this. I can’t imagine a fight of this caliber that went to the scorecards, and there were good reasons to see it for either guy. People who think Marvin won that fight have a perfectly legitimate argument. There was a lot of showboating on Ray’s part, and a lot of those flurries, a lot of those punches didn’t land. By the same token, a lot of them did. All those intangibles about boxing — “ring generalship” and “effective aggressiveness” — most judges can’t even pronounce those words let alone judge that way. So I think in this particular fight, it depended on how you look at a fight and what you think is effective.
Hagler: I thought back to the Antuofermo fight. They gave him a draw, and a draw is like the fight going to the champion because you didn’t beat him decisively. I had to live with that. Then I was hoping that someday, if the shoe changes, maybe I would get a break. In the boxing game, I never got a break.
Ratner: Once the fight starts, the champion has no advantage. The only fixed advantage is that all he has to do is win half the fight and he keeps the title. It’s just one of those urban legends that the champion should win the close rounds or that the challenger has to do more.
Hagler: I know I won. In my heart, that’s something you can’t take away. You can take my belt, but you can’t take the feelings, the pride.
Leonard: You know what? He’s a proud man. He’s an old-school guy, and he feels in his heart that he won the fight. If he’s not ready to let it go, then I can understand that.
VIII. “They didn’t figure Hagler would go completely nuts.”
Bayless: As an inspector, you’d rather be in the dressing room of the winner. In the loser’s dressing room, it’s just unpleasant. And it was very unpleasant in Marvin’s dressing room after the fight. They kept harping on the judge that scored it wide for Leonard. They really blasted that judge.
Petronelli: After the fight, Marvin’s mother was crying, and she came into the dressing room, and Marvin goes: “Ma, don’t cry. They got sick of seeing me around. I ain’t got a mark on me. I’ve had harder sparring sessions. They gave the decision to him, but I’m all right.”
Nack: After the fight, I was in Ray’s locker room, and here comes his wife, crying with happiness. She comes into the locker room, and Ray Jr. comes up to his dad and hugs him, and Ray Sr. says to him: “Son, your dad was tough tonight. You can go to school tomorrow with your head held high.” Then, Ray had never done this before, but he went up to Mike Trainer and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Mike said, “Ray, you are a tough little shit.” Then they walked out the door together, and Ray said, “You know what, Mike? I am a tough little shit.”
Perron: After the fight, they had a [press] conference. Head table, Marvin came out and Leonard came out, and Leonard already had a typewritten thing relinquishing his title. He said: “I hereby relinquish the middleweight title. I only wanted to show the world that I could beat Marvin Hagler.” And so the title became vacant. They wanted Marvin to participate in the box-off, but Marvin didn’t want no part of that. He didn’t want to fight anybody except Ray Leonard, simple as that.
Bernstein: I saw Lou Filippo at the airport the next day, and he had a sheepish look on his face, like he’d done something wrong. He said, “I saw what I saw, that’s how I saw the fight.” I said, “Don’t apologize. A lot of people saw it like you did, including me.”
Hagler: After that fight, I had a different feeling about wanting to continue in boxing. I’m done with it. I’m tired of not being accepted for what I did, for what I deserved.
Tompkins: Give it up for Marvin. To his credit, when he felt that he got screwed in that fight, he walked away and never came back. I give him a lot of credit for that.
Hagler: I waited a whole year for this guy to maybe give me the opportunity to get my belt back. I know what they’re going to do — those judges — they think I lost because I didn’t knock him out. And so I had to bring my own judge [holds up one fist] and jury [holds up other fist]. I wanted to fight him again, but he waited for me to get old before he would say, “Now I’ll give you the rematch.” I would never do that. If you feel as though you got a bad shake, I would say, “Let’s do it again.” That’s the mark of a real champion.
Petronelli: Marvin chased him for almost a year for a rematch, but he said, “Nope,” and that was it. Marvin said, “I’m not going to chase him around anymore,” so he retired. Then Leonard, one time, Marvin told me they were in the men’s room at an event years afterward, and Leonard starts talking about a rematch. Marvin said, “I was almost going to grab him around the neck and stick his head in the flush.” He’s like, “You’re talking about fighting a rematch now? Why didn’t we fight when we could? It’s all over now.”
Brown: I think Ray felt the satisfaction of what he wanted to do. What more did he need to do for an exclamation point? He came out of retirement and beat one of the greatest champions of all time — how do you top that?
Abraham: There was talk of a rematch, but it never went anywhere. Marvin made it very clear — he thought he was jobbed and he was never going to fight again. And he never did. There were conversations, but they were never at the level of negotiations. If people say Marvin wanted the fight and Ray didn’t, that’s revisionist history.
Leonard: A rematch should have been a natural, but Hagler was so convinced that the system fucked him that he moved to Milan and retired. I would have fought him a few months later because I knew how to beat him!
Carlino: I was told two weeks before that fight that if it was close, they were going to come back and do it again in six months. But they didn’t figure Hagler would go completely nuts and it would take him a year before he wanted to fight. Leonard played with him a little bit, too. He said he wanted the fight, [then] he didn’t want the fight. Leonard would have fought him again, I imagine, but they could never put it together. Marvin stayed out of the gym and he was getting older, and that was that.
Bernstein: That fight set Marvin Hagler up financially to the point that it’s why Ray Leonard could never lure him out of retirement. If you factor in inflation, what he ended up making was one of the biggest purses of all time.
Petronelli: People thought he would fight again. Bob Arum said, “There’s too much money out there for him, he’s not going to stay retired.” But my old man said, “You don’t know this kid. When he makes his mind up, that’s it.”
Brown: After the fight, they ran a story in Sports Illustrated. They ran the picture of me and Hagler, when I was a spy in his training camp, and then a picture of Ray and myself laughing about it. It wasn’t funny to Hagler. I saw him in Atlantic City a couple months later. He gave me some dagger eyes. If he could have killed me and gotten away with it, I probably would have been history.
IX. “Man, when is this going to end?”
Hagler: If I would have knocked him out, I probably wouldn’t still be living this thing 24 years afterwards. But it’s probably a good thing that people still talk about the fight, because in a way, boxing keeps you alive.
Leonard: I get it all the time. People say, “Good fight, but I really thought Hagler won.” If he would have gotten the decision, I would have gotten more people on the street saying, “Man, you won that fight!”
Hagler: The people, they know I won the fight. Whenever someone tells me I won, I have to try to determine whether they’re telling me the truth or they just want to get on my good side.
Dundee: I talk to Marvin Hagler fans, they say, “My guy licked ya.” Well, good, I’m glad he did, but my guy got his hand raised.
Perron: People still ask me, “What happened in the Leonard fight? Why didn’t he go after him? Why this, why that?” I’m sick of hearing it. It’s a sore point. It still bothers me. They don’t want to understand anything. I said, “Why don’t you ask me about the 11 years he went without losing a fight? Why bring up the Leonard fight?”
Petronelli: People bring it up, and I just think, Here we go again. There goes the night.
Moretti: Man, when is this going to end? I think this is the most controversial fight in history, among fights that went to the scorecards.
Bernstein: It’s a polarizing fight. I think Hagler and Leonard represented different things — their approach to the sport was different, the way they were marketed was different — so you could see people lining up toward what stylistically appeals to them. That influences how people see fights.
Moretti: My brother works at a hotel-casino, and one time I was visiting him and one of his co-workers comes up and says: “Oh, so you’re the guy that thought Leonard won that fight.” And I go, “Yeah, I’m the guy.” And he goes, “How can you say — ” And I go, “Before I talk to you, let me ask you a question: Did you have a bet on the fight?” And he says, “Yeah, I did.” I go, “Who’d you bet?” He goes, “Hagler.” I said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea we should talk.”
Dunlap: If you look at those fighters — Hagler, Duran, and Hearns — Ray is the only one that beat all the others. Without Hagler, there would have been a “Yeah, but he never fought Marvin.” But I don’t think it would have taken away from him being one of the greatest fighters ever. Just look at the people he already beat.
Tompkins: To this day, I still feel that Marvin Hagler will never get his just due as to what a great champion he was. He was a great tactician, he could switch up, he was good with either hand, he was a great finisher. He trained hard for every fight; he never took anybody for granted. I have nothing but good things to say about Marvin Hagler. But I think, unfortunately, his legacy will be the fight with Sugar Ray Leonard.
Leonard: I’d love for the four of us — Hagler, Hearns, Duran, and myself — to sit on a sofa and talk about the fights we had with each other. Maybe watch them together. Wouldn’t that be great?
Hagler: I never put on a pair of gloves again. Never had one gym workout. If you get that taste in your mouth, it never goes away.
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HomeWin SportsbettingChange in the actual physical formats of media or sports news services.
Change in the actual physical formats of media or sports news services.
The media or news industry has undergone a massive makeover during the last few years. From stiff collared news readers and reporters to blue and boring sets, to repetitive show formats all have experienced a tremendous amount of change. Along with the formats the entire physical aspect of shows has undergone makeovers. As older and much more established media networks have revamped their look, there are a number of new channels or news sites which have sprouted to meet the needs of the ceaseless demand for news, whether it is in the area of current affairs, news, entertainment or physical activities such as sports.
Sports networks have emerged as among the most significant segments from the media industry. Sports enthusiasts coming from all around the globe are searching for a daily feed of news and information in connection with the variety of sports which are being played across the world. Sports, too, as being a physical exercise has evolved and has gained a wider reach due to the network of the media or news providers.
These days it is not only the conventional sports including baseball, football, basketball, rugby etc which are popular but unconventional sports as action sports such as surfing, skateboarding, rock and rock climbing, bungee jumping, sky diving etc have likewise found their group of followers. There are a number of people who practice and participate in these adrenalin pumping extreme sports, thus increasing its popularity and encouraging several media and news networks to come up and cover these events.
Fantasy sports, too, are one of the offshoots of this media change. Together with the internet transforming into a popular source of entertainment, physical sports have already been translated into virtual games in the form of fantasy sports. Now, people have the opportunity to play their favorite games that are modeled around the lines of professional sports including football, baseball, basketball, cricket etc. These games have global championships that are played mirroring the overall game pattern which the sport is based on.
So like MLB baseball has 162 games being played in one season, fantasy baseball too has 162 games that will be played through the MLB season. Two media networks which are currently very popular in the fantasy games circuit are ESPN and Yahoo Sports. These two networks provide all of the news, games statistics, scores and player as well as team standings. ESPN network even comes up with a fantasy sports newsletter that covers all the action from this sports world.
ESPN has also taken the initiative of getting X Games popular. X Games are series major action sports championships that are organized and broadcast by ESPN. These games began in 1995 and also have gained its group of fans since.
Due to the diversities within the games there are 2 championships held each year; one during summer and one during wintertime covering the summer and winter sports categories respectively. The participants vie for that gold, silver and bronze medals together with the prize money award. ESPN has been the live broadcaster of such games and can be regarded as as pioneers in this genre of sports broadcasting.
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1 This is the earliest extant letter of Engels to Marx, written soon after Engels’ return to Germany from England. On his way back to Germany at the end of August 1844, he stopped in Paris, where he met Marx. During the days they spent together they discovered that their theoretical views coincided, and the immediately began their first joint work, directed against the Young Hegelians. Engels finished his part before leaving Paris, while Marx continued to write his. At first they intended to call the book A Critique of Critical Criticism. Against Bruno Bauer and Co. But while it was being printed Marx added The Holy Family to the title.
This meeting of Marx and Engels in Paris marked the beginning of their friendship, joint scientific work and revolutionary struggle.
The extant original of this letter bears no date. The approximate time of its writing was determined on the basis of Engels’ letter to Marx of 19 November 1844 (see this volume, pp. 9-14).
This letter was published in English in frill for the first time in: Marx and Engels, Selected Correspondence. Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1955.
2 Karl Bernays, one of the editors of the German newspaper Vorwärts!, published in Paris, was sued by the French authorities in September 1844 at the request of the Prussian Government for not having paid the caution-money required for the publication of a Political newspaper. The real reason, however, was the article ‘Attentat auf den König von Preussen’ published in Vorwärts!, No. 62, 3 August 1844. On 13 December 1844 Bernays was sentenced to two months,’ imprisonment and a fine.
3 Engels left Germany in November 1842 and lived for nearly two years in England, working in the office of a Manchester cotton-mill of which his father was co-proprietor.
4 In July 1844 Marx began to contribute to the newspaper Vorwärts!, which prior to that — from early 1844 to the summer of the same year — reflected the moderate liberalism of its publisher, the German businessman H. Börnstein, and its editor A. Bornstedt. However, when Karl Bernays, a friend of Marx, became its editor in the summer of 1844, the newspaper assumed a democratic character. By contributing to the newspaper, Marx began to influence its policy and in September became one of its editors. Other contributors were Engels, Heine, Herwegh, Ewerbeck and Bakunin. Under Marx’s influence the newspaper came to express communist views, and attacked Prussian absolutism and moderate German liberalism. At the behest of the Prussian Government, the Guizot ministry took repressive measures against its editors and contributors in January 1845, when publication ceased.
5 Engels is referring to Kritik der Politik und National-Ökonomie, a work which Marx planned to write. Marx began to study political economy at the end of 1843 and by spring 1844 he set himself the task of writing a criticism of bourgeois political economy from the standpoint of materialism and communism. The draft Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 (see present edition, Vol. 3), written at that time, have reached us incomplete. Work on The Holy Family forced Marx temporarily to interrupt his study of political economy until December 1844. In February 1845, just before his expulsion from Paris. he signed a contract for his Kritik der Politik und National-Okonomie with the publisher Leske (see Note 27). In Brussels Marx continued to study the works of English, French, German, Italian and other economists and added several more notebooks of excerpts to those compiled in Paris, although his original plan for the book was not carried out.
6 The Holy Family by Marx and Engels was published not in Hamburg by Hoffmann and Campe, but in Frankfurt am Main by Z. Löwenthal, founder o i f the Literarische Anstalt publishing house (owned by Joseph Rütten since the autumn of 1844).
7 Heinrich Heine wrote to Marx from Hamburg on 21 September 1844 (see the new Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe — referred to in future as MEGA2 — Abt. III, Bd. 1, S. 443-44) telling him that a new collection of his poems, Neue Gedichte, had been published there. It contained romances, ballads and other poems including the satirical poem Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen, which was also published separately by Hoffmann and Campe. Heine sent Marx a copy of this poem for simultaneous publication in Vorwärts! and announcement of his new collection of verse in this and other newspapers (he promised to bring the ballads and other poems to Paris himself).
On 19 October 1844 Vorwärts!, No. 84, carried Heine’s preface to the separate edition of his poem. It was dated 17 October 1844 and entitled ‘H. Heines neue Gedichte’. It was preceded by an editorial introduction which accorded high praise to the poet’s new work and in fact expressed Marx’s point of view. The poem was published in full in Vorwärts! in late October-November 1844.
8 L. Feuerbach’s Das Wesen des Glaubens im Sinne Luther’s was published ill instalments in Vorwärts! from the middle of August to the end of October 1844.
9 This letter without an address on the back of it was published in English for the first time in: K. Marx and F. Engels, On Britain, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1953 and in full in Letters of the Young Engels, 1838-1845, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1976.
10 The letter written by Marx and Bürgers to Engels on 8 October 1844 has not been found.
11 The disagreements between Marx and Engels on the one hand and Arnold Ruge on the other dated back to the time of the publication of the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, under the editorship of Marx and Ruge. These disagreements were due to Ruge’s negative attitude towards communism and the revolutionary proletarian movement, the fundamental difference between Marx’s views and those of the Young Hegelian Ruge, who was an adherent of philosophical idealism. The final break between Marx and Ruge occurred in March 1844. Ruge’s condemnation of the Silesian weavers’ rising in June 1844 impelled Marx to criticise his views in the article ‘Critical Marginal Notes on the Article “The King of Prussia and Social Reform. By a Prussian"’ (see present edition, Vol. 3, pp. 189-206).
12 A reference to the Associations for the Benefit of the Working-Classes formed in a number of Prussian towns in 1844 and 1845 on the initiative of the German liberal bourgeoisie, who were alarmed at the rising of the Silesian weavers in the summer of 1844, and hoped that the associations would help to divert the German workers from militant struggle. Despite the efforts of the bourgeoisie and the government authorities to give these associations a harmless philanthropic appearance, they gave a fresh impulse to the growing political activity of the urban masses and drew the attention of broad sections of German society to social questions. The movement to establish such associations was particularly widespread in the towns of the industrial Rhine Province.
Seeing that the associations had taken such an unexpected direction, the Prussian Government hastily cut short their activity in the spring of 1845 by refusing to approve their statutes and forbidding them to continue their work.
13 Rationalists — representatives of a Protestant trend which tried to combine theology with philosophy and to prove that ‘divine truths’ can be explained by reason. Rationalism opposed pietism, an extremely mystical trend in Lutheranism.
14 At the meeting held in Cologne on 10 November 1844 and attended by former shareholders of and contributors to the Rheinische Zeitung, liberals Ludolf Camphausen, Gustav, Mevissen, radicals Georg Jung, Karl d'Ester, Franz Raveaux and others among them, a General Association for Relief and Education was set up with the aim of improving the workers’ condition (the measures to be taken included raising funds for mutual assistance and relief to the sick, etc.). Despite the opposition of the liberals, the meeting adopted democratic rules which provided for the workers’ active participation in the work of the Association. Subsequently a definitive split took place between the radical-democratic elements and the liberals. The latter headed by Camphausen withdrew from the Association, which was soon prohibited by the authorities.
In November 1844 an Educational Society was set up in Elberfeld. Its founders had from the very start to fight against the local clergy, who attempted to bring the Society under their influence and give its activity a religious colouring. Engels and his friends wished to use the Society’s meetings and its committee to spread communist views (see F. Engels, ‘Speeches in Elberfeld’, present edition, Vol. 4, pp. 243-64). As Engels had expected, the statute of the Society was not approved by the authorities, and the Society itself ceased 1 to exist in the spring of 1845. (On the meetings in Cologne and Elberfeld, see F. Engels, ‘Rapid Progress of Communism in Germany’, present edition, Vol. 4, pp. 229-42).
15 Originally Engels planned to write a work on the social history of England and to devote one of its chapters to the condition of the working class in England (see present edition, Vol. 4, p. 302). But realising the special role played by the proletariat in bourgeois society, he decided to deal with this problem in a separate book, which he wrote on his return to Germany, between September 1844 and March 1845. Excerpts in Engels’ notebooks made in July and August 1845, and the letters of the publisher Leske to Marx of 14 May and 7 June 1845 (see MEGA2, Abt. III Bd. 1, S. 465, 469) show that in the spring and summer of 1845 Engels continued to work on the social history of England. Though he did not abandon his plan up to the end of 1847, as is seen from an item in the Deutsche-Brüsseler-Zeitung, No. 91 of 14 November 1847, he failed to put it into effect.
16 Engels did not write a pamphlet on Friedrich List’s book Das nationals System der politischen Oekonomie (Stuttgart und Tübingen, 1841) though later he continued to discuss this idea with Marx (see this volume, pp. 28 and 79), who in his turn intended to publish a critical analysis of List’s views (see K. Marx, ‘Draft of an Article on Friedrich List’s Book Das nationals System der politischen Oekonomie’, present edition, Vol. 4, pp. 265-93), Engels criticised the German advocates of protectionism, and List above all, in one of his ‘Speeches in Elberfeld’ (see present edition, Vol. 4, pp. 256-64).
17 ‘The Free’ — a Berlin group of Young Hegelians formed early in 1842. Among its prominent members were Edgar Bauer, Eduard Meyen, Ludwig Buhl ant Max Stirner (pseudonym of Kaspar Schmidt). Their criticism of the prevailing conditions was abstract, devoid of real revolutionary content and ultra-radical in form. The fact that ‘The Free’ lacked any positive programme and ignored the realities of political struggle soon led to differences between them and the representatives of the revolutionary-democratic wing of the German opposition movement. A sharp conflict arose between ‘The Free’ and Marx in the autumn of 1842, when Marx had become editor of the Rheinische Zeitung (see present edition, Vol. 1, pp. 393-95).
During the two Years which had elapsed since Marx’s clash with ‘The Free’ (1843-44), Marx’s and Engels’ disagreement with the Young Hegelians on questions of theory and politics had deepened still more. This was accounted for not only by Marx’s and Engels’ transition to materialism and communism, but also by the evolution in the ideas of the Bauer brothers and their fellow-thinkers. In the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung Bauer and his group renounced the ‘radicalism of 1842’ and, besides professing subjective idealist views and counterposing chosen personalities, the bearers of ‘pure Criticism’, to the allegedly sluggish and inert masses, they began spreading the ideas of moderate liberal philanthropy.
It was to the exposure of the Young Hegelians’ views in the form which they had acquired in 1844 and to the defence of their own new materialistic and communistic outlook that Marx and Engels decided to devote their first joint work The Holy Family, or Critique of Critical Criticism. Against Bruno Bauer and Co. (present edition, Vol. 4, pp. 3-211).
18 Here Marx writes about the Vorwärts! Pariser Deutsche Monatsschrift which Heinrich Börnstein planned to publish instead of the newspaper Vorwärts! The prospectus of the monthly published in German and French on 1 January 1845 (a publication date helps in determining the approximate date of this letter) stated that one of the reasons for the reformation of Vorwärts! was that no caution-money was needed for publishing a journal as distinct from a newspaper. The journal of eight printed sheets was to appear on the 16th of each month. The expulsion of Marx and other contributors to Vorwärts! from France (see notes 4 and 19) prevented the publication of the first issue, the proof sheets of which had already been printed.
As is seen from this letter and that of Engels to Marx written approximately 20 January 1845 (see this volume, p. 16), Marx intended to write a critical review of Stirner’s Der Einzige und sein Eigenthum at the end of December 1844 and originally wanted to publish it in the monthly Vorwärts! There is no information on whether this plan materialised. It is only known that two years later Marx and Engels scathingly criticised Stirner’s book in their German Ideology (see present edition, Vol, 5, pp. 117-443).
19 Marx, Ruge and Bernays were expelled from France for contributing to the newspaper Vorwärts! The French authorities issued the expulsion decree on 11 January 1845, under pressure from the Prussian Government. Hearing about this, Marx hastened to warn Ruge despite the ideological conflict between them (the postmark on the envelope shows that the letter was written on 15 January). The expulsion decree was handed to Marx together with the order to leave Paris within a week. Marx prepared to leave for Brussels on 3 February (see this volume, p, 21).
20 The letter is not dated. The postmark shows that it was sent on 20 January 1845, but its contents prove that Engels wrote it over several days.
An excerpt from this letter was published in English for the first time in: Marx and Engels, Selected Correspondence, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1955; published in English in full for the first time in Letters of the Young Engels. 1838-1845, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1976.
21 This letter of Marx has not been found.
22 Engels took part in preparing the publication of the Elberfeld journal Gesellschaftsspiegel, in drawing up its programme and in compiling the prospectus published in the first issue in the form of the editorial address (see present edition, Vol. 4, pp. 671-74). The prospectus reflected Engels’ intention that the journal should expose the evils of the capitalist system and defend the interests of the workers by criticising half-measures and advocating a radical transformation of the social system. But at the same time, not a few abstract philanthropic sentiments in the spirit of ‘true socialism’, emanating from Hess, found a place in the prospectus. Dissatisfaction with the position adopted by Hess was apparently one reason why Engels refused to become one of the editors. Under the editorship of Hess the journal very soon became a mouthpiece of the reformist and sentimental ideas of ‘true socialism’.-16, 23
23 Ein Handwerker (An Artisan) was the pseudonym under which Lebenslieder, a cycle of poems by J. F. Martens, was published in Vorwärts! on 24 August, 4 September and 20 October 1844, and the article ‘Über Handwerksunterricht’ on 25 December.
24 Under the press laws existing in a number of German states, only publications exceeding 20 printed sheets were exempted from preliminary censorship. The size of the Rheinische Jahrbücher exempted it from censorship, but the police of the Grand Duchy of Hesse nevertheless confiscated the first volume of the journal which was published in Darmstadt in August 1845 and banned its publication altogether. The second volume was published in Belle-Vue, Switzerland, at the end of 1846.
25 On Engels’ intention to write a book on the social history of England (it was also to deal with the history of English social thought) see Note 15.
26 Engels’ reference is to the Berlin confectioner who owned a shop in the Gendarmenmarkt where ‘The Free’ used to have their meetings.
27 The letter has no date. The approximate date of its writing is established on the basis of Marx’s mentioning in it his imminent departure from Paris due to the expulsion decree issued against him by the French authorities (see Note 19), and also his meeting with the publisher Leske during which he probably concluded the contract for publishing his Kritik der Politik und National-Ökonomie (for the text of the contract see present edition, Vol. 4, p. 675) which was signed on 1 February 1845.
This letter was first published in English in full in The Letters of Karl Marx, selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliff, New Jersey, 1979.
28 The first English translation of this letter was published in Letters of the Young Engels. 1838-1845, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1976.
29 On Marx’s expulsion, see Note 19.
Soon after his arrival in Brussels from Paris Marx was followed by his wife Jenny Marx and daughter Jenny (born on 1 May 1844). it was with great difficulty that Jenny Marx had managed to get the money for the journey.
30 Engels’ apprehensions proved to be well founded. When Marx arrived in Brussels the Belgian authorities demanded that Marx should undertake not to publish anything concerning current politics in Belgium. Marx was compelled to undertake such an obligation on 22 March 1845 (see present edition, Vol. 4, p. 677 and this volume, p. 31). The Prussian Government, too, did not leave Marx in peace and pressed for his expulsion from Belgium. To deprive the Prussian authorities of the pretext for interfering in his life, Marx officially renounced his Prussian citizenship in December 1845.
31 Feuerbach’s letter to Engels and that of Marx and Engels to Feuerbach have not been found.
32 The meetings in Elberfeld on 8, 15 and 22 February 1845 were described by Engels in the third article of the series ‘Rapid Progress of Communism in Germany’ published in The New Moral World in May 1845 (see present edition, Vol. 4, pp. 237-42). Engels’ speeches at the first two meetings were published in the Rheinische Jahrbücher zur gesellschaftlichen Reform (ibid., pp. 243-64). Further meetings were banned by the police.
33 The socialist circle in Westphalia and the Rhine Province, with which Engels maintained close contacts and whose members were Otto Lüning and Julius Meyer, was mentioned in the report of the Prussian police superintendent Duncker to the Minister of the Interior Bodelschwingh of 18 October 1845. This report contains the following remark concerning Engels: ‘Friedrich Engels of Barmen is a quite reliable man, but he has a son who is a rabid communist and wanders about as a man of letters; it is possible that his name is Frederick.'
34 This refers to the General Association for Relief and Education founded in Cologne in November 1844 (see Note 14)
35 Cabinets noirs (secret offices or black offices) were established under the postal departments in France, Prussia, Austria and a number of other countries to deal with the inspection of correspondence. They had been in existence since the time of the absolute monarchies in Europe.
36 The Holy Family by Marx and Engels was published about 24 February 1845.
37 The projected publication in Germany of the. ‘Library of the Best Foreign Socialist Writers’ was also discussed by Marx and Engels in their subsequent letters (see this volume, pp. 27-28). Engels mentioned it in the third article of his series ‘Rapid Progress of Communism in Germany’ published in May 1845 in The New Moral World. In early March 1845 Marx drew up a list of authors to be included in the ‘Library’ (see present edition, Vol. 4, pp. 241 and 667). This list shows that ‘Library’ was intended to he an extensive publication in German of works by French and English utopian socialists. The project was not realised because of publishing difficulties. The only work completed was ‘A Fragment of Fourier’s on Trade’ compiled by Engels and published with his introduction and conclusion in the Deutsches Bürgerbuch für 1846 (see present edition, Vol. 4, pp, 613-44).
38 Here Engels has in mind Marx’s Kritik der Politik und National-Ökonomie and probably his own work on the social history of England (see notes 5 and 15).
39 Marx’s letter mentioned here has not been found. judging by this letter of Engels, Marx expressed there his thoughts about the ‘Library of the Best Foreign Socialist Writers’.
40 Engels means the translation of Charles Fourier’s unfinished work Section ébauchée des trois unités externes published posthumously in the journal La Phalange for 1845. The same journal published Fourier’s manuscripts on cosmogony. Excerpts from his first work in Engels’ translation made up the core of the latter’s ‘A Fragment of Fourier’s on Trade’ (see present edition, Vol. 4, pp, 613-44).
41 This letter adds new aspects to the intention of Marx and Engels to criticise in the press List’s book Das nationals System der politischen Oekonomie (see Note 16). Judging by the publisher Leske’s letter to Marx of 14 May 1845, at the latter’s request conveyed to him by Püttmann, Leske had sent Marx the book he needed for this purpose: K. H. Ran, Zur Kritik über F. List’s nationales System der politischen Oekonomie, Heidelberg, 1843 (see MEGA2, Abt. Ill, Bd. 1, S. 465). However, the intention of Marx and Engels to criticise List in Püttmann’s Rheinische Jahrbücher did not materialise.
42 Engels left Barmen for Brussels early in April 1845.
43 This letter was first published in English in full in The Letters of Karl Marx, selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliff, New Jersey, 1979.
44 Julius Campe’s letter to Engels mentioned here has not been found.
45 The available sources do not allow us to establish what publication is meant here. It can only be supposed that it was connected with the intention of Marx and Engels to write a critical work against List (see notes 16 and 41). Many years later Engels recalled in his letter to Hermann Schlüter of 29 January 1891 that in the forties or some years later they simulated a dispute in which Marx defended free trade and Engels protective tariffs. This recollection may have been a late reflection of that intention.
46 Queen Victoria already had five children by that time.
47 During his trip to England with Marx in July-August 1845 Engels again met in Manchester Mary Burns, an Irish working woman with whom he had become acquainted as far back as 1843. They now began their life together and Mary also left for Brussels.
48 This letter has no date. The approximate time of its writing was established on the basis of a letter written to Marx on 8 May 1846 by P. V. Annenkov (see ,MEGA2, Abt. III, Bd. 2, S. 187) who had brought this particular letter from Brussels to Paris. Annenkov wrote that he had already been in Paris over a month.
49 The bulk of the letter was compiled by Marx, copied by Gigot and signed by Marx. Without the P.S. by Marx and the additions by Gigot and Engels, it was first published in English in: Marx and Engels, Selected Correspondence, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1955.
50Having left Paris (see Note 19) Marx arrived in Brussels at the beginning of February. During his three-year stay there he lived mostly in the Hotel Bois Sauvage, where he and his family moved at the beginning of May 1846.
51 A reference to the Communist Correspondence Committee formed by Marx and Engels at the beginning of 1846 in Brussels. Its aim was to prepare the ground for the creation of an international proletarian party. The Committee had no strictly defined composition. Besides the Belgian communist Philippe Gigot, Joseph Weydemeyer, Wilhelm Wolff, Edgar von Westphalen and others were equal members at various times. As a rule, the Committee discussed problems of communist propaganda, corresponded with the leaders of existing proletarian organisations (the League of the Just, Chartist organisations), tried to draw Proudhon, Cabet and other socialists into its work, and issued lithographed circulars. On the initiative of Marx and Engels, correspondence committees and groups connected with the Brussels Committee were set up in Silesia, Westphalia and the Rhine Province, Paris and London. These committees played an important role in the development of international proletarian contacts and the organisation of the Communist League in 1847.
52 Marx has in mind members of the League of the Just in Paris and the German Workers’ Educational Society in London.
The League of the Just — the first political organisation of German workers and artisans — was formed between 1836 and 1838 as a result of a split in the Outlaws’ League, which consisted of artisans led by petty-bourgeois democrats. The League of the Just, whose supreme body — the People’s Chamber — was in Paris, and from the autumn of 1846 in London, was connected with French secret conspiratorial societies and had groups in Germany, Switzerland and England. Besides Germans it included workers of other nationalities. The views of the League’s members showed the influence of various utopian socialist ideas, primarily those of Wilhelm Weitling.
The German Workers’ Educational Society in London was founded in February 1840 by Kari Schapper, Joseph Moll and other members of the League of the Just, its aim being political education of workers and dissemination of socialist ideas among them. After the Communist League had been founded the leading role in the Society belonged to the League’s local communities. In 1847 and 1849-50 Marx and Engels took an active part in the Society’s work.
53 In his reply to Marx of 17 May 1846 Proudhon refused to collaborate and declared that he was opposed to revolutionary methods of struggle and to communism (see MEGA2, Abt. III, Bd. 2, S. 205-07).
51 A reference to the fee due to Bernays for an article which seems to have been an extract from his manuscript on crimes and criminal law, then being prepared for printing by the publisher Leske but was demanded back by the author because of careless typesetting. Marx wanted to include this article in the quarterly journal the planned publication of which was discussed with Westphalian publishers in 1845 and 1846 (see Note 57). Thanks to Marx’s mediation, Bernays, who was in need of money, received two advances on his article. But as the planned publication of the quarterly did not take place, Bernays’ work, in the form he had conceived it, was not published.
55 The visit to Liège in the first half of May 1846 mentioned here by Marx seems to have been his second visit there; there is some evidence that Marx stopped in Liège at the beginning of February 1845 on his way from Paris to Brussels.
56 This seems to refer to the undiscovered reply by the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee’ to Weydemeyer’s letter of 30 April 1846.
57 A reference to the two volumes of a quarterly journal the publication of which was negotiated in 1845 and 1846 with a number of Westphalian socialists, the publishers Julius Meyer and Rudolph Rempel among others. Marx and Engels intended to publish in it their criticism of The German Ideology which they started to write in the autumn of 1845. It was also planned to publish a number of polemical works by their fellow-thinkers, in the first place those containing criticism of German philosophical literature and the works of the ‘true socialists’.
In November 1845 Hess reached an agreement with Meyer and Rempel on financing the publication of two volumes of the quarterly. Further negotiations were conducted by Weydemeyer, who visited Brussels in February 1846 and returned to Germany in April on the instruction of the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee. In a letter to the Committee of 30 April 1846 from Schildesche (Westphalia) he wrote that no headway was being made and that he proposed that Meyer should form a joint-stock company in Limburg (Holland), as in Germany manuscripts of less than 20 printed sheets were subject to preliminary censorship. He also recommended that Marx should sign a contract with the Brussels publisher and bookseller C. G. Vogler for the distribution of the quarterly and other publications. The contract was not concluded because Vogler could not assume even part of the expenses.
Weydemeyer continued his efforts, but succeeded only in getting from Meyer a guarantee for the publication of one volume. But as early as July 1846 Meyer and Rempel refused their promised assistance on the pretext of financial difficulties, the actual reason being differences in principle between Marx and Engels on the one hand and the champions of ‘true socialism’ on the other, whose views both publishers shared.
Marx and Engels did not abandon their hopes of publishing the works ready for the quarterly, if only by instalments, but their attempts failed. The extant manuscript of The German Ideology was first published in full in the Soviet Union in 1932.
58 The reference is to Joseph Weydemeyer’s letters to Engels and Gigot of 13 May, and to Marx of 14 May 1846 with the current information on the negotiations with the publishers Meyer and Rempel on the publication of a quarterly. Weydemeyer wrote to Marx that because of the financial difficulties the Westphalian publishers would be able to pay in the near future only a limited sum of his fee on account.
Engels’ reply mentioned here to Weydemeyer’s first letter has not been found.
59 On 1 February 1845 Marx signed a contract with the publisher Leske (see notes 5 and 27) for the publication of his Kritik der Politik und National-Ökonomie. But as early as March 1846 Leske suggested that Marx find another publisher and, in case he did find one, return him the advance received. Therefore Marx hoped to repay Leske either when he signed a contract with a new publisher or out of the sum received for financing the planned publication. But Marx was unable either to sign a new contract or to fulfil his intention to write a work on economics, and in February 1847 the contract with Leske was cancelled.
60 Marx has in mind a group of bourgeois-democratic intellectuals, Georg Jung among others, who contributed to the Rheinische Zeitung and were already enthusiastic about socialist ideas in 1842. Georg Jung, however, who was on friendly terms with Marx and supported his criticism of the Young Hegelians, left the socialist movement in 1846.
61 Marx’s letter to Herwegh has not been found.
62 Marx writes here about the advance which Hess had probably already received from Meyer and Rempel for his collaboration in preparing the quarterly planned by Marx and Engels. Hess wrote articles on A. Ruge ('Dottore Graziano, der Bajazzo der deutschen Philosophic') and G. Kuhlmann ('Der Dr. Georg Kuhlmann aus Holstein oder die Prophetic des wahren Sozialismus') for the first two volumes of the quarterly. Later Hess tried in vain to have the first article published separately, and finally, on 5 and 8 August 1847, it was printed in the Deutsche-Brüsseler-Zeitung under the title ‘Dottore Grazianos Werke. Zwei Jahre in Paris. Studien und Erinnerungen von A. Ruge’. The article on G. Kuhlmann, edited by Marx and Engels, was included in The German Ideology and published as Chapter V of Volume 11 (see present edition, Vol. 5, pp. 531-39).
63 In 1846 the Government of Frederick William IV began the transformation of the Prussian Bank into a joint-stock company in order to draw private capital to redeem the state debts. The management of the bank was left in the hands of the Government (see F. Engels, ‘The Prussian Bank Question’, present edition, Vol. 6, p. 57). The reorganisation of the Bank was completed by 1 January 1847 on the basis of a decree of 5 October 1846.
64 Judging by Marx’s letter to Leske of 1 August 1846 (see this volume, pp. 49-52), it may be assumed that in the first half of August Marx had a 12 or 14 days’ holiday with Engels at Ostend.
66 C. F. J. Leske, with whom Marx had signed a contract for the publication of his Kritik der Politik und National-Ökonomie on 1 February 1845 (see Note 5; the text of the contract is published in the present edition, Vol. 4, p. 675), wrote to Marx on 16 March 1846 that he doubted the possibility of publishing the book owing to the growing repression in Prussia against opposition literature. Marx’s reply (presumably of 18 March 1846) to this letter and his other letters to Leske mentioned below have not been found.
On 31 March 1846 Leske sent Marx a second letter proposing to him to find another publisher who would agree to redeem the advance received by the author. In a letter of 29 July 1846 he asked Marx whether he had found such a publisher and informed him that, if he had not, he could publish the book with the imprint of another publishing house. He stressed the necessity of giving the book a strictly academic character. In reply Marx wrote the letter which is published here according to the extant draft, which has many author’s corrections and stylistic improvements. On 19 September 1846 Leske informed Marx that he could not publish the book because of the severe censorship.
67 See Notes 57 and 62.
68 On the formation of a joint-stock company for the publication and distribution of socialist and communist literature, see Note 57.
In the summer of 1846 the project found support among the members of the socialist movement in Cologne (Bürgers, d'Ester, Hess). Some German bourgeois sympathising with socialism were also expected to finance the publication. This and other similar projects were repeatedly discussed by Marx and Engels in their correspondence. The present letter also deals with this below.
69 During his trip to England with Engels in July-August 1845, Marx studied works by the English economists and utopian socialists in the library of the Athenaeum in Manchester.
70 Engels arrived in Paris on 15 August 1846 entrusted by the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee with communist propaganda among the workers, primarily among the members of the Paris communities of the League of the Just (see Note 52), and with founding a correspondence committee. After failing to draw Weitling into the activities of the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee, Marx and Engels broke with him in the spring of 1846, and particular importance was attached to the struggle against the sectarian views of his followers, who advocated crude egalitarian communism, and against ‘true socialism’, a petty-bourgeois socialist trend which spread between 1844 and 1846 among German intellectuals and artisans, including emigrants in France. ‘True socialism’ was a mixture of the idealistic aspects of Feuerbachianism with French utopian socialism in ail emasculated form. As a result, socialist teaching was turned into abstract sentimental moralising divorced from real needs.
71 A reference to the negotiations which Weydemeyer helped to conduct with Meyer and Rempel on the publication of a quarterly. Marx and Engels wanted to publish in it their manuscripts which later appeared under the title of The German Ideology (see Note 57). During the negotiations the Westphalian publishers continually twisted and turned, and finally refused to finance the publication.
Joseph Weydemeyer was an artillery lieutenant dismissed from the Prussian army for political reasons.
72 Engels refers here to the critical work against L. Feuerbach which Marx was still writing in the second half of 1846 and which was to be included in the first volume of the planned two-volume edition of polemical works directed also against Bauer, Stirner, Ruge and Grün (see Note 57). Marx did not finish this work and later it became Chapter 1 of The German Ideology written jointly by him and Engels.
73 The letter of Engels and Ewerbeck to Bernays has not been found.
74 Apart from the letters to Marx containing information on his activities in Paris, in the autumn of 1846 Engels sent several letters to other members of the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee (Ph. Gigot, W. Wolff, et al.) C/0 Marx, marked ‘Committee’ and numbered. They differed from official reports to an organisation and rather recalled private correspondence between close friends.
75 On the struggle against the Weitlingians in the League of the Just, particularly in its Paris communities, see Note 70.
76 A reference to a machine invented by Weitling for making ladies’ straw hats.
77 The congress of liberal press representatives was held in Paris in 1846. The committee it elected drew up a draft electoral reform which became the main demand of the liberal opposition to the July monarchy. The sponsors of the congress did their utmost to prevent more radical circles, including the workers who supported L'Atelier (a journal of Christian socialists), from attending it and taking part in drafting a constitution. At the same time they simulated its ,unanimous’ approval by all opposition press organs.
78 This letter has reached us in the form of an extract quoted in Bernays’ reply to Marx of August 1846. Bernays touches on criticism of various alien trends, including ‘true socialism’, as an ideological prerequisite for the creation of a revolutionary party (see MEGA2, Abt. III, Bd. 2, S. 294).
79 The letter of Marx and other members of the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee to Engels mentioned here has not been found.
80 A reference to the Paris communities of the League of the Just (see Note 52).
81 Barrière meetings were Sunday assemblies of members of the League of the Just held at the Paris city gates (barrières). As a police agent reported on 1 February 1845, 30 to 200 German emigrants gathered in premises rented for this purpose from a wine-merchant in avenue de Vincennes near the city gate.
82 By ‘tailors’ communism’ Engels means the utopian communism of W. Weitling and his followers — see Note 70).
Karl Grim, who visited Paris in 1846-47, preached ‘true socialism’ (see Note 70) and Proudhon’s petty-bourgeois reformist ideas among the German workers.
83 Adolph Junge, a cabinet-maker from Düsseldorf, was a notable figure in the Paris communities of the League of the Just in the early 1840s. At the end of June 1846, after a short visit to Cologne, he returned to Paris via Brussels where he met Marx and Engels. In Paris he vigorously opposed Grün and other advocates of ‘true socialism’ and became an associate of Engels when the latter was in Paris. At the end of March 1847, the French police expelled Junge from the country.
84 Grün’s German translation of Proudhon’s book was published in Darmstadt in February (Volume 1) and in May (Volume If) 1847 under the title Philosophie der Staatsökonomie oder Notwendigkeit des Elends.
85 By labour-bazars or labour markets Engels means equitable-labour exchange bazars which were organised by the Owenites and Ricardian socialists (John Gray, William Thompson, John Bray) in various towns of England in the 1830s for fair exchange without a capitalist intermediary. The products were exchanged for labour notes, or labour money, certificates showing the cost of the products delivered, calculated on the basis of the amount of labour necessary for their production. The organisers considered these bazars as a means for publicising the advantages of a non-capitalist form of exchange and a peaceful way — together with cooperatives — of transition to socialism. The subsequent and invariable bankruptcy of such enterprises proved their utopian character.
86 Straubingers — travelling journeymen in Germany. Marx and Engels used this term for German artisans, including some participants in the working-class movement of that time, who were still largely swayed by guild prejudices and cherished the petty-bourgeois illusion that it was possible to return from capitalist large-scale industry to petty handicraft production.
87 Engels refers to Proudhon’s letter to Marx of 17 May 1846, in which he turned down a proposal to work in the correspondence committees (see Note 53).
88 Engels had been misled by Karl Bernays and Heinrich Börnstein as he later pointed out in his letter to Marx of 15 January 1847 (see this volume, p. 109). The item in the Allgemeine Zeitung dealt with the tsarist spy Y. N. Tolstoy and not with the Russian liberal landowner G. M. Tolstoy whose acquaintance Marx and Engels had made in Paris.
89 During the campaign for the elections to the local councils in Cologne which started at the end of June 1846, it was obvious at the very first meetings that the Cologne communists had a considerable influence on the petty-bourgeois electors (the Prussian workers were virtually deprived of suffrage). In the course of the election campaign, disorders took place in Cologne on 3 and 4 August, and were suppressed by the army. The people indignantly demanded that the troops should be withdrawn to their barracks and a civic militia organised. Karl d'Ester, a Cologne communist, described these disturbances in an unsigned pamphlet Bericht über die Ereignisse zu Köln vom 3. und 4. August und den folgenden Tagen, published in Mannheim in 1846.
90 By materialists Engels meant associates of Théodore Dézamy and other revolutionary representatives of French utopian communism who drew their socialist conclusions from the teaching of the eighteenth-century French materialist philosophers. In the 1840s there existed in France a society of materialist communists which consisted of workers; in July 1847 eleven of its members were brought to trial by the French authorities.
91 By spiritualists Engels must have meant the editors of the Fraternité who were influenced by the religious-socialist ideas of Pierre Leroux, and by the ‘Christian socialism’ of Philippe Buchez and Félicité Lamennais.
92 An extract from this letter was published in English for the first time in: Marx and Engels, Selected Correspondence, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1955.
93 When the Westphalian publishers Meyer and Rempel finally refused to help in the publication of the polemical works of Marx and Engels (The German Ideology), of Hess and other authors (see Note 57), Marx demanded, through Weydemeyer, that the manuscripts ready for publication should be dispatched from Westphalia to Roland Daniels in Cologne. This decision was taken because there was a project to start a joint-stock company for the publication of socialist literature, which was supported by a group of Cologne communists (see Note 68). Here Engels asks Marx how the project was faring.
94 In July 1846 Das Westphälische Dampfboot published ‘Circular Against Kriege’ written by Marx and Engels. However, the editor of the journal, Otto Lüning, a representative of ‘true socialism’ criticised in the circular, subjected the text to tendentious editing and in a number of places glossed over the sharp principled criticism of this trend. Yet he had to admit in the conclusion that in publishing the circular the journal was criticising itself.
95 Engels’ letter to Püttmann has not been found.
In the summer of 1846 Hermann Püttmann, a radical journalist and ‘true socialist’, put out a prospectus of the journal Prometheus, whose publication was planned. Among its probable contributors he included ‘people in Brussels’, i.e. members of the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee. The only issue — a double one — of Prometheus appeared at the end of 1846. Neither Marx nor Engels contributed to it.
96 A reference to the joint address of the German Readers’ Society and German Workers’ Educational Society in London (see Note 52) on the Schleswig-Holstein problem. When the Educational Society passed it on 13 September 1846, it was printed as a leaflet; then it was published in the Deutsche Londoner Zeitung, No. 77, 18 September 1846 and, translated into English, in The Northern Star, No. 463, 27 September 1846.
As early as 17 September the leaflets were delivered to Paris and distributed by the members of the League of the Just. It was then that Engels acquainted himself with the address.
The address to the working people of Schleswig and Holstein emphasised the interests common to the workers of all countries. But the attempt to contrast proletarian internationalism with bourgeois nationalism did not escape the influence of ‘true socialism’, which opposed the struggle for bourgeois-democratic freedoms and the bourgeois-democratic national movements.
97 The Customs Union (Zollverein) of German states (initially including 18 states), establishing a common customs frontier, was founded in 1834 and headed by Prussia. By the 1840s the Union embraced all the German states except Austria, the Hanseatic towns (Bremen, Lübeck, Hamburg) and some small states. Formed owing to the necessity for an all-German market, the Customs Union subsequently promoted Germany’s political unification.
98 An allusion to the Berliner Zeitungs-Halle published by Gustav Julius from 1846 and used by him to attack the liberal bourgeoisie using typically ‘true socialist’ arguments. By these tactics the Prussian ruling circles wanted to cause clashes between the different opposition groups.
During the 1848-49 revolution, however, the Berliner Zeitungs-Halle expressed the views of the left democratic forces.
99 The government of Christian VIII tried in all possible ways to strengthen its rule over the German population in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein which had been ceded to Denmark by decision of the Vienna Congress of 18 15. On the other hand, up to 1848 the national movement in Schleswig-Holstein did not go beyond the bounds of moderate liberal opposition and pursued the separatist aim of setting up another small German state. Influenced by the revolutionary events of 1848, however, it assumed a liberation character. The struggle for the secession of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark became a part of the progressive struggle in Germany for the national unification of the country and was supported by Marx and Engels.
100 Dithmarschen — a district in the south-west of present-day Schleswig-Holstein. It was remarkable for its peculiar historical development; in particular, up to the second half of the nineteenth century there were still survivals of patriarchal customs and the communal system preserved among the peasants even after the conquest by Danish and Holstein feudal lords in the sixteenth century.
101 A reference to the Cologne citizens’ protest against the official report of the War Minister von Boyen, the Minister of the interior von Bodelschwingh and the Chief Counsellor of Justice Ruppenthal on the Cologne disturbances of 3 and 4 August 1846 (see Note 89).
102 A reference to the General Synod convened in Berlin in the summer of 1846 on the initiative of Frederick William IV, at which an unsuccessful attempt was made to reduce the differences between the Lutheran and Reformist (Calvinist) trends of Protestantism, the contradictions between which grew more acute despite their forced union in 1817.
103 Droit d'aubaine (the right of escheat) — a feudal custom widespread in France and other countries during the Middle Ages, according to which the property of aliens dying without heirs reverted to the crown.
104 From 1841 Friedrich Walthr published the radical Trier’sche Zeitung, which during the period dealt with was a mouthpiece of the ‘true socialists’, but he had no influence on the paper’s political line.
105 A reference to the numerous anonymous pamphlets (about thirty, as Engels pointed out in his ‘Government and Opposition in France’, see present edition, Vol. 6, pp. 61-63) published in France against Rothschild (one of the authors was the French worker Dairnvaell). Directed against one of the biggest bankers of France, they testified to the growing opposition to the July monarchy regime which relied on financial tycoons.
106 Only an extract of this letter has survived. In it Engels discusses the project of starting a company for the publication of socialist and communist literature (see notes 57 and 68).
The date of this letter was established by the fact that this extract and Engels’ letter to Marx of 18 September 1846 deal with the same project.
107 A reference to assemblies of the estates introduced in Prussia in 1823. They embraced the heads of princely families, representatives of the knightly estate, i.e. the nobility, of towns and rural communities. The election system based oil the principle of landownership provided for a majority of the nobility in the assemblies. The competency of the assemblies was restricted to questions of local economy and administration. They also had the right to express their desires on government bills submitted for discussion.
108 This letter is not dated. The time of its writing was established by the fact that at the end of the letter Engels mentions a meeting of the Paris communities of the League of the Just which was to take place ‘this evening’. Judging by his letter to the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee of 23 October 1846 that meeting was held on Sunday, 18 October (see this volume, p. 82).
109 A reference to the following passage in the preface mentioned: ‘The evil is not in the head or the heart, but in the stomach of mankind. But of what help is all the clarity and healthiness of the head and the heart, when the stomach is ill, the basis of human existence spoilt’ (L. Feuerbach, Sämtliche Werke, Bd. 1, Leipzig, 1846, S. XV).
110 Marx’s letter to Engels mentioned here has not been found.
111 Engels probably means a special pamphlet (see p. 28 and notes 16 and 41) in which he intended to develop the criticism of the German protectionists, particularly List, which he had made in his second ‘Elberfeld speech’ (see present edition, Vol. 4, pp. 256-64), The manuscript of the pamphlet has not been found.
112 A reference to the polemical material against the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee published in the Volks-Tribun by its editor Hermann Kriege in reply to the ‘Circular Against Kriege’ by Marx and Engels. On the demand of the Committee the ‘Circular’ was published in the newspaper under the title ‘Eine Bannbulle’ but was accompanied by insinuations against its authors (Der Volks-Tribun, Nos. 23 and 24, 6 and 13 June 1846).
113 In October 1846 Marx wrote a second circular against Kriege, but it has not been found so far.
114 Engels’ intention to use the projected journal Die Pariser Horen for communist propaganda did not materialise. The journal appeared from January to June 1847 and carried works by Herwegh, Heine, Freiligrath, Mäurer and other authors; in general, it was influenced by ‘true socialism’ and that this would be its line had already been proved by the editorial introduction to the first issue.
115 This letter was published in English in part for the first time in: Marx and Engels, Selected Correspondence, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1955.
116 At the beginning of this letter Engels gives the name Straubingers (see Note 86) to the members of the Paris communities of the League of the Just (see Note 52) who supported the ‘true socialist’ Karl Grün. Further on he uses it to denote advocates of ‘true socialism’ among the German artisans, including those living in the USA.
117 A reference to an uprising in Geneva which began in October 1846; as a result the radical bourgeoisie came to power and rallied the advanced Swiss cantons in their struggle against the Sonderbund, the separatist union of Catholic cantons.
118 A reference to the civil war in Portugal which was caused by the actions taken by the dictatorial ruling Coburg dynasty against the popular uprising. It broke out in the spring of 1846 and was crushed in the summer of 1847 with the help of British and Spanish interventionists.
119 This letter is not dated. The time of its writing is ascertained by Engels’ reference to a letter he wrote almost at the same time to the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee on 23 October 1846 and by the Brussels postmark of 24 October.
The letter was published in English in part for the first time in: Marx and Engels, Selected Correspondence, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1955.
120 Engels refers to the second (October) Circular against Kriege (see Note 113).
121 Weitling was in Brussels with intervals from February to December 1846, when he left for France and later to the USA.
122 Fraternal Democrats — an international democratic society founded in London on 22 September 1845. It embraced representatives of Left Chartists, German workers and craftsmen — members of the League of the Just — and revolutionary emigrants of other nationalities. During their stay in England in the summer of 1845, Marx and Engels helped in preparing for the meeting at which the society was formed, but did not attend it as they had by then left London. Later they kept in constant touch with the Fraternal Democrats trying to influence the proletarian core of the society, which joined the Communist League in 1847, and through it the Chartist movement. The society ceased its activities in 1859.
Engels’ letter to Harney mentioned here has not been found.
123 This is a postscript by Engels to the letter Bernays wrote to Marx on 2 November 1846 (see text of the letter in MEGA2, Abt. III, Bd. 2, S. 62-63).
124 A reference to Bernays’ article on crimes and criminal law (see Note 54). When speaking about printed stuff, Engels seems to have in mind proofs of Bernays’ work on the above subject, which the latter demanded back front the publisher Leske.
125 Engels’ letter to the Swiss publisher J. M. Schläpfer who printed works by opposition writers (F. Freiligrath, K. Heinzen and others), written prior to 2 November 1846, has not been found.
126 This letter is not dated. The approximate time of its writing is established from reference to the London Correspondence Committee’s letter to the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee of 11 November 1846, which was probably sent to Engels in Paris in mid-November. Other evidence for establishing the date of the letter is that it mentions Proudhon’s Philosophie de la misère, which Marx received in Brussels not earlier than 15 December 1846 (see this volume, p. 96). Judging by this letter, Engels did not yet know that Marx had obtained Proudhon’s book.
127 Disturbances among workers took place in the Faubourg St. Antoine in Paris from 30 September to 2 October 1846. They were caused by the intended raising of the price of bread. The workers stormed bakers’ shops and raised barricades, there were clashes with troops. Paris members of the League of the Just were suspected by police of participating in the disturbances.
Engels’ letter to Gigot mentioned above has not been found.
Straubingers — see notes 86 and 116.
128 Ewerbeck had left for Lyons at that time.
129 A reference to the complications which arose in the relations of Marx and Engels with the leaders of the League of the Just in London (Karl Schapper, Joseph Moll, Heinrich Bauer). The latter maintained contacts with the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee and together with Harney formed a correspondence committee in London (below Engels writes about Harney’s correspondence with Brussels and his letter of 11 November 1846 in particular). However, Schapper, Moll and Bauer, influenced by certain immature ideas of utopian ‘working-class communism’, including those of Weitling, were still very cautious at that time in regard to revolutionary theoreticians — ‘scholars’. They did not approve of Marx’s and Engels’ attacks on Kriege and other ‘true socialists’, sought ways of reconciling various trends and, with this aim in view, planned to convene a congress of participants in the communist movement early in May 1847. In this connection they issued an address to the League of the Just members in November 1846. Marx and Engels considered that to convene such a congress without thorough preparation and dissociation from the trends hostile to the proletariat would be premature. The effect of scientific communist ideas, however, proved stronger than sectarian and backward tendencies. At the beginning of 1847 the London leaders of the League of the Just themselves took a step to remove their differences and draw closer to Marx and Engels.
130 The address of the German Workers’ Educational Society in London to Johannes Ronge, leader of the bourgeois trend of German Catholics, was drawn up by Weitling in March 1845 and testified to the immature views of the leaders of the Society and the League of the Just. The document developed the idea that the Christian religion, ‘purified’ and reformed, could serve communism.
On the address of the Educational Society in London about Schleswig-Holstein, see Note 96.
131 At that time the Verlagsbuchhandlung zu Belle-Vue was owned by Johann Marmor and August Schmid. It is impossible to establish which of the two Engels means. In December 1846 the firm moved to Constance.
132 As is seen from the publisher Löwenthal’s letter to Engels of 11 March 1847 (included in MEGA2, Abt. III, Rd. 2, S. 330), Engels intended to have his ‘Die Gegenwart der blonden Race’ printed by J. Rütten of Literarische Anstalt publishers. Judging by Engels’ letter to Marx of 10 December 1851, Engels returned to this subject after the 1848-49 revolution, which had interrupted his studies (see this volume, p. 509). However, there is no, information as to whether he realised his intention.
133 The Order of the Dannebrog (Order of the Danish State Banner) — an Order of Danish knights founded in 1671.
134 Engels’ report to the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee has not been found.
135 Marx wrote this letter in reply to the request of his Russian acquaintance Pavel Vasilyevich Annenkov for his opinion on Proudhon’s Système des contradictions économiques, ou Philosophie de la misère. On 1 November 1846 Annenkov wrote to Marx, concerning Proudhon’s book: ‘I admit that the actual plan of the work seems to be a jeu d'esprit, designed to give a glimpse of German philosophy, rather than something grown naturally out of the subject and requirements of its logical development.'
Marx’s profound and precise criticism of Proudhon’s views, and his exposition of dialectical and materialist views to counterbalance them, produced a strong impression even on Annenkov, who was far from materialism and communism. He wrote to Marx on 6 January 1847: ‘Your opinion of Proudhon’s book produced a truly invigorating effect on me by its preciseness, its clarity, and above all its tendency to keep within the bounds of reality’ (MEGA2, Abt. III, Bd. 2, S. 321).
When in 1880 Annenkov published his reminiscences ‘Remarkable Decade 1838-1848’ in the Vestnik Yevropy, he included in them long extracts from Marx’s letter. In 1883, the year when Marx died, these extracts, translated into German, were published in Die Neue Zeit and New-Yorker Volkszeitung.
The original has not been found. The first English translation of this letter was published in: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Correspondence. 1846-1895, Martin Lawrence Ltd., London, 1934.
136 Here Marx uses the word ‘cacadauphin’ by which during the French Revolution opponents of the absolutist regime derisively described the mustard-coloured cloth, recalling the colour of the Dauphin’s napkins, made fashionable by Queen Marie Antoinette.
137 Parliaments — juridical institutions which arose in France in the Middle Ages. They enjoyed the right to remonstrate government decrees. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries their members were officials of high birth called noblesse de robe (the nobility of the mantle). The parliaments, which finally became the bulwark of feudal opposition to absolutism and impeded the implementation of even moderate reforms, were abolished in 1790, during the French Revolution.
138 The letter was dated 1845 by mistake. The correct date was established on the basis of the contents and the postmark: ‘Paris 60, 15. Janv. 47'
An extract from this letter was published in English for the first time in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Literature and Art, International Publishers, N. Y., p. 81, 1947.
139 The reference here and below is to Marx’s possible removal to Paris and the documents he needed for that move. The text below shows that Marx had the permission of the Belgian authorities to stay in Belgium. It was issued to him after his expulsion from France in February 1845 and signed on 22 March 1845 on condition that Marx would not publish anything concerning current politics. Besides, on 1 December 1845 Marx received a certificate of renunciation of his Prussian citizenship and perhaps permission to emigrate to America for which he had applied in order to deprive the Prussian authorities of any pretext for interfering in his future. However, Marx was not able to go to Paris until after the February 1848 revolution.
140 An allusion to relations with Hess which deteriorated in February and March 1846 when Marx and Engels started a decisive struggle against ‘true socialism’ and Weitling’s utopian egalitarian communism. In air effort to avoid an open break, Marx and Engels persuaded Hess to leave Brussels in March 1846.
