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Thirty-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage
The traditional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has a constant interest rate and monthly payments that never change. This may be a good choice if you plan to stay in your home for seven years or longer. If you plan to move within seven years, then adjustable-rate loans are usually cheaper. As a rule of thumb, it may be harder to qualify for fixed-rate loans than for adjustable rate loans. When interest rates are low, fixed-rate loans are generally not that much more expensive than adjustable-rate mortgages and may be a better deal in the long run, because you can lock in the rate for the life of your loan.
Fifteen-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage
This loan is fully amortized over a 15-year period and features constant monthly payments. It offers all the advantages of the 30-year loan, plus a lower interest rate—and you'll own your home twice as fast. The disadvantage is that, with a 15-year loan, you commit to a higher monthly payment. Many borrowers opt for a 30-year fixed-rate loan and voluntarily make larger payments that will pay off their loan in 15 years. This approach is often safer than committing to a higher monthly payment, since the difference in interest rates isn't that great.
Hybrid ARM (3/1 ARM, 5/1 ARM, 7/1 ARM)
These increasingly popular ARMS—also called 3/1, 5/1 or 7/1—can offer the best of both worlds: lower interest rates (like ARMs) and a fixed payment for a longer period of time than most adjustable rate loans. For example, a "5/1 loan" has a fixed monthly payment and interest for the first five years and then turns into a traditional adjustable-rate loan, based on then-current rates for the remaining 25 years. It's a good choice for people who expect to move (or refinance) before or shortly after the adjustment occurs.
Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM)
When it comes to ARMs there's a basic rule to remember...the longer you ask the lender to charge you a specific rate, the more expensive the loan.
2/1 Buy Down Mortgage
The 2/1 Buy-Down Mortgage allows the borrower to qualify at below market rates so they can borrow more. The initial starting interest rate increases by 1% at the end of the first year and adjusts again by another 1% at the end of the second year. It then remains at a fixed interest rate for the remainder of the loan term. Borrowers often refinance at the end of the second year to obtain the best long-term rates. However, keeping the loan in place even for three full years or more will keep their average interest rate in line with the original market conditions.
Annual ARM
This loan has a rate that is recalculated once a year.
Monthly ARM
With this loan, the interest rate is recalculated every month. Compared to other options, the rate is usually lower on this ARM because the lender is only committing to a rate for a month at a time, so his vulnerability is significantly reduced.
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Corporate-backed private school chains for the poor: The South African experience
Sonia Languille
Since the 2000s, there has been an impressive growth in basic education enrolment in the global South. However, the quality of education has remained low for the majority of learners. Against this undisputed diagnosis, advocates of education privatisation argue that access to quality education in developing and emerging countries calls for an expansion of private provision through so-called ‘low-cost’ or ‘low-fee private schools for the poor’ (Tooley and Dixon 2005). While private education has been reserved for a wealthy elite for decades, low-fee private schools would purportedly serve the educational needs of the ‘bottom of the pyramid’. This article provides critical insights into emerging ‘affordable’ private-school chains in South Africa.
Commodification of education: a global trend
Over the past decade, private schooling has been on the rise in low and middle income countries. However, the actual scope of the low-fee schools phenomenon remains difficult to assess: education censuses cover private institutions imperfectly, and some low-fee schools remain unregistered. Notwithstanding this statistical uncertainty, the spread of low-fee, for-profit private schools epitomises a global trend: over the past three decades, worldwide, profit-oriented investment in the field of education has increased, although the intensity of education privatisation, in its various forms, has differed according to national contexts.
‘Carwasheros’ unionise in New York City: community-labour partnerships and the challenges of organising a runaway industry
Carwasheros on strike in Park Slope, Brooklyn
(Photo Credit: Center for Popular Democracy)
New York City carwashes harbour some of the most exploitative labour practices in the city. State law sets carwash workers’ hourly minimum wage at nearly three dollars below the state minimum – US$7.25 per hour in 2012, when carwash workers began organising. Employers are expected to pay workers the difference in tips, but minimum wage violations are rampant in this cash-run and largely unregulated industry. A 2008 New York Department of Labour report found 78% of investigated carwash operators violated minimum-wage laws, depriving workers of more than US$6.5 million (Smith, 2008). Compounding already precarious working conditions, many carwasheros, as some workers call themselves, are undocumented immigrants, a vulnerability employers prey upon by threatening to call immigration when workers begin to organise (Center for Popular Democracy, 2013).
ILO is the sole shield for millions of workers: Interview with Bernard Thibault
This is a shortened version of an interview by David Eloy that first appeared in the French magazine Altermondes.
On 25 February 2015, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) emerged from a crisis that had blocked it from functioning properly for three years. The cause of that crisis was that the employers’ organisations called into question the right to strike. Could you talk us through that dispute?
Bernard Thibault: The ILO was born in the aftermath of the First World War, in response to the simple observation that the origins of war are to be found in social precarity and poverty. So the nations agreed to create a body of worldwide labour law, including basic texts on freedom of association and the right to strike. Established a little later, the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations is tasked with examining how states implement these standards and with issuing opinions. So in case of violations, states can find themselves in the hot seat. But from 2012 onwards, the employers’ organisations contested the fact that these experts could recognise a right to strike in countries where this right is not provided for in the constitution.
Corporate-backed private school chains for the poo...
‘Carwasheros’ unionise in New York City: community...
ILO is the sole shield for millions of workers: In...
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Worldwide demonstrations for a free Belarus on 20th anniversary of independence from the USSR
“The solidarity of the shaken can say ‘no’ to the measures of mobilization that make the state of war permanent. … The solidarity of the shaken is built up in persecution and uncertainty: that is its front line, quiet, without fanfare or sensation even there where this aspect of the ruling Force seeks to seize it.” - Jan Patočka
It was twenty years ago today that Belarus achieved its independence from the Soviet Union after more than 7 decades. Nevertheless, this day is not cause for celebration because for the majority of that time and currently the people of Belarus have been subjected to what today is the last dictatorship in Europe under the autocratic regime of Alexander Lukashenko.
Activists gathered on Miami Beach
On August 21, 2011 a group of young people met on Lincoln Road Mall in South Beach to demonstrate their support for democratic activists in Belarus who suffer repression for trying to exercise their fundamental rights. Today in Belarus silent protests have been outlawed.
As a descendant of Cubans whose homeland has suffered under a brutal dictatorship for more than a half century the repression suffered by the Belarusians is all too familiar. On the same day that we marched through the heart of Miami Beach and educated bystanders on what is taking place in Belarus, in Cuba the Ladies in White were being brutalized by Castro’s state security agents to block them from attending mass at the local cathedral and peacefully marching in a public space.
Yesterday video emerged of four Cuban women nonviolently demonstrating on the capitol steps in Havana, Cuba calling for an end to the dictatorship and a democratic Cuba they were detained and beaten up by Cuban state security.
Dictators Alexander Lukashenko and Raul Castro embrace
Although separated by language and distance the brutal repression against nonviolent activists is unacceptable whether it is in Belarus, China, Cuba, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tibet, Venezuela or elsewhere. The tyrants are working together to perfect their respective tyrannies and human rights defenders must join together in resisting them. It is for that reason that we engaged in a demonstration of solidarity with the democrats in Belarus and salute all those around the world today engaged in actions in their support.
Please today, take action for a human rights defender unjustly imprisoned in Belarus. His name is Ales Bialatski and Amnesty International has an urgent action to obtain his release.
Posted by John Suarez at 3:17 AM
Labels: Belarus, Cuba, IYDU
USP-RSM editor September 24, 2012 at 7:40 AM
I oppose the state-capitalist dictatorship of Lukashenko. But ask yourselves this: Why did the people of Belarus choose Lukashenko in 1994? He won the first presidential elections in 1994. The Soviet government was gone and replaced by a right-wing oligarchy of people who destroyed the economy of Belarus.
The people voted for Lukashenko because he opposed right-wing neoliberalism. He stopped the privatizations and he kept foreign capitalists out. That is why some elderly people support him. Unlike Russia and other ex-stalinist states, Belarus did not embraced full capitalism. The state remained strong and that is something capitalist institutions don't like!
Also I oppose the flag of the Belarussian opposition. That flag was first used by the anticommunist republic of 1918, then again by the anticommunist/pro-Nazi government of 1941-1944. It was also used by the unpopular government of Belarus between 1991 and 1994.
That flag of many young demonstrations against Lukashenko is a bad choice. I have no love for the state flag of Belarus. But I cannot give my support to a flag that was used by anticommunists, Nazi's and capitalist exploiters.
John Suarez February 7, 2013 at 11:51 PM
Seems you have a problem with non-communists.
Human Rights First: Cuban Attacks on Ladies in Whi...
The Nation Project of the Lawton Foundation by Dr....
Cuban sculptor Tony López, requiescat in pace
Franklin Brito One year later: Venezuela's Orlando...
Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC), An Ins...
Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia's call to action for a f...
Another Sunday in Raul Castro’s Cuba: Beatings, fr...
The power of music and art to resist totalitarian ...
Amnesty International issues Urgent Action for Cub...
Worldwide demonstrations for a free Belarus on 20t...
The Cuban Regime's International Impact on Human R...
Amnesty International denounces climate of fear an...
Amnistía Internacional denuncia clima de miedo y r...
MLK Jr. Monument in Washington DC: Too much of Pha...
12 Ladies in White beaten and detained on Sunday i...
An unholy alliance: Cuba,Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Liby...
Why the Cuban Adjustment Act is the best solution ...
Ladies in White brutally attacked in Cuba and The ...
U.S. State Department lists Cuba as one of four st...
Fourth consecutive Sunday in Cuba women brutally b...
The solidarity of the shaken: China, Cuba and Mao ...
Former prisoner of conscience Ricardo Bofill, an i...
Take Urgent Action for Imprisoned Belarusian Human...
23 years after 08.08.88 in Burma: A time to rememb...
Ladies in White and Opposition activists brutally ...
Mubarak in the dock in Egypt when will it be the C...
Eliseo Alberto: An honest man who spoke out
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Revolutionary Government Declaration: Aggression against Venezuela must cease
Written by en.granma.cu
Published in Specials
The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba condemns and energetically rejects the attempt to impose a coup d’etat, a puppet government at the service of the United States, in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and expresses its unwavering solidarity with the government of Constitutional President Nicolás Maduro Moros.
The true objectives of actions against Venezuela are to control the vast resources of this sister nation and destroy the value of its example, as an emancipatory process defending the dignity and independence of Our America.
As President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez said: “The sovereignty of our peoples is expressed today in one’s attitude toward Venezuela. To support the legitimate right of the sister nation to define its own destiny is to defend the dignity of all.”
Other coup attempts should not be forgotten, such as the military coup of 2002 and the 2003 oil lockout; the aggressive U.S. Executive Order describing Venezuela as "an unusual and extraordinary threat to national security and foreign policy" of the superpower; unilateral coercive measures; the call for a military coup against the constitutional government of Venezuela; the President of the United States’ threat to use "a possible military option" and the August 4 assassination attempt against President Maduro.
The acts of a group of countries and the shameful role of the OAS constitute a new, desperate attempt to implement an unsuccessful policy of regime change, which has not been imposed due to the unwavering resistance of the Venezuelan people and their determination to defend national sovereignty.
Havana, January 23, 2019
Last modified onSaturday, 02 February 2019 10:56
VENEZUELA COUP ATTEMPT
More in this category: « One lie every 24 hours: List of political manipulations after the tornado The One Thousand and One Faces of the Revolution Square »
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CMA Awards: the great prognosticator (part 3) - album of the year
The hunch here is that Lady Antebellum will take Album of the Year honors with "Need You Now," which came out in January. That would be due to the increasing popularity of the trio rather than the hit-or-miss quality of the CD. There are some strong songs, particularly the title track, but as a whole, there were a lot of better CDs out there.
Miranda Lambert's "Revolution" was one of them. That was one of the best CDs out in 2009. Lambert is obviously of strong voice and put a batch of good songs on the disc.
Dierks Bentley went way into left field - maybe he made it to the bleachers - with "Up on the Ridge," the heavily bluegrass-inspired disc. This is a style of music that Bentley has had an affinity for, and big kudos to him (and hopefully his label) for having the gumption to put it out. Great stuff, but music falls outside the mainstream (surprise surprise) to the point that it will not win this category.
Carrie Underwood's "Play On" was a very solid pop country disc. Underwood has a powerhouse voice, and the songs on the disc were of high quality., such as Mama's Song.
With George Strait's "Twang," the title says it all. His musical abilities show no sign whatsoever of slowing down. This is one meaty album of excellent traditional country music with some Tex-Mex thrown in. "Twang" deserves the honor.
Please send comments to countryst@gmail.com
:: Posted at 11:16 AM by Jeffrey Remz ::
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music regina Related Tags
Foxwarren The Exchange, Regina SK, May 29
Foxwarren appeared as one, animated by blue and red lights, but the crowd's eyes went to Andy Shauf, who hadn't played in his hometown since...
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We don't get many rock stars who are actually occultists anymore; or, if they are, it is only in their personal lives, and plays a lesser pa...
Robyn Hitchcock Barney Danson Theatre, Ottawa ON, July 9
After his well-received appearance at the 2013 Ottawa Folk Festival, Robyn Hitchcock returned to the Nation's Capital for an entirely differ...
The Elwins / Marshall Burns O'Hanlon's, Regina SK, February 24
"It didn't always seem that worthwhile, but now that it's over, I don't regret any fucking moment," sang hometown songwriter Marshall Burns...
The Pistolwhips O'Hanlon's, Regina SK, February 12
The Pistolwhips put on a show for the Thursday night (February 12) crowd at one of the Queen City's downtown pubs, a room first filled with...
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caufield & shook (photographer) (154)
speed school (12)
larson, jens fredrick, b. 1891 (architect) (7)
clarke and loomis (architect) (5)
ossian p. ward (architect) (4)
american society of chemical engineers (3)
hartstern, louis and henry (architect) (3)
speed school sophomores (2)
mode, norris e. (photographer) (17)
hatfield, jared (13)
gruebbel, stephen l. (photographer) (12)
howard, james e., 1875-1956 (photographer) (4)
fougerousse, tom (photographer) (3)
hewett, ainslie, 1880-1963 (bookplate designer) (2)
paul, clyde m. (photographer) (2)
berry, john t. (photographer) (1)
creese, walter l. (photographer) (1)
jefferson county (ky.) (276)
louisville (ky.) (273)
university (louisville, ky.) (139)
university of louisville. belknap campus (134)
third street (louisville, ky.) (21)
central business district (louisville, ky.) (15)
eastern parkway (louisville, ky.) (10)
old louisville (louisville, ky.) (10)
speed avenue (louisville, ky.) (10)
south louisville (louisville, ky.) (7)
university of louisville. speed scientific school (80)
university of louisville -- buildings (69)
safety film negatives (47)
negatives (41)
exhibition catalogs (23)
digital images (19)
: Speed
Guest Book. School of Music. University of Louisville.
Guest books; Autographs; Musicians; Composers; Conductors; Programs
Leather-bound guest book dating from 1948 to 2011, featuring signatures of attendees of Louisville Orchestra premieres; Grawemeyer Composition winners; and official guests of the School of Music.
J.B. Speed Hall.
Buildings; University of Louisville--Buildings; J.B. Speed Hall (Louisville, Ky.); Cupolas; Weather vanes; Driveways; Shrubs; J.B. Speed School of Engineering;
J.B. Speed Hall, the Speed School of Engineering's main building. Eastern Parkway is visible in front of the building. Part of the building's half-circle driveway and greenery are visible. The weather vane atop the cupola is visible, but not...
J.B. Speed Hall under construction, 1940.
Buildings; University of Louisville--Buildings; J.B. Speed Hall (Louisville, Ky.); University of Louisville. Speed Scientific School; Educational facilities; Construction; Building construction; Construction workers; Automobiles;
J.B. Speed Hall, under construction. There are several cars parked nearby, and supports lean out windows on the top floor. Workers can be seen on the roof. J.B. Speed Hall was built largely with funds from the Works Progress Administration and...
J.B. Speed Hall at night.
Buildings; University of Louisville--Buildings; J.B. Speed Hall (Louisville, Ky.); University of Louisville. Speed Scientific School; Educational facilities; Cupolas; Columns; Night; Night photographs;
J.B. Speed Hall, seen from the front at night. The cupola is illuminated, but the weather vane is only barely visible. J.B. Speed Hall was built largely with funds from the Works Progress Administration and James B. Speed's two children, Olive...
J.B. Speed Hall groundbreaking, 1940.
Buildings; University of Louisville--Buildings; University of Louisville. Speed Scientific School; Ground breaking ceremonies; Men; Women; Crowds; Shovels; Signs (Notices); Grawemeyer Hall (Louisville, Ky.); Brigman Hall (Louisville, Ky.); J.B....
Groundbreaking for J.B. Speed Hall. One man in a long coat and hat is pushing a shovel into the ground with his foot. A crowd, predominantly male, stands nearby looking on. There is a sign near the crowd that reads, "USA / Work Program / WPA."...
J.B. Speed Hall, 1942.
Buildings; University of Louisville--Buildings; J.B. Speed Hall (Louisville, Ky.); University of Louisville. Speed Scientific School; Educational facilities; Cupolas; Weather vanes;
J.B. Speed Hall seen from the front. The cupola and weathervane are clearly visible. A corner of Parkway Field is visible on the left. The caption on this postcard reads, "Speed Scientific School, University of Louisville, Louisville, Ky." This...
J.B. Speed Hall at night, circa 2004.
Buildings; University of Louisville--Buildings; University of Louisville. Speed Scientific School; Educational facilities; Sunrises & sunsets; J.B. Speed Hall (Louisville, Ky.)
Silhouette of the cupola atop J.B. Speed Hall, framed by treetops, photographed at sunset. J.B. Speed Hall was built largely with funds from the Works Progress Administration and James B. Speed's two children, Olive Speed Sackett and William S....
Buildings; University of Louisville--Buildings; J.B. Speed Hall (Louisville, Ky.); University of Louisville. Speed Scientific School; Educational facilities; Weather vanes; Cupolas;
J.B. Speed Hall. Its cupola and weather vane are visible across Eastern Parkway. This building was built largely with funds from the Works Progress Administration and James B. Speed's two children, Olive Speed Sackett and William S. Speed. Current...
W.S. Speed Building.
Buildings; University of Louisville--Buildings; University of Louisville. Speed Scientific School; Educational facilities; Doors & doorways;
W.S. Speed Building, part of the J.B. Speed School of Engineering. A view of the entranceway, with the words "Civil & Electrical Engineering" inscribed over the doorway. Current uses: Civil and Environmental Engineering; Electrical and Computer...
zzz_cardinal test
J.B. Speed Hall from across Eastern Parkway, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, circa 1940s?
J.B. Speed Hall (Louisville, Ky.); J.B. Speed School of Engineering; University of Louisville--Buildings;
J.B. Speed Hall, the Speed School of Engineering's main building seen from behind a screen of small trees, bushes and fencing. J.B. Speed Hall was built largely with funds from the Works Progress Administration and James B. Speed's two children,...
Louisville Law Examiner 8.3, December 1982
University of Louisville. School of law; University of Louisville--Students; University of Louisville--Alumni and alumnae; University of Louisville--Faculty; University of Louisville--Employees; Law students; Law & legal affairs; Law and...
The Louisville Law Examiner (1975-1991) was the second of three official University of Louisville School of Law student publications.
J.B. Speed Hall, University of Louisville, 1957.
J.B. Speed Hall (Louisville, Ky.); University of Louisville--Buildings; Buildings; University of Louisville. Speed Scientific School; Educational facilities;
James B. Speed Hall photographed from the circular driveway in front of the building. This building was built largely with funds from the Works Progress Administration and James B. Speed's two children, Olive Speed Sackett and William S. Speed....
J.B. Speed Hall architectural rendering, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, 1936.
Buildings; J.B. Speed Hall (Louisville, Ky.); Educational facilities; Universities & colleges; University of Louisville--Buildings; University of Louisville. Speed Scientific School
Architect's rendering of Speed Scientific School, named J. B. Speed Hall, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, 1936. Wide, three story brick building with projecting center pillars and portico (labeled "1936") and a domed tower with a...
J. B. Speed Hall, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky.
J.B. Speed Hall (Louisville, Ky.); J.B. Speed School of Engineering; University of Louisville--Buildings; Buildings; Cupolas
J.B. Speed Hall, the Speed School of Engineering's main building. J.B. Speed Hall was built in 1942 largely with funds from the Works Progress Administration and James B. Speed's two children, Olive Speed Sackett and William S. Speed. Eastern...
J.B. Speed Hall, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky.
Buildings; University of Louisville--Buildings; J.B. Speed Hall (Louisville, Ky.); Cupolas; Weather vanes; Driveways; Shrubs; J.B. Speed School of Engineering
J.B. Speed Hall, the Speed School of Engineering's main building. Eastern Parkway is visible in front of the building. Part of the building's half-circle driveway and greenery are visible, as is the weather vane atop the cupola. J.B. Speed Hall was...
Yearbook published by the senior classes of the College of Liberal Arts, the Speed Scientific School and the School of Law of the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, 1931.
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Pakistan says it shot down 2 Indian warplanes, shut down its airspace
United Methodist Church Splits Right Down The Middle As Conservatives Vote ‘No’ On LGBTQP ‘One Church Plan’
By admin in America, The Church
This was a surprise: The denomination’s bishops, its top clergy, pushed hard for a resolution that would have allowed local congregations, conferences, and clergy to make their own choices about conducting same-sex marriages and ordaining LGBTQ pastors. This proposal, called the “One Church Plan,” was designed to keep the denomination together. Methodist delegates rejected its recommendations, instead choosing the so-called Traditional Plan, which affirmed the denomination’s teachings against homosexuality.
by Geoffrey Grider February 27, 2019
The United Methodist Church voted on Tuesday to toughen its teachings against homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and LGBTQ clergy. It must now decide whether it will stay together.
The United Methodist Church pulled off a surprise, no, make that a shocking upset over the forces of spiritual darkness by voting NO on the proposed pro-LGBTQP ‘One Church Plan‘ at meetings that lasted over the weekend and into the past few days. But that victory, tenuous as it may be, comes at the cost of a huge church split right down the middle. Watchers on both sides are predicting a mass exodus of pro-LGBTQP people by the time all the dust from this battle settles.
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:3-5 (KJV)
Now granted, the UMC has not been, since the days of John Wesley, anything remotely resembling a real Bible believing church. Their own Book of Discipline says that the “United Methodist Church is part of the holy catholic church…”. But even so, this vote was very, very surprising. Especially to the forces of the LGBTQP who thought for sure this would be a slam-dunk for their agenda.
If you would have said to me 28 years ago when I first got saved, that I would live to see the day where the homosexual and transsexual movement would battle for control of the heart and soul of the professing Christian church, I would have said you were nuts. Stark raving mad. This is still the Church Age, after all, not even the Tribulation! But boy, oh boy, are we being pressed right up against that edge. That can only mean one thing as I see it.
Flight #777 on Titus213 Airlines now boarding…time to go Home.
Conservative Christians Just Retook the United Methodist Church
FROM THE ATLANTIC: At a special conference in St. Louis this week, convened specifically to address divisions over LGBTQ issues, members voted to toughen prohibitions on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy.This was a surprise: The denomination’s bishops, its top clergy, pushed hard for a resolution that would have allowed local congregations, conferences, and clergy to make their own choices about conducting same-sex marriages and ordaining LGBTQ pastors. This proposal, called the “One Church Plan,” was designed to keep the denomination together. Methodist delegates rejected its recommendations, instead choosing the so-called Traditional Plan, which affirmed the denomination’s teachings against homosexuality.
This is a consequential vote for the future of the United Methodist Church: Many progressive churches will now almost certainly consider leaving the denomination. It’s also a reminder that many Christian denominations, including mainline groups such as the UMC, are still deeply divided over questions of sexuality and gender identity. While the UMC in the United States is roughly evenly divided between those who identify as traditionalists and those who identify as moderates and liberals, it is also a global organization. Many of the growing communities in the Philippines or countries in Africa are committed to theological teachings against same-sex relationships and marriages.
Self-described traditionalists in the United Methodist Church got the outcome they’ve been fighting for. Still, “I think there’s a lot of grief on all sides,” said Keith Boyette, the head of the Wesleyan Covenant Association and a main proponent of the Traditional Plan, in an interview on Tuesday. Methodists are in mourning for a United Methodist Church that might be on the brink of a mass exodus.
For years, LGBTQ Methodists, clergy, and their supporters have argued that people of all sexual orientations and gender identities should be fully included in the denomination as leaders, and that their families should be recognized. “As someone who has grown up in our Church, as someone who is gay and goes to one of the least religious colleges in the U.S., my evangelism on campus has grown,” said J. J. Warren, a senior at Sarah Lawrence College who hopes to become a Methodist pastor, during the conference on Tuesday. “We have brought people to Jesus … They did not know God could love them, because their churches said God didn’t … If we could be a Church that brings Jesus to people who are told can’t be loved, that’s what I want our Church to be.”
Others in the denomination, however, see LGBTQ issues as a proxy for bigger divisions over biblical teachings. “This is not a political or social kind of difference. It is primarily, for us, a theological difference, and the truth that the Church has been raised up to share,” Boyette said. “When a Church begins to fracture around its compliance with its doctrine and ethics and discipline, it becomes a house divided. It becomes dysfunctional.”
According to its Book of Discipline, the denomination’s collection of laws and doctrines, Methodist pastors are not allowed to conduct same-sex weddings, and “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” cannot be ordained. In practice, however, a number of Methodist clergy and churches have made clear that they disagree with this teaching, at times openly defying it. A lesbian pastor, Karen Oliveto, was even elected a bishop in the Church, a position she still holds even though the denomination’s judicial council later ruled that her marriage to a woman violated Church doctrine. At the same time, other churches remain deeply committed to UMC teachings against same-sex marriage and relationships.
The United Methodist Church, which was formed in a 1968 merger between two denominations, has known for a long time that it would eventually have to address these deeply felt disagreements over LGBTQ issues. At the denomination’s 2016 General Conference, delegates asked UMC bishops to produce recommendations for how the Church should resolve divisions over LGBTQ issues. Over the next three years, Methodist leaders developed the One Church Plan, which would have allowed local pastors and regional conferences to make their own decisions, keeping the denomination together but allowing for diversity in its ranks.
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By Jericho [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
African mobile startups can apply for UK development funding
By Tom Jackson on August 31, 2017 East Africa, News, Southern Africa, West Africa
Startups have been invited to apply for the M4D Utilities Innovation Fund, supported by the UK Government and the Scaling Off-Grid Energy Grand Challenge for Development, which will award grants to test and scale the use of mobile to improve or increase access to energy, water, and sanitation services.
The M4D Utilities Innovation Fund was launched in June 2013, and in two phases of funding has so far awarded grants amounting to a total of GBP6 million (US$7.7 million) to 34 organisations across four continents.
To date, M4D Utilities estimates the trials have impacted over 2.5 million direct beneficiaries in underserved populations around the world, with the grants awarded since 2013 leading to an additional US$174 million raised by grantees from the private sector.
The fund is open to companies and organisations from and operating in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as South and Southeast Asia, though companies from Algeria, Botswana, Gabon, Libya, Namibia, South Africa and Tunisia are ineligible.
The Innovation Fund is open to everyone from startups to mobile operators to NGOs, with a strong preference to be given to applicants that are not implementing pay-as-you-go (PAYG) energy services in East Africa.
There are two types of grant available. The Seed Grant of up to GBP150,000 (US$192,000) in funding) will support the trial of products and services that use mobile to enable sustainable access to energy, water or sanitation.
Meanwhile, the Market Validation Grant of up to GBP300,000 (US$384,000) is to support partnerships with mobile network operators or utility service providers to support scaling or replication of an existing service that increases or improves access to sustainable energy, water and sanitation services to underserved customers.
Applications close on September 3.
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Searching: audio signal
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A method and apparatus for improved approaches for uttering the spelling of words and phrases over a communication session is described. The method includes...
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US-9,414,174 Method and apparatus for controlling audio output
A method and portable terminal for automatically controlling an output volume of audio output of a head phone when the head phone is connected to a portable...
US-9,414,169 Device and method for detecting change in characteristics of hearing aid
The present invention relates to a device and a method for detecting a change in characteristics of a hearing aid and informing a user of the change. In one...
US-9,414,167 User adornable apparatus and system for generating user detectable audio and mechanical vibration signals
Embodiments of apparatus and system for generating user detectable audio and mechanical vibration signals. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US-9,414,164 Audio signal correction and calibration for a room environment
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An audio loudness control system includes a loudness adjuster module configured to adjust a level of an audio signal based on parameters associated with the...
US-9,413,321 System and method for digital signal processing
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US-9,412,388 High frequency regeneration of an audio signal with temporal shaping
A method for generating a reconstructed audio signal having a baseband portion and a highband portion is disclosed. The method includes deformatting an encoded...
US-9,412,384 Broadcast transmitting/playback apparatus and method thereof
A broadcast transmitting apparatus and method, and a broadcast playback apparatus and method for providing an object-based audio by encoding and decoding a...
US-9,412,378 Device and method for supplying a reference audio signal to an acoustic processing unit
Equipment includes a first interface intended to be connected to a sound reproduction device and at least one second interface intended to be connected to at...
US-9,412,376 Speaker verification using co-location information
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for identifying a user in a multi-user environment. One of the...
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A conference system is described that transfers audio signals/streams between a near-end computing system and a far-end computing system. The near-end system...
US-9,412,353 Method for cancelling noise and electronic device thereof
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US-9,411,883 Audio signal processing apparatus and method, and monitoring system
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Support structures for positioning sensors on a physiologic tunnel for measuring physical, chemical and biological parameters of the body and to produce an...
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A wireless device is provided that makes use of other nearby audio transducer devices to generate a surround sound effect for a targeted user. To do this, the...
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Title 43 Part 5510
Title 43 → Subtitle B → Chapter II → Subchapter E → Part 5510
e-CFR data is current as of July 15, 2019
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Title 43: Public Lands: Interior
PART 5510—FREE USE OF TIMBER
Subpart 5510—Free Use of Timber; General
§5510.0-3 Authority.
Subpart 5511—Free Use Regulations
§5511.1 Act of 1878.
§5511.1-1 Free use of timber on mineral and nonmineral public lands.
§5511.1-2 [Reserved]
§5511.1-3 Use of timber on lands covered by grazing leases, by lessees, and others.
§5511.2 Act of 1898 (Alaska).
§5511.2-1 Free use privilege; cutting by agent.
§5511.2-2 Free use of timber for Government purposes.
§5511.2-3 Permits.
§5511.2-4 Timber on withdrawn lands.
§5511.3-1 Free use of timber under other statutes.
§5511.3-3 Conservation practices.
§5511.3-4 Removal by agent.
§5511.3-5 Removal of improvements.
§5511.3-6 Permits to governmental units.
§5511.3-7 Permits to nonprofit organizations.
§5511.3-8 Permits to mining claimants.
§5511.4 Prohibited acts.
§5511.5 Penalties.
Authority: 61 Stat. 681, as amended; 69 Stat. 367; 48 Stat. 1269, sec. 11, 30 Stat. 414, as amended, R.S. 2478, sec. 32, 41 Stat. 450; 30 U.S.C. 601 et seq., 43 U.S.C. 315, 48 U.S.C. 423, 43 U.S.C. 1201, 30 U.S.C. 189.
Source: 35 FR 9790, June 13, 1970, unless otherwise noted.
(a) Nonsale disposals Act of June 3, 1878. (1) Authority for free use of timber on mineral and nonmineral public lands. Section 5511 is issued under authority of the Act of June 3, 1878 (20 Stat. 88; 16 U.S.C. 604 through 606) and March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 1093; 16 U.S.C. 607), as supplemented by the Act of January 11, 1921 (41 Stat. 1088; 16 U.S.C. 604, 612), settlers upon public lands, citizens and bona fide residents of the State, and corporations doing business in the State may obtain free use permit for timber.
(2) Authority for the issuance of regulations governing the free use of timber for fuel in drilling operations by oil and gas lessees is contained in section 32 of the Act of February 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 405; 30 U.S.C. 189).
Cross Reference: For additional free use privileges, see §5511.3.
(b) Nonsale disposals Act of July 23, 1955. The Act of July 23, 1955, supra, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior in his discretion to permit free use of timber or other vegetative resources or mineral materials by any Federal or State governmental agency, unit or subdivision, including municipalities, or any association or corporation not organized for profit for use other than for commercial or industrial purposes or resale. The Act of July 23, 1955, supra, also provides in part, under certain circumstances, for a mining claimant to obtain free-use of timber from other Bureau administered land in lieu of timber disposed of by the Bureau from lands covered by his mining locations. See §5511.3-8.
(c) Nonsale disposals Act of May 14, 1898. Section 5511.2 is issued under the authority of section 11, 30 Stat. 414, as amended; 48 U.S.C. 423. Section 5511.2 appears at 19 FR 8880, Dec. 23, 1954. (1) Section 11 of the Act of May 14, 1898 (30 Stat. 414; 48 U.S.C. 423), empowers the Secretary of the Interior to permit the use of timber found upon the public lands in Alaska by actual settlers residents, individual miners, and prospectors for minerals for firewood, fencing, buildings, mining, prospecting, and for domestic purposes as may actually be needed by such persons for such purposes. This section was amended by the Act of June 15, 1938 (52 Stat. 699), so as to permit the use of such timber by churches, hospitals, and charitable institutions for firewood, fencing, buildings, and for other domestic purposes.
(a) Lands on which timber may be cut. Free-use permits to cut timber may be issued covering public lands as follows:
(1) Mineral lands, unoccupied and unreserved and not subject to entry under existing laws of the United States, except for mineral entry, in the States of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. (Act of June 3, 1878, 20 Stat. 88; 16 U.S.C. 604 through 606);
(2) Nonmineral, unoccupied, and unreserved public lands in the States mentioned and also in the States of California, Oregon, and Washington.
(b) Kind of timber which may be cut. The proper protection of the timber and undergrowth necessarily varies with the nature of the topography, soil, and forest. No timber not matured may be cut, and each tree taken must be utilized for some beneficial domestic purpose. Persons taking timber for specific purposes will be required to take only such matured trees as will work up to such purpose without unreasonable waste. Stumps will be cut so as to cause the least possible waste and all trees will be utilized to as low a diameter in the tops as possible. All brush, tops, logs, and other forest debris made in felling and removing timber under this section shall be disposed of as best adapted to the protection of the remaining growth and in such manner as shall be prescribed by the authorized officer, and failure on the part of the applicant, or an agent cutting for an applicant, to comply with this requirement will render him liable for all expenses incurred by the authorized officer in putting this regulation into effect.
(c) Area of land to be cut over. The permits shall limit the area of cutting to embrace only so much land as is necessary to produce the quantity of timber applied for.
(d) Use which may be made of timber. Timber may be cut under approved permit when actually needed for firewood, fencing, building, or other agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and domestic purposes.
(e) Exportation of timber. Timber may not be exported from the State in which it is cut except:
(1) Timber from a specified area in Wyoming may be exported into Idaho (Act of July 1, 1898, 30 Stat. 618; 16 U.S.C. 607, 611);
(2) Timber from a specified area in Montana may be exported into Wyoming (Act of March 3, 1901, 31 Stat. 1439; 16 U.S.C. 607, 613);
(3) Under the Act of March 3, 1919 (40 Stat. 1321; 16 U.S.C. 608), citizens of Malheur County, Oregon, may cut timber in Idaho and remove such timber to Malheur County, Oregon;
(4) Under the Act of March 3, 1919 (40 Stat. 1322; 16 U.S.C. 609), citizens of Modoc County, California, may cut timber in Nevada and remove such timber to Modoc County, California;
(5) Timber from a specified area in Arizona may be exported into Utah (Act of February 27, 1922, 42 Stat. 398; 16 U.S.C. 610);
(6) Citizens of Bear Lake County, Idaho, may cut timber from public lands in Lincoln County, Wyoming, and remove such timber to Bear Lake County, Idaho, but no live standing timber may be taken without compensation (Act of August 21, 1935, 49 Stat. 665; 16 U.S.C. 611a).
(f) Application and permit—(1) Information to be furnished by applicant. (i) Applications should be filed in duplicate and should set forth the names and post-office addresses of the applicants, and any agent or agents who may be employed to procure the timber. Where a corporation is the applicant, the State in which it was incorporated should also be shown.
(ii) Blank forms for making application may be procured from the State Director for the State in which the timber to be removed is located.
(iii) Applications should show the amount of timber required by each applicant; the use to be made thereof; a description of the land from which the timber is to be cut, by subdivision, section, township, and range, if surveyed, or by natural objects sufficient to identify the same if unsurveyed; and the date it is desired to begin cutting.
(2) Duration of permit. All rights and privileges under a permit shall terminate at the expiration of the period of 1 year from the date of approval of the permit.
(g) Agents—(1) Cutting of timber by agents. Where one or more persons desire timber, and are not in a position to procure the same for themselves, an agent or agents may be appointed for that purpose. Such agent shall not be paid more than a fair recompense for the time, labor, and money expended in procuring the timber and manufacturing the same into lumber, and no charge shall be made for the timber itself. The said compensation must be set forth in a written contract to be entered into by the parties, and a copy thereof must be filed with the application.
(2) Cutting of timber by agent who is a sawmill operator. If the amount of timber applied for exceeds $50 in stumpage value, for any continuous period of 12 months, and the timber is to be procured by an agent who is a sawmill operator, a bond equal to three times the amount of the stumpage value of the timber applied for will be required, conditioned upon the faithful performance of the requirements.
[35 FR 9790, June 13, 1970, as amended at 60 FR 50450, Sept. 29, 1995]
(a) Before taking timber under a lease issued under section 15 of the Taylor Grazing Act, as amended by the Act of June 26, 1936 (49 Stat. 1978; 43 U.S.C. 315m), the lessee should file application for and procure a permit in accordance with the regulations issued under the Acts of June 3, 1878 (20 Stat. 88; 16 U.S.C. 604 through 606), and March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 1093; 16 U.S.C. 607), §§5510.0-3(a) and 5511.1-1(a) to 5511.1-1(g).
(b) Where application is made by a person other than the lessee to take timber from lands embraced in a grazing lease issued under section 15 of the said Act, investigation should be made to ascertain the facts in the case and whether or not the cutting of the timber applied for would adversely affect the lands for grazing purposes. If no objection appears, the permit may issue but should contain a provision that the timber cutting thereunder must be done in such manner as will not interfere with the rights of the lessee.
(c) All applications for timber should be filed with the State Director for the State in which the timber to be cut is located and should comply with the regulations contained in §5511.1-1.
(Sec. 1, 20 Stat. 88, as amended, 26 Stat. 1003, as amended; 16 U.S.C. 604, 607)
Free use permits will not be issued where the applicant owns or controls lands having an adequate supply of timber to meet his needs.
[35 FR 9790, June 13, 1970, as amended at 60 FR 50451, Sept. 29, 1995; 62 FR 51377, Oct. 1, 1997]
Persons contracting with Government officials to furnish firewood or timber for United States Army posts or for other authorized Government purposes may procure it from the vacant and unreserved public lands in Alaska free of charge, provided the contracts do not include any charge for the value of the firewood or timber. Where it is desired to procure timber for such use, an application for permit in duplicate on a form approved by the Director must be filed, as in other cases, and a copy of the contract must be attached to the application.
(a) Application for permit. Before timber is cut for free use, an application for permit in duplicate on a form approved by the Director must be filed in an office or with an employee of the Bureau of Land Management in Alaska.
(b) Issuance and cancellation of permit; removal of timber; bond. (1) A permit may be issued and shall incorporate the provisions, if any, governing the selection, removal, and use of the materials. One copy of the official form shall be returned to the applicant showing the approval or rejection of such application.
(2) The authorized officer may cancel a permit if the permittee fails to observe its terms and conditions, or the regulations in §§5511.2-1 to 5511.2-6, or if the permit has been issued erroneously.
(3) No timber shall be removed until the permit is issued. If deemed necessary by the signing officer, a bond, satisfactory to him, may be required as a guarantee of faithful performance of the provisions of the permit and the regulations in §§5511.2-1 to 5511.2-6.
(c) Cutting rules and restrictions. All free-use timber shall be cut and removed in accordance with approved forestry and conservation practices so as to preserve to the maximum extent feasible all scenic, recreational, watershed, and other values of the land and resources. In the free-use disposal of timber, the cutting and removal shall be accomplished in such manner as to leave the stand in condition for continuous production. Moreover, no green timber shall be cut within 300 feet of either side of the center line of a highway or public road, or bordering streams or the shores of lakes designated for recreational use unless specifically authorized by the authorized officer, to prevent or control fungus infection or insect attacks, or for other reasons found sufficient to justify such cutting.
(d) Amount of timber which may be cut. During each calendar year each applicant entitled to the benefits of section 11 of the Act of May 14, 1898, may take a total of 100,000 feet board measure or 200 cords in saw logs, piling, cordwood, or other timber. This amount may be taken in whole in any one of such classes of timber or in part of one kind and in part of another kind or other kinds. Where a cord is the unit of measure, it shall be estimated in relation with saw timber in the ratio of 500 feet board measure to the cord. Permits to take timber in excess of the amount stated may be granted to churches, hospitals, and charitable institutions upon a showing of special necessity therefor, and with the approval of the authorized officer.
(e) Notice of completion of timber cutting operations. Upon completion of the cutting and the removal of the timber, the permittee must notify the State Director, or other forest officer, stating when the work was completed, the land from which the timber was taken, the amount and kind of timber which was cut and removed, and the use to which the timber was put.
(f) Termination of permit; extensions. Permits shall be granted for periods not to exceed one year and shall terminate on the expiration dates shown therein unless extended by the signing officer.
Sections 5511.2-1 to 5511.2-5 are inapplicable to timber on withdrawn areas unless the order of withdrawal so permits.
Free use will be allowed under the following circumstances:
(a) In certain States by settlers on public lands, citizens and bona fide residents of the State, and corporations doing business in the State (§5511.1), and
(b) In Alaska by actual settlers, residents, individual miners, prospectors for minerals, churches, hospitals and charitable institutions (§5511.2).
(c) Free-use of timber by Governmental units, nonprofit organizations, and certain mining claimants may be authorized under the act and these regulations only when such applicants cannot qualify under the provisions of §§5511.1 to 5511.1-4 and §5511.2.
(a) Application for permit. An application for permit in duplicate, must be made on a form approved by the Director and filed in any office or with any employee of the Bureau of Land Management authorized to issue a permit. A free-use permit may be applied for without formal application for the removal of not more than three Christmas trees upon oral or written request.
(b) Issuance and cancellation of free-use permits; bond. (1) A free-use permit, on a form approved by the Director, shall incorporate the provisions, if any, governing the selection, removal, and use of timber. Free-use permits shall not be issued when the applicant owns or controls an adequate supply of the material to meet his needs. Timber applied for must be for the applicant's own use and may not be bartered or sold. No timber may be cut or removed until the permit is issued.
(2) The authorized officer may cancel a permit if the permittee fails to observe its terms and conditions or the regulations, or if the permit has been issued erroneously.
(3) A bond satisfactory to the authorized officer may be required as a guarantee of faithful performance of the provisions of the permit and applicable regulations.
(4) A free-use permit issued under this part may not be assigned.
(c) Duration, extension, and termination of permit. (1) Permits shall be granted for periods not to exceed 6 months and shall terminate on the expiration dates shown therein unless extended by the authorized officer. An extension not to exceed 3 months may be granted by the authorized officer. The permittee must notify the officer-in-charge upon the completion of removal.
(2) Permits issued for the benefit of a mining claimant under authority of the act shall terminate upon transfer of the ownership of the claim by any means. Reapplication must be made by the new claimants.
All free-use timber disposed of under the act shall be severed, or removed in accordance with sound forestry and conservation practices so as to preserve to the maximum extent feasible all scenic, recreational, watershed and other values of the land and resources. In the free-use disposal of timber, cutting and removal shall be accomplished in such a manner as to leave the stand in condition for continuous production.
A free-use permittee may procure the timber by agent. Such agent shall not, however, be paid more than fair compensation for the time, labor and money expended in procuring timber and processing it, and no charge shall be made by such agent for the timber itself. No part of the timber may be used in payment for services in obtaining it or processing it.
Upon expiration of the permit period the permittee will be given 90 days to remove equipment, personal property and any improvements he has placed on the land, except roads, culverts and bridges are to be left in place, in good condition and will become the property of the United States upon expiration of the 90-day removal period.
A free-use permit may be issued to a Federal or State agency, unit, or subdivision, including a municipality, only if the applicant makes a satisfactory showing to the authorized officer that such timber will be used for a public project. The right to remove timber under the permit is not revoked or terminated by (a) any subsequent claim or entry of the lands, (b) by any mining claim located prior to the issuance of the permit if such location was subsequent to July 23, 1955, nor (c) by any other mining claim as to which the Government's right to manage the surface resources has been established in accordance with Group 3800 of this chapter, or other proceedings.
A free-use permit issued to a nonprofit association or corporation may not provide for the disposition of more than $100 worth of timber to the permittee during any one calendar year. Such permittee is granted a right to remove timber as against a subsequent applicant who may wish to obtain the same timber by purchase. The timber may not be removed by the permittee after the land has been included in a valid claim by reason of settlement, entry, or similar rights obtained under the public land laws.
(a) Free-use timber shall be granted under §5510.0-3(b) to the record owner of a valid mining claim if such claim was located subsequent to July 23, 1955, or if the Government's right to manage the surface resources has been established in accordance with Group 3400 of this chapter, and he requires more timber than is available to him for prospecting, mining, or processing operations on his claim or claims after disposition of timber from his claim by the United States. The claimant shall be entitled to the free use of timber for such requirements from the nearest timber administered by the Bureau which is substantially equal in kind and quantity to the timber estimated by the authorized officer at the time of application to have been disposed of by the Bureau from the claim. Upon issuance of a patent to the mining claims, the free-use privilege will automatically terminate.
(b) The application required to be filed for free-use timber under this section must contain a statement that the timber applied for will be used for bona fide prospecting, mining, or prospecting operations on the claim or group of claims designated in the application. The applicant must also include a statement that he is the record owner of a valid mining claim or claims from which the timber was originally removed by the Government.
(a) In addition to the prohibited acts listed in §5462.2, the acts or omissions listed in paragraph (b) will render the person(s) responsible liable to the United States in a civil action for trespass and such persons may be prosecuted criminally.
(b) The following acts are prohibited:
(1) Obtaining any free use permit or taking any timber, trees, or other vegetative resources through falsifying, concealing, or covering up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact, or making any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations, or making or using any false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry, including altering of any free use permit or using a reproduction of any official load tags.
(2) [Reserved]
(3) Violating any of the terms and conditions of a free use permit.
(4) Exporting timber cut under a free use permit from the State in which it was cut, except as provided in §5511.1-1(e).
(5) The cutting of timber under a free use permit for sale, barter, speculation, or use by others than the permittee.
[60 FR 50451, Sept. 29, 1995, as amended at 62 FR 51377, Oct. 1, 1997]
Under section 303(a) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1733(a), any individual who knowingly and willfully commits the prohibited acts under §5511.4(b) is subject to arrest and trial by the United States Magistrate and, if convicted, shall be subject to a fine of not more than $100,000, or not more than $250,000 if commission of the prohibited acts results in death, in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 (18 U.S.C. 3551 et. seq.), or imprisonment not to exceed 12 months, or both, for each offense, and any organization that commits these prohibited acts is subject to arrest and trial by the United States Magistrate and, if convicted, shall be subject to a fine of not more than $200,000, or not more than $500,000 if commission of the prohibited acts results in death.
[60 FR 50451, Sept. 29, 1995]
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EspyRock
The best for music recommendations and rock news!
Tag Archives: Alexisonfire
Gallows announce Wade MacNeil of Alexisonfire as new vocalist
Former Alexisonfire guitarist and vocalist Wade MacNeil has announced that he is the new vocalist of Gallows after the band split with original vocalist Frank Carter. Wade will feature on the bands upcoming third studio album, the follow up to their 2009 release ‘Grey Britain’.
Alexisonfire call it a day
After more than a decade, Alexisonfire has announced that the band will be going their separate ways. In a statement written by George Pettit and posted by the band on their website http://www.theonlybandever.com on August 5th, Pettit gets right to the point. “There is no good way to put it so I’m just going to say […]
City And Colour announce headlining UK tour
City And Colour, the alias for Alexisonfire vocalist Dallas Green, has announced that he will tour the UK in October on the following dates. Tickets are not on sale as of yet.
City and Colour stream new song
City and Colour, alias of Dallas Green (Alexisonfire), is streaming a brand new song titled ‘Northern Wind’ from his upcoming album ‘Little Hell’. The album will be released on 7th June and you can hear track six below.
Gig Review: We Are The Ocean, Garage, Glasgow, 30th April 2011
We Are the Ocean have certainly paid their dues when it comes to the live circuit. They list off everywhere in Glasgow they have played over the last couple of years, noting that they’ve played the Garage four times already, with this being their first time headlining. Unfortunately, the room is not quite as packed […]
Alexisonfire to release brand new Dog’s Blood EP
Alexisonfire are pleased to announce they will release a four-song digital EP titled Dog’s Blood in the UK on October 31. A term coined by vocalist George Pettit, Dog’s Blood features brand new songs from the Platinum and Juno award winning band. What began as a seemingly crazy riff, turned into the inspiration for the […]
Alexisonfire Announce iTunes Originals Release For 28th September
Alexisonfire today announced the release of iTunes Originals on September 28, 2010. The iTunes Originals session encompasses interview clips of the band members reflecting on their career and revealing the inspirations behind their songs, along with album tracks and new live versions of some of their most well-known songs. Alexisonfire recorded their iTunes Originals session […]
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Michael Trew — Waiting in the Wings
(Natural Cut, 2017, CD)
With the five Autumn Electric albums, Michael Trew developed a unique style of music that drew from folk rock and progressive rock with an artistic do-it-yourself attitude. But he always had some songs that didn’t fit in with the band’s material, and now he’s collected nine of them on Waiting in the Wings. The style here tips more to the folk rock side, though touches of prog still surface here and there. Acoustic guitar features as the backing in most of the songs, though piano is also used, and the arrangements are filled out by a wide variety of instruments, including strings, woodwinds, brass, bass, drums, percussion, and keyboards. Trew’s fragile voice provides the thread of continuity through the varying instrumentation, both alone and in combination with backing parts. Trew has a hand in all the writing except “Bright Lights Cold Hands,” either on his own (five tracks) or in collaboration with others (three tracks). While the overall impression favors gentle sounds, there are touches of rock on several songs, notably “I’m Your Television” with its tremolo guitar and proggy synthesizer, and “Vassagonia,” which features a great guitar solo from co-writer Dave Webb. Julie Baldridge plays violin on most of the tracks, providing a wonderful touch of life, and Lauren Trew’s bass clarinet is beautifully effective on three tracks. But in spite of the instrumentation, the music maintains an intimate feeling, more akin to chamber music than symphonic. It’s delicate but has muscles under the pretty surface. The lyrics are evocative, pulling from both folk-like storytelling and poetic imagery and never falling into the nostalgic trap of trying not to be contemporary. Waiting in the Wings is a fine album, a welcome reminder that the craft of songwriting is important and sorely lacking in so much current music.
Related artist(s): Dave Webb, Michael Trew
http://michaeltrew.bandcamp.com/releases
Rush - Beyond the Lighted Stage – Beyond the Lighted Stage is directors Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen's look under the hood at the venerable Canadian trio, with the bulk of the content based on personal interviews with guitarist Alex... (2011) » Read more
Garmarna - Graceful But Not Gentle
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June 30 - Elvis Sings ... On The Charts
The new Sony Legacy compilation "Elvis Sings... " entered the Album chart in New Zealand at #25 this week.
(Source: The King's World)
June 26 - Elvis In Hollywood
Available in the "Bootleg Series" from the Label One is the CD "Elvis In Hollywood". This CD contains 10 complete mono masters and outtakes for the movie " Girls! Girls! Girls!" as released in 1962. Besides the music this CD contains movie radio trailers and promo’s plus as a bonus some instrumental tracks. This CD comes with a 12 pages booklet with photos and recording information.
Complete Masters & Alternate Takes (Part 1):
Where Do You Come From (Master Take With Count In) - Mexico (Dubbed Film Version) - The Bullfighter Was A Lady (Take 9) - I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here (Take 10) - El Toro (Take 2)
Original "Girls! Girls! Girls!" Mono Masters:
I Don’t Want To - We’re Comin’ In Loaded - Thanks To The Rolling Sea - Where Do You Come From - Girls! Girls! Girls! - Return To Sender - Because Of Love - The Walls Have Ears - Song Of The Shrimp - A Boy Like Me, A Girl Like You - Earth Boy - I Don’t Wanna Be Tied - We’ll Be Together
If You Think I Don’t Need You (Take 9) - Earth Boy (Undubbed Film Version) - Plantation Rock (Take 17 + Vocal Repair) - If You Think I Don’t Need You (Take 10) - Blackstar (Composite Master take 13 & Insert #1 Take 5)
Movie radio Trailers And Promo’s:
Double Trouble - Live A Little, Love A Little - Charro! (Audio Featurette) - Charro! (#1) - Charro! (#2) - Charro! (#3) - Charro! (#4) - Charro! (#5) - The Trouble With Girls (#1) - The Trouble With Girls (#2)
Guadalajara (Backing Group And Choir) - Marguerita (Instrumental Take 6) - Shoppin’ Around (Instrumental Take 2 And 3) - Shoppin’ Around (Instrumental Take 4) - Plantation Rock (Instrumental)
Elvis As Recorded Live In Lake Tahoe, Nevada
The Elvis Concert Fan import release “Elvis As Recorded Live In Lake Tahoe, Nevada”, containing a soundboard recording of the May 23, 1974 Dinner Show was released. This concert was first released on "...And The King For Dessert" in 1998.
Elvis Presley's favorite performance costume, the peacock jumpsuit, sold for $300,000 Thursday, making it the most expensive piece of Elvis memorabilia sold at auction. The pre-sale estimate was $275,000 to $325,000. The white outfit with a plunging V-neck and high collar features a blue-and-gold peacock design hand-embroidered on the front and back and along the pant legs.
It is cinched at the waist by a wide belt decorated in gold medallions in a design resembling the eye of a peacock feather. The auctioneer described the seller as "a big Elvis collector" and declined to say who bought it.
Presley paid $10,000 to have the outfit made by Los Angeles designer Bill Belew, who created all of the King's stage wardrobe between 1968-1977. It captured the rock 'n' roll legend's fascination with peacocks as a good luck symbol and the auction house said it was among his favorite Belew designs. Elvis first wore the costume at the Forum in Los Angeles on May 11, 1974, and later for the cover of his album Promised Land.
The previous record for an Elvis collectible is $295,000 for his 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II.
(Source: Music Of Elvis Presley / Elvis On CD / Elvis Matters)
June 25 - New Duets
Two new duets are in the works. On the FECC forum a posting was made quoting Cliff Richard during a recent free concert in New York saying he got approval to record "Blue Suede Shoes" with Elvis for his next album "The Fabulous Rock n Roll Songbook Volume 2".
Barbra Streisand's upcoming all-star duets album is nearing completion, according to one of its producers. The set includes pairings with Lionel Richie, Billy Joel, John Mayer, Michael Buble, John Legend, Blake Shelton, Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban, as well as a virtual duet with the late Elvis Presley. Neither Columbia Records nor Streisand's reps responded to requests from Billboard for more details about the project.
Collecting Elvis
Volume 65 in the German "Elvis Sammlung" was released by De' Agostini and EPE. This set contains the magazine, memorabilia reproductions and a mini-poster for the single "Ain’t That Loving You Baby".
(Source: FECC / Billboard / Elvis Sammlung)
June 24 - Graceland Insiders
Elvis Presley Enterprises announced changes to the Official Elvis Insiders program.
From the Graceland website:
We are excited to announce some upcoming changes to the Official Elvis Insiders affinity program.
Starting July 1, the name of the club will be transitioning from the Official Elvis Insiders to the Official Graceland Insiders. As Insiders, you will continue to receive all the great benefits that you have in the past, including discounts at ShopElvis.com, Graceland, Heartbreak Hotel and more – PLUS new discounts and benefits that will be announced soon.
Above you will see the new Official Graceland Insiders logo and membership card that will begin shipping out to renewing members in July. You will receive your new membership card and pin once you renew your membership – but your Official Elvis Insiders membership card will continue to be valid through the expiration date listed on the back.
The Insiders official website will transition from ElvisInsiders.com to GracelandInsiders.com on July 1. The website will continue to be the same member website that you are familiar with and your login information will not change. The site will continue to feature your chat room, message board, webcam, exclusive artifacts, videos and more.
Tracklisting Legacy-Edition "That’s The Way It Is"
Finally available the track listing for the 2 CD Legacy Edition of the "That’s The Way It Is" which is due August 1, 2014. It contains the original album, the singles, bonus tracks and the previously unreleased August 12th. Dinner Show recording. It comes with a 24 pages book in a digi-pack.
CD 1: The original album: 1. I Just Can’t Help Believin’, 2. Twenty Days And Twenty Nights, 3. How The Web Was Woven, 4. Patch It Up, 5. Mary In The Morning, 6. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, 7. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’, 8. I’ve Lost You, 9. Just Pretend, 10. Stranger In The Crowd, 11. The Next Step Is Love, 12. Bridge Over Troubled Water, The original singles: 13. I’ve Lost You (single version), 14. The Next Step Is Love (single version), 15. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me (single version), 16. Patch It Up (single version), The outtakes: 17. How The Web Was Woven (take 1), 18. I’ve Lost You (take 1), 19. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me (take 2), 20. Patch It Up (take 1), 21. Bridge Over Troubled Water (take 1)
CD 2: August 12 – Dinner Show: 1. That’s All Right *, 2. I Got A Woman *, 3. Hound Dog *, 4. Heartbreak Hotel *, 5. Love Me Tender *, 6. I’ve Lost You *, 7. I Just Can’t Help Believin’ *, 8. Patch It Up, 9. Twenty Days And Twenty Nights, 10. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ *, 11. Polk Salad Annie *, 12. Introductions *, 13. Blue Suede Shoes *, 14. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me,15. Bridge Over Troubled Water, 16. Suspicious Minds *, 17. Can’t Help Falling In Love *
* Previously unreleased.
The Friday Music re-issue of "Elvis Gold Records - Volume 5" was released.
Elvis - Return Of Vegas
The Follow That Dream titles "Elvis - Return Of Vegas" containing a soundboard-recording of the August 3, 1969 Dinner Show and the "Elvis Presley - Memphis To Nashville ´61" book / CD combination are available.
The latter is a cooperation with the Norwegian Flaming Star and EPE on Elvis Presley's performances at "Ellis Auditorium" from February 1961 and on the CD the "Something For Everybody" with mono versions of the original tracks and as a bonus the March 25, 1961 press-conference and a recording of Elvis becoming an Honorary Colonel on March 8, 1961.
(Source: EPE / Elvis World Japan / Elvis Memories)
June 23 - December in June
The only known available soundboard recording from Elvis’ last Vegas season, originally released on " Run On" in 1997, will be re-issued with the new title " December 07 1976".
Now newly remastered and for the first time available in the right speed! Please note: This show was first released on the cd "Run On" in 1997. Although this is a soundboard recording, the sound quality is not very good. Whilst the sound quality is disappointing for a soundboard, the unusual circumstances of this show make it worthwhile to listen to. Now you can hear this show for the first time on cd in remastered sound and in the right speed! Including: "You Better Run" and "Bosom Of Abraham" Plus 8 great bonus tracks! Including 8 pages booklet with photos and recording information.
01. See See Rider 02. Elvis talks 03. I Got A Woman / Amen 04. Elvis talks 05. Love Me 06. If You Love Me (Let Me Know) 07. You Gave Me A Mountain 08. O Solo Mio / It’s Now Or Never 09. Blue Christmas 10. That’s All Right 11. Are You Lonesome Tonight 12. Softly, As I Leave You 13. Elvis talks 14. Fever 15. Medley: All Shook Up / Teddy Bear / Don’t Be Cruel 16. Band introductions 17. Early Morning Rain 18. What’d I Say 19. Drum Solo (Ronnie Tutt) 20. Bass Solo (Jerry Scheff) 21. Piano Solo (Tony Brown) 22. Electric Piano Solo (David Briggs) 23. Love Letters 24. School Days 25. Hurt 26. Hound Dog 27. Hawaiian Wedding Song 28. You Better Run 29. Bosom Of Abraham 30. Elvis talks 31. Can’t Help Falling In Love 32. Closing Vamp 33. Christmas Souvenir Announcement
Bonus tracks (Audience Recordings):
34. Such A Night (12-12-76, closing show) 35. Rip It Up (12-11-76, dinner show) 36. One Night (12-03-76, dinner show) 37. Blue Suede Shoes (12-11-76, dinner show) 38. Elvis talks about his birthstone (12-12-76, closing show) 39. Happy Birthday to Charlie Hodge (12-12-76, closing show) 40. Until Then (12-11-76, midnight show) 41. What Now My Love (12-04-76, dinner show)
This is the cover-art for the Screen Archives Blu-Ray release of the 1962 movie "Follow That Dream" which is due August 08, 2014 in the US. This release is limited to 3000 copies.
(Source: FECC / Elvis Club Berlin)
June 22 - Released!
The Influence Collection release "How Do You Think I Feel? Volume 1" containing 58 tracks by Elvis and the original performances of his hits has been postponed to July 11, 2024.
The 2009 Rattle & R release "Elvis - Classic Billboard Hits" has been re-issued once more.
(Source: Amazon / Elvis For The Good Times)
Elvis Presley's debut single "That’s All Right" will be re-issued on July 28, 2014 by the U.K. based Not Now Music budget label to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the single's release. The flip-side contains "Blue Moon Of Kentucky".
Weekend Charts
The CD "Bossa Nova Baby" fell off the Belgian Album charts after just one week (#199).
The DVD "The king Of Rock And Roll" fell off the Australian Music DVD chart.
(Source: The King's World / Aria Charts)
June 20 - Final Countdown To Midnight
The Backdraft importlabel announced their new release, "The Final Countdown To Midnight". This 2xCD / DVD / book release entitled Final Countdown To Midnight follows from Backdraft’s first offering Rebooked At The International. The book contains 100 pages of rare pictures from Elvis’ show in Pittsburgh December 31, 1976. The DVD contains never before seen footage from the same show, and finally the 2CDs included contains the full concert.
This release, "Final Countdown To Midnight", follows from Backdraft’s first offering, "Rebooked at the International". It contains a hardback book with over 100 pages of many rare and unpublished photos, all taken from original slides with detailed information including eyewitness text, facts and more!
Incorporated with the book is a 2CD set offering for the first time ever, the complete show of the Pittsburgh 1976 New Years Eve concert re-mastered from a newly acquired source, now running well over 92 mins that is guaranteed to please the listener as Elvis rings in the new year of 1977, his final countdown. The sound will attest to the best near soundboard quality ever!
The DVD premieres to the world, newly discovered footage and has been edited from over 2 hours and 20 mins allowing us to present this near complete show running at 85 mins in multiple-angle format. Some of the footage transferred in High Definition is positively stunning! The rich and vibrant colors will provide a truly stunning viewing experience. This Pittsburgh experience package has been a mammoth task to complete to finally bring the ultimate experience of what was the greatest show on earth, to the fans.
(Source: FECC / Elvis And Hs Music)
June 19 - Cover Girls
Joe Tunzi's JAT Publishing has a few releases lined up for release; a DVD, a picture book and of course the "Sessions IV" book. The "Elvis '72 Bright Summer Nights" appears o have a new cover looking at the flyer.
Loving You Girls
Due for release on July 14, 2014 from the Hoodoo Records budget label is the CD "Girls! Girls! Girls! + Loving You" containing the two albums and five additional bonustracks.
(Source: JAT Publishing / Amazon
June 18 - Gold
Released by Rdm Edition in France is the CD "Elvis' Golden Records - Volume 3" containing all the tracks in both mono and stereo versions.
It's Now Or Never - Stuck On You - Fame And Fortune - I Gotta Know - Surrender - I Feel So Bad - Are You Lonesome Tonight? - (Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame - Little Sister - Good Luck Charm - Anything That's Part Of You - She's Not You
June 17 - Casey Kasem Died
Casey Kasem has died at the age of 82. The legendary radio star and voice actor had been suffering from Parkinson's and passed away on Sunday. "Early this Father’s Day morning, our dad Casey Kasem passed away surrounded by family and friends." Kerri Kasem wrote.
Kasem, whose first name was Kemal, was best known to a generation of fans as the host of American Top 40, which he hosted for a total of 24 years, from 1970-88, and again from 1998-2004, when Ryan Seacrest took his place. To Elvis fans, he's best know for his booming voice on the documentary "Elvis: The Echo Will Never Die." --"There are some entertaining excerpts from actual Presley interviews, and numerous talking heads (B.B. King, friends and members of the "Memphis Mafia," and Sammy Davis Jr.) weigh in. But for the most part, they have little of significance to impart - actress Ursula Andress, who appeared in Fun in Acapulco with Elvis, reports that he was "a very good-looking man"." the voice-over was however excellent!
(Source: Elvis Information Network)
June 14 - For Mono Rockers Only
A new CD entitled “Elvis Presley - For Mono Fans Only” is due from the One label in their “Bootleg Series”. The first four tracks of this album are recordings made during Elvis' time off duty whilst in the Army. The "G.I. Blues" masters are the original mono masters as released in 1960, including "Tonight's All Right For Love".
Also you can hear almost 40 minutes private home recordings recorded in Waco Texas, May 1958. This recording was edited on the release "Off Duty with Private Presley", now you can hear the complete unedited recording! As a special bonus we've included 6 radio spots and a movie trailer for the movie "G.I. Blues".
Master Recordings (Mono) - Juni 1958:
I Need Your Love Tonight - A Big Hunk O' Love - (Now And Then There's) A Fool Such As I - I Got Stung
Master Recordings (Mono) - April 1960:
Didja' Ever - Doin' The Best I Can - G. I. Blues - Tonight Is So Right For Love - What's She Really Like - Blue Suede Shoes - Wooden Heart - Shoppin' Around - Pocketful Of Rainbows - Frankfort Special - Tonight's All Right For Love - Big Boots
Private Home Recording (Unedited) - May 1958:
Sail Along Silvery Moon / I Understand Just How I Feel - Happy, Happy Birthday Baby - Dialogue - I Can't Help It - Dialogue - Who's Sorry Now - Who's Sorry Now - Happy, Happy Birthday Baby - Happy, Happy Birthday Baby - Happy, Happy Birthday Baby - Happy, Happy Birthday Baby - Happy, Happy Birthday Baby - Happy, Happy Birthday Baby - Happy, Happy Birthday Baby - Dialogue - Tumblin' Tumbleweeds / Blue Moon / Don't You Know I Love You - Tomorrow Night - Tomorrow Night - Little Darlin' - Monologue - Just A Closer Walk With Thee
"G. I. Blues"-Radio Spots & Movie Trailer
The Rocker Strikes Again - Elvis Presley's Greatest Rock and Roll
Released by an unknown label is the CD “The Rocker Strikes Again - Elvis Presley's Greatest Rock and Roll”.
Do you remember? Back in the 1980’s two fantastic rock and roll compilation albums were releases by RCA: “Rocker” (1985) and “Return Of The Rocker” (1986). The albums were a huge success and a follow up, a third volume was already planned, including a full track listing but....for unknown reasons it was never released by RCA.
Now, 28 years after volume two here is the final edition in this series: "The Rocker Strikes Again!" As with volumes 1 and 2 a stunning shot of Elvis on the motorbike is on the front cover. A beautiful 4 page full colour booklet housed in a plain white jewelcase, volume 3 contains 22 of the greatest rock and roll tracks released between 1964 – 1976. Masters, undubbed masters, live recordings and alternate takes… it’s all here for the perfect rock and roll album! So finally you have the change to complete your Rocker collection. Limited Edition only!
Memphis, Tennessee - Little Egypt - C’mon Everybody - Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On) (Take 6) - Too Much Monkey Business - U. S. Male (Take 11) - A Little Less Conversation (Album Version) - Trouble / Guitar Man (Live, 27.06.1968) - See See Rider (Live, 18.02.1970) - Johnny B. Goode (Live, 24.08.1969) - My Babe (Live, 25.08.1969) - Cindy Cindy (Undubbed Master) - Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On - Proud Mary (Live, 10.06.1972) - A Big Hunk O’ Love (Live, 16.02.1972) - Burning Love (Take 4) - My Baby Left Me (Live, 20.03.1974) - Promised Land - T-R-O-U-B-L-E (Original Session Mix) - For The Heart (Undubbed Master) - Way Down (Take 2)
Peacock For Sale
"A Rock & Roll History: Presley to Punk" is the title of the June 24th Sotheby's Auction. Among the wonderful items are fifties posters, handwritten letters, movie clothing and even the King's very own Peacock Jumpsuit, worn on several shows and used on the cover of the "Promised Land" album. The jumpsuit is estimated at 200,000 - 300,000 $US.
(Source: Elvis Information Network / Elvis On CD / ElvisMatters)
June 13 - Elvis In France
Philippe Margotin, author of the book "Chronique D´ Elvis Presley" re-issued this title with the simple title "Elvis Presley" through Chronique Dargaud Editions.
(Source: Various)
June 12 - Weekend Charts Released
The DVD "Elvis On Tour" returns to the No.1 position on the Billboard Top Music Videos Chart for the week ending June 21, 2014 selling some 3,000 units. It first topped this chart exactly one year ago this week.
The CD "The Real... Elvis" dropped out of the Italian Album chart.
The Sony legacy release "Bossa Nova Baby – The Ultimate Elvis Party Album" entered the Belgian Ultra Top Album charts at #199.
The DVD "The King Of Rock And Roll" climbed from #40 to #37 on the Australian Music Video chart.
Elvis Sings ...
The Sony Legacy compilation "Elvis Sings ...", containing cover of well known songs by Elvis, was released.
Promised Land - What'd I Say - Early Mornin' Rain - You've Lost That Loving Feeling - My Babe - Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Got My Mojo Working / Keep Your Hands Off Of It - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Help Me Make It Through The Night - Gentle On MyMind - Funny How Time Slips Away - Sweet Caroline - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Proud Mary - I Got A Woman - Words - Something - You Don't Know Me - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Danny Boy - My Way - Tomorrow Is A LongTime - Only The Strong Survive.
A Man At The Top
Out now is the fifth VV label import-release "A Man At The Top!" featuring the complete live soundboard recording on August 10th 1970 Las Vegas opening show on double vinyl and DVD.
(Source: Brian Quinn / The King's World / FECC)
June 11 - The Life Of Mark And Gladys
Among people who make their living writing songs, Mark James, a Houston native, is a giant. He is traveling to New York to be inducted Thursday into the Songwriters Hall of Fame - finally! When in 2000 the song-writing organization BMI compiled its list of the best 100 songs of the 20th century, three of them were written by James: "Hooked on a Feeling," "Always on My Mind" and his best-known composition, "Suspicious Minds," a seminal song for arguably the most iconic pop-music performer of the 20th century, one that Rolling Stone included in its 500 greatest songs of all time.
The Life Of Elvis
Due for release from Whitman Publishing on October 28, 2014 is the book "The Life Of Elvis" by Frank Hyland. The preface is by Priscilla Presley.
From the publisher:
In "The Life of Elvis", author Frank Hyland traces the rise of Elvis Presley from his poor upbringing in Tupelo, Mississippi, to his burst onto the national scene in 1956, to his television and motion picture triumphs, to his electrifying return to the stage in 1968, to his passing in 1977.
This book also contains never-before-published photographs provided by Elvis Presley Enterprises and Graceland archives. There are photos of Elvis' childhood home, his parents and his high school days. There are also dozens of pictures covering his career, from the beginning in Memphis to his last performances on stage.
Included in a special section are images from Elvis' funeral and the mourning that took place across the United States, and a look at the vast memorabilia collection inside Graceland. No Elvis fan should be without this book about the king! Also included are special Elvis drinking glass coasters to use while you enjoy this.
Gladys, pregnant with Elvis
Elvis expert Mike Freeman recently made a very interesting discovery. Reeds Department Store - still owned by the same family who employed Gladys Presley in their clothing factory for a few years - have displayed this photo of their employees at a picnic in July 6, 1934, including Gladys Presley. In this picture, she is pregnant with Elvis and Jessie. As far as we know, it is the only picture of a pregnant Gladys in existance. Reeds is directly across the street from Tupelo Hardware. The Reeds placed a sign below her figure, but we enlarged the photo of Gladys a bit.
Volume 64 in the German "Elvis Sammlung" was released by De'Agostini. This edition contains the usual magazine, memorabilia reproductions and a mini-poster for the "Tell me why / Blue River" single.
(Source: ElvisMatters / Elvis Club Berlin / Mike Freeman / Elvis Sammlung)
June 08 - Elvis Sings A Winning Streak
The Straight Arrow import 3 CD set "Elvis Presley - On A Winning Streak", containing audience recordings of the Dinner and midnight shows as recorded February 17 and 18 1973, was released.
Elvis Sings
The Sony Legacy release "Elvis Sings", containing 23 covers by Elvis Presley, was released.
3.65 MILLION FOR ELVIS RANCH -
The Desoto Times Tribune today 6report that the purchasers of the Circle G Ranch in Horn Lake, known as the honeymoon cottage of Elvis Presley, paid a sizable price for the property, much more than the original purchase price.
Elvis paid $300,000 for the 240-acre ranch in 1967 which is located at the intersection of Goodman Road and Highway 301 and has been purchased by a group of investors led by Mississippi native Davage "Buddy" Runnels Jr., the founder and owner of Real Estate International, Inc. (REI), based in Destin, Fla., for the sum of $3.65 million.
Kennedy Funding Financial of Englewood Cliffs, N.J. announced Wednesday it had closed a loan for $2.3 million for the purchase of the ranch. A news release announcing the loan stated the price of the property as $3.65 million.
The buyers have yet to announced their specific plans for the ranch, but Kevin Wolfer, president and CEO of Kennedy Funding Financial stated in the news release, "The new owner will have a number of options for preserving and making the best possible use of this extraordinary property."
Wolfer said the ranch has "considerable up-side potential." "Much of its on-site facilities are in need of repair, and the intention is to implement those upgrades to preserve its historical significance and its adaptive reuse," he said. "Its location near Memphis makes it a natural for music-related cultural events, for example." The loan is a three-year, interest-only loan secured by a first lien on the property.
(Source: Elvis For The Good Times / The Elvis Express / Desoto Times)
June 07 - Around Midnight
Out now on the Verve label is the importrelease "Around Midnight". it contains Elvis Presley's' Las Vegas Midnight Show from August 21, 1974 in improved sound (according to the press-release). The show was previously released on the Officials Follow That Dream collectors label "Nevada Nights".
The CD "The Real... Elvis" climbed from #86 to #81 on the Italian Album chart.
The DVD "The King Of Rock ’n’ Roll" dropped from #33 to #40 on the Australian Music DVD chart.
(Source: Elvis Information Network / The King's World)
June 06 - Love Me Tender
The Entertainment Products label have just released the 3CD budget collection "Love Me Tender".
(Source: Elvis And His Music)
June 05 - That's The Way It Is Complete Details
Sony Legacy announced officially announced the new set "Elvis: That's The Way It Is (Deluxe Edition)" which will be available on August 5, 2014.
The press-release:
SONY/RCA/Legacy Recordings Announce the Release of Monumental Definitive Edition of Elvis: That's The Way It Is (Deluxe Edition), the King’s 1970 Album & Concert Documentary, Presented Together for the First Time Ever in a Deluxe Box Set (8CD/2DVD).
That’s The Way It Is (Deluxe Edition) Includes Expanded Version of Original LP, Six Complete Shows from Elvis’ Electrifying Summer of ’70 Las Vegas Season, Rare and Insightful Rehearsals, the 1970 Theatrical Edit AND the 2001 Special Edition of “Elvis: That’s The Way It Is,” 80-Page Booklet featuring Rare Photographs, Memorabilia and Recording Data.
In 1970, Elvis Presley fans were thrilled by the arrival of two cultural milestones: one an album, the other a full-length concert/documentary and each of them called Elvis: That's The Way It Is. Since then, aficionados of Elvis have been clamoring for a package that included both the album and the film.
On Tuesday, August 5, 2014, Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, will release That's The Way It Is (Deluxe Edition), the most ambitious Elvis Presley restoration package ever created, bringing together-for the first time ever--the album, the theatrical and home video versions of the film, six full-length concerts (featuring previously unreleased performances), rehearsal highlights and other rare recordings in one astounding and essential package. The result of an historic partnership between Sony Music and Warner Brothers Home Video, the deluxe set combines the video and audio assets of Elvis: That's The Way It Is with unique and previously unreleased material.
A highly-collectible 8CD/2DVD box set, That's The Way It Is (Deluxe Edition), marks the first time the 1970 documentary and album have been available in a single package, with bonuses including unreleased material, remixed and remastered audio and a new 80-page book detailing the entire event with facts, songwriter and musician interviews, and photos in a deluxe 8CD/2DVD box set. A 2CD Legacy Edition of Elvis: That's The Way It Is will also be available.
Originally released on RCA Records in November 1970, Elvis: That's The Way It Is combined eight studio tracks, recorded in Nashville, and four live concert performances recorded in Las Vegas during Presley's 1970 "Summer Festival" season at The International Hotel in Las Vegas to create what the All Music Guide has called "...one of his best..." and "essential listening for Elvis fans, both die-hard and casual."
Though never considered a soundtrack album, Elvis: That's The Way It Is was initially released to accompany the first theatrical run of "Elvis: That's The Way It Is," a 1970 documentary feature, directed by Denis Sanders, which combined on-stage, off-stage and behind-the-scenes footage in Presley's first non-dramatic film since his 1956 Hollywood movie debut. In the documentary, Sanders captured and illuminated a pivotal moment in Elvis' transformation from teen idol to consummate showman, Memphis meets Vegas via Hollywood, the King's return to full concert performances after years of film stardom.
Elvis Presley had made a dramatic comeback two years prior to these shows in a transcendent NBC-TV special, which aired in December 1968. The International Hotel, then-newly-built and the largest live venue in Las Vegas, booked Presley for an unprecedented 57 show run in July 1969, a four-week-long residency that would raise the bar and set the standard for superstar entertainment in Vegas and beyond. "There are several unbelievable things about Elvis, but the most incredible is his staying power in a world where meteoric careers fade like shooting stars," Newsweek wrote of his incredible new approach to live performance at the time, while Rolling Stone lauded Elvis as "supernatural--his own resurrection."
Early in 1970, Elvis returned to Vegas for a second engagement at the International, with RCA recording songs for the then forthcoming On Stage, February 1970. Elvis was on a roll and making big plans--including a feature film--surrounding what would be his third Las Vegas engagement, scheduled for the summer of 1970.
On June 4, 1970, Elvis arrived at RCA's Studio B in Nashville, where producer Felton Jarvis had assembled a hot new session band featuring Elvis' on-stage guitar legend James Burton. Five nights of recording generated material for no less than three future albums and four singles, including Elvis: That's The Way It Is and the essential Elvis Country album.
On July 14, rehearsals for the movie and live shows commenced at the MGM lot in Culver City, California. The Hollywood cameras rolled for five different rehearsals prior to the opening night on August 10, including augmentation run-throughs with the singers and the orchestra at the hotel. Unquestionably, Elvis was keen to broaden his repertoire for the film, as more than 60 songs were attempted during the period, far more than the usual average of 20 to 25 that would normally be chosen. Over the four nights filmed by MGM, Elvis and his band worked tirelessly, trying out a broad variety of musical styles, emphasizing his desire to share the wide range of music he loved with his audience. Director Denis Sanders captured the end result magnificently, providing fans throughout the world with their first glimpse of the new contemporary Elvis performing at the peak of his vocal prowess both in rehearsal and on the stage.
That's The Way It Is (Deluxe Edition) centers on the six complete shows recorded and partially filmed by MGM. Two of the shows are released for the first time in their entirety; two more have only been available only through the mail-order Elvis fan-club network. The original RCA album is expanded with the four single sides from the period, and a selection of "fly-on-the-wall" outtakes from the June Nashville sessions that produced the majority of tracks for the album. Completing the audio section, a separate disc of insightful rehearsal highlights, featuring unusual song selections showcases both the hard work and the playful atmosphere that governed Elvis' relationship with his musicians. The original Elvis: That's The Way It Is includes fiery renditions of "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me," previously a hit for Dusty Springfield; "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin,'" made famous by The Righteous Brothers, and a show-stopping rendition of Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water." The original album and singles will fill Disc One of the new edition, with six CDs worth of concert performances and one of rehearsal takes from the Summer of '70 International Hotel residency. That's The Way It Is (Deluxe Edition) puts the original RCA album and the 1970 MGM documentary feature together in a single package for the first time. It includes both the original theatrical DVD version (1970) and the re-edited and extended DVD version from 2000.
Tracks Elvis: That's The Way It Is (Deluxe Edition):
CD 1 The Original Album:
I Just Can’t Help Believin’ - Twenty Days And Twenty Nights - How The Web Was Woven - Patch It Up - Mary In The Morning - You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me - You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ - I’ve Lost You - Just Pretend - Stranger In The Crowd - The Next Step Is Love - Bridge Over Troubled Water
The Original Singles:
I’ve Lost You (Single Version) - The Next Step Is Love (Single Version) - You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me (Single Version) - Patch It Up (Single version)
The Outtakes:
How The Web Was Woven (Take 1) - I’ve Lost You (Take 1) - You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me (take 2) - Patch It Up (take 1) - Bridge Over Troubled Water (Take 1) -
CD 2 - 10.08.1970 O/S:
That’s All Right - Medley: Mystery Train / Tiger Man - I Can’t Stop Loving You - Love Me Tender - The Next Step Is Love - Words - I Just Can’t Help Believin’ - Something - Sweet Caroline - You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ - You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me - Polk Salad Annie - Introductions - I’ve Lost You - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Patch It Up - Can’t Help Falling In Love
CD 3 - 11.08.1970 D/S:
That’s All Right - I Got A Woman * - Hound Dog - Heartbreak Hotel - Love Me Tender * - I’ve Lost You - I Just Can’t Help Believin’ - Something - I Can’t Stop Loving You * - Sweet Caroline * - You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ - Polk Salad Annie * - Introductions * - Bridge Over Troubled Water” - Suspicious Minds * - Can’t Help Falling In Love *
CD 4 - 11.08.1970 M/S:
That’s All Right - I Got A Woman - Hound Dog - Love Me Tender - There Goes My Everything - Just Pretend - I Just Can’t Help Believin’ - Something - Men With Broken Hearts - Walk A Mile In My Shoes - You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ - Polk Salad Annie - One Night - Don’t Be Cruel - Love Me - Instrumental Vamp - Heartbreak Hotel - Introductions - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Suspicious Minds - Can’t Help Falling In Love
That’s All Right * - I Got A Woman * - Hound Dog * - Heartbreak Hotel * - Love Me Tender * - I’ve Lost You * - I Just Can’t Help Believin’ * - Patch It Up - Twenty Days And Twenty Nights - You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ * - Polk Salad Annie * - Introductions * - Blue Suede Shoes * - You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Suspicious Minds * - Can’t Help Falling In Love *
That’s All Right - Medley: Mystery Train / Tiger Man - Hound Dog - Love Me Tender - Just Pretend - Walk A Mile In My Shoes - There Goes My Everything - Words - Sweet Caroline - You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ - Polk Salad Annie - Introductions - Heartbreak Hotel - One Night - Blue Suede Shoes - All Shook Up - Medley: Little Sister / Get Back - I Was The One - Love Me - Are You Lonesome Tonight? - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Suspicious Minds - Can’t Help Falling In Love
That’s All Right - I Got A Woman - Hound Dog - Love Me Tender - Don’t Cry Daddy - In The Ghetto - I Just Can’t Help Believin’ - Stranger In The Crowd - Make The World Go Away - Sweet Caroline - You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ - Polk Salad Annie - Introductions - The Wonder Of You - Heartbreak Hotel - Blue Suede Shoes - One Night - All Shook Up - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Suspicious Minds - Can’t Help Falling In Love
CD 8 - The Rehearsals:
Alla En Al Rancho Grande - Ghost Riders In The Sky - Cotton Fields - Froggy Went A-Courtin’ - Baby Let’s Play House - I Was The One - Money Honey - Don’t - (Now And Then There’s) A Fool Such As I - Such A Night - It’s Now Or Never - What’d I Say - Yesterday - Medley: Little Sister / Get Back - Don’t It Make You Wanna Go Home - I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water - Stranger In My Own Home Town - Farther Along - Santa Claus Is Back In Town - Oh Happy Day
(Source: Sony Legacy)
June 04 - TTWII Box Update
The US edition of the "Bossa Nova Baby - The Ultimate Party Album" contained a promotion for the upcoming "That's The Way It Is" box-set:
THAT`S THE WAY IT IS - DELUXE EDITION
This 8CD/2DVD boxed set focuses on the six complete shows recorded and partially filmed by MGM. All the concerts have been either mixed or remixed and mastered to establish a uniform sound. A separate disc of insightful rehearsal highlights showcases the hard work that governed Elvis` relationship with his musicians. Finally two DVDs, featuring the original theatrical released version (1970) and the subsequent re-edited extended version (2000) complete this truly memorable event in the career of Elvis Presley OUT SUMMER 2014.
June 03 - Let it Rock At The Circle G Ranch
The Gravelroad Music importrelease "Elvis Let It Rock",containing the February 23, 1971 closing show, was released.
From Elvis In Memphis
The albums "From Elvis In Memphis" and "Elvis - That´s The Way It Is" will be re-issued on vinyl on July 8, 2014 by Sony Music Canada.
Tracks From Elvis In Memphis:
Wearin' That Loved On Look - Only The Strong Survive - I'll Hold You In My Heart (Till I Can Hold You In My Arms) - Long Black Limousine - It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin' - I'm Movin' On
Power Of My Love . Gentle On My Mind - After Loving You - True Love Travels On A Gravel Road - Any Day Now - In The Ghetto
Tracks: Elvis - That's The Way It Is
I Just Can't Help Believin' - Twenty Days and Twenty Nights - How The Web Was Woven - Patch It Up - Mary In the Morning - You Don't Have to Say You Love Me
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - I've Lost You - Just Pretend - Stranger In The Crowd - The Next Step Is Love - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Circle G Ranch Sold
The Circle G Ranch in Horn Lake, Mississippi, has been purchased and is now officially under new ownership. The 231 acre tract, of which 163 acres is well known for once being owned by Elvis Presley and his wife, Priscilla, sits on the corner of Highway 301 and Goodman Road. The property is rich in historical features including the Honeymoon Cottage shared by Elvis and Priscilla, the stable where Elvis kept his horses, a 14 acre lake and a prominent 55 foot cross.
The property has been purchased by a group of investors led by Mississippi native, Davage "Buddy" Runnels Jr., the founder and owner of Real Estate International, Inc. (REI). REI, based in Destin, Florida, is a commercial and residential development group established over 47 years ago. Specific plans for the restoration of the property will be announced in the future.
(Source: Elvis On CD / Elvis Club Berlin / Elvis Matters)
June 01 - June Follow That Dream
News of the June 2014 Follow That Dream releases was spread. The collectors label will release “Return To Vegas” containing a soundboard featuring the dinner show believed to be from August 3, 1969 and the book “Memphis to Nashville ’61”, a book project in conjunction with Flaming Star. The latter comes with a bonus CD featuring the original mono version of Something for Everybody. Both “The Return To Vegas” and “Nashville To Memphis ’61” will be shipped last week of June.
The Return To Vegas
This is the official release of the soundboard recording that Joan Deary planned as a double album release back in the late seventies. It’s the earliest known professional recording from Elvis’ 1969 engagement in Las Vegas. The original tape box has “opening night” written on the back, but that’s not the real date. Some experts believe it’s from August 3, but we have no information what so ever to suggest a certain date.
However, the arrangements seem to suggest that this show is definitely several days earlier than the shows RCA recorded from August 20 and onwards. Why Joan Deary edited and mastered this for release is another mystery, since she off course had all the shows RCA recorded on 8-track tape with audio in substantially better quality. This release comes in a 7” digi-pack with a 12-pages booklet, featuring great photos from the collections of Steve Barile & Jim Patino, and a foreword by Ken Sharp.
Tracks “The Return To Vegas”:
01 Blue Suede Shoes 2:20 02 I Got A Woman 3:20 03 All Shook Up 3:07 04 Love Me Tender 2:38 05 Jailhouse Rock / Don't Be Cruel 2:44 06 Heartbreak Hotel 2:22 07 Hound Dog 4:48 3:57 08 Memories 3:12 09 Mystery Train / Tiger Man 5:26 10 Monologue 3:59 11 Baby, What You Want Me To Do 3:04 12 Are You Lonesome Tonight? 3:15 13 Yesterday / Hey Jude 5:11 14 Introductions 4:39 15 In The Ghetto 4:14 16 Suspicious Minds 8:21 17 What’d I Say 4:30 18 Can’t Help Falling In Love 2:30
Memphis To Nashville ’61
FTD Books and Flaming Star, in association with EPE, will release a new book – “Memphis To Nashville ’61” – in late June. This will give a comprehensive account of the two Memphis charity shows that Elvis performed at the Ellis Auditorium on a cold day in February 1961.
The book includes accounts of that day and the events leading up to it. It features accounts from Elvis’ musicians, friends and fans, magazine- and newspaper articles from the time, and many rare and newly-discovered photographs. The collection of over 100 unpublished photographs, most of them in black and white, have been collected from many different sources; some are from original negatives whilst others are from original prints. Also included in the book is a section on Elvis’ visit to Nashville on March 8, 1961, less than two weeks after the benefit shows of February 25, to receive an honorary colonelship from the Governor of Tennessee, Buford Ellington. Furthermore, the final part of the volume includes information and details relating to the recording sessions held on March 12 and 13, 1961 that provided most of the tracks for the classic LP, “Something For Everybody”. As an added bonus, the book comes with a CD containing the mono version of “Something For Everybody” plus recordings of Elvis’ press conference, held at the Hotel Claridge in Memphis on February 25, 1961, and of the presentation of honours at the Tennessee State Capitol just 11 days later.
Tracks “Something For Everybody” (mono version)
1) There's Always Me 2) Give Me The Right 3) It's A Sin 4) Sentimental Me 5) Starting Today 6) Gently 7) I'm Comin' Home 8) In Your Arms 9) Put The Blame On Me 10) Judy 11) I Want You With Me 12) I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell Bonus 13) Press Conference (March 25, 1961) 14) Elvis Is Made An Honorary Colonel (March 8 1961).
The FTD release "Love Me Tender" re-issue was re-issued in the "Classic Album" series and is shipping from dealers.
A double-CD set. Elvis first performed ‘Love Me Tender’ on the Ed Sullivan Show (September 9th) and pre-sales reached over 1 million before its release on September 28th.
It features a 16-page booklet with great photos, movie trivia, memorabilia and full recording data. The extra tracks are, 'We’re Gonna Move' Take 4 & 9. 'Poor Boy' Take 3 original 3 verse master. 'Poor Boy' remake, 'Poor Boy' extended verse, 'Let Me' vocal overdub take 3, 'Let Me' vocal overdub take 4. Plus stereo masters of all four tracks and The Truth About Me Interview recorded on the set of Love Me Tender.
Disc 2 features the legendary live show from the Mississippi Alabama State Fair and Dairy Show held in Tupelo on September 26.
(Source: The Elvis Shop / FECC / Elvis Information Network)
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France gilets jaunes Yellow Vests Emmanuel Macron
Eye on France: The Yellow Vests may be gone, but they won't be forgotten
By Michael Fitzpatrick Issued on 17-12-2018 Modified 17-12-2018 to 17:01
Protesters wearing yellow vests sit on the floor during a demonstration … Coletes amerelos durante protestos nas ruas de Paris. 15/12/18 REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Gone but not forgotten would be one way of summing up France’s yellow vest protest movement as seen by the Paris newspapers.
The interior ministry counted a total of 66,000 protestors all over France on Saturday, that’s about half the number who turned out a week earlier, and is a dramatic decline from the estimated 300,000 who demonstrated on the first Saturday of the movement, back on November 17.
Le Monde points to the virtual invisibility of protestors in Paris, where no more than 3,000 people turned up for Saturday’s fifth show of force. The police had to arrest only 179 suspected troublemakers, compared to 1,082 the week before.
The centrist daily says it’s one of the paradoxical aspects of this movement that, despite the broadly rural origins of most protestors, the turn-out in Paris has been absolutely crucial. First of all, because the capital is the seat of central government and official home of President Emmanuel Macron.
Secondly, because the yellow vest organisers knew that their media impact would remain slight if they did no more than slow down traffic at roundabouts on secondary roads.
The slowdown in participation can be explained in several ways.
Le Monde says some people feel that presidential promises to abandon proposed fuel taxes, increase the minimum wage and otherwise boost spending power mean that the movement has achieved what it set out to do.
Then there was the fear of violence, most of the city-centre protests having degenerated into pitched battles with security forces.
The Strasbourg murders would also have played a part in keeping people away.
And then there’s the simple fact of fatigue - five weeks is a long time at the barricades, especially with Christmas just around the corner.
The editorial in conservative paper Le Figaro is headlined “The divided Republic”.
The right-wing daily is delighted to announce the end of a phenomenon which rocked political institutions, media, trade unions and the economy.
The protestors exposed the unfair nature of the taxation system, the stupidity of some official norms; they drew attention to social and geographical rivalries, to questions of identity, of class, of security. They revealed a deep anger against a vague but powerful élite.
The danger, as imagined by Le Figaro, is to suppose that France can now continue as if the past six weeks had never happened. The nation is divided, republican political institutions are under pressure.
The conservative paper warns that the preparations for next year’s European elections will be the next crucial test. If the debate in the lead-up to those polls is not conducted at the level of the ordinary citizen, says Le Figaro, then popular anger will flare up again.
Meanwhile, on the the left...
Left-leaning Libération thinks the deadline may be even closer than next summer’s European polls. Next month see the launch of the direct collection of income tax; 2019 is the year in which unemployment insurance, pensions and the French civil service have to be reformed. None of that is going to be easy, especially in the heated wake of the broad national debate which President Macron has promised to convene.
The details of the presidential deal
Speaking of promises, business daily Les Echos has the French prime minister, Edouard Philippe, explaining the details of government reaction to the protestor’s demands.
The administration is still committed to reform, claiming that only fundamental change will address the sources of social anger.
The trajectory promised by the president is not abandoned; it’s just going to be differently applied.
And it’s not going to be cheap, with the minimum estimate of the cost of presidential promises running to 10 billion euros in 2019 alone. That will put France above the public spending limit accepted by Brussels, unless a lot of additional savings can be made.
Internet hysteria and the historian
The French historian Sylvain Boulouque has been telling the weekly magazine L’Obs about his misfortunes on the internet.
Boulouque was invited to comment on pictures from the second weekend of demonstrations on the French 24-hour news channel BFMTV.
In the course of identifying participant groups, Boulouque made a mistake: he saw what he called a “monarchist” flag when, in reality, he was looking at the old, pre-Revolutionary flag of the north-west French region of Picardy, frequently brandished by supporters of far-right leader Marine Le Pen. In other words, he saw right-wing extremists where there were probably just Picards. He admits he was wrong.
Dangerously, however, that error has been used by what the French call the right-wing “fachosphere” to drown out Boulouque’s efforts to detail the implication in yellow vest violence of elements of the extreme right and left-wing ultras, of some “ordinary” protestors, and the common criminals and opportunists known as “casseurs” who profit from occasions of public disorder to break windows and steal things.
Because he made one, insignificant mistake, he says he has become the victim of a torrent of abuse on social media. Abuse which surges in volume and intensity each time Sylvain Boulouque makes a TV appearance. He has, incidentally, been dropped as a contributing expert by BFMTV.
His case is a warning against what he calls the “totalitarian intimidation” used to great effect by some who refuse to accept Boulouque’s analysis of the hidden political attachments of many supposedly “ordinary” gilets jaunes. And who are happy to use social media as a weapon in that intimidation.
Curtain closes on Yellow Vests latest …
France's Yellow Vest protesters …
Yellow Vest protester killed in south …
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Confident Koepka stalks Woodland in search of third straight US Open title
Right there: Brooks Koepka will tee off Sunday four shots behind 54-hole leader Gary Woodland in search of a third straight US Open title at Pebble Beach GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Brooks Koepka continues his pursuit of an historic third straight US Open title on Sunday, where he sets off four strokes behind 54-hole leader Gary Woodland in the final round at Pebble Beach.
The world number one kept his three-peat bid alive with a bogey-free three-under par 68 on Saturday that included a par save from the fringe at the 15th and a par from behind the cypress tree in the 18th fairway.
Having come from five shots back to win at Shinnecock Hills last year -- becoming the first player since Curtis Strange in 1988-89 to repeat as US Open champion -- he was quietly confident he could get past Woodland and Justin Rose, who went into the final round one shot off the lead.
"I have to stay patient and keep doing what I'm doing," Koepka said. "If you’re within three strokes on the back nine anything can happen."
Willie Anderson, the Scottish immigrant who was the first of four golfers to win four US Open titles, is the only player to lift the trophy three straight times -- in 1903, '04 and '05.
Six players have since won two straight but fallen short in a third.
But the weight of 114 years of history balances lightly on Koepka's big frame.
"I just enjoy the pressure," said Koepka, who won his second straight PGA Championship title last month at Bethpage Black to take his tally of major titles to four in his last eight major starts. "I enjoy hitting good golf shots when the pressure is on."
Koepka isn't the only marquee name poised to pressure Woodland, a three-time winner on the US PGA Tour who is seeking his first major title.
Along with England's Rose, the 2013 US Open winner and a former world number one, there's former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen in a group at seven-under that also includes Chez Reavie and four-time major-winner Rory McIlroy at six-under.
Pebble Beach, soft and receptive in cool, damp weather on the Monterey Peninsula, has yielded a wealth of low scores over the first three days, including the first- and second-round 65s posted by Rose and Woodland which matched the lowest ever shot in a US Open at the famed seaside course.
- 'Like chess' -
With the greens firming up and tougher pin positions Pebble Beach promised to offer the test of skill and fortitude the US Golf Association strives for on Sunday.
"The greens are so small, and when it gets a little firm like this and they start to tuck pins in little corners, it's angles, it's all angles," McIlroy said. "You're trying to think and move ahead.
"It's a little bit like chess where you're crossing paths, going from the third green to the fourth tee and seeing a group tee off 17 and watching their balls land on the right side and kicking in. You have to anticipate what your ball is going to do along the ground, as well.
"You can't go firing at pins because you're going to one-hop it over the back all day."
That's why Koepka was most pleased to have kept any bogeys off his card on Saturday.
"I think that's important," he said. "I feel like eventually these birdies have to come.
"I don't need to go out and chase. If I can just make a few putts, I could be right there."
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Bernard Hopkins, the Executioner.
Bernard Hopkins (born January 15, 1965) —nicknamed The Executioner— is a professional boxer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). He has held one or more titles in the middleweight division since 1992, and is regarded by experts to be among the ten best pound for pound fighters in the world. With his defeat of Oscar de la Hoya, Hopkins holds the title as being the undisputed middleweight champion, holding the IBF, WBC, WBA and WBO versions of the title. Hopkins has successfully defended his middleweight title a record twenty times.
Hopkins was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up in a rough section of town, where he got involved in crime and gang activity at a young age. Today, he describes himself as a "thug" in his youth and regrets that it took a stint in prison for him to turn his life around.
Late in 1982, when Hopkins was in the 11th grade, he was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in the state penitentiary for armed robbery. While incarcerated, he decided to turn his life around. Hopkins studied for and earned his high school diploma, and also began to take part in boxing again, which he had done off and on as a youth. During four years and eight months in prison, Hopkins won the national penitentiary middleweight championship three times.
He was a model prisoner by all accounts, and was paroled in 1988, as soon as he was eligible. He immediately joined the professional boxing ranks as a light heavyweight, losing his debut on October 11, 1988 in Atlantic City, New Jersey to a fighter named Clinton Mitchell. But he showed enough in the loss that respected trainer Bouie Fisher took him on. After a 16-month layoff, resumed his career as a middleweight, winning a unanimous decision over Greg Paige on February 22, 1990.
Between February 1990 and September 1992, Hopkins worked his way through the ranks of middleweight journeymen, scoring 20 wins without a loss. He won 15 of those fights by knockout, 11 coming in the first round.
That earned him an opportunity for his first title, the USBA regional middleweight belt. True to form, he knocked out fringe contender Wayne Powell in the first round on December 4, 1992 and moved into the list of top 10 contenders for a world title shot.
His first chance at a world title came on May 22, 1993 in Washington, DC, when he faced Roy Jones Jr. for the vacant IBF middleweight belt. Hopkins, who was still inexperienced against top fighters, nevertheless went the distance with Jones before losing a unanimous decision. Hopkins retained his world ranking and defended his USBA belt three further times while waiting for another world title shot.
Jones abandoned the middleweight ranks in 1994, and the IBF came again knocking at Hopkins's door on December 17 of that year, matching him with Segundo Mercado in Mercado's hometown of Quito, Ecuador. Mercado knocked Hopkins down twice and built a big lead on the scorecards before Hopkins rallied late and earned a draw. The IBF called for a rematch, and on April 29, 1995, Hopkins became a world champion with his seventh-round technical knockout of Mercado in Landover, Maryland.
After winning the title, Hopkins followed the example of former world middleweight champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler and followed a strict training regimen to keep his weight at or below the division limit of 160 pounds. Meanwhile, he fought the toughest available competition and was soon considered by many as the best world middleweight titleholder. By the end of 2000, he had defended the IBF title 12 times without a loss, while beating such standouts as John David Jackson, Glencoffe Johnson, Simon Brown, and Antwun Echols.
The arrival of multiple-division champion F�lix Trinidad into the middleweight ranks set off a series of unification fights between major titleholders. On April 14, 2001, Hopkins won a unanimous decision over WBC champion Keith Holmes in New York City. Then, on September 29, WBA champion Trinidad challenged Hopkins for all three belts in Madison Square Garden.
For the first time in many years, Hopkins was an underdog in the betting. He was on his way to a lopsided decision victory when, in the 12th and final round, he floored Trinidad and referee Steve Smoger called a halt to the fight. It was the first loss of Trinidad's career, and made Hopkins the first undisputed world middleweight champion since Marvin Hagler in 1987.
He has defended the undisputed title five times since. Hopkins bested Carl Daniels on February 2, 2002 by tenth-round technical knockout; Morrade Hakkar on March 29, 2003 by eighth-round TKO; William Joppy on December 13, 2003 by unanimous decision; and Robert Allen on June 5, 2004, also by unanimous decision.
In the biggest fight of his career, Hopkins fought six-division titleholder Oscar De La Hoya for the undisputed middleweight championship on September 18, 2004 in Las Vegas. Hopkins won the bout with a knockout in the ninth round. After the De La Hoya fight, his career record stands at 45 wins, two losses, one draw, and one no contest with 32 knockouts.
He said he ended the De La Hoya fight with a perfect punch to the liver. "Chopped liver with Hopkins sauce," he said.
De la Hoya soon thereafter invited Hopkins to join his boxing promotional firm, Golden Boy Promotions, as president of its new east coast chapter. Their alliance was announced publicly on November 20, 2004. Hopkins is expected to sign and guide the careers of young east coast fighters, including several from his hometown of Philadelphia.
In addition, Golden Boy will promote Hopkins' next four fights, likely the last of his lengthy career.
Hopkins reached his stated goal of 20 title defenses on February 19 against Howard Eastman, the middleweight champion of Europe. On July 16, he will defend his middleweight title against unbeaten Jermain Taylor. On June 3, he announced his plans for his final fights. First, he said that his bout with Taylor will be his last as a middleweight. Next, he plans to step up to 175 pounds to face the winner of the upcoming Antonio Tarver-Glenn Johnson bout. Finally, in January 2006, he intends to end his career by fighting Roy Jones Jr., also at 175.
Record (http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=001414)nl:Bernard Hopkins
ja:バーナード・ホプキンス sv:Bernard Hopkins
Retrieved from "http://footwww.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Bernard_Hopkins"
Categories: 1965 births | American boxers | Middleweights | People from Philadelphia
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Followers of 'Oro were called ariori, and each district in Tahiti had an ariori lodge led by the avae parae, black leg. These leaders had legs tattooed from thigh to heel. The first 'Oro lodge was established around 1720 by Mahi, a representative of the high priest of Taputapuatea marae and Tamatoa I, the high chief of Ra'iatea. The first 'Oro marae was established at Tautira.[11]
After pickup from your hotel, set out to explore the island of Tahiti, traveling by air-conditioned coach with an experienced local guide. Your first stop will be on the west coast where you will visit the famous Marae Arahurahu, a relgious site dedicated to the ancient gods where important ceremonies used to take place. For manicured landscapes, visit the Vaipahi Garden, where you can wander around a tree-shaded wonderland of waterfalls, ponds and colorful tropical flowers. Your guide can help you identify the plant life as you take in this botanical gem. Visit Venus Point, located on Matavai Bay. The stop got its name from Captain James Cook, who observed the 1769 transit of Venus from this point as part of his work for the Royal Society. As you walk around the black-sand beach, note the monument that commemorates Cook's work here.Next, cruise along scenic roads to arrive at the Arahoho blowhole where, when there's a big swell, water shoots skyward, resulting in what might be a free shower courtesy of the sea! Enjoy the beauty of the black-sand beaches and turquoise sea, a popular surfing spot. Afterwards, visit Taharaa View Point for breathtaking panoramic views over the island before being returned to your hotel in Papeete where your tour ends.
French Polynesia was relisted in the UN List of Non-Self Governing Territories in 2013, making it eligible for a UN-backed independence referendum. The relisting was made after its indigenous government was voiced and supported by the Polynesian Leaders Group, Pacific Conference of Churches, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Non-Aligned Movement, World Council of Churches, and Melanesian Spearhead Group.[19]
Cook and Banks circumnavigated the island from 26 June to 1 July. On the exploration, they met Ahio, chief of Ha'apaiano'o or Papenoo, Rita, chief of Hitia'a, Pahairro, chief of Pueu, Vehiatua, chief of Tautra, Matahiapo, chief of Teahupo'o, Tutea, chief of Vaira'o, and Moe, chief of Afa'Ahiti. In Papara, guided by Tupaia, they investigated the ruins of Mahaiatea marae, an impressive structure containing a stone pyramid or ahu, measuring 44 feet (13 m) high, 267 feet (81 m) long and 87 feet (27 m) wide. Cook and Endeavour departed Tahiti on 13 July 1769, taking Raiatean navigator Tupaia along for his geographic knowledge of the islands.[11]:149,186–202,205
Bora Bora has become synonymous with overwater bungalows. Many of these lavish floating villas have glass floors that supply a window to the lagoon life below. This locale is unique in the fact that most Bora Bora resort hotels are built on their own tiny island, or motu, and visits elsewhere must be arranged by boat transfer. Not to worry, though, you will hardly need to leave your bungalow let alone the resort. From lounging on your own private deck and receiving room service via outrigger canoe, to indulging in a rejuvenating spa treatment, you will pass the time in quiet seclusion and opulent luxury.
Home to the capital city of Papeete, Tahiti is the economic center of French Polynesia. Since all flights arrive through Faa'a International Airport, your tailored Tahiti vacation will begin and end in Papeete. While you may be tempted to jet off immediately to the other islands, we recommend staying at least a day or two. Tahiti strikes an interesting contrast to some of the more quiet, secluded islands in the region; and with a selection of wonderful and convenient Tahiti resorts available, you will never regret staying.
In ancient times the island was called "Pora pora mai te pora", meaning "created by the gods" in the local Tahitian dialect. This was often abbreviated Pora Pora meaning simply "first born". Because of ambiguities in the phonemes of the Tahitian language, this could also be pronounced Bola Bola or Bora Bora. When explorer Jacob Roggeveen first landed on the island, he and his crew adopted the name Bora Bora which has stood ever since.[2][3]
The Mo'orea Ferry operates from Papeete and takes about 45 minutes to travel to Moorea. Other ferries are the Aremiti 5 and the Aremiti 7 and these two ferries sail to Moorea in about half an hour. There are also several ferries that transport people and goods throughout the islands. The Bora Bora cruiseline sails to Bora Bora about once a week. The main hub for these ferries is the Papeete Wharf.
The first European to have visited Tahiti according to existing records was lieutenant Samuel Wallis, who was circumnavigating the globe in HMS Dolphin,[16] sighting the island on 18 June 1767,[17] and eventually harbouring in Matavai Bay. This bay was situated on the territory of the chiefdom of Pare-Arue, governed by Tu (Tu-nui-e-a'a-i-te-Atua) and his regent Tutaha, and the chiefdom of Ha'apape, governed by Amo and his wife "Oberea" (Purea). Wallis named the island King George's Island. The first contacts were difficult, since on the 24 and 26 June 1767,[18] Tahitian warriors in canoes showed aggression towards the British, hurling stones from their slings. In retaliation, the British sailors opened fire on the warriors in the canoes and on the hills. In reaction to this powerful counter-attack, the Tahitians laid down peace offerings for the British.[18] Following this episode, Samuel Wallis was able to establish cordial relations with the female chieftain "Oberea " (Purea) and remained on the island until 27 July 1767.[11]:45–84,104,135
The commune of Bora-Bora is made up of the island of Bora Bora proper with its surrounding islets emerging from the coral reef, 29.3 km2 (11.3 sq mi) in total. The surrounding islets include Motu Tapu, Motu Ahuna, Tevairoa, Motu Tane, Motu Mute, Motu Tufari, Motu Tehotu, Motu Pitiaau, Sofitel Motu, Motu Toopua, and Toopuaiti. The commune also includes the Tūpai atoll. (11 km2 or 4.2 sq mi), located 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Bora Bora. The atoll of Tūpai has no permanent population apart from about 50 workers in the coconut plantations.
At the 1988 census, the last census which asked questions regarding ethnicity, 66.5% of people were ethnically unmixed Polynesians, 7.1% were ethnically Polynesians with light European and/or East Asian mixing, 11.9% were Europeans (mostly French), 9.3% were people of mixed European and Polynesian descent, the so-called Demis (literally meaning "Half"), and 4.7% were East Asians (mainly Chinese).[1]
Other great expeditions undertaken around 1000 AD established the Polynesian triangle consisting of Hawaii (to the north), Easter Island (to the east), Tahiti and her islands (to the west) and New Zealand (to the south-west.) The various languages derived from the ma'ohi that are spoken in theses islands testify to the common origin of their peoples.
In the 1790s, whalers began landing at Tahiti during their fishing expeditions in the southern hemisphere. The arrival of these whalers, who were subsequently joined by merchants coming from the penal colonies in Australia, marked the first major overturning of traditional Tahitian society. The crews introduced alcohol, arms and infectious diseases to the island, and encouraged prostitution, which brought with it venereal disease. These commercial interactions with westerners had catastrophic consequences for the Tahitian population, which shrank rapidly, ravaged by diseases and other cultural factors.[27] During the first decade of the 19th century, the Tahitian population dropped from 16,000 to 8,000-9,000; the French census in 1854 counted a population just under 6,000.[28]
The Society archipelago is a hotspot volcanic chain consisting of ten islands and atolls. The chain is oriented along the N. 65° W. direction, parallel to the movement of the Pacific Plate. Due to the plate movement over the Society hotspot, the age of the islands decreases from 5 Ma at Maupiti to 0 Ma at Mehetia, where Mehetia is the inferred current location of the hotspot as evidenced by recent seismic activity. Maupiti, the oldest island in the chain, is a highly eroded shield volcano with at least 12 thin aa flows, which accumulated fairly rapidly between 4.79 and 4.05 Ma. Bora Bora is another highly eroded shield volcano consisting of basaltic lavas accumulated between 3.83 and 3.1 Ma. The lavas are intersected by post-shield dikes. Tahaa consists of shield-stage basalt with an age of 3.39 Ma, followed by additional eruptions 1.2 Ma later. Raiatea consists of shield-stage basalt followed by post-shield trachytic lava flows, all occurring from 2.75 to 2.29 Ma. Huahine consists of two coalesced basalt shield volcanoes, Huahine Nui and Huahine Iti, with several flows followed by post-shield trachyphonolitic lava domes from 3.08 to 2.06 Ma. Moorea consists of at least 16 flows of shield-stage basalt and post-shield lavas from 2.15 to 1.36 Ma. Tahiti consists of two basalt shield volcanoes, Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti, with an age range of 1.67 to 0.25 Ma.[4]
The most common form of transportation around Tahiti is by car. The former "Truck" does no longer exist in this form (a rickety public open-air bus with wooden passenger cabins that will stop on the side of the street and serve different cities). They got replaced by city buses and prices are very inexpensive, normally set around 300 CFP (about US$3) per person and most will end up in the centre of downtown close to the market. Other means of transportation include scooters or private cars. Most rental cars will be stickshift and end up being around 9,000 CFP per day (about US$90). There is a multitude of bikes to rent cheaply. This is especially a good idea on Sundays as everything is closed and you can end up discovering the islands.
In 1940, the administration of French Polynesia recognised the Free French Forces and many Polynesians served in World War II. Unknown at the time to the French and Polynesians, the Konoe Cabinet in Imperial Japan on 16 September 1940 included French Polynesia among the many territories which were to become Japanese possessions, as part of the "Eastern Pacific Government-General" in the post-war world.[15] However, in the course of the war in the Pacific the Japanese were not able to launch an actual invasion of the French islands.
Snorkeling in Bora BoraBora Bora reefAcross the lagoon from Mount Otemanu, Bora BoraMeeting the localsBora Bora below the surfaceArrival in Bora BoraShopping in VaitapeFour Seasons Resort Bora BoraTurtle Sanctuary at Le Meridien Bora Bora Bora Bora, jetskiingBora Bora Dinner at Villa MahanaHammock timeBora Bora, sunset diningBora Bora 4x4 adventureBora BoraBora Bora Pearl Beach Resort & Spa, Aerial ViewSofitel Bora Bora Private IslandAlone time at Motu Tapu, Hilton Bora Bora Nui's private motuFire Dancers at the InterContinental Bora Bora Le Moana Snorkeling in Bora BoraBora Bora reef
I haven’t had the best of luck with bicycles when I travel, so it was a surprise that I grew to embrace them in French Polynesia. Like the island time I mentioned above, cycling slows you down, chills you out and ensures you don’t miss anything. I was always moving slow enough that the locals could call out to me as I passed, I was able to stop every few metres to snap a photo of a colourful flower or deserted beach, and the roads were well-paved, so it wasn’t painful to ride.