141 The reference is to The Poverty of Philosophy by Marx. He worked on it from the end of December 1846 to the beginning of April 1847. It came out early in July 1847 in Brussels and Paris. In it Marx compared Proudhon’s views and the theory of the British utopian communist John Bray. The latter advocated exchange of the products of labour without money as a method of transition to a society free from exploitation (see present edition, Vol. 6, pp. 138-44). Bray expounded his theory in his Labour’s Wrongs and Labour’s Remedy, Leeds, 1839. By ‘our publication’ Engels meant the manuscripts of The German Ideology intended for publication.
142 Here Engels refers to the second part of his and Marx’s joint work The German Ideology devoted to the critique of ‘true socialism’ (see present edition, Vol. 5, pp. 453-539). Engels continued his work on this section up to April 1847 and its results have reached us in the form of an unfinished manuscript ‘The True Socialists’ supplementing The German Ideology (see present edition, Vol. 5, pp. 540-81).
143 As is seen from this letter Engels originally intended to work up the article he had apparently written in the autumn of 1846 or early in 1847 on Grün’s Über Goethe for the second Part of The German Ideology, devoted to the critique of ,true socialism’. Later this article served as a basis for the second essay in the series German Socialism in Verse and Prose (see present edition, ‘Vol. 6, pp. 249-73). It is quite possible that Engels also used the manuscripts of The German Ideology for the first essay in that series. The essays on Grün were published in the Deutsche-Brüsseler-Zeitung, Nos. 93-98 of’ 21, 25 and 28 November and 2, 5 and 9 December 1847.
144 Engels has in mind the time the young Goethe spent among the burghers of his native town Frankfurt am Main, and his service at the Duke of Weimar’s court: from 1782 to 1786 Goethe held several high administrative posts, was a member of the Privy Council, Minister of Education, etc.
145 Marx’s letter to Zulauff has not been found. Like the letter published here, it apparently concerned the tasks facing the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee and the communist groups close to it when Marx and Engels joined the League of the Just as a result of their negotiations at the end of January and the beginning of February 1847 with Joseph Moll, a representative of the London leaders of the League who was sent to Brussels and Paris specially for this purpose. — The negotiations showed that the League leaders were prepared to recognise the principles of scientific communism as a basis when drawing up its programme and carrying out its reorganisation. Marx and Engels, therefore, called on their followers grouped around the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee not only to join the League of the Just but also to take an active part in its reorganisation.
146 See Note 86. Here the reference is to the members of the Paris communities of the League of the Just.
147 The reference is to Engels’ as yet unfound satirical pamphlet about Lola Montez, a favourite of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. The scandalous influence of this Spanish dancer on the policy of the Bavarian Government caused ill 1847-48 the appearance of numerous pamphlets, articles, cartoons, etc. Further on, the text (see p, 114) shows that Engels tried to have this pamphlet published b), Vogler in Brussels and by the Belle-Vue publishers in Switzerland. A letter has survived which Vogler wrote on 3 April 1847 in reply to Engels’ letter of 28 March which has riot been found. Engels’ proposal was rejected because of the censorship existing in the Great Duchy of Baden where the publishers had moved by that time.
148 The reference is to the rescripts by Frederick William IV of 3 February 1847 convening the United Diet — a united assembly of the eight provincial diets. The United Diet as well as the provincial diets consisted of representatives of the estates: the curia of high aristocracy and the curia of the other three estates (nobility, representatives of the towns and the peasantry). its powers were limited to authorising new taxes and loans, to voice without vote during the discussion of Bills, and to the right to present petitions to the King.
The United Diet opened on 11 April 1847, but it was dissolved as early as June because the majority refused to vote a new loan.
149 Engels intended to have this work published as a pamphlet by Vogler in Brussels who was printing Marx’s The Poverty of Philosophy. However, when Marx received the manuscript, Vogler had been arrested in Aachen (see this volume, p. 117). The part of the pamphlet which has reached us was first published in Russian in the USSR in 1929.
150 Communistes matérialistes — members of the secret society of materialist communists founded in the 1840s (see Note 90). The members of this society were tried in July 1847 and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
151 The persecution of the Paris members of the League of the Just by the French police was reported in an item datelined Paris, 2 April 1847, published in the Berliner Zeitungs-Halle, No. 81, 8 April 1847. It said of Engels: “Several police agents have also been to Fr. Engels, who lives here in great retirement and devotes himself only to economic and historical studies; naturally they could find nothing against him.”
152 Marx’s letter to Bakunin has not been found.
153 The reference is to a cartoon by Engels of Frederick William IV of Prussia delivering the speech from the throne at the opening of the United Diet in Berlin on 11 April 1847 (see present edition, Vol. 6, p. 67). This cartoon was published as a special supplement to the Deutsche-Brüsseler-Zeitung of 6 May 1847.
154 The reference is to the congress of the League of the Just at which, as agreed between the League leaders in London (H. Bauer, J. Moll, K. Schapper) and Marx and Engels early in 1847, the League was to be reorganised. The congress was held between 2 and 9 June 1847. Engels represented the Paris communities, and Wilhelm Wolff, briefed by Marx, was a delegate of the Brussels communists.
Engels’ active participation in the work of the congress affected the course and the results of its proceedings. The League was renamed the Communist League, the old motto of the League of the Just ‘All men are brothers’ was replaced by a new, Marxist one: ‘Working Men of All Countries, Unite!’ The congress expelled the Weitlingians from the League. The last sitting on 9 June approved the draft programme and the draft Rules of the League, which had been drawn up either by Engels or with his help (see present edition, Vol. 6, pp. 96-103 and 585-88). Both documents and the congress circular to the League members were sent to the local communities and districts for discussion to be finally approved at the next, second congress.
This congress laid the foundation for the first international proletarian communist organisation in history.
155 Engels arrived in Brussels about 27 July 1847 and stayed there up to mid-October. He actively contributed to enhancing the influence of the Communist League among the German workers residing in Belgium and to the establishment of international contacts between representatives of the proletarian movement and progressive democratic circles.
155a This letter was first published in English abridged in The Letters of Karl Marx, selected and translated with explanatory notes and an introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliff, New Jersey, 1979.
156 Marx refers here to the prospects of his and Engels’ regular collaboration in the Deutsche-Brüsseler-Zeitung. Previously they had only occasionally contributed to this emigrant newspaper, though they approved of the collaboration in it of W. Wolff, G. Weerth and others of their followers. On the whole up to that time the newspaper’s line had reflected the desire of its editor-in-chief, the petty-bourgeois democrat A. Bornstedt, to combine eclectic ideological trends in opposition. But financial and other difficulties compelled him to agree to the collaboration of the proletarian revolutionaries in the newspaper. From 9 September 1847 Marx and Engels were its regular contributors, directly influenced its line and at the end of 1847 concentrated editorial affairs in their own hands. During this period the newspaper became a mouthpiece of the proletarian party then being formed, virtually the press organ of the Communist League.
157 Engels wrote this letter to Marx when the latter was on a visit to his relatives in Holland to settle his financial affairs. At the end of September 1847 Marx spent a few days in Zalt-Bommel at his uncle’s (on his mother’s side), Lion Philips, and returned to Brussels early in October.
158 The German Workers’ Society was founded by Marx and Engels in Brussels at the end of August 1847, its aim being the political education of the German workers who lived in Belgium and dissemination of the ideas of scientific communism among them. With Marx, Engels and their followers at its head, the Society became the legal centre rallying the revolutionary proletarian forces in Belgium. Its most active members belonged to the Communist League. The Society played an important part in founding the Brussels Democratic Association. After the February 1848 revolution in France, the Belgian authorities arrested and banished many of its members.
159 The international banquet of democrats in Brussels on 27 September 1847, of which Engels speaks here, adopted the decision to found a Democratic Association. Engels was elected to its Organising Committee.
The Democratic Association united proletarian revolutionaries, mainly German refugees and advanced bourgeois and petty-bourgeois democrats. Marx and Engels took an active part in its establishment. On 15 November 1847 Marx was elected its Vice-President (the President was Lucien Jottrand, a Belgian democrat) and under his influence it became a centre of the international democratic movement. During the February 1848 revolution in France, the proletarian wing of the Brussels Democratic Association sought to arm the Belgian workers and to intensify the struggle for a democratic republic. However, when Marx was expelled from Brussels in March 1848 and the most revolutionary elements were repressed by the Belgian authorities, its activity assumed a narrow, purely local character and in 1849 the Association ceased to exist.
160 The text of Engels’ speech at the democratic banquet on 27 September 1847 is not extant. The recorded speeches of some speakers were published in the Deutsche-Brüsseler-Zeitung, No. 80, 7 October 1847.
161 The reference is to the newspaper Correspondence Bureau (Deutsche Zeitungs-Correspondenzbureau), set up by S. Seiler and K. Reinhardt in the spring of 1845. It supplied information and correspondence material to the German newspapers.
162 The reference is to Georg Weerth’s speech at the International Congress of Economists held in Brussels on 16-18 September 1847 to discuss free trade. Marx, Engels and Wilhelm Wolff also attended the congress, intending to make use of it to criticise bourgeois economics (the free trade doctrine, in particular) and to defend working-class interests. When Weerth made a speech along these lines the congress organisers closed the discussion on 18 September without allowing Marx to speak. Excerpts from Weerth’s speech were published in a few German, British and French newspapers. It was published in full in the Belgian Atelier Démocratique on 29 September 1847. A report on the proceedings of the congress is given by Engels in his articles ‘The Economic Congress’ and ‘The Free Trade Congress at Brussels’ (see present edition, Vol. 6, pp. 274-78 and 282-90).
163 This refers to the agreement reached with Bornstedt in September 1847 concerning Marx’s and Engels’ regular contribution to the Deutsche-Brüsseler-Zeitung (see Note 156).
164 The discussion of protective tariffs and free trade which had begun before Marx went on a visit to Holland continued at a meeting of the German Workers’ Society on 29 September 1847. To enliven this discussion Marx and Engels started a ‘sham battle’ which Engels later recalled in a letter to Hermann Schlüter of 29 January 1891: ‘...I remember only that when the debates in the German Workers’ Society in Brussels became dull Marx and 1 agreed to start a sham discussion in which he defended free trade and 1 protective tariffs.
165 Engels means the meeting of the Brussels community of the Communist League. The community and the Brussels District Committee of the League were formed on the basis of the Communist Correspondence Committee on 5 August 1847. The District Committee included Marx, Engels, Junge and Wolff (see present edition, Vol. 6, p. 601).
166 Marx seems to have in mind primarily literary works reflecting local peculiarities in the various shades of ‘true socialism’ (cf. F. Engels, ‘The True Socialists’, present edition, Vol. 5, pp. 540-81).
167 Marx’s intention to start a joint-stock company for the publication of a communist monthly in 1847, about which he also wrote to Herwegh on 26 October 1847 (see this volume, p. 141) like similar earlier plans did not materialise.
168 Engels’ letter to Louis Blanc presumably written soon after his arrival in Paris from Brussels in mid-October 1847 has not been found.
169 At that time a civil war was imminent in Switzerland between the Sonderbund (a separatist union formed by seven economically backward cantons which opposed progressive bourgeois reforms and defended the privileges of the Church and the Jesuits) and the other cantons which persuaded the Swiss Diet to declare the dissolution of the Sonderbund in July 1847. Hostilities began early in November, and the Sonderbund army was defeated by the federal forces on 23 November 1847.
Johann Jacoby, a representative of the German radicals since the convocation of the United Diet in Prussia in 1847 (see Note 148), criticised it as a substitute for people’s representation. In April and June 1847 he made a trip to Saxony, South Germany, Switzerland, visited Cologne and Brussels where he established contact with the Deutsche-Brüsseler-Zeitung.
A radical programme of political reforms was adopted at a meeting of representatives of the democratic wing of the opposition movement (F. Hecker, G. Struve, etc.) in Offenburg (Grand Duchy of Baden) on 12 September 1847.
170 The Prussian United Diet (see Note 148) was dissolved in June 1847. In calling A. Ruge the panegyrist of the Diet Engels refers to the ‘Adresse an die Opposition des vereinigten Landtages in Berlin’ of 11 June 1847 included by Ruge in the Polemische Briefe published in Mannheim that year.
171 Engels’ first article in La Réforme, ‘The Commercial Crisis in England. — The Chartist Movement. — Ireland’ (see present edition, Vol. 6, pp. 307-09), appeared as early as 26 October 1847. After that the newspaper regularly carried his articles, or summaries of The Northern Star reports on the Chartist movement which he translated into French. As a rule they were published under the headings ‘Mouvement chartiste’ and ‘Agitation chartiste’ and introduced by the editorial ‘On nuns écrit de Londres’. Engels contributed to La Réforme till January 1848. Though Engels’ views differed from those of the newspaper’s editors (especially Louis Blanc and Ledru-Rollin), his articles on the Chartist movement to some extent helped to overcome the national exclusiveness of La Réforme and exerted a revolutionary influence on its readers — the French workers and the radical middle classes.
172 Engels contributed to the Chartist Northern Star from the end of 1843 to 1848. From May 1844 he sent in regular reports about European events, primarily about the political and social movement.
173 Here Engels refers to the speech on free trade Marx intended to deliver at the International Congress of Economists in Brussels held between 16 and 18 September 1847 (see Note 162). Not being allowed to speak, Marx published it in the Atelier Démocratique on 29 September. Part of the speech was also published by Joseph Weydemeyer in 1848 under the title ‘The Protectionists, the Free Traders and the Working Class’ and excerpts from it were quoted by Engels in his article ‘The Free Trade Congress at Brussels’ in The Northern Star, No. 520, 9 October 1847 (see present edition, Vol. 6, pp. 279-90). As is seen from this letter the version sent to La Réforme was not printed, and it is not extant.
174 Engels alludes to the case of the Duke of Praslin. In August 1847 the Duchess of Praslin was found murdered in her house. Suspicion fell on her husband and he was arrested. A political scandal broke out which caused the Duke of Praslin to take poison during the investigation.
175 The management referred to is that of the Correspondence Bureau of S. Seiler and K. Reinhardt (see Note 161).
176 In the summer of 1847 the London Central Authority of the Communist League distributed for discussion in the League’s local communities and districts the ‘Draft of a Communist Confession of Faith’ drawn up by Engels and approved by the First Congress (see Note 154). In mid-October, when Engels returned to Paris from Brussels, the League’s draft programme written in the form of a catechism was already being discussed in the Paris communities. Hess proposed to the Paris District Committee his own version of the draft, which was rejected after sharp criticism by Engels. But Engels was no longer satisfied with his own version because in drafting it he had to take into account the fact that the delegates to the League’s First Congress were still influenced by utopian communism. In a new version — ‘Principles of Communism’ — drawn up by Engels this shortcoming was eliminated and the programme principles of the working-class movement were elaborated in greater detail, but still in the form of a catechism. This new document was later approved by the Paris communities as the draft programme for the Second Congress of the Communist League.
177 Engels refers to Born’s intended participation in the Second Congress of the Communist League, but Born did not go to the congress.
178 Neither Engels’ letter to the. Elberfeld communists nor their reply to it has been found. Presumably they were about the possibilities for publishing Marx’s and Engels’ works on free trade and protective tariffs (see Note 173).
179 Marx alludes here to Countess Hatzfeldt’s divorce case which lasted from 1846 to 1854.
180 Marx presumably has in mind here the refusal of Baron Arnim, Prussian Ambassador to Paris, to give Emma Herwegh, Georg Herwegh’s wife, a visa for Berlin. The fact was reported in the Deutsche-Brüsseler-Zeitung on 21 October 1847. Later Emma Herwegh set out with a Swiss passport without a visa.
181 Marx’s The Poverty of Philosophy was published simultaneously by Vogler ill Brussels and by Frank in Paris. As is seen from Marx’s letter to Engels of 15 October 1868, both Vogler and Frank were mere ‘commissioners’ (agents de vente), all printing expenses being paid by the author.
182 The reference is to the election of delegates from the Paris district to the Second Congress of the Communist League which was to meet in London on 29 November 1847.
183 The Lille Banquet took place on 7 November 1847 during the campaign for an election reform in France which revealed the extremely anti-democratic stand of the liberal opposition to the July monarchy and of the moderate republicans of the National party (see Engels’ ‘Split in the Camp. — The Réforme and the National. — March of Democracy’, present edition, Vol. 6, pp. 385-87).
184 An international meeting organised by the Fraternal Democrats (see Note 122) took place in London on 29 November 1847 to mark the anniversary of the Polish insurrection of 1830. Marx and Engels, who had come to London for the Second Congress of the Communist League, made speeches about Poland. The report on the meeting and accounts of the speeches made by Marx and Engels appeared in the Deutsche Londoner Zeitung, No. 140, 3 December 1847, The Northern Star, No. 528, 4 December 1847, and the Deutsche-Brüsseler-Zeitung, No. 98, 9 December 1847. Engels wrote a special item on this subject for La Réforme, which published it on 5 December 1847 (see present edition, Vol. 6, pp. 391-92).
185 Proposals to convene an international democratic congress were made both by the Fraternal Democrats and the Brussels Democratic Association. During his stay in London at the end of November 1847, Marx had talks on the subject with the Chartist leaders and representatives of the proletarian and democratic emigrants. Engels had similar talks with French socialists and democrats. In the beginning of 1848 it was agreed to convene the congress in Brussels. It was scheduled for 25 August 1848, the eighteenth anniversary of the Belgian revolution. However, these plans did not materialise because in February 1848 a revolution began in Europe.
186 Engels sent this letter to Marx on the eve of the Second Congress of the Communist League for which they both made thorough preparations and expected to reach a final agreement concerning their stand during their meeting on the way to London. What Engels writes here on certain points, e.g. a Communist League programme not in the form of a catechism or confession of faith (see notes 154 and 176) but of a manifesto, found expression in the congress decisions.
The Second Congress of the Communist League was held in London from 29 November to 8 December 1847. It was attended by delegates from Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland and Denmark. Marx represented the League’s Brussels communities, Engels the Paris communities and Victor Tedesco the Liège communities. During many days of discussion Marx and Engels defended the principles of scientific communism on which the congress based its decisions. It was resolved that in all its external relations the League would come out openly as a communist party. The congress adopted the previously drawn up Rules in an improved form, a clause clearly defining the League’s communist aim being included. On the instruction of the Second Congress Marx and Engels wrote as the League’s programme the Manifesto of the Communist Party, which was published in February 1848 (see present edition, Vol. 6, pp. 477-519).
An excerpt from this letter was published in English for the first time in: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Correspondence, 1846-1895. A Selection with Commentary and Notes, Martin Lawrence Ltd., London, 1934, and International Publishers, New York, 1935.
187 Marx’s letter to Engels written about 22 November 1847 has not been found.
188 The working man referred to was Stephan Born, who was to speak at the meeting of the Democratic Association in Brussels held to mark the seventeenth anniversary of the Polish revolution of 1830 instead of Marx who at that time was to take part in the Second Congress of the Communist League in London. Below Engels mentions Wilhelm Wolff (Lupus) and Georg Weerth as possible representatives, with Born, of the German Workers’ Society at the Brussels meeting. It was held on 29 November 1847, and Born spoke on behalf of the German workers.
A report on the meeting was published in the Deutsche-Brüsseler-Zeitung, No. 96, 2 December 1847.
189 Engels refers to the Congress of Economists in Brussels where Georg Weerth made a speech on 18 September (see Note 162).
190 The reason for Marx’s visit to London was to attend the Second Congress of the Communist League. Marx and Engels profited by this occasion to attend the international meeting (mentioned in this letter) held in London to mark the anniversary of the Polish insurrection of 1830 (see Note 184).
191 Engels returned to Paris at the end of December 1847 after a few days’ stay in Brussels, where he had arrived from England soon after Marx, on about 17 December (Marx and Engels had gone to England to participate in the Second Congress of the Communist League — see Note 186). In Brussels Engels worked with Marx on the Manifesto of the Communist Party. On his arrival in Paris, Engels wished to meet Louis Blanc, as he writes at the beginning of the letter, to get him to write a review of Marx’s The Poverty of Philosophy for La Réforme.
192 In 1843 Jules Michelet was dismissed from his teaching post for his democratic and anti-clerical convictions; his right to teach history at the Paris University was not restored till after the February 1848 revolution.
193 Here Engels means the United commissions, an advisory social-estate body in Prussia elected by the Provincial Diets from their own members. Engels’ article on Prussian finances, mentioned in the letter, has not been found.
194 It is not known whether Engels carried out his intention. The review of Marx’s The Poverty of Philosophy did not appear in La Réforme.
195 Engels’ letter to Bernays has not been found.
196 At the end of February 1848 a revolution took place in France which was enthusiastically welcomed in Belgium. Alarmed by the scope of the democratic movement in the country, the Belgian authorities resorted to arrests and expulsion of German revolutionary emigrants. They arrested the Communist League members Wilhelm Wolff and Victor Tedesco. On 3 March Marx was ordered to leave Belgium in twenty-four hours. However, in the night of 3 March, when he was preparing to leave, the police burst into Marx’s flat, arrested him and then his wife. After 18 hours of imprisonment Marx and his family were forced to leave Belgium at once. On the invitation of Flocon, who had been elected member of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, Marx moved to Paris.
Engels, expelled from Paris at the end of January 1848 for his revolutionary activity, was in Brussels from 31 January.
The time of writing of this letter, as well as of many other undated ones, is established on the basis of the chronology of events mentioned, in particular the constitution of the new Central Authority of the Communist League on 7 March 1848, and of Jones’ departure for England, where he arrived not later than 12 March, etc.
An excerpt from this letter was published in English for the first time in Labour Monthly, 1948, No. 3, III.
197 The Second Congress of the Communist League retained the seat of the Central Authority in London. However, as a revolution had broken out in France, Schapper, Bauer, Moll and other members of the London Central Authority intended to move to the Continent and decided to transfer their powers of general direction of the League to the Brussels District Committee headed by Marx. But the persecution of revolutionaries by the Belgian authorities impelled the Brussels Central Authority that had been formed to adopt on 3 March 1848 a decision to dissolve itself and to empower Marx to form a new Central Authority in Paris. Marx arrived in Paris on 5 March and took up this appointment. On 7 March the Paris Central Authority mentioned by Marx was formed. Engels was elected in his absence.
198 The reference is to the arrest of Marx and his wife by the Belgian police (see Note 196).
199 The interpellation on the arrest and expulsion of Marx and his family was made by Bricourt at the sitting of the Chamber of Representatives of the Belgian Parliament on 11 March 1848.
200 Marx’s notes on Wilhelm Wolff’s arrest on 27 February 1848, his maltreatment by the police and prison authorities and his expulsion from Belgium on 5 March have survived. Marx published an article on the persecution of revolutionary emigrants in Belgium in La Réforme, 12 March 1848 (see present edition, Vol. 6, pp. 567-68 and 581-82).
201 The news of the victory of the February revolution in France caused a widespread popular movement in the Rhine Province of Prussia and other parts of Germany. A demonstration of about five thousand workers and artisans, organised by the local community of the Communist League, was held in Cologne on 3 March before the town hall. A petition demanding universal suffrage, freedom of speech, press and assembly, armament of the people, labour protection, children’s education at the public expense, etc., was presented to the magistrate. The meeting following the demonstration was dispersed by troops, and the Leaders of the demonstration — Andreas Gottschalk, August Willich and Friedrich Anneke — were arrested and brought to trial (they were set free on 21 March when a revolution began in Prussia). Gottschalk, Willich and Anneke belonged to a group in the local community of the Communist League which was under the influence of ‘true socialism’ and, in contrast to Kari d'Ester, Roland Daniels and Heinrich Bürgers (below Engels calls them ‘old friends'), displayed sectarian tendencies.
202 The information received by Engels concerning d'Ester was inaccurate. D'Ester was present at the sitting of the Cologne city council on 3 March 1848 and spoke for the inclusion of a number of the people’s demands in the liberal memorandum under discussion to be presented to the Berlin authorities. His proposals were rejected.
203 A movement for definitive secession from the German Empire and for bourgeois-democratic reforms arose in 1797 in the territories along the left bank of the Rhine seized by the armies of the French Republic. With the approval of the French commander-in-chief, General Hoche, a plan was drawn up in September 1797 to form a filial left-bank Rhine Republic (Cisrhenanische Republik) allied to France. However, as a result of General Bonaparte’s victory over Austria the territories along the left bank of the Rhine were directly attached to France by the Campo Formio Treaty (November 1797).
204 An extract from this letter was published in English for the first time in Labour Monthly, 1948, No. 3, III.
205 The German Democratic Society was formed in Paris after the February 1848 revolution. The Society was headed by petty-bourgeois democrats, Herwegh, Bornstedt and others, who campaigned to raise a volunteer legion of German refugees, with the intention of marching into Germany. In this way they hoped to carry out a revolution in Germany and establish a republic there. Marx and his followers in the Communist League opposed to this adventurist plan the tactics of uniting the German emigrants and organising their return to Germany individually to take part in the revolutionary struggle that was developing there. Late in April 1848 the volunteer legion moved to Baden, where it was dispersed by government troops.
Black, red and gold were the colours symbolising German unity; the unity slogan was interpreted by the petty-bourgeois democrats as a call to establish in Germany a federation of autonomous provinces on the pattern of the Swiss Confederation.
206 There is no further information about the letters Marx intended to write to Maynz and Jottrand.
207 Engels moved to Paris from Brussels about 21 March 1848.
208 Neither Engels’ letter to his mother nor his mother’s letter quoted by Engels below has been found.
209 On 24 February 1848 the people of Paris revolted, overthrew the monarchy and formed a Provisional Government, with the party of the National in the majority. Under pressure from the armed masses, however, the bourgeois republicans were compelled to include in the government four ministers from the list compiled by La Réforme, among them Louis Blanc and a worker Albert, a leader of secret republican societies and participant in the street fighting.
On 17 March there was a 100,000-strong demonstration of Paris workers demanding postponement of the elections to the Constituent Assembly (see Note 214).
210 The reference is to the organisation of a legion of German refugees to march into Germany (see Note 205).
211 This letter was published in English for the first time in Science and Society, New York, 1940, Vol. IV, No. 2.
212 The reference is to the attempts of Ledru-Rollin, Minister of the Interior, to renew the administrative staff of municipal councils and his decree of 14 March to abolish the privileged National Guard units of bourgeois and aristocrats.
213 This refers to the utopian plans for the ‘organisation of labour’ with the help of a bourgeois state proposed by Louis Blanc as president of the Labour Commission set up by the Provisional Government on 28 February 1848 (it held its meetings in the Luxembourg Palace). The Commission was dissolved by the Government after the popular action of 15 May 1848.
214 The reference is to the elections to the National Guard, fixed for 18 March, and to the Constituent Assembly of the Republic, which originally were to be held on 5 April 1848. To hold the elections in a short time would have benefited the anti-revolutionary forces. That is why the demonstration of the Paris workers on 17 March, of which Engels writes above, demanded that the Provisional Government, besides withdrawing the troops from the capital, should postpone the elections to the National Guard till 5 April and to the Constituent Assembly till 31 May 1848. The Government was compelled to comply with these demands, but the elections to the Constituent Assembly were postponed only till 23 April.
215 About 6 April 1848 Marx and Engels returned to Germany from emigration to take part in the revolution that was developing there. On their way to Cologne, the centre of the Rhine Province — the most economically developed region in Germany — which they chose as the place for the planned publication of a revolutionary newspaper, they made a stop at Mainz on 8 April. Here they discussed with the local communists (Karl Wallau who had arrived from Paris earlier, Adolf Cluss and others) the plan of actions to prepare for the creation of a mass party of the German proletariat, with the Communist League as its nucleus. Marx and Engels arrived at Cologne about 11 April.
There is no information about the letters which Marx and Engels promised to write to Cabet from Germany.
216 In mid-April Engels left Cologne and made a trip to towns of the Rhine Province of Prussia — Barmen, Elberfeld and others — to organise a subscription to the shares for the publication of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. During the trip he also acted as an emissary of the Communist League’s Central Authority. He returned to Cologne on 20 May 1848.
217 on 10 April 1848 a Chartist demonstration in London was dispersed by troops and special constables; the purpose. of the demonstration was to present the third Chartist Petition to Parliament.
Engels’ letter to Harney has not been found.
218 The subject is the prospects of the planned Neue Rheinische Zeitung, the first issue of which appeared on 31 May but was dated 1 June 1848.
Marx and Engels began to prepare for the publication of a German revolutionary newspaper as early as March 1848 when they were in Paris (see this volume, p. 173). They regarded a proletarian periodical as an important step towards creating a mass party of the German proletariat based on the Communist League. Soon after their return to Germany, however, they realised that the conditions for the creation of such a party had not yet matured. Disunity and lack of political awareness made the German workers susceptible to the artisan and petty-bourgeois influences and particularise aspirations. Moreover it was senseless for the League to continue to work underground in the context of the revolution but the League was too weak and numerically small to serve as a rallying centre. Under these conditions the newspaper was to play an especially important role in the ideological and political education of the masses. It was also to become an organ of political guidance for the Communist League members, whom Marx and Engels advised to take an active part in the workers’ organisations and democratic societies then being set up in Germany.
It was decided to call the newspaper the Neue Rheinische Zeitung in order to stress that it was to continue the revolutionary-democratic traditions of the Rheinische Zeitung which was edited by Marx in 1842 and early 1843. In view of the specific conditions and the absence of an independent proletarian party, Marx, Engels and their followers entered the political scene as the Left, in fact proletarian, wing of the democratic movement. This predetermined the stand adopted by the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, which had as its subtitle Organ der Demokratie (Organ of Democracy). The editorial board included Karl Marx (editor-in-chief), Frederick Engels, Wilhelm Wolff, Georg Weerth, Ferdinand Wolff, Ernst Dronke and Heinrich Bürgers. In October 1848 Ferdinand Freiligrath also became an editor.
The consistent revolutionary line of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, its militant internationalism, its articles containing political accusations against the Government aroused the displeasure of its bourgeois shareholders in the first months of its existence and led to attacks in the feudal monarchist and liberal bourgeois press. The editors were persecuted by the police and judicial authorities. On 26 September 1848, when a state of siege was declared in Cologne, the publication of the newspaper was suspended and was resumed only on 12 October. Despite all this, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung courageously defended the interests of revolutionary democracy and the proletariat. In May 1849, against the background of the general counter-revolutionary offensive, the Prussian Government issued an expulsion order against Marx on the grounds that he had not obtained Prussian citizenship. This arbitrary act and repressions against other editors led to the paper ceasing publication. The last issue, No. 301, printed in red ink, appeared on 19 May 1849. In their farewell address to the workers the editors wrote that ‘their last word everywhere and always will be: emancipation of the working class’ (see present edition, Vol. 9, p. 467).
219 On 6 May 1848 Marx and Weerth arrived in Elberfeld to discuss with Engels problems connected with the publication of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung and the activity of the Communist League.
220 An extract from this letter was published in English for the first time in: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Correspondence. 1846-1895. A Selection with Commentary and Notes, Martin Lawrence Ltd., London, 1934, and International Publishers, New York, 1935.
221 Engels’ letter to Wilhelm Blank has not been found.
222 Moses Hess, Friedrich Anneke and other sectarians in the Communist League attempted to start a new paper in Cologne to succeed the Rheinische Zeitung of the early 1840s. The newspaper’s programme, published by Hess and Anneke on 7 April, was very vague and narrowed the tasks of the planned publication, which they conceived as a local, provincial news-sheet. Hess and his followers were prevented from realising their plan by the return of Marx and Engels to Cologne.
223 There is no other information about the Italian and Spanish translations mentioned here of the Manifesto of the Communist Party. The first Spanish and Italian translations of the Manifesto appeared in 1872 and 1889 respectively.
224 Engels did not finish this translation. In the autumn of 1850 he helped Helen Macfarlane translate the Manifesto into English and it appeared in The Red Republican, Nos. 21-24, in November 1850.
225 The Elberfeld political club, which was formed soon after the March revolution in Prussia, advocated a constitutional monarchy and gradual reforms.
226 Presumably Engels means Marx’s letter to Ewerbeck concerning the Paris communities of the Communist League; this letter has not been found.
227 The shareholders of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung were to meet in Cologne in May 1848, before the newspaper started publication. The shareholders from other towns who could not attend the meeting in person sent in proxies for the newspaper’s editors or other persons in Cologne.
228 Air extract from this letter was published in English for the first time in: Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Selected Correspondence, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1975.
229 Here and below Engels gives the addresses of the editorial office and the dispatch department of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung which at the beginning was printed by Clouth (12 St Agatha) and from 30 August 1848 by Dietz (17 Unter Hutmacher).
230 In the spring of 1848 the Polish national liberation uprising broke out in the Grand Duchy of Posen subject to Prussia. The Prussian General Pfuel ordered that all the insurgents who had been taken prisoner should be shaved and their hands and ears branded with silver nitrate.
In May 1848 a clash took place between the soldiers and the civic militia in Mainz, which the fortress commander Hüser used as a pretext to send troops to disarm the latter. The conflict was discussed in the Frankfurt National Assembly which, however, did not take any serious measures to stop the arbitrary actions of the Prussian military authorities.
231 The all-German National Assembly, which opened on 18 May 1848 in Frankfurt am Main, was convened for the purpose of unifying the country and drawing up its constitution. The liberal majority of the Assembly turned it into a debating club engaged in fruitless discussions such as on the disarmament of the civic militia in Mainz.
232 The editorial office of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung was removed at the end of August to 17 Unter Hutmacher (see Note 229).
There is no information about the article by Köppen who might have sent it in after meeting Marx in Berlin in August 1848 when Marx went there on business connected with the Neue Rheinische Zeitung.
By the ‘sleepless night of exile’ Engels presumably meant the time Marx and he spent abroad before the 1848 revolution.
233 On 26 September 1848 the Prussian authorities, fearing the growing revolutionary-democratic movement, declared a state of siege in Cologne (it was lifted on 2 October). By order of the military command political organisations and associations were banned, the civic militia disbanded, democratic newspapers, including the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, suspended, and an order issued for the arrest of Engels and a few other editors. Engels and Dronke had to leave Cologne. For a time Engels lived in hiding in Barmen. On 5 October Engels and Dronke arrived in Paris after a short stay in Belgium whence they were expelled by the police. Dronke remained in the French capital and wrote to the Neue Rheinische Zeitung from there, while Engels started on foot for Switzerland via the south-west of France. About 24 October he arrived in Genoa and at the beginning of November moved to Lausanne (these facts served as a basis for establishing the date of this letter and those by Marx which followed and were not dated); Engels arrived in Neuchâtel on 7 November and in Berne on 9 November. He stayed there until mid-January 1849 when it was possible for him to return to Germany.
Engels’ letter written to Marx from Geneva has not been found.
234 In 1848 Engels lived at Plasmann’s, owner of a stationery firm and a shareholder of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. His address was: Köln, In der Höhle, 14.
235 The discontent of the bourgeois shareholders over the political fine of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung grew particularly strong after it defended the June proletarian insurgents in Paris. — These shareholders refused to finance arid support the newspaper any longer. So in August arid September 1848 Marx made a trip to Berlin and Vienna to raise funds for the further publication of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Wladislaw Kóscielski gave him about 2,000 talers on behalf of the Polish democrats.
The interruption in publication caused by the state of siege in Cologne aggravated the newspaper’s financial position. Marx was practically compelled to take upon himself most of the expenses arid he spent his share of the inheritance front his father — about 7,000 talers — to purchase an expensive quick printing press.
236 Early in July 1848 legal proceedings were instituted against Marx because of his article ‘Arrests’ Published in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung (see present edition, Vol. 7, pp. 176-79), exposing the arbitrary actions of the Prussian authorities. At the beginning of October 1848 the Cologne Public Prosecutor started air investigation against Marx arid other newspaper editors for publishing anonymously Georg Weerth’s series of feuilletons Leben und Taten des berühmten Ritters Schnapphanski. At the end of October 1848 the Cologne Public Prosecutor began another investigation against Marx as the newspaper’s editor-in-chief for publishing the proclamation of the republican Friedrich Hecker. The ‘insult’ to the Public Prosecutor and ‘libel’ against the police officers contained in the article ‘Arrests’ were the main accusations levelled at Marx arid Engels at the trial held on 7 February 1849. The jury acquitted them.
237 on 1 November 1848 the King of Prussia transferred power to the openly counter-revolutionary Brandenburg-Manteuffel Government. It decided on a coup d'état which was successful and led to the dissolution of the National Assembly on 5 December. The very first steps of this government aroused a protest campaign in democratic circles, especially in the Rhine Province, which sought to unite the opposition forces. In Düsseldorf, in particular, for 14 November a joint meeting was announced for this purpose of the local People’s Club, the Union for the establishment of a democratic monarchy, the General Civil Union. and the civic militia (it was probably this meeting that Marx called the democratic-monarchist club). At this meeting Lassalle put forward Marx’s plan of actions.
238 The Central Committee of German Democrats was set up in June 1848 at the first democratic congress in Frankfurt am Main convened with the am) of uniting the local democratic associations. The second all-German democratic congress in Berlin (26-30 October 1848) elected a new Central Committee.
239 This refers to the Rhenish District Committee of Democrats set up at the first district congress of democrats of the Rhine Province and Westphalia (13-14 August 1848). The committee directed the activity of the democratic organisations in the Rhineland, Marx playing a prominent role in it.
240 on 14 November 1848 Marx was summoned to the examining magistrate for ‘insulting’ the Cologne Public Prosecutor Hecker in the article ‘Public Prosecutor “Hecker” and the Neue Rheinische Zeitung’ published in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, No. 129, 29 October 1848 (see present edition, Vol. 7, pi). 485-89).
241 The Code Pénal was adopted in France in 1810 and introduced into the regions of West and South-West Germany conquered by the French. It remained in force in the Rhine Province even after its incorporation into Prussia in 1815.
242 In order to give its readers prompt information on events, the editors of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung often put out supplements to the main issue or a second edition. If the news was very important they printed special supplements and special editions in the form of posters.
243 Marx probably made the acquaintance of Eduard von Müller-Tellering during his stay in Vienna in August and September 1848. In October and November the Neue Rheinische Zeitung published a number of articles marked 9 which were sent by E. von Müller-Tellering from Vienna. They described the situation in the city after the suppression of the popular rising in October.
244 The arrest of Andreas Gottschalk and Friedrich Anneke, the leaders of the Cologne Workers’ Association, on 3 July 1848 was the subject of Marx’s article ‘Arrests’ which served as a pretext for accusing Marx and other editors of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung of insulting the Public Prosecutor and libelling police officers (see Note 236). On 23 December 1848, Gottschalk and Anneke were acquitted by a Cologne jury.
245 The reference is to the state of siege declared in Cologne on 26 September 1848 and the persecution of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung editors, Engels among them (see Note 233). On 3 October, though the state of siege had been lifted, the Public Prosecutor issued a warrant for Engels’ arrest. Engels was able to return to Cologne only in mid-January 1849.
246 This is a draft reply to the letter sent from Berlin on 26 December 1848 by Wilhelm Stieber to the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. fir it Stieber tried to disprove information on his spying activities in Silesia during and after the Silesian weavers’ uprising in 1844 (he went there disguised as an artist, under the name Schmidt), and on his secret mission to Frankfurt am Main in September 1848 in connection with a popular uprising there. This information was given in a report from Frankfurt am Main published in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, No. 177, 24 December. Marx agreed to make a correction as regards Stieber’s visit to Frankfurt (the supplement to No. 182 stated that he went there on private business) but did not disavow the information on his spying in Silesia. Later, in his Revelations Concerning the Communist Trial in Cologne (end of 1852), exposing Stieber as an organiser of police persecution of the Communist League members and disclosing his attempts to blacken the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Marx quoted in full Stieber’s letter to the newspaper editors of 26 December 1848. Marx stressed that the reply to Stieber was sent by another editor (see present edition, Vol. 11, pp. 435-36). It may be assumed that the final version of the letter was signed by Wilhelm Wolff, who was well aware of Stieber’s activities in Silesia.
247 On the Code pénal see Note 241. The reference is to ‘Livre troisième. Titre II. Chapitre 1. Section VII. 2. Calumnies...’
248 Engels received news, probably on 11 or 12 January, that he could return to Germany without running the risk of being arrested. He immediately undertook all the formalities necessary to obtain an exit permit from Switzerland, and obtained it on 18 January 1849 (see present edition, Vol. 8, p. 515). Shortly after this Engels returned to Cologne and resumed work as editor of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung.
249 By ‘grace and favour (oktroyierte) Prussia’ Engels means Prussia after the counter-revolutionary coup d'état which resulted in the dissolution of the National Assembly on 5 December 1848 and the proclamation of the so-called imposed constitution. The Constitution introduced a two-chamber parliament: the First Chamber consisting of privileged aristocrats and the Second Chamber elected in two stages. Under the law of 6 December a considerable proportion of the workers had no right to vote. The King was invested with wide powers, including the right to convene and dissolve both Chambers, to repeal their decisions, to appoint Cabinets and to revise the Constitution itself.
250 The March Association, thus named after the March 1848 revolution, was founded in Frankfurt am Main at the end of November 1848 by the Left-wing deputies of the Frankfurt National Assembly and had branches in various towns of Germany. Fröbel, Simon, Ruge, Vogt and other petty-bourgeois democratic leaders of March associations confined themselves to revolutionary phrase-mongering and showed indecision and inconsistency in the struggle against the counter-revolutionaries, for which Marx and Engels sharply criticised them.
251 Marx’s letter to Eduard von Müller-Tellering has not been found.
At the beginning of January von Müller-Tellering was arrested and banished from Vienna (on his reports from that city published in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung see Note 243). Later Tellering sent reports from Silesia and Saxony on the situation in Vienna based on the letters of his Vienna acquaintances, and also reports from Leipzig and Dresden (these were marked A).
252 Threatened with arrest after the state of siege was declared in Cologne on 26 September 1848 (see Note 233), Dronke emigrated to Paris but persisted in the desire to return to Germany. He was kept in Paris only by categorical directions from Marx, who had grounds to fear he would be arrested. It was not till March 1849 that Dronke returned to Cologne and began to work on the Neue Rheinische Zeitung.
Neither Marx’s previous letter to Dronke nor his other letters mentioned below have been found.
253 An anonymous item published in the supplement to No. 233 of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung for 28 February 1849 accused von Uttenhoven, a Captain in the 8th Company of the 16th Infantry Regiment, known for his reactionary views, of misuse of and speculation in army fuel.
254 This refers to two lawsuits held in Cologne on 7 and 8 February 1849. The first was instituted by the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s office against the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, its editors Marx and Engels and the responsible editor Hermann Korff for publishing the article ‘Arrests’ (see notes 236 and 244).
The pretext for the second was the charge against Marx, Kari Schapper and the lawyer Schneider 11 of incitement to mutiny in connection with the call of the Rhenish District Committee of Democrats (see Note 239) of 18 November 1848 for refusal to pay taxes. In both cases the juries acquitted the defendants.
255 From mid-April to 9 May 1849 Marx made a trip to North-Western Germany. He visited Bremen, Hamburg and the neighbouring towns, including Hamburg. On his way back to Cologne Marx stopped at Bielefeld and Hamm. The purpose of the trip was to strengthen contacts between the Communist League members and workers’ associations in preparation for the creation of a mass proletarian party, to discuss problems of revolutionary tactics with members of the working-class and democratic movements, and to raise funds for the continued publication of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. In Marx’s absence Engels directed the newspaper.
Engels’ letter to Marx mentioned here has not been found.
256 Karl Bruhn participated in the Baden republican uprising in April 1849 and played an active role in the popular uprising in Frankfurt am Main (September 1848) in protest against the ratification by the Frankfurt National Assembly of the capitulatory truce of Malmö. Concluded between Prussia and Denmark, this truce preserved Danish rule in Schleswig-Holstein. Since the end of 1848 Bruhn had been working in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein on the instruction of the Communist League and sending reports to the Neue Rheinische Zeitung from there.
257 An allusion to the cruel suppression of the popular uprising in Vienna in October 1848 by the Austrian counter-revolution. Marx made Andreas Stiftt’s acquaintance in August 1848 during his visit to Vienna (see Note 235), where he made a speech at a meeting of the Democratic Society and delivered a report and a lecture at the Vienna Workers’ Society. Stiftt was member of both these organisations and a contributor to the Neue Rheinische Zeitung.
258 After the Neue Rheinische Zeitung had ceased publication on 19 May 1849, Marx and Engels left for Frankfurt am Main where they tried to persuade the Left-wing deputies to the all-German National Assembly to take decisive action in support of the uprising in South-Western Germany at the time in defence of the Imperial Constitution drawn up by the Assembly but rejected by the German sovereigns. Having failed to achieve their aim they left for Karlsruhe and then Kaiserslautern — capitals of insurgent Baden and the Palatinate. Convinced that the petty-bourgeois democratic leaders of the Provisional Governments in Baden and the Palatinate lacked revolutionary energy and were helpless, Marx and Engels left at the end of May for Bingen, where they parted. Early in June Marx went to Paris, and Engels returned to Kaiserslautern to join the Baden-Palatinate revolutionary army.
259 Marx arrived in Paris about 2 June 1849 with the mandate from the Central Committee of German Democrats (see Note 238) issued to him in Kaiserslautern by d'Ester, a member of the Committee and of the Palatinate Provisional Government. Marx decided to go to France when he realised that the petty-bourgeois democrats of Baden and the Palatinate were unable to make the struggle all-German in scale, to launch a resolute offensive and bring the Frankfurt Assembly openly to join the uprising. New great events were expected in France, where the conflict between the democratic party — the so-called Montagne (mountain) — and the ruling circles was coming to a head.
In Paris Marx hoped to strengthen international contacts between the German and French democrats, for this would have been of major importance in the event of a new revolutionary upsurge in both countries.
260 Montagnards — during the French revolution of 1848-49 representatives in the Constituent and subsequently Legislative Assembly of a bloc of democrats and petty-bourgeois socialists grouped around the newspaper La Réforme. They called themselves the Montagne by analogy with the Montagne in the Convention of 1792-94.
On 13 June 1849 the Montagne staged a peaceful demonstration to protest against the sending of French troops to suppress the Roman Republic. The demonstration was dispersed by the army and the bourgeois detachments of the National Guards and there followed a counter-revolutionary offensive, persecution of democrats and proletarian activists, including emigrants. Many Montagnards were arrested or emigrated.
261 Engels’ ‘article in French’ on the national liberation struggle in Hungary was probably never written.
262 The last issue, No. 301, of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung for 19 May 1849, printed in red, was published in a greater number of copies than usual. Later it was reprinted several times and used by the Communist League members, who remained in Germany, for propaganda purposes.
263 Jenny Marx spent June 1849 in her native town of Trier. On July 7 she joined her husband in Paris accompanied by her three children and Hé1ène Demuth (the Marxes’ housekeeper).
264 At the beginning of June 1849, when in Kaiserslautern, Engels entered into close contact with d'Ester, the most energetic member of the Palatinate Provisional Government, but refused, however, to accept any civil or military post.
On 13 June Engels left for Offenburg, where he joined Willich’s volunteer corps of 800 men, mostly workers, which was part of the Baden-Palatinate insurgent army. Engels fought the whole campaign as Willich’s adjutant. Willich’s corps covered the retreat of this army under pressure from numerically superior counter-revolutionary forces and was among the last units to cross the Swiss border on 12 July 1849. On 24 July Engels arrived at Vevey (Canton Vaud) where he stayed for a month. He described the operations of the insurgent army in The Campaign for the German Imperial Constitution (see present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 147-239).
Engels’ letter to Marx from Kaiserslautern has not survived.
An extract from Engels’ letter to Jenny Marx was published in English for the first time in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Correspondence. 1846-1895, Martin Lawrence Ltd., London, 1934, and International Publishers, New York, 1935.
265 On 17 June 1849 Engels fought in the battle of Rinnthal. He commanded a flank group of Willich’s corps which covered the retreat of the Palatinate army and fought the advance guard of an enemy division for many hours.
On 21 June Willich’s men, with the active participation of Engels, checked the advance of a Prussian battalion at Neuchart near Karlsdorf and forced it to retreat.
On 28 June 1849 Engels took part in an engagement at Michelbach in which the advance guard of the division to which Willich’s corps belonged after the reorganisation of the insurgent army defeated a Prussian force.
On 29 and 30 June at Rastatt the Baden-Palatinate insurgent army fought and lost its last battle against the Prussian army. At certain critical moments of the battle Engels assumed command of the vanguard.
266 The subject is Lassalle’s intention to raise funds to help Marx.
The letters to Lassalle mentioned by Marx have not been found.
An extract from this letter was published in English for the first time in: K. Marx and F. Engels, On Britain, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1954.
267 These were the two factions in the so-called Party of Order — a conservative bloc of the monarchist groups formed in 1848 which had the majority in the Legislative Assembly of the French Republic (opened at the end of May 1849).
The Philippists or Orleanists were supporters of the House of Orleans (a lateral branch of the Bourbon dynasty) overthrown by the February revolution of 1848; they represented the interests of the financial aristocracy and the big industrial bourgeoisie; their candidate for the throne was Louis Philippe Albert, Count of Paris and grandson of Louis Philippe.
The Legitimists, supporters of the main branch of the Bourbon dynasty overthrown in 1830, upheld the interests of the big hereditary landowners and the claim to the French throne of the Count of Chambord, King Charles X’s grandson, who called himself Henry V. Some of the Legitimists remained outside the bloc of monarchist groups.
268 According to a decision of the Constituent Assembly the wine tax was to be abolished before I January 1850. But, as Marx predicted, it was retained by a decision of the Legislative Assembly on 20 December 1849 (see present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 117-19).
269 The Peace Society — a pacifist organisation founded by the Quakers in 1816 in London. It was actively supported by the Free Traders who assumed that in peace time free trade would enable Britain to make better use of its industrial superiority and win economic and politics supremacy.
270 The Corn Laws (first introduced in the fifteenth century) imposed high import duties on agricultural produce in the interests of landowners in order to maintain high prices for these products on the home market. In 1838 the Manchester factory owners Cobden and Bright founded the Anti-Corn Law League, which demanded the lifting of the corn tariffs and urged unlimited freedom of trade for the purpose of weakening the economic and political power of the landed aristocracy and reducing worker’s wages. The struggle between the industrial bourgeoisie and the landed aristocracy over the Corn Laws ended in 1846 with their repeal.
The Navigation Acts were passed by the British Parliament in 1651 and subsequent years to protect British shipping companies against foreign rivals. They were repealed in 1849.
271 Marx mentions the Holy Alliance in connection with the attempts of feudal-monarchical circles in Prussia, Austria and tsarist Russia to form a coalition similar to the counter-revolutionary Holy Alliance founded in 1815 by the European monarchs, and which ceased to exist after the 1830 revolution in France.
272 On 19 July 1849 in an atmosphere of repression against democrats and socialists following the events of 13 June in Paris (see Note 260), the French authorities notified Marx that an order had been issued for his expulsion from Paris to Morbihan, a swampy and unhealthy département in Brittany. Marx protested and the expulsion was delayed, but on 23 August he again was ordered by the police to leave Paris within 24 hours.
Marx compares the d département of Morbihan with the Pontine marshes in Italy, mentioned by Strabo in his Geography, Book 5, Ch. 3, § 5, and other ancient authors, which are a breeding-ground of malaria and other diseases.
273 Marx’s suggestion was approved and subsequently put into practice by Engels. However, Engels started writing his work, which was later published under the heading, The Campaign for the German Imperial Constitution (see present edition, Vol. 10), not earlier than mid-August 1849 after he had moved to Lausanne (see this volume, p. 215) and did not finish it until February 1850, after his arrival in London from Switzerland.
274 The negotiations mentioned here ended in December 1849 in the foundation of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Politisch-ökonomische Revue. The periodical was planned as a continuation of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung published by Marx and Engels during the 1848-49 revolution. Altogether six issues appeared from March to November 1850, one of them a double one (5-6). The journal was edited in London and published in Hamburg. Most of the articles and literary and international reviews were written by Marx and Engels, who got their followers Wilhelm Wolff, Joseph Weydemeyer and Johann Georg Eccarius to contribute to the Revue. The works published in the journal assessed the results of the 1848-49 revolution and developed further the theory and tactics of the revolutionary proletarian party. The publication of the Revue was discontinued due to police persecution in Germany and lack of funds.
275 The date of writing of this letter was established on the basis of Marx’s mentioning in it the receipt of Engels’ letter to Jenny Marx of 25 July 1849.
In English this letter was first published abridged in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Letters to Americans. 1848-1895, International Publishers, New York, 1953.
276 The reference is to a contract signed between Leske and Marx on 1 February 1845 for the publication of Marx’s work Kritik der Politik und National-ökonomie (see Note 59).
277 An allusion to the setback of the Montagne on 13 June 1849 (see Note 260).
In the battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815) Napoleon’s army was defeated by the Anglo-Dutch and Prussian forces commanded by Wellington and Blücher.
278 There is no information about this article except a mention in Marx’s next letter to Weydemeyer.
279 This seems to refer to Rühl’s offer to participate in publishing a series of pamphlets (see this volume, p. 208) planned by Marx. The offer was conveyed through Weydemeyer on the basis of whose letter to Marx of 28 August 1849 the approximate date of this letter was established.
280 It is not known whether Marx wrote to Naut or not.
281 This letter written in the first half of August 1849 has not been found.
282 Marx’s protest to the French Ministry of the Interior against the decision to expel him from Paris has not been found. When he wrote this letter Marx did not know that his protest had been rejected. But he soon received a notification by the commissioner of police, dated 16 August 1849, stating that Minister of the Interior Dufaure had upheld the decision on Marx’s expulsion (see present edition, Vol. 9, p. 527).
283 The reference is to the home situation in France in the summer of 1849 which was characterised by intensified repressions against democrats and socialists and by discord and friction within the ruling circles themselves — between the various factions in the Assembly majority (see Note 267), between these factions and the Government, and between the Assembly and Louis Bonaparte’s entourage.
The addition of 45 centimes to every franc of all direct taxes was introduced by the Provisional Government on 16 March 1848. It aroused particular discontent among the peasants, who formed the bulk of tax-payers.
In mid-August 1849 tinder pressure from the monarchist deputies, a two months’ adjournment of the French Legislative Assembly was decreed. The Assembly met again in October 1849.
284 At the meeting on 13 August 1849 in the London Drury Lane Theatre of the National Association for Parliamentary and Financial Reform (founded by the bourgeois radicals in 1849 with the aim of achieving a democratic electoral system and changes in the tax system) O'Connor advocated a union of the middle and working classes. His speech was supported by the Free Trader Thomas Thompson.
285 On 23 August 1849 Marx and his wife were ordered by the police to leave Paris within 24 hours. Jenny Marx got permission to stay in Paris till 15 September with her children, but Marx was obliged to make leave in haste. According to the Boulogne stamp in the passport issued to him by the French police on 24 August, he was in this port on his way to London on 26 August (see present edition, Vol. 9, pp. 529-30). Presumably he arrived on the same day in London, where he was based for the rest of his life.
Meanwhile Engels had left Vevey for Lausanne.
286 The Elberfeld uprising of workers and petty bourgeoisie in defence of the Imperial Constitution, which flared up on 8 May 1849, served as a signal for armed struggle in a number of towns in the Rhine Province (Düsseldorf, Iserlohn, Solingen and others). Engels arrived in Elberfeld on 11 May and took an active part in the uprising, in particular directing the erection of street barricades. However, his efforts to secure the disarmament of the bourgeois civic militia, the imposition of a war tax on the bourgeoisie, the formation of the nucleus of a Rhenish revolutionary army out of armed workers’ detachments and to unite localised uprisings, met with opposition from the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois leaders of the movement. Under pressure from bourgeois circles Engels was expelled front the town on 15 May. The uprising in Elberfeld, as in other towns of the Rhine Province, was a failure.
On Engels’ participation in the revolutionary struggle in Baden and the Palatinate see notes 264 and 265.
287 In English this letter was first published abridged and datelined ‘25 August 1849’ in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Letters to Americans. 1848-1895, International Publishers, New York, 1953.
The date of writing has been corrected after a more exact deciphering of the original.
288 At the end of May 1849, returning from insurgent Baden and the Palatinate (see Note 258), Marx and Engels were arrested on the way to Bingen by Hesse soldiers, who suspected them of being insurgents, and were deported to Darmstadt and thence to Frankfurt am Main. There they were released and resumed their journey to Bingen.
Early in June 1849 Engels was arrested in Kirchheimbolanden by the Palatinate Provisional Government on a charge of anti-government propaganda. The day after his arrest he was released on the insistence of d'Ester, a member of the Provisional Government.
289 Jenny Marx and her three children arrived in London about 17 September 1849.
290 Accepting Marx’s suggestion to move to London Engels had to go via Piedmont, as he risked being arrested in France and more so in Germany. On 5 October 1849 he arrived in Genoa, and on the following day left for England on a British schooner via Gibraltar and the Bay of Biscay. The voyage lasted nearly five weeks. About 12 November, Engels arrived in London as was reported in the item: ‘London, 14. Nov.’ by the Westdeutsche Zeitung, No. 154, 20 November 1849.
The English original of the present letter was first printed in the Harney Papers Assen, 1969.
291 This letter has not been found.
292 Societies referred to are the German Workers’ Educational Society (London) (see Note 52) and the Democratic Association formed by a group of petty-bourgeois democrats headed by Kallenberg in London early in November 1849, and joined later by some former members of the Educational Society, Ludwig Bauer among them. Engels also wrote to Jakob Schabelitz on the collision between the two organisations (see this volume, p. 222).
The German Political Refugee Committee was set up on Marx’s initiative under the auspices of the German Workers’ Educational Society in London on 18 September 1849. Besides Marx and other members of the Communist League it included some petty-bourgeois democrats. At the meeting of the Educational Society on 18 November the Committee was transformed into the Social-Democratic Refugee Committee, the aim being to dissociate the proletarian section of the London refugees from the petty-bourgeois elements. The new Committee included only members of the Communist League. Marx was elected its chairman. Engels, who after his arrival in London was included in the Central Authority of the Communist League restored by Marx, also became a member of the Social-Democratic Refugee Committee.
Besides rendering material aid to the proletarian refugees, the Committee played an important role in reorganising the Communist League and re-establishing ties between its members. In September 1850, Marx, Engels and their adherents withdrew from the Committee because the followers of the Willich-Schapper sectarian group were in the majority in the Educational Society to which the Refugee Committee was accountable.
Early in November 1849, the petty-bourgeois democrats of the Democratic Association formed their own Refugee Committee headed by Ludwig Bauer, Friedrich Bobzin and Gustav Struve.
293 In English this letter was first published abridged in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Letters to Americans. 1848-1895, International Publishers, New York, 1953.
294 On Marx’s plans to write and publish a work on political economy see notes 5 and 59.
295 Marx’s intention to enlist Joseph Weydemeyer as a regular contributor to the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-ökonomische Revue was never realised. About mid-January Weydemeyer wrote his first article ‘From South Germany’ but it was not published in the first issue of the Revue owing to lack of space, and later lost its topical interest.
296 In a series of articles published in the Voix du Peuple from 10 November 1849 to 18 January 1850 Proudhon polemicised bitterly with Louis Blanc, particularly against the latter’s idea of using the existing State for solving the social problem, and censured his activity as a member of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (see Note 213) calling him a pseudo-socialist and pseudo-democrat.
Proudhon criticised from anarcho-reformist positions Louis Blanc’s ‘state socialism’ and other French socialists’ ideas close to Blanc’s.
297 After their defeat in 1848 (dispersal of their demonstration of 10 April, etc.) the Chartists resumed agitation in the autumn of 1849: mass meetings in factory districts were held in support of the imprisoned Chartists and an amnesty of political prisoners was demanded. At the beginning of December 1849 a new wave of meetings swept over London and the towns of Northern England on the occasion of the nomination of delegates to the Chartist Convention which was to reorganise the movement.
298 Karl Heinzen’s statements in his pamphlet, Lehren der Revolution, that during the future revolution millions of reactionaries would be beaten up, were used by some conservative European press organs for launching a campaign against political refugees. As The Times of 23 November 1849 tried to lay the responsibility for these ‘hellish doctrines’ on all German socialists and described Heinzen as one of their leading figures, Marx and Engels deemed it necessary to dissociate themselves from his utterances. With this aim in view Engels published a note ‘The German Social Democrats and The Times’ in the Chartist Northern Star, 1 December 1849 (see present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 3-4).
299 The first issue of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-ökonomische Revue published on 8 March 1850 carried the first part of Marx’s The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850 (see present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 45-70), two chapters of Engels’ The Campaign for the German Imperial Constitution (see present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 147-85) and Karl Blind’s article ‘Osterreichische und preussische Parteien in Baden’.
The general introduction mentioned in this letter was not published. The review of events written by Marx and Engels appeared only in the second issue of the journal (see present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 257-70). Wilhelm Wolff’s article was only published in the fourth issue under the heading ‘Nachträgliches “aus dem Reich ... ; it discussed the final stage in the work of the Frankfurt National Assembly (see Note 231) after the majority of the liberal deputies had withdrawn and it had been transferred to Stuttgart (end of May 1849).
The lectures on political economy which Marx delivered in the London German Workers’ Education ‘ al Society (see Note 52) at the end of 1849 and in 1850 were not published in the Revue.