Papeete is a vibrant and multicultural city with busy boulevards and a bustling harbor. The downtown municipal market, Le Marché, is an exciting place to purchase all things Tahiti including vanilla beans, monoi oil and colorful pareos. Just down the street at Le Centre Vaima is the Robert Wan Pearl Museum, which is a great place to start if you're hoping to purchase a Tahitian black pearl during your stay. To live like a local, head to Vai'ete Square after sunset. This waterfront promenade comes to life at night when gourmet food trucks, Les Roulottes, open their windows to serve a range of affordable meals including Chinese food, French crépes, steak frites, fresh fish and pizza.
In between the visits of Bougainville and Cook, in December 1768, a war of succession amongst the Tahiti's clans took place for who would assume the role of paramount chief. Tutaha's Pare-'Arue army allied with Vehiatua's Tai'arapu army, Pohuetea's Puna'auia army, To'ofa's Paea army, and Tepau-i-ahura'i (Tepau) of Fa'a'a, to defeat Amo and Purea in Papara. The warriors, women and children of Papara were massacred, while their houses, gardens, crops and livestock destroyed. Even the Mahaiatea marae was ransacked, while Amo, Purea, Tupaia and Teri'irere fled into the mountains. Vehiatua built a wall of skulls (Te-ahu-upo'o) at his Tai'arapu marae from his war trophies.[11]:134–140,144–145,196
Bora Bora (French: Bora-Bora, Tahitian: Pora Pora) is a 30.55 km2 (12 sq mi) island group in the Leeward group in the western part of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the Pacific Ocean. The main island, located about 230 kilometres (143 miles) northwest of Papeete, is surrounded by a lagoon and a barrier reef. In the center of the island are the remnants of an extinct volcano rising to two peaks, Mount Pahia and Mount Otemanu, the highest point at 727 metres (2,385 feet).
'Le Marché'. This is the large two-story Papeete's market place where many things can be bought. Buy your lunch here and some "Monoi". "Monoi" is the local tahitian oil, strongly scented and worth a good price. It is used to get tanned and moisturize your skin. Also buy a "pareu". This is typical tahitian clothing that can be tied into many different ways (a cover-up, a dress, shorts, a shawl). It can also be spread out as a picnic cloth or a beach towel. Created with traditional designs and bright tropical colors, they are inexpensive and make the perfect souvenir. This is especially good for getting to know Tahitians as every Tahitian knows how to tie one. Le Marche is also the place where you'll find jewellery as well as many calendars, postcards, cups... Ripe fruits, scented soaps, vanilla beans, dance costumes, wooven hats and bags and shell necklaces up to your ears are what you'll find in the market. It is centrally located and you can't miss it.
The InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa is a floating oasis in the South Pacific. It features all spacious overwater villas. Found on the southeastern side of the coral reef, these luxurious accommodations face the spectacular Mount Otemanu and boast incredible views of Bora Bora. Here, modern architecture flourishes with an authentic Polynesian design, accentuating a color palette that reflects the sapphire blue of the surrounding lagoon.
The Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora exudes an effortless luxury. Located on the northeastern side of the island along the outer coral reef, this exclusive enclave is one of the premier resort options in Bora Bora. The overwater bungalows, some of which have their own private plunge pools, boast exceptional views of the lagoon or Mount Otemanu. They incorporate a fascinating architecture, featuring walls made of volcanic stone and decorative accents fashioned from mother of pearl.
Holders of a passport from the EU, and most countries of North or South America don't need to apply for a visa for a stay of up to one month. EU/EFTA nationals only require a National Identity Card. However, the Delphine passport is necessary in case of transit via the USA. Except for nationals of the European Union and aliens holding a 10 year residence card for metropolitan France, all foreigners entering French Polynesia must have a return ticket.
A clan was composed of a chief (ari'i rahi), nobles (ari'i) and under-chiefs ( 'Īato'ai). The ari'i, considered descendants of the Polynesian gods, were full of mana (spiritual power). They traditionally wore belts of red feathers, symbols of their power. The chief of the clan did not have absolute power. Councils or general assemblies had to be called composed of the ari'i and the 'Īato'ai, especially in case of war.[9]
The indigenous Tahitians are of Polynesian ancestry comprising 70% of the population alongside Europeans, East Asians (mostly Chinese) and people of mixed heritage sometimes referred to as Demis. They make up the largest population in French Polynesia. Most people from metropolitan France live in Papeete and its suburbs, notably Punaauia where they make up almost 20% of the population.[citation needed]
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Chicago’s Phoenix Tofu Rising Farther With Expansion, Media Attention
Posted on July 6, 2016 July 7, 2016 by FamilyFarmed
The motto of FamilyFarmed‘s Good Food Business Accelerator is “Getting Good Food Businesses Ready for Prime Time,” and its goal is to help each year’s nine food and farm entrepreneurs — competitively selected for intensive training — to establish their businesses, scale up and succeed.
So we at FamilyFarmed were thrilled when The Chicago Tribune published an article about Jenny Yang — a graduate from the first (2014-15) cohort of the Accelerator program — and the planned $1.7 million expansion of her fast-growing Phoenix Tofu company.
Jenny Yang of fast-growing Phoenix Tofu was a member of the first group of Fellows participating in FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Business Accelerator.
Yang’s uniquely delicious tofu, produced from organic Illinois soybeans, is a hit with restaurant chefs and consumers, who first became acquainted with Yang’s products at Chicago-area farmers markets and now can find them at all of Whole Foods Market‘s Midwest region stores, among other retailers. Yang’s expansion, needed to meet this rising demand, includes a 10,000 square foot production facility that has five times the space as her current factory nearby on Chicago’s North Side.
To supplement the Chicago Tribune story linked above, we are re-publishing an article we posted on Good Food on Every Table in February 2015 about Yang’s journey from Taiwan immigrant to major tofu maker and the benefits she accrued by participating in the Good Food Business Accelerator.
We have also included this piece in our Farm to Table: Keeping It Real series because of her work with restaurants seeking locally and sustainably produced ingredients. Previous articles in this series can be found on the Good Food on Every Table home page.
The stories of immigrants achieving success by making the foods of their native lands are parts of the history and social fabric of the United States. Jenny Yang — whose Phoenix Tofu products, marketed under the Phoenix Bean label, are gaining a strong following in her hometown of Chicago and its region — is following that well-traveled path.
But Yang’s is an immigrant food story with a modern twist. While millions of people have come (and still are coming) to America to escape poverty or oppression, Yang first came to the U.S. from her native Taiwan a quarter-century ago in pursuit of higher education.
She holds an undergraduate degree from Miami University in Ohio and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, which is how she came to settle in Chicago. And her decision to become a tofu entrepreneur was a mid-career change from working in finance for big corporations such as Sara Lee and United Airlines.
Yang — one of the first nine Fellows who participated in FamilyFarmed‘s Good Food Business Accelerator program — says her decision to make this change had two major influences.
One was her desire for the kind of freshness and flavor in the tofu she grew up eating in Taiwan but found lacking in most of the packaged products available in American supermarkets. The other was a need, as a mother with two young children, to gain more control over her schedule.
It started with a coincidence. The apartment where Yang and her family still live was located right behind a tiny tofu factory that started business in the early 1980s. (This part of northeast Chicago, which includes neighborhoods such as Uptown, Lakewood-Balmoral, and Edgewater, has a large Asian population and business community.) About 15 years ago, she was out with her daughter in a stroller when she stopped in, liked the product the shop was making, and became a regular customer.
After a few years, she learned that the owner was tired of the grind and was interested in selling. “I didn’t think I’d be an entrepreneur, I didn’t think I had the personality to be an entrepreneur. Back 30 years ago, I don’t I would have tried…,” Yang said. “But the commute out to the burbs, with the kids growing, I needed flexibility, and I still wanted to do something. The definition of a good job is close to home, good money, and flexibility.”
She and her husband bought the company in 2007. The previous owner stayed on for an extended period as her mentor, and most of the production staff stayed on as well. Yet as with many fledgling entrepreneurs, it took some time before Yang could settle into the family-friendly pace that had prompted her career change.
“The first 18 months was hell,” she said. “My son was asking my husband, ‘Does mom still live in this house?’”
Her breakthrough came when she decided to relinquish some personal control and entrust the people working for her. Yang said, “I realized that I was defeating my purpose. I wanted to be close to home with the kids. So after that, I changed my style. I don’t need to be here. I know how you guys work. You don’t need a person to watch what you do.” Now she mainly works at home, focusing more on marketing.
Phoenix Bean’s consumer profile has grown gradually over the past few years. The company first established a presence at farmers markets, including Green City Market, Chicago’s biggest, and participated in major local food events such as FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Festival & Conference. “Because of Good Food, I met Natural Direct, and Local Foods, and also Door to Door [Organics]. They all come in to pick it up from us now,” Yang said.
It helps that Yang was able to find a farmer in Marengo — located in north-central Illinois just beyond Chicago’s exurbs, about 60 miles from Phoenix Bean — growing soybeans using organic methods. [Editor’s Note: Since the article’s first publication, Yang and Phoenix Tofu have been obtaining soybeans from Harold Wilken at Janie’s Farm in central Illinois.] The fact that Phoenix Tofu’s beans are non-GMO and produced without chemicals or pesticides has boosted the appeal of its products within the fast-growing market of Good Food consumers.
Along with fresh tofu products of a range of firmness, Chicago’s Phoenix Bean sells prepared products including salads and deep-fried tofu triangles.
Her associations with FamilyFarmed, as an exhibitor at its Good Food Festival and Trade Show, a finalist in its 2014 Financing Fair, and as a founding Fellow in its Good Food Business Accelerator program, have helped Phoenix Bean take its next big step up. Its products are now widely available in the Whole Foods Market chain, which has a long working relationship with FamilyFarmed. Her tofu is on the menus of many of the city’s Asian restaurants, and her products — which include fresh tofu of a variety of firmness, delicious tofu-based salads, and fried tofu — have found a place on the shelves of a number of retail outlets.
“The Accelerator already got me accelerated,” Yang said. “Whole Foods, we had contact back and forth for a while. But in January [2015], I was talking to Stefanie Garcia, and she said, ‘Jenny, you’re already in the system, you can come in any time.” Garcia, then in her role as “local forager” for Whole Foods’ Midwest region, helped local businesses get their products into the chain’s stores.
Lydia Miller of Dana Investment Advisers was Yang’s “supermentor” in the Good Food Business Accelerator program. “Jenny is wonderful to work with as a mentee. She has a very strong work ethic. She is balanced — both confident in her abilities while open to suggestions on how to best position her company and capitalize on the opportunities ahead,” Miller said.
It helps that Yang, who has done many of product samplings herself since going into the business, has a winning personality. You may run into her at one of those Whole Foods stores, at farmers markets, or somewhere else around Chicago.
If you do, make sure to say hello. And do not miss those tofu salads.
Fresh tofu curds come out of the pressure cooker crumbly and full of water.
Several minutes in the metal press in the background removes most of the water and turns the tofu into familiar looking slabs.
Photographs by Bob Benenson
This entry was posted in Farm to Table: Keeping It Real, Farmers markets, Food and health, Food Artisans, Food Entrepreneurs, Good Food Business Accelerator, Good Food business development, Good Food Festivals, Good Food Financing Fair, Good Food marketing, Good Food Success Stories, Organic farming, Sustainable food retailing, Whole Foods Market and tagged Chicago Tribune, Door to Door Organics, FamilyFarmed, Farm to Table: Keeping It Real, food artisans, Food Entrepreneurs, Good Food Business Accelerator, Good Food Festival & Conference, Good Food festivals, Good Food Financing &Innovation Conference, Good Food movement, Green City Market, Janie's Farm (IL), Jenny Yang, local food, local foods, Logan Square Farmers Market, Natural Direct, organic farming, Phoenix Bean tofu, sustainable food, sustainable food retailing, Whole Foods Market. Bookmark the permalink.
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You are here: Home / Resources / Books / Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style, 1920-1965
Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style, 1920-1965
Swiss graphic design and “the Swiss Style” are crucial elements in the history of modernism. During the 1920s and ’30s, skills traditionally associated with Swiss industry, particularly pharmaceuticals and mechanical engineering, were matched by those of the country’s graphic designers, who produced their advertising and technical literature. These pioneering graphic artists saw design as part of industrial production and searched for anonymous, objective visual communication. They chose photographic images rather than illustration, and typefaces that were industrial-looking rather than those designed for books.
Written by noted design authority Richard Hollis, this lavishly illustrated volume looks at the uniquely clear graphic language developed by such Swiss designers as Theo Ballmer, Max Bill, Adrian Frutiger, Karl Gerstner, Armin Hoffman, Ernst Keller, Herbert Matter, Josef Müller-Brockmann, and Jan Tschichold. The style of these artists received worldwide admiration for its formal discipline: images and text were organized by geometrical grids. Adopted internationally, the grid and sans serif typefaces such as Helvetica became the classic emblems of Swiss graphic design.
Showcasing design work across a range of media, including posters, magazines, exhibition displays, brochures, advertisements, books, and film, this essential book shows how many of the Swiss designers’ modernist elements remain an indispensable part of today’s graphic language.
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Renee Schwadron Lewis
Professional Artist Biography
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Renee Schwadron Lewis always loved the combination of texture and color. The confluence of cultures in New York City was especially an influential part of her life. Lewis received a B.F.A. in Fabric Design from the The School of Art at Syracuse University. As part of the University's Foreign Studies Program she studied Art History in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In her focus on fabric design (which included silk screening and weaving), Lewis developed an eye and proficiency with repetitive patterns which continues to be a theme in her current work.
Lewis's current work reflects her inspiration, aesthetic value and sophistication of the Post Impressionists such as Bonnard, Matisse and Lautrec.
"Using primarily color pencils on black paper Lewis's work is bold in stunning colors creating a refreshing look at the lost art of color pencil", Andrew Hyder, Curator the Hyder Gallery, Orlando, Florida.
Lewis is a member of, and has exhibited with, the Color Pencil Society of America, The Hub in New Smyrna Beach, The Morean Arts Center, St. Petersburg, The Orlando Museum of Art with the Artist's Registry, The Artist's Workshop and City Arts Factory, Orlando, Florida.
"Art can be created in solitude but it must be seen and hopefully appreciated for the creative process to come full circle", stated Lewis.
Chairs (SOLD)
Drawing: Colored Pencil on Black Paper
Height 15" x Width 22"
Inventory ID RL_0020
Chairs (SOLD) - By Renee Schwadron Lewis
Renee Schwadron Lewis Professional Artist Biography A native of Brooklyn, New York, Renee Schwadron Lewis always loved the combination of texture and color. The confluence of cultures in New York City was especially an influential part of her life. Lewis received a B.F.A. in Fabric Design from the The School of Art at Syracuse University. As part of the University's Foreign Studies Program she studied Art History in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In her focus on fabric design (which included silk screening and weaving), Lewis developed an eye and proficiency with repetitive patterns which continues to be a theme in her current work. Lewis's current work reflects her inspiration, aesthetic value and sophistication of the Post Impressionists such as Bonnard, Matisse and Lautrec. "Using primarily color pencils on black paper Lewis's work is bold in stunning colors creating a refreshing look at the lost art of color pencil", Andrew Hyder, Curator the Hyder Gallery, Orlando, Florida. Lewis is a member of, and has exhibited with, the Color Pencil Society of America, The Hub in New Smyrna Beach, The Morean Arts Center, St. Petersburg, The Orlando Museum of Art with the Artist's Registry, The Artist's Workshop and City Arts Factory, Orlando, Florida. "Art can be created in solitude but it must be seen and hopefully appreciated for the creative process to come full circle", stated Lewis.
Update Chairs (SOLD) Information Text:
Update Chairs (SOLD) Image:
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Ms. Wei-Hong Zhang
Wei-Hong Zhang graduated in Medicine in China in 1987. She worked as a research and teaching assistant in anatomy and pathology in China before coming to live in Belgium in 1991. She gained two MPHs (one in French and another in English) in the School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium in 1996-1997.
Since 1998 she has been doing research into perinatal epidemiology in the Perinatal Epidemiology and Reproductive health Unit (PERU) at the ULB where she has been involved in several EU-funded collaborative projects in Europe in the field of reproductive health and where she obtained a PhD in Public Health in 2007. She was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Fondation Philippe Winer-Maurice Anspach for one year research at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, 2007-2008.
In April 2007, she joined the ICRH where she was responsible among others for two EU-funded projects in China in the field of maternal health (2007-2010). At present, her main task at ICRH is the coordination of an ongoing EU-Funded FP7 project in China, INPAC (Integrating post-abortion family planning (FP) services into existing abortion services in hospital settings in China, 2012-2016. http://www.inpacproject.eu). She involves also in the supervision of PhD and post-doctoral research projects and is the key person at ICRH for the academic relationship with China. She has held the position of visiting professor at several Chinese universities and an adjunct professor at Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai.
Since 2014 she is appointed by the P.R. of China, as the State Council Advisor (2014-2017).
In addition, she is still connected with the School of Public Health, ULB where she is Professor of Epidemiology and supervisor for several of PhD‘s thesis. She has a particular interest in the design and analysis of epidemiological studies and Randomized Controlled Trials.
QUALMAT - Quality of prenatal and maternal care: Bridging the know-do gap
CHIMACA: Structural Hinders to and Promoters of Good Maternal Care in Rural China
PAFP CHINA: Post Abortion Family Planning Services in China
Is Repeat Abortion a Public Health Problem among Chinese Adolescents? A Cross-Sectional Survey in 30 Provinces
Prediction of fetal loss in Chinese pregnant patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a retrospective cohort study
Contraceptive practices among unmarried women in China, 1982-2017: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Contraception determinants in youths of Sierra Leone are largely behavioral
Management and outcomes of pregnancy with or without lupus nephritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Pregnancy outcomes among Chinese women with and without systemic lupus erythematosus: a retrospective cohort study
Underreporting of deaths in the maternal deaths surveillance system in one region of Morocco
Current Situation of International utilization of Postpartum Contraceptive Methods : A literature Review
Opportunities, challenges and systems requirements for developing post-abortion family planning services: Perceptions of service stakeholders in China
Sexual attraction and the nonmedical use of opioids and sedative drugs among Chinese adolescents
Effects of post-abortion family planning services on contraceptive practices in China: Protocol for a clustered randomized controlled trial
Repeat abortion in Chinese. adolescents: a cross-sectional study in 30 provinces
Post-abortion family planning counselling practice among abortion service providers in China: a nationwide cross-sectional study
Practical lessons for bringing policy-makers on board in sexual and reproductive health research
Effect of Improving the Knowledge, Attitude and Practise of Reproductive Health Among Female Migrant Workers: a Worksite-based Intervention in Guangzhou, China
Induced Abortion in 30 Chinese Provinces in 2013: a Cross-sectional Survey
High rates of abortion and low levels of contraceptive use among adolescent female sex workers in Kunming, China: A cross-sectional analysis
Selenium, iodine and fungal contamination in Yulin District (People's Republic of China) endemic for Kashin-Beck disease
Sensitivity of ultrasound screening for congenital anomalies in unselected pregnancies
Maternal health outcomes in Europe
Short-term outcome of isolated and associated congenital heart defects in relation to antenatal ultrasound screening
Incidence of severe pre-eclampsia, postpartum haemorrhage and sepsis as a surrogate marker for severe maternal morbidity in a European population-based study: the MOMS-B survey
Variations in policies for management of the third stage of labour and the immediate management of postpartum haemorrhage in Europe
Policies for manual removal of placenta at vaginal delivery: variations in timing within Europe
Repeat digital cervical assessment in pregnancy for identifying women at risk of preterm labour
Effect of a collector bag for measurement of postpartum blood loss after vaginal delivery: cluster randomised trial in 13 European countries
Pediatric daycare in Belgium
The appropriate use of the emergency department for paediatric patients
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Tag Archives: Midland Station Hotel
Home / Posts Tagged "Midland Station Hotel"
Grand Hotels of Belfast at the outbreak of the Great War 1914
April 12, 2018 by hhulster Posted in News Tagged Belfast, Grand Central Hotel, grand hotels, Grand Metropole Hotel, Imperial Hotel, Midland Station Hotel, Royal Avenue Hotel
Like any major city in the UK at the time, Belfast had a wide range of hotels catering for all budgets and markets. The most prestigious of these were grand hotels found in the city centre, predominately on Royal Avenue, the premier address in the city, although many smaller commercial hotels also thrived around the railway termini, particularly the GNR on Gt. Victoria Street.
In this study, we will look at grand hotels at the top end of the market, which were designed for and patronised by the successful, the rich and the famous.
The Grand Central Hotel
Royal Avenue
Without question, the Grand Central Hotel was the finest hotel in the city, if not Ireland, when it opened for business on Thursday 1st June 1893. With 200 rooms over 5 floors, it was the brainchild of one of the city’s leading property developers, John Robb, who also operated one of the largest department stores in the city on Castle Place. The name came about from the original plan for the site, a central railway terminus, based on the Grand Central in New York. When the hotel opened it boasted every wonder of the age, with electricity generated in the basement which provided lighting throughout and which powered the elevators which took guests to every floor.
The public rooms of the hotel were situated on the first floor, overlooking Royal Avenue, and comprised lounges, a smoke room, billiard room, coffee room and several private dining rooms.
The finest suites were located on the second floor, and it was in these rooms that guests such as King Leopold of Belgium; Winston Churchill; Mario Lanza and Al Jolson stayed during their visit to the city. The hotel also played host to the cream of Ulster Society where the grand ballroom provided banqueting facilities for some of the most important events in the city, such as the official lunch celebrating the launch of the White Star Liner, RMS Titanic, in 1912.
It was therefore with a great deal of dismay that the owners of the hotel learned that they were being served with a requisition order issued by the Imperial government in Whitehall, ordering the hotel to be vacated for use during the first world war which broke out in 1914. The Robb family were forced to close the business, auction off all the contents, and hand the keys over to the War Office in London. It was only after the building remained empty for several months that the awful truth came out – a requisition order meant for the Grand Central Hotel in Bristol had been sent to Belfast by mistake! By that time the damage had been done and faced with the daunting task of re-furnishing the entire hotel, the Robb family decided to sell the business to a consortium led by the Scotch whisky distiller, John Grant, who reopened the hotel in 1927. Today the site of the hotel is occupied by Castlecourt Shopping Centre.
The Grand Metropole Hotel
The Metropole Hotel was located at 95-101 Donegall Street and 2-10 York Street, taking full advantage of a commanding corner site extending round into York Street and looking down Lower Donegall Street and Royal Avenue. Opened as the Queen’s Arms Hotel in 1850, its name was changed in 1890 by the then owners, the McGlade Brothers, no doubt to compete with it’s main competitor the Grand Central further down Royal Avenue.
The hotel was situated over four floors with its main entrance with a grand canopy on York Street, and a restaurant entrance on Donegall Street. It followed an irregular floor plan which allowed it to have lengthy frontages onto both thoroughfares.
Although it opened in the mid nineteenth century, it appears to have reached its zenith in the Edwardian era, when it changed ownership several times. Although it did not achieve the same ‘celebrity’ status as its grander sisters on Royal Avenue (qv), the Grand Metropole was none the less an imposing, significant and important part of Belfast’s social history. It received much business from the nearby LMS railway terminus on York Road, to which hospitality carriages would have been sent to pick up guests, the grand hotel was also located on two of the busiest tram routes, which terminated at Castle Junction in the city centre, giving easy access to all parts of the city.
The hotel continued to flourish until 1929, when it was demolished to make way for a modern Art Deco retail building opening as Berris’s Walk Around Store in 1930. This building was subsequently demolished in 2017 to make way for the development of the Ulster University which will extend along the length of York Street.
The Midland Station Hotel
Whitla Street
The Midland Station Hotel opened for business in 1898 and was in the style of the grand Victorian railway hotels of the period. It was designed by the leading railway architect, Berkeley Deane Wise for the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway Co and operated by the railway company in order to capture those passengers arriving into Belfast by rail and sea (at the nearby docks) and also as a base for touring the Antrim Coast and Glens and County Donegal. The competing railway companies built large hotels across the province, such as the Slieve Donard at Newcastle, the Northern Counties, Portrush and the Laharna at Larne.
As can be seen from the photograph, the hotel was directly attached to the impressive railway terminus buildings on York Road. The Corporation tramway also served the railway terminus directly connecting guests of the hotel to all parts of the city. The clientele would have been commercial and tourist in nature, but none the less, well to do, as many less expensive hotels existed around the area. The hotel was completely destroyed in the Blitz of Belfast in Easter 1941, along with much of the original railway terminus. It was however rebuilt, as the Midland Hotel and thrived in what later became a rather isolated part of Belfast until the 1980s when it was converted to use as offices by the Hastings Hotel Group. The building was demolished in 2017.
The Royal Avenue Hotel
Constructed between 1882 and 1884, and designed by architect Thomas Jackson in the Italianate style, the Royal Avenue Hotel was the first hotel on the city’s main thoroughfare beating its main competitor (The Grand Central) to the title of Belfast leading address by nine years.
A bedroom in the Royal Avenue Hotel overlooking Belfast’s main thoroughfare
A four-storey building with round headed dormers and a rounded corner to Rosemary Street, it originally had 32 bedrooms – this was later expanded to 118 as the hotel grew in importance.
It was a property development devised by several of Belfast’s most successful merchants and was, until the opening of the Grand Central opposite, the most luxurious and centrally located hotel in the city. Synonymous with style and class it was typical of Victorian hotels found in city centres throughout the country.
A lounge in the Royal Avenue Hotel
The Royal Avenue was a much more intimate hotel than the Grand Central which was majestic in size and scale. The main entrance was onto Royal Avenue, with the public rooms overlooking the main thoroughfare and Rosemary Street.
The hotel continued to thrive until the early 1970s, when, with the arrival of civil unrest in the city, the business suffered a dramatic reduction until the hotel was destroyed in an accidental fire in 1984 and subsequently demolished.
The Imperial Hotel
Donegall Place
Marketing material of the time proudly proclaimed that “It is highly probable that no establishment in the City of Belfast is so well known in all quarters of the globe as the Imperial Hotel “
Opened on Donegall Place in 1868, it was the brainchild of William J Jury, a Whiskey magnate and proprietor of Grand Jury Irish Whiskey which was exported around the world from Chichester Street, Belfast.
An additional two floors of bedrooms were added in 1868, at a cost of £2000! Jury went on to open hotels (under his own name) on Dame Street in Dublin and in Cork City. These continued to expand as the Jury’s Hotel group and the business still trades today AS Jury’s Inns across the UK and Ireland. The Imperial remained one of Belfast’s oldest and busiest hotels until it closed in 1948, being replaced by a modern retail building in 1950.
Grand Hotels of Belfast Researched and written by:
Richard Graham
History Hub Ulster
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Home WA Times Jennifer Holliday, Broadway star: ‘Death threats’ prompted Trump inauguration drop-out
Jennifer Holliday, Broadway star: ‘Death threats’ prompted Trump inauguration drop-out
Jennifer Holliday of “Dreamgirls” fame told the cast of “The View” on Tuesday that death threats forced her to cancel a performance during President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and “The View” co-hosts mostly sat in shocked silence on as Ms. Holliday recounted the backlash she received after an invitation to sing at the “Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration.” The Broadway star said that her love of country initially prompted her to accept the gig.
“I’m an artist and I love America,” the singer said when asked why should would consider singing at Mr. Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. “It just didn’t dawn on me. I performed for four other presidents. I started with Ronald Reagan, daddy Bush, Bush, the Clinton’s during their eight-year time. […] It didn’t dawn on me that this was like a bad thing and we weren’t doing ‘America’ right now.”
Ms. Behar then asked what the singer told the event’s organizers during their last conversation.
“I didn’t call them up,” Ms. Holliday said, the Daily Caller reported. “I just sent an email and said it had gotten out of hand. I was receiving death threats at this point. I was receiving death threats from back people, the N-word from black people. They were saying they were going to kill me.”
The comedian then asked how Ms. Holliday knew the race of her harassers.
“I looked. I read everything. […] I would push the button to see who was calling me because your face is there. You can look at their thing or whatever. I’m going, ‘Oh my God, there are black people calling me this!’ There were saying I should kill myself or, you know, someone should kill me — all over singing a song! I said, ‘I just wanted to sing!’”
A representative for the singer told the entertainment website TMZ on Monday that she also “didn’t want to put her family at risk” or “offend the LGBT community, which was especially upset.”
Tags: Broadway, death, dropout, Holliday, Inauguration, Jennifer, prompted, Star, threats, Trump
Republicans’ choice: Stand with Trump or risk his wrath
Trump: My tweets ‘were NOT Racist’
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Management & Board of Directors
Whistleblower Hotline
By Member
Allison S. Navitskas
Chad R. Lewis
Chase Hagin
Chris Meyer
Fareed Khan
James F. Underhill
Matthew J. Espe
Rafael A. Colorado
Charter Documents
Audit Committee CC
Compensation Committee CB CC
Compensation Committee Charter
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee CC
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Charter
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Chris Meyer CB CC
James F. Underhill CC
Rafael A. Colorado CC
CC James F. Underhill
CB CC Chris Meyer
CC Rafael A. Colorado
Ms. Navitskas became a director in January 2019. She currently serves as a consultant to Lone Star. Most recently, Ms. Navitskas served as a Managing Director, Global Business Development and Strategy, with Lone Star, a position she had held since March 2018. Previously, Ms. Navitskas was a Managing Director with Hudson Advisors serving in a variety of roles including Head of Asset Management for LStar Capital, a corporate direct lending platform, from September 2016 to February 2018, and as Director, Senior Counsel from August 2014 through August 2016. During her time at Hudson Advisors, Ms. Navitskas provided services in both business and legal capacities, which have included negotiation and closing of numerous acquisitions, asset sales and lending transactions as an in-house attorney, as well as heading the asset management and workout practice for LStar Capital. Ms. Navitskas has served on the board of directors for several private companies. Prior to joining Hudson Advisors in 2012, Ms. Navitskas was Vice President/Associate General Counsel at FelCor Lodging Trust Incorporated, a real estate investment trust in the hospitality sector. Ms. Navitskas was engaged in the private practice of law with Jenkens & Gilchrist P.C. and later at Hunton & Williams LLP specializing in financial institutions, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and securities law. She is a graduate of Columbia College. She earned a juris doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School and an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Ms. Navitskas also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.
Ms. Navitskas brings extensive experience with capital market transactions involving unrelated companies and other affiliates of Lone Star. She also provides guidance on capital structure, financing and investing activities. Her legal background provides valuable insight to the Board regarding various legal issues we may face.
Mr. Lewis became a director in April 2018. Mr. Lewis is a Director of Hudson Americas where he is responsible for executing and managing private equity investments. Previously, Mr. Lewis served as Vice President of Hudson Americas from July 2015 to December 2018 as well as an Associate of Hudson Americas from January 2015 to June 2015. Prior to Hudson Americas, Mr. Lewis was a Consultant at Bain & Company from January 2014 to January 2015 and an Associate at Prospect Partners, LLC from August 2009 to July 2011. Mr. Lewis began his career as an investment banking analyst, and later an Associate, at Lincoln International. Mr. Lewis holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, which was earned between his time at Prospect Partners, LLC and Bain & Company, and a Bachelor of Science with Special Attainments in Commerce from Washington and Lee University.
Mr. Lewis brings broad expertise in financial and operational management to the Board. His experience in private equity and the financial markets also allows him to make valuable contributions to our Board with respect to our growth initiatives, acquisitions and investing activities.
Mr. Hagin became a director in February 2018. Mr. Hagin is a Director of Lone Star North America Acquisitions, L.P., an affiliate of ours and Lone Star, where he focuses on origination and underwriting activities related to corporate private equity and debt investments throughout the North America region, a position he has held since December 2017. Previously, Mr. Hagin served as a Vice President of Lone Star North America Acquisitions, L.P. from April 2015 to December 2017. Prior to joining Lone Star, Mr. Hagin served in various capacities at H.I.G. WhiteHorse, a credit affiliate of H.I.G. Capital and HM Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity firm, including Vice President, from July 2012 to April 2015, where he was responsible for identifying, evaluating and sourcing investment opportunities. Mr. Hagin began his career as an investment banking analyst at Raymond James & Associates. Mr. Hagin currently serves as a member of the board of directors of other privately held companies. Mr. Hagin holds an MBA from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Masters in Professional Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.
Mr. Hagin brings broad expertise in financial management to the Board. His extensive experience in private equity and the financial markets also allows him to make valuable contributions with respect to our capital structure and financing, acquisition and investing activities.
Mr. Meyer became a director upon the listing of our common stock in February 2017. Mr. Meyer is a Senior Managing Director at Lone Star Funds, responsible for originating investment opportunities in North America. Previously, he was a Managing Director of Hudson Americas L.P., or Hudson Americas, an affiliate of ours and Lone Star, since February 2015. Mr. Meyer has oversight responsibility for a number of Lone Star’s private equity investments, including our company, and also assists with the due diligence and underwriting of potential operating company investments. Prior to joining Hudson Americas, Mr. Meyer held a number of positions with McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, most recently serving as a Director (Senior Partner). While at McKinsey, Mr. Meyer managed the Dallas office, co-led the Consumer Practice group and co-founded McKinsey’s Consumer Marketing Analytics Center. Mr. Meyer currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Forterra, Inc. and a number of privately held companies, including several for which he serves as chairman. Mr. Meyer earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.
Mr. Meyer’s background, including as a management consultant in a wide range of industries, allows him to assist the Board in understanding and addressing a wide variety of the issues it faces. Mr. Meyer also brings significant financial and operational expertise developed through his past and current leadership and oversight roles. His responsibilities for Lone Star’s companies, including our company, also provides Mr. Meyer with a deep working knowledge of our business and operations.
CB CC Compensation Committee
Mr. Khan became a director upon the listing of our common stock in February 2017. Mr. Khan is currently the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Kellogg Company, a manufacturer of cereal and convenience foods, a position he has held since February 2017. He has over 20 years of experience working in financial and operational roles, leading teams in accounting, corporate strategy, information technology, supply chain, M&A and investor relations activities. Prior to Kellogg Company, Mr. Khan was the Chief Financial Officer of US Foods Holding Corp., a food service distributor, from July 2011 until February 2017. Prior to US Foods Holding Corp., he was with United Stationers Inc., a publicly traded business product wholesaler, where he served as a Senior Vice President and the Chief Financial Officer beginning in July 2011. Prior to United Stationers, Mr. Khan spent twelve years with USG Corporation where he most recently served as Executive Vice President, Finance and Strategy. Prior to USG, Mr. Khan was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company for six years. Mr. Khan has an MBA from the University of Chicago and holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Carleton University.
Mr. Khan brings extensive financial and accounting expertise to the Board developed during his professional career, including through his service as a chief financial officer for multiple companies. His public company experience also provides the Board with valuable insight regarding public company reporting matters, as well as a first-hand view of management’s day-to-day duties and responsibilities.
Mr. Underhill became a director upon the listing of our common stock in February 2017. Mr. Underhill was a senior executive at MRC Global (McJunkin Red Man Corporation) for over 30 years serving in both financial and operational roles. Most recently, Mr. Underhill was the Chief Operating Officer of MRC Global’s United States/North America division, its largest segment with approximately $6.0 billion in revenue, from November 2012 through August 2013, and Executive Vice President of the same division from November 2011 to November 2012. Prior to that, he served as MRC Global’s Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President from May 2006 through October 2011. He serves on the boards of Pipeline Supply & Service, Inc., Transplace Holdings, LLC, and Adventure West Virginia Resorts and previously served on the board of directors of U.S. Security Associates Holdings Corp. and board of managers of SCADA Products LLC. Mr. Underhill holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Economics from Lehigh University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Mr. Underhill brings broad financial and operational management expertise to the Board from his prior executive positions. His service on other boards of directors, including audit and compensation committees, also adds a depth of knowledge to our Board as to best practices in corporate governance.
CC Audit Committee
Mr. Espe became a director in February 2018. Mr. Espe is currently Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer of Klöckner Pentaplast. Mr. Espe served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Radial, Inc., an e-commerce services business, from January 2017 until November 2017. Prior to Radial Inc., Mr. Espe served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Armstrong World Industries, a global building products company, from 2010 until 2016. He also served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ricoh Americas from 2008 to 2010 and as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IKON Office Solutions, Inc. from 2002 to 2008. Mr. Espe is also a member of the board of directors of Realogy Holdings Corp. and Wesco International, Inc. He was formerly a member of the board of directors of Armstrong World Industries from 2010 to 2015, Unisys Corporation from 2004 to 2014, Con-Way, Inc. from June 2015 until its acquisition in November 2015, Veritiu Corporation from 2016 to 2017, and NCI Building Systems, Inc. from 2015 to 2017. Mr. Espe received a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of Idaho and an MBA from Whittier College.
Mr. Espe brings extensive building products industry expertise to the Board. His experience with Armstrong World Industries, one of our key suppliers, provides valuable insight as the Company pursues its organic growth initiatives. He has almost 20 years of experience in executive roles and is a respected global business leader with a career record of driving industrial transformation efforts that significantly increased earnings and shareholders’ equity.
Mr. Colorado became a director in April 2018. Mr. Colorado has been a Director with Hudson Advisors L.P., or Hudson Advisors, an affiliate of ours and Lone Star, since January 2016. In such capacity, Mr. Colorado advises on legal issues impacting operating companies that are affiliates of Lone Star within North America, as well as other corporate investments for which Hudson Advisors or its subsidiaries provide underwriting and asset management services in North America. In particular, Mr. Colorado has been actively involved in the negotiation and closing of numerous acquisitions, asset sales and lending transactions, for us and other Lone Star portfolio companies since joining Hudson Advisors in 2016. This is Mr. Colorado’s second stint with Hudson Advisors having previously been a Vice President at the firm from 2008 to 2012. In between his times at Hudson Advisors, Mr. Colorado was a Partner at the law firm of Perkins Coie LLP, from 2012 to 2016, where he supported clients in various types of mortgage banking transactions, private and public securities offerings, debt financing transactions and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to his time at Hudson, Mr. Colorado was an attorney with Bank of America and a CPA with Ernst & Young LLP. Mr. Colorado currently serves as a member of the board of directors of a number of privately held companies. Mr. Colorado graduated from the University of Texas at Austin where he obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and a Master of Professional Accounting degree. Mr. Colorado also received a Juris Doctor degree with honors from the University of Texas School of Law. Mr. Colorado is a licensed attorney and a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Texas.
Mr. Colorado’s knowledge of our Company allows him to bring a well-informed perspective to the Board regarding our operations and the associated legal risks. His experience with debt transactions and mergers and acquisitions involving the Company and other Lone Star affiliates allows him to make valuable contributions with respect to our financial and investing activities. His legal background provides valuable insight to the Board regarding issues we may face.
CC Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
CC= Chairperson
CB= Chairman Of The Board
= Member
*To view the charter documents, click on committee name.
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RESOLUTIONS, _School Athletes and Teams Congratulated
Honoring the North Clay Middle School girls cross country team. (S) Returned to the House
SCR 19
Congratulating the University of Indianapolis football team. (H) Returned to the Senate
Congratulating the East Central High School football team on winning the IHSAA Class 4A state championship. (H) Returned to the Senate
Honoring the Lanesville High School baseball team. (S) Returned to the House
Congratulating the Northwestern High School girls basketball team. (S) Returned to the House
Honoring the Winchester Community High School girls basketball team. (S) Returned to the House
Congratulating the Central Noble High School girls basketball team. (S) Returned to the House
Congratulating the Reitz Memorial H.S. football team on winning the IHSAA Class 3A state championship title. (H) Returned to the Senate
Congratulating the Chesterton High School gymnastics team on winning the IHSAA state championship. (S) First reading: adopted voice vote
Congratulating the Pioneer Junior-Senior High School football team on winning the IHSAA Class A state championship. (H) Returned to the Senate
Congratulating the St. Joseph High School baseball team on their 2017 IHSAA Class 3A state championship. (H) Returned to the Senate
Congratulating the Penn High School girls soccer team on their Class 3A state championship title. (H) Returned to the Senate
SCR 9
Congratulating the Reitz Memorial H.S. girls soccer team on winning the IHSAA Class 2A state championship title. (H) Returned to the Senate
Congratulating the New Palestine High School girls softball team for winning the 2017 IHSAA Class 3A state championship title. (H) Returned to the Senate
Congratulating the Purdue University football team on winning the 2017 Foster Farms Bowl. (H) Returned to the Senate
Congratulating the Reitz Memorial H.S. boys soccer team on winning the IHSAA Class 2A state championship title. (H) Returned to the Senate
Recognizing the Lafayette Central Catholic High School girls volleyball team. (S) Returned to the House
Congratulating Ben Davis High School football team. (H) First reading: adopted voice vote
Congratulating the Martinsville High School Academic Decathlon team. (H) Returned to the Senate
Recognizing the William Henry Harrison High School boys soccer team. (S) Returned to the House
Congratulating the Southridge H.S. football team on winning the IHSAA Class 2A state championship. (H) Returned to the Senate
Recognizing athletic trainers during National Athletic Training Month. (H) First reading: adopted voice vote
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Tag Archives: The Last Dragonslayer
A farewell to kings
June 28, 2016 IN FOCUSAmerican Lion, BBC, Bernard Cornwell, Game of Thrones, George RR Martin, HBO, Lewis & Clark, Mogadishu Minnesota, Sky, Sky Atlantic, The Last Dragonslayer, The Last Kingdom, Troy: Fall of a CityStephen Arnell
As HBO says goodbye to Game of Thrones for another year – and edges closer to the show’s end – it’s time for the storied network to look towards life after Westeros.
With the sixth season of Game of Thrones (GoT, pictured top) now concluded, rumours abound that the final two chapters of the fantasy drama may only run to a total of 13 episodes. It’s time for HBO to contemplate life after Westeros.
For HBO (and other channels that air the series, like Sky Atlantic in the UK), the prospect of saying goodbye to such a ratings juggernaut must be daunting, with thoughts of what – if anything – can take its place.
Doubts have been raised about the appeal of some HBO’s upcoming slate of shows. Sci-fi series Westworld and 1970s/80s New York-set porn industry drama The Deuce (from The Wire’s David Simon) should attract high sampling, but others may fall by the wayside.
HBO will have high hopes for forthcoming series Westworld
Succession, about a super-rich dynastic American family, and Somali-American drama Mogadishu, Minnesota could find less traction, as might historical miniseries Lewis & Clark and American Lion (starring Sean Penn as the seventh US president, Andrew Jackson), which might struggle outside the US.
Back in 2008, the UK’s Channel 4 played HBO’s other presidential biopic miniseries, John Adams, to critical praise but few viewers.
For Sky Atlantic, some of HBO’s more US-centric shows – such as public-housing drama Show Me a Hero, Olive Kitteridge, The Brink and the recently cancelled Vinyl – have failed to resonate with viewers.
Political dramas based on real-life events such as Game Change, Too Big To Fail and Recount have also struggled to connect with audiences outside the US, as have biopics You Don’t Know Jack (about assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kervorkian), Temple Grandin (the autistic inventor of the ‘hug box’) and Phil Spector (the famous The Beatles producer now in prison for murder).
So for Sky Atlantic, GoT is an essential part of its long-running deal with HBO, wisely beefed up earlier this year by a similar agreement with Showtime.
Returning to the show itself, its approaching end in 2018 has prompted inevitable speculation about a possible prequel, with two distinct possibilities.
Vinyl has been cancelled after a single season
Through the visions of the Three-Eyed Crow (played by Max Von Sydow) and other flashbacks, season six has already given us tantalising glimpses of King Robert’s rebellion against the Mad King Aerys Targaryen, including Ned Stark’s epic duel with Ser Arthur Dayne and Jamie Lannister’s slaying of Aerys.
For a GoT fan, the prospect of seeing the young (non-corpulent) Robert Baratheon and his deadly clash with Rhaegar Targaryen at the Ruby Ford must be enticing, as well as earlier incarnations of Tywin Lannister, Stannis Baratheon and Jon Arryn, the latter seen only as a corpse in the series.
Another possibility would be to adapt other work from GoT author George RR Martin. Novella series Tales of Dunk & Egg, set 90 years before the events of the books on which GoT is based, is somewhat lighter in tone. The stories provide further insights into the complicated world of Westeros and how the seeds of rebellion were planted decades before Robert Baratheon began his campaign to oust the Targaryens and avenge the ‘abduction’ of Lyanna Stark.
If so, will current showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss be heavily involved, or will they take a backseat and explore other, non-Martin projects?
Furthermore, will the success of the show prompt HBO to develop works in similar territory? This is a risky path but one that may be worth treading, despite the inevitable comparisons to GoT.
After all, GoT started well but it only become a phenomenon in season three, a fact that may persuade HBO to persist with the long haul involved in commissioning another serious fantasy show.
Vikings has performed well for History
Other networks’ attempts to exploit the success of GoT with dramas of a similar style have had varying levels of success.
History’s Vikings has carved out a distinct identity and proved a ratings winner, but others have paled in comparison, including The Bastard Executioner (FX), Beowulf (ITV/Esquire), The Last Kingdom (BBC2/BBC America), The White Queen (BBC1/STARZ) and ABC’s Of Kings & Prophets – all of which have failed to ignite the same interest as GoT.
Bernard Cornwell, who wrote the books on which The Last Kingdom is based, took a swipe at HBO’s fantasy behemoth in the Radio Times, saying of the show: “This is very, very dull. So they put a lot of naked women behind it all, they’re called ‘sex-planations’ in the trade. My programmes won’t need sex-planations.”
Sky and BBC1 are going back to the fantasy/sword-and-sorcery well, with The Last Dragonslayer and Troy: Fall of a City respectively, but industry expectations are currently not especially high for either show.
Long-gestating plans for a film followed by a TV series adaptation of Stephen King’s popular Dark Tower series of novels have now been abandoned solely in favour of a cycle of movies, with stars including Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey attached.
There are also a number of serious fantasy novels in development as series; the trick for HBO will be to order something that shares some of GoT’s DNA without being a copycat. Perhaps a fresh take on a known property may do the trick.
Could there be mileage in looking at ‘classics’ of the fantasy genre that could benefit from a new HBO-style spin without the accusations of aping the GoT formula?
Possibly one of Robert E Howard’s characters Conan, Kull and Soloman Kane, or Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars, which has a legion of fans despite the poorly received 2012 movie adaptation titled John Carter. Maybe even Michael Moorcock’s lesser-known Elric could also get a TV spin.
After all, Elric’s blade is referenced in GoT – when the obnoxious King Joffrey Baratheon is presented with a new sword at his wedding feast, he asks the crowd what should he name it, and someone shouts out “Stormbringer.”
For a more female-skewing audience, Ursula K Le Guin’s Wizard of Earthsea novels, which possess a unique aesthetic, clearly distinguishable from the world of GoT, could be worth a pop. Syfy’s 2005 miniseries did little justice to the books and was quickly forgotten.
To some minds, HBO’s Rome and Starz’s Spartacus acted as trailblazers for GoT – perhaps HBO will return to the apparently shelved remake of I Claudius.
With their dynastic blood-letting, perversion and intrigue, the time may well be ripe for a big-budget take on Robert Graves’ novels.
tagged in: American Lion, BBC, Bernard Cornwell, Game of Thrones, George RR Martin, HBO, Lewis & Clark, Mogadishu Minnesota, Sky, Sky Atlantic, The Last Dragonslayer, The Last Kingdom, Troy: Fall of a City
Sky takes drama to new heights
April 25, 2016 GreenlightAnne Mensah, Carnival Films, Deadline, Delicious, Fifty Fathoms, Game of Thrones, Gary Davey, Guerilla, HBO, Jamestown, Kudos, Lieftime, Mark Gordon, Mel Gibson, None of the Above, Riviera, Sea Change, Series Mania, Showtime, Silicon Valley, Sky, The Barbary Coast, The Last Dragonslayer, Tin Star, VeepAndy Fry
The Last Dragonslayer is coming to Sky as a ‘family adventure’ drama series
In the US, big-budget drama has become a key battleground between pay TV platforms and their fast-growing SVoD rivals. Now, the same pattern is emerging in other parts of the world. After months of announcements from Netflix and Amazon about their new European dramas, DTH satellite platform Sky has hit back by announcing a formidable slate of six original shows.
At the end of last week, the firm said: “Responding to demand from customers for more original drama, the new productions combine with Sky’s groundbreaking HBO and Showtime partnerships to build on Sky’s growing reputation as one of the world’s best storytellers. (This is Sky’s) most ambitious slate of original productions yet, adding to its growing portfolio of drama.” No wonder they’re putting my subscription up by £4.25 next month…
Made by producers including Kudos (The Tunnel); Fifty Fathoms (Fortitude) and Carnival Films (Stan Lee’s Lucky Man), the six shows are expected to air across 2016/17. The writing and acting talent isn’t too shabby either. Writers include John Ridley (12 Years a Slave), Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) and Rowan Joffe (28 Days Later), while Idris Elba, Dawn French and Tim Roth are among the actors attached.
In truth, some of the series that are bundled together in the Sky announcement were already known about, though perhaps not with full details. Rowan Joffe’s Tin Star, which stars Tim Roth and Christina Hendricks, was first discussed in March. Described variously as “a contemporary take on the western genre” and “a revenge thriller,” it tells the story of Jim Worth, an ex-Met police detective who starts a new life in Canada’s Rocky Mountains.
Neil Jordan’s Riviera, meanwhile, has been in the public domain since February. Starring Julia Stiles, Sky calls it a glamorous thriller “set in the world of the super-rich, where art, money, sex and love all come at a price.” Also known about for some time is Bill Gallagher’s period drama Jamestown. Produced by Carnival, it is set in 1619 during the early days of the first British settlers in America. It “tells the story of a group of young women as they leave the Old World and their old lives behind them.”
Idris Elba, pictured here in BBC detective series Luther, will star in Sky’s Guerrilla
News of The Last Dragonslayer first leaked in January. Based on the first of Jasper Fforde’s novels, it’s “a family adventure that follows the story of orphan Jennifer Strange, who reluctantly discovers her destiny is to become the last Dragonslayer.”
The last two projects on the slate (which are divided evenly across Sky Atlantic and Sky1) are Delicious, a four-parter starring Dawn French, and Guerrilla, a copro with Showtime starring Idris Elba. Written by John Ridley, the latter is “a love story set against the backdrop of the 1970s. It follows “a young couple whose relationship and values are tested when they liberate a political prisoner and form a radical underground cell in 1970s London”.
Sky content MD Gary Davey said: “We know our original content is highly valued and a reason why customers choose and stay with Sky. Combining the scale and ambition of our Sky original productions with the best of the US and exclusive partnerships with HBO and Showtime, we believe our customers enjoy a better choice of drama at Sky than anywhere else in the world.”
Head of drama Anne Mensah added: “Our customers adore original drama, whether that’s a rich and complex storyline on Sky Atlantic or a blockbuster adventure on Sky1. We are incredibly proud to be working with such amazing talent across all our dramas. Everything we do at Sky is about being passionate, bold and unique and that philosophy underlines all of these shows.”
Sky drama boss Anne Mensah
Sky said the new productions join eight original drama series already on air or set to air in the coming months on Sky Atlantic and Sky1. These include The Tunnel: Sabotage, Penny Dreadful, Fortitude, Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, Agatha Raisin, The Young Pope, Harlan Coben’s The Five and Hooten & the Lady. In terms of international distribution, Sky notes that Guerrilla will be handled by Endemol Shine International; Tin Star by Sky Vision and ESI; Riviera by Sky Vision; and Jamestown by NBCUniversal International Distribution.
In the US, meanwhile, premium pay TV channel HBO has just announced renewals for three of its key shows, Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley and Veep, all of which started new seasons last night in the US. Game of Thrones, which has just started season six, will have a seventh season in 2017. Veep will now run for at least six seasons, while Silicon Valley will air for a minimum of four.
In the same week, A+E-owned cable channel Lifetime unveiled a range of new scripted projects last week, including Sea Change, a supernatural drama based on the young adult novel by Aimee Friedman. Also in development is None of the Above, a coming-of-age drama about a girl whose status as a homecoming queen is called into question when she discovers that she is intersex. Lifetime is also developing Deadline, a satirical one-hour drama that follows aspiring journalist Emily Twist, who is struggling to get noticed in a world that values gossip over investigative news.
Silicon Valley began its third season last night on HBO and has already been renewed for a fourth
Still in the US, producer Mark Gordon (Quantico) has teamed up with Mel Gibson on a project called The Barbary Coast, which will star Kurt Russell, Kate Hudson and Gibson, who will also co-write and direct. Backed by Entertainment One, the series begins during the Californian Gold Rush of 1849 and tells the story of San Francisco’s formative years.
“Most people don’t know the scandalous history behind San Francisco, and The Barbary Coast offers a rich portrayal of a period when success was often attained through illicit and brutal means,” said Gordon. “I’m excited that Kurt and Kate are working alongside Mel, whose astute direction will bring this devious time in our history to life.”
As yet no broadcaster has been attached to the production.
In a busy industry calendar, one event that seems to be attracting an increasing amount of attention is Paris-based Series Mania, which came to an end last week. As part of the event, there is a Coproduction Forum, which showcases projects looking for partners or finances.
This year, 16 projects from 10 countries were in the spotlight. The titles on display were 16 Knot (Lux Vide, Italy), Belle Epoque (Scarlett Production, France), Eden (Lupa Film/Atlantique Films, Germany/France), Flight 1618 (Makingprod, France), Gastronomy (Drama Team, Israel), Hidden (Yellow Bird, Sweden), Keeping Faith (Vox Pictures, UK), Let’s Save the World (Constantin Film, Germany), Liar (Two Brothers Pictures, UK), One Square Mile (Pampa Production, France), Pipeline (Apple Film Production, Poland), Pwned By The Mob (Submarine, Netherlands), Stella Blomkvist (Sagafilm, Iceland), The Illegal (Conquering Lion Pictures, Canada), The Specialists (Fridthjof Film, Denmark) and Warrior (Miso Film, Denmark).
Series Mania general director Laurence Herszberg said: “The Forum has now become a key date in the calendar for TV series professionals from around the world. The 16 titles that were chosen reveal a wide range of forms and genres, including procedural thrillers to historical dramas, and all the way to edgy contemporary stories without forgetting mainstream fare.” It will be interesting to track these shows as they build momentum.
tagged in: Anne Mensah, Carnival Films, Deadline, Delicious, Fifty Fathoms, Game of Thrones, Gary Davey, Guerilla, HBO, Jamestown, Kudos, Lieftime, Mark Gordon, Mel Gibson, None of the Above, Riviera, Sea Change, Series Mania, Showtime, Silicon Valley, Sky, The Barbary Coast, The Last Dragonslayer, Tin Star, Veep
Sky enters realms of fantasy
February 1, 2016 GreenlightABC, Conviction, Frequency, Global TV, Horace and Pete, How To Get Away With Murder, Mary Kills People, Notorious, Peter Kosminsky, Red Mars, Showtime, Sky, Stan, Start Up, SyFy, The Art of More, The Last Dragonslayer, The Mark Gordon Co, Transylvania, Viola Davis, Wildhorse Studios, Wolf HallAndy Fry
Jasper Fforde novel The Last Dragonslayer
Sky1’s adaptation of The Last Dragonslayer suggests the scripted market is swinging back towards TV movies and miniseries, as Crackle announces a follow-up to The Art of More.
There are reports this week that UK pay TV channel Sky1 has greenlit a TV adaptation of Jasper Fforde’s fantasy novel The Last Dragonslayer.
Set in a world where the power of magic is being eroded by technology, it centres on a teenage girl who finds herself mixed up in a prophecy about the death of the last dragon.
The project is interesting for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because it underlines the continued interest in fantasy projects – The Magicians, Shannara, Game of Thrones and American Gods being a few others – and secondly, because it is reported to be a two-hour single as opposed to an event or returning series.
A few executives in the drama business are starting to support the idea of shorter-run productions because of the sheer volume of scripted content now on the market. Although the received wisdom is that singles are harder to promote than series and offer fewer long-term return, there’s no real point spending tens of millions of dollars on a series that is going to fail because viewers can’t be bothered investing eight or 10 hours of their lives in it. It will be interesting to see if there is now a renaissance in the TV movie format.
The Hobbit’s Martin Freeman stars in Start Up
Another of this week’s major scripted TV stories is that Sony-owned on-demand service Crackle has commissioned its second original drama series. Following up on The Art of More, starring Dennis Quaid, Crackle has now greenlit a project called Start Up.
Set in Miami and starring Martin Freeman (Fargo, Sherlock, The Hobbit), Start Up explores what happens when a brilliant but controversial tech idea gets incubated with dirty money. The message seems to be that Crackle is mainly interested in backing high-concept thrillers with proven theatrical talent attached.
There are a couple of stories with a Canadian flavour this week. In the first, Canadian broadcaster Global TV has ordered an original drama after partnering with producer/distributor Entertainment One. Called Mary Kills People, the six-parter has been created and written by Tara Armstrong and is set in the world of assisted suicide. It tells the story of a nurse who helps people with terminal illnesses.
Isaac Bashevis Singer novel Shadows on the Hudson
The other project is a production partnership between Macmillan Publishers’ in-house film and TV unit and Toronto-based Wildhorse Studios. This one will see the two partners collaborate on a TV adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer novel Shadows on the Hudson. Written in 1957, the book tells the story of Jewish exiles in New York City just after the Second World War and just before the creation of the state of Israel. It was first published in serial form by a Yiddish newspaper called The Forward.
As previous DQ columns have demonstrated, the US TV market offers an almost constant pipeline of new scripted shows. However, this time of year is especially prolific because it is when the major networks greenlight shows from paper to pilot. Like baby turtles heading for the ocean, there will be lots of casualties before we finally see full series being commissioned. But pilot season is a useful indication of the way networks are thinking.
This week, for example, ABC ordered two new legal-themed drama pilot (no real surprise given that one of its biggest hits at present is legally themed show How To Get Away With Murder – congratulations, by the way, to Viola Davis for her latest SAG Awards success). The first of the two pilots is Notorious. Created by Josh Berman and Allie Hagan, the story follows the relationship between “a charismatic attorney and a powerhouse television producer as they attempt to control the media, the justice system, and ultimately, each other.”
ABC’s legal drama How To Get Away With Murder brought Viola Davis a SAG Award
The second is the aptly named Conviction, which comes from The Mark Gordon Co, the firm behind ABC political thriller Quantico. This one focuses on the prodigal daughter of a former president who is blackmailed into taking a job at LA’s ‘Conviction Integrity Unit.’ Here, her job is to investigate cases where there’s reasonable suspicion the wrong person may have been convicted of a crime.
The CW, which is the US market’s fifth broadcast network, has also announced a bunch of new pilots including comic-based project Riverdale, Transylvania and an untitled Mars project. These new projects join a previously announced paranormal drama called Frequency from Kevin Williamson, which is a reboot of the 2000 time travel movie of the same name but with a female lead.
Transylvania continues the trend towards fantasy Victoriana (with examples including Penny Dreadful, The Frankenstein Chronicles, Ripper Street, Dickensian and Jekyll & Hyde). Set in the 1880s, it tells the story of a young woman looking for her missing father who goes to Transylvania and she teams up with a wrongfully disgraced Detective. Once there, the duo encounter the usual suspects.
A second season of Wolf Hall could be two years away as it waits on novelist Hilary Mantel
The Mars project is not actually new, having first been talked about in 2013 when it was called Colony. A reimagining of the 400-year-old Roanoke ‘Lost Colony’ mystery, it follows a team of explorers who arrive on Mars to join the first human colony, only to discover that it has vanished. The show is not the only Mars project in the market, with Syfy currently making Red Mars, based on Kim Stanley Robinson’s award-winning science fiction series.
In the UK, meanwhile, the Radio Times quotes director Peter Kosminsky saying there will be a second season of Wolf Hall – but it’s not possible yet to say when. According to Kosminsky, nothing can happen until author Hilary Mantel finishes the novel upon which the sequel will be based. Then it needs to be adapted for the screen and slotted into the busy schedules of actors Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis. “She [Mantel] has still got at least a year of writing on the novel,” says Kosminsky, “and we have to get it adapted, which will take quite a while because it’s probably going to be quite a thick book. It’s not going to be any time soon I’m afraid. Two years down the road I would think, probably.”
Louis CK’s web comedy Horace and Pete
Usually when we talk about greenlights, it’s six to 12 months before a show actually appears. But US comedian Louis CK surprised us all this week by releasing a new series on his website without any advanced warning. Entitled Horace and Pete, it stars Louis CK, Steve Buscemi and Alan Alda in what is being described as a black comedy version of Cheers. The 67-minutes show revolves around an Irish bar and the people who work there and frequent it.
Given the quality of the talent involved it will be interesting to see how it is received and whether it encourages other creatives to drop surprise series via the internet. (Actually, there is something vaguely similar here to the recent story about JJ Abrams making a Cloverfield sequel without telling anyone.)
Finally, on the distribution front, Australian streaming service Stan has become the exclusive home of Showtime’s brand and programming, echoing a similar deal with Sky in Europe.
tagged in: ABC, Conviction, Frequency, Global TV, Horace and Pete, How To Get Away With Murder, Mary Kills People, Notorious, Peter Kosminsky, Red Mars, Showtime, Sky, Stan, Start Up, SyFy, The Art of More, The Last Dragonslayer, The Mark Gordon Co, Transylvania, Viola Davis, Wildhorse Studios, Wolf Hall
Sky Deutschland bets big on original drama
China opens up to outside influences
US studios extend int’l footprint
Japanese and Polish dramas make headlines
Creative heavyweights step up development
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We Love Our Team
Uriel & Becky Castrillon
Uriel and Becky met and got married in 1986 while Uriel was on staff at Evangel Cathedral Church of God in Middle River, MD. Becky was serving on staff at her parents church, House of Prayer, in Cleveland, OH. In 1988 they planted the All Nations Church of God in Baltimore, MD. Later on, they served on staff at the House of Prayer church from 1991 till 1997 when they moved as full-time missionaries to the southern area of Dominican Republic in the town of Barahona along with their four small children. After nine years of evangelistic and church planting ministry they returned stateside and served on staff at Reimage Church, Winterville, NC from 2006 untill May of 2011. Uriel served as Associate Pastor and Becky as Administrative Assistant to the Child Development Center. Uriel continues to oversee DR Mission and also serves as assistant pastor at Life Source International Church in Baltimore, MD in charge of Hispanic Ministries overseeing 15 latin churches in the U.S., Colombia and the Dominican Republic. He also serves as a Chaplain for the Baltimore Police Department.
Tomás Cuevas
National Supervisor
Tomás came to faith in Christ at the age of eight in the town of Cristobal under the ministry of Uriel and Becky. He grew up to become shepherd of the church in Cristobal as well as a respected and sought after community leader. In 2009 Plan International sent Tomas to Bogota, Colombia to receive training in Preservation of Natural Resources. Tomas serves as consultant to the mayor of Cristobal in this area. In 2010 he was named most outstanding young man of the Province (or State) of Independencia by the Dominican Republic Ministry of Youth. In 2011 Tomas received an award from the Office of the First Lady of the Nation in recognition of his leadership as a community leader. Tomás and Arielina married in 2014. He serves as National Overseer of the 10 churches, 2 feeding centers and 2 pre-school centers of DR Mission.
Kenyi & Mirna Matos
Regional Supervisor (Santiago Churches)
Kenyi and Mirna Matos worked for years with Compassion International near the city of Santiago in the Dominican Republic. They started a new church and children’s program in downtown Santiago in 2013. Mirna is a Pediatrician who looks after the health of the children and also co-pastors the church. They currently serve 100 children three days per week. Kenyi oversees five of our churches in the city of Santiago.
Rubio Arcadio
(Campus Pastor)
Arcadio has been a farmer all his life, and has lived in the mountains of Polo for over 40 years . In 2005 DR Mission assisted Arcadio in planting a church in his community of Los Arroyos where he is known by his nickname “Pastor Niñín.”
Miriam Timmons
(U.S. Office Manager)
Miriam, the second born child of the Castrillon family, grew up in the Dominican Republic. Today she serves as DR Mission’s office manager in the United States. She owns “Amiguitos,” a Spanish Language, learning experience program for preschool children. Miriam and her husband Steven are active in their local church and reside in Winterville, North Carolina.
© Copyright 2019 | DR Mission
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By Roberta
Publius heard a harsh knock at the door of the rear room of his little house where he practiced. Without hurrying he got up from his desk and went to the threshold. He opened the door, finding himself at the presence of a praetorian guard who told him with a commanding tone: “Your services are required at the Coliseum, now.”
“Let me take my instruments and I’ll follow you,” he replied gently while the other man stood stock still in his frightening black uniform.
Publius knew quite well that under other circumstances the praetorian’s behavior wouldn’t have been so patient. On the other hand, having relieved the man’s mistress from an unpleasant venereal disease he had passed on to her, earned him a little more respect. Publius wondered about this calling. The last time he had been called to his duty as surgeon of the arena, had been a while ago, when the Spaniard had defeated Tigris. This had been the last fight held since then and nobody had been able to say why. Publius had heard voices about an aborted plot against the emperor, but since plotting in Rome was a sport just as popular as gladiatorial games, he hadn’t paid attention. Still puzzled he took his bag following the guard toward the short road to the Coliseum.
Once there, he was escorted to the deepest bowels of the building. This was a place where he had never been before and he felt uneasy, recalling the voices he had heard about what took place there. His destination was a heavy door. The praetorian unlocked it and gestured him to go inside. In the dim light of a single torch, no one else seemed to be in sight and for a moment Publius feared that they were going to banish him in there. He didn’t know why, but a reason was rarely needed in these matters. He heard ragged breathing coming from the shadows. He headed to the source of it to spot the shape of a body of a man in chains, lying unconscious on the floor. The physician turned toward the guard who had remained near the door.
“Please, bring me some water and more light.”
Without speaking the man complied, returning with a jug and a new torch. He put the latter into a support on the wall, and the ewer on the floor, then noisily closed the door behind his back.
The new source of light helped Publius to have an idea about the conditions of the man he had been called to tend to. His patient hadn’t been injured in a fight, or in sword practice, he had been tortured. The physician wondered briefly about why he had been called until the truth hit him. He had been summoned just to keep him alive a little longer to stand further abuses. He knelt near the prisoner trying to decide where to start; asking to himself if what he was doing was just another torture. Sighing he began to remove the few remaining rags of a blue gladiator tunic. He tried to be as gentle as possible, dampening the parts where the fabric stuck to the wounds. When all the man’s back was bare, he proceeded to clean the dried blood and the dirt with as much care as possible. The slave flinched twice, but still didn’t wake up and Publius began to apply his ointments meant to ease the pain and avoid infections. Surmising that the man’s back wasn’t the only part to have received the praetorians’ attentions, he got hold of his head and turned it toward the light.
“The Spaniard. That answers some of the questions,” he thought. Brushing the dampened cloth on the gladiator’s swollen lips, Publius saw him react. Rummaging in his bag he found a small recipient. He poured some water, and then gently raised the Spaniard’s head to allow him to quench his thirst. The man drank greedily and, swallowing, he opened his eyes.
“Thank you,” he whispered. Publius gave him more water and when it was enough he helped the Spaniard to turn on his right side.
“What did the most famous hero of the arena do to deserve this?” the physician asked.
“The emperor and I are long time friends. He wanted to strengthen the old friendship.”
“If this is a sign of friendship, I’m afraid to know what enmity is.”
Maximus chuckled.
“He wants an answer. The one he’ll never get and these are his efforts to make me change my mind.”
“It’s seems like he’s trying very hard.”
“Deadly hard.”
“What is the question?”
“Will you take my hand?”
“Is it worth all this and your life?”
“Yes, it is. And it’s worth many other lives he destroyed.”
The Spaniard’s voice weakened as he struggled to fight the pain in his body. He breathed deeply and then continued, “I’ll rather die than surrender. Have you been summoned here to keep me alive a little longer?” he said.
The physician nodded.
“I guessed it. They didn’t show such concern for me before.”
Publius remained silent, not knowing what to reply. He proceeded to clean up Maximus’ wrists as far as the chain allowed, and then repeated the operation at his ankles.
“Don’t waste your skills. I won’t survive enough to grieve over a few more scars.”
“Is there something I can do for you?”
“Lend me a knife, so that I can slid my wrists and vex Commodus beyond reason.”
“I wish I could, but I have a family to think of and I cannot risk their lives.”
“Forgive me if I asked. I’ve already too many innocent lives on my soul to add your family’s and yours. I’m sorry,” was the astonishing answer.
“You are sorry? I’m adding days to your pain and YOU ARE SORRY? You’re unbelievable.”
“I’m sorry for all the pain I couldn’t stop.”
“Would you like something to ease your pain, to let you sleep?”
“If you wish so, but don’t bother. I have my rest. My life is not so active these days. No fights, no sword practice,” Maximus said, concluding with a bitter laughter. Publius gave him more water as the struggle to speak made him cough.
“Would you like me to tell anyone where you are now? Your family?”
“I have no family left. Commodus took care of them long ago. The few that still might be interested in my fate are slaves and they already know what’s happening to me. But thank you for the offer,” Maximus said closing his eyes, while the medicine did its job on his battered body. Publius gathered his things and went away.
Publius was summoned again after a couple of days. As he had guessed, the patient was still the Spaniard and his conditions were desperate. The strong man was dying and his strength was just prolonging his agony. The physician thought over while rummaging in his bag. He found a small vial he kept well hidden in a secret compartment, then mixed its content with some water. When the liquid looked transparent again he grabbed the prisoner’s head making it lean on his lap.
“Spaniard, wake up. I’ve something for you. Please wake up.”
A pained moan was the answer. The battered man attempted to speak but the words died on his swollen lips.
“Drink this,” Publius urged and Maximus complied wearily.
“It’s bitter,” the gladiator complained.
“I’m sorry but poisons rarely taste good.”
Maximus’ eyes sprang open.
“Poison? I thank you very much but I hope you didn’t put yourself in trouble to help me.”
“No, I didn’t. This poison is impossible to discover.”
“Too bad I’ll not be able to see Commodus’ face.”
“The poison will act soon, but now you must listen to me. Don’t fight it,” Publius neared his mouth to Maximus’ face whispering words he alone could hear.
When the praetorian returned, he found Publius already waiting for him.
“You called me too late. He died before I could tend to him,” the physician said evenly.
“What are you talking about?” the guard yelled.
“That you tortured him to death. I’m a doctor, not a wizard. He had already started his journey to the Elysium. There was nothing I could do to prevent this.”
The praetorian pushed Publius out of the cell, marching him outside the Coliseum and then returned to report the new development to his superior. When the two men arrived at the former general’s cell all that they saw was his still body on the ground.
A chill ran through their spines.
Commodus had heard the general of his personal guard stepping in, but he just loved sensing the other man’s discomfort. At the end curiosity won over and he asked.
“Why are you here, Quintus? Did he finally surrender?”
“Sort of. He died.”
“What?” the emperor yelled turning to face him “How did he dare?”
“I don’t think he dared anything. He just didn’t survive to the guards’ desire to please you.”
“I must see him with my own eyes. I’m going to the Coliseum. Send your men to fetch Lucilla and Lucius. They must be there, too.” Quintus nodded and went out to execute the emperor’s orders.
Two guards had been charged to prepare the body for the Emperor’s arrival. Unwilling to mess up their clean uniforms, they temporarily released some of the surviving gladiators belonging to the late Proximo. Juba had volunteered to go. Though he hadn’t been told what they had been summoned for, he knew that it must have something to do with Maximus. He hadn’t heard about him since the day of Proximo’s death and he had often wondered what had become of him. The fact that he and the other rebels hadn’t been executed was a clue of the fact that he was still alive. Or, at least, he had been until now. When he and another slave were marched inside the cell, the sight of the man shackled confirmed his hunch.
“Remove the chains and put him on the table,” the guard prompted and Juba complied with as much care as possible. Deep in his heart he knew that Maximus was beyond any pain, but the Numidian had decided to give him the respect he had missed in life. Adjusting his friend’s body on the table, Juba saw the results of Commodus’ wrath. His face looked peaceful, though, as if he had already embraced his family in the Afterlife. The Numidian silently raised a prayer to the Gods to grant his friend a safe journey. As they finished, the guards ordered them to move to a dark corner of the cell, should their strength be needed again. A blanket was draped upon the Spaniard’s body.
When the guards had dragged Maximus back to the Coliseum, Commodus had been there to welcome him, relieving at the sight of the great general, the mighty gladiator who had dared to defy him in front of the mob, restrained by shameful shackles, completely at his mercy. But Maximus hadn’t begged for that mercy, he hadn’t asked to be spared. He had defiantly sustained the emperor’s gaze, despite the chains and the bruises. It hadn’t shown the shame of having been stripped of his armor, to be left with nothing but rags.
“You’re going to die. You know this Maximus, don’t you? Aren’t you afraid of the darkness?”
“I thought you were the one afraid of the darkness, Caesar,” was the insulting answer. Commodus had slapped him hard on the face, but the slave didn’t flich, while a mocking smile curled his lips.
“Unlike Maximus the invincible, who knows no fear?” the emperor said.
The former general replied with a wry smirk “I knew a man who once said “Death smiles at us all. All that man can do is smile back”.”
“I wonder. Did your friend smile at his own death?”
“You must know. He was your father.”
These words had plunged into Commodus’ heart like a burning knife. He paled, but managed to keep his anger at bay.
“You’ve always tried to steal my Father’s love from me and I see you go on now that he cannot unveil your lies. But to show the extent of my mercy, I’m going to give you a chance. Swear your loyalty to me and you’ll be free.”
Maximus exploded into laughter, to stop only when Commodus slapped him again, adding a new bruise on his battered face. His expression, though, hurt the emperor more than everything else.
“All right, now I know your answer. I offered you my mercy and you refused it, now you’ll know my wrath.”
The emperor nodded to the guards and turned. The feeling of his enemy’s eyes on his back made him shiver.
Commodus never returned to the cell under the Coliseum. He knew from his guards what was going on, but even if the thought of witnessing Maximus’ pain was tempting, he was afraid to see that cursed slave defying him once again, with his strength, his power. Marcus Aurelius had loved the general more than his own son and what the Spaniard had to face was the punishment for having had what Commodus had never gained: his father’s pride and love.
And now everything was over.
Quintus felt a sense of freedom. Maximus had died, at last, and now his accusing shadow would not be hanging over their lives. The old friendship the two soldiers had shared had been poisoned but Quintus’ envy. He had always felt deprived of something that was his. And knowing that his former commander had deserved everything he had achieved didn’t help a bit. Commodus’ rise to power had been the answer to his prayers. He hadn’t been proud of his part in Maximus’ family slaughter, but every war has its casualties and they had been caught in the middle of something greater than their lives.
A black-clad praetorian had come to Lucilla’s rooms to announce Commodus’ summons. She had seen the smirk under the man’s sober expression. The emperor’s personal guard was loyal only to him and Lucilla knew that they knew about her involvement in the aborted plot. Aborted because of her betrayal that she had excused with her son’s life.
“Mum, where are we going to?”
“To the Coliseum. Your uncle has requested our presence.”
“For what? There aren’t games, today.”
“I don’t know Lucius, just get prepared.”
Commodus loved the smell of the bowels of the giant arena. The heavy mixture of blood, dirt and fear, suited him better than all the perfumes brought to Rome by the merchants of far away countries. His marble white attire had an unnatural glow under the light of the torch held by Quintus and the emperor strode his way like a god, making his way in the world of mere mortals.
Lucilla’s stomach tightened at the sight of the Coliseum as it had in the past. While her mother and brother had had a fondness for the blood sports taking place there, she had always felt revulsion for the useless waste of lives. And lately, when she had seen Maximus – her Maximus – turned slave and gladiator, fighting cheered by the mob, she had wished she’d never been there. Nor Lucius, too young to understand the viciousness of his uncle, too young to understand the damage he had done revealing the plot against Commodus, too young to face what he was going to face now.
The room had been enlightened for the emperor’s arrival and the smoldering torches creating a sort of fog. The opening of the door cleared only slightly the atmosphere without lessening the heavy scent of blood and pain lingering inside.
He was floating. His body seemed no more his, but something detached from his essence. Something was missing and he wondered what. With an effort he focused and he realized that he felt no pain, the faithful companion of his days had somehow decided to release its hold. An inner smile curled the lips of his soul’s mouth. Little by little the sense of floating withdrew and he began to feel again. He smelled blood, dust and smoke; heard people breathing; sensed wood under his back.
A door creaked open, someone entered.
Commodus smiled at Lucilla as she got in. He had waited for her and Lucius to have his little show.
“Where is Lucius? I required his presence, too,” he asked pouting.
“I left him outside. He’s too young for this place. Let him think of you as his hero, not as a cruel tyrant.”
The emperor was going to reply, but decided that his sister was probably right. He wanted Lucius’ love and killing his hero could have proven a bad move. Better let him forget Maximus and replace him with himself later. He smiled broadly and went to the table. Even though he knew what he was going to find under the blanket, he shivered with anticipation grabbing the fabric.
Coldness. He suddenly felt cold air on his skin.
The few remaining rugs of the slave’s tunic did little to hide the signs of the torture and Commodus relished at the thought of having been responsible for those wounds.
“And now, General, where are your strength, your pride and courage. My father was wrong placing his bet on you. You lost everything and I won: Rome, Lucilla and your life. Everything’s mine, now.”
Caesar’s last words were whispered in his enemy’s ears.
Words, he could hear words and he was able to sense the anger and the hatred lying underneath, even before he could understand their meaning.
“I’m not dead,” he thought recalling Publius’ promise. “I’m not dead, yet,” he repeated to himself.
Then he felt warm breath on this face.
He reacted.
Commodus jumped in surprise finding himself staring at the angry eyes of a man he had already believed dead, but didn’t go far as his throat was closed in a deadly grip by his enemy’s arms. All the bystanders froze watching Maximus raise and with a swift movement twisting the emperor’s head until his neck snapped with the horrible sound of the breaking of a branch. The young man folded like a stringless puppet, his dead face frozen in stupor. The anger that had sustained Maximus in his assault brought back all the sensations and he collapsed on the table, hissing with pain.
Quintus moved toward him, but Lucilla trampled him. As the Praetorian leaned on the table to steady himself, she grabbed his gladius with both hands. He turned to face her, just in time to receive his own sword in the gut. The two guards who tried to intervene were strangled by the gladiators’ chains.
The whole thing had lasted maybe a minute, but it seemed hours after the entrance of the small group into the cell.
“And now?” Lucilla asked addressing nobody in particular.
“How many men are there outside?” Maximus asked struggling to sit up.
“Two with Lucius just outside the door, many other at the external door.”
“Free Juba and Livius, then call the guards outside,” the general said and Lucilla complied with shaking hands. When the two fighters were free, they prepared the scene. The corpses were hidden in the shadows, while Maximus eased himself back on the table. Lucilla covered him with the blanket, while the others armed themselves with the fallen guards’ weapons. As soon as everybody was ready, she took a deep breath and shouted ‘Help, Caesar needs help!'”
The door slammed open and two praetorians stepped in. They never went past two steps from the door ad they were killed by Juba and Livius.
Lucilla returned to the table to remove the blanket over Maximus who was breathing heavily, looking bad.
“We must go through the Ludus Magnus. Publius is waiting for us there,” he managed to say. Lucilla helped him to sit up, soon sided by Juba. Together they were able to keep him upright as the Spaniard’s legs weakened. Livius grabbed a torch and a sword, opening their way. Lucius was outside and his eyes widened as he saw her mother emerging from the cell with Maximus half carried by a big black man he remembered having seen in the arena.
“Mother, what happened?”
“It’s a long story, my dear. I’ll tell you later. Now we must go.”
The boy nodded and followed the small group through the dark corridor.
As soon as they reached the cages where the other captives were held, they opened all the gates and all the slaves stormed out.
Senator Gracchus was the last to come out, looking the more strained by his captivity. He froze, seeing those he owned his freedom to.
“My lady Lucilla, General,” he said but was interrupted by Maximus who hissed: “There’s no time for this. We must get out of here through the Ludus Magnus.”
The man took the hint, grabbing the torch from Livius’ hand to show the way. The Spaniard resumed walking, fueled only by will power. He stumbled frequently, but Juba managed to keep him going until the small group reached the door leading outside. Gracchus replaced the Numidian on the general’s side as Juba carefully opened the door.
A cloaked figure was waiting outside.
“Is everything alright? Who are you? Where is the Spaniard?” the man asked.
“Here,” Maximus himself replied wearily from the door. Publius ran to him checking his conditions with a glance.
“The cart is waiting for us. Follow me.”
Juba and Livius led their fellow gladiator to the wagon, helping him to climb up. Once inside, the fatigue had the best of him and he passed out before being completely lying down. The physician jumped next to him and once asserted that the Spaniard was actually alive, he turned to face the others.
“We must go away before the Emperor discovers us.”
“Not likely,” Lucilla replied somehow bitterly “but where can we go?”
“To Ostia, to the Felix Legion, I think he could be safe there.” Publius said “The chief surgeon, Marcianus, is a friend of mine. Augusta Lucilla, while we’re still within the walls, I suggest that you and your son remain inside the cart. The others can walk until we buy some horses and supplies. It’s a one day journey to Ostia,” Senator Gracchus advised.
“Alright, let’s go.” Lucilla said finally and Juba helped her and Lucius to go inside.
The small procession began to move with Juba leading the horses and Livius on his side, weapons ready and senses on alert.
The never-ending activity taking place in the crowded streets of Rome slowed them down, providing at the same time a sort of invisibility. They reached a pawnshop where Publius traded some of Lucilla’s jewels, collecting a bag full of coins that was soon lightened purchasing horses and supplies. When they left the city for the low green hills of the countryside, they stopped near a shepherd’s hut and Publius checked Maximus’ conditions. The physician tended to his wounds with all the care he couldn’t use before, happy to use his skills to preserve the man’s life, instead of prolonging his torture. The Spaniard’s skin was chill and while Publius did his best for his external bruises, there was little he could do to help him fight the poison that had saved his life, but at a hard price for his heart. He only hoped that the man was strong enough to survive this ordeal.
“How’s he?” Lucilla asked, trying to conceal the fear in her voice.
“Bad. He’s been through things that could have killed him more than once, but he’s strong and he had chances. Not a lot of them, but we can hope.”
The woman nodded and Publius admired her composure. She really was her father’s daughter. Unlike Commodus, he added to himself.
They all were having an early dinner before starting their journey to Ostia, when Senator Gracchus asked: “What happened before you freed us?”
Lucilla tensed, unwilling to tell the whole story at Lucius’ presence.
“Lady Lucilla, would you mind taking some water from the spring near the house?” Juba said, sensing her discomfort “Master Lucius, would you please help her?”
Mother and son complied and Lucilla gave Juba a thanking smile.
Publius began to tell his part in the plot and Juba intervened supplementing the story with what the physician didn’t know.
“So Commodus had died.” Gracchus said at last “I had hoped to see a moment like this, but everything exactly how we planned it.”
“The general had his revenge,” was the Numidian’s reply.
“General?” Publius asked puzzled.
“The man you know as the Spaniard is General Maximus Decimus Meridius, former Commander of the armies of the North, general of the Felix Legions and Marcus Aurelius’ right arm. You know him as a slave because of Commodus’ hatred.” Juba explained.
“He had started to say something, but I didn’t know. I only wanted to give him a chance, if not to escape, to die in a fight was more suitable to a man like him.”
“You did. Should he die, he’d be able to face his ancestors in the Afterlife with his head high,” Gracchus replied and Juba nodded his agreement.
Lucilla led her son toward the water and as they got there she gestured to him to sit next to her. She put her arms around him and began to explain the facts that had led to the present situation. She told him the truth, only trying to spare him the meanest parts of Commodus’ temper and Lucius’ unintentional betrayal. Lucius listened attentively, his young face too serious for his mother’s heart’s comfort and Lucilla thought about how much he resembled his father, a good man whose life had been too short, leaving his wife and child to face the dangerous waters of the imperial palace. Even if Lucius was nearly too grown up for this, she put him on her lap, cradling him like she had done so many times in the past. She sensed his silent tears and rocked him while she let her own flow down her face. She mourned for all the losses in her life, her mother, her sweet husband, her beloved father and her little brother, for the child afraid of the darkness that he had been, before turning into a heartless monster, capable of unspeakable cruelty. She had a thought also for Olivia and Marcus, Maximus’ loves, which had paid with their lives for her father’s last wish. At the end she wept also for herself, for the young girl who had been madly in love with a handsome officer of the army, a man she had rejected in the name of the reason of state, a man she had betrayed more than once and she couldn’t help herself but to care for.
As the tears stopped, mother and son returned to the small camp. After supper, Publius checked Maximus who seemed close to wake up, his eyelids fluttering briefly. He didn’t, though, and the physician went down to meet the others. They agreed to travel the whole night to put as much distance as possible between themselves and Rome.
Marcus Aurelius was talking to him and Maximus was puzzled because his last memory of the old man was his body lying on a bed.
“I know that I asked so much from you in the past, but there’s one more duty for you to fulfill.”
Maximus tried to stand up on attention but he had problems to assert where up was. He attempted to speak but his voice refused to come out and he just floated away in the darkness, missing the Emperor’s request.
Lucilla observed Maximus moaning in his sleep and she brushed his cheeks. She passed her fingers over the dark circles under his closed eyes, feeling guilty for having caused the pain that had brought them on his face. She prayed to the Gods to let him live. He had paid the highest price for his loyalty and he deserved something for himself, even if this meant dying as a free man and not as a battered slave. She hoped that he could have something more than this. She just couldn’t help herself wishing she could have something for herself, too.
As they reached Ostia, it wasn’t hard finding where the Felix Legion was camped. From inside the cart Lucilla recalled how many camps she had seen in her life, during her father’s travel throughout the empire. Despite what people used to think about her, she had always loved the long journeys on never-ending roads, leading to the wildest part of the world. She did like the luxury of her condition, but she had loved so much more the moments she had shared with her father, when she had been able to talk to him as a peer. He was one of the few who had really listened to her words. Him and Maximus, since they met so many years ago.
“Milady Lucilla” a respectful voice said and she turned finding herself facing the brightest blue-green gaze she’d ever seen and that she wasn’t going to forget.
The sentry at the main gate wasn’t too thrilled when Publius asked to see the chief surgeon, but since he hadn’t apparently more urgent matters to attend to, he elected to go and fetch him. He soon returned with Marcianus. The man’s face brightened seeing who the visitor was and hugged him.
“Publius, my friend, what brings you here?”
“I have a patient I’m really worried about. I came here to ask for your advice.”
Knowing the skills of his friend, Marcianus looked puzzled as he followed Publius inside the cart. As the curtains were opened, the sun shone on the unconscious man lying on his stomach, his head turned toward the physician. Marcianus gasped in surprise.
“How… how can this be? I’d heard that he had been killed in Germania,” he stammered.
“This was the intention. But he survived and the Emperor tried to fix his first mistake. I gave him a potion that caused a death-like state. This saved his life for a while, but he’s been tortured and I’m not sure he’ll survive. Could you please hide and help him?” Publius explained.
“Were you followed? Is the Emperor looking for him?”
“I don’t think so, at least not the Emperor. But others may be curious about his whereabouts.”
Marcianus nodded and left him for a moment, to speak with the guards. After few words, they let the cart pass the gate.
As the group reached Marcianus’ tent, the surgeon went in to prepare his tools. Meanwhile Juba and Livius moved Maximus inside. Marcianus hadn’t been surprised at Lucilla’s presence at the general’s side. He remembered her very well, having seen her with her father from childhood, until she had become the beautiful woman she was now. What he didn’t remember having seen before was the deep concern that crossed her regal features. She looked even more beautiful, though, as her will power and cleverness emerged. She looked sad, too, as if she was carrying all the weight of the world upon her shoulders. He gave her a reassuring smile, praying that he could do something to ease hers and Maximus’ pain.
Once the Spaniard was put on the table, Marcianus assessed his conditions, shaking his head in disbelief. He had cured his former general and friend many times in the past and he had feared for his life more than once, because Maximus had never been prone to remain safe within the Praetorium yelling orders. But, back then; it had been for “clean” wounds, battle injuries. He just couldn’t accept this wickedness. Even though Publius hadn’t explained everything, Marcianus knew that Commodus must have been behind this, talking delight in the pain he caused. The physician had witnessed the younger man’s hatred for the general growing and festering, fueled by Commodus’ insanity, as well as by Marcus Aurelius’ blindness to what his lack of affection towards his son was causing.
“My decision disappoints you?” Marcus Aurelius asked.
“You wrote to me once, listing the four chief virtues — wisdom, justice, fortitude, and temperance. As I read the list I knew I had none of them. But I have other virtues, Father — ambition, that can be a virtue when it drives us to excel; resourcefulness; courage, perhaps not on the battlefield but there are many forms of courage; devotion, to my family, to you. But none of my virtues were on your list. Even then it was as if you didn’t want me for your son.” was Commodus’ reply, his eyes full of tears.
“Oh, Commodus, you go too far.”
“I searched the faces of the gods for ways to please you, to make you proud…. One kind word, one full hug while you pressed me to your chest and held me tight, would have been like the sun on my heart for a thousand years…. What is it in me you hate so much? All I ever wanted was to live up to you, Caesar, Father.”
Marcianus had always hoped for a positive ending to that, but there had been none, until now. He used all his skills to continue Publius’ cares, doing his best to fight what was killing Maximus and when he had finished, he asked the two gladiators to move Maximus to one of the cots of the infirmary.
Juba was actually stunned when the physician thanked them. It had been so long since someone had addressed him with respect, that he had quite forgotten how it was to be treated like a human being and not cattle.
“He’s a friend of mine. He deserved this,” and Marcianus smiled his agreement to that statement.
“He’s bad. I’m not sure if he’ll survive, but we did our best and now only God may decide. I put his life in His hands.”
“God?” Lucilla asked, “Are you one of those Christians?”
“Yes, Domina, and I hope this isn’t a problem for you.”
“Not at all. I’ve always known you as a good man and the God you pray to hasn’t changed that, as far as I can see,” she replied and Marcianus nodded to her acknowledgement while she moved near the cot where Maximus laid. She took a chair, preparing herself for a long wake.
Publius waved a goodbye to his old friend on his way back to Rome and his family, while Marcianus began to work on a solution concerning the new guests’ accommodation.
The new commander of the Felix Legion didn’t like the army life style, preferring his rich palace in Rome, so it wasn’t a problem hiding the presence of new recruits in the camp. But someone else had to know, so Marcianus spread the news to the officers who had been closer to Maximus. Silently they built up a defense around their former leader from the threats to come.
His mother’s touch was wonderful on his hot face and Maximus smiled. He struggled to open his eyes, but as he was able to do so, he saw Lucilla next to him. It took him a while to put everything back in place, but as he was able to gather his wits, he noticed the worry lines on her face.
“Am I so bad?” he wondered “Yes, probably,” his aching body reminded him, but he managed to put a smile on his swollen lips to reassure her. He didn’t know if he had been successful because darkness took him again and he returned into its cold embrace.
While his mother was on Maximus’ side, Lucius spent his time with Juba. The Numidian was happy of being able to lift the boy’s sadness, telling him tales about his home country, the nature, and the animals he used to hunt. The young boy was curious about everything, coaxing him to say more. On his side, Juba was more than willing to share his memories with him, and the sensation of being unshackled was heartwarming. If only he could go back home.
Marcianus returned often to check his patient. The Spaniard’s conditions weren’t improving, but at the same time he wasn’t getting worse, so the physician allowed himself a little hope.
After the first day, Senator Gracchus decided to return to Rome, assuring Lucilla that he would send news and Livius had escorted him back. The former gladiator had little to do in the camp, so he preferred to find his own way in life. Lucilla had thanked him for his help, rewarding him with a purse fat of sesterces and a document assuring his freeing. He had thanked her and never turned back.
Maximus was still fighting death, as the news that Pertinax – after Commodus’ death – had declared himself Emperor reached Ostia and the camp. There were rumors concerning the late Emperor’s sudden death, but nothing was sure and the new Caesar didn’t seem eager to discover who had done him such a gift. The Commander of the Felix Legion entrusted by Commodus, apparently decided to reduce even more his visits to his supposed army and the officers had a meeting to decide what to do. Most of them had suspects about the identity of the man who had freed Rome from Marcus Aurelius’ son, but nobody gave voice to those dangerous thoughts, just in case the Praetorians came to exact revenge. After some time, they decided to just wait for developments, the situation in Rome seemed quite under control, given the circumstances, so the better choice seemed to be to wait and see.
“Please, my Friend, stay with me a little more. Give me time to tell you how much I’m sorry for you. Please, Maximus, live.”
Lucilla had whispered these words like a prayer, the seventh day after the escape from Rome. Her eyes were dry after so much crying for him and she was struggling not to despair.
“If this is an order, I’ll obey, Domina.” was the weak answer.
Lucilla jumped in surprise, as she saw Maximus looking at her. He was pale and tired, but awake. She cried softly and squeezed his hand, just to be sure that she wasn’t dreaming. He smiled at her, blinked and fell asleep again. She sighed, but for the first time in days, the dark desperation she allowed herself to dream.
Lucilla had left Maximus’ side for a while to look for Lucius. Some of the cavalrymen were teaching him how to ride a big horse, instead of the pony he was used to and she could see that he was happier than he had looked in months. He was rumpled and dirty, but at ease with those men. His fair skin had acquired a darker color and his freckles were even cuter on his young face.
“He’s fine. They are taking care of him,” Juba said behind her and she turned.
“I never thanked you enough for what you did for him and for me.”
“You didn’t have to, I read it in your eyes. They changed since your arrival here and this is my reward.”
Lucilla’s answer was a smile.
Marcianus arrived at the infirmary to check Maximus. The physician unfastened the bandages, and then spread his ointments on the raw skin. The general was going to bear the scars of his ordeal, but the wounds were healing.
“Did you ever tire of patching me up?” his patient asked and Marcianus jumped in surprise.
“Welcome back, Maximus. I’m really glad to see that the general has won another battle.”
“Thanks to your skills.”
“And to the fact that you’ve always been too stubborn to surrender. That had always helped me very much. I’m so happy to see you awake. You made me fear for your life, this time, you know.” Marcianus added with a chastening look. The general laughed at his expression, but began to cough and the physician helped him to drink some water.
“You look as if you’ve been caught in the middle of a cavalry drill, but it seems as if the worst’s over. Now you must rest and allow time to heal you.”
“I wasn’t planning to go anywhere in the near future,” Maximus added, his words fading as he fell asleep again.
As soon as the news that Maximus was better spread throughout the camp, some of his soldiers came to meet him. Grizzled centurions, as well as young boys, arrived at the infirmary even just to take a look, to be sure that their beloved commander was still with them. They looked concerned about his condition and some cursed loudly witnessing his wounds, soon blushing as they remembered the presence of a lady with him. Maximus was very touched by their loyalty, often fighting tiredness and pain to stay awake during their visits. More than once Marcianus had to shoo the legionaries away when he saw that his patient was exhausted by their visits. He knew, however, that their affection was helping the general’s recovery, more than his potions. This and Lucilla always on his side.
“Mother, a man is here for you from Senator Gracchus.” It took a while for Lucilla to realize that Lucius was talking to her.
“All right, Lucius. I’m coming,” she answered fully awake at once. She quickly dressed without help, something that would have seemed ludicrous just a while ago. She didn’t miss her servants, though, as well as her life in the imperial palace. She still hadn’t a mirror, so she just left her hair free on her back and went out.
Gracchus’ messenger was a handsome young slave, the kind of servant that the senator had always preferred. The man bowed reverently, handing a scroll to her, She unrolled it and read the news.
“Please tell Senator Gracchus that I thank him for the news and that I took good note of its meaning. Thank you very much.”
The young man nodded and returned to his horse. With the scroll still in her hands, she went to see Maximus, hoping he was awake.
The Spaniard was having breakfast and smiled as she came in. Watching the parchment he asked: “News from Rome?”
“Yes, Pertinax is still working, or rather “paying” to strengthen his position on the throne.”
“I’m sorry for this. I wasn’t able to fulfill your father’s dream. I failed him for the first time in my life,” Maximus replied to her words.
“No you didn’t. It was foolish of my father just thinking to put such a burden on your shoulders. You’re far too much of a good man for Rome and her politics. He should have let you return where your heart belonged, instead of putting you through the living hell you experienced. You ought to have to be rewarded for your loyalty to the Empire, not paying the price you paid. My family owes you a lot. I hope you could ever forgive us for what we committed against you. I hope you could forgive me,” she ended saying, her voice hoarse.
“I already did.”
Lucilla stammered.
“How could you? Commodus had you tortured because of me.”
“Not because of you, but because of his hatred. He had used you to reach me, as he would have done with anyone. I was afraid he would hurt you. I’m happy he didn’t.”
“He did, with the poison of his words, with his lust and madness. Every single day since your capture, he gave a report of what they’ve been doing to you, laughing as I paled. He threatened to kill Lucius if I didn’t accept his attentions and he said he wanted to start a new royal dynasty with me.”
The color drained from Maximus’ face at her words.
“Did he touch you?” he asked in a whisper.
“No, thank the Gods. I guess he wanted to wait for your death. He was still afraid of you, even chained in the darkness of his prison. And he envied you, as he had envied everyone I loved. When I got married he just couldn’t stand my husband. Luckily we lived far away from Rome, but when Lucius died, my father asked me to return. I wish I had said no.”
“When I think of my last meeting with your father, I wish I had said yes, but still I’m not sure if this would have changed the outcome, probably only the timing. Commodus would never have accepted me in the position he wanted for himself. He would have fought with all his might and this could have torn the Empire to pieces. I only would… would have preferred being the only one to pay for his hatred. The silliest thing was that he missed his true target, me.”
“I’m happy he did it. I would have lost a piece of my heart, as I did when I though he had you killed in Vindobona.”
Maximus was looking at her with an expression she couldn’t read and she thought she had upset him with her words, but it was only a glimpse and he returned to his breakfast.
“How’s Lucius?” he asked after a while.
“He’s fine. Your men and Juba are spoiling him shamelessly. They’re teaching him to ride warhorses and he’s having the time of his life. He’s never been happy on the Palatine hill. When my husband was still alive, he used to play with Lucius any time he could. I remember them returning home at dusk, sweaty, dirty, giggling like two naughty children.”
“I always wanted to do so, but I could only few times. I think that what kept me from going insane in the long cold Northern nights, was the thought that I was doing what I had to protect them and other families from the darkness.”
Maximus’ words faded as he tried to fight the tears running down his cheeks at the thought of his family. Lucilla went closer and sweetly kissed a tear away before saying: “You did, General, you did. Your family must be proud of you in Elysium.”
His stunned gaze was fixed on her.
Two weeks after the escape from the bowels of the Coliseum, Senator Gracchus came to the camp in person. He was glad to see that the general was well enough to talk with him and Lucilla. His left arm and hand were bandaged, and the exposed flesh bore a frightening array of bruises and wounds. As he rose to his feet to meet him, the politician noticed a light limp, but given what the man had been through, the Spaniard looked better than expected. After the greetings, Maximus went straight to the point: “How’s the situation in Rome?”
“Precariously balanced between peace and disaster. Pertinax is still on the throne, but how long he will last, is something I cannot surmise.”
“Are they looking for me or Lucilla and Lucius?” Maximus asked.
“I’m not sure, because the Praetorians aren’t exactly fond of me. Pertinax spread the news that Commodus died from natural causes and he attended at the funeral in strict mourning. To those puzzled of Lucilla’s and Lucius’ absence, he explained that you were both so distressed that it would be too much for you being there. I guess he’s curious, but more than this he’s struggling to keep his position. He doesn’t seem inclined to spare his men to look for you. Did you have problems with the commander of the Legion?”
“No, after Commodus’ death, he made himself scarce. Good thing that the supplies were paid and delivered before the last turn of the events. His second in command, Donatus is a clever man and a good soldier.”
“Given the situation,” Lucilla asked, “do you think that the idea of making Rome a republic again is feasible?”
“I’m afraid not anymore. Everything changed in the meantime. Should the Legions march toward Rome now, that would mean a blood bath. The Praetorians are on alert now, and they won’t be willing to give up their control of the throne, in favor of a republic. And the senate supports the new emperor. Especially because he’s backed by the Praetorian Guard. I’m afraid, though, that the situation is likely to change, as soon as he’ll find no more money in his purse, or the Praetorian Guard find a more appealing leader.”
“So the blood bath would be only delayed?” Maximus offered and Gracchus could only nod at the sad truth in his words.
“How much time do you think we have?” Lucilla asked.
“Not much. Pertinax had bitten more than he could chew and short of a miracle, he’s not destined to keep his seat for long.”
“So we must find a suitable replacement and do this quite soon,” Maximus said.
There was silence, when everybody mused upon his words. It was again the General who broke it saying after a long pause “What about Septimius Severus?”
“I’ve heard his name before, even if I don’t know him. Do you know him?” Gracchus demanded, his political mind already recalling the memories he had of the man.
“I met him during our years in the Army. Last time I’ve heard about him, he was Governor of Pannonia. He’s a very capable soldier, and a true leader. He could be the answer.”
“But what about you?” the senator replied, “You were Marcus Aurelius’ choice.”
“He didn’t want me to rule as an emperor. He asked me to make Rome a republic again. Now that his dream cannot be fulfilled anymore, I’m free to decide upon my life and I don’t want to rule.”
“But…” Gracchus started to say, but Maximus stopped him waving his good hand.
“You won’t make me change my mind, so don’t even try.”
“He’s right. He has given everything for the sake of Rome and now She owes him,” Lucilla added much to Gracchus’ surprise.
“So what are we going to do?” he asked.
“Call Septimius Severus and offer him the throne. If we are fast enough, we could bring him to Rome before the real trouble starts.” she said.
“The travel to Pannonia is long and likely dangerous.” the senator observed “Will it be safe to trust a messenger to deliver the request to him, and him only?” He turned to Maximus, saying, “You said you knew him. Will he trust you?”
“I think so. We weren’t close, but we always shared a mutual respect. He would listen, even if I cannot assure you that he would accept.”
“But you cannot embark in such a long journey in your condition,” Lucilla observed, her voice tinged with concern, “you’re still recovering and bumping on endless roads on a cart, is not exactly the healthier way for a proper recovery.”
A bitter smile crossed Maximus’ features as he spoke: “In my haste I forgot something that could prevent me from reaching my goal: I’m still a slave and slaves aren’t supposed to travel without their master. Since Proximo is dead, I don’t know whom I belong to. I could be property of the Empire.”
“You belong to me,” Lucilla whispered.
“What?” the Spaniard asked.
“After Proximo’s death, Commodus declared that because of your owner’s betrayal, you and all the other gladiators had became his. He kept taunting me with this story, saying that you would have been a gift for me, in case of his early departure.”
“I’m your slave,” Maximus said in a blank tone.
“I would give your freedom back to you right now, but this would mean reveal your identity and this might be dangerous for you. Not to mention that as a Roman citizen, you shouldn’t have been enslaved from the beginning. You ought to have recourse to a court, so that your status of a free citizen can be restored, but this would mean attracting attention. Until that moment we must be careful,” she continued, while her mind returned to the past.
“What would you do for me, my Love?” Lucilla asked the handsome soldier who had professed her his love.
“Whatever you want, because I’m your slave.”
“And a real handsome one. You would be worth the highest price ever paid in a market of the Empire.”
Maximus laughed at her words.
“There’s no need to reveal neither his identity, nor his state” Gracchus said stealing Lucilla from her reverie “He could travel under another name.”
“And what if someone recognizes him as the Spaniard? They could think he’s a fugitive slave and capture him.”
“I could travel as a common slave, nobody pays notice to slaves. They’re just part of the scenery.”
Lucilla’s guts clenched at his words.
“You could travel with Lucius and me, as an escort, without need to explain.”
“It’s too dangerous for you” – Maximus retorted – “and what about Lucius?”
“We’ve always been in danger, since the day Commodus killed our father. The closer we remain to Rome, the more in danger we are.”
“This could work,” Gracchus said, perusing her words. “You could travel, hiding your identities as much as possible.”
“We must talk to Marcianus, first. You will travel only when he says that this won’t hurt you.” Lucilla added looking Maximus right in the eye and he nodded, knowing that she was right and dying on the road would have been of no use for the sake of Rome.
Marcianus arrived a couple of hours later to check his patient. He seemed pleased of what he was seeing, until Maximus spoke about the journey.
“I won’t tell that it would be better not to go, because I know this would be useless, but you must wait at least a week or two before leaving. You’re not well enough for this. You need to regain more of your strength or my efforts will go wasted. Give your body a chance.”
Surprisingly the Spaniard agreed and Marcianus smiled at him.
After the physician’s departure, Maximus got up to meet Donatus. His slow walk through the camp was saluted by the soldiers who wanted to congratulate him for his recovery. As he finally reached his destination, the second in command was grinning.
“I ought to know it was you. I’ve heard you arriving, like you can feel a storm approaching.”
“I hope you don’t consider me as a natural disaster.”
“Of course not, but some of your foes may have thought this in the past.”
Maximus’ eyes twinkled in response and Donatus gestured his friend to sit down.
“You know the reason of Senator Gracchus’ presence at the camp, today, don’t you?” the Spaniard said, stating something, more than asking.
“Yes, he passed here before leaving. Do you think this would work?”
“I hope so. I don’t see other solutions. Pertinax isn’t bound to last, so we must act fast.”
“Septimius Severus is a good soldier, with a knack for politics. The Gods know why! Who do you think you should go and talk him into this scheme?”
“I volunteered, together with Lady Lucilla and Lucius.”
“Smart idea. As long as they remain close to Rome, they are in danger, and you too. But what did Marcianus have to say about this? Does he think that you are strong enough for such a journey?”
“He told me to wait, but it’s feasible, as soon as I don’t overstrain myself.”
“You’ll need an escort. I’ll give you some legionnaires.”
“Don’t get in trouble for me. Lucilla has enough money to hire help.”
“I’m the officer in charge and thinking of the safety of sister of the late – even if not mourned – emperor and her son is a duty for me. And I don’t think that the commander would notice, in the improbable hypothesis he’d find the way back to this camp. I wonder if he ever remembers we exist. Just tell me when you’re going to leave and I’ll arrange a suitable escort. The only problem will be sorting out the men. I’m afraid that leaving with half of the legion in tow would attract attention and this is what’s going to happen if I let the men have a word about who wants to go.”
Maximus didn’t answer, but Donatus saw that he was moved by the men’s loyalty. He stretched carefully to ease the stiffness in his body, but the movement made him wincing in pain.
“I guess it’s time for you to listen to Marcianus’ piece of advice and rest. There’s a long road waiting for you and you must be in good shape, now that the Fate of Rome is once again into your hands,” Donatus added to himself.
“I hate to say this, but I must agree with you. These days everything seems just harder than it used to be.” Maximus got up with an effort and Donatus helped him to regain his footing when he staggered.
“What are friends for, if not for offering their support?” the second in command asked witnessing the Spaniard’s expression when he offered his arm. Maximus nodded tiredly at his words and allowed his friend to help him on his way back to his tent.
The dark cell under the Coliseum that was now his world seemed to be shrinking around him. He could feel the walls touching his wounded body, hurting him, taking his breath away. He tried to shout, but his throat was closed and a ragged moan was all that he could muster. He made another attempt, but still no sound and the walls were closer, now.
Maximus woke up breathing hard, noticing with relief that he wasn’t in the bowels of the Coliseum anymore. Lucilla was looking at him, worried.
“It was a dream,” he said, as if to reassure himself that the torture was over.
“You’re safe now. I’ll protect you,” the woman replied, softly brushing his forehead with cool hands.
“I wasn’t able to protect you,” he said and his voice sounded eerie, as if it still belonged to the nightmare.
“You’re wrong. You did it more than you would know,” she answered and the sweetness of her smile made him think that she could be telling the truth. The thought was so heartwarming that he was able to relax and return to sleep, this time without nightmares haunting him.
The following days, a bad weather hit the camp, bringing rain and cold. Maximus’ recovery seemed delayed by the lack of sun and he had a fever. Marcianus pointed out that he wasn’t in danger, but since he was still very weak, they had to be careful.
Juba was in Maximus’ tent when a thunder exploded close and they both jumped. The Numidian grinned at his own reaction, his white teeth contrasting with the dark skin.
“In my country, it’s time to prepare everything before the rainy season.” he said.
“Good time for traveling?”
“Yes, when the rains start, moving will be really hard, but why are you asking?”
“Why are you still here, my friend, when you could be on a ship headed to Africa?”
“Because this is my place.”
“You saved my life more than once and I’ll never be able to thank you enough for your help, but you still have a family and they need you more than I do. Go to them.”
“But you’re gong to start another long and dangerous journey. I’m a good warrior and a good hunter and you still need me.”
“Yes, I’m not arguing about your talents, but I won’t be alone and you’ve someone more important than me to care for.”
“You’re a friend and you matter to me.”
“Yes and I thank you for this, but your wife and daughters matter more than me.”
“Not more, in a different way. But you’re right. Ever night and every day I think of them and my heart breaks.”
“Ostia is a big harbor and there are vessels headed to everywhere in the world. If you leave soon, you may arrive home before the bad season.”
“But I have no money to pay the passage and I don’t think that my skills would pay the passage for me.”
“This isn’t a problem,” Lucilla said from the entrance “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard your words. I owe you very much; let me help you to return to your family. I’ll give you all the money you may need for your journey, as well as your freedom.”
“I don’t know what to say, my Lady” Juba said after few moments of awkward silence.
“Just leave as soon as possible.”
“I’ll do my Lady. Thank you for everything,” the man replied leaving the tent.
“I wonder why Commodus kept the whole Proximo’s herd,” Maximus said, as his friend wasn’t at earshot anymore.
“Maybe he wanted someone to train with better skilled than the Praetorians. I’m glad that I can do something for him. It’s a shame that I cannot do the same for you.”
“I know it and I understand.”
“You understand, of course, but this is hurting you deeply and I really wish that there could be another way.”
Maximus didn’t reply, acknowledging that she was right. It wasn’t her fault, but he just couldn’t help thinking that belonging to her was even worse than belonging to Proximo or even Commodus. They hadn’t mattered for him, but she had and this hurt. At first, when he had woken up as a slave, the pain in his soul had been so deep to prevent him from mourning about the loss of his freedom. After a while, his pride and his desire for revenge had helped him to think that Proximo wasn’t his owner, but a tool to reach Commodus. He had been sorry to have caused the lanista’s death, but Proximo knew what he was doing deciding to take part in the plot and he had been richly rewarded. After that, the long days in the cell under the Coliseum had erased most of his thoughts, while he concentrated in the effort not to show the pain consuming him. Now everything was different, he had had his revenge, the wounds were healing and his brain was free to think. Free, as he was not.
Lucilla hadn’t intruded Maximus’ silence, knowing how the present situation was affecting him. She just hoped that this wasn’t going to tear them apart like it had happened in the past, leaving both full of sorrow and disappointment.
Lucius’ entrance, like a whirlwind, broke the adults’ reveries.
“Mum, dinner’s ready. The cook said that we must hurry or he’s going to feed the animals with it.”
Lucilla and Maximus laughed following him outside.
On the first day without rain, Juba reached Ostia’s harbor to collect information about the vessels headed to North Africa. As he returned, at noon, his dark eyes were shining.
“So this is a farewell,” Maximus said hearing that a ship was going to leave in two days for Carthage and that his friend was going to be on it. “I’m so happy for you my friend.”
“It’s odd, but a part of me would like to follow you in your journey, while the other just cannot wait to sail.”
“Just think of me, from time to time, and you’ll be with us.” Maximus added smiling broadly. “Is everything alright with your documents?”
“Yes, Lucilla has freed me. I cannot read the scroll she gave me, so I hope everything is all right. She also gave me money for the journey. I wish I could repay her for her kindness.”
“She’s truly her father’s daughter. Marcus Aurelius was a true leader, kind at heart, but tough and cold when needed. He was generous and he always listened. He was like a father for me and I miss him. He would have surely been proud of Lucilla as Caesar and she would have done her best for the sake of Rome.”
“Yes I did, but somehow it wasn’t enough.”
“Do you really believe you could have prevented what happened with Commodus?”
“I don’t know, maybe not, but I would have preferred not to be part of it. Being a soldier or a gladiator is easier, in a sort of way. You fight for life or you die, that simple. You don’t have to deal with treachery, politics, plots and schemes.”
“That’s why you refused the throne?”
“Yes, it’s not for me.”
“Who would have imagined that the man I met on a jolting cart headed to the slaves’ market of Zucchabar, would have been my key to freedom. When they hurled you on the wagon, feverish, dirty and half-dead, I only thought that I couldn’t let you die like this, to be fed to the lions.”
“At first, I wasn’t so glad that you saved my life, but when my heart started to feel again, it was good having a friend like you.”
“When I leave, it’s unlikely that we’ll see each other again, but you’ll always be my friend.”
“So will you be.”
“Strength and honor.”
Juba’s leave was bittersweet, but the light of joy in his eyes was all that Maximus needed. His friend was headed back home to his family and he was proud of having been part of his return. They hugged and said their farewells, knowing that they would probably never meet again, but the things were just going in the right direction. Lucilla shook his hand and Lucius kissed him on the cheek, trying manly to hide his tears. The Numidian smiled, waved a last time and walked in sure strides toward the ship waiting for him.
In the following days messages came from Gracchus about the situation in Rome and Septimius Severus. The senator said that nothing had changed significantly, but part of the Senate had found the idea of calling the governor of Pannonia quite appealing, especially if he could take the breath of the Praetorian Guard from its neck. Some had wrinkled their patrician noses at the thought of a Provincial from Africa on the highest seat on the Palatine Hill, but other ones had given their support to Gracchus. Maximus’ health was improving and he started to train with the soldiers. He joked with them when the fear of hurting him had made them too cautious.
“Don’t treat me like an old lady,” he had said once “use your bloody swords the way they’re supposed to be used! I won’t fall into pieces.”
This had earned him a better training fight, as well as aches everywhere, but that wasn’t something he was going to reveal to anybody. When he returned to the tent he shared now with Marcianus, he was so worn out that he collapsed on the cot with a sigh, dozing off with his clothes on, causing the physician to smile when he was back. Even if Maximus was only a few years younger than him, he had always been a sort of son for Marcianus, to be proud of and to be worried about when his courage and strength put him in danger, and now, deep into an exhausted sleep, he looked as vulnerable as a child.
“Please, almighty God, be kind to him. He’s not one of your flock, but he’s a good and honorable man and he deserves happiness,” Marcianus prayed softly, while covering the sleeping man with a blanket.
Six weeks after the escape from Rome, Marcianus declared through half gritted teeth that Maximus was well enough to leave and the preparations started in earnest. He had several meetings with Lucilla, Donatus and some of the officers and it was decided that the former general and the Augusta would have an escort of twenty men, a number suitable for rich matrons. They also decided to hire a woman to be her maid and the choice fell on the niece of a centurion who lived in Ostia, Fulvia. She was a plump sixteen year-old girl, with a friendly smile and sweet manners. She didn’t look very skilled in rich ladies’ grooming, but she was smart, eager to learn and Lucius liked her from the start.
The day of the departure there were many faces suddenly tears-stained at the sight of General Maximus leaving. His men waved at him until the caravan was out of sight, before returning to their daily chores.
While they were still close to Rome, Maximus, Lucilla and Lucius spent the first days of the journey inside the cart, going out when it was dark or nobody was around. Since the young boy was restless, Maximus played board games with him, but most of the time he listened to the stories that Lucius was so eager to share. One afternoon, when the little boy was explaining excitedly to the general his first ride on a warhorse, comfortably leaned against the man’s chest, Lucilla caught a veil of sadness in Maximus’ eyes and she understood why. When Lucius finally fell asleep, the Spaniard didn’t move and soon he dozed off, too, cradled by the movements of the wagon. Watching her son resting in the comfort of the man’s strength, she felt like crying. Maximus had been her first love, the one who had made her heart beat faster, who had had her young girl’s awkward and yet passionate kisses, who had taught and learned love. Listening to the even breathing of the two people she had cared for most in her life, apart from her father, she came to a resolution she had dreaded to take. She got up and went to the small table in the joggling cart.
It was evening when Maximus and Lucius woke up, startled by the sudden stop of the wagon. Lucilla was watching them and smiled at the man’s embarrassment.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sleep. I guess I was tired,” he said while Lucius jumped down from the cart.
“I didn’t mind. You both looked so peaceful.”
“I was dreaming I was a little boy, back home in Spain and my father was teaching me to ride.”
“Were you a good boy?”
“Only when it came to horses. My mother used to threaten me to accept a neighbor’s piece of advice to confine me in the stables from time to time, just to give a rest to everybody’s nerves.”
“What did you do to make them think so?”
“Once I risked putting his barn on fire, because I was experimenting burning glasses.”
“Burning glasses?”
“Yes, I’d read of them and I was curious.”
“Did you actually cause damages?”
“No, because I took the precaution to have water handy, but he wasn’t happy of my ingenuity.”
“I can believe it.”
“Last time I saw him I was already tribune. He was paying a visit to my parents and he confessed that he hadn’t thought I could have survived my teen years.”
“My nurse used to say something similar after chasing me throughout the palace for years- I was thin and fast and used to escape at top speed whenever they averted their eyes for a moment. I guessed that if I weren’t the Emperor’s daughter, they would have me tied to the bed.”
They both laughed at their early days’ feats, then Lucilla returned serious and Maximus looked at her puzzled by the sudden change of mood.
“I have something for you. Something that I should have given you early, but…” she ended while handing him a scroll with shaking hands. He took the parchment and read it.
His eyes saw the words, but his mind seemed unable to make a sense out of them, until he willed himself to focus. It was the document by which Lucilla was freeing him. He recognized her signature and seal, as well as her elegant writing and his heart threatened to jump from his chest. He just couldn’t believe it, until when, all of a sudden, he realized something.
“Why does the document bear only your signature? I though that it required a witness. How did you manage to avoid this?” he asked.
“You never owned a slave, did you?”
“Never, I don’t think someone should own another human being.”
“I guessed it, because if you did, you would have known that a master is entitled to write down this sort of document without help or need for witnesses.”
Maximus didn’t speak for a while, then his blue eyes turned into ice as he asked: “But if this is true, why did you tell me that freeing me would have involved revealing my identity?”
“Because I thought that this could have been safer for you. Belonging to me, you’d have enjoyed the protection of my name and rank. Being a free man, before we can summon a magistrate to recognize your legal position, could have been dangerous for you.”
“Did you think that being a slave of yours would have prevented a Praetorian guard to slay me out of revenge for your brother’s death, or a sword to seize my heart during a fight? Why did you lie to me? Didn’t I deserve at least some honesty?” he demanded in such a cold and angry voice that she fought the tears welling up in her eyes. The last time he had talked to her this way had been when she had visited him under the Coliseum and he had rejected her idea for a plot against Commodus.
“I…. I… I thought it was the wisest thing to do. I didn’t mean to lie to you, I, I.. only wanted to protect you,” she concluded her eyes downcast.
Silence fell once again and unable to look at his angry gaze, she turned toward the door of the cart. Lucius was running around laughing and this put a little smile on her face.
“You were through so many things that I wanted to keep you safe. I was trying to repay you for every time you protected my father and me as well. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she continued.
“Why did you change your mind, then?” he said and his tone sounded slightly less harsh.
“I saw you sleeping with my son in your arms and I knew that as much I as couldn’t think of owning his life, I couldn’t own yours, even to keep you safe.”
Maximus was looking at Lucius, too, and this recalled memories of his son. He thought of how proud and happy he had been when he had first taken the small wailing bundle from his wife’s arms and he understood Lucilla’s words. His anger melted and he thought of gathering her in his arms, but he realized that he wasn’t ready for this, so he just said: “Thank you Lucilla, this means a lot to me.”
Lucilla turned to him, puzzled, tears shining in her eyes.
“There’s another thing to complete the ritual,” she said. “Please come closer.”
He obliged and when he was next to her, she brushed his chin with her long fingers.
“This should have been a ritual slap, but I think that Marcianus would have objected if I added new bruises on you, after all he did to patch you up.”
The general’s eyes sparkled and she got lost in them. The sound of hooves-beats startled her, reminding her where she was. Maximus grinned as he helped her to go down from the cart.
The first part of the journey through the Italic peninsula was uneventful. They traveled slowly because of the cart hosting Lucilla, Lucius and the maid. Maximus stayed with them during the day, while – at night – he shared one of the tents of the soldiers. When nobody was around he rode one of the horses and Lucius often begged to be allowed to ride with him, in front of his saddle, knowing that the general was more than happy to oblige. Lucilla watched them together and she laughed to herself thinking about how much she would have liked to be in her child’s position.
When they stopped in the evening, Maximus kept himself fit doing sword practice. He taught the soldiers some tricks he had learned in the arena and they were happy of the camaraderie they could share with their former leader. Lucius witnessed their training eager to be part of it, but Maximus always refused to let him use a weapon.
“You’ll have time for this later,” he answered the first time the boy complained.
Lucilla who was watching from near the campfire smiled at his wisdom. No wonder that her father trusted him enough to entrust him to restore the Republic: he possessed all the virtues that Marcus Aurelius expected and respected in a man and a leader. This thread of thoughts led her to think of Commodus. Despite what he had done and had been about to do before his death, she mourned him for what he could have become. He had always been difficult to understand, with a flaming temper that spared no one in his hunger for affection that made him blind to reason or common sense. For the umpteenth time she wondered what would have happened if he had received a fraction of the love Marcus Aurelius had reserved for Maximus. The Spaniard was honest, brave and trustworthy, with a great sense of duty and responsibility, an easy target for love and respect, while Commodus had been foul-tempered, unpredictable and cruel. On the other hand she remembered the little child afraid of the darkness lingering through the cold marble columns of the Imperial palace and also the stern look on her father’s face while he explained that a man must not be afraid of the darkness because it was a gift of the Gods just like the light. Wise words, indeed, but hardly suitable to soothe a boy of five and after this the Emperor had left the room with a satisfied look on his face, ignoring the tears in his son’s eyes while she cradled him into sleep.
The Flaminia road unrolled under their feet as they headed north. Sometimes the passage of a cart with an escort of twenty men frightened the farmers along the way and Maximus couldn’t blame them for being prudent. Despite they wariness, when it became apparent that the group wasn’t looking for trouble, the country folks acted friendly and welcomed them warmly. From time to time the group stopped for buying food and make camp and then Lucius had the chance to run and play with boys and girls of his age, looking happier than ever. He collected grazed knees and assorted bruises, as well as tears in his silken garments until Lucilla asked Donata to sew rough cotton clothes for him in which he was perfectly comfortable. Maximus also got new additions to his wardrobe. He had opted for plain clothes in neutral colors, different both from the deep red of his former uniform, as well as from the gladiator tunic, saying that they could help him to walk around unnoticed. Lucilla had to refrain herself from objecting that it would have been impossible for him not to be noticed. The power in him was palpable, draped over his shoulders like the cloak with the wolf pelts he used to wear. He walked and rode like the natural leader he was and people always looked at him in awe, but not in fear, unless he wanted so. Sometimes, watching him playing with the children as he did frequently, Lucilla found it hard to reconcile this sweet-voiced patient man, with the warrior he was. When he was in Germania the tribesmen had nicknamed him “The Berserker Wolf from Rome” and while they would have given nearly everything to put their hands on him, they had respected him. Before knowing that the gladiator going under the name of “Spaniard” and her Maximus were the same person, when she had heard about his feats in the arena, his courage and strength, she had thought of an exaggeration. When she had seen him leading his scratch Barbarian Horde to an unexpected victory, she had believed the rumors, though.
Watching him lying on his back, with a whole herd of children tickling him, pretending to be overcome by their force, she knew that this was his true self and that she would do everything to keep him in such a state.
At Fanum Fortuna, they left the Via Flaminia for the Via Aemilia heading northward. Some of the soldiers went in town for supplies of food and information. The situation hadn’t changed so far and Pertinax was still on the throne. Despite the apparent normality of the day-to-day life, they felt a sense on uneasiness for the secrets and rumors surrounding his accession to the throne, the strange events before Commodus’ death and the effect of the power held by the Praetorian Guard. Maximus was listening to the men’s report watching Lucilla and he recalled having seen the same expression on her father’s face during the meeting with the officers. They were both able to give all their attention to what was going on, missing nothing, asking questions and using their judgment to sort out a solution for any problem. They also were able to manipulate people, lying if needed, but always for a good cause, not just out of personal interest. He had admired both for their political skill, without being able or willing to do the same. He knew that his attitude had earned him an aura of naivety among the Emperor’s entourage, but he knew that he couldn’t have behaved otherwise.
“You are lying. I could always tell when you were lying because you were never any good at it.”
“I never acquired your comfort with it.”
“True. But then you never had to. Life is more simple for a soldier. Or do you think me heartless?”
“I think you have a talent for survival”, he thought.
The countryside looked very much like his native Hispania and Maximus’ musings often went to his home of pink stones. He willed himself to remember the smell of jasmine in the air after the sunset, in the attempt of banishing his last memories of the fire, the ruins, his beloved ones’ bodies swaying in the breeze stained with the smell of death and destruction. It didn’t work, but even if revenge hadn’t brought them back, he knew that Commodus was going to do the same thing to other families and this allowed him a bit of ease of mind. Lucius’ presence had also helped him to start thinking of a possible future, instead of just of his past. It was heart-warming helping him in his way to manhood, witnessing his mind and body blossoming on the road instead that confined in a palace, with a mad uncle wanting to teach him only violence. He thanked the Gods for this, while he tried really hard not to think of the boy’s mother. They had been friends, lovers, foes, and friends again and now he didn’t know what to make out of his feelings. He laughed at himself for his cowardice on the subject, but he really didn’t feel strong enough for such a feat. He needed time.
Entering Piacentia to reach the Via Postumia leading north, they were asked for their documents. Lucilla had a set of them bearing a cousin’s name, Cornelia, who lived in Egypt with her family and who was unlikely to return to Italy in the near future. If the guard at the town’s gate found it strange that a rich matron with such an escort had only one maid, he didn’t show it. The man neither took notice of the male servant driving the cart, in silent wait for her commands. He wore a hooded cloak and all that was visible of him were his big, scarred hands. As they passed the gate, Lucilla had to rethink her first idea about Maximus’ ability to pass unnoticed. He seemed having melted into the background, a shape against the landscape, hard to remember.
“Where did you learn to vanish?” she asked him as they were out of earshot.
“What?” he replied, his eyes hidden by the darkness of the hood, but she could feel the smile in his voice.
“Exactly what I said. You were next to me and after a moment it was as you’ve turned into a ghost.”
“Practice born out of necessity. Being able to take an enemy by surprise is the difference between life and death in a misty, cold German forest and everywhere else. Sort of what I saw you doing when your father met the officers. You used to erase yourself from the picture, making everybody forget how beautiful you are so that you could listen to what you really were interested in.”
“It’ didn’t work on you, I see now.”
“No, but remember that I knew you.”
“And you never made the mistake of thinking that as a woman I hadn’t been bestowed with a brain.”
“Underestimating an enemy … or a friend is fatal, and I’ve always been prudent.”
Lucilla smiled and caught a glimpse of his grin as he turned to her, while he spurred the horses on.
Their next stop was Verona, a town of enough importance to have an amphitheater. The place was smaller than the Coliseum in Rome, but with its three orders of arches it was impressive. Maximus frowned at the idea of even getting closer to it, but when he saw a painted billboard advertising a “Tauromachy” he became curious. This was performed by a Cretan troupe and wasn’t supposed to be a display of blood and gore, but of agility and skill. The others were attracted by the idea of a diversion during the long journey, so they all went to assist.
The editor presented the group of young girls and boys who were going to defy a huge white bull. They looked so small and frail compared to the mass of flesh and power that emerged from a wooden door, but their speed made up for their size. It seemed so easy watching them waiting for the bull’s attack, then run and jump, using the animal’S body as a trampoline to “fly” above him and land safely behind his back, but it was always a matter of instants between life and what could have been a sudden death. In their short and diaphanous tunics the athletes looked like butterflies and Maximus found himself cheering for them. He knew that these shows sometimes had ended with accidents, but thanks to the Gods this wasn’t the occasion and he could enjoy the whole performance. Lucius was so thrilled that he wanted to congratulate the troupe. He was so persuasive that Lucilla gave her consent and Maximus volunteered to escort him. A guard at the entrance of the gate of the performers’ quarters, after a suitable inducement paid in cash, let them in, pointing them in the right direction. Getting closer they heard a racket going on and Maximus gestured to Lucius to remain behind him. They followed the light and they reached the arena in time to see the enraged white bull running after one of the girls. The animal was still far away, but the Spaniard knew how fast they could be and he ordered Lucius to reach the higher bleachers and not to come down for any reason. When the boy was safe, Maximus assessed the situation. The star of the show had apparently managed to leave his place and it didn’t seem in the mood for behaving. The girl was fast but this could not be enough. The general removed his cloak and began to shout, to capture the animal’s attention. The beast stopped looking at him puzzled. Maximus swayed the cloak in circular movements meant to mesmerize the bull and this gave time to the girl to reach a safe spot on the bleachers. He had his eyes on the beast that had started to tap his right hoof on the sand. When the bull started to gallop in his direction, Maximus didn’t run away, but kept moving the cloak until the animal’s horns were a few feet from him. He stepped away, feeling the wind and turned in a swift movement, ready for the return of the bull. Someone began to make noise on the other side of the amphitheater, helped by the amazing acoustic of the place. The choice between different targets confused the beast that he stopped turning his big head from left to right, unable to decide. This seemed to sooth his temper, until he trotted toward the door from where he had stormed out just moments before. When everything was peaceful again, a sigh of relief escaped from someone’s lips. It seemed so loud in the giant building that everybody laughed. Maximus turned to see Lucius who had watched him in fascination.
“That was great. You were wonderful,” the boy shouted nearly flying down from the bleachers into the man’s arms.
“Thank you very much,” another voice said and Maximus saw that it was the girl he had helped. “Where did you learn that?”
“Where I was born in Hispania we have plenty of short-tempered bulls. They’re black as demons and just as dangerous. I learned how to deal with them when I was very young.”
“Well, it worked. I don’t know why it happened, but Zeus usually doesn’t behave like that.”
“Perhaps he was looking for his Europa,” the Spaniard answered and they both laughed. Lucius was looking at the girl in awe and Maximus made introductions.
“This young man had admired your show and wanted to congratulate the troupe. May we ask for your name?”
“I’m Caenis and I’m flattered by his enthusiasm. What’s yours, young man?” the slim brunette with a friendly smile asked.
“My name is Lucius and this is my friend Decimus.”
Maximus secretly beamed at the boy’s praise.
“He proved himself very smart and he helped us very much. I’m happy you decided to come here to meet us. Thank you Decimus, Lucius’ friend.”
“You’re welcome, Lady Caenis.”
“Lady Caenis, that sounds nice. Come with me, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the group,” she said, gesturing them to follow her. Lucius grabbed the Spaniard’s hand and they reached the others. The boys and girls thanked Maximus for his help and gratefully accepted Lucius’ compliments. They chatted for a while, until Maximus noticed that it was getting late and they returned to meet the others. One of the girls, watching the former gladiator walking away in sure strides, asked Caenis: “You said that his name is Decimus?”
“He said so.”
“I was wondering…. Do you think there’s a chance that the other nine are just as gorgeous?”
“Who knows, we could schedule a tour in Hispania just to be sure.”
“That would be great,” the girl answered and they both exploded in laughter.
At the inn where they were going to spend the night, Lucius gave an animated report of what had happened so full of particulars and remarks, to make it last at least three times longer that the actual event. Lucilla was glad to see him so happy and smiled when he began to describe the girls’ short tunics. She was also amazed that despite all the things he had been through, her son had managed to remain a cheerful and nice boy. Her heart froze for a moment at the thought of what would have happened if Commodus hadn’t died. He had loved Lucius, in his twisted way, but at the same time he had been envious of the feeling she had for her son, afraid as he was of losing even a small fraction of her love and attention.
Commodus was observing Lucius sleeping with an expression Lucilla didn’t like a bit.
“He sleeps so well because he is loved,” he said, sensing her presence next to him.
“Come brother, it is late,” she said leading him outside, before … she didn’t know what she really feared, but she knew that it was better taking her brother away from her son.
Her brother’s curse had been his mad wish to completely posses what he cared for, oblivious to all the pain that his actions sometimes involved. When he had hurt her with the tale of Maximus’ torture, he had thought that this would have brought her back to him. He had never been able to understand that you cannot force people to love you.
Father, I would butcher the whole world if you would only love me!!!
His hunger had devoured his whole being; until he had died in the darkness of the hell he had condemned his worst contender to. Her hope was that, at least in Elysium, he had found the peace he had never been able to grasp in his short and violent life. That peace that she hoped she could give to Lucius.
Something woke up Maximus in the middle of the night. He strained his ears, but the inn seemed silent. Yet his senses were on alert and he got up without making a sound. He grabbed his sword and went to the door dividing his room from Lucilla’s and Lucius’, catching a breathing belonging to someone wide-awake. Not believing that one of the occupants was taking a walk, he took the knob in his hands and slammed the door open. As he entered the room, he was attacked by a black-clad figure with a dagger, trying to skewer him. Maximus’ training reacted fighting back. The clank of their weapons awoke Lucilla and Lucius. In the light of the moon she recognized her savior and proceeded to light up a candle to help him, while she whispered to Lucius not to move. Thanks to the new light she could see that Maximus was having the best against his enemy, until the stranger shoved him against the wall that he hit with his injured left hand. This made Maximus wince in pain and the thief renewed his attack. Lucilla looked frantically for a solution and when she saw the pitcher on the nightstand, she threw it across the room, aiming at the man fighting against the Spaniard. The projectile reached him on the head, half knocking him out. Maximus finished her work with the hilt of his gladius and when the man collapsed on the ground, he proceeded to tie him securely.
“Are you alright?” Maximus and Lucilla asked at the same moment and soon the laughed to relieve the tension.
“I’m fine, thank you,” she answered. “How did you know?”
“You forget I’ve been a soldier for most of my life. My senses keep working even when I sleep. I sensed that something was wrong and I came to investigate. Thank you for your help.”
“You’re welcome. Your hand?”
“Sore but fine,” Maximus replied checking the unconscious man whose clothes were plain, but made of good fabric. The Spaniard found a purse hanging from the man’s belt and opened it, scattering its content on the bed. One of the coins attracted his attention.
“Lucilla, will you please bring the candle closer?”
“Did you find something?”
“Do you remember this?” he said pointing at a gold coin damaged exactly in the middle.
“Yes, it’s the one you used for target practice the other day. I paid our stay here with it. But how can he have it?”
“Either he had robbed the inn-keeper before coming here, or it was an advance on a bargain. Let me see the door.”
As a matter of fact the door was undamaged, as if the thief had used a key to open it.
“Our host has decided to gain a little extra from our stay,” he observed with heavy irony, at the same time relieved that there weren’t political reasons for the assault. “We must call the city guard.”
“Wouldn’t this attract attention?” Lucilla objected.
“I know but if we don’t stop it, others will fall into this trap. And I don’t want this gentleman to walk away free as a bird.”
“I see your reasons,” she agreed and Maximus, after having checked that the thief was still out and properly secured, walked out of the room to wake up one of the soldiers. The youngest ran out of the inn to call a patrol. Meanwhile the innkeeper had finally woken up and was watching with concern the night activities taking place in his tavern. From his expression it wasn’t clear if his worries were for his guests’ safety or his own, though. About fifteen minutes later, the soldier returned with the patrol commanded by an officer.
“Good night, my Lady. My name is Hypparcus, the officer in charge,” the man said as Lucilla let him into the room.
“Good night, Officer. I’m sorry to disturb you at this early hour but this gentleman entered my room to steal. Too bad – for him of course – that I’m well protected and he hadn’t a chance to steal or hurt,” she replied and when she mentioned “being protected” the officer looked at Maximus who had dressed in his plain clothes and had remained in the shadows of the farthest corner of the room. While his face was hidden, his figure and muscular arms were recognizable and Hypparchus grinned, feeling quite sorry for the unlucky bastard who had come too close to this man’s lady.
“When the thief was secured, we found out something strange about him, though.”
The lady’s words regained his attention and he asked.
“What did you find strange?”
“The man had already a purse fat with coins, attached to his belt, among which there was a gold piece that I used to pay our stay in advance this evening and – as you can see – the door hadn’t been forced.”
“It seems that this time the inn-keeper had stepped on the wrong toe. Good! It was time!”
“Do you know him?”
“Yes, unfortunately, I do. Many travelers have been robbed in this inn before, but no one had ever been able to recognize the thieves. The owner had always pretended to be shocked by his misfortune, but not too convincingly for my taste. Now I have evidence that something was afoot and I think it’s time for him to pay. Oh, our friend here is waking up,” the observed seeing that the thief was coming to his senses, groaning.
“Damn, my head hurts like hell,” he muttered still not fully awake.
“Occupational hazard,” Maximus said from the darkness and the man on the floor turned to him, finding himself staring at a blue gaze that he hadn’t been able to see before and frowned. Looking around he recognized the guard and paled, but didn’t speak.
“Take him away. I’ll interrogate him later, in his cell. We cannot disturb these honest people any further,” Hypparchus said to the other two men of the patrol and they hauled the thief onto his feet. They were about to pass the threshold, when the innkeeper walked in the aisle. The look that they weren’t able to hide meant a lot for the officer who grinned.
“Well, my Lady, I’ll return tomorrow in the morning for some more questions. At what time will it be good for you?”
“We don’t want to be a problem, we’ll be in your office by mid-morning.”
“As you wish. I’ll be waiting for you.”
Lucilla smiled at him as he followed his men outside.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to fall asleep again, tonight,” Lucilla confessed as the patrol left the room.
“It was great. Mother you were fantastic,” Lucius said excitedly.
“You’re right, Lucius. I think I’m going to enlist her as a slinger. She’s a wonderful shot,” Maximus joked and Lucilla poked him in the rib.
“Ouch, she has a hell of a punch, too,” he said, pretending to be hurt. Soon the room sounded with laughter. The boy was the first to yawn and Lucilla tucked him back in bed. Maximus walked toward the communicating door and was about to return to his room when Lucilla came next to him and kissed him, full on the lips.
“Thank you, my Friend, for everything,” she said and returned to the bed, leaving a stunned man staring at her.
The next morning, Maximus and Lucilla went to the office of the city guard to meet Hypparchus. The officer was already waiting for them, with a huge grin plastered on his face.
“The thief you caught last night, has already started singing like a bird in the mating season,” he told them as they settled in two comfortable chairs he had prepared for them. “Now I need your testimonies to complete my file.”
First Lucilla, then Maximus filled him in with the particulars of the previous night, while a scribe noted everything. As they both finished, Hypparchus offered them some refreshments and Lucilla took the occasion for asking:
“Since we’re traveling and we’re quite in a hurry, are we obliged to stay here to testify, or will it be enough to sign the transcription of our testimonies?”
“You ought to stay here, but I’m going to ask the magistrate in charge of this case if he can make an exception for you. He’s due to arrive any moment.”
As if on clue, a clerk came to announce that the magistrate had just arrived. Hypparchus said to the man to let him in and three heads turned toward the door. As the newcomer came into view, Lucilla froze. The officer of the city guard introduced the man to Lucilla and Maximus. Arrus was a slim man, with few hair left and a dark piercing gaze that didn’t flinch when the Emperor’s daughter was presented to him under another name. As they completed the greetings, Hypparchus present to him her request of a written testimony and Arrus seemed to think about it.
“It’s an unusual request, but it may be granted under special circumstances. My Lady, would you like to be my guest tonight in my villa for supper?”
“It would be my pleasure,” Lucilla replied gracefully, while Maximus observed her reaction in silence.
Hypparchus proclaimed that for him they could go, so they left his office in a flurry of polite farewells.
“You know Arrus, don’t you?” Maximus asked as they were a few buildings away from the patrol’s station.”
“Yes, for a long time. But he’s a good man, loyal to my father. I think that we can trust him. After all, he didn’t reveal my identity to Hypparchus.”
“Would you prefer meeting him alone? Explaining my involvement could be a problem,” he reasoned thinking of the fact that he was, in all account, the murderer of the late ruler of the Empire and he didn’t think it would work to claim that he had reasons.
“I need you to be with me.”
“All right, just tell me something about him, so that I may have an idea of the man.”
That evening both Lucilla and Maximus took a great care in the preparation for the dinner with Arrus. She dressed in a simple but elegant green silk dress that enhanced her fair skin and Fulvia did her best to curl her long hair, entwining ribbons in it. The former general donned a white shirt, a dark woolen tunic and boots. He didn’t look like the servant he was supposed to be, but he didn’t think this was going to be a problem, if Arrus was the man Lucilla said he was. If he weren’t, their problems would have been so much worse than being overdressed. As they were ready, they discovered that the magistrate had sent a litter to carry them to his villa. After having helped Lucilla to climb on, Maximus walked next to it in a fashion suitable for a servant, but also because he frowned at the idea of someone being obliged to carry him while he was fully capable to walk. The road to Arrus’ house wasn’t long and they arrived after a short walk in the upcoming dusk.
The master of the house and his wife welcomed them on the threshold without pronouncing Lucilla’s name in front of the servants. Maximus, true to his role, didn’t say a word, but the magistrate didn’t miss the fact that his attitude toward his lady wasn’t just business-like and while she behaved exactly like the patrician she was, there was a subtle fondness and respect in the way she let him help her down from the litter. Maximus consigned his sword and cloak to a servant and followed Lucilla two steps beyond her. They were escorted to the dining room where husband and wife reclined at a triclinium, gesturing to Lucilla to do the same. When the Spaniard was about to take his place, standing against the wall, Arrus spoke: “Augusta, please ask your friend to have a seat with us. I’m sure you’ll both be more at ease this way.”
Maximus looked at Lucilla and as she nodded, he stepped forward to sit on a chair next to her couch.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I’m not accustomed to recline,” he said watching Arrus who smiled in response.
After the first part of the meal when the small talk of Aurora, the magistrate’s wife, had filled the silence, Arrus gestured to the servants to go away and close the door. When there were only the three of them in the room, the old man asked: “Now, Augusta Lucilla, would you consider it unrespectful to ask why Marcus Aurelius’ daughter is traveling under a fake name, in company of a man who behaves like a servant, but has the figure and the scars of a fighter?”
“I remember that my late father used to say that you were used to go straight to the point and I see that you haven’t changed. I have a task to fulfill and using my true name would have been dangerous.”
“Has this something to do with the late emperor’s death, your sudden departure and Pertinax’ accession to the throne?”
“Yes, a lot, actually. Before I go on, I must warn you that if I trust you with my secret, you’d be in serious danger just knowing it, even without having a part in it. I’d be in danger, my son, too and many others. Do you still want to know?”
“More than ever.”
Lucilla sighed and explained: “After my brother’s death, the Praetorian Guard seized the power and sold it to the highest bidder. Pertinax won the contest, but he’s not bound to last, this is why we’re going to Pannonia to meet Septimius Severus and try to convince him to accept the throne.”
“We?” Arrus’ wife asked. “You mean you and your silent companion? We haven’t heard many words from him. He’s actually very good at making us forget his presence in this room.”
Maximus looked at the elderly woman and smiled. His face changed in a way that made Aurora realize how handsome he was.
“I’m another part of this story that could be dangerous for you to know, but since the Augusta trusted you with such knowledge, I’ll explain my involvement in this scheme.”
He then proceeded to explain quietly what had happened since the battle in Vindobona, Marcus Aurelius’ murder, Commodus’ first attempt to kill him, the escape and everything else until the previous night. Even if she already knew the story, Lucilla’s heart broke at his recalling of his family’s death, the enslavement, the arena and the torture. She noticed that Maximus hadn’t stressed her part in the failure of the plot and she silently thanked him.
“You were the fighter they called the Spaniard?” Arrus asked as the tale ended.
“Yes, I was.”
“I’ve heard all sort of things about you, now I understand that the truth is far more amazing than any tale.”
“Not more amazing, just harder.”
“I can understand.”
“Forgive me, but I don’t think that you can,” Maximus added with a deep sadness in his voice. “One day I was the Emperor’s most trusted general, a husband and a father and soon I wasn’t a human being anymore, but a piece of chattel, to sell and dispose of. No you cannot understand.”
“But as a Roman citizen you shouldn’t have been enslaved. This is against the law.”
“Yes, but who would have cared? The slave-traders that found me unconscious among the ruins of my burnt farm didn’t bother to ask who I was and given what had happened, who would have cared for the life of a traitor? As I recovered from my wounds, it was safer for me to hide my identity. It was no use letting Commodus know that I was still alive, considering that my goal was having revenge against him.”
“But why didn’t you have recourse to a magistrate after Commodus’ death? Pertinax doesn’t seem to care about the identity of his benefactor.”
“He could be. Killing an emperor is an action that he could hardly accept and if he knew what I’m planning to his expenses, I don’t think he would be overjoyed. And there could be people willing to avenge Commodus’ death or who are troubled by the fact that I’m still alive.”
“But wouldn’t you like to be free again?”
“Of course, how could it be otherwise? But since it cannot be accomplished without jeopardizing our mission, I think I’ll have to wait.”
“What if I help you to regain your status, right here and now? I can give you a document bearing my sentence and you could keep it hidden until the circumstances will be more favorable for you.”
Both Maximus and Lucilla beamed at the idea and Aurora had the feeling that between them there was, or was going to be, more than a mission to accomplish.
“Could you, really?”
“Yes, otherwise I wouldn’t have talked. Luckily this is a thing that has never occurred to me to do before, but the rules are clearly stated. I’ll prepare the document tonight and if you return tomorrow at noon everything will be ready.”
“Thank you very much. This is more than I could have hoped,” Maximus said while the happiness in his eyes turned into a grin.
Arrus watched him puzzled and asked: “What’s that for?”
“Nothing. Actually I was thinking of that unlucky thief. I ought to send him a goblet of wine to thank him for his unintentional help.”
At his words everybody started to laugh.
After the end of the meal, Lucilla and Maximus returned to the inn. Arrus had offered the litter once again, but Lucilla declined the offer and she and the Spaniard just walked. The evening was cool but not cold, with a gentle breeze coming from the river Adige that crossed the whole town. While his senses were alert as they always were. Maximus wasn’t worried about wandering in a strange town. Despite the adventure of the previous night, the streets were peaceful, with people walking and talking just like they were doing. The wind played with his hair and he tried to comb it with his left hand but unsuccessfully. The thick hair that had now grown longer and curled, was hard to tame. Lucilla had memories of doing this a long time ago and, out of an impulse, she did the same. Maximus’ hair was soft as she remembered and this made her smile.
“Why did you do this?” the man asked startled by her move.
“I just couldn’t resist. You know, I always loved you silken and soft hair.”
Maximus smiled and she willingly got lost in his eyes stealing the blue from the fall sky, as he put a large hand on her nape, moving her closer to his lips. He stopped the movement just before touching her mouth, to give her the possibility to go away, but she didn’t, stepping further against his broad chest and his soft mouth. The kiss was gentle and firm, slow and thorough.
“Why did you wait so long?” Lucilla asked short of breath as they finally parted slightly.
“It wouldn’t have been proper for a freed slave to kiss his former owner,” Maximus replied jokingly, but his eyes were serious.
“Now I know why you’re so bad at lying,” Lucilla said and he looked at her puzzled.
“Your eyes. Don’t let them be seen if you want to lie. They talk more than your mouth. You’re trying to joke, but I know that there’s something more than this.”
Maximus didn’t reply at first, and Lucilla saw the struggle in his face. Just as she had just observed, he spoke too much with it to be a good liar.
“I don’t know how I feel about you, about us.” He paused a bit taking her hand, before going on. “I thought that I had lost my heart and soul the day I found my family destroyed. Despite this, I slowly began to care for Juba, for the other gladiators, even for Proximo in a strange sort of fashion and then you came to me, from my past. The first time you came to me under the Coliseum, I really wanted to hurt you because you were alive and my wife and son were not. I wanted to hate you, but I simply could not. I wanted to believe that you were lying to me, but I read the truth in your eyes and I knew that you never ceased to matter to me. Even when I was captured by the praetorians I wasn’t able to blame you because I knew that you were protecting your child, like I always wanted to do. I was afraid, instead, of what Commodus was going to do to you and Lucius.” As he spoke, he had stopped near a stone bench, where he sat down, gesturing to Lucilla to do the same. “Before Publius’ trick to save my life, I was beginning to say my farewells to all the people I cared for that were still alive and I prepared myself to join my family and your father in the Afterlife, but once again everything changed. I was alive again, with a future ahead but to what end? I was alone and I wasn’t sure if I should be thanking Publius or asking him to just let me die. But then I heard you asking me to live and I had to obey. And I didn’t know what to do with my heart and soul when I discovered that were in the same place as before.”
Lucilla didn’t talk for a while, and then she took his right hand, entwining her fingers in his. She softly brushed his raw skin; so different from the other men she used to know. Her familiarity with politics and its schemes had made her unprepared for Maximus’ honesty, his strength, his going straight to the core of things, his capacity to love. When they were both younger she had played with him, not understanding that this would have been the worst thing to do. She had paid for her mistake, watching him going away without her, resentful and cold, as she hadn’t seen him before.
“Please Maximus, listen to me,” she pleaded, but watching how cold his eyes had become, she knew she had lost.
“I’ve listened to your lies too many times. I’m not going to do this anymore,” he answered angrily and left the tent. The icy air coming inside, was nothing compared to the cold Lucilla felt in her heart.
After all the storms they both had been through, here they were again, the princess and the soldier or – more simply – a woman and a man with a past and, possibly, a future.
“I don’t know what to do or feel, either,” she said at last, “You’ve always been part of my life, even when you were so far away. Now you’re alone and I have only my son left. We’re both survivors and I think that we could find some happiness together. Do you think that you could find some love for me in your heart?”
“More than some and this frightens me. I loved Olivia with all my heart and I still love and miss her terribly, but I ….. I think I’m falling in love again with you and I have this feeling of guilt for I feel as if I’m betraying her memory. But at the same time I don’t want to let this chance pass by.”
“Neither me. I won’t repeat the mistake to sacrifice my heart to the reason of state. I’m here for you and I won’t go away.”
Maximus looked at her, to read her expression and she removed all the walls that she had had to learn how to build around her feelings to let him see that she was telling the truth. He got closer and Lucilla thought that he was going to kiss her again, but he pulled her towards his chest, easing her head on his shoulder and so they remained for a long while, listening to the delicate sound of the river flowing lazily to the sea.
Back at the inn they parted with a light kiss and Lucilla dismissed Fulvia who was waiting for them, sewing. Lucius was already sleeping but woke up as she sat down on the bed.
“Hi Mother, welcome back.”
“Hi Little One, I’m sorry that I woke you up.”
Her son smiled and crossed the bed to hug her.
“Ouch. You’re becoming too strong for your old mother. I wonder if I can let you go on exercising with Maximus and the soldiers,” she said in a mocking serious tone.
“No, please, don’t,” he replied worried, unsure if she was serious or not.
“Don’t worry, I was only joking. I won’t ruin you carrier as a cavalry man.”
“Do you think that I’ll ever be as good as Maximus?”
Lucilla smiled at the obvious admiration in the boy’s voice and replied: “He worked really hard for what he has attained, but I think that you can be whatever you want to be. Your father used to say that you were born on horse-back.”
Lucius remained silent for a while before confessing: “I barely remember him, just few things. What I remember the most was a sweet deep voice and warm hands.”
“He loved you so much. He used to pass a long time next to your crib, observing you with such love in his expression that my heart melted. He was with you the day you spoke your first words and I saw him crying for joy as you said “tata”.”
“Do you miss him, Mother?”
“Yes. It hurts me knowing that he missed you growing-up.”
“But you like Maximus, too, don’t you?”
“What makes you say that?” she asked stunned at his perspicacity.
“Your eyes are happier when he’s around. They’ve never been like that when we lived in Rome. You were sad, back then, now you’re not.”
“You’re very smart, Lucius, you know that? Yes, I like him very much. Does this upset you? Do you mind?”
“Not really. He likes you, I guess, because he looks happier, too.”
“It’s a wonderful feeling being so proud of a son.”
Lucius looked at her smiling and Lucilla kissed him loudly on the cheek. He laughed merrily and let her tuck him into bed.
The following morning Maximus and Lucilla went back to the Civil Guard station where Hypparchus was waiting for them with their testimonies to sign and two scrolls from Arrus. One was for the general bearing the restoration of his Roman citizenship, the other contained the magistrate’s declaration about Lucilla’s and Maximus’ true identities and that he had accepted their testimonies even if made under another identity. Hypparchus thanked them for their cooperation and they left Verona headed to the sea, to the city of Tergeste where they could take the road to Pannonia.
Part Two (back to top)
Tergeste was a big city set between barren hills and a light blue sea. A wild cold wind greeted them and while they were stunned at its violence, the locals weren’t impressed. Watching chains bolted on the corners of the steepest roads, Maximus realized that they were probably accustomed to it. Well covered in a warm wool cloak, he took a walk near the sea and he thought how different the Mare Nostrum was all along its coasts. Here it was nearly white and shallow, while it got deeper and blue-green South. On the Western side of the Italic peninsula it was deep and dark green, while it was blue in the open. It was strange and magic.
The stay in Tergeste was a brief one, just enough time to rest a night, buying supplies and heading north.
After their talk in Verona, Maximus and Lucilla started to give more reins to their feelings and even if they didn’t act in a different way, it was clear that something had changed for good between them.
“Well, it was time. She couldn’t have found a better man,” one of the soldiers observed to himself one evening seeing the general and the lady taking a walk hand in hand, when they thought nobody was watching them. When he returned to the camp, he couldn’t resist spreading the news and more than a few cheers greeted the announcement.
Summer turned slowly into fall and the rain began. This wasn’t a real problem, until the cart got stuck in a swollen stream. All the efforts to take it out were fruitless and when they decided to use the horses for the job, their military training was of little help in the situation. Maximus asked the men to stop a minute to think of a solution when they heard hoof beats of a horse on the run. All the heads turned to the sound, in time to see a huge black animal jumping above a spot where the stream was narrower but too high for the cart. Despite his size, the horse seemed having flown across the distance. Some of the soldiers whistled at such skill and the rider stopped the run. As the animal turned, they all could see the woman rider looking at them puzzled. She spurred the animal to a trot toward them and when she was close asked: “Need help?”
“The cart got stuck in the mud and we were trying to take it out, but out beasts aren’t cooperating,” Maximus said admiring how she controlled the big horse.
“I see. They are warhorses, unfamiliar with this kind of work. Rest a bit; I’ll be back in a few minutes with some help. My farm is close.”
“Thank you, my Lady,” the Spaniard said smiling. The woman returned the smile and rode away.
True to her word, the woman was back a quarter of an hour later, together with a man, two girls and eight big workhorses. The group stopped and dismounted. She presented her family, Sylvanus her husband, Helena and Hippolyta were their daughters and her name was Melanhyppe. Maximus and Lucilla did the same and then they all proceeded to tie the horses to the cart. The combined strength of the big animals and their master’s encouragement solved the problem and the wagon finally gained the shore, greeted by a loud cheer.
“Thank you very much for your help. Your horses are awesome,” Maximus said showing his admiration for the big animals and their breeders.
“We’re very proud of them. We breed them to be sold for transports of heavy loads,” Sylvanus said stretching the hand that the Spaniard had moved in his direction. He was tall, with dark curly hair, while his wife had straight hair. Their daughters seemed a mix of the two.
“This exercise must have made you hungry. Come with us, we’ll organize lunch.”
“We don’t want to be a bother”, Lucilla observed but Melanhyppe replied.
“Don’t worry. Sometimes we organize a horse market here, so we’re accustomed of having guests. Follow us.”
Lucilla nodded and the whole group got ready to leave the stream shore.
The fences and the horses reminded Maximus of his late wife’s family business, even if the animals were different. Pannonian horses were bigger and bulkier than their Spanish siblings, showing in their large legs and bodies their destiny. His trained eye was able to spot some whose figure suggested something different, though. He saw the big black horse that Melanhyppe had been riding as they had met and he didn’t seem willing to do something as trivial as dragging a cart. Maximus dismounted to take a closer look and walked toward the fence where the beast was cantering. The animal ignored him, at first, but when the former gladiator produced an apple, he turned his muzzle to beg for it. Maximus obliged, taking the opportunity to pet the soft skin, while he observed the beast at leisure.
“Do you like him?” Sylvanus asked and the Spaniard nodded. “His name is Black Fire he’s my wife’s pride. She chose his dam personally and mated her with one of our workhorses who had a bit of a strong head. Now we have a huge strong horse with a temper.”
“He’s a real beauty. How much do you ask for him?” Maximus asked, amazed by the horse, even if he knew that there wasn’t a way for him to buy him, because he had no money.
“You should ask Melanhyppe. He’s mummy’s darling. I wonder if she’ll ever sell him. The day he was born, she swore that she was going to be sure that the buyer was worth her efforts,” Sylvanus replied. Maximus went on patting the animal and the other man thought that if someone had a chance to have Black Fire it was this Roman. He had the same dreaming expression as his wife while looking at the animal, he added to himself, grinning.
Melahyppe was showing a spare room to Lucilla and Fulvia where they could freshen up a bit before lunch, then excused herself to head for the kitchen to prepare the meal. When she left, Lucilla took the opportunity to observe the room. Like the rest of the house, it was simple but comfortably furnished.
“I wonder if we arrived in the land of the giants my father told me about” Fulvia said breaking her reverie.
“Why Fulvia?”
“Because everything is bigger. I thought that you were tall, Domina, but that woman with the name of an Amazon queen is taller even than Master Maximus who is a big man. Her daughters are younger than me, but both could overcome my father in height. Their horses are huge and even the beds are twice the size I’m accustomed to.”
Lucilla smiled at the maid’s worries, but she had to agree that many things seemed have been made on a different scale. Thinking about the huge bed, put a smile on her face, while pretty indecent thoughts crossed her mind as she saw Maximus through the window.
“Exactly the right size for some interesting games,” she whispered to herself, careful not to be heard by Fulvia.
The meal was served on tables arranged in an empty barn and there was place for everyone. Lucius ate like a wolf cub and after having cleaned his plate twice; he asked his mother’s permission to go playing with Helena and Hippolyta. They ran away, already laughing and giggling like fools. After the meal, everyone helped to clean up the tables, even the soldiers and when everything was quiet again, Lucilla and Maximus went for a walk within the boundaries of the farm. The air was crispy, but the Augusta didn’t care as Maximus had pulled her closer to him, draping his cloak around her shoulders. She tried to recall another moment in which she had felt so safe, relaxed and happy and she couldn’t. Through the layers of clothes, she sensed his warmth, like the fire that brings comfort in the night and yet dangerous when needed.
“How on earth did I let him go?” she thought, berating herself for the stupid mistake she had committed. She knew that she had had little choice in the matter, but she had hurt him and herself so deeply that the wound sometimes seemed to be pulsing again. She wrapped her arm around his waist, soon being rewarded by his big hand on hers.
“These are the moments when I wonder if this is just a dream and I’m going to wake up in a cell for another day of torture,” Maximus said and his low voice reverberated on her arm. “But when I feel you so close, I’m able to believe that this is real. You’re a dream come true.”
They stopped for a kiss, taking their time to savor each other’s taste, getting reacquainted, losing themselves in a passion dating many years back, but not forgotten. As their lips parted. Maximus put his hands under her chin, looking her straight in the eyes, as if to memorize her expression, still shining for their kissing and smiled.
“You’re a wonderful kisser for a princess,” the Spaniard said and Lucilla replied:
“How many princesses did you kiss to say that?”
“As a matter of fact, only you, but you really know how to make a man beg for more.”
“Flatterer,” she said and got hold of his lips for another deep, long kiss.
It was late afternoon when Lucius returned to the farm with Helena and Hippolyta. When they got closer, Lucilla began to worry, as her son’s hair was tousled, his clothes ripped in a couple of places, his face bruised and the two girls were in similar conditions. She ran to him asking:
“Lucius, what happened?”
“Nothing. We met some people and ….” he stopped, unsure of his mother’s reaction.
“Who did you meet?”
Witnessing the boy’s discomfort, Hippolyta came to his rescue.
“We met some boys from the village who began to tease. We tried to ignore them, but to no avail. They wanted a fight and we gave them exactly what they had called for,” she concluded grinning wickedly.
“They thought that they would have had an easy victory because they were six boys and we only three, but they were wrong. Lucius fought like someone twice his size and THEY RAN AWAY scared and in worse conditions than us,” Helena added with a mischievous light in her black eyes.
“It was fun, wasn’t it?” she asked Lucius and the boy struggled not to smile.
“Yes, so they will learn not to mess with us,” he said looking happy as a clam. Watching his mother’s stern face, he tried to look contrite, but not really convincingly. Lucilla looked at Maximus hoping he would help her to explain that being in a fight wasn’t exactly a proper behavior, but since the Spaniard was trying as hard as the boy not to smile, she shook her head and returned to face Lucius.
“Go to Fulvia to get cleaned, before I change my mind and decide to finish what those guys started.”
At her words Lucius looked relieved and ran toward the house, while the two girls went to a trough nearby to wash before meeting their parents.
“You were of little help, you know,” Lucilla said watching Maximus who looked more like a rascal, than a general.
“He was so proud. Why spoil him of the fun?”
“You’re worse than him.”
Maximus laughed out loud and soon she joined him in the mirth, realizing how proud she was of her little boy, as well as of the man next to her.
Melanhyppe was feeding the big black horse, as Lucilla went close.
“You must be proud of this horse, he’s simply wonderful.”
“Yes, I am. My husband is always teasing me, saying that he’s Mummy’s darling.”
“What price would you ask for him?”
“For yourself or for your man?”
“For him. I’d prefer something smaller.”
“From what I saw, I think your man could be a good friend for Black Fire.”
“I think so, too. They deserve each other.”
The black-haired woman thought for a while, and then named her price. It was a great sum, but Lucilla knew the value of good mount and she could say that it was fair. She stretched her hand toward the other woman to seal the bargain and asked her to follow to their cart to retrieve the money.
“Just one thing,” the Augusta asked. “Don’t talk to Decimus of our deal. I want to surprise him.”
“I bet he’ll be surprised by such a gift.”
“That’s the other reason why I wanted the horse,” Lucilla replied and they both laughed.
That evening Sylvanus renewed the invitation, but this time the legionnaires provided for the meal, bringing and cooking animals they had hunted along the way. It was a nice evening and when it was finally over, everybody was happy and relaxed.
Later that night, alone in the huge bed Lucilla wasn’t sleepy. Melahyppe had offered her the spare room and she had accepted, while Fulvia had opted to remain in the cart with Lucius. She was thinking of the end of the journey and she knew that there wasn’t only the fate of the Empire in her thoughts. She was doing her best to follow her father’s last will, but on the other hand she deemed that she had given so much to Rome, that she wanted something for herself, or better she wanted someone. She got up and went to the window to ask the foreign sky for a piece of advice, or just to enjoy the white light of the moon. She was lost in her musings, when she sensed someone else’s eyes on her. Maximus was looking at her from outside his tent in the farmyard. She smiled at him, unsure if he could see her expression in the darkness. They both remained still for a minute, then the Spaniard moved toward the house. Soon he was next to her window and her heart jumped in her throat seeing him so close.
“I hoped you would come,” she said inviting him to enter. When he was inside the room, she took hold of his hand. It was so warm as she brought it to her chin, kissing his palm. He shivered and raised his other hand brushing her hair. She nearly purred when his fingers combed her curls. She let him free, beginning to take off her nightgown, unable to wait anymore. He took the hint and undressed in quick moves. They stood naked for few moments as if to compare the memories with the present reality.
Lucilla’s figure was fuller than it used to be and Maximus just loved how womanly she was now, curved and soft looking, her rounded breasts pointing at his heart, so tempting that his breath caught in his throat. As he got closer he could smell her perfume. She had always had a special scent, as if being a princess had given her a different taste.
Maximus’ body bore the scars of his troubled life, just like his muscles betraying the strength under the bronzed skin and Lucilla thought that she had never seen such a gorgeous man. He was magnificent and she just couldn’t believe that after so many years, they were going to share a bed once again.
The moment of stillness passed and Maximus picked her up, moving toward the bed. She kissed him, not stopping when he eased her onto her back in the fresh linens. Their arms seemed unable to linger in a place too long, eager as they were to touch, explore and savor and neither of them took notice of the cool air of the night coming from the window.
“Are you sure?” Maximus asked hoarsely in-between kisses, trying to regain his wits enough to be sure that he was doing what she wanted.
“More than everything in my life. Now shut up and don’t stop kissing me,” she answered.
“At your orders, Domina,” he said adding laughter to his next assault to her waiting red mouth.
They realized in that moment, how much they had missed this closeness and they drowned into it. Their bodies soon recalled the memories of each other’s reactions, adding the experience made traveling different roads. Despite the long time passed since their last time together, they were able to renew the magic of their lovemaking, like it used to be and they forgot the rest of the world, to drown in their passion.
“Was I very different then?” she asked Maximus, afraid of his answer.
He replied with a slight smile, gently stroking her face: “You laughed more”.
“I have felt alone all my life, except with you. …. I must go,” Lucilla said, dreading their farewell.
“Yes,” he had replied, before exchanging a long and tender kiss.
Waking up in the safety of Maximus’ arms wiped away the feeling of loneliness that had been Lucilla’s companion for a great part of her life. Being the Emperor’s daughter was a curse, more than the blessing people used to think. She had experienced the power, but also the impossibility to share her true thoughts and feelings. She had never had friends, but her father and Maximus, the only two people that had come to really know her and tried to understand what was lying under the faÁade. Smiling happily, she snuggled closer to him.
Maximus’ thoughts were focused on his late wife and he thanked her for all the love she had given him, despite the long years they had spent away from each other. He owed her for the feelings that he was now feeling again, after all the pain he had suffered after her murder. At first he had wished to die to reach her and their son in Elysium and to forget the sorrow in his heart and soul. He had continued to live only to exact his revenge, careless of what would have happened next. Against all odds he had had his vengeance that had nearly cost him his life. Once again he had survived and much to his surprise, he had discovered that he wanted to live and he knew that this was Olivia’s last gift. She had loved him so much, to make him willing to try to taste this happiness once more. These thoughts led Maximus to realize that he hadn’t fallen in love again with the girl that Lucilla had been, but with the woman she was now. He, too, was a different man and they had met at a moment in time when they both were ready for a new beginning. He put her closer to his heart, enjoying the smoothness of her skin against his own.
A feather-like kiss awoke Lucilla near dawn.
“I have to go now. I don’t want to risk your reputation,” Maximus told her looking her straight in the eye.
“Keep on looking at me like that and I’ll have you tied to the bed to prevent you from leaving me.”
“I’d just love that,” he said grinning in the dim light “but I must return to my tent before someone discovers where I spent the night.”
“All right, Soldier, you have my permission, but only this time. What happened tonight is something I want to happen again.”
“So do I, now go on sleeping.”
Maximus brushed his lips across her forehead. In the light of the dawn he looked for his discarded clothes and Lucilla observed him getting dressed. Sensing her eyes on him, the Spaniard looked at her.
“Does the lady appreciate the view?”
“Yes, the lady does, indeed. Your body must have been conceived with carnal sins in mind,” she replied coyly, and then more seriously “Thank you for being what you are.”
Maximus’ seemed to glow in the shadows when he gave her a loving look that lulled Lucilla back to sleep.
It was mid-morning when the group began to greet their hosts for the help and warm welcome. The two girls kissed Lucius on the cheek and the boy blushed furiously, while the soldiers whistled. Sylvanus said farewell Maximus and Lucilla, while the former general praised him for his farm and animals. Strangely Melanhyppe was nowhere to be found. Maximus was about to mount his horse when a voice stopped him.
“Wait a moment, Decimus. You’ve got the wrong animal.”
The Spaniard turned puzzled and saw Melanhyppe leading Black Fire by the bridle. This is your mount, now,” she added.
Maximus gaped.
“But how?” he said quizzically.
“Someone managed to convince me that you could be a good friend for him and now he belongs to you. Take good care of him.”
The general looked at Lucilla and she smiled the answer to his question. Still shocked he approached Black Fire and petted him on the neck, talking softly to him. The horse was saddled and Maximus’ next move was to climb up. The horse accepted his weight with ease, but tried to swerve to put his rider to the test. Maximus held the bridle and used his knees to signal to the beast who was in control. The horse seemed to accept the challenge and stood still under him.
“Farewell to you both. Don’t forget me,” Melanhyppe said to Black Fire then addressed to Maximus “Treat him fairly of I’ll come looking for you.”
“I’ll do, be assured,” he answered and led the horse near the cart.
“Thank you, my lady,” he said to Lucilla signaling with his eyes that they were going to talk about the whole thing. Melanhyppe tied Maximus’ former horse to the back of the wagon and the group left for good, still exchanging farewells and wishes of good journey.
Later that night, Maximus was taking care of Black Fire. Lucilla came close to the pair, observing how comfortably the man and the horse were with each other after so little time.
“You shouldn’t have bought him and I shouldn’t have accepted such a rich gift. I ought to be the one to bring you presents and not the other way around,” the Spaniard said, sensing her presence.
“Why, because I’m a woman?”
“Yes, partly, and because I don’t want to owe you so much, when I cannot repay you.”
“You don’t have to.”
“But I have nothing to give you. Even if I’m a free man now, I don’t even own the clothes I’m wearing.”
“If you think that you cannot accept a gift from me, consider this as something I owe for protecting my son and me. I couldn’t have hired a better guard.”
“No buts. You must not feel guilty. You deserve this and many things more. And before you could think that this has something to do with what happened last night, I bought the horse yesterday morning.”
“I hadn’t thought.”
“Good, because it wasn’t meant like that. I’m not going to say that I didn’t enjoy the night, though,” she added coyly.
“Lucilla – he warned her – you’re playing with fire and since I cannot let it burn right here and now, you better be careful.”
“Or..?”
“Or I might be tempted to do something that a Lady and his body guard ought not to do.”
“Now that you make me think, my body needs to be guarded really closely. I’m afraid of this wild lands.”
“You wicked woman,” Maximus growled, approaching with fire in his eyes.
Lucilla was looking forward to pursue the matter further when a young soldier came to report that the meal was ready. She had to suppress a smile, when she heard Maximus sighing in frustration and they returned to the camp.
The road toward Carnuntun where they knew that Septimius Severus was camped at the moment traversed wilder looking countries and Maximus instructed the men to pay more attention. He spent more time riding, instead of traveling in the cart, both to train his new horse and to test his regained strength. He was still achy after a day-ride, but he felt his body reacting in a different way. He knew that he was recovering and it really felt great being nearly as strong as he used to be. >From time to time, Lucius asked to ride in front of him and Maximus agreed with joy. He was very fond of the youngster, he was smart and polite, but with a touch of mischievousness that he me must have taken from his mother. The Spaniard had noticed that during the journey Lucius had gained in height. He was going to become tall and slender, so much as his parents. He wondered how Marcus would have been as a teenager if he had been given a chance to grow-up. Could he have been thin like his mother, or sturdy like him? Tall or short, shy or bold? There wasn’t a way to know it, because the boy’s chances had been burnt, literally. The Praetorians sent to his farm had killed, abused and destroyed, leaving only ruins in his land and soul. He realized not for the first time that what had pushed him the most to act against Commodus had been the will to avenge the innocent lives he had destroyed without reason. He could have understood Marcus Aurelius’ death and even his own, because the two of them were on the brat’s way toward the throne, but not those of his family and the people at his farm, whose only guilt was to be connected with him. The massacre had been absurd. Commodus could have simply have him killed. Soldiers die and the generals, too, so Olivia would have wept and mourned for him, but she would have been alive. The memories of what had been his house were hazy by the pain and desperation, yet so strong that he could even smell the smoke of the fires and his eyes filled with tears.
Lucilla was watching Maximus slowly riding close to the wagon. She saw his expression turning from serious to pained and while she could just guess why, she didn’t want him to look like that. She whispered his name and he turned his head in her direction to see a sympathetic smile. His eyes softened a bit and he managed to smile back.
Maximus had sensed Lucilla’s eyes on him, before hearing her call. He was grateful to her because, just with a smile, she had prevented him from falling into sorrow again. She was so smart and ready to read people that made him wonder what would have happened if women were allowed to rule. What a great Caesar she would have been and he himself would have been proud to serve her as he had done with her father. And as a woman and a mother she had a different point of view concerning the preservation of life. During his long years of war, he had never acquired that sort of indifference toward wasting his men’s lives that he had witnessed in other generals. He saw them as human beings, not numbers on a scroll. And his enemies, too. They had lives and desires and he had often wondered what would have happened if he had happened to be on the opposite side of the fence.
The barbarian called out his cry and tossed the head into the mud as his mangy band of barbarians emerged from the forest, shaking and waving their spears and shields, hollering the feral cries of war, ready to fight.
“People should know when they’re conquered,” Quintus had said and Maximus had replied, much to his second in command’s surprise:
“Would you, Quintus? Would I?”
Maximus remembered Quintus often teasing him for his tender heart and he had laughed with him. Maximus hadn’t laughed, though, discovering that his supposed friend had had little problems to order his execution, as well as his family’s.
“Maximus, please be careful, that was not prudent,” Quintus had said returning to Maximus’ tent.
“Prudent! The Emperor has been slain,” he had answered angrily.
“The Emperor died of natural causes.”
“Quintus, why are you armed?”
“Guards!” he had ordered and four guards had quickly entered, spinning Maximus around as they secured him. “Maximus, please don’t fight,” Quintus had added, looking away as the guards held Maximus. “I am sorry, Caesar has spoken.”
Cicero had looked at Maximus as if to hand him his sword but the general had shaken his head no, while Quintus turned to the guards.
“Ride until dawn and then execute him.”
“Quintus, look at me. Look at me! Promise me that you will look after my family.”
“Your family will meet you in the after life.”
Maximus had struggled and one of the guards hit him across the back of the head with a sword. Quickly, the vision of his wife and son, his land and home, as he walked through the wheat field, had flashed before him.
Now Maximus saw his future flashing before him and he spurred his horse next to the cart.
“Lucius, would you like to ride with me?” he asked and the boy beamed at his request.
“Yes! Yes!” he answered and practically jumped toward him. Maximus grabbed him and placed him in front of him.
“Are you all right?”
“Oh yes, Sir. This is a real huge horse. Everything seems different from here.”
“Yes, riding so high gives you another point of view.”
“Thank you, Sir. I love horses.”
“It’s Maximus, remember that we are friends.”
“Yes we are and I’m really happy of this,” the boy said while Maximus relished Lucius’ simple joy.
“Me, too,” he added to himself.
During their road North, they were checked from time to time. Nobody put in discussion their presence, but Maximus resumed his place as driver of the cart, just in case someone could recognize him. As they saw the indication of Vindobona, something stirred in everyone.
The soldiers thought of the massive battle, the cold of the wind and the snow. of their general performing the rite that was going to connect him to the land, then the violence, the fire and the blood. When it had been over, they just couldn’t believe it; it didn’t seem possible having finally won, after so much time.
And soon after the victory, barely having time to celebrate, everything had changed. The old Emperor had died in mysterious circumstances, the general had vanished, labeled as a traitor and the Felix Legion moved back to Rome, under the command of some fool from Rome who had no idea at all about warfare.
Lucilla was thinking of the never-ending journey to Vindobona with Commodus and she would never have traded her present condition with all the luxuries of that travel. She had lost her father, a friend of hers, her brother and her peace of mind when everything that had been boiling under the surface for years, came to an end. She couldn’t think of Vindobona without shivering.
Maximus’ thoughts were halfway between the soldiers’ and Lucilla’s. He remembered the battle, the blood singing in his veins and the fire. Then the astounding summon from the Emperor and his request. The request he wasn’t sure he could accept.
“Cicero. Do you find it hard to do your duty?” Maximus had askedhis orderly and friend, once he had returned to his tent.
“Sometimes I do what I want to do, the rest of the time I do what I have to,” had been the answer and Maximus had reached his decision.
It still hurt him not being able to tell to Marcus Aurelius what decision he had reached.
“We may not be able to go home after all,” Maximus had replied, thinking at what he was going to say to his wife about his new assignment.
A really stunned sentry announced to the military governor of Pannonia camped near Carnuntum that the Augusta Lucilla was out of the Praetorium to pay a visit to him. Septimius Severus nearly jumped from his chair and gestured to the young man to let her in.
After few moments, she entered in company of a hooded man that the governor supposed was her personal guard. Severus bowed to her and she replied with a smile and sat down.
“You’re surely wondering why I am here,” she said going straight to the point. “But before I start I’d like to introduce to you someone you surely know.”
At her words, he looked at the man in the shadows who was removing the hood and even if he had last seen him years ago, he recognized his face.
“General Maximus Decimus Meridius? How can you still be alive?”
“Whimsies of fate, Governor. I’m glad you still remember me.”
“It would have been quite hard to forget you. But I’ve heard that you were dead, executed for treason. I guess I was wrong.”
“No, you weren’t. That was the idea, but something didn’t go the way it had been planned. The reason of our presence here is related to what you heard about me and to Marcus Aurelius’ death. If you would listen, we’re going to explain.”
“Please, sit down. I’m sure that this is going to be an intriguing story.”
Maximus smiled sadly and began to narrate. His account was calm and deprived of emotions, punctuated by Lucilla’s additions when he hadn’t a direct knowledge of the facts. Septimius Severus listened to them attentively, just as emotionless until Maximus’ last words.
“The situation in Rome is too serious to be left in Pertinax’ hands, because he’s not bound to last, so we came here to ask you to seize the throne of the Emperor of Rome.”
A deep silence fell upon the room, while the Spaniard looked at his interlocutor, trying to read in his face, what he was going to answer. When Severus broke the silence, his voice was clear:
“You were good prophets, too good, I’m afraid. I’ve just received news that Pertinax has been killed and that the throne is vacant or, I should say, on sale.”
“That being stated, will you accept our proposal?” Lucilla asked, while her mind was already working on the implications of what the man had just said.
“I must think about this. I want to take a little time before I plunge myself headlong into a career that can get me killed out of revenge or greed.”
Maximus started to reply, but the governor stopped him.
“You had righteous reasons for doing what you did, but I don’t think that, as a probable Emperor, I was glad to listen to your actions. And I never rushed things unnecessarily so tonight you’ll be my guests and tomorrow I’ll let you know my decision.”
Lucilla and Maximus were about to move, when Severus said.
“And please, General, when you go out, pull your hood back on. I’d like to surprise my officers, tonight.”
The Spaniard nodded, grinning.
The young soldier sent to inform Maximus and Lucilla, that supper was ready, had never met either of them, so he didn’t show emotions accompanying them to the Governor’s tent, but some of the legionnaires they passed by in the short walk, gaped in surprise. Something similar happened when they entered. Maximus wasn’t in uniform and he had longer hair, but many recognized him and Lucilla and the room went silent all of a sudden.
“Welcome my Lady, General,” Severus greeted them, breaking the odd silence that had fallen and they took a seat next to him. The servants brought food and the meal began. The governor and the Augusta did most of the talking, while Maximus remained silent, observing the officers, trying to guess if they were going to support Severus in his way to the throne. He thought so, because in addition to the voices he had heard about Severus’ men’s loyalty, he had seen traces of it in the camp. There was a sense of closeness that made him think of his own legion, of his men who had done so much for him, in the name of Rome. He respected Severus very much for having been able to gain such loyalty and hoped that he would accept the throne.
When the supper was over, the governor stood up and all the voices stopped.
“My officers and friends. Tonight as you all can see we have guests from Rome: the Augusta Lucilla, and General Maximus Decimus Meridius. I know that the last news about him spoke of treason, but from what I recently heard, everything in his deeds was meant for his love for Rome and the Empire. He came here, at the risk of his life, together with the daughter of the great Marcus Aurelius with a very serious question for me to answer. They asked me to accept the throne. Do you think I should accept?”
There was a collective sigh at the astounding announcement, as if the room itself was holding its breath. At last one of the older soldiers said.
“I think that you should, Governor, and I’ll be with you.”
“Me, too,” another voice replied, followed by all the other.
Severus smiled at this sign of trust and addressed Lucilla and Maximus: “This is my answer. Tomorrow we’ll have a meeting to define the particulars.”
True to his word, Severus summoned Lucilla and Maximus to talk about the situation in Rome, the Senate and the people. Lucilla didn’t try to conceal the problems that the governor was going to face on his way to power and he asked as many questions as he could think of. Maximus didn’t talk very much, knowing that the Augusta was much more skilled than him in the matter. The military side of the problem would have to be faced at the right moment and it couldn’t be planned ahead. Severus didn’t miss the Spaniard’s silence and finally asked.
“General, we’ve been talking for a while and you didn’t say a word about all this. Now, I have a question for you: why didn’t you seize the power for yourself? You were Marcus Aurelius’ first choice and with Lucilla’s help your position could have been hard to hinder.”
“Marcus Aurelius wanted me to lead Rome toward being a republic again, not to rule as an emperor and I don’t want to rule. I’m not a politician and I don’t want to become one.”
“And is there something you’d like for yourself?”
Maximus waited for a bit, before saying “Some peace and maybe a place where to remember when life seemed fair and Rome was the light in a cruel and dark world.”
“And you know such a place?”
“I used to know it once, now there’s nothing left, just ashes and death.”
Lucilla read in his eyes all the pain he was feeling ad the memories and she cursed both her father and brother for what they had put this brave man through, one for too much love, the other for too much hatred.
“Would you like to have back your place in the army?” Severus continued.
“No, I’m tired of blood. I don’t want it on my hands anymore.”
“I can understand you, but since you came here at the risk of your life to offer me the throne, I think I owe you something.”
“Be a good ruler. Make Rome the light of the world once again and the Empire a safe place for the people.”
“This is a great weight you’re putting on my shoulders, do you know?”
“Nobody ever said that it would have been easy.”
That’s true. Will you return to Rome with me?”
“No,” Lucilla answered. “It wouldn’t be a good idea. It would be too dangerous. Being Marcus Aurelius’ heir Lucius could be seen and used as a weapon against you and I don’t want this. Not to mention that Maximus’ presence could lead to questions about Commodus’ death that would be hard to answer. And I don’t want to lose him anymore,” she added to herself.
“You’re right. Even though your presence would have helped a great deal.”
“When you arrive, ask for Gracchus’ advice. He will be a pain in the arse most of times, but he’s loyal to Rome and a good politician,” Lucilla replied and after the first moment of surprise for her choice of words, Severus and Maximus laughed out loud.
“Is there really nothing that you would like for yourself?” Lucilla asked Maximus when they left the Praetorium after the meeting with Septimius Severus.
“I’ve always been accustomed to work for what I wanted or needed and I cannot accept charity, even if I don’t own neither the clothes I’m wearing, not the horse I’m riding. That’s why I’m not going to have what I’d desire the most,” Maximus added sadly, averting his eyes from her face.
Lucilla got closer, kissing him lightly on the chin, she breathed in his ears, whispering, “What do I have to do to make you talk? Seduce you?”
The Spaniard attempted a smile but it didn’t reach his eyes that remained full of sorrow as he spoke.
“I would like to offer a home to you and Lucius, a new life for us all where the past could become something more than a painful memory, but there’s no way I can do this in the near future and I’ll never be able to give what you deserve. My present position is even lower than a slave’s, because there’s nobody that is interested in feeding me, or to use my skills. Moreover, my only skill in which people seem interested is killing and this is something I’m not ready to do anymore.”
Lucilla took his hands in hers and squeezed them.
“These are the sweetest words I’ve ever heard from a man and I’m so glad you were the one saying them. There’s nothing that I’d like more than spending my life with you and I don’t really care if we’re going to live in a palace or a small hut, as long as I can be with you.”
“I care, though, and years may pass before I have enough money to give you a roof to live under.”
“What kind of work did you have in mind, because I have an offer for you. We can become business partners.”
“My idea was breeding horses. Apart from being a solider, dealing with horses is what I’m best at.”
“Great. I could borrow you the money to start a new business and you will repay me as soon as you begin to make money. And we’ll live of our work. What do you think about this?”
Maximus thought about her words. The idea was appealing and it was more than he had hoped for.
“Are you sure? I cannot grant that this is going to be a good business for you.”
“Oh, I’m going to make you work hard for me,” she answered with a wicked smile. “You’re going to regret Army discipline.”
Maximus’ face brightened with a heart-melting smile and he kissed her full on the lips. Lucilla’s heart pounded wildly in her chest and when the kiss ended she whispered: “I…. I’ll take this as an advance payment.”
“Will you marry me, Lucilla?”
“Yes, with all my heart and soul,” she answered and kissed him back, to seal the most important bargain of her life.
The first to be informed of the news was Lucius. The boy smiled and kissed his mother, then looked at Maximus, asking shyly: “May I kiss you, too?”
“Of course you can,” the former gladiator answered and Lucius gave him a loud kiss on the cheek.
“Ouch, you’re rough. Mama’s cheeks are softer.”
“I hope so. That’s one of the reasons why I’m so eager to marry her.”
“I’m flattered,” she replied grimacing and the three of them giggled.
“Lucius, there’s something else I’d like to assure you of,” Maximus said. “I’ve no intention to replace your father, but I love your mother and I’m going to do my best to make her happy and you, too.”
“I thought you would and I guess you had a good start, because she’s happier now, than I’ve seen her in ages.”
The three of them shared this first moment of being a family in a silent hug.
“So, there was something you wanted for yourself,” Severus said grinning when Maximus came to speak with him, asking if there was a pontifix in the camp who could celebrate a marriage.
“Yes, this is something I really want,” the Spaniard replied self-consciously.
“I’m happy for you. I’m going to send word to the pontifix to contact you for the particulars. When do you plan to marry?”
“As soon as possible. Now that our mission is accomplished, we want to start a life on our own.”
“All right, I’ll send you Albanus.”
“Thank you, Governor. For everything.”
“I’m the one who ought to thank. I only offered you the services of a priest, while you gave me a throne,” Severus added grinning, patting Maximus on the shoulder while escorting him outside.
A cloudless autumn sky witnessed the exchange of the vows between Maximus and Lucilla. A good part of the legion was present and Severus whispered in Maximus’ ears if he had organized with their enemies an assault during the ceremony.
“I couldn’t. Lucilla would kill me,” the Spaniard answered, after thanking the Governor for the gift of a proper attire for the wedding. Maximus was wearing the traditional Roman dress for a civilian, consisting in a tunic and a white toga, purple striped. He had thought about wearing this later, but since now his identity was established again and he didn’t need to hide it, he was entitled to this sign of his belonging to the senatorial class. The tunic was blue, made from soft wool, with long sleeves to keep him warm in the cold autumn climate. The hems of the sleeves and the collar of the tunic were decorated with a thin stripe of golden ribbon. The toga was fixed on his shoulder by a gold fibula in the shape of a wolf’s head whose eyes were made of two sapphires. A pair of elaborated boots completed his dress. Lucilla saw him waiting for her and noted how the color of the tunic, matched his blue eyes and she wondered if Severus had his wife helping him in the choice. Maximus looked gorgeous and she was overly proud that the smile in his gaze was for her.
Maximus was thinking something similar about her. Lucilla had decided not to wear the traditional read flamine and white tunica, which were the usual dress of a Roman bride. Instead she was dressed in a light blue tunica with silver acanthus leaves adorning her collar and shoulders. Atop of the tunica she had a simple white wool stola. Her head was bare except for a little silver tiara that kept in place a veil of the same color, her hair loose on her shoulder. A nice pair of mother-of-pearl earrings completed her attire.
“She’s a mermaid, arrived here to lead me to disaster,” he thought with an inner smile welcoming his bride-to-be.
After the marriage, Severus took both Maximus’ and Lucilla’s hands and presented them to the legions. Cheers and loud wishes of good luck and happy lives echoed all around the place and Lucius was cheering the loudest.
“I guess that this means that they approve your choice,” the governor said to the Spaniard who smiled in response. “I think that you can kiss the bride, now. You earned the privilege.”
Maximus obliged and if the ceremony had been performed between walls, these would have crumbled at the vibrations of the clapping.
“I’m sorry to interrupt the celebration,” Severus said silencing the celebrations, but I have something to ask you. I suppose you were wondering about the reason of Augusta Lucilla’s and General Maximus’ presence here and I trust you had come to the opinion that it wasn’t just for getting married in Pannonia,” he added and there was a collective laughter. “Well, let us hear from her lips the true motives.”
Lucilla stepped forward and smiled to the men gathered around, remembering how many other crowds she had faced. But this time it wasn’t to enjoy a blood sport.
“My father’s last wish was the return of Rome of being a republic, but unfortunate circumstances prevented the actual realization of his dream. Now Rome s without a ruler and this cannot be. We came here to ask your commander to become the new emperor. He accepted. Will you support him, in the name of Rome?”
Her last words resulted in a frozen silence, as they sank in. Pretty soon, though, a yes began to sound, followed by many others, until the whole legion was giving its support to Severus. The Governor brought his right fist to touch his chest in acknowledgement of his men’s praise. Seeing that gesture, meant to tie a bond with the soldiers, Maximus and Lucilla recognized the uniqueness of the moment and went away together with Lucius, in silence.
“A military tent was quite an usual place for a honey moon”, Lucilla thought, but she didn’t mind, as long as she was with Maximus. He was really handsome in the blue tunic that matched his eyes.
His eyes, never of the same color, as if they had a life of their own. The sweetest sight ever when they expressed love and the scariest when he was angry. She hoped she could see them only shining with happiness.
“And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”
Lucilla had been curious watching the gladiator known as the Spaniard removing his helmet and her heart had stopped for a while recognizing the face of a ghost. A face burning with hatred, eyes shining with rage, a cold fire so dangerous that for a moment she felt sorry for her brother who was the recipient of such a gaze.
“You’re really handsome, Husband, you know,” she said watching Maximus taking off his toga, to remain in the blue tunic. She went closer, hugging him from behind, letting her head rest on his shoulder.
“So I must suppose that you married me only because of my good looks?” he asked in an amused tone.
“Of course. I’m accustomed to have the best in everything and you fit the bill.”
“I’m happy to hear this. It would have been sad if you married me only to protect my reputation.”
“Your reputation?”
“Yes. After you took advantage of me…”
“What did I do?”, she asked finding his ticklish spots. He made a less than half-hearted attempt to resist, ending in a bout of laughter as she went on.
“You won. I surrender.”
“I must say that for being a former general, a ruler of armies and a fearsome gladiator, you gave in quite easily.”
“The sooner I surrender, the sooner you’ll be able to take advantage of me again,” he replied kissing her.
“That sounds encouraging,” she said in-between kisses. “You’re my prize of war and I’m going to take advantage of you as much as I can.”
“Cruel,” he muttered, never missing her skin with his lips, until the urgency of their love, made time lose meaning.
Maximus woke up, early in the morning, at the sounds of preparation of an army about to move. Lucilla was sleeping next to him, with her back warming his left side and he beamed at the idea that he wasn’t supposed to go away from her warmth. He turned spooning against her and he returned to sleep, smiling.
A young soldier came bringing breakfast and Lucilla and Maximus were reached by Lucius who kissed both of them with sticky lips, after he had had honey filled rolls. Maximus wiped his cheek grinning and said: “Now that our task here has been fulfilled, your Mother and I were thinking about what we’re going to do. We decided to go back to Spain and start a new life there. What do you think about this?”
“That would be great. Will we have horses?”
“As a matter of fact, the idea was to run a farm and breed horses. I’m happy to hear that this meets your expectations.”
“Yes. Sure.” Lucius replied happily and started to ask one thousand things at the minute about horses, Spain and everything else.
Maximus and Lucilla had decided to return to the farm where they got Black Fire to buy horses for their new business, so they made the first part of the journey through the army marching to Rome. They greeted old friends, among which Fulvia and the soldiers of the Felix Legion. Their new escort was made of soldiers from Severus’ legions and since secrecy wasn’t vital in the place they were headed to, it was in full uniform. They were using the same cart that had brought them from Rome, but this time Maximus was going to share it with his new family. They left with supplies for a long journey, as well as money from Severus who insisted.
“I owe both of you a lot more than this,” he had replied at Maximus’ attempt to refuse. “And you still have a lot of back pay to collect,” the governor had added patting the man on the shoulder, waving his goodbye.
As the group arrived at Melanhyppe’s and Sylvanus’ farm, they were welcomed by the girls who were tending to some horses. Helena ran to call their parents. After the usual greetings, Sylvanus asked the reason of their return, with a military escort.
“We’re going back to Spain to start a farm and I’d like to breed horses. I wanted to mix some of your big beasts with Spanish horses to improve the race,” Maximus explained.
“You’re going to compete with us,” the tall man replied but his tone wasn’t serious.”
“I’m afraid so, but I guess that the Empire is wide enough for the two of us.”
“Of course. Come with be, I’ll show you some of the best.”
While the two men, with Lucius in tow, walked to the stables, Melanhyppe invited Lucilla inside for some refreshments.
“You look really happy. I guess things went as you expected after our last meeting,” the dark haired woman said watching the Augusta.
“I’m married now, and I’m going to start a new life with a man I love with all my heart. Yes, things went as I had dreamed, more than expected, for the first time in years. In my whole life, to tell you the truth.”
“May the Gods you pray to be kind with you. What happened to your little maid?”
“She’s going to return to Rome. Don’t laugh but she was a little afraid of you.”
“Some of the men escorting you thought the same. I guess you Roman aren’t accustomed to the people of the prairies.”
“I think so. This land looks wild but it’s really wonderful.”
“It’s wild, but I won’t trade it for all the gold in Rome.”
“Have you ever been there?”
“No, but I’ve heard stories.”
“Rome is an odd place. She’s the heart of the light and the darkness of the world. I have lived there for a great part of my life and I’m not going to mind if I’ll never see it again.”
“Have you ever been in Spain before?”
“Yes, I traveled with my father throughout the Empire and we’ve been there, too. It’s where I met Maximus for the first time.”
“Was your father a soldier?”
“Not exactly. He was the Emperor.”
Melanhyppe gaped at her words.
“So you must be Lucilla, daughter of Marcus Aurelius and sister of Commodus. I know that I should bow to you, but I’m not going to do this. I kneel only in front of my Gods, not in front of a living man or woman. I mean no disrespect toward you.”
“I’m glad you don’t and my father thought the same. He knew that respect had little to do with your titles and so much with your actions.”
“I saw your father once, when I was a child. I remember having thought that he was thin for an emperor. I had the idea that Caesar ought to be big and imposing. I was so disappointed, until he turned in my direction and I saw his eyes. He caught me with the intensity of his gaze. I knew, then, that power lies more in your soul than in your body. Your father had a great soul and your husband, too. I saw how his men look at him, with respect, even fondness, because they know that he’d be ready to give his life for them. Yes, he has a great soul.”
“I cannot but agree with you. My father loved him, too, even if he didn’t consent
to our marriage, a long time ago.”
“My father didn’t like Sylvanus. He said that I needed someone to tame me and that he was just too kind. I answered that I wasn’t a horse and that I was going to marry Sylvanus or just to elope with him, no matter what he said. We had never ending arguments, but I refused to give up and I ended up having my way.”
“You were right. I wish I had done the same.”
“I guess it would have been harder for you. I was neither a patrician, nor the daughter of an emperor.”
Lucilla smiled at the other woman’s sympathetic words and they spent some more time in silence, drinking and just enjoying each other’s company.
When they left the farm, in the afternoon, they had four more horses and fresh supplies and water. On their way to Spain, Maximus and Lucilla bought a few more beasts and things they were going to need. Lucilla recorded the expenses on a small journal, knowing that Maximus was going to keep his word to repay her.
“As if he wasn’t doing this already,” she thought.
The journey home was slow and peaceful. They traveled leisurely, resting the horses, stopping in the towns along the way and it was nearly winter as the hills of Trujillo come into view. Maximus and Lucilla had discussed about this and they had decided to return to his former house. Because of Maximus’ supposed treason, it and the lands around belonged to the Empire, but given the situation in Rome, it was unlikely that somebody would argue about the ownership.
Maximus asked of Lucilla that he be the first to return to the remaining of his home and she understood. He went on at a slow trot; so different from the frantic run from Vindobona that had killed the horses he had taken from his supposed murderers. Painful memories hit him, but he struggled to recall those of happier times, when Marcus and Olivia had walked with him in the fields, after dusk, when the smell of jasmine filled the air. He reached his family’s graves. They were still where he had dug them with his bare hands. Everything looked both familiar and alien. He knelt between the two mounds, praying for his wife and son, asking for their blessing and wishing them all the happiness that Elysium would provide. He bid them farewell as he hadn’t been able to do when he had buried them. He had been too desperate and worn-out to even think straight. He put his hands on the graves one last time and returned to the rest of the group.
Maximus and Lucilla hired workers from the town nearby to rebuild the house. The first to come were either curious, or had known Maximus for a very long time and wanted to be sure that he was still alive. When everyone realized that he wasn’t a ghost, things began to go on better and the new family’s life began in earnest. After a few weeks the soldiers returned to their legion, wishing good luck and Lucius followed them for a while, down the road, before going back to the still small house.
Months passed and the news from Rome wasn’t positive. Severus was facing a strong opposition, but with the Legions and part of the Senate on his side, he was slowly taking control of the situation. Meanwhile life went on slowly at the farm. Meanwhile life went on slowly at the farm. Maximus began to breed a new race of horses mating local beasts with the Pannonian ones and he was flattered when when other Spanish breeders went to take a look at his animals, asking for his advice. As the business developed, he began to repay Lucilla and she always accepted his money. One year after their return, she welcomed him home from a day in the fields and stables with a stunning piece of news. She was pregnant and the baby was going to arrive before the end of the next autumn. Maximus was overjoyed and Lucius, too, hoping for a little brother to play with. When his mother suggested that there was the possibility to have a sister, he wrinkled his nose, but admitted that he wouldn’t have minded. His prayers were answered, partially, because after a long labor, Lucilla gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl that were named Maximus and Aurelia. Seeing his wife’s exhausted face smiling at the two tiny new born babies, Maximus’ heart melted and he thanked the Gods for this second chance.
Maximus was checking a fence that needed to be repaired when one of the servants brought to him a scroll that had been just delivered by a military messenger. Maximus wasted no time and opened it. It was an official letter from Septimius Severus, Emperor of Rome. It contained a complete pardon for the accusation of treason raised by Commodus, as well as any deed he might have perpetrated during his enslavement and the full restoration in his state of Roman Citizen, of the senatorial class. This implied that his lands had returned to be his and he would be able to bequeath them. A broad smile traveled from his mouth to his eyes, while he went back to the house. The earth under his feet was soft and he went down on one knee to grab a handful of it. It smelled of sun and life and he knew in that moment that this was this answer he had been looking for.
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Ccm Motorcycles
Clews Competition Machines or CCM for short, is a British motorcycle manufacturer based in Bolton, England. CCM was born out of the collapse of BSA's Competition Department in 1971. The firm has specialised in producing single-cylinder four-stroke dirt bikes.
Alan Clews
Alan Clews Austin Clews
Every New Adventure Begins With a Single Step
ccm-motorcycles.com
Unit 5 Jubilee works
BL2 6QF
Alan Clews, founder of CCM, was a successful Trials and Scrambles rider in the late 1960s. He wanted a lighter, more nimble and modernmotocross bike, like the BSA factory engined 500 cc works specials. When the BSA Competition Department went out of business, he saw his opportunity and bought all the works parts that were available. Clews started building motocross bikes in his garage. Having no access to BSA works engines, Clews made his own extensive improvements to the standard BSA B50 500 cc engine, obtained by breaking up B50 MX bikes. His reputation grew as a builder of four-stroke motocross bikes that were capable of competing with the dominant two-stroke bikes. In the mid-1970s, the CCM racing team achieved respectable results in the 500 cc Motocross World Championship, with rider John Banks placing in the top five several times.
Initially powered by BSA engines, the firm used Rotax engines during the 1980s and 1990s when production reached a peak of 3,500 annually. Between 1983 and 1985, over 4,000 CCM motorcycles were licensed to export bikes to North America badged as Can-Am motorcycles.
In 1984, the firm secured a contract to produce the Rotax-engined Armstrong MT500 bikes for the British Army, and through overseas sales won a Queen's Export Award. The MT500 began as the Italian SWM XN Tornado, to which Armstrong acquired the rights in 1984 when SWM liquidated, and Armstrong modified it for military use. Harley-Davidson bought the production rights to the MT-500 in 1987 when NATO chose the machine,and created a 350 cc version that reduced weight, added an electric start, and upgrading pollution standards, which was named the Harley-Davidson MT350E.
Return to Clews ownership
The CCM company was acquired by the Robson family in 1998 who procured Suzuki DR-Z400 engines. In 2004, the company ceased operations and its assets were bought back by the original owner, Alan Clews. In 2005 the company launched two new bikes, the R35 Supermoto and the FT35 flat tracker. The firm returned to world champion competition, fielding a team in the 2009 FIM Motocross World Championship with riders Tom Church, Jason Dougan and Ray Rowson. 2010 saw CCM working with the military once again, with a contract of 1500 motorcycles, however CCM weren't just content with military sales, they went on to secure their first ACU British Indoor Motocross Championship with Tom Church on board a CCM.
CCM GP450
In 2013 CCM announced plans for a GP450 machine to meet a market demand for a road legal middleweight adventure bike. A prototype was made available to journalists for testing in 2015,and the bike went on sale in January 2016. The GP450 is very light at 130 kg (dry), which is around 100 kg lighter than the class leader, the BMW R1200GS . The GP450 has a frame of “Bond-Lite” aluminium, which CCM claim as a world first. The bought-in engine is a BMW 450cc 4-stroke single, detuned from 51 hp to 41 hp. Originally used in the discontinued BMW GP450X, the 450cc engine is now built by Kymco in Taiwan. The CCM has received very favourable views which comment on its lightness, the engine's responsiveness, and the excellent handling both on- and off-road. The GP450 is quite expensive, partly due to its high quality components. The small factory team of 11 workers is currently producing one bike per day.
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Suzuki Motor Corporation スズキ株式会社 is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan, which specializes in manufacturing automobiles, four-wheel drive vehicles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combustion engines.
In 2011, Suzuki was thought to be the ninth biggest automaker by production worldwide. Suzuki has over 45,000 employees worldwide and has about 35 main production facilities in 23 countries and 133 distributors in 192 countries.
Way Of Life!
スズキ株式会社
Romanizedname
Suzuki Kabushiki-Kaisha
Public (K.K.)
Traded as
TYO: 7269
1909; 107 years ago (as Suzuki Loom Works)
Michio Suzuki
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan
Osamu Suzuki (industrialist), (Chairman & CEO)
Automobiles, engines, motorcycles, ATVs, outboard motors
Magyar Suzuki
Pak Suzuki Motors
Bari Suzuki
Suzuki Canada
American Suzuki Motor
Suzuki China
Suzuki GB PLC
Suzuki motorcycle india limited
Suzuki.com
SuzukiMotorcycleClub.com
Suzuki started manufacturing motorcycles in 1952, the first models being motorized bicycles. From 1955 to 1976 the company manufactured motorcycles with two-stroke engines only, the biggest two-stroke model being the water-cooled triple-cylinder GT750.
A large factor in Suzuki's success in two-stroke competition was the East German Grand Prix racer Ernst Degner, who defected to the West in 1961, bringing with him expertise in two-stroke engines from the East German manufacturer MZ. The secrets Degner brought with him were the work of Walter Kaaden, who combined three crucial technologies for the first time: the boost port, the expansion chamber, and the rotary valve.
Suzuki hired Degner, and he won the 50 cc class F.I.M. road racing World Championship for them in the 1962 season. Suzuki became the first Japanese manufacturer to win a motocross world championship when Joel Robert won the 1970 250 cc title. In the 1970s, Suzuki established themselves in the motorcycle racing world with Barry Sheene and Roger De Coster winning world championships in the premier 500 cc division in road racing and motocross respectively.
In 1976 Suzuki introduced its first motorcycles since the Colleda COX of the 1950s with four-stroke engines, the GS400 and GS750.
In 1994, Suzuki partnered with Nanjing Jincheng Machinery to create a Chinese motorcycle manufacturer and exporter called Jincheng Suzuki.
Suzuki continued to compete in MotoGP and last won the title in the 2000 season. Since 2006, the team was sponsored by Rizla and was known as Rizla SuzukiMotoGP team. On 18 November 2011, Suzuki announced that the GP racing was suspended, partly due to natural disasters and recession, until 2014.
In addition Suzuki have recorded a total of 93 victories at the Isle of Man TT Races. Suzuki have also taken the runner up spot in the various race categories 100 times and a total 92 third places.
Michio Suzuki opens the Suzuki Loom Works in the small coastal village of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The new factory makes weaving looms for Japan’s massive cotton industry and Michio’s intention is simple: to build better, more ergonomic looms than anything that is currently available.
Suzuki builds its first motorised bicycle, the ’Power Free’. Designed to be inexpensive and easy to maintain, it uses a 36cc, two-stroke engine clipped to the frame of a conventional bicycle. The Power Free’s unique double sprocket gear system allows riders to pedal without engine assistance, with engine assistance, or to travel completely under the engine’s own power.
The now famous Suzuki ‘S’ makes its first appearance.
Champions of the world! East German rider, Ernst Degner, takes Suzuki’s first TT victory by winning the 50cc race. He goes on to win the 50cc world championship in the same year giving Suzuki its first world title. Five more 50cc titles will follow in the next six years.
Hugh Anderson wins his fourth world title, this time in the 125cc class.
The sensational T20 Super Six really puts Suzuki on the international map. A 250cc, two-stroke twin with six-speed gear box and a claimed top speed of 160km/h, the T20 is a huge sales success.
Joel Robert retains the world 250cc motocross crown. Roger De Coster becomes the World Motocross Champion 500cc class on his
Suzuki RN71.
Barry Sheene wins his, and Suzuki’s, first 500cc world title on the RG500. The legendary bike took the top six places in the championship.
Meanwhile, the GS750 - Suzuki’s first big four-cylinder bike - is released.
Italy’s Marco Lucchinelli wins the 500cc world championship on an RG500.
Suzuki stuns the biking world with its futuristic GSX1100S Katana. The bike’s aggressive styling and superb performance make it a huge sales success.
The bike that is to change the face of motorcycling arrives. Suzuki’s GSX-R750 will always be remembered as the first true race replica machine. Delivering 100 horsepower and weighing in at 176kg, it created a whole new category of performance bikes.
The GSX-R750 achieves a 1-2 finish in its World Endurance Championship debut race, the Le Mans 24-hours Endurance Race.
Kevin Schwantz wins the 500cc world championship on the RGV-γ500 and ensures his name will always be remembered amongst the all-time greats.
Suzuki re-invented GSX-R750 again in 1996. This is the turning-point model of the GSX-R750 with the newly equipped twin-spar frame instead of the double cradle frame. Faithfully tracing the GP machine RGV-Γ, the basic dimensions with shortened wheelbase generated smooth drivability with a surprising dry weight of 179kg.
Suzuki breaks the mould once again with the unveiling of the GSX1300R Hayabusa. The ultimate 1298cc liquid-cooled DOHC in-line 4-cylinder engine that powered the Hayabusa represented the epitome of no-compromise engineering. The Hayabusa's most notable features were its aerodynamic design and its superb balance of the engine performance and handling in a wide speed range on the road.
Kenny Roberts Jr. wins 2-year consecutive victory in the Malaysian GP, the season's 2nd round. With a total of four victories, Roberts Jr. becomes the World Champion of GP500, which for Suzuki is the sixth world title, and the first in seven years since 1993.
An unforgettable year which saw the launch of the ultimate sports bike - the Suzuki GSX-R1000. The newest addition to the GSX-R family had the same impact as the original upon its release in 1985 and re-wrote the rule books on performance, weight, handling and styling. It would soon be dominating race tracks and awards ceremonies around the world.
Suzuki sets new standard of sportbike once again with the introduction of the 2005 GSX-R1000. It went straight back to the top of the superbike tree. The GSX-R1000 wins number of Superbike titles including World Superbike Championship in 2005. The reasons for the Suzuki GSX-R1000's dominance are simple. Great handling and ergonomics, radical styling and full-on usable power.
The Suzuki B-King, a naked muscle bike with attitude, first shown as a concept model in 2001, arrives. Suzuki launches the Worlds first production fuel injected motocross bike - the RM-Z450. In the same year, Suzuki launches the new GSX-R600 and 750 models - the thinking mans sportsbikes. Suzuki introduces 2nd generation Hayabusa 1300.
The all new GSX-R1000 is launched. In the United States, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin clinches his seventh AMA Superbike Championship riding GSX-R1000.
GSX-R series total production reaches 1 million units. Since the introduction in 1985, the name of GSX-R became synonymous with high performance sportbike.
Suzuki launches second generation V-Strom 650ABS. V-Strom 650 has always been the best-selling model in its class since first introduced in 2004. To further improve its running performance and riding comfort, 645cc V-Twin engine has improved low-to-mid rpm performance, matched by enhanced fuel economy and environmental performance.
The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT) takes its 4th consecutive Endurance World Championship and its 13th title overall.
Suzuki introduced V-Strom 1000 ABS as the first Suzuki’s motorcycle with traction control system.
Suzuki announced its return to MotoGP, the FIM Road Racing Grand Prix series from 2015 season.
X6 Hustler twin (aka T20 Super Six) was sold from 1966 to 1968 as "the fastest 250cc motorcycle in the world". It had Suzuki's new Posi-Force automatic oil injection system (later called Suzuki CCI). Production peaked at more than 5000 units per month. In 2013, Suzuki renewed the Hustler motorcycle trademark for Europe, leading to rumors of a retro style 250 twin. A 1967 T20 Super Six was included in the Las Vegas show of The Art of the Motorcycleexhibition.
T500 Titan (aka T500 Cobra, GT500) had a 500 cc air-cooled parallel-twin engine which overcame problems with durability, overheating and vibration. With an output of 47 metric horsepower (35 kW) at 6,500 rpm and top speed of 180 kilometres per hour (110 mph), it became Suzuki's flagship machine in 1968, and remains popular with collectors andcafé racers.
GT750 Le Mans with a straight-three engine was the first Japanese motorcycle with a liquid-cooled engine, earning it the moniker "Water Buffalo." The Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan (Japanese) includes the 1971 Suzuki GT750 as one of their 240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology.
TM400 Cyclone production motocrosser was designed to participate in 500cc class Motocross World Championshipracing. Introduced in 1971, it was notoriously difficult even for skilled riders to control. Redesigned in 1975.
The RM125 production motocrosser debuted in 1975 to replace the TM125. It was a successful forerunner of the futureRM series line-up from 50cc to 500cc.
RM250 was fully redesigned in 1982 and the liquid-cooled single-cylinder delivered more power than any production 250cc motorcrosser of the time. It had Suzuki's original full floater, link-type rear suspension introduced a year earlier.
RG250 Gamma of 1983 was one of the new generation of race replica sport bikes of the 1980s. It had an aluminum frame, a full fairing and a high output straight-twin engine. The 1983 RG250Γ is one of the JSAE 240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology.
RG500 Gamma of 1985 was like RG250, but with a square-four engine.
RGV250 Gamma, the road-racing replica of Kevin Schwantz's RGV500 GP race bike, replaced the RG250 in 1988 with a V-twin engine.
GS series – The 1976 GS750 was the first 4-stroke machine released by Suzuki in 20 years. The following year saw Suzuki's first 1-liter machine, the GS1000E, and then in 1979 the GS1000S copy of a Yoshimura GS1000 Superbike.
Katana – The GSX1100S was released in Europe in 1980; the GSX1000S arrived in the U.S. and Canada later that year as a 1981 model, and revolutionized sportbike styling. A 1982 Katana GS1000SV is on the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame's list of "classic bikes" that have been shown in the museum, and was in The Art of the Motorcycleexhibition.
GSX-R750 was one of the Japanese sport bikes of the 1980s that began the modern race replica era. It had air/oil cooling, light weight, and a powerful engine. The Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan (Japanese) includes the 1984 Suzuki GSX-R750 as one of their 240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology, and was in The Art of the Motorcycle.
Intruder 750 with its OHC 4-valve 45° V-twin engine was the first Japanese cruiser motorcycle (designed to appeal to U.S. riders) in 1985. By 1997, cruiser-style motorcycles would account for nearly 60 percent of the U.S. street-bike market.
GSX-R1100, related to the GSX-R750, appeared in 1986. The same basic engine would reappear in 1995 to power the Bandit 1200 and remain in production through 2006.
The DR-BIG aka Desert Express DR800S (German) off-roader was existent for two model years as the DR750S(German) until 1990, when its displacement increased to 779cc, still the world largest single cylinder engine in a production motorcycle. Available in Europe through 1999, it was not exported to the U.S. market. Replaced by the V-Strom twin, the DR-BIG has now come full circle as the design inspiration for a 2014 overhaul of the V-Strom 1000 ABS.
Suzuki RF Series The Suzuki RF series are sport touring motorcycles. They came with three engine variations: 400, 600 and 900 cc. It was in production from 1994 to 1998.
TL1000S debuted at the 1996 International Motorcycle and Scooter Show as the first Suzuki sport bike with a V-twin engine. This was a liquid-cooled, 90° V-twin, DOHC engine with 4 valves per cylinder, which would be in production through 2012. Although the TL1000S motorcycle ceased production in 2001, the engine would carry on in theTL1000R, the SV1000 and SV1000S, as well as the V-Strom 1000.
GSX-R600 – a smaller version of the GSX-R750. There were earlier pretenders, but the genuine article arrived in 1997 and has received frequent updates after that.
Hayabusa (GSX-1300R) was introduced in 1998, and remains Suzuki's flagship sport bike. The 1998 Suzuki Hayabusa is included in the JSAE 240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology. The development of asecond generation Hayabusa for the 2008 model year facilitated the 2007 roll-out of the GSX-1300BK B-King, a highly stylized naked variant.
SV650 was introduced in 1999 as a budget entry in the naked bike market, and since 2001, offered both naked and fully faired. In 2009 the naked bike version was redesigned and renamed the Gladius in keeping with the swordmotif Suzuki established with the Katana. The Gladius motorcycle won a Good Design Award (aka G Mark) from the Japan Institute of Design Promotion.
GSX-R1000 – This top-of-the-line superbike debuted in 2000, and remains the largest model of the GSX-R series.
Burgman 650 (AN650) was the largest of a series of urban scooters produced in Japan (marketed as Skywave domestically) as well as in Italy and Spain with engine capacities of 125cc and up. When it appeared in 2002 the 650 was the largest-displacement scooter in the world, and first two-wheel vehicle to have an electrically controlled Continuously Variable Transmission. The Japan Institute of Design Promotion awarded the G Mark Good Design Award to the Skywave 650 in 2003, to the entire Skywave series in 2006 and to the updated Skywave 650LX in 2013.
Choinori was a lightweight, inexpensive, 50cc scooter and the antithesis of the Skywave 650, but they were introduced at the same time in an effort to increase domestic sales in response to shrinking motorcycle exports. The 2002 Choinori is one of the JSAE 240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology. The Choinori was awarded the G Mark Good Design Award in 2003.
Boulevard M109R (VZR1800) V-twin, dubbed the Intruder M1800R in Europe, arrived in 2006 boasting a 112 mm (4.4 in) bore with a 90.5 mm (3.56 in) stroke, amongst the largest gasoline engine pistons ever used in any production motorcycle (or passenger car).
GSX-650F – introduced in 2008, this new sport touring model fills the void of the retired Katana. The 2009 model has ABS standard.
DL-650 V-Strom – a dual-sport motorcycle
GSX-250F Across – a small 250 cc engine sport touring motorcycle produced from 1990 until 1998. It is mostly known as a practical sports/touring bike, due to its rear petrol tank and a fully enclosed helmet storage area where the petrol tank usually is.
GSX-R250 – a motorcycle that was manufactured from 1987 to 1994. A couple of years after the presentation of the GSX-R750 the 250 cc GSX-R250 was released. Like the larger bike, the GSX-R250 had a box-frame (steel, not aluminum), full fairing, full-floater rear swing and a four-cylinder four-stroke engine. But while the GSX-R750 engine was air and oil-cooled, the baby brother had a liquid-cooled engine. Not many examples are seen outside Japan. 17-inch cast wheels and 300 mm twin disc brake at the front. The GSX-R250 had impressive power and was made primarily as a road legal 250 cc racing bike reaching speeds of 200+km/h (124 mph). Imported specimens may be seen in Australia and New Zealand commonly. Also, around 350 units were exported to Denmark around 1989 to 1992.
Other power sources
RE5 was the first (and only) Japanese motorcycle produced with a Wankel rotary engine. That, and its Giugiaro styling, make it one of the oddest and most collectible motorcycles of the 1970s. The 1974 RE5 is one of the JSAE 240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology, and a 1976 model is in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
Burgman Fuel-Cell Scooter uses electric-motor propulsion, powered by an air-cooled hydrogen fuel cell; its only emission is water. Following on a concept model at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, in 2011 the Burgman Fuel-Cell Scooter became the world's first fuel-cell vehicle to earn Whole Vehicle Type Approval (WVTA) in the European Union, enabling the vehicle to be sold in all member states. Suzuki is working toward commercial production of this scooter.
Falcorustyco concept model at the 1985 Tokyo Motor Show envisaged the motorcycle technologies that might be brought into play by 1995, including a 4-cycle square 4-cylinder 500 cc engine, frameless body, front-and-rear swingarm suspension, center hub hydraulic power steering, chainless hydraulic drive and pop-up screen cowling.
Nuda was a full-time two-wheel drive prototype, incorporating power steering and a swing seat, in a carbon fiber honeycomb monocoque body, shown at the 1986 Tokyo Motor Show. Nuda concepts influenced the design of the Suzuki Hayabusa.
B-King – The concept model was well received by the public when it went on display at the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show. The addition of a turbocharger to the GSX1300R engine testified to massive power output, while electronics such as cellphone and GPS were stowed in the ultra-modern angular bodywork. The production model appeared six years later, largely unchanged except for its naturally aspirated engine. B-King styling is reflected in the award-winning design of the GSR600 and the GSR750, as well as the Inazuma GW250 and GW250S.
G-Strider concept model with 916 cc engine, made public at the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show, was a half-scooter, half-cruiser (motorcycle) mash-up with an electrically controlled Continuously Variable Transmission incorporating a push-button manual mode, similar to the Burgman 650. Accentuating luxury, the G-Strider's handlebars, footrests, seat backrest, passenger backrest and windscreen were all electrically adjustable while under way to ensure the most comfortable riding position possible.
Stratosphere prototype was shown at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2005, with an 1100 cc engine pushed to the limits of space-saving design, resulting in an in-line six-cylinder as wide as a conventional in-line four-cylinder engine. Hammered aluminum and Damascus steel incorporate material characteristics into styling design. Prospects for a production model seemed good, considering that Suzuki's previous significant concept motorcycle, the B-King had made it into production, but the market changed before Stratosphere got the go-ahead.
Biplane was a blue-sky concept announced at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, designed to convey the joy of two-wheel mobility, inspired by the feeling of flying an airplane. Its shape generates a feeling of openness in a modern machine powered by a V-four engine.
Crosscage concept model was displayed at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. Combining a high-performance secondary battery and a compact, lightweight air-cooled fuel-cell system from British specialist company Intelligent Energy enabled quick activation with low fuel consumption. The lithium-ion battery assured reserve power as well as minimal environmental impact. Light weight not only made this bike environment-friendly but also sporty.
Gemma prototype model was introduced at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. The distinctive "full-flat 2-seater," 250 cc four-stroke single-cylinder scooter is low and sleek and gives the rider and passenger feel a greater sense of intimacy. The luggage compartment in front of the rider holds a helmet. Gemma went into production in Japan the following year for the domestic market.
Recursion turbo parallel-twin middleweight, shown at 2013 Tokyo Auto Show
All-terrain vehicles (ATVs)
ALT50
LT-Z50
LT125D
Quadrunner 160
Ozark 250
Eiger 400
LTZ400
Quadmaster 500
Kingquad 750
List of Suzuki motorcycles
Engine (cc)
Marauder VZ800 (VZ800 Marauder) 800 Cruiser
Boulevard S40 (LS650 Savage) 650 Cruiser
Boulevard C50 (VL800 Volusia) 805 Cruiser
Boulevard M50 (Intruder M800) 805 Cruiser
Boulevard S50 (Intruder) 805 Cruiser
Boulevard S83 (Intruder VS1400) 1360 Cruiser
VL 1500 Intruder LC / Boulevard C90 1460 Cruiser
Boulevard M90R (Intruder M1500R) 1462 Cruiser
Boulevard C109R (Intruder C1800R) 1800 Cruiser
Boulevard M109R (Intruder M1800R) 1800 Cruiser
Intruder (VS) series Cruiser
Madura series (85,86 only) 700, 1200 Cruiser
RV 50 VanVan 50 Dual-sport/off-road
RV 75 75 Dual-sport/off-road
RV 90 Rover 90 Dual-sport/off-road
RV 125 VanVan 125 Dual-sport/off-road
SMX50 50 Dual-sport/off-road
SP100 100 Dual-sport/off-road
TS series - Two Stroke Dual Purpose Dual-sport/off-road
TS50 Gaucho 50 Dual-sport/off-road
TS75 75 Dual-sport/off-road
TS100 100 Dual-sport/off-road
JR50 50 Minibike
MT50 Trailhopper 50 Minibike
PV50 EPO 50 Minibike
RB50 GAG 50 Minibike
RGV250 250 MotoGP
RH72 Motocross
TM series Motocross
TM75 75 Motocross
TM100 100 Motocross
TM250 (also known as RH67) 250 Motocross
DR Series - Four stroke Motocross/Off-road/Dual-sport
DR-Z Series - Four stroke Motocross/Off-road/Dual-sport
PE series - - Two stroke Motocross/Off-road/Dual-sport
RM/RMX series - Two stroke Motocross/off-road
RM50 50 Motocross/off-road
RM80X 80 Motocross/off-road
RM100 100 Motocross/off-road
RMX250 250 Motocross/off-road
RMX450Z 450 Motocross/off-road
RM-Z Series - Four stroke Motocross/off-road
RM-Z250 250 Motocross/off-road
DS50 50 Off-road
DS100 100 Off-road
RS175 175 Off-road
TC series - Two Stroke Dual Purpose w/dual range transmission Off-road
TC90 90 Off-road
TC100 100 Off-road
Address V125 Police Scooter Scooter/Moped
AY50 Katana 50 Scooter/Moped
AN Burgman series Scooter/Moped
FA50 (Suzuki Shuttle) 49 Scooter/Moped
FR50 50 Scooter/Moped
FS50 50 Scooter/Moped
FZ50 50 Scooter/Moped
FY50 50 Scooter/Moped
M30 Mokick (Suzy 50) 50 Scooter/Moped
M31 (Suzy 55) 55 Scooter/Moped
Suzuki Let's 112.8 Scooter/Moped
SJK Mini Free MF1 (1954) Scooter/Moped
Suzuki Suzumoped Scooter/Moped
FX110 Scooter/Moped
Sixteens Scooter/Moped
Suzuki Gemma 250 Scooter/Moped
SW-1 250 Scooter/Moped
FXR150 150 Sport
GSX-R series Sport
GSX-R50 50 Sport
GSX-R250 250 Sport
GSX-R1000 1000 Sport
GSX-1300R Hayabusa 1300 Sport
Satria series Sport
SFV650 Gladius 650 Sport
SV650 645 Sport
SV1000(S) 1000 Sport
TL1000R 1000 Sport
TL1000S 1000 Sport
XN85 675 Sport
AX100 100 Street
B-King 1340 Street
TS125R 125 Street
GF 250 250 Street
GN series Street
Suzuki Gixxer 150 Street
GN125 125 Street
GZ series Street
GZ125 Marauder 125 Street
GR650 Tempter 650 Street
GS series Street
GS125 125 Street
GS150-R 150 Street
GS550L 550 Street
GS1000 1000 Street
GSF / Bandit Series Street
GSF 1200 Bandit 1200 Street
GSR400 400 Street
GSR1000/Virus 1000 1000 Street
GSX series Street
GSX-F / Katana series Street
GSX 250 250 Street
GSX 250F (also known as Across) 250 Street
GSX 250S Katana 250 Street
GSX 400S 400 Street
GSX 550EF 550 Street
GSX 600F 600 Street
GSX 1000 1000 Street
GSX 1000S Katana 1000 Street
GSX-S1000 1000 Street
GSX-S1000F 1000 Street
GSX 1100F 1100 Street
GSX 1100 E/EF 1100 Street
GSX 1200 Inazuma 1200 Street
GT100 100 Street
OR50 50 Street
RE5 500 Street
RG50 50 Street
RG125 125 Street
RG150/RGV150 150 Street
RG200 Gamma 200 Street
T90 Wolf 90 Street
T125 Stinger 125 Street
T200 Invader (also known as X5) 200 Street
T10 250 Street
T20 "Hustler" (also known as X6) 250 Street
T250 Hustler 250 Street
T305 Raider 305 Street
T350 Rebel 350 Street
T500 Titan 500 Street
TU250/ST250 250 Street
VX 800 805 Street
X7 Street
EN 125cc 2a 125 Street
Raider 150 150 Street
GV1400 Cavalcade (85-90) 1360 Touring
DL 650 V-Strom 645 Touring/sport touring
DL 1000 V-Strom 1000 Touring/sport touring
Crosscage - Fuel Cell Concept/Prototype
Stratosphere Concept/Prototype
Skywave Type-S Concept/Prototype
Address V50G Concept/Prototype
GSX-R/4 Concept/Prototype
Biplane Concept/Prototype
Nuda Concept/Prototype
G-Strider Concept/Prototype
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Peter Marsh has kindly given his permission for us to put this wonderful booklet on our website:
A Short History of Kettins
“Peter Marsh lived in Verona on the Newtyle Road for many years and was an active member of the Church and Parish Council and Community Council. Peter originated from Stoke on Trent from whence he was called up from his bank job to the army during the Second World war. He spent much of his time training in Scotland where he met Elizabeth (Betty) Duncan only daughter of Walter (Watt) and Margaret (Daisy) Duncan. Watt was to become head gamekeeper on Hallyburton estate. Peter and Betty married and after the war they stayed in Scotland with Peter working on the Pitlochry dam as wages clerk and was one of the last to finish up there. He then joined L O Tractors which later became Jack Oldings. From there he joined Remploy in Dundee as accountant, a position he held until he retired.
During his time in Kettins he was very active in the community and when the villagers wanted anything organised (other than sporting activities) they generally went to Peter. As a result he organised a youth club which ran in the village school. With support from Colonel Lindsay he ran a rifle club in Leys quarry and at butts constructed between Hallyburton house and the service road. Active in the church he took on the role of running the Sunday School. When the Parish Committee was formed he became Secretary, a post he held for many years.”
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Canadians don’t always have a lot of skin in the Olympic Summer Games. Our biggest year for medals was 44 in 1984, but our best year was probably 1996 in Atlanta. That was the year Donovan Bailey won the men’s 100m with a new world record time. It wasn’t just a big deal for Canada to win gold at one of the premier Olympic events. It was a big deal because the last time we won it, Ben Johnson tested positive for steroids. Donovan Bailey restored our pride in sport.
Clara Hughes was also at those Games. She won two bronze medals, in both women’s road cycling events: the race and the time trial. She was 23 then. She has won four more medals since, at three more Olympic Games—Winter Games, where she competes in long track speed skating. Clara Hughes is still the only Olympian in history to win multiple medals at both the Summer and Winter Games.
Clara retired after winning another bronze medal at the 2010 Games in Vancouver. I wasn’t sad at all because she’s had an amazing career, and there’s something about going out at home, and I knew she would keep doing amazing things, with Right to Play, especially.
Then she announced she’s getting back on the bike and will compete at the 2012 Games in London. Clara is 39 now, but you don’t want to bet against her. Canadians took the podium, 1, 2, 3, in the time trial prologue to the Exergy Tour, racing in Idaho right now.
You know how some athletes keep coming back because they’re looking for that one big win? They’ve got bronze, they’ve got silver, but they haven’t won gold? Clara Hughes has the whole collection. She has the medals and the records. She doesn’t need anything else to prove herself one of Canada’s best athletes.
She just really likes riding her bike.
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Home Civil Rights Greensboro [Page 000]
Sit-In, Feb. 1, 1960, F.W. Woolworth, Greensboro, NC, 1957-1985 [Clarence Lee Harris Scrapbook #1]
[Page 000]
Title Sit-In, Feb. 1, 1960, F.W. Woolworth, Greensboro, NC, 1957-1985 [Clarence Lee Harris Scrapbook #1]
Creator Harris, Clarence Lee
Subject headings Greensboro Sit-ins, Greensboro, N.C., 1960
Topics Business desegregation and sit-ins, 1960
Place Greensboro (N.C.)
Description Scrapbook 1 is part of a set of scrapbooks Harris compiled during the 1980s which record his perspective on the sit-ins though his own writings, news clippings, photographs, and other ephemera. This scrapbook is organized like a book .