300 The club referred to by Engels is the emigrant Democratic Association (see Note 292).
In 1848-49 the republican democrats in Germany called the moderate bourgeois constitutionalists ‘wailers’ (Heuler). In this particular instance the reference is to petty-bourgeois democrats who left the London German Workers’ Educational Society and took part in setting up the Democratic Association.
301 In a letter of 30 December 1849 addressed to Marx and Engels and other refugees, Louis Bamberger (editor of the Deutsche Londoner Zeitung), Eduard von Müller-Tellering and Rudolf Schramm invited them to attend a German refugees’ meeting which was to be held on 3 January 1850 with the alleged aim of uniting the German refugees. Actually the organisers wanted to bring the proletarian elements under petty-bourgeois influence.
302 Marx’s letter to Jung has not been found.
Besides raising funds for the publication of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-ökonomische Revue and the projected resumption of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Conrad Schramm’s trip to the USA was aimed at raising funds for other activities of the Communist League, which was being reorganised by Marx and Engels. The trip did not take place for lack of funds.
For his participation in the revolutionary movement Conrad Schramm (presumably a Communist League member since the beginning of 1849) was sentenced in Cologne on 15 June 1849 to two years’ imprisonment in the fortress of Jülich. On 8 September 1849 he escaped from prison and emigrated to London where he was elected to the Central Authority of the Communist League.
303 In his note of 5 February 1850 Eduard von Müller-Tellering asked for a ticket to the ball organised by the London German Workers’ Educational Society. Engels’ refusal was used by Tellering as a pretext for intrigues against Marx and Engels. See also this volume, pp. 229-30.
304 The printing of the first issue of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-ökonomische Revue by Köhler’s printshop in Hamburg turned to be of poor quality. Because of this and of the disagreements between Köhler and the publisher Schuberth, from the second issue the Revue was printed at H. G. Voigt’s in Wandsbeck near Hamburg.
305 While the Revue was being printed, disagreements arose between the proof-reader Theodor Hagen and the publisher Schuberth, who wanted to accommodate the Revue to the censorship standards existing in Germany at the time. Hagen proposed to assume responsibility to the censors for the content, and Marx and Engels insisted that Hagen’s name should appear as ‘responsible editor’ on the title page. However Schuberth succeeded in having Hagen’s proposal rejected.
306 On 3 March 1850 the court of honour, presided by Willich, expelled Tellering from the London German Workers’ Educational Society. Tellering wrote a new letter of protest, slandering Engels. This letter of Marx was in reply to Müller-Tellering’s intrigues and slander (see also Note 303).
307 Marx presumably has in mind Müller-Tellering’s unprincipled behaviour in connection with a translation of the memoirs of György Klapka, a participant in the 1848-49 Hungarian revolution. When Klapka had declined Tellering’s offer to translate the memoirs, early in January 1850 Tellering tried in vain to have material compromising the Hungarian general published in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-ökonomische Revue of which Marx was an editor. At the same time Tellering proposed his services to Klapka in the struggle against Karl Heinzen, but having been exposed in this intrigue, he helped Heinzen to spread insinuations against Marx and Engels.
308 The Refugee Committee in Frankfurt am Main was founded by the Frankfurt Workers’ Association at the end of 1849. At its meeting on 28 September 1849, presided by Joseph Weydemeyer, the Association decided to make weekly allocations to refugees.
309 In April 1850 the petty-bourgeois democrats Gustav Struve, Rudolf Schramm and others tried to gain influence among the German political refugees in London to counterbalance the Social-Democratic Refugee Committee. They spread false rumours, which got into the German press, alleging a biased approach on the part of the Committee in distributing material aid among the refugees. The London Refugee Committee’s statement mentioned at the beginning of this letter refuted the rumours.
310 This letter was published in English for the first time in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Letters to Americans. 1848-1895, International Publishers, New York, 1953.
311 Engels’ letter to Dronke has not been found.
312 The letter of Marx and Engels to Naut has not been found.
313 The society referred to is that of the French Blanquist refugees in London (Société des proscrits démocrates socialistes) with whom Marx and Engels, and also representatives of the revolutionary wing of the Chartists, concluded an agreement in mid-April 1850 (see present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 614-15) to set up a Universal Society of Revolutionary Communists (Société universelle des communistes révolutionnaires). However, the Blanquists soon violated the agreement by contacting the emigrant ‘Society in Greek Street’ — the petty-bourgeois Democratic Association (on this see Note 292). Subsequently, the leaders of the Blanquist refugees took an openly hostile stand towards Marx and Engels and their supporters by making a bloc with a sectarian faction within the Communist League. In these circumstances Marx and Engels considered it appropriate to cancel their agreement with the Blanquists early in October 1850 (see present edition, Vol. 10, p. 484).
314 This is an allusion to the campaign against German political refugees launched by the Prussian conservative newspapers and taken up by the English press. This campaign grew in intensity especially after an attempt on the life of King Frederick William IV of Prussia in Berlin on 22 May 1850 by the retired non-commissioned officer Max Sefeloge (he died in a lunatic asylum). The reactionary press, the Neue Preussische Zeitung in particular, spread the lie that the attempt had been prepared by Marx and other leaders in London of an extensive conspiracy. The Prussian authorities urged the British Government to deport the political refugees. Marx and Engels unmasked the organisers of this slander campaign in their letter to the Prussian Ambassador in London Bunsen and in other statements in the press (see present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 370, 378 and 386).
315 Two excerpts of this letter are extant: one is quoted by Roland Daniels in his letter to Marx of 28 June 1850, the other in the letter of 10 July 1850 from the Cologne leading district of the Communist League to the London Central Authority of the League.
The letter reflects the disagreement which arose in the summer of 1850 between the London Central Authority and the leaders of the Cologne organisations of the Communist League (Heinrich Bürgers, Roland Daniels, Peter Röser and others). The Cologne people’s claim to become the Communist League’s leading centre for the whole of Germany was contrary to the League’s Rules, which were inspired by democratic centralism and provided for equality of the district organisations in individual provinces and countries and their equal responsibility to the Central Authority.
316 This letter was first published in English with abridgments in: K. Marx and F. Engels, Letters to Americans. 1848-1895, New York, 1953.
However, a slip of the pen on the part of the author, substituting July for June, was not taken into account and in the present edition it has been corrected on the basis of Weydemeyer’s reply to Marx of 3 July 1850.
317 Marx’s intention to reply to Lüning’s criticism remained unfulfilled. However, in a statement to the editor of the Neue Deutsche Zeitung (published on 4 July 1850) Marx and Engels protested against Lüning’s attempts to distort their views on the dictatorship of the proletariat and the role of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung as the mouthpiece of the working class.
318 The foreign policy of the Russell cabinet was debated in the House of Commons on 24-27 June 1850. Despite strong Tory opposition the Whig Government was given a vote of confidence by majority of 46.
319 This refers to the proposed convocation of a congress of the Communist League (see also present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 375-76) which did not take place, however, owing to the split in the League in September 1850 caused by the disruptive activity of the Willich-Schapper separatist group.
320 Marx may have had in mind the situation in the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein in the summer of 1850, when Communist League members conducted intense propaganda among the military units there. During the 1848 revolution the population of the duchy staged a national liberation uprising against Danish rule, demanding union with Germany. Prussian circles launched a phoney war against Denmark, but a truce was signed on 26 August 1848. The Prusso-Danish war was resumed at the end of March 1819 and it ended with a new betrayal by Prussia signing a peace treaty with the Danish monarchy on 2 July 1850. As a result the insurgents were compelled to continue the war on their own and on 24-25 July 1850 the Schleswig-Holstein army was defeated by Danish troops, and ceased resistance.
321 In the summer of 1849, after the closing down of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Jenny Marx on her way to Trier with her children stopped for a few days, in Frankfurt am Main where, badly needing money to continue her journey, pawned, with the help of Joseph ad Louise Weydemeyer, the silver plate she had inherited from her family’s Scottish relations.
322 Weydemeyer did not carry out his plan to write a popular outline of political economy until after his Arrival in the USA :In October 1851. This work published in New York in April-August 1853 in the German newspaper Die Reform under the title ‘National-ökonomische Skizzen’.
Index for Volume 38 | Marx/Engels Archive
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Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > U > Universalists
Universalists
A Liberal Protestant sect found chiefly in North America whose distinctive tenet is the belief in the final salvation of all souls. The doctrine of universal salvation found favor among members of various Christian Churches (see APOCATASTASIS for its treatment anterior to the foundation of the Universalist Church). The present article will exclusively consider Universalism as a separate denomination.
Doctrinal principles
The historic creed of this religious body is the profession of belief adopted by the General Convention at Winchester, New Hampshire, in 1803. It contains the following articles:
We believe that the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments contain a revelation of the character of God and of the duty, interest, and final destination of mankind.
We believe that there is one God whose nature is Love, revealed in one Lord, Jesus Christ by one Holy Spirit of grace, who will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happiness.
We believe that holiness and true happiness are inseparably connected, and that believers ought to be careful to maintain order and practise good works; for these things are good and profitable unto men.
To meet the objections raised by some Universalists to parts of the foregoing articles, a briefer statement of essential principles was adopted in 1899 by the General Convention held at Boston. It required for admission to fellowship the belief in the following articles:
the universal fatherhood of God,
the spiritual authority and leadership of His Son Jesus Christ;
the trustworthiness of the Bible as containing a revelation from God;
the certainty of just retribution for sin;
the final harmony of all souls with God.
To the admission of these principles must be added "the acknowledgment of the authority of the General Convention and assent to its laws". The Trinity is usually rejected by present-day Universalists. The reception of the sacraments is not enjoined; but baptism (according to the mode preferred by the candidate) and the Lord's Supper are administered. The infliction of temporal punishment for sin insufficiently atoned for on earth is now generally admitted. A usage of distinctly Universalist origin is the observance of "Children's Sunday." A special day (the second Sunday in June) is set apart for the baptism of children and their dedication to God's service. This observance has been taken over by other Protestant churches. For many years, the several Universalist congregations administered their own affairs independently, and the General Convention enjoyed merely advisory powers. The functions of this body were enlarged in 1866 and further extended in 1870, until it became the highest legislative authority for the United States and Canada.
History & institutions
The first Universalist congregation was organized in 1750 in London by Rev. James Relly, who ministered to its spiritual needs until his death (1778). In spite of this early establishment few Universalist churches exist at present in Europe; but Universalism is undoubtedly believed in outside of the denomination. The stronghold of the sect is in America, where the first church was established by Rev. John Murray. He landed in New Jersey in September, 1770, preached the doctrine of Universalism along the Atlantic seaboard, and in 1779 formed with fifteen other persons the first American congregation of that faith at Gloucester, Massachusetts. Other preachers of the same doctrine arose about this time: Elhanan Winchester, a former Baptist minister, taught Universalism at Philadelphia, and Adams Streeter and Caleb Rich spread it in New England. More marked in its success and wider in the range of its influence was the propaganda of the Rev. Hosea Ballou (1771-1852), whose Unitarian views triumphed in the denomination over the Sabellian conception of the Trinity taught by Murray. His teaching of universal salvation immediately after death, however did not meet with unanimous approval, and caused the secession of eight ministers and some members who, under the name of Restorationists, founded a separate sect. But the existence of this new creation was short-lived (1831-41), while the parent body spread during Ballou's lifetime not only in the United States but also to Canada. Its progress was slowed by the Civil War, but the propaganda subsequently carried on, chiefly under the direction of the board of trustees and the state conventions, was crowned with some success, and the denomination spread throughout the United States.
The denomination founded the following educational institutions:
Tufts College (founded in 1852) Medford, Mass.;
Lombard College (1852), Galesburg, Illinois;
St. Lawrence University (1856), Canton, New York;
Buchtel College (1872), Akron, Ohio.
A school of divinity is connected with the first three institutions named. Academies are maintained at Franklin Massachusetts (Dean Academy); Barre, Vermont (Goddard Seminary); and Portland, Maine (Westbrook Seminary).
APA citation. Weber, N. (1912). Universalists. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15181a.htm
MLA citation. Weber, Nicholas. "Universalists." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15181a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Tomas Hancil.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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Pamela Ramey Tatum
Pamela Ramey Tatum is a full-time professional artist, painter of cityscapes, street scenes, landscapes, and portraits.
Influenced and inspired by her artist/writer mother, Tatum grew up with a love for all things creative. At the age of 16 her talent was recognized, and she was selected to attend a magnet high school where she studied art.
Tatum’s love of stories led her to earn a Master’s Degree in English Literature. And in her painting, she says that she is most interested in storytelling and also “rejoicing the miracle and wonder that life--every single breath of it--is. “ She wants to move the viewer emotionally, and to "have the viewer enter the story" she creates on canvas.
2012 began a new period in her work as she began painting with a knife using lots of paint to create fun, textured paintings. Her city scenes with “lovers under umbrellas” paintings were born. These have become her signature pieces and according to Tatum are her most popular work.
Pamela’s palette knife technique is bold and confident, and there is a passion and energy to her work. The vivid colors add to the dynamic element and the mood of her work. She believes it is the juxtaposition between the rain (associated with sadness) and the bright colors and lovers (associated with happiness) that is the appeal of these paintings. She explains, “I think these paintings speak to the subconscious and its desire to overcome loneliness, to connect with another human being in the face of all the darkness and sadness in the world.”
In addition to her cityscapes, Tatum is also known for her portraits. She enjoys the opportunity to co-create with collectors who commission her to preserve their stories in a portrait or cityscape.
It is not surprising that Tatum credits her influences as Monet and Van Gogh and all the impressionists whom she has studied. Her modern favorites include Jack Vettriano and Eugene Paprocki. Over the years Tatum has studied with many artists, including Morgan Samuel Price, David Gray, James Pratt, and Barbara Perrotti. For three years Master Artist, Robert Dorman was her mentor.
Raised in Tampa, Florida, Tatum has lived and worked in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, since 2009. Her main studio since 2012 has been at The Hub on Canal, a 10,000 square foot, dynamic art space in New Smyrna Beach where visitors and collectors come from all over the world.
As a world traveler, exotic locations seem to drive her passion and inform her work. She has lived, studied and worked in France, India, Israel and Poland. She has traveled also to Slovokia, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and the Sinai. She also enjoys sailing in exotic locations with her husband.
Tatum has won many awards in the Central Florida art scene. She also owned and operated a gallery for two years. Her primary focus now is on painting and exhibiting. She is also attending a month-long residency in Assisi, Italy, in summer 2018.
With upcoming exhibits including one in Venice, Florida scheduled in 2018, Tatum continues to be added to private collections in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Tatum's work can be viewed at The Hub on Canal in New Smyrna Beach, FL, the Hyder Gallery in Lake Mary, Florida, and online at pamelarameytatum.com.
Pike's Place Market, Seattle
Limited Edition Print, Gallery Wrapped: Print on Archival Canvas
Pikes Place Market in Seattle
Inventory ID PT_0007
Lovers enjoying the vibrancy of Pikes Place Market... theyre heading for the Fish Market or the first ever Starbucks Coffee.
Pike's Place Market, Seattle - By Pamela Ramey Tatum
Pamela Ramey Tatum Professional Artist Pamela Ramey Tatum is a full-time professional artist, painter of cityscapes, street scenes, landscapes, and portraits. Influenced and inspired by her artist/writer mother, Tatum grew up with a love for all things creative. At the age of 16 her talent was recognized, and she was selected to attend a magnet high school where she studied art. Tatum’s love of stories led her to earn a Master’s Degree in English Literature. And in her painting, she says that she is most interested in storytelling and also “rejoicing the miracle and wonder that life--every single breath of it--is. “ She wants to move the viewer emotionally, and to "have the viewer enter the story" she creates on canvas. 2012 began a new period in her work as she began painting with a knife using lots of paint to create fun, textured paintings. Her city scenes with “lovers under umbrellas” paintings were born. These have become her signature pieces and according to Tatum are her most popular work. Pamela’s palette knife technique is bold and confident, and there is a passion and energy to her work. The vivid colors add to the dynamic element and the mood of her work. She believes it is the juxtaposition between the rain (associated with sadness) and the bright colors and lovers (associated with happiness) that is the appeal of these paintings. She explains, “I think these paintings speak to the subconscious and its desire to overcome loneliness, to connect with another human being in the face of all the darkness and sadness in the world.” In addition to her cityscapes, Tatum is also known for her portraits. She enjoys the opportunity to co-create with collectors who commission her to preserve their stories in a portrait or cityscape. It is not surprising that Tatum credits her influences as Monet and Van Gogh and all the impressionists whom she has studied. Her modern favorites include Jack Vettriano and Eugene Paprocki. Over the years Tatum has studied with many artists, including Morgan Samuel Price, David Gray, James Pratt, and Barbara Perrotti. For three years Master Artist, Robert Dorman was her mentor. Raised in Tampa, Florida, Tatum has lived and worked in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, since 2009. Her main studio since 2012 has been at The Hub on Canal, a 10,000 square foot, dynamic art space in New Smyrna Beach where visitors and collectors come from all over the world. As a world traveler, exotic locations seem to drive her passion and inform her work. She has lived, studied and worked in France, India, Israel and Poland. She has traveled also to Slovokia, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and the Sinai. She also enjoys sailing in exotic locations with her husband. Tatum has won many awards in the Central Florida art scene. She also owned and operated a gallery for two years. Her primary focus now is on painting and exhibiting. She is also attending a month-long residency in Assisi, Italy, in summer 2018. With upcoming exhibits including one in Venice, Florida scheduled in 2018, Tatum continues to be added to private collections in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Tatum's work can be viewed at The Hub on Canal in New Smyrna Beach, FL, the Hyder Gallery in Lake Mary, Florida, and online at pamelarameytatum.com.
Update Pike<(1)>s Place Market, Seattle Information Text:
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Ulla Wiesner - JPop.com
She's Drunk, Because News from CBC Radio, Brazen Angel, Kings Of The Rollers, The Silent Partner, home-, Liar Single, Red Baron, AttenCHUN! (Snippet Sampler), Blumen am Arsch der Hölle, Under the shining moon ]vocals Liliana Diaz], Piau, Del Assire, Tokuno Shimasetsu
Ulla Wiesner
Ulla Wiesner is a German singer, born in 1941 in Munich, Germany. Ulla Wiesner was active from 1963 to 2002 as a singer. In 1965, she represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest, with her song, "Paradies, wo bist du?" (Paradise, where are you?). It scored zero points along with three other countries out of the fifteen which entered in total. Since then, notable singles of hers include titles such as: "Abends kommen die Sterne" (In the Evening the Stars Come Out), "My Darling", "My Love" and "Charade". Read more on Last.fm
Ulla Wiesner is a German singer, born in 1941 in Munich, Germany. Ulla Wiesner was active from 1963 to 2002 as a singer. In 1965, she represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest, with her song, "Paradies, wo bist du?" (Paradise, where are you?). It scored zero points along with three other countries out of the fifteen which entered in total. Since then, notable singles of hers include titles such as: "Abends kommen die Sterne" (In the Evening the Stars Come Out), "My Darling", "My Love" and "Charade". Ulla Wiesner married the German TV producer and personality Alexander Arnz (1932-2004) in 1999. Read more on Last.fm.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply..
Eurovision 1965 - Naples
Esc_1965
Eurovisión 1965 Alemania 15º
Paradies, wo bist du? - Single
Träume von Gestern
Eurovision Song Contest 1965 Naples
ESC 1965 Napoli
Eurovisión 1965 Alemania 15ş
Eurovision Song Contest Naples 1965
1965 Naples
Alle Sieger Des Deutschen Grand Prix 1956-2000
ESC 1965 Naples
Alle sieger des deutschen Grand Prix 1956 - 2000
1965 Neapol
ESC 1965 NAPOLI IT
Paradies, Wo Bist Du
Paradies Wo Bist Du
Paradies, Wo Bist Du (Germany)
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Klamra Foundation
In Polish „klamra” means „clip” or „buckle”. We decided to give such a name because our main goal is to connect various ideas, initiatives and the organizations for which we had worked before. We focus basically on ecology, human and animal rights, anti-discrimination and minorities issues, local initiatives, children issues, fight with extremism, etc.
The spectrum of our activity is very broad due to the wide perspectives of our founders and co-workers. In the time of concrete specializations and a tendency to alienate we believe that at least in the layer of social change we need a holistic approach. We aim at connecting people and ideas in common work of problem solving. We do it with a deep commitment and the results of our activity can be easily verified. We also support many organizations with our ideas and work in order to create a new quality of life.
Klamra was set up in 2010 by Dariusz Paczkowski (co-president), Karina Paczkowska (co-president) and Piotr Cykowski in Żywiec, a small city in Silesia region in southern Poland. See more about us and our friends we work with in the section “People”!
Cooperation:
We are an active member of The Anti-discrimination Education Association which is a voluntary agreement between non-governmental organizations, trade unions and informal groups which work in aid of anti-discrimination education. The mission of the Association is to introduce a reliable anti-discrimination education to the formal education system in Poland. Find more on: http://tea.org.pl/eng/SiteContent?…
Furthermore, we are a member of the Koalicja przeciw mowie nienawiści (the Anti-hatred Speech Association) which supports All-Poland Anti-hatred Speech Campaign: http://beznienawisci.pl/koalicja/
We are proud that our activities were recognized by following awards:
Lider roku (“Leader of the Year”) Award by Stowarzyszenie Babiogórskie “Zielona Linia” and Żywiecka Fundacja Rozwoju (2013),
Second prize in Otwarta Szkoła Award (“Open School) by Ministry of Education, together with I Liceum Ogólnokształcące in Żywiec (2012),
Polska dla Wszystkich (“Poland for All”) Award by the Minister of Foreign Affairs (2011),
First prize in 7th edition of Opowiedz (“Tell it” ) Award for the “Highlanders Graffiti” presentation by Luciusz Cykarski (2010),
Entry in the Golden Book of Żywiec by the City of Żywiec (2010).
Major projects:
Wspólny Żywiec / Common Żywiec
A succession of activities, started in 2010, aimed to counteract discrimination and intolerance in Żywiec with the special focus on Rom community. In 2010 and 2011, together with the academic experts, we conducted a complex social diagnosis and prepared a long-term plan of actions as well co-organized the first “Rom Day” in Żywiec. Since that time we are implementing various activities for anti-discrimination education and social integration with the special focus on children. We have organized the second “Rom Day”, “Living Library”, international youth exchange “Pravde Yakheca”, and a stream of workshops for teachers, authorities and social workers. At this moment, our goal is to empower the Rom community which lives in social housing district in Żywiec. We are thankful to the main sponsor of the project: The Stefan Batory Foundation.
Aktywnie na rzecz tolerancji / Actively for tolerance
It is one and a half year program (2012–2013) of anti-discrimination education on different levels. We have organized 10-day intensive course for local activists from Poland, particularly in smaller towns. Combining various tools of social animation (photo, video, drama and graffiti) with anti-discrimination tuitions in one program provided us with great and unique experience. In the second phase of the program we offered a series of practical anti-discrimination workshops for the teachers in Żywiec and we invited academics and NGO’s experts of various fields of expertise. The project is realized with the support of Switzerland under the Swiss Cooperation Program with the new EU member states.
Street Art na ludowo / Folk Street Art
A series of workshops – mainly for children – which connected traditional, local, and folk symbols with modern and popular way of expression in order to create awareness about local culture and tradition among the youngest generation. Until now, we have focused mostly on the traditions of the Highladers from Beskidy region. More on: http://klamra.org/…-po-goralsku
We started this project to document and preserve a rare knowledge about ‚Gajdosze’ – an authentic and indigenous highlander musicians from Beskid Mountains – on both Polish and Czech Republic borders. We also document a unique music instrument called ‚gajdy’. In the past, Gajdosze have created local music bands, specific for this region, which were playing the ‚gajdy’ and the violins. The project is supported by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Galeria Tybetańska / The Tibetan Gallery
A unique artistic project started in co-operation with The Other Space Foundation in Warsaw in 2009 to commemorate the event of bestowal honorary citizenship of Warsaw to His Holiness The Dalai Lama. Moreover, we suggested to name one of the Warsaw’s roundabouts “Free Tibet”. In the end, there is a (Free) Tibet Roundabout and a street-art gallery dedicated to the Tibetan issue presenting culture, human rights, the political situation and the inspirations that Tibet brings to the artists. The first graffiti was painted by over 100 people in two days and media called it “the first societal roundabout”. Our work led to the widely acclaimed opening of the Tibet Roundabout with a presence of the Mayor of Warsaw and the special message from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The place was honored by Tibetan guests – monks from the exiled Drepung Gomang Monastery, the representatives of the Tibetan Government in Exile and last but not least His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself (2013). The project is supported by the City of Warsaw and Municipal Roads Authority in Warsaw. In the past 5 years there were conducted over 30 other projects and the new ones are still created. See more on: www.facebook.com/…iaTybetanska
Dariusz Paczkowski, the founder and the co-president of Klamra. Since 1987 he is creates graffiti and street-art with social message, he also designs installations and cut stencils. Moreover, he forges signs and symbols in stones. He is a graduate of Akademia Innowatorów Społecznych (the Academy of Social Innovators). He is an experienced coach who uses graffiti as a tool to educate in the fields such as human rights, social activism, ecology, and anti-discrimination. In 80’s he was an activist of “Freedom and Peace” Movement, also a founder of happening groups „Under the supervision”, Animal Liberation Front (editor-in-chief “„I have claws” bulletin), 3fala.art.pl Group. co-founder of Anti-nazi Group (GAN) and „Never Again” Association. He has organized national and international graffiti jams as “For Peace” as part of the International Peace Day in Bielsko-Biała and Żywiec (2000), “For Wisła” as part of XIII International Street Art Festival in Warsaw (2005), and a curator of “Tibetan Gallery” project. Furthermore, he was working for “Gaja Club” and Ecological Foundation ARKA. He was working also with The Magic Mountain Foundation, The Other Space Foundation, and Students for a Free Tibet Poland. He was awarded by Australian Independent Foundation for the Promotion of Polish Culture “POLCUL” for counteracting xenophobia and racism (2001), he is also a laureate of “Social Animator” Award by Local Animator Center (2010), of “Good Deeds” Award by Ecological Foundation ARKA (2011), and „Friend of the Blind” by the National Board of the Polish Association of the Blind.
Barbara Poniatowska , the co-president of Klamra. Creates street art, desinger, instruktor of yoga, She is an activis of woman rights.
Piotr Cykowski, a founder and a project coordinator. He is an activist of human rights and Tibetan issue, a member of the board at The Other Space Foundation, an editor of ratujTybet.org (‚Save Tibet’ website), a representative of Students for a Free Tibet Poland, and an originator of the idea of Tibetan Gallery in Warsaw. He is a coach and NGO expert. He graduated from the School of Human Rights founded by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and also from the School of NGO’s Leaders. He is a member of the Anti-discrimination Education Association. He designs, rises founds and supervises the mayor Foundation’s project.
Main benefactors and partners: Stefan Batory Foundation, Fund for Non-governmental Organizations, Warsaw, Żywiec
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Published by Kash on October 4, 2018 October 4, 2018
Update 10/5:
Kavanaugh has made it to the Supreme Court due to a 51-49 Senate vote. The Supreme Court will vote on whether or not to send to the Senate for a final confirmation vote.
On July 9th, 2018, President Trump announced his pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, a man named Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh is an established judge in D.C. and was seen as a logical fit for the Supreme Court by many Republicans.
The next few months would see next to no action concerning Kavanaugh’s nomination and possible conformation.
Then, something happened. A woman named Christine Blasey Ford, a professor of psychology at Palo Alto University, came forward saying that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her thirty years ago. This sparked a massive controversy; a resurgence of the #MeToo movement of the past year.
-Ford went to her therapist in 2012 saying that she had been sexually assaulted in her past and described the man and others involved as high-ranking officials in Washington
-Senate met and led the Ford-Kavanaugh hearing last Thursday (September 27th) that was televised on national television
-Ford gave a very detailed account of the alleged assault and how it has impacted her
-Kavanaugh said that the hearings were an outrageous waste of money and time
-Many Republican senators, especially Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham have expressed the sentiment that Ford’s allegations are false and should be discarded
My Thoughts (Event):
Before watching the trial, I was incredibly hesitant to pick a side in the matter. Of course, I immediately was slightly biased against Kavanaugh due to his stances on various issues and the fact of who nominated him, but I reserved judgment until watching the trial and finding out more evidence about the case.
It quickly became blindingly obvious to me that Ford is telling the truth. Her account of her assault and the effect it had on her felt far too real to be pretended. Then, Kavanaugh spoke. He vehemently attacked the Democrats, saying that “this whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit.” He was asked several questions by several senators in regards to quotes from his high school yearbook.
John Kennedy (MS-R) asked Kavanaugh a rather interesting question, one of the few direct questions about the alleged assault: “I’m going to give you a last opportunity right here, right in front of God and country. I want you to look me in the eye. Are Dr. Ford’s allegations true?” to which Kavanaugh responded “They’re not accurate as to me. I have not questioned that she might have been sexually assaulted at some point in her life by someone someplace. But as to me, I’ve never done this.”
I am no lawyer, but Kavanaugh’s testimony – the intense anger he displayed, his combativeness with the Democratic senators, and his bizarre answers to questions that often times did not even answer the question – have made me very suspicious as to how much of what we said was true. I find it probable that he perjured himself several times, especially in his denials of the alleged assault and his drinking habits, especially considering that his former roommate and drinking buddies say that he was lying.
Differing Reactions:
I have seen the following reactions from Republicans:
“People in power are always accused of sexual assault.” This is simply untrue. Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first nominee, was never accused of anything along the lines of this. Nor were any of the other SCOTUS justices, save Clarence Thomas.
“Why did she wait so long to come forward? This is clearly politically motivated.” There is a multitude of reasons that women do not come forward. When they do, they are often not believed, belittled, or told to “get over it” or avoid their attacker. Women who come forward have to deal with being shamed or victim-blaming, not to mention the difficulty of pursuing a legal case. Many women simply believe that nothing will be done or that they will be attacked for being a victim and, as such, believe it better not to report sexual assault. Ford likely did not come forward earlier because she was worried that people would deny the attack. However, now that this man could possibly become one of the most powerful people in the country, she feels the need to say what happened.
“He was only seventeen/it was a long time ago.” I personally believe in second chances, at least in regards to lesser crimes. This, however, is a crime of evil. This sort of action is not something that is ever forgivable.
My Thoughts (Impact & Outcome):
I believe that Kavanaugh assaulted Ford.
Her account seemed very real. It is illogical that she could have fabricated evidence in 2012 when she spoke to her therapist about the attack. Kavanaugh’s testimony was full of finger-pointing and incredibly unprofessional behavior that does not point towards his innocence. His defense – the calendar that he did not mark the party where the alleged assault took place on – is an incredibly poor defense. I believe that even if he is innocent, he should not be confirmed due to his testimony. A man who lies about things as minute as what “boofed” meant when he was in high school while under oath is not a man deserving of a Supreme Court seat.
The behavior of Graham, Trump, and other top Republicans has been beyond abhorrent. Hopefully, these events will set a higher standard for officeholders to adhere by. The #MeToo movement still lives in women like Ford and will likely bring about the reckoning of rapists and harassers.
I am optimistic that he will not be confirmed, should he get that far. The two Independent senators, King and Sanders, are guarenteed “no” votes. Hopefully, most if not all Democrats will vote “no,” meaning only a few “no” votes are needed from Republicans.
I am aware that some senators – Democrats and Republicans alike – will vote “yes” in order to protect their political careers. I firmly believe that this is wrong, and I urge all of our senators to reflect upon this important desicion and make the right choice.
In times of trouble, one can do what is easy or what is safe, or one can do what is right.
Categories: BlogInside The Blue
nuvs · October 5, 2018 at 9:36 pm
Machin has said he will vote “Yes”
https://apple.news/AKRUBekLXTbKjeOGiKpH7-w
Peter · October 5, 2018 at 12:22 pm
Don’t forget that if even one of the Democratic Senate votes is a yes the person who cast it will just have imploded their career. No pressure to vote no… None at all….
Day 19. January 9th, 2018. The government has been partially shut down for 19 days, making this the second longest government shutdown in the history of America. This shutdown is forcing hundreds of thousands of Read more…
Happy Halloween everybody! Happy reading. -=- I sprung awake, certain that someone was watching me. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t make a sound. All I could do was stare up at the ceiling and at Read more…
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A Brief Biographical Sketch of Sir Orby Howell Mootham
On January 22, 2017 By Douglas McDonald-Norman In Uncategorized
This post is hopefully the first of a loosely-linked set of posts on colonial continuity in the Indian judiciary.As noted in the title, this post is a brief biographical sketch of Sir Orby Howell Mootham, the second-last British Chief Justice of an Indian High Court and the third-last British judge to serve in India. (Only Donald Falshaw, Chief Justice of the Punjab High Court, and Wiliam Broome of the Allahabad High Court outlasted Mootham. I have previously written about Broome for this blog.)
Mootham is an interesting historical figure. As I have previously written, his scholarship (on Indian history and international law) has attracted greater attention and acclaim than his service in India, and he has left more published works behind than any other ‘British judge in independent India’. His life and career flitted between fields – as a scholar, lawyer and judge, serving in the UK, Burma (Myanmar) and India.
Mootham was born in 1901. He graduated with an MSc in Economics from the University of London and was called to the Bar in 1926.[1] As a young man, he assisted Hersch Lauterpacht (later a prominent scholar of international law and judge of the International Court of Justice) in his early writings on John Westlake; Lauterpacht later reciprocated ‘Mootham’s earlier kindness’[2] by assisting Mootham with his PhD thesis, The Doctrine of Continuous Voyage, 1756-1815. This thesis (published in 1927[3]) continues to be cited by contemporary scholars.[4]
Mootham began practice at the bar in Rangoon (now Yangon) in 1927, having apparently been unable to afford to build a practice in England. In 1939, he published Burmese Buddhist Law, favourably received at the time[5] and still cited in more recent times.[6] Mootham served as Deputy Judge Advocate in Burma (1940-1942), as assistant to the Judge Advocate General in India (1942-1945), as Chief Judicial Officer in Burma (1945), and as an acting judge of the Rangoon High Court (1945-1946).[7] During this period, Mootham married Maria Niemoller in 1931; twin children Dolf and Beatrix were born in 1933. In childhood, both children spoke German, their mother’s language, before English.
Mootham was appointed to the Allahabad High Court in 1946. He was appointed as Chief Justice of that Court in 1956.[8] Until 1961 (the year of his retirement from Allahabad), Mootham returned to England each second summer. His obituary in The Times claims that Vikram Seth’s inclusion of Justice Bailey, ‘an Englishman who had served with the judicial service of the ICS and had stayed on after Independence’, among the judges of the fictional Brahmpur High Court in A Suitable Boy[9] was in ‘modelled on Mootham’.[10]
Mootham retired from the Allahabad High Court in 1961; he was knighted the following year. He returned to England, serving as legal adviser to the Commonwealth Relations Office (1961-1963), as chairman of the North London Medical Appeals Tribunal (1963-1974) and as deputy chairman of Quarter Sessions in Essex (1964-1971).[11] In retirement, he continued to write on Indian law and history,[12] most prominently in his 1983 book The East India Company’s Sadar Courts 1801-1834 (published by the Indian Law Institute). At the time of the publication of The East India Company’s Sadar Courts, it was noted that the Indian Law Institute had ‘reversed a long-standing rule of solely publishing works by Indian citizens’ through Mootham’s publication;[13] this work continues to be cited.[14]
Mootham died in 1995. Shortly before his death, he was visited by R. S. Pathak, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India. At Mootham’s death, he was described as ‘a rare surviving link with the 1920s Raj’ and (incorrectly) as ‘probably the last Englishman to be a judge in the new state [India]’ (although he was probably the last surviving British judge to have served in independent India).[15] His daughter Beatrix died in 2004; his son Dolf died in 2015.
Why is Sir Orby Howell Mootham, who left India more than 50 years ago and died more than 20 years ago, of continuing interest? Unlike William Broome, he did not take Indian citizenship or live the rest of his life in India. Mootham’s legal scholarship, although remaining in circulation, encountered consistent criticism for a lack of due advertence to historical context.[16] To take an interest in India and Indian law, as Mootham did, need not, of course, be an example of any genuine love for India itself (outside the colonial project); the production and development of colonial knowledge may serve as a means for the exertion of power over colonial territories,[17] and as a means by which colonial control may be established and maintained.[18] Mootham’s interest in India is hence of limited value in determining how he saw India, how he viewed his loyalties (whether to the former colonial power, to which he returned following his service, or to the nation in which he spent much of his career and to which he devoted much of his legal and scholarly work) or, indeed, how he was in turn viewed by the Indian state, bar and populace.
Mootham is nonetheless interesting because of his mode of engagement with India: one of the last of a generation of British judges to serve in India, one of the few to have transitioned from Indian service to a continued legal career in Britain (as opposed to retirement or service elsewhere in the Commonwealth), and yet one of the few whose engagement with Indian law and history continued following his judicial service. He is the last known ‘British judge in India’ to have practiced at the bar in South Asia (rather than solely as a service judge), and the only one known to have coupled practical experience in adjudication with broader theoretical interest in Indian (and South Asian) legal doctrines. His career is principally interesting because it appears so unusual.
[1] ‘Sir Orby Mootham: Obituary’, The Times, 4 August 1995 (“The Times obituary”).
[2] Elihu Lauterpacht, The Life of Hersch Lauterpacht (2010) 60.
[3] O. H. Mootham, ‘The Doctrine of Continuous Voyage, 1756-1815’ (1927) 8 British Yearbook of International Law 62.
[4] See e.g. Tara Helfman, ‘Neutrality, the Law of Nations, and the Natural Law Tradition: A Study of the Seven Years’ War’ (2005) 50 Yale Journal of International Law 549, 580n189.
[5] S. V. Fitzgerald, ‘Burmese Buddhist Law by O. H. Mootham’ (1940) 10 Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 822 (“Fitzgerald 1940”).
[6] See e.g. Mitra Sharafi, ‘The Marital Patchwork of Colonial South Asia: Forum Shopping from Britain to Baroda’ (2010) 28 Law and History Review 979, 995.
[7] The Times obituary.
[8] This appointment was only made possible by the enactment of the First Amendment to the Constitution in 1951.
[9] Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy (1993) 743.
[10] The Times obituary.
[12] See e.g. Sir Orby Mootham, ‘Constitutional Writs in India’ in Anderson (ed), Changing Law in Developing Countries (1963); Sir Orby Howell Mootham, The High Court for the North-Western Provinces 1866-1876.
[13] A. T. Reyes, ‘The East India’s Company Sadar Courts 1801-1834’ (1984) 43 Cambridge Law Journal 411, 411 (“Reyes 1984”).
[14] See e.g. Raymond Cocks, ‘‘Sustaining the Character of a Judge’: Conflict within the Legal Thought of British India’ (2014) 35 Journal of Legal History 44.
[16] Fitzgerald 1940, 822; Reyes 1984, 411.
[17] Elizabeth Kolsky, ‘Introduction’ in Agha and Kolsky (eds), Fringes of Empire 5.
[18] Bernard S. Cohn, Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India (1996) 3.
Madras High Court: Heritage Walk
The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Jon Wilson’s ‘India Conquered’ and Indian Pluralism
Pingback: The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Jon Wilson’s ‘India Conquered’ and Indian Pluralism – Law and Other Things
Pingback: Who Was Basil James? – Law and Other Things
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The Village Square: August 11, 2016
By Ruel Gaviola on August 11, 2016 The Village Square
Have you been following our Gen Con news? If not, go there and learn about the latest and greatest games to hit the tabletop. I’ll still be here with your bi-weekly dose of board game news.
Asmodee’s Cyclades: Monuments will be available later this year. “Set in the mythological era of powerful heroes and terrifying monsters, Cyclades compels you to balance growing your civilization with keeping that civilization from monsters and from other rival Greeks. Now, the upcoming Monuments expansion enables you to accomplish both those tasks at once and build more massive structures than ever before.”
Source: http://drafts.asmodee.us/en/news/2016/8/9/mythical-monuments/
Gen Con Numbers
According to purplepawn.com, over 200,000 people attended Gen Con last week and the local economic impact of the con was $71 million.
Source: http://www.purplepawn.com/2016/08/gen-con-2016-attendance-numbers-hold-provide-greatest-economic-impact-of-all-of-indianapolis-conventions/
Gen Con Photos
Gen Con 2016 in photos, from our friends at arstechnica.com
Source: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/08/the-best-four-days-in-gaming-gen-con-in-pictures/
SPIEL 2016 Preview
Gen Con is over, but there are plenty of conventions remaining, including SPIEL 2016 on October 13-16. W. Eric Martin has a preview of Germany’s biggest gaming convention.
Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/193588/spiel-2016-preview
Through the Ages Digital
From boardgamegeekTV comes a preview of the Through the Ages app conducted by the designer Vlaada Chvatil.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghY52mP34tk
Updated Digital Sentinels of the Multiverse
The deck-building app Sentinels of the Multiverse has been updated and can now be played on phones, tablets, and other platforms. According to Pocket Tactics, “Multiplayer remains fully cross-platform compatible.”
Source: http://www.pockettactics.com/news/sentinels-of-the-multiverse-updates-to-2-0-gets-smartphone-support-and-a-discount/
Cry Havoc
Long-time Sims producer Grant Rodiek talks about his foray into board game design with his highly anticipated Cry Havoc. He felt that “ his time working in the video game industry has prepared him for the criticisms and tough feedback that come with game design and allowed him to be adaptable to sudden changes.”
Source: http://www.polygon.com/2016/8/9/12412748/cry-havoc-gencon-preview-review-the-sims
Warriors On Hold
The kickstarter for The Warriors: Turf War, a board game based on the ‘70s film, has been cancelled after negative feedback from playtesters. “[W]e’ve decided to suspend the current Turf War campaign, make a hefty bunch of backer-requested and much-needed overhauls, and then relaunch later this month.”
Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/62282519/the-warriors-turf-war/posts/1649736
Board Games on the Big Screen
While not exactly Mazes and Monsters, Beyond the Gates was recently acquired by IFC Midnight. The film is a throwback to ‘80s horror movies: “[T]wo estranged brothers reunite seven months after their father’s disappearance to liquidate his anemic video store. While there, they unearth an old VCR board game that acts as an inter-dimensional hub to a nightmare world where their Father’s soul is trapped and can only be saved by playing the game. The film is an adventure horror that pays loving tribute to the VHS format, video stores, and board games of the era.”
Source: http://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3402569/ifc-inserts-jackson-stewarts-beyond-gates-exclusive/
August 12-14. Board Games Bash. Austin, Texas.
August 19-21. Dragonflight XXXVII. Bellevue, Washington.
August 26-28. Coulee Con 2016. La Crosse, Wisconsin.
August 26-28. Guns of August. Williamsburg, Virginia.
September 1-4. Tacticon 2016. Colorado Springs, Colorado.
September 2-5. Gateway 2016. Los Angeles, California.
Tags: Asmodeeboard game conventionsboard game newsboard gamesexpansionfantasy flight gameshobby gamingKickstarterThe Village Square
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Home | KUP | Ndara B Chairman Mwandaa Works at Diaspora University Town Land
Ndara B Chairman Mwandaa Works at Diaspora University Town Land
Ndara B Chairman Benjamin Mwandaa cuts bushes at Diaspora University Town as Survey progresses
Ndara B Chairman, Benjamin Mwandaa, was a teenager as Kenya attained her independence in 1963. He would become a Police officer and over the years offer security, safety and emergency services to Kenyans in different parts of Kenya. After retirement he would return home and his community would choose him as Chairman of their Community land. He has since brought to the Community the Diaspora University Town that will provide jobs, education and meet the future generations. He worked at the site as he asked others to work hard to build the University and Town.
The Diaspora University Town project will create thousands of jobs for young men and women especially those aged between 20 and 30. As these young develop the town they will also be creating their new home. Of the 30,000 thousand persons expected to be settled in the Town close to 70% will be aged below 35 years.
Chairman Mwandaa is happy with the progress made so far. He can’t wait to see the work progress to buildings of the university and town roads construction, so the thousands of young men and women can start working to build this new home. Close to 2,000 persons have registered for the jobs with the majority (about 70%) being persons aged 18 years to 35 years. In 5 years the plan is to make the land a home of 30,000 residents as it creates 20,000 jobs. 6,000 town houses will be built.
Mwandaa looking at the 15 persons already working at the site says that they are happy to be building the University and Town for themselves and for future generations. He says his community is happy to partner with Diaspora for the benefit of all.
Mwandaa whose phone answering is a message of President Uhuru Kenyatta thanking the Diaspora for their contribution to Kenya development, thanks the Diaspora for starting the project and putting in resources to create the ongoing development plan. He thanks Bishop Mwawasi for bringing the project to Taita Taveta and for coming to see him. He says, the young men and women will work hard so they can benefit from the jobs created and have a place to go every day and houses developed.
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Mark has dedicated his professional career to providing unparalleled service to customers and has built one of the most successful IT companies in the federal marketplace. His commitment to customer service started long before M2 was founded and is the most critical component of Mark’s philosophy and approach to creating a successful business.
This customer centric approach has served as the foundation for a very successful 35 years in the Information Technology sector. During his Air Force career, Mark held key positions in data center operations, policy and procedures, and program management. He was motivated by a single purpose – deliver superior content and service to the customer. Upon retirement from the Air Force, Mark accepted a sales position with an Information Technology Value Added Reseller (IT VAR) leveraging his background in both technology and the Air Force. His success and impact was immediate and he was soon recruited and hired as the Vice President of Sales for another IT VAR focused on the Federal sector. During his four years in sales management, Mark grew the company’s revenue over 50 percent year-over-year by creating a culture of customer first and providing a human connection to IT solutions.
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M2 Technology does over 50 tradeshows, partner events and community events each year. One of the things we are most proud of at M2 Technology is our admiration for the country we live in and all of the privileges that allows. With Wendy on our team, we have a resource that enables us to take the time to GIVE BACK to our Community in many ways. We contribute to more than 40 non-profit organizations each year – many of which we contribute both financially and in volunteer hours.
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Other Spaces, Other Times
Nonstop Press
Hard cover book
"IN THE COURSE of my six decades of writing, I've witnessed the transition of science-fiction publishing from being a pulp-magazine-centered field to one dominated by mass-market paperback companies, and I've known and dealt with virtually every editor who played a role in that evolution. For much of the time I was close to the center of the field as a writer and sometimes as an editor, not only deeply involved in its commercial mutations but also privy to all the personal and professional gossip that it generated. All that special knowledge has left me with a sense of responsibility to the field's historians. I was there, I did this and did that, I worked with this great editor and that one, I knew all but a handful of the major writers on a first-name basis, and all of that will be lost if I don't make some sort of record of it. Therefore it behooves me to set down an account of those experiences for those who will find them of value." — From Silverberg's introduction
ROBERT SILVERBERG is one of the most important American science fiction writers of hte 20th century. He rose to prominence during the 1950s at the end of the pulp era and the dawning of a more sophisticated kind of science fiction. One of the most prolific of writers, early on he would routinely crank out a story a day. By the late 1960s he was one of the small group of writers using science fiction as an art form and turning out award winning stories and novels. In 2004 he was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. OTHER SPACES, OTHER TIMES: A LIFE SPENT IN THE FUTURE is the first collection of his autobiographical writings. Fully illustrated with many rare photos and ephemera from Silverberg's own archives and a new Silverberg bibliography.
"Autobiography. Apparently one should not name the names of those one has been to bed with, or give explicit figures on the amount of money one has earned, those being the two data most eagerly sought by readers; all the rest is legitimate to reveal." — Robert Silverberg
Introduction (Other Spaces, Other Times)
Crimes of My Youth
The Books of Childhood
The Books of Childhood, Continued
The Wheel Keeps Turning
Souding Brass, Tinkling Cymbal
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A treatise on the law of carriers : as administered by the courts of the United States, Canada and England, covering the principles and rules applicable to carriers of goods, passengers, live stock, common carriers, connecting carriers, and interstate and international transportation by land and water, and the methods and procedure for their enforcement, furnishing a practical guide to litigants in the jurisdiction named, and including the text of the Act to Regulate Commerce as amended, and all acts supplementary thereto, revised to January 1, 1914, by Dewitt C. Moore
The Resource A treatise on the law of carriers : as administered by the courts of the United States, Canada and England, covering the principles and rules applicable to carriers of goods, passengers, live stock, common carriers, connecting carriers, and interstate and international transportation by land and water, and the methods and procedure for their enforcement, furnishing a practical guide to litigants in the jurisdiction named, and including the text of the Act to Regulate Commerce as amended, and all acts supplementary thereto, revised to January 1, 1914, by Dewitt C. Moore
The item A treatise on the law of carriers : as administered by the courts of the United States, Canada and England, covering the principles and rules applicable to carriers of goods, passengers, live stock, common carriers, connecting carriers, and interstate and international transportation by land and water, and the methods and procedure for their enforcement, furnishing a practical guide to litigants in the jurisdiction named, and including the text of the Act to Regulate Commerce as amended, and all acts supplementary thereto, revised to January 1, 1914, by Dewitt C. Moore represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Biddle Law Library.
Moore, Dewitt C., (Dewitt Clinton), 1856-1916
Albany, N.Y., M. Bender, 1914
3 volumes (cclxxxii, 2444 pages)
A treatise on the law of carriers : as administered by the courts of the United States, Canada and England, covering the principles and rules applicable to carriers of goods, passengers, live stock, common carriers, connecting carriers, and interstate and international transportation by land and water, and the methods and procedure for their enforcement, furnishing a practical guide to litigants in the jurisdiction named, and including the text of the Act to Regulate Commerce as amended, and all acts supplementary thereto, revised to January 1, 1914
A treatise on the law of carriers
as administered by the courts of the United States, Canada and England, covering the principles and rules applicable to carriers of goods, passengers, live stock, common carriers, connecting carriers, and interstate and international transportation by land and water, and the methods and procedure for their enforcement, furnishing a practical guide to litigants in the jurisdiction named, and including the text of the Act to Regulate Commerce as amended, and all acts supplementary thereto, revised to January 1, 1914
by Dewitt C. Moore
Law of carriers
Moore on carriers
Carriers -- United States
Carriers -- Canada
Carriers -- Great Britain
Moore, Dewitt C.
KF1091
Bound with: A Treatise on the Law of Carriers / by Dewitt C. Moore. Albany, N.Y. : Matthew Bender & Co., 1906
MASL97-B2552
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Data Citation of the Item A treatise on the law of carriers : as administered by the courts of the United States, Canada and England, covering the principles and rules applicable to carriers of goods, passengers, live stock, common carriers, connecting carriers, and interstate and international transportation by land and water, and the methods and procedure for their enforcement, furnishing a practical guide to litigants in the jurisdiction named, and including the text of the Act to Regulate Commerce as amended, and all acts supplementary thereto, revised to January 1, 1914, by Dewitt C. Moore
http://link.law.upenn.edu/portal/A-treatise-on-the-law-of-carriers--as/13FRplkERtM/
http://library.link/portal/A-treatise-on-the-law-of-carriers--as/13FRplkERtM/
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National Military Establishment (U.S.) -- Appropriations and expenditures
The concept National Military Establishment (U.S.) -- Appropriations and expenditures represents the subject, aboutness, idea or notion of resources found in Biddle Law Library.
The Resource National Military Establishment (U.S.) -- Appropriations and expenditures
National Military Establishment (U.S.)
Appropriations and expenditures
10 Items that share the Concept National Military Establishment (U.S.) -- Appropriations and expenditures
Military Functions, National Military Establishment Appropriation Bill for 1949 : Military Construction, Army: hearings before the United States House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on National Military Establishment Appropriations, Eightieth Congress, second session, on June 18, 1948
Military Functions, National Military Establishment Appropriation Bill for 1949 : hearings before the United States House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on National Military Establishment Appropriations, Eightieth Congress, second session, on Mar. 16-18, Apr. 26, 27, 1948, Part 1, Office of Secretary of Defense, National Security Resources Board, National Security Council
Military Functions, National Military Establishment Appropriation Bill for 1949 : hearings before the United States House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on National Military Establishment Appropriations, Eightieth Congress, second session, on Mar. 18, 19, 25, Apr. 29, 1948, Part 2, Department of the Air Force
Military Functions, National Military Establishment Appropriation Bill for 1949 : hearings before the United States House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on National Military Establishment Appropriations, Eightieth Congress, second session, on Mar. 29-31, Apr. 1, 2, 5-8, 12-16, 19-23, 27-30, May 3, 13-15, 17, 18, 1948, Part 3, Department of the Army, Office of Secretary of Defense (Supplemental)
National Military Establishment Appropriation Bill for 1950 : hearings before the United States House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Armed Services Appropriations, Eighty-First Congress, first session, on Aug. 3, Sept. 28, 29, 1949
National Military Establishment Appropriation Bill for 1950 : hearings before the United States House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Armed Services Appropriations, Eighty-First Congress, first session, on Feb. 1-4, 7-11, 14, 15, 1949, Part 2, Department of the Air Force
National Military Establishment Appropriation Bill for 1950 : hearings before the United States House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Armed Services Appropriations, Eighty-First Congress, first session, on Feb. 16, 18, 21, 23-25, 28, Mar. 1-4, 7, 1949, Part 3, Department of the Navy
National Military Establishment Appropriation Bill for 1950 : hearings before the United States House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Armed Services Appropriations, Eighty-First Congress, first session, on Jan. 26, 31, Feb. 1, Mar. 23, 24, 28, 31, Apr. 1, 1949, Part 1
National Military Establishment Appropriation Bill for 1950 : hearings before the United States House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Armed Services Appropriations, Eighty-First Congress, first session, on Mar. 7, 9-11, 14-18, 21-23, 1949, Part 4, Department of the Army
Supplemental National Defense Appropriation Bill for 1948 : hearings before the United States House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Deficiency Appropriations, Eightieth Congress, second session, on Apr. 8, 9, 1948
Context of National Military Establishment (U.S.) -- Appropriations and expenditures
<div class="citation" vocab="http://schema.org/"><i class="fa fa-external-link-square fa-fw"></i> Data from <span resource="http://link.law.upenn.edu/resource/k--P3iebaHs/" typeof="CategoryCode http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/Concept"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a href="http://link.law.upenn.edu/resource/k--P3iebaHs/">National Military Establishment (U.S.) -- Appropriations and expenditures</a></span> - <span property="potentialAction" typeOf="OrganizeAction"><span property="agent" typeof="LibrarySystem http://library.link/vocab/LibrarySystem" resource="http://link.law.upenn.edu/"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a property="url" href="http://link.law.upenn.edu/">Biddle Law Library</a></span></span></span></span></div>
Data Citation of the Concept National Military Establishment (U.S.) -- Appropriations and expenditures
http://link.law.upenn.edu/resource/k--P3iebaHs/
http://library.link/resource/k--P3iebaHs/
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UNMASK AT POST GALLERY, LITHUANIA
Yesterday, at 7.00 pm, UNMASK was opened at the POST Gallery of Kaunas, Lithuania. An exhibition fitted into the Apprentice/Master Project of the Kunstpodium T lab of creation of Tilburg (The Netherlands), where 5 artists from different points of Europe have met: Barbora Fastrova (Czech Republic), Iris de Vries (The Netherlands), Maeve Collins (Ireland), Marta Bran (Spain) and Zala Kobe (Slovenia).
The Apprentice/Master project, in its eighth edition, has scheduled a total of 24 exhibitions in its calendar for 2015-2016 in many enclaves of our continent. Specifically, these locations coincide with the headquarters of the universities that participated in the meeting that took place last September at the Fine Arts Faculty of Tilburg, The Netherlands. During the presentation of portfolios, by each of the 19 European schools of art and the one from China, there was a jury that consisted of Zeus Hoenderop (Director of Kunstpodium T), Ingrid de Rond (coordinator, at that time, of the Apprentice/Master project) and Thom Puckey (guest artist who supervises every exhibition). They analysed each proposal and, after several meetings, assessed possible international connections according to thematic and stylistic affinities. As a result of this process, the different groupings emerged and the selection of curators as a unifying theme also took place.
Auksė Petrulienė, for example, is the curator of UNMASK. Over the past six months, this renowned Lithuanian artist-teacher and motivator, has enabled the communication between the various members of this exhibition. So, the crossing of messages in the network has been very fluid favouring – this way- the discovery of our common features, being among them, irony, playfulness, hybrids between humans and animals, fables and fairy tales…
Based on the above and taking into account such a sensitive and current theme at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Kaunas, we thought that -through the sense of humour- we could dismantle myths related to the ‘battle of the sexes’. We have tried to communicate an ‘Ode to equality’ in a bidirectional sense with more or less subtlety. As a master of ceremonies, Maeve Collins, could involve -with a total success- each one of the visitors during the opening of UNMASK. Through her performance, titled A Midnight Court Sitting: Eight, Kaunas, she distributed masks and skins among the public. At the same time, some people got up to read surrealist-style messages in order to break the ice and go gradually entering into the atmosphere of this exhibition project.
My contribution, splattered over the walls of one of the main rooms, comprises almost twenty drawings. I am presenting the series entre…tenerse and cuatro esquinitas tiene mi cama in full (serigraphs produced from 2009 to 2013) for the first time. Regarding the theme, the first series is about ‘couple agreements and disagreements’ and the second includes surreal situations on the bed space.
The magnificent views from the terrace at the POST Gallery can be seen in the following pictures, as well as some images of the pieces of the UNMASK exhibition and the good atmosphere during the opening. The POST Gallery is one of the most dynamic galleries in Kaunas, scheduling new events almost every 15 days. In addition to this, it participates in art fairs in its country and also in Russia. By having a look at its Facebook page, the broad participation of the public in all its initiatives is quickly evidenced. The POST is located in the main avenue of the city, Laisvės, whose name in Spanish means ‘freedom’. This pedestrian area is known as one of the busiest areas of this city of over 400,000 inhabitants. Kaunas is the second largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, its capital. At the same time, there is a strong interest in culture and particularly in art among its citizens. Events promoted by institutions of this city give a good account of it. For example, Kaunas Photo (one of the photography festivals of greatest international prestige), the Kaunas Biennial or the current candidacy as European Capital of Culture for the year 2022.
Laisvės avenue, 51a, 4th floor, Kaunas (Lithuania).
From the 17th of March to the 3rd of April of 2016.
entre…tenerse, 2009 – 2013
Serigraphy on paper
(i.e. two meanings at the same time: ‘entretenerse = entertainment’ and ‘entre…tenerse = somewhere between…the fact of taking each other)
10 drawings of 51 x 51 cm (20.08 x 20.08 inches)
cuatro esquinitas tiene mi cama…, 2010 – 2012
(i.e. four corners around my bed…)
6 drawings of 51 x 62,25 cm (20.08 x 24,50 inches)
Poster+
Invitation_ Kamane (Lithuan art news website)+
Meno propaganda (art and culture magazine of Kaunas)+
Diena (newspaper)+
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Hope Hicks set to appear in front of House Intelligence Committee Tuesday
White House communications director Hope Hicks is expected to testify privately in front of the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday morning as part of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, several people familiar with the committee's schedule told ABC News.
Hicks has been close to President Trump for years, and she will likely be asked about the campaign, transition, and the last year in the White House. Several other Trump associates, including former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, have refused to answer questions posed by the committee, and it's possible Hicks will claim executive privilege. Catherine Garcia
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How could I not?
Eddi-Rue McClanahan was born in in Oklahoma, the daughter of a beautician, and a a building contractor. She was of Irish, and Choctaw Indian. She had the 'usual' upbringing, and went to college at the University of Tulsa, where she majored in German and Theater.
By 1957 she had found her way to New York City, and by 1960, she had a role on Broadway, where she was in a musical with Dustin Hoffman. (Jimmy Shine).
She then moved on to Soap Operas, both "Another World", and "Where the Heart Is". Then, prime time called, and she met Bea Arthur for the first time, in the television show "Maude". During this time, she also tried her hand at movies, but found little success. She had many television roles, but, of course, found her wildest success with "The Golden Girls".
Rue was always an animal advocate, and vegetarian, and was one of the first celebrities to support PETA. She was married six times (the last one finally took!) and had one child.
Her health became precarious in 1997. She was diagnosed, and beat breast cancer at that time. Ten years later, (Nov. 09) she ended up hospitalizes, and had bypass surgery, during which she had a minor stroke. As we know, yesterday, she had another major stroke, and she died. She wished to have no services, but she does have an official memorial page, on Facebook
RIP, Rue!!!
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THE NIBELUNGENLIED
This painting shows an episode from the German poem the Nibelungenlied: King Etzel enters the city of Vienna on horseback.
The Nibelungenlied (Song of the Nibelungs) is the great story of the Burgundian people, who had settled in the city of Worms in the 5th century, and of their tragic fate. By the start of the 13th century, this tale has been immortalized as an epic poem, popular throughout the courts of Germany.
THE MARRIAGES OF SIEGFRIED AND GUNTHER
Siegfried, a knight from the city of Xanten on the lower Rhine, hears of the great beauty of Kriemhild, sister of the Burgundian king, Gunther, and decides to woo her. Upon his arrival in Worms, only Hagen, Gunther’s most powerful vassal, recognizes him, and relates his heroic deeds: Siegfried firstly won a great treasure from the Nibelungs (two princes and brothers named Schilbung and Nibelung), by slaying them. After taking the Tarnkappe (a cloak of darkness) from Alberich, the dwarven treasurer of the Nibelungs, he rose to become ruler of Nibelungland. Hagen also tells of how Siegfried had killed the dragon Fafnir and bathed in its blood, after which his body became invulnerable. (In fact he had only one vulnerable spot, between his shoulder blades, where a large leaf had rested on his skin as he was soaked in the dragon’s blood.)
King Gunther allows Siegfried to marry Kriemhild, on the condition that he helps him to gain the hand of Brünhild, the legendarily strong queen of Iceland. Siegfried agrees, and upon their arrival in Iceland, Brünhild is most disappointed that it is Gunther, instead of Siegfried, who has come to woo her. Nevertheless, she agrees to marry Gunther if he can best her in three contests of strength. With the use of the Tarnkappe, Siegfried manages to substitute himself for Gunther in the contest, and deceive Brünhild into thinking that Gunther has bested her. Returning to Worms, a double marriage is arranged: Gunther with Brünhild and Siegfried with Kriemhild. Of these four, only Brünhild is unhappy, since she is in love with Siegfried instead. Gunther’s marriage immediately hits difficulties, as his new wife overpowers him on their wedding night and hangs him up on the wall. Siegfried again helps Gunther, and takes his place in the bedchamber, overpowering and restraining Brünhild, so that Gunther can deflower her. Brünhild loses her great strength, which relied on her maidenhood. However Siegfried also takes Brünhild’s ring and girdle, and gifts them to Kriemhild. He returns home with his new wife, where he becomes king of the Nether Lands, and they live happily for ten years.
THE DEATH OF SIEGFRIED
In Worms, Brünhild remains unhappy in her marriage to Gunther, still unaware of how he cheated to gain her hand. Siegfried and Kriemhild return for a festival, at which Gunther treats him as an equal. Brünhild, however, thinks that Siegfried is a vassal of Gunther, and treats Kriemhild as her inferior, leading to a quarrel between the two queens. Kriemhild claims that Siegfried is braver and stronger than her brother Gunther, which she proves by revealing that it was Siegfried who had overpowered her in her bedchamber. She claims (wrongly) that it was Siegfried who had claimed her virginity, and reveals the belt and girdle. Brünhild is mortally embarrassed and Gunther has no choice but to confront Siegfried. Siegfried swears that he never claimed to be Brünhild’s first man, which Gunther accepts.
Brünhild’s humiliation lingers, and she conspires with Hagen (who is jealous of Siegfried’s wealth and prowess) to kill Siegfried. Hagen persuades Gunther, with reluctance, to agree. He then deceives Kriemhild and manages to learn of Siegfried’s sole weakness. Hagen goes on a hunt with Siegfried in the Odenwald, and challenges him to a race. As Siegfried quenches his thirst at a spring, Hagen seizes his javelin and thrusts it between Siegfried’s shoulder blades, his only weak spot, and slays him. Kriemhild is inconsolable at the death of her husband. At his funeral, as Hagen and Gunther move around the bier, Siegfried’s wounds run anew, revealing the traitors.
THE TREASURE OF THE NIBELUNGS
Kriemhild stays at Worms, and after three years she is eventually reconciled with her brother Gunther. He persuades her to bring the Nibelung treasure to Burgundy, to which she has a right, as Siegfried’s widow. Thus Kriemhild becomes fabulously wealthy, but her acts of generosity do not sit well with Hagen. Hagen also fears that she will use this money to raise an army to attack him. He therefore steals the treasure, and prevents Kriemhild from regaining it by sinking it in the Rhine. Gunther does not punish Hagen for this; apart from Hagen, he and his brothers are the only ones who know of where the hoard is sunk.
KRIEMHILD’S REVENGE
Some years later, Etzel (Attila), king of the Huns, decides to seek the hand of Kriemhild, who is still the most beautiful woman in the world. She is initially reluctant to marry a heathen, and she still mourns for Siegfried, yet she sees that the marriage will finally allow her to take revenge on Hagen. Etzel and Kriemhild marry in Vienna and travel to Etzelnburg, Etzel’s capital in Hungary. After winning the trust of her new husband’s vassals, she invites her brothers to a midsummer festival in Hungary, knowing that Hagen will also attend. Hagen however persuades Gunther to take an escort of a thousand armed men. In crossing the River Danube, Hagen encounters water sprites who warn him to turn back, foretelling that they are all doomed to die, bar one (a priest). Hagen tries to disprove the prophecy by murdering this priest, but he fails and the churchman escapes. Gunther and Hagen arrive at Etzel’s court but are given a cold reception by Kriemhild. After a day, fighting breaks out, and many Huns are killed. Gunther allows Kriemhild and Etzel, with his vassal Dietrich of Bern, to leave the hall.
Hagen foolishly taunts Etzel, and the battle is renewed. Dietrich manages to overpower and capture Gunther and Hagen, but honorably offers to return them safely to their home. Kriemhild, however, confronts the imprisoned Hagen, demanding the return of Siegfried’s treasure, in return for freedom to return to Burgundy. Hagen responds with mockery, so Kriemhild has Gunther beheaded, and brings his head to Hagen. Kriemhild again demands that he tell her the location of the treasure; when he refuses, she takes up Balmung (Siegfried’s sword) and decapitates him. Upon discovering the bodies of Gunther and Hagen, Hildebrand (Dietrich’s man-at-arms) retaliates by killing the queen. Thus the tale ends in tragedy with the death of all the leading participants, and the treasure of the Nibelungs remains lost.
Posted by Mitch Williamson at Saturday, May 09, 2009
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Glorious Future Ahead of SALT and TNO
Last Updated on Monday, 20 April 2015 15:53
NARIT and TNO
Following on the successful visit to South African Large Telescope (SALT) in early 2015, Prof. Boonrucksar, in return, had a chance to welcome Dr. David Buckley, Head of SALT Project on his visit to NARIT and TNO.
Dr. Buckley visited NARIT’s headquarters – Astropark construction site in Mae Rim, and TNO facility at Doi Inthanon National Park in Chiang Mai with a keen interest as this was his visit to the facilities. A talk on “South African Large Telescope Science” was given to NARIT’s audience with a well-accepted atmosphere. The talk focused on the design and construction of SALT and its First Generation visible wavelength (320-900nm) instruments and the operational model for the telescope. These include some unique or rare modes on large telescopes (e.g. high time resolution, polarimetry and Fabry-Perot imaging spectroscopy) and their importance were reviewed. Some science results were also presented, highlighting the various instrument modes and covering a range of astronomical topics. The ability of SALT to undertake target of opportunity programs and the flexibility of a 100% queue scheduled telescope was emphasized. A summary of the current design and capabilities of the new infrared extension (900-1700nm) to the RSS spectrograph, which is currently under construction and is due to begin commissioning in 2016, was also presented. Future plans, including support of multi-wavelength programs with other existing or planned facilities (e.g. HESS II, MeerKAT, LSST, SKA) were widely discussed. Finally, an overview of the other astronomical facilities at SAAO (South Africa Astronomical Observatory) and within South Africa and plans for future developments were also concluded.
Prof. Boonrucksar and Dr. Buckley displayed an utmost interest in joining hands on collaborative efforts as there is a demand for astronomy education at graduate levels as a talk to send Thai graduate students to study in South Africa has been also mentioned. "South Africa is one of main landmarks when it comes to astronomy education. In order to expand our horizon, collaborations in astronomy education and research and development with SALT and SAAO are truly essential" says Prof. Boonrucksar. Prof. Boonrucksar also expressed his interest in collaborating with SALT in improving NARIT's current infrastructure and partnering with SALT in future shared facilities.
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Election Monitoring Report From The Ninewa Plains
Ninewa is one of the most diverse and volatile provinces in Iraq. It is the home to Arabs, Kurds, Christians, Yazidis, and Shabaks. The Arabs and Kurds are both vying for power there, and the small minority groups have been caught in the middle. In the 2005 election the Kurds were accused of disenfranchising Christians and others. For this reason the United Nations sent monitors from their Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization working with the Assyria Council of Europe to Ninewa to observe the January 2009 provincial elections. They recently released a report on their work that found the voting and procedures went routinely, but that many displaced Iraqis were not allowed to participate.
In the January 2005 provincial elections the Kurds were accused of violating the rights of minorities in Ninewa. The Kurds issued threats, refused to open voting centers, didn’t deliver ballot boxes, and took part in fraud to ensure their control of the province. The Kurdish militia the peshmerga for example stopped voting boxes being delivered to Christian areas in the Ninewa plains. Thousands of minorities were believed to have been denied the right to vote as a result. It was for this reason that the United Nations decided to send in teams to that area for the 2009 election.
Election monitors were made up of members of the U.N.’s Unrepresented Nations and People Organization and the Assyria Council of Europe. They worked in the Tellkaif and Hamadaniya districts of Ninewa. These were the same areas where minorities were disenfranchised in 2005.
The U.N. found that campaigning before the vote was free and open. In 2005 the Sunni Arabs boycotted, which allowed the Kurds to take control of the provincial election. This time the Arabs were enthusiastic about the balloting because they wanted power. The Kurds on the other hand expected a defeat, but wanted to minimize their loses. All sides used posters, TV commercials, and rallies to garner support. The openness of the electioneering showed the improvement in security compared to 2005.
The Iraqi Election Commission also launched a robust voter education program. They had materials in both Kurdish and Arabic, which were handed out widely. They also regularly ran TV shows on how to vote. Finally, the Commission also held public meetings to educate people.
The U.N. monitors received three complaints of possible violations. The first came from a parliamentarian from the Yazidi Movement for Reform and Progress who told a reporter in Baghdad that Yazidis were being intimidated by the Kurdish peshmerga after they complained to the Election Commission about violations by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Yazidis claimed that KDP officials were using military vehicles to campaign with, and employed soldiers at their rallies. A Shabak lawmaker from the Shabak Democratic Assembly told the U.N. that an unnamed political party was pressuring Shabaks to vote for them. The parliamentarian said he had filed a complaint with the Election Commission. Finally, on election day a voter claimed that he and others were given a ride to the voting center in return for their votes. None of these stories could be confirmed during the time the U.N. team was working in Ninewa.
During the election the largest problem the monitors witnessed were displaced Iraqis not being able to vote. One voting center was told to open two stations for the displaced immediately before the balloting. Those two eventually ran out of ballots. More importantly, over 100 displaced were not allowed to vote because they did not have their documents in order. As reported before, similar incidents were reported across the country.
Otherwise the monitors said the elections went well. Security was tight around the voting centers. Most of the voting materials were used appropriately with only minor problems. They did receive complaints about political parties attempting to manipulate voters, but none of those stories could be checked. The greatest issue was the disenfranchisement of internal refugees. It seems as if the Election Commission did not do a good enough job informing the displaced about how and where they were to register. They could either vote in their home provinces, or in their current residencies, but either way they had to sign up with the Commission. This did not get through and an unknown amount of refugees were not allowed to participate in the provincial election as a result.
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, “Iraq Report – 2008,” December 2008
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization-Assyria Council of Europe, “Election Observation Mission, Nineveh Plain, Iraq, January 28-February 2, 2009” 2/13/09
Labels: 2005 Iraqi Elections, 2009 Provincial Elections, Christians, Kurds, Ninewa, Refugees
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1968 Okaloosa County Teacher’s Strike
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 12:13 by lmurchison
Read about the strike that occurred on Feb. 19, 1968, in an article written in 2001 by former Daily News Staff Writer Jeff Newell, a longtime local resident and veteran area journalist, at www.facebook.com/pages/Nwfdn-Librarian/217621818331797
Today in Local History – February 21
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 6:00 by lmurchison
20 years ago – 1992 Okaloosa county officials unveiled the first stage of a $10.5 million jail expansion project. The $7.9 million Phase 1 addition wouldn’t solve crowding at the jail, but it would improve conditions and reduce costs. Of the 2,400 local airmen who had been offered exit bonuses to leave the Air Force early, only 380 had made up their minds to go as the April 15 deadline was approaching. 10 years ago – 2002 Santa Rosa County commissioners went… Read More »
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 6:00 by lmurchison
20 years ago – 1992 A former Eglin Air Force Base employee and self-described federal whistle-blower hoped a classified advertisement would help him locate other people with discrimination complaints against the base. 10 years ago – 2012 Dr. James Graves of Milton was Florida’s top OxyContin prescriber and the nation’s first doctor to be convicted of manslaugther or murder in the OxyContin-related death of a patient. He was convicted of four counts of manslaugther, one count of racketeering and five counts… Read More »
Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 6:00 by lmurchison
20 years ago -1992 Nearly four years after Frank Athen Walls was convicted of murdering an Ocean City couple, investigators were making a renewed effort to link him to other area slayings. 10 years ago – 2012 Three firemen were injured while fighting a fire on Chickasaw Circle in Fort Walton Beach. One fireman suffered a separated shoulder when he fell through the water-soaked roof of the home, and two other were injured by falling Sheetrock. All three were treated and released… Read More »
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 6:00 by lmurchison
20 years ago – 1992 For the first time since Okaloosa County was formed in 1915, Republicans were the county’s majority party. As of Feb. 10, the GOP led by six registered voters, according to figures released by the county election supervisor’s office. Altogether, 64,140 county residents had registered to vote, with Republicans accounting for 30,588 and Democrats 30,582. That left 2,970 registered in other parties. 10 years ago – 2002 A Valparaiso body of water dubbed “the pond of death” by the… Read More »
1930s Moonshine Headquarters
Friday, February 17, 2012 at 9:42 by lmurchison
In 1992 reporter Tom Huyck interviewed an 87-year-old native of Okaloosa County about the history of the community of Oak Grove. Charlie Peaden said that during the 1930s bootlegging “was the only thing bringing money in Okaloosa County at that time.” Want to read more about the history of this community? Visit Nwfdn Librarian on Facebook, www.facebook.com/pages/Nwfdn-Librarian/217621818331797
20 years ago – 1992 Owners of the 86-year-old Gulfview Hotel in downtown Fort Walton Beach, Eddie Staff and Nora Price – children of former proprietors Theo and Molly Staff -and Fred and Susan Rees, of Mobile, Ala., had had the 1.68-acre parcel for sale since mid-1990. But local preservationists had launched projects to save the 14-room inn, 10 cottages and old wash house from the wrecking ball. 10 years ago – 2002 Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 14 of Destin was set to launch its… Read More »
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 6:00 by lmurchison
20 years ago – 1992 The Okaloosa-Walton Community College/University of West Florida joint center, under construction near the intersection of Freedom Way and Green Acres Boulevard, was slated to start classes Aug. 24 – just about a month after classes end at the center on Mary Esther Cut-Off. 10 years ago – 2002 Daniel Murchison, a student at the University of Florida, was tutoring retired Fort Walton Beach science teacher/cross country coach Don Henderson in the art of Xtreme racing, a combination of cycling and… Read More »
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 6:00 by lmurchison
20 years ago – 1992 Nearly $10 million worth of apartments in south Okaloosa County had been purchased by Emerald Coast Housing Corp. as part of an affordable housing program. 10 years ago – 2002 Plans were under way to relieve traffic congestion on U.S. Highway 98 before putting the brakes on future construction. Want to read more? Visit Nwfdn Librarian on Facebook, www.facebook.com/pages/Nwfdn-Librarian/217621818331797
20 years ago – 1992 Describing it as a vote for personal freedom, Sen. Vince Bruner voted against a bill to hike the penalty for driving without a seatbelt. SB 352, by Sen. Ken Jenne, D-Fort Lauderdale, was defeated 6-3 by the Senate Transportation Committee. Out of courtesy to the powerful Jenne, the bill was left open for reconsideration at a later date. 10 years ago – 2002 Eight U.S. servicemen were injured February 12 when their Hurlburt Field-based Air Force transport plane… Read More »
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Village of Orland Park » News » What's New » Village & Presbyterian Church Host 40th Annual Orland Park Open Spelling Bee
Village & Presbyterian Church Host 40th Annual Orland Park Open Spelling Bee
In 1979, Jimmy Carter was president, Trivial Pursuit debuted and Margaret Thatcher was elected the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom.
It was also 40 years ago that Dr. Bill Smith, then school superintendent for Alsip School District 126, held his first Orland Park Open Spelling Bee.
"I actually held my first spelling bee in Oak Lawn in 1976 during the United States Bicentennial Celebration," Smith said. "We held our first in Orland Park in 1979."
The Orland Park Presbyterian Church and the Village of Orland Park will co-host the 40th anniversary open spelling bee on Sunday, October 14 at the Orland Park Civic Center, 14750 South Ravinia Avenue.
Members of the Orland Park Village Board serve as judges for the contest.
"The Orland Park Spelling Bee is a great event that really gives Orland Park a small town feel," said Trustee Kathy Fenton. "I've been a judge for many years and I enjoy seeing the different age groups that participate and admire all of the spellers. The worst part is when we have to say, 'I'm sorry. That's incorrect.' My heart melts --- especially for the little ones."
Smith's mantra for the 40th anniversary contest is, "Spellers wanted."
"We invite everyone from anywhere to participate," Smith said, adding, "Trophy and ribbon winners from the past five years have been from 23 different towns. You don't have to live in Orland Park to participate."
Smith compiled a number of statistics from the past four decades of spelling competitions in Orland Park.
The 39 Orland Park contests have been won by adults, college students, high schoolers and a seventh grader.
"Kathleen Foley of Oak Lawn was the 'queen of the bees'," Smith said. "Mrs. Foley won eight times in 13 years."
Smith calls Orland Park's Brian Sullivan the "king of the bees" with Sullivan having won the bee five times. Smith reported that 16 of the 39 Orland Park contests were won by men.
"Half of the winners have been adults over the age of 50 with 10 older than 65," Smith said.
Those age 8-10 compete at 2 p.m., followed by age 11 through high school at 2:45 p.m. Adults compete at 3:30 p.m. with the awards presentation at 4:30 p.m.
"I enjoy the spelling bee because it's so basic and unites young and old alike," said Trustee Pat Gira. "As Dr. Smith said, this is an old time event that brings everyone together. I remember winning similar competitions at St. Justin Martyr School as a young girl and the prize was a holy card," she added smiling.
The longest contest in 2006 went nearly four hours with more than 800 words.
The average for the past years has been 450 words with the competition lasting just more than two hours.
"This has always been one of my favorite village events," said Trustee Carole Griffin Ruzich. "I'm always amazed at the competition --- young and old."
Winners are determined according to age groups with 12 trophies and 24 medals presented to the winners. First, second and third place trophies are awarded for four categories, three divided according to age and the fourth category of overall winners.
"The idea of an open bee, open to all ages, came from 'Little House on the Prairie' by Laura Ingalls Wilder," Smith said. "In the Dakota Territory in 1881, the town folks got together during the long cold winter to play some Saturday sociable and libraries. They decided to have an 'old town' spelling bee."
There is no charge to participate, however pre-registration is strongly encouraged.
The competition is open to everyone age eight through seniors and participants need not live in Orland Park. Ribbons and trophies will be awarded to the top finishers.
"We're not only celebrating the 40th anniversary of our Orland Park spelling bee, we're also marking the bicentennial of the State of Illinois," Smith added.
A lifelong educator, Smith served as superintendent of Alsip School District 126 for 31 years. He has taught at St. Xavier, Lewis, Governors State, Chicago State, Loyola and Nova Universities as well as at Moraine Valley Community College.
"The Orland Park Open Spelling Been has been a community effort for the past four decades," Smith said. "Thank you to everyone at the Presbyterian Church in Orland Park and the village for all that they do to make this event happen every year."
Participants can register via email by writing to pcorland@gmail.com. Include the name of the speller, home address, phone number, age and school attending.
Or participants may register by phone by calling the church at 708/448-8142 or Smith at 708/645-2061.
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Leaving out the when.
Someone reading this (how can that be?) mentioned that I left out the "WHEN" in my "Who What When, How, Where, part. Sorry about this. I'm new to this blog thing.
The "WHEN" is one that is a really difficult thing to approach. I have a lot of people come up to me on workshops and when I talk about Nashville as a "Ten Year town", they willl go "I don't have TEN YEARS! What do I DO?" Well, the problem that you have to realize is that Nashville, the music business, or entertainment at all, doesn't work on your schedule. It doesn't care how old you are or how much time you have left. That is a pretty cold thing to say but it is.
Think about anything you have done for a living. Did you just start out doing that? Wake up one day and decide to be a construction worker, architect, dentist, office manager, banker, car mechanic, pilot, buisnessman or woman, whatever? I am willing to bet you didn't just wake up and start doing it.
Think of a person who owns their own contracting business. They start out probably wanting to do something else. They have shop classes in high school, work with father or other older people, develop a bit of a nack, as time goes on, get more schooling, work smaller jobs, take summer work, possibly study some courses in college, all the time working, finally start an official job on some work site, doing all the crappy jobs, sweeping up, hauling garbage, building into little side things, gaining skills, finally sub contracting jobs, on to their own small business, sometimes it turns into their living. Takes a while.
Why should songwriting be any different? It is a skill. Takes a while to learn. Most people start out with poetry or some really crappy songs to impress the opposite sex. They get around other writers and artists, playing talent shows, doing more things. As they start to get known a bit, Their skills and reputation grows. They write with others, the build a fan and friends network. They audition and sometimes win larger contests, do shows in their areas. Possibly take classes or go to college.All of this takes time, but builds what they do. And who they are.
It takes time.
The music industry is a business. The people who are there have done this over and over again. "Older people" (Anyone over 30) has a lot of time to make up for. But they can use their age and experience to bring things to the party younger people cannot. They can live their life in 20/20 hindsight. They can think of what it was like to be 20 years old and things they would go through. One of my favorite recent songs is Brad Paisly's "Letter to Me." On that he talks about what he would say to his high school age self. Not to worry so much about that test, that heartbreak, from that girl was really not going to destroy him.What would you tell your younger self?
Those are the kinds of things that people need to look at. Use what you have.
Now how does this play into a career? Well if you DON'T feel you have that much time, you need even MORE people involved in your career. The other thing about older people is that they get stuck in their ways. It is harder for them to adapt to other things. Not impossible, just different. And styles change continuously, so you need younger people to learn about that.
It is a co-writing world.
If you are not a performer, you have to have performers. Lots of them.
Then you have to decide on your goals and inject them with reality. A lot of time I hear people saying "Hey, I'm quitting my job and moving to Nashville." My first impression is "WHY?"
A lot of time "being there" only leads to more frustration. I wouldn't suggest anyone even consider a move until they have a network of people they write and interact with to build a base of friends. I would make trips. I would develop a presence.
MUST HAVE A PRESENCE TO WIN.
This means you have to have people you know, write with, hang out with. Help them achieve their goals. The days of "coming to town, finding a publisher, getting deals, getting cuts" are pretty much done. What happens now is people come in, hang out, meet many other, and hopefully hook into someone else's deal and journey, which build to you own. It happens like this:
An over 30 school teacher is involved with Songwriting groups like NSAI and others. She is from Wisconsin and kind of out of the "mainstream of the music business." She loves to write songs but does not perform, is not a singer. She hangs around other writers and is the leader for most of the time of their groups. She has a great personality and everyone likes being around her. And she writes a lot. Much better than the average bear.
She starts making trips to Nashville but never really "breaks past" the average people, going to special events, getting smiles, but not much else. Plays songs for publishers from time to time but not much happens. She meets someone who helps her organize her catalogue, helps her learn finer points of writing, introducer her to others, learns the techniques and speed about writing.
Over a period of time coming to Nashville and building a lot of connections, she does her own writer's CD, recording sessions, does a showcase on her songs done by Nashville artists. She organizes group "tours" coming to Nashville. She has the central "adviser" and builds on everything.
During this time she meets a young 18 year old female singer brand new to town. Being "kindered spirits" they become best friends. They hang out, the singer does her demos, she helps the singer organize her life. It is a great relationship. A few years go on and the singer and her boyfriend, now a duo, enter and win a television talent show. That leads to a record deal, a top five hit song, and a lot of success. The teacher gets a publishing deal, quits her teaching job and then continues to make trips, but all the trips have a lot of focus. But she is in the big leagues.
The writer is Green Bay's Julie Moriva. The artist is Meghan Linsey from STEEL MAGNOLIA. The publishing company is BIG MACHINE owned by Taylor Swift.
This is how it happens. Most every writer has one or several artist connections. IT takes a lot but can be done.
All based around how much YOU bring to the party.
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Performa/Dance
Meet the guest artists that joined us for our most recent production, Artist and Muse:
Wynn Fricke
Minnesota-based choreographer Wynn Fricke, recipient of seven McKnight Fellowships in Choreography and Performance. Wynn danced with Zenon Dance Company from 1992 to 2001 and since 1998 has created eight original works for the company including her most recent work, The Mourning Tree, which premiered in 2015 with live traditional Bulgarian Folk music performed by Mila Vocal Ensemble. In 2016, Wynn traveled with Zenon to Havana, Cuba where her choreography, My Very Empty Mouth, was presented at the historic Jose Marti Theater. Wynn served as Choreographer-in- Residence with Minnesota Dance Theatre from 2005 - 2007, and in 2008, she was the Dayton-Hudson Distinguished Visiting Artist at Carleton College. She has had choreographic residences at the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC, at The Yard in Chilmark, MA, and in Yarlslavl, Russia. She is the recipient of grants from the Jerome Foundation, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, the American Composers Forum, and Arts International and the Trust for Mutual Understanding, and has been honored with two Minnesota SAGE Awards for Dance in the category of Outstanding Performance. Wynn has created work for additional companies including James Sewell Ballet, Ballet Arts Minnesota, Ragamala Dance, Frank Theatre, Minnesota Ballet, and Borrowed Bones Dance Theatre. Wynn is Assistant Professor and director of the dance program at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN where she has taught since 2008.
GUEST CHOREOGRAPHER WYNN FRICKE'S PIECE TWO FRIDAS WILL BE PERFORMED BY THESE TALENTED GUEST ARTISTS:
FRANCESCA DUGARTE
Francesca Dugarte of Caracas, Venezuela, is in her fifth season with The Washington Ballet. Dugarte trained at Academia de Ballet Clasico Nina Novak and La Scala Theatre Ballet School. Before joining TWB, she was a principal dancer at Teatro Teresa Carreno, a demi-soloist at Zurich Ballet, a principal dancer at Victor Ullate Ballet and a guest artist at Slovakia National Ballet. In 2011, Dugarte was a contestant on the reality show, Amici di Maria de Fillippi in Rome. She is the winner of numerous awards including second place in the Youth America Grand Prix. In 2007, she won First Place in Korea's International Ballet Competition and in 2010, she was the winner of the "Presidential Sponsorship Award" at Korea's International Ballet Competition. Dugarte has danced a variety of repertoire including Coppélia, The Sleeping Beauty, Le Corsaire, La Sylphide, Swan Lake, Diana & Acteon, Paquita, Esmeralda, Flames of Paris, Napoli, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Balanchine's Serenade, Graduation Ball, Carmen, Balanchine's Theme and Variations, Firebird, 27'52", In the Upper Room, Samsara and Jaleos.
ANAIS DI FILIPPO
Anais Di Filippo was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. Ms. Di Filippo began her study of classical ballet with the renowned former prima ballerina/ director of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Sra. Nina Novak. Under the direction of Sra. Novak, Di Filippo danced the full classical repertory including, Swan Lake, Paquita, and Don Quixote. At age 18, Anais’ dream to become a full-time professional dancer came true when she joined the Ballet de Teresa Carreño, Venezuela’s most important dance company. In Teresa Carreño, Ms. Di Fillipo was able to expand her contemporary repertoire dancing in some of the most celebrated choreographies of the times. Anais is extremely grateful for the opportunity to dance with Performa/Dance and show a USA audience that with all the political strive affecting her country at the moment,dance is a unifying force through out the world. In her own words Ms. DiFilippo’s passion and perseverance are clear when she says ” we have to fight so hard as Latin Americans to demonstrate on stage a passion that connects us with the audience we love and want to please. So much energy is needed to achieve our dreams that we give everything we have, leaving our souls on the stage.”
info@performadance.org
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Bob Pierce and Curt Dooling recently obtained a defense verdict on behalf of their client in a jury trial in Dukes County Superior Court on Martha’s Vineyard.
The plaintiff in the case sustained a serious eye injury, which eventually led to the loss of the plaintiff’s eye, when he was struck with a golf disc designed and manufactured by Pierce & Mandell’s client. The plaintiff claimed that the golf disc that struck and injured him was dangerously defective because of its design and because it lacked proper warnings alerting users to its dangers. The firm challenged the plaintiff’s credibility by showing that the plaintiff’s version of how he was injured was not credible based on witness testimony and relevant medical records. The firm also successfully argued that the golf disc was not dangerously defective.
The case was challenging due to the very serious injury that the plaintiff suffered, and the fact that the individual who threw the disc that struck the plaintiff was no longer living in the United States and was unable to testify at trial. Rather, his deposition testimony was read to the jury.
The case was tried over 6 days, and the jury deliberated for approximately 7 hours. The jury determined that Pierce & Mandell’s client did not breach the warranty of merchantability and that the golf disc was not dangerously defective.
Bob Pierce has now achieved complete victory for his clients in the last eight jury cases that went to verdict.
FIRM ACHIEVES DEFENSE VERDICT
On January 8, 2016, an Essex County (Newburyport) jury returned a defense verdict in favor of Pierce & Mandell’s client on plaintiff’s significant personal injury claim. Bob Pierce tried the case, and Scott Zanolli assisted.
The plaintiff in the case claimed that she fell on the walkway of a condominium complex due to untreated snow and ice. Plaintiff brought claims against the condominium trust, the condominium manager, and Pierce & Mandell’s client, the snow removal contractor. The plaintiff claimed that she suffered a herniated disc in her back as a result of the fall. She underwent surgery about one month after the accident, and the surgery was allegedly botched, causing the plaintiff to suffer a torn aortic artery. The plaintiff was airlifted to Mass General Hospital, where she underwent emergency life-saving surgery.
Under Massachusetts law, a defendant is liable for all foreseeable consequences of its negligence, including a surgeon’s malpractice. Thus, if the plaintiff succeeded at trial, Pierce & Mandell’s client would have been liable for not only the herniated disc, but the injuries arising out of the claimed medical malpractice. The plaintiff’s medical bills approached $400,000, and the plaintiff was permanently disabled after the accident. Plaintiff’s initial demand for settlement was $5 Million.
On the first day of trial, Bob Pierce convinced the court that the liability aspects of the trial should be bifurcated from the damages portion of the case. This ruling prohibited the plaintiff from offering evidence of her significant injuries during the liability trial.
After a several day trial on liability, the jury ruled that Pierce & Mandell’s client was not negligent, resulting in a complete victory for Pierce & Mandell and its client.
Bob Pierce has now achieved complete victories for his clients in his last 6 jury trials. Overall, Bob has achieved complete victory for his clients in over 85% of the cases he has tried to conclusion.
Pierce Mandell Secures Important Appellate Victory Case Involving Disparate Fault Theory of Common Law Indemnity
Pierce & Mandell, P.C. has secured an important appellate victory for a subcontractor and buyer of industrial scaffolding equipment in the appeal of a dismissal of the indemnity claims the equipment’s manufacturer.
In Fraco Products, Ltd., et al. v. Bostonian Masonry Corp., the Massachusetts Appeals Court addressed whether or not the trial court erred in dismissing the indemnity claims of the manufacturer of industrial mast-climbing scaffolding equipment that collapsed on Boylston Street in Boston in April 2006. In its appeal, the manufacturer sought indemnity for the amount it paid to settle to the claims filed by the estate of an employee of the purchaser who was killed in the accident.
Robert Pierce, a shareholder at Pierce & Mandell, argued successfully for the defense.
Among the issues addressed by the Appeals Court was the so-called “disparate fault” theory of common law indemnity. In general, a party who is at fault for an injury is not entitled to common law indemnity from another negligent party. However, under the “disparate fault” theory, a party whose negligence in connection with a particular injury is relatively small as compared to that of another party may seek indemnification from the party who is disproportionately at fault for the same injury.
The opinion of Justice Katzmann, who wrote for the panel of three justices, stated “[a]lthough the Supreme Judicial Court has adverted to the differing degree of fault theory in two modern decisions, see Rahthbun, Western Mass. Elec. Co., 395 Mass. 361 (1985), and Economy Engr. Co. v. Commonwealth, 413 Mass. 791 (1992), in neither case was indemnification allowed. Moreover, a review of the cases cited in Rathbun reveals only one case, more than a century ago — before the existence of statutory contribution and workers’ compensation — in which the court allowed indemnification to one of two joint tortfeasors based on differing degrees of fault.” The Appeals Court, instead, applied the general rule that a party who is at fault for an injury is not entitled to common law indemnity and upheld the dismissal of the claims of the manufacturer.
In so ruling, the Appeals Court determined that the plaintiff manufacturer was not entitled to a new trial to ascertain whether or not its negligence was of the small amount contemplated by the “differing fault” theory of common law indemnity. The Appeals Court also ruled that no common law indemnity obligation could be inferred from the buyer-manufacturer relationship of the parties, and that the contractual indemnity claims of the manufacturer also failed as a matter of law.
Pierce & Mandell has broad experience in the most sophisticated insurance defense, catastrophic injury and construction related litigation, and we routinely handle high value trials and appeals where cutting edge legal issues in these fields are determined.
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Bencraft Hatters
Bencraft Hatters' Williamsburg storefront, 2016
Go-to hat store for over 65 years
Borough: Brooklyn
Neighborhood: Williamsburg
Place Matters Profile
Bencraft Hatters has been located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn for over sixty-five years. Today, the beloved boutique is run by third-generation owner Steven Goldstein, whose grandfather, Ben Goldstein, founded the business in 1948. Ben’s own father fabricated and sold hats in Poland, and returned to the old country shortly after World War I. But Ben and his brothers all had a great affinity for New York, as well as the local hat trade. Ben’s son, the late Stanley Goldstein, took charge of Bencraft in 1954, right as the business moved to its longtime Broadway and Havemeyer Street home, just astride the bustling confluence of the Williamsburg Bridge, the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, and the J/M/Z train trestle. Despite the changing demographics of their north Brooklyn environs, Bencraft’s time-honored inventory is as popular as ever, and is now sought by style-savvy newcomers as well as the Goldstein’s stalwart Orthodox Jewish client base. Bencraft has also maintained a second storefront and tailoring outpost for the last twenty-two years, which recently relocated to Avenue M in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood, complete with antique flanges, hat blocks, and other hard-to-find tools of the hat fixing trade.
When Bencraft was first established, customers invested in hats as a matter of course. At the time, no man would consider going to work or the theater with his cranium uncovered, and brimmed hats of varying diameters were a particularly ubiquitous part of mainstream fashion through mid-century. In the 1940s, brims were wide, but by the 1950s, brims went down to an inch and a half, or an inch and five-eighths. The trend yo-yoed for years, but as time passed and barriers of etiquette were broken, styles and social mores changed such that outwear became more casual, obviating the need for a formal headpiece. Happily, Bencraft has endured as the go-to hattery for New York City’s various Orthodox Jewish communities, and with the current influx of younger residents and tourists into Williamsburg, Goldstein and his team also regularly cater to Texans looking buy cowboy hats, or hip young men from the other side of Broadway seeking a classic chapeau from the guys who know.
Today hats are worn for many reasons -- to express personal identity, to protect one’s head from weather, to signify one’s profession, or to represent a community or cultural affiliation. “So a cowboy hat could describe a person who lives out in the West, or who works on a farm,” Goldstein explains, “or it might just be a stylistic decision. A fedora, on the other hand, might describe someone who is more of a religious person, and in Brooklyn, it might even describe which specific neighborhood you live in.”
To the uninitiated, a black brimmed hat is a black brimmed hat. But a fedora is quite different from a homburg, and each brim, crown, band, and bow combination carries its own association, especially in contemporary Jewish culture. Goldstein models a homburg made in Seville, Spain by a company called ISESA. Homburgs are known for being especially sturdy and strong, and are donned daily by many in Borough Park’s Orthodox community, as well as many in Israel. “It’s a rabbinical type of hat, a distinguished type of hat where the shape is kept for a long time, so it’s also good for daily use” Goldstein notes. Bencraft sells scores of homburgs in various brim sizes, along with other familiar styles that delineate between the different sects of people who live in different parts of the city. Religious Jews keep their heads covered as a sign of piety, but the various groups within the wider community have chosen specific styles to indicate their traditions. The Satmar Jewish community, who largely reside in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, are avid buyers of the bent-up (always worn with its brim turned skyward) by the South American company Puerto Fino. “The interesting thing about the Satmar Jewish people is that they are wearing the bent-up hats that were actually worn many years ago by their forebears,” Goldstein says. “So they’re basically handing down the same customs and dress that were worn generations ago. It’s not uncommon to see someone in Williamsburg wearing a long black coat and a black hat exactly as they dressed in Eastern Europe.”
Fedoras are probably Bencraft’s most popular hat, which they sell in many different colors and shapes, and from many different companies. Italian-made black Borsalino fedoras in a wide brim are common sights in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, where many members of the Lubavitch Jewish community live. The fedora was favored by the Lubavitch community’s late leader, Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Goldstein explains, but interestingly, the fedora is considered a more modern style, so it is also popular with the general public. “The Lubavitch tend to follow Rebbe Schneerson’s trend, and they like hats where the brims are wider. So they’re just a little bit more up-to-date as far as their headwear goes.”
Although New York has always had plenty of hatitude, most hats have origins elsewhere, and many have been modified over time. The fedora, for example, was initially a women's hat, with the name derived from the title character of Victorien Sardou's 1882 play, Fédora. In it, Sarah Bernhardt played the title role and wore a fedora on stage. The style was later adopted as a symbol of the women’s rights movement, but when Prince Edward of Britain began wearing fedoras in the 1920s, fedoras became de rigueur for men’s fashion.
Caps, worn by young and old from all walks of life, and favored by Stanley Goldstein, have their own interesting history. A cap is a soft hat without a full brim, featuring instead a rigid protrusion for protection from sun and rain. The newsboy cap is derived from the flat cap, and its origins seem to be a synthesis of the 14th century Scots “Bonnet” style (a brimless hat akin to a beret) and the Irish flat cap worn by Irish farmers and working class men of 14th century Ireland. In effort to stimulate the English wool trade, in 1571 Queen Elizabeth I passed an act requiring Irish males over six years old (excluding nobility and those with pedigree) to wear wool caps on Sundays and holidays. Even though the law was repealed in 1597, the cap was already deeply embedded in Irish and English working class fashion. Two centuries later, the flat cap, or coppola, made its way to Southern Italy, where it was popular first amongst Sicilian portsmen, then among landowners, and eventually symbolic of affiliation with organized crime syndicates, whose members wore theirs askew. The toughs moved on to other styles, but the coppola is still associated with Southern Italy.
In the 19th century, Irish, English, Scottish, and Italian mass migration to the United States influenced local hat stylings. The eight-piece flat cap style now known as the Newsboy, Cabbie, Baker, or Paddy Cap was adopted by late 19th and early 20th century working class Americans, while back in England, it was embraced by the wealthy as an accessory for modern leisure activities, including golf and driving. As hat culture declined in the 20th century and adult men moved on to brimmed hats, boys stuck with the cap, particularly those who delivered newspapers. This led to the nickname 'Newsboy' cap for a style where six or eight triangular pieces are sewn together with a button at the top. American adults later went back to the cap, albeit in the form of a baseball hat.
Goldstein knows his way around hat history and symbolism, having handled hat sales at Bencraft since he was thirteen years old. His first duties at the store included dusting off all off the inventory and adorning specific orders with feathers, a popular mode at the time. Since then, Goldstein has sold many a black hat to bar mitzvah-age sons of loyal customers, thereby participating in an important continuum and right of passage into adulthood for countless men. For all involved, the hats are not just pieces of headwear. They literally make the man.
The omnipresent black brimmed hats are often made of one hundred percent rabbit fur felt. Wool hats are generally less expensive and are worn for more casual wear, but those made from rabbit fur or beaver will take more abuse, and will generally last much longer. But not all hats are made to weather the weather. A significant number of Bencraft’s Williamsburg-based clientele hail from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. For them, Goldstein’s team carries a healthy selection of straw hats from companies like Stetson, Biltmore, or Borsalino. Panama Straw is very sturdy, so it is a mainstay of this typology. While the material comes from Panama, the hat bodies are woven by hand in Ecuador and finished in the United States or Europe, depending on the desired shape. Understandably, straw hat sales tend to skyrocket in the spring and summer.
Kangol hats enjoyed celebrity about a decade ago thanks to a brief but intense boon by icons of the pop music industry. Although no longer trending, Kangol still brings scores of younger customers to Bencraft. “We also have a lot of older people that are looking for that classic flat cap shape. And a lot of people who don’t necessarily wear hats prefer caps because they’re less expensive, and you can do a lot with a cap.” They also come in a larger variety at a lower price. “So we have to carry everything!”
Younger people are not only interested in wearing hats, but also in producing them. In the last few years, there has been a small but significant boom in the headwear business, with many new entrepreneurs fabricating their own items by hand. Williamsburg has recently witnessed a number of pop-up hat stores, some of which have made lasting impressions on the elder statesmen of millinery. “They’re craftsmen, and, impressively, they make their own hats. Some of them are really beautiful,” Goldstein says. His business has learned and gained strength from the Brooklyn ingénues. “They’ve shown us that, for example, some people are really interested in small brims, and they like to change the bands around. So we have to update our styles, and keep up with all the different trends. So it’s very interesting, which is also good for us.”
The au courant artisanal set notwithstanding, Bencraft is still the global gold standard of hat sellers, and its loyal fan base is hardly local, with frequent orders from fashionistos as far away as Japan. Although Christmas and Father’s Day are especially busy times, Steven Goldstein rarely sits still, as busy mornings in Williamsburg spent with salesmen discussing both the greatest and the latest styles, and afternoons in Midwood spent greeting old regulars and developing new ones.
There are not many hat stores left in the United States, and the ones that are still in business have generally been around for generations. With any luck, many more generations of hat wearers will buy theirs from Bencraft.
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Hatching new scientists every day!
Games & Videos
About PEEP
Plants: Full Curriculum
Library Center
Read books about plants.
Print Activity
Here are the books that will be read aloud during the three-week curriculum. Feature them in the Library Center for all three weeks.
Ruth Krauss. The Carrot Seed
Anne Rockwell. One Bean
Elly MacKay. If You Hold a Seed
Janice May Udry. A Tree Is Nice
Lois Ehlert. Growing Vegetable Soup
Jean Richards. A Fruit Is a Suitcase for Seeds
Lois Ehlert. Eating the Alphabet
Field Guides and Reference Books: Add a selection of seed catalogs, plant and tree field guides, and other illustrated reference books to your Library Center.
Additional Books (Optional)
Eve Bunting. Flower Garden
Douglas Florian. Vegetable Garden
Vivian French. Oliver’s Fruit Salad
Grace Lin. The Ugly Vegetables
Diane Muldrow. We Planted a Tree
Back to Curriculum
Getting Started, Week 1, Day 1
Previous Activity
Next Activity
Peep and the Big Wide World ® is produced by WGBH and 9 Story Entertainment in association with TVOntario.
Major funding for PEEP and the Big Wide World is provided by the National Science Foundation.
This PEEP and the Big Wide World material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1222607. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
© 2019 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Peep and the Big Wide World and the Peep characters and related indicia are trademarks of WGBH Educational Foundation. All third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Used with permission. “Peep,” “Quack,” “Chirp,” “Tom” and “Nellie” were originally created by Kai Pindal for the National Film Board of Canada productions The Peep Show, © National Film Board of Canada, 1962, and Peep and the Big Wide World, © National Film Board of Canada, 1988. Peep and the Big Wide World ® is produced by WGBH and 9 Story Entertainment in association with TVOntario. Major funding for Peep and the Big Wide World is provided by the National Science Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1222607. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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THE PRACTICE OF CONCENTRATION (Samadhi)
In the third watch of Shakyamuni's night of Enlightenment, the Four Noble Truths were revealed to him, the fourth being that there is a definable path, or method, by which Enlightenment is obtained. If one were to persist in doing 8 things in a correct, and not in a wrong manner, then the result would be Nirvana.
The 8 items also had an order to them, and the 8th was samadhi or concentration, that is focusing the mind on a single point. The first 7 were the necessary supports for the 8th, as he explained in a discourse later in his life. In his own quest, in the 6 years from the time he left home until he attained enlightenment, his single point of focus was the concept of Nirvana. While leading a family life and pondering over the lot of humanity, it was the witnessing the serenity of a monk questing for Nirvana which triggered his decision to leave home at age 29.
Initially he knew Nirvana by definition as the complete extinction of the senses, implying a resulting state of absolute inner happiness, yet neither he nor anyone else knew Nirvana by experience. He wandered and begged, he meditated in solitude; he joined the communities of several venerable teachers, and he mastered a whole range of ascetic practices, one by one. But upon reaching mastery of a particular meditation or teaching or ascetic practice, he questioned whether or not this was Nirvana or would lead to Nirvana, and as the answer was negative, he quickly abandoned the practice and moved on to another.
Although for 6 years Shakyamuni single-pointedly sought the state of Nirvana and refused to rest in anything else, he later incorporated many elements learned during this time into his body of teachings, such elements as:
leaving home
keeping rules of discipline
practicing the 4 absorptions
entering the meditative state of emptiness
infinite space
infinite consciousness
neither perception nor non-perception
and undertaking (mostly at the option of the monk)12 possible ascetic practices.
But it was the concept of Nirvana that served as Shakyamuni's point of concentration until it was finally realized. Then after dwelling in Nirvana for a couple of days, a profound change took place in which he decided to temporarily relinquish this state in order to benefit others with his knowledge and wisdom. From that time on, for the next 40 years, he taught people the 4 Noble Truths and the 8 Fold Noble Path in their innumerable facets, often creatively meeting people on their own ground as the starting point, then leading them to realize their errors, inspiring them and revealing the genius of the Buddha. The Buddha, knowing the state of Nirvana, can return there at will, and does so frequently during deep meditation, but at other times interacts with the world, retaining mindfulness and proscribed conduct so as to maximize the benefit to the people, and not get caught, or contribute to the world's net of sufferings.
By the time of the Buddha's passing away, approximately 200 people, mostly monks, but also nuns, lay men and lay women were recorded as having reached Nirvana. Among them were 16 great disciples pointed to as exemplifying 16 different areas of expertise, showing that right from the beginning there was wide diversity in the Sangha. In the subsequent generations among the diverse lineages, there were those who, in their own deep meditations, understood that the path of Buddhahood was a step beyond Nirvana. Those who sought to know Buddhahood and emulate the Buddha's path were called Bodhisattva's, as opposed to those meditators who only sought Nirvana for themselves.
It is the Buddhist path of the Bodhisattva which carries the Dharma down to us 2500 years later, emphasizing entry into samadhi, starting with the samadhis of Samatha, bringing tranquility, then moving into Vipasyana, translated as "discerning the real", and concentrating on the Buddha. This concentration on the Buddha (Buddha - anusmirti)is the common thread at the heart of the great Mahayana Sutras: the Lotus Sutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra, and the Pure Land Sutras.
Hisao Inagaki, in the lengthy commentary to his translation of the Pure Land Sutras (1995) writes,
" This samadhi was shared by disciples of superior spirituality who in turn transmitted it to later generations. Thus for a few centuries [after Shakyamuni] the essentials of the Pure Land teachings were transmitted through samadhi, until it was codified and translated into the languages of different periods and places. . .. Although there is no way of knowing how those samadhi's centering on [the Buddha, in this case] Amitabha were transmitted in India, there is little doubt that this is more fundamental and older than the transmissions of written scriptures. It should also be noted that such transmission is the sure and quick way of conveying the teaching."
The scriptures then refer back to this samadhi by emphasizing the practice of Nembutsu (remembering the Buddha)through mantra recitation. The great masters of this tradition made it their habit to recite the mantra many thousands of times a day. For example, Honen practiced 60,000 mantra recitations daily.
In the Lotus Sutra, the original core, according to scholars, was chapters 2 - 9, with other chapters added at different times later. And here, in chapter 2, the primary of entering into contemplation of the Buddha is strongly stated:
"Sariputra! What is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas . . . appear in the worlds? The Buddhas . . . appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to open the gate to the insight of the Buddha, and to cause them to purify themselves. They appear in the worlds in order to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings . . . to cause all living beings to obtain the insight of the Buddha . . . to enter the Way to insight of thew Buddha . . ."
And in the Gandavyuha, the final book of the Avatamsaka Sutra, there are maybe several thousand samadhis specifically mentioned in the text, but in the fundamental one, Shakyamuni "wanting to establish those Bodhisattvas in this lion-emergence concentration of Buddhas," and to show them "all ways into the reality realm," reveals the Buddha Vairocana, and there upon, the Bodhisattvas "entered the oceans of mystical projections of Buddhahood of the Blessed Vairocana."
Furthermore, when the central figure in the sutra, the pilgrim Sudhana, visits the first of 53 spiritual benefactors, Meghashri tells him, "I have attained mindfulness of the Buddhas, . . . I see the Buddhas in all the lands of the 10 directions." From this fountainhead of concentration on the Buddha, all the myriad of other samadhis flow, all the various expedient means of benefiting sentient beings.
For the person in whom, in the midst of modern civilization, the aspiration for enlightenment has arisen, that is the aspiration to renunciation, the aspiration to love, and the aspiration to harmlessness, there is a procedure to be followed in order to learn the samadhi on the Buddha. Even as Sudhana did, one will place himself in charge of spiritual benefactors. After giving refuge in the Triple Treasure and giving precepts, they will put you through some purification exercises, set you on a course of learning the Dharma, teach meditation and other practices, and establish you in the community of meditative life.
Beyond this is the actual method involving the three simultaneous factors of body, speech and mind. The type of speech known as mantra and dharani is the key to attaining the necessary samadhi. The "mind-to-mind transmission" of Zen is also samadhi on the Buddha. However, by relying on body and mind, but not on speech, the realization is made much more difficult. Mantra is so vital in itself that a whole separate branch of Mahayana developed around it, calling itself Vajrayana, Mantrayana, Mikkyo, etc. And concurrently, as is natural, a whole set of problems unique to the Mantrayana arose. The major one, probably, is that by conceiving of itself as a "higher path," it sometimes belittled the non-Mantrayana teachings, thereby opening up the possibility of ignoring its own fountainhead, that is the Buddhahood of Shakyamuni, his instructions recorded in the Agama Sutras, and even the Bodhicitta path, which was born from practicing the dharma according to Shakyamuni.
Then being aware of the pitfalls of the Vajrayana, one relies on one's lineage of teachers, works diligently with mantra, and at some point, becomes able to enter the vast and beautiful world of the Buddhas, from where one sees the samsaric world with love and compassion for all creatures, great and small, arguing with no one, merely stating the truth intent upon the infinite gift of Shakyamuni.
Retour au bout | Back
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Posted on May 26, 2017 May 25, 2017 by Danny
An American Tragedy (1931) Review, with Phillips Holmes, Sylvia Sidney, and Frances Dee
Phillips Holmes Sondra
Frances Dee Roberta
Sylvia Sidney
Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed by Josef von Sternberg
Our protagonist is a coward and murderer and the movie may be trying to make him sympathetic. Not sure on that last bit.
Clyde and Roberta have sex, with him later forcing the unwed Roberta to attempt to get an abortion.
An American Tragedy: ‘Nuff Said
“To think all our love for each other should come to this.”
Sometimes you watch a film adaptation of a famous work by a great artist and just think, “Yeah, the property beat them this time.” It’s rare that you learn later that the property actually sued, any artistic license be damned.
An American Tragedy, which gives itself plenty of airs in its title, is the story of poor Clyde. His family comes from money but has none, making him jealous and frustrated. He’s eventually given a job at a clothing manufacturer by a haughty uncle, where he falls in love with the meek but beautiful Roberta.
“I’m Sylvia Sidney-ing the hell out of this guy. It can’t possibly go wrong!”
But, just as they consummate their relationship, Clyde meets rich and beautiful Sondra. He wants to pursue her, but can’t so long as Roberta and the little problem in her belly are around. But there is one thing– Roberta can’t swim, and Clyde is sure he can get away with it…
If this hurried outline sounds familiar, An American Tragedy would later become the template for the much better known A Place in the Sun (1951), with Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelly Winters. While I’ve defended pre-Code versions of what would eventually be remade into better known films (like, say, Waterloo Bridge, When Ladies Meet, and The Maltese Falcon), this won’t be one of them.
See, this is haunting. This movie does okay sometimes.
Josef von Sternberg, in the midst of a run of some of the most beautiful, poetic films ever made (from Blue Angel to Blonde Venus to Shanghai Express), struggles mightily with a stiff leading man and a herky jerky plot structure. This movie didn’t come to the screen easily– novelist Theodore Dreiser sued the filmmakers because he hated the adaptation so much. The court permitted the film’s release but ordered several scenes from the novel to be reinserted to make Dreiser happy. It’s not hard to guess what might have been wedged in– Sternberg is a consummate visual artist, and there are a number of scenes so flat you can almost feel them radiate with a peculiar self loathing.
Chief among these may be the last half an hour of the 90 minute movie. Clyde’s trial for murder apparently rivets the nation– hard to believe since the trial can barely hold an audience’s interest. Since we’ve seen the murder take place, the courtroom jockeying is mute; our interest in how Clyde is seen and how he actually is becomes less revealing than one would hope. He’s a toady, utterly pathetic and irredeemable, even at his best in the film. The movie muddles its reasoning, and can’t even make a convincing coward out of him.
Sail awayyyy
Phillips Holmes’ central performance sinks this movie moreso than the haphazard structure or occasional stilted directing. What is Clyde feeling most of the movie? Does he yearn or is he simply a sociopath? Holmes keeps his eyes down, his lips in a pout; he’s trying to do James Dean without any method. He ends up looking more like Renfield from Dracula instead, modulating between wild eyed and silent with little in between. Works for a horror movie, harder to pull off in a drama.
As the main object of Cylde’s lust, Dee’s character is never given a chance to grow, staying a flighty young girl with no depth. She’s barely given a moment to react to the sin that’s happened in her name, either, vanishing from the movie right when her character would be put to its test. Dee has a few moments of worldly sexiness, but they seem like afterthoughts– considering what Sternberg did with Dietrich, Dee seems remarkably incomplete.
“I feel… shot from slightly above. With makeup on. Hey, I’m doing okay at this acting biz!”
Only Sylvia Sidney gives a performance in the picture that seems worthy of the film’s lofty aspirations. Her Roberta is a character who thought she was in a romance– the handsome boss gives her a second look and her future looks secure, even as he pressures her for sex. She gives in, and her punishment is heartbreaking. This is the kind of message the Production Code didn’t mind encouraging– even though Roberta commits sin and is, on the whole, a good person following her heart, she is punished for straying from the primrose path.
An American Tragedy is a mess, filled with weighty ideas and implications that the writing and cast simply can’t support. While it strives for a critique on American ambition and the way men see women as prizes rather than humans, but Holmes’ performance and a slog of a run time sink it. No one seems to have been much satisfied with the end result, and you can’t blame them.
TCMDB talks about the tortured history of this one. Sergei Eisenstein was originally approached to direct, and he produced a screenplay that was extremely faithful to the book– and hours upon hours long. Their ‘Notes’ section also explain the film’s tortured history with censorship:
According to information contained in the file on the film in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, on January 21, 1931, Colonel Jason S. Joy, Director of the Studio Relations Office of the AMPP in Hollywood, received a letter from an unidentified person which stated that the drama of the film “shows the tragic result of attempting birth control, all of which tends to prove that the Pope is right.” On February 9, 1931, Will H. Hays, President of the MPPDA in New York, wrote to Joy, stating: “The love making certainly does not have to be salacious. There need be, in my opinion, only the slightest reference to the pregnancy. Every opportunity might be sought to leave the impression that the boy was fundamentally of good character save only this trouble….There should be no reference to abortion and only the slightest reference to the idea that they “had done everything.” A plot synopsis included in the MPAA files alludes to abortion with the statement, “Roberta uses various remedies. They fail.” Joy wrote to Paramount Studio Chief B. P. Schulberg on April 25, 1931 stating, “If the references to abortion remain in “American Tragedy”…it will surely tend to eventually open the way for a more serious development of this subject in pictures.” An inter-office memo at the AMPP on May 25, 1931 states that Schulberg was “positively unwilling” to eliminate Roberta’s attempts to secure an abortion from the film because of an earlier approval given by Father Daniel J. Lord, a clergyman who collaborated on the draft of the Hays Code. On July 15, 1931, Lasky wrote to Hays agreeing to eliminate the following dialogue, which refers to abortion: “You went to the druggist who testified here.” “Yes sire.” “Anyone else?” “Yes sire, to seven others before I could get anything at all.” “But what you got didn’t help, did it? “No sir.” The film was banned in England and South Africa; Italy banned the film because of the reference to abortion; and New York, Virginia and Kansas censor boards called for the deletion of the allusion to abortion during the trial.
More from TCMDB: Dreiser wasn’t the only one who sued Paramount over this film. Dreiser based his novel on a true story that happened in 1906, where a man named Chester Gillette drowned his girlfriend in Big Moose Lake, New York. The mother of the murdered woman sued Paramount for $150,000. The suit was settled out of court.
As happens, Mordaunt Hall’s contemporary review didn’t care much for the film outside of the courtroom scenes. He sums it up in one of, truly, his best lines as a critic:
In his haste to get to the heart of the murder story Mr. von Sternberg has lost the real pith of the narrative.
Marya covered this at her vlog recently, and she covers the similarities (and many differences) to A Place in the Sun:
This film is available on Amazon thanks to Universal’s Vault Series.
Categories1931, Abortion, All Reviews, Dislike, Drama, Suggestive Dialogue
3 Replies to “An American Tragedy (1931) Review, with Phillips Holmes, Sylvia Sidney, and Frances Dee”
Wagstaff: This is the first time I’ve been out in a canoe since I saw “The American Tragedy.”
thestoryenthusiast says:
I’m slightly relieved to read your review as this was a movie I really wanted to see and somehow missed when it aired on TCM recently. I love Sylvia Sidney and am willing to slog through a less than stellar film just to see her performance.
brianpaige says:
Groucho and Thelma Todd had more chemistry there than Holmes and Sidney did here. Just finished watching this on the DVR and…yeah. Phillips Holmes was not a particularly good actor and the way Clyde is written here makes the part basically unplayable. It’s been forever since I have seen A Place in the Sun but I don’t recall Montgomery Clift just being the biggest douche ever in that.
I hate to say it but 17 years of shows like CSI render movies like this a moot point. I just found myself in disbelief that they would even charge him with much of anything given the lack of tangible evidence. When it was over I found myself wondering what the film was trying to say. Is Clyde a dirty scumbag who deserved his fate? Was he falsely accused?
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Previous PostPrevious Short – “Just Around the Corner” (1933) Review, with Warren William, Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, and Bette Davis
Next PostNext Pre-Code Movies on TCM in June 2017
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Tag: Lucille Lund
Posted on May 3, 2013 October 29, 2013
The Black Cat (1934) Review
The Particulars of the Picture
Hjalmar Poelzig …
Boris Karloff Dr. Vitus Werdegast …
Bela Lugosi Peter Alison …
David Manners
Joan Alison …
Julie Bishop Karen …
Lucille Lund Directed by
Edgar G. Ulmer
The Black Cat: Reveling in Horror
It’s been a couple of days since I watched The Black Cat, and now I’m sitting down to write my review. Let me start with something that surprises me 72 hours later: the movie haunts me.
The Black Cat isn’t a spectacularly scary picture, nor is it particularly tense. But the feeling of the film is the damnedest thing; it hardly makes a lick of sense. It survives on dream logic and the whims of haunting moods that hang over it. It’s akin to Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr or Salvador Dali’s Un Chien Andalou in some respects, where it’s a mood that descends upon you and never lets you go.
Shall we play a game of death?
I didn’t feel that way when watching it. The first teaming of 30’s horror icons Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi results in something that looks a little goofy at first. Lugosi has a natural cheesiness that’s too easy to see through nowadays, and Karloff’s uses of long silent leers grew tiring during The Mummy, let alone here where his character obviously still has operational vocal chords.
But as the film winds on, the story begins to unfold, and those leers of Karloff become malicious little sneers. As Lugosi prods and pokes at him, they become scarred sides of the same coin, and the art deco mansion they inhabit begins to loom over them. The move twists, turns, and becomes what is more conventionally known as ‘fucked up’.
But, as I have a tendency to do, I’m getting ahead of myself.
“Hello, darling. Are you in the mood for existential horror?”
We begin our film with a pair of Americans on a train setting out towards their honeymoon in Hungary. They’re Joan and Peter, a pair adorable enough to give off cavities. They’re just about to enjoy a decadent meal in their private train car when they’re informed that they’ll be having another passenger join them. That’s Dr. Werdegast.
A brief note on Lugosi’s Werdegast here: he’s ostensibly the hero of the piece, but simply casting Lugosi in the role will cause some intentional distance from the audience. We quickly learn that he’s spent 18 years in a Russian gulag after a disastrous battle during the first World War, and now seeks to return home in an attempt to find his wife and daughter and get revenge on the man who betrayed him. It’s sympathetic until we see him fondling Joan’s hair as she sleeps.