The first section includes the foreword, acknowledgments, and a chronology of the sit-ins at that serves as a table of contents for the rest of the scrapbook. An unidentified news clipping depicting the unveiling of a historic marker commemorating the sit-ins provides a frontispiece to the scrapbook.
Chapter 1 focuses on Woolworth's business practices and race relations compared to the racial makeup of Greensboro. Included are photographs of the dining area and bakery of the Woolworth's taken in 1985, images of Elm Street showing the store exterior in the 1960s, a July 1980 article by Al Farber of "Hamburger Square Post" entitled "Food, Folks Are Tops At Woolworth's On Elm", Jerry Bledsoe's December 1981 column on Boyd Morris, former owner of Mayfair Cafeteria, titled "At the End of The Line, A Giant Serving Of Love", a chronology of Woolworth's clipped from the company's newsletter in 1979,sales figures from the leading Woolworth stores in 1958-1959, before the sit-ins, and after desegregation in July 1962 and 1963, and a partial diagram of the interior of Woolworth's with the site of the sit-ins on the first and second days marked .
Chapter 2 focuses on the events of February 1, 1960, including Harris' actions regarding the demonstrators. Mentioned are the "Greensboro Four": David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), Joseph McNeil; Woolworth waitress Susie Morrison; Greensboro police chief Paul Calhoun; and photographer Jack Moebes. Included is a 1985 anniversary article from the Greensboro News & Record by Kelly Mitchell-Clark, "Four still bound by friendship, belief in civil rights", on the Greensboro Four’s actions and lives .
Chapter 3 focuses on the events of February 2, 1960, the second day of sit-ins, when student demonstrators occupied all twenty-seven seats at Woolworth's. Harris claims that normal lunch counter business was not disrupted and that the press took photographs without his permission. Included in this section is the Greensboro Record article from February 2, 1960, entitled "A&T Students Launch 'Sit Down' Demand For Service at Downtown Lunch Counter' which includes a well-known photo of four students at the lunch counter. Also included is a February 6, 1960, article "White Men Arrested at Sitdown" and a Greensboro News & Record article from 1985, "Daring act by four teenagers tumbles racial barriers" by Jim Schlosser .
'Chapters 4, 5, and 6 focus on the events of February 3-5, 1960 - the third, fourth, and fifth days of sit-ins. Harris remarks on how the press coverage fueled growing interest in the sit-ins, which increasingly began to impact the store’s business. He outlines meetings with university presidents, local business managers, regional Woolworth’s representatives, and attorneys, which led to no resolve. Harris observes increasing tension but emphasizes the lack of "disturbances." Also included are newspaper clippings regarding the sit-ins, including "Movement By Negroes Growing", a partial article titled "Student Strength Rises in Protest At Lunch Counter", "A. & T. College Students Seek Service At Midtown Lunch Counter" from the Feb. 6 The Future Outlook, and an editorial from the Feb. 5 Greensboro Daily News called "Leadership at the Five and Ten" .
Chapter 7 focuses on the events of February 6, 1960, the sixth day of sit-ins - namely the large crowd of onlookers at Woolworth, the bomb threat called into the store, and the store's subsequent closing. Harris also provides the Woolworth's sales figures for February through July 1960 which underscore the store's declining sales and particularly the negative effects of the half-day closing. Included in this chapter is a February 7 Greensboro Daily News article, "A&T Students Call Two-Week Recess in Protest Here" along with Harris' comments on the clipping .
Chapters 8 and 9 focus on the period between February 7, when the students suspended the sit-ins in order to negotiate, and the week of February 23, when the protests resumed. Harris explains why race relations at the Greensboro Woolworth store were "very good" prior to the sit-ins, noting that there were a comparatively high number of black employees and no signs for segregated drinking fountains. He describes his position on desegregation as being "with the community" and criticizes city leadership for not passing a public accommodation ordinance. Harris also describes a meeting of business owners at which he offered to desegregate his store if others did, but all parties refused. This section contains several news clippings about sit-ins around the U.S., including "Negro Pupils Crowd Store; It Closes" concerning the Feb. 13 protest at the High Point Woolworth, "NCC, Duke Student Join in Woolworth Counter Protest" from the February 8, 1960, Duke University Chronicle, and several concerning Raleigh. One page also contains an account of Greensboro Mayor George Roach's statement regarding the sit-ins, and the full-text of his February 10 statement .
Chapters 10, 11, and 12 focus on events taking place from the end of February through the summer of 1960, including the continued sit-ins and Harris' eventual decision to desegregate Woolworth. Harris describes his efforts to deter the protesters and the negative effect of continued sit-ins on the store, as well as a meeting he held with Woolworth's African American employees shortly after the sit-ins began. He describes a meeting with the Human Relations Committee and takes issue with press coverage which focused blame only on Woolworth and Kress. Harris also reasserts his wish that a desegregation law had been passed that applied to all stores and decries the lack of action from city officials, but ends the section with a discussion of his decision to desegregate. Included in this section is a Greensboro Daily News article by Julian Morrison, "Woolworth to Close Counter: Food Sale Ends For Time Being" which Harris notes errors in, an editorial titled "An Uneasy Peace" and letters to the editor from the "Public Pulse" Section .
Chapters 13 and 14 focus on the initial phase of desegregation at the Greensboro store and sit-ins at the Winston-Salem, N.C., Woolworth. Harris notes that the "colored" counter at the Winston-Salem store was nicer than the one for whites, suggests that the ratio of black patrons in Greensboro was much lower than in Winston, and takes issue with Miles Wolff's implication that events at the Winston-Salem Woolworth influenced his decision to desegregate the Greensboro store. Harris describes the uneventful July 26, 1960 opening of Woolworth's lunch counter to blacks and his invitation to four African American Woolworth's employees to be the first served: Charles Bess, Susie Morrison, Mattie Long and Jamie Ruth Robinson. He notes that very few blacks took advantage of the new policy they fought so hard for .
Chapters 15, 16, 17, and 18 contain Harris’ retrospective analysis of the sit-ins and what they accomplished. He writes of the massive size of the demonstrations, meetings with students and college administrators, his opinion of student actions, loss of Woman's College student patronage, and the city government's ineffective response to the sit-ins. Harris decries the intrusion of the media, particularly unauthorized photographers, and mentions a new round of local protests that developed later in 1960 aimed at other restaurants and business .
Chapter 19 focuses on Harris' personal response to the 1960 sit-ins. Harris includes his biography, and explains how many of his attempts to address the situation failed until he and Kress Department Store decided to desegregate their businesses. Ultimately he feels the sit-ins damaged Woolworth's image. Included in this section are two letters commending Harris for the appearance and set-up of the Greensboro Woolworth store.
Chapter 20 focuses on the long-term impact of the sit-ins, including the deterioration of downtown retail in Greensboro and Harris’ observation that inequality in social interactions still remained in 1980. He also asserts the authenticity of his accounting of the events and the unreliable nature of word-of-mouth and second-hand written versions. Included in this section are a news article about Benjamin L. Smith, D. Edward Hudgins, Jesse Jackson, and David Schenck, entitled "Four who changed the racial times" and a Sept. 24, 1978 Greensboro Daily News article by William Snider, "Why did the sit-ins start in Greensboro?", along with Harris' comments on it. Lengthier comments on the article are contained Chapter 21 .
Chapter 21 is entitled "The Legal, Ethical, and Economical Aspects" of the sit-ins and desegregation of the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter. Harris emphasizes that no laws were broken by himself or the student protesters, and observes that while poor sales figures recovered, profits for Woolworth's never did. He also argues that he was not responsible for the systematic segregation in the South, observes that long-held customs are difficult to change, and cites the students' protest methods as unethical. He closes his essay with a quote from Abraham Lincoln. This chapter also includes a more detailed commentary on the editorial contained in Chapter 20, William Snider's "Why did the sit-ins start in Greensboro." Harris provides his thoughts on many factors effecting the sit-ins, from location to individuals' involvement. Also included are a picture of Harris as president of the Greensboro Merchants Association with the article "Better Customer Contacts In Business World Urged" from the Feb. 20, 1962 Greensboro Record, and an undated article by the Record's Hugh Page entitled "March 31 Deadline Figures in Change" concerning integration of sales personnel in downtown retail stores.
Original format clippings
Original publisher [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]
Source collection MSS141 Clarence Lee Harris Papers, circa 1916-1997
Series/grouping 6 Scrapbooks
Folder Item 1: Scrapbook 1: Sit/In, Feb. 1, 1960, F.W. Woolworth, Greensboro, NC, 1957-1985
Finding aid link http://libapps.uncg.edu/archon/?p=collections/findingaid&id=506
Rights statement http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Additional rights information IN COPYRIGHT. This item is subject to copyright. Contact the contributing institution for permission to reuse.
Object ID MSS141.003.001
Digital publisher The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304 -- http://library.uncg.edu/
Sponsor LSTA grant administered by the North Carolina State Library -- http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/ld/grants/lsta.html
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Sit-In, Feb. 1, 1960, F.W. Woolworth, Greensboro, NC,...
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Foreword and Acknowledgements
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Hearing for Oakdale shooting suspect set for next week
Submitted by admin1 on Tue, 03/19/2013 - 8:10pm
Alex Holmquist
Tran faces 2nd-degree murder charges
A review hearing for a 34-year-old man accused of randomly shooting at cars and killing an Oakdale Elementary fourth-grader has been set for next week.
Nhan Lap Tran, of Oakdale, is accused of opening fire on passing motorists just after 6 p.m. Feb. 11 near the intersection of Seventh Street and Hadley Avenue in Oakdale. Multiple rounds were fired at four vehicles, including a minivan that 9-year-old Devin Aryal was riding in with his mother, Melissa Aryal.
Devin Aryal was shot in the head, and later died at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. Melissa Aryal sustained a gunshot wound to the arm but survived.
A 68-year-old woman traveling in a separate vehicle was also shot and lost part of her finger as a result of her injuries. Two other drivers were also shot at in their vehicles but were not hit.
Along this stretch of Hadley Avenue, houses line the west side of the street and office complexes dot the east side.
Police arrested Tran without incident on the 400 block of Hale Avenue North about 20 minutes after the initial shots were reported. According to the criminal complaint, they located a 9-millimeter handgun a few feet away from Tran, and found he was carrying numerous 9-millimeter bullets and two large knives.
Tran was charged last month with two counts of second-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, one count of first-degree assault and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. All are felony counts and carry maximum sentences of seven to 40 years in prison.
Note found in suspect’s bedroom
Tran made his initial court appearance Feb. 13 before Washington County District Judge Ellen Maas, who set his bail at $2 million and ordered a competency and mental health evaluation requested by Tran’s public defender.
A review hearing is scheduled for March 25.
Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said he’s hoping at least preliminary results of the evaluation will be available by the time of the hearing, and that the question that will need to be determined is not whether or not Tran was mentally ill when he committed the crime, but rather whether or not he had the capacity to know right from wrong.
“That’s what the case will be tried about, likely,” Orput said.
According to a search warrant affidavit filed in Washington County District Court, investigators went to the home where Tran was living with his parents on the 600 block of Guthrie Avenue shortly after the shooting. The affidavit states Tran’s parents directed investigators to his bedroom.
“In plain view” on a desk in the bedroom, investigators said they found a note that said “Random Kill, Fake Plates.” They also observed the date “12/12/12,” (the end date of the Mayan calendar) had been written all over the walls of Tran’s bedroom.
According to the criminal complaint, Tran allegedly told police he shot at vehicles while they drove past his residence. He said he fired at them because cars had been following him around for a while and drivers had been “revving their engines” in front of his house and waking him up.
Alex Holmquist can be reached at aholmquist@lillienews.com or 651-748-7822.
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More coal for less electricity -- due to wind?
We have been informed that the current North American Windpower trade magazine includes an article reporting that the amount of electricity generated from coal dropped by 2.7% from November 2007 to November 2008, while electricity from wind increased between the same months by 42.4% (or 46.6% by my calculations: see "Net generation by other renewables" from the Energy Information Administration (EIA)).
In the big picture, however, the record installation of more than 8,000 MW of wind turbines last year increased its share of electricity generation by less than one-half percent. Coal's share went down just over two-thirds of a percent. Total electricity generation declined 1.3%.
But here's the hidden information: The EIA also reports how much coal is actually used for electricity. Although electricity from coal declined by 2.7%, coal consumed for electricity declined only 1.5%. That is, more coal was required per KWh of electricity that it generates.
Also see earlier posts: "U.S. coal use for electricity, 2002-2006" and "U.K. fossil fuel use for electricity, 2002-2006".
This appears to be evidence that the burden of wind -- an intermittent, highly variable, and nondispatchable source of energy -- introduces inefficiencies that cancel much of its theoretical benefit of reducing fossil fuel use.
wind power, wind energy, environment, environmentalism
link: April 17, 2009
Oil produces only 1% of U.S. electricity
The Moral Question of Dinner
Georgia Mountain wind project has applied for perm...
2-km Wind Turbine Setbacks for Health and Safety
Cooking with Dexter
The Changes and Chances of This Mortal Life
Build more: Use more
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To call the performance of the Obama administration at the UN, through Ambassador Susan Rice, "folly" would be far, far too kind.
Mahmoud Abbas, despite repeated U.S. requests, insisted on pressing for a U.N. Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlement construction "illegal." The U.S. vetoed the resolution.
Standing in isolation, all was good.
But the fact is that the U.S. was all too happy to sign onto a Presidential Statement from the President of the Security Council denouncing the "illegitimacy" of Israeli settlements. This proposed compromise was rejected by Abbas, despite a phone call from Obama. The U.S. was willing to throw Israel under the bus, but not all the way; throwing our friends only half-way under the bus is what passes for standing by our friends these days.
But it was far worse. The statement made by Susan Rice immediately after the vote was outrageously one-sided, the type of pandering to the worst elements in the world which has become a pattern for Obama's foreign policy (emphasis mine):
Our opposition to the resolution before this Council today should therefore not be misunderstood to mean we support settlement activity. On the contrary, we reject in the strongest terms the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity. For more than four decades, Israeli settlement activity in territories occupied in 1967 has undermined Israel’s security and corroded hopes for peace and stability in the region. Continued settlement activity violates Israel’s international commitments, devastates trust between the parties, and threatens the prospects for peace…
While we agree with our fellow Council members—and indeed, with the wider world—about the folly and illegitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, we think it unwise for this Council to attempt to resolve the core issues that divide Israelis and Palestinians. We therefore regrettably have opposed this draft resolution.
In the telescopic view of the Obama administration, more than 60 years of Arab rejectionism means nothing.
The rejection of the 1947 U.N. partition plan never happened; the war to drive the Jews into the sea never happened; the terrorist attacks on Israel prior to 1967 never happened; the rejection of multiple attempts at territorial compromise during the Clinton administration never happened; the deliberate launch of "intifadas" after Israel proposed compromise never happened; Hamas in Gaza never happened; dozens of suicide bombings killing hundreds of Israelis never happened; continued anti-Semitic propaganda throughout the Palestinian territories never happened; and I could go on and on.
No, the only thing the Obama administration deemed worthy of condemning in Amb. Rice's statement was Israeli settlement activity.
What precisely is a settlement? When Israeli Jews build homes in Hebron, those are condemned as settlements. But never mentioned is the fact that there was an 800-year old Jewish community in Hebron which was driven out by Arab riots in 1929, almost two decades before the creation of Israel. And of course, the entire Palestinian national identity was a creation of the 1960s; until the 1967 war, the West Bank was part of Jordan and Gaza was controlled by Egypt.
Almost everyone recognizes that there will have to be some sort of territorial compromise, but the Obama administration's actions in trying to force Israel back to the precise and indefensible 1967 borders is a prescription for disaster. The Palestinians have shown almost no willingness to compromise over the course of more than half a century.
Palestinian rejectionism, which continues to this day, is the problem, and Amb. Rice should have said so. Or at least balanced her criticisms of Israel with the recognition that the settlements did not happen in a vacuum.
Jennifer Rubin has it right:
Sure, the U.N. once again has proven itself to be a hot-bed of anti-Israel rhetoric. But let's be clear what really happened this week. The U.S. representative, while reluctantly casting a veto, joined the pack of jackals that seek to make Israel the culprit for all that ills the Middle East. Shouldn't THAT be the headline?
The actions of this administration, by joining the pack of jackals, were the real illegitimate folly.
Update: Carl in Jerusalem asks, Where is the American Jewish community?, accompanied by an appropriate graphic. The unfortunate fact is that to many American liberal Jews, love of Obama exceeds love of Zion, and the farther left one goes the wider the gap grows. Get used to it.
Egyptian Upheaval Shows Why Territory Still Matters for Israel
NY Times Whitewashes Return of Anti-Semitic Egyptian Cleric
Again I Ask, "Can Israel Survive A Second Obama Term?"
Alex Bensky February 19, 2011 at 10:17 AM
One of my Facebook friends, a very nice and bright lady who is a J Street sympathizer, asks WT (expletive deleted) is going on with this.
The answer is obvious: the administration is throwing Israel under the bus but for domestic political purposes isn't quite willing to do so overtly. But the message could not be clearer and both the Arabs and the Europeans doubtless have picked it up.
At least this is helpful to me in a small personal way. I was a lifelong Democrat and I felt a slight twinge of guilt when I voted for McCain; any such twinge is entirely gone and I'm glad I did it.
Shayne February 19, 2011 at 10:44 AM
A larger point is that while violence in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Iran and in a host of other Arab/Muslim lands, continue unabated, the UN (as well as the Obama administration) continue to condemn the one nation that is a stable, free democracy.
That, my friend, is the folly of the Obama foreign policy.
LukeHandCool February 19, 2011 at 1:06 PM
"The actions of this administration, by joining the pack of jackals, were the real illegitimate folly."
That's an insult to jackals everywhere. They have their integral role in the ecosystem. A jackal would never throw you under the bus. He'd eat you. But he'd never stoop so low as to throw you under the bus.
F4GIB February 19, 2011 at 2:59 PM
Perhaps this will teach American Jewry the value of being SWING voters. Those who often vote Democrat but who sometimes take a walk. You know, the people whose confidence politicians have to KEEP earning, day after day.
Unreliability is power in the hands of any voting bloc.
Just as only Nixon (a Republican) could go to China, only Obama (a Democrat trusted by Jewish voters) can sell out the Israelis.
A_Nonny_Mouse February 19, 2011 at 3:07 PM
"... Israeli settlement activity in territories occupied in 1967 ..."
-and-
"... While we agree with our fellow Council members ... about the folly and illegitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity ..."
Does the beet-head (Susan Rice) who wrote the above not understand that this territory was "occupied" (ie, won fair-and-square) after Israel in 6 days smote the armies of three hostile neighbors (Egypt, Syria and Jordan) which were massively deploying on its borders in preparation for an invasion?
Does she really believe that there should be no hazard/ punishment/ disadvantage for nations who band together to initiate hostilities against another -- and lose? Does she believe that "Oops, sorry, stupid of me" is the only penalty the aggressors should have to pay? Does she think "it's only reasonable" that those three nations should be free to repeatedly attack Israel with no downside if they lose? That it's no-harm-no-foul if Israel can thwart their attacks? But on the somber day that Israel finally succumbs, well, THEN (and only then) this buffoon would claim that the resulting land acquisition by the victors was valid and thoroughly justified according to historical precedent and international law, right?
(The Libtard mindset makes me gag; as does almost everything the Current Administration has done or proposed or enabled...)
As they say, "Elections have consequences," and the 2008 election of a Commie-loving, Progressive, Statist, pro-Islamic, anti-American, malignant-narcissist One-Worlder as President has been a disaster so far for our country -- and we still have two years of this crap to endure. God help us.
lumiere February 19, 2011 at 3:37 PM
Here's her entire anti-Israel screed:
http://www.state.gov/p/io/rm/2011/156821.htm
Fat Man February 19, 2011 at 3:53 PM
He is too a muslim.
bobby February 19, 2011 at 3:58 PM
Obama has just increased the likelihood of a nuclear incident in the ME within the next six years by 50%.
This was always the Chicago thug model for politics - close friends forever until you get a better deal elsewhere. Problem is, he's never - never - had to pay any consequence for any of his venal machinations. His screwed-over ex-friends could continue on, a bit sadder, a bit wiser, and a lot poorer, but they never had to face any actual threat of mass murder.
But then, he's never screwed over a friend who's surrounded by people working feverishly day and night to kill him and his family because of his race but who have held off on any major attempts lately only because he was friends with Obama.
So the wolves can all start to crowd closer to the door now. I can't imagine that there is any nuclear weapon in Israel that isn't turned on and active and ready for deployment.
Of course, it might be that Obama's disgustingly feeble efforts to keep Iran from building long-range nukes is a calculated part of this effort. Did Alinsky say anything about cultivating the nuclear arsenals of your ex-friends' enemies?
M. Simon February 19, 2011 at 4:25 PM
The Palis double cross everyone but only the Israelis are stuck with them. And the Jordanians. But the Jordanians an murdered 20,000 to send them a message. If the Israelis disturb the hair of one there is an international outcry.
49erDweet February 19, 2011 at 4:45 PM
Tell me again why the US should continue to function in and support the UN? As a world body it has the legitimacy of a $3 Rolex. Nothing, nothing it touches remains unsullied and apolitical.
Isn't one form of insanity doing the same thing over and over again. each time expecting other results? So were the last several US administrations insane?
44 years. It's been 44 years and we still let the so-called media to call this land 'occupied territories'. Why? Does England still call New York an 'occupied territory' no. Israel fought a war and won. Unfortunately, american jews let this go on and on, supporting Obama and keeping quiet about the ambassadors foot-in-mouth disease.
Why is it, that with clear facts that there are many more friends of Israel and Jews on Americas right than left, jewish leaders still can't stop pulling that democratic lever? If jewish americans look carefully, they will find a million or so reasons to stop supporting failed left-liberal-union loving politicians.
Every other immigrant group entering the US moved to the right as they became rooted to this country, improved their education and their incomes. They became businessmen, republicans, even conservatives. I can see nothing to be gained for the cause of Israel by american Jews clinging to the liberal democrats. As long as Obama thinks he's got jewish support he will continue with his appeasement policies as other presidents have before him. The UN is not the only group that needs a change....
JonRobert February 19, 2011 at 5:33 PM
Just one objection to the original post.
"Almost no willingness to compromise."
Almost? Find even one example.
redstart February 19, 2011 at 7:09 PM
Obama's foreign policy: sign onto and support a Rice, even if she's the wrong one. What does spilt morality matter as long as the name is spelt right?
DINORightMarie February 19, 2011 at 8:04 PM
If you read Dinesh D'Souza's book The Roots of Obama's Rage and Stanley Kurtz's book Radical-in-Chief you will understand Obama and why this administration is what it is. Very clearly.
I seem to recall when Ms. Rice was made ambassador there were questions about her views on Israel, in particular. I would love to know more about her background. She is proving to be a very useful tool (or is it useful idiot?) for this administration.
I hope that now that "swing block" of Jewish voters will vote AGAINST Obama in 2012.
Martin February 20, 2011 at 4:49 AM
DINORightMarie--
Rice is neither tool nor idiot. She is pursuing her real beliefs as part of an Administration of like-minded people.
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MPS teachers link preschool to better performance in Kindergarten
Survey results released today by the Public Policy Forum conclude that MPS Kindergarten teachers feel high quality early childhood education can have positive impacts on school readiness and academic performance. The survey is part of the Forum's three-year research project investigating the impacts of high quality early childhood education on economic development.
Of the 77 five-year-old Kindergarten (K5) teachers surveyed, nearly all (97%) feel they can generally tell early in the school year which of their students attended preschool or four-year-old Kindergarten (K4), and a similar portion (93%) feel attending preschool or K4 better prepares students for K5. All teachers feel spending time in preschool or K4 prior to starting K5 is important.
With regard to the specific skills deemed necessary for Kindergarten, teachers report that the skills that are more difficult to impact during the K5 year are the skills that students are more likely to lack upon entering Kindergarten--skills pertaining to social/emotional development and cognition/general knowledge. However, teachers feel that high quality early childhood education can help children get ready for school in these hard-to-impact skills groups and believe the effects last through K5 and beyond.
When asked about their 2008-2009 class of K5 students, 45% of the teachers surveyed report having classrooms in which at least 80% of the students had attended preschool or K4, and 54% report that at least half of their students were adequately prepared for K5. However, teachers in schools with student poverty rates above the district average are significantly less likely than teachers in lower-poverty schools to report that the majority of their students had attended preschool or were adequately prepared for Kindergarten.
The survey’s reinforcement of the connection between the quality of early childhood education and school readiness suggests that policymakers seeking to improve academic performance in MPS may wish to consider ways to increase quality early childhood opportunities for Milwaukee children. Because there appear to be links between poverty and preschool attendance and between poverty and school readiness, another area of focus may be accessibility and affordability of high quality early childhood education specifically for low-income families, as well as the quality of programs currently available and affordable to these families.
The full report is available for download here.
Labels: Dickman, early childhood education, education, MPS
PPF Pearls: Addressing Milwaukee County's transit crisis
The more things change, the more they stay the same when it comes to Milwaukee County's mass transit debate.
In the wake of Governor Doyle's veto of a Milwaukee County-only transit authority with sales tax authority, the county's struggling transit system submitted a report to the County Board last week projecting huge deficits beginning in 2011, as well as significant service cuts to bridge a smaller gap in 2010. Not coincidentally, the projected budget gaps are eerily similar to those projected by the Public Policy Forum in our May 2008 report, "Milwaukee County's Transit Crisis: How did we get here, and what do we do now?"
The updated transit budget projections cite the need for an additional $11.4 million in county property tax levy in 2011, $19.9 million in 2012 and $24 million in 2013 to maintain proposed 2010 service levels and fare structures and conduct needed bus replacement over a four-year period. Our May 2008 report projected gaps of $18 million, $24 million and $21 million in the three years following the next budget (2010-2012).
Of note is that we did not factor in the receipt of $25.6 million in federal stimulus funds for new buses nor the significant service cuts proposed for 2010, and we used a three-year bus replacement schedule. The deficits projected by transit officials would be even higher than our original projections if not for those factors.
But perhaps even more indicative of the extent to which little has changed is the following passage from our 2008 report, in which we suggest the need for a "triage" approach to stabilize the system's finances and service in the short-term:
"The underlying philosophy of this approach is that while a comprehensive, dedicated funding source appears necessary to permanently address MCTS’ structural budget problems, it is uncertain when and whether this approach will actually happen...In the meantime, the data indicate it is critical to hold the line on fare increases and service cuts for at least the next two to four years to help stabilize or even begin to grow ridership, and to take other prudent steps to reduce the magnitude of a full-fledged funding crisis when significant bus purchases are required."
In light of the significant service cuts proposed for 2010 - which include the elimination of all freeway flyer service - and the continued uncertainty of a state-authorized funding solution, policymakers may wish to re-read our discussion of the need for and components of a triage strategy that could be pursued without state legislation. There are short-term strategies that local policymakers can consider on their own, if they have the will to do so.
Posted by Rob Henken at 10:45 AM
Labels: Henken, milwaukee county, state budget, transit
New Milwaukee effort avoids the pitfall of recreating suburbs
It is an uphill battle to revitalize downtown retail in this economy, but Milwaukee’s downtown Business Improvement District is responding by hiring Deanna Inniss to recruit retailers to the city.
One may question why her list of tasks, as reported by the Journal Sentinel, does not include the troubled Shops of Grand Avenue on Wisconsin Ave., and why she does not plan to recruit big box stores. A glance into Minneapolis’ experience with downtown retail indicates there may be sound reasons for such an approach.
The Minneapolis equivalent of the Shops of Grand Avenue is a $150 million development called Block E. Completed in 2002 with $39 million in city subsidies, the retail and entertainment complex was to revitalize a key downtown block and lure suburban shoppers to the city center. It has some features that many in Milwaukee would envy: the light rail line is just a few blocks away, and its complex contains a hotel, a 15-screen movie theater, restaurants, an arcade, and a bowling alley. It is within one block of popular downtown sporting events, a main music venue, and many nightclubs.
The debate over how to best draw people from the suburbs to spend their time and money in Milwaukee's downtown has included arguments for similar investments here: a light rail line, some brand new development with substantial city investment, and anchor stores like a movie theater and arcade. But despite having all of those things in Minneapolis, the 30% vacancy in Milwaukee’s downtown mall ends up being an exact match for the projected vacancy in Block E.
Recent coverage about Block E in the Minneapolis Star Tribune included “Downtown complex gets a C for challenged,” “’E’ may stand for ‘emptier’,” and a columnist whose opinion was summed up in the headline as, “Block E: Let’s put it out of its misery.” Crime outside Block E is an issue, its Borders bookstore closed, its nightclub closed, and major tenant Sega Gameworks just announced it will sublease its space due to declining revenue. In addition, few buildings in Minneapolis have produced such outspoken hatred regarding architectural choices. Block E’s new construction has been referred to by columnist James Lileks, who advocates a full tear-down, as a “faux-historical façade … the architectural version of the elephant designed by a committee.” One online commenter called it "a suburban eyesore." The end result is that many downtown convention-goers bypass Block E in favor of taking light rail to the suburban Mall of America.
By focusing on recruiting small independent street retailers that are unique to downtown, Milwaukee's Business Improvement District may avoid some of the pitfalls experienced by Minneapolis. The more difficult question is posed in a Journal Sentinel editorial board blog post: "OK, but what to do about Grand Avenue Mall?" There appear to be no easy answers for that. Trying to create a suburban mall experience in a downtown setting has been problematic here and elsewhere; perhaps capitalizing on the diverse street-level hustle and bustle of city life could hold promise for Milwaukee’s downtown.
Posted by Melissa Kovach at 2:26 PM
Labels: city of milwaukee, downtown, economic development, kovach
Is it time to dissolve Milwaukee County government?
With Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway's proposal to abolish the position of county executive, and County Executive Scott Walker's counter-proposal to eliminate all of county government, policymakers and opinion leaders in Greater Milwaukee once again appear primed to discuss big changes in the structure of local government.
But will this iteration really lead to comprehensive structural change, or will it result only in minor reforms, as did the discussion following the 1996 report from Milwaukee County's 21st Century Commission, and the 2002/2003 discussion related to the county's pension scandal?
Research recently commenced by the Public Policy Forum may play a significant role in answering that question. The purpose of this research - which has been commissioned by the Greater Milwaukee Committee - is to explore the fiscal, legal and logistical issues involved with transferring the various services currently provided by county government to other entities, and the options that might exist for doing so.
Does that mean the Forum has taken a position in support of the elimination of county government and is preparing the plan for this endeavor? Absolutely not. We do believe, however, that this suggestion has received enough public attention and civic support, and that the fiscal issues facing county government are sufficiently severe, to at least merit rigorous and objective research as to whether downsizing or eliminating Milwaukee County government might be accomplished and, if so, what options exist.
The fact that rigorous research is needed should not be overlooked. While significant governance change often is seen as a panacea for difficult problems facing local governments or school districts, the experience of those who have attempted such change indicates that fiscal savings can be limited, and that the benefits associated with structural reform can take years to manifest.
In the case of Milwaukee County, the seemingly simple notion of "blowing it up" is fraught with complexity that is caused by some of the very factors that have created the county's current fiscal crisis. The county has more than $2 billion of pension and retiree "legacy" liabilities, as well as close to $500 million of outstanding general obligation debt, that don't simply disappear if the county ceases to provide certain functions. Either those costs must be distributed to the entities that take over county services - a proposition the receiving entity is unlikely to embrace - or they must remain with a shrunken county government that is even less equipped to pay for them with a reduced workforce and receding revenue streams.
The analysis we're undertaking will deconstruct the county budget, showing what the county is actually spending to deliver key services, as opposed to what is budgeted for those services because of the way the county distributes legacy costs across all departments (see our March 2009 report for more detailed description of this issue).
By isolating county retirement costs and their true impact on county services, we hope to engender an informed policy discussion about how those costs should be managed and whether alternatives might exist to prevent them from continuing to diminish the level and quality of every county service. We will then analyze and assess the fiscal and non-fiscal impacts and considerations associated with moving certain functions out of county government, and the pros and cons of various alternative government structures.
As long as the notion of dissolving county government or radically altering its structure is seen as a possibility, it will serve as a convenient excuse by some to delay meaningful action on the dozens of excruciating financial and policy decisions that face the county right now, and that have been pushed off for years. It is time to take the next step in determining whether such an approach is possible and desirable. Stay tuned for our report, which we hope to release by the end of this year.
Labels: government structure, Henken, milwaukee county, state of Wisconsin
Who's responsible for the achievement gap?
A new federal study of standardized test scores finds Wisconsin has the most persistent achievement gap in the nation between African-American and white students. This story received prominent play in the New York Times on Tuesday, but was covered with a just short article inside the local section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday.
The Times coverage quotes the head of the Education Trust, a national education advocacy group, as saying principals in Wisconsin were "stunned" to find out the results.
It sounds incredulous that Wisconsin principals weren't truly aware of the extent of the problem. But it is important to note that the findings are based on a national standardized test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and not on the state standardized test, the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam (WKCE). NAEP scores are always presented at the state level because the test is actually taken by a sample of students across the state, and not by every student in every district, as is the WKCE. So principals are probably less likely to feel the statewide NAEP results truly reflect the status of their school or district. In addition, some studies have shown that the NAEP is more rigorous than the WKCE; a score earning a grade of "proficient" on the WKCE is much lower than a proficient score on the NAEP. So principals whose students do well as defined by the WKCE might be "stunned" by lower performance on the NAEP.
At any rate, the federal study shows that Wisconsin schools are losing ground in comparison with schools in other states when it comes to narrowing the racial achievement gap. The study doesn't note which states have open enrollment programs, which allow students to choose to attend schools outside their resident districts. Might the presence of this program in Wisconsin help explain our "stunning" results?
Most of the state's African-American students attend school in districts in southeast Wisconsin, which is also where most of the students participating in open enrollment (and the smaller Chapter 220 interdistrict integration program) attend school. Consequently, in many of the region's school districts, non-resident students make up a significant portion, if not nearly all, of their minority student population. In addition, the region's scores on the WKCE, on the whole, lag behind the rest of the state's.
Open enrollment and Chapter 220 may thus have a relationship to the achievement gap if the performance of the students opting for these programs differs from that of other students. This kind of gap might not get addressed if there is a perception within a district that performance should be measured mostly by the test scores of the district's "own" students, meaning resident students, because these students are more likely to stay in the school or district throughout their schooling career and are truly products of that district. While non-resident students may in fact be less likely to spend their entire schooling career in one district, if much of a district's diversity comes from its non-resident students, how can this attitude result in anything but a racial achievement gap?
If a district is only responsible for resident students, then no one should be stunned by the pursuant gap. But it's harder to sustain this argument when it is a statewide result being analyzed. These children are all Wisconsinites. They all count when it comes time to measure up to the rest of the country.
If the scores of resident students could be compared to those of non-resident students, we could analyze the extent to which the achievement gap may or may not be due to a lack of concern about non-resident performance. But state law does not instruct districts to disaggregate the scores of open enrollment or Chapter 220 students. Some districts, of course, likely do so anyway, at least internally, which may be the basis for the perception of success with their "own" students. But there is no way of knowing, on a statewide basis, whether the children who have exercised a choice to attend a school outside their resident district are being left behind, causing Wisconsin's achievement gap to grow ever larger.
Posted by Anneliese at 12:30 PM
Labels: achievement gap, Dickman, education, state rank
Interesting tidbits from Texas Transportation Institute Study
Television and newspaper coverage of the new Urban Mobility Report from the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) has emphasized the $300 million annual cost of traffic congestion to Milwaukee area commuters while also acknowledging that Metro Milwaukee's traffic conditions are tame when compared to other urban areas.
A review of the full set of performance measure data yields several additional interesting tidbits and questions that may be relevant to taxpayers and elected officials as we prepare for billions of dollars of expenditures on I-94 reconstruction and expansion and a major overhaul of the Zoo Interchange, and as we continue to debate new transit options for the region. Here are a few:
The mobility data - which tracks back to 1982 - indicates that while freeway congestion levels in Metro Milwaukee grew considerably from the early 1980s to mid 90s, they have leveled off since then. For example, while the average Milwaukee peak hour commuter suffered seven hours of delay per year in 1982, that number tripled to 21 in 1993. Since that time, however, it has stayed about the same, and even decreased to 18 in both 2006 and 2007. Does this finding cast doubt on the accuracy of repeated projections that traffic congestion in Metro Milwaukee would grow precipitously without major investment in added freeway capacity? Or, conversely, does it support the value of investments we have made on a new Marquette Interchange and other improvements? Does the data speak mainly to freeway congestion, which may have reached its natural limit, as opposed to congestion on parallel arterials, which may have increased instead? Also, how does this finding mesh with recent projections utilized to plan the I-94 and Zoo Interchange projects?
A key indicator used by the Texas Institute is a Travel Time Index, which measures "the ratio of travel time in the peak period to travel time in free flow". Milwaukee's Travel Time Index in 2007 was 1.13, which means a trip that would take 20 minutes in free flow conditions would take 22.6 minutes on average in peak periods. Again, a look at the historical trend shows that this index leveled off in the mid 90s and is lower in 2007 than it was earlier in the decade. But what is perhaps most striking is just how low the index is. With an average two-and-a-half minute delay in peak conditions versus free flow for a 20-minute commuter, should we be surprised that highway expansion proposals often are contentious? Likewise, is the lack of intolerable traffic congestion in Metro Milwaukee perhaps the biggest reason why proposals for modern transit investments have not taken hold here as they have in other cities? Should the other benefits associated with such transit investments really be the basis for our deliberations?
TTI tracks "operations strategies" utilized to manage congestion from 2000 to 2007. This data indicates significantly greater usage of three such strategies in Milwaukee: freeway ramp metering, freeway cameras, and better signal coordination on arterials. Is there a need to further explore the causal relationship between these lower cost strategies and steady congestion levels in Metro Milwaukee before we consider costlier alternatives?
There's a lot of data in TTI's report, and it certainly can be used by advocates on all sides of the transportation spectrum to make the points they wish to make. Let's also hope that in the course of our upcoming transportation deliberations, those presenting options to policymakers and citizens also make fair and objective use of it.
Labels: Henken, transit, transportation
Is there an optimal rate for municipalities to use tax increment financing?
Tax incremental financing (TIF) is the most widely used economic development tool of local governments in Wisconsin. TIF uses future property tax revenue to provide up-front assistance for real estate developments. Notable projects such as Grand Avenue Mall and the recent redevelopment of Bayshore Mall relied heavily on TIF assistance. TIF plays an integral role in our region’s economic development.
While TIF use is growing throughout the state, its benefits and the extent to which communities should use TIF are still hotly debated.
The work of the Forum’s 2008-2009 Norman N. Gill fellow, John Kovari, has resulted in a research brief Too Much or Not Enough?: A Statistical Analysis of TIF in Wisconsin, which adds to the debate and takes a closer look at TIF and its economic benefits.
Specifically, the report explores the relationship between TIF and property values at the local and regional level using economic data from all Wisconsin municipalities between 1990 and 2006. Economic, statistical modeling provides an estimate of the average impact of TIF on property values in a way that might be useful for local officials in making economic development decisions.
The report’s key findings:
* TIF Growth. TIF utilization in Wisconsin municipalities has grown considerably (400%) since 1990, especially in the southern and central areas of the state. More than one quarter of the municipalities using TIF are now over the statutory TIF value limit.
* Who Uses TIF? Medium-sized municipalities (under 50,000 residents) and those with growing property tax bases are using TIF more often than those with lower rates of property value growth, including Wisconsin’s biggest cities. Although TIF was originally intended to spur economic development in struggling areas, TIF is being used more frequently by communities that are experiencing economic growth.
* TIF Benefits. TIF has the potential to be a useful economic development tool for villages and cities in redeveloping “blighted” properties and raising property values. On average, for every $1 increase of TIF value, total property value is estimated to increase by $6.
* Differences Across Communities. Differences in TIF use exist between Wisconsin’s largest metropolitan cities and outlying municipalities. On average, outlying localities are at risk of over-utilizing TIF. Statistical modeling estimates that if the average Wisconsin suburb were to increase its TIF amount by 10% (keeping all other factors constant), then its total property value would likely decrease by 0.2%. Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s largest cities appear to under-utilize TIF: the model indicates that a 10% increase in TIF value would likely increase property values by 2%.
* Regional TIF Effects. Within Wisconsin’s metropolitan regions, greater TIF investment in suburban communities may impair property value growth in the corresponding central city (i.e. Wisconsin’s largest cities). According to the model, a 10% increase in suburban increment value would likely result in an estimated 1.1% decrease in central city property value.
Overall, using historical data to model estimated TIF impacts suggests that excessive TIF use has the potential to negatively impact the economies of individual communities as well as Wisconsin’s largest cities. In other words, excessive TIF use (especially in outlying municipalities) may potentially create a scenario in which property value growth in the state is impaired.
At the same time, TIF can be a successful tool in redeveloping areas in Wisconsin’s largest cities. The model suggests that these cities (those over 50,000 residents) have not utilized TIF at the ideal rate to maximize property values.
Local and state officials are encouraged to look at TIF in a way that asks whether their communities are using TIF “Too Much or Not Enough.”
Special thanks to the Gill family for their generous support of this project through the Norman N. Gill Fellowship.
Labels: Dickman, economics, Kovari, local government, property values, tax increment financing
MPS teachers link preschool to better performance ...
PPF Pearls: Addressing Milwaukee County's transit ...
New Milwaukee effort avoids the pitfall of recreat...
Is it time to dissolve Milwaukee County government...
Interesting tidbits from Texas Transportation Inst...
Is there an optimal rate for municipalities to use...
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TUTAN KHAMUN TOMB’S IMPACT I
Apart from two world wars, the slaughter of millions by totalitarian regimes and, though less certainly, the extension of Homo sapiens' dominion to the moon, no single event in the twentieth century had so profound an impact, nor set up so many resonances, as the discovery of the tomb of Nebkheperu-Ra Tutankhamun (c. 1333-1323 BC) in the Valley of the Kings in 1922. The story has been told countless times: how Howard Carter and his employer, the Earl of Carnarvon, after years of largely fruitless excavation in Egypt, in virtually the last days of their concession to dig in the Valley came upon the burial place of the least of the monarchs of the New Kingdom and found it a treasure trove the like of which the modern world had never seen. At once all the stories which had entranced generations since storytelling began, of the finding, in a remote and secret place, of treasures beyond computation, were given the force of truth.
The effect of the discovery was extraordinary. In the immediate aftermath of a particularly dreadful conflict which had caused the deaths of millions, which had destroyed a world which had endured, largely unchanging, for centuries, and which was the prelude to world-wide repression, depression and deprivation, the discovery of this golden boy and his incalculable riches was bound to be an event of great power. It was the more so since, for the first time, the distant past could be brought to life by the application of all the techniques of modern publicity and media exploitation. This last consequence of the discovery has continued without abatement ever since.
The contents of Tutankhamun's small, hidden tomb, with its six little rooms-the very modesty of their scale made it easy for a wide public to identify with them, if not so readily with what they contained-were, in Carter's word, `wonderful'. The abundance of gold and gilding alone would ensure that a world increasingly bereft of splendour would respond with wonder and delight at their revelation. Whilst honesty compels the observer to acknowledge that some of the objects with which the king was buried were, when judged by the highest standards of Egyptian art, of dubious taste, some are superlative: most are of outstanding craftsmanship, even when the design is not of the happiest.
Tutankhamun's tomb reveals the heights which Egyptian technique, especially in wood-carving, gilding and the making of fine jewels, had achieved in the New Kingdom. Workers in precious metals and in a thousand specialisations were recruited, organised and set to work on the king's treasury for the afterlife, all to be completed in the seventy days from death to the final interment in his House of Millions of Years. His tomb was entered by robbers, probably not long after his burial. For whatever reason they left hurriedly, and did not return. The tomb was then entirely forgotten until the twentieth century.
Tutankhamun's paternity is still doubtful, though it is likely that he was a son of Akhenaten, by one of his lesser wives, not by Nefertiti. He was a child when he succeeded: a charming object from the tomb, the golden haft from a walking stick, shows him as a chubby little boy, wearing the warrior's blue crown and holding himself very upright with his stomach drawn tightly in, as no doubt his tutors had instructed him. Little is known of his reign, though it is clear that the priests of Amun who had been dispossessed by Akhenaten reasserted their authority, moved the capital back to Thebes, renamed the king, hitherto Tutankhaten, and execrated `the Heretic of Amarna', cutting away his name wherever it was to be found in inscriptions. But, though his life was obscure and his reign relatively unimportant, the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb gave the world some idea of what it was to be a king of Egypt.
Part of the significance of the recovery of Tutankhamun, for his body was preserved as well as his regalia and possessions, was accounted for by the fact that he was so small a king, amongst the least of the great monarchs who had enjoyed the Dual Kingship, whose very existence had been questioned only a short time before Carter found him in the Valley. If the discovery had been of one of the great Thutmosids or Amenhoteps, for example, paradoxically the impact might not have been as great as the finding of this boy, the formulation of whose given name was unique in all the annals of Egypt before or after his brief lifetime; he died when he was probably about 19 years old.
Thus this most obscure of the kings of Egypt became the most familiar of all, his name applied to countless objects, designs, films and books. It was as if the world had been waiting for his return; the myth of the Returning King is an enduring one and in Tutankhamun's case it had become reality. He was the archetype of the Young Prince, the Beautiful Boy, the Puer Aeturnus, who awaits rebirth constantly in a variety of forms, some benign, some deeply menacing.
But Tutankhamun was all light. The scenes which showed him, with his young wife, hunting in the marshes on his skiff and in the myriad of ushabti figures, some of the finest carvings in the tomb, portray a young prince, carefree and by no means especially god-like.
The portraits of Tutankhamun in his tomb show a remarkable consistency which suggests that they are close to actual likeness. He is represented as quite exceptionally beautiful, an essential quality of the archetype; following the reign of Akhenaten, when there was some attempt to represent the royal family naturistically, a practice which continued in Tutankhamun's lifetime, it can, with reasonable assurance, be assumed that the portraits show the king much as he was. In later years, had he lived, he would no doubt have grown as portly as his likely grandfather, Amenhotep III, whom he somewhat resembles. But Tutankhamun was never to be old.
The circumstances of his burial were remarkable enough. His mummified body, badly affected by the action of the resins in the process which was supposed to preserve it, was contained in a series of magnificent gold coffins, each one with a representation of the king, each subtly different as though the craftsmen were representing the king in different moods, or, simply, as he was seen to each. One of the coffins, the second, was probably intended originally for Smenkhkara and hence is not a portrait of Tutankhamun at all. The coffins, one inside the other, are hugely bulky; in turn they are contained inside a series of three wooden shrines, which carry on them a version of the Book of the Dead, the spells and prayers designed to carry the King safely to the afterlife, which descend ultimately from the ancient Pyramid Texts, through the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom. The shrines are built on the scale of rooms; the outer shrine is notable for the four exquisite figures of goddesses who stand by them, their wings and arms outstretched protectively around the king's mummy. Even so small a king as Tutankhamun could expect to have gods and goddesses at his service.
Posted by Mitch Williamson at Thursday, October 04, 2012
Labels: Expedition
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Don’t get “board” this Christmas!
Getting the family together at Christmas is a great time to get out the board games and have some fun. But what are some great games to play, here are some of our faves!
For the adults 12+ games
Taboo is for 12+ you need 4 or more players and it takes approximately 15- 20 mins. Taboo is a word guessing party game, You split into teams and your team have to try an guess the word being described within an allotted time but you must not use the 5 “taboo” words listed to describe your word.
Scattergories is for 2–6 player and is for ages 12+. You get a card with 12 categories on it you then roll a 20 sided dice with a letter per side and which ever letter you get you have to find an answer to each of the 12 categories that begins with that letter so type of food beginning with b could be Brown bread as you get extra points for using alliteration. If you have the same answer as another player you both score 0. A fun game to get the grey matter going!
Articulate is a fast talking description board game, for 4 to 20+ players aged 12+. Articulate players describe words from different categories to their team as quickly as possible. The teams move round the board based on the number of words correctly guessed, and occasional spinner bonuses. Each round is 30 seconds long. The object of the game is to get to the end before the other team.
The Logo Board Game is for 2 to 6 players (or teams) aged 12+. Players travel round the board of purple, yellow, green, and red spaces, based on correctly answered questions, until they reach the winning zone in the center. The questions are based on logos, products and packaging of well-known brands.
For older kids too 8+
Pictionary – For ages 8+, you need 4 or more players and takes approximately 1 hour. You move round a board and depending on which category you land on depends on which category you have to draw and your team have to guess the word you are trying to describe. Great fun for the family and the worse the drawing the funnier it can be!
Rapidough is for ages 8+ and for 4 or more players. Rapidough is the team game of sculpting charades, each team takes turns to guess the item being sculpted by their team player to guess what was written on the card. The winning team can then steal a piece of the losing teams dough, making it harder for them to sculpt as they lose more dough.
The Game of Life is for 2-4 players and aimed at 9+ years. Where will your choices take you? You made it through high school, so now what’s next? Go to college or start a career -it’s your choice. Think the family life is for you? Take that path and see how many kids you’ll have! Will you venture down the risky road where fortunes can be won… and lost? Do whatever it takes to retire in style with the most wealth at the end of the game. Spin the wheel of fate and take a drive along the twisting roads families have enjoyed for more than 50 years! Do good deeds as you go through the game to earn Life Tiles and more money down the road!
Cludeo is a popular murder mystery themed deduction board game. For ages 8+ and for 2-6 player. The object of the game is for players to strategically move around the game board (representing the rooms of a mansion), in the guise of one of the game’s six characters, collecting clues from which to deduce which suspect murdered the game’s perpetual victim, Dr Black, and with which weapon and in what room.
Yahtzee is a dice game for 1 or more players from age 8+. The object of the game is to score the most points by rolling five dice to make certain combinations. The dice can be rolled up to three times in a turn to try to make one of the thirteen possible scoring combinations. A game consists of thirteen rounds during which the player chooses which scoring combination is to be used in that round. Once a combination has been used in the game, it cannot be used again. The scoring combinations have varying point values, some of which are fixed values and others of which have the cumulative value of the dice.
From 6+
Pie Face is the latest big game out this year, for two or more players this game creates fun and suspense for the whole family! Put whipped cream or a wet sponge on the hand of the game unit and turn the handles. It could go off at any time, so keep your fingers crossed it’s not you. You score a point for every time you turn the handle without getting pie-faced, and the one who scores 25 points wins. Take some risks and hope for the best in this hilarious Pie Face game that might just splat you in the face!
Guess Who is a two player guessing game aimed at children from 6+. Each player starts the game with a board that includes cartoon images of 24 people and their first names with all the images standing up. The game starts with each player selecting a card of their choice from a separate pile of cards containing the same 24 images. The object of the game is to be the first to determine which card one’s opponent has selected. Players alternate asking various yes or no questions to eliminate candidates, such as “Does this person wear glasses?” The player will then eliminate candidates by flipping those images down until all but one is left. Well-crafted questions allow players to eliminate one or more possible cards.
Connect Four is a two-player game for ages 7+ in which the players first choose a colour and then take turns dropping coloured discs from the top into a seven-column, six-row vertically suspended grid. The pieces fall straight down, occupying the next available space within the column. The object of the game is to connect four of one’s own discs of the same colour next to each other vertically, horizontally, or diagonally before your opponent
Frustration is designed for 2-4 players aged 6+ This slam-tastic board game is one of chance and luck. It’s a great all round family fun game which will develop numeric abilities and encourage your competitive nature! The amazing chasing game that drives you mad! You have to move your coloured pieces from the start to the finish without getting caught by your opponent. First one to get all 4 pieces home wins.
Operation is a battery-operated game of physical skill that tests players’ hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. The game consists of an “operating table”, lithographed with a comic likeness of a patient (nicknamed “Cavity Sam”) with a large red light bulb for his nose. In the surface are a number of openings, which reveal fictional and humorously named ailments made of white plastic which you have to remove with tweezers without touching the sides and making the nose light up and the buzzer go.
Uno is a card game aimed at 7+ for 2-10 players. He cards have numbers and colours on them and you deal 7 cards to start with, each player taking their turn to follow the card that is down by placing the same colour or number or using the wild card such as reverse or pick up cards. The first player to have no cards left is the winner.
Mouse Trap is designed for 2-4 players aged 6+. Over the course of the game, players at first cooperate to build a working mouse trap. Once the mouse trap has been built, players turn against each other, attempting to trap opponents’ mouse-shaped game pieces.
For ages 3-5
Hungry Hippos is a game for 2-4 players aged 4+. The gameboard is 4 mechanical, colourful, plastic hippopotami operated by players through repetitive smacking on the back (of the hippo). White plastic marbles are poured over the board, and the players repeatedly slap down on their controllers, thus lengthening their necks in order to snag more marbles, which roll through the hollow interior of each hippopotamus. The game continues until all marbles have been devoured, and it is then that a winner is decided depending on the player with the largest quantity of marbles.
Snakes and Ladders is a classic children’s board games aimed at 3+. It is played between two or more player on a gameboard having numbered, gridded squares. A number of “ladders” and “snakes” are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares. The object of the game is to navigate one’s game piece, according to die rolls, from the start (bottom square) to the finish (top square), helped or hindered by ladders and snakes respectively.
Ludo is a board game for two to four players aged 4+, in which the players race their four tokens from start to finish according to die rolls.
Chasin Cheeky is for 1-2 players aged 3+ Chase the monkey! Try and steal his banana and place rings onto his tail, but be careful he can be mischievous! If you manage to catch his banana watch him do his incredibly funny victory dance.
Pig goes Pop is for 2-6 players aged 4+. The tension will mount as you continuously feed burgers to the greedy pig. Watch his stomach get bigger and bigger and be prepared for when he finally goes pop! A fun-filled game which will have your children shrieking with laughter!
Shopping List is a game aimed at children 3+ for 2-4 player, You have a shopping list and a trolley. You have to try and fill our trolley first with the items on your shopping list.
Other classic games include Trivial Pursuit – which has a family edition to include more of the family, Scrabble which has a junior version, Monopoly again there are several versions of this game now. There are so many to choose from there will barely be time for the turkey and the Queens speech!
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VEDERNIKOV Andrei
Dr. VEDERNIKOV Andrei
PhD in Physics
Experiments in microgravity
ICAPS (Interaction in Cosmic and Atmospheric Particle Systems)
Vedernikov, A. and D. Balapanov (2016). "One-dimensional model and solutions for creeping gas flows in the approximation of uniform pressure." Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics 94(5).
Santachiara, G., F. Prodi, F. Belosi and A. Vedernikov (2014). "Observation of macroscopic aerosol motion due to thermal creep on chamber walls at low Knudsen number in microgravity." Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 57: 221-225.
Vedernikov, A., N. Freuville, D. Balapanov and A. Cecere (2012). Cloud manipulation system: Thermal characterization and drop tower experiment. Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC.
Blum, J., A. C. Levasseur-Regourd, O. Muñoz, R. J. Slobodrian and A. Vedernikov (2008). "Dust in space." Europhysics News 39(3): 27-29.
Melikhov, I. V., A. A. Vedernikov, E. F. Simonov and S. S. Berdonosov (1996). "Experimental detection of the chemojet motion of solid particles in aerosols." Doklady Physical Chemistry 346(1-3): 8-11.
Prodi, F., G. Santachiara, L. Di Matteo, A. Vedernikov, S. A. Beresnev and V. G. Chernyak (2007). "Measurements of thermophoretic velocities of aerosol particles in microgravity conditions in different carrier gases." Journal of Aerosol Science 38(6): 645-655.
Prodi, F., G. Santachiara, S. Travaini, A. Vedernikov, F. Dubois, C. Minetti and J. C. Legros (2006). "Measurements of phoretic velocities of aerosol particles in microgravity conditions." Atmospheric Research 82(1-2): 183-189.
Vedernikov, A. A., F. Prodi, G. Santachiara, S. Travaini, F. Dubois and J. C. Legros (2005). "Thermophoretic measurements in presence of thermal stress convection in aerosols in microgravity conditions of drop tower." Microgravity Science and Technology 17(3): 102-105.
Smirnov, N. N., V. F. Nikitin, O. E. Ivashnyov, A. Maximenko, M. Thiercelin, A. Vedernikov, B. Scheid and J. C. Legros (2004). "Microgravity investigations of instability and mixing flux in frontal displacement of fluids." Microgravity Science and Technology 15(2): 35-51.
Dupont, O., F. Dubois, A. Vedernikov, J. C. Legros, J. Willneff and C. Lockowandt (1999). "Photogrammetric set-up for the analysis of particle motion in aerosol under miorogravity conditions." Measurement Science and Technology 10(10): 921-933.
Patent N 1058112 (USSR), 1983, Apparatus for crystallization, V.V.Suvorov, S.A. Fetisova, L.M. Maliarova, V.K.Trunov, A.A. Efremov, V.A. Dzhanibekov, L.D. Iskhakova, G.V.
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Imperial Germany, 1871 - 1918: Short Oxford History of Germany (review)
Imperial Germany, 1871 - 1918: Short Oxford History of Germany
William Mulligan (bio)
James Retallack , editor. Imperial Germany, 1871 - 1918: Short Oxford History of Germany. Oxford University Press. xvi, 328. US$100.00
The study of imperial Germany remains vibrant, as the essays in this volume of the Short Oxford History of Germany demonstrate. A combination of well-established historians and the leading scholars of a new generation have written a series of lively contributions, each of which is opened by a [End Page 377] short anecdote illustrating some of the central issues identified in the excellent introduction by James Retallack. Alongside two chapters examining the politics of Bismarckian and Wilhelmine Germany, there are thematic essays on the economy, society, religion, culture, gender, bourgeois reform, political culture, militarism, and Germany in the world, before a concluding chapter on the First World War. Four themes form the 'interpretative arc' of the volume: social and economic change, the relationship of the middle classes to the state, conflict, and the relationship between authoritarian and modern features of imperial Germany.
These issues have been at the heart of research since the 1960s, but in this volume they are reworked in important ways. In particular, Retallack notes that historians have developed different geographical frames in which to locate modern German history. The attention to the local and, at the other end of the scale, the global framework of German history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has opened new perspectives. For example, national identity and the process of state formation were heavily influenced by responses to such diverse issues as the increasingly interdependent world economy and the emergence of new elites in towns and villages around the country. For example, Christopher Clark's chapter on religion begins with a story about a conflict over the commemoration of the Lutheran Reformation in Affaltrach in Württemberg and concludes with a comment on the Continent-wide dimension of church-state conflict in the late nineteenth century.
A second important development is that the history of imperial Germany is no longer read as the precursor to the Third Reich. The debate about Germany's special path, or Sonderweg, gave a particular intensity to the historiographical debates between the 1960s and 1980s. The relationship between imperial and Nazi Germany remains on the research agenda, as recent debates about military culture and colonial warfare have demonstrated. In this volume, however, the editor and the contributors have generally resisted drawing a line between Bismarck and Hitler. Retallack concludes that the subjects of imperial Germany would have been astonished by the idea that the Third Reich would constitute their nation's future. Instead the half-century dividing the founding of the Kaiserreich and its downfall was a period of transition, in which contemporaries struggled, but often succeeded, in coming to terms with change. It was a period with many possible outcomes, 'an object worthy of study in its own right.' By releasing imperial Germany from the teleological straitjacket of 1933, it encourages historians to explore a much wider range of themes and issues than had been the case in the heyday of the Sonderweg debate. Topics such as reform-minded bourgeois groups and the rich texture of civil society become more interesting if they are not written off as the dead ends of German history. [End Page 378]
If the volume is a marker for the state of the current debates on imperial Germany, Retallack also offers some sage advice about future research directions. Given the renewed interest in military history, in the broadest sense of the term, it is no surprise to see the First World War highlighted as an important area of research, though he suggests that the experience of the war years needs to be integrated into general histories of imperial Germany. Pushing the study of the emergence of mass politics in the 1870s and 1880s might give a more rounded view of the Bismarckian era, which is dominated by the character of the Iron Chancellor.
By summarizing the complexities of the current debate and setting out fresh research agendas, Retallack's volume will offer an invaluable guide to both experts and students.
William...
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Prudential's Vice Chairman believes it is imperative for—and incumbent upon—companies to provide tools and resources to help employees grow into new and future roles.
By Ron Varrial
Sixty-five percent of the jobs that today’s elementary school students will eventually hold don’t even have names yet.
That’s a prediction from the World Economic Forum. And it’s just one proof point that demonstrates why continuous learning and a focus on skills development remain critical at work.
Prudential Vice Chairman Rob Falzon, joined by Microsoft’s Peggy Johnson, tackled that topic head on in a session at the Aspen Ideas Festival on “Today’s Investments for Tomorrow’s Global Workforce.”
Both Falzon and Johnson agreed it’s imperative for—and incumbent upon—companies to provide tools and resources to help employees grow into new and future roles.
“It’s critical to learn how to learn,” Falzon said. “It’s not just skills education, it’s about teaching people how to develop a continuous learning capability.”
Prudential has existed for a century longer than Microsoft. But that doesn’t mean the two companies, from different industries, aren’t experiencing a similar sea change.
“I listened to Peggy, from a technology company, and I hear how they’ve got so many of the same experiences we’re having, despite Prudential being around 100 years longer,” Falzon said. “They’re seeing the technological transformation and the future of work just as we are. It tells me, this is a challenge we’re all going to tackle.”
Read Falzon’s piece on how Prudential is addressing the skills gap on Business Insider.
To speak to Rob about the future of work and how companies like Prudential can address the skills gap, contact Laura Burke.
Millions of American jobs are going unfilled because of the 'skills gap'
Prudential Financial vice chairman Robert Falzon says the United States' economic success is going to be reliant on closing the "skills gap" and that the responsibility should largely rest on companies like his.
American workers seek learning and development programs to close skills gap
Unemployment is at its lowest point since 1969 and job openings are at a 17-year high, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With a tightened labor market the competition for candidates with the right skill set is soaring. Yet, many workers lack the skills necessary to pursue new opportunities, suggests a new survey from Prudential Financial, Inc.
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“If GSM network for the whole state is blocked for between three and six months, l can assure you that it will go a long way because even informers can no longer disclose the movement of security personnel to the bandits.’’
By Jerrywright Ukwu
Zamfara council of chiefs has requested the federal government to set up a panel or commission of inquiry to establish those behind banditry in the state and punish them.
The chairman of the council and Emir of Anka, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad, made the appeal on Monday, May 13 when he received the minister of interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd), at his palace.
“We as a people will not forgive the actions of these people which have led to the killing and displacement of thousands of innocent citizens whose sources of livelihood have also been completely destroyed.
“Setting up of such a panel will help in bringing all the perpetrators to book.”
He also suggested other ways to frustrate the operations of the bandits.
He said: “This should be followed by blocking the telephone service of the whole state by all the service providers because it is only when kidnappers can contact victims’ relations that they can demand for ransom.
ALSO READ THIS We’ll be more of producers with ‘Trade Nigeria’ – Buchi George
← Nigeria’s Newspapers Headline News, Tuesday 14/5/2019.
Nigeria’s Newspapers Headline News, Wednesday 15/5/2019. →
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The Bishara Affair
So, all the papers in Israel are talking about him!! "a big mouth who talks before he thinks," says Uri Elitzure. What? If Bishara does one thing in life, he thinks! And yes he talks a lot, but isn't that what intellectuals are supposed to do? lead their society? Not in Israel! But what would you expect from someone who goes on to say "The idea of "a state of all its citizens" does not work, and it would not work even if we change the words of our national anthem and annul the Law of Return." Yes, I agree with that, But I have a totally different explanation as to the why! It is simply, because an Ethnic state can never be a state for all its citizens, no matter how hard it tries!
Bishara, has finally declared his intention to resign, all the words that were passed earlier were just rumors, now it is official.
Upon his resignation, he will face legal action, possibly, due to his numerous visits to Syria, which is considered by Israel an enemy state. Bishara says, as an Arab, he does not see Syria as an enemy! which somewhat makes since. Afterall, Israel has gone out against Bishara and his people more than Damascus had (if it ever did).
I will be in the Heart of Damascus tomorrow! and in three weeks, I will be back at the Israeli Terminal in Allenby Bridge. I wonder what they would have to say at that.
"Afterall, Israel has gone out against Bishara and his people more than Damascus had (if it ever did)."
Two comments - 1. "his people" - i'm assuming that by his people you mean palestinians. however, if he is a member of a people not part of the people of the state of israel - what right does he have to serve in the knesset?
2. Damascus never went against the palestinians? I thought the refusal to accept large numbers of palestinians and leaving them to fend for themselves in tents and facilities run by other nations would be considered as something bad. guess i was wrong.
1. Bishara and his ancestors have lived in Nazareth, long before any other serving MK has! and please cut the bullshit about god's promise or that Kingdom of Israel 3000 years ago.
2. Well, did you try to ask yourself who sent those Palestinians out in such large numbers?
excuse me - first of all, i did not say anything about any deity's promise or the kingdom of anything - DO NOT put words in my mouth.
second of all - don't deny the validity of some people's claim to ancient ancestry in one place while claiming the same for someone else.
thirdly, i was talking about the sovereign state of israel, who bishara claims to represent, in its legislature - as a representative of the State of Israel. By saying "his people", as a way of differentiating his ancestors from the rest of Israel's citizenry's you are, in effect, describing a situation in which bishara has no right to serve in the knesset. period.
finally, i'm not going to get into details about why people fled or left or what have you but - it was a freaking war! a war, mind you started by israel's neighbors and not israel itself. if you really can think otherwise you have been misled.
oh, one more thing - even if israel did send out those palestinians, as you claim - that does not deny the validity of the fact that syria acted badly towards the palestinians. that was my argument. not that israel is perfect, that syria is bad.
If your argument is that Syria is bad, then it is an irrelevant argument. Because here we are talking about Israel being racist.
lovely, you have been proven wrong - and what do you do - say the entire argument (in which you participated) is now invalid.
that's the same as a little kid losing a board game, throwing the whole game onto the floor.
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Humanity’s Great Awakening Featuring David Icke
The Outer Limits of Inner Truth commemorates it’s historic 100th show with a featured interview and soul analysis on Internationally acclaimed Author, Speaker, and Teacher; Mr. David Icke. We feel that David Icke has been one of the most effective and passionate advocates of awakening humanity from it’s long slumber of bondage, limiting beliefs, and subservience to dis-empowering ideals. Ever major movement (intellectual, civil, or nontechnical) in human history has begun with a spark of curiosity to challenge or improve upon the set collective understanding at that particular time. Icke is one of those sparks. Many have dubbed Icke as the “most controversial speaker” on the planet. He is the author of 16 books and among them are: And the Truth Shall Set You Free, The Biggest Secret, Children of the Matrix, Alice in Wonderland and The World Trade Center Disaster ~ why the official story of 9/11 is a monumental lie, and his latest book, Tales from the Time Loop – The most comprehensive exposé of the global conspiracy ever written and all you need to know to be truly free. David’s words are designed to inspire all of us to be who we really are, to fling open the door of the mental prison we build for ourselves and to walk into the light of freedom.
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Nunez Report
Reporting the facts until the Rapture.....
We will have a mirror site at http://nunezreport.wordpress.com in case we are censored, Please save the link
Pentagon Says It Has Successfully Shot Down A Simulated ICBM Attack
Update: according to the Missile Defense Agency, the test was a success.
According to the just released statement, during the test, an ICBM-class target was launched from the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Multiple sensors provided target acquisition and tracking data to the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communication (C2BMC) system. The Sea-Based X-band radar, positioned in the Pacific Ocean, also acquired and tracked the target. The GMD system received the target tracking data and developed a fire control solution to intercept the target.
Full statement from the Pentagon below:
HOMELAND MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM SUCCESSFULLY INTERCEPTS ICBM TARGET
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency, in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force 30th Space Wing, the Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense and U.S. Northern Command, today successfully intercepted an intercontinental ballistic missile target during a test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of the nation's ballistic missile defense system.
This was the first live-fire test event against an ICBM-class target for GMD and the U.S. ballistic missile defense system.
During the test, an ICBM-class target was launched from the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Multiple sensors provided target acquisition and tracking data to the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communication (C2BMC) system. The Sea-Based X-band radar, positioned in the Pacific Ocean, also acquired and tracked the target. The GMD system received the target tracking data and developed a fire control solution to intercept the target.
A ground-based interceptor was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and its exo-atmospheric kill vehicle intercepted and destroyed the target in a direct collision.
A clip of the GMD taking off in California:
As previewed last week, on Tuesday afternoon the US began the first ever missile test involving a simulated attack by an intercontinental ballistic missile, firing off an interceptor from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, according to a Reuters witness located at the airbase. The long-planned experiment comes amid increased tensions over North Korea’s ballistic missile tests.
Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element launches during a flight test
from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, U.S., May 30, 2017.
As part of the historic attempt to intercept an inbound ICBM, a Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) interceptor was fired from the Vandenberg. The target vehicle, designed to resemble an ICBM, was fired from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
The intercept should take place shortly over the Pacific Ocean. Reuters adds that it could be several hours before the U.S. military discloses whether the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) interceptor struck its target. The Kwajalein atoll is approximately 8,000 km (4,972 miles) from Los Angeles, California.
While the test comes as fears mount about North Korea's advancing program to develop an ICBM capability, Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Stars and Stripes last week said that Tuesday’s test was planned “years in advance” and is not a direct response to recent North Korean tests of ballistic missiles.
Despite the denial, many are skeptical: while North Korea currently lacks the capability to hit the US mainland, the US military intelligence chief recently warned that such a development is only a matter of time.
The test interceptor is equipped with an Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), which is supposed to destroy the target vehicle with a direct hit. “This will be the first test of an upgraded kill vehicle, and the first test against an ICBM-class target,” US Missile Defense Agency spokesman Chris Johnson said in a statement.
Deployed in 2004 by the Bush administration, the GMD has never been used it combat. This is the first intercept test since 2014. There are currently 32 interceptor missiles in Fort Greely, Alaska and four at Vandenberg. Eight more are supposed to come on-line by the end of this year, AP reported.
Credit to Zero Hedge
Labels: WW3
‘Tremors’ in Kiev: Moment of huge blast caused by pipe rupture caught on camera
ISIS Declares After Slaughtering Christians ‘May Allah Bless The Pure Hands That Shed Christian Blood, The Infidels Will Submit Or Die’
If it weren’t terrible enough that 29 Christians were slaughtered by ISIS terrorists for refusing to deny Christ, ISIS has made it a point to add insult to injury, where they bragged online about the massacre, calling the murderers “pure hands” that shed Christian blood, and boasting that the “infidels” will convert or die:
Islamic State sympathizers have written several messages in an encrypted chat room, celebrating last week’s killing of 29 Coptic Christians who were on their way to a monastery in Egypt, and warning of more such attacks on the minority, according to a report.
“May your jihad be blessed; you are sons of the Islamic State. Bless the pure hands that struck the strongholds of the Christians and the infidels,” wrote a user, Talha Alanssari, in a closed, encrypted chat group accessed by Breitbart Jerusalem.
The message continued, “Thank Allah who made our hearts happy with the heroic attack of the nation of Caliphs against the Christians in Egypt who should expect more attacks. The same Christians will not have the luxury of security and they will pay … the taxes of the Jizya (tax levied on non-Muslims) with the help of Allah.”
Another message by Oubaida Alsinawi reads, “Thank Allah who allowed our brothers to hunt these Christians as the hunter hunts his prey. The soldiers of the Islamic State will continue in an open-ended campaign with these Christians and traitorous Muslims in the Egyptian army and the tribes that help them in Sinai. I swear to Allah that our brothers in the field are demonstrating creativity as they reach these Christians and infidels and all those who help them. The attacks that have yet to come will be much harder with the help of Allah.”
Yet another chat user, identified as Hamza Alraqawi, wrote, “You warmed our hearts as our Mujahedeen brothers did who struck in England, Belgium, France, America and Russia. We say to you, continue with the blessing of Allah and increase your attacks and don’t allow them to continue harming the oppressed on the Earth.”
Another user, called “The Sheikh of the Caliphate,” wrote, “The war against the Christians is no less important than the war against the Shi’ites and against the infidels.”
Children, including a 2-year-old girl, were among the 29 killed Friday.
The Christians were traveling in two buses and a small truck in Minya, which is home to a sizeable Christian minority, when they were attacked. Masked gunmen stopped the vehicles on a road leading to the monastery.
New reports indicate that each person was asked to deny their faith in Jesus Christ. When they all refused, they were shot dead.
Hours after Friday’s attack, Egypt’s air force launched six strikes over its western border, targeting jihadist training camps in the Libyan port city of Derna, which is controlled by jihadists close to al-Qaeda.
Earlier this month, Islamic State’s local leader in Egypt issued a warning to Muslims, asking them to stay away from Christian gatherings and suggesting that it would launch new attacks on “legitimate targets.”
On Palm Sunday, bombings at churches in Alexandria and Tanta killed 45 Christians. Islamic State, also known as IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, claimed responsibility for those attacks. IS also signaled while claiming responsibility that more attacks were coming: “The Crusaders and their tails from the apostates must be aware that the bill between us and them is very large and they will be paying it like a river of blood from their sons, if God willing.”
Sinai Province, the name of the local affiliate of IS in Egypt, is seeking to impose a hardline interpretation of Islam in the country.
Credit to Shoebat.com
Labels: Persecution
5 Highly Respected Financial Experts That Are Warning That A Market Crash Is Imminent
If everything is going to be “just fine”, why are so many big names in the financial community warning about an imminent meltdown? I don’t think that I have seen so many simultaneous warnings about a market crash since just before the great financial crisis of 2008. And at this point, you would have to be quite blind not to see that stocks are absurdly overvalued and that a correction is going to happen at some point. And when stocks do start crashing, lots of fingers are going to start pointing at President Trump, but it won’t be his fault. The Federal Reserve and other central banks are primarily responsible for creating this bubble, and they should definitely get the blame for what is about to happen to global financial markets.
My regular readers are quite familiar with my thoughts on where the market is headed, so today let me share some thoughts from five highly respected financial experts…
#1 When Altair Asset Management’s chief investment officer Philip Parker was asked if a market crash was coming to Australia, he said that he has “never been more certain of anything in my life”. In fact, he is so sure that the investments that his hedge fund is managing are going to crash that a decision was made to liquidate the fund “and return ‘hundreds of millions’ of dollars to its clients”…
While hardly a novel claim – in the past many have warned that Australia’s housing and stock market are massive asset bubbles (which local banks have been forced to deny as their fates are closely intertwined with asset prices even as the RBA is increasingly worried) – so far few if any have gone the distance of putting their money where their mouth was. That changed, when Australian asset manager Altair Asset Management made the extraordinary decision to liquidate its Australian shares funds and return “hundreds of millions” of dollars to its clients according to the Sydney Morning Herald, citing an impending property market “calamity” and the “overvalued and dangerous time in this cycle”.
“Giving up management and performance fees and handing back cash from investments managed by us is a seminal decision, however preserving client’s assets is what all fund managers should put before their own interests,” Philip Parker, who serves as Altair’s chairman and chief investment officer, said in a statement on Monday quoted by the SMH.
#2 Seth Klarman leads one of the biggest hedge funds in the United States, and he believes that U.S. investors are greatly underestimating the amount of risk in the market right now…
“When share prices are low, as they were in the fall of 2008 into early 2009, actual risk is usually quite muted while perception of risk is very high,” Klarman wrote. “By contrast, when securities prices are high, as they are today, the perception of risk is muted, but the risks to investors are quite elevated.”
Klarman oversees one of the US’s largest hedge fund firms, with some $30 billion under management. He has a huge following on Wall Street — investors named his book, “Margin of Safety,” their favorite investment book in a recent SumZero survey.
#3 Bill Blain is a strategist at Mint Partners, and he is actually specifically pointing to October 12th as the date when things will start to get “horribly interesting”…
But…. Catch a falling knife, why don’t you… I shall spend the summer wondering just how long the Stock Market games continue. When, not if.
At the moment, my prediction is October 12th. Around that day its going to get horribly interesting..
Why that particular day?
Gut feel and knowing how the Bowl of Petunias felt in Hitchhikers. (“Not again.”)
There are just too many contradictory currents out there. The unsustainability of burgeoning consumer debt, unfeasibly tight credit spreads, the sandcastle foundations of student loans, autos, housing and the CLO market, China, Trump, politics.. worries about what follows Brazil in the EM market, and whatever… The risks of a massive consumer sentiment dump..
#4 David Stockman has also been warning about what may happen this fall. According to Stockman, this current stock market bubble “is the greatest sucker’s rally we have ever seen”…
“The market is insanely valued right now. They were trying to tag, the robo machines and day traders, they were trying to tag 2,400 on the S&P 500. They ended up at 2,399, I think, but the point is that represents about 25 times trailing earnings for 2016. We are at a point in the so-called recovery that has already lasted 96 months. It’s almost the longest one in history. What the market is saying is we have reached the point of full employment forever. There will never be another recession or any kind of economic surprise or upset or dislocation. The market is pricing itself for perfection for all of eternity. This is crazy. . . . I think the market could easily drop to 1,600 or 1,300. It could drop by 40% or even more once the fantasy ends. When the government shows its true colors, that it’s headed for a fiscal bloodbath when this crazy notion that there is going to be some Trump fiscal stimulus is put to rest once and for all. I mean it’s not going to happen. They can’t pass a tax cut that big without a budget resolution that incorporated $10 trillion or $15 trillion in debt over the next decade. It’s just not going to pass Congress. . . . I think this is the greatest sucker’s rally we have ever seen.“
#5 Last but certainly not least, David Kranzler seems quite certain “that the stock market bubble is getting ready to pop”…
Anyone happen to notice that several market commentators have argued that Bitcoin is a bubble but the same stock “experts” look the other way as the U.S. stock market becomes more overvalued by the day vs. the deteriorating underlying fundamentals? Bitcoin going “parabolic” triggers alarm bells but it’s okay if the stock price of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is hurtling toward parity with the price of one ounce of gold. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) burns a billion per year in cash. It sold 76,000 cars last year vs. 10 million worldwide for General Motors (NYSE:GM). Yet Tesla’s market cap is $51.7 billion vs. $48.8 billion for GM.
This insanity is the surest sign that the stock market bubble is getting ready to pop. If you read between the lines of the the comments from certain Wall Street analysts, the onlyjustification for current valuations is “Central Bank liquidity” and “Fed support of asset values.” This is the most dangerous stage of a market top because it draws in retail “mom & pop” investors who can’t stop themselves from missing out on the next “sure thing.” There will be millions of people who are permanently damaged financially when the Fed loses control of this market. Or, as legendary “vulture” investor Asher Edelman stated on CNBC, “I don’t want to be in the market because I don’t know when the plug is going to be pulled.”
Could all of these top experts be wrong?
It’s possible, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Every stock market bubble of this magnitude in U.S. history has ended in a spectacular crash, and this one will not be any different. We can certainly have some good arguments about the exact timing of the next crash, but what everyone should be able to agree on is that a crash is coming.
You only make money in the stock market if you get out at the right time. Many of those that timed things well have made a tremendous amount of money, but most investors will be entirely caught off guard by the market implosion that is rapidly approaching.
As I have explained to my readers repeatedly, markets tend to go down a whole lot faster than they go up, and in the not too distant future we are going to see trillions of dollars of investor wealth wiped out very, very quickly.
Let’s hope that the coming crisis will not be as bad as 2008, but I have a feeling that it is going to be much worse.
We didn’t learn our lessons the last time around, and so now we are going to pay a very high price for our stubbornness.
Credit to Economic Collapse
Labels: economic collapse
Jewish Priests, Biblical Status Confirmed By DNA
In a powerful blend of science and religion, a rabbi has turned to genetics to reinstate the priesthood for the Third Temple. This rabbi believes that science has proven that the priesthood is exactly as the Bible described: An eternal covenant that will reappear to herald in the Third Temple.
“Genetics connects modern Judaism to the Bible, confirming 3,000 years of Jewish tradition,” explained Rabbi Yaakov Kleiman to Breaking Israel News. “This is an amazing testament to God’s covenant and the Jewish People. Despite more than 2,000 years of exile we have maintained our religion, our customs, our Torah, and our genetic identity.”
Manifesting prophecy is Rabbi Kleiman’s daily work. He opened the Center for Kohanim in Jerusalem nine years ago as a practical endeavor, and has authored a book on DNA evidence of the priesthood. Kohanim, or priests, are Jewish men believed to be descendants of Aaron, the first high priest of Israel. The Temple service may only be performed by kohanim.
Credit to Skywatchtv.com
Labels: Temple Mount
This Strange Market Anomaly Only Happened Twice Before And It Didn't End Well
Are Your Ready? The Brewing Crisis Appears to Be Unfolding
West bears responsibility for chaos & terrorist attacks in MidEast and N. Africa
Hong Kong's Housing Market Has Become "A Sea Of Madness" Central Bank Warns
What a difference 16 months makes.
It was in February of 2016 when, looking at the latest trends in the Hong Kong housing market, we wrote that in January [2016] Hong Kong home prices tumbled the most since July 2013, and after a 12 year upcycle, prices were now down 10% from the recent peak just four months prior...
... while the local Centaline Property Agency estimated that total Hong Kong property transactions at the start of 2016 were on track to register the worst month on record.
Fast forward to today when that particular blip is long forgotten, swept away by the record credit injection unleashed by China in the interim, which has spilled over into the Hong Kong's housing market where instead of concerns about a bubble bursting, the locals are preoccupied with chasing the latest, and biggest yet, housing bubble to form in Hong Kong, as crowds of people line up in hope of being the winning bidder for one of several properties for sales, some of which are oversubscribed as much as 15x.
At the Victoria Skye, a luxury project at the former airport site of Kai Tak and at the Ocean Pride development by Cheung Kong Property Holdings people were lining up on Friday and over the weekend for their chance to buy a home at all time high prices.
K&K Property has offered an additional 200 units at Victoria Skye after it sold 306 flats on Saturday, Ming Pao newspaper reported. Cheung Kong will put another 346 up for grabs after selling 496 in a single day, May 26, it said. In both cases, the developers will raise the prices of the additional units by about 2 percent, the newspaper reported.
Yes, HK real estate prices are rising by 2% not over a year, or a month, but in one day!
That, however, does not stop the relentless demand from local buyers. Hong Kong developers sold 8,616 homes in the first five months of the year, more than were sold in any first half since new purchasing rules were introduced in 2013, the Hong Kong Economic Times reported.
What makes this particular bubble different is that this time, it is obvious to everyone, certainly the local press. An editorial in The Standard newspaper on Monday was surprisingly accurate: “successive moves by the government in recent memory to cool the property market only resulted in it becoming crazier. The result is a sea of madness.”
It is also obvious to the local central bank, which, however, like Vancouver and Toronto, appears powerless to halt the tsunami of hot mainland money. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has been tightening rules for lenders, Bloomberg writes, including restricting levels of lending to developers, as it tries to limit financial risks and take some of the heat out of the market.
And yet, so far the result is absolutely nothing as nobody bothers to listen to the growing warnings.
Speaking at a Legislative Council meeting last Monday, Hong Kong's central bank chief, HKMA Chief Executive Norman Chan, said levels of demand were reminiscent of 20 years ago, just before Hong Kong suffered a property bust, and he expressed concern that people with limited financial resources were buying just because they thought prices would only keep going up, just like in a bubble.
Chan said that while the global economy has improved, uncertainties remain and warned that when the property cycle reverses, "the impact will be serious."
With real estate prices rising fast - in some cases as much as 2% per day - his warning has fallen on deaf ears. Of course, it will be different when the bubble against bursts, and everyone is "shocked" that the authorities let it come to this again, and then first the HKMA, then the PBOC, will have to again step in and bail out all the bubble chasing speculators once more, or risk yet another economic collapse, rinse and repeat.
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Norwalk coach dies from injuries in wrong-way driver crash on I-90
By Brandon Addeo • Mar 8, 2019 at 11:39 PM
SANDUSKY — A Sandusky man died this week from injuries suffered in a Feb. 11 crash in Lorain County.
Jeffrey “Jeff” Baur, 28, of Sandusky and formerly of Huron, died in Stein Hospice Care Center Monday, according to his obituary.
Baur died of injuries he sustained after a wrong-way driver hit his car head-on on Interstate 90 in Sheffield Village, near Lorain, Sheffield Village police Chief Larry Bliss said.
The other driver allegedly entered Interstate 90 driving eastbound in the westbound lane, Bliss said.
The alleged wrong-way driver remains hospitalized and will likely be charged, police said.
“It’s still under investigation, we’re still gathering facts,” Bliss said. “There are a few loose ends we need to tie up.”
Born in Big Spring, Texas, Baur graduated from Huron High School in 2008 and served in the U.S. Coast Guard, his obituary states.
He was heavily involved in local soccer, and coached junior varsity soccer at Norwalk High School, along with a youth soccer team.
Baur also had a “passion” for scuba diving, and he earned a certification as a rescue diver, according to his obituary. He also loved snowboarding.
Friends may call from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Foster Funeral Home at 410 Main Street in Huron, the obituary states. Closing prayers will be recited at 9:45 a.m. Monday at the funeral home, followed by a Mass of Christian burial at 10:30 a.m. at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Huron — where Baur was a member.
Baur will be buried at the Bellevue Catholic Cemetery.
Below is his full obituary:
Jeffrey G. "Jeff" Baur, 28, of Sandusky and formerly of Huron, died Monday night, March 4, 2019, in Stein Hospice Care Center, following an automobile accident.
He was born July 15, 1990, in Big Spring, Texas, and graduated from Huron High School in 2008. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard and worked for Jack Casino in Cleveland and for Kalahari Resorts in Sandusky. He was a member of St. Peter Catholic Church in Huron.
Jeff was very involved in the soccer world, where he was either playing, coaching or organizing leagues. He coached JV soccer for Norwalk High School and helped coach an area youth soccer team; he played in co-ed leagues and organized/ played in several other adult leagues.
He led a very active lifestyle outside of soccer. He was involved in rock wall climbing and had a passion for scuba diving, which led to a certification in rescue diving. He also loved snowboarding and took trips outside of Ohio to pursue this interest. He was very close with his family and friends and loved to play cards and video games any chance he had.
He is survived by his parents, Tim and Pam (Hosang) Baur; twin brother, Justin (Aubrey) Baur; nephew, and light of his life, Landon Baur; three aunts, Colleen Baur, Kathy (Gene) Fantozzi, and MaryBeth (Kevin) Wadsworth; two uncles, James (Loretta) Baur and Denny (Joan) Hosang; birth father, Steve (Michelle) Decker; sister, Jordan Decker; brother, Tevin Decker; and several cousins.
Jeff was preceded in death by his maternal grandparents, Joseph and Kathryn (Green) Hosang; paternal grandparents, Julius "Corky" and Mary (Clark) Baur; sister, Angela Baur; aunt, Rosemary Baur; and uncle, Michael Baur.
Friends may call 2-6 p.m. Sunday, March 10, at Foster Funeral Home & Crematory, 410 Main St., Huron. Closing prayers will be recited at 9:45 a.m. Monday, March 11, at the funeral home. A Mass of Christian Burial will follow at 10:30 a.m., at St. Peter's Catholic Church, Huron. The Rev. Jeff Sikorski will officiate. Burial will be at the Bellevue Catholic Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to Stein Hospice Services, 1200 Sycamore Line, Sandusky, OH 44870 or Huron Boys Soccer Program, c/o HHS, 710 Cleveland Rd. West, Huron, OH 44839.
Condolences and gifts of sympathy may be shared with the family by visiting fosterfh.com.
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World's top destinations for 2011
(CNN) -- Where on Earth will you find yourself in 2011?
Here's wishing it's somewhere unforgettable -- and the time to plan your journey is now, as the New Year brings the customary yearning for a fresh start and the promise of new people and places.
To set your itinerary in motion, we sought out recommendations from three travel experts: Robert Reid, U.S. travel editor for Lonely Planet; Pauline Frommer, creator of Pauline Frommer's guidebooks; and Martin Rapp, senior vice president of leisure sales at Altour.
Here are nine of their top destinations for 2011:
A huge tourist destination in any year, the city will be especially unforgettable as it marks the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks next year.
Visitors who have been flocking to ground zero are finally expected to get a chance to pay their respects to the victims at the National September 11 Memorial, which is scheduled to open in time for the anniversary.
"It's going to be a massive moment for New York," Reid said. "It feels like the healing begins."
Visitors also shouldn't miss the High Line, once an abandoned elevated railway track that's been turned into a popular park. It expands in the spring, to the delight of New Yorkers.
"It was like a secret garden in the middle of New York," Frommer said. "It's become a park that other urban centers are studying because it's brought new life, a new vitality into the area below it."
No wonder the Big Apple tops Lonely Planet's list of top 10 cities for 2011....
More at link above.
Labels: New York City, travel
Comparing DNA Profiling & Databases in the US and England
Many senior U.S. law enforcement officials believe that the English criminal justice system has capitalized more fully on the crime-fighting potential of forensic DNA evidence than the U.S. criminal justice system. They contend that the English system is much faster at testing DNA samples and at uploading the test results into its forensic DNA database and that the English national DNA database provides more database hits that might help law enforcement solve and prevent crimes. Members of the RAND Center on Quality Policing (CQP) asked RAND researchers to explore the forensic DNA analysis systems in England and the United States to find out whether these perceptions are accurate. This report presents CQP's best efforts to undertake this comparative analysis, which was severely hampered by a lack of data on the U.S. and English forensic DNA systems and the unwillingness of some U.S. agencies to share their data.
Labels: crime, DNA, England, United States
County Compensation by Industry, 2009
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
Compensation declined in two-thirds of the 3,113 counties in the U.S. in 2009, according to statistics released this week by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Total compensation of U.S. workers contracted 3.2 percent in 2009, as a decline in employment more than offset the increase in average annual compensation per job, which grew 1.2 percent to $56,962. Inflation measured by the national price index for personal consumption expenditures, grew 0.2 percent.
Labels: economy, labor force, salaries
Births: Preliminary Data for 2009
Source: National Center for Health Statistics
The 2009 preliminary number of US births declined 3 percent from 2008, to 4,131,019; the 2009 general fertility rate (66.7 per 1,000 women) and the total fertility rate (2,007.5 births per 1,000) declined (3-4 percent). The number of births and rates declined for all race and Hispanic origin groups in 2009.
• The birth rate for US teenagers 15-19 fell 6 percent to 39.1 per 1,000, a record low for the Nation.
• Birth rates for younger and older teenagers and for Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Asian or Pacific Islander teenagers all reached historic lows in 2009.
• The birth rates for women in their early twenties fell (7 percent, the largest percentage decline for this age group since 1973) as did the rates for women in their late twenties and thirties; the birth rate for women in their early forties increased in 2009.
• The birth rate for unmarried women declined almost 4 percent to 50.6 per 1,000 aged 15-44. The number of nonmarital births fell 2 percent to 1,693,850 in 2009, the first decline since 1996-1997.
• The percentage of births to unmarried women, however, continued to increase in 2009
• The cesarean delivery rate rose to 32.9 percent in 2009, another record high.
• The preterm birth rate declined for the third straight year to 12.18 percent of all births.
• The low birthweight rate was essentially unchanged between 2008 and 2009 at 8.16 percent in 2009, but is down from 2006.
Labels: births
2010 Census: South and West Advance (Without California)
The full article.
For a hundred years, Americans have been moving south and west. This, with an occasional hiccup, has continued, according to the 2010 Census.
During the 2000s, 84 percent of the nation's population growth was in the states of the South and West...while growth has been far slower in the Northeast and Midwest. This follows a pattern now four decades old, in which more than 75 percent of the nation's population growth has been in the South and West. Indeed in every census period since the 1920s the South and West attracted a majority of the population growth.
In the first census after World War II, in 1950, the East and the Midwest accounted for 58 percent of the nation's population, with the South and West making up 42 percent. Since that time, the East and the Midwest have added less than 40 million people, while the South and West added nearly 120 million. Today, the ratios are nearly reversed, with 60 percent of the population living in the South and West and only 40 percent in the East and Midwest....
New York continued its laggard performance, gaining only 2.1%. Since the late 1960s, New York (long the largest state) has added little more than one million people, while California added 19 million and has nearly doubled New York's population...
The Northeast: The nation's former commercial heartland, the Northeast, has for its third census placed as the nation's least populated region. A prediction in 1950 that the region housing New York, Philadelphia and Boston would fall so much in relative terms would have been considered absurd. Yet, from 1950 to 2010, the region added 16 million people, for the lowest regional growth rate (40%). The region added less than 2,000,000 population between 2000 and 2010, for a growth rate of 3.2%. The fastest growing state was New Hampshire, at 6.5%, reflecting the growth of its Boston suburbs and exurbs. All other states had growth rates less than one-half of the national rate.
"Kudos" to the Bureau of the Census: Finally, congratulations are due the Bureau of the Census. In 2000, the Bureau was embarrassed by its under-estimation of the population during the previous decade. At the 1990 to 1999 estimation rate, the 2000 population would have been nearly 7,000,000 below the number of people actually counted in the census. The improvement during the decade of the 2000s was substantial. At the 2000 to 2009 estimate rate, the nation would have had 500,000 more people than were counted in 2010. Missing by less than 0.2 percent is pretty impressive.
Labels: 2010 Census, migration
Victims of Identity Theft, 2008
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics
Presents findings from the 2008 Identity Theft Supplement (ITS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The NCVS/ITS used interviews from a nationally representative sample of about 56,500 U.S. household residents to collect the first BJS data on individual victims of identity theft. Identity theft is defined as the unauthorized use or attempted use of existing accounts, the unauthorized use or attempted use of personal information to open a new account, and the misuse or attempted use of personal information for a fraudulent purpose. The report details the number and percentage of persons who reported at least one incident of identity theft over the past two years, the amount of direct and indirect financial loss due to identity theft, victim reporting to credit bureaus and law enforcement agencies, and the impact of identity theft on victims'lives.
•An estimated 11.7 million persons, representing 5% of all persons age 16 or older in the United States, experienced at least one type of identity theft in a 2-year period.
•Although the total financial cost of identity theft was nearly $17.3 billion over a 2-year period, less than a quarter (23%) of identity theft victims suffered an out-of-pocket financial loss from the victimization.
•About 42% of victims spent 1 day or less working to resolve the financial and credit problems associated with the identity theft; however, 3% continued to experience problems related to the theft more than 6 months after discovering it.
Labels: crime, identity theft
2009 Census of Horticultural Species
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture (Agricultural Statistics Service)
The 2009 Census of Horticulture counted 21,585 operations in the United States with sales of $10,000 or more in horticultural specialty crops, a decrease of 2,173 operations since the 1998 Census of Horticulture. Sales of horticultural crops only increased by 10 percent over this period, compared to a 60 percent increase for all crop commodities.
Categories where sales increased more than average include food crops grown under cover, bedding plants, nursery stock and propagative materials. Categories with a lower than average change in sales include sod, potted flowering plants, cut Christmas trees, dried bulbs, cut flowers and cut cultivated greens.
Labels: agriculture, horticulture
Personal Health Care Spending Differs by Gender, Age
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2010/12/07/hlthaff.2010.0216.full Pronounced Gender And Age Differences Are Evident In Personal Health Care Spending Per Person
The research of Health Affairs found significant variations in per person spending by gender across age groups, health services, and types of payers. For example, in 2004 per capita health care spending for females was 32 percent more than for males. Per capita differences were most pronounced among the working-age population, largely because of spending for maternity care. Except for children, total spending for and by females was greater than that for and by males, for most services and payers. The gender difference in total spending was most pronounced in the elderly, as a result of the longer life expectancy of women.
Labels: age, gender, health care, spending
Inheritance and Wealth Transfer to Baby Boomers
Source: MetLife Mature Market Institute
The figures, drawn from national survey data, say the wealthiest Boomers will be given an average of $1.5 million, while those at the other end of the spectrum will be left $27,000, an amount that represents a larger percentage of the latter group’s overall wealth. Two-thirds of all Boomers stand to receive some inheritance over their lifetimes.
Labels: baby boomers, inheritance, wealth
What Is the Price of College?
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
This Statistics in Brief describes the annual price of education among undergraduates enrolled in U.S. postsecondary institutions in 2007–08. The most recent administration of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) supplied the data.
Labels: costs, higher education
A New Portrait of America, 1st 2010 Census Results
The first release.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the 2010 Census showed the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2010, was 308,745,538.
The resident population represented an increase of 9.7 percent over the 2000 U.S. resident population of 281,421,906... The U.S. resident population represents the total number of people in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The most populous state was California (37,253,956); the least populous, Wyoming (563,626). The state that gained the most numerically since the 2000 Census was Texas (up 4,293,741 to 25,145,561) and the state that gained the most as a percentage of its 2000 Census count was Nevada (up 35.1% to 2,700,551).
Regionally, the South and the West picked up the bulk of the population increase, 14,318,924 and 8,747,621, respectively. But the Northeast and the Midwest also grew: 1,722,862 and 2,534,225.
Additionally, Puerto Rico's resident population was 3,725,789, a 2.2 percent decrease over the number counted a decade earlier.
Just before today's announcement, the apportionment counts were delivered to President Obama, 10 days before the statutory deadline of Dec. 31. The apportionment totals were calculated by a congressionally defined formula, in accordance with Title 2 of the U.S. Code, to divide among the states the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The apportionment population consists of the resident population of the 50 states, plus the overseas military and federal civilian employees and their dependents living with them who could be allocated to a state. Each member of the House represents, on average, about 710,767 people. The populations of the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are excluded from the apportionment population, as they do not have voting seats in Congress.
"The decennial count has been the basis for our representative form of government since 1790". "At that time, each member of the House represented about 34,000 residents. Since then, the House has more than quadrupled in size, with each member now representing about 21 times as many constituents."
President Obama will transmit the apportionment counts to the 112th Congress during the first week of its first regular session in January. The reapportioned Congress will be the 113th, which convenes in January 2013.
Beginning in February and wrapping up by March 31, 2011, the Census Bureau will release demographic data to the states on a rolling basis so state governments can start the redistricting process.
Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution calls for a census of the nation's population every 10 years to apportion the House seats among the states. The 2010 Census is the 23rd census in our nation's history.
Many Americans Go To Work While Sick
Americans not taking sick days
Nearly half (44%) of Americans would consider going to work with a fever, and about a third of Americans (32 percent) said they would show up to work no matter how sick they get, according to a new survey from Halls.
With an unemployment rate upwards of nine percent this October, according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the survey revealed that one in five Americans (19 percent) feel pressure by their boss or supervisor to head into work when they're sick. One in three (31 percent) Americans said they wouldn't get paid for taking off on a sick day, and one in 10 (11 percent) said they would likely fall behind on their bills by taking a sick day. Additionally, more than 10 percent of Americans thought they would not likely receive their next pay raise or promotion, or worse, would lose their job for calling out sick.
Labels: employment, illness
Census Data: Blacks and Hispanics Take Different Segregation Paths
Source: Brookings Institution
Every 10 years the census provides us with a view of racial segregation across America’s neighborhoods. We still have a few months before the 2010 census gives us those definitive numbers. However, the recent release of the huge five year data dump of the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for 2005 through 2009, provides us with a clue about what we can expect.
To be sure, we are a country that is heavily sorted by race and Hispanic status across the 65,000 census tracts (groupings of neighborhoods of 5,000 to 10,000 persons) that span our nation. Although the U.S. minority population grew at five times the rate of whites since 2000, the average white resident lives in a tract that is 79 percent white. The average black resident lives in a tract that is 46 percent black. And while Hispanics comprise only 15 percent of the population, fully 45 percent of their neighbors are also Hispanic. Surely we are far from the residential melting pot that many people envision—but the small sliver of individuals who identify themselves as “multiracial” do live in neighborhoods that are fairly diverse.
New Racial Segregation Measures for States and Large Metropolitan Areas: Analysis of the 2005-2009 American Community Survey
Labels: American Community Survey, Brookings Institution, Census Bureau, Hispanics, housing, minority population, race, segregation
Music Key to Raising Kids' IQ by Sharon Burch
In past generations, singing and playing instruments was an integral part of family life. A great way to express and entertain yourself and others. We did not realize it, but we were also exercising our brain while we played, causing us to be creative, more vibrant, smarter, etc. In our current generation, we tend to be passive listeners and consumers as a society, and as a result, shorting our mental development and our children the opportunity to reach their mental potential.
Humans are "wired" for music. Until recently, scientists did not know how music affected the brain. The advancement in technology allows scientists to actually "see" brain activity via PET scans and MRI imaging scanning the blood flow in the brain. Our brains are "wired" with neural pathways. Most activities only cause a portion of the brain to "light up" with activity; thus, the saying, right brain/left brain, etc. But there are actually four parts to the brain and music makes ALL of the areas "light up" and create new neural pathways as a person is learning and playing an instrument. Those neural pathways remain in tact and can be used for other things besides music.
Norman Doidge, in his book, The Brain That Changes Itself, shares case after case of people forcing their brain to change and adapt either voluntarily with discipline, or involuntarily due to odd incidences. Studies confirm that our brain has plasticity. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" is proven to be a case of "can't want to," rather than too old to change.
Daniel Levitin passionately explores the connection between Music and the Brain in his book of the same name. Google his name, watch video clips on YouTube, or go to his website. It's an exciting time of discovering how little we know and how much there is to learn. There is definitely enough evidence to recognize it is not in a music teacher's imagination. Music has a huge impact on activity in the brain. You can physically/visually see the growth and changes that happen inside the brain. The possibilities are endless. The implications for music therapy and music education are profound. Just check out PBS video "The Music Instinct." Neurologist and author, Oliver Sacks relays a true story from his book, Musicophilia, where a man was indirectly struck by lightning through a telephone and three weeks later composing and playing the piano for the first time. Sacks believes the man was "re-wired" through that experience. The list goes on and on.
But even if you are still skeptical about music making kids smarter, let's look at the other benefits. Socially, music is an ageless hobby creating interaction with great people. Take a look at any school band or orchestra or top-ranking choir and you will find a huge percentage of the members are in the top 10 percent of their class and college bound. Striving for excellence is a given in a musical group. Everyone has to perfect their part for the group to perform at their best--NObody "sits on the bench." Everyone has to pull their weight or the whole group suffers. Creativity, especially in jazz groups is developed, honed and embraced. Who couldn't use more creativity in their workforce? Creativity is what makes the difference and gives any company the cutting edge.
There are many benefits of being involved in making music, but the neural pathways drives home the point and gets our attention. Scientists are reluctant to state that playing a musical instrument makes you smarter, but all the indicators are there, so let's look at it from the opposite angle. Instead of trying to prove that music makes you smarter or good for you and your child, try to prove that it is not. I can't think of a single reason how learning a musical instrument is detrimental, can you?
Give your child every opportunity and advantage you can. Enroll them in music lessons and watch them grow and mentally develop as they play, create, express, and struggle through the rigors of the discipline mastering an instrument. You will discover a more creative, brighter and mature person in the making.
Nationally regarded music education teacher and advocate Sharon Burch is the author of Freddie the Frog® - a fantastical 4-book with companion CD series that helps young children learn musical concepts while they are duly immersed in Freddie's colorfully illustrated adventures. She may be reached online at www.FreddieTheFrogBooks.com
Labels: education, intellect, music
Tannenbaum infographic
From Intuit: O Christmas Tree: A Closer Look at the Industry
Labels: Christmas, trees
Pot, ecstasy use up, alcohol use down among US. teens
Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Several important findings come out of this year’s Monitoring the Future study, the 36th annual, national survey of American teens in a series that launched in 1975.
•Marijuana use, which had been rising among teens for the past two years, continues to rise again this year — a sharp contrast to the considerable decline of the preceding decade.
•Ecstasy use—which fell out of favor in the early 2000s as concerns about its dangers grew—appears to be making a comeback this year, following a considerable recent decline in the belief that its use is dangerous.
•Alcohol use—and, specifically, occasions of heavy drinking—continues its long-term decline among teens into 2010, reaching historically low levels.
Monitoring the Future, conducted by a team of social scientists at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, has been funded since its inception under a series of research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, one of the National Institutes of Health. In 2010, more than 46,000 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, enrolled in nearly 400 secondary public and private schools, participated in the study.
The proportion of young people using any illicit drug has been rising over the past three years, due largely to increased use of marijuana—the most widely used of all the illicit drugs. The proportion of 8th graders who reported using at least one illicit drug in the prior 12 months (called annual prevalence) rose from 13% in 2007 to 16% in 2010, including a statistically significant increase of 1.6 percentage points this year. Among both 10th and 12th graders annual prevalence has increased by two percentage points since 2007. In 2010, the proportions using any illicit drug during the past year were 16%, 30%, and 38% in grades 8, 10, and 12 respectively.
Labels: drug use, marijuana, teenagers
Mapping America
The NY Times today has a serious of articles about ACS2005-2009. Most interesting is the interactive map at the Census Tract level for the whole nation. The maps show household income, home value, education and race and ethnicity at each tract and also the percentage change from the Census 2000.
Here is the link. Mapping America: Every City, Every Block.
Some data folks, knowing the flaws in early ACS methodology, may grimace, especially with the Census 2000 comparisons. But it's out there.
Labels: census, maps, New York Times
Liber8
Liber8 is "An economic information portal for librarians and students" provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. It includes links to the International Economic Statistics (IES) Database, plus economic data and research articles. The "browse by subject" function is most useful.
Labels: databases, economics
CQ Press to Release Comprehensive Guide to ACS
Washington DC (December 13, 2010) – In a timely initiative that coincides with the first release of the full breadth of American Community Survey data by the Bureau of the Census, CQ Press will publish a free online Web site named A Timely Guide to the American Community Survey (ACS). The site, launched as a companion to the forthcoming reference work Encyclopedia of the U.S. Census, 2nd Edition, offers key context and analysis on how the new ACS data has become the primary U.S. government source of detailed demographic data. The site is available online at acsguide.cqpress.com.
Administered by the U.S. Census Bureau, the American Community Survey is an on-going sample of cities and communities all over the United States. Like the census, this survey provides information on the social, economic, and housing characteristics of the U.S. population. Unlike the decennial census, however, the ACS collects data on a continual basis. The Census Bureau releases the collected data in yearly, 3-year, and 5-year estimates; the 5-year data released on December 14, 2010 will be the first sample large enough to include all geographic areas down to census tract and block group levels.
Since about 90 percent of all local governments in the nation have fewer than 20,000 people and this year marks the first time these areas have received any ACS data, communities may have questions about what the ACS data means to them and how it can be used. Editors Margo J. Anderson, Constance F. Citro and Joseph J. Salvo have put together a comprehensive overview of the American Community Survey and its implications. This ACS Guide serves as a “what you need to know” and includes sections on the evolutionary history of the ACS, the methodology behind and content of the survey, the data products available from the ACS and where to find them, and how to use this data. Finally, they have also provided researchers a detailed bibliography for additional exploration on each topic. All of the information is collected in a searchable format at acsguide.cqpress.com
The ACS Guide is a select portion of the larger reference, CQ Press’ Encyclopedia of the U.S. Census, 2nd Edition, From the Constitution to the ACS and will be available December 14, 2010. The latest edition will provide updated information and expands the original data presented in the first edition, named a Best Reference Source by Library Journal in 2000, highlighting changes in the Census Bureau’s data collection and dissemination practices.
Labels: 2010 Census, American Community Survey
Free 5500
A nifty source. Tip of the hat to Hill Libraries:
Free5500.com contains PDFs of Forms 5500 from companies of all shapes and sizes. What is a Form 5500, you ask? It's a disclosure form required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Depending on the Plan type and other factors, the accompanying schedules may include information such as ESOP (employee stock ownership program) information, financial information, service providers, financial transaction schedule, retirement plan information, and more.
Free5500.com requires free registration to access, but registration lets you search by company name, EIN, state, ZIP, area code, plan type or class, assets, and number of participants, and includes up to 10 years of historical forms. You can also print the PDF formatted documents. Note that the free access may limit you to forms that are at least 2 years old or so (a subscription may net you more current data, as well as other perks such as more robust searching).
Free5500.com is a service of Pension Data Resources, Inc., the publishers of the respected ERISA Red Book. Those who may find this site valuable include those in finance, insurance, securities, law, accounting, and many other related fields, as well as plan participants themselves.
Labels: ERISA, ESOP, Form 5500, Free5500
State Segway Laws
Source: Governors Highway Safety Association
Segway LLC manufactures electronically propelled two-wheeled devices designed to transport one person with a maximum speed of less than 20 mph. In most states, Segways must follow the rules pertaining to pedestrians while on roads and sidewalks, such as traveling on the left side of the road, facing traffic.
Some states have minimum age requirements for operators or mandate helmet use for certain ages. One state (New Jersey) requires helmet use for all ages. No states require the operator of an to be licensed. Segways are exempted from registration requirements.
To date, Segways have been classified as neither a motor vehicle nor a consumer product. The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a preliminary opinion that they should be considered "consumer products" and therefore not be regulated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This designation may change if Segways or other similar electronic personal mobility devices become more common.
Labels: laws, Segway, traffic
Hate Crime Statistics- Compare & visualize the data
From Matthew Kopjak, FindTheBest Press/Media
On April 23, 1990, Congress passed the Hate Crime Statistics Act, which required the Attorney General to collect data ‘about crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity’ (U.S. Dept of Justice-FBI). The data visualized in this comparison was gathered from the 2008, FBI statistics on hate crimes and allows users to find and compare information about hate crime statistics.
Anti-Mental vs Anti-White vs Anti- Atheism vs Anti-Male Homosexual provides a side-by-side comparison of various statistics including: Bias, Total Offenses, Murder or Non-negligent Manslaughter, Forcible Rape, Aggravated Assault, Robbery, and more… Simply click Visualize in the top left corner to view graph statistics categorized by crime & bias. Whether you’re looking for information on the most common hate crime group, or statistics related to your race, religion, or sexual orientation, this resource will help you find the answers.
Labels: crime, hate groups
Class Differences: Online Education in the United States, 2010
Source: Sloan Consortium
The 2010 Sloan Survey of Online Learning reveals that enrollment rose by almost one million students from a year earlier. The survey of more than 2,500 colleges and universities nationwide finds approximately 5.6 million students were enrolled in at least one online course in fall 2009, the most recent term for which figures are available.
Other report findings include:
Almost two-thirds of for-profit institutions now say that online learning is a critical part of their long term strategy.
The 21%growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 2% growth in the overall higher education student population.
Nearly one-half of institutions report that the economic downturn has increased demand for face-to-face courses and programs.
Three-quarters of institutions report that the economic downturn has increased demand for online courses and programs.
The eighth annual survey, a collaborative effort between the Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board, is the leading barometer of online learning in the United States.
Labels: higher education, online
NEW American FactFinder available in January 2011
American FactFinder is the primary tool for accessing data on the 2010 Census, the American Community Survey, Population Estimates and eventually the Economic Census.
This link will help you navigate the new version of the American FactFinder page on the Census website. Please take some time to become familiar with the site before it goes live in January 2011.
Labels: 2010 Census, American Community Survey, American Factfinder, Economic Census
Family Change and Time Allocation in American Families
Source: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation/Focus on Workplace Flexibility.
The paper discusses family demographic changes. Then, using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and the historical time diary studies in the U.S., the author documents trends in parents' time spent in paid work, housework and childcare. The activities parents forego in order to meet work and family demands are also described. Finally, the author discusses time devoted to adult care and help given to adult children, elderly parents, and friends later in the life course.
Labels: families, time use
Comparing 2005-2009 ACS 5-year estimates with Census 2000
The Census Bureau now includes guidelines for comparing the 5-year 2005-09 ACS data to 2000 data. Also, the Bureau provides a variable-specific drill-down tool.
Labels: American Community Survey, Census 2000
2010 Census Demographic Analysis Estimates Available
The Census Bureau just released the results from the 2010 Census Demographic Analysis project. These numbers are five plausible ESTIMATES of the national population that will be used to help evaluate the quality of the 2010 Census. They are NOT the actual 2010 Census enumerations, which will be released later this month.
The numbers being reported are: 2010 Demographic Analysis Resident Population Estimates for April 1, 2010 (in thousands)
Low 305,684
Middle Low 307,415
Middle 308,475
High Middle 310,038
High 312,713
You can find more details, including estimates for various age, race, Hispanic Origin, and sex groups HERE.
Labels: 2010 Census, demographics
Hate Crime Statistics 2009
Source: The FBI
Of the 6,598 single-bias incidents, 48.5 percent were motivated by a racial bias, 19.7 percent were motivated by a religious bias, 18.5 percent were motivated by a sexual-orientation bias, and 11.8 percent were motivated by an ethnicity/national origin bias. Bias against a disability accounted for 1.5 percent of single-bias incidents.
There were 4,793 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons in 2009. Intimidation accounted for 45.0 percent of crimes against persons, simple assaults for 35.3 percent, and aggravated assaults for 19.1 percent. Other offenses, including nine forcible rapes and eight murders, accounted for the remainder.
There were 2,970 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against property; most of these (83.0 percent) were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism.
The remaining 17.0 percent of crimes against property consisted of robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other offenses.
An analysis of data for single-bias hate crime incident victims revealed that 48.8 percent were targeted because of the offender’s bias against a race, 18.9 percent because of a bias against a religious belief, 17.8 percent because of a sexual orientation bias, 13.3 percent because of an ethnicity/national origin bias, and 1.2 percent because of a disability bias.
Of the 6,225 known offenders, 62.4 percent were white, 18.5 percent were black, 7.3 percent were groups made up of individuals of various races (multiple races, group), 1.0 percent were American Indian/Alaskan Native, and 0.7 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander. The race was unknown for the remaining known offenders.
The largest percentage (31.3 percent) of hate crime incidents occurred in or near homes. In addition, 17.2 percent took place on highways, roads, alleys, or streets; 11.4 percent happened at schools or colleges; 6.1 percent in parking lots or garages; and 4.3 percent in churches, synagogues, or temples. The remaining 29.7 percent of hate crime incidents took place at other specified locations, multiple locations, or other/unknown locations.
Basic Facts About Low-income Children, 2009
Source: National Center for Children in Poverty
Children represent 25 percent of the population. Yet, they comprise 36 percent of all people in poverty. Among children, 42 percent live in low-income families and approximately one in every five live in poor families. Winding up in a low-income or poor family does not happen by chance. There are significant factors related to children’s experiences with economic insecurity, such as race/ethnicity and parents’ education and employment. This fact sheet describes the demographic, socio-economic, and geographic characteristics of children and their parents – highlighting the important factors that appear to distinguish low-income and poor children from their less disadvantaged counterparts.
Labels: children, poverty
Refreshed 2010 Census Website is now Live
The refreshed 2010 Census Website is now live, as of noon December 6, and can be found HERE.