He’s not all there. It’s to Lugosi’s credit that he can cultivate a sympathetic air while still indicating a deep well of anger and perversion. Perhaps no other actor of the era wore tragedy on his face quite so well, and Lugosi’s spotty rhythms give his performance a supernatural grace. He’s like one step removed from an actual human being at all times, yearning for emotions but being pulled towards some baser, wretched void.
“Forgive me, I thought it looked like she needed pets.”
That void, of course, is where Karloff’s Poelzig has decided to build his home. Poelzig was an engineer in the Hungarian army who betrayed the troops under his command, resulting in the massacre of 10,000 men. He now resides in a mansion built upon the old fortifications there, and it is here to which Werdegast will seek his revenge.
Peter and Joan get roped into staying at the mansion as well after a car accident severely injures Joan en route to their honeymoon spot. The building itself, rather than a creepy old castle or even a shack with a couple of spare secret passages is a massive modernist building whose sleek lines give off the air of futurism but still loom ominously over everyone.
Karloff finally makes his appearance, and it’s a doozy. His star had risen so fast and so far in a short time that the movie has fun with it, acknowledging his great fame in two places. First is his credit above the titles– “KARLOFF and BELA LUGOSI” it reads. Next is his introduction:
They don’t even have to show you his face! You know what you’re getting with Karloff. Unlike Lugosi, Karloff deep seated eyes and long pointed chin never during his career verged into self parody. He pulsates with menace, has the face of a gremlin, and possess one of the wickedest smiles in all of cinema.
Poelzig invites the guests to stay, and almost immediately takes a less-than-healthy interest Joan. It turns out that he’s married to Karen, Werdegast’s daughter, and that he had previously married Werdegast’s wife before she passed away some years earlier. If that’s not enough, in his basement he keeps a half dozen dead women preserved in glass cases, where he can come down and behold their beauty as he sees fit.
It’s… pretty messed up.
Werdegast is cordial with Poelzig, and decides to bide his time and get his revenge when the time is right. Poelzig instructs Karen to remain in her room and then proceeds to play Werdegast in a game of chess to determine whether or not Joan will be allowed to leave the mansion or if she will become the next human sacrifice at his upcoming ritual.
Oh, he’s a Satanist, too. Did I mention that? There’s so much twisted about Poelzig, who stands on the tomb of the men he’s betrayed and builds a masterpiece of hubris and disrespect. The weird thing about this (yes, just one) is that there are moments where you sense that Poelzig may still feel some fleeting glimpses of guilt about all of this. He lies to Werdegast about his wife and daughter, and treats the man as an honored guest. He knows he’s betrayed this man on unconscionable levels, but he still senses a kinship with the man that he yearns to respect.
Peter blunders into this situation and aims to be amicable, further defrosting the conflict between Werdegast and Poelzig. He takes a drink with the men where we learn that Poelzig is a great engineer, Werdegast is a renowned psychiatrist, and Peter is a bad mystery writer. As Peter continues to mess up (more on this below), it’s obvious that his job is ironic. How can someone who writes mysteries at all be so bad at being in one himself?
“Mr. Alison, would you believe the word ‘gullible’ is written on the ceiling? … of course you would.”
The titular black cat makes an appearance, and is called the embodiment of evil and death; Werdegast is horrified by it, while Poelzig embraces it. More on its meaning below.
Their chess match reaches a conclusion, and it sets up a showdown between Werdegast and Poelzig on the eve of the dark mass, on the night that he and his followers prepare to sacrifice Joan to the devil.
The film’s climax is a variety of eerie moments, climaxing in Werdegast’s final revenge on Poelzig, something completely brutal and horrific that we only see in shadows. That’s for the best: our imaginations make the skin crawl spectacularly.
Poelzig has no idea what he’s in for.
The film feels like something that should be as conventional as the other Universal horror pictures emerging at that time– Dracula, Frankenstein, et. al– but the little miscalculations, the chopped editing, and that glower that Karloff levels all elevate it spectacularly into a different realm.
This is Director Edgar G. Ulmer’s only A-level studio picture he had the chance to make, and he fills it with stark sets and an atmosphere of barely contained terror. The film’s mood just hangs over you, and all of its incongruities make it seem grander and darker than just the visuals can grasp.
Note how Ulmer uses the camera in several spots, like when he briefly takes Poelzig’s point of view for an exit of the dungeon, or when actors stray a lot closer than usual when depositing an unconscious body. The series of closeups at the black mass are also telling, using the faces of utter devotion to unnerve the audience by the sheer stoic pleasure these characters are deriving from their wicked prayers.
The most ominous staircase.
For Lugosi, this was a career highpoint. One of the rare opportunities to play an anti-hero and he makes good of every nasty moment of it. Ulmer, too, took advantage at his one big shot in Hollywood and made a film that serves as one final brilliant gasp of Pre-Code horror. Films wouldn’t be this scary again for a long time.
But What Does It Mean?
[This section is chock full of spoilers; skip ahead to stay clean]
There are lots of different interpretations of The Black Cat out there. One source I read argued that it’s a chess match between God and the Devil, and another supposed that it’s a parable about the relative naivete of youth.
Ulmer’s commentary isn’t oblique, in my opinion; Americans don’t truly understand or appreciate the horror of the first world war. Noticeably, Peter and Joan never really seem to grasp the entirety of the situation they’re involved in. Peter in particular blunders his way through most of the movie; you know he’s ineffectual when he gets his ass kicked and knocked out by the butler.
Damn, Peter, you’re such a tool.
Ulmer’s nationality is Hungarian, and I doubt that it’s a coincidence that he shares this with Poelzig and Werdegast. The view of the film isn’t so much that Peter and Joan are the heroes, but that they can’t comprehend the horrors of the world they’ve suddenly stumbled into. This looks to me like a thinly veiled parable on the first world war, another situation where the Americans wandered in, wreaked havoc, and then left blissfully unaware and guilt free from the atrocities that their intervention had caused.
Both Peter and Joan drive this home at different points in the film. Peter’s is the end where he shoots Werdegast who is in the midst of helping his wife retrieve a key. It’s understandable with the confusion of the moment, but pig headed and again underlying how ineffectual Peter is throughout the piece; he rushes in to be the hero, and once again fails miserably. Cue fleeing.
Joan’s is a bit more subtle, as when she is told by Werdegast about what Poelzig has done to his wife and daughter. “And you let him live?” she demands. The line sticks out like a sore thumb because, besides her trance earlier, it’s the only time Joan seems to express a whole opinion. It’s so nasty and forceful; not asking but urging that Werdegast kill. This is at the point where she first realizes she’s trapped, and her motivation in pushing it is simply to guarantee her own safety. It’s a childish reaction, one of somebody who only understands things in a basic black and white manner.
“Haven’t you two enacted your blood vengeance upon each other yet? I’ve got places to go, people! Let’s get a move on!”
The film ends as Joan and Peter return on their honeymoon, blissfully unaware and completely unable to explain what they’ve been through. They read a review of Peter’s latest novel that dismisses it as unbelievable and share a look. As crazy as the world they left behind? Even then, they don’t understand what they’ve been through. It’s a memory to be forgotten; for many Hungarians and other Europeans, the war is something they’ll never put behind them. Its horrors will always reverberate.
The Supernatural and The Baloney
“Sounds like so much supernatural baloney to me.”
“Supernatural… perhaps. Baloney… perhaps not. There are many things under the sun.”
That’s Peter and Werdegast there (and, trust me, you haven’t lived until you’ve heard Lugosi pronounce ‘baloney’). But the really funny part of the line is that there doesn’t actually appear to be anything that occurs in The Black Cat that is supernatural in the slightest.
“Baloney? I never eat… baloney.”
This dialogue may remain in here because extensive cuts ended up removing some supernatural elements (more on that below), but I have a pet theory that I don’t think will get me many supporters but I find convincing.
The mass of the Satanists near the end, which involves men and women in long dark cloaks, climaxes with a woman screaming and fainting in the middle of the ceremony. Now I’ve mentioned before how the film’s choppy editing seems to work in its favor, and here is an example of it: before the woman faints, we see her turning. However, unless we’re looking in the soft-focused background of the previous shot, we wouldn’t know that she’s turning to watch Poelzig about to sacrifice Joan.
But the way this blonde woman looks, and the way that she turns her head back forward before she faints piqued my curiosity. This is what kicks off the climax of the film, and its hard for me to believe a die-hard Satanist would really be overwhelmed in what appeared to be a series of sacrifices. Her look and terror seemed to be past Karloff to me… and it made me wonder if what she really saw was the arrival of the guest of honor.
Everything falls apart after her fainting (and the Satanists outside of Poelzig vanish entirely from the rest of the film), making me wonder if their next act had shown them getting what they wished for.
That’s a pretty sweet Satan altar, for the record.
But, I’ll be the first to admit I could be wrong on that. The Black Cat is a film that thrives at its margins, where it lets the audiences imagination squirm at the end of its devilish hook. It’s unsettling, and amazing.
Well, Satanism never really gets to look like this much fun again for a few decades.
Poelzig’s gallery of the dead women sure seems to border on necrophilia.
Werdegast notes that Poelzig had lusted after his daughter ever since she was younger. Considering he’s been away for two decades and Karen still looks 30, tops, this would seem to indicate some pedophile tendencies.
Werdegast, a psychiatrist, also plies his way as a medical doctor on occasion. He comes to Joan’s room to take a look at her wound after the car accident, announcing excitedly to the woman in her pajamas, “I must examine the dressing!”
Poelzig’s desires to covet Joan are less than saintly in every regard. Besides the out and out accusations– “There was nothing spiritual in your eyes when you looked at that girl!”– Karloff gets to have some fun with various figures he has laying about, stroking a queen from the chessboard at one point and grasping at a nude female statue with great force when Peter and Joan kiss.
Here are some extra screenshots I took. Click on any picture to enlarge!
I made sure to specify above that my review is based on the movie as it currently is now, and that’s because the movie is one of those with a troubled history. During the production of the film, the studio chief was out of town, leaving director Ulmer to go hog wild. 366 Weird Movies details some of the more extreme stuff that made it into the movie’s first cut: rape, a more vivid scene of the results of Poelzig’s evisceration and a plot about Joan actually transmorphing into the titular cat. Obviously, if any of this had remained in, the film’s meanings could be completely different, though the film may have also lost some of its power from its feverish logic were the scenes included. Either way, the point is moot since apparently the deleted scenes were destroyed as per the customs of the time.
This also brings me to the film’s title. It’s ‘suggested’ by Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Black Cat, which, on the surface, has absolutely nothing to do with the finished project besides the obvious presence of a black cat. However, there are other parallels cleverly snuck in:
Poe’s story is about the darkness within a man that he can no longer control, even as he tries to be a good man. This matches up with Werdegast’s emotional roller coaster as well.
The black cat messes up Werdegast’s initial plans as it does the narrator’s in the original story.
The castle in the film is built directly on the old fortifications. Poelzig entombing his past just like the protagonist’s attempts to do so in the short story.
More literally, Poelzig also entombs women in their own special cases– though it speaks to his perversion that these cases are clear rather than made of brick.
For anyone curious, apparently these two had a cordial working relationship together. Though the fights sure do look pretty brutal.
If you are looking for a more faithful version of The Black Cat, I highly recommend Stuart Gordon’s version from the “Masters of Horror” anthology starring Jeffrey Combs. Here it is on Amazon.
Ehsan Khoshbakht for Notes on a Cinematograph does a wonderful job going into the film’s origins as well as the real life inspiration for Poelzig, a respected German architecture professor of the same name. He also goes on to talk about how Ulmer transforms the film’s modernist sets into a “source of abomination.” If you read any of the articles here, I highly suggest this one.
Michael Grost’s bare bones site looks at Ulmer’s pet symbols and themes. It also touches on the influences of Murnau and Lang (including a surprising number of similarities between The Black Cat and Metropolis) and the film’s visual motifs. A good read.
Karloff’s Poelzing is said to be based on famed occultist Aleister Crowley. Here’s Crowley’s Wikipedia page; I can’t comment any further than to say it’s a shame that Poelzig didn’t try busting that hat out at some point.
“It is time to get all Satan in this place.”
Joe Randazzo at PWI Pop saw the movie in a revival theater a few years ago, and delves into its background and Ulmer’s career after the film’s completion. Besides noting a lot of background fodder about the Karloff/Lugosi rivalry, it points out that both men counted The Black Cat among their personal favorites. I especially liked this detail:
It is even said that in 1955, during a theatrical revival of the film in California, Lugosi had stood up in the audience and proclaimed “What a handsome bastard I was!”
Josh Vasquez for Slant does an excellent job on reviewing the piece, calling it Universal’s ‘tone poem’ and “rawly symbolic.” He also believes it to be horrifyingly prescient, as it shows a man trying to conquer death, but whose black soul is looking towards the horrific acts that the rest of the 20th century still held.
AMC’s Filmsite gives a good beat by beat overview of the film’s plot plus a bevy of quotations.
The driver of the car who crashes and sends Joan, Peter and Werdegast onto Poelzig’s has a rather distinctive arrangement of facial hair. That may be because he’s rumored to be an homage to the title character of F.W. Murnau’s The Last Laugh (1924), which Edgar G. Ulmer did the production design on. If you’ve seen Last Laugh, the irony in Ulmer allowing the film’s doorman to die an inglorious death here is pretty funny.
Doom Cheez Cinema (yes, I know) believes that there’s a modeling of Poelzig on German director Fritz Lang. He also touches on the Lugosi/Karloff dynamic and compares their acting to the Japanese school of Noh.
Andre Sennwald’s 1934 review from The New York Times seems to fit in with the general negative response the film initially received. He praises some aspects but then laments that it is “more foolish than horrible”. He also says that the story “pile the agony on too thick to give the audience a reasonable scare”, which is a reminder to those precious times when people thought too much of a story was just as much as a hindrance as too little.
I really liked this line from Jeremy Heilman on the film’s last few moments:
Even their joke in the final scene feels less like a return to normalcy than an assertion that normalcy is naïve.
In case anyone hadn’t noticed, the film spells out its theme in the very first shot:
BAGGAGE.
The Last Drive-In goes into this one fairly deep and has lots of behind the scenes pictures and analysis of where its themes and story comes from. If anything in my review leaves you wanting, read their piece, it’s amazingly thorough.
I can’t be the only person to have noticed this, but there are an incredible amount of similarities between this film and the low budget cult classic Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966). Both figure around a satanist with multiple wives who wants to adopt another into his brood. Even Bela’s awkward fondling is mirrored!
When searching for posters, I came across this pretty sweet fanart for the film. Check it out.
Poster roundup:
That’s a sweet damn tagline.
I had no idea William Powell was in this movie! … oh, wait, that’s Lugosi.
This is wonderful, but the wonder mostly comes from Lugosi and Karloff’s heads looking like they’re in a twisted game of Pong.
One final, last note: the film is another where the whole house has been rigged with dynamite so that it may be destroyed in a pinch. Was this a common design feature in 1930’s homes? I’d be wary of it if you’re going to be looking for a new place any time soon.
In the Wikipedia List of Pre-Code Films.
Part of the Universal Horror series.
Universal’s highest grosser for 1934.
This film is available in The Bela Lugosi Collection, along with Murders in the Rue Morgue (review coming soon), The Raven (which is a reversal of this film but a bit more conventional), The Invisible Ray (cheesy fun) and Black Friday (skip it).
It’s also available in a single disk version on Amazon and can be rented from Classicflix.
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Reggio Magnet School of the Arts » For Parents & Students » Resources
In this section, you'll find some resources to help you learn more about your studies at Reggio Magnet School of the Arts.
Calendar of Events for the 2019-2020 Reggio Magnet School Year (coming soon)
Follett Destiny - CREC-wide Library Catalogue
Reggio Theme Resources
Bringing Reggio Home
Louise Boyd Cadwell
Cadwell was one of the first Americans to have a year-long internship in the preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. The first three chapters of her book tell of that experience. The rest of the book contains “mini-stories” of her four-year adaptation effort in an American school in St. Louis.
In the Spirit of the Studio: Learning from the Atelier of Reggio Emilia
Lella Gandini, et al.
A collection of interviews with Italian atelieristi alternating with articles by Americans. With this organization, the book presents a kind of dialogue among cultures, ideas and continuously deepening theories and practices.
North American Reggio Emilia Alliance
www.reggioalliance.org
NAREA's mission is to build a diverse community of advocates and educators to promote and defend the rights of children, families, and educators of all cultures through a collaboration of colleagues inspired by the philosophies and experiences of the 0-6 education project of Reggio Emilia, Italy.
A Conversation with Amelia Gambetti by Bonnie Neugebauer
An article on the Child Care Exchange site with an interview of Amelia Gambetti from Reggio Children following the international conference held in Reggio Emilia, Italy, February 25-28, 2004.
Can I Touch it? Can I taste it?
Jennifer Sieminski
Read the article [PDF]
Originally published in "Focus on Infants and Toddlers", this article shares the story of an exploration of light and shadow undertaken by a group of toddlers at the Boulder Journey School in Colorado.
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors representing their own interpretation of the philosophy and practices of the Municipal Infant-toddler Centers and Preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. The content of this publication has not been officially approved by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia nor by Reggio Children in Italy; therefore it may not reflect the views and opinions of these organizations.
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The Formula 1 2018 Rolex British Grand Prix is returning to the historic Silverstone circuit on the 5th-8th of July!
The Formula 1 2018 Rolex British Grand Prix is returning to the historic Silverstone circuit on the 5th-8th of July! Experience a weekend of pure speed and adrenaline on Silverstones 70th anniversary at the British Grand Prix, a track which the drivers describe as insanely fast!
Join in the celebrations for a weekend of high speed action with the Renault Esports Series grand final! Watch as 4 competitors battle it out on the 7th of July on the virtual track after fighting their way through qualifying and final rounds to be crowned winner.It’s a full test of skill and racecraft also giving an insight into the ever growing world of esports and sim racing.
The Grand Final of the Renault Esports Series at Silverstone will see 4 competitors trying to best each other for the chance to win the ultimate track day experience with PalmerSport, where they will get take to the track in a range of race cars. From a genuine Renault Clio Cup racer to a F3000 single seater, their skills on track will be pushed to the limit, and professional race instructors will ensure they get the very best out of each car!
You can find more information about the British Grand Prix and Silverstone here http://www.silverstone.co.uk/events/2018-formula-1-british-grand-prix/
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Public Hostility
What makes hate speech wrong?
Michael Plaxton
The Harm in Hate Speech
Jeremy Waldron
292 pages, hardcover
Get LRC Weekend
Free literary snapshots from across Canada.
Many modern constitutional democracies, including Canada, have prohibited what is colloquially known as hate speech—the expression of views about minority groups for the purpose of vilifying or fostering disrespect for them. They have been able to do so because modern bills of rights, while protecting expression, tend to contain “limitation clauses.” Thus, the Supreme Court of Canada has upheld prohibitions on hate speech (or, more technically, group libel) as “reasonable limits” on free speech. Other constitutional democracies have similar laws, upheld for broadly similar reasons.
Image by Jake Pauls
Who’s Right?
In court, argues a new study, equality too often trumps religious rights
The foreign-baby baby problem
A lesson on citizenship from contemporary Japan, and 1860s America
Analysis vs. Polemic
A scholarly defence of Canada’s human rights regime
Seeds of Hate
Tracing tyranny back to medieval Spain.
But not all. The United States Constitution has no limitation clause and, there, the suggestion that any expression could be prohibited on the basis of its content meets with skepticism if not hostility. Jeremy Waldron’s new book, The Harm in Hate Speech, represents an attempt to answer that skepticism and hostility by arguing that prohibitions of group libel are at least defensible. (He purports not to go further than that, although one could be forgiven for thinking that the modesty of the argument is belied by the vigour with which he makes it.)
Waldron’s argument, though, should resonate for Canadians as well. In 2007, the Canadian Islamic Congress filed complaints with several human rights commissions alleging that Maclean’s had published a series of Islamophobic articles. This generated heated debate over the extent to which concerns about hate speech could justify limitations on press freedom. The Supreme Court of Canada will soon release its decision in Whatcott v. Canada, a case in which a member of a religious organization distributed pamphlets disparaging the sexual practices of same-sex couples.
In thinking about how far we can or should go in restricting expressive freedom, it is worth considering what makes such restrictions justifiable in the first place. In particular, we might want to ask whether their purpose is to prevent demonstrable harm to individuals or groups, or if there is something inherently problematic about hate speech.
Two core premises lie at the heart of Waldron’s defence of group libel laws. First, to be full participants in a liberal democratic society, individuals must have some assurance that they have the basic social standing to engage in activities that will allow them to flourish and thrive. They must be confident that they can find meaningful work, get an education, seek high office or otherwise participate in the political sphere, honour their spiritual and family commitments—or do any of the other things that make a life fulfilling—and that they will not be treated as presumptively less worthy or deserving simply by virtue of their membership in a racial, religious or ethnic group.
The point here is not just that members of the community must be treated with “dignity.” They must be able to rely on such treatment on a day-to-day basis. A Muslim person walking through airport security may receive no special scrutiny. A police officer who sees a black man driving an expensive automobile at night may not, for that reason alone, check his licence plate for outstanding warrants. A hotel clerk may not refuse to check a gay or lesbian couple into a room. That one happens to have been treated with respect on one or another occasion does not change the fact that Muslims have special reasons to dread air travel, or that young black or aboriginal men must watch their step around police officers in a way that white people do not—that they must bear psychic costs not borne by others.
It is far from obvious that the wrongfulness of certain activities can or should be boiled down to harmfulness.
The second premise is that people in a liberal democratic society cannot have the assurance that they will be treated with dignity if the physical landscape suggests that their social standing is a matter for public debate. A billboard or pamphlet or full-page newspaper ad suggesting that Muslims are inherently committed to violence, or claiming that aboriginal people should be kept out of predominantly white neighbourhoods because of the crime they would bring, or arguing that gay men should be barred from public schools because they are inclined to practise pedophilia does not simply state an “idea” that can be answered with “more speech.” By affirming that they are not alone, such expressive acts embolden bigots to act on those views and to present them as one of several equally valid ideological perspectives. That problem is not resolved by engaging the racist or homophobe in debate, since doing so only presents his or her view as sufficiently reasonable to be taken seriously. Indeed, the virulent racist may want to provoke a debate, if only to create the impression that it is perfectly normal to ask whether Muslims or homosexual people are sufficiently human to deserve the complete range of human rights. To the individual Muslim or gay person, just having that question on the table undermines the assurance that he or she will be treated as a social equal.
The way a society “looks,” then, does not just reflect or express its political health—it determines it. We do not need to wait to see whether a billboard or poster libelling a vulnerable group actually succeeds (or has succeeded) in moving someone to discriminate against a member of that group before deciding whether its presence makes our society less just. We do not need to ask whether it reflects the bigoted opinions of many or only a few. A society heavily decorated with billboards and posters libelling vulnerable groups is less just, all other things being equal, merely because they are there.
In suggesting that the justness of a society rests to a degree on how it looks, Waldron draws primarily on two quite different thinkers: the political philosopher John Rawls and the feminist law professor Catharine MacKinnon. In Political Liberalism, Rawls argued that “a well-ordered society”—one governed according to the requirements of justice—“is one in which everyone accepts, and knows that everyone else accepts, the very same principles of justice.” Waldron’s point is precisely that in a society “festooned with depictions of … racial minorities characterizing them as bestial or subhuman,” there can be no assurance that “everyone else” accepts “the fundamentals of justice.” On this point, Waldron says, MacKinnon’s powerful arguments against pornography are instructive. She has long argued that pornography presents women as mere objects to be used for men’s sexual gratification, and in doing so reinforces the way gender has been socially constructed in our culture. The problem is not simply that pornography “causes” men to engage in individual acts of sexual violence. Rather, MacKinnon claims, it pollutes the air we breathe, subtly (or not-so-subtly) leading us to think about women in ways that undermine their confidence in being treated as equals. In doing so, it makes our society less just—more “disordered.” Waldron suggests that hate speech can have much the same effect.
Waldron does not suggest that all attacks on the dignity of vulnerable minorities can justifiably meet with legal sanctions. His concern is not with speech as such, with stray remarks offhandedly made and quickly forgotten. His concern is with published attacks on the equal standing of minority groups, with expressions that are more than transitory, that become a part of the landscape and that serve as standing challenges to the worthiness of some individuals’ claim to equal treatment. Again, the distinction between the published and the merely spoken follows from Waldron’s point that “hate speech” deserves to be criminalized principally because it undermines the confidence of members of vulnerable minorities that they will be treated as equals. A bigoted remark, drunkenly uttered or made in haste, that evaporates into the ether as soon as it is spoken, cannot undermine one’s assurance of equal social standing in anything like the same way as a billboard or television commercial. A billboard does not just happen. It is made to be seen in the cold light of day by the world at large. It therefore asserts the respectability and social acceptability of the message it sends in a way that the throwaway remark does not.
Nor is Waldron’s point that hate speech warrants criminalization or legal regulation just because it causes offence. It does cause offence, of course, but Waldron does not argue that group libel laws are justified merely on the basis that its victims perceive themselves to have been injured. They have, he argues, suffered actual injury, and the offence they take is a response to that. The harm of hate speech, then, cannot be wished away simply by advising its victims to think differently about it. In an important sense, it would be so much the worse if they did accept attacks on their dignity as their lot in life—after all, it is surely appropriate to be angry when someone wrongs us. But hate speech is not harmful because it causes offence. It is offensive because and to the extent it is harmful.
What matters, then, are actual attacks on social standing, and not merely perceived slights. Waldron accepts that it may sometimes be difficult to tell the difference. Are members of religious minorities, for example, truly wronged when their religious convictions are ridiculed or criticized? Are we to say that the social standing of Muslims was undermined by cartoons satirizing the Prophet Mohammed? When the American atheist Sam Harris compares a belief in God to a belief that one has an enormous diamond buried in one’s backyard, are we compelled to find that the dignity of religious believers has been assaulted? On this point, Waldron says no. We can and should, he says, draw a distinction between a person and his or her beliefs. We can attack the latter without attacking the former.
To a degree, this observation is fair enough. Insofar as attacks on religious convictions are directed at the holders themselves, they arguably presuppose that believers are able to achieve a critical distance from their beliefs, and that they are therefore not fundamentally irrational. (Harris’s point is that Christians can abandon their unwarranted belief in God just as surely as I can jettison the fantasy that I have a refrigerator-sized diamond in my backyard.) So long as religious believers are treated as equal participants in a rational debate, and not as unthinking hordes in the grip of a collective (and dangerous) delusion, we may be disinclined to say that critiques of faith-based beliefs inherently question their social standing.
But the problem, surely, is that such debates often turn in part on what it means to be rational. There will inevitably be some suspicion among people of faith that attacks on their respective traditions do not take them seriously. This exposes a tension built into Waldron’s defence of hate speech laws. He wants to say, at one and the same time, that we can assure vulnerable minorities of their social standing by limiting free speech, but that we do not need to ban merely offensive speech to achieve that goal. To make room for offensive speech, though, Waldron must implicitly put the burden on minorities to show that their offence is grounded in an actual blow to their social standing. In putting the burden on them, he makes it less likely that hate speech laws will succeed in providing the assurance he claims is their raison d’être. Pushed to its logical conclusion, in other words, Waldron’s argument either justifies limiting expressive freedom more than he claims, or it raises the question of how much assurance actually is required in a well-ordered society.
The above leads to broader questions. If we can justify limitations on free expression by appealing to the need to assure members of the public of their equal social standing, what other kinds of legal regulation can be justified on that basis? It seems unlikely that historically disadvantaged Canadians will invariably receive all the assurance they need simply because others cannot publicly talk about them as if they are less than fully human. The poverty, violent crime, health troubles and lack of opportunities with which many aboriginal Canadians live, for example, may send an implicit message that they are not worthy of the sort of consideration that others expect as a matter of course. It is worth remembering that Rawls—upon whom, we have seen, Waldron looks for inspiration—thought that the “well-ordered society” required, among other things, a redistribution of wealth. The philosopher Michael Walzer has likewise suggested that equal social standing is a precondition for someone to enjoy any number of public goods, but he by no means argues that equal treatment is exhausted by guarantees of basic dignity. What does accepting Waldron’s reasoning commit us to?
Finally, one might object to Waldron’s emphasis on harm. In R v. Butler, the Supreme Court of Canada explained the wrongfulness of violent pornography in terms of the harms it causes to women, drawing upon MacKinnon’s analysis. Since Butler, the court has persistently returned to this idea, suggesting that harm and not wrongfulness as such should be our focus. But it is far from obvious that the wrongfulness of certain activities can or should be boiled down to harmfulness. Consider the woman who believes that she ought to be treated as a sexual object by others, who consents to being used, even wants to be used, and does not perceive herself as injured in any way when she is. When she is used, is she “harmed”? If we understand harm as physical or psychological harm, it is not obvious that she is. To make sense of harm in this context, we must refer to something like moral harm—to the way in which the mental universe of victims has been shrunk, corrupted or deformed to meet the interests or whims of others.
But why not simply say that there is something inherently wrongful about degrading or dehumanizing others, about treating others as objects rather than persons? At times, Waldron seems to want to make this kind of broad moral claim. He resists the idea that the wrongfulness of group libel depends on it having a traceable effect on the psychological condition of vulnerable minorities, or any measurable impact on the way minorities are actually treated by others. His argument thus does not appeal to consequences in any straightforward sense. Why talk about “harm” at all then? Perhaps, given Waldron’s goal of convincing skeptical American readers of the wrongs of hate speech, reference to harm is tactically necessary. One suspects, though, that real progress will not have been made until it goes without saying that degrading another human being is bad, not because it is harmful, but because it is degrading.
Want to share your thoughts?
We welcome letters, which we reserve the right to publish after editing for length, clarity and accuracy.
Michael Plaxton is a professor of law at the University of Saskatchewan.
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JACK LONDON’S EVIL TWINS
June 22, 2014 Jeff Elliott Leave a comment
Jack London was a pretty busy fellow in early 1911, what with his leading the revolution in Mexico and all.
That February, newspaper readers around the country learned the famous novelist and outspoken socialist was fighting to overthrow the Mexican government. “JACK LONDON LEADS ARMY OF MEXICAN REBELS,” a headline in the San Francisco Post proclaimed. “Jack London Reported at Head of Mexican Insurrecto Band,” the Los Angeles Times declared and London was the “first of hundreds of American socialists to assist the rebels,” readers of the Des Moines News were told. “Jack London, the novelist, has invaded Mexico and is spreading death and destruction and hell and smoke with his trusty pencil,” reported the Dallas Times-Herald. London was also said to have been arrested and being held in a border town (Washington Post) and was wounded in combat (San Francisco Call).
Not a bit of that was true, but a Mexican-American labor activist from Los Angeles named Simon Berthold and about sixteen other gringos, joined by a couple of dozen Mexican insurrectos and all only armed with a few old rifles and revolvers, had indeed captured the border town of Mexicali while firing only a single shot. This surprising victory in their quixotic campaign drew scores of Americans to join their ranks in the following days.
The virulently anti-labor LA Times – which relished calling union members “anarchic scum” and worse – was quick to exaggerate the importance of Mexicali. According to the paper it wasn’t about the Mexican Civil War at all, but was really a stalking horse by U.S. radicals plotting to turn Baja California into an independent socialist republic on America’s doorstep. “BANDITS SACK MEXICALI,” was the first Times headline, then later, “HOBOS AND CRIMINALS FLOCK TO STANDARD OF ‘INSURGENTS.'” The latter article called the rebels a “chicken thief band…most of the revolutionists are either Mexican criminals or mongrel Americans who have good reasons for not risking their presence again on American soil.”
It was that article that inspired Jack London to pen a short letter “To the dear, brave comrades of the Mexican Revolution:”
We Socialists, anarchists, hobos, chicken thieves, outlaws, and undesirable citizens of the United States are with you heart and soul. You will notice that we are not respectable. Neither are you. No revolutionary can possibly be respectable in these days of the reign of property. All the names you are being called, we have been called. And when graft and greed get up and begin to call names, honest men, brave men, patriotic men and martyrs can expect nothing else than to be called chicken thieves and outlaws. So be it. But I for one wish there were more chicken thieves and outlaws of the sort that formed that gallant band that took Mexicali. I subscribe myself a chicken thief and revolutionist.
The letter was read at the regular Saturday night meeting at the Los Angeles Labor Temple in support of the revolutionaries. Two days later, the first stories appeared about London being a combatant.
As with the previous item about a juvenile delinquent supposedly being sentenced to live and study with Luther Burbank, it fell to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat to debunk the story by simply knocking on a door and asking if it were true. No, London said, he had not been fighting or wounded or arrested in Mexico – but he thought “Jack London” might be the culprit. Our Glen Ellen novelist, it seemed, had a doppelganger.
For years, London told the PD, he had heard about a lookalike passing himself off as the famed author, tricking fans into hosting the impostor to free meals, lodging, and who knows what else. “I lost track of him last fall,” London said. “I presume he has gone on down into Mexico for excitement and gotten into trouble and is using my name to assist him to get free.”
It was actually worse than that; widow Charmian London later wrote he was plagued by a legion of ersatz Jacks:
…Still others led girls astray, and many the piteous letters, addressed to places where Jack had never set foot, or when the pair of us were on the other side of the world, begging restitution for anything from stolen virtue to diamonds. Jack tried to get in touch with these floating impersonators, promising safe departure if they would only come to the Ranch and entertain him with their methods. But even when his letters never returned, there were no replies. While we were honeymooning in Cuba, according to one side of a correspondence that came into Jack’s possession, a spurious J. L. was carrying on an affair with a mother of several children in Sacramento, California.
The evildoing identical twin is a familiar theme in bad fiction, of course, and it’s to London’s credit he never once used that plot device, despite being somewhat an expert on the subject.
More about Jack London’s 1911 adventures in a following post.
LONDON READS OF MEXICAN ARREST WITH AMUSEMENT
Author at Home in Glen Ellen While Double Suffers
The telegraphic accounts of the wounding and arrest of Jack London, the novelist, a well-known resident of Glen Ellen, came as a great surprise to many of his friends in Sonoma county. Even Mr. London himself was greatly surprised, as he was at home on his ranch near Glen Ellen, when the news reached him Sunday.
London returned from an extended visit in Los Angeles a week or ten days ago, and after spending a week in Oakland and San Francisco returned to the ranch in Sonoma county Saturday evening. Great was his surprise on reading the papers Sunday morning to see the article relating to his having been injured and arrested charged with violation of the Mexican neutrality laws while the United States District Attorney and United States Marshal at Los Angeles had gone to investigate the case.
Mr. London denied to a Press Democrat representative Monday night that he had been in Mexico, or desired to [illegible microfilm] said London. “I have been in Oakland and San Francisco for several days and returned home to the ranch Saturday night. I was naturally interested and amused by the press dispatches Sunday.
“The report is due to a double I have. I first discovered the fact several years ago when through correspondence and press clippings I located the man in Tennessee. This man has represented himself as Jack London and I have letters from people who had entertained him for a week believing he was the author. By the letters of people interested and newspaper clippings received from time to time I have been able to trace his movements.
“After leaving Tennessee he went to Arkansas, thence to Oklahoma, Indian Territory and finally to Arizona, where I lost track of him last fall. I presume he has gone on down into Mexico for excitement and gotten into trouble and is using my name to assist him to get free.”
Conductor George E. Andrews of the Southern Pacific local between Vallejo and Santa Rosa recalled having had London as a passenger Saturday night and Arthur Luc who came up on the train from Sonoma recognized him as a fellow passenger.
Mr. London is now engaged in a series of short stories for the Cosmopolitan and working his ranch. He is setting out 30,000 young eucalyptus trees on the ranch as a part of his plan to reforest a large section of his holdings.
– Press Democrat, February 21, 1911
SENTENCED TO BE LUTHER BURBANK’S PAL
A judge in 1911 sentenced a juvenile delinquent to live and study with Luther Burbank. Amazing? Yes. True? No, but it was such a cracking good yarn that newspapers nationwide published the story (often on the front page) even after it was revealed to be untrue.
The item first appeared on March 22 in the Press Democrat and San Francisco Call (it was probably also in many others around the state, but only a very small percentage of historical newspapers are available online). Datelined the day before from Los Angeles, it reported that Burbank had invited Donald Miller, a 15-year-old in trouble for “truancy,” to live with him indefinitely and study botany. Judge Wilbur of the Los Angeles juvenile court was quoted as saying it was the best possible sentence that could be imposed on the boy.
The next day the PD asked Burbank if the story was true and if the young man would be the “subject of a series of experiments at Burbank’s hands, in order to cure him of his tendency to run away from school.” Burbank replied, “I am not conducting a conservatory for bad boys…I have not undertaken and will not undertake any experiments upon him or upon any other boy. I am engaged in rearing plants, not children.”
“The whole story is just somebody’s yarn,” said Burbank, explaining that he knew the boy’s grandfather many years ago. “So when I was asked if I would either give him employment or find him work with some one else, I said I would do it.”
Thus within 24 hours, the tale was firmly debunked; Burbank had simply written that he was willing to help find work for a relative of old family friends, and either Judge Curtis D. Wilbur or other officers of the Los Angeles juvenile court misunderstood Burbank’s letter. And the idea wasn’t completely far fetched; while Burbank would never have offered to take the boy under his wing as an apprentice, he certainly did employ teenagers. In a 1967 TV documentary, Hilliard Comstock described working for Burbank shortly after his family arrived in Santa Rosa (skip forward to 13:35).
The same day Burbank’s denial was in the Press Democrat, an enhanced version of the original story began appearing in papers around the country. Donald Miller was no longer to be simply living and studying with Burbank; now the boy was being granted “a golden opportunity to become famous by becoming a specimen for Luther Burbank,” as if he were about to step into the magical world of Willy Wonka:
…After a mass of evidence had shown the boy to be confirmed as a truant, a letter from Mr. Burbank was read. The plant wizard, according to the letter, believes that he can cure the boy of truancy….Mr. Burbank did not detail the method of treatment that he will use, but it is understood that the boy will be given sunshine, a reasonable amount of work, several hours play a day, a course in botany–and at least an hour’s walk through the wonderful garden of Santa Rosa.
Those additional made-up details were mostly drawn from Burbank’s popular 1906 essay, “The Training of the Human Plant,” which offered a variety of sensible child-rearing tips (as well as squirm-worthy sections about “mingling of the races” and “marriage of the physically unfit” which made it popular with the eugenics crowd). It was a safe bet to speculate Burbank would follow his own advice, of course, so aside from adding the detail about Burbank supposedly writing he could “cure” the boy, this version doesn’t really stray very far from the original goofed-up report.
Both versions came from a wire service such as Associated Press or United Press but we don’t know which ones – news syndicates were never identified in those days. The March 22 story could even have been a rewrite of the March 21 item after a syndicate editor decided the original needed to be fluffed up a bit. But a third version that started appearing on March 23 came from a completely different source. And sadly, it was the most untruthful version yet and also the one that seems to have appeared in the most newspapers, including the prestigious New York World and Washington Post.
Version three is easy to spot because it misspells the boy’s name as “Millar.” Some newspapers compressed it down to the essential (mis)information: “Luther Burbank, the plant wizard, had undertaken to transform Donald Millar, an irresponsible, incorrigible, truant boy, into a normal person.” The full length article, however, pretended a reporter had interviewed Burbank and found him downright chatty:
Luther Burbank the plant wizard, gave some hints today as to the course to be followed in the transformation of young Donald Millar…
“…I believe most children go to school too early, and are kept there too steadily. I shall give the boy a home a minimum of care, and plenty of life in the open. He will be called on to work a little more and study a little less than the usual run of boys. I knew Donald Millar’s grandfather in Massachusetts many years ago and I am glad to help the boy.”
When it was suggested to Mr. Burbank that he might be deluged with requests to train other boys, he said, “I am not conducting a conservatory for bad boys. I am engaged in cultivating plants. Donald Millar is the only boy I shall try to train.”
Note the “conservatory for bad boys” quip, which also appeared in Burbank’s denial. This shows the wire service reporter knew the story wasn’t true at all – yet wrote it up anyway, complete with phony Luther Burbank quotes.
Thus over the course of a few days in mid-March 1911, most of the nation probably came to believe that young Donald Miller/Millar was the kid who lucked out to become Robin to Burbank’s plant-breeding Batman. And here’s the believe-it-or-not twist: Of the multitude of newspapers that printed any of the three versions of the story, it appears not one ever printed a correction or retraction. Did Burbank receive penpal requests from boys and girls addressed to Donald, wanting to how how his enchanted life was going? I’ll bet he did.
So kudos to the 1911 Press Democrat, for apparently being the only newspaper in the United States to tell the true story. Alas, the PD coverage also causes the plant wizard to lose a little of his wizardly status today; while debunking the story Burbank told the paper that all sorts of crazy things were attributed to him, such as developing a seedless watermelon – and that could never exist, of course.
BOY MUST STUDY UNDER BURBANK
Judge Wilbur of Los Angeles Juvenile Sends Donald Miller of Pasadena to Santa Rosa for Indefinite Period
Los Angeles, March 21–Judge Wilbur has imposed upon Donald Miller, the 15-year-old son of Mrs. H. G. Miller of Pasadena, a sentence to study botany, flowers, trees, and plants for an indefinite period in Santa Rosa under Luther Burbank.
The boy has been wayward and became acquainted with Judge Wilbur of the Juvenile Court. When Judge Wilbur learned that Burbank was a friend of the Miller family, and had written to Donald inviting him to come and live with him and study botany, he said it was the best possible sentence that could be imposed.
– Press Democrat, March 22, 1911
“BAD BOY” STORY IS JUST A YARN
Burbank Denounces the Faker Who Sent a Dispatch Crediting Him With Undertaking Experiments
“I am not conducting a conservatory for bad boys,” said Luther Burbank yesterday when asked if it were true that Donald Miller of Pasadena is to be sent to Santa Rosa to become the subject of a series of experiments at Burbank’s hands, in order to cure him of his tendency to run away from school.
“All there is to the matter is this: I knew Donald Miller’s grandfather in Massachusetts many years ago. So when I was asked if I would either give him employment or find him work with some one else, I said I would do it. I have not undertaken and will not undertake any experiments upon him or upon any other boy. I am engaged in rearing plants, not children.”
The whole story is just somebody’s yarn,” declared the breeder of plants. Burbank has had many occasions to be displeased with the frequent yarns that are printed concerning him. He is widely quoted as saying things he never said, concerning things that he has never even though of, and these false quotations are read by people who believe them genuine and who criticise [sic] Burbank for having expressed views that he never held, and as having claimed achievements that he never thought of attempting. One of them two years ago said he had invented or developed a “seedless watermelon”…[illegible microfilm]…Of course, a “seedless watermelon” is as impossible as “seedless wheat” would be.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT: HAROLD CASEY’S JOB
June 8, 2014 Jeff Elliott Leave a comment
Too bad Robert Ripley wasn’t drawing his famous cartoon series in 1911; he would have loved the story of Harold Casey, dubbed by the Press Democrat as the “crippled messenger boy.”
Readers of this blog were introduced last year to the “Rapid Messenger Service” and its odd little ad seen here (why the running character looks angry or demented was never explained). That earlier item also reproduced a funny comic strip that appeared only once and showed a bicycling messenger racing between Santa Rosa and Petaluma at rocket speed. Here’s the Believe-it-or-Not! twist: Messenger boy Harold Casey only had one leg.
Harold’s right leg had been amputated just below the hip when he was nine, the result of a pair of usually routine accidents. He used crutches. He was certainly a plucky young fellow to take such a job, and fie on the local newspapers for not telling us more about him and how he coped with his handicap in 1911 Santa Rosa. Bicycles were the main type of speedy transportation in those days and he certainly could have used a bike with some sort of handbrake installed.
But we only know about 16 year-old Harold Casey at all because of an unusual benefit held to raise funds for a prosthetic leg. “The performance this evening for Casey’s benefit is intended and expected to ‘fix him up’ as good as new,” the Press Democrat said. “Everybody is invited to attend. There has never been anywhere an entertainment and charity ball for a purpose more worthy.” Among the entertainers were “Tom Pierpont, the human canary,” “Hoey and Lee, Hebrew impersonators” (um…), and “Jack Mathews will also be on hand with a mysterious stunt which he refused to talk about.” As the previous item revealed, barkeep Jack liked to dress up and warble minstrel show tunes while wearing blackface, so perhaps it’s best he kept mum about his “mysterious stunt.”
Hopefully a grand time was had by all and Mr. Casey collected enough money for a good quality leg to make his job easier. The messenger service appears to have closed about a year later and while one of the articles below states he was attending school, there’s no record he graduated from Santa Rosa High. His trail disappears after the benefit dance although it’s likely he is the same Harold H. Casey who can be spotted in the 1920 and 1930 census working as an elevator operator, first in Portland and later in San Francisco.
(RIGHT: Santa Rosa Republican, February 2, 1911)
FINE PROGRAM FOR TONIGHT’S BENEFIT
Entertainment and Dance to Provide Funds for Purchase of New Leg for Harold Casey, the Crippled Messenger Boy
Everybody is going, or ought to go, to Harold Casey’s benefit entertainment and ball at the rink tonight. This affair has been arranged to help the crippled messenger boy to stand on two feet again, to buy him an artificial leg [illegible microfilm] as well as may be the limb that was amputated when the lad was nine years old. He is now 16, and has so nearly attained his growth that the makers give assurance and guarantee that the leg made to fit him now can be adjusted as he grows heavier, and that it will last him to the end of his days.
Harold is a native of Santa Rosa. While living at Windsor, and when three years old, he sustained a wound in his right knee which became infected. Blood poisoning followed, and the leg did not fully heal. When he was nine the same leg was broken and amputation became necessary. Since then the boy has gone on crutches, attending school and working to earn his living as best he could. Part of this time he has been with the Messenger Service, and after today he will become proprietor, the business having been donated to him by W. Clay Silver, for whom the boy has worked for the last eight months.
The performance this evening for Casey’s benefit is intended and expected to “fix him up” as good as new. Everybody is invited to attend. There has never been anywhere an entertainment and charity ball for a purpose more worthy. The program offered will be one of the best of the kind that has been presented in this city. Among those who will participate are the Rose City Quartette. Hoey and Lee, Hebrew impersonators; Tom Pierpont, the human canary; Professor Madison, magician; Dan Leno, cartoonist of the Bulletin, and Frank Greene, Jr., the local sketch artist, who will make life-sized drawings and cartoons of well-known Santa Rosans.
As an additional attraction the management has secured a Moonlight machine and the dancers will glide ‘neath the silvery light of the calcium moon. Mrs. Berry’s orchestra will render several selections at the opening of the performance and play for the dancing afterwards. The committee of arrangements have announced a good program, a fine floor and excellent music. Nuf Sed.
– Press Democrat, February 2, 1911
BENEFIT DANCE FOR HAROLD CASEY AT RINK TONIGHT
Everything is in readiness for the big benefit that is to be given tonight at the Pavilion rink for Harold Casey, the one-legged messenger boy. The floor is in first class condition and Mrs. Berry’s ten piece orchestra will furnish the music and from the number of tickets that have been sold there is sure to be a large crowd. It is a worthy cause and should be well attended…
…The first part of the evening will be devoted to a vaudeville performance, and some splendid stunts will be given, and following that the floor will be cleared and dancing will ensue until midnight.
Dan Leno, the Bulletin’s famous cartoonist, came up from San Francisco on the 1:15 train to participate in the evening’s fun. Jack Mathews will also be on hand with a mysterious stunt which he refused to talk about. A big surprise is expected when Jack appears. A moonlight dance has been arranged by the management as an addition attraction.
– Santa Rosa Republican, February 2, 1911
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Sayyed Nasrallah to Speak in Commemoration of Martyr Kuntar
Hezbollah Secretary General is to deliver a speech on Sunday during the one-week anniversary of martyr Samir Kuntar who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in the Syrian city of Jaramana last Saturday.
Hezbollah’s Media Relation said that Sayyed Nasrallah will speak during a ceremony marking one week after the martyrdom of Kuntar, the Dean of liberated detainees from Israeli prisons.Sayyed Nasrallah commemoration of martyr Samir Kuntar
The ceremony will take place in Shahed hall, in Beirut’s southern suburb (Dahiyeh), at 2:30 p.m. (local time).
Kuntar was detained by occupation forces in 1979, at the age of 16, for his involvement in a heroic operation against Zionists. He was released along with four other Lebanese prisoners in a 2008 swap deal with Hezbollah in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed during the 2006 war.
Following Kuntar’s martytrdom, Sayyed Nasrallah delivered a speech on Monday night, praising the martyr as one of Hezbollah members, vowing that the resistance will appropriately respond to his killing.
Source: Al Ahed News
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Breakthrough in multiple sclerosis research
Thread: Breakthrough in multiple sclerosis research
for our friends with multiple sclerosis
Scientists detect protein that may be key to the disease
Kavita Mishra, Chronicle Staff Writer
Stanford researchers reported new findings Wednesday that they say bring them closer to understanding what causes multiple sclerosis.
In the report published in the online version of the journal Nature, the researchers implicated a protein that they believe normally regulates the human immune system, but doesn't do so in people with the lifelong illness.
The researchers, led by Stanford neurologist Lawrence Steinman, said they are optimistic their discovery will lead to new treatments for patients and possibly a way to stop the disease's progression.
For Joyce Bruno, one of the 400,000 people in United States with multiple sclerosis, the report was good news.
"Even if it isn't the answer for me, I have a feeling it's going to be an answer for someone," the Walnut Creek resident said.
In 1990, Bruno started to drag her left leg and felt intense muscle cramps in both legs. An MRI of her brain revealed she had signs of multiple sclerosis, and her doctor told her the haunting word "incurable."
She was forced to retire from managing funds at a mortgage company four years later, at the age of 44, and now uses a cane to walk.
Most people with multiple sclerosis experience a range of symptoms -- from daily fatigue and weakness to blindness and paralysis. They are diagnosed early in adulthood and experience symptoms, as the immune system attacks nerve cells, intermittently throughout life. To avoid a whirlwind progression of these symptoms, they take steroids and other drugs to suppress the immune system and control the disease.
Siblings and close relatives have a higher risk of the disease. Doctors currently tell patients that the disease is caused by a mixture of bad genes and environmental factors. But the work by Steinman and his team is putting new focus on a protein in the body called alphaB-crystallin.
The researchers found that people with multiple sclerosis had more alphaB-crystallin in their bodies than people without the disease. They looked at the protein, usually found in high levels in the lens of the eye and in muscle, in both humans and mice.
In mice that were designed to lack the protein and had a multiple sclerosis-type illness, the disease worsened. When the protein was given back to the diseased mice, the illness improved, showing that the protein could help check the hallmark inflammation of the disease.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...TL&type=health
Stem cells & MS: what the investigators see
nside MS, Feb-March, 2007 by Martha King
Last month, the National MS Society hosted an international meeting in San Francisco, which allowed 30 cutting-edge investigators to present new findings, share insights, and debate some issues emerging from this frontier in MS research. After lengthy discussions, they forged preliminary agreements about the best ways for the MS research community to move ahead. They grappled with these questions:
* What are the prospects for stem-cell-based treatments for people with MS?
* What are the prospects for stem cell systems to speed drug development by identifying promising compounds?
* How can stem cells help scientists understand the cause of MS?
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...5/ai_n19189248
wheels4one
manouli,
Thanks for posting these articles. I have had MS now for 28 years and been in w/c for 12 years.
Originally Posted by wheels4one
You are welcome wheels4one, check this site, you might like it because it has all the latest breakthrough for MS:
http://ms-toolkit.blogspot.com/
Promising prescription: $5.5B market waiting as Pipex tests 2 drugs
By Andrew Dietderich
6:00 am, June 25, 2007
An Ann Arbor-based company that’s moving to the American Stock Exchange today plans to tap at least two drug markets that could be worth a total of $5.5 billion annually, using drugs licensed from the University of Michigan and the University of California at Los Angeles.
Two weeks ago, Pipex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Amex: PP) received $5 million from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the largest grant ever given by the organization.
Pipex has six drugs in its pipeline, but two are closest to going to market: Trimesta and Coprexa.
Trimesta is used to treat multiple sclerosis; and Coprexa is used to treat Wilson’s disease, which destroys the lungs.
Pipex was founded in Miami in 2001 by Steve Kanzer, the company’s chairman and CEO. A biotech investor, Kanzer moved Pipex to Michigan in 2004 to be nearer to the talent pool in Ann Arbor.
Avigen Initiates European Multi-Center AV650 Phase II Spasticity Trial in Patients wi
I saw this today, hope is a good news.
Avigen Initiates European Multi-Center AV650 Phase II Spasticity Trial in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis
Wednesday September 5, 8:00 am ET
Twenty-Five Center Trial Will be Conducted in Five Countries in Europe
ALAMEDA, Calif., Sept. 5, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Avigen, Inc. (NasdaqGM:AVGN - News) a biopharmaceutical company innovating therapeutics for the treatment of neurological conditions, today announced the initiation of a Phase II trial for AV650 (tolperisone HCl) in the treatment of spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). This Phase II spasticity trial will evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of AV650 in MS patients at doses up to 900mg for one month followed by an open-label safety extension. The trial will be conducted in top MS centers in Germany and several other European countries.
``Our development plans for AV650 in North America have been strategically designed to leverage the clinical experience of tolperisone in many of the European countries where the drug is currently approved,'' said Kenneth Chahine, Ph.D., J.D., Avigen President and Chief Executive Officer. ``This trial reinforces Avigen's U.S. AV650 development program by allowing us to accumulate long-term safety and efficacy data needed for commercialization.''
Avigen is developing AV650 for commercialization in the North American market for the treatment of disabling neuromuscular spasticity and spasm under a license and supply agreement with Sanochemia Pharmazeutika AG. AV650 is considered a New Chemical Entity (NCE) in the United States.
Tolperisone is an orally administered, centrally acting small molecule marketed for the treatment of neuromuscular spasticity and spasm in Europe and Asia. Avigen's U.S. development program is designed to build on the extensive ex-U.S. safety and efficacy experience with this compound. Versions of tolperisone have been approved for marketing in Germany for over 10 years. Sanochemia and its European marketing partner, Orion Pharma, have recently received approval for marketing a proprietary 150mg tablet formulation of tolperisone in Germany under the brand name Viveo(r) which is expected to be launched later in 2007.
http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/070905/126089.html
Pipex Pharmaceuticals Announces Broadly Issued European Patent Covering Uses of Oral TRIMESTA for the Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases, Including Multiple Sclerosis
Claims Covering Use of Estrogens Including TRIMESTA, in Combination With Popular Immunotherapies to Treat Multiple Sclerosis
September 06, 2007: 07:00 AM EST
Pipex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX: PP), a specialty pharmaceutical company developing innovative late-stage drug candidates for the treatment of neurologic and fibrotic diseases, announced today that it has received a broadly issued European patent which covers the use of estrogens in combination with other FDA-approved multiple sclerosis therapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...re/0298519.htm
Stem cells trial for MS patients
A new treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) is being pioneered near Bristol.
Six patients at Frenchay Hospital are being injected with their own stem cells in the hope that they will repair damage to the brain.
Approximately 60,000 people in the UK suffer from MS, an incurable disease of the nervous system.
Prof Neil Scolding, of the Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, said: "We know stem cells are attracted into the brain, into these areas of damage."
He added that he hoped the stem cells would "help those areas to stop getting worse" and "repair damage".
'Lot of hope'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...et/7014813.stm
jhope
what about this? http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/showthread.php?t=109587
can this restore spinal cord?
Stem-cell therapy reduces symptoms of multiple sclerosis
Infusing multiple sclerosis patients with their own immune stem cells appears to help the immune system "reset" itself and fight off the disease, according to a study that will be published online Friday in the Lancet Neurology.
The study, an early-phase research project involving only 21 patients, is similar to other experiments in which a patient's own stem cells are used to treat autoimmune diseases. The treatment, called autologous non-myeloablative haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation, has also shown promising results in people with lupus and diabetes.
In the new study, Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, selected people ages 20 to 53 who had early-stage MS (they had been diagnosed an average of five years) and who had not responded to at least six months of treatment with interferon beta, the standard treatment for the disease.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/boos...ell-thera.html
MS attacks the brain, said one researcher. 'After the procedure, it doesn't do that any more.'
Bone marrow stem cells prove effective in treating MS
A Northwestern University of Chicago study using adult stem cells to treat patients suffering from early onset multiple sclerosis has lead to an improvement in the condition of 17 of the 21 patients, with 16 patients demonstrating no relapse in their condition three years after receiving the treatment.
Patients in the study were in what is commonly referred to as the first stage of the autoimmune disease, in which their symptoms periodically flare up and then subside.
According to Bloomberg, the patients' blood-forming stem cells were extracted, and then chemotherapy drugs were used to kill the patient’s immune cells within their bone marrow.
After the chemotherapy treatment, the patient’s hematopoietic cells were returned to the body. A Northwestern University report on the study said this transplantation process resets the patient’s immune system.
http://www.kansasliberty.com/liberty...feb/stem-cell/
Quick Navigation Tranverse Myelitis, Multiple Sclerosis, Non-traumatic SCI Top
Immunomodulatory Agents for the Treatment of Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis
By Max in forum Multiple Sclerosis Research
Sooner or later...
By Iacopo in forum Cure
U.S. House candidate profiles/Questions for U.S. House candidates
By Max in forum Health & Science News
CR's Health
By Judy in forum Cure
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Shane MacGowan – Official Website
— menu —About News Writings Videos Press Discography Gallery
Hillsborough Charity Single
A host of musicians and celebrities including Shane MacGowan, Robbie Williams, Mick Jones, comedian John Bishop, Kenny Dalglish, and Mel C have recorded The Hollies’ classic ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’ in support of families who lost loved ones at the Hillsborough stadium in April 1989.
Guy Chambers will produce the track, and all profits from the sale of the single will go towards assisting the victims’ families in their continued fight for justice. Set for release on December 17th, the single will be joining the challengers racing for the top of the charts for Christmas.
Check out the Hillsborough Charity Single Facebook page for more.
Fan Forum |
© 2019 Shane MacGowan. All Rights Reserved
Made by Analogue
FOLLOW: Facebook McGowan
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Watch: BBC undercover report reveals poor working conditions at Apple factory in China
A recent BBC Panorama undercover report has brought to light the abysmal conditions for workers at another iPhone factory in China. Secret footage shows workers, some of whom reportedly put in over 60 hours of week on a regular basis, sleeping on the job. Managing staff members at the factory have also been documented breaking a number of rules, from taking workers’ ID cards without returning them, to essentially providing the answers to a health and safety exam on which the employee’s jobs depend.
The footage, filmed at an iPhone and iPad assembly factory outside of Shanghai called Pegatron, will no doubt be a new headache for Apple, which pledged to better protect workers following a tragic spate of suicides at Foxconn, a Shenzhen-based company that produces Apple products and Dell computers, from 2009 to 2010.
“Apple has been championing itself as a perfect enterprise, but it is all a facade,” one undercover worker said. “I don’t think they care about the workers at all.”
Watch the footage here:
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After what happened at Wembley on Sunday, and bearing in mind the league table which showed them 27 points ahead of Arsenal, I don’t think anyone needed any further evidence of the gulf in quality between Arsenal and Man City, but just to make sure last night gave us exactly that.
It wasn’t even so much in the first half where they chased shadows and ended up going in 3-0 down, but in the second. Such was the ease with which they controlled the game, they took their foot off the gas and allowed us to have a bit of possession, confident that Wengers mean ‘can’t do jack’ and they tried, they could always step it up and make the game comfortable again.
The scoreline felt like a kindness to most Arsenal fans, City came to the Emirates, blew Arsenal away in the first half with some fantastic stuff – helped to a large extent by the fact that well, defensively, Arsenal were hapless…….again – and then decided, whether it was under Pep’s instruction or not, that they had no need to turn the screw and waste any more energy than necessary.
Perhaps Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s penalty might have changed the game, got his team back in it for a bit, but I think it would simply have seen them hit the accelerator, and go at them like they did in the first period when they just couldn’t live with them. Instead his weak effort was saved and in some ways it summed up what was another toothless night for a team that is well and truly in the doldrums and for most part look like a dying duck.
The goals: well, you have to give Pep’s well tutored side credit for some superb football but I don’t think Arsenal made it particularly difficult for them. Leroy Sane waltzed through the midfield for the first like hot knife through butter, and Bernardo Silva’s finish was aided and abetted by Sead Kolasinac allowing him inside and onto his favourite foot. Just the way Arjen Robben do it when they play Bayern.
For the second Mustafi got done twice by Sane, but then the interplay between Aguero and David Silva was outstanding and the midfielder scored his second goal in four days against us. As for the third, it was impressive again from City who kept the ball and broke through Arsenal’s press, but it was one of those moves which could have been stopped by a foul on halfway, but that’s not the kind of team Arsenal are and those aren’t really the players the Gunners have – say Patrick Vieira or Ray Palour
In truth though, had they not worked it to Sane to score, they’d probably have found another way through because they’re that good and, unfortunately, the London club, that bad. Willingness to praise City for their quality shouldn’t provide a shield Arsenal’s deficiencies and to see them struggle the way they are at this moment in time really is tough to watch.