Household Food Security in the United States, 2009
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service
Eighty-five percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2009, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (14.7 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 5.7 percent with very low food security. In households with very low food security, the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food. Prevalence rates of food insecurity and very low food security were essentially unchanged from 14.6 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively, in 2008, and remained at the highest recorded levels since 1995, when the first national food security survey was conducted.
Labels: food, USDA
Nurses Top Honesty and Ethics List for 11th Year
And in this Gallup poll, Lobbyists, car salespeople, members of Congress get the lowest ratings. What, no mention of librarians?
Labels: honesty, nurses, polls
Unemployment Assistance
The New York State Department of Labor devotes an entire section of its web site to "Unemployment Assistance" HERE. Information is available in ten languages in addition to English. Broad categories include General Unemployment Information, Claims and Eligibility Deadlines, and Information for Employers.
For those recently unemployed, the FAQ called "Before You Apply For Unemployment" is available HERE and a video "How to File an Unemployment Insurance Claim" can be viewed HERE.
The "Looking For a Job" section of the web site HERE provides links to information about finding employment, including assistance available from the Department of Labor.
Labels: unemployment
Canada 2009 Data Tables Now Available on the TINET Website
The U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (OTTI) announces the posting of data tables containing travel characteristics of Canadian travelers visiting the United States in 2009. Tables show visitor volume for each characteristic across U.S. regions and states and are available for the following items:
Visitors and visitor-nights
Trip purpose
Spending Activities
Province of residence
Mode of transportation
Nights spent in each state
Quarter of visit
The data tables are made available through OTTI's annual purchase of the data from Statistics Canada, the statistical agency of the Canadian government. The tables are in PDF format, and add to the series trend beginning with 2004. Tables containing the 2010 travel year should be posted to the TINET website in November 2011. Additionally, annual reports in PDF format will be available in January 2011 for the travel years 2005 through 2009. These reports provide additional insights into this important market through graphics and narrative.
The data tables may be found HERE.
Labels: Canada, travel, United States
December 6 Census Bureau Data Release
At 10:00 AM on Monday, December 6 the Census Bureau will be releasing the very first data related to the 2010 Census. These are five series of ESTIMATES of the nation’s population broken down by age, race, Hispanic Origin, and gender. The purpose of these estimates is to provide a set of comparisons to the 2010 Census population counts to help measure the quality of the census. This release will contain ONLY data for the entire nation – there will be NO state-level data released at this time.
The first state-level data will be a count of the state’s total population and number of seats states will get in the House of Representatives starting in 2013. (New York to Lose 1 or 2 Seats in House.) This information will be released later this month – by law it must be provided to the President by December 31, 2010.
Population counts by race, Hispanic Origin, and age (total and 18 and older) for all areas within the state will be released sometime in February or March 2011. Again there is a legal deadline of March 31, 2011 for these data to be delivered to the state.
Census to Release New Data About Women-Owned Biz December 7
What: The U.S. Census Bureau will hold an audio news conference to release new data about women-owned businesses from the 2007 Survey of Business Owners. The data show the number and percent of women-owned businesses, sales and receipts at the national, state and local levels, as well as other details.
The event will consist of a simultaneous audio conference and online presentation. There will be no physical event associated with this conference. Information on accessing the online presentation is provided below. Reporters will be able to ask questions once the data presentation is complete. We suggest reporters log in and call in early.
When: Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010; 2 p.m. (EST)
Who: Thomas L. Mesenbourg, deputy director, U.S. Census Bureau
Rebecca Blank, acting deputy secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce
Dana M. Lewis, executive director, National Women's Business Council
Details:Audio conference — access information
Participant passcode: CENSUS
Note: Stay on the line until operator asks for the passcode. Do not key in passcode.
Online presentation — access information
Please login early, as some setup is required.
URL: https://www.mymeetings.com/nc/join/
Conference/meeting number: PW9619952
Conference/meeting passcode: CENSUS (case sensitive)
If closed captioning is required:
Labels: business, Census Bureau, women
An estimated 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV, and yet one out of five don’t know it. World AIDS Day (December 1) is an opportunity to take action.
Labels: AIDS
Comparing DNA Profiling & Databases in the US and ...
2010 Census: South and West Advance (Without Calif...
Personal Health Care Spending Differs by Gender, A...
A New Portrait of America, 1st 2010 Census Results...
Census Data: Blacks and Hispanics Take Different S...
Pot, ecstasy use up, alcohol use down among US. te...
Hate Crime Statistics- Compare & visualize the dat...
Class Differences: Online Education in the United ...
Family Change and Time Allocation in American Fami...
Comparing 2005-2009 ACS 5-year estimates with Cens...
2010 Census Demographic Analysis Estimates Availab...
Household Food Security in the United States, 2009...
Canada 2009 Data Tables Now Available on the TINET...
Census to Release New Data About Women-Owned Biz D...
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Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
12-April-2016 19:47 IST
“Need to consider Tigers as natural capital, define conservation as a means to achieve development”: Prime Minister
“India has zero tolerance against wildlife crimes”: Javadekar
Third Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation inaugurated
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has said that there is a need to consider Tigers as our “natural capital” and to define conservation as a means to achieve development, rather than considering it to be anti-growth. In his inaugural address at the 3rd Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation here today, the Prime Minister said that Tiger conservation, or conservation of nature, is not a drag on development and that both can happen in a mutually complementary manner. He emphasized the need to “smartly” integrate the Tiger and wildlife safeguards in various infrastructures at the landscape level. The Prime Minister called for the need to involve business groups through corporate social responsibility for various initiatives towards Tiger conservation.
The Prime Minister said that Tiger Range Countries are signatories to other international conventions to address international trade on endangered species. “We are moving towards formally adopting the statute of South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network”, he said.
Expressing concern over trafficking of body parts and derivatives of Tigers, the Prime Minister emphasized the need to collaborate at the highest levels of Government to address this serious issue. He said that Tiger Reserves also provide a range of economic, social, cultural and spiritual benefits “This calls for factoring in the value of the ecosystem in the economic arithmetic of development and growth”, the Prime Minister said. He added that the use of modern technology, including intelligent, infrared and thermal cameras on a 24x7 basis is being promoted for surveillance against poaching in sensitive Tiger Reserves.
The Prime Minister released a joint report on “Status of Tigers in the Sunderban Landscape – India and Bangladesh” on the occasion. He also presented awards in various categories for Tiger conservation to representatives from Tiger Reserves. The award-winning Tiger Reserves include: Periyar Tiger Reserve for Best Anti-poaching practices; Satpura Tiger Reserve for Village Relocation and Settlement; Kanha Tiger Reserve for Active Management; Parambikulam Tiger Reserve for Community Participation in Eco-Tourism and Kaziranga Tiger Reserve for Conservation of Species other than Tigers.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar strongly emphasized that India has ‘Zero Tolerance’ against wildlife crimes such as poaching. He said that the recent case of poisoning of Tigers in Pench Tiger Reserve is unacceptable and that all the culprits have been arrested and will be severely punished. “We lead by example and are committed to cooperate with other Tiger countries”, Shri Javadekar said.
The Environment Minister highlighted the need to protect Tiger corridors. “We will incentivize project proponents to give land for Compensatory afforestation in Tiger corridors”, Shri Javadekar said. Pointing out that Tiger is an epitome of ecosystem and if conservation of Tiger is successful, it means that the whole ecosystem is improving, the Minister said that as per the Tiger count conducted in 2014, India had 2, 226 Tigers. In the last two years, the number has been rising and according to rough estimates, there are nearly 2, 500 Tigers in the country. Shri Javadekar also said that as per WWF estimates, the Tiger population the world over has grown from 3, 200 to 3, 890 in the last five years, which is a 22% increase. He said that six countries in the world have shown an increase in the number of Tigers. “We have started a unique experiment in new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for orphaned Tiger cubs. This has started yielding results and four such orphaned Tigers have been released back in the wild after proper care in “In situ” enclosures.
Shri Javadekar lauded the Prime Minister’s commitment for Tiger conservation and that he adopted best conservation practices of nature and wildlife as Chief Minister of Gujarat. “The growing number of Lions in Gujarat is a testimony to his efforts”, the Minister said. He also referred to the increase in the budget for Project Tiger from Rs 185 crore to Rs 380 crore, and that with 60:40 participation of states, this increase translates into Rs 500 crore in one year for Tiger protection.
Chairman Global Tiger Forum and Minister of Agriculture & Forests, Bhutan, Mr Yeshey Dorji, also addressed the gathering. Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Ashok Lavasa, delivered the vote of thanks. Director General of Forest & Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. S.S Negi and Shri B.S Bonal, NTCA were among those present on the occasion.
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31206 Corgi Vulcan B2 - XH558, The Last Airworthy Vulcan (2,200 ONLY) £ 69.99
Avro Vulcan B2 XH558, famous as the first and last B2 in RAF service. Limited edition of only 2,200 pieces. Complete with optional undercarriage positions, stand and bi-fold individually numbered certificate. Wonderful looking model in highly accurate 1/144 scale. With the real thing now retired from flying and based at the former RAF Finningley airfield the value of these models is sure to appreciate in time. Get one of this version while you can! Complete with Union Jack and City of Lincoln badges on the tail, plus the No 1 Bomber Group Black Panthers head in front of the intakes. Has to be seen to be appreciated and a must for any collection. Box not perfect but nothing that detracts.
The Avro Vulcan, sometimes referred to as the Hawker Siddeley Vulcan, was a jet-powered delta wing strategic bomber, operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A V Roe & Co (Avro) designed the Vulcan in response to Specification B.35/46. Of the three V bombers produced, the Vulcan was considered the riskiest option. Several scale aircraft, designated Avro 707, were produced to test and refine the delta wing design principles.
The Vulcan B.1 was first delivered to the RAF in 1956; deliveries of the improved Vulcan B.2 started in 1960. The B.2 featured more powerful engines, a larger wing, an improved electrical system and electronic countermeasures (ECM); many were modified to accept the Blue Steel missile. As a part of the V-force, the Vulcan was the backbone of the United Kingdom’s airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War. Although the Vulcan was typically armed with nuclear weapons, it was capable of conventional bombing missions, a capability which was used in Operation Black Buck during the Falklands War, a conflict between Britain and Argentina in 1982.
The Vulcan lacked defensive weaponry, initially relying upon high-speed high-altitude flight to evade interception. Electronic countermeasures were employed by the B.1 (designated B.1A) and B.2 from circa 1960. A change to low-level tactics was made in the mid-1960s. In the mid 1970s, nine Vulcans were adapted for maritime radar reconnaissance operations, redesignated as B.2 (MRR). In the final years of service, six Vulcans were converted to the K.2 tanker configuration for aerial refuelling.
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Introduction to Buddhism
The Path of Awakening
Prince Siddhartha: Renouncing the World
Becoming the “Buddha”: The Way of Meditation
The Dharma: The Teachings of the Buddha
The Sangha: The Buddhist Community
The Three Treasures
The Expansion of Buddhism
Theravada: The Way of the Elders
Mahayana: The Great Vehicle
Vajrayana: The Diamond Vehicle
Buddhism in America
Buddhists in the American West
Discrimination and Exclusion
East Coast Buddhists
At the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions
Internment Crisis
Zen Boom
Building “American Buddhism”
New Asian Immigration and the Temple Boom
Popularizing Buddhism
The Buddhist Experience
The Image of the Buddha
One Hand Clapping?
Sesshin: A Meditation Retreat
Chanting the Sutras
Creating a Mandala
Becoming a Monk
From Street Gangs to Temple
Devotion to Guanyin
Buddha’s Birthday
Remembering the Ancestors
Building a Pure Land on Earth
Monastery in the Hudson Valley
Issues for Buddhists in America
One Buddhism? or Multiple Buddhisms?
The Difficulties of a Monk
Changing Patterns of Authority
Women in American Buddhism
Buddhism and Social Action: Engaged Buddhism
Ecumenical and Interfaith Buddhism: Coming Together in America
Teaching the Love of Buddha: The Next Generation
Carolina Buddhist Vihara
One of the characteristics of the ongoing transformation of Buddhism in America is the visible role of women in American convert Buddhist communities both as practitioners and, increasingly, as teachers. While Asian Buddhist women have played significant roles in Buddhist history, on the whole women have been denied equal opportunity to engage in the full range of ritual practices, study of the dharma, and spiritual and institutional leadership positions in the community.
The new American Buddhism, however, has not imported the Asian cultural context of the Buddhist tradition, especially traditional gender roles. By the 1970s, many women were students of Asian Buddhist teachers, both in Asia and in America. And many received dharma transmission, becoming the first women in Buddhist teaching lineages that had been exclusively male for as long as memory holds. The Venerable Karuna Dharma, an American woman, became the immediate dharma heir of the Venerable Thich Thien-an, one of the first Vietnamese monks in America and the founder of the International Buddhist Meditation Center in Los Angeles. Charlotte Joko Beck, who started the San Diego Zen Center, and Jan Chozen Bays, the teacher at the Zen Community of Oregon, are both dharma heirs of Maezumi-roshi of the Zen Center of Los Angeles. Maurine Stuart-roshi who served for many years as resident teacher at the Cambridge Zen Center, was made a roshi by the Japanese teacher Soen Nakagawa-roshi. Ruth Denison brought the Vipassana traditions of U Ba Khin, a Burmese meditation master, to her retreat center called Dhamma Dena in the Joshua Tree desert, where she has become known for retreats especially for women. Sharon Salzberg returned from India, having studied with Goenka and Munindra, and is now one of the guiding teachers of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. In the Tibetan tradition, American-born Pema Chödrön has carried on the tradition of the Sixteenth Karmapa and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, both great Tibetan teachers, and is now abbess of Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. In the Korean Zen tradition, Zen Master Seung Sahn made three of his American students Zen masters, one of them is Barbara Rhodes, who has been a leading teacher at the Providence Zen Center.
These are just a few of the many women who have become influential teachers in the various streams of the Buddhist tradition in the United States. They are about the business of creating new kinds of Buddhist institutions in the United States. They have generated new organizational forms, such as retreats specifically for women, nationwide conferences on women and Buddhism, and journals such as Kahawai: A Journal of Women and Zen. And to some extent their style has given a freshness and immediacy to the language of Buddhist teaching and practice. Pema Chödrön’s book The Wisdom of No Escape, Joko Beck’s Everyday Zen, and Sharon Salzberg’s Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness all give hands-on, homespun Buddhist teachings woven from the idiom and substance of daily life. The “feminization” of Buddhism might well become one of the lasting characteristics of the distinctive new form of the Buddhist tradition taking shape in America.
Buddhist women in Asia, North America, and Europe have also established networks with one another in the past twenty-five years. One concern has been the ordination of women into full monastic orders. On the whole, the leadership of Asian Buddhist traditions has been dominated by men, especially monks. According to tradition, women were admitted to the early sangha by the Buddha, but the order of Buddhist nuns died out in the Theravada and Tibetan traditions. However monastic lineages for women did continue in most Mahayana traditions and orders of nuns have persisted to the present primarily in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. In the 1980s a worldwide Buddhist women’s movement, the International Association of Buddhist Women, began bringing Buddhist women from both East and West together. The linking of the Buddhist women of America with Buddhist women throughout the world is sustained by NIBWA, the Newsletter on International Buddhist Women’s Activity, published by Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, professor of religion and philosophy at Thammasat University in Bangkok and a frequent speaker at U.S. Buddhist conferences. More recently, the 1st International Congress on Buddhist Women’s Role in the Sangha met in Hamburg in 2007. The goal was to once and for all reestablish the ordination of nuns in those Buddhist traditions that had lost their nuns’ lineages. However, ordinations of these nuns still remains controversial and is not accepted by all throughout the worldwide Buddhist community.
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SANATORIUM RIO DE JANEIRO (SEQUEL TO A FOGGY LIFE)
SANATORIUM RIO DE JANEIRO
Stephen was in an ambulance with his brother Hezekiah, but wasn't hurt. Neither was his brother. He was in an ambulance for the first time in his life, to the best of his recollection. He was coming to a certain house and he could easily remember the sign that read SANATORIUM RIO DE JANEIRO. His fellow inpatients had always talked about nice trips home in an ambulance, but this time he knew that ambulance was taking him to be institutionalized in that place, surely it was another psychiatric hospital, among the others in which he had been hospitalized. Again! Unbelievable! Again!
Stephen was taken to a certain room in which a (presumed) lady doctor was going to examine him. His brother Hezekiah was always there.
"Do you have stains on your body?" Asked she. Stephen thought he had misheard her.
"Do you have any stains on your body?" She said that again. He hadn't misheard her. She seemed to be serious. But why would she ask about stains on his body if she was a shrink? That was a mental hospital, not a dermatologist's office. Was she kidding? Or maybe she was trying to look like a real physician? (Because psychiatry had no scientific basis, therefore a psychiatrist was not a real physician in Stephen's mind) Then Stephen thought, "Well maybe her intentions are good."
And Stephen started showing his stains.
"I've got a stain on this arm." Said he showing his left arm, "No, it's on the right arm." Concluded Stephen now showing his right arm, on which was the mark of the vaccine he took when he was a child. Then he remembered the stain he had on his penis. He hesitated for a second and thought, "Well, if she's really professional she'll check my stain and there will be no fuss. For fuss would just prove that their whole business was buffoonery. (A doctor was supposed to see naked people) Then he pulled out his penis, "Well, I've got a stain here, you see? I'll turn it over so that you can see it better..." They got startled and a great agitation began.
Next thing Stephen knew he was being taken upstairs by a white guy with teeth that looked like a rabbit's. That guy looked like the squirrel nurse from the Psychiatric Center D. Pedro II. Their teeth particularly resembled. And probably the rabbit guy was a nurse too. While Stephen was led up the stairs he couldn't stop playing on words, always trying to be funny. But when he tried to capture the attention of the rabbit nurse to something funny the nurse just said, "Sure, sure... Of course. I know Stephen, Yes..." Always looking straight ahead and smiling and grinning, letting show his big white teeth.
Surely the guy had led Stephen many flights up and finally the rabbit nurse showed him a bed and told, "Lie down there!"
Stephen lay down, because he was cooperating all the way. He wanted to get this over with as soon as he could. He wanted to do all that his brother Hezekiah wanted. He wanted to do all that they wanted him to do, so that that trial would finish and they should discharge him.
"Put your arm there!" Told the rabbit nurse. Stephen did what he was told, always in a good mood. He was kidding all the time, but seriously willing to collaborate.
Stephen lay there relaxedly, because if they wanted him to be still he would. He would do anything they wanted just to be discharged as soon as possible. He was waiting for his brother Hezekiah to come and take him home.
"Put the other arm there!" Told the rabbit nurse again. Stephen obeyed easily. but then Stephen noticed that the rabbit nurse had tied his right arm and was tying his left arm. He stirred in surprise, looking for an answer.
"What are you doing, Marcio? (Marcio was the name of the nurse) You're tying me! Why are you doing this?
"Let me tie this arm." Said the rabbit nurse nonchalantly.
"Ok, but you're gonna untie me right away, aren't you?"
"Yes," answered the nurse.
The rabbit nurse wasn't as good as his word and didn't untie Stephen's hands. Quite the contrary. He cowardly tied Stephen's legs under his protest.
"Hey, Marcio, you said you would untie me! Let me go!" Complained Stephen, appalled at what the rabbit nurse had done. Stephen was tied to a bed and the rabbit nurse said, "I just tied you for you to calm down. When you calm down I'll untie you."
"Look, Marcio, I'm talking to you. That clearly shows that I'm under control. Just let me go. I was just kidding! I won't kid anymore! I won't mess around anymore," begged Stephen. "There's no need to keep me tied down!"
"When you calm down I'll let you go." And the rabbit nurse walked away.
Stephen could see exactly how he was tied: his wrists were tied, but along his body. His hands could go up about thirty centimeters (one foot) and with some effort his hands could reach his mouth. His legs were tied too. There was a rope around his waist and around the bed, therefore he couldn't raise his body too much.
Stephen knew that he was taking his medicine and wasn't defaulting at all. His mother was personally giving the medication to him. So why his brother Hezekiah insisted so much on taking Stephen to the psychiatric center? Stephen had gone to the mental hospital with his brother Hezekiah, because he trusted that his brother wanted to treat him, examine him, and not institutionalize him. What a mistake. What a naivete. He should have known better. Stephen had been waiting for Hezekiah to come and take him back home, but now he could see that his brother would never come. Not to take him home. Never.
Stephen's hands could hardly touch each other, but they could touch his mouth. Stephen had to free himself, therefore he had to be patient. He was a Kung Fu fighter, a martial artist and he had been trained to such a situation (though he had never thought that in a period of his life he'd be tied down so frequently. Quite the contrary. He thought that would never happen, he thought that was impossible to happen.) He'd better relax his muscles first. The other times he had been tied down he hadn't attempted to escape much, for the nurses were always passing by. But now the Rabbit Nurse had left him alone.
First Stephen tried to loosen the rope round his wrists with the tips of his fingers. He pulled the ropes carefully and slowly. Those were colored ropes, like martial art belts, like karate belts. But the ropes were somewhat tight and it was just hurting the tips of his fingers. Therefore he switched to a new strategy. He started to nibble and pull the ropes with his teeth. It was working! Soon the rope round his right wrist was loose! Now with a little help from the tips of the fingers of his left hand he completely freed his right wrist. His right arm was free!
He thought it would be easier to free his left arm now that his right one was free. What a mistake! The rope round his left wrist was tighter! Much tighter! He wondered if in the effort to free his right arm he hadn't accidentally strained too much the rope round his left wrist and consequentially tightened it. A miscalculation. Then Stephen found the easier way out. Since he couldn't free his left wrist he just loosened the ropes as much as to make him comfortable. Instead of insisting on freeing the left wrist he decided to relax. The ropes were so loose as to allow him to sit down. There was a rope round his waist too. That made it difficult for him to untie his feet, but anyway he could sit down comfortably enough. Then he grabbed the book that was stuck in the pocket of his T-shirt __ a pocket book. And he started to read it. Relaxedly.
Stephen read almost 2 pages of the short story Monte Verita. (It took longer than one might think, for Stephen wasn't fluent at reading such text.) Stephen found that the Rabbit Nurse was taking too long to return. He had promised that he would be back right away to untie Stephen. therefore Stephen decided to put the book back in his pocket and got on in his attempts to free himself. Well, only his right arm was free. All the rest of his body was tied to the bed. He had succeeded to make it loose, but... He thought that if he made a strong pressure against the bed it might give way and break, which would eventually help free him. He was aware that he might get seriously hurt when the bed broke, but it was worth the risk. Then he lifted up his body the most he could and let it go down with all his weight, force and pressure. To no avail. He had to face the fact that that was an iron bed, a very firm bed. That would work if that was a wooden bed.
He had noticed that the ropes were very well entangled. The ropes went round the poles of the bed and were tied to the feet of the bed, where Stephen couldn't reach mathematically. However Stephen had another idea based on pressure. He would project his body from the bed to the floor so that the weight of his body forced the rope till it gave way. He proceeded to do just that. But something went wrong. The bed was too tall. About 50 centimeters. Stephen didn't get to the floor! He hung from the bed, stuck in a very unpleasant position! He wanted to get to the floor, break the rope through the pressure of his fall and try to go under the bed to reach the feet of the bed and untie the ropes.
Hanging from the bed in an uncomfortable situation Stephen regretted what he had just done. He tried to climb onto the bed again. Now he realized that he was more comfortable before. He was tied, but he had already freed one arm and could sit down and read, but now... now he was more entangled than never! That just because he wanted to bite more than he could chew. Maybe he wanted to prove that he could free himself completely like he had never seen nobody do. Sheer vanity. Sheer pride. Now he was paying the price for it. He was hanging from the bed in a very unpleasant position. He could hardly move, let alone read the book.
Eventually two inmates passed by and Stephen called out to them.
"Hey, free me. Please!"
When Stephen saw those inmates a new hope grew in his heart, for he was sure they would free him.
"Why, you're almost there. Keep on trying and you will free yourself all alone," one of them said. And they walked down the corridor out of Stephen's sight. Stephen thought it over for a while. He realized that he was being naive. Those fellow inmates wouldn't be willing to get involved. And the nurse wasn't as good as his word. The lying Rabbit Nurse hadn't kept his word. The Rabbit Nurse hadn't come to untie Stephen right away, like he had promised. Well, Stephen pouted in revolt and irony, and folded his arms (he could do that, at least!) Pouting, arms crossed, Stephen waited.
WHEN THE BED IS A BEDLAM-DEATH BED
Once more Stephen was tied to a bed. His wrists hurt. His limbs hurt too. After uncountable times in which he had been tied down. When he showed the bruises on his wrists to his brother Hezekiah he was surprised. (Bruises caused by the ropes that were tightly tied around his wrists)
"It's for your own good." That was the laconic reply he got from his brother. Another time when the nurses tied him and he proposed a talk about it they gave the usual line, "of course, sure...," and left him alone and tied. And, of course, never talked to him. About anything.
Well before they had said that it was a serious symptom of madness, when Stephen cried that he was god. But their actions were above the actions of a god. They said that something that hurt his body was for his own good. God, at least, gave free will, but they forced him to stay in the mental hospital, they tied him down by force and seemed to be sure that it was for his own good. They were acting as if they were much greater than God, for they decided what was good for other people. And from all that Stephen had seen and experienced he told himself over and over again that... surely they didn't know what they were doing.
How could that be for his own good if his body was pricking, completely numb and he couldn't sleep because of the pain in his body, caused by the ropes? (They tied him in the noon and only untied him in the next morning.) How could that be if they almost hung him accidentally when they tied him?
Now he was sure that many people died in those mental hospitals and nobody knew about it. He had asked for help to his brother and he only realized that his brother wouldn't believe him even when he showed his bruises. What had the doctors said to Hezekiah? Had they instructed him that Stephen would try to convince him of some things? Had they said that Stephen didn't know what he said? Would his relatives believe in what the physicians said and refuse to see Stephen's pain? Couldn't they see that there could be no cure to the mind by force? When they forced patients to do the things they only developed mistrust and dread and no medication could cure that.
Stephen could see that, but they couldn't. This time he was sure that he was the most sane in that whole situation. He had the intelligence to understand those absurdities, but, apparently, they hadn't. God, how was it possible that nobody contested the things that the psychiatrists did?
Those physicians always said that the patients shouldn't get involved too much in religion, but psychiatry seemed to be a religion in itself. For there were no physical examination, therefore no scientific basis. The doctors barely saw their patients and got to give diagnosis, just like clairvoyants or sightseers.
Tied to a bed Stephen knew that he shouldn't blame people. He knew he had his share of fault in his situation. He knew that in the first place he shouldn't have fought sleep in his first seizure, and afterwards he shouldn't have defied the treatment the way he did. His brothers Hezekiah and Zacchaeus seemed unable to do anything for him, though Zacchaeus made many efforts.
As a matter of fact Stephen knew that he was the greatest coward, but people were too egotistic. A family would always be reluctant to deal with a serious mental diseased person. They'd rather leave them in a mental hospital than to be forced to give him the special attention that he would need at home.
Tied to that bed Stephen could imagine how sad the death of his uncle Cry-baby must have been. Alone, forgotten. If he died there the psychiatrists would only say that he just had a violent seizure and killed himself. For when he himself told the psychiatrists that he had been tied down arbitrarily they pretended that they didn't understand and said, "You're confused, you're speaking indistinctly..."
If they tried to make themselves believe that a patient would complain as a symptom of a seizure instead of maltreatment, they would never let show the tragedies that happened in the mental hospitals. People might die there, but they would always conceal it, as it was. For they were egotistical. They seemed to believe that if they let show the flaws of the mental hospital their image would be stained. They seemed to be very afraid of staining their image. They were egotistical and vain, for the lives of people were worth more than their image. Or at least should be.
That was a sad death to face. If he died when the nurses choked him they would tell his relatives that he provoked his own death by some accident caused by himself. And his relatives would believe, like they had believed when uncle Cry-baby died. It was evident to Stephen that they didn't bother with an investigation on the death of the inpatients. No coroner watched to check the causa mortis. People died in the mental hospitals and took the blame! People would say that the mentally ill people were weak and killed themselves. There would be no investigation.
IN BEDLAM, IN BED LAM, IN BED LAIN, IN BED SLAIN...
He wondered how long it had been going on. How many people had been choked and tied to beds. Surely many died, for sometimes the body can't resist misuse. Stephen knew that if he died in that mental hospital his relatives wouldn't even try to find out how he died and would wholly believe the words of the doctors, as they had never believed his words of complaints and pain. Had Stephen's relatives inquired about the death of uncle Cry-baby's? Of course not. Maybe, in their hearts, they were relieved to be discharged from a mentally diseased relative who brought them many problems.
Would there be any difference if Stephen died? Of course not. Uncle Cry-baby was a valuable man, a worthy man who had fought against death all of his life. He was a very nice person and very mild and when he died in a mental hospital the relatives tried to find all kind of explanations for his death. they would say he died in the middle of the treatment. (What treatment? Electro-shock treatment?) They would say he was too old and therefore died. Stephen knew his uncle wasn't so old, otherwise they wouldn't have institutionalized him, but sent him to an old asylum or to an ordinary hospital, instead of a mental hospital. The truth is: his uncle wasn't senile. He wasn't so old, after all, his mother (Stephen's grandmother) was living and in good health.
Would they waste their time inquiring about the death of a lunatic? And now Stephen felt the horror of those who died there and were forgotten. he had got to know many of them. They were mentally ill, but Stephen could see that they had great character and he himself was the only one there that had a distorted character, for even tied down to a bed like the most miserable creature inside his heart he still felt powerful, he still felt like a god, and like a god he pitied on those cowards that left him there.
He regretted that they closed their eyes to what was done to people in the mental hospitals. Contrary to the general thought, in the mental hospitals were people who were, by far, more dignified than most people (that had never been institutionalized) out there. But many of those mentally diseased people must have died locked away. (As if they deserved some punishment.) And they were dying day by day as Stephen himself might die too.
But if Stephen died what would be the difference? He was so different from everyone that he was the rest that would make no difference. they tied people to beds and said it was for their own good, but he saw no reason in that and he would never tie a human being down to a bed out of cowardice, because they didn't want to give attention.
"Let's tie him down. This way we won't have problems and we'll leave him alone and he'll heal himself." Was that what they thought?
Before all that he was more and more convinced that his intelligence was, by far, greater than that of the doctors and most people, for if the doctors couldn't see the damage they were causing they weren't intelligent at all, they were asses. If they thought they had the right to lock people away for a long time without the consent of the person concerned they were repressive cowards with limited minds. Undoubtedly Stephen's intelligence was remarkable,fantastic before the limited minds of those who tied and consented to tie people to bed.
Stephen knew that whereas he considered his intelligence great, they considered him a vermin who their "intelligence" would cure and restore with the help of "technological" drugs. And still Stephen thought that he was a god, a god that couldn't do anything to those limited minds, therefore he wasn't necessary anymore. Yes. A god. Because in Stephen's mind "a god isn't that special, fantastic being that people think. Quite the contrary. A god must serve and not have privileges, a god takes all kind of pain in order to protect. A god is slave of nature. He does what nature tells him to do, for he must suffer for them with no reward. I will obey nature and die."
Stephen had great intelligence. What for? It brought so many problems and made him understand things that would be more comfortable to ignore.
"The end of intelligent men in the history of mankind has shown that intelligence is a problem. Jesus, for example, was an intelligent man and how did he die? He died like a vermin, crying, ignored by all. That's how the gods die. (other intelligent men died tragically too. Galileo died enclosed, alone, just because he discovered that the earth wasn't the center of the universe. And Einstein died tearfully, for people used his discoveries to send atomic bombs and make war.)
Now Stephen felt a certain empathy for Jesus. He knew that when he died people would say, "Poor man. He was weak. That's why he died."
But now Stephen felt sympathy for Jesus, for he knew how Jesus felt when he died ignominiously. But Stephen's death would be worse, for in one month his family would have him buried and forgotten forever, (Like they did to his uncle Cry-baby) for he hadn't done anything remarkable, quite the contrary, he had little education (seventh grade, elementary school), wore ragged clothes, laughed and fooled around like a fool and was irritable. Despisable.
He felt sympathy for Jesus, because he knew how Jesus felt and Jesus would know how he felt. (If he could see him in that moment.) The great difference between him and Jesus was that Jesus had friends (his disciples) who told Jesus' history after his death and fought for him. But Stephen hadn't any friends to turn to, and sure as hell his relatives would forget him as fast as they had forgotten uncle Cry-baby and they wouldn't make any attempt to find out how he really died.
What really made Stephen sad was to know the way people suffered and died in the mental hospitals. And to know that after his own death nobody would reveal those things, ever. Those pains would be forever buried. People would pretend that they lead a normal life, and in the meantime people would die and be tortured in the so-called mental hospitals. Arousing laughters when people passed along the sinister walls of the mental hospitals and heard the lunatics crying from the inside. Well... Stephen's death would be one of many. There would be no difference. That wouldn't make any difference.
Posted by Ezequiel de A. C. at 23:35 Nenhum comentário:
Labels: English, Mental Asylum = Hell, OS CASARÕES
A FOGGY LIFE - THE TRUE STORY OF A MENTAL PATIENT IN THE ASYLUM
A FOGGY LIFE
The writing of this
personal true story (by Ezequiel Coutinho)
aims to bring about improvements
in the treatment of the mental diseased people
and end once and for all unnecessary pain
that may affect people
in treatment in mental hospitals.
It also aims to inform
in order to finish
all sort of misconception.
A HISTORIA REAL DE
UM HOMEM QUE PASSA
POR TRES HOSPITAIS PSIQUIATRICOS
E SE DEPARA COM PRECONCEITOS,
DISCRIMINACOES, INDIFERENCA E
METODOS ARCAICOS DE TRATAMENTO.
IN A BIG HOUSE
All that he knows is that he's a being and he's in some enclosed place. Where is he? Is it a dream? It can't be real! Everybody is wearing white. Is he in heaven? There's a man who sits in a large table, a stately table. Is that man God Himself who is there to judge his sins? There are doors in the place, therefore it's a house. When he looks out of the windows he realizes he's in a very big house, a building. But he can access only some rooms and walk in a corridor of about 10 meters. But he thinks he's locked away, for they don't let him go to the doors. He wants to know who he is. He doesn't know anybody there.
But people called him by his name. That reminded him that he had a family. That couldn't be heaven at all. There were nasty people. Anyway he still had the hope that it was a dream. At night he fell out of bed on purpose, as if trying to wake up from the nightmare. There came a memory from his childhood. He used to fell out of bed on purpose in order to escape bad dreams. But that didn't work now. Soon he read on his sheets, PSYCHIATRIC CENTER. He had to give in to reality. He was put away in a nuthouse.
But, anyway, why? What had he done? Maybe he had been a guy with mental disorders throughout all of his life. Maybe his family was hiding that reality from him all his life. If he was mentally ill he didn't know what he used to do. His life had been full madness. Hell! He should have known better! People always said he was crazy! But he thought they didn't mean it. He thought they were kidding.
Therefore everything that he thought he knew was illusion, in his life he had always been wrong. Hell! They had put him away! He didn't know exactly why. But that's clear. He's mad!
People had put him there but they hadn't told him why. He had to find out for himself where he was. And they brought him drugs and told him to take them. He said he didn't have any pain so he wanted to know what were the drugs for. They told him to shut up and take them or they would lose their patience. He didn't want to be beaten, so he obeyed. After all they very violent.
The women were nicer in that place. He realized that the women who wore white were kinder than the men that wore white. The women in white even gave him oatmeals, more than one time, sometimes they even gave him two, three cups at a time. The man in white insulted him all the time. Sometimes those men didn't let him have lunch, or dinner. After some time he learned that he was locked in a mental hospital and that the white dressed people were nurses and doctors and the like. But in the beginning, when he didn't even remember he had a family he thought that the women were there to discipline him, whereas the men were there to punish him, to make him pay for some sin.
In the beginning it was chaos and darkness. It's a kind of rebirth. He's in a place. He doesn't even know why he's in there. He's completely confused: he doesn't know his stock, he doesn't know whether he's alive or dead. He doesn't know whether he's male or female. Maybe he's neither one, nor the other. Maybe he's an angel. Or a devil. It's a restart. It's a kind of rebirth, because he's a tabula rasa all over again. Since people talk to him he gets to know his own name. His name is the opening of the great gap of his past...
Since people called him by a name he got to know his family name. And, though he didn't know why he was locked, he had memories of a long time ago. After all, he had little notion of the time. He could hardly tell whether it's ten in the morning or three in the afternoon. He was not allowed to see the sun.
The memories he had were from his childhood, adolescence and the beginning of his adulthood. As if there was a pause in his memory. He couldn't remember recent events. From his name came the other memories. His name gave him an identity. The identity linked him to other people. Some of those people in white questioned him about his family. How many brothers and sisters did he have?
"Do you have a father?" They were trying him. He hesitated, but answered all the questions.
As his relatives came to visit him his memories returned. At first he could hardly speak to them. It was trying, difficult. They gave him memories, for they said, "I'm this, I'm that." or "I did this. I did that."
There was a moment when one of the beautiful girls who worked there started asking about their seizures.
"Why were you hospitalized?", "Why are you here?" The inpatients That were there with him told their cases:
"I beat my mother.", said one, "I broke my whole house down!"
When she turned toward him and asked about his case he just shrugged and said, "I don't know. Could you tell me?"
She smiled and asked, "you don't remember what you did?" He shook his head, wondering what had happened. "When your relatives come visit you ask them about it.", advised she.
Therefore he was anxious for his family to come and tell him his story. The story of his seizure. When his family came the same woman reminded him of asking about his seizure. So he did. One of his brothers told him, "You were very aggressive." The mention of aggressive referred him to another little memory. Well, his left shin was bandaged. A sign of aggression. His aggression? Well, he could remember his throwing himself into something that broke into small pieces of glass and then flowed as water. But his brother was very brief, very concise. He just said, "Stephen, you were very aggressive." Nothing more than that. Therefore he could have done many an aggression, many a violence. It was eating him. He had to know what he had done. Was it serious? The hang-ups piled up.
Later two of the women who worked there talked about him. One of the women was the one who asked about his story.
"So you don't remember how you got here?", when he shook his head she went on, "Do you remember how you got that bruise on your shin?"
"Yes, I do.", answered he.
"Of course", she teased, "it was painful. We always remember the pain. That we can't forget." They grinned ironically. He smirked back. But he knew he didn't remind of any pain. Because the physical pain can't be compared to psychic pain. He didn't remind of pain on his shin, however he did remember the pain inside his head. The real pain.
MEMORIES IN THE MEMORIES
At first he couldn't even remember the time they carried him about the hospital, when they had caught him and were taking him for treatment. Somehow those close memories had been erased. Those memories from a short time ago began to take shape when his brother Hezekiah said, "you were very aggressive." But those were isolated memories. Memories apart. "Aggressive" called to mind that moment. He was being taken to a stretcher. He was completely tied. His clothes were full of blood. Then his worst fears crossed his mind. He must have committed some violence. Maybe he'd killed somebody. Otherwise why would he be tied like a beast and carried like a sack of potatoes?
He had always been an excellent fighter. he had notions of Kung Fu, Ju Jitsu, Karate, techniques of Ninjas... He could easily kill a person. All of his life he had feared that someday he might lose control.
"Put him there", said one of the men. They threw him onto the stretcher with no care. As usual, there was a pause in his memories. Next thing he remembered was when he felt a little pang on his left shin. He didn't know what was happening, therefore he started moving his legs up and down, so that the pain and discomfort went away. Then he saw the man in white (this time he didn't have memories, but his mind wasn't confused and he knew for sure it might be a doctor or a nurse). The nurse frowned and grumbled to a firefighter that was by his side, "you see?" The firefighter got the message and started shouting with extreme violence, "Down with your legs! Come on! Down with your legs!" Stephen didn't want to be beaten, then he lay his legs.
At a certain moment the man in white demanded, "Come on! Say what you have done! Quickly!" All he could say was, "I don't know... I don't remember!" in a very feeble voice. Then his brother said, "he can't remember. He took the injection just now."
Later he asked again, "Where am I?"
"You're in the right place.", answered one of the man in white. This time, gently. That was an indirect answer, so Stephen tried again, "Is it an asylum?"
"It's a hospital", answered the man, as if he was teaching Latin in high school.
"Hospital.", echoed Stephen in a Spanish accent, to which the man said, as if he was a teacher, "Is that the correct way of speaking? Speak correctly. Come on. Hos-pi-tal."
"Hospital.", repeated Stephen, now correctly.
Psychiatric Center D. Pedro II. An asylum located in a tranquil neighborhood called Engenho de Dentro. Nobody had told Stephen those things. He read them on the covers. Now his mind drifted back to some breakfast tables. He could hardly see things. He saw everything in a very strong, pale white. He couldn't distinguish, define anything. Of that moment he could remember no face at all. All he could remember were voices. Violent, aggressive, voices. screaming all the time. But the screaming came, specially, from the people who worked there.
That was the beginning of the confusion. He couldn't see clearly, the staff shouted at the inpatients, all the time. They shouted, "You sit here, hell!"
"You mustn't take that!"
"Eat quickly, come on!"
He and his companions were being taken for breakfast. He couldn't see right, he hardly could stay upright. He felt as if his mind was leaving his body. And the voices were shrieking. At that moment he still had some reason left. He still could talk, but people there didn't believe that. They treated him as an irrational, inferior creature. Him and his companions. If he went in one direction they screamed, "Stop! You can't go there!" He didn't know where he was, he was shooed all the time, he had trouble seeing things... Because all that he started giving way to illusions. After all, nobody told him what was happening, therefore he started to cook up his own story in his mind. Was he dead, in a limbo, maybe?
Later he learned that was the emergency of the "hospital".
TWIN BROTHERS
Nobody wanted to talk to him, therefore he assumed it was because of the language. People didn't speak to him in Portuguese there, so he thought that maybe he should change languages. The people in white passed by him and ignored him. Ignorance and indifference made the confusion grow more and more. Therefore he began to speak in English.
He didn't even take notice of the moment he was taken from the emergency of the hospital to another wing. The confusion in his mind grew and grew incessantly. There was a guy there that spoke to him. He spoke with difficulty, therefore Stephen could hardly understand: "Ve'll be dransferred!"
He was always calling Stephen's attention to the windows, where they could see ambulances coming and going. The guy was always saying to Stephen, "Ve'll be dransferred!" Stephen told him he could not understand. In spite of Stephen's growing delirium the guy insisted so much that Stephen understood that he was trying to say, "We'll be transferred!"
At that moment Stephen was trying to build some explanation that wasn't given by any of the white people there. So he fantasized that he was in Heaven, surrounded by angels in white, superior people, perfumed people who didn't talk to sinners like him, maybe he was in a maternity ward and he was the spirit of a baby who was about to be born. Many convenient, pleasant, options. Palliatives.
In a place where nobody talked to him, nobody considered him human, the guy did. The guy almost brought him to reality when he said, "We've gotta talk to so-and-so about our transfer." The guy took him to a certain door and said, "We've gotta wait for so-and-so." The guy paced before the door impatiently, and Stephen did the same, mimicking him. Both of them with their hands behind their backs. But they never got to talk to nobody. The people in white ignored them. they talked but to one another.
Stephen thought, "This guy speaks indistinctly. Maybe he's from another country. Maybe he's trying to speak Portuguese. But maybe I'm from his country! That's why the people in white don't speak to us!" So he started to speak in English to the guy. The guy giggled, smiled and tried to cut it.
All the time he led Stephen to the windows, to see the ambulances, coming and going. When the guy said, "We'll be transferred", Stephen thought, "Will we be born? Will we be transferred to a world of level people? A world where everybody talked to everyone without differences?"
One day the guy tried to drag Stephen with him, by saying, again, "We'll be transferred, now!", but Stephen refused to follow him. No matter what happened, he didn't get to see the guy there anymore.
ADONIS: THE GAY GOD
In the first confusing days of Stephen in the Psychiatric Center D. Pedro II, when he noticed he was surrounded by white people, his creative imagination made him think they were doctors from God, heavenly doctors. So he thought they would cleanse him. Purify him. He thought they would treat his teeth. He thought his body would be completely purified. When he noticed that he was constipated he thought right away, "they made me so perfect that now I don't defecate anymore. Now I'm a saint. Saints don't defecate."
First he was in the emergency. One day, maybe. Then he went to another place. And now he was in the last place of his stay in the Psychiatric Center.
He was confused. Confused about many things. When he got there he found himself surrounded by women. They looked at him with great interest and curiosity. In his opinion, they were old women, spinsters. They said things to him, but he couldn't fully understand. He was confused about the language. At a time one of them, maybe the pregnant one, asked him, "Are you gay?"
"Yes, I am.", he answered. for in his mind "gay" meant, "someone from another country", and everything was so strange that maybe he was from another country.
In another moment a guy who identified himself as a psychologist trainee asked him about the voices. What did the voices say? But he heard no voice! He told that to the psychologist, who was puzzled at it. And the psychologist wanted to know what made him do the things he did. He asked if there was a kind of impulse. The man had a nice smell and a beautiful neck, just like the other beautiful girl who had talked to him. It was so good that he felt like biting her neck. And the guy gave him the same sensation, so he told him, "Sometimes I feel like biting people. You, for example, I would like to bite you."
"But why do you want to hurt people biting them? Why so?"
Stephen was amazed at that, for he didn't want to hurt anyone. That would be only for pleasure.
For him sexual lust was to no blame. After all, there are gods that inspire sex. Gods such as Eros, the very god of love, who reminds us of sex. What about Adonis? The beauty of the god was somewhat effeminate, which won the love of Venus, the goddess of love! Indeed, sex is alive and kicking in the world of the gods! Stephen borrowed Sidney's paper and watched the girls that were pictured in papers. There was a room in the Psychiatric Center in which many magazines and papers could be found. Sometimes he saw beautiful girls in the magazines and he took the pages with them and went to the bathroom in order to masturbate.
LACK OF AFFECTION
Once Alice asked for a kiss. He gave her a peck on the cheek and she complained, "Kiss me in the mouth, like adult people do." Stephen proceeded to do just that. They kept that habit of mouth-kissing for a few days and then Stephen found himself in love with Catarina.
The other day Stephen talked with Dolores and a black girl who worked there. Dolores asked him about his mental condition and finally she said, "There's nothing wrong with you. Do you have a girlfriend?"
When he answered that he didn't she went on, "That's the reason. Your problem is lack of affection.", diagnosed she, "You gotta get yourself a girlfriend."
Then he immediately looked at the black girl, who was very beautiful, and asked, "Do you wanna be my girlfriend?"
She answered, a little surprised, "No!"
Dona Dolores laughed and said, "You gotta find a girlfriend outside when you're discharged. Not here."
One day he was late for the medication of the night and he was summoned by the female nurse. He was confused by the strange treatment he got (nice from the women and rude from the men). On account of that he was always asking himself, "Who am I?"
Therefore he created a way of address to that moment, so he said to the female nurse, "God Stephen is here!" the nurse smiled and said, "Don't say that my dear, for it delays your discharge..."
THE APPLE OF THE WITCH
One day Stephen's mother came to visit him at the Psychiatric Center. She brought him something. Since the visiting hours were always after lunch he started eating apples as a dessert. He ate three apples or so. John the Baptist, who had the bad reputation of asking things from other inpatients' families, asked for an apple, which he promptly got. The visiting hours finished, his mother went away and the night came, supper time. He was eating that delicious food, tasting all that he could. (it was a lot of food, one person could hardly eat all that!) But, all of a sudden, his tongue didn't respond when he was eating some meat. His tongue seemed to be alive. It was waving out of control, just like a snake!
John the Baptist and other patients saw his agony and cried for help. At a moment his tongue could not be controlled by him, at all. Soon came a man in white (a nurse, certainly) and Stephen said, beseechingly, with a great effort, "Help me, doctor!" The man carried along a syringe. Stephen thought he was going to give an injection in his tongue, but fortunately it was in the arm. The man wouldn't talk to him. Wouldn't explain what had happened. Stephen had to throw away all the food, because the medication didn't work right away and he couldn't eat. Stephen tried to ask the man what was wrong with him, but the man treated him as if he was irrational.
"Don't follow me!", said the professional, trying not to be harsh, but being harsh, because Stephen wasn't irrational. He could understand what was going on, up to a certain extent. The professional didn't tell Stephen about his condition, but one of the inpatients told Stephen, "You were impregnated."Stephen had never heard the term before. The diagnosis was given by one of Stephen's companions. And, later on, Stephen found out it was accurate, correct.
John the Baptist said to Stephen, "That was the apples that that woman gave to you. I went ill too. I think she's a witch."
"Hey! That was my mother! Don't stretch it!..."
After that Stephen had a strange kind of trauma. Dread of apples. He could eat apples no more! Two years later or so he found out for sure that impregnation was caused by overdose of psychiatric drugs. Only then he gathered up courage to eat apple again.
TAKING A STOCK OF EVERYTHING
By the time Stephen was leaving the Psychiatric Center D. Pedro II he considered everything that he had lived there. He thought it over. He remembered that when he got there he wasn't having hallucinations. Then he wondered if it was the effect of the drugs. After all, the more they gave him drugs, the more confused he got. Had the drugs the power to make him forget? He couldn't remember his first seizure clearly. He could only remember some parts of it, like flashes.
"I wonder if the psychiatric drugs got to make the mentally ill people forget what they did in order to make the recovery easier." He thought.
But what about the bad treatment? Why did most of the people working in and for the hospital had to shout at people? Tie people? Weren't firemen supposed to fight fire and protect the civilians? Why were they attacking mentally ill people? Up to that moment he had admired firemen. He tried to keep his admiration for those professionals. He had to admit that his psychiatrist, the nutritionist, the psychologists and the trainees had a different behavior. They were superficial, but they tried to be kind. Their kindness was splashed with fear. And they seemed to think that mentally ill people couldn't understand things clearly. They seemed to think people with mental disorders couldn't discern. In spite of all that, they weren't aggressive like the nurses and the firemen, for instance.
Then, in his mind, Stephen tried to excuse the nurses and the firemen this way, "Well, they don't have higher education like the psychiatrists, the nutritionists and psychologists. Surely a fireman is instructed to be rude, macho. Firemen and nurses don't have higher education, or else they would have good manners. Some of them probably don't even have taken Elementary School." After all, Stephen hadn't completed Elementary School and had much more etiquette than they...
And what could he say about the medication? They gave him medication, but they never explained to him what was that for. As if it was a secret. He felt different, weird. Firstly he could hardly see. Everything was too white. There was a lady, psychologist, maybe, who spoke to him. He could hardly define her face. But she was so beautiful that he took great pains just to see her face. And he had to praise her beauty. Were his eye problems side effects of the psychiatric drugs? The doctors wouldn't tell. The main problem was: up to the present day he is not sure if the lady that spoke to him was for real or just hallucination.
What about the rapist and the deaf guy? Were they for real or just hallucination? His condition had been confused and strange. And the doctors gave the impression that they wouldn't throw any light on it. Again, were the problems in his sight caused by the drugs they gave to him there? That was scary. He was a twenty-two-year-old guy, but he felt as if he was sixty years older. He got no kicks from the things he used to like to do. He asked his brother for comic books, for he couldn't get much pleasure from a crime story book that he had asked before. His sight was pretty bad, he couldn't see right, he could hardly read. He couldn't help thinking he would need glasses, this time it was essential. Food and sleep (at night only) were his only pleasures.
Why the professionals of that hospital didn't take their patients seriously? At a time Stephen kept taking off the bandages someone had put on his shin. And there was a bald guy that was always shouting at him on account of that. Maybe he couldn't see that Stephen didn't remember the moment he was hurt, and was trying to find out what was going on. When Stephen got rid of the bandage he could see the injury, he could see the stitches. The guy said that he had put the bandages himself, but later Stephen remembered that the bandage was put in another place.
The bald guy was always there, sometimes smiling at Stephen, sometimes shouting.
The bald guy shouted, "Go to bed. You keep messing things! If you don't have nothing good to do, just go sleep!" And that reminded Stephen of the way people told the dogs to go sleep when they were bothering. But he seemed concerned about the injury and checked it with great care. At a time he gave Polvidine to Stephen and told him to shower himself and wash the injury with the substance, which the guy said that was soap and medication at the same time. at that time Stephen didn't know Polvidine. He felt that he was being bamboozled by the bald guy, but he obeyed. Later, when he could see things without all the confusion of the beginning, he couldn't find the bald guy there anymore. If wondered if such a guy had really existed. Maybe he was a ghost. Or a hallucination. He couldn't be sure. Stephen was sure of just one thing: whether that guy was a real person, whether he was a ghost or a hallucination, he was surely trying to bamboozle Stephen. Yeah. Trying to confuse Stephen. That's for sure!
NOTE: When Stephen left the Psychiatric Center D. Pedro II he realized that his reflexes were affected, and what people said came to his brains a little bit delayed. Of course, that was one more reason for people not to shout at him!...
Now there was he: happily leaving that prison! Stephen stayed in the Psychiatric Center for eleven days. An eternity. Now he could see that place from a better angle: on the way out! Just like he had thought. The Psychiatric Center was a little town inside the neighborhood Engenho de Dentro. Inside the tall fence of the Psychiatric Center D. Pedro II many buildings could be seen, plus houses in the back, streets, pharmacies (of course!), squares, car entrance and a yard for cars to be parked in, a kind of parking lot. All of the buildings were for the different inpatients of the hospital. Some inpatients could walk freely (without supervision) in the streets of the Psychiatric Center. Stephen himself had remained most of the time limited by the walls of his infirmary. They had let him out of the building twice. First they had taken him, Stephen,
and some companions for a walk... Within the fence of the Psychiatric Center, of course! At that moment he walked with Dolores, John the Baptist, Catarina and other companions. They were in the streets of the Psychiatric Center, but... Under strict surveillance! They had to be close together, they couldn't go to far... And it was curious, for they were very, very far from the possibility of getting lost!...
Some companions of Stephen's had left the Psychiatric Center first. Sidney, for example. The female nurse even said that they had been unfair to him for forgetting about his discharge. That happened because Sidney was too quiet, resigned, perhaps. And John the Baptist's girlfriend had left a few days before too. And that, of course, caused Stephen to request his discharge with much more energy. The nurses were very aggressive when Stephen asked about his discharge. As usual. But the psychologist gave him hope, behaving with much more humanity.
The second time he had the opportunity of going out of the building and into the streets of the Psychiatric Center was to have a haircut. He was accompanied by Marcia and by the two girls that had talked to him in the past, the ones that asked about the injury on his shin. Yes. They had a Barber's shop right in the premises of the psychiatric Center.
Then he finally left that damn place! Freedom! He would have to go to a kind of meeting there a few days later. And he went. It was the Via de Egresso. there he heard mentally ill people speaking of their cases for the first time. And there were people with mental disorders in his family however. But they had never talked about it. He knew that one uncle had serious mental disorders and was in and out of the mental hospitals continuously. But when he left the Psychiatric Center he got to know about many other cases!
One aunt, the grandma, a sister-in-law, a cousin, another uncle and even a sister!... How was it possible? They simply had never talked about those cases. Why? A-ha! They were ashamed of it! People don't say, "I'm mentally ill", rather they say, "I have nerve disorder."
It's less shocking, it's less humiliating. He already knew about the case of his uncle Cry-Baby just because it was very evident. The poor bearded man had frequent seizures. Often he was on the streets speaking like a politician or maybe a backbiter. Always complaining. ALL THE NEIGHBORHOOD KNEW ABOUT HIS MADNESS!!! The madness of his uncle just couldn't be hidden.
Well, in the Via de Egresso people spoke about their madness. The relatives always spoke more than the patients. One military man said that he had stayed out of psychiatric Institutions for fifteen or so. He had relapsed this time, but he was confident for the future. There was a patient that walked with a crutch. Her relative talked about her constant seizures. Would he have constant seizures? Would he suffer worse injuries? He, and his mother spoke little. Almost nothing. (His brother Zacchaeus was there too, and didn't speak either.)
WELL BEFORE THE FIRST GREAT SEIZURE...
When Stephen returned to his house in the neighborhood Guadalupe, in the city Rio de Janeiro, He felt like he was from another planet. Mars, maybe? No. Mars is the planet of war. He prefers Venus, the planet of love. He was taken by surprise when he saw the glass of the door of his house, broken on the lower part. he couldn't help thinking that he had done it. He could scarcely remember the glass breaking, but he couldn't remember details. He didn't know it was the front door. Or a door at all. He asked one of his brothers about it and got the answer to a question whose answer he knew for sure, but was afraid of facing it. He saw traces of blood all over the place. His blood. He had broken that glass. As he got into the house, memories came. Days before. Well before his first great seizure.
All he wanted from life was simplicity. Stephen was a guy that was always falling in love with everything. Different from most people, he thought that health was more important than appearances. Therefore he worked out, avoiding exercise at night, for he knew that could take away sleep, and he thought that sleep is essential to life. At a time he fell in love with German and English. For this he changed his whole life. He moved out from his childhood house, a house that he had for himself. He moved out into another house, just to learn languages more easily. One could say that he gave his house to get knowledge. He was exchanging the love he had for his house for a greater love: the German language, the language of Adolf Hitler. He fell in love head over heel with German. It was fascinating!
Soon enough he grew interested in other languages, namely Spanish and finally French. Much later he became interested in Italian simply because an Australian girl to whom he talked told him she just could speak her mother tongue (English) and Italian, which he didn't speak at all... up to that moment. In the beginning English was just an amusing pastime. The language he was really studying was German. In the beginning it a very basic, rudimentary English and he spoke sporadically. But his brothers seemed to be jealous. Jealousy and envy began when they saw he was taking his studies seriously. One of them was always trying to find fault with his pronunciation in an envious way. The other said, "Now you're important. You're speaking English and everything..."
All he could say was that each one of the people on earth speaks, at least, one language. Language is commonplace, said Stephen. Everyone speaks. It's no sign of importance. His sister didn't believe that he could speak English well without paying a lot of money.
But, apart from his brothers-german and sister-german, many other people showed the same disbelief and envy. His ex-classmates, now many grades ahead of him (he had left school in the seventh grade, Elementary School), gaped in increasing disbelief, his work-mates derided and insulted him, for they couldn't believe. All that because of English, for even when he spoke German they thought it was English. So he thought he had better not let them know about German and the other languages!... That would spare him a lot of trouble! That would protect him of a lot of envy!
He was amazed at some poor people, who were full of vain ambitions and pretended to be humble. They would suggest that his earnest passion for English (they didn't know about the other languages, which made him really talk to foreign people was the action of a show-off.
"Poor people. They don't know what passion is all about!" Thought Stephen.
Passion moved his life. That's why he didn't care about rank and saw no importance in money. Passion was the fuel. Speaking of which there was a girl who worked with him. She was the most beautiful girl that he ever knew...
THE BRIDE OF COPACABANA
In Stephen's mind Carmelin was the sexiest girl he ever knew. (There was a cousin of Stephen's that Stephen considered sexier than Carmelin, but cousin doesn't count!) He got to know that girl when he started working in the drugstore of mister Ferdinand's. Mister Ferdinand's drugstore was in Copacabana, Rio. Carmelin was born and raised there, in Copacabana. Stephen and Carmelin were very young when they met each other for the first time. She was fourteen years old and he was one year her junior. In the beginning she seemed to be cold, indifferent and, somewhat, sulky. But as time went by and they became intimate she proved to be a warm, passionate girl. She had been dating the same guy seven years or so, therefore they wound up getting engaged. Stephen did not regret it. After all, he didn't want to get married, ever. And although she was engaged she felt the same way he did. She always said she wanted no marriage...
PASSIONS VERSUS PAINS
Then one day Stephen went for a visit to his friends at Mr. Oswald's pharmacy. Much to his surprise the pharmacy had gone bankrupt. All of its employees went to other pharmacies. At a time Mr. Ferdinand had three pharmacies in partnership with Mr. Oswald. Two pharmacies in Copacabana and one in the center of town. Then the pharmacy under the command of Mr. Oswald failed. On account of that Mary went to the center of town's pharmacy while Carmelin should return to the remaining pharmacy in Copacabana in which she worked before. The other companions were torn apart the same way. Stephen had last talked to Carmelin in the pharmacy that failed. He went to the oldest pharmacy talked to people there, but he didn't want to let that strong feeling show, after all, she was a bride. People could misread him. Therefore he didn't ask about her that time.
But a few days later he couldn't resist anymore and he asked about her. Mr. Ferdinand was taken by surprise. His face changed. His eyes went red and he said, "She's dead."
But how could Stephen believe it? She was healthy. She didn't smoke, she exercised, ate right... she could not have fallen ill, for she definitely had healthy habits. Therefore Stephen wanted to know from Mr. Ferdinand how she had died.
"She got killed in a robbery." Impossible, improbable. She was bright. She would never act rashly in an armed robbery. She would never argue or fight against a thief. Stephen knew that for sure, for he had been in a bank robbery situation with her.
They were making a deposit with Mr. Oswald. In a bank in Nossa Senhora Copacabana Street. Close to Djalma Ulrich Street. They had to go to the second floor to give the money to the manager. While they waited upstairs they couldn't know what was going on downstairs. Then there was a sort of disturbance. An employee of the bank whispered something to Mr. Oswald, which made him very agitated.
He whispered now to Carmelin, "There's a robbery going on in the bank."
Mr. Oswald as well as Carmelin and Stephen were carrying packets with the profit of the pharmacy. Then he took the money from Carmelin and, turned to Stephen and said, "Put all the money in your personal bag and be discreet and they won't think that you're carrying a lot of money. If we give it to the manager now the robber might take it away."
Of course. Stephen was black, wore ragged clothes. No thief on earth would ever think he was carrying such a large amount of money with him. Stephen used to carry his bag along wherever he went, for he was always bringing books along with him, which he read while he was to wait.
In tension Stephen waited for the robbers to come upstairs. Soon a dark armed man came giving off a great show of bravado. He span the gun round his finger and gave orders menacingly. Strangely enough Carmelin showed calm countenance. She was easy, not worried at all. In fact, she was the most calm person around. Well, everything worked out well. The bank robbery failed and nobody got hurt. Everything wound up swell. Or almost swell. For one of the robbers was shot and probably died (the loss of human life is never good)
From what Stephen saw of Carmelin he was sure she wouldn't give reasons to a robber to kill her. It was too shocking, so he went home to cry. Yes to cry. When his old dad died he felt no urge to cry. When his uncle cry-baby suspiciously died in a mental institution Stephen was deeply revolted, but no tear was shed. Even when his childhood friend Fabio drowned in the pool no sadness was aroused in him as to make him cry. Perhaps the stupid killing of Carmelin was something different. Maybe he loved that girl more than he loved his own father and uncle. The fact is, he cried non-stop for a long time.
"I'M OK, I'M ALL RIGHT..."
Stephen was put away in the mental institution on May 26th in the year 1999 and he was released on June 7th, 1999. Stephen felt strange. Really strange. He couldn't see the enjoyment of life. He couldn't get pleasure from the things he used to love. And he was already feeling this way back when he was in the mental institution. When his mother visited him one day she asked if he was OK and he replied, "I'm all right, but I'm a little sleepy." His mother said, "It's because of the medication. It makes you feel this way."
The people of the mental institution insisted on saying that the treatment would bring incredible results if all the medications were taken correctly. They insisted that a person under treatment could lead a perfectly normal life. So Stephen trusted in the statements of the professionals of the mental institution and he kept saying to everybody, "I'm OK, I'm all right."
Unconsciously he really meant to say, "I'm not hurting people the way they told me I did. You can come closer now." Because mentally he was feeling pretty bad. He could get no kicks out of work-out sessions, nor from reading and studying, things he used to love. Was that normal life?
The only pleasures for him were food, watching television and sleeping, but he could sleep only at night. And he had trouble masticating the food, for the movements of his mouth, as well as all his body, were pretty slow, sluggish.
When he urinated he noticed that he had to wait for some seconds, almost a minute, for the urine to start to come out. He masturbated every now and then, and he noticed that he had to wait for some time to get a full erection too. Normal?
THE FOOL ON THE PILL
Stephen was trying to remember what he had done in his seizure. He was trying to find sense in what people said he did.
"Why have I hit you?" Asked Stephen to his brother Hezekiah.
"I don't know!" Answered Hezekiah, "I had agreed with something you said and out of the blue you started beating me."
And Stephen chuckled and said, "Out of the blue? Surely there's an explanation. Why would I do that?"
And Stephen kept on asking, "What did I say in the seizure?"
And Hezekiah simply said, "Nonsense, meaninglessness. You didn't know what you were saying. It was full madness."
When Stephen questioned his brother-in-law about it, he said, "Why do you want to remember that, Stephen? It's past. Forget about it, man."
His brother Hezekiah, his sister and his brother-in-law had witnessed the seizure. Stephen wondered why they were so reluctant to talk about it. As his memories came he started understanding why. He had attempted to kiss his brother. That was one of the first memories. On account of that he tried to relive what happened in his mind.
"I think I remember how was it," said he to his brother, "I tried to kiss you and then I tried to kiss our sister and then our brother-in-law!"
"No. you didn't try to kiss our sister and our brother-in-law."
Since he couldn't understand what had urged him to kiss his own brother he considered that it might have been a demon that had taken him. Then he started going to a protestant temple. maybe the priests could help to heal him from all his dismay. Maybe God could bring back his love for life. Maybe. He thought that he had bizarre thoughts on sex. He had more than thirty magazines on lesbian love. He threw them all away.
It had always been easier for him to learn by himself, but people seemed to think it was impossible to learn alone. After his seizure he began to agree with everyone and started to think that it was impossible to learn by oneself and that he was obsessed when he thought he could learn without a teacher. But almost everything he knew he had learned by himself... that meant that his life was full of delusions and obsessions.That meant that he was too conceited. he thought he knew different subjects, but in fact he didn't know anything. Mental illness had made him believe that he knew, but he didn't.
Before his psychiatric seizure Stephen wouldn't let people know he spoke other languages than English and Portuguese (as French, Spanish, German). And he would never mention that he had deduced the pronunciation of many languages even without hearing a word of them and without the slightest hint on how those languages should be pronounced. He wouldn't say a thing about it, because he had learned through reading books on psychology to know what kind of reaction he should expect from people. He believed that people always believed that it is impossible to learn by oneself. Let alone deduce how an unknown language should be pronounced! If he let them know it they would say that he was too proud, conceited. A foolish know-it-all!!
But after his psychiatric seizure he could see the truth. Stephen was pretentious. A pretentious paranoid. A mentally unstable person who believed he could talk to foreign people (the gringos) from all over the world. When he talked to an Englishman, for example, his work companions clucked over his pretentious moods. One of his companions even tried to communicate with the Englishman through gestures.
"Ignore him! He's crazy!"
Before his seizure Stephen thought they were people limited by misconceptions, and in his troubled mind he found it strange that people wouldn't believe one could learn by oneself. Sickly he thought, "If one can think alone, one can learn alone."
But after his psychiatric seizure he could clearly see that he was a sick man, a pretentious show-off. People pitied him, for all his acquaintances knew he had always been mentally unstable. he never felt that he was showing off all the time. Quite the contrary. He believed that he didn't want to expose himself. But after his psychiatric seizure he had to admit that a proud person like him usually doesn't realize how sick and pretentious his personality is, and can only see the truth under appropriate treatment.
THE LAST TO KNOW
His brother Zacchaeus said to Stephen he shouldn't have studied so much.
"Too much study leads to insanity." Said Zacchaeus.
Hezekiah said that Stephen should go to the parties and really enjoy life. "Before the seizures you never went to the parties, you never did the things everyone does." Stephen was always trying to find a reasonable explanation to his lack of interest in life, lack of interest in the things he used to love. He was twenty-two years old. Well, people always spoke about the changes that comes when one gets old. He was getting old. That would explain why exercising gave him no pleasure. And working out was even more difficult on account of the injury on his shin. But he tried and tried, time and again.
"I can get no fun in reading and studying languages like I did in the past," said Stephen to Hezekiah, "Do you think I read and studied obsessively and that's why I don't seem to enjoy it now that the obsession is gone?"
"Well, maybe." Replied his brother Hezekiah. Stephen wasn't really worried about anything and he had no reason to be depressed, but yet he could see no motivation to do the things he once loved. He wanted to do the things, but when he got to it he could see no excitement.
In spite of the injury on his shin he was physically all right. Sure there were the physiological problems. He drooled all the time, he had trouble evacuating, his eyes couldn't bear bright lights, he had trouble urinating and to have an erection too (as mentioned above). He could do all the body movements, but apparently his reflexes were compromised. His body was somewhat rigid, but he believed it was imperceptible. but his siblings helped him crossing the street. They aided him in the simplest things such as getting up and putting on a shirt.
When his mother and he went to the ophthalmologist she asked his mother, "Does he have stomach problems?"
According to his mother the ophthalmologist asked that on account of his breath. Stephen noticed that she talked to his mother as if he wasn't there and when she gave him directions for his eyes examination she shouted at him as if he couldn't hear. And he really noticed that it took some time for words spoken to come to his perception.
His sister once commented, "That's funny. Stephen walks like a robot. His body is rigid. The inpatients in the hospital walked just like he walks. It must be a side effect of the medication for mental illness."
Stephen wanted to believe that he wasn't so bad, but he had to face the facts. Even when he tried to study he had a headache...
Now Stephen's mother tried to make up for the time she had stayed away from her son. She accompanied him to the church and everything. But when he wanted to take showers she instructed him to leave the door unlocked. Stephen didn't like it, but obeyed, because he knew that his mother might be worried about his well-being. What was she afraid of?
Once his sister talked to his mother and to him about his mental conditions.
"He had been acting strangely for quite some time. I think that the person goes crazy before the manifestation of the seizure." Said she, "Days before he had stayed in the bathroom for such a long time that I got to knock at the door and asked him if he was all right."
And she finally asked Stephen, "What were you doing there for such a long time?"
Stephen wouldn't answer that question. He wouldn't dare out of shame. For he was masturbating in the middle of delusions of grandeur. He masturbated non-stop for a long, long time, for sex is a sign of force, strength, power!
And Stephen faced himself in the bathroom's mirror and grinned sickly. And in his madness he felt that he was standing on a line between good and evil. Good needed evil and evil needed good. But there should be balance. If good was in excess there should be no force, but if evil was in excess there would be madness and lack of control. Balance between good and evil was the way to have the right level of power!! Just like in Yin Yang, balance was necessary for perfection, and a mistake might be fatal. Power to defeat death and bring back his dear friend that had been murdered.
When Stephen was lying in the mental hospital bed completely confused he looked at the doctor and at his brother Hezekiah. It was shocking that the doctor talked to his brother, but... Ignored him completely! Now, out of the hospital, Stephen questioned his brother.
"My brother, why did you say to the doctor that I talked to myself? You know that I've always talked to myself to study languages."
His brother was disconcerted and said, "But right before your psychiatric seizure it was different. You acted sometimes as if there was nobody around and said strange things such as, 'I found it!', and in other times you acted normally."
Yes. Stephen talked to himself in order to acquire fluency in languages. He never gave a damn what people thought about him. He grew up reading comic books in the middle of street and he laughed and giggled without any embarrassment when he saw something funny in it. People said to him, "Are you crazy? Are you laughing to yourself?"
And he said, "I'm laughing at the comic book."
People said, "You crazy. Nobody laughs alone."
Stephen wondered, "I don't understand. They don't see the fun of the joke when they're alone? That's strange. I won't be able to do that!"
Stephen was afraid of himself because he thought he might have a seizure and hurt people. At the same time he couldn't trust his physical capacities to fend for himself. He had found out from his brother Hezekiah that he was aggressive and that two firemen had a lot of trouble to tie him down.
"But two men cannot tie one man down." Said he accordingly to his martial knowledge.
"But it can be done with the right moves." Argued his brother.
And they had said that he had kicked the door. That's very aggressive! He was aggressive in his madness, but defenseless. His relatives had said that he had tried to resist the firemen. But he couldn't help thinking that it would be impossible for two firemen to catch him if he hadn't let them. And if he was aggressive, much less. Martial arts can be very harmful. If they caught him and his martial art it meant that his martial art wouldn't protect (defend) him in a moment of danger. He was defenseless.
On account of that the following happened. One night Stephen was sleeping on the sofa of the living-room when someone approached in the darkness. That someone stopped. He couldn't identify who was it. It could be anyone. And this time he was afraid of men, of devils and of ghosts too. Finally he was a complete coward. Defenseless in the sofa. He kind of whimpered. Then the person got closer.
"Calm down, calm down..." It was his brother Hezekiah who lulled him like one lulls a baby.
But he was defenseless specially because the psychiatric drugs left him sluggish. Completely sluggish. Coming to the conclusion that those drugs were hard on him he complained about it to his brother Hezekiah.
"These drugs make me feel old. I can't eat right, my mouth is always full of saliva. I drool all the time and I can hardly speak!
"Just have a little bit of patience."
But Stephen said, "You have no idea how I'm feeling. It's as if I were living in a black and white TV. It's as if I wasn't living, but vegetating."
In the beginning he used to kid about his own condition. As time went by he pleaded with his family, more and more.
But his brother said, "Don't you worry. You'll get used to the medication and will feel better. Just wait patiently." And Stephen waited. And waited. And waited, but he just got worse.
"My brother, it's unbearable! I can't take it. It must be worse than death. I've been waiting for improvement, but it never gets better!" Complained Stephen.
"Well, we took you out of the hospital. At least it must be better among your relatives." Replied his brother Hezekiah.
"It should be. I thought it would be. There's no pleasure in my life." Said Stephen.
In fact, the family was important. He needed someone to talk to, therefore he waited for each member of his family in every tedious day.
"And you see the prescription? It says, 'Don't stop taking the medication. Even if there are some complaints.'"
MARRY MARY... BOW YOUR HEAD (HUMILIATING WAY)
Stephen couldn't masticate because the movements of his mouth wouldn't follow his brains. He wanted to masticate quickly, but his mouth moved really slow. On account of that he had trouble eating solid food. He couldn't eat rice, nor meat, for instance. The only way to eat food that was hard to chew was by swallowing. And he had been taught that it's important to masticate the food. It's important to break the food with the teeth in order to have a good digestion. And when he complained about it his sister volunteered to prepare mashed potatoes for him to eat. It was edible and tasty.
Stephen's sister said to him once, "When you were in the hospital you were so sick that you said you wanted to marry Mary." She laughed. "Would you really do that?"
Stephen wouldn't answer that. He knew he wasn't crazy when he said he would marry his work companion Mary. She was beautiful and sexy. What's the problem if he married her? What he said about Mary wasn't even an impulse. there was a reason. People had told him that he had gone insane because he hadn't had a sexual partner. Therefore he considered that he had lost his mind because he had never done what people advised him.
And Stephen had decided to tell people things he hadn't had the courage to tell before. And he had read comic books, as well as movies, soap operas and many works of fiction in which mentally diseased people were considered dangerous, false, phony. In fiction all the villains had some psychiatric trouble. Therefore Stephen had concluded that he should say all that was in his mind (for in his madness he might talk too much anyway). That would help recover from his illness. He concluded that madness had come to him as a punishment.
On account of that when he met Mr. Ferdinand who had fired him a short time before his psychiatric seizure he humbly said, "You were right all the time and I was always wrong, Mr. Ferdinand."
And because of that he would do what he would have never done in other circumstances. He asked his job back - before the psychiatric seizure he would never have asked for his job, for he thought that was humiliation to beg for a job. But now he thought that humiliation would be good to his health.
Stephen had gone to Copacabana to get some glasses. He had concluded that he couldn't see right. Then his mother took him there and he asked her to drop by in the pharmacy of Mr. Ferdinand's (who wound up paying for the glasses) that was near.
"Shortsightedness is a symptom of mental illness." Said she to Stephen.
Later on Stephen concluded that the glasses hadn't helped him much. His sight was kind of blurred, but the glasses wouldn't help him. And later he would find out that it was side effect of the psychiatric drugs.
DISCRIMINATION AND OBLIVION
It's funny that some mentally diseased people aren't so aggressive as Stephen." That's what Stephen's sister said once.
"Uncle Cry-baby, for instance, when he was ill he just talked too much, and didn't hurt anyone," concluded she.
That did hurt Stephen. His relatives kept saying over and over again that he hit his brother, but they never said that Stephen cried, "I love you" repeatedly at the top of his lungs. Stephen himself had to mention it. And Stephen had to remind them of the moment he attempted to kiss his brother, because they only spoke of how aggressive he was and that he said meaningless things, foolish things (such as 'I love you'?) But they completely omitted Stephen's strange sexual behavior at that time of psychiatric seizure.
Zacchaeus was always by Stephen's side following him around and taking him to places. Stephen noticed that he was always close by helping. But so much that sometimes it irritated Stephen! Zacchaeus found it profitable to take Stephen to their aunt who had been affected with mental disease too and could help Stephen with her experience.
Zacchaeus took Stephen to the house of one their cousins and they talked about mental illness. The cousin spoke about her own experience, for she had suffered a psychiatric seizure too. And then she commented worriedly, awfully, "It must have been terrible with Stephen. Specially because Stephen fights Karate and stuff."
At those words Stephen regretted bitterly to have once studied martial arts. For Stephen believed that one studied martial arts to self-defense and not to attack people. If only he knew that one day he would lose control he would never have studied martial arts at all.
Amazed at the way people began to consider him incompetent and unreliable to lead his own life Stephen tried to talk about it with his brother Hezekiah.
"How do you think I feel when I know that Mr. Ferdinand only let me work for him if you and Zacchaeus were held responsible for my actions? Does he think I'm gonna break his drugstore? I thought I was taking the medication to prevent it. What's the medication for anyway? How am I going to have a normal life again, like the doctors said I could? That's sheer absurdity! that's not normal at all! What if I decided to get married? Would I have to ask for the permission of my relatives? Have I become a little kid all over again?"
His brother Hezekiah only poured cold water.
"You will always have someone responsible for you. That's the way it's got to be. For instance, I'm the one who signed the papers for you to have your release from the mental hospital."
In other words Hezekiah meant to say that Stephen was under his responsibility and it would be that way forever. Stephen thought about it with regret.
"You got to face the that and get on with your life," sentenced his brother.
IN MENTALLY SICKNESS...
As time went by Stephen believed that he was a mentally diseased person who was being cured by the medication. And Stephen tried to believe in things that he would never have believed before. He said that the nurses that had shouted at him were very nice people, for instance. And he said that he loved his family all the time, which he had never said before. Once his sister stated, "That's funny... Stephen says that he needs his family, but he had never said that before and was always isolated from the family."
When Stephen's mother and sister took him to take off his stitches from his shin Stephen thought about the mentally ill people that he had seen walking on the streets always with someone, because mentally ill people were too irresponsible to walk alone. He thought about those want ads which read, "Mentally ill person wanted, dressed such-and-such..."
And he had to face the fact that now he was an irresponsible mentally ill person. Before his seizure when he looked at mentally ill people who were treated like children he thought, "Their heads must be sheer confusion! They don't know anything about life."
But now he himself was a mentally ill person and he had thoughts that he considered coherent. But he was mentally ill! He thought he was coherent, but his thoughts were perverse, sick, distorted! He thanked God that they had found his madness before he killed somebody! Now he could get treatment and people would be safe. Now when he saw another mentally diseased person he considered him or her a brother or a sister. And his worried mother said that she should have taken him to check his mental state when he was a child.
"Things would have been much better."
Yes. Stephen believed that he could recover from his mental disease.
THE CHRISTIAN BOY
Out of the Psychiatric Center D. Pedro II Stephen considered that maybe he was being punished for his sins. Maybe it was because he left the right path, which is, the religion. He had left the church and started reading pornography. And now those pornographic mags had made a sick rapist out of him. Not to mention the fact that he read the bible too and disagreed with many things irreverently.
But in the far past he was different. In his childhood he was a christian boy. He went to the church very often. He attended the services for pleasure. He dreamed of the day in which he would marry a woman as beautiful as those he saw on TV and that would be a fair woman. He always wanted to talk to God and he looked at the sky and felt a power so strong, so good and so complacent that he believed that came from God, he believed that power was God itself. He believed that the power of nature was moving along very fairly and that power would never err. That was God. A God that surely healed people like no human medication could. He knew that because once he had had an earache and the priest prayed and anointed him and he was healed right away! That was the God that his mother had introduced to him.
But his older siblings introduced things to him too. They talked races, for instance. They said that people that came from Paraiba (Paraiba is a state in northern Brazil, contrasted to Rio, southern) drooled all the time. Not to mention that they considered those that came from Paraiba stupid people. When they wanted to insult someone they used an insult that they considered worse than saying "stupid!" or "fool!" or "idiot!" The worst curse for them was "Paraiba! You Paraiba!" And Stephen thought they were right. And to make things worse their neighbors were... Paraibas.
Once Stephen was pissing on a tree like all little boy did and the little girl of the Paraiba neighbors saw him and smiled and teased. She was beautiful. Very, very, very beautiful. But she was Paraiba She might drool all the time, thought Stephen. And as to the way she was looking at him... it was a sin!
"Away from me, devil!" Cried the Christian Stephen. The girl just laughed and he had to run away. And his siblings showed discrimination towards black people too.
"Ugly niggers!"
But even at school the other boys bullied Stephen. In the street there was a certain boy that cast stones at Stephen... as if Stephen was too strange to walk in the streets! As if Stephen was some kind of monster! When young Stephen realized that he would never find the perfect woman to marry he called off the idea of marriage. That wasn't for him. He'd rather appreciate the beauty of the women, but without any compromise. But now he had gone mad and some people seemed to believe it was because of lack of sex. He didn't want to marry now, but he would. They had said that in his madness he had hurt people. He didn't want to hurt people anymore and he would do anything to avoid his psychiatric seizure. Even put up with a nagging wife and go to the boring church services with his mother. All that he needed was church, religion. Stephen almost cried when he threw his pornographic mags away. He had to do it! It was diabolical and drove him crazy!
When Stephen was released from the psychiatric center his brother Zacchaeus bought a blanket for him. And his siblings laughed at the madness of his uncle Cry-baby too. All the neighborhood laughed. And when they grew older the misconceptions grew too. His siblings insulted each other and called one another, "sissy!", "faggot!" and so on.
When Stephen was released from the psychiatric center his brother Zacchaeus bought a blanket for him. On that blanket it read "Paraiba". Maybe that was predestination. They considered Paraibas inferior beings and now Stephen was under a blanket that signaled... Paraiba. In his seizure Stephen had felt as if he was all that people despised: gay, Paraiba, mad... He even thought that those words were synonym.
SCRIBBLES (THE KEY MEMORY)
Now Stephen was by himself in the Guadalupe house. He watched his scribbles, the things he had written in the very day of his psychiatric seizure. Names, signs, crosses and noughts that he had scribbled right before his seizure. Those things remembered him that his dear friend Carmelin was dead. And now, much to his terror he could remember serious things he did in the moment of the seizure. He went look for his mother right away, tearfully. He told her about the righteous girl that had been murdered in a shooting between a robber and a policeman. He told that was why he had done such strange things. He believed that anything that happened to him would be bearable, for he was alive and he wasn't very worthy. But his friend had a great character, she was fair. Surely the world would be a better place if he had gone and she stayed in this world. Because of that he had done those strange things in his psychiatric seizure.
Surely there were worse things he did in his seizure that had other serious cause. Of course his inconvenient sexual behavior in the seizure had another cause. He knew that for sure. Now he could remember his inconvenient sexual behavior clearly, but he wouldn't tell the details of it to his mother. He just spoke about the moment he tried to kiss his brother Hezekiah. He didn't want to make her sad, nor embarrass her, nor terrify her.
Now he could understand the strange things that his brother Hezekiah said.
"You were very brave through your mental illness. You were very brave in your psychiatric seizure. You were very courageous. You got to do what you want to do." Said Hezekiah.
"Look, I'm not gay."
If Hezekiah found that Stephen's inconvenient sexual behavior was brave Hezekiah might be thinking. Stephen knew that his inconvenient sexual behavior was caused by the remembrance of the sexual abuse. that he had suffered in his childhood. Nightmares of invading sexual organs haunted his nights for a long time. Surely after what they did to him in his childhood he became well-informed. Before the sexual abuse he didn't even know about sex. He thought that children were born when a man kissed a woman too much. Afterwards he read so much about it that he almost became a specialist.
He knew about hymen, clitoris, glans, G spot, prepuce, perineum, etc. before and better than any boy older than him. Better than many adults. Stephen knew by sheer deduction that oral sex led to AIDS years before that it had ever been mentioned by the scientists. And, of course, he knew that the sexual abuse might bring him psychological problems. Like his mother predicted when she learned about the sexual abuse and said, "That mustn't be done!! That mustn't be done to a child. That makes the child grow to be a sissy!"
Well the person that suffered sexual abuse wouldn't exactly and fatally be a sissy, sure as hell the person might have psychological problems.
And Stephen knew that the anus was an erogenous zone both to men and women. Both to heterosexual and homosexual. Which meant that homosexual as well as heterosexual might have sexual pleasure in the anus. That meant that men and women equally could get sexual satisfaction by stimulation in the anus.
Why did he like? Because the anus is also a source of pleasure. He does it unconsciously victim to the dirty tricks of those older boys. And he might have some kind of anal mycosis, what would stimulate those relations the more. A medical consultation would be worthwhile, as well as a psychological consultation.
Columnist Joao Bidu from the Brazilian magazine Guia Astral from November 1993
THE FIRST GREAT SEIZURE
Stephen was afflicted inside, the corruption of the world surrounded him. The corruption of his ex-boss (Mister Ferdinand), the corruption of the police and the criminals who had killed his dearest. He wished that corrupt world came to an end right away. If the world ended he would be able to see his friend again.
He was at home brooding about the violent death of his friend Carmelin, and because he had been fired again. Mister Ferdinand had fired him because he boldly refused to take part in an illegal activity. Stephen's being was divided between a great hatred and desire of destruction and vengeance against the corrupt system which had killed his friend, and at the same time he was touched by the love that his friend inspired.
The loving inspiration made him want to share his linguistic achievements with other people, among those his brother Hezekiah. He was studying languages and thinking of how he could pass his knowledge on. So a part of him was full of hatred and other part of him was full of loving desire to share his knowledge.
In order to have his vengeance he would do anything. Even sell his soul to the devil. He didn't believe everything in the bible, but he read it, because he knew that Moses and all the prophets were wise people and maybe they had found some kind of magic trick to work their miracles and created God to be a sort of magic Talisman, a mark. Then God didn't really existed, but it was convenient for it attracted followers, mystery and respect to the prophets.
So he worked trying to find more and more about the magic secrets of the prophets and he knew they were based on language, so he proceeded to try linguistic combinations in his researches. He made a mixture of linguistic, biblical and even mathematical combinations. Then he came across the mention of the number of the Beast (666). Just for curiosity he used mathematical tests in order to see whether he had the number of the Beast. Strangely enough he did have the number of the Beast. Mathematically he was the Beast.
The researches went on. Then he concluded that there could be no Beast, unless it was Christ. Jesus created the Beast when he mentioned it in the New Testament. So the Beast was Jesus. Jesus had created the Beast to absorb all the evil of the world.
So the Beast was a cover for Christ. The Beast would swallow the evil, and explode it! And finally he would turn into Jesus and build a world of goodness and perfection. The year 2000 was coming. The period believed to be the end of the times. Very convenient. In his plans Stephen decided to try anything, to risk anything. He stopped exercising for he thought that body capacities were useless in his war against corruption. At a certain time he thought that if he defeated sleep he would be stronger.
So he fought against sleep with all his strength! He felt a great urge to , but he fought bravely. And finally his efforts bore their fruits. Sleep went away forever. That was a victory! But there were some consequences. There were too many languages in his mind, too many words. Sometimes he couldn't understand what people around him were saying. Their words came as foreign words.
All those words in his mind, all that knowledge had become painful. Burdensome. He tried to resort to his brother Hezekiah, who said, "I'm going on a trip.", to which Stephen replied, "bon voyage!"
Later on those problems were vanquished, he didn't sleep anymore, and he planned. Finally he realized that he could use the powers from hell to good purposes. But it was a great temptation, for the sons of evil can get all the pleasures of the world, all the lust, all the sex. and maybe this world could be transformed into a world of free sex, available sex. But the good thoughts brought by the remembrance of Carmelin made him ponder.
All that time he masturbated, for sex is a form of a power. And by the third day without sleep he was listening to radio and watching porn video at the same time. But the hatred could no longer exist, for Carmelin was a symbol of love. So he surrendered to love. He thought of all the women he had cherished tender love for. And he thought of Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. and their defense of peace and love. He thought of all the people who had died for the love of mankind.
And he remembered that he had never told Carmelin how much he loved her. In the future he should tell all the people how much they meant to him. How much he loved them. Love was the solution. Love was the answer. And he had to start right away. So he started shouting: "I love you! I love you! I love you!"
DEPRESSING MEDICATION
In the first days out of the psychiatric center Stephen searched through his books and he saw some notes on his dear friend Carmelin, which he had written in the very day he was put away in the hospital. And he cried again for his dead friend. And more memories came to him. He reminded of the moment he rubbed his ass on his brother's body. The memories were dispersed, but they were there. He could remember that his thoughts in the seizure were all based on the desire to show that he really loved everyone and wanted to share his linguistic knowledge with his brother Hezekiah and do some kind of ritual in order to bring his friend Carmelin back. But there were many things that he didn't recall.
At the hospital his brother had emphasized that Stephen thought that he was god, said meaningless things and was very aggressive. Because of that Stephen feared lest that he had seriously tried to injure somebody. Within those memories surely he did crazy things, but he hadn't done anything contrary to his nature. But what about the things he couldn't remember? Was he dangerous in those moments?
As said before, Stephen's brother exaggerated his aggressiveness and omitted the sexual facts, probably out of shyness, terror, shame... He had made Stephen look so different that Stephen believed that a demon had taken his body during the psychiatric seizure. On account of that he had started to go to the protestant temple when he left the mental hospital. But there was no reason for him to go there anymore, for now he was sure that his indisposition was side effect of his medication and no prayer would heal him and the only demon in his body was an overdosage of psychiatric medication.
The induction of depression by antipsychotic medication is controversial. Irrespective of medication, schizophrenic patients often have affective swings: suicide is at least 50 times more common among schizophrenic patients than among the general population. It is thus difficult to disentangle any association with antipsychotic medication, but the current consensus seems to exonerate antipsychotic drugs in this regard.
Overdosage of antipsychotic medication is not usually life-endangering except in children. The two main problems are cardiac arrhythmias and parkinsonian rigidity of the respiratory muscles. Bizarre neurological syndromes may occur, especially in children.
Extracted from Introduction to Psychopharmacology by Malcolm Lader
DREADFUL BEAST
Stephen's first days out of the mental hospital were marked by terror for himself, a dread for himself. He told his brother Hezekiah that he was terrified, for he had calculated and found that he had the number of the beast. He had spent his whole life saying that corrupt people must die and go to hell.
He had said to his friend Carmelin, "I hate that band! They sing pornographic music to children!" He spoke about a pop band that was a smash at the time. "The world would be a better place if they died."
And Carmelin replied, "Hey, they're good! I like their music. They're funny." A short time later all the components of the band died in an accident. The following day Stephen came to the pharmacy in which he worked hummingly, exulting at the death of those he considered evil. Carmelin and Mary talked about their sad decease when a joyful Stephen passed along.
"You're happy because the band is dead, aren't you, Stephen?" Said Carmelin with her tender, sound voice and welcoming, lovely smile.
"Me?" Replied Stephen ironically, "Perish the thought! I'd never be glad about such a tragedy!..."
Ironically destiny played a trick on him. A few months later Stephen came to know that his friend Carmelin had died in the middle of a shooting between a robber and a policeman. Of course, that aroused a greater hatred in his heart, a deadly hatred. That made him desire more and more the death of all those that he considered evil or useless to mankind.
And now the calculation had told him he was the beast, someone predestined to hurt people and do evil things. This time he was the villain. Someone predestined by God to be sent to hell. And this time he believed he deserved hell. "It serves you right." Said he to himself. But he thought, "I admit I'm bad, but why would God predestine someone to hell?" Thought he with great sadness.
But in the very night of his seizure he was faced with a flush of pure, irreproachable love when he thought of Carmelin. All the ideas about the beast went away. For he knew that love would wash the world like the flood of Noah's times. But now Hezekiah consoled him, "Come. Come. You're not the beast..."
BRAINWASH!
Stephen was alone at home in the afternoon when someone rang the doorbell. It was a woman who worked with the government. She was there to put the substance in the water in order to kill the larvae of the harmful mosquito known as dengue. This mosquito infests Brazil especially in summer and kills thousands of people. When she finished her work she looked at Stephen with great pity and compassion and asked, “Are you OK? Do you want some help?”
Stephen said, “no, I'm OK.” but he had seen pity in the eyes of people who didn't know so many times after his psychiatric seizure.
The last straw was one night when his mouth salivated more and more non-stop. Then his tongue couldn't be controlled. It went rigid and made it difficult for him to close his mouth. His tongue seemed to be alive moving itself in Stephen's mouth as if it was a snake. It was impossible for Stephen to stay like that. Then he complained to his mother who resorted to many things, but after a while Stephen realized that water alleviated his situation a little bit. But he wouldn't be able to bear a living tongue in his mouth for long.
Then his mother decided to take him to the psychiatric Center D. Pedro II to get some help.
”I won't let you there I'll just talk to the doctor in order to stop that.”
Then his mother waved to a bus and explained to the driver, “He's sick. He's gotta see a doctor!”
On seeing his condition the driver let them on the bus free. That was one of the longest trips in Stephen's life. His mother had brought along with her a bottle of water; because they knew it could alleviate him. He swigged the water during all the trip. People looked at him puzzled at his disease. Desperate he wondered, “What kind of disease is it that makes my tongue waggle?”
This way he returned to the psychiatric center and they were referred to the emergency room and they gave him an injection. But Stephen was sure that had happened because of too much medication and he said so to the doctor. The doctor said he would get used to the drugs. Stephen's tongue was back to normal with the injection. But the strange side effects persisted and Stephen kept complaining. Was he OK with so many side effects? Side effects such as urinary hesitancy, constipation... Could anybody be all right? My last hospitalization was in the last year (2002). I was hospitalized in the Christmas day and in the New Year day in Humaita, in Jacarepagua. I spent the Carnival there too, hospitalized, and I only was discharged a week later. In Christmas and New Year the lady nurse turned on the radio and we began to listen to music through the radio. That was good. Past midnight there was fireworks in the New Year's celebration, some place near the hospital. I've already spent two New Year's eve hospitalized. My physician was Doctor Ricardo de Carvalho. He was a good physician, not only he as well as the whole staff of the Hospital of Humaita. I was discharged in the last week of Carnival.
I drew some drawings in the occupational therapy. I made hampers out of ice-cream sticks, I made ash-trays out of ice-cream sticks, I made nightshades out of paper and cardboard. I bathed in the pool of the hospital, played soccer in the soccer field in the soccer tournaments. In one of those tournaments we got the second place and we won a medal and a trophy. I felt good playing soccer. Plus, every morning I worked in the hospital plantation and I watered the lettuce, the passion tree, the tree of green grapes, and the grapes were big and sweet. After we watered the plantation we, along with our occupational therapist doctor Eliane and her colleagues, ate lettuce with salt. That was tasty. We also ate jake fruit and green grapes.
When Christmas and New Year's Eve came - in the two years in which I was last hospitalized - there was Christmas party and New Year's Eve party. It was good. There was also a Carnival Party, a ball. We danced in that Carnival ball. It was good. I liked it. And after Carnival, as I said before, I was discharged. I forgot to tell that I helped the nurses giving medication to the inpatients. There was also the birthday party which was in the last Sunday each month. I liked it. It was good.
I took every kind of medication, except Haloperidol. I took Fernegan and another medication which I don’t remember the name by now. And I felt good with the medication. In the past I was hospitalized more often. It was because of my neighbor who disturbed me and it looked like he was in my body. I got real nervous and started throwing stones at his house. Nowadays it doesn't happen to me anymore, nowadays he doesn't disturb me anymore.
Francisco Luiz Monteiro – User of the Center of Psychosocial Attention Rubens Correa – Iraja – Jornal Scap March / April 2003 – Jornal Scap was the paper of the workshop of the Center of Psychosocial Attention.
Hezekiah, Stephen's brother, heard his growing complaints and accompanied him to the psychiatric center in order to tell the doctor about the side effects again. It was July 13th, 1999, Tuesday. Before the complaints all that the doctor said was that the medication would be adjusted at the appointment with the doctor of Herculano Pinheiro's hospital. Then the doctor explained that, “This medication, Fernegan, is to stop the side effects of Haloperidol, which is the most important medication. In order to alleviate his (Stephen's) situation I'll suspend the four pills of Fernegan that he was taking daily. Now he'll only take two pills of Haloperidol in the morning, one Haloperidol at night along with half a pill of Chlorpromazine. Stephen felt a great relief, but then the doctor went on, “But I'll prescribe another medication to contain the side effects of Haloperidol that can't be suspended.”
The doctor prescribed Akineton. One pill in the morning, one pill in the night. And Stephen regretted that the doctor didn't suspend any pill of Haloperidol, because he suspected that was the drug that made him consider suicide as a way out. It seemed to be evident that three Haloperidol pills (5mg each) was too much, but the doctors refused to suspend some of it. Haloperidol was the villain. The first days with the new drug Akineton brought hope to Stephen. But soon he realized that there was no difference at all. And he was determined to refuse that, even if he had to kill himself to escape that torturing drug. Then he waited for the appointment with the doctor at the Herculano Pinheiro Hospital. When the day of the appointment came he got know doctor S.A. She made some changes in his medication that really made him feel better. Here comes the sun!...
"HAS ALL MY LIFE BEEN FULL MADNESS?"
When Stephen recalled the first key memories he concluded that in his psychiatric seizure deep inside he knew what he was doing. He knew he had gone to extremes, but he knew there was a reason. He was motivated by his indignation and revolt before the murder of his dearest friend Carmelin. He knew he was revolted against the creator, God and all heavenly creatures for having taken her away. He was revolted against the coward police and the coward criminal that had directly or indirectly caused her death.
And after the seizure Stephen knew that, for those reasons, he WOULD HAVE DONE THOSE CRAZY THINGS ALL OVER AGAIN, for the crazy things he had done were according to his way of life, all those crazy things were according to his personal resolution and even doped by psychiatric drugs there was nothing that could make him think that he wouldn't have done all that over again before all that injustice.
And more, when the first days of his release went out he couldn't help thinking that he really knew a great deal about linguistics and stuff, but he was aware that was a symptom of his madness and he should try to control that. But that was clearly there. He was convinced that he knew all those subjects and very well! That was megalomania, mental illness. But that was what he had been all of his life. Dear Lord. He had to face the facts. He would have done everything he did in his psychiatric seizure all over again. The megalomania was inside of him. The same megalomania he felt all his life before the psychiatric seizure. Then he wondered, "HAS ALL MY LIFE BEEN FULL MADNESS?"
Later on he met his first female psychiatrist, doctor S.A.B. And she said, "Take your medication right. It will keep your thoughts in order." He looked at her inquisitively and tried to hide the mixture of irony and surprise that he felt while he thought, "Is she saying that the drugs control my thoughts? Is this magic?" In other occasion doctor S.A.B., said, "Your medication will be thus. If you relapse I will raise it."
Stephen looked at her and asked, "What is a relapse at all?"
She looked back at him with a trifle of hesitation, "Well, it's when you do something strange." Stephen's life had been anything but common. He worked out and ran unusual distances. He ran from the neighborhood Guadalupe to Meyer very often (about three times a week). Seldom he ran from Guadalupe to the Center of Rio (Central), passing through many neighborhoods such as Deodoro, Madureira, Cascadura, Triagem, Sao Cristovao, etc. and now, after the seizure, what if he runs in the streets like that? Would they put him away?
"What is considered strange to medicine?"
"What you did in your seizure for instance. Anything out of the ordinary is madness. If you take your clothes off in the middle of the street you're mad." She raised an eyebrow and moved her hand dramatically to emphasize. "If you think you're god you're mad."
"In my madness I started to say 'I love you' to everyone. To say 'I love you' is madness?", questioned Stephen.
Somewhat irritated the doctor replied, "In excess, it is."
And Stephen kept his questions. "But if a person takes his or her clothes off couldn't he or she be a show-off trying to get attention, instead of simply mad or mentally ill?"
The good-natured doctor was losing her patience over those questions...
SEEKING FOR ORIENTATION AND GUIDANCE
Out of the psychiatric center Stephen was feeling very guilty. In the psychiatric center the nurses screamed at him all the time as if he had done something horrible. The women who worked there had asked to him and to other patients, "What have you done to be here in the hospital?"
The inpatients stated their cases as if they were telling their misdeeds.
"I beat my mother."
"I broke down my own house..."
And the professionals of the psychiatric center never said, "What happened to you? What caused your hospitalization?"
They always asked, "What have you done?"
Then Stephen had done things that weren't correct and he was hospitalized because of that. Because of his dangerous irresponsibility. Although he could hardly remember what had happened in the seizure, he questioned his family about it every now and then. When he saw the broken glass and the house more memories came. And when his brother Hezekiah told his version of the story memories came much clearer. And he even noticed that his brother didn't mention the sexual part. His brother Hezekiah didn't tell about the moment in which Stephen rubbed himself against Hezekiah's body, moaning sensually. Probably Hezekiah omitted out of shyness. Stephen had to push him even to tell about the kiss attempt.
When his sister told him that his bite was so violent that had left marks on the neck of his brother Hezekiah that had stayed there for days Stephen knew that was exaggeration since he could remember the feelings involved and his memories told him clearly that was a lovebite, something bizarre, but sexual, meant no harm, but some bizarre sexual achievement. If there were marks that was casual.When Stephen questioned about the violent, aggressive procedure of the people that brought him to the hospital Hezekiah said, "For your own safety you had to be tied down. You were very violent." But his brother contradicted himself when he said that the firemen talked to Stephen sometime before tying him down and he said that Stephen was sitting in the sofa, reading and he talked to the firemen. (and didn't try to attack them!!) It was evident that he wasn't so harmful and aggressive as they had cooked up.
Stephen could remember clearly the punches he gave on his brother. Clearly he meant no harm, clearly he wanted to surprise his brother, instead. (Moreover Stephen was a martial artist and his punches would surely lame or kill his brother if he meant any harm) Evidently Hezekiah preferred to emphasize on the aggressiveness and harmfulness of Stephen and he avoided mentioning the sexual facts of the case. Stephen could see that Hezekiah was exaggerating the aggressiveness and hiding the bizarre sexual facts. Stephen could remember some things clearly, but there were many other things he couldn't remember at all. So he wondered at why Hezekiah was omitting things. Were there worse things Stephen had done to other people that he couldn't recall? If there were maybe he would never know since he could clearly see that Hezekiah and his brother-in-law were omitting things he remembered. What about things he couldn't remember?
Surely Stephen talked to his family because he could never talk to the professionals of the hospital. The nurses were always shouting at the patients. The psychiatrist seldom talked to any patient and seemed to be so indifferent that the patient would rather talk to himself. And the trainees and psychologists counselled and questioned the patients and gave advices, but they never answered their questions and they talked so much that they rarely let the patients talk.
MISCONCEPTION AND DISCRIMINATION IN THE PSYCHIATRIC RECOVERY
In the beginning of his psychiatric treatment Stephen was so engaged in it that he asked his family to always remind him of the medication and to take him to doctor S.A if there was some symptom. In short, to prevent relapse, for his family said he was aggressive in his seizure and he was afraid of being so violent as to kill someone. But, as time went by, he noticed some things that resembled misconception instead of care. His sister said, "It's funny... some mentally ill people aren't so aggressive as Stephen. Some mentally ill people don't beat, don't attack. Uncle Cry-baby was calm in his madness. People who underwent or had undergone psychiatric treatment were biased against other people who underwent psychiatric treatment!
Offensive jokes about about mentally ill people were very common. When someone did something foolish it was said, "Have you taken your medication?", in an insulting allusion to the psychiatric drugs. Gay people complained about offensive jokes on the gay community. Black people abhorred offensive jokes on black people. But mentally diseased people didn't complain about jokes on mentally ill people, because they always hid that they underwent psychiatric treatment. Then instead of protesting against the offensive jokes, they laughed, too, so that nobody suspected about their own mental diseases.
Evidently his own relatives looked at him suspiciously when he left the Psychiatric Center, since they didn't know what to expect from Stephen. Doctor Jaderson should have talked to his family about him, but he didn't know anything about his patients himself! The doctor seldom got close to his patients, he scarcely talked to his patients. How would he get to know them? By miracle? The patient John the Baptist knocked on the doctor's office like one knocks on Heaven's doors!
"Doctor! Doctor! Talk to me!",cried John the Baptist.
The doctor didn't. But the nurses did. The nurses did reproach John the Baptist. Reproach never lacked the patients.
When doctor S.A. from Maternity Ward Herculano Pinheiro said that the medication would order Stephen's thoughts he was faced with two horrible possibilities. To order the thoughts the medication should be magic, witchcraft, for thoughts are part of a person's personality. For a psychiatric drug to have the power to order them up it's got to be magic, because what can change thoughts, can distort the free will.. The other possibility was that all that drugs could do was make people heavy and tired and doctor S.A. avoided the subject. That's what was bugging Stephen.
ELVIS' DOUBLE
After one month or so enclosed in the mental hospital named Santa Edwiges Stephen was discharged, but hospitalized again in the same day after a serious relapse! He was taken again to the emergency of the Psychiatric Center D. Pedro II. At that time Stephen was very confused. Soon a certain inpatient was put in charge of Stephen to guide him through the corridors, stairs, elevators and buildings of the Psychiatric Center. Actually that inpatient was leading him to the wing in which he would spend his second hospitalization in the Psychiatric Center D. Pedro II. Now in a different wing.
The friendly inmate led Stephen to the elevator that took them to the floor in which was the wing where Stephen would be kept. The guy was very hairy, with long hair, hair on the chest and a flabby belly. That guy reminded Stephen of Elvis Presley in the last days of his life.
Suddenly the guy said, "But I already knew you. You were hospitalized in Sepetiba with me, remember?"
Stephen Strained to remember and finally concluded, doubtfully, "I think I remember. You were hospitalized with me in Santa Edwiges (a mental hospital in the neighborhood Sepetiba). But you disappeared from that hospital suddenly...", said Stephen thoughtfully.
"I ran away from that shit! At night I jumped over the wall and ran away through the beach." Said he excited with his own adventure. "But when I got home my family hospitalized me here again right away." Concluded he.
"Now I remember. You're the guy that told the other fellow there to be a man and stop letting guys fuck him in the ass." Remembered Stephen.
That Elvis' double and Stephen became great friends. Stephen noticed some peculiarities in his hairy friend. At that time Stephen was very drowsy because of the medication and could hardly eat. But his friend was very active and ate with great appetite and took much, much more medication than Stephen! Once Stephen and other inmates (namely Muquico, Leandro and Leonardo) were in one of those contests of vanity. Each one of them was trying to prove that he did more push-ups than the others and therefore was the toughest. No one of them could do more than twenty. Stephen knew that usually he did thirty, but, apparently the medication made him physically weaker, something really weird. When the Elvis's double saw that he exclaimed, "You buncha losers! I can do twice as much as you can!"
The Elvis'double was in his forties, and Stephen and the other guys were all much younger. Stephen was twenty-four. Muquico, Leandro and Leonardo were all aged from twenty to twenty-three. When they heard what the Elvis' double said they all laughed in contempt and disbelief and they called him bluff. But the Elvis' double lay on the floor on his front and did one, two, three..., ten..., twenty..., thirty..., forty push-ups! Everyone gaped in amazement! The Elvis double had done forty push-ups with great ease! And he walked away with contempt and still teasing everyone.
"Buncha losers! Pushovers!
"Your belly is a liar."That's what Stephen told his dear friend, with a smile.
"why do you say so?" Asked the Elvis double chuckling.
"Because your belly is giant, but you can do more push-ups than any one of us. (Stephen thought that the belly was supposed to hinder it, but he was wrong) I'd never believe that someone with such a big belly could have such a great performance. Your belly fooled me completely." Concluded Stephen.
But stephen observed that that friend of his was really a compulsive liar. First he told Stephen that he was an English teacher. Then he told Stephen that it was his brother that was an English teacher. but his friend was really surprising. Once Stephen asked him about the pronunciation of the name "Lisa".
"Is it Lee-zah or Lie-zah?" Asked Stephen.
"It depends," his friend answered pausingly and thoughtfully, "Just think of the English name Elisabeth. When it's with an 's' the pronunciation is Lee-zah. Remember the name E-li-sa-beth, which is written with an 's' too. But when it's with a 'z' the pronunciation is Lie-zah. In this case remember the name Liza (Minnelli), which is written with a 'z' and is pronounced Lie-zah. Just bear those things in mind and you'll have no problem."
that was the best explanation Stephen had ever heard.
The Elvis double was a compulsive liar, but was sincere at heart. And Stephen trusted in him on account of that.
Stephen asked once, "Tell me when I have bad breath, so that I can brush my teeth, all right?"
His friend was always there, always faithful, telling him what others wouldn't tell.
HOTTIE!
Many beautiful women passed through that wing of the Psychiatric Center, but no one called Stephen's attention more than that dark-skinned girl. She was a social worker and she was unique. She was the only one. When she passed along she left a luxury, hypnotic, delicious smell. Every now and then he said to her, "you're so beautiful today."The snub-nosed girl thanked quietly. He couldn't resist her, and bowed every time she passed along. He coudn't help trying to talk to her. Once he thought that maybe he had pushed a bit too much and went into her office in order to excuse himself. But that girl was very impatient and fidgety when he was around, and she cried with irritation, "Get out! Get out of here!" And he obeyed. He wanted to provoke that beauty, but never distress her...
Stephen always called her a "little girl". One day one of the male nurses asked Stephen, "How old are you?"
"I'm twenty-four.", answered Stephen.
"I think that's her age too. I think you shouldn't call her a 'little girl' since she's as old as you."
Stephen Thought that maybe the male nurse was right and the girl took offense when she heard him call her that way. But in his mind he meant no offense. He called her that way because she was a little beauty, irresistible...
But one day came there a certain psychologist that changed the whole story. She was extremely beautiful and sexy. When she passed by Stephen the first time Stephen couldn't help crying out loud, "Hottie! Wonderful lady! Hottie! Cutey!"
The lady psychologist passed along proudly and when Stephen was trying to remember other names to praise that beautiful lady one of the nurses grabbed his arm and said threatening, "You can't say that! You gotta respect people!"
The guy was so emphatic that Stephen was compelled to excuse himself. But deep inside he thought that nurse was jealous...
One day that psychologist approached him to talk. Stephen was a bit uncomfortable, nervous and embarrassed, for he had seen that that psychologist was a tough lady, and she really demanded respect.
"My name is doctor Lucyanne!" She had said to one of the inpatients that addressed her improperly. But she was kind to Stephen.
"One day we'll have a talk." Said she. Stephen waited eagerly for that talk that never came, for soon he was discharged from the hospital.
PERFECT MEN
Well before Stephen's psychiatric seizure people already called him crazy. They emphatically said he was crazy when he forgot something out of distraction. They said he was crazy when he heatedly protested against something.
"You're too nervous!Go take your medication!"
But he didn't take any medication at the time! What would the medication do to him? Would it cure his distraction? Would it make him mild and resigned like a lamb? When he lost his mind he became savage, like an animal. ("Id" is how Freud called our primitive animal nature. The Id's got socially reprehensible tendencies. it's savage! The "Superego" is the contrary, the opposite of the "Id". The Superego keeps the moral ideas. Then there's a big fight between the Id and the Superego. And there's the "Ego". The Ego is the balance, the reason, it is our rational self which tries to resolve the fight between the savage Id and the moralist Superego. And when the Ego can't resolve this conflict the person becomes mentally ill!)
When Stephen complained about medication and the way the nurses treated diseased people in the mental hospitals his brother Hezekiah said, "Now it's better, much better. In the past mentally ill people were put to death." (Yes, indeed. Mentally ill people were put to the death and the first doctor who protested against was the Greek Hippocrates, who lived and died before the Christian Era (born in the 460 b.c) Many, many centuries later another doctor showed initiative against maltreatment. This time it was Philippe Pinel who, during, the French Revolution, removed the chains from the patients of a Paris hospital called Bicetre. People called that "Pinel's Humane Attitude".
Definition of "humane", accordingly to the dictionaries: Having what are considered the best qualities of mankind; kind, tender, merciful, etc.Definition of its opposite, "savage": pertaining to the forest (such as wild animals); remote from human improvements. Uncultivated, untamed, fierce; cruel, pitiless; inhuman; brutal.In short, human and humane are manlike. Savage is animalish, animality. The Ego's got the humane characteristics. The id's got the animal characteristics. When a man is sane the Ego predominates! And when a man is insane the Id predominates!
When a man is mad he's like a wild animal, savage! The Id is the animal inside the man. The madness! The Ego is the controlled man, the merciful man. The perfect man. The Ego is the control inside the man, the perfect moral. For too much moral is madness too. And the Superego is too moralist. Religion is moralist. This litany is for you to understand why people are sent to nuthouses.
Stephen couldn't help seeing the sheer hypocrisy of the treatment of mental diseases. When his brother said, "Now it's better. Much better.", he didn't know the whole story. Or maybe he didn't want to know. In his madness Stephen was like a wild animal and, therefore he was tied down and put away. A perfect man called other perfect men to tie him down. Him, the wild man, wild as an animal. But the wild animals don't kill their own species. They only kill for food. Or to protect their offspring. And most importantly, wild animals don't premeditate to kill.
But the perfect men are above all things. They create death penalties to kill other men, they create perfect laws to kill and imprison other men. When perfect men kill they do it to protect the good. But if the enemies of the perfect men kill they are animals. Whoever don't follow the perfect laws go to jail, but the perfect men created mental diseases to explain the wild diseases of the criminal men. A perfect man wouldn't kill without good reason. So they defined some outlaw murderers as paranoiacs. Hitler was a paranoiac, said the perfect men. Serial killers were considered psychopaths (now it's sociopath, the new term). In short, paranoiacs and sociopaths are mentally diseased, but they keep control in their disease. They feel pleasure and relief in the evil and their views are distorted, say the perfect men. They have delusions of grandeur and delusions of persecution, too. They need mental treatment (that's what the perfect men say, thought Stephen).
THE SCHIZOPHRENIC
The psychiatrists had never talked about diagnosis to Stephen. As a matter of fact they scarcely talked, with the exception of doctor S.A.B. . They barely got close to their patients. Stephen read about psychiatry, but he didn't know about his own diagnosis. He only got to know that he was schizophrenic when he asked for a certificate to doctor M.T in order to get a bus pass. When he finally saw his diagnosis on the certificate he felt alleviated and happy to know the truth.
"So I'm schizophrenic", asked Stephen excitedly.
The psychiatrist was disconcerted, "Well, I had to put this in the diagnosis for you to get the bus pass, but it doesn't mean anything."
Stephen was happy to know a bit more about his so-called disease. But when he talked about it to his brother Hezekiah, Hezekiah said, "Of course you're not schizophrenic. I mean, you yourself said once that schizophrenia is a generic name for many mental diseases."
Stephen could see that they found schizophrenia terrible and they tried to excuse themselves and reassure Stephen, because they thought that worried him. It's schizophrenia. A disease. A diagnosis. What's the problem? Contrarily to what they thought Stephen was happy to know that he was schizophrenic.
A few days later doctor M. talked to another man. He called Stephen and introduced, "Stephen, this is doctor N.S. He'll be taking over and will be your new doctor, 'cause I'm leaving this service. Doctor N., Stephen is very bright. He speaks many languages, draws comic strips to the paper of the Psychosocial Center of Attention..."
Doctor N. asked, "Parla italiano?"
"Un poco.", answered Stephen, awkwardly.
PARANOIA ABOUT PARANOIA
And as time went by Stephen studied psychiatry, more and more. And he couldn't help seeing a certain mental disease that he undoubtedly related to. The symptoms and complications of that disease were almost a description of him. When he read in an old encyclopedia by Schifferes the description of that mental disease he felt as if they were describing him. It read, "Paranoia is very much like schizophrenia, if not a form of it. The victim imagines that other people are out to kill, poison, or otherwise persecute him. Or he may believe that he is God, Napoleon, or Christ. Paranoia is less common than schizophrenia (...), the victim suffers from delusions and hallucinations. Adolf Hitler was a paranoid."
that was clearly depicting the way Stephen felt in his psychiatric seizures! Though he felt a little angry, ashamed, and hurt, there was no that he acted and thought like a paranoid in his psychiatric seizures. In his psychiatric seizures he didn't imagine that people were out to kill just because in his delusions of grandeur he was never afraid of death and he thought he was too tough. But in his second great seizure he was afraid of taking psychiatric drugs, because he feared that it could poison his mind and make the witch doctors control him.
He thought that the doctors were sorcerers who wanted him to be a slave, and they wanted to control him. Completely. He didn't really think he was god, but someone very powerful and bright. In the seizures he said that he was god because people wanted to believe in someone incredible to do things to their lives. And Stephen simply took advantage of it!... But he really believed that he had incredible, unusual brains, that could be useful to mankind. Sheer paranoia, undoubtedly.
Fascinated at his discovery he mentioned it to his brother Hezekiah who said, "You yourself said that schizophrenia is a generic term for many mental diseases. Surely you're not paranoid.", said he, trying to console, but ignoring that he was unconsciously showing disgust and contempt towards paranoids, and even to schizophrenics. Otherwise why would he try so hard to convince Stephen that he wasn't schizophrenic, nor paranoid? What was he, after all? Wouldn't Stephen be a nice guy if he was paranoid? Stephen thought paranoia was a disease that could affect anyone. And this time paranoia had affected Stephen. What's so wrong about it?
THE GREATEST COWARD
Stephen could hardly be a psychopath just because he couldn't remember some things from his psychiatric seizure. That was a temporary loss of control which psychopaths didn't suffer. Psychopaths had more self-control than paranoids and schizophrenics were considered to have no control at all. Though Stephen's mind remained logical in his psychiatric seizure he clearly gave way to too much enthusiasm and euphoria. Contrarily the psychopaths controlled their emotions remarkably well.
Anyway Stephen could be greatly perilous to society if he wasn't given the correct treatment with the correct medication. And sure as hell he was wrongly diagnosed. Stephen knew about his own intelligence, but he wasn't proud of it. He knew it was there, but it was controversial, for he was never interested in showing his intelligence to get any advantages in life, because he believed it was purposeless. And his intelligence couldn't make up for his love of pleasure and easiness. He wouldn't make any effort, unless it gave instantaneous pleasure and satisfaction and kept him away from unnecessary trouble. In short, he would avoid tedious math and trying subjects. He himself was the laziest person he ever knew.
He had trouble following tedious subjects, controversially he quickly noticed and understood complicated matters if there was challenge. And he did it much faster than teachers, professors and doctors, but only when there was some exciting, puzzling detail. In such occasions he was even despisable towards masters and doctors who he considered slow on the uptake. And he had a terrible characteristic. he himself had always been, by far, the most coward he could have seen. In his childhood he ran from younger boys, crying. In his teenage days he ran from Judas dummies(a traditional dummy that people make in a period of the year, representing the traitor Judas from the bible). Such as a chicken that he started learning martial arts because he was afraid of being beaten. And his intelligence told him that martial arts would be a fair advantage. So coward as to use the martial arts on people who didn't know how to fight(in his teenage days).
PSYCHOPATH, SOCIOPATH... OR SIMPLY PATHOS?
Stephen noticed something even more scary about his self-diagnosis. The delusions of grandeur that he felt in his moments of psychiatric seizure persisted in the lucid moments. In the psychiatric seizure he thought he had a remarkable mind. Surely that was a delusion of grandeur, but the same thought continued in his moments of lucidity. Then he came to the conclusion that his mind was twisted, so damaged that medication couldn't help it much.
Moreover, in his memories of the psychiatric seizure he could remember his thoughts clearly. He could remember that he had a powerful intelligence, an incredible intelligence, which was trying the nature. But that wasn't against his nature. He remembered what he did in the seizure and he concluded that he was too bold, but logical and reasonable. He was despisable towards people and filled with enthusiasm because of his discoveries, which after the psychiatric seizures he concluded, that were really very profitable and impressive and mathematically correct.
Well, that was really frightening. He felt that his mind was really something, and could prove it mathematically and logically. He knew that people considered what he had said nonsense, but he remembered that there was sense in it. And the very intelligent mind of his could clearly see that technically his mind might be sick, distorted. But what about some things he couldn't remember from the seizures? What about what Hezekiah said about his being aggressive? Maybe he couldn't remember exactly those moments in which he was dangerously aggressive and out of control. So out of control as to forget...
Stephen knew that when he felt that his mind was too incredible it was a delusion of grandeur. He couldn't disguise the feeling, but he could face the truth. Anyway he knew that mathematically his mind was really amazing, so amazing that it could be dangerous if his disease controlled him. Specially because he knew that his mind remained logical and intelligent in the middle of madness, therefore dangerous...
And he had to face another possibility. From the papers he wrote in his madness, Stephen could know for sure that he was aware of what he did in his psychiatric seizure. That meant that he got lost in delusions of grandeur in his madness and, in those moments, could kill people. Like a psychopath (now the term for it is sociopath). A psychopath was believed to be intelligent, just like Stephen. The psychopaths were considered unable to tell the right from the wrong. Just like Stephen, who thought that everyone was alike and no one deserved punishment, but education for correction, and that sex should be free and was to no blame. Then why discard the possibility that he himself might be a psychopath?
HOW DO THEY TREAT THE CRIMINALLY INSANE?
Stephen didn't know how they treated people who were diagnosed with paranoia. He didn't know what kind of medication they gave to psychopaths. Were psychopaths kept in jail, always, or they could walk in the streets even when the doctors knew they were psychopaths? Paranoids and psychopaths might have done some thing wrong, but they were human like any other person and deserved fair treatment and the right to a social life.
Stephen knew that maybe he was a psychopath or a paranoid, for surely he had been misdiagnosed. Then he should tell the doctor more about his seizures, provide details to help the doctor give a correct diagnosis. He knew that he avoided talking freely to health professionals before, because he didn't trust them. But he knew he should do it. now or someday he could get completely lost in the delusions and kill people.
However Stephen was afraid of the medication they might prescribe to him depending on the diagnosis. In his first seizure his medication had mentally tortured him, a chemical torture. He didn't want to face that again. What if he was too dangerous to live in society? What if they decided to put him away? That was terrible and he wasn't brave enough to spend a lifetime in a mental hospital! No. That wouldn't happen. He would protest and fight for the right to walk freely and have quality of life. And he had to tell the doctor about his point of view and about his real feelings! Sure there was the risk of facing strong medication or hospitalization, however that would be better than to face the pain of murdering someone in a moment of madness.
THE MIND OF A MENTALLY ILL MAN
It was the month August, the year 2003 in the CAPS (Psychosocial Center of Attention) Rubens Correa. Doctor M.T. had already left the CAPS and doctor N. had come to replace him. Now Stephen had vowed to be more open and frank to the psychiatrists in order to stay away from committing any crime in his seizures. He had greeted the psychiatrist N., who called him to talk. It was late in the afternoon (about 4 PM) and the CAPS was almost empty.
The psychiatrist asked that Stephen talked about his seizures. Stephen proceeded to do just that. He was more open and uninhibited. This time he clearly expressed that in his seizures he felt vigorous, powerful, like a god, and even told the psychiatrist that in his second seizure he went out to the street singing out loud, "I am the God almighty!" (And it was extremely humiliating and shameful for him to admit that he felt like a god, a superior being)
Doctor N. was white, middle height, late thirties, wore glasses. He was more extroverted, less formal and less clerical compared to doctor M.T. But, on the other hand, he spoke in a tone, by far, more careful and milder than doctor M. However doctor N. was much less involved in the activities of the patients of the CAPS than doctor M.T. was.
Stephen explained to doctor N. that he had been in and out of three mental hospitals, in four different environments, many wings... But Stephen said that he had two great seizures, because all the other seizures were consequential, relapses of smaller importance and impact.
"Stephen, I read in your medical file that you took your clothes off in the middle of the street. Why so?", asked doctor N.
"When did I do that? I never took my clothes off in the middle of the streets. Not that I remember...", replied Stephen, really surprised.
"Well, it's here," said doctor N. When the psychiatrist gave some particulars Stephen could finally remember.
"Ah, I see! But I didn't take my clothes off. I just showed off my naked ass.", said Stephen giggling.
"But why?", asked the psychiatrist in a very mild voice.
"You know, it's a kind of protest,", said Stephen amused at himself, "Like the Americans do when they say, 'kiss my ass!'"
"Did you hear voices that told you do those things?", asked the doctor, now with a genuine curiosity.
"No, never.", replied Stephen dryly.
"Stephen, in one of those moments didn't you feel downcast?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Downcast, down in the dumps, disheartened to do things. Hadn't you felt that way in one of your seizures?"
"Ah, I see! No!", Stephen wondered at that weird question and answered, "Never. I've always been very active."
"And how was your sex drive in the periods of the psychiatric seizures?"
Doctor N. asked that question out of a sudden, abruptly, though with a grin that intended to be casual. Of course that surprised Stephen, who hesitated for a moment.
WHAT'S SEX GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Stephen appraised doctor N. puzzled and thought, "What's sex got to do with it? Why is this psychiatrist asking about my sex drive?"
And finally Stephen answered, "It depends. Sometimes it (the sex drive) was very strong."
"Were you very horny in your second great seizure?"
"No. Not exactly. I was really horny in my first great psychiatric seizure."
Then the psychiatrist asked a question that Stephen didn't understand. Therefore doctor N. repeated with more energy, "You touched your cock a lot, didn't you? Touch your cock!", He said that again, "What's the problem with 'cock'? It's natural, man!", said he grinning and trying to sound casual, but showing a little nervousness.
"Of course I did. I don't see any problem in it."
Stephen noticed that he tried to sound natural and unsophisticated, but his words were completely strange. No man said, 'Touch the cock", men usually said, "Jerk off, "Jack off" or "Wank". That's what common people said.
Stephen noticed something in the questions of the psychiatrist N. He asked about sex when there was no need. But Stephen noticed that he always asked looking for extremes.
"Was your sex drive strong in such occasion? And in the other occasion? Was it weaker?"
He wanted to know whether Stephen felt down in the dumps, especially when Stephen said that in the seizures he felt in the peak of excitement, like a mighty god. Stephen talked about his euphoria and never about depression, because that was the way he felt. But Stephen noticed clearly that the psychiatrist had already set his mind that he had depression and wanted to give him that diagnosis, no matter how. Stephen knew that the medication for it was Lithium. Stephen had said to the psychiatrist that he remembered the most important things from the psychiatric seizures. But the psychiatrist asked strange questions involved in too many details that Stephen admitted that he couldn't answer, since he had vowed to be frank. Then the psychiatrist took advantage of it to come up with a reason to call the family.
"Stephen, you don't remember," said he smirking, "Therefore I'll have to call one of your relatives.", said the clever psychiatrist, still trying to sound liberal, but the liberal mask of the psychiatrist had dropped. He would call the family because he didn't believe a mentally ill patient. Stephen always said that the doctors didn't take the psychiatric patients seriously and never let them talk, therefore the psychiatrist N. tried to sound liberal and modern. But only what the family said was taken into account. The psychiatrist was disappointed because what Stephen said didn't fit in his puzzle. Stephen realized that from the first time the psychiatrist saw Stephen he couldn't believe Stephen was a schizophrenic.
"Call that brother of yours or your mother.", said the psychiatrist. That had confirmed to Stephen that their diagnosis were based on misjudgments and that what the patients said didn't matter to them.
"Maybe we'll have to change your medication," concluded doctor N., always trying look liberal.
Stephen and his mother went to talk to doctor N. , who received them in the administration office of the Psychosocial Center of Attention (CAPS). She told that she didn't see the first great psychiatric seizure, but she had witnessed Stephen's worst seizure, according to her. Apparently the doctor wanted to cross-examine in order to find out if Stephen had said something wrong, lied, or omitted something from his own history, which, by the the way, he had volunteered to tell. Just like a second-hand detective, thought Stephen.
Doctor N. said all over again the questions he had asked Stephen a couple of days ago as if he had never asked them to him before. Always like a second-hand detective and always disregarding what Stephen said.
"Has Stephen ever been low, sad, unwilling to do things?"
The mother looked at Stephen and said, "Well, not exactly. But sometimes he didn't go to work and stayed in bed till late."
Respectfully she asked for Stephen's confirmation, "Isn't that right Stephen?"
Stephen nodded in agreement, but protested, "But it was laziness and not depression!"
Moreover Stephen thought and considered that a job that he didn't like, for in his opinion it was involved in corruption.
The psychiatrist's attention was drawn by the moment Stephen had been released from the Casa de Repouso Santa Edwiges, the mental hospital where Stephen had been put after his second great seizure. He was released and suffered another seizure in the same day. He asked more and more from Stephen's mother in order to get more particulars about that terrifying seizure.
"I think that was his worst seizure.", said Stephen's mother.
Swiftly the psychiatrist asked about the moment in which Stephen took his clothes off in the middle of the street (to show off his ass). Doctor N. wanted to know what Stephen said in that moment. Apparently he wasn't satisfied when Stephen's mother said, "said silly things, garbage. He teased everybody."
"Did he speak of sex?", pushed the psychiatrist.
"Yes," answered Stephen's mother nervously, embarrassed.
Then the psychiatrist asked something that Stephen found inconvenient and irrelevant, "Sex with men or women?"
"Well, women." Answered his mother reluctant, sweating cold. Finally under the pressure of the psychiatrist she admitted, "Women and men too." the psychiatrist clearly rejoiced at it, but Stephen was surprised, for he couldn't remind of any man he wanted to have sex with.
After those unpleasant questions, Stephen's mother told the psychiatrist that she couldn't answer anymore, for she was sick, suffering from high-blood pressure. Therefore she was referred to the infirmary. Then doctor N. told them to call the brother Hezekiah to make his statement, to complete the statement. And finally she went home.
DREADFUL MEMORIES (FREUD EXPLAINS)
At home, in the neighborhood Pavuna, Stephen questioned his mother in order to know more about that seizure. After all, he wanted to know more about what he said when he was released from his second hospitalization and relapsed in the same day. If he had spoken about sex with some man he would like to know what man was that. He had no idea, for he had never wanted to have sexual intercourse with men.
When Stephen returned from changing clothes he found his mother and his brother Hezekiah talking and she was desperate, nervous, because of the questions Doctor N. had asked her.
Heatedly Hezekiah said, "A doctor can't ask such questions! He can't!"
That clearly showed that Hezekiah had omitted many things that he thought that a doctor "can't ask" in his previous statements to other physicians...
Their mother was desperate because of the pressure Stephen made to know more about the seizure.
"He says he remembers things, but he wants to know more about it." Said their mother.
"Like hell he remembers!", said Hezekiah, who didn't know that Stephen was close by and hearing what he was saying, which clearly showed that Hezekiah was concealing many things, and evidently didn't want Stephen to know more about the seizures. For fear, maybe? Fear of what?
Stephen could clearly see that Hezekiah clang to the hope that Stephen didn't remember. And their mother trembled at the memories. Hezekiah went to the fridge to get some drink and Stephen kept on pressing his mother for more details about that seizure. His mother said, "All right! I'm gonna tell you and Hezekiah exactly what you said in that seizure!"
Stephen wondered she wanted to tell his brother Hezekiah, who had nothing to do with it.
When Hezekiah came back their mother told them about Stephen's psychiatric seizure, "I'll tell you what you said, Stephen. Your pants were down and you put your hands there, doing this...", said she, trying to mimic the moment when Stephen diddled his asshole in a bizarre masturbation. Stephen remembered clearly. Hezekiah was shocked, but Stephen giggled and whistled with relief, for he hadn't spoken of sex with any man, as his mother had suggested to doctor N., but but he spoke of sex with his own brother. It was no surprise for him. It was nothing serious, thought Stephen. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Stephen had read Freudian texts and he knew for sure why he had acted like that. When he was a child (about ten years of age) he was a naive Christian boy who didn't know anything about sex. His older brothers, Zacchaeus and hezekiah, told him that sex was common and that everyone did it and that it was clever to do it, and they got to screw him. On account of that on his first great psychiatric seizure he rubbed his ass against his brother Hezekiah with sensuality. (Which Hezekiah never mentioned. In spite of Stephen's questioning, he wanted to omit that forever) Because of that his mother had to see his bizarre anal masturbation. All that was sequel of what had happened to him in his childhood.
As Stephen spoke about the talk he and his mother had had with doctor N. he told Hezekiah about his suspicions, "The doctor wants to put me on Lithium. It's evident from what he asked. The doctor earnestly believes that I have been depressive, but to the best of my recollection I've never been down in the dumps in my life. Quite the contrary. I've always been very active."
At that time Hezekiah agreed with Stephen. Stephen thought that the medication was all right, fine. There shouldn't be any change, for it might do more harm than good.
THE BIGWIG AND THE MADMAN
Again at the Psychosocial Center of Attention, doctor N. led Hezekiah and Stephen up the stairs to the garden in the open. The psychiatrist repeated that he had called Hezekiah because Stephen couldn't remember some things, like the psychiatrist had used as a pretext. Stephen noticed that the psychiatrist didn't ask questions related to sex to Hezekiah. Stephen wondered why. Maybe doctor N. had asked those cruel questions to Stephen's mother just because it's more convenient and easy to ask them to an old lady and to a mentally diseased fellow than to a young man presumably normal.
Then a strange talk between the psychiatrist and Hezekiah began. Doctor N. asked questions about the second great seizure and Hezekiah answered based on the first great seizure, which was the only one of Stephen's psychiatric seizures which Hezekiah had witnessed. Stephen disguised his amusement before such ridiculous confusion!
When the psychiatrist clearly asked about the second psychiatric seizure, asking about particulars that he had heard from Stephen's mother Hezekiah finally admitted that he wasn't there and said, "In that seizure of his it was my brother-in-law who was at home and held and controlled Stephen...", said Hezekiah with Hesitation, but trying to look confident, acting as if Stephen wasn't there. Like a confident bigwig he acted as if Stephen couldn't help in his statement. Trying to seem important before Stephen, even if unconsciously. Stephen knew that Hezekiah wanted to believe that Stephen couldn't remember. Stephen was surprised. The statement was completely wrong, but Hezekiah wouldn't ask anything to Stephen! Stephen knew that the brother-in-law was away from that seizure, maybe hiding under some bed! Almost all of Hezekiah's answers were mechanical, but always trying to hide the hesitation of one who didn't know the answers for sure, but refused to admit it, and therefore answered wrongly. And specially because he would never ask anything to Stephen, who (he thought) couldn't remember anything. Never.
The psychiatrist asked about the seizures always trying to find some indication of depression there. Once Hezekiah said, "In his seizures he says things that aren't real and I think he knows they aren't real."
"How does he know? Does he read thoughts? Is he god?", thought Stephen. Though Hezekiah wouldn't ask anything to Stephen.
The psychiatrist asked his favorite question, "have you sometimes seen Stephen unwilling to do the things?"
Hezekiah hesitated and almost said "no", but doctor N. knew how to push and Hezekiah finally said "yes" in his usual mechanical way. Stephen protested saying that all the sadness he had felt in his life was normal, for everyone feels sadness and gladness. At his protests the psychiatrist threatened, "If you interrupt once more I'll have to ask you to go down."
The madman would go down.
THE MANIPULATOR, THE FOOL AND THE VERMIN
The psychiatrist went on with his questioning. Stephen could see that he was always trying to find some sign that proved that Stephen was depressive.
"Can you say if in the moments of psychiatric seizure Stephen sat alone unwilling to talk to people?
"Yes.", answered Hezekiah, always like a puppet.
Sure as hell that was an irrelevant question, a dubious question, for, maybe Stephen sat to rest after a great agitation and didn't want to be disturbed while he relaxed. But Hezekiah was easily influenced. Hezekiah must have forgotten that he himself had told Stephen that sometimes he sat to read in his seizure (he didn't like to be interrupted in his reading, what's wrong with it?)
The only time Hezekiah answered without hesitation was when the psychiatrist asked, "Was he aggressive?"
"Yes.", answered he, as if that was the most important answer. All the answers of Hezekiah's pleased doctor N. greatly, for they were short and without the slightest argument. Contrarily to Stephen's "roundabout way", like to the psychiatrist used to say.
"What's your level of education?"
"I have completed high school.", answered Hezekiah.
"Well, that's good enough. Then you'll understand my question with ease.", said doctor N., "You have studied the Cartesian co-ordinates, haven't you?", the psychiatrist asked again.
"Oh, yes", answered Hezekiah, always like a robot.
"Ah, fine", went on the psychiatrist. He got to draw the Cartesian co-ordinates, which symbolized the phases of Stephen's life. After the psychiatrist's explanations and illustrations he said, "This question is very important. Your answer is essential, Hezekiah. Please, pay attention."
Doctor N. gave a brief explanation of the symptoms concerned. In his explanations he always tried to apply words which he believed that were simpler than the technical words. In order to explain about euphoria and melancholy (the two extremes, euphoria means elation and melancholy is its opposite) he tried to find ordinary words, but it only made things worse. He tried to explain that in some periods of the life of some people they are too sad, or too glad. Then he finally asked, "Before, well before Stephen had his seizures, since he was a little boy up to his first psychiatric seizure, can you say if Stephen's been too moody, or too sad in his life?"
Another pointless question, Stephen thought. Everybody's been moody sometimes in their lives. And Stephen was terrified. Was he trying to prove that Stephen had always been mentally ill? And that he could never be normal?
That was a question that Stephen should answer, but he wasn't allowed to speak. The psychiatrist had forbidden him of saying anything. Stephen would simply say that, besides the common moods, it was quite the contrary. He had always been stone-hearted. It was his life, but he wasn't permitted to answer. His brother Hezekiah answered, automatically, as he had always, "Yes", as if he was ashamed of saying that he couldn't answer, for he wasn't sure.
The psychiatrist was elated by that answer.
"Ah, you gonna take Lithium all right!"
This way doctor N. imposed the new diagnosis.Later he explained, "The drug that Stephen was taking (Risperidona) wasn't exactly wrong, but it's a palliative only, whereas Lithium is the right medication for it. It's the specific medication for it.", said he with enthusiasm. Then he explained that he had noticed that Stephen's first great psychiatric seizure had been in 1999 and his second great psychiatric seizure had been in 2001, and the current year was 2003.
"I had noticed that it took two years from the first to the second seizure. That's how it happens in his case! And if the seizures happen every two years Stephen might have another seizure exactly this year! But fortunately, now he'll take the right medication! Sometimes the seizures happen every two years, sometimes every three years, and so on. But with the right medication (Lithium). The interval between the seizures will be longer, and maybe there be no more seizure!", finished the doctor, with great enthusiasm.
When the interview was over doctor N. asked, "Is there anything wrong with what your brother said?"
"It's chronologically wrong.", said Stephen, referring to the lack of sense in what Hezekiah said, the order of the events, things that had never happened and that Hezekiah said that happened(when he said their brother-in-law had held Stephen in the second seizure, for example, which didn't happen), and the dates were all wrong.
"What's wrong? Let's check."
He repeated some of the questions, "Hezekiah, after how many days without sleep that Stephen suffered his psychiatric seizures?"
"Three days.", answered Hezekiah, always monosyllabic. The psychiatrist repeated the same question to Stephen, who repeated the same answer. The clever doctor only asked questions that he knew wouldn't compromise his diagnosis, and avoided questions that could raise doubts and controversies.
"You see? It's correct. There's nothing wrong with it."
Evidently Hezekiah knew that it was three days, because Stephen had told him about it many times, for usually Hezekiah never witnessed the beginning of the seizures, for he was always in some place else, maybe in some party, drinking and smoking. In that period he usually got home in the small hours. He was always lost in the booze and wouldn't care for such trifles.
MISCONCEPTION AND REPRESSION=MISDIAGNOSIS
Some patients of that psychiatrist underwent radical changes. Their seizures got worse and some patients that were under control before suffered really serious seizures. One of them, a beautiful lady, got lost in madness up to the present day, what ruined her beauty. Another man in his early forties complained about depressive effects (which Stephen assumed that were caused by too much Haloperidol, for he had experienced the same when he took Haloperidol first). Then man got another disease which led him to serious hospitalization and he never returned to the CAPS (Center of Psychosocial Attention) after that. Probably died. Doctor N. clearly fought for more democracy in his groups, and was very proficient at letting the group talk freely, in spite of the way he had suppressed Stephen in the case of the diagnosis. All the doctors did the same, or even worse. Though the medication he prescribed to his patients caused the strangest side effects ever seen, with tragic results. As Stephen had told doctor N., he knew that the psychiatrist wanted to put him on Lithium. But strangely enough he wasn't sure about the name in the diagnosis. He asked about it to the doctor, who told him that it was bipolar disorder.
Afterwards Stephen noticed that his brother Hezekiah always refused speaking of the seizures, always refused the memories. There could be no talk between them. Once Stephen tried to talk to him about the way Stephen looked to him before and after the seizures (like the psychiatrist had asked, and Hezekiah had answered mechanically, as usual). This time Hezekiah said, "Why don't you talk about it to your psychologist?"
In the following days Hezekiah clearly showed what he meant when he said that in the seizures "Stephen said things that weren't real and he knew about it."
When Stephen said things that Hezekiah didn't know, agree or believe Hezekiah played the good psychologist and said, "Look sometimes you say those things that you know aren't true..."
Stephen could see the misconception in it. And it clearly explained everything. Hezekiah said the things that generated Stephen's first diagnosis, which was wrong. After hearing and seeing Stephen the psychiatrist concluded that it was wrong, specially because he believed that Stephen was too good to be schizophrenic. Then doctor N. called Hezekiah, for the word of Stephen, a mentally ill person, couldn't be conclusive. Based on what Stephen heard Hezekiah say it was easy to know why the first diagnosis was wrong. Hezekiah's answers were very superficial, maybe artificial, since he never mentioned the moment in which Stephen rubbed his ass against him in a sexual way, and the like. Hezekiah shortened his answers to "yes" and "no", what couldn't reveal anything. Hezekiah seemed to want to omit the things forever.
And maybe even now there was another wrong diagnosis. But Stephen didn't mind. What's the difference? All that he really wanted from the drugs was the sleep for the night. If he could sleep all right there would be no problem. Otherwise he would complain. After all, now he knew for sure that the diagnoses were based on misconceptions.
Doctor N.'s misjudgments could be clearly seen when he compared Stephen to schizophrenic people who weren't in a good moment, and said that Stephen was more capable than them, because they were disabled by schizophrenia, and he just had bipolar disorder. Stephen didn't agree when he said that a person was incapable because of schizophrenia. Maybe when those schizophrenics got better he would change their diagnosis too. And Stephen could see that the doctor spoke that about talented people, people full of capabilities, whose the main problem was their diagnosis: schizophrenia. Sheer misconception.
When Stephen tried to talk with Hezekiah about misconception, for example, Hezekiah spoke as if it didn't exist and cut it short by saying, "Just live your life.", which Stephen could see that he really meant, "Just live my life.", for Hezekiah seemed to want to erase Stephen's past (by omitting things that happened in the seizure, for example). Sometimes Stephen said that he always did harmless things that some people considered mad, though it was normal to Stephen himself. But Hezekiah always repressed him by saying, "In the world things aren't this way. Forget it. Just live your life."
"That isn't my life", thought Stephen, "You must be longing for me to live your life, to live just like you, and not like myself."
"Shit, I caught him at it. Right there. In our bedroom. little kid going down on him like an oil pump, tears running down from his face the whole time. making little whimpering sounds. God, I'll never forget it. And they weren't sounds of pleasure, either. (...) Andrew grinned at me. He winked and then he made a fist with his other hand to let me know what would happen if I told. I stood there. (...) He said, 'You want a turn, Ryan? He's little, but he's gifted. Could suck the chrome off your kickstand.'"
"What would you do for me, then? Would you do her for me?"
"I--I don't know what that means."
"Would you fuck her?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Would you kill her for me?"
"Andrew!"
"Yes," Lavelle whispered."
"Would you suck for me?"
"Yes, yes, I--"
"Would lick a dead dog's ass for me?"
Andrew, I--"
extracted from the book THE GRIM WEEPER, by Donald Whittington
SANATORIUM RIO DE JANEIRO (SEQUEL TO A FOGGY LIFE)...
A FOGGY LIFE - THE TRUE STORY OF A MENTAL PATIENT ...
Estatísticas do transtorno bipolar
ASTROLOGIA E PSIQUIATRIA: AVALIAÇÕES
Apenas queria ser considerado ser humano
Segregação prejudica a saúde mental
DA ÉPOCA EM QUE HOMOSSEXUALISMO ERA CONSIDERADO DO...
Minha ida ao médico
QUIZ DA DEPRESSÃO (de Mike Freeman)
Brasil 3X4 Nigeria - Atletas lutando contra o raci...
LAUDO MÉDICO DA PSIQUIATRIA
Os perigos dos casamentos por conveniência
As estranhas orientações médicas do psiquiatra
Surto, internação, prostitutas e igreja
Projeto SMS/CDI - Pós e contras
Abusos e constrangimentos que causam surtos parte ...
Abusos e constrangimentos que causam surtos - part...
Exclusão em manicômios: o medo de pacientes psiqui...
Divagações
Tradução de "Pretty World" de Stevie Wonder
Institucionalização: suas consequências e vítimas
A aranhinha
BIPOLAR DISORDER - IS THE DISEASE TREATED PROPERLY...
KEVIN TRUDEAU: A FARCE?
Não criem estigmas contra a gente, pois já temos d...
Criação de estigmas por familiares
Como uma criança
Estupradores na família - O perigo de abrigá-los e...
Para todas as famílias de pacientes psiquiátricos:...
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Rebecca Eissler
Assistant Professor, San Francisco State University
I am an assistant professor of Political Science at San Francisco State University. I received my Ph.D. in Government from the University of Texas at Austin, where I was a Graduate Research Fellow and the former Project Manager of the U.S. Policy Agendas Project, a member of the Comparative Agendas Project network.
My areas of specialization include public policy and American politics with an emphasis on agenda-setting, the presidency, and information processing. My previous research has been published in Policy Studies Journal.
My current work, “Prioritizer-in-Chief: The Role of the President in the Policy Process from Reagan to Obama,” examines what policy areas and strategies presidents use to make policy and considers how presidents make trade-0ffs in attention and strategy.
Contact me at reissler@sfsu.edu
View my profile on Google Scholar.
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House Votes
Bad news, both tax increases, the sales and income, passed the house. They are trying again on MESSA.
MESSA passed the Senate already. The tax bills are in the senate as I type this.
Once all is finished, I'll be posting the major roll call votes (MESSA, final house votes, final senate votes, and if applicable, the conference committee votes of the final bills)
I'll also say that with or without MESSA reform, I opposed this deal as it stands now at 11:50. It's not good enough. With MESSA, it's like losing the Motor City Bowl. Going to a bowl game isn't a complete loss. Without MESSA reform, it's flat out Darryl(ect) Rogers (with Lions, not MSU) bad, and I'd expect nothing less from the Matt Millen of governors.
I'd call this a turkey, but why insult a good bird.
(UPDATE - MESSA passed the house 56-53)
Labels: Budget, Taxes
Bad to Worse?
The budget details are looking worse and worse.
Right Michigan has some good details. So does State Rep Jack Hoogendyk who is in the middle of the battle.
Posted by Dan at 10:38 PM 2 comments: Links to this post
Newt's not running. From MSNBC:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will not run for president in 2008 after determining he could not legally explore a bid and remain as head of his tax-exempt political organization, a spokesman said Saturday.
“Newt is not running,” spokesman Rick Tyler said. “It is legally impermissible for him to continue on as chairman of American Solutions (for Winning the Future) and to explore a campaign for president.”
Also, the budget is still in negotiations. Lansing pushed for a SECOND tax IN ADDITION to the income tax. Remember the taxes on services? That's making a real nasty comeback. No republicans voted for it, but head's up.
To say my guard is up right now is an understatement. The worst part is that we have three years of that idiot Granholm unless we recall her - and I'm damn well up for that recall.
Labels: Budget, Newt Gingrich, Taxes
DC Gun ban - SCOTUS Preview
One of the plaintiff's attorneys, Robert Levy of the libertarian leaning CATO Institute gives DC a lesson in the law:
On September 4, the District of Columbia government asked the Supreme Court to reverse a federal appellate decision in Parker v. District of Columbia, 478 F.3d 370 (D.C. Cir. 2007), which upheld a Second Amendment challenge to D.C.'s ban on all functional firearms. The six D.C. residents who brought the lawsuit — although they won in the lower court — agree with the city that the Supreme Court should revisit the Second Amendment for the first time since 1939. A four-square pronouncement from the High Court is long overdue. The entire nation, not just Washington, D.C., needs to know how courts will interpret "the right of the people to keep and bear arms." Sometime before yearend, the justices will decide whether to review the case. If the Supreme Court chooses to intervene, a final decision will probably be issued by June 30, 2008.
D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and attorney general Linda Singer, in their petition to the Supreme Court and in a Washington Post op-ed ("Fighting for Our Handgun Ban," September 4), raise four arguments in support of the city's ban. Their first argument is that the Second Amendment ensures only that members of state militias are properly armed, not that private citizens can have guns for self-defense and other personal uses. That contentious question has been debated at length on these pages. See Dennis Henigan, "The Mythic Second," March 26, 2007; and Robert A. Levy, "Thanks to the Second Amendment," April 16, 2007.
The city's remaining three arguments — two legal claims and one policy claim — have received comparatively less attention. First, declares the mayor, even if the Second Amendment protects private ownership of firearms for non-militia purposes, a ban on all handguns is reasonable because D.C. allows possession of rifles and shotguns in the home. Second, the Amendment restricts the actions of the federal government, but not the states, and D.C. should be treated the same as a state for Second Amendment purposes. And third, "handgun bans work"; the streets of the Nation's Capital are safer as a result. Let's consider each argument in turn.
It's okay to ban handguns as long as rifles and shotguns are permitted.
The D.C. Circuit, for good reason, called that argument "frivolous." "It could be similarly contended," wrote Senior Judge Laurence Silberman, "that all firearms may be banned so long as sabers were permitted." After all, D.C. does not ban home possession of knives or hatchets. Does that justify the city's handgun ban? Could publication of cookbooks be barred under the First Amendment as long as restaurant guides were allowed?
Moreover, the D.C. Code bans not just handguns, but all functioning firearms. Rifles and shotguns in the home must be unloaded and either disassembled or bound by a trigger lock. That's why one of the Parker plaintiffs, who owns a shotgun, had to sue in order to render the weapon usable in an emergency.
Not to worry, says the mayor. "The District does not … construe this provision [regarding rifles and shotguns] to prevent the use of a lawful firearm in self-defense." That assurance might be heartening were it not disingenuous. Once a rifle or shotgun is loaded, it is no longer a "lawful firearm." Accordingly, D.C.'s pledge, limited to lawful weapons, is an empty one. A gun must be operative before it can be used in self-defense. Any owner who waits to load and assemble a gun until it's needed for self-defense has waited too long. If the mayor means what he says, he should have no problem repealing the city's ban on home possession of functional rifles and shotguns, as the Parker plaintiffs have demanded.
D.C. is like a state, and the Second Amendment doesn't apply to states.
The District relies on an 1886 case, Presser v. Illinois, for the proposition that the Second Amendment applies only to the federal government, not to the states. Admittedly, D.C. is not a state. But, says the mayor, the city should be treated the same as a state when courts review its gun control regulations. Therefore, so the argument goes, the city is immune from a Second Amendment challenge.
That argument fails on two counts. First, none of the amendments in the Bill of Rights originally applied to the states. Beginning in 1897, however, 11 years after Presser, the Supreme Court decided that the post-Civil War enactment of the 14th Amendment was intended to "incorporate" most of the Bill of Rights in order to hold state governments accountable for violations. To be sure, the Court never formally ruled that the Second Amendment was incorporated, but even ultra-liberal Ninth Circuit judge Stephen Reinhardt has conceded that "Presser rest[s] on a principle that is now thoroughly discredited."
Second, even if states are exempt from the Second Amendment, the Constitution expressly grants to Congress, not a state, plenary legislative power over all matters whatsoever in the Nation's Capital. Because the Second Amendment indisputably applies to the federal government, it therefore applies to the District, a federal enclave. D.C.'s assertion that its city council, a creature of Congress, should enjoy an exemption from the Second Amendment that binds Congress itself, is quite simply bizarre. If it were true, then the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial in civil cases — which also hasn't been incorporated — would not apply to D.C. But the courts have held otherwise. See, e.g., Pernell v. Southall Realty (U.S. 1974).
The city responds that the Second Amendment is different because, unlike the Seventh, the Second is a limitation on federal power over the states. In effect, that's the collectivist or states' rights view of the Second Amendment. Thus, the District's claim of exemption merges with, and depends on, its collectivist interpretation of the Second Amendment. If D.C. is wrong about the Second Amendment, then its "no-incorporation" argument collapses as well.
"Handgun bans work"; they've "saved countless lives."
Before the District banned handguns in 1976, the murder rate had been declining. But soon afterward, the rate climbed to the highest of all large U.S. cities. It also rose relative to nearby Maryland and Virginia as well as relative to other cities with more than 500,000 people. During the 31-year life of the ban, with the exception of a few years during which the city's murder rate ranked second or third, there have been more killings per capita in Washington, D.C. than in any other major city.
In 12 of the years between 1980 and 1997, including all nine years from 1989 through 1997, the violent crime rate in D.C. exceeded 2,000 per 100,000, reaching a high of 2,922 in 1993, versus 1,481 in 1976 — a 97 percent increase in violent crime, 17 years after citizens were forbidden from defending themselves with firearms. Moreover, the murder rate climbed as high as 81 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1991 — triple the pre-ban levels. As of 2005, the last year for which I have data, the murder rate is still 32 percent above the 1976 level.
Two non-partisan, respected federal government agencies recently examined gun controls and found no statistically significant evidence to support their effectiveness. In 2004, the National Academy of Sciences reviewed 253 journal articles, 99 books, and 43 government publications evaluating 80 gun-control measures. The researchers could not identify a single gun-control regulation that reduced violent crime, suicide, or accidents. A year earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on an independent evaluation of firearms and ammunition bans, restrictions on acquisition, waiting periods, registration, licensing, child access prevention laws, and zero tolerance laws. Conclusion: none of the laws had a meaningful impact on gun violence.
Based on those statistics, there's a compelling argument that Americans deserve an opportunity to defend themselves by possessing suitable firearms. But even if the data were to cut the other way — even if it could be demonstrated (which it emphatically cannot) that more gun laws lead to less crime — gun laws are not just about public policy. They're about the meaning of the Constitution. Hopefully, the U.S. Supreme Court, at long last, will answer this vital question: Does the right to keep and bear arms belong to us as individuals, or does the Constitution merely recognize the collective right of states to arm the members of their militias?
Labels: 2nd Amendment, guns, SCOTUS, Washington DC
116 million in waste. Thanks Granholm!
How arrogant. You're DEMANDING a tax increase, and want to feed us this BS?
As the threat of a government shutdown looms, Chief Investigator Steve Wilson is asking some tough questions of about a $116 million construction project for the state police.
Steve Wilson story pt 1
This isn't some simple MSP project. It's a 25 year lease with Democrat leader Joel Ferguson (MSU trustee and wannabe football coach). Fergie gives tons of money to the dems and gets a sweetheart deal here in the budget.
And they want us to pay or this with a major league debt? All I can say to this is three words. Go to hell.
Labels: Andy Dillon, Budget, Granholm, Pork, Taxes
Public Statement from Chris Ward's office
I received this in an email from Chris Ward's office. Others here may have received the same.
We are moving closer and closer to a shutdown of the state of Michigan and wanted to take this opportunity to let you know some of what has been happening in Lansing. I understand how frustrated everyone has become with the state legislature and our inability to pass a sensible budget to keep Michigan functioning well. I appreciate all the calls and emails from you (even if you don’t agree.) It is encouraging to know citizens are paying attention and care enough to write a letter or make a phone call.
I, too, am frustrated at the lack of progress and the unwillingness of all state government officials to “step up to the plate” to reach a compromise position. This is an excellent opportunity to make long-needed cuts and reforms that we have been trying to accomplish since Governor Engler was in office. Compromise, cuts and reforms can help with the long term financial health of Michigan, as well as solve the immediate fiscal crisis.
I have been working with everyone I can to break the log jam on reforms by bringing as many from both sides together to identify what both parties can agree on and what changes can be made that will still allow legislation that is effective but amenable to both sides. I have personally met with our Speaker of the House, the Governor and several members from both sides of the Michigan House and Senate. I am still hopeful we will have solutions in place. They will most likely involve reforms, cost containment measures, concessions in new spending and a revenue increase.
There are no decisions to be made with our current budget situation that will make everyone happy. Realizing this, it became important to me to actively seek a solution. As you know, I have always been in favor of less government and less taxes. The current situation has made it impossible, even after cuts, to leave the tax rate where it has been. The reforms will not save money immediately, but will leave Michigan in a better fiscal position in the future.
The solution I support means passing several bills that are“tie-barred” including the reform bills along with restoring the income tax to its’ previous level of 4.6%. This means all the bills must pass or none of them pass, ensuring the reforms are put into place along with the increase in income tax.
Some of the reforms being negotiated are:
Corrections reforms (privatizing some services)
State and public school employee retirement and retirement health care reform
Prohibiting “double dipping” by public employees (freezing pension benefits for retired employees who become re-employed)
Reducing legislative salaries and benefits
Changes in Medicaid to reduce fraud
Equity in school funding (making sure all children in the state are valued the same)
If a shutdown does occur it is quite possible that we will end up without any desired reforms and a hike in the income tax anyway. I don’t know where we will end up with the whole package but am doing my best to use this opportunity to make sure Michigan state government is as lean and responsible as possible.
If for some reason the process breaks down and we do not have a budget by the end of this week, it is my personal opinion that it will not be the fault of the Democrats, the Republicans or the Governor. It will be the fault of the legislature as a whole and I will have to take my portion of the blame. That is why I am committing to you to continue to do everything I can to come to resolution.
Thank you for your patience with this situation. I do take my responsibilities seriously and am doing my best to make good decisions for the citizens of Michigan. We will continue to face difficult decisions in state government, so please stay in touch. I value your input.
CHRIS WARD
Republican Floor Leader
Labels: Budget, Chris Ward, Taxes
The state budget and our county's reps
The big issue right now is the budget and taxes. As we all know, Chris Ward and Valde Garcia have broke from the party on their votes. Chris on taxes, and Valde on the budget cuts. I've been getting a lot of heat from the right from both in county and non-county residents on this. I've gotten calls and emails asking me almost in a Vince Lombardi voice, "What the hell is going on out there?"
The Argus has an interesting story on this, focusing on the reps involved.
Livingston County lawmakers are emerging as high-profile participants in the scramble to come up with a budget solution before the new fiscal year starts on Monday.
State Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Marion Township, cast the only Republican vote against nearly $600 million in budget cuts on Sunday. And state Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton Township, who similarly broke with his party last week on an income-tax increase vote, has been named to an important joint conference committee tasked with tackling the revenue side of the budget stalemate.
The moves make them the only two Republicans who have publicly broken with their party to either limit the amounts of cuts that are proposed or to admit that increased taxes are necessary to cover at least part of the projected $1.7 billion shortfall.
There was the background.
Chris Ward was named to a conference committee on this. I did talk to Chris's office before his vote. I was told there was no deal at the time, and that he was working on the deal. I know there are some reforms he is after and is trying to get, particulary on school matters which has been one of his top issues. I think he's winning to compromise, but I don't think he's going to roll over and cave.
I do not consider Chris Ward a RINO (Republican in name only). Still don't. I've known him for several years, and as a rep, he's generally been solid on fiscal matters. If I had to simplify Chris's views, it is ideologicaly mainstream conservative, but pragmatic first. The number one issue he ran on is competence. The theme in all his campaign lit was "Chris Ward gets things done." This here is his biggest challenge, and he's taking the steps tacticaly he thinks needs to be done. He's looks for consensus more often than not. In my own opinion, I think he's going after some of the sacred cows of the democrats so we can get some real reform in this state. The MEA right now is scared to death of losing MESSA and it's extremely high overhead and others are scared to death about changes in government pensions. Unless these are taken care off, budgets will skyrocket for years to come.
Chris is one of the smartest people I know when it comes to politics. He's not afraid to take risks when it is necessary, but also is cautious at times when that is called for. We need to keep in mind that this is not a final vote. That is why I'm witholding judgment on Chris for now on this, and why you see this quote below.
Ward, who gave up his duties as minority floor leader when he voted for the tax increase, said he hopes to use the committee seat to advance the issue of equitable funding for school districts and benefit costs for teachers.
He said there is a proposal to bring all school districts to the same per-pupil funding level within 10 years, and another to give school boards more tools to competitively bid health-care benefit contracts.
"I've got some priorities for my state and my district I'm going to be looking for," he said.
Dan Wholihan of the Republican Michigander Web log said he thinks anti-tax sentiment is strong in Livingston County.
He withheld judgment on Ward's moves, because they were part of a tentative deal with Democrats: "I'm waiting to see the final bill before I comment."
But he would prefer an all-cuts solution to the budget.
"I don't think there is support for a tax increase in the county. I personally do not support a tax increase," he said.
As for Garcia's vote, Wholihan said he wasn't surprised.
"He does have a history of going his own way on budgetary matters," Wholihan said.
Personally, I like Valde. He's a real nice guy. On life issues and 2nd Amendment issues, I never have to worry about his vote. He always comes through there. On budget matters, I'm always holding my breath, especially ever since the "tax shift". With that combined with his recent comments, I am not surprised in the least, sad to say. He goes his own way on budgetary matters. Sometimes I agree, sometimes like now, I disagee.
Another story which was news to me until I heard from Dan Meisler was 30 ex-republicans signing a letter supporting a mix of reforms, cuts, and taxes. I found that several (not all) of those who signed that were part of the problem in the first place. Especially Ken Sikkema, who was senate majority leader before Mike Bishop. Joe Schwarz has been pushing taxes for years. When there is Schwarz, there is also Harry Gast. Dan DeGrow has always been a squish (which is why his race for AG against Cox never got off the ground). Sikkema gets to my next point and part of quote.
Generally, Wholihan put most of the blame on the budget mess on Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, but also said Republicans haven't been as fiscally responsible as they should have been.
"There's plenty of blame to go around," he said.
Granholm's the constant in all the problems, but there is plenty of blame to go around. Sikkema in the senate (02-06) and the 2002-2004 block of about 10-15 term limited house Republicans, including former speaker Rick Johnson. Those are who I had in mind when I said that there is plenty of blame to go around. Granholm and the democrat (then) minority wanted her "fee" increases in 04 and the tax shift in 06. She got them. The gimmicks and "fee" increases, sin taxes, and higher costs in general brought us to this current clusterbleep. Granholm got all she wanted on budgetary issues so far. It got us here. The former house and former senate leadership got what they wanted. It got us democrat control of the house (after starting with 63 seats) and a narrow majority in the senate. I blame them as much as Granholm. However, they are gone, while Granholm stayed.
One other thing. I'm hearing a lot of talk about recalls, mostly aimed at the republicans who vote for takes like Garcia. If we are going to recall people, let's start at the biggest problem of them all, that being the "Matt Millen of governors" herself, Jennifer Granholm. We have elections for state reps in about a year. Granholm we're stuck with for three years unless we recall her and send her home. She helped screw over the budget every year for five years.
I have one other major concern besides policy issues. That's the brand name image of Republicans here in Livingston County. With the spending problems in both Lansing and Washington, as well as the tax increases, what is going to happen to small government? We can't be democrat-lite in our size of big government. That's a good way for democrats to start winning around here.
Posted by Dan at 7:09 AM 3 comments: Links to this post
Labels: Budget, Chris Ward, Granholm, Taxes, Valde Garcia
Worst non-overturned SCOTUS decision in history???
Don't like Congressional big government, much of the blame can go toWickard v Filburn under the name "commerce clause".
There's a few other cases that could be mentioned at SCOTUS (Supreme Court) level, but that's one that at least deserves dishonorable mention.
Labels: SCOTUS
Draft Gore and reduce jobs in Michigan even further?
Leave it to Bob Alexander (ran in 02 against Mike Rogers) to support drafting Al "Ban all Cars" Whore who would be as much of a disaster for the country, as the Matt Millen of governors has been for this state.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan supporters of Al Gore are launching a petition drive to make sure his name can be on the Jan. 15 presidential primary ballot if he decides to enter the race.
They have to submit 12,396 valid signatures to the secretary of state's office by Oct. 23 to get the job done. Gore won Michigan in his unsuccessful 2000 presidential bid, but so far has not said he'll run.
Under rules for the Jan. 15 Michigan primary, the state party chairmen had to give the secretary of state's office by Sept. 11 a list of potential nominees who would be on their respective ballots.
Believe it or not Bob, I'll sign it. The nastier the democrat fight is, the better.
Labels: Al Gore, Bob Alexander
Newt Gingrich's speech at Mackinac (A must see)
Special Thanks to Right Michigan for posting this on his site.
Newt stole the show at Mackinac. Click on the link above to see why.
Labels: Mackinac Conference, Newt Gingrich
7th District - Jim Berryman is out
Breaking news From the AP
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Former Democratic state Sen. Jim Berryman of Adrian told supporters Sunday that he is withdrawing from the race to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg in the 2008 election.
Berryman, who works for the Michigan Education Association, said he dropped out because he didn't want to have two candidates splitting the labor endorsement. State Sen. Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, announced in late August that he was getting into the race for the 7th District, which includes parts of seven counties in south-central Michigan.
"The Democratic candidate is going to need all the resources available, both physical and financial, to replace the current congressman. Having two friends of labor going at each other in a primary will only be a distraction and lessen our chances of victory in the fall of 2008," Berryman said in a statement to supporters Sunday night.
I actually think Berryman would have been a stronger candidate than Schauer (geography reasons). We'll see what happens.
Labels: District 7, Jim Berryman, Mark Schauer, Tim Walberg
Rocky II? (Levin v Raczkowski)
It looks like Rocky Raczkowski may be running against Levin again. From the AP
MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. (AP) — Next year's U.S. Senate race is looking like it could be a rematch between longtime Democratic incumbent Carl Levin and Republican Andrew "Rocky" Raczkowski.
Raczkowski spoke briefly Saturday at a Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference luncheon, the usual biennial kickoff for the following year's elections. He didn't commit while he was on the island to running, but says he has set up an exploratory committee and is considering challenging Levin a second time.
Another Republican, state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk of Kalamazoo, told The Associated Press by telephone Sunday that he's also considering the race. He said he has received encouragement from party leaders and from supporters who got to know him during his six-month bid for governor in 2005. Hoogendyk withdrew without challenging Dick DeVos for the 2006 GOP nomination and is serving his last two-term in the state House.
Raczkowski, 38, said his military service overseas since his unsuccessful 2002 run against Levin have given him a different outlook than when he took on Levin while still a state representative from Farmington Hills. Now a businessman and major in the U.S. Army Reserves, he said he has lost six friends in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He now considers himself less a Republican and more an advocate for U.S. soldiers and those hurt by Michigan's troubled economy.
"I am vehemently disappointed with this administration's mismanagement of the war and with the fact that they don't seem to have much of a receptive ear to this economy and the automotive ear," Raczkowski said, speaking of decisions made by President Bush.
But while Levin, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been pushing a proposal that seeks to restrict the mission of troops to fighting terrorists and training the Iraqi security force, Raczkowski doesn't want to go that far.
"He's always been a thoughtful gentleman," Raczkowski said. "But quitting now is a practice that I as a soldier cannot accept and that we can't stand as a country."
I always thought Rocky could have been a very good candidate in 2002. If the party supported him, I think we could have pulled off the upset of Levin. He was right on the issues. He was an excellent speaker. He had presense. He's excellent in working a crowd. He's won three times in a very difficult district out in Farmington Hills (a district that voted for Gore and Kerry). The two things he did lack are name recognition and money. The first part is tough to find and those who don't have it need to work at it for years to correct it. I'm not a good public speaker. I can get by if I have to, and it took me a long time just to do that. The last parts - money and name recognition - can be corrected in a short period of time with help. If Rocky runs and is our candidate - we need to help him.
One thing that irked me to no end back in 02 (and still does) was what the state party did to him. It was despicable. They threw him to the wolves and gave him no support whatsoever. At the state convention, they were gutless wonders and didn't let him speak until the convention was practicaly over. The keynote speakers was finished and the closing occured. Most of the crowd left. I was on my way out, until I saw that Rocky was speaking. They did that since they were so afraid of Rocky upending the gubenatorial candidate, Dick Posthumus. Instead of having Rocky help raise the chance of Posthumus winning, they pushed him down. That wasn't right, and I hope Saul learned from State Party 02's mistakes. I do not expect there to be a repeat. I should mention that a repeat abandonment here would just allow Levin to help other candidates across the country, instead of keeping his money here at home.
Most people don't know much about Carl Levin, or his stances on the issues which are out of step with Michigan. He's just "there", and relies on his images of "rolling up his sleeves" to work, backing the auto industry, and a foreign policy stance that changes with the wind. What he does effectively for the state in the last 15 years except vote right on CAFE standards - which he is now caving on with boss Reid forcing him in line?
Could Rocky win? With support - I think he can win. His stances on issues are closer to mainstream Michigan. His well-rounded experience in the military, business, and legislative backgrounds also give him a good boost. His speaking ability can sell people that he meets - but he can't do it if he's thrown to the wolves with no help whatsoever, as was the case in 02.
He got 38% there with no help. We need between 11-12% more. That's tough, but certainly possible. Candice Miller was crushed by David Bonior before she beat another instituion in Richard Austin. Mike Simpson lost at least twice before winning. Let's get some guts for once and actually target a seat that conventional wisdom says we can't win.
Labels: 2008, Andrew Rocky Raczkowski, Carl Levin, senate
Report from Mackinac Conference, 2007
I arrived at the island as an uncommitted voter. I left even more of an undecided voter, although if Newt Gingrich declared at the island, I'd probably sign up for his campaign. Newt really stole the show there.
Tancredo, Brownback and unfortunately Huckabee backed out. I wanted to hear Huckabee speak considering his strong performance at the debates. I never heard him in person yet. I missed the speeches from Rudy, McCain, Duncan Hunter, and Fred Thompson. Right Michigan, Bill Nowling, E.M. Zanotti, and Redstate have some posts on Mackinac including the speeches that I missed. I did catch McCain who spoke briefly at a different event Friday night. Earlier that day, McCain was at an NRA event. Code Pink jokers came in there and disrupted the event, and McCain told them that they were defeated before and would be defeated again. One thing that did impress me with McCain there is that he talked to a lot of people after his speech - and not just those who paid the extra $60 it costs for the dinners on the conference. I don't see that a lot with candidates anymore.
I did see Ron Paul and Mitt Romney's speeches. Ron Paul did a good job and had some good support there - enough to make some of the establishment more than a little nervous. Much of his attacks are on the size of government. He's also no fan of globalization, and there is a strong anti-globalist view still in the GOP, particulary on trade issues among Michiganders. I'm no fan of the WTO myself, although I did think Ron Paul should have added one thing on his WTO attack - that they are unelected bureaucrats with control over Michigan and American trade with other countries. I don't agree with everything he says, but after eight years of a moderate southern democrat (at least in practice) masquerading as a republican in Bush, small government is a good message.
Romney's speech was a disapointment. I look at his business background, his work with budgets in Massachusetts, and work with the olympics, and would have liked to hear much more on that. "It's the economy, stupid." I really don't give a rat's rear end about gay marriage right now (That fight's over in Michigan), and I don't like amending the constitution. There was some good in his speech, mostly about ethics and issues like that. We can't put with the Don Sherwoods, Mark Foleys, and Duke Cunninghams of the world. Romney can deliver that message and needs to keep that. He needs to run on his strength and stop pandering to a suspicious right. To the "religious right", it's the records that matter most, and they will always doubt him because of his Massachusetts record. They will also respect him less for pandering. I'm not a "religious right" voter outside of the life issue (which is the BIGGEST issue among the RR), but I do know many conservative Catholics and evangelicals, and they are sophisticated voters who do not like pandering or hypocracy among candidates. Romney has a shot to win those voters with his personal background, judicial stance, and fiscal plans. He has no shot to win them by talking about "In God we Trust" on the side of coins, or by running on gay marriage. "I'm conservative too" isn't good enough. Right now, fiscal trumps all in Michigan. I have not shut the door on Romney, but I'd like to heat a lot more about his fiscal plans and it will be harder for him to get my vote after Mackinac.
The blogs section was interesting and a good introduction to those thinking about blogging or commenting on blogs. The pollsters and pundits section was good as always, and a lot of the talk was about rebuilding the majority and restablishing our brand - that gets to the star of the convention - Newt Gingrich.
Then there was Newt Gingrich. Gingrich stole the show. If he announced a presidential run, I would have been on board. It was a standing room only speech. The Grand Hotel had a whole bunch of extra chairs them moved for the event. It was still standing room only. Unfortunately, I didn't have a video camera with me, since this posting here does not do the speech justice.
The sad part is that most of what Newt said was no more than plain old common sense. 2008 is a change election. "Real change requires real change" is what was repeated to us. Most of the public is sick and tired of "red state" vs "blue state". The system is broke. Our levees and bridges shouldn't fail, and neglect from both parties in Congress, 16 years of Bush/Clinton, and the rest. If the infastructure isn't working right, it's gotta be fixed.
One other mistake is the GOP writing off historicaly democrat voters. Newt only briefed on this, but it is important. It's a mistake for the GOP to ignore the leftist media. It's a mistake to write off black voters and Mexican voters. That's one problem. It's going to be 93-7 and 70-30 democrat voting as long as that's done. Another problem the GOP has when courting those voters is pandering. After time in Mackinac, we all know what horse manure is when we see it. They do too. At the same time, you don't alienate your base voters when you campaign. That's when you get the immigration debacle which you have now. You deal with it in two parts. Border Security first, then immigration. I also haven't heard anything from the politicians about Hezbollah terrorists crossing our border at Nogales. That can change the focus from Mexicans to others.
The issues mentioned were 80-10 issues. Border security, tax and spend, big bloated government and education. Let's remember than while tons of people talk the talk on budgets, it was Newt who balanced the last federal budget, even getting that joker Clinton to follow kicking and screaming. Newt's other point is just as important as the issues, is the way it is communicated. It has to be communicated in a non-political way. The tax increase here in Michigan is a jobs killing tax increase.
Lastly, he spoke of a clean break from the present. The comparison of the current GOP situation was made of the center-right government in France. The incumbent, Jacques Chirac was leaving and it looked like the socialist party would take over. Sarkozy was of Chirac's party and ran on real change. He won. It can be done here as well after Bush is gone, but there has to be real change. Luckily for us, all three major democrats running (Clinton, Obama, Edwards) are Washington jokers who are promising the same ole song and dance. There's the opening. Who will take it?
The straw poll was not a real surprise. A lot of camps brought their people up - Romney, McCain, and Ron Paul especially.
M. Romney 383 39.12%
J. McCain 260 26.56%
R. Paul 106 10.83%
Rudy Giuliani 104 10.62%
F. Thompson 70 7.15%
M. Huckabee 25 2.55%
Uncomm 16 1.63%
D. Hunter 12 1.23%
S. Brownback 3 .31%
T. Tancredo 0 0%
Labels: 2008, Mackinac Conference
Ethics Law
Politico has an interesting take on the new ethics law that Bush just signed. The good news is that I think I may be making some money in a few years. The bad news is that I know this is going to be almost a complicated as a calculus class once I look at the statutes.
While money and politics watchdog groups applauded the new ethics law signed by President Bush last week, bigger cheers rang out in the tight-knit community of lawyers who are experts on campaign finance and lobbying regulations.
“I seem to be very popular these days,” said Ken Gross, who heads a team of political law experts at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. “I’ve been on the run, giving presentations all week long, some back to back to back.” Next week, he takes his show on the road to Las Vegas, and the following week he’ll be appearing in corporate offices in Massachusetts and Texas.
Jan Baran, who leads a similar group at Wiley Rein, said he’s booked “for the foreseeable future,” and requests continue to come in for the longtime veteran whose presentations also include jokes — for no extra fee. “We’ve got to get the money out of politics somehow, so we might as well hire a lot of lawyers and accountants,” he quips.
Posted by Dan at 10:18 AM 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: ethics law, legalese
The Mackinac Conference is this weekend, so is an NRA event. What's interesting is who is speaking at the NRA event. From the Atlantic Monthly and politico:
An NRA spokesman tells me that ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a prominent advocate for gun control when he was mayor of New York City, will be among those presidential candidates who speak to before the NRA's Celebration of American Values convention in Washington Friday.
The NRA members know Giuliani's record well, and many Republicans believe that Giuliani's past support for tough gun laws will prove deadly.
But Giuliani is signing a different tune these days.
Also attending:
Sen. Fred Thompson, Sen. John McCain and Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Democrat Bill Richardson will speak to the NRA via videotape, along with Rep. Duncan Hunter and Gov. Mitt Romney
I can see Richardson, Hunter, Thompson, and Huckabee there. Romney signed a compromise ugly gun ban in Massachusetts. McCain tried to ban gun shows (although he IS against the ugly gun ban). But Guliani? Besides his push for stricter gun laws, this guy initiated frivolous lawsuits paid for by tax money, against gun manufacturers. I'd love to be there piping up with a few questions about that after his speech. It'll be interesting to see how he's received there.
Labels: guns, NRA, Rudy Giuliani
More budget updates
The battle of attrition is still going on.
First, I got this in an email forwarded to me. An excerpt of the Political Diary in the Wall Street Journal.
GOP's Future at Stake in Michigan Fight
Michigan's Republican Party is in the midst of an internal skirmish over, of all issues, taxes. The infighting came to public light in recent weeks when certain establishment-oriented party insiders began complaining that the state party chairman, Saul Anuzis, was sounding a message that's "too" anti-tax.
The state now faces a $1.8 billion deficit and Mr. Anuzis sensibly wants that wiped out by cutting a bloated state budget, not tax hikes, but some Republicans in the legislature want to strike a deal with pro-tax Governor Jennifer Granholm. Mr. Anuzis' persistent proclamations against higher taxes have caused grumbling among party moderates, who complain he's "making it more difficult to work out a deal to resolve Michigan's nagging budget deficit," as the Detroit News recently reported. The moderates insist that it's inappropriate for a party chair to dictate the party's policy to elected officials.
Conservatives, for their part, can't fathom why Mr. Anuzis' behavior has come under attack in his own party. They fear it means liberal Republicans in Lansing are signaling their readiness to cut a budget deal with pro-tax Democrats at a time, peculiarly, when Democrats seem disposed to shoot themselves in the head on the budget. House Democratic Speaker Andy Dillon has become so frustrated with the refusal of Senate Republicans to negotiate on taxes that he just announced: "We are going to act alone." He wants to raise income and/or sales taxes in the state.
That budget solution would be an economic catastrophe for a state that already has among the nation's highest unemployment rates and highest number of mortgage foreclosures (despite having missed out on the housing boom that led to mortgage excesses in other parts of the country). Why Republicans would want their fingerprints on this economic suicide pact is a mystery to the conservative activists I interviewed in the state.
Democrats have been gaining electoral ground in this national battleground state in recent years, but today's tax fight could be a pivotal moment to define the differences between the two parties. Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, says that Mr. Anuzis is a "party chair worthy of cheering." And Mr. Anuzis isn't backing down. "We have to hold the line on no new taxes," he tells me. By giving voters a real choice between lower taxes and more spending, Mr. Anuzis is doing exactly the right thing to bring Republicans back to majority status in Michigan.
-- Stephen Moore
So far so good, the GOP has stayed strong. What's right for the state is also right for our party in this case. No more taxes! Re-establish our fiscal conservative bonafides in our brand image, and move away from the big spending jokers who killed us in 2004 statewide, and 2006 on a state and national level.
Also, Right Michigan reports that Andy Dillon took some time off after the lockdown ended to go golfing at Oak Pointe with some lobbyists. I wish I knew about it and was able to get up there to welcome him with my camera. "Out golfing with lobbyists while Michigan burns." BTW - Who let that joker into Livingston County, anyway?
Few changes. The dems still aren't united on this tax increase. Mike Simpson of Jackson County voted for the tax before not voting for it. The Matt Millen of governors is still running her mouth pushing for a tax increase. Andy Dillon is still the Marty Morningwig to Granholm's Millen.
And in other news, our AG Mike Cox resigned as co-chair from John McCain's campaign. Interesting development this close to our Mackinac Conference.
Labels: Andy Dillon, John McCain, Mike Cox, State House, Taxes
Media story on tax battle
Needless to say, the big story right now is the tax battles in the democrat controlled house. Nick and Right Michigan are doing a top job covering this, and I recommend that site for the best updates
First, the Free Press report on this:
LANSING -- As midnight struck, a House vote to raise the state income tax 18% was still in limbo early today, nearly 10 hours after voting began.
The voting board, which never recorded an official tally, was wiped clean and lawmakers resumed efforts to reach the needed 56 votes, quickly reaching the 43 votes they had before midnight.
Majority Democrats said they were planning what could be a long weekend waiting for a handful of Republicans to join them in supporting increasing the income tax to 4.6%
Democrats had hoped Friday would be a day of decisive action to resolve the budget crisis and avoid an Oct. 1 partial shutdown of state government. It remained unclear whether the marathon session would solve the problem.
House Speaker Andy Dillon said he hoped for a bipartisan agreement -- by Sunday. Without Republican votes for a tax increase -- there had been none all day -- it would be a harder sell in the GOP-controlled Senate, said Dillon, D-Redford Township.
In a speech earlier on the House floor, Dillon implored Republicans to join the voting for a tax increase of up to $1 billion or more, even though his party has enough votes to pass the tax hike without its GOP brethren.
But Republicans held out, saying the Legislature had done little to curb spending, which Democrats promised to do. Sort of.
There's the key in bold. Dillon has enough votes in his party to get that passed. Yet, he's playing hardball because not only does he demand a tax increase. He demands that the democrats in tough districts get get out of jail free cards so they don't have to vote against their district. This isn't just about taxes. It about the democrats CYA effort. They want to cover their butts.
And what had been months of partisan wrangling, posturing and even name-calling over how to avert a $1.75-billion deficit was reaching a pressure-cooked conclusion, for better or worse.
The deadlock revolved around a handful of Republicans whom Democrats hoped to pick off for a vote to increase the income tax from its current 3.9%.
Rep. Dick Ball, R-Owosso, said that what seems fair to Democrats seems like political suicide to Republicans.
"We can't let Republican vulnerables vote yes and walk the plank," he said, "while Democratic vulnerables are protected."
Referring to the standoff, Ball added, "as my grandmother used to say, we have a mell of a hess."
This isn't Leon Drolet or Jack Hoogendyk saying this. This is Dick Ball. When you have Dick Ball, possibly the most fiscally liberal Republican in the house saying that, then there is a major league problem. It sounds like that these hardball tactics by Dillon and Granholm are hurting chances of getting a republican on board. Ball is probably their top target, as Drolet and the Michigan Tax Alliance are also closely watching their vote.
Now as for Dillon using the Senate as an excuse, that's bullshit, and I don't use that word often on this blog. Do you really think that a budget bill that passes the house will not be altered in some way in the senate - or vice versa? When that happens, the bill goes to a conference committee before going to another vote in the house/senate. The state house also has much more of a democrat majority than the state senate has a republican majority.
Now, the Detroit News
Nerves frayed, tempers flared and words were more heated Saturday as Republicans and Democrats in the state House -- which has met almost continually since Friday morning -- struggled unsuccessfully to find common ground that will balance the state budget and avoid a government shutdown Oct. 1.
They are trying to resolve a $1.75-billion hole in next year's budget that Democrats say requires a tax hike. Republicans, demanding budget cuts and government spending reforms, continued to oppose it.
Dillon could marshal an all-Democrat favorable vote -- they control the chamber 58-52 -- but he wants it to be a bipartisan proposal involving at least 10 Republicans. Furthermore, several Democrats are in politically dicey districts and could lose reelection next year if voters are angered by a tax cut. Fifty-six votes are needed to raise the income tax.
I think the News means tax increase, but the point is clear. Again, this is a CYA effort for a get out of jail free cards for democrats who want to raise our taxes against the wishes of we the people.
It's time for the GOP house to continue to hold the line against these political games by Andy Dillon, and to make Dillon use his people in order to raise taxes. I don't want to see a bi-partisan tax increase. If that happens, it's time for a bi-partisan recall effort, including tax increasing republicans. The recall wouldn't just be for increasing taxes, but for bailing out the democrats.
Labels: Andy Dillon, State House, Taxes
No changes on taxes, dems can't unite their caucus
The late session called by Dillon has no changes.
Still no changes on the taxes. There are still 14 holdouts on the democrats. No Republicans have voted for tax increases (But Gaffney and Ball still need your calls ASAP).
Apparently, the dems are all mad that Republicans aren't supporting the tax increase, even though the dems control the house. Dillon and company not only want the tax increase, but they don't want one sided partisan heat from a democrat tax increase. They want to give "get out of jail cards" to the democrats in tough districts (like McDowell, Simpson, Griffin, Byrum, and Corriveau) for raising our taxes.
There are enough democrat votes to pass this without a single republican vote, so stop bitching about the republicans and look at your own caucus that you can't unite. Some Republicans have said they would support a tax increase as long as there were reforms in things like MESSA or Right to Work. (That's still not good enough for me) That's the probable price unless you want to forget the get out of jail free cards you want so badly.
So far, Andy Dillon ain't looking so good. Time for him to stop following the lead of the Matt Millen of governors, and to come up with plan C.
Labels: Andy Dillon, Democrats, State House, Taxes
Tax updates
Nick at Right Michigan has some excellent news on the tax updates. The first two come from Nick's site.
The Michigan House of Representatives is hard at work this afternoon trying to raise our taxes.
But they haven't started to address the budget crisis. Wait, what?
Confused? Yeah, smart people should be. Here's what they're doing.
The House just held a roll call vote on House Joint Resolution Z. When you break it down to brass tacks, HJR-Z will permit the House to implement a graduated income tax but not until January or February.
That's right. January or February. No, you're not mistaken. The new fiscal year does indeed start October 1st, 2007. In other words, this vote wasn't only to raise our taxes, it was also to put off dealing with the budget mess for four or five months after the state becomes insolvent!
This was another of those tricky votes that required a 2/3rds majority to pass. It failed. Spectacularly. More spectacularly even then their attempt to raise the sales tax earlier in the week.
But don't worry, it wasn't a total waste of time. During debate leading up to the vote Republican after Republican took the floor to call for spending cuts and reforms, areas completely overlooked by the House Democrats.
And the Democrats, oh, they had some doozies. Rep. Coleman Young Jr. said that voting for reforms "sucks," while George Cushingberry began yelling into the microphone that right-to-work legislation represents bigotry and racism of the highest order, combining it in rhetoric with slavery in the American South.
Nevermind that no one had once mentioned right-to-work legislation, that no such legislation is before the body, that no such legislation is tie-barred to the tax hike and that permitting workers to choose whether or not to join a union represents as step towards personal freedom, not slavery. But all of that is neither here nor there.
When it was obvious that HJR-Z would go down to spectacular defeat Majority Floor Leader Steve Tobocman took the mic to ask that the board be cleared, hiding the fact that 47 or 48 Democrats were voting once again to raise our taxes. There was one audible AYE while the entire GOP caucus shouted NAY but Rep. Sak, holding the gavel, claimed the AYEs had it and cleared the board.
Nice of him, huh?
Now they're on to House Bill 5194, a measure that would actually raise our taxes today. We'll see what they've got in the way of support. Keep on those phones and keep on those emails!
Part II is on their site as well. Here's the link. So far, so good.
Labels: Right Michigan, State House, Taxes
Tax vote may be today - DEFEAT IT!
It looks as if today's the day on the tax votes. Time for us to call our reps and tell them HELL NO when it comes to raising taxes.
Posted by Dan at 9:26 AM No comments: Links to this post
Guns in Schools?
If you want to get big media all PO'ed, mention guns and schools in the same sentence. Rep. David Agema introduced HB 5162 which incurred the wrath of the chattering classes everywhere by (gasp!) allowing administrators to allow school employees with current Concealed Pistol Licenses (CPL, often known as CCW) to carry a firearm.
From ABC 12
Guns in the classroom could soon be a reality if one Michigan lawmaker has his way.
Republican State Rep. David Agema from the Grand Rapids area has introduced legislation that would allow teachers and other school administrators to carry a concealed weapon on school grounds.
Agema says he understands this is a controversial piece of legislation. But he says kids need to be kept safe on school grounds.
All schools in Michigan are weapon-free zones. There are no guns allowed for students, teachers or anyone on school grounds.
In recent years there have been a number of deadly school shootings at schools across the country.
At least one Michigan lawmaker says if teachers and administrators were armed or had access to a concealed weapon at school the incidents of school shootings will decline.
The bill allows for a teacher, administrator or other employee of a school to carry a concealed weapon.
I do have a problem with this bill for one reason. It doesn't go far enough.
First, there should not be ANY gun free - or what I call "Criminal Empowerment Zones" unless they are enacted by private owners of their property. The only ones who obey laws creating criminal empowerment zones, are law abiding CPL holders. Criminals and school shooters would carry their guns anyway in places they are not allowed to since they don't follow the law to begin with.
Secondly, why limit this to school employees? Why not all CPL holders? CPL holders are the most law abiding class of folks in the entire country. It's worked in 40 other states. You aren't going to have Columbine repeat due to CPL holders. By keeping CPL holders unarmed, you may however be enabling the next Columbine.
Labels: Conceal Carry, David Agema, guns, Schools
RNC Committeeman Race Updates
A lot has happened recently in the RNC race. First off, Oakland County's Paul Welday and Ingham County's Norm Shinkle (who I would have likely supported due to his work as Ingham Chair) dropped out of the race and endorsed former US Senate candidate Keith Butler. Soon after, Chuck Yob, the incumbent is not running for re-election. As of now, Butler is the probable next RNC committeeman. It's still early, so we'll see what happens. Internal Politics is nothing if not interesting.
Chuck's letter is posted at Saul's site for all to see
I was not in either the pro-Yob or anti-Yob camps that seem to have been sprouting up in the past year, particulary among our Youth Activists. Sometimes I agreed with him and sometimes I disagreed with him and never had a problem with him on a personal level.
One area where he doesn't get enough credit. He was one of the few with the guts to support MCRI and the Human Life Amendment proposal when much of the other party leadership was extremely weak on those issues. I think if the rest of the party followed his lead on those two issues, that we may have had some better success last year in this state. Chuck always speaks his mind, and when he had a goal, did anything possible to achieve it. I do not care for some of the tactics he has used in supporting his candidate, John McCain, but nobody can argue that he doesn't work hard for his candidates. With his retirement, it will be interesting to see what he has to say. I would not be surprised if he takes a more active role in the McCain campaign.
Thanks for your work Chuck Yob, and good luck to Keith Butler.
Labels: Chuck Yob, Keith Butler, RNC Committeeman
RINOS whining about Saul's anti-tax support
I don't use the term RINO all that much anymore. Considering some seem to want to be bailing out Granholm, I will here. Apparently, some squishes on tax policies are not very happy with Saul Anuzis. This is in the Detroit News.
LANSING -- Republican lawmakers are increasingly irritated with their state party boss, Saul Anuzis, because they say his steady drumbeat against raising taxes is making it more difficult to work out a deal to resolve Michigan's nagging budget deficit.
It's not that difficult. Lansing fouled things up by spending too much. Lansing now is mad that Saul isn't accepting Lansing asking us to bail them out.
"It's a gray area at best, but it's indicative of the partisanship that exists in Lansing that keeps us from getting work done in a statesman-like manner," said Rep. Lorence Wenke, R-Galesburg, who occasionally parts with the GOP leadership on policy matters.
"Is Saul Anuzis breaking some new ground here? It seems he is setting the new low standard."
Anuzis said it's his role to "reflect the feeling of the party. We want real reform first before discussion of any tax increase. I think I am representing the views of our party members."
I'll give Wenke a little credit for putting his name behind this post. That's about all the credit I'll give him. Wenke is in the state house where the dems have a majority. Why the hell is he complaining about taxes then, when it could pass without any republican votes? The anti-tax sentiment does not keep you from getting your work done, Mr. Wenke. It keeps you from taking the easy way out. The last time we had a big majority in the state house and acted "Statesmanlike" against Granholm and raised taxes with the help of 15 turncoats, we lost our majority. The people - your boss - don't want a tax increase.
Wenke said Anuzis is doing the bidding of the national party, which wants to establish a conservative brand for the 2008 presidential election.
"The party clearly is positioning itself for the '08 election, and this is what party leaders like Saul are paid to do," Wenke said.
Replied Anuzis: "My job is to make sure we as a party don't lose our brand, don't lose the image that attracts people to vote for us."
I can't speak for Saul, but I did not see a lot of economic conservatism coming from the national party recently. That's the problem to begin with and a reason why we got slapped in the side of the head back in 06 when much of our base stayed home and Reagan Democrats voted democrat. Our base understand it, and our elected officials need to understand it before they join the unemployment lines.
One Republican lawmaker, who asked not to be named because of concerns about crossing swords with party leaders, said: "The last thing we need is somebody who is not an elected official publicly hammering on us. He's not the one who has to put his name on the line and vote for or against this. I've never seen this before, and I've been in the party a lot of years, where a party chair is dictating policy. It's inappropriate and a growing number of us are sick and tired of it."
To the coward who didn't put his name down, let me tell you how things work, son. You are an elected offical. You work for the people in your district. We as party activists do not work for you. Saul doesn't work for you. He works for the state delegates who selected him at a convention. We are the party base. People like you are the problem. You knew well in advance that you have to put your name on the line in a vote. That's your job and why you get paid the big bucks. Stop complaining, stop looking for bailouts, and start doing your job.
If you vote for a tax increase, Saul is the last person you should be worried about. It's your base that you should be worried about. The last time our party took the safe route and caved on taxes, we lost our majority here. The last time our party went leftist, we lost our majority. It's time to take a stand, and that means no new taxes. If you're in the way and vote for it, you should be sent home as well in the August primary, if not a recall election.
Labels: Saul Anuzis, Taxes
Time for GOP to stop drifting left and be conservative again
The Politico had a good story today about the GOP's rebranding effort. I've been saying for years that we had a problem drifting towards the left with more big government under Mr. Bush's leadership. It caught up with us in 2006, when we lost the vote of the independents - mostly among populist Reagan Democrats with a throw the bums out attitude. It did not help that a large number of conservatives stayed home in protest.
From the Politico
When New Coke became a sales and public relations debacle in April 1985, parent company Coca-Cola yanked it from shelves in 79 days, reintroduced Classic Coke, pumped millions into advertising to repair its brand and roared back as the soda giant two years later.
The Republican Party hopes it can be so lucky.
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) recently created a small, ad hoc advisory group of fellow members to help restore the GOP brand as the party of small government, fiscal discipline and tough-minded foreign policy.
Examples from the corporate world, where brand rehabilitation is a lucrative specialty, prove that it is possible to save even the most damaged reputations with the right strategy.
But these lessons also highlight the challenges Republicans face trying to replicate this kind of PR magic in the 14 months before they face voters.
Corporate image experts say the key to saving a bruised brand in the marketplace is a quick response. But the Republican decline can be charted over the course of years, with little effort to correct problems in a decisive or comprehensive fashion.
We have Coke Classic (1994 Republicans) and New Coke ("Big Government Conservatives" - in reality, liberals).
The problem is simple. The GOP went away from its Reaganite and 1994 "Contract with America" roots. It moved to the left. Big government is leftist, and the GOP RAPIDLY expanded the size of government with its leftist expansion and increased spending. That's not in line with the base, and much of the base had enough. Donations are down, as is voter turnout. And through all that the media and democrats are talking about the GOP moving to the extreme right. That's absolute bullshit - Angus sized.
The problem is simple. Ethics. With idiots like Larry Craig, Duke Cunningham, Don Sherwood, and Mark Foley, we made the frontpage in the worst possible way.
The problem is simple. Communication, Plans, and general competence. That costs us more than anything else. Our national party is acting about as competent as Granholm. It doesn't know what it wants.
The GOP can make a comeback. In order to do so, it needs to do the following.
1. Primary ethicaly challenged reps - Send a message that Foleyism and Craigism is not tolerated in this party. Leave the crooks - the Norman Hsus, Gerry Sudds, Mel Reynolds, George Soros, Jack Murtha, Bill Jefferson, and Dan Rostenkowskis to the other party. (And Jack Abramoff was a switch hitter among parties for that matter backing Stabenow)
2. Stop running to the left. A message is worthless when it isn't followed. We can not run on less government, lower taxes, and fiscal responsibility when it is not being followed. If I wanted more government, I'd vote for a democrat. I don't want to vote democrat lite, and I'm just about through doing so. I held my nose with Bush twice. That's enough for me. I'd like to see some backbone for once.
3. Competence. The 02-06 GOP class sucked. The democrats 06-present class suck even worse. There's an opening for us if we go back to our roots, and present a real plan that is more than the same old talking points.
New Coke and "Big Government Conservatism" hasn't worked. Let's look back at our 1994 roots and adapt that for the future.
Labels: GOP, New Coke
State Party Leadership Race
Things are heating up behind the scenes for one of the major leadership races - RNC Committeeman. This is in fact, the earliest I've seen any campaign for party leadership position. The good news about that is that it shows that there is a lot of energy and people pushing for the job. The bad news is that things could get real negative real fast. I hope it does not go down that road, and barring a major unforseen circumstance or one or two individuals jumping in, I will refrain from going down that road here. I personally like all the candidates running, and do not have a reason to attack them on that level.
So far, there are rumors of three or four candidates jumping into this race. They are:
Chuck Yob - The incumbent. He's held this position for years. Also a candidate for Congress in 2000. He's taken a lot of heat lately, particulary related to his strong style of support of John McCain, but the Yobs have done a lot of good as well. Chuck took one for the team when he ran against Bart Stupak in 2000, being the last candidate to hold him under 60%. John Yob was one of the leaders behind Terri Land's campaign back in 2002 which was strong enough to cause the democrats to nearly abandon that race. He was also active in Jerry Zandstra's campaign, who I think would have been our best chance to win in 06.
Paul Welday - Oakland County Chair. I don't know all that much about him.
Andrew Rocky Raczkowski - Former state rep and US Senate Candidate. Rocky is a good guy who I think could have been a very good candidate in 02 if he had some support from the party. He's a strong speaker used to winning tough campaigns winning three in Farmington Hills. Since the 02 campaign, he was called up to service in the Army, and has been overseas fighing for this country.
Norm Shinkle - Ingham County Chair and former state senator. Norm's a good guy who has done a very good job from what I've seen as state chair. He's won tough districts when he was a state senator in Monroe County. He's now in the Williamston area and understands the difficulty of being chair in a county with Lansing, East Lansing, and Okemos. He's also done a good job at paying attention to the races at all levels of government, from the top of the ticket, down to the county commissioners and local levels, even the city councils.
One thing I like is that three out of the four have ran for office and know what it is like to be a candidate. All three ran in tough or long shot districts. Yob ran for Bart Stupak's seat in 2000 against very long odds. He gave it his best and at least held Stupak to under 60%, the last candidate to do so. Rocky was abandoned in his race against Carl Levin in 2002, something I really do not want to see again in 08. He knows that that's like and may avoid getting the party to chicken out of races before they even get started. Rocky has also won three times in Farmington Hills, not exactly an easy district to win. Norm Shinkle was a former state senator out in Monroe County. He now lives in Ingham County and has done a very good job out there as chair, despite being in a democrat stronghold.
One person blogging heavily on this race is Bay City's Joe Sylvester. Sylvester's site is the gossip site for Michigan Republican internal battles. I'll admit to cringing a time or two when I read it at times with some of the dirt that gets posted there, but I always go back and read it.
John Yob has started a blog as well. Great Lakes Report should be a good read on this race in the future.
If the race was decided today, Norm Shinkle would get my support. I probably know him the best of the three running, as Norm is in the 8th district. I also knew him from my time at MSU, and his work at getting MSU GOP active in the Ingham County events. He'll have a good balance of establishment support, as well as grass roots support, and we need the two to be on the same page. The gubenatorial race is open in 2010 barring a recall of the Matt Millen of governors. It will be critical for this state that we elect a competent governor, and that the RNC is working to help - not hinder (as the NRSC does) - the campaign. With his experience, I think Norm will do an excellent job for us.
With the RNC committeeman race gaining this much interest, there is one thing all four candidates for the job can do to enhance their resume - all work hard to win this state at the top of the ticket, take out Carl Marx Levin, take out Stupak, defend Walberg and Knollenberg and the rest of our delegation, and take back the state house. Then they can all campaign on "look what I did" and not go down the road about how much the "other guy sucks."
Balls in their court. Let's see what happens.
Labels: Andrew Rocky Raczkowski, Chuck Yob, Norm Shinkle, RNC Committeeman
Mackinac Conference 2007
For political junkies, this is the Michigan's Super Bowl outside of Election Day. This is an event I recommend to anyone interest in campaigns. It isn't cheap - $100 after July 13 to register (I registered early), but I'm still going.
Conference Fee: Includes credentials, conference materials, entrance to meetings, forums, and general access to the Grand Hotel. Fee does not include hotel accommodations or meals.
The meal tickets are extra (Unless you are staying at the Grand Hotel), and this year there are two candidates at each speech. I haven't decided if I'm going to any of them or not. I was at the ones for 05 and saw Brownback and Romney there. This year, the following are there:
$65 - Friday Dinner - Duncan Hunter, Rudy Giuliani
$20 - Saturday Breakfest - Ron Paul, Sam Brownback
$30 - Saturday Lunch - Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney
$65 - Saturday Dinner - Fred Thompson, John McCain
For those worried about costs, there are ways to reduce them. The first is staying outside of the island itself. I'm staying in Mackinaw City instead of on the island because of the costs differences. Another way to reduce costs is to volunteer for one of the campaigns (either presidential or other) while up there. Some campaigns take volunteers and pay for the stay with the expection of a couple of days of work up there.
There are a lot of receptions there as well. I know Chris Ward and Mike Rogers both had them in 05. With good timing, you can sometimes get a lot of one on one discussion time with some of the candidates or reps, particulary downticket. With 10 presidential candidates there, we may even be able to see that among one of them, particulary the darkhorses, maybe even a frontrunner. Newt Gingrich will also be there as well running one of the shows. He may or may not be running, but it's always an interesting event when he's speaking.
Away from the glitz, the panels there where quite good. Last year, the best one I was at was the pollsters and pundits panel. That's the middle of my element, and I'll be there for certain. I'm not sure what the other conference panels are yet, but I'll be a couple of those as well, particular if they are similar to last time.
That's not to mention that the conference is in the best part of Michigan - Up North. It's a great weekend, and I highly recommend it.
Worst non-overturned SCOTUS decision in history???...
Draft Gore and reduce jobs in Michigan even furthe...
No changes on taxes, dems can't unite their caucus...
Time for GOP to stop drifting left and be conserva...
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TURKS IN GERMANY
09 Haziran, 2018 Almanya, ETNİK VE DİNİ YAPILAR, Misafir Yazar, YABANCI DİLDE YAZILAR, YURTDIŞI TÜRKLER 1959
José Miguel DIAS ROCHA
Mesut Özil and İlkay Gündoğan are two football players of Turkish heritage who represent Germany in international football. During Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s three-day state visit to the United Kingdom last May, both of them met and posed for photos with Turkey’s president, and handed him over their signed shirts. On the shirt he presented to Erdoğan, Gündoğan wrote: “With great respect for my president”.
This meeting has sparked a huge debate in Germany. Reinhard Grindel, the president of the German football association (DFB) said: “Football and the DFB stand for values that are not sufficiently respected by Mr. Erdoğan [and it is] not good that our players are letting themselves be exploited for the good of his (election) campaign”. In addition, Grindel asserted that “the actions of these players have not helped the integration efforts of the DFB”[1]. The deputy leader of the right-wing nationalist Alternative for Germany party (AfD) Beatrix von Storch, reacted by asking: “Why is Gündoğan playing for the German national team when he recognizes Erdoğan as his president?”. By the same token, Cem Özdemir, the most prominent German politician of Turkish descent, stated that “the president of an international German footballer is called Frank-Walter Steinmeier, his chancellor Angela Merkel and his parliament the Bundestag, the headquarters of which are in Berlin and not Ankara”[2].
Along with the allowed pro-Kurdish HDP, People’s Democratic Party, (which, in the eyes of the Turkish government, is linked to the PKK – Kurdistan Workers Party) rally in Cologne, after politicians have been denied permission from German’s government to campaign ahead of the June elections in Turkey, this has been the main controversy surrounding Turkey and the Turkish community in Germany. According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), there are about 2.9 million people with Turkish background living in the country[3] – around 1.5 million are Turkish citizens, as maintained by official Germany’s government statistics[4]. That means the world’s largest Turkish community abroad is hosted by Germany and that Turks are the country’s largest immigrant group.
The mass-migration from Turkey to Germany started in 1961, when (West) Germany and Turkey signed a recruitment agreement for Gastarbeiter (guest workers) aged 18 to 45 in order for them to help the “economic miracle” of West Germany after the Second World War. Facing a severe labor shortage, and after some recruitment deals with Spain, Italy and Greece turned out not to be enough, German companies saw in cheap, low-skilled workers, coming especially from poor rural areas of Turkey, the solution to solve their needs. Three years later, in 1964, the deal was changed: the Turkish workers could stay for longer than two years. Before the end of this program in 1973, the workers were allowed to bring their families with them. Some statistics claim that between 1961 and 1973 around 750,000 Turks were accepted after applying for a job in Germany. Half of them returned to Turkey later. It is widely recognized that these workers’ integration in German’s society was never fully achieved, given that many of them were living in on-site dormitories and could not read or write made that inevitable, but, above all, because of their status (as they went to Germany as temporary workers)[5]. Gökay Sofuoğlu, chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany, maintains that “in the beginning [Turkish] people weren’t viewed as having needs, but only viewed as labor” and the fact that most of them did not learn German “denied them contact to society and everyday contact with people”[6]. The results of that initial lack of integration can still be seen nowadays. In Sofuoğlu’s opinion, in general the Turkish community does not have a sense of belonging: Not only because it faces several obstacles within German’s society due to their origins, but also for the reason that “what’s happening in Turkey is more present for Turks here than what’s happening in Germany”, mainly in terms of politics.
Turkish immigrants represent the poorest immigrant group in Germany. Their median monthly household income is 1,250€ (the average, taking into account all the immigrant groups, is almost 1,500€) and they have much smaller houses (less than 22 square meters of living space per person) than non-Turkish immigrants (almost 45 m2). The situation is not better when it comes to analyzing education skills: the number of Turkish children who have graduated from high school and university is the lowest among the immigrant communities and Turkish adults lack qualifications (more than 60% have no professional qualification)[7]. Consequently, it does not come as a surprise that Turks in Germany face an unemployment rate almost three times the national average (about 16 percent)[8]: And more than one-third (36%) of Turks live below the poverty line.
This lack of integration is also clear if one analyzes the role of religion from the viewpoint of ethnic Turks in Germany. A study produced by the Religion and Politics department of the University of Münster[9] shows that half of (ethnic Turks) respondents agree that “it is more important for me to follow the commandments of my religion than the laws of the country I am living in” and that “there is only one true religion”. (It has to be said that these perceptions are much less common in the second and third generations.)
Another point of dissent between the German population in general and people of Turkish origin is the characteristics associated to Islam. While the majority (German) society make a connection between that religion and discrimination against women (82%), fanaticism (72%) and propensity to violence (64%), the respondents of Turkish origin mostly associate Islam with respecting of human rights, solidarity, peace and tolerance.
The same survey reveals the self-perception of Turkish origin community about their own integration. “Being of Turkish origin, I have the feeling of being a second-class citizen” and “No matter how hard I try, I am not recognized as being part of German society” were statements with which more than half of people of Turkish origin agreed, which demonstrates a strong feeling of non-recognition. The good news are that around 90% of the Turkish origin respondents answered that they feel good in Germany and related to the country. In addition, the huge majority (70%) declared they wanted to integrate into the German society unconditionally and without reservation.
One of the authors of the study, Detlef Pollack, said “the message to the majority population is that we should be more sensitive to the problems that people of Turkish origin encounter. (…) It’s our view that this feeling of not being accepted is expressed in the vehement defense of Islam [Pollack was referring to the fact that a “significantly high” percentage – 7% – of those surveyed said violence is justified if the goal is to expand Islam]”[10].
A thing that one should have in mind is that Turkish community in Germany is far from being a monolithic one. Its organizations are very diverse and fragmented: politically they range “from radical left and right-wing nationalist at each extreme to mainstream organizations” and religiously one can find organizations gathering Islamists, Sunnis favoring a secular form of Islam, Alevis, etc[11]. However, usually, those disparate points of view are not enough to prevent those groups from voicing their opinion together when they believe that it is desirable/necessary, especially to “provide greater social justice for immigrants in German society”.
Be that as it may, there is an almost permanent division affecting people of Turkish roots: the one between Germany’s Kurdish and non-Kurdish Turks. Some estimates suggest almost one million Kurds are living in Germany, and the huge majority of them are Turks[12]. As a German interior ministry spokeswoman said, the country “has long been a mirror and sounding board for Turkish-Kurdish conflicts in view of the large numbers of people with Turkish backgrounds living here”[13]. This year, due to the Turkish operation in Afrin (a Kurdish-majority Syrian city), the attacks perpetrated by suspected pro-Kurdish activists on Turkish mosques, cultural organizations, and restaurants in Germany have been on the rise. From the beginning of this year until the end of March, a total of 37 attacks were recorded, while during the entirety of 2017 German police had logged 13 such attacks.
In recent years, from Gökay Sofuoğlu’s perspective, another major split has been happening: this time because of the president of Turkey. The head of the Turkish Community in Germany claims that “critics of Erdoğan and his supporters used to be able to talk to each other calmly, but that’s over”, adding that he has “never seen such deep divisions as we’re experiencing now”[14]. A discord that didn’t stop some 60% of Turkish-Germans from voting in favor of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s proposal of introducing a presidential regime in 2017 or from, three years ago, voting for AKP in the last parliamentary elections. Around 1.4 million citizens with a Turkish passport living in Germany are able to vote in the next Turkey’s snap elections.
Curiously, the majority of Turks who live in Germany vote for the Social Democrats (SPD) or the Green Party, both of them belonging to the left side of the party spectrum in Germany[15]. A study published in 2016 shows that 69.8 percent of respondents (with a Turkish background) feel a political connection with the SPD, 13.4 percent with the Greens. According to Umut Karakaş, from an opinion research institute specializing in immigrant groups, “we know that the Turks who live in Germany are actually more conservative (…) but since Turks are traditionally from the working class, they more often lean towards the left”. Before 2017 elections, of the 11 Turkish German members of the Bundestag, just one was not part of a left-leaning party. In response to this phenomenon (conservative Turks voting for leftist representatives), and since “the conservative social, cultural, and religious views of the Turkish minority are not expressed by their political representatives”, some scholars have used the term “representation gap”[16].
All in all, there are several problems faced by Turks in Germany: “Equal opportunity in the workplace and when finding a place to live, opportunity for promotion in companies and civil service” are some of the common complaints[17]. Sometimes even having a Turkish-sounding name is named as an obstacle for a full integration in Germany. And the fact that most Germans still view Turks as guests is not the most favorable context regarding their integration. As economist Thomas Straubhaar puts it, “guests are not expected to have any emotional devotion to the host, nor does the host feel any obligation to show irrevocable loyalty to the guest”[18].
Despite this, it’s hard to deny that there are some problems within the Turkish origin community: for instance, a recent survey shows that about 63 percent of Turks and people with Turkish backgrounds in Germany predominantly – or exclusively – speak Turkish and many of them just consume Turkish media[19]. These kind of statistics are examples usually used by those who claim that Turks live in a “parallel society”.
There is no magic solution for the lack of integration of Turks in Germany. And cases like the one with which we started this article are not helpful at all. But two things are certain: firstly, Turkish and Turkish origin people are in Germany to stay; and secondly, integration is a two-way street. It requires both parts (the host society and the immigrant community) to recognize their faults and act together to solve them. Detlef Pollack’s suggestion of privileging education, solid German skills, jobs, and social contact (of Turks) with non-Muslims looks a good starting point.
José Miguel DIAS ROCHA – Erasmus Volunteer for SASAM
Click here for the other articles of the author
[1] Deutsche Welle – “Mesut Özil and Ilkay Gündogan criticized for Erdogan meeting”. 05/14/2018. http://www.dw.com/en/mesut-%C3%B6zil-and-ilkay-g%C3%BCndogan-criticized-for-erdogan-meeting/a-43780509
[2] The Local – “German or Turkish? Footballers’ meeting with Erdogan stokes identity debate”. 05/15/2018. https://www.thelocal.de/20180515/ozil-gundogan-footballers-erdogan-identity-debate-world-cup
[3] Deutsche Welle – “’Turks in Germany still lack a sense of belonging’”. 10/29/2016. http://www.dw.com/en/turks-in-germany-still-lack-a-sense-of-belonging/a-36199779
[4] Destatis – “Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit”. 04/12/2018. https://www.destatis.de/DE/Publikationen/Thematisch/Bevoelkerung/MigrationIntegration/AuslaendBevoelkerung2010200177004.pdf?__blob=publicationFile
[5] Deutsche Welle – “Turkish guest workers transformed German society”.10/30/2011. http://www.dw.com/en/turkish-guest-workers-transformed-german-society/a-15489210
[6] Ibid. 3.
[7] Financial Times – “Germany’s Turkish community riven by splits ahead of poll”. 03/11/2017. https://www.ft.com/content/261f4c9e-0429-11e7-ace0-1ce02ef0def9
[8] Business Insider – “Germany hopes to integrate over 1 million migrants better than it did with Turkish immigrants in the 60s”. 08/18/2017. http://www.businessinsider.com/germany-integrate-immigrants-better-2017-8
[9] Detlef Pollack, Olaf Müller, Gergely Rosta and Anna Dieler – “Integration and Religion as seen by people of Turkish origin in Germany”. June 2016. https://www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/religion_und_politik/aktuelles/2016/06_2016/study_integration_and_religion_as_seen_by_people_of_turkish_origin_in_germany.pdf
[10] Deutsche Welle – “Study: Large number of Turks in Germany put Islam above the law”.06/16/2016. http://www.dw.com/en/study-large-number-of-turks-in-germany-put-islam-above-the-law/a-19336757
[11] Selcen Oner – “Turkish Community in Germany and the role of Turkish community organisations”. European Scientific Journal. Volume 10, Number 29, 2014.
[12] José Miguel Dias Rocha – “The Kurdish diaspora in Europe”. 04/02/2018. http://sahipkiran.org/2018/04/02/kurdish-diaspora-in-europe/
[13] Deutsche Welle – “Attacks on Turkish communities in Germany reportedly on the rise”. 03/20/2018. http://www.dw.com/en/attacks-on-turkish-communities-in-germany-reportedly-on-the-rise/a-43052462
[14] Ibid. 7.
[15] Deutsche Welle – “How will Turkish Germans vote in the country’s upcoming election?”.08/24/2017. http://www.dw.com/en/how-will-turkish-germans-vote-in-the-countrys-upcoming-election/a-40229374
[16] Şener Aktürk – “The Turkish Minority in German Politics: Trends, Diversification of Representation, and Policy Implications”. Insight Turkey Winter 2010. Volume 12, Number 1, 2010.
[18] Thomas Straubhaar – “Warum so viele Türken in Deutschland scheitern”. 05/26/2016. https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article155700942/Warum-so-viele-Tuerken-in-Deutschland-scheitern.html
[19] Ibid. 15.
Almanya'da Türk Nüfusu
Almanya'daki Türklere ilişkin istatistikler
İlkay Gündoğan
Kurdish population in Germany
statistics about Turkish population in Germany
Turkis population in Germany
TURKS IN BELGIUM
Belçika, ETNİK VE DİNİ YAPILAR, Misafir Yazar, YABANCI DİLDE YAZILAR, YURTDIŞI TÜRKLER
TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN EUROPE
Avrupa, KAMU YÖNETİMİ, Misafir Yazar, YABANCI DİLDE YAZILAR
“WHY MUSLIM INTEGRATION FAILS IN CHRISTIAN-HERITAGE SOCIETIES” – BOOK REVIEW
ETNİK VE DİNİ YAPILAR, Misafir Yazar, YABANCI DİLDE YAZILAR
Muhammed IŞIK İRAN TÜRKLERİNİN STRATEJİK ÖNEMİ
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Home » City Life
CultureMap News
Mapping a new direction: CultureMap revamps editorial department
Alamo City accolade
Alamo City crowned world's top tourist destination for 2018 once again
Paris, London, San Antonio
San Antonio deemed one of the world's best places to visit in 2018
San Antonio was deemed one of the best places in the world to visit. Photo courtesy of The Emily Morgan Hotel
After 300 years, it seems San Antonio is finally getting her due. For National Geographic's annual roundup of Places You Need to Visit in 2018, the perennial publication deemed San Antonio one of the 21 best places in the world to have an adventure.
Named among cities like Sydney and Vienna, National Geographic editors point to San Antonio's rich history, our designation as Texas' first World Heritage site, and the city's upcoming tricentennial celebration as reasons we are a must-see destination.
"Party like its 1718," the magazine writes. "Three centuries of history inspired San Antonio to throw a big-as-Texas Tricentennial Celebration. Join the year-long party at the kickoff New Year’s Eve concert and fireworks extravaganza or at any of more than 550 scheduled arts and cultural events."
Though Nat Geo's list is worldwide, two other U.S. spots made the list: Hawaii's enchanting and majestic North Shore of Oahu and, um, Cleveland.
This of course isn't the first time a major publication has declared Alamo City to be the next big thing. In 2015, the New York Times named San Antonio one of the top 52 places to go in 2015. (We were the only city in Texas on the list.)
We're going to resist the urge to point out that we know everyone should visit San Antonio, and we've been telling them this for the past three centuries. Instead, we say welcome and howdy y'all. Pull up a chair, grab a puffy taco, crack open an ice cold Tecate, and stay awhile.
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Inaugural Savannah Film Alliance Honors Gala to Recognize Film and Television Professionals September 28th
Savannah’s calendar of social events gets a glamorous new entry this year with the launch of the Savannah Film Alliance Honors Gala. The Gala will recognize and honor several key professionals for their invaluable contributions to the local film and television industry. The theme of the event will be “Old Hollywood” and will be held Saturday, September 28, at the new event venue, Victory North, located at 2603 Whitaker Street.
Entertainment will be the focal point of this red carpet event. The Savannah Film Alliance (SFA) will invite its membership of filmmakers, musicians, and actors to show off their talents throughout the night.
There is also an immersive theater experience planned for the event, whereby guests will interact and engage with live entertainers at an old Hollywood “High Society" gathering. “The immersive experience is designed to transport event attendees back in time into a glamorous alternate reality,” said Charles Bowen, founder of the SFA. “This is the cutting edge of live theater and I think people will remember this night for a long time.”
The entertainment industry is a force to be reckoned with in Georgia as it has grown in the last decade from $240 million in 2007 to almost $10 billion in 2018 with 30 to 40 productions underway in the state at any given time. In Savannah alone, the economic impact from motion picture and television productions has risen from $26 million in 2012 to $254.6 million in 2018.
While threats of a Georgia boycott have dominated the news recently, the SFA Honors Gala aims to shift the focus instead to all of the positive aspects of the local entertainment industry. “I am especially excited for the opportunity to recognize and reward all of the hard-working professionals that have transformed Savannah into one of the most sought-after filming destinations in the world,” said Bowen. “The Gala will not only be wildly entertaining, but it will shine the spotlight directly on many of the industry members who are quickly becoming shining stars – not to mention economic drivers – in our community.”
VIP tickets to the Gala are $150 and will include valet parking, early entry at 6:30 p.m., private performances and meet and greets, a professional photo on the red carpet, a special award, and a VIP swag bag.
General admission tickets are $75 and will allow entry when the doors open at 7:30 p.m.
All attendees will enjoy live entertainment, heavy hors d’oeuvres, and an open bar. The honors ceremony will begin at 8:30 p.m. and an onsite after party will last from 9:30 until 11 p.m.
Sponsorship opportunities, including the title sponsorship, are available at several levels.
For more information on tickets and sponsorships, visit www.SavannahFilmAlliance.org.
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Fast Lane Racing Blog
The Official Fast Lane Racing Blog
Team Blogs Find your favorite team blogs here.
2012 - Comedian Adam Carolla Wins
by Fast Lane Racing in Toyota Pro / Celebrity Races
Comedian and car enthusiast, Adam Carolla, takes the overall win in the 2012 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race while Drifter, Fredric Aasbø, wins Pro
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 14, 2012)
Comedian/actor Adam Carolla sped to the finish line in the 2012 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, triumphing over a field of film, television, music and sports stars in an exceptionally exciting and competitive event. The roaring crowd witnessed a thrilling battle for first place in a tight field of drivers, with a late-race surge by actor Hill Harper that surprised drivers and fans alike. Scion drift driver and 2010 Formula Rookie of the Year Fredric Aasbø finished first in the Pro category.
Carolla, host of acclaimed comedy podcast "Adam Carolla Show," co-creator of "The Man Show" and a contestant on the current season of "The Celebrity Apprentice," made a daring maneuver when he passed the pole position starter, actor Kim Coates, as the two sped around a corner in the fourth lap.
Carolla maintained his lead throughout the remainder of the race, despite the rally by Harper, who seemed to come out of nowhere as he challenged Carolla for the lead in the final laps. Carolla and Harper battled it out for victory, with Carolla finishing less than one second ahead of the "CSI: NY" actor.
From his race start in the fourth row, Harper's second-place finish was particularly impressive. In the pro category, Aasbø fought his way to a fourth-place finish overall, closing the 30-second delay of the professional drivers to end up just six seconds behind Carolla.
"In my past races, I finished third and ninth, so I expected to finish somewhere between 15th and 18th this time," Carolla said. "But it's a really amazing feeling to win. And I'm also thrilled to benefit the kids at the children's hospitals—and also the parents, who are by their kids' side around the clock. This win is for the parents!"
"This race was extremely competitive," said Les Unger, national motorsports manager with Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. "Adam really pulled it out, but Hill Harper's unexpected challenge in the final laps had the fans holding their breath. It's not unusual for a celebrity to come in first overall, but for the celebrity drivers to compete neck-and-neck is exciting. These drivers were incredibly competitive, and the crowd was just thrilled. All their enthusiasm is, ultimately, for a great cause, and the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race is proud to be able to make it happen."
Aasbø spent the duration of the race battling to overcome the pros' 30-second handicap, quickly weaving among the racers. Though he was unable to make it to the front of the field, Aasbø did score the best lap time of any driver, making the circuit in 1:47:107.
Aasbø was happy to stand on the victory stage alongside Carolla and said, "I am so excited just to have been a part of the race, competing alongside all these great people. I feel like I have made a group of great friends here, and I am so grateful to Toyota for putting this all together to benefit the children's hospitals."
FINAL RACE RESULTS
Position Class Name Laps Time
1 Celebrity Adam Carolla 10 18:29.315
2 Celebrity Hill Harper 10 18:30.081
3 Celebrity Biff Gordon 10 18:34.373
4 Pro Fredric Aasbø 10 18:35.334
5 Celebrity Rutledge Wood 10 18:35.864
6 Celebrity Cain Velasquez 10 18:39.866
7 Pro William Fichtner 10 18:41.977
8 Celebrity Adrien Brody 10 18:44.421
9 Pro Jim Jonsin 10 18:49.668
10 Celebrity Kate del Castillo 10 18:51.279
11 Celebrity Jerry Westlund 10 18:53.067
12 Celebrity Jillian Barberie Reynolds 10 18:53.504
13 Pro Bryan Clauson 10 19:06.241
14 Celebrity Doug Fregin 10 19:18.956
15 Celebrity Eileen Dickinson 10 19:43.266
16 Celebrity Eddie Cibrian 9 18:44.896
17 Celebrity Kim Coates 7 12:58.700
18 Celebrity Brody Jenner 3 5:32.671
Toyota will donate $5,000 to Racing for Kids in the name of each celebrity racer and an additional $5,000 to Carolla's charity of choice, Catholic Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
Racing for Kids is a national nonprofit program benefiting children's hospitals in Long Beach and Orange County, California.
Toyota has donated more than $2 million on behalf of the race and its participants to various children's hospitals since 1991.
Additionally, a $15,000 donation was made in conjunction with the annual People Pole Award. Sponsored by People magazine, the award was given to actor Kim Coates' charity of choice, One Heart Source (in Africa).
The Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race is scheduled to be broadcast on the Speed Channel on Saturday, April 28, and will be re-air numerous times. (See local listings or www.speedtv.com for details.)
Quotes And Trivia:
Jillian Barberie Reynolds: "OMG, I finished!"
Adam Corolla, extremely touched by the Hospital visit on Thursday, thanked the parents of the sick children for their commitment to their children.
Kim Coates: "this race is truly special" was ecstactic to win money for oneheartsource.org (in Africa) by qualifying on the pole.
"I'm so happy to win this donation for One Heart Source (in Africa).
That $15,000 is going to be put to such good use in an organization my daughter is active with; I couldn't be more thrilled"
Hill Harper: "I thought we had one more lap, I would have pressured Adam and been a bit more aggressive"
FAST LANE Instructor, Jim Bishop: "Considering Harper Hill's first weekend of training, I'm so impressed at how he did in the race. He was really putting pressure on Adam and who knows what would have happened with a couple of more laps - definitely gets the "hard charger award" in my book."
Although Brody Jenner was taken out of the race fairly early, he was a great sport and kept a good attitude by giving the field a thumbs up as they passed his car (which sadly stayed parked between T9 and T10 for the entire race)
Danny McKeever: "This year's group of TGPLB Pro/Celebrity competitors were unique in that they continued to support one another and give each other confidence. Adam Carolla ran a solid race and deserved his win! My heartfelt congratulations goes out to all competitors for reaching their individual goals ".
38th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Danny McKeever finishes his 28th year leading the instruction for the Toyota Pro/Celebrity race.
Visit our Facebook page (Danny McKeever's FAST LANE), follow us on Twitter @FASTLANE_racing or join the conversation with the participants at #TPCR.
2011- Actor William Fichtner Celebrates
2013 - Host Rutledge Wood Wins
Fast Lane Racing
FastLane Racing...
http://RaceSchool.com
The 10 Weirdest Formula 1 Cars Of All Time - Uncategorized Jul 22
From 14 MPH To 270 MPH: The History of Fastest - Uncategorized Jul 21
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FAST LANE trains celebrities for the annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race - TGPLB
As part of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (TGPLB) event, each year your favorite film, TV and sports stars duel it out on the city streets of Long Beach in the Toyota Pro / Celebrity Race.
Before each race, the celebrities train at FAST LANE at Willow Springs Raceway. Check out the fun in FAST LANE pictures below and FAST LANE footage in the videos section!
Toyota Racing donates huge amounts of money every year to the very worthy charity Racing For Kids. The events raise over a million dollars each year to hospitals in Long Beach and Orange County. The burning of rubber on the race track is a chance to support these children in the area while raising awareness to the work of the local hospitals.
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Syria Ready to Participate in Intra-Syrian Dialogue in Geneva: FM
Syria is ready to take part in talks in Geneva and hopes that the dialogue will help it form a national unity government, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said Thursday during a visit to Beijing.
The UN Security Council last Friday unanimously approved a resolution endorsing an international road-map for a Syrian peace process, a rare show of unity among major powers on a conflict that has claimed more than a quarter of a million lives.
The UN plans to convene peace talks in Geneva towards the end of January.
Moualem, who spoke to reporters in English, said he had told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Syria was “ready to participate in the Syrian-Syrian dialogue in Geneva without any foreign interference”.
“Our delegation will be ready as soon as we receive a list of the opposition delegation,” he said.
“We hope that this dialogue will be successful to help us in having a national unity government,” Moualem said, standing next to Wang at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Reuters reported.
“This government will compose a constitutional committee to look for a new constitution with a new law of election so the parliamentary election will be held within the period of 18 months, more or less.”
Friday’s resolution gives UN blessing to a plan negotiated earlier in Vienna that calls for a ceasefire, talks between the Syrian government and opposition and a roughly two-year timeline to create a unity government and hold elections.
Wang over the weekend invited Syrian government and opposition figures to China as it looks to ways to help with the peace process.
– CHINESE CONCERNS
“China’s position is very clear. We believe Syria’s future, its national system, including its leadership, should be decided and set by the people of Syria,” Wang said in response to a question on China’s position regarding President Bashr al-Assad’s role in Syria’s future.
“China’s role on the Syrian issue is to promote peace and negotiations … China hopes to see peaceful, stable and developing Middle East,” Wang added.
China has played host to both Syrian government and opposition figures before, though it remains a peripheral diplomatic player in the crisis.
While relying on the region for oil supplies, China tends to leave Middle Eastern diplomacy to the other permanent members of the UN Security Council, namely the United States, Britain, France and Russia.
China has its own security concerns in Syria, though it has not joined in the bombing of ISIL.