There was much discussion about how, throughout the second half, the manager simply sat there, with Steve Bould alongside him looking as if he’d like to get some of the players and throw them out a window but knowing he’s not allowed, without changing a single thing. The whole 90 without a substitute.
Was it a case that he simply didn’t know what to do? More likely he looked at his bench, and looked at the Man City side, and he knew that there was nothing he could do to change it. Was it worth introducing another ‘villain’ to the pantomime that is Arsenal at the moment? Sunday might tell us, as they have another game to contend with, but my suspicion is he knew it was pointless to even try, and that tells its own sad story.
That people will have different reactions to what they saw last night. Arsenal supporters will have been the full gamut in terms of emotional responses to it, from anger to disenchantment to indifference, and that’s normal and fine. There’s no right way or wrong way to feel about it and I can only tell you what it did to me.
I watched Arsene Wenger sitting on that bench, in a stadium that was built to take Arsenal to a new level. But instead of it being the ultra-competitive one we’d all hoped for, they are now an also-ran in the Premier League, and it made me feel sad and a tad bit livid at how this has been allowed to happen.
After moving in, in 2006 and while things were changing in the football landscape, with the emergence of billionaire, sugar-daddy owners with fossil and franchise money, the Arsenal of back then was a club with huge ambition. You don’t embark on the kind of project they did and leave behind your beautiful, historical home on a whim.
It took so much work to make it happen, and Wenger was one of the driving forces behind it. While nobody could really foreseen the way the ownership model would shift so radically, he knew that Arsenal needed to be truly competitive at the highest level of European football and had to get bigger, we had to modernise, and that’s exactly what we did.
Within a few years of that move most of the people who made it happen at executive level were gone. The majority shareholder the chief executive arrived at a swish, swanky new stadium with no real understanding of what it took to get there, and also why we got there. Champions League football was taken for granted because that’s what Arsene always delivered. There were ways to justify what now appears a very obvious slow decline. Chelsea’s money, City’s money, United’s long-standing power, as well as our restricted financial situation.
But in reality the people who was supposed to be running the club, and I don’t mean the manager, were happy to exist in this comfort zone. Kroenke saw his investment increase in value year on year; Gazidis got a nice healthy bonus every year regardless of what was happening on the pitch; and Arsene kept control over the footballing side of things, until recently when even these absolute funsters at board level realised something had to give.
The appointment of a Head of Recruitment and ‘Definitely not a Director of Football’ are welcome, but they come years too late. If we’re going to judge Arsene Wenger for his work – and we absolutely should – then let’s not be blinded to the fact that other people are culpable too. People who have hidden behind the manager and let him take all the bullets during difficult times.
I haven’t forgotten that, nor should anyone else as we see them try to re-position themselves as the potential saviours and men to make the decisions about what’s best for the future of this club the die hards support. I’ve seen what you did, and didn’t do, and the leaked watery and internal power-plays don’t mask that.
And so, as I saw Arsene sit on the bench I thought that this must have been so far from the vision he had when the Emirates was built. He can’t possibly be blind to this, and ultimately he’s the manager, he’s spent the money since the shackles came off, and the decline has continued. That’s on him.
From a team which competed for the title every season, to one which was always comfortably in the top four, to one which had to fight for the top four, to one which is now sixth and unlikely to get beyond that. We can all see the direction the Emirates club is going in, and now it’s time to do what it takes to change that.
This is a huge club with massive potential but under-performing in such a big way. The need for something different is obvious, and it feels like those above are pinching out of their responsibilities again, content to let Wenger remain in the firing line as long as possible, afraid to stick their heads above the quicksand lest they be held accountable in any way. Anyone heard anything from any of them? No, of course not.
I don’t take any pleasure in seeing a once brilliant manager like this. He looks a broken man and it’s not nice to see. I find it hard to see him struggle on the pitch and off the pitch, but I while I won’t absolve him of his responsibilities when it comes to this current situation, he’s not the only one at whom fingers should be pointed because there are people who can do something about but have looked pussyfooted at best.
Twitter: @theadepoju
Kelechi Iheanacho made sure Alex Iwobi does not get a league point in 2018
Leicester striker Jamie Vardy continued his magnificent scoring record agai
See who Robin van Persie chose between Fergie and Monsieur – it was a hard decision.
Robin van Persie has claimed Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger is the best manager
Arsene Wenger feels he is being discriminated as talks about his sack gather momentum.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is ready to accept the consequences of poor resu
PSG star teases Liverpool, Arsenal over chances of summer switch
Liverpool and Arsenal have been given a huge boost to their hopes of landin
AC Milan table huge offer for boss Arsenal want to succeed Wenger
AC Milan are preparing a big offer for Italian tactician Maurizio Sarri, ac
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Molina Updates Status
2 years ago Brian Stull
(Busch Stadium) After taking not one, but two consecutive foul balls off the mask last night, St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina remains in MLB Concussion Protocol.
“I feel much better today, so hopefully tomorrow I’ll keep progressing,” said Molina, who was driven to the ballpark by his wife. “Obviously, when you get hit in the head you have to be cautious with that and that’s where we are right now. I’m not going to pretend and will give the head time to rest and that’s where we are right now.”
Molina was able to stay in the game after being hit the first time, but on the very next pitch he was hit again and his physical reaction was immediate.
“They hit me pretty good, both of them,” said Molina. “I was in pain. I was confused.”
As far as Yadi returning to play before this season ends, that question will have to wait until at least Thursday.
“I don’t know, I’m going to try my best to come back in the lineup,” said Molina. “In two days, we’ll see how my head feels and how my body feels. We’ll go from there.”
“Everything’s going to rely on what the doctors see,” seconded Mike Matheny. “It’s not my call nor his. It’s the doctors and what they see. There’s a pretty extensive battery of testing that you have to get through. Tests aren’t going to really give you a way out. If he’s ready to go, then he’ll be ready to go.”
Getting hit in the head or elsewhere is not anything new for Molina, who acknowledges that it comes with the job of getting behind the plate. But the one-two punch of last night was something new.
“I’ve been hit in the head many times, but not twice in a row like last night,” admitted Molina. “Like I said, last night was pretty bad. But right now, I feel much better. My nausea went away and my head is feeling better…rest for 24-48 hours and see what’s going on after that.”
Tags: Brian Stull, concussion, Mike Matheny, St. Louis Baseball Weekly, St. Louis Cardinals, Yadier Molina
Previous Yadier Molina In Protocol
Next Rodriguez New Assistant GM
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SPERI launches new Global Political Economy Briefs series
SPERI is pleased to announce the launch of a new series of Global Political Economy Briefs. The new series will showcase the leading global political economy research by SPERI researchers and colleagues from amongst the international academic community and will focus accordingly on major contemporary global political economy issues.
The new series launches with a Brief on ‘Ethical Audits and the Supply Chains of Global Corporations’ by Genevieve LeBaron (SPERI Research Fellow, Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Sheffield and current Visiting Professor at Yale University) and Jane Lister (Senior Research Fellow at the University of British Columbia).
Download Global Political Economy Brief No.1: Ethical Audits and the Supply Chains of Global Corporations
Incidents such as the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh in April 2013 and the exposé of slavery and human trafficking in the Thai shrimp industry in 2014 have focused attention on the supply chains of global corporations. The new Brief demonstrates that, despite increased ‘audits’ and inspections, labour abuses, poor working conditions and environmental degradation within global supply chains remain widespread. Ultimately, the Brief concludes that the auditing system for global supply chains is ‘working’ for corporations, but failing workers in developing countries and the planet. You can read coverage of the Brief in the Guardian here.
The new Global Political Economy Briefs sit alongside SPERI’s successful British Political Economy Brief series. The British series launched in 2014 and the 18 briefs published to date have secured prominent media coverage in the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Independent and across the BBC.
Older New SPERI Paper: ‘The Unfulfilled Promise of Social Rights in Crisis EU’
Newer SPERI deputy director launches e-book on governance, territory and identity in Northern England
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Bill Carter of the New York Times has written an article examining the plummeting median viewer age of the "Tonight Show" audience under Conan O'Brien. It's a must-read for numbers junkies. "In Mr. O’Brien’s first month as host, the median age of 'Tonight Show' viewers has fallen by a decade — to 45 from 55, a startling shift in such a short time," he writes. "This audience composition means advertisers can now address almost exclusively young viewers on 'Tonight,' and NBC is already contemplating a shift in how it sells the show."
The piece reports that "Late Show with David Letterman" is up 50% among viewers over 50. But who cares about those oldsters? Not ad buyers! As John Rash, senior vice president of the Campbell-Mithun agency, told the Times, “All audiences have value, but the 18-to-49 audience has more value. You will make higher profits if you win with that audience. You can still say you’re the No. 1 show if you are more profitable.”
CBS' David Poltrack says he believes Letterman will eventually win the 35-to-54-year-old age group, and also points to Conan's declining ratings among female viewers. Of course, the article ends on a wait-and-see note; no one knows what'll happen in the fall, when Jay Leno will be back in the mix.
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100 Years From Now, These Will Be The Great Quotes
I've been thinking a lot about which presidential quotations will be widely known a hundred years from now.
For instance, George Washington may or may not have said the following: "Government is not reason; it is not eloquence—it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." I have no idea if he ever made this statement. Attributions of these lines to Washington didn't show up until around 1910.
By now, if Washington didn't say it, he should have. It's an awesome line. So... did he say it sometime around 1780, and only a few people jotted it down someplace? Or did some 1910 blogger ancestor invent a fake tagline for an editorial?
We'll never know.
Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address wasn't well received at the time. Hell, he wrote it on an envelope. He didn't know I'd be forced to memorize it in 1978.
Who knows what lines, quotes and speeches our recent Oval Office Executives will be known for in a hundred years?
Well hell, I do.
These are the entries that I believe will lead off the year 2113 edition of "Bartlett's Quotations" for each of our last 13 presidents.
I suspect that many of these were off-the-cuff throwaway lines.
Franklin Roosevelt: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Well, that, and the godawful social programs of Franklin Roosevelt that we're still going bankrupt trying to salvage.
Harry Truman: "The buck stops here."
Dwight Eisenhower: "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military/industrial complex."
John F. Kennedy: "My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." (He shoulda stopped after the second comma.)
Lyndon Johnson: "I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in." - remark about FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.
Richard Nixon: "I am not a crook." He was.
Gerald Ford: "Our long, national nightmare is over." He was talking about Nixon.
Jimmy Carter: "America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense.... human rights invented America." I love that one.
Ronald Reagan: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" I love that one.
George H.W. Bush: "Read my lips. No new taxes." Although I'm tempted to submit the following: "I do not like broccoli and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli."
Bill Clinton: "I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinski." I really do have some admiration for Clinton. But as for as quotes go, he's going to be remembered for his lies. Here's another one: "When I was in England I experimented with marijuana a time or two -- and didn't like it -- and didn't inhale and never tried inhaling again."
George W. Bush: "I hear you. The whole world hears you." Said after 15 guys from Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates, one from Egypt and one dude from Lebanon flew planes into the Twin Towers, and we retaliated by attacking freakin' Afghanistan.
Barack Obama: "If you like your health insurance plan, you can keep it."
Those are my picks for the 2123 edition of Bartlett's. May God save us all from interesting, colorful, and "transformative" presidents.
Labels: good quotes, presidents, Prophecy
Ethan Glover said...
I hope that 100 years from now, no one will care at presidents and scientists will like at the phenomenon like they look at religion now.
The Whited Sepulchre said...
I don't think that will ever be a great quote.
Steve D said...
“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
If you just remove the last phrase, the quote loses its rhythm. I prefer:
My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for yourself.
"When I was in England I experimented with marijuana a time or two -- and didn't like it -- and didn't inhale and never tried inhaling again."
This one will be remembered because it was silly, not because it was lie.
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Effects of Abattoir Waste Discharge on the Quality of the Trans-Amadi Creek, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
Godspower Adiele1, Kenneth Ojeaga2, Osazuwa C. Ekhator2*, Stellamaris O. Akhionbare1
1Department of Environmental Technology, Federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria.
2Department of Science Laboratory Technology, University of Benin, Nigeria.
Corresponding Author: ekhator.osazuwa@uniben.edu; Tel: +2348063377289
Recieved Date: April 06, 2019; Accepted Date: April 28, 2019; Published Date: 07 May 2019
Citation: Adiele G, Ojeaga K, Ekhator OC, Akhionbare SO. Effects of Abattoir Waste Discharge on the Quality of the Trans-Amadi Creek, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Trop J Nat Prod Res. 2019; 3(4):132-137. https://doi.org/10.26538/tjnpr/v3i4.5
Copyright: © 2019 Adiele et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Water pollution by effluents from abattoirs is of public health concern because bodies of water are used as sources of drinking water and discharge of waste into it can lead to destruction of primary biota. This study presents the effect of abattoir waste on the quality of the Trans-Amadi Creek, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Physico-chemical parameters were assessed to evaluate the effect of the abattoir discharge in the Creek. Water samples were collected from three locations in Trans-Amadi Creek: upstream, middlestream and the downstream. Water samples were collected according to standard methods for laboratory analysis. Values of the parameters obtained at the Upstream, Middle-stream and Downstream were: pH 4.46; 5.09 and 5.51; Color 10, 10 and 5 pt/co; Total dissolve solids 32; 25 and 22 mg/L, Electrical conductivity 50; 38 and 34 us/cm; Total suspended solids 6.5; 10.5 and 6.0 mg/L; Alkalinity 1.04; 1.54 and 1.55 mg/L; Total Hardness 1243; 1505 and 1690 mg/L; Chloride 1205; 1820 and 3620 mg/L; NO3 15.1; 16.60 and 18.10 mg/L; Nitrate-Nitrogen 3.40; 3.70 and 4.10 mg/L; SO4 36.1; 42.1 and 37.5 mg/L; NH4 1.0; ND and ND; DO 4.40; 4.25 and 4.35 mg/L; BOD 3.20; 3.60 and 3.40 mg/L; COD 142.5; 140.6 and 135.1 mg/L; Phosphate 1.50; 0.50 and 1.40 mg/L; Phosphorus 0.50; 0.20 and 0.40 mg/L; Zn 0.260; 0.108 and 0.230; THC 2600; 2150 and 2860 cfu/100 mL. The results shows a negative impact on the middle-stream on some parameters which might pose a health risk to the communities around.
Keywords: Abattoir effluents, Stream water, Total Hardness, Total Dissolve Oxygen.
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Reminder-Tonight!-Tuesday-July 16-The Erotic Literary Salon / Adult Sex Ed Live, Mapplethorpe at the Guggenheim
Jul. 09 Blog, Events, Slideshow no comments
Looking forward to another month of wonderful readings at the Erotic Literary Salon next week.
I happened to be in NYC last week and viewed the wonderful Mapplethorpe exhibit at the Guggenheim, a must see.
B. 1946, FLORAL PARK, NEW YORK; D. 1989, BOSTON
Robert Mapplethorpe was born November 4, 1946, in Floral Park, New York. He left home in 1962 and enrolled at the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, in 1963, where he studied painting and sculpture and received his B.F.A. in 1970. During this time, he met artist, poet, and musician Patti Smith. She encouraged his work and posed for numerous portraits when they lived together in Brooklyn and in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, a gathering place for artists, writers, and musicians in the early 1970s.
It was not Mapplethorpe’s original intention to be a photographer, and from 1970 to 1974, he mainly made assemblage constructions that incorporate images of men from pornographic magazines with found objects and painting. In order to create his own images for these collages, Mapplethorpe turned to photography, initially using a Polaroid SX-70 camera. Interested in portraiture, Mapplethorpe worked as a staff photographer for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. He also produced album covers for Smith and the group Television, and at the same time photographed socialites and celebrities such as John Paul Getty III and Carolina Herrera.
Two of Mapplethorpe’s friends were influential in his continuing exploration of photography as a means of art making. He met John McKendry, Curator of Prints and Photography at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1971. The curator bought Mapplethorpe his first camera and persuaded him to take up photography full-time. Mapplethorpe traveled to Europe for the first time with McKendry, where he was introduced to many of the collectors who later became sitters for portraits. Curator and photography collector Sam Wagstaff, whom he met in 1972, became Mapplethorpe’s friend and eventual lover, encouraging the photographer’s development, gallery associations, and career course. They remained close until Wagstaff’s death in 1986.
Mapplethorpe had his first substantial shows in 1977, both in New York: an exhibition of photographs of flowers at the Holly Solomon Gallery and one of male nudes and sadomasochistic imagery at the Kitchen. Mapplethorpe’s diverse work—homoerotic images, floral still lifes, pictures of children, commissioned portraits, mixed-media sculpture—is united by the constancy of his approach and technique. The surfaces of his prints offer a seemingly endless gradation of blacks and whites, shadow and light, and regardless of subject, his images are both elegant and provocative. In the mid-to-late 1980s, returning to the sculptural use of photography seen in his early assemblages, Mapplethorpe created sensual diptychs and triptychs of photographs printed on fabric and luxurious cloth panels. In 1988, four major exhibitions of his work were organized: by the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; and the National Portrait Gallery, London. Mapplethorpe died due to complications from AIDS on March 9, 1989, in Boston.
The Institute of Contemporary Art’s retrospective continued to travel after Mapplethorpe’s death. Although the exhibition had sparked no controversy at its first two venues, the threat of right-wing objections to the photographs of S/M and homoerotic acts prompted officials at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., to cancel the show two weeks before its scheduled opening. The exhibition instead traveled to the Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C., where it received record attendance.
EXHIBITION ON VIEW
ARTWORK BY ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE
Pictures / Self Portrait
Ajitto
Derrick Cross
Ken Moody
Ken Moody and Robert Sherman
Ken and Tyler
Italian Devil
Sleeping Cupid
https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/robert-mapplethorpe
Tags: porn, pornography, the adult sex-ed salon, the erotic literary salon
← Press Release-July 16-The Erotic Literary Salon-Adult Sex-Ed Live
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Previous Article The Light of Other Days, by Denis Rogers (Second Book)
Next Article Usher’s Island by David M. Kiely
Fiona Burke walks away from a lucrative career in law to pursue her dream of opening a bed and breakfast on her estate in Ballyglunin. Each guest inhabiting the 9 Rooms in Ballyglunin checks in at a crossroads in their life and they lean on this mighty Irish woman during their times of intense loss, uncertainty, and rebirth. Fiona carries a dark secret of her own along the way and none of the guests are prepared for what happens next.
Order Book Here!
“My dad’s side of the family is from Ballyglunin, outside of Tuam, and I was visiting my uncle in a B&B because he had sustained fire damage to his home,” Farragher recalls. “I was having tea with the innkeeper, asking her about the place and she said, ‘so many characters come in and out of these rooms from Airbnb, I could write a book someday.’ I replied, ‘you better hurry up before I do!’ I didn’t expect to get an idea for a novel as I was making my way up the driveway but that’s the way inspiration works.”
An Irish American story in the truest sense of the word, Farragher set these characters from scenarios not only from his own life, but also from headlines of both The Tuam Herald and The New York Times. “There was a lot going on at either side of the Atlantic as I was writing this,” Farragher explains. “In and around this part of Ireland, they were reviving their glorious past with the restoration of the Ballyglunin Train Station, one of the sites where The Quiet Man was filmed.
At the same time, they were confronting the darkness of their past as Tuam uncovered hundreds of children buried carelessly on the site of an old Catholic run orphanage in a gruesome story that made headlines worldwide.
In America, we grappled with things like rising healthcare costs and a caustic political conversation in a relentless news cycle and on a personal level, I watched friends around me dealing with crumbling marriages and the loss of parents this year as well. It all went into this scenery in which I placed these characters, which created stories that are a departure from the more lighthearted things I’ve written recently.”
After reviewing music for 20 years in premier Irish American media outlets, Mike Farragher decided to turn a critical eye on himself. The "This Is Your Brain on Shamrocks" series is a collection of humorous yet heartfelt essays and short stories about growing up Irish, Catholic, and guilty in the swamps of Jersey. Originally from Jersey City in the Irish county of Hudson, Mike now lives in Spring Lake Heights, NJ with his wife and 2 daughters.
Watch the author discuss one of his other books, "This Is Your Brain on Shamrocks" here:
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KELDON JOHNSON
Status: UK commitment
Guard/forward | 6-6 | 205
School: Oak Hill Academy
Hometown: South Hill, Va.
Twitter: None
Class of 2018 national rankings
Rivals.com ESPN.com 247Sports
Kentucky’s coaches were already very familiar with Johnson before extending a scholarship offer during a campus visit in August.
Johnson played his junior season at nearby Huntington (W.Va.) Prep — taking a couple of unofficial visits to UK during his time there — and transferred to Oak Hill Academy in his home state of Virginia for his final season of high school.
A versatile, 6-6 wing, Johnson is one of the best perimeter scorers in the 2018 recruiting class and brings great energy and athleticism to both ends of the court. He’s also an unselfish player and a terrific rebounder for his size. He ranked in the top 15 in scoring and rebounding on the Nike circuit this past summer.
“He’s a high-level scorer. He’s a high-level competitor,” Scout.com’s Evan Daniels told the Herald-Leader. “He’s aggressive. He attacks. He plays hard with very good energy. He competes on the defensive end, and he’s a really good athlete.
“He’s going to be a terrific college player. … I love watching him play just because of how hard he plays.”
Johnson was recruited by Texas Coach Shaka Smart going back to middle school, but he chose Kentucky over the Longhorns and fellow finalists Maryland and North Carolina State during the early signing period.
Summer ball stats
Johnson averaged 20.7 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game on the Nike EYBL circuit this summer, and he was one of the top 10 scorers in the highly competitive league.
“He wants to be a pro as quick as he can, but he’s not going to rush it. I don’t think he’s going to be one of those guys that makes a mistake and says, ‘I’m outta here,’ after one year. If he’s not ready, I think he’ll go back to college another year. Whatever it takes him to get to where he wants to get to.”
-Oak Hill Coach Steve Smith
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TOP MYTHS |Menu
Ticketing System Software
What is a ticket?
A ticket, in a helpdesk ticketing system, acts as a documentation of a particular problem, its current status, and other associated information. Raised by the end users of an organization whenever they encounter an event that interrupts their workflow, these tickets are routed to a ticketing software where they are categorized, prioritized, and assigned to different agents according to the organizational norms. The agents then analyze these tickets and suggest appropriate fixes or workarounds and resolve the issue. In terms of workflow and automation, and self-service, the most modern ticketing systems should be providing these capabilities to make the lives of IT support staff and end users as easy as possible.
What is a Ticketing Software?
A ticketing software, also called a ticketing system, is a software program that enables organizations to resolve their internal IT support queries by managing and streamlining the process of issue resolution. They handle individual elements called tickets that provide a context of what issue the requester is facing, along with other data like category, priority, etc. At its core, an IT ticketing software converts all incoming support requests from multiple channels into tickets and acts as a single point of contact between the service provider and the consumer. These ticketing systems can be used to store and manage all IT support, HR, legal, financial, and associated queries.
A ticketing system ultimately helps organizations to deliver an integrated and seamless response, offering a range of capture mechanisms and the ability to control progress and keep the people with a vested interest informed.
Online Ticketing System
Ticketing systems help you find issues, analyze them deeper, and identify the root causes of problems that affect your business productivity. More often than not, companies do this the old-fashioned way, where the ticketing system resides on a local server, but this has a lot of shortcomings.
Online Ticketing systems help your company overcome the shortcomings of an on-premise ticketing solution in many ways. Online ticketing systems also allow agents to approach issues dynamically by involving other stakeholders. There might be more than one agent or manager required to make decisions, especially with respect to problem management. Online ticketing systems are a boon when organizations scale their operations. They are highly flexible, in the sense that they can accommodate more agents as and when the company is expanding, unlike in-house ticketing systems that might incur hefty server costs.
What is IT ticketing software?
IT ticketing software is a system that is used to keep track of lists of user requests and other IT support related issues for an organization. IT ticketing software might also be referred to by other names like an issue tracking system, trouble ticket system, support ticket software, request management tool, incident ticket system or helpdesk system. Ticketing software is most commonly seen in IT support operations but is also widely used in other parts of the IT organization. Some examples include: tracking maintenance tasks assigned to a technician, setting up resources for new employees, tracking new feature requests and managing bugs/defects in software development projects.
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CAFTA's Upshot More Political Than Economic
By Paul Blustein and Mike Allen
The grand debates about open markets, workers' rights and U.S. interests in the Western Hemisphere don't matter much anymore. Within days, and possibly hours, the Central American Free Trade Agreement is likely to face an exceedingly tight vote in the House, and its fate hangs on issues of less than cosmic import -- such as pockets and linings.
To a handful of Southern Republicans with textile mills in their districts, it is no small matter what sort of fabric is used in the interior portions of garments that would enter the U.S. market duty-free under CAFTA. So the Bush administration essentially promised this week that the fabric in such pockets and linings will be from the United States -- and that pledge won the support for CAFTA of at least five Republican lawmakers in the past two days
Cajoling, deal-cutting and browbeating were always in the cards for CAFTA because it is by far the most controversial trade agreement in years. While Congress easily approved recent pacts eliminating trade barriers between the United States and middle-income countries such as Australia and Singapore, the administration's proposal for a similar deal with six low-wage Latin American nations has drawn overwhelming rejection from House Democrats, mainly on the grounds that labor rights are inadequately protected in those countries. Several dozen Republicans, many of whom face hostility toward free trade in their districts, also are refusing to or are reluctant to cast pro-CAFTA votes.
Administration officials and House Republican leaders are scrambling to ensure that they are at least within striking distance of a one-vote majority when the roll call begins, on the assumption that a number of lawmakers from their party can be persuaded to vote yes if their support is essential. House members said yesterday that some of the incentives for votes are being hidden in huge energy and highway bills now in conference committees and that the full cost of those incentives will not be known until that legislation is later scrutinized.
Asked yesterday whether he had the CAFTA votes, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said: "Still working on it." But his office and that of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) said they plan to start debate on the treaty as soon as tonight, with a vote possibly tomorrow or Friday.
Although opponents hold out hope that they can defeat the treaty, they have increasingly acknowledged in recent days that the determination of the agreement's backers may be too much for them to overcome.
At an anti-CAFTA rally yesterday, Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) cited a statement by Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) that the House leadership will "twist some Republican arms until they break in a thousand pieces." Brown also predicted: "This will be a vote in the middle of the night. They'll keep the vote open for several hours, in violation of the rules. If it passes, it will be by fewer than five votes."
Whether that scenario materializes or not, it highlights the stakes in the fight. CAFTA's economic ramifications are minor: The markets of the countries involved -- Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic -- are too small to register more than a blip in the $11 trillion U.S. economy. But the political implications are huge.
A defeat would deal a major setback to President Bush's second-term agenda, exposing him as vulnerable to Republican defections at a time when his political clout has increasingly been called into question. It would also deepen doubts about the ability of DeLay, who has been hobbled by ethics charges, to keep his troops in line.
Congressional rejection of CAFTA could also severely diminish the chances for negotiating much more significant trade deals, in particular the ongoing Doha round of negotiations for a global accord among the World Trade Organization's 148 member countries. Foreign governments would be less willing to offer concessions to Washington if U.S. lawmakers balk at approving a trade pact with six small nations. For that reason, many free-traders are sympathetic with the administration's efforts to corral the last few CAFTA votes.
"These things like the deal on pockets and linings -- it's incredibly petty," said Claude E. Barfield, a trade specialist at the American Enterprise Institute. "But at this point, to have CAFTA go down now would really be a blow psychologically. The world economy would not change, but it would hurt other trade initiatives."
The pro-CAFTA forces hit a snag yesterday when House Democrats blocked a bill that would strengthen monitoring of China's trade practices and allow U.S. companies to seek duties on goods found to be receiving subsidies from the Chinese government. The bill was brought up under special rules that require a two-thirds vote, in accord with a promise by House leaders to Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.) and a few industrial-state allies in exchange for CAFTA support.
House leaders vowed to bring the bill up again today under normal rules.
"I don't think that will slow up the process," said U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman. But, he said, "it's pretty much member-by-member now. We're building momentum one vote at a time."
CAFTA Reflects Democrats' Shift From Trade Bills
Twelve years ago, amid heated rhetoric over job losses and heavy union pressure, the House passed the North American Free Trade Agreement with 102 Democratic votes. This month, as President Bush pushes the far less economically significant Central American Free Trade Agreement, he will be lucky to get more than 10.
A long, slow erosion of Democratic support for trade legislation in the House is turning into a rout, as Democrats who have never voted against trade deals vow to turn their backs on CAFTA. The sea change -- driven by redistricting, mounting partisanship and real questions about the results of a decade's worth of trade liberalization -- is creating a major headache for Bush and Republican leaders as they scramble to salvage their embattled trade agreement. A trade deal that passed the Senate last Thursday, 54 to 45, with 10 Democratic votes, could very well fail in the House this month.
But the Democrats' near-unanimous stand against CAFTA carries long-term risks for a party leadership struggling to regain the appearance of a moderate governing force, some Democrats acknowledge. A swing toward isolationism could reinforce voters' suspicions that the party is beholden to organized labor and is anti-business, while jeopardizing campaign contributions, especially from Wall Street.
Without control of the White House or either chamber of Congress, the "competition for the microphone" has intensified in the party, said Dave McCurdy, a former Democratic congressman from Oklahoma who heads the Electronic Industries Alliance. And the moderates are losing.
"It's difficult for Democrats to get through a message that we're pro-trade when we're voting no," said Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), who plans to vote against a trade agreement for the first time in his nearly 20 years in the House. "That is a clear risk that we're running, but I don't think we have the opportunity to avoid it."
Cardin and other free-trade Democrats concede that many of the Democratic opponents are motivated by partisan politics: They want to see Bush lose a major legislative initiative or, at the very least, make Republicans from districts hit hard by international trade take a dangerous vote in favor of a deal their constituents oppose. Dozens of Republicans in districts dependent on the textile industry, the sugar growers or small manufacturers have already said they will vote against the bill. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) privately warned Democrats last month that a vote for CAFTA is a vote to stay in the minority.
"This is hardball," said Rep. James P. Moran Jr. of Virginia, one of only five Democrats publicly committed to voting for the agreement. "I feel like chopped liver with the [Democratic] caucus."
The four other committed Democrats are Reps. William J. Jefferson (La.), John S. Tanner (Tenn.)., Henry Cuellar (Tex.) and Norman D. Dicks (Wash.).
But a core group of as many as 50 pro-trade Democrats are voting against CAFTA; those lawmakers say the agreement is a step backward on labor standards after years of steady gains under previous trade accords.
They complain that the administration failed to consult them during negotiations, taking their votes for granted. And they say past trade agreements were accompanied by increased support for worker-retraining programs, education efforts and aid to dislocated workers -- support that the president has not provided.
"Free and open trade is an important component to widening the winner's circle for all Americans, but it's not a Johnny One Note part of the puzzle," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher (Calif.), a co-chairman of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, who voted for the most contentious trade bills of the past half-dozen years.
The steady erosion in Democratic support for free-trade deals has been dramatic. NAFTA, negotiated by President George H.W. Bush and pushed to a vote by President Bill Clinton, passed the House 234 to 200, with 102 Democratic votes. Among them were today's House Democratic leadership, Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (Md.).
When Clinton pushed permanent normalized trade relations with China in 2000, he secured the support of 73 Democrats, including the party's point man on trade, Rep. Sander M. Levin (Mich.). By 2002, the final vote to grant Bush the ability to negotiate "fast-track" trade deals that cannot be amended by Congress garnered 25 Democrats. The tally on CAFTA, expected after the Fourth of July recess if the White House can find the votes, could yield just 10 Democratic supporters.
The trade deal would create a NAFTA-like free-trade zone between the United States and six countries -- Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua -- that would wipe out most of the quotas and tariffs on imported goods and services. Those countries' economic power is tiny -- their combined gross domestic products are still smaller than the Czech Republic's -- but the deal has provoked big claims from both sides.
Proponents say CAFTA is especially beneficial to the United States, which has already eliminated most trade barriers with the countries. But opponents say the deal steps back from previous commitments to stronger environmental and labor standards, relying instead on existing statutes in CAFTA countries that are modest and weakly enforced.
Some textile firms fear that the deal will afford Chinese textile makers a backdoor avenue to export to the U.S. market duty-free, whereas U.S. sugar growers say even the modest export allowance to Central American sugar growers would undermine the existing price-support system and invite future trade deals to dismantle the system altogether.
Such fears are not new, but the political response to them -- especially from Democrats -- is unprecedented. That has pro-business Democrats worried. During the 1990s, party leaders used pro-trade positions to show moderate voters and business interests they are willing to stand up to their labor union backers and govern from the center, said Marshall Wittmann of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. For fear of handing their GOP adversaries a short-term victory, he said, they are jeopardizing all that work.
"If the Democrats want to stay competitive on the national political stage, they can't retreat from global engagement," McCurdy agreed.
"I really believe our challenge is to be competitive and win in the world economy, and it's hard to assume national leadership if you have a protectionist bent," said Al From, the Leadership Council's chief executive.
Administration officials are inoculating themselves against Democratic attacks with a letter from former president Jimmy Carter imploring support for CAFTA. "Some improvements could be made in the trade bill, particularly on the labor protection side," Carter wrote, "but, more importantly, our own national security and hemispheric influence will be enhanced" by passage.
Other Democratic supporters include a who's who list from the Clinton administration, including former national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger and Cabinet members Warren M. Christopher, Henry G. Cisneros, Dan Glickman, William J. Perry and Donna E. Shalala, not to mention the presidents of the CAFTA countries.
"We have to listen to our neighbors who say this is important to them," Jefferson said. "We've had five presidents come to plead with us to do this for them."
Perhaps more troubling may be the business interests that have promised to withhold support for CAFTA opponents. Two business lobbyists -- one Republican, one Democrat -- said some corporate groups will be sympathetic to the Democrats' position.
In a highly charged partisan atmosphere, Republicans intentionally marginalized free-trade Democrats during negotiations and then presented them with a take-it-or-leave it deal, goading them to oppose it, said the lobbyists, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid harming relationships on Capitol Hill. They contend that the Republicans set the trap into which the New Democrats are walking.
But many other business groups with strong ties to the GOP will see the shift on trade as confirmation of their suspicions about New Democrats' business commitments, the Democratic lobbyist said. What little was left of business contributions to Democrats will dwindle further.
"For some business groups, it's 'Aha. See? I told you,' " he said.
Free trade in 2005: subsidies for the richest, tariffs for the poorest
African sugar workers may be happy with their lot, but the idustry is one of many endangered by Western protectionism
By Johnathan Clayton
SWEAT trickles down Paulo Zunguze’s face, cutting channels through a cover of charcoal dust. The sugar cane cutter is tired but eager to press on. “It’s good to have a job,” he says with a broad smile. “I came here a year ago because things were not good at my place — no work, no food, only fish to eat sometimes.”
It is early in the day but already the sugar cane fields of the Maragra plantation — the country’s largest — are hot and sultry. Black clouds of smoke from fires burning unwanted foliage drift over the fields as workers move through tall, swaying swaths of ripe green sugar cane, swinging long, wooden-handled metal cutters.
To earn £1.60 a day each, Paulo and five members of his team must clear at least six tonnes. It is seasonal and irregular work but quickly translates into food, basic education and health for families in a country ranked among the five poorest in the world.
“It is hard work but worth it,” Paulo, 24, who used to be a river fisherman, said. “Sugar has changed my life. Now I can pay for many things (which) before I only dreamt of.”
With the support of Western governments, Mozambique rehabilitated its sugar industry at the end of the civil war in 1992. About £190 million was invested in new plants, production and infrastructure.
Today it produces some of the cheapest sugar — between £60 and £80 a tonne. By comparison it costs Europe about £320 to produce one tonne.
Yet Mozambique’s sugar industry is in danger. The reason is the European Union’s highly protectionist Common Agricultural Policy, which hits the country’s sugar producers from three directions simultaneously. The CAP subsidises European producers of the much more costly sugar beet by £550 million a year. Much of this goes to companies such as Tate & Lyle in Britain, which alone is estimated to receive £120 million a year. The CAP places import tariffs of more than 200 per cent on cane products from non-EU countries, making it even more difficult for dirt-poor producers such as Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique to take advantage of low wage costs.
And the CAP’s price-support system leads to over-production. As a result roughly five million tonnes of European sugar are dumped on the world market annually, driving prices downwards.
“Because of dumping, the weighted average price per tonne on the world market is now below even our cost of production. No one can compete with those prices,” says Tony Currie, a South African manager of the Maragra estate, a joint government-private sector venture of exactly the sort that is recommended by modern development gurus.
The situation may be about to get worse. To head off criticism of the subsidy system, which had gone unreformed for four decades, the EU agreed in 2001 to buy a tiny amount of sugar from the world’s poorest countries at preferential rates.
It said that the system would be reviewed in 2009. The total amount represented only four days of EU consumption but it gave Mozambique and other countries some price security.
Now, under mounting external and internal pressure to cut the costs of the system, the EU wants to slash those prices by about 40 per cent, meaning that countries such as Mozambique will receive even less income from their sugar. Luke Simbane, a team manager at Maragra, said: “They want to change rules which we had no say in making. They want to cut our throats again and make us pay hardest for their reforms. But we are still poor, they are rich.”
Next month’s G8 summit at Gleneagles will discuss ways of helping Africa. It will agree a debt-relief package worth £22 billion, and a new aid package, but one of the biggest obstacles to economic progress in Africa is the protectionism that prevents its farmers selling their products to the West. The United States, which pays millions of dollars to its cotton farmers each year, is as much a culprit as the EU. Rich countries are believed to spend as much as £560 million a day on agricultural subsidies — a huge barrier preventing even the most free-market-orientated developing country from trading its way out of poverty. Across Africa, from Zambia to Mali, it is the same story whether the produce is cotton or rice, tomatoes or fruit.
In Ghana, dumped American rice has had a devastating effect on producers. In markets outside the capital, Accra, local traders sit behind piles of unsold rice, unable to compete with subsidies that give the American farmer back 72 cents for every dollar laid out.
Cotton producers fare even worse across West Africa. Small family farms in Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Togo are unable to compete with $3.2 billion (£1.8 billion) in annual subsidies to American growers, a vast proportion of which goes to 27 plantations in the southern states.
Overall, the charity Oxfam calculates direct losses to West Africa as a result of combined EU and US cotton subsidies at £140 million a year, and accuses industrialised nations that preach free trade of lacking the stomach to take on farm lobbies and the vested interests of the agri-business world.
Amy Barry, of Oxfam, said: “Protectionism is the problem. Aid and debt relief are fine if they are part of a concerted policy with trade reform, otherwise it risks being wasted money. Aid and debt relief can be used to help countries like Mozambique put in the infrastructure to be able to take advantage of improved trade. If you do not manage the world trading system better, you jeopardise all that at a stroke.”
Oxfam estimates that if Africa could boost its share of world trade by 1 per cent it would result in extra funds of about £40 billion annually.
“It is a classic case of the left hand and right hand not working together. What we need is trade not aid,” Mr Currie, of the Maragra estate, said.
For Rabeca Avore Mandleia, 47, a mother of four who lost her husband in the civil war that followed Mozambique’s independence in 1975, life without her job scattering fertiliser on newly planted sugar cane is unimaginable.
“We had nothing for the family before we came here. I am alone now, but all my children go to the school,” she said.
“If sugar goes, we will return to poverty.”
For CAFTA, Party Pressure and Pork
Earlier this month, at a closed-door meeting of Democrats, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) was blunt: Any Democrat who votes for the Central American Free Trade Agreement will allow an embattled Republican to squirm off the hook and vote no. A vote for CAFTA, she said, was a vote to keep the GOP in the majority.
It was a speech that was tough enough to make the party's free-traders cringe, said Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), but both parties are treating the coming showdown over CAFTA like a political donnybrook. Democratic leaders are leaning hard on members to keep defections to a tiny minority, while the Bush administration considers major concessions on sugar crop subsidies and China trade.
If those don't work, administration officials may have to resort to old-fashioned political pork. "With the Democrats almost united, we have to deal with the most protectionist Republicans in Congress, and that means [dealing with] textiles, sugar and whoever else comes along," said one U.S. trade official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations are ongoing. "If you take 170 Democrats off the playing field, it means we're going to have to cut some deals."
"An awful lot is stake here, and control of Congress is the grand prize," said Moran, one of only five Democrats who have publicly pledged to vote for the treaty. "The stakes are very, very high."
From an economic standpoint, the Central American Free Trade Agreement appears to be a relatively minor treaty. The accord would extend NAFTA-like trading preferences to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, six countries whose combined economies -- at $85 billion in 2003 -- are smaller than the Czech Republic's.
But with a growing backlash against free trade, the treaty has grown in political importance. Republican Rep. Bob Inglis, whose upstate South Carolina district includes much of the nation's decimated textile industry, said he has received more than 1,000 inquiries on CAFTA, making it the hottest issue since he returned to Congress this year.
In past trade agreements, dozens of Democrats have joined Republican majorities to help secure passage. But this time, as few as 10 may vote for it. That means Republicans from hard-hit districts representing textile mills, machine-tool manufacturers and sugar growers will have to vote yes if President Bush is to avoid a major political defeat.
"What's different is how much this has become a party-line issue for the Democrats, which has really raised the pressure on Republicans," said Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.).
Administration officials had hoped to win passage of the treaty before Congress's July 4 recess, but they acknowledge they do not have the votes -- yet. Indeed, Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. (R-N.C.) said between 20 and 23 House Republicans are solidly against the treaty.
But the White House is working hard to chip away at the opposition on both sides of the aisle. On June 15, in a letter to 14 members of the House Democratic Hispanic Caucus, Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez tried to answer concerns over the enforcement of labor laws in the CAFTA countries, offering "a long-term, sustained commitment to labor capacity-building" in Central America as well as an international donors conference before the end of July to win aid to the countries' labor ministries and labor courts.
A U.S. trade official, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations are ongoing, said the White House has secured $20 million to beef up enforcement of labor and environmental laws in the CAFTA countries.
Sugar-state lawmakers late last week presented the White House with a series of demands drafted by the sugar industry to assuage concerns that the treaty would undermine the U.S. system of sugar price supports. They include government purchases of surplus U.S. sugar to make up for new imports from Central America and assurances that sugar will be excluded from future trade deals.
And yesterday, Bush invited 14 wavering House members to the White House to listen to their demands. Inglis told Bush he could vote for the treaty only if a separate, binding agreement is reached with each of the signatories to ensure that cheap Chinese textiles could not be brought into Central America, then shipped duty-free to the United States. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Ohio) said Bush is unlikely to win him over, but he wanted to hear how far the White House is willing to go to force China to float its currency.
Such overtures have some leading Democrats convinced CAFTA will ultimately pass, perhaps by a single vote. Rep. Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.), the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade, said he has not been swayed by a personal visit from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and an audience with the president. But, he said, others probably will be.
"I always had thought it would be impossible to pass this thing because of the hemorrhaging of Republican votes," he said, "but that was before I saw what they were doing to get Democratic votes. If there's no limit to what they'll pay, they've got to win."
So far, trade officials concede such talks have yielded only limited results. After one conversation with Bush and three with Gutierrez, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) said he has been won over.
"I am interested in doing the right thing, not in making one political party look bad," Cuellar said. "We cannot politicize this type of agreement."
But Democratic leaders aren't about to bend. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Robert Menendez (N.J.) said the White House cannot cut development assistance to Latin America and allow congressional Republicans to pass anti-immigrant measures, such as the recent clampdown on driver's license issuances, then come to Latino lawmakers promising aid in exchange for their votes.
"I make of it all to be hollow promises, too little, too late and, to be honest with you, incredibly offensive," he said.
Central American Labor Pact Stirs Strong Emotions
By Krissah Williams and Paul Blustein
GUATEMALA CITY -- For 18 years, Sara Adela Rosales sat behind a small, black sewing machine in a factory here piecing together pants. Six days a week, she carefully sewed seams and hems and passed the trousers down an assembly line of about 25 other women. The factory she worked for, Automatizaciónes Industriales, then shipped the garments to their clients, mostly U.S. retailers.
Rosales, 62, said she often earned about $150 a month, less than the country's minimum wage, and was sometimes forced to work 12-hour days without full compensation. After losing her job recently, she was left with no savings, hundreds of dollars of unpaid property taxes and no hope of getting out of debt.
"For all the work we did, the salary wasn't fair," Rosales said. "They had us work sometimes into the night if they needed us to increase production. Sometimes they would pay us more, but it is what they wanted to pay. They aren't going to lose [money]. The worker loses."
Complaints by Rosales and other central American workers about abusive labor practices lie at the crux of the debate over the Central American Free Trade Agreement, an accord that would sharply reduce and in many cases eliminate trade barriers between the United States, five Central American countries and the Dominican Republic. While other recently-negotiated trade agreements with countries such as Australia, Singapore and Chile moved smoothly through Congress, CAFTA faces an uphill fight.
Sitting in her sparse cement home in a town on the outskirts of the capital here, Rosales, like many other Central American workers, has found herself intertwined in an intense trade debate with great political implications. CAFTA was negotiated with poor countries that have dismal histories of worker treatment. The pact's critics say it does not sufficiently protect the rights of workers like Rosales and as a result would provide incentives for companies to migrate to countries with the lowest wages and weakest unions. Its backers counter that by giving Central America assured access to U.S. market, workers such as Rosales would be more likely to have jobs. Rosales is also torn.
"There are advantages and disadvantages," she said of her factory job and the trade agreement that could create more such employment. The textile factory she worked for became one of 20 in Guatemala to shut down in recent months. It went broke because it could not compete with factories in other parts of the world where people work equally grueling schedules for even less.
Out of work for nearly six months now, Rosales believes more employment is what her country needs. Working at the factory helped Rosales leave an impoverished country town in the mountains outside of Guatemala City and build a life in a simple home with a corrugated roof, electricity and an eight-inch television in her bedroom. Outside her door are similar square homes with metal doors that belong mostly to others who work in the factories surrounding Villa Nueva, a town with paved streets and fast-food restaurants that grew because of the apparel industry.
Rosales also believes, however, that she and other garment manufacturers should be paid more. The average pay for manufacturing-sector workers in Guatemala was about $244 a month in 2002, according to the International Labor Organization's latest report.
Never before has the United States negotiated a free-trade deal with countries so poor. The nations that have struck free-trade agreements with Washington in recent years come mostly from the "middle income" or wealthy ranks. Even Mexico had income per capita of about $4,200 when NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, was negotiated in the early 1990s, said Sandra Polaski, a trade specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. By contrast, income per capita in Nicaragua is about $400, while the comparable figure in Honduras is about $900, slightly less than levels in El Salvador in Guatemala.
Union leaders and labor activists here say their efforts to organize workers are often thwarted by powerful business owners. Union affiliates are sometimes threatened or fired and have their names placed on blacklists that make it difficult for them to find other jobs.
"The right that seems to be violated most often is the freedom to associate and organize," said Mary Bellman, a Guatemala-based coordinator for Stitch, a women's labor rights organization. "All of the repercussions and the ways companies respond are almost always illegal. The implementation of local labor law is so poor."
The region has a long record of hostility to unions. Last year a U.S. union official organizing workers in El Salvador was killed. No independent trade unions have been registered there in the past four years, said Mark Levinson, chief economist of Unite Here, a union representing U.S. workers in the apparel and other industries. In Guatemala, two collective-bargaining agreements exist in the country's more than 200 textile factories.
The most recent textile factory organizing campaign in Guatemala ended earlier this month after the factory closed. Nobland, a South Korean-owned company that opened here in 2001, cited continuing economic losses for the factory's closure. Leaders of the union at Nobland and labor activists say they believe the goal was to squelch the union.
Vidalia Garcia, secretary general of the union, wiped tears from her red eyes after a distraught worker called her at the union's office earlier this month to tell her the factory was closing. "What are we going to do?" she said softly.
About 350 people lost their jobs, more than 100 of them were union affiliates, she said.
"Here in Guatemala there isn't much work. It's a critical situation. Because we're union members, we're on a blacklist and can't enter other factories," Garcia said. "If you defend your rights, they try to fire you or throw pieces of fabric in your face."
Keith Kim, owner of the factory, said in an e-mail that the union's demands for double-digit salary increases and the letters and e-mails they sent to his customers asking them to stop doing business with him influenced his decision to close Nobland, but the primary cause was lack of profitability.
"Guatemala was just not competitive for our products after the world became quota-free this year," he wrote. "We have been getting less and less work for our factory in Guatemala and finally we did not have any work to put in there."
Stephen Coats, executive director of U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project, which has a representative in Guatemala, said CAFTA will make it more difficult for the U.S. government to prod the Guatemalan government to investigate closures such as Nobland. Coats's group and others have used current laws governing trade with Central American countries to request that the United States withdraw trade benefits from Guatemala. The Generalized System of Preferences and Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act allows the U.S. government to rescind trade benefits from any country that is falling short in meeting its labor commitments. One appeal filed in 1992 prompted the United States to put Guatemala under review because of violence against workers there. That review ended in 1997.
Under CAFTA, the governments of Central America and the Dominican Republic would be required to enforce the labor laws on their books, and if a government is found to be derelict in enforcing its laws, that government could be subject to monetary fines, up to $15 million per violation, with the money used to help address the labor problem in question. The Bush administration contends that these protections go beyond those contained in previous U.S. trade deals with other countries. Administration critics disagree.
The Central American governments have released action plans aimed at improving their labor law enforcement, including blueprints for strengthening their labor ministries and judiciaries. U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman, in a bid to win over skeptics, pledged in a speech earlier this month that the Bush administration will beef up efforts to help Central American governments meet those goals, and he suggested that an international donor conference should be held in coming weeks to raise money for that purpose.
Beyond the debate about whether CAFTA's labor provisions are tough enough, proponents say the main point is that by generating economic growth, CAFTA will do more for workers in Central America and the Dominican Republic than any law or regulation could achieve. That is because worker rights are more likely to be strengthened when demand for labor is strong, thereby giving workers bargaining power.
Alejandro Ceballos, lawyer for Polar Industries, one of Guatemala's largest textile factories, said CAFTA could be key to his industry's survival. The accord has won the endorsement of key congressional committees, and the White House hopes for a vote before the July 4 recess.
In the first six months of this year, twice as many factories have closed there than closed in all of 2004. They could not survive the competition with China, a low-cost, highly efficient producer, according to Guatemala's apparel industry association. Thousands may have already lost their jobs.
CAFTA is going to force Guatemalan textile companies with poor labor practices "to become formal businesses and to comply with the law and requirements," Ceballos said. "Today, not all of the companies are following the law. But when Wal-Mart comes and demands that they must obey the law, then yes, they'll obey the law."
Blustein reported from Washington. Staff researcher Richard Drezen contributed to this report.
Currency questions intensify between US and China
In tense negotiations, the administration pushes China to revalue its currency, but some experts doubt the benefits.
By Ron Scherer | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
NEW YORK – Trade agreements require trust - confidence that both sides will live up to the terms of the deals and play fair.
Now, the fabric that holds together the US trading relationship with China is being pulled and stretched. Because of the importance of these two nations, how the tensions play out could affect both the global economy and the climate for expanding trade.
The Bush administration has become increasingly vocal about the differences with China and recently capped some of its apparel imports. Congress is considering a bill to put tariffs on Chinese-made products if China doesn't revalue its currency. Business groups are also lobbying for change, and last week Treasury Secretary John Snow said he expected China will make some change to its currency over the next several months.
But behind the new signs of urgency, economists caution that a revalued yuan is no cure-all for America's wide trade deficit with China. For example, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said last week that the US trade deficit wouldn't come down due to a revaluation, since other countries with low labor costs would make the goods instead.
That apparently has not stopped the administration from pushing ahead. Wednesday, Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York, who has sponsored legislation to punish China for currency manipulation, noted at a Monitor breakfast that a high Treasury official told him the legislation was helping in dealing with China.
According to the Tuesday edition of the Financial Times, the US Treasury has informed the Chinese it must revalue its currency by at least 10 percent to defuse tensions with Congress. It also says that the US is using private citizens such as Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft to communicate with the Chinese.
A Treasury spokesman did not return phone calls to the Monitor.
Some international observers question whether private individuals should be used to communicate with the Chinese. "The Treasury secretary is perfectly capable of calling the Chinese," says Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International. "I question how appropriate it would be to ask a private individual to suggest what an exchange rate would be."
Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, says the administration is aware of the downside of a rising Chinese currency: Import prices and interest rates may rise. US consumers have benefited from being able to buy lower-cost clothing, electronics, and other goods. At the same time, China is currently investing about $1 billion a day in the US.
"China is handing us hundreds of billions [through their investments in US Treasury securities] to buy their stuff," says Mr. Baker. "At some point they might want to use that money."
If that were to happen, he warns, "It might not be a pretty picture: The housing bubble could burst," because interest rates would be higher.
Still, the business groups that are urging President Bush to act don't want the administration to stop at a currency revaluation (which they think should be as high as 40 percent). They maintain that China's system is opaque, hiding subsidies and loans provided by the Chinese government.
"We need to know what other subsidies the Chinese would increase, even assuming they did revalue upward," says Alan Tonelson, a research fellow at the United States Business and Industry Council in Washington.
If the Chinese do revalue their currency, he thinks the biggest winners will be small and medium-sized US manufacturers, especially in the metal-bending, cutting, and forming industry. "They are able to compete on quality and innovation," he says.
Yet even if China does revalue the yuan, some analysts are not convinced it will make much difference. Jay Edward Simkin, an international economist, thinks if China revalued by 25 percent, Chinese companies would simply accept lower profits to hold on to their market share. Then, he says, they would cut wages or find other ways to cut their costs.
If the Chinese tried to lower labor costs, he envisions the possibility of social unrest that he fears might destabilize the banking system. "We know from many other cases that banking-system crises have deep consequences for the country in which they occur and global impacts," says Mr. Simkin, who produces a report entitled "RiskAlert!" in Nashua, N.H.
If the US is going to force the issue with the Chinese, economist Clyde Prestowitz wonders why the US won't go after Japan, which also intervenes to prevent the yen from rising against the dollar. "Why not Japan? It's the bigger economy," says Mr. Prestowitz, author of the new book, "Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Wealth and Power to the East."
To businessman Brett Kingstone, CEO of Super Vision International, the problem isn't the currency, but the violation of intellectual property rights. Mr. Kingstone is author of the book "The Real War Against America," which details how the Chinese allegedly stole his blueprints, chemical formulations, and trade secrets for his fiber-optic business. He has won court judgments against the alleged instigators and obtained court orders seizing Chinese products that use his technology and are shipped to this country.
"I think there's too much attention paid to the currency issue," he says. "It would be immaterial if China does not make significant reforms and eliminate the rampant piracy its been practicing for decades."
Uphill fight for Central American trade deal
Bush is pushing free trade with Central America to stay competitive with China and to spread democracy further.
By Howard LaFranchi | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – A decade after the inception of the North American Free Trade Agreement, officials and experts are still debating its merits, even as communities across the country absorb its impact.
Meanwhile, China, which continues to rack up huge trade surpluses with the US, looms on the eastern horizon.
It is in this context that President Bush's initiative for a free-trade accord with Central America and the Caribbean's Dominican Republic (known as CAFTA) continues to flounder - despite the high-profile press from the White House this week to get the signed agreement ratified by Congress.
President Bush was scheduled to greet the presidents of five Central American countries and the Dominican Republic to the White House Thursday, while Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick - the administration's past trade representative - is to give a speech next week echoing his boss, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who recently argued that CAFTA is essential to securing freedom - economic and political - in the region.
The administration's problem is not so much the impact of an accord with six economies that together barely match the economic heft of Pittsburgh. Rather, it's the "bad rep" that trade agreements and the notion of free trade in general have developed as the United States has continued to see a decline in manufacturing jobs and a rise in "offshore outsourcing."
Criticism from both parties
Any hopes of new trade agreements - such as one encompassing the entire Western Hemisphere that the administration had once hoped to conclude this year - are probably doomed until the public, and Congress, are more certain of the benefits.
In the debate over CAFTA and free trade in general, "the two phantoms are the experience with NAFTA and what to do about China," says Jeff Vogt, a senior associate for rights and development at the Washington Office on Latin America. "That's really what's put the spook into" the Congress.
The Democrats, who were mildly supportive of free trade under President Clinton, have increasingly turned against trade agreements in recent years. Some Republicans, too, are showing increased resistance to pressure from traditional Republican free-trade constituencies, citing job losses and inadequate planning for the fallout of trade accords.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) of Georgia, argues in a recent article in The Hill newspaper that while "open trade" can boost the export of US products, it also causes hardships at home - hardships the US hasn't prepared for adequately in the past.
While touting his state as a "crossroads of international trade," he adds that "Georgia was also home to a thriving textile sector that has suffered the costs of free trade...."
Trade promotes democracy
Against such resistance the Bush administration is retooling old arguments while developing new ones. Officials are refashioning the argument that free trade promotes democracy by placing it within the context of President Bush's second-term focus on the global spread of freedom.
Recently Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez claimed that the forces opposing the CAFTA agreement in Central America today are drawn from the same elements that opposed "democracy and freedom" during the war-torn 1980s.
And more than just administration officials are jumping on the trade-promotes-democracy bandwagon. Last month a list of former Democratic administration officials sent a letter to Congress supporting CAFTA's passage as a way to "reinforce democratic processes and rule of law in Central America." The letter also said political trends in the region make passage urgent because "opponents of democracy are increasingly active."
At the same time, US Trade Representative Rob Portman, a former member of Congress from Ohio, argues that CAFTA can actually work as a viable response to the Chinese trade juggernaut by favoring regional textile industries that would enjoy incentives for using American cloth, yarn, and thread.
Of course the administration's argument in favor of CAFTA is not devoid of economic elements. Mr. Portman cites US business organizations that estimate a $1.5 billion jump in farm exports and $1 billion gain in sales of manufactured goods as a result of CAFTA.
But critics say the administration is wrong to suggest that CAFTA will help US industries, in tandem with lower-wage southern neighbors, compete with Chinese garmentmakers, and other exporters.
Portman's argument is "the triumph of hope over experience," says Alan Tonelson, a specialist in trade policy at the US Business and Industry Council in Washington. "That's what we were told NAFTA would do - and what NAFTA failed to do."
How CAFTA could pass
Mr. Tonelson says the problem with US trade policy is not primarily regional trade accords, but the failure to come to grips with countries such as China that have "racked up huge surpluses and can now afford to follow whatever practices they need to to keep their trade growing."
That failure means that an agreement like CAFTA, which the administration wants as much for political as for economic reasons, is going to continue to face stiff opposition in Congress, Tonelson says.
But even some Democrats believe CAFTA can still be passed - a vote is anticipated in the next few weeks - if the White House and Bush personally really lobby for it. Rep. Jim Moran, a Virginia Democrat, supports CAFTA and says putting the accord in the context of making inevitable globalization work for the region is the best way to argue for it.
Cambodia pitches sweat-free wear
As Chinese competition intensifies, Cambodia points to unions, watchdogs to appeal to buyer conscience.
By Simon Montlake | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – After a quick snip of the scissors and a double-stitch to attach the label, Om Chantoen flings the finished black blouse into a red plastic tray, then fishes another from the stack beside her workbench at a garment factory here.
With overtime, Miss Om brings home $70 a month. She's seen the price tag that goes on these US-bound shirts: $40.
"I used to wonder how people could pay so much for these shirts," she says, laughing at the question. "But I realize the factory has to make a profit."
But keeping Cambodia's garment factories profitable in the face of global competition isn't easy. Oeung Samol, the supervisor at Archid Garment Factory, says orders are down sharply this year and about 100 of 700 workers have been laid off. Like other manufacturers, he blames the downturn on surging Chinese exports following the abolition of a decades-old quota system on Jan 1.
Prodded by domestic textile companies, the European Union has joined the US government in launching an investigation into the sharp rise of garments from China that could trigger import curbs. But analysts say long-term trends in the garment trade favor large producers like China and India, as buyers place bigger orders and demand lower prices.
That leaves small garment producers like Cambodia, which ships most of its output to the US, facing potential ruin, as the industry employs 65 percent of its manufacturing workforce.
But Cambodia may have a trick up its sleeve. In an industry often accused of exploiting sweatshop labor, Cambodia says it offers the opposite: unionized workers paid fairly in safe conditions. Regular inspections by a third-party watchdog keep managers on their toes and give companies with a conscience an incentive to buy Cambodian.
The monitoring is the result of a 1999 US-Cambodia trade deal that rewarded garment exporters who improved labor conditions. It's a model that some say could be adapted by other countries seeking to stay ahead of cutthroat competition under the new trade laws.
"If I was a developing country trying to promote my textile industry, I'd be finding ways to say, 'look, we also have this advantage [of high labor standards].' It's been shown that buyers do respond to this," says Sandra Polanski, a former State Department official who helped negotiate the Cambodia trade pact and now works at the Carnegie Endowment.