“China believes that any and all efforts to combat terrorism should be respected and supported,” Wang said.
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Over 200,000 take to the street in Taiwan in final push for legalizing same-sex marriage
by Shanghaiist
A massive crowd of protesters tried to provide the final push of encouragement as Taiwan teeters on the edge of becoming the first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
Estimated by organizers to number between 200,000 and 250,000 by 4 p.m. on Saturday, gay marriage supporters continued to stream in and gather in front of the presidential palace on Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard well into the evening despite a steady drizzle of rain.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has shown her support in favor of same-sex marriage. In response to Saturday’s rally, a presidential spokesperson quoted Tsai as saying, “All comrades have the right to marriage,” using the slang term for “homosexuals” that has been appropriated by the gay community from its CCP roots — though the Party is trying to take it back.
This weekend’s rally comes at a time when a bill to legalize same-sex marriage is on the verge of becoming law in Taiwan, requiring the support of just one more legislator to capture a house majority.
The new law would alter Taiwan’s definition of marriage by removing the terms “man” and “woman” and replacing them with “two people.”
The Alliance of Taiwan Religious Groups for the Protection of Family spokesperson David Tseng conceded that Saturday’s protest was large, but pointed out that last week’s protest against legalizing same-sex marriage had drawn an estimated 200,000 participants, as well.
Tseng said that Taiwan should resist following the example set by Western nations like Canada and the US, reasoning that the island has its own identity that is rooted in Confucian values.
“They want to amend the law to do away with the ‘father’ and ‘mother’ altogether. But we are different from the West,” said Tseng. “In Eastern culture, we place great importance on filial piety to one’s father and mother. This is a virtue we must keep.”
Pro-family groups have been successful in getting Taiwan’s legislature to agree to hold two public hearings before the bill moved forward, stalling its progress. Still, pro-same-sex marriage groups are hoping to have the new law passed before the end of the current legislative session this month.
The topic of marriage equality was first raised by Taiwan’s executive branch in 2003 but encountered fierce opposition from cabinet members and conservatives from the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party. A previous attempt to pass a same-sex marriage law in Taiwan failed in 2013. However, in January, the pro-gay rights Democratic Progressive Party won a sweeping victory at the polls, taking over Taiwan’s legislature and presidency.
Tsai Ing-wen has openly voiced her support for gay marriage. During last year’s Pride celebrations, Tsai posted a video to her Facebook page backing marriage equality. All Taiwanese should have “the freedom to love and choose their own happiness,” Tsai’s message read.
By Charles Liu
[Images via Apple Daily / United Daily News]
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Nº 2517 - Outubro de 2011
Revistas desde 2004
2517 - Outubro de 2011
Why was the formation of NATO sought by Britain as the solution to its defense dilemma?
Vários conferencistas
This article will examine how the North Atlantic Treaty Organization allowed the UK, in the early stage of the Cold War, to maintain some global power. In many cases, it acted as a bridge between Western European and American interests. Its role was sometimes misunderstood, mainly by the French, who in the 1960s called Britain the American Trojan horse. Perceiving the decline of the Empire and its lack of resources in the early stage of the Cold War, British politicians tried to preserve the UK´s world position as a Third Force within an Anglo-Saxon alliance that would protect Western Europe from the Soviet threat and would preserve strategic British positions in a world marked by the confrontation of the two superpowers.
1. Britain’s position in the new post-war order
The first years of peace after the Second World War led gradually to the perception in British official circles that the United Kingdom could no longer project its global power as it used to be. The basic and undeniable fact was that it was to become a junior partner of the United States in a world dominated by two superpowers. Given the limitations on its resources the United Kingdom would have to adapt to the new coming reality and reformulate its foreign policy and defense strategy in a context where Germany was no longer a great threat, the United States an ally, the Soviet Union was aiming to interfere in “its” Mediterranean, and Europe was recovering from the millions of deaths, serious economic damages and a crisis of self-confidence. Still, the United Kingdom wanted to succeed as a third force on the world stage.
Britain had no longer large military capabilities and economic wealth, but its political capabilities defined, as Paul Viotti does, by “human resources, reputation, technology and the nature of its political system and political culture”1, were still high prized in international diplomatic and military circles.
In 1946 Nehru´s announcement of India´s intentions to become independent gave rise in the United Kingdom to heated debates over the future of the Commonwealth. The new British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, accepted different approaches to this issue. Nonetheless, he was still hoping that India would recognize the British crown as the common link of the Commonwealth2. As if this was not enough, in October 1948 the Irish Prime Minister announced in Ottawa that the Republic of Ireland would leave the Commonwealth.
On the eve of a special Conference in April 1949 some meetings that took place at Downing Street showed that the Indians were not going to accept easily the British Crown as the Head of the Commonwealth. Times had changed and on 27 April India´s government informed the others governments of the Commonwealth that “India shall become a republic”, although accepting the “King as the symbol” of the organization3. The conference had made it clear that the new decolonized nations were determined to choose their own political way. But, even more important, it had also emerged that these new countries might not follow the defense and security policy of the United Kingdom, specially, towards the Soviet Union. In fact, when the British have put the question whether the solidarity of war time would remain in peace time, Nehru´s response was that the real problems that were affecting Asia had their origins in poverty rather than in communism. So, why was it necessary for the Commonwealth a defense commitment against communism? By contrast, Pakistan expressed its worry about the Soviet threat4. The British conversations with India, once the “jewel in the imperial crown”, and Pakistan during 1947, 1948 and 1949 had stressed the need for the United Kingdom to find new allies in order to guarantee a stable security to the country within and outside Europe5.
Palestine, the mandate held by Britain since the break-up of the Ottoman Empire, considered to be vital by the British Chiefs of Staff for the UK´s position in the Middle East6, was now the goal of thousands Jewish refugees that were not willing to return to their European countries after having
experienced the holocaust. The British military and some circles of the Foreign Office, including Ernest Bevin, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, believed that the loss of Palestine would endanger the Suez Canal and the Cold War Strategy7. In Greece the ongoing civil war was been supported, on governmental forces side, by the United Kingdom against communist partisans. In late 1946 the British Prime Minister´s concerns about the extremely high level of overseas military expenditure, led him to argue that it was better to the UK to withdraw from Greece and Palestine8. All these events took place in a context in which Britain´s financial position was rapidly deteriorating.
Despite all this, the withdraw of strategic positions in the Middle East was seen in British official circles as a loss of prestige, whereas the military had serious concerns about the implications it might have to the strategy of deterrence regarding the Soviets. As a matter of fact, Attlee´s views on a retreat from the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean was seen by the Chiefs of Staff as another Munich9. The Middle East should remain one of the main pillars in British defense strategy10. But how could the United Kingdom’s domestic situation, dominated by enormous external debts, exacerbated by food and coal shortages, relying on US loans, exposed to a rebellion in Palestine and the demands of Egypt concerning the Suez Canal, and having to face the withdrawal from India, in a context of a shifting influence from Britain to the US, still allowed the UK to project power in the world?
2. The United Kingdom and the aim to build a Third Force
2.1 The European cooperation, 1946-1948
It is important to highlight, as Niall Ferguson does, that the alliance the UK had had with the US during the Second War World was “a suffocating embrace; but was born of necessity”11. Britain became very dependent on American credit and British perception was that the US was taking advantage of its financial weakness. The former World´s banker became, after 1945, a humble credit supplicant. According to economist John Keynes, who had been sent to Washington to negotiate with American creditors, the US was aiming to “pick out the eyes of the British Empire”12.
Wanting the country to regain autonomy in world politics and despite Attlee´s objections concerning an involvement in continental affairs, British official circles led by Ernest Bevin, began to support the idea of having closer ties to Europe in order to refrain from being too dependent on the US. Bevin was advocating a stronger French-British cooperation which was aimed to build up a defensive-political Western bloc with complementary economic and commercial advantages. Already in September 1945 Bevin had already told the French politician Léon Blum that he was keen to work closer with France13. The foreign secretary saw such a cooperation as a way that would enable the United Kingdom to create a “third force” that would establish a strong UK position between the US and the Soviet Union14. On 4 March 1947 the treaty of Dunkirk was signed between France and the UK.
The British saw European integration as contributing to the solution of their weakness. On the other hand, the French had fears of a revival of a strong Germany. But like the United Kingdom, France was an impoverished ex-great power with extreme internal political divisions, even among Gaullists, and still marked by the stigma of Nazi collaboration. Additionally, as historians Young and Kent stress, the deep distrust of the Foreign office of communists in the French government was also an obstacle to a solid French-British cooperation15.
In the meanwhile, the situation in the Middle East and in the Eastern Mediterranean was becoming more challenging and the United Kingdom had no other solution but to call for American support. It is important to highlight that due to India´s independence the British began to focus more their efforts on the Middle East16. At the end of the day, European cooperation was still too weak to bring effective solutions to British strategic positions in the world. Therefore, Bevin had to look for American support in order to supply the economic and military aid the Greek government required to resist communist rebels. It is also important to highlight that the American involvement in Greece and Turkey in 1947 must be seen within the framework of the Truman doctrine which stated “The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms”17.
At the annual conference of the Conservative Party, both Churchill and Eden highlighted three main objectives for British foreign policy. “First, unity within the British Commonwealth and Empire. Second, unity with Western Europe. Third, unity across the Atlantic”18. Although, at the time, Churchill was not in power, the concept of the three interrelated aims had some influence in British official circles. The above-mentioned aims were seen as complementary rather than antagonistic.
In 1948 the Czechoslovakia coup led some Western governments to draw the conclusion that the Soviets had aggressive intentions towards Eastern Europe. The Soviets were in fact infiltrating key governmental posts in order to create in Eastern Europe loyal governments to Moscow. According to John Thomas, the role of communist ideology may be exaggerated. In some cases, communists were successful because they knew how to exploit resentments against Nazis or Fascists19. The same year of the Czechoslovakia´s coup, Britain, France and the BENELUX (Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands) formed a military alliance, the Brussels Treaty. The treaty provided for a response by all signatories, if one or more members were to be attacked.
2.2 The prospect of an Atlantic cooperation
In 1946 Attlee had realistically recognized that the British Empire and the Commonwealth could no longer be defended by itself as it has happened in old times: “The conditions which made it possible to defend a string of possessions scattered over five continents by means of a fleet based on island fortresses have gone”20. In fact, new military technologies as the long-range air power and the Soviet Union´s closer interest in strategic Mediterranean bases, which had emerged since at least 194421, made it gradually necessary for the British government to cooperate with the Americans. This cooperation was to become successful in Greece and Iran, among others. Moreover, the European Recovery Program, known as the Marshall Plan after secretary Marshall, announced aid to Europe in a Harvard speech, was certainly to be a successful effort to assist Europe economically and win the battle for the hearts and minds of Western Europeans.
By 1948 the United Kingdom was still hegemonic in the Persian Gulf and had to maintain an army in Europe, but had no reliable allies in Europe. To assure the UK´s security needs all over the world, to assist the defense of Western Europe and to allow the decrease of the burden of military expenditure, Bevin began to promote the idea of a Western European joint defense bloc which would be backed by the US. In this task he was being informally encouraged by Marshall22. As Michael Howard has put it, by 1948 there was no “European security and defense identity”23. As a matter of fact, a Western European military cooperation independent of the Americans was unrealizable due to the deep mistrust between the Western European countries. Therefore, it was crucial for Washington and for the Europeans to consider an involvement of the US in a defensive European system in order to face the Soviet threat.
It is also important to highlight that Bevin´s anti-communism played a significant role on the accomplishment of the idea of the Atlantic alliance. Already in 1946 the foreign secretary had written to Attlee, stressing the danger for the UK of the Soviet threat, “The Russians have decided upon an aggressive policy based on military communism and Russian chauvinism (…)”24. Regarding this, Young and Kent claim the importance of Bevin´s notion of a united anti-communist force of Social-Democrats backed by the US. William Wallace argues that the emergence of the Soviet threat made the US alliance more essential for the British defense policy25. But probably the key factor that led the British to advocate with such fervor the North Atlantic Treaty was the desire of preserving the UK´s world position. There is also some evidence to suggest that having to leave the notion of a “Third force” by way of the leadership of a European cooperation, the UK sought to pursue the same concept with the “special relationship with the US”. The UK would be a kind of bridge between Europe and Washington. As a matter of fact, from the very beginning Britain had played a pivotal role by convincing the French of the political and military advantages the creation of NATO would bring to Paris26.
Martin Folly has brought up evidence by which Bevin´s role was also crucial convincing the Americans, since the Prague Coup, that it was absolutely necessary a security alliance between Western Europe and the US against the Soviets. Folly has demonstrated that it was the British that had pointed out that the Marshall Plan was not enough to contain the Soviet threat27. Finally, discussions on this issue began, led by Arthur Vandenberg. On June 1948 Vandenberg presented the general outlines of a military pact. It would include Europe, the US, the Algerian departments of France and the islands possessions of the European countries which were about to become members of the future North Atlantic Treaty organization (NATO)28. The treaty, signed on 4 April 1949, stated that “the parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all (…)”29.
3. The United Kingdom and NATO in the early years of the cold war
The North Atlantic Treaty emphasized from its beginning, that the majority of Western European countries were determined to resist the Soviet threat in all its forms, ideological, economic and political. As Gann and Duignan had stressed it, the members of NATO could leave it as they please, which was not to be the case of the Warsaw Pact´s members that had to be under the Diktat of the USSR30. Nevertheless, NATO´s members were unequal in practice, which would cause problems in the future. As a matter of fact, even at an early stage, when the NATO´s treaty was still being debated, it was only done between the British, the Canadians and the Americans. This fact was to have serious implications in the next years, mainly on French´s side. Nevertheless, the Treaty was a clear message to the Soviets that “the Western European powers were going to stand together and not allow themselves to fall prey to communist parties beholden to Moscow”31. Even countries that did not enter the Treaty understood the message. For instance, Spain was not a member of NATO, but agreed in 1953 to allow the Americans to have access to a base in Spanish territory32.
The first serious clashes between NATO´s members began with the prospect of Western Germany´s rearmament. Whereas the US and the UK saw this rearmament as a necessity to defend Western Europe against the Soviets, the French had fears of a military resurgence of Western Germany. Since 1949 Germany was split into two states, i.e., the German Federal Republic, created in May 1949, which was followed in October of the same year by the German Democratic Republic.
For the British it was essential to protect the territory on the East of the Rhine. For this purpose they considered of being crucial the creation of a German military force. The French were shocked and obviously against it. In 1950 Paris proposed the Pleven plan, aiming to create a supranational European army as part of a European Defense Community (EDC). In 1952 talks over an EDC´s agreement were marked by heated debates. For the French the EDC would create a European army that would remove the prospect of a German army33. Nonetheless, as the EDC endangered the cohesion of NATO the British refused to be a part of it and the project was finally rejected when the French National Assembly refused to ratify it. In 1954 an agreement was reached on the acceptance of Western Germany as a full new member of NATO.
4. The United Kingdom: the Trojan horse of the US?
In the 1960s de Gaulle´s fears that the United Kingdom would turn to be the Trojan horse of the US, led France in 1963 to veto the country´s admission to the EEC. De Gaulle saw Europe and, above all, France, as been threatened by the US hegemony and the UK as an American subordinate. As Stanley Hoffman has put it, the Gaullists presented “Europe as a sleeping princess guarded by the American tutor, whom the Prince Charming tries to awaken”34. In fact, Gaullists argued again and again that Europe had to turn into a second force in the West, rather to become a mere Third Force. Therefore, it became gradually clear that de Gaulle wanted to challenge the US leadership in the Western world. Moreover, he saw in the UK´s decision to buy Polaris missiles from the US the proof that Britain “was committed to maintain a special relationship with the US in preference to Europe”35.
In order to give France a better position within NATO and after the dissatisfaction provoked by the US intervention in the Suez crisis against the French and British interests, de Gaulle proposed in 1958 a tripartite NATO directorate which would include the US, the UK and France. De Gaulle´s proposal was not even answered by the US. The French viewed NATO as a “merely extension of the Anglo-American alliance”36 and were determined to rank France as third in authority within it. Writing in 1961, Edgar Furniss claimed that de Gaulle was aiming “to raise France to the facto equality with the Anglo-Saxon powers”. According to Furniss, that explained why he announced that the Mediterranean fleet would be under French orders alone37. Explaining its decision to take the Mediterranean fleet out of NATO command, de Gaulle said: “I observe (…) that the two other great powers of the Atlantic alliance (…) the United States and Great Britain have taken steps to prevent the greater part of their naval forces from being integrating into NATO”38. In order to mark his determination to led France to a dignified position according to what he considered to be suitable to the French rank’s position in international relations, de Gaulle developed a nuclear “force de frappe” and withdrew France from NATO´s organization in 1966. But, as Robert Kleiman has stressed it in a book on NATO published in 1965 “With or without de Gaulle, the likelihood has always existed that a revived and united Europe, increasingly independent of the United States, one day might go its own way”39.
The British too had been unhappy at the UK´s junior role in the Anglo-American partnership. Already in the 1950s Eden had realized that “Britain was a poor country which was grossly overstretched as a major colonial power and must face harsh realities, he could not accept that she had became a satellite of the United States”40. Nonetheless, in order to maintain British position in the world, although conscious of Britain´s decline and of the shift of global leadership from the UK to the US, it was necessary for London to accommodate to an Atlantic alliance that would allow the UK to play a significant role in the Cold War and in Western European security. Nonetheless, the price the UK had to pay for the “special relations with the US” was sometimes high. For instance, in 1963 Germany supported French veto of Britain´s entry into EEC because, as Nathalia Pinchuk has put it, “enlargement towards a state, which was very little inspired by the perspective to cooperate in the realm of foreign and defense policy, would weaken European dynamic of unification”41.
William Wallace stresses that the guidelines of British foreign and defense policy during the early stage of Cold War were based in three circles. According to the author, the UK´s position as a world power in the first decade that followed the end of the Second World War was focused on three aspects. The first, emphasized the Commonwealth and the Empire. The second, concerned Western Europe. Finally, the third, stressed the Atlantic relations. Wallace argues that it was the shrinkage of imperial political and military ties that led the transatlantic circle to becoming gradually more important for London. Wallace highlights that, within the “transatlantic circle”, the UK had acquired an important share of military power and was able to cooperate with the US in terms of “special relations” that allowed London to have significant advantages in the nuclear and the intelligence fields42. It cannot also be forgotten that for the US a reliable ally in Europe, as the UK, was not easy to replace, since neither France, nor the German Federal Republic were trustful.
To conclude, it could be said, as William Wallace did it, that the gradual withdrawal from empire “only reinforced the conviction that Britain´s foreign policy was predicated on the maintenance of a position as America´s closest European ally”. UK´s status as great power had substantially declined in a context of a major confrontation between two superpowers which had emerged after the Second War World. Therefore, the transatlantic alliance was the best option for the British. It would allow the UK to maintain a significant share of military power within the NATO, along with the protection of its interests in Europe and also, mainly in the early stage of the Cold War, to preserve its strategic interests in the Middle East. At the end of the day, the UK knew how to adapt to the new world order and played an important role in Western European security.
Adamthwaite, Anthony (1985), “Britain and the World 1945-1949: the View from the Foreign Office”, International Affairs, vol. 61, no. 2, pp. 223-235. Available from http://www.jstor.org/stable/261748212.
Cerny, Karl (1965), NATO in Quest of Cohesion, Washington: Hoover Institution Publications.
Ferguson, Niall (2004), Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power, New York: Basic Books.
Folly, Martin (1988), “Breaking the “Vicious Circle”: Britain, the US and the Genesis of the North Atlantic Treaty”, Diplomatic History , 12, 1, pp. 59-77.
Furniss, Edgar (1961), “De Gaulle´s France and NATO: an Interpretation”, International Organization, vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 349-365. Available from http:// www.jstor.org/stable/2705337.
Gann, L.H. and Duignan, Peter (1998), Contemporary Europe and the Atlantic Alliance, Oxford: Blackwell.
Gyorgy, Andrew, i.a. (1970), Problems in International Relations, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Hoffmann, Stanley (1995), The European Sisyphus, Boulder: Westview Press.
Howard, Michael (1995), “1945-1995: Reflections on Half a century of British Security Policy”, International Affairs, vol. 71, no. 4, pp. 705-715. Available from http:// www.jstor.org.stable/26250993.
Kahler, Miles (1984), Decolonization in Britain and France, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kent, John (1993), British Imperial Strategy and the Origins of the Cold War 1944-1949, Leicester: Leicester University Press.
MacIntyre, W. David (1998), British Decolonization 1946-1996, New York: St. Martin´s Press.
Nijman, Jan (1993), The Geopolitics of Power and Conflict: Superpowers in the International System 1945-1992, New York: Belhaven Press.
Pinchuk, Natallia, “Power, Security and German EU-Enlargement Policy towards Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom”, Working Paper, 3rd ECPR Graduate Conference, Dublin, 30 August-1 September 2010. Available from http://www.ecprnet.eu/databases/conferences/papers/328.pdf.
Smith, Raymond and Zamatica, John (1985), “The Cold Warrior: Clement Attlee Reconsidered 1945-1947”, International Affairs, vol. 61, No. 2, pp. 237-252. Available from http://www.jstor.org/stable/26174822.
Viotti, Paul and Kauppi, Mark (2001), International Relations and World Politics: Security, Economy, Identity, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Wallace, William (1992), “British Foreign Policy Wallace, William (1992), “British Foreign Policy after the Cold War”, International Affairs, vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 423-442. Available from http: www.Jstor.org/stable/2622964.
Young, John and Kent, John (2004), International Relations since 1945: a Global History, Oxford: Oxford University Press
* A autora agradece os comentários do Professor Marcus Faulkner durante o processo de elaboração do presente texto.
** Doutora em Ciência Política e Relações Internacionais, com especialização em Política Internacional, da Universidade do Minho. Foi docente na área de Relações Internacionais em universidades da América Latina. Actualmente é investigadora na Universidade de Coimbra. Os seus interesses de investigação centram-se, presentemente, em assuntos relacionados com o sistema internacional de segurança, assim como em questões de defesa e de geopolítica. Entre as suas publicações contam-se o livro As Relações entre Portugal e a Alemanha em Torno da África, Lisboa, Instituto Diplomático, 2006.
1 Viotti, Paul and Kauppi, Mark (2001), International Relations and World Politics, New Jersey, p. 86.
2 McIntyre, W. David (1998), British Decolonization, Basingstoke, p. 112.
3 Id., p. 113.
4 Id., p. 116
5 Regarding this issue it is important to highlight also the manpower contribution of Indian soldiers to the First and the Second War at the British Army.
6 Kent, John (1993), British Strategy and the Origins of the Cold War 1944-1949, Leicester, p.54.
7 Id.
10 See Young, John and Kent, John (2004), International Relations since 1945: a Global History, Oxford; Smith, Raymond and Zamatica, John (1985), “The Cold Warrior: Clement Attlee Reconsidered 1945-1947”, International Affairs, vol. 61, No. 2, p. 245 and ff.
11 Ferguson, Niall (2004), Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Global Lessons for Global Power, New York, p. 294.
13 Kent (1993), p. 117.
14 Adamthwaite, Anthony (1985), “Britain and the World 1945-1949: the View from the Foreign Office”, International Affairs, vol. 61, no. 2, p. 234.
15 Young, John and Kent, John (2004), p. 128.
16 See Kahler, Miles (1983) , Decolonization in Britain and France, p. 131.
17 Cited in Nijman (1993), The Geopolitics of Power and Conflict, p. 53.
18 Cited in Kahler (1983), p.132.
19 Id, p. 14.
20 Attlee, March 1946 cited in Ferguson, N., p. 299.
21 See Kent, p.54.
22 Gyorgy (ed), p. 128.
23 Howard, Michael (1995), “1945-1995: Reflections on Half a Century of British Security Policy”, International Affairs, vol. 71, no. 4, pp.714.
24 Cited in Smith and Zamatica, p. 249.
25 Wallace, William (1992), “British Foreign Policy After the Cold War”, International Affairs, vol. 48, no. 3, p. 426
26 See on this subject Young and Kent, p. 129 and ff.
27 Folly, Martin (1988), “Breaking the “Vicious Circle”: Britain, the US and the Genesis of the North Atlantic Treaty”, Diplomatic History 12, 1, p. 66 and ff.
28 Id., p. 130.
30 Gann, L.H. and Duignan, Peter (1998), Contemporary Europe and the Atlantic Alliance, Oxford pp. 148-149.
31 Young and Kent, p. 129.
33 Yound and Kent, p.138.
34 Hoffmann, Stanley (1995), The European Sisyphus, p. 40.
36 Furniss, Edgar (1961), p. 351.
37 Id., p.352.
38 De Gaulle, Press Conference, March 25, 1955, cited in Furniss, p. 352.
39 Kleiman, Robert, “Background for Atlantic Partnership”, in Cerny, Karl (1965), NATO in Quest of Cohesion, Washington, 1965, p.436.
40 Rhodes, James, Eden cited in Ruane, Kevin (1994), “Anthony Eden, British Diplomacy and the origins of the Geneva Conference”, p. 161.
41 Pinchuk, Natallia, “Power, Security and German EU-Enlargement Policy towards Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom”, Working Paper, 3rd ECPR Graduate Conference, Dublin, 30 August-1 September 2010.
42 Wallace (1992), “British Foreign Policy after the Cold War”, pp. 426-427.
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Matt Foster – Georgia’s Gentleman
October 1, 2013 Featured
Matt Foster with a group of his students in Cedartown, Ga.
Matt Foster is a true gentleman from Georgia. When it comes to looking at the next generation of leaders for the South, look no further than to Mr. Foster. He’s currently running in his first election for public office, as City Commissioner of Cedartown.
Born-and-raised in Cedartown, Foster graduated from Cedartown High School in 2002 to go on to the University of Georgia. He spent four glorious years in Athens where he majored in Political Science, and was fortunate to study abroad at Oxford University. After coming home from England, Foster knew more than ever he wanted to make a difference in the world.
After graduating from UGA, he signed on as a legislative aide at Georgia’s Capitol in the House of Representatives, yet he realized where his strengths could truly shine. After working at a summer camp in Quebec, he decided to pursue teaching, and for the past six years, he’s been in the classroom of Northside Elementary School in Cedartown teaching 4th and 5th grade Social Studies. Now he’s looking to his next endeavor in his own hometown.
PrettySouthern.com was privileged to catch up with Foster to talk about his campaign, his beloved town, and what it means to call the South home.
How do you define a Southerner?
I grew up in the New South, so my personal definition of a Southerner isn’t tied to who your ancestors were, or which Confederate militia your great great grandfather fought in. I think those stereotypes are outdated and don’t describe what being a Southerner really is all about. I think you can move to the South from just about anywhere in the world and still consider yourself a Southerner, so long as you’re the type of person who works hard and takes pride in being Southern, you care for the people around you, enjoy the small things in life, and don’t take “no” for an answer. We tend to be stubborn and set in our ways, but also very warm and outgoing to help out anyone in need. If this definition describes you, well then “Welcome South, Brother”.
Foster’s tailgate at UGA vs. LSU on Sept. 28, 2013.
How do you define a gentleman?
I was Atlanta last year, during the SEC game, UGA vs Alabama. As we were watching the clock run down on the best (yet most heartbreaking) football game I’ve ever watched, an old Crimson Tide guy, decked out from head-to-toe in Bama gear, walked up to me, and said “Roll Tide…but man, what a great, great game. Good luck to your Dawgs next year.” He extended his hand, I shook it, and thought, “now that’s a gentleman.”
How do you define a lady?
When I think of a lady, I think of someone who is smart and sophisticated, as well as fully-empowered and equal to any man. She may be reserved, or she may be a spitfire, but either way she’s got opinions of her own and doesn’t just bow down to the whims of others.
Vote for Matt Foster
Cedartown City Commissioner
What are your favorite Southern foods?
When I lived in Canada, you would have thought I was some exotic tropical animal. All my Quebec pals wanted to take me to their favorite restaurants to see how their food was on my Southern palate. They aren’t big on BBQ, but they wanted me to try out a new restaurant called Bofinger, a BBQ joint downtown Montreal, to see if it was as good as what I was used to (apparently they think we eat BBQ every day in the South).
I wasn’t a huge BBQ guy back in Georgia, but something about the scarcity of it in Canada made it very appealing. It was so delicious, and reminded me of home. I ate there so much over the next several months. I literally could have perpetuated the stereotype that all Southerners eat is BBQ. I guess it’s like that Joni Mitchell song, when she says “don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
What was it like working at Georgia’s capitol?
It was very eye-opening because it was my first job out of college. I was still ‘green’ to the world. I was a legislative aide, but instead of just stapling papers all day, I got to be right in the action. I worked for a state representative who was a high-ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, and got to help sort out the state budget in 2007 before the recession hit big. I still lived in Athens, so I woke up every day at 4 a.m., drove to Atlanta, worked most nights until 7 p.m. (and later in the session till midnight or later), and then drove back to my apartment in Athens. It was the coolest and most exciting job I ever had, and yet I learned that I didn’t want to do that my entire life.
Did you ever meet Sonny Perdue while he was in office?
I had met Governor Perdue a few times as a young guy, when he was running against Governor Roy Barnes and the whole state flag debate was going on. When I was an aide, we met just a few times at fundraisers or photo ops in the Capitol. Perdue didn’t have the best working relationship with my bosses in the House, and the Senate — where he had served before becoming governor — had also felt alienated by him, so there was really no love lost between the governor and both chambers of the General Assembly. Anyway, in ’07, I had a bill that needed to be signed, and I thought since it was the last day of the session, the bill would die if the governor didn’t sign it by midnight. So on this last day, I busted into his office, skipped the line of people waiting with their own bills, and threw it down on his desk. It wasn’t even a big bill, just some local thing about rerouting a sewage line in some small town. I got my butt chewed up one wall and down the other, but then he signed it. By the way, my clock-ticking-Cinderella complex wasn’t entirely right. He could have signed it at any time several within several days, but I didn’t know that then. So in my ignorance I found courage: the courage to break protocol for a sewage line bill.
Ha! Ok then, other than your courage to ask for what you want, can you tell folks why they should vote for you to be the next City Commissioner of Cedartown?
I’m not running for this office because I want to be called ‘commissioner.’ I’m doing it because the city needs a healthy dose of economic common sense. For too long, we have just put-up with ‘doing okay,’ which I liken to “if you have a small hole in your boat, but you’re fine with it being only half-filled with water.” If I can at least start a meaningful conversation about how we can improve our current situation, instead of being content with slowly sinking, then win or lose the election itself, I’ll sleep well at night.
The election for Cedartown City Commissioner is on Tuesday, Nov. 5. For more information about how you can get out to support Foster, click here to “Matt Foster for Cedartown”.
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Home > Articles Library > Blood, Sweat & Victory
Blood, Sweat & Victory
Sports and Wellness
By Lavania Kris
At the age of 30, most men would be building their career. It’s very rare for someone of that age to be recognised as a pioneer of any cause.
However, that’s not the case for Bashir Ahmad. This Pakistan born American citizen is Pakistan’s pioneer in the mixed martial arts scene. It’s quiet something to be dubbed as the “Godfather” of MMA in your country of birth.
We had the golden opportunity to meet the professional Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & Muay Thai fighter (he is also a former military personnel!) recently when he was in Singapore for the One Fighting Championship’s Kings & Champions.
Here is a small portion from the interview session with the disciplined fighter as he geared up for the fight last Friday (Apr 5, 2013) and also some pictures from Friday’s fight!
Bashir Ahmad – 3 days before the fight
Lavania: First of all thank you for having this interview with us. We heard you have a degree in Political Science and even served as a US National Guards. So how did you choose to make the switch to Mixed Martial Arts?
Bashir: One of the reasons would be my experience as a soldier deployed in Iraq. After serving overseas and going back to the US to complete my degree I sat in classrooms talking about what’s going on around the world. Everyone would be like, “Oh we can place a troop here and maybe one more there..”. I am looking around and thinking to myself, none of them there knew what it was like was to see war in the face. I didn’t want to be a part of that. Though I did well for my degree, I decided not to pursue it. I was in an unsure phase of what I really wanted to do and slowly mixed martial arts evolved into my line of work. Guess I can’t really say I made the decision to do it.
The Cage Ring: Before all the blood, punches & Kicks!
Lavania: Would you say your experience in the Military influenced you to take up martial arts?
Bashir: Yea, Somewhat. But I wouldn’t say it completely influenced me. I must say it complimented my military background. I believe everything happens for a reason. I think this was the path i had to take to help me with my martial arts but i wouldn’t say that if i hadn’t gone into military i wouldn’t have taken up MMA.
Bashir before entering the cage ring!
Lavania: You are just 30-Years old. But you are already known as the Pioneer for MMA in Pakistan. How does it feel to have such heavy responsibilities on your shoulders?
Bashir: Nah, it isn’t that heavy! I tell people this all the time, I will take credit for being the pioneer for what’s been going on in Pakistan’s MMA scene, but at the end of the day this is the hard work of many people working together. All i really did was to open the door...I lit the match but everything else was a collective work. If I hadn’t open the door then like maybe no one would have! I am not a one-man show; there are a lot of people who work with me.
Lavania: We heard you were staying in a mosque in Singapore in preparation for the fight this weekend (Fri, Apr 5) and only checking in to the hotel today? How has that experience been so far?
Bashir: It was very good; really help me to focus for my fight. I was quite sad when i left the mosque to check into the hotel, was getting used to the routine of staying in the mosque, going to train and going back there.
Bashir facing off his opponent, Shannon Wiratchai from Thailand
Lavania: In an earlier interview, you referred to yourself as a “Warrior Monk”! Could you tell us more about it?
Bashir: That’s actually how i would like to see myself...an ideal that I aspire to be, like a Samurai or Warrior Monk. I guess being a soldier comes into that, having certain ethics and a standard of excellence that you would want to hold yourself to in all realms of your life; Physical, Mental & Spiritual. I like to view things in terms of balance. One side I am fighting, as a martial artist and the base of that has to do with war. Doing harm to another person. That’s however not the martial philosophy but we are learning techniques. We can’t ignore that it’s meant to attack another person, but at least you would know how to defend yourself in a fistful confrontation. In terms of spiritual, its gives you the ethics and moral compass to the skills that you have as a warrior.
Lavania: You are debuting with One FC this Friday. Tell us how you feel about it?
Bashir: It feels good! I was signed with One FC a little bit over a year ago. Since then i have been waiting, you know every day, every week, I have been preparing for this moment. I have never felt more ready for a fight ever. I am not nervous, i am very happy. As the fight gets closer i get a little anxious obviously, because there’s going to be many eyes watching me. I feel really good and I think it’s going to be a good fight, a good debut!
A day after the fight: The Face of Victory
(Photo courtesy of Facebook: Bashir Ahmad's Page)
Alright folks, this is just a small teaser of his interview with us. This super disciplined sportsman really amazed us at the fight on Friday. His determination to win for his country was so moving that many rooted for his victory. And victory it was for this warrior! Stay tuned to the extended video interview where he spoke about his opponent, Shannon Wiratchai and also shared some wise words to all those who are thinking of making MMA their profession!
*Photos of the fight courtesy of Shaun Mun
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What Happens When We Fail To Warn
By Michael Brown/Ask Dr Brown July 09, 2018
I heard a tragic story recently, some of the very bad fruit coming from Rob Bell's book Love Wins. (This was Bell's hell-denying book in which he effectively announced his apostasy from evangelical faith.)
In light of a growing epidemic of deception in the Church today, a deception that is making people deaf to divine warnings, it seemed that now was a good time to share the story.
Earlier this year, a university student was responding to my lecture on God's love for the LGBT community during a time of Q&A. He tried to undermine the authority of the Scriptures and accused me of using violent language To him, any form of justice or judgment was inherently violent, and he would have none of it as a professed atheist.
I subsequently learned that, just a few years earlier, he was planning to go into the ministry. He was an avid reader of the Bible. Then he read Love Wins, and it was downhill ever since.
It would have been far better (and far more biblically accurate) if Bell had written a book titled Love Warns. That would have been in greater harmony with the truth.
But we don't want to hear warnings today. We only want positive words. Words that make us feel better about ourselves. Words that increase our self-esteem and enhance our self-image. Anything negative will be rejected out of hand.
Don't tell me I'm on the wrong path. Don't tell me there's danger ahead. By all means, do not warn!
Everybody has to win these days. There can be no losers.
Every path is valid and every perception has truth.
Correction is a micro-aggression. Reproof is for our grandparents' generation. Rebuke is tantamount to assault.
Yes, that's the world we live in today. And I don't just mean in the secular, non-religious society. I mean in the Church. Preachers, do not warn!
On a daily basis, we receive angry comments to our video "Can You Be Gay and Christian?" (Apparently, it continues to circulate on LGBT social media outlets, getting new viewers all the time who are furious with the biblical content.)
One viewer wrote, "Reported this as a hate video," which is the expected response these days. Telling the truth, even with love and grace, is branded "hate." Truth has become toxic.
This reminds me of a quote from the Christian musician and singer Keith Green (who died in 1982). He said, "I'd rather have people hate me with the knowledge that I tried to save them." Do we have any excuse for not trying?
Others viewers of our video were outraged that I would have the temerity to state that the Bible was God's Word and that it was still relevant.
Still others were shocked to hear me say that there is a right way and a wrong way. That we were created and designed by God with specific, moral intent. How dare I speak such things!
But it's not just here, in this controversial area of LGBT issues, that we find resistance. For years now, right within the Church, there's been a growing tide of no-judgment preaching.
We're only allowed to say nice things, to encourage. We're not allowed to plead with tears, to warn of coming danger, to urge our listeners to flee from impending judgment, be it in this world or the world to come.
Not a chance. Such preaching is dubbed "Old Testament" (as if the New Testament wasn't filled with warnings). Such preaching is called legalism and going back under the law (as if grace didn't plead and admonish). Such preaching is deemed out of style, inappropriate for our enlightened age.
As a result of this growing trend, rather than the flock being awakened, the congregants go like fattened sheep to the slaughter. Who will sound the alarm?
By all means, we should encourage. By all means, we should lift up. We should preach with love, preach compassion, preach mercy, preach longsuffering. We
But we should warn our hearers and viewers of the consequences of rejecting that love and compassion and mercy and longsuffering. We should, in Paul's words, present (and consider) both the kindness and the severity of God (Romans 11:22). Both are essential to our right understanding of the nature and character of our Lord.
Decades ago, George Orwell famously wrote, "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
Today, more than ever, we need to engage in this revolutionary act of telling the truth. If we who claim to know the Lord don't do it, who will?
Originally published at AskDrBrown.org - reposted with permission.
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Articles / Football / NFL
Chevon Walker looks to become the hero he missed out on
In today’s age of professional sports, a hometown hero is someone who not only delivers from whistle to whistle, but someone who delivers while the spotlight is off. Hamilton Tiger-Cats rookie running back Chevon Walker has made a positive impact on the field for the Ti-Cats so far this season. His spark of energy has been a positive sign in what has been a disappointing season so far for Hamilton. His commitment to improve on the field has been a reflection of the man off the field. The 25-year old Montego Bay, Jamaica native says he looks forward to working with the Tiger-Cats when they begin their work within the Hamilton community, and becoming a positive role model to his young fans.
“It’s always a good thing to give back to the community, you’re always going to have kids that look up to you so it’s a good thing to give back,” said Walker. “Growing up as a kid you’re always looking up to someone else so it’s nice to be the one the kids are looking up to.”
At the age of 10 Chevon moved to Fort Myers with his father, an experience that would ultimately lead him to football through a winding road of emotion. Family struggles and urban temptations led Walker on a bumpy path, but fate mixed with hard work would land the Sioux Falls graduate in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. His own experiences have made him aware and anxious to guide youth who face adversity and difficult choices as they grow into adulthood.
“I never really had an idol or hero growing up but I always knew I wanted to eventually give back to the kids,” mentioned Walker. “I guess playing football, in the eyes of the kids you’re someone that can help persuade their dreams and I’m sure there are kids out there that don’t have the support they need, so for me to be able to be a role model is special and important, not only to myself but to those kids who don’t have that proper support,” he elucidated.
Aside from fulfilling his duty as a positive role model within the Tiger-Cats organization and in the community, Chevon Walker is a proud father and says passing along the value of giving back is something he strives to teach his son.
“I definitely want to teach my son to give to others and help out in the community because you just never know, someday you might be the one who needs someone,” he expressed.
A good majority of professional sports franchises, if not all, require their player personnel to participate in community events and become a true member of their city through the difference they make within it. Like the sport they play, some athletes shine in these situations, giving all they have to those less fortunate. For others, it takes time and familiarity until they start to progress in this aspect of being a professional athlete. For athletes like Chevon Walker their part in the community comes with the blessing of living a life long dream.
“I enjoy it, I think it’s a great feeling looking at the kids who look up to you. I feel like me giving back is a blessing and I love doing good things and having kids look up to me, it’s definitely a good thing,” Walker concluded.
Those who truly make a difference are those who truly enjoy making a difference. Chevon Walker will become a star in Hamilton, not only because of his speed and agility, but his heart and desire to become the role model he envisions.
Christian Marin
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We are committed to finding ways to improve the quality of life for those living with HD and mitigate the harsh symptoms. That is why my fiancée, Allie LaForce, and I reached out to the Cleveland Clinic and Dr. Mayur Pandya to discuss ways to enhance the quality of life for HD victims.
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© Copyright Pros Give Back, 2017
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Here we will tell the story of the beginnings of our church and how we became what we are today.
Our church was founded in 1829 by two brothers looking for a place to practice their faith. It took two years to erect the first building for the church, however, that is still the base for the building we currently are in.
With each challenge we have encountered, we became stronger in our faith. We may provide links to other sites that provide more detail on our church history or particular events in our past.
We invite you to become a part of the church today and a piece of its history tomorrow.
St. Aloysius, Jersey City
The first Mass remembered in Jersey City (Paulus Hook) was in 1829. The needs of the growing Catholic population there prompted approval of a new parish in West Bergen and another
(All Saints) in the Lafayette Section. The area of St. Patrick, west of Hudson County Boulevard was detached to form the new parish of St. Aloysius, which was incorporated on May 12, 1897.
Parish interest in Catholic education is reflected in the first building, a combination church and school. The cornerstone was laid in 1897 in the presence of 5000. Work then began on a rectory, completed in 1899. The school began with a staff of
four Sisters of Charity and 194 children with 225 in Catechism classes. The combination building was moved to its present location. Plans were drawn up for the present granite church in French Renaissance style. Church membership reached 4900 in 1912. In 1922 the cornerstone was laid for a new grade and high school, and three years later, a Social Center in the basement was opened. As school enrollment grew, renovations were made in 1929, 1938 and 1959. By 1940 the total school enrollment reached 1450, which led to plans for a new high school building.
A striking change in the complexion of the parish occurred with the erection of the A. Harry Moore Apartments as a low-income public housing project. The 664-dwelling units were occupied in 1953. Since then there has been a marked thrust in the direction of social action.
St. Aloysius implemented the reforms and changes of Vatican Council II, and modern technology was installed for smoother running of the parish plant. Spanish Masses and Masses for the elderly in the projects were added as a new Sacramental Program with accent on family life was begun. The parish continues alive and well and filled with hope as it enters the Third Millennium.
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Happy Birthday, Kate Jackson!
One of my first crushes was on the actress Kate Jackson. No, not from Charlie's Angels, although I liked her on that, too. I first saw her and longed for her when she was a regular on The Rookies. It was a cop show from 1972-1976 that starred Michael Ontkean, Georg Stanford Brown, and Sam Melville as three "rookie" beat cops under the guidance of Gerald S. O'Loughlin. Kate played Jill Danko, a nurse and wife of Melville's character. Besides Kate's beauty and talent, she and Sam made a very cute couple. They were a fun difference from their bachelor friends' characters. And this was one of the first series I remember watching with a black lead actor (Brown). Having him around seemed natural, which I think is another reason I grew up the way I did.
As soon as the series ended in 1976, Kate went on to play Sabrina on Charlie's Angels. I may get comments disagreeing with me, but I watched this show for Kate Jackson. Sure, all of the women were beautiful, but Sabrina was the brains, wasn't she? And I had a thing for beautiful women with brains! I preferred Cheryl Ladd to Farrah Fawcett, so that change didn't upset me, but when Kate left the series I stopped watching it.
However, by the time Kate came back to television in The Scarecrow and Mrs. King I was in college and didn't have time to watch TV. I have heard good things about it, besides the acting by Kate and her co-star Bruce Boxleitner, of course. I should borrow a collection one of these days to see it for myself.
Today October 29 is Kate Jackson's 65th birthday. Thank you, Kate Jackson, for years and years of great entertainment! And I didn't even talk about your time on Dark Shadows! If I don't atleast mention this series I know my buddy Greg will be mad at me...!
Labels: Birthdays, TV Tuesday
Happy Birthday, Brad Paisley!
I didn't know anything about Brad Paisley until I happened to hear his song, "Alcohol." I liked it and went searching for more. I found that he can balance the so-called "silly" songs like "Alcohol" and "On-Line" and "Sure Gonna Miss Her" with genuinely touching songs like "He Didn't Have To Be," "When I Get Where I'm Going," and my favorite, "Welcome To The Future."
I have only been to a few concerts in my life. But when I heard that Brad Paisley would be coming to Columbus last year, I was one of the first people to buy tickets. My buddy and I were going to go because he likes him, too, and I wanted to go with somebody who would appreciate the show. A week before, my Columbus Blue Jackets account representative called me up and invited me to a SUITE for the show! So my buddy and two more friends went to the show in style....obviously, it was the best show I had ever seen.
Thanks, Brad, and thanks, Sean! I'll never forget that evening.
I happened across his autobiography (basically a series of stories) called Diary Of A Player at the library two years ago. It was a fun, easy-to-read book from a guy who sounds like he is totally grounded and happy doing what he does
AND he wears a Justice League t-shirt during concerts? GREAT GUY!!
Here's "A Letter To Me" which looks like it was filmed at his own high school reunion.
Is he really just a good ole' West Virginia boy? It sure seems like it.
Happy Birthday, Statue of Liberty!
The Statue of Liberty, standing tall in New York Harbor welcoming your tired, your poor, and your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, was officially dedicated on October 28, 1886. That makes her 127 years old today!
If you have never seen her, you should plan a trip. Going to Liberty Island and going to the top of the crown is not for everybody (height and confined spaces could be issues) but to see her from either the New York or New Jersey shore is still worth the effort. And if you do visit the island, you'll see the history of the statue and various copies of pieces of her. It's a cool place, especially as it has been recently renovated after Hurricane Sandy damage. I've been there twice, and enjoyed it both times.
Lady Liberty may have started as a French character, but the Statue of Liberty has become something all-American.
Happy Birthday, Statue of Liberty,
and Thank You, France!
For a detailed history of the statue, visit The Statue of Liberty History page.
aerial photo by ABC News
with my buddy Brian in 2010
did you know the date on her tablet was July 4, 1776?
Labels: Birthdays, History
The Lost Weekend (Best Picture 1945)
The Lost Weekend is like no other Best Picture film I have ever seen. It is not an epic, it is not a musical, it is not a biography of somebody we've never heard of; no, The Lost Weekend is an extremely personal and intimate story of one man's battle against alcoholism. I grew up in the Seventies and Eighties where social issues were often presented on television in so-called "movies of the week." However, The Lost Weekend starts a trend in Hollywood that would put these later films to shame. For the next three years all of the Best Pictures were social commentaries, shining a light on returning veterans, antisemitism, and alcoholism. The Lost Weekend is a brutally honest, almost painful film to watch. We're not in Bing Crosby's Going My Way any more, Toto!
Ray Milland has a tour de force role as Don, the absolute center of the story. He is a writer, or wants to be. However, he is plagued by anxiety and this feeds his writer's block, which feeds his anxiety. He turns to drink, but he soon realizes he is an alcoholic and cannot stop.
The story begins with Don and his brother Wick (a quiet yet strong Phillip Terry) planning on going away for a weekend retreat to their family's farm. He maneuvers out of it, however, when his girl-friend Helen arrives to say good-bye. Wick and Helen (a forceful but loving Jane Wyman) both suspect what Don is up to, but can't figure out his scheme, so unwittingly go along with him. Soon he has "escaped" from their clutches and is at the bar, where he tells his bartender friend Nat (a great Howard Da Silva) how he got to be where he is. We then get an extended flash-back where we learn that Don had always had a problem with alcohol, but had managed to stay dry after he first met Helen (ironically, because of his need for a drink). He falls off the wagon on the day he is supposed to meet Helen's parents, and that is when Helen first learns the depth of Don's problem.
After his current binge leaves him broke (again) and needing more (again) there is an extended scene where he searches his apartment for his hidden bottle. This is one of the most painful scenes in the film, as Milland goes from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows and back again in search of the second bottle he knows he hid somewhere in the apartment. Later, he steals a woman's purse to pay his tab and then hits on another girl who likes him in order to buy more alcohol. He falls down the stairs at her apartment, and because Wick and Helen are not home to claim him he is committed to an asylum to dry out. Here he meets Bim, a cynical nurse/guard played by Frank Faylen. Faylen is most famous as the easy-going cab driver in It's A Wonderful Life; to see him here playing a jaded "seen-it-all" hospital orderly is creepy to the extreme. He tells Don a little bit of what it will be like to go "cold turkey," which scares the hell out of Milland's character. He manages to escape back to his apartment, where he begins to experience what the orderly said that he would. This is the most chilling part of the film, as Milland goes (literally) bats-in-the-apartment crazy.
The next day Helen finally catches up to him, and Don is so embarrassed by his actions that he decides to commit suicide. She initially believes that he has decided to go on another binge, but when she realizes what his real plan is she pleads with him to keep fighting. Then Nat the bartender arrives with Don's type-writer, which he had left at the bar the night before. Don sees this as a sign to write, and he begins working on his story against The Bottle.
The plot may not sound like much, but in a world of Forties films like Going My Way and How Green Was My Valley, where people are able to solve their problems, this film is hugely different. Besides Best Picture Ray Milland won Best Actor, Billy Wilder won Best Director, and he shared Best Screenplay.
The Lost Weekend
*Academy Award Best Picture of 1945*
Produced by Charles Brackett
Directed by Billy Wilder
Screenplay by Billy Wilder & Charles Brackett
Based on the novel by Charles R. Jackson
This trailer definitely gives you the feeling that this film was NOT the usual fare
Also Nominated:
The Bells of St. Mary's
Except for The Bells of St. Mary's, which is a sequel to Going My Way, I have actually seen all of the other nominees this year. Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman were both nominated for this film, but lost to Ray Milland and to Joan Crawford (in Mildred Pierce). With this nomination Bing became the first actor to be nominated twice for the same role. Mildren Pierce is, of course, the tour de force Joan Crawford "comeback" film about a desperately poor woman who scratches her way out of poverty. Anchors Aweigh is Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra as sailors on leave in Hollywood. It's an adorable picture and features, among other things, Gene dancing with Jerry the Mouse (from Tom & Jerry fame). And Spellbound is Alfred Hitchcock's film with Ingrid Bergman as a psychiatrist and Gregory Peck as an amnesiac who may have murdered his best friend. All of these are pretty good films.
Labels: Academy Awards, Best Picture, Film Friday
Happy Belated Birthday, Paul Levitz!
October 21 was the 57th birthday of comic book writer and editor Paul Levitz. Today being Wednesday Comics here at Friends of Justice, I would like to celebrate some of the creative highlights from Paul's long career.
I first came across him as the writer of Aquaman's series in ADVENTURE COMICS. He didn't stay on that title very long, only seven issues, (441-447) but this did include the classic Karshon storyline where Aquaman gives up the throne of Atlantis.
The next time I came across his name he was the writer of another of my favorites, LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. One of the first things he did was to kill off one of my favorite members, Chemical King. I eventually forgave him for this, but for years it annoyed the hell out of me. He didn't stay on this title very long this time, but he did write the classic "Earth War" saga during this run.
Then I saw his name on the Justice Society series in ALL STAR COMICS. He helped create The Huntress, who was the daughter of another dimension's Batman and Catwoman, all grown up as a super-heroine in her own right. This was a great series full of wonderful characters.
Around this time he was also made editor of the BATMAN family of books. He did a good job on them, as I recall, and I bought most of them.
And finally, Levitz returned to LEGION just in time to lead it to its pinnacle of success, both creatively and commercially. With such artists as Pat Broderick, Keith Giffen, Steve Lightle, Dan Jurgens, and Greg LaRoque Levitz created an inter-woven mythic universe that has never been bettered. He wrote the series for nearly ten years, including such classic storylines as The Great Darkness, The Crisis, Who Is Sensor Girl, The Universo Project, The Greatest Legionnaire, Revenge Against The Time Trapper, and The Magic Wars.
Thank you, Paul Levitz, for years and years of fine entertainment!
Happy Birthday,
and many happy returns!
my autographed copy of "Who Is Sensor Girl?" from LSH 25
my autographed copy of Death Of A Prince
(with Mike Grell's autograph, too!)
Labels: Birthdays, DC Comics
Happy Birthday, Johnny Carson!
Johnny Carson has been in the news recently because somebody, I think maybe he was Johnny's lawyer, has written a book about him. In it (from what I have read in reviews and comments in magazines and the newspaper) the author talks about how Johnny loved his wife to the point of obsessing about her. That's the one thing I remember....evidently Johnny tried to break into his ex-wife's house/apartment? Something *shocking* along those lines.
Johnny Carson was notoriously shy. He did not grant interviews as a rule; I can remember only once when he sat down for any interview of any length. That one was on SIXTY MINUTES in 1980 or so. His basic point was that if he talked about himself, he could alienate some of his audience. If he kept quiet, everyone would think he agreed with *them.* So he kept quiet.
Johnny Carson was notoriously talented. He had a skill of being able to listen and then ask interesting questions. Recently Turner Classic Movies ran a series of his interviews with such celebrities as Jonathan Winters, Tony Curtis, Susan Sarandon, and Kirk Douglas. They were a joy to watch, not so much for any gossip or Hollywood talk per se but because he talked to all of his guests as if they WERE his guests. He was (or seemed) interested in them, which made us interested in them. Plus, he had a wonderful sense of timing AND self-deprecation, two things you absolutely have to have to be a great comedian.
If you are interested in watching classic Johnny Carson moments, visit www.johnnycarson.com
Johnny was born on October 23, 1925 in a small town in Iowa. He and his family then moved to Nebraska when he was eight. He died in 2005.
One of my favorite bits was when Johnny and Ed did their "Carnac the Magnificent" bit.
Here's a quick sample...
Chuck Berry "Maybellene"
Chuck Berry is one of my favorite rock and roll artists. He wasn't always, though. As a kid I thought his raw power was scary or something; plus in St. Louis he was a local, so I heard him ALL THE TIME. As I got older, though, I finally "got" him, and now love everything he does. He is still living in the St. Louis area, and regularly plays guitar at the local tavern called "Blueberry Hill" located in my home-town, University City.
One song in particular I have always liked, though. His first big hit, "Maybellene," from 1955. I always thought it was named after a cow, but I have heard that it was named after the Maybelline cosmetic company, and he just liked the sound of the name. This song helped Berry become famous, leading the way with plenty of other classic rock and roll songs such as "Johnny B. Goode," "You Never Can Tell," "Roll Over Beethoven," and "Sweet Little Sixteen." The only certified No. 1 hit he ever had, however, was a novelty hit recorded live in 1972 called "My Ding-A-Ling."
When I was a kid, for some reason I sang this song around a girl in my class named Gwen. For some reason I called her "Gwenny Sue" (which was not her name) and sang that name to the tune of this song. "Oh Gwenny Sue, why can't you be true?" She responded by calling me Llessur Egabrub, which is my name backwards.
Even today when I hear this song, I think of Gwenny Sue. I heard it the other day and suddenly realized, "this is my next Music Monday article!"
So here's to you, Gwenny Sue, and to you, Chuck Berry! You're both great!!
Labels: Music Memories, Music Monday
Going My Way (Best Picture 1944)
One of the most fascinating things about reviewing all of the Academy Award-winning Best Pictures in chronological order is the chance to make sweeping assumptions regarding movie trends from way before I was born. Case in point is this year's winner versus last year's winner. Last year, you may recall, the winner was the cynical, sarcastic, yet fully patriotic film Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart. This year, however, in an almost 180 degree change of style, the Academy chose the sentimental light-weight comedy-drama Going My Way, starring Bing Crosby. I don't have any answer to why this might be, but I do find it endlessly fascinating to think about. Anyone who has seen both of these films is welcome to start a discussion regarding their respective quality. My guess is that people who love one won't love the other. Let me know if my hypothesis is right or not, please.
If you like Bing Crosby, you will love this film. If you don't like Bing Crosby, my strong suggestion is for you to skip this movie all-together. Bing is in almost every scene, and once he appears he hovers over all the action even when he isn't there (which isn't very often). The other main character in the film is Barry Fitzgerald, who is in all the scenes that Bing isn't, and most that he is.
Bing plays Father O'Malley, a new priest assigned to St. Dominic in New York City. It's a parish that is losing members and money, and the Bishop believes that transferring Bing there to make some changes will help. However, they keep this information secret from Father Fitzgibbons (Fitzgerald), who believes he is still in charge. The two men do not agree on how to solve the church's problems. They continually argue over methods until Fitzgibbon eventually goes to the Bishop and demands that O'Malley be transferred; it is then that he learns that Bing is actually his boss! He doesn't take it well, but eventually realizes that 1. he has nowhere else to go and 2. Bing really is helping out. For example, Bing is instrumental in taking Tony Scarponi and his gang of juvenile delinquents and turning them into the church's Boys' Choir.
You see, Bing is a song-writer and singer, so he tries to solve all of the church's problems with music. When Carol, an 18-year-old who has left her parents to make it in the big city finds her way to the church, Bing sings to her. She then borrows ten dollars and finds an apartment down the street, determined to be a professional singer. Eventually she hooks up with the son of the realty manager who is trying to foreclose on the church. To solve *that* problem Bing tries to sell a song he wrote called "Going My Way" and use the royalties to pay off the church's mortgage. He sings it to Carol and her boyfriend, but neither of them are impressed. Then he sings it to his former girlfriend, Genevieve, who just happens to be a professional opera singer (portrayed by professional opera singer Rise Stevens). She tries to sell it to her publisher friends, but they aren't interested in "schmaltz" either. However, when Bing and his Boys' Choir break out into another song he wrote called "Swinging On A Star," the publishers want THAT. By the way, this song won Best Song, with music by James Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke. The mortgage is paid off, and all is well.
However, an accidental fire destroys much of the church (which had appeared to have been built of rock, but, whatever) and everyone commits to rebuilding St. Dominic's. However, Bing finds that he has been transferred to another parish, so as his last act of kindness he arranges Father Fitzgibbon's mother to visit him in New York, all the way from Ireland.
So....like I said, if you like Bing Crosby you'll be royally entertained by this film. If you do NOT like him, I just saved you two hours of torture. I don't mind him, but I did find it hard to believe in him as a singing, dancing, joking priest. On the other hand, Fitzgerald is nothing but believable as the older, sterner priest who resents the young whipper-snapper showing up trying to "fix" things. This part of the story still seems fresh today. Are we doomed to continually mis-trust the generation we do not belong to? Speaking of Barry Fitzgerald, he is part of a very interesting bit of trivia. This year, for the only time, the same actor in the same role was nominated in both "Best" and "Best Supporting" categories. After this embarrassment, Academy rules were changed so that you can only be nominated once a year in one category for one role.
There were a few notable casting choices in this film. I noticed that one of the troubled youths was played by Carl Switzer, best known as a child actor as "Alfalfa" in The Little Rascals series. He did a good job in this. Also noteworthy was William Frawley as one of the music publishers; this was seven years before he would gain immortal fame as Fred Mertz on the classic TV series "I LOVE LUCY."
I didn't actually mind this film too much, but I did not care for all the singing. I can understand the need to practice with the boys' choir, and those scenes worked fine. But when Bing tries to help Carol to sing better, and then when Genevieve sings opera, (twice!!) and Bing sings "Going My Way"....ugh. I think if this film had starred somebody like Cary Grant without so much music it would have been a better film. Maybe I'm too cynical? Maybe I have seen too many "copy-cat" type films, where the lead with the heart of gold sings his way out of trouble or leads all the other characters down the path of goodness through his example, to really enjoy this. And although I don't really think it deserved Best Picture, it not only won that but Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Story, and Best Song as well. So it obviously struck a nerve with the people of 1943, and how can I argue with that?
Going My Way
Produced and Directed
by Leo McCarey
Screenplay by Frank Butler & Frank Cavett
Story by Leo McCarey
Here's the Academy Award-winning song,
with Bing and the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir
Gaslight
Since You Went Away
If you are a fan of film noir you must see Double Indemnity. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, and Edward G. Robinson in the classic thriller directed by Billy Wilder about Stanwyck wanting to kill her husband. Gaslight is the other side of the story, with Charles Boyer trying to kill his wife, Ingrid Bergman. She won Best Actress for this; newcomer Angela Lansbury was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Since You Went Away is a WWII home-front drama starring Claudette Colbert that I had never heard of before doing research for this review. And Wilson was a biographical film about a basketball trapped on a deserted island. Just kidding; it's about President Woodrow Wilson, but nobody remembers it (or him) today. From this year, the number of nominees for Best Picture were whittled down to five, just like all the other major categories. It stayed this way for the next 60 plus years.
Anniversary of the Jupiter 2 Blasting Off (10-16-97)
Where were you on October 16, 1997? Do you remember? That was the day that the Jupiter 2, with Major Don West as the pilot and the Robinson Family as the passengers, blasted off on their way to Alpha Centauri. Less than 48 hours after they left Earth's atmosphere Mission Control lost communication with them, and they became Lost in Space.
The TV series made its debut in 1965 and ran for only three years. Still, it is a fondly remembered bit of nostalgia from the "fun" Sixties, perpetually re-run in syndication (where I eventually saw it).
Lost in Space also spawned a few comic-book series, although one, "Space Family Robinson," actually began before the TV series. When Irwin Allen created the series, his production company reached an agreement with Gold Key comics, and "Space Family Robinson" became "Lost in Space." This confused the heck out of me as a kid, because the Robinsons in this comic are NOT the Robinsons from the TV series! I tried it a few times, but could never get past that huge difference.
Many years later, Bill Mumy himself ("Will Robinson" from the TV series) wrote a series of comic-books about his TV family. This was published by Innovation. His opus, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Soul featured art by Michael Dutkiewicz. The story was a serious take on the Robinsons and featured the wedding of Judy and Don, along with various other events. It is very well done and in lieu of any real closure to the TV series the closest we will ever get to seeing whatever happened to the Robinsons and Dr. Smith.
If you can find a copy of this book I enthusiastically recommend it! In the meantime, here is a video montage of some wild Lost in Space scenes. It really was like a comic-book come to life!
Labels: History, Lost in Space, Wednesday Comics
Anniversary of the Jupiter 2 Blasting Off (10-16-9...
The Debut of I Love Lucy 10-15-51
T3I: A present to myself
Casablanca (Best Picture 1943)
RIP Christopher Reeve
The Wild Wild West (TV)
Happy Birthday, John Mellencamp!
Mrs. Miniver (Best Picture 1942)
Happy Birthday, Ramona Fradon!
Happy October First!
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Home > Community > Joe Dan Osceola: International Hero
Joe Dan Osceola: International Hero
by Gordon Wareham - July 30, 2015
MIAMI — The Seminole Tribe’s Joe Dan Osceola, along with two other individuals, was presented the first International Hero Award July 16 by the Calle Ocho Chamber of Commerce USA.
The award honors businessmen who have excelled internationally in their trade for more than 25 years, exchanged culturally with other countries and set an example for future leaders.
Osceola was recognized for his service to the Seminole Tribe and United South & Eastern Tribes (USET), which is dedicated to promoting Indian leadership, improving the quality of life for American Indians, and protecting Indian rights and resources on tribal lands. Osceola served as president of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Inc. from 1967 to 1971 and served as the first president of USET in 1969.
“Over 30 years ago we began with only four Tribes: Seminole, Miccosukee, Choctaw and Cherokee,” Osceola said during the event held at the Cuba Ocho Art and Research Center. “Now it’s 32 Tribes in the Southeast.”
Osceola has been an entrepreneur since leaving government work. In 1979, he opened the First American Tobacco Shop, and in 1984, Osceola and his wife, Virginia, opened Anhinga Indian Trading Post, where they sell not only Seminole crafts but also authentic Indian arts and crafts from all over the country and Canada. He has operated a chickee-building business called Tiki Huts for the past 25 years.
To his surprise, Osceola also received two more honors; the first was a portrait of himself with the image of Osceola in the clouds created by Cuban-American artist Marcy Grosso. The painting is titled “Heritage.” Osceola also received a key to the county.
The other two individuals honored were Prince Emmanuel Aderele from Nigeria, Africa for his ambassador work with his country and South Florida, and Luis Suarez, a Cuban-American who serves as curator of the Suarez Museum of Natural Science & History.
Gordon Wareham
Annual Wellness Conference revitalizes mind, body, soul
Seminole calf sale exceeds expectations
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1907 Fenerbahçe
Schedule released for first week of League of Legends World Championship group stage
With the groups confirmed for the League of Legends World Championship, Riot Games released Friday the schedule for the first week of group stage play.
League of Legends World Championship groups revealed
The League of Legends World Championship groups have been finalized after the conclusion of the play-in stage.
1907 Fenerbahçe Frozen says the team's goals have changed
As 1907 Fenerbahçe enters the knockout round of the play-in stage at this year’s League of Legends World Championship, mid laner Kim “Frozen” Tae-il saidthe team’s goals have changed.
Crash on filling in for 1907 Fenerbahçe at worlds
Lee “Crash” Dong-woo, stand-in jungler for 1907 Fenerbahçe at the League of Legends World Championship, said he was pleasantly surprised to get off to a good start.
Crash stands in for 1907 Fenerbahçe at League of Legends World Championship
1907 Fenerbahçe is using Vici Gaming jungler Lee “Crash” Dong-woo to fill in for Kang “Move” Min-su at the League of Legends World Championship.
League of Legends worlds play-in schedule revealed
The League of Legends World Championship begins Sept. 23, and the worlds play-in schedule was released Friday.
Worlds groups revealed for play-in and group stages
The group draw for the League of Legends World Championship took place Tuesday morning, and worlds groups have been decided for the play-in and group stages.
All 24 teams have been finalized for the League of Legends World Championship
The race to qualify for this year’s League of Legends World Championship has come to a close.
17 teams have qualified for the League of Legends World Championship so far
Seventeen teams from all regions of professional League of Legends have qualified across both the play-in and group stages so far of the League of Legends World Championship.
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List of Editions
Revised June 25, 2019
List of Editions of
1909 Go-Preacher's Hymn Book
1951 Edition - A Review of "Hymns Old and New"
1951 Edition - List of Authors
1987 Edition - Index and Biographical Detail of Authors (Jan., 2016)
1987 Edition - Concordance, Theme & Subject Index, Authors (Aug. 2004)
1987 Edition - Review of Hymns (2007)
1987 Hymn Finder (off site. Click Gear and download)
HTML Hymns: ebooks for Online and offline use, including Hymns & Poems by Sam Jones, John Sterling, Barbara Coles Russell, Kan Paginton, May Shulz, Elma Wiebe (on Glenn Linderman's site)
Table Grace Cards
TTT Photo Gallery Hymn Section
INTRODUCTION TO HYMNS . A Christian hymn is a song of praise to God. A hymn was first a poem that was later set to music. The Psalms in the Old Testament were poems of praise and lamentation set to music. Bound collections of hymns are known as hymnals or hymnbooks.
In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in Mainz, Germany, which was followed by the development of movable type in 1454. Before these inventions, books were scarce, and it took months and sometimes years to write or copy a new book or Bible by hand.
THE FIRST HYMNBOOKS IN THE WORLD WERE PRINTED:
In 1524 , what is thought to be first Protestant collection of hymns, the First Lutheran hymnbook, appeared in Wittenberg, after hymns had previously been distributed as broadsheets.
In 1531 , the Bohemian Brethren hymnbook was published in German in Bohemia.
In 1535 , the first British hymnbook was Coverdale's "Goostly Psalmes and Spiirituall Songes."
In 1538 , the Genevan hymnbook was published by Calvin at Strasbourg, France.
In 1612 , Henry Ainsworth prepared a hymnbook in Holland for the Pilgrims' use which they brought to America.
In 1640 , the first hymnbook printed in North America was "The Bay Psalm Book," published by Cambridge.
In 1913, the FIRST "Hymns Old and New," was printed.
HISTORY OF 2x2 HYMNBOOKS. For the first 15 years, the 2x2 Church did not have its own exclusive hymnbook. After a time of testimony at the 1904 Crocknacrieve Convention, "more 'Songs of Victory' were then sung" (Impartial Reporter June 2, 1904, TTT ). At the 1908 Crocknacrieve Convention, there was still no hymnbook used : "The singing by the vast audience of hymns with moving tunes and choruses was a feature of that night's meeting. The hymns appeared to be known by heart" ( Impartial Reporter July 30, 1908, TTT ). Before the first 2x2 hymnbooks were published, some Friends and Workers sang from various nondenominational hymnals, such as Redemption Songs and Songs of Victory.
Ever since their early days, hymns have been sung without a musical accompaniment at Conventions. "Hymns were sung....It was remarkable that though such a large number of people sang together without any controlling force of any kind, they kept wonderfully in time, and their singing was brisk and evidently enjoyed by the majority " ( Impartial Reporter July 28, 1910 , TTT ). To this day, hymns are usually sung a cappella at Conventions and all other 2x2 Sect Meetings, with the exception of Gospel Meetings, where piano accompaniment is often used.
THE 2X2 HYMNBOOK. In the UK in 1909, the 2x2 Sect began to sing from the booklet titled, Go-Preacher's Hymn Book . Of the 130 hymns, 13 were written by 2x2s and 117 by non-2x2s, including 20 Methodist authors, 5 Baptist; 9 Anglican, 13 Presbyterian. An introductory comment reads: "NOTE: Unless otherwise specified the numbers in brackets refer to the tunes in Songs of Victory ." Some comments by the Impartial Reporter about the Go-Preacher's Hymn Book were:
"This is Crocknacrieve, the present meeting place of the Pilgrims or Tramp Preachers....Once having entered, seats are shown and hymnbooks are distributed, these latter a small selection from 'Songs of Victory'" (July 28, 1910, TTT ).
"One example of the low standard of education or want of knowledge of the Tramps is to be found in what they call a Hymn Book , which contains along with some well-known hymns, a surprising collection of doggerel that a fifth rate newspaper would be ashamed to publish" (Oct. 7, 1909 , TTT ).
"And while the Tramps denounce John and Charles Wesley as having gone to hell, they sing the very 'devilry' written by Charles Wesley in some of his immortal hymns" ( Aug. 27 1908 , TTT ).
Authors' names are not provided in the Go-Preacher's Hymn Book. There are 12 hymns with the initials E. C., which are Edward Cooney's initials. Further evidence that these initials apply to Ed Cooney is that No. 130 is also included in the poem section of the book Selected Letters, Hymns and Poems of Edward Cooney who lists Edward Cooney as the author (Roberts 1991, 118).
THE FAITH MISSION HYMNBOOK. Songs of Victory, which is also published by R. L. Allan & Son, has been used by the Faith Mission since they acquired the copyright, and began to print it inhouse. The following statement of explanation is inside the front cover of Songs of Victory, 3rd Ed.:
"The Earlier Editions of 'Songs of Victory,' compiled by the late Mr. A. W. Bell, enjoyed a good measure of popularity, but for a number of years it was out of print. Feeling that there was a distinct place for it, the Faith Mission acquired the copyright of the book, issuing it in a revised and abridged form in 1922. In the years since, the book has established itself as the hymnbook of the Faith Mission, and there has been a demand for it in wider circles also" (Eph. 5:18,19, R.V.).
Hymn No. 119, "O Wanderers, Come to Jesus" in Hymns Old and New was written by Rev. Horace E. Govan, who was the brother of the founder of Faith Mission. The hymn author list states: "Horace E. Govan (1866-1932); The author was a citizen of the U.S.A." This is incorrect. He was born in Scotland and lived there his entire life.
1913: THE FIRST "HYMNS OLD and NEW. " In 1913, about 16 years after the 2x2 Sect began, their first hymnal was printed, containing 218 hymns, which did not go unnoticed:
"On Sunday last a new hymnbook entitled, 'Hymns: Old and New,' made its appearance. This book, compiled by Edward Cooney and William Carroll, consists entirely of hymns taken from such collections as 'Songs of Victory,' 'Redemption Songs,' and 'Songs and Solos.' The Go-Preacher's Hymn Book is no longer used" ( Impartial Reporter July 3, 1913 , TTT ).
The 2x2 Hymns Old and New is an English hymnbook published exclusively for use of the Friends and Workers. It is highly valued by them and has been an important part of their spiritual lives. They sing, hum, quote, study, preach, speak, write, are touched and moved to tears by the hymns. Most publicly evidenced their choice to serve the Lord while a hymn was being sung. In the Early days, they even marched through town singing hymns, with Edward Cooney at the front leading "several hundred converts, four abreast, marched through the town singing hymns . Crowds of people lined the streets as this unique procession passed along" ( Anglo Celt Dec. 30, 1905, TTT ).
Since 1913, the Friends and Workers have been using Hymns Old and New as their official hymnbook. In the years since 1913, the book has been revised, using the same publisher, R. L. Allan & Son Publishers Ltd. In addition, a number of supplements have been produced at various times in some countries. Currently, the 1987 Edition is in use. Since this hymnal is the only official publication made under the direction of the Sect's leaders, it is the only printed collection of official 2x2 Church teaching and beliefs, apart from similar collections of hymns published in other languages.
R. L. ALLAN & SONS , PUBLISHERS, LTD. They started business in 1863 as a bookseller and publisher of books in Glasgow, Scotland. The first edition of "Hymns Old and New," was published in 1913 by R. L. Allan & Son. The copyright page in the 1987 Ed. states: "Previous compilations entitled 'Hymns Old and New' were published in 1919, 1928 and 1951. "
In 1922 John Gray of Pickering & Inglis Ltd, a Christian publishing enterprise, licensed the rights to two hymnbooks from R. L. Allan & Son, which was the start of the Gray family's relationship with Allan's. Almost 50 years later his son, Andrew Gray, took over the company, after which his son, Nicholas Gray purchased it. Around 2013, Ian Metcalfe, grandson of Andrew Gray and also Nicholas Gray's nephew, took over the business and moved it to London.
Reportedly, there was a fire in the 1920s or 1930s that destroyed their early records and stock. Inquiries have been further hampered because R L. Allan has no file room for past titles published by them and does not have any copies of the 1919 and 1928 Editions. The Author has been unable to discover the circumstances that led to the business association between the Workers and R. L. Allan & Sons. However, R. L. Allan were publishers of the Faith Mission hymnbook Songs of Victory, first published 1890, which was well known and included hymns used by the 2x2 hymnbook. James Crockatt, General Manager of R. L. Allan wrote the Author a letter in which he disclosed:
"No one is left within the company who can remember more than 15-20 years of R. L. Allan, and the forming Managing Director of Pickering & Inglis has now passed on...I regret I do not know Mr. Smith's status within the Friends and Workers, or indeed whether he was a member" nor did he "know how the Friends and Workers became associated with R. L. Allan...We only publish one book for the Friends and Workers" (May 25, 1988*).
Further explanation was related in a letter from Nicholas Gray, Director of R. L. Allan:
"Pickering & Inglis bought the business from the owner, Mr. Smith, in 1970 as a result of...Pickering & Inglis taking over the publishing of 'Redemption Songs'....R. L. Allan became a part of Pickering & Inglis, and at that point the interest, became exclusively for the Friends and Workers. R. L. Allan is now part of a small group called Chapter House Ltd. which incorporates Pickering & Inglis. Allan now publishes a hymnbook called 'Hymns Old and New' in English and German, and specially bound KJV Bibles for this group." (April 19, 1994, TTT ).
Compilation copyright was registered in U.S. in 1987 by Pocock & Martin as Trustees for the Christian Church in England. In 2013, R. L. Allan moved from Glasgow, Scotland, to Surrey, England. Several letters from R. L. Allan & Son are posted in the Hymn Section of the Photo Gallery of the website Telling the Truth .
REVISION OF 1935 EDITION OF HYMNS OLD AND NEW. Bert Pattison, a Brother Worker from Cloughjordan, Ireland, gave the reason the 1935 hymnbook was republished. "In 1951, a complete revision was made, because the type had become so worn and the book so bulky; this necessitated many old favorites being left out so that room might be found for new ones....We were unable to obtain some tunes because of copyright difficulties" (B. Pattison 1951, TTT ).
REVISION OF 1951 EDITION OF HYMNS OLD AND NEW. In 1983, after the 1951 Edition had been used for 32 years, the Workers set about revising the hymnbook once more. A committee of Workers from around the world met in Lakewood, California, to work on the hymnbook revision project, and a group photograph was taken on April 6, 1985, of 25 Workers involved.
The 1987 Ed. included 412 hymns, of which 110 were "new" hymns, while 28 hymns from the 1951 Ed. were excluded. Some changes were made to both words and tunes and some hymns were given new tunes. Pause commas and a topical index were added. Numerous lists were printed and distributed to accompany the new hymnbook, as well as supplemental booklets containing a hymn concordance and authors' names.
In an effort to learn the new hymns and tunes, some Friends practiced singing the new hymns with piano accompaniment, and made and distributed tape recordings of them. Some Workers became alarmed that the tapes violated copyright laws and instructed the Friends not to make tapes and also not to make copies of the hymns. After receiving their hymnbooks, some Workers instructed the Friends to burn their earlier 1951 Ed. hymnbooks, lest they fall into "the wrong hands."
WHO WROTE THE HYMNS? The 1987 Ed. does not contain the names of authors or composers. However, they are identified in supplemental author lists. According to R. L. Allan, the sources were omitted because "Part of the agreement concerning the New Hymn Book [1987] was that the authors were to be kept anonymous to avoid unhealthy pride, etc." (Allan 1988, TTT ).
Many hymns and/or tunes included in Hymns Old and New are in the public domain, while others have been borrowed from outside hymnals. The Hymns Old and New: An Unofficial Compendium Website contains a spreadsheet that shows "T he source of hymns that have been published in the Go-Preacher's Hymn Book (1909) and in Hymns Old and New (Published by R. L. Allan and Son 1928, 1935, 1951 and 1987). Many have been composed by members of the 2x2 Fellowship known as 'Friends and Workers') but other sources identified are: Sacred Songs and Solos...New Hymns and Solos...Redemption Songs...Songs of Victory " ( 2x2 Hymns Compendium ).
A document titled " A Review of Hymns Old and New , " compiled by Brother Worker Bert Pattison, son of Goodhand Pattison, was a widely distributed accompaniment to the 1951 Edition. It provided many personal, interesting details about the authors and composers. Pattison states in his introduction: "For the purpose of our study, we will divide the writers into two groups: those written by our Friends and those written by people unknown to us" (B. Pattison 1951, TTT )
The earlier editions of Hymns Old and New contained more hymns written by non 2x2s than by 2x2s. Subsequent editions have included more hymns written by 2x2s than by non-2x2s. The percentage of hymns written by 2x2s in Hymns Old and New in the 1919 Ed. is 46%; 1928 Ed. is 59%; 1935 Ed. is 64%; 1951 Ed. is 64%, and the 1987 Ed. is 74%. Of the 412 hymns in the 1987 Ed., 26% (or 109) were written by non-2x2s. It contains at least one hymn written by a Catholic Saint, 15 by Anglicans, 5 by Baptists, 16 by Methodists, 11 by Presbyterians and 5 from the Salvation Army.
Hymn No. 158, "Just as I am ," was not written by a Friend or Worker. This special hymn is often sung in Gospel Meetings while some stand to publicly indicate their choice to convert. The author was Charlotte Elliott , an Anglican born in 1789. She wrote this hymn over 100 years before the first 2x2 hymnbook was published. Also, the familiar hymn No. 1, " Tell Me the Story of Jesus , " was written by a Methodist, Fanny J. Crosby , born in 1820, who wrote over 8,000 hymns.
HYMN AUTHORS: WORKERS AND FRIENDS. There are some hymns in Hymns Old and New that were written before 1900-but none of these were written by a Worker or Friend. While the currently used 1987 Ed. does not show the names of authors, it can be easily verified that it does not contain any hymns written by 2x2s before 1900, by going to the Author section of the 2x2 Hymns Website at: https://sites.google.com/site/hymnsoldandnew/home/
Names of Workers and Friends are in capital letters (uppercase) . Also, hymns with the notation " Words: ©* " were written by Friends or Workers.
Sam Jones was the 2x2 author who wrote the most hymns in the 1987 Ed., and has been called "The Sweet Psalmist of Israel" He wrote 112 hymns, and also wrote the tunes to four of them. In the 1987 Ed., Alexander (Sandy) Scott and James Jardine each wrote 18 hymns; May (Carroll) Schultz and Elma Wiebe-Milton each wrote 10 hymns; Jack Annand and Ken Paginton each wrote 9 hymns each, and Glenn Smith wrote 9 hymns and also composed their tunes.
OLDEST HYMNS. The oldest song author in the Bible is Moses, who wrote at least three songs found in Ex. 15, Psalms 90 and Deut. 32. The word "psalm" means "praise." The Psalms from the Book of Psalms in the Bible were used in corporate Jewish worship. They are a collection of songs, most of which were written by King David. Several have been paraphrased by various authors and set to music (Hymn Nos. 214, 238, 308, 312 and 378).
The five 2x2 hymn authors who entered the Work the earliest were John Sullivan and Tom Turner in 1900; Sam Jones in 1902; William Carroll and William Weir in 1903.
The oldest 2x2 hymn authors by birth years were Edward Cooney born in 1867; Charles Hultgren born in 1869; James Patrick born in 1872; Adam Hutchison born in 1873; John Sullivan and Robert Blair both born in 1874, and Robert Skerritt and Charles Morgan both born in 1875. None of these men entered the Work before 1900. The oldest hymns in Hymns Old and New are written by Outsiders, and the oldest author was a Catholic Saint, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a Catholic monk born in 1091.
Many 2x2s have been under the impression that the words and music in Hymns Old and New were all written by Friends or Workers. Some have been amazed to discover that other church hymnals contain some of the same hymns found in the 2x2 hymnbook. Further, some have been shocked to learn there are no hymns written by 2x2s before 1900 in their hymnbook.
AUTHOR EDWARD COONEY. He was the author of four hymns in the 1987 Ed. Of the 412 hymns shown on the list titled Hymns Old and New Authors (1987 Ed.), four hymns do not include the author's name. This omission is significant because all four of these hymns were written by Cooney when he was a Worker. In fact, Cooney's name has been omitted in most of the editions of "Hymns Old and New. " His initials "E. C." appeared in some of the old hymnbooks, but not his full name. His name has also been omitted from some Hymn Author Lists.
The following hymns in the 1987 Ed. were written by Edward Cooney: No. 179 "As We Gather ," No. 182 "Lord We Are Met Together ," No. 183 "Our God, Our Father ," and No. 184 "Here We Come ." He also wrote "Jesus Died for Sinners," which is No. 10 in the 1951 Ed. Roberts 1991).
Brother Worker, Ken Paginton , handled copyright matters for the 1987 Ed. hymnbook. Dr. Patricia Roberts told the Author that he requested her permission to include Cooney's four hymns in the "Hymns Old and New, " 1987 Ed. She gave permission. A few years later, Dr. Roberts requested copyright permission through R. L. Allan to print Edward Cooney's hymns in her book, and her request was forwarded to Paginton. He replied to her, "As you know, they were written by Edward Cooney and therefore, we can't morally stop you." Dr. Roberts thanked him and sent him a copy of her book. The present day followers of Cooney continue to use the 1951 Edition.
Paginton replied on February 24, 1992, to an inquiry by the Author, "With regard to the four hymns 179, 182, 183, and 184, these were written by E. Cooney in the early part of this century. " Concerning the omission of Cooney's name in the Hymn Author booklet, he stated "for various private reasons, the name is not given for those four hymns, and this should be respected."
In 2004, twelve years later, Edward Cooney was finally given credit for the Hymns he wrote in the revised and expanded Hymns Old and New - Concordance - Theme and Subject Index -Authors, 2004 Ed., which states "Edward Cooney (1867-1960); The author was an independent evangelist."
Edward Cooney entered the Work in 1901 and was a Worker in good standing when he wrote the four hymns that have been included in each Hymnbook edition since 1917. Even after the Workers excommunicated Cooney in 1928, they continued to include his hymns in their hymnbook, but without giving him credit. It is obvious that even as recently as 2004, Workers have continued their attempts to purge Cooney's name from the 2x2 Sect's history by calling him an independent evangelist and obscuring his pioneering role in it. It appears to be a lost cause, however, as Cooney's role in the early days of the movement and his name is so well known that the 2x2 Sect is still called "Cooneyites" in some places around the world, as well as in various, books, encyclopedias, newspapers, Wikipedia and various other websites.
Even though Robert Skerritt, the author of hymn No. 28, left the Work and Meetings and followed William Irvine's Omega Message from the early 1920s, the author list does show his initials only. It misleadingly comments " Robert laboured in Ireland, U.S.A. and Sweden; and lived his latter years in California, U.S.A." The 2004 authors list could have remarked regarding Cooney in a similar manner: "Edward, Irish, was in the Work 1901-1928, and labored in Ireland, Canada, U.S., Australia and New Zealand.
HYMN AUTHORS: OUTSIDERS. Listed in order by their birth year, the five oldest Outsider hymn authors are: (1) St. Bernard of Clairvaux born in 1090, Catholic; (2) Paul Whittingham born in 1524; (3) Paul Gerhardt born in 1607, Lutheran; (4) Isaac Watts born in 1674, Congregationalist; (5) Gerhard Tersteegen born in 1697.
FIRST OLDEST HYMN AUTHOR.St. Bernard of Clairvaux was born in France in 1090 A.D., and was the Author of " Jesus, The Very Thought of Thee," Hymn No. 13, and " Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts ," Hymn No. 204 (1951 ed.; not in 1987 ed.). He was a Catholic monk, and after his death, the Pope canonized him as a Saint. In spite of the very negative views of 2x2s regarding Catholicism, the Workers selected these two hymns written by a highly revered Catholic Saint to be included in their Hymns Old and New. From a handout of the St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma:
"Who was Saint Bernard of Clairvaux? He was born in 1090 near Dijon, France and entered the order of Cistercian monks at the age of 21. Endowed with a warm personality and sharp intellect, he was named as head of a new monastic foundation. Because of his success, his monastery became known as the Valley of Light...or Clairvaux....A mystic and theologian, he composed numerous treatises which influenced the Church's thinking for centuries....He died on August 20, 1153, and was canonized by Pope Alexander III in 1174...he is often called the last of the Fathers of the Church . His feast is observed on August 20."
SECOND OLDEST HYMN AUTHOR. Paul Whittingham (1524-1579) paraphrased Psalms 23, Hymn 308, "The Lord's My Shepherd," originally written by King David (1000 B.C.).
THIRD OLDEST HYMN AUTHOR. Paul Gerhardt, was born in Germany in 1607, and was the author of "God in Heaven Hath a Treasure" (Hymn No. 351), and also "A Homeless Stranger" (Hymn No. 209 in 1951 Ed.; not in 1987 Ed.). Gerhardt wrote 123 hymns , many of which are well known throughout the world. He was an ordained Lutheran minister and served at the Lutheran Church in Wittenwalde. He is called the "Sweet Singer of Lutheranism."
FOURTH OLDEST HYMN AUTHOR. Isaac Watts was born in England in 1674, and wrote over 600 hymns , earning him the title "Father of English Hymnody. " He was the author of "When I Survey," Hymn No. 6, and he also paraphrased the Psalms in Nos. 378 and 238. After Watts died in 1748, a monument in his honor was erected in Westminster Abbey, England. He was a Congregationalist.
For 150 years, English Protestants were restricted to singing only the Psalms in public worship. Watts complained that the faithful could not even sing about their Lord, Christ Jesus. He decided to do something about it. In 1707, a book of his hymns was published titled Hymns and Spiritual Songs . Watts is credited with writing the first English hymn which was not a direct paraphrase of Scripture. Watts wrote hymns based on New Testament passages that brought the Christian faith into church singing. His hymns gloried in the power, wisdom, and goodness of God.
Watts original verse 2 in "When I Survey," (Hymn No. 6) contains the words "Save in the death of Christ MY GOD," in most editions. This was changed to "Christ my Lord" in the 1987 Ed. of Hymns Old and New , which is more in line with the 2x2 nontrinitarian view of the relationship between Jesus and God.
FIFTH OLDEST HYMN AUTHOR. Gerhard Tersteegen was born in Moers, Germany in 1697, and was the author of "Come, Brothers On," Hymn No. 304, and "How Sweet It Is," Hymn No. 247. He was one of the two most famous 18th Century German hymn writers . He grew up in poverty, could not afford an education, studied theological books at home and became an outstanding lay theologian and lay pastor in the Protestant Pietism movement.
NOTABLE AUTHOR. Charlotte Elliott was born in England in 1789, and was the author of "Just as I Am" (Hymn No. 158). She became an invalid in her early thirties and was depressed. A minister asked her if she had peace with God. She made some excuses to procrastinate and he invited her to "Come just as you are." Ms. Elliott did so and became an Anglican. She later wrote the hymn, "Just as I am" which has touched the hearts of countless people who have been influenced by this hymn to respond to Jesus invitation to come "just as you are." This hymn has been called the world's greatest soul winning hymn .
NOTABLE AUTHOR. Frances (Fanny) Jane Crosby was a blind author born in New York in 1920. She wrote over 8,000 hymns , under various names, earning her the title of the " Hymn Queen ." It would take about 22 years to write one hymn per day. Nine of her hymns are in Hymns Old and New, including No. 1, "Tell Me the Story of Jesus." She married a blind musician and teacher, and passed away in 1905, aged 95. Her headstone contains the first verse of her most famous hymn: " Blessed Assurance." This hymn has never been included in Hymns Old and New , as 2x2s reject the doctrine that in this life one may be assured of their salvation. There are many books written about this author.
NOTABLE AUTHOR. Horatius Bonar was born in 1808, in Scotland, and wrote more than 600 hymns, including four in the 1987 Ed. (Nos. 112, 298, 330 and 397). He was ordained by the Church of Scotland in 1938, joined the Free Church of Scotland at the time of the Disruption of 1843, and served as the pastor at Chalmers Memorial Church in Edinburgh. He was known as "The Prince of Scottish Hymn Writers."
There are many books containing hymn stories available in Christian bookshops with interesting accounts about how various hymns came to be written by Christians outside the 2x2 Sect. The stories behind the hymns are often moving and intense. Some of the best loved hymns were born from tragic circumstances.
HYMNBOOKS USED IN OTHER COUNTRIES. Hymnbooks used by foreign 2x2s similar to Hymns Old and New are printed in several languages: German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Afrikaans, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Korean, Tagalog, Malagasy, Icelandic, Vietnamese and probably others. The Dutch and Spanish hymnbooks contain a notation: "This hymnal is not to be sold." The bilingual countries of Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg use both the French and German hymnbooks.
LEAFLETS OR SUPPLEMENTS. Leaflets containing additional hymns, also known as Supplements, were used in some countries for up to 50 years along with Hymns Old and New. In the 1940s in South Australia and New Zealand, Overseers Willie Hughes and John Baartz were instrumental in arranging the Supplements. The early editions were words only and contained about 12 to 18 hymns, but increased in size in later printings. In 1941, Bill Carroll, Overseer of Victoria, published a Leaflet which included some hymns by Willie Hughes, Sam Jones and Bill's daughter May Schulz. Leaflets were also used in the Western Alliance, but not in the Eastern Alliance under Overseer, George Walker. After the new hymnbook was printed in 1987, the use of Leaflets was discontinued.
TABLE GRACES. Before eating a meal at home, it is customary for the 2x2 host to say aloud an impromptu table grace of thanksgiving for the food set before them, or to ask someone else to do so, including children. The group may be standing or seated, and they do not hold hands. In public, individuals usually give thanks (aka grace) silently. Sometimes a group will sing a table grace together, which is the custom at their Conventions. Table graces were printed on cards in the past.
Authors of Hymns Old and New
Hymnbook Edition
Christians known
Other unknown
Non-2x2
1909 Go-Preachers
1917 HOAN
Additional Hymn Material
Through the years, many hymns and poems have been written by 2x2 authors which were not included in their hymnal Hymns Old and New. Listed below is some of this unpublished material that was compiled in booklets.
A General Index to Hymns Old and New (to 1951 Hymnbook). Order from: C. H. Olds, 22A King's Drive, Levin, New Zealand.
Collected Hymns (5 Volumes; 1-5). Order from: P.E. Chamberlain, Box 313, Papakura, South Auckland, New Zealand.
S. Jones Hymns (undated): Previously ordered from Sam Jones Songbook, P.O. Box 3065, Camarillo, California 93010, 117 pages, spiral-bound; No compiler named (very old, probably not available now). Sam Jones professed in Belfast, Ireland, and went into the Work in 1902. He went to Western Australia in 1908. Sam died in 1946 in Rockingham, Australia, 30 miles south of Perth.
Hymns of Kenneth D. Dissmore (notebook): A white binder containing numerous Dissmore hymns with a table of contents, assembled without a publisher. At Kenneth Dissmore's funeral held 4/13/93, a speaker at his funeral said that "He was a psalmist of our day, bringing true scriptural thoughts into hymns that inspire us." He was born September 12, 1916, died April 9, 1993, and is buried in the Glenwood Cemetery in Dallas, WI.
Hymns By John Martin (undated booklet): John Martin lived 1876-1956. From A Review of Hymns Old and New: "Our old Friend and Brother John Martin went forth in 1916 from his home in County Sligo and for a few years was in the Work in Ireland before going to Scotland. He was writing hymns before he went into the Work. Although we only have two of his in this issue - Nos. 149 and 328, yet No. 149 is considered by many to be the best and one of the most useful hymns in the book, because it embraces so much that is dear to the heart of God's children" (B. Pattison 1951, TTT ).
Hymns by Sandy Scot t: Printed at the County Press, Bala. N.d. 60 pages, 184 hymns, and 4 poems. Text only. Inside: "Copies of this Hymn Book are obtainable only from H. Schultz, 182 Secrest Place, Penticton, B.C. Canada."
Poems by W. J. Hughes [Willie Hughes]: Auckland, New Zealand. N.d. Printed by Tasman Press Ltd, Otahuhu. For Miss M. R. Keatley, 83 Hall Street, Pukekohe, NZ. 36 Poems,
Hymns by F. Willis Propp: Self published pamphlet, 1996.
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Grow Your Own Teachers recognized by White House as ‘Bright Spot’
Glad to see the White House recognize the importance of growing our own teachers to address the diversity needs (or lack thereof) in the teaching ranks. It does so by highlighting GYO Illinois that has clearly moved the needle in this regard. There's a lot to know about this. I want to do a shout out to Dean Maureen Gillette who has been a true leader in this regard at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. This is at least a partial but nevertheless quite substantive approach to bringing in fresh recruits from our communities into the teaching ranks so that they can return to their communities (or communities that are similar to the ones from which they originate) in order to be teachers who are oftentimes more effective with our school demographic populations because of shared experiences, frames of references, and capacities in the languages, cultures, and dialects of their communities. This is a bright spot indeed for the direction that education reform can and should take.
#NLERAP #Latino #Growyourownteachers #LatEdPolicy #TxEd #TxLege
Tuesday, 22 September 2015 05:02 | Written by Administrator
Illinois program to recruit and retain diverse teachers honored for positive impact on Hispanic education; featured in national report on the status of teacher diversity in U.S. cities
Stalemate in Springfield cuts off tuition support for GYO candidates pursuing college degrees
CHICAGO, IL – Fatima Salgado was inspired to pursue teaching when she was a part-time tutor. Some of her students were struggling to learn because they were not yet fluent in English. Fatima remembered having difficulties in elementary school when she moved here to Logan Square from Mexico and spent most of second grade without any bilingual language supports.
Now a teacher candidate at Northeastern Illinois University, Fatima is looking forward to teaching middle school math and science in Little Village—the predominantly Latino community where she lives---when she graduates in a couple years.
Paving the way for Latinos and other diverse candidates to become teachers is what Grow Your Own Teachers was created to do. Despite increased awareness of the positive impact and need for more teachers of color, only 3.6 percent of public school teachers in Illinois are Latino. Meanwhile, Latino and African American students now comprise the majority in the state’s public schools.
This week, the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics named t Spots in Hispanic Education.” As a Bright Spot,
Grow Your Own Teachers, will be part of a national online catalog that includes over 230 programs that invest in key education priorities for Hispanics.
“Our teachers are making a difference in classrooms across the state,” says Grow Your Own Illinois Executive Director Kate VanWinkle. “Our program is addressing achievement gaps at two critical junctures. For our teacher candidates, we provide wraparound services that enable them to persist in college and graduate. And for students of color in Illinois public schools, we are training more high-quality teachers of color who live and work in the same communities they do and who help them reach their full potential.”
A new report, “The State of Teacher Diversity in American Education,” highlights Grow Your Own Teachers as one of only eight state and local programs in the nation that focus on both recruitment and retention of minority teachers, and have proven results.
Since it was launched, Grow Your Own has graduated 108 teachers; 88 are currently classroom teachers. By recognizing GYO candidates as untapped resources for their communities, the program addresses teacher turnover, teacher-student cultural mismatch, faculty diversity and stifled career opportunities for those living in poverty who wish to become teachers.
Yet career prospects for GYO candidates in the pipeline are now uncertain as Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislators are at loggerheads and have yet to agree on a budget. Some GYO teacher candidates in Chicago and downstate no longer have the funds to pay for college tuition and are unable to continue their studies.
“This angers me because Grow Your Own works,” says GYO candidate Fatima Salgado. “I’m battling for the money to stay in school and finish. I don’t deserve this and my fellow GYO candidates don’t deserve it. They’re worried. I’m worried, too.”
About Grow Your Own (GYO) Illinois
Grow Your Own Illinois advances the efforts of Grow Your Own Teachers programs across the state to achieve equity, excellence and diversity in the new teacher pipeline. GYO Illinois supports the education and excellence of GYO teacher candidates and graduates; advocates for policies that facilitate increasing the number of teachers of color; and coordinates and aligns the work of innovative partnerships of universities, community colleges, school districts and community organizers that host GYO programs.
For more information, visit www.growyourownteachers.org
About the White House Initiative for Educational Excellence for Hispanics
The Initiative was established in 1990 to address the educational disparities faced by the Hispanic community. The Initiative seeks to leverage these Bright Spots to encourage collaboration between stakeholders focused on similar issues in sharing data-driven approaches, promising practices, peer advice, and effective partnerships, ultimately resulting in increased support for the educational attainment of the Hispanic community, from cradle-to-career.
To learn more about the Initiative and to view the Bright Spots in Hispanic Education national online catalog, visit www.ed.gov/HispanicInitiative.
Grow Your Own Teacher Graduation
Friday, 08 May 2015 01:11 | | |
From WIFR Rockford:
ROCKFORD (WIFR) – Some Rockford moms are getting a second chance at living their dream by educating our kids.
Three Rockford natives are now teachers through Rock Valley College’s “Grow Your Own Teachers” Program. The program is geared toward working adults with families who’ve always dreamed of teaching our kids. This is the second graduating class from RVC’s program. The graduates will soon work for District 205 as either elementary or middle school science teachers.
“I would definitely say there were a lot of times where I wanted to throw in the towel, but I just kept striving through and had very good support between Grow Your Own and just kept going,” says graduate Kelly Kloster.
The “Grow Your Own” program plans to start a dual enrollment program with District 205 for high school students who want to become teachers.
Last Updated (Tuesday, 22 September 2015 05:15)
Growing your own teachers worth the wait
Thursday, 05 February 2015 00:41 | | |
Featured at catalyst-chicago.org
During the 12 years that I attended CPS, I encountered very few minority teachers and no teachers with a Mexican background like me. I always wished for one. I felt that a teacher who shared my background would understand my heritage and would inspire me. Now, I can be that teacher who has a positive influence on the children I teach.
By: Idalia Vasquez / February 4, 2015
Grow Your Own Teachers helps low-income people of color who have the desire to become teachers earn a bachelor’s degree in Education—a goal that would otherwise be almost impossible for them to achieve. Yet a recent news article falls short by viewing the program as a conveyor belt, and failing to capture what I and many other graduates felt by becoming the first person in our family to graduate from a university and get a job as a CPS teacher.
It also fails to capture how important it is for children in my classroom to have a teacher who looks like them and who shares their life experience. (“Illinois falls short in $20 million effort to develop 1,000 teachers,” Jan. 16, Chicago Tribune.)
I am a Hispanic female, born to Mexican immigrant, working parents. I was born and raised in Chicago, one of five siblings. I attended four different CPS elementary schools and, given the bad timing of my parents’ divorce, graduated with a very low GPA from a low-performing, low-income high school on the Northwest Side. I can count on one hand how many of my fellow high school graduates went on to complete a bachelor’s degree. With a lot of struggle, I earned an associate’s degree from a community college, and at the age of 19, seven months before receiving that degree, I gave birth to my first child.
While growing up, my parents constantly reminded me of the hardships and poverty they endured in their small village in Guerrero, Mexico. My mom is the oldest of eight siblings and completed school through 6th grade. My father had to help my grandfather work the land and attended school only up to 3rd grade. My parents would always tell me and my siblings how important it was for us to take advantage of the opportunities of this great country. Unfortunately, I was missing two of the most important factors that impact college attendance: financial support and, most importantly, informed guidance. I knew I was going to graduate from a university one day but I had no idea how to make that a reality.
Crucial support to overcome hurdles
That’s where Grow Your Own Teachers comes into play. By the age of 31, I had gone back to school at Northeastern Illinois University. I was a part-time student and a stay-at-home mother of two, studying for a degree in elementary education. But it was a constant struggle, especially when it came to math. Pre-algebra, for instance, was one of three math courses that I had to pass before I was eligible to take college math--but it would not earn me any credits toward graduation. I also struggled to pay for books since my loan did not cover them and my husband’s income was barely enough to cover the family expenses.
That same year, I was a parent volunteer at my son’s CPS preschool. An assistant preschool teacher there told me about a program called Grow Your Own Teachers that could help me. The program was for parent volunteers and school paraprofessionals who wanted to get a degree in elementary education at Northeastern Illinois, where I was already enrolled. I applied and got in.
I became a full-time student, attending year-round. During the summer, I took four classes—the maximum number of classes allowed. That was difficult because my husband worked and my children were out of school. On some occasions, my children would wait for me outside of my classroom in the study area. The professor knew I was a mom and did not object to my frequent breaks to check on my children. Other times, Grow Your Own Teachers provided child care and I was able to focus in the classroom.
Another hurdle was passing the Basic Skills Test. Now known as TAP or the Test of Academic Proficiency, it is one of three state tests that teachers have to pass before they can earn a teaching license. Grow Your Own Teachers provided me with a math tutor and test workshops. I finally passed the five-hour test on the second try.
Those were just a few of the many hurdles that Grow Your Own Teachers helped me to overcome.
After three and a half years, I graduated with honors from Northeastern Illinois University. One of the best moments in my life was having my mom watch me walk across the stage to receive my degree.
Understanding heritage, inspiring students
Today, I am proud to say that I am a kindergarten teacher at a low-income CPS school. Every day I go to my classroom ready to inspire my students. Most of them are amazed that my background is similar to theirs. For example, no one in our families has a college degree, our parents do not speak English and they were born in another country. The children get a kick out of the fact that I also secretly ate hot Cheetos for breakfast when I was young because my parents left early for work and they didn’t have time to make breakfast.
During the 12 years that I attended CPS, I encountered very few minority teachers and no teachers with a Mexican background like me. I always wished for one. I felt that a teacher who shared my background would understand my heritage and would inspire me. Now, I can be that teacher who has a positive influence on the children I teach. Our common background provides me with tools and references that facilitate making connections. The other day, I read Gary Soto’s “Too Many Tamales” to my students and they were excited to learn that my family also makes tamales for Christmas.
The hurdles that I had to overcome to earn my degree were few compared to my fellow Grow Your Own members. Some of them are working full-time or part-time and have been in the program and attending classes part-time for more than five years. One woman told me how she had to leave school temporarily to take care of a sick, elderly parent. Some have to cut back on their own studies so they can earn extra money to pay tuition for children who are starting college. I admire their resilience. Most participants stick with the program, working and studying hard and knowing that they will achieve their goal one day. To them I say, “Keep trying, because earning a college degree is worth it.”
So many people around me now see me as a role model—my children, my family, my fellow Grow Your Own members, my students, my students’ parents, my para-professional colleagues. I am only one of the many graduates who can inspire others like me.
It reminds me of a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream.”
Idalia Vasquez is a 2013 graduate of the Grow Your Own program and a CPS teacher.
Investing in homegrown teachers has long-term payoff
From Crain's Chicago Business:
By: JIMMY A. LUGO
If there's a sweet spot for a Chicago Public Schools principal, I'm living it. For two years, I've had the good fortune to lead a predominantly Latino elementary school in Humboldt Park, the neighborhood where I grew up and that I have called home for much of my life.
Students and families here know me. They know that I won't dismiss their perspectives or circumstances. They recognize that I am committed to safety and educational success.
As principal, I decided early on to invest in educators who are able to immediately connect with my students. When I was a principal-in-training, I noticed certain teachers stood out. They were able to quickly relate to families and enlist them as partners in educating children. They had high expectations and relevant lessons for students. And their students often outperformed others.
These teachers were graduates of Grow Your Own Teachers, a statewide program that recruits diverse candidates from low-income urban and rural areas and prepares them to teach in public schools. When I landed at my school—where more than 91 percent of students are Latino—I inherited a few GYO teachers and I hired a couple more. These are passionate, dedicated and culturally competent Latina teachers who drive improvements in academic outcomes. The paradigm shift that occurs when students can see themselves in their teachers has lifelong impact and helps to positively mold communities.
GYO teachers tend to stay. Many of them grew up or live in the neighborhoods where they teach; some have experience working at their schools. Only one of my four GYO teachers has left. By contrast, more than half of the teachers in Humboldt Park schools left their schools, according to an analysis of 2008-12 data by Catalyst Chicago.
Yet despite the competitive advantage GYO teachers provide schools, the program is on the chopping block, one of several programs that help racially and economically diverse students earn college degrees and enter professions that have been targeted by Gov. Bruce Rauner. Student diversity is rising across Illinois; it's no longer just an issue for Chicago and its suburbs.
Instead of writing it off, state lawmakers must give GYO the resources it needs to create a solid pipeline of highly effective teachers of color. Recently, the New York Times identified teacher diversity and low retention of minority teachers as critical policy issues across the country. GYO addresses both, yet in recent years only $1.5 million was allocated, about half of what the program needs for full operation and a pittance in the state's overall $91 billion budget.
Districts even save hiring costs when GYO teachers help lower turnover rates. Estimated at $20,000 per hire, that's already a couple of million dollars saved, and more to come once those in the pipeline graduate and land teaching jobs.
Critics of the program point to those who don't finish and drop out. Yet GYO stacks up favorably against other higher education programs that work with older students who are returning or have never attended college.
It's time for Illinois to invest in growing the kind of teachers that we all want. Take it from a homegrown principal whose path to an education career included returning to college as an adult: Illinois needs more homegrown teachers.
Jimmy A. Lugo is principal of Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School.
Last Updated (Friday, 08 May 2015 01:35)
‘Let me be an example’
Friday, 24 October 2014 02:04 | | |
Originally featured at neiu.edu:
Rachel Hall’s story could be one of sadness and tragedy.
She endured a troubled childhood in Columbus, Ohio. She’s been a homeless mother. And in 2005, three weeks after her husband died, her mother passed away too.
Hall has every reason to be a story of sadness and tragedy, but she refuses.
“I have no regrets,” she said. “I’m supposed to be here.”
“Here” is Northeastern Illinois University, where in 2012 Hall reinvented her life to study elementary education. Now age 49, she is two years away from earning her degree. Eventually, she wants to earn a Ph.D. and teach the next generation of teachers, particularly in minority communities.
“We need to empower African-American youths to do everything,” she said. “You can become a teacher, you can do robotics. If children are empowered and educated, they make better decisions.”
Hall already got a taste of that mission over the summer, when she worked with Northeastern’s Grow Your Own Teachers program as part of an Alumni Association Student Internship/Scholarship, one of four scholarships she’s earned through the University in the past year alone.
“I hope my story will encourage others,” Hall said. “If I can’t be anything else, let me be an example that you can do this.”
Hall’s instructors have taken notice—and not just because she sits in the front of every class.
“I admire how Rachel has overcome some serious obstacles in pursuing her education,” associate professor Durene Wheeler said. “As a nontraditional student, she is a great role model for how determination and purpose can take you far when the odds are stacked against you.”
Last Updated (Friday, 06 February 2015 01:03)
The Latest GYO Newsletter
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Malvern Books presents: Adam Crittenden
For details, please visit http://malvernbooks.com/event/adam-crittenden-book-launch/.
From Malvern's website:
Adam Crittenden Book Launch
WHEN: June 25, 2016 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Join us in celebrating the launch of Adam Crittenden’s debut full-length poetry collection, Blood Eagle. With readings from poets Adam Crittenden, Daniel Roessler, and Nick Courtright.
Adam Crittenden is partial to happiness, even/especially during times of impending doom (mythological, Biblical, psychological, imaginal). Give this book a chance to show you its necessities, to demonstrate what ink and paper can continue to do that flesh and blood cannot. In a century where a face can be successfully transplanted, why not a voice? Who doesn’t want to be remade? Go ahead. Traipse into this twisted forest (before the first light bulb falls), and you might well agree that “we should have left / after the first few minutes / but by now it is too late.”
~Timothy Liu, author of Don’t Go Back to Sleep
Adam Crittenden holds an MFA in poetry from New Mexico State University, where he was awarded an Academy of American Poets Prize. He also serves as an editor for Lingerpost and Puerto del Sol. His work has appeared in decomP, Bayou Magazine, Metazen, Barn Owl Review, Whiskey Island, and other journals. Blood Eagle is his first full-length book of poetry and is available now from Gold Wake Press. Currently, he teaches writing in Albuquerque at Central New Mexico Community College.
Daniel Roessler is a poet and an aspiring mystery/thriller author who currently resides in Austin, Texas. He is a member of The Writer’s League of Texas, the Academy of American Poets, and an active participant in the Writer’s Digest Poetic Asides community, placing in several contests. Daniel has previously published one nonfiction book, numerous magazine articles, and a three-part guest blog series for Writer’s Digest on nature poems.
Nick Courtright’s second book, Let There Be Light, called “a continual surprise and a revelation” by Naomi Shihab Nye, came out in February 2014, and his debut full-length, Punchline, a National Poetry Series finalist, was published in 2012. He is an editor and book designer for Gold Wake Press, and the founder and editor of Atmosphere Press. His poetry has appeared in many literary journals, including The Southern Review, Kenyon Review Online, Boston Review, and The Iowa Review, among numerous others, and essays and other prose of his have been published by such places as The Huffington Post, The Best American Poetry, Gothamist, and SPIN Magazine.
BookPeople presents: Patrick Hemstreet
Malvern Books presents: An Afternoon with Will Everett
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CJEU, Spain
“Smell-alike perfumes” It smells dangerous…
Carolina Pina (Garrigues)/ March 4, 2016 March 20, 2017 /Leave a comment
The Alicante Appellate Court has confirmed that the use of lists comparing fragrances to well-known perfume brands is illegal.
Comparison lists compare smell-alike perfumes with the respective high-priced original perfume brand. These lists are distributed among retailers to inform customers of the “equivalence” between their fragrances and the well-known brand.
Lately, retailers have been using digital applications in stores to compare the fragrances in order to avoid mentioning well-known brands in advertising materials explicitly. In many cases the retailer only refers to the well-known brand in the store verbally.
What conclusion did the Alicante Provincial Appellate Court reach?
Comparison lists are comparative advertising which do not meet the requirements to be considered lawful, mainly: (i) the comparison should be made objectively between one or more material, relevant, verifiable and representative features of the goods and services; and (ii) should not be misleading or unfair.
When giving the reasons for the decision, the judgement refers to the decision by the CJEU of June 18, 2009 (L’Óreal SA v Bellure NV), concluding that even where such use is not capable of jeopardizing the essential function of the mark (since there is no likelihood of confusion), it may constitute infringement.
Such use seeks to ride on the coattails of the mark with a reputation in order to benefit from the power of attraction, the reputation and the prestige of that mark and to exploit, without paying any financial compensation, the marketing effort expended by the proprietor of the mark in order to create and maintain the mark’s image. The advantage gained by the advertiser as a result of such unlawful comparative advertising must be considered to be an advantage taken unfairly of the reputation of that mark.
The judgement held that this practice constitutes free riding and cannot be considered lawful under article 12 of the Regulation, since it is not necessary in order to describe the aromas of the perfumes sold by the defendants.
These cases may have an important economic impact because the businesses based on comparison lists have flourished successfully in Spain over the last few years. Evidence of this is the large number of franchisees existing in Spain based on this business model and which may be jeopardized in the future.
Is there an interaction between the scope of protection and validity of 3D trademarks?
Adam Gyorgy (SBGK Attorneys at Law and Patent Attorneys)/ March 5, 2016 March 4, 2016
USA: Gibson Brands, Inc. v. Viacom International, Inc, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, No. 13-57050, 19 February 2016
Thomas Long (Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory US)/ March 2, 2016 March 2, 2016
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Top ten probable ways of transportation in the future
rinki
High speed alternative energy train
Solar Bullet is a campaign that suggests the concept of high-speed fuel fuel by alternative energy running on solar powered rails.
Third party image reference
Even though the concept of self-driving cars reminds companies like an old Sci-FI movie, developers, engineers and even Google, is testing them around the world.
Supercavitation
When an object is placed in water or any other fluid, then it is very quickly surrounded by gas bubbles. This effect is called supercavitation. Scientists consider using it to develop future transportation methods.
Hyperlope
The idea of ultra-fast public transportation is not only a dream, but a real technique in the process of development.
Vacuum trains
Evacueated tube transport system has suggested to keep maglev trains in the empty tube, which will increase their speed by 4,039 miles per hour.
Flying car
Flying car, as seen in movies, can not happen in the future as it may seem. Scientists of Tel Aviv, Israel, started a project for the construction of public transport instruments which could fly due to magnetic levitation techniques.
For the first time, the US Army had thought of JetPack in 1940. Since then, many unsuccessful attempts have been made to convert Jetpac into military property.
Space lift
The Space Elevator represents a project that was theorem about 100 years ago. This structure will be able to be made of light matter, which "connects" with the surface of the Earth, a base station, orbit of the Earth (about 60,000 miles).
Skylon
Skyline is one of the ways of future transportation, which promises fast and easy access to the outer space.
In the experiments of 2010 and 2012, Chinese physicists managed to transport a photon at a distance of 10 and 60 miles, respectively. They found that when the photon is moved from point A to point B, the structure of the object can change, and an object will be copied.
Friends, if you like this article then please follow me.
Mr. India
i just wanna see in my life time.
t 4th BBC x
Dhondu
let see which works.
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John E. Hoover: From Lincoln Riley and Kyler Murray, an oral history of Oklahoma’s seventh Heisman winner
John E. Hoover
NEW YORK — Lincoln Riley needed a quarterback, and he had plenty to choose from.
It was 2015, and Oklahoma was in the market for a transfer QB. Will Grier was leaving Florida after his freshman year. Kyle Allen was leaving Texas A&M as a sophomore, and Kyler Murray also was getting out of College Station after an uneven freshman season.
Riley, then-head coach Bob Stoops and OU assistants Dennis Simmons and Cale Gundy gathered for a film session to evaluate the trio. They watched Grier and Allen and came away very impressed. Both were good throwers, pocket passers, and certainly seemed capable of running a big-time college offense.
“Then we flip on Kyler’s film,” Riley said during a black-tie banquet Sunday night, Murray seated just a few feet behind him. “We all watch it. We don’t really say anything. And when it ends, Bob looks over at me and says, ‘What do you think?’
“I said, ‘Well, I like the other two guys. But if Kyler comes here, he’s gonna win the Heisman.’
“And here we are, Bud,” he said, turning to face Murray. “Here we are.”
Three years later, this past weekend in New York City, Murray fulfilled Riley’s outlandish guarantee by winning the 84th Heisman Trophy. Although Murray said all weekend that he always believed this moment would come and assured everyone that his confidence never waivered and that, yes, he absolutely always saw a Heisman Trophy in his future, he did almost slip up once, on Saturday night, just an hour or so after winning the award.
“I never thought I — never mind.”
It was a momentary glimpse of self-doubt, a sliver of whatever Murray might have been feeling in his waning days at A&M. Murray hasn’t ever really offered much insight on his dark times as an Aggie.
Until his big night, that is.
“When I was at A&M in the transfer process, I remember just sitting in my room and being miserable,” Murray said Saturday. “I was miserable. I was calling my mom and my dad and some other loved ones. I was like, ‘What should I do? I don’t want to be here anymore.’ I think many kids have gone through that situation. I’m not the only one. I was kind of deciding whether or not I wanted to play in the bowl game or not, but my head wasn’t in it.
“I’ve always taken the high road when it comes to that because when I left A&M, I was ‘the bad guy.’ I’ll explain it all one day.”
His father, former Aggie legend Kevin Murray, supported Kyler’s decision.
“When I told him I didn’t want to play in the bowl game, they wanted me to finish it off and play in the bowl game,” Murray said. “He understood. He was kind of more fed up than I was at that point. Once I got out of the situation, all that me-being-miserable kind of left. I was at home for a whole month.”
When Murray ultimately decided he’d had enough and got his scholarship release, Oklahoma quickly popped up as a possible destination. After that fateful film session inside the Barry Switzer Center, Riley and Murray put their heads together and came up with a plan. Murray would transfer to OU and, after redshirting the 2016 season, the Sooner coaching staff would give him two years to put his prodigious skills to use.
OU announced on Christmas Eve that Murray would soon be a Sooner and, a week later, Murray watched his future teammates lose to Clemson in the Orange Bowl. It was Oklahoma’s first College Football Playoff appearance. Whatever self-doubt he might have had was dissipating.
“That was a better time for sure,” Murray said. “Yeah, I was chilling. That was a good time.”
The following spring, after a year of appeals following Baker Mayfield’s transfer from Texas Tech, the Big 12 Conference ruled that Mayfield would not be given back the year he sat out as a transfer. That was actually expected, Riley said, and so Murray had set his mind to be the Sooners’ starter in 2017.
The next day, the Big 12 flipped its ruling. Mayfield was never offered a scholarship at Texas Tech, so the league changed its rule and granted him the 2017 season back.
And Murray’s two-year plan was ruined.
“The first people I called — because I felt bad about it for them — the first people I called was Kyler and Kyler’s parents,” Riley said.
“I want you to think about this if you’re this guy, OK? He’s probably the greatest high school football player ever to come out of the state of Texas. He went 43-0 in the top division, OK? Player of the year, every single year, Gatorade National Player of the Year, top recruit in the country. I mean, the guy’s unbelievable — not to mention the guy’s pretty good at baseball, too.
“And so making that call to him, how would you have handled that if that was you? I’ll tell you how he handled it and how his parents handled it: they said, ‘Coach, that’s how it goes sometimes. We’re gonna continue to work, we’re gonna continue to do what we gotta do, and we’re gonna be ready as soon as that opportunity comes up.’ And I think that tells you all that you need to know about this cat right here. He is extremely special.”
So Murray enrolled at OU, sat out 2016 as a redshirt transfer, then sat the bench in 2017, somewhat frustrated as Mayfield had arguably the greatest season by a quarterback in Sooner history, culminating in OU’s sixth Heisman Trophy.
“Frustrated’s not the right word,” Riley said. “I wouldn’t say that. He was eager. But he always handled it the right way.”
Murray said “frustrated” actually was the right word for how he felt.
“This whole process, the past couple years, like I said, it’d be nice when I come home when we win the game, but it just didn’t feel — you’re used to playing, the competitor in you, you’re a little frustrated,” he said. “You obviously want the team to win, but you do that a lot. The competitor in me was just a little frustrated for not being able to contribute the way that I want to.
“But it’s all been worth it.”
“Everybody sees the physical gifts that this guy has,” Riley said,” and it’s really something special the way he can run, the way he can throw. But what a lot of people don’t understand is the type of competitor he is, how smart he is.
“And because of that, we’re all able to turn on the TV on Saturdays and see one of the greatest athletes that there’s ever been to do it. And I don’t say that lightly, but that’s what this guy is.”
Columnist John E. Hoover is co-host of “The Franchise Drive” every weeknight from 6-8 on The Franchise in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and appears throughout the day on other shows on The Franchise. Listen at fm107.7 in OKC, fm107.9/am1270 in Tulsa, on The Franchise app, or click the “Listen” tab on The Franchise home page. Hoover also covers the Big 12 for Sporting News and Lindy’s magazine and is a feature writer for Sooner Spectator magazine. Visit his personal page at johnehoover.com.
Related Items107.7 The Franchise107.9 The Franchise84th Heisman TrophyBaker MayfieldBig 12 ConferenceBob StoopsHeisman TrophyHome - 1st StripJohn HooverKevin MurrayKyler MurrayLincoln RileyNew York CityOrange BowlTexas A&M AggiesTexas A&M footballTua Tagovailoa
Hoover wrote for the Tulsa World for 24 years before joining The Franchise, where he's now co-host of "Further Review" on The Franchise Tulsa (weekdays 12-3, fm107.9/am1270) . In his time at the World, Hoover won numerous writing and reporting awards, including in 2011 National Beat Writer of the Year from the Associated Press Sports Editors for his work covering the Oklahoma Sooners. Hoover also covered Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Oral Roberts and the NFL as a beat writer. From 2012 to 2016, Hoover was the World's lead sports columnist. As a columnist, Hoover won national awards in 2012 and 2014 from the National Athletic Trainers Association for reporting on sports medicine and in 2015 won first place in sports columns from the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists. After receiving a journalism degree from East Central University, Hoover worked at newspapers in Ada, Okmulgee, Tahlequah and Waynesville, Mo. He played football at Ada High School and grew up in North Pole, Alaska. Hoover and his family live in Broken Arrow.
More in John Hoover
John E. HooverJuly 16, 2019
John E. Hoover: Sooners’ Kennedy Brooks reportedly cleared of Title IX inquiry, returns to team
John E. HooverJuly 9, 2019
John E. Hoover: One week from Big 12 Media Day, this league is all about starting anew in 2019
Sooners Take Down Trojans in T-Town 81-70
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Controversial Medical Aid in Dying Issues Raised by NYS Academy of Family Physicians
Resolution by AMA’s 2nd Largest Component Society Urges AMA to Drop Opposition to End-of-Life Care Option
The New York State Academy of Family Physicians helped persuade the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) last week to adopt a new position of “engaged neutrality” on the issue of medical aid in dying.
Since the new position by AAFP, the second largest component society of the AMA with more than 131,400 members, is at odds with the 1993 AMA Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 5.7 opposing “assisted suicide,” the resolution required a two-thirds supermajority vote to approve it. AAFP delegates approved the resolution, which combined resolutions introduced by the New York State, California, New Mexico, and Washington AAFP chapters, by voice vote with no objections.
“As family physicians, we care for our patients in all stages of their lives, including the end of their lives, so we are sympathetic to the pain and suffering they endure,” said Dr. Marc Price, an AAFP delegate and president of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, which formerly opposed medical aid in dying, then adopted a neutral position and now supports it. “In our opinion, we should have the ability to utilize all palliative care resources that are available to comfort them, including medical aid in dying.”
Since 2017, medical aid-in-dying bills have been introduced in 27 states, including New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act (S.3151/A.2383). This medical practice has been authorized in Washington, D.C., and seven states: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and California. Collectively, these jurisdictions represent nearly one out of five Americans (19%) and have 40 years of combined experience safely using this end-of-life care option.
According to a 2016 Medscape online survey, more than 7,500 doctors from over 25 specialties agreed by nearly a 2-1 margin (57% vs. 29%) that “physician-assisted dying [should] be allowed for terminally ill patients.”
“The action taken allows the AAFP to advocate for engaged neutrality on this subject at future AMA House of Delegates meetings,” said Michael Munger, MD, president of the AAFP. “Our bylaws state any resolution that differs from the AMA Code of Ethics requires a two-thirds vote of the AAFP Congress of Delegates. This resolution passed by that majority. Through our ongoing and continuous relationship with our patients, family physicians are well-positioned to counsel patients on end-of-life care, and we are engaged in creating change in the best interest of our patients.”
“As a former delegate for the American Academy of Family Physicians, I am proud that the organization has adopted a position of engaged neutrality to ensure its members can advise terminally ill patients about all end-of-life care options and provide them,” said Compassion & Choices National Medical Director Dr. David Grube, who was honored as Family Physician of the Year by the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians in 1986 and Oregon Medical Association Doctor Citizen of the Year in 2009. “I believe many AMA constituent societies will follow suit, so it is only a matter of time before the AMA does as well.”
“By supporting the AMA’s opposition to medical aid in dying, some members feel the AAFP is telling them that they are unethical,” concludes the resolution. “Overall, the testimony provided in the hearing supported development of an AAFP position of engaged neutrality toward medical aid in dying as a personal decision made by the patient in the context of the physician-patient relationship … the American Academy of Family Physicians [sic] reject the use of the phrase ‘assisted suicide’ or ‘physician-assisted suicide’ in formal statements or documents and [sic] direct the AAFP’s American Medical Association (AMA) delegation to promote the same in the AMA House of Delegates.”
Last June, the AMA House of Delegates voted 56 to 44 percent to reject a report by its Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) that recommended the AMA maintain its Code of Medical Ethics’ opposition to medical aid in dying. Instead, the House of Delegates referred the report back to CEJA for further work.
In fact, the CEJA report implicitly acknowledged that medical aid-in-dying laws improve end-of-life care by spurring conversations between physicians and terminally ill patients about all end-of-life care options, such as hospice and palliative care:
“Patient requests for [medical aid in dying] invite physicians to have the kind of difficult conversations that are too often avoided. They open opportunities to explore the patient’s goals and concerns, to learn what about the situation the individual finds intolerable and to respond creatively to the patient’s needs…” the report concluded.
ABOUT COMPASSION & CHOICES:
Compassion & Choices is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization working to improve and expand healthcare options for the end of life. For more information, visit CompassionAndChoices.org
Edited by: JV Staff
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EditorialsNewswire
Ruck Cohlchez - July 22, 2018 July 25, 2018
I bring you this story from NBC News, where the wealthy and almost-wealthy alike have gathered to try to figure out how to stop a popular uprising– one might even call it “democracy”– from happening in the Democratic Party:
While the energy and momentum is with progressives these days — the victory of rising star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York, buzz about Democratic Socialism and the spread of the “Abolish Ice!” movement are a few recent examples — moderates are warning that ignoring them will lead the party to disaster in the midterm elections and the 2020 presidential contest.
That anxiety has largely been kept to a whisper among the party’s moderates and big donors, with some of the major fundraisers pressing operatives on what can be done to stop the Vermonter if he runs for the White House again.
But the first-ever “Opportunity 2020” convention, organized here last week by Third Way, a moderate Democratic think tank, gave middle-of-the-road party members a safe space to come together and voice their concerns.
That’s right– with actual fascism on the rise in America and left-wing economic solutions proving to be popular enough campaign planks to defeat it, the Democratic Party is concerned with… beating back its own popular voter movement and clinging to power no matter what. (The Iron Law of Institutions never fails.)
Third Way, of course, is the think tank behind the rise of Bill Clinton and the governing and electoral strategy that the Democrats ought to move rightward. Their philosophy has guided the Democratic Party at least since Clinton’s rise, if not sooner (ref. Listen, Liberal for examples of how, as far back as 1968, the Party has been moving away from its base of workers, unions, and minorities, and increasingly chasing white educated professionals while assuming the rest of its base will come along anyway). Yet, despite their total failures to maintain national power or to defeat Republicans, their fear (and their donors’ fear) of a movement that might actually do that with a real change in message, policy, and philosophy, has them scurrying to spin the current situation as one only they can solve.
The gathering here was just that — an effort to offer an attractive alternative to the rising Sanders-style populist left in the upcoming presidential race. Where progressives see a rare opportunity to capitalize on an energized Democratic base, moderates see a better chance to win over Republicans turned off by Trump.
The fact that a billionaire real estate developer, Winston Fisher, co-cohosted the event and addressed attendees twice underscored that this group is not interested in the class warfare vilifying the “millionaires and billionaires” found in Sanders’ stump speech.
That’s right– despite the fact that constantly catering to money and trying to win over these mythical “moderate Republicans” has been the strategy for decades now, the same strategy that managed to cost the Democrats the House for the first time in forty years in 1994, the same strategy that’s turned a bunch of formerly reliably Democratic working-class strongholds Republican… they intend to double down on this strategy, rather than rally a base that’s checked out from voting because the party no longer represents them.
Say what you will about the Republican Party, but they at least recognized where popular sentiment was going (see the Tea Party) and adjusted their messaging and strategy in order to whip up their voters and keep themselves in power. The Democratic Party as an institution, and the people who run it, are increasingly revealing themselves to be a bulwark against left-wing change, to actually prevent the kind of popular uprising that’s happening now, to keep the party in the hands of capital. The Republican Party has made a deal with its voters– we’ll give you all the cultural resentment you crave and then openly dismantle the government and sell it off to the wealthy. The Democratic Party has a different arrangement with its voters: We’re going to tell you the things you want are stupid, childish, and unrealistic; we’re going to do most of the same things the Republicans want to do; and then we’re going to yell and scream at you that you have to vote for us anyway to stop the Republicans, that you owe us your vote. Despite this strategy’s proven failure (see: 2016), the party seems intent on doubling down on it, and the only reason I can think of is “We would rather lose and keep our donor pipeline than win, even at the expense of letting the Republicans destroy life as we know it.”
The Democratic Party has to change radically or it’s going to crumble and fail as an institution. Unfortunately, with the way fascism is increasingly taking hold in America, if it doesn’t happen in 2018 and 2020, it may be too late to matter.
Tagged 2020, alexandria ocasio-cortez, bernie sanders, Third Way
Detroiters S2E6, “Mort Crim”
Who Is America?, Episode 2
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A Sample Record Review
I was complaining in this post about how brief and perfunctory record reviews seem to be these days. Writing two or three hundred words about a recording of a five-hour Wagner opera hardly seems to be adequate. So I promised to do a sample record review the way I think it should be done.
I am going to review three recordings of the same music by three different groups of musicians. The recordings are of the complete string quartets of Beethoven and the three recordings are by the Amadeus Quartet for Deutsche Grammophon, recorded between 1959 and 1963 in monophonic sound, by the Alban Berg Quartet for EMI Classics recorded between 1978 and 1983 in stereo and by the Emerson String Quartet, also for Deutsche Grammophon, recorded in 1994 and 95 in stereo. All three and many other versions are currently available from Amazon.
Even ten thousand words would probably be inadequate to give a full review of these three performances of the complete quartets of Beethoven, so I am going to pick just one movement out of the 80 or so movements in the sixteen quartets (plus the Great Fugue) and focus on it.
The movement will be the finale to the C# minor string quartet, op 131. This quartet, considered by many to be the finest ever written, is paradoxically described as utterly unique and at the same time profoundly 'normal' in the sense described by Sir Donald Francis Tovey, the great English musicologist. It is a highly integrated work with a kind of rhythmic continuity scarcely explored by any other composer.
The quartet is structured in seven movements all connected. The first is a fugue, the second having qualities of both a rondo finale and a scherzo, the third movement, a brief transition to the fourth, a lyrical set of variations, is followed by a child-like scherzo in E major. The sixth movement is another transition, a brief lament in G# minor. And then the Finale: Allegro. Up to this point we have had every kind of form except that one most characteristic of the Classic Era: the sonata form. In order to solve Beethoven's recurring problem with last movements, he solves it here by saving the sonata form for the end and having everything lead up to it. In so doing he probably wrote his finest finale.
The unfortunate thing about this review is that I won't be able to directly do what I like to do, which is put up clips of what I am talking about. The reason is that none of the three versions I am reviewing is available on YouTube for copyright reasons and I am reluctant to rip them off the CDs in my possession to post them. So, you will have to find the recordings yourself. But all three are worth owning in my opinion. However, there are other groups' versions online. Here is a pretty good new recording by Brooklyn Rider:
Now, before getting into the review let's have a brief look at the music. The first page of the score reveals most of the important themes:
The opening up and down theme in an anapest rhythm (short, short, long--shades of Shostakovich) gives way to an iamb: short long, short long. As foreshadowed a number of times in previous movements, we move to a Neapolitan (D major) harmony in mm. 17. Later on there will be a whole section in D major. Then a new theme is presented in the first violin: a high cantus-firmus like motto with an augmented second interval. Much of the movement is based on these three ideas. I won't do a complete analysis because, hey, this is supposed to be a record review. But I will refer you to a book where you can find an excellent discussion of this and the other quartets:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Beethoven-Quartets-Joseph-Kerman/dp/0393009092/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373120889&sr=8-1&keywords=kerman+beethoven
And you can find a whole essay by Sir Donald Francis Tovey online as part of this collection of essays:
http://archive.org/stream/mainstreamofmusi030027mbp/mainstreamofmusi030027mbp_djvu.txt
The individual essay is titled "Some Aspects of Beethoven's Art Forms" and it is about three-quarters of the way through.
Hmm, I seem to have used up seven hundred words and all I have done is lay the groundwork. I guess I will do the reviews in subsequent posts!
(Updated to correct an awkward phrase and an error)
Labels: music criticism
vp said...
I would agree with those who say this is the greatest quartet ever written.
I think my favorite recording of this movement is the Juilliard/RCA. I haven't heard all these recordings, though, so look forward to your analysis. Especially the final four bars, which are played in many ways, ranging from in tempo to half speed.
I have not heard the Julliard do this Beethoven. I grew up with the RCA Red Seal recording of the Guarneri Quartet.
Twelve measures from the end the score reads "poco adagio" which is cancelled six measures from the end by "Tempo I".
Good Writing on Music
Music Professors
Beethoven as a Song Composer
Footnote on Beethoven's Metronome Markings
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, third movement
Quality? No Thanks!
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, second movement
Yesterday and Today
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, first movement
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral"
Civilization in Decline?
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, "Eroica"
Happy Birthday, Julian!
Sir Donald Francis Tovey
Electrify Me!
Strange Days, Indeed
Talking Variation Blues
A Cool Guy from Montréal
Orchestral Politics
The Emerson String Quartet: Beethoven op 131, Fina...
The Alban Berg Quartet: Beethoven, op 131 Finale
The Amadeus Quartet: Beethoven op 131, Finale
Collectible Guitars
Beauty and the Brain
Thoughts on Record Reviews
Up To Date = Out Of Date
One of a Thousand Reasons Bach is Great
Reflection on "La Belle Noiseuse"
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Informationen aus der offiziellen englischsprachigen Website der Stadt Wenzhou
(> Website Wenzhou):
About Wenzhou
Wenzhou (simplified Chinese: 温州; traditional Chinese: 溫州; pinyin: Wēnzhōu; formerly Yongjia, Yung-chia) is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province, People’s Republic of China. The area under its jurisdiction, which includes two satellite cities and six counties, had a population of 9,122,100 as of 2010.
About 1,915,548 residents lived in Wenzhou’s city proper at thd 2000 census and 4,286,100 in the built up area made of Wenzhou city + Ruian and Yuaonqing cities (about 5,20 million estimated in 2010).
It borders Lishui to the west, Taizhou to the north, and looks out to the East China Sea on its eastern coast.
Wenzhou was a prosperous foreign treaty port, which remains well-preserved today. It is situated in a mountainous region and, as a result, has been isolated for most of its history from the rest of the country, making the local culture and language very different from those of neighbouring areas. It is also known for its emigrants who leave their native land for Europe and the United States, with a reputation for being enterprising natives who start restaurants, retail and wholesale businesses in their adopted countries.
Population (2010 municipality and 2000 urban)
– Prefecture-level city 9,122,100
– Urban 1,915,548
– Urban density 1,612.4/km2 (4,176.1/sq mi)
– Metro 5,200,000
– Metro density 1,428.6/km2 (3,700/sq mi)
Time zone China Standard (UTC+8)
Area code(s) 577
GDP CNY 252.8 billion
GDP per capita CNY 32,595
License Plate 浙C
ISO 3166-2 cn-11
Local Dialect Wu (Wenzhou dialect)
and Min Nan
Website http://www.wenzhou.gov.cn
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Home News Implementation of EHRM is 'a $15 billion question'
Implementation of EHRM is 'a $15 billion question'
During a time when Congress may often seem divided, the Technology Modernization Subcommittee offers a glimpse of what can be accomplished when aisles are crossed to do what is right for the care of our nation’s veterans.
“What I love about serving on this committee is the bipartisan nature of the committee,” said subcommittee Chairman Jim Banks, R-Ind., to The American Legion in a recent interview. “Ranking Member (Conor) Lamb and I have already enjoyed working together and I imagine this is going be a very productive endeavor for both of us moving forward as we provide that type of bipartisan leadership.”
The sentiment of Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Penn., echoed that of Banks. He pointed out the “bipartisan spirit” of the subcommittee — which is made up of three Republicans and two Democrats — and emphasized his belief that caring for America’s veterans is not a partisan issue.
The Technology Modernization Subcommittee was recently formed by the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (HVAC) to oversee the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) $10 billion contract with Cerner for a new electronic health record modernization (EHRM) program. Headed by Banks and Lamb, the subcommittee’s mission is oversight and accountability.
“We are adopting the same electronic health record as DoD so there is a seamless transfer of medical information for veterans leaving the service,” VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said during his first testimony before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (SVAC). “We will never have a veteran — as my father was — carrying around an 800-page paper record.”
However, the implementation of Cerner’s EHRM program faces significant hurdles before the planned modernization comes to fruition.
“This is an enormous contract and undertaking by VA and to implement the modernization of electronic health records which is significant to every veteran in America,” Banks said. “At the same time, it’s a substantial investment by the American people and an initial $15 billion contract.
“Dr. (Phil) Roe (HVAC chairman) created this subcommittee in hopes we can provide oversight at the very beginning of the process … rather than waiting for it to become a disaster and to get involved with oversight at the beginning in hopes that it never does (become a disaster). That’s the proper role of the House of Representatives — to provide that oversight.”
A similar program was scrapped and deemed a loss in 2013 to the tune of approximately $1 billion in taxpayer dollars. The creation of the subcommittee, in part, is a consequence of that failure. Banks praised Roe for his leadership in seeing that EHR modernization was deserving of more oversight.
“Creating a new subcommittee to dive deeply into oversight issues of the Cerner contract. I give him a lot of credit for that foresight,” he said. “What happened in prior years with failed initiatives are all part of the justification for what we find ourselves doing today.”
And in order to avoid a repeat of 2013, said Lamb, the subcommittee will “ask hard questions of the people who are accountable and make sure that they have what they need and that they understand their own responsibilities.”
Among Banks’ and Lamb’s concerns, is the high turnover rate at the Interagency Program Office (IPO). The IPO was created by Congress in 2008 to ensure interoperability between VA’s and the Department of Defense’s health records systems.
“I’m extremely concerned,” said Lamb to The American Legion. “I’m concerned about turnover at the VA across the board, for this project, which is incredibly expensive, and important to the health of our veterans, but also for any number of issues affecting veterans’ health care. Anyone who’s been in the military knows you need people in positions of leadership. They have to be in there leading every day to make sure the mission is accomplished and we’re clearly seeing that that’s not the case right now.”
Banks stressed the importance of continuity in the leaders tasked with implementing EHR modernization.
“The turnover is among the most concerning issues here,” said Banks. “Without continuity of leadership this will never go well. Continuity of leadership is critical in ensuring EHR modernization is successful in the end.”
Banks noted his visit to facilities where EHRM and MHS Genesis were implemented were extremely valuable.
“The lessons learned on the DoD side are very important for the VA to pay attention to and learn from,” he said. “Lots of concerns from both of them about training issues, about clinical workflows, and the uniqueness of our VA sites, that they have the flexibility to implement their own nuances that are important to a particular facility. My hope is that Cerner and the VA are paying close attention to the concerns of leaders who are on the ground and that’s a very important aspect of all this that the subcommittee is going continue to work hard on to make sure that we do.”
Another obstacle facing EHRM is time. The initial agreed-upon timeframe is 18 months.
“I don’t know,” Banks said when asked if it’s enough time. “We’ve travelled to Seattle and met with leaders there at the implementation sight and that’s the $15 billion question. We certainly don’t want to pressure VA to act within a certain timeframe if they need more time. We want them to take their time to get it right, learn from the mistakes of MHS Genesis on the DoD side.
“If that means slow-walking this further, taking more time…I can’t speak for anyone else on the committee, but I think the consensus I’ve heard is that time isn’t the issue here, getting right on behalf of our veteran population is what’s most important.”
“What we ultimately want to accomplish is the end result of an electronic health records system that’s good for the health of the veterans,” said Lamb. “And were going to work to see that this is accomplished.”
ehrm
Ask A Question portion of our website unavailabilty
VA Provides Implementation Update on New Law to Improve the Veterans Disability Claims Process
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Implementation of the Enhanced Contract Care Pilot Program
Implementation and Status Update on the Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act, P.L. 110-389
Audit of VA’s Implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill Long Term Solution (9/30/2010)
A veteran’s family must request a United States flag.
A flag is provided at no cost to drape the casket or accompany the urn of a deceased veteran. Generally, the flag is given to the next of kin. Only one flag may be provided per veteran. Upon the request of the family, an “Application for United States Flag for Burial Purposes” (VA Form 21-2008) must be submitted along with a copy of the veteran’s discharge papers. Flags may be obtained from VA regional offices and most U.S. Post Offices.
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Using Food as an Escape: Discovering the Neurological Basis for Bulimia Nervosa
Image of the Central Nervous System. https://www.thoughtco.com/central-nervous-system-373578
By Emily Rehmet, '20
For years, the American Psychological Association has classified eating disorders into a discrete category on its own, a direct byproduct of patients having doubts about their body size and image. However, a recent study suggests that bulimia nervosa may be connected to something deeper… a vehicle for people to escape from self-critical thoughts. New research has shown that rather than simply having an obsession with food, women with this disorder have decreased blood flow to a brain area associated with self reflection and self worth. What is this newly discovered brain area that could be causing this you may ask? A region called the precuneus [1].
Enhanced Tools for Listening to the Brain: Possibilities for Neural Prosthetics
By Jess Sevetson
Figure courtesy of Sliman J Bensmaia & Lee E Miller. “Restoring sensorimotor function through intracortical interfaces: progress and looming challenges” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2014 May
The term “mind reading” usually suggests the ability to read out someone’s thoughts like an audiobook. While there has been some progress on that front recently, another application of these technologies is the ability to operate advanced prostheses.
Knowing Neuroscience: A Privileged Immune System
by Rahul Jayaram '21
Human brain scan shows visible evidence of lymphatic vessels. (Credit: Reich Lab, NIH/NINDS)
Of all the organs in the body, the brain is undoubtedly one of the most enigmatic. Today, there is still so much that is unknown in the field of neuroscience, and one can never predict when new discoveries will be made. The mechanisms behind how our brain maintains cellular health were always believed to be in a separate realm from the rest of our body. Just days ago, scientists discovered a game-changing facet about how the brain functions that has the potential to change the future of neuroscience research.
PSA: There's No Such Thing as "Quantum Consciousness"
By Misbah Noorani '17
Here at Brown, “consciousness” is an oft-touted concept. It's ontologized by philosophers, attempted by artificial intelligence researchers, black-boxed by cognitive scientists, and reduced to its neural correlates by neuroscientists. Step into the physics department, though, and you won’t hear a whisper of the Hard Problem; at least, not in the bubble of academia. Now try typing “consciousness” into your Google or YouTube search bar, and it’s a different story entirely.
For some reason, the Internet loves the idea of “quantum consciousness.” This is the notion that quantum physics, the modern theoretical basis for our understanding of the behavior of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic level, can help us in understanding consciousness. The claim is essentially this: The ether, which Newton once (incorrectly) proposed as a non-mathematical explanation for the nature of gravity, and as responsible for the transmission of electricity, magnetism, light, radiant heat, and motion of living things, is composed of vibrations; and these vibrations are manipulable by the will of the human brain. The brain, you see, commands special powers—psychic powers—that transcend the material universe.
Coming Soon to Labs Near You: Ratception
by Abbey Perreault '16
A bright rat. [image via]
Remember the movie Inception? Well, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived: inception is real…except this time, the protagonists are a little less hunky. Last year at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT, a group of researchers successfully used a technique called optogenetics to plant false thoughts in the minds of rats. (And, believe it or not, it was all accomplished without any dream-infiltrating espionage courtesy of Leonardo DiCaprio!)
Unmasking the Junk Food Cartel
by Olena Kuksenko '17
In the top-grossing TV series, Breaking Bad, partners Walter White and Jesse Pinkman succeed in making their crystal meth purer than that of their competitors, and almost overnight their signature blue crystal product skyrockets to fame and catches the attention of numerous notorious cartels. How do everyday snacks like Oreos and Milky Way bars fit into this equation? More and more research suggests that the junk food industry operates like a drug cartel. In fact, many states are passing bills to ban junk-food vending machines in schools, and more lawsuits against the food industry are being filed as further knowledge emerges [1].
That Beautiful Blue Oboe: Synesthesia and the Nature of Perception
by Jennifer Maccani, PhD
The painter Wassily Kandinsky was a well-known synesthete who saw music. [image via]
If you’re a fan of classical music, you’ve likely spent a rhapsodic hour daydreaming to the lilting melodies of Beethoven’s sixth symphony, the “Pastoral,” so-named because the music is said to evoke images in the mind’s eye of rolling fields, fluttering streams, and tinkling birdsong. Yet, for roughly 0.05-1% of the population (1), Beethoven’s masterpieces can evoke far different—and far more vivid—imagery. For these people, music and/or other sensory stimuli trigger immediate perceptions that feel as real as the music itself, often in the form of color and shape (2, 3). These people were born with what some might consider a real-life superpower, a condition called synesthesia.
The most common type is grapheme-color synesthesia, in which letters or numbers elicit colors in the mind’s eye. For synesthetes, these colors are an essential part of the letters or numbers themselves, almost a part of their essence or identity (4). However, over 60 types of synesthesia have been identified in the population; in fact, there may be 150 or more distinct types (5). Music can evoke spatial sensations, shapes or colors (6-8); words can taste sour or sweet (9); voices can look like grey smoke or dry, cracked soil (9, 10); or the sound of a car horn can smell like strawberries (11). Even the personalities of one’s family and friends can have their own distinct colors (12). Individuals may have only one type, or several, and some of them—such as voice-color and personality-color synesthesia—are rarer than others.
Cogito Ergo Sum (I think, therefore I am): Brain-Computer Interfaces
This article is part of the "Emerging Biotechnology" series.
Is telepathic communication possible?
As outlandish as it might sound, this question drove Hans Berger to investigate the electrochemical basis of brain activity—a line of research that eventually led to the invention of the electroencephalogram, or EEG, which measures the brain’s electrical impulses via electrodes attached to a person’s scalp (1).
We can find clues as to what led Berger down this path by studying his early life. Berger was born in 1873 in Coburg, Germany. His diaries reveal that he was an introspective and solitary young man. After a short stint at the University of Berlin, Berger turned away from early leanings toward a career in astronomy and enlisted for military service in Würzburg, where a near-death experience radically altered his aspirations. One morning in 1892, Berger’s horse became spooked during an exercise with his artillery unit. Berger was thrown to the ground and into the path of an oncoming artillery cannon’s wheel. Although the cannon stopped just short of crushing him, Berger was thoroughly rattled.
When his family sent him a telegram that evening inquiring about his wellbeing, they revealed that his sister had that very morning feared that something had happened to her brother. Berger became convinced that “it was a case of spontaneous telepathy in which at a time of mortal danger I transmitted my thoughts” (2). It may have been this very experience that led him, upon the completion of his military service, to attend Jena University in Jena, Germany and pursue his research on the electrical activity of the brain (2-4).
"In Germany I am not so famous." [image via]
Peachy and the Brain: Drinking can make you a liar
by Georgia Bancheri '15
[image via]
Ladies and gents, have you ever wondered what drinking does to the brain, besides make you look like one class act of a gent (picture provided for those who’d like to emulate such)? I mean, I’m sure that’s what you’re all talking about come Saturday night when you’ve got a sex on the beach in your hand and you’re mmms mmmsing on the dance floor. (Gents, I know that’s your preferred drink. Don’t be ashamed.) Well, copious drinking can cause a neurological disease called Korsakoff’s Syndrome. I’m talking ‘bout more than your average beer-bellied frat boy drinking. (Frat boys, if you’re reading, don’t fret too much…) Anyhoo, the main symptom of Korsakoff’s is confabulation--in lay-man’s terms, flat-out lying--but, get this, the person whole-heartedly believes their lies.
So You Wanna Be a Scientist
A Review of Advice For A Young Investigator by Santiago Ramón y Cajal (Translated by Neely Swanson & Larry W. Swanson)
Find this book in the Sci Li!
Or read the full text online!
Publisher: Bradford Books, The MIT Press (1999)
In 1906, two rival neuroscientists shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine: Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Golgi firmly believed in the reticular theory, that the brain consisted of a single network. In contrast, Cajal contended that the brain actually consisted of discrete cells. As it turns out, Cajal was right.
Cajal (1852-1934), who hailed from Spain, spent years at a microscope and painstakingly drew neurons. After all, it would be quite some time before we would be able to take pictures of cells. His descriptions and depictions of the nervous system are so detailed that they serve as a foundation for modern neuroanatomy.
A section of a sparrow's optic tectum. [image via]
Well into his career but a decade before winning the Nobel Prize, Cajal wrote Advice for a Young Investigator, a short guide rife with humor, anecdotes, and timeless wisdom for students aspiring to become great scientists. The book was so popular three more editions were published over the next twenty years. In 1999, Neely Swanson and Dr. Larry W. Swanson released a translation that preserves Cajal’s straightforward, yet eloquent, prose.
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Welcome to Uncertainty
Searching for Meaning in a World Gone Mad
Huxley, the Eternal Ground, and Other Quotes
"It is because we don't know Who we are, because we are unaware that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us, that we behave in the generally silly, the often insane, the sometimes criminal ways that are so characteristically human. We are saved, we are liberated and enlightened, by perceiving the hitherto unperceived good that is already within us, by returning to our eternal Ground and remaining where, without knowing it, we have always been."--Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy
I've been reading a book called, "What Is Enlightenment?" that contains a large excerpt from The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley, who's most famous for writing "A Brave New World." My previous image of Huxley was that of a cantankerous intellectual and pessimist, and that's partly true, but not at all a fair description of this intellectual giant. Later in life, even as a professed agnostic, he became deeply interested in understanding the spiritual dimension--famously by experimenting with mind-altering drugs. But much beyond that, he surveyed all the major world religions, systems of thought, and mystical traditions and tried to sort out their commonalities, describing "the eternal Ground" beneath all of them. That's what The Perennial Philosophy refers to:
"The metaphysic that recognises a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds; the psychology that finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality; the ethic that places man's final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being — the thing is immemorial and universal.
Rudiments of the Perennial Philosophy may be found among the traditionary lore of primitive peoples in every region of the world, and in its fully developed forms it has a place in every one of the higher religions. A version of this Highest Common Factor in all preceding and subsequent theologies was first committed to writing more than twenty-five centuries ago, and since that time the inexhaustible theme has been treated again and again, from the standpoint of every religious tradition and in all the principal languages of Asia and Europe.
If one is not oneself a sage or saint, the best thing one can do, in the field of metaphysics, is to study the works of those who were, and who, because they had modified their merely human mode of being, were capable of a more than merely human kind and amount of knowledge."
That's good stuff. That's a bit of what I'm trying to do on this 40th year quest. I've found some other pithy quotes from Huxley, shared below. One final thought about Huxley: he died on Nov 22, 1963, the same day as C.S. Lewis, and of course the assassination of JFK. This was also just as the Beatles rose to prominence. I can't help but think that, had their trajectories intersected more substantially, he and John Lennon would have been best buds, not to mention sharing the same optician.
"The spiritual journey does not consist in arriving at a new destination where a person gains what he did not have, or becomes what he is not. It consists in the dissipation of one's own ignorance concerning one's self and life, and the gradual growth of that understanding which begins the spiritual awakening. The finding of God is a coming to one's self."--Aldous Huxley
Posted by Mark at 4:44 AM
"The Existential Altar Which Simply Is": A Quote O...
Where's Waldo?
Passing the Test at the Quarter Mark
Man, If I Only Knew . . .
Cocoons and Midlife Crises
Mark lives in Colorado. He is a husband, father, family physician, writer, singer and post-Mormon. He is interested in integrative medicine, and the honest exploration of human spirituality. He has a dog, a pick-up truck, a nice garden, and, depending on the day, a sweet jump-shot.
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Home > Reserve Management > Movement in Reserves
FX Structure | FX Mgt Before Now. | FX Mkt | Debt Conversion | Exchange Rate Policy | Movement in Reserves | International Payments | Reserve Management
The Movement in Reserves (30-Day Moving Average with effect from November 2011)
The evolution of the foreign exchange market in Nigeria has been influenced by a number of factors such as the changing pattern of international trade, institutional changes in the economy and structural shifts in production. Prior to the establishment of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the enactment of the Exchange Control Act of 1962, foreign
Before: 6/26/2019 6/25/2019 6/24/2019 6/21/2019 6/20/2019 6/19/2019 6/18/2019 6/17/2019 6/14/2019 6/13/2019 6/11/2019 6/10/2019 6/7/2019 6/6/2019 6/3/2019 5/31/2019 5/30/2019 5/28/2019 5/27/2019 5/24/2019 5/23/2019 5/22/2019 5/21/2019 5/20/2019 5/17/2019 5/16/2019 5/15/2019 5/14/2019 5/10/2019 5/9/2019 5/8/2019 5/7/2019 5/6/2019 5/3/2019 5/2/2019 4/30/2019 4/29/2019 4/26/2019 4/25/2019 4/24/2019 4/23/2019 4/18/2019 4/17/2019 4/16/2019 4/15/2019 4/12/2019 4/11/2019 4/10/2019 4/9/2019 4/8/2019 4/5/2019 4/4/2019 4/3/2019 4/2/2019 4/1/2019 3/29/2019 3/28/2019 3/27/2019 3/26/2019 3/25/2019 3/22/2019 3/21/2019 3/20/2019 3/19/2019 3/18/2019 3/15/2019 3/14/2019 3/13/2019 3/12/2019 3/11/2019 3/8/2019 3/7/2019 3/6/2019 3/5/2019 3/4/2019 3/1/2019 2/28/2019 2/27/2019 2/26/2019 2/25/2019 2/22/2019 2/21/2019 2/20/2019 2/19/2019 2/18/2019 2/15/2019 2/14/2019 2/13/2019 2/12/2019 2/11/2019 2/8/2019 2/7/2019 2/6/2019 2/5/2019 2/4/2019 2/1/2019 1/31/2019 1/30/2019 1/29/2019 1/28/2019 1/25/2019 1/24/2019 1/23/2019 1/22/2019 1/21/2019 1/18/2019 1/17/2019 1/16/2019 1/15/2019 1/14/2019 1/11/2019 1/10/2019 1/9/2019 1/8/2019 1/7/2019 1/4/2019 1/3/2019 1/2/2019 12/31/2018 12/28/2018 12/27/2018 12/24/2018 12/21/2018 12/20/2018 12/19/2018 12/18/2018 12/17/2018 12/14/2018 12/13/2018 12/12/2018 12/11/2018 12/10/2018 12/7/2018 12/5/2018 12/4/2018 12/3/2018 11/30/2018 11/29/2018 11/28/2018 11/27/2018 11/26/2018 11/23/2018 11/22/2018 11/21/2018 11/19/2018 11/16/2018 11/15/2018 11/14/2018 11/13/2018 11/12/2018 11/9/2018 11/8/2018 11/7/2018 11/6/2018 11/5/2018 11/2/2018 11/1/2018 10/31/2018 10/30/2018 10/29/2018 10/26/2018 10/25/2018 10/24/2018 10/23/2018 10/22/2018 10/19/2018 10/18/2018 10/17/2018 10/16/2018 10/15/2018 10/12/2018 10/11/2018 10/10/2018 10/9/2018 10/8/2018 10/5/2018 10/4/2018 10/3/2018 10/2/2018 9/28/2018 9/27/2018 9/26/2018 9/25/2018 9/24/2018 9/21/2018 9/20/2018 9/19/2018 9/18/2018 9/17/2018 9/14/2018 9/13/2018 9/12/2018 9/11/2018 9/10/2018 9/7/2018 9/6/2018 9/5/2018 9/4/2018 9/3/2018 8/31/2018 8/30/2018 8/29/2018 8/28/2018 8/27/2018 8/24/2018 8/23/2018 8/20/2018 8/17/2018 8/16/2018 8/15/2018 8/14/2018 8/13/2018 8/10/2018 8/9/2018 8/8/2018 8/7/2018 8/6/2018 8/3/2018 8/2/2018 8/1/2018 7/31/2018 7/30/2018 7/27/2018 7/26/2018 7/25/2018 7/24/2018 7/23/2018 7/20/2018 7/19/2018 7/18/2018 7/17/2018 7/16/2018 7/13/2018 7/12/2018 7/11/2018 7/10/2018 7/9/2018 7/6/2018 7/5/2018 7/4/2018 7/3/2018 7/2/2018 6/29/2018 6/28/2018 6/27/2018 6/26/2018 6/25/2018 6/22/2018 6/21/2018 6/20/2018 6/19/2018 6/14/2018 6/13/2018 6/12/2018 6/11/2018 6/8/2018
6/18/2019 45,106,811,344 44,451,686,588 655,124,756
6/7/2019 45,160,156,925 44,380,463,489 779,693,437
5/17/2019 45,023,930,549 44,023,563,931 1,000,366,618
5/9/2019 44,853,398,815 43,843,030,826 1,010,367,989
Export Reserves data to Excel
London Club of Creditors:These are mainly uninsured and unguaranteed debts extended by commercial banks to nationals of debtor nations. Members of the club are commercial banks mainly in industrialized countries. The first London club meeting was held in 1976 to discuss re-payment and conclude re-structuring agreements.
Forex Structure
Forex Management
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The practical case against the Instant Run-off Vote (the Alternative Vote)
Fair Vote Canada has produced a carefully documented explanation of why the Alternative Vote, used in Australian lower house elections, is no solution for Canada’s democratic deficit.
I won’t attempt to summarize it, since its four pages are concise already.
But I’ll sound a practical note on why IRV, or AV, doesn’t suit our situation. Three points.
One: Fair Vote Canada asks:
“Would AV fix the problem of single party domination in particular regions?
“No. Under the current system, large parties and parties with support concentrated in particular regions of the country win many more seats than their popular support warrants while supporters of other parties gain little or no representation. For example, Liberals in the West and Conservatives in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are almost always underrepresented in Parliament.
These distortions in representation exacerbate regional tensions in Canada, but AV could make them even worse. A study looking at the possible effects of a wide variety of voting systems on federal election results in 1980 and 2000 found “for almost all parties regional imbalances would have been worsened if we adopted AV even (though slightly) more than under SMP [single-member plurality, or first-past-the-post].”
In the 2008 election, 144,646 Alberta Liberal voters got no representation in Parliament. They deserved three or four of those 28 MPs.
IRV would have done nothing for those voters. Conservative voters would still have elected 27 of those MPs, when they deserved only 18 or 19.
Similarly, in the BC Interior, the Conservatives would still have elected seven of the nine MPs when they deserved five, unless perhaps the “anyone but Conservative“ vote elected an NDP member in Kamloops. Moreover, I doubt the Conservative bonus of seven MPs in Saskatchewan and Manitoba would have been dented much, if at all.
And in the 32 Quebec ridings east of Greater Montreal, IRV might have elected a couple of Liberal MPs if they were lucky, but not the five or six those voters deserved. Actually, predicting how IRV would work in four-party races in Quebec is a roll of the dice. As the Jenkins Commission in the UK concluded "its effects are disturbingly unpredictable." See the discussion at the end of this blog post: the Bloc would pick up more than another 11% of the vote on second choices, putting them just over 50%.
Two: Fair Vote Canada also asks:
“Would AV help small parties get established and win seats?
“Not at all. AV would make it easy for voters to give smaller parties their first choice vote and their second choice to a larger party with a better chance of winning a seat. It is formalized strategic voting. But actual AV election results show that supporters of small parties are no more likely to gain representation with AV than with the current system. AV exaggerates the tendency of the current system to direct all voters into a choice between two big-tent political parties.
The Jenkins Commission, a blue ribbon panel on electoral reform in the UK, set up by the Labour government in 1997, concluded that AV outcomes would be even less proportional than first-past-the-post.”
Why should Liberals care about this? Because Liberals need to get NDP and Green voters to vote “anyone but Conservative” in swing ridings. But you can’t attract those votes by promising a phoney voting reform that does nothing for them.
In fact, there are enough Blue Liberal voters in Ontario and elsewhere that half a dozen NDP seats would have gone Conservative under IRV. (Maybe more. In strong NDP seats, centre-left Liberal voters will often be voting NDP already. The remaining diehard Liberals don't like the NDP, and would mostly give their second choice to the Conservatives.)
Three: Fair Vote Canada notes:
“Neither the BC Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, nor any of the recent federal and provincial commissions examining voting system alternatives in Canada, have recommended AV for parliamentary elections.”
Now, that Ontario case is interesting.
In 2001 Dalton McGuinty put forward a Democratic Charter promising “A referendum on how we vote.“ He said “There is a lot of discontent with our first-past-the-post system. It often elects people to the Legislature, even though more than half the people in that riding wanted someone else. It gives one party all of the power, when that party failed to capture a majority of the votes.”
He noted “the two alternatives that would be on the table would be on the table would be preferential balloting, which requires only modest changes to the system that we have in place, and proportional representation, which has various forms found throughout the world.” One suspects he preferred the first option, IRV.
However, when the newly elected government set up the Democratic Renewal Secretariat, they said “Many have lost faith in a system that, for too long, has been cynically manipulated to promote the interests of the government in power.” The Liberals were experts in elections. They knew that, in 2003, IRV would likely have meant the Liberals were everyone’s second choice. The result would likely have been both the NDP and PCs electing so few MPPs as to lose official party status.
They must have been tempted to stack the Citizens’ Assembly’s staff with IRV advocates. However, that would have been “cynical manipulation to promote the interests of the government in power.” They didn’t do it.
After an honest process, the result was clear: of 103 Citizens’ Assembly members, only three made IRV their first choice.
Honest Liberals will still think twice before promoting a partisan-advantage system. Electoral reform will never succeed if it's a partisan project.
Instead of IRV, let's consider what Liberals really need.
With a proportional voting system, the Liberal caucus would not be just the GTA plus the Montreal area and the Atlantic Provinces. Currently only 15 of the 77 Liberal MPs are outside those regions. On the votes cast in 2008, Liberal voters would have elected 26 more MPs from regions where they are now unrepresented or under-represented: nine more from the West, ten more from Ontario outside the GTA, and seven more from Quebec outside Montreal.
Pierre Trudeau decided this in 1980. With proportional representation, he would have had sixteen more western MPs.
Alberta was the worst. Trudeau's Alberta problem actually began back in 1972, when Alberta Liberal voters deserved to elect five MPs but got none. Even in his 1974 comeback, Alberta Liberal voters again deserved five MPs but got none.
The 1979 election was a "wrong-winner" election. Pierre Trudeau's Liberals got 40.1% of the vote, but only 114 MPs. Joe Clark's PCs got only 35.9% of the vote, yet elected 136 MPs and formed the government with support from six Créditiste MPs, giving them a one-seat majority. As in 1980, Trudeau’s big problem was the West.
Liberal voters in Alberta in 1979 again deserved to elect five MPs but got none. In 1980 Liberal voters in Alberta again deserved five and got none.
In its 1980 Speech from the Throne, Trudeau’s newly re-elected government promised to appoint a committee to study the electoral system; you can see why. And in every election since, large numbers of Albertans again voted Liberal but only a handful of Liberals were elected. Which IRV would not help.
As detailed here, the Law Commission proposed a regional open list system for MMP. You have two votes. With your local vote, you elect a local MP as today. With your regional vote, you also choose one specific candidate from the regional candidates on the list nominated in a medium-sized region. That vote would count for the party first. If a party's voters were not fairly represented by the local MPs, those voters would then elect the top vote getting regional candidates for each party as regional "top-up" MPs. Result: each party would receive a proportional share of the seats in the region. See MMP made easy.
Posted by Wilf Day at 2:52 AM No comments:
The practical case against the Instant Run-off Vot...
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Director of Delivery
Transforming and future proofing cities through sustainable brownfield development
Our director of delivery in the Midlands, Nick Heath, talks about how sustainability and brownfield regeneration are, hand-in-hand, transforming Nottingham and future proofing the city for exponential growth…
For generations Nottingham has depended on the steady flow of the River Trent, cutting a path through the city and Waterside – an area of the city that is experiencing extensive regeneration. Forming part of this is the Trent Basin project – a sustainable development scheme between Willmott Dixon and Blueprint, which is creating over 75 low-energy family homes. But how is sustainability and brownfield regeneration working hand-in-hand to future proof the city?
A new generation of space
It’s a classic regeneration challenge – transforming a derelict industrial landscape and major inland port into living and community spaces. Several projects for the area were promised but never came to fruition until 2011 when plans for the Trent Basin residential redevelopment began, designed to reconnect the city with the River Trent.
The Trent Lane Depot – a historic inland dock on the River Trent – still serves as a reminder of the area’s importance when it came to distributing goods across the Midlands. The Depot will continue to sit at the centre of the new development, which is providing sustainable, eco-conscious living for future generations. It’s a really exciting project for us. At its very heart is regional heritage; mixing that with regeneration and modern sustainable practices is what makes it so different.
What’s clear about this project is our collective commitment, with Blueprint, to deliver beyond standard building regulations. Together we’ve set stringent targets and it’s our expertise in brownfield construction that has helped us to deliver against these ambitions, achieving the development’s high expectations.
If you look at it statistically, between 2001 and 2011 the population of Nottinghamshire grew by 37,300. This was huge for the county and is only set to continue. To support this speedy growth, and to ensure a strong and stable future for Nottingham, we need to continue to deliver sustainable, high-quality housing using this scheme as a benchmark.
The future of Nottingham’s waterways
Away from the Trent Basin scheme, I’ve noticed a united drive in the public and private sector to bring Nottingham’s waterways back into public access, with many future residential and commercial schemes in the pipeline for this area of the city. I firmly believe that this scheme was the spark that lit the flame for the wider regeneration of the area. Others have now seen the success that it has achieved and how, together, we’ve unlocked the potential of a brownfield site, repurposing it for the greater good and setting a benchmark for the future.
We've a purpose beyond profit - that the energy, passion and commitment of our people can strengthen society's well-being beyond the buildings we create.
We provide a full brownfield construction service, from site clean-up to house building
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Riccardo Poli
Taming the complexity of natural and artificial evolutionary dynamics
The study of complex adaptive systems is among the key modern tasks in science. Such systems show radically different behaviours at different scales and in different environments, and mathematical modelling of such emergent behaviour is very difficult, even at the conceptual level. We require a new methodology to study and understand complex, emergent macroscopic phenomena. Coarse graining, a technique that originated in statistical physics, involves taking a system with many microscopic degrees of freedom and finding an appropriate subset of collective variables that offer a compact, computationally feasible description of the system, in terms of which the dynamics looks “natural”. This paper will present the key ideas of the approach and will show how it can be applied to evolutionary dynamics.
Riccardo Poli is a professor in the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering at Essex, UK. His main research interests include genetic programming, particle swarm optimisation, the theory of evolutionary algorithms, and brain-computer interfaces. He is a Senior Fellow of The International Society for Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (now ACM SIGEVO) and a recipient of the Evo* award for outstanding contributions to the field of evolutionary computation. He has published approximately 300 refereed papers on evolutionary algorithms, biomedical engineering, neural networks and image/signal processing. He has co-authored the books Foundations of Genetic Programming, Springer, 2002 and A Field Guide to Genetic Programing, Lulu, 2008. He has been chair of numerous international conferences. He is an advisory board member of the Evolutionary Computation journal, an associate editor of the Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines journal and a member of the editorial board of Swarm Intelligence.
Domenico Parisi (sponsored by AWARENESS*)
Two limitations of current living artifacts and how to overcome them
Two important properties of all living things are, first, that they become what they are and, second, that they are what they are because of the environment in which they live and with which they interact. Therefore, if we want to understand living things we need to reconstruct their past history and we must know and understand their environment. For example, an individual human being is the current result of multiple past histories: the evolution of the species, the genetically determined development of the individual, his or her past experiences, and the cultural history of the community to which the individual belongs. And these past histories have resulted in that human being because of the particular environment of the species, of the individual, and of his or her social community. In the past 20-30 years a new approach to understanding living things has been inaugurated according to which we can understand living things by reproducing them in artifacts. The artifact is a theory, and how the artifact behaves are the predictions which are derived from the theory. If the artifact behaves like a living thing, in our case, like a human being, we can at least provisionally conclude that the theory incorporated in the artifact is correct and it allows us to understand human beings. But to really understand human beings we should take into consideration the two properties of living things mentioned above. We should reproduce with our artifacts the different historical processes which result in a human individual, that is, evolution, development, learning, and cultural change. This is not easy to do and, fact, it is done only partially. Evolution is reproduced by using genetic algorithms and learning by using various learning algorithms, but much less work is dedicated to development and cultural change. But the real problem is that all these different processes of change are connected together and we may not really understand them if we do not try to capture with our artifacts how they are related and how they interact with one another. For example, clearly evolution creates the preconditions for learning but most artifacts (neural networks) that learn start their learning from zero, that is, from randomly assigned connection weights. Also the other property of living things, their living in and interacting with particular environments, tends to be ignored. The reason is that it is difficult to collect empirical data on the behaviour of organisms in their real ecology and that it is in the controlled environment of an experimental laboratory that we obtain our best empirical data. As a consequence, our living artifacts live in laboratory environments and reproduce laboratory data, not ethological/ecological data. Another consequence is that while learning is an evolved adaptation, we ignore in which environments animal species tend to evolve a capacity to learn. In this Chapter we will describe what has been done and what should be done to overcome these two limitations of living artifacts.
Domenico Parisi is past director and, currently, research associate at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, in Rome. He is interested in constructing robots not for their practical applications but as scientific tools to better understand behaviour. He is editor of the Italian journal "Sistemi Intelligenti" (Intelligent Systems) and has recently published "Robots that have emotions" (with G. Petrosino, Adaptive Behaviour), "Robots with language" (Frontiers in Neurorobotics), and "The other half of the embodied mind" (Frontiers in Cognition, in press).
* AWARENESS (www.aware-project.eu) is a FET coordination action funded by the European Commission under FP7 and provides support for researchers interested in Self-Awareness in Autonomic Systems.
Christian Müller-Schloer
Tutorial on Organic Computing
Organic computing is a form of biologically-inspired computing with organic properties. It has emerged recently as a challenging vision for future information processing systems. Organic Computing is based on the insight that we will soon be surrounded by large collections of autonomous systems, which are equipped with sensors and actuators, aware of their environment, communicate freely, and organise themselves in order to perform the actions and services that seem to be required.
The presence of networks of intelligent systems in our environment opens fascinating application areas but, at the same time, bears the problem of their controllability. Hence, we have to construct such systems — which we increasingly depend on — as robust, safe, flexible, and trustworthy as possible. In particular, a strong orientation towards human needs as opposed to a pure implementation of the technologically possible seems absolutely central. In order to achieve these goals, our technical systems will have to act more independently, flexibly, and autonomously, i.e. they will have to exhibit life-like properties. We call those systems "organic". Hence, an "Organic Computing System" is a technical system, which adapts dynamically to the current conditions of its environment. It is characterised by the self-X properties:
* self-organization,
* self-configuration (auto-configuration),
* self-optimisation (automated optimization),
* self-healing,
* self-protection (automated computer security),
* self-explaining,
* and context-awareness.
The vision of Organic Computing and its fundamental concepts arose independently in different research areas like Neuroscience, Molecular Biology, and Computer Engineering.
Self-organising systems have been studied for quite some time by mathematicians, sociologists, physicists, economists, and computer scientists, but so far almost exclusively based on strongly simplified artificial models. Central aspects of Organic Computing systems have been and will be inspired by an analysis of information processing in biological systems.
Marco Tomassini
Introduction to Evolutionary Game Theory
Evolutionary game theory has been introduced essentially by biologists in the seventies and has immediately diffused into economical and sociological circles. Today, it is a main pillar of the whole edifice of game theory and widely used both in theory and in applications. This tutorial aims at presenting evolutionary game theory in an easy, yet rigorous way, and to relate it with other approaches in game theory. The material presented does not require a previous acquaintance with standard game theory whose fundamentals will be described at the beginning. Next, the main concepts of the evolutionary and dynamical approach will be introduced, namely the concept of an evolutionarily stable strategy and the replicator dynamics. The analogies between Nash equilibria, evolutionarily stable strategies, and rest points of the dynamics will be explained. All the concepts will be illustrated using simple well known paradigmatic games such as the Prisoner's Dilemma, Hawks and Doves, and coordination games among others.
Marco Tomassini is a professor of Computer Science at the Information Systems Department of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He has been trained as a chemical physicists and has worked on condensed matter systems. His current research interests are centered around the application of biological ideas to artificial systems. He is active in evolutionary computation, especially spatially structured systems, and the structure and properties of fitness landscapes in combinatorial optimization. He is also interested in machine learning, evolutionary games, and the dynamical properties of networked complex systems. He has been Program Chairman of several international events and has published many scientific papers and several authored and edited books in these fields.
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Music > Songs > Comedy
Amish Paradise (Parody of "Gangsta's Paradise" By Coolio) – "Weird Al" Yankovic
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Born: October 23, 1959 in Lynwood, CA
Years Active: '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s
The foremost song parodist of the MTV era, "Weird Al" Yankovic carried the torch of musical humor more proudly and more successfully than any performer since Allan Sherman. In the world of novelty records — a genre noted for its extensive back catalog of flashes-in-the-pan and one-hit wonders — Yankovic was king, scoring smash after smash...
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Home / Publications / Press Releases / Extra fees : The federal government must enforce the Law (Press Release)
Extra fees : The federal government must enforce the Law (Press Release)
Montreal, May 3, 2016 – The Québec Medical Association (QMA) supports the legal review filed with the federal court by the FADOQ which aims to force the government of Canada to apply the Canada Health Act, with the goal of ending overbilling in healthcare in Quebec.
The QMA remains opposed to direct billing to patients for services insured in a universal health care system. This practice, contrary to the Law of both Quebec and Canada, was tolerated and now legalized by adoption of Act no 20 by the government of Quebec. Even by 2007, the Chicoine Report, conducted by a group of experts, reported abnormal patient billing and deficiencies in government coverage.
The QMA views it as the responsibility of the government to cover the entire real cost of a required medical service into the ministerial budget and to ensure that this does not become subject to exponential growth. The QMA is convinced that there are sufficient funds invested in health in Quebec. Some services which are presently covered and paid for by the government do not provide added value or benefit to the patient, while others which have direct consequences for the patient are only covered partially or not at all. The QMA believes that the government of Quebec has managed to collect more than $50 million in extra fees in attacking overdiagnosis, overtreatment and overmedication.
"The principle of universal access to health care requires the government to cover the entire cost for any medically necessary service, says Dr. Hugo Viens, vice president of the QMA. We must therefore review the basket of medical services in this regard. The QMA is ready to work with Dr. Barrette on this important issue for patients and the health care system."
The Canada Health Act has previously been applied
The Canada Health Act has been applied in the past and used to sanction provinces which engaged in overbilling, such as Ontario and Alberta. In effect, nearly $255 million was withheld by the federal government from provinces which had not respected the principles of the Act.
"The protection of patients and eliminating inequality in terms of access must be the priority of the federal minister as well as that of the minister in Quebec", concludes Dr. Viens.
Communications department phone:
Communications department cell phone:
Keep in touch with the QMA!
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Prof Caryl Phillips is a highly accomplished novelist, playwright, critic and essayist, who was born in St Kitts, and migrated to Britain at an early age. He is currently a professor of English at Yale University, and has enjoyed a distinguished career of accolades, prizes, numerous publications across the arts, and a continuous advocacy for Caribbean people, writers and ideas via his novels, his teaching, and his work as an editor and critic.
Prof Phillips published ten novels between 1985 and 2009 beginning with The Final Passage, and including the Commonwealth prize-winning A Distant Shore (2004), Cambridge, The Nature of Blood and In the Falling Snow. He produced four works of non-fiction between 1987 and 2011, as well as edited two anthologies, one of which was Extravagant Strangers (1997). He has also written numerous stage, screen and radio plays. He adapted VS Naipaul’s novel, The Mystic Masseur, for the screen in the Merchant Ivory 2001 film. And he was series editor for Faber and Faber’s Caribbean list between 1996 and 2001, which was committed to publishing Caribbean writing.
Most of Prof Phillips’ novels are set in or about the Caribbean, and he has made it a career imperative to be an advocate of the Caribbean and Caribbean writers. He was named the University of the West Indies Humanities Scholar of the Year in 1999. He taught master classes at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill and St Augustine, and undertook reading tours of Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad in 1991 and 1997. In 2010 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of the West Indies.
Prof Phillips’ present position at Yale University is the latest in a number of teaching and writing positions he has held at prestigious universities the world over during the last quarter-century. His positions include fellowships, visiting writers’ and professorial appointments at Oxford University, Amherst College, and Columbia University in the US and UK. He has also taught or been resident at universities in India, Africa, and Europe.
He has been awarded numerous prizes and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a British Council Fellowship, the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In addition to the 2004 Commonwealth Prize for A Distant Shore, he was named the (British) Sunday Times Best Young Writer of the Year in 1992, and featured in the 1993 Granta list of best young British writers. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of the Arts, and an Honorary Fellow of The Queens College, Oxford University.
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WHY FACTS DON’T CHANGE OUR MINDS « previous next »
Author Topic: WHY FACTS DON’T CHANGE OUR MINDS (Read 20284 times)
Nakandi
KiwNak
WHY FACTS DON’T CHANGE OUR MINDS
New discoveries about the human mind show the limitations of reason.
In 1975, researchers at Stanford invited a group of undergraduates to take part in a study about suicide. They were presented with pairs of suicide notes. In each pair, one note had been composed by a random individual, the other by a person who had subsequently taken his own life. The students were then asked to distinguish between the genuine notes and the fake ones.
Some students discovered that they had a genius for the task. Out of twenty-five pairs of notes, they correctly identified the real one twenty-four times. Others discovered that they were hopeless. They identified the real note in only ten instances.
As is often the case with psychological studies, the whole setup was a put-on. Though half the notes were indeed genuine—they’d been obtained from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office—the scores were fictitious. The students who’d been told they were almost always right were, on average, no more discerning than those who had been told they were mostly wrong.
In the second phase of the study, the deception was revealed. The students were told that the real point of the experiment was to gauge their responses to thinking they were right or wrong. (This, it turned out, was also a deception.) Finally, the students were asked to estimate how many suicide notes they had actually categorized correctly, and how many they thought an average student would get right. At this point, something curious happened. The students in the high-score group said that they thought they had, in fact, done quite well—significantly better than the average student—even though, as they’d just been told, they had zero grounds for believing this. Conversely, those who’d been assigned to the low-score group said that they thought they had done significantly worse than the average student—a conclusion that was equally unfounded.
“Once formed,” the researchers observed dryly, “impressions are remarkably perseverant.”
A few years later, a new set of Stanford students was recruited for a related study. The students were handed packets of information about a pair of firefighters, Frank K. and George H. Frank’s bio noted that, among other things, he had a baby daughter and he liked to scuba dive. George had a small son and played golf. The packets also included the men’s responses on what the researchers called the Risky-Conservative Choice Test. According to one version of the packet, Frank was a successful firefighter who, on the test, almost always went with the safest option. In the other version, Frank also chose the safest option, but he was a lousy firefighter who’d been put “on report” by his supervisors several times. Once again, midway through the study, the students were informed that they’d been misled, and that the information they’d received was entirely fictitious. The students were then asked to describe their own beliefs. What sort of attitude toward risk did they think a successful firefighter would have? The students who’d received the first packet thought that he would avoid it. The students in the second group thought he’d embrace it.
Even after the evidence “for their beliefs has been totally refuted, people fail to make appropriate revisions in those beliefs,” the researchers noted. In this case, the failure was “particularly impressive,” since two data points would never have been enough information to generalize from.
The Stanford studies became famous. Coming from a group of academics in the nineteen-seventies, the contention that people can’t think straight was shocking. It isn’t any longer. Thousands of subsequent experiments have confirmed (and elaborated on) this finding. As everyone who’s followed the research—or even occasionally picked up a copy of Psychology Today—knows, any graduate student with a clipboard can demonstrate that reasonable-seeming people are often totally irrational. Rarely has this insight seemed more relevant than it does right now. Still, an essential puzzle remains: How did we come to be this way?
In a new book, “The Enigma of Reason” (Harvard), the cognitive scientists Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber take a stab at answering this question. Mercier, who works at a French research institute in Lyon, and Sperber, now based at the Central European University, in Budapest, point out that reason is an evolved trait, like bipedalism or three-color vision. It emerged on the savannas of Africa, and has to be understood in that context.
Stripped of a lot of what might be called cognitive-science-ese, Mercier and Sperber’s argument runs, more or less, as follows: Humans’ biggest advantage over other species is our ability to coöperate. Coöperation is difficult to establish and almost as difficult to sustain. For any individual, freeloading is always the best course of action. Reason developed not to enable us to solve abstract, logical problems or even to help us draw conclusions from unfamiliar data; rather, it developed to resolve the problems posed by living in collaborative groups.
“Reason is an adaptation to the hypersocial niche humans have evolved for themselves,” Mercier and Sperber write. Habits of mind that seem weird or goofy or just plain dumb from an “intellectualist” point of view prove shrewd when seen from a social “interactionist” perspective.
Consider what’s become known as “confirmation bias,” the tendency people have to embrace information that supports their beliefs and reject information that contradicts them. Of the many forms of faulty thinking that have been identified, confirmation bias is among the best catalogued; it’s the subject of entire textbooks’ worth of experiments. One of the most famous of these was conducted, again, at Stanford. For this experiment, researchers rounded up a group of students who had opposing opinions about capital punishment. Half the students were in favor of it and thought that it deterred crime; the other half were against it and thought that it had no effect on crime.
The students were asked to respond to two studies. One provided data in support of the deterrence argument, and the other provided data that called it into question. Both studies—you guessed it—were made up, and had been designed to present what were, objectively speaking, equally compelling statistics. The students who had originally supported capital punishment rated the pro-deterrence data highly credible and the anti-deterrence data unconvincing; the students who’d originally opposed capital punishment did the reverse. At the end of the experiment, the students were asked once again about their views. Those who’d started out pro-capital punishment were now even more in favor of it; those who’d opposed it were even more hostile.
If reason is designed to generate sound judgments, then it’s hard to conceive of a more serious design flaw than confirmation bias. Imagine, Mercier and Sperber suggest, a mouse that thinks the way we do. Such a mouse, “bent on confirming its belief that there are no cats around,” would soon be dinner. To the extent that confirmation bias leads people to dismiss evidence of new or underappreciated threats—the human equivalent of the cat around the corner—it’s a trait that should have been selected against. The fact that both we and it survive, Mercier and Sperber argue, proves that it must have some adaptive function, and that function, they maintain, is related to our “hypersociability.”
Mercier and Sperber prefer the term “myside bias.” Humans, they point out, aren’t randomly credulous. Presented with someone else’s argument, we’re quite adept at spotting the weaknesses. Almost invariably, the positions we’re blind about are our own.
A recent experiment performed by Mercier and some European colleagues neatly demonstrates this asymmetry. Participants were asked to answer a series of simple reasoning problems. They were then asked to explain their responses, and were given a chance to modify them if they identified mistakes. The majority were satisfied with their original choices; fewer than fifteen per cent changed their minds in step two.
In step three, participants were shown one of the same problems, along with their answer and the answer of another participant, who’d come to a different conclusion. Once again, they were given the chance to change their responses. But a trick had been played: the answers presented to them as someone else’s were actually their own, and vice versa. About half the participants realized what was going on. Among the other half, suddenly people became a lot more critical. Nearly sixty per cent now rejected the responses that they’d earlier been satisfied with.
This lopsidedness, according to Mercier and Sperber, reflects the task that reason evolved to perform, which is to prevent us from getting screwed by the other members of our group. Living in small bands of hunter-gatherers, our ancestors were primarily concerned with their social standing, and with making sure that they weren’t the ones risking their lives on the hunt while others loafed around in the cave. There was little advantage in reasoning clearly, while much was to be gained from winning arguments.
Among the many, many issues our forebears didn’t worry about were the deterrent effects of capital punishment and the ideal attributes of a firefighter. Nor did they have to contend with fabricated studies, or fake news, or Twitter. It’s no wonder, then, that today reason often seems to fail us. As Mercier and Sperber write, “This is one of many cases in which the environment changed too quickly for natural selection to catch up.”
Steven Sloman, a professor at Brown, and Philip Fernbach, a professor at the University of Colorado, are also cognitive scientists. They, too, believe sociability is the key to how the human mind functions or, perhaps more pertinently, malfunctions. They begin their book, “The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone” (Riverhead), with a look at toilets.
Virtually everyone in the United States, and indeed throughout the developed world, is familiar with toilets. A typical flush toilet has a ceramic bowl filled with water. When the handle is depressed, or the button pushed, the water—and everything that’s been deposited in it—gets sucked into a pipe and from there into the sewage system. But how does this actually happen?
In a study conducted at Yale, graduate students were asked to rate their understanding of everyday devices, including toilets, zippers, and cylinder locks. They were then asked to write detailed, step-by-step explanations of how the devices work, and to rate their understanding again. Apparently, the effort revealed to the students their own ignorance, because their self-assessments dropped. (Toilets, it turns out, are more complicated than they appear.)
Sloman and Fernbach see this effect, which they call the “illusion of explanatory depth,” just about everywhere. People believe that they know way more than they actually do. What allows us to persist in this belief is other people. In the case of my toilet, someone else designed it so that I can operate it easily. This is something humans are very good at. We’ve been relying on one another’s expertise ever since we figured out how to hunt together, which was probably a key development in our evolutionary history. So well do we collaborate, Sloman and Fernbach argue, that we can hardly tell where our own understanding ends and others’ begins.
“One implication of the naturalness with which we divide cognitive labor,” they write, is that there’s “no sharp boundary between one person’s ideas and knowledge” and “those of other members” of the group.
This borderlessness, or, if you prefer, confusion, is also crucial to what we consider progress. As people invented new tools for new ways of living, they simultaneously created new realms of ignorance; if everyone had insisted on, say, mastering the principles of metalworking before picking up a knife, the Bronze Age wouldn’t have amounted to much. When it comes to new technologies, incomplete understanding is empowering.
Where it gets us into trouble, according to Sloman and Fernbach, is in the political domain. It’s one thing for me to flush a toilet without knowing how it operates, and another for me to favor (or oppose) an immigration ban without knowing what I’m talking about. Sloman and Fernbach cite a survey conducted in 2014, not long after Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. Respondents were asked how they thought the U.S. should react, and also whether they could identify Ukraine on a map. The farther off base they were about the geography, the more likely they were to favor military intervention. (Respondents were so unsure of Ukraine’s location that the median guess was wrong by eighteen hundred miles, roughly the distance from Kiev to Madrid.)
Surveys on many other issues have yielded similarly dismaying results. “As a rule, strong feelings about issues do not emerge from deep understanding,” Sloman and Fernbach write. And here our dependence on other minds reinforces the problem. If your position on, say, the Affordable Care Act is baseless and I rely on it, then my opinion is also baseless. When I talk to Tom and he decides he agrees with me, his opinion is also baseless, but now that the three of us concur we feel that much more smug about our views. If we all now dismiss as unconvincing any information that contradicts our opinion, you get, well, the Trump Administration.
“This is how a community of knowledge can become dangerous,” Sloman and Fernbach observe. The two have performed their own version of the toilet experiment, substituting public policy for household gadgets. In a study conducted in 2012, they asked people for their stance on questions like: Should there be a single-payer health-care system? Or merit-based pay for teachers? Participants were asked to rate their positions depending on how strongly they agreed or disagreed with the proposals. Next, they were instructed to explain, in as much detail as they could, the impacts of implementing each one. Most people at this point ran into trouble. Asked once again to rate their views, they ratcheted down the intensity, so that they either agreed or disagreed less vehemently.
Sloman and Fernbach see in this result a little candle for a dark world. If we—or our friends or the pundits on CNN—spent less time pontificating and more trying to work through the implications of policy proposals, we’d realize how clueless we are and moderate our views. This, they write, “may be the only form of thinking that will shatter the illusion of explanatory depth and change people’s attitudes.”
One way to look at science is as a system that corrects for people’s natural inclinations. In a well-run laboratory, there’s no room for myside bias; the results have to be reproducible in other laboratories, by researchers who have no motive to confirm them. And this, it could be argued, is why the system has proved so successful. At any given moment, a field may be dominated by squabbles, but, in the end, the methodology prevails. Science moves forward, even as we remain stuck in place.
In “Denying to the Grave: Why We Ignore the Facts That Will Save Us” (Oxford), Jack Gorman, a psychiatrist, and his daughter, Sara Gorman, a public-health specialist, probe the gap between what science tells us and what we tell ourselves. Their concern is with those persistent beliefs which are not just demonstrably false but also potentially deadly, like the conviction that vaccines are hazardous. Of course, what’s hazardous is not being vaccinated; that’s why vaccines were created in the first place. “Immunization is one of the triumphs of modern medicine,” the Gormans note. But no matter how many scientific studies conclude that vaccines are safe, and that there’s no link between immunizations and autism, anti-vaxxers remain unmoved. (They can now count on their side—sort of—Donald Trump, who has said that, although he and his wife had their son, Barron, vaccinated, they refused to do so on the timetable recommended by pediatricians.)
The Gormans, too, argue that ways of thinking that now seem self-destructive must at some point have been adaptive. And they, too, dedicate many pages to confirmation bias, which, they claim, has a physiological component. They cite research suggesting that people experience genuine pleasure—a rush of dopamine—when processing information that supports their beliefs. “It feels good to ‘stick to our guns’ even if we are wrong,” they observe.
The Gormans don’t just want to catalogue the ways we go wrong; they want to correct for them. There must be some way, they maintain, to convince people that vaccines are good for kids, and handguns are dangerous. (Another widespread but statistically insupportable belief they’d like to discredit is that owning a gun makes you safer.) But here they encounter the very problems they have enumerated. Providing people with accurate information doesn’t seem to help; they simply discount it. Appealing to their emotions may work better, but doing so is obviously antithetical to the goal of promoting sound science. “The challenge that remains,” they write toward the end of their book, “is to figure out how to address the tendencies that lead to false scientific belief.”
“The Enigma of Reason,” “The Knowledge Illusion,” and “Denying to the Grave” were all written before the November election. And yet they anticipate Kellyanne Conway and the rise of “alternative facts.” These days, it can feel as if the entire country has been given over to a vast psychological experiment being run either by no one or by Steve Bannon. Rational agents would be able to think their way to a solution. But, on this matter, the literature is not reassuring.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/27/why-facts-dont-change-our-minds?mbid=social_facebook
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25 Signs That The Global Elite’s Ship Is About To Sink
The Cabal is imploding NOW; their Minions are putting on White Hats at the Speed of Thought. As I write this, the old 3D Veils are Down and all Temporal and Dimensional travel restrictions have been Lifted (if you are of Light.) Pictures at Eleven...DT the ET
By Lance Schuttler On 7-18-15
Make no mistake about it. The tide has turned on the global elite and there will be no going back. A new day is rising for humanity as those who have planned for complete control are now being exposed, cornered and investigated from many different angles.
There is no need to buy into the fear-based propaganda the major media and even several alternative media outlets dispense. Very good things are happening and even better things are coming. Let’s take a look at some of the major stories that have occurred in the last 8 weeks alone. Piecing the puzzle together, we see that the jig is up and the events surrounding it are growing in size and speed.
1. 57 Nations approved as founding members of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Notable countries who signed on June 29th, 2015 include Russia, India, Iran, Switzerland, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Indonesia, the UK, Italy and Austria. Notables who did not join are the U.S. and Japan.
2. May 12th, 2015: Russia asks Greece to join the BRICS Alliance. Notice the BRICS trend in the stories to follow.
3. May 24th, 2015: The Pentagon released documents to Judicial Watch, a government watchdog law firm, proving that the US Government played a central role in creating ISIL. Interestingly, the mainstream media failed to cover this story. A few weeks later, ex US Intelligence officials confirm the report.
4. May 31st, 2015: Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras writes an open letter, warns European leaders they are “making a grave mistake,” and suggests they re-read Hemingway’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls.”
5. June 2nd, 2015: The U.S. Federal Government was hacked as the personal data of 4 million current, former and prospective employees believed to have been breached. 3 weeks later FBI Director James Comey told US Senators the actual number could be 18 million. Some believe the hack was coordinated to gather further evidence of crimes by certain government officials. More on that further down.
6. June 2nd, 2015: Kentucky Senator Rand Paul calls for the U.S. Government to declassify 28 pages in the in the 9/11 attack report that the Bush Administration blacked out.
7. June 3rd, 2015: Famous musician Akon announces his Solar Academy will bring solar power to over 600 million people in Africa. A major victory for clean energy and humanity.
8. June 4th, 2015: Whistle-blower Edward Snowden says a “profound difference” had occurred since releasing the NSA documents and that the balance of power has shifted in our world. Is he referring to the BRICS Alliance?
9. June 5th, 2015: “There Will Be A Reset of The Financial Industry.” The International Monetary Fund says the Chinese yuan is no longer undervalued. This sets the stage for the yuan to be recognized as a global reserve currency, something the U.S. Dollar (which is backed by war and oil) does not like.
10. June 7, 2015: Deutsche Bank, one of the world’s largest banks, co-CEO’s Jain and Fitschen resign. Two days later, German prosecutors raided the Bank’s headquarters in a criminal tax-fraud probe.
11. June 15, 2015: China says the G-7 Summit in Germany was a “gathering of debtors.” They mean this literally as the Bretton Woods western financial system is based on debt. And in fact, the entire western financial system has been running illegally and is technically bankrupt. For more on the real history of Bretton Woods and its connection to JFK, The Global Collateral Accounts and the gold standard, read here (1).
12. June 17th, 2015 is quite the day with the next four stories all being reported at that time. First, JP Morgan’s number 2, the Vice Chairman Jimmy Lee, suddenly and unexpectedly passes over. Since late 2013, the list of high-level banking officials to have passed over has grown to 70. Clearly, something is happening.
13. June 17, 2015: Russia and China announced that all natural gas and crude oil sales between the two countries will now be done in Chinese yuan( formerly the U.S. Dollar) and will be convertible into Russian Rubles. The U.S. Dollar hegemony is waning.
14. June 17, 2015:The State of Texas has signed a bill that calls for the repatriation of their gold from the Federal Government. When asked what would happen if the government tried to steal back the gold, State Representative Giovanni Capriglione said this: There is a motto in the office of almost every state legislator in Texas, and it’s a flag that we have [from the Texas Revolution], it’s below a cannon and what the motto says is, “Come and Take it.”
15. June 17, 2015: Greece’s Hellenic Parliament’s Debt Truth Committee released a report stating that the debt Greece “owes” is illegal, illegitimate and odious, according to international law. Further, they stated the IMF and ECB ( European Central Bank) having illegally and knowingly imposed these illegitimate debts upon Greece and other nations. A direct call out to the global banking cartel.
16. June 18th, 2015: Baron David de Rothchild has been indicated by a French court over financial fraud. French police have been ordered by the court to track down Baron. The Rothschild family has long been viewed as the family sitting atop the global financial ponzi scheme. Lawyer Antonio Flores told reporters, ” it’s a real breakthrough moment for everyone involved.”
17. June 18, 2015: In a 2-1 ruling, the 2nd Circuit U.S. court of Appeals says Bush era officials can be held liable for detaining innocent people after the 9/11 attack. Will this lead to some major arrests?
18. June 19, 2015: While European leaders try to save face on the debt crisis, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras was in Russia and gave a speech at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, stating that “the economic center of the planet has already shifted” and that the new powers are playing an “important role on the economic and geopolitical level.” * Reread story header number 8…BRICS, anyone? Oh, and Greece and Russia signed a €2 billion gas pipeline deal that day too…a strategic economic and geopolitical game-changer.
19. July 5th, 2015: Greece votes “NO” to the creditors’ bailout offer. This is a massive stance for humanity that Greece just took against the banking elite. As of this writing, a “deal” has been reached but is expected to fall apart in the coming days. Kicking the can down the road does not solve the issue, but rather speeds up the revolution mindset of many frustrated Greek citizens.
September/October is when many financial experts are saying that some fireworks are to be expected.
20. July 7th, 2015: The BRICS Bank officially opens for business.
21. July 8th, 2015: On this day, several strange events occurred. The NYSE was taken down for multiple hours, the Wall Street Journal was taken offline just after the stock exchange went down, United Airlines was forced to ground all of its flights nationwide due to computer “issues,” and 2,500 people losing power in Washington D.C. This whistle-blower journalist just wrote that his Pentagon sources said the Pentagon/BRICS Alliance took it down as a “dry run.”
22. July 7th, 2015: Backing up one day we see that the hacking group Anonymous tweeted this on the evening prior to the stock exchange hack: “Wonder if tomorrow is going to be a bad day for Wall Street…we can only hope.”
David Wilcock has previously written a a detailed document stating that Anonymous is working with certain patriotic US Military forces to legally take down the banking elite. This aligns nicely with what the whistle-blower journalist, Benjamin Fulford, just wrote this week about the Pentagon and BRICS Alliance in the previous story.
23. July 14th, 2015: Iran, China, Russia, France, Germany and the U.K and the U.S. reach an historic deal on Iran’s nuclear program. Entire books could be written on the geopolitical, financial, and technological implications of this move. There are also reports that the reality of this situation is that Iran has free energy technology and will be using this to help bring down the banking/political/oil industry elite. This would make sense as the strongest opponents to this deal have been Israel and its Prime Minister and several American politicians like the Bushes, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.
24. July 15th, 2015: Santa Cruz County votes to stop doing business with 5 major banks, including JP Morgan Chase, Barclays, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS. Watch this set off a chain reaction in those who will follow suit.
25. Now: You are here on the planet at this time to make a wonderful contribution. Please continue playing your role for the benefit of us all.
It is clear that something big is happening. Use this information to move forward with optimism and hope. Share with your friends. Discuss with your friends. Continue to search and dig for the truth.
Two people I strongly suggest the reader looking into are Benjamin Fulford, the whistleblower who was the Asia Pacific Bureau Chief for Forbes Magazine and is listed in stories number 21 and 22, and Neil Keenan, who is working with many well connected sources to open up the global collateral accounts. These accounts are what President Kennedy was assassinated over and are what the banking elite does not want the public to know exists. This revolution WILL NOT be televised.
(1) http://neilkeenan.com/sample-page/
“25 Signs That The Global Elite’s Ship Is About To Sink” Lance Shuttler, July 15, 2015 at http://themindunleashed.org/2015/07/25-signs-that-the-global-elites-ship-is-about-to-sink.html
Original link: 25 Signs That The Global Elite’s Ship Is About To Sink
Posted by DT the ET at 6:53:00 PM
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"Sentencing in Arizona" Report from ASU College of Law
The following article comes straight from the ASU Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law News at ASU...
Thank you Camille Tilley for the tip, and thank you ASU and Professor Hessick for this extremely intelligent report (I'd like to study with you if I ever make it to law school).
Public Policy Incubator Program releases report: ‘Sentencing in Arizona’
Carissa Byrne Hessick
The Public Policy Incubator Program at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, tackling the issue of the state’s skyrocketing prison costs and a high crime rate, has released a report, “Sentencing in Arizona: Recommendations to Reduce Costs and Crime.”
The report proposes several changes, including increasing pretrial diversion programs, expanding mandatory probation for drug possession, requiring drug treatment programs to use practices proven to reduce repeat offenses, establishing a statewide system of mental health courts with specialized public defenders to deal with mentally ill defendants, and encouraging plea bargaining. It also suggests creation of a Sentencing Commission to collect data, study successful sentencing reform in other states and suggest further changes to the Legislature.
“Adopting these proposals will not only reduce the costs of incarceration,” the report states. “In reducing recidivism, they will also reduce the other costs associated with crime, such as the costs of court, law enforcement, and the damage suffered by crime victims.”
The report was prepared by Carissa Byrne Hessick, Associate Professor of Law, and six College of Law students: Chaz Ball, Matthew Binford, Kevin Brady, Adam Reich, Jason David Swenson, Henry Edward Whitmer.
“While working on this project, our students discovered that, although many states have spent years developing programs designed to reduce the costs of imprisonment and the occurrence of crime, Arizona is essentially in a political deadlock that has stymied multiple efforts at sentencing reform,” Hessick said. “In contrast, Texas, for example, engaged in serious reform beginning in 2005, which not only allowed the state to avoid building new prisons, but also reduced its crime rates.”
The Public Policy Incubator Program is a new initiative by the College of Law in which students and faculty work with not-for-profits, governments, and the private sector, on major local, regional, national, and international public policy problems.
“Part of the obligation of a public law school is to engage in useful, practical research on the key challenges facing our region and our world,” said Dean Paul Schiff Berman. “Already students from the College of Law are working on such challenges in many settings and with many collaborators. This work both contributes to the world and trains future lawyers in how to engage with public policy issues.”
The Incubator Program chose to research the issue of sentencing reform because the Arizona Legislature is working on the issue. The report was cited by Cecil Ash, R-Mesa, chairman of the House Study Committee on Sentencing at a hearing today (Dec. 14).
“Because the state legislature was also considering the topic of sentencing reform, it seemed like a good problem to ask our students to tackle,” Hessick said. “Arizona State University graduates a significant number of students who go on to work in the criminal justice system. The Public Policy Incubator Program allowed those students to spend a semester researching the system they are about to become a part of, to identify some of the system’s shortcomings, and to propose some serious practical reforms.”
Statistics cited in the report note that, over the past 30 years, while Arizona’ population increased by 150 percent, the state’s prison population grew by more than 1,000 percent, and is projected to continue to increase. In 1979, less than 5 percent of the state’s general fund expenditures went to the Department of Corrections, but in 2011, that figure will be more than 11 percent, or $949 million. New prison facilities will cost an additional $975 million.
The report also notes that, while prisons are very expensive, they are not very effective, and Arizona has one of the highest rates of serious crime in the country.
Posted by Margaret Jean Plews at 10:31 PM
Labels: arizona state legislature, carissa byrne hessick, free courtney bisbee, mass incarceration, sandra day o'connor college of law, sentencing reform
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Mr Cezar P Consing
First Vice President
Mr Antonio C Moncupa, Jr
Mr Benjamin P Castillo
Ms Pinky S Padronia
19CD, 19F Citi Tower,
8741 Paseo de Roxas, Makati City
Tel: +63 2 810 3858 / +63 2 810 3859
Email: secretariat@bap.org.ph
Web: www.bap.org.ph
Articles (Philippines)
New President of The Bankers Association of the Philippines - 2016-2017 (BAP)
Bankers Association Of The Philippines (BAP) – President For 2015
2015 Updates to Office Bearers for Bankers Association of Philippines (BAP)
Financial Literacy Education Programme Laoag City, Iiocos Norte, Philippines
President 2014
2013 Updates to Office Bearers for Bankers Association of Philippines
BAP President 2012-2013
BAP Office Bearers 2012-2013
The prestigious Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) held its annual membership meeting and election of its Board last March 23, 2015 at the Shangri-La Hotel Makati. The newly elected members of the BAP Board are (in alphabetical order):
Gil A. Buenaventura, President & CEO, Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP)
Ricardo R. Chua, President & CEO, China Banking Corp.
Abraham T. Co, President, Asia United Bank (AUB)
Cezar P. Consing, President & CEO, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)
Fabian S. Dee, President, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (MetroBank)
Herminio M. Famatigan Jr., President& CEO, Maybank Phils., Inc. (Maybank)
Consuelo D. Garcia, Country Manager, ING Bank, N.V.
Reynaldo A. Maclang, President& CEO, Philippine National Bank (PNB)
Tadahiro Miyamoto,General Manager, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.
Justo A. Ortiz, Chairman & CEO, Union Bank of the Philippines (UBP)
Roberto L. Panlilio, Managing Director & Senior Country Officer, JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A.
Lorenzo V. Tan, President & CEO, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC)
Nestor V. Tan, President & CEO, BDO Unibank, Inc.
Jose Arnulfo A. Veloso, President & CEO, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC),
Alberto S. Villarosa, President & CEO, Security Bank Corp. (SBC).
Current BAP President Lorenzo V. Tan was re-elected President for the second time. He was first elected President of the BAP in 2013, re-elected in 2014 and recently last March 23, 2015. The other four (4) elected officers are Nestor V. Tan as 1st Vice President, Justo A. Ortiz as 2nd Vice, President, Gil A. Buenaventura as Secretary, and Roberto L. Panlilio as Treasurer. Cesar O. Virtusio remains as Executive Director.
BAP President Lorenzo V. Tan, in his annual report to the BAP members, described the economic outlook and the regional development prospects facing the Philippine banking industry in 2015 and beyond. He emphasized the very strong linkages between economic growth and the improvements in the performance indicators of the banks. He likewise talked about the various legislative and regulatory developments that will impose profound impact on the industry. He also acknowledged the efforts of various entities such as the BAP committees, the BAP Secretariat, entities and individuals that made the banner year 2014 a success. The BAP celebrated its 50th Anniversary and 65th Foundation Year as well as hosted the 20th ASEAN Bankers Association (ABA) Conference and 44th ASEAN Banking Council Meeting last year.
The Bankers Association of the Philippines or ‘BAP’ has 35 commercial banks as members, 21 are local banks and 14 are foreign bank branches.
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Critical Opalescence
Opens Saturday, April 27, 2019
Spectral Lines Gallery
Opening hours: by appointment
e: salon@spectrallines.org
Bridget Batch, Owens Lake Ritual No. 1, 2014, digital c-print, 40 x 50 inches
Kevin Cooley, still from High Water Mark, 2016
Spectral Lines announces its second exhibition, Critical Opalescence, featuring works by artists Bridget Batch and Kevin Cooley.
Critical Opalescence brings together photography and video that responds to the alarmingly poor state of our relationship with nature, and the all-encompassing change of our climate that we are facing. Batch and Cooley investigate spaces of unparalleled beauty across the United States, and consider their current state of transformation.
Critical opalescence occurs during phase changes within physical compounds, such as liquid transforming into gas, when, momentarily, the two states cannot be distinguished from each other, a process seemingly caught in limbo, but already destined to change. In regards to climate transformation, we currently find ourselves somewhere around that ultimate point of no return, and what has been set in motion on a global scale decades ago is now visible and tangible everywhere around us (and even inside of us), if we choose to see it.
Bridget Batch presents series of photographic prints which are the record of performances she has undertaken on behalf of the camera from her ongoing project Rituals to Reveal Hidden Boundaries. Over the course of hour long exposures, Batch dances and paces, repetitively retracing her steps while bearing colored lights that mark the film with the boundary she contemplates. The mysterious spectacle that appears in the landscapes highlights and blurs invisible lines between what we generally term human-made. Batch performs these photographs in meditation and repetition in order to underline a presence that's unseen, historical, transcendental, or mysterious and potentially transformative. Her traced movements serve as symbolic and humble attempts to connect with, or else to emphasize, the meaning imbued within the locations.
Kevin Cooley’s High Water Mark explores the confluence of demands placed on the water of the Colorado River at Lake Powell and Lake Havasu. These two large reservoirs tame the Colorado River to create a reliable water supply for millions of people throughout the Southwest while simultaneously offering “unparalleled opportunities for water-based recreation,” according to the National Park Service. The video depicts remote and desolate canyons of Glen Canyon, now exposed by the declining water levels of Lake Powell, juxtaposed against furious motor boating activity along the Parker Strip at Lake Havasu.
The slow-paced scenes of High Water Mark focus on the texture and scenic beauty of cathedral-like corridors and iconic waterways, punctuated by the disruptive sounds of motorized human presence in the otherwise silent desert landscape. The manipulation of these landscapes through the Colorado River Storage Project — a series of midcentury public works projects by the Bureau of Reclamation — secured the future of the American West, yet with declining water levels, and rapidly increasing evaporation rates, the conversation of how to best return these lands back to nature has already begun.
Through photography, installation and video, Bridget Batch pursues questions regarding alternate planes of consciousness and the nature of existence. She makes meditative artworks exploring our sense of connection in a world defined by modernization, consumption culture and environmental transformation.
Batch has exhibited internationally, and completed artist residencies at Italy’s Fabrica, Salem Artworks in Salem, NY, Tropical Lab 7 in Singapore, and at the Grand Canyon South Rim Program, among others. Her work was recently featured as part of De La Tierra a La Tierra, at the Centro Cultural Metropolitano in Quito, Ecuador. A frequent collaborator, Batch has worked with artists Kevin Cooley, Eve-Lauryn LaFountain, composer Jean-Luc Sinclair, and within the collective neverhitsend. With neverhitsend, she launched the internet project Toggle at SEA 2015. Batch received a 2016 New York City Community Engagement Grant from the Rema Hort Mann Foundation and in 2017, she was nominated for the PDN 30. In 2014, Batch received her MFA from CalArts and she now works, and teaches, primarily in Los Angeles.
Cooley's work centers around a phenomenological, systems- based inquiry into humanity's contemporary relationship with the five classical elements – earth, air, fire, water, and aether. The resulting photographs, videos, and public installations look outward – examining the environment to observe experimental and performative gestures that seek to decipher our complex, evolving relationships to nature, technology, and each other. As his practice continues to evolve, he strives to challenge his own assumptions and deepen his understanding of environment and materiality. His latest projects address the human perspective more directly, presenting a comprehensive view of our collective environmental concerns, questioning the long-term sustainability of present-day living, and revealing the struggles – both practically and psychologically – of inhabiting a planet we are slowly destroying.
Since 2014, he's held solo exhibitions at the Catharine Clark Gallery, Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Kopeikin Gallery, The Museum of Photographic Arts, The Nevada Museum of Art, Pierogi, Ryan / Lee Gallery, The Savannah College of Art and Design, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. His work is in prominent public collections including The Cleveland Clinic, The Guggenheim Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, 21c Museum, The Nelson-Atkins Museum, The Nevada Art Museum, and The Museum of Photographic Arts.Cooley lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Spectral Lines is an artist-run salon in Ridgewood, NY, exhibiting lens-based, conceptual works. Each exhibition presents new projects that are curated in collaboration with the selected artists. Spectral Lines presents five exhibitions per year, each running eight to ten weeks.
The first exhibition season is organized around the theme The Essentials. As a subjective grouping, each exhibition within The Essentials points to a different indispensable aspect of contemporary life: the internet, nature, family, capital, and subconsciousness.
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Reading Life
TLC Review: Bellagrand, by Paullina Simons
Gina and Harry gave up everything to be together. But they both want different things—from their marriage, from life, from each other . . . and from the shifting world around them. Gina, independent, compassionate, and strong, desperately wants a family. Harry, idealistic and fiercely political, wants to create a better world, a better country. At a crossroads and at cross-purposes, they pursue their opposing dreams at great cost to themselves and those near to them. Through years of passion and turmoil they rail, rage, and break each other's hearts, only to come face-to-face with a stark final choice that will forever determine their destiny.
Their journey takes them through four decades and two continents, from extreme poverty to great wealth, from the wooden planks of the troubled immigrant town of Lawrence, Massachusetts, to the marble halls and secret doors of a mystical place called . . . Bellagrand.
Simons recent novel, Bellagrand, fills in the gap between two previously published novels, Children of Liberty and The Bronze Horseman, delving into the lives and relationships of Harry and Gina Barrington over a period of four decades, beginning in 1911. Although I hadn’t read the books on either side of Bellagrand, I was easily caught up in the story and able to orient myself to the plot and the characters.
The novel centers on the relationship between Harry and Gina, and the great love that exists between them, a love that remains steadfast through every trial Harry puts it through. Because Harold Barrington is a cock-eyed idealist, a man who steadfastly adheres to his anarchic political agenda through arrests, imprisonment, poverty, and loss of citizenship. A man who never gives up, even though it means dragging his family into the weeds with him time and again.
Bellagrand, the palatial home in South Florida that Harry’s mother bequeathed him, is the only place - literally or figuratively - where Harry and Gina have any peace. In this beautiful tropical paradise, Harry (who is under house arrest) seems to have come to terms with his revolutionary ideas, and their idyllic life makes Gina happier than she has ever been. Bellagrand becomes symbolic of all she had hoped her life would be. Yet once Harry is free, he is drawn inexorably back into the world of fomenting revolution - with disastrous results.
I flew through reading Bellagrand, my haste fueled by my anger at Harry for his ridiculous adherence to The Cause, no matter how devastating it made life for his family. How could Gina continue to stay with him and put up with it? I wondered. Her devotion to him was legion, and it saddened me to think that she might have had a far better life if only she had stood her ground. Their sexual attraction never wavered, no matter how difficult Harry was being. Gina seemed to be under some sort of spell, bewitched by this man beyond even the scope of time, place, and “traditional” women’s values.
I always enjoy a huge family saga, especially if it’s historical in nature, and read through the 400 pages of this one in just over three days. Bellagrand was an interesting, fast paced read, but I found myself more aggravated with the characters than enraptured by them. I’m a sucker for a happy ending, and there was no such thing to be found in this novel, which didn’t really entice me to continue reading the next installment of the series. If you’ve read the previous novels, Bellagrand provides some hefty “meat" in the middle of that bookish sandwich.
Thanks to TLC Book tours for the opportunity to read this book.
Bellagrand (uncorrected proof), by Paullina Simons
published by William Morrow, 2014
Buy the book from Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Indie Bound
Tagged: Bellagrand, historical novels, Paullina Simons, TLC Tours
TLC Book Tours: The Virgin Cure
Being a huge fan of historical novels, I was eager to read The Virgin Cure, by Ami McKay, a new-to-me Canadian author whose first novel (The Birth House) was a number one best seller in that country. I'm not surprised, because McKay's writing and story telling skills are epic. The Virgin Cure is set in Lower Manhattan circa 1871. It's the story of Moth, a young girl growing up alone on some very mean streets filled with orphaned children and desperate women trying to eke out some kind of living. Moth's father is long gone, and her mother is a Gypsy fortune teller who sells her 12 year old daughter into servitude with a cruel, abusive society matron. Moth eventually escapes and spends some months on the streets before she is taken in by the charming Miss Everett, a Madam who runs something called an Infant School, which is really a brothel catering to gentlemen willing to pay a premium for desirable young virgins like Moth. In fact, some of them are seeking the fabled "Virgin Cure" - the belief that having intercourse with a virgin will cure them of syphilis. Moth's friendship with Dr. Sadie, a female physician who works among the indigent population, gives her the courage she needs to see a better life for herself.
Moth is a totally engaging character, and I longed to reach back in time and scoop her up for myself, bring her home with me and give her a good life. McKay creates such breathtaking word pictures that reading the novel is almost frightening at times, the reader feels so involved in the time and place.
And what a time and place! We talk a lot today about the poor situations children find themselves in - gangs and single parent families, hunger and lack of education. We tend to forget the history of maltreatment of children in this country. In an author's note, McKay writes that over 30,000 children lived on the streets of New York city in 1870. Even more of them wandered in and out of tenements as their families struggled to find food and shelter. Most of these children were illiterate and would end up as thieves and prostitutes, dead before they ever reached adulthood. McKay's interest in this time period was sparked when she learned about her own great-great grandmother, the original Dr. Sadie, who worked the streets of New York along with Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female physician, caring for the women and children of the city.
The Virgin Cure is a fascinating look at this time and place in our history. But it's also a story of perseverance and hope. Because Moth does find good people among the bad, people who care about her and are willing to help her, people who step up to make a difference, one child at a time.
Sometimes, for a moment, everything is just as you need it to be. The memories of such moments live in the heart, waiting for the time you need to think on them, if only to remind yourself that for a short while, everything had been fine, and might be so again. I didn't have many memories like that...No matter what might happen or what fate Miss Everett had in store for me, I now had the image of Miss Suzie Lowe to place alongside them. She would remind me that I was a girl who longed for things, a girl who wanted to become something more than she was seen to be.
If you enjoy historical novels, I highly recommend this book.
Connect with Ami McKay here:
Website, Facebook page, Twitter account, Pinterest board.
Tagged: Ami McKay, children in prostitution, first female physicians, historical novels, New York 1870, The Virgin Cure, TLC Tours
Life in General, Reading Life
The Sunday Salon: Mr. Churchill’s Secretary and What’s On the Reading Horizon
You must know by now how much I enjoy historical fiction, so it’s no surprise that I was eager to dive into a new mystery series with a unique historical setting. Mr. Churchill’s Secretary is the first volume featuring the intrepid Maggie Hope, who works as a secretary in Winston Churchill’s war cabinet. Maggie’s skills extend far beyond her expertise in taking Churchill’s dictation on the silent typewriter keyboards he’s had created especially for his staff. Maggie is a gifted mathematician and code-breaker, and these skills are soon discovered and put to very good use.
Like any good historical novel, the period details are just as interesting to me as the plot of the book. Susan Elia MacNeal does a wonderful job of setting the scene and introducing all kinds of information about the period. The behind-the-scenes look at Churchill’s staff was reminiscent of watching an episode of West Wing on TV. In a recent interview at All Things Girl, MacNeal said she was "completely and totally immersed in World War II history — books, documentaries, talking with Blitz survivors. I even had the honor of corresponding with Mrs. Elisabeth Layton Nel, one of Winston Churchill’s actual wartime secretaries. I also learned how to darn socks, make wartime recopies and sniff vintage perfume; I went to second-hand clothing stores to look at clothes, gloves, and hats. And I was lucky to be able to spend a lot of time in London at the marvelous Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, as well as the Imperial War Museum, Bletchley Park, Chartwell, and, of course, Windsor Castle."
It paid off big time, because Mr. Churchill’s Secretary was a wonderfully drawn portrait of its era. I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series, Princess Elizabeth’s Spy, which is already on my shelf.
But before I see what Maggie’s up to next, I’ll be reading Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple and Don’t Bother Me, I’m Reading, a memoir by Maureen Corrigan, book critic for NPR’s Fresh Air series.
What’s on your reading horizon?
PS - A serendipity...Before reading Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, I read the novel Motherland, by Amy Sohn, a witty and interesting novel set in the neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn. Oddly enough, Susan Elia MacNeal lives in Park Slope, and is acquainted with Amy Sohn. I love stuff like that :)
Tagged: Amy Sohn, historical novels, Mr- Churchill’s Secretary, Susan Elia MacNeal, The Sunday Salon, WWII
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A Conversation with Ira Steven Behr About the Legacy, Meaning and Politics of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the New Documentary What We Left Behind
There are two guests on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.
Ira Steven Behr was the showrunner and executive producer of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He is also the co-director and executive producer of the new documentary What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Behr has also been a writer and executive producer on the HBO series Outlander.
He reflects on the origins of Deep Space Nine, what he learned from the new documentary What We Left Behind, the challenges and triumphs of creating what would be such a highly influential non-episodic TV series, escaping the shadow of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the choices that were made regarding Avery Brooks' character Captain Benjamin Sisko (the first black starring character in Star Trek history), how the show dealt with topical issues such as religion, ethnic conflict, poverty, sexism, as well as gay and lesbian relationships.
Behr also shares the storyline of what a hypothetical eighth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would have looked like.
Hugo-award nominated podcaster and writer Alasdair Stuart is the second guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.
He shares his thoughts on the new movie Avengers: Endgame and its problematic treatment of female characters such as Nebula and Black Widow, how the film is a well-deserved love letter to Robert Downey Jr.'s depiction of Iron Man, and where the Marvel Cinematic Universe goes with and after the new Spiderman movie.
Chauncey and Alasdair also share some hopes and worries about J.J. Abrams and his new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and ponder why this generation of fans seem so invested in how much money a movie makes as some type of (sad and pathetic) validation of their own self-esteem and identity.
On this week's show, Chauncey DeVega laughs at those members of the so-called "Resistance" who think that this newest "revelation" about Donald Trump losing a billion dollars and likely committing tax fraud will actually hurt his popularity among the Trump CHUD cultists and Republicans as a whole. Why won't this newest "scandal" matter? This is all explained by the sunk cost fallacy and the classic social psychology research study When Prophecy Fails.
Chauncey also reflects on Gene Roddenberry's hopeful vision of the future as seen in Star Trek and how far America and humankind have to go to achieve such a goal.
Posted by chaunceydevega at 2:20 AM
Tags: Chauncey DeVega says, ghetto nerds, podcast
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West and Russia battle for Balkans gas corridors
Newly arrived pipes for the construction of the future Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.
Lajla VeselicaBriseida Mema| Agence France Presse
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on July 17, 2017, on page 9.
Balkan countries
Timothy Less
Paskal Milo
Nicolas Mazzucchi
Aleksandar Vucic
Igor Dekanic
The West and Russia are battling for control of the transport of natural gas through the Balkans, as both sides pursue their geopolitical agenda in the volatile region.
While the West can offer Balkan countries incentives such as the prospect of membership of the European Union or investment locally, Russia can play the energy card.
Without gas pipelines, it cannot supply most of the countries in the region, Less said.
The competing interests of the West and Russia in the Balkans gas market only serve to increase the geostrategic importance of the entire region.
A number of gas transmission projects that will ultimately reduce the region's energy dependence on Russia are underway.
The West is pushing for a way to reach the Caucasus, and one day perhaps even tap into Caspian or Middle Eastern gas, while circumventing Russian territory, he said.
Along with a planned liquefied natural gas terminal on the northern Croatian island of Krk, partly financed by EU, it would create strong competition between the West and Russia.
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Patrick Stewart for “Star Trek: Nemesis”
Monday, December 9th 2002 12:41 am
It may have been a long time between Romulan ales on the Enterprise, but Patrick Stewart doesn’t mind the four year gap in the Star Trek franchise, “because I had been one of those arguing that we needed a bigger gap as it was becoming like a conveyor belt. I also said that if we take more time, all of us might come to the conclusion that we’ve actually finished and we don’t want to do anymore; that might just happen organically.” Stewart was feeling fresh and energised at the end of a long day of interviews. Casually dressed wearing brown corduroy trousers, the classically-trained Brit feels at home as we chat in the midst of New York’s Manhattan.
Even though he currently lives in Los Angeles’ upscale Palisades suburban community, the 62-year old one-time Yorkshire native is thinking of switching residential coasts, describing New York as “more mature” than Los Angeles. “It feels worldlier and more forgiving” than Los Angeles which has been his US home since attaining intergalactic stardom on Star Trek. Widely travelled, Stewart recently married Star Trek producer Wendy Neuss and spent their honeymoon in Sydney, Australia. “Sydney is just great and I just hope I get to do more work there. While we took part of our honeymoon there we stayed for the Olympics and then we went to the Kimberlies for a glorious week up there,” says an enthused Stewart.
It is appropriate that this world-travelled gentleman actor has spent fifteen years, on and off, travelling through galaxies battling an array of aliens aboard the classic U.S.S Enterprise. Before he became an international star as the heroic and good-hearted Picard, Stewart was one of Britain’s most respected stage actors. Still yearning to play all those great Shakespearean roles from Lear to Falstaff, having already shone in Hamlet and Macbeth, it is the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in TV’s Star Trek: The Next Generation, for which he is now best known. While 15 years after the series debut he has genuine affection for the character and no qualms about the recognition, that wasn’t always the case, he laughingly recalls.
“There was a time when it irritated me, when I would walk down the street and someone would say: Hey, captain how you doing or people would say: Oh, you’re Captain Picard and I would say: No, that is not my name, and was somewhat prickly.” But Patrick’s attitude slowly began to change as he assumed the role with confidence. “I have come to realise that given that the captain is really an outstanding individual, a fine, compassionate, articulate, honest, fair man, that identification is in a sense flattering and if people are happy to call out on the street or to speak to me, they apparently feel good about it as well, so it is something that I have come to be proud of.”
Yet even so, as we are chatting about a character whose genesis began 15 years ago, Stewart had no idea that Picard or his involvement with the phenomenon of Star Trek, would last as long as it has. “I wouldn’t have done it if I had known that,” concedes the actor, adding that he only agreed to do it in the first place “because I was assured, not by the Star Trek people of course, but because of everybody else, that it wouldn’t last long, if at all. From the morning that I was offered the role, Monday morning, until about noon when I left, I had until the end of the business day Friday to make my decision. When I was offered the role I was excited and then my agent met with me and it became clear to him that I didn’t understand how pilots worked and the contracts of pilots worked. I thought I was just signing on for the pilot and if I didn’t want to do anymore after that I could just walk out,” he recalls smilingly.
“When he said this is for six years, I said that is out of the question. There are things I have to do; I can’t spend six years here. It is absolutely out of the question. I won’t do it. And every single person that I asked said you don’t need to worry about that. It will be a year if you are really lucky, two years.” Finally, his agent said, “Come on you have never made any money in your life of what you do. You have had a great career but what have you got to show for it, where is your security?” At the time Stewart recalls that he had been living month by month. His agent assured him that no harm can come of doing the series and under that understanding Patrick Stewart signed the dotted line “and I would not for the world have changed it now with hindsight,” says Stewart. “It doesn’t mean to say this in the fifth and sixth seasons there weren’t times that I wished I was anywhere but walking under the bridge of the Enterprise, but they were only moments. It was just sometimes frustration when I was ready to move on.” But here we are, 15 years later, and Patrick’s enthusiasm for this fourth cinematic Star Trek adventure is genuinely heartfelt. “I had such a grand time doing Nemesis, I really did.”
In Star Trek: Nemesis, the cast of “The Next Generation” returns on a diplomatic mission to initiate peace with the Romulans. But upon arrival to the alien planet, the crew is faced with a threat that could lead to the Earth’s destruction, and Picard meets his most dangerous adversary yet, a surprisingly personal nemesis. Part of the reason why he was drawn to Nemesis, was the script by Trek fan and aficionado, John Logan, “who has brought something else and has a great since of history. He came to this project not only as an absolutely outstanding screenwriter which he is, but what I didn’t know at the time was that he came as an obsessed fan of the Next Generation and he knows the Next Generation world inside out, better than I do. His enthusiasm, his fan’s hunger to see the characters doing things he had always wanted to see them do and his eagerness to work with actors were genuinely apparent. We would spend hours on the telephone before we even met just getting to know one another and of course I discovered he was a man with a theatre background who loved the theatre and so it was in the early days talking with Logan that I just knew this could be a wonderful journey on which to embark.”
A journey which allows Patrick the chance to do something different with the 15-year old Picard, something that may not have been so easy in previous films or throughout the lengthy series. “This film raised questions and made me brood a lot more, the whole notion of coming face to face with yourself, in conflict with yourself and trying to find harmony and understanding; these were interesting challenges.” The actor admits that when asked whether there is more of the actor in the character, having played him for so long, that line is utterly blurred now. “I truly could not define where Jean-Luc Picard begins and Patrick Stewart leaves off partly because during the course of those years of the series a lot of myself went into the things that the character did, how he thought, what he said, all based on Gene Rodenberry’s strong foundation. But a lot of the things that I cared about went in and as time went by the transference was happening the other way as well.” Patrick even concedes that he even learned from Picard. “There were certain areas in my life that needed attention and he helped me to pay attention,” says a thoughtful Stewart.
The Star Trek series and subsequent film franchise have clearly brought Patrick not only fame and fortune, but the luxury of choice. At a very youthful 62, Stewart works at a frenetic pace, dividing his time between revisiting the classics on stage and screen, and starring in next year’s much anticipated X-Men 2. On the latter, the guarded actor says little but again, his enthusiasm for the sequel is very real. “I think we have got a really sensational movie,” Stewart enthuses. “It’s been such a wonderful year and I am so energized by Nemesis which I believe in so strongly and then realise that X-Men 2 has taken off from the first one, which was really like an extended expensive trailer, introducing everyone and this world of the X-Men. Now the X-Men are just soaring and it is going to be wonderful.”
Taking a break from the world of fantasy-laden Hollywood, Patrick will take to the London stage in April with Ibsen’s The Masterbuilder. Following that play’s limited West End run, he returns to Broadway “in a revival of a British play which I can’t talk about but I am very excited about it and some wonderful roles ahead.” These include a television remake of the classic period drama, The Lion in Winter, in which he will play King Henry II to Glenn Close’s Eleanor of Aquitaine. “We have a brilliant, finger-licking good screenplay to work from.” And yes, he says, another Star Trek feature is not out of the question. “If John Logan signs on as writer, I’m on board, no question.”
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