Proponents point to a World Bank survey of international buyers in 2004 that ranked Cambodia above its competitors in terms of its treatment of workers. More than 60 percent of companies who sourced Cambodian apparel said compliance with labor standards was of equal or greater importance than price, quality, and speed of delivery.
The reason: 86 percent of the buyers reckoned that labor standards mattered to their customers, underscoring the risk to retailers of being called out by anti-sweatshop activists. Among the brands sourcing Cambodian garments are Gap, H&M, and Levis.
But garment factories here must still compete on price. "You've got to be in the game to play. If you're not price-competitive, then you're not even in the game," says Magdi Amin, a regional private-sector development specialist at the World Bank in Washington.
Wages make up about 15 percent of the cost of Om's $40 shirt. What hobbles small countries are the price of importing cotton and other fabrics and the rickety infrastructure that slows delivery times. China pays higher wages, but has greater productivity as well as faster roads and ports.
Then there's corruption: according to the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC), kickbacks to government officials add between 10 and 12 percent to production costs. In response to complaints, the government has begun to cut red tape by reducing the number of approvals needed for exports.
Still, the surge in Chinese exports is beginning to hurt. Since Jan. 1, 12 factories have closed and 24 have suspended operations, says Ken Loo, secretary general of the GMAC. Some foreign investors are switching to China.
The closures have cut about 20,000 jobs and angered unionists who say workers are being denied adequate protection. Last year a prominent union leader, Chea Vichea, was gunned down in public and labor relations are often tense, with almost daily strikes.
The International Labor Organization (ILO), which monitors Cambodia's garment factories, says that while conditions are improving, some factories force workers to do overtime and underpay them. "This is not a workers' paradise. There are still violations - serious violations - of the labor law," says Ros Harvey, chief technical adviser to the ILO.
Some manufacturers remain skeptical as to whether they can leverage Cambodia's record on complying with labor standards. "Most buyers are not willing to pay more for compliance," says Loo. "There's only a select group of buyers that have come out and shown that they are willing to pay more."
On the other hand, 14 new factories have opened this year, and others are adding new lines. Among those keen to buy Cambodian is British chain Marks & Spencer. In April, New Island Co., a Cambodian supplier, opened a $1.5 million factory near Phnom Penh's airport.
The yuan and the restless
Critics say Chinese currency should trade freely but that could have nasty consequences at home.
By Chris Isidore, CNN/Money senior writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. companies, politicians and other critics of the big trade deficit with China say there's one easy way to fix it -- let the Chinese yuan be free.
The critics say a free-floating yuan would rise at least 20 percent in value, making Chinese exports to the United States more costly, ending what some claim is unfair competition by the Chinese.
The U.S. trade deficit with China jumped 30 percent to $162 billion last year, bigger than the gap with Japan and the nations of OPEC, combined, and just slightly less than the nation's total deficit just six years ago.
Last month, finance ministers from the world's leading economies urged China to let the yuan start trading freely. And lawmakers in Congress, worried about the loss of U.S. jobs, are threatening to slap steep tariffs on Chinese goods unless the country changes its currency policy.
But for Americans, letting the yuan rise could have some very unpopular consequences. Interest rates would probably rise, perhaps steeply, along with oil prices -- and even the trade gap with China could be forced up, at least in the short run.
China is believed to be on the verge of a modest revaluation of the yuan, with experts looking for it to rise as much as 5 percent, perhaps soon. But economists say such a small change will do little to lower the deficit with the world's most populous country.
"It gets more and more out of synch every year," said University of Maryland professor Peter Morici. "It'd really be just a fig leaf. In order for there to be a change in the trade relationship, it has to be a large change right off the bat -- at least 20 percent."
If Chinese officials do give in and let the yuan rise, though, it could be a case of be careful what you wish for.
The downside at home
Right now China is one of the biggest buyers of U.S. government bonds, helping keep U.S. interest rates low. But if the yuan rose, the Chinese would probably cut back on their purchases, driving yields on Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities higher.
Ashraf Laidi, chief currency analyst at MG Financial Group, cited estimates that yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note are up to 70 basis points below where they would be without purchases by China and other Asian buyers. There are 100 basis points in 1 percent.
If China were to suddenly to drop its yuan-dollar peg, that means long-term bond rates could rise as much as a full percentage point, Laidi estimated.
Just the possibility of a free-floating yuan could drive up long-term rates, said Sung Won Sohn, CEO of Los Angeles-based Korean bank Hanmi Financial. "They don't have to do anything," he said. "If they just say they are going to buy fewer U.S. Treasuries, they can hurt us badly."
Even advocates of a free-floating yuan agree it will mean higher rates in the United States.
"Mortgage rates are going to go up, the long bond rate is going to go up," said Maryland's Morici, who has long been calling for China to let the yuan rise. "The only question is what is the precipitating event."
Meanwhile, a rising yuan would let China, already a big oil importer, buy even more oil for the same number of yuan, since oil is priced in dollars worldwide -- a move that would put upward pressure on oil prices.
"It is a country interested in growing rapidly, and one of the big bottlenecks in its growth has been energy," said oil analyst Peter Beutel, president of Cameron Hanover. "If it was suddenly trying to buy 1.5 million barrels today, it'd sop up most of the surplus right now."
The job question
Some critics say China's undervalued yuan costs American jobs by making it tougher for U.S. factories to compete.
"Until they start playing by the rules, our manufacturing industry will continue to bleed jobs because of unfair Chinese trade practices," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican pushing a law that would slap 27.5 percent tariffs on Chinese exports if Beijing doesn't revalue the yuan.
But many economists say China would still have a significant cost advantage over U.S. factories, even with a stronger yuan. Many of its government-directed companies could afford lower profits or even losses so as not to lose U.S. sales.
And even a rising yuan probably wouldn't bring jobs back to the United States.
"In my opinion (low-cost production) would shift to elsewhere in Asia, perhaps to Africa," said Joanne Thornton, international trade analyst for Stanford Washington Research Group. "It's hard for me to imagine a situation where ... production that moved overseas would shift back to the United States."
Maryland's Morici said at best a rising yuan might stem further losses of U.S. jobs to competitors overseas. But some higher-end U.S. plants would become competitive with Chinese counterparts again, he added.
And while a stronger yuan is meant to close the U.S.-China trade gap, the immediate impact would probably be the opposite. Some Chinese exports would fetch more dollars while U.S. exports to China, worth $3.3 billion last year, would be worth less.
Change expected to be slow
No one knows exactly what a freely traded yuan would be worth. Morici and others say it should trade at around 5 yuan to a dollar, rather than the current fixed rate of about 8.3. Others say years of pent-up imbalance could result in an even bigger shift.
But even with all the talk of a revalued yuan, few experts expect any change soon.
Laidi at MG Financial Group said there could be a move to a more freely traded yuan by the time the Olympics come to Beijing in 2008. Others think it could be years later.
"I think the Chinese strategy is give as little as possible and take as long as they can" to a free-floating currency, said Hanmi's Sohn.
Imports increasingly burden US economy
The nation's growth rate slowed for the first quarter - and oil prices aren't the only reason.
NEW YORK – The nation's insatiable appetite for foreign-made goods has joined energy as a brake on the economy.
n the latest chapter of the trade wars, imports are surging into the US at a record rate. The Bush administration - alarmed at the flood of imports, which includes everything from pillowcases to coils of steel - is looking for ways to help scores of ailing domestic industries.
Congress is pointing fingers at China, which last year had a record trade deficit of $176 billion. Even the giant Japanese auto companies - which only continue to increase their US market share - have become worried, suggesting they might raise prices to help Detroit.
The latest indication of the impact of imports came Thursday when the Commerce Department reported that the nation's gross domestic product rose by an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the first quarter - a figure lower than expected. The nation's enormous trade deficit knocked 1.5 percentage points from the economy's growth.
"The trade deficit is becoming more of a problem - just the sheer magnitude of it. And it is ballooning," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com.
The yawning trade deficit wasn't the only thing sapping the economy. In the first quarter, energy prices soared as oil companies struggled to keep up with demand during a cold and wet winter in the Northeast. This meant consumers had to dig deeper into their pockets to fill up their tanks.
"Energy cast a pall over the economy," says Mr. Zandi.
The first-quarter GDP numbers, which will be revised later, may indicate that the soft patch the economy has entered may endure longer. Corporate inventories rose sharply. And as companies try to get inventories in line with sales, they may reduce production.
"It does imply that as inventories rise at a slower pace, that component will be a drag on the economy in the second quarter," says Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City Corp. in Cleveland. "I will be reducing my estimate for the second quarter by about 0.5 percentage points to about the same vicinity we're in now."
Despite the slowdown in the economy, Federal Reserve watchers don't expect the nation's central bank will hold off on another quarter-point hike in interest rates when it meets early next month. "I think the Fed feels the factors weighing on the economy are transitory," says Mr. DeKaser.
Indeed, energy prices have been changeable recently. Thursday morning, the price of oil dropped $1.61 a barrel on the future markets. It has fallen nearly $6 a barrel in the past week. Gasoline prices have also plunged, falling nearly 8 cents a gallon Thursday morning.
"A slower economy feeds back to the energy markets. If the GDP is weaker, the oil markets may come down," says Michael Swanson, an economist at Wells Fargo Banks in Minneapolis. "What if China's economy cools from 10 percent growth to 7.5 percent growth? Oil could tumble $10 or $15 a barrel."
Lower oil prices would help to bring down the trade deficit in the months ahead. Yet some sectors of the economy will be going through structural changes no matter what happens to the price of oil.
That's definitely happening in the textile and apparel business. Last fall, most quotas came off textiles and apparel. The National Textile Association, based in Boston, reports that in the first three months of this year, imports of pillowcases were up 188 percent over the same time period last year; cotton sheets, 229 percent; and cotton towels, 177 percent. Large domestic mills, such as Springs Industries, Dan River, and WestPoint Stevens, have been closing facilities and laying off workers.
One of those companies that has been hurt by the imports is the Kentucky Derby Hosiery Co., based in Hopkinsville, Ky. Bill Nichol, the CEO, says he's been steadily consolidating his factories, which are based in Virginia and North Carolina, as imports have surged from China.
"We are perpetually shrinking," he says. "For every percentage increase of market share from offshore, there is less produced in the US."
Some of Mr. Nichol's plants are in Mount Airy, N.C. The contraction in the business hurts the city, says Mayor Jack Loftis.
"We have to have a tighter budget," he says, adding, "It also affects our real estate market because people move to where the jobs are."
However, imports also may benefit consumers. At eFashionSolutions, which markets celebrity clothes online, Keith Foy, vice president, says he is seeing better quality garments coming in for the same price. The reception by the consumer, he says, has been positive with sales of such brands as Baby Phat up 74 percent over last year. "A pretty good chunk of the imports are coming from China," he says.
The high tide of Chinese imports is prompting renewed calls for China to revalue its currency. This prospect may be why some importers are stockpiling goods. For example, Nichol estimates the Chinese have already shipped 80 percent of their 2005 quota, with six months still left in the quota year.
"If China revalues, it's certainly long overdue," says Axel Merk, who manages money out of Palo Alto, Calif. "But that means goods will be more expensive for the consumer. Unwinding the trade problems will be painful no matter how you do it."
Not your father's China trade
The most populous country in the world is redefining the rules in the global manufacturing game
By Todd Crowell
In the final analysis, it comes down to people, millions and millions of people - 1.3 billion people by the official count, unofficially probably closer to 1.5 billion people. "First and foremost, [China's] huge population changes the fundamental rules," says Ted C. Fishman, the author of "China Inc."
These millions are drawn to factory towns nobody in America has heard of that are larger than Chicago. These towns have become the new Ruhr Valley, the new Pittsburgh-Detroit, soon perhaps the new Silicon Valley. Three shoe factories in the city of Dongguan alone employ a quarter of a million workers.
No industry is safe from the inexorable pressure of these workers - from cheap, simple Christmas-tree ornaments, made by the nimble fingers of thousands of women who haven't the faintest idea what an angel is, to sophisticated electronics components, car parts, and machine tools. Soon Chinese cars will begin to appear in American showrooms (or maybe Wal-Mart).
Of course, to simply say China has a lot of people is to state the obvious. The issue is how China has marshaled this enormous workforce to create the world's fastest-growing economy. This is the subject of Fishman's excellent and very readable new book, which deftly combines anecdotes and analysis to help us understand China's economic miracle.
Basically, the Chinese Communists broke centuries of feudalism to mold this inchoate mass of people into a disciplined workforce. Then the economic reforms set in motion by Deng Xiaoping in 1979 unleashed the pent-up entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese people, producing a workforce that has become irresistible to the world's manufacturers.
Strangely, the still nominal Communists who run China have succeeded in turning Marxism on its head. Classical Marxism holds that capitalism is the final stage of human development before communism. In China, communism has become the final stage before the full fruition of capitalism.
When Japan Inc. seemed poised to conquer the world, the iconic image of Japan's economic prowess was the fully automated automobile factory, robotic arms looking like arms of a giant praying mantis, sparks flying, not a human anywhere in sight. The iconic image of China Inc. is a row of young women, all wearing identical blue uniforms, hunched over an assembly line in an electronic-components factory, like an endless chorus line. Not a robot in sight.
Who needs robots when every day brings more and more recruits to the labor force from the countryside, more cogs, if you will, in the giant Chinese manufacturing machine, a vast floating population of migrant workers advancing on China's cities that is larger in itself than the entire American workforce? Therein lies the challenge for America and the rest of the world.
In retrospect it was not so difficult for America to meet Japan's challenge. Japan never based its competitive advantage on armies of low-paid workers alone, or its marketing strategy simply on price. Basically, Japan competed by raising standards of quality and productivity.
That gave America an opening for a comeback. Quality can be improved, productivity raised, robots replicated. It mainly took determination and capital. But how, short of annexing Mexico (which would still leave China three times as populous), do you compete with China's endless supply of workers?
Alas, the author offers few answers. China's millions, of course, are a potential market for US and other countries' products, and the number of people with the wherewithal to buy things is large and rapidly growing. But for many US manufacturers, the Chinese market is a double-edged sword, Fishman says.
Any exporter faces the prospect that its technology will be assiduously studied, dissected, and replicated at a much lower cost. This doesn't even take into account outright piracy. As Fishman points out, piracy of computer operating software not only robs Microsoft (which seems strangely tolerant about it) but also gives industries that use computers an advantage across the board.
The term "economic miracle" has been overworked since the end of World War II. First came the "German miracle," then the Japanese miracle, then the Asian Tigers miracle. But the rise of China in the past 20 years has truly been miraculous.
One can cite the usual statistics, such as years of consistent 7 to 9 percent annual growth, but the fundamental fact is that China in recent years has lifted more people out of poverty than has any other country in the world, anytime, anywhere. That, of course, is good news for China. For the rest of the world it is a mixed blessing, posing a supreme challenge for the 21st century.
• Todd Crowell is a Seattle-based economics writer with experience in Asia.
US farm trade under pressure
Known as the world's breadbasket, the US now faces rising food imports and competition in export markets.
By Katherine Dillin | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – Wander down the aisles of most American grocery stores and you'll find a surprising choice of foods from foreign countries - ripe blackberries from Mexico, capers from Morocco, hearts of palm from Costa Rica, sweet peppers from South Africa. The list goes on.
While all these foreign imports may be a boon for consumers, they're one reason the once-huge US agricultural trade surplus is rapidly deflating. It's down from $9.6 billion just last year to only a projected $1 billion in 2005, raising the possibility of a deficit in the future.
How could the world's breadbasket be staggering when it comes to a traditional strength like the American farm? The question comes at an awkward moment as overall US trade deficits hit record highs of more than $600 billion a year.
The answer is a culinary tale involving changing consumer tastes, expanding global farm output, and the subsidies governments offer a politically sensitive industry.
"We're not doing enough to combat [foreign] protectionism," says Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R) of Virginia, chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture. He says other countries are raising barriers that make it harder for American farmers to sell their products abroad.
At home, American shoppers also share the blame. People enjoy - and buy - lots of foreign foods. "Our economy is growing, incomes are rising," says Parr Rosson, director of the Center for North American Studies at Texas A&M University. "As a consequence our imports have risen ... particularly in fruits and vegetables we like to have fresh year-round."
Last year, $62.3 billion in farm exports left the US, a number forecast to drop to $59 billion in 2005. Conversely, $52.7 billion in imports arrived in 2004 and are predicted to be up to $58 billion this year.
Representative Goodlatte runs through a list of reasons.
First, there are tariffs. The "United States imposes tariffs on food coming to our country that average 12 percent. The worldwide average is 62 percent."
Second, developed countries, particularly Japan and the European Union, subsidize their farmers at far higher levels than America. "Even though our agricultural production is higher and our population is lower, we actually have a trade deficit with Europe in agriculture, in part because of all these tariffs and subsidies," he says.
While subsidies can distort commerce, many experts see trade in general as beneficial. "If we didn't import oil, what do you think we'd be paying for oil today?" asks Mr. Rosson at Texas A&M. "You need to think of imports [as] ... sending a signal to domestic industry they need to compete or become more productive."
One agricultural industry -cheese - has long run an export deficit, but the industry insists it hasn't hurt them. "We have a healthy relationship with [foreign cheese makers].... They are the 'origin' cheeses. They've given the American consumer their palette," says John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association in Madison.
Still, the rapid decline in the US dollar relative to other currencies should be boosting US exports and dampening imports. Why doesn't that happen? Rosson says, "Companies make deals well in advance ... and as long as that pipeline is full ... it takes [a year to 18 months] for that change to ripple through the system."
Gary Adams, chief economist with the National Cotton Council of America in Memphis, Tenn., offers another take: "As the dollar weakens or depreciates,... that does tend to support our ability to export.... [B]ut one other wrinkle is if China is your destination for your product, then movement of your dollar isn't affecting things so much because China's [currency] is pegged to the US dollar."
The top three destinations for raw US cotton fiber are Mexico, China, and Turkey. The cotton industry has been shipping more and more of its raw fiber out of the country as US mills close.
America's "biggest complaint" is over nontariff trade barriers, Goodlatte says.
The European Union "block[s] some of our major exports on what we think are unscientific and spurious reasons that really you'd have to think of as more protectionist than based on science." Prime examples are genetically modified corn and soybeans, he says.
The farmers' own representatives in Washington - the American Farm Bureau Federation - don't seem as concerned. "The things that we're importing tend not to compete with what [we're] growing in the US," says Megan Provost, trade economist with the federation.
Still, American government policies could add new worries for farms. In addition to its goal of reducing subsidies, especially for rice and cotton, the Bush administration would move $300 million from the US foreign food aid program to the US Agency for International Development. "This would allow USAID to buy food products overseas for foreign aid, rather than from US farmers," according to The Washington Times. Goodlatte says that would breach a "contract" with US farmers. America, with 6 percent of the world's population, some years provides 60 percent of the food aid, he adds.
Behind the 'fair trade' label
by Pieternel Gruppen
The fair trade logo has become an increasingly regular sight on supermarket shelves in recent years, and many customers are now familiar with the concept.
Still, opinions vary about what fair trade really means. Some consumers won't buy their trainers if they're put together by children's hands; others feel coffee farmers should get a fair price for their beans.
Environmental concerns and acceptable working conditions are also commonly associated with fair trade.
Many different definitions and interpretations exist, and there is no general standard to determine how "fairly traded" the T-shirt or coffee pack that you buy really is. It all depends on the definition that producers wish to apply. And often, that definition is not made explicit to consumers. It's because Fair Trade is not a registered brand. And so, consumers may buy a product because they see the words 'fair trade', but there is no guarantee that that it deserves that label.
To ensure that both producers and consumers get a fair deal, several quality mark organisations have sprung up. Chief among them in the Netherlands is the Max Havelaar Foundation, which has set a number of conditions for fair trade.
Manufacturers, for example, will only be granted the use of the Max Havelaar hallmark if they guarantee acceptable working conditions, meet environmental standards and allow their workers to organise themselves. In addition, they have to guarantee a fair price for their products.
"We are supporting the weakest groups in trade," a Max Havelaar spokesman explains. "It's fair because at least they get a price which is covering their own production costs, a sustainable price."
Farmers will receive an additional bonus which they are obliged to invest in social projects, like setting up schools or improving sanitation. So far, Max Havelaar has awarded certificates for bananas, coffee, tea, chocolate, honey, fruit and fruit juices. These commodities are easy to verify because production lines are short, says Joris Oldenziel of the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO).
"For larger commodities, like coffee and bananas, there are quite well-developed systems for checking if the minimum standards are guaranteed. But when it comes, for example, to handicraft, it's a bit more difficult because they work with middlemen and there is no direct contact with the individual craftsmen. So, they still have to develop better methods for monitoring and verifying whether the wages and the prices the craftsmen get for their products are fair, or whether the money stays with the middlemen."
Products that involve a whole string of middlemen are difficult to verify. That does not only apply to handicraft, but also to clothing. A T-shirt goes a long way - from cotton plantation via sewing workshop to wholesalers - before it's finally sold in a fashion shop. Conditions in a clothing factory may meet fair trade standards, but how about the workers harvesting the cotton crop?
At present, fair trade organisations are not equipped to monitor all the steps in the production process. This has prompted a great deal of media criticism in recent years, which in turn has led to moves to make fair trade groups operate more professionally.
SOMO's Joris Oldzenziel says the fair trade movement should at least be credited for putting the issue on the global agenda. He also believes big companies should take over the initiative:
"I think that most people would agree that the fair trade model, as it exists now, will probably not get more than a 10 percent market share. So, what about the other 90 percent?"
SOMO and other organisations recognise that, ultimately, the fair trade concept won't succeed without the support of big business. And that's where consumers come in, because companies will be more sensitive to the issue when consumer demand picks up.
Delighting in the dollar's decline
Foreign visitors find bargains abound in S.F, other tourist areas
Birgitta Forsberg, Chronicle Staff Writer
While Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is worried about the weak dollar, it has been a boon for foreign visitors and San Francisco's tourism industry.
The precipitous drop of the dollar against the euro and other major currencies has increased the buying power of foreign tourists. Hotels are seeing more overseas guests, and business at shops and restaurants has picked up.
"I'm definitely saving quite a lot," said Richard Smith, a British tourist who's been on a shopping binge during his two- to three-month tour of the United States. "I bought clothes, electronic items and a lot of beer. And I've been on a lot of tours. I'm able to see a lot more (because) the value of the (British) pound to the dollar makes it so cheap.
"I bought four iPods, one laptop, CDs, a CD player, two digital cameras and DVDs. I'm thinking about buying a camcorder. I met a lot of English people in New York and they were shopping in droves."
The weak dollar -- mainly the result of this country's growing budget and trade deficits -- has benefited American exporters, making their goods cheaper abroad. The slippage has been dramatic, with the dollar having lost 4. 3 percent of its value against the euro in the past 12 months, and 34 percent in the past 36 months.
The erosion of the dollar, though, is drawing tourists to this country in growing numbers. "There has been a significant uptick in the U.S. tourism industry because of the dollar's relative weakness to the euro, but the biggest pickup is in New York and southern Florida," said Thomas Callahan, chief executive officer of PKF Consulting, a firm that monitors the hotel and travel industry.
"It's a long way from Europe to San Francisco. We see an increase here, too, but to a lesser degree."
Tourism rebounding
The influx of foreign visitors is welcome news for San Francisco's tourism industry, which has been on the mend after Sept. 11, the SARS outbreak and the Iraq war, which shook air travelers for some time. The most recent data from the city's Convention & Visitors Bureau notes that 14.4 million domestic and international visitors, including Bay Area visitors, spent $6.03 billion in 2003. Of that total, there were 2.15 million foreign visitors who spent more than $536 million.
Although the bureau's 2004 data won't be available for a few months, David Bratton, its research director, said the overseas visitor count should be up significantly over what it was in 2003.
And the weak dollar is a big reason for the rise. "Four or five years ago, one euro was worth 89 cents. Now it's worth $1.30," said Jon Handlery, the owner of the Handlery Union Square hotel.
"It's extremely attractive for Europeans to come here, and the same goes for Australians and New Zealanders." Handlery cited Air New Zealand's direct flights from Auckland to San Francisco that began July 1 as a boost to business.
"And Iceland Air is starting a direct flight in May, which will be good for the Scandinavian market," he said.
San Francisco International Airport said the number of international passengers grew by 14 percent to 6.9 million during the first 11 months of 2004 compared with the same period in 2003.
Niki Leondakis, chief operating officer at Kimpton Hotels, said the group's hotels had seen a 127 percent gain in international tourism in 2004 compared with 2003. The biggest increases were seen in the number of visitors from France, followed by Germany, Britain, Australia and Japan.
"We definitely see an increase," she said. "Our Grand Cafe at the Hotel Monaco (on Geary Street) has seen its late-night business pick up, which the staff attributes to European travelers who are late-night diners.
"As long as the euro is strong, we project this (trend) will continue during 2005 and into 2006."
Occupancy rates up
According to Smith Travel Research, hotel occupancy in the San Francisco- San Mateo area was 68 percent in 2004, compared with 62.8 percent in 2003. At the same time, the average daily room rate edged up to $117.96 in 2004, compared with $116.68 in 2003.
The presence of foreign visitors has also been felt in the Napa Valley. "We have absolutely seen a big increase in our foreign visitors and also in foreign journalists who are writing about us," said Diana Gerlach, hospitality operations manager at Beringer Vineyards. "We see people from India, the Philippines and China."
For Gerlach, that's a welcome change. "Visitor traffic has been soft for the last three, four years, and for U.S. visitors, the trend is still flat," she said.
The weak dollar has made U.S. goods a bargain. "I'm going to buy clothes and maybe a digital camera," said Kuo Hui-yu, who had just arrived from Taiwan for a weeklong stay in San Francisco and plans to shop and sightsee.
"The dollar's exchange rate is quite good for us. It would have influenced us to buy more had we been able to carry more," added Helen Crowe, a British tourist who is passing through San Francisco on part of a four-week world tour.
For some businesses, though, foreign tourists have been hard to come by. That's understandable, because January is traditionally a slow time of the year for the tourism industry. The Blue & Gold Fleet said it doesn't have very many sightseers braving the rain and cold to go on a cruise.
"For us on the boats, the weather is a factor. It's usually up and down this time of year," said Robert Knigge, vice president of sales and marketing for Blue & Gold. "We saw an increase in international travelers of around 10 to 12 percent last year compared with 2003. But this year it has so far been flat compared with last year."
Japantown waiting
Several shopkeepers and restaurant owners in Japantown also said they haven't seen many foreign tourists. They said Japanese tourists travel extensively from late April to early May during "golden week," the festive period of national holidays in which schools, government offices and stores are closed. They also expect business will pick up when overseas tours come through during the summer.
Callahan of PKF Consulting predicted the increased number of international travelers will be visible when the warm weather arrives. "(Europeans ) will typically travel in the summer months, so we will see the real benefit from June to August," he said.
Unfortunately, most foreign visitors are not big spenders. "We mainly see budget-oriented tourists," Callahan said.
Tina Chen, who owns Tina's Jewelry on Powell Street, said that although there have been a lot of overseas tourists at her store, they haven't generated more business. "Eighty percent of the people that came into the store yesterday were foreigners," she said. "But only 20 percent were spending money, and they mostly bought small things.
"Last year, more local people came in, but many have lost their jobs and may not have extra money to buy luxury things. People have champagne taste but only soft-drink money."
Bush opts for costly bash in wartime
FDR scaled back event, but there's no clear precedent
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Jubilant Republicans are descending on a nippy Washington for President Bush's second inaugural on Thursday, an affair of celebrations and protest, pomp and a predicted high temperature of 35 degrees.
Beneath the festivities surrounding the 55th presidential inauguration, there is a current of unease. Washington is capital of a nation at war, with 150,000 Americans serving in Iraq and 18,000 in Afghanistan. So far, more than 1,500 military personnel have been killed in the two countries, with more than 10,000 wounded.
Some critics have suggested scaling back Thursday's inaugural, which will cost $40 million in privately raised funds for the parties, parade, dinners and entertainment events. It will cost tens of millions of dollars more in public money for an unprecedented security effort that will involve about 6, 000 people who will cordon off a large chunk of downtown.
"Precedent suggests that inaugural festivities should be muted -- if not canceled -- in wartime,'' Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-New York City, wrote to Bush last week. He suggested putting some of the money toward helping the troops.
Weiner, who is mulling a run for mayor of New York, cited the example of an ailing President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in January 1945 limited his inaugural celebration in the midst of World War II to a simple ceremony on the White House balcony, followed by a spartan buffet lunch featuring chicken salad, pound cake and coffee.
However, there is no clear precedent for whether wartime inaugurals should be gala or solemn.
In 1865, crowds overran the White House for President Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration as the Civil War was drawing to a close. In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower's first inaugural was the biggest staged up to that time, and President Richard M. Nixon's 1969 and 1973 inaugurals -- held amid the divisive Vietnam War -- weren't scaled down.
"These are sober times. ... The image that is most troubling is of a president in black tie holding a champagne flute at a time when so many soldiers are eating out of a plastic pouch while getting shot at in Iraq," Weiner added.
About 60 protests are planned for the inaugural, representing a variety of anti-war, anti-Bush, anti-capitalist, pro-environment, pro-abortion rights and pro-civil liberties causes. One group sued last week, claiming that the National Park Service is unduly limiting protesters' access to Pennsylvania Avenue, widely known as "America's main street.''
Access to the bleachers set up along Pennsylvania will be restricted to those who have bought tickets from the private Presidential Inaugural Committee, or the committee's guests.
The White House has rejected the idea of truncating the three-day inaugural plans, which call for a patriotic pageant called "American Heroes --
A Salute to Those Who Serve" today at the indoor MCI Center, Washington's downtown arena; a youth concert at the D.C. Armory featuring Hillary Duff; fireworks on Wednesday evening; a two-hour parade on Pennsylvania Avenue after the ceremony on the Capitol's west front at noon Thursday; and nine inaugural balls that evening.
"They're a ceremony of our history. They're a ritual of our government. I think it's really important to have the inauguration every time,'' first lady Laura Bush told a reporters' roundtable in the White House last Friday.
Her view was seconded by 77-year-old Charlie Brotman, who on Thursday will handle the announcing duties at the inaugural parade for the 13th consecutive time. It's an unpaid job that Brotman, former public address announcer for the Washington Senators, said he has gladly undertaken since Eisenhower's second parade in 1957.
"Let's continue our normal lives as best we can,'' said Brotman, who will be stationed atop the reviewing stand erected across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. From there, he serves as the president's eyes and ears, alerting the president in his heated reviewing stand to what marching units and floats are coming his way.
"It's just a few hours of entertainment. The war isn't going to stop tomorrow,'' he said.
The entertainment has already started in Washington, and by the time Thursday comes, local hotels will be jammed with an estimated 100,000 visitors.
At Political Americana, a collectibles shop on Pennsylvania, trinkets marking the second inauguration of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney fill the shelves. There's a $4 "You're Hired'' button featuring Bush and millionaire Donald Trump, star of NBC's reality series "The Apprentice.''
A Navy blue golf towel carrying the inaugural logo sells for $12.99, and a coffee mug bearing the likenesses of the president and vice president goes for the same price.
Bush has told inaugural organizers that he wants Thursday's parade to last no more than two hours, a formidable task because it will feature about 11,000 participants in six dozen military units, color guards, marching bands and floats from around the country spread out over a route of 1.7 miles.
Based on his experience, Brotman is skeptical it can be done. "Two hours? Yeah, I hear that every four years,'' he said.
Free trade in 2005: subsidies for the richest, tar...
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Finding a Voice for Non-Human Persons
by Elena Suglia '15
Dolphins and other cetaceans are some of the most well-loved, charismatic creatures on Earth. This stems in part from the many human-like qualities they display. Some dolphins recognize themselves in a mirror [1], call each other by name [2], and correctly identify and communicate to humans the presence or absence of objects in their tank [3]. Their intelligence intrigues citizens and scientists alike, and cetaceans have earned a reputation as some of the world’s smartest animals.
In Case You Missed It: Prof. Ackerman (PHIL) on Physician-Assisted Suicide
A map showing which US states have legalized/prohibited physician-assisted suicide. [image via]
Imagine Emma Sue Schroeder, an 83-year-old terminal cancer patient who wants her doctor to prescribe lethal pills for her. Should that be legal?
It is legal in some states, and many mainstream bioethicists advocate such legalization.
Now imagine Emma Sue’s daughter, Rachel. Forty-five and healthy, Rachel has lost her executive job, her house, her looks, and her husband. Having endured five years of living alone in a one-room apartment and getting subsistence wages for drudge-work she detests and considers beneath her dignity, Rachel wants her doctor to prescribe lethal pills for her. Should that be legal?
It is not legal in any state; nor do mainstream bioethicists advocate such legalization.
On April 2, Prof. Felicia Ackerman (PHIL) discussed the above scenario in a Science Café hosted by The Triple Helix called “The Double Standard in Physician-Assisted Suicide.” Ackerman is well-known as the writer of well over a hundred letters to the editor in The New York Times and as the writer of a column in The Providence Journal. Ackerman teaches PHIL0030 “Skepticism and Knowledge” and PHIL0880 “Ethical Themes in the Contemporary American Short Story.”
Ackerman argued that, out of respect for Rachel’s autonomy, it should be legal for lethal pills to be prescribed to Rachel and contended that government should not deal in morality.
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Cool Muscle Cars For Under $25,000
by Ian Wright Car Culture
And they're all more fun than an equivalently priced crossover SUV.
Just because you don’t have a wardrobe full of bowling shirts, a fetish for wearing baseball caps indoors, and a bank account that can survive an afternoon at a Barrett-Jackson auction doesn’t mean you can’t get into an old-school muscle car. Sure, you’re going to have to do a lot of saving to reach a 1960s Shelby GT350, a first-generation Challenger, or a second-generation Pontiac GTO, but those are cars that tend to end up in atmospherically controlled garages with black and white checkered floors and a collection of vintage gas station signs on the wall.
However, set your sights at around the price of an acceptably optioned Honda Civic or Toyota Camry and there’s a lot of fun and style to be had. Set your sites on this century, and although there’s not quite the wide range of muscle car models the classic market offers, you can get a hell of a lot of lot of modern muscle for your money. For someone on the fence between vintage and modern muscle, we’ve put together a list of the first vintage and modern muscle cars we would be looking at rather than heading to a dealer for a shiny new compact crossover.
1985-1990 Camaro IROC-Z
Named after the International Race of Champions one-make series, the IROC-Z was an upgrade option for the third generation Z28 Camaro. Its lack of real power after being choked by emissions equipment, despite being powered by large displacement V8 engines, is probably what’s kept the IROC-Z affordable despite its iconic status. Removing the emissions equipment can get the largest engine model near 300 horsepower, but the legality of that is questionable at absolute best. What makes up for that is its all-around performance built around a retuned suspension using Delco-Bilstein shocks and thicker sway bars.
Cars That Should Be Used As Police Cars
Super Stealthy Sleepers People Won't See Coming
2010-2015 Camaro SS
When the Camaro returned for its fifth generation, the SS showed up to the party with a 426 horsepower version of the 6.2-liter LS3 V8 engine. Early SS models are all over the place for under $25,000 and if you come in under budget then, thanks to Chevrolet Performance, bringing it up to 1LE spec isn’t a big leap. Either way, there's a lot of power and the Camaro's chassis and suspension was excellent straight out of the gate.
1970-1972 Pontiac Le Mans
In 1970, Pontiac reshuffled the Le Mans in its lineup. It was mostly a downgrade, but bigger engines previously only available on GTO models were made available for lower trims. There’s a lot of choice and options for the Le Mans, but at the top end of our budget the 1972 Sport trim came as a 2-door hardtop or convertible with the interior from the Luxury Le Mans but the front seats swapped for Strato buckets.
The Le Mans is often overlooked outside of GTO spec (1972 was the year the GTO reverted back from being a separate model), but with the choice of a 5.7-liter, 6.6-liter, or 7.5-liter V8 and no V6 option for this generation, it was no joke even in plain trim.
2004-06 Pontiac GTO
While it wasn’t as heavily stylized and mean looking as the original GTO, the Australian bred GTO of the new millennium has aged well. It arrived with an LS1 V8 engine and a surprisingly good interior. In 2005, the GTO got itself an LS2 upgrade although you’re going to have to do some shopping to find one that hasn’t had its price inflated by the "I KNOW WHAT I'VE GOT" type of seller.
1967-69 Mercury Cougar
Golden era muscle cars don’t tend to be cheap, and early 1970s Cougars are more inexpensive, but the late 60s models are much, much, cooler looking. Hunt around and you can pick a good one up for $25,000 and a little under with a solid Windsor V8. We even found a couple in XR7 trim which added competition-style gauges and toggle switches.
1999-2002 Mustang SVT Cobra
The New Edge Mustangs weren’t the most powerful of the breed, even in GT trim. However, the SVT Cobra got an upgraded 4.6-liter V8 engine making at 320 horsepower and 317 ft-lb of torque as well as independent rear suspension. They can be found in the sub $15,000 range but if you have a little more to spend, you can find 2002-2003 models with the supercharged 4.6-liter V8 making 390 horsepower and a matching 390 ft-lb of torque under $25,000.
1970-71 Ford Torino GT
The second generation Torino had a more aggressive look than the first-gen model, and the pre-1972 emissions regulations 4.9-liter V-8 Windsor made a respectable 220 horsepower and 300 lb-ft of torque. We've specified the GT here as it's in the sweet spot for the budget. A non-GT version will require less hunting around but finding one with the 429 Cobra Jet engine under $25,000 isn’t likely unless you want a serious restoration project.
2011-2014 Ford Mustang
The fifth generation of the Mustang launched in 2005, but the 2010 model year saw a welcomed aesthetic upgrade, and in 2011 the 4.8-liter V8 became the 5.0-liter Coyote. That gave the GT spec Mustang a bump from 315 to 412 horsepower and made it a true beast of a car for the road. It also sold like hotcakes, so there are plenty on the market.
1977-79 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
In 1977, the Firebird gained its heavily slanted nose. Then, in 1980, it lost its larger displacement engines due to increasing emissions regulations, so 1977-79 is our sweet spot here. Firebird prices do steadily rise though, and right now you’re going to have to shop around but it could turn into a decent investment. Just avoid a black one if possible, even if it's just to avoid Smokey and the Bandit comments.
There’s a lot of choices here for under $25,000 if you’re happy with the pre-facelift models of the modern Challenger. SRT models with the 6.1-liter Hemi V8 are now affordable, and mid-level R/T models with the 5.7-liter Hemi are plentiful. There’s a strong argument for the Challenger being the only true full-blooded modern muscle car and, as far as bang for your buck goes, it’s the modern muscle car that ticks most of the important boxes on the budget we’ve set here.
Tags: #Chevrolet #Ford #Dodge #Car Culture
10 Cars That Are All Show And No Go
America's Supercar That Never Was
Rejected Car Designs For Existing Cars
Open Your Checkbooks Because A Manual Ferrari 458 Is Coming
2019 Chevrolet Camaro Coupe
2018 Chevrolet Camaro Review
2018 Dodge Challenger R/T Review
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VLW 2017
VLW 2017 VLW 2016 VLW 2015 VLW 2014 VLW 2013 VLW 2012 VLW 2011 VLW 2010 VLW 2009 VLW 2008 VLW 2007 VLW 2006 VLW 2005
Bijdragen zoeken
Bijdragen VLW 2016
Enriching the Berth Allocation Problem
R. Van Schaeren, W. Dullaert, B. Raa
Since the 80s, the annual growth rate of seaborne trade has been 3.7 percent on average (Grossmann et al., 2007). Container growth rates, however, have been significantly higher. According to leading maritime analyst Drewry Shipping Consultants (2007, 2008), the number of full teu’s shipped on worldwide trade routes more than doubled from 69.6 million teu in 2000 to 141.2 million teu in 2007, representing an average annual growth rate of no less than 10.6%. This growth rate is expected to continue in the short-term future: by the year 2012 Drewry forecasts a worldwide container traffic of 223.7 million full teu’s, i.e. an increase of nearly 60% compared to the 2007 figure. Additional container handling is generated by the hub-and-spoke strategy, in which larger ports (hubs) serve as ports of call and smaller ports (spokes) offer additional cargo via feeder lines. Figures on total throughput handled by the world’s ports are therefore more suited to illustrate the increasing demand for container handling capacity. For 2007, the total volume handled at the world’s ports is estimated at 493.2 million teu (including empties and transshipment), a figure expected to increase with some 57% up to 773.7 teu in 2012 (Drewry Shipping Consultants, 2007, 2008). As argued in Vernimmen et al. (2007), many shipping lines have anticipated on the increased demand for container transport by ordering additional and larger vessels. According to AXS-Alphaliner (2008), the total cellular containership fleet at 01/01/2008 consisted of 4320 vessels for a combined capacity of 10.92 million teu slots. Based on the shipping lines’ order books as at 01/04/2008, these figures are expected to increase to 5813 vessels and 17.69 million teu, respectively, by 01/01/2012. Hence, the total slot capacity provided by the world cellular fleet will increase by more than 60% in four years time, or nearly 13% per year. In contrast, many planned investments in additional container terminal infrastructure in Northern European ports (such as Le Havre, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Wilhelmshaven, Flushing and ports in the UK) have been delayed for several years or even cancelled altogether. If all these proposed projects would have been realized in accordance with their original time schedule, an extra capacity of no less than 11.4 million teu (nearly one third of the capacity available in 2004) would have been available in North European ports in 2005 (Vernimmen et al., 2007). Increasing container handling capacity by expansion projects appears to be difficult for environmental, financial, technical and legal reasons. In many cases there is even no land available to build additional infrastructure. Optimizing the processes of existing infrastructure is therefore often a better – if not only – way to increase the handling capacity. The productivity of a container terminal is determined by the interaction of a number of processes. Based on the academic literature devoted to them, the best-known processes are probably berth planning (which allocates vessels at the available quays) and quay crane planning (which assigns the available cranes to the vessels alongside the quays). Other important, but less studied processes are yard planning (for allocating all the containers handled by the terminal on a yard), vessel planning (positioning of the containers on board of vessels) and labor planning (assigning people to all the jobs to be carried out). This paper will focus on the berth planning and quay crane planning processes, the most studied container terminal processes from the academic literature. Section 2 presents a focused literature review on the Berth Allocation Problem (BAP) and the Crane Allocation Problem (CAP). In Section 3, we propose an extended model for the combined BAP and CAP, accommodating some of the shortcomings of the existing models identified in Section 2. This model is validated in Section 4 using real-life data. Section 5 concludes and offers directions for further research.
© Vervoerslogistieke werkdagen, 2019.
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Posted on November 13, 2018 by Tom Engelhardt
Tomgram: John Feffer, Splinterlands 2.0
This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.
If you happened to notice, news reports on a study in the science journal Nature about the globe’s oceans warming faster than even most climate scientists had imagined should have been eye-opening and potentially devastating news. In another world, that study would certainly have made headlines across the country as the midterm elections bore down on us. We are, after all, talking about the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced. Yet its impact was essentially nil and no wonder. In the election season just past, Donald Trump was blocking the view when it came to almost anything else happening on this planet. And climate change? Well, we have the president’s own word that, even if it isn’t a hoax, it might not be “manmade” — and, in any case, is likely to “change back again” sooner or later (give or take a million years). So, to quote Mad magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman: “What, me worry?”
No surprise, then, that the fossil-fuel-stoked nature of our changing planet wasn’t a significant national issue in election 2018, as it hadn’t been in the presidential campaign two years earlier. (There was not a single question about it in any of the three presidential debates that year.) True, in these midterms, a Washington state carbon tax that would have funded clean energy and air programs was shot down by the voters, thanks in part to the huge sums that the oil industry — in particular, BP America, Phillips 66, and Marathon Oil Corporation’s Andeavor, all with refineries in the state — sank into the campaign against it. Also true, some local House candidates raised climate change as an issue and generally won. Still, compared to immigration or health care this election season, the warming of this planet and what it portends for our children and grandchildren was on par with fear of zombies.
For those paying attention, this is frustrating indeed. Still, as TomDispatch regular John Feffer suggests today, the situation is simply too serious to let the frustration of it all — including the fact that our president and much of his party aren’t just climate-change deniers but enthusiastic aiders and abettors of the phenomenon — discourage those focused on doing something about it. And Feffer himself is a good example of that ongoing effort. This is publication day for his striking new dystopian novel, Frostlands (the sequel to his hit novel Splinterlands), and it has climate change directly in its crosshairs. Strange to say, but he’s proof of the adage (which I just invented) that in dystopia there lies hope. In that context, check him out on the “escape room” that we all now find ourselves in, whether we care to notice or not. Tom
Welcome to the Ultimate Escape Room
Will This Climate-Change Dystopia Have a Sequel?
By John Feffer
The mid-term elections are over, and the Democrats have regained the House, but the rest of American political reality remains intact. Meanwhile, the campaigns barely touched on the most important issues of our time: war, climate change, and the fracturing of the international community.
So, let’s consider these larger issues from a different angle.
Let’s step from the voting booth into a different space altogether: an escape room. This is, however, no ordinary escape room like the ones that have become so popular in cities around the world. Here, the stakes couldn’t be higher: life or death. You might want to give it a pass, but you don’t have a choice. There’s only one door and you have to go inside…
You’ve done enough escape rooms to know the drill by now. You are escorted into what seems like an ordinary room. There’s a table and a chair. On the table is a book. As soon as you step across the threshold, the door closes behind you. You hear the lock click into place.
You are now trapped in a room with four strangers. Three of them look as concerned as you are. The fourth is nonchalant.
The instructions this time are a little different. As with other escape rooms, you have a certain amount of time to figure out how to get out. Also, you know that clues to the puzzle are hidden somewhere in the room. Figure them out and you’ll be able to unlock the door.
But here’s the difference: the temperature in this room will go up a degree with every minute that passes. If you and those four strangers can’t figure out how to stop it from rising, you’ll succumb to heat stroke. In other words, if you don’t escape in the allotted time period, you’ll die.
You immediately set to work looking for the clues. Maybe one or two are in the book on the table or maybe a code is carved on the underside of the table. Maybe you need to use the chair to climb up close enough to scrutinize the crown molding near the ceiling. Three of the strangers are doing what you’re doing: trying to uncover clues.
The fourth is leaning against the wall, looking relaxed. “It’s just a joke,” he says to no one in particular.
“I already feel it getting warmer in here,” you respond.
“It’s just your imagination,” he replies. “Power of suggestion. Fake news.”
The clock is already ticking. It can’t be your imagination. It’s definitely hotter in the room than when you first entered. You’re sweating. Everyone’s sweating, even the leaning man. “Temperatures naturally fluctuate,” he comments. “It might be going up now, but it will go down again. Count on it.”
“Don’t listen to him,” says the teenager in your group. “He’s just a jerk.”
She’s right and there’s no time to try to persuade him either. The four of you are now uncovering one clue after another, which brings you to the truly challenging part: cracking the code. Each of you contributes something: the teenager quickly solves a quadratic equation, the stay-at-home mom translates that Japanese phrase, and the aging literature professor recognizes the quote from Dante’s Inferno.
And once the four of you use this code to open a panel you’ve discovered beneath a loose floorboard, you finally get the chance to apply your engineering knowhow to the situation. You personally figure out how to reset the thermostat hidden inside it and so manage to slow the rise in temperature. It’s not much perhaps, but it’s a start.
You’re working smoothly together now. Only through cooperation have you been able to get this far. Problem is, it’s still too warm in the room. The 70-something professor is now crumpled in the corner, breathing heavily. You only have one bottle of water to share and a couple of nutrition bars and there are still more puzzles to solve. The teenager is urging you on — and little wonder, she has her whole life ahead of her.
But here’s the catch. You’re getting tired, all of you.
This Hot Room is only the latest and greatest challenge you’ve faced. You’ve been doing escape rooms now for what seems like decades, each challenge evidently more urgent than the last.
You were relatively young when you first stumbled into this craze. In the War Room, you were trapped with two heavily armed men pointing high-powered weapons at each other. In the Pandemic Room, you were all infected with a deadly virus and had to find an antidote. Most recently, you were locked in the Autocrat Room with a raving narcissist who believed he was the king of the world and who had his finger on a very real button that could destroy you, him, and everyone else.
Yet somehow you managed to extricate yourself from each of those rooms — only to find yourself trapped in this one. You should be tired!
You can’t even believe it: Only now is the reality of it all beginning to dawn on you — that you’ve been proceeding through a series of nested escape rooms, boxes within boxes, that have led you here, to the ultimate box.
In this Hot Room, time is running out, resources are scarce, and you have to listen to an idiot leaning against a wall doing nothing, and acting as if this were a delightful sauna, not a potential coffin.
You suspect that this is the human condition, this endless succession of crises. Civilizations have risen and fallen throughout history. One culture after another has failed to figure out the riddle inscribed in its environment. Some didn’t even realize that they were on the verge of collapse until it was too late.
But this is different. Each previous time, it was just one part of the globe — the Mycenaeans, the Khmer, the Mayans, the Romans — that grappled with its communal fate.
Now, you’re addressing the fate of the planet. This Hot Room, you’ve come to realize, is Earth itself. And there’s nothing on the other side of the door except the cold, cold void.
To solve the riddle of this ultimate escape room means performing a genuine miracle. You have to stop the temperature from rising. You have to multiply the water bottles and the nutrition bars. Most challenging of all perhaps, you have to prevent everyone from giving in to despair.
So, you take time out to do what you’ve always done in such situations. You did it at work to rally your discouraged colleagues. You did it for your children at bedtime to dispel the nightly terrors.
You tell a story.
A Matryoshka of Dystopias
My novel Splinterlands was an exploration of one particular dystopian path: the nationalist fragmentation of the world into ever-smaller splinters. This was no far-fetched fantasy when I wrote it, just an extrapolation, circa early 2016, from ongoing trends: tensions within the European Union, the polarization of politics in the United States, the rise of far-right parties, the widening global gap between the rich and the poor.
Unfortunately, those trends only intensified after I finished the manuscript. It hadn’t actually been my intention to predict. Like any politically engaged dystopian novel, Splinterlands was meant to be a warning. I knew things could get that bad. I just didn’t think they would — not so quickly anyway.
Even before the book came out, Britain had voted to leave the European Union and then, more improbably yet, Donald Trump managed to win the 2016 presidential election. Instead of being weird exceptions, the Trump-Brexit developments turned out to be part of a terrifying trajectory. Since then, the far right has assumed positions of power in Austria, Italy, and now Brazil. It has done well in elections in Germany and Sweden. In France, the extremist National Front is now, according to pollsters, the country’s most popular party.
Get on a train today in Poland, heading for North Korea, and you’ll pass through an enormous swath of territory ruled by fake democrats and authentic autocrats. An illiberal axis connects this great expanse of Eurasia to Turkey, Israel, India, the Philippines, Colombia, and Nicaragua. The military or one-party governments hold sway over much of Southeast Asia. Religious zealots and strong-arm leaders rule the greater part of the Middle East. Democracy is weak in most African countries and non-existent in others.
Together, these illiberal forces are deeply suspicious of any transnational authority that demands they adhere to global human rights norms and international standards.
The international community, never a particularly robust entity, is beginning to evaporate. Countries are withdrawing from international agreements like the Global Pact for Migration and organizations like the International Criminal Court. With its high-profile exits, Donald Trump’s America has done its best to undermine the Paris accord on climate change and the U.N. Human Rights Council. It’s not quite a rush to the exits, nor is this retreat into sovereign parochialism irreversible — not yet anyway. But the Splinterlands scenario of the total collapse of the international order and the fragmentation of countries like the United States and China has become incrementally more likely.
Meanwhile, global inequality continues to worsen. According to Oxfam, “82% of the wealth created last year went to the richest one percent of the global population, while the 3.7 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity got nothing.” Facilitated by financial deregulation, corruption has become rampant, registering as a serious problem in two-thirds of the world’s countries, according to the latest Transparency International report. The media are under attack even in traditionally liberal countries like the United States.
And surveillance by the state and corporate conglomerates like Facebook has become commonplace. In China, the two forces are working hand in hand under the auspices of the phone app WeChat. Chinese use the application to shop, listen to music, and exchange messages. But the app also assigns users a score based on everything from online behavior to how they drive their cars, and if that score is too low, they’re locked out of certain jobs, travel opportunities, and schools. The system should be fully operational and exportable in a couple of years.
These various real-world dystopian scenarios are not discrete. They are indeed nested in one another, like one of those Russian matryoshka dolls that open only to reveal smaller versions of itself, each inside the next. Just as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once characterized Soviet Russia as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,” think of the current reality as never-ending wars wrapped in nuclear proliferation inside nationalist fragmentation enclosed in climate change.
This last challenge is, of course, the most urgent, transcending politics as it does. Governments of every political flavor have contributed to it and continue to dither in the face of an obviously looming catastrophe, while economic greed prevents any sustainable solution. In other words, we’re heading for a true existential reckoning. Heat up the planet enough and there won’t be any more politics or economics. It will be the real end of history, not the triumphalist one that Francis Fukuyama thought up in 1989 in anticipation of the end of the Cold War.
In Splinterlands, I still saw climate change as one part of an overall ecosystem of threat. In my new dystopian novel, Frostlands, climate change takes center stage. A stand-alone sequel set in 2051, the moment when Splinterlands ended, it focuses on Rachel Leopold, an aging climatologist, living in Arcadia, a sustainable community in what was once part of Vermont. Arcadia is now under attack by unknown forces and Rachel is worried that those attacks are directed at her. She’s been conducting experiments in secret to regenerate the Arctic ice cap in a desperate bid to enclose the remaining methane gas trapped in the permafrost. But (as in our world today) not everyone shares her urgent desire to stop climate change.
As with Splinterlands, the dystopia of Frostlands is, in fact, unspooling in real life on an accelerated basis. As environmentalist Elizabeth Kolbert wrote in a recent New Yorker:
”Arctic soils contain hundreds of billions of tons of carbon, in the form of frozen and only partially decomposed plants. As the region heats up, much of this carbon is likely to be released into the atmosphere, where it will trap more heat… In the Arctic Ocean, vast stores of methane lie buried under frozen sediments. If these stores, too, are released, the resulting warming is likely to be catastrophic.”
Kolbert then quotes Peter Wadhams, an ice specialist: “The risk of an Arctic seabed methane pulse is one of the greatest immediate risks facing the human race.”
Why wait until 2051 when you can experience apocalypse now?
Evolutionary Dead-End?
A climatologist, a nuclear physicist, and an epidemiologist walk into a bar.
The bartender gestures to the three tiers of bottles arrayed behind her. “Pick your poison.”
The three professionals laugh ruefully. The climate scientist links arms with her two colleagues and says, “Why don’t you pick your poison?”
It’s no joke.
In a culture that emphasizes free choice — among political candidates, breakfast cereals, and Internet avatars — we now face the ultimate choice. We can choose our dystopian future. We can cut funding for medical research and emergency response and increase our vulnerability to the next plague. We can elect leaders who have itchy nuclear fingers and increase the likelihood that we go out with a bang. Or, if we somehow make it out of those particular escape rooms, we can drink the ultimate poison and heat up the planet until it can no longer sustain anything but cockroaches.
For some, the inexcusable slowness with which the international community is addressing climate change — along with the other apocalyptic scenarios — is yet more proof that humans, like dinosaurs, have outlived their evolutionary usefulness. It’s hard not to feel that all of humanity deserves a Darwin award when you see the effects of recent superstorms, the vanishing of polar ice, the heedless drilling for oil and gas everywhere, and the dilatory efforts of even sensibly led countries like South Korea to reduce their carbon footprint.
Dinosaurs, of course, couldn’t put up much of a fight against the asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago and the cataclysms that followed. You, however, can still tell the bartender, “Thanks, but no thanks, on the poison tonight.” You can still solve the riddle of the Hot Room and hope that the next challenge won’t be quite as apocalyptic.
Remember: there’s always going to be some guy leaning against the wall, making light of your efforts to save the world. It’s maddening to have to listen to him. So, like Odysseus, you must close your ears to the siren songs of what passes for pragmatism today. The politics of the possible don’t stand much chance in an impossible situation.
In that Hot Room, everyone but the skeptic is back to work, even the aging professor. Your story has inspired them to attempt the impossible: to work together, to solve the riddle, to overcome the resistance. They know the odds. They understand that they’re already living in a dystopia.
But now you’ve given them reason to believe that even dystopias can have sequels.
John Feffer, a TomDispatch regular, is the author of the dystopian novel Splinterlands and the director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. His new novel, Frostlands, a Dispatch Books original and book two of his Splinterlands series, has just been published. His podcast is available here.
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Books, Beverly Gologorsky’s novel Every Body Has a Story and Tom Engelhardt’s A Nation Unmade by War, as well as Alfred McCoy’s In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power, John Dower’s The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II, and John Feffer’s dystopian novel Splinterlands.
Copyright 2018 John Feffer
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The Intercountry Adoption (Hague Convention) Act
It has been in effect since April 1, 1997.
Note: Earlier consolidated versions are not available online.
C.C.S.M. c. A3
Table of Contents Bilingual (PDF) Regulations
(Assented to November 3, 1995)
1(1) In this Act,
"Convention" means the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption set out in the Schedule; (« Convention »)
"minister" means the member of the executive council charged by the Lieutenant Governor in Council with the administration of this Act. (« ministre »)
Other words and expressions
1(2) Words and expressions used in this Act have the same meaning as the corresponding words and expressions in the Convention.
Request for Convention
2 The minister shall request the Government of Canada to declare in accordance with Article 45 of the Convention that the Convention extends to Manitoba.
Convention is law
3(1) On, from and after the date the Convention enters into force in respect of Manitoba as determined by the Convention, the Convention is in force in Manitoba and its provisions are law in Manitoba.
Application where conflict
3(2) The law of Manitoba applies to an adoption to which the Convention applies but, where there is a conflict between the law of Manitoba and the Convention, the Convention prevails.
Central Authority
4 The Director of Child and Family Services appointed under The Child and Family Services Act is the Central Authority for Manitoba for the purposes of the Convention.
Delegation to accredited bodies
5 Where the minister so authorizes, the functions of a Central Authority under Articles 15 to 21 of the Convention may, to the extent determined by the minister, be performed by public authorities or by bodies accredited under Chapter III of the Convention.
Publication of coming into force date
6 The minister shall publish in the gazette the date the Convention comes into force in Manitoba.
7 The minister may approve forms for use under this Act.
8 The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations respecting any matter that the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers necessary or advisable to carry out the intent and purpose of this Act.
9 NOTE: This section contained consequential amendments to The Child and Family Services Act which are now included in that Act.
C.C.S.M reference
10 This Act may be cited as The Intercountry Adoption (Hague Convention) Act and referred to as chapter A3 of the Continuing Consolidation of the Statutes of Manitoba.
11 This Act comes into force on a day fixed by proclamation.
NOTE: S.M. 1995, c. 22 was proclaimed in force April 1, 1997.
CONVENTION ON PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND CO-OPERATION IN RESPECT OF INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION
The States signatory to the present Convention,
Recognizing that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding,
Recalling that each State should take, as a matter of priority, appropriate measures to enable the child to remain in the care of his or her family of origin,
Recognizing that intercountry adoption may offer the advantage of a permanent family to a child for whom a suitable family cannot be found in his or her State of origin,
Convinced of the necessity to take measures to ensure that intercountry adoptions are made in the best interests of the child and with respect for his or her fundamental rights, and to prevent the abduction, the sale of, or traffic in children,
Desiring to establish common provisions to this effect, taking into account the principles set forth in international instruments, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, of 20 November 1989, and the United Nations Declaration on Social and Legal Principles relating to the Protection and Welfare of Children, with Special Reference to Foster Placement and Adoption Nationally and Internationally (General Assembly Resolution 41/85, of 3 December 1986),
have agreed upon the following provisions -
CHAPTER I - SCOPE OF THE CONVENTION
The objects of the present Convention are -
a to establish safeguards to ensure that intercountry adoptions take place in the best interests of the child and with respect for his or here fundamental rights as recognized in international law;
b to establish a system of co-operation amongst Contracting States to ensure that those safeguards are respected and thereby prevent the abduction, the sale of, or traffic in children;
c to secure the recognition in Contracting States of adoptions made in accordance with the Convention.
1 The Convention shall apply where a child habitually resident in one Contracting State ("the State of origin") has been, is being, or is to be moved to another Contracting State ("the receiving State") either after his or her adoption in the State of origin by spouses or a person habitually resident in the receiving State, or for the purposes of such an adoption in the receiving State or in the State of origin.
2 The Convention covers only adoptions which create a permanent parent-child relationship.
The Convention ceases to apply if the agreements mentioned in Article 17, sub-paragraph c, have not been given before the child attains the age of eighteen years.
CHAPTER II - REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTIONS
An adoption within the scope of the Convention shall take place only if the competent authorities of the State of origin -
a have established that the child is adoptable;
b have determined, after possibilities for placement of the child within the State of origin have been given due consideration, that an intercountry adoption is in the child's best interests;
c have ensured that
(1) the persons, institutions and authorities whose consent is necessary for adoption, have been counselled as may be necessary and duly informed of the effects of their consent, in particular whether or not an adoption will result in the termination of the legal relationship between the child and his or her family of origin,
(2) such persons, institutions and authorities have given their consent freely, in the required legal form, and expressed or evidenced in writing,
(3) the consents have not been induced by payment or compensation of any kind and have not been withdrawn, and
(4) the consent of the mother, where required, has been given only after the birth of the child; and d have ensured, having regard to the age and degree of maturity of the child, that
(1) he or she has been counselled and duly informed of the effects of the adoption and of his or her consent to the adoption, where such consent is required,
(2) consideration has been given to the child's wishes and opinions,
(3) the child's consent to the adoption, where such consent is required, has been given freely, in the required legal form, and expressed or evidenced in writing, and
(4) such consent has not been induced by payment or compensation of any kind.
An adoption within the scope of the Convention shall take place only if the competent authorities of the receiving State -
a have determined that the prospective adoptive parents are eligible and suited to adopt;
b have ensured that the prospective adoptive parents have been counselled as may be necessary; and c have determined that the child is or will be authorized to enter and reside permanently in that State.
CHAPTER III - CENTRAL AUTHORITIES AND ACCREDITED BODIES
1 A Contracting State shall designate a Central Authority to discharge the duties which are imposed by the Convention upon such authorities.
2 Federal States, States with more than one system of law or States having autonomous territorial units shall be free to appoint more than one Central Authority and to specify the territorial or personal extent of their functions. Where a State has appointed more than one Central Authority, it shall designate the Central Authority to which any communication may be addressed for transmission to the appropriate Central Authority within that State.
1 Central Authorities shall co-operate with each other and promote co-operation amongst the competent authorities in their States to protect children and to achieve the other objects of the Convention.
2 They shall take directly all appropriate measures to -
a provide information as to the laws of their States concerning adoption and other general information, such as statistics and standard forms;
b keep one another informed about the operation of the Convention and, as far as possible, eliminate any obstacles to its application.
Central Authorities shall take, directly or through public authorities, all appropriate measures to prevent improper financial or other gain in connection with an adoption and to deter all practices contrary to the objects of the Convention.
Central Authorities shall take, directly or through public authorities or other bodies duly accredited in their State, all appropriate measures, in particular to -
a collect, preserve and exchange information about the situation of the child and the prospective adoptive parents, so far as is necessary to complete the adoption;
b facilitate, follow and expedite proceedings with a view to obtaining the adoption;
c promote the development of adoption counselling and post-adoption services in their States;
d provide each other with general evaluation reports about experience with intercountry adoption;
e reply, in so far as is permitted by the law of their State, to justified requests from other Central Authorities or public authorities for information about a particular adoption situation.
Accreditation shall only be granted to and maintained by bodies demonstrating their competence to carry out properly the tasks with which they may be entrusted.
An accredited body shall -
a pursue only non-profit objectives according to such conditions and within such limits as may be established by the competent authorities of the State of accreditation;
b be directed and staffed by persons qualified by their ethical standards and by training or experience to work in the field of intercountry adoption; and c be subject to supervision by competent authorities of that State as to its composition, operation and financial situation.
A body accredited in one Contracting State may act in another Contracting State only if the competent authorities of both States have authorized it to do so.
The designation of the Central Authorities and, where appropriate, the extent of their functions, as well as the names and addresses of the accredited bodies shall be communicated by each Contracting State to the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.
CHAPTER IV - PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS IN INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION
Persons habitually resident in a Contracting State, who wish to adopt a child habitually resident in another Contracting State, shall apply to the Central Authority in the State of their habitual residence.
1 If the Central Authority of the receiving State is satisfied that the applicants are eligible and suited to adopt, it shall prepare a report including information about their identity, eligibility and suitability to adopt, background, family and medical history, social environment, reasons for adoption, ability to undertake an intercountry adoption, as well as the characteristics of the children for whom they would be qualified to care.
2 It shall transmit the report to the Central Authority of the State of origin.
1 If the Central Authority of the State of origin is satisfied that the child is adoptable, it shall -
a prepare a report including information about his or her identity, adoptability, background, social environment, family history, medical history including that of the child's family, and any special needs of the child;
b give due consideration to the child's upbringing and to his or her ethnic, religious and cultural background;
c ensure that consents have been obtained in accordance with Article 4; and d determine, on the basis in particular of the reports relating to the child and the prospective adoptive parents, whether the envisaged placement is in the best interest of the child.
2 It shall transmit to the Central Authority of the receiving State its report on the child, proof that the necessary consents have been obtained and the reasons for its determination on the placement, taking care not to reveal the identity of the mother and the father if, in the State of origin, these identities may not be disclosed.
Any decision in the State of origin that a child should be entrusted to prospective adoptive parents may only be made if -
a the Central Authority of that State has ensured that the prospective adoptive parents agree;
b the Central Authority of the receiving State has approved such decision, where such approval is required by the law of that State or by the Central Authority of the State of origin;
c the Central Authorities of both States have agreed that the adoption may proceed; and d it has been determined, in accordance with Article 5, that the prospective adoptive parents are eligible and suited to adopt and that the child is or will be authorized to enter and reside permanently in the receiving State.
The Central Authorities of both States shall take all necessary steps to obtain permission for the child to leave the State of origin and to enter and reside permanently in the receiving State.
1 The transfer of the child to the receiving State may only be carried out if the requirements of Article 17 have been satisfied.
2 The Central Authorities of both States shall ensure that this transfer takes place in secure and appropriate circumstances and, if possible, in the company of the adoptive or prospective adoptive parents.
3 If the transfer of the child does not take place, the reports referred to in Articles 15 and 16 are to be sent back to the authorities who forwarded them.
The Central Authorities shall keep each other informed about the adoption process and the measures taken to complete it, as well as about the progress of the placement if a probationary period is required.
1 Where the adoption is to take place after the transfer of the child to the receiving State and it appears to the Central Authority of that State that the continued placement of the child with the prospective adoptive parents is not in the child's best interest, such Central Authority shall take the measures necessary to protect the child, in particular -
a to cause the child to be withdrawn from the prospective adoptive parents and to arrange temporary care;
b in consultation with the Central Authority of the State of origin, to arrange without delay a new placement of the child with a view to adoption or, if this is not appropriate, to arrange alternative long-term care; an adoption shall not take place until the Central Authority of the State of origin has been duly informed concerning the new prospective adoptive parents;
c as a last resort, to arrange the return of the child, if his or her interests so require.
2 Having regard in particular to the age and degree of maturity of the child, he or she shall be consulted and, where appropriate, his or her consent obtained in relation to measures to be taken under this Article.
1 The functions of a Central Authority under this Chapter may be performed by public authorities or by bodies accredited under Chapter III, to the extent permitted by the law of its State.
2 Any Contracting State may declare to the depositary of the Convention that the functions of the Central Authority under Articles 15 to 21 may be performed in that State, to the extent permitted by the law and subject to the supervision of the competent authorities of that State, also by bodies or persons who -
a meet the requirements of integrity, professional competence, experience and accountability of that State; and b are qualified by their ethical standards and by training or experience to work in the field of intercountry adoption.
3 A Contracting State which makes the declaration provided for in paragraph 2 shall keep the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law informed of the names and addresses of these bodies and persons.
4 Any Contracting State may declare to the depositary of the Convention that adoptions of children habitually resident in its territory may only take place if the functions of the Central Authorities are performed in accordance with paragraph 1.
5 Notwithstanding any declaration made under paragraph 2, the reports provided for in Articles 15 and 16 shall, in every case, be prepared under the responsibility of the Central Authority or other authorities or bodies in accordance with paragraph 1.
CHAPTER V - RECOGNITION AND EFFECTS OF THE ADOPTION
1 An adoption certified by the competent authority of the State of the adoption as having been made in accordance with the Convention shall be recognized by operation of law in the other Contracting States. The certificate shall specify when and by whom the agreements under Article 17, sub-paragraph c, were given.
2 Each Contracting State shall, at the time of signature, ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, notify the depositary of the Convention of the identity and the functions of the authority or the authorities which, in that State, are competent to make the certification. It shall also notify the depositary of any modification in the designation of these authorities.
The recognition of an adoption may be refused in a Contracting State only if the adoption is manifestly contrary to its public policy, taking into account the best interests of the child.
Any Contracting State may declare to the depositary of the Convention that it will not be bound under this Convention to recognize adoptions made in accordance with an agreement concluded by application of Article 39, paragraph 2.
1 The recognition of an adoption includes recognition of
a the legal parent-child relationship between the child and his or her adoptive parents;
b parental responsibility of the adoptive parents for the child;
c the termination of a pre-existing legal relationship between the child and his or her mother and father, if the adoption has this effect in the Contracting State where it was made.
2 In the case of an adoption having the effect of terminating a pre-existing legal parent-child relationship, the child shall enjoy in the receiving State, and in any other Contracting State where the adoption is recognized, rights equivalent to those resulting from adoptions having this effect in each such State.
3 The preceding paragraphs shall not prejudice the application of any provision more favourable for the child, in force in the Contracting State which recognizes the adoption.
1 Where an adoption granted in the State of origin does not have the effect of terminating a pre-existing legal parent-child relationship, it may, in the receiving State which recognizes the adoption under the Convention, be converted into an adoption having such an effect -
a if the law of the receiving State so permits; and b if the consents referred to in Article 4, sub-paragraphs c and d, have been or are given for the purpose of such an adoption.
2 Article 23 applies to the decision converting the adoption.
CHAPTER VI - GENERAL PROVISIONS
The Convention does not affect any law of a State of origin which requires that the adoption of a child habitually resident within that State take place in that State or which prohibits the child's placement in, or transfer to, the receiving State prior to adoption.
There shall be no contact between the prospective adoptive parents and the child's parents or any other person who has care of the child until the requirements of Article 4, sub-paragraphs a to c, and Article 5, sub-paragraph a, have been met, unless the adoption takes place within a family or unless the contact is in compliance with the conditions established by the competent authority of the State of origin.
1 The competent authorities of a Contracting State shall ensure that information held by them concerning the child's origin, in particular information concerning the identity of his or her parents, as well as the medical history, is preserved.
2 They shall ensure that the child or his or her representative has access to such information, under appropriate guidance, in so far as is permitted by the law of that State.
Without prejudice to Article 30, personal data gathered or transmitted under the Convention, especially data referred to in Articles 15 and 16, shall be used only for the purposes for which they were gathered or transmitted.
1 No one shall derive improper financial or other gain from an activity related to an intercountry adoption.
2 Only costs and expenses, including reasonable professional fees of persons involved in the adoption, may be charged or paid.
3 The directors, administrators and employees of bodies involved in an adoption shall not receive remuneration which is unreasonably high in relation to services rendered.
A competent authority which finds that any provision of the Convention has not been respected or that there is a serious risk that it may not be respected, shall immediately inform the Central Authority of its State. This Central Authority shall be responsible for ensuring that appropriate measures are taken.
If the competent authority of the State of destination of a document so requests, a translation certified as being in conformity with the original must be furnished. Unless otherwise provided, the costs of such translation are to be borne by the prospective adoptive parents.
The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall act expeditiously in the process of adoption.
In relation to a State which has two or more systems of law with regard to adoption applicable in different territorial units -
a any reference to habitual residence in that State shall be construed as referring to habitual residence in a territorial unit of that State;
b any reference to the law of that State shall be construed as referring to the law in force in the relevant territorial unit;
c any reference to the competent authorities or to the public authorities of that State shall be construed as referring to those authorized to act in the relevant territory unit;
d any reference to the accredited bodies of that State shall be construed as referring to bodies accredited in the relevant territorial unit.
In relation to a State which with regard to adoption has two or more systems of law applicable to different categories of persons, any reference to the law of that State shall be construed as referring to the legal system specified by the law of that State.
A State within which different territorial units have their own rules of law in respect of adoption shall not be bound to apply the Convention where a State with a unified system of law would not be bound to do so.
1 The Convention does not affect any international instrument to which Contracting States are Parties and which contains provisions on matters governed by the Convention, unless a contrary declaration is made by the States Parties to such instrument.
2 Any Contracting State may enter into agreements with one or more other Contracting States, with a view to improving the application of the Convention in their mutual relations. These agreements may derogate only from the provisions of Articles 14 to 16 and 18 to 21. The States which have concluded such an agreement shall transmit a copy to the depositary of the Convention.
No reservation to the Convention shall be permitted.
The Convention shall apply in every case where an application pursuant to Article 14 has been received after the Convention has entered into force in the receiving State and the State of origin.
The Secretary General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law shall at regular intervals convene a Special Commission in order to review the practical operation of the Convention.
CHAPTER VII - FINAL CLAUSES
1 The Convention shall be open for signature by the States which were Members of the Hague Conference on Private International Law at the time of its Seventeenth Session and by the other States which participated in that Session.
2 It shall be ratified, accepted or approved and the instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, depositary of the Convention.
1 Any other State may accede to the Convention after it has entered into force in accordance with Article 46, paragraph 1.
2 The instrument of accession shall be deposited with the depositary.
3 Such accession shall have effect only as regards the relations between the acceding State and those Contracting States which have not raised an objection to its accession in the six months after the receipt of the notification referred to in sub-paragraph b of Article 48. Such an objection may also be raised by States at the time when they ratify, accept or approve the Convention after an accession. Any such objection shall be notified to the depositary.
1 If a State has two or more territorial units in which different systems of law are applicable in relation to matters dealt with in the Convention, it may at the time of signature, ratification, acceptance, approval or accession declare that this Convention shall extend to all its territorial units or only to one or more of them and may modify this declaration by submitting another declaration at any time.
2 Any such declaration shall be notified to the depositary and shall state expressly the territorial units to which the Convention applies.
3 If a State makes no declaration under this Article, the Convention is to extend to all territorial units of that State.
1 The Convention shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the expiration of three months after the deposit of the third instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval referred to in Article 43.
2 Thereafter the Convention shall enter into force -
a for each State ratifying, accepting or approving it subsequently, or acceding to it, on the first day of the month following the expiration of three months after the deposit of its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession;
b for a territorial unit to which the Convention has been extended in conformity with Article 45, on the first day of the month following the expiration of three months after the notification referred to in that Article.
1 A State Party to the Convention may denounce it by a notification in writing addressed to the depositary.
2 The denunciation takes effect on the first day of the month following the expiration of twelve months after the notification is received by the depositary. Where a longer period for the denunciation to take effect is specified in the notification, the denunciation takes effect upon the expiration of such longer period after the notification is received by the depositary.
The depositary shall notify the States Members of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, the other States which participated in the Seventeenth Session and the States which have acceded in accordance with Article 44, of the following -
a the signatures, ratifications, acceptances and approvals referred to in Article 43;
b the accessions and objections raised to accessions referred to in Article 44;
c the date on which the Convention enters into force in accordance with Article 46;
d the declarations and designations referred to in Articles 22, 23, 25 and 45;
e the agreements referred to in Article 39;
f the denunciations referred to in Article 47.
In witness whereof the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto, have signed this Convention.
Done at The Hague, on the 29th day of May, 1993 in the English and French languages, both texts being equally authentic, in a single copy which shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and of which a certified copy shall be sent, through diplomatic channels, to each of the States Members of the Hague Conference on Private International Law at the date of its Seventeenth Session and to each of the other States which participated in that Session.
S.M. 1997, c. 52, s. 1.
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Maryland Board of Physicians Chair Appointed Dr. Andrea Mathias named to leadership
BALTIMORE, MD (July 3, 2012) - Governor Martin O’Malley has appointed Dr. Andrea Mathias to be the chair of the Maryland Board of Physicians.
“Dr. Mathias’ broad experience in medicine and public health make her well suited for this challenging role,” said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, Secretary for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
She now serves as deputy health officer in Worcester County, where she has earned the respect of clinicians and public health leaders across the state. Dr. Mathias is a native of Worcester County and studied medicine and public health at Johns Hopkins University. She completed a residency and chief residency in family practice at UNC-Chapel-Hill before returning to Maryland. As a clinician, Dr. Mathias has worked as a managing partner in private practice, as a hospital-employed physician, and as a medical director.
"I am honored with this opportunity to serve physicians, allied professionals and medical consumers in Maryland as Chair of the Maryland Board of Physicians," said Dr. Andrea Mathias. "The Board of Physicians has a crucial role in the assurance of safe delivery of medical care and the protection of the public health in Maryland. This is an outstanding time to join the MBP and I am truly excited to join the dedicated staff and MBP members in this important task."
The Governor also has appointed several new members of the Board of Physicians. These include Dr. Celeste M. Lombardi, M.D., an anesthesiologist and interventional pain physician at the VA Maryland Healthcare System; Dr. Ahmed Nawaz, an internist and hospitalist in Montgomery County; and Dr. Avril Houston, an adolescent medicine specialist who works at the Health Resources and Services Administration.
The Governor also is reappointing consumer members Brenda Baker and Carmen Contee to new terms on the Board and applauds their active participation and dedication to the public interest.
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Title: Sovereign state
Subject: Outline of Africa, Outline of political science, Outline of history, Saint Barthélemy, Telecommunications in Cyprus
Collection: International Law, Political Geography, Sovereignty
Member states of the United Nations, all of which are sovereign states, though not all sovereign states are necessarily members
A state is a nonphysical juridical entity of the international legal system that is represented by one centralised government that has supreme independent authority over a geographic area. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, one government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states.[1] It is also normally understood that a state is neither dependent on nor subject to any other power or state.[2]
The existence or disappearance of a state is a question of fact.[3] While according to the declarative theory of state recognition a sovereign state can exist without being recognised by other sovereign states, unrecognised states will often find it hard to exercise full treaty-making powers and engage in diplomatic relations with other sovereign states.
Emergence of states 1
Westphalian sovereignty 2
Recognition 3
Constitutive theory 3.1
Declarative theory 3.2
State practice 3.3
De facto and de jure states 3.4
Relationship between state and government 4
State extinction 5
Ontological status of the state 6
Further reading 9
Emergence of states
The first states came into existence as people "gradually transferred their allegiance from an individual sovereign (king, duke, prince) to an intangible but territorial political entity, of the state".[4] States are but one of several political orders that emerged from feudal Europe (others being city states, leagues, and empires with universalist claims to authority.[5]
Westphalian sovereignty
Westphalian sovereignty is the concept of Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
Sovereignty is a term that is frequently misused.[6] [7]Up until the 19th century, the radicalised concept of a "standard of civilisation" was routinely deployed to determine that certain peoples in the world were "uncivilised", and lacking organised societies. That position was reflected and constituted in the notion that their "sovereignty" was either completely lacking, or at least of an inferior character when compared to that of "civilised" people."[8] Lassa Oppenheim said "There exists perhaps no conception the meaning of which is more controversial than that of sovereignty. It is an indisputable fact that this conception, from the moment when it was introduced into political science until the present day, has never had a meaning which was universally agreed upon."[9] In the opinion of H. V. Evatt of the High Court of Australia "sovereignty is neither a question of fact, nor a question of law, but a question that does not arise at all." [10]
Sovereignty has taken on a different meaning with the development of the principle of
Terms for types of administrative territorial entities
English terms
Common English terms1
Local government area
Urban area
County borough
Metropolitan borough
Federal capital
Imperial capital
Autonomous city
Charter city
Independent city
Free imperial city
Royal free city
Autonomous community
Residential community
Autonomous county
Consolidated city-county
Metropolitan county
Non-metropolitan
Viscountcy
Capital district
City district
Indian government district
Land district
Metropolitan district
Military district
Municipal district
Police district
Sanitary district
Subdistrict
Direct-controlled municipality
District municipality
Mountain resort municipality
Regional municipality
Resort municipality
Rural municipality
Specialized municipality
Autonomous prefecture
Subprefecture
Super-prefecture
Praetorian prefecture
Autonomous province
Island province
Overseas province
Roman province
Administrative region
Autonomous region
Development region
Mesoregion
Microregion
Overseas region
Planning region
Special administrative region
Statistical region
Dependent territory
Enclave and exclave
Federal territory
Military territory
Organized incorporated territory
Overseas territory
Unorganized territory
Autonomous territorial unit
Local administrative unit
Exclusive economic zone
Free economic zone
Self-administered zone
Special economic zone
Other English terms
Alpine resort
Bailiwick
Overseas department
Police division
Eldership
Federal dependency
Governorate
Autonomous republic
Suzerainty
Exarchate
Imperial Circle
Monthon
Roman diocese
Non-English or loanwords
Bakhsh
Regierungsbezirk
Frazione
Kunta / kommun
Ostān
Purok
Shahrestān
Sýsla
Vingtaine
Commote
Gau
Heerlijkheid
Pagus
Pargana
Plasă
Satrapy
Subah
Syssel
Arabic terms for country subdivisions
First-level
Muhafazah (محافظة governorate)
Wilayah (ولاية province)
Mintaqah (منطقة region)
Mudiriyah (مديرية directorate)
Imarah (إمارة emirate)
Baladiyah (بلدية municipality)
Shabiyah (شعبية "popularate")
Second / third-level
Qadaa (قضاء district)
Nahiyah (ناحية subdistrict)
Markaz (مركز district)
Mutamadiyah (معتمدية "delegation")
Daerah/Daïra (دائرة circle)
Liwa (لواء banner / sanjak)
City / township-level
Amanah (أمانة municipality)
Ḥai (حي neighborhood / quarter)
Mahallah (محلة)
Sheyakhah (شياخة "neighborhood subdivision")
English translations given are those most commonly used.
French terms for country subdivisions
subprefectures
Greek terms for country subdivisions
apokentroménes dioikíseis (el) / genike dioikesis§ / diamerisma§ / periphereia
nomos§ / peripheriake enoteta
demos / eparchia§ / koinoteta§
archontia/archontaton
despotaton
dioikesis
doukaton
droungos
eparchia
exarchaton
katepanikion
kephalatikion
kleisoura
naukrareia
satrapeia
strategis
toparchia
tourma
§ signifies a defunct institution
Slavic terms for country subdivisions
krai
krajina / pokrajina
oblast / oblast' / oblasti / oblys / obwód / voblast'
okręg
opština / općina / občina / obshtina
powiat / povit
selsoviet / silrada
voivodeship / vojvodina
darugha
gromada
guberniya / gubernia
jurydyka
khutor
obshchina
pogost
prowincja
sorok
starostwo / starostva
uyezd
volost
Spanish terms for country subdivisions
National, Federal
Regional, Metropolitan
Corregimiento
Merindad
Urban, Rural
Alquería
Anteiglesia
Asentamiento
Asentamiento informal
Pueblos jóvenes
Caserío
Ciudad autónoma
Masía
Ranchería
Vereda
Village (Pueblito/Pueblo)
Historical subdivisions in italics.
Turkish terms for country subdivisions
il (province)
ilçe (district)
bucak (subdistrict)
mahalle (neighbourhood/quarter)
agaluk
arpalik
eyalet (province, also beylerbeylik and pashalik)
kadiluk (sub-province)
kaza (sub-province)
khedivate (viceroyalty)
mutasarrıfate (sub-province)
bucak/nahiye (sub-district)
sanjak (prefecture)
vilayet (sub-province)
voyvodalık (sub-province)
1 Used by ten or more countries. Historical derivations in italics.
Opinions of the Badinter Arbitration Committee at the European Journal of International Law
A Brief Primer on International Law With cases and commentary. Nathaniel Burney, 2007.
What constitutes the sovereign state? by Michael Ross Fowler and Julie Marie Bunck
Links to the best political risk websites, ipoliticalrisk.com information on tracking, evaluating and managing sovereign risk for trade and permanent investment
Chen, Ti-chiang. The International Law of Recognition, with Special Reference to Practice in Great Britain and the United States. London, 1951.
Crawford, James. The Creation of States in International Law. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-19-825402-4, pp. 15–24.
Lauterpacht, Sir Hersch. Recognition in International Law. Cambridge, U.K., 1947.
Raič, D. Statehood and the Law of Self-determination. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2002. ISBN 978-90-411-1890-5. p 29 (with reference to Oppenheim in International Law Vol. 1 1905 p110)
^ See the following:
Shaw, Malcolm Nathan (2003). International law. Cambridge University Press. p. 178. Article 1 of the
Jasentuliyana, Nandasiri, ed. (1995). Perspectives on international law. Kluwer Law International. p. 20. So far as States are concerned, the traditional definitions provided for in the Montevideo Convention remain generally accepted.
Wheaton, Henry (1836). Elements of international law: with a sketch of the history of the science. Carey, Lea & Blanchard. p. 51. A sovereign state is generally defined to be any nation or people, whatever may be the form of its internal constitution, which governs itself independently of foreign powers.
"sovereign", The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.) (Houghton Mifflin Company), 2004, retrieved 21 February 2010, adj. 1. Self-governing; independent: a sovereign state.
"sovereign", The
^ Lalonde, Suzanne (2002). "Notes to pages". Determining boundaries in a conflicted world: the role of uti possidetis. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. p. 181.
^ Glassner, Martin Ira; Fahrer, Chuck (2004). Political Geography (3rd ed.). Hoboken: Wiley. p. 14.
^ Spruyt, H. (1994). The Sovereign State and its Competitors: An Analysis of Systems Change. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
^ Krasner, Stephen D. (1999). Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy. Princeton University Press.
^ Núñez, Jorge Emilio. "About the Impossibility of Absolute State Sovereignty". International Journal for the Semiotics of Law.
^ Wilde, Ralph (2009). "From Trusteeship to Self-Determination and Back Again: The Role of the Hague Regulations in the Evolution of International Trusteeship, and the Framework of Rights and Duties of Occupying Powers". Loy. L.A. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 31: 85–142 [p. 94].
^ Lassa Oppenheim, International Law 66 (Sir Arnold D. McNair ed., 4th ed. 1928)
^ Akweenda, S. (1997). "Sovereignty in cases of Mandated Territories". International law and the protection of Namibia's territorial integrity. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 40.
^ "Chapter IV Fundamental Rights and Duties of States". Charter of the Organization of American States. Secretariat of The Organization of American States. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
^ "Draft Declaration on Rights and Duties of States". UN Treaty Organization. 1949. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
^ """General Assembly resolution 1803 (XVII) of 14 December 1962, "Permanent sovereignty over natural resources. United Nations. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
^ Schwebel, Stephen M., The Story of the U.N.'s Declaration on Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources, 49 A.B.A. J. 463 (1963)
^ "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights". United Nations. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
^ Grinin L. E. Globalization and Sovereignty: Why do States Abandon their Sovereign Prerogatives? Age of Globalization. Number 1 / 2008 [1]
^ a b c Turner, Bryan (July 2007). "Islam, Religious Revival and the Sovereign State". Muslim World 97 (3): 405–418.
^ "Recognition", Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy.
^ See B. Broms, "IV Recognition of States", pp 47-48 in International law: achievements and prospects, UNESCO Series, Mohammed Bedjaoui(ed), Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1991, ISBN 92-3-102716-6 [2]
^ See Israel Yearbook on Human Rights, 1989, Yoram Dinstein, Mala Tabory eds., Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1990, ISBN 0-7923-0450-0, page 135-136 [3]
^ Thomas D. Grant, The recognition of states: law and practice in debate and evolution (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1999), chapter 1.
^ a b Hillier, Tim (1998). Sourcebook on Public International Law. Routledge. pp. 201–2.
^ Kalevi Jaakko Holsti Taming the Sovereigns p. 128.
^ Lassa Oppenheim, Ronald Roxburgh (2005). International Law: A Treatise. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. p. 135.
^ Shaw, Malcolm Nathan (2003). International law (5th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 369.
^ Opinion No. 10. of the Arbitration Commission of the Conference on Yugoslavia.
^ s:United Nations Security Council Resolution 216
^ a b Staff writers (20 February 2008). "'"Palestinians 'may declare state. BBC News (British Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 2011-01-22. :"Saeb Erekat, disagreed arguing that the Palestine Liberation Organisation had already declared independence in 1988. "Now we need real independence, not a declaration. We need real independence by ending the occupation. We are not Kosovo. We are under Israeli occupation and for independence we need to acquire independence".
^ a b B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories: Israel's control of the airspace and the territorial waters of the Gaza Strip, Retrieved 2012-03-24.
^ Map of Gaza fishing limits, "security zones"
^ Israel's Disengagement Plan: Renewing the Peace Process: "Israel will guard the perimeter of the Gaza Strip, continue to control Gaza air space, and continue to patrol the sea off the Gaza coast. ... Israel will continue to maintain its essential military presence to prevent arms smuggling along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt (Philadelphi Route), until the security situation and cooperation with Egypt permit an alternative security arrangement."
^ Gold, Dore; Institute for Contemporary Affairs (26 August 2005). "Legal Acrobatics: The Palestinian Claim that Gaza is Still "Occupied" Even After Israel Withdraws". Jerusalem Issue Brief, Vol. 5, No. 3. Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
^ Bell, Abraham (28 January 2008). "International Law and Gaza: The Assault on Israel's Right to Self-Defense". Jerusalem Issue Brief, Vol. 7, No. 29. Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
^ "Address by Foreign Minister Livni to the 8th Herzliya Conference" (Press release). Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel. 22 January 2008. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
^ Salih, Zak M. (17 November 2005). "Panelists Disagree Over Gaza’s Occupation Status". University of Virginia School of Law. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
^ "Israel: 'Disengagement' Will Not End Gaza Occupation". Human Rights Watch. 29 October 2004. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
^ Israel allows the PNA to execute some functions in the Palestinian territories, depending on special area classification. Israel maintains minimal interference (retaining control of borders: air,[30] sea beyond internal waters,[30][31] land[32]) in the Gaza strip and maximum in "Area C".[33][34][35][36][37] See also Israeli-occupied territories.
[29][38][39][40][41][42]
^ Arieff, Alexis (2008). "De facto Statehood? The Strange Case of Somaliland". Yale Journal of International Affairs 3: 60–79. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
^ "The List: Six Reasons You May Need A New Atlas Soon". Foreign Policy Magazine. July 2007. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
^ "Overview of De-facto States".
^ Wiren, Robert (April 2008). "France recognizes de facto Somaliland". Les Nouvelles d'Addis Magazine. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
^ Robinson, E. H. (2013). "The Distinction Between State and Government". The Geography Compass 7 (8): 556–566.
^ a b Crawford, J. (2006). The Creation of States in International Law (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
^ Robinson, Edward Heath (2010). "An Ontological Analysis of States: Organizations vs. Legal Persons". Applied Ontology 5: 109–125.
^ Robinson, Edward Heath (2011). "The Involuntary Extinction of States: An Examination of the Destruction of States though the Application of Military Force by Foreign Powers since the Second World War". The Journal of Military Geography 1: 17–29.
^ Ringmar, Erik (1996). "On the ontological status of the state". European Journal of International Relations 2 (4).
^ A. James (1986). Sovereign Statehood: The Basis of International Society (London: Allen & Unwin)
^ a b Robinson, Edward H. (2014). "A documentary theory of states and their existence as quasi-abstract entities". Geopolitics 19 (3): 1–29.
^ Robinson, Edward H. (2011). "A theory of social agentivity and its integration into the descriptive ontology for linguistic and cognitive engineering". International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems 7 (4): 62–86.
Exclusive mandate
List of sovereign states (by formation date)
List of sovereign states and dependent territories by continent
Montevideo Convention
Nation-building
Nation state
Rule according to higher law
Unitary state
The ontological status of the state has been the subject of debate,[52] specially, whether or not the state, being an object that no one can see, taste, touch, or otherwise detect,[53] actually exists. It has been argued that one potential reason as to why the existence of states has been controversial is because states do not have a place in the traditional Platonist duality of the concrete and the abstract.[54] Characteristically, concrete objects are those that have position in time and space, which states do not have (though their territories have spatial position, but states are distinct from their territories), and abstract objects have position in neither time nor space, which does not fit the supposed characteristics of states either, since states do have temporal position (they can be created at certain times and then become extinct at a future time). Also, abstract objects are characteristically completely non-causal, which is also not a characteristics of states, since states can act in the world and can cause certain events (though only by actions taken on their behalf through a representative).[55] Therefore, it has been argued that states belong to a third category, the quasi-abstract, that has recently begun to garner philosophical attention, specially in the area of documentality, a ontological theory that seeks to understand the role of documents in understanding all of social reality. Quasi-abstract objects, such as states, can be brought into being through document acts, and can also be used to manipulate them, such as by binding them by treaty or surrendering them as the result of a war.[54] Scholars in international relations can be broken up into two different practices, realists and pluralists, of what they believe the ontological state of the state is. Realists believe that the world is one of only states and interstate relations and the identity of the state is defined before any international relations with other states. On the other hand, Pluralists believe that the state is not the only actor in international relations and interactions between states and the state is competing against a many other actors. [17]
Ontological status of the state
Generally speaking, states are durable entities, though it is possible for them to be become extinguished, either through voluntary means or by military conquest. Because states are nonphysical juridical entities, their extinction cannot be due to only physical force alone.[51] Instead the physical actions of the military must be associated with the correct social or judiciary actions in order to abolish a state.
State extinction
Although the terms "state" and "government" are often used interchangeably,[48] international law is predicated on a distinction between nonphysical states and their governments, and in fact, the concept of "government-in-exile" is predicated upon the distinction between states and their governments.[49] States are nonphysical juridical entities, and not organisations of any kind,[50] though, ordinarily, only the government of a state is allowed to obligate or bind it, for example by treaty.[49]
Relationship between state and government
Most sovereign states are states governments-in-exile during the Second World War which continued to enjoy diplomatic relations with the Allies, notwithstanding that their countries were under Nazi occupation. The State of Palestine, which is recognised by most states doesn't have control over any of its claimed territory in Palestine[29][43] and possess only extraterritorial areas (i.e. embassies and consulates). Other states may have sovereignty over a territory but lack international recognition; these are considered by the international community to be only de facto states (they are considered de jure states only according to their own Law and by states that recognise them). Somaliland is commonly considered to be such a state.[44][45][46][47] For a list of entities that wish to be universally recognised as sovereign states, but do not have complete worldwide diplomatic recognition, see the list of states with limited recognition.
De facto and de jure states
Recognition is often withheld when a new state is seen as illegitimate or has come about in breach of international law. Almost universal non-recognition by the international community of Rhodesia and Northern Cyprus are good examples of this. In the former case, recognition was widely withheld when the white minority seized power and attempted to form a state along the lines of Apartheid South Africa, a move that the United Nations Security Council described as the creation of an "illegal racist minority régime".[27] In the latter case, recognition was widely withheld from a state created in Northern Cyprus on land illegally invaded by Turkey in 1974.[28]
State practice relating the recognition states typically falls somewhere between the declaratory and constitutive approaches.[25] International law does not require a state to recognise other states.[26]
State practice
A similar opinion about "the conditions on which an entity constitutes a state" is expressed by the European Economic Community Opinions of the Badinter Arbitration Committee, which found that a state was defined by having a territory, a population, and a political authority.
Article 3 of the Montevideo Convention declares that statehood is independent of recognition by other states. In contrast, recognition is considered a requirement for statehood by the constitutive theory of statehood. However, Article 11 of the Montevideo Convention qualifies the four criteria by prohibiting the use military force or diplomatic coercion to prevent the recognition of puppet states.
By contrast, the "declarative" theory defines a state as a person in international law if it meets the following criteria: 1) a defined territory; 2) a permanent population; 3) a government and 4) a capacity to enter into relations with other states, so long as it wasn't achieved by force whether this consists in the employment of arms, in threatening diplomatic representations, or in any other effective coercive measure. According to declarative theory, an entity's statehood is independent of its recognition by other states. The declarative model was most famously expressed in the 1933 Montevideo Convention.
Declarative theory
...International Law does not say that a State is not in existence as long as it isn't recognised, but it takes no notice of it before its recognition. Through recognition only and exclusively a State becomes an International Person and a subject of International Law.[24]
In 1912, L. F. L. Oppenheim had the following to say on constitutive theory:
One of the major criticisms of this law is the confusion caused when some states recognise a new entity, but other states do not. Hersch Lauterpacht, one of the theory's main proponents, suggested that it is a state's duty to grant recognition as a possible solution. However, a state may use any criteria when judging if they should give recognition and they have no obligation to use such criteria. Many states may only recognise another state if it is to their advantage.[22]
The constitutive theory of statehood defines a state as a person of international law if, and only if, it is recognised as sovereign by other states. This theory of recognition was developed in the 19th century. Under it, a state was sovereign if another sovereign state recognised it as such. Because of this, new states could not immediately become part of the international community or be bound by international law, and recognised nations did not have to respect international law in their dealings with them.[22] In 1815 at the Congress of Vienna the Final Act recognised only 39 sovereign states in the European diplomatic system, and as a result it was firmly established that in the future new states would have to be recognised by other states, and that meant in practice recognition by one or more of the great powers.[23]
Constitutive theory
In international law, however, there are several theories of when a state should be recognised as sovereign.[21]
There is no definition that is binding on all the members of the community of nations on the criteria for statehood. In actual practice, the criteria are mainly political, not legal.[19] L.C. Green cited the recognition of the unborn Polish and Czech states in World War I and explained that "since recognition of statehood is a matter of discretion, it is open to any existing State to accept as a state any entity it wishes, regardless of the existence of territory or of an established government."[20]
State recognition signifies the decision of a sovereign state to treat another entity as also being a sovereign state.[18] Recognition can be either express or implied and is usually retroactive in its effects. It doesn't necessarily signify a desire to establish or maintain diplomatic relations.
State refers to the set of governing and supportive institutions that have sovereignty over a definite territory and population. Sovereign states are legal persons.
Nation denotes a people who are believed to or deemed to share common customs, religion, language, origins, ancestry or history. However, the adjectives national and international are frequently used to refer to matters pertaining to what are strictly sovereign states, as in national capital, international law.
In casual usage, the terms "country", "nation", and "state" are often used as if they were synonymous; but in a more strict usage they can be distinguished:
The Westphalian model of state sovereignty has increasingly come under fire from the "non-west" as a system imposed solely by Western Colonialism. What this model did was make religion a subordinate to politics,[17] a problem that has caused some issues in the Islamic world. This system does not fit in the Islamic world because concepts such as "separation of church and state" and "individual conscience" is not recognised in the Islamic religion as a social system.
Named after the 1648, Treaty of Westphalia, the Westphalian System of state sovereignty, which according to Bryan Turner is "made a more or less clear separation between religion and state, and recognised the right of princes "to confessionalise" the state, that is, to determine the religious affiliation of their kingdoms on the pragmatic principle of cuius regio eius religio."[17]
In political science, sovereignty is usually defined as the most essential attribute of the state in the form of its complete self-sufficiency in the frames of a certain territory, that is its supremacy in the domestic policy and independence in the foreign one.[16]
[15][14][13] The right of nations to determine their own political status and exercise permanent sovereignty within the limits of their territorial jurisdictions is widely recognised.[12][11]
United Kingdom, Autonomous communities of Spain, Province, Village, Country
Autonomous communities of Spain
Spain, Balearic Islands, Ceuta, Melilla, Catalonia
Guadeloupe, Americas, French language, Puerto Rico, Gustavia, Saint Barthélemy
Telecommunications in Cyprus
Internet, Cyprus, Dependent territory, Sovereign state, Telecommunications in Armenia
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You are here: History > Madagascar > Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent
Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent (6 July 1778 - 22 December 1846)
Was a French naturalist. (His personal name is variously reported, including "Jean Baptiste Marcellin" and "Jean Baptiste George Marie".
He was born at Agen. He was sent as naturalist with Captain Nicolas Baudin's expedition to Australia in 1798, but left the vessel at Mauritius, and spent two years in exploring Réunion and other islands. Joining the army on his return, he was present at the battle of Ulm and battle of Austerlitz, and in 1808 went to Spain with Marshal Soult.
His attachment to the Napoleonic dynasty and dislike to the Bourbons were shown in various ways during 1815, and his name was consequently placed on the list of the proscribed; but after wandering in disguise from place to place he was allowed quietly to return to Paris in 1820. In 1829 he was placed at the head of a scientific expedition to the Peloponnessus, and in 1839 he had charge of the exploration of Algeria.
He was editor of the Dictionnaire classique d'histoire naturelle, and among his separate productions were: Essais sur les Iles Fortunées (1802); Voyage dans les Iles d'Afrique (1803); Voyage souterrain, ou description du plateau de Saint-Pierre de Maestricht et de ses vastes cryptes (1821); L'Homme, essai zoologique sur le genre humain (1827) in which he adopted a polygenist perspective [1]; Resume de la géographie de la Peninsule (1838).
Brummitt, R. K.; C. E. Powell (1992). Authors of Plant Names. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ISBN 1-84246-085-4.
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Proxy & Avalon - Mindee Arnett (+ Giveaway)
Proxy by Mindee Arnett
Series: Avalon #0.5
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source/Format: Author (Thanks!) || Kindle e-book
[I received this book for review from the author. This in no way affects the thoughts expressed in my review.]
If you need something stolen from any star system in the Confederation, you need look no further than the Shades. Jeth Seagrave and his band of teenage mercenaries have been making a name for themselves for being able to steal anything—and for disappearing before anyone is the wiser. Their latest job, a jewel heist on Grakkus, should be no different. But when Jeth's boss replaces a key member of his crew just before takeoff, and Jeth discovers a betrayal within his own ranks, he begins to suspect that not everyone is going to be coming back from his job alive. (from Goodreads)
Proxy is a seriously strong novella. As it's set a little before the events of Avalon, it works its magic when it comes to building up my curiosity and investment in the series.
Proxy introduces us to Jeth Seagrave and his legendary teenage crew. It was really cool to get a chance to meet them, assess their skills and get an idea of what they're like. Even though readers don't really get the chance to go in-depth with these individuals, it still gives a great impression of what can be expected.
It's even better that readers get to witness the crew in action, as they're tasked to go on an extremely difficult mission during Proxy. Learning how their missions work, and watching how everyone contributes to its success (even when random shenanigans go down), is really interesting. I was certainly amazed by the sheer level of talent, ingenuity and intelligence demonstrated!
It really excited me to be able to read Proxy before reading Avalon. It was the perfect way to get to know these characters, see them in action and get fully invested. I enjoyed reading about Jeth and his crew, and couldn't wait to dive into Avalon right after.
Avalon by Mindee Arnett
Series: Avalon #1
Publication Date: January 21, 2014 (You can grab a copy today!)
Source/Format: Edelweiss (Thank you!) || e-galley
Of the various star systems that make up the Confederation, most lie thousands of light-years from First Earth-and out here, no one is free. The agencies that govern the Confederation are as corrupt as the crime bosses who patrol it, and power is held by anyone with enough greed and ruthlessness to claim it. That power is derived from one thing: metatech, the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster than the speed of light.
Jeth Seagrave and his crew of teenage mercenaries have survived in this world by stealing unsecured metatech, and they're damn good at it. Jeth doesn't care about the politics or the law; all he cares about is earning enough money to buy back his parents' ship, Avalon, from his crime-boss employer and getting himself and his sister, Lizzie, the heck out of Dodge. But when Jeth finds himself in possession of information that both the crime bosses and the government are willing to kill for, he is going to have to ask himself how far he'll go to get the freedom he's wanted for so long. (from Goodreads)
I'm just going to come right out and say it: I liked Avalon. It was not, by any means, the perfect book. But there were things about it that simply worked for me, including the writing and the story. While I certainly don't think everyone will feel the same about it, I can safely say I'm very interested in what happens next for Jeth and his crew.
The writing in Avalon is accessible, easy and reads well, and this in spite of all the science fiction terms tossed into the mix. Though there were times when I would be slightly confused about what things meant or how they worked, it was easy enough to draw on context clues or do a little research to understand what was meant. Once you accept there might be new terminology and keep your mind open for explanations, it's pretty safe to say that you're in the clear when it comes to reading this.
It was, however, the story that really drew me in with Avalon. It's a great blend of action, drama and perhaps just a touch of comedy. There were startling twists, surprising events and moments when it felt like all hope was lost, all working to bring the story together effectively. Once I'd started reading it, I just kept turning the pages because I had to satisfy my curiosity about how Arnett would pull this entire thing off.
[Side note: The romantic feelings caught me off guard when it first made an appearance. Honestly, I was worried that this would change the book's focus entirely. While Arnett was able to soothe my concerns, I do still think that it was surprisingly unnecessary and a touch too quick for my liking.]
But, as I've mentioned, Avalon is not perfect. My biggest reservations lie in its characters. While I get that there are good guys, bad guys and in-between-and-possibly-gray guys, that's as far as the character development went. Sure, each character who appears for a significant amount of time gets handed a quality that makes them unique. But that's all they're known for, which relegates them to being cardboard cutouts. This lack of unique characterization is a shame, as I wanted to get to know everyone a little bit better after reading Proxy. If I had been able to connect better with the characters, I might have enjoyed Avalon even more.
In spite of my lack of feelings for these characters, I still enjoyed Avalon. It's unlike any book I've read before, which is part of the reason I'm fascinated. Arnett spins a strong tale for her series starter, and I'm curious to see how she continues Jeth's (and his crew's) story in the next one.
Thanks to Suzie of New Leaf Literary & Media for allowing me to share a link to this giveaway in honor of Avalon's release! Here's your chance to win a signed copy of Avalon.
Please note that this giveaway is US/CA ONLY.
Tags: book review, By Alexa, giveaway, Mindee Arnett, young adult fiction
Lauren @ Love is not a triangle January 21, 2014 at 7:28 AM
I've seen several people remark that this book had flaws, but was overall a fun book to read and a good start to the series, and that definitely peaks my interest a lot. Action, drama and comedy all set in space sounds like a great combo, tho it also seems like some of the sci-fi elements didn't fully for for you, or were confusing at least. I've come to prefer less romance at the beginning of series so that it has time to grow, so I'm glad that it doesn't overtake this plot (though it sounds like it maybe wasn't needed at all). I still think I'll hold off on this until the next one releases to read them in a chunk, but after seeing so many positive reviews it's now on my radar where it wasn't really before.
Rebecca @ The Library Canary January 21, 2014 at 7:29 AM
I really liked this one too! I do agree about the romance being unnecessary though. It felt forced. I can't wait to see where the crew will go next!
Julia David February 27, 2014 at 11:19 AM
Your this blog giving us very much information thanks for share this.
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Man Lives in Tomb with Dead Wife
Graveyardbride
Man Lives in Tomb with Dead Wife Oct 4, 2016 22:03:27 GMT -5 madeline and LostLenore like this
Post by Graveyardbride on Oct 4, 2016 22:03:27 GMT -5
In Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday, September 14, 1905, hundreds of deciduous trees lent bold strokes of gold, orange and red to the funereal landscape as undertakers carrying the corpse of Jonathan Reed waited for a caretaker to unlock the door of a splendid mausoleum in The Evergreens Cemetery. The men then entered and placed the elderly gentleman, who had died the day before, in the coffin beside that of his beloved wife. If Reed knew what was taking place, he felt right at home, for he had spent most of his waking hours for the past several years within the tomb.
Fifty-nine-year-old Mary Gould Reed died March 23, 1893, and as her inconsolable husband sat beside her deathbed, he promised to remain by her side until he joined her in the hereafter. Jonathan Reed, around 68 at the time, never got over his loss. Most people begin to recover from the death of a loved one around eight weeks after his/her demise, but Reed’s grief persisted and he was unwilling to accept the fact his companion was gone. He told friends and acquaintances the only change was that the warmth had left Mary’s body. He believed if he kept her warm, she would be just as much his wife as before death.
Initially, Mrs. Reed was interred in the Gould family vault, but the heartbroken widower was spending so much time at the grave site that his father-in-law finally lost patience and told him it wasn’t normal – and in very poor taste – to hang around the cemetery for hours every day, no matter how much he loved Mary. Two years later, Mr. Gould died and Reed purchased space in the fashionable Whispering Oaks section of The Evergreens, where he oversaw the construction of a substantial mausoleum of rough-hewn stone that extended into a high embankment. He then had his wife’s expensive metal coffin transferred to her new resting place and proceeded to turn the two-room crypt into a dwelling that would, for all practical purposes, become his home. First, he purchased a casket for himself and had it placed in the sepulcher beside that of his beloved. Then he went about decorating the tomb with comfortable furniture, bright red curtains, a clock, urns filled with fragrant blooms, photographs, paintings (one of which depicted Charon crossing the River Styx), a deck of cards, china and silverware, his wife’s half-finished knitting project and a wood-burning stove he had specially made for the sepulcher. He even brought Mary’s pet canary to the tomb. (The bird later died, but Reed wasn’t discouraged; he took the carcass to a taxidermist to preserve the little yellow songbird and had it placed back on its perch inside the cage.)
Reed was a retired merchant and he and Mary had lived comfortably in a fine dwelling (no longer standing) in the East New York section of Brooklyn; his net worth in today’s currency would amount to approximately $500,000. Early each morning, he left his home at the corner of Marcy Avenue and South 9th Street and made his way to The Evergreens, usually arriving around 6 a.m. when the gates opened. For the next several hours, he spent his time in the elaborately-furnished mausoleum reading, napping and talking to Mary and those who stopped by to pass the time of day, interspersed with short strolls about the manicured grounds of the sprawling cemetery. As with old-time postal workers, neither rain, snow, hail nor extreme heat or cold kept Reed from his appointed visits. People said he took most of his meals inside the tomb while carrying on an imaginary conversation with the woman he loved. In an interview with the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1895, Reed explained, “My wife was a remarkable woman and our lives were blended into one. When she died, I had no ambition but to cherish her memory. My only pleasure is to sit here with all that is left of her.” His comment indicates he knew very well Mary Reed was dead. Apparently, he simply preferred the company of his deceased wife to that of the living.
Word soon spread about the eccentric old man who had taken up residence in the graveyard and during the first year, in excess of 7,000 curiosity seekers visited the mausoleum to exchange a few words with Jonathan Reed. Before long, Mr. and Mrs. Reed were receiving guests from around the globe, including a group of Buddhist monks from Burma who were convinced the old man in America possessed some secret knowledge of life after death. Though in his 70s, Reed also attracted the attentions of local widows and other available ladies and many came to call. He cordially received them, but firmly explained Mary was simply sleeping and he aspired only to be laid to rest beside her. Nevertheless, Reed didn’t actually “live” in the cemetery. The gates of The Evergreens closed at 6 p.m. and so far as is known, he was always gone by that time.
Mary Reed had loved the springtime and when she died, the promise of spring was in the air. It was on such a day in the month of March 12 years later that a laborer at Evergreens Cemetery noticed the door of a tomb was ajar. Not realizing Jonathan Reed practically lived in the huge mausoleum, he poked his head inside and in the gloomy interior, saw what he thought was a dead man lying on the cold marble floor. He immediately informed a police officer by the name of Dooley, who, in turn, summoned Dr. Meister from the Bradford Street Hospital. The doctor checked the old man, who was still alive, but appeared to be the victim of apoplexy. At this point, no one present knew the identity of the elderly gentleman and he was transported by ambulance to the hospital and admitted to the pauper’s ward. That night, doctors told his niece her uncle was alive, but in critical condition.
Local newspapers, including The New York Times, reported Reed’s collapse, emphasizing the fact he was found in a state of unconsciousness on the floor of his wife’s tomb. “Mr Reed could never be made to believe that his wife was really dead,” one journalist wrote, “and that if he kept the mausoleum warm, she would continue to sleep peacefully ... Friends often visited him in the tomb and although they at first tried to convince him that his wife was really dead, they long ago gave up that argument and have for years honored the whims of the old man,” who “ate all of his meals in the mausoleum and was in the habit of holding imaginary conversations with his wife. According to his friends, he really believed that his wife could understand what he was saying to her.”
Another paper reported: “When his wife died about eight years ago,* Mr. Reed had built for her in Evergreens Cemetery, one of the most remarkable tombs ever constructed,” then proceeded to recount Reed’s strange obsession, but ended by conceding, “In spite of this remarkable eccentricity in regard to his dead wife, Mr. Reed is in other respects an unusually intelligent and interesting man. He converses on all subjects with a degree of knowledge and insight rare to a person of his age. It is only upon the subject of death that he appears to be at all deranged.”
Jonathan Reed never recovered and remained an invalid until his death September 13, 1905, at the age of around 80 years. The following day, the tomb at The Evergreens was opened and closed for the last time. His obituary stated: “Mr. Jonathan Reed, known throughout the United States as the ‘Hermit of Evergreens Cemetery,’ is dead and was today [Sept. 14] entombed beside his wife in the magnificent mausoleum where he had passed most of his time mourning her. On his wife’s deathbed, he promised never to leave her side until he should join her in death and he faithfully kept his pledge, in all weathers and all seasons.”
Author: Graveyardbride.
Sources: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 24, 1905; The New York Times, March 24 and September 14, 1905; Green Oasis in Brooklyn: The Evergreens Cemetery by John Rousmaniere; The Evergreens Cemetery; Find-a-Grave; Jeff Dobbins, Walks of New York, October 29, 2011; and Findery.
*Actually, Mary Reed had been dead 12 years.
Last Edit: Jul 23, 2018 9:04:20 GMT -5 by Joanna
Man Lives in Tomb with Dead Wife Oct 5, 2016 0:09:57 GMT -5 natalie likes this
Post by madeline on Oct 5, 2016 0:09:57 GMT -5
What a touching story.
Man Lives in Tomb with Dead Wife Oct 5, 2016 19:21:58 GMT -5
Post by pat on Oct 5, 2016 19:21:58 GMT -5
I've heard of a lot of people who grieve and visit the cemetery of the graves of loved ones more than usual, but this is weird.
LostLenore
Man Lives in Tomb with Dead Wife Jul 23, 2018 8:45:40 GMT -5
Post by LostLenore on Jul 23, 2018 8:45:40 GMT -5
I love this story, but what kind of state of mind would someone be in to decide to spend all their time in a tomb?
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Aydar Lake
Our random article today is Aydar Lake.
The Aydar Lake (Uzbek: Aydar Ko‘li, Айдар кўли; Haydar ko‘li, Ҳайдар кўли; alternate spellings: Lake Aydarkul, Lake Aidarkul) is part of the man-made Aydar-Arnasay system of lakes, which covers an area of 4,000 square kilometres (1,500 mi²). This system includes 3 brackish water lakes (Aydar Kul, Arnasay and Tuzkan) located in the saline depressions of the south-eastern Kyzyl Kum (now in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan). The lakes are the unintentional byproduct of Soviet planning.
Up to the middle of the last century, the Arnasay lowland remained a dry salt pan during most of the year. Only in Spring, in the lowlands, would the small, ephemeral Lake Tuzkan glisten briefly, disappearing in the hot weather.
In the early sixties the Syr Darya was dammed up. Simultaneously the Chardarya irrigation dam was constructed. Floodgates were provided in the dam for flood control, and when in 1969 a raging flood occurred, these were opened as the dam's capacity was inadequate to cope with the flow. Between February 1969 and February 1970 almost 60% of the Syr Darya's average annual water flow (21 km³) was drained from the Chardarya Reservoir into the Arnasay lowland. In such a way new lakes were unintentionally created. Since 1969 the Aydar Lake has regularly received the waters of the Syr Darya River when they overflow the capacity of the Chardarya Reservoir. This has gradually filled up the natural cavity of Arnasay lowland to create the second largest lake in the region (after the remains of the Aral Sea).
In 2005 the Aydar Lake contained 44.3 cubic kilometers of water. Today the area of the Aydar Lake amounts 3,000 km2 (1,200 sq mi). It is nearly 250 km (160 mi) long and up to 15 km (9.3 mi) wide. The mineralization of the water in the Aydar Lake averages only 2 grams per liter (2,000 ppm).
Many sorts of fish including the Sazan (Cyprinus carpio), Pike perch (Stizostedion lucioperca), Bream (Abramis brama), Cat-fish (Silurus glanis), Hzereh (Aspius aspius), Chehon (Pelecus cultratus), Ophidian fish (Channa argus) were introduced to the lake, which nowadays works as a source of industrial fishing. The lake system provides between 760 and 2,000 tones of fish annually (according to statistical data between 1994 and 2001).
In addition to fauna common in the Kyzyl Kum, there are many kinds of water birds migrating from the Aral Sea that make their homes around the lake.
The Aydar Lake is located away from inhabited localities. At the present time, 345 families (approx. 1,760 people) reside near the lake.
The region of the Aydar Lake and adjoining Kyzylkum Desert is an area of great potential for fishing, yurting and camel-back riding tourist activities.
For the full current version of the article, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aydar_Lake.
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The ups and downs of a medical family
Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone is a novel that spans three continents, two generations, and multiple revolutions. It's set mostly in Ethiopia and the United States, though in both countries, the majority of the action takes place in hospitals that cater to the poor. The plot is pretty hard to summarize, so I'll share the short but sweet description from the book:
Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.
Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles--and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined.
Medicine is central to this novel, and there are a lot of detailed and graphic descriptions of injuries, maladies, and surgeries. These were very difficult for me to listen to via audiobook, and I admit I fast-forwarded through many of those procedures. It's hard to listen to a narrator speak dispassionately about incisions being made, blood pooling on the floor, and organs failing. That said, I thought about both my father and brother while reading this book. Both of them are physicians, and Verghese's clear knowledge of medicine, and his great empathy for patients and his obvious regard for the ethical responsibilities that doctors have towards their patients really stood out to me. So often, now, we hear about how modern healthcare has made it difficult for physicians to connect with their patients. They have so much paperwork to fill out, so many procedures to do, so much fear of being sued, that the relationship can often feel more combative or tense than healing. But many doctors still care deeply for their patients. My father has been practicing for many years now and has seen multiple generations of the same family come through his office. It struck a chord to read a book that focused so much on the deep, lasting and positive impact that doctors have on so many lives.
I really enjoyed reading about hospital life, the camaraderie between the doctors, the responsibility to do no harm, the need to do extraordinary work with very limited resources. I also loved some of the characters in this story, particularly Hema and Ghosh. Hema and Ghosh adopt Marion and Shiva at birth, and the two of them are such strong, caring, and wonderful people. I loved their marriage, which was based on such a strong foundation of friendship. When they married, they agreed to renew their marriage contract every year, and each year, they go out celebrating and Ghosh proposes again. The two doctors are also wonderful mentors to the twins, and the whole family interaction is great to read.
That said, I didn't much care for the two central plots of the novel - first, the mystery surrounding the Stone brothers' father, Thomas Stone; and second, the often toxic relationship between Marion and the "love of his life," Gennet. I liked Thomas Stone, though he wasn't a character one got to know very well. But he wasn't around that often at all, and so building an entire story around him and his abandonment was difficult to pull off. I just didn't care about the tension between Thomas Stone and Marion Stone. I cared more about how they both interacted with their patients. I cared even less for the drama around Gennet, Marion's childhood friend and the girl he decided he was in love with (why, I don't know). She was only ever described to us by Marion, and she didn't come into her own. There was also a horrible scene in which Marion took advantage of Gennet because he saw himself as a "victim," and I just couldn't stomach it, and pretty much lost all respect for Marion after that. He never seemed to even consider that he treated her badly, only saw how she was unkind to him. There was no self-examination, and I hated that. For someone that was supposed to be compassionate and kind towards those he loved and cared for, he was not at all compassionate or kind towards Gennet, only seeing her as an object for what he wanted for himself.
Overall, this book was a mixed bag for me. While I liked the medical side of it, I didn't care much for the family drama.
Labels: 20th century, africa, america, audiobook, family, historical fiction
Alex (The Sleepless Reader) 11/13/2014
I know what you mean about listening to medical procedures. Feel the same about sex scenes, although I don't consider myself a prude.
This book was recommended to me by two different people in my new office when they know I loved to read, so it was already under my radar.
biblioglobal 11/13/2014
I recently finished reading Cutting for Stone and will be posting about it soon. Mostly ranting! I agree with you that the Gennet storyline was quite problematic. Plus I just got annoyed at the amount of drama and coincidences.
Trisha 11/13/2014
I have this one on the to-read shelves (yes I said shelves..plural) but I just haven't yet been in the mood to read it.
Nish 12/01/2014
I read this one and pretty much liked the same things and disliked the same things as you. I couldn't stand the Gennet/Shiva/Marion plotline. I did like the insight into Ethiopian life though and loved the story of Thomas and sister Mary on their journey from Madras to Ethiopia.
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The Literary Translation Prize
Annual Lecture
Image: Detail of painting by Youssef Abdelke created for the front cover of the first issue of Banipal magazine, February 1998
© 2009 Banipal
Click to go to Banipal Magazine
The Banipal Trust for Arab Literature was founded in September 2004 by the publisher of Banipal magazine to support and celebrate the publication of Arab authors in English translation and the production of live literature events in the UK with Arab authors.
The Trust supports the deepening and enriching of cultural dialogue between the Arab world and the West (particularly Europe and North America) in order to bring the literature of today’s Arab authors to the multicultural readership of the UK and English speakers worldwide. The Trust sees this intercultural dialogue and exchange as opening a window for a Western audience on the realities of contemporary Arab culture in all its diversity and vibrancy.
The Trust supports and promotes the translation of literary works by contemporary Arab authors into English, the publication of Banipal magazine of modern Arab literature in English translation (ISSN 1461-5361) three times a year, and the staging of live literature events for promoting Banipal issues and Arab authors.
To see the entries for the 2018 Prize, click here
For details of the judging panel of the 2018 Prize, click here
For the announcement of the winner of the 2017 Prize, click here
